by B. R. GOWANI

The world we’re living in has never been a very decent place for the majority of people but it has never been as dangerous a place as it has become now with great advances in destructive technology and with leaders, most of them, who are greedy, corrupt, hatemongers, warmongers, and indifferent to the plight of their populace.

Pope Francis, though not too progressive, became a source of consolation for hundreds of millions of people in this cruel and dangerous world with hatefilled and hawkish leaders.

First thing first.

For four decades, before Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013, he served the Catholic Church in his native Argentina in different positions. In the mid 1970s, the US endorsed the military junta coup there, it unleashed full repressive force on the Argentinian people. 30,000 people were either assassinated or disappeared. Agentina’s Archbishop Adolfo Tortolo exhorted Argentinians “to cooperate in a positive way with the new government.” Bergoglio was the Provincial Superior of Jesuits, and asked the Jesuit priests to concentrate on religious issues rather than poverty and other social problems. Bergoglio was accused of not doing enough for two of his priests who were tortured in captivity for five months. He later defended himself thus: “[I did what I could,] given my age and the few connections I had.”

As a Pope, Bergoglio turned into a beacon of hope in this dark world full of cruel, corrupt, genocidal, misogynist, racist leaders/groups/institutes.

Pope Francis worked for the common people while residing in a small Vatican guesthouse, traveled in subways or a small car, and would talk about ills of capitalism: “Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its center the god of money and not the person.”

Pluralistic tendencies in Pope led him to meet Sunni Muslim leader Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb from Al-Azhar University in UAE (United Arab Emirates) in 2019 where they issued “A DOCUMENT ON HUMAN FRATERNITY,” and  he also met Shia Muslim leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq, in 2021, whom he addresed as “dear brother.” The goal was to bring Muslims and Christians closer and to disuss the problems Christian minority faced in that country.

Environmentally conscientious, Pope Francis didn’t view environmental and social crisis as separate “But rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.”

Pope Francis was to aknowledge LGBTQ in July 2013:

“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” “We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society.”

Pope Francis also opposed treating homosexuality as a crime by many countries. He supported civil union among same-sex couples but would not allow sacramental marriage of the same-sex couples. It was shameful.

Pope appointed women in many positions for the first time which up until then, were held by men. Pope didn’t approve priesthood nor did he approve women as deacons. His answer to Norah O’Donnell of “60 Minutes” was that of a shrewd politician:

“If it is deacons with Holy Orders, no. But women have always had, I would say, the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right? Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the Holy Orders.”

Pope was for Universal Basic Income (UBI) and proposed higher taxes on billionaires who oppose egalitarianism “out of pure greed.”

Pope asked for forgiveness from the native people in Canada.

“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.”

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Chief Elmer St. Pierre

“It’s a step in the right direction.” “[But] it could have been better.”

The Vatican has a huge financial problem of corruption and excessive pay. Pope tried and succeeded, to some extent, but there’s still a long way to go. Pope’s goals was “Let’s make money for the poor.”

Cuba had been under US economic embargo since 1960 with no diplomatic relations. President Barack Obama wanted to establish full diplomatic relations and he did it with the help of Pope Francis. (But with President Donald Trump in White House in 2017, embargo was reimposed and futher tightened by Joe Biden government and second Trump administration.)

Pope had special concern for migrants and refugees. For the first time in 400 years, a new sculpture was inducted to celebrate refugees and migrants in Vatican City.

“Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel towards the excluded.” “Developing countries continue to be drained of their best natural and human resources for the benefit of a few privileged markets. Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees generated by these conflicts. Those who pay the price are always the little ones, the poor, the most vulnerable, who are prevented from sitting at the table and are left with the ‘crumbs’ of the banquet.”

Pope had criticized President Donald Trump for his anti-immigrant policies.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” “This is not in the gospel.”

Palestine was recognized by the Vatican in 2012 but was made official in 2015 when Pope Francis signed first treaty with Palestine. (Israel was mad.)

