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Photo: Although the German composer J.S. Bach never visited China in his lifetime, his statue now welcomes visitors entering Shanghai from the city's main railway station. CC BY-SA 3.0

Germany Must Help Shape Faltering Multilateral World Order

Prof Dr Jiang Feng chairs the University Council of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) in China. This article first appeared on International Politics and Society Journal, published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Brussels office.

SHANGHAI | BRUSSELS (IDN-INPS) – For German government representatives and top politicians visiting China, a quick trip to Shanghai has almost become obligatory. The city’s rapid development provides a wealth of reasons for admiration and astonishment. Germans are often surprised that it’s much more modern than people generally assume and that it offers a very different picture from the one conveyed in the German press.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 December 2019

Photo: In the Assembly Hall shortly before the meeting got under way, Premier N.S. Khrushchev (right), Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and Premier Fidel Castro, of Cuba, are seen greeting each other. UN Photo. 20 September 1960. United Nations, New York.

Flashback to the Historic 15th UN General Assembly Session

By Mark Weisenmiller

TAMPA, USA (IDN) – The UN General Assembly will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its memorable 15th session in 2020. Never before in history had so many extraordinary historical and political leaders of a century been gathered in one place at the same time.

Yet for Frederick H. Bolan of Ireland (President of that General Assembly) and Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden (the then UN Secretary-General), the number of heads of state or government present – 32, by far the most at any one time in the history of the United Nations – was the least of their concerns.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 07 December 2019

Photo: Jorge Chediek, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation. Credit: UNOSSC.

South-South Cooperation Offers Solutions to Urgent Climate Challenges

Viewpoint by Jorge Chediek

The author is Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. At stake are recent gains in the fights against poverty, hunger and disease, and the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the global South.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 06 December 2019

Photo: A view of Sigiriya and Pidurangala from the Aliya resort. Credit: Dr. Palitha Kohona

Climate Change – What is in Store for Sri Lanka?

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The annual Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) began in Madrid on December 2, largely unnoticed in Sri Lanka which is just settling down after a bruising presidential election. But given the critical importance of climate change to this beautiful island with its miles of unspoilt beaches, populated low lands, breathtaking tea covered mountains, and weather dependent agriculture, it should have received more attention.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 05 December 2019

Photo: Collage of Inge Kaul’s photo (left top – Credit: UNESCO) mounted on UN Chief Guterres’ addressing the opening of COP25 (Credit: twitter.com/antonioguterres)

From the ‘War Against Nature’ to ‘Peace with Nature’

Viewpoint by Inge Kaul*

BERLIN (IDN) – In his opening address to COP25 UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that, in the field of climate change, we are fast approaching the point of no-return and that, therefore, “our war against nature must stop”. He added that “that is possible”. Only, what “is still lacking is political will”. So how to summon the political will to act?

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 December 2019

Photo: Displaced children stand in the shredded remains of tents in Abs settlement, Yemen, for internally displaced persons. Located just 40 km from the frontlines, the settlement is regularly damaged by passing sandstorms. Credit: OCHA/Giles Clarke

UN Calls for $32 Billion to Battle Humanitarian Crises in 2020

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – As 2019 comes to a close, the United Nations has warned that climatic shocks, large infectious disease outbreaks and intensifying, protracted conflicts will constrain nearly 168 million – or one person in 45 on the planet – to seek humanitarian assistance and protection next year in crises spanning more than 50 countries. Also, millions of children across the globe will need life-saving support.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 04 December 2019

* Branko Milanović is a visiting professor at the City University of New York. Prior to that, he was a senior economist of the research department at the World Bank. Most recently, he published the book "Global Inequality. A New Approach for the Age of Globalization". This article is a joint publication by Social Europe and International Politics and Society Journal. [IDN-InDepthNews – 04 December 2019]

Small States Become Major Players and Big Cities Outstrip Nation-States

Viewpoint by Branko Milanović*

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a series of books, and especially in Antifragile, Nassim Taleb has introduced an important concept — that of being antifragile, referring to ‘things that gain from disorder’. ‘Fragile’ is, of course, the opposite: it connotes something that thrives under stable conditions but, being brittle, loses, and at times loses big, amid volatility. In the middle, ‘robust’ indicates resilience against uncertainty and turmoil, without the capacity to profit from it.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 December 2019

Photo: Aminatou Haidar meeting an old friend on her departure from prison. CC BY-SA 2.0

Western Sahara Rights Activist Awarded Major Peace Prize

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ goes to five human rights activists this year. Among them is Aminatou Haidar of the Western Sahara.

Ms. Haidar receives the Right Livelihood Award “for her steadfast nonviolent action, despite imprisonment and torture, in pursuit of justice and self-determination for the people of Western Sahara”, according to organizers of the event in Stockholm, Sweden on December 4.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 December 2019

South Africans Mark World Aids Day With New ‘Wonder’ Drug

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – On the occasion of World Aids Day on December 1, South African health minister Zweli Mkhize announced the roll-out of a new state-of-the-art antiretroviral drug which, he said, should drastically reduce the number of people living with HIV.

The roll-out could start as soon as this month. A modified three-in-one pill was hailed as a ‘game-changer’, much needed in South Africa where 7.7 million South Africans are living with HIV.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 03 December 2019

Collage of photos of Karl Marx, V.I.Lenin and Julius Martov (the Menshevik leader) downloaded from Wikimedia Commons.

What’s Left? What’s Right? Or When Left Is Right

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It goes back to the French revolution of 1789. At the Revolutionary Convention the most radical of the insurgents decided to seat themselves on the left side. “Why not on the other side, the right side, the place of rectitude, where law and the higher rights resided, when man’s best hand could be raised in righteous honour?” wrote Melvin Lasky in what was then Britain’s most influential intellectual monthly, Encounter. “Anyway they went left, and man’s political passions have never been the same since.”