SYNDICATION

Photo (left to right): Sun Zhijun, vice-minister of Publicity Department of CPC Central Committee; Xia Weidong, full-time deputy director of Office of National Steering Committee for Ethical and Cultural Progress; Xiang Zhaolun, vice-minister of the Ministry of Culture; and Zhang Hongsen, vice-minister of State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television; attend the news conference during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, 20 October 2017. Credit: Liu Wei/chinadaily.com.cn

China Extending Capabilities In Reengineering Global Opinion

Viewpoint by Zi Yang*

SINGAPORE (IDN) – On March 21, 2018, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released its ‘Plan for Deepening Reform of Party and State Organs’. Among the 60 items added to China’s reform agenda, four were related to state media. That month, the CCP greatly increased the power of China’s so-called ‘Ministry of Truth’ — the Central Publicity Department (CPD). It also announced plans to create Voice of China, the world’s largest media conglomerate.

Previously hidden behind state institutions, the CPD now publicly declares its control over all Chinese press and publications. The administration of copyrights, censorship and monitoring of foreign publications imports are only a few of the CPD’s new tasks. As part of its deceptive tactics, the CPD employs the names State Press and Publication Administration or State Copyright Administration when communicating with foreign counterparts.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 May 2018

Photo: On April 1, 2018 local time, President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam (right) met in Hanoi with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left), who was paying an official visit to Vietnam.

China Is Making Friends With Five Mekong States

Viewpoint by Nguyen Khac Giang*

HANOI (IDN) – Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took over power in 2012, Southeast Asia has become a focal point of China’s geopolitical ambitions. Instead of the clandestine and illegal tactics seen under Mao Zedong, the current strategy combines two major approaches: building Chinese-led institutional mechanisms and buying support with a flood of aid, concessional loans and investments.

This strategy is clearly illustrated by the stellar rise of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), an ambitious Chinese initiative that involves the six countries of the Mekong sub-region: China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 May 2018

Time Has Come For Europe To Be Tough With Trump

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Don’t cry for me, Europe. The time for diminishing Europe’s self-esteem is over. It’s time for toughness and retaliation. Even a personal intervention by his favourite European head of state, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, failed to move President Donald Trump on the gravest of all policies – his decision that the Iran nuclear deal, meant to reduce its nuclear prowess, will be scrapped by the US in favour of a policy of confrontation.

Many observers, in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and China – all signatories to the historic agreement of 2015 – are worried stiff that this will lead to war between Iran and Israel, in which Trump will feel moved to intercede if Israel is being badly hurt.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 May 2018

Photo: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir told CNN on May 9 that his country stands ready to build nuclear weapons if Iran restarts its nuclear program. @CNNPolitics

Thwart Saudi Threat To Acquire Nuclear Weapons

By Daryl G. Kimball and Thomas Countryman

Following is the text of Statement from Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and its Board of Directors Chairman and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation,Thomas Countryman,– The Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – We are deeply disappointed by the counterproductive response from the Trump administration to the statements from senior Saudi officials threatening to pursue nuclear weapons in violation of their nonproliferation commitments.

We call on the White House to immediately reiterate the longstanding, bipartisan policy of the United States that it will actively work against the spread of nuclear weapons to any country, friend or foe.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 15 May 2018

Image: Mural by Diego Rivera showing the Karl Marx. In the National Palace in Mexico City. CC BY-SA 3.0

In A Sense, We Are All Marxists

Viewpoint by Peter Singer*

MELBOURNE (IDN) – It is not far-fetched to suggest that the predictions of Karl Marx – whose 200th anniversary fell on May 5, 1818 – have been falsified, his theories discredited, and his ideas rendered obsolete. So why should we care about his legacy in the twenty-first century?

From 1949, when Mao Zedong’s communists triumphed in China’s civil war, until the collapse of the Berlin Wall 40 years later, the historical significance of Marx was unsurpassed. Nearly four out of every ten people on earth lived under governments that claimed to be Marxist, and in many other countries Marxism was the dominant ideology of the left, while the policies of the right were often based on how to counter Marxism.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 May 2018

Iran Nuclear Deal Withdrawal 'Misguided', 'Serious Mistake'

By Barack Obama

The following is the text of former President Barack Obama's remarks on his successor Donald Trump's decision on May 8, 2018 to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. The original appeared on Obama's Facebook https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/posts/10155854913976749 - The Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – There are few issues more important to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 08 May 2018

Photo: Portuguese sociologist Boaventura Souza Santos during the 6th World Forum of Judges in 2010. CC BY 3.0 br

The Quest for Order in a Time of Chaos

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) – The bombing of Syrian sites where chemical weapons are supposedly being manufactured or stocked, allegedly to be used by the Bashar al-Assad government against rebels, has left citizens all over the world in a state of confusion, filled with a mixture of perplexity and scepticism.

In spite of the bombing by the Western media (a particularly apt metaphor in this case), in their attempt to persuade public opinion of the latest atrocities committed by the al-Assad regime: in spite of the near unanimous opinion of political commentators that this was nothing but a humanitarian response, a fair punishment, and one more proof of the vitality of the “Western alliance”; in spite of all this, whenever asked, citizens in the West (and much more so in the rest of the world) have expressed their doubts about this media narrative and for the most part spoken against the attacks. Why is that?

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 05 May 2018

Photo: The panel during the South Centre debate (from left to right): Andrew Cornford, Observatoire de la Finance, Geneva; YV Reddy, South Centre Board Member; Martin Khor, South Centre; Yilmaz Akyuz, South Centre; Hervé Hannoun and Peter Dittus, co-authors of Revolution Required. Credit: South Centre.

G7 Fiscal, Monetary Policies Are Ticking Time Bombs

By D. Ravi Kanth

This article was published in No. 211, 18 April 2018 in SOUTHNEWS, a service of the South Centre to provide information and news on topical issues from a South perspective. It was originally carried by the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) #8663 on 17 April 2018. – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – Major developed countries led by the United States are "sleep walking towards war" by implementing unsustainable fiscal and monetary policies since the 2008 financial crisis, with the destructive consequences to be borne by the developing countries, two former senior officials of the Bank for International Settlements have warned.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 18 April 2018

Photo: Lula climbs the ramp leading to the Palácio do Planalto, with Vice President José Alencar, for the official ceremony marking the beginning of their second term, in 2007. CC BY 3.0 br

Lula da Silva – Condemned by the Courts, Absolved by History

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) – The Lula da Silva case blatantly shows that something is rotten in the Brazilian judicial system. It brings to the fore procedures and practices that are incompatible with the basic principles and guarantees of democracy and the rule of law, in a way that needs to be denounced and democratically opposed.

The principle of the independence of the courts is one of the basic principles of modern constitutionalism. It ensures that citizens have the right to a justice that is free from pressures and interference on the part of political or factual powers, whether national or international.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 April 2018

Photo: U.S. President Barack Obama said that the then president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, was “the most popular president on earth”. This picture shows Obama greeting him in the Oval Office in March 2009. Credit: White House.

Sending Brazil's Lula To Jail Is Absurd

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President Barack Obama said that the then president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, was “the most popular president on earth”. Now, while fighting for a new term in office, he has been brought low, imprisoned for 12 years for corruption.

He is still the most popular politician in Brazil and until he went to prison on April 7 he was the favourite to win October’s election. After his previous terms in office he left behind a country, one that had been the most unequal society on earth, see a quarter of its population lifted out of poverty, a fast-growing economy and a sharp increase in its lower-middle class as millions got jobs and/or pay rises.