In November 2023, in an interview to the Italian state television RAI’s TG1 news channel, Pope Francis said:

“(Those are) two peoples [Palestinians and Israelis] who have to live together. With that wise solution, two states. The Oslo accords, two well-defined states and Jerusalem with a special status.”

Pope called Gaza’s only Catholic church everyday since Occtober 7, 2023.

Below are late Pope Francis’ thoughts on certain issues, inluding a light joke.

On how certain places of natural beauty get forbidden to common people because of privatization:

In some places, rural and urban alike, the privatization of certain spaces has restricted people’s access to places of particular beauty. In others, “ecological” neighborhoods have been created which are closed to outsiders in order to ensure an artificial tranquillity. Frequently, we find beautiful and carefully manicured green spaces in so-called “safer” areas of cities, but not in the more hidden areas where the disposable of society live.

Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, 45.

A joke by Pope Francis in a guest essay, “There is Faith in Humor,” he penned on December 17, 2024, for The New York Times:

As for the danger of narcissism, to be avoided with appropriate doses of self-irony, I remember the one about the rather vain Jesuit who had a heart problem and had to be treated in a hospital. Before going into the operating room, he asks God, “Lord, has my hour come?”

“No, you will live at least another 40 years,” God says. After the operation, he decides to make the most of it and has a hair transplant, a face-lift, liposuction, eyebrows, teeth … in short, he comes out a changed man. Right outside the hospital, he is knocked down by a car and dies. As soon as he appears in the presence of God, he protests, “Lord, but you told me I would live for another 40 years!” “Oops, sorry!” God replies. “I didn’t recognize you.”

On environment:

“If we approach nature and the environment without [an] openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”

Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, in Counterpunch.

On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025:

On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!

I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible! From the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Resurrection, where this year Easter is being celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox on the same day, may the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world. I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. The growing climate of anti-Semitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation. I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!

Let us pray for the Christian communities in Lebanon and in Syria, presently experiencing a delicate transition in its history. They aspire to stability and to participation in the life of their respective nations. I urge the whole Church to keep the Christians of the beloved Middle East in its thoughts and prayers.

I also think in particular of the people of Yemen, who are experiencing one of the world’s most serious and prolonged humanitarian crises because of war, and I invite all to find solutions through a constructive dialogue.

May the risen Christ grant Ukraine, devastated by war, his Easter gift of peace, and encourage all parties involved to pursue efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.

On this festive day, let us remember the South Caucasus and pray that a final peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will soon be signed and implemented, and lead to long-awaited reconciliation in the region.

May the light of Easter inspire efforts to promote harmony in the western Balkans and sustain political leaders in their efforts to allay tensions and crises, and, together with their partner countries in the region, to reject dangerous and destabilizing actions.

May the risen Christ, our hope, grant peace and consolation to the African peoples who are victims of violence and conflict, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan and South Sudan. May he sustain those suffering from the tensions in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, as well as those Christians who in many places are not able freely to profess their faith.

There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.

Nor is peace possible without true disarmament! The requirement that every people provide for its own defence must not turn into a race to rearmament. The light of Easter impels us to break down the barriers that create division and are fraught with grave political and economic consequences. It impels us to care for one another, to increase our mutual solidarity, and to work for the integral development of each human person.

During this time, let us not fail to assist the people of Myanmar, plagued by long years of armed conflict, who, with courage and patience, are dealing with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Sagaing, which caused the death of thousands and great suffering for the many survivors, including orphans and the elderly. We pray for the victims and their loved ones, and we heartily thank all the generous volunteers carrying out the relief operations. The announcement of a ceasefire by various actors in the country is a sign of hope for the whole of Myanmar.

I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development. These are the “weapons” of peace: weapons that build the future, instead of sowing seeds of death!

