Last December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist militant group, launched a sudden offensive that sent shockwaves through the region. One by one, major cities began to fall—first Aleppo, then Hama, and soon Homs—as the rebels pushed their way closer to Damascus, Syria’s capital. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which had survived well over a decade of civil war thanks to the likes of Iranian and Russian backing, found itself increasingly unable to deter the rebels’ advances; Iran was tangled up in its own proxy battles with Israel, while Russia was stretched thin with its war in Ukraine. In other words, Assad was on his own. The rebels, it seemed, understood this, and so they seized their chance. Damascus fell in a matter of days, and Assad fled to Moscow.

Initially, the ousting of Assad—a ruthless authoritarian notorious for using chemical weapons on his own people and overseeing a network of brutal political prisons, like the infamous “human slaughterhouse” at Sednaya—was widely celebrated across much of Syria.

While HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa—now Syria’s de facto president—originated as an al-Qaeda affiliate with early ties to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, their story is more complicated, especially today. Since Assad’s fall, Sharaa has undergone a strategic political makeover, rebranding himself as a moderate who promises to form an inclusive government that represents the country’s mosaic of different ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. The move to distance himself from his jihadist past is a calculated political one aimed at convincing the world — particularly the U.S. and Europe—to lift sanctions on Syria, the harshest of which have been in place since the start of the civil war in 2011. The oil, construction, and banking sectors have taken an especially hard blow, which, in turn, has stymied efforts to rebuild both Syria’s infrastructure and economy. If Sharaa is successful in convincing global powers of his reformed government, it could give Syria a chance to address its hyperinflation and widespread poverty as well as regain the public’s trust.

And to be fair, Sharaa’s new government has made some notable moves as of late. It appointed several women to key positions, including Maysaa Sabreen as the first-ever female head of Syria’s Central Bank, Aisha al-Dibs to lead the newly established Women’s Affairs Office, and Mushina al-Mahithawi, the first woman to ever serve as governor of Suwaida.

Still, some remain worried that Sharaa’s new government might revert to the strict, conservative Sharia law–style governance it imposed while controlling Idlib during the war.

The woman I spoke to at the bar most definitely felt this way. She said that at least under Assad, women had the legal right to vote, access to education, and could work. HTS-controlled Idlib, however, was a different story. Women’s rights were largely erased. Political participation was nonexistent, while social and economic freedom was severely restricted. Education, too, was gender-segregated and revolved primarily around religious studies.

The odds were against Edgar Feuchtwanger reaching the age of 100. He was born on 28 September 1924 into a time of poverty and political turmoil in post-first world war Germany. He was also born into a Jewish family in a society that was about to turn to National Socialism, an ideology that would ultimately be responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews. In 1929, when Feuchtwanger was five, something happened that made his long life even more unlikely. He got a new neighbour: Adolf Hitler.

In October that year, Hitler moved into the grand second-floor flat at Prinzregentenplatz 16 in Munich. His previous flat, on the other side of the Isar, the river that divides Munich, had become too small. Munich to him was the “Capital of the Movement”, a title he awarded the city officially in 1935. From 1929 on he lived in nine rooms in this corner building, with its long balconies and baroque facade. His staff moved in with him, and, soon, devotees and high-ranking SS officers were flocking to the flats nearby. Diagonally opposite, at Grillparzerstrasse 38, with a direct view of Hitler’s flat, lived the Feuchtwanger family.

Edgar Feuchtwanger, whom his parents called Bürschi, grew up in a respected and wealthy family that employed a chef and a nanny. His father, Ludwig, was a publisher and lawyer; his mother, Erna, a pianist. Intellectuals of the early 20th century were constantly in and out of the family home: the writer Thomas Mann; the lawyer Carl Schmitt, who later became a Nazi legal theorist and party member. And, of course, Ludwig’s brother, and Edgar’s uncle, Lion Feuchtwanger, the author of the novels Jew Süss and Success.

