The German government on Friday welcomed President Joe Biden’s decision to formally halt the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany, arguing that the troops’ stationing there is “in our mutual interest.”
Last year, then-President Donald Trump announced that he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, but the withdrawal never actually began.
Biden said Thursday that the pullout would be halted until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reviews America’s troop presence around the globe.
“The German government welcomes this announcement,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin. He said that “we will remain in contact with the new American administration on its further plans.”
“We have always been convinced that the stationing of American troops here in Germany serves European and trans-Atlantic security, and so is in our mutual interest,” Seibert said. “We very much value this close, decades-long cooperation with the Americans’ forces that are stationed in Germany.”
Asked whether Germany would make any concrete offers to persuade the U.S. not to withdraw troops, Seibert said that Berlin will follow developments but “how these reviews go is an internal American matter.”
The U.S. has several major military facilities in Germany, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American military hospital outside the United States.
Trump’s order met resistance from Congress as well as from within the military, which has long relied on Germany as a key ally and base of operations.
Trump announced the troop cuts after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime NATO ally “delinquent” for failing to spend 2% of its GDP on defense, a benchmark that alliance members have pledged to work toward.
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Month: February 2021
Michael Bloomberg Returns to UN as Climate Envoy
Philanthropist and former U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is rejoining the United Nations as its special envoy on climate ambition and solutions. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday that Bloomberg will work “to mobilize stronger and more ambitious climate action in the lead-up to the critical Glasgow Climate Conference – COP 26 – in November 2021.”That gathering is the annual review conference for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and limit the planet’s temperature increase. The United Nations says bold commitments are needed to keep the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius this century.A long-time climate activist, Bloomberg was Guterres’ special envoy for climate action from March 2018 until November 2019, when he made a late entry into the presidential race as a Democratic candidate. Under the previous U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, he was U.N. special envoy for cities and climate change.The U.N. said Bloomberg will support the secretary-general in expanding and strengthening the coalition of governments, cities and companies committing to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Bloomberg’s own company pledged this week to meet that target by 2025.Today, Bloomberg LP commits to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2025. Companies have a key role to play in fighting climate change, and @Bloomberg is committed to helping lead the way. https://t.co/5LUbWyaYLwhttps://t.co/XOfmxngsyF— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 3, 2021“The Special Envoy will engage government officials and members of the private sector and civil society to finalize and implement plans, particularly in high-emitting countries, industries and sectors, to vastly accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy,” the statement announcing his appointment said.Guterres has also called for the phasing out of coal plants in industrialized nations by 2030, and in other nations by 2040 — a goal Bloomberg supports.Great news on climate action from Europe: The EU’s foreign ministers are putting their policy weight behind supporting an end to coal. Our @EurBeyondCoal campaign has already closed 154 plants since 2016, and this will help accelerate progress. https://t.co/jySY1AjFx6— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) January 25, 2021The former three-time New York City mayor is also board president of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a global network of 97 major cities, and co-chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, a network of more than 10,000 cities and local governments. In addition to climate action, Bloomberg has put billions of dollars into other issues, including public health and gun safety. The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that he will continue for a third term as the agency’s global ambassador for noncommunicable diseases and Injuries.
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Turkey Detains Dozens More Over University Protests
Authorities in Turkey made dozens of new arrests in cities across the country Thursday, after downplaying international criticism — including U.S. condemnation — of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on university student rallies.
According to police, about 600 people have been detained since January 4 as protests spread in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul.
Erdogan has accused student demonstrators of being terrorists for protesting his appointment of a new rector at Bogazici University in Istanbul, one of the country’s top schools of higher education.For over a month, students, faculty members and alumni of Bogazici University have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Turkish politician and academic Melih Bulu, demanding an election to choose a rector from the university’s own faculty.Bulu holds a doctorate from Bogazici’s business management program but has never been a full-time academic at the university. Critics accused him of plagiarism in his dissertation and published articles and called for his resignation. Bulu has denied those accusations.His involvement in politics also stirred controversy over his appointment, since he once ran for parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).He told reporters Wednesday he does not intend to resign from his university post. Still, his appointment has been viewed as an assault on academic freedom and sparked the protests.ArrestsPrior to Thursday’s arrests, Turkish police had detained more than 250 protesters in Istanbul and 69 students in Ankara this week, some of whom were released later. At least 51 protesters in Istanbul were referred to court on Wednesday and were released Thursday on bail.On Tuesday, academics wearing their gowns gathered on the Bogazici University campus, their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest, demanding Bulu’s resignation and the release of detained students.Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 79 of the detainees were linked to terror groups such as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).Erdogan echoed Soylu’s statement in a video address to his ruling AKP on Wednesday, saying the protesters lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups.“This country will not be run by terrorists,” he said. “We will do whatever is needed to prevent this. …We have not stood with terrorists, and we will not.”Rights groups say the Turkish government has broadened the definition of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent.“Turkish authorities have a long history of clamping down on free expression through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws,” Deniz Yuksel, a Turkey advocacy specialist at Amnesty International, told VOA.LGBT rightsThe dispute at Bogazici University intensified after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBT flags was displayed in an exhibition on campus as part of protests last week.On January 29, Soylu tweeted about the arrest of four students over the poster, calling them “LGBT deviants.” Later, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s tweet, saying it had violated the company’s rules regarding hateful conduct.Two of the detained students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.Over the weekend, police raided Bogazici University’s LGBTI+ student club and announced that an investigation for alleged terrorist propaganda was opened against the club after an illegal publication of Kongra-Gel and rainbow flags were found in the club room.Kongra-Gel is an umbrella organization for the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and its affiliates. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.Following the raid, Bulu announced the club’s closure.Some analysts believe Bogazici University’s LGBT community became the latest target of the government’s broad brush to label dissidents as terrorists.“What is most striking in the Bogazici case is that LGBTI individuals are now demonized as criminals and terrorists simply because of their sexual orientation, reflecting how far Turkey has drifted away from fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law and due process,” Aykan Erdemir, director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former Turkish Parliament member, told VOA.Erdogan praised his party’s youth Monday in a video conference, saying, “You are not the LGBT youth, not the youth who commit acts of vandalism. On the contrary, you are the ones who repair broken hearts.”Two days later, he said, “there is no such thing” as LGBT, adding that “this country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such.”Yuksel of Amnesty International said the Turkish authorities’ recent anti-LGBT statements were “not only a reflection of the government’s homophobia but also a calculated political strategy.”“The authorities’ attacks on LGBT (individuals) are the latest frontier in a culture war launched by President Erdogan in an effort to rally his conservative base ahead of elections scheduled for 2023, though rumors suggest they may be held earlier,” she said.U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday the United States is concerned about demonstrations at Bogazici University and strongly condemns the anti-LGBT rhetoric surrounding them.The United Nations Human Rights agency on Wednesday condemned “homophobic and transphobic comments by (Turkish) officials” and called for a “prompt release of students and protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations.”Turkey’s Foreign and Interior ministries did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment. But in a separate statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “It was determined that certain groups that are not from the University and are affiliated with terrorist organizations attempted to infiltrate into and provoke the events.
