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Arabian Post

7 days ago

Politics
Arabian Post

Trump's Nobel Ambitions Have Cost India Dearly: US Scholar

India's diplomatic ties with the United States have been significantly shaped by the evolving political landscape under former President Donald Trump. According to a US academic, India has paid a steep price due to Trump's pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize, which may have undermined its broader geopolitical interests. The scholar argues that Trump's overtures to India during his tenure were often overshadowed by his personal ambitions rather than strategic concerns. As a result, India found itself balancing its long-standing relationships with other global powers, especially as Trump's policies were marked by unpredictability and isolationism. The US' erratic international moves during his presidency have left India in a difficult position, often navigating conflicts between regional alliances and global expectations. Trump's aggressive stance on China, for instance, appeared to align with India's interests, yet the broader impact on trade relations and international diplomacy was less clear. India's strategic positioning in the Indo-Pacific region could have been reinforced through consistent US support, but instead, Trump's 'America First' doctrine complicated the path ahead. According to experts, while India could not afford to ignore the US, the relationship remained transactional rather than mutually beneficial. This dynamic also played out during Trump's handling of the Afghanistan situation. India's opposition to a hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan was ignored in the broader pursuit of Trump's peace deal with the Taliban. The eventual pullout, which occurred without any substantial input from India, left New Delhi scrambling to reassess its security concerns in the region. As the situation deteriorated, India's influence over its neighbouring countries, particularly in Central Asia, diminished, creating a vacuum that China was eager to fill. ADVERTISEMENT On the diplomatic front, Trump's inconsistent policies often left Indian officials unsure of the US's stance on key issues. The US President's unpredictable approach to multilateral agreements, such as the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran nuclear deal, added to India's diplomatic challenges. India had to balance its international commitments with a growing emphasis on regional security, with the US sometimes an ally, sometimes a wildcard. India found itself walking a tightrope, attempting to preserve its standing within the global order without committing to the shifting whims of Trump's administration. Trump's rhetoric on trade also put India at odds with the US. His decision to impose tariffs on a range of Indian goods, alongside demands for market access, strained economic ties. The trade relationship, once a cornerstone of bilateral engagement, became increasingly fraught. While Trump's administration was keen on forging a trade agreement with India, it was clear that the terms were tilted heavily in favour of the US. For India, the pressure to comply with these demands ran contrary to its broader economic goals. Trump's unpredictable stance on international organisations placed India in a difficult spot. The withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization made global governance more uncertain. India, a long-standing member of these bodies, faced challenges in its attempts to secure broader international cooperation on health and development issues. The US's decision to step back created a vacuum that India could not fill alone, hampering its global influence. The scholar's analysis points to one crucial factor: Trump's Nobel ambitions. The former President's focus on securing a Nobel Peace Prize played a significant role in shaping his foreign policy. His attempts to broker deals, such as with North Korea and the Middle East, were often seen as part of his quest for this global recognition. However, the scholar argues that this personal ambition clouded US foreign policy, with India paying the price in a relationship that often seemed driven by Trump's own aspirations rather than by a shared vision for the future.

