GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 166 – IDN-InDepthNews

ARMAMENTS2016-02-282023-07-10

Despite Hurdles Nuclear-Weapons-Free World Not a Lost Cause

By Jamshed Baruah | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

GENEVA (IDN) – The stalemate on nuclear weapons disarmament needs to be resolved amid increasing concern about the “prodigious” number of warheads still in circulation, said former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressing a Working Group at the UN in Geneva.

But the first session of the Open Ended Working Group on Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations (OEWG) did not come close to breaking the stalemate. The nuclear armed states did not participate in the deliberations February 22-26, though several countries relying on nuclear weapons joined. These included many NATO countries as well as Japan, South Korea and Australia.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-282023-07-10

New Tools to Assess Implementation of Global Development Goals

By Jaya bin Izzati | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – The United Nations and policymakers around the world now have new scientific tools to measure progress towards meeting commitments under the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity of the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, endorsed by 193 UN member nations in September 2015.

The 124-nation Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) adopted at the close of a week-long meeting on February 28, the report, titled The Methodological Assessment of Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES was established in April 2012.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-232023-07-10

Ukraine’s Future Between Grim and Grimmer

By Jonathan Power | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

LONDON (IDN) – It’s two years since a mass of demonstrators brought down the centrist government of President Viktor Yanukovych.

We don’t hear much about Ukraine these days, mainly because the foreign journalists, not having too much to do – and often being freelance and therefore only paid by the number of lines they get printed – have gone home or to other hot spots.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-232023-07-10

Scientists Warn of the Perils of Sea-level Rise

By Rita Joshi | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN (IDN) – During the past millennia sea level has never risen nearly as fast as during the last century, says a new study. It warns that even if ambitious climate policy follows the 2015 Paris Agreement, sea levels would rise by 20 to 60 centimetres by 2100 and stresses the importance of coastal protection.

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has in fact come to the conclusion that sea levels worldwide might rise by 50 to 130 centimetres by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced rapidly. For the first time it combines the two most important estimation methods for future sea level rise and yields a more robust risk range.

ARMAMENTS2016-02-212023-07-10

Kazakhstan Determined to Achieve a Nuclear-Weapons Free World

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | ASTANA (IDN) – Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov has urged the civil society, social movements and the public at large to support governments in achieving a nuclear-weapons-free world by 2045, when the United Nations will turn 100, and to help in the establishment of a Global Anti-Nuclear Movement,

These goals were part of key international initiatives President Nursultan Nazarbayev tabled during the General Assembly session in September 2015. He also called for creating a single global anti-terrorist network, allocating 1 percent of countries’ defence budgets to sustainable development, organizing a high-level international conference on reaffirming the principles of international law and coordinating international efforts under the UN on promoting green technologies.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-202023-07-10

Sri Lanka Buddhists Divided over Bill To Control Monks

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

This article is the second in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Feature and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

SINGAPORE (IDN | Lotus News Features) – A bill tabled in the Sri Lankan parliament in January to create a legal framework to control the behavior and conduct of Buddhist monks has created deep divisions within the majority Buddhist community in the country.

Known as the ‘Theravadi Bhikku Kathikawath (Registration) Bill’, the draft legislation to control the behavior of some wayward monks who have tarnished the image of Buddhism in the country in recent years has been discussed in political and legal circles for sometime. And it has elicited wide support in the Buddhist community.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-182023-07-10

Between Promise and Peril – UN Honours the Memory of Boutros-Ghali

By J Nastranis | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The 193-member United Nations General Assembly recalled the legacy of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in helping the world body find its footing in a new global landscape during the tumultuous early 1990s. Boutros-Ghali passed away on February 16 at the age of 93,

Addressing the Assembly’s special tribute at UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Boutros-Ghali, whose second term was blocked by the U.S., had both the fortune and the misfortune to serve as the first post-Cold-War UN chief.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-162023-07-10

The Heavy Price of Ignoring Realism in U.S. Foreign Policy

By Jonathan Power* | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

LONDON – There are three schools of thought in American foreign policy: two you have heard about and a third that is relegated to the background.

The first and arguably the most prominent is the neo-conservative. These people, in the days of the Soviet Union, were the rabid anti-communists who wanted to beat the Soviet Union into the ground with vastly increased spending on defence.

Today they are the ones who supported the extreme right wing agitators who overthrew the middle-of-the-road president of Ukraine, Wiktor Yanukovich. They supported President George Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and want President Barack Obama to intervene in Syria.

The second is the liberal. Liberals have always wanted to seek nuclear arms limitations with Moscow. They wanted an end to apartheid in South Africa. But many of them also believe in directly interfering in a country that is carrying out inhumane policies. They persuaded President Barack Obama to intervene in Libya’s civil war which left a political mess that has become a haven for ISIS. Some of them have argued for intervention in Syria’s civil war. They also, in tandem with the neo-conservatives, successfully persuaded Obama to pursue an anti-Russian policy in Ukraine.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-142023-07-10

Countering Religious Hardliners Through Dialogue

By Monzurul Huq | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

TOKYO (IDN) – Religious identity, which in a broader context is perceived as belonging to a certain faith, is a topic of heated debate these days, mainly because a religious sense of belonging is directed toward achieving a certain goal by inflicting harm on others. The ongoing debate has been intensified in recent years with the concept of a clash of civilizations winning support among a group of Western academics and intellectuals.

It has received further impetus with the involvement of Western governments in the process of toppling regimes that the leaders of the Western world termed as “evil empires” – and thus paving the way for a blowback in the form of emergence of various religious-based terrorist groups claiming the righteousness in the name of divinity.

USA and Canada2016-02-102023-07-10

Remaking the Future of America

NEW YORK (IDN) – In the richest and strongest country on earth – the Land of Opportunity – only a few wealthy persons can aspire to be the President of the United States of America, the most powerful and envious job in today’s menacing world.

The Presidential candidates – with lofty words and unrealistic promises – are clamouring to get into the White House. Among the catchy slogans are: “Repeal Obamacare”, “Tear up the Iranian Nuclear Deal”, “Carpet bomb ISIS” and “Punch the Russians in the nose”. Americans love this brash talk but ignore reality.