OPINION

Photo: UN General Assembly. Source: The Daily Star

Bangladesh’s Abstention from The UN Resolution on The Ukraine War Is Justified

Viewpoint by M Rafiqul Islam

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. This article was issued by The Daily Star of Bangladesh and is being republished with their permission.

SYDNEY (IDN) — The UN General Assembly emergency session adopted a resolution against Russia's aggression in Ukraine on 2 March 2022. It was adopted by 141 votes of total 193 members with 5 negative votes and 35 abstentions of which Bangladesh was one. Given the highly polarised geopolitical orientation of current international relations and UN operational narratives, this write-up argues that the pragmatic decision of Bangladesh was justified.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 March 2022

NATO Is Far from Obsolete

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — What does ex-president Donald Trump think about NATO? Twice during his campaigning, he rubbished it publicly, saying it was “obsolete”. Three years ago the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said NATO was “brain-dead.

Is it obsolete or brain-dead or both?

: Jonathan Power; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 16 March 2022

Tiny Pacific Atolls Battered by King Tides as IPCC Makes Big Waves

Viewpoint by Volker Boege

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — On 25 February, the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea (PNG) declared a State of Emergency in the Atolls Constituency of the region. On 28 February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest climate science report.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 March 2022

Photo: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine—i

Never Too Late for Peace in Ukraine

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa

NEW YORK (IDN) — Once again, destruction, bloodshed, migration of millions of people, shattered economies, and hardship for average people all over the world.

Russia attacked Ukraine though Russia’s President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukraine, and that the "special military operation" is directed at "demilitarization" and "denazification" in Ukraine.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 14 March 2022

Image: Destruction in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion. Source: The Daily Star.

The Ukraine Crisis Amid Fractured International Legal Order — Hypocrisy of the Powerful

Viewpoint by M Rafiqul Islam

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. This article was issued by The Daily Star of Bangladesh and is being republished with their permission.

SYDNEY (IDN) — The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine once again has solicited world attention to the international legal order that has repeatedly been fractured by powerful states in the post-cold war era. Obviously, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is illegal in international law and a clear violation of the peremptory norm of prohibition of force in international relations and non-intervention under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 March 2022

Photo: Euromaidan crowds in Kyiv on 19 February 2014. CC BY 3.0

How the U.S. Has Empowered and Armed 'Neo-Nazis' in Ukraine

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — Russian President Putin has claimed that he ordered the invasion of Ukraine to “denazify” its government, while Western officials, such as former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, have called this pure propaganda, insisting, “There are no Nazis in Ukraine.”

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 10 March 2022

The World is Plunging into a Dangerous New Cold War 2.0

Viewpoint by Dr Joseph Gerson

The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security

NEW YORK (IDN) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s repeated tense threats to resort to genocidal nuclear attacks if the West intervenes more directly in Ukraine must be universally condemned and opposed.

Despite Putin having told President Macron that he intends to take all of Ukraine, as demonstrations today are demanding, we must press for an immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukraine and negotiations.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 09 March 2022

Image credit: Blog of the Association of World Citizens

Russia-Ukraine Conflict: A World Citizen Calls for Upholding International Humanitarian Law

Viewpoint by René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) —The invasion by Russian troops into Ukraine has raised in a dramatic way the issue of the respect of international humanitarian law. There have been reports of the use of cluster munitions fired into civilian areas. The Association of World Citizens (AWC) was very active on efforts which led to the convention banning cluster weapons.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 09 March 2022

Are we Heading Toward WWIII & Nuclear War?

Viewpoint by Alice Slater

The writer serves on the Boards of World Beyond War, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. She is also the UN NGO representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

NEW YORK (IDN) — It has become unbearable to observe the western media, in the grip of corrupt military contractors, wielding their undue influence on the unknowing victims of the media “news” reports as they publicly and shamelessly celebrate their enormous profits this year from the billions of dollars in weapons they are selling to keep the Ukraine war going.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 09 March 2022

Photo: Henry Kissinger played a leading role in U.S. diplomatic and military policy during the Vietnam War. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Concept of A 'Common European House' Shouldn't Be Consigned to Oblivion

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The Russian European dreamers have included Pushkin, Lenin, Gorbachev and, until relatively recently, President Vladimir Putin. They have all seen their country’s future as part of the “European house”. But history and events have not been kind to Russia. Napoleon’s invasion, revolution, two world wars including Hitler’s invasion, almost up to the gates of Moscow as was Napoleon’s, Stalin’s communism and, most recently, the expansion of NATO, have shattered the dream again and again.