South Korea court orders Japan company to compensate victims of forced labor during WW ll

Salma Ben Mariem | Faculty of Law and Political Science of Sousse, TN

AUGUST 22, 2024 

The appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court ordered on Thursday that the Japanese corporation Nippon Steel pay 100 million won to the four children of a Korean citizen who was a victim of forced labor in Japan during the Second World War, local media reported.

The Seoul court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, descendants of a South Korean national. They previously demanded 200 million won. The compensation is requested for the forced mobilization of their ancestor to work in the steel mill Nippon Steel between 1940 and 1942. The court refused their demand because the right to claim compensation had expired. Nevertheless, Thursday’s decision reversed this previous ruling.

South Korea used to be a Japanese colony as Japan ruled the Korean peninsula from 1910 until 1945, the year South Korea obtained its independence. During the Second World War, Japan forced hundreds of thousands of Koreans into forced labor in factories and mines to support its economy during the war.

In 1965, South Korea and Japan signed a treaty that normalized the diplomatic relations between them. This treaty included the allocation by Japan of $500 million to the Korean government in economic aid. According to Japanese authorities, this economic aid ended once and for all any compensation allegations.

Nevertheless, this didn’t prevent South Korean survivors of the labor camps and their families from claiming damages for the forced labor and the suffering they had to endure. In 2018, South Korea’s supreme court upheld a lower court’s ruling and ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan to compensate South Koreans who were forced into labor at their factories during World War II. Another verdict rendered by South Korea’s supreme court in 2023 also confirmed that two Japanese companies, the shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen Corporation and the heavy equipment manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries owe 200 million won as compensation to a former South Korean worker and 16 other families of former laborers.

 

UN warns of threat to basic freedoms in Sri Lanka amid upcoming election

Reza Hossaini | Newcastle Law School, GB

AUGUST 22, 2024 06:07:46 PM

United Nations Human Rights Office said on Thursday that basic freedoms in Sri Lanka were under threat as the nation prepares to elect a new president in September.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a comprehensive report on the growing human rights concerns and erosion of democratic principles under Sri Lanka’s legislative system. This is primarily because laws and bills introduced since 2023 have given “broad powers to the security forces” and expanded “restrictions on freedom of expression and opinion and association.” If broad powers are misused, then this could jeopardize the rule of law and fundamental freedoms. The Online Safety Bill was cited as an example of restricting the freedom of opinion and expression, as it gave the government commission sweeping powers to assess and remove ‘prohibited’ content.

As Sri Lanka heads into the presidential election, concerns over the state of democracy in the country have intensified, with significantly more broad powers held by the government’s security forces and restricted fundamental freedoms of expression, opinion, and association. There have even been reports on a trend of increased surveillance and harassment of journalists and civil society actors in Sri Lanka, particularly those working on sensitive political issues such as enforced disappearances and land seizures. For example, on October 28, 2023, journalists Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and Valasingham Krishnakumar were questioned after covering a protest against state-supported land seizures. They were later ordered by the court to hand over unedited footage of a Buddhist monk threatening violence against the Tamil community.

The report also offers some recommendations and reforms, such as repealing the controversial Online Safety Bill. This section seeks to provide a roadmap for both the Sri Lankan government and the international community in light of the above challenges. However, the effectiveness of these recommendations will depend on the political will of Sri Lankan authorities and pressure from international actors to prioritize basic freedoms and human rights.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with a severe economic crisis since 2022, worsened by global economic instability and debt distress, and its economy is still in a precarious position. The crisis has also significantly impacted the human rights situation, as the UN report highlights. The upcoming election, scheduled for September 21, 2024, therefore comes at a critical juncture for Sri Lanka, being the first presidential vote as the country recovers from its recent economic collapse.

Researcher: Young Black people are disproportionately strip-searched—ways the justice system treats them as a threat

by Shantey Francis, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new report from the Children's Commissioner for England has found that 457 strip searches of children by police took place between July 2022 and June 2023. The report shows that Black children were four times more likely, when compared to national population figures, to be strip-searched.

The Children's Commissioner's reports on this topic began following the terrible case of Child Q, a 15-year-old Black girl who was strip-searched at her school. The Children's Commissioner's research shows that before Child Q's case came to light, Black children were six times more likely to be strip-searched. So there has been some improvement, though Black children remain disproportionately affected.

