World Court: Azerbaijan must let ethnic Armenians return to Nagorno-Karabakh

November 17, 2023 



THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Judges at the World Court on Friday ordered Azerbaijan to let ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh in September return, and to keep the Armenians remaining in the enclave safe, as part of a set of emergency measures.

Azerbaijan in September recaptured the region, then controlled by its ethnic Armenian majority despite being internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

The lightning offensive, after decades of enmity between Baku and Yerevan and a nine-month blockade of essential supplies by Baku, prompted the mass exodus of most of the region's 120,000 ethnic Armenians to neighbouring Armenia.

Yerevan accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing and asked the International Court of Justice, as the World Court is formally known, to issue emergency measures aimed at protecting the rights of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan must (...) ensure that persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after Sept. 19, 2023, and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner," presiding judge Joan Donoghue said.


The court said Azerbaijan must also make sure any ethnic Armenians still living in the enclave were "free from the use of force or intimidation that may cause them to flee" and ordered that Baku report to the court in two months to show what it was doing to comply with the order.

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said it had already pledged to ensure all residents’ safety and security, regardless of national or ethnic origin, and that it had not forced the ethnic Armenians to leave Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan is committed to upholding the human rights of the Armenian residents of Karabakh on an equal basis with other citizens of Azerbaijan," it said in a statement.

The measures are part of two competing legal disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan before the ICJ. Both states accuse each of violating a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty.

No date has been set for the main case and a final ruling is not expected before well into next year.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Nailia Bagirova; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Hugh Lawson, William Maclean)

SOLIDARITY
The Good Samaritan is also a lobsterman: Maine man saves person from sinking car

JEANINE SANTUCCI, USA TODAY
November 17, 2023 

A Maine lobsterman who saw a car sinking in a bay on Thursday afternoon sprang into action, grabbing his diving gear and helping first responders pull out the unconscious driver.

Manny Kourinos, a lobsterman who also has a mooring service company in Portland, Maine, said he was filled with adrenaline and knew he had the right gear to help. Kourinos told USA TODAY he's been diving for over 20 years and didn't hesitate to get in the water.

"It was a complete adrenaline rush. Other people were in the water trying to do the best they could, but they didn't have scuba gear," he said. "It was just automatic, didn't even think about it when it was happening."

Kourinos said he jumped from the lobster boat, dove to the car, grabbed the person inside by the waist and pulled them out of the driver's side window.

The 33-year-old person rescued from the car, who was not identified by authorities, was unresponsive and had no pulse but was able to be revived and is in stable condition at Maine Medical Center, police in Portland said in a statement posted to social media.

"I'm a spiritual person. I believe I was placed to be at the right place at the right time and I hope the person, the victim, has a full recovery and I wish the best for them and their family and friends," Kourinos said.


Lobsterman Manny Kourinos, shown in this undated picture, helped first responders pull a person out of a car that was sinking in the Casco Bay, Maine, on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2023.

Local news footage from News Center Maine showed images of the brightly colored car sinking into the water nose-first. By the time Kourinos got under the water, he estimated it had sunk 12 to 15 feet below the surface and was resting on the seabed, he said.

The Portland Police Department said they responded to a report of a car entering the water in the East End Beach area at the Casco Bay. It wasn't clear what caused the car to go into the water, police said, but it had been reported stolen out of South Portland earlier in the day.

Kourinos said he didn't see the vehicle go into the water, but saw something orange in the water and realized it was a car when he brought his boat closer, heard sirens and saw people swimming toward it.

After rescuing the person, Kourinos said he went back down to make sure there wasn't anybody else in the car and to get the car's license plate number.

Having to recover a body underwater "has always been one of my biggest fears," Kourinos said, but he was hopeful first responders would be able to save the person.

After the daring rescue, "we went back to work... nobody's going to do my work," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maine lobsterman makes daring rescue after car goes into the water

Healthy, 100-pound southern white rhinoceros born at Virginia Zoo, the second in 3 years

EMILY DELETTER, USA TODAY
November 17, 2023 

A southern white rhinoceros was born earlier this month at the Virginia Zoo.

The female southern white rhinoceros, whose name has not yet been released, was born Nov. 9 and is the second rhinoceros ever born at the zoo in Norfolk, Virginia, according to a press release. She is the second offspring for 10-year-old mother Zina and 17-year-old father Sibindi. Zina also gave birth to the zoo's first rhinoceros calf, Mosi, in 2021.

