OPINION

China's Three-Child Policy Is Unlikely to Better the Demographic Situation

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) — China’s announcement of May 31 to allow couples to have three children, instead of two as is the rule now, has not captured the attention it deserves for its ramifications because the country is so much in the news for the wrong reasons such as its military stand-off with India or glossing over the origin of Covid-19 virus. The ruling Communist Party Politburo’s decision shows that although China’s economy is doing better than any other major economy in the Covid-ravaged world, the country is caught in a demographic crisis that could begin eroding its economic strength.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; OPINION; 19 June 2021

Climate: The Cognition, Collaboration and Creativity Crisis

Viewpoint by Bill Dahl*

This is the first in a series of four articles.

QUERETARO, Mexico (IDN) — The climate crisis is the most daunting challenge ever confronted by humankind. At the present time, mankind is losing the battle. This article explores the first of three dimensions of our inept response; cognition. As a point of full disclosure, I am a climate crisis believer; one who remains deeply concerned about the current state of efforts of every type to deliver elements of a comprehensive solution…in time.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 June 2021

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi on the sidelines of ASEAN ministerial events, Singapore, August 2, 2018. Credit: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China and Russia Build a Central Asian Exclusion Zone

Viewpoint by Emil Avdaliani*

TBILISI, Georgia (IDN) — State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted the China+Central Asia (C+C5) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Chinese city of Xi'an on May 12. This is the second such meeting, which increasingly focuses (with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) on geopolitical issues. More broadly, it signals China’s lack of concern for what Russia considers its vital economic and political interests in the region.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 June 2021

Photo: US President Joe Biden with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Credit: David Lienemann | Official White House.

A Seismic Event in US-Russia Relations

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) — The President of the United States Joseph Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met on June 16 in Geneva at a time when the two countries are engrossed in an antagonistic confrontation over many issues—historically, the worst ever relations between the two countries.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 17 June 2021

Photo: Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dinesh Gunawardena at the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 23.

Majority of UN Members Refuse to Fund UNHRC’s Sri Lanka Probe

But would the West Respect the Majority Will?

Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — Majority of members of the UN, especially from the Global South, have refused to donate funds to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC’s) move to set up a separate secretariat to enforce matters relating to the Resolution it passed on Sri Lanka in March this year. The inability to raise sufficient funds is a major setback to UNHRC plans to implement the Resolution, but there are fears here that the West will not respect the will of the majority in the international community, and may chip in with funds to implement their project.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 16 June 2021

Photo: Code Pink anti-war activists protest U.S. Senators supporting Saudi-U.S. arms deals, December 2017. CC BY 2.0

Aid Does Not Necessarily Foster Stability

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The biggest war at the moment is the civil war in Somalia, started in 1991. It has claimed over half a million lives. Second, is the civil war in Syria which has led to about 400,000 deaths. Third, is South Sudan where approximately 400,000 have been killed. Yemen is a younger conflict, with over 230,000 deaths. Human suffering is at its worse in Yemen—it is held in the pincers of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Emirates. Food and medical supplies have often been squeezed to a dribble. The US and the UK contribute to relief in the Yemen via the UN’s World Food Program and UNICEF, while supplying arms to the side of Saudi Arabia.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 June 2021

Photo: COVID-19 patients receive oxygen at a place of worship in Ghaziabad, India. © UNICEF/Amarjeet Singh.

Donating for COVID-Relief — Mixed-Up Governmental Priorities

Viewpoint by Sunil J. Wimalawansa *

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought “a tsunami of suffering”, taken over 3.4 million lives and 500 million jobs, while wiping trillions of dollars from global balance sheets, Secretary-General António Guterres told business last May, for equitable vaccine distribution worldwide.

NEW JERSEY, USA (IDN) — While the COVID-situations are significantly improving in the USA, UK, and most European nations, the situation in Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India worsened. Flawed policy decisions and fraud considerably worsen the situation.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 15 June 2021

Photo: Women planting an olive tree in the Marrakech-Safi region of Morocco (High Atlas Foundation, 2021)

Decentralisation Vital to Achieving the UN's Global Goals

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation.

MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, even to the extent of not explicitly aligning with what we know is indelible to sustainability: local people’s participation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 June 2021

Photo: G7 leaders with their family members. @GretaTunberg

G7 Judged a 'Colossal Failure' for All the World to See

Viewpoint by Jon Queally*

PORTLAND | USA (IDN) — Anti-poverty groups, climate campaigners, and public health experts reacted with outrage and howls of disappointment Sunday after the G7 leaders who spent the weekend (June 11-13) at a summit in Cornwall, England issued a final communique that critics said represents an extreme abdication of responsibility in the face of the world's most pressing and intertwined crises—savage economic inequality, a rapidly-heating planet, and the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 13 June 2021

US Withdrawal from Afghanistan and National Security

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn

Manish Uprety is an ex-diplomat & ALCAP’s Special Advisor for Asia & Africa and Jainendra Karn is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Who would have thought that Heroin which inspired Lou Reed to write a cult classic in 1967 would be discussed in the strategic circles of global democracies especially for its national security implications in the twenty-first century.