World roundup: September 20 2024

Stories from Lebanon, Pakistan, Libya, and elsewhere

I’m sending out this evening’s roundup a bit early because of a prior engagement. Thanks for reading!

TODAY IN HISTORY

September 20, 1519: Ferdinand Magellan sets sail with a small fleet intending to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan became the first European to encounter what would later be dubbed the “Strait of Magellan,” cutting through the southern tip of South America. Hostile natives killed Magellan in a battle on the island of Mactan (today part of the Philippines), so he didn’t survive the voyage. But one of his ships—the Victoria—did, arriving in Spain in September 1522 under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano and becoming the first vessel to successfully circle the Earth.

September 20, 1792: At the Battle of Valmy in northeastern France, a French revolutionary army defeats the invading Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick. The battle is also known as the “Cannonade of Valmy” because it never advanced beyond the opening artillery duel, with Brunswick opting to call off his infantry charge and retreat. The importance of Valmy probably cannot be overstated, as it prevented the Prussians from marching on Paris and potentially snuffing out the French Revolution before it really began. Partly because of this battle, France’s National Convention abolished the monarchy on September 21 and the French Republic was born.

French painter Horace Vernet’s 1826 The Battle of Valmy (UK National Gallery via Wikimedia Commons)

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration is internally giving up on the prospect of negotiating a Gaza ceasefire:

After months of saying a cease-fire and a hostage-release deal was close at hand, senior U.S. officials are now privately acknowledging they don’t expect Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before the end of President Biden’s term.

The administration won’t stop its pursuit of an agreement, seeing it as the only way to end the war in Gaza and stop a rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah. The White House has previously said the warring parties have already agreed to “90 percent” of the deal’s text, so hope remains for a breakthrough. But a number of top-level officials in the White House, State Department, and Pentagon argue the warring parties won’t agree to the current framework.

“No deal is imminent,” one of the U.S. officials said. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.”

You might say they’ve tried nothing and they’re all out of ideas.