SYNDICATION

Photo: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the White House had "ordered and planned" a "coup". Credit: cancilleria.gob.ec

Venezuela Crisis Drives A Wedge Between Europeans

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – It’s a topsy-turvy world. President Emmanuel Macron’s France can recognise Juan Guaido, who is leading the protests in distant Venezuela, as “Interim President” of that country. But Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio cannot meet “Yellow Vest” protestors demonstrating on the streets of Paris.

Why is recognition of protests acceptable in the case of Venezuela but not when it comes to France?

Because the West led by the United States and its camp followers in Europe say so. This is the so-called “international community” known for its duplicitous standards.

: Shastri Ramachandran; OPINION; 09 February 2019

Writing From A Sinking Vessel

Viewpoint by Federico Mayor Zaragoza*

BARCELONA (IDN) – “Suddenly,” said Leonardo Da Vinci, “there are no poor and rich, no young and old, no white and black on board … only a bunch of passengers toiling, working together to survive, to avoid a shipwreck.”

This is the advice we should convey today through all media so that the “peoples” become aware of the situation humanity is facing for the first time in history. In recent years a series of global threats have been recognised as potentially irreversible processes that need to be confronted and dealt with on time before it is too late.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 February 2019

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres on his priorities for 2019 at the Press Conference on 18 January 2019 in New York. Credit: UN Web TV.

UN Chief Careful Not to Finger Point Any Of The P-5

By Erol Avdovic

This article is the first in a series of WebPublicaPress Online Magazine's analyses being published by IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Where there is no leadership and vision, the people perish – it's an old saying in different languages around the world.

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant,” said Max DePree, an American writer and businessman of the 20th century.

At the United Nations, the leadership credo has always been: do not antagonize the Permanent Five (P-5) Members of the 15-nation UN Security Council – USA, China, Russia, United Kingdom, and France. And, as Secretary-General strive your utmost to become the superman of political correctness.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 06 February 2019

Photo: Global prosperity is at its highest level in the 12-year history of the Legatum Index. Only in the U.S. do we see a significant setback in such good fortune. Tragically for many, under Trump, it is going to get worse. Credit: Legatum Institute.

Global Prosperity Rises, Inequality Haunts The U.S.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Every so often reports emerge that attempt to measure which are the best countries to live in. The Nordic countries plus New Zealand, Holland and Switzerland, usually come out on top. Sweden is number one just for the sheer stability of life and security. Denmark is seen as the most agreeable place to live. The highest rate of longevity is found in Japan. The best schools are in Finland, New Zealand and Canada. Political and press freedom put the Nordics at the top of the league.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 February 2019

Photo: Russian Iskander-M SRBM system with 9M723K5 missiles. CC BY-SA 4.0

Next Steps Out Of The INF Treaty Crisis

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article was posted on the Association's website as an Issue Brief on February 1, 2019.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – The Trump administration announced on February 1 that effective February 2, the United States will suspend implementation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and formally notify other parties to the treaty that it will withdraw in six months if Russia does not return to compliance by eliminating its ground-launched 9M729 missile, which the United States alleges can fly beyond the 500-kilometer range limit set by the treaty.

: Daryl G. Kimball; OPINION; 02 February 2019

Photo: Town hall Meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC. Credit: Ghana Embassy, Washington, DC.

Ghana Rolls Out The Red Carpet To Encourage Resettlement In The Motherland

By Benjamin Tetteh, Africa Renewal

ACCRA (IDN-INPS) – In the heart of Accra, Ghana’s capital, just a few meters from the United States embassy, lie the tombs of W. E. B. Du Bois, a great African-American civil rights leader, and his wife, Shirley. The founder of the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People moved to Accra in 1961, settling in the city’s serene residential area of Labone and living there until his death in August 1963.

Mr. Du Bois’s journey to Ghana may have signaled the emergence of a profound desire among Africans in the diaspora to retrace their roots and return to the continent. Ghana was a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 February 2019

Photo: The Italian Coast Guard rescues migrants bound for Italy. Credit: IOM | Francesco Malavolta

Perils Of A Journey From Eritrea Through Libya To Europe

Migrants’ Search For Greener Pastures Carry Deadly Consequences

By Franck Kuwonu and Louise Donavan

This article first appeared on Africa Renewal, December 2018-March 2019 issue.

NEW YORK | NIAMEY (IDN-INPS) – Alone in Niger, the young man sits, filled with regrets. “I didn’t necessarily want to come this far,” he says with anguish. “Khartoum may have been OK.”

What made him extend his flight to a destination unknown? he wonders. He survived a perilous journey across deserts and seas, but at a terrible cost. His brother, with whom he was so close, lost his life after leaving the Sudanese capital, where the two had briefly settled after fleeing Eritrea, the country of their birth.

“So I left Khartoum too,” 36-year-old Tekle (not his real name) says, despairing over the unforeseen misfortune in his life.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 January 2019

Photo: The U.S. Air Force’s 45th Space Wing supported the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of the Echostar 105/SES-11 communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 11, 2017. (SpaceX)

Trump’s Missile Defence Buildup Plans Are Dangerous

Viewpoint by Kingston A. Reif

The writer is director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at Arms Control Association (ACA). He casts a close look at the '2019 Missile Defense Review'. This article appeared as an Issue Brief on ACA website on January 17, 2019.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – The Trump administration’s long-awaited 'Missile Defense Review', which was released on January 17, proposes a significant and costly expansion of the role and scope of U.S. missile defences that is likely to exacerbate Russian and Chinese concerns about the threat to their strategic nuclear deterrents, undermine strategic stability, and further complicate the prospects for additional nuclear arms reductions.

Of particular concern was President Donald Trump’s statement during his remarks at the Pentagon that the goal of U.S. missile defences is to “ensure we can detect and destroy any missile launched against the United States anywhere, anytime, anyplace.”

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 30 January 2019

Photo: 2019 Missile Defense Review. Credit: Defense News Weekly.

Time Is Running Out For Sensible Decision-Making On Missile Defences

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The number of nuclear weapons possessed by the U.S. and Russia is a fraction of what it was during the height of the Cold War. Successive presidents on both sides, since the time of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, have feared their destructive power. The supposed value of nuclear arsenal, so called Mutually Assured Destruction, known by its capitals, MAD, is in fact valueless. They cannot be used, and nearly everyone accepts that.

Yet they continue to exist and, as President Mikhail Gorbachev and his ally in nuclear arms control, President Ronald Reagan, both said, there is the fear of a false alarm or two errant officers in the silo entering simultaneously their keys, which allows the firing of the rocket.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 January 2019

Oxfam India Highlights 'Morally Outrageous' Inequality

This article is the second in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. This article first appeared on NDTV on 21 January 2019. – The Editor

By Press Trust of India

DAVOS (IDN-INPS) – Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by Rs. 2,200 crore (about $309.86 millions) a day last year, with the top 1 per cent of the country’s richest getting richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population, according to an Oxfam study.