World roundup: October 28 2024

Stories from Iran, Japan, Ukraine, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

October 28, 312: Constantine defeats his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. This battle is perhaps most famous for the religious vision that Constantine allegedly received the night before, which in later accounts was said to have been the “Chi-Rho,” the interlocking Greek letters that are the first two letters of “Christ” and thus became an emblem of Jesus. The battle left Constantine as the unquestioned ruler of the Roman west, with his fellow Augustus Licinius as ruler of the Roman east, and marks the end of Diocletian’s (d. 305) four emperor “Tetrarchy” system. Constantine’s vision is regarded as the impetus behind the 313 Edict of Milan, in which he and Licinius declared Christianity a religion (with the protected status that imparted) under Roman law. Naturally the two Augusti eventually went to war with one another, with Constantine emerging as sole Roman emperor in 324.

The Vision of Constantine, a 17th century work believed to have been painted by French artist Jacob Bunel (Wikimedia Commons)

October 28, 1922: Sticking with Rome, Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party begins a two day march on that city that would end with its takeover of the Italian government. As Mussolini’s blackshirts approached Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta called for martial law, but Italian King Victor Emmanuel III opted instead to get rid of Facta and make Mussolini his new prime minister.

INTERNATIONAL

The United Nations’ COP16 biodiversity summit is taking place in Colombia this week. Monday’s opening coincided with the release of two new reports that find, much as with climate change, humanity is making a bit of progress in this area but not nearly enough. One of the reports, from the UN Environment Program, finds that countries need to set aside “an area of land roughly the size of Brazil and Australia combined and sea area larger than the Indian Ocean” for conservation in order to meet pledges made last year to protect 30 percent of the planet and 30 percent of “degraded ecosystems” by 2030. Something tells me that’s not going to happen. The second report, from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, warns that 38 percent of all tree species are now at risk of extinction across 192 countries.

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Haaretz’s Gideon Levy reported Friday on a recent rampage by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank:

It was a night inhabitants of the Al-Fawar refugee camp won't soon forget. Located in a remote part of the West Bank, south of Hebron, Al-Fawar is one of the less violent camps; it has no local armed groups like those in the camps of the northern West Bank. But still this camp, on which Israel has imposed a partial siege since the start of the war – compounded by almost total unemployment due to the ban on workers entering Israel – is also being subjected to frequent raids by the Israel Defense Forces.

The raid on the night of September 18-19 was perhaps the most vicious of all, in recent memory. No one was killed, but the soldiers' behavior was violent – at times downright sadistic, according to the local residents we spoke with this week.

Late the next day, the troops left Al-Fawar with their "booty": three young detainees. All the other young men they had taken into custody and had questioned overnight had quickly been released. The main purpose of the operation seems to have been to abuse the inhabitants, to put on a show of strength. Maybe also to provide some "action" for the soldiers, who must be envious of their buddies in the Gaza Strip, where perpetration of violence on the population is rampant. Maybe it was aimed at giving these troops the feeling that they're doing "meaningful service." It's hard to find any other explanation for the invasion of Al-Fawar.

Elsewhere: