SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: Ukrainian troops pose with a captured Russian tank. Credit: Ukraine Defense Ministry.

Putin’s War in Ukraine Even More Senseless Than World War I

Viewpoint by Paul Goble

Eurasia Review issued this article.

OREGON, USA (IDN) — There is nearly universal consensus that World War I was the most senseless conflict in modern times, Yury Yarym-Agayev says; but in fact, Putin’s war in Ukraine is even more senseless than that war of a century ago in that none of its proclaimed goals are real and its real goals are not achievable.

The former member of the Moscow Helsinki Group who emigrated to the United States in 1980 and has worked as a physicist at Stanford and MIT has avoided making comments about Russia until now. But the war in Ukraine has compelled him to end his silence, he says (wow-press.com/u-vojny-net-celi-tolko-putin/?amp=1).

: Europe Editor; OPINION; 09 October 2022

Ukrainian Organization Does Not Deserve a Nobel Peace Prize

Viewpoint by Ariel Gold and Medea Benjamin*

COUNTERCURRENTS issued this article on October 7, 2022.

NEW YORK (IDN) — In what was described as a harsh rebuke of Russia, the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Ukrainian human rights organization 'Center for Civil Liberties', along with Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and the Russian human rights organization Memorial. While at first glance, the Ukrainian 'Center for Civil Liberties' might sound like a group that is well deserving of this honor, Ukrainian peace leader Yurii Sheliazhenko wrote a stinging critique.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 08 October 2022

Photo: A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of the young Iranian woman, who died after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic's morality police, on September 20, 2022. three days in a coma. Credit: Ozan KOSE / AFP via Getty Images. Source: WBUR.

Iran Overwhelmed by “Women-Life-Liberty!” Cries

Viewpoint by René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) — The cry “Women-Life-Liberty!” is going up in many different parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is not possible to know in advance how strong the protests will be and what will be specific reforms demanded. However, the Government is worried. On October 3, Ayatollah Ali Khomeinei, the Supreme Guide, justified the repression in a talk to the Military Academy and said that the manifestations were the work of the USA and Israel.

: Rene Wadlow; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 08 October 2022

Photo: A Sri Lankan Muslim woman walks along a road in Colombo. Credit. Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP. Source: The Hindu.

Sri Lanka: Muslim Women to Take Up 50% Quota Demand in Political Bodies

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — Though Muslim women have been considered a group that shunned politics for generations, in recent months, there has been a remarkable change in their awareness of political rights. Reflecting this new awareness, a group of Muslim women displayed their desire to take up the cause of Sri Lankan women for their rightful place in politics.

: South Asia Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 October 2022

Photo: Zimbabwean farmer Ruth Rugejo runs a hydroponics sytstem that uses recycled plastic bottles at her home in Gweru. Credit: Kudzai Mpangi.

Zimbabwe: Growing Lettuce in Empty Plastic Bottles

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Ruth Rugeje, 38, monitors plants of cabbages, a pale green leafy vegetable, grown in empty two-litre bottles in the backyard of her home in Mutapa, a high-density suburb in the central Zimbabwean city of Gweru.

This innovative farmer picked these plastic bottles from the illegal dumping sites in her neighbourhood and reused them in hydroponics.

There is a greenhouse to help control temperatures in her garden.

: Africa & ME Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 07 October 2022

Pacific Leaders Urge Re-Focus on Climate Emergency

Viewpoint by Volker Boege

Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission.

BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — At the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022, the leaders of the small island—or ‘big ocean’—countries in the Pacific called for a re-focus on the global climate emergency. Using their moral authority, which is grounded in the fact that their countries are the ones most affected by this emergency while contributing hardly anything to its causes, Pacific leaders demanded more decisive climate action and put forward new proposals and initiatives.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 October 2022

Photo: Army Officers appear on Burkina Faso TV, declaring new coup, dismissing Junta leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

Africa Would Do Well to Stop Playing with Fire

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — There is a fire in Ouagadougou. And who’s to say where it’s catching next? For the second time in eight months, the military in Burkina Faso struck in a palace coup that removed military leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

The coup leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, cited the same excuses Damiba gave for seizing power in January as reasons for his removal; namely, that the government has proved incompetent in containing the spread of Islamic insurgency, leading to increasing loss of lives among military and civilian populations.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 06 October 2022

Photo: Nuon Chea (left) and Khieu Samphan in the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). (file) © ECCC/Sok Heng Nhet.

Lessons of the Cambodian-UN War Crimes Trials

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Finally, finally, the over-long, fifteen-year-long trials of the leaders of the murderous Khmer Rouge leadership of Cambodia are concluded. It has been water on stone, but the conclusion is the stone has cracked.

The New York Times reported on September 22: “The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia—a United Nations-backed tribunal charged with prosecuting the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime—held its final hearing. It rejected an appeal by the ninety-one years old Khieu Samphan, the fanatical communist movement’s last surviving leader, upholding his conviction and life sentence for genocide.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 04 October 2022

Photo: Felicien Kabuga, 87, accused of aiding and abetting hit squads who slaughtered ethnic Tutsis. Credit: www.brut.media.

Genocide Suspect Rebuffs International Court Trying Hate Speech Crimes

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A Rwandan businessman and alleged genocidaire failed to appear in court, where he is being tried on charges of masterminding and financing the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Felicien Kabuga, 87, is accused of aiding and abetting hit squads who slaughtered ethnic Tutsis and with using a radio station known as Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines to incite hatred, according to the charges filed before a UN tribunal at The Hague.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 03 October 2022

Photo: 51st regular session of the Human Rights Council (12 September – 7 October 2022). Credit: UN Human Rights Council.

Russia & China Face Draft Resolutions at the UN Rights Council

By A.L.A Azeez

GENEVA (IDN) — At the current session ≈ of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, in addition to Sri Lanka, both Russia and China are facing a draft resolution and a draft decision, respectively. This must be the first time in HRC (or its predecessor—the Commission on Human Rights) that both countries figure at a 'pronouncement' stage, at the same time, beyond the general raising of concerns, statements, thematic discussions etc.