For insight into how China’s relationship with Myanmar may change after the military seized power Monday, VOA Mandarin reporter Adrianna Zhang spoke with Yun Sun, a senior fellow and co-director of the East Asia program and director of the China program at the Stimson Center. Here is their conversation, edited for clarity and concision. VOA: How did we get to the situation we are in today? Yun Sun: Well, I always argue that one of the central problems for Myanmar is the unsettled relationship between the civilian government and the Burmese military. That conflict has never disappeared, even with the democratic process over the past 10 years. We know that the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won 83%, a landslide victory in the election, and to the military’s great disappointment, the USDP — the Union Solidarity and Development Party that has military support — only won a couple of seats, so they did not do very well in the election. I think the military has raised the issue of electoral fraud and the voting fraud as a tactic or a strategy to challenge the election results. So, I think what we are seeing is that the military had such a loss, expressed their grievances and demanded political concessions from the NLD government. And now, the government refused to accommodate or refused to be co-opted or to be coerced. And we know that over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday, negotiations between the military and the NLD did happen. And they were not able to achieve a consensus as to what kind of compromise either side is willing to accept. So, that’s what has caused the military coup as we know it. Do you think this is a coup? YS: All the signs and all the evidence that we have seen so far points to the fact that this is a coup. So, it’s not just the military seizing power in accordance with the constitution? YS: The question that you’re asking is that if the military was acting according to the constitution, then it’s not a coup. I think that’s highly debatable. For example, the constitution says only the president has the power to announce the state of emergency in the country. In this case, I would say that the military did appoint the vice president, who is from the military, to be the interim president and then announced the state of emergency, which is not, strictly speaking, constitutional. What do you make of China’s response, and what risks does the military seizing power pose to Beijing’s interests? YS: I think the Chinese reaction is just as expected. We know that China does not take a position on the internal affairs of another country, so nobody should expect China to step in, to condemn the military or to express its support of the NLD government. And based on what we saw out of the statements from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China wants the related parties to solve their differences properly, according to the constitution and within the legal framework, while maintaining peace and stability in the country. So, that is very classic or very typical of the Chinese position in the case of the internal turmoil of another sovereign country. Is it going to have an impact on Chinese national interests? YS: I think it does. Remember, State Counselor Wang Yi was just visiting Myanmar about three weeks ago. And during his visit, he expressed strong support for the NLD government and expressed a strong commitment that China wants to work with the NLD government during their second term. China Seen as Pressing Advantage in Myanmar with High-Level Visit, DealsChina and Myanmar agreed to push ahead with a controversial Belt and Road project and lock in a five-year pact on trade and economic cooperationFor a lot of the issues, especially the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor that China wants to pursue, I think the prospect has become much more uncertain as compared to a month ago.China Draws Myanmar Closer with Visit from President XiNew deals emphasize China’s tightening links to MyanmarI think overall, this coup or this political turmoil in Myanmar has dampened or has mitigated Myanmar’s appeal as a destination for Chinese investments and as a destination for Chinese economic activities. In addition, the internal political instability in Myanmar also creates political baggage for China, because we know that China is not going to take a position against the military. Potentially China will have to cover or provide the protection for the military internationally. So, that’s going to be a major political and diplomatic liability for China when China tries to tamp down, for example, U.N. Security Council discussions or U.N. statements on the internal affairs in Myanmar. So, I can see this not being good news for China on many different levels. How will the Myanmar coup challenge U.S. President Joe Biden’s Asia strategy? YS: I think the most fundamental challenge is that Biden will have to have a response, and that response needs to be an effective one. But given how determined the Burmese military is in pursuing this coup, I doubt that anything will significantly change the Burmese military’s calculation, because they were determined to start the coup. They started the coup, and they apparently have anticipated the impact and the reaction from the international community, but they still went ahead. What can the United States do to force the Burmese military to reverse their action is going to be an important question but also a difficult question. Biden Vows ‘Appropriate Action’ After Myanmar Military TakeoverThe US is one of many governments around the world, as well as the United Nations, to express serious concern over the recent developments in the Southeast Asian nation And on a different level, if we’re looking at Biden’s presidency and Biden’s priorities, I would say that before the coup, Myanmar is not a priority. It is not even in the top 10 priorities of Biden’s foreign policy. Maybe in Asia, potentially, but Asia also has a lot of other glaring issues that demand Biden’s attention. For this coup to happen at this time, within two weeks of inauguration, it really poses a huge question to the Biden Asia team. And remember — there’s also the Congress, (which) is not going to tolerate a coup in Myanmar after 10 years of the democratization process. What we’re likely to see is that there will be mounting pressure from the Congress for the Biden administration to take decisive but also harsh measures to punish the Burmese military for their actions. But there’s also the counterargument that if you reimpose all the sanctions that can be imposed, then the military government will have nothing more to lose. Then you will lose the leverage to force them to check their calculations. So, these are really hard questions, because the issue of sanctions on Myanmar have been debated for decades, and I don’t think there are going to be easy and quick answers to this question. Do you think the U.S. will impose more sanctions and target military leaders as it did in response to the Rohingya crisis? YS: The Rohingya-related sanctions were targeted at the Burmese military, but now if the military has already taken over the country, do you sanction the whole country? We know the Burmese are probably exporting, for example, agricultural products or gems. Now we know that the military is in charge, and the revenue will be going to the military government. Do we still allow that trade to happen? And another industry that has been developing in Myanmar in the past 10 years is the textile and garment industry. And that hires a lot of people. But now we know that the military is in charge, and the military will be harvesting revenue and profits from those industries. Do we still accept Burmese garments and textiles coming to the American market? So, this goes into the morality question of sanctions. Are we punishing the government, or are we punishing the people at the same time, as well? And which one is more important? What is likely to happen next? YS: While the situation is still evolving, I think the U.S. will react with punitive measures. I think there should be an escalation ladder so that the U.S. should not start with the most important and most significant sanctions or the biggest card that the U.S. has. People are still watching to see whether there are diplomatic moves or room for diplomacy, or for there to be a negotiated result. Maybe there’s not. The window is closing, and the space is extremely limited. But I think that’s still worth looking into. So, I would say that if the U.S. is going to respond, it needs to be calculated, and there needs to be an escalation ladder instead of just throwing all the cards into sanctions to begin with.
