EU & Europe

Photo: Axum airport in northern Ethiopia, in 2016. According to reports, forces from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have meanwhile destroyed the airport. Credit: Matt Tempest. Source: EU Observer

EU Called Upon to Urgently Engage in Peace Efforts for the Horn of Africa

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Representatives of non-governmental organisations and academia from all around Europe have called upon the European Union (EU) to urgently appoint senior High-level Envoys for the Horn to engage in and provide support to international, in particular African, efforts to curb the crisis in the Horn of Africa.

The appeal is addressed in a letter to the President of the EU Council Charles Michel, President of the Commission Ursula Von der Leyen, and President of the European Parliament David Sassoli.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 November 2020

Photo: Pro-European Union Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv, December 2013. CC BY-SA 3.0

Outmanoeuvring Russia, Not Spreading Democracy Is US Priority

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It’s rather revealing that during the conflict which now besets Azerbaijan and Armenia the US is barely interested, happily leaving it to Russia to do the mediating and peacekeeping and the UN to deal with the refugee problems. Quite the reverse with the Ukrainian crisis that began in 2013. Why? What’s the difference?

As the crisis evolved and fighting broke in the east and south with pro-Russian Ukrainians on one side and pro Westerners on the other the US shipped in arms and Russia sent in troops without insignia. The fighting continues to this day.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 17 November 2020

Photo: A deadly shipwreck off the coast of Senegal have taken at least 414 lives in 2020, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Source: UNDP

Shipwreck Off Senegalese Coast Prods UN to Call for Dismantling Trafficking and Smuggling Networks

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Migrants around the world are continuing their desperate flights for survival even though rescue efforts have slowed, and rich countries are building higher walls against the asylum seekers.

The deadliest shipwreck of the year occurred most recently off the coast of Senegal where at least 140 people drowned after a boat carrying around 200 migrants sank, according to the UN migration agency (IOM).

: Global Information Network; UN INSIDER; 12 November 2020

Photo: A mother and doctor tend to a young girl with COVID-19 at an intensive care ward in the western region of Chernivtsi, Ukraine. © UNICEF/Evgeniy Maloletka

The World Health Organization Deeply Concerned About COVID-19 Rise in Europe

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is alarmed at the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Europe where nearly 700,000 cases were reported this week, the highest weekly incidence since the pandemic began in March. Overall, Europe has recorded more than seven million cases of COVID-19, with the jump from six million taking just 10 days, according to Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, the regional head of the WHO.

: Jaya Ramachandran; COVID-19; 15 October 2020

Photo: Countless Berliners and visitors cycled and walked through the German capital’s city center on September 26 night. The Festival of Lights gave them some beautiful sights and a portion of culture during a difficult year. Credit: Imanuel Marcus | The Berlin Spectator.

Tide Might Be Turning in Britain's Ties with Germany and the EU

Viewpoint by John Kampfner

The writer is author of 'Why the Germans Do It Better; Notes from a Grown-Up Country'. This article was first published in the International Politics Society Journal of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

LONDON (IDN) – The fall of the Berlin Wall could and should have been a great moment for celebrating Britain’s role in the rebirth of democratic Germany. An oppressive communist system was dismantled with extraordinary success. Margaret Thatcher, alongside Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, had an important part to play. Yet all she saw was danger.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 October 2020

Europe Pivots Towards Indo-Pacific Amid Row with China

By Atul Aneja

The writer is a veteran Indian journalist who reported conflicts from Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Benghazi, Kabul, Tehran, and Dushanbe. He is an expert on the Middle East and China political affairs. He was Strategic Affairs Editor of an eminent Indian newspaper, The Hindu.

CHENNAI (IDN) – Enticed for decades by China, which became the fulcrum of its Asia policy, continental Europe has finally broken ranks and pivoted towards the democracies of the Indo-Pacific, in its search for allies.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 29 September 2020

Photo: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Navalny Case: Why Hasn't Germany Sent Samples of the Tests to WHO?

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – I begin this column with a declaration that shows my bias: if President Vladimir Putin wanted Alexei Navalny dead, he would be dead. Army sharp-shooters do not miss a sitting target. A bullet in the head would leave an imprint hard to trace, and that would be that. Novichok, a poison, creates a multitude of problems, as we have seen.

Nevertheless, let’s assume the Kremlin was guilty of poisoning Navalny with Novichok. If the authorities had kept him at home nobody would know what had nearly killed him. Then Russia would have been free to invent any cock and bull story, even though they knew it had been Novichok.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 22 September 2020

Photo: Downing Street said in February 2020, its adviser Andrew Sabisky had resigned, following criticism of alleged past remarks on pregnancies, eugenics and race. Credit: BBC.

The Need to Address That British Eugenics Scandal

Viewpoint by Justin Podur*

This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

TORONTO (IDN) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been known to have an interest in eugenics, but despite the persistence of support for this discredited idea over the years, eugenics is a scientific and moral failure.

In February, an adviser to Johnson resigned when some old racist posts he wrote in 2014 emerged. The contractor, Andrew Sabisky, called himself a “superforecaster” by trade and trafficked in theories of race and intelligence. Footage resurfaced of Boris Johnson talking about genetic inequality and IQ in 2013.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 September 2020

Photo: Russian dissident politician Alexei Navalny landed at Berlin Tegel airport after being airlifted from a hospital in Omsk, Russia. He is being treated for suspected poisoning at Berlin's Charite hospital. Source: Deutsche Welle.

The Mystery of The Poisoning of Alexei Navalny

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Take the strange case of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident, who many think nearly died from a poisoning ordered by the Kremlin.

After sifting through the conflicting evidence, I was suddenly struck by a couple of sentences in a novel I’m reading right now, “The End of the Affair”, written by Graham Greene, widely considered to be one of the great writers of twentieth-century English literature.

“Does truth lie at some point in the pendulum’s swing, at a point where it never rests, not in the dull perpendicular mean where it dangles in the end like a windless flag, but at an angle, nearer one extreme than another? If only a miracle could stop the pendulum at an angle of sixty degrees, one could believe the truth is there.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 September 2020

Photo: Prime Minister Boris Johnson making a statement at the coronavirus press conference on September 9.

Breaking the Law over Brexit: How the UK is Playing Dirty in EU Talks

Viewpoint by Simon Sweeney*

YORK, United Kingdom (IDN) – The UK government seems to be doubling down on threats to leave the European Union without a deal unless the EU gives in on issues of state aid and fisheries. These two concerns are as important in Brussels as they seem to be in London.

In the latest attempt to ramp up the drama as the deadline to reach an agreement nears, the UK has said it plans to revisit the withdrawal agreement it has already signed with the EU on the terms of departure. This will include changing the plan agreed with the EU in December 2019 on how trade will move between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.