Peace & Justice

Photo: UN General Assembly. Source: The Daily Star

Bangladesh’s Abstention from The UN Resolution on The Ukraine War Is Justified

Viewpoint by M Rafiqul Islam

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. This article was issued by The Daily Star of Bangladesh and is being republished with their permission.

SYDNEY (IDN) — The UN General Assembly emergency session adopted a resolution against Russia's aggression in Ukraine on 2 March 2022. It was adopted by 141 votes of total 193 members with 5 negative votes and 35 abstentions of which Bangladesh was one. Given the highly polarised geopolitical orientation of current international relations and UN operational narratives, this write-up argues that the pragmatic decision of Bangladesh was justified.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 March 2022

NATO Is Far from Obsolete

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — What does ex-president Donald Trump think about NATO? Twice during his campaigning, he rubbished it publicly, saying it was “obsolete”. Three years ago the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said NATO was “brain-dead.

Is it obsolete or brain-dead or both?

: Jonathan Power; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 16 March 2022

Photo: Thomas Sankara, widely known as Africa’s Che Guevara. Credit: Patrick Durand / Sygma

Trial To Settle Unsolved Murder of Burkina Faso’s ‘Che Guevara’ in 1987

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — It’s been justice delayed for Thomas Sankara, the man they called Africa’s Che Guevara. It should not be justice denied.

Thirty-five years ago, Sankara, an iconic figure of revolution, the youthful president of the West African nation of Burkina Faso, was shot and killed at the height of his popularity.

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

Photo: Shelling killed six-year-old Milana's mother. She is now recovering after surgery at a children's hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine. © UNICEF/Oleksandr Ratushniak

Ukraine: ‘We Need Peace Now’ Declares the UN Chief & Warns of Global Hunger Meltdown

By UN News

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — Ukraine is being “decimated before the eyes of the world” with Russia’s military offensive against civilians “reaching terrifying proportions”, said the UN chief on March 14, warning that a resulting meltdown of the global economy is provoking a hunger crisis that is hitting the poorest, hardest.

Secretary-General António Guterres addressed correspondents outside the Security Council chamber in New York, and said that with each passing hour in Ukraine, the death and destruction is getting worse: “Whatever the outcome, this war will have no winners, only losers.”

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 15 March 2022

Photo: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine—i

Never Too Late for Peace in Ukraine

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa

NEW YORK (IDN) — Once again, destruction, bloodshed, migration of millions of people, shattered economies, and hardship for average people all over the world.

Russia attacked Ukraine though Russia’s President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukraine, and that the "special military operation" is directed at "demilitarization" and "denazification" in Ukraine.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 14 March 2022

Photo: Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King US helicopter whose production has been licensed to manufacturers in UK, Italy, Canada and Japan. Credit: US Navy

World’s Largest Arms Importers Include Nuclear Powers

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — A significant spike in arms imports by Europe, East Asia and Oceania during the last five years has reaffirmed the continuously sharp increase in global arms sales—a rising trend undaunted by a faltering world economy or the two-year-long pandemic lockdown.

According to a new study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released March 14, Asia and Oceania remained the largest importing region for major arms, receiving 43 per cent of global transfers during 2017–21.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 March 2022

Image: Chart for the political system of Russia. CC BY-SA 4.0

Russia's Exit from Western Dominated Organizations—Consequences Far from Certain

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — After the historic fall of the Soviet era, all the 16 former Soviet republics including Russia and Ukraine dreamed of raising their status by joining international organizations. Over the past three decades, Russia became a member of many global bodies, participating actively at the United Nations. It joined the Greater Eurasia Union, BRICS—a group of states comprising Brazil, India, China and South Africa—and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 12 March 2022

Image: Destruction in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion. Source: The Daily Star.

The Ukraine Crisis Amid Fractured International Legal Order — Hypocrisy of the Powerful

Viewpoint by M Rafiqul Islam

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. This article was issued by The Daily Star of Bangladesh and is being republished with their permission.

SYDNEY (IDN) — The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine once again has solicited world attention to the international legal order that has repeatedly been fractured by powerful states in the post-cold war era. Obviously, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is illegal in international law and a clear violation of the peremptory norm of prohibition of force in international relations and non-intervention under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 March 2022

Photo: Euromaidan crowds in Kyiv on 19 February 2014. CC BY 3.0

How the U.S. Has Empowered and Armed 'Neo-Nazis' in Ukraine

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

NEW YORK (IDN) — Russian President Putin has claimed that he ordered the invasion of Ukraine to “denazify” its government, while Western officials, such as former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, have called this pure propaganda, insisting, “There are no Nazis in Ukraine.”

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 10 March 2022

The World is Plunging into a Dangerous New Cold War 2.0

Viewpoint by Dr Joseph Gerson

The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security

NEW YORK (IDN) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s repeated tense threats to resort to genocidal nuclear attacks if the West intervenes more directly in Ukraine must be universally condemned and opposed.

Despite Putin having told President Macron that he intends to take all of Ukraine, as demonstrations today are demanding, we must press for an immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukraine and negotiations.