IDN-InDepthNews

OPINION2016-06-212023-07-10

ISIS is ‘Contained’ – At Least for the Time Being

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Within a matter of days a self-appointed Isis “lone wolf”, Omar Mateen, with no actual links to home office Isis has created mayhem in Orlando, Florida, with his killing of 49 people in a gay club, and the Iraq army has pushed Isis troops out of most of the important city of Fallujah.

Maybe it is an exaggeration to say that Isis is on the run in its bailiwicks of Iraq and Syria but it is certainly taking very bad hits. Two years after sweeping through northern Iraq and capturing the oil city of Mosul in 2014 they are now on the defensive.

Africa2016-06-212023-07-10

Controversy About Plum Job for Angolan President’s Daughter

By GIN and INPS Africa Correspondent

NEW YORK | LUANDA (IDN) – President José Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled oil-rich Angola for the last 37 years, has found a new and lucrative job for his daughter, Isabel dos Santos, ranked Africa’s richest woman by Forbes magazine.

President dos Santos, 73, tapped his daughter this month (June 2016) to head Sonangol, a parastatal that oversees petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. Using a presidential decree, he sacked the company’s directors, in a move some have called unconstitutional.

Africa2016-06-212023-07-10

Ghana Debates Social Media Shutdown in Upcoming Elections

By GIN and INPS Africa Correspondent

NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Ghanaians who use social media could find themselves staring at a blank screen instead of Facebook or Twitter under a plan now being considered by Ghana’s Police Service (GPS).

Superintendent Cephas Arthur, Public Affairs director of the GPS, said that blocking Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets during the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections would be in the best interests of the nation. Such a ban would not infringe on people’s rights, he said, but would promote peace and ensure a violence-free election, he claimed.

UN INSIDER2016-06-202023-07-10

NEWSBRIEFS: Ban Commends India, USA for Backing Early Entry into Force of Paris Accord – Swede to Monitor India-Pakistan Ceasefire Line – UN Rights Experts Bash India

NEW YORK – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended a joint statement on climate change made by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Barack Obama announcing their support for early entry into force of the Paris Agreement, and encouraged all countries to accelerate their domestic processes to join or ratify it.

“The Secretary-General welcomes the domestic steps being undertaken by both countries to join the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, including in 2016, and their collaborative efforts to address climate change,” indicated a statement issued by Ban’s spokesperson on June 8.

UN INSIDER2016-06-202023-07-10

UN Faults in Peacekeeping but Billions Allocated for 2016/17

Analysis by J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations has been spending billions on assisting in navigating the difficult path from conflict to peace in different parts of the world. But with little or no success on the whole, as senior officials of the world body admit.

“Success is never guaranteed, because UN Peacekeeping almost by definition goes to the most physically and politically difficult environments. However, we have built up a demonstrable record of success over our 60 years of existence, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” says United Nations Peacekeeping.

Africa2016-06-192023-07-10

Eritrea-Ethiopia: UN, AU, EU Can Avert War and Trigger Peace

Analysis by Reinhardt Jacobsen *

BRUSSELS (IDN) – While UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged both Ethiopia and Eritrea to exercise “maximum restraint and refrain from any act or statement that could exacerbate the situation”, reports gathered by IDN from several independent sources close to the border between the two countries and in Eritrea, underscore the grave risks the armed conflict between the two East African countries entails.

Diverse sources claim that border skirmishes are ongoing unabated and that “war logic” is gripping both sides – with Eritrean and Ethiopian leaders putting on their “war masks”.

ARMAMENTS2016-06-182023-07-10

The Worst Acts of the Nuclear Age

Viewpoint by David Krieger *

SANTA BARBARA | USA (IDN) – The ten worst acts of the Nuclear Age described below have set the tone for our time. They have caused immense death and suffering; been tremendously expensive; have encouraged nuclear proliferation; have opened the door to nuclear terrorism, nuclear accidents and nuclear war; and are leading the world back into a second Cold War.

These “ten worst acts” are important information for anyone attempting to understand the time in which we live, and how the nuclear dangers that confront us have been intensified by the leadership and policy choices made by the United States and the other eight nuclear-armed countries.

EU & Europe2016-06-182023-07-10

Fear vs Greed – the Real Candidates in the Brexit Referendum

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio *

ROME (IDN) – The campaign around the so-called Brexit – the withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union – is only the insular British version of the current implosion of the world fuelled by fear and greed.

There is little if no debate on the vision or values of identity of Europe in the campaign pro or con Brexit which will peak with the referendum on June 23. In England – and I stress England – the debate is one of fear against greed. The Brexit camp has launched a campaign based on fear. Fear of immigrants, fear of losing control of borders, fear of being subject to the whims of Brussels (widely seen as those of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and therefore of Germany).

OPINION2016-06-182023-07-10

The Right to Development: 30 Years On

Viewpoint by Marin Khor *

This article is based on the text of a speech at a panel discussion at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 15 June 2016.

GENEVA (IDN | South Centre) – The Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1986 (as Document 41/128) is 30 years old. It is appropriate to celebrate this anniversary. For the right to development has had great resonance among people all over the world, including in developing and poor countries. Even the term itself “the right to development” carries a great sense and weight of meaning and of hope.

Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity2016-06-172023-07-10

UNESCO and China Support UNCCD in Combating Desertification

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | BEIJING (IDN) – Aware that 2.6 billion people depend directly on agriculture, but 52 per cent of the farm land is affected by soil degradation, not only UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the specialised agency UNCCD but also UNESCO have stressed the compelling need to rehabilitate every year at least 12 million hectares of degraded land.

At the same time, during the global observance of the World Day to Combat Desertification – this year in Beijing – China and the UNCCD launched the Joint Action Initiative to combat desertification, rehabilitate degraded land and mitigate the effects of drought (JAI).