SYNDICATION

Photo: Mass grave at the Killing Field of Choeung Ek. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Cambodian-UN War Crimes Trials are Finally Over

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Finally, finally, the over-long, ten year trials of the leaders of the murderous Khmer Rouge leadership of Cambodia, are over. The two defendants, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, were each given a life sentence at the end of the first trial in August 2015 for crimes against humanity. Now they have been convicted of genocide.

Of the other three that were tried, one, the ex-foreign minister, Ieng Sary died in 2013, one, Ieng Thirith, the wife of Ieng Sary, was too ill with Alzheimer’s to appear and one, Kaing Guek Eav (“Duch”), voluntarily confessed three years ago and was sent to jail for 35 years.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 20 November 2018

Photo: The UN Security Council adopts Resolution on Iran Nuclear Deal (Resolution 2231), taken on 20 July 2015. UN Photo/Loey Felipe.

A Punitive Approach to Iran's Missile Activities Will Not Fix the Problem

Europe Should Promote a Regional Security Mechanism in the Middle East

Viewpoint by Dr Tytti Erästö *

European powers deserve credit for their efforts to maintain the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but their current coercive approach to Iran's missiles is counterproductive, writes Dr Tytti Erästö, a researcher in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme, in a topical backgrounder published on 15 November, 2018 on SIPRI's website. Following are extensive excerpts from the original article which wa: https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2018/dissecting-international-concerns-about-irans-missiles - The Editor

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 16 November 2018

Photo: President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in their bilateral discussion on September 24, 2018, at the Lotte New York Palace in New York. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Nuclear Arms Control is Going Down a Trumpian Hole

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Reacting to the radio interview by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to mark Armistice Day, in which he was reported as saying, “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America… We need a true European army”, President Donald Trump blew a fuse. He tweeted: “President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China and Russia. Very insulting.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 13 November 2018

Photo: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power meets Northern Province Governor H. M. G. S. Palihakkara at the Governor's Secretariat in Chundikuli, Jaffna, Sri Lanka on 22 November 2015. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Sri Lanka Needs a Consensus Builder – Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Viewpoint by H.M.G.S. Palihakkara *

The author is a Sri Lankan civil servant, diplomat and former Governor of Northern Province. This article first appeared in The Island and is being republished in view of its fervent plea for 'building a culture of consensual governance'. – The Editor.

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – Many concerned citizens are seen to describe the current state of our Republic as being at a crossroads. It is not difficult to join this conversation, not least because the challenges involved are multiple and touch upon all strata of our national life.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 08 November 2018

Photo: Sr Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena. Credit: Colombo Telegraph.

Sri Lanka President Told Not to Trample on Parliamentary Democracy and the Rights of People

Viewpoint by Friday Forum

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena's move to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and prorogue Parliament was "a shameless disregard of this political mandate given to him by the people", avers the Friday Forum in a statement circulated on November 5. The Friday Forum is "an informal group of concerned citizens pledged to uphold norms of democracy, good governance, the rule of law, human rights, media freedom and tolerance in our pluralist society". We are publishing this statement in full with a view to offering a perspective different from that reflected in two viewpoints* we have carried. in the aftermath of President Sirisena's "shock decision on October 26 to appoint his political foe of recent years Mahinda Rajapakse as Prime Minister", which has evoked outrage among Western diplomats and the international media. – The Editor.

: Devinder Kumar; OPINION; 06 November 2018

Photo: British Prime Minister Theresa May (left) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right). Credit. The Mirror

Theresa May Should Join Angela Merkel at the Retirement Door

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Is Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, responsible for Brexit? In a way yes she is because at the time of the great economic crisis of 2007-2013, counterproductively she insisted on austerity throughout the European Union. Austerity helped turn the poorer classes of the UK towards Brexit.

But so also are the people in high places who lied to the British electorate and persuaded them to vote in a referendum for it. So are those who have fanned the anti-immigrant flames all over Europe. Angela Merkel, in this case, was the most heroic of all the leaders of the West in going the other way and taking in one million, mainly Syrian, refugees.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 06 November 2018

Photo: Protests in Pakistan. Source: Times of India.

Protests As Pakistan Blasphemy Death Sentence Is Overturned

Viewpoint by René Wadlow

The author is representative to the United Nations, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens (AWC)*. This blog was carried by AWC on November 1, 2018. Since then, Asia Bibi remains in prison, and it is her lawyer who has had to flee the country. There are demonstrations against the Supreme Court decision in the larger cities of Pakistan, and Islamist groups have focused on the case. – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – On October 29, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan reversed the decision of lower courts sentencing to death Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of four for blasphemy. After 3,422 days of imprisonment in solitary confinement, the Supreme Court reversed a 2010 lower court verdict. Asia Bibi is now in seclusion and will probably leave the country as some 60 persons in Pakistan have been murdered since 1990, accused of blasphemy.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 November 2018

Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on 16 July 2018. Credit: website of the President of the Russian Federation.

INF Treaty Decision is a Debacle, But Worse May Be Coming

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The author is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article appeared on 1 November 2018, and is being reproduced by courtesy of the think-tank. – The Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Earlier this year, President Donald Trump told reporters that he wanted to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin "to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control." He characterized the costly nuclear weapons upgrade programs being pursued by each side as "a very, very bad policy."

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 01 November 2018

Photo: Berlin Wall on Potsdamer Platz, June 1988. CC BY-SA 3.0

Tear Down Walls, Those Manifestations of Superficial Thinking

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – At first I was a bit surprised to find that the English admonition, “Good fences makes for good neighbours” exists in many other languages. I shouldn’t have been taken aback. A moment’s reflection should have told me that fences and walls to divide off peoples have been going on for millennia.

There’s nothing in particular new about the fence between the U.S. and Mexico, the Cold War wall between East and West Germany or the one between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. Look at the Great Wall of China.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 30 October 2018

Photo: The U.S. Army launches a Pershing II battlefield support missile. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The INF Treaty Looks Likely to be a Dead Letter by April 2019

Viewpoint by Dan Smith

The following article by Dan Smith, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), first appeared on October 23, 2018 on the Institute's website. He has a long record of research and publication on a wide range of conflict and peace issues. Smith served four years in the UN Peacebuilding Fund Advisory group, two of which (2010–2011) were as Chair. – The Editor

STOCKHOLM (IDN-INPS) – At a political rally on October 20, U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the 1987 Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty). This confirms what has steadily been unfolding over the past couple of years: the architecture of Russian-U.S. nuclear arms control is crumbling.