Winnipeg Free Press

11-08-2025

Science
Winnipeg Free Press

The meat of the matter

Opinion Climate change and ecological destruction are unquestionably among the apex existential crises facing humanity and the future vitality of our planet. It would not be hyperbolic to state that drastic changes are necessary and must be implemented promptly. To negate the worst possible outcomes of climate change, and to adhere to the international agreements outlined in the Paris Climate Accord, the United Nations asserts that we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. It is within public education that we must place our hope and through which emancipatory change may be actualized. There are certainly remarkable grassroots initiatives manifesting within our Manitoba schools, ranging from the establishment of composting and recycling programs, outdoor and land-based pedagogies, critical discourse on hyperconsumptionism, exploring renewable green energies, and so forth. However, a topic seldom discussed in our education networks pertains to learning about meat consumption and its significant impacts on climate change. Joseph Poore, professor of Food Sustainability at the University of Oxford, concluded that '[a] vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use.' His team published a study in 2018 analyzing over 40,000 farms in 119 countries across the planet. Their results highlighted the egregious inefficiencies of livestock agriculture. These researchers disseminated that more than 80 per cent of global farmland is devoted to agricultural livestock, and yet only produce 18 per cent of our caloric intake. Another 2023 study at the University of Oxford, led by Professor Peter Scarborough, demonstrated that a vegan diet generates approximately one quarter of CO2 emissions that a high meat diet would otherwise produce. There is enormous disconcertion toward our diminishing ecosystems, as well. According to Our World in Data, only four per cent of mammal biomass on Earth may be attributed to wildlife, while over 34 per cent is human and 62 per cent is livestock. The World Wildlife Foundation further shared grim outlooks in their 2024 report that wildlife populations have plummeted by 73 per cent over the past 50 years. This organization also highlighted other devastating trends, specifically cattle ranching as being the unrivaled culprit for the deforestation in the Amazon, accounting for over 80 per cent of its environmental destruction. As a global phenomenon, these issues are prevalent locally, as well. Manitoba Eco-Network, a local non-profit organization, is sounding alarm regarding the proposed 2025 establishment of new dairy farms in North Dakota, which will further threaten the vitality of Lake Winnipeg and other Manitoba waterways. Livestock agriculture, and the subsequent excrement produced, are considerable contributors to pollution and algal blooms. Lake Winnipeg remains particularly vulnerable and is considered one of Earth's most endangered lakes. Manitoba school boards and divisions should be commended for initiatives to help our learners cultivate understandings of, and solutions toward, ecological justice. However, discourse on dietary revisionism is generally absent from most divisional websites and is not explicitly outlined in many schools' targeted goals and/or mandates. Understandably, the social, cultural, and spiritual connections with diets are highly intricate and sensitive. Diet is deeply entrenched in our societal way of life and is intrinsically interwoven with tradition, celebration, and various cultural customs. Further, many of us navigate tender relationships with our diets, as food is a source of comfort in an otherwise troubled world. It is of paramount importance to recognize sustainable and ethical ways of approaching meat harvest and consumption, particularly exemplified by our Indigenous communities. The intersections of meat production and climate change are consequent to Western hyperconsumptionist capitalism, not due to the sustainable and reciprocal methods embodied by Indigenous communities practiced for millennia. As such, I do not espouse that everyone must abandon meat consumption. Not everyone may have the immediate emotional and/or physical capacity to become a vegetarian or vegan. However, we can collectively reduce meat consumption by exploring and incorporating more plant-based alternatives in our routine diets. Local businesses keen on ecological justice may be recommended to explore plant-based catering for organizational events. Public schools can cultivate critical learning and reflection about the ecological impacts of our diets. School administrators may be advised to similarly critically examine dietary programs, such as school milk programs, and catering offerings for public events. Time is undoubtedly limited and we need to make concerted, strategic interventions to ensure a better future for our upcoming generations. This is a collective responsibility and we can all do our part, in whatever capacity. Jordan Laidlaw is a public school teacher, vegan, and Ph.D. candidate in Educational Administration.

India's IT fix for climate adaptation could be the upgrade its global image needs

Mint

24-07-2025

Business
Mint

India's IT fix for climate adaptation could be the upgrade its global image needs

