Month: November 2023

Russian Propaganda Presents Fringe Views in US as Mainstream

Posted on by SeeEU

From headlines taken out of context to the framing of fringe figures as representative of wider American views, Russian state-run outlets are cherry-picking U.S. content to back up Kremlin narratives.

And it comes with results. Headlines such as “Biden accused of concealing extent of corruption in Ukraine” and “US highlights NATO inability to withstand Russia for extended period” regularly propel state-run stories into the top five spots on Russian search engines, with a potential reach of millions of views.

Americans regularly cited by Russian media include former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, Republican Representative James Comer, and members of “The Squad,” a group of Democrats who push more leftist ideals in Congress.

Extremes of the political spectrum are wrapped into Russian disinformation efforts to both amplify issues and lend an air of legitimacy to anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian narratives, said Nina Jankowicz, vice president of the Centre for Information Resilience and a former disinformation chief under the Biden administration.

“We see Russia identifying individuals on the left or right of the political spectrum who might already be critics of NATO, critics of Ukraine,” Jankowicz told VOA.

That strategy is employed by Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian TV presenter whose Telegram channel has more than a million subscribers. Soloviev gained notoriety by advocating for the invasion of Ukraine, actively supporting President Vladimir Putin and promoting the idea of nuclear warfare against the West.

To reinforce those views, he regularly references Carlson. A search by VOA for Carlson references on the Telegram account between June 2020 and November 2023 returned more than 230 instances. The number of references spiked following the full-scale invasion.

The key narratives of Carlson selected by Soloviev and Russian propaganda channels include the conservative pundit’s false claims that Christians in Ukraine are persecuted, that America’s white population is oppressed and Tucker’s characterization of some U.S. media coverage of Ukraine as lies.

Other outlets take fringe commentators most Americans are unlikely to have heard and present them as having a wider influence.

These are often used to reinforce Russia’s narrative of a “declining” West, with state-run media citing figures such as Jackson Hinkle and Jack Posobiec, who are largely unknown in the United States but are favored among the far right and in conspiracy circles on X, formerly Twitter.

RIA Novosti, for instance, highlighted Posobiec’s mocking comment about Kyiv’s interest in Abrams tanks, presenting it as a view from a respected veteran and combining it with a quote from Putin emphasizing Moscow’s purported aim to end, not escalate, the conflict.

Similarly, Russian news outlet Lenta.Ru used a headline quoting Hinkle’s suggestion that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive be labeled as a suicide mission.

And Soloviev frequently references both Americans in his Telegram channel, portraying them as influential bloggers, talk show hosts, or renowned U.S. journalists.

The approach helps Russia create the appearance of more significant support for opinions that — according to analysts who spoke with VOA — are better characterized as fringe views.

And it can lead regular Russians to believe the views are more representative of how most Americans think, Jankowicz said.

Outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News on the right and The Grayzone on the left are also used by Russian state media, with stories circulating between the Russian and U.S. organizations, she said.

Jankowicz said that while she was in her role on the U.S. Disinformation Governance Board, American right-wing media outlets falsely characterized the board’s role as being to censor Americans.

“This was absolutely not true, and within a couple of days after that, we saw [the same report] on Russian Channel One with the same quotes, the same pictures, the same narratives overarching,” Jankowicz said.

The disinformation governance board — formed by the U.S. Homeland Security Department to counter misinformation — was disbanded after only a few weeks.

Featuring statements from American figures and media outlets lends a sense of credibility, she said.

“Showing these extreme viewpoints also hammers home the ideas about Ukraine or about U.S. foreign policy that the Kremlin wants its audiences to believe,” Jankowicz said.

Dominik Stecula, an assistant professor of political science at Colorado State University who focuses on political polarization, has seen similar trends. Stecula said the commentator Carlson has repeated Russian propaganda narratives on his TV show.

But Carlson’s departure from Fox in April, along with a shift in media attention to other news stories such as the Israeli-Hamas conflict, slightly changed the U.S. media landscape on the right, Stecula said. “Whoever is filling in his shoes hasn’t really spent as much time on this topic at all. The general focus on Ukraine dissipated.”

Another aspect that unites some far-left and far-right political actors is populism, Stecula said. “They were repeating some of the Russian propaganda about Ukraine, about politicians in Ukraine, like President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy.”

The academic said that far-right actors in the U.S. root their narratives primarily in the idea of America-first nationalism, while those on the far left see it “through the lens of American imperialism wielded through the power of NATO.”

Overall, Carlson, Elon Musk and niche bloggers such as Hinkle and Posobiec have significant influence within their respective ideological echo chambers, Stecula said.

At the same time, members of “The Squad” — U.S. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — have substantial influence within the Democratic Party, while not wholly representing the party’s mainstream, Stecula said.

“They’re not just your average social media influencer,” Stecula said. “These are people with significant platforms and actual positions of power. Which is why it was disappointing to see some of their behavior during the initial months of the Russian invasion and Ukraine, when they were taking stands aligned with some of right-wing Republicans.”

What the Russian invasion of Ukraine really highlighted, the academic noted, is that populism and a rejection of the mainstream have significantly united those on America’s far left and far right.

Jankowicz said that while a certain percentage of Americans may share the views of some of these people, the reality is that opinion is far more varied.

“And so, I think showing these extreme viewpoints also hammers home the ideas about Ukraine or about U.S. foreign policy that the Kremlin wants its audiences to believe,” she said.

This article originated in VOA’s Russian Service.
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Nigeria Hopeful of Economic Boom Following Investment Deals

Posted on by SeeAF

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is welcoming new trade agreements with Germany, including a deal that calls for the West African nation to export liquid natural gas.

The signing Tuesday of two memoranda of understanding between Nigerian companies and their German counterparts was the latest in a flurry of investment deals clinched by the Tinubu-led administration in recent months.

The signings come less than two weeks after Nigeria and Saudi Arabia agreed to a deal to revive the country’s nonfunctional refineries.

Tinubu is seeking to make the country attractive to investors in a bid to revive an economy bedeviled by slow growth, rising inflation and huge debt.

Under one deal, Riverside LNG of Nigeria will supply 850,000 tons of liquefied natural gas to Germany each year, working with German firm Johannes Schuetze Energy Import AG. The first delivery of gas is expected in 2026, and the president’s office said gas exports may increase in future years.

Authorities say the deal will make use of natural gas that otherwise would have been flared into the atmosphere. Nigeria has Africa’s largest gas reserves — over 5 trillion cubic meters — but due to poor processing infrastructure, the country burns off much of it every day.

Nigeria also secured a $500 million renewable energy deal with another German company. The deal calls for Germany’s DWS Group to supply funding for renewable energy projects in Nigeria, especially in rural areas.

The president’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, did not take calls for comment, but he spoke to Lagos-based Channels television about the president’s drive for foreign investments.