May the principle of humanity never fail to be the hallmark of our daily actions. In the face of the cruelty of conflicts that involve defenceless civilians and attack schools, hospitals and humanitarian workers, we cannot allow ourselves to forget that it is not targets that are struck, but persons, each possessed of a soul and human dignity.

In this Jubilee year, may Easter also be a fitting occasion for the liberation of prisoners of war and political prisoners!

Pope Francis, Easter 2025

Pope Francis on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) or more correctly “Catholic Fox News“:

“There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.”

(Read Molly Olmstead’s article “An Unholy Alliance” in Slate as to how much conservative Catholics in the US opposed Pope Francis.)

Pope’s thoughts on Islam, terrorism, capitalism, etc. abroad a plane on way to Rome, Italy, from Krakow, Poland, on July 31, 2016:

Antoine Marie Izoarde, i.Media: …Holy Father, I have two brief questions: why do you, when you speak of these violent events, always speak of terrorists, but never of Islam, never use the word Islam? And then, aside from prayer and dialogue, which are obviously essential, what concrete initiatives can you advise or suggest in order to counteract Islamic violence? Thank you, Holiness.

Pope Francis: I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy… this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law… and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence . . . and no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything. There are violent persons of this religion… this is true: I believe that in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. Fundamentalists. We have them. When fundamentalism comes to kill, it can kill with the language — the Apostle James says this, not me — and even with a knife, no? I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence. This is not right or true. I had a long conversation with the imam, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar University, and I know how they think . . . They seek peace, encounter . . . The nuncio to an African country told me that the capital where he is there is a trail of people, always full, at the Jubilee Holy Door. And some approach the confessionals — Catholics — others to the benches to pray, but the majority go forward, to pray at the altar of Our Lady… these are Muslims, who want to make the Jubilee. They are brothers, they live… When I was in Central Africa, I went to them, and even the imam came up on the Popemobile… We can coexist well… But there are fundamentalist groups, and even I ask… there is a question… How many young people, how many young people of our Europe, whom we have left empty of ideals, who do not have work… they take drugs, alcohol, or go there to enlist in fundamentalist groups. One can say that the so-called ISIS, but it is an Islamic State which presents itself as violent . . . because when they show us their identity cards, they show us how on the Libyan coast how they slit the Egyptians’ throats or other things… But this is a fundamentalist group which is called ISIS… but you cannot say, I do not believe, that it is true or right that Islam is terrorist.

Izoard: Your concrete initiatives to counteract terrorism, violence?

Pope Francis: Terrorism is everywhere. You think of the tribal terrorism of some African countries. It is terrorism and also . . . But I don’t know if I say it because it is a little dangerous… Terrorism grows when there are no other options, and when the center of the global economy is the god of money and not the person — men and women — this is already the first terrorism! You have cast out the wonder of creation — man and woman — and you have put money in its place. This is a basic terrorism against all of humanity! Think about it!

Catholic News Agency and Youtube

Hope his successor Pope Leo XIV emerges as more progressive and bold.

B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com

by SHAMSUL ISLAM

According to press reports a Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Dipankar Datta [to retire in February 2030] and Justice Manmohan (to retire in 2027) temporarily paused legal proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi initiated by a Lucknow court concerning his defamatory remarks about Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966) on April 25, 2025. Rahul was charged with offences under Section 153A (promoting enmity) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While granting stay the bench recorded that Rahul had a “good point in law” which would entitle him to an order of stay on the summons.

However, the bench issued a strong oral warning to Rahul against such statements. The Justices cautioned Gandhi that the court might initiate action suo motu – meaning on its own initiative – if similar statements were repeated. Justice Datta was said to have stated: “This is not the way to treat our freedom fighters. They have given us freedom.” The Lucknow defamation case was filed after Gandhi’s remarks during the Bharat Jodo Yatra on November 17, 2022, that Savarkar collaborated with the British and received a pension. Rahul approached the Supreme Court after Allahabad high court refused to cancel summons. During the hearings, the Supreme Court bench asked Rahul’s lawyers, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Prasanna S. whether “Does he [Rahul] know his grandmother also sent a letter to the freedom fighter praising him?” adding, “You cannot make such statements without knowing history…”. (‘Supreme Court Stays Summons Against Rahul Gandhi Over Savarkar Remarks’, The Wire, 25- 04-2025.)

