News stories by Purnaka de Silva

NEW YORK, Oct 24 (IPS) - The bloodletting in Israel-Palestine is nothing new, perhaps the ferocity and intensity has become much worse and more frenetic. Ever since the Zionist project to establish a Jewish nation took hold in 1948, and flourished thereafter, the local inhabitants, mostly Arab Muslims and Christians, were displaced in the power equation and became dispossessed in every sense of the word.

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (IPS) - The opioid addiction crisis in the United States is an acute public health emergency and a profound threat to national security – which is caused by the over-prescription, misuse, illegal production, and criminal trafficking and sale of opioid pharmaceutical drugs to Americans. It is estimated that over 130 people die every day from opioid overdoses in the U.S.

NEW YORK, Jan 25 (IPS) - The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the principal organ within the United Nations System that is mandated under the tenets of the UN Charter for maintaining international peace and security. The focus here is to prevent and resolve international conflicts and disputes – i.e., using diplomatic means and leverage, as well as international treaties and laws that protect human rights and govern the rules of war.

NEW YORK, May 10 (IPS) - Mr. Vladimir Putin’s illegal War of Aggression in Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, brought into stark relief the fractured state of Global Peace and Security. Militarized conflicts, civilian deaths and forced migration in the tens of millions have been ongoing for decades, with little or no relief to the beleaguered victims.

NEW YORK, Feb 28 (IPS) - Russian President and former intelligence officer Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been at the helm of power since 1999, promoting jingoistic nationalism to keep his hold on power and creating a democratic deficit on the home front.

NEW YORK, Nov 04 (IPS) - “Working together means we widen the number of like-minded actors towards a common good” –Dr. Azza Karam, Secretary-General of Religions for Peace International.

As global leaders and civil society actors participate in COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is a significant problem that must be tackled.

NEW YORK, Apr 22 (IPS) - Dr. Purnaka L. ("PL") de Silva is Director, Institute for Strategic Studies and Democracy (ISSD) Malta

"If we believe in absurdities we shall commit atrocities" - Voltaire

I returned from attending a three-hour Easter Sunday mass at the Fordham University Church around midnight New York time on May 20, 2019, when my phone rang and a colleague asked me what's going on in Sri Lanka? I said what is going on?

NEW YORK, Jan 05 (IPS) - "Unity is the path. Our future depends on it," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as he issued an unequivocal global ‘Red Alert' in his New Year message on December 31, 2017.