The dark history of Zanzibar.
A sprawling tale of Tanzania's spice island.
There was so much news this week. Aside from President Joe Biden’s fiery State of the Union address, there is almost complete state collapse in Haiti, new job announcements for Ukrainian General Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, Sweden officially joined the NATO alliance, and the U.S. is cooking up new ways to get aid into Gaza, among so many other things. You can read about that in the What I’m Reading section below.
But first, please read Mwende Mutuli Musau’s excellent exploration of pluralism and the dark history of Zanzibar that created a flourishing multicultural society.
“A group of islands off mainland Tanzania, with two large islands called Pemba and Unguja, Zanzibar has a 20,000-year-old history that brought both progress and oppression to the archipelago,” Mwende writes for Lazo Magazine. “For centuries, Africans, Arabs, Europeans, and Indians influenced this land known as Spice Island, creating a multiracial and multicultural society.”
This journalism was possible thanks to the generous support of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and its Pluralism and Civil Exchange program.
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What I’m writing:
• I wrote a very in-the-weeds explanation of discharge petitions and how some lawmakers are attempting to use this complicated parliamentary maneuver to get Ukraine aid across the finish line. The piece also explores the personal stories of several Ukrainian veterans who visited Washington this week for people who are more interested in the personal aspects of the war. This story is unlocked and free to read.
• Lawmakers reached a deal to fund some of the U.S. government. My colleagues and I looked at what is in the bill. This story is unlocked and free to read.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• InkStick Media has a deep dive into Ukraine’s Muslim military chaplains.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Belgium exists thanks to Russia. Politico Europe fact-checked those claims.
• Fatal explosions rocked Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa as President Volodymyr Zelensky was meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the BBC reports. Ukraine’s navy said five people were killed, and Zelensky said the strike had left an unspecified number of people “dead and wounded.”
• Lithuanian intelligence agencies reported that Russia has enough resources to fight Ukraine at the current intensity for at least two more years, owing to high oil prices, sanctions evasion, and state investment. Reuters has the story.
• The former head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, is set to be appointed as the country’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, the BBC reports.
• Russia’s foreign ministry accused Western ambassadors in Moscow of meddling in Russia’s internal affairs by attending the funeral of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying their behavior raises doubts over the need for such envoys, Reuters reports.
• Germany is investigating a leaked recording of a conversation between four senior Bundeswehr officers who were talking about the country’s Ukraine war strategy, CNN reports. During the conversation, which was posted online by the head of Russia’s state-backed RT channel, German air force officers discussed the possible delivery of Taurus weapon systems to Ukraine as well as the potential targeting of the Kerch bridge, which connects the annexed Crimean peninsula to Russia.
• The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against two top Russian military officials. General-Lieutenant Sergei Kobylash, the commander of Russia’s long-range aviation forces, and Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the head of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, now face arrest for war crimes related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabić will step down from her role and instead become the parliamentary speaker. Bloomberg has a write-up.
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Donald Trump in Florida this week but did not have any meetings at the White House, the Guardian reports.
• Hungary is against Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s bid to become NATO chief when Jens Stoltenberg vacates the secretary-general post later this year, Politico Europe reports.
• Vice President Kamala Harris said that “people in Gaza are starving” and called for an “immediate ceasefire” as part of a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, Axios reports.
• The United States has quietly approved and delivered over 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, small arms, and other lethal aid, U.S. officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing. The Washington Post has the story.
• Talks between Israel and Hamas over the release of Israeli hostages have stalled, dimming hopes that a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal could be reached before Ramadan begins in a few days, the New York Times reports.
• Qatari and Egyptian mediators told Israeli negotiators during talks that Hamas is willing to decrease the number of Palestinian prisoners released as part of a hostage deal if Israel agrees to allow more Palestinian civilians to return to northern Gaza, an Israeli official and a source with knowledge of the issue told Axios.
• The World Food Programme said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) blocked its first attempt in two weeks to deliver food aid to northern Gaza, the BBC reports.
• Almost 40 percent of aid missions coordinated by the United Nations were denied or impeded by Israel last month, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. South Africa submitted an urgent request to the International Court of Justice asking the court to order additional emergency measures against Israel to prevent famine in Gaza.
• President Biden announced that the U.S. military will build a port offshore of Gaza to deliver more humanitarian aid into the enclave. The Wall Street Journal has the story.
• A United Nations team concluded there are “reasonable grounds to believe” sexual violence was committed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and that hostages held in Gaza are subjected to sexual violence.
• The Israeli government has advanced plans for more than 3,400 new home settlements in the West Bank, the BBC reports. Around 70 percent of the homes will be built in Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, with the rest in nearby Kedar and Efrat, south of Bethlehem.
• Criticizing laws or chanting anti-government slogans is sufficient to jail someone for sedition in Hong Kong, an appeal court ruled in a landmark case brought under a colonial-era law increasingly used to crush dissent, ABC News has the story.
• The Maldives said China will provide it with “military assistance,” the latest sign that the country’s pro-China shift is well underway following the election of President Mohamed Muizzu last year, CNN reports.
• The Malaysian government is detaining about 12,000 migrants and refugees, including 1,400 children, in conditions that put them at serious risk of physical abuse and psychological harm, according to Human Rights Watch.
• Pressure is mounting on Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down and call an election as civil unrest grips his country, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, the gang leader behind the violence in Haiti’s capital, has warned there will be a “civil war” if Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, does not step down, the BBC reports.
• Peru’s Prime Minister Alberto Otárola resigned after an audio recording leaked of the official attempting to influence government contracts improperly, Reuters reports.
• Panama’s electoral tribunal disqualified former President Ricardo Martinelli from running in the country’s May presidential election after he received a 10-year sentence for money laundering, the New York Times reports.
• Some 170 people were allegedly executed in attacks on three villages in Burkina Faso, the BBC reports. Other reports claimed that dozens of women and children were among the dead.
• The United States sanctioned Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, its first lady, and other government officials for their alleged involvement in corruption and human rights abuses, the Associated Press reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com