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Photo: Inga Rhonda King, Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to @UN and outgoing President of @UNECOSOC, hands over the gavel to Mona Juul, Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN and incoming President of ECOSOC, at opening meeting of 2020 session. ‏ @UN_Photo July 25.

Top UN Economic and Social Body Has a New Head with an Ambitious Agenda

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Norway's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Mona Juul, has taken over from Rhonda King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines the presidency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), who chaired the recently-concluded High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. Having served as one of the four ECOSOC Vice-Presidents, Juul was elected by acclamation on July 25 seventy-fifth President of the Council.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 26 July 2019

Graphic: The anti-corruption organizations of China and Laos have decided to jointly supervise the construction of China-Laos Railway and establish a mechanism to uphold integrity, which can be seen as a model for clean governance. Credit: Song Chen/China Daily

China’s Risky Bets Along the Belt and Road Initiative

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – China’s infrastructure and energy driven one-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative involves risky bets across a swath of land populated by often illiberal or autocratic governments exercising power without independent checks and balances.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 26 July 2019

Photo: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark since June 2019, has adopted a very radical approach against immigrants. Credit: Jens Dresling. Source: Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

When Social Democracy Bows to the New Pensée Unique

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – Social Democrats, who had been steadily disappearing following the crisis of 2008, have been making a small comeback in the last year. Now they are in power in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland and, most recently, in Denmark. But the statistics are daunting. The recent European elections gave members of the Socialist group 20% of the vote, against 25% in 2014, and the erosion from the 34% achieved in 1989 and 1994 is clear.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 25 July 2019

Photo: Alligator Near Water Plant on Body of Water. Credit: Rene Ferrer, Pexels

Everglades in Florida See Hope for Renewal Through Ecotourism

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – A massive ecosystem of lakes, rivers and marshes known as the Everglades dominates the southern portion of Florida. The aqueous territory once spanned a great length down the state, but extensive damage to the environment has reduced the wetland’s size in half.

As young environmentalists around the world are coordinating efforts to restore neglected natural environments, the Everglades is a site primed for the support and efforts of ecotourists.

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 25 July 2019

Public Good Hijacked by Tobacco Corporation for Profit

Viewpoint by Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo

The writer is Executive Director of Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Many corporations make money at the expense of the public interest, but the world’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI) has raised the bar again.

In 2017 PMI pledged US$80 million annually for 12 years toward the establishment of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW) as part of its “smoke-free future”, and claims it wants people to stop smoking.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 25 July 2019

Unexpected Struggles in The Fight Against Ebola

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The battle to knock out the Ebola virus should have its eyes on the goal. Instead, politics and a divisive struggle between two drug makers has interfered. A key health minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resigned in protest.

In his resignation letter, Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga condemned President Felix Tshisekedi‘s takeover of the country’s Ebola response, removing him as head of the Ebola response team.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 July 2019

Photo: At the front of a demonstration against Brexit in Manchester a float showed a multi-headed chimera with the faces of Theresa May and three leading Brexit campaigners: then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Brexit Secretary David Davis. The photo was taken by Robert Mandel on October 1, 2017. CC BY 4.0

African Media Recall Disturbing Remarks by New British Leader

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – African media greeted the new British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, by recalling some of particularly cringe-worthy remarks made during his formative years in politics.

The new Conservative Party leader has a history of gaffes involving Kenya and Africa, having once attacked Barack Obama saying the “part-Kenyan president” had an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire” after he removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 July 2019

UAE and Russia Eye Geopolitical and Commercial Mileage in Climate Change

By James M. Dorsey*

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Climate change, much like war, could prove to be a geopolitical and commercial gold mine. At least, that is the take of DP World, Dubai’s global port operator, and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

DP World is partnering with the fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to create an all-year round maritime sea route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Middle East; 24 July 2019

Photo: This three-year-old girl had been twice displaced with her family in the West Bank over the past year. Credit: UNRWA/Lara Jonasdottir.

UN Condemns Israeli Destruction of Palestinian Homes

By Sean Buchanan

NEW YORK (IDN) – Calling it “not compatible with Israel’s “obligations under international humanitarian law”, the United Nations has condemned Israel's demolition July 22 of 70 homes in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s Supreme Court has reportedly ruled that the houses in the Palestinian community of Sur Bahir were built too close to the separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, violating a construction ban.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 23 July 2019

Photo: The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on 20 July 2015 a resolution establishing a monitoring system for Iran’s nuclear programme and considering the “eventual removal” of all nuclear-related sanctions against the country. President Trump told the White House press corps on May 11, 2018 that the Deal was defective at Its core. A new one would require real commitments. Credit: UN Photo.

Iran at the Edge of a Cliff as the Bomb Question Hangs Fire

Trump Scrapped Security Council Endorsed Nuclear Deal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – There’s never been a full-scale war between two nuclear-armed states. If Iran one day did cross the nuclear threshold the same deterrence will apply. No one rational would want to provoke their own incineration. Columbia university professor, Kenneth Waltz, the distinguished theorist on the conduct of war, wrote in Foreign Affairs that with Israel possessing over 200 nuclear weapons (which the U.S. refuses to publicly admit) Iran having a bomb would bring stability.