Peace & Justice

Photo: UN Chief Guterres calling from Hiroshima Peace Memorial on August 6 not to "forget the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". @antonioguterres

Beyond First Steps: Phasing out Nuclear Weapons and Energy

By M. V. Ramana*

VANCOUVER, Canada (IDN) — The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for “all military activities in the immediate vicinity of the [Zaporizhzhia Nuclear] plant [in Ukraine] to cease immediately and not to target its facilities or surroundings” because “any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia or any other nuclear facilities in Ukraine, or anywhere else, could lead to catastrophic consequences not only for the immediate vicinity but for the region and beyond”.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 August 2022

Photo: Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto (Front) speaks after receiving a certificate to confirm his victory in the presidential election at a tallying centre in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 15, 2022. Credit: Joy Nabukewa/Xinhua

Kenyans Select Presidential Winner but Not All Agree

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — What began as a quiet voting exercise with a low voter turnout ended with an upset victory for Kenya's Deputy President, William Amolo Ruto, who becomes the nation's fifth president. The race had taken a worrying turn since polls were shut down several times after complaints by supporters of the leading candidates.

On August 15, Kenya's elections chief declared Deputy President William Amolo Ruto. Still, four other senior election officials said the week-long count was too opaque amid chaotic scenes and disowned the result.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 15 August 2022

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on August 3 (Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation MFA)

"Misery Acquaints a Man with Strange Bedfellows"

Russia's Complex Myanmar Embrace

Viewpoint by Jan Servaes

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Think tanks conduct interdisciplinary research to develop positions and recommendations on a wide range of domestic and international topics encompassing defence, economic development and social policy. Therefore, many think tanks advocate and lobby for policy changes at the local, national and international level. The International Crisis Group, founded in 1995, is such an independent organisation that has gained recognition for its work to prevent wars and advocate policies to build a more peaceful world.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 14 August 2022

Photo: Inauguration of Gustavo Petro as president of Colombia in 2022. Source: Twitter Samantha Power, USAID.

Gustavo Petro's Election Promises a Major Change in Colombia

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The leftward shift in South America that gained momentum in 2021, with right-wing politicians being worsted in presidential elections in Peru, Chile and Honduras, continues its sweep in 2022.

Colombia, famous for its coffee and the novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has long remained under right-wing regimes that enjoyed a cosy equation with Washington. Some of these regimes were terrible dictatorships which forced people like Marquez, best known for his One Hundred Years of Solitude, to live in exile out of fear of being killed by state-sponsored mafia elements.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 14 August 2022

Photo: Women receive food rations at a food distribution site in Herat, Afghanistan. © UNICEF/Sayed Bidel

Afghanistan: UN Human Rights Experts Warn of Bleak Future Without Turnaround

Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — UN experts are warning that Afghanistan's future is bleak if more is not done to reverse the deteriorating human rights situation, particularly for women and girls. They call on the international community to intensify efforts to urge de facto authorities to adhere to basic human rights principles.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 14 August 2022

Photo: US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Credit: WION

US Security Adviser's Fake Take: Lie About Iranian Drones for Russia

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's bluff about an Iran-Russia deal for "hundreds" of drones was nailed by none other than US National Security Agency (NASA) spokesperson John Kirby.

On July 11, Sullivan claimed that Iran was preparing to sell hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including weapons-capable drones, to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 13 August 2022

Photo: Ms Wada Masako addressing the UN General Assembly at the UN General Assembly on August 5 as part of the 2022 NPT Review Conference. Credit: Akira Kawasaki.

Indelible Impact of the Bombing of Nagasaki

Viewpoint by Wada Masako

Ms Wada Masako is Assistant Secretary-General of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo). Following are extensive extracts from the text of her presentation at the UN General Assembly on August 5 as part of the 2022 NPT Review Conference.

NEW YORK (IDN) — I was a one- and ten-months old baby when Nagasaki was devastated by the atomic bomb. My house was located 2.9 kilometres away from the blast centre. Thanks to the mountains surrounding the central part of Nagasaki City, which somewhat shielded my house from the direct impact of the bomb, I have survived to this day.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 August 2022

Photo: The long lines for kerosene, used in cooking, which is in short supply island wide. Credit: Sunday Times, Sri Lanka

The Politics of Misfortune in Sri Lanka

By Neville de Silva*

LONDON, (IDN) — Never in Sri Lanka's 74-year post-independence history has a democratically elected leader been forced to flee the country, running away from the economic shambles and social disarray he was largely responsible for creating.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa with 6.9 million votes under his belt was elected president at the butt end of 2019. Two and a half years later, one of the siblings of the most powerful political family in the country, was forced out of his private residence in the outskirts of the capital Colombo by angry crowds as essentials such as fuel, cooking gas, medicines ran out and some foods were hard to find.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 10 August 2022

Photo: Screenshot of "The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara". Source: BBC Eye Investigations.

A Film Explores Fulani-Hausa Conflict in Nigeria's Zamfara State

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — In a deeply disturbing new documentary, Nigerian journalist Yusuf Anka presents a devastating portrait of his country's worst security crisis. In the north-western state of Zamfara, heavily armed bandit gangs raid villages, attack drivers, abduct children and kill anyone who resists.

As seen through this hour-long video, we hear the voices of Fulani-dominated bandits, as they are popularly called in Nigeria, and Hausa-dominated vigilantes, including the men who abducted almost 300 secondary schoolgirls in February 2021.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 10 August 2022

Photo credit: Leicester Museum Art Gallery

Asians Recall Expulsion from Uganda 50 Years Ago

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LEICESTER (IDN) — It remains a bitter memory for Asians, some life-long and others more recent residents of Uganda, of their sudden, unexpected expulsion from the African country they called home 50 years ago this month.

They had just 90 days to pack up and leave, then President Idi Amin declared in a televised speech. For now, he was "giving Uganda back to ethnic Ugandans".