Turkey-Libya agreement grants Turkish forces expansive operational freedoms and legal immunity

August 16, 2024
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Libyan troops were observed undergoing training conducted by the Turkish army in Istanbul in August 2022.

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 12 submitted a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to parliament regarding the status of Turkish forces currently stationed in Libya. The agreement, which underscores the deepening military cooperation between the two countries, grants Turkish forces broad legal protections and logistical support while operating on Libyan soil.

The memorandum, signed on March 1 in Antalya, builds upon previous understandings, including the Military Training Cooperation Memorandum signed in 2012 and the Security and Military Cooperation Memorandum signed in 2019. Turkey will support the restructuring and training of Libya’s armed forces and security forces. This initiative responds directly to Libya’s request for assistance, aiming to enhance the country’s defense capabilities.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the MoU is the broad legal immunity it provides to Turkish forces operating in Libya. According to Article 11, any crimes committed by Turkish military personnel during their official duties or within the scope of their responsibilities will be governed exclusively by Turkish law. This means that Turkish personnel are effectively shielded from the Libyan legal system in matters related to their official duties, reinforcing Turkey’s jurisdictional authority over its forces abroad. However, crimes committed outside of official duties will fall under Libyan jurisdiction, with special provisions ensuring that any sentences align with the legal frameworks of both nations.

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The agreement also grants Turkish forces significant operational freedoms in Libya. Article 12 allows Turkish personnel to carry personal and duty weapons and wear their official uniforms while on duty, reflecting a high level of autonomy in their operations. Moreover, Article 7 provides Turkish forces with unrestricted access to Libya’s airspace and territorial waters, exempting them from seizure or any local charges, further highlighting the operational latitude given to Turkish forces.

The MoU also facilitates logistical and operational efficiency by allowing Turkish forces to establish and manage their communication systems, as detailed in Article 9. This article permits the installation of both wired and wireless communication systems, ensuring seamless coordination between Turkish units and with command centers in Turkey. Additionally, Turkish forces are authorized to set up post offices, bank branches and recreational facilities within their assigned areas, as outlined in Article 16.

The Libyan government has committed to providing extensive logistical support to Turkish forces, a key feature of the MoU. Article 9 obligates Libya to cover the costs of essential services such as electricity, water, sewage and internet in the facilities used by Turkish forces, all free of charge. Moreover, Article 7 specifies that fuel and other logistical requirements for Turkish vehicles, whether on land, sea or air, will be provided without cost to Turkey.

In addition to logistical support, the MoU offers significant financial exemptions to Turkish forces. Article 14 exempts all imports and exports related to the Turkish military’s activities from any Libyan taxes, fees or duties. This provision ensures that Turkey can supply its forces without the financial burdens typically associated with international deployments. Furthermore, Article 8 states that the costs of contracts and purchases made by Turkish forces in Libya, either locally or from abroad, will be covered by the Libyan government, following consultations with Libyan authorities.

The MoU is set to remain in effect for three years, with the possibility of automatic one-year renewals unless one party notifies the other of its intent to terminate the agreement

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The MOU was signed by Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh and Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler in Antalya on March 1, 2024.

Turkey’s close ties to the Libyan government are accompanied by a growing military presence in the country over the years. At the end of 2023 a presidential motion proposing a 24-month extension of the Turkish military’s mission in Libya was approved by the Turkish parliament.

Underlining the importance of the Turkish navy’s presence in the region, President Erdogan stated that the government’s objective is to ensure national security against potential threats, including mass migration and terrorism, through the approved motion.

With financial backing from Qatar, Turkey has actively engaged in arming, training and supporting factions aligned with the Erdogan government in Libya since 2011.

Turkey has gone so far as to dispatch Syrian fighters to Libya as mercenaries, providing them with monthly salaries and promising Turkish citizenship for both the fighters and their families. The vetting and selection process for these fighters was carried out by Turkish intelligence agency MIT, which has collaborated with jihadist groups in Syria since 2011 with the aim of overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad.

Playing a crucial role in the military success of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) against the rebel opposition led by Khalifa Haftar, Turkey supplied weapons, ammunition and drones and organized Syrian mercenaries and jihadists to combat Haftar. Additionally, on January 2, 2020, Turkey’s parliament authorized the government to deploy military forces to Libya following a security cooperation deal.
Haftar’s attempt to seize Tripoli was abruptly halted after Turkey intervened with the supply of multi-purpose Bayraktar TB2 drones, manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina, led by Erdogan’s son-in-law, Selçuk Bayraktar.

Beyond ideological support, Erdogan openly acknowledged the strategic importance of Libya’s oil and gas resources to Turkey. During a joint news conference with former Libyan prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj in Ankara on June 4, 2020, Erdogan unveiled plans to expand cooperation, including exploration and drilling operations, to harness natural resources in Libyan territory.

In November 2020 Turkey and the GNA signed a military cooperation pact and a maritime demarcation deal. While the maritime agreement, not recognized by any other Mediterranean country, delineates the Turkey-Libya continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the security deal enables the Turkish government to deploy its troops in Libya.

