Stories written by Baher Kamal
Baher Kamal is Senior Advisor to IPS Director General on Africa & the Middle East. He is an Egyptian-born, Spanish-national, secular journalist, with over 43 years of experience. Since the late 70s, he specialised in all development related issues, as well as international politics. He also worked as Senior Information Expert for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership at the European Commission in Brussels, and as the first-ever Information Officer and Spokesperson at UNEP’s Mediterranean Action Plan in Athens. Kamal speaks Spanish, Arabic, English and Italian. | Twitter |

The World Was Already Broken. Shall Ukrainian Cereals Fix It Up?

A wide majority, including the United States, has cheered the 22 July Turkey-brooked agreement between Russia and Ukraine to resumen cereals and fertilisers exports from both countries.

Xenophobia in Mandiba’s Land: Too Black…Or Just Too Poor?

South Africa, the home land of the late giant fighter against Apartheid, racism and discrimination – Nelson Mandela “Mandiba”, is already ‘on the precipice of explosive xenophobic violence’ against migrants, refugees, asylum seekers - and even citizens perceived as outsiders.

Hundreds of Millions of Human Workers Treated Worse than Robots

While the world’s big private business pours billions of dollars in producing automatic machines and assuring their optimal functioning, bareley no money has been invested in the hundreds of millions of human workers, who are left shockingly unprotected, treated like cheap robots, or even worse.

A World of 8 Billion, Yes, But (II): The Unseen, Untold Story of the 50%

While women and girls have been so far enjoying some of their due rights in Western high-income countries, the overwhelming majority of teenagers and adult women in the impoverished regions of the current world’s population of 8 billions continue to suffer all kinds of inequalities.

A World of 8 Billion, Yes, But Only a Few Are Seen as Human Beings

Far-right Brazilian president, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, was quoted a year ago or so as saying to a small group of indogenous people that they “now look a bit more like humans.”

New World Records: More Weapons than Ever. And a Hunger Crisis Like No Other

While the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit ended in Madrid on 30 June with net commitments to double spending on weapons and to increase by eight-fold the number of troops in Europe, the total of hungry people worldwide now marks an unprecedented record.

NATO Summit Set to Further Militarise Europe, Expand in Africa?

The three-day North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-NATO Summit in Madrid (28,29, 30 June 2022) is expected to agree to considerably increase Europe’s military power, heavily weaponise Russia’s border, and further expand its presence in Africa, according to a diplomatic source.

Nuclear-Armed Powers Squander $156.000 Every Minute on Their ‘MAD’ Policy

They call it MAD: Mutual Assured Destruction. It is about the nuclear-armed powers' doctrine of military strategy and national security policy. And they spent on their MAD policy more than 156.000 US dollars, every single minute, in just one year–2021.

Slave Markets Open 24/7: Refugee Babies, Boys, Girls, Women, Men…

In addition to slave selling and buying deals in public squares, as reported time ago in ‘liberated’ Libya, a widespread exploitation of men, women, and children has been carried out for years at refugee camps worldwide.

Despite Unspeakable Hardships, Migrants Keep One Billion People Alive

Here goes another fact: 230 million migrant workers are now a major life-saving source for up to one billion people starving in the world’s poorest communities, as well as a vital lifeline for the economy of their countries of origin.

What If a Patient Unplugged the Oxygen Tube That Keeps Them Alive?

Imagine a patient connected to a vital oxygen device to keep him or her breathing, thus alive. Then, imagine what would happen if this patient unplugged it. This is exactly what humans have been doing with the source of at least 50% of the whole Planet’s oxygen: the oceans.

The Great Fish Robbery

Now it comes to another ‘crime’ being stealthy committed as a consequence of the unrelenting business obsession for making more and more money.

World Environment Day (II): Five More Planets Earth Urgently Needed

In a previous article, IPS reported on some of UNICEF’s key findings about the harsh impacts on the world's children –and the whole Planet Earth– of the excessive consumption by mostly rich countries.

The Richest 1% Pollutes More than the Poorest 50%

As an introduction to this year’s World Environment Day on 5 June, this report deals with how the excesses of the world’s population, mostly in the wealthiest countries, are causing so much harm to Planet Earth.

Upset with the Opulence of the Rich? But the World’s Children Are Paying the Bill

The excesses committed by rich people can be deadly–and in fact they are. Be it about food, energy or overall waste, such excesses have been depleting the world's natural resources and pushing both current and future generations towards the edge of a predictable abyss.

Not Enough Clean Water in Europe? Who Cares…

So busy as they are with strengthening military alliances and devoting billions of taxpayers' money to double their war budgets and subsidise fossil fuels, European Governments seem not to care about the reiterated alerts that their continent faces a serious risk: the reduced availability -and more polluted– drinking water.

The Risks of Turning Planet Earth into a Giant Desert

The message is clear: three-quarters of the world’s population will be affected by drought by 2050. Does it sound too far in time? Well, your kids might be among the billions of humans living on a desertified planet.

‘By Deliberately Ignoring Risk, the World Is Bankrolling Its Own Destruction’

It is often said that a pessimistic person is an optimistic but well-informed person. Here, a good number of people may believe that human wit and inventiveness are capable of facing both the current and the looming disasters, like the impact of climate change, for instance.

Oil Business Burns Enough Gas to Power the Whole Sub-Sahara or Two Thirds of Europe

While the attention of mostly Western media and politicians is quasi exclusively hoarded up by the proxy war in Ukraine and its consequences on the energy sector, the world’s big oil business continues to burn Planet Earth with its underreported though highly polluting, wasteful practice of gas flaring.

Inequality Tightens Its Grip on the Most Vulnerable

Please do not say you were not aware that the world produces enough food to feed all human beings on Earth, while nearly double the combined European Union’s population go to bed hungry… every single night.

Plants: Up to 80% of Food and 98% of Oxygen, Endangered

It is as simple –and as horrifying– as that: both human health and the health of Planet Earth depend on plants. However, plants that make up 80% of the food and 98% of the oxygen, are under growing dangerous threats.

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