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Photo: Tulips garland Mt Daisen. Credit: Palitha Kohona

Are the Japanese Really Different? Maybe

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer was on an extended visit to Japan recently. He returned from a four week trip in April 2019. Some his observations might provide some clues for their phenomenal success despite being devastated by War. There might be useful lessons for other countries following the path to development.

TOKYO (IDN) – Arriving in Japan after a long and tiring flight is such a pleasure. Polite immigration officials in neat uniforms are there to guide you and to organise the orderly rapidly moving immigration queues.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 May 2019

Graphic credit: Coalition for Peace Action

Human Survival Lies in the Balance as the Charade of NPT Diplomacy is Wearing Thin

Viewpoint by Dr Joseph Gerson*

NEW YORK (IDN) – Expectations for the outcome of this year’s NPT Preparatory Committee were low at best. Not surprisingly, given the nuclear powers’ reliance on their genocidal and omnicidal arsenals and pressures building for nuclear weapons proliferation, these expectations were not exceeded. As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has warned, humanity is now as close to nuclear apocalypse as it was at the height of the Cold War.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 16 May 2019

Photo: Seven presidential candidates (clockwise): Sadybek Tugel, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Amirzhan Kosanov, Toleutai Rakhimbekov, Amangeldy Taspikhov, Daniya Yespayeva and Zhambyl Akhmetbekov.

7 Candidates Mark Kazakh Passage Through Historical Transition

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan is living through an historical transition. For the first time since the country adopted the Constitutional Law on the independence of the Republic and held the first presidential election in 1991, Nursultan Nazarbayev is not contesting the forthcoming polls on June 9, 2019.

He was elected for a fifth term in the 2015 elections and was entitled to hold the office of the President until 2020. But he stunned the nation March 19, announcing during a nationally televised address that he would be relinquishing the office he had held for nearly three decades.

: Jaya Ramachandran; CENTRAL ASIA; 15 May 2019

Photo: Girl on roof of a factory in India. Source: UNFPA © Andrea Bruce/Noor

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 know by now: the richest 62 persons in the world own as much net wealth as the poorer half of humanity. This is the number that could fit inside a London double-decker bus.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 14 May 2019

Photo: Rejoicing at Ex-President Omar al-Bashir's arrest. Source: Internet

Ex-President of Sudan Faces Formal Charges of Murder

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – From the presidency to prisoner behind bars, former President Omar al-Bashir now faces formal charges of murder in the latest development to spring from a massive turnout of Sudanese people demanding civilian rule.

"Omar al-Bashir and others have been charged for inciting and participating in the killing of demonstrators," the office of Sudan's acting prosecutor general, Al-Waleed Sayyed Ahmed, announced on May 13.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 May 2019

Photo: Poster of Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

South African National Congress Wins 57.5 Percent of Vote

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Frustrated with the failures of the ruling African National Congress, South Africans gave the ANC its lowest turnout since 2004 when it took a record 69 percent of the vote. The ANC won a sixth straight term but with the worst ever electoral showing for the iconic party. Voter turnout was low. Thousands of youth did not even bother to register.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 May 2019

Photo credit: Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.

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 topic on everyone’s minds as the international community gathers in Copenhagen (May 13-15) for the first Global Planning Meeting for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).

: J Nastranis; OPINION; 14 May 2019

Photo: Press Briefing by Syed Hasrin Syed Hussin (right), Chair of the Third Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference, on May 10, 2019 at the UN Headquarters in New York. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-INPS

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 the 2017 Nobel Laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Ray is a 2018 UN Women Metro-NY "Champion of Change". – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Standing up to bullies is always hard. It takes courage and resilience. Ambassador Syed Hussin of Malaysia and his team demonstrated this in spades. They listened to vehement criticisms from nuclear-armed states for the revised draft recommendations.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 13 May 2019

Photo: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (left) with Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (second from right) in February 2019. Source: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Twitter account.

Pakistan's Juggling Act on a Precarious Tightrope

Viewpoint by James. M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Pakistan risks falling off the tightrope it walks as it attempts to balance its relations with rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 13 May 2019

Mayors for Peace Call for a Common Ground on the NPT

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In anticipation of the review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 2020 at the United Nations, the Mayors for Peace have in a Joint Appeal called for finding a "common ground on the NPT"; because the global interest embodied in the NPT is in the national interests of all countries and all peoples worldwide.