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Mukesh Kapila

@mukeshkapila.bsky.social
4K followers 912 following 387 posts

Author and writer: Humanitarian, Human Rights, Development, War and Peace. Ex UN, WHO, Red Cross Red Crescent, UK Government. Professor Emeritus Univ of Manchester

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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Who gives up the gun first? The Trump Plan, caught btw Hamas disarmament & Israel withdrawal is squeezing the life out of people of Gaza stuck in-between. Will they learn obvious lessons from many other war-peace processes? My column at the National News www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comm...
thenationalnews.com
Who gives up the gun first? Gaza’s path to peace lies in learning how other wars ended | The National
Lessons from failed peace deals could save the Palestinian enclave
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
As the noise and dust settle over UNGA81 - my thoughts for what they are worth as extracted by the colourful Ireti Bakare-Yusuf host of her Borderlines chat show on NigeriainfoFM: Can the United Nations Survive a Fragmented World? www.youtube.com/live/aXTSynj...
youtube.com
#Borderlines - UNGA 81: Can the United Nations Survive a Fragmented World?
YouTube video by Nigeria Info FM
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#DRC's #Ebola: how many agencies responding, how many they employ, how much money? Dont know but we have 16 coordination mechanisms, 8 clusters, 11 pillars, 3 plans, 5 appeals.But virus does not coordinate. Part2 of my analysis @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social healthpolicy-watch.news/drcs-ebola-o...
healthpolicy-watch.news
DRC’s Ebola Outbreak: The Vast Mobilisation That Doesn’t Measure Itself (Part II) - Health Policy Watch
The world has ridden fast to rescue DRC from Ebola. But four months on, nobody can say for sure how many agencies are responding, how many people they employ,
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Health Policy Watch - Global health news reporting @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Issue #6: Vital Signs in Global Health by Prof. @mukeshkapila.bsky.social DRC’s Ebola outbreak became the largest late detection in recorded history. Early warning signals were available, but action came too slowly as transmission accelerated. 📰➡️ healthpolicy-watch.news/drcs-ebola-l...
healthpolicy-watch.news
DRC’s Ebola Lessons: Learned And Unlearned (Part I) - Health Policy Watch
The lethality of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not just in its genome. Neither is it entirely explained by the country’s
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Why such heavy weather controlling Ebola outbreak in DRC? Plenty of blame floating about on who/what responsible. But what do data indicate? And were past lessons learnt? This is Part I analysis of my deep dive - in hope of improvements healthpolicy-watch.news/drcs-ebola-l...
healthpolicy-watch.news
DRC’s Ebola Lessons: Learned And Unlearned (Part I) - Health Policy Watch
The lethality of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not just in its genome. Neither is it entirely explained by the country’s
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Are today's warring leaders just sick - mentally & physically? Would healing them bring world peace? How? My life-changing conversation with Sid Chatterjee, trauma survivor, soldier, diplomat, humanitarian, biohacker- in latest FadingCauses podcast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1wT...
youtube.com
EPISODE 23: Can Biohacking Bring World Peace? with Sid Chatterjee
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Health Policy Watch - Global health news reporting @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Issue #5: Vital Signs by Prof. @mukeshkapila.bsky.social Afghans are trapped between two sets of convictions: Taliban restrictions that cripple healthcare & Western policies that withdraw support. Neither side pays the price. Ordinary Afghans do. 📰➡️ healthpolicy-watch.news/clashing-con... 🔁🙏
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Arguing to legitimise or not the Taliban is fatal political posturing while doing little practically on tried-and-tested ways to keep people in Afghanistan alive. My latest Global Health 'Vital Signs' piece: healthpolicy-watch.news/clashing-con...
healthpolicy-watch.news
Clashing Convictions Of Taliban And The West Is Costing Afghan Lives - Health Policy Watch
Two sets of dogmas contend in Afghanistan: those of the Taliban and the West. Neither side pays the real price for their beliefs. Ordinary Afghans do with
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Around 17 million people die each year for want of basic surgical attention. That's six times the toll from the three grand iconic diseases: HIV,TB, Malaria. Why is surgery the 'neglected stepchild' of global health? My latest column @thenationalnews.com www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comm...
thenationalnews.com
The neglected knife: Why global health overlooks surgery | The National
Billions of people still lack access to safe, affordable surgery, even as the world spends vast sums on other global health priorities
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Health Policy Watch - Global health news reporting @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Issue #4 of @mukeshkapila.bsky.social Vital Signs in Global Health Fauci’s final service may be unintended: a warning to the rest of the world about the dangers of politicised health accountability — & an argument for stronger, independent institutions. 📰➡️ healthpolicy-watch.news/fauci-the-or...
