Fabienne Durand (*)
The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic differ from one region of the world to another. They are most keenly felt in conflict areas where public healthcare systems have collapsed or are severely compromised. The greatest risk is that existing tensions and conflicts, such as those in the Middle East, might be heightened. The stability of this region, that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Maghreb, is essential for economic and security balance in the world.
Jean Marie Montali (*)
Some time ago, I stopped buying Nutella. Because of palm oil, deforestation and orangutans which are primates from the Hominidae family. No one ever told me “Strange, you’re not an orangutan, are you?”. I also worry about polar bears, which are marine mammals from the Ursidae family, which splash around on ice packs, and for whales, those marine mammals from the Cetacea infraorder, which are harpooned day and night by the Japanese and (I think) the Norwegians, and for elephants which are mammals from Proboscidean order… Yet, no one ever told me: “That’s odd, you’re neither a whale, nor a bear, nor an elephant, are you?”.
Hamid Zanaz (*)
According to Islamic ideology, no way of life is valid or deserves to be experienced, other than the one defined by the Koran. And so, even if all problems were solved, fundamentalism would remain. The long-awaited, long-desired Islam of Light, this dreamed Islam, is an “impossible”. It only diverts young people away from universal values, attracting them more to Islam, then to fundamentalism, and eventually to terrorism. There’s no hope of change other than destroying this whole system. But Muslims in Europe are taking the opposite approach by exploiting the multicultural environment in order to demand that host countries adapt to their religious requirements.
Ian Hamel (*)
A little more than a hundred intellectuals and activists are demanding that the French Minister of Justice cancel the indictments against Tariq Ramadan for rape and dismiss the magistrates in charge of his case. In other words, that politicians trample the independence of the judiciary underfoot.
Roland Jacquard (*)
Afghanistan suffered two deadly suicide attacks on May 12. The first one hit the Dasht-e-Barchi maternity hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Kabul that killed at least 14, including 2 new born babies and the other was at a funeral of a local police commander in Khewa district of Nangarhar, killing 24. Both attacks were aimed at innocent civilians majority of who were women and children.
Roland Jacquard (*)
The international media is so focused on the corona virus epidemic that is spreading rapidly across the world, that a small incident in the Pakistani port city of Karachi went almost unnoticed. The incident took place near the port area in Karachi on the night of February 16, where it was reported that due to a gas leak at least 14 people were killed and several hundred hospitalised with chest pains, burning eyes and breathing difficulties. The Sindh government, thereafter, also ordered the evacuation of the coastal residential area of Keamari , which was worst affected.
Roland Jacquard (*)
Almost three decades ago, in the winter of 1991, the Kashmir Valley was in the grip of a full-fledged islamist militancy. Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists roamed the streets in the neighbourhoods of Srinagar and the valley’s other areas from north to south.