“He is personally conducting an open-door policy to investors from around the world, including here in Germany, to ensure that they have direct access to all of the regulators and government officials that will further enhance the environment in which foreign direct investments will be coming into the country,” Ngelale said.

This week Tinubu attended the G20 Compact with Africa Summit in Berlin that experts say is an avenue for African countries to expand their economies through investments and trade.

Emeka Okengwu, an economic analyst, said the investments are important.

“There’s no way $500 million can be wished away. It’s a big deal and should be celebrated,” Okengwu said. “Of course, it’s going to be creating jobs. The base of our productivity is energy. If we have energy, more industries will work, people can produce more, people can get jobs.”

He cautioned, however, “It is one thing to sign paper, and it is another thing to get the deal off the ground.”

Nigerian officials are also seeking investments in the electricity and rail transport sectors.
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Mine Clearing in Ukraine Could Take Years, Even Decades

Posted on by SeeEU

As Ukraine’s forces continue their counteroffensive, mines and explosives threaten its people in de-occupied regions. According to the Ukrainian government, since the start of the Russian invasion, mines have killed at least 264 civilians and injured more than 830. Demining efforts, led by various entitles, are actively underway. Myroslava Gongadze tells the story. (Camera: Eugene Shynkar; Produced by Daniil Batushchak)
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US-Canada Bridges Closed After Vehicle Explosion Near Niagara Falls

Posted on by SeeUS

All four bridges at the U.S. border with Canada in western New York were closed Wednesday afternoon after authorities reported that a “vehicle explosion” had occurred on the Rainbow Bridge near Niagara Falls.

With uncertainty surrounding the incident near the world-renowned waterfalls, officials took the precaution of also closing the Peace Bridge, Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, Whirlpool Bridge, with traffic lanes blocked both into and out of the U.S. and Canada.

Local police and the top U.S. criminal investigative agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, immediately opened an investigation into the explosion on the Rainbow Bridge, which is within sight of the much-visited Niagara Falls.

The explosion occurred on one of the busiest travel days in the U.S., the day before the annual Thanksgiving holiday when many families were driving and flying to visit relatives and friends.
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India Alleged to Have Plotted Assassination on US Soil

Posted on by SeeUS

An alleged plot by Indian government agents to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil is a serious issue that Washington has raised with New Delhi, U.S. officials confirmed on Wednesday.

“We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness, and the U.S. government has raised it with the Indian government, including at the senior-most levels. Indian counterparts expressed surprise and concern. They stated that activity of this nature was not their policy,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told VOA News.

“Based on discussion with senior U.S. government officials, we understand the Indian government is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days. We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable,” Watson said.

U.S. authorities thwarted the conspiracy and issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot, the Financial Times reported earlier Tuesday.

The general counsel of Sikhs for Justice, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is a citizen of the United States and Canada, was the target, according to the newspaper.

Sikh separatist movement

Pannun’s group is part of a movement that, for decades, has been advocating an independent Sikh state in India to be called Khalistan. India’s government frequently has accused such separatists of being terrorists.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has yet to comment publicly about the alleged plot to kill Pannun. It has previously denied any government involvement in the killing this past June of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar near the western Canadian city of Vancouver.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, three months after the fatal shooting, said there were “credible allegations” linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s death. India’s government called that “absurd.”

U.S. federal prosecutors have filed a sealed indictment in a New York district court against at least one alleged perpetrator of the plot against Pannun, according to the Financial Times.

Pannun, earlier this month, issued a video warning to Sikhs, a religious minority in India, not to fly on Air India because that would be “life-threatening.” He has denied it was a violent threat against the airline.

Sikh militants are blamed for the 1985 bombing of an Air India jetliner. Flight 192, which had departed Montreal for India, via London, disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board. It was the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history.

Pannun told the newspaper he would let American officials respond regarding specifics of the plot against him.

“The threat to an American citizen on American soil is a challenge to America’s sovereignty, and I trust the Biden administration is more than capable to handle any such challenges,” said Pannun.

Past accusations

India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, has planned assassinations targeting Sikh and Kashmiri activists living in foreign countries, according to The Intercept, citing what the online nonprofit news site said were secret Pakistani intelligence assessments that had been leaked to it.

Pakistan has previously made public allegations that RAW was involved in bombings and targeted killings inside India, including attacks on Chinese nationals working in the country.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting armed attacks inside Indian-administered Kashmir. The region has been the subject of a territorial dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbors going back to 1947, when the subcontinent was partitioned by the departing British colonialists. 
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China’s Past and Present Ties with African Ruling Parties

Posted on by SeeAF

Political analysts and opposition politicians in Africa accuse China of undermining the spread of democracy in the region by propping up entrenched ruling parties and promoting what Beijing sees as the advantages of one-party rule.

The beneficiaries in many cases are former liberation movements that won struggles against colonial and white-minority rule decades ago, often with Chinese support. Now organized as governing political parties, they have stayed in power ever since, often while accused of stifling any opposition.

A major instrument of Chinese influence is a $40 million political training school based in Tanzania and jointly established last year by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and six southern African former liberation movements.

Each of the six nations participating in the school — Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola — has been ruled by the same party since independence.

Promoting ‘weiwen’

“The CCP capitalized on an opportunity to relocate some of its political and ideological programs to Africa,” China-Africa scholar Paul Nantulya said of the school in a recently published paper for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

“The six FLMSA parties are focused on supporting one another to preserve their rule against perceived threats,” Nantulya explained. “The CCP term for this is ‘weiwen,’ meaning ‘stability maintenance’ or ‘regime survival.’

“The Nyerere Leadership School is the first political school the CCP has built overseas, a bold move by a party that often denies that it promotes its political system abroad. The school enables the CCP to proselytize and methodically share its governance model,” Nantulya continued.

“The CCP hopes to gain a return on investment as the school gives it a permanent home for year-round interactions with each party’s new recruits and senior party cadres. This puts it in an advantageous position to shape the African liberation parties’ China friendly policies and long-term influence.”

China’s position

China denies it plays a role in keeping ruling parties in power.

“We don’t interfere in the African countries’ pursuit for a development path that fits their national conditions. We don’t interfere, nor impose our own will on Africa,” wrote Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington in response to VOA’s inquiry.

VOA also asked whether China engages equally with political opposition parties in Africa.

“When it comes to party-to-party relationship, the Communist Party of China is ready to deepen interactions with political parties and organizations of all countries, including those in Africa. We seek shared views and expand shared interests,” Liu said.

The United States also provides training in its model of governance to foreign political parties through the congressionally funded National Endowment for Democracy, whose website says it is dedicated to fostering democratic institutions “including political parties, trade unions, free markets and business organizations” while supporting “human rights, an independent media, and the rule of law.”

But China itself is a one-party state, and Ray Hartley, research director of the Brenthurst Foundation, a Johannesburg-based policy think tank, said the Tanzania school’s existence is problematic.

“It is concerning that this particular school is for leaders of selected ‘liberation movements’ only, especially since it teaches the doctrine that the party must be all powerful and trump the judiciary.”

