USA and Canada

Photo: The expanded bilateral meeting between both the United States and North Korean delegations on June 12 in Sentosa. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Revolutionary Change Bringing in DPRK From the Cold

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

KANDY (IDN) – Sentosa, the Singapore venue of the historic June 12 summit meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, is today an ultra modern pleasure island with a name derived from the Sanskrit ‘Santosa’, but with its old Malay name Pulao Blakang Mati (Island of Death Behind) clinging to it as a reminder of a murky past as a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and a disease ridden swamp.

The Janus faced island history represents a future of peace and prosperity and a past of conflict and tension confronting the two leaders trying to reverse hostile relations spanning over seven decades.

: Jayantha Dhanapala; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump before the start of their one-on-one meeting. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Peace with DPRK would be a Victory for the UN Charter

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Give the man a break. Donald Trump found out in Singapore that, as Churchill said, “Jaw-Jaw is better than War-War”. If war can be avoided by a warm, long, very private chat without advisers, with effusive body gestures and promises of a world stage when his opponent, Kim Jong Un, is invited to the White House, then Trump has showed the way.

It was learning the hard way because a few months ago when Trump threatened to incinerate North Korea he met counter threats from North Korea that could have led to the deaths of 30 million people in South Korea alone, never mind what numbers might die in an attack on American troops stationed in Japan and Guam naval base.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 June 2018

Photo: Screenshot of swearing in on 29 January 2017, left to right: Donald Trump, wife Melania, children Don Jr., Barron, Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, with Chief Justice John Roberts administering oath. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Trump Tweets the Track to the World He Wants

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and his articles and comments can be read on Facebook @robertosavioutopia

ROME (IDN) – Donald John Trump, 45th and current president of the United States, has been seen in many illustrious circles as an anomaly that cannot last. Well, it is time to look at reality.

If we put on the glasses of people who have seen their level of income reduced and are afraid of the future, Trump is here to stay, and he is a result and not a cause.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 18 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump walking to the summit room during the DPRK–USA Singapore Summit on June 12, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Substance Eludes Kim-Trump Historic Summit

By Sergio Duarte

The writer is Ambassador, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and President of Pugwash.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The off-again, on-again meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un which finally took place in Singapore on June 12 was undoubtedly an historic occasion. However, a sober analysis of its outcome can hardly conclude that it was either a success or a failure. Even so, the mere fact that after several weeks of mutual provocations and derogatory exchanges the two leaders agreed to meet in a cordial, almost congenial atmosphere is in itself an auspicious achievement.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 16 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump shaking hands at the red carpet during the DPRK-USA Singapore Summit on June 12, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Trump-Kim Singapore Summit Relieves Tensions, Nuclear Dangers Remain

By David Krieger

The writer is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He is the author and editor of many books on peace and nuclear weapons abolition, including ‘Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action.’ This article first appeared on NAPF. – The Editor.

SANTA BARBARA (IDN) - The Singapore Summit was a dramatic turn-around from the adolescent name calling that Trump and Kim had engaged in only months before. Trump had labelled Kim as “Little Rocket Man,” and Kim had labelled Trump as “Dotard.”

Having gotten through this, the summit was on for June 12, then it was abruptly cancelled by Trump when Mike Pence had referred to the “Libya model” for North Korean nuclear disarmament, and a North Korean official had called Pence a “political dummy.”

: David Krieger; OPINION; 14 June 2018

Two New Books Underline The Light Obama Was

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Politics is a fickle beast. Barack Obama won more votes among blue-collar workers than did his opponent, Senator John McCain. But it was those very blue-collar workers who tipped the scales in Donald Trump’s victory. They weren’t racists or they wouldn’t have voted for Obama in the first place.

But in voting for Trump they voted against their economic interest. Trump hasn’t and won’t help the health of the poorer, nor improve income inequality, nor in the long run give them jobs that now have migrated to China, India and Europe. What he did give these voters was a sense of pride in being American, as Obama did, but Hilary Clinton couldn’t.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 June 2018

Photo: North Korea's Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol delivers a personal letter from Chairman Kim to President Trump, in the White House Oval Office on June 1, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Paving the Way to Denuclearization and Peace with North Korea

By Daryl G. Kimball

The author is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. Following is the text of an Issue Brief analyzing the prospects beyond the U.S.-North Korean Summit on June 12 in Singapore.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – The South Korean-brokered diplomatic opening between leaders from the United States and the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) that began in January 2018 is a welcome shift away from the missile and nuclear tests and “fire and fury” threats of 2017 that brought the region to the brink of a catastrophic war.

Donald Trump deserves credit for being so bold as to agree to pursue the June 12 summit meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The ongoing inter-Korean dialogue and prospect for a historic U.S.-North Korean summit has lowered tensions but tensions could flare up once again – especially if Trump goes off-script, acts impulsively, or if either side has unrealistic expectations about what the meeting can accomplish.

: Daryl G. Kimball; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 09 June 2018

A Reasonable Case To Convict US of War Crimes in Afghanistan

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – There is a clock ticking – towards July 20. That is when the International Criminal Court (ICC) for War Crimes, based in The Hague, goes into its summer recess. The question is: Will it be able, in the six weeks that remain, to start proceedings against the US for alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan?

The court originally held a preliminary investigation in 2006. It ruled that evidence of war crimes existed, but with fewer than 20 allegations it decided to proceed no further. But later that year fresh evidence came to light and it reopened the case.

Afghanistan joined the ICC in 2003. The US never did although President Bill Clinton tried hard to win approval.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 05 June 2018

Photo: British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush shake hands after their press conference in the White House on 12 November 2004. From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported Bush's foreign policy, participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Why Tony Blair Should Be Prosecuted Over Iraq

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President Barack Obama was not a war criminal despite US involvement in wars in Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and against ISIS. His predecessor George W. Bush was. Apart from anything else his administration tortured captives. Was the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the closest ally of Bush also a war criminal? And should he now be prosecuted and tried for war crimes?

Did Blair lie over the reason for going to war with Iraq – the supposed stockpile of weapons of mass destruction that he alleged Iraq possessed? It depends on how you define lie.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 May 2018

How About Beginning With Sport To Face Down Trump?

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Can you smell the whiff of smoke? You surely can. But the gunfire? Not yet. But it must start soon if the battle has any chance of success.

President Donald Trump has to be faced down. Not only because of his sabotage of the Iran nuclear deal but also because of his attack on Europe’s export of steel and aluminium which breaks all the rules on tariffs set by the World Trade Organisation. This man should not be allowed to get away with his gross disturbance of the world political and economic order.