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(Africa) Vaccine Geopolitics Could Derail Africa’s Post-Pandemic Recovery (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

ZAINAB USMAN If 2020 was the year of the coronavirus pandemic, then 2021 is shaping up to be the year of the vaccine. https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/02/24/vaccine-geopolitics-could-derail-africa-s-post-pandemic-recovery-pub-83928

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(Europe) COVID-19 credit-support programmes in Europe’s five largest economies (Bruegel)

JULIA ANDERSON, FRANCESCO PAPADIA AND NICOLAS VÉRON In 2020, European governments mitigated the economic impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and other pandemic-fighting programmes through a host of initiatives. https://www.bruegel.org/2021/02/covid-19-credit-support-programmes-in-europes-five-largest-economies/

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(G20/Poorest Countries) How is the G20 tackling debt problems of the poorest countries? (Bruegel)

SUMAN BERY, ALICIA GARCÍA-HERRERO AND PAULINE WEIL In April 2020, the G20, at the urging of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, launched the Debt Service Standstill Initiative (DSSI) to mitigate the negative financial impact of COVID-19 in the world’s poorest countries at a time when the pandemic’s medical and economic consequences were highly uncertain. https://www.bruegel.org/2021/02/how-is-the-g20-tackling-debt-problems-of-the-poorest-countries/

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(European Central Bank) A brown or a green European Central Bank? (Bruegel)

 DIRK SCHOENMAKER Climate change is a hotly debated issue in the European Central Bank’s ongoing strategy review. https://www.bruegel.org/2021/02/a-brown-or-a-green-european-central-bank/

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(Africa) Africa in the news: Sudan, COVID-19 vaccine, and political updates (Brookings)

Chris Heitzig and Leo Holtz On Wednesday, the Central Bank of Sudan steeply devalued its currency to appeal to foreign donors and access debt relief.

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(USA) Progress on Restoring Voting Rights (Brennan Center for Justice)

Will Wilder This has been a big week for the movement to restore voting rights to people who have been convicted of a crime. Legislative chambers in New York and Washington State both passed bills that would automatically restore voting rights to all people with criminal convictions who are on probation or parole. And a […]

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(USA) The Supreme Court Case Challenging Voting Restrictions in Arizona, Explained (Brennan Center for Justice)

Sean Morales-Doyle On March 2, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a challenge to a pair of Arizona voting policies that make it harder for people to vote, especially in communities of color and Native American communities. The case, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, is significant because it likely won’t just affect voters in […]

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(Britain) A war is being waged against academic freedom in Britain (Al Jazeera)

Malia Bouattia Over the past few weeks, David Miller, a professor of political sociology at Bristol University in the United Kingdom, has been the subject of a vicious smear campaign, alleging he has made anti-Semitic comments. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/2/28/a-war-is-being-waged-against-academic-freedom-in-britain

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(USA/Saudi Arabia) Khashoggi’s murder: It is time for accountability (Al Jazeera)

Amrit Singh In 2018, Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi went to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to pick up documents he needed for his wedding. He never walked out. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/2/27/khashoggis-murder-it-is-time-for-accountability

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(Vaccine Apartheid/Global South) System change, not charity, will end the vaccine apartheid (Al Jazeera)

Nick Dearden Late last week, the leaders of the most powerful countries on earth seemed to have been infected with a bout of internationalism. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/2/26/system-change-not-charity-will-end-the-vaccine-apartheid

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(Colonialism) ‘Moral evil, economic good’: Whitewashing the sins of colonialism (Al Jazeera)

Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni In 2017, a professor at Oxford University in the United Kingdom proposed a research project. The key thesis: that the empire as a historical phenomenon – distinct from an ideological construct – has made ethical contributions and that its legacy cannot be reduced to that of genocides, exploitations, domination and repression. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/2/26/colonialism-in-africa-empire-was-not-ethical

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(Caspian Sea) The Caspian Sea as Battleground (BESA Center)

James M. Dorsey Back in 1991, in the immediate wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Israel desk of Armenia’s foreign ministry—populated at the time by fluent Hebrew speakers—waited for a phone call that never came. The ministry was convinced that Israel, with whom Armenia shared an experience of genocide, was a natural […]