There are now five rhinoceroses in the Virginia Zoo's crash, the term for a group of rhinoceroses.

The baby is a healthy female and weighed about 100 pounds according to a neonatal exam performed within 48 hours of birth.

Zina and the baby will remain in their night barn for the next few weeks so zookeepers can monitor them and ensure they are bonding, the zoo said, but they will be able to be seen through the barn windows.


270 miles away: Missing sailor found adrift in Atlantic Ocean reunited with family at Coast Guard base

The second southern white rhinocerous calf ever to be born at the Virginia Zoo is seen next to her mom, Zina, who gave birth on Nov. 9, 2023.

The gestation period for a southern white rhinoceros averages around 16 months, and is the second-longest in the animal kingdom behind elephants.

“This baby is invaluable to the long-term survival of the species,” Greg Bockheim, Executive Director of the Virginia Zoo, said in a release. “And like her older brother, she could not be more adorable.”

The southern white rhinoceros is native to South Africa, and the majority are found natively in four countries: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya, according to the World Wildlife Fund. While they are not white in color, their name comes from the Afrikaans word "weit," which means wide, and refers to the animal's mouth.

There are less than 16,000 left in the world, according the World Wildlife Fund, who has the species classified as "near threatened."

The Virginia Zoo said their median life expectancy is about 36 years in the wild, but they may life to be older than 40 in human care.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Female southern white rhinoceros born this month at Virginia Zoo

White House accuses Musk of ‘abhorrent’ promotion of antisemitic and racist hate



JAMES TITCOMB
November 17, 2023 

The White House has accused Elon Musk of “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” after the world’s richest man endorsed a tweet saying that Jewish people harbour “hatred against whites”.

Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary, said the Tesla billionaire had repeated a “hideous lie” by calling an antisemitic tweet “the actual truth”.

Mr Musk was embroiled in a new antisemitism row this week after responding to the tweet, which read: “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectic hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.

“I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realisation that those hordes of minorities that [they] support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”

Mr Musk, who has 163m followers, responded: “You have said the actual truth.”

Mr Bates said: “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

“Like President Biden said weeks ago memorialising the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 ‘devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of antisemitism;’ and under his presidency ‘we will continue to condemn antisemitism at every turn.’

“We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans. We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities.”

Mr Musk has repeatedly fought with groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, which have accused him of failing to combat antisemitism since taking over Twitter, now known as X, last year.

Mr Musk said this week that the group “unjustly attacks the majority of the West”, adding: “I am deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.”

He has accused the ADL of co-ordinating a slump in Twitter’s advertising revenue.

The tweet Mr Musk responded to came from an account with fewer than 5,000 followers, but Mr Musk’s reply means it has been seen more than 1.1m times.

The European Commission and the tech giant IBM have suspended advertising on Twitter in the last 24 hours.

X did not respond to a request for comment.

White House condemns Elon Musk post to X that supported antisemitic claim

MEGAN LEBOWITZ AND DAVID INGRAM
November 17, 2023 

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday condemned a post Elon Musk made on X that embraced an antisemitic claim by another account that accused Jews of pushing hatred against white people.

"We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. "We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities."

On Wednesday, a user posted to X accusations that Jews push hatred of white people, saying he was "deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations," realizing that "minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much."

Musk replied to the post, "You have said the actual truth." His post garnered more than 6 million views, according to the site-provided statistics.

Later in the thread, Musk targeted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights antisemitism.

"The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel," Musk wrote. "This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat." Musk has criticized the ADL in the past, too.

Following Musk's initial tweet agreeing with the antisemitic claim, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, called out the danger of promoting antisemitic theories.

"At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories," Greenblatt posted to X with a screenshot of Musk's post.

In the White House's response to Musk's post, Bates said it was "unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

"Like President Biden said weeks ago memorializing the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 'devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of Antisemitism;' and under his presidency 'we will continue to condemn Antisemitism at every turn," Bates continued. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 left 11 killed and seven injured, and was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

Reached for comment by NBC News, X responded, "Busy now, please check back later."

On Thursday, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, posted that the platform has been "extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination."

"There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong," the post continued. "Full stop."

Biden has also addressed the rise in antisemitism in recent weeks, and many American Jews have said they approve of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

"We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism," Biden said in an Oct. 20 speech. "We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."

