Category: OPINION

By Daryl G. Kimball

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared with the caption ‘Trump Repeats Failing Formula on North Korean Threat’.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – In his high profile address to the South Korean National Assembly November 8, President Donald Trump missed a crucial opportunity to clarify and adjust his administration’s disjointed and, at times, reckless policy toward North Korea.

Although Trump indicated earlier […] in a press conference in Seoul that he is “open” to talks with North Korea, he has also said in recent days that now is not the time for such talks but instead it is time to apply “more pressure” on North Korea to bring North Korea to bargaining table and to agree to eliminate its nuclear program. While in Asia, Trump has also repeated, albeit in less bombastic terms than before, that he will resort to the use of military force if North Korea does not back down.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who single handedly (without much Jewish appreciation) did more to make Israel secure than any other living person, confesses neither he nor anyone can change the march of demographics. Within the boundaries of the Holy Land there are just over 6 million Jews and 6 million Palestinians. The Palestinian birth rate is almost three times that of the Israeli Jews. If anything the Jewish population is starting to fall as an increasing number of Jews decide that Israel has no future for them and emigrate. 

Another former U.S. President, Richard Nixon, when asked by Patrick Buchanan how he saw the future of Israel, turned down his thumb “like a Roman emperor at the gladiators’ arena”.

By Roberto Azevêdo

Trade and investment are inseparable and remain indispensable “twin engines” for economic growth, modernization and development of Africa, says ‘The Abuja Statement’ emerging from the two-day High Level Policy and Private Sector Trade and Investment Facilitation Partnership Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 2-3, 2017. Following are extensive excerpts from WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – It is encouraging to see many countries – as well as the broader development community represented here – interested in exploring how trade and investment can help promote sustainable development . . . both these elements – trade and investment – are fundamental in helping countries successfully integrate into the global economy.

Viewpoint by David Krieger* SANTA BARBARA | USA (IDN-INPS) – The future of the world and of humanity is at the mercy of a lunatic. His name is Donald Trump, and he alone has access to the U.S. nuclear codes. Before he does something rash and irreversible with those codes, it is imperative to decode […]

By Chinmaya R. Gharekhan

Note: The Security Council has no plans to discuss the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in relationship to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Italy’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi who chairs the Council for the month of November, told journalists at the world body’s headquarters on November 1. The following article is being reproduced courtesy The Hindu, an eminent newspaper in India. Ambassador Chinmaya R. Gharekhan a former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. – The Editor.

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – The famous (or infamous) Balfour declaration was issued exactly a hundred years ago on November 2, 1917.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – To its credit the Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia, has long supported UN peacekeeping, a practice that originated in 1960 in the time of UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold, who evolved the concept during the great Congolese civil war when it was in danger of becoming a Cold War flashpoint.

But what Russia has never contemplated is UN troops in its own backyard. “Summoning the UN deep into Russia’s historical space is a serious step,” Dmitri Trenin, head of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, told The Economist recently.

By Dr. Ankit Srivastava*

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Since the inception of the Non-Aligned Movement, the NAM Member States have adhered to the principle of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The stance on disarmament has been a recurring theme at all the NAM summits. In multilateral forums like the United Nations too, NAM has been actively participating in the non-proliferation initiatives.

On September 26, 2017, in the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the [International Day for the] Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, NAM Member States supported the convening of an international conference on nuclear disarmament at the United Nations.

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.