In this respect, necessary and proportional measures are taken within the law against these illegal acts that go beyond the scope of the right to protest.”Bogazici’s significanceBogazici University was established in 1863 as Robert College by U.S. missionaries and became a public university in 1971.As one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities, its admission is highly competitive, as only the top percentile of the 2.4 million students competing in a national placement exam at Turkish universities study there free of charge.“Bogazici University has been the gold standard of meritocracy and vertical mobility in Turkey,” Erdemir of FDD said.“The university’s pioneer role in introducing Western scholarship and values has made it a target of Turkey’s various Islamist and ultranationalist factions, who accuse the institution of serving ‘foreign’ interests,’” he said.
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Trump, Facing Expulsion, Resigns from Screen Actors Guild
Donald Trump has resigned from the Screen Actors Guild after the union threatened to expel him for his role in the Capitol riot in January.In a letter dated Thursday and addressed to SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris, Trump said he was resigning from the union that he had been a member of since 1989. “I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” wrote Trump in a letter shared by the actors guild. “As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me.” The guild responded with a short statement: “Thank you.” Last month, the SAG-AFTRA board voted that there was probable cause that Trump violated its guidelines for membership by his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege. Trump, the guild said, had sustained “a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.” Trump’s case was to be weighed by a disciplinary committee. In his letter, the former president said he had no interest in such a hearing. “Who cares?” he wrote.”While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as ‘Home Alone 2,’ ‘Zoolander’ and ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’; and television shows including ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, ‘The Apprentice’ — to name just a few!” wrote Trump. “I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others,” Trump continued. On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild announced nominees to its annual awards. Losing guild membership doesn’t disqualify anyone from performing. But most major productions abide by union contracts and hire only union actors.
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New Report Details How Countries Target Exiles, Diaspora to Quell Dissent
The pro-democracy group Freedom House has released a report detailing how countries such as China, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey systematically employ violence and intimidation against exiles and diasporas to silence dissent beyond their borders. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Producer: Jesse Oni
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US Rushes to Catch Up in Race to Detect Mutant Viruses
Despite its world-class medical system and its vaunted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. fell behind in the race to detect dangerous coronavirus mutations. And it’s only now beginning to catch up.The problem has not been a shortage of technology or expertise. Rather, scientists say, it’s an absence of national leadership and coordination, plus a lack of funding and supplies for overburdened laboratories trying to juggle diagnostic testing with the hunt for genetic changes.“We have the brains. We have the tools. We have the instruments,” said Ilhem Messaoudi, director of a virus research center at University of California, Irvine. “It’s just a matter of supporting that effort.”Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples, watching closely for mutations that might make the coronavirus more infectious or more deadly.But such testing has been scattershot.Less than 1% of positive specimens in the U.S. are being sequenced to determine whether they have worrisome mutations. Other countries do better — Britain sequences about 10% — meaning they can more quickly see threats coming at them. That gives them greater opportunity to slow or stop the problem, whether through more targeted contact tracing, possible adjustments to the vaccine, or public warnings.CDC officials say variants have not driven recent surges in overall U.S. cases. But experts worry that what’s happening with variants is not clear and say the nation should have been more aggressive about sequencing earlier in the epidemic that has now killed over 450,000 Americans.“If we had evidence it was changing,” said Ohio State molecular biologist Dan Jones, “maybe people would’ve acted differently.”U.S. scientists have detected more than 500 cases of a variant first identified in Britain and expect it to become the cause of most of this country’s new infections in a matter of weeks. Another troubling variant tied to Brazil and a third discovered in South Africa were detected last week in the U.S. and also are expected to spread.The British variant is more contagious and is believed to be more deadly than the original, while the South Africa one may render the vaccines somewhat less effective. The ultimate fear is that a variant resistant to existing vaccines and treatments could eventually emerge.Potentially worrisome versions may form inside the U.S., too. “This virus is mutating, and it doesn’t care of it’s in Idaho or South Africa,” Messaoudi said.But the true dimensions of the problem in the U.S. are not clear because of the relatively low level of sequencing.“You only see what’s under the lamppost,” said Kenny Beckman, director of the University of Minnesota Genomics Center, which started analyzing the virus’s genetics last spring.Medics take a patient out of an ambulance outside the Royal London Hospital in east London, Feb. 4, 2021.After the slow start, public health labs in at least 33 states are now doing genetic analysis to identify emerging coronavirus variants. Other states have formed partnerships with university or private labs to do the work. North Dakota, which began sequencing last week, was the most recent to start that work, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories.The CDC believes a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 samples should be analyzed weekly in the U.S. to adequately monitor variants, said Gregory Armstrong, who oversees the agency’s advanced molecular detection work. And it’s only now that the nation is hitting that level, he acknowledged.Still, it is a jumble of approaches: Some public health labs sequence every positive virus specimen. Some focus on samples from certain outbreaks or certain patients. Others randomly select samples to analyze.On top of that, labs continue to have trouble getting needed supplies — like pipette tips and chemicals — used in both gene sequencing and diagnostic testing.President Joe Biden, who inherited the setup from the Trump administration, is proposing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that calls for boosting federal spending on sequencing of the virus, though the amount has not been detailed and other specifics have yet to be worked out.“We’re 43rd in the world in genomic sequencing. Totally unacceptable,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said.For more than five years, U.S. public health labs have been building up their ability to do genomic sequencing, thanks largely to a federal push to zero in on the sources of food poisoning outbreaks.At the pandemic’s outset, some labs began sequencing the coronavirus right away. The Minnesota Department of Health, for example, started doing so within weeks of its first COVID-19 cases in March, said Sara Vetter, an assistant lab director. “That put us a step ahead,” she said.The CDC likewise worked with certain states to sequence close to 500 samples in April, and over a thousand samples in May and June.But many labs didn’t do the same — especially those overburdened with ramping up coronavirus diagnostic testing. The CDC’s Armstrong said that at the time, he couldn’t justify telling labs to do more sequencing when they already had their hands full and there wasn’t any evidence such analysis was needed.“Up until a month ago, it wasn’t on the list of things that are urgently necessary. It was nice to have,” said Trevor Bedford, a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “There was definitely lack of federal resources assigned to doing exactly this.”At the same time, because of stay-at-home orders imposed during the outbreak, researchers at some labs were told not to go in to work, Messaoudi said.“Instead of having a call to arms,” she said, “they sent everyone home.”Over the summer, though, a group of scientists sounded the alarm about the state of genomic surveillance in the U.S. and began pushing for something more systematic.In November, the CDC began to roll out a national program to more methodically pull and check specimens to better determine what strains are circulating. Then in December, the U.S. got a wake-up call when British researchers announced they had identified a variant that seems to spread more easily.The CDC reacted by announcing its surveillance program would scale up to process 750 samples nationally per week. The agency also contracted with three companies — LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and Illumina — to sequence thousands more each week. State labs are doing thousands of their own.Meanwhile, the outbreak is almost certainly seeding more COVID-19 mutations.“Where it has free rein of the place, there’s going to be significant variants that evolve,” Scripps Research Institute scientist Dr. Eric Topol said. “The more genomic sequencing, the more we can stay ahead of the virus.”
