Good morning, afternoon, evening where ever you are.
We are really four months into the year, that’s crazy to think as well as my exchange is ending in two months. Still feels like yesterday when I first landed in Copenhagen, Denmark and took the train from there to Malmo and then a few weeks later to Lund. As I said in the last newsletter things have went pretty swell so far, but if there is one thing I want to add is that Sweden is so nice in the spring. In Lund and Malmo you see a lot of flowers blooming from purple orchids to cherry blossom trees. I even saw a very nice picture from one of my friends of cherry blossom trees in Copenhagen apparently there was an event called the Sakura Festival that was happening there.
The Sakura Festival (also known as the “National Cherry Blossom Festival”) is seen as a celebration commemorating cherry blossoms. It’s more famous in Washington D.C., United States, as the celebration is to commemorate the long relationship between the US and Japan as the first cherry blossom tree that was planted in the US in 1912, when the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki gave the tree as a gift to grow the relationship between both countries. However it seems that the festival has become international as you see a lot of cherry blossoms here in Scandinavia.
Spring has also meant that many Swedes are ditching their giant coats in favour sweaters, t-shirts, even some people wear shorts. When I was in Malmo, I saw some people basking in the sunrays which I can’t blame them, this winter and early spring have been really gloomy and chilly. On April 30th, Swedes celebrated the coming of spring, which is known as Valborg, it happens every last day of April. People have picnics at the park and (especially University students drink loads of alcohol) and then they light a bonfire to commemorate it. I did it with a bunch of my friends and we had a great time.
Anyways here is this months headlines
#5: Finland NATO Application + Election
Finland became the 31st country of the military alliance, NATO on April 4th after being accepted by all NATO member countries. The confirmation of Finland’s NATO membership came a few weeks after Turkey and Hungary, the two countries that were hold outs in on the approval of both Finland and Sweden into NATO. The reason for holding out of approval of these countries was due to Turkey’s concern over issues of terrorism and arms exports.
In a pro-government newspaper, Huriyet, published a list last year of those that Turkey deems as terrorists. Many of the names were linked to groups such as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) considered a terror group by the EU, US, and UK, and also those who are called Gulenists, followers of the Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who are seen as being responsible for a failed coup attempt of Turkish President, Recep Tayip Erdogan in 2016. Out of the 45 individuals that were listed, 33 came from Sweden and 12 from Finland. In the case of Finland it seems as though those issues were resolved as Mr. Erdogan, said that he was impressed by Finland’s efforts with regards to dealing with these issues which was signed in a memorandum in last year’s .
By contrast Sweden’s membership application is still being stalled as Turkish government have criticized Stockholm with regards to the extradition of individuals involved in Kurdish militias as Swedish courts have blocked the extradition of some individuals such as Bülent Keneş who was an editor of the Turkish newspaper, Zaman and is living in exile in Stockholm, along with demonstrations including one where a Far-Right activist burned the Quran in January. Inside Turkey, there was opposition to Erdogan’s dealing of the matter as one legislator from a party that is Pro Kurdish, accused the government of making the application to NATO a tool of blackmail and threat.
Hungary the other country that is also blocking Sweden’s bid has accused some Swedish politicians for statements about the state of democracy in the country and playing an active role in freezing billions of dollars of funds from the European Union over violations of rule of law an democracy. Sweden has made changes to it’s constitution so it can pass anti-terrorism laws which would deal with Turkey’s concerns. The government expect the legislation to before this years NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Finland also had an election in the beginning of the month, while Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s party, the Social Democrats, made some gains in the election. Her opponents, the Conservative, National Coalition party (NCP) and the anti immigration Finns party were able to exceed her gains as the Social Democrats finished third. Her coalition partners suffered much worse defeats as three out of the four parties that made up the coalition government lost seats.
The defeat of the Social Democrats had less to do with the application for NATO which almost all parties and the majority of the public support. Neither did it had to do with the video of Marin partying last summer, which did not affect her personal approval ratings, in a survey prior to the election 64% of respondents felt she was doing either a very or fairly good job as prime minister, approval was much higher with women at 69%. It was claims of fiscal irresponsibility at a time of a rising cost of living and promises of cuts coming from parties of the right that saw voters vote for these parties. Voters who were more on the left and usually supported parties such as the Greens and Left, tactically voted for the Social Democrats in a bid to keep them in power. This led to both parties collapsing in their votes.