But my academic work as a criminologist and lecturer in youth justice continues to demonstrate that young Black people are over-represented throughout the whole justice system, from their interactions with the police to their presence in prisons.

For instance, in 2022, Black children made up 31% of children on remand—in custody before the start of a trial. But they comprise only around 5% of the school-age population. Research has found that in 2018, Black children received longer custodial sentences than their white peers.

Treated as older

There are themes that continuously emerge from how young Black people are treated by the justice system, as well as in other areas of society, such as education and health care. One is adultification, when Black children are perceived as being older and more mature, and so also less vulnerable and innocent, than other children. This affects how they are treated by adults.

Adultification was clearly at play in the case of Child Q, who was strip-searched while menstruating, without an appropriate adult present and without the consent of her parents, on the incorrect assumption that she possessed cannabis. She received punitive and disciplinary treatment from adults, both teachers and the police, who should have been there to protect and support her.

The safeguarding practice review that followed this incident found there to be a high level of probability that the adults involved in the case were influenced by adultification bias in this regard. The disproportionate decision to strip-search Child Q is unlikely to have been disconnected from her ethnicity or her background as a child growing up on a Hackney estate.

Another theme which stands out in how young Black people are treated by the justice system is that they are more likely to be seen as a threat and as potentially violent—especially Black boys and young men.

Viewed as a threat

This can be seen in the use of police stop and search powers against Black people. In the year ending March 2023, there were 24.5 stop and searches for every 1,000 Black people, compared to 5.9 for every 1,000 white people.

It is also arguably evident in the case of the justice system's treatment of drill music, a form of rap and a predominantly Black genre. Many see it as controversial for its perceived celebration of violence and gang life. On the other hand, drill is an art form, and chronicles experiences that other young people growing up in difficult circumstances can relate to. Its storytelling requires imagination and creativity.

Drill is also perceived as a threat—and in some cases, the police have exercised powers to censor prominent drill artists on the grounds that they incite crime. In 2018, members of drill group 1011 were banned from mentioning death or injury in their lyrics, and had to notify police when releasing music videos.

One of the group, Digga D, was sentenced to a year in prison in 2018, aged 18, for conspiracy to commit violent disorder. During the trial, music videos were used as evidence.

Society provides narrow niches of acceptance to young people of color. There are areas where aspects of Blackness are celebrated, copied, seen as cool—including music, dress, sport, hairstyles or language.

But the line between what is seen as acceptable forms of self-expression and unacceptable, such as with drill, is very fine. In 2023, Digga D performed at the Royal Albert Hall—while still under a criminal behavior order with restrictions, including restrictions on what he could cover in his lyrics.

Research from the Black British Voices Project and The University of Cambridge surveyed over 10,000 Black British people in a project beginning in 2020. The survey findings show that 87% of the participants had little to no trust in Britain's criminal justice system. For young Black people in the UK, awareness of social injustice is just part of everyday life.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Rap music is being used as evidence to convict children of serious crimes: Report

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is top EV of 2024, according to Car and Driver

CBS News

Aug 22, 2024

Car and Driver says the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is its top electric vehicle of 2024. Tony Quiroga, the editor in chief of Car and Driver, joins CBS News with more on the rankings.

 

Ukraine unleashes ‘four-legged killing machines’ against Putin’s forces

Ukraine has deployed the first of its British-made robo dogs in the combat zones with plans for many more automated autonomous fighting machines in the works. / bne IntelliNews

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By bne IntelliNews August 21, 2024

In a real-life version of the 1987 hit Robocop, Ukraine’s military has already deployed 30 British-made robotic dogs for reconnaissance in combat zones against Putin’s forces. But the country’s ambitions get even more sci-fi: plans abound for a homemade ‘army of robots’ complete with AI-powered machine guns and driverless cars, reported The Daily Mail.

“These robot dogs with cameras (known as BAD.2) can slip through trenches and underbrush where Ukrainian soldiers shouldn’t expose themselves to unnecessary danger, and where drones can no longer see,” Kyle Thorburn, head of the British manufacturer Brit Alliance, told Bild.

