GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 165 – IDN-InDepthNews

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-092023-07-10

Israel To Thwart Obama’s Reported Plan To Run UN Chief

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN (IDN) – In an unprecedented bid, U.S. President Barack Obama plans to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the United Nations Secretary-General and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has got wind of the plan, is determined to lead the effort in thwarting the bid, reports the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, cited by The Jerusalem Post.

While Ban’s second term as the UN Secretary-General ends on December 31, Obama’s finishes in January 2017. The U.S. Presidential election is due on November 8, 2016.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-082023-07-10

North Korea’s Defiance Underlines The Urgency To Eradicate All Nuclear Weapons

By Somar Wijayadasa* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea defied world powers, on January 6, by announcing that it had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device – in contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing.

The miniaturizing allows the device to be placed on a missile thereby significantly increasing its strike capabilities not only against Japan and South Korea but also against the United States.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-062023-07-10

North Korea’s Nuclear Test Escalates Military Tensions

By Rodney Reynolds | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – As military tensions continue to rise between two of the world’s major nuclear powers – the United States and Russia – the United Nations remains strongly committed towards one of its longstanding goals: a world without nuclear weapons.

But North Korea’s announcement of its first hydrogen bomb – tested January 6 – is threatening to escalate the nuclear challenge even further.

The 193-member General Assembly wrapped up its 2015 sessions in December adopting 57 draft resolutions on arms control and disarmament – 23 of which were on nuclear weapons.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-052023-07-10

Heated Debate in India on New Juvenile Justice Law

By Shastri Ramachandran* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The release of a convicted rapist, who committed the crime when he was just 17, on December 20, 2015 amid high drama in Indian capital has triggered public outcry and revived debate over issues of juvenile justice.

One outcome of the protests against the release of the juvenile convict is that two days later, on December 22, India’s Parliament passed the Juvenile Justice Bill, under which minors from 16 to 18 can be tried as adults for heinous crimes such as rape, murder and terror-related acts. As political parties were divided over this legislation, it took the public outrage to push it through.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-042023-07-10

UAE World’s Major Aid Giver and Sponsor of Tolerance

By Bernhard Schell | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

MUMBAI (IDN) – As the international community starts to implement the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, funds from countries that are not members of the Paris-based 29-nation Development Assistance Committee (DAC) have “an increasingly important role in financing development co-operation”, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-032023-07-10

‘We Cannot Abolish Nuclear Weapons Without Abolishing War’

By James Taylor Ranney* | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

WILMINGTON, USA (IDN) – For some time now, the movement for abolition of nuclear weapons has been proceeding on the assumption that we can secure an abolition treaty without fundamentally altering global security arrangements. Understandably, very little if any attention has been focused upon the much larger issue of abolishing war. But it may turn out that we cannot abolish nuclear weapons without abolishing war.

Nothing logically requires this. But as a practical matter, the two things may be inextricably linked. For one thing, the Russians will demand, if not general and complete disarmament, at least serious reductions in conventional forces. And once we agree to that, we are halfway to a new security system – international alternative dispute resolution.

One of the people who recognized this is Mikhail Gorbachev, who said this in an interview: “We will never be able to solve the nuclear question unless at the same time we develop a system of international organizations…and effective systems of regional security….[T]he international organization should have certain decision-making powers and mechanisms for enforcement.” Jonathan Schell, The Gift of Time: The Case for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons Now, at 165 (1998).

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-312023-07-10

Kazakhstan Keen on Building a Joint Future for Asia and Europe

By Erlan IDRISSOV, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan*

ASTANA (IDN | ASEF) – From its first days as an independent country, Kazakhstan has been guided by the principle of “economy first and then politics”. Thanks to this principle and the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, our country has developed its economy very rapidly.

We are now determined to build on this success and, with the adoption of the “Kazakhstan – 2050” strategy, have set a goal of joining the list of the world’s 30 most developed countries.

With this strategy and by strengthening cooperation and dialogue with our international partners, we intend to develop our domestic industries, gain modern experience, attract innovations, exchange technologies and develop investment cooperation.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-302023-07-10

U.S. Controls Global Arms Market, Says Congressional Report

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN (IDN) – “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed,” declared U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in April 1953. A new report shows that these remarks remain relevant and yet unheeded 62 years later.

While hunger, poverty and depravity continue to stalk developing lands, the report by the prestigious Congressional Research Service (CRS) finds that the United States remains the single largest weapons supplier to developing nations, controlling more than 50 percent of the global arms market. From 2011 to 2014, Washington made arms supply agreements worth nearly $115 billion with developing nations.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-302023-07-10

El Niño Might Continue Through First Months of 2016

By Humberto Jaime and Jennifer Guralnick* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

PANAMA, Panama (IDN) – While in North America, cities such as New York and several others in the United States have witnessed the hottest Christmas on record and with extreme flooding and tornados resulting in more than 40 deaths in states such as New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois, Mexico experienced unusual snowfalls whereas flooding is being faced in the United Kingdom as well as in South America where heavy rains and severe flooding have led to more than 170 thousand people being evacuated in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-292023-07-10

Strong El Niño Threatens Southern Africa at the Start of 2016

By Veronica Nicolosi | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

ROME (IDN) – The El Niño weather phenomenon is expected to be the fiercest in 18 years at the start of 2016 and threatens to adversely affect crop and livestock production prospects in Southern Africa, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

A reduced agricultural output would follow on 2015 disappointing season, which has already contributed to higher food prices and “could acutely impact the food security situation in 2016,” said to a special alert released on December 22 by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).