OPINION

Photo: Crosses marking some of the 16,142 graves at the Douaumont cemetery, the largest military cemetery in France. On each plaque, below the personal details of the soldier, is Mort pour la France ("[One who] died for France"). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Wars were and are far from Inevitable

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Frederick the Great of Prussia was a friend of Voltaire and enjoyed ribald evenings with the philosopher discussing the intricacies of life’s dos and don’ts. Before becoming king he was persuaded by Voltaire to become a pacifist. But on ascending to the throne he became the most ferocious and successful of Europe’s warrior leaders. He said of himself that he was “doomed to make war just as an ox must plow, a nightingale sing and a dolphin swim in the sea.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 20 June 2017

Photo: UNODC Chief Yury Fedotov. | Credit: UNODC

Organised Crime Threatening Security and Development in Southeast Asia

By Yury Fedotov

The author is the Executive Director of the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Following are extensive excerpts from his remarks – made available by the UN Information Service – at the UN General Assembly side event on transnational organized crime challenges and responses in Southeast Asia on June 19, 2017. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Transnational organized crime is a growing challenge to security and development in Southeast Asia. It threatens the very foundations of the rule of law, the integrity of public institutions, and the basic security and health of people and communities.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 19 June 2017

Photo: Dr. Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

Japan Urged to Participate in Nuclear Ban Treaty Negotiations

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and peacebuilder, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, has expressed regrets that the Japanese government did not participate in the first session of the UN Conference to negotiate a nuclear ban treaty, and urged it to work with the Netherlands in the second session from June 15 to July 7, thus making "a unique and vital contribution to the success of the negotiations".

The centerpiece of negotiations is “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.”

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 June 2017

Photo: President Donald Trump with senior advisors in a makeshift situation room at Trump’s Mar a Lago estate in Florida, April 7, 2017. (White House photo)

Trump has Cards Up his Sleeves to Avoid Impeachment

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - “The best lack all conviction”, wrote the Irish poet, William Yeats, “while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Is this not true of America today?

Some of the “best” are working to bring down President Donald Trump, yet are they ready to cut to the chase? He has cards up his sleeve. He came to power partly because he won the support of working class and lower middle class whites who were prepared to vote against their economic interest for the sake of the nationalism that Trump espoused. Neither Keir Hardie nor Franklin Roosevelt nor Bernie Sanders were their leader. It was Trump.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 13 June 2017

Photo: ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes.

Unlocking the Potential of the Blue Economy

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from the opening remarks by the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) at the breakfast event – 'Unlocking the potential of the blue economy for the Sustainable Development of SIDS' – on June 6 in the margins of the Oceans Conference at the UN headquarters in New York. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – There is reason to believe that the year 2017 promises to be an important year for the oceans. With the inclusion of a stand-alone goal for oceans, Sustainable Development Goal 14, we see new impetus at the international efforts to address the current opportunities and challenges that the oceans present.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Oceans, seas and marine resources; 08 June 2017

US President and King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saud Arabia meet during the Riyadh Summit (May 20-21). Credit: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Why Qatar?

Analysis by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – The sudden rupture of diplomatic relations with Qatar announced by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Yemen on Jun. 5 triggers a crisis with unexpected outcomes and is likely to spell big trouble as much for those who wanted it as for the likely behind-the-scenes co-protagonist: the United States.

It takes no stretch of the imagination to argue that this situation, which exploded shortly after US President Donald Trump's May 20-21 visit to Saudi Arabia for the Riyadh Summit, is connected with this trip. On that occasion, the US president assumed two positions that were only formally contradictory but, in substance, reveal the existence of a precise design for further destabilisation in the area.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 June 2017

UN’s Myanmar Fact-Finding Mission Raises Many Questions

By Shenali Waduge

COLOMBO (IDN) - The appointment of a three-member team by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on May 30 to investigate alleged abuses by Myanmar military forces against the country’s Royingya Muslim minority raises many questions about its neutrality, particularly as all the three members have questionable backgrounds as to their fitness to carry out an impartial inquiry.

The three-member panel comprises lawyers Indira Jaising from India and Radhika Coomaraswamy from Sri Lanka, and Australian human rights advocate Christopher Dominic Sidoti, according to a statement from the UNHRC.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; OPINION; 07 June 2017

Photo: Dr. Bradnee Chambers. ©Aydin Bahramlouian

Canada is Nature – Nature is Canada: Celebrating World Environment Day

By Bradnee Chambers

A native of Haliburton, Ontario, Dr. Bradnee Chambers is the Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

BONN (IDN | CMS) - There is nothing more Canadian than nature. It pulses through our veins and it has been part of our identity since the founding of Canada 150 years ago. It defines our history and will define our future. This is why it was such an honour for Canada to host World Environment Day 2017 with its theme “Connecting People with Nature”.

Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change said that she was proud and excited that Canada was chosen as this year’s host country and encouraged her fellow citizens to join the celebrations, and to recommit to leaving a healthier environment for future generations.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 06 June 2017

Photo: An Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile interceptor. Credit: United States Missile Defense Agency | Wikimedia Commons.

Forward to a Mad Cold War with New Nuclear Technologies?

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - It was all smiles out on the range when, against a deep blue sky, an American interceptor rocket took out on May 30 an incoming “enemy” long-range, missile (which in a real attack would be carrying a nuclear warhead). Generals and Congressmen and women jumped for joy.

But what was there to be joyous about? Over the decades of the Cold War the nuclear deterrent was supposed to be the instrument that kept the peace. MAD, it was called- Mutually Assured Destruction.

: Jonathan Power; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 06 June 2017

Photo: Sergio Duarte, then UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, at the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty on September 23, 2011. Credit: James Leynse | Copyright CTBTO Preparatory Commission.

A New UN Nuclear Convention Is In The making

By Sergio Duarte, Ambassador, former High Representative of the UN for Disarmament Affairs*

NEW YORK (IDN) - The timely release of the draft Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by President Elayne Whyte-Gómez well in advance of the start of the second part of the negotiations will permit delegations from Member States and participating non-governmental organizations as well as interested institutions and individuals to study the text and come to the United Nations on June 15 fully prepared to contribute to the finalization of the Convention.