World roundup: September 11 2025
Stories from Japan, Somalia, Brazil, and elsewhere
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TODAY IN HISTORY
September 11, 1714: The Siege of Barcelona ends with the French-Bourbon besiegers victorious over the city’s Habsburg defenders. The siege was one of the final engagements of the War of the Spanish Succession, which had begun back in 1701 following the death of Habsburg Spanish King Charles II. It pitted Charles’ chosen heir, the Bourbon royal Philip of Anjou, against the Habsburg claimant Archduke Charles of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI) for control of the decaying but still large and wealthy Spanish empire. Barcelona’s surrender brought an effective end to the war and also ended the Principality of Catalonia, a hitherto independent entity joined in dynastic union with the kingdom of Aragon, as new King Philip V reshaped Spain from a loose union of polities into a single, centralized political entity.
September 11, 1973: With the support of the US government and specifically the Central Intelligence Agency, a Chilean military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrows President Salvador Allende, who died (the official story, at least, is that he committed suicide) as soldiers seized the presidential palace in Santiago. Pinochet ruled as a dictator until 1990, becoming Chile’s legal president in 1981 under a newly-promulgated constitution, then continued to exert significant authority as military commander in chief until 1998. His regime is noted for its extensive human rights violations and for overseeing the neoliberalization of the Chilean economy under the Milton Friedman-trained “Chicago Boys,” a process that generated high levels of growth but also high levels of inequality. His legacy is still being felt in Chilean politics to the present day.
September 11, 2001: Al-Qaeda operatives kill nearly 3000 people by flying airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. A fourth plane, probably intended for the US Capitol, was brought down over Pennsylvania. The attacks sparked the “Global War on Terror,” which included US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and during which the United States essentially ran roughshod over the rest of the world and any concept of international law. It’s difficult to assess that conflict in a historical context given that it’s still going over two decades later, but the human toll alone has been nearly unfathomable.
MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
At time of writing the Israeli military (IDF) had killed at least 53 people across Gaza on Thursday, 39 of them in Gaza City, where the past week of heavy bombardment has displaced (or re-displaced, as the case may be) some 50,000 people according to Gaza’s civil defense authorities. Some 200,000 people have fled Gaza City and its environs since the IDF instituted its new plan to obliterate what’s left of northern Gaza, though that’s a relatively small percentage of the 1 million or so people estimated to have been there previously. It remains to be seen how many of those still remaining in Gaza City plan to heed the Israeli evacuation order.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the IDF besieged the city of Tulkarm on Thursday after an Israeli armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb nearby. Two Israeli soldiers were “lightly wounded” in that incident. Reports of IDF personnel opening fire on residents and motorists in Tulkarm have so far included no casualty figures, mainly because the Israelis are preventing Palestinian Red Crescent personnel from reaching any of the wounded. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally signed off on the “E1” settlement on Thursday. That’s the settlement that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hopes will “bury” whatever remains of a potential Palestinian state. Netanyahu clearly shares that sentiment, as he pledged during the signing ceremony “to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place [the West Bank] belongs to us.” Incredibly, Western governments remain undaunted in their adherence to the “two-state solution” dodge, with Germany the latest government to signal that it will join a French-Saudi resolution in support of that myth at the United Nations later this month.
QATAR
The UN Security Council issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning the IDF attack on Doha earlier this week, but without—and I am not joking here—mentioning Israel. If the statement had named Israel then presumably the US would not have signed it. Nevertheless people within the Trump administration continue to tell reliable media stenographers that they’re super angry at Israel over the incident. We’re told that during that “heated” phone call in the wake of the attack, Donald Trump “demanded” that Netanyahu swear off any future strikes on Qatar. Netanyahu does not appear to have done so and in fact has made public statements suggesting that he could order further attacks on Qatar unless its government either expels Hamas officials from the country or brings them to “justice.”
Both the Qatari government and the Trump administration are denying reports that Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani angrily questioned the basis of the US-Qatari relationship after the attack, suggesting that Doha would need to “evaluate” that relationship and maybe seek out “other” security partners. But despite the denials there’s no question that this incident could impact US-Qatari relations and US-Gulf relations more broadly. Certainly there are questions here as to why US forces at Qatar’s Al Udeid Airbase failed to respond to the Israeli strike.
In the meantime, the Qataris are reportedly trying to organize other Gulf Cooperation Council nations into retaliating against Israel—in particular the United Arab Emirates. On Thursday, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Qatar and he’s apparently “touring” the region in an effort to “coordinate” the GCC’s position. Under normal circumstances UAE officials are considerably friendlier with their Israeli counterparts than they are with the Qataris, but this is no longer a normal circumstance even from the UAE’s perspective and it’s possible that the Emiratis could go so far as to recall their ambassador from Israel. They, like the Qataris, are probably questioning the value of their security guarantees from a US government that can’t even protect them from an attack by an American client state.