“In Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania, these liberation movement governments have been in power for decades and have not hesitated to undercut democratic processes to keep it that way,” Hartley added.

Ruling party and the opposition

With some notable exceptions such as South Africa’s African National Congress party, Nantulya said many former liberation parties “have been largely intolerant of opposition challenges and have employed wide ranging measures to stifle, constrain and even dismantle opposition parties.”

One example is Zimbabwe, which has been governed by former liberation movement ZANU-PF since 1980, and whose elections this year were marred by widespread irregularities, according to observers.

While many Western nations expressed concern over the Zimbabwean polls, Beijing congratulated the winner, the ruling party’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“It’s a cause for concern for us in Zimbabwe and in Africa in general especially in view of the ‘no questions asked’ policy on the Chinese in their engagement with Africa, their tendency to view Africa as a dumping site and of course undermining human rights democracy transparency in favor of errant regimes,” said Promise Mkwananzi, spokesperson for Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizen’s Coalition for Change (CCC).

His party’s members have been jailed, tortured and killed while mounting a challenge to the regime.

“It leaves opposition parties with no choice but to question the motives of the CCP in Africa. We believe that the CCP must have principled, non-partisan approaches to African countries and not blindly side and even aid ruling parties to rig elections violate human rights and undermine democratic entrenchment in Africa,” Mkwananzi added.

Zimbabwe’s governing party, ZANU-PF did not respond to a request for comment.

Change of guard?

However, historical friendships don’t mean China isn’t able to adapt to changes on the continent when necessary.

What happens to a ruling party when it loses an election or is removed from power is telling, Nantulya told VOA. He uses Zambia as an example, because it has had several changes of power and its former liberation movement lost to the opposition again in 2021 polls.

Zambia’s former liberation party is not part of the leadership academy in Tanzania, and Nantulya noted, “I think the Communist Party of China does not want to embarrass or complicate its relationship with Zambia. It has a policy of cultivating whoever is in office.”

He points to the fact that the CCP has been wooing new Zambian leader Hakainde Hichilema.

Likewise, in some countries in Africa, where things are less stable or specific political parties are less securely entrenched, Nantulya noted Beijing does cultivate relationships across the political spectrum, giving the examples of Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, it’s different “when a political party program is only training ruling parties and helping them to entrench their stay in office,” he said.
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Climate Change Brings Fear and Uncertainty to South Africa’s Coastlines

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Rising sea levels, extreme weather and rising temperatures are threatening coastal communities in South Africa. For VOA, Derick Mazarura has the story from Eastern Cape, South Africa. Camera — Buhle Ndamase and Norah Chisa.
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Dutch Vote in Tight Election With Far Right Set for Gains

Posted on by SeeEU

Dutch voters cast their ballots on Wednesday in a nail-biting election in which opinion polls show at least three parties — including the far right — could hope for the top spot.

A weighted poll published on the eve of the vote showed anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, or PVV, tied for the lead with the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

“I hope I don’t wake up tomorrow and we have Wilders as a prime minister. That’s a nightmare,” said Amsterdam resident Arie van der Neut, an architect, after he cast his ballot for the pro-European, center-left Volt party.

Only one thing is certain: The Netherlands will get its first new prime minister in over a decade. Rutte resigned in July as his fourth coalition government collapsed, ending a 13-year tenure.

No party is on track to take more than 20% of the vote, and with late polls showing Labour leader Frans Timmermans and Wilders making gains — and a large number of Dutch still undecided ahead of the vote — many scenarios are possible.

Although it is the tradition, there is also no guarantee that the party winning the most seats will end up delivering the prime minister. In a country where the vote is split among many parties, coalition talks can take months.

Restricting immigration — the issue that triggered the collapse of Rutte’s last cabinet — has been a key issue in the campaign, alongside climate change.

“It’s been enough now. The Netherlands can’t take it anymore. We have to think about our own people first now. Borders closed. Zero asylum seekers,” Wilders said in a television debate late on Tuesday.

Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz, a Turkish immigrant tough on immigration and Rutte’s successor at the helm of the VVD and who is hoping to become the country’s first woman prime minister, responded:

“I don’t think anyone believes Wilders would be a prime minister for all. He’s all about closing borders, excluding groups who he feels don’t belong in the Netherlands.”

Lawmaker Pieter Omtzigt, a centrist who founded his own party after breaking with the Christian Democrats, is trailing slightly behind the first three in the latest polls but will likely play an important role.

At stake in the election is also whether voters in one of Europe’s most prosperous countries are willing to continue funding climate policies, such as an expensive rollout of offshore wind farms, amid a cost-of-living shock across the continent.

With the Netherlands a founding member of the EU and Rutte a key operator in EU summits, fellow leaders will also be scrutinizing the outcome as parties on the right have suggested seeking exemptions from the bloc’s rules on agriculture and immigration.

Voting booths will close at 9 p.m., when national broadcaster NOS publishes its first exit poll.

A first-place finish for Wilders could lead the Netherlands to a hard-right coalition with a strong anti-immigration line, even though he has been seeking to soften his image in the hope of entering government.

A hard-right coalition could also soften plans to reduce livestock and fertilizer use, which are strongly opposed by farmers.

If Timmermans is better placed, this could swing the next government toward the center and more spending on climate policies and increase social spending, including raising the minimum wage.

Rutte will remain in a caretaker role until a new government is installed, likely in the first half of 2024.
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US, Philippines Conduct Patrols in South China Sea

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The United States and the Philippines were conducting joint air and maritime patrols in the South China Sea, which come as the two countries step up cooperation in the face of growingly aggressive Chinese activity in the area.

The Philippine Air Force said on Wednesday its aircraft had taken part in joint patrols on Tuesday in the vicinity of Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines, which is only about 200 kilometers from Taiwan, a self-governed island that China claims as its own.

The patrols run through Thursday and include both the U.S. and Philippine navies.

They come only days after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called the situation in the South China Sea increasingly “dire” as China seeks to assert its presence in an area where multiple nations have competing territorial claims.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea as its own waters, which has led to disputes not only with the Philippines but also with Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei, which have long been regarded as potential flashpoints in the region and the U.S.-China rivalry.

Earlier this month a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a Philippine supply ship with a water cannon in disputed waters, and last month a Chinese coast guard ship and an accompanying vessel rammed a Philippine coast guard ship and a military-run supply boat near a contested shoal, according to Philippine officials.

Speaking on Sunday in Honolulu, Marcos said China has been showing interest in atolls and shoals that are “closer and closer” to the coast of the Philippines, with the nearest atoll about 111 kilometers away.

In announcing the start of the joint patrols, Marcos said on X, the social media platform originally known as Twitter, that they were “testament to our commitment to bolster the interoperability of our military forces.”

“Through collaborative efforts, we aim to enhance regional security and foster a seamless partnership with the United States in safeguarding our shared interests,” he wrote.

