OPINION

Win or Lose, Trump Is Africa's Dangerous Example

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – If Donald J. Trump were president of Wakanda on the eve of an election, that country would have received several warnings from the US State Department on the need for free and fair polls, and the necessity for all parties to play by the rules. [Wakanda a fictional country appearing in American comic books.] But what is playing by the rules if parties will not accept an orderly transfer of power?

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 29 October 2020

Photo: Chief Justice John Roberts administers the judicial oath to Judge Amy Coney Barrett on October 27, 2020. Judge Barrett's husband, Jesse M. Barrett, holds the Bible. Wikimedia Commons.

The Politicization of the United States Supreme Court

An affront to the Independence of the Judiciary and American Democracy

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United States Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, as a Justice of the Supreme Court. Despite the partisan rancor, Barrett’s confirmation was a forgone conclusion. The Court now has a conservative majority of 6-3 that could fundamentally reshape America. More on this later.

This year 2020 may go down in modern history as the worst year ever that faced an extraordinary set of challenges.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 29 October 2020

Photo: Setsuko Thurlow, Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Setsuko Thurlow: The TPNW – A Game Changer in Nuclear Disarmament

The following is the text of the Statement by Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and long time campaigner for nuclear-weapons abolition, as the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached the 50 states parties required for its entry into force. ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons published the Statement on its website.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has entered into force! This truly marks the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons! When I learned that we reached our 50th ratification, I was not able to stand. I remained in my chair and put my head in my hands and I cried tears of joy. I have committed my life to the abolition of nuclear weapons. I have nothing but gratitude for all who have worked for the success of our treaty. I have a powerful feeling of solidarity with tens of thousands of people across the world. We have made it to this point.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 28 October 2020

Photo: Collage of ICAN, NCNP and WSLF pictures.

The U.S. Should Embrace TPNW's Vision of a More Democratic World

The following is text of the Statement of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) and Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) are affiliates of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), a partner of the 2017 Nobel Peace laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

NEW YORK (IDN) – Fifty states have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). By its terms, the treaty will enter into force in 90 days, becoming legally binding for states that have joined the treaty.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 28 October 2020

Photo: The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) inspectors conduct safeguards inspections at URENCO (an international supplier of enrichment services and fuel cycle products for the civil nuclear industry) in the Netherlands. Credit: IAEA/Dean Calma.

Soon Nuclear Weapons Will Be Prohibited

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The 50th instrument of ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was deposited on October 24 – coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Charter. In accordance with its Article 15, the Treaty will enter automatically into force 90 days after that date. When in force, the TPNW will become part of the corpus of positive international law as the first multilateral agreement that comprehensively prohibits nuclear weapons and also addresses the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapon use and testing, including assistance to victims. Besides, it is the first treaty that explicitly forbids its members from hosting nuclear weapons belonging to other states.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 27 October 2020

Why Joe Biden Should be Elected and Not Trump Despite Foreign Policy Successes

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Any day now the news will come that the US and Russia have decided to renew the important nuclear arms reduction of around 1000 warheads each that was agreed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dimitri Medvedev. Another feather in Trump’s foreign policy hat? Yes, indeed.

In fact, his record on foreign policy is said by his supporters to be better than both the Democrat and Republican presidents before him. Most important, he has not started any new wars.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 October 2020

Image: The United States believes Sri Lanka could prove to be important for its Indo-Pacific strategy.US State Secretary Mike Pompeo on location map of Asia. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Global Superman's Air-Dash to Colombo

Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira *

COLOMBO (IDN) – Clark Kent alias Kal-El of the fictitious planet Krypton, known popularly as Superman usually travels at lightning speed, makes flying visits or air-dashes to fight evil forces. Super Global cop’s Secretary of State or Foreign Minister air-dashes from place to place when he is on flying visits to other regions.

Former Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardene, who earned the sobriquet ‘Yankee Dickey’ could have a dialogue directly with President Ronald Reagan, but ‘America did not even lift its little finger’ when Indian jets violated Sri Lanka airspace in June 1987.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 26 October 2020

Photo: The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago on 6 and 9 August—where over 170,000 people died—highlighted the dangers for mankind coming from the very existence of nuclear weapons. Source: Pugwash

Nuclear Ban Treaty Is Based on Common Sense

The following is the text of a statement by Sergio Duarte, President, and Paolo Cotta Ramusino, Secretary-General of the 1995 Nobel Peace Laureate Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs on the Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 50 States.

ROME (IDN) – Pugwash notes with deep appreciation the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on October 24, 2020. The Treaty will enter into force ninety days from that date. This will be an important result of the efforts of the United Nations, Secretary-General Guterres and a large number of non-nuclear States, together with several non-governmental organizations, especially ICAN, to inscribe the rejection of nuclear weapons into positive international law.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 26 October 2020

Towards Banning the Bomb

The following is the text of a statement by Mr. Hirotsugu Terasaki, Director General, Peace and Global Issues of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) on the Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 50 States.

TOKYO (IDN) – We wish to wholeheartedly welcome the ratification, on October 24, 2020, UN Day, of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) by Honduras, meeting the 50-state minimum necessary for the entry into force. Three years and three months have passed since the treaty was adopted at the United Nations on July 7, 2017, with the support of 122 countries. March to Ban the Bomb.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 26 October 2020

Nuclear-armed States Panic as Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty Becomes International Law

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

“Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat,

Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad,

Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom gods lead to destruction.”

VIENNA (IDN) -– On 22 January 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) becomes international law in accordance with international legal principles underpinned by the United Nations Charter and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Dreading this eventuality, the nuclear-armed States and the “captive nations” in alliances backed by nuclear weapons are panicking and resorting to unhinged arguments against this treaty adopted by 122 of 193 UN Member States on 7 July 2017 – it has been signed by 84 and ratified by 50 States.