Cihan Sultanoğlu New York – In the World Bank’s most recent “Doing Business” report, half of the Eastern European and Central Asian countries included in the global ranking were among the top 50. As a measure of economic maturity, the…
Category: Columns
Healthcare professions and jobs going digital
by Aida Ponce Del Castillo With the advent of new technologies, the healthcare sector is confronted with an unprecedented wave of change. What will the sector look like in a few years time? How can healthcare workers navigate an environment…
Will agroecology be the solution to mitigate climate change?
Danielle Nierenberg On April 3-5, 2018, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will convene the Second International Symposium on Agroecology. The Symposium, titled “Scaling up Agroecology to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” will bring together leaders in governmental,…
We need more social investment but no more PPPs
Europe needs to spend €1.5 trillion on social infrastructure between now and 2030 to redress the massive underspend over recent years and to address the increasing demands on social services. This is one of the main arguments of the report,…
EU Weimar triangle for a new Europe
We are divergent… A new opening in the debate on the EU’s future initiated by Emmanuel Macron’s proposals for greater integration has brought into sharp relief rifts within the community along traditional fault lines. These conflicting visions reflect the structural…
Is the US hypocritical to criticise Russian medling in election
Thomas Carothers has recently written an article in Foreign Affairs, the prestigious elite journal published by the US-based Council on Foreign Relations. The article asks: is the US hypocritical for criticizing Russian election meddling?
The geopolitics of targetting Russia
By Chandra Muzaffar The escalation of tensions between the United States, Britain and France, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, should not surprise anyone. In the last few years, the US leadership and mainstream British media have…
The neglected menace of pollution
Philip J. Landrigan and Richard Fuller New York – Pollution is one of the great existential challenges of the twenty-first century. It threatens the stability of ecosystems, undermines economic development, and compromises the health of billions of people. Yet it…
Working with nature to improve global water management
Danielle Nierenberg March 22nd is World Water Day (WWD), a day to celebrate one of the the world’s most precious resources and to raise awareness around global water issues. Every year, WWD coincides with the release of the World Water…
Moving beyond ‘capitalism’
by John Kay I wish we would stop using the word Capitalism. It is a 19th-century term, derived from 19th-century economic philosophy. But today people who would run a mile from any suggestion that they had Marxist sympathies freely use…
Food security’s social network
by Leah Samberg Minneapolis – In 2015, when the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were officially adopted, the clock began ticking on an ambitious goal: ending global hunger by 2030. At the time, that target seemed achievable; during the previous…
Trump’s launch of a global trade war
Penang, 15 Mar (Martin Khor) – Last week’s action by President Donald Trump has ended the United States’ leadership on liberal trade and may trigger a global trade war with major damaging consequences.
With Solar Alliance time is up for shift to green energy
Mostafa Kamal Majumder Environmentalist Sajid Kamal, son of eminent poet Begum Sufia Kamal, said about two decades ago – Bangladesh is a goldmine of solar energy. Before the present players started installing solar home systems in the country on a…
We must talk to each other to solve gender inequality
By Monique Barbut Bonn, Mar 12 (IPS) – The international community agreed on the global Goal of achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030. But we can’t reach it – not even by 2050 – until we talk to…
Syria’s ‘Human Catastrophe’
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage UN, Mar 7 (IPS) – Despite calls for a ceasefire, violent clashes have continued and humanitarian access remains limited in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, leaving the international community extremely concerned.
The new CPTPP trade pact is much like the old TPP
By Martin Khor Penang, Malaysia, Mar 7 (IPS) – The new agreement that eleven countries are signing on 8 March in Chile in place of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is like old wine in a new bottle —…
On track for extinction: Can humanity survive?
Robert J. Burrowes Anyone reading the scientific literature (or the progressive news outlets that truthfully report this literature) knows that homo sapiens sapiens is on the fast track to extinction, most likely some time between 2025 and 2040.
Use new data tools to transform research on Gender Equality
Danielle Nierenberg March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate the economic, social, cultural, political, and agricultural achievements of women all around the world. This year’s theme is #PressforProgress, a call to women everywhere to unite against gender…
EU takes a beating in Italy elections: When will they ever learn
In Chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament of the Judeo-Christian Bible, mysterious writing begins to appear on a plaster wall during a feast presided over by the Babylon king Belshazzar. When none of the king’s…
Outline of a new world currency system
The financial and economic crisis and the drastic situation in the Eurozone have shown the limitations of liberalised markets in ensuring – of their own accord – some sort of consistent order. For more than thirty years, our politicians have…
Making the business case for gender equality
Achim Steiner and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka New York – Around the world, gender bias is attracting renewed attention. Through protest marches and viral social-media campaigns, women everywhere are demanding an end to sexual harassment, abuse, femicide, and inequality.
More Europe is more freedom
Will the period of postings be shortened from 24 months to 12 (with a potential 6-month extension) as proposed last week by the negotiators on behalf of the European Parliament, the Council and Commission? The current talks between European Parliament…
Rise of feminism and the renewed battle for women’s rights
By Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini Washington DC, Mar (IPS) – In 1909, the Socialist Party of America, in support of female garment workers protesting working conditions, designated March 8 as a day to honor women. By 1917, women in Russia were protesting…
Women peace laureates condemn inaction on Rohingya genocide
Nobel Laureates Mairead Maguire, Shirin Ebadi and Tawakkol Karman met with more than 100 women refugees in camps in the coastal Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh this week, as well as travelling to the “no man’s land” where thousands of…
When students stand up
Jo Becker Two weeks ago, 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez didn’t even have a Twitter account. Today, @Emma4Change is approaching 1 million followers, far exceeding those of the National Rifle Association. Her “We Call BS” speech, delivered just three days after the…
A long way still to achieving gender equality: Int’l Women’s Day
By Akinwumi A. Adesina Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Mar 1 (IPS) – International Women’s Day is a call to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of women and a reminder that globally, we are a long way from achieving gender equality.
Security Council resolutions are meaningful only when implemented
GENEVA, Feb 28- As this is the first time I have the opportunity to address a UN body after the Security Council resolution of last Saturday on Syria, allow me please to say a few words in that regard.
The next stage of women’s emancipation
February 6, 2018, marked the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which enfranchised (some) women in Britain for the first time – a reward for women’s work during World War I. In honor of this historic event, statues…
Technology versus democracy
Instagram, a photo-sharing platform owned by Facebook, recently caved in to a demand by the Russian government that it remove posts by opposition leader Alexey Navalny alleging misconduct on the part of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko. In a…
West Asia in flux: Connecting the dots
By Chandra Muzaffar A series of events linked to West Asia in the last nine months has brought to the surface the under-currents and cross-currents in the region’s perennial struggle between occupation and hegemony, on the one hand, and resistance…