SYNDICATION

Photo credit: Pxfuel / (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

COVID-19: Can Technology Become a Tool of Oppression and Surveillance?

Viewpoint by Petra Molnar*

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

TORONTO (IDN) – Refugees, immigrants, and people on the move have long been tied to tropes of bringing disease and illness. From pandemics to genocides, people crossing borders whether by force or by choice are talked about in apocalyptic terms like ‘flood’ or ‘wave,’ underscored by rampant xenophobia, racism, and elemental fear of ‘The Other’. Not only are these formulations blatantly incorrect, they also legitimise far-reaching state incursion and increasingly hard-line policies of surveillance and techno-solutionism to manage migration.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 May 2020

Photo: Camden, New Jersey is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (Created 25 November 2009)

America Should Not Be Number One Because It's A Spent Star

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

The US needs first and foremost to look after itself-– its often counterproductive foreign policy, its poverty, its third rate health services, its misdistribution of income, to save the economy and to save those most hurt by the Coronavirus crisis.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It might seem that the world is going to pot in a hand-basket. Not quite true. There are ways out. Asia has shown how to deal with the Coronavirus and how to stay politically stable. Europe, except for wise Sweden, has muddled along, following belatedly the conventional wisdom of its scientific community. As for the United States, President Donald Trump has made a fool of himself and his country, ending up with the highest death rate in the world.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 28 April 2020

Photo: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left) and Australian PM Scott Morrison (right) who is spearheading an international enquiry into China's lack of transparency and the WHO's mistakes in regard to COVID-19. A collage of pictures from Wikimedia Commons and Spotlght Nepal.

COVID-19: This Is No Time to Start A Coronavirus Blame Game

Viewpoint by John McCarthy *

MELBOURNE (IDN) – Australia's decision to spearhead an international enquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — read China's lack of transparency and the WHO's mistakes — is a nice hoary bellow from the domestic political ramparts, but it is a policy mistake.

The Australian opposition's support for the decision does not bathe the policy in divine light. It merely doubles the weight of the mistake.

Whichever country had decided to initiate such a policy, it would have been a bad idea.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 April 2020

Photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz signing the agreement on the goverment. (Photo: File)

ISRAEL: How 'Centrist' Gantz Resurrected Rightist Netanyahu

By Ramzy Baroud *

This article was first published on the author's website www.ramzybaroud.net on 22 April 2020.

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Washington (IDN) -– It was intended to be a Machiavellian move, but the decision by Benny Gantz, leader of Israel’s Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) coalition, to join a Benjamin Netanyahu-led government is likely to destabilize the political fabric of Israeli society for years to come.

In a surprising move, Gantz has entered into precarious political compromises, whereby he would become the Speaker of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), as a prelude to the formation of a national unity government which will include the ruling Likud party and Blue and White.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 25 April 2020

Photo: The 9th (Extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held via webinar, on Thursday, 09 April 2020, under the Chairmanship of Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy. Credit: Saudi Arabia Press Agency.

Why the OPEC+ Deal Is a Many-Splendoured Thing

Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar

The writer is a former Indian diplomat. This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – A perfect deal is where all protagonists get something out of it. All oil-producing countries stand to gain if the oil price rebounds. In bare-bones, the OPEC+ group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia finalized, in a nail-biting photo finish on April 12, an agreement to steeply cut oil production by a combined 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May and June to rebalance the supply and demand in the world market and nudge the prices to go up amid the coronavirus pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 April 2020

Photo: During a press conference about the coronavirus pandemic on March 20, Dr. Anthony Fauci was caught on camera putting his hand over his face as Donald Trump ranted about the “deep state.” Source: PoliticalDig

Who Should Be in Charge: Doctors or Politicians?

Viewpoint by Jan Zielonka*

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

VENICE (IDN) – Our lives currently seem to be in the hands of doctors, and this concerns not only those who have caught the corona virus. New regulations on quarantine, social distancing and borders have been dictated to governments by their medical advisors.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 25 April 2020

Photo: Joe Biden with Bernie Sanders who has endorsed his presidential candidature. Source: Twitter.

Biden's Foreign Policy Leaves Enough Room for Revamping

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Joseph Biden for president! His main rival for the Democratic Party's nomination, Bernie Sanders, endorsed him on April 13. If the world could vote, the overwhelming majority would vote for Biden, despite some misgivings. My reservations would be on his foreign policy. Like President Barack Obama he would be good on domestic policy but mistaken on much of his foreign policy.

Obama made Biden responsible for dealing with the Ukraine crisis where he fashioned an anti-Russian policy based on little evidence that this was fair to the facts. He writes now of the need to "counter Russian aggression" and that "we must impose real costs on Russia for its violations of international norms".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 14 April 2020

Image: The examples of new partnerships springing up between the authorities and tech companies abound: the UK National Health Service is now using the services of Palantir, Microsoft and Amazon to track medical staff and resources to coordinate the UK's coronavirus response. Credit: Screenshot of ZDNET video.

How Data-Mining Companies Are Set to Gain from COVID-19

Viewpoint by Ivan Manokha*

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) – The current outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic may be seen as a litmus test for different institutions of contemporary society – the viability of production structures based on global value chains, the solidity of health systems built (or, rather, dismantled) in the period of neoliberalism, and, more generally, the ability of the ‘night-watchman’ neoliberal state to ensure the security and survival of the population.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 05 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.