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World roundup: July 15 2022

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:40:50 No.1072402 View View Reply Original Report

https://fx.substack.com/p/world-roundup-july-15-2022

IRAQ
Hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets in Baghdad on Friday after political leader Muqtada al-Sadr called for a “mass prayer.” Sadr’s aim was clearly to show his political opponents that he commands substantial popular support—support that could, say, be channeled into protests if he were to be of a mind to do so. Mission accomplished, presumably. Sadr may have pulled his party out of parliament last month but he’s still aiming to control the political process from the outside.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE
Joe Biden’s Middle East tour continued Friday with a brief stop in the West Bank, where—unsurprisingly—he dragged the decrepit “two-state solution” out for a quick spin. In a press availability alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, Biden stressed that the “two-state solution” is still official US policy even as he stressed that “the ground is not right at this moment to restart negotiations” between the Israelis and Palestinians. Will it ever be right again? Who can say?

Somebody decided to mark Biden’s departure (see below) by firing two rockets out of Gaza early Saturday morning. Israeli air defenses reportedly intercepted one of the projectiles and the other landed in an unpopulated area. I haven’t seen any reports of Israeli retaliation as yet but it’s safe to assume it’s forthcoming.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:41:19 No.1072403 Report

Quoted By: >>1072653

SAUDI ARABIA
Biden then meandered off to Saudi Arabia, in a trip that’s being treated as some sort of milestone because the Saudis allowed him to fly directly to the kingdom from Israel. I’m all for setting the bar low for these sorts of things but that’s positively subterranean. Anyway, if you’re anything like me then you’re following news about this trip in order to answer one key question: will the Saudis let Biden touch The Orb?

So far, at least, the answer is “no.” He did get to fist-bump Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which is definitely preferably to some of the other things MBS might have done to him, but that appears to be as far as things went. The fist bump drew significant criticism back in the US, though I’m unclear as to what people expected Biden would do when his administration announced this trip weeks ago. It’s not as though he was going to sucker punch MBS on sight. Biden then met directly with MBS, an event his administration had tried to insist wouldn’t happen until it did, during which he claims to have raised the issue of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 murder. I’m sure Biden really read MBS the riot act.

The US and Saudi governments did announce some Business Deals as well as an agreement to remove US peacekeeping forces from Tiran Island in the Red Sea, potentially clearing the way for its transfer from Egyptian to Saudi control. There’s been no announcement of any new Saudi moves to increase oil production, and indeed the Biden administration made it clear that it’s not expecting any such moves as a direct result of this trip.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:42:21 No.1072404 Report

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IRAN
Iran’s ambassador to Sweden, Ahmad Masoumifar, lodged a protest with the Swedish Foreign Ministry on Friday after the Stockholm District Court sentenced Iranian national Hamid Noury to life in prison the previous day. Noury was convicted of having participated in the Iranian government’s executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Swedish authorities arrested him while he was in the country on a vacation back in 2019. Iranian officials have responded angrily to the conviction, and in addition to Masoumifar’s protest the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to lodge a second protest.

PAKISTAN
The Pakistani military says it has killed at least seven militants in an ongoing operation against separatists in Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan region. This latest offensive came in retaliation for the killing of a Pakistani army officer by a group of Baluchistan Liberation Army militants in the town of Ziarat earlier this week. At least one Pakistani soldier has been killed in the operation.

