The UN’s top court said Wednesday it will deliver its decision next week on whether emergency measures should be imposed on Myanmar over alleged genocide against its Rohingya Muslims.The ruling comes a month after Myanmar’s civilian leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi travelled to The Hague to defend the bloody 2017 crackdown by her nation’s army against the Rohingya.The mainly Muslim African nation of The Gambia brought the case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice after around 740,000 Rohingya fled over the border into Bangladesh, carrying accounts of widespread rape, arson and mass killings.”The International Court of Justice will deliver, on Thursday 23 January 2020, its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures made by The Gambia,” the court said in a statement, adding that it would happen at 10:00am (0900 GMT).The Gambian Ministry of Justice had announced the date on Twitter earlier Wednesday.The Gambia brought the case against Buddhist-majority Myanmar with the backing of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation. Canada and the Netherlands have since also lent their support.At the December hearing, The Gambia alleged Myanmar had breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, meaning that the case could go before the ICJ, the highest judicial organ of the United Nations.It also said there was a “serious and imminent risk of genocide recurring” and called for urgent “provisional measures” to prevent Myanmar from committing any further atrocities or erasing any evidence.It is not clear how specific the emergency measures would be, but enforcing them would likely prove difficult.If the court rules in The Gambia’s favour, this would be just the first step in a case likely to take years.An estimated 600,000 Rohingya still live in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in what Amnesty International has branded “apartheid” conditions.UN investigators have said Myanmar’s actions amounted to genocide.Suu Kyi admitted in her appearance before the court that the army may have used excessive force against the Rohingya, but said the case was based on “misleading and incomplete” claims, calling for it to be dropped.The 74-year-old, once regarded as a rights icon in the West, also said the case risked reigniting the crisis.ICJ judges have only once before ruled that genocide was committed, in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia.Suu Kyi’s defense of the generals was widely condemned in the West but proved popular at home with a public largely unsympathetic to the plight of the Rohingya.Myanmar insists its own investigations will ensure accountability for any human rights violations but critics deride the domestic panels as toothless and partial.Myanmar also faces other legal challenges over the Rohingya, including a probe by the International Criminal Court — a separate war crimes tribunal — and a lawsuit in Argentina which notably alleges Suu Kyi’s complicity.
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Month: January 2020
Dogs Find Loving Families Abroad Thanks to Special Program
In the U.S. more than 3 million shelter animals are adopted every year. But if you can’t find the animal you’ve been waiting for at your local shelter locally, or even nationally, you can look even farther afield. Svetlana Prudovskaya met with the people who make these little miracles happen. Anna Rice narrates her story.
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Judge Agrees to Block Trump Order on Refugee Resettlement
A federal judge agreed Wednesday to block the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order allowing state and local government officials to reject refugees from resettling in their jurisdictions.
U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction requested by three national refugee resettlement agencies that sued to challenge the executive order.
In his 31-page ruling, Messitte said the agencies are likely to succeed in showing that the executive order is unlawful because it gives state and local governments veto power over the resettlement of refugees.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced in November that resettlement agencies must get written consent from state and local officials in any jurisdiction where they want to help resettle refugees beyond June 2020.
Agency leaders say the order effectively gives governors and county leaders a veto in the resettlement process. The agencies also argue the order illegally conflicts with the 1980 Refugee Act.
Messitte concluded Trump’s order doesn’t appear to serve the “overall public interest.”
“Refugee resettlement activity should go forward as it developed for the almost 40 years before the (executive order) was announced,’”he wrote.
Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit, filed the lawsuit in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Nov. 21. They are three of the nine national organizations agencies that have agreements with the federal government to provide housing and other services for refugees.
Texas, which took in more refugees than any other state during the 2018 fiscal year, became the first state known to reject the resettlement of new refugees. Gov. Greg Abbott said in a letter released Jan. 10 that Texas “has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system.”
The head of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, said the ruling for now puts on hold a policy that was causing irreparable harm to refugee families and resettlement agency's already. She added that it essentially re-opens the door for now to refugees being resettled in Texas.
“It’s a significant day in which the rule of law won,” O’Mara Vignarajah said.
At least 41 states have publicly agreed to accept refugees, but a governor’s decision doesn’t preclude local officials from refusing to give their consent. For instance, the Democratic mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, has refused to give written consent for refugees to be resettled in the city.
Trump’s order says the agencies were not working closely enough with local officials on resettling refugees and his administration acted to respect communities that believe they do not have the jobs or other resources to be able to take in refugees. Refugees have the right to move anywhere in the U.S. after their initial resettlement, but at their own expense.
Before Trump signed the executive order, state and local officials were given a voice but not a veto in deciding where refugees would be resettled, resettlement agency lawyers said.
During a Jan. 8 hearing, the judge said the president’s order essentially changed a federal law governing the resettlement of refugees.
Justice Department attorney Bradley Humphreys said the Refugee Act gives the president “ample authority” to make such a change.
“Why change it now?” Messitte asked. “Is it purely a political thing?”
Humphreys said the executive order is designed to enhance the involvement of state and local officials in the process of resettling refugees. But he insisted it doesn’t give them a veto over resettlement decisions.