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Month: February 2021
Ankara May Be Poised for Pivot From Middle East to Central Asia
Turkey and Azerbaijan are continuing to deepen ties by starting a major joint military exercise Monday. The display of force comes as some analysts suggest Ankara could be on the verge of a foreign policy pivot away from the Middle East to Central Asia.The 12-day military exercise involves tank divisions, airborne units, and “special forces.” Turkish-made weaponry is also set to play a prominent role.Turkish-made drones were pivotal in Azerbaijan’s defeat in October of Armenian separatist forces, in a battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan’s victory is seen as a strategic triumph for Turkey. “Turkey has invested very heavily in the Azeri military,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. The countries have close ethnic ties and define their relationship as “one nation, two states.”FILE – Men holding national flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey stand next to a memorial for people killed in Azerbaijan during the conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, outside the embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow, Oct. 19, 2020.The speed and decisiveness of Azerbaijan’s military success boosted Turkish influence in the Caucasus, further consolidating close ties between Ankara and Baku.”Turkey is expanding its influence in Caucasia; it will do more so in the future,” said Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute. Bagci suggests Ankara is poised for a shift in foreign policy, saying, “Turkey does not play the card of Islam and Middle East orientation anymore, but now rather more nationalistic, and of Turkish nationalism.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traditionally positioned himself as the defender of global Muslim rights, in particular the Palestinians. Ankara is also a strong backer of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East, and Hamas, which is designated by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization.Much to Israel’s anger and Washington’s dismay, Hamas routinely held meetings in Turkey, and Ankara hosted its leaders. Such moves traditionally played well among Erdogan’s religious voting base.But analysts say Ankara is concerned about the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize ties with Israel last year, with Sudan close behind.FILE – Members of a Turkish forces commando brigade take part in a military parade in which Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev looked on in Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10, 2020.With reports of other Arab countries, including Turkey’s close ally Qatar, ready to join the Abraham Accords, Bagci says there is awareness in Ankara that Turkey is facing growing isolation in the Middle East.”The Islamic card and talk of Muslim unity for Erdogan doesn’t function anymore, after the Abraham Accords,” said Bagci. “Everybody in Turkey realizes the Arabs fight amongst each other, but they also make peace amongst each another. The Arabs are not the Turks. It’s so simple. The Turkish public is more conscious of this, and the Israelis are the winners.”But other analysts remain cautious of a Turkish shift away from the Middle East and toward the courting of ethnic Turkic Central Asian states. “It’s too early to say, but there are some indications,” said Guvenc.Guvenc points out right-wing political parties in Turkey have broadly followed a philosophy of nationalism and Islam, created by the country’s military rulers of the early 1980s under the banner “Turkish Islamic synthesis.” ”I would say the emphasis on the Turko component of this synthesis would make sense for this government,” said Guvenc.Erdogan’s parliamentary coalition partner, the nationalist MHP, is seen as backing a shift in policy. “With MHP, his coalition partner, Erdogan will play more on Turkish nationalism than the Islamic card,” said Bagci.But any reorientation toward the Caucasus and beyond to Central Asia countries like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan isn’t without risk.”This will not go down well with Russia, definitely, which considers this region as its sphere of influence,” said Guvenc. “In central Asia, Turkey has already lost the battle and struggle for influence with Russia, and the Chinese are also rising its influence.”Russia thwarted previous efforts by Turkey to project influence across Central Asia. But Zaur Gasimov, an expert on Russia and Central Asia at Germany’s Bonn University, suggests Ankara has a stronger hand. ”Compared with the 1990s and 2000s, Turkey nowadays has much more leverage to influence Central Asian republics using its economy and migration policy just like Russia,” he said.Turkey hosts many migrant workers from across the Central Asian states, helping to develop and strengthen economic and cultural ties.A growing Turkish presence in Central Asia could be welcomed in the region to mitigate Russia’s powerful influence.”For Kazakhstan, the deepening of cooperation with Turkey, for example, could be needed to obtain a sort of balance in its relations with Moscow,” said Gasimov. Gasimov says Kazakh unease over Moscow has been heightened since Russia’s annexation in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimea, a region populated by ethnic Russians.”Kazakhstani elites are concerned about Russian policy towards Ukraine and feel insecure about the northern provinces populated by ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan. Several high-rank Russian politicians claimed Kazakh territory in the recent past,” he added.
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US Economy Projected to Return to Normal by Midyear
The U.S. economy should expand at its normal pace over the next decade, starting in mid-2021, once the coronavirus pandemic is under control, budget forecasters in Congress predicted Monday.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said as millions of Americans are vaccinated against the virus, “the economic expansion that began in mid-2020 will continue.”
The CBO said the $20.8 trillion U.S. economy, the world’s largest, “is projected to return to its pre-pandemic level in mid-2021 and to surpass its potential” — its maximum sustainable level — in early 2025.
The CBO projected the U.S. unemployment rate — 6.7% in December — would gradually decline through 2026, and the number of people employed return to its pre-pandemic level in 2024.
Labor officials say nearly 10 million of the 22 million workers laid off by the pandemic remain unemployed.
Congress last year approved nearly $4 trillion in an array of coronavirus relief aid. President Joe Biden is proposing another $1.9 trillion in assistance to individuals and businesses, as well as for a ramped-up vaccination program, although a group of 10 Republican senators has countered with a much more limited $618 billion plan.
Biden and the Republican lawmakers are meeting on their competing plans later Monday.
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Myanmar Public Figures Speak with VOA After Military Takes Control
Hours after Myanmar’s army declared a state of emergency Monday, there are still few details about what is going on and why. Widespread communication shutdowns, a curfew and the existing restrictions designed to curtail the spread of COVID-19 have restricted access to ordinary Burmese citizens. Early Monday, an address carried on military-owned television said there was “terrible fraud in the voter list during the democratic general election which runs contrary to ensuring a stable democracy.” The statement said the alleged fraud in the November vote led to protests and other actions damaging to national security, and so officials are declaring a nationwide, year-long state of emergency, “In order to perform scrutiny of the voter lists and to take action.” VOA Burmese spoke with some lawmakers and other citizens despite the challenges. The new military government was asked for comments in addition to its official statements. It has not responded, in part because of the communication shutdown. Zin Mar Aung NLD lawmaker, women’s rights civil society and political activist “This is not a good sign for democracy. We want to move forward, and this is not good for national reconciliation and strengthening democracy. It’s very frustrating. This is not a good sign for our country and democratic community around the world as our country is actively trying to engage with the world and rebuild the nation. So the situation requires close attention. We are also monitoring compromises of our leadership and world’s leaders. We are now feeling as hostages.” Bo Kyi Secretary, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners”The public is shocked, this is bad news for a majority of the people, whereas good news and happy for a handful of people. Our country’s fate is heading to the wrong direction. It is outrageous that the military interprets the 2008 Constitution as they wish. Political instability is not significant among the people, only for the specific group. People’s desire must be respected, not neglected like this. Aye Thaung President, Shwe Lin Pan Industrial Zone in Yangon”We in the industrial community have concerns that payment for workers this week may have problems as the banks are closed now. Some factories use credit and ATM cards for payments and now that internet connections are slow or banned, they are short on hard currency after having problems with (electronic) payment system. There was panic buying in the early morning and that caused price hikes of rice and other commodities. So we worry for poor families.” Thet Hnin Aung
General Secretary of Myanmar Industries, Craft & Services Trade Unions Federation “We have seen some factories’ owners are worried and asked their workers to return home following the army’s announcement. But they didn’t say exactly whether factories will be closed or not. They simply said that operations will be suspended following the announcement of the military coup. We have seen most factories are still up and running.” Kaung Htet
Former VOA Burmese intern, reported the arrest of his mother, Daw Yee Yee Cho, planning and finance minister for the Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar’s south. She was arrested with the entire regional cabinet.”Prominent activists were also arrested. My mother was arrested at home in Myeik at 5:30 in the morning. There are police patrols and military security personnel deployed throughout Myeik.”