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New Generation of Russian Protesters Harnesses Social Media
Some 80 journalists are included among the thousands of people who have been detained across Russia during protests over the arrest and sentencing of opposition politician Alexey Navalny.Several of the journalists were beaten. At least one was jailed because of posts on social media about the unrest.The strong tactics used by security forces to contain protests, and the retaliation against independent journalists covering them, were no surprise to Russian politicians, analysts and journalists interviewed by VOA. What was less expected was Russia’s inability to stem the flow of information about Navalny’s case and the rallies in his support.FILE – A still image taken from video footage shows Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny inside a defendant dock during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 2, 2021.The protests started shortly after Navalny was detained January 17 when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after being poisoned. A Moscow court sentenced him Tuesday to two years and eight months in prison, prompting more demonstrations.Part of Navalny’s defense has been to use social media and journalism platforms to reach supporters and draw attention to President Vladimir Putin’s lavish lifestyle and what Navalny says were attempts by the Kremlin to poison him. Russia denies the allegation.Navalny has shared details of his persecution with his 6.5 million followers on Twitter and Instagram — numbers that equal or exceed the audiences of mainstream Russian news outlets. His Anti-Corruption Foundation used investigative journalism techniques and YouTube to detail allegations of high-level corruption. And news outlets, including the investigative website Bellingcat, have reported on Russia’s alleged attempts to surveil and poison him.FILE – The U.S. head office of TikTok is seen in Culver City, California, Sept. 15, 2020.Navalny’s media-savvy approach and use of new platforms have knocked Moscow off balance. With independent media largely suppressed and viewers turning away from state TV — which rarely covers issues that may anger the Kremlin — Russians have looked to international outlets or niche media for their news. They use a range of social media platforms, including TikTok, Telegram and others, to share information and reporting.Russia has attempted to block access to some of these sites through laws regulating posts and by warning platforms against sharing information about the protests. Pro-Kremlin trolls have tried to counter opposition voices on social media with limited success.The Kremlin argues the platforms are being used to incite unrest or spread what it deems to be extremist views, and that regulations are needed to prevent the spread of disinformation.The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.Mass protestsWhile the scenes in recent days were reminiscent of the anti-government rallies in 2011 and 2012, analysts say society has drastically changed, along with the communication channels used to share information and cover events.FILE – Russian opposition candidate Dmitry Gudkov gestures during his interview with the Associated Press in Moscow, March 11, 2020.”In 2011-2012, they stood up against fraudulent elections. Now, the protest has become more personalized,” Russian politician Dmitry Gudkov told VOA, adding that people now are out protesting against Putin.“And in response, Putin and his forces have hit back by detaining or retaliating against activists, independent journalists and social media that cover investigations into his administration,” he said.Gudkov was a member of the State Duma (lower house of the Federal Assembly) during the 2011 protests. His support for the movement led to his suspension from the Spravedlivaya Rossiya (Fair Russia) Party. He later led the opposition Civic Initiative Party, which the Supreme Court suspended in 2020.Social mediaIn 2011, Facebook was the primary platform.“Now, information is distributed across different social media and messengers,” said FILE – This picture taken on Jan. 22, 2021 in Rennes, France, shows a smartphone screen featuring messaging service applications WhatsApp, Signal, telegram, Viber, Discord and Olvid.In 2018, Russian officials tried to block Telegram. But they failed to prevent users from accessing the site, and the ban was overturned in 2020.“Authorities continuously threaten to block social media if they allow postings about protests,” Kozlovsky said. “A new law allowing the blocking of social media was adopted just a month ago,” he added, referring to legislation requiring social networks to filter information deemed to show “disrespect for society, the state, the Constitution,” or that calls for riots.Foreign broadcastsAlongside social media, another challenge to the official narrative comes from foreign media that provide coverage in Russian, including VOA, BBC, Deutsche Welle and RFE/RFL, journalists say.Audiences for foreign media have grown in Russia because of widespread censorship across major media outlets and efforts by the Kremlin to eliminate almost all local independent media in the country.”It’s clear for the Kremlin that journalists drive the liberal opposition in Russia. And they oppose the regime by reporting the truth on the internet,” said Maria Snegovaya, a visiting scholar at the George Washington University Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. “People who know the truth about the government become an opposition, too, and we can see this in polls. In this regard, of course, the masks are pulled off, and the regime no longer pretends to be friendly. The regime considers journalists as enemies.”FILE – The logo of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is pictured in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 30, 2020.The recent unrest was widely covered by mostly foreign media. Live coverage of Navalny’s arrest carried by “Current Time,” a daily Russian-language news show produced by RFE/RL and VOA, and Deutsche Welle, garnered hundreds of thousands of views and was shared on social media and other outlets.This fits a wider pattern of audiences looking to investigative journalism and social media platforms for news not covered by state media.In 2020, the nonprofit investigative media outlet Proekt published several articles that looked at corruption among Putin’s acquaintances.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a joint meeting of the country’s State Council and the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects via a videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, Dec. 23, 2020.The Kremlin may be slow to recognize the power of these platforms, but veterans of the Russian opposition movement say they anticipate repression toward civil society and media.”I don’t know what exactly they will do, but the reaction to the protests will be tough,” Kozlovsky said.Goncharov said he suspects authorities will hire bloggers to “push their propaganda on these platforms.”A counteroffensive already appears to be in play. Popular Russian bloggers and celebrities posted similar videos on Instagram and TikTok in which they criticized the protesters and praised Putin.FILE – Pop singer Philipp Kirkorov reacts next to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin after having been decorated with the Order of Honor during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Nov. 15, 2017.Russian singer Philipp Kirkorov used Instagram to call Putin “the smartest leader in the history of humankind.”“Vladimir Putin and his team don’t stop to surprise me in a positive way. Russia deserves it,” Kirkorov wrote on January 24, the day after the mass protests.Videos posted online also show protesters giving what are believed to be forced apologies. Journalists have received threatening messages from anonymous users on Telegram, some of whom share personal information and private photos, or make up stories about the reporters’ alleged connections with the West.Victor Oleynik, a VOA contributor and co-founder of “Beware of Them,” a project that catalogs wrongdoing by police, said he was falsely accused of coordinating the protests in Russia with the U.S. government. The accusation was shared by dozens of troll accounts on Twitter and Telegram, which resulted in Oleynik’s receiving threatening messages.More arrests and harassment are anticipated, according to the Russians with whom VOA spoke, some of whom said they feared persecution if they talked on the record. But they said the spread of these platforms would make the stifling of news more difficult.
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Johnson & Johnson Seeks US Vaccine Approval for Emergency Use
Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson said Thursday it is seeking approval for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.The FDA said it has scheduled a Feb. 26 meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to discuss an emergency use authorization for the company.In January, Johnson & Johnson released a report that said its vaccine had a 66% rate of preventing the coronavirus infection in a large global trial. However, the vaccine was found in trials not to protect as well against the South Africa virus variant, which is highly transmissible and spreading around the globe, officials said.After previous such meetings of the FDA committee, vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna received authorization within a day.The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which each require two doses to be fully inoculated, are 95% effective, studies show.Johnson & Johnson, which said it will also apply for European authorization within weeks, has a single-dose vaccine that does not need to be frozen during shipping, which the two other approved vaccines do.In January, Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer, said the drugmaker would have vaccine ready to ship by March.”Upon authorization of our investigational COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, we are ready to begin shipping,” Stoffels said in a statement.The news of a possible new vaccine to fight the coronavirus pandemic comes as global confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, neared 105 million and deaths totaled nearly 2.3 million.The United States leads the world with more than 26.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and by late Thursday had recorded 455,657 deaths.However, the number of daily deaths is falling, from a record high of 4,466 on Jan. 12, to 3,912 Wednesday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said COVID-19 deaths could fall even further by next week. But she also worried that the upcoming Super Bowl game on Sunday could lead to people relaxing coronavirus protocols to gather and watch the major football event.
