OPINION

Photo: Local residents in Kaliningrad at "Immortal regiment", carrying portraits of their ancestors who fought in World War II, on Victory Day in Kaliningrad, 9 May 2017. CC BY-SA 4.0

Military Confrontation with Russia in Kaliningrad Is Dangerous

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “What idiocy”, exclaims Jack Matlock on Facebook. Matlock is one of my “Facebook Friends” because I judge his knowledge of Russia as second to none, having been under President Ronald Reagan the White House’s senior advisor on the Soviet Union and, later, his ambassador to Moscow.

The object of his ire is based on a Newsday article earlier this month. (The Russian, nation-wide, NTV channel carried the same story in a broadcast on September 23.)

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Russia; 24 September 2019

Photo: Code Pink anti-war activists protest U.S. Senators supporting Saudi-U.S. arms deals, December 2017. CC BY 2.0

Another War Looms over Yemen as Situation Gets Complicated

Viewpoint by Manish Rai

NEW DELHI (IDN) – In August, the port city of Aden, which is currently the seat of exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi government, was captured by southern separatists demanding secession of South Yemen. The separatists are backed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia’s “So Called” partners in Yemen. The recent clashes are not the first time the two sides – that is ,exiled President Hadi and Southern separatists – have engaged in deadly fighting.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 20 September 2019

Photo: Luis Alfonso de Alba, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Summit, briefs press on the high-Level meetings of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly. 17 September 2019. United Nations, New York

Young People Are Right About Climate Change

Viewpoint by Luis Alfonso de Alba

The writer is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Climate Action Summit.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Climate change is not a far-away problem – it is causing huge damage right now in Asia-Pacific and around the world. From air pollution choking many major cities, to more extreme heat and natural disasters, to one million species at risk, the urgent need for climate action is clear.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 19 September 2019

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

Climate Change: A People-Centered Approach

By Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, President, Soka Gakkai International (SGI)

TOKYO (IDN) – “That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it,” observed Aristotle, highlighting an all-too-common human tendency. His warning is still relevant today, especially in our fight against climate change.

The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, is an international framework to strengthen efforts to mitigate global warming. However, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns, “climate change is moving faster than our efforts to address it,” and is posing a threat to the very survival of humankind. This year alone has seen strong heat waves sweeping over Europe and India, and record high temperatures in the Arctic region including Alaska and Siberia.

: Daisaku Ikeda; OPINION; 19 September 2019

Photo: UN Secretary-General Guterres shakes hands with Chinese President XI while UN censors 100 rights groups on Chinese abuses, blocks publication of joint appeal. Source: UN Watch.

Censorship at the Heart of the UN is a Betrayal of its Charter

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has long been controversial. Back in the days of the Soviet Union, Moscow protected communist and ultra-socialist dictators around the world from any attack on their human rights abuses. At the same time routine attacks on Israel, even the extravagant ones, were given free reign in the Council.

Indeed, this still continues with the protagonists often unable in their minds to separate criticizing Israel, which deserves it, with criticizing the religion of Judaism, so-called anti-Semitism. (One should add that many Jews conflate the two as well.)

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 17 September 2019

Photo: Outgoing IMF Chief Christine Lagarde. Source: IMF Flickr

Keeping Up Anti-Corruption Momentum in the Post-Lagarde IMF

Viewpoint by M. Emilia Berazategui

The author is Global Advocacy Coordinator at Transparency International, the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption

BERLIN (IDN) – In recent years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly demonstrated its ambition to play a leading role in tackling corruption worldwide. Under the leadership of Christine Lagarde, it made public commitments at the 2016 UK Anti-Corruption Summit and during the High Level Segment of the 2018 International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Denmark.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 13 September 2019

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr Patrick I. Gomes at the first-ever United Nations Trade Forum, organized by UNCTAD in Geneva, Switzerland, from 9 to 13 September 2019. Credit: Timothy Sullivan (UNCTAD)

ACP Reiterates Call for Urgent Ambitious Climate Action

Viewpoint by Dr. Patrick I. Gomes

The writer is the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). Following are extensive excerpts from his presentation at the United Nations Trade Forum from 9-13 September 2019 in the Session ‘Climate Action and Trade’ in Geneva.

GENEVA (IDN) – The ACP Group of States shares with the great majority of well-informed persons, globally, that climate change is the most significant challenge, this century, for the achievement of sustainable development on planet Earth.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 13 September 2019

Top Photo by Robert Mandel: Boris Johnson as one of the figures satirised on a float created by anti-Brexit protesters in Manchester. CC BY 4.0

Burning Down the House

Viewpoint by John Feffer

The author is the director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies and this viewpoint is published with his kind permission. It was written prior to the latest events in the UK Parliament.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – Doesn’t idiocy ever take a vacation?

As August wound down, the populist troika of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsonaro proved once again that the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil would be better off with no leaders rather than the dubious characters that currently pretend to govern these countries.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 September 2019

Photo: Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest, near Manaus. CC BY-SA 2.0

The Emerald Forests Need Not Die

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Belem is the Brazilian city at the mouth of the Amazon. Unlike its slummy counterpart, Kinshasa, at the mouth of the Congo, it’s full of resplendent streets with beautiful nineteenth century houses. It has squares and marketplaces full of cafes, fountains and life.

The large city grew up shipping rubber from the Amazon forest, which begins on its doorstep. This made it wealthy. One can see the beautiful baroque Theatre of Peace, a fluffy pink building where Anna Pavlova danced. On the main square, ornate with pavements of black and white quartz, is the Hotel Grao Para where Xavier Cugat and his orchestra would play and Zsa Zsa Gabor would stop over on her way, by propeller plane, on the slow flight to Rio.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 10 September 2019

Photo credit: U.S: National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Continuing Upsurge in Costs of U.S. Nuclear Warheads

Viewpoint by Kingston Reif

The writer is the Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy at the Arms Control Association. This article was first published in Arms Control Today (ACT).

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – The estimated cost of sustaining U.S. nuclear warheads and their supporting infrastructure continues to rise, according to the Energy Department’s latest annual report on the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.