Foreign Digest: Argentina, Peru, Liberia, Italy, South Africa, Iran, North Korea

Argentina

            An Argentine state investigation recently revealed that a prosecutor, who had investigated and found proof of Iran’s complicity in the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, had been murdered during the leftwing presidency of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. 

Peru

            Former President Alberto Fujimori, who was in ill health while serving a lengthy prison sentence, was pardoned at Christmas by the current Peruvian President for Fujimori’s human rights violations.  The former President committed the crimes in the course of crushing the Maoist Shining Path guerillas, the most brutal terrorist group in Latin America.  After his pardon, Fujimori asked the people of Peru for forgiveness.

Liberia

            Senator George Weah, a former soccer star, won the presidential election this week in Liberia, defeating the ruling party Vice President under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who had been elected in 2005 over Weah, following the second Liberian Civil War.  The election was conducted peacefully and without irregularities.  Weah promised to reduce corruption to make impoverished Liberia more business-friendly.  The expected democratic transfer of power will be Liberia’s first peaceful one since 1944.

Italy

            The President of the Italian Republic dissolved Parliament this week following the completion of its legislative session and scheduled parliamentary elections for March 4.  The dissolution of the assembly was expected after the recent passage of Italy’s new election law.

South Africa

            The Supreme Court of South Africa this week ordered the national legislature to develop rules for impeachment, a necessary step in the removal of President Jacob Zuma from office.  He is accused of public corruption for having embezzled public money for personal gain and for violation of the constitution.  The loyal opposition, as well as some of the dominant ruling leftwing party, supports impeaching and removing Zuma, but a majority of the ruling party still supports him to allow him to continue in office. 

Iran

            Widespread demonstrations in the Islamic Republic of Iran this weekend that began as protests against increases in prices and included public corruption as a target are now turning against the Iranian support for Syria’s Assad regime and other terrorists and the spread of Islamic revolution abroad.  Shi’ite Muslim Iran is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and its Islamist foreign policy is regionally destabilizing.  It supports rebels in Yemen and is involved in spreading Islamism in Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Iraq and Afghanistan.  The demonstrators have even become counterrevolutionary, in calling for the overthrow of the totalitarian Islamist theocracy.   

Massive protests against the rigged presidential election in 2009 were put down by the mullahs who lead Iran, after the United States under President Barack Obama declined to support them.  Instead, Obama pursued a nuclear arms deal with Iran that included dropping economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic and unfreezing billions of dollars the Iranians used to spread Islamic revolution.

North Korea 

           Like China, whose ships have recently been intercepted by South Korea sending oil to Communist North Korea, the Russian Federation also ships fuel to North Korea, according to reports yesterday that the shipments have been detected by Western European intelligence services.  Both the Chinese and Russians help North Korea, despite China’s and Russia’s support for another round of economic sanctions against the Hermit Kingdom for its nuclear missile program.  Therefore, a more effective international policy against North Korea would have to include placing increased pressure not only on the Chinese, but also on the Russians.

Update: Russian Democratic Opposition Leader Navalny Is Calling for a Boycott of the Russian Presidential Election

           Russian democratic opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was prohibited by the Russian Federation’s electoral commission from standing for election for president next spring, called today for a boycott of the elections.  Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, who controls the commission, is seeking a fourth term.  

           Putin’s authoritarian regime does not permit free and fair elections, both by barring candidates from being eligibility to be elected, or by imprisoning, killing or driving regime critics into exile, and by generally being intolerant of dissent.  For example, Russia does not tolerate a free press, the freedom of peaceful assembly or even independent polling.  As a result, only the ruling and allied parties have significant representation in the Russian Parliament or were permitted to offer candidates for the last presidential election.  Navalny, who, like other regime critics or dissidents, has been persecuted by the Russian regime on typical trumped-up charges and for exercising the freedom of peaceful assembly, had gathered the requisite signatures to have his name on the presidential ballot under the oft-ignored Russian constitution.  The opposition boycott would remove any legitimacy for Putin’s reelection. 

           Putin’s regime is now threatening Navalny with more prosecution for the election boycott call.  Election boycotts have long been an effective tool of the democratic opposition in many dictatorships.  The ex-KGB agent Putin, who laments the breakup of the Soviet Union, realizes that he would never obtain political legitimacy if Russia were truly a free, representative republic.

Merry Christmas, 2017

           I wish you all a Happy Feast of the Nativity of Jesus! 

