Viewpoint by David Krieger* SANTA BARBARA | USA (IDN-INPS) – The future of the world and of humanity is at the mercy of a lunatic. His name is Donald Trump, and he alone has access to the U.S. nuclear codes. Before he does something rash and irreversible with those codes, it is imperative to decode […]
Survival of Forests is Vital for Reaching Climate Change Goals
By Jutta Wolf*
BERLIN (IDN) – A key solution to saving tropical forests is to secure the land rights of the indigenous peoples and local communities, and to invest in them as an effective strategy for reducing deforestation and slowing climate change, according to the new findings released in Berlin on November 1.
It was no surprise therefore when Mina Setra, Deputy Secretary General of The Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), said: “We are a proven solution to the long-term protection of forests, whose survival is vital for reaching our climate change goals. Yet in return, we face human rights violations, violence to our communities, criminalization of our peoples and the murder of our leaders.” The Alliance represents 17 million people in Indonesia.
A Century On, the Balfour Declaration Still Resonates
By Chinmaya R. Gharekhan
Note: The Security Council has no plans to discuss the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in relationship to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Italy’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi who chairs the Council for the month of November, told journalists at the world body’s headquarters on November 1. The following article is being reproduced courtesy The Hindu, an eminent newspaper in India. Ambassador Chinmaya R. Gharekhan a former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. – The Editor.
NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – The famous (or infamous) Balfour declaration was issued exactly a hundred years ago on November 2, 1917.
Congressional Report Warns of Skyrocketing Costs of U.S. Nuclear Arsenal
By J C Suresh
TORONTO | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – A new study throws limelight on the skyrocketing costs of the current plan to sustain and upgrade U.S. nuclear forces and outlines several pragmatic options to maintain a credible, formidable deterrent at less cost.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study published on October 31 estimates that sustaining and upgrading U.S. nuclear forces will cost taxpayers $1.24 trillion in inflation-adjusted dollars between fiscal years 2017 and 2046. When the effects of inflation are included, the CBO expects the 30-year cost to exceed $1.5 trillion. These figures are significantly higher than the previously reported estimates of roughly $1 trillion.
Death of 4 Soldiers Opens Window on Secret U.S. Operations in West Africa
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – With the deaths of four American servicemen in Niger, a window has opened onto U.S. operations in West Africa – an area barely known even to U.S. legislators who have sent U.S. soldiers there in harm’s way.
The latest soldier to die on a tour in the French-speaking region is Texas-born Staff Sergeant, Logan J. Melgar, a Latino. His death in Mali is attributed to strangulation and two elite members of the U.S. Navy Seal Team Six are being investigated for his murder.
Melgar’s Special Forces teammates were there at the request of Paul Folmsbee, U.S. ambassador to Mali for a previously undisclosed and highly unusual clandestine mission to support French and Malian counterterrorism forces battling Al Qaeda’s branch in North and West Africa, as well as smaller cells aligned with Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, according to the New York Times.
Afrobeat Legend Fela’s Parents’ Home to Become a Museum
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | LAGOS (IDN) – A government-led plan to restore the home of the parents of Afro music legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and turn it into a museum has cheered and excited Fela’s many fans and followers.
The colonial era one-story building was built by the late Israel Ransome-Kuti, Fela’s father, and his wife, Funmilayo, over a century ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Ransome-Kuti made their names as educationists and unionists long before one of their sons, Fela, became known across the world as an iconoclastic musician and social crusader.
Behind Putin’s Plan for Deployment of UN Troops in South-eastern Ukraine
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – To its credit the Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia, has long supported UN peacekeeping, a practice that originated in 1960 in the time of UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold, who evolved the concept during the great Congolese civil war when it was in danger of becoming a Cold War flashpoint.
But what Russia has never contemplated is UN troops in its own backyard. “Summoning the UN deep into Russia’s historical space is a serious step,” Dmitri Trenin, head of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, told The Economist recently.
Donald Trump and the War Industry: Nothing Has Changed
Viewpoint by Marcelo Colussi *
GUATEMALA CITY (IDN) – During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump had the audacity (bravado? stupidity?, bad political calculation?) to ask himself if it was convenient to continue the war in Syria and tension with Russia.
The idea probably crossed his mind of putting the emphasis mainly on stimulating a sluggish domestic economy, which is gradually lowering the standard of living of ordinary American citizens.
His feverish promises to bring back industry – dislocated to other parts of the world with cheaper labour – do not appear to have gone in vain. Less than a year after his administration took over, it can be seen how U.S. foreign policy is still marked by the almighty military-industrial complex and wars continue unabated.
NAM Calls for Convening a Disarmament Conference at the UN
By Dr. Ankit Srivastava*
NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Since the inception of the Non-Aligned Movement, the NAM Member States have adhered to the principle of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The stance on disarmament has been a recurring theme at all the NAM summits. In multilateral forums like the United Nations too, NAM has been actively participating in the non-proliferation initiatives.
On September 26, 2017, in the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the [International Day for the] Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, NAM Member States supported the convening of an international conference on nuclear disarmament at the United Nations.
Older Persons Key Players in Global Development Agenda
By Shamshad Akhtar
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). – The Editor
BANGKOK (IDN) – As the proportion of the older persons across the Asia-Pacific region increases exponentially, we must seek out new and innovative approaches to turn this demographic trend into an opportunity to be harnessed to help achieve the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The number of older persons in the region is expected to more than double, from 535 million in 2015 to about 1.3 billion by 2050, we need to consider the myriad impact of this phenomenon on our economies, societies, and livelihoods.