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Photo: The expanded bilateral meeting between both the United States and North Korean delegations on June 12 in Sentosa. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Revolutionary Change Bringing in DPRK From the Cold

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

KANDY (IDN) – Sentosa, the Singapore venue of the historic June 12 summit meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, is today an ultra modern pleasure island with a name derived from the Sanskrit ‘Santosa’, but with its old Malay name Pulao Blakang Mati (Island of Death Behind) clinging to it as a reminder of a murky past as a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and a disease ridden swamp.

The Janus faced island history represents a future of peace and prosperity and a past of conflict and tension confronting the two leaders trying to reverse hostile relations spanning over seven decades.

: Jayantha Dhanapala; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 June 2018

Photo: On June 20, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs China.

SPECIAL REPORT: Ten Years After the Abolition of Monarchy, Communists Blaze a New Trail in Nepal

By Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The coming together of Nepal’s two communist parties – Unified Marxist-Leninist and Maoist Centre – which are already in office as the Left Alliance is a landmark development signifying a decisive political turn in the Himalayan country. The unified Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is South Asia’s largest communist party and one of the three ruling in Asia – the other two being bigger ones in China and Vietnam.

Unlike the ruling parties of China and Vietnam, the NCP has the unique distinction of rising to office through the parliamentary process by proving its superior credentials as people’s representatives in a free and fair election, which saw discredited mainstream liberal democratic parties bite the dust.

: Shastri Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 June 2018

Photo: Group picture of participants of the CTBTO Youth Group Moscow Conference from 18-20 October 2017 in Moscow with the CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo in the centre. The next conference is scheduled from 28-20 August 2018 in Kazakh capital city Astana. Credit: CTBTO

What Kazakhstan's Nuclear Legacy Means For CTBTO

Viewpoint by Marzhan Nurzhan

The CTBTO Youth Group (CYG) holds its second international conference in Kazakh capital city Astana from August 28-30, 2018. The author is a CYG member from Kazakhstan, a convener of Abolition 2000 Youth Network and a PNND Coordinator for CIS countries. This article first appeared in The Astana Times on May 29, 2018 with the title 'Kazakhstan's Nuclear Legacy and Importance of CTBTO'. It is being reproduced with the author's permission. – The Editor.

PRAGUE (IDN) – I am coming from Kazakhstan, the country which inherited around 1,500 nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union making it the 4th biggest nuclear arsenal in the world at the time.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 May 2018

Governments Do Little as West African Countries are Plundered

By Will Fitzgibbon

In the region’s largest-ever journalism collaboration, reporters from 11 countries expose the financial secrets of some of West Africa's most powerful politicians, moguls and corporations. The following article first appeared on the website of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on 22 May 2018 with the headline WEST AFRICA LEAKS: How Officials, Businesses and Traffickers Hide Billions from Cash-Starved Governments Offshore. Contributors to this story: Moussa Aksar and Alloycious David. – The Editor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN | ICIJ) – Government officials, arms merchants and corporations have spirited away millions of dollars from destitute West African nations through offshore tax havens, an investigation by journalists from the region and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 May 2018

Photo (left to right): Sun Zhijun, vice-minister of Publicity Department of CPC Central Committee; Xia Weidong, full-time deputy director of Office of National Steering Committee for Ethical and Cultural Progress; Xiang Zhaolun, vice-minister of the Ministry of Culture; and Zhang Hongsen, vice-minister of State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television; attend the news conference during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, 20 October 2017. Credit: Liu Wei/chinadaily.com.cn

China Extending Capabilities In Reengineering Global Opinion

Viewpoint by Zi Yang*

SINGAPORE (IDN) – On March 21, 2018, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released its ‘Plan for Deepening Reform of Party and State Organs’. Among the 60 items added to China’s reform agenda, four were related to state media. That month, the CCP greatly increased the power of China’s so-called ‘Ministry of Truth’ — the Central Publicity Department (CPD). It also announced plans to create Voice of China, the world’s largest media conglomerate.