IRAQ
Kataʾib Hezbollah’s decision to release Princeton University researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov earlier this week apparently was part of a prisoner swap. Iranian media is reporting that as part of the arrangement the Israeli government freed two prisoners, including a Lebanese national named Imad Amhaz. Israeli operatives seized Amhaz back in November, describing him at the time as a “senior operative” in Hezbollah’s naval arm. Lebanese officials have insisted that he’s a “civilian naval officer,” and no I’m not entirely sure what that means. The identity of the second prisoner released by the Iranians is unknown.
ASIA
PAKISTAN
The Pakistani military is claiming that its forces killed at least 19 militants in raids on three “hideouts” in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities described said militants as “khawarij,” which is the term they generally use for Pakistani Taliban (TTP) fighters.
PHILIPPINES
The Philippine government is protesting the Chinese government’s newly-announced plan to create a “national nature reserve” in the disputed Scarborough Shoal. Both the Philippines and China claim Scarborough, which is located inside the “nine dash line” that Beijing promulgates as the boundary of its rightful South China Sea claims but is geographically closer to undisputedly Philippine territory than to undisputedly Chinese territory. Their navies and coast guards have contested the shoal multiple times in recent years. The scope of the “nature reserve” plan is unclear but it certainly represents a claim of national sovereignty over the shoal.
SOUTH KOREA
The South Korean nationals who were detained in last week’s US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a Hyundai/LG plant in Georgia finally returned home on Thursday. They’d been scheduled to fly back to South Korea on Wednesday but were delayed, apparently because Donald Trump had some sort of change of heart and decided he wanted them to remain in the US to train American workers. Only one decided to take him up on that offer.
JAPAN
According to The New York Times, the South Korean immigration raid and new revelations about the US-Japan trade deal are “roiling” two of the strongest alliances the US has in East Asia:
Last Thursday, U.S. immigration officials raided the construction site of a major Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia, a flagship project by two of South Korea’s most prominent companies. Hundreds of South Korean citizens were arrested and detained for, according to federal officials, living or working in the country illegally.
On the same day, Mr. Trump signed an executive order enacting a trade deal he had struck with Japan in July, committing Japan to invest $550 billion in the United States. The order codified the reduced automotive tariffs that Tokyo had desperately sought. However, it came with a memorandum of understanding between the two countries stating outright that Mr. Trump, not Japanese officials, will select how the $550 billion will be invested. If Japan goes against his wishes, he will have the right to impose higher tariffs.
These events were the latest display of how Mr. Trump is using the negotiations over trade to pursue his agenda, despite the diplomatic, political and economic consequences for America’s closest allies.
In both Japan and South Korea, increasingly vocal leaders in government and business feel their countries were strong-armed and are questioning whether it still made sense to comply with Mr. Trump’s demands.
AFRICA
MALI
AFP reports on conditions in western Mali under jihadist blockade:
Since early September, jihadists have imposed intermittent roadblocks on major routes leading to the capital, disrupting the movement of goods and people near Bamako and in the west.
Several witnesses told AFP that traffic had been brought to a standstill and was stretching back more than around 10 kilometres (six miles) on a main highway near Bamako because of a blockade.
Mali's junta has sought to play down the impact.
"If enemy movements are sometimes observed, they do not last more than 20 to 30 minutes. Therefore, we cannot talk about a blockade," said Colonel-Major Souleymane Dembele, head of the army's Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIRPA), at a press conference on Monday.
Observers say the jihadists' aim is to paralyse the economy, rather than to control territory.
They also want to show that the Malian army does not have the security situation under control, they say.
It’s reasonable to say that they appear to have a point on that last item.
NIGER
Several apparent jihadist attacks left at least 20 soldiers dead in total in southwestern Niger’s Tillabéri region on Wednesday. A civil society group is reporting at least 27 dead—12 soldiers and 15 National Guard personnel. Journalists have attributed most of the attacks to the regional Islamic State branch.
SOUTH SUDAN
The South Sudanese government has charged Vice President Riek Machar with “murder, treason and crimes against humanity” stemming from an attack by the “White Army” militant group on national security forces back in March. Authorities have alleged that the White Army is operating under Machar’s orders and placed him under house arrest later that same month. Machar and President Salva Kiir were the principals involved in South Sudan’s 2013-2020 civil war and Machar’s arrest raised fears that a resumption of that conflict may be forthcoming.
