OPINION

Photo: Neven Mimica. Credit: EU Commission

ACP and the EU Should Stand United, Shoulder-to-Shoulder

By Neven Mimica

The author is EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 18 June 2018 in Brussels. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – First and foremost, 2018 is a defining year as we get ready to discuss together the shape and direction of the partnership between the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union beyond 2020.

Uniting over a hundred countries and around one and a half billion people, our longstanding partnership is unique one not only in terms of its cultural richness and diversity, but also in terms of its geographical scope and potential.

: Jaya Ramachandran; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Striving For Modernized Partnership

By Yuri Sterk

The author is Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 18 June 2018 in Brussels. He represented the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The 35th session of the Joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly is of particular importance. The opening of negotiations on our future ACP-EU relations, after the expiry of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, is fast approaching and negotiations are due to start by September 1, 2018. The outcome of parliamentarians' deliberations will feed into the shaping of our future ACP-EU relations.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Photo: The writer addressing UN Open-ended working group on nuclear disarmament on May 2, 2016 in Geneva. Credit: Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy.

Nuclear Ban Treaty Beacons the End of Nuclear Age

By Rebecca Johnson

Dr Rebecca Johnson is founding President of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. She contributed this viewpoint as foreword to the publication titled 'Toward A World Without Nuclear Weapons' published by the International Press Syndicate Group with IDN-InDepthNews as its flagship agency, and the Global Cooperation Council as part of a media project with Soka Gakkai International (SGI). – The Editor.

LONDON (IDN) – If we survive this turbulent period, histories may record that 2017-18 marked the end of the nuclear age and the beginning – we hope – of a new era of peace-building and security.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump before the start of their one-on-one meeting. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Peace with DPRK would be a Victory for the UN Charter

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Give the man a break. Donald Trump found out in Singapore that, as Churchill said, “Jaw-Jaw is better than War-War”. If war can be avoided by a warm, long, very private chat without advisers, with effusive body gestures and promises of a world stage when his opponent, Kim Jong Un, is invited to the White House, then Trump has showed the way.

It was learning the hard way because a few months ago when Trump threatened to incinerate North Korea he met counter threats from North Korea that could have led to the deaths of 30 million people in South Korea alone, never mind what numbers might die in an attack on American troops stationed in Japan and Guam naval base.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 June 2018

Photo: Screenshot of swearing in on 29 January 2017, left to right: Donald Trump, wife Melania, children Don Jr., Barron, Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, with Chief Justice John Roberts administering oath. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Trump Tweets the Track to the World He Wants

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and his articles and comments can be read on Facebook @robertosavioutopia

ROME (IDN) – Donald John Trump, 45th and current president of the United States, has been seen in many illustrious circles as an anomaly that cannot last. Well, it is time to look at reality.

If we put on the glasses of people who have seen their level of income reduced and are afraid of the future, Trump is here to stay, and he is a result and not a cause.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 18 June 2018

Photo: The “Non-Violence” (or “Knotted Gun”) sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display at the UN Visitors' Plaza. Credit: UN

A Call To 'Action Now' On United Nations Disarmament Agenda

By A.L.A. Azeez

The writer is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva. While analysing the UN Secretary-General António Guterres' new disarmament agenda entitled, Securing Our Common Future, Ambassador Azeez calls for" the increased availability of disarmament education and fellowship opportunities" to make up for the loss of a generation of professionals and experts in many countries, resulting from "the inaction or lack of progress in disarmament over two decades.

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

Photo: Kim and Trump walking to the summit room during the DPRK–USA Singapore Summit on June 12, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Substance Eludes Kim-Trump Historic Summit

By Sergio Duarte

The writer is Ambassador, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and President of Pugwash.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The off-again, on-again meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un which finally took place in Singapore on June 12 was undoubtedly an historic occasion. However, a sober analysis of its outcome can hardly conclude that it was either a success or a failure. Even so, the mere fact that after several weeks of mutual provocations and derogatory exchanges the two leaders agreed to meet in a cordial, almost congenial atmosphere is in itself an auspicious achievement.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 16 June 2018

You Can Help Achieve Zero Land Degradation

By Monique Barbut

The writer is Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCDD) based in Bonn, Germany. This viewpoint underlines the importance of June 17 that marks every year the celebration of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (WDCD). – The Editor.

BONN (IDN) – Are you overwhelmed by the depressing news coming at you daily? Conflict, forced migrants, famine, floods, hurricanes, extinction of species, climate change, threats of war … a seemingly endless list. It might surprise you, but you can really make a difference on many of these issues.

Just like every raindrop counts towards a river and every vote counts in an election, so does every choice you make in what you consume. With every produce you consume, you strengthen the river of sustainability or of unsustainability. It is either a vote in favor of policies that spread 'social goods' like peace and poverty eradication or 'social bads' like – conflict or grinding poverty.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 15 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump shaking hands at the red carpet during the DPRK-USA Singapore Summit on June 12, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Trump-Kim Singapore Summit Relieves Tensions, Nuclear Dangers Remain

By David Krieger

The writer is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He is the author and editor of many books on peace and nuclear weapons abolition, including ‘Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action.’ This article first appeared on NAPF. – The Editor.

SANTA BARBARA (IDN) - The Singapore Summit was a dramatic turn-around from the adolescent name calling that Trump and Kim had engaged in only months before. Trump had labelled Kim as “Little Rocket Man,” and Kim had labelled Trump as “Dotard.”

Having gotten through this, the summit was on for June 12, then it was abruptly cancelled by Trump when Mike Pence had referred to the “Libya model” for North Korean nuclear disarmament, and a North Korean official had called Pence a “political dummy.”

: David Krieger; OPINION; 14 June 2018

Two New Books Underline The Light Obama Was

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Politics is a fickle beast. Barack Obama won more votes among blue-collar workers than did his opponent, Senator John McCain. But it was those very blue-collar workers who tipped the scales in Donald Trump’s victory. They weren’t racists or they wouldn’t have voted for Obama in the first place.

But in voting for Trump they voted against their economic interest. Trump hasn’t and won’t help the health of the poorer, nor improve income inequality, nor in the long run give them jobs that now have migrated to China, India and Europe. What he did give these voters was a sense of pride in being American, as Obama did, but Hilary Clinton couldn’t.