THE WORLD

Photo (left to right): Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Ukur Yatani, the Minister of Treasury; UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee; and Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, the Minister of Devolution. Credit: standardmedia.co.ke

COVID-19: UN Joins Kenya in $267.5 million Flash Appeal

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) – The Government of Kenya, the United Nations and humanitarian partners have launched a Flash Appeal requesting $267.5 million to respond to the most immediate and critical needs of 10.1 million people.

Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning, Ukur Yatani Kanacho, said: "When times are challenging you get to know your friends better. I would like to commend the Kenya United Nations Country Team and humanitarian partners for being real friends and fighting with us shoulder to shoulder as we fight this deadly pandemic."

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2020

Photo: President Vladimir Putin at the virtual meeting with regional heads on combatting the spread of the coronavirus in Russia. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

The Pandemic of Fear Haunts Moscow

Viewpoint by Lyubov Sharkova*

MOSCOW (IDN) – In just a short period of time, the world in Russia has changed for everyone. I've started to notice how people around me are going mad. They've started blaming and avoiding other people, making social distance the priority of their lives. These people are well-educated, well-off, with flexible minds. It doesn't matter who they were in their life "before corona". Now all of them are afraid. And that's the reason for their madness.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 12 April 2020

Photo: Screenshot of YouTube streaming on 8 Apr 2020 by Bernie Sanders announcing his exit from Presidential campaign. Credit: Bernie Sanders' Website.

The End of Bernie Sanders' Socialist Agenda

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Socialist-Democrat Presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, ended his campaign as it lost momentum – and the coronavirus pandemic changed everything. Claiming that he is a democratic socialist, he wanted to stage a political revolution in America.

The dreaded words "socialist" and "revolution" are anathema to Americans even though they may be quite familiar with their modern day color revolutions, regime changes, and Arab Springs abroad – in the name of democracy and freedom.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 April 2020

Photo: President Trump addressing a press conference. Credit: The White House.

COVID-19: Trump's Bizarre Performance Blocked His Emergence as a 'Hero'

Viewpoint by Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

The writer is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

NEW YORK (IDN) – For a man who is a self-absorbed, power hungry narcissist who wants to be recognized as one of the greatest presidents of the United States while desperately trying to be reelected, Trump failed miserably to rise to the occasion precipitated by the unfortunate advent and spread of the coronavirus.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 April 2020

Photo: Outdoor restaurant in central Stockholm, Sweden, 26 March 2020. Credit: EPA-EFE/Janerik Henriksson

COVID-19: Why the Nordics are Our Best Bet for Comparing Strategies

Viewpoint by Paul W. Franks*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Daily updated graphs illustrating the rising COVID-19 death rates in different countries raise hopes that we can understand impact of the virus and work out how to stop it from spreading further. But when comparing countries as different as South Korea, China, Italy and the UK, we may find the impression of how different interventions work is obscured by many other factors.

These countries differ in many important ways, including demographics, civil disobedience, population density, patterns of social interactions, air quality and genetics. Italy, for example, has regions with older populations than many other countries. And European societies are unlikely to ever accept the draconian interventions used in China and South Korea.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 April 2020

Photo: Collage of images from the Internet.

COVID-19: USA, France and China Crave African Support to Overcome the Pandemic

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. and France are treading unexpected paths to besiege COVID-19 with African assistance. Striking a different note, the Nigerians have strong reservations about a team of Chinese specialists invited to support them in combating the pandemic in the West African country.

While the desperate USAID relief agency has been seeking personal protective equipment (PPE) from poor countries to safeguard much needed supplies in the U.S., and a French doctor wants to test drugs on Africans. But the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is bashing the government for inviting an 18-man team of Chinese specialists in helping to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria.

: Global Information Network; COVID-19; 07 April 2020

Photo: Police officers and commuters at the Likoni Ferry terminal, Kenya, 27 March 2020. Credit: All Rights Reserved afsee@lse.ac.uk

Kenyans Under Brute Attack Amidst COVID-19 Curfew

By Saida Ali

Saida Ali is an intersectional feminist and an international policy analyst. She is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity. She tweets at @SaidaAaliyah

NAIROBI (IDN) – On March 27, in response to the threat of COVID-19, Kenya instituted a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew. That night, a man was beaten by police and later died of his injuries. A few days later, a boy looking out from the balcony of his home was killed by a police bullet.

These are not isolated cases. Kenyan police are killing the poor. At a time when the forces charged with protecting and serving us should be doing their utmost to help, they continue to pathologise people facing multiple and intersecting inequalities, and a daily struggle to earn a living.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 April 2020

Photo: WHO concerned as COVID-19 cases accelerate in Africa. Credit: WHO

COVID-19: Exponential Rise in Africa of Concern to WHO

By Devendra Kamarajan

BRAZZAVILLE (IDN) – With more than 6,000 COVID-19 cases reported in Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern about the virus threatening fragile health systems on the continent. Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said: "Case numbers are increasing exponentially in the African region" – not only between African countries but within different localities in the hardest-hit countries.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 April 2020

Image credit: Australia TV's 60-minute programme.

COVID-19: Sinophobia Threatening to Endanger Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne*

SYDNEY (IDN) – With the spread of COVID-19 to Europe and the US a bout of Sinophobia seems to have infected the western media. On March 29, Australia's 60-minute program – that is well known for sensational reporting – broadcast a program that portrayed China as the villain of the COVID-19 pandemonium, and just stopped short of calling for war against China.

This reminded me of the propaganda that the Anglo-American media broadcast around the world about alleged 'weapons of mass destruction' that Saddam Hussein had, that led to the attack and invasion of Iraq in 2003.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; COVID-19; 04 April 2020

Photo: President Duterte and US President Donald Trump discuss matters during a bilateral meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on November 13, 2017. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

The Philippines Moving to Active Middle Power Diplomacy

Viewpoint by Aileen S P Baviera*

Professor Aileen Baveira died of COVID-19 in Manila on 21 March 2020.

MANILA (IDN) — The Philippines was first a colony and then a formal treaty ally of the United States for so long that many Filipinos tend to take the existence of reciprocal defence obligations for granted. For the most part, the Philippines has always supported US security objectives when asked — whether during the Pacific War, the Korean War, the Cold War, the conflicts in Indochina or the 'Global War on Terror'.