Kosovo and Serbia signed an agreement on economic, energy and political issues at a ceremony observed by President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday September 4.
The agreement was signed after two days of meetings between delegations from Kosovo and Serbia in the U.S. capital, hosted by U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell and Trump’s national security adviser, Richard O’ Brien.
Although all the participants agreed the deal was mainly economic, it does contain some political points. Both sides agreed to continue work on earlier agreements on restoring air and rail links, signed at the start of the year, and to start building new connecting roads and highways.
They also agreed to work with the United States on “a feasibility study for the purpose of sharing Gazivode/Ujmani Lake, as a reliable water and energy supply”.
Importantly, Serbia pledged to stop its campaign to get countries to “derecognise” Kosovo for one year, while Kosovo also promised to stop applying for membership of international organisations, also for a year. Both Kosovo and Serbia agreed to work more on issues of missing persons, refugees and internally displaced persons from the 1990s Kosovo war.
On other foreign policy issues, in deference to U.S. interests, both parties agreed to designate Islamic group Hezbollah in its entirety as “a terrorist organisation” and prohibit the use of “5G equipment supplied by untrusted vendors in their communications network”, presumably referencing China.
President Trump also signed two separate documents with Kosovo and Serbia to ensure U.S. investment as a stimulus for more economic cooperation between Belgrade and Pristina.
Extract from Milica Stojanovic and Xhorxhina Bami on the Balkan Insight website on September 4, 2020.
The United Nations has appointed as its top expert on health and human rights a former abortionist who advocates for teen prostitution.
Last April, the author of Dr T: A Guide to Sexual Health and Pleasure and host of a South African television show, “Sex Talk with Dr T,” drew a strong rebuke from human trafficking survivors and groups that advocate for them when she penned an article in Teen Vogue encouraging young girls to consider “sex work”.
“I believe sex work and sex worker rights are women’s rights, health rights, labour rights, and the litmus test for intersectional feminism,” wrote Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng in her 2019 article, “Why Sex Work is Real Work”. “The idea of purchasing intimacy and paying for the services can be affirming for many people who need human connection, friendship, and emotional support.”
Dr Mofokeng’s op-ed outraged abolitionists working to end sexual violence perpetrated against vulnerable women and girls. At the time, Mofokeng was only a sexual health and rights advocate. One year later, the South African physician has been elevated to the top position of UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, where she will take her prostitution decriminalisation campaign global.
“The idea that legalising or decriminalising commercial sex would reduce its harms is a persistent myth,” said Deidre Pujols, Founder of Open Gate International and Co-founder of Strike Out Slavery. “Many claim if the sex trade were legal, regulated, and treated like any other profession, it would be safer. But research suggests otherwise. Countries that have legalised or decriminalised commercial sex often experience a surge in human trafficking, pimping, and related crimes.”
Extract from Lisa Correnti on the C-Fam website, September 2, 2020.
Dozens of news outlets published content that either justified or explained away rioting and looting in the initial weeks of unrest following the police custody death of George Floyd in late May.
While President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden have both condemned rioting and looting, major news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC have downplayed the unrest that has gripped American cities in the months following Floyd’s death, in one instance describing a scene as “mostly peaceful” as fires raged in the background.
A variety of news outlets have provided a platform for commentators, professors, and activists who not only acknowledged that rioting and looting were taking place, but sought either to justify the violence as a valid protesting technique or as a form of righteous rebellion against an unjust system.
A common narrative pushed in the media was that rioting is a quintessentially American activity with a storied history of bringing about positive change.
Rolling Stone on May 29 republished a story originally published in 2014 during the Ferguson riots entitled “9 Historical Triumphs to Make You Rethink Property Destruction”.
The “historical pedigree of property destruction as a tactic of resistance is long and frequently effective,” argued the article, which was co-authored by Jose Martin, an Antifa leader who currently faces felony charges in connection to a mob attack against two Marines in 2018.
The story cited the 1773 Boston Tea Party as proof of the positive change rioting can bring about.
“Workers had produced that tea, capitalists had risked investment on it, and it was not the colonists’ to destroy, but they said ‘f*** property rights’ and did it anyway”.
Extract from Andrew Kerr on the Daily Signal website, September 4, 2020.