A report submitted to the UN Security Council on May 24, 2022 detailed UN investigators’ findings, indicating that the Turkish government persisted in violating UN sanctions by sending materiel and providing training to various factions in Libya.

The UN assessment concluded that a significant portion of the military training offered by Turkey fell within the sanctions regime, thereby contravening UN Resolution 1970 (2011). The report clarified that the only potential exemption applied to certain types of training, such as ordnance disposal, which might be categorized as humanitarian training. However, the UN Security Council explicitly prohibited combat, special forces and sniper training.

SPACE

International Astronomical Union joins calls for a lunar clock to keep time on the moon

The moon rises behind the television tower in Frankfurt, Germany, 

Tuesday, April 23, 2024. 

(AP Photo/Michael Probst) more >

By Adithi Ramakrishnan

 - Associated Press -

Thursday, August 15, 2024


WASHINGTON — Time moves a tad faster on the moon. Now an international group of astronomers has joined calls to give the moon its own clock so that future space missions can keep track of minutes on the celestial body.

The International Astronomical Union voted Thursday encouraging space organizations across the globe to collaborate on a timekeeping standard for the moon, where one day lasts 29.5 Earth days.

“That’s the crux of our resolution: to work together to establish this standard time,” U.S. Naval Observatory’s Susan Stewart said this week at the group’s conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Stewart helped propose the resolution.

The moon has less gravity compared to Earth, so time ticks by about 58.7 microseconds quicker every day. As more countries and private companies set their sights on future lunar missions, astronomers want to ensure perfect synchrony with a unified clock. Currently, a moon mission runs on the time of the nation that’s operating the spacecraft.

The European Space Agency pushed last year for the creation of a lunar clock. And earlier this year, the White House directed NASA and other agencies to cobble together an initial idea by the end of the year with a final plan due by the end of 2026.

Astronomers are still in the early days of determining exactly how lunar time will tick, said Bijunath Patla, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“I think that the community has realized that this needs to be done,” Patla said. “And this is the beginning.”

• The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Advocate calls for stronger laws to prevent sorcery related violence in PNG

 RNZ

16 August 2024



A photo taken on 6 February 2013 shows a crowd watching as a young mother accused of sorcery, is stripped naked, reportedly tortured with a branding iron, tied up, splashed with fuel and set alight on a pile of rubbish topped with car tyres, in Mount Hagen city in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Photo: AFP / Post Courier

Papua New Guinea desperately needs stronger laws to protect innocents and deliver justice for victims of sorcery related violence, an advocate says.

Activist Evelyn Kunda is currently in Aotearoa to shine a light on the horrors of sorcery related violence in her country.

Those accused of sorcery in PNG are frequently beaten, tortured, and murdered, and anyone who manage to survive the attacks are banished from their communities.

Kunda told RNZ Pacific authorities are failing the survivors of such violence.

She said it breaks her heart to see what this violence also does to the children of the victims of sorcery violence.

"Then the people would say, this is the sorcery kid. The man thinks they will pass on [sorcery] to the kids. So where will they go?"

She said accusing someone sorcery is often the excuse people use to steal land, businesses or peoples home, and most of those targeted are women.

In October 2023, Papua New Guinea MPs were told that gender-based and sorcery violence was widespread and much higher than reported.

Port Moresby Governor Powes Parkop, who presented a damning report, said stakeholders across the country wanted more action.


No one in PNG knows how many instances of sorcery accusation and violence occur in PNG, researchers say. Photo: Paul Wolffram

According to research by Australian think tank, Devpolicy, sorcery accusation related violence (SARV) "is a big number" but "no one knows how many Papua New Guineans are being attacked each year based on magical sugarcane stories".

"It is hard to estimate how many instances of SARV occur annually in the other 18 provinces of PNG," Devpolicy Blog researchers wrote in 2021.

"And while a handful proceed to court, 98%+ do not," they wrote.

Kunda said she has heard of cases where the perpetrators of sorcery violence far outnumber police - who can only stand-by and watch.

"We really need justice or law must be strong and then must go to the village or we must have to set by-laws in the communities."

She said she helps anyone who turns up to her doorstep in Goroka.

"[Victims] need help. So, every time they will come to my house, even in the night, like one or two o'clock in the morning, they can come [if] life is [at risk]."

Photo: Supplied: Paul Wolffram

Kunda and her work are the subject of a new feature documentary screening at this year's Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival.

She said the world needed to know the horrors inflicted upon innocents in her country.

A collection of images capturing scenes of sorcery-related violence in PNG is part of an exhibition in Porirua in Wellington.

Kunda is part of a network of human rights defenders in her country who support victims accused of sorcery.

From autocracy to uncertainty: Bangladesh navigates road to elections under caretaker government

After a student-led uprising in Bangladesh toppled the autocratic regime of former Premier Sheikh Hasina, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the helm of an interim government a week ago

15/08/2024 Thursday
AA

File photo

As Bangladesh's interim government ended its first week of work on Thursday, a key lingering question is how long this temporary administration will remain in place before power is returned to the people through elections.

Currently, relief from the 15-year autocratic regime of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is widely being celebrated, despite sporadic breaches of law and order. But, it will likely not be long before the legitimacy of the interim government is questioned, as it lacks a constitutional foundation, analysts say.