It is expected that, the leader of the NCP, Petteri Orpo, will be the next Prime Minister of Finland, his next step will be to form a coalition government. Negotiations have already started and is looking to include the Finns Party in the process. Orpo, nicknamed Mr. Dependable, is seen as a mundane and boring figure. As Guardian’s Europe’s Correspondent put it, "I saw somebody tweet that the world has returned to its natural state of being unable to recognise the Finnish prime minister in a crowd… He’s not a very charismatic character.” He is seen as someone with experience and is responsible with the economy. He’s held various minister portfolios and was the deputy Prime Minister from 2017 to 2019 and had received praised for his handling of the 2015 refugee crisis.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Marin announced that she would not be running for the parties leadership in October, she says she will continue doing her work as the leader of the Social Democrats until then as well as her duties as MP.
Here is an interesting statue that Mrs. Marin took of what appears to be from the video of her partying that had her making headlines across the world. (It’s the third picture)
#4 Uganda Anti Homosexuality Bill
While debate surrounding the LGBTQ+ community has been increasing in the United States as several states attempt to pass laws targeting the Transgender community as well as fallout from Budlight advertisement containing the transgender influencer Dyan Mulvaney , In Uganda, lawmakers have passed a bill that originally criminalised those who choose to identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and queer. While the country has already banned same sex marriage, After being signed by the President, Uganda would be one of the world’ most strictest anti LGBTQ+ bills.
In the Ugandan parliament, all but one legislator, supported the bill. The bill was originally drafted to criminalise those who identify as LGBTQ+, but was later dropped after opposition from Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, saying it could create “constitutional challenges.” Another amendment got rid of a measure of obliging people to report homosexual activity, was gotten rid of in favor of only requiring to report activity if a child is involved. Failure to report it could lead to a five year jail sentence or fine of 10 million Ugandan shillings (2,150 pounds).
However, many of the bills controversial amendments are still there such as the death penalty for certain same sex acts and a 20 year jail sentence for promoting homosexuality. Supporters of the bill have said that the legislation is needed to punish a broader array of LGBTQ+ activities, which they believe threaten traditional values. In the parliament, one legislator David Bahati said, “Our creator God is happy [about] what is happening … I support the bill to protect the future of our children.”
However, activists have criticized the bill, Edward Mutebi, a Ugandan citizen who resides in Germany told Euronews that the supporters of this bill, are “calling for our extinction.” Mutebi who runs an NGO called ‘Lets Walk Uganda’ says his organization has been flooded with calls for help from the LGBTQ+ community. One call which drew him to tears was from “a boy of 17 who told his family he was gay and was thrown out of his home. He’s now living in the street. But you can’t even engage as an organisation, this is a minor, and you’d be arrested.” Mutebi has also received calls “where he has heard stories of people being attacked, undressed, beaten up, and even castrated.” he said. Mutebi added, “And that was before the bill was even passed. We can’t see this happening in the modern era, that people can be put in prison for life just because they love each other.”
The US, EU , and major corporations have condemned the bill. The US government has said that it is assessing the implication of the law for it's aid activities in Uganda such as the HIV/Aids programme. The UN commissioner for human rights Volker Türk, called the law, “shocking and discriminatory”.
That has not dissuade President Museveni, a vocal opponent of LGBTQ+ rights, as he praised members of parliament for having “rejected the pressure from imperialists.” In Foreign Policy magazine, Nigerian journalist and co founder and managing of Minority Africa, Caleb Okereke, wrote an article where he states that the rise of anti-gay sentiment came from both the Catholic Church as well as Evangelical groups and individuals from the United States. I highly encourage you to read this piece if you’re interested.
#3: US Politics: President Joe Biden Runs for 2024, Tucker Carlson fired from Fox News
It’s official, Joe Biden has officially announced he is running for re-election as President of the United States for the 2024 Presidential Election. In a three minute video that starts out with the January 6th capitol riots and protests against restrictions of abortion, Biden talks about the protection of freedom and rights while portraying the Republicans as being against them with such actions like cutting Social Security, the overturning of landmark decisions with regards to abortion, the banning of books as well as same sex marriage and restriction on voting rights. The ad basically a rehashed version of his 2019 ad when he first ran in the Democratic Primaries.
Biden had dropped hints a few weeks prior about running for re-election at the White House easter egg roll, when during an interview with the Today Show’s Al Roker, where when pressed by Roker on running for re-election, Biden replied, “I’m planning on running, Al, but we’re not prepared to announce it yet.” Heading into the Democratic primaries, Biden so far looks set to be the Democratic nominee, as the two other candidates that are running, Author and spiritual guru, Marianne Williamson and Environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are being outpaced by Biden. However in recent polls, both Williamson and Kennedy Jr, are polling within 8.5 percent and 20.0 percent respectively. Both pretty high percentages in terms of a primary against an incumbent president.
The reason for why both candidates seem to be doing well is the lack of enthusiasm that some Democrats have towards Biden running for re-election. Many of them citing his age as the President is currently 80 years old right now and if re-elected he would leave office at the age of 86 years old. In one poll, 70% of Americans do not want President Biden to run for re-election, this includes 51% of Democrats. There has also been some voters who view the Biden presidency with regards to inflation and the economy.