Australia has started the world's first special visa programme for climate refugees, beginning with Tuvalu—one of the South Pacific islands most at risk of submergence due to rising sea levels caused by global warming and melting polar ice caps. India can play a useful role, converting these climate refugees into skilled talent in demand, rather than a burden and objects of charity. Skills training, including in software development and IT-enabled services, would be a relatively low-cost, high-value form of aid that people appreciate for those fleeing the islands disappearing into the ocean's maw and potential employers in the host nations that take in the refugees. It would also, at a time when China seeks to mobilize India's neighbours into an anti-India front, muddy the waters for China's diplomatic offensive in the Southern Pacific, where it has been showering Belt-and-Road Initiative goodies, such as bridges, hospitals, and roads, to win friends and influence people against Taiwan. Australia and the US have been remiss, taking their presumed backyard for granted, and are now trying to counter China's soft power offensive among the island nations. A move into active diplomacy in the region that goes beyond invoking India's kinship ties with nearly two-fifths of the population of Fiji, whose ancestors were indentured labourers from India taken to the island nation by the British colonial masters, would raise India's profile not just in the region but also in the Quad and beyond. Irreversible damage The distinction of being the hottest year in the modern era goes to 2024, with the average global temperature going up to 1.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. The Paris Climate Accord, concluded in the closing days of 2015 and brought into force in 2016, set a goal of limiting the rise in average global temperature within 2°C above pre-industrial levels—preferably within 1.5°C. However, thanks to El Niño, the temperature has exceeded the 1.5°C threshold over the past two years. This is accelerating the pace of global warming, killing people in heatwaves and other extreme weather events, increasing the sale of ceiling fans in countries and regions that have never felt the need for them, and bringing the fate of submergence ever closer to the small island nations of the South Pacific. No amount of climate action, whether substituting fossil fuels with renewable energy or even removing carbon dioxide from the air, can prevent the melting of ice in the North and South Poles, which is pushing up the sea level. Some low-lying islands will go underwater, and the people there will have to be resettled in other countries. Although Tuvalu has a population of only 11,500, it exports tourism, fish, and its top-level domain name .tv, which television companies cherish for their internet addresses and are happy to pay for. Its per capita income is over $5,000, and English is widely spoken. The people of Tuvalu are literate and should be amenable to skill development. India's IT proficiency India's business software services company Zoho, founded by Sridhar Vembu, pioneered spotting raw talent in rural areas, training it right where the people live, and integrating it into the workforce. If Vembu can spare a team from his company to replicate this conversion of untrained rural folk into providers of sophisticated IT services, he could advance India's interests abroad, and while serving as an instrumentality of benign diplomacy, even expand his business in Oceania. Get the National Skill Development Corporation to figure out the skills Australia needs. Get Indian companies to do the training, treating the money they spend on it as part of mandated corporate social responsibility. This is a game India can play far better than China can hope to, thanks to the shared colonial legacy of English and India's reputation as an IT services superpower, even while its per capita income is quite low. Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services have well-developed training centres, given the quality of the recruits they get to hire in India. They can modify and extend their training programmes to start from lower levels of skill. Given the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), it should be possible to get more out of workers without much formal training but enough intelligence and savvy to make use of AI tools. Once the model is tried and tested in Tuvalu, its success can be replicated in other island nations. India can pioneer a model of climate adaptation in which climate refugees are welcomed rather than shunned by the countries to which they flee.

[Contribution] Kenya honors Ban Ki-moon: A beacon of environmental diplomacy, global leadership

Korea Herald

22-07-2025

Politics
Korea Herald

[Contribution] Kenya honors Ban Ki-moon: A beacon of environmental diplomacy, global leadership