SRI LANKA
As expected, Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially became the former president of Sri Lanka on Friday, when his resignation—sent from Singapore, where he now resides apparently—took effect. Parliament will now turn to the task of electing a new president, with the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party nominating acting president/Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for the job on Friday. Wickremesinghe may indeed have the inside track to win next week’s vote, even though he’s clearly not the choice of the protesters who forced Rajapaksa’s resignation and subsequent flight from the country.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:43:22 No.1072405 Report

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PHILIPPINES
The International Monitoring Team, a Malasyian-led peacekeeping force that since 2004 has been monitoring the ceasefire between Philippine forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front militants in the southern Philippines’ Mindanao region, packed up shop on Friday. The IMT’s mandate has to be renewed annually, and on his way out of office former President Rodrigo Duterte opted not to renew it. There are negotiations under way with new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on reviving the IMT’s mandate, in which case peacekeepers would be redeployed to Mindanao, but it sounds like that process could go either way at the moment. The IMT has argued that it should remain in place until the MILF’s fighters are fully decommissioned, a process that is still ongoing.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Police shot and killed a woman at a polling station in Port Moresby earlier this week in an incident that was just reported on Friday. Details aren’t entirely clear but this is the latest in a string of violent incidents related to PNG’s weeks-long parliamentary election:

>Since voting began on July 4, fights between rival groups have broken out over allegations of vote-fixing.

>Prime Minister James Marape has apologized to thousands of people who have been turned away from polling stations because of problems with the electoral roll.

>The crowd on Monday reportedly became agitated after waiting hours for voting to begin. A group gathered around police cars asking where the ballot boxes were. Police called for reinforcements before the shooting started, ABC said.

>Police Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu said in a statement Tuesday that police reinforcements were sent to “restore order when a rowdy and quarrelsome crowd threatened to harm election officials and disrupted polling.”

The crowd allegedly started throwing rocks at the cops, who responded by firing warning shots—at least one of which wasn’t a warning.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:44:24 No.1072406 Report

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SUDAN
Inter-communal violence left at least 14 people dead and some 40 wounded on Friday in southern Sudan’s Blue Nile state. The fighting involved members of the Berti and Hausa communities and appears to have originated in a dispute over the formation of a local authority to manage land access that the Berti viewed as an attempted land grab.

LIBYA
Libya’s National Oil Company ended its force majeure status on Friday after tribal groups allied with “Libyan National Army” commander Khalifa Haftar ended a months-long blockade of several major oil facilities. This development adds a new layer to Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh’s decision to can NOC Chair Mustafa Sanalla earlier this week. Sanalla’s replacement, former central bank governor Farhat Bengdara, is apparently on good terms with Haftar.

It sounds like Haftar and his allies, who wanted both Dbeibeh and Sanalla removed from office, might be willing to accept a compromise in Sanalla’s removal alone. Their decision to end the blockade brings upwards of 850,000 barrels of oil per day back on line and could be a huge political boon to Dbeibeh as he wrangles for power with rival Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha. On the other hand, since Sanalla is still refusing to accept his sacking and still has support from the eastern Libyan parliament, this situation could still lead to the collapse of the NOC and/or a return to violence.

MALI
At least six Malian soldiers were reportedly killed overnight when their checkpoint outside of Bamako came under attack. There’s been no indication as to responsibility yet but signs point to the attackers having been members of the al-Qaeda linked Jamaʿat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin group. JNIM has been moving into areas around Bamako of late and it tends to favor targets related to state security forces as opposed to civilians.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:45:26 No.1072407 Report

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TOGO
Overnight attacks on two villages in northern Togo left at least 12 people dead. There doesn’t seem to be much question that the attackers in this case were jihadist militants, presumably from over the border in Burkina Faso. Jihadist violence has been spreading south out of the Sahel into the Gulf of Guinea in recent months, with Benin and Ivory Coast also being targeted. JNIM claimed responsibility for a previous attack in northern Togo back in May but Islamic State’s Greater Sahara affiliate is also active in the region and may have been responsible for this incident. At least one local account puts the death toll at 20 so the official figures may be an undercount.

SOUTH SUDAN
The US State Department announced on Friday that the United States is ending its involvement in two South Sudanese peacekeeping operations, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission and the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism. In a statement, department spokesperson Ned Price cited a “lack of sustained progress” in implementing the 2018 peace deal between the South Sudanese government and rebels as the reason for the withdrawal. Price said the US will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to South Sudan.

REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s Congolese Labour Party (PCT) has won at least 110 National Assembly seats in this month’s parliamentary election, according to preliminary results. That would be a gain of 20 seats for the PCT and more than enough for a majority in the 151 seat body. A second, runoff round of voting will be held by the end of August for those races whose outcome was not decided in the first round, so the party may yet win additional seats.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:46:26 No.1072408 Report

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RUSSIA
In news items from Russia:

• The UK Foreign Office on Friday summoned Russia’s ambassador in London, Andrei Kelin, to lodge a complaint over the death of UK national Paul Urey while in the custody of Russian proxies in the Donbas. Urey was ostensibly in Ukraine doing humanitarian work when he was captured back in April by paramilitaries from the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” who accused him of “mercenary activities.” The DPR announced his death on Friday. Urey was diabetic and his family had expressed concern for his health after he was captured.

• The European Union is reportedly working on its seventh major tranche of Russia sanctions, this time focusing on gold. This would be in keeping with a ban on imports of Russian gold announced last month by leaders of the G7. Assuming another round of EU sanctions does come together it’s likely to be less intense than previous rounds, mainly because natural gas is the only major Russian export yet to be sanctioned and there’s little appetite across the EU for taking that step as yet. Instead, apart from the gold, this round of sanctions may focus on tightening and specifying sanctions levied in previous rounds. That could include efforts to ease the impact of EU sanctions on Russian food exports, in line with steps the United States is taking.

• Vladimir Putin canned the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, on Friday, replacing him with former deputy prime minister and deputy defense minister Yuri Borisov. The reason for the change is unclear, though Rogozin had rhetorically burned some bridges with the West and it may be worth noting that news of his sacking broke just a few hours before Roscosmos announced a new agreement with NASA wherein both agencies agreed to continue flying each other’s personnel to and from the International Space Station. Rogozin is believed to still be in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s good graces and therefore should land another state gig soon.

(...)

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:47:28 No.1072409 Report

Quoted By:

(...)

• The Russian Foreign Ministry blacklisted 384 Japanese members of parliament on Friday over Japan’s participation in international sanctions targeting Russia. All will be barred from entering Russia and will somehow have to find a way to go on despite that crushing blow. Moscow also on Friday proscribed media outlets Bellingcat and The Insider along with the Czech-based CEELI Institute, while a Russian court sentenced opposition leader Andrei Pivovarov to four years in prison for the heinous crime of “directing an undesirable organization.”

UKRAINE
The southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv was targeted by Russian missiles on Friday, with local officials saying that the attack struck two universities, a mall, and a hotel in the city. At least two people were reportedly wounded in the attack. Mykolaiv remains a potential target for a Russian ground attack as it is the largest population center between Russian-controlled Kherson and the important Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Another three people were reportedly killed in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities on Friday acknowledged having attacked the western Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia the previous day, but insisted that their target was military, not civilian as Ukrainian officials have claimed. According to the Russians they attacked a meeting between senior Ukrainian military officers and foreign military contractors. At least 23 people are believed to have been killed in that attack, which the Ukrainians say hit a cultural center.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:48:29 No.1072410 Report

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PERU
Lawmakers on Friday approved a measure that would return the Peruvian Congress to a bicameral body, restoring a separate Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori merged the two chambers following his 1992 military-backed self coup. The measure should at some point go to a national referendum, though there’s been no date set for that as yet. Peruvian voters previously rejected a move back to a bicameral legislature in a 2018 referendum.

COLOMBIA
The Colombian military says that its forces killed dissident ex-Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leader Néstor Gregorio Vera, AKA “Iván Mordisco,” along with nine other dissident FARC fighters in an attack in Colombia’s Caquetá province earlier this week. Mordisco is one of several former FARC leaders who rejected the group’s 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government. Heallegedly assumed command of the FARC–EP faction after the group’s previous leader, Gentil Duarte, was killed in clashes with rival militants in Venezuela earlier this year.

