The so-called Abraham Accords, which were described by the US President as a “significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous Middle East”, reinforce the anti-Iran axis in the Gulf region.

They also pave the way for the #UAE to purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets, drones and other advanced weaponry from the United States. While #Israel already flies 20 F-35s, the UAE would be the first Arab country to receive the American-made fighter jets. Some Israeli intelligence officials have voiced their concerns about the US commitment, enshrined in a 2008 law, to ensure that Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge” in the #MiddleEast. Others warn that it will spark a regional arms race.

So what would the US move to supply more sophisticated weapons to Gulf states mean for the stability of the wider region?

One country that knows far too well the devastating impact of these weapons on its civilian population is Yemen, where the world’s largest arms importer, Saudi Arabia, has been leading a bombing campaign since 2015. The International Rescue Committee calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

We went to Sanaa, the largest city in Yemen, and spoke with one man who lost his four children in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Al-Raqqas, last year during the month of Ramadan.

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One of the stated conditions for normalizing relations with #Bahrain and the #UAE was that #Israel would suspend its plans to annex parts of Palestine. Yet, the US-brokered accords simply called for “a just, comprehensive and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, making no mention of the ongoing Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine.

The Palestinian Government condemned the move by Bahrain and the UAE as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.”

We went to the streets of al-Khalil in occupied Palestine to hear directly from Palestinian residents about how they view the agreement.

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It was hailed by President #Trump as “a historic breakthrough”. Israel and two Arab Gulf nations, the United Arab Emirates and #Bahrain, signed bilateral agreements at the #WhiteHouse last week establishing full diplomatic relations.

The so-called Abraham Accords, which were described by the US President as a “significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous Middle East”, reinforce the anti-Iran axis in the Gulf region.

They also pave the way for the UAE to purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets, drones and other advanced weaponry from the United States. While Israel already flies 20 F-35s, the UAE would be the first Arab country to receive the American-made fighter jets. Some Israeli intelligence officials have voiced their concerns about the US commitment, enshrined in a 2008 law, to ensure that Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge” in the Middle East. Others warn that it will spark a regional arms race.

So what would the US move to supply more sophisticated weapons to Gulf states mean for the stability of the wider region?

Guests:

William Hartung

Director of the Arms & Security Program at the Center for International Policy

Matar Matar

Former Bahraini Opposition Member of Parliament with Al Wefaq Party

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We take a look back at some of the UN’s key challenges and achievements over the last 75 years.

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#UnitedNations #UN #peace

Since 1948, the UN has deployed more than 70 #peacekeeping operations. Today, about 90,000 UN #BlueHelmets and police officers are deployed in 13 UN peacekeeping operations, some as old as the UN itself.

The UN has been involved in today’s Democratic Republic of the #Congo since the sixties. Its peacekeeping operation has been active since 1999.

We traveled to Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, to hear a view of the Mission, known by its French acronym MONUSCO.

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75 years after the establishment of the United Nations to ‘save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’, has the #UN lived up to its ideals?

The #UnitedNations marks its 75th anniversary this year. The organization has faced many crises over its three-quarter century-long history. But this September, because of the pandemic, the annual session of the #GeneralAssembly won’t be held at UN headquarters.

Instead of flying to NY for this ritual, Heads of State and Government, will deliver their speeches online under the theme: “reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.

With growing trends towards isolationism and unilateralism in some parts of the world, including the host country, the United States, will this amount to little more than diplomatic talk?

Guests:

Tijjani Muhammed-Bande

President of the United Nations General Assembly

Shashi Tharoor

Former UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information

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When it comes to reparations, the United States has attempted to pay before. Bigger Than Five takes a look at prior efforts by the American government to offer reparations.

Haiti fought a 12 year war led by slaves and defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces, gaining independence from France in 1804. Haiti was the first independent nation from Latin America and the Caribbean, but it was forced to pay a crippling debt to France. Today, it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with a per-capita income of $350, while France is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Bigger Than Five went to Port-au-Prince to meet anti-corruption activist and economist, Emmanuela Douyon, who says it’s time for France to pay back the $21 billion she says it extorted from her country.

As the calls for racial justice get louder throughout the world, is it time for colonial powers and slave trading countries to atone for their sins by paying reparations?

Mobilized since the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in the US, the world has witnessed a reawakening over systemic racism.

Growing demands for racial justice have renewed the debate about apologies and reparations by former colonial powers and slave-trading countries to make amends for their crimes and past injustices.

Many countries are now grappling with their history. In France, protesters are calling for an end to discrimination against nonwhite descendants from former colonies. In the US, symbols of slavery and colonialism have been brought down, from statues of Confederate leaders to colonizer Christopher Columbus. The name of a former transit point for the transnational slave trade on Senegal's Goree Island, was changed from Europe Square to Freedom and Human Dignity Square. In Nigeria, Lagos State Assembly voted to rename all sites that still bear the names of colonial masters.

But this racial reckoning is evolving into a debate over what true reconciliation looks like. So are former colonial powers and slave-trading countries ready and willing to pay?

Guests:

Andrew Young

Former US Ambassador to the United Nations

Shirley Weber

California Assemblymember for District 79

Thomas Piketty

Economist, Paris School of Economics

This week we are looking at:

-Lawyer, politician, artist receive death threats from Nazis as police are allegedly involved

-Hundreds of parents say their kids are taken by the state unjustly

-Questions loom over Merkel's successor

-Man strips four policemen of their weapons, runs into forest

-Lakes become favorite holiday spots for Germans due to Covid-19

Our show 5 Things in 5 Minutes in #Germany brings you up to speed on what’s happening in the country with the most interesting five stories of that week. Our Germany correspondent Yunus Paksoy reports.​​​

#NeoNazi #terror