Weekly update: 22 - 29 August 2022
The following media round up on international and foreign policy issues from around the world for the period of 22 August to 29 August 2022.
Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates from the International Criminal Court, European Court of Human Rights, United Nations, European Union and other sources. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.
Russia/Ukraine - 29 August 2022
Russia’s FSB security service has accused without evidence a second Ukrainian citizen of preparing the car bomb that killed the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue this month.
The FSB had previously claimed Ukrainian intelligence plotted the murder of Darya Dugina, a pro-war pundit who was killed when a bomb tore through the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving near Moscow after a conservative festival.
Ukraine has strenuously denied any connection to the killing, with a government spokesperson saying that “we are not a criminal state, unlike Russia, and definitely not a terrorist state”.
Angola - 25 August 2022
Provisional results from elections in Angola have put the incumbent president, João Lourenço, and the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) ahead.
The polls are the most tightly contested vote in the country’s democratic history, and have been described by analysts as an “existential moment”.
The opposition has also claimed a lead, increasing tensions and fears of unrest when full results become known in coming days.
Mexico - 26 August 2022
Six of the 43 Mexican students forcibly disappeared in 2014 were allegedly kept alive in a warehouse for days, and then turned over to the commander of the local army base who ordered their killings, the Mexican government official leading the Truth Commission said.
Syria - 24 August 2022
The US military has said it has carried out airstrikes in areas of eastern Syria used by Iran-backed militias.
The US military’s Central Command spokesperson, Colonel Joe Buccino, said in a statement on Wednesday: “Today’s strikes were necessary to protect and defend US personnel”, and were in response to an attack on 15 August targeting US forces.
Opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activist collective Deir Ezzor 24 said the airstrikes targeted the Ayash Camp run by the Fatimiyoun group made up of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan. The war monitor reported that at least six Syrian and foreign militants were killed in the airstrikes.
China/India- 29 August 2022
India has accused China of “militarisation of the Taiwan Strait”, in an escalating war of words triggered by a Chinese military ship docking in a controversial Sri Lankan port.
The accusation, referenced in a statement by the Indian high commission in Sri Lanka on Sunday, is reportedly the first time the Indian government has used the descriptor, and is a rare intervention on the cross-straits issues as India contends with tensions on its own border with China.
Earlier this month a Chinese military research vessel docked at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port for a week. Analysts say the Yuan Wang 5 is among a group of Chinese ships operated by the People’s Liberation Army that monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
Israel/Palestine - 24 August 2022
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday wrote an open letter to US President Joe Biden’s Administration about the Israeli government’s targeting of seven notable Palestinian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
HRW reported that Israeli authorities raided the organisations’ offices and issued closing orders against them on August 18. According to HRW, the organizations included: Defense for Children International – Palestine; Al Haq; Addameer; Bisan Center for Research and Development; Union of Agricultural Work Committees; Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees; and Health Work Committees.
The letter follows the Israeli Defense Ministry’s order designating six Palestinian CSOs as terror organizations in October 2021
United States - 28 August 2022
Federal prosecutors in New Mexico Friday announced the arrest of Herman Leyvoune Wilson (also known as Bilal Mu’Min Abdullah) on charges of providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Wilson is also accused of attempting to obstruct, influence and impede at least one official proceeding in the fall of 2020.