HAITI
The United Nations Security Council voted on Friday to condemn rampant gang violence in Haiti and to call for an end to weapons shipments to that country. The Chinese delegation had been pushing for a full embargo on arms to Haiti but still voted for the watered down resolution, which threatens “targeted sanctions” if the gang violence continues.

Foreign Exchanges

Foreign Exchanges Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:49:32 No.1072411 Report

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UNITED STATES
Finally, Responsible Statecraft’s William Hartung argues that defense contractors—surprise!—are the big winners in the US House of Representative’s newly-passed 2023 National Defense Authorization Act:

> The House bill would set spending for the Pentagon and related activities like work on nuclear warheads at the Department of Energy at an astonishing $850 billion, $37 billion more than the Pentagon even asked for in its FY2023 budget request. The vast bulk of the added funds will go to pad the bottom lines of contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics.

> Of the $37 billion in add-ons to the Pentagon’s proposal, over two thirds — or $25 billion — will go to weapons procurement and research and development, categories of funding that mostly go to contractors. By contrast, the increase for military personnel and health was just $1 billion, an indication that corporate profits continue to come before the needs of the troops.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 16 Jul 2022 12:32:02 No.1072412 Report

Quoted By: >>1072436

The root of all evil is low-level education that leaves people ignorant, stupid, immature, mentally/personally ill.
Anyone who is inspired or brainwashed by conspiracy theory, fake, pseudoscience, hoaxes, fortune-telling, or religion and is euphoric as "my knowledge is all true" is a victim of inappropriate low-level education.
Since we do not teach philosophy or psychology in compulsory education, children grow up to have a personality that lacks foresight, sympathy, self-control, problem-solving, logical thinking, self-affirmation, and various kinds of literacy.
All inexperienced people need NOT HATRED (information shut-out, jostle, neglect, punishment, exclusion), BUT LOVE (information exchange, hug, respect, forgiveness, tolerance, comfort, enlightenment, advanced and adequate higher-level education, psychotherapy counseling, salvation)
If you can't love them, it means that you need love first.

"Emotions Self-Responsibility Theory"

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 16 Jul 2022 14:08:36 No.1072436 Report

Quoted By: >>1072439

>>1072412
>The root of all evil is low-level education that leaves people ignorant, stupid, immature, mentally/personally ill.
You took the first step to getting out of your mental illness. The second is stopping projection.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 16 Jul 2022 14:38:16 No.1072439 Report

Quoted By:

>>1072436
Thats advertisement bot.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 16 Jul 2022 14:42:22 No.1072443 Report

Quoted By:

>>1072402
>ISRAEL-PALESTINE
Let's face it, it's all Israel.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 17 Jul 2022 05:35:48 No.1072653 Report

Quoted By: >>1072654

>>1072403
> Biden then met directly with MBS, an event his administration had tried to insist wouldn’t happen until it did, during which he claims to have raised the issue of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 murder. I’m sure Biden really read MBS the riot act.
Well, it would be even worse if he didn't but said he did.
Not that consequences were good as:
>There’s been no announcement of any new Saudi moves to increase oil production, and indeed the Biden administration made it clear that it’s not expecting any such moves as a direct result of this trip.
For some reason, de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia was not supportive of Biden's request after Biden called him a murderer to his face.

What Biden did not say, is that MBS asked about murder of Shireen Abu Akleh (journalist recently murdered by Israel) in return, after being accused of Khashoggi's murder. I'm curious what Biden's reply was.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 17 Jul 2022 05:58:58 No.1072654 Report

Quoted By:

>>1072653
>I'm curious what Biden's reply was.
"I-i sit on the stand I get hot. I got hairy legs. That that that turn turn blonde, in the sun. And the kids used to come up and reach into the pool and run my legs down. So it was straight. And watch the hair come back up again. So I learned about kids jumping on my lap.
And I love kids jumping on my lap."
-- Joe Biden.
https://youtu.be/3DbE2SmV2bs

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World roundup: July 15 2022