KAYA RODRIGUES WRITES – Green buildings, green finance, green economy. Singapore says it is committed to bettering the environment and is moving the small island to the forefront of the fight for a sustainable future. So, on March 1, Singapore announced that it was partnering with the United Kingdom by…
Full Article SINGAPORE AND UK: THE GREENING OF AN ODD COUPLE
Fergal Mythen, Ireland’s envoy to the United Nations, represented his country in the Security Council for the last six months of its two-year term, ending Dec. 31. He concludes his role, explaining that despite the Council’s brittle divisions, it “remains much too soon to write an obituary of the body.”…
Full Article THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL’S FUTURE: WHY REPORTS OF ITS DEMISE ARE PREMATURE
BY THE AMI STAFF – The Asian and Asian-American Studies professor’s ‘Future of the United Nations’ course is not the usual kind of university class. There is no extended lecture, and the enrolled students do much of the talking. That’s because the design for this experimental course empowers them as…
Full Article LMU, LOS ANGELES: FORMER UNSG BAN KI-MOON ZOOMS A CLASS FOR A CHAT
TOM PLATE WRITES — Maybe the United Nations – fumbling, hopelessly bureaucratic, partly-corrupt – is in fact beyond redemption. Just forget about it: Let it career down the slippery slope of mediocrity and geopolitical irrelevance and splash ignominiously into New York’s East River — like some waterside condo with a…
Full Article UNITED NATIONS: PERHAPS CHINA, NOT THE U.S., CAN SAVE THE WANING ORGANIZATION
TOM PLATE WRITES – The first major American post-election-result return is being able to feel that the ground under your feet isn’t always shaking and your head isn’t always aching. Yes, US President Joe Biden is doing that for us, especially in this early wave of foreign-policy appointments. He is…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: WILL BIDEN REIN IN AMERICA’S DEBILITATING DELUSIONS OF MORAL SUPERIORITY?
SENAY EMMANUEL WRITES—Last weekend, a delegation of Burmese representatives traveled to neighboring Bangladesh to speak with some of the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees situated there. Their goal was to confront this humanitarian crisis and somehow convince these beleaguered refugees to return to Myanmar. This isn’t the first time the…
Full Article MYANMAR: IF MERE TALK WAS CONVERTIBLE TO RICHES, THE ROHINGYA WOULD SURE BE IN THE CHIPS
NICOLE ALAVERDIAN WRITES – The G20 Summit, held June 28th and 29th in Osaka, garnered the attention of the international community as top government officials from each member country came together to talk about pressing global issues. Some topics on the agenda: the trade war debacle and climate change. Japan,…
Full Article TOKYO: ARE YOU LEADING US, OR FOOLING US? ‘CLIMATE APARTHEID’ ASSERTS UN
PROF TOM PLATE WRITES – It’s not easy being a superpower, and whoever would imagine such might be the case? Sometimes one almost feels an odd twang of sympathy for the leaders of China and the U.S. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown of the superpower. Could any…
Full Article HONG KONG: UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN OF THE SUPERPOWER
KATRINA CROSBY WRITES – With so much tragedy occurring in the world, it is always refreshing to see some good news, especially if it involves the recognition of a political visionary who has gone above and beyond to share knowledge and on international development. This year, the Asia Foundation invited…
Full Article SAN FRANCISCO: BAN KI-MOON – ‘LEADER ON THE FRONTLINES’
COURTESY OF THE NEW YORK TIMES…WRITES SOMINI SENGUPTAAUG: The United Nations HAS named Alison Smale, a veteran correspondent and editor at The New York Times, as its most senior official in charge of shaping the 193-member organization’s global public image. As the next under secretary general for global communications, Ms.…
Full Article UNITED NATIONS: VETERAN WOMAN JOURNALIST GIVEN TOP GLOBAL INFORMATION POSTING