White Lives Matter in Ukraine coverage
In news coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Western Press found it difficult to comprehend how this conflict in White Ukraine could happen. “Now, because of the Ukrainians’ whiteness and proximity to the west, it’s apparently difficult for some political commentators and roving reporters to grasp how this conflict could have come to pass. It’s as though bloodshed and...
Openness toward Iran sign of realists’ growing influence?
JIM.LOBEInter Press-Service WASHINGTON - The realists appear to have chalked up another win in their ongoing internal battle against hawks within the foreign policy branch of President George W. Bush’s administration. The decision to send the State Department’s third-ranking official to Geneva July 19 to join talks between the other four permanent members of the UN Security and Germany, on...
U.S. Ground Troops Possible in Anti-ISIS Battle
JIM.LOBE WASHINGTON (IPS) - U.S. combat troops may be deployed against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) if the strategy announced by President Barack Obama last week fails to make substantial progress against the radical Sunni group, Washington's top military officer warned. The statement by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, delivered during...
Grave violations surge against children in conflict
Armed conflict, inter-communal violence and insecurity continued to take a devastating toll on thousands of children throughout 2021, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), warned recently. From Afghanistan to Yemen, and Syria to northern Ethiopia, UNICEF denounced grave violations against youngsters in both protracted and new conflicts. ‘Dreadful disregard’ Four children were reportedly among the victims of a recent attack that killed at...
Sudan agrees to AU/UN peacekeeping force
AU chief wants African Darfur force (Al Jazeera, 08-13-2007)Darfur, Uganda and the U.S. campaign to destabilize Sudan (FCN, 01-01-2007) Darfur, Sudan: Seeking the Truth (FCN Webcast, 05-07-2006) UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - The United Nations Security Council on July 31, unanimously approved the “hybrid force” of 26,000 troops expected to be made up mostly of peacekeepers from Africa and Asia....
Justice critical to fighting sexual violence in conflict
Women’s rights are human rights, and universal in times of war and peace, a senior UN official told the Security Council on April 13, urging ambassadors to ensure accountability for conflict-related sexual violence. Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative working to end rape as a weapon of war, was addressing a high-level debate on strengthening accountability as a means to...
Zimbabwe looks to Asia for trade
Journalists see Zimbabwe's land crisis up close (FinalCall.com Special Report) HARARE, Zimbabwe (PANA)–Ostracized by her traditional European trading partners over alleged human rights abuses, Zimbabwe is looking to Asia and other developing countries for new trade opportunities to shore up its sagging economy, although analysts say the switch will take time to bear fruit. The southern African country is under political...
Collapse of Caribbean regional group not a good sign
NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - The 15-member Community of Caribbean States and Common Market (CARICOM) released a report in the first week of March stating that the 40-year-old regional integration movement could come to an end because of poor financing, dissatisfaction and the ongoing world economic crisis. CARICOM's Guyana-based secretariat noted that the regional bloc formed in 1973 to promote trade...
Kenya: UN expert hails historic reparations ruling in favor of Indigenous peoples
An independent UN human rights expert hailed a decision July 18 by the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, to award reparations to the Ogiek Indigenous peoples, for harm that they suffered due to “injustices and discrimination.” The historic ruling follows a landmark judgment delivered by the court on May 26, 2017, finding that the government of Kenya had violated the right...
Destruction in Gaza could take decades to fix, warn analysts
Palestinian residences, hospitals, schools, government offices, businesses, local and international media outlet buildings lay in ruins after massive airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank. A ceasefire ended an 11-day barrage of missiles between the Zionist State of Israel and primarily the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on May 20. It left massive destruction of property and a carnage...