July 2023: US solider enters North Korea, Spain's election, Ukraine Update.
Here are the main headlines for July 2023
Good morning, afternoon, and evening wherever you are
You probably noticed I haven’t posted anything for June , well I did however in short I accidently deleted the June 2023: Honorable mentions. I thought it was uploaded yet I didn’t receive a notification about it and when I checked the stats for the post it showed 0 opens. I thought that I could unpublish the story and republish it again, but suddenly, all that hard work that I was proud of in that article vanished, I tried everything to find a way to bring it back but nothing worked.
That left me in sad mood as it prevented me from doing the June update. So instead of doing a June update of the headlines were moving on to the July 2023, headlines.
Anyways, for more interactivity with subscribers, here are a few questions I have
What is your favourite part of summer?
Which movie are you watching, Oppenheimer or Barbie, or what about Barbenheimer?
Do you feel sad when summer ends?
So here were the main headlines this month.
#5: US soldier crosses into North Korea
The United Nations Command and North Korea have started talks to discuss the defection of US army private, Travis King according to reuters. King crossed the border between South Korea and North Korea on July 18th during a tour in the Joint Security Area (JSA), a part of the Demilitarized zone (DMZ). King was reported to have ran to the North Korean Demarcation line and was laughing loudly. Forces in the South were unsuccessful in stopping him. King is believed to have been taken into custody by the North Korean forces and was picked up in an unidentified van.
It is currently unknown why Travis King crossed the border. The discussions between the UN command and North Korean authorities happened through mechanisms under the Korean armistice agreement, an agreement signed after the end of the Korean war, the British General heading up the UN command, Lieutenant General, Andrew Harrison told the press, "The primary concern for us is Private King's welfare." Harrison did not go into further detail on the matter.
North Korean authorities or media have been silent on the issue. Jean Lee, a journalist who was the first to open a US bureau in the country, has said that the first word about the detention of Americans in North Korea comes from state media. Lee says that detained Americans are usually seen as bargaining chips and leverage in negotiations.
Prior to his action, King had previously served time in detention in South Korea, on charges of assault and damaging of private property. He was due to be sent back to his home base of Fort Bliss, Texas. King’s family have said that they were mystified by King’s actions, with his sister saying that 48 hours priors to that event, King was telling her how excited he was to return to the United States.
King’s family have also urged the U.S. government to do everything they can for the safe return King back to the United States. A spokesperson for the Defence department has said that King’s well being was a top priority for them. Meanwhile tours at the Joint Security Area (JSA) has been suspended. Lieutenant General Harrison said that it has been yet to decide when to resume the tours.
This is not the first time that a US soldier has crossed the border. The first came in 1962, when Larry Allen Abshier and Joseph Dresnok became the first American soliders to cross into North Korea after the end of the cold war. They were joined a year later in 1963, by Jerry Wayne Parrish, and in 1965, Charles Robert Jenkins became the fourth to join the group. During their time in North Korea, the men were mostly used for propaganda films portraying themselves as “evil Americans/westerners”. Three of the men stayed in North Korea up until their deaths, with Jenkins leaving the country in 2004 along with his Japanese wife who was abducted by North Korean spies.
There is a really good documentary by the BBC called Crossing the Line which which mainly focuses on James Dresnok but does give insight into the three other men and their lives in North Korea. If you’re interested in the topic I highly suggest you check it out.
#4: Niger Crisis
A coup has taken place in the West African country of Niger on July 26th as the now ousted president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, has been overthrown from power by the head of country’s presidential guard, Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani. Tchani gave a national address where he claimed that the military had intervened “to prevent the gradual and inevitable demise of our country”.
He accused former President Bazoum of deceiving the public and trying to convince people that “all is going well”. Tchani described his government as being a transitional one, however a timeframe for a return to civilian leadership has not been given. It is reported that Bazoum is currently detained by the military.