Since Oct. 7, Jews have experienced a dramatic rise in antisemitism. In the month since the attacks, there has been a 316% increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group, said last month that it got nearly 800 requests for help and reports of bias incidents from Muslims across the U.S. from Oct. 7 to Oct. 24, a 182% jump from any 16-day stretch in 2022.

Elon Musk and X can’t escape government oversight, judge rules

BRIAN FUNG, CNN
November 17, 2023 

A federal judge said Thursday he would not intervene in a dispute between X owner Elon Musk and the Federal Trade Commission in an ongoing agency investigation of the social media giant that has triggered intense public scrutiny.

The decision means Musk may be forced to cooperate with federal investigators who are probing X, the company formerly known as Twitter, over business decisions that regulators fear may have jeopardized user security or privacy.

The 11-page order by US Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixon denies X’s attempt to invalidate a longtime privacy settlement with the FTC that forms the basis for the investigation. Hixon said the US District Court for the Northern District of California lacks the authority to grant X’s request to overturn the independent agency’s administrative order.

For the same reason, Hixon said he could not block the FTC from trying to depose Musk as part of the probe. The ruling could indirectly boost a similar and recent move by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to compel Musk’s testimony in a separate investigation related to Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

The privacy settlement at stake is central to the US government’s scrutiny of X. Questions about whether the company has complied with the 2011 order arose in a significant way in 2022. That’s when Twitter paid $150 million in an update to the settlement, resolving fresh allegations that it harmed users when it used personal information provided for account authentication purposes for advertising purposes instead.

Later that year, a whistleblower disclosure by Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former security chief, again raised new doubts about Twitter’s compliance, triggering the current FTC probe. And the investigation has only intensified since Musk’s takeover of the company, prompting X to protest what it has called government overreach and harassment of Musk. The FTC has said that it is attempting to carry out its mission to ensure X is complying with its legal obligations.

X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s order.

Ecuador legislature begins new session, Noboa joins leftists for majority

ALEXANDRA VALENCIA
November 17, 2023 



By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's National Assembly chose a conservative as its president on Friday as the new legislative period began, amid a deal between the parties of President-elect Daniel Noboa and ex-President Rafael Correa to form a majority.

Businessman Henry Kronfle, 51, was elected with 128 votes from the legislature's 137 members. Nine abstained.

The legislature was dissolved in May by outgoing President Guillermo Lasso to avoid his own likely impeachment, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2025.

The conservative Social Christian Party (PSC), Correa's Citizens' Revolution movement, and Noboa's National Democratic Action (ADN) had agreed to form a legislative majority of at least 85 votes.

"Let's build a better country, beyond our parties and movements, in which we can deliver so many unfulfilled promises to the Ecuadorean people," said Kronfle, of the PSC, after assuming his role.

The deal is part of "a great union to move the country forward," Noboa said on Wednesday, adding he will have zero tolerance for corruption or anyone blocking the government's projects.


The coalition is meant to support Noboa's proposals, including plans to generate jobs, especially for young people, and tackle violence, ADN said in a statement this week.

It will also be able to name the heads of key legislative committees.

Analysts say the coalition could help Noboa ensure he is able to govern - unlike his predecessor Lasso - during his truncated term.

"Noboa wants to have 18 months of relative calm by reaching these agreements with both political parties," said political analyst Alfredo Espinosa, adding Noboa recognizes he will not achieve anything without Correa's support.

Correa's movement has 51 seats in the assembly.

The Construye party of assassinated anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, which has 18 seats, has said it will not join the coalition because of its opposition to Correa.

Noboa, who won a runoff election in October to beat Correa's protégé Luisa Gonzalez, will be sworn in next week.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Richard Chang)

Rare, deadly "zombie" deer disease found in Yellowstone, officials say

LI COHEN
November 17, 2023 

NPS/Neal Herbert


A rare "zombie" disease that causes deer to excessively drool, droop their ears and become reluctant to move before eventually killing them has been detected in Yellowstone National Park for the first time, officials say. Once established, officials say there is "no effective way to eradicate" the fatal illness, called chronic wasting disease.

National Park Service officials said earlier this week the disease was found in a dead adult mule deer found near Yellowstone Lake. The deer had originally been captured in Cody, Wyoming, by the state's Game and Fish Department in March as part of a population study, and according to a GPS collar that had been placed on the animal, officials said it died around mid-October.

