OPINION

Photo: The writer. Credit: Orange Business Services

Why African Retailers Should Shift to Data-Driven Business

Viewpoint Toros Esim

The writer is Head of Digital Retail and Regional Director of Digital Strategy for the Middle East & Africa at Orange Business Services. Views expressed are the writer’s.

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – In a continent the size of Africa, comprising more than 50 countries, it can be very tempting to make sweeping generalisations about the adoption of digital technologies, and the transformation of the retail sector across the continent. The potential scale of the opportunity cannot be ignored – the large and young population, emergence of a middle class, strong retail revenues and second fastest growing consumer region in world.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 07 June 2019

Photo: Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC), has close ties to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. CC BY-SA 4.0

Era of Dissent & Defiance Inspired by 2011 Popular Arab Revolts

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Demonstrators in Sudan, Algeria and nations beyond the Middle East such as Pakistan and Russia are applying lessons learnt from the 2011 popular Arab revolts as the Sudanese military uses an apparent Saudi-United Arab Emirates template to crush protestors.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 06 June 2019

Photo: Grand Cascade of Peterhof. CC BY-SA 4.0

Russia Isn't a Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – I’m on the 250 km/hour train hurtling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it suddenly clicks in my mind. My apologies for being so stupid, but despite regular trips to Russia over many years I have only suddenly got it – I too have been brainwashed about Russia by Western politicians, media and authors, like nearly everyone else.

What I noticed in Moscow and what I’ve seen in St Petersburg on previous trips is that, yes, I am, indeed I am, in a normal Western big city environment. Both cities are grand in different ways. St Petersburg, with its museums, palaces, great churches, canals and river, its rich store of art (probably second only to the Louvre) and its musical life (the Marriinsky theatre is the epicenter of world ballet) is arguably the most beautiful and imposing of all the world’s cities.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 04 June 2019

Call for Renewed Efforts to Resolve Asian Maritime Dispute

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) – June 8 has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the World Oceans Day to highlight the important role that the United Nations has played in creating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Nevertheless there are maritime delimitation disputes that are currently dangerous and require good-faith negotiations to prevent increased tensions. World Citizens have played an important role in the Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS) negotiations and in the creation of the International Seabed Authority and its Tribunal on maritime deliberation issues.

: Rene Wadlow; OPINION; 04 June 2019

Photo: Screenshot of IISS Video of China’s defense chief Wei Fenghe addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting in Singapore, June 2, 2019.

Beware the Early Warning Signs of Legitimising Repression of Minority Rights

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 03 June 2019

Photo: A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam performs a flyover during the opening ceremonies of Aero India 2019 at Air Force Station Yelahanka, India Feb. 20 (U.S. Air Force/Senior Master Sgt. Pedro Jimenez)

U.S. Targeting of Iran Is a Grave Travesty of Justice

Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar

The writer, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – A dangerous flashpoint has emerged in world politics at the moment. There is widespread fear that the United States and its allies might launch a military operation against Iran at any time. A U.S. aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers are already deployed in the region. The alleged sabotage of four oil tankers, two of them Saudi, and the attack on a major oil pipeline are being linked in certain circles without an iota of evidence to Tehran. There is no need to repeat that scenarios of this sort are often manufactured to justify military aggression.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 03 June 2019

Protect Pristine Areas from Relentless Development

Viewpoint by Dominick A. DellaSala, William J. Ripple and Franz Baumann

This article was first published in San Francisco Examiner on May 29, 2019. While Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., is chief scientist for the Geos Institute in Ashland, William J. Ripple, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of ecology at Oregon State University and the initiator of the Alliance of World Scientists. Franz Baumann, Ph.D., is a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and a visiting research professor at New York University. – The Editor

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 01 June 2019

Photo: A blue whale dives releasing a lovely waterfall. Credit: Michael Fishbach

Ship Strikes Killing Whales That Survived the Hunters

Viewpoint by Michael Fishbach and Dr Palitha Kohona

"Like elephants on land, whales in their watery domain, have claimed our attention now for roughly the same reasons. Ancient, large and driven to the edge of extinction by human greed, we must double our efforts to conserve them," say the authors of this article. Michael Fishbach is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Great Whale Conservancy. Dr Palitha Kohona spent time in Antarctica in the last Antarctic summer.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 31 May 2019

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres receives the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany on 30 May 2019. Credit: UNFCCC/James Dowson.

The United Nations Need a Strong and United Europe

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The following are extensive excerpts from the Secretary-General's address on May 30, 2019 in Germany at the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, the ancient continental capital for the Unity of Europe, close to the French border, where he received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, awarded each year since 1950, for services towards European unification. The European Union, which grew out of the ashes of two world wars, has forged “an exemplary partnership” with the United Nations, said the UN chief, and the breakup of the 28-nation political and economic bloc, “would inevitably be the failure of multilateralism and the failure of a world in which the rule of law can prevail”. – The Editor

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 30 May 2019

What Five Years of Modi Rule Mean for the Indian Democracy

Viewpoint by Ram Puniyani

This article is the seventh in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

MUMBAI (IDN) – The result of 2019 Lok Sabha polls are out and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has come back to power, with BJP increasing its percentage of votes and the number of seats. This came as per the prediction of BJP leaders, particularly Amit Shah who stated before the results that BJP will cross the three hundred mark.