February 5th, 2018
Written By - Daania Tahir '19
JANUARY 8TH
1. Iran Protests: In the recent weeks Iranians have been coming out to protest against their government. In the beginning the focus was economic instability, but it quickly transformed into a protest against the Ayatollah's strict rule. Many were protesting against Iran's support of Hezbollah in Lebanon as well, and the lifestyle of the aging elite that is forced on them. I am unsure if anything tangible will come out of these protests, but it shows the deep unrest in Iran. A lot of the protesters are young people, which also highlights that this unrest is not going to die any time soon, it truly is embedded in the nation. Many of them have been arrested and detained, displaying the censorship in Iran as well. There is a key difference to point in Iran. Iran has two "leaders", the Ayatollah and the President. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commands the armed forces, appoints the judiciary and has control over Iran's foreign policy. President Rouhani does not have nearly as much power. President Rouhani supports these protesters and wants many students to no longer be detained. He is not anti-western. The Ayatollah on the other hand is, and he is the one that the Iranians are protesting.
2. North Korea: My favorite! Kim Jong Un recently stated that he will be opening up the hotline to South Korea to have diplomatic talks. The meeting will be tomorrow (January 9th). This is a good sign that Kim Jong Un is slowly ready to have peaceful talks, and it should really emphasize to the United States to take it slow with the threats and tweets. North Korea and nuclear weapons are not the time for some unconventional foreign policy. Tensions are at an all time high compared to the Obama and Bush era, highlighting how the current approach is making things worse not better. The US, as difficult as it might be, has to wait it out.
3. Pakistan: My country! The US and Pakistan don't have such a good relationship. Pakistan has housed members of the Taliban for quite some time, but that has mainly been the fault of corrupt politics and leaders. Now, yes Pakistan is a corrupt country in many ways, however it is not the enemy. For one thing, Pakistan is the main provider of supplies and weapons to US troops in Afghanistan. Second, it is important to remember that the US continues to support Saudi Arabia, a nation that has done much worse than Pakistan. The US also supports Israel, a nation that has committed The US, or at least our President, has decided to cut off all US aid to Pakistan as punishment for housing the Taliban. This really closes off any hope of US-Paki cooperation in the future and will definitely be a major loss for the Afghan war.
4. Saudi/Yemen: Just a quick update that Saudi Arabia did reopen the border into Yemen for 30 days to allow aid to get through.
JANUARY 22
1. South Africa: South Africa's ANC (their dominant party) recently elected a new leader, Cyril Ramaphosa. South Africa has been plagued with the corruption of Jacob Zuma, their current president (probably not current for long), who has been charged with fraud and embezzlement and has let private owners (the Gupta's) get involved with the government. Now the ANC and Ramaphosa are working on getting him out of power, and if that happens it is likely that Ramaphosa will become the next president (as seen in precedent).
2. Turkey: Turkey intensifies in the Kurdish enclave in Syria, with US militias and Turkish militias clashing. This complicates a lot of things. An article by the NYT analyzes how it shows 1. that the Trump administration has no control over Ankara (the capital of Turkey) and 2. complicates the diplomatic relationship with the Kurds. Looking straight from a diplomatic POV, the Kurds provide a huge amount of troops to the US to aid in our "war on terror" against ISIS and ISIL. Turkey considers the Kurds a threat, and so us being allied with them creates tension. This was overlooked because the main focus was always on defeating their common enemy of ISIS, however now that ISIS is slowly moving out of Syrian territory, the issue has sparked tension again. And again as the NYT article puts it we either have to scale back relations with the Kurds or risk a real, military conflict with Turkish troops. (sorry this was long)
3. Venezuela: The biggest problem for Venezuela currently is the deep abuse of Nicolás Maduro. He has entrenched the nation in one of the biggest economic crisis ever seen. Currently there is a severe food shortage, a result of the government taking control of farms and factories and setting prices for food too low, leading food producers to go out of service.
4. Romania: Protests occurred in Romania against a new law that would weaken the judicial system, essentially opening the door to more higher level corruption in the nation. Their Prime Minister was recently forced out as well by his Social Democrat party as they pulled support for him.
FEBRUARY 4TH
1. Israel and Egypt: This is a pretty interesting dynamic. Egypt and Israel have historically been enemies in wars, and then rivals in peace as well. Now however, they have united against the common foe of terrorism. Essentially, Israel is providing military aid to Egyptian forces fighting off jihadists in nation (specifically in the Northern Sinai I think). A lot of articles say how Israels aid has been a key force in Egyptian victory. However, this alliance is still pretty lowkey, with Israeli helicopters being unmarked and no official statements having been made.
2. Palestinian Aid: President Trump recently declared that he would be cutting off about 1/2 of US aid to Palestine to make a political and diplomatic point. There is a huge, tangible impact of this. Besides various diplomatic impacts, its gonna create a real problem in the region. The US is cutting off aid to the UNRWA, a UN run agency. This agency does more than just provide resources to displaced Palestinians. It runs schools, clinics, sanitation and more. It's the "government" of many camps. As the NYT puts it, the US cutting of aid could lead to the collapse nearly all the infrastructure in these camps, allowing extremists to make gains and leaving thousands in chaos.
3. Ireland: The eighth amendment of Ireland is as follows (Guardian) : "to accord equal status to the life of a child growing in the womb with that of its mother.". Essentially, abortion can only occur in extreme cases. This law, that has been embedded in Ireland for centuries, is now up for debate. A referendum on whether or not to repeal this amendment will be happening in May of this year.
4. India: India is planning to provide healthcare to half a million people in their nation, covering more people than any other government agency in the world. Modi, with elections coming up next year, wants to show his commitment to economic and social reform. India's economy is one of the fastest growing of the century (it is a member of BRICS), but one of the biggest things holding it behind is their healthcare system with the bottom 500 million people not having access to aid (NYT).
5. Colombia: Last year Colombia made a deal with the FARC rebels, allowing their ideas and representatives to be incorporated into the government (this is a very simplified statement, so you can read more about it). Now they are faced with a new, uncompromising rebel group: the ELN, a Marxist group. They did agree to a ceasefire and had formal peace talks, but the ceasefire just expired and the rebels attacked.
Comments