Peace & Justice

Image: Cropped cover of the book reviewed.

New Book Explores How Adversarial Reporting Culture Drives Politicized COVID-19 Coverage

By Krishan Dutta

BANGKOK (IDN) — While the COVID-19 pandemic’s relentless cyclone continues across the globe wreaking havoc on economies and social systems, a new book sheds light on the adversarial reporting culture of the media, and how it impacts on racism and politicization driving the coverage.

‘COVID-19, Racism and Politicization: Media in the Midst of a Pandemic’ published by the UK-based Cambridge Scholars Publishing explores the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role of national and international media, and governments, in the initial coverage of the developing crisis.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 27 August 2021

Photo: Indian evacuation in Afghanistan. Source: DNA.

India Has Lost the First-Mover Advantage in Afghanistan

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI (IDN) — In the wake of the US retreat from Afghanistan, as the world’s leading nations engage with the Taliban in Kabul, India appears to have shot itself in the foot and gone into a sulk. When New Delhi does break its sullen silence, it only serves to remind the world of its seething animus against Pakistan.

As the regional superpower with unique civilisational connections and people-to-people ties with Afghanistan, India ought to have been a prominent player at this juncture of historic transition.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 27 August 2021

Photo: Flags of six CSTO member states. Source: Astana Times

Eurasian Military Alliance of Post-Soviet States Marks 30th Anniversary of Closure of Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) — In a joint statement, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), comprising six member states, has highlighted the role of Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose decree shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on August 29, 1991.

The statement was published by the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 26 in the run-up to the International Day against Nuclear Tests, which this year is commemorated on the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 27 August 2021

Photo: View from the Herat Citadel, also known as the Citadel of Alexander the Great, in Afghanistan. CC BY 2.0

Would "Reformed" Taliban Respect Other Religions, Cultural Heritage and Non-Believers?

Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — The Taliban’s fanatical yearning to attack everything opposed to what they mistakenly believe as Islam was displayed in two acts of destruction in the year 2001. The return of Taliban as rulers of Afghanistan raise question whether the remaining remnants of a Buddhist civilization in the region would be wiped out in coming years.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 26 August 2021

Photo: US Sponsored Al Qaeda “Freedom Fighters” Were Used to Railroad the Formation of a Secular Socialist Government. Mohammad Najibullah, Former President of Afghanistan, in the centre. Source: Global Research

The Story of US-Led Collusion in Razing Afghanistan to the Ground

Viewpoint by John Pilger

This article was produced by Globetrotter. John Pilger is an award-winning Australian journalist, filmmaker, and author. Read his full biography on his website here, and follow him on Twitter: @JohnPilger. Source: Globetrotter

SYDNEY (IDN) — As a tsunami of crocodile tears engulfs Western politicians, history is suppressed. More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the United States, Britain and their “allies” destroyed.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 25 August 2021

Photo: The ministers of foreign affairs of Germany, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, France, Russia, the European Union and Iran meeting in Geneva for the interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme (November 2013). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Americans, Not the Europeans, Are Dilly-Dallying in The Iran Nuclear Deal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The panic button on Iran is being pressed again. A report by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), suggests that Iran has taken more significant steps towards developing a nuclear weapon. At the same time the warnings from Israel are coming thick and fast, reminding us that if necessary Israel will bomb Iran's nuclear research facilities.

All this is grist for the mill for the doomsayers who say it won't be long before countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt decide to develop their own bomb.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 August 2021

Photo: New Zealand Hercules airlifts evacuees from Kabul. Credit: New Zealand Defence Force.

New Zealand Should Have Stayed Out of the War in Afghanistan

Viewpoint by Keith Locke

Former Green MP Keith Locke was the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson. He writes occasional pieces for Asia Pacific Report. This article was first published by The Spinoff, republished in Asia Pacific Report, our partner, on August 19 with the author’s permission.

WELLINGTON (IDN) — After the fall of Kabul, the obvious question for New Zealanders is whether we should ever have joined the American war in Afghanistan. Labour and National politicians, who sent our Special Forces there, will say yes.

The Greens, who opposed the war from the start, will say no.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 24 August 2021

Dwindling Democracy and Press Freedom in Hong Kong

Viewpoint by Jan Servaes

Jan Servaes was Head of the Department of Media and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong (2013-2016). He taught ‘international communication’ in Australia, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, the US, the Netherlands and Thailand, in addition to short-term projects at about 120 universities in 55 countries. He is editor of the 2020 Handbook on Communication for Development and Social Change https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-981-10-7035-8

: Europe Editor; OPINION; 23 August 2021

Photo: Gnawa festival, Essaouira. Source: moroccoworldnews.com

Friends Of Moroccan ‘Gnawa’ Music Rally to Save Cultural Icon

By Lisa Vives, Global Information News

NEW YORK (IDN) — Rooted in healing rituals and Sufism, the hypnotic sounds of Gnawa music have attracted artists and musicians of all stripes—from Jazz Age poet Claude McKay to Archie Shepp, Ornette Coleman and the legendary Randy Weston.

Dar Gnawa—or Gnawa House—is a one-of-a kind three-story Moorish-style building built in Tangier, Morocco, in the 1850s. It’s a cultural center for Gnawa music, making it the first officially recognized center devoted to celebrating and preserving the music of the descendants of slaves in Morocco.

: SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 23 August 2021

Photo: Crowds celebrate on the streets of Sudanese capital Khartoum as reports suggest President Omar al-Bashir has stood down. Video: WDMUSA24

Genocide Trial Looms for Former Sudanese Leader and Aides Over Darfur Conflict

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The architects of crimes against humanity and genocide in the Sudanese region of Darfur may finally appear before the International Criminal Court, at least a decade after the atrocities occurred.

Ex-president Omar al-Bashir is among the group wanted by the court in The Hague since 2009 over atrocities committed by his government in Darfur, where at least 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million displaced in a war from 2003 to 2008, the United Nations estimates.