The I.S. claims responsibility for the crash of a Russian airplane with 224 people on board after it took off from Sharm el-Sheikh. Western and Russian investigations concluded that it was a terrorist act, but the Egyptian authorities dismissed this as propaganda.
The downing of the Russian passenger plane Metrojet 9268 over the Sinai peninsula two weeks before the massacre in Paris is also being conclusively viewed as an act of terrorism. The Airbus A331 carrying 224 passengers and crew crashed soon after taking off from the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on October 31. There were no survivors. It was the worst disaster in Russia’s civil aviation history. The wreckage of the plane was found scattered over a wide area in the uninhabited Hassanah area of the Sinai. All but five of the victims were Russian citizens, and many of the families on board the plane were on their first holiday abroad. Russia declared a day of national mourning on November 1.
The Islamic State (I.S.) was quick to claim responsibility and stated that it brought down the airliner “in response to Russian air strikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land”. A statement issued by the I.S. said that its affiliate in the Sinai region, which calls itself the Islamic State of Sinai, had shot down the plane. The group has carried out frequent terror attacks against Egyptian security forces since the ouster of the government led by the Muslim Brotherhood two years ago. This year alone there have been 357 attacks. The extremist group in the Sinai is known to have a presence in Sharm el-Sheikh. Before it became an affiliate of the I.S., it had staged terror attacks in hotels in the resort city in 2004 and 2005, in which more than a hundred people, many of them foreign tourists, were killed.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
