OPINION

Image: American troops during the Champagne-Marne offensive in a forest fighting Germans. Created 4 March 2004. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

US Foreign Policy and Trump's Contradictions – Part 2

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the second of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump.

BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – With the arrival of the Trump administration, the threshold of potential use of the nuclear weapon has been lowered considerably, according to a logic that appears a further and dangerous development of the preventive war applied to an elusive enemy such as terrorism and its allies (more or less real or presumed).

Not only would the United States feel fully responsible "whichever State, terrorist group or other non-state actor supports or contributes to the efforts of terrorists to acquire or use nuclear devices", but in the event of a nuclear attack by terrorists against the United States or its allies it would consider the "the ultimate form of retaliation", according to the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 07 March 2018

Photo: Umbrellas on the Piazza of the Prophet´s Holy Mosque in Medina. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

What the Prophet Implied and What Sustains Fundamentalists

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – What do we in the West know about Islam? Perhaps more than we did before 9/11 but not much.

When Tony Blair was prime minister of the United Kingdom he was photographed walking along holding the Koran. President George W. Bush said repeatedly that Islam was a religion of peace.

Even though at that time one of the most influential American political writers, Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard University, had written that it wasn’t fundamentalism that was the problem, it was Islam itself.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 06 March 2018

Photo: President Trump explaining a 'New National Security Strategy for a New Era' on December 18, 2017. Credit: whitehouse.gov

US Foreign Policy and Trump's Contradictions – Part 1

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the first of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump.

BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – During a speech on foreign policy in April 2016, US President Donald Trump thundered: "We are totally predictable. We tell everything. We're sending troops. We tell them. We're sending something else. We have a news conference. We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now."

Uncertainty and variety of assessments about the course of the Trump administration's foreign policy continue to be significant. What unites critics and supporters of the administration's foreign policy is the fear or hope that, driven by nationalism, the United States may withdraw into what is called isolationism.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 05 March 2018

Photo: African Union meeting end of January. Credit: Voices for Transparency

The Focus Turns To Corruption in 2018

By Joe Powell

The writer is Deputy CEO of Open Government Partnership (OGP). This article first appeared in Transparency International's blog Voices for Transparency. – The Editor

WASINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – Corruption continued to dominate headlines across the world in 2017. It ended political careers, motivated citizens to organize and advocate for reform, and was spurred by another major leak of documents revealing money laundering and elite capture in the Paradise Papers. It is one of the most challenging open government topics facing the world today.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 03 March 2018

Photo: "Comrade, your statement is factually incorrect." "Yes, it is. But it is politically correct." Credit: www.geopolintelligence.com

On the Use – or Abuse – of "Politically Correct"

Viewpoint by Marcelo Colussi*

GUATEMALA CITY (IDN) – Although it is not very clear – or not at all clear – what the "correct" in "politically corrrect" consists of, there is a general consensus that we must practice "correctness", that we must be "politically correct".

Pushed by this trend, then, we cannot say "blacks" but “people of colour" and we always have to make explicit reference to gender, among myriad others. Following the same line, we should not say "disabled” but "people with different abilities", "homosexual” and never "poof" and "third age" instead of "elderly " – never think of saying "old".

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 02 March 2018

Photo: Congo’s UN mission said on March 18, 2017 that government forces had targeted civilians, including women and children, resulting in numerous deaths in central Congo and were restricting United Nations peacekeepers’ access to the area. Credit: nileinternational.net

UN Peacekeeping Needs Thorough Reform

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The new, vicious, fighting in the Congo is the fourth round of warfare since independence in 1960. No other country has seen so many “blue berets” – UN peacekeeping troops – in its short history.

The Belgian colonialists may have exploited it and transferred massive amounts of its wealth back to Belgium but one leader after another has continued in its steps, making use of the country’s vast mineral deposits to build an edifice of wealth and unilateral power. Leaders have played on tribal fears and insecurity. War has been the outcome.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 February 2018

ACP Group Joins with OCTs to Fight Illegal Fishing and Other Threats to Life Below Water

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

The following is a slightly modified version of remarks by the ACP Secretary General to the High-Level Forum of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and the European Union in Brussels on 23 February 2018 on 'Engaging the OCTs and SDGs and the Post-Cotonou Process'. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Together the ACP Group of States and the European Union constitute a unique partnership grounded in the task of making lives of all humanity meaningful, secure, peaceful and prosperous.

It is for this reason that my remarks wish to express a commitment of the ACP Group of States to build on and strengthen the provisions in the Cotonou Agreement for relations of the ACP with OCTs.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 27 February 2018

Photo: Jean-Luc Stalon, UNDP Country Director in Senegal (in September 2012). Credit: UNDP

Ending Persistent Inequality in Africa a Top Priority

Viewpoint by Jean-Luc Stalon

Jean-Luc Stalon is UNDP Country Director in Senegal. This article first appeared on January 31, 2018 on Africa Review. – The Editor.

DAKAR (IDN-INPS) – The defeat of Keynesianism in the 1980s witnessed an increase in income and social inequalities associated with the domination and monopoly of neoliberalism.

Neoliberalism advocates a free market that would promote growth through public spending cuts, deregulation of the economy, lower taxes on business, reduction of restrictions capital movement and global open markets.

Consequently, it seemed to have conquered the world through the transfer of power from the public to private sector.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 25 February 2018

Photo: U.S. President Donald J. Trump addresses the General Assembly’s annual general debate on 19 September 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

Trump Breaks Nuclear Taboos, Strives For Supremacy

By Daryl G. Kimball and Kingston A. Reif

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and Kingston A. Reif its Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy. This article appeared as Issue Brief on February 15, 2018 with the caption 'The New U.S. Nuclear Strategy is Flawed and Dangerous. Here’s Why.' It is being reproduced with permission from the Association. – The Editor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – In December 2016, President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States “must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” and later told MSNBC that he would “outmatch” and “outlast” other potential competitors in a nuclear arms race. The comments mostly prompted condemnation in the United States and around the world and raised concerns about the direction the president would take U.S. nuclear weapons policy.

: Arms Control Association; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 21 February 2018

A Revolutionary Change is Sweeping Across Southern Africa

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – It’s been an odd couple of months for southern Africa. No one predicted last year that in almost the same breath the long-serving dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, and the super-corrupt president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, would be soon overthrown – and non-violently to boot.

In Zimbabwe the army did trigger Mugabe's demise, but it was a sort of passive coup, a non-violent withdrawal of support. In South Africa Zuma was compelled to stand down as leader of the African National Congress because of a majority vote against him in an assembly of the ANC, the party of black protest against former minority white-led rule. Again, all done non-violently.