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den 28 augusti 2008 19:26 GMT

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BIOFUELS AND FOOD SECURITY: CONFLICT OR COMPLEMENTARITY?
Ignacy Sachs

It makes no sense to single out biofuels as the scapegoat for high food costs without considering the effect of the spectacular rise in oil prices, writes Ignacy Sachs, honorary professor, School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris, and visiting fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo.

CAUCASUS: THE POWDER KEG
Johan Galtung

The Caucasus is today a major theatre of the Cold War II, which involves the long-term encirclement of Russia-India-China in order to control Eurasia through the eastward expansion of NATO and the westward expansion of AMPO, the U.S.-Japan security system, writes Johan Galtung, a professor of Peace Studies and founder of TRANSCEND, a peace and development network, and author of "50 Years: 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives," TRANSCEND University Press, 2008.

THE MAJOR CHALLENGES THE WORLD ORDER CAN'T ADDRESS
Benjamin William Mkapa* - IPS/South Centre

The struggle of the new and developing countries to affirm their presence in the world is not much in evidence but is no less pressing and must be perceived as unrelenting. This is true notwithstanding, and perhaps because of, the reality that some in their ranks such China, India and Brazil have in the meantime evolved into great political and economic powers and are seeking their own place in relation to the great powers of the cold war days, writes Benjamin William Mkapa, former president of Tanzania and chairperson of the South Centre.

INDIA: AS THE ECONOMY GROWS, SO DOES HUNGER
Anuradha Mittal

Blaming high food prices on rising demand in fast-developing countries like China and India deflects scrutiny from structural causes -- like the liberalisation of agricultural markets -- and suggests incorrectly that market-friendly reforms have uplifted the poor and underprivileged, writes Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank working to increase public participation and to promote fair debate on critical social, economic, and environmental issues.

HOUSING, FOOD, OIL - WHAT NEXT?
Johan Galtung

At the bottom of the world economy people die from hunger and preventable curable diseases, while at the top, where enormous quantities of wealth are transported upwards, particularly into U.S. hands, speculation is the twin of starvation, both offspring of the same morbid, and probably moribund, system, writes Johan Galtung, professor of Peace Studies and founder of TRANSCEND, a global peace and development network.

WTO TALKS COLLAPSE AND THE BIRTH OF A NEW WORLD ORDER
Jonas Gahr Store

There is a clear lesson to be drawn from the unsuccessful WTO negotiations held in Geneva July 21-29: the world is witnessing a shift of power in the arena of the world economy and world trade as new states with growing economies and political ambitions are asserting themselves, writes Gahr Store, Norway's foreign minister.

U.S. ELECTIONS AND CUBA
Leonardo Padura Fuentes

A year ago, when then provisional president Raul Castro made an overture to the United States, the response was fundamentalist and hostile, and Havana's counter-response was the usual: that after 50 years, Washington's hostility (the major effect of which has been the suffering of individual Cubans) has not budged the Cuban government, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban author and journalist whose novels have been translated into a dozen languages.

A CIVILISATION PREDICATED ON DIALOGUE
Daisaku Ikeda

There has never been a time when it was more important for us to inspire each other by learning from our differences or holding a creative dialogue of the wise, writes Daisaku Ikeda, a Japanese Buddhist philosopher and peace-builder and president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) grassroots Buddhist movement.

THE G8 HAS NO LEGITIMACY
Yash Tandon* - IPS/South Centre

The last G8 summit (Hokkaido, Japan, July 7-9) sat in judgment over the democratic credentials of the government of Zimbabwe, but it had itself no legitimacy. The Group of Eight had no choice but to bring the matter to the United Nations Security Council. And there the West lost: China and Russia vetoed, writes Yash Tandon, executive director of the South Centre, Geneva.

AFTER OIL: MODERN BIOCIVILISATION
Ignacy Sachs

We are at the threshold of the transition out of the oil and, hopefully, the fossil energy age, writes Ignacy Sachs, honourary professor at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris, and visiting fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo.

THE FOOD CRISIS AND THE WRONG SOLUTIONS
Jacques Diouf

The structural solution to the problem of world food security is an increase in productivity and production in the low-income food-deficit countries. This would require, in addition to official development assistance, innovative new solutions. To this effect, it is necessary to develop partnership or joint-venture agreements between, on the one hand, those countries that have the financial resources and, on the other, those that possess land, water and human resources, writes Jacques Diouf, director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

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