Speaking at an event organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) Jeanine Mabunda Lioko, an MP in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlighted activities that had demonstrated success in her own country in relation to conflict-related sexual violence, but stressed much more action was needed globally.

The NDI is working on developing an International Mechanism to Support Accountability and Justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Conflict. Whilst there has been some progress, the absence of accountability for sexual and gender-based violence can prevent healing and reconciliation as well as weakening the rule of law and undermining the strength of institutions.

Ms Mabunda said that the under-reporting of crimes was a concern, as highlighted in a UN Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council in June 2020. There is a need for countries to empower people to report sexual and gender-based violence safely and anonymously. In the DRC, a hotline was set up, in 2014, to do so had proved successful, in part because it allowed crime to be reported but also provided a ‘safe space’ where women could be heard. This is particularly important where a physical safe space is not accessible.

The reporting of sexual violence would also aid countries in understanding the issues they have and dealing with them. Some of the most successful initiatives are designed and implemented by the community but this needs to be supported by the rule of law. She said that victims needed to be given confidence that justice will be served should crimes be reported.

Ms Mabunda called on all Governments to act to combat gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination, saying a global conversation was needed to address the issues that many faces across the world. Mabunda said, “There is a role for the international community which has demonstrated previously that it can react and have an impact. Linking international financial support to improvements being made in certain areas is one such way that international bodies could influence countries to take action against this problem.” If there was a better understanding of the levels of gender-based violence, then clear targets, and actions to meet those targets, could be set. Failure to meet targets could result in a reduction of international aid a country could receive.

For many, there are still stigmas that are attached to sexual and gender-based violence and this needed to be addressed. Countries should take responsibility and make sure that they raise awareness of the issues. It is also essential that the judiciary are trained in handling cases of this type and that perpetrators face justice and are held to account.

Covid-19 pandemic is an ongoing global disaster that put almost every country under severe health crisis. While many media houses and even some governments labeled it the ‘China Virus’, experts expected a fall from grace for ‘Brand China’. Though many rich economies had popular dissatisfaction against Beijing, many developing countries had a positive affiliation with the Chinese. In several surveys conducted on China’s image abroad, the Asian giant was considered to have better managed the pandemic over the United States. This may seem a little surprising, but it also demystifies China’s global engagement activities amidst a lukewarm counter-narrative from the US in these regions.

China’s attempts to build ‘Brand China’

 The Covid-19 pandemic has reduced the image of China to its lowest rating. Beijing has been pulling from all cords to build a positive image with its media and diplomatic channels. These image-building efforts find their origins in its soft diplomatic policies to build a ‘Harmonious world’ (in 2008) followed by the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative (BRI) (2013). The initiatives included global media outreach, cultural exchanges, and economic partnerships with countries to build an affluent relationship across the world.

Through BRI, China has been able to capitalize on engagements with various African, MENA Middle East, and North America) and European nations, thereby enhancing its propaganda through their media.  Under a lesser-known program, ‘Digital BRI’ China has been using satellite technology to enhance television broadcasts” Most of the television broadcasts in the region are from China and many native journalists are trained by the Chinese as a part of the policy. A similar paradigm can be seen with journalists from the US and many parts of Europe where they are incentives are provided pro-China articles and stories.

With the Coronavirus finding its origins from Wuhan in China and later being disseminated across the world, the pandemic as expected had crippled China’s global image. But somehow, thanks to constant propaganda and ‘medical diplomacy’, the Chinese found themselves develop a positive rating in many European, MENA, and African Nations. During the onset of the pandemic, efforts were made to build a more positive image of China in these regions with increased reportage. Based on reports by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 54 journalist unions in 50 countries and suggested that in more than half of the countries, coverage on China at the onset of the pandemic was more positive. Among these, European nations had a higher number of positive stories and reportage towards the Chinese.  With the Chinese dragons having such a strong influence on the media ecosystem, there were not many hindrances to its’ brand revamping efforts. Measures were also extended towards Facebook and Twitter which were actively used for ‘pro-China’ posts and ads from various diplomats, journalists, along with native accounts to build a sense of trust among the populace.

Efforts were also concerted in ‘BRI partnered’ nations. For instance, Siberia had an official billboard with the words “Thank you, brother Xi”. Over 30000 tweets originated from the state, celebrating Siberia-Sino relations. As a result, despite popular dissatisfaction, the influence of tamed storytelling had turned the tide on China’s image in the nation. This was further strengthened with ‘Mask diplomacy’ which improved ‘brotherhood’ among nations. In countries surveyed within Africa, China was seen as a beneficial partner. Similarly in Europe and MENA, most of the respondents had positive affiliation towards the Chinese whereas Latin America saw some detraction against its Asian partner.

However, countries such as India and Australia have led the international push back of the Chinese propaganda. In 2020, India banned over 43 Chinese apps amidst a diplomatic move against China and Australia placed an embargo on China’s CGTN and CCTV news media. CGTN’s license was also revoked by UK-based Ofcom due to its biased reporting. Italy, a partner of BRI, had also called out China’s disinformation and false narrative during the pandemic.

Role of the US

The US had its own challenges during the ongoing pandemic. The constant rise in COVID-19 deaths, an underwhelming employment rate, and a change in the nation’s presidency had placed the nation on a backfoot. This had a negative impact on ‘Brand America’ which was further fuelled by the Chinese. The US, which was known for its convincing propaganda during the two World Wars and during the Cold War, had done very little to counter Chinese attempts at winning hearts. While the United States may have time and against tried to contain China from infiltrating its digital tech space and domination, it has done less than the bare minimum to defend its global leader image. Though, there was not much deviance from it is western ‘allied’ partners in favor of China, the fact that several Eastern and Northern European nations welcomed Chinese diplomatic initiatives spells worry for the US. Based on a survey by Pew Research regarding the abroad image of the US, less than half the respondents in the UK had favorably viewed the US, respondents from France and Germany too had similar outlook with just 31% and 26% of adults from respectively holding a positive view of the United States of America., from the Coronavirus.

