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By Norman Solomon*
SAN FRANCISCO, 28 March 2023 (IDN) — The announcement by Vladimir Putin over the weekend that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus marked a further escalation of potentially cataclysmic tensions over the war in neighbouring Ukraine. As the Associated Press reported, “Putin said the move was triggered by Britain’s decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armour-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.”
By Arul Louis
The writer is a New York-based non-resident senior fellow of the Society for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank. He can be contacted @arulouis.
UNITED NATIONS, 27 March 2023 (IDN) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is auditioning for the role of a global statesman through diplomatic efforts to mediate in several areas of the world, hoping to blunt the influence of the US and the West.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK, 27 March 2023 (IDN) — In defiance of the United Nations, the U.S. and other world government and human rights organizations, the Ugandan parliament has passed a bill imposing the most severe penalties against its gay community - criminalizing lesbians, gays and bisexuals for simply existing.
Ugandan Members of Parliament tightened up the original text, which provided for up to 10 years in prison for anyone engaging in homosexual acts or claiming to be LGBTQ+.
By Bernhard Schell
CAIRO, 25 March 2023 (IDN) — The United Nations has warned that eight years of protracted multilateral conflict in Yemen, with the involvement of Saudi Arabia, has produced the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Over two-thirds of Yemen's population—21.6 million people—are in acute need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 20 million people require urgent health assistance.
By John Scales Avery*
COPENHAGEN, 24 March 2023 (IDN) — On its home page on World Water Day, 2021, the United Nations pointed out the following facts: Today, 1 in 3 people live without safe drinking water. By 2050, up to 5.7 billion people could be living in areas where water is scarce for at least one month a year.
By Dr Farah Hegazi and Sandra C. Valencia*
This article was published by SIPRI.
STOCKHOLM, 24 March 20303 (IDN) — Humanitarian and development interventions often aim to make households and communities more resilient in the face of shocks, including climate change. But they can end up creating new vulnerabilities or missing chances to build and sustain peace if they do not consider local conflict sensitivities.
The writer is Distinguished Associate Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
"Let me begin by saying, we were almost all wrong, and I certainly include myself here."—David Kay, Head of the Iraq Survey Group, during testimony to the US Senate on 29 January 2004.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, 22 March 2023 (IDN) — A much-quoted line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's lyrical ballad, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', reads: “'water, water everywhere—nor any drop to drink'.
The poem goes back to the year 1798—and more than five centuries later, the cry for water, described as a basic human right, is reverberating throughout the UN General Assembly Hall and committee rooms as hundreds of delegates gathered in New York for a three-day UN Water Conference, scheduled to conclude March 24.
Plea for Radical Reduction in Global Emissions
By Rita Joshi
BONN, 21 March 2023 (IDN) — "We’re running out of time but not out of options to address climate change," declared Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, commenting on the IPCC's Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report, released on 20 March.
By IPCC Press Office
INTERLAKEN, Switzerland, 20 March 2023 (IDN) — There are multiple feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change. They are available now, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released today.
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