A Guilty Former President, Election Day For Four, And Sunak Stumbles Again!
A detailed recount mixed with meme comedy to mark our times at Week 21 of 2024 featuring source material from No. 7 West Mars Street, Star Trek Lower Decks, and Hailey’s On It!
The Greatest Political Drama On Earth - Donald Trump, Guilty
After an embarrassing speech given to the Libertarian Party (For which he only got a measly 0.65% of the vote for the party's presidential nominee after begging the booing crowd to vote for him) over the weekend, Trump heads back to the New York courtroom to face final arguments before a jury begins to decide his fate. Day 21 saw closing remarks by the prosecutors emphasizing key evidence that the prosecution argued needed to send the former president to jail, arguing Trump had tried to “hoodwink the American voter.” At the same time, the defense portrayed Trump as the victim and complained about the “lies” by attacking witnesses like Michael Cohen. With the closing arguments going into the night, outside the courtroom, as Trump’s children spoke in defense of their father, the Biden campaign pulled out a big (if possibly ill-advised) stunt by letting campaign surrogate and Trump nemesis Robert De Niro show up outside the New York courtroom, where De Niro then proclaimed Trump should be sent to jail. Meanwhile, on the same Tuesday, the Trump trials saw Judge Aileen Cannon rejecting the prosecutors’ request on the classified documents case to restrict Trump’s speech attacking FBI officials and employees.
Starting on Day 22, it’s time for the jurors to begin deliberations behind closed doors and decide Trump’s fate after six weeks of witness testimony. Trump was downbeat as the jury started their deliberations, saying “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges.” The jury reviewed all the evidence presented to them and requested a replay of testimonies by several witnesses. By the end of the day, the first day of deliberations has resulted in no final verdict. Day 23’s deliberations continued with Trump being able to watch the TV inside the courthouse. In the afternoon, the jury came out and announced that Donald Trump, former president of the United States, was convicted on all 34 counts. Based on eyewitness reports, the convicted ex-president closed his eyes when the verdict was announced, and looked disappointed as he walked out of the courtroom. Trump then dismissed the trial as “rigged” and insisted he was “a very innocent man,” before vowing he would appeal after the sentencing date was set at July 11. In reaction to the verdict, Stormy Daniels was “relieved” that the case was over, while Michael Cohen called it “an important day for accountability.” On the other hand, almost all Republicans (Except a rare few like Larry Hogan) came to Trump’s defense, with Speaker Mike Johnson calling it “shameful.” To nobody’s surprise, the Trump campaign quickly seized on the felony conviction to fundraise among his small-dollar donors, claiming he was a “political prisoner” and releasing a video of himself leaving the courtroom as a campaign promotion piece.
On Trump’s first speech since the conviction, he continued to play the old hits complaining about persecution, the trial is a “scam,” and that he is becoming a “martyr.” We also learned that the Trump campaign claimed a windfall thanks to the indictment, with $34.8 million raised in a single record-breaking day. Joe Biden responded by blasting Trump for his “reckless” attacks on the judicial system and tried to portray a message of legitimacy to the country’s increasingly perceived politicized legal system. However, despite Trump’s bravado, hundreds of millions were wiped out from Trump’s fortune in stocks for his social media company.
In other power-related news, as India’s voting period comes to its final phase on Saturday amidst a heatwave, the incumbent PM Narendra Modi claimed he was chosen by God. By Saturday night, early exit polls show Modi’s BJP party is set for majority rule for the third time in a row, defending old constituencies while winning new voters. In the European elections next week, the far-right is confident in its insurgence as French far-right leader Marine Le Pen invited Georgia Meloni, Italian PM and leader of the Brothers of Italy party to form a “super-group” in the EU’s parliament. At the same time, Green members of the European parliament threatened to pull out their support for Ursula von der Leyen to be the commission president if she made a deal with the hard-right nationalists to maintain power. We also learned courtesy by reporting from the Guardian that a quarter of donations to the EU elections go to extremist and populist parties, just as such political groups have attracted popularity among the elderly and young voters. For the Netherlands, nearly half a year after the country finished holding its own elections, the far-right picked former spy chief Dick Schoof as the leader of the coalition instead of the firebrand figure Geert Wilders. Given Iran’s presidential election heats up after the helicopter crash that killed the last president, hardliner, and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided to throw his hat into the ring and registered for the June 28 election, despite his history of challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei which got him banned from running in the last election in 2021. Amidst political turmoil, Haiti’s transitional council selected Garry Conille as the country’s new prime minister a month after the council chose someone else for the job which didn’t go well. In Burkina Faso, the country’s military junta had extended its rule by five years, despite promising elections in July to restore civilian rule after coups and unrest in recent years.
Voterama 2024 - South Africa’s Depressing Reality
This week’s elections are colorful and influential to regional and global politics, so much so this same section is divided into three parts, and two extra segments concerning the US and UK general elections. But for now, let’s start with South Africa’s one which was held on May 29. Nearly 28 million South African registered voters could participate in what was widely considered the most important election the country has faced since the end of apartheid in the 1990s.
It all boils down to the most serious challenge faced by the African National Congress party, or ANC for short, in 30 years. Usually, South Africa is a one-party state given the ANC maintains a majority of 50% and above during all past elections. However this time, polls have consistently shown before the election that the ANC would not be able to hold on a 50% majority, with The Economist’s South Africa polling tracker suggesting the ANC would only get about 43% of the vote before the election.