            I especially wish a Merry Christmas those serving America abroad who cannot be with their families.  I pray especially for children in war-torn lands or who are suffering famine or disease, that be comforted by the Child Jesus.  I hope that the commemoration of the birth of Christ inspires more love for babies, born and unborn, and leads to more adoptions.  

           May the Peace of Christ be with you! 

Pennsylvania Governor Wolfe Vetoed a Pro-Life Bill in Time for the Feast of the Nativity

           Pennsylvania’s liberal Democratic Governor, Tom Wolfe, a few days ago, late in the Advent season before today’s Feast of the Nativity of the Christ Child and a little over a week before the Feast of the Holy Innocents, vetoed a bill approved by the General Assembly to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks gestation of the fetus, four weeks earlier than under the Commonwealth’s current law. 

In apparent contradictions about personhood, the acknowledgement of which is essential for liberty, the remains of a fetus of at least 16 weeks gestation are treated equally under the Pennsylvania’s Vital Records law with those of human beings who were born alive and the Commonwealth also has a fetal homicide law.

            On a positive note, Wolf did sign two less controversial bills into law that were authored by Legislators from Berks County, my county of residence.  One required owners of cemeteries to allow public access to them, which was necessary after a local citizen acquired a cemetery and prevented family members from visiting their relatives’ graves, and one to regulate previously-unregulated drug rehabilitation half-way houses, after several recent overdose deaths a local facility. 

           It is hoped and prayed for that the commemoration of the Nativity of the Child Jesus would increase people’s respect for the right to life, in all of its forms and stages, throughout the world.

Update: The Russian Dictatorship Has Barred Democratic Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny's Presidential Candidacy

           In my last post, I observed that Russian democratic opposition leader Alexei Navalny had acquired the requisite signatures to be on the presidential ballot next spring of the Russian Federation against authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin, who is seeking a fourth term.  I also observed that Putin does not respect human rights or tolerate dissent or allow for fully free and fair elections.  Today, the Putin-controlled electoral commission has prohibited Navalny from being on the presidential ballot because of the trumped-up charges against him, the kind of charges against critics, dissidents or opposition leaders typical for Russia and other authoritarian regimes.

           Like other dictators who act is if they are strong and who are intimidating in order to hide their weakness and insecurity, Putin is afraid of free and fair elections because he would not only lose power and perhaps the assets he has used his office to enrich himself with, but also face charges for his crimes against humanity.

Foreign Digest Updates: Austria, North Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia

Austria

Update: Austria agreed to coordinate the issuance of dual passports to Italian citizens in South Tyrol with the Italian Republic, in accordance with an Italian-Austrian treaty.

North Korea

The United Nations Security Council adopted another round of economic sanctions on North Korea because of the Communist state’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and tests.

Turkey

            There continue to be more purges in Turkey by the authoritarian Turkish government, based upon the pretext of last summer’s failed military coup, with more sackings of government officials and academics.  Tens of thousands have been arrested and hundreds of thousands fired because of alleged ties to a Turkish cleric in exile in Pennsylvania.  The purges, combined with violations of freedom of the press and other human rights violations, have further strengthened the power of the authoritarian leader by suppressing all dissent.  The Turkish military has traditionally safeguarded Turkish secular democracy since Turkey’s founding after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following the First World War, but it has been thwarted from fulfilling its duty by the Islamist authoritarian regime.

Ukraine

            The United States is sending lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian government for the first time as it battles an insurgency by separatist ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine backed by the Russian Federation.

Russia

          The leader of the democratic opposition, Alexei Navalny, despite being persecuted by the Russian dictatorship, has gathered a sufficient number of signatures from the requisite number of cities to have his name placed on the ballot to challenge Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin next spring.  There were more rallies in support of Navalny today, despite the frequent arrests of those exercising the freedom of peaceful assembly.  The ex-KGB (Soviet intelligence agency) Putin is seeking a fourth term.  As freedom of expression is limited and dissent suppressed, elections in Russia are hardly free and fair, but represent an opportunity at least for the opposition to call attention to Putin’s authoritarianism and to give voice to the democratic opposition.

European Digest: Austria, Germany, Romania, United Kingdom and other States

Austria

            A right-wing party won the most seats in the Austrian parliamentary elections earlier this autumn, but not enough to obtain a majority.  It formed a coalition government last week with a far-right pro-Russian party, with the junior member holding the neutral state’s cabinet portfolios for foreign affairs, defense and the interior, effectively giving Russia influence into Western Europe. 