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Chief Medical Adviser to world's most powerful leaders Anthony Fauci refused to tell Senate committee on the Covid pandemic what color tie he was wearing. Was he principled or arrogant? And what achieved? My Vital Signs column @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social healthpolicy-watch.news/fauci-the-or...
healthpolicy-watch.news
Fauci: The Oracle Who Went Silent At The Wrong Time - Health Policy Watch
Twenty-five democracies managed to examine their COVID pandemics without smashing their national crockery. The United States produced a partisan committee and
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Health Policy Watch - Global health news reporting @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Issue #3 of @mukeshkapila.bsky.social Vital Signs in Global Health Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many people have died? The honest answer: nobody knows. @iasociety.bsky.social @aidsconference.bsky.social @unaids.org @aidshealthcare.bsky.social 📖 ⬇️ & 🔁🙏
healthpolicy-watch.news
The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count - Health Policy Watch
VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The Refugees Convention is 75. Helped past millions. Now is anyone giving even a half cheer as it half-fails Sudan, Afghanistan, Rohingya Gaza etc? Do refugees still justify special status or time to re-think migration generally? READ my piece at National News www.mukeshkapila.org/after-75-yea...
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Sudan: we hear that the road Khartoum-El Obeid is now under SAF control. Does it mean El Obeid's million+ in desperate need safe now? Depends on if military business or humanitarian flows are prioritised and how RSF fight back. My remarks at RTWorld: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkVt...
youtube.com
Sudan’s El Obeid residents trapped amid intense RSF drone attacks
YouTube video by TRT World Now
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Issue 2 of my Vital Signs in Global Health column: What got my pulse racing were first, the shenanigans around trillions$ food industry and billions$ obesity meds business & meanwhile Ebola outruns hollowed-out WHO. Read @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social healthpolicy-watch.news/markets-offe...
healthpolicy-watch.news
Markets Offer Costly Cures While Courts Ensnare Prevention; Meanwhile Ebola Response Stumbles - Health Policy Watch
That also raises a question for those seeking to succeed Dr Tedros next year as Director General. How can that high office allow its holder to shape events
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Do major catastrophes change history or do nations just absorb the shock & stumble on? I look at this old political question at E-International Relations through lessons from other quakes in second of my articles on Venezuela's fork in the road. Which way will it go? www.e-ir.info/2026/07/22/o...
e-ir.info
Opinion – The Deepest Fault Line of the Venezuela Earthquake Is Political – E-International Relations
Earthquakes can strip away the pretences behind which weak governments shelter and hand grieving people the clarity of seeing their rulers tested.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Are we misdiagnosing violence/wars? What if they spread like contagious diseases eg Covid/Ebola & we could cure/manage them with same public health tools even in Sudan, Gaza, Congo etc? Dr Gary Slutkin’s paradigm-shifting chat on my FadingCauses #podcast. Watch/listen youtube.com/watch?v=1DwZ...
youtube.com
EPISODE 22: Is Violence a Contagious Disease? with Gary Slutkin
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
The #Venezuela earthquake response is among the worst worldwide of recent quake responses with many previous lessons unlearnt or deliberately ignored, thereby compounding the original 'natural' tragedy. My thoughts on this in the first of two articles: www.mukeshkapila.org/in-venezuela...
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Health Policy Watch - Global health news reporting @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Inside View | Mukesh Kapila Global health has the evidence & the solutions. What it lacks is political priority. Funding cuts & delayed decisions carry a human cost, leaders can no longer afford to treat global health as an afterthought! @mukeshkapila.bsky.social @who.int @ec.europa.eu 📖 ⬇️ & 🔁🙏
healthpolicy-watch.news
Vital Signs: Reading Critical Developments In Global Health - Health Policy Watch
Last week, one phrase — “self-reliance” — did more work in global health than any medicine, as global agencies continue operationalising donor retreats they
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I am experimenting with new regular column @healthpolicywatch.bsky.social on whatever strikes me as interesting or critical in Global Health over preceding week+. I will evolve with experience. Your feedback & suggestions welcome. Here is first edition: healthpolicy-watch.news/vital-signs-...
healthpolicy-watch.news
Vital Signs: Reading Critical Developments In Global Health - Health Policy Watch
Last week, one phrase — “self-reliance” — did more work in global health than any medicine, as global agencies continue operationalising donor retreats they
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
linkedin.com
#elobeid #sudan | Mukesh Kapila
What is it like for the 750,000 + people of #ElObeid #Sudan as the RSF noose tightens? How do they prepare, not for deepened hunger and thirst - people are already very experienced in doing that - ...