With the likely chance of losing the majority looming for the ANC, many have debated before the voting period on what coalitions would be formed afterward. Since ANC would still be the largest party after all the votes were counted, the party has three options to form a coalition government, which would be a challenge in and of itself given the country’s constitution is unclear on how that process would work out. The most likely coalition partner is the Democratic Alliance (DA) party led by John Steenhuisen. Steenhuisen’s party campaigns for a clean and economically liberal government, but was widely seen as a party for White South Africans which makes it a sensible but doubtful pick for the ANC to ally itself with given the country’s colonial and apartheid past.
Hence, the two likely parties the ANC would cozy up with are divisive groups, each with their political problems domestically and abroad. One option is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party led by Julius Malema. Grown as an offshoot of the ANC with Marxist inspirations, Malema’s party brings forward class and racial tensions given one of their key policies is to reprimand white South Africans by seizing their land and redistributing them to the Black community. The second option is the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party led by former ANC leader and South African president Jacob Zuma. Zuma has a long history of participating in the anti-apartheid cause, but his presidency isn’t without scandal as corruption allegations forced the disgraced president to resign. Last week, the country’s top court ruled Zuma is ineligible to run for parliament because of his 2021 contempt of court conviction that sent him to jail for 15 months, a decision Zuma strongly opposes. Given the riots committed by Zuma supporters after the conviction in 2021, it is safe to say a coalition with either party could generate more division at home and concerns abroad.
In a record election with 70 parties and 11 independents contesting in national and provincial elections, much was at stake as the polls opened on Wednesday morning. Despite early glitches, the voting process was relatively smooth while the Electoral Commission (or IEC) saw a late voter surge that resulted in long lines even after the polls were supposed to close and affected the release time of the initial results. By the end of the day, the voter turnout was higher than 66% in 2019. However, the IEC was criticized by opposition parties over the handling of the voting process.
Befitting all expectations, initial projections suggest the ANC will lose its majority and needs to form a coalition, which was received by the markets badly as the Rand (SA’s currency) dropped after the news. At the same time, there was good news for the DA and MK parties as they were performing well in the initial results. By Saturday, with at least 98% of the votes tallied, the ANC officially suffered its worst defeat in history by only getting 40% of the vote. The ANC only won 159 of the 400 seats at the National Assembly, falling way down compared to the 230 seats before the election. Bloomberg reported that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is planning a coalition with the DA party, that is if Ramaphosa doesn’t get ousted by his own party over the terrible election results.
Voterama 2024 - Choose Your Female President
On June 2, Mexico held its general election where voters got to decide their new leader and countless smaller seats in the legislature and local governments. What makes this election stand out among all the numerous other ones this year is the fact that the two frontrunners are both women, so Mexico is getting to choose its first female president out of two candidates of the same gender.
Many see Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling Morena party as likely to win the election against her main opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez. Despite having a 25% lead in the polls against Gálvez, Sheinbaum has a problem in comparison with her predecessor. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO as he was widely referred to, came into office in 2018 on a populist left-wing platform and received high approval ratings for his infrastructure and social welfare policies. AMLO’s larger-than-life personality has proven to be a problem for Sheinbaum, given she has struggled to create her own image in the Morena party. Given AMLO’s record in undermining the legitimacy of democracy in Mexico in recent years, critics suspect he picked the hard-left Jewish woman as his successor because Sheinbaum has weak political power, therefore enabling him to manipulate behind the scenes even more given AMLO has already weakened the judiciary and the military. Sheinbaum has embarked on a platform that includes sweeping reforms to the judicial system, while Gálvez ran on a platform focused on a coalition government that protects the country’s eroding democratic institutions under AMLO, and a hardened campaign on organized crime and cartels. Both candidates have to face a tough fiscal deficit if either woman enters office, and they have to cater to voters’ concerns over the country’s rampant corruption problem and migration crisis stemming from Mexico’s two borders. It should be noted that among many Mexican observers, they see a recent decline in border crossings from Mexico to the US could be linked to a deal made between Biden and AMLO to stem the border crisis in the US in exchange for asking fewer questions on the country’s electoral backsliding.
What is perhaps the key issue surrounding the campaign is undoubtedly the growing influence of violence by criminal gangs and drug cartels influencing Mexican politics. Under AMLO’s rule, drug cartels have thrived and gained influence in domestic politics, while campaigns by criminal gangs threatening or killing anti-crime political candidates have reached an all-time high. In past election cycles, politicians, journalists, and judges were killed with impunity given they are not of the “protected class” in Mexico and the rate of crimes being solved in the country is terrifyingly as high as 5%. If there are any cases of punitive justice, they were mainly conducted voluntarily by families or journalists. Many see this election as Mexico’s bloodiest election, with the lives of brave politicians and journalists being on the line. This is not even mentioning tragedies like last week’s stage collapse during a political rally that killed 9 people.
Voterama 2024 - The Two Other Elections Plus Updates For The Future Ones
Two smaller elections were held in Madagasgar and Serbia. The Malagasy parliamentary election was held on May 29, following incumbent President Andry Rajoelina winning a third term amidst a disputed election boycotted by the opposition. The ruling Tanora Malagasy Vonona party hoped to maintain its majority after winning 81 out of the 154 seats in the last election. Serbia also held local elections on June 2, with opposition parties showing divisions in their strategy to defeat the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which showed a united front with its allies.
