Hi!
This is the rest of the June 6 post - I was unable to complete it yesterday.
Here we go!
Asia-Pacific
Democracy + Military = Not Democracy
In early February 2021, democracy disappeared from Myanmar. After being democratically governed for a whopping 10 years, the military overtook the government in a coup d’etat. They had declared a “state of emergency” following a loss for their favored party in an election, and accused the opposition of election fraud. Then, commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and his compatriots brutally cracked down on numerous protests across the country, using live ammunition on their own citizens.
It’s been a year and a half now, and the new government shows no signs of letting up. What was a protestors vs. police battle has now turned into an outright civil war, with local militias called “People's Defense Forces” cropping up all over, attacking convoys and assassinating leaders. In response, the military has tortured and killed at least 40 people. And, to top it all off, one and a half thousand people have been detained, executed, or arrested for political reasons. One of them is even a Nobel Peace Prize laureate!
Faced with international condemnation, (which the government refers to affectionately as “reckless and interfering”) Hlaing has promised to return the country to democracy once the national emergency ends.
Riiiiiiiiiight.
Ban the Tali-ban
Gosh, so many governments being overthrown these days! This time, it’s across the continent in Afghanistan, where the Taliban took over last August. The United States had just withdrawn after decades of occupation, during which time they were supposed to be training the Afghan government to resist the Taliban.
Considering that that very terrorist organization overthrew the government with almost no resistance, I’d say that didn’t work out too well.
It has been called a national disaster for the United States, and far worse for Afghanistan, in particular for the women. The Taliban enforce a strict adherence to their interpretation of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. This means that they hold a very old-fashioned view of women’s rights, and behave accordingly. According to the German government at a NATO news conference, women are denied education and a presence and public life. Not only that, but Germany's foreign minister has also said that dissidents are the government are being suppressed, with all this adding up to a “dire” situation.
There is hope, however. During that same conference, the minister made a plea for the Taliban to conform to international human rights standards, indicating that NATO is taking a stand against the oppression of the Taliban. Even Pakistan, which has normally been more friendly than others to the Taliban, told them that they are “heading in the wrong direction.”
There’s hope for the Afghans.
Americas
First Taste of Justice
Some time ago, when I was young and naive, I wrote about a high-profile Paraguayan prosecutor named Marcelo Pecci, who had been murdered while he was on vacation. Now, justice is nearing: six arrests have been made, and the Paraguay police have implicated a Brazil gang in the murder. The gang, called First Capital Command, is heavily involved in cocaine dealing and might explain why the crime was not (or could not be) committed in Paraguay. Head of police Jorge Vargas has also explained that this would also mean that the murder - which apparently costed the organizers $500,000 - could’ve been part of an international drug trafficking and terrorism scheme.
A short time before her husband died, Mrs. Pecci had announced she was pregnant. Now, her son will never know his father, but he can take heart in the fact that those who ruined his life will pay for their crime.
A Cold Summit
Biden has continued to push through with his Summit of the Americas, and it started yesterday. During the conference of countries, Biden has said he hopes to combat food insecurity in the region, which in turn would combat China’s influence. Unfortunately, he has been thwarted at every turn, and now many of the key leaders haven’t even shown up. The Mexican foreign minister said that they had sat out because the US refused to invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, all left-leaning or outright communist countries. He wrote, "The so-called democratic clause is not applied equally in all cases, but only in some, when it is convenient.” The said foreign minister will be going in the Mexican president’s place, but judging by what he just wrote, it won’t be a friendly meeting. El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala are all withholding their leaders as well, in protest of American illegal immigration policy.
Overall, not a positive outlook for the first two days. But I guess that’s the thing about mountain summits: they’re often quite cold.
Africa
22 Lost in Nigeria
Nigeria is reeling from a terrible shooting that left 22 dead and 50 injured. The attack was instigated by at least four assailants who opened fire in a church filled with the faithful attending mass. It is the latest shock to a country rife with violence, but never in recent times has a church been caught in the crossfire. No information about the attackers has been released, including their motives.
According to the Vatican, Pope Francis will be praying for the victims. This single act by a single man shows that, no matter where we are, who we might be, we are all connected. Families entered this building, only to leave without their mother. A father now has to care for his 5 children without his wife. Lives have been shattered, hearts broken.
This cannot happen.
Something must be done.
Ryanair
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has made a rather interesting policy decision: they are going to make all South Africans heading to the U.K. fill out a simple questionnaire. They're doing this to help combat the problem of faulty South African passports. Sounds simple enough, right?
There’s just one catch: they will only give the questionnaire in Afrikaans, a language that isn’t even spoken by 90% of the population and often associated with the apartheid of the 20th century. Despite this, when Dinesh Joseph asked for the questionnaire in English, he was told, “No, this is your language.” Another passenger failed her questionnaire, and the airline did not hesitate to knock her off the flight with a refund. (She was later put on another flight when she complained.)
The South African government said that they are “taken aback” by Ryanair’s decision. They’re not alone. What could explain this decision? Why is a whole company showing such blatant ignorance, forcing customers to take a quiz in a language they don’t understand, for reasons no one can explain?
Yes, Ryanair, interesting decision.
Sources
Various articles from Reuters, The New York Times, and BBC were used for this post.
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I don’t understand how Ryanair has the authority to require this questionnaire!?