The Week in Review
Middle East
Confusion continues to reign in the aftermath of Iraq’s March 7 parliamentary election. According to results released March 26, secular Shiite Iyad Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats in the 325-seat Council of Representatives, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Iran-friendly Shiite State of Law (SoL) coalition gaining 89 seats, the pro-Iranian Iraqi National Alliance (ina) 70, and the Kurdistan Alliance 43. With none of the parties winning the majority needed to rule alone, negotiations are under way between the different parties to form a ruling coalition. Several factors mean the makeup of the new government remains up in the air. Firstly, the Iraqi commission created to purge the electoral process of candidates loyal to Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath Party announced Monday that it would contest the results of the election. The Accountability and Justice Commission says that six of the winning candidates had been banned from running in the elections the day before the vote and that their votes should be thrown out. Four of those candidates are from the Iraqiya bloc, which means that if the commission is successful, Allawi could lose his lead in the elections. Secondly, on Saturday, the Iraqi Supreme Federal Court issued a reinterpretation of how parties can form a government. Previously, the law was understood to mean that whichever party won the most votes would have the right to form the government. Now, however, the coalition of parties that has the most seats can form the government and select the prime minister. This means that Maliki, despite not winning the election, could team up with the ina and easily gain the numbers to remain prime minister and form the government.
Another spanner in the works, however, is that anti-American radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who won the most votes within the ina and is seen as a potential kingmaker, has thus far withheld his support from both of the two big election winners and says he wants to put the choice to his supporters in a referendum. Negotiations have been under way between the SoL and the ina to form an alliance, but have stalled over the Sadrists’ refusal to accept Maliki as prime minister. Meanwhile, Maliki is still pursuing allegations of fraud in the election and demanding a recount. If the SoL and the ina successfully form an alliance, Iran will have the capacity to influence Iraq more extensively; representatives from both parties have traveled to Iran in recent days for meetings. However, if Allawi, who gained the votes of many Sunnis, is sidelined, it also raises the specter of renewed violence in Iraq.
Egyptian security forces uncovered a large cache of missiles and mortar shells in northern Sinai believed to have been bound for the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s al-Youm al-Sabe’ newspaper reported Thursday. A security source said the cache included about 100 antiaircraft missiles, 45 rocket-propelled grenades and 40 explosive devices. No suspects were apprehended by Egyptian forces. The newspaper also reported that three tunnels connecting the Egyptian city of Rafah and Gaza were discovered on Wednesday and that 41 vehicles used for smuggling had been confiscated in Sinai.
Europe
Deutsche Welle reported Thursday that Germany has joined Britain to lend strong support for sanctions against Iran. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and agreed to tougher sanctions against Tehran following discussions earlier this week between U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Germany continues to put pressure on Iran, daring it to push back.
The spotlight continues to shine on Pope Benedict xvi for his handling of Catholic priests’ sexual abuse of minors. The abuse, which has occurred within the church for decades, is a “test for him and the church,” his spokesman said. Criticism has centered on the pope himself as lawyers have called for Benedict to testify under oath on what the Vatican knew about pedophile priests and whether or not it intentionally covered up their actions by moving them from parish to parish.
Germans are experiencing an upsurge in discontent with Catholicism, with Bishop Walter Mixa this week fending off allegations of child abuse when he was a priest at an orphanage in the 1970s. Germany is rife with allegations against Catholic priests, and in the past even Chancellor Merkel has stood up to the Vatican on other issues. However, though the trend seems to be dividing Germany from its Catholic heritage, watch for the embattled Vatican to come out victorious and gain even more power over Germany—and Europe—than it had before the scandal broke.
Asia
Last Sunday, Islamists in Chechnya killed 39 people in homicide bombings in a subway. Just hours before, another attack in Degastan took 12 more lives. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the attacks were related, and the secretary of Russia’s national security council suggested that Georgia was behind the blasts. The comments raised concerns among Georgian officials that Moscow would use the attacks as a pretext for Russian forces to renew their aggression against Georgia, a former Soviet state that is now an independent country. In August 2008, Russia invaded the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, recognized them as independent nations, and established bases there in defiance of both the United Nations and nato. More aggression toward Georgia would fit a dangerous pattern of belligerence by Moscow.
