Andrew Roth: Rights group’s closure is part of rapid dismantling of Russian civil society

In a terrible year for human rights in Russia, beginning with the imprisonment of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the closure of International Memorial stands out for its ruthlessness. Founded in the late 1980s by Andrei Sakharov and other Soviet-era dissidents, the group took the new freedoms offered under Mikhail Gorbachev and used them to reveal raw… Read More Andrew Roth: Rights group’s closure is part of rapid dismantling of Russian civil society

RAMONA WADI: Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israel’s expansion of Squatter-Settlements on Palestinian Land?

(Middle East Monitor) – Israeli media have been pointing out that the Biden administration in Washington is not too bothered about the occupation state’s illegal settlement expansion. There is little reason to doubt the veracity of the claim. So far, US President Joe Biden has managed to maintain a fine balance between his agenda in favour of… Read More RAMONA WADI: Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israel’s expansion of Squatter-Settlements on Palestinian Land?

Justice not about money… punish officers responsible: father of killed Naga miner / Meghalaya to urge Centre to repeal AFSPA / Nagaland killings: Direct marise…they shot right at us, no signal to stop, we did not flee, says ambush survivor

NB: My deepest condolences to the families of the deceased miners. That one of them had just been married and that two of them were twins makes it all the more tragic. God bless the departed souls. DS The Monday after Langwang and Thapwang attended a wedding, the 25-year-old identical twins left Oting with their… Read More Justice not about money… punish officers responsible: father of killed Naga miner / Meghalaya to urge Centre to repeal AFSPA / Nagaland killings: Direct marise…they shot right at us, no signal to stop, we did not flee, says ambush survivor

Her dream to teach English in Japan ended with a lesson for the country. By Emiko Jozuka

As a child, Wishma Rathnayake was fascinated with “Oshin,” a popular 1980s’ television drama about a young girl who rises from poverty to head a Japanese supermarket chain. Urged by her father to emulate her hero, Rathnayake started learning Japanese with a dream of one day moving to Japan from the small Sri Lankan town of Gampaha,… Read More Her dream to teach English in Japan ended with a lesson for the country. By Emiko Jozuka

RAJARAMAN SUNDARESAN: How Odisha Government Kept The Public Out Of A Public Hearing For A Bauxite Mine

How is this a public hearing? Who are they hearing? The police or the barbed wires they have put to keep us out?   See video “In Mali Parbat we grow ice, mandia, kaangu (millets), harvest roots, tubers. Because of its mountain streams, our paddy ripens, our millets ripen.  We are able to collect firewood and produce to take… Read More RAJARAMAN SUNDARESAN: How Odisha Government Kept The Public Out Of A Public Hearing For A Bauxite Mine

Anna Iasmi Vallianatou: The Poland-Belarus border crisis is what happens when humans are treated as weapons

Another humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding on the European Union’s doorstep. Poland has responded by deploying 20,000 border police, firing water cannon and teargas at asylum seekers, reinforcing its border fencing and blocking access for journalists and aid organisations. This need to react is understandable: Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko’s use of refugees and migrants as pawns for… Read More Anna Iasmi Vallianatou: The Poland-Belarus border crisis is what happens when humans are treated as weapons

Sanjiv Krishan Sood: It Is the Need of the Hour To Understand Police Brutality in India and Take Action

The police all over the country is increasingly brutal in their approach towards common people. Flouting law rather than protecting the rule of law is becoming the norm. When the chief minister of a state says “thok diya jayega” (will be shot), it is an open call to the police to ignore rule of law in dealing… Read More Sanjiv Krishan Sood: It Is the Need of the Hour To Understand Police Brutality in India and Take Action

The West isn’t dying – its ideas live on in China. By John Gray

NB: I agree with much of Gray’s argument about the fragility of liberal democratic values, but would like to underline one of his sentences, containing the phrase about earlier generations of ‘liberal and socialist thinkers downplaying the colossal human toll of communism in Russia and China‘. There’s no denying this, but let us also remember that… Read More The West isn’t dying – its ideas live on in China. By John Gray