"This is the first confirmed positive detection of the disease in Yellowstone National Park," a press release from the government agency said, adding they conducted "multiple diagnostics tests" to confirm its presence.

What is "zombie" deer disease, or chronic wasting disease?

Deer, elk, reindeer and moose can all be affected by chronic wasting disease, which has been found in North America, Norway and South Korea, according to the CDC. The agency says that it can take more than a year for animals to show symptoms and that some animals may die without ever fully developing the prion disease, a "rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder" that impacts prion proteins mostly found in brains.

Chronic wasting disease, sometimes called "zombie deer disease" according to Wyoming Public Media, impacts the central nervous system of animals. When animals do show symptoms, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department says they will typically lose weight, be reluctant to move, excessively salivate, will drink and urinate more frequently, their ears will droops, and eventually, they'll die.

"The majority of CWD positive animals that are harvested appear completely normal and healthy," the Wyoming agency says.

Typically, chronic wasting disease is transmitted through bodily fluids and waste, including saliva, urine, feces and even carcasses, WGFD says. Animals can also become infected if their feed or pasture is contaminated with the prions carrying it.

As of now, the National Park Service says "there is no effective strategy to eradicate" the disease once it has been established. The service said it will now work with other agencies to identify areas that are most at-risk for its spread and will increase monitoring and sample testing. Yellowstone is also working on revising its surveillance plan that was last reviewed in 2021, and is hoping to complete the revision next year.


Can humans get chronic wasting disease?

The CDC says that "there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people."

However, there is some concern that a risk still exists. Some studies have suggested chronic wasting disease is a risk to monkeys that eat infected animal meat or come in contact with infected animal brains or bodily fluids.

"Since 1997, the World Health Organization has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain," the CDC says.

The agency said additional studies are also being conducted to find out if prion diseases such as CWD can occur at a higher rate in people more at risk of coming into contact with an infected animal or its meat.

"Because of the long time it takes before any symptoms of disease appear, scientists expect the study to take many years before they will determine what the risk, if any, of CWD is to people," the agency said.

Thousands march through Athens to mark 50 years since student uprising crushed by dictatorship


November 17, 2023 at 8:39 AM



ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of people marched through central Athens on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of a pro-democracy student uprising that was violently put down by the military dictatorship ruling Greece in 1973.

The annual march started from the Polytechnic campus, which was the headquarters of the uprising, and headed toward the U.S. Embassy. America is still widely blamed in Greece for supporting the 1967-74 rightwing dictatorship during the Cold War.

Many of the protesters Friday carried Palestinian flags, while the march was preceded by a group of students carrying a blood-spattered Greek flag that flew at the Polytechnic during the events of 1973.

The march is often marred by rioting by far-left supporters and thousands of police were on duty Friday to maintain the peace.


Tensions have been simmering in recent days, after the fatal police shooting of a Roma teenager following a high-speed car chase in central Greece.

Police were stationed outside the embassy building, located just off a major Athens thoroughfare, to prevent protesters from getting close.

The Polytechnic uprising, which came a year before the collapse of the dictatorship, was crushed by the Greek military and security forces who used a tank to smash through the campus gates.

Dozens of people were killed by government forces before and during the violent crackdown, though the precise number of victims is still a matter of dispute.'

 

SOUNDTRACK

LIKE IN RUSSIA
Carnival bans cruise passenger for life after finding CBD gummies in luggage

NATHAN DILLER, USA TODAY
November 16, 2023 

Carnival Cruise Line banned a passenger for life after finding CBD gummies in her suitcase.

Melinda Van Veldhuizen, 42, was stopped by security before boarding the Carnival Horizon ship in Miami for an August cruise, her attorney Daren Stabinski told USA TODAY. The Dallas-based nurse practitioner and chiropractor said she was initially flagged after an X-ray found metal nail clippers in her luggage, but security later detected a sealed pack of the gummies.

“I was ... freaking out because I don’t even have a parking ticket, like, I follow the rules,” she told the Washington Post. Van Veldhuizen did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for an interview.

Miami-based news outlet WPLG first reported the news.

Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Horizon cruise ship is shown docked at PortMiami, Friday, April 9, 2021, in Miami.

The traveler, who had sailed with Carnival in the past, said she was detained for hours and denied boarding. Van Veldhuizen later received a letter notifying her she’d been banned from future cruises with the line.

