DGI Brief - July 13, 2016
Happy Wednesday, all. Today's top 5 global issues news are about #Kashmir #Zimbabwe #France #SouthKorea and #Venezuela:
- In the minds of most of KASHMIR’s 12 mil people, Burhan Wani, 22, was a folk hero fighting for freedom. He was a social media superstar. The public reaction to his killing surprised India – tens of thousands of people continue to protest & stand up to Indian troops – but at least 31 people lost their lives doing so. They want independence. Or at least autonomy. Palestine or Iraq’s Kurdistan region?
- ZIMBABWE: Pastor Mawarire wants the government to properly manage the economy, in crisis for a long time – almost as long as Robert Mugabe’s presidency. He was able to inspire a nationwide strike, largest in almost a decade. For this, he was arrested & charged, initially, with inciting public violence. But today the charges were upped to attempting to overthrow a constitutionally-elected government, a charge that carries up to 20 years in prison. The crackdown on dissent does not work, historically. One can’t kill an idea… but one can work with it. Hence democracy & inalienable human rights
- FRANCE’s Justice Minister is prepared to introduce new legislation to keep the surveillance in place, if an administrative tribunal orders the cameras to be removed. Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect of the November attacks on Paris, claims the constant surveillance in his cell is psychologically harmful. His lawyer said “Justice is not vengeance.” Interesting human rights issues. What are your thoughts?
- The new location for the THAAD missile defense system is in the 45,000-ppl Seongju County. Thousands of residents have taken to the street fearing health & environmental damage from the radar’s electromagnetic waves. The issue is the lack of communication btw the local & central governments, leaving people out of the decision-making process & missing information. Fears of
adverse effects on agriculture & health of the residents may be scientifically unsubstantiated, but that’s precisely it – no one bothered to engage in dialogue, share information, address the residents’ concerns. A missed opportunity.
- President Maduro turned to his trusted ally, Defense Minister Padrino, to head VENEZUELA’s port authority (point of entry for imported food) & manage food distribution while preventing food riots. Men with guns in charge of a country’s food. What could possibly go wrong…
#freedom #occupation #sovereignty #independence #autonomy #rebels #India #Pakistan #army #protest #violentprotests #violence #freedomofspeech #dissent #opposition #economiccrisis #Parisattack #surveillance #THAAD #missile #defense #defence #food #foodshortage #stateofemergency #imports #foodcrisis #crisis #Maduro #distribution #portauthority