It's rather crazy to read about his story in an era where the U.S. is just disappearing anyone they don't much care for.

I'm not going to say the story backs the hed. Nonetheless, this isn't what you want to read happening. Selecting the correct excerpt is usually an easy task.

Here, it isn't.

The full story should be read, but the best I can do is this:

For the former US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Donald Trump’s indifference to alienating allies is an act of vandalism. He said diplomats around the world were asking: “What the fuck is going on?”

Blinken said America had spent 80 years building up trust, strong economic partnerships and military and political alliances, and if that was then taken down in a matter of 100 days it would be incredibly hard to rebuild.

“It means countries look for ways to work around us, to work together but without the US,” he said. “The possibility that what will be said today will be reversed tomorrow, and will be reversed again, means they simply cannot count on us. Joe Biden used to say it is never a good idea to bet against America. The problem we now have is people are no longer betting on America.”

I don't think anyone is arguing that there's any remaining U.S. hegemony, but this is stark. Get ready for everything you've known about the postwar era to go away. What comes next? Likely not anything good.

Seriously: Read the full piece. This is a five-alarm shitshow, and we're worrying about Barbie imports.

During Friday’s mass with cardinals, Leo began his homily in English, before switching to Italian. In the English passage he quoted words from the psalms, saying “I will sing a new song to the Lord, because he has done marvels”.

“Not just with me,” he continued. “But with all of us, my brother cardinals, as we celebrate this morning, I invite you to recognise the marvels that the Lord has done, the blessings that the Lord continues to pour out upon all of us.”

Switching to Italian, he said he hoped the church could “illuminate the dark nights of this world”. He said he would be a “faithful administrator” of the church, and that it should be judged by the holiness of its members and not “the grandeur of her buildings”.

In a later passage referring to evangelisation, Leo said there were many settings in which the Christian faith was considered “absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.”

He added: “These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed.”

It's almost like he's familiar with American evangelism and the backlash thereto.

I'm rather surprised no one has posted pope news yet. So here you go. His past writings suggest a liberal bent, but popes are wont to surprise.

Robert Francis Prevost has become the first clergyman from the United States to lead the Roman Catholic church, ending the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a US pontiff.

The 69-year-old from Chicago has taken the papal name Pope Leo XIV, a senior cardinal announced from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Thursday evening.

The announcement, which followed white smoke billowing from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, prompted raucous celebration and delight among the 50,000 pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square.

I'll respectfully avoid the reference to guys from Chicago in Star Trek: Picard.

Donald Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the “Arabian Gulf” or the “Gulf of Arabia”, according to two US officials.

The move has prompted a push back from Iranian leaders.

On Wednesday, Iran’s current foreign minister weighed in, saying that names of mideast waterways do “not imply ownership by any particular nation, but rather reflects a shared respect for the collective heritage of humanity”.

What is it with Trump's obsession with renaming gulfs? These aren't your gulf courses.

We appear to have a full-fledged war between nuclear-armed powers. I think they'll back down, as with the Cuban missile crisis. The problem is there's a nonzero chance I'm wrong.

Indian forces have attacked Pakistan with missiles in three locations, Pakistan's military spokesman is quoted by the country's state TV as saying. There are also reports of intense shelling and loud explosions in border areas of the Pakistan-administered state of Kashmir, according to Reuters news agency. Relations between India and Pakistan have declined sharply following a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last month. India accuses Pakistan of backing cross-border terrorism - a charge Islamabad flatly denies.

The Indian government says its forces have launched "Operation Sindoor", "hitting terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir "from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed". In a statement, the Indian government says "nine sites have been targeted".

"Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced a new “intensified” offensive in Gaza that will involve Israeli troops holding on to seized territory and significant displacement of the population.

“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Basem Naim told the news agency, urging the international community “to pressure the Netanyahu government to end the crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings” in Gaza.

His comments come a day after Israel’s military said expanded operations in Gaza would include displacing “most” of its residents, and amid Israeli strikes on Yemen and Lebanon.

