February 2023 Roundup: Turkey and Syria earthquake, Chinese Spy Balloon and Updates from Ukraine
Good Morning, Afternoon, and Evening wherever you are,
Before I get through the preamble, I wanted to talk about a few recent events on my mind lately, First off, As you have heard there was a powerful earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria killing many people and others that are still trapped in the rubble. If you want to help donate towards relief efforts than please click the link below which will send you to a number of reputable charities and foundations.
Secondly, another event that has been on my mind has been on the death of Brianna Ghey, she was a 16 year old transgender girl who was stabbed to death by a boy and girl, Police have said that “all lines of inquiry were being explored". However, many activists believe that what happened to Brianna Ghey was a hate crime, given the rise in crimes against transgender people. Just like with the charities in Turkey and Syria. I’ll leave a link to a gofundme page to help support Brianna Ghey’s family. Every contribution counts so I encourage you to please show support to these causes.
https://events.softgiving.com/donate/HasanAbiForTurkeySyriaEarthquakesFund
https://www.gofundme.com/f/brianna-ghey
Here are the news for February.
#5: The Pope and Archbishop’s visit to South Sudan
At the beginning of February, Pope Francis along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Church of Scotland Moderator, Iain Greenshields made a historic visit to South Sudan in what was billed up to be a peace mission to bring an end to the conflict in the country. The visit to South Sudan was the final destination for the religious leaders pilgrimages through Africa. The religious leaders were greeted by much fanfare when they touched down in the capital city of Juba. As the crowd of people held posters of the pontiff and sang songs and cheered for the religious leaders.
The delegation made their first stop at the Presidential Palace where they met with South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and Vice President, Riek Machar, who five years ago had met the pope in the Vatican who plead for peace by kissing their feets. A mass was later held at the John Garang Masoleuom in Juba, where the celebrations continued with 300 choir members and 70 altar dancers who did their performances for which they have been rehearsing for months.
The Pope reiterated his main message to congregants which was a call for the end of fighting on both sides, "I have come with two brothers, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Together, stretching out our hands, we present ourselves to you and to this people in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace," said the pope. He continued "Even if our hearts bleed for the wrongs we have suffered, let us refuse, once and for all, to repay evil with evil, Let us accept one another and love one another with sincerity and generosity, as God loves us."
That message was also reiterated by Archbishop Welby who represents the Church of England, those who believe in the Anglican sect of Christianity, “Pope Francis knelt to kiss the feet of each politician. Almost five years later, we come to you in this way again: on our knees to wash feet, to listen, serve and pray with you.”
South Sudan is the youngest country in the world as it gained independence from Sudan on July 9th, 2011. Since it’s independence, the country has had to deal with a civil war which has taken more than 400,000 lives, as well as poverty and economic issues which are all connected to the civil war. A peace agreement was signed in 2018 however there is still a significant number of provisions that have been yet to be implemented.
While the war has been fought based on ethnicity rather than religion. The weight of the Pope and the Archbishop’s words of peace are significant given that 60% of the country believes in some form of Christianity. For Father James Oyet Latansio, general-secretary of the South Sudan Council of Churches, the visit for him is seen as moral pressure on President Kiir, a Catholic, and Vice President, Machar, a presbytarian, to fully implement the peace deal that was agreed on five years ago.
"It will be a strong voice, a moral voice calling on the leaders of South Sudan telling them: 'Please now, give the people of South Sudan the peace they deserve,'" said Fr Oyet to the BBC. That opinion was also shared by the public as well. "I am so happy the Pope is visiting us since we have been having a lot of issues. His coming will actually change a lot," as said to the BBC by Deborah Yar Juma, a member of the congregation of the Anglican Church of South Sudan and a student at the University of Juba.
There has been criticism towards the role of the church in bringing peace to the country. While it has been supportive of the new country’s independence, they have however been criticized for not putting enough effort into helping build civil society and political institutions to play a role in the peace process. That same criticism has also been placed towards local churches as well.
The religious leaders also made a visit to a refugee camp to help draw attention towards the most vulnerable victims of the war, women and children. Many women and girls in South Sudan have been victims of sexual violence, being child brides and having the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Experts have said that due to the country being a patriarchal structure many of these problems will continue.
There is hope that, the religious leaders visit to these camps and shining a light regarding the issues that women face will put pressure on leaders to focus on these issues.
#4: Indian authorities raids BBC offices after broadcasters documentary on Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi
BBC offices in New Dehli and Mumbai were raided by tax authorities a week after the release of a documentary that covers the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, which was later blocked by the government. According to the employees, the authorities were conducting a “survey” where documents and cell phones of several journalists were seized and the buildings sealed.