At a historic ceremony at the State House in Nairobi on July 8, 2025, Kenya awarded its highest civilian honor, the Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart, to the 8th United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. The event highlighted Kenya's vital role in promoting sustainability and demonstrated the enduring influence of Ban's advocacy for climate action. The award, presented to him in Nairobi, recognized not only his extensive diplomatic achievements but also his profound and ongoing commitment to advancing multilateral cooperation in the fight against climate change. To put this into perspective, during his tenure at the United Nations, he championed landmark agreements, including the Paris Climate Accord. His relentless efforts to unite nations in pursuit of a greener, fairer world have left an indelible mark on global policy and inspired a new generation of leaders. Kenya's decision to recognize Ban's contributions serves as a testament to the country's leadership in environmental matters, reinforcing its reputation as a beacon of hope and innovation on the African continent. President William Ruto, in his tribute, described Ban as 'a bridge-builder and a champion of the world's most vulnerable,' praising his 'tireless advocacy and unwavering dedication to building a peaceful, just and sustainable world.' President Ruto noted that Ban's tenure as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations was characterised by significant and transformative initiatives. His leadership played a crucial role in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on climate change, the establishment of UN Women to promote gender equality, and the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals, which collectively aimed to address some of the most pressing global challenges. In his acceptance speech, Ban expressed deep gratitude, saying, 'It is humbling for me to receive such recognition in this beautiful country. Kenya means so much to me professionally and personally,' he said, noting that his daughter met her husband in Kenya and that his grandson spent his early years in Nairobi. This intimate and personal connection is not lost on Kenya, which has previously welcomed Ban Ki-moon in both private and official capacities. The award ceremony coincided with the groundbreaking of the dual headquarters of the Global Centre on Adaptation at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi. The GCA is a leading international organization, currently headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, housed in the world's largest floating office, with a focus on accelerating climate adaptation solutions. Its new African base will serve as a regional hub for policy dialogue, research and capacity-building. The establishment of dual headquarters symbolizes a bridge between the Global North and South in tackling climate challenges. The GCA's presence in Nairobi is an affirmation of Kenya's leadership in climate resilience and sustainable development. Ban's post-UN leadership is deeply rooted in climate resilience and sustainable development. As the President and Chair of the Global Green Growth Institute and co-founder of the GCA, he has continued to champion climate adaptation and green growth, particularly in vulnerable regions such as Africa. Kenya's connection with these two organizations is no coincidence. It shows a shared vision: that climate action should be inclusive, locally led and globally supported. When Ban was awarded in Nairobi, the only city in the global South hosting the United Nations headquarters, the United Nations Environment Program, which also houses the United Nations Office at Nairobi, offers a unique symbol of multilateral diplomacy that highlights Ban's career as a diplomat. It is worth noting that President William Ruto presented the award, as he is a leading voice in global climate leadership, serving as the chair of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change. Kenya's decision to honor Ban is not only symbolic but also a strategic affirmation of the country's dedication to environmental diplomacy. Ban's remarks during the ceremony captured the urgency and hope that characterize the climate movement: 'Climate change is the greatest collective challenge we face as a human family. But it is also our greatest opportunity for common progress towards a sustainable future.' He added, 'The longer we delay, the more we will pay.' These words resonate deeply in Kenya, where communities are already grappling with the effects of droughts, floods and biodiversity loss. Yet, through innovation, policy reform and international cooperation, Kenya is forging a path forward that prioritizes people, the planet and prosperity. The conferment of the Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart on Ban is more than a ceremonial gesture. It is a declaration of Kenya's values: solidarity, sustainability and global citizenship. It honors a legacy of leadership that has shaped the world and signals Kenya's readiness to lead in the next chapter of international climate action. As Ban eloquently stated, "That this century is Africa's century and Kenya is not just a leader in Africa, it is a global example of how nations can rise to meet the challenges of our time with courage, innovation and unity.' In celebrating Ban, Kenya celebrates the power of diplomacy, the promise of green growth and the potential of a continent poised to shape the future. sanjaykumar@

Hoekstra warns Trump policy is a 'major blow' to climate efforts

Euronews

10-07-2025

Business
Euronews

Hoekstra warns Trump policy is a 'major blow' to climate efforts

The Trump administration's reversal of climate policy will have "significant consequences" for the future, EU Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra has said. The EU recently outlined its path to attaining 90% net reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2040. Europe is the fastest warming continent with dramatic weather events – from floods to drought -already unfolding across several member states. Hoekstra says the US pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord is a "major blow" to international efforts to tackle climate change. US President Donald Trump fundamentally changed America's climate change policy when, for the second time, he withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord. In addition, the Trump administration reversed an Obama-era clean power plan aimed at reducing carbon emissions from power plants and rolled back emissions standards for vehicles. Although the EU says it is pressing ahead with its plans to deal with global warming, the overall ability for the world to tackle the issue is limited due to the about turn by the US, Hoekstra told Euronews. As the world's second largest emitter of CO2 gas, its "clearly deeply unfortunate and a major blow to international effort", Hoekstra said. "Climate change doesn't discriminate. It doesn't matter for the heating up of the planet where CO2 is being pumped into the air. And if then the second largest emitter, the most formidable power across the globe in geopolitical terms, and the largest economy basically says, well, thanks but no thanks, we no longer play ball. That is, of course, something that has very significant consequences," he said. But Hoekstra says all might not be lost if US investors see the dividends from technologies in the green tech sector. He says the private sector will be useful in paving the way for innovation and delivery of better, greener technologies which will help the environment. "My read is that you will see in the US that whenever an investment in, for example, cleantech pays off, and as a side effect is also something that is good for climate, businesses are not gonna stop it," he said. Hoekstra also points out that Europe needs to grasp this opportunity to win back or attract innovation to the continent in the growing, green technology sector though major European investment and a functioning capital markets system across the EU. "We need to reshape the landscape in such a way that innovation can flourish across Europe and that will take huge steps in terms of the capital markets union," he said. It will take "way more investments from businesses and governments alike in tech and in AI," he said.