Tchani, who was leader of the elite unit of Niger’s army since 2011 is known as an ally of the former president, Mahamadou Issoufou who governed the country from 2011 to 2021. Protestors who both support the new government as well as former President Bazoum went out to the streets of Niger’s capital, Niamey. However, those protests have went violent with looting and buildings and cars being set on fire.
When Barzoum became President many Western countries such as the US and the EU, who viewed it as a positive step forward for a country that had witnessed four military coups since its independence in 1960. The country had been an important ally when it came to combating a jihadist groups in the Sahel region, as well as migration to Europe. These countries have assisted both militarily and financially to help improve the Nigerien military.
Prior to the coup, the counter terrorism mission was deemed a success by som, however some analysts have found the opposite as violence had skyrocketed with a paper from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an academic institution in the US Department of Defence, finding that there was a 36% increase in violence in the region, at 2,737 violent events, as well as 63% increase when it came to fatalities which is 7,899 fatalities. They also found that since 2016 attacks linked to militant Islamist groups have jumped to 3,500%.
There will now be questions over the continuation of these missions. Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme for Germany’s Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung thinktank, told the Guardian, that the coup would create an opportunity for Russia and other actors to spread their influence in Niger. Early signs of this were seen with many of the supporters of the new government waving not just flags of Niger, but also flags of Russia as well.
These same images of crowds waving the Russian flag were seen in similar coups in Burkina Faso and Mali. The coups were seen as a sign as dissatisfaction from the public over the continuing violence in there countries, with Mali kicking out UN peacekeepers and French Troops who were leading counter terrorism missions as well in the region, in favour for the Russian mercenary group, the Wagner group. In the last few years the mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, had been operating in Africa in providing security assistance, as many African countries moved away from relations with former colonial powers such as France and Britain, in favour of closer ties with Russia.
Prigozhin who was pictured at the sidelines of a summit between African countries and Russia, went on social media to celebrate the coup and talked about how the Wagner group could help bring stability to the country. This contrasted from the views of Russia’s Foreign ministry who called for the “prompt release” of President Mohamed Bazoum. The view was also shared by US secretary of State Anthony Blinken, UN secretary General, Antonio Guterres, and the African Union as well.
#3: Spain Election
Spain’s election see’s it head towards a hung parliament with both the left wing and right wing party blocs coming in short of the majority they need to govern the country. With all results including votes from expats finalized, the centre right People’s Party led by Alberto Feijoo leads in the seat count winning 137 seats, followed by the centre left Socialists Party, led by the current Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, which won 121 seats, the far-right VOX party led by Santiago Abascal party won 33 seats, and the left wing SUMAR party led by Spain’s Labour minister, Yolanda Diaz won 31 seats.
Prior to the results, it was expected by both the polling analysts that the right wing bloc of the People’s Party and VOX party would win an outright majority. Even with exit polls showing that they would become victorious. It was further from the opposite. Even then Feijoo claimed victorious when he spoke to his supporters saying that he will try to form government and called on other political parties to ”not be tempted to blockade Spain".
Meanwhile in another part of Madrid, Sanchez celebrated the result, even with his party in second place and the situation of a hung parliament. “The backward-looking bloc, which proposed a total repeal of all the progress we have made over the last four years, has failed.” Emotions were more sombre for the VOX party which lost lost 19 seats, meaning it is likely it will not play the role of kingmaker which was expected prior to the results. It was also a reflection of the fear that voters had of a far right party coming into power
The mood was also sombre for PP supporters even with their party being the largest in parliament, many at the parties headquarters chanted the name of the populist governor of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso to be the new leader of the PP.
The call for an election was seen as a gamble for Pedro Sanchez, as his party had done poorly in the local elections as the Socialists lost to the PP and VOX who were governing as coalition in local and regional councils. Sanchez justified his decision saying that "the country needed a clarification when it comes to the policies that the national government should offer and a clarification when it comes to the political groups that should lead this phase.”
Although the main reason why Sanchez called it was to get the fractured left wing parties to unite against both the fear of the right wing bloc coming to power as well as electoral annihilation due to poor poll numbers, hence the creation of SUMAR. The election for the most part focused on American style culture war issues with local councils controlled by the right banning certain books and movies, taking down of LGBTQ+ flags, and to add a Spanish flavour to it, the banning of a children’s magazine written in Catalan.
One of the images that showcased what VOX’s campaign was all about was this billboard in Madrid. Which showed a LGBTQ+ flag, Catalan flag, the communist flag, the Agenda 2030 logo and the Feminism logo being thrown in a trash can.
The focus of the culture war along with an endorsement from Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, was a gift for the Left wing as they portrayed to Progressive Spaniards of what would happen if VOX entered power. Another boost for Sanchez was help from former Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero and SUMAR’s leader Yolanda Diaz who were seen as the ones who were able to persuade Spaniards who were on the fence, to vote for the left wing bloc. Especially in the case of Diaz whose strong performance in the campaign and debates were crucial in the final weeks of the campaign.
Another crucial moment of the campaign was blunders from the frontrunner Feijoo, who did not turn up to the only leader debate on public tv, a sexist remark he made about Diaz , and the unsuccessful attack to link Sanchez to the Basque terrorist group, ETA, which has ceased operations more than a decade ago, victims of ETA’s attacks accused Feijoo of politicizing their suffering. There is a lot of other ground I want to cover with this election, but I’ll just refer to a tweet by Brendan Boyle of his analysis of the election.
With the end of the campaign, parties will now attempt to form government. So far both blocs do not have the numbers of an outright majority to form government. This means that they will have to look for help from smaller parties to help form government. So far many of them who range from regional parties in Catalan, Basque country, Canary Islands, etc, are leaning towards the left bloc.
However, the two pro Catalan separatist parties, ERC and Junts are seen as a kingmakers for either bloc. These parties expected to abstain from the first round of voting, in the case of Junts it is willing to abstain in the second round as it only requires a simple majority. Both parties are willing to help either Sanchez or Feijoo to form government however it comes with concessions as Junts’s leader, Miriam Nogueras, told reporters “We will not make Sánchez president in exchange for nothing.” while ERC’s Gabriel Rufián said “Either Catalonia, or Vox.”
Meaning they want another referendum regarding the issue of Catalonian independence. Something that for Spaniards is a hard pill to swallow. The leader of Catalonia and a member of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, who is currently in self exile, has tweeted that he would not support a government led by Sanchez.
There will be a two month period where the parliament tries to decide who should be prime minister, if it can’t make a decision, the king dissolves the parliament and another election is called.
#2: NATO Summit
The NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, was an eventful one compared to past meetings. Along with leaders of the NATO member countries, there were also leaders from countries that were not apart of NATO. The most prominent one was Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country is currently waiting for a decision with regards to it’s NATO membership application, as well as leaders from Asia Pacific countries such as Australia, South Korea, Japan, and New Zealand.
One of the biggest issues heading into the summit was Sweden’s membership into NATO. Prior to the summit, Turkey and Hungary were blocking Sweden’s bid due to reasons ranging from accusations that Sweden was harbouring members of the PKK which is classified as a Terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and the EU, as well as some far right activists who have burned the Quran, the holy book of Islam which has led to anger from Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Those concerns were later resolved as President Erdogan has agreed to let Sweden into NATO as all that is needed now is a vote of approval from both the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. It is believed that one of the things that convinced Erdogan to let Sweden into the organization, was that he got F-16 fighter jets from the US in exchange for NATO membership for Sweden.
Another noticeable thing with this summit was that the announcement for NATO to open a liaison office in Tokyo was shelved from the final communique. The proposal has been in the plans since 2014, seen as a way for the alliance to develop deeper cooperation with Asian countries that were partners. The reason for the shelving of these plans were to not anger China.
France has been opposed to the plan given the fears of angering China and that it would be perceived by them as a threat to their territorial integrity. The communique did however mention that China is a “systemic threat” and said that it had “stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values”. The pacific countries were invited to last years summit to help address security concerns in the region.
