Category: OPINION

By Shamshad Akhtar

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). – The Editor

BANGKOK (IDN) – As the proportion of the older persons across the Asia-Pacific region increases exponentially, we must seek out new and innovative approaches to turn this demographic trend into an opportunity to be harnessed to help achieve the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The number of older persons in the region is expected to more than double, from 535 million in 2015 to about 1.3 billion by 2050, we need to consider the myriad impact of this phenomenon on our economies, societies, and livelihoods.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Over recent years many Iranians in the big cities confided quietly to the opinion pollsters that they feel an empathy with the West. It was not reciprocated. Frankly, most people in the West have no in-depth opinion about Iran. If they think about it for more than a couple of minutes they go along with their government’s line.

A majority of Western and Arab leaders supported the American position as taken by successive presidents: Iran was probably trying to make a bomb. (To its credit U.S. intelligence never concurred with its presidents, and privately some Western leaders would acknowledge this.)

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Cambodia is no longer going forward, it is slipping backwards, as it has many times before. Earlier this month the government asked the Supreme Court to dissolve the main opposition coalition. One opposition leader, Kem Sokha, was sent to prison in September and the other, Sam Rainsy, is in exile. The English-language newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, has been closed and the relatively free radio stations leant on and a number closed. The decades-long Prime Minister, Hun Sen, talks about rebels in the capital, Phnom Penh, plotting to overthrow the government.

By António Guterres

Note: Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the high-level event inaugurating the Africa Week (October 16-20) at the UN on the theme: “Supporting an Integrated, Prosperous, People-Centred and Peaceful Africa: Towards the Implementation of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – In recent years, the continent has made headway in reducing poverty, diversifying economies, building the middle class and nurturing growth in a variety of growing sectors such as banking, telecom and retail. More children – and especially girls – are in primary school. More women are serving in parliaments. Child and maternal deaths have been reduced – as has the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Recent reports estimate that India’s annual economic growth rate is now down to 5.5%. The government of Narendra Modi which until recently seemed to be on a public opinion roll could fall off its log – but that depends on the Indian electorate ending its self-deceit.

Three years ago Modi at the helm of his Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, gave Congress a thumping defeat. Suave and persuasive on the podium, Modi rammed home a simple message that in the state of Gujarat where he was the chief minister more had been achieved in a short space of time than anywhere else in India. It was industrializing fast, building more roads, modernizing its ports and communications and helping the poor.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Out of the blue the war in Vietnam is in the news. Yet it is not the fiftieth anniversary of America’s defeat in Vietnam when North Vietnam caused it to flee. It’s only the forty-second.

Part of this must be fearful parallels with the moral and strategic blindness of President Donald Trump who seems to believe in uttering his life and death rhetoric, akin to President Richard Nixon’s on Vietnam, hoping to frighten the enemy into submission – in this case North Korea. Many people are worried that Trump is ready to fight America’s biggest war since Vietnam. As did Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s National Security Advisor, he appears to be considering the use of nuclear weapons.

By Jayasri Priyalal*

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The Rohingya crisis and influx of refugees to Bangladesh is headline stories in the media at present. As a Sri Lankan I could note the similarity of the conflicts of statelessness that prevailed in Sri Lanka then and Myanmar at present, and Sri Lanka’s approach to solving the crisis with India could be a framework for Myanmar to follow.

In 1948 when Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain, the island nation was left with about one million Tamils who were called “Indian Tamils” in Sri Lanka. They were brought to Sri Lanka from South India from the lowest Dalit caste to work in tea plantations that were set up on land the British confiscated from Sinhala peasants, who refused to work in those plantations. Thus the presence of these Tamils was deeply resented by the Sinhalese. British have created a stateless community who were neither Indian nor Sri Lankan citizens.

By Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs

Following are extensive excerpts from Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2017 in New York. He draws attention to President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s initiative “to convene a summit of all states possessing nuclear weapons to collectively discuss further steps towards their nuclear disarmament and attaining nuclear-weapon-free world,” and “to call for joint efforts to ensure that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force by 2020,” the 50th anniversary of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons entering into force. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – In his first statement at the United Nations in October 1992 President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev endorsed the concept of preventive diplomacy – the idea which is now very much highlighted by the Secretary-General and President of the General Assembly.

By Rex W. Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State

Following are extensive excerpts from remarks by the U.S. Secretary of State during the United Nations Security Council Session on Nuclear Non-Proliferation on September 21, 2017. The complete text is available on https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/09/274362.htm – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – At a time when stabbings, crudely constructed bombs, and trucks driven into crowds of innocent men, women, and children are often our enemies’ weapons of choice to attack us, it is easy to become complacent and see the threat of nuclear attacks as a relic of the Cold War.

The threat of a nuclear attack remains a grim reality. Those who would trigger such a horrific scenario pose a unique threat to the security of peace-loving nations.

Viewpoint by Hugh Dugan*

The author is Visiting Scholar at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and former senior advisor to eleven U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Many globalists feared last week the arrival of ‘Hurricane Donald’ unleashing its wrath on the United Nations at its annual opening session. In the end, it was downgraded to a tropical storm affecting only North Korea and Iran.

Trump’s tone and body language, which was all that his critics were prepared to dissect, were one with the script he revised up to the last minute. Much to their surprise, in fact he did not call to drain the UN swamp. And he opted against twitterizing the place as the “Deep UN”. Few came up with much to dislike, other than a few words meant to draw headlines.