In other power-related news, as India’s voting period comes to its final phase on Saturday amidst a heatwave, the incumbent PM Narendra Modi claimed he was chosen by God. By Saturday night, early exit polls show Modi’s BJP party is set for majority rule for the third time in a row. In the European elections next week, the far-right is confident in its insurgence as French far-right leader Marine Le Pen invited Georgia Meloni, Italian PM and leader of the Brothers of Italy party to form a “super-group” in the EU’s parliament. At the same time, Green members of the European parliament threatened to pull out their support for Ursula von der Leyen to be the commission president if she made a deal with the hard-right nationalists to maintain power. We also learned courtesy by reporting from the Guardian that a quarter of donations to the EU elections go to extremist and populist parties, just as such political groups have attracted popularity among the elderly and young voters. For the Netherlands, nearly half a year after the country finished holding its elections, the far-right picked former spy chief Dick Schoof as the leader of the coalition instead of the firebrand figure Geert Wilders. Given Iran’s presidential election heats up after the helicopter crash that killed the last president, former President, and notorious hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided to throw his hat into the ring and register for the June 28 election, despite his history of challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei which got him banned from running in the last election in 2021. Amidst political turmoil, Haiti’s transitional council selected Garry Conille as the country’s new prime minister a month after the council chose someone else for the job which didn’t go well. In Burkina Faso, the country’s military junta had extended its rule by five years, despite promising elections in July to restore civilian rule after coups and unrest in recent years.
The Most Cathartic Democratic Election Ever - National Disservice
Rishi Sunak’s campaign team seems to hate him, a lot! Following the plethora of election-based comedy posed upon the UK PM, this week saw only more self-writing jokes coming from the Tories. Starting with the continued fallout from Sunak’s campaign pledge on restarting mandatory national service that people can choose to do voluntarily, not only did we learn young royals from the Royal Family could face conscription, the PM opened a new TikTok account to appeal to young voters and the first video was an introduction to his widely disliked proposal. By Monday, the conscription policy was under further ridicule as a young Tory candidate defected over the policy, and Labour leader Keir Starmer dismissed the proposal as a "teenage Dad's Army." Adding more insult to injury, the Tories admitted they sent out a critical email targeting their MPs by mistake and had to suspend an outgoing MP for backing the Reform UK party candidate to take over her seat. At the Labour bench, Starmer promised no tax rises when pressed on spending plans for the manifesto, while also supporting a ceasefire and told Netanyahu to “stop” when pressed on by reporters. However, the media was all fixated on Starmer’s comment that he is a progressive socialist who will always put country first, which raised some eyebrows given his makeover of the Labour Party that included expelling Corbyn-allied progressives from the party due to antisemitism claims among other justifications.
The Liberal Democrats woke up the country on Tuesday morning after party leader Ed Davey toppled into a lake during paddleboarding. At the same time, Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves gave a speech pitching her competencies if she steps into the actual role that included potentially furthering tax rises if there is a black hole in public finances post-election. This was built on her “smoked salmon offensive,” which earned the Labour Party endorsements by 120 business leaders. Regarding rejoining the EU, Starmer ruled out such a possibility. Dianne Abbott, a prominent progressive MP who allied herself with Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership era, claimed she was barred from standing in her constituency as a Labour candidate. This happened on the same day Abbott had her Labour whip restored after an antisemitism investigation into her remarks last year claiming Jewish people are not facing racism had ended. In a boost for Starmer’s top team, Greater Manchester Police dropped their investigation into deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner’s council tax affairs. Meanwhile, Sunak further pushed his conscription policy, arguing it would “keep young people out of trouble.” The Tories also pushed out a pension plan called “Triple Lock Plus,” which promised pensioners that their tax-free pensions would rise in a bid to maintain their main base.
By Wednesday, we got the note that Sunak and Starmer will engage in a debate next Tuesday on ITV on June 4, exactly one month before the general election. In further vindication to Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader was cleared by HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) over claims around an ex-council house sale and allegations that she owed thousands of pounds in capital gains tax. Regarding the Labour Party’s new movements on vetting their candidates, Starmer refuted Dianne Abbott’s claim that she was barred from running as a Labour Party candidate when he was asked about the matter. Abbott then told her supporters she wanted to be an MP for as long as possible, but whether she would stand as a Labour candidate remained unclear while her constituents were furious about the move. As the Abbott controversy barely cooled down, another controversy broke out inside the Labour Party ranks after Faiza Shaheen was suspended from the Labour Party for liking a post featuring a comedic skit criticizing Israel by comedian Jon Stewart back in 2014 and mentioned the “Israel lobby” in the post’s text, a move later criticized by Stewart himself on social media. On the Tories side, Sunak took the sleeper train to Cornwall for the election campaign which was “totally” not cringe-worthy. At the same time, the Tories have ruled out a deal to form a coalition government with the far-right Reform UK party after an offer by Nigel Farage. In a further headache for Sunak, Labour MP Jess Phillips has called for him to deselect former PM Liz Truss over an interview on the podcast Lotus Eaters set up by Carl Benjamin, who tweeted “I wouldn’t even rape you” at Phillips when he was a UKIP candidate running against her.