However, the biggest issue coming out of the summit was the status of NATO membership for Ukraine. In a tweet, Zelensky called the alliance’s plan to approve NATO membership as “absurd” due to the lack of a definite timetable of the process. While US president, Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, have expressed support for Ukraine’s membership, however at the same time the US along with France and Germany, have also shown reluctance to setting clear preconditions to Ukraine given the uncertainty with the current conflict.
This led to complaints made by the UK’s Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, accusing Ukraine that it has not shown gratitude towards the UK’s support of Ukraine. Wallace also said that the UK was not an “amazon warehouse” when it came to weapon shipments which have not been as fast as the Ukrainians want them to be.
Zelensky responded to the comments saying he did not understand Wallace’s complaints. “How else should we thank him? Well, let him write to me and tell me how I need to thank people so that we can be fully grateful. We can also wake up in the morning and thank the minister personally.” While Wallace’s criticism saw backlash from Ukrainians and their supporters online, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, called Zelensky’s comments, “unhealthy sarcasm”. He was fired a week after he made those comments, although the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not give a reason for his dismissal.
US National Security advisor, Jake Sullivan, made similar comments about gratitude when asked a pointed question by a Ukrainian activist at the NATO Public Forum. “The American people do deserve a degree of gratitude”. Sullivan said. The comments from both British and American officials showing there is pushback from Ukraine’s allies when it comes to weapons support.
However some of those disagreements and divisions were tempered during Biden’s keynote speech on the final day of tha summit vowing that the US and NATO members “will not waver” in in defence of Ukraine and that the Alliance is “more united than ever”.
#1: Ukraine Update
Since I missed June, and there were a lot of critical events that happened that month, I will just give a brief synopsis of what had happened. At the start of June, Novakovka Dam which is in the Russian controlled area of Kherson in Southern Ukraine, broke down leading to widespread flooding in the region. It’s currently unclear of what caused the dam to collapse. According to the Ukrainian forces they accuse Russia of blowing it up, According to the BBC, the Russian military might of feared the Ukrainian forces would use the road over the dam to get across the Dnipro river leading them into Russian held territory. The Russians have denied the claim and have accused Ukraine of blowing up the dam. If it is true that the dam was attacked deliberately, it would be the first case of ecocide since the start of the war.
The New York Times have an article on evidence which suggests that Russia blew up the dam, it’s definitely worth checking out and will be in sources for #1. The destruction of the dam has led to many towns and cities in the Kherson region to be flooded. According to Ukraine’s president, residents in those areas have been left without drinking water, food and medicine. He criticized the Red Cross and and the UN for it’s slow response to aid those regions.
Another big event happened in Russia, where Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenary group, the Wagner Group , led a rebellion that started after they took over military headquarters in Rostov, a city that is two hours from the Russia-Ukraine border, they then headed north to the Russian capital, Moscow. The reason for the rebellion was anger from Prigozhin towards Russian defence official, Valery Gerasimov and Putin’s Minister of Defence, Denis Shoigu over their handling of the war as well as accusing the Russian forces of allegedly attacking the group . The rebellion was halted after Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, persuaded Prigozhin to stop his campaign.
Prigozhin agreed to stop the rebellion and was later seen back in Rostov, being greeted by supporters and then left for Belarus. The remaining Wagner forces were merged into the Russian Military. There was a number of weeks where Prigozhin was not seen in public, but he did later resurface in a video as well as being seen on the sidelines of a Africa-Russia summit in St Petersburg.
In terms of the fighting on the ground, there has not been any crucial changes to the counteroffensive. The Ukrainians have retaken hamlets and villages in the Zaporizhia region. There was movement from Ukrainian troops heading south from the town of Orikhiv which later stalled east of the hamlet, Robotyne. The direction of the counteroffensive in this region looks like the Ukrainian army are targeting to retake the city of Melitopol. If that city is retaken it would be the first major victory of the counteroffensive.
