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Image: South Korean and U.S. missiles are displayed at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea on 31 Aug. 2022. Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

South Korea Vows to Go Nuclear Amid Growing Threats from North

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — As nuclear tensions continue to spread across the Korean Peninsula, South Korea has for the first time declared “nuclear weapons as a policy option”,—triggering the threat of a potentially new nuclear power looming in the horizon.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is quoted as saying that if North Korea's nuclear threat grows, South Korea would consider building its own nuclear weapons or request the US to redeploy them in the Korean Peninsula.

Is this for real?

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 19 January 2023

Image: Nuclear Armageddon. Source: The National Interest

Neutral Countries Should Mediate Between Russia and Ukraine

Viewpoint by Jeffrey D. Sachs

This article was published in The Economist and is being republished with the author's permission.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Neither Russia nor Ukraine is likely to achieve a decisive military victory in their ongoing war: both sides have considerable room for deadly escalation. Ukraine and its Western allies have little chance of ousting Russia from Crimea and the Donbas region, while Russia has little chance of forcing Ukraine to surrender. As Joe Biden noted in October 2022, the spiral of escalation marks the first direct threat of “nuclear Armageddon” since the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 January 2023

Photo: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland. © World Economic Forum

"Forge the Pathways to Cooperation in Our Fragmented World"

By António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

The following are extensive excerpts from the UN Chief's address to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on 18 January 2023. The focus of the Forum (16-20 January) is on 'Cooperation in a Fragmented World'.

NEW YORK | DAVOS (IDN) — [The Forum's] theme perfectly sets out the dilemma of today’s world: We need cooperation, yet we face fragmentation.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 18 January 2023

The Idea Biden Is the One to Beat the GOP in 2024

Viewpoint by Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) — For many months, conventional media wisdom has told us that Joe Biden would be the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump in 2024 because he did it before.

The claim was always on shaky ground—after all, Trump was the ultimate symbol of the status quo when he lost in 2020, as Biden would be in next year’s election.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 January 2023

UNICEF Calls for Urgent Action to Ensure Education Resources

By Caroline Mawanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — A one percentage point increase in the allocation of public education resources to the world's poorest 20 per cent is expected to pull 35 million primary school-aged children out of learning poverty globally, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

However, a new report released on January 17 points out that children from the poorest households would benefit the least from national public education funding.

: Caroline Mwanga; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 18 January 2023

Photo: Action for Peacekeeping (A4P). Credit: UN

It's the Right Time to Diminish War

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — With unanimous approval in the Security Council, the UN, over the course of December, passed resolutions directed at seven different locations of conflict. Most of what the Security Council ordered doing was to the point. Even at a time of heightened antagonism between the West and Russia, the day-to-day work of trying to bring peace to many parts of the world goes on—from Somalia to Myanmar, from Syria to Yemen.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 17 January 2023

Image: Mozambique. Source: Global Information Network

Amnesty International Condemns Atrocities in Mozambique

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A 20-second video showing soldiers throwing dead bodies onto a pile of burning rubbish in northern Mozambique gives just a glimpse of what is happening far from view in this "forgotten war", the human rights group Amnesty International has declared.

It is the "latest evidence of atrocities committed" in the province of Cabo Delgado, which has been plagued by violence from armed jihadist groups for more than five years and where the Mozambican army has been supported since 2021 by Rwandan and neighboring country soldiers, the group said in a statement.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 January 2023

Photo: Frene Noshir Ginwala, a South African of Indian descent. Source: Global Information Network.

Early Anti-Apartheid Activist Passes At 90 Years of Age

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “Too often, democracy is seen as an event which happens once in five years.”

Thus spoke Frene Noshir Ginwala, a South African of Indian descent who was the first speaker of the country’s democratic parliament. While she was modest about her achievements, she left an indelible mark on South Africa’s constitution and democratic institutions.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 January 2023

MLK Urged Americans ‘Not To Rest’ While African Nations Struggle For Freedom

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Africa was ever on the mind of Martin Luther King Jr. and his concerns for the continent appear in in his many papers in the King Institute.

MLK spoke out about the Congo at an event celebrating the independence of Kenya. “There are many problems on a world scale today and one of them is the Congo.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 January 2023

Photo: The "Good Defeats Evil" sculpture, located at UN Headquarters in New York, depicts an allegorical St. George slaying a double-headed dragon—symbolic of a nuclear war vanquished by historic treaties between the Soviet Union and the United States. UN/Ingrid Kasper

The Ukraine War Should Alert Us to The Need to Ban Nuclear Weapons

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In the year 2000, President Vladimir Putin, having just won his first election, made his own contribution to solving the nuclear weapons imbroglio. He said in a speech that Moscow was prepared to drastically reduce its stockpile of nuclear missiles. Putin's call was not just for further cuts than the US suggested ceiling of 2,500 for each side but for reductions far below Moscow's previous target of 1,500. (At present, Russia has around 6,000 warheads and the US 5,400.)