By midnight on Thursday, the UK parliament was officially dissolved. Keir Starmer woke up to what pundits call a “Labour purge,” with Abbott and Shaheen becoming two of the most prominent left-wing candidates of the party to fall victim to the party’s shift. Observers argued Starmer’s Labour committed the ruthless abandonments to either show the party’s change from the far-left Jeremy Corbyn times that cost the party heavily in 2019, or as a vindictive move coming out of honest disciplinary reviews. Angela Rayner came to the defense of Abbott, while Corbyn accused Starmer of “clearly intervening” in a “purge.” The Tories are also frustrated, but this time not at their own members at first. Junior doctors in England belonging to the British Medical Association (BMA) agreed to stage a five-day strike starting a week before election day on June 27, amidst a long-running pay dispute with the current Tory government. Then the Tories saw another defection to Labour, as Conservative Mark Logan argued for a new government and cited the party’s While on the Liberal Democrats' side, party leader Ed Davey pulled another water-based stunt in Somerset by playing in a water slide as the launch of a campaign related to children mental health.
Friday woke up to shocking news, as a mega MRP poll with a large sample size conducted by Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now found out the Labour Party is heading towards a landslide win of 476 seats, while the Conservative Party was in panic mode given they are on track to win only 66 seats. In the clearest sign of a reversal, Keir Starmer announced Diane Abbott is “free” to stand for Labour in the general election in her constituency on Friday. Sunak responded to the news claiming Angela Rayner is really “in charge” of the Labour Party, which is ironic given that former Tory MP Julian Knight decided to stand as an independent and called the PM a “disastrous campaigner.” Considering a slightly more palatable policy proposal by Sunak to voters, the Tories pledged a funding boost for towns in closely fought races. While on the SNP side, Scotland’s new First Minister John Swinney admitted the party faces a “tough challenge” ahead given Labour’s resurgent popularity in the region.
Over the weekend, the Labour Party unveiled their campaign “battle bus” with Starmer joking about a Boris Johnson fridge gag, while Rayner unveiled the bus fridge with a cabbage with googly eyes on it. Speaking of cabbages, Liz Truss. In an interview with a local paper, the shortest-serving leader claimed she was not the worst PM in British history, instead giving the title to Tony Blair “who created things like the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the Climate Change Act.” In slight relief for Starmer who also released his plan to lower legal migration, Diane Abbott confirmed she is standing as a Labour candidate in the general election.
Israel/Hamas War Watch - By Unpopular Demand, The Rafah Assault Continues
Given the set of legal challenges by the ICC and ICJ from the past week, Israel is more isolated politically from the rest of the world in regards to continuing the Gaza war, further demonstrated by last Sunday’s air strike that killed dozens of Gazans in a displacement camp that had emerged harrowing scenes of beheaded children and people burned alive. Israel claimed the strike killed two Hamas leaders and Netanyahu admitted the deaths was a “tragic mistake.” It was followed by harsh condemnation from around the world, including from Western leaders like Emmanuel Macron who is a firm supporter of Israel. However, there were disputes over how the camp was affected by the fires, with some claiming the unauthorized camp was accidentally set on fire after Israeli strikes were supposed to be targeting precisely the Hamas leaders who were hiding in the camps, and others alleging the fire was caused by secondary explosions by Hamas weapons based on eyewitness accounts. On Monday, an alarming new front might have opened in the war, as an Egyptian soldier was killed during a clash with Israeli forces at the Rafah border. At the same time, Rashida Tlaib’s claims that pro-Palestine voters will make “genocide-enabling” Joe Biden “pay” drew fierce criticism online and from her fellow Democrats in the US, especially given the People’s Conference for Palestine event she appeared as a surprise guest speaker has affiliations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terror group designated by the US and other Western countries.
Despite the international furor, Israel’s Rafah offensive only continued to worsen conditions for displaced Palestinians struggling to find food and shelter in conditions that a top UN official called “hell on Earth.” At the same time, Israeli tanks reached the center of Rafah. This poses an issue to President Biden’s “red line” comment on Israel’s offensive, which he had threatened to pause delivering further military aid if Netanyahu did that, so naturally US officials claimed the deadly strike did not cross Biden’s “red line.” While in northern Gaza, former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley signed artillery shells with the words “Finish them!” during her visit. As Israeli airstrikes killed more than 20 people in a Rafah tent camp, which came two days after a previous tent strike by small-sized US-made bombs killed more than 50 people, the EU began considering sanctions against Israel as punishment for the Rafah offensive. In a further blow to the Palestinians in Rafah, the US-made floating aid pier was destroyed by bad weather and the Pentagon announced a suspension of further aid shipments. The Guardian also revealed damaging information that former Mossad director Yossi Cohen was personally involved in a plot by the Israeli government to pressure the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to drop the court’s investigation into war crimes in Palestine. The Guardian subsequently revealed this as a nine-year plot by Israel on the ICC that included spying, threats, and intimidation all the way from the very top as Netanyahu was revealed to be “obsessed” with intercepts. In Spain, the Spanish Cabinet officially recognized Palestine as a state alongside Norway and Ireland on Tuesday, while Denmark’s parliament voted down a measure recognizing a Palestinian state. Due to the controversy on campus, Harvard University announced it would not take sides on issues that don’t affect its “core functions.”
