IDN-InDepthNews

Asia-Pacific2016-05-242023-07-10

Building Regional Connectivity Key to China’s ‘Silk Route’ Projects

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – China is keen to demonstrate that its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, dubbed the “New Silk Route” by the media, is not geared to exclusively serve China’s economic interests, but to build connectivity in the region and beyond for the benefit of all.

This was the message from a high-powered Chinese team taking part in a ‘side-event’ organised by China at the 72nd UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) sessions here May 17-19. It is also an idea that ESCAP is strongly endorsing as it embarks on promoting a new development paradigm for the region.

In an opening address to the event, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Qian Hongshan said that the ‘Belt’ is designed “to form synergy between the development strategies of various countries, draw on their respective strengths and unleash the huge development potential of this region to achieve common progress”.

Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture2016-05-242023-07-10

Asia Trade Deal RCEP Will Undercut Farmers’ Control Over Seeds

Viewpoint by GRAIN

BARCELONA (IDN-INPS) – Ever since the ink dried on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), people have become aware of another mega-trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors in the Asia-Pacific region. Like the TPP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) threatens to increase corporate power in member countries, leaving ordinary people with little recourse to assert their rights to things like land, safe food, life-saving medicines and seeds.

RCEP is being negotiated between the ten countries that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their six biggest trading partners in the region: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

According to the latest leaked draft of the RCEP agreement, dated October 15, 2015 and published by Knowledge Ecology International, the negotiating countries fall into two camps when it comes to legal rights over biodiversity and traditional knowledge useful for food production and medicine.

Individual Journalists, SYNDICATION2016-05-242023-07-12

In Defence of Countering ISIS with ‘Patient Containment’

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States,” President Barack Obama told Jeffrey Goldberg of Atlantic magazine recently.

What becomes clear in this long article, much of it Obama’s own words, is that Obama shies away from the idea that war can make bad things good. The unquenchable wars that he inherited – Iraq and Afghanistan – were set alight by his predecessor, George W. Bush, and no amount of Obama fire engines have been able to douse them with enough water to put them out.

As for the rest of the waterfront of foreign affairs, he argues that after a period of uncertainty he decided that the U.S. should not militarily involve itself in the civil war in Syria. He decided that Ukraine is not a core American interest, although it is a Russian one, and he was convinced that Iran would agree through peaceful negotiation to renounce the dangerous parts of its nuclear program.

Asia-Pacific2016-05-242023-07-10

Duterte’s Victory in Philippines Could Bring Hope to Disillusioned Democrats

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Both in the Philippines and internationally, corporate media predicted doom for Philippines’ democracy after Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of Davoa in southern Philippines, won a landslide victory at the presidential polls (on May 9) in one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. Rather than heralding in a new era of dictatorship, it may well bring hope to those who are disillusioned with democracy around the world.

The tough campaign rhetoric to kill criminals and override Congress if it got in his way, and his sometimes crude or vulgar language may have alarmed the Filipino elites, but it hypnotised the masses of marginalised Filipinos who voted for the “Mayor” in droves.

ARTS & CULTURE2016-05-242023-07-10

Paris Looks at Fierce Son of a Preacher Man: James Baldwin

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS – He wrote fiery novels and essays that decried injustice and racism, and now nearly 30 years after his death, Paris is hosting a conference dedicated to the “expatriate” African-American writer James Baldwin.

The May 26-28 event, titled “A Language to Dwell In”: James Baldwin, Paris, and International Visions, has attracted some 230 scholars and artists, who will examine Baldwin’s legacy and global impact.

“The most important thing for us is that this is about James Baldwin – about his life, his work and his impact on readers around the world,” says Alice Mikal Craven, a professor at the American University of Paris (AUP) and co-organiser of the conference with her colleague William Dow.

