SYNDICATION

Image: Virus on a decreasing curve. Source: www.hec.edu/en

COVID Crisis Has Shone A Spotlight on Long-Festering Inequality

The Future Is Wide Open

Viewpoint by Nathan Gardels, The World Post

The author is WorldPost co-founder and editor in chief. This article appeared first on THEWORLDPOST* on 23 May 2020 and is being republished in view of its forward-looking approach.

BERLIN (IDN) – The first real-time global pandemic has so broken the inertia of old ways that the future has rarely seemed so open. The slate is nearly wiped clean. The decisions we take now are thus immensely consequential because they will shape the times to come for the rest of the century and beyond.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 23 May 2020

Photo: Flamingos at Talawe Wetlands in Navi Mumbai. Source: TERI.

COVID-19 Lockdown Is A Much-Needed Break for Nature

Viewpoint by Siddharth S Edake

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Today, I can see the forests of the Aravali Biodiversity Park at the far end, under a light blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The air is crisp and clear, and close to around 20 yellow-footed green pigeons locally known as hariyal, a rare sighting for Gurugram, are feasting on the fruits of the shehtut (Mulberry) tree in front of me. The sound of traffic is replaced by the chirping of birds and the tinkling of wind chimes as they sway in the light breeze. For a nature lover and environmentalist, this is as good as it gets in a metropolitan city in India.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 May 2020

Photo: The foreign ministers from Iran and the countries of the P5+1, as well as the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, after agreeing the Iran Nuclear deal, 14 July 2015. Courtesy of Dragan Tatic/Wikimedia.

US Seeks Iran Arms Embargo Extension Riling Europe

By Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson

While Julia Masterson is research assistant, Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy at Arms Control Association. The Association's website published this analysis on May 15.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – The United States is considering a range of options to prevent the October 2020 expiration of a UN embargo that restricts arms sales to and from Iran. Those options include making a legal case that the United States remains a bona fide participant of the nuclear deal with Iran that it withdrew from in May 2018 in order to use a Security Council provision to block the embargo's expiration.

: Arms Control Association; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 16 May 2020

Image: Collage of pictures about biomedical research. Source: Delhi Posr

COVID-19: An Opportunity to Fix Dysfunctional Biomedical R&D System

Viewpoint by Sreenath Namboodiri*

The author is Assistant Professor of Law at School of Ethics, Governance, Culture & Social Systems, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth (deemed to be university), Ernakulam, Kerala, India. He can be reached on twitter @SnathNamboodiri

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Failures of the patent system to meet the public health priorities demand a new approach in research and development (R&D) financing and incentive to pharmaceutical innovations. An R&D model delinking the cost of R&D from the price of the product is the way forward.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 May 2020

Photo: President Richard Nixon met with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on October 8, 1973, in Washington in the Oval Office of the White House and said that the U.S. intended to make every effort to bring an end to the fighting in the Middle East. Nixon did not detail the Administration’s position to be put forward in the UN Security Council on that day but said that the US would not make a grandstand play. (UPI Photo/Files)

Tale of a Machiavellian US in the Middle East

The US Has to Work with Russia, Not Against It

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The war in Syria has dropped out of the news, like almost everything else, in a time when the Coronavirus seems to dominate all discourse and reporting. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to strangle its own country. The Russians continue to bomb on his behalf, terrifying civilians and hospitals. The Americans work semi-clandestinely to undermine both the regime and its Russian backers.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 May 2020

Photo: Demonstrators filled the sidewalk and part of 10th Street in Sacramento during the "Operation Gridlock" stay-at-home protest at the Capitol Monday, April 20, 2020. Photo by Andrew Nixon, CapRadi

Do Not Abuse Science for Corona Politics

Viewpoint by Cees Jan Hamelink*

This article was originally published on Other News, a vehicle for "voices against the tide" and is being reproduced with thanks.

AMSTERDAM (IDN) – As a scientist it is of course gratifying for me to hear that government policy on Covid-19 takes science seriously. And it is gratifying when press conferences of the prime minister and other authorities refer to scientific research. However, if it is not immediately mentioned by whom these studies were carried out and by whom they were critically assessed, I, as a scientist, become restless.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 May 2020

After the Pandemic, Will We Return to Business as Usual?

Viewpoint by Francesc Badia I Dalmases*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

BARCELONA (IDN) – Meteorologists have warned that this year is on track to become the hottest since records began. The climate crisis continues, whose medium-term consequences will be devastating, without being controlled. And meanwhile, all of us are looking with uncertainty at the future that awaits us, and the daily Covid-19 lockdown news leave us dreaming of returning to a lost normality.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 May 2020

Photo: Container line shipping has been hard hit by COVID-19. Source: The European Shippers' Council (ESC).

COVID-19: Europe Must Regain Sovereignty Over Key Industries

Viewpoint by Camille Rustici

The writer is chief editor of the e-magazine DirectIndustry. This article was first published on the online journal of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's Brussels office, International Politics and Society on April 28.

MARSEILLE (IDN) – Since the outbreak in China, which led to the closing of a large number of factories in the country in late January, not a single industrial sector in the rest of the world has been spared. The automotive, electronics and textile industries, among others, have suffered and continue to suffer colossal losses unheard of in peacetime.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 May 2020

Photo credit: Pxfuel / (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

COVID-19: Can Technology Become a Tool of Oppression and Surveillance?

Viewpoint by Petra Molnar*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

TORONTO (IDN) – Refugees, immigrants, and people on the move have long been tied to tropes of bringing disease and illness. From pandemics to genocides, people crossing borders whether by force or by choice are talked about in apocalyptic terms like ‘flood’ or ‘wave,’ underscored by rampant xenophobia, racism, and elemental fear of ‘The Other’. Not only are these formulations blatantly incorrect, they also legitimise far-reaching state incursion and increasingly hard-line policies of surveillance and techno-solutionism to manage migration.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 May 2020

Photo: Camden, New Jersey is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (Created 25 November 2009)

America Should Not Be Number One Because It's A Spent Star

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

The US needs first and foremost to look after itself-– its often counterproductive foreign policy, its poverty, its third rate health services, its misdistribution of income, to save the economy and to save those most hurt by the Coronavirus crisis.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It might seem that the world is going to pot in a hand-basket. Not quite true. There are ways out. Asia has shown how to deal with the Coronavirus and how to stay politically stable. Europe, except for wise Sweden, has muddled along, following belatedly the conventional wisdom of its scientific community. As for the United States, President Donald Trump has made a fool of himself and his country, ending up with the highest death rate in the world.