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By Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
The author is the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Astana Times published this OpEd, which is being republished with their permission.
ASTANA (IDN) — In an increasingly polarized world, Kazakhstan often plays the role of a bridge between East and West, North and South. This is a product of our unique history and geography.
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte
The writer is Ambassador and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
“Recalling that States must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State and that the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security are to be promoted with the least diversion for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources..” (From the Preamble of the NPT)
By Ariana Smith
The writer is the Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy
NEW YORK (IDN) — The recent US allegation of Russian noncompliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) cannot be adequately understood outside of the context of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Russian invasion, initiated nearly one year ago, was marked early on by insistent and illegal threats of nuclear use, intended to dissuade Western nuclear and nuclear-allied states from "interference" in Ukraine.
By Ramu Damodaran
The author is the first Director of UN Academic Impact and a Senior Fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP).
NEW YORK (IDN) — It was in the final weeks of 2020, during the annually familiar, even at times festive, reaffirmation and celebration of faith, from Eid-e-Milad to Gurpurab, Diwali to Hanukkah, Christmas to Kwanzaa, that I heard a conversation between two religious peacemakers in South Sudan, themselves distinguished scholars.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — War of civilizations? Violence-prone Muslims living out the inheritance of their prophet, Mohammed who, in marked contrast to Jesus Christ, established his creed on earth by a vigorous use of the sword. It's all there in Princeton professor Bernard Lewis' book, "From Babel to Dragomans".
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (IDN) — Eritrean refugees are trafficked and enslaved in Libya, where they are tortured, abused and raped by slave traders to force family members to pay ransom for their release. If they escape and make it to the Mediterranean Sea, they risk being intercepted and sent back to Libya or dying at sea.
By Boaventura de Sousa Santos*
COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — A new-old ghost is hovering over Europe—war. The most violent continent in the world in terms of deaths in warfare for the last hundred years (not to go back any further and include the deaths suffered by Europe during religious wars and the deaths inflicted by Europeans on peoples subjected to colonialism) is heading for a new war.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — To be blunt, there is no Israel and no Palestine. At least not in a continuous historical sense, as there is a France or an Egypt, a China or a Thailand or an Ethiopia. Without the British there would be neither a modern Israel nor Palestine.
The Jews claim that they are merely returning to their roots, unwinding the clock to Old Testament times.
By Jan Servaes*
BRUSSELS (IDN) — On December 22, 2022, Thailand hosted a meeting in Bangkok to discuss the Myanmar crisis. This meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the Myanmar junta, Laos and Cambodia, as well as the deputy foreign minister of Vietnam. Significantly, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore did not attend.
It could therefore not be called an official ASEAN summit. After all, there is disagreement among the 10-member group about whether or not to cooperate with the junta.
By Norman Solomon*
SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) — When the Democratic National Committee convenes its winter meeting on February 2 in Philadelphia, a key agenda item will be rubber-stamping Joe Biden’s manipulation of next year’s presidential primaries. There’ll be speeches galore, including one by Biden as a prelude to his expected announcement that he’ll seek a second term. The gathering will exude confidence, at least in public.
But if Biden were truly confident that Democratic voters want him to be the 2024 nominee, he wouldn’t have intervened in the DNC’s scheduling of early primaries.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.