June 15, 2023

Global attacks on hospitals, health workers – Sudan, Ukraine, Burma

Democracy Now! presents a special show (15 June 2023) on targeted health care attacks worldwide, and ‘The New Cold War,’ including interviews with Khidir Dalouk of the Sudanese-American Physicians Association and Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight, and Dr. Dalouk describes the calamity in Sudan, where “fighting between rival military factions in Sudan targeting medical facilities has left the country’s healthcare system on the verge of collapse. With a limited amount of power, water and medical supplies, and doctors fleeing the country for safety, less than a third of hospitals in the country’s conflict zones remain open.” Meanwhile, Christina Wille describes a new report that shows “2022 was the most severe year of attacks against healthcare facilities and personnel worldwide in the last decade, with over half of the documented attacks in Ukraine and Burma. Attacks on medical facilities are a widespread and common problem in conflict when military leaders ignore international rules protecting healthcare.” See the video here:

The same podcast interviews Gilbert Achcar, professor of international relations at SOAS University of London, who describes the “New Cold War” between the USA and its allies on one side, against Russia and China. He says the United States had a “window of opportunity” in the 1990s to reshape the world for more cooperation and multilateralism. “Instead of going for peaceful options, options leading to a long-term peace in international relations and enhancing the role of the United Nations, it made the opposite choices,” including the expansion of NATO, says Achcar. He noted in a recent Truthout article that  “Washington Is Obstructing the Path to a Political Settlement in Ukraine.” His new book is titled The New Cold War: The United States, Russia, and China from Kosovo to Ukraine. 

See the interview and transcript, in Democracy Now!, linked here.