"This decision was based on your actions on the current cruise, which were a violation of the ship rules, interfered with the safety and/or enjoyment of other guests on the ship or caused harm to Carnival," the letter signed by Capt. Rocco Lubrano said, which Stabinski shared with USA TODAY.

She was also told she still had to pay her nearly $1,700 cruise fare and for her two sons and husband, who were set to sail with her (though the line later offered to refund her portion and booked excursions).

Stabinsky said she aims to secure a full refund and compensation, and challenge the ban. They have put the cruise line on notice, giving them an opportunity to respond before taking further steps. Carnival declined USA TODAY’s request for comment.

Carnival does not allow CBD on its ships. “While certain CBD products used for medicinal purposes may be legal in the US, they are not legal in all the ports we visit and therefore are also considered prohibited items,” the line’s website reads.

What is CBD?

CBD – which stands for cannabidiol – is a compound found in cannabis.

CBD itself does not cause a high and can come from both hemp and non-hemp plants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Hemp is defined as any part of the cannabis sativa plant with no more than 0.3% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the mind-altering substance in marijuana,” the CDC’s website reads.

CBD is used in lotions, food and other products. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 “removed hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act, effectively legalizing CBD if it comes from hemp,” the CDC said. However, the legal status of CBD products differs by state.

Why do cruise lines ban passengers?

Passengers typically get banned for life “in response to extreme violations of a cruise line's rules,” Stewart Chiron, a cruise industry expert known as The Cruise Guy, told USA TODAY in an email. However, he said those instances are “extraordinarily rare.”

These items are banned on cruises: Read this before you pack.

Carnival reportedly banned at least two passengers after they were caught fishing from a cabin balcony, with video footage circulating earlier this year. Royal Caribbean International also banned a guest and her companion after she stood on her stateroom balcony’s railing to pose for a photo in 2019.

Chiron noted that cruise lines post details about what items are prohibited on their websites. “If people can't conform to the posted rules, the cruise may not be (the) best option for them,” he said.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carnival passenger banned for life over CBD gummies in bag

Pro-Palestinian protests evacuated the DNC, stopped traffic on the Bay Bridge and are following Joe Biden around the country

ANALYSIS BY ZACHARY WOLF, CNN
November 16, 2023 

A few people can make a very big scene.

It was just a line of cars that shut down the Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco, stopping traffic headed in the direction of a meeting of world leaders that included US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Stopping traffic, evacuating the DNC

Traffic around the convention center was already restricted so the protest probably had no effect on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. But grinding Bay Area traffic to a halt for a few hours allowed the small group of protesters, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, to get pictures of their banners out in social and traditional media.

Similarly, it was a relatively small group of protesters, apparently from left-wing Jewish and socialist groups, also making a statement in support of Palestinians, who clashed with police in Washington, DC, Wednesday night.

Blocking entrances and exits to the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill, the protesters forced the evacuation of Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Jeffries was at a much larger gathering on the National Mall Tuesday, when he appeared on stage in front of many tens of thousands of people gathered to support Israel. At the Israel rally, Jeffries joined hands with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in support of Israel.

From left, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joni Ernst join hands at the March for Israel on Tuesday. - Mark Schiefelbein/AP

On Thursday, Johnson posted on X that the protesters who blocked the DNC headquarters – leading to six Capitol Police officers seeking medical treatment but only one arrest – were “pro-Hamas,” which doesn’t seem accurate.

“As Americans, we must unite with one voice in steadfast support of our ally Israel,” Johnson said.

The conflict in the Middle East has brought Americans out to the streets. Hamas’ terror attacks, which killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza, which has caused more than 11,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the Palestinian health ministry, have caused painful debates in the US about antisemitism, free speech on college campuses and US foreign military aid.

There are similar protests throughout the Western world. Hundreds of thousands of people rallied for Palestinians in London, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on Armistice Day, which commemorates the end of World War I. Police, meanwhile, clashed with counter-protestors.

US protests are following Biden wherever he goes

When Biden went to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, over the weekend, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters marched along the street and made themselves known outside his house. CNN’s Kevin Liptak noted Biden has also seen protests in Illinois, where he recently traveled for a speech and that he has been interrupted twice by protesters calling for a ceasefire.

Biden and the US government support a “humanitarian pause” in hostilities in Gaza of multiple days to get basic supplies needed for human life into Gaza, but they argue that is not support for a ceasefire.

To the extent these protests are reflective of a split in the country, it is mostly a split on the political left.