South Korean news agency Yonhap revealed on March 18 that the North Korean finance chief was put to death for poor performance. Pak Nam-gi was killed by firing squad for his role in botching currency reform measures. The 77-year-old was put to death as “a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy,” Yonhap said. However, some North Koreans believe that the state just needed someone to take the fall. When North Korea revalued its currency, two zeros were wiped off all the bills, effectively destroying middle-class Koreans who had managed to build up savings through trade. State cronies, however, had their real wages increased 100 times over.
Currency problems are flaring up in Asia’s largest Communist country as well. This week, two of three People’s Bank of China policy members issued statements that supported revaluing the yuan. The move is seen as an effort to reduce tension with America, ahead of calls by U.S. members of Congress to label China as a currency manipulator. China stands accused of purposefully keeping its currency undervalued in relation to the dollar. This makes Chinese exports to America less expensive for American consumers. Thus, the theory goes, Americans buy more Chinese goods, at the expense of U.S.-made products. The movement to label China a currency manipulator is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s “quantitative easing” program of printing money out of thin air (ostensibly to stimulate the economy) is also a direct form of currency manipulation—which in this case devalues the dollar; this is exactly the effect that certain members of Congress have pushed for in order to make American exports cheaper on the world stage.
In other Chinese news, millions of people are facing the “worst drought in a millennium,” according to the Epoch Times. Drought is seriously impacted the provinces of Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, the city of Chongqing, and surrounding areas. More than 61 million people are affected, according to a disaster briefing released by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs on March 23. More than 2.9 million acres of farmland is already ruined. “Our harvest for early spring crops such as corn, wheat, and kidney beans is zero. … People will face starvation,” said an official quoted by the Guangzhou Daily.
Latin America
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez starting April 2 as 38 Mi-17 Hip helicopters are delivered to Caracas. Chávez continues to take every opportunity to diversify away from the United States. In addition to signing more than $4 billion in arms deals, Chávez has also invited Russian energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft to explore for oil, with more deals sure to be made at the presidential meetings.
The Mexican drug war escalated to new levels this past month. Gang members in bulletproof vehicles attacked two army bases in Mexico with assault rifles and hand grenades on April 1; 18 gang members died in the ensuing conflict. Residents of one town, El Porvenir, fled to Texas after they were told to “vacate or they’re going to start killing them and burning their houses down,” according to Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West. More than 30 have requested asylum. On March 30, 10 students, ranging in age from 8 to 21, were killed in a grenade attack on their way to collect college scholarships. The mayor of Pueblo Nuevo, a town in the region of the attack, said he feels powerless to challenge the gangs: “We need more military presence … more police who are trained and equipped to fight the kind of criminals we are facing.” On March 19, soldiers and drug traffickers shocked the nation with a gun battle at Mexico’s most prestigious university, killing two. Drug-related beheadings have become routine, with four separate incidents, one resulting in several headless corpses, since March 22. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 18,000 have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006—nearly 1,000 in the past month alone. To understand how the United States’ ravenous appetite for drugs fuels the horrifying situation in Mexico, read “A Key to Winning the Drug War” by Joel Hilliker.
Anglo-America
The Times Online reported Thursday that Britain faces “months of walkouts.” Though the High Court ruled on Thursday that a national strike of railroad signalers could not go ahead, the general secretary of the trade union movement in Britain said that there are “very real risks” of widespread strikes if much-needed spending cuts affect the public sector and unions.
Floodwaters hit Massachusetts and Rhode Island this week. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Rhode Island, and indicated he would try to visit the flooded areas in person to see the damage caused by record rainfalls.
Agents raided and arrested a small Michigan militia group March 27, seizing dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition that the group said it was going to use to murder a police officer. The group of would-be domestic terrorists had also built bombs in preparation for killing the police who would attend the funeral of the officer, and are charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed for abortion rights in Canada on Tuesday. At a G-8 function in Quebec, Clinton said, “You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion.”
Pew Research reported on Thursday that 73 percent of Americans support legalizing medicinal marijuana, and 41 percent support legalizing the drug in general.