THE WORLD

Photo: Sri Lanka's central province Kandy (as seen in 2005). Parts of the province have been affected by the latest spate of violence. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Timing of 'Communal' Violence in Sri Lanka Raises Questions

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 21st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN) – The damage has already been done. Buddhists are accused of Islamaphobic communal attacks in Sri Lanka and tourists are cancelling their trips to the country as the international media follow a common formula denigrating the Buddhist majority, while ignoring questions that are being raised in the country on the timing of these latest “communal” attacks.

The violence against Muslim businesses and homes in Central Sri Lanka and in the East came a day before a no-confidence motion against prime mnister Ranil Wickremasinghe was to be tabled in parliament by the opposition.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 09 March 2018

Kazakhstan to Chair WTO Negotiations on Trade in Services

ASTANA (IDN | KazInform) – The General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has on March 7 approved the candidacy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the chairmanship of the Special Session of the WTO Council for Trade in Service, reports Kazinform International News Agency citing a press release of the the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

According to the MFA, "Kazakhstan's chairmanship testifies to the WTO member states' confidence in the reforms aimed at creating a favourable investment climate and developing the services market in Kazakhstan conducted under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev."

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 08 March 2018

Image: American troops during the Champagne-Marne offensive in a forest fighting Germans. Created 4 March 2004. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

US Foreign Policy and Trump's Contradictions – Part 2

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the second of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump.

BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – With the arrival of the Trump administration, the threshold of potential use of the nuclear weapon has been lowered considerably, according to a logic that appears a further and dangerous development of the preventive war applied to an elusive enemy such as terrorism and its allies (more or less real or presumed).

Not only would the United States feel fully responsible "whichever State, terrorist group or other non-state actor supports or contributes to the efforts of terrorists to acquire or use nuclear devices", but in the event of a nuclear attack by terrorists against the United States or its allies it would consider the "the ultimate form of retaliation", according to the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 07 March 2018

Photo: A view in May 2007 from South Korea towards North Korea in the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom. North and South Korean military personnel, as well as a single US soldier, are to be seen. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN, EU, Experts Hail Outcome of Inter-Korean Talks, Call For Availing of Peace Opportunities

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – The United Nations and the European Union as well as independent arms control experts have welcomed the results of latest talks between South and North Korea, and called for seizing the opportunities opening up for peace in the region and for reducing international tensions.

The significance of emerging prospects is underlined by the fact that though the Korean War ended in 1953, in the absence of a peace treaty the two Koreas are technically still at war. As The New York Times notes, in the United States where coverage of the armed conflict was censored and its memory decades later is often overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War, the Korean War has been called "the Forgotten War".

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 07 March 2018

Photo: The Conference Row in the Joint Security Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, looking into South Korea from North Korea. It shows guards on both sides and a group of tourists in the South. Created: 26 July 2012. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Mixed Reactions To Inter-Korean Accord

By Yonhap News Agency

This report was carried by the South Korean news agency on March 6 (local time: 23.38) and is being reproduced to give a glimpse into how the current development on the Korean peninsula is viewed in the Republic of Korea. – The Editor

SEOUL (IDN-INPS) – South Korean political parties on March 6 demonstrated mixed reactions to the results of the high-stakes visit to North Korea by President Moon Jae-in's special envoys, which included an agreement to hold a cross-border summit next month.

Shortly after returning from his two-day visit to Pyongyang, Chung Eui-yong, Moon's chief security advisor and head of the South's 10-member delegation, announced a set of agreements with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 March 2018

Photo: President Ramaphosa delivering his first State of the Nation Address on 3 March 2018. Credit. Wikimedia Commons.

New South Africa President Endorses Land Transfers to Blacks

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Barely a month into his presidency, Cyril Ramaphosa has taken sides on a hot button issue whose resolution had eluded previous leaders. He vowed to speed up the seizure of land from white owners and turn the properties over to blacks.

"This original sin that was committed when our country was colonized must be resolved in a way that will take South Africa forward," he declared.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 March 2018

Nuclear Deterrence Policy Gathering Steam in India

By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE (IDN) – "Though India is a reluctant nuclear power, nuclear deterrence will continue to play a crucial role in India's national security strategy over the next few decades," says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal, Distinguished Fellow at India's Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

In his recent book 'Sharpening the Arsenal: India's Evolving Nuclear Deterrence Policy', he explains the reason: "Only when India's adversaries are convinced that India has both the necessary political and military will and the hardware to respond to a nuclear strike with punitive retaliation that will inflict unacceptable loss of human life and unprecedented material damage, will they be deterred."

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 March 2018

Photo: President Trump explaining a 'New National Security Strategy for a New Era' on December 18, 2017. Credit: whitehouse.gov

US Foreign Policy and Trump's Contradictions – Part 1

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the first of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump.

BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – During a speech on foreign policy in April 2016, US President Donald Trump thundered: "We are totally predictable. We tell everything. We're sending troops. We tell them. We're sending something else. We have a news conference. We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now."

Uncertainty and variety of assessments about the course of the Trump administration's foreign policy continue to be significant. What unites critics and supporters of the administration's foreign policy is the fear or hope that, driven by nationalism, the United States may withdraw into what is called isolationism.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 05 March 2018

Photo: Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Kazakhstan's Permanent Representative to the UN, signing the Nuclear Ban Treaty on March 2. Credit: Abolition2000

Kazakhstan Signs Ban Treaty After Security Council Debut

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Kazakhstan, known as an active and staunch supporter of a world free of nuclear weapons, became 57th country to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on March 2.

The Treaty, which opened for signature on September 20, 2017, will remain open indefinitely. It will enter into force 90 days after 50 nations have ratified or acceded to it. Until now, five states have ratified the Treaty: Guyana, Holy See and Thailand on September 20, 2017 immediately after signing. They were followed by Mexico on January 16 and Cuba on January 30.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 March 2018

Photo: Dr Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), addressing Africa Business and Investment Forum in Addis Ababa on January 30 on the margins of the African Union (AU) Summit. Credit: Jessica Hope

Africa’s Mounting Thirst for Foreign Direct Investment

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – He was just 17 when his country Zimbabwe gained independence. Now, 38 years later, Trynos Hove is over half a century old and what he remembers is persistent underdevelopment and repeated calls for foreign investment.

Without meaningful foreign direct investment in this Southern African nation, says Hove, suffering will continue for the majority of citizens who are now bearing the brunt of joblessness.

“I’m one of the Zimbabweans who are without employment today. I worked for Lever Brothers before I was sacked as the company scaled down operations owing to the failing economy here,” Hove told IDN.