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Photo: Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed (right) meets with Senida Mesi, Deputy Prime Minister of Albania. 16 July 2018,. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

For Albania EU Accession and Agenda 2030 Go Hand in Hand

By Ramesh Jaura

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Since the political turbulence of 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which engulfed entire Eastern Europe, Albania has been resolutely sailing west. In 2009 the country became a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and it has made great strides towards membership of the European Union. The accession negotiations are expected to open in June 2019.

Accession to the European Union (EU) is "an over-arching priority with full political consensus and nationwide support," said Deputy Prime Minister Senida Mesi in an interview with IDN. The focus, she added, is on "strengthening democracy, with a competitive, stable and sustainable economy, and with guarantees of fundamental human rights and liberties."

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 20 July 2018

Photo: Bhutanese delegation reporting progress in implementing Sustainable Development Goals. Credit: www.mfa.gov.bt

Climate Change Threatens Bhutan's Development Gains

By Ramesh Jaura

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The Buddhist kingdom Bhutan's report to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development was in many ways exceptional. The holistic goal the landlocked country on the Himalayas' eastern edge has set itself is the pursuit of Gross National Happiness (GNH).

The principal guiding philosophy behind the country's development process considers GNH "much more meaningful than economic growth alone," the Bhutanese delegation told the HLPF 2018 at the UN headquarters in New York on July 17, 2018.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 19 July 2018

Photo: A global overview of migration and migrants. Credit: IOM

Reality Submerged by Myths on Immigration

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News and an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate". This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission.

ROME (IDN) – The latest statistics show that the total flow of immigrants so far in 2018 is 50.000 people, compared with 186,768 last year, 1,259,955 in 2016 and 1,327,825 in 2015. The difference between reality and perceptions is so astonishing that we are clearly witnessing one of the most brilliant manipulations in history.

The latest survey carried out of 23,000 citizens of France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States shows an enormous level of disinformation. In five of those countries, people believe that immigrants are three times higher than they actually are.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 19 July 2018

Photo (left to right): President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, China's President Xi Jinping, and President of the European Council Donald Tusk. Credit: European Union

Climate Change 'Main Pillar' of EU-China Relations

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Collaboration between the European Union (EU) and China on climate change and clean energy is set to become "a main pillar" of their bilateral partnership, including in their economic relations, according to a joint statement.

Titled EU-China Leaders' Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy, the statement underlines their "highest political commitment to the effective implementation" of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

It emphasizes their "firm determination" to work with all stakeholders to tackle climate change, implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and promote low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, climate-resilient and sustainable development globally.

: Robert Johnson; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 18 July 2018

Climate Change Is Driving Up Forced Displacement By Disasters

By Mami Mizutori

The author is Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The following 'blog' appeared as blog on 'Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform' on 17 July 2018. – The Editor.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – If there was a SDG18 it might well coalesce around the concept of 'Resilience for All.' As it is, the concept of resilience is fundamental to achieving all of the SDGs, seeking as they do to strengthen people’s ability to survive, cope and thrive on this planet.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 18 July 2018

Asia-Pacific May Achieve Only One Out Of 17 Goals By 2030

By Ramesh Jaura

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) spanning an area home to 4.1 billion people, or two thirds of the world’s population, sprang a surprise when it admitted that at the current rate of progress in the region only one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Goal 4 on achieving quality education and lifelong learning – is on track to be met by 2030.

This astonishingly forthright message was delivered at the 2018 High-level Political Forum (HLPF 2018) at the UN headquarters in New York on July 16 when participants were briefed on the outcomes of the Fifth Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), held in Bangkok, from March 28-30, 2018 in preparation for the HLPF.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 July 2018

Trump Wants To Do It His Way

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Russian president Vladimir Putin has been in a benign mood after a perfectly organized World Cup which gave Russians and foreigners the rare freedom to mass in the street. In response the world TV audience has looked at Russia with new eyes. Maybe there’s a new Russia coming to the boil which, if the West could seize the chance, could help the two countries make a pot of very tasty and good tea! Maybe.

The Donald Trump/Vladimir Putin encounter is as convoluted as they come.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 17 July 2018

Photo: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, and Chantal Biya. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

Why Must President Biya Follow President Robert Mugabe?

By LIsa Vives | Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Cameroon's President Paul Biya is seriously considering a re-election bid despite having served 36 years in the job and despite approaching 90 years of age. The President-for-Life syndrome is sadly alive and well. An editorial in the Liberian Daily Observer expressed on July 16 its frustration in dramatic fashion.

The text of the editorial follows.

It was announced late last week (July 13, 2018) that Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has said he would run for re-election in October, in a bid to further extend his 36-year term of office. If re-elected, Biya would, like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, be well into his 90s as president.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 July 2018

Competitive Diplomacy Under the Trump Administration – Part 2

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the second of a two-part article which was written before the July 11-12 NATO summit in Brussels – The Editor.

ROME (IDN) – It is evident that the reduction or even wiping out of U.S. spending on United Nations agencies is essentially irrelevant from the point of view of reduction of its public debt and revival of its domestic economy. The reason for cuts can only be political and ideological.

With regard to family planning, contraception and abortion, it is a question of satisfying the domestic fundamentalist right. In more general terms, the Trump administration's competitive diplomacy is a way of blackmailing the United Nations because of the prevailing disagreement in organising certain positions of the US government: the most recent case is that of Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 16 July 2018

Photo: U.S. President Trump and Chinese President XI. Source: The United States Studies Centre, Sydney.

Competitive Diplomacy Under the Trump Administration – Part 1

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the first of a two-part article which was written before the July 11-12 NATO summit in Brussels – The Editor.

ROME (IDN) – The goal of the diplomacy of George W. Bush under his National Security Strategy (NSS) was to be "transformative", that is, aimed at building and supporting democratic states in collaboration with "many international partners".

In other words, the armed export of "democracy" presupposed the ability and will to build variable alliances tailored on military intervention. Except for the fact that, for the purpose of partial political legitimation and outside any UN Security Council mandate, unilateral military action had to be combined with multilateralism.