Foreign Digest: Iraq, Italy, Russia, Georgia, Venezuela and Turkey

Iraq’s defeat of the Islamic State

            Iraqi forces liberated Mosul last week from the so-called “Islamic State” Islamist terrorists.  The al-Qaeda splinter group had seized Iraq’s second largest city in 2014.  It was from there that IS, which is based in currently-besieged Raqqa, Syria, declared a caliphate.

Italy’s tougher law against organized crime and terrorism

            The Italian Parliament recently approved and the President signed a tougher law against organized crime and terrorism. Among its numerous provisions are longer prison sentences.

Update: more Russian incursions into Georgia

            There have been more Russian incursions into Georgia from the Russian-occupied puppet-state of South Ossetia, which, together with Abkhazia, the Russian Federation helped to break away from Georgia when it invaded the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 2008.  The Russians have repeatedly shifted the poorly-defended border southward into Georgian territory.

Update: more pro-democracy protests in Russia

            There continue to be more protests in Russia against the tyranny and corruption of the Russian Federation regime and more arrests of peaceful protesters.

Update: Venezuelan protests and political developments

            There have been more demonstrations for liberty in Venezuela, where the death toll for peaceful protesters continues to climb.  Thugs acting last week on behalf of the Socialist regime even attacked the democratic opposition in Congress.  The Socialists are attempting to replace the constitution through a referendum which would grant the executive branch greater powers, unchecked by the legislative branch, which is currently controlled by the democratic opposition.  Despite winning a supermajority of seats in the Congress, the opposition has been thwarted by the tyrannical regime.  The opposition is boycotting the constitutional referendum, as it is not possible to conduct free and fair elections under authoritarianism and instead is conducting its own plebiscite on following the current constitution and respecting human rights.  Polling stations are even open today in locations in the United States for Venezuelans to voice their support for representative government and liberty.

Turkish protests 

           Several hundred thousand Turks took to the streets last week to protest the Islamist authoritarian government’s crackdown on opposition ahead of the anniversary of the failed military coup d’etat, which has been used as a justification for the crackdown and the seizure of more powers by the government.  A hundred thousand Turks have been fired and tens of thousands of people have been arrested because of the increasing Turkish oppression.