Latest news with #GlobalPublicSquare
AFP
16 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Doctored video falsely linked to recent Kenya-Tanzania diplomatic dispute
Activists and politicians from Kenya and Uganda recently travelled to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is facing treason charges. However, several of them were detained and deported, and two of the activists accused authorities of torture and sexual assault. A video published on social media claims to show CNN's Fareed Zakaria weighing in on the events. But the clip is altered; the audio is AI-generated, and CNN confirmed it did not publish the video. 'Tanzania vs Kenya Gen-Zs @CNN-Today News,' reads the text overlaid on a TikTok post published on May 22, 2025. Image Screenshot of the altered post, taken on May 28, 2025 The clip includes what appears to be a segment from the CNN show Global Public Square with host Fareed Zakaria. Below are photos of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi. The chyron reads: 'Fareed's Take' and 'Not in My Country: Why Tanzania is going after Open Society'. 'Let's step back for a moment and recognise where we are right now,' Zakaria says at the beginning of the clip. The CNN host is not seen again from the four-second mark of the video, but a voice that sounds like Zakaria's is heard over images, speaking about last year's 'Kenyan Gen-Z-led demonstrations that began as a tax revolt and quickly evolved into a national reckoning'. 'This week, Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan issued one of her strongest warnings yet. 'Not in my country,' she said, referring to a group of East African organisers who, according to Tanzanian intelligence, were flown into Dar es Salaam, booked into $400-a-night hotels, handed shopping money, and sent to target her government,' the voice adds. The video further claims that the 'Open Society Foundation's Southern Africa office' was responsible for funding the activists in what is part of a bigger 'digitally coordinated, foreign-funded' disruption. Towards the end of the audio, the voice says that 'Suluhu isn't rejecting activism,' but 'rejecting manipulation'. The audio is illustrated by visuals: images from Kenya's 2024 anti-government protests, a recent address by Hassan, clips of Open Society Foundations founder George Soros, and old articles regarding the suspension and regulation of non-governmental organisations in Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The video was published elsewhere on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. Foreign activists A diplomatic row erupted between Kenya and Tanzania after Kenyan and Ugandan activists and politicians who travelled to Tanzania to witness opposition leader Lissu's treason trial on May 19, 2025, were detained and subsequently deported. As the trial proceeded, Hassan issued a stern warning stating she would not allow foreign activists to interfere with Tanzania's internal affairs or cause chaos (archived here). Two of the activists, Agather Atuhaire from Uganda and Kenya's Boniface Mwangi, later accused Tanzanian authorities of torture and sexual assault during their incommunicado detention (archived here and here). These events have attracted both local and international attention, as calls for investigations intensify (here, here and here). However, the video showing Zakaria's assessment of the situation is doctored. Doctored video AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the clip and found that the introduction was taken from a real Fareed Zakaria segment published by CNN on May 4, 2025 (archived here). In the first three seconds of the original segment, Zakaria starts with the initial footage used in the TikTok video and says: 'Let's step back for a moment and recognise where we are right now.' However, rather than talking about Kenya and Tanzania, he goes on to say that 'the United States has launched a trade war with the world's second-largest economy, China'. The chyron font and text also look different in the original footage. 'Fareed's take,' it reads, without any subhead about Tanzania. Image Screenshots comparing the doctored video (top) and the original CNN footage (bottom) While the voice sounds like Zakaria's throughout the TikTok video, there are some noticeable discrepancies in the audio -- the slightly robotic tones, unnatural pacing and odd inflections -- starting from the moment he is no longer visible onscreen. For example, there are unnatural pauses in the middle of sentences, such as when the voice says 'Kenyan [long pause] Gen-Z-led demonstrations that began as a tax revolt' and 'a group of East African organisers who, according to Tanzanian intelligence, were flown [long pause] into Dar es Salaam'. This is corroborated by InVID-WeVerify's audio detection tool which suggests strong evidence of voice cloning. Image A screenshot of InVID-WeVerify's voice cloning detector results, taken on May 28, 2025 AFP Fact Check found no record of Zakaria commenting on the recent Tanzania-Kenya dispute. 'This video purportedly showing CNN's Fareed Zakaria's take on foreign influence in Tanzania and Kenya never aired on CNN and is entirely fabricated,' Mariana Piñango, a spokesperson for CNN, told AFP Fact Check. Additionally, contrary to the claim in the AI-generated video, there has been no public statement from Tanzania's national intelligence authority addressing the detention of the Kenyan and Ugandan activists or linking them to any paid foreign influence operations. The Open Society Foundations denied the accusations made in the video in an email response to AFP Fact Check. 'The video is an AI-generated fake that includes false allegations against the Open Society Foundations. We are a nonpartisan charitable organisation that works across Africa and around the world to promote human rights, equity, and justice.' AFP Fact Check previously debunked another claim related to the recent Kenya-Tanzania tensions.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Raisina Chronicles: A public square for global dialogue and debate
