Addressing India's 'rape culture,' the toll of the Syrian war, voting in Israel, economic reform in the Ukraine, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

The Times of India / Mumbai
Let India’s men speak out against rape culture
“It is seldom that India gets coverage in the western media and when it does, it is often for negative news...,” writes Mrutyuanjai Mishra. “Behind the disproportional accusations of black men lies the latent racism which assumes that they commit more crime than others. If India and Indians do not protest against such documentaries [as the BBC’s documentary ‘India’s Daughter’] then we might see an increase in racism against persons of Indian origin. A well balanced documentary would have been fair and have given decent men in India the chance to voice their comments, thereby making it clear to the world that there are people who find such acts completely unacceptable.”

The Australian / Surry Hills, Australia
Syrian civil war continues to take lives worldwide
“The reported death of Melbourne teenager Jake Bilardi in a suicide bombing in Iraq was far from an isolated incident,” states an editorial. “Suicide bombings were once rare events, used for propaganda coups. Now they are used almost daily by Islamic State for such mundane ends as smashing a gate to allow other fighters through.... [The Syrian civil war] remains a reminder of the policy failures, particularly by Washington, that have led to the spread of the Islamic State.... Islamic State’s emergence as a magnet for jihadists is due, in part, to the international community’s failure to prevail on the [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad regime to change course.”

The Jerusalem Post / Jerusalem
The privilege of having voted in Israel
“I feel privileged to take part in a vote which, for much of the history of Diaspora, was denied Jewish communities throughout the world for almost 2,000 years,” writes David Newman. “I want my Arab and Palestinian neighbors to enjoy that same right in the political entity of their choosing, neither threatening, or feeling threatened, by the idea that two such different peoples with such contrasting cultures, beliefs and ideologies, share the small piece of real estate in Israel-Palestine – the geographical and geopolitical locus of the world’s great civilizations and religions.”

Deutsche Welle / Bonn, Germany
To stabilize, Ukraine must initiate economic reform
“Ukraine needs help from the West,” writes Bernd Johann. “Financially, the country is on the brink of collapse: its economy is shrinking, and the ceasefire in the east is fragile.... In order to stabilize the Ukrainian economy, the International Monetary Fund ... put together a huge financial package for the country.... Germany has also pledged its help.... In return, [Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko] now at last must set in motion long-promised reforms. In addition to the independence of the judiciary, that includes the fight against corruption and the oligarchic economy. They are – apart from the war – the main obstacles to economic stabilization. Ukraine’s rich are still sending much of their money out of the country. Poroshenko has not yet done much to tackle the problem, perhaps because he ... belongs to the oligarchs’ circle.... The collapse of Ukraine must be prevented – but no one wants to invest in a bottomless pit.”

Al-Ahram Weekly / Cairo
Reconciliation with Muslim Brotherhood?
“Every now and then ... the pretence is held that the Muslim Brotherhood is still a viable force and that its reintroduction into public life will spare us further trouble, pull us out of the economic abyss, and give us back our full regional role...,” states an editorial. “Reconciliation would set us on the path to equity, harmony, and prosperity, or so the argument goes.... [M]aking up with the Muslim Brotherhood is not only meaningless, but it would smack of surrender, of a white flag offered to the terrorists, of capitulation.... The Muslim Brotherhood’s bloody history is all on record, and the past few years only confirmed that the group hasn’t changed its penchant for violence.... Egypt is not fighting the Muslim Brotherhood: it is fighting terror.”