World roundup: August 16 2024

Stories from Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Ukraine, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

August 16, 1946: On what’s known as “Direct Action Day,” the All-India Muslim League organizes widespread protests calling for the creation of a separate Muslim state upon Britain’s departure from India. Those protests turned violent in several places, particularly in British Bengal (whose territory included modern Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state), and that violence generally broke down along religious lines. Over about three days more than 4000 people were killed and 100,000 displaced just in Kolkata, and heavy violence continued until British authorities moved additional forces into Bengal on August 21. Debate over who bears more responsibility for this incident continues to the present day.

August 16, 1972: A rogue element within the Moroccan military attempts a coup against King Hassan II by attacking his airplane. The midair assassination attempt killed eight people but was thwarted by the king himself, who jumped on the radio and shouted “The tyrant is dead,” thereby causing the attacking aircraft to break off. Mohamed Oufkir, Moroccan defense minister and the ringleader of the coup plot, was later found dead after having suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Moroccan authorities said he’d committed suicide.

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

The second day of Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha produced…well, nothing really, beyond an agreement to pick up again next week. However, the Biden administration seems quite optimistic about where the negotiations stand, as Laura Rozen reports:

President Biden spoke separately with Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, as well as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi today “to review the significant progress made in Doha over two days of talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt said.

“I think there was a consensus between all three leaders that this process…is now in the end game,” the senior U.S. administration official, speaking on background, told reporters.

“The leaders talked about a final bridging proposal that the United States put on the table today… here in Qatar, with the full support of Egypt and Qatar as mediators, and we will be reconvening in Cairo at this level before the end of next week, with an aim to close out this process once and for all.”

“The two days here in Doha probably were the most constructive 48 hours that we've had in this process in many months,” the senior U.S. official said.

What exactly is in this “bridging proposal” hasn’t been made public, but the consensus seems to be that this is a best and final proposal and it’s up to the Israeli government and Hamas to stop tinkering and give it a thumb’s up—or down. Now, I know what you might be thinking: if the Biden administration believes that Iran is delaying an attack on Israel in deference to the negotiations, and it would like to continue delaying that attack, doesn’t it have an incentive to paint an overly optimistic picture of how the talks are going? And the answer is: absolutely. But for the time being, at least, it seems to be working—there are indications that Iran and its “Axis of Resistance” partners have actually stepped back a bit in their preparations to attack Israel, presumably because of the negotiations.