On K-Pop and Congress.
Explained in 5 bullet points.
The neverending rollercoaster that is the national security supplemental funding bill, which includes billions of dollars for Ukraine, lurched forward this week. I won’t bore you with too many details, but it went something like this:
• Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill that included significant border policy changes that Republicans wanted in addition to aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, etc.
• Republicans voted against moving forward with the bill. Even some who previously supported the proposal voted against it. They said the legislation didn’t do enough to crack down on border crossings. But the fact that Donald Trump was lobbying against the bill might have also played a role.
• Lawmakers voted to revive a roughly fourth-month-old bill that includes money for Ukraine without the border provisions. But they voted to proceed with a simple majority, 58-41, and not the filibuster-proof 60 votes you need for cloture. They then kept the vote open for hours while convincing their colleagues to vote for cloture.
• Enough Senators voted for cloture on the bill without the border provisions (progress!). Now, they are debating amendments. The final passage would theoretically be next week.
• Some Republicans are asking for border-related amendments that might be non-starters after they voted against the bill that included border policy changes. Many Democrats are unhappy about that.
If the bill passes the Senate, which is still an if, it will go to the House, where it will face another uphill battle. That was the week in a nutshell. Now, onto the fun stuff.
Lazo Magazine published a story by Charis McGowan about why K-pop is wildly popular in Chile.
Charis writes:
On the weekends, the streets of the financial district in Santiago de Chile typically lie deserted, and the towering office skyscrapers adorned with tall glass windows dim their lights until the humdrum of Monday morning resumes.
But since the COVID-19 lockdowns ended, the area has unexpectedly transformed into a massive weekend dance studio, populated by a burgeoning Santiago sub-culture: K-Pop dance cover bands.
Continue reading this article by clicking here.
What I’m writing:
• Republican senators floated the idea of doing a supplemental package that includes only foreign aid after all but killing a bipartisan border-security agreement they had insisted must be part of the aid legislation. My colleague Savannah Berhman and I wrote about the endless supplemental negotiations, anger on Capitol Hill, and the prospects for future Ukraine aid. This story is unlocked and free to read.
• Top Democrats in Congress say it's time (or almost time) for the Biden administration to request authorization from Congress for strikes in the Middle East. Republicans are less concerned. This story is unlocked and free to read.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• European countries pay less per kilometer of rail and highway when compared to the U.K., U.S., and Australia, according to a new study from the Boston Consulting Group.
• Denmark should accelerate its military investments after new intelligence indicates that Russia is rearming faster than expected and could attack a NATO country within three to five years, the Danish defense minister said. Reuters has the report.
• Russia’s most notorious assassination and sabotage squad has infiltrated a host of Russian civil society organizations, The Insider discovered. GRU Unit 29155, responsible for poisonings and terror attacks across Europe, has also been spying on opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, both inside Russia and abroad, by posing as human rights activists, documentarians, and trade journalists.
• Russia’s election commission rejected anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate in next month’s presidential vote, the BBC reports.
• Tucker Carlson interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin, Axios reports. Putin used much of the interview to monologue on revisionist historical narratives.
• Moscow appears desperate to take the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka with fighting reminiscent of the battle for another eastern city, Bakhmut, which fell to Russia last May after months of grinding urban combat, the Independent reports.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed his top general, the highly popular Valerii Zaluzhny, as part of a sweeping overhaul of his military command, the most significant restructuring of Ukrainian leadership since Russia’s invasion. The New York Times has the story.
• Zelensky appointed Oleksandr Syrsky as top commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, the Financial Times reports. The general has been credited with crucial battlefield successes but has also faced criticism over tactics and the costly defense of Bakhmut.
• Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev named his chief of staff, Olzhas Bektenov, as prime minister, securing approval from parliament, which is dominated by the ruling Amanat party, Reuters reports.
• Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev secured a fifth consecutive term in power with more than 92 percent of the vote, the BBC reports. The main rival parties boycotted the election, with one opposition leader calling it an “imitation of democracy.”
• Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's call for a new constitution is widely seen as a move to bow to Azerbaijan's latest demands, EurasiaNet reports. Among other reforms, he wants to remove a provision in the nation's main legal document that calls for the unification of Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
• The European Union and the United States expressed their deep concern after Kosovo banned the use of the Serbian currency and police raided the premises of organizations working with the Serb minority in the north of the country, the Associated Press reports.
• Italy will become a target if it participates in attacks against Yemen, Reuters reports, citing a senior Houthi official. The statement was made after Italy announced it would provide the admiral in command of an EU Red Sea naval mission to protect ships from Houthi attacks.
• Negotiations to form the next Dutch government collapsed after potential kingmaker Pieter Omtzigt, who leads the New Social Contract (NSC) party, quit the talks, Politico Europe reports.
• A U.S. Special Operations strike in the Iraqi capital killed a senior leader of Katai’ib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia that U.S. officials blame for the attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.
• Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose any deal with Hamas that would end the war, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ben-Gvir holds enough support in the ruling coalition to undermine Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule. He also said he plans to “encourage Gazans to voluntarily emigrate to places around the world” by offering cash incentives.
• Saudi Arabia will have no diplomatic relations with Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Riyadh’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
• The Biden administration would redirect any funds for UNRWA to other aid agencies working in Gaza if Congress passes legislation blocking funding for the main U.N. agency for Palestinians, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said. Reuters has the story.
• Yemen’s internationally recognized presidential council removed the Prime Minister, an unexpected move amid ongoing U.S.-led coalition strikes against the government’s rivals, the Associated Press reports.
• The party of Imran Khan, Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, took the most seats in recent elections, humiliating the country’s military rulers and creating a political crisis, the New York Times reports.
• Senegal’s reputation as a bastion of democracy in an unstable region is at stake after lawmakers passed a contentious bill to extend President Macky Sall’s term and delay presidential elections, the BBC reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com