These ratings might not infer a positive point of view over the Chinese, but it does showcase a popular dissatisfaction against the US. Post-Cold war, its influence on image building waned in regions such as MENA and Africa, which was filled in by the Chinese which had dominated the media ecosystem.

Conclusion

China has the ambition to take over the US as a global economic leader, and it is expected to push more of its agendas and anti-US sentiment across the world. With its robust global partnership policies and media dominance, the dragons have tried to build an alternate narrative across the world as it did during the pandemic. More than the presence of Chinese public diplomacy and facts, it was the absence of any initiatives on the same by the West and the US that boosted its image.

The Taliban are in control of Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years. But while they no longer have any military opposition, they now face an economy on the brink of collapse, which threatens to worsen an already devastating humanitarian crisis.
 
When the militant group seized power on 15 August, Afghanistan’s internal banking system froze up. Long queues have formed outside banks, many of which are closed, and ATMs that aren’t dispensing money. With limited access to cash, people are becoming increasingly desperate. The economy was already extremely fragile, heavily dependent on aid. A nation is considered aid-dependent when 10% or more of its gross domestic product (GDP) comes from foreign aid; in Afghanistan’s case, about 40% of its GDP was international aid, according to the World Bank.
 
When it became clear that the Taliban would gain control of Kabul, western powers, including the US and Germany, suspended foreign aid to the country. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also since halted payments. Foreign reserves of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank, have also been frozen. DAB has reserves of roughly $9bn (£6.5bn), most of which is held in the US.
 
Ajmal Ahmady, the former governor of DAB, tweeted last week that he fled the country on a US military plane on the day the Taliban seized Kabul. He said most of the DAB’s reserves are held in safe, liquid assets such as US Treasury bonds and gold offshore, as per international standards.
 
“We can say the accessible funds to the Taliban are perhaps 0.1-0.2% of Afghanistan’s total international reserves,” he added. “Not much.”
 
And last week, a Biden administration official confirmed to the BBC: “Any central bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.”
 
While the economy is at a standstill, the country is facing an exodus of people, with crowds rushing to the airport to try and escape Taliban rule. One money changer in Kabul told the Wall Street Journal that some landlords are even asking their tenants to stay in their properties for free, “because they fear that the Taliban may just take a house if it’s empty.”
 
In a recent article in the Financial Times, Mr Ahmady wrote that claims the Taliban could get sufficient revenue from illegal mining, opium production or trade routes were “over-optimistic”.
 
“Taliban revenues from such sources could be considered relatively large when only running an insurgency campaign,” he said. “They are wholly inadequate to operate a functional government.”
 
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

 

On top of foreign aid, another 4% of Afghanistan’s GDP was made up of remittances, according to the World Bank – that is, family members living outside the country sending money home from abroad. This meant that it was one of the countries most dependent on remittances in the world.
 
But in response to the Taliban’s take-over and western countries halting foreign aid shipments, international transfer companies Western Union and MoneyGram suspended their services in Afghanistan – effectively cutting off the supply of family money from abroad, too.
 
Announcing its decision last week, Western Union said in a statement that it knew the suspension would have a huge impact on Afghans.
 
“We recognize that our services provide a vital channel for our customers to support their loved ones, and we will continue to closely monitor this rapidly developing situation and keep our customers and associates apprised of any developments,” it said.
 
As a result, there is no hard currency for civilians to access – the banks are almost all closed, and people are unable to withdraw dollars.
 
Because of the volatile political situation the local currency, the afghani – which was already low in value – is now worth even less.
 
People have been sharing their experiences anonymously on the @HearAfghanWomen Twitter account.
In one tweet, a woman writes: “Gas is too expensive, all banks closed, other foodstuff shortage in Kabul stores, can’t find mobile top-up – and also afraid for our lives.”
 
In another, the account says people have resorted to selling their household belongings on the street.
“In the past few days, huge lines have formed in front of banks all over Afghanistan, and the banks now don’t have the currency,” Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics (LSE), tells the BBC.
 
“It doesn’t matter if you have Afghani currency, because that money has lost most of its value. And the central bank, the resources, the assets that helped to really sustain the Afghani currency have been frozen.”
 
Falling confidence in the Afghan economy has caused the Afghani currency to plummet, Prof Gerges says – leaving civilians reliant on foreign NGOs and humanitarian organizations.
 
On top of all of this, Afghanistan is in the middle of a devastating drought, which according to UN estimates has left around half of the country’s children malnourished.
 
“This is the second drought in three years,” Prof Gerges says. Afghanistan, he says, already had the second-highest level of food insecurity in the world, high rates of poverty, and a health system “at breaking point” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
“The Taliban takeover has exacerbated the multiple crises that already existed,” Prof Gerges adds. “What we have in Afghanistan is a ‘perfect storm’ – and what I mean by ‘perfect storm’ is multiple crises happening at once. It could really turn Afghanistan into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, similar to the ones in Syria and Yemen.”
 
 
But international leaders are hoping that the Taliban will want to prove that they are able to govern effectively, and so will be willing to compromise in order to get foreign funding reinstated.
 
For example, after chairing a virtual summit of G7 leaders this week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the countries had “very considerable leverage – economic, diplomatic and political” with the Taliban, including withholding substantial funds.
 
The G7 countries are the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
 
Prof Gerges says the G7 is “using carrots as opposed to sticks at this stage”.
“It seems to me that the Western powers and the US are willing to do what is called conditional engagement – that is, that the Taliban have to behave in order for the international community to unfreeze Afghanistan’s foreign reserves, and allow the Taliban access to Afghanistan’s central bank’s assets.”
 
In terms of the economy, he says, “I think it’s in the self-interests of the Taliban to provide goods and services for the Afghan people, to show that they are now in control, that they are a functioning government, and that they mean it when they say that they have changed.”
 
But whether that is enough to make them compromise on their politics and ideology, he adds, is very much an open question.

Democrats in Congress are reportedly worried how President Joe Biden’s plummeting approval ratings amid the chaos in Afghanistan will affect the Democratic Party as a whole.