As the Rafah offensive continued, an AI-generated “All Eyes on Rafah” image went viral online and was shared more than 37 million times in less than 24 hours while attention to the death of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old who was at the end of a Palestinian Red Crescent rescue call before she died from an Israeli attack, was sparked again because of the recent tragedies in Rafah. Israel’s national security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said on Wednesday he expects the military operation to continue until the year’s end, dismissing thoughts that Israel’s war will stop after Rafah. On the ground in Rafah, Israel gained “tactical control” of the Philadelphi corridor buffer zone, which the IDF then claimed they discovered 20 tunnels created by Hamas underground, a key target of Israel’s offensive which is a narrow piece of land separating Gaza and Egypt. At the same time, World Central Kitchen announced they are pausing operations in Gaza, while warning of the dire humanitarian situation there. Meanwhile, in the most “duh” moment of the week, legal experts call the Guardian’s revelations of the Israeli campaign against the ICC could constitute “crimes against justice.” Capitalizing on the recent protest movements in US college campuses, Ayatollah Khamenei released an incendiary and antisemitic letter addressing university students, while also hoping the delegitimization effort to his nonsense could further provoke division and unrest.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the IDF had lifted a ban on the sale of food to Gaza and the West Bank, as battlefield operations have essentially choked any international aid efforts into Palestine. Good news on the front ousting Netanyahu, as war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s centrist party has proposed holding a vote to dissolve parliament and hold an early election. Conditions in Gaza continue to worsen, as USAID chief Samantha Power warned the conditions are “worse now than ever before.” During a speech to Arab leaders in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping decried the “tremendous suffering” in the Middle East and advocated for a peace conference in the region. Arab Americans For Trump, a group that is dissatisfied with Biden’s policy record on Israel, launched their first advertisement in support of the former president who supported the Muslim ban to Michigan voters. In a story that should have gotten more attention, the Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported they already had information that the Guardian had revealed days ago surrounding Israel’s campaign to threaten the ICC back in 2022, but was then threatened by Israeli security and the story didn’t get out.
By Friday, the IDF said its forces had advanced into central Rafah, despite fierce international backlash and warnings by President Biden. Speaking of the president, he came out on Friday and announced Israel’s proposal for a three-step roadmap to peace and called for the end of the war. Phase One of the proposal includes a six-week ceasefire, Hamas releasing a “number” of hostages, surging humanitarian aid, and Palestinian civilians would return to their homes. Building on the momentum of Phase One, if negotiations mediated by the US and Qatar are successful, Phase Two will begin. This phase consists of the release of all remaining living hostages, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and an upgraded ceasefire to the permanent “cessation of hostilities.” Finally, Phase Three includes returning the final remains of Israeli hostages, and a “major reconstruction plan” for Gaza to rebuild what was destroyed. The news came as a welcome surprise, as Hamas viewed the deal positively, while Sky News reported that former prime ministers Blair and Cameron were involved with the proposal behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Congressional leaders in both the House and Senate invited Netanyahu to deliver a joint address, sparking more controversy domestically in the US. Hamas released an audio of Israeli hostage Noa Argamani over images of her drawings, who was abducted from the Nova music festival on a motorbike. On the cultural front, pro-Palestine protestors temporarily occupied parts of the Brooklyn Museum, and Belgium’s Ghent University severed ties with all Israeli universities citing their human rights policy.
As Biden’s peace plan seems to be gaining traction with an endorsement by the Qatari PM and frantic urges by negotiators, Netanyahu cast the entire deal into doubt claiming a Gaza ceasefire cannot happen unless Israel’s war aims are achieved. In reaction to the PM’s rogue actions, the country’s opposition urged him to accept the deal while hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Tel Aviv protesting in support of the peace deal and calling for Biden to “save us from Netanyahu.” While on the crazy side, far-right ministers inside Netanyahu’s coalition threatened to burn it all down (metaphorically) if Israel goes along with Biden’s Gaza plan which they claim is a “total surrender” to Hamas. Trying to do damage control after upsetting the country’s few, if only key ally, Netanyahu’s chief foreign policy advisor Ophir Falk confirmed Israel has accepted a framework deal to wind down the Gaza war, but also criticized it as flawed and needs much more work. In related news, dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked roads in Jerusalem on Sunday as protest, given Israel’s Supreme Court heard arguments challenging the exemption system that grants the religious community from military service in a landmark case. Meanwhile, Chile joined a group of “global south” nations rallying behind South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the international court.
Ukraine/Russia War Watch - Permission To Bomb
The big debate surrounding the war this week was whether Ukraine is permitted to use Western weapons to bomb targets inside Russia. At the beginning of the week, French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz said Ukraine should be allowed to strike inside Russia. However, a big player that took some time to take the proposition was the US. President Biden later permitted Ukraine on Thursday evening to do so, hours after offering a security pact to calm discord with its allies. On Friday, as Zelensky arrived in Sweden to sign bilateral security agreements, Russia’s senior security official Dmitry Medvedev warned the country’s talk of using tactical nuclear weapons is no bluff and could go to war with the USA over the country’s move to permit Ukraine using US weapons to target strike locations inside Russia. Just hours after the US’s change in Ukraine policy, a deepfake of State Department spokesman Matthew Miller appeared on social media, while Zelensky told the Guardian that Russian troops are laughing at and “hunting” Ukrainians.
