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Image: A collage of Tim Peake, an astronaut of the International Space Station by the British/European Space Agency (timpeake.com), with a special apple tree grown from seeds taken into space. The tree was planted on the Vienna International Centre (VIC) grounds on 26 September 2021 to inspire future generations of space scientists.

Bringing the Benefits and Peace of Space to Humanity

A new UNOOSA head is to be appointed soon

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting beneath an apple tree contemplating the mysterious universe. Suddenly —"boink!''—an apple unexpectedly hit him on the head. He experienced his "aha moment!". In a flash of light, he understood that the same force that brought the apple crashing toward the ground also keeps the moon falling toward the Earth and the Earth falling toward the sun: gravity. We are talking about real space Affairs in practice, which debuted in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1869).

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 16 August 2022

The West's Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

Mistakes Made Since The 1990s Might End in A Disaster

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — You can interpret it on any level you like—that the Russians are inherently parochial and out of touch with how most of the world thinks and have it coming to them; that Russia is instinctively and cleverly Machiavellian and having failed to overpower the West with communism is now undermining it with a crude version of capitalism—as at present, using its commodity, oil, to push NATO to pull back from its expansionary urges.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 16 August 2022

Image: A general view of the new banknotes released in Sierra Leone on July 1, 2022. Credit: African News

Rising Prices, Low Incomes Bedevil Sierra Leoneans

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | FREETOWN (IDN) — Americans aren’t alone in turning purple over the car's skyrocketing costs for housing, food, medical care and fuel.

Last month in Sierra Leone, women street vendors gathered peacefully to protest the soaring cost of living. A few days later, the number swelled to the hundreds as many more protestors turned out, clashing with police and demanding the president’s resignation over the government’s perceived failure to address the rising prices.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 August 2022

Photo: Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto (Front) speaks after receiving a certificate to confirm his victory in the presidential election at a tallying centre in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 15, 2022. Credit: Joy Nabukewa/Xinhua

Kenyans Select Presidential Winner but Not All Agree

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — What began as a quiet voting exercise with a low voter turnout ended with an upset victory for Kenya's Deputy President, William Amolo Ruto, who becomes the nation's fifth president. The race had taken a worrying turn since polls were shut down several times after complaints by supporters of the leading candidates.

On August 15, Kenya's elections chief declared Deputy President William Amolo Ruto. Still, four other senior election officials said the week-long count was too opaque amid chaotic scenes and disowned the result.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 15 August 2022

Photo: Hungry kids in South Sudan. Credit: Siegfried_Modola | The Star

Humanitarian Food Grain on way to Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A UN-chartered vessel has been loaded with humanitarian food grain for Africa, in a first step toward releasing much needed food aid that had been trapped in the Ukraine.

The vessel will carry 23,000 tons of grain for Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya as part of a UN-backed plan to move the grain trapped by Russia's war on Ukraine and help relieve a global food crisis.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 15 August 2022

Photo: Abylaikhan Bogenbaiuly, used with permission, credit: gov.kz

Achieving the Elusive Against the Odds: "A Middle East Nuclear (and WMD) Free Zone"

By Tariq Rauf

NEW YORK (IDN) — Finally, at long last, the postponed 2020 Tenth Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference commenced its work at United Nations headquarters in New York on August 1, 2022. Under the able Presidency of Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, the review conference is expected to complete its work on August 26.

If all goes well, a Final Document would be adopted on the review of the implementation of the NPT and the commitments agreed at the review conferences held in 1995, 2000 and 2010—there was no agreement in 2005 and 2015 as the conferences ended in disarray over disagreements on nuclear disarmament and the Middle East.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 15 August 2022

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on August 3 (Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation MFA)

"Misery Acquaints a Man with Strange Bedfellows"

Russia's Complex Myanmar Embrace

Viewpoint by Jan Servaes

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Think tanks conduct interdisciplinary research to develop positions and recommendations on a wide range of domestic and international topics encompassing defence, economic development and social policy. Therefore, many think tanks advocate and lobby for policy changes at the local, national and international level. The International Crisis Group, founded in 1995, is such an independent organisation that has gained recognition for its work to prevent wars and advocate policies to build a more peaceful world.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 14 August 2022

Photo: Inauguration of Gustavo Petro as president of Colombia in 2022. Source: Twitter Samantha Power, USAID.

Gustavo Petro's Election Promises a Major Change in Colombia

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The leftward shift in South America that gained momentum in 2021, with right-wing politicians being worsted in presidential elections in Peru, Chile and Honduras, continues its sweep in 2022.

Colombia, famous for its coffee and the novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has long remained under right-wing regimes that enjoyed a cosy equation with Washington. Some of these regimes were terrible dictatorships which forced people like Marquez, best known for his One Hundred Years of Solitude, to live in exile out of fear of being killed by state-sponsored mafia elements.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 14 August 2022

Photo: Women receive food rations at a food distribution site in Herat, Afghanistan. © UNICEF/Sayed Bidel

Afghanistan: UN Human Rights Experts Warn of Bleak Future Without Turnaround

Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — UN experts are warning that Afghanistan's future is bleak if more is not done to reverse the deteriorating human rights situation, particularly for women and girls. They call on the international community to intensify efforts to urge de facto authorities to adhere to basic human rights principles.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 14 August 2022

Photo: US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Credit: WION

US Security Adviser's Fake Take: Lie About Iranian Drones for Russia

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's bluff about an Iran-Russia deal for "hundreds" of drones was nailed by none other than US National Security Agency (NASA) spokesperson John Kirby.

On July 11, Sullivan claimed that Iran was preparing to sell hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including weapons-capable drones, to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.