Recent News of Significance

#Indian/Pakistani Conflict - "In the early hours of August 5, the Indian government shut down the Internet as well as landline and cell networks in Kashmir, as part of an unprecedented bid for greater control of the disputed Himalayan territory, which both Pakistan and India claim and over which they have gone to war three times." Some 7 million people in the region were left with no way to contact the outside world. [1]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government said it would revoke two crucial articles of India's  constitution that have guaranteed Kashmir's citizens the right to their own flag, constitution and near autonomy for seven decades. And while Modi's government stokes tension between Hindus and Muslims elsewhere, unrest in Kashmir has been steadily growing.

#New Freedom for S.A. Women - "Saudi Arabia has announced sweeping reforms to its system of 'wilajah,' or guardianship --  a jumble of regulations that dictate what women can and can't do on their own." "On July 31, Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers approved new regulations indicating that women over the age of 21 will soon be able to obtain passports without requiring a close male relative's permission." [2]

#Reconstruction Betrayed - "Although Reconstruction had been rolled back across much of the South before 1877, the withdrawal of federal troops is recognized as the end of the period." "The emphasis today on Reconstruction as an era of African American political and social power, snuffed out by white supremacy across America, is not just important because historians have treated it as such for decades now. It is also because many African Americans see their nation as one that has betrayed, over and over again, its greatest promises -- to them as well as to the very idea of American democracy." [3]

#Lost in Translation - "This time, the Republicans are engaging in an even more dangerous delusion. The pretense is that, as long as they keep talking about mysterious professors and British spies, they aren't ignoring the threat that Russia and other foreign powers continue to pose to the integrity of American elections. Hillary Clinton is, once again, their excuse for inaction." "It's not clear that the Republican Party can still conceive of a definition of the country's interests -- or of itself -- that does not include support for Trump." [4]

Footnotes:
[1] Naine Bajekal, "India takes Kashmir," TIME, August 19, 2019.

[2] Joseph Hincks, "New freedoms for women in S.S...." TIME, August 19, 2019.

[3]Robert Greene II, "Vigilant Struggle," The Nation, August 26/September 2, 2019.

[4] Amy Davidson Sorkin, "Lost in Translation," The New Yorker, August 12, 2019.