This will surely go well. Bibi is doing the same thing as Trump and seeing how far he can push before everything fails spectacularly.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) is calling for public pension funds to divest from Tesla. To show solidarity with American workers facing attacks from Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the union says it’s time for the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board (CPSIB) to dump its Tesla shares.

Despite holding no elected position in United States President Donald Trump’s administration, Musk and his DOGE are firing public servants with reckless abandon, placing the entire American federal public sector in jeopardy. Essential workers at the departments of education, health and human services, energy, veterans affairs and defense, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, the National Park Service, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been summarily fired, furloughed, or pressured to accept dubious buyouts.

In response, CAPE, which represents more than 27,000 Canadian federal public servants, is leading the charge to pull Canadian public pension investments from the controversial electric automobile maker.

Labor will form a majority government after recording strong swings in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia and a small swing in Victoria, while Peter Dutton has conceded his own seat of Dickson.

The ABC has called 86 seats for Labor, but it is leading in several more, and ABC election analyst Antony Green has said it could end the count with a "thumping" majority.

It will make Anthony Albanese the first prime minister elected twice since John Howard.

As Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) – the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda – he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration.

...

In Moscow, Margarita Simonyan, the hardline editor-in-chief of the state broadcaster RT described it as an “awesome decision”. The Global Times, an English-language Chinese state media publication, crowed that the broadcasters had been discarded by the White House “like a dirty rag”, ending their “propaganda poison”. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, whose regime has been accused of repressing political opposition, described Trump’s move as “very promising”.

Domestically, Trump has continued to target the media, whether by taking outlets including CBS News and ABC to court, attempting to block political access to the White House by the Associated Press, or defund National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service – institutions he has described as “radical left monsters”.

For many senior media figures around the world, there has been a tipping of the scales as authoritarian regimes are emboldened by a US administration not only attacking the media at home, but also withdrawing from the fight for free information overseas.

...

Jonathan Munro, global director of BBC News , says: “Three-quarters of countries around the world don’t have free media, and that figure is getting worse, not better.

“It’s not just the lack of free media. It’s the proactive and aggressive march of disinformation and misinformation, which arrives on people’s phones 24 hours a day. That’s a cocktail for a very badly informed, or misinformed, global population.”

Munro says authoritarian regimes were already reacting to the withdrawal of the west and growing their own presence.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2631767

Archived version

The European Union has not signaled any reciprocation as China announces lifting of sanction from several members of the EU Parliament, imposed in 2021 as a response to EU’s sanctions on some Chinese officials, citing human rights violations in Xinjiang.

The lifting of sanctions means that the MEPs will now be able to travel to China. The move is being perceived as a potential kick starter for better relations between China and the European countries.

[...]

The diplomatic battle between China and the European Union peaked in 2021 when EU took the first step, sanctioning Chinese officials. China responded in kind and sanctioned some MEPs. This rift dimmed the chances of signing of a trade and investment deal between China and EU which was finalized at the end of 2020.

[...]

Over the years, China and the EU have maintained difficult ties, in which the EU has consistently criticized China for not fulfilling human rights obligations.

[...]

While Beijing is courting Europe portraying itself as a friend as Trump's tariffs policy threatens its economy, the Chinese propaganda at home shows Chinese troops rehearsing in Moscow for the parade with Russia that invaded Ukraine.

Here is an Invidious link of a footage reportedly captured a Chinese student in Russia (original YT link is here).

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2600244

Archived

Poland’s foreign minister ... used an annual address to parliament to send a sharp message to Russian leaders as war continues in neighboring Ukraine, asking: “Don’t you have enough land?”

Foreign Minster Radek Sikorski described the difficult situation Poland faces with the war across the border and the threat of its expansion, and voiced concerns about the “disintegration” of Western unity.

Poland, on NATO’s eastern flank, is one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters, and Sikorski used his speech to strongly criticize Russia.

He said, addressing Russian leaders: “Don’t you have enough land? Eleven time zones and still not enough? Take care of better governing what is within your borders according to international law.”

