SUSTAINABILITY

Image: Constitution preamble. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Does Constitution or Selective Interpretation of Civilization Bind India?

Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani

This article is the 21st in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and meanwhile a social activist and commentator.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — A couple of years ago article 370 was abrogated, and our Supreme Court is yet to give its verdict on whether this move conforms to our Constitution.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; South Asia; 26 June 2022

Image: President Donald J. Trump, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyanisigns sign the Abraham Accords on Sept. 15, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

The Abraham Accords’ Implications for The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir

Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Abraham Accords have been in the making for several years; what has ultimately brought them to fruition is the Arab states’ national security interests. By no means though have the Arab states abandoned the Palestinian cause, which will continue to haunt them and Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 25 June 2022

Photo: Underwater Seascapes, Anders Nyberg

Addressing the Challenges Confronting the Oceans

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

BEIJING (IDN) — I was the co-chair, along with Dr Liesbeth Lijnzaad of the Netherlands, of the United Nations ad hoc Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). Since handing over our conclusions and recommendations in 2015, a negotiating process has begun with a view to finalizing a Treaty on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, also referred to as a High Seas Treaty.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 24 June 2022

Photo: Kazakh Minister addressing High-level Session of the First Meeting of the States Parties (MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri, IDN-INPS Multimedia Director

Kazakhstan Calls for Universalization of the TPNW

Following are excerpts from the text of the statement by Kazakh's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi, at the High-Level Opening Session of TPNW MSP1 on June 21, 2022.

VIENNA (IDN) — The First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW is a remarkable historic achievement following a nearly decade-long collective effort to advance the universal objective of complete nuclear disarmament.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 23 June 2022

Photo: First Meeting of the States Parties (MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

Faith Communities Greet First Nuclear Weapons Ban Conference

By IDN-INPS Team

VIENNA (IDN) — Faith communities "from a diversity of traditions and located all over the world" have joined together "with one voice to mark" the first meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)."

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 June 2022

Photo: YouTube Screenshot of Zelensky with Troops. Source. France 24

There’s No Need for War with Russia

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Conflicts have a history of spinning out of control. Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you”. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians were not interested in war until President Volodymyr Zelensky took his counterproductive stance on NATO membership and President Vladimir Putin subsequently launched his invasion and united most of Ukraine’s people against him.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Russia; 21 June 2022

Image credit: Maurizio de Angelis/Science photo library

WHO Wants New Name For ‘Monkeypox’ Virus

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced plans to find a new name for the viral disease informally known as ‘monkeypox’ which, says the world body, is “discriminatory and stigmatizing”.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a briefing on the matter, said the virus is no longer behaving as it did in the past and therefore should be renamed.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 21 June 2022

Image: Chinese tourists at Koh Samet Beach in Thailand. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne

Tourism in Asia Hard Hit by Three Factors

Ukraine War and Chinese Lockdowns Add Fuel to COVID’s Devastating Blow

Analysis by Mohan Srilal

COLOMBO (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to tourism across Asia that has been a driving force of economic growth, particularly in countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Indonesia. Today there’s a trifecta of impacts on the tourism industry in the region first from COVID, then the conflict in Ukraine and lately the lockdowns in China.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 19 June 2022

Eritrea: North Koreans with Black Faces

Viewpoint by Daniel Haile*

COLLEGE STATION, Texas | USA (IDN) — Eritrea is a very small country in East Africa along the Red Sea. Second to North Korea, the Eritrean regime is the most isolated, secretive, and repressive authoritarian regime globally, and the last remaining Marxist state on the African continent. The Kim Jong-un of Africa, Isaias Afewerki, has been in power since Eritrea's independence de jure in 1991 and de facto in 1993. Subsequently, Eritrea is infamously known in Africa as the North Korea of Africa for a good reason.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 June 2022

Famine is a Policy Choice: The Afterlife of Covid, Institutional decay, and Privatization—Part 2

This is the second in a series of two articles. Click here for Part 1

COLOMBO (IDN) — What was never mentioned in connection with power cuts and soaring fuel and energy prices was the privatization of sale of the Yugadanavi power plant to an American New Fortress company in a corrupt mid-night deal in November 2021 by former US citizen President Rajapakse, before he took wing to New York to address the United Nation’s General Assembly to boast about his green energy and fertilizer policies that had bought Sri Lanka to the current disaster!