Authorities had told local media that the raids into BBC offices were a part of their investigation into tax evasion where they have seized several accounts and financial files as well. The BBC says they were fully cooperating with authorities. “Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing inquiries. We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India.”
In an email to BBC staff in India, BBC director general Tim Davie praised employees for their courage at a time when many press organization and journalists have faced challenges with doing their jobs in covering the Indian government of Prime Minister Modi. Opposition parties and other Press organizations have criticized the raids.
The raids happened a week after the BBC released a two part documenatry called, “India: The Modi Question”. In the documentary they focus on Modi’s role in the violent Hindu and Muslim riots that happened in the state of Gujarat in India back in 2002, at the time Modi was the chief minister of the state. 1,000 people, most of them Muslim, were dead.
One of the accusations that was pinned against Modi was that he did not do enough in stopping the violence. He has denied the allegations. However, the allegations prevented him from entering the US for a decade. In 2012, the Supreme Court of India appointed a special investigations team which found no evidence that he was at fault for what had happened.
However, the BBC were able to uncover memos which showed the British government and western diplomats criticizing Modi at the time. One government report stated that the riots had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing”.
After the release of the documentary, criticism of the documentary came from all fronts of the Modi government. The government called the documentary “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative”. The same message was written in a letter signed by 300 former judges, bureaucrats and other prominent figures accused the BBC of pushing a “British imperialist agenda” and for “setting itself up as both judge and jury to resurrect Hindu-Muslim Tensions.
India’s Ministry of information and broadcasting had issued a ban of any of the episodes from being shared through a law passed in 2021 which says the “blocking of information in case of emergency”.
The Modi government has faced many accusations in the past over claims of censoring views that goes against the government. A lot of this was seen during the farmers protests in 2021 where several journalists were arrested for their reporting on the topic. India has dropped down eight places in the Press Freedom Index to 150, it’s worst position on record.
Censorship is something that is not new in India. Some of you might be familiar with the MTV show, Clone High, the show just surrounds many historical figures being high school students. One of them was a character based off of the famous anti-colonial activist Mahatma Gandhi. This sparked protest and anger in the country with around 150 protestors including politicians and the great-grandson of Gandhi, going on hunger strike and calling for the show to be taken off air.
According to Chris Miller, one of the creators of the show, The protestors even even trapped the CEO of Viacom (the owner of MTV) in a building when he was visiting MTV’s India branch. MTV would quickly apologize for the show and network executives pressured the creators to get rid of Gandhi’s character if they wanted a second season, which the creators tried finding ways of doing the show without the character but it ended up with network executives denying their proposals.
#3: Spy balloon and unidentified objects appear in Canada-U.S. airspace
A balloon that was flying over the airspaces of the United States and Canada was shot down by US army plane on the orders of US president, Joe Biden, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The balloon is believed to belong to China, however the Chinese Government denied the accusation and claimed that the object was a “weather balloon”. At the same time when that balloon was in the US airspace another balloon was found flying over Latin America. Which the Chinese government has accepted is their balloon and that it was used for flight tests.
Three other unidentified objects were identified flying into the Canadian and US airspace and were later shot down by US F16 jets. The objects according to US state spokesman, John Kirby ,"tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign". More focus has been spent on the spy balloon which was in the air from January 28th to February 4th. The balloon was found to have small motors and propellers which according to a senior administration official, allowed China to maneuver the balloon.
The spy balloon incident led to the US secretary of State, Anthony Blinken to cancel an upcoming visit to China, increasing the distance that lays between Washington and Beijing. China’s foreign ministry meanwhile released a statement accusing the US of overreacting and that it “reserved the right to make further necessary responses.” The spy balloon controversy was also playing out in the US congress, at a Senate committee hearing Senators from both parties criticized Pentagon officials for not shooting the balloon down sooner.
Jon Tester a Democratic Senator from Montana and chair of the committee said, “I don’t want a damn balloon going over the United States when we could’ve taken it down over the Aleutian Islands.” Those feelings were also expressed by the Republican senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski, who told officials “As an Alaskan, I am so angry, Alaska is the first line of defense for America... It’s like this administration doesn’t think that Alaska is any part of the rest of the country!””
The officials defended themselves saying that the balloon had value in terms of learning it’s flight course and debris. They also highlighted that if the balloon was shot down near Alaska it would be difficult to salvage it given that the the depth and freezing water of the Bering sea made operations to recover it dangerous.
The conversation of the Spy Balloon has also expanded to questions surrounding the popular app TikTok, Republican Senator for Utah, Mitt Romney, said that he wanted to shut down TikTok in the US. In an interview with GZERO media, “We have to have a reciprocal relationship, if their gonna have their products sold here then are products there.” He added, “One of the questions is whether the Chinese Communist Party to be able to spy on American citizens by using TikTok.”
