Persons “in need of international protection or for other humanitarian reasons”, however, are exempted from these restrictions on non-essential travel from third countries.” — European Commission statement, March 30, 2020.
As Iraq grapples with the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic and longstanding economic difficulties, (compounded by record-low oil prices) Islamic State’s operations continue with increasing lethality. TRAC Senior Analyst, Daniel Lebowitz has tracked Spring Islamic State activity since before the beginning of Ramadan 2020. His report reveals that IS ambushes, IEDs, and assassinations have escalated in Diyala, Kirkuk, Anbar, Dijah, and Salahuddin, Iraq. The violence places more pressure on the Iraqi government that is facing increasing public resentment coupled with the US withdrawal from key military bases, creating the perfect climate for a repeat of last season’s Hot Summer in the country’s rural areas. The more chaos and bloodshed caused, the more legitimate the new Islamic State leader appears.
Bottom Line Up Front:
May 3rd was the 27th annual World Press Freedom Day, although freedom of the press is under assault worldwide.
Some governments have used the coronavirus as an excuse to censor media outlets that are merely attempting to provide transparent reporting about the pandemic and its effects.
Whenever I catch sight of myself wearing a mask as I walk through the deserted streets of Brussels or the empty corridors of the European Commission, I cannot help but be overcome by a feeling of shock. Especially since, no matter where you go and no matter where you are, this sense of shock is palpable. It is palpable on Saint Mark’s Square in Venice – now deserted by humans while the fish return to the waters of the lagoon, which are clear once again. It is palpable in Jerusalem, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was shut down on Good Friday for the first time since the 1349 Black Death. It is palpable in the United States, where unemployment has risen by 20 million in four weeks. Lastly, it is palpable in Spain and Italy, where no fewer than 45,000 people had died by the end of April.
Khalifa Haftar, who commands forces besieging Tripoli, has announced he will replace UN-backed mediation in Libya with a new political roadmap and government. His proposal divided supporters; adversaries called it a coup. To stop a power struggle, Haftar’s regional backers should press him to reconsider.
Hizbullah gets the majority of its funding and weapons from Iran, but the group also runs parallel independent fundraising and arms procurement efforts around the world, including in Europe, to complement its state sponsorship from Iran. These independent fundraising and procurement operations have become more pronounced over time, especially in the wake of wars that depleted weapons stockpiles and sanctions and declining oil prices which have impacted Iranian funding levels.
Danish police carried out a raid in Copenhagen and arrested a man suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism, authorities said Thursday, adding he likely acted alone.
The coronavirus pandemic is fuelling extremism on the far-right and far-left in Europe and giving Islamic State and other militants cover to regain influence, the European Union’s counter-terrorism chief has warned.
The ban is in fact a compromise measure between German lawmakers who want to take a harder line against Iran and those who do not. As a result, the ban falls far short of a complete prohibition on Hezbollah and appears aimed at providing the German government with political cover that allows Germany to claim that it has banned the group even if it has not.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (followed by the stringent national lockdown in India and elsewhere) is not only posing huge challenges in health and economic sectors, but also before the so-called bourgeois economic and democratic order based on ideology of the neo-liberalism in India in particular and western advanced countries in general. The Covid-19 lockdown, is not only having larger implications in health and socio-economic sectors, but also violates civil liberties and freedom of speech (especially dissenting voices of subaltern masses) in the so-called democratic and authoritarian regimes across the world.