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Photo: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev discussing German unification with Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Russia, July 15, 1990. Credit: Bundesbildstelle / Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung.

Rolling Back on NATO's Expansion Should Be President Joe Biden's Immediate Task

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — History and events have not been kind to Russia. Napoleon’s invasion, revolution, two world wars, Hitler’s invasion, Stalin’s communism and, most recently, the expansion of NATO, have shattered the Russian people’s equilibrium and self-regard time and time again.

At the end of the Cold War and with agreement on the NATO-Russia Founding Act it seemed that big steps towards a new kind of future were being taken. First, Russia would have a seat at NATO's table. Later it would join NATO. Later still, the European Union. Some said this would happen over ten years, others twenty.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 30 March 2021

COVID-19 Bares Chronic Development Fault Lines in Asia-Pacific

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is United Nations-Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The world is emerging from the biggest social and economic shock in living memory, but it will be a long time before the deep scars of the COVID-19 pandemic on human well-being fully heal.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 March 2021

Photo credit: China Global Television Network, or CGTN.

Internal Conflict Over Carbon Neutral China by 2060

Viewpoint by Alexander Kallweit

Last year, President Xi Jinping announced ambitious climate targets. But China's reluctant state apparatus struggles to reconcile high growth and climate policy, writes Dr Alexander Kallweit, who heads the office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Beijing. Previously, he led the foundation's International Dialogue Department in Berlin. This article first appeared in the International Politics & Society Journal.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 March 2021

Photo: Fire rips through Sierra Leone. Source: International Centre for Investigative Reporting

Fire Through Sierra Leone Leaves Thousands Without Shelter

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A scorching blaze that turned a crowded neighbourhood of Sierra Leone’s capital city into rubble and ashes has left an estimated 4,500 residents homeless with many searching for missing family.

The inferno which broke out on March 24 between 7 and 10 p.m. in Susan's Bay, devastated a community of struggling families, mostly fishermen and petty traders, according to Save the Children in a report.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 March 2021

Photo source: International Centre for Investigative Reporting

Extremist Groups' Attacks on Civilians in Niger Condemned

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “Multiple senseless attacks” on civilian populations by armed groups in the Tahoua and Tilabery regions of Niger were condemned by world leaders and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) which noted the recent killings of some 200 civilians including children in the violence.

In the last ten days alone, three attacks in Banibangou, Tahoua and Abala, near the West African nation of Mali, also destroyed productive infrastructure such as granaries, jeopardizing livelihoods in some of the most vulnerable regions of the country, the humanitarian group reported.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 March 2021

Photo: Africa CDC Director Dr. John Nkengasong in a panel discussion at the Global Health Security Agenda Ministerial Meeting in Kampala, Uganda. Source: Wikipedia.

Relaxed Public Health Measures Trigger New Wave of COVID-19 in Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Africa is experiencing a second coronavirus wave more severe than the first, according to a worrying new study published on March 24 by the medical journal The Lancet.

The Lancet said one reason for the rise was that some countries were implementing fewer public health measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing, probably from adherence fatigue and economic necessity.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 March 2021

Photo: Tibet President Lobsang Sangay in Vienna, Austria, in 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0

The World Must Stand with Tibet

Viewpoint by Lobsang Sangay

The author is President of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, called as Central Tibetan Administration.

DARJEELING, India (IDN) — Tibet, famously called the roof of the world, a state in the Himalayas neighbored by India and China has for long been in a state of the tussle with Beijing. China lays the claim over the entire Tibet and calls it its own territory; however, Tibet has always strived for an independent existence. This is among the many conflicts currently brewing in South Asia, probably the worse as far as the power imbalance is concerned.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 29 March 2021

Photo: People across ethnic and religious divides hold vigil in Yangon, Myanmar. Unsplash/Zinko Hein. Source: UN.

UN Condemns 'Shameful, Cowardly' Attacks on Peaceful Protesters in Myanmar

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned in the strongest terms, the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and young people, by security forces in Myanmar on March 27.

In a statement issued by Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, the UN chief said, “the continuing military crackdown…is unacceptable and demands a firm, unified and resolute international response”. 

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 28 March 2021

Photo: The UN joins landmarks around the world by turning off the lights at its New York headquarters in observance of Earth Jour (file). Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Make Peace with Nature — India's COVID-19 Vaccines for UN Helmets — UNDP Preparing for Disaster in Nepal

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — Earth Hour, India's donation of 200,000 vaccines to protect UN blue helmets against the coronavirus, and the UN is scaling up its efforts to help Nepal, which faces numerous natural threats, are some of the notable events in the last days.

On March 27, the world began to ripple to darkness as countries globally dimmed their lights at 8:30 pm local time for Earth Hour—an event that, according to the UN, encourages individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour.

: Radwan Jakeem; UN INSIDER; 28 March 2021

Photo: Opening session of the 2015 NPT Review Conference. Credit: UN photo/Loey Felipe

The NPT – From Promise to Reality

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is Ambassador, former High Representative of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs and current President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

NEW YORK (IDN) — “How can we—the non-nuclear-weapon States—be expected to enter into an interminable obligation to remain non-nuclear if the nuclear-weapon States are engaged in an interminable nuclear escalation?” (Alva Myrdal, Head of the Swedish delegation at the ENDC – Final verbatim record of the 363rd Meeting of the Conference of the 18-Nation Disarmament Committee, February 1968. ENDC/PV.363, 4-12)