OPINION

Photo: Although the German composer J.S. Bach never visited China in his lifetime, his statue now welcomes visitors entering Shanghai from the city's main railway station. CC BY-SA 3.0

Germany Must Help Shape Faltering Multilateral World Order

Prof Dr Jiang Feng chairs the University Council of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) in China. This article first appeared on International Politics and Society Journal, published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Brussels office.

SHANGHAI | BRUSSELS (IDN-INPS) – For German government representatives and top politicians visiting China, a quick trip to Shanghai has almost become obligatory. The city’s rapid development provides a wealth of reasons for admiration and astonishment. Germans are often surprised that it’s much more modern than people generally assume and that it offers a very different picture from the one conveyed in the German press.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 December 2019

Photo: Jorge Chediek, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation. Credit: UNOSSC.

South-South Cooperation Offers Solutions to Urgent Climate Challenges

Viewpoint by Jorge Chediek

The author is Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. At stake are recent gains in the fights against poverty, hunger and disease, and the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the global South.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 06 December 2019

Photo: A view of Sigiriya and Pidurangala from the Aliya resort. Credit: Dr. Palitha Kohona

Climate Change – What is in Store for Sri Lanka?

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The annual Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) began in Madrid on December 2, largely unnoticed in Sri Lanka which is just settling down after a bruising presidential election. But given the critical importance of climate change to this beautiful island with its miles of unspoilt beaches, populated low lands, breathtaking tea covered mountains, and weather dependent agriculture, it should have received more attention.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 05 December 2019

Photo: Collage of Inge Kaul’s photo (left top – Credit: UNESCO) mounted on UN Chief Guterres’ addressing the opening of COP25 (Credit: twitter.com/antonioguterres)

From the ‘War Against Nature’ to ‘Peace with Nature’

Viewpoint by Inge Kaul*

BERLIN (IDN) – In his opening address to COP25 UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that, in the field of climate change, we are fast approaching the point of no-return and that, therefore, “our war against nature must stop”. He added that “that is possible”. Only, what “is still lacking is political will”. So how to summon the political will to act?

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 December 2019

* Branko Milanović is a visiting professor at the City University of New York. Prior to that, he was a senior economist of the research department at the World Bank. Most recently, he published the book "Global Inequality. A New Approach for the Age of Globalization". This article is a joint publication by Social Europe and International Politics and Society Journal. [IDN-InDepthNews – 04 December 2019]

Small States Become Major Players and Big Cities Outstrip Nation-States

Viewpoint by Branko Milanović*

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a series of books, and especially in Antifragile, Nassim Taleb has introduced an important concept — that of being antifragile, referring to ‘things that gain from disorder’. ‘Fragile’ is, of course, the opposite: it connotes something that thrives under stable conditions but, being brittle, loses, and at times loses big, amid volatility. In the middle, ‘robust’ indicates resilience against uncertainty and turmoil, without the capacity to profit from it.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 December 2019

Collage of photos of Karl Marx, V.I.Lenin and Julius Martov (the Menshevik leader) downloaded from Wikimedia Commons.

What’s Left? What’s Right? Or When Left Is Right

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It goes back to the French revolution of 1789. At the Revolutionary Convention the most radical of the insurgents decided to seat themselves on the left side. “Why not on the other side, the right side, the place of rectitude, where law and the higher rights resided, when man’s best hand could be raised in righteous honour?” wrote Melvin Lasky in what was then Britain’s most influential intellectual monthly, Encounter. “Anyway they went left, and man’s political passions have never been the same since.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 03 December 2019

Image: Flags welcome visitors to the COP25 venue in Madrid. Photo: UN Climate Change / Flickr.

Making COP25 an ‘Ambitious’ Climate Summit

Viewpoint by Cleo Verkuijl

The author is a Research Fellow at Stockholm Research Institute (SEI) Oxford and her main expertise is on climate change law and policy. She joined the SEI Oxford office in March 2017, where she is concentrating on legal and political aspects of fossil fuel subsidies reform. This article first appeared on SEI Website.

OXFORD (IDN) – This year’s UN Climate Change Conference, or COP, marks the 25th such gathering bringing together the world’s governments to negotiate solutions for tackling the climate crisis. A milestone; yet at first glance there is little cause for celebration.

: Santo D. Banerjee; OPINION; 02 December 2019

Photo: Twenty-five years since the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize shared by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat – who negotiated and signed the Oslo Peace Accords – peace continues to evade the Middle East, Palestine-Israel relations remain tense and a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Zone in the region is nowhere in sight. The picture shows Rabin (left) shaking hands with Arafat (right) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2001 | Credit: CC BY-SA World Economic Forum.

Middle Eastern States Are Back on The Path to A WMD Free Zone

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is President of Pugwash and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The establishment of a nuclear weapon free zone in the region of the Middle East has been one of the most frustrating undertakings in the field of arms control and non-proliferation at the United Nations. Over the past few decades it has been possible for States in other regions of the globe to successfully negotiate and adopt treaties that establish nuclear weapon free zones that greatly enhance peace and security.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 01 December 2019

Photo: United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Mr. Adama Dieng, addressing the 12th International Meeting of Justice Ministers. Source: www.santegidio.org.

Defeating Hatred: For a World Without Death Penalty

Viewpoint by Adama Dieng

The following are extensive excerpts from the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Mr. Adama Dieng, to the 12th International Meeting of Justice Ministers, on 29 November in Rome. The meeting focussed on ‘Paving the Way: Defeating Hatred for a World Without Death Penalty’. Mr. Dieng is former board member of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and a former registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 30 November 2019

Photo: IRGC's Naval special forces, S.N.S.F. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Iranian Agents Likely to Target U.S. and European Assets

Viewpoint by Syafruddin Arsyad*

JAKARTA (IDN) – As the Iranian leaders are now feeling the pressure of the full sanctions on Iranian oil and the terror-designation of Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), they will try and shift much of the IRGC’s human resources and assets into Iranian intelligence service that operates under Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

The developing scenarios in the Middle East and the last year’s thwarted Paris explosion plot suggest that MOIS operatives might be used against U.S. and European interests and assets globally, particularly in Western soil.