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UN Officials Call for Protection, Justice for Victims of Darfur Violence
Two U.N. human rights experts are calling on Sudan to protect victims of intercommunal violence in the volatile Darfur region and for the perpetrators of the violence to be brought to justice. Some 163 people were killed, 217 wounded and 50,000 displaced following violent clashes between the Arab and non-Arab Massalit tribes on January 16 and 17 in West and South Darfur. Darfur, SudanAnother clash on January 18 between the Rezigat and Falata communities in South Darfur reportedly saw another 72 killed and 70 injured, with 100 families displaced. “We urge the government of Sudan to step up its efforts to protect civilians, including those internally displaced, prevent further displacements and advance solutions to internal displacement by promptly and fully implementing its national plan for the protection of civilians,” said Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, and Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. In a statement Monday, the experts also said they were gravely concerned for the internally displaced people in the Darfur region, particularly the long-term displaced. “Many have been living in protracted displacement in dire conditions, and the challenges they face to achieve durable solutions, in particular due to insecurity and land disputes, are disturbing,” Jimenez-Damary and Callamard said in the statement. Last month, the World Food Program scaled up food assistance to people displaced by the violence.
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Britain Identifies 105 Cases of South African COVID-19 Variant
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday said 105 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have been found in the nation, with 11 of those cases having no links to international travel.Speaking at a Downing Street news briefing, Hancock said health authorities plan to test 80,000 people from areas around the country to isolate and stop the spread of the new variant.”There’s currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard, and we will,” he said.A man takes a swab at a test center in Goldsworth Park, as the South African variant of the novel coronavirus is reported in parts of Surrey, in Woking, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.Hancock said the surge of new testing is targeted on those areas where the variant had been discovered and that every single positive case is being sequenced. He said health officials, in coordination with local authorities, are going door to door to test people in those areas.Hancock also announced on Monday that Britain had now vaccinated 9.2 million people against COVID-19, including 931,204 vaccinations over the weekend. He also announced that Britain has ordered another 40 million doses of a vaccine developed by the French company, Valneva, as the government prepares for the likelihood that repeated vaccinations will be needed to keep the virus in check.The vaccine, which will be made in Scotland, is still undergoing clinical trials and has not been approved by regulators.Britain has seen the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe — with over 106,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University data — but is pushing ahead with one of the world’s quickest vaccine programs.
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Uganda Opposition Leader Asks Court to Nullify Museveni’s Reelection
Uganda’s opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, best known as Bobi Wine, filed a petition on Monday contesting the January 14 reelection of President Yoweri Museveni.Wine’s lawyers said they want the court to nullify the election but also ensure Museveni, who won a sixth term in office, can never run again.Just a little after 1 p.m., lawyers representing Wine walked to the Supreme Court and submitted volumes of documents they said prove why the January 14 election should be nullified.Lead lawyer Medard Segona said solders were seen invading polling stations and stuffing pre-ticked ballots into ballot boxes to inflate Museveni’s vote totals.FILE- In this Feb. 11, 2020, photo, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is seen during a visit to Nairobi, Kenya.He argues that for decades, President Museveni and his backers have used intimidation and fraud to ensure victory.“You saw how the entire electoral process turned into a situation of terror,” Segona said. “You get to the inevitable conclusion that he’s the commonest and only denominator in the electoral violence in our history. And therefore, you know that any election that Museveni participates in can never be a peaceful election. Can never be a free and fair election demanded by the constitution of the republic.”Official election results showed Museveni winning a sixth term with 58% of the votes. Wine came in second with 35%.Segona said Wine’s National Unity Platform party encountered challenges at every step of the election process, including the beating of Wine’s supporters and campaign officials.The challenges continued into their efforts to file the petition.“They were arresting, beating and torturing our coordinators, wherever they would find them with declaration forms,” Segona said. “They went to where we were photocopying from. Arrested the person photocopying and took them. The same uncivilized group came and took over our offices in Kamwokya. We cannot access some of the documents. And they thought rather mischievously that way we would not be able to file this petition. I can tell you; we have filed it.”Justine Lumumba, the secretary general of the ruling National Resistance Movement party, said their lawyer is checking through the declaration forms from polling stations, which show how many votes the party’s candidates received at each station.“We have our declaration forms for the presidential, from the National Electoral Commission. And when we are served, we shall respond,” Lumumba said.This will be the fourth time that Museveni’s election has been challenged in court. Kiiza Besigye contested Museveni’s election after the 2001 and 2006 elections. Former prime minister Amama Mbabazi challenged the 2016 election results.The two former friends of Museveni both lost, with the court ruling that even though there were several irregularities, they were not substantial enough to nullify the election.