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Freedom House: Dissidents in Exile Still Face Repression
The pro-democracy group Freedom House has released a report detailing how countries such as China, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey systematically employ violence and intimidation against exiles and diasporas to silence dissent beyond their borders. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Producer: Jesse Oni
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Biden Announces Diplomacy Shift in Yemen
President Joe Biden visited the State Department Thursday and outlined his vision for U.S. foreign policy, ordering an end to U.S. support for offensive military operations in Yemen and an overall shift toward diplomacy. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Producer: Kim Weeks
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Burma or Myanmar: One Country With Two Names?
One coup. One country. Two names?Myanmar is the official name of the country upended by a military coup this week. In official documents issued by the Biden administration, the country with beaches on the Andaman Sea is Burma.And whenever the country is in the news, the question of what’s in a name returns.“Our official policy is that we say ‘Burma’ but use ‘Myanmar’ as a courtesy in certain communications,” Jen Psaki, the White House spokesperson, said when asked to address the issue during a press conference this week. “So, for example, the embassy website refers to Burma — Myanmar because they are by definition dealing with officials and the public. The State Department website uses ‘Burma (Myanmar)’ in some places and ‘Burma’ in others.”How it beganThe conundrum emerged in 1989 when the ruling military government changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar after quashing a pro-democracy uprising by killing thousands of people. The military changed the name of Rangoon, the nation’s major city, to Yangon at the same time.The military government believes that the term Burma only covers Burman, the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, and does not include the other 134 ethnic minority groups. The military position is that if the name of the main ethnic group is used as the name of the country, it would be racially discriminatory, according to the FILE – Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours Shwedegon Pagoda, a Buddhist temple founded between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, in Yangon, Myanmar, Dec. 1, 2011.Decades later, when Hillary Clinton, then the U.S. secretary of state, visited in 2011, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told Agence France-Presse that U.S. policy believed that “any change of the name of a country should be a decision” for its people, according to the FILE – People eat at a restaurant along a street in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug. 18, 2013.The two words mean the same thing, and one is derived from the other. Burmah, as it was spelled in the 19th century, is a local corruption of the word Myanmar, according to the BBC.They have both been used within Burma for a long time, anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman, who has written extensively about Burmese politics, told the BBC.The situation now is that the Burmese verbally refer to their country as Burma, but generally use the term Myanmar in official written documents.Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s state counselor and democratic movement leader who is currently in custody, has publicly stated that she likes to call her country Burma.’Will of the people’In her speech at the Singapore Summit in September 2013, she said, “I have explained very often that the main reason why I prefer to use Burma is because the name change was made without reference to the will of the people. To me, that’s basic. We have to respect the people. We have to respect the will of the people if we truly want to make the transition to a democratic society.” “Democracy means choice, widening choice, making our choice more varied and making choice more accessible to more of us,” she said.After becoming the counselor of the state in 2016, she again emphasized that there is no explicit stipulation in the national constitution on which name must be used, so foreign countries can choose either of these two names at will.She said that while she uses Burma, others need not, and at times, she also uses Myanmar.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Calls Student Protesters Terrorists, Intensifying Anti-LGBT Rhetoric
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused student demonstrators of being terrorists as Turkish police arrested them for protesting Erdogan’s appointment of a new rector at one of the country’s top universities this week. For over a month, students, faculty members and alumni of Bogazici University in Istanbul have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Turkish politician and academic Melih Bulu, demanding an election to choose a rector among the university’s own faculty. Bulu holds a doctorate from Bogazici’s business management program but has never been a full-time academic at the university. Critics have accused him of plagiarism in his dissertation and published articles and have called for his resignation. Bulu has denied those accusations. Turkish police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party loyalist, as rector of the university, in Istanbul, Feb. 4, 2021.His involvement in politics also stirred controversy over his appointment, since he once ran for Parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). He told reporters Wednesday that he does not intend to resign from his university post. Still, his appointment has been viewed as an assault on academic freedom, which has sparked other protests in the country. Arrests This week, Turkish police detained more than 250 protesters in Istanbul and 69 students in Ankara, some of whom were released later. At least 51 of the protesters in Istanbul were referred to court on Wednesday and were released Thursday on bail. On Tuesday, academics wearing their gowns gathered on the Bogazici campus, their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest, demanding Bulu’s resignation and the release of detained students. Turkish government officials called the protesters terrorists. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 79 of the detainees were linked to terror groups such as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C). Turkish police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party loyalist, as rector of the university, in Istanbul, Feb. 4, 2021.Erdogan echoed Soylu’s statement in a video address to his ruling AKP on Wednesday, saying the protesters lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups. “This country will not be run by terrorists,” he said. “We will do whatever is needed to prevent this. … We have not stood with terrorists, and we will not.” Rights groups say the Turkish government has broadened the definition of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent. “Turkish authorities have a long history of clamping down on free expression through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws,” Deniz Yuksel, a Turkey advocacy specialist at Amnesty International, told VOA. LGBT rights The dispute at Bogazici intensified after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBT flags was displayed in an exhibition on campus as part of protests last week. On January 29, Soylu tweeted about the arrest of four students over the poster, calling them “LGBT deviants.” Later, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s tweet, saying it had violated the company’s rules regarding hateful conduct. Two of the detained students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values. FILE – Students walk with rainbow flags during a gathering in solidarity with Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of the university, in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 2, 2021.Over the weekend, police raided Bogazici’s LGBTI+ student club and announced that an investigation for alleged terrorist propaganda was opened against the club after an illegal publication of Kongra-Gel and rainbow flags were found in the club room. Kongra-Gel is an umbrella organization for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliates. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States. Following the raid, Bulu announced the club’s closure. Some analysts believe Bogazici University’s LGBT community became the latest target of the government’s broad brush to label dissidents as terrorists. “What is most striking in the Bogazici case is that LGBTI individuals are now demonized as criminals and terrorists simply because of their sexual orientation, reflecting how far Turkey has drifted away from fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law and due process,” Aykan Erdemir, director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former Turkish Parliament member, told VOA. Erdogan praised his party’s youth Monday in a video conference, saying, “You are not the LGBT youth, not the youth who commit acts of vandalism. On the contrary, you are the ones who repair broken hearts.” Two days later, he said “there is no such thing” as LGBT, adding that “this country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such.” Yuksel of Amnesty International said the Turkish authorities’ recent anti-LGBT statements were “not only a reflection of the government’s homophobia but also a calculated political strategy.” “The authorities’ attacks on LGBT [individuals] are the latest frontier in a culture war launched by President Erdogan in an effort to rally his conservative base ahead of elections scheduled for 2023, though rumors suggest they may be held earlier,” she said. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday that the United States was concerned about demonstrations at Bogazici University and strongly condemned the anti-LGBT rhetoric surrounding them. The U.N. human rights agency on Wednesday condemned “homophobic and transphobic comments by [Turkish] officials” and called for a “prompt release of students and protesters arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations.” #Turkey: We call for prompt release of students & protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations, and urge the police to stop using excessive force. We condemn homophobic & transphobic comments by officials, inciting hatred & discrimination against LGBT people. pic.twitter.com/EXF9RvMiyQ— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 3, 2021Turkey’s Foreign and Interior ministries did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment. But in a separate statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “It was determined that certain groups that are not from the university and are affiliated with terrorist organizations attempted to infiltrate into and provoke the events. “In this respect, necessary and proportional measures are taken within the law against these illegal acts that go beyond the scope of the right to protest.” Bogazici’s significance Bogazici University was established in 1863 as Robert College by U.S. missionaries and became a public university in 1971. As one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities, its admission is highly competitive, as only the top percentile of the 2.4 million students competing in a national placement exam at Turkish universities study there free of charge. “Bogazici University has been the gold standard of meritocracy and vertical mobility in Turkey,” Erdemir of FDD said. “The university’s pioneer role in introducing Western scholarship and values has made it a target of Turkey’s various Islamist and ultranationalist factions, who accuse the institution of serving ‘foreign’ interests,’ ” he said. Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Biden Promises US Re-engagement with the World
President Joe Biden promised Thursday that the United States would sharply increase its engagement around the world during his White House tenure, ending the “past few years of neglect and … abuse” of foreign relations by former President Donald Trump.“America is back,” Biden declared at the State Department in his first major foreign policy address as president. “America cannot afford to be absent on the world stage. Diplomacy is at the center of our foreign policy.”He said that “American alliances are our greatest assets,” while warning both Russia and China of American resolve. Trump, employing an “America First” credo, had often quarreled with traditional U.S. allies while taking a softer tone with authoritarian states.Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week that “the days of the U.S. rolling over” to Moscow “are over.”The U.S. leader called on Putin to immediately release opposition leader Alexey Navalny “without condition.” Navalny was sentenced to 2½ years in prison this week after returning from Germany, where he had been recovering from being poisoned with a nerve agent last year by suspected Russian agents.As for China, Biden said, “We’ll work with Beijing when it’s in our interest to do so.”FILE – Houthi supporters chant slogans during a rally outside the closed U.S. Embassy over the decision of the Trump administration to designate the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 18, 2021.War in Yemen ‘has to end’Biden said he was ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen, calling it a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe. This war has to end.”Instead, he said, the U.S. hopes to end the five-year conflict in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country through diplomacy, with Biden naming a career diplomat, Timothy Lenderking, as a special envoy to Yemen.Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 against a Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and had begun launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia. Riyadh responded with an air campaign that has killed large numbers of civilians, with survivors displaying parts of weapons that showed they were made in the United States.The conflict has added to the hunger and poverty in Yemen. Biden’s ending of U.S. support for the Saudi military offensive would fulfill a promise he made during his presidential campaign.The new president said he would keep U.S. troops in Germany, which Trump had suggested pulling out, and increase the number of refugees the U.S. would accept from the world’s trouble spots to 125,000 annually, a figure Trump had cut to 18,000.“Over the past two weeks, I’ve spoken with the leaders of many of our closest friends — Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Germany, France, NATO, Japan, South Korea and Australia — to begin reforming the habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscles of democratic alliances” that Trump weakened, Biden said.Biden also spoke to State Department employees, telling them, “This administration is going to empower you to do your jobs, not target or politicize you. We want a rigorous debate that brings in all perspectives, and makes room for dissent. That’s how we’ll get the best possible policy outcomes.”FILE – A copy of the Global Times newspaper featuring an image of U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on its front page is seen at a newsstand in Beijing, China, Jan. 21, 2021.China policyNew Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last week that the relationship between the U.S. and China was “arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world going forward.”Biden’s Thursday speech came as the U.S. ponders a new approach to China, which officials have said includes a policy of “strategic patience.”How to handle supply chain and intelligence threats from China is among the top priorities of the Biden administration. It has been reported that Biden is soon expected to sign an executive order to review U.S. supply chains, with a focus on coronavirus relief suppliers from foreign competitors.”We know that China is engaged in a range of conduct that hurts American workers,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week. “It blunts our technological edge, it threatens our alliances and influence in international organizations, and China is engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience.”“So, we will counter China’s aggressive and coercive actions, sustain our key military advantages, defend democratic values, invest in advanced technologies and restore our vital security partnerships,” he added.FILE – An image from video shows Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is accused of flouting terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement, during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Feb. 2, 2021.Calls to counterpartsBiden has spoken by phone with several foreign leaders since taking office, including the leaders of traditional U.S. allies and Russia’s Putin.During that call, the White House said, Biden raised contentious issues such as the arrest of opposition figure Navalny, as well as Moscow’s cyber-espionage campaign, while seeking common ground by agreeing to extend a landmark nuclear arms deal with Russia that was about to expire.On Wednesday, the U.S. and Russia announced they had extended the New START arms control treaty for five years, pursuing arms control between the world’s two largest strategic nuclear arsenals.“We remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world,” Blinken said in a statement.He added that the U.S. would “work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners.”