With Hasina's resignation, the Cabinet was dissolved, prompting the president to dissolve Parliament as well. The current Constitution lacks provisions for an interim government, unlike its predecessor which included a clause for a “caretaker” administration. As a result, Bangladesh now lacks the necessary constitutional framework for governance during transitional periods.


The 13th amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, enacted in 1996, introduced a caretaker government system to conduct general elections and ensure an impartial transfer of power.

This system was utilized for three elections. However, the Supreme Court later declared it unconstitutional, prompting Hasina's Awami League government to abolish it through a constitutional amendment on June 30, 2011.

The legal foundation for the Supreme Court's verdict and the subsequent amendment was based on the fact that following the end of the tenure of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 2006, the caretaker government — supported by the military and tasked with overseeing the next election within 90 days — ended up remaining in power for two years.


But with 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, arguably the most celebrated and internationally recognized figure from the South Asian country of nearly 180 million people, leading the interim government, public acceptance of his administration is widespread.

Even political parties like the BNP, which analysts say may win the next election, have indicated their willingness to cooperate with Yunus' interim administration. They have agreed to give it a “reasonable time period” to organize the upcoming election, though officials have suggested that polls are not on the country's immediate agenda.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said Monday after a discussion with Yunus that elections were “not the primary focus” of their conversation. Alamgir, who was named chief adviser of the interim government, said he believed it would take some time to “create a suitable environment for an election.”


Zahir Uddin Swapan, an advisor to BNP Chairperson Zia, told Anadolu that while the party would fully support the interim government in stabilizing the country and restoring order and economic stability, it urges the administration to quickly establish an environment for a “free and fair election.”

“It's a people's republic, and the government should be formed based on the people's mandate, which can only be achieved through a proper election,” Swapan stated. “The goal of removing an autocrat is to restore democracy, and we should move towards that goal without delay.”


- Extraordinary circumstances


Analysts say that while the interim government's ultimate aim is to organize a free and fair election to facilitate a transfer of political power, the current situation in Bangladesh is unprecedented.

Following Hasina's downfall and departure from the country on Aug. 5, key figures from her administration have been in the headlines almost daily. Recently, the chief justice, along with six out of seven justices from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, was compelled to resign amid mounting pressure from student protesters.

Under similar pressure, other high-profile officials like the heads of the central bank, police and military intelligence, independent bodies like the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, and vice-chancellors of various universities, including Dhaka University, have been forced to step down.


“These resignations and purges were absolutely necessary,” said Rezaul Karim Rony, editor of the monthly Joban magazine. “It's important to understand that all these individuals were appointed by an autocratic regime and were beneficiaries of it.”

Rony noted that the removal of “iron lady” Hasina was the result of a student-led revolution with people across all sectors of society participating. “Before Aug. 5, few would have believed that Hasina's rule could end so quickly. The country is still in a state of disbelief, which I would describe as ‘happy shock',” Rony told Anadolu.

“However, the honeymoon period will soon come to an end, and the true challenges posed by the remnants of an autocratic and corrupt regime will become apparent,” Rony added. “I believe a political government, rather than an interim one, would be better suited to address these issues.”


Sharmeen Murshid, one of the 17 advisors to the Yunus-led administration with a rank equivalent to that of a Cabinet minister, told Anadolu that it was too early to discuss or decide on elections. “We have discussed it, but we have more pressing issues to address right now, such as restoring law and order.”

The end of Hasina's government also saw the police, which analysts claim were deeply corrupt under her administration, becoming a primary target of public ire. According to local media, over 25 police officers have been killed nationwide, with at least 30 police stations razed to the ground.

For a time, police, including those managing traffic, were absent from the streets. They only started resuming their duties gradually on Tuesday, after the interim government took steps to completely reform the force.


“We have to understand that this was a student-led revolution and they want a complete reform into the whole system, so that no political government becomes an autocratic one again,” said Mursheed, “If that requires time, we would urge all political parties and common people to have patience.”


- Destabilization

While political parties like the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, which suffered significantly under the former autocratic regime, have pledged cooperation with the interim government, the Awami League is reportedly attempting to destabilize the country.

Since Hasina's departure, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who resides in the US, has been speaking to various media outlets — primarily from India, where Hasina took refuge after fleeing. He has also shared video messages on social media, claiming that his mother did not actually resign and technically remains prime minister.


Joy's contradictory and somewhat frantic messages also include calls for Awami League leaders and activists to regroup and prepare for a counterrevolution, while simultaneously praising the BNP and urging its leaders to push for elections.

Following Joy's statements, members of the Awami League in Gopalganj, Hasina's home district and party stronghold, staged a large demonstration and even assaulted military forces on duty.

Additionally, members of the Hindu minority, traditionally strong supporters of the Awami League, have also been staging protests. Some Indian media outlets have spread misinformation on these events, saying dozens of Hindus were killed in communal attacks following Hasina's ouster.


In reality, only two individuals — one a police officer and the other an Awami League leader — were killed in the incidents, which were characterized as being political, rather than communal.