...

“For Poland, the greatest threat would be the disintegration of the Western community. That is why we cannot afford illusions or inaction. We cannot afford to be alone,” Sikorski said.

He had a warning for Russia. “You will never rule here again, neither in Kyiv, nor in Vilnius, nor in Riga, nor in Tallinn, nor in Chisinau,” he said, listing the capitals of Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Moldova.

...

He also noted that the situation on the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine is “ambiguous,” and that Russian forces’ slow progress is paid for “with huge losses.”

“After three years of this stage of the war, which Putin planned for three days, Russian troops control only about 20% of Ukrainian territory and are still stuck in eastern Ukraine,” Sikorski said.

“It is estimated that the war has already cost Russia at least $200 billion, and almost a million Russian soldiers have been eliminated from the battlefield. Ukrainian losses are smaller, and they have not allowed either the capture of their capital or the installation of a puppet government.”

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2600126

Archived

In a remarkable example of how times have changed, Japan is expanding its military with NATO.

There was a time when the notion of a militarily assertive Japan would’ve sent shivers through the spines of world leaders. Indeed, the Japanese themselves, mindful of both the suffering that their nation inflicted and then suffered in return during World War II, pursued a pacifistic foreign policy throughout the Cold War and for even much of the post-Cold War era.

What a difference eight decades, and the looming threat of Chinese aggression, make. Nations that once shuddered at the thought of a stronger Japan now welcome it. This can be seen in Japan’s newly bolstered ties with the Philippines as well as multinational partnerships such as “The Quad” (among India, Australia, Japan, and the United States). And now, in a perhaps even more remarkable example of how times have changed, Japan is expanding those military ties beyond the Indo-Pacific over to NATO.

...

“China, North Korea, and Russia are stepping up their military exercises and their cooperation, undermining global stability, and that means what happens in the Euro-Atlantic matters for the Indo-Pacific and vice versa. So our security, I believe, is inseparable,” [NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said].

...

“China is supporting Russia’s efforts. China is building up its armed forces, including its navy, at a rapid pace. We cannot be naïve, and we really have to work together, assess what is happening,” [Rutte said].

...

What the fuck is this?

It was not immediately clear if the Liberals will have enough seats for a majority government. A minority government would means Carney’s party will need the support of political opponents to govern. After a narrow victory in the previous federal election, the Liberals relied on the leftwing New Democratic party to help it pass legislation. Monday’s result appeared likely to produce a similar result, with the NDP and Liberals holding enough seats to pass legislation.

You can't run a "secures election victory" hed and then this ... != "it was not immediately clear."

At least the conservative leader saw the writing on the wall.

On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military arrested de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected politicians and declared a national emergency, giving absolute power to commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.

The coup marked a dramatic political backslide in a country that had been moving toward democracy for the past decade, and triggered widespread unrest. Peaceful protests erupted nationally, government workers launched a civil disobedience movement, and millions of students boycotted school.

Over the following months, soldiers and police fatally shot hundreds of protesters and jailed thousands of dissidents. In response, young people began heading to the forests and mountains by the thousands, seeking training in combat warfare.

One of them was Rupa, a recent high school graduate. She had been living with her parents in the central city of Pyin Oo Lwin at the time of the coup, waiting for schools to reopen after a year of COVID-19-related closures so she could start university. But after witnessing the mobilization of the Myanmar public via social media, she decided to put her education on hold and join the anti-junta uprising.

Known as the Spring Revolution, the uprising seeks to remove the military from power and establish a federal democracy; many but not all of its supporters advocate for an armed as well as a nonviolent response. The movement advocates not only for an end to military rule but also for a more inclusive and just society, and a decentralized political system that addresses the long-standing grievances of ethnic minorities across the country.

When we spoke with Rupa in October 2024, she said that she was initially inspired to action by the diversity and energy of the movement, even though her political awareness at the time was limited. “I didn’t fully understand politics, revolution, or armed resistance,” she said. Still, she felt it was the “right time for me to participate and take responsibility for my country.” (To reduce the risk of retaliation against her or her family, she has been given a pseudonym.)

