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Photo: Children in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, where alarming violence has erupted. Credit: WFP/Michael Tewelde

Ethnic Strife in Ethiopia Threatens All-Out Civil War

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Those who held high hopes for peace in the Horn of Africa are troubled by the rise in conflicts across the region with fears growing of a potentially destabilizing civil war. The latest conflict pits the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed against the Tigray people who see themselves side-lined from power after almost two decades as head of a coalition that ran the country from 1991 until 2012.

On November 4, Mr. Abiy, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize after making peace with Eritrea, ordered the start of a military offensive against Tigray, accusing the region’s ruling party of attacking a government defence post and attempting to steal artillery and military equipment.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 09 November 2020

Breaking the Culture of Violence to Advance Peace and Security

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The Preamble to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development refers to what is called the 5P’s of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. They capture with such lucid precision what is referred to as “all areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet.”

These are all areas deserving of concerted attention, but the widespread and insidiously yet blatant impact of violence, as the negation of “peace”, might benefit from some reflections. Manifested increasingly in such multiple forms as gender-based violence (GBV), trafficking in persons, ruthless assaults of gun violence, armed conflict, racial supremacist abusive language, ethnic profiling and violent extremism – all span a range of human behaviour that is violent in intent and in effect, resulting in loss of life or life-long injury, at times physical, psychological or both.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 09 November 2020

Reclaiming Public Development Banks to Finance a Sustainable & Equitable Recovery Post Covid-19

Viewpoint by Thomas Marois and Maria Jose Romero *

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Those who work in the world’s public development banks will meet virtually on November 11-12 to discuss their response to the Covid-19 pandemic and their role in a more sustainable future.

This new summit, which they have called ‘Finance in Common’ (FiC), will also bring together the governments that own them and other key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society, think tanks and academia.

: Europe Editor; COVID-19; 08 November 2020

Photo: US Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and President-elect Joe Biden as he arrives for his victory address after being declared the winner in the 2020 presidential election, in Wilmington, Delaware. The National | EPA

Defending Democracy and Our Future: Biden’s Victory and the Struggles Ahead

Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson*

NEW YORK (IDN) – That was one roller coaster of a week! A nasty four years!

Celebrating Biden’s election with others in my hometown, there was joy as drivers’ faces lit up with smiles, women in hijabs and Central American landscapers gave us thumbs up, and hundreds of car horns rang out in support.

People’s joy was an expression of relief at the anticipated departure of a would-be dictator more than a love for Joe Biden. The African-American commentator Van Jones' tearful words spoke for so many:

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 November 2020

Photo: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with the then US Vice President Joe Biden. Source: The Times of Israel.

Biden Is A Veteran Friend of Israel But Against Settlement

By Raphael Ahren

The writer is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel, which published it on November 7, 2020.

JERUSALEM (IDN) – Joe Biden, the newly elected 46th president of the United States, is a true friend of the Jewish state, friends and even political adversaries of the emerging president-elect agree.

“He has a deep feeling for Israel,” said Michael Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the US when Biden was vice president. Oren opposed almost all of the Middle East policies championed by Biden and his boss, Barack Obama, especially on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian question. Still, he annually attended Biden’s Rosh Hashanah party, and asserts that the former Delaware senator is genuinely concerned about Israel’s well-being.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 07 November 2020

Photo: Trump's new apparently low-yield nuclear warhead entered production in 2019. Credit: Ronald Gutridge/U.S. Navy.

Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal Under International Law

A Landmark Victory for the United Nations

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached on October 24 the required 50 signatories for its entry into force on January 22, 2021. It will eventually make nuclear weapons — the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction — illegal under international law.

Unquestionably, it is a landmark victory for the United Nations that continually for 75 years had on its agenda the issues relating to disarmament and abolition of nuclear weapons. It is remarkable that it coincided with the UN’s 75th anniversary, and also the infamous use of atomic bombs in August 1945.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 07 November 2020

Photo: Zanzibar. Credit: Kester Kenn Klomegah

Undeterred by Health Warnings, Russians Begin Flocking to Africa's Islands

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Despite the worsening coronavirus situation in Russia, at least during the months of October and November, Russian tourism agencies have briskly been organizing group tours to the Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar, Seychelles and Mauritius.

Obviously, because the islands seem to have the lowest cases of the pandemic and have taken strict measures to halt the spread of COVID-19. And, these islands are favourite destinations for foreign tourists and have closely diverse geopolitical relations with the world.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 06 November 2020

Photo: A woman casts her vote in Tanzanian elections as an electoral official looks on Credit: DW/E. Boniphase Amas

Trump’s Cousins Can’t Wait to Be Born

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

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

ABUJA (IDN) – I suspected the pregnancy will not be carried to full term and now, it’s playing out. Even before the US electoral monster conceived by President Donald J. Trump was weaned, a few African countries are already taking delivery of their own premature electoral monster babies.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 November 2020

A Rallying Call for Nuclear Weapons Elimination By 2045

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan's Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York has joined the call of civil society for achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons at least by 2045, arguing that setting the 2045 goal would provide a global rallying call to build a strong movement and that would leave no room for being dismissed as unrealistically early by those who rely on nuclear deterrence.

They were speaking at a Webinar on November 2, co-sponsored by Basel Peace Office, IDN-InDepthNews, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), UNFOLD ZERO and #wethepeoples2020. It explored the political value of setting 2045, the 100th anniversary of the United Nations, as the target date by which the global elimination of nuclear weapons should be achieved, if not before.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 November 2020

Featured image: Greenpeace activists protest outside the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shareholder’s meeting held at The Prince Park Tower in Tokyo. They hold a banner which reads: “TEPCO: The worst Ever Polluting Company.” TEPCO is the operator of the crisis-stricken Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which has been emitting radion since it was struck by an earthquake and tsunami on March 2011. The activists also raised a banner reading “No more nuclear” in Japanese, asking TEPCO to disengage from the nuclear industry.

Almost Unnoticed Nuclear Pandemic Is Spreading in Japan

By Manlio Dinucci

This article was originally published in Italian on Il Manifesto. It is being republished from Global Research. Manlio Dinucci is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

MONTREAL (IDN) – It was not Covid-19, therefore the news went almost unnoticed: Japan will release over a million tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. The catastrophic incident in Fukushima was triggered by the Tsunami that struck the north-eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, submerging the power plant and causing the core of three nuclear reactors to melt.