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Journalists in Myanmar and Across the Globe Report Through Internet Blackouts
As part of its power grab this week, Myanmar’s military cut access to the internet. It’s a tactic seen globally at times of tension and unrest. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
Produced by: Esha Sarai
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Voting Company Sues Fox, Giuliani Over Election Fraud Claims
A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the U.S. presidential election. The 285-page complaint filed Thursday in New York state court by Florida-based Smartmatic USA is one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken. On January 25, a rival election-technology company — Dominion Voting Systems, which was also ensnared in Trump’s baseless effort to overturn the election — sued Giuliani and Powell for $1.3 billion. FILE – Attorney Sidney Powell, a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, speaks during a rally on Dec. 2, 2020, in Alpharetta, Ga.Unlike Dominion, whose technology was used in 24 states, Smartmatic’s participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles County, which votes heavily Democratic. Suit claims 13 false reports Smartmatic’s limited role notwithstanding, Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela’s socialist government, according to the complaint. This alleged “disinformation campaign” continued even after then-Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud. For instance, a December 10 segment by Lou Dobbs accused Smartmatic and its CEO, Antonio Mugica, of working to flip votes through a nonexistent backdoor in its voting software to carry out a “massive cyber Pearl Harbor,” the complaint alleged. “Defendants’ story was a lie,” the complaint stated. “But, it was a story that sold.” ‘Well-orchestrated dance’The complaint also alleges that Fox hosts Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro also directly benefited from their involvement in the conspiracy. The lawsuit alleges that Fox went along with the “well-orchestrated dance” because of pressure from newcomer outlets such as Newsmax and One America News, which were luring away conservative, pro-Trump viewers. Fox News Media, in a statement on behalf of the network and its hosts, rejected the accusations. It said it was proud of its election coverage and would defend itself against the “meritless” lawsuit in court. Fox “is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion,” the company said in a written statement. Giuliani and Powell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lost profits, increased cyberattacksFor Smartmatic, the effects of the negative publicity were swift and devastating, the complaint alleges. Death threats, including against an executive’s 14-year-old son, poured in as internet searches for the company surged, Smartmatic said. With several client contracts in jeopardy, the company estimates that it will lose as much as $690 million in profits over the next five years. It also expects it will have to boost spending by $4.7 million to fend off what it called a “meteoric rise” in cyberattacks. “For us, this is an existential crisis,” Mugica said in an interview. He said the false statements against Smartmatic have led one foreign bank to close its accounts and deterred Taiwan, a prospective client, from adopting e-voting technology. Like many conspiracy theories, the alleged campaign against Smartmatic was built on a grain of truth. Mugica is Venezuelan and Smartmatic’s initial success is partly attributable to major contracts from Hugo Chávez’s government, an early devotee of electronic voting. No evidence has emerged that the company rigged votes in favor of the anti-American firebrand, and for a while the Carter Center and other observers held out Venezuela as a model of electronic voting. Meanwhile, the company has expanded globally. Smartmatic is represented by J. Erik Connolly, who previously won what’s believed to be the largest settlement in American media defamation, at least $177 million, for a report on ABC News describing a company’s beef product as “pink slime.” “Very rarely do you see news organizations go day after day after day after the same targets,” Connolly said in an interview. “We couldn’t possibly have rigged this election because we just weren’t even in the contested states to do the rigging.” ‘Fact-checking segment’Fox, after receiving a demand for retraction from Smartmatic’s lawyers in December, aired what it called a “fact-checking segment” with an election technology expert. In the segment, the expert said there was no evidence of tampering — something the defendants knew from the start and reported elsewhere on the network, the complaint alleges. Far from making the company whole, Mugica said he saw the segment — in which an unidentified voice asks questions referenced in the retraction letter — as an admission of guilt. “They knew these truths just as they knew the Earth is round and two plus two equals four,” says the court filing. “But they also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump’s popularity by inventing a story.”
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French PM Says No Need for COVID-19 Lockdown for Now
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday that while the COVID-19 pandemic remains serious, he does not think another nationwide lockdown is necessary. But he urged people to take all necessary precautions to avoid contracting the coronavirus.During a COVID-19 news briefing from Paris, Castex said that while France’s infection rate remains too high, it is still lower than it was in October. He warned if the situation deteriorates, the government will not hesitate to call for a shutdown.The prime minster also announced that beginning Friday, the government will be scheduling a total of 1.7 million more vaccinations to be completed by end of March.He said France will begin receiving its first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which does not have the same refrigerated storage requirements of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, allowing health officials to distribute the vaccine more quickly.
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China’s Rise Complicates Biden’s Mideast Policy Plans
As the Biden administration contemplates a return to Obama-era policies in the Middle East – from the Iran nuclear deal to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations — it is finding those policies complicated by China’s rising role as an influential political player throughout the region.China became the largest trading partner of Arab countries in the first half of 2020 with two-way trade of more than $115 billion. It has established strategic partnerships or a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with 12 Arab nations.A recent survey conducted in the region found China is viewed more favorably than the United States. Arab Barometer, a research network based at Princeton University, polled citizens in six countries in the Middle East — Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia — to gauge their attitudes toward China and the U.S. “The survey results make clear that Arab publics prefer China,” the organization said.China’s government has made its “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative a key part of its regional outreach. Although the U.S. still criticizes the plan for extending loans that some countries may struggle to repay, 18 nations have joined including Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the region.Through this trillion-dollar initiative, China has invested throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. “To connect all these places, China is very active in building or helping to build or helping to finance ports and military bases and just striking up strong economic and strategic partnerships with the countries of the greater Middle East,” Robert D. Kaplan, chair in geopolitics at the Pennsylvania-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, told VOA in a telephone interview.By linking Europe with East Asia through the Middle East, China could dominate Afro-Eurasia trading routes —what the great British geographer Halford Mackinder labeled the “World-Island,” said Kaplan.The U.S. regional withdrawalThe last two decades have seen Washington escalating and then winding down its presence in the Middle East and southwest Asia. After years of grinding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for foreign military engagements in the region has dropped among members of both U.S. political parties.Former President Barack Obama once described the region as beset by conflicts going back millennia, while Donald Trump repeatedly advocated that the U.S. should leave behind the “forever wars.””I think that the Americans have been complaining and Americans in the national security community have been complaining for two or three decades now that the Middle East is a distraction from the things that we really need to commit to it,” said Robert Farley, a senior lecturer at the University of Kentucky, in a telephone interview with VOA. Patterson is with the university’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.Analysts say the fierce competition between China and the U.S. has reinforced Washington’s desire to reduce the strategic importance of the Middle East, which some have been pushing for since the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia” 10 years ago.Kaplan argued that as Beijing fills the Middle East vacuum, it will eventually pose a threat to the U.S.”It’s a threat because most of the talk in Washington over the past few years is that we need to withdraw from the Middle East, because we’ve been engaged there in the so-called endless wars. And if we truly withdraw, or even partially withdraw from the Middle East, that will open up a vast avenue of opportunity for the Chinese,” Kaplan told VOA.Iran – China’s footholdWhile China is happy to work with both foes and friends of Washington in the region, its tie to Iran holds particular significance for both countries. Burdened by sanctions and deepening isolation on the world stage, Tehran has turned to China for economic and military support while Beijing looks for cheaper energy resources.After a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two countries established a so-called Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, giving China a foothold in a region that has been a strategic preoccupation of the United States for decades.Wojciech Michnik is an assistant professor of international relations and security studies at Poland’s Jagiellonian University. He said among the influential powers in the Middle East, Iran is China’s natural partner.“Iran is quite an important power, especially after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the fallout of the Saddam Hussein, Iran gained in terms of the relative power in the region. It has been using its proxies from Syria to Yemen,” Michnik told VOA.China is currently Iran’s largest trading partner and oil buyer, as well as Iran’s largest export market for non-oil products and an important source of foreign investment. Bilateral trade was only about $400 million in 1994 but increased to $2.48 billion in 2000. By 2019, according to data release by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the value reached more than $23 billion, an increase of nearly 10 times.With the change in the U.S. administration and Washington’s policy on the Iran nuclear agreement, the two governments have recently recommitted to strengthening their relationship.Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf is the speaker of Iran’s hardliner-dominated parliament. Last month, he told Li Zhanshu of China’s National People’s Congress that “ties between Tehran and Beijing are not and will not be affected by the international conditions” and will continue to deepen.Engagement redefinedWhile experts doubt the United States will be disengaging in any substantial way from the Middle East, Washington’s interests are likely shifting from a focus on terrorism to China’s growing regional influence.”Yes, we do need to confront China, but now we need to pay attention to the Middle East, not because of terrorism, but rather because of China’s growing influence in Iran, of China’s developing relationship with Saudi Arabia, and so forth,” said Farley, who was also a visiting professor at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.He said that shift in thinking is reflected in other parts of the U.S. national security community, where analysts have begun to redefine what American engagement means in the context of China’s robust foreign diplomacy.
