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Photo: Grand Cascade of Peterhof. CC BY-SA 4.0

Russia Isn't a Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – I’m on the 250 km/hour train hurtling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it suddenly clicks in my mind. My apologies for being so stupid, but despite regular trips to Russia over many years I have only suddenly got it – I too have been brainwashed about Russia by Western politicians, media and authors, like nearly everyone else.

What I noticed in Moscow and what I’ve seen in St Petersburg on previous trips is that, yes, I am, indeed I am, in a normal Western big city environment. Both cities are grand in different ways. St Petersburg, with its museums, palaces, great churches, canals and river, its rich store of art (probably second only to the Louvre) and its musical life (the Marriinsky theatre is the epicenter of world ballet) is arguably the most beautiful and imposing of all the world’s cities.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 04 June 2019

Call for Renewed Efforts to Resolve Asian Maritime Dispute

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) – June 8 has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the World Oceans Day to highlight the important role that the United Nations has played in creating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Nevertheless there are maritime delimitation disputes that are currently dangerous and require good-faith negotiations to prevent increased tensions. World Citizens have played an important role in the Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS) negotiations and in the creation of the International Seabed Authority and its Tribunal on maritime deliberation issues.

: Rene Wadlow; OPINION; 04 June 2019

Photo: Screenshot of IISS Video of China’s defense chief Wei Fenghe addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting in Singapore, June 2, 2019.

Beware the Early Warning Signs of Legitimising Repression of Minority Rights

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.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 03 June 2019

Photo: A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam performs a flyover during the opening ceremonies of Aero India 2019 at Air Force Station Yelahanka, India Feb. 20 (U.S. Air Force/Senior Master Sgt. Pedro Jimenez)

U.S. Targeting of Iran Is a Grave Travesty of Justice

Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar

The writer, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – A dangerous flashpoint has emerged in world politics at the moment. There is widespread fear that the United States and its allies might launch a military operation against Iran at any time. A U.S. aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers are already deployed in the region. The alleged sabotage of four oil tankers, two of them Saudi, and the attack on a major oil pipeline are being linked in certain circles without an iota of evidence to Tehran. There is no need to repeat that scenarios of this sort are often manufactured to justify military aggression.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 03 June 2019

Photo: Russia prepares for opening of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2019) on June 6, 2019. Credit: SPIEF 2019.

Russia Considers Ways of Boosting Tourism

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – On the eve of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2019), government officials and tourism experts have been looking at systematic ways to remove barriers, adopt marketing strategies to improve the current inbound tourism figures and get effective institutional organizations to promote Russia’s image.

The SPIEF-2019, which has the theme 'Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda,' will take place on June 6-8 in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with 5 million inhabitants in 2012.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; SUSTAINABILITY; Decent Work & Economic Growth; 02 June 2019

ACP-EU Projects Assist Africa to Unlock Innovation Potential

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (ACP-IDN) – The world’s first green power generator which can produce electricity using radio frequencies, an electric powered car which does not consume fuel, a multi-fueled helicopter: by any stretch of imagination, innovations like these will not be attributed to an African. But Maxwell Chikumbutso has meanwhile been recognized as an exception to the rule. The United States government has given him new home in the populous state of California.

In an interview with a Zimbabwean independent online media organization, Chat263.com, Chikumbutso expressed disappointment that Africa did not see what the U.S. Government saw in his ground-breaking inventions.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 01 June 2019

Protect Pristine Areas from Relentless Development

Viewpoint by Dominick A. DellaSala, William J. Ripple and Franz Baumann

This article was first published in San Francisco Examiner on May 29, 2019. While Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., is chief scientist for the Geos Institute in Ashland, William J. Ripple, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of ecology at Oregon State University and the initiator of the Alliance of World Scientists. Franz Baumann, Ph.D., is a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and a visiting research professor at New York University. – The Editor

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 01 June 2019

Photo: A glimpse of the UNAI conference. Credit: The International Studies Association (ISA)

Unlocking Emotional Intelligence to Achieve Global Goals

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A vibrant and diverse network of students, academics, scientists, researchers, think tanks, and institutions of higher education around the world, serve as incubators of new ideas, inventions and solutions to diverse global challenges, and are therefore vital to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), says its Chief, Ramu Damodaran, aligns these institutions with the United Nations in supporting and contributing to the realization of the Organization's goals and mandates, including the promotion and protection of human rights, access to education, sustainability and conflict resolution.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 31 May 2019

Photo: A blue whale dives releasing a lovely waterfall. Credit: Michael Fishbach

Ship Strikes Killing Whales That Survived the Hunters

Viewpoint by Michael Fishbach and Dr Palitha Kohona

"Like elephants on land, whales in their watery domain, have claimed our attention now for roughly the same reasons. Ancient, large and driven to the edge of extinction by human greed, we must double our efforts to conserve them," say the authors of this article. Michael Fishbach is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Great Whale Conservancy. Dr Palitha Kohona spent time in Antarctica in the last Antarctic summer.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 31 May 2019

Asia-Pacific Failing on Achieving Global Development Goals

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – The leaders and senior government officials, attending the 75th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) from May 27 to 31 in Bangkok, have called for efforts to advance equality and empowerment for over four billion people across the region and resolved to strengthen regional cooperation and partnerships towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The importance of this resolve is underlined by a new report published on May 28, which warns that if the region continues its current trajectory, it will not achieve any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The report reveals that for more than half the SDGs, progress has stagnated or is heading in the “wrong direction”.