Local media have also claimed that Awami League activists have attempted to stage attacks on Hindus in an effort to provoke anger in neighboring India but were intercepted. Leaked WhatsApp messages among members of the party's student wing, the Chhatra League, revealed plans to carry out sporadic attacks on Hindu temples as part of false-flag operations aimed at inciting sectarian tensions.

Speaking to Anadolu, analyst and commentator Shayan S Khan said the Awami League was already looking to re-organize after initially giving an impression that they were on track for dissolution.

“At the moment, they are even more vocal than the BNP in calling for early elections,” said Khan.

“The interim government has signaled it is unwilling to set a date on how long it will govern, indicating a preference for reforming the state, over arranging elections. But at one stage, they will have to give a date, or duration they intend to govern, in line with the scale and ambition of their vision.”

 Bangladesh: Reports of attacks against minorities

 Issued on: 16/08/2024

  

Bangladesh: Finding  justice and reconciliation

International experience holds lessons for the interim government to deliver on the change demanded.

Family members of a relative of an enforced disappearance allegedly committed by government agencies during the years of Hasina rule (Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Roshni Kapur

Published 16 Aug 2024

LOWY INSTITUTE

The pledge by Bangladesh’s Chief of Army Staff General Waker-uz-Zaman to hold “a trial for every killing” was an unrealistic commitment when delivering a national address after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country. Hundreds have been killed in protests that roiled Bangladesh over recent weeks. And rights violations have been committed by multiple actors.

Nonetheless, some form of justice and accountability for the top brass, especially those who ordered brutal crackdowns on the demonstrators, will be important to end a culture of impunity in the country and re-establish the rule of law.

There appears to be a consensus that political and institutional reforms are necessary to transform the country’s deeply flawed, politicised and corrupt structures and institutions. The Hasina government had systematically consolidated power by selecting loyalists for positions of power in the bureaucracy, judiciary, universities and other key institutions. Mohamed Yunus, the Nobel-prize winning economist now appointed as interim leader in the wake of Hasina’s ousting, was also the target of the highly politicised judiciary.

The end of a major turmoil following the exit of an authoritarian leader does not organically bring sustainable and long-term peace.

Many positive changes are already taking place following the set-up of the caretaker government, such as the resignation of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the governor of the central bank and the leaders of some universities. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has also instructed the country’s banks to freeze all accounts of former ministers and their family members. Calls have also been made to abolish the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has a history of committing extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances and instead “using those resources for a comprehensive police reform effort”.

But the end of a major turmoil following the exit of an authoritarian leader does not organically bring sustainable and long-term peace. There is not only a risk of a relapse of violence but also the possibility of traditional forces seeking to return to power and preventing meaningful change. Bangladesh has a history of interim governments taking charge during periods of political turmoil. Although the public initially welcomed the latest move, abuses by security forces soon emerged.

While reforms to patronage and corrupt patterns and structures bring hope that a new order might be ushered in for a country that is on a path to dependency, reversing course is challenging. Sufficient attention should be given to transitional justice interventions.

Bangladesh has been down the road before of seeking restitution with flawed and politicised instruments. In 2010, the International Crimes Tribunal investigated and prosecuted those who committed war crimes during the Liberation War in 1971. Yet the process was bedeviled by claims of bias, poor transparency and lack of fairness, and that it did not give sufficient time to defence lawyers to prepare their cases.

To prevent a similar outcome, Dhaka could investigate the latest unrest by drawing on international lessons. It could establish a hybrid tribunal involving international and local judges and other legal specialists, similar to those set up in Kosovo, Timor-Leste, Cambodia and Sierra Leone.

These examples alone are not the answer. The normative approach to transitional justice, that stems from international law and criminal justice discourse, has a predisposition to invoke default models without considering the local context and perspectives. Instead, a truth and reconciliation commission could provide a platform for ethnic reconciliation and confessions that are sensitive to local realities and considerations. It could also help to find out about missing people.

The TRC of South Africa, despite its limitations, centred on a non-judicial, restorative and forgiveness-based approach that encouraged healing through truth-telling to nurture an inclusive and unified society. Such an approach was able to recognise the complex experience in which wrongdoing and brutality was committed by all groups. Such an acknowledgement in Bangladesh would be instrumental in helping acceptance of the past to prevent the recurrence of such violence.

There are concerns that other political actors might hijack this moment to take control of the state machinery and key institutions, and prevent the interim government from changing the system. It’s heartening to see that the caretaker government is not slowing down the momentum after Hasina’s exit, a phenomenon that has occurred in many post-uprising societies that ultimately returned to something resembling the old order. There is a near consensus that Yunus is the right candidate to lead the interim government, given his domestic and international reputation and grassroots experience.

The youth have set out a long-term vision of good governance, the rule of law, democracy and a merit-based country by taking the lead. They are carrying out the responsibilities of security personnel, traffic police, cleaning up cities, and even protecting temples and churches. But the establishment of a vehicle for transitional justice will also be essential.

 

Downfall of Bangladesh’s leader is a lesson to Southeast Asian autocrats

Regimes in Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos should note the uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina.

A commentary by David Hutt
2024.08.15

A defaced wall mural of Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka on Aug. 9, 2024.