More than half of the lawmakers that make up Democrats’ Senate majority sent a letter to Biden last week asking for clarity on how the administration would guarantee Israel mitigates civilian deaths in Gaza.

Democrats are just about evenly split on Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict, according to an AP-NORC poll released last week. Most of those who disapprove of his performance on the issue say the US is too supportive of the Israelis.

Younger Democrats and Democratic voters of color were more likely than White Democrats and Democrats 45 and older to disapprove of Biden’s handling of the issue. Those are two constituencies that are bedrocks of the coalition Biden and Democrats hope will turn out to get him reelected next year.
This is not the ’60s

Given the protests are focused on a Democratic president and led to lawmakers being evacuated from the DNC, it would be easy to start drawing comparisons to 1968, when protests and violence marred the Democratic National Convention.

That level of discontent today feels very different. There’s no war in Vietnam and no draft, for starters.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson also faced multiple, credible challenges from within the Democratic Party. While many Democrats today wish Biden would step aside, the chaos that resulted from Johnson’s decision to bow out of his reelection campaign should be a warning to them.

Johnson bowed out of the presidential race in March 1968, after barely winning the New Hampshire primary. Today, there hasn’t exactly been a groundswell of support for Rep. Dean Phillips, the Minnesota Democrat challenging Biden.

In 1968, not long after Johnson dropped out of the presidential race, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. set off devastating riots in multiple US cities. A Democratic presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, was killed by an assassin in June. There were riots outside the Democratic National Convention in August, when delegates cast away the anti-war candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthy in favor of Johnson’s Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had not taken part in any primaries.

In this August 1968 photo, police and demonstrators clash near the Conrad Hilton Hotel during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

 - Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

A different kind of third-party candidate

Kennedy’s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., decided to run for president in 2024 as an independent – after first trying to gain traction as a Democrat – because his politics, which is fueled by conspiracy theories, is out of whack with a lot Democrats.

That doesn’t mean Kennedy won’t influence the upcoming election. This year, Kennedy has polled as high as 22% in a Quinnipiac University poll, which is on the same level as former Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1968 or Ross Perot in 1992, according to CNN’s Harry Enten. Nobody is expecting Kennedy to win states like Wallace, who carried much of the South and amassed 46 electoral votes.

But Enten also looked at recent New York Times/Siena College polling in six key states that helped Biden win in 2020 and where former President Donald Trump, at least according to this poll, currently has a lead.

From Enten’s report:

When Kennedy was introduced as an option among likely voters, Trump was ahead of Biden in only two states (Georgia and Nevada). His 5-point leads in Arizona and Pennsylvania disappeared into ties. Biden held a well-within-the-margin-of-error edge in Pennsylvania, while the two were tied in Michigan.

Put another way, a clear Trump polling lead became a jumbled mess with no clear favorite to win in the Electoral College thanks to Kennedy.

Jumbled mess is exactly what it feels like trying to make sense of US politics at the moment.

The protests outside DNC headquarters signal the divides in Biden's base over Israel-Hamas war

WILL WEISSERT, CHRIS MEGERIAN AND JOEY CAPPELLETTI
November 16, 2023 



WASHINGTON (AP) — National Democrats this year have insisted the party is united and ready to rally around President Joe Biden heading into next year's election. But a protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters signals growing tension within the coalition that has propelled Democrats to victory in recent elections.

Clashing with police Wednesday night were demonstrators calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticizing Biden's support of Israel's offensive following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Inside the building were Democrats organizing to try to take back the U.S. House next year, including moderates from swing states Biden flipped from former President Donald Trump.

Both the protesters and the members of Congress on Thursday said they were shaken and angry at the other side. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan, a longtime Biden ally, said: "We were so close. I mean, I was just on the other side of that door. I was rattled.”

The political symbolism of a violent confrontation outside the DNC isn’t lost on some activists who are trying to pressure Biden by warning that he's putting his reelection in danger. Even small cracks in Biden's 2020 coalition could hurt his 2024 chances in what's looking likely to be a rematch with Trump.

“The Democratic Party and the Democratic leadership is not aligned and is not listening to us,” said Dani Noble with Jewish Voice for Peace, who helped organize the demonstration and said that 90 participants were injured by police during it.

Biden allies noted that some of the groups who organized the DNC protest are aligned with the far left, outside the party’s mainstream. DNC chairman Jaime Harrison posted on X, formerly Twitter: “As Americans we have a right to demonstrate peacefully, but violence is never acceptable.”