The Trump administration has capped the number of refugee admissions at 18,000 for the current fiscal year. About 30,000 refugees were resettled in the U.S. during the past fiscal year; between 150,000 and 200,000 remain in the pipeline for possible U.S. resettlement while they live abroad, according to Linda Evarts, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
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Albania Expels Iranian Diplomats Amid Worsening Relations
Albania said Wednesday it has ordered the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats and declared them “persona non grata.”Acting Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj announced the decision in a Facebook post, writing that diplomats Mohammad Ali Arz Peimanemati and Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Alast have conducted “activities in breach of their [diplomatic] status and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.””The two representatives of the Islamic Republic have been asked to leave the territory of the Republic of Albania immediately,” Cakaj wrote, without offering further details. Confidential sources within the Albanian government told VOA the two diplomats are being expelled for activity endangering Albania’s national security. They said that cultural attache Seyed Ahmed Hosseini Alast had previously held high positions with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and that Mohamed Peimanemati had been a member of the operational unit of Iran’s Intelligence Agency, MOIS. The source charged that he was responsible for terrorist acts in European Union countries.FILE – A picture of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an airstrike at Baghdad airport, is seen on the former U.S. Embassy’s building in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 7, 2020.The same sources told VOA that the two had been associates of Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike early this month.Rising tensionsAdrian Shtuni, a foreign policy and security expert in Washington, told VOA the expulsion marks a new low in the already strained diplomatic relationship between Albania and Iran.”While the specific nature of the actions undertaken by the expelled Iranian diplomats are yet unclear, the justification used by the Albanian authorities, namely ‘activities incompatible with their diplomatic status,’ is a standard euphemism for espionage,” he said.It is the second time in 13 months that Albania has declared Iranian diplomats “persona non grata.”In December 2018, Tirana expelled Iran’s ambassador and another diplomat whom the country accused of “damaging its national security.” Following talks with other countries, including Israel, AIbania declared the two diplomats were expelled for “violating their diplomatic status.”U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently thanked Albania, saying in a letter to Prime Minister Edi Rama that the action “exemplifies our joint efforts to show the Iranian government that its terrorist activities in Europe and around the world will have severe consequences.”Reaction from IranIran blamed the United States and Israel for the expulsions. Its foreign ministry said Albania “has become an unintentional victim of the United States, Israel and some terrorist groups.”Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seemed to target Albania in a televised address last week decrying the killing of Soleimani. He spoke of a “small and sinister” country that he claimed “was instrumental in a Western plot to effect violent unrest” in Iran in November. Mass protests swept Iran at that time following an abrupt increase in gasoline prices.FILE – In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 1, 2020.Albanian President Ilir Meta responded with a statement saying Albania “is not an evil country, but a democratic country that has suffered from an evil dictatorship unparalleled in its kind. [It] therefore considers human rights sacred.” Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha ruled for 40 years years before his death in 1985.Iranian hostility toward Albania stems in part from the Balkan country’s decision to provide a refuge for 2,500 members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (Mojahedin-e Khalq or MEK), a militant Iranian opposition group regarded as terrorists by Tehran. The group was expelled from Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.The U.S. has assisted Albania in its efforts to resettle the MEK, which has supported the U.S. in military operations in the Middle East.Albanian police disclosed for the first time late last year that they had thwarted a 2018 plot involving a “terrorist cell” of Iran’s elite Quds Force. They said the group was targeting a gathering in Albania that included MEK members.Three Iranian men and one Turkish man were suspected of involvement in the cell.
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Tennessee Guard Airbase on Lockdown, Reports of Shots Fired
The McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base was on lockdown Wednesday after receiving reports of shots being fired, Tennessee National Guard Sgt. First Class William Jones said Wednesday. He called it a developing situation.Lt. Col. Travers Hurst, a spokesman at the airbase in Tennessee, told WVLT News that a student on the base saw someone with a gun and reported it. Earlier, Hurst said the Blount County Sheriff’s office was responding to an active shooter situation and was sweeping the area.“There are no reports of injuries,” the Tennessee National Guard tweeted at about 12:30 p.m. The tweet also said the situation was developing, and that guard personnel were working with state and federal law enforcement “on reports of suspicious activity.”Spokeswoman Becky Huckaby with the neighboring commercial airport said no flights were being delayed.The base is home to the 134th Air Refueling Wing, which says its tenants include 241st Engineering Installation Squadron, the 119th Cyber Operations Squadron, the I.G. Brown ANG Training and Education Center, and the 572nd Air National Guard Band of the South.The National Guard tweeted that more information would be released as it becomes available.
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The Year of Rage: Human Rights in Africa in 2019
2019 was a year of mass protests on the African continent, with demonstrators filling the streets in capitals like Conakry, Harare, Khartoum and Kinshasa. While the causes of their grievances varied, the protesters shared one unfortunate characteristic: a harsh response from security forces. VOA’s Anita Powell brings us this report from Johannesburg.
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Tanzania Threatens to Block Unregistered SIM Cards
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA — Tanzania’s government plans to block all mobile phone SIM cards that are not registered biometrically by Jan. 20.Officials say the move is aimed at cracking down on cybercrime, which jumped by 82% in Tanzania in 2017.
Among the victims is Gift Swai, who was defrauded of $1,300 when she tried to purchase electronics online via her mobile phone. She sent the money, but never received the goods. If a biometric SIM card system had been in place, she said, the person who stole from her would have been more likely to be caught.
The biometric registration will link SIM cards to identification cards or foreign passports and fingerprints.
Nowadays, phones are like banks, said Fredrick Ntobi, of Tanzania’s Communication Regulatory Authority. “Sometimes, you might mistakenly send money to various places. Because the details of the one who received the money will be known, it will be easier for your money to be returned.”
The strict cutoff deadline was imposed to force millions of Tanzanian mobile phone users who were slow or had missed earlier deadlines to register. Tanzania’s communication authorities say as of Jan. 5, just over half the country’s 44 million SIM cards had been registered.But there is concern among Tanzanians that they may not be able to register in time, and that their phones will be effectively cut off.Upcoming elections
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers worry that cutting off unregistered mobile phones would be another hurdle to campaigning ahead of October elections.Chadema Party leader Saed Kubenea said if a member of Parliament in the area wants to communicate with the public, ask for a vote or share information and 15,000 phones are turned off, then 15,000 people will be out of the system. So, Kubenea said, lawmakers will be unable to communicate with them.To avoid such problems, Tanzanian authorities are urging everyone with a SIM card to register by the Jan. 20 deadline.
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China: Possible That New Virus Could Spread Between Humans
The possibility that a new virus in central China could spread between humans cannot be ruled out, though the risk of transmission at the moment appears to be low, Chinese officials said Wednesday.
Forty-one people in the city of Wuhan have received a preliminary diagnosis of a novel coronavirus, a family of viruses that can cause both the common cold and more serious diseases. A 61-year-old man with severe underlying conditions died from the coronavirus on Saturday.
While preliminary investigations indicate that most of the patients had worked at or visited a particular seafood wholesale market, one woman may have contracted the virus from her husband, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a public notice.
The commission said the husband, who fell ill first, worked at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Meanwhile, the wife said she hasn’t had any exposure to the market.
It’s possible that the husband brought home food from the market that then infected his wife, Hong Kong health official Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a news briefing. But because the wife did not exhibit symptoms until days after her husband, it’s also possible that he infected her.
Chuang and other Hong Kong health officials spoke to reporters Wednesday following a trip to Wuhan, where mainland Chinese authorities briefed them on the outbreak.
The threat of human-to-human transmission remains low, Chuang said, as hundreds of people, including medical professionals, have been in close contact with infected individuals and have not been infected themselves.
She echoed Wuhan authorities’ assertion that there remains no definitive evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The outbreak in Wuhan has raised the specter of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. SARS is a type of coronavirus that first struck southern China in late 2002. It then spread to more than two dozen countries, killing nearly 800 people.
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Turkey Lifts Ban on Wikipedia
A Turkish court on Wednesday lifted a ban on Wikipedia after almost three years.Turkey was the only country in the world apart from China to entirely block access to the online encyclopedia.But its constitutional court ruled last month that the ban, in place since April 2017, violated freedom of expression.Turkish officials said in 2017 that the ban was needed as Wikipedia had failed to remove content accusing its government of assisting terrorist groups.Rights groups have regularly criticized the erosion of free speech in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially since a failed coup attempt in 2016 triggered a massive crackdown on government critics in the press and beyond.An Ankara judge gave the order on Wednesday for the ban to be lifted by the telecommunications watchdog.Users said the website was still inaccessible on Wednesday though it was expected to be gradually unblocked nationwide.