According to another press report Justice Dipankar Dutta admonishing Rahul stated that “His statements would prompt other to make similar remarks against other freedom fighters” while reminding that in Maharashtra Savarkar was “worshipped as God”. Justice Datta asked Rahul’s lawyers whether their client knew that “even Mahatma Gandhi used ‘your faithful servant’ while addressing the Viceroy…Tomorrow, somebody can say Mahatma Gandhi was a servant of the British… You are encouraging these sorts of statements”.

The apex court issued notice to the State of Uttar Pradesh and the complainant, Nripendra Pandey, a Lucknow resident. It listed the case after eight weeks. (Krishnadas Rajagopal, ‘Remarks on Savarkar: Supreme Court stays summons to Rahul Gandhi indefamation case’, The Hindu, April, 25, 2025).

Let us compare the claims of these Honourable Justices that Savarkar (the only ‘Veer’ or brave in the Hindutva list of the pantheon of great freedom fighters) was great freedom fighter who gave us independence with the contemporary documents available in the Hindu Mahasabha and RSS archives.

Insaf Bulletin for more

by WEBB WRIGHT

Large language models trained on religious texts claim to offer spiritual insights on demand. What could go wrong?

Just before midnight on the first day of Ramadan in 2023, Raihan Khan—then a 20-year-old Muslim student living in Kolkata—announced in a LinkedIn post that he had launched QuranGPT, an artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot he had designed to answer questions and provide advice based on Islam’s holiest text. Then he went to sleep. He awoke seven hours later to find it had crashed because of traffic. A lot of the comments were positive, but others were not. Some were flat-out threatening.

Khan felt pressure at first to take the chatbot offline, but he ultimately changed his mind. He believes AI can serve as a kind of bridge that connects people with answers to their most profound spiritual questions. “There are people who want to get close to their religion [but] are not willing to spend the time to get to know more about it,” Khan says. “What if I could make it all easily accessible through one prompt?”

QuranGPT—which has now been used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world—is just one of a litany of online chatbots trained on religious texts. There’s Bible.Ai, Gita GPT, Buddhabot, Apostle Paul AI, a chatbot trained to imitate 16th-century German theologian Martin Luther, another trained on the works of Confucius, and yet another designed to imitate the Delphic oracle. For millennia adherents of various faiths have spent long hours—or entire lifetimes—studying scripture to glean insights into the deepest mysteries of existence, say, the fate of the soul after death.

The creators of these chatbots don’t necessarily believe large language models (LLMs) will put these age-old theological enigmas to rest. But they do think that with their ability to identify subtle linguistic patterns within vast quantities of text and provide responses to user prompts in humanlike language (a feature called natural-language processing, or NLP), the bots can theoretically synthesize spiritual insights in a matter of seconds, saving users both time and energy. It’s divine wisdom on demand.

Many professional theologians, however, have serious concerns about blending LLMs with religion. Ilia Delio, chair of theology at Villanova University and author of several books about the overlap between religion and science, believes these chatbots—which she describes disparagingly as “shortcuts to God”—undermine the spiritual benefits that have traditionally been achieved through long periods of direct engagement with religious texts. And some secular AI experts think the use of LLMs to interpret scripture is based on a fundamental and potentially dangerous misunderstanding of the technology. Yet religious communities are embracing many types and uses of AI.

