THE WORLD

Photo: Officials examine a radionuclide detector stationed on the roof of the Vienna International Centre, home of CTBTO headquarters. Russia has deployed seven such detectors on its territory as part of the CTBTO's monitoring system, but some stopped transmitting information after a Russian weapons accident on August 8. Credit: CTBTO

Russian Weapons Accident Raises Nuclear Concerns

By Greg Webb

The writer is editor of Arms Control Today, the Arms Control Association’s flagship publication.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – An accidental explosion on Russia’s White Sea coast has triggered questions about the Kremlin’s strategic weapons development efforts and concerns that Russia may have shut down sensors to deny information to international observers.

The August 8 incident began with a blast at a military test site near Severodvinsk, where Russia tests missile systems. Conflicting media reports and a lack of official Russian information have led to extensive speculation about the weapon that exploded.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 13 September 2019

Photo: Job Fair. Credit: Milena Melnikova | INPS-IDN.

Kazakhstan Needs Young Graduates as Teachers for Education Reforms to Succeed

By Milena Melnikova*

TARAZ (IDN) – Since 2016, the educational system in Kazakhstan has undergone numerous reforms, and in October 2018 President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced further reforms, including a pledge to increase spending in education along with science and healthcare to 10 percent of national GDP within five years.

With the aim of making Kazakhstan one of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050, the education budget will be boosted dramatically and a Law on the Status of Teachers will be developed to make teaching an attractive profession.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 12 September 2019

Photo: On 4 September 2019, Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva who presided over the 9th MSP, handed over the Presidency of the Convention on Cluster Munitions to Ambassador Félix Baumann, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference on Disarmament as the President of the Second Review Conference. Credit: The Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Sri Lanka Praised for Advancing the Cluster Munitions Convention’s Objectives

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Sri Lanka has won kudos for a number of progressive measures taken during its presidency of the Ninth Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) that addresses the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm caused to civilians by cluster munitions, through a categorical prohibition and a framework for action. The Convention observed its ninth anniversary on August 1, 2019.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 11 September 2019

Top Photo by Robert Mandel: Boris Johnson as one of the figures satirised on a float created by anti-Brexit protesters in Manchester. CC BY 4.0

Burning Down the House

Viewpoint by John Feffer

The author is the director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies and this viewpoint is published with his kind permission. It was written prior to the latest events in the UK Parliament.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – Doesn’t idiocy ever take a vacation?

As August wound down, the populist troika of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsonaro proved once again that the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil would be better off with no leaders rather than the dubious characters that currently pretend to govern these countries.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 September 2019

Gunnar Myrdal Went Wrong with His ‘Asian Drama’

Viewpoint by Deepak Nayyar

The transformative experience of the last five decades shows that policymakers should approach development with a diagnostic mind and a healthy scepticism of magic wands, silver bullets, and universal prescriptions, writes Deepak Nayyar, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The following text is based on his input into a three-day global conference on ‘Transforming Economies for Better Jobs’ from 11 to 13 September 2019 co-hosted by UNU-WIDER and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 11 September 2019

Photo: Kwame Nkrumah. Source: buzzghana.com

Ghana’s First President Predicted Black-on-Black Troubles in Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, warned as far back as the 1960s that political independence from European colonial oppressors without economic independence was a recipe for disaster.Nkrumah, who authored The struggle continues, Class Struggle in Africa and Neo-colonialism – the last stage of imperialism, among others, was deeply aware of the threats faced by the new states and the ploys of their former oppressors.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 September 2019

Photo: A detention center in Tripoli | Credit: Florian Gaertner | Source: Info Migrants

Refugees Being Shuttled from Libya to Rwanda

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – European nations are building a wall – a sea wall – to keep African migrants from reaching their shores. With funds paid by the European Union and cooperating African governments, refugees are being sent to distant centers where they are expected to make their asylum appeals.Rwanda has just signed on to hold some 500 migrants fleeing a deadly civil war in Libya.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 September 2019

India Calls for A Global Water Action Agenda to Restore Degraded Land

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI (IDN) – As COP14, the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) entered the second week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the ministerial segment calling on the international community to set up a global water action agenda as the central theme to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN).

: Devinder Kumar; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 09 September 2019

Photo credit: U.S: National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Continuing Upsurge in Costs of U.S. Nuclear Warheads

Viewpoint by Kingston Reif

The writer is the Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy at the Arms Control Association. This article was first published in Arms Control Today (ACT).

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – The estimated cost of sustaining U.S. nuclear warheads and their supporting infrastructure continues to rise, according to the Energy Department’s latest annual report on the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 09 September 2019

Photo: USS Boxer seen here off the coast of Australia, was deployed to the Persian Gulf in June 2019 as a result of increased tensions between U.S. and Iran. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

'Collective Security Act' A Possible Way Out of the Iran Crisis

Viewpoint by René Wadlow*, TRANSCEND Media Service

GENEVA (IDN) – It has often been mentioned that the Chinese characters for “crisis” is a combination of the characters for “danger” and for “opportunity”. Thus it is today for the Iran Crisis. The dangers are evident and have been around for a while. The Persian Gulf region has long been one of the flashpoints for conflict in the Middle East. The strategic significance of the region has been magnified by the region’s oil resources.