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Treason Trial Opens for Cambodia Opposition Leader
The treason trial of Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha opened Wednesday, more than two years after his arrest in a case decried by his family as a “farce” and widely pilloried as politically motivated.The 66-year-old co-founded the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party, once considered the sole viable opponent to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) led by strongman premier Hun Sen — who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 35 years.Sokha was arrested in 2017 and his party dissolved ahead of widely criticized elections the following year — leaving the CPP to canter to victory virtually uncontested.The opposition leader was first detained in a remote prison then placed under house arrest before his bail conditions were relaxed in November last year.He stands accused of conspiring in a “secret plan” with foreign entities to overthrow the government, according to court documents — charges he vehemently denies.“There is no specific evidence,” Sokha told AFP on Wednesday during a break in proceedings. “I want justice to come swiftly.”His lawyers say the case could take months. If convicted, Sokha faces up to 30 years in jail.Police surrounded the Phnom Penh court on Wednesday morning as Sokha arrived for hearings.Reporters and human rights monitors were barred, with the limited seating reserved for foreign diplomats and relatives.Sokha’s daughter Kem Monovithya decried the proceedings.”This whole ordeal is a farce,” she told AFP.”It is damaging to Cambodia’s image. We hope he will be acquitted, so Cambodia can begin to get back on a democratic path.”Amnesty International called the trial “a mockery of justice”, while the US State Department has said the charges “appear to be politically motivated”.But government lawyer Ky Tech told reporters Wednesday there were more than two dozen witnesses and “suitcases of evidence” to bolster the treason charges.Due to concerns over human rights, the European Union is reviewing whether Cambodia should be withdrawn from a tariff- and duty-free scheme.If axed, it could deal a blow worth billions to the kingdom’s lucrative garment sector.While preferential access to Western markets is essential for some sectors, the kingdom’s economy has been pumped up on Chinese investment and soft loans — delivered without questions over rights and democracy.To relieve international pressure, the government may reach for a compromise solution to the Sokha issue, according to political analyst Ou Virak.This could come in the form of a royal pardon if Kem Sokha is convicted, he said.
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Environmental Issues Top Worries for Those Heading to Davos
Environmental issues make up the top five risks to the global economy for the coming decade, organizers of next week’s World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos said Wednesday.Citing a survey of hundreds of key decision-makers, the WEF pointed to potentially catastrophic trends like global warming and the extinction of animal species — underscoring how the environment has surged up the international policy-making agenda ahead of risks like cyberattacks, recession and nuclear proliferation.
The concerns are especially acute, it added, at a time of growing international division, evident in global disputes like the trade war between the United States and China.
“The political landscape is polarized, sea levels are rising and climate fires are burning,” said Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum.
“This is the year when world leaders must work with all sectors of society to repair and reinvigorate our systems of cooperation, not just for short-term benefit but for tackling our deep-rooted risks.”
Brende said the world has a decade to deal with the climate emergency, and that not doing so within that time frame would be akin to “moving deckchairs on the Titanic.”
The 750 global experts and decision-makers questioned in the FILE – Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks during the U.N. Climate Action Summit at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, Sept. 23, 2019.The findings illustrate how environmental issues have become more important to the public and to policymakers, particularly over the past year, which has seen high-profile campaigning efforts from the likes of Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion group.
The biggest long-term risk cited in the report was the possibility of extreme weather events, such as floods or storms. The others were the failure to properly plan for climate change, man-made environmental disasters such as oil spills, major biodiversity loss, and natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.
“There is mounting pressure on companies from investors, regulators, customers, and employees to demonstrate their resilience to rising climate volatility,” said John Drzik, chairman of Marsh & McLennan Insights, which along with Zurich Insurance Group helped the WEF compile the report.”High profile events, like recent wildfires in Australia and California, are adding pressure on companies to take action on climate risk at a time when they also face greater geopolitical and cyber risk challenges.”
Though there’s been a shift toward populist and nationalist politics around the world, Drzik said that those in the executive suite are under mounting pressure from customers, employees, investors, rating agencies or regulators to tackle climate issues.
The trend was highlighted this week when BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink said his firm, which manages some $7 trillion for investors, will put climate change and sustainability at the heart of its investing approach.
“When your stakeholders align, I think there is an impact on CEOs whatever their underlying philosophy … As pressure mounts, you get more of a response,“ Drzik said.
The annual gathering of the business and political elites in Davos can help in that process, he said, as it assembles “the influencers from the sectors that have to work together.”
FILE – A Swiss national flag waves in the wind during last year’s World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 25, 2019.The annual Davos meeting has been criticized over the years by those who say it’s just a talking shop for leaders flying in their private jets to enjoy some winter snow.
Adrian Monck, the WEF’s managing director, defended his organization’s stance when it came to climate issues. He noted that most people who go to Davos go up the mountain from Zurich by train. He also pointed out that the WEF has carbon-offsetting programs and that biofuels are available at Zurich Airport to those who opt to jet into Davos.
“It is something we take very seriously,” he told a press briefing in London. “There is nothing worse than an organization identifying a risk and doing nothing about it.”
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has taken a more unilateralist approach to international issues than his predecessors, is likely to be one of the main points of interest next week, alongside Thunberg who is appearing at the forum for the second year running.
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US Firm Offers Free Cybersecurity Help to Federal Campaigns
A major U.S. web infrastructure and security company will provide free support to federal election campaigns to help thwart any repeats of the 2016 effort by Russian agents to steal and leak sensitive campaign emails and documents.San Francisco-based Cloudflare said Wednesday it will be providing to eligible campaigns free access to several of its security services, including enhanced protection of firewalls, which defend systems and networks from unauthorized access. Other services include protection and mitigation of any denial-of-service attacks, which can paralyze a network by overwhelming it with data.The effort is being offered in conjunction with Defending Digital Campaigns, a nonprofit group that last year received approval from the Federal Elections Commission to provide free or discounted cybersecurity services to federal candidate committees and national party committees.To qualify, a U.S. House candidate’s campaign must have received at least $50,000 in contributions, with the minimum of $100,000 in contributions for U.S. Senate candidates. In addition, any House or Senate campaign that has qualified for the general election also will be eligible.“This is our way of providing best practices and no-brainer solutions to not only large campaigns, but also smaller, but equally important campaigns that may have limited resources,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said in a statement.The company said it’s already providing services to eight 2020 presidential candidates. For context, it said it defends an average of 400,000 attacks daily on U.S. election campaigns, which includes the presidential campaigns and at least 23 U.S. Senate campaigns.Since 2017, Cloudflare also has offered free security services to more than 150 state and local election websites.