Under Marcos, who was elected last year, the Philippines has been deepening its relationship with the U.S. in a shift from his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who had been closer to China and Russia.

In February, Marcos approved an expansion of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines to add four new bases from five existing sites under a 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the longtime treaty allies.

The move, which Marcos said would boost the Philippines’ coastal defense, dovetails with the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China.

Marcos has also been strengthening ties with others, including Tokyo, signing an agreement earlier in the year to allow Japanese troops to join training exercises.

 
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Kenya’s Electronic Health System Transforms Rural Health Care Access

Posted on by SeeAF

Kenya’s Health Ministry has rolled out a digital health information system to help workers diagnose patients and store their health records. Mohammed Yusuf reports from a village in western Kenya, where hospitals have recorded an increase in people seeking medical assistance since the deployment of the system
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Russia Seeks Role in Gaza Outcome

Posted on by SeeEU

The Kremlin on Tuesday hosted Palestinian representatives and foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Indonesia in what observers say was a bid to showcase its position on the Israel-Hamas war. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau. VOA footage by Ricardo Marquina.
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King Charles Welcomes South Korea’s President with Banquet

Posted on by SeeEU

King Charles III hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife at a glittering banquet at Buckingham Palace Tuesday, as Britain rolled out the red carpet for a formal state visit aimed at strengthening trade and defense ties between the two countries.

The U.K. government hopes the Korean leader’s three-day visit will help cement an “Indo-Pacific tilt” in its foreign and trade policy.

The king and Queen Camilla hosted Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee at a sumptuous white tie and tiara banquet at Buckingham Palace, where Charles paid tribute to South Korea’s political and economic advances and celebrated its culture. The monarch even singled out for praise the K-pop girl group Blackpink, whose members were among more than 170 guests in the grand ballroom.

“I applaud Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rose, better known collectively as Blackpink, for their role in bringing the message of environmental sustainability to a global audience,” Charles said in his banquet speech. “I can only admire how they can prioritize these vital issues, as well as being global superstars.”

“Sadly, when I was in Seoul all those years ago, I am not sure I developed much of what might be called the Gangnam Style!” he joked, referring to the global hit song by Korean rapper Psy.

Camilla donned the late Queen Elizabeth II ‘s ruby and diamond Burmese tiara and a red gown for the occasion, while Catherine, the Princess of Wales, chose a white gown paired with what’s known as the Strathmore Rose tiara. The headpiece had belonged to Elizabeth’s mother, known as the Queen Mother.

Earlier Tuesday Charles and Camilla welcomed Yoon and his wife at Horse Guards Parade, a military parade ground in central London. Heir to the throne Prince William and government ministers also attended the welcome ceremony, where the king and president inspected rows of soldiers from the Scots Guards in gray tunics and bearskin hats.

The visiting couple traveled by horse-drawn coach down an avenue lined with British and Korean flags to Buckingham Palace.

Yoon also is scheduled to hold talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak focused on trade, technology and defense. A defense agreement will see the two countries’ navies work together to curb smuggling and enforce U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons ambitions.

U.K. and Korean officials also will officially launch talks on an “upgraded” free trade agreement to replace their current deal, which largely replicates the arrangements the U.K. had before it left the European Union.

Britain has launched trade talks with several countries since leaving the EU in 2020, though it has finalized deals only with Australia and New Zealand. The U.K. also has joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, an Asia-Pacific trade bloc that includes Japan and 10 other nations.

Sunak and Yoon are expected to sign an agreement covering cooperation in defense and technology, including artificial intelligence. Britain hosted the first international AI Safety Summit this month, and South Korea intends to hold a follow-up event next year.

Britain also plans to invest in South Korean semiconductor manufacturing as part of international efforts to diversify the supply of the key computer components. Many of the advanced chips are produced in Taiwan, and the coronavirus pandemic and an increasingly assertive China have heightened concerns about future supply.

Sunak said agreements made during Yoon’s visit would “drive investment, boost trade and build a friendship that not only supports global stability, but protects our interests and lasts the test of time.”
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Ukrainian Military Says It Downed 14 Russian Drones

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Ukraine said Wednesday Russia launched 14 drones and a cruise missile as part of its latest attacks.

The Ukrainian air force said its air defenses downed all of the drones, which were directed at parts of central, southeastern and western Ukraine.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.

The Ukrainian military also said the Russian X-22 missile fell into a field in the Zaporizhzhia region without reaching its target.

Ukraine identified the Russian drones as being Shahed drones made by Iran, and the latest attacks followed warnings by the United States that Iran could provide Russia with ballistic missiles to use in its war in Ukraine.

“In return for that support, Russia has been offering Tehran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defense,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

Kirby said that in addition to drones, Iran has already provided Russia with guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition for use in Ukraine.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

 
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3 Dead, 3 Missing After Alaska Landslide

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Three people were killed and three were missing after a landslide barreled down a heavily forested, rain-soaked mountainside and smashed into homes in a remote fishing community in southeast Alaska.

The slide — estimated to be 137 meters wide — occurred at about 9 p.m. Monday during a significant rain and windstorm near Wrangell, an island community of 2,000 people some 250 kilometers south of the state capital of Juneau.

Rescue crews found the body of a girl in an initial search and late Tuesday the bodies of two adults were found by a drone operator. Searchers used a cadaver-sniffing dog and heat-sensing drones to search for two children and one adult unaccounted for after the disaster, while the Coast Guard and other vessels looked along a waterfront littered with rocks, trees and mud.

Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel said a woman who had been on the upper floor of a home was rescued. She was in good condition and receiving medical care. One of the three homes that was struck was unoccupied, McDaniel said.

“Our community is resilient,” Wrangell interim borough manager Mason Villarma told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “And it always comes together for tragedies like this. We’re broken, but resilient and determined to find everybody that’s missing.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration for Wrangell, saying he and his wife were heartbroken and praying for all those affected.

The landslide left a scar of barren earth from near the top of the mountain down to the ocean. A wide swath of evergreen trees was ripped out of the ground and a highway was buried by debris, cutting off access and power to approximately 75 homes.

Troopers said a large-scale search and rescue mission wasn’t initially possible because the site was unstable and hazardous. A geologist from the state transportation department was flown in from Juneau and conducted a preliminary assessment, clearing some areas of the debris field for ground searches.

Troopers warned of the threat of additional landslides. They urged people caught on the other side of the slide, away from Wrangell, to evacuate by water taxi.

Wrangell received about 5 centimeters of rain between 1 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday, with wind gusts up to 96 kph at higher elevations, said Aaron Jacobs, a hydrologist and meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau.

It was part of a strong storm system that moved through southeast Alaska, bringing heavy snow in places and blizzard-like conditions to Juneau and rainfall with minor flooding to areas farther south. Landslides also were reported in the Ketchikan area and on Prince of Wales Island, he said.

