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Published by The Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group
with IDN-InDepthNews as the Flagship Agency
Dear Reader,
We are pleased to send you Edition 06 | 2021. This weekly is the flagship news product of the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with registered offices in Canada, Germany, Japan and Singapore, and correspondents around the world. Feel free to share and re-publish articles pro bono mentioning the source. Previous editions are available on https://newsletter-archive.indepthnews.net. Your feedback is most welcome.
Kind regards from the Non-Profit
International Press Syndicate
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) – The President of the United States of America, Joseph Biden, outlined his vision for America's foreign policy agenda and reiterated the need for America to strengthen its global alliances after President Donald Trump disparaged those relationships during the last four years.
Biden chose to unveil his foreign policy at the Department of State.
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Viewpoint by James Milner*
OTTAWA (IDN) – December 2019 was a time for cautious optimism for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They were celebrating the results of the first Global Refugee Forum, during which a wide range of states and other actors made pledges to enhance refugee support and share good practices.
Only a year later, on its 70th anniversary, the UNHCR issued a statement saying it was “in no mood to celebrate” given that conditions for refugees were getting markedly worse, not better.
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By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) – Space debris is an issue of global concern that threatens our continued use of near-Earth space for the benefit of humankind. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have joined forces to create a series of infographics and podcasts that tell the story of space debris, explain the risks and illustrate the solutions available to ensure future space exploration remains sustainable.
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Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) – President Joe Biden is committed to the pursuit of human rights abroad. We know this because this cause now runs through the arteries of the Democratic Party and has done since the time of President Jimmy Carter who was the first president in post World War 2 history to make it such pronounced priority.
Carter, a highly religious man who taught in his local Sunday school whenever he could get home, felt that God had created the US in part “to set an example for the rest of the world”. In practice, it wasn’t so straightforward.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – He’s been described as a “master strategist”, but can the incoming chair of the African Union beat the daunting challenges ahead?
That is the difficult question facing Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, president of the Democratic Republic (DRC) as he assumes the post just relinquished by South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – At a virtual meeting on February 6 with members of the African Union Summit 2021, President Joe Biden shared his vision for more trade and investment opportunities while advancing peace and security.
“The United States stands ready now to be your partner in solidarity, support and mutual respect,” Biden said in a video address, his first speech to an international forum as U.S. president.
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Viewpoint by Alice Slater
The writer serves on the Board of 'World Beyond War'.
NEW YORK (IDN) – The US mission to dominate and control the military use of space has been, historically and at present, a major obstacle to achieving nuclear disarmament and a peaceful path to preserve all life on earth.
Reagan rejected Gorbachev's offer to give up Star Wars as a condition for both countries to eliminate all their nuclear weapons when the wall came down and Gorbachev released all of Eastern Europe from Soviet occupation, miraculously, without a shot.
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Book Review by Roderic Grigson*
NEW YORK | MELBOURNE (IDN) – It takes years to write a good book and in this insightful memoir, Thalif Deen, a former UN Bureau Chief and Regional Director at Inter Press Service news agency, recounts colourful and amusing stories from his 40-year career ‘reporting from the United Nations’.
No Comment is told through a series of news stories, interviews, anecdotes, and personal recollections. This compelling page-turner is held together by flashes of surprising humour and an overarching third world focus and point of view.
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By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – An independent survey prepared by the Global Policy Forum and Social Watch, comprising the Global Policy Watch, shows that civil society organizations (CSOs) have "a very high level of commitment to United Nations (UN) values and principles, much dissatisfaction with the actual operations at the country level and articulation of areas for improvement".
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By Ramu Damodaran
The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd first appeared in the #WhyWeCare, @ImpactUN on February 5.
NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) – “Nostalgia for the present“ is a phrase I once heard (or think I have), and it came to mind when reading a response received to last week’s (January 29) column and its looking back on CTAUN’s quarter-century of affirmation and affection. The question asked was straightforward; had CTAUN (Committee on Teaching) been able to “convene” over the past year? The answer, which I missed noting in my nostalgia for the past, is yes…three times actually.
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By Bahauddin Foizee*
DHAKA (IDN) – The horrible scenes of hungry, tired and almost lifeless Rohingya refugees entering Bangladesh shocked the world in 2017. Even today, many Rohingyas are attempting to make the journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh, believing that a foreign land (Bangladesh) would be safer than their homes (Myanmar). Although they aren’t migrating in large numbers now unlike what they did in 2017, their journey today is as unsafe, horrifying and terrible as it was three years earlier.
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It could cost as much as $5 trillion if rich countries don’t help vaccinate the rest of the world.
Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha*
NEW DELHI (IDN) – The world seems to have turned topsy-turvy when the undisputed voices of global capital start talking about the virtues of “cooperation” among nations and “universal distribution of vaccines” to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) – Africa No Filter is a not-for-profit set up last year to help shift harmful and stereotypical narratives about Africa through research, advocacy and grant-making to storytellers. It is funded by the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Luminate, Open Society Foundation, Comic Relief, the Hilton Foundation and the British Council.
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Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar
There is no better time than now to address the ridiculous levels of wealth and income inequality in the United States. It can be done with ease through aggressive taxation of the wealthiest handfuls of individuals, writes Sonali Kolhatkar. She is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.
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By Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) – Just days after the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) that explicitly and unequivocally prohibits the use of nuclear weapons entered into force on January 22, 2021 – a remarkable victory for humanity – the United States and Russia extended their Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) until 2026, just two days before it was set to expire.
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By Thalif Deen*
NEW YORK (IDN) – When million-dollar arms sales knock on the door, human rights violations and war crimes fly out of the window.
As the United Nations grapples for a reaction to the military coup in Myanmar, both China and Russia, two veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), refused to support a statement condemning the army takeover—a collective statement that warrants consensus from all 15 members.
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By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – Both coverage in the Asian press and statements by neighbouring Asian governments reported in the media on the grabbing of exclusive power by the military in Myanmar, reflects the traditional Asian adage that democracy should go hand in hand with economic and political stability. Thus, sanctions and external funding of protest groups (usually urban elites and the young) are discouraged.
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On the eve of the Communist Party of China’s centenary in July 2021, the story of the country’s first women’s military brigade in the 1930s continues to find life in popular culture and the imagination of the Chinese people.
Viewpoint by Tings Chak *
HAVANA (IDN) – “Are you a proletarian?” asks the brigade commander. Receiving no response, she clarifies her question: “Do you own land?”
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