At the same time, six NATO countries have proposed a border defense plan that involves creating a “drone wall” against Russia and received warnings that NATO has just 5% of air defenses needed to protect its eastern flank. Estonia, a key NATO member and Ukraine ally, warned there is no Plan B if Ukraine fails to deter Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Zelensky called for the West to make coercions if Russia wants to make peace with Ukraine, and gave a speech in Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue security forum on Sunday seeking support for a peace summit. Hours later in a press conference, Zelensky accused China of pressuring other countries not to attend upcoming Ukraine peace talks. In the G-7 alliance, leaders are looking into targeting Russian banks to help the country evade sanctions before their summit in Italy. While on the ground, soldiers say newly supplied tanks from the US have made them targets for Russian strikes, an investigation by the New York Times revealed a campaign by Russian officials and politicians to permanently transfer children from Kherson as kids waiting for adoption, and troubling new revelations reveal Russia is waging sexual violence as a part of the war in occupied Ukraine, with the victims often being men. As Russia’s finances continue to drain for the war, Putin is seeking the biggest tax hike as part of the biggest tax policy shake-up in 25 years to fund the war.
Local News - The Bin Law Has Canned It For The Year
More than 20 years of proposals and delays, months of promotional efforts, and weeks of trial runs in different parts of the city all resulted in the inevitable pause of the city’s controversial waste charging scheme. On Monday, the government officially announced the suspension after a compliance rate of 20% during trials, with no definite launch date in sight after postponing the execution date twice from April 1 to August 1 just in 2024 alone. Authorities have also noted the designated rubbish bags will be distributed to public housing residents for free for the next six months, while the government is ordering retailers to return unsold bags back. Despite talks of the shelving as a pragmatic and reasonable approach by government insiders, dissatisfaction about the policy by the public has been consistent with recent polling and trial feedback, which many participants of the latter option have deemed as a “public disturbance.” Environmental NGOs were disappointed, but the move was welcomed by care homes, and caterers, which are the most affected groups if the waste charging scheme goes through.
Given we are discussing Hong Kong news in the beginning, a few non-environmental stories that are notable this week concerning national security. Firstly, Chow Hang-tung, an activist behind the Tiananmen Square anniversary events in Hong Kong, was revealed by security chief Chris Tang to be among the six people arrested under the new domestic national security law for posting “seditious content” to incite hatred of local and central governments in Hong Kong and Beijing. It marked the first time since the March enactment of Article 23 that people were arrested under the homegrown national security legislation, and the posts alleged to be seditious were revealed by authorities to be related to an “upcoming sensitive date” that would have “incited hatred” and lead to people participating in “illegal activities.”
Then on Thursday, three judges decided the fates of 16 opposition figures who were already in jail for two years but pled not guilty after participating in an unofficial legislative primary election in 2020. In total, there were 47 Democrats arrested in 2021 over the unofficial primary election, but 31 ex-politicians among the arrestees pled guilty to the charges, and the decision on Thursday was to decide whether those who did not plead guilty are indeed liable for the alleged crimes. Both governments Beijing and Hong Kong considered the primary as a “blatant challenge” to the law, and they were charged with subversion to topple the then-chief executive Carrie Lam and paralyze the government if they succeeded in securing the legislative majority to indiscriminately veto laws. By Thursday morning, except for Lawrence Lau Wai-chung and Lee Yue-shun who both received acquittals, 14 defendants were found guilty of subversion in the landmark national security case that reignited criticism by the international community over the rule of law and the city’s economic reputation. Hours after Lai and Lee were acquired, the DOJ of Hong Kong immediately appealed the decision while mitigation hearings were scheduled on June 25. In reaction to the decision, the US State Department said they are “taking steps” to impose visa restrictions on Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials, a move condemned by the city’s government.
Here For The Drama - Disappointments For The Oppositions
In a win for Moscow and its allies in Georgia, the country’s parliament controlled by the Georgian Dream party passed the contentious and controversial foreign influence bill into law, overriding a veto by the country’s president. It comes as the country’s pro-Western aspirations held by many of its citizens are derailed by the pro-Moscow wing of the political class in the country, and during a political crisis that has triggered mass protests including to the very end on Tuesday.
At the same time, after public protests and violence inside the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan’s legislature passed a controversial reform bill granting parliamentarians expansions to use their power to question officials and citizens. Critics allege the new legislation is ill-defined and questioned the motives behind the two opposition parties in Taiwan for supporting the act in the first place. In response, Taiwan’s cabinet rejected the measures and sent it back for review in parliament.
Earth + Space Watch - China’s Space Boost
This has continued to be a great week for China’s ambitions in space. On Wednesday, two Shenzhou-18 astronauts executed a record-breaking 8 ½ hour spacewalk to protect the Tiangong space station from space debris after a previous spacewalk to repair the station. Then over the weekend, aside from NASA’s delay-plagued Boeing Starliner postponing its launch on Saturday minutes before its supposed launch, the Chang’e 6 successfully landed on the far side of the Moon. The Chinese spacecraft will then collect surface samples before physically sending the rocks back to Earth. However, in bad news for future lunar astronauts, rocket-lofted lunar dust could pose a serious sandblasting hazard to cargo and crew on the surface based on Apollo-era data. Meanwhile, Peru and Slovakia signed onto the Artemis Accords proposed by the US for peaceful lunar exploration, hence marking a total of 42 countries that have signed onto the agreement.