What Biden has in his favour has been the fear and unpopularity surrounding his predecessor and former 2020 rival ,former President Donald Trump. As Joe Biden has sold to voters in the past, “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative.” The alternative, Trump, is currently more unpopular than Biden, as Americans still have memories of the events that happened on Capitol Hill on January 6th as well as Trump’s continuing to spread false claims that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen.
Another potential Presidential Candidate, Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, who has been seen by some Republicans as a much better alternative to Trump. Has had a rough time on the international stage as he visited countries such as Japan, South Korea, Britain, and Israel. Headlines for his visits were focused on moments such as the wed bobble head movement he made when asked about running for the presidency. When he was in the UK, he was described by some of the UK’s biggest heads of businesses as being “horrendous” and “low wattage”. One business figure said the governor “looked bored” and “stared at his feet”. DeSantis did not have a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. In Israel, DeSantis faced questions over claims that he was present when guards force fed prisoners in the military prison Guantanamo Bay.
While International trips made by Presidential candidates or nominees do not attract buzz with the American public, it doesn’t help that the majority of the headlines regarding his visits are negative as polling has shown Trump easily beating DeSantis in the Republican primaries.
Away from the Presidential race and into the New York City newsrooms of Fox, It was announced by Fox News that Tucker Carlson and his executive producer for his title show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, have been dismissed. According to sources close to Carlson, the TV host, did not expect to be dismissed as Fox announced that his last show was on Friday, April 21, three days before the announcement of his dismissal.
Fox did not give any reason for Carlson’s dismissal, however, Wall Street Journal reports that vulgar text messages about is colleagues, with one calling a senior executive the c-word , it was also constant fights and disputes with Fox management that is believed to have also led to his dismissal. Wall Street Journal also revealed that two Fox News executives, Lachlan Murdoch, son of Fox corp. chair, Rupert Murdoch, and Suzanne Scott were the ones who made.
Carlson was a prominent political commentator through ought the late 1990s and 2000s as he made appearances on big networks such as CNN, NBC, and was the co-founder of the conservative publication, the Daily Caller. Carlson made his big break on Fox News when he hosted his show Tucker Carlson Tonight, which went on air from 2016 up until his dismissal in 2023. Carlson’s show became the biggest prime-time program in cable news beating out his fellow Fox News hosts such as Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity. Carlson became well known for being the voice of the hard-right, and made attacks against prominent Democratic politicians, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter protests as well as spreading conspiracy theories such as the racist great replacement theory and those concerning COVID-19. As attacks grew, advertisers began dropping advertisements from being aired during his show’s time slot, which is also seen as a reason for his dismissal.
On a video released on April 26th, Carlson did not address his dismissal, however he mostly focused on the current discourse and debate that is seen in the media today.
#2: Ukraine Update/Pentagon Leaks
No advance or progress in the battlefield for either sides this month. Events from Russia were more of the focus this month as the beginning of the month saw a pro military blogger, Vladlen Tatrsky, killed in an explosion in a cafe in St Petersburg, Russia. Tatarsky was the only one to have been killed, 42 other were injured with 6 of them being in critical condition. Tatarsky was an influential blogger who amassed 560,000 followers on the social media app, Telegram. Tatarsky was supporter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but was however critical of the approach of the Russian military during the war.
Tatarsky was attending an event called “Cyber Front Z Movement” where he was speaking. When he was speaking he received a gift which was a statuette which later detonated which killed him. Russian authorities have detained a woman, 26 year old Darya Trepova who they believed was responsible for the bombing. In a video released by Russian authorities, Trepova admits to bringing the statuette to the cafe, however it is believed that the video was recorded under duress.
Russia has accused Ukrainian security services and the Russian anti-corruption activist, Alexi Navany for responsible for the attack, however, Kyiv has denied the allegations, saying the attack was based on infighting between different factions in Russia who support the war. There was also news with regards to the arrest of the Wall Street Journal correspondent for Russia, Evan Gershkovich. Gershkovich was arrested by Russian authorities under charges of espionage. This is the first time that an American is charged under the charge of espionage.
WSJ has “vehemently denies” the allegations and have called on Russian authorities to immediately release Gershkovich. Same calls came from the Biden Administration who criticized the “wrongful detention” of Gershkovich. 332 foreign correspondents have signed a letter calling on Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, to drop the charges and immediately release Gershkovich as well.
Big news of the war also came from leaked classified documents coming from the Pentagon. The leaks were wide ranging in terms of the content of what was happening with the war and the conversations that were going on between leaders of different countries. Some of the main details coming from the documents, were private conversations such as one where US officials believed that UN Secretary General, Anthony Guterres was too “accommodating” to Russia, citing the Black Sea grain deal which was brokered by the UN and Turkey last summer an example of being to sympathetic to Russian interests and underwing efforts of holding Russia accountable.