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Europe’s Populists Ready to Seize on COVID Vaccination Bungle
Europe’s populists have seen their polling numbers dip since the coronavirus emerged on the continent, but as the economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions starts to be felt in earnest, widening income disparity, they could see a revival, some analysts forecast. Others argue that won’t happen, if incumbent governments and establishment parties can restore public faith in their competence, cushion lower-income and rural populations from economic misery, and get their countries back on track working again soon. The populist challenge is dimming, they say, pointing to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s November election loss on the other side of the Atlantic. “One reason is their trademark scorn for expertise, which enthuses a minority of voters but unsettles many more who are worried about their health and livelihoods,” according to Tony Barber, Europe editor of the Financial Times. An elderly visitor receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Cent Quatre cultural center in Paris, France, Feb. 1, 2021.While acknowledging that the populists have not had a “good” pandemic, Matthew Goodwin, a political scientist and visiting fellow at Britain’s Chatham House research group, believes political turbulence generally lies downstream of crises and the Great Lockdown will have seismic effects that are hard to foresee.”Emerging evidence shows it looks fairly certain the Great Lockdown will actually exacerbate divides in our society that began to sharpen a few decades ago, and were then worsened by the Great Recession,” he said. The European Union isn’t helping to head off a possible revival in political populism on the continent, which recruits partly on the basis of euro-skepticism. Logistical missteps and hidebound bureaucracy have marred the EU’s vaccine rollout, prompting rising public frustration with the pace of inoculations and adding to anxiety about a grim northern hemisphere winter ahead. Some commentators see this as a gift for populists with the low-paid, the unskilled and those in insecure jobs hit the hardest by prolonged lockdowns. The EU’s struggle to secure enough early doses to make headway in the inoculation of the bloc’s 446 million people has put the bloc front and center of widespread anger. Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was framing prematurely the bloc’s vaccine procurement strategy as a “European success story.” FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks at the end of an EU summit video conference at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 21, 2021.The 62-year-old German, French President Emmanuel Macron’s pick for the top job at the EC, had maintained that Brussels should take the lead in negotiating and procuring vaccine supplies for all 27 member states. She had the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called a halt to negotiations already under way between vaccine developer AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish firm, and Germany’s health minister, along with his counterparts in France, Italy and the Netherlands. Von der Leyen, supported by Merkel, argued a collective approach would work better as it would avoid vaccine nationalism and competition among member states. Negotiating as a bloc would provide more leverage to haggle over pricing with the pharmaceutical giants. But an overriding motivation was to show how well the EU could do. That would overshadow the bloc’s lack of solidarity at the start of the pandemic, when calls for help from Italy, the first country to suffer the full force of the virus, were rebuffed, and member states competed for supplies of personal protective equipment and shut borders without consulting each other. Some of the problems in the rollout have been country-specific but there are mounting doubts about the EU’s collective approach to procurement and distribution. Go-it-alone Britain has vaccinated more than 13% of its adults so far while the EU average is barely nudging 2%, with the gap growing. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks past waiting patients as he visits a COVID-19 vaccination center in Batley, West Yorkshire, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.British regulatory authorities were quicker to approve vaccines and signed contracts with manufacturers three months before the EU. As a result, Britain has not been impacted as much as the EU by production delays and difficulties. On January 22, the EU reacted with fury when AstraZeneca disclosed it would have to reduce by around two-thirds doses expected over the next two months because of production difficulties. “There are no signs that the vaccination rate in the EU is accelerating, unlike in the U.K. and U.S., where daily vaccination rates have increased substantially in the past few weeks,” according to Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, a Brussels-based research group. “Part of the explanation is that the EU ordered too few vaccines too late. It was slow to order the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, even when it became the front-runner and its efficacy had been documented.” The Bruegel director has also faulted the EU for not thinking ahead and crafting a strategy to increase vaccine production by mobilizing other manufacturers to help to do so. He cautioned it is “impossible to say how things would have gone if there had not been joint EU action.” Nonetheless, the EU’s logistical missteps are drawing fire. FILE – Bavaria’s State Prime Minister Markus Soeder removes his protective mask before a so-called home office summit during the coronavirus pandemic in Munich, Germany, Jan. 13, 2021.Markus Soeder, the premier of the German state of Bavaria, and a contender to succeed Merkel when she quits in September, said the “operational responsibility” for the “more than unsatisfactory” situation rests with Brussels. “The decision was made in what I think is a typical, normal, bureaucratic EU procedure,” he added. Von der Leyen was the subject of a scathing article Sunday by Germany’s leading magazine Der Spiegel, which said the vaccine rollout “might ultimately turn out to be the greatest disaster of her political career.” With lockdown frustration building — the Netherlands experienced three days of riots last week after the government introduced a nighttime curfew — and with anger building over the snail-like pace of inoculation, populists see a political opening. Some had aligned themselves with anti-vaccine skeptics but are moving away from that position and focusing now on the issue of EU competence. France’s Marine Le Pen, the euro-skeptic far-right leader, has seen her popularity surge. A poll last week showed her trailing Macron by just 52% to 48%. Macron faces a tough reelection bid next year.
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German Pharma Company Bayer to Produce New COVID Vaccine
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer announced Monday it will help a smaller German biomedical company, CureVac, produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the latest drug maker to offer up manufacturing capacity as supplies fall behind demand worldwide.
At a virtual news conference hosted in Berlin Monday by Health Minister Jens Spahn, Bayer’s pharmaceutical chief, Stefan Oelrich, said the company expects to produce 160 million doses of CureVac’s experimental vaccine, which is currently in late-stage testing, in 2022.
Bayer and CureVac reached an agreement last month to work together on a vaccine. Oelrich said Bayer has experience and capacity to expand CureVac’s production capacity.
CureVac’s vaccine is still in the testing phase, and the company’s CEO, Franz-Werner Haas, said the vaccine his likely to be considered for approval “to produce up to 300 million doses by the end of 2021.”
Given the issues encountered getting vaccine orders filled, Health Minister Spahn said it was in Germany’s – and Europe’s – best interest to have production and development capacities in the region and to support them as best they can – even if the vaccine production is a year out.
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Biden Vows ‘Appropriate Action’ After Myanmar Military Takeover
President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. would review sanction laws and take “appropriate action” against Myanmar following the military takeover of the country.“For almost a decade, the people of Burma have been steadily working to establish elections, civilian governance, and the peaceful transfer of power,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement Monday, noting that Washington had lifted sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, during its transition to democracy.”The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action,” the statement said, urging other nations to do the same.The U.S. is one of many governments around the world, as well as the United Nations, to express serious concern over the Myanmar military’s takeover of the country and called for the release of detained political leaders.The Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks at the Bundestag on Dec. 18, 2020, in Berlin.In a statement issued by his spokesperson, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “grave concern regarding the declaration of the transfer of all legislative, executive and judicial powers to the military. These developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar.”Tom Andrews, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, urged countries to consider sanctions against Myanmar as well.“Decisive action is imperative, including the imposition of strong targeted sanctions, and an arms embargo until such time as democracy is restored,” he said in a statement.The European Union, Britain, Australia, India, Japan, and Singapore all expressed their concerns about the situation. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) appealed for “a return to normalcy” in Myanmar — a member country of the association.”We reiterate that the political stability in ASEAN Member States is essential to achieving a peaceful, stable and prosperous ASEAN Community. We encourage the pursuance of dialogue, reconciliation and the return to normalcy in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar,” Brunei, the current chair of the 10-nation bloc, wrote in a statement.Myanmar’s military checkpoint is seen on the way to the congress compound in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Feb. 1, 2021.Myanmar’s military seized control of the country Monday under a state of emergency set to last one year, citing a lack of action on its claims of voter fraud in November elections. Hours earlier, Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials from the ruling National League for Democracy party, were detained.China, one of Myanmar’s most important economic partners, said it was still gathering information about the recent developments.”We have noted what happened in Myanmar, and we are learning the further situation now. China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and maintain political and social stability,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
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US Economy Projected to Return to Normal by Mid-Year
The U.S. economy should expand at its normal pace over the next decade, starting in mid-2021, once the coronavirus pandemic is under control, budget forecasters in Congress predicted Monday.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said as millions of Americans are vaccinated against the virus, “the economic expansion that began in mid-2020 will continue” through 2031.
The CBO said the $20.8 trillion U.S. economy, the world’s largest, “is projected to return to its pre-pandemic level in mid-2021 and to surpass its potential” — its maximum sustainable level — in early 2025.
The CBO projected the U.S. unemployment rate — 6.7% in December — would gradually decline through 2026, and the number of people employed return to its pre-pandemic level in 2024.