Democratic lawmakers are concerned that Biden’s handling of the U.S. pullout of Afghanistan as well as COVID-19 may undermine the party in the near future and cause a backlash that ousts Democrats from power in Congress and across the United States. As The New York Times reports:

 
 

With President Biden facing a political crisis that has shaken his standing in his party, Democrats across the country are increasingly worried about their ability to maintain power in Washington, as his administration struggles to defend its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and stanch a resurgent pandemic that appeared to be waning only weeks ago. …

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers announced congressional investigations into the administration’s handling of the withdrawal, as a handful of Democratic lawmakers weighed whether calling for the resignation of Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would help the president “reset the narrative,” according to a Democratic House member, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The harrowing images appalled even the president’s staunchest supporters, many of whom — like a majority of the American public — support the decision to remove American troops from Afghanistan. But some of them worry the execution of the withdrawal has undermined Mr. Biden’s central campaign promise to restore a steady hand to governance, particularly on issues of national security.

Biden’s approval rating has fallen across multiple polls since Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban on August 15. Since then, the U.S. has overseen a frenzied and chaotic evacuation of thousands of U.S. personnel and citizens from Kabul’s Karzai International Airport.

Biden’s polling averages for RealClearPolitics and 538 tumbled below 50% for the first time last week.

As The Daily Wire reported:

The 538 poll found Biden with a 44% disapproval rating. The highest average approval rating the RCP poll has ascertained for Biden during his presidency was at 55.8%; he has dropped over five points.

A new Reuters poll conducted on Monday found that Biden’s approval rating had dropped by seven percentage points to rest at 46%, leaving him at his lowest level of his presidency.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the Biden administration has botched the pullout from Afghanistan. Biden has continued to defend his decision and handling of the effort while claiming that a prior conditional agreement made between former President Donald Trump and the Taliban forced Biden’s actions.

The developments come as the president has also struggled to find the proper messaging on COVID-19. Biden has continued to push masking and health restrictions because of the COVID-19 Delta variant. Last week, the Transportation Security Administration said that it was extending the federal mask mandate into 2022.

source: The Daily Wire

When Japan decided to donate Covid-19 vaccines to Taiwan to counter pandemic crisis, US also manifested gesture of ties to approach suffering people of Taiwan, the words got spread around world and states frequently judged, vaccine donation is Japan’s diplomatic strategy to threat China.
What a calamity appears to be unfolding an intense and no often than even a huge number of analysts imagined. Very recently, ministry statements of China have been interviewed, who call Japan’s donation “extremely irresponsible” and annoying to national unity and territorial integrity.
How China considers expanding ties of Tsai’s government with strategic democracies is rival behavior of Japan and US. It ought, at least, to be a concern for Taiwan; China’s own territory, to calm situation, but to choose the tie with China rather than Japan.
Who discloses the consequences are likely to be, when Tsai’s government of Taiwan accepts donation for Covid-19 vaccines from Japan and America, showing gesture of gratitude? China has long been a skeptic of the Japan interest in Taiwan, and China has stuck to that position even as the number of expenditures dedicated to Taiwan have notoriously contracted.

On 12th of March, the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, very recent refreshed dynamic forum among Australia, India, Japan and the United States, counted their new befall to jointly dispense vaccines in the Pacific region. Area concerned issue that is of immediate significance to partners but has so far been completely influenced by rival. On the other side, the emerging China donated and/or sold billions of doses to periphery and low-income nations are located around, moreover the United States lent only a few million “loans” to Canada and Mexico, while Japan even lost the number of exporting vaccines. No frequent support on the Australian part was visible before the words on Quad’s proclamation. India was the only country to supply more than 66 million doses to needy states around the world – prior to demising second wave vanquished New Delhi to recruit attention on its endeavor at home.
The Japanese government wounded itself in the face of rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Recently, Japan facilitated Taiwan with 1.24million doses of AstraZeneca’s covid-19 jab, later, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen charged China with blocking access to the vaccine, during the outbreak of the worst corona virus since the fall of pandemic. With China’s increasing in weight economic and military powers and its perused stressing tough timing to Japanese sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, known to the Chinese as the Diaoyutai Islands, altered dilemma of policies of Tokyo administration. Daniel Sneider, lecturer in East Asian Studies at Stanford University, said “The Japanese conservatives have really seized upon the Taiwan issue as a way of drawing lines with the Chinese”. However, in this comprehensive circumstance that Japan, at the glance on history, ruled as a colony over Taiwan, jumped on the island’s aid as it infiltrated to secure the supply of the coronavirus vaccine. Further Sneider put it, “It’s about demonstrating that Japan has an interest in the continued de facto independence and security of Taiwan. It’s that simple.”
Tsai, received worldwide acclaim for her response to the pandemic since its inception, is engaging public outrage after frequent inclination in the COVID-19 infection, began month before. Further, the number of infections 11,968 and deaths 333 recruited on the list, a good number of all reported in the past month. The number of Taiwan’s vaccinated population is very less, 3%, there is growing anger over the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines. Tsai’s government considered China responsible for all causalities and crisis, did not allow Taiwan accessors to reach the cross Covid-19 vaccines.
Orderly, vaccine was needed to Taiwan and governance could not afford to import Covid-19 vaccine from People’s Republic of China and Tsai’s government chose Japan. Tsai’s government showed prosperous triumph, considering Japanese donation. Even though, people of Taiwan showed gesture of gratitude, took selfies travelling to Japan – captured pre-pandemic – and uploaded on social media.

