World roundup: October 31-November 1 2020
World roundup: October 31-November 1 2020
Stories from Georgia, Ivory Coast, Bulgaria, and more
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THESE DAYS IN HISTORY
October 30, 1270: The Eighth Crusade ends
October 30, 1340: The Battle of Río Salado
October 30, 1918: The Ottoman Empire signs the Armistice of Mudros, ending its involvement in World War I and, as it turned out, its existence.
October 31, 1517: Martin Luther mails his Ninety-five Theses to the Archbishop of Mainz, the event that has come to mark the start of the Protestant Reformation. He’s also more famously said to have nailed the text to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, though Luther’s own recounting of events raises questions about whether he did so on October 31 or, really, at all. Regardless, it’s safe to say that word got around.
October 31, 1917: The British Egyptian Expeditionary Force defeats the Ottoman Empire’s Yıldırım Army Group at the Battle of Beersheba. The battle was won with, of all things, a cavalry charge, perhaps the last successful cavalry charge in history. The outcome broke what had been a frozen conflict in the Levant and began Britain’s march on Jerusalem, which it captured in December.
November 1, 1922: The last Ottoman Sultan is deposed.
November 1, 1955: The Vietnam War begins, at least according to the US government. Even though the Viet Cong had already begun battling the South Vietnamese government and the North Vietnamese government wouldn’t officially get involved until the following year, this is the date the US government reorganized its Military Assistance Advisory Group for Indochina by country. The birth of “MAAG Vietnam” is considered by Washington to mark the start of the war, and when it lists US deaths in the war it starts the count on this date.
INTERNATIONAL
Worldometer’s coronavirus figures for November 1:
46,804,614 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide (11,850,602 active, +436,707 since yesterday)
1,205,044 reported fatalities (+5300 since yesterday)
MIDDLE EAST
TURKEY
377,473 confirmed coronavirus cases (+2106)
10,326 reported fatalities (+74)
The Turkish government has once again extended the mission of its Oruç Reis seismic exploratory vessel, which has been out looking for offshore energy deposits in waters that are claimed by both Turkey and Greece. The ship will stay out at sea until at least November 14 now, not November 4 as previously planned. Naturally the Greek government didn’t take the news well, issuing a statement that among other things noted “Turkey's illegal conduct.”
IRAQ
475,288 confirmed coronavirus cases (+2658)
10,966 reported fatalities (+56)
A gas pipeline explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa killed at least three people and injured over 50 on Saturday. At this point as far as I know there’s no indication of foul play and the pipeline in question is known to leak in places, but nevertheless something deliberate can’t be ruled out.
ASIA
GEORGIA
40,727 confirmed coronavirus cases (+1791)
335 reported fatalities (+28)
A coalition of opposition parties is protesting the preliminary results of Saturday’s Georgian parliamentary election, which give the ruling Georgian Dream party the win with a bit over 48 percent of the vote. The opposition parties, whose combined vote total appears to be around 45 percent, claim they have won enough seats to form a coalition government and organized thousands of people to demonstrate in Tbilisi on Sunday as the vote count was entering its final stages. Election observers have generally deemed the vote itself legitimate, though there are questions about the conduct of the campaign and the extent to which Georgian Dream improperly used government resources for political purposes.
AZERBAIJAN
56,444 confirmed coronavirus cases (+1175)
740 reported fatalities (+10)
If you had hopes of Friday’s Nagorno-Karabakh deescalation agreement really taking hold over the weekend, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Karabakh and Azerbaijani officials continued their mutual shelling, while also continuing to accuse one another of deliberately targeting civilians. In particular, there were reports both Saturday and Sunday of fairly heavily Azerbaijani shelling in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh and by far its largest city. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked the Russian government to outline the extent of its willingness to assist Armenia, the closest he’s likely to get to an admission that the conflict is going badly for Karabakh. Moscow reiterated the position it’s held throughout the conflict, which is that it’s prepared to come to Yerevan’s assistance if the conflict spills out of Karabakh and into Armenia proper. Short of that, the Russians don’t seem inclined to pick a side.
