A UN Women News Feature This feature first appeared on May 7, 2019 with the headline A place of peace, reconciliation and growth. NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – The air is dry and hot in Gao. Here, in the north of Mali, the temperatures rarely fall below 30 degrees even in colder months. Around 1 million […]
Cambodia, Recipient in 1993, Gives Back to UN Peacekeeping
By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK | JUBA, South Sudan (IDN) – “Cambodia received peacekeeping troops in 1993, and we feel that we have to contribute in the same way as other countries did when they worked in the UN mission in our country,” remembers Colonel Channy Vongvannak. “So, we understand that countries and people […]
Europe Must Begin to Recognise the Dark Side of Its History
Viewpoint by Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen The following are extensive extracts from Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen’s presentation to the Pan African Parliament, Midrand, part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan, South Africa on May 13, 2019. She is Tilburg University’s Chair ‘International Relations, Innovation and care’, Leiden University’s Chair ‘Computing for Society’, Coordinator […]
Fiddling While the Nuclear Arms Control Architecture Collapses
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf Just as the senators of Rome fiddled away while the city burned, today’s diplomats seem helpless in averting the total collapse of nuclear arms control thus paving the way for a dangerous new nuclear arms race with increased risks of accidental or deliberate use of nuclear weapons. Tariq Rauf was Alternate […]
China’s Three-Child Policy Is Unlikely to Better the Demographic Situation
Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran* NEW DELHI (IDN) — China’s announcement of May 31 to allow couples to have three children, instead of two as is the rule now, has not captured the attention it deserves for its ramifications because the country is so much in the news for the wrong reasons such as its military […]
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference Could Hit a U.S. Roadblock
By Shanta Roy NEW YORK (IDN) – The Trump Administration, which has been recklessly wielding a wrecking ball against multilateral treaties, will be put to a test next year when the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will be up for review at the 2020 conference scheduled to take […]
Are the Japanese Really Different? Maybe
Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona The writer was on an extended visit to Japan recently. He returned from a four week trip in April 2019. Some his observations might provide some clues for their phenomenal success despite being devastated by War. There might be useful lessons for other countries following the path to development. TOKYO […]
Human Survival Lies in the Balance as the Charade of NPT Diplomacy is Wearing Thin
Viewpoint by Dr Joseph Gerson* NEW YORK (IDN) – Expectations for the outcome of this year’s NPT Preparatory Committee were low at best. Not surprisingly, given the nuclear powers’ reliance on their genocidal and omnicidal arsenals and pressures building for nuclear weapons proliferation, these expectations were not exceeded. As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists […]
7 Candidates Mark Kazakh Passage Through Historical Transition
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) – The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan is living through an historical transition. For the first time since the country adopted the Constitutional Law on the independence of the Republic and held the first presidential election in 1991, Nursultan Nazarbayev is not contesting the forthcoming polls on June 9, […]
In Quest of a More Equal World
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Maybe, after all, there is an argument for saying that the world needs more violence not less if we are to make its societies more equal. This is one conclusion one can derive from Walter Scheidel’s new book, The Great Leveler. He starts from what we all […]