Taiwan tolerates a stake in COVID-19 cases, Japan have stepped foot ahead and dispensed vaccines against the infection to the island. Nevertheless, this is typical of Japan’s vaccine diplomacy: clear, strategic, more comprehensive and global. When the current episode of pandemic came into existence, Japan has been coming up with logistical support to Taiwan countering Chinese rivalry. Japan’s move to donate Taiwan has annoyed China who considers Taiwan it’s belong territory.
Although, the support for Taiwan expresses that these measures demonstrate Tokyo’s – Washington, a considered too – commitment to curb Chinese political maneuvers aimed at Taiwan to scatter discord in society. Beijing affirms full sovereignty over Taiwan, a governance of almost 24 million people inhabited of the southeastern coast of mainland China. Meanwhile both parties, in fact have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taiwan’s expanding strategic ties with democracies, including United States of America indicate increase in China’s aggression, which has been often opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that “Taiwan’s independence” means war. A delegation took train from US to Taiwan, announcing the donation of 750,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses. The trip separately harms US-China ties and also measured behavior with Taiwan, counting it “extremely irresponsible”
Wu Qian, Chinese ministry spokesman said in a statement. “If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from mainland China, the People’s Liberation Army will hit back and be determined to protect national unity and territorial integrity at all costs,”

The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United States Congress, has recently passed a bill aimed at granting statehood to Washington, D.C. The House Resolution 51 – the Washington D.C. Admission Act-, passed with a vote of 232-180 on June 26, with the majority of House Democrats supporting the initiative to give birth to the 51st U.S. state. Even though this vote can certainly be considered historic, it is worth noticing that it doesn’t constitute the first ever attempt to turn the district into a real state. In fact, the push for statehood has been particularly strong in recent years, and both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama supported it during their presidency.

The reasons behind embracing a changing of status for D.C. are various. Firstly, the District of Columbia is large enough to be a state. With around 705,000 residents, the area counts more people than Vermont and Wyoming, and in term of numbers is almost comparable with other states such as Delaware or Alaska. Secondly, to make D.C. completely autonomous would be a synonym of achieving full representation. In this sense, the local population has neither a Senator nor a House Member, but just a non-voting delegate -Eleanor Holmes Norton-, who can only draft legislation. Another favorable point toward creating a new state is its adherence to constitutional principles. The U.S. Constitution states indeed that Congress has the authority to redefine the borders of the federal district and shrink its size. Such act has already been done in 1846, when the portion west of the Potomac river was returned to Virginia.
Following this frame, the bill would resize the federal capital to a small area which encompasses, among others, the White House, the Capitol building, the Supreme Court and the National Mall. The rest of the city would become the 51st state, named the Washington, Douglas Commonwealth after abolitionist Fredrick Douglas. But the necessity for a new state has also been raised among racial justice turmoil following George Floyd’s death, in particular after the forcible clearing of peaceful protesters outside the White House to allow President Trump’s photo op at a local church. For this reason, making D.C. a state would enfranchise the city’s very large African American population, thus making an important victory for civil rights.

Despite remarkable, the bill is not expected to go too far, mainly for the vehement Republican opposition. Currently, Republicans control the Senate, hence making the chance to pass the bill from the House to the upper chamber extremely low. President Donald Trump is of the same opinion. He pointed out that he’s ready to veto the bill in case it reaches his office, thus making it clear that for now there is no will to increase democratic power in the Senate. In order to assess whether the project of an independent D.C. could be effectively realized, it is necessary to wait for the next presidential elections. If democratic candidate Joe Biden wins in November, then the issue can be handled differently. However, the path to D.C. statehood will face some obstacles, including the so called ‘filibuster’, a practice that allows a minority of the Senate to block legislation. If approved, it will eventually end the ‘no taxation without representation’, considering that D.C. residents pay the highest federal taxes per capita but still don’t have any representation in Congress.

Recent crises of the European Union — most notably the financial crisis, post-2008, and the migration crisis — strained EU solidarity to a point from which it has not recovered. Faced with the current crisis, precipitated by COVID-19, it is unclear whether European cooperation will be able to withstand the additional tension.

Rise in bottom-up discontent:

In the midst of a global crisis of unprecedented scale, and faced with a long and complex road to recovery, European solidarity is currently more tested and necessary than ever before. However, the lack of a single ‘national’ European consciousness is accelerating discord within the already fragile union. In Italy, stark imagery of people burning the EU flag in a demonstration of discontent is symbolic of the effect this crisis is having and will have, on this tenuous union. Despite an EU procurement scheme which provided 1.5 billion euros of PPE across 25 member states as well as the sharing of ICU facilities and vital medical supplies, polling suggests that 88% of Italians feel that Europe is failing to support Italy in the crisis, with 67% of Italians considering EU membership a disadvantage. The procurement scheme has now been rolled out, but its delayed creation and implementation meant that the EU lost vital ground in the global narrative to China and Russia, who provided supplies for some of the hardest-hit countries. The Union suffered popular discontent in previous crises. However, the polling data from Italy suggests that it is different this time around, as Euroscepticism grows amongst previously supportive middle-class Italian liberals. Post-Covid, it is likely that Euroscepticism will not remain at the periphery, adding further strain to the band of EU cooperation.

Economic Fallout:

Economic forecasting from the European Commission predicts that the imminent recession will be greater than that post-2008, with income in 2020 expected to fall by 10% resulting in an average budget deficit of 11% across the eurozone. The economic response to the impending post-COVID financial crash encapsulates the discord within the EU. Initially, a €540 billion relief fund primarily centred around the ESM was proposed. First provided in response to the financial crisis it is a proven failure in providing long term stability, evident in the lacklustre Greek economy. The stringent austerity measures attached to the loans have impeded economic recovery and led to an immediate growth in Euroscepticism within the worst affected countries; a situation that the Union knows it could not afford to repeat.

The tightrope that EU leaders at the core of decision making have to walk torn between a large enough fiscal stimulus with a radical reform in the form of Eurobonds and finding an agreement deemed acceptable to all member states has resulted in an economic response that will ultimately disentangle EU integration. The 750 billion package announced is the first time debt has been mutalised across the eurozone however although the common debt suggests unity the terms are evidence of the contrary. Throughout negotiations, the frugal four, a fault line established post-2008, have doggedly opposed common debt resulting in a thrashed out deal that falls below the required mark. Simply the package is not large enough to borrow the phrase from economist Yanis Varoufakis to is ‘macroeconomically puny’. Whilst the sum seems large the way the grants are formed means that for example, Italy will receive net 0.6% GDP set against the impending gloom of austerity at around 9% not dissimilar to levels seen in Greece post-2009. Furthermore, the fact that the sums for each country have been cemented prior to the economic fallout is the gravest mistake; the full effects are yet to be known but the EU’s measure lacks the fluidity to effectively deal with the crisis.