AFGHANISTAN
41,501 confirmed coronavirus cases (+76)
1536 reported fatalities (+0)
An apparent Taliban drone strike on Sunday killed at least four members of the governor of Kanduz province’s bodyguard and wounded eight other people. I should note that it’s not confirmed that this was a drone strike, but Afghan officials are talking about a “new method” of attack and, well, the Taliban probably has drones now. Or more to the point, it probably has armed strike drones now. The Taliban had already been using reconnaissance drones, and probably drones jury-rigged to drop grenades, but this strike, and maybe one or two previous ones, suggest they now have something more advanced.
PAKISTAN
333,970 confirmed coronavirus cases (+977)
6823 reported fatalities (+17)
The Pakistani government is preparing to upgrade the status of Gilgit-Baltistan, the northern part of Kashmir, from administrative territory to full-fledged province, though only on a provisional basis. This is a delayed retaliation for India’s decision last August to revoke the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir. It’s already drawn an angry response from New Delhi, which claims the entire Kashmir region (just as Pakistan does) and therefore views Gilgit-Baltistan as illegally occupied Indian territory.
This map, courtesy of the US Central Intelligence Agency apparently, is helpful in terms of visualizing where all of Kashmir’s various parts are located (CIA via Wikimedia Commons)
INDIA
8,229,322 confirmed coronavirus cases (+46,441)
122,642 reported fatalities (+493)
On the Indian side of the “Line of Control” in Kashmir, meanwhile, Indian security forces on Sunday claimed to have killed Kashmiri militant leader Saifullah Mir in a raid just outside of Srinagar. Mir is alleged to have been the chief of operations for Hizbul Mujahideen, which is believed to be the largest Kashmiri separatist faction and has found its way on to lists of terrorist organizations in India, the European Union, and the United States.
OCEANIA
NEW ZEALAND
1959 confirmed coronavirus cases (+2)
25 reported fatalities (+0)
Although she and her Labour Party could have gone it alone after winning a major victory in New Zealand’s parliamentary election last month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has decided to form a coalition with New Zealand’s Green Party. She signed an agreement with the Greens on Sunday and will unveil her new cabinet on Monday. The Greens will hold two cabinet seats. Because Labour holds a sole majority, Ardern also agreed to allow the Greens some latitude to vote independently in parliament.
AFRICA
LIBYA
62,045 confirmed coronavirus cases (+950)
871 reported fatalities (+14)
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj announced Friday that he was withdrawing his resignation, which was to have gone into effect at the end of October. Sarraj had announced his resignation back in September, but with Libya’s warring parties having agreed last week to a general ceasefire and the chances for a negotiated political settlement to their civil war suddenly not so slim, officials within Libya’s Government of National Accord, along with a number of international actors apparently, have been urging him to reconsider so as not to create a “political vacuum” at such a critical time. He now says he aims to remain in his post until the parties reach a peace deal, though if negotiations fall apart he might have second thoughts.
Sarraj signing the US State Department guestbook in December 2017 (State Department photo via Flickr)
ALGERIA
58,272 confirmed coronavirus cases (+330)
1973 reported fatalities (+9)
Algerians voted Sunday in a referendum on whether or not to adopt a new constitution that supposedly fulfills the demands of the Hirak Movement protesters who roiled Algerian politics last year. Or, well, some of them did. I say “supposedly fulfills” because the Hirak movement has rejected the new constitution as a half-measure and there were widespread calls to boycott the referendum. And while the results are unknown, turnout was a meager 23.7 percent. So I guess the boycott calls worked. “Yes” is expected to win, but with that level of turnout the legitimacy of the whole referendum is pretty much nil.
