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“Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19,” United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said on March 23rd. “The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly. Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world…The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.”
Guterres’ ceasefire plea has yielded some positive results. By April 3rd, he reported ceasefires in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Libya, Burma/Myanmar, Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. Actual ceasefires are hard to document, as the so-called fog of war clouds attempts to wage peace. “To silence the guns,” he added, “we must raise the voices for peace.”
Guterres makes a vital point: the novel coronavirus is a common enemy, capable, as we have painfully learned, of killing huge numbers, regardless of the flag one flies. As the outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt demonstrated, even staying aboard a $5 billion nuclear naval vessel offers no protection. And ... Read More →
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