The current crisis renewed the calls for change to future proof the eurozone and strengthen cooperation however this will not be achieved. The measures imposed will over the course of the next five years see an incomparable rise in Euroscepticism across members who suffer as a result of being shackled to the eurozone.

Constitutional challenge:

The landmark case from the German Constitutional Court, which ruled that the EU’s top judges failed to properly scrutinise the bond-buying programme and have asked for the ECB to show proportionality within its quantitative easing programme, undermining the ECJ’s superiority. The decision suggests that the Bundastag and the Federal Government have an obligation to ensure integration measures are based on what the German citizens agreed, thus opening up a Pandora’s box on the central question of sovereignty. Although the ECJ have attempted to reassert primacy with a stark statement denouncing the German ruling, it demonstrates the animosity to greater and deeper cooperation within the strongest of the EU powers.

The Covid-19 pandemic is the third major crisis the EU has experienced in a twelve-year period. The first two crises accentuated areas of discord within the Union. Past crises were not adequately resolved and the band of cooperation never fully rebounded. The current crisis poses the single greatest threat on all three areas of discord and therefore will stretch European cooperation to its limits.

We have all been touched by the Covid-19 pandemic in some way – but the impacts have been far from equal. Refugees, asylum seekers and displaced families have largely been forgotten in the Covid-19 conversation. In a pandemic, poverty becomes even more deadly. As more of our lives and work move online, African refugees and displaced families in Chad; and in Africa in general, risk being left out of the game; according to reports of our Africa regional bureau.

While Covid-19 has caused disruption to most people’s lives in Africa and around the world, displaced families and refugees who have children with additional needs or disabilities are experiencing even greater upheaval. Hence, we are calling for all people of faith to support refugees and displaced families in this special season.

As we are approaching the 2021 Eid Al-Adha, we invite you to participate in this year’s Qurban campaign to reach out to the African refugees and displaced families who are in dire need. There are two main celebrations in Muslim cultures around the world which are of most importance, one being Eid Al-Fitr, the celebration of the end of the fasting month – Ramadhan, and Eid Al-Adha, also known as the festival of Sacrifice. It is during this time Muslims prepare a sacrifice in the form of a meat hamper or distribution also known as Qurban. To give Qurban is to not only remind us of the humility of the human spirit, but to also help feed those who are less fortunate. In many cases, there are some poor communities in the world that only eat meat during the Qurban period because of their inability to afford meat.

Who will conduct the Eid Qurban and how will it be distributed?

The Qurban will be personally handled and delivered to the refugees and displaced families who need it the most — in association with local organizations, and be completed and supervised by our Africa regional director, Idriss Zackaria and his team in Chad.

With your assistance, Young Diplomats’ Africa team of dedicated volunteers will help millions of the oppressed and underprivileged displaced families in Chad and around the African continent. Today, even the world’s most developed countries are battling for limited healthcare resources. In comparison, basic amenities like soap and clean running water are hard to come by in those refugees’ camps. Therefore, we call for more actions than Eid Qurban campaigns; we call on concerned countries to make a special effort at this difficult time.

For donations and international bank transfer, the following are the details you may need:

Account Name: NGO Young Diplomats

Bank: United Bank for Africa (UBA)

Account Number: 70403100084

IBAN: 60008 05704 70403100084 52

Swift Code UBA TCHAD: UNAFTDND

Thanks for getting in touch with us:

Email: youngdiplomatsafrica@gmail.com or editor@young-diplomats.com

Website: https://www.young-diplomats.com/

Address: Young Diplomats – Africa Regional Bureau, 6318, N’Djamena, Chad  

For more information about the crisis

https://www.young-diplomats.com/stories-of-hope-and-despair-form-central-african-refugees-in-chad/

https://www.young-diplomats.com/fleeing-war-fighting-for-survival-chadian-returnees-face-new-struggles/

https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2018/3/5aab91664/chad-funding-shortfall-threatens-central-african-refugees.html

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/03/1005252

www.young-diplomats.com/inside-nigeria-a-massive-internal-displacement-crisis/

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/02/1003791

Version française

Aïd al-Adha: Partagez vos sacrifices avec les réfugiés et les familles déplacées en Afrique.

Nous avons tous été touchés par la pandémie de Covid-19 d’une manière ou d’une autre – mais les impacts sont loin d’être égaux. Les réfugiés, les demandeurs d’asile et les familles déplacées ont été largement oubliés lors de la conversation Covid-19. Dans une pandémie, la pauvreté devient encore plus meurtrière. Alors que de plus en plus de vies et de travaux se déplacent en ligne, les réfugiés africains et les familles déplacées au Tchad; et en Afrique en général risquent d’être exclus du jeu, selon le rapport de notre bureau régional pour l’Afrique.

Alors que Covid-19 a perturbé la vie de la plupart des gens en Afrique et dans le monde, les familles déplacées et les réfugiés qui ont des enfants ayant des besoins supplémentaires ou des handicaps connaissent des bouleversements encore plus importants. Par conséquent, nous appelons tous les croyants à soutenir les réfugiés et les familles déplacées en cette période spéciale.

Alors que nous nous approchons de l’Aïd Al-Adha 2021, nous vous invitons à participer à la campagne Sacrifice de cette année pour atteindre les réfugiés africains et les familles déplacées qui en ont besoin. Il y a deux célébrations principales dans les cultures musulmanes à travers le monde qui sont les plus importantes, l’une étant l’Aïd Al-Fitr, la célébration de la fin du mois de jeûne – le Ramadhan, et l’Aïd Al-Adha, également connu sous le nom de festival du sacrifice ou l’Aïd El Kabir ou encore Tabaski. C’est pendant cette période que les musulmans préparent un sacrifice sous forme d’un panier à viande ou d’une distribution également connue sous le nom de Qurban. Partager la viande du sacrifice, c’est non seulement nous rappeler l’humilité de l’esprit humain, mais aussi aider à nourrir ceux qui sont dans le besoin. Dans de nombreux cas, certaines communautés pauvres dans le monde ne mangent de la viande que pendant la période de L’Aïd en raison de leur incapacité à acheter de la viande.

