Think-Tanks

Photo: The home of Shumona (right) in Bangladesh has been destroyed by storms four times in the past five years. Credit: Mahmod/ActionAid.

Real Money Crucial for Success of Paris Climate Pact

By Harjeet Singh

The writer is Global Lead on Climate Change at ActionAid International and is based in New Delhi. The commitment and sincerity of developed countries to provide climate finance will determine whether the Paris Agreement will succeed in combating climate change, he warns. Views are personal. This article first appeared on 'India Climate Dialogue' on 22 June 2018, and is being reproduced with due acknowledgement. – The Editor

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – The home of Shumona, 9, and her grandmother in Patuakhali in southern Bangladesh has been destroyed by storms four times in the past five years. She and millions of climate change victims like her in the developing world remain oblivious to the fact that behind her suffering is unthinking industrialisation.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 29 June 2018

Image: 70 years of peacekeeping operations spanning across four continents. Credit: UN.

Africa Is the Epicentre of UN Peace Operations Since 2008

By Timo Smit

The author is a Researcher with the SIPRI Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme. He is currently in charge of maintaining SIPRI’s database on multilateral peace operations (including data-collection), and conducts research on trends in peacekeeping. This article first appeared on June 20,2018. – The Editor

STOCKHOLM (IDN-INPS) – This year it is 70 years since the United Nations Security Council established the first UN peacekeeping operation. On May 29, 1948 it authorized the deployment of military observers to supervise a cessation of hostilities in the First Arab-Israeli War and to support Count Folke Bernadotte in his role as UN mediator.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 June 2018

Photo: President Donald Trump with Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, on March 14, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. Credit: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead.

U.S. Congress Should Prevent Saudis from Going Nuclear

By Kingston Reif, Daryl G. Kimball and Kelsey Davenport

Kingston Reif is Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy and Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. Kelsey Davenport is the Association's Director for Nonproliferation Policy. This article appeared as Issue Brief on April 5, 2018 with the caption 'The Risks of Nuclear Cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the Role of Congress'. It is being reproduced with permission from the Association. – The Editor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Curbing the spread of nuclear weapons and the technologies to make them has long been and remains strongly in the U.S. national security interest, especially in the troubled Middle East.

: Daryl G. Kimball; OPINION; 07 April 2018

Photo: U.S. President Donald J. Trump addresses the General Assembly’s annual general debate on 19 September 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

Trump Breaks Nuclear Taboos, Strives For Supremacy

By Daryl G. Kimball and Kingston A. Reif

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and Kingston A. Reif its Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy. This article appeared as Issue Brief on February 15, 2018 with the caption 'The New U.S. Nuclear Strategy is Flawed and Dangerous. Here’s Why.' It is being reproduced with permission from the Association. – The Editor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – In December 2016, President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States “must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” and later told MSNBC that he would “outmatch” and “outlast” other potential competitors in a nuclear arms race. The comments mostly prompted condemnation in the United States and around the world and raised concerns about the direction the president would take U.S. nuclear weapons policy.

: Daryl G. Kimball; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 21 February 2018

Photo: The landmark Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, a symbol of China-Sri Lanka Friendship (October 2011). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Challenges and Opportunities Sri Lanka-China Relations Face

By H.M.G.S. Palihakkara

Hewa Matara Gamage Siripala Palihakkara is former Governor of the Northern Province, one of the nine provinces, of Sri Lanka and former Foreign Secretary. Following are extracts from a foreword to the collection of essays by academics on Sri Lanka-China Relations ‘The Island of the Lion and the Land of the Dragon’, a joint publication of the Pathfinder Foundation in Sri Lanka and the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, and edited by H.M.G.S. Palihakkara. The book was launched on January 16, 2018 in Colombo. – The Editor's Note

COLOMBO (IDN) – The Cold War and its aftermath were marked by interesting contrasts as well as parallels. Only history will tell us if the risk of bipolar nuclear conflict of the Cold War was more or less dangerous than the reality of the widespread non-nuclear armed conflict and nuclear proliferation of the post-Cold war period.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 03 February 2018

Image credit: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Two Minutes to Midnight on Doomsday Clock

By the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Citing growing nuclear risks and unchecked climate dangers, the iconic Doomsday Clock is now 30 seconds closer to midnight, the closest to the symbolic point of annihilation that the Clock has been since 1953 at the height of the Cold War.

The decision announced on January 25 to move the Doomsday Clock to two minutes before midnight was made by the 'Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board in consultation with the Board of Sponsors, which includes 15 Nobel Laureates.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 25 January 2018

Photo: The ministers of foreign affairs and other officials from the P5+1 countries, the European Union and Iran while announcing the framework of a Comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme. April 2015. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Iran Nuclear Deal Is Menaced by Trump's Cynical Gambit

By Kelsey Davenport

The writer is director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, where it first appeared on 17 January.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – President Donald Trump’s Jan. 12 decision to waive sanctions on Iran keeps the United States in compliance – for the time being – with its obligations under the multilateral nuclear deal with Tehran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump’s ultimatum that Congress pass legislation to unilaterally address what he describes as "flaws" in the agreement is based on flawed assumptions. His demands are unrealistic and put the future of the accord in doubt.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 18 January 2018

Democracy Under Assault and in Retreat Around the Globe

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Is democracy in decline? If you talk about the quality of democracy the answer is clearly yes. The US, the world’s first and most important democracy – although at the beginning a limited democracy for white men only – is in trouble.

President Donald Trump has brought old problems to the surface – the money that buys candidates and policies, gerrymandering, an increasingly polarised electorate and a deadlocked Congress. He has added his own negatives – misusing his power to threaten his opponent, Hilary Clinton, with jail, waging a war against the media and attempting to make it clear that he has the sole power to use nuclear weapons and that he will use them against North Korea, even if North Korea has not used its.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 16 January 2018

Photo: Human rights : Letting values prevail over politics. Credit: The Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue.

CSOs, Experts Address the Plight of People on the Move

By Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – In response to the protracted migrant and refugee crisis that has affected primarily Europe and the MENA region, a coalition of international organizations took the initiative to adopt the 2017 Geneva Declaration entitled “Mobility and human solidarity, a challenge and an opportunity for Europe and the MENA region” pledging increased cooperation between decision-makers to address the adverse impact of the crisis.

The Geneva Declaration is the fruit of a panel debate entitled “Migration and human solidarity, a challenge and an opportunity for Europe and the MENA region” that was organized by the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue – a think-tank holding special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council - on 14 December 2017 at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 16 January 2018

Photo: President Donald Trump joined by Vice President Mike Pence meets with members of the Republican Legislative Leadership on January 5 at Camp David. Credit: Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian.

Donald Trump’s Nuclear Posture Rather Menacing

By Daryl G. Kimball

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared with the caption 'Trump’s More Dangerous Nuclear Posture'.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Just one year ago, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an address touting the progress achieved during the Obama years to reduce the salience and number of nuclear weapons and curb their spread.

Biden argued that “given our non-nuclear capabilities and the nature of today’s threats, it’s hard to envision a plausible scenario in which the first use of nuclear weapons by the United States would be necessary. Or make sense. President Obama and I are confident we can deter and defend ourselves and our allies against non-nuclear threats through other means.”