Other information uncovered in the documents ranged from reconfirmation of information regarding the shortfalls with regards to the weapons of Ukraine, as well as the depleting stock of ammunitions. However, the documents did reveal infighting in the Russian military over disputes of the death total which were estimated to be at 189,000 and 223,000. The documents also claim that Ukraine will make “modest gains” in their spring counteroffensive.
The documents also shone light to the US spying on friends and its allies regarding their relations with Russia and China. South Korea, a long standing ally of the US, were discussed as being torn around giving weapons to Ukraine, a decision if went through would go against South Korea’s longstanding policy of not giving weapons to countries that are at war. Another point in the document surrounded the secret delivery of 40,000 rockets to Russia by Egypt. A source close to the Egyptian government denied the claim and called it baseless. While the Russian government has called the claim "just another canard" and the White House saying there was "no indication" that Egypt was providing lethal weapons to Russia.
The person who leaked the documents was a 21 year old reserve in the US Air Force, Jack Teixeira is now charged with the unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents and materials. If he is found guilty he could face up to 25 years in prison. Teixeira was given a top security clearance to look at classified documents under a “lifetime binding non-disclosure agreement”. Which acknowledges that unauthorized disclosure of protected information could result in criminal charges" according to court documents.
Teixeira uploaded the leaked documents onto discord in a channel called Thug Shaker Central under the username OG. The group made up of two dozen members, would swap memes, discuss guns, and idle chit chat. According to the Washington Post, Texeria shared the documents when he was frustrated with the lack of response in the chatroom. The documents were latter shared with other Discord channels.
#1: Sudan Conflict
The country of Sudan enters into an uncertain crisis where a struggle between two military leaders has led the country to civil war. Fighting broke out in a neighbourhood in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum on April 15th, as members of Sudanese Army and a Paramilitary faction saw 56 civilians killed and 595 people injured including combatants on both sides according to the Sudanese Doctors Union. Live television feeds from Al Jazeera showed a large smoke cloud billowing into the sky of the city.
The reason for the fighting has been a power struggle from two military leaders, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Army and basically leader of Sudan, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo nicknamed Hemedti, leader of the RSF. Both men have been fighting for control over the country ever since the army took full control of governing in a coup back in 2021. At the time both men were friends and allies as Al Burhan controlled Hemedti’s forces during the Darfur conflict. Both men later worked with each other in 2019 to oust the dictator, Omar al Bashir. However, as the RSF started gaining power through Gold Mining along with the Sudanese army and Hemedti successfully aligning with civilian groups which was seen by analysts as a way to cement power.
The fighting continued as weeks progressed with more people being killed. For many the situation was unsafe to leave their house. Sudanese living in the capital have now fled there given that is where most of the fighting is happening. The airport was damaged from attacks with one plane even being shot at, water and electricity has been shut off and supplies are running low. For foreign nationals in Sudan, they were advised to evacuate immediately, Governments of Western countries co-ordinated evacuation flights out of Sudan, the UK in particular have evacuated 2,122 people on 23 flights according to the British Foreign Office. Saudi Arabia had concluded it’s humanitarian evacuation on May 12th, evacuating 11,184 people out of Sudan.
Meanwhile the International community has called on both sides to immediately end the fighting and to resolve outstanding issues. US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken had called the situation in Khartoum “fragile” and called on all parties to focus on the agreed framework on how to get to a transition to a civilian government. Neighbouring countries such as Chad, Egypt and South Sudan fear of conflict spreading to their region.
Notes for #5:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65132527
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1167213853/finland-nato-membership-turkey-parliament-vote
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62027828
https://www.politico.eu/article/finland-far-right-talks-coalition-government-petteri-orpo/
Notes for #4:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/02/uganda-parliament-passes-anti-lgbtq-bill
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/05/02/uganda-anti-homosexuality-bill-passes-second-time/
Notes for #3:
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/25/2024-trump-biden-presidential-rematch
https://www.politico.eu/article/ron-detedious-how-desantis-underwhelmed-britains-business-chiefs/
https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/1650460400142499842
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/24/business/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news-dismissal.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/26/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news/index.html
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1651376097349578753
Notes for #2:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/8/russian-vladren-tatarsky-laid-to-rest-in-moscow
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65121885.amp
https://www.freegershkovich.com/letter-to-lavrov
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/13/pentagon-leaks-what-are-the-latest-takeaways
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65260672
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65238951
Notes for #1:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/18/what-is-happening-in-sudan-a-simple-guide
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/fighting-in-sudan-what-we-know-so-far