OPINION

Image: Harris and Biden. Source: Democrats.org

Biden Wielding DNC to Guard Against Progressive Challenge

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.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 31 January 2023

Image: Vasili Arkhipov and Soviet submarine B-59, forced to the surface by U.S. Naval forces in the Caribbean near Cuba, with a U.S. helicopter overhead. Source: U.S. National Archives.

The Man Who Saved the World from a Nuclear War

By Glen Milner and Leonard Eiger

The man who saved the world from thermonuclear annihilation in 1962 was born on January 30, 1926. Ground Zero Center published this article.

POULSBO | WASHINGTON, USA (IDN) — At a time when the probability of nuclear war is as nearly as high as it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is crucial that we recall the story of Vasili Arkhipov, a Soviet submarine officer who prevented a Soviet nuclear strike against U.S. surface warships during that very crisis in 1962.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 30 January 2023

Image: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugs friends and colleagues. Source: DAWN / AFP

What the Resignation of New Zealand's Inspirational Prime Minister Means

By David Robie*

AUCKLAND (IDN) — Aotearoa New Zealand has been shaken to the core by the sudden resignation of one of its most iconic and revered prime ministers amid a fierce controversy over misogyny and death threats stirred by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Jacinda Ardern, the world’s youngest female prime minister at 37 when she was elected in 2017 on a stardust wave of “Jacinda mania”, stepped on January 19 after emotional scenes at her last official function wrapped in a traditional Māori feathered cloak at the historic Ratana church.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 January 2023

2023] Photo: New Zealand Prime Minister visited grieving Muslim families, wearing hijab as a sign of respect, after the Christchurch Mosque attack in March 2019. Source: Twitter.com

A Unique Leader Quits Prime Minister's Chair in New Zealand

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — A leader like Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand doesn’t come in tens. Not even in twos. And so, it was such a bright day on October 26, 2017, when she took office as New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

She was 37 years old and also the youngest head of government at the time. What’s there not to love?

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 27 January 2023

Photo: Members of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists in Princeton, New Jersey, on November 18, 1946, which included Albert Einstein and several of the physicists who had participated in developing the atomic bomb. Copyright 2014, Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries and Press.

Nuclear Weapons and Nationalism: An Incendiary Mix

By Andrew Lichterman*

OAKLAND, California (IDN) — Seventy-seven years ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed its first resolution. The subject the governments represented there thought important enough to be first on their agenda was the establishment of a commission to develop proposals for the control of atomic energy and “for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 26 January 2023

At the Global Top Table. Will 2023 Be India's Year?

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Three developments contribute to the fact that 2023 could indeed become India's global political year: India's chairmanship of the G20 countries, interestingly its role in the war in Ukraine, and the increasingly widespread critical view of China.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 January 2023

Photo: Outstanding achievements of Sri Lankan Americans are recognized at the Sri Lanka Foundation Award Ceremony held at the Baltimore Hotel in Los Angeles. Credit: Sri Lanka Foundation.

Sri Lankan Americans’ IMPACT ON Life in America

By Nandasiri Jasentuliyana

The writer is former Deputy Director-General of the United Nations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) — The earliest Sri Lankans to enter the United States were classified as "other Asians." Immigration records show that between 1881 and 1890, 1,910 "other Asians" were admitted to the United States. It is unlikely that many of these were from Sri Lanka. In 1975, immigration records classified Sri Lankans as a separate category for the first time. That year, 432 Sri Lankans immigrated to the United States.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 January 2023

Is China Really a Threat?

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Exactly five years ago, the American secretary of defence, Jim Mattis, declared a new era: “There has been a return of great power competition……great power competition—not terrorism—is now the primary focus of US security”. In the new national defence strategy document, China and Russia were singled out as “adversaries”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 January 2023

Photo: A Pakistani trader. Source: News Click

India Going Down Path of Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani*

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Pakistan is in the grip of a massive economic crisis. Wheat flour costs Rs (PKR) 150 per kg. Staple diet roti (type of bread) costs Rs 30 in a country where the average daily earning is Rs 500 with an average household needing around 10 rotis daily. The US dollar is close to PKR 230.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 23 January 2023

Image credit: Asia-Pacific Leadership Network

Should South Korea Go Nuclear?

By Rebecca Johnson

Dr Rebecca Eleanor Johnson is the Executive Director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy (AIDD).

LONDON (IDN) — In just the few weeks between the West’s New Year and the East’s Year of the Rabbit South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has been making some very worrying remarks about getting nuclear weapons.

On 2 January 2023, Yoon reportedly called for the Republic of [South] Korea to have a greater role in managing nuclear weapons.