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Britain, France, Germany Trigger Dispute Resolution Mechanism from Iran Deal
Britain, France, and Germany, collectively known as the EU3, have triggered a dispute resolution mechanism which is part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, to force Tehran into discussions on how to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement, or JCPOA, which suffered a blow when U.S. President Donald Trump, who was critical of the deal, took the United States out of it in 2018. Tehran says the European signatories have not fulfilled their part of the deal, thus releasing Tehran from its commitments to halt nuclear development. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports if no solution is found, international sanctions against Iran could be re-imposed.
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Report: China Undermining Human Rights System Worldwide
China is using its economic and diplomatic leverage to silence critics abroad and undermine international human rights systems, according to the 2020 Human Rights Watch world report. The report, which examines about 100 countries, claims that Beijing’s efforts not only suppress the rights of its citizens but extend far beyond it’s borders. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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Vietnam Aims to Grow its Economy by 7% This Year, Faster Than China
Vietnamese officials aim to expand their economy by 7% this year, among its fastest rates ever and quicker than world factory powerhouse China, due to investment in manufacturing, lack of trade disputes and the rise of a middle class.The central government has formally decided to pursue GDP growth this year of 6.8% to 7%, securities analysis firm SSI Research in Hanoi said January 3. Manufacturing will be the “leading growth vector going forward, with the service sector forecasted to follow closely behind,” the research firm said.A 7% showing would rank Vietnam among the 10 fastest-growing economies in Asia this year, according to Asian Development Bank data, and place it ahead of China. The development bank forecasts China’s GDP to grow at 6%. GDP, or gross domestic product, means the value of all goods and services produced over a given timeframe.Money flowing into factories, offices and ports makes up much of Vietnam’s total, said Song Seng Wun, an economist in the private banking unit of CIMB in Singapore. Consumption is now becoming more obvious he said. Factories, tourism, educationForeign-invested manufacturing is expected to lead Vietnam’s economy this year as it has over the past seven, country analysts say. Minimum wages as low as $132 a month and what Song calls “government stability” make Vietnam attractive to capital from abroad.Investors normally come mainly from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Their Vietnam factories make garments and auto parts as well as consumer electronics. In the first half of 2019, foreign-invested projects were due to allocate $9.1 billion, up nearly 8% over same period of 2018, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said on its website.Outside manufacturing, analysts point to growth in tourism and higher education.Vietnamese are increasingly offering different types of tourism experiences, like this restaurant with hammocks at Tri An Lake, outside Ho Chi Minh City.(Photo: Ha Nguyen / VOA)Between 2010 and 2018, the number of foreign tourists in Vietnam expanded from 5 million to more than 15 million due largely to an influx of Chinese visitors. In higher education, enrollment by 10% of the population in 2000 has about tripled.Education matters now because investors want workers with stronger problem-solving skills, said Murray Hiebert, senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. They’re looking for technical staff as well as office managers. ““One of the key strengths is that education is a high priority,” he said. “One key weakness is that the Confucian education system teaches students to memorize so they can pass exams, but they don’t really learn how to think critically or problem solve.”More than one-third of Vietnam’s 97 million people will be middle class or more within the year, the Boston Consulting Group forecasts. A lot of people are living better as export manufacturing creates new jobs. Consumers often tilt their spending toward electronics, motor scooters, travel and their children’s education.Trade war diversionForeign investors who had prepared in 2018 to take capital out of China and escape the Sino-U.S. trade dispute are now bringing that money in, analyst say. Diversion from China makes up about 1% of Vietnam’s GDP, said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi. The GDP was $241.3 billion as of December 2018. “It’s very easy for a relatively small economy (to attract) investment ever since the trade fight escalated,” Song said.The Sino-U.S. dispute that erupted in 2018 led to tariffs on U.S.-bound goods worth $550 billion. Diversion to Vietnam at first raised the specter of relabeling goods already made in China for re-export, but fear of reprisals from Washington has stopped those ideas, McCarty said. “Now the actual investments are happening,” he said. “First people did their thinking, then they made plans and then they’d moved their factories, so factories are actually moving now after about one year of trade dispute.”Faster than ChinaThe same trade dispute will contribute to slowing GDP growth in China, the world’s second largest economy, said Scott Kennedy, director with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Project on Chinese Business & Political Economy. The Chinese GDP was forecast to grow 6.1% last year after rising 6.6% in 2018, down from double-digit percentages each year a decade ago. The trade dispute “has hurt business confidence,” Kennedy says, while years of efforts to ease credit growth have muted the private sector.Foreign investors had quit offshoring to China even before the trade row. China is still the country widely known as the world’s factory but labor and land began to cost more. Countries in much of Southeast Asia have picked up some of their capital.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Says Future of Nuclear Deal Up To Europe
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday the future of the 2015 international deal regarding his country’s nuclear program “depends on Europe,” after the three European signatories accused Iran of breaking key restrictions.Speaking at an event in India, Zarif reiterated long-standing Iranian complaints about Europe not living up to its economic promises under the deal, citing a lack of purchases of Iranian oil and the withdrawal of companies from Iran.Zarif acknowledged that Iran has stepped back from its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but said Iran’s complaints went ignored as it complied with the deal and the United States withdrew from the pact and imposed new economic sanctions.”Our economy has suffered without any fault of Iran. Over the past two years, hundreds of billions of dollars in damages. Are they going to pay us back? If they pay us back those hundreds of billions, I’ll make sure everything we have done is reversed beyond any shadow of doubt,” Zarif said.Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement Tuesday they have upheld their responsibilities under the nuclear deal, including lifting economic sanctions against Iran and working to promote legitimate trade with the country.They said Iran’s non-compliance has left them no choice but to refer the situation to a dispute resolution process specified in the agreement.”Iran’s actions are inconsistent with the provisions of the nuclear agreement and have increasingly severe and non-reversible proliferation implications,” they said.The agreement, also signed by the United States, China and Russia, was meant to allay concerns Iran was working to build a nuclear weapon. And it put in place restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program that were meant to make such work impossible. In exchange, Iran got relief from sanctions that had badly hurt its economy.But after the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018, Iran began reducing its compliance with steps such as going above the allowed limits on the amount of enriched uranium it can stockpile, enriching to higher levels, and using more centrifuges than allowed.Zarif on Wednesday also dismissed a suggestion by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who told the BBC that it would probably be better if what he called the “flawed” JCPOA was replaced with a new agreement negotiated by U.S. President Donald Trump.”I had a U.S. deal and the U.S. broke it,” Zarif said. “If I have a Trump deal, how long will it last? Another 10 months?”The Iranian foreign minister said it is not in Europe’s interest to “tag along” with the United States.The Trump administration argued the nuclear deal was too generous to Iran and did not constrain what it called Iran’s malign behavior in the Middle East. It has carried out what it calls a “maximum pressure” campaign to try to get Iran’s leaders to alter their course.Britain, France and Germany reiterated their “regret and concern” at the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, and made clear in their statement Tuesday that seeking a resolution from the Joint Commission does not mean they are backing the U.S. strategy.”Our three countries are not joining a campaign to implement maximum pressure against Iran,” they said. “Our hope is to bring Iran back into full compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA.”The Joint Commission consists of one member from each of the signatories. Under the JCPOA they have 15 days to resolve a dispute. The step is the first in a series of potential resolution mechanisms, the last of which involves referring the matter to the U.N. Security Council.