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In Challenge to Erdogan, Protests at Istanbul University Escalate
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing domestic and international pressure to stop a crackdown on student protests that erupted after the Turkish leader’s decision to install a new rector at one of the country’s main universities. Critics say the move was aimed at silencing dissent at what many regard as one of the last remaining centers of liberal thought in Turkey. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Watchdog: South Sudan Government Spying on Journalists, Rights Defenders
A top South Sudan official denies his government spies on its citizens, dismissing a new Amnesty International report that says otherwise. The report, titled, “These Walls Have Ears,” accuses South Sudan’s government of using electronic surveillance to monitor the conversations of journalists and human rights activists. It is the first report on digital surveillance conducted in the East Africa region. Sarah Jackson, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for East Africa, says the results of their investigation were revealing. “We find that the government of South Sudan through the National Security Service, known as the NSS, has been responsible for abusive surveillance in the country; that’s surveillance without appropriate legal safeguards. And this has had a chilling effect on human rights defenders, on journalists — many of whom courageously continue their work despite these risks but have to be very careful about how they speak, to whom they speak and in what way, so we see a climate of fear, chilling effect, and of self-censorship,” Jackson said at a news conference Thursday. Jackson said South Sudan’s government used technology obtained from an Israeli company to monitor private telephone conversations. “We have been able to establish that between 2015 and 2017 the South Sudanese government had communications intercept technology that had been bought from an Israeli company called Verint used by Vivacell network, a telecommunications company operational in South Sudan at the time,” Jackson told VOA.Michael Makuei, a government spokesman, denies that Juba conducts surveillance of its citizens, saying its equipment is used to track criminals. “Those who commit offenses, they are usually pursued, and this is how they are tracked down,” Makuei told VOA.He said, “These instruments are all over the world; there’s no country which has no such equipment. I don’t know what’s particular about South Sudan that the so-called human rights organizations decide to write and say we are curtailing freedom of expression.”Amnesty International contacted Verint Systems and obtained documentation confirming the sale of surveillance technology to South Sudan.The organization said a former employee of the Vivacell phone company told them the South Sudanese government requires all telecommunication companies operational in the country to pay Verint Systems Ltd., the Israeli subsidiary of U.S. Verint Systems Inc., for this equipment and charged an annual service fee.Jackson said her team contacted phone companies in South Sudan, including MTN telecommunications company, where a former employee confirmed that in 2013 the National Security Service, or NSS, through an Israeli company, installed a “box” at their company. Box installations help the government, including the NSS, to gains direct access to data from service providers.Jackson said tapped phone conversations have been presented in high-profile court cases in South Sudan and that former NSS detainees said they had conversations recounted to them during interrogations. “It’s a problem because of the context in South Sudan and because of the nature of the abusive practices of the National Security Service, the NSS. The way in which the NSS has been responsible for illegal detention, for torture of detainees, interrogations, and the impact this has had on the right to privacy, the right to be free from torture, the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.” Jackson said. Beny Gideon, head of South Sudan’s Human Rights Commission, declined to comment to VOA, saying he had not read the report. Jackson said her team also repeatedly contacted the government to obtain its input on the report, but without success. Makuei, who also serves as South Sudan’s minister of information, telecommunications and postal services, told VOA Amnesty never contacted him about the report. The international human rights group is calling on the government to halt its digital surveillance until proper legal safeguards are put in place, which include ensuring such surveillance is only used for legitimate reasons, that it does not violate the right to privacy, and that it does not disproportionally target citizens and human rights defenders. It also calls on the government to reform the National Security Act of 2014 and bring it in line with international standards. The measure appears to give the NSS broad powers on conducting surveillance activities.
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South Sudan Declares Partial Lockdown on COVID Surge
South Sudan has imposed a one-month, partial lockdown after a jump in coronavirus cases. Africa’s youngest nation has confirmed more than 4,000 cases and 65 deaths but, some residents worry this first lockdown since June could hurt people’s livelihoods.South Sudan’s national task force on COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, said Wednesday the partial lockdown was necessary after a surge in cases.Taskforce member Doctor Richard Laku said virus cases have doubled in the past week.”In the last seven days, we have recorded 218 confirmed cases, compared to the week before which is the week of 20-26th,” said Laku. “We have 140 cases, but the week 2nd of February we have 218 cases which shows almost doubling of the cases along the two weeks, and this shows that the possibility rate has been increasing from last week to this week.”The chairman of the taskforce, Hussein Abdelbagi, said the new lockdown measures affect all businesses and events that attract large crowds.”Ban all the social gatherings, such as sporting events, religious events including Sunday church prayers, Salat Al Juma Mosque Prayers, funerals, wedding ceremonies and political events,” said Abdelbagi. “Two, closure of all pre-schools, schools, universities and all the other institutions of learning, except classes scheduled for examinations with observations of strict protective measures.”South Sudan Concert Draws Tens of Thousands in Defiance of COVID-19 ProtocolsA weekend outdoor concert in Juba attracted huge crowds including President Salva Kiir, despite a government ban on large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemicAbdelbagi said while bars and clubs will be closed, restaurants and tea shops are allowed to operate but must adhere to strict COVID-19 measures. Buses and taxis must reduce passenger numbers by half, he said, and enforce wearing facemasks and social distancing. He added that all incoming passengers on international flights must have test results showing they are free of the coronavirus.On the streets of Juba, there was mixed reaction to the restrictions.Thirty-five-year-old Godfrey Fred said he is worried the lockdown will affect people’s incomes. “If you don’t move, survival itself will be very difficult, so at least we need our government to take another measure [but] not close everything because there are very many ways of preventing the disease,” said Fred.Thirty-four-year-old Data Gordon has doubts the lockdown can be enforced.”I don’t see this new lockdown being implemented, because it is going to be a ground for corrupt practices like bribery for law enforcers who will definitely take, and we will get back to where we started,” said Gordon.Fifty-seven-year-old William Edward said the lockdown was a good idea to reduce the virus’ spread but said ordinary South Sudanese would need government support. “Government has to provide things for the people to support them while they are in lockdown period to help them,” said Edward. “So as South Sudan, people are suffering a lot and it’s not easy to get food, either they can break the lockdown because of the situation they are facing.”South Sudan imposed its first lockdown in March last year but lifted it in June after the level of reported COVID-19 cases dropped.
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Myanmar Diplomat in US Seeks Asylum After Military Coup
A key diplomat in the Myanmar embassy in Washington said Thursday he is seeking asylum in the U.S. in protest of the military coup in his homeland.Maung Maung Latt, a first secretary in the embassy, told VOA’s Burmese Service “I decided to seek asylum in this country because I cannot accept the illegitimate takeover of power by the military.”“It is total injustice that I can’t stand,” he said, “and I am also concerned especially for the future of the younger generations of our country.”Maung Maung Latt said that since President Joe Biden “gives priority to human rights, I hope they will grant me asylum,” although there was no immediate response from the U.S. government. The Myanmar envoy said he was “concerned about [his] safety at this moment.”Maung Maung Latt said that “among the Myanmar diplomats around the world, there are those who welcome the coup and those who do not welcome it.” But he urged fellow diplomats “to join civil disobedience against the military.”He said the military takeover “will cause serious damage and unthinkable disaster for the country, I’m afraid.”Maung Maung Latt said he thinks that high-ranking civilian officials will be replaced by military officers.Prior to his posting in Washington, Maung Maung Latt had served in the country’s embassies in Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand. He had been set to return to Myanmar in the next month and retire.Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, seized power Monday, declaring a yearlong state of emergency and detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, among others. The coup took place following days of tension between the military and the ruling National League for Democracy, which won the November elections. The Tatmadaw has refused to accept the results, alleging massive election fraud.VOA’s Burmese Service contributed to this story.
