OPINION

Image: EU flag removed from UK embassy in Brussels in a symbol of Brexit freedom. Source: Video | UK | News | Express.co.uk

"Britain Alone" Tells the Story of Inflated Ambition

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Philip Stephens of the Financial Times writes in the opening page of his new book, “Britain Alone” *: “The alarm was sounded by a distinguished British scientist, Sir Henry Tizard. Tizard had served during the war as a special emissary to Washington for Winston Churchill. His task had been to supervise the exchange of advanced military technologies, from airborne radar to nuclear fission. Tizard once made an Atlantic crossing carrying in his case blueprints for every one of the nation’s secret weapons systems”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 09 March 2021

Image: Cover of a publication 'What does living in harmony with nature mean to you? OEWG #Biodoversity 2020

Human Civilisation on a Collision Course with the Laws of Ecology

Viewpoint by Tom Pegram and Julia Kreienkamp*

LONDON (IDN) — As governments around the world roll out COVID-19 vaccine programmes and seek to kickstart their economies back to life, recovery seems to be within reach. However, hard questions must not be sidestepped. How did this pandemic happen? And how resilient are we to future global risks, including the possibility of deadlier pandemics?

Importantly, COVID-19 was not a ‘black swan’ event – an event that cannot be reasonably anticipated.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 March 2021

Photo: Fishers retain a cultural memory of wildlife and habitats that has accrued over generations. Credit: Alastair Cole/Tongue Tied Films, author provided

Gaelic Helping Preserve Scotland’s Marine Environment

Viewpoint by Magnus Course and Alastair Cole*

EDINBURGH | NEWCASTLE (IDN) — Regulations brought in following the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union have delayed the export of live shellfish to Europe, causing entire lorry loads of lobsters and langoustines to expire in Scotland’s ports.

Fishing is a relatively small part of the UK’s economy, but fishing rights dominated much of the Brexit negotiations with the European Union. And with the UK free of the EU’s environmental protections, fishing is once more a battleground for competing ideas in marine conservation.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 March 2021

Photo: The Energy Charter Treaty allows fossil fuel companies to sue government for taking action on climate change. Credit: Alfred T. Palmer/Wikimedia

Little-Known Energy Treaty a Climate Threat

Viewpoint by Fabian Flues, Cecilia Olivet and Pia Eberhardt*

LONDON (IDN) — On February 4, the German energy giant RWE announced it was suing the government of the Netherlands. The crime? Proposing to phase out coal from the country’s electricity mix. The company, which is Europe’s biggest emitter of carbon, is demanding 1.4 billion euros in ‘compensation’ from the country for loss of potential earnings because the Dutch government has banned the burning of coal for electricity from 2030.

If this sounds unreasonable, then you might be surprised to learn that this kind of legal action is perfectly normal — and likely to become far more commonplace in the coming years.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 March 2021

The Future Is Better with Women in Every Decision-Making

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director

[Also available in: ar |es | fr | ru | zh]

NEW YORK (IDN) — International Women's Day (March 8) this year comes at a difficult time for the world and for gender equality, but at a perfect moment to fight for transformative action and to salute women and young people for their relentless drive for gender equality and human rights.

Our focus is on women's leadership and on ramping up representation in all the areas where decisions are made—currently mainly by men—about the issues that affect women's lives. The universal and catastrophic lack of representation of women’s interests has gone on too long.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 07 March 2021

Photo: Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev's Legacy After 30 Years of the Soviet Union's Disintegration

By Andrei Grachev

A Russian historian, political analyst and journalist, Dr Andrei Grachev, was the adviser for Mikhail Gorbachev and official Spokesman of the President of the USSR until his resignation in December 1991. InDepthNews is re-publishing this article courtesy of Other News. Original link > https://www.other-news.info/2021/03/the-time-of-gorbachev

MOSCOW (IDN) — Two books were published practically simultaneously in Great Britain and France to commemorate the forthcoming 30th anniversary of the breakup of the Soviet Union.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 05 March 2021

Photo: A possible scenario after a 10-kiloton nuclear detonation centered on Arnhem in the Netherlands. Credit: Dennis van Zuijlekom/Flickr

Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons: The Role of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands

Viewpoint by Moritz Kütt, Jan Hoekema and Tom Sauer *

The English version of this article was first published in The Toda Peace Institute's Global Outlook on February 28, 2021.**

TOKYO (IDN) — On January 22, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force. The new agreement also called the Nuclear Ban Treaty, prohibits member states from developing, producing, testing, and stockpiling nuclear weapons. It similarly restricts the use and the threat of use of these weapons.

The treaty has 54 member states; 32 more have signed the treaty. Additional states are expected to join. The treaty puts into law a prohibition of a substantial threat to the planet: the use of nuclear weapons in warfare that has catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 March 2021

Reinvigorate Multilateralism by Replacing its Operating Principle

Viewpoint by Inge Kaul*

The following article first appeared on the website of Center for Global Development and was adapted from a paper published originally by Global Perspectives and cross-published by CGD.

BERLIN (IDN | CGD) — The global policy debate on multilateralism has taken an intriguing turn during recent months and its focus has been widened. Besides its previously dominant topic of renewed great-power rivalry and the deleterious effects of that on multilateralism, the essential, even indispensable role of multilateralism for meeting today’s global challenges has now emerged as a second priority topic that, moreover, attracts high-level political attention.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 March 2021

Photo: A visual from a section of the Indian farmers' protests on 3 January 2021. CC BY-SA 4.0

India’s Farmers’ Protests Threaten to Overturn the Political Landscape

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad*

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) — For the past three months, Indian farmers and agricultural workers have been in the middle of a difficult struggle against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tens of thousands of them have gathered around the capital city of New Delhi; they say that they will not disband unless the government repeals three laws that negatively impact their ability to remain economically viable.

The government has shown no sign that it will withdraw these laws, which provide immense advantages to the large corporate houses that are close to Prime Minister Modi. The government’s attempt to crack down on the farmers and agricultural workers has altered the mood in the country: those who grow the food for the country are hard to depict as “terrorists” and as “anti-national.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 March 2021

Photo: US carried out air strikes in Syria targeting Iranian backed militias on February 26. Such airstrikes add to the suffering of the people who are already suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: WFP/Khudr Alissa

Biden Should Stop Military Activism and Start Thinking

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — “Diplomacy is back”, President Joe Biden said recently. But then in the middle of a delicate diplomatic dance with Iran he goes and bombs a small, politically inconsequential, Iranian surrogate in Syria, in retaliation for the killing of one American soldier.

This seems to go against everything he said during his presidential campaign on moving towards fashioning a quick agreement with Iran so that the deal made by President Barack Obama that froze Iran’s nuclear activities could be resuscitated after Donald Trump’s decision to blow it up. Biden’s bombing has made the chance of simultaneous choreographed moves by both sides to get back to the deal made by Obama more difficult.