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Keeping track of the news can feel overwhelming. It’s so challenging, in fact, that we’ve taken the liberty of gathering the most important, surprising, or downright astonishing headlines every week.
As we neared Christmas, many of us couldn’t help but pause and question whether we would make it to see the holiday. Kim Jong Un’s North Korea once again issued threats to reduce the entire globe to a radioactive wasteland after Pyongyang’s latest missile test. More on the never-ending Korean situation in just a moment, but first, let’s dive into the other unbelievable events unfolding across our fragile planet.
10. The ICTY’s Final Trial Culminated in a Tragic Live-Streamed Suicide
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has been an influential force in geopolitics for 25 years. Established in 1993 to prosecute crimes committed during the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was the first international tribunal for war criminals since Nuremberg. This led to the formation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). It is also the driving force behind the UN’s current preparations to prosecute war crimes in Syria.
With such a distinguished history, the ICTY’s final ruling would have been significant no matter the outcome. However, Wednesday’s session concluded in a surprisingly dramatic manner. After his appeal against a 20-year sentence was denied, Bosnian-Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak swallowed a vial of poison. His suicide was broadcast live for the entire world to witness.
Praljak commanded a Croatian militia that laid siege to the Bosniak sector of Mostar. He imprisoned Muslim civilians in concentration camps. However, his suicide while in custody may escalate ethnic tensions in the Balkans. Croatian media has already begun to portray Praljak as a tragic figure, rather than the war criminal he truly was. It seems the conflict in the former Yugoslavia is far from being resolved.
9. Egypt Endured Its Deadliest Modern Terrorist Attack
Last Friday, 40 armed assailants attacked the small town of Bir al-Abed in Egypt’s unstable North Sinai area. They targeted the local mosque, detonated three car bombs, and opened fire on fleeing worshipers. Over 300 people lost their lives, with another 128 injured. Prior to the attack, the town's population was only 800. This became the deadliest terrorist attack in modern Egyptian history.
The majority of the victims were from the Sufi order, a sect of Islam despised by Salafists such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. They have faced severe persecution in countries like Iran, and now it seems this hostility is extending to Egypt. However, the Egyptian government is not ignoring the violence. After the assault, Egyptian president Sisi gave the military a three-month deadline to secure the Sinai region.
As of now, no group has formally claimed responsibility for the attack, though ISIS's Egyptian branch is the most likely suspect. Similar to the horrific truck bombing in Mogadishu in October, the high death toll has prompted even other terrorist factions to unite against the perpetrators. The following day, two Al-Qaeda affiliates in Egypt vowed to find and eliminate those responsible.
For our US readers, imagine this: British Prime Minister Theresa May retweets three videos showing US police officers killing unarmed black men. These videos are sourced from an account connected to the Dallas sniper who murdered five officers in July 2016. When the US president rightfully expresses anger at her interference in American matters, May responds by telling him to mind his business and address America’s “extremist” issue.
Can you imagine the seismic shock, the diplomatic catastrophe, the enormous slap in the face to America that this would be? That’s a glimpse into how all of Britain felt on Thursday morning. It was the day the UK woke up to discover that the president had retweeted videos from the hate group Britain First, whose name was shouted by right-wing terrorist Thomas Mair as he murdered MP Jo Cox. To make matters worse, Trump then publicly insulted the prime minister when she politely called him out.
The US and UK are supposed to be allies. They’re supposed to share a “special relationship.” For the president to openly attack the British prime minister over such a minor issue isn’t just a mistake; it’s like retaliating to a harmless office comment by drop-kicking your boss in the kidneys.
An urgent question was raised in the House of Commons about this poorly handled incident. If this behavior continues, how long before other countries begin to think, 'With allies like these, who needs enemies?'
7. Sexual Harassment Allegations Led to the Fall of Congress’s Longest-Serving Member
Things weren’t looking too good for the Democrats this week either. After making a rightful uproar over the Roy Moore allegations, they found themselves facing assault claims against one of their own. John Conyers of Michigan, the longest-serving member in all of Congress, and the top-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, was now embroiled in a scandal.
Conyers is the last Congressman to have served under Lyndon Johnson, having joined Congress back in 1965. While others have held longer tenures (John Dingell served for over 59 years), Conyers stands far ahead of anyone else in the House or Senate. He is also the only African American to have served in Congress for more than five decades.
But all of that came crashing down this week when Conyers faced multiple sexual harassment accusations from women, including allegations of groping and firing staff who rejected his advances. The long-time liberal representative has now announced that he will not seek re-election in 2018. Though he denies the charges, his political career appears to be over.
6. Shell Faces Allegations of Crimes Against Humanity
In the 1990s, the Nigerian government launched a brutal campaign against the poverty-stricken province of Ogoniland. Anti-oil activists were rounded up and executed. Entire villages were razed. Civilians were subjected to torture, rape, murder, and displacement, all in the name of keeping the oil flowing from Ogoniland.
The greatest beneficiary of this violence was the British-Dutch joint venture, Shell. As the oldest multinational oil corporation in Nigeria, Shell collaborated with the government to exploit lands that the military had cleared through force.
Shell has long maintained that it had no influence over the Nigerian regime during these atrocities. However, this week, new revelations may tell a different story. Amnesty International claims to have gained access to thousands of internal Shell documents, which they believe provide evidence of the company’s complicity in severe human rights violations.