Rainfall amounts like what Wrangell received Monday are not unusual, Jacobs said, but strong winds could have helped trigger the slide. Saturated soil can give way when gusts blow trees on a slope, said Barrett Salisbury, a geologist with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Another storm system is expected in the Wrangell area late Wednesday into Thursday.

Wrangell is one of the oldest non-Alaska Native settlements in the state, founded in 1811 when Russians began trading with Tlingits, according to a state database of Alaska communities. Tlingits, Russians, the British and Americans all accounted for historical influences on Wrangell. Timber once was a major economic driver, but that has shifted to commercial fishing.

In December 2020, torrential rains prompted a landslide in another southeast Alaska city, claiming two lives. The 183-meter-wide slide slammed into a neighborhood in the community of Haines, leaving about 2.7 meters of mud and trees covering city streets.
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Americans Split on Aid to Ukraine

Posted on by SeeUS

As lawmakers in Washington weigh sending billions more in federal support to Kyiv to help fight off Russian aggression, close to half of the U.S. public thinks the country is spending too much on aid to Ukraine, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Those sentiments, driven primarily by Republicans, help explain the hardening opposition among conservative GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are rebuffing efforts from President Joe Biden to approve a new tranche of Ukraine aid, arguing that the money would be better spent for domestic priorities.

Yet opposition to aid is down slightly from where it was a month ago in another AP-NORC poll. Now, 45% say the U.S. government is spending too much on aid to Ukraine in the war against Russia, compared with 52% in October. That shift appears to come mostly from Republicans: 59% now say too much is spent on Ukraine aid, but that’s down from 69% in October.

Nonetheless, the Republican resistance to continued Ukraine aid remains strong.

“I understand the citizens need help, but I feel like we’re spending way too much money on Ukraine when we have our issues here, on our own soil, that we need to deal with,” said Eric Mondello, 40, from Fountain, Colorado. Pointing to needs such as health care for veterans and homelessness in communities, Mondello added, “I understand the U.S. has been an ally to others, but I feel like, let’s take care of our people first.”

More than one-third (38%) of U.S. adults says that current spending is “about the right amount,” which is up slightly from last month (31%). Among Republicans, nearly 3 in 10 (29%) say the current spending is about right, up from 20% last month.

Paula Graves, 69, is among those who say the amount of spending for Ukraine is the right amount.

“Putin, he’s straight up evil. I don’t think there should be any question in anyone’s mind,” said Graves, of Clovis, California. “He’s a dictator. He’s infringed on human rights, he’s a very scary person and if Ukraine falls to him, who’s next? What country’s next?”

Graves, who says she is not affiliated with a political party but leans more conservative, said she believes the U.S. has a leadership role on the global stage, adding, “I think we definitely need to put America first, but I don’t think that needs to be first and only.”

The White House has been repeatedly pressing lawmakers to pass Biden’s nearly $106 billion emergency spending package that he proposed in October. It includes more than $61 billion specifically for the war in Ukraine. The rest of Biden’s request has aid for Israel as it battles Hamas, money for various priorities in the Indo-Pacific region and additional resources to help manage migration at the southern border.

On Ukraine, the Biden administration is increasingly warning that the well of aid is running dry. In an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine’s effort to defeat Russian forces “matters to the rest of the world” and pledged that U.S. support would continue “for the long haul.”

That message was reinforced at the White House.

“As President Biden has said, when aggressors don’t pay a price for their aggression, they’ll cause more chaos and death and destruction,” John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told the White House press briefing Monday. “They just keep on going, and the cost and the threats to America and to the world will keep rising.”

But Congress has rebuffed the White House efforts at bolstering Ukraine support at least twice in recent months. First, it ignored a roughly $40 billion supplemental request before a Sept. 30 funding deadline. Then last week, it passed a stopgap funding measure that keeps the government operating through early next year, but with no additional Ukraine aid.

In the Senate, a small bipartisan group is working on legislation that would combine fresh Ukraine assistance with stricter border measures to address concerns from Republicans that the U.S. was focused on needs abroad at the expense of issues closer to home. A broad majority of senators remains supportive of Ukraine aid, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., being one of the most stalwart supporters despite the isolationist strain in his party.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said lawmakers will continue to work on the Ukraine-border package over the Thanksgiving break and won’t wait until mid-January — when Congress faces another government funding deadline — to act on Ukraine.

The big question mark is in the House, where still-new Speaker Mike Johnson — who had voted against Ukraine aid as a rank-and-file conservative — has spoken broadly of the need to counter Russian aggression yet faces unruly GOP lawmakers who have shown more hostility to continued support for Kyiv.

Johnson, too, is insisting that additional Ukraine aid be paired with tougher border measures, although it is far from certain that any immigration agreement that clears the Democratic-led Senate could pass the GOP-controlled House.

Half of U.S. adults are extremely or very concerned that Russia’s influence poses a direct threat to the United States. Democrats (53%) and Republicans (51%) are similarly concerned about Russian power – but Democrats are more likely than Republicans to see Ukraine as a nation of shared values to the U.S. and to support more aid for Ukraine.

About half of the public (48%) endorses providing weapons to Ukraine (57% among Democrats, 42% among Republicans). About 4 in 10 favor sending government funds directly to Ukraine (54% for Democrats, 24% for Republicans).

Americans have grown slightly more likely to say the U.S. should take “a less active role” in solving the world’s problems, compared with a September poll from AP-NORC and Pearson. Slightly fewer than half (45%) now says the U.S. should be less involved, up from 33% in September. Just 16% of Democrats now say the U.S. should take a more active role, down from 29% in September.

Peter Einsig, a Republican from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said he still believes the U.S. has a role to play abroad, but that he remains concerned about excessive government spending and federal debt.

Yet Einsig said he would be more inclined to support aid to Ukraine if there were more oversight into how the money was being used abroad, as well as a timeline of how much longer the U.S. would be providing support.

“We don’t have transparency on where the money is really, really going,” said Einsig, 40. “It’s a big lump sum.”

Four in 10 U.S. adults say Ukraine is an ally that shares U.S. interests and values. That view is most common among Democrats (53%), who are much more likely than independents (28%), Republicans (29%) and Americans overall to see Ukraine as a nation with similar values and needs. About half of Republicans say Ukraine is a partner that the U.S. should cooperate with, but say it is not a nation that shares U.S. values.
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Biden Highlights Efforts with China, Mexico to Combat Fentanyl

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Joe Biden highlighted “strong international coordination” by his administration to halt the flow of fentanyl and the ingredients used to produce the deadly drug following his diplomatic engagements with leaders of China and Mexico last week.

“We’ve focused on prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery,” he said on Tuesday during a meeting at the White House to address the scourge of the illicit drug that has killed more than 200,000 Americans in recent years. “But this challenge also has roots outside our borders, outside the borders of the United States.”

Biden vowed to accelerate his administration’s efforts to combat the drug following counternarcotics deals with Beijing and Mexico City reached last week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.

