OPINION

Photo: Protest march in 2015. Credit: Mayors for Peace.

Mayors for Peace Say the Danger of Nuclear War Is Real and Growing

The following is the text of an Open Letter Issued by Mayors for Peace to NPT States Parties.

HIROSHIMA (IDN) — On behalf of Mayors for Peace, a global non-governmental organization with 8,059 member cities, we are writing to express our views prior to the NPT Review Conference that will open next January in New York.

We urge all participants to recall the solemn historical circumstances facing this conference. The use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 December 2021

Nigeria’s Slot War with UAE at the Cost of Travellers

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

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

ABUJA (IDN) — It’s not been a merry run-up to Christmas for many Nigerian travellers. It all started with Canada, Saudi Arabia, and then the UK, red-listing Nigeria (and 10 other African countries) for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in spite of relatively low reported cases.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 December 2021

Photo: An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test on October 29, 2020, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Credit: U.S. Air Force.

Elimination of ICBMs Would Greatly Reduce the Chances of a Global Nuclear Holocaust

Viewpoint by Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO, USA (IDN) — Nuclear weapons are at the pinnacle of what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism.” If you’d rather not think about them, that’s understandable. But such a coping strategy has limited value. And those who are making vast profits from preparations for global annihilation are further empowered by our avoidance.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 December 2021

Glasgow Climate Change Conference: A Glass Half Empty

Viewpoint by Ian Fry

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

CANBERRA, Australia (IDN) — For many, the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, was a significant disappointment. Much had been promised by the UK Government, but last-minute ructions over the reference to the phase-out of coal left many with a sour taste in their mouth. Glasgow was an opportunity to steer the global community towards the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperatures to 1.5⁰C above pre-industrial levels.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 December 2021

Image Credit: Cold War Warriors Facebook

Cold War Warriors Are Gaining the Upper Hand Again

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Oh, to be a Cold War warrior again! I always felt a bit sorry for those politicians, academics, soldiers and journalists who had hitched their careers to the onward march of the Cold War. It was satisfying. There was a clear enemy. The complex arithmetic on which side had what and what nuclear weapons could do was as satisfying intellectually as it was complicated.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 14 December 2021

Photo: Young Abishek, who has hearing impairment, studies with a Reading for All project’s learning facilitator at his home using a Nepali sign language learning app called “Mero Sanket”. Credit: Humanity & Inclusion

Will New Mobile Apps Give Deaf Children More Learning Paths?

By Pralhad Gairapipli and Simone Galimberti

Pralhad Gairapipli works with Humanity & Inclusion as Regional Communications Officer, covering India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Simone Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE, an NGO partnering with youths living with disabilities. Opinions expressed are personal.

KATHMANDU (IDN) — Can a mobile app become the transformative tool that will allow thousands of vulnerable children to enjoy their right to education?

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 13 December 2021

Time For Reforms in Latin America and The Caribbean to Address Long-Standing Challenges

Viewpoint by Alicia Bárcena, Sergio Díaz-Granados, Mathias Cormann, Jutta Urpilainen*

The following is the text of the editorial in the 'Latin American Economic Outlook 2021: Working Together for a Better Recovery'.

PARIS (IDN) — Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has been the region worst affected by the pandemic and is only re-emerging from what is the deepest recession in the region’s history.

: J C Suresh; OPINION; 11 December 2021

Photo: US President Joe Biden (R) and aides talking with Russian president Vladimir Putin, December 7, 2021. Source: Indianpunchline.

Biden's White House Is Deliberately Flaring Up Tensions with Kremlin

Viewpoint by M K Bhadrakumar*

NEW DELHI (IDN) — This must be a rare occasion when Russian President Vladimir Putin during his 18 years in the Kremlin came out second best in an encounter with an American president. And it had to be at the hands of President Joe Biden who has not yet completed one year in office. Yet, Putin has met with every sitting American president since Bill Clinton, in dire circumstances filled with awkward silences, icy stares and even professions of trust.

The Kremlin officials apparently misread the tea leaves and betted on a high probability that Putin and Biden would strike a deal at one-to-one level over Russia’s “red lines” in Ukraine—no NATO membership for Ukraine, no western deployments close to Russian borders.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 09 December 2021

Ten Problems with Biden’s Foreign Policy—and One Solution

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it’s not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed or even infuriated.

There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama's New START Treaty with Russia and Secretary of State Blinken’s initiative for a UN-led peace process in Afghanistan, where the United States is finally turning to peace as a last resort, after 20 years lost in the graveyard of empires.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 09 December 2021

Photo: Collage of pictures of Maria Ressa (left) and Dmitry Andreyevich Muratovn (right), winners of the Nobel Peace Prize 2021. Copyright of two photos: Nobel Prize Outreach.

The Nobel Peace Prize to Julian Assange Would Have Given Hope for Saving Global Democracy

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — In the early 1980s when I was studying mass communications in Australia, our journalism lecturer told us that as journalists we will have to hold governments to account, and to do that sometimes we may need to depend on leaks from government officials. “You should not hesitate to use that information, while ensuring that you do not disclose the source,” he instructed us, adding, “if anyone asks you (for the source) tell them it fell off the back of a truck”.