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Trump Uses Rally to Defend Iran Policy as Democrats Decry It
As President Donald Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night by defending his decision to kill a top Iranian general, the Democrats vying to replace him used their final debate before primary voting begins to argue that doing so made the country less safe.With Trump firing up thousands in the battleground state of Wisconsin and the Democratic candidates squaring off in Iowa ahead of its Feb. 3 caucuses, the political events were expected to offer very different visions for the country’s future. But the contrast on Iran in nearly real time was especially stark.Trump spent much of his speech defending his decision to order the strike that killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, whom he labeled the “world’s No. 1 terrorist.” That move came under intense criticism from Democrats who said the president should have consulted Congress and raised questions about whether it really prevented an imminent attack, as some Trump administration officials have claimed.”The Democrats are outraged that we killed this terrorist monster, even though this monster was behind hundreds and hundreds of deaths,” Trump told the crowd in downtown Milwaukee – not far from where Democrats will hold their convention this summer. He added that Soleimani was “the king of the roadside bomb. Great percentages of people don’t have legs right now and arms because of this son of a bitch.”The president also said Democrats “are doing everything possible to disparage what we did with the hit on this monster” and that the other party “should be outraged by Soleimani’s evil crimes, not the decision to end his wretched life.”Women walk past a banner of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone attack Friday, in Tajrish square in northern Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2020.Moments later in neighboring Iowa, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he feared that Trump’s actions in Iran could lead the United States into a foreign policy quagmire of the highest level.Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said Trump had campaigned on stopping endless wars'' only to bring the country closer to them. And former Vice President Joe Biden said Soleimani's killing was dangerous and would not have been necessary if Trump hadn't pulled the U.S. out of a successful nuclear deal that the Obama administration had reached with Iran.Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged to bring U.S. combat troops back from the Middle East entirely, saying,We should stop asking our military to solve problems that cannot be solved militarily.”Trump also took on the leading Democratic candidates directly, saying of Sanders: “Bernie and the radical left cannot protect your family, nor can they protect our country.”Yet the president also defended Sanders in the ongoing he-said, she-said spat between Sanders and Warren, who has said Sanders told her during a private meeting in 2018 that he didn’t believe a woman could win the White House _ a charge the Vermont senator vehemently denied.”I don’t believe that Bernie said that. I really don’t … It’s not the kind of thing he’d say,” said Trump, who routinely insults Warren with the slur “Pocahontas” and did so again during Tuesday’s rally.Trump also criticized Biden’s tendency to mix up locations, including recently confusing Iran with Iraq.”When you do that you can’t really recover,” Trump said.Winning back Wisconsin is a key part of Democrats’ 2020 strategy – and one of the reasons the party chose Milwaukee to host its national convention in July. Trump won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016 and he is expected to make frequent visits in the coming months as he works to maintain his edge.President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, in Milwaukee. Vice President Mike Pence warmed up the rally crowd by himself panning the Democratic candidates as too far left for the state.”You know, I heard they’ve got another debate tonight. If it’s anything like the other ones, those people are going to be standing so far on the left I think that stage is going to tip over,” Pence quipped.Trump supporters began lining up Monday evening outside the arena to make sure they would be able to get inside.”I think the Wisconsin vote is very important, very important,” said Brenda Stoetzer, 60, from Hickory Hills, Illinois. “And we need to just spread the message here that, you know, Trump is helping the people, the ordinary people. He’s not making the rich richer. He’s making everyone richer.””I think he’s done right by the whole country,” agreed Nancy Freye, 65, who lives in Madison, Wisconsin. “He’s fighting for all of us every day. I don’t know how you can even get anything done, but he does. So good for him and for us.”Democrats, he said, “should be angry about his crimes, not the decision to end his wretched life.”Trump also went on an extended riff about his efforts to roll back energy- and water-saving regulations, panning energy-efficient light bulbs and low water flow dishwashers, showers and toilets, which he promised to replace.”Your dishes are going to be beautiful,” he promised.Highlighting the politics of the city, Trump’s rally was interrupted several times by protesters, who also demonstrated outside the arena where he spoke.While Democratic voters try to decide who is their best candidate to take on Trump, the president has been contending with the House vote to impeach him. After weeks of delay, the House will vote Wednesday to send its articles of impeachment to the Senate. Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and there is nowhere near the 67 votes needed for Trump’s removal.Trump accused Democrats of wasting America’s time with “demented hoaxes” and “witch hunts” while “we’re creating jobs and killing terrorists.”Wisconsin’s primary is April 7.
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Biden: No Meeting With Kim Jong Un Absent Preconditions
Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden says he would not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions. It is the latest evidence Biden would overturn parts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s outreach to Pyongyang.”Not now, I wouldn’t meet without any preconditions,” Biden said Tuesday during a Democratic debate in the midwestern state of Iowa. “Look, we gave him everything he’s looking for. The president showed up, met with him, gave him legitimacy, weakened the sanctions we have against him.”Biden has repeatedly criticized Trump’s willingness to meet with Kim, saying the strategy is ineffective and aimed more at creating headlines than addressing the North Korean nuclear issue.At his campaign rallies, Biden has called Kim a “thug,” “tyrant,” and “dictator.” In response, North Korean state media last year slammed Biden as an “imbecile,” a “fool of low IQ,” and a “rabid dog.””I would not meet with, absent preconditions…a, quote, supreme leader who said Joe Biden is a rabid dog, (that) should be beaten to death with a stick,” Biden said. “And he got a love letter from Trump right after that.”Instead, Biden said he would pressure China to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, and would attempt to reunify the relationship between South Korea and Japan, which has been strained over a trade dispute and historical tensions related to Japan’s use of wartime forced labor.Unorthodox approachTrump’s approach to North Korea during his first term as president has been a story of extremes. In 2017, Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” He also threatened to “totally destroy” the country.In June 2018, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader. At their first summit in Singapore, Trump and Kim signed a vague agreement to work toward the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but never agreed on what that meant.The talks were stalled for most of 2019, after Trump and Kim failed to reach a deal at a second summit in Hanoi. Kim said earlier this month he is prepared for a “long-term” standoff with the U.S., saying his country should not expect sanctions relief.North Korea has also threatened to end its self-imposed suspension of long-range missile or nuclear tests – a move that could totally upset the nuclear talks and would risk alienating Chinese and Russian support for the North.North Korean officials have repeatedly stressed that while the Trump-Kim relationship remains positive, it does not mean the talks will succeed.”Although Chairman Kim Jong Un has a good personal feelings about President Trump, they are, in the true sense of the word, ‘personal,'” senior North Korean diplomat Kim Kye Gwan said on Saturday.Will Trump’s approach endure?It isn’t clear how much of Trump’s approach will outlast his presidency.Many Democratic presidential candidates have criticized certain aspects of Trump’s North Korea strategy, saying it has been erratic and ratings-driven. But many of those candidates support the general idea of diplomacy with Pyongyang.Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizebeth Warren, and former Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg have expressed support for a step-by-step approach to North Korea’s denuclearization.So far, that is further than Trump has been willing to go. Instead, Trump has insisted North Korea first agree to entirely abandon its nuclear weapons before the U.S. relaxes sanctions or gives other major concessions.”If Trump’s approach is erraticism, or insults combined with threatening fire and fury, or meeting Kim Jong Un for photo ops, then none of it will survive,” says Van Jackson, a former Pentagon official who now lectures at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.Jackson says any current Democratic nominee will undertake a “serious run” at diplomatic engagement. “The thing that depends very much on the candidate (and their advisers) is how much we’ll entertain sanctions relief and in what sequencing,” he says.