Meanwhile the counteroffensive in the Donetsk region sees fighting from the Ukrainian army to retake Bakhmut which was taken by the Russians back in May. Another direction of the counteroffensive in that region is in the south where forces are moving south, one can assume they are looking to retake Mariupol which has been under Russian control since March of last year.
On July 6th, US president Joe Biden announced that he had approved the sending of the weapon known as cluster munitions to the Ukrainian Army. The decision was controversial as human rights groups, a number of US congress people, as well as other countries including allies to Ukraine, condemning the decision. The reason for this condemnation was because cluster munitions are banned under the international convention on cluster munitions signed by 111 countries. The US, Ukraine, and Russia are not signatories to the treaty.
When Cluster Munitions are used, they are fired from a rocket, missile, artillery shell which scatters tiny bomblets which some can strike immediately, while others don’t which leads to them being known as a dud. They can explode in alter date which could lead to killing or maiming a person who picks it up. These weapons have been used in places such as Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and other countries, where victims who live in residential areas or farmland could mistake the bomblets for being toys.
Biden has defended the decision during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, where he said the reason for sending cluster munitions was due to the low supply of ammunition. The US and NATO countries have been facing a hard time in terms of the large amount of ammunition that Ukraine needs for it’s counteroffensive. The Ukrainians are even using leftover stock of North Korean rockets that were left by the Russians to attack their enemies.
There was also another round of drone attacks hitting apartment complexes in Moscow on July 24th. The attack was in the business district with the attacks shattering shop windows and the roof of a house. The attacks were near a Russian government building. Another drone strike hit an ammunitions depot in Russian controlled Crimea.
Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of launching the attacks, however the Ukrainians have not immediately commented on the strikes. The drone strikes came a week after the Ukrainians striked Kerch Bridge, a bridge that connects from mainland Russia to Crimea. The Russians in response fired missles to the port city of Odesa in Ukraine, which killed one person and injured a dozen others.
There has been movement in terms of Peace Talks as according to the Wall Street Journal, Saudi Arabia plans to host peace talks excluding Russia. The peace talks will see representatives from nearly 40 countries with Brazil, India, China, and South Africa members of the BRICs bloc in attendance. These four countries have been described as trying to stay neutral in the conflict and have been urging for peace talks. While there is no indication that any agreement to end the war will come out of the talks, there will be interest by parties on issues such as prisoner release, global food security and nuclear safety.
The US will also be attending the talks with, US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan heading up the delegation. According to New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, while President Biden, has not yet been sold on a deal, he is sending Sullivan there to explore the contours of what a deal might be, “after this he’ll sit back and decide whether he wants to proceed with this.” Friedman said. If you want to learn more about what’s going on with a potential peace deal check out
piece.Sources for #5:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/travis-king-north-korea-family-suffering-emotionally-rcna96518
Sources for #4:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60419799
Sources for #3:
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/spain-says-no-to-far-right-in-government/
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/the-spanish-right-was-doomed-from-the-start/
https://twitter.com/BrendyBoyle/status/1683362878575853570
Sources for #2:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66160319
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/zelensky-calls-nato-plan-for-ukraine-membership-absurd
Sources for #1:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/06/europe/ukraine-nova-kakhovka-dam-breach-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65818705
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/16/world/europe/ukraine-kakhovka-dam-collapse.html
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wagner-groups-rebellion-putin-unfolded/story?id=100373557
https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/The-War-in-Ukraine/091194
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66133527
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/moscow-attack-drone-july24-1.6915690
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-expects-difficult-successful-talks-saudi-arabia-2023-08-05/
Thanks for such a comprehensive update! The N. Korea story happened while I was on vacation to I’m happy to get the summary. My favorite part of summer now is going to visit our daughter (formerly in Colorado but now New Mexico). Makes for a great vacation and it’s just so nice to see her. And as for us: Oppenheimer, but we haven’t made it out yet.