The BAD.2 robots are reportedly undetectable by thermal imaging, can run at 15 km/h, and have an operational range of 3.5 km. They can operate for up to five hours on a single charge. Each costs between €4,000 and €8,000.

“Army of Robots”

But Ukraine’s not content to just import a few dozen British robodogs. The country’s defence ministry recently emphasised that 80% of army supply contracts are grabbed up by domestic firms. And Ukraine's youngest government minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has been spearheading the development of next-generation weapons for the country's ongoing conflict with Russia, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Fedorov, who serves as the Minister of Digital Transformation, has overseen reforms that lighten state procurement rules and establish a free-market environment, encouraging more than 200 Ukrainian companies to engage in defence innovation. His efforts have drawn comparisons to the U.S. government's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), created in 1958 to drive technological advancements with potential military applications.

"You know, war starts with one level of technology and ends with a totally different level of technology," Fedorov, 32, told the newspaper. Aware that technology can be a lifesaver in Ukraine's struggle against a much larger Russian force, he emphasised the importance of innovation in preserving Ukrainian soldiers' lives. "We don't have many people, and we value the lives of every soldier," he added.

Fedorov's latest initiative involves creating an "Army of Robots" to undertake tasks that would typically put Ukrainian soldiers at risk. Automated machine guns equipped with artificial intelligence for precision aiming have already been deployed, and recent announcements have highlighted the production of robots capable of laying mines and detecting explosives.

"We want robots that can absorb as much of the enemy's firepower as possible, so we can be flexible and avoid losing the lives of our soldiers," Fedorov explained. He also envisions fleets of self-driving vehicles to transport weapons, deliver ammunition, and evacuate injured troops from the front lines.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, successful tests have been conducted on a new breed of air-defence sensors that utilise secretive Ukrainian technologies, distinct from the radar systems provided by NATO countries. These sensors are designed to identify and track Russian drones and missiles, aiding in Ukraine's defence efforts.

Global ambitions

Ukraine’s by far not alone in pursuing a real-life version of Robocop. In training exercises this summer with Cambodia’s military, China unveiled an army of robohounds armed with guns. The world's leading military powers, including China, Russia, the USA, and the UK, are racing to develop and deploy robotic war dogs, armed with lethal capabilities ranging from sniper rifles to flamethrowers, reported The Daily Mail.

In the United States, consumers can even purchase a flamethrower-wielding robot dog for personal use. The 'Thermonator,' developed by Throwflame, spits a ferocious stream of fire that can reach several metres, capable of igniting almost any target in its path. Sales of the Thermonator were recently opened across most of the US, making this terrifying technology available to the public.

The British Army has also begun trials with their own version of these robotic dogs, as reported by The Daily Mail. While the British variant has not been shown carrying a weapon, the possibility of arming these machines remains open. In a video shared by China's state broadcaster CCTV, similar robots are demonstrated planning routes, approaching targets, and avoiding obstacles, operating for up to four hours on the battlefield.

General Collins, a senior British military official, has suggested that by 2030, the first contact with an enemy on the battlefield could be made by robotic systems, marking a significant shift in military strategy. Writing in the British Army Review, Collins likened these developments to scenes from the Hollywood blockbuster Terminator, where autonomous machines wage war against humanity.

The fear that these machines could operate without mercy is no longer confined to the realms of fiction. Autonomous or semi-autonomous drones are already being deployed in conflicts to hunt down, target, and eliminate human adversaries. While most drones and unmanned vehicles currently require some level of human control, the technology is advancing rapidly.

A 2020 United Nations report also revealed that the Turkish-made Kargu-2 attack drone was used autonomously in combat during a battle in Libya, marking a chilling milestone in warfare.

Israel, too, has pushed the boundaries of drone warfare, launching an AI-guided drone swarm in 2021 to attack Hamas militants. This technology allows multiple drones to operate as a single, integrated network controlled by artificial intelligence, a significant advancement in military operations.

NATO has acknowledged that while autonomous drones and robots cannot truly think for themselves, they are programmed with a vast array of responses to various battlefield scenarios. According to a NATO report, the limiting factor is no longer the technology itself but the political will to deploy such systems, which would enable lethal machines to operate without direct human oversight.

