OPINION

Image: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has alleged that the results of presidential election have been doctored and manipulated. Source: Premium Times of Nigeria.

Nigeria's Elections and the Man Who Thinks He Is "the State"

By Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA, 3 March 2023 (IDN) — The last thing he wants to hear is that he desires anything other than what is good for Nigeria. Hero of Nigeria’s civil war; a former military president who supervised the first-post-war transition to civilian rule; two-term civilian president; and a much sought-after African leader, Olusegun Obasanjo considers it beneath his status to suggest he can sometimes be wrong about his choices for the country.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 March 2023

Image: Independent Israeli and Palestinian states can peacefully coexist and be sustained only through the establishment of an Israeli-Palestinian confederation that Jordan would subsequently join. Source: Middle East Online

Israel & The Palestinians: The Way Back From The Dark Dead-End Alley

By Alon Ben-Meir*

The following is the third instalment in a series of three articles. The first addressed how Israel lost its way, the second dealt with how the Palestinians lost their way. The following article offers a way out of their 75-year-old bloody and perilous conflict.

NEW YORK, 2 March 2023 (IDN) — It is time for Israel and the Palestinians to face the bittersweet truth and accept certain realities on the ground that neither side can change short of a calamity. These inescapable realities will frame the contours of a peace agreement in the context of an Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian confederation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 March 2023

Image: Students in Sri Lanka were driven to study by candlelight or kerosene-oil lamp due to power cuts. Source: Asian Affairs

Sri Lanka: Franchise Raped

By Neville de Silva*

LONDON, 01 March 2023 (IDN) — Apocryphal or not, France’s Bourbon king Louis XIV is attributed to have said “l’etat, c’est moi” (I am the State). These words reflect the era of France’s pre-revolution tyranny.

Thankfully Sri Lanka has not descended to such state tyranny—not yet, some might say—though signs of repression that clamp down on liberty, equality and fraternity (as the French revolutionaries would have said) are not hard to discern even as the economic stranglehold on a struggling people continues to tighten and the country’s professionals leave our shores in droves in search of a better tomorrow.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 01 March 2023

Image: State flag of Ukraine behind a wall of anonymous protesters in Kyiv, Ukraine. Events of February 18, 2014. CC BY-SA 3.0

Behind The Ninth Anniversary of the Ukraine War

Truths remain obscured by US secrecy and European obsequiousness to US power

By Jeffrey D. Sachs*

This article was published in Other News and is being republished with the author's permission.

NEW YORK, 01 March 2023 (IDN) — We are not at the one-year anniversary of the war, as the Western governments and media claim. This is the 9-year anniversary of the war. And that makes a big difference.

The war began with the violent overthrow of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, a coup that was overtly and covertly backed by the United States government (see also here). From 2008 onward, the United States pushed NATO enlargement to Ukraine and Georgia. The 2014 coup of Yanukovych was in the service of NATO expansion.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 March 2023

Image: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Gage Skidmore, Flickr) Source: LA Progressive

Showdown in Nevada as Democratic Establishment Targets Party Chair

By Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO, 28 February 2023 (IDN) — To understand the current fierce attacks on the progressive leadership of the Nevada Democratic Party, it’s helpful to recall the panicked reaction from political elites three years ago when results came in from the state’s contest for the presidential nomination.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 28 February 2023

Image: UN short clip on the Rule of Law, Peace and Security

Will the New Struggle for Dominance Uphold the UN Charter?

By Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden, 28 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Eleven hundred years ago Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Cordoba in Spain which was Muslim. Muslim Spain was the epicentre of learning in Western Europe.

The Middle East was much further ahead, still absorbing the intellectual delights and challenges of Greek science, medicine and architecture which Europeans were largely ignorant of. In southern China agriculture advanced and trade in tea, porcelain and silk flourished.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 28 February 2023

One Year On: Is Peace Still Possible in Ukraine?

By Sergio Duarte

The writer is a former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and current President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK, 24 Feb 2023 (IDN) — The states that signed the Charter of the United Nations on June 26 1945, accepted the obligation to act in their relations with one another in accordance with the Principles set in its Article 2, which include refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political Independence of any state and settling their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security are not endangered.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 24 February 2023

Image: Ukrainian soldiers install the state flag on Snake Island, in the Black Sea. The Ukrainian military returned the flag of Ukraine to island, which had been under the control of Russian troops for some time. (Ukrainian Defence Ministry Press Office via AP)

Time for Russia to End Continuing War Against Ukraine

The restoration of peace and international law is necessary

By Alyn Ware and Julius Brede

HAMBURG, 23 Feb 2023 (IDN) — The World Future Council is shocked and deeply saddened by Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine, which commenced one year ago, and by Russia’s grievous violations of international law in the war and their illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 23 February 2023

Image: Nuclear missile SS-18 Satan fully designed and manufactured in Ukraine at Yuzhmash (cropped). C BY 2.5

War in Ukraine and ICBMs: The Untold Story of How They Could Blow Up the World

By Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO, 22 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, media coverage of the war hasn’t included even the slightest mention of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Yet the war has boosted the chances that ICBMs will set off a global holocaust.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 22 February 2023

Image credit: maradon 333/Shutterstock Image credit: maradon 333/Shutterstock Image credit: maradon 333/Shutterstock

Environment, Peace and Conflict Research: The Need for Constructive Dialogue

By Tobias Ide*

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

PERTH, Australia, 22 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Environmental factors play an increasingly important role for the dynamics of peace and conflict. There is widespread agreement that climate change is a risk multiplier for armed violence, even though other conflict drivers are often more important.