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The Worlds Beyond Darwin’s and Hawking’s
- Published on Thursday, 28 March 2013 08:25
By Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
PORTO (IDN | Transcend Media Service) - In regards to the way things are and how they could/should/ought to be, we are cutting ourselves short by concentrating almost exclusively on our intellect, knowledge and intelligence.
I am fascinated with the insights the evolution of science provides, particularly astronomy, cosmology, quantum physics and medicine. Medical research and technology opened the doors to the insides of our brains, considered by ourselves superior and in many ways as complex, dynamic, fascinating as the universe itself. And scientists keep sending those 'intelligent' messages to outer space in hopes that other 'intelligent' beings will pick them up and beam back their replies to them thus completing the human life-changing experience of a close encounter of whatever kind. They assume that beings ‘out there’ possess minds and intellects like our own.
Fighting Nukes In Israel Is An Uphill Battle
- Published on Monday, 25 March 2013 16:09
By Sharon Dolev* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
BINYAMINA-GIV'AT ADA (IDN) - Around the world, when it comes to nuclear weapons, it is a well know “secret” that Israel is a Nuclear Armed State. Just like India and Pakistan, Israel has developed a nuclear arsenal, but unlike the two, Israel’s arsenal remains a secret. Israel doesn’t talk about its arsenal and usually, doesn’t take part in any international or regional discourse about it.
Land and Forest Should Ride A Tandem
- Published on Thursday, 21 March 2013 02:20
By Luc Gnacadja* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
There is widespread agreement that sustainable forest management on a global scale is not achievable without halting land degradation. But this view is not shared by the rationale and focus of the tools and mechanisms designed during the past decade to promote and incentivize sustainable forest management.
As if to prove the point, the global coalition of the willing has been putting its money and effort into saying “Yes we can achieve sustainable forest management on a global scale without halting land degradation.”
“What if we change this state of affairs?” asks UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja. “Can the economy and the business community benefit from such a change?” he adds and elaborates "on the nexus of land degradation and sustainable forest management" and highlights the specific case of drylands.
Stormy Seas Await New Big Fisherman
- Published on Friday, 15 March 2013 10:28
By Nimal Fernando* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
WASINGTON DC (IDN) - Simon Peter's latest successor is now in place. Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis I, who had been the archbishop of Buenos Aires, follows 265 other pontiffs as the representative of Jesus Christ on Earth.
He will no doubt have to summon all his management skills to deal effectively with more than a few challenges before the Roman Catholic Church.
As the past year and more has made abundantly clear, Catholics worldwide have voiced their unease, if not displeasure, in the church's handling of the sex abuse by clergy. Catholics in the United States, for instance, tend to view the scandal over sex abuse by clergy as the most pressing issue for their church today, as an early-March poll by the Pew Research Centre showed.
Chavez Had Creative Link With A US Organisation
- Published on Friday, 15 March 2013 09:45
By Ernest Corea* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) - The death of President Hugo Chavez, after a drawn-out battle with cancer, brought out huge crowds of grieving Venezuelans onto the country’s streets. Their grief suggested that he had been a more effective ruler than many of his critics allowed.
His visceral reaction to most things American was unfortunate, standing in the way of expanded economic relations which could have benefitted both countries, while each remained faithful to its internal political imperatives. In one area, however, he was personally responsible for a strong and beneficial link with the US.
UN and Disarmament Entering New Transition Age
- Published on Friday, 08 March 2013 11:19
IDN-InDepth NewViewpoint | By Angela Kane*
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, USA (IDN) - Disarmament is, first and foremost, one of the UN's oldest and most durable goals. The term appears twice in the UN Charter – which we should recall was adopted before the first nuclear weapon was even tested. The first resolution adopted by the General Assembly established on January 24, 1946 the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons and all other weapons "adaptable to mass destruction", later called WMD.
The oriins of that famous acronym can be traced back to that resolution. Other words that appear in the Charter include the phrase "regulation of armaments", which the General Assembly later defined as the limitation or reduction of conventional arms – weapons commonly found in militaries around the world used for widely accepted purposes of self-defence, including tanks, artillery, naval vessels, military aircraft, et cetera. While States have a right to have such weapons for self-defence, they have also long recognized the need for some constraints in their production and trade.
India Still at the Centre of the Indian Ocean
- Published on Friday, 01 March 2013 20:05
By Nilanthi Samaranayake* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
ALEXANDRIA, VA (IDN) - Is India’s influence declining in the ocean named after the country? That seems to be the conclusion of some analysts after Maldives' cancellation of an airport development contract with an Indian company in November 2012.
These concerns are elevated by China's increased engagement with smaller states in the Indian Ocean, including Maldives. Given the legacy of the 1962 war between China and India and ongoing competition for influence, New Delhi is right to have suspicions about Beijing’s intentions in its neighbourhood and whether smaller Indian Ocean countries are playing the two sides off each other.
I CAN Get Rid Of Nuclear Weapons!
- Published on Wednesday, 27 February 2013 13:07
By Xanthe Hall* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
BERLIN (IDN) - The latest acronym in the disarmament community is CHC. It stands for Catastrophic Humanitarian Consequences and is the message that the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN) is trying to get across, both to the general public and to governments. So far, so successfully.
What Oslo Conferences Mean For Nuke Abolition
- Published on Thursday, 21 February 2013 11:18
By Alyn Ware* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
NEW YORK (IDN | Pressenza) - A meteor blasting into the atmosphere over Siberia (on February 15), injuring about 1000 people with debris, provided a graphic warning of the risk of a larger meteor, or even an asteroid, hitting earth. About the same time that the 10 ton meteor entered the earth’s atmosphere, an asteroid 15,000 times larger whizzed past planet earth. If the asteroid instead of the meteor had hit us, it could have wiped out civilization just as an asteroid hitting the earth 65 million years ago created climatic consequences that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Finland Should Spur Global Development
- Published on Friday, 15 February 2013 23:31
By Outi Hakkarainen* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
HELSINKI (IDN) - Finland is a North European nation with its own socioeconomic challenges, but globally it belongs to well-off countries responsible for engaging in the global development agenda. The Finnish government wants to be an accountable member of the international community, but its political will to be so does not always materialise.
Finland has not, for example, been able to reach the 0.7 % target for its development funding. On the other hand Finland's current Development Policy Programme is positively founded on a rights-based approach. The challenge for Finnish civil society is to compel the government to improve its international performance.