Already, Austria’s new Government has announced a plan to offer passports to ethnic Germans and even Ladins (speakers of a Rhaeto-Romansch Romance language) in Italy’s South Tyrol Region of Trentino-Alto Adige, which has generated criticism from the Italian Republic. 

Germany

            The ruling conservative Christian Democrats, who had won the majority of seats in the German parliamentary elections last month, reached an agreement last week to form a grand coalition with the leading center-left party in order to avoid a government with the far-right.  Negotiations continue on the details of forming the executive.

Romania

            There have been public protests over the last several days against a law that could make it more difficult to deter public corruption.  There has been a recent turn back towards authoritarianism in the former Communist Soviet satellites Hungary, Poland and Romania.

            Meanwhile, Romanians are mourning the death of popular ex-King Michael earlier this month.  He was one of the last surviving heads of state or government from the Second World War, together with King Simeon II of Bulgaria.  Under one of his Prime Ministers, Romania joined the Axis Powers while Michael was a young monarch, but by late in the war, he was influential in Romania’s surrendering to the Allies and joining them against the Nazi Germans.  After the Soviet invasion of Eastern Europe, Michael, like other leaders behind the Iron Curtain, was deposed by the Communists in 1947.  The monarchy was abolished and was replaced by a Communist one-party state that was a satellite of the Soviet Union.  The last Communist tyrant was overthrown in a popular rebellion in 1989.

United Kingdom

            An agreement has been reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union for the British to leave the EU by 2019, as per the results of the non-binding referendum last year and its subsequent ratification by Parliament.  The agreement establishes a fund of around $50 billion for the costs.  It maintains the open border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic and safeguards the rights of EU citizens in the UK.  The British goal is to establish a strong UK-EU partnership.

Trend towards provincial autonomy in Western Europe 

           After last month’s constitutional referendums for autonomy in the Italian Regions of Lombardy and Veneto, which I had posted about, Liguria’s Governor has expressed the desire to request one also for his Region, as another wave of federalism is washing over Italy, including in the South.  Similarly, nationalists won last week’s elections in the French Departments on Corsica, which is inhabited primarily by ethnic Italians, who seek greater autonomy for their Mediterranean island.  Combined with the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom and the special consideration in particular for Northern Ireland in the above-mentioned UK-EU agreement, a clear trend toward greater autonomy for provincial governments, especially ethnically-distinct ones, is apparent in Western Europe.  The obtainment of more autonomy could also better serve Spain’s Catalonia province than independence.

Foreign Digest: Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq

Update: Zimbabwe

            The new President of Zimbabwe was sworn in a late last month.  He had served as the Vice President as a member of the Marxist-oriented party that had ruled since full independence for the former colony of Rhodesia from the British in 1980 under former tyrant Robert Mugabe.  The socialist Mugabe negotiated terms for his resignation which included immunity from prosecution for his crimes and a large payoff.  Mugabe had angered his ruling party by attempting to have his much-younger wife succeed him.

            Meanwhile, in an encouraging sign, a prominent human rights activist was acquitted of all charges, after having been prosecuted by Mugabe’s regime for non-violent political expression. 

Bolivia

            The Supreme Court of Bolivia last week nullified term limits for the President.  Bolivians had rejected in February of last year a constitutional referendum to eliminate presidential term limits. 

The socialist Bolivian President was inspired by the Venezuelan socialist regime of late dictator Hugo Chavez that had been elected democratically, but seized authoritarian powers.  The Venezuelan tyrant had been attempting to spread socialist revolution throughout Latin America.  The elimination of presidential term limits is one of the hallmarks of Chavism and a critical step toward authoritarianism.  Rigged elections and restrictions on basic liberty had been typically occurring in an increasing number of states.   A few such democratically-elected left-wing authoritarians have since been voted or forced out of power elsewhere in Latin America, as I have been posting, but several remain.

Updates: Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq 

There were more protests in Russia, led by the opposition leader.  There have been many more arrests in Turkey, as the purge continues by the authoritarian Turkish leader, who continues to use last summer’s attempted military coup as an excuse to silence dissent.  The civil war continues in Syria.  In both Syria and Iraq, the last significant pockets of the Islamic State have been cleared.  As I had posted, major strongholds had been liberated by various forces, but a few minor ones had remained, especially in the desert area between the two states.  A few affiliates in Africa and Asia remain loyal to the self-declared caliphate based in Syria that was an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, while others around the world have kept their oaths to the parent organization.