 Indranil Mukherjee/AFP

Updated Aug. 15, 2024, 05:58 p.m. ET.

The overthrow of Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina earlier this month wouldn’t have pleased Southeast Asia’s autocrats. Some have been more open than others about their concerns. 

“I don’t want to see this type of situation happening in Cambodia,” Prime Minister Hun Manet implored last week. “Don’t accuse the government of being a dictator if it takes legal action against those who attempt to burn the fire and push for Bangladesh-like demonstrations here in Cambodia.”

On Aug. 5, Bangladesh’s now-former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the country with an iron grip since 2009, fled to India as student protestors marched on her palace. Her security forces, supportive up until that point, let them through.

In cloud of pink smoke, police in riot gear remove a protester trying to march to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit venue, Nov. 18, 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand. (Wason Wanichakorn/AP)

In many ways, it was textbook regime change — Filipinos will notice some similarities to the People Power Revolution that unseated Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. The sparks were both protracted and immediate. The economy had been in ill health for years, with high youth unemployment and winnowing state funds, a result of members of Hasina’s ruling Awami League stealing from the national purse.

The spark that galvanized the student protesters was also historic and contemporary. Since Bangladesh’s liberation war against Pakistan in 1971, the country has constitutionally allocated 30% of government jobs to the children of freedom fighters. 

That stipulation was reversed in 2018, but in June the Supreme Court ordered that it be reinstated. Naturally, Bangladeshi youth, whose economic prospects are dim, felt their prospects would be even worse if the quota system returned.

Testing the ‘nerve’ of a regime

But protests aren’t enough to bring down a dictator. Two years of student protests in Thailand between 2021 and 2022 didn’t bring down the military-royalist establishment. Cambodia was alive with riots in 2013 and 2014, but the Hun dynasty survives.

Members of the Bangladeshi community in Rome demonstrate in support of former leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, in Piazza dell'Esquilino, Aug. 12, 2024 in Rome, Italy. (Simona Granati/Corbis via Getty Images)

Initially, when the latest student protests began in Dhaka last month, the security forces responded with terror. At least 100 people were killed and thousands arrested. The demonstration went quiet but then re-erupted earlier this month. Again, the police and military stood strong, imposed a curfew, and cut off internet access nationwide. 

But on Aug. 5, when tens of thousands of people protested again, something changed. An article in the Economist put it: “Faced with the prospect of inflicting large-scale bloodshed in order to defend a decaying regime the security forces, and possibly senior figures in the [ruling Awami League], appear to have lost their nerve, allowing the protesters to pass.” 

Indeed, for every revolution to be successful, the security forces and political elites must “lose their nerve.” One, they are shooting down protestors and championing the regime. The next day, they are laying down their weapons and championing a fresh start.

A Cambodian anti-riot police officer kicks a protester during a clash between police and garment workers in Phnom Penh on Nov. 12, 2013. (AFP)

Of course, all of this is an oversimplification – but then again there exists a cottage industry that makes understanding these things overly complicated. Put simply, public protests can be easily, though bloodily, put down for as long as the security forces remain on the side of the autocrats and the establishment remains self-confident. However, their nerve will never be tested until popular protests occur. So a revolution needs both to succeed.

Other popular movements

For more than a year, we’ve heard predictions about the imminent downfall of Myanmar’s bloody, military regime, which took power in early 2021 through a coup. You have the nationwide protests; a very bloody civil war is still raging and the junta’s forces are slowly but surely losing territory to the ethnic militias and pro-democracy People’s Defence Forces. 

A protester, center, escapes from riot police officers who fire tear gas grenades during a protest in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 27, 2014. (Heng Sinith/AP)

However, the military brass and other elites haven’t yet “lost their nerve;” they haven’t yet turned on Hlaing Min Aung, the junta chief, and bargained that a post-junta regime suits their interests.

The civil war, now in its third year, probably won’t end with the People’s Defence Forces and the various militia storming into Naypyidaw or Yangon. Their slow and plodding successes on the rural battlefield matter, breaking down the nerve of the military regime and its collaborators. But, like in Dhaka, revolution in Myanmar will likely be achieved the day after it seemed so distant.

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Take a moment to read more

BenarNews website unblocked in Bangladesh days after Hasina resigns as PM

Yunus-led interim Bangladesh govt sworn in; diverse members include 2 student leaders

China top diplomat meets Myanmar leader, junta denies coup rumors

Vietnamese activist found guilty of anti-state propaganda

Laos can feed itself, but its food security is complicated

---

Communist-run Vietnam and Laos couldn’t be more different. Vietnam saw an increase of open dissent throughout the 2010s, with the public seething against a Communist Party they saw as unpatriotic, feckless, and rotten by corruption. Indeed, some communist and business elites were so unnerved by the staggering levels of graft that pervaded all rungs of society, including those at the top of the Communist Party, that the ruling party seemed to be decaying from within. Dissidents felt it was their moment.

