By Sara Perria Jul 20 2021 (IPS) – The third wave of Covid-19 is sweeping through Myanmar, from the high narrow buildings of the commercial capital Yangon to bamboo houses in rural areas. Ma Ni, not her real name, caught the virus in Yangon, infected by her husband and son. But…
By Shaun Walker* – The Guardian Hungary’s far-right government suspected of hacking phones of investigative journalists and targeting owners. Since Viktor Orbán became prime minister in 2010, Hungary has fallen from 23rd to 92nd in the World Press Freedom Index. Viktor…
By Justin Spike – !!444!!! InsightHungary!!! (*) Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Monday became the first leader from Central or Western Europe to make the list of “press freedom predators” compiled by France-based free press organization Reporters…
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. Davies (`*) – CODEPINK It was common knowledge that a U.S. failure to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal (known as the JCPOA) before Iran’s June presidential election would help conservative hard-liners to win the election. Indeed, on…
Opinion, by Alon Ben-Meir * NEW YORK, May 20 2021 (IPS) – Regardless of how the current and future violent conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem will end, there will be no Israeli-Palestinian peace unless East Jerusalem becomes the capital of a Palestinian…
By Fábián Tamás – Telex (*) With a year left until what looks to be a tight election, the government is reallocating considerable amounts of public assets away from the state and into, e.g., foundations. The goal could be to sustain Orbán’s “System of National Cooperation” in…
By Michael De Dora* WASHINGTON, Apr 30 2021 (IPS) – When Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government in February, one of its first actions was to further squeeze the already restricted free flow of information in the country. It obstructed news stations…
By Sara Torsner and Jackie Harrison (*) – The Conversation Press freedom: A government’s fear of scrutiny and criticism often determines how repressive it is toward the press. The greater the fear, the greater the loss of press freedom.
By Matthew Karnitschnig* – POLITICO. A mustachioed Turk, two gilded high-back chairs and a plush sofa.
Timothy Garton Ash* – The Guardian A planned ‘coronavirus tax’ on revenues and attacks on foreign-owned media threaten to cut away democracy piece by piece Democracy dies in darkness. One of the European Union’s most fragile democracies, Poland, now faces the spectre of the…
