Denying a visa to Dalai Lama is submitting to China, The horrific conditions of Afghan prisons, why vote for Sweden's feminist party, Chile's fight against terrorists, winning the hearts of Islamic State

This week's round-up of commentary covers why denying a visa to Dalai Lama is submitting to China's demands, the horrific conditions of Afghan prisons, why vote for Sweden's feminist party, Chile's fight against domestic terrorists, and winning the hearts and minds of Islamic State.

Global Newsstand

Cape Times / Cape town, South Africa
Denying a visa to Dalai Lama is submitting to China’s demands

“I find it difficult to understand why granting a visa to His Holiness Dalai Lama to attend the annual Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in Cape Town in October, is seen as impossible. The Dalai Lama is the global image for peace. Everywhere he goes a core message is spread – Peace...,” writes Chaeli Mycroft about South Africa’s decision to deny the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader a visa to the country for the third time amid pressure from China. “I’m sad, given [South Africa’s] proud fight for freedom, to think that our political leaders are creating the global perception that South Africa has become a submissive nation, bending the knee to foreign powers with their own political agendas.”

Daily Outlook Afghanistan / Kabul, Afghanistan
The horrific conditions of Afghan prisons

“Afghanistan is one of the countries where the prison and punishment system is in a pathetic condition.... Neither, the facilities provided in the detention centers are satisfactory, nor there are activities that can support the detainees to have better social lives,” states an editorial. “[D]etainees claim that most of the prisoners get sick due to overcrowded rooms, wet conditions, pools of water during winter and lack of proper toilets. Though promised several times, the prisoners are yet to see better conditions and facilities.... There should be group activities, encouraging the prisoners to ... be trained in the skills of their choice, so that after coming out they can find some work to support them financially.”

The Local / Stockholm
A vote for Sweden’s feminist political party

“I believe the Feminist Initiative has the best chance of making sure that women stop being paid less than men.... We need to introduce quotas on company boards to speed up the pace of change and to make sure that more women secure top ministerial posts,” Matti White told the news outlet when asked if he would vote for the Feminist Initiative, a progressive political group whose platform calls for, in part, gender equality in the workforce, more child-care services, and an emissions tax on food production. The group failed to reach the 4 percent threshold required to win a parliamentary seat in the Sept. 14 elections. “By voting for the Feminist party ... I hope we can get to a point where bosses don’t think about whether to employ a man or a woman, because in the future they will both be just as likely to take time off to look after their children.”

Buenos Aires Herald / Buenos Aires
Chile’s fight against domestic terrorism

“By many criteria, Chile is the most successful country in Latin America, the one that is leading the rest of the region towards what could be a prosperous democratic future.... Nonetheless,... Chile is currently home to a considerable number of small terrorist organizations that ... are doing their best to undermine the democratic order,” writes James Neilson. “According to officialdom, they are ‘anarchists’ who are presumably motivated by a hatred of any kind of government.... Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet has promised to come down hard on the individuals responsible for the bomb attack [on Sept. 8] that left 14 people injured ... and other groups who are making their presence felt in the same way.... [L]et us hope that Chile’s ‘anarchists’ fail to come up with anything approaching a coherent creed ... [because] they could light [an ideological] fire that would destroy many people’s lives before being stamped out.”

The Sydney Morning Herald / Sydney, Australia
Winning hearts and minds to beat Islamic State

“President Barack Obama has outlined a compelling humanitarian case to degrade and ultimately destroy the self-declared Islamic State terrorist organisation...,” states an editorial. “But doubts remain about Mr Obama’s ability to build the coalition of US allies and Muslim nations he requires to destroy IS.... This battle for the hearts and minds of the Middle East will determine the [strategy’s] success ... against a group so extreme that even al Qaeda disowned it.”