In their editors' note to Raisina Chronicles: India's Global Public Square, S Jaishankar and Samir Saran write: 'The imperative of dialogue in polarised times is self-evident. And it has gained salience precisely because the promise of globalisation has been visibly broken.' The publication of the book celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Raisina Dialogue, an international conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics that has been convened in Delhi since 2016. This platform, which brings together heads of state, government officials, policymakers, diplomats and leaders of intergovernmental organisations, along with business leaders, media persons, experts from the development sector and members of civil society, is a collaboration between the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Government of India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Therefore, it is fitting that the volume is edited by Rajya Sabha member Mr Jaishankar, who has been India's External Affairs Minister since May 2019, and ORF President Mr Saran, who is the Curator of the Raisina Dialogue. The book is valuable for readers interested in international relations and public policy as fields of study and practice. The language used here seems accessible enough for seasoned and early-career professionals, as well as students. Moreover, it is a useful resource for people who watch television shows like Barbara Hall's Madam Secretary, David Guggenheim's Designated Survivor and Deborah Kahn's The Diplomat for the high-octane drama and are curious about how politicians and diplomats build alliances and resolve conflicts in real life. It is divided into seven sections: (1) Changing Realities: Shifts in the World Order; (2) Shared Visions: Unbreakable Bilateral Ties; (3) New Opportunities: European Future in the Indo-Pacific; (4) Guards of Honour: Forging a More Secure World; (5) Viral World: Outbreaks, Outliers and Out of Control; (6) Unblurred Vision: Development with a Difference; and (7) At the Helm of Power: India, Raisina and the New Way Forward. Each section features reflections by speakers from various countries who have participated in the Raisina Dialogue and have rich insights to offer about key priorities in specific geographies and across the world. Rosa Balfour (Director, Carnegie Europe) and Zakaria Al Shmaly (Research Analyst, Carnegie Europe) acknowledge the European Union's 'blind spots', particularly its limited engagement with the 'Global South', and the need to understand critiques of its migration and asylum policy that treats white Christian and brown Muslim refugees differently. Kwame Owino (CEO, Institute of Economic Affairs) and Jackline Kagume (constitution, law and economy programme head at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Kenya) point out that Sub-Saharan Africa is 'the least embedded in global economic affairs and commerce' and advocate for 'access to regional and global markets' to ensure prosperity for countries represented by the African Union. The book addresses subjects such as democracy, climate finance, maritime security, gender equality, soft power, vaccine equity, public-private partnerships, and terrorism. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, for instance, calls terrorism 'a cancer that needs to be faced through wide international cooperation'. With Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announcing his readiness for a neutral investigation into the Pahalgam terror attack, it remains to be seen how this international cooperation pans out, and whether it amounts to more than lip service. Mohammed Soliman (director, strategic technologies and cyber security program at the Middle East Institute, Washington, DC) compliments 'India's growing voice in world affairs' for making the Raisina Dialogue 'a critical pathway for conflicting parties to utilise'. He writes, 'Not many global capitals have the diplomatic pull to host Israel, Iran, the Palestinians, and the Arab states under one roof to debate the most contentious regional and global issues'. Amrita Narlikar (president and professor, German Institute for Global and Area Studies) points out that the Raisina Dialogue 'is more inclusive and more diverse' than the Munich Security Conference and the World Economic Forum. What makes it stand out is not only 'its location in a democratic nation in the Global South' but also the decision to 'enable the participation of the interested public' rather than having closed-door meetings. This congratulatory tone pervades the book. While it reinforces the significance and impact of the Raisina Dialogue for multiple stakeholders, there is hardly any reflection on challenges encountered over the last 10 years and areas of improvement that have been identified either by the organisers or the participants. Introspection and feedback are crucial for growth. The other contributors to the volume range from United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Rwandan President Paul Kagame to former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen J Harper, Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director David Petraeus, and Mexican Minister of Economy Marcelo Ebrard. The absence of voices from India's own neighbourhood — Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, China, and the Maldives — is quite conspicuous. Since the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to help members settle disputes, the Raisina Dialogue could serve as a forum to have some of those conversations.