Previously hidden behind state institutions, the CPD now publicly declares its control over all Chinese press and publications. The administration of copyrights, censorship and monitoring of foreign publications imports are only a few of the CPD’s new tasks. As part of its deceptive tactics, the CPD employs the names State Press and Publication Administration or State Copyright Administration when communicating with foreign counterparts.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 May 2018

Photo: On April 1, 2018 local time, President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam (right) met in Hanoi with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left), who was paying an official visit to Vietnam.

China Is Making Friends With Five Mekong States

Viewpoint by Nguyen Khac Giang*

HANOI (IDN) – Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took over power in 2012, Southeast Asia has become a focal point of China’s geopolitical ambitions. Instead of the clandestine and illegal tactics seen under Mao Zedong, the current strategy combines two major approaches: building Chinese-led institutional mechanisms and buying support with a flood of aid, concessional loans and investments.

This strategy is clearly illustrated by the stellar rise of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), an ambitious Chinese initiative that involves the six countries of the Mekong sub-region: China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 May 2018

Photo: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir told CNN on May 9 that his country stands ready to build nuclear weapons if Iran restarts its nuclear program. @CNNPolitics

Thwart Saudi Threat To Acquire Nuclear Weapons

By Daryl G. Kimball and Thomas Countryman

Following is the text of Statement from Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and its Board of Directors Chairman and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation,Thomas Countryman,– The Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – We are deeply disappointed by the counterproductive response from the Trump administration to the statements from senior Saudi officials threatening to pursue nuclear weapons in violation of their nonproliferation commitments.

We call on the White House to immediately reiterate the longstanding, bipartisan policy of the United States that it will actively work against the spread of nuclear weapons to any country, friend or foe.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 15 May 2018

Image: Mural by Diego Rivera showing the Karl Marx. In the National Palace in Mexico City. CC BY-SA 3.0

In A Sense, We Are All Marxists

Viewpoint by Peter Singer*

MELBOURNE (IDN) – It is not far-fetched to suggest that the predictions of Karl Marx – whose 200th anniversary fell on May 5, 1818 – have been falsified, his theories discredited, and his ideas rendered obsolete. So why should we care about his legacy in the twenty-first century?

From 1949, when Mao Zedong’s communists triumphed in China’s civil war, until the collapse of the Berlin Wall 40 years later, the historical significance of Marx was unsurpassed. Nearly four out of every ten people on earth lived under governments that claimed to be Marxist, and in many other countries Marxism was the dominant ideology of the left, while the policies of the right were often based on how to counter Marxism.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 May 2018

Iran Nuclear Deal Withdrawal 'Misguided', 'Serious Mistake'

By Barack Obama

The following is the text of former President Barack Obama's remarks on his successor Donald Trump's decision on May 8, 2018 to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. The original appeared on Obama's Facebook https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/posts/10155854913976749 - The Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – There are few issues more important to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 08 May 2018

Photo: Portuguese sociologist Boaventura Souza Santos during the 6th World Forum of Judges in 2010. CC BY 3.0 br

The Quest for Order in a Time of Chaos

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) – The bombing of Syrian sites where chemical weapons are supposedly being manufactured or stocked, allegedly to be used by the Bashar al-Assad government against rebels, has left citizens all over the world in a state of confusion, filled with a mixture of perplexity and scepticism.

In spite of the bombing by the Western media (a particularly apt metaphor in this case), in their attempt to persuade public opinion of the latest atrocities committed by the al-Assad regime: in spite of the near unanimous opinion of political commentators that this was nothing but a humanitarian response, a fair punishment, and one more proof of the vitality of the “Western alliance”; in spite of all this, whenever asked, citizens in the West (and much more so in the rest of the world) have expressed their doubts about this media narrative and for the most part spoken against the attacks. Why is that?