Why the #MeToo campaign is just the beginning, Hillary Clinton should have eaten humble pie, Lessons for European leaders from Catalonia, Iran is not a broker of peace and stability, How to fix Africa’s absence from the Nobel Prize

A roundup of global commentary for the Oct. 30, 2017 weekly magazine.

Global Newsstand

The Daily Star / Dhaka, Bangladesh

Why the #MeToo campaign is just the beginning

“Following the global backlash against [Harvey] Weinstein and with focus back on sexual abuse, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, ‘If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem,’ ” writes Fardina Habib. “Within 24 hours, the hashtag was tweeted at least half a million times.... Weinstein’s case, and cases like it are not even the tip of the iceberg.... We live in a better world today than that in which our predecessors did.... [A] world where women get together and start casting off ‘shame’ that was never theirs to begin with ... is better than the one where they were gagged.... The #MeToo campaign is only a start....”

The Courier Mail / Brisbane, Australia

Hillary Clinton should have eaten humble pie

“If you hadn’t realised that there was something not quite right about Hillary Clinton, then her [interview] on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s] Four Corners [show] ... would have set you straight,” writes Miranda Devine. “She ­talked freely about her hurt feelings, but never acknowledged that she just might have been a terrible candidate.... The problem is not that her campaign was thwarted by dirty tricks. It was that her campaign was ill-judged from the start. Winning office, and keeping it, is a prerequisite for politics.... Proper people approach failure with soul searching and ­humility. Sometimes they emerge as wiser, better people.... It’s a lesson for us all.”

Deutsche Welle / Bonn, Germany

Lessons for European leaders from Catalonia

“The mood in Barcelona resembles that of the morning after an all-night party. A political hangover and a feeling of helplessness,” writes Barbara Wesel. “The city saw ... highly emotional demonstrations for and against independence.... Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is no match for the situation; he is buying time while Madrid remains unforgiving.... Catalonia’s independence movement has spread like wildfire.... And the regional government in Barcelona fanned the flames.... But Europe’s other governments should take a good look at how the situation in Catalonia got out of hand.... Ignoring populist movements is not helpful, and neither is letting their demands crash into a wall.... These are great times for diplomats ... to show their skills, round the clock.” 

The Jerusalem Post / Jerusalem

Iran is not a broker of peace and stability

“In a recent article in The Atlantic, Iran’s American-educated and Machiavellian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif writes that the Middle East is in disarray because of foreign powers’ regular intervention in the region...,” writes Fahim Masoud. “Zarif enumerates the sins and atrocities that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have committed in the region.... What Zarif ignores is that his country is equally responsible.... For Zarif to claim that his country is a broker of peace and stability in the region is ridiculous.... Before blaming foreign powers ... Zarif should first have tea with the ayatollahs and their lackey [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and get them to cease being stewards of death and destruction....”

The New Times / Kigali, Rwanda

How to fix Africa’s absence from the Nobel Prize

“The Nobel Prize season has just ended...,” writes Joseph Rwagatare. “[The] awards in the different fields seek to provide firm ground on which to stand and move to a higher level.... [This article’s] main concern is the continued absence of Africans from ... the Nobel Prize.... Of course, some Africans, going back to Albert Luthuli in 1960, have won the Peace Prize before.... The literature prize, too, has been won by a few African writers.... Still, many will say we should get more winners of the literature prize.... [W]hy are there no African winners of the Nobel Prize in physics, chemistry, medicine or economics?... [T]here isn’t enough research going on.... [T]here must be more money put into research.”