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Viewpoint by Asma Abidi*
BERLIN (IDN) – Ten years after the revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia, often hailed as its only success story, has yet to deliver the promised freedom, jobs and prosperity to its people.
Civil unrest erupted on January 14 across the country when the authorities announced a four-day strict lockdown, ordered by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, supposedly to combat the spread of COVID-19.
By Niba Mirza *
BUENOS AIRES (IDN) – The Asociación Latinoamericana de Comunicación Audiovisual Parlamentaria, ALCAP or the Latin American Parliamentary Association of Audio-Visual Communication has ventured into Asia and Africa with the appointment of Mr. Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. as its Special Advisor for the region.
ALCAP is a project of promotion, strengthening, integration, dissemination, research, and cooperation in favour of the right to free access of public information of the parliamentary and political audio-visual communication in all deliberative fields, and in defence of the local communities, multiculturalism, social economies and unique characteristics of the Latin American countries.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has told the UN’s 193 Member States that in the wake of an “annus horribilis” of death, disaster and despair, 2021 must be a year of transformation. “We need to move from death to health; from disaster to reconstruction; from despair to hope; from business as usual to transformation.”
Mr Guterres outlined his four priorities for the months ahead. Now is the time to secure the well-being of people, economies, societies and the planet, he accentuated, speaking from the podium in the General Assembly Hall in the UN Headquarters in New York on January 28.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – "Addressing climate-related security risks to international peace and security through mitigation and resilience-building" will be the focus of a high-level open debate which the UK plans to host in February.
According to the Security Council Report, the meeting is expected to consider conflict risks, peacebuilding approaches and ways to support adaptation and resilience in climate-vulnerable contexts. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to chair the meeting. Secretary-General António Guterres is an anticipated briefer.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) – While Russia is currently investigating reasons behind the unsanctioned January 23 mass protest that took place in central Moscow and many other regions including the Far East, it has allegedly accused the United States of meddling in its domestic affairs.
According to human rights organisations, over 3,600 people were detained during the protest. Some have been charged with administrative violations, while others have been hit with criminal charges.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – The gavel came down on January 22 on billionaire Israeli-French tycoon Beny Steinmetz who, a criminal court in Geneva ruled, bribed government officials in Guinea, West Africa, to enrich himself and his mining company with valuable assets of the African country.
The ruling caps a seven-year investigation into the shady and complex world of corrupt practices employed with near impunity by foreign corporations which harm poor people in resource-rich countries.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Time marches on but murderous crimes committed during war may demand an apology regardless of the number of years that elapsed since the crimes took place.
Such is the current case presented by Algerians who have renewed their demand for an apology for colonialization and the crimes against humanity that took place during Algeria’s war of independence from 1954-1962. This follows the much-anticipated release of a government-sponsored report by the historian Benjamin Stora.
By Martin Plaut
LONDON (IDN | Eritrea Hub) – The Tigray war has turned into an all-out conflict, pitting Tigrayan forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation front (TPLF) against Ethiopian federal troops, the Eritrean army, Amhara militia and – as revealed last week – Somali soldiers.
Despite what would seem to be overwhelming odds against them, the Tigrayans appear to be holding their own in large areas of the region.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) – President Joe Biden is more peacenik than war-monger. Compared with all recent previous presidents, apart from Jimmy Carter, he has been a dove. But be warned. When Barack Obama became president he forswore “more dumb wars” yet he got involved in more than any of them did. We had mistakenly believed him because of his vote in the Senate against the Second Iraq War.
Nevertheless, Obama, with Biden’s support, did resist a big push by Congress, the military and most of the media to send troops into Syria and he did try hard to get troops pulled out of Iraq. Biden supported Obama in his decision to negotiate with Iran a deal to put into cold storage its plan to enrich uranium to the point where it could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Viewpoint by Ravi Arvind Palat
The writer is a professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton
NEW YORK (IDN) – Several commentators have underlined the sharp contrast between law enforcement responses to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by mobs unleashed by President Trump on January 6, 2021, and to the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer. Despite two months of warnings that the president was mobilizing his supporters to reverse his election loss, the police and National Guard appeared to be caught off-guard, unlike the massive mobilization of law enforcement agencies against those calling for racial justice.
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