World roundup: May 22 2023

Stories from Sudan, Russia, Colombia, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

May 22, 853: A Byzantine army/fleet attacks and sacks the Egyptian port city of Damietta.

May 22, 1990: The Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) are united as the Republic of Yemen. After the formation of a unified government that tended to favor northern Yemen, southern Yemen attempted to secede in 1994, touching off a short (May-July) Yemeni civil war. A lingering southern secessionist movement has once again become prominent amid the current Yemeni civil war.

INTERNATIONAL

In today’s global news:

• Worldometer is tracking COVID-19 cases and fatalities.

• The New York Times is tracking global vaccine distribution.

MIDDLE EAST

TURKEY

The third place finisher in Turkey’s May 14 presidential election, Sinan Oğan, endorsed incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday, heading into this Sunday’s runoff. This is not particularly surprising, in that Oğan is a lot closer to Erdoğan ideologically than he is to challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Nor is it likely to matter all that much, since Erdoğan was already in far better position to win the runoff than Kılıçdaroğlu anyway. It’s unclear what (if anything) Erdoğan offered in exchange for Oğan’s support but perhaps that will become clear at some point. Maybe Oğan just figured it was a good idea to be on the (likely) winning side.