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US, China to Sign Trade Deal
The United States and China are due to sign an initial trade deal Wednesday to resolve some of the issues at the heart of an economic standoff that has persisted between the world’s two largest economies for the past 18 months.U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting Chinese Vice Premier Liu He for a signing ceremony at the White House.The sides agreed to what they are calling the Phase 1 agreement in mid-December.It calls for China to boost its purchases of U.S. goods, halt the practice of forcing foreign companies to transfer technology, and to not manipulate its currency in order to makes its exports cheaper.The United States has already removed its designation of China as a currency manipulator, and under the trade deal it is halting plans to add new tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods, while cutting in half tariffs on about $110 billion of Chinese products.U.S. tariffs will remain in place on about $360 billion of imports from China.The agreement also does not address China’s subsidies to state-owned companies, an issue likely to be discussed in the next phase of trade talks.Additional negotiations are not expected anytime soon.”I think both sides are reasonably happy with this compromise even though it doesn’t really tackle the core issues,” Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA.He said the deal amounts to a “modest win-win for both sides” with China gaining a reprieve from the trade war that has harmed its economic growth and the Trump administration getting to set aside a major issue until after his re-election campaign.”From President Trump’s perspective, it gives him a victory of sorts,” Alden said. “His strongest card in November is the U.S. economy. He doesn’t want to do anything to upset the stock markets, so a period of kind of calm on the U.S.-China front also serves the administration’s interests at this point.”
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House to Vote on Sending Impeachment Articles to Senate
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday on whether to send the articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump to the Senate.The measure in the Democratic-controlled House is certain to pass easily, opening the door for an impeachment trial to begin next week. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made the announcement Tuesday after meeting with fellow Democrats, nearly a month after the House impeached Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.Pelosi said the House would also vote Wednesday to name the impeachment managers — lawmakers who will act as prosecutors in a Senate trial.Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would run through “housekeeping measures” later this week. Those measures will include approving a set of rules, as well as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts swearing in senators before opening arguments begin next week. “We’ll deal with the witness issue at the appropriate time during the trial – both sides will want to call witnesses they want to hear from,” McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday.The impeachment allegations contend Trump abused the office of the presidency by pressing Ukraine to launch an investigation into Biden and that the president obstructed congressional efforts to investigate his Ukraine-related actions.Pelosi had delayed sending the articles to the Senate in a futile effort to get Senate Republican leader McConnell to agree to hear testimony from key Trump aides who were directly involved with Trump, as his administration temporarily withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, while urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open the Biden investigation.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks in Kyiv, Dec. 4, 2019.Democrats have called for testimony from current and former Trump administration officials, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton. Republicans have countered by saying they will call their own witnesses including Hunter Biden, the son of former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Hunter Biden had business dealings with a Ukrainian natural gas company while his father was serving as vice president.Democrats said late Tuesday they will include new evidence in the impeachment articles provided by Florida businessman Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.The evidence is expected to include a screenshot of a previously undisclosed letter Giuliani sent in May to the then President-elect, introducing himself as Trump’s “personal counsel” and requesting a meeting with Trump’s “knowledge and consent.”Parnas apparently played a part in the firing U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich who balked at Trump’s demand for an investigation of the Bidens.Trump has denied any wrongdoing and ridiculed Democrats’ impeachment efforts.This is the third time in the country’s 244-year history a U.S. president has been impeached and targeted for removal from office.Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were both impeached by the House but acquitted in Senate trials. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 in the face of certain impeachment in a political corruption scandal.The Republican-controlled Senate is widely expected to acquit Trump, particularly since no Republicans have expressed support for removing him from office.A two-thirds vote in the 100-member Senate would be needed to convict Trump to remove him from office. At least 20 Republicans would need to turn against Trump for a conviction, if all 47 Democrats voted against the president. A handful of Republicans have criticized Trump’s Ukraine actions, but none has called for his conviction and removal from office.Trump released the military aid to Ukraine in September without Zelenskiy opening the investigation of Biden, his son Hunter’s work for the Ukrainian gas company and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election to undermine Trump’s campaign. Republicans say releasing the aid is proof Trump did not engage in a reciprocal quid pro quo deal with Ukraine — the military aid in exchange for the investigations.
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6 Democratic Presidential Candidates Trade Barbs, Attack Trump
Six U.S. Democratic presidential candidates traded barbs with each other in a tense debate late Tuesday, attempting to make the case to voters in the farm state of Iowa that they alone have the political fortitude and skill to take on Republican President Donald Trump in the November national election.With heightened world tensions between the U.S. and Iran, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-described democratic socialist, quickly attacked the foreign policy credentials of the party’s national front-runner for the presidential nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Sanders derided Biden’s 2002 vote authorizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq on what proved to be erroneous American intelligence that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction, while Sanders opposed the the 2003 invasion.
He said Biden voted for the “worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country.”
Biden, who for years has said his Iraq vote was a mistake, countered that while he had erred, as former U.S. President Barack Obama’s second in command, he worked to bring home more than 150,000 U.S. troops once stationed in Iraq and to end the conflict.Democratic presidential candidates stand on stage during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 14, 2020.Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said that she, as a candidate early in her political career, also opposed the Iraq invasion, while accusing Trump of “taking us pell-mell toward another war,” in the current conflict over the U.S. leader’s changing rationale for ordering a drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
A key challenger to both Biden and Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a one-time Harvard law professor, and others said they would move to bring thousands of U.S. troops home from the Middle East, at odds with Trump’s recent dispatch of more forces to the region. Warren said, “We have to stop this mindset that the answer” to world’s trouble spots is to send U.S. troops overseas. Asked whether she would leave some combat troops in the Middle East, she replied: “No, we have to get them out.”
