GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 168 – IDN-InDepthNews

USA and Canada2017-01-312023-07-10

UN Indignation Unlikely to Sway Trump

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) – Newly-elected US president Donald Trump has been hyperactive in his first week in office, signing executive orders that confirm his pre-election pledges to “make America great again” by brushing aside any concern for the plight of those seeking to find safety and a better life.

One of his first acts was the signing of an executive order to begin the process of building a wall on the US-Mexico border, saying that “a nation without borders is not a nation. Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders.”

EU & Europe2017-01-302023-07-10

Kazakhstan Moves Toward Democratic Development

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | ASTANA (IDN) – President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan whose commitment to international peace and security facilitated the Central Asian state’s election to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member, has laid out far-reaching plans for government reforms and constitutional changes.

The intention is “to build a more efficient, sustainable, modern system of governance” in the country which celebrated its 25th anniversary of independence from the then Soviet Union in December 2016.

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-01-272023-07-10

Caribbean Countries Strive For Energy Security

By Desmond L. Brown

NASSAU, The Bahamas (ACP | IDN) – Caribbean countries have found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Already grappling with a myriad of challenges, including crime and weak economies, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states from Jamaica in the north to Guyana in the south are also now faced with extremely high energy costs.

Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie, said his country and its neighbours must move with haste to transition to sustainable energy sources, something he believes would also help shore up their ailing economies and also address the crime scourge.

EU & Europe2017-01-252023-07-10

Shaky Start to Silicon Smelters in Iceland

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Silicon metal smelters have taken over from aluminium plants as the desirable heavy industry for Iceland. At Helguvik in the southwest of the island, close to Reykjavik’s international airport, United Silicon has just started operating a silicon smelter, while an adjacent lot is marked out for a silicon smelter of similar production capacity – 110,000 tonnes per year – run by Thorsil.

The United Silicon plant is situated just over one kilometre from the southernmost point of Reykjanesbaer municipality. Plans were developed for industrial development around the harbour of Helguvik over 14 years ago, including an aluminium smelter slightly north of Helguvik which has never been completed because of disputes over who should provide energy.

ARMAMENTS2017-01-212023-07-10

U.S. Moves into Age of Nuclear Uncertainty – and Ignorance

By Rodney Reynolds

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – With the inauguration of Donald Trump as the new President on January 20, the United States moves into an age of nuclear uncertainty – and perhaps ignorance.

The frightening prospects took a bizarre turn when a day earlier Trump’s nominee for Energy Secretary, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, apparently was not aware that his department is in charge of America’s nuclear weapons.

According to an editorial in the New York Times on January 20, Perry knew only recently that “his biggest responsibilities would, in fact, involve overseeing a vast nuclear security complex that he knows almost nothing about”.

ARMAMENTS2017-01-172023-07-10

Iran’s Nuke Agreement Survives Without a Shot Being Fired

By Rodney Reynolds

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – During the height of the U.S. presidential election campaign last year, Republican candidate Donald Trump threatened to tear up the 159-page Iran nuclear agreement on live television.

In characteristic “Trumpism”, he dismissed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the agreement was formally known, as “stupid”, “a lopsided disgrace” and “the worst deal ever negotiated.”

With Trump moving into the White House on January 20, will he abide by his threats and swear by his rhetoric? Or was it all political bluster?

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-01-162023-07-10

Caribbean Setting Ambitious Renewable Energy Targets

By Desmond L. Brown

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (ACP-IDN) – As cash-strapped Caribbean nations push towards renewable energy development, the Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Adnan Z. Amin, has pointed to the challenges they face in matching ambition with reality and the need for international support.

Caribbean countries join a growing list of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) which have set ambitious targets to switch to renewables.

In October 2016, Barbados set a new target of generating 65 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030 following IRENA’s support in developing a national energy road map.

ARMAMENTS2017-01-142023-07-10

‘Nuke Generation Far More Brutal Than Past Conquerors’

By Jamshed Baruah

STOCKHOLM (IDN-INPS) – “It is said that previous conquerors like Attila and Jenghiz Khan used to proclaim that not even a dog or cat or mouse would be left alive when they destroyed the cities which defied them. Our generation with the nuclear weapon in its hand is far more brutal and primitive than any of those conquerors of the past, however barbaric they might have been,” declared Justice Christopher Gregory Weeramantry in an interview in 2007, some ten years before he passed away in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on January 5, aged 90.

ARMAMENTS2017-01-142023-07-10

Tributes To Justice Weeramantry As He Passes Away at 90

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN (IDN) – Justice Christopher Gregory Weeramantry, legal luminary, distinguished author, and renowned pacifist, who played a crucial role in strengthening and expanding the rule of international law to usher in a nuclear-weapons free world, died in Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 5, aged 90.

He was a former judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (1967-1972), an Emeritus Professor at Monash University in Melbourne (until 1991), a Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from 1991 to 2000 and its Vice-President from 1997 to 2000, Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council, and President of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA).

ARMAMENTS2017-01-122023-07-10

Marshall Islands and Tony de Brum ‘2016 Arms Control Persons of the Year’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN | INPS) – The Republic of the Marshall Islands and its former Foreign Minister, Tony de Brum, have been awarded the ‘2016 Arms Control Person of the Year’. Over 1,850 individuals from 63 countries participated in the selection.

Ten individuals and groups were nominated by the Arms Control Association (ACA) for their leadership in advancing effective arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament solutions or for raising awareness of the threats posed by mass casualty weapons during the past year. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a consultant to the Marshall Islands in their Nuclear Zero lawsuits.