OPINION

Photo: King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Source: The Moroccan Times

A Moment of Reckoning for Decentralisation in Morocco

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir is a sociologist and Founder President of the High Atlas Foundation, based in Marrakech, Morocco, working to establish livelihood advancement projects – all of which are identified and managed by local communities, in partnership with the public, private and civil sectors.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Morocco’s parliament is currently deciding the nation’s Decentralisation Charter. Since its working draft is not currently made public, we can only hope that every parliamentarian realises that the human development course of the nation and the relationships between public, civil and private institutions depend upon the creation of a meaningful charter.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 01 December 2018

Photo: Protest against U.S. involvement in the military intervention in Yemen, New York City, 2017. CC BY 2.0

U.S. Senate Vote on Yemen Rebukes Trump and Saudis

Viewpoint by Mark Weisbrot

This article was published by The Guardian on November 30, 2018. Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and the president of Just Foreign Policy. He is also the author of “Failed: What the ‘Experts’ Got Wrong About the Global Economy” (2015, Oxford University Press). You can subscribe to his columns here.

WASHINGTON (IDN-INPS) – It was a resounding defeat for the White House and Republican Senate leadership: by a 63-37 majority, the Senate voted on November 28 to advance legislation that would give President Trump 30 days to get the US military out of Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen, unless he could get congressional authorization for US military intervention. Which he almost certainly could not.

: J Nastranis; OPINION; 30 November 2018

Photo: African Penguin Credit: Mike Barth. Source: www.unep-aewa.org

AEWA - International Environmental Cooperation At Its Best

Viewpoint by Jacques Trouvilliez

Internationalism seems to be falling out of vogue, but Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), holds his organization up as an example of how conservation objectives are being effectively achieved through cross-continental cooperation.

BONN (IDN) – The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) is a good, and certainly not the only example of international cooperation working well. It is a UN Treaty which operates on the basis of concerted actions. It has 78 members including the European Union with another 41 countries within its area eligible to join.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 30 November 2018

Photo: Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 16, 2018. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/Public Domain]

Keeping Saudi Arabia Nuclear-Free

Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson

The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security and author of ‘Empire and the Bomb’.

NEW YORK (IDN) – There is growing concern over the ruthless Crown Prince’s campaign to purchase $80 billion of U.S. nuclear power plant designs and technologies from the U.S. and his reported insistence on producing Saudi Arabia’s own nuclear fuel – a potential path to nuclear weapons development.

Concerns that Saudi Arabia aspires to become a nuclear power need to be seen in the larger context of the dangerous ambitions and delusions of power hungry elites, nuclear and otherwise.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 30 November 2018

Photo: Prime Minister Imran Khan and Premier Li Keqiang signed important MOUs during the former's first visit to China early November. Credit: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Baloch Separatists' Attack on Chinese Consulate Has a Message

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandran*

Balochistan – the largest of the four provinces of Pakistan in terms of land area, forming the southwestern region of the country – is aggrieved at not getting its due share of development out of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), flagship of the Belt and Road Initiative. This has caused resentment and, combined with the suppression of Baloch rights and aspirations, is a powder keg.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The storming of the Chinese consulate in Karachi on November 24 by three heavily armed suicide squad members of a Baloch separatist group is loaded with meaning and message. It should be read correctly for understanding what gave rise to the attack and how the conditions that caused it may be eliminated.

: Shastri Ramachandran; OPINION; 29 November 2018

Photo: After over 1,000 days into the Saudi bombing of Yemen, which is almost entirely UK/US equipped and supported, the first large protest took place in London in Match 2018 outside Downing Street. CC BY-SA 2.0

Let Saudi Arabia Suffer Until bin Salman is Brought to Justice

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – How can Saudi Arabia be brought low? If the King won’t remove from power his 33-year old son, Prince Mohammad bin Salman, there may be no alternative but to do battle (non-violently) with its regime.

There seems to be no doubt that it was bin Salman who gave the order to murder Saudi Arabia’s dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

This is not the only reason to take up (non-violent) arms against Saudi Arabia. Others are its massive buying of Western military hardware. Another is its war in Yemen where it has killed tens of thousands of civilians. Another is that it still follows the intolerant strictures of the Wahabi sect of Islam.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 November 2018

Asia-Pacific Reviews Ambitious Targets of 1994 Cairo Conference

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Natalia Kanem

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Dr. Natalia Kanem is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Ministers and senior policymakers across Asia and the Pacific are gathered in Bangkok up to November 28 to focus on population dynamics at a crucial time for the region. Their goal: to keep people and rights at the heart of the region’s push for sustainable development. They will be considering how successful we have been in balancing economic growth with social imperatives, underpinned by rights and choices for all as enshrined in the landmark Programme of Action stemming from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, or ICPD.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 27 November 2018

Photo: Dr. Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, paid his first State Visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi, from 15-17 February 2018. Credit: pmindia.gov.in

Iran Looks East in the Face of Crippling U.S. Sanctions

Viewpoint by Micha’el Tanchum

The author is a Fellow at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University and an affiliated scholar with the Center for Strategic Studies at Başkent University in Ankara, Turkey (Başkent-SAM). This article first appeared in EastAsiaForum on 22 November 2018.

ANKARA (IDN-INPS) – Tehran has taken a significant step toward creating a multilateral framework for Eurasian security cooperation by convening its first ‘Regional Security Dialogue’ summit in late September 2018 with deputy national security advisers from Russia, China and India. In the face of U.S.-led international sanctions, Tehran’s efforts to develop multilateral security cooperation are providing a framework for Asia’s giants to partner with Iran.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 26 November 2018

Stop Preventable Scourge of Violence Against Women

By UN Women

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – To commemorate this year's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Secretary-General's UNiTE Campaign is calling upon us to stand in solidarity with survivors and survivor advocates and women's human rights defenders who are working to prevent and end violence against women and girls. Our duty is not only to stand in solidarity with them but also to intensify our efforts to find solutions and measures to stop this preventable global scourge with a detrimental impact on women's and girls' lives and health.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 25 November 2018

Photo: Colombo skyline in November 2017. Tallest buildings from left to right: Altair, Hilton Residence, Access Tower II, Empire Towers, Parkland Building (short white building), OnThree20, Lotus Tower. CC BY-SA 4.0

Continuing Political Instability Impacting Economic Policy-Making in Sri Lanka

By Friday Forum

The following media release issued by the Friday Forum (FF) on November 22, 2018 expresses grave concern about the situation in the aftermath of Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena's move to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and prorogue Parliament on October 26, 2018. The FF is an informal group of concerned citizens pledged to uphold norms of democracy, good governance, rule of law, human rights, media freedom and tolerance in our pluralist society. – The Editor

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – The FF shares the despair and disgust of most Sri Lankans with recent political events in the country that have now spiralled into a serious impasse in governance. The economic, social and political repercussions of this crisis will undoubtedly cause a serious set-back to the sustained and inclusive development and reconciliation that our nation urgently needs.