This week, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee is considering passing a bill which would give President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok, the bill which has only one sponsor, Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, who is also chair of the committee, has been quickly moved for a vote at the committee and if approved then it will go to the house where it is expected to be passed by the Republican majority there, but faces uncertainty in the Democratic senate.
The US along with Canada and the EU have banned Tiktok from being used on government issued mobile devices. However, civil liberties groups and experts say that the risks regarding the ban of TikTok as a whole mimics the censorship in China.
2: Turkey and Syria Earthquake
Two earthquakes hit the countries of Turkey and Syria and killed at least 50,000 people according to the UN. The magnitude of the earthquake came at 7.8 on the Richter scale, it was later followed by a few aftershocks. A few weeks later another earthquake hit Turkey again with a magnitude of 5.6. These earthquakes were the worst to hit the country in over a century.
Images and videos showed buildings crumbling to the ground and showing rubble. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on twitter that he “dispatched search and rescue teams immediately to affected areas.” happened immediately as rescue workers try to save as many people as possible. Many of the people living in the regions affected by the earthquake are now left homeless and displaced. The Turkish Armed Forces have established an air corridor to transport search and rescue teams as well as food, blankets and psychological teams.
Erdogan has faced criticism for his response to the earthquake as many residents living in the earthquake affected regions have been angered by the delays for rescue. Mehmet Yildrim, a resident of the city of Adiyaman, told the AFP, "I did not see anyone until 2:00 pm on the second day of the earthquake. No government, no state, no police, no soldiers. Shame on you! You left us on our own." At football matches, fans chanted for the government to resign over it’s response.
The earthquake comes at a time when Erdogan’s government heads to the polls for elections. There was suggestion that these elections would be postponed, but Erdogan has indicated that the election will take place on May 14th of this year. Erdogan’s approval ratings have been eroding given the soaring cost of living and the cost of the Turkish Lira, the earthquake response could worsen his chances of re-election
Meanwhile in Syria, where the earthquake hit the northwest region of the country. Search and rescue efforts have been more complicated there given that the area is currently held by rebel groups who are still fighting against the forces of the Syrian government of President Bashar Al Assad. Assad had allowed permission for the UN to be on the ground in the are one week after the earthquake. However, many Western countries have been hesitant in terms of giving aid to the Assad government due to its actions in the Syrian civil war. Countries have preferred to give aid to other groups and organizations such as the Syrian Red Crescent, and the Red Cross, as well as the volunteer group, the White Helmets.
The United States has recently given an exemption on some sanctions for 180 days, according to the US treasury department, the exemption of sanctions will provide ease for financial transactions related to earthquake relief efforts. There was challenges in getting aid from Turkey into Syria through the border crossings due to the damaged infrastructure, but on February 9th, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing was opened as a convoy of six trucks carrying aid entered Syria. Two other border crossings were later opened by the Syrian government for three months.
Again if you want to help with relief efforts please use the donation links above.
#1: Updates on Ukraine
February marked the 1 year anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. There have been many reflections on the war from the personal perspectives of Ukrainians which ranged from those who suffered losses of loved ones, to those escaping the conflict into safer countries, to the fighting spirit of Ukrainian soliders on the frontline.
There have also been the perspectives of experts and those who follow International politics is reflecting on how the invasion has affected the world from rising prices of electricity in Europe, to how it has affected the worsening crises in countries like Somalia, and Afghanistan. I wrote an article reflecting I think more on the latter. If you have not read it yet please do check it out.
The marking of the 1 year anniversary saw visits from some majro world leaders such as Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, however the big visit came from US president, Joe Biden, who surprised many with his first visit to Ukraine since the start of the war.
Details of the US president’s visit to Ukraine was not even on the president’s public itinerary which said that the president was going to be in Washington for Sunday and then leave on Monday to visit Poland. However, details emerged of how he got to Kyiv just right after the President left Ukraine.
At 4:00 am, President Biden left Joint Base Andrews, a military base outside of Washington to a US military base in Ramstein, Germany, on a smaller version of the famous Air Force one which is the plane that the president uses for international trips, The President took a team of security personal, a small medical team, close advisors and two journalists with him.
The team then took another flight from Germany to Poland, where it is believed the team were at an airport but also an international hub for weapons and ammunitions to be delivered to Ukraine. They later took a train from Poland into Ukraine where they arrived at Kyiv on Monday morning.
The Russians were notified about Biden’s visit to avoid any misunderstanding According to US national security advisor Jake Sullivan. It was later confirmed by the Russian intelligence service, FSB, whose director said, The United States did notify Russia about Biden’s visit to Kyiv through a diplomatic channel. We did not give guarantees of his safety.”
