Fighting Ebola requires more public information

The international community is now paying attention to the Ebola epidemics in West Africa. And that´s good news. It would be a dramatic mistake to underestimate the risks of a very rapid spreading of Ebola to other countries in Africa and elsewhere.

WHO, the UN World Health Organization, is in the lead. That´s how it should be. Its Director-general, Dr Margaret Chan has been to the region to participate in a summit with the Presidents of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the countries most concerned. This was a high profile initiative. As it is the decision to allocate 100 million USD to fight the disease.

Local populations are still very confused about the epidemics. There is a serious need to invest more on health education and on public information. That´s also part of the combat. 

Ebola

The West African states of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia continue to be confronted with Ebola, a major public health challenge. Death rates are above 90% of those infected. And the national health infrastructure in these countries is too poor to be able to respond in a big manner. Furthermore the areas that are particularly affected are very remote, in a beautiful but extremely isolated countryside. The local populations are deeply superstitious. They do not understand the Ebola virus issue and believe this is brought in by the medical teams that are there to help. All this makes the epidemic a major issue. Europe, among others, needs to take a much more proactive view of the problem. And to provide greater help.   

Putin is helping the EU to unite on the external front

The relations between the EU and the US, on one side, and Russia, on the other side, have now reached a point that brings the world back three decades at least. There is a very serious level of tension between the two blocs. President Putin, who has some friends in Europe, never thought that the mistrust that has been growing in certain circles in the West would go as far as it went today, with the approval of a new set of financial sanctions against Russia´s economic interests in Europe. He misread the politics. Europe needs a glue. Putin is, in many ways, providing it. 

I appreciate John Kerry´s efforts

Copyright V.Angelo

Israel should be reminded of some basic principles of international law

Hamas is certainly an extremist group included in the Western list of terrorist organizations. It needs to be fought and its actions ought to be stopped.

But fighting Hamas is not an excuse for Israel to behave as a State that does not respect the laws of the war, the principle of proportionate force, and the overriding rules about the protection of civilians and the interdiction to inflict collective punishment on innocent populations.

These norms should guide the actions of any civilised State, even when that State is exercising the right of self-defence. In all legislations, self-defence has its limits and needs to be advised by a great sense of restraint. That´s what the modern world is about. 

Little minds

There are so many new headlines from Gaza to Ukraine, from the planes that crash here and there, and then the Summer recess, that we just forget that the Nigerian school girls have not yet been freed, after several months in the hands of Boko Haram, and the Central African Republic is still the murderous chaos it was a few weeks back. And that the elections in Afghanistan are yet to be sorted out, long after the polling day. Not to mention Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, and so on...

War crimes are being committed

When the law of the war is not respect – and one should be reminded all the time that wars have their own body of international law that ought to be followed – war crimes are committed. And when they are committed the key leaders of the international community have to speak the words and say the right things. Leadership is about that. To call a spade a spade.  

In Turkey, the time for arresting senior police officers has arrived

Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey is back on the offensive against his country´s institutions. This evening we are told that more than a hundred senior police officers have been arrested on very doubtful charges, including phone tapping.

The true reason is that Erdogan is a revengeful man. He cannot forget, and certainly not forgive, that these police officers have dared to investigate corruption matters within the leading circles of government, including possible ill actions carried out by the Prime Minister himself and his own family.

They will pay for doing their job.

As the top military officers have paid for being an objective and solid institution.

This is not the kind of leadership that can take the issue of EU membership forward. 

EU and Russia: sanctions and cooperation, the two sides of the coin

I have just finished my opinion piece of this week for Visão, a well-read general news magazine that is published every Thursday in Lisbon. This time the theme had to be about the relations between the EU and Russia, in the aftermath of the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane.

My points are that we have to combine much tougher and better targetted economic sanctions against key Russian enterprises, including Rosneft, making sure they cannot access the European financial markets, with a continuous invitation for political dialogue between Europe and Russia. In the end, both blocs need each other. Russia, sooner or later, will require EU capital, technology and markets to develop its Far East. And Europe has a lot to gain by participating in the economic development of its big neighbour.

However the long term view cannot ignore the realities of today. And the key message here is that Russia has to fully implement the Helsinki Act of 1975 about peace and cooperation in Europe and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. 

In Hindsight: Sanctions : July 2014 Monthly Forecast : Security Council Report

In Hindsight: Sanctions : July 2014 Monthly Forecast : Security Council Report