Sanders said, “The American people are sick and tired of endless wars.”
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the only war-time veteran on the debate stage, said he could best serve as the country’s commander in chief, because “the lessons of the past are personal to me.” Wealthy environmentalist Tom Steyer contended that Trump “obviously has no strategy” in dealing with Iran and agreed with Biden that it would take the efforts of an international coalition to rein in its nuclear ambitions.
Tuesday’s debate stage had the fewest number of candidates since the face-to-face encounters began last June. It was also the first with all white contenders, after black, Latino and Asian candidates have either dropped out of the race for lack of voter support and campaign money or failed to qualify for the debate stage.
It was the seventh debate, but the last before Democrats in rural Iowa in the U.S. heartland cast the first votes in the party’s months-long nomination process, at night-time caucuses less than three weeks from now, on Feb. 3.
Contests in other states are just ahead on the political calendar. But Iowa, even though its predominantly white 3 million population is at odds with the increasingly racially diverse U.S. demographics, draws out-sized national attention because it is first in the once-every-four-years presidential sweepstakes.
Warren and Sanders sparred sharply over a private conversation they had more than a year ago in which Warren claims that Sanders questioned whether a woman can defeat Trump to become the first female U.S. president.Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., left, speaks to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right as former Vice President Joe Biden watches Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, during a Democratic presidential primary debate.Sanders denied making the remark and said no one believes a woman can’t win, noting that Democrat Hillary Clinton out-polled Trump by nearly 3 million votes in 2016, while losing the vote in the country’s state-by-state electoral college system of electing presidents.
When she was asked what she thought when Sanders told her a woman couldn’t defeat Trump in 2020, Warren responded: “I disagreed.”
Warren said that the male candidates on the debate stage had collectively lost 10 elections during their lifetimes, while the two women, herself and Klobuchar, are undefeated.
Trump’s incumbent status means Republicans are sure to nominate him to seek a second four-year term in the White House. But the Democratic race is highly unsettled.
Biden, now in his third race for the party’s presidential nomination, leads national polls of Democratic voters, but possibly trails his Democratic opponents in Iowa and some other states. Should he falter early in the nominating process, that could dent his key campaign argument that according to national polls he stands the best chance of defeating Trump.
Last weekend’s Iowa Poll indicates Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has surged to a narrow lead, with 20% support of those who say they will attend a caucus in three weeks. Warren, a progressive representing Massachusetts, is second at 17%, ahead of Buttigieg, who has fashioned himself as a political centrist, at 16%, and Biden, a left-of-center politician through nearly five decades in Washington, at 15%. But more than half of those polled said they could still decide to support a candidate other than the one they now prefer or have yet to make up their mind.
A separate Monmouth University poll showed a similar close contest among the four leaders, but with Biden ahead followed by Sanders, Buttigieg and Warren.
Klobuchar and Steyer both trail the four leaders in the pre-election Iowa polling, but qualified for the debate stage by meeting the polling and fundraising standards set by the national Democratic Party. Other Democratic candidates remain in a crowded field of presidential aspirants, but are not campaigning in Iowa, did not make the cut for the debate or have dropped out, including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey who left the race on Monday.
Trump has taken note of Sanders’s recent ascent in opinion polls, saying in a Twitter comment over the weekend, “Wow! Crazy Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls, looking very good against his opponents in the Do Nothing Party. So what does this all mean? Stay tuned!”Wow! Crazy Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls, looking very good against his opponents in the Do Nothing Party. So what does this all mean? Stay tuned!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020
For months Trump had focused singularly on Biden, with occasional barbs against Warren and Buttigieg, as his mostly likely 2020 opponent, to the extent that his concern about Biden is at the center of the impeachment case against Trump. The president’s impeachment trial in the Senate trial is likely to start next Tuesday, only the third such impeachment trial in two and a half centuries of American history.
Trump is accused of trying to benefit himself politically by pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a late July phone call to launch an investigation of Biden, his son Hunter’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to undermine Trump’s campaign. His requests came at the same time he was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Trump eventually released the money in September without Zelenskiy launching the Biden investigations. That is proof, Republicans say, that Trump had not engaged in a reciprocal quid pro quo deal, the military aid in exchange for the Biden investigations.
Three of the leading Democratic challengers — Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar — could be directly affected by Trump’s impeachment trial since they will be among the 100 members of the Senate, effectively sitting as jurors, deciding Trump’s fate. That will keep them in Washington six days a week while the trial is going on, and importantly for them, off the campaign trail in Iowa to meet voters.
With a Republican majority in the Senate, Trump is all but assured of being acquitted and allowed to remain in office to face voters in November. But a full-blown trial, if witnesses are called to testify as Democrats and some Republicans want, could infuse unexpected new information about Trump and perhaps Biden into the last weeks of the Iowa contest.