SOMALIA
At Foreign Policy, analyst Ahmed Cadde warns that international recognition of Somaliland’s independence would threaten to destabilize the wider region and could spark an immediate civil war in the new nation:
ALTHOUGH SOMALILAND RUNS its own local administration and maintains security forces, it has no international recognition and remains legally part of Somalia. At the heart of this ongoing issue lies the legacy of the former British Somaliland. When Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, a civil war broke out across the nation. The Somali National Movement (SNM) declared Somaliland’s independence in the country’s northwest—a region of roughly 6 million people bordering Ethiopia and Djibouti. The SNM, which was predominantly from the Isaaq clan, based its claim on the borders of this former British protectorate, whereas the rest of Somalia had been under Italian colonial rule. However, such claims ignored the deeply entrenched clan-based affiliations of the regions within these borders. This was made evident later, in 1998, when the Dhulbahante-Darod clan residing in eastern Somaliland joined the newly formed Puntland State of Somalia, which was also Darod. This was an early sign that Somaliland’s claim was far from universally accepted.
Just weeks ago, a new pro-union entity called the North Eastern State declared itself in the Sool, Sanaag, and Ayn regions—the same territory Somaliland has long claimed. These regions have consistently opposed Somaliland’s independence and instead backed a united Somalia.
Somaliland’s attempts to impose control there have left deep scars. In 2007, its forces occupied the capital of Sool, Las Anod, and its surrounding towns, ruling for years amid accusations of serious abuses. During renewed clashes in 2023, Somaliland troops shelled civilian neighborhoods and hospitals, displacing more than 150,000 people. Local militias backed by fighters from the state of Puntland eventually retook the region and later reorganized it as the North Eastern State of Somalia. Not only does this history remain a deep blemish on Somaliland’s record, but it also serves as a major blow to Somaliland’s territorial integrity—a reminder that it lacks full control over its claimed regions.
EUROPE
BELARUS
The Belarusian government released 52 prisoners on Thursday in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States. This deal comes as Donald Trump appears to be reaching out to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, having sent a number of delegations to Minsk this year expressing interest in improving bilateral relations and potentially reopening the US Belarusian embassy. Trump has asked Lukashenko to free some 1300-plus detainees regarded internationally as political prisoners, so while Thursday’s release may have demonstrated a bit of diplomatic progress there’s still some way to go before Trump’s request will be satisfied. The US is easing sanctions on Belarus’s flag air carrier, Belavia, that will make it easier for the company to maintain its aircraft.
POLAND
Wednesday’s Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace has prompted several NATO member states to pledge additional military assets to countries on the alliance’s eastern flank, including Lithuania as well as Poland itself. While several Western officials acknowledged on Thursday that they can’t say for certain that the incursion was intentional—apparently they still don’t even know basic facts like how many drones entered Polish airspace—the incident has “anxiety” (the BBC’s term) high. Adding to the tension, the Russian and Belarusian militaries are set to begin a new joint “Zapad” exercise, their first since 2021, on Friday. Poland and several other eastern NATO members are set to close parts of their airspace and land borders in response. The Polish government is closing its land border with Belarus, a decision that prompted a rebuke from the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
AMERICAS
BRAZIL
Four of the five Brazilian Supreme Court judges who were hearing the criminal case against former President Jair Bolsonaro have found him guilty, and the court announced on Thursday that it is sentencing him to 27 years in prison. Bolsonaro was on trial for his role in fomenting the January 2023 attempted coup that sought to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from assuming office. Bolsonaro will surely appeal and may focus on the procedural concerns that the one judge who voted to annul the case raised in his opinion.
It remains to be seen whether or how the Trump administration may respond to the verdict. Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil earlier this year as punishment for the Bolsonaro prosecution and his administration has pointedly refused to rule out using the “military might” of the US in defense of what it regards as Bolsonaro’s “free speech” rights.
UNITED STATES
Finally, on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks Responsible Statecraft’s Elizabeth Beavers draws a straight line from the “War on Terror” to the worst abuses of the Trump II administration:
The U.S. military recently launched a plainly illegal strike on a small civilian Venezuelan boat that President Trump claims was a successful hit on “narcoterrorists.” Vice President JD Vance responded to allegations that the strike was a war crime by saying, “I don’t give a shit what you call it,” insisting this was the “highest and best use of the military.”
This is only the latest troubling development in the Trump administration’s attempt to repurpose “War on Terror” mechanisms to use the military against cartels and to expedite his much vaunted mass deportation campaign, which he says is necessary because of an "invasion" at the border.
Unfortunately, more than two decades of widely-accepted, bipartisan laws and norms first laid the groundwork for this to occur.