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
AI wont save humanitarianism and could it quietly finish hollowing it out? It may sharpen planning, logistics but it cant manufacture a missing food ration. Nor can it make the moral triaging choices of who gets helped. My latest oped for The National News www.mukeshkapila.org/should-we-tr...
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
For what it is worth - my take on lifr from living the life. theysaidso.org/mukesh-kapil...
theysaidso.org
WHY ‘NEVER AGAIN’ HAPPENS AGAIN - THEY SAID SO
Mukesh Kapila, Emeritus Professor, University of Manchester
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Two teenage girls in obstructed labour in South Sudan flown to hospital. One reached the operating room in time. One didn't. That margin is the whole story of global surgery. My new Fading Causes conversation with Dr Geoff Ibbotson, CEO of Global Surgery Foundation 🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtZ7...
youtube.com
EPISODE 21: Is Surgery The Neglected Step-Child of Global Health? with Geoff Ibbotson
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
One of the world's most pointless elections: Odd how countries slag off the paralysed UN Security Council & then flight tooth-and-claw for a second-class seat on it from which they can posture to no effect. passblue.com/2026/06/03/f...
passblue.com
Five New Countries Elected to the UN Security Council's 2027-28 Term - PassBlue
Five New Countries Elected to the UN Security Council's 2027-28 Term - PassBlue
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Here we go again - Ebola comes back as a Public Health Emergency of International Importance in DRC, Uganda, and potentially threatening other countries in region. Something else to panic about? My short remarks in this TRT interview www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yI8...
youtube.com
WHO: New strain of Ebola has no vaccine, no specific treatment
YouTube video by TRT World Now
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Was the captain premature in concluding the sudden first death on cruise ship was natural when he & ship doctor didnt know man's previous medical history and could not conduct a post mortem either. My remarks via @trtworld Nexus programme #Hantavirüs www.youtube.com/watch?v=afSh...
youtube.com
How The Media Used Hantavirus To Scare Us
YouTube video by Nexus
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Are we doomed to fight yesterday's battles in global health? So much energy needing expenditure to sooth misinformation, mistrust in public concerns around Hantavirus comparisons with Covid19 when the strategic challenge is elsewhere. My interview alongside others: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pF0...
youtube.com
Should we be worried about the Hantavirus outbreak? | Inside Story
YouTube video by Al Jazeera English
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
What’s tormenting #Haiti? Who to blame for its poverty & violence,as colonisation ended 220+yrs ago. But interference didn’t. Is it Haiti’s tragic geography stuck in the groin of the US? I ask expert Michael Deibert in the latest episode of my Fading Causes Podcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGGC...
youtube.com
EPISODE 20: What Is Tormenting Haiti? with Michael Deibert
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Putting numerals in front of billions and trillions of dollars make the wars more shocking in terms of costs than just getting horrified by the numbers of casualties incurred - such is the way that we get impressed nowadays www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/...
aljazeera.com
The cost of 76 years of US wars, from Korea to Iran
Al Jazeera breaks down the human and financial cost of decades of US-led wars and its latest war on Iran.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The humanitarian legacy of the war in Iran and Lebanon will continue to give and give well beyond the battlefields - even if and when these go quiet. My latest opinion piece via The National News: www.mukeshkapila.org/the-humanita...
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
“If you get raped, dont come back home”. How the sexually violated victims of the vicious war in Sudan incl Darfur die again and again while apparently surviving. Must watch/listen to my latest Fading Causes podcast interview with Rahmet Elfikhi of TRT Arabi www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej6f...
youtube.com
EPISODE 19: How Did Rape Become a Weapon of War in Sudan? with Rahmet Elfikhi
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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The New Humanitarian @newhumanitarian.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Researchers say suicide rates are higher among camp-based refugees and displaced people than among host populations. In East Africa, refugees also face higher rates of depression (31%) and functional impairment (62%) than local populations (10% and 25%, respectively).
thenewhumanitarian.org
Dadaab voices: What’s behind the rise in refugee suicides?
A pressure cooker existence of prolonged displacement, slashed aid, and fading futures is driving a spike in suicides.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
“If you get raped, dont come back home”. How the sexually violated victims of the vicious war in Sudan incl Darfur die again and again while apparently surviving. Must watch/listen to my latest Fading Causes podcast interview with Rahmet Elfikhi of TRT Arabi www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej6f...
youtube.com
EPISODE 19: How Did Rape Become a Weapon of War in Sudan? with Rahmet Elfikhi
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Is sending the thugs of one failing state to control thugs of another a genius or cynical idea? I really dont know & so genuinely ask: #Chad overstaffed with murderous veteran fighters sees Trump-encouraged UN-mandated #Haiti security op as “welcome gig.” passblue.com/2026/03/30/w...
