Cornell Chronicle

Karim says:

“The sustained campaign to abolish the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which was formed in 1992 to tackle robbery using plain clothes officers and unmarked vehicles, received a win with the announcement. However, there are no signs that anyone who served on the unit will be prosecuted for crimes they committed, nor does it seem that they will be removed from the police force. This means that the police officers who were engaged in abuse within the unit will still operate within the force. 

“The #EndSARS campaign in Nigeria has been going on for years and has been supported by the tech industry as well as famous athletes. Yet, similar to the public outcry after the George Floyd murder in the U.S., the videotaped killing of a Nigerian man by a member of SARS triggered nationwide protests, as well as global ones. The Nigerian government could not ignore the massive outcry against SARS. The success of the movement demonstrates that the government is willing to make major reforms to policing when pushed to do so. 

“While the abolishing of the SARS is a step forward for preventing police abuse in Nigeria and a win for the activists, Nigerian policing, like any other police force that has its origins from suppression – in this case, the enforcement of colonial rule – likely needs a major overhaul to ensure that the police do not abuse the population. Policing in Nigeria have undergone years of reforms in the past and have received millions of dollars of international aid to undergo reforms. Yet, police abuse persists.  At the same time, the abolishing of the SARS demonstrates that major reforms are possible when there is political pressure.”

Abulof says:

“As the genius businessman he prides himself to be, Trump knows how to cut his losses. With the Palestinians refusing to embrace Israel while it annexes substantial parts of the West Bank, Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ is all but dead. The ‘deal of the day’ will have to do – making peace between Israel and its two neighbors in calling codes: UAE 971, Israel 972, Bahrain 973. President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the two monarchs are obvious bedfellows, with joint regional interest of combating political Islam, whether Sunni or Shiite.

“While the Gulf leaders seek to gain favors with the American administration before a new one may step in, Trump and Netanyahu want to leave their mark, and save their skin, the former before the election, the latter leading his country to a COVID-19 chaos and facing an impending trial for corruption. The pact demonstrates that the ‘democratic peace’ theory – democracies rarely fight each other – has an evil twin: the ‘non-democratic peace’ theory – illiberal leaders often back each other.”