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Photo: Opening session of 61st Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on March 12, 2018 in Vienna by UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov (fourth from left). Credit: UNODC

UN Achieves Consensus on Addressing the Drug Menace

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA (IDN) – Enhancing international cooperation to combat the synthetic opioid crisis, removing stigma as a barrier to the availability and delivery of health care and social services for people who use drugs is part of eleven resolutions the 61st session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has endorsed. The five-day gathering from March 12-16 in Vienna also started preparations for the CND's ministerial segment at the 2019 session.

Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message at the opening session of the 61st Commission on Narcotic Drugs: "With the UN General Assembly special session consensus as our blueprint, we can promote efforts to stop organized crime while protecting human rights, enabling development and ensuring rights-based treatment and support."

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 17 March 2018

Photo: John Bob Ranck, Chief Executive Officer and President at Orbis International. Credit: Naimul Haq | IDN-INPS

Why Eye Care is Important – for Bangladesh and Other Countries

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA (IDN) – John Bob Ranck, also known as Bob, Chief Executive Officer and President at Orbis International, recently visited Bangladesh on a special mission. He travelled to some of the hospitals where Orbis as a partner has been supporting Bangladesh’s efforts in addressing avoidable blindness.

Bob, a retired United States Air Force Brigadier General, came to Bangladesh a few weeks after the memorable visit of the teaching hospital or better known as the Flying Eye Hospital’s (FEH) training programme in Bangladesh.

: Naimul Haq; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 16 March 2018

Obama Foundation To Launch Leaders Africa Program in July

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Obama Foundation, which aims "to inspire and empower people to change their world", is launching a 'Leaders Africa Program', and is seeking to identify a group of emerging African leaders from all sectors – government, civil society, and the private sector.

They should have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the common good, reports New York based africa.com. "The objective of the program is to build a growing network of innovative and ethical changemakers, who seek to drive positive change in their communities."

: Santo D. Banerjee; NEWSBRIEFS; 16 March 2018

– 15 March 2018] Photo: Some of the shops that were set on fire at Katugastota near Sri Lanka’s Kandy city on March 7, 2018. Credit: Meera Srinivasan | The Hindu

Sri Lankan Academics Abroad Condemn Violence Against Muslim Community

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – A group of Sri Lankan academics teaching in educational institutions abroad – and numbering about 50 – has written to condemn ongoing violence against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, especially the “brutal attacks” perpetrated early March.

In a letter published by 'Groundviews', they say: “We are outraged that the government has failed to act speedily and decisively to stop the violence and bring those responsible to justice. The government must act firmly to prevent more destruction and bloodshed.”

: Shanta Roy; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 March 2018

Photo: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first President of the Turkish Republic, visiting Istanbul University after its reorganization in 1933 as a mixed-gender institution of higher education with multiple faculties. Wikimedia Commons | Public Domain

Reflections on Turkey: From Mustafa Kemal To Recep Erdoğan

Viewpoint by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – Has Turkey changed under Erdoğan? The question may seem absurd due to the habit of considering Turkey a secular and Westernised country before Recep Erdoğan came to power.

However, this consolidated image turns out to be false. There has been a change, but not in substance: what has changed is its exteriority. In fact, albeit with periodic recourse to elections, the country has always been governed in an authoritarian way, and today this feature is only more evident and its quality is more pronounced.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 14 March 2018

G20 Urged to Root Out Corruption in State-Owned Enterprises

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – One of the many challenges facing today's world is corruption and one sector in which this is particularly evident is that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Controlled by national governments, SOEs rank among the largest companies in the world, often serving as some of the biggest employers in their country. They are central to the daily lives of citizens, providing critical goods and public services in sectors such as transport, utilities, telecommunications and health. If they are corrupt, the impact filters down to all aspects of society.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 14 March 2018

Photo: Vladimir Putin delivering Presidential address to the Federal Assembly on 1 March 2018 at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow. Credit: Presidential website en.kremlin.ru

Why Putin Will Win Re-election As Russia's President

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The seemingly eternal president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has an iron grip on his nation and a foreign policy to match. A large majority of Russians give him their support. He will win re-election.

Is it his early economic success? Or is it because of a new stability? Or the nation’s growing self-respect after the ignominious years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union? Or is it a sense of besieged defensiveness because of the advantage the West took of Russia afterwards.

The answer is a bit of all these.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 13 March 2018

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks at a joint press availability at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, Nigeria on March 12, 2018. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Sacked Tillerson Cuts Short Long-Awaited Africa Visit

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – An extended visit to Africa by the U.S. Secretary of State to mend fences after President’ Donald Trump's crude description of African and the Caribbean countries was cut short March 13 by the dismissal of the embattled Secretary Rex Tillerson.

President Trump had announced such a visit in late January. In a letter to all African leaders, he reportedly described the purpose of the "extended" visit as reaffirming "the partnerships and values we share with the African Union, member states and citizens across the continent".

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 March 2018

Photo: Trump's shift from the tiny Trump Tower to the "bigly" White House has traumatized the best and the brightest of America. BY-SA-3.0

The Rise of Donald Trump and the Decline of America

By H. L. D. Mahindapala*

"… my administration, I believe, has had the most successful year in the history of the Presidency," Donald Trump, Conservative Political Action Conference, Maryland, February 23, 2018.

MELBOURNE, Australia (IDN) – Since it is generally agreed that one week is a long time in politics, it is time to ask, at the end of one year, how far have America’s stature grown since Donald Trump set out “to make America great again.” From the first step he took to march on the road to White House he has been chanting the mantra of “making America great” which also translates into “putting America first”. They are two shades of the same slogan.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 13 March 2018

Photo: Donald Trump speaking on US foreign policy: YouTube

US Foreign Policy and Trump's Contradictions – Part 5

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the fifth of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump.

BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – If Trump wanted to be unpredictable, he certainly succeeded. It is the reason for the uncertainty, confusion and variety of assessments about the course of his foreign policy.

Unpredictability itself is destabilising and can be understood as an effective strategy against an opponent, but against allies? And for how long can it work? How useful is it for the credibility of the aims pursued? Is it not the attitude of a poker player inclined to bluffing? And what happens when the other players want to "see" the cards?