Labor officials say nearly 10 million of the 22 million workers laid off by the pandemic remain unemployed.
Congress last year approved nearly $4 trillion in an array of coronavirus relief aid. President Joe Biden is proposing another $1.9 trillion in assistance to individuals and businesses, as well as for a ramped-up vaccination program, although a group of 10 Republican senators has countered with a much more limited $618 billion plan.
Biden and the Republican lawmakers are meeting on their competing plans later Monday.
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Military Takeover in Myanmar; Civilian Leaders Jailed
Myanmar’s military took control of the country Monday just hours after detaining civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi. The military cited a lack of action on its voter fraud claims in recent elections. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.
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Biden, Senate Republicans Far Apart on New Virus Relief Bill
U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting 10 Republican senators for talks Monday about a new round of coronavirus economic relief, but the U.S. leader and the lawmakers are far apart on how much should be spent. The Democratic president, in the second week of his four-year term, has proposed a $1.9 trillion package but the opposition lawmakers on Monday called for a $618 billion deal. The White House meeting comes after the Republicans sent a letter to Biden, urging him Sunday to negotiate on a new relief deal rather than trying to get his approved solely with the votes of congressional Democrats. Ahead of the meeting, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that while the president is willing to negotiate, “Clearly, he thinks the package size needs to be closer to what he proposed than smaller.” Biden said on Twitter, “Hardworking Americans need help, and they need it now. That’s why I’m calling on Congress to immediately pass my American Rescue Plan that will deliver direct relief, extend unemployment insurance, help folks put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, and more.” Both Biden and the Republicans are calling for $160 billion for testing, vaccines and personal protective equipment on top of hundreds of billions that were approved last year as the virus swept into the United States. But the president and the lawmakers diverge on other aid proposals. Biden wants to increase $300 weekly unemployment insurance payments from the federal government to $400 and extend them through September, while the Republicans want to keep the payments at the current $300 and only through July. Biden has proposed sending most Americans, all but the biggest wage earners, $1,400 checks on top of the $600 checks that were approved by former President Donald Trump in late December. The Republicans are supporting $1,000 checks for lower-income Americans. Biden agreed to meet with the Republicans as Democratic congressional leaders mapped plans to move quickly this week to adopt Biden’s plan with only the votes of Democrats that control both chambers of Congress. FILE – Senator Susan Collins talks to reporters before attending the impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Jan. 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.The Republican senators, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, told Biden in a letter on Sunday that they “recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your administration to meet the health, economic, and societal challenges of the COVID crisis.” Whether Biden and the lawmakers agree to a deal is uncertain. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., heads to an interview on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 25, 2021.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer complained that the Republicans are not starting near Biden’s spending proposal. “We cannot do the mistake of 2009 (during the Great Recession) where they whittled down the program so that the amount of relief was so small that the recession lasted four or five years,” Schumer told the New York Daily News on Sunday. But Republicans say Biden will get his administration off to a bad start if he doesn’t compromise with them on coronavirus legislation. “In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the Republican senators wrote in their letter to Biden. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.” Biden press secretary Psaki said in a statement, “With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large. As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little. Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.” FILE – White House press secretary Jen Psaki listens as National Economic Council Director Brian Deese speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Jan. 22, 2021, in Washington.Brian Deese, the director of Biden’s National Economic Council, told CNN on Sunday that the president’s proposal is “calibrated to the economic crisis that we face,” but that Biden would look at the Republican proposal. Deese said Biden is “uncompromising when it comes to the speed we need to act at to address this crisis,” including a reeling economy, a sluggish rollout of coronavirus vaccinations across the country and a steadily increasing U.S. coronavirus death toll. It now stands at more than 441,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. Biden has said Democrats will push through their version of the relief package on a party line vote in Congress if they need to rather than engage in protracted negotiations. Deese declined to say what overall amount Biden would be willing to agree to. But he said the president was willing to target the cash stipends so that money does not go to bigger wage earners. “We want to get cash into the pockets of people who need it the most,” Deese said. “The immediate focus,” he said, “is putting a floor under the economic crisis.” Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the 10 Republicans calling for a compromise with Biden, said, “Let’s focus on those who are struggling.” He said it was “not in the interest of the Democratic Party to ram through” its version of the relief bill. “If you can’t find bipartisanship on COVID-19, I don’t know where you can,” Portman said. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus.
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Russia Considers Imposing Jail Term on Navalny
The Russian general prosecutor’s office said Monday that that it supports a request by the federal prison system to impose a jail term on opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, instead of a suspended sentence. Navalny faces the possibility of a 3.5-year prison sentence over charges he violated the parole terms of a 2014 suspended sentence the European Court of Human Rights later deemed baseless. Navalny is being held in pre-trial detention for 30 days for alleged parole violations upon his return to Russia from Germany in mid-January, following a lengthy recuperation from a near-lethal poisoning attack the opposition politician has blamed on the government of President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin denied involvement but refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing a lack of evidence. Thousands protested in cities across Russia on Sunday, defying threats of arrest by the government for a second straight weekend, demanding Navalny’s release. As of late Sunday, independent monitoring groups reported well more than 5,000 arrests, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, during protests the government saw as “unauthorized.”Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, arrives at a court building in Moscow, Feb. 1, 2021.About a week ago, thousands of Russians took to the streets protesting Navalny’s detention and Russian police made about 4,000 arrests nationwide. The United States and its European allies have condemned Navalny’s detention and the aggressive Russian government response against demonstrators, prompting Kremlin countercharges of Western interference in its internal affairs. Moscow closed In Moscow, authorities closed most of the city center on the snowy Sunday morning — making it all but impossible for protesters to gather at a chosen spot outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Services (FSB). As a result, protest organizers issued a last-minute change of location — launching a chain of events in which Navalny’s allies issued instructions through social media, demonstrators trudged through snow in search of a crowd, and the government dispersed scores of riot police to stop them. The dispersed nature of the demonstrations made assessing the scale of the event all but impossible. At one point, several thousand people were seen gathered outside several Moscow metro stations. Later, a column of several thousand was seen marching toward Matrosskaya Tishina — the jail where Navalny is currently being held. Elsewhere — everywhere it seemed — demonstrators were looking at their social media feeds for instructions or asking those they came across: “Where is everyone heading now?” Rally to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Berlin, Jan. 31, 2020.Each time, authorities had police or riot police in place to make arrests and deflect the crowd’s movement. At several points throughout the day and in different locations, detained protesters simply waited for new police buses to arrive. The ones already on site were filled beyond capacity. The decision to close everything from metro stations to streets and businesses throughout the center of Russia’s capital was seen by some as evidence of the protests’ growing power. “I’m 65 and I’ve never seen Moscow shut down like this,” said Sergey, a pensioner, in an interview with VOA. “The city has been occupied by troops.” Crackdowns There were signs that — having been caught off guard by the scale of recent demonstrations — authorities were cracking down in advance. Several activists were arrested and given short sentences for “anti-social” behavior this past week. Criminal cases were launched against nearly two dozen protesters who now face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences. Rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In addition, several high-profile journalists were detained on the grounds they had promoted the rally on social media. Meanwhile, state enterprises ranging from government-affiliated corporations to universities discouraged attendance at the protests. “Our school administration told us if we came, we’d never find a decent job with a decent salary and might have troubles finishing school,” said Anastasia, a student at a Moscow university, in an interview with VOA a short distance away from massed riot police. Her friend Ekaterina said they had made peace with their decision. “Our constitution allows us to gather peacefully. No one has a right to detain us but if I am, so be it.” Authorities also put pressure on Navalny allies — placing the opposition leader’s brother Oleg and dozens of associates from the Navalny-led Anti-Corruption Foundation under house arrest. They were charged with promoting an illegal protest last week that authorized deemed a health risk due to the coronavirus. Public health concerns, however, were undermined by a near simultaneous decision by Moscow to lift remaining restrictions on bars and nightclubs. In a separate move, Russia placed Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief strategist, on an international wanted list. Volkov who currently resides in Europe, was charged in absentia with urging underaged Russians to violate public gathering restrictions and risk legal penalties — a key talking point in Russian state media’s effort to undermine Navalny’s appeal. Navalny supporters maintain that they will keep up the pressure on authorities to release the opposition politician.