Biden and first lady Jill Biden called Thursday into a DNC and campaign staff meeting to salute law enforcement for keeping everyone safe and thank “the staffers for all they do,” the White House said.

David Eichenbaum, a veteran consultant who worked on Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection last week in otherwise reliably Republican Kentucky, said he thinks “Americans expect their president to show leadership, and that involves making tough decisions.”

“He’s led with his values on this,” Eichenbaum said of Biden, adding, “You’re always better off when you lead and you govern with your values. Voters don’t want somebody who tries to please everybody. Because you can’t please everybody and then they see through that.”

The U.S. is providing weapons and intelligence support to Israel as it mounts an offensive into Gaza with the goal of rooting out Hamas following its Oct. 7 attack, which killed more than 1,200 people. Biden has spoken repeatedly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and says he's working for the release of Hamas-held hostages, including some Americans.

More than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are women and minors, have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing. The mounting death toll has led to calls in parts of the U.S. and the world for a ceasefire. Israel has declined one so far.

The president’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has sharply divided members of his party, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released last week. The poll found 50% of Democrats approved and 46% of Democrats disapproved of how the president is handling the conflict. Of those who disapprove, 65% say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel.

Wednesday’s violent confrontation came while Biden was in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. He met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and later announced that the two countries had agreed to work together to better combat fentanyl production and reestablish direct military-to-military communications — potentially politically valuable foreign policy wins.


The White House and Biden's re-election campaign also say they're listening to the concerns of both Jewish and Arab voters and staffers.

A senior White House official involved directly with Arab-American outreach said that a call led every day since Hamas' initial attack by Anita Dunn, one of Biden’s top political advisers, discusses the war in Gaza and how to increase engagement with Jewish-American and Muslim-American communities.

The official said that other efforts by the White House include former DNC chair Tom Perez, who is now a senior advisor to the president, calling state lawmakers in Michigan to discuss issues around the war. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said the Biden administration has pushed for humanitarian pauses in the fighting and getting aid into Gaza and that “fighting against the poison of antisemitism and standing up for Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself have always been core values for President Biden.”

Still, organizers calling for a ceasefire are pledging more demonstrations. That raises the prospect of repeated disruptions at campaign events and next year's Democratic National Convention in Chicago — more than half a century after Vietnam War demonstrations marred the 1968 convention in that city. Democrat Hubert Humphrey would lose that fall to Republican Richard Nixon.

“I thought the Democratic Party was the party of peace and treating people equally,” said Eva Borgwardt, a spokesperson for IfNotNow, a group of American Jews who oppose Israeli government policies. Borgwardt said she helped turn out Democratic voters in Arizona, which Biden won in 2020 by just over 10,000 votes.

“I know how crucial motivation and faith in the party is to be able to turn out people to vote," she said. "And right now, I know so many young voters, including Jewish voters, who are looking at the actions of our Democratic leadership and being completely horrified and disillusioned.”

But Rep. Hillary Scholten, a first-term representative from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said the protesters on Wednesday “chose violence” and were a “fringe element.”

“They chose to trap multiple members of Congress inside of a building to prevent their movement, including members of senior leadership in our Democratic Party,” said Scholten, who became the first Democrat to represent Michigan's second-largest city since the mid-1970s. “That is an extreme ratcheting up of the violence and whether that is a continued pattern, I think, remains to be seen.”

And Illinois Rep. Sean Casten, who was also inside the DNC during the protest, said that true leadership meant delivering “the greatest good for the greatest number — even if that’s unpopular.”

“The unanimity of the Democratic Party, broadly speaking, in support of President Biden, reflects a party that’s willing to do the right thing in the first instance,” he said.

___

Cappelletti reported from Lansing, Michigan.

Analysis-Russia's Putin sees political, economic upside to Israel's war with Hamas

ANDREW OSBORN
November 17, 2023 



By Andrew Osborn

LONDON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin waited three days before commenting on Hamas' massacre of Israelis, which happened to take place on his 71st birthday. When he did, he blamed the United States, not Hamas.

"I think that many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failed policy in the Middle East of the United States, which tried to monopolise the settlement process," Putin told Iraq's prime minister.

It was a further six days before Putin spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer his condolences for the slaughter of around 1,200 Israelis. Ten days after that, Russia said a Hamas delegation was in Moscow for talks.

