THE WORLD

Photo: An Indian fighter jet flies over Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, on June 25, after the border showdown between Delhi and Beijing. Source: Bangkok Post.

Prelude to a China-India Strategic Showdown?

Viewpoint by PS Suryanarayana*

This article first appeared on East Asia Forum on 5 July 2020. You might also read a related article: Cultural Wisdom Might Help Resolve India-China Conflict

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Perpetual border tensions between Asia's biggest neighbours turned ominous in the harsh Himalayan terrain of the Galwan Valley in the twilight of June 15, 2020. The agreed de-escalation of a nearly 40-day confrontation was to take place in that valley in the western sector of disputed Sino–Indian boundary.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 09 July 2020

Photo: Voting station in Kamchatka Krai in the Far East region of Russia, with a population of 322,079. CC BY-SA 4.0

Putin's "Soft Authoritarian" Regime and Russian Freedom

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – One of the founders of Russia's Pussy Riot rock band, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, was interviewed at length on the BBC this past weekend. She has no time for President Vladimir Putin. When the group played inside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour she was sent to jail for two years for "religious hatred". She doesn’t seem bitter but she seems damning. She thinks that last week’s referendum on a new constitution was only held to cement Putin in power for another couple of decades. She barely discussed the other articles of the constitution.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 07 July 2020

Photo: Cape Coast Castle's 'Door of No Return' that slaves would pass through right before they were put on ships to the Americas and elsewhere. Source, Wikimedia Commons.

'Black Lives Matter' Continues to Spur Changes in Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – As Americans explore the renaming of army bases, statues, streets, and schools that honour racist slave-holders or portray demeaning relationships between whites and Black, Brown and Latinx citizens, similar efforts are underway in Senegal and Liberia most recently.

Goree, an island in Senegal linked closely with slave trade, has decided to rename one of its main squares in response to the anti-racist movements around the world.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 July 2020

Photo: The shooting dead of popular Ethiopian political singer Hachalu Hundessa has sparked unrest in the country. Hundessa is considered a voice for Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, the Oromo, during years of anti-government protest. He is a Nobel Peace laureate. Source: DW Africa.

Murder of Popular Protest Singer Swells Opposition Against Ethiopian Leader

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ethiopian protest singer and revered musician Hachalu Hundessa sang about love and unity, recalled his friend Amensisa Ifa, raising issues that many would not dare to bring up.

He addressed issues of marginalization – capturing the struggles and frustrations of his Oromo people who faced efforts by successive Ethiopian regimes to destroy the Oromoo language, exploit its precious resources, and expropriate Oromo lands into an expanded Addis Ababa.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 July 2020

Photo: Whatever Trump is up to this time, the world can almost be sure that this president won’t go away, quietly. Source. Washington Monthly. Credit: The Epoch Times/Flickr

Will Trump Go, If He Loses?

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – After three and a half years of his presidency, US President Donald Trump appears to have exhausted all surprises in the bag, except, of course, the next one. And that next one could be the big one: Will Trump leave the White House if he loses the presidency on November 3?

Discussions about it first started in hushed tones and informal offline chats. But as poll after poll predicted a bleak future for Trump, discussions about his reaction to a possible defeat have been forced into the open.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 July 2020

Photo: Algeria receives with full honours the skulls of 24 resistance fighters decapitated during French colonial rule that were held in storage in a Paris museum. Source: Algerian TV

France Returns Remains of Algerian Resistance Fighters

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – "The martyrs are returning home." Those were the words of noted historian Malika Rahal on learning that the remains of 24 Algerian resistance fighters, killed in the Algerian independence war of 1954-62, would be flown back to Algeria after years kept by the French in a museum’s storage area.

"The body parts of those who fought the conquest of their country are returning home after a very long stay in cardboard boxes at the Musee de l'Homme in Paris," Rahal said.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 July 2020

Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Indian troops during his visit to the forward post at Nimu in Ladakh, Friday, July 3, 2020. Credit: PIB/PTI

Cultural Wisdom Might Help Resolve India-China Conflict

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 42nd in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a special address given on Asadha Poornima day on July 4 marking the anniversary of Gautama Buddha's first sermon said Buddhism teaches respect for people, and respect for peace and nonviolence.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 06 July 2020

Photo: Women tend a community nursery created as part of a completed ITTO project to assist forest landscape restoration in Togo. Credit: ODEF

A Landmark Project Aims at Reforestation in Togo

Income Opportunities for Women

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – Togo in West Africa is the venue of a milestone project between Soka Gakkai, a global community-based Buddhist organization and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). The two have signed a memorandum to launch a reforestation project offering income opportunities for women's groups in two rural areas of Togo.

The memorandum involving a donation of 10 million yen (US$93,300) for the initial one-year phase of the project was signed on July 1 at the Soka Gakkai (SG) headquarters in Tokyo. The project will kick off on September 1.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 05 July 2020

Collage: Backdrop population and environment image from Kullabs with photo of Malthus from Brittanica.

Malthus Revisited: Close Relationship between Population and Environment

Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*

COPENHAGEN (IDN) – The total human population and economy have imposed excessive weight on the global environment, as discussed in my new book circulated and freely downloadable from http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Malthus-Revisited-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf

Thomas Rpbert Malthus' "Essay on The Principle of Population", the first edition of which was published in 1798, was one of the first systematic studies of the problem of population in relation to resources. Earlier discussions of the problem had been published by Boterro in Italy, Robert Wallace in England, and Benjamin Franklin in America.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 05 July 2020

India's First COVID-19 Vaccine Gets Nod for Human Clinical Trials

News briefs compiled by Suresh Jaura*

TORONTO | NEW DELHI (IDN) – The focus of news in Indian media in the second half of June was on the start of human trials by India's 'first' indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, a nod to Indian start-ups to participate in space activities, emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975, persecution of 'dissenters', restrictions against Chinese goods, and Russian assurances to stand-off with India against China.