Following are excerpts from the text of the statement by Kazakh’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi, at the High-Level Opening Session of TPNW MSP1 on June 21, 2022. VIENNA (IDN) — The First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW is a remarkable historic achievement following a nearly decade-long collective effort […]
Faith Communities Greet First Nuclear Weapons Ban Conference
By IDN-INPS Team VIENNA (IDN) — Faith communities “from a diversity of traditions and located all over the world” have joined together “with one voice to mark” the first meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).”
A Side Event at TPNW Conference Focusses on Nuclear Weapons Victims
By Aurora Weiss VIENNA (IDN) — “Today is a historic moment,” are the words with which the First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) opened in Vienna on June 21. Representatives of the international community, government, civil society and academia gathered here to put into effect the […]
There’s No Need for War with Russia
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Conflicts have a history of spinning out of control. Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you”. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians were not interested in war until President Volodymyr Zelensky took his […]
WHO Wants New Name For ‘Monkeypox’ Virus
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced plans to find a new name for the viral disease informally known as ‘monkeypox’ which, says the world body, is “discriminatory and stigmatizing”. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a briefing on the matter, said the virus is […]
There Is No Such Thing as A Limited Nuclear War
Viewpoint by Dr Mohamed ElBaradei Following is the text of comments by Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General Emeritus, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nobel Peace Prize 2005, at the opening of the 2022 Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons on June 20, 2022. VIENNA (IDN) — It is an honour to take part […]
A Scientist Reflects on Our Common Future
Following is the text of comments at the opening of the 2022 Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons on June 20, 2022, by John Polanyi, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986. VIENNA (IDN) — Ambassador Alexander Kmentt, convener of the 2022 Vienna […]
Mongolian Independence and its Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone
Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Vice-President of the International Peace Bureau. BERLIN (IDN) — We don’t often think in terms of national independence and nuclear disarmament initiatives, but their intersection lies at the heart of Mongolia’s unique single-state nuclear-weapons-free zone.
Eritrea: North Koreans with Black Faces
Viewpoint by Daniel Haile* COLLEGE STATION, Texas | USA (IDN) — Eritrea is a very small country in East Africa along the Red Sea. Second to North Korea, the Eritrean regime is the most isolated, secretive, and repressive authoritarian regime globally, and the last remaining Marxist state on the African continent. The Kim Jong-un of […]
Tourism in Asia Hard Hit by Three Factors
Ukraine War and Chinese Lockdowns Add Fuel to COVID’s Devastating Blow Analysis by Mohan Srilal COLOMBO (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to tourism across Asia that has been a driving force of economic growth, particularly in countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Indonesia. Today there’s a trifecta of impacts on […]