IVORY COAST
20,716 confirmed coronavirus cases (+0)
126 reported fatalities (+0)
As we’ve been covering here, Ivory Coast held its presidential election on Saturday, with incumbent Alassane Ouattara a heavy favorite to win a legally questionable third term after his two most prominent challengers called on their supporters to boycott. Indeed, preliminary results show Ouattara winning overwhelmingly in 26 of the country’s 108 districts. But the opposition—led by those two challengers, former Ivorian President Henri Konan Bédié and former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan—has already called on Ouattara to stand down and permit a “civil transition.” The violence that marked the lead up to the election has continued, with reports that at least five people were killed in clashes on Saturday. Opposition leaders say the death toll was at least 12, to go along with at least 20 people believed killed in pre-election political violence. They are also asserting very low turnout, as in single digits low, but there’s no evidence as yet to back up those claims.
NIGER
1221 confirmed coronavirus cases (+1)
69 reported fatalities (+0)
US special forces on Saturday rescued a US national who was kidnapped on Tuesday in southern Niger. It’s still not clear who kidnapped him, but they apparently took him across the border into northern Nigeria because that’s where he was rescued.
NIGERIA
62,964 confirmed coronavirus cases (+111)
1146 reported fatalities (+2)
Boko Haram fighters killed at least 12 people and abducted seven others in an attack on a village near the town of Chibok on Sunday. They also looted food and set fire to dozens of homes.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
11,373 confirmed coronavirus cases (+0)
308 reported fatalities (+0)
Suspected Allied Democratic Forces fighters attacked a village in North Kivu province late Friday, killing at least 17 people.
EUROPE
BELARUS
99,459 confirmed coronavirus cases (+977)
985 reported fatalities (+5)
Tens of thousands of people turned out for another Sunday protest to call for the resignation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, but judging by the escalating reactions of security forces they may face a tougher time protesting in weeks to come. Police used the usual basket of riot control measures on Sunday, particularly stun grenades, but they also added warning shots. Which means that they’ve crossed the live ammunition line. It doesn’t take much for a handful of cops to stop firing in the air and start firing at people for things to turn very ugly.
MOLDOVA
76,582 confirmed coronavirus cases (+542)
1800 reported fatalities (+15)
Moldovan voters headed to the polls on Sunday to choose a president, and it looks like those lucky duckies are going to get to do it all over again later this month. Incumbent Igor Dodon “won” Sunday’s first round, but with around 80 percent of the vote in he’s only got a bit over 36 percent of the vote. That’s about five points ahead of his main challenger, former Prime Minister Maia Sandu, and far short of the 50 percent he would need to avoid a runoff. The Moldovan presidency is mostly a ceremonial office, especially so after parliament voted earlier this year to strip Dodon of much of his limited leeway to designate a prime minister.
BULGARIA
54,069 confirmed coronavirus cases (+1225)
1298 reported fatalities (+19)
At Jacobin, Madlen Nikolova of Bulgaria’s Collective for Social Interventions NGO looks at the anti-corruption protests challenging the Bulgarian government, and the difficulty in converting this popular movement to a political one:
Protests demanding the resignation of Bulgaria’s prime minister Boyko Borissov and attorney general Ivan Geshev have now continued for over a hundred days, with daily rallies continuing across the country. The target of protesters’ ire is the ruling coalition led by Borissov’s Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, now widely discredited following a series of corruption and tax evasion scandals, controversial Black Sea construction projects, and a deep social crisis. A European Parliament survey showed that the income of half of Bulgarian citizens was impacted by the pandemic. Yet protest organizers have refrained from criticizing concrete policies or the administration’s response to the COVID-19 crisis — instead seeking to paint the government as entirely illegitimate.
In this context, it is not surprising that over 65 percent of the population say they support the protest. Less clear, however, is what exactly the Bulgarian people want. Opposition forces on both the Left and Right demand snap parliamentary elections. However, these same forces align with the government and Geshev in promising “equality before the law,” while at the same time utterly disregarding the rampant social inequality in the country. While most Bulgarians face low wages, high unemployment, and an ailing health care system, such concerns go practically unaddressed by either side in parliament.