Qui dirigera l’opération de distribution de la viande et comment se déroulera-t-elle ?

La distribution sera effectuée en collaboration avec des organisations locales et livré aux réfugiés et aux familles déplacées qui en ont le plus besoin. Cette opération sera supervisée par notre directeur régional pour l’Afrique, Idriss Zackaria et son équipe au Tchad.

Avec votre aide, l’équipe de jeunes volontaires de Young Diplomats Africa aidera des millions de familles déplacées opprimées et défavorisées au Tchad et dans le continent africain. Aujourd’hui, même les pays les plus développés du monde se battent pour des ressources de santé limitées. En comparaison, les équipements de base comme le savon et l’eau courante propre sont difficiles à trouver dans ces camps de réfugiés. Par conséquent, nous appelons à plus d’actions que les campagnes de l’Aïd El Kebir; nous appelons les pays concernés à faire un effort particulier en cette période difficile.

Pour les dons et virement bancaire international, voici les détails dont vous pourriez avoir besoin:

Nom du compte: ONG Young Diplomats

Banque: United Bank for Africa (UBA)

Numéro de compte: 70403100084

IBAN: 60008 05704 70403100084 52

Code Swift UBA TCHAD: UNAFTDND

Vous pouvez nous contacter par :

Email: youngdiplomatsafrica@gmail.com ou editor@young-diplomats.com

Adresse: Young diplomats – Bureau régional pour l’Afrique, 6318, N’Djamena, Tchad

Site Web: https://www.young-diplomats.com/

Pour plus d’informations sur la crise

https://www.young-diplomats.com/stories-of-hope-and-despair-form-central-african-refugees-in-chad/

https://www.young-diplomats.com/fleeing-war-fighting-for-survival-chadian-returnees-face-new-struggles/

https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2018/3/5aab91664/chad-funding-shortfall-threatens-central-african-refugees.html

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/03/1005252

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/02/1003791

www.young-diplomats.com/inside-nigeria-a-massive-internal-displacement-crisis/

Still well into the 21st century and majority of Africa remains stuck in poverty. Through a differential diagnosis lens one might come up with various explanations for this like environmental conditions, disease, poor education, governmental corruption etc. All these reasons would be right. Although if referring to history to isolate one of the primary significant contributors under-pinning development issues experienced in Africa, one need not look any further than colonial exploitation.

The “Scramble for Africa” between 1881 and 1914 by several Western European powers, taking advantage of the continent, left a disastrous colonial legacy still felt today. By 1914, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained unconquered and independent. The rest of the states? Poor, vulnerable and weak, succumbed to arbitrary division and artificial boundaries drawn up by the Imperial forces.Politically dominated, although rich in natural resources, cotton, gold, diamonds etc. left African states to be ransacked by disparate European trade interests.With no infrastructure framework existent prior to European colonization and with roughly a third of African countries being land-locked, foreign power-brokers took to work with constructing railroads to move product to coastal states for transshipment and exportation.A resulting consequence however, was a partial infrastructure grid being created; each colonial power merely constructing railway networks from their mining operation sites to a few major cities and coastal ports utilized by them. This compared to, say, India’s railway network where a full grid was built due to a single unified colonial power, Great Britain, having created a unified infrastructure network for their singular interests, which at the material time was primarily for harvesting and trading India’s cotton.

Modern India benefiting from this railway network, now a major import and export commodity partner of various foreign countries. In the East, throughout the balance of the 20th century, African states slowly moved towards independence and broke away from colonial rule.However, the colonial legacy left was an infrastructure network that remains incomplete with no integration or coalescence.Not isolated to the railway networks alone but inclusive of ports, power plants and roads that still have major gaps and deficiencies creating obstacles to fiscal diversification, investment and growth.African states aiming to develop and initiate self-autonomous trade to establish themselves as contenders in the world’s trade game attempt to fix this botched infrastructure foundation.The modern global economy now geared towards fiscal control rather than military land control, has opened the door for a new economic colonizer, China, to dominate Africa.

In the 21st century, China is the single largest financier for African infrastructure.A 2018 Deloitte report documents that one third of African infrastructure projects are constructed by China and one fifth of projects are financially backed by China. Estimates by the African Development Bank in 2019 approximated US$130 billion to US$170 billion dollars were required for continental infrastructure needs.Bootstrapped as it is, African governments are more than willing to take out Chinese loans to advance such initiatives.

These major holdings in African infrastructure, leaves many African governments economic development ambitions at the mercy of Chinese willingness, or unwillingness, to fund. A recent example is Xi Jinping’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, a flagship Eastern African rail project meant to connect Uganda and Kenya. Concrete sleeper tracks were laid, the project appearing well underway, until it was discontinued by Beijing’s withholding of about $4.9 billion needed to enable completion.

The rail line is now dormant, with construction having stopped in a remote Western village of Nairobi rather than connecting the major Kenyan coastal port of Mombasa with land-locked Uganda. The Ugandan government has now resolved to alter design plans and connect the Ugandan side of the railway with an alternative, very old rail line however the project will still require funding.

Conduct such as this has raised doubts of China’s intentions, as it is all too easily able to entrap African states, already indebted, into further debt forcing their hand to take out Chinese loans. Beijing claims it’s merely re-assessing its debt exposure however, recurring patterns of 19th and 20th century colonial military control and modern day economic control tactics are all too similar to be discounted entirely.