Staying on Earth, a new analysis has shown three individual years of high global average temperatures will be enough to conclude the 1.5-degree Celcius climate goal is completely lost, with climate change already adding a month’s worth of extra-hot days in the past year. However, in brighter news, COP29 host Azerbaijan plans to put a levy on fossil fuels as a way of getting more funding for climate action in developing countries, while new estimates suggest global carbon dioxide emissions might have already peaked. In the US, Vermont became the first state in the US to mandate fossil fuel companies pay for climate damages.
Talking of natural disasters, the government of Papua New Guinea called for international assistance on Monday after authorities feared more than 2000 were buried from recent landslides, cyclones that hit Bangladesh and India killed at least 16 people, Mexico saw rising heat-related monkey deaths in several states, and millions were affected by tornados and storms during Memorial Day weekend in the US. On the other news from the environmental front, parts of India saw temperatures soar above 50 degrees Celcius in a brutal heatwave, renewed volcano eruptions in Iceland have triggered more evacuations for those living nearby, and scientists were shocked to learn toxic metals in thawed permafrost have turned rivers in Alaska from blue to red, while Panama began evacuating the first group of residents from an island threatened by rising sea levels.
All The News That’s Unfit To Meme
SCMP: University of Hong Kong president ‘seeking legal advice’ over surprise senior management reshuffle
SCMP Plus: Still unlicensed in Hong Kong, Uber is loved by riders, loathed by cabbies
NYT: Business-First Hong Kong Now Comes With a Catch: Beijing Politics - The New York Times
Nikkei: In reversal, Hong Kong shoppers flock to Shenzhen to bargain hunt - Nikkei Asia
BBC: The 47 Hong Kong activists in the city's largest national security case
Bloomberg: Expulsions of Chinese Students Spread Confusion From Yale to UVA - Bloomberg
CNN: China’s military shows off rifle-toting robot dogs | CNN
Nikkei: Chinese yuan falls to six-month low on dollar strength - Nikkei Asia
Bloomberg: China Vows More Probes on Parties in Evergrande Fraud as Unit Is Fined $577M - Bloomberg
WSJ: Blacklisted Chinese Companies Rebrand as American to Dodge Crackdown - WSJ
SCMP: China announces export controls on certain aviation equipment to ‘safeguard national security’
FT: Xi Jinping calls for quality jobs for youth instead of ‘bitterness’
Standard: China suspends tariff concessions on 134 items under Taiwan trade deal | The Standard
CNA: Prospect of peaceful 'reunification' with Taiwan being 'eroded', says China - CNA
WSJ: How America Inadvertently Created an ‘Axis of Evasion’ Led by China - WSJ
Reuters: China's premier hails 'new beginning' with US-allied South Korea, Japan | Reuters
FT: Philippines warns clashes in South China Sea could spiral into war
Bloomberg: Xi Lays Out Vision for Greater Cooperation With Arab States - Bloomberg
Reuters: Iran's foreign ministry summons Chinese ambassador in Tehran over Gulf Islands
CNA: US, China defence chiefs discuss Taiwan, Gaza on sidelines of security forum in Singapore - CNA
FT: China accuses US of seeking ‘Asia-Pacific Nato’
BBC: Samsung Electronics union calls first-ever strike
Guardian: North Korea spy satellite explodes in flight as latest launch fails
DW: South Korea decries trash balloons dropped by North – DW – 05/29/2024
ABC Australia: Thai former PM Thaksin Shinawatra set to face trial over alleged royal insult - ABC News
Zeteo: EXCLUSIVE: Imran Khan Talks to Me From Prison
NBC: Supreme Court rules for NRA in New York government coercion battle
AP: Roberts rejects Senate Democrats’ request to discuss Supreme Court ethics and Alito flag controversy
WaPo: U.S. created Indian boarding schools to destroy cultures and seize land - Washington Post
Axios: Joe Manchin leaves the Democratic Party, files as independent
AP: Harvey Weinstein may face new charges as more accusers come forward, New York prosecutors say
Politico: If you think Biden has troubles, just look at Trudeau - POLITICO
BBC: Outrage as Nigeria changes national anthem
AP: Iran further increases its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels | AP News
Reuters: Exclusive: US to boycott UN tribute to Iran leader killed in helicopter crash | Reuters
FT: Sweden accuses Iran of using criminal gangs to target Tehran’s enemies
CNN: Spanish parliament approves controversial amnesty law for Catalan separatists | CNN
Reuters: Far right AfD cracks Germany's post-Nazi firewalls with success in the east
NYT: Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico, Leaves Hospital - The New York Times
Guardian: Pope Francis allegedly used offensive slur during discussion about gay men
AP: Pope apologizes after being quoted using vulgar term about gay people regarding ban on gay priests
BBC: 'Sextortion guides' sold on social media, BBC finds
CNBC: Oil alliance OPEC+ extends collective crude production cuts into 2025
WaPo: Labor Department sues Hyundai to block use of illegal child labor in Alabama
FT: Nvidia unveils next generation of AI chips in bid to entrench market lead
Reuters: OpenAI sets up safety and security committee headed by senior executives | Reuters