This restriction of the political discourse in Bulgarian politics has gone on for over twenty years. The country’s political parties, the postcommunist Bulgarian Socialist Party included, generally avoid speaking about using the welfare state to address inequality and poverty, for fear of being associated with the old socialist regime. What it means for the country, however, is that there is no credible actor on the political stage to take up protesters’ social grievances in a meaningful way, let alone offer real solutions.
FRANCE
1,413,915 confirmed coronavirus cases (+46,290)
37,019 reported fatalities (+231)
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron took a slightly less provocative tone in his approach toward Islam than he’s exhibited in recent weeks. While proclaiming that he wants to “defend in my country the freedom to speak, to write, to think, to draw,” Macron for possibly the first time acknowledged the offense that Muslims feel regarding the now infamous Charlie Hebdo caricatures of Muhammad and even said that he “respects” them. He also toned down his overly broad criticisms of Islam, which he articulated last month in the wake of the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty, who showed those caricatures to his students. Macron’s language about Islam being in “crisis” and in need of “reform” was nowhere to be found during the interview.
If Macron had spoken the way he did in his interview after the Paty murder, he might not have turned seemingly the entire Islamic world against him. But even in the interview he danced on the line of condemning all of Islam and all Muslims for the actions of extremists. He does this for political reasons, to appeal to the French far right, but he can’t do that and then complain when leaders in the Islamic world similarly politicize his remarks in order to appeal to their own right wing nationalists. And he can’t really get away with claiming that he’s been misunderstood. Thousands of Yemenis gathered in the city of Taiz on Saturday to protest Macron’s comments. Thousands of Yemenis, in the middle of a civil war that’s left millions of them on the brink of starvation, were so outraged by what Macron said that they spent time and energy to demonstrate their outrage. That’s a hell of a bar to clear, and for someone with an ounce of humility it might be a time to reflect on what he’d said and how he’d said it. Macron does not have an ounce of humility, so he won’t do that. But maybe Saturday’s interview was a sign that, having scored his political points, he’s prepared to stop intentionally provoking Muslims for a little while.
AMERICAS
COLOMBIA
1,083,321 confirmed coronavirus cases (+9137)
31,515 reported fatalities (+201)
Some 2000 former FARC rebels protested in Bogotá on Sunday over the Colombian government’s failure to implement their 2016 peace agreement. Specifically, inasmuch as that agreement obligated the Colombian government to protect ex-FARC fighters who agreed to disarm and accept the accord, these protesters were wondering why 236 of their former comrades have been killed since the deal went into effect. Colombian President Iván Duque was elected in 2018 after campaigning in opposition to the peace deal, and he’s governed ever since like a guy who isn’t terribly interested in upholding it.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
127,332 confirmed coronavirus cases (+314)
2249 reported fatalities (+4)
The Dominican foreign ministry announced on Friday that it’s evaluating the possibility of moving its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. By “evaluating” I suspect they mean “waiting to see who wins the US presidential election on Tuesday.” If it’s Donald Trump then we may see several countries, particularly in Latin America, make that shift in an effort to make nice with Washington.
UNITED STATES
9,473,911 confirmed coronavirus cases (+71,321)
236,471 reported fatalities (+399)
Finally, at Fellow Travelers, Win Without War’s Kate Kizer makes the case for the next presidential administration to fundamentally rethink the US military budget:
This year’s unprecedented death and destruction has made it blatantly clear that the way the US government thinks about security and how it provides it to its people is woefully inadequate, corrupt, and biased. If 2021 gives us a new administration and a new Congress that could be the most progressive yet, there is a chance for the US government to fundamentally reassess and reprioritize how it funds security to ensure the safety of people in the United States and help facilitate the safety of those around the world.
The principle that must drive this reorientation, if we are to address and prepare for future threats to human security this century, is abolition.
Overnight, the long-time calls to defund the police by the Movement for Black Lives became a mainstream position this summer. Such rapid culture shifts are rare, but when they occur domestically, they inevitably impact our foreign policy. If we want to truly address the structural and generational impacts of white supremacy and racism on our society and government, we must defund institutions that create international insecurity as well as those that do so locally.