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Thursday, September 09, 2010 07:32 GMT

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THE US MOVES TOWARDS THE FUTURE UNPREPARED AND UNSEEING
Roberto Savio

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 2010

The Tea Party's giant rally in Washington drew 300,000 Americans protesting taxation, a government that is suffocating its citizens, and a marxist, Kenyan-born, Muslim Obama. These people are calling on the United States to be a world leader again and dispense with debate and vacillation, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of the Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency.

SHIPS, SULPHUR AND CLIMATE
Risto Isomaki

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 2010

The year 2010 has produced an impressive array of climate-related news, much probably related to global warming. Numerous global and national heat records have been broken, forest and peat fires have devastated Russia, and Pakistan has been swept by floods and mudslides. A huge ice floe broke free from the Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland, and the extent of marine ice in the Arctic Ocean is the second smallest ever recorded. Such news becomes even more worrying when viewed in a slightly longer perspective, writes Risto Isomaki, an environmental activist and award-winning Finnish writer whose novels have been translated into several languages.

MISAPPROPRIATION OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Fredrik S. Heffermehl

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 2010

There never was a greater gift to the world. None of Nobel's five prizes could have conferred more to "the greatest benefit of mankind". It is the world's most prestigious and coveted award. And yet, the Nobel peace prize today has little to do with the deep reform of international relations that Alfred Nobel intended it to bring about, writes Fredrik S. Heffermehl, a lawyer and peace activist, and author of The Nobel Peace Prize.

AMERICAS: THE BATTLE OVER VENEZUELA
Ignacio Ramonet

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 2010

Two decisive contests are fast approaching in the struggle for ideological supremacy in Latin America: the legislative elections in Venezuela on September 26 and the presidential elections in Brazil on October 3, writes Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique in Spanish.

CUBA: STABILITY AND SECURITY
Joaquin Roy

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

While Fidel Castro was making his reappearance and prisoners were being freed, Obama announced that he was willing to "ease" travel restrictions to Cuba and receive some of the released detainees. This isn't the first time that Cuba has opened the spigot - with conditions. Nor will it be the last time that Washington winks, writes Joaquin Roy, ''Jean Monnet'' professor and Director of the European Union Centre of the University of Miami.

WE MUST UNRAVEL THE SECRETS OF NATURE TO SUPPORT LIFE AND THE PLANET
Jose Mujica*

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

These days no one can ignore the challenges of co-existence and environmental sustainability. We are all responsible. However, paradoxically the responsibility is far greater for those who first enjoyed the benefits of modern civilisation. But it is not a national but a universal matter. No one is exempt. No country, however powerful, can guarantee the continuity of what is at risk, writes Jose Mujica, president of Uruguay.

HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD BE THE HEART OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Rowena McNaughton

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

Income inequality is severe and worsening in many developing countries and yet equality is absent in the Millennium Development Goals, despite the fact that it is a human rights imperative and a foundation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writes Rowena McNaughton, CIVICUS Media Officer.

MDGs: THE 2015 TARGET DATE LOOKS DIMMER THAN EVER
Supachai Panitchpakdi

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

The past decade was an optimistic period for developing countries and their development partners. Economic growth rates achieved high levels in many regions -exceeding 5% in sub-Saharan Africa, for example- and after a decade of stagnation, aid flows began to rise. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiative to tackle poverty and related development challenges through a set of internationally agreed development targets certainly galvanized donor country support. Since the recent financial crisis, however, economic growth has shrunk. The impact has been severe, not just on poor developing countries in great need of aid, but also in donor countries that are coming under increasing fiscal pressure to cut their aid budgets. Prospects for achieving the MDGs by the 2015 target date look dimmer than ever, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary- Generalof UNCTAD.

HAS THE EUROPEAN UNION LOST ITS WAY?
Mario Soares

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

The two main political-ideological families that contributed most to the unity of Europe, social democracy and Christian democracy are and have long been in decline, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

THE CORRUPTION OF DEMOCRACY
Ignacio Ramonet

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

The "Bettencourt Case", which is rattling France with its storm of arrests, family feuds, suspicious checks, secret recordings, fiscal misdemeanours, and illegal donations to the party of French premier Nicolas Sarkozy, is plunging the country into a profound crisis, writes Ignacio Ramonet, editor of "Le Monde diplomatique en espanol".

CUBA: SPECULATION
Leonardo Padura Fuentes

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, AUGUST 2010

What is undeniable in the mix of predictions and the lack of hard information is that the Cuban government is seeking economic alternatives that could shore up its political position. There is no other way to interpret the encouragement of free-lance work or plans for opening up tourism, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a dozen languages.

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