One such emerging use case is biblical translation. Before now this work was painstakingly slow; translating ancient sources into the English King James Bible, first published in 1611, took seven years and a host of devoted scholars. But LLMs are expediting the process, enabling scholars to expand the Bible’s reach. A platform called Paratext, for example, uses NLP to translate esoteric terms from scripture—such as “atonement” or “sanctification”—to produce what it describes on its website as “faithful translations of the scriptures.” And in 2023 computer scientists at the University of Southern California launched the Greek Room, a project that aids translation of the Bible into “low-resource” languages (that is, languages for which few, if any, written records exist) through the use of an AI chatbot interface.

Scientific American for more

by KIM PETERSEN

From Samori Touré to Thomas Sankara [left], our ancestors chose resistance. Now, we must choose: either we fight for sovereignty, or we remain slaves to neo-colonialism.

— captain Ibrahim Traoré [right], Interview with Radio Omega FM, November 2023

A young, by political standards, military captain, now an acting president has captured widespread admiration in Burkina Faso and across Africa. The legend of Ibrahim Traoré appears to be growing by leaps and bounds.

But to understand from whence captain Traoré comes, one should be cognizant of the young revolutionary Marxist leader captain Thomas Sankara who served the people of Burkina Faso (Land of Upright People) before Traoré. Tragically, Sankara was assassinated in a hail of gunfire, betrayed by his close friend Blaise Compaore.

African Hub calls Thomas Sankara the best president in Africa’s history. During Sanakara’s four years as leader he:

Empowered women.

Increased literacy from 13-73% refused aids and made his country self reliant.

Renamed his country to Burkina Faso (meaning Land of the Upright People)

Vaccinated 2M kids.

Reduced all public servants salaries including his.

Built 350 schools, roads, railways without foreign aid

Increased literacy rate by 60%

Banned forced marriages

Gave poor people land

Planted 10 million trees

Appointed females to high governmental positions, encouraged them to work, recruited them into the military, and granted pregnancy leave

Sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers.

He reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets.

As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer.

He opposed foreign aid, saying that “he who feeds you, controls you.”

Drove out French imperialism & withdrew Burkina Faso from the IMF.

He was later killed in a French backed coup in 1987.

Thomas Sankara, the man, was killed, but his ideals live on. Into the fore another revolutionary has stepped. Ibrahim Traoré is serving the Burkinabé. African Hub calls Traoré, “The youngest and most loved President in the world.”

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin seems to have recognized this appeal and invited Traoré to Moscow. Nigeria’s Igbere Television reported on the dignified transportation accorded to Burkina Faso’s acting president for the 80th Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on 9 May:

Russia didn’t just invite President Ibrahim Traoré to Moscow — they sent a state aircraft to personally pick him up from Burkina Faso. That’s not diplomacy. That’s respect.

That’s symbolism. In a world where African leaders are often summoned like subordinates, this moment flips the script. It tells a new story: of African sovereignty being recognized, of alliances built on mutual interest — not colonial residue.

The security provided for the distinguished guest reportedly included two accompanying Su27 fighter jets.

Given the history of what happened to Sankara and the threats posed by imperialist operatives, the high level of security is understandable, especially given that Traoré is said to have survived 19 assassination attempts.

Traoré himself came to power through a coup against another coup leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who fled to Togo. Traoré was disillusioned by Damiba’s failure at handling the “jihadist” insurgency in his country. Armed jihadist groups, purportedly linked to Al Qaeda, are fighting Burkinabè government forces.

Dissident Voice for more

by LEONI CONNAH

Abstract

This article argues that the USA and its Western allies have misused ‘Just War’ narratives to legitimise an external intervention in Afghanistan and their use of force during the War on Terror. It explores the extent to which such external interventions, military strategies, narratives and justifications by the USA may have contributed to state failure in Afghanistan. As the legitimacy of earlier external interventions is called into question, while the road ahead for Afghanistan remains precarious, thinking about a new paradigm of post-war reconstruction becomes important for the country and its people in years to come.

