History

Photo: Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev's Legacy After 30 Years of the Soviet Union's Disintegration

By Andrei Grachev

A Russian historian, political analyst and journalist, Dr Andrei Grachev, was the adviser for Mikhail Gorbachev and official Spokesman of the President of the USSR until his resignation in December 1991. InDepthNews is re-publishing this article courtesy of Other News. Original link > https://www.other-news.info/2021/03/the-time-of-gorbachev

MOSCOW (IDN) — Two books were published practically simultaneously in Great Britain and France to commemorate the forthcoming 30th anniversary of the breakup of the Soviet Union.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 05 March 2021

From Moments to Movements: Solidarity for Sustainability

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd first appeared in the latest #WhyWeCare, @ImpactUN.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — "STOP" said the imperious red sign (actually two red signs) as I ventured to the frostily frigid February frontline of the Atlantic coast, an injunction reminiscent of an earlier time when the United States chose to inhibit its interests within an isolated domain, a time that the Second World War brought to a definitive end when, in 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill concluded the Charter named for that ocean, one of whose clauses spoke of a peace that "should enable all men to transverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance", "voyages as metaphorical as literal, the nascent nautical navigations that we speak of today" as "global engagement", in the phrase of the title of the annual summit convened by the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) and the United Nations Foundation (UNF).

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 27 February 2021

Photo: A scene from The Red Detachment of Women opera, adopted from the earlier 1961 film of the same title. Soldiers of the Women's Detachment performing rifle drill in Act II, from the 1972 National Ballet of China production. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The 1961 Feature Film Continues to Stimulate Chinese Women

On the eve of the Communist Party of China’s centenary in July 2021, the story of the country’s first women’s military brigade in the 1930s continues to find life in popular culture and the imagination of the Chinese people.

Viewpoint by Tings Chak *

HAVANA (IDN) – “Are you a proletarian?” asks the brigade commander. Receiving no response, she clarifies her question: “Do you own land?”

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 04 February 2021

Photo: Methodist Central Hall, London, the location of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946. Source: Wikimedia Commons

75 Years On The First UN General Assembly Resolution

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The author is Ambassador, President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Seventy-five years ago, in January 1946, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time after the signature of the Charter. Its first resolution was adopted on the 24th of that month. The developments mentioned and commented below come to mind as we recall the outcome of that inaugural session of the Assembly.

: Sergio Duarte; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 January 2021

Photo: Late French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and 'Emperor' Bokassa of the Central African Republic.

The Story of Giscard D’Estaing's Fascination for 'Emperor' Bokassa's Diamonds

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Early December the former president of France Valery Giscard D’Estaing died. The Guardian in its obituary described him as “the grand old man of French politics”. President Emanuel Macron said, “his presidency had transformed France and his direction still guides its way”. The New York Times said he was “a modern-minded conservative”.

Unlike many of the other obituaries, the New York Times failed to mention the scandal that was a major factor in bringing him down when he ran for a second term in 1981. He was accused and it was proved that he had accepted a gift of diamonds from Emperor Bokassa of the Central African Republic valued at about quarter of a million US dollars.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 December 2020

Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL/Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA; Ultraviolet: ESA/XMM-Newton. Source: Vox

Black Holes Pervade the Spirit of 2020

Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The Nobel P rize in physics for 2020 has been shared by Roger Penrose, the mathematical physicist, for his work on the theoretical basis of black holes, and astronomers Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, who led independent teams, for verifying the existence of such a black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. Penrose showed that the consequence of Einstein’s general theory of relativity is the formation of black holes, not only in collapsing stars but also in certain dense regions of space.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 November 2020

Photo: We're used to thinking of Hitler's Third Reich as the incomparably evil tyranny that it undoubtedly was. But Hitler didn’t take power by force. He used a set of rhetorical tropes codified in Trump’s bedside reading that persuaded enough Germans to welcome Hitler as a populist leader. (Photo: photolibrarian/Flickr/cc)

Soviet Advance Not U.S. Atomic Bombings Forced Japan To Surrender

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Seventy-five years ago the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on August 6 and on Nagasaki on August 9 was premeditated mass murder.

President Harry Truman had a workable alternative to using the atom bomb – to cooperate with Stalin, as Roosevelt and Churchill had done on the Western front, in the Soviet advance on Japan, rather than making it a race for control.

Indeed, it was the Soviet advance that convinced Japan to surrender.** Although unaware of each other’s thinking both Truman and the Japanese leadership shared a common cause – they both wanted to pre-empt the possibility of the Soviet Union occupying parts of Japan before the U.S. had got its boots on Japanese ground. Truman did not want to be compelled to concede Soviet participation in the government of post-surrender, occupied, Japan.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 11 August 2020

Photo: Apollo 11 backup crew members Fred Haise (left) and Jim Lovell prepare to enter the Lunar Module for an altitude test. Credit: NASA.

Apollo to Apple Store: The American Dream

Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal *

SINGAPORE (IDN) – On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 lunar mission completed landing on the moon and the safe return of the three astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The famous Neil Armstrong's words after landing on the moon, "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" echoed around the world. The whole world was thrilled over the great achievement that happened nearly fifty years ago.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 July 2020

Collage: Backdrop population and environment image from Kullabs with photo of Malthus from Brittanica.

Malthus Revisited: Close Relationship between Population and Environment

Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*

COPENHAGEN (IDN) – The total human population and economy have imposed excessive weight on the global environment, as discussed in my new book circulated and freely downloadable from http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Malthus-Revisited-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf

Thomas Rpbert Malthus' "Essay on The Principle of Population", the first edition of which was published in 1798, was one of the first systematic studies of the problem of population in relation to resources. Earlier discussions of the problem had been published by Boterro in Italy, Robert Wallace in England, and Benjamin Franklin in America.