They’ve announced another protest for February, when Navalny is scheduled to appear in a court hearing that may determine the terms of his confinement.
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Mogadishu Hotel Attack Death Toll Rises to 15
The death toll from Sunday’s assault on a hotel in Somalia’s capital has risen to 15, with at least 20 others injured, according to a police spokesman and medical officials in Mogadishu.
The dead include four assailants in addition to 11 victims, say security officials.
The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.
A well-known top retired general, Mohamed Nur Galal, and young couples on their honeymoon were among those killed.
“The newly married young couples came from abroad and they were having their honeymoon time at the hotel. We were told around 3:00 am local time on Monday that their dead bodies were found inside their hotel room,” said Farah Abdirahman, the uncle of one of the women killed.
The attack at one of Mogadishu’s popular hotels, the Afrik Hotel, began with a car bomb explosion and then al-Shabab gunmen dressed in Somali military uniforms stormed the building.
The four al-Shabab assailants died during an operation in which the security forces tried to flush the militants out of the building, police spokesman Sadiq Aden Ali told reporters.
Three of the militant gunmen were shot by the police and one blew himself up, survivors and witnesses at the scene told VOA Somali.
Security forces were able to rescue dozens of people from the hotel during the siege.
Among the survivors was a VOA reporter, Abdikafi Yusuf Aden, who was inside the hotel when the militants stormed.
“There was confusion and thick smoke rose up after the blast occurred. People were jumping down over the wall as we ran for our lives,” Aden said.
Footage circulated on social media showed hotel residents including women jumping from the windows to escape the attack.
Around midnight Sunday Somalia’s government announced its security forces ended the seven-hour siege.
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and the country’s prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble have both condemned the attack.
In a statement on Monday, James Swan, special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Somalia, also denounced the attack.
“We are appalled by this reprehensible and senseless attack on a venue frequented by innocent civilians, and condemn it in the strongest terms,” he said.
Heavily guarded area
The hotel, which is known to be a gathering place for Somali government officials and people from diaspora is located along a strategic road linking downtown Mogadishu with the international airport.
Politicians, lawmakers, and senior civil servants often go to the hotel for coffee and political conversations.
Analysts question how the militants were able to target the hotel even though it is in a heavily guarded area.
“There has been a security alert before the attack. Therefore, the security forces and hotels were supposed to be very vigilant but that did not happen,” said former deputy of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, Abdisalan Yusuf Guled.
“Most of the roads leading in and out of government officials and hotels have sealed with road blockage before for security reasons and to prevent al-Shabab attack, but it seems those measures did not help,” Hussein Moalim Mohamud, Somalia’s former national security adviser told VOA Somali. “The government security officials have to respond how al-Shabab is still able to attack such a heavily guarded area.”
Former intelligence officer Colonel Abdullahi Ali Maow says the militants carry out such attacks when there is a security negligence and the country’s leaders get busy into political disputes.
“Al-Shabab always takes advantage of when the country’s leaders are busy with politics. And this time when there is a strong political dispute on the elections due to hold next month their aim is to show presence, and that they are still capable of attacking wherever they want in the city.”
Sunday’s attack comes as the country’s top leaders and the leaders of the regional states convene in Dusamareb, capital of the Galmudug regional state, for talks that will focus on a delay in the timetable of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections and solving political disputes that caused the delay.
The attack also comes just weeks after the U.S. said they completed withdrawal of some 700 U.S. troops who had supported the government’s fight against al-Shabab. Falastin Iman in Washington and Hassan Qoyste in Mogadishu have contributed this report.
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Diesel Industry Awaits Biden Clean Energy Initiatives
U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to bring what he calls a Clean Energy Revolution to tackle climate change. The diesel industry, which had gone through its own revolution a decade ago to meet stricter environmental standards, has seen payoffs in adopting “green” fuel initiatives. Genia Dulot has the story.
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Somali Nationals in Kenya Welcome US Travel Ban Lift
Somali nationals in Kenya have welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s lifting of a travel ban imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump on some predominantly Muslim majority and African countries. More from Brenda Mulinya in Nairobi.Camera: Amos Wangwa
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United Nations, Governments Around World Concerned About Myanmar Military Takeover
The United Nations and many governments around the world expressed serious concern over the Myanmar military’s takeover of the country and called for the release of detained political leaders.In a statement issued by his spokesperson, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “grave concern regarding the declaration of the transfer of all legislative, executive and judicial powers to the military. These developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar.”In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “stands with the people” of Myanmar “in their aspirations for democracy, freedom, peace, and development,” and called on the military to immediately reverse its actions.The White House, in a statement, added, “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed.” The statement said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the matter.The European Union, Britain, Australia, India and Singapore all expressed their concerns about the situation as well.Myanmar’s military seized control of the country Monday under a state of emergency set to last one year, citing a lack of action on its claims of voter fraud in November elections. Hours earlier, Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials from the ruling National League for Democracy party, were detained.China, one of Myanmar’s most important economic partners, said it was still gathering information about the recent developments.”We have noted what happened in Myanmar, and we are learning the further situation now. China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and maintain political and social stability,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
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Who Is Aung San Suu Kyi?
Here are some facts about Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, the 75-year-old who rode to power after a 2015 landslide election win that established the country’s first civilian government in half a century.
-She is the daughter of independence hero Aung San and spent much of her youth overseas.
-In 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Yangon, then the capital, to care for her dying mother and was swept up in student-led protests against the military that had ruled since a 1962 coup.