Introduction

In 2001, the USA invaded Afghanistan in pursuit of the War on Terror with the support of NATO and over 40 countries. For almost two decades, the USA has legitimised its military operations as ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ (2001–14) and ‘Operation Freedom’s Sentinel’ from 2015 to the present. During these military endeavours, over 100,000 civilians (UN News, 2020) and over 60,000 security forces have been killed (Al Jazeera, 2019). This article focuses on the US military interventions in Afghanistan since 2001, conducted by or on behalf of the USA. Apart from questioning to what extent such military operations are in line with international law, it examines their detrimental impacts on the stability of Afghanistan and directs attention towards the new paradigm of post-war reconstruction.Although the history of Afghanistan prior to 2001, and earlier US involvement, are important within the wider context (Khalilzad & Byman, 2000), this article assesses specifically the impact of US interventions on Afghanistan. Since 2001, the concept of ‘Just War’ has been used as a theoretical framework to scrutinise to what extent such external intervention in Afghanistan has adhered to recognised international principles or has acted as a smokescreen for military misadventure (Ramsbotham et al., 2011). Key components of just war theory, such as the right to go to war (jus ad bellum) and the right conduct during the war (jus in bello) are put under scrutiny. It is not the purpose of this article to compare US intervention in Afghanistan with other interventions such as the war in Iraq. Both are instances of large-scale warfare in the wake of 9/11 (Jacobson, 2010). The Iraq war is a separate case study and as it drew to a close, violence in Afghanistan increased and casualties rocketed (Jacobson, 2010: 587). Afghanistan is now the longest conflict in US history and deserves serious attention. Understanding the accomplishments and mistakes of the USA in the wider context of attempts to justify external intervention in Afghanistan is paramount also for the future security of the state and the region. With the changing nature of US engagement in Afghanistan under Trump’s leadership, the significance of this article also lies in considering the future of Western presence in Afghanistan.Methodologically, this article provides both quantitative and qualitative analysis of this intervention and its impacts. After this introduction, a brief consideration of Just War Theory in the context of the ‘War on Terror’ is followed by an analysis of the strategic objectives of US military intervention in Afghanistan, in light of international law principles. The necessity of intervention is then scrutinised, particularly in light of the serious problem of civilian deaths as collateral damage. The concluding analyses search for viable forms of post-conflict intervention.

Just War Theory and War on Terror

Just war doctrines originated in Catholic moral theology in the Middle Ages. As proposed by St Augustine of Hippo and St Thomas Aquinas, such doctrines were concerned with ‘holy warriors’ and ‘religious pacifists’ (Walzer, 2004: 4–20). In practice, just war theory has become deeply problematic, as it leaves much room for self-serving argumentations. The doctrine’s two main components relate to the decision or right to go to war (jus ad bellum) and conduct during the war (jus in bello), explained in the context of dispute resolution by Ramsbotham et al. (2011: 326). Considering the external intervention in Afghanistan to assess whether the US invasion adheres to just war criteria requires a brief examination of the right to go to war. Raines (2002: 224) explains the five main features of jus ad bellum: (a) there must be a just cause to go to war; (b) the decision ought to be made by a legitimate authority; (c) force is to be used only with the right intention and as a last resort; (d) there must be a reasonable hope for success, with peace as the expected outcome and (e) the use of force must be proportionate and discriminate.There is now a prominent third component, relating to post-conflict scenarios, jus post bellum, considering the termination of war and aspects of its consequences (Ledwidge, 2013). Just war theorising raises many philosophical, legal and political questions, one of them being why it is important for a war to be just. War inevitably involves the use of force, and a large number of people are likely to get killed (Walzer, 2006: 22). Therefore, intellectual efforts to understand legitimate uses of force in morally worthy pursuits are urgent, to understand if deadly force can be used with the right intent and in ways that are morally acceptable in the eyes of the international community (Patterson, 2012: 119).

Sage Journals for more

by NANDINI RAMNATH

Sumitra Peries’s Sinhala-language ‘Gehenu Lamai’ has been restored with the help of the Film Heritage Foundation.

Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage was a teenager in 1978 when he first encountered one of the most beguiling chronicles of adolescence. Sumitra Peries’s film Gehenu Lamai, about a young girl’s formative experiences, resembled an Impressionist painting in its intricacy and beauty, said Vithanage.

“Sumitra had a distinctive vision and used the cinematic language in a poetic manner,” observed Vithanage, who is among his country’s most prominent filmmakers. He was mesmerised enough by Gehenu Lamai to watch it two more times in the cinema. Decades after its release, Gehenu Lamai still casts a spell.

Peries’s Sinhala-language debut feature, which she also wrote and edited, is a masterpiece of rhythm and mood. Gehenu Lamai (Girls)will be screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24) in the section devoted to classics and restored titles.

Gehenu Lamai will be presented along with Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) bytheFilm Heritage Foundation, the Mumbai-based organisation dedicated to the preservation of cinema.

The Sri Lankan contingent for Gehenu Lamai will include lead actors Vasanthi Chaturani and Ajith Jinadasa. The Aranyer Din Ratri screening will be attended by, among others, lead actor Sharmila Tagore and Wes Anderson, the Hollywood director and Rayphile.

It’s an emotional moment for Film Heritage Foundation founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur – and not only because he is taking two projects to Cannes this time. The restoration of Gehenu Lamai caps years of efforts to bring the treasures of Sri Lankan cinema to the world, Dungarpur told Scroll.

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by NEIL PRICe

The Norse ravaged much of Europe for centuries. They were also cosmopolitan explorers who followed trade winds into the Far East

In the middle of the 9th century, in an office somewhere in the Jib?l region of what is now western Iran, a man is dictating to a scribe. It is the 840s of the Common Era, though the people in this eastern province of the great Caliphate of the ’Abb?sids – an Islamic superpower with its capital in Baghdad – live by the Hijri calendar. The man’s name is Abu ’l-Q?sim ?Ubayd All?h b ?Abd All?h Ibn Khurrad?dhbih, and he is the director of posts and police for this region.

In his office, he is compiling a report as part of his duties. As his job title implies, he oversees communications and security in the Jib?l region, reporting to officials in Baghdad. What he provides is an intelligence service: in essence, Ibn Khurrad?dhbih is what we would call a station chief, like those CIA officials who manage clandestine operations abroad. The report he’s working on is part of a much larger document that will one day be known as Kit?b al-Mas?lik wa l-mam?lik (the ‘Book of Itineraries and Kingdoms’), a summary of exactly the kind of thing that governments usually want to know: who was visiting their territory, where they came from, where they were going, and why. This is what he says about a group of people known as the Rus’:

The R?s … journey from the farthest reaches of the land of the Slavs to the eastern Mediterranean and there sell beaver and black fox pelts, as well as swords. The Byzantine ruler levies a 10 per cent duty on their merchandise. On their return they go by sea to Samkarsh [Taman], the city of the Jews, and from there make their way back to Slavic territory. They also follow another route, descending the river Tanais [the Volga], the river of the Saq?liba, and passing by Khaml?kh, the capital of the Khazars, where the ruler of the country levies a 10 per cent duty. There they embark upon the Caspian Sea, heading for a point they know … Sometimes they transport their merchandise on camel back from the city of Jurj?n to Baghdad.

They also follow a land route. Merchants departing from Spain or France sail to southern al-Akçâ [Morocco] and then to Tanja [Tangier], from where they set off for Ifriqiyya [the North African coast] and then the Egyptian capital. From there they head towards Ramla, visit Damascus, Kufa, Baghdad and Basra, then cross the Ahwaz (north of the Persian Gulf)

, Fâris [Iran], Kirman, Sindh [southeast Pakistan], India, and finally arrive in al-??n [Turko-China]. Sometimes they take a route north of Rome, heading for Khaml?kh via the lands of the Saq?liba. Khaml?kh is the Khazar capital. They sail the Caspian Sea, make their way to Balkh, from there to Transoxiana, then to the yurts of the Toghuzghuz [the Uyghurs?], and from there to al-??n.