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US, Russian Officials Hail START Treaty Extension
The United States and Russia have agreed that their five-year extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as START, will enhance national and international security. The treaty limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles each side can maintain. In separate speeches to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, U.S. and Russian permanent representatives to the conference expressed their satisfaction with the START agreement their countries completed on Tuesday. FILE – U.S. disarmament ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood speaks at the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, April 19, 2018.U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood said Washington believes the New START treaty is in the national security interests of the United States, its allies and the global community. He noted the United States and Russia have been in compliance with the treaty’s obligations since it took effect in 2011. He said he looked forward to a continuation of that record. “The extension agreement is now in force. … Its verification regime enables the United States and Russia to monitor each other’s compliance with the treaty, giving us confidence that our respective forces remain within the treaty limits and providing us with insight into each other’s strategic nuclear forces and operations that would be lost without extension of the treaty,” he said.The new inspection and verification regime that will be established allows satellite and remote monitoring, as well as on-site inspections of both countries’ nuclear weapons facilities. Russian Ambassador Gennady Gatilov praised what he called the balanced approach taken by the two nuclear powers in renewing the START treaty. He said it reflected the responsibility felt by both parties in the importance of maintaining global strategic stability.“We review positively the decision by the new U.S. administration to respond to our Russian initiative to renew the treaty for five years without any additional terms or conditions. We see the consistency of the steps taken by President Joe Biden. He followed up on his campaign promises with concrete action, and he sent a signal that inspires optimism,” he said. Both the U.S. and Russian ambassadors agreed that the New START treaty was the beginning, not the end, of their engagement on strategic issues. They expressed an urgency in pursuing new arms control measures aimed at controlling nuclear missile weaponry.
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Ugandans Applaud ICC Conviction of Leading LRA Commander
Ugandan victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have welcomed the war crimes conviction of the militant group’s second-in-command. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has found LRA child soldier-turned commander Dominic Ongwen guilty on 61 charges, ranging from murder and rape to kidnapping and torture.
Among the charges Ongwen was convicted of Wednesday is the crime of conscripting children under the age of 15 into the LRA’s Sinia brigade and using them to participate in hostilities.
Oyet Vincent was 12 years old, living in the Lukodi displaced person’s camp in northern Uganda, when Lord’s Resistance Army rebels launched a war against Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, in 1987.
Vincent says he and other children were abducted a total of six times and forced to fight in the war.
Vincent says he feels overwhelmed today, but adds he feels lucky to witness the verdict.
“You know, it has taken long, we have been waiting for it. I feel that justice has, it’s almost at the door site. Only that I’m now waiting for the sentence. It will also bring attention to other people that irrespective of the color, whether you are sort of big here, we are all equal before the law,” Vincent said.
Ongwen was found guilty on 61 of 70 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The charges were for his role in attacks on four internally displaced people’s camps in northern Uganda between July 2002 and December 2005.
He was found guilty on charges of murder, kidnapping, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage, among many others.
Brian Kalenge, an international war crimes lawyer working with the ICC office in Uganda, says it was important that justice prevailed. “I think this is a big step in terms of addressing, psychologically, the effects of that war. You know that we say there can be no peace without justice. So, it was very important that Ongwen was found guilty, so that we can then begin the process of reparation,” Kalenge said.
The government of Uganda lodged the case against Ongwen and other LRA leaders, including the group’s supreme leader, Joseph Kony, in 2004.
Uganda government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo says the verdict is a strong warning to all who want to take up arms, saying impunity will not be tolerated.
“It sends a signal that no matter how long it takes, justice will always prevail if evidence is properly collected and presented to courts of law. And we hope this ruling should send a signal to everybody in Uganda particularly those who want to take the course that Ongwen and the Konys took,” Opondo said, referring also to Kony’s son, another LRA commander.
Kony, who is wanted by the ICC on charges similar to Ongwen’s, remains at large. He is believed to be in the Central African Republic but has not been definitively sighted in years.
Ongwen now awaits sentencing for his crimes. He faces up to 30 years in imprison.
For victims like Oyet Vincent, they now await a reparations session. However, Vincent says no amount of money can replace the hundreds of thousands of lives destroyed or lost.
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Attacks on Albinos Resurface in Malawi; UN Offers to Help
Malawi police say fresh attacks against albino people have left one person dead and a girl traumatized. The United Nations in Malawi on Wednesday called on the government to address the root causes of the attacks, which have killed over 170 albinos over the past seven years.Police records show that two people have been attacked within the past week in southern Malawi.The latest is an attack on a 12-year-old albino girl in Machinga district who narrowly survived abduction Tuesday night when two unknown assailants broke into her bedroom.The assailants, police say, fled after the girl’s mother shouted for help.The incident came three days after police in Mangochi district arrested three people in connection to the death on a 26-year-old man, Saidi Futon Dayton, who went missing January 27.According to police, the attackers confirmed killing Dayton but said his body was taken in a bag for sale by their accomplice, who is still at large.Boniface Massa is country director of Standing Voice Malawi, an international NGO on rights for people with albinism.“It’s very emotional. I never expected that attacks to the level of someone being killed will happen again. I am aware there have been threats but I never expected that in 2021 we will register a case of someone being killed. So, it’s really a shocking moment for me. As also a person with albinism, it brings me back all memories of my brothers and sisters whom we have lost,” said Massa.Albinos in Malawi have been facing attacks because of false beliefs that concoctions mixed with their body parts brings wealth and good luck.Statistics show over 170 albinos have been killed since 2014, with others missing and graves exhumed.Malawi’s government has tried various means to end these attacks.In 2019, it distributed mobile personal security alarms to the country’s estimated 10,000 albinos.But Massa said the introduction of the security gadgets hasn’t changed anything.“That’s a very good clear indicator of a failed system because the program needs to be monitored; the program needs to be evaluated to see how successful it has been. But unfortunately, in the recent attacks that we have seen in Malawi, we haven’t seen these alarms working,” said Massa.In a statement released Wednesday, the United Nations called on Malawi’s government to allocate adequate funds toward addressing the root causes of the attacks.Maria Jose Torres is U.N. resident coordinator for Malawi.“This is not an isolated incident. It is related to causes that go from harmful practice to poverty towards discrimination and required comprehensive approach. And this approach is embedded in (the) National Action Plan on Persons with Albinism. So actually the plan is there and it is a matter of appropriate implementation,” she said.Malawi’s Minister of Gender and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati, told reporters this week the government is disturbed with the renewed attacks.She said government has stepped up interventions to end the attacks which include sensitization campaigns involving police, traditional and religious leaders.
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