The fall of first World War by signing the treaty named “Treaty of Versailles” between Allied Powers and Germany –following hurting pathetic German emotions that caused rise of an Evil and Fascist Adolf Hitler– and birth of another wild, brutal World War. The words argue that rise of such Fascist ruler – Adolf Hitler – had attempted to start slogans and competency favored one particular ethnicity for power that illustrates identity crisis for instance, The Holocaust. Politics emphasis, it’s active engagement with power and status quo though the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler did, genocide German Jews by making them responsible for each of state’s irresponsibility, backwardness and failures. Thus, to seek attention of the human rights policy makers and governing bodies that all the human, no matter which ethnicity they belong, should be given rights according to law. Living on the land being inborn, right of common people to be engaged with liberated citizenship at the land of birth that’s the solution to confront with genocidal and populist rulers and to stop more displacement of indigenous people. As the moment of displacing Germany Jewish people come to pass, throwing all the Jews out of Germany along with rest of the European Jews. The Jewish people of nowhere took refuge in Palestine, as the time went on another displacement of Palestinian people befall by accusing Jewish genocide against Muslims on their homeland and the age of Fascism and identity crisis starts for more demonstrating inhuman killing of indigenous people of Palestine.

 

The end of history’s second largest brutal, inhuman and wildest war, on November 11, 1918, Germany formally surrendered and all nations agreed to end the war while the terms of peace were discussed. On June 28, 1919, Germany and its allies (including Britain, France, Italy, and Russia) signed Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. Treaty imposed very harsh and humiliating terms and reparation amounts and lands on Germany, along with acceptance accuse for the war that erect to limiting German armed forces which felt the German populace a disrespect to their identity and culture that led to protest in German parliament, out on the street and the afterwards rise of Adolf Hitler. Some historians believe that in the face of such disastrous circumstances’ peacemakers did their best to make German suffer for it’s doing. other historians describe the Treaty of Versailles as the agreement was half-hearted and humiliating move, it did great deal of damage to German. However, that left Germany so strong to take revenge.

Adolf Hitler’s rise to power after the social, political and economic unrest following the defeat of Germany. Hitler touched his political intentions in Munich 19th of June 1919. As a political agent for army, Hitler took part the small German Workers’ Party in Munich September 1919. In 1920, he got himself busy with party’s agenda and was appointed responsible personae and left the army to improve his position in the party. Same year, party was renamed the National Socialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazi). The circumstances were under acquaintance for the development of the small party, and Hitler was largely astute to take full advantage of them. When he joined the party, he felt ineffective, committed to the program of nationalist and socialist ideology, but was uncertain of its aims and divided under its leadership. They accepted his program but considered it a means to an end. His propaganda and his personal intentions led to controversies with other party leaders. Hitler countered their effort to stop him by threatening to resign, and because the future of the party depended on his power to decide. Nazi party had a very rapid growth and Hitler tried to force Bavarian government and the local army commander – Hitler was very familiar in Bavaria – to call a national revolution, very soon afterwards, local security and military personae started open fire at the advancing marchers killing a number of them. Hitler got injured too, a formal trail took place for treason, he characteristically fallen with advantage of the compassion publicity adored to him. Incident taught Hitler at any means, achieve power by legal means. Court sentenced him for five years prison but it just took nine months him to get rid out of prison.

The greatest threating enemy of Nazism, for Hitler, was not the liberal democracy in Germany, which was about to touch the womb of collapse. Along with his insistence on internationalism and economic conflict, his rival was Weltanschauung Marxism (which embodied social democracy as well as communism). Apart from Marxism, Hitler considered the greatest enemy of Nazism is being a Jew, an incarnation of evil for Germany. There are words among historians as to when anti-Semitism became Hitler’s core punishment. Initially, he wrote, “Rational anti-Semitism must lead to systematic legal opposition. Its final object must be the removal of the Jews altogether”. More counted “destroyer of culture,” “a parasite within the nation.” and “a menace”.

Once power fall on Hitler’s feet, he established an authoritarian dictatorship. He embodied the consent of president for coming elections. 27th of February 1933 (figuring the work of a Dutch Communist, Marinus) intensified an excuse for a review of all guarantees of independence and a rapid campaign of violence. The warm scenario of election on 5th of march, the Nazi got 43.9 percent support of the voters. On the day 21 of March, the Reichstag gathered at the Potsdam Garrison Church to demonstrate the unity of National Socialist with old Conservative Germany, represented by Hindenburg. Two days afterward, the Enabling Bill, which gave full authority to Hitler, was came into existence in the Reichstag by a joint vote of Nazi, Nationalists and Center Party deputies (23rd of March 1933). Within the tenure of three months or less later, all non-Nazi parties, trade unions and organizations remained out of existence. Hitler did not want to spark revolutionary thoughts. Conservative ideas were still essential need if they were to succeed the throne of presidency and maintained military friendship. Moreover, they did not evacuate industry leaders, provided it was served to the intentions of the Nazi state.

The rise of Adolf Hitler even as the Fascist Fuhrer of Germany illustrates leading path to identity crisis of only ethnicity Jewish community, “The Holocaust” and another World War, which is known to the history, one the biggest disastrous events of human history.

 

The writing emphasizes a broad view of identity crisis in the era of Fascist Fuhrer Adolf Hitler during World War II and its consequences, displacing of Jews from West to Middle East and the Palestine indigenous populace under Jewish siege. The starting twice of three years of Hitler’s dictatorship, Jews were affected of more than four hundred decrees and regulation on all their livings and turning aspects. The regulation slowly but systematically stripped them of their rights and property, turning them into citizens outpace. Many of the laws were issued by the German administration that affected all Jews. States, regional and local government officials also issued a number of orders in their respective communities. As Nazi leaders were ready for war in Europe, anti-Jewish legislation in Germany and Austria gestured the way of more radical persecution of Jews. The renowned intellectual scholar and “The Holocaust” survivor, Noam Chomsky stated, “The Holocaust was the most extreme atrocity in human history, and we lose our humanity if we are even willing to enter the arena of debate with those who seek to deny or underplay Nazi crimes.” Chomsky counted to considering ambiguous opinion on Nazi racism’s wild cruelties and disastrous errors of history is inhuman behavior. The policies were introduced and came into existence by Nazi personae again Jews and anti-Nazi had catastrophic frame of racism reference, it resulted death of hundreds of thousands of Jews and millions of other people having different ethnicities, including Soviet civilians, prisoners of war, the Roma, the disabled, political and religious dissent, and gay men.