UN INSIDER2016-05-232023-07-10

NEWSBRIEFS: Senegal Supports Kazakh Bid for Non-Permanent Seat on Security Council – Mexican New UNFCCC Head – OECD DAC Chief Set to Lead UNEP

ASTANA – Senegalese President Macky Sall confirmed his country will vote for Kazakhstan in the nation’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2017-18. The vote will be held in June as part of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. Sall came to Kazakhstan May 20 and President Nursultan Nazarbayev said his first visit to the country laid a foundation for future cooperation.

Sall is the chairman of the authoritative and most advanced regional organisation in Africa – Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It is the only association in Africa that has union peacekeeping forces, a joint Parliament, court of justice and the investment bank. The free trade zone is functioning within the framework of the community as well.

The strategic geographic position of Senegal is defined by the presence of the vast Atlantic coast. The world’s most important shipping lanes pass along this coast. The Senegalese naval base also located in the largest commercial seaport of Dakar in the coastal zone of the Atlantic Ocean.

Indigenous Peoples2016-05-222023-07-10

Indigenous Peoples Insist on Equality of All Rights

Analysis by Rizwy Raheem

NEW YORK (IDN) – The world’s indigenous peoples – estimated at over 370 million living across 90 countries and accounting for 15 percent of the poorest – remain isolated, both politically and geographically.

So, nearly a thousand participants from Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean gathered together to air their grievances before the United Nations at a two-week long conference, which concluded May 20.

Their plea for inclusiveness was a reiteration of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s appeal to the international community on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a more humane and prosperous world for all – “leaving no one behind”.

The conference ended with a resounding call for greater participation in the United Nations and in UN bodies by some of the world’s most neglected minorities who are increasingly victims of armed conflicts, corporate greed and rising economic inequalities.

UN INSIDER2016-05-222023-07-10

On the Front Lines for Humanitarian Action

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow *

GENEVA (IDN) – The aim of the World Humanitarian Summit organized by the United Nations in the words of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to see what should be done “to end conflict, alleviate suffering and reduce risk and vulnerability”.

Turkey is on the front lines of the consequences of armed conflict with nearly three million refugees from Syria and Iraq as well as its own attacks against Kurds. Turkey has entered into agreements with the States of the European Union concerning the flow of refugees through Turkey to Europe − agreements that have raised controversy and concern from human rights organizations.

Given the policies of the Turkish government, some non-governmental organizations have refused to participate in protest. Doctors Without Borders − one of the best-known of the relief organizations − has pulled out. However, the Association of World Citizens will participate while working for a settlement of Kurdish issues at the same time.

Climate Action2016-05-222023-07-10

Bangladesh Taking Action to Mitigate Potentially ‘Catastrophic’ Climate Change

Analysis by Naimul Haq

BHOLA (IDN) – Bangladesh is one of the world’s countries worst affected by the global warming impact of climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – extreme weather events such tropical cyclones, severe floods, rainstorms and river erosion, extreme heat waves and unexpected droughts on vast stretches of land are on the rise.

The country’s coastal regions face a rising sea level, higher tides and saline water intrusion which is already encroaching further inland and destroying agricultural opportunities.

The effect of greenhouse gas emissions along Bangladesh’s coast is already evident and experts predict it could be “catastrophic” if appropriate action is not taken now.

Despite efforts to increase resilience, climate challenges continue to result in large economic losses, reducing economic growth and slowing progress in reducing poverty.

ACP Group of States2016-05-212023-07-10

Papua New Guinea Hosts a ‘Pivotal’ Summit of 79 Diverse States

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) – Perhaps it would be an exaggeration to say that the world would never be the same again when leaders from the 79 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States conclude their three-day “pivotal Summit” on June 1 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

But top echelons of the bloc are determined to turn it into “a watershed event” that would discuss the future of the ACP Group as a revitalised cohesive force advocating the interests of its member states in the international arena.

They want it to provide the necessary political mandate to reorient the organisation, and offer a basis for more concrete engagement in discussions on the future of ACP-EU relations after 2020 when the Cotonou Agreement ends. The accord is named after the largest city and economic centre of Benin. Formal negotiations for a follow up framework of the Cotonou Agreement are expected to commence in 2017/2018.