The last empire to crash was the Soviet empire 30 years ago. At the time it was led by Mikhail Gorbachev, a man of peace and harmony, its population was not seriously divided or heavily armed, and the army stayed in their barracks.
As a result, there was very little physical violence when the empire collapsed, although in the ensuing years there was great economic suffering because of the devaluation of the ruble (by a factor of almost 10,000) and in subsequent years, there were armed conflicts with the Ukraine and Georgia.
In the end, the oligarchs (Russian mafia, etc.) and the secret police (Putin had been head of the KGB) consolidated their power.
4 August 2020 (UN News)* — All 187 countries that are members of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) have now ratified a convention to protect children from the worst forms of child labour, including slavery, prostitution and trafficking.
FAO/Franco Mattioli | In Nepal, a young girl transports agricultural goods along a 65 km mountain path. When children engage in work that is not appropriate for their age, this is child labour.
Formally known as Convention No. 182, the treaty, adopted two decades ago, achieved universal ratification on Tuesday [4 August 2020], making it the most rapidly ratified Convention in the UN agency’s 101-year history.
1 August 2020 (UN News)* — World Breastfeeding Week got underway on Saturday, with the UN urging communities everywhere to “support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”. Health agency (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a joint call for governments to protect and promote women’s access to skilled breastfeeding counselling – a critical component of breastfeeding support.
UNICEF/Jan Zammit | A mother and her new born baby at the National Health Center for Mother and Child, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (4 September 2015)
The UN has long advocated the benefits of breastfeeding, which delivers health, nutritional and emotional benefits to both children and mothers. It also helps foster a sustainable food system.
31 July 2020 (UNHCR)* – With COVID-19 increasing needs and vulnerabilities of refugees and internally displaced and stateless people, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned that the impacts of the pandemic are also heightening their risks to trafficking and exploitation. |Español| Français|عربي
1 August 2020 (UN News)* — Expressing “appreciation for WHO and partners’ COVID-19 pandemic response efforts”, the emergency committee convened by the UN health agency’s chief, made it clear that there is not yet an end in sight to the public health crisis that has so far infected more than 17 million and killed over 650,000 people.
UN Women/Pathumporn Thongking | A healthcare worker checks the temperature of a patient at a hospital in Nonthaburi Province, Thailand.
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The committee convened by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), held its fourth meeting on 31 July.
Justice Department Should Heed Bipartisan Calls for Action
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30 July 2020 (Human Rights Watch)* — People of Asian descent in the United States have faced two pandemics in 2020: Covid-19 and its resulting racism and xenophobia.
The reporting center, STOP AAPI HATE, received more than 2,373 self-reported incidents of racism, hate speech, discrimination, and physical attacks against Asians and Asian Americans from March to July 2020.
(Greenpeace International)* — Since its beginning in the 1960s, the North Sea oil industry has earned billions of Euros profit and helped fill the coffers of a number of European governments. At the same time these oil and gas operations have contributed to the climate crisis, marine pollution, and endangered marine life.
31 July 2020 (Wall Street International)* — The US Postal Service is in trouble: according to an article by Prof. Philip F. Rubio, entitled “Save the Postal Service”, published in Atlantic Monthly on April 24, 2020, “The USPS has said that it needs $89 billion in assistance, including $25 billion in grants.”
Republicans realize that they will lose if the 2020 election is fair | Image from Wall Street International.
Republicans realize that they will lose if the 2020 election is fair
Donald Trump’s disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the pandemic’s terrible economic effects, have made Republicans unpopular; and this is reflected in recent polls. It seems extremely likely that if large numbers of voters participate in the November election, the Democrats will win.
Trump’s eagerness to ‘bring our boys home’ is leaving the Afghan government with little power to resist the Taliban afterwards.
Goodbye Afghanistan | US Air Force photo by Clay Lancaster. Public domain.
31 July 2020(openDemocracy)* — One of Donald Trump’s main election pledges back in 2016 was to ‘bring our boys home’. Alongside this came criticism of Germany and other NATO states for not paying their way on military spending. He has followed up on both themes this week, by starting to reduce the US presence in Germany, albeit shifting some to Poland and leaving all the mechanisms of a rapid return in place, so that the extent of the ‘back home’ is far from what it appears.
Republicans realize that they will lose if the 2020 election is fair | Image from Wall Street International. 
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 