Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar The writer, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also known as the One Belt One Road ( OBOR) project could well emerge as the obor ( the flame in Indonesian or Malay) […]
The Security Council Must Stop the U.S. Going to War with Iran
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Amnesty International reported on March 11 that an Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been sentenced to 38 years in jail and 148 lashes. She has dedicated her life to defending women accused of removing their hijabs in public. The persecution of human rights dissidents in Iran appears […]
Europe Must Begin to Recognise the Dark Side of Its History
Viewpoint by Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen The following are extensive extracts from Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen’s presentation to the Pan African Parliament, Midrand, part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan, South Africa on May 13, 2019. She is Tilburg University’s Chair ‘International Relations, Innovation and care’, Leiden University’s Chair ‘Computing for Society’, Coordinator […]
Fiddling While the Nuclear Arms Control Architecture Collapses
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf Just as the senators of Rome fiddled away while the city burned, today’s diplomats seem helpless in averting the total collapse of nuclear arms control thus paving the way for a dangerous new nuclear arms race with increased risks of accidental or deliberate use of nuclear weapons. Tariq Rauf was Alternate […]
China’s Three-Child Policy Is Unlikely to Better the Demographic Situation
Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran* NEW DELHI (IDN) — China’s announcement of May 31 to allow couples to have three children, instead of two as is the rule now, has not captured the attention it deserves for its ramifications because the country is so much in the news for the wrong reasons such as its military […]
In Quest of a More Equal World
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Maybe, after all, there is an argument for saying that the world needs more violence not less if we are to make its societies more equal. This is one conclusion one can derive from Walter Scheidel’s new book, The Great Leveler. He starts from what we all […]
Deep Sea Marine Science Is Key to Unlocking the Potential of Our Oceans
Viewpoint by Michael W. Lodge and Vladimir Ryabinin The following is a joint op-ed by Michael W. Lodge, Secretary-General of International Seabed Authority, and Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of IOC-UNESCO. KINGSTON, Jamaica (IDN) – There has never been a time of greater promise or greater challenge for the future of our oceans. This is the […]
Malaysian Diplomat Shows Courage on Way to Landmark NPT Review Conference
Viewpoint by Ray Acheson This article first appeared as Editorial in NPT News in Review, Vol. 16, No. 7 on May 10, 2019. The writer is the Director of Reaching Critical Will – the disarmament programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She represents WILPF on several coalition steering groups, including […]
Move Fast on Cameroon Before a Window of Opportunity Closes
Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens GENEVA (IDN) – On May 8, 2019, Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, after a three-day mission to the Cameroon, welcomed the Cameroon government’s willingness to cooperate over finding workable solutions to what she called “major human rights and humanitarian crises” caused […]
Beware of Negativity Bias Running Riot
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Do we, especially our politicians and media, focus more on threats than on opportunities, dwell on loses more than on gains, and learn more from past failures than from successes? When we are children we are frightened of bogeymen. When we are adults we often inflate dangers. […]