IDN-InDepthNews

GLOBAL ISSUES2013-11-122023-07-10

Iran Talks: France Anxious About Competition With the Other Five

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN | TEHRAN (IDN) – France is concerned about its declining influence in the Middle East and fears economic competition from the U.S., Britain and Germany if relations between Tehran and the West are normalized for the first time since the 1979 Iranian revolution. This, according to a senior Iranian analyst, is the reason French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius appeared to adopt a tough stance in Iran’s talks with the P5+1 – the UN Security Council’s permanent members, the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China along with Germany – on November 9-10 in Geneva.

ECONOMY2013-11-112023-07-10

Controversy on Landmark Global Trade Accord

By Martin Khor* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

GENEVA (IDN) – Negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) have been proceeding at full speed in recent months, giving rise to a lot of interest worldwide. The stated goal is to conclude the negotiations by the end of 2013. However there is only a slim prospect for this, as there are still many contentious issues to resolve.

Europe2013-11-102023-07-10

Whither Post-Wall Europe – and Germany?

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN (IDN) – Europe is the world’s richest region. Together 28 countries constituting the European Union (EU) are the world’s largest market. EU and its member states provide 56% of about $130 billion global official development assistance. Precisely this obliges Europe not to stay bogged down in ongoing financial and identity crises but accept its international responsibilities wholeheartedly.

This was the upshot of a landmark speech by the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on November 9, the very day the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, 28 years after it was erected to reinforce post-war division of Germany and Europe. The day was “perhaps the most important tipping point, not just for Germany but in our recent European history,” he said.

Asia-Pacific2013-11-092023-07-10

Commonwealth Faces Challenge of Relevance

By Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

SINGAPORE (IDN) – On 15th of November Britain’s King-In-Waiting for the past three decades Prince Charles will open a three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, which has attracted much media attention particularly in Britain, India and Canada for all the wrong reasons.

Climate Change2013-11-072023-07-10

Warsaw Meet Crucial To Combat Climate Change

By Jutta Wolf | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN (IDN) – Dangers are lurking all around but appropriate action can help avoid perilous levels of climate change. Much hope is therefore pinned on the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from November 11 to 22 in Warsaw.

USA and Canada2013-11-062023-07-12

When Freedom and Sovereignty Are Hollow Words

By Julio Godoy* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BARCELONA (IDN) The German political comedian Karl Valentin once coined a wonderful phrase to parody the cowardice of people who betray their own will: “Mögen hätt’ ich schon wollen,” Valentin mocked them, “aber dürfen habe ich mich nicht getraut.” Loosely translated: “I actually would have loved to want, but I did not dare to can.”

Valentin’s grim humour is a perfect match for the present predicament of European governments vis-à-vis the U.S. and British global surveillance of telecommunications, revealed by the brave Edward Snowden. All heads of governments, from Angela Merkel in Germany to Mariano Rajoy in Spain, passing through François Hollande of France, have expressed their alleged outrage towards the U.S. spying of their official and private telephone and Internet communications. All of them have used the same expression: What the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) have been doing all these years is “unacceptable.”

GLOBAL ISSUES2013-11-052023-07-10

Efficacy of Sanctions on Oil-Exporting Countries Doubtful

By Erfan Ghassempour* | IDN-InDepth NewsEssay

TEHRAN (IDN) – One of the main reasons for putting sanctions in place is to restrain the target government, individual or group from continuing an activity which is believed to be against international peace and security.

Asia-Pacific2013-11-042023-07-10

New Drone Assault Knocks US-Pakistan Relations

By Zachary Fillingham* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

TORONTO (IDN) – US drone strikes have long been a sticking point in US-Pakistan relations. To the Obama administration, they are a key tool in the fight against terrorism, evident in the various high-ranking commanders they’ve eliminated from the regional militancy equation. To Islamabad, however, they represent a breach of state sovereignty, and their tendency to kill civilians serves to undermine government writ in Pakistan’s tribal territories.

If drone strikes are the crack running along the edifice of US-Pakistan relations, then US aid is the plaster used to mask it. The Obama administration quietly resumed a $1.6 billion military aid package to Pakistan last month (October 2013).

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2013-11-022023-07-12

Syria: UN Should Ensure Unimpeded Humanitarian Access

By International Crisis Group | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

BRUSSELS – The U.S.-Russian agreement to remove Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal has led many observers to hope for a political breakthrough. A more immediate and realistic objective, as well as a more reliable yardstick by which to measure various parties’ good-will, should be on the humanitarian front, where the situation is deteriorating rapidly and relentlessly.

ENERGY2013-11-012023-07-10

No More U.S. Money For Overseas Coal Plants

By Athena Ballesteros of World Resources Institute
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued on October 29, 2013 a policy document ending Washington’s support for multilateral development bank (MDB) funding for new overseas coal projects except in narrowly defined circumstances. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard explained: “By encouraging the use of clean energy in multilateral development bank projects, we are furthering U.S. efforts to address the urgent challenges of climate change.” World Resources Institute’s Project Manager of International Financial Flows and Environment Project, Athena Ballesteros, analyses the significance of the initiative in a blog.