Foreign Digest: Turkey, Algeria, Germany, Bolivia, India, Belarus and Afghanistan

Turkey          

            There were hundreds of more arrests in Turkey that were blamed by the Islamist dictatorship on the failed 2016 military coup.  Tens of thousands of Turks have been arrested and many others fired as the regime uses the coup as an excuse to increase its authoritarianism to maintain its hold on power.

Algeria

            The incoming President of Algeria has pledged to implement a presidential term limit of two terms.  He was recently elected despite a boycott by the democratic opposition that had forced the resignation earlier this year of the longtime President who had become authoritarian.         

Germany

            The German Parliament approved a resolution to ban activities by Hezbollah, the Iranian-sponsored Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization and calling upon the European Union to list it as a terrorist organization.

Bolivia

            An arrest warrant has been issued for the former Chavist President of Bolivia by the new interim government for sedition and terrorism.  The increasingly authoritarian President had fled Bolivia after his government made dubious claims that he had been reelected to a fourth term, despite a constitutional term limit of two terms.

India

            There have been protests against the Hindu nationalist Indian Government’s new law that provides for asylum for non-Muslims fleeing persecution from Muslim areas through citizenship registration by creed.

Belarus

            There were protests against encroachment on the independence of the former Soviet Republic of Belarus from the Russian Federation, as Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin tries to force a union of Russian and Belarus.  The Belorussian dictator usually does not tolerate the freedom of assembly, but allowed the protests as a signal to Russia, with which Belarus has close ties, that it is leveraging its independence for energy concessions, which Russia declines to grant in order to force a union.

Afghanistan

           Presidential elections were conducted in Afghanistan today.  The incumbent President won a majority.  Afghanistan continues to fight an insurgency by the Taliban, who were overthrown in 2002 by an American-led coalition because they had harbored the al-Qaeda Islamist terrorists who had been responsible for the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.  The United States continues to lead an international coalition assisting Afghanistan in defeating the Taliban and al-Qaeda.