International Double Standards in Humanity: The War in Sudan

Posted on July 14, 2023August 30, 2023

The accumulating tension over power between the two main military factions in Sudan, finally erupted as literal hell on earth in the early morning of April 15th, 2023, traumatizing the entire nation and sending thousands fleeing the capital city of Khartoum and the country1. Intense and violent clashes took place in cities across the country, with total disregard for civilians who were neither alerted nor provided with safe evacuation routes. The two generals who once jointly directed the government continue…

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

War/Militarism

Posted on June 15, 2023December 14, 2023

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…

“World’s Deadliest Wars Go Unreported”

War/Militarism

Posted on June 15, 2023

Anjan Sundaram, Indian Journalist, interviewed on Democracy Now! on 8 June 2023, says that the ‘colonial structure of global media’ under-reports some of the biggest wars in our world today. He notes that despite technological advances in information access and technology, “conflicts like the one on the Central African Republic are still shrouded in darkness, and we often don’t know the perpetrators, who is attacked, or why.” It is striking that the press has “enormous blind spots in places like…

Russia withholds HIV meds from prisoners to coerce fighting in Ukraine

War/Militarism

Posted on April 28, 2023December 14, 2023

Russian prisoners are reportedly choosing to fight in Ukraine, rather than face sub-standard healthcare for HIV in their own country. Approximately 20% of Russian prisoners have HIV and many inmates claim they are denied effective treatments in prison. In Ukraine, however, they have been offered hope, with the promise of antiretroviral medications if they agreed to fight. One inmate said he did not think he could survive a decade in a Russian prison with HIV, so he agreed to serve…

Sudan’s Ongoing Crisis: Unpacking the Root Causes of Violence and the Elusive Pursuit of Peace Amidst Global Inequities

Structural Violence War/Militarism Global Theft Health Inequities Militarism Structural violence Sudan War

Posted on April 25, 2023December 14, 2023

The violence in Sudan, particularly in Khartoum, is partly the fault of the international community. Sudan is still struggling to build a civilian-led government after decades of military rule, and tensions between different military factions have erupted into violence. The exploitation of resources, economic disparities, and political power imbalances have fueled grievances and conflicts within the country. International efforts to achieve peace through negotiations have often fallen short. Traditional peace agreements that split power between armed groups often allow further…

Ukraine War plus US interest rates perpetuate poverty, hunger, and injustice

War/Militarism

Posted on March 7, 2023March 8, 2023

UN SECRETARY–GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, in his address this week to the opening of the Summit of Least Developed Countries in Doha, Qatar, spoke of the current “perfect storm” for “perpetuating poverty and injustice – conflicts, droughts, hunger and extreme poverty….It is a matter of life and death….your countries are being held back by processes and decisions that are made far beyond your borders.” A Democracy Now! interview with Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz explained how US policies of raising interest rates during…

Selective empathy in wars

War/Militarism global health Vietnam War

Posted on August 15, 2022December 14, 2023

Viet Thanh Nguyen reminds us (The Nation, 22 July) how often our sympathy – and care – for victims of war often comes with baggage of hypocrisy and racism. The deserved sympathy for those civilians suffering from the Russian invasion is rarely matched by our sympathy for civilians who have suffered by by Americans over the past decades. Nguyen talks of U.S. drone strikes in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia in the recent past, and the legacy of the U.S. military…

[VIDEO] Isn’t War Part of Global Health?

War/Militarism

Posted on July 25, 2022August 16, 2022

I started my public health career more than 40 years ago. My beloved profession has expanded its views on what exactly *IS* public health since then. We got hip to the environment, the importance of nutrition, how the tobacco industry is killing us, and that cars should be safer. Some really heroic figures have moved our profession, people who tackled working conditions, who studied the role of stress in health—including the stress of racism and repression–and who got sex and…

[BOOKS] on War in Global Health

War/Militarism Apartheid book recommendations Geopolitical global north global south healthcare workplace violence LMIC Militarism Stop The Bloodshed Structural violence Sub-Saharan Africa War white saviorism

Posted on May 31, 2022September 13, 2023

Here is a list of some books that emphasize the role of the USA in fomenting war across the world, often to protect US dominance, corporate exploitation, and promote neoliberal policies – or to undermine or overthrow governments that challenge such exploitation. Some of the books include: “Washington Bullets” by Vijay Prashad (2020) Prashad examines the global impact of American foreign policy and interventions, shedding light on the often devastating consequences of U.S. military actions. This book is essential…

Ukraine is a disaster: but don’t forget wars in Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, Ethiopia…

War/Militarism

Posted on March 20, 2022May 18, 2022

WHO DG Tedros: “Just as we continue to call on Russia to make peace in Ukraine, so we continue to call on Ethiopia and Eritrea to end the blockade — the siege — and allow safe access for humanitarian supplies and workers to save lives.” He also called on world leaders to remember the needs of people in Yemen, where UNDP estimates the 377,000 people have been killed from conflict and famine, and 20 million people are in need of…