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Uncertainty Hangs Over the UN Surviving Beyond 2045

Viewpoints by Franz Baumann, Fmr. UN Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations and Christopher Ankersen, Global Affairs, New York University.

This is the second of two rounds of Dr Franz Baumann's stimulating exchange with Dr Chris Ankersen posted on PAIRAGRAPH – A Hub of discourse between pairs of notable individuals. The first appeared on 8 September 2020. It can be freely accessed here.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The former UN Assistant Secretary-General believes the United Nations "will not be cancelled", though "a worse fate awaits it, namely fading into the shadowlands of irrelevance". Dr Ankersen however argues: "… it may be possible for the UN to carry on for several more years, that is only because it has been nailed to its perch." He is convinced that UN celebrating its 75th birthday this October will not live to see its 100th

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 18 September 2020

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Manila, Philippines on August 6, 2017. (Photo credit: U.S. Department of State/Public Domain)

U.S. Shifts Arms Control Strategy with Russia

By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos

While Kingston Reif is the director for disarmament and threat reduction policy, Shannon Bugos is research assistant at the Arms Control Association.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – The Trump administration has softened its demand that China immediately participate in trilateral nuclear arms control talks with the United States and Russia and says it is now seeking an interim step of a politically binding framework with Moscow.

But the administration continues to reject Russia’s offer of a clean five-year extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and has said that President Trump will not consider an extension until several conditions are met.

: Arms Control Association; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 17 September 2020

Photo: Testing sheep for diseases in Bako, Ethiopia. Credit: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) | Barbara Wieland.

New UN Report Warns of Future Pandemics If 'Business as Usual' Continues

By J. Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new UN report has underlined the importance of biodiversity in addressing climate change, and long-term food security, and concluded that action to protect biodiversity is essential to prevent future pandemics.

The fifth edition of the UN's Global Biodiversity Outlook report, released on September 15, has warned: "The continued degradation of the environment is increasing the likelihood of diseases spreading from animals to humans."

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 17 September 2020

The Great Green Wall Is Paving the Way Ahead to 2030

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – The Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative has over the past 13 years restored close to 20 million hectares of land, according to a report released on September 7 at a virtual meeting of environmental ministers from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti together with regional partners, international organizations and development agencies.

The GGW Initiative was launched in 2007 under the leadership of the African Union Commission and Pan-African Agency, and with the financial support from the government of Ireland.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 16 September 2020

Photo: Downing Street said in February 2020, its adviser Andrew Sabisky had resigned, following criticism of alleged past remarks on pregnancies, eugenics and race. Credit: BBC.

The Need to Address That British Eugenics Scandal

Viewpoint by Justin Podur*

This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

TORONTO (IDN) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been known to have an interest in eugenics, but despite the persistence of support for this discredited idea over the years, eugenics is a scientific and moral failure.

In February, an adviser to Johnson resigned when some old racist posts he wrote in 2014 emerged. The contractor, Andrew Sabisky, called himself a “superforecaster” by trade and trafficked in theories of race and intelligence. Footage resurfaced of Boris Johnson talking about genetic inequality and IQ in 2013.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 September 2020

Photo: Russian dissident politician Alexei Navalny landed at Berlin Tegel airport after being airlifted from a hospital in Omsk, Russia. He is being treated for suspected poisoning at Berlin's Charite hospital. Source: Deutsche Welle.

The Mystery of The Poisoning of Alexei Navalny

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Take the strange case of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident, who many think nearly died from a poisoning ordered by the Kremlin.

After sifting through the conflicting evidence, I was suddenly struck by a couple of sentences in a novel I’m reading right now, “The End of the Affair”, written by Graham Greene, widely considered to be one of the great writers of twentieth-century English literature.

“Does truth lie at some point in the pendulum’s swing, at a point where it never rests, not in the dull perpendicular mean where it dangles in the end like a windless flag, but at an angle, nearer one extreme than another? If only a miracle could stop the pendulum at an angle of sixty degrees, one could believe the truth is there.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 September 2020

Leveraging Research for Solution-Driven Policymaking in The Era Of COVID-19

By Sudip Ranjan Basu, Monica Das, Alexandra Boakes Tracy and Achim Wennmann*

BANGKOK (IDN) – The United Nations has tasked the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR-IPPH) to lead the research roadmap to identify priorities that will support an equitable global socio-economic recovery from COVID-19 within the broader framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the world grapples with the impacts of COVID-19, identifying the research agenda and partnering with academic institutions and think tanks have become more essential than ever before.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 September 2020

Photos (L to R): Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Ritesh Tandon. Credit: The authors.

California Needs Low Taxation to Boost Innovation

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Ritesh Tandon

Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. is an ex-diplomat and Ritesh Tandon is the Republican Party candidate for the US Congress from California’s 17th District. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

CALIFORNIA (IDN) – President Donald Trump is nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for the recent Peace Deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. In fact, his pursuit for peace as an official US policy found manifestation earlier in his efforts not to lead US into any war, and to bring reconciliation to North and South Korea.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 September 2020

Photo: Iranian women wearing masks to protect themselves from coronavirus walk at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran on February 20, 2020. Credit: © 2020 WANA/Nazanin Tabatabaee via Reuters

Iran's #MeToo Movement Challenges Patriarchy and Western Stereotypes

Viewpoint by Sara Tafakori*

BEIRUT (IDN) – It has been called an Iranian #MeToo movement, and it is. Thousands of women in Iran – and some men – are going online to speak about the sexual assault and harassment they experienced. What is crucially important, at what promises to be a historic turning point in Iranian women’s struggle for their rights, is to set the movement clearly in its proper local and global context, rather than locating it in terms of the familiar binaries of East and West, as much of the coverage in the coming weeks and months will do.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 15 September 2020

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo meets with Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 18, 2020. [State Department Photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]

U.S. Effort to Block Ethiopian Dam Recalls Legacy of British Colonialism

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Based on guidance from President Trump, the State Department is suspending $130 million in security-related aid to Ethiopia over a nearly-completed dam that would lift Ethiopia from poverty and end the shadow of British colonialism that favoured Egypt.

Programs on the chopping block include security assistance, counterterrorism and military education and training, anti-human trafficking programs, and broader development assistance funding, congressional aides said. The cuts would not impact U.S. funding for emergency humanitarian relief, food assistance, or health programs aimed at addressing COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS, they said.