Fentanyl is mass-produced in Mexico using precursor chemicals largely from China and trafficked via cartels into the U.S.

“It’s a global challenge that demands global action,” Biden said.

Following their meeting, Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the resumption of bilateral cooperation on counternarcotics to reduce the flow of precursor chemicals that fuel fentanyl. 

 

“It’s a big step forward, and we’re grateful for that,” said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, during a briefing for reporters on Tuesday. “It may be some time before you see the practical results.”

With Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Biden agreed to expand law enforcement cooperation and intelligence sharing to restrict trafficking of the drug.

The administration has been under pressure to take tougher measures to stop fentanyl from coming into the country. Republican lawmakers regularly highlight the smuggling of fentanyl as a reason to fortify the U.S.-Mexico border. Several Republican candidates say they would use military force against Mexican cartels in response to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

Republicans also accuse Biden of being soft on China’s role in the epidemic.

“Communist China’s actions have told us that they choose to be our enemy. Fentanyl produced in China has killed thousands of Americans,” Republican Senator Rick Scott said in a statement.

Ineffective track record

China can control the flow of precursor chemicals in ways that Latin American governments cannot, but whether Beijing will invest in the effort remains to be seen, said Peter Reuter, professor in the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland.

Past efforts to control production and exports from outside the country have proved ineffective, he said.

“We always worry about displacement,” Reuter told VOA. “That is that if China stops sending the precursors, that the very large, poorly regulated, corruptly regulated, Indian industry will replace China.”

Illegal fentanyl is often produced in clandestine laboratories using precursors and fentanyl analogs produced by legitimate chemical and pharmaceutical companies that are not domestically or internationally regulated.

A heavy focus on supply-based strategies to limit their entry from abroad can be counterproductive to the positive steps in harm reduction that the administration has taken as traffickers find workarounds to avoid breaking the law, said Brandon Marshall, professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health.

“Many of these efforts to restrict the supply lead traffickers to identify substances which are more potent,” he told VOA. “That’s what we see play over and over again.”

Biden urged lawmakers to approve more funds to support Americans with substance abuse disorders and close existing loopholes for small shipments of the drug, which can go undetected in border crossings and even through the postal system.

“I also urge Congress to permanently make fentanyl and related substances as Schedule One drugs,” he said.

Such a move means that drug users would be even more stigmatized and move them further away from the help that they need, said Mary Sylla, director of Overdose Prevention Policy and Strategy at the National Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group for the rights of people who use drugs.

That puts people into a prison system that actually increases the likelihood of overdose, she told VOA.

Sylla argued that more focus and resources should be placed instead on efforts to reduce the negative impacts of substance use, including syringe services, overdose prevention and drug treatment for those who are interested.

In 2018, the Trump administration placed a temporary class-wide emergency scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, chemicals that are similar in structure to fentanyl as used in clinical/hospital settings. The emergency ban has been extended by Congress several times.

The ban may have unintended and negative impacts, including making research on these substances much more difficult, Marshall said.

In 2021, a group of more than 100 organizations wrote a letter urging Congress and the Biden administration to allow the emergency scheduling to expire, arguing that the scheduling exacerbates pretrial detention, mass incarceration and racial disparities in the prison system.

“As we approach the 50-year milestone of President Nixon’s announcement of the War on Drugs, there is ample evidence that these unscientific policies destroy communities, entrench racial disparities, and do nothing to reduce drug supply or demand,” the letter said.

Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
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Largest Crypto Exchange Fined $4 Billion; CEO Pleads Guilty to Allowing Money Laundering

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. government dealt a massive blow to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which agreed to pay a roughly $4 billion settlement Tuesday as its founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform. 

Zhao stepped down as the company’s chief executive, and Binance admitted to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and apparent violations of sanctions programs, including its failure to implement reporting programs for suspicious transactions. 

“Using new technology to break the law does not make you a disruptor, it makes you a criminal,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who called the settlement one of the largest corporate penalties in the nation’s history. 

As part of the settlement agreement, the U.S. Treasury said Binance will be subject to five years of monitoring and “significant compliance undertakings, including to ensure Binance’s complete exit from the United States.” Binance is a Cayman Islands limited liability company. 

The cryptocurrency industry has been marred by scandals and market meltdowns. 

Rival of FTX founder

Zhao was perhaps best known as the chief rival to Sam Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old founder of FTX, which was the second-largest crypto exchange before it collapsed last November. Bankman-Fried was convicted earlier this month of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors. 

Zhao, meanwhile, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Seattle on Tuesday to one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program. 

Magistrate Judge Brian A. Tsuchida questioned Zhao to make sure he understood the plea agreement, saying at one point: “You knew you didn’t have controls in place.” 

“Yes, your honor,” he replied. 

Binance wrote in a statement that it made “misguided decisions” as it quickly grew to become the world’s biggest crypto exchange, and said the settlement acknowledges its “responsibility for historical, criminal compliance violations.” 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Binance processed transitions by illicit actors, “supporting activities from child sexual abuse to illegal narcotics, to terrorism, across more than 100,000 transactions.” 

Binance did not file a single suspicious activity report on those transactions, Yellen said, and the company allowed more than 1.5 million virtual currency trades that violated U.S. sanctions, including ones involving Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, al-Qaida and other criminals. 

The judge set Zhao’s sentencing for February 23, however it’s likely to be delayed. He faces a possible guideline sentence range of up to 18 months. 

One of his attorneys, Mark Bartlett, noted that Zhao had been aware of the investigation since December 2020, and surrendered willingly even though the United Arab Emirates — where Zhao lives — has no extradition treaty with the U.S. 

“He decided to come here and face the consequences,” Bartlett said. “He’s sitting here. He pled guilty.” 

Zhao, who is married and has young children in the UAE, promised he would return to the U.S. for sentencing if allowed to stay there in the meantime. 

“I want to take responsibility and close this chapter in my life,” Zhao said. “I want to come back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.” 

Company sent investor assets to third party

Zhao previously faced allegations of diverting customer funds, concealing the fact that the company was commingling billions of dollars in investor assets and sending them to a third party that Zhao also owned. 

Over the summer, Binance was accused of operating as an unregistered securities exchange and violating a slew of U.S. securities laws in a lawsuit from regulators. That case was similar to practices uncovered after the collapse of FTX. 

Zhao and Bankman-Fried were originally friendly competitors in the industry, with Binance investing in FTX when Bankman-Fried launched the exchange in 2019. However, the relationship between the two deteriorated, culminating in Zhao announcing he was selling all of his cryptocurrency investments in FTX in early November 2022. FTX filed for bankruptcy a week later. 

At this trial and in later public statements, Bankman-Fried tried cast blame on Binance and Zhao for allegedly orchestrating a run on the bank at FTX. 

