THE WORLD

Photo: Mansudae Assembly Hall, seat of the Supreme People's Assembly. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

U.S.-North Korea: Give Diplomacy a Chance

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, an independent, membership-based organization dedicated to providing authoritative information and practical policy solutions to address the threats posed by the world's most dangerous weapons.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) - Just six months into the administration of President Donald Trump, the war of words and nuclear threats between the United States and North Korea have escalated, and a peaceful resolution to the escalating crisis is more difficult than ever to achieve.

Both leaders need to immediately work to de-escalate the situation and direct their diplomats to engage in an adult conversation designed to resolve tensions.

: Daryl G. Kimball; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 09 August 2017

Photo: Colombo Harbour, with the World Trade Center and the BOC tower in the background. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Between the Surging Dragon and a Suspicious Sacred Cow – Sri Lanka's Choices

By Dr Palitha Kohona*

COLOMBO (IDN) - Sri Lanka's long history has been intimately conditioned by the monsoonal winds that buffet its shores and the tides and waves of the vast Indian Ocean. The greed and ambitions of its regional and distant neighbours who followed the winds and rode the waves coveting its treasures and its unique strategic location have been a bane as well as blessing.

While, time and time again, it was forced to ward off the marauding attention of external powers during the course of its long history, (in the early part, mainly from South India), geography provided it with the opportunity to exploit its fortunate position as a trading hub.

Now, once again history appears to be ready to place little Lanka at centre stage with emerging India nervously seeking to place constraints on it from engaging too intimately with distant powers (China in particular) and China identifying it as a central player in its One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 08 August 2017

The United States and Russia Relations on Life Support

By Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) - The U.S. sanctions against Russia, passed on July 27, in retaliation for Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election may have ruined relations between the two countries.

The sanctions targeting Russia's defense, intelligence, mining, shipping and railway industries, and restricting dealings with Russian banks and energy companies would have crippling effects on the already straddled Russian economy.

The bill may penalize individuals or companies who invest in the construction of Russian energy pipelines, or who provide services for such projects.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 07 August 2017

Security Council Permanent Seat Remains an Illusion for India

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A pious wish has been making the rounds since August 4 2017 in the online news sites in India. On that remarkable day, they carried reports from Washington, D.C. conveying the impression that India's permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council was just round the corner. The source was invariably the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

The TIMESOFINDIA.COM, for example, carried the following report that apparently served as template for others: "The US, which supports India being given membership at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), is likely to raise the issue of New Delhi's membership at the world body later this month, said the US State Department today [August 4]."

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 06 August 2017

Photo: The Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals Building, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Pasadena, California. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. Court Dismisses Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuit

By J C Suresh*

TORONTO | SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) –The largest of the thirteen courts of appeals in the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court, has ruled to affirm the U.S. Federal District Court’s dismissal of the Nuclear Zero lawsuit, brought by the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).

The lawsuit sought a declaration that the United States was in breach of its treaty obligations under Article VI of the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and international law, and asked the court to order that the United States engage in good-faith negotiations. Article VI states:

Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

: J C Suresh; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 03 August 2017

Photo: At a summit in Minsk on 11 February 2015, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine agreed to a package of measures to alleviate the ongoing war in the Donbass region of Ukraine. The talks that led to the deal, overseen by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), were organised in response to the collapse of the Minsk Protocol ceasefire in January–February 2015. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Resolving the Imbroglio by Making Ukraine a Buffer State

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - A few recent words from Jack Matlock who was U.S. ambassador to Moscow under presidents Reagan and Bush senior: “The Ukraine crisis is a product, in large part, of the policy of indefinite expansion of NATO to the east. If there had been no possibility of Ukraine ever becoming part of NATO, and therefore Sevastopol (the ex-Soviet naval port in Crimea) becoming a NATO base Russia would not have invaded Crimea.”

He goes on to say: “Americans have lived for nearly two centuries with the Monroe Doctrine [which forbids non-Americans to seize land or intervene in Latin America]. Why don’t we understand that other countries are sensitive about military bases from potential rivals not only coming up to their borders, but also taking land that historically they have considered theirs. These are extremely emotional issues – issues that are made to order for any authoritarian leader that wants to strengthen his rule”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 01 August 2017

Photo: Colombian Amazon. Credit: Indigenous organization OPIAC

Environmental Risks Behind Peace Accords in Colombia

By Fabíola Ortiz

CARTAGENA, Colombia (IDN) – The peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – signed in November 2016 and ratified early December by the Colombian Congress – ending five decades of conflict now poses enormous threats for the environment, according to scientists and experts at the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2017) held in Cartagena July 23-27.

The global forum gathered almost 2,000 scientists to address ecological challenges and present new research in conservation science and sustainable practices.

Colombia, a country with 40 million people, is one of the 17 world’s megadiverse nations concentrating 10 percent of biodiversity with 59 national parks and other protected sites covering an area of 23 million hectares.

: Fabiola Ortiz; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 31 July 2017

Photo: Hambantota Port. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sri Lanka Clears Major Hurdle For China’s Silk Route Project

By Kalinga Seneviratne

COLOMBO (IDN) - The signing of a deal between the Sri Lankan government and a Chinese company, basically transferring the ownership on a 99-year lease of the strategically located Chinese-built Hambantota Port and 5,000 acres of land surrounding it for an industrial park in southern Sri Lanka has cleared a major hurdle for China’s ambitious Maritime Silk Route project while at the same time raising concerns about security and sovereignty issues.

The government-owned Sri Lankan Port Authority has signed a 1.1 billion dollar deal agreeing to sell a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port to China’s state-run conglomerate China Merchants Port Holdings. The Cabinet approved the deal on July 25 and the government signed it at a ceremony opened to the media on July 29.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 31 July 2017

Photo: Snapshot of a film: Spears to semi-automatics: The human cost of conflict in Papua New Guinea Highlands. Credit: ICRC

Women Bear the Brunt of Violence in Papua New Guinea

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – Violence is one of the most pressing issues, especially in the highlands, of Papua New Guinea (PNG) – one of the world’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations.

“Increased access to high-powered guns such as military style M16s and home-made shotguns, and the breakdown of traditional rules of warfare, has amplified the effects of violence, resulting in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year, especially in the Highlands,” says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler. ”We are seeing wounds that one would see in war zones.”

: Neena Bhandari; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 29 July 2017

Photo: Dr. Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan, Chairman of 'Blue Banner'.

UN Nuclear Ban Treaty and the Vital Role of Nuclear Have-Nots

By Dr. Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikan

Dr .Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan is Chairman of Blue Banner – a Mongolian NGO devoted to promoting nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament – and a former Permanent Representative of his country to the United Nations. Blue Banner is organizing an 'International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament Issues: Global and Regional Aspects,' on August 31- September 1 2017 in Ulaanbaatar to encourage effective strategies to move jointly towards the common goal of achieving a nuclear-weapons-free world.

ULAANBAATAR (IDN) - An event of truly historic importance has taken place at the United Nations Headquarters: On July 7 the text of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved at the final session of the General Assembly mandated conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons leading towards their total elimination. It is the first legally binding instrument for nuclear disarmament to have been negotiated since the end of the Cold War more than two decades ago.