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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'.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 April 2020

The Bigger Picture Is Hiding Behind a Virus

Viewpoint by Jonathan Cook*, Countercurrents.Org

NAZARETH, Israel (IDN) – Things often look the way they do because someone claiming authority tells us they look that way. If that sounds too cynical, pause for a moment and reflect on what seemed most important to you just a year ago, or even a few weeks ago.

Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in western politics was a vitally important issue, and something that we needed to invest much of our emotional and political energy in countering. Or maybe a few weeks ago you felt that everything would be fine if we could just get Donald Trump out of the White House. Or maybe you imagined that Brexit was the panacea to Britain's problems – or, conversely, that it would bring about the UK's downfall.

: Suresh Jaura; OPINION; 04 April 2020

Image: Journalists attacked since 1992. CInredit: CPJ

COVID-19: Call for Freeing All Journalists Jailed Globally

By CPJ

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has launched the #FreeThePress campaign to call for the unconditional release of all jailed journalists to ensure their safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the past four years, CPJ’s annual census has found a record high number of journalists in jail because of their work – at least 250. Those journalists now face a potential death sentence. The World Health Organization has said prisoners are particularly vulnerable to the virus, as self-isolation in jail is impossible, and prisoners are routinely denied medical treatment.

: UN Bureau; COVID-19; 03 April 2020

Photo: President Trump's visit to India on end of February 2020 came exactly a year after Hindu-Muslim tensions in India were stoked by mysterious external parties with the near-war between nuclear armed rivals, India and Pakistan, staged in Pulwama District, Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, just before General Elections in India. Source: YouTube.

Trump's 'Pivot to Asia' To 'Make America Great Again' Setting the Stage for a New Clash of Civilizations

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The writer is a cultural anthropologist with research expertise in international political economy, peace, and development studies in South and South East Asia.*

COLOMBO (IDN) – India's capital New Delhi burned in the last week of February 2020 as US President Donald Trump pivoted to India. Visiting the world's largest and increasingly tattered 'democracy', Trump sold among other things, over USD 3 billion worth of weaponry to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 'partnership of the century' between India and the US announced by Modi seemed designed to put China and its Belt and Road initiative (BRI), already besieged by the mysterious Novel Corona virus, on notice.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 April 2020

Photo: Family members who have fled conflict sit inside their tent at the Pissila camp for displaced people in Burkina Faso. WFP/Marwa Awad

Military Intervention Alone Will Fail to Resolve the Sahel Crisis

Viewpoint by Jan Egeland and Jean-François Riffaud

Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Jean-François Riffaud is Chief Executive Officer of Action Against Hunger-France.

OSLO (IDN) — President Emmanuel Macron invited the five G5 West African leaders to the French city of Pau in January 2020 to shore up support for international engagement in restive Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. All agreed that more European security support was needed to counter violent extremism in the Central Sahel.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 April 2020

Photo: Collage from images on www.un.org/en/conferences/npt2020

Update: Postponed 2020 NPT Review Conference

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

VIENNA (IDN) – On 30 March 2020, IDN-InDepthNews published my article, Challenge for the NAM: Move the NPT Review Conference to 2021 in Vienna, in which I had noted the announcement of the postponement of the 2020 review conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), scheduled to be held in New York from 27 April to 22 May, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 02 April 2020

A Nobel Peace Laureate Calls for Slashing Military Spending and Investing in Healthcare

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – The world's oldest peace NGO, the 1910 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Peace Bureau (IPB), is calling for a "dramatic reduction" of military spending in favour of healthcare and meeting social needs. A petition launched on March 27 and signed by all interested will be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly on the first day of the next session opening on September 15, 2020.

"The world spends 1.8 trillion dollars on military expenditure every year and is scheduled to spend 1 trillion dollars on new nuclear weapons in the next 20 years," notes the IPB in the petition and a statement earlier from its headquarters in Germany's capital city, Berlin.

: Jutta Wolf; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 02 April 2020

Photo: President Trump participates in a signing ceremony for a two trillion dollar coronavirus relief bill in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on March 27, 2020. Credit: Pool/ABACA/ABACA/PA Images

Our Economic System is on Life Support – But Who are We Really Saving?

Viewpoint by Laurie Macfarlane*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – In recent weeks governments around the world have injected extraordinary sums of money into the economy to support businesses and households in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the UK, the government has committed to paying up to 80 percent of the wages of workers impacted by the outbreak (subject to a cap of 2,500 pounds per month) and has provided 330 billion pounds of financial support for businesses. Similar measures have been announced across Europe.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 02 April 2020

Photo: Buses are being disinfected a couple of times a day in Moscow. Credit: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA

COVID-19 Could Derail Russia's Constitutional Reform Vote

Viewpoint by Ben Noble*

LONDON (IDN) – Russia's nationwide vote on controversial constitutional reforms is likely to be postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The vote is currently scheduled for April 22.

The vote is the last hurdle before this set of reforms – including a change allowing Vladimir Putin to stay in the presidency beyond 2024 – can come into force.

Russian press has reported that a decision to postpone the vote has already been taken by the Kremlin, but a new date has yet to be selected.