Peace talks opened in Afghanistan over the weekend. Representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban are meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha. Are we closer to an end to the war in the country?
"The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the highest one-day increase in coronavirus infections since the pandemic began: more than 308,000 new cases," the Washington Post reported Monday. "India, the United States and Brazil logged the largest numbers of new infections on Sunday." How significant of a signal is this?
"The European Union has ramped up pressure on [UK] Prime Minister Boris Johnson to step back from breaking the Brexit divorce treaty, delaying a key decision on London’s euro clearing just as he faces a rebellion in the British parliament," Reuters reported Monday. Is this political hardball or just a game of chicken?
The US West Coast is on fire, again. "The heat from one fire in California has been so strong that it generated its own thunderstorm cloud," Vice News reported on September 10. "There were at least 24 large wildfires in California, 14 in Oregon, and another 12 in Washington as of Wednesday [September 9], according to the National Interagency Fire Center." But heaven forbid we start discussing climate change. What’s going on out West, and what will be the longer-lasting impacts?
A Monday Reuters headline read "Belarus leader entreats patron Putin for support as protests rage on." The outlet reported, "A day after more than 100,000 protesters demonstrated in Minsk for the fifth straight weekend to demand his resignation following an election they say was rigged, [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko, who has led Russia’s closest ally for 26 years, met [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi." What are we to make of this?
"Lawyers for the United States on Monday asked judges at the United Nations' highest court to dismiss a case brought by Iran seeking to lift sanctions," Reuters reported Monday. "Lawyer Marik String said Iran had wrongly introduced a subject uncovered by a 1955 bilateral pact, the Treaty of Amity, which Tehran cites as the basis for going to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court. It was 'an inescapable reality,' he added, that the real aim of Iran’s legal suit is to restore a 2015 nuclear pact opposed by the administration of President Donald Trump." How will this play out?
"Beijing will impose 'reciprocal restrictions' on all American diplomats in China in response to curbs on its embassy personnel in the United States, China's foreign ministry said Friday," Reuters reported.
"At the start of Togo’s coronavirus outbreak, the small West African nation welcomed a team of 12 Cuban health care workers to tend to sufferers of the virus, boost its laboratory testing and help improve its hospital protocols," Reuters reported Monday. What have been the results of this assistance?
Guests:
Marvin Weinbaum - Director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies
Ranjeet Brar - British physician and National Health Service worker
Daniel Lazare - Investigative journalist and author of "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War"
Ted Rall - Political cartoonist and syndicated columnist
Mark Sleboda - Moscow-based international relations and security analyst
Elisabeth Myers - Lawyer, former editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia and democracy lead for Democrats Abroad
KJ Noh - Peace activist, writer and teacher
Obi Egbuna - Activist and US representative for the Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald
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