News Media

Photo: A ship in The Arctic Sea. Source: eurasiareview.vom

Russia, US and The Churning Arctic Geopolitics

Viewpoint by K.M. Seethi*

KOTTAYAM | India (IDN) — The Arctic geopolitics has become one of the strategic policy planks of big powers. This has been reflected in the separate statements issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden after the US-Russia summit in Geneva on June 16.

Putin told reporters that Moscow and Washington “should interact on issues related to the Arctic region.” He said: “Russia and the United States are among the eight members of the Arctic Council; Russia chairs the Arctic Council this year. Moreover…there is a strait between Alaska and Chukotka, the United States is on one side and Russia is on the other. All this together should push us to join efforts” (The TASS News 16 June 2021).

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 18 June 2021

Photo: G7 leaders with their family members. @GretaTunberg

G7 Judged a 'Colossal Failure' for All the World to See

Viewpoint by Jon Queally*

PORTLAND | USA (IDN) — Anti-poverty groups, climate campaigners, and public health experts reacted with outrage and howls of disappointment Sunday after the G7 leaders who spent the weekend (June 11-13) at a summit in Cornwall, England issued a final communique that critics said represents an extreme abdication of responsibility in the face of the world's most pressing and intertwined crises—savage economic inequality, a rapidly-heating planet, and the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 13 June 2021

Photo: UNICEF Teachers and students were able to return to school in Lao Cai, Vietnam, in May 2020. Credit: UNICEF

Make People’s Vaccine Top Priority to Fight a Mutating Virus

Viewpoint by Nicolas J. S. Davies*

PORTLAND | USA (IDN) — A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that worries about the COVID pandemic in the United States are at their lowest level since it began. Only half of Americans are either “very worried” (15%) or “somewhat worried” (35%) about the virus, while the other half are “not very worried” (30%) or “not worried at all” (20%).

But the news from around the world makes it clear that this pandemic is far from over, and a story from Vietnam highlights the nature of the danger.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 June 2021

Photo: Students demonstrating in Berlin on 15 March 2019 against the climate crisis. Source: Clean Energy Wire | Rachel Waldholz.

Germany's Constitutional Court Gives Teeth to Paris Climate Agreement

Viewpoint by Franz Baumann, PassBlue

NEW YORK (IDN) — In September 2016, the German parliament unanimously adopted the Paris Agreement. The government then translated Germany’s commitments under the agreement into a Climate Protection Law, which was approved by the Bundestag in November 2019 with a wide majority, making Germany the first country in the world with a greenhouse gas neutrality plan.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 28 May 2021

Photo: An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operation test at 11:49 p.m. PT Feb. 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. (Brittany E. N. Murphy/Space Force)

Only 'No First Use' Policy Can Defuse Tension

Viewpoint by Ramesh Thakur *

The article was first published in International Politics and Society Journal. on May 20, 2021, by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's Brussels office.

CANBERRA (IDN | IPS-Joural.EU) — A ‘no first use’ (NFU) policy is an official commitment by a nuclear-armed state that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons against any adversary under any contingency. By making such a declaration, the state confirms its use of nuclear weapons will be restricted solely to retaliation and only against a nuclear attack. Consequently, these weapons will never be used for preventive, pre-emptive or coercive (nuclear blackmail) purposes.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 23 May 2021

Photo: Indigenous Juruna warrior from a village in the Brazilian Amazon reviewing his territory | Photo by Todd Southgate

Rivers Are Crucial for Restoring Biodiversity Worldwide

Viewpoint by Alessandra Korap Munduruku*, Darryl Knudsen** and Irikefe V. Dafe ***

This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

ITAITUBA, Brazil | OAKLAND, USA | ADDIS ABABA | Ethiopia (IDN) — In October 2021, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will meet in China to adopt a new post-2020 global biodiversity framework to reverse biodiversity loss and its impacts on ecosystems, species and people.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 May 2021

Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting the Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg on the sidelines of India-Nordic Summit, in Stockholm, Sweden on April 17, 2018. Credit: India PM's Office

In Norway, Even Prime Minister Not Above COVID Law

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — On April 9, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg was fined 20,000 kroner ($2,352) for breach of COVID rules during her 60th birthday celebration on February 26.

It was nothing remotely like the Shashti Abda Poorti (celebrating completion of 60 years of age) seen in India.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 01 May 2021

Photo: Many Pacific nations are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Image: In the Eye of the Storm.

New Zealand’s Climate Aid in the Pacific Comes With Strings Attached

By Matthew Scott*

A special feature moved in association with the Asia Pacific Report.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (IDN) — The beach is vanishing, one day at a time. The sea approaches the coastal village. It will not be negotiated with. With seawater flooding the water table, crops that have fed the islanders for centuries are losing viability. The problem is invisible, under the people’s feet. But it demands change.

Each year, the cyclones have seemed to get more volatile and less predictable. What used to be a cycle of weathering the storm and rebuilding has become a frenetic game of wits with the elements.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 29 April 2021

Photo: Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum resembling the reactor that suffered the catastrophic failure (reactor core surrounded by blue). CC BY 2.0

Chernobyl Anniversary Underscores the Need for Safeguards Against Nuclear Accidents

Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira

The writer is Director (International Media), Presidential Secretariat, Colombo. This article was first published on April 26. It is being re-published with Mr Senadhira's permission.

COLOMBO (IDN) — Exactly 35 years ago, on April 26, 1986, the biggest nuclear accident in history took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, killing dozens of people and making hundreds of people victims of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS). Later, the disaster was attributed to a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators. It was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Affordable Clean Energy; 28 April 2021

Photo: International Criminal Court (ICC) assembly hall. Credit: ICC.

President Biden Repeals Trump Sanctions on the Criminal Court

By Jessica Corbett*

Common Dreams first published this report on April 2, 2021.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Progressives in Congress and human rights organizations on April 2 welcomed the Biden administration's repeal of sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) imposed under former President Donald Trump in a bid to pressure the Hague-based tribunal to not investigate alleged U.S. and Israeli crimes. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in a statement that President Joe Biden revoked Trump's Executive Order 13928, "ending the threat and imposition of economic sanctions and visa restrictions in connection with the court."