A jury found Bankman-Fried guilty of wire fraud and several other charges. He is expected to be sentenced in March, where he could face decades in prison. 
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Ten Years after Maidan, Ukraine’s Activists Say Their Fight Continues

Posted on by SeeEU

It has been 10 years since the start of the uprising known as Maidan, or the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine. The wave of civil unrest was sparked by the Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to not sign an association agreement with the European Union, which set off a three-month resistance movement. VOA met with three Maidan activists, whose lives — along with their country — changed forever in November 2013.
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Austin: Ukraine Fight Has Implications Across Europe, Asia as China Watches Western Resolve

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is warning that if Russia is successful in Ukraine, China will be emboldened to use military force to expand its territory in the Indo-Pacific.

“We can’t live in that kind of world,” Austin told U.S. troops at a military installation in eastern Poland Tuesday after a surprise stop the day before in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

“If you’re another autocrat, say China, and you want to take over more ground [and] more territory, and you saw what happened in Ukraine and there were no consequences to be paid, you’d feel pretty good about it,” Austin said.

Austin also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue his push to overrun sovereign democracies in eastern Europe if he isn’t shut down in Ukraine.

“Putin won’t stop if he takes Ukraine,” Austin said. “The next thing is he’s rolling across the Baltics … and the next thing you know, you and your comrades will be on the frontlines fighting against a Putin that we should have stopped, or Ukraine could have stopped early on.”

Austin comments echo many concerns voiced by NATO allies in eastern Europe since the invasion began. Eastern European nations like Estonia, Romania and Poland have hosted increasing numbers of U.S. troops and weaponry, while also building up their own defenses to deter Russian aggression.

Austin spoke with Poland’s Minister of Defense Mariusz Blaszczak while visiting the Polish base, which officials asked to remain unnamed because of the major role it plays in pushing U.S. and Western military aid into Ukraine.

“This matters, because people are trying to survive on the other end,” Austin said. “There are people dying every day.”

Austin’s trip to Kyiv on Monday was a display of Western solidarity amid increasing concerns that support for Ukraine could be waning as U.S. attention is directed to the conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. Congress has yet to fund additional assistance to Ukraine, which in turn has caused the Pentagon to start sending smaller military aid packages to Kyiv in an effort to make the funding they have left last longer.

During the visit, Austin announced a new U.S. aid package of up to $100 million from the Pentagon’s weapons stockpiles, including an additional HIMARS artillery rocket system and more munitions. Prior to the announcement, he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of his cabinet about the immediate winter fight and planning for future security assistance.

Monday marked the defense secretary’s first visit to the Ukrainian capital since April 2022, shortly after the nearly two-year war began. Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February of that year, calling the war a “special military operation.”

“We don’t want to live in a world where an autocrat can wake up and … take over his neighbor’s property,” Austin said Tuesday.

The U.S defense secretary will host another round of talks of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group virtually from the Pentagon on Wednesday. The Pentagon says more than 50 nations are expected to participate in the talks, which help Ukraine’s partners coordinate military aid sent to Kyiv.

Defense officials say the U.S. will provide a steady stream of security assistance throughout the winter, and Austin told reporters on Monday he expects the Ukrainians to be “aggressive” in the weeks ahead.
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EU Says No Palestinian Aid Going to Hamas, Programs to Continue

Posted on by SeeEU

The European Union said on Tuesday a review of its development aid to Palestinians, ordered after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, found no evidence of funds going to the militant group and that its assistance would continue.

The EU is the biggest provider of such aid to Palestinians. It has earmarked $1.3 billion for its programs for the period between 2021 and 2024.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, announced the review two days after Hamas militants attacked Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Officials said the review was ordered as a precaution, not because they had any indications EU money was going to Hamas.

“The review found no indications of EU money having directly or indirectly benefited the terrorist organization Hamas,” said Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.

Development aid is used for projects designed to have a long-term impact, such as paying the salaries of officials at the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, and the work of U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

It is separate from humanitarian aid, meant for urgent needs for essentials such as food, water and shelter.

“The review found that the control system in place has worked. As a result, payment to Palestinian beneficiaries and UNRWA will continue without any delays,” Dombrovskis told reporters.

The Commission said, however, that it would not proceed with plans to provide $82.5 million for Gaza infrastructure projects that were not “feasible in the current context.” That money will now go to other projects.

Israel launched heavy bombardment of Gaza after the October 7 attacks as part of a campaign to defeat Hamas.

The enclave’s Hamas-run government says at least 13,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed — including at least 5,600 children — during Israel’s aerial blitz and invasion. 
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US Officials: American Forces Attacked at Iraq Air Base, Respond in Self-Defense

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. forces came under attack at the Ain al-Asad air base west of Baghdad early on Tuesday and U.S. forces responded in self-defense, two U.S. military officials said, in the first reported U.S. response in Iraq to dozens of recent attacks. 

The attack against Ain al-Asad caused minor injuries and damage to infrastructure, one official said, with another saying U.S. forces used an AC-130 gunship to respond.  

The U.S. had previously responded to attacks against its forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria, claimed by Iraqi militia groups, with three separate sets of strikes on targets in Syria.  

The armed drone and missile attacks began on October 17 and have been linked by Iraqi militia groups to U.S. support for Israel in its devastating war on Gaza, which began after Hamas militants went on the rampage in Israel on October 7.  

Earlier on Tuesday, social media accounts linked to Iran-aligned Iraqi militias published a statement in the name of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” mourning a member who they said had been killed “in battle” against U.S. forces.  

His killing is the first reported casualty in Iraq linked to the Israel-Gaza war, which has drawn in other factions in Iran’s network of regional proxies, known as the Axis of Resistance, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah. 

U.S. and international forces that make up the global coalition to fight the remnants of Islamic State have been targeted more than 60 times in Iraq and Syria since October 17, U.S. officials say. 

Dozens of U.S. servicemen suffered minor injuries in the attacks but have all returned to duty, U.S. officials say. 
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Libya Flood: Thousands Still Missing Amid Mental Health Crisis

Posted on by SeeAF

In some places the water came on like a pack of cars, speeding more than 120 kilometers an hour over the tops of 30-meter-high palm trees. 

As Hani Elbah, a 47-year-old government worker, saw the flood approach, he mentally prepared for death. It was September 11, the day Storm Daniel swept into his city, Derna, in eastern Libya.

A nearby building, seven stories high with 21 families inside, collapsed. “The families were all upstairs,” recalls Elbah. “The flood crushed it like a milk carton.”

Lights from mobile phones could be seen careening into the chaos as people were swallowed by the water. Elbah, his wife, and three children survived on the roof of a neighbor’s six-story building.

They were spared, but more than two months after the flood, authorities have counted nearly 4,400 dead and more than 8,000 people missing, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 

And residents of Derna say the region is still reeling from trauma and lack of humanitarian aid to replace what they lost—which for many people was everything. More than 43,000 people are still displaced amid increasingly dire reports of suicides and other mental health crises.

“The city was worn out even before,” says Elbah.  “Now we need everything from A to Z. We need infrastructure, housing projects and water supply projects. Mostly we need psychological support.”