Members of the Indigenous Waorani village of Kiwaro looked skyward as a helicopter hovered over the rainforest canopy in the center of Ecuador and landed in a nearby clearing. Out stepped government officials, there to inform the community about an impending auction of oil rights on their land.

The Ecuadorian government announced earlier, in November 2011 from the capital city Quito, that it would open up for drilling millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest—including the ancestral territories of Waorani communities like Kiwaro.

According to court documents, the officials’ time in the village was brief. There was no detailed explanation of what oil extraction entailed. No discussion about oil operations’ negative impacts. The community’s official leaders, known as pikenani, weren’t present at some meetings. And officials spoke in Spanish, not the community’s Waotetero language. Across the region slated for drilling, dozens of other consultation processes followed similar patterns—if they happened at all. Later analyses showed that the government only spoke with about 7 percent of people affected by the planned operations.

Neither the Ecuadorian Consulate in Washington, D.C., nor representatives from the Ecuadorian Ministries of Environment or Energy and Mines responded to requests for comment. But officials have previously said they complied with government regulations and acted in good faith.

With extractive industry pressures intensifying worldwide, Indigenous groups, governments and businesses have been pushing courts to clarify ambiguities in the laws.

Today, it’s not just oil companies knocking at communities’ doors. Mining—legal and illegal—has exploded in the Ecuadorian Amazon and beyond. Indigenous lands hold more than half of the world’s minerals used in low carbon and modern-day technologies like computers and cell phones. Those lands also are home to more than a third of the world’s remaining intact forests, and conservation efforts have emerged as another threat. Some carbon schemes and national parks have had links to forced displacements and other human rights violations.

In theory, FPIC acts as a safeguard against these and other abuses. But in practice, Indigenous leaders and outside experts say governments frequently carry out performative meetings, with rushed or bare-bones presentations made to select representatives.

“There is a tendency of governments to want a tick box,” said Cathal Doyle, legal and human rights program coordinator at the U.K.-based nonprofit Forest Peoples Programme.

Governments’ emphasis on speed and efficiency can undermine the purpose of FPIC, experts like Doyle say.

Consultations must be adapted to each community’s distinct customs, many of which rely on consensus-based decision-making processes that can take months or more than a year, said S. James Anaya, a former United Nations special rapporteur on Indigenous peoples’ rights.

Doyle’s work allows him to see how often the right to free, prior and informed consultation is fully complied with. “It’s rare,” he said.

There are, he added, some instances where communities’ decisions to withhold consent for actions or projects have been respected, but those have often been at the end of a long struggle with a huge amount of advocacy and mobilization.

To assume hundreds of millions of people think alike or live under the same circumstances is a mistake, Indigenous leaders and researchers say. So too is the presumption that all Indigenous communities use the FPIC process to oppose extractive industries.

Some communities have used consultations to negotiate economic benefits, jobs, land protections and environmental safeguards, said Anaya, who also served as dean of the University of Colorado Boulder Law School.

“In much of the world, it’s assumed that Indigenous peoples are never interested in development—and that’s a myth,” Anaya said. What matters, he added, is that Indigenous peoples have a choice, and that agreements with governments or private companies are made on “just and equitable terms.”

Nine people have been killed and multiple others injured after the driver of a black SUV slammed into a crowd Saturday evening at a street festival in Vancouver celebrating the contributions of the Filipino Canadian community, police say.

It happened shortly after 8 p.m. PT, a few blocks from East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street, where the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party was winding down, after drawing up to 100,000 people through the day.

Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai says a 30-year-old Vancouver man is now in custody.

In a statement read Sunday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney said more than 20 people were injured.

Carney said Canadians are heartbroken at what "police are describing as a car-ramming attack" that happened during "an occasion to gather and to celebrate the vibrancy of the Filipino-Canadian community."