Results for Opinion

The United States has disinvited China from this summer’s 26-country Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise. The move has been played up as a potential indication that the US may finally be adopting a tougher approach toward China. Mattis himself has called the decision an “initial response” to China’s militarization of the South China Sea. ... The Pentagon has flaunted its capability to demolish China’s artificial islands, whose creation Chinese President Xi Jinping has cited as one of his key accomplishments. “I would just tell you,” joint staff director Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie recently said, “the US military has had a lot of experience in the western Pacific taking down small islands.” By Brahma Chellaney.

Has North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-un, made a strategic decision to trade away his nuclear program, or is he just engaged in another round of deceptive diplomacy, pretending that he will denuclearize in exchange for material benefits for his impoverished country? There are of course no guarantees that Donald Trump’s upcoming summit with the North Korean leader will succeed. What is clear is that successful denuclearization will require a combination of bold political decisions. By Yoon Young-Kwan.

A big reason why Western politics is in such disarray is voters’ pessimism about the future. Today’s naysayers come in three shades: Accepting pessimists; Anxious pessimists and ...finally, Angry pessimists – often populists and their supporters – who think economies are rigged, politicians corrupt, and outsiders dangerous. They have no desire to manage decline; they want to destroy the status quo. And they may pursue lose-lose outcomes simply so that others will suffer. What these groups have in common is a dearth of viable solutions. Philippe Legrain.

The abrupt cancellation of next month's planned meeting between the North Korean and US leaders should surprise no one. Developments in recent weeks exposed three factors that doomed the initiative to collapse. By Ramesh Thakur.

As we work with partners to tackle the interconnected global challenges of climate change, conflict, famine, and pandemics, we must help countries prepare their people for a more complex, disruptive, digital future. The most important investments countries can make are ones that build human capital—to prepare for that future, and to write the next chapter in the ongoing project of human solidarity. By Jim Yong Kim.

For decades, the global health community has paid lip service to the critical role of unequal power relations, particularly relating to gender, in determining health outcomes. A recent report by the advocacy and accountability group Global Health 50/50 which reviewed 140 organizations working in the global health sector, makes for disturbing reading....The situation is even worse for men and boys, who, regardless of country, can expect to live shorter, unhealthier lives than their female peers. According to the report, only a third of organizations take a gendered approach to the health needs of the whole population, and no organizations target men and boys specifically. By Helen Clark and Sania Nishtar

Every year on May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – news producers and consumers pause to reflect on the state of global media. This year, as journalists and government officials gather in Ghana for the event’s 25th observance, attention will turn to the myriad pressures and challenges confronting the profession worldwide, and how official and state-sponsored hostility toward the press is threatening democracy. By Leon Willems

It’s not just in America that a youth-led revolution is coming alive. Around the world, young people are becoming a power in their own right. These new movements reflect our current digital age, in which young people can increasingly connect with one another in their own countries and across borders. In doing so, they are exposing the gap between the promise of opportunity and the grim reality of unequal chances – especially for girls. The torch is not being passed to a new generation; this new generation has had to seize it. They deserve our support. By Gordon Brown

Kuou lau hifo he ongoongo kuo ke tuku mai “man loses land after being time-barred by the Judge at Land-Court decision” and it raises a very interesting issue of an “illegal-activity vs time”. Are we saying that an illegal activity of an illegal land grab will be legal after ten years if no action was taken by the owner to reclaim his land? Are we witnessing the most dangerous precedent case in our land laws since its inception in circa 1862.