These allegations place Shell in the same uncomfortable position as companies like Coca-Cola, which was accused last year by Colombian authorities of funding right-wing death squads. While both companies deny the claims, these accusations could prove to be extremely damaging.
5. Bolivia Slid Towards Dictatorship
Two terms – that’s the maximum allowed for a president under Bolivia’s constitution, which was introduced by President Evo Morales in 2009 and ratified by public vote. At the time, the two-term limit must have seemed like a brilliant idea in Morales’s political career. Having been elected in 2006, he cleverly ensured his prior term wouldn’t count under the new rules, thus securing two more terms in office.
But as time passes, even the most calculated of plans can falter. Last year, Morales put forward a referendum to remove term limits, enabling him to run for re-election in 2019. The people voted “no.” This week, however, he petitioned the Constitutional Court to override both the referendum and the constitution itself. The court agreed, and now there is no cap on how long Morales can stay president.
What’s perhaps most tragic is that Morales could have been remembered as a respectable leader. The first Bolivian president of indigenous descent, he brought stability after Bolivia endured five presidents in as many years. Unfortunately, he seems to be following the same dictatorial trajectory as his ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.
4. Honduras Spirals Toward Chaos
Transparency, an essential element in any political process, has been glaringly absent from Honduras’s latest election. One of the most dangerous nations in the world following the 2009 coup, Honduras is a country desperately in need of new leadership.
And that’s exactly what this election promised to deliver. On Monday, the charismatic opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla held a 5-point lead over incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Nasralla declared himself the winner. But in an odd twist, so did President Hernandez.
Soon after, the electoral court halted the release of vote updates. When the count resumed 24 hours later, Nasralla’s lead had been reduced by half. Then it shrank even further. As of now, Nasralla is trailing Hernandez by a slim margin.
Nasralla’s supporters are crying foul, and with good reason. International election observers have been blocked from several areas, and the military, which backs Hernandez, has been in charge of transporting and counting every single vote. Protests have already erupted in Tegucigalpa. If this election was indeed rigged, it could trigger riots or even a military crackdown.
3. North Korea Tested A Missile Capable of Striking . . . Anywhere
Despite what some memes may suggest, North Korea has not been a laughing matter for a long time. Under the tyrannical rule of Kim Jong Un, the isolated regime has conducted tests of increasingly powerful nuclear bombs and guided missiles.
Back in July, Pyongyang successfully launched a missile capable of striking Alaska. In August, they tested another missile that could reach New York City. This week, the regime achieved one of its long-term objectives: successfully testing a rocket that could target any region within the continental US.
Although we have yet to enter full panic mode, the situation is escalating. A 2017 US intelligence report confirmed that North Korea has the technology to shrink a warhead to fit onto their missiles. However, they still face significant technical challenges, particularly during reentry, which could prevent them from hitting the US with a nuclear bomb. Current signs point to DPRK missiles breaking apart as they reenter Earth's atmosphere.
Like it or not, Pyongyang is undeniably charging full speed ahead in its quest for nuclear capabilities. Just two years ago, the idea that North Korea might develop an ICBM seemed laughable. But given recent developments, it would be foolish to dismiss Kim Jong Un once again. As for what we can do about it, sadly, that remains a question with no clear answer.
2. Pakistan’s Government Surrendered to Mob Rule
For weeks, protests have been erupting across Pakistan in response to Law Minister Zahid Hamid. On Saturday, these protests escalated into violence. Demonstrators clashed with the police, leaving six dead and 200 wounded. Islamabad transformed into a battleground.
So, what did Hamid do to incite such fury? What oppressive law did this government official enact that drove the population to madness?
The truth is even more pathetic and far more alarming than a simple new law. Hamid was responsible for revising the nation’s electoral oath. In the revised version, he inadvertently omitted a mention of Muhammad. This mistake nearly pushed Pakistan into a political crisis that almost caused the collapse of its government.
To label this as crazy would be an understatement. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation, is now being tossed around by the unpredictable whims of fanatical Islamists. The only reason this crisis didn’t topple the government is because Islamabad fully capitulated. Hamid resigned, detained protesters were released, the government agreed to pay for the cleanup of the riots, and the protesters—who had killed a police officer—were granted all their demands.
A complicating factor in this situation is Pakistan’s military, which holds real power behind the scenes. It is believed that they often use Islamists to maintain control over civilian governments. On Wednesday, video surfaced showing a Pakistani general handing out money to protesters and promising to free their arrested comrades. It seems likely that the military orchestrated this crisis to serve its own obscure objectives.
1. Africa Took Steps to Close Libya’s Slave Camps
In mid-November, CNN reporters succeeded in capturing footage of a massive slave camp on the outskirts of the Libyan desert. Once a stopover for African migrants heading to Europe, the camp had evolved into a large marketplace where enslaved men were sold for just a few hundred dollars and forced into labor on farms.
Although reports of these camps first emerged as early as 2015, this was the first time we got an in-depth look inside. It felt like we were transported back to the darkest periods of the transatlantic slave trade.
The shocking video led to swift action in both Europe and Africa. The European Union and the African Union (AU) convened this Thursday to devise a mass evacuation plan that would see as many as 15,000 migrants rescued from Libya and returned to their home countries.
The outcry also prompted Emmanuel Macron to commit to a €44 billion “Marshall Plan” to address the dire circumstances of North Africa’s migrants. The EU and AU, once regarded as ineffective, may have finally been galvanized to take real action.
