This post consists of six segments devoted to relations of the West to Iran, centering on whether the United States post-Trump will attempt to reduce tensions with Iran or opt for continuity, and greater policy coordination with Israel’s new post-Netanyahu leadership.
Naphtali Bennett, Israel’s new Prime Minister, has already made clear that he views Iran no differently than Netanyahu, opposes a return to the 2015 Nuclear Program Agreement (JCPOA) and seems to have authorized at unprovoked attack on the Karaj facility on June 23rd that produces centrifuges needed to obtain enriched uranium.
When the U.S. Government withdrew from the hard bargained Obama Era nuclear agreement in 2018 accompanied by a revamping of sanctions against Iran, tensions once again dangerously escalated.
9 July 2021 (UNEP)* — When Elderman Ndubiwa Jabulani was invited to a consultation with a cross-sectoral group of local stakeholders from his native Zimbabwe and neighbouring Botswana, he was ready to talk about the elephant in the room.
UNEP/Stephanie Foote / 09 Jul 2021
Or rather, the elephants in the field. Jabulani, a farmer, says the animals regularly trample his fields and ravage his crops in the Hwange district of Zimbabwe.
To wildlife officials, the elephants seemed to be more important than he and his family were.
Picking up the pieces is sadly routine for people such as Roda whose teashop was destroyed by fighting — the World Food Programme is at hand but requires urgent funds to assist
Roda’s teashop was a hub of the local community before it was levelled. Photo: WFP/Marwa Awad
With her bare hands, Roda clears debris and forages scraps from her wrecked teashop after attackers scorched Gumuruk, a town in the Greater Jonglei region where conflict frequently disrupts daily life and stifles progress.
The 36-year-old mother of six is just one of countless South Sudanese stuck in a tiring cycle of destruction and rebuilding.
BRATISLAVA, Jul 8 2021 (IPS)* – Wildlife and environmental campaigners have called for international action as concerns grow over a project to create a massive oilfield in one of Africa’s last wildernesses.
WWF and UNEP reportsays the problem is as much a development and humanitarian issue as a conservation concern and risks derailingthe Sustainable Development Goals.
Gland (UNEP)* – Conflict between people and animals, from China’s famed wandering elephants raiding farms for food and water to wolves preying on cattle in Idaho is one of the main threats to the long-term survival of some of the world’s most emblematic species, warns a new report from WWF and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), out 8 July 2021.
(UN News)* — The world’s running out of time to limit global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius, a matter of life or death for climate vulnerable countries on the front line of the crisis, the UN Secretary General reiterated on 8 July 2021.
Speaking to the first Climate Vulnerable Finance Summit of 48 nations systemically exposed to climate related disasters, António Guterres said they needed reassurance that financial and technical support will be forthcoming.
“To rebuild trust, developed countries must clarify now, how they will effectively deliver $100 billion dollars in climate finance annually to the developing world, as was promised over a decade ago”, he said.
(UN News)* — A new study released on 8 July 2021 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) illustrates the devastating impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking and highlights the increased targeting and exploitation of children during the course of the pandemic.
UN Costa Rica/Danilo Mora | Lilith, not her real name, was trafficked from Nicaragua as a teenager and now lives in Costa Rica.
The study further assesses how frontline organizations responded to the challenges posed and continued to deliver essential services, despite restrictions across and within national borders.
Meanwhile, traffickers took advantage of the global crisis, capitalizing on peoples’ loss of income and the increased amount of time both adults and children were spending online.
By Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service*
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 