Biden’s visit which was in total a 10 hour journey, was to show the United States’ “unwavering support” for Ukraine. “One year later, Kyiv stands”, Biden declared, “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands.” Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, thanked President Biden for the visit. The two presidents disscussed additional weapons shipments to Ukraine, with President Biden, promising another 500 million dollar military aid package which would see more shipments of Javelin missiles and Howitzers, Biden however, did not talk about providing more advanced arms.
After their meeting, Biden and Zelensky strolled through the streets of Kyiv while air raid sirens ringed out through ought the city. They later arrived to the Wall of Remembrance, which is a memorial site with the photos and names of soldiers who have been killed since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and also the War in Ukraine’s eastern regions known as the Donbass.
Biden was in the city for five hours, he then departed from Kyiv where he would take the train again to Poland’s capital, Warsaw, where on Tuesday he met with the Polish President, Andrej Duda, and gave a speech outside the Warsaw Castle, where he told a jubilant crowd waving flags of Poland, Ukraine and the United States, that “One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv, Well I’ve just come from a visit to Kyiv and I can report Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and most important, it stands free.”
By contrast, Russian President, Vladimir Putin commemorated the one year anniversary of a war with a speech where he blamed the War in Ukraine on the West. “Let me reiterate that they were the ones who started this war, while we used force and are using it to stop the war.” He also accused the West for the “the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversion and abuse of children, including pedophilia, as well as “forcing priests to bless same-sex marriages.”
The main headline from the speech though was the announcement that Russia would suspend its participation from the START treaty. Which is a nuclear arms treaty which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the US and Russia can deploy. The Treaty was first signed in 2010 by then US and Russian presidents, Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev and was later extended in 2021 by the Biden administration. The treaty allowed for both Russian and US inspectors to make sure that both sides are following the treaty.
A few days after President Putin’s speech, a rally was held in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Where thousands of people were bussed in to show that Russians back their president and the war. The Russian president rallied on the crowd to show support to Russian troops who were currently fighting in Ukraine and those who were in the stadium.
Meanwhile in Kyiv the commemorations of the one year anniversary there saw President Zelensky where he struck a defiant tone in his speech telling the Ukranian public, “A year after the full-scale invasion, the faith in victory is 95%. The main emotion we feel when we think about Ukraine is pride… We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year”!
At a press conference later that day, Zelensky admitted that he had failed to engage sufficiently with countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia who had abstained from the UN general assembly vote on resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion. "We didn't work well for many years, we didn't pay attention, I think it's a big mistake.” He has called for a summit with leaders of these countries as well as with China and India to join a peace formula that is proposed by them to end the war with Russia.
On the same day as the one year anniversary reports were coming in that China had proposed a peace plan to end the war. Where it proposed that nuclear weapons must not be used in the conflict, respecting the sovereignty of all countries and resuming peace talks. The announcement of a peace plan comes as reports from US intelligence agencies is that China is considering supplying weapons to Russia, which many believe that it could turn the tide of the conflict into Russia’s favour.
The peace plan was welcomed by Russia, however Ukraine and it’s allies have been lukewarm to it, President Zelensky said he plans to meet with China’s president Xi Jinping regarding the proposals. Meanwhile President Biden rejected Beijing’s peace plan saying “Putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good?” and NATO secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said “China doesn't have much credibility because it has not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine".
Meanwhile on the battlefield, there have been reports of difficulties in Ukraine’s offensive on the eastern front where Ukrainian forces are having a hard time holding on to the city as Russian forces with the help of the mercenary group, the Wagner Group have made advances near the town where the plan to encircle it. The Ukrainian forces have refused to leave the town and are demanding for more backup.
Notes for #5:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64500535
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62014750
Notes for #4:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/23/media/bbc-india-director-general/index.html
https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2022
Notes for #3:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/28/new-tiktok-ban-is-poised-to-advance-in-congress-.html
https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-world-clips/senator-mitt-romney-on-tiktok-shut-it-down
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/tiktok-facing-bans-us-countries/story?id=97528047
Notes for #2:
https://apnews.com/article/turkey-syria-earthquakeunited-nations-44c2b736108ccb37130cf64e9e5fa7ca
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64789135
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/earthquake-syria-turkey-international-community-aid-needed/#x
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/10/us-syria-sanctions-exemption-earthquake-relief
Notes for #1:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/21/plane-motorcade-train-how-joe-biden-got-to-kyiv-in-secret
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/us/politics/biden-ukraine-visit.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/21/ukraine-russia-war-joe-biden-to-speak-in-poland.html
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70565
https://kyivindependent.com/national/zelenskys-address-on-1-year-war-anniversary
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202302/t20230224_11030713.html
Thanks especially for the news from South Sudan and India, places I don’t hear much about in my other news coverage.