Trump Bombs Syria, French Factory Worker Runs for President, and China Loves Ivanka
| PNUT GALLERY |
In the United States, Ivanka Trump has become a controversial figure, but in China, Yi Wan Ka, as she is known, has become widely adored for her lavish lifestyle and business acumen. |
| IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ |
Trump Orders Missile Attacks on Syrian Airbase: Before he sat down to dinner with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Thursday evening, President Trump authorized US airstrikes against a Syrian airbase near Homs. 59 missiles launched from US naval ships in the Mediterranean struck the airbase that was home to the warplanes that carried out chemical attacks earlier this week. The strike is the first direct military action taken against the Syrian government by the US in the six-year Syrian civil war. Six people were killed in the airstrike. Trump spoke briefly to reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday night and stated: “It is in this vital national security of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.” Trump’s decision to strike was a marked turn from his stance on Syria during his presidential campaign and came after the President was visibly moved by images from the chemical weapons attack. However, speaking to reporters late Thursday night, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the strike did not represent a “change in our policy or our posture in Syria” and that the administration felt the strike was “proportional because it was targeted at the facility that delivered this most recent chemical attack.” The airstrikes on Syria could very well further muddle US-Russia relations. Russia has been Assad’s strongest ally, supported the Syrian government with direct military assistance, and has prevented the UN Security Council from taking any action against Syria. In a statement from the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the US airstrikes on Syria as “an act of aggression against a sovereign state” that “dealt a serious blow to Russia-US relations.” |
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Former Shin Bet Operatives Reflect on Israel’s Past and Present: In a move that is sure to enrage nationalist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his party, two former heads of Israel’s domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, offered a blistering critique of the country’s current government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history. Ahead of an Israeli celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the country’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, Ami Ayalon and Carmi Gillon stated they were deeply concerned about growing apathy in Israeli society after so many decades in which the occupation has been justified by Israeli courts. The pair said the country’s political system was in the process of “incremental tyranny”–an “Orwellian dynamic” that uses ongoing war and an ever-present enemy to keep Israelis in a state of fear for political ends. Ayalon and Gillon highlighted the government’s crackdown on organizations such as military whistleblowing group Breaking the Silence, which Netanyahu’s government has banned from schools. A publicly owned gallery has been threatened with closure after hosting an event with Breaking the Silence, a group that the country’s culture minister says “hurts Israel’s image”. Both Ayalon and Gillon condemned such actions, as well as growing threats to the independence of the media and to freedom of speech, as attack against the nation’s “liberal-democracy” and the values that bind Israeli society. |
| KEEPING OUR EYE ON |
Is a Nobel Peace Prize Winner Defending Genocide?: De-facto leader of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has defended her government’s role in the violence that has rocked the country’s Muslim-majority region of Rakhine. In an interview with the BBC, Suu Kyi denied that the army was engaging in ethnic cleansing of Muslims. Thus far, 75,000 people of the minority Rohingya group have fled the country for Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Swept into power in 2015 after nearly 15 years of house arrest, Suu Kyi has faced staunch criticism both at home and abroad, with many feeling disillusioned with the government over the crisis in the north and lack of reform. Suu Kyi assured all minority groups that they will be safe upon return to Myanmar, a promise that is unlikely to carry much weight with refugees who have reported assassinations of toddlers by the military. Underdog Rocks French Presidential Debate: ‘Everyone likes an underdog’–this statement exemplifies the current French presidential race. From liberal firebrand Emmanuel Macron to far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to conservative Francois Fillon, Ford factory worker Philippe Poutou confronted the ruling class head-on in Tuesday’s televised debate. Poutou, the candidate for the New Anti-capitalist party, presented himself as an outspoken and unapologetic defender of the classic leftist agenda while holding up a mirror to rivals Le Pen and François Fillon, whose campaigns have been tainted by a series of corruption scandals. While Poutou scored high with the roughly six million viewers, Macron and Le Pen still remain the frontrunners for the first round of voting scheduled to take place on April 23 |
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