Putin, say Russian and Western policy experts, is trying to use Israel's war against Hamas as an opportunity to escalate what he has cast as an existential battle with the West for a new world order that would end U.S. dominance in favour of a multilateral system he believes is already taking shape.

"Russia understands that the U.S. and the EU have fully supported Israel, but the U.S. and the EU are now the embodiment of evil and cannot be right in any way," Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, wrote in his blog, explaining Putin's need to differentiate himself.

"Therefore, Russia will not be in the same camp with the U.S. and the EU. Israel's main ally is the United States, Russia's main enemy right now. And Hamas' ally is Iran, an ally of Russia."

Moscow enjoys an increasingly close relationship with Tehran - which backs Hamas and whom Washington has accused of supplying Moscow with drones for Ukraine which is locked in a grinding war of attrition with Russia.

Hanna Notte, a Berlin-based Russian foreign policy expert, told the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center she thought Moscow had dropped its earlier, more balanced position on the Middle East and adopted "quite an overt pro-Palestinian position".

"In doing all of this, Russia understands very well that it aligns itself with constituencies across the Middle East and even beyond - in the Global South, in their views on the Palestinian issue where the Palestinian cause continues to resonate," she said.

It is precisely those constituencies which Putin is seeking to win over in his drive for a new world order that would dilute U.S. influence.

"The most important way in which Russia stands to benefit from this crisis in Gaza is by scoring points in the court of global public opinion," said Notte.

'DOUBLE STANDARDS'

Russian politicians have pointedly contrasted what they say is the carte blanche that Washington has given Israel to bomb Gaza to Washington's punitive response to Russia's own war in Ukraine, where it says it does not deliberately target civilians even though thousands of civilians have been killed.

Senator Alexei Pushkov said the West had fallen into a trap of its own making by exposing its own double standards over how it treated different countries depending on its self-interested political preferences.

"The unequivocal support of the United States and the West for Israel's actions has dealt a powerful blow to Western foreign policy in the eyes of the Arab world and the entire Global South," Pushkov wrote on Telegram.

Russia also sees the crisis as a chance for Moscow to try to grow its clout in the Middle East by casting itself as a potential peacemaker with links to all sides, said former Kremlin adviser Markov.

Moscow has offered to host a regional meeting of foreign ministers and Putin has said that Russia is well placed to help.

"We have very stable, businesslike relations with Israel, we have had friendly relations with Palestine for decades, our friends know this. And Russia, in my opinion, could also make its own contribution, its own contribution to the settlement process," Putin told an Arab TV channel in October.

There are potential economic benefits too, said Markov, and the added bonus of drawing Western financial and military resources away from Ukraine.

"Russia benefits from an increase in the price of oil which will result from this war," said Markov. "(And) Russia benefits from any conflict that the U.S. and EU have to devote resources to because it reduces resources for the anti-Russian regime in Ukraine."

Alex Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said he believed Moscow had tilted its Middle East policy because of the war in Ukraine.

"My explanation is it's because the war is becoming the organising principle of Russian foreign policy and (because of) ties with Iran, which brings military materiel to the table. The central Russian war effort is more important than, for example, the relationship with Israel."

WORSENING TIES

Russia's ties with Israel, traditionally close and pragmatic, have suffered.

Moscow's reception of a Hamas delegation less than two weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre angered Israel, prompting it to summon Russia's ambassador, Anatoly Viktorov, for sending "a message legitimising terrorism".

The discontent was mutual; Alexander Ben Zvi, Israel's ambassador, has been summoned for talks with the Russian foreign ministry at least twice and the two countries' U.N. envoys have traded harsh words after Moscow's representative questioned the scope of Israel's right to defend itself.

Mikhail Bogdanov, one of Russia's deputy foreign ministers, has said that Jerusalem has stopped routinely warning Moscow of air strikes against Russian ally Syria in advance.

When a since-suspended Israeli junior minister appeared to express openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza, Russia said the remarks raised "a huge number of questions" and queried whether it amounted to an official admission from Israel that it had nuclear weapons.

Amir Weitmann, chairman of the libertarian caucus in Netanyahu's Likud party, has said Israel will one day punish Moscow for its position.

"We're going to finish this war (with Hamas) ... After this, Russia will pay the price," Weitmann said in a stormy October interview with Russian state broadcaster RT.

"Russia is supporting the enemies of Israel. Afterwards we're not forgetting what you are doing. We will come, we will make sure that Ukraine wins," he said.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Nick Macfie)