-An eloquent public speaker, she was a likely candidate to lead the movement, but the protests were crushed, its leaders killed and jailed, and she was soon imprisoned in her lakeside family home, where she remained until 2010.
-She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which her elder son Alexander collected on her behalf.
-In August 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi had her first meeting with then-President Thein Sein, a former general and head of the quasi-civilian administration, marking the start of a pragmatic period of engagement with the government of former soldiers.
-In 2015, she came to power on a platform of ending civil war, drumming up foreign investment, and reducing the army’s role in politics. She also promised Western allies she would address the plight of the Rohingya Muslim people.
-Rohingya militants attacked security forces in Rakhine State in August 2017. The military responded with a campaign that included the torching of hundreds of villages and killings. Aung San Suu Kyi blamed “terrorists” for an “iceberg of misinformation” about the crisis and said the military was exercising the “rule of law.”
-She went to the Hague in 2019 to face charges of genocide brought against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. She acknowledged the possibility war crimes had been committed but framed the crackdown as a legitimate military operation against terrorists.
-Results from a November 2020 parliamentary election showed her ruling National League of Democracy party had won enough parliamentary seats to form the next administration. The NLD said it would seek to form a government of national unity.
-After weeks of disputes about the election results involving the military, in the early hours of Feb. 1, Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other senior figures from the ruling party were detained in an early morning raid.
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Vaccine Skepticism Lurks in Town Famous for Syphilis Study
Lucenia Dunn spent the early days of the coronavirus pandemic encouraging people to wear masks and keep a safe distance from each other in Tuskegee, a mostly Black city where the government once used unsuspecting African American men as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease.
Now, the onetime mayor of the town immortalized as the home of the infamous “Tuskegee syphilis study” is wary of getting inoculated against COVID-19. Among other things, she’s suspicious of the government promoting a vaccine that was developed in record time when it can’t seem to conduct adequate virus testing or consistently provide quality rural health care.
“I’m not doing this vaccine right now. That doesn’t mean I’m never going to do it. But I know enough to withhold getting it until we see all that is involved,” said Dunn, who is Black.
The coronavirus immunization campaign is off to a shaky start in Tuskegee and other parts of Macon County. Area leaders point to a resistance among residents spurred by a distrust of government promises and decades of failed health programs. Many people in this city of 8,500 have relatives who were subjected to unethical government experimentation during the syphilis study.
“It does have an impact on decisions. Being in this community, growing up in this community, I would be very untruthful if I didn’t say that,” said Frank Lee, emergency management director in Macon County. Lee is Black.
Health experts have stressed both the vaccines’ safety and efficacy. They have noted that while the vaccines were developed with record-breaking speed, they were based on decades of prior research. Vaccines used in the U.S. have shown no signs of serious side effects in studies of tens of thousands of people. And with more than 26 million vaccinations administered in the U.S. alone so far, no red flags have been reported.
Tuskegee is not a complete outlier. A recent survey conducted by the communications firm Edelman revealed that as of November, only 59% of people in the U.S. were willing to get vaccinated within a year with just 33% happy to do so as soon as possible.
But skepticism seems to run deeper here.
When Alabama and the rest of the South were still segregated by race, government medical workers starting in 1932 withheld treatment for unsuspecting men infected with syphilis in Tuskegee and surrounding Macon County so physicians could track the disease. The study, which involved about 600 men, ended in 1972 only after it was revealed by The Associated Press.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of the men by Black Tuskegee attorney Fred Gray resulted in a $9 million settlement, and then-President Bill Clinton formally apologized on behalf of the U.S. government in 1997. But the damage left a legacy of distrust that extends far beyond Tuskegee: A December survey showed 40% of Black people nationwide said they wouldn’t get the coronavirus vaccine. Such hesitancy is more entrenched than among white people, even though Black Americans have been hit disproportionately hard by the virus.
The Chicago-based Black nationalist group Nation of Islam is warning away members nationwide with an online presentation titled “Beyond Tuskegee: Why Black People Must Not Take The Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine.”
Gray, now 90 and still practicing law in Tuskegee, rejects such comparisons. The syphilis study and the COVID-19 vaccine are completely different, he said. He believes that enough that he himself has gotten the vaccine and is publicly encouraging others to do the same.
Georgette Moon is on a similar mission. Hoping to both protect herself and encourage skittish friends, the former city council member recently bared an arm and let a public health nurse immunize her. Now, Moon said, if only more fellow Black residents could overcome their lingering fears and get the vaccine.
“The study is a huge factor,” Moon said. “I’ve had very qualified, well-educated people tell me they are not going to take it right now.”
The Macon County health department, which is administering two-step Moderna vaccines in its modern building near downtown, could perform as many as 160 immunizations a day, officials said. But a maximum of 140 people received the vaccine on any single date during the first six days of appointments, with a total of 527 people immunized during the period. Health care workers, emergency responders and long-term care residents are currently eligible for shots in Alabama, along with people 75 and older.
There are some signs of hope. State statistics show a slow uptick in the number of people coming in for vaccinations, and word seems to be filtering through the community that it’s OK to be vaccinated.
Down the street from the county clinic, the Veterans Affairs hospital in Tuskegee is vaccinating veterans 65 and older. While only 40% of the VA workers in the area have been vaccinated, officials said, more people are agreeing to the shots than during the initial wave.
“They know people who have had the vaccine, they hear more about it, they become more comfortable with it,” said Dr. April Truett, an infectious disease physician at the hospital.
The Rev. John Curry Jr. said he and his wife took the shots after the health department said they could get appointments without a long wait. The pastor of the oldest Black church in town, Curry said he is encouraging congregants to get the vaccine.
Yet he said he also understands the power of lingering distrust in a town that will forever be linked to the syphilis study, one of the most reviled episodes of U.S. public health history.
“It’s a blemish on Tuskegee,” he said. “It hangs on the minds of people.”