For many decades, the second paragraph of this rather dense text was thought to refer to a totally different group of merchants from those described in the first, for the simple reason that scholars just didn’t believe that the R?s (or the Rus’, as the word is usually spelled today) really went so far east. And yet, the text is clear. The two sections run on from each other, and both refer to the same people. So why do Ibn Khurrad?dhbih’s observations about them matter today?

Aeon for more

by GIULIA GRANCHI & VITOR TAVARES

Before Silvana Santos arrived in the little town of Serrinha dos Pintos more than 20 years ago, residents had no idea why so many local children had lost the ability to walk.

The remote town in north-eastern Brazil is home to fewer than 5,000 people, and is where biologist and geneticist Santos identified and named a previously unknown condition: Spoan syndrome.

Caused by a genetic mutation, the syndrome affects the nervous system, gradually weakening the body. It only appears when the altered gene is inherited from both parents.

Santos’s research marked the first time the disease had been described anywhere in the world. For this and later work, she was named one of the BBC’s 100 most influential women in 2024.

Before Santos arrived, families had no explanation for the illness affecting their children. Today, residents talk confidently about Spoan and genetics.

“She gave us a diagnosis we never had. After the research, help came: people, funding, wheelchairs,” says Marquinhos, one of the patients.

Serrinha dos Pintos: a world of its own

Where Santos is from in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest and wealthiest city, many of her neighbours were members of the same extended family originally from Serrinha. Many of them were cousins of varying degrees, married to each other.

They told Santos that many of people in their hometown couldn’t walk, but that no-one knew why.

One of the neighbours’ daughters, Zirlândia, suffered from a debilitating condition: as a child, her eyes moved involuntarily and over time, she lost strength in her limbs and needed to use a wheelchair, requiring help with even the simplest tasks.

Years of investigation would lead Santos and a research team to identify these as symptoms of Spoan syndrome.

They would go on to find 82 other cases worldwide.

BBC for more

by PAUL BOND

This is Theroux’s second documentary on the ultra-nationalist settlers. In 2011, making The Ultra Zionists, he described them as being “on the fringe of a fringe in terms of their outlook and beliefs,” while enjoying “a degree of support from the Israeli state.”

That year, the Netanyahu government faced mounting protests across the whole of Israeli society against economic conditions. Conscious of the Arab Spring, the government approved thousands of settlements on occupied Palestinian land to offset this protest movement.

Today, fascist settler parties are in government and are playing a determining role in Benjamin Netanyahu’s murderous regime. The settlers provide an essential social base for militarism and social reaction.

Theroux’s documentary, though focused on the West Bank, also showed the ethnic cleansing colonialist programme for Gaza. Daniella Weiss, the far-right “godmother” of the settler movement, boasted of having 800 families ready to move into Gaza, saying, “Our mission is to settle Israel.”

She shows Theroux a map of the “Greater Israel” she means, encompassing Lebanon, Jordan, and parts of Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Palestinians in this region should leave and go to other countries, she declares. When Theroux says that not thinking about other people at all seems “sociopathic,” she laughs. “This is normal,” she insists.

This is the real policy of Zionism. In Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Theroux is asked by an Israeli soldier, “How long are you going to be in Israel?”

Texas-born settler Ari Abramowitz carries his gun at all times, including in the synagogue. He calls the Bible “a land deed to the West Bank.” Showing Theroux around, he insisted that the Palestinian people “don’t exist”.

At one point we see Weiss’s car break from an escorted convoy of settlers and rabbis and head towards Gaza. Her gesture, she said, was to show the accompanying rabbis that Gaza is not “beyond reach.” One rabbi, Dov Lior, is shown calling for Palestinian “savages” and “camel-riders” to be “cleansed.”

World Socialist Web Site for more