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Turkish Leader Threatens Action in Libya, Syria
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening action in both Libya and Syria as rhetoric ramps up in the face of looming regional setbacks and growing frustrations with Moscow.Erdogan, addressing parliament Tuesday, issued a stark warning to Damascus not to violate the latest brokered cease-fire in Syrian rebel-controlled Idlib province.”We hope the cease-fire in Syria’s Idlib is lasting. Turkey is determined to prevent (Syrian leader Bashar al-) Assad regime attacks in violation of the truce,” said Erdogan to cheers from his parliamentary deputies.”Everyone should see and accept this is no joke. Turkey will absolutely do whatever it says it will do,” he added.The Turkish president called on Damascus to allow 400,000 Syrians that had fled to Turkey’s border to be allowed to return to their homes in Idlib.Turkey is currently hosting over 3.5 million Syrian refugees amid growing public discontent blamed in part for a series of humiliating election defeats for Erdogan’s ruling AKP. Analysts say Erdogan is determined to prevent another exodus of Syrian refugees entering Turkey. Turkish military forces are deployed in Idlib as part of a previous agreement struck with Moscow to enforce a de-escalation zone. While Ankara backs Syrian rebels, the two countries are increasingly cooperating in Syria as part of a broader rapprochement. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, left, talk after they symbolically open a valve during a ceremony in Istanbul for the inauguration of the TurkStream pipeline, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. The latest Idlib cease-fire was reportedly agreed to between Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the inauguration of a Russian-Turkish gas pipeline in Istanbul.”Turkey needs Russia in Syria desperately because Idlib probably cannot be resolved without Russia cooperation,” said Mehmet Ogutcu of the London Energy Forum. “There is an unbalanced relationship in favor of Russia; there is a marriage of convenience. But this is not sustainable in the medium to long term.”The vulnerability of Ankara’s position is underlined by the reality that Erdogan is probably unable to follow through on his threats aimed at Damascus, international studies professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University, said.”Without Russian permission, Turkey cannot do anything,” he said.”Turkey is very dependent on Russia,” he added. “How can Turkey attack any force in Syria as the sky is closed to the Turkish air force? It can only use ground forces. This is just rhetoric. Erdogan is getting angry because things are not going his way.”Moscow has deployed a sophisticated anti-aircraft missile system across northern Syria.On Monday, Syrian and Turkish intelligence met in Moscow, but local reports claim the meeting made little progress with Syrian officials demanding the full withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria. The gathering of intelligence chiefs in Moscow was held on the sidelines of efforts to end another conflict, the Libyan civil war.Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar shakes hands with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu before talks in Moscow, Jan. 13, 2020.The warring parties of General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control most of Libya and the internationally recognized Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), were supposed to sign a cease-fire agreement brokered by Putin and Erdogan Monday. But Haftar left Moscow without putting ink to the deal.Erdogan slammed Haftar Tuesday, “If Haftar continues to attack the country’s legitimate government and our brothers in Libya, we will never refrain from giving Haftar the lesson he deserves,” he said.This month Ankara started to deploy military forces to Tripoli as part of the security agreement signed in November between Erdogan and the GNA prime minister, Fayez Sarraj.In a rare public display of frustration, Erdogan insisted Putin needs to deliver Haftar’s signature. “We did our part, now what is left is in Mr. Putin and his team’s court,” he said Tuesday.FILE – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference in Rome, Italy, Dec. 6, 2019.The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, sought to calm tensions, claiming Haftar would sign in the next couple of days. Russian mercenaries of the Wagner group back Haftar. The Wagner Group is a private security force run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman reported to have close ties with Moscow, although Putin denied last week the forces are paid for by Moscow.However, there are growing doubts about whether Putin can deliver Haftar’s signature.”Probably General Haftar got better offers, more promises by Saudi Arabia, Israel, maybe European countries, possibly America. No one wants the Sarraj government to survive, and no one wants Turkey or Russia there,” Bagci said.U.S. official David Satterfield meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 5, 2019.Sarraj met Tuesday in Istanbul with the U.S. ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield.Some analysts suggest Haftar could be waiting to make his final decision on whether to agree to a cease-fire at Sunday’s international meeting on Libya in Berlin. A possible move to strengthen Haftar’s hand ahead of the Berlin meeting, there are reports his forces have resumed fighting against the GNA.Ankara faces a potential deteriorating situation in both Syria and Libya, while Erdogan continues to double down with warnings and threats, something analysts warn carries risks.”Erdogan’s rhetoric is getting much harsher. He is not happy with the developments. The problem is his own rhetoric can trap him and that he will be forced into actions he doesn’t want to do. It will not be good, neither for him or Turkey,” said Bagci.
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Gambia’s Ex-Dictator Jammeh Reportedly Wants to Come Home
Gambia’s longtime dictator Yahya Jammeh, who fled into exile three years ago after an election loss, has announced plans to return to the West African nation where human rights activists say he ordered the killings of political opponents during his rule.The deputy spokesman for Jammeh’s political party released several audio recordings to the media over the weekend featuring conversations between Jammeh and a top party official.”I am coming back. They said they drove me out of the country. Apart from Allah, nobody can take me out of The Gambia,” Jammeh is heard saying. The recordings could not be independently verified and it was not clear when they had been made.His two-decade-long rule was marked by arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, according to rights activists. Along with political opponents, Jammeh also targeted journalists and members of the gay community.The GambiaWhile he has not been charged in Gambia with a crime, witnesses have testified before an ongoing Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, some saying they had carried out summary executions at his direction.Authorities also have suggested Jammeh could face economic crimes for pillaging state coffers before he fled into exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017. He stole an estimated $1 billion during his rule, according to The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.Equatorial Guinea, led by the same president for more than 40 years, is unlikely to ever extradite Jammeh.It’s unclear what measures Gambian authorities would take if Jammeh voluntarily returned home.Do Sannoh, an adviser to Gambian President Adama Barrow, said Sunday he was unaware of any ongoing negotiations over Jammeh’s possible return. But he said the former leader would be welcome to appear before the commission that has been investigating alleged abuses during his rule.”He is a citizen. He has every right to stay in his hometown and go and answer to the law,” he said.Calls for arrestThe audio recordings prompted outcry from the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, which said the government should arrest Jammeh if he sets foot in the country.”Former President Yahya Jammeh’s rule in The Gambia was a tyrannical and brutal dictatorship,” said Sheriff Kijera, the center’s chairman. “He is a fugitive from justice and a subject of serious allegations of human rights violations.”Kijera added: “If former president Jammeh is authorized to return to The Gambia without being arrested, charged and prosecuted for his crimes or transferred to another state for him to face justice, it would be a big failure on the part of the government of The Gambia to uphold its duty to the people of Gambia, as well as its international obligation to provide an effective remedy to victims.”
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EU Investment Plan Aims for Carbon Neutrality by 2050
The European Union rolled out a massive, trillion-dollar investment plan Tuesday to deliver on promises to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.The EU would designate one-quarter of its budget to fighting climate change over the next decade. The trillion-dollar price tag would come from a mix of EU and national government funds, as well as investment from the private sector. It targets the EU’s ambitious goal of ensuring greenhouse emissions reach net zero in 30 years. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who late last year announced that goal — a plan she calls the “Green Deal” — says the investments are for the climate, as well as EU citizens. “It will be invested in the huge transition ahead of us, which consists of upskilling people in new jobs, clean technologies, green financing, new procedures,” she said.FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after an extraordinary meeting of the EU college of commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 8, 2020.The plan prioritizes investment to help coal-dependent countries like Poland transition to green energy. Poland is the only EU member that has not yet signed onto the Green Deal, which would support scientists, businesses and other players in the energy transition. Some of the financing is seed money aimed at triggering much bigger investment. States that want to qualify for funding must present proposals on low-emission projects as part of how they plan to restructure their economies to be climate friendlier. The European commissioner for budget and administration, Johannes Hahn, detailed the investment plan at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “We have no time to waste if we want to deliver results for the citizens,” Hahn said. “Or, again in a nutshell, we provide climate cash in order to avoid a climate crash.”A recent poll shows Europeans fear climate change more than terrorism or losing their jobs. Still, some EU lawmakers suggest details of the green investment plan are too sketchy. Others believe it should link the funds to deadlines for phasing out coal. The European Investment Bank, which is mobilizing the chunk of money, announced last year it would end financing for all fossil fuel projects by the end of 2020, and align future financing goals with the Paris climate agreement. EU lawmakers are expected to hold a non-binding vote Wednesday on the Green Deal. Von der Leyen aims to have climate legislation adopted by March.
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