EU & Europe

Photo (cropped): Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820. Source: Wikipedia Com-mons.

Remembering Ludwig van Beethoven – A Genius with a Disability

By Heike Kuhn

The writer, Dr Heike Kuhn, is Head of the "Human Rights Gender Equality, Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Bonn, the capital of divided Germany. The other part of the BMZ is in Berlin, the capital city of unified Germany since 3 October 1990.

BONN (IDN) – The year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous composer and pianist‎, well known all over the world. He was a genius with a disability. Germany's UN City Bonn is very proud of its famous son, born here, next to the river Rhine.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 04 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: German Environment Ministry | Christoph Wehrer

UN Chief and German Chancellor Call for Rebuilding 'Our World for the Better'

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – German chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have accentuated that any coronavirus recovery programme should have a clear focus on climate targets and rebuilding "our world for the better". They were addressing a two-day video conference in Berlin co-organised by Germany and Britain, the latter as the presidency of UN Climate Conference (COP 26).

Scheduled for November, COP26 will take place in 2021 because of COVID-19. In response to the coronavirus crisis, Germany and Britain put the focus of the conference – officially known as the 'Petersberg Climate Dialogue' – on "sustainable recovery".

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 29 April 2020

Photo: US President Bill Clinton (centre), the architect of NATO's expansion up to Russia's borders, with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana (right) and General Wesley Clark (left), the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000, at NATO headquarters. Credit: NATO.

America Is Sadly in the Grip of 'Exhausted Ideas'

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The greatest American foreign affairs columnist since Walter Lippmann was William Pfaff of The International Herald Tribune. He wrote in his path-breaking book, "Barbarian Sentiments" that the US political atmosphere was full of "exhausted ideas, like a dead star". Nevertheless, "these ideas remain central to the way certain subjects are discussed and to the formulation of national policy. These are ideas that people want or need to be true".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 21 April 2020

WHO Cautions Against Relaxing Lockdown Measures in Europe

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a potential "second wave" of COVID-19 infections. The warning comes as some European countries have begun to relax lockdown measures following weeks of confinement introduced to halt the spread of the new coronavirus. In an update to strategic advice to Governments, the UN health agency called for greater support for health services.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 17 April 2020

Image: EU-BREXIT courtesy Live Trading News

COVID-19 and European Union – For Whom The Bell Tolls

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn *

NEW DELHI (IDN) – While reading observations of Douglas Webber, Professor of Political Science at INSEAD in his article "Why Brexit Has Not and Will Not Trigger EU Disintegration," made one speculate on whether if one had applied the principle of Co-evolution to the EU, the conclusion would have been different.

The fundamental premise of Co-evolution is that organizations evolve in relation to their environments while at the same time these environments evolve in relation to them. And events like COVID-19 have enormous impacts that dwarf everything else.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 April 2020

Photo: Outdoor restaurant in central Stockholm, Sweden, 26 March 2020. Credit: EPA-EFE/Janerik Henriksson

COVID-19: Why the Nordics are Our Best Bet for Comparing Strategies

Viewpoint by Paul W. Franks*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Daily updated graphs illustrating the rising COVID-19 death rates in different countries raise hopes that we can understand impact of the virus and work out how to stop it from spreading further. But when comparing countries as different as South Korea, China, Italy and the UK, we may find the impression of how different interventions work is obscured by many other factors.

These countries differ in many important ways, including demographics, civil disobedience, population density, patterns of social interactions, air quality and genetics. Italy, for example, has regions with older populations than many other countries. And European societies are unlikely to ever accept the draconian interventions used in China and South Korea.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 April 2020

Photo: Collage of images from the Internet.

COVID-19: USA, France and China Crave African Support to Overcome the Pandemic

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. and France are treading unexpected paths to besiege COVID-19 with African assistance. Striking a different note, the Nigerians have strong reservations about a team of Chinese specialists invited to support them in combating the pandemic in the West African country.

While the desperate USAID relief agency has been seeking personal protective equipment (PPE) from poor countries to safeguard much needed supplies in the U.S., and a French doctor wants to test drugs on Africans. But the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is bashing the government for inviting an 18-man team of Chinese specialists in helping to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria.

: Global Information Network; COVID-19; 07 April 2020

The Largest US-Led Military Exercise in Europe Continues Despite COVID-19

Viewpoint by Jan Oberg*, The Transnational Foundation, TFF.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) -– Defender Europe 20 is a huge, basically US military exercise, on European soil between February and May this year. It has already started. In the midst of a closed-down coronavirus Europe. And it is war-preparing, not peace- or confidence-building.

The diagram above from the British Army offers you details of this perverse, surreal idea – take note of Italy being one of the planned participants!

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 March 2020

Photo source: How a special forces 'band of brothers' culture leads to civilian deaths in war. Credit. Pexels

Veteran Mental Health Charity Leaves Thousands at Risk

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – A UK-based mental health charity that provides treatment to around 2,000 military veterans every year has announced that it will no longer be accepting new referrals. Combat Stress has helped veterans for more than 100 years but says that a lack of funding means that they can no longer afford to offer mental health assistance to veterans.As more than 200,000 personnel leave the military every year, many of whom go on to experience poor mental health, this news raises serious concerns about the future of veteran mental health in the UK.