NYT: OpenAI Says It Has Begun Training a New Flagship A.I. Model - The New York Times
WaPo: OpenAI finds Russian and Chinese groups used its tech for propaganda campaigns
Politico: Biden’s got a plan to protect science from Trump - POLITICO
Guardian: James Webb space telescope photographs most distant known galaxy
BBC: Earthcare cloud mission launches to resolve climate unknowns
CNN: Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the moon — and soon
NYT: Elon Musk Dominates Space Launch. Rivals Are Calling Foul. - The New York Times
SCMP: Japan sets up parliamentary group to probe UFO sightings, move research into mainstream
MSNBC: Another billionaire wants to ride a submarine to the Titanic wreckage
NYT: How Rhubarb Conquered Germany, Then the World - The New York Times
AP: LGBTQ+ Pride Month is starting to show its colors around the world. What to know
NBC: LGBTQ Pride Month: Everything you should know about its history
Your Weekly Dose Of Outstanding Journalism
Foreign Affairs: What Does America Want From China? | Foreign Affairs
NYT: What Does the ICJ Ruling on Israel’s Military Offensive in Rafah Mean? - The New York Times
New Scientist: Quantum time travel: The experiment to 'send a particle into the past' | New Scientist
Bulwark: The Mainstreaming of Antisemitism on the Right
Atlantic: Trump Has a New Plan to Deal With Campus Protests - The Atlantic
Economist: How China uses Russia as a wrecking ball
FT: America breaks global rules as it defends the free world
NYT: The Hard Problem of Bringing Trump Into Focus - The New York Times
BBC: ‘Exterminate the beasts’: How Israeli settlers took revenge for a murder in the West Bank
Guardian: ‘Nothing justifies what we have witnessed here’: the doctors returning home from Gaza
New Yorker: Ukraine Faces a Crucial Moment in the War | The New Yorker
Reuters: How disruption from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea is driving up shipping emissions
WaPo: What political cartoonists thought of Trump's guilty verdict
NYT: And Now, a Real-World Lesson for Student Activists - The New York Times
Wired: Cops Are Just Trolling Cybercriminals Now | WIRED
FP: Why Is the World Ignoring a Looming Genocide in Sudan?
Economist: Generation K: Keir Starmer’s cohort of Labour candidates
Atlantic: The Jury Deliberates, and Trump Posts
BBC: Jeremy Bowen: Ukraine faces its worst crisis since the war began
NYT: Fetterman, Flashing a Sharper Edge, Keeps Picking Fights With the Left
WaPo: What AI thinks a beautiful woman looks like: Mostly white and thin - Washington Post
Bulwark: Justice Has Been Done - by Jonathan V. Last - The Bulwark
FT: How the far right is winning over young Europeans
Guardian: How a single comma is allowing Israel to question ICJ Rafah ruling | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian
Atlantic: How K Street Runs America - The Atlantic
Economist: Incompetence or opacity: the choice facing British voters
Sky: Diane Abbott row becomes 'barnacle on the boat' for Labour | Politics News
Philadelphia Inquirer: America pioneered war-crime justice at Nuremberg. Then we ran away.
Bulwark: Trump Convicted: A Just, Sad Day for America
Foreign Affairs: How the World Can Deal With Trump | Foreign Affairs
WaPo: Even as the judicial system finds Trump guilty, his attacks take a toll - The Washington Post
Economist: Donald Trump is a convicted felon
New Yorker: My Father’s Fate, and India’s | The New Yorker
FP: The Problem With Invoking the ‘Third World’ Slur
Sky: South Africa election: Nelson Mandela would turn in his grave at his country today
NYT: How to Think Through the Moral Tangle in Gaza
WaPo: Who is winning the Suck-Up Olympics?
FP: What If Israel Had Been in China? – Foreign Policy
Video Highlights From All Sides
Journalism Monitor: The Profession’s Progress This Week
WaPo: The Bulwark: How could it be wrong when it feels so center-right?
Axios: Washington Post sat on Alito upside-down flag interview for years
NYT: The Daily Beast’s New Bosses Plan Buyouts to Cut Losses - The New York Times
Pew: More than half of Americans are following election news closely, and many are already worn out
WaPo: Trump's N.Y. trial is not televised, but TV played a starring role
WSJ: How a Mysterious Tip Led to Trump Conviction - WSJ
NYT: How Partisan Media Outlets Covered Trump’s Guilty Verdict
WaPo: How the Trump verdict hit TV news: ‘An incredibly consequential day’ - The Washington Post
NYT: Fox News and MSNBC Notch Rating Wins After Trump’s Verdict - The New York Times
Semafor: CNN seeks millions in Trump-Biden presidential debate ads | Semafor
VOA: Indonesia’s proposals to update broadcast law raise alarms
PBS: Nobel-winner Maria Ressa on how the future of journalism and democracy are linked | PBS NewsHour
Economist: Footballer, broadcaster, podcast mogul: the career of Gary Lineker
Semafor: Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to take control of BuzzFeed | Semafor
Atlantic: Pat McAfee and the Threat to Sports Journalism - The Atlantic
Semafor: AI companies freeze out partisan media | Semafor
Axios: Exclusive: The Atlantic, Vox Media ink licensing, product deals with OpenAI
Atlantic: A Devil’s Bargain With OpenAI - The Atlantic
WaPo: The media bosses fighting back against AI — and the ones cutting deals
NPR: In a first, OpenAI removes influence operations tied to Russia, China and Israel : NPR