passblue.com
Will the UN-Backed Gang Suppression Force for Haiti Ever Materialize? - PassBlue
Will the UN-Backed Gang Suppression Force for Haiti Ever Materialize? - PassBlue
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Rape is so normalised amidst the war in Darfur, Sudan that some women request prophylaxis before they venture out -knowing they will get raped. Powerful report from MSF. www.msf.org/msf-report-f...
msf.org
MSF report finds no safe places for women and girls in Darfur | MSF
Our latest report on Sudan documents widespread and systematic sexual violence across roads, fields and displacement camps in Darfur, both in areas affected by conflict and far from frontlines.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
The $1.3-Million-a-Minute War www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The $1.3-Million-a-Minute War
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
If it is indeed true as postulated here that the the US-Israel-Iran war is a religious one, even God is too conflicted to help save humanity aje.news/g1skj9
aje.news
The US-Israel war on Iran is shaped by religion as much as strategy
The conflict has mutated into a zero-sum collision of competing messianic frameworks.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Do we need to revise our definitions of health - and how did the well-meaning global health movement go wrong. Can we reform? Far-reaching conversation with eminent thinker Ilona Kickbusch on my Fading Causes podcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MU3...
youtube.com
EPISODE 18: Is Global Health Keeping Fit For Purpose? with Ilona Kickbusch
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Do foreign development global health aid cuts mean greater disease and suffering for developing countries? No - it is an opportunity. This is what i argue in my article below via The National News. www.mukeshkapila.org/why-the-pani...
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Who is starving to death the people of Western Tigray in Ethiopia and, in effect, continuing to ethnically cleanse them? Answer: everyone through a conspiracy of federal punishment and infighting among Tigrayan authorities. What a betrayal! www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/202...
thenewhumanitarian.org
Ethiopia’s blame game after videos reveal starving displaced people in Tigray
Both the federal government and the Tigray authorities refuse to take responsibility for a crisis that has shocked the country.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Much is being said and speculated as we stay glued to the news on the Iran war that is gathering momentum. My own early assessment on NewsCentral TV www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCo5...
youtube.com
US-Israel Joint Strike: Iran Vows Retaliation
YouTube video by News Central TV
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
It is luck if or not some desperate person in conflict or disaster somewhere receives help or not. But even a random lottery should be fair. So, how honest is the global humanitarian lottery? I talk frankly to Thomas Byrnes in my Fading Causes Podcast. Watch/listen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEsm...
youtube.com
EPISODE 17: How Honest is the Global Humanitarian Lottery? with Thomas Byrnes
YouTube video by The Fading Causes Podcast
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Adding more power hegemons to existing ones on broken #UN #SecurityCouncil may make it more representative but further entrench the new might-is-right world order, Hardly helpful for poor, small, struggling nations. My POV in panel debate on Al Jazeera Inside Story www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFM2...
youtube.com
Can the UN Security Council be reformed? | Inside Story
YouTube video by Al Jazeera English
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
“Sacrificed on the altar of vice": As the world fixes on the abuse of uncounted Epstein victims, most unlikely to get justice, this extraordinary interview with Gisele Pelicot speaking on her own horrors & putting shame where it belongs is a must watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMA5...
youtube.com
Gisèle Pelicot: The Newsnight Interview
YouTube video by BBC News
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Sudan was already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. it is now also the global famine capital. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zprr...
youtube.com
Sudan’s Humanitarian crisis expected to worsen in 2026
YouTube video by TRT World Now
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
If you are damed if you do and damned if you dont, then what do you do? Well, you stay and deliver despite the risks - as MSF should do in Gaza. www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/01...
thenewhumanitarian.org
Médecins Sans Frontières decides not to give staff names to Israel after all
MSF is one of 37 organisations facing a ban for refusing to obey rules that critics say are aimed at silencing advocacy and manipulating the response.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
I very much agree with most of this article: The careless, casual, crafty way in which partisan politicians, thoughtless activists, and remunerated lawyers use term genocide means it has lost its meaning and purpose - to bring accountability, deter, and prevent egregious crimes against humanity
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Doing some research & struggling to find serious independent articles positive about Davos. Please suggest if you know. Meanwhile.. "dealmaking, not democracy at Davos www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/d...
project-syndicate.org
The Time Has Come to Shutter the World Economic Forum
Katharina Pistor recounts how the annual Davos gathering has served as a platform for anti-democratic deal-making.
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Mukesh Kapila @mukeshkapila.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Look forward to talking to the UN University of Peace in Costa Rica later today on The Foretold Genocide(s) in Sudan and the failure of international law and Responsibility to Protect - and why this happens again and again in many places - and surprises us everytime it does
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