An injured Cambodian worker escapes from riot police in the compound of a Buddhist pagoda in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 12, 2013. (AP)

But then, in 2016, Nguyen Phu Trong, the hitherto quiet party chief, ousted Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the apparent source of all these ills, and instigated a “blazing furnace” anti-graft campaign. Eight years on, the campaign has brought down thousands of officials and private sector moguls. Trong, who passed away last month, seems to have instilled a new sense of purpose within the party, and some of the public appears content that their rulers are at least cleaner than what came before.

At the same time, Trong and his enforcers have stamped out dissent. The pro-democracy movements that started to sprout in the 2010s have been weeded out. Fear again pervades society. It seems hard to imagine that the nationwide protests seen in 2016 and 2018 could happen again anytime soon.

Lao leaders ‘twiddling their thumbs’

It’s a different picture in Laos, a country with little recent history of public protests. 

A man walks inside a burnt studio of the state-owned Bangladesh Television in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 24, 2024. (Rajib Dhar/AP)

The mood within the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party is bleak. The economy has been in the pits since 2021, brought low by sky-high inflation, a decimated currency, and debt service repayments the state can barely afford. A debt default haunts Vientiane. Basic services, like public education, aren’t functioning, and the government has angered those who are normally the most loyal by slashing state-sector jobs to balance the books. 

With few job prospects and a cost-of-living crisis, many people have either returned to their family’s farms or gone abroad for work.

The party won’t admit it publicly, but nobody knows how to fix the economy—one reason why morale is so low. Many of the causes of the crisis are out of the party’s control; others were set in motion by leaders a decade ago and now cannot be undone. 

People visit the vandalized museum dedicated to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Aug. 6, 2024, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Fatima Tuj Johora/AP)

So the party has contented itself with blaming the blameless—like the recently sacked central bank governor, Bounleua Sinxayvoravong—while twiddling their thumbs until things naturally get better and hoping that the public doesn’t grow too angry in the meantime.

Indeed, it’s stunning that there hasn’t been more unrest in a country where most ordinary people now find themselves worse off than a decade ago. Laotian youths are undoubtedly as aggrieved by their fate as their Bangladeshi counterparts. 

Bounleua Sinxayvoravong, Governor, Bank of the Lao PDR, attends a meeting during the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024, March 29, 2024 in Boao, Qionghai City, Hainan Province of China. (Tian Yuhao/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Yet, the communist party is undoubtedly thankful that, in the here and now, so many Laotians, mainly the young, can easily immigrate to Thailand to find better work—it saves them milling around at home, growing more embittered, and thinking up ways of emitting their anger. In Laos, some of the ruling elites and security apparatuses might quickly lose their nerve but their confidence is never likely to be tested by the public.

David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. He writes the Watching Europe In Southeast Asia newsletter. The views expressed

Ex-GOP lawmaker shreds Project 2025 masterminds for 'perversion' of Christian faith

Matthew Chapman
August 15, 2024 


Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images


Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) tore into the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, and the organization's director Kevin Roberts, for their effort to reimpose Christian nationalism on the country.

Roberts and his ilk fundamentally misunderstand the American idea, said Jolly, a longtime Trump skeptic, on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Thursday evening — and just as important, they misunderstand the religion they claim to preach.

"Roberts expresses similar disdain like, J.D. Vance, for childless Americans," said anchor Joy Reid. "He rails against public schools. He says we need to cultivate children's souls. That public schools cultivate children's souls into godless assembly lines meant to shape obedient little comrades who think morality is a construct and nature is an illusion and saying America's teachers have gone insane. He's dead-set on the notion that America is due for a second revolution ... your thoughts on the fact that they're trying to take his very loopy ideas and make them into law?"

"Yeah, in some ways the evolution of Republican ideology, from the party of less government to the party of no government, and to get to the party of no government, you have to crush it, you have to kill it so that you can rebuild it," said Jolly. "And in rebuilding it, they currently see today's government as this agnostic force that is perverting American exceptionalism and it needs to be restored to its Christian orientation, its Christian ethos."

In reality, he said, it's Roberts and his compatriots who represent the "perversion of faith in the public square."

"The greatest empowerment to any faith in America would be a government that grants the most amount of freedom to practice that faith, not to dictate it from the courthouse, but to empower the churchhouse," said Jolly. "[The Bible] does not say go and build state capitols. It says go and build churches. Plant churches. It's not a calling to change the government. It's a calling to change hearts and minds toward the faith you choose to practice. A government that suggests — and this goes back to the Muslim ban that Donald Trump declared in December of 2015 — a government that suggests we're going to prioritize certain faiths and we are going to institute the dictates of certain faiths in our government, ultimately undermines that faith and undermines all faiths, because it delegitimizes the practice of faith in the country."

"That's the perversion of faith of Project 2025 and all these leaders that have Donald Trump's ear," he added.

Watch the video below or at the link here

MSNBC columnist draws direct line between Trump posts and KKK's 'Fiery Cross' newspaper

Travis Gettys
August 15, 2024 

A Ku Klux Klan member during a 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia(AFP)

Donald Trump's campaign is using "racist" imagery that differs little from the hateful propaganda pushed out by the Ku Klux Klan, according to a new analysis.

The Trump War Room account run by his campaign shared a racially charged post on X that suggested Kamala Harris, if elected, would flood suburban neighborhoods with hordes of Black and brown immigrants. MSNBC columnist Ja'han Jones drew a direct line between that content and imagery used by the KKK.