Germany was fighting two war simultaneously, “The Holocaust” the war against Jews, a racial war and World War II. Nazi emphasis on words for Jews as a race not a religious group and the racial logic of Nazism resulted annihilation. Hitler showed egoistic opposition for Jews and the values they introduced to the world alike social justice, business innovation and intellectual thinking etc. In Hitler’s views, such opinions will restrict to exercise power and will create dissent mind with in German state that inevitably lead to restraint power of master race. The large number of extremist students along with many professors having Nazi ideology, stormed university libraries and bookstores around in thirty cities throughout Germany to get the rid-out thousands of books authored by anti-Nazi and those who opposed Nazi regime and its ideology. The books were thrown in street and tossed them on fire for sake to show clearance of un-Germanic writings.  A German known poet of Jewish identity, Heinrich Heine said, “Where one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people.” Heine’s words got their existence in Nazi Germany, the time between Jewish authors books were burnt and afterwards People of Jewish identity.

Former United States Secretary of State, diplomate, author and Survivor of “The Holocaust” Henry Kissinger reminds Nazi Germany regime and terror, “I could never forget what an inspiration it had been to the victims of persecution, to my family, and to me during cruel and degrading years. I always remembered the thrill when I first walked the street of New York City. Seeing a group of boys, I began to cross the other side to avoid being beaten up. And then I membered where I was.”  Kissinger’s words delight the horrible era of Nazism and its fascist role within Germany, and the responsible for Jews displacement, is also be phrased, “The Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine” and “Palestine Emergency”. To Adolf Hitler, the anti-Semitic Fuhrer, the Jews were an inferior race and foreign threat to German ethnic purity and community. Under the years rule of Nazi Germany Jews were persecuted permanently, Hitler’s “The Last Solution” – Came to existence as “The Holocaust”- hundreds of thousands mass murder centers were set up in the camps. Under the Nuremberg Laws, Jews became the norm for defamation and persecution. It fallen in November, when Kristall Nacht, or “Night of the Broken Glass” came, German Syngogues were burned and the windows of Jews places were smashed around 100 Jews got killed and the twice of five more were arrested. German police forcefully got out dozens of Jews from their home and ghettos. The Ghetto played a disastrous role as circled captive cities under Jewish council, in addition to widespread starvation, poverty, unemployment, and overpopulation made ghettos breading based spread for disease such as typhus, with the time period between 1933 and 1939, millions of Jews  who could make their self-able to get rid out of Germany, were left while those remained, were lived in uncertainty and fear.

Elie Wisesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and “The Holocaust” survivor, wrote; “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political view, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.” Recount, the Auschwitz Holocaust Memorial and Museum, first plain to escape considered on 6th of July, 1940 at the sole start of Auschwitz’s existence. The reason behind stablishing so far that 928 prisoners tried to escape from the Auschwitz camp complex, 878 men and 50 women. Very low number, phrased 196 prisoners made themselves success in escaping but the majority got shot during pursuit and rest lived in camps to see the end of war.

Professor Ilan Pappe an expatriate Israeli historian said, “Ethnic cleaning is an effort to render an ethnically mixed country homogeneous by expelling a particular group of people and turning them into refugee while demolishing the home they were driven out from.” In 1917, the British government announced its intention to facilitate the immigration of Jews to the singular homeland. The country of Jewish people was considered Palestine by the United Nations in 1922. However, the large Arab populace in Palestine opposed the decision and reacted vigorously violent to the proposed words. In 1936, the British Parliament proposed the partition of Palestine between two states defining their believes, which the Jews agreed to, but Arab opposed the idea was totally rejected by Palestine people. United Nations proposed it again in 1948, after World War II Britain had relinquished control of Palestine to the United Nations. Again, proposal widespread into air and rejected by Arab. Immigrant Jews were attacked by indigenous people of Palestine, moreover Arab couldn’t do enough to stop the immigration of Jewish and international intervention in Palestine. Professor Ilan Pappe sparks light on Palestine condition and says, “Half of the indigenous people living in Palestine were driven out, half of their villages and town were destroyed, and only very few among them ever managed to return.” By the year 1948 the structure of Palestine’s economic, social and political were damaged and rearranged with Zionist intentions by Jews. On 14th of May, 1948, it was claimed after official conquering the territory of Palestine that the Jew were to create a homeland called the state of Israel. United Nations showed keen interest and approved Jewish intentions to create a state “Israel” within state “Palestine” and Arab were managed to take their foothold back. Within the duration of single overnight Palestine people lost almost 52% of their homeland. As the time went on, the number of loss of territory raised, by 1967, the Arab people were left with only 22% of their homeland. The migration fallen over Palestine people, created an entire nation and has led to religious and cultural wars between two entirely different group of the region. The current scenario sparks light on the tense situation of ever constant battles between Israeli and Palestine people. Professor Ilan Pappe spread a thought on Israel’s dark side of intentions, “Most Zionists don’t believe that God exist, but they do believe he promised them Palestine”

 

It’s the matter of fact, identity crisis is never isolated. Each Fascist governance, at the glance of Hindutva India under Fascist Modi, Russia in the hands of Putin, Erdogan’s governance in Turkey, the influence of Military regime in the politics of Pakistan and Israel under Netanyahu’s fascist regime. Minorities and other ethnicities are controlled through dismantling constitution. Fascist governing bodies manipulate minds of common people and raise hatred feelings towards minorities and one particular ethnicity based on cultural and religious identity. The manipulation takes place through media, text books, and few selected faces, Noam Chomsky calls it “Manufacturing Consent”.  The people residents of Jammu and Kashmir are under curfew around two years, moreover their rights of autonomy, freedom of press, write, speak, education and even breathing are violated alike Israel under Fascist Netanyahu has ruined common will of Palestine people to live at their homeland. In Pakistan, the rights of Baloch and Sindhi are nowhere to be counted even, thousands of people of Pakistan are murdered for writing truth about the current involvements in politics and religion. Huge number of writers, thinkers, journalists, public figures and activists are missing and number is raising and it goes on.