On protests in Iran and France
Two years ago this month, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian citizen of Kurdish descent, was taken into police custody and dealt several blows to the head. She later died in a hospital in Iran’s capital.
In the weeks following her untimely death, a protest movement erupted across the country, pitting Iranian women against the regime and its morality police. Many young female Iranian artists emerged as important representatives of this new movement.
This week, Lazo Magazine highlights the findings of a new report on Iranian artists, their role in the Women, Life, Freedom movement, and the repression and persecution they have faced.
You Can Read That By Clicking Here.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands took to the streets of Paris to oppose French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to appoint a conservative prime minister, former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, even after a coalition of leftist parties won the most seats in July’s snap parliamentary elections. Lazo Magazine has a recent interview explaining why it took Macron so long to pick a prime minister. Here are some images from the protests, sent by a friend on the ground:
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What I’m writing:
• I have an in-depth interview with Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned over the Biden administration’s decision to send lethal weapons to Israel for the war in Gaza. We went deep into the process of how weapons sales are approved, what human rights issues are considered in that process, and why it’s so hard for Congress to stop weapons flows to Israel. This interview is unlocked and free to read.
• I wrote about how the U.S. is trying to assist Armenia in shifting away from dependence on Russia and how feasible that endeavor is. This story is unlocked and free to read.
What I’m reading:
• Unauthorized migration to European Union countries dropped significantly in the first eight months of this year, even as political rhetoric and violence against migrants increased, and far-right parties espousing anti-immigration policies made gains at the polls, the Associated Press reports.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Russia launched a counteroffensive in Ukrainian-controlled areas in Kursk, the Washington Post reports.
• U.S. President Joe Biden is poised to approve Ukraine’s use of long-range Western weapons in Russia, as long as it does not use U.S.-provided weapons, the New York Times reports.
• A notorious Russian military unit carried out cyberattacks on Ukrainian allies designed to hamper aid efforts, according to a joint report by Western intelligence agencies.
• Millions of barrels of Russian oil now have a green light from Ukraine to flow to the European Union as part of a deal with Hungary, ending a months-long standoff over new Kyiv oil sanctions, Politico Europe reports.
• The Center for Eastern Studies has a good analysis of Hungary and Slovakia’s claims that they cannot diversify their oil supply.
• Latvia’s defense ministry said an unmanned Russian drone violated its airspace and crashed in the east of the country, having flown in through Belarus, Politico Europe reports.
• Polish security services neutralized a sabotage operation linked to Russia and Belarus, Reuters reports.
• Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico presided over the systematic tearing down of Slovakia’s ability to tackle corruption, taking steps during the summer to further dismantle corruption-fighting institutions, Politico Europe reports.
• Kosovo announced the indictment of 45 suspects on terrorism charges, a year after ethnic Serb gunmen stormed a north Kosovo village, leaving four people dead, Reuters reports.
• Under a new educational curriculum in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, elementary school students will be taught about the achievements of Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic – but not about their war crimes convictions, Balkan Insight reports.
• Prosecutors indicted Albania’s former Prime Minister Sali Berisha on corruption charges, Reuters reports.
• The Palestinian Authority has circulated a draft United Nations resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months, the Associated Press reports. The proposed resolution follows a ruling by the International Court of Justice in July that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end. The General Assembly will likely hold a vote next week.
• Voting took place in Jordan’s first parliamentary elections under a new law aimed at weakening the impact of tribalism and strengthening political parties, Reuters reports.
• An Islamist party that made opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza central to its campaign won a sizable share of seats in Jordan’s Parliament, the New York Times reports. The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, secured 31 of 138 seats.
• The United States will withdraw most troops from Iraq over the next two years but leave a small force in the northern Kurdistan region, the Washington Post reports.
• Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez landed in Madrid after fleeing his home country due to an arrest warrant accusing him of terrorism, conspiracy, and other crimes related to July’s disputed presidential election, CNN reports. He is now seeking asylum in Spain.
• Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital city of Caracas, which is sheltering six Venezuelan opposition figures, the Associated Press reports.
• Mexico approved an amendment to the Constitution to create the most far-reaching judicial overhaul ever attempted by a large democracy, the New York Times reports.
• Sudan’s military-led government rejected a call by a United Nations-fact-finding mission for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force to protect civilians from the ongoing civil war, the BBC reports.
• Sudan accused the United Arab Emirates of providing weapons to its rival paramilitary force and prolonging the country’s civil war, the Associated Press reports.
• An abducted senior Tanzanian opposition official was found dead with signs he was beaten and acid had been poured on his face, Reuters reports.
• Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune joined his two opponents in claiming election irregularities after authorities announced him the landslide winner of the vote, the Associated Press reports.
• The chief of El Salvador’s national police, who played a major role in the government’s crackdown on gang violence, died in a helicopter crash. President Nayib Bukele said the crash was not an accident and his government would ask for international help with an investigation, the New York Times reports.
• Nicaragua said it was revoking the citizenship and seizing the property of 135 people who were expelled from the country last week after serving prison sentences in a government crackdown on dissent, the Associated Press reports.
• Less than two years after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged his country would not seek nuclear weapons, his newly appointed defense minister openly envisions scenarios in which South Korea might reconsider that stance, Voice of America reports.
• The United States is gradually moving aircraft and commandos into coastal West Africa in a fight against Islamist militants, the Wall Street Journal reports. U.S. forces were evicted from their regional stronghold in Niger, and now the Pentagon aims to adopt a smaller military footprint, including refurbishing an airfield in Benin and stationing forces in Ivory Coast and Chad.
• Around eighty immigrant and civil rights organizations, legal services organizations, and law firms sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) calling on them to release all immigrants in ICE detention who have been granted fear-based protection from deportation.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com