“'Import the third world/become the third world,' the tweet read, contrasting an image of a serene suburban neighborhood (in which no people are visible) with a photo depicting a huddled mass of mostly Black men crowded together on a city sidewalk," Jones wrote. "The essence of this tweet — that Black people, perhaps Black immigrants in particular, ought to be feared and rejected — is so grotesque and old-timey in its racism that it harks back to an era when such imagery was commonplace in mainstream American politics: the Jim Crow era."

Trump supporters have held up signs at his rallies – and the Republican National Convention – calling for "Mass Deportation Now," and the former president has promoted memes that depict Black people with their skin darkened and their features rendered inhuman. Jones said the tactic revives an ugly American strategy from more than a half-century ago in the Ku Klux Klan’s Fiery Cross newspaper.

"The KKK's motto at the time it was sharing these images was literally 'America First,' a phrase Trump and his followers have adopted as their own and used throughout his political career," Jones wrote. "Another ad from the pro-segregation Mothers’ League of Central High School in the 1950s called on voters to reject the historic push to desegregate the school in Little Rock, Arkansas, and support segregationists."

"The Trump War Room post on Tuesday is stoking those same bigoted fears about changing neighborhoods," Jones added, "fears that have never truly gone away, with imagery and rhetoric that are just as blatant as they were a hundred years ago."

Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure

Alexandria Jacobson, Investigative Reporter

Dave Levinthal, Editor-in-Chief
August 15, 2024 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs the courtroom after being found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images)

The finances of Republican nominee former President Donald Trump include gallons of red ink — particularly with the addition of recent legal judgments, according to a new presidential financial disclosure released Thursday.

Trump reported debts between $346 million and $455 million throughout 2023, from a legal judgments and property mortgages.

The latest disclosure shows Trump's financial liabilities from two New York court cases, in which Trump was found him liable for defamation and sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll, as well as fraud via the Trump Organization.

The damages owed to Carroll are noted on the disclosure, with one liability valued over $50 million and the other valued between $1 million and $5 million. Jurors awarded her $83.3 million in damages total.

The disclosure also noted over $50 million in debt to the New York Attorney General due to litigation. In April, Trump posted a more than $175 million bond for his more than $450 million liability in the case.

All three litigation liabilities are bonded and pending appeal, according to a note on the disclosure.

Trump was also found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 18.
From Bibles to golf: Trump's assets

Trump's public financial disclosure — a requirement for all presidential candidates — was released on Thursday after certification from an attorney for the Federal Election Commission.


Trump previously twice delayed releasing his financial disclosure. He now faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election — someone who is likely to raise questions on the campaign trail about Trump's exotic finances and potential conflicts of interest. Trump's foreign financial entanglements, in particular, dogged him throughout his term as president.

Much of Trump's more than 250-page disclosure was dedicated to listing numerous assets and sources of income.

As federal rules only require presidential candidates to list the values of most assets in broad ranges, it's impossible to know from the document alone how much Trump is truly worth.


But his wealth — despite his debts — remains staggering.

ALSO READ: 21 worthless knick-knacks Donald Trump will give you for your cash

Trump reported owning 114,750,000 shares of stock in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the company that owns the Truth Social platform.


Cash assets across various accounts were valued between $11.6 million and $56.4 million on the disclosure report.

Trump reported thousands of individual stock and securities assets. Investments, many in the $100,001 to $250,000 range, span a variety of companies ranging from pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, to defense contractors Qualcomm and Lockheed Martin to tech giants Apple and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

He reported an investment cryptocurrency worth at least $1 million and another in gold bars valued between $100,001 and $250,000.

Trump also reported income from a variety of hustles, including more than $4.47 million from the "Letters to Trump" book and more than $505,000 from the "A MAGA Journey" book. Trump's stake in a Bible venture with musician Lee Greenwood netted Trump $300,000.





Trump once again earned nearly a quarter of a million dollars from an April 2024 speaking engagement for LGBTQ+ group, Log Cabin Republicans.

Curiously, Trump reported earning $35,000 from "proceeds received from the sale of helicopter parts" through DJT Aerospace LLC, one of his dozens of business entities.

Trump continues to be a union pensioner, too, taking in $90,776 from his Screen Actors Guild Pension at a monthly rate of $6,484, per his disclosure. A 2013 World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame inductee, Trump also received $11,632 from his American Federation of Television and Radio Artists pension.


And although Trump's long run as the headliner on NBC's "The Apprentice" is long behind him, Trump did report receiving between $100,001 and $1 million in royalty payments from a production company, Trump Productions LLC, related to the show.

Golf remains big business for Trump, with the former president reporting golf-related income into the nine-figures, including $37.17 million in income from his club in Bedminster, N.J., and $33.54 million from his club in Jupiter, Fla. He reported more than 15.23 million in Euro income from a golf resort in Ireland and another 7.28 million in Euro income from a related hotel.

Trump made more than $7.15 million from licensing fees from NFT International Inc., a company that marketed digital Trump trading cards sold for $99 a pop.