Immediate needs

Some schools in Derna are operating a little, with damaged buildings and teachers missing or among the dead, adds Elbah, but others are destroyed or still occupied by homeless flood victims. Shallow mass graves appear in danger of being unearthed as workers continue to search for bodies.  

On the streets of Derna, one only needs to look to the children to see the lingering trauma from the floods and what has become a widespread mental health crisis, says Sanad Alowami, a Red Crescent volunteer who works in Derna.

“Whenever they see rain, they will run to the rooftops and shout at people to come up, saying ‘It’s coming, it’s coming,’” Alowami says.

This mental health crisis is among Derna’s most urgent needs, says Talal Burnaz the Libya Country Director at International Medical Corps, but it is also a difficult issue to address. Libya lacks trained psychologists and a culture of mental health care, he says. But the trauma has become deadly, he says, with rising suicide rates and not nearly enough psycho-social support.

“We started seeing lots of reports about cases who committed suicide or tried to commit suicide in that region,” he says. “And those people of course were… mentally affected by the loss of their family members. And that number is not… small.”

People in areas destroyed by the floods also have immediate physical needs, adds Burnaz.

Roughly 2,000 families are still crowded into temporary shelters in Derna, like schools, relatives’ homes or abandoned dwellings previously considered unfit for habitation. 

And in areas washed away by the floods, recovery has been slow, and sometimes haphazard, with aid suspended from time to time and other critical recovery projects still in the planning phase, says Alowami, from the Red Crescent. 

As winter rapidly approaches, many families still need basic things, like warm blankets and sheets, he adds. 

“At the beginning we received a lot of aid,” he explains. “It was not all distributed correctly, but the demands were met. But for two weeks now most aid isn’t coming in.”

Why the lack of aid?

In the days after the floods, people from all over Libya flocked to the ravaged region, working with aid groups, or just bringing what help they could from their homes and neighborhoods, according to Mary Fitzgerald, a Libya expert from the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank. Libya’s two governments pledged their commitments to help the region recover.

But in the weeks that followed, many volunteers had to return to their families and jobs and the two governments’ moment of agreement did not blossom into a new era of joint efforts. Derna and the surrounding region remain isolated by political divisions, ravaged by years of war, easily ignored by the global community, and ripe for abuses and corruption, says Fitzgerald.

“The needs remain enormous,” she explains, “but there is increasingly a sense that the authorities have essentially moved on.”

In Derna, families are quick to say that help is needed, but they need it “direct to the people without any middle parties,” without explaining the problem exactly. 

Immediately after the floods, locals held protests, expressing anger over the corruption and mismanagement they believed lead to the collapse of the dams in the first place. But since then, international journalists and researchers have mostly not been allowed into the region and protests have stopped.

But the mental health crisis continues to deepen, according to Alowami, and many among the thousands of missing people are no closer to being identified. Bodies found now are as far away as 80 kilometers offshore. 

“The people are still shocked from the catastrophe,” he says. “People who lost their families and relatives didn’t cry for them. There wasn’t time to grieve.”
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Child Refugees ‘Wrongly Classified’ Amid Migrant Surge From Africa to Spain

Posted on by SeeEU

A surge in the number of migrants making the treacherous journey from West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands is straining local authorities, with human rights groups warning that many child migrants are being wrongly classed as adults by Spanish police, putting them at increased risk.  

So far this year, more than 32,000 migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands from West Africa – the highest number since 2006.

Unaccompanied children 

Fifteen-year-old Moussa Camara was orphaned following the 2021 coup in his home country of Guinea. He chose to escape, spending 11 days at sea in a wooden boat on the treacherous journey from Senegal to the Spanish island of Tenerife, along with 240 other migrants. For half that time, he had no food or water. Twenty people died on that crossing, he says, their bodies tossed over the side of the boat. 

Bearing sores from the sun, famished and dehydrated, Camara eventually arrived on Tenerife on October 27, 2021. But his ordeal was not over. Spanish authorities classified Camara and his friend as adults rather than children, meaning they were not allowed to stay at a center for minors or access the better opportunities available to those under 18. 

“At the center, we said we were fifteen years old. But they didn’t write that – they took us as if we were adults. But we are children, we are children – but they sent us here. They brought our papers. They betrayed us,” Camara told Reuters. 

Spanish police sent the two boys to Las Raices, an old military base in Tenerife’s mountains, where around 2,000 adult migrants await transfers to the mainland of Spain. 

Wrongly classified 

In a recent investigation, the human rights group Amnesty International interviewed 29 migrants on the Canary Islands. The group says 12 of them were under 18 years old but had been incorrectly classified as adults and were being held at adult detention centers, in breach of Spanish and international refugee laws. 

“This is very concerning because they were along with adults they weren’t related to and without the protection of the authorities. We were talking with one girl, she was 17, and she was detained for three days with men and women in a place without any oversight by the authorities. She was sleeping on the floor. And no one was asking about her needs,” said Amnesty’s Virginia Alvarez, who travelled to Tenerife and El Hierro between October 25 and 28. 

Legal rights 

The child migrants often had their belongings, including mobile phones, confiscated by the police. Most were not told of their legal rights, according to Alvarez. 

“If they are treated as adults, they can be expelled to their countries of origin. They are also leaving (state) protection. Sometimes they are transferred to the mainland and they are without protection, they are alone as minors in Spain or maybe they can travel to other European countries,” Alvarez said.  

A bone test is required to prove a migrant’s age but these can take months to arrange. Child migrants are given extra support to find residency and education until they reach 18 years old. However, if they are classified as adults, they receive little government help. 

Overwhelmed 

Local authorities say Spain’s central government isn’t doing enough to help. 

“They have left us with 4,700 minors, with NGOs and resources saturated, with difficulties because the screening of who is a minor and who is not a minor is not being done – it is taking at least three, four months. And you have adults in center for minors and minors in centers for adults. So, we have this difficulty,” said Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands regional government. 

He said the European Union should do more to tackle the root causes of emigration from Africa. 

“Do you know what a mother or father has to go through to put their six-year-old or seven-year-old son in a cayuco [small wooden boat] with 200 or more people they don’t know, and throw them into the open sea at night? These people don’t do it for fun,” Clavijo told Reuters. 

EU demands 

Amnesty International is calling on the Spanish government and the European Union to make sure that child migrants are properly screened and to provide safer routes for refugees. 

The Spanish Public Prosecutor’s office told Reuters on November 14 that it had looked into 48 cases of suspected minors at the Las Raices camp in Tenerife. Of those migrants, four were confirmed as children, 30 were sent to a children’s facility pending age tests, and the other 14 were still in assessment. 
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Child Refugees ‘Wrongly Classified’ Amid Migrant Surge From Africa to Spain

Posted on by SeeEU

A surge in the number of migrants making the treacherous journey from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands is straining local authorities. Human rights groups say many child migrants are being wrongly classified as adults by Spanish police — putting them at increased risk. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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