by Guy Mettan,* Geneva
(29 February 2024) A blind angle in the global media for decades, the African continent has become fascinating to observe since the Covid crisis because mind-blowing events are constantly happening there and there is a kind of confusing excitement that is difficult to decipher, but very exhilarating.
by Robert Seidel
(23 February 2024) The opinion that “elites” or “experts”, plutocrats, “blue bloods” or “global young leaders” can make better decisions per se than the public has proven to be a mistake time and again. The current wars are planned, initiated, waged, or “merely” tolerated by small elite circles who think they know better. This is a mockery of every human being and every democracy – after all, in the nuclear age, everyone is affected by these decisions. It is a fatal mistake to want to rely on the “common sense” of these elites these days.
by M. K. Bhadrakumar,* India
(16 February 2024) The diplomatic recognition of the Taliban government in Afghanistan on January 31, 2024 by China must be bracketed with two other far-reaching regional policy moves by Beijing in the post-cold war era – the Shanghai Five in 1996 – later renamed as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2001– and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013.
by Jeffrey D. Sachs,* USA
(9 February 2024) It is easy to be cynical about the international rule of law. No sooner had the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found1 that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against the Palestinian people than the U.S. State Department declared, “We continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded and note the court did not make a finding about genocide or call for a ceasefire in its ruling…” Israeli leaders declared the case to be “outrageous” and “antisemitic”. Yet the risks for Israel of the ICJ ruling, and its follow-up in the next year or two, are profound. If Israel spurns the Genocide Convention, it imperils its place within the community of nations.
by “Moon of Alabama”*
(2 February 2024) (Ed.) In the USA, too, readers of leading media outlets are guided in their opinion-forming with selected information on foreign policy. The investigative platform “Moon of Alabama” takes the time to scrutinise a recent analysis by Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the “New York Times”. Is it necessary to bomb in Yemen or maintain military bases in Syria or Iraq? It becomes clear that Baker's selective choice of information makes the US government's policy appear to have no alternative: “There is no alternative”.
by M. K. Bhadrakumar,* India
(11 January 2024) The visit by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Russia on December 24–29 presented an extraordinary spectacle reminiscent of the halcyon days of Indo-Soviet relations.
There was an unnameable ecstasy in Jaishankar’s words on Russian soil. He even took a walk on the Red Square in the middle of Russian winter. But the minister is anything but a sentimental diplomat, who can handle emotions not necessarily as encumbrance but turning them instead into great optics.