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Biden’s Taiwan gaffe meant no harm

by M. K. Bhadrakumar *

(5 November 2021) The probability is that the US President Joe Biden committed yet another diplomatic gaffe at a CNN town hall last Thursday [21 October] that Washington had a commitment to come to Taiwan’s defence if it were attacked by China.

Yet, like Biden’s gaffes usually, this one too was not without an element of deliberateness. Biden was even insistent. Indeed, there is an ongoing debate in the US on this topic and Biden tapped into it.

“Youth is completely different”

On the German-Austrian Youth Values Study from 2021

by Marita Brune-Koch

(5 November 2021) Nowadays, “youth” is often equated with “climate youth”. This implies that youth today are “green” and organise or identify with “Fridays for Future”, Greenpeace, animal protection and similar organisations. However, this is by no means the case. The majority of youth “ticks” quite differently. This was shown in a study by the Austrian social scientist Professor Bernhard Heinzlmaier,* which he presented at the beginning of 2021.

Federal votes of 28 November 2021

Covid-19 Act: restriction of civil liberties?

by René Zeyer*

(5 November 2021) Fundamental rights are the foundation of a free civilisation. A pandemic endangers health. Curtailment of fundamental rights endangers society.

Freedoms are used without thinking about what a privilege they are. And how quickly they can be endangered.

“The COVID-19 Act bypasses the constitutional legislator and thus the people and the cantons”

by Andreas Kley*

(5 November 2021)  The subject of the referendum vote [of 28 November 2021] is the “Federal Act on the Statutory Principles for Federal Council Ordinances on Combating the COVID-19 Epidemic”. The title of the law, which lacks content, is striking. The title is pleonastic, because what should a federal law do other than create legal foundations? Moreover, a law must do more than just support ordinances.
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan – 29

Taliban is the winner at Moscow conference

by M. K. Bhadrakumar*

The Moscow meeting of ten regional states and the Taliban officials on 22 October has produced an outcome that by far exceeds expectations. The salience of the consensus opinion is four-fold, as reflected in the joint statement issued after the event:
International Journal of Infectious Diseases

COVID-19: an “extra-terrestrial” disease?

Elisabeth Paul1*, Garrett W. Brown2, Mélanie Dechamps3, Andreas Kalk4,
Pierre-François Laterre5, Bernard Rentier6, Valéry Ridde7, Martin Zizi8

Background

(3 November 2021) Although the threat of a pandemic had been present for many years, COVID-19 triggered frantic and uncoordinated reactions worldwide (Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, 2021; Paul et al., 2020b). Since being declared a public health emergency in January 2020, COVID-19 has been regarded as an exceptional disease, almost as if it came from outer space.