Foreign Digest: China, Syria, South Africa and Belarus

China

            Communist China has been criticized for its failure to report earlier the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus, although it has been praised for its quicker reporter than during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002.  The initial attempts to cover up the disease by the Communist Party allowed it to spread more than it should have, which has jeopardized world health, as well as the global economy.

Syria

            The Syrian Civil War, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions in nearly nine years, continues to draw in its neighbors.  Turkey, which backs some rebels, clashed twice with Syrian forces earlier this month.  Israel last week bombed a military target belonging to the Iranian forces and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite terrorists backed by the Islamic Republic.  Both Iran and Hezbollah back Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad.  Assad is backed by Russia.  There are non-Islamist rebels backed by the West and others and Islamists like al-Qaeda and its offshoot, the “Islamic State” participating in the conflict.

South Africa

            South Africa has charged its former President with corruption last week.  His party, the left-wing African National congress, which has dominated post-Apartheid South African politics, forced him out last year after repeated allegations of corruption.

Belarus 

           The dictator of Belarus accused Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin last week of trying to force the merger of Russia and Belarus, a former Soviet Republic, through pressure with energy supplies that Belarussians are dependent on.  The Belarussian leader objects to the Russian pressure.  The formation of a new state could allow Putin to avoid term limits and to rule the new state.  He has referred to the breakup of the former Soviet Union, of which Russia was the largest part, as a disaster.  Russia invaded former Soviet Republics Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, creating puppet states or seizing territory.