The former president earned millions of dollars from various investments and financial arrangements in the Middle East, including the countries of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

While Trump incessantly complains about China, he maintains numerous trademarks of his name — "Trump" — in that country, for several hundred stated purposes that include "business clothing," "toy rentals," "chemical research," "ship building," "operating lotteries," "handwriting analysis," "bookmobile services" and "lingerie."

In an indication of Trump's global business reach, the former president also maintains trademarks of his name and company names in Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, the European Union, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.





A "Donald J. Trump Signature Collection" trademark Trump had in Venezuela — an avowed enemy of the United States — expired on Jan. 12, 2023, Trump's disclosure indicates.

Trump University — Trump's defunct for-profit real estate education venture for which he paid a $25 million civil penalty for fraud — made a cameo in the copyright section of Trump's financial disclosure for a book Trump co-wrote.

Trump's campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to Raw Story's request for comment.

Alexandria Jacobson is a Chicago-based investigative reporter at Raw Story, focusing on money in politics, government accountability and electoral politics. Prior to joining Raw Story in 2023, Alex reported extensively on social justice, business and tech issues for several news outlets, including ABC News, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. She can be reached at alexandria@rawstory.com. More about Alexandria Jacobson.

Pro-democracy coalition urges media to 'rise to the occasion' to defeat autocratic threats

Jessica Corbett,

 Common Dreams
August 16, 2024 

A supporter of former President Donald Trump wears a pro-Trump t-shirt at a Trump campaign rally at an outdoor fairgrounds, April 13, 2024 in Schnecksville, Pa. 

(Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)


Pushing back against calls for the media to "refrain from covering mounting authoritarianism" in the United States since the Republican nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt, a coalition on Thursday urged news outlets "to wholeheartedly reject such a dereliction of journalistic duty, and to rigorously report threats to our democracy."

"Media coverage shapes both public discourse and people's understanding of events of the day," states the coalition's open letter. "This is particularly critical during contentious and extreme times such as these. Media coverage can invite public engagement and robust participation in the democratic process. It can also be manipulated to promote falsehoods for political gain, to silence dissent, and stoke racism."

Since Trump launched his current presidential bid nearly two years ago, critics—including Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the November election—have highlighted concerns about his political track record, ongoing criminal cases, promises to those funding his effort to reclaim the White House, fascistic language on the campaign trail, and the Project 2025 agenda crafted by his allies.
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The media was accused of helping Trump reach the White House for his first term. One study from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy found that major U.S. news outlets covered his 2016 presidential campaign in "a way that was unusual given his initial polling numbers."

We have witnessed the resurgence of white supremacist values on social media and in real-life events like the tragedy in Charlottesville in 2017. We have seen the rise of political figures who fan the flames of bigotry and reject the rule of law. And in the run-up to January 6, 2021, the right-wing media spread disinformation that played a role in disrupting the peaceful transition of power. In these moments, media coverage has routinely failed to adequately expose these dangers for audiences. Too often, extremist values and coverage have made their way into mainstream media reporting, shifting what is considered "normal" or "acceptable" in public discourse—with devastating impacts on people of color, women, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, and other vulnerable populations. Media companies should not make false equivalencies between those who are trying to protect democracy and those who are seeking to overthrow it.

"Democratic backsliding is rising around the world and the media must take the related threats seriously and place protection of democracy over their own bottom lines," the letter argues. "We urge media executives to pledge that their news companies will adopt the following best practices in covering contentious times—and to safeguard information integrity during moments of crisis, violence, and threats to U.S. democracy."

The coalition's six proposed best practices are: identify and name authoritarian and autocratic rhetoric; cross-check, fact-check, double-check; take seriously and report rigorously on threats to the rule of law and institutions; always give more context for audiences; and provide civic information.

"It's only August. We have months of news coverage and unanticipated events that will unfold before the U.S. elections in November," the letter notes. "Now is the time to refuse to cover politics with soundbites that place profit over people's understanding of the stakes. Media must be a watchdog for the people right now. Media must hold itself to the highest pro-democracy standards."

Coalition members include the Abortion Care Network, Center on Race & Digital Justice, Free Press, Friends of the Earth Action, GLAAD, Media Matters for America, PEN America, the Sparrow Project, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, United We Dream, and over 20 other groups. The individual signatories are journalist Joe Amditis, activist Andrea Figueroa, journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, columnist Brian Karem, writer Elad Nehorai, and editor Damaso Reyes.

"Now is the time for news outlets to rise to the occasion," said Free Press senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights Nora Benavidez in a statement Thursday. "Left unchecked by the press, the rhetoric and actions of authoritarian leaders delegitimize the democratic process."

"Political leaders are dehumanizing minority groups, flouting the rule of law, and supporting violence or retribution against critics," Benavidez stressed. "Communities deserve to learn about the stakes facing our country and the implications of rising autocracy on all of our lives."

"As so many hardworking journalists cover the threats to our democracy this election season, all news outlets must hold themselves to the highest pro-democracy standards," she added. "Clearly call a lie a lie. If a political candidate, party, or other influential platform applauds illegal activity or rejects the rule of law, reporters and other media professionals must take these threats seriously as they are overt attacks on a functional democracy."