By Martin Khor*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
GENEVA (IDN) – The latest round of weeklong UNFCCC climate negotiations in Bangkok in September has revealed a major problem. The Bali Road Map launched in December 2007 had two tracks. The Kyoto Protocol track seems to be ending in a very weakened outcome, while the Bali Action Plan track is in danger of being killed without a proper closure or a transfer of its unsettled issues.
The Indian defence industry provides great investment opportunities for Swedish firms. At the same time, investments by Saab and other companies can speed up the development of an indigenous and modernized Indian defence. These opportunities, however, do not come without challenges. An assessment of the future of the Swedish-Indian industrial collaboration in the defence sector needs to be made by taking into account the prospects for bilateral cooperation in future political, economic, and security issues.
By Jamshed Baruah
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalyis
VIENNA (IDN) – Since the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called for a “standstill agreement” on nuclear testing on April 2, 1954, 183 out of 196 states around the world have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) that bans atomic explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground.
157 countries including three of the nuclear weapon States – France, Russia and Britain – have ratified the treaty. But before the CTBT can enter into force, 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify it. Of these, eight are still missing: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the USA. In fact, India, North Korea and Pakistan have yet to sign the treaty.
By Shastri Ramachandaran*
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
NEW DELHI (IDN) – As skeletons keep tumbling out of the cupboard of a government besieged by corruption charges, an agitated people may well despair that battling corruption in India’s officialdom is a Sisyphean task.
By Mirjam van Reisen*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
BRUSSELS (IDN) – A new report titled ‘Human Trafficking in the Sinai. Refugees between Life and Death’ sheds new light on the devastation caused by the trafficking in the Sinai. Hostages are killed unless they collect exorbitant ransoms from relatives, which can go up to USD 35,000 or even more. These ransoms are collected from family members in home countries and from relatives in the diaspora.
A network of financial laundering supports the ransom collection. The report is authored by this writer, Meron Estefanos and Dr Conny Rijken, from Tilburg University and European External Policy Advisors (EEPA).
By Shastri Ramachandaran*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
NEW DELHI (IDN) – India’s neighbours are not necessarily its friends. They can hardly be called India’s allies. In regional and international forums, more often than not, they are ranged against one another. History, geography, religion, geopolitics, uneven development, competing ambitions and much else account for this state of affairs.
As a result, bilateral relations have their ups and downs and can be warm or chilly, euphoric or troubling. Even so, over the decades, the South Asian countries have learned to live and let live, regardless of the problems at home and across their respective borders.
By Jaya Ramachandran
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
GENEVA (IDN) – As a result of widespread insecurity, the squandering of vast funds on deadly weapons instead of economic development, and the growing impact of climate change, the world today is in a race against time to save itself.
Sounding this alarm at the opening of the 67th UN General Assembly’s annual general debate on September 25 in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “This is a time of turmoil, transition and transformation – a time when time itself is not on our side.” Several heads of State and government and other high-level officials are expected to present their views and comment on issues of individual national and international relevance at the debate, which ends on October 1.
By Roberto Savio*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
NASSAU, Bahamas (IDN) – Mark Twain famously said: “The rich are different from you and me.” While the present behaviour of the financial elites is clearly proving Twain’s prescience, I think that had he spent some time in the Bahamas, he would have postulated: “Bahamians are different from you and me”.
Of course, this applies to every culture. In many parts of the United States, you cannot smoke in parks or on beaches, but you can carry a concealed semi-automatic weapon.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN –InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON (IDN) – “Stop it.” That was Ann Romney’s peremptory order to her husband’s Republican Party critics, when she was recently interviewed by Radio Iowa. The wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney came across like a highly strung nanny ticking off a rumbustious bunch of rich kids at a summer picnic.
In fairness to Mrs. Romney, however, her lack of experience has obviously moved her towards breaking point as she surveys the fallout from the bombshell that current affairs magazine Mother Jones dropped on the Romney campaign.
By Jaya Ramachandran
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
GENEVA (IDN) – The World Council of Churches (WCC) is urging the Pakistani government to “take realistic and solid steps to stop abuse of the blasphemy law that are causing massive human rights violations”.
The call to action emerged from three-day public international hearing on the Misuse of blasphemy law and religious minorities in Pakistan, organized by the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) from September 17 to 19 in Geneva.
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