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WHO Team Visits Provincial Disease Control Center
A team of World Health Organization scientists investigating the source of the coronavirus, that first emerged in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, visited a provincial disease control center Monday that was key in the early management of the COVID outbreak. China did not release any details about the team’s visit to the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control. Team member Peter Daszak, however, told reporters it had been a “really good meeting, really important.” Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team, investigating the origins of the Covid-19 coronavirus, visit the closed Huanan Seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China’s central Hubei province, Jan. 31, 2021.Since the WHO team’s arrival last month, the scientists have also visited the Huanan Seafood Market that was linked to a cluster of COVID cases and at least one of the hospitals in Wuhan that treated some of the first patients. The scientists want to know where the virus originated, in what animal, and how it made its way into humans, something that could take years to figure out. The outbreak in China led to the worldwide COVID pandemic. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Monday that there are nearly 103 million global COVID infections. More than 2 million people have died, Hopkins said. FILE – Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang, 29, of Emergency Ambulance Service, pushes a gurney into an emergency room to drop off a COVID-19 patient in Placentia, Calif., Jan. 8, 2021.The U.S. continues to have more cases than anyplace else at nearly 103 million. India follows with10.7 million infections and Brazil comes in third with 9.2 million cases. The U.S. also has more deaths from the virus than any other nation with more than 441,000, followed by Brazil with more than 224,000 and Mexico with more than 158,000. A leading U.S. epidemiologist said Sunday he believes the highly contagious and more deadly British strain of the COVID virus could become the dominant strain in the U.S. in the coming weeks, resulting in a surge of infections “like we have not yet seen in this country.” Michael Osterholm, who served on President Joe Biden’s transition coronavirus advisory board, speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday, urged the Biden administration and U.S. municipalities to be diligent in inoculating Americans with the COVID vaccines ahead of the “hurricane” of the British variant. In Jerusalem Sunday, thousands of black-clad, ultra-Orthodox Israelis ignored the country’s ban on large gatherings to attend two separate funerals for prominent rabbis. The densely packed crowds also ignored mask-wearing directives and social-distancing observations. Each funeral had a procession through the city’s streets. Israel has staged an aggressive vaccination program, but officials are concerned that the mass gatherings in Jerusalem Sunday could undo any progress and spark a COVID surge. The European Union announced Sunday that British company AstraZeneca had agreed to send 9 million more doses of the vaccine to EU countries. AstraZeneca will also deliver the doses a week earlier than planned, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter, calling the news a “step forward on vaccines.” Step forward on vaccines.@AstraZeneca will deliver 9 million additional doses in the first quarter (40 million in total) compared to last week’s offer & will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled.The company will also expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe.— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 31, 2021On the African continent, only a handful of countries have been able to begin vaccinating their populations. On Sunday, Ghana announced it planned to acquire 17.6 million doses of the vaccine by this summer, with the first batches arriving by March. “Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of 20 million people,” President Nana Akufo-Addo said Sunday. He also announced stricter measures against the virus, including banning large gatherings, as the country battles a second wave.
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Russian Authorities Consider Giving Navalny a Jail Term
The Russian general prosecutor’s office said Monday that that it supports a request by the federal prison system to impose a jail term on opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, instead of a suspended sentence. Navalny faces the possibility of a 3.5-year prison sentence over charges he violated the parole terms of a 2014 suspended sentence the European Court of Human Rights later deemed baseless. Navalny is being held in pre-trial detention for 30 days for alleged parole violations upon his return to Russia from Germany in mid-January, following a lengthy recuperation from a near-lethal poisoning attack the opposition politician has blamed on the government of President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin denied involvement but refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing a lack of evidence. Thousands protested in cities across Russia on Sunday, defying threats of arrest by the government for a second straight weekend, demanding Navalny’s release. As of late Sunday, independent monitoring groups reported well more than 5,000 arrests, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, during protests the government saw as “unauthorized.”Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, arrives at a court building in Moscow, Feb. 1, 2021.About a week ago, thousands of Russians took to the streets protesting Navalny’s detention and Russian police made about 4,000 arrests nationwide. The United States and its European allies have condemned Navalny’s detention and the aggressive Russian government response against demonstrators, prompting Kremlin countercharges of Western interference in its internal affairs. Moscow closed In Moscow, authorities closed most of the city center on the snowy morning on Sunday — making it all but impossible for protesters to gather at a chosen spot outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Services (FSB). As a result, protest organizers issued a last-minute change of location — launching a chain of events in which Navalny’s allies issued instructions through social media, demonstrators trudged through snow in search of a crowd, and the government dispersed scores of riot police to stop them. The dispersed nature of the demonstrations made assessing the scale of the event all but impossible. At one point, several thousand people were seen gathered outside several Moscow metro stations. Later, a column of several thousand was seen marching toward Matrosskaya Tishina — the jail where Navalny is currently being held. Elsewhere — everywhere it seemed — demonstrators were looking at their social media feeds for instructions or asking those they came across: “Where is everyone heading now?” Rally to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Berlin, Jan. 31, 2020.Each time, authorities had police or riot police in place to make arrests and deflect the crowd’s movement. At several points throughout the day and in different locations, detained protesters simply waited for new police buses to arrive. The ones already on site were filled beyond capacity. The decision to close everything from metro stations to streets and businesses throughout the center of Russia’s capital was seen by some as evidence of the protests’ growing power. “I’m 65 and I’ve never seen Moscow shut down like this,” said Sergey, a pensioner, in an interview with VOA. “The city has been occupied by troops.” Crackdowns There were signs that — having been caught off guard by the scale of recent demonstrations — authorities were cracking down in advance. Several activists were arrested and given short sentences for “anti-social” behavior this past week. Criminal cases were launched against nearly two dozen protesters who now face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences. Rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In addition, several high-profile journalists were detained on the grounds they had promoted the rally on social media. Meanwhile, state enterprises ranging from government-affiliated corporations to universities discouraged attendance at the protests. “Our school administration told us if we came, we’d never find a decent job with a decent salary and might have troubles finishing school,” said Anastasia, a student at a Moscow university, in an interview with VOA a short distance away from massed riot police. Her friend Ekaterina said they had made peace with their decision. “Our constitution allows us to gather peacefully. No one has a right to detain us but if I am, so be it.” Authorities also put pressure on Navalny allies — placing the opposition leader’s brother Oleg and dozens of associates from the Navalny-led Anti-Corruption Foundation under house arrest. They were charged with promoting an illegal protest last week that authorized deemed a health risk due to the coronavirus. Public health concerns, however, were undermined by a near simultaneous decision by Moscow to lift remaining restrictions on bars and nightclubs. In a separate move, Russia placed Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief strategist, on an international wanted list. Volkov who currently resides in Europe, was charged in absentia with urging underaged Russians to violate public gathering restrictions and risk legal penalties — a key talking point in Russian state media’s effort to undermine Navalny’s appeal. Navalny supporters maintain that they will keep up the pressure on authorities to release the opposition politician.
They’ve announced another protest for February, when Navalny is scheduled to appear in a court hearing that may determine the terms of his confinement.
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Myanmar: What You Need to Know
Myanmar’s military said Monday it was taking control of the country for one year after declaring a state of emergency. Why did this happen? The military claimed there was voting fraud in November elections in which de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won a large majority in parliament. Myanmar’s election commission has rejected the fraud allegation. Why now? The military’s move came hours before the new parliament was due to sit for the first time. What happened to NLD leaders? A party spokesman said Aung San Suu Kyi was detained early Monday, along with other officials, including President Win Myint. How has the international community responded? Statements of condemnation for the military’s actions have come from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the U.S. State Department and White House, and from several other countries including Australia, India and Singapore.
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Diesel Industry Awaits Potential Biden Administration Clean Energy Initiatives
U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to bring what he calls a Clean Energy Revolution to tackle climate change. The diesel industry, which had gone through its own revolution a decade ago to meet stricter environmental standards, has seen payoffs in adopting “green” fuel initiatives. Genia Dulot has the story.
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