Russia’s own AI army

Putin’s gotten the message, too. Kyiv continues to endure relentless attacks from Russian-operated Shahed-136 drones supplied by Iran. Russia has also reportedly deployed AI-enabled strike drones like the Kalashnikov ZALA and the Lancet, which have autonomous capabilities, including the ability to independently locate and destroy targets.

And his engineers are increasingly turning to Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to alter the course of the war. These ground-based robots, capable of carrying weapons, explosives, or conducting reconnaissance, symbolise Russia’s technological advances on the battlefield. Combat footage circulating online has shown Moscow deploying remotely operated versions of old tanks packed with explosives, driven towards Ukrainian positions, reported The Daily Mail.

In addition to these rudimentary tank-bombs, Russia is advancing with high-tech, self-driving UGVs such as the Marker. This platform, equipped with AI and machine learning capabilities, has demonstrated the ability to navigate controlled environments without human operators, according to Samuel Bendett, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“The ultimate goal is to have these systems function autonomously in battle, working seamlessly with human operators, UAVs, and manned assets in a networked environment,” Bendett told The Daily Mail. “But we are far from that.”

The stakes in this technological arms race are high. Earlier Russian drone strikes near the Khmelnytsky nuclear facility in western Ukraine earlier have heightened concerns among Kyiv’s officials and civilians, who fear a repeat of last winter’s assault on the nation's energy grid.

Civilian uses

The civilian sector isn’t far behind. In February, Russian daily Vedomosti reported a 55% increase in purchases of robotic dogs and a 41% increase in the acquisition of robot assistants in Russia in 2023. These purchases mainly involved low-cost consumer devices priced between 2,000 and 5,000 roubles ($20-55), equipped with microphones, video cameras, and built-in voice assistants. Many of these robots are used for entertainment purposes, such as interacting with children or pets, and for remote communication and monitoring, not shooting weapons.

Still, as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, military and artificial intelligence experts predict an increasing reliance on drones capable of autonomously identifying, selecting, and attacking targets without human intervention.

Centuries ago, Ukrainian Cossack leader Ivan Mazepa founded multiple settlements in modern Russia’s Kursk region. Now they’re within miles of the front line.

August 22, 2024
Source: Meduza

Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is well into its third week. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as of August 19, Ukrainian troops controlled 92 settlements across a territory of 1,250 square kilometers, or 483 square miles (though these figures haven’t been independently verified). Suddenly within close proximity of the conflict zone are the villages of Ivanovskoe, Stepanovka, and Mazepovka, all of which were built in the early 18th century and named after their founder: Hetman Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa, an influential Ukrainian statesman and military leader. Meduza tells the story of Mazepa’s estates.

The area where Russia’s Kursk region meets Ukraine’s Sumy region is an ancient frontier. To the north is the Bryansk Forest, the legendary home of the Russian folk poem character Nightingale the Robber. To the south is the steppe where nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkic peoples such as the Pechenegs and Polovtsy, and later the Crimean Tatars, lived for centuries.

To the northwest lies the Ukrainian city of Novhorod-Siverskyi, where Prince Igor Svyatoslavich began his 1185 campaign against the Polovtsy immortalized in the Old East Slavic epic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The Muravsky Trail ran through this area, following the watershed between the Dnipro and Don rivers; it was along this path that Crimean Tatars launched raids on the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, capturing thousands of people to be sold in the slave market in Kaffa (modern-day Feodosia).

In the 16th–17th centuries, this area was the site of numerous wars between the Tsardom of Russia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with cities regularly coming under siege and frequently changing hands. In the early 17th century, during the Time of Troubles, it was here that False Dmitry I, pretender to the Russian throne, began his victorious march to Moscow.

In the second half of the 17th century, this region was where the Tsardom of Russia bordered the Cossack Hetmanate, a semi-autonomous state to which modern Ukraine can trace its lineage.

Ivan Mazepa became the hetman, or leader, of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1687. But Moscow dictated the Hetmanate’s foreign policy, senior personnel appointments, and land governance; Mazepa had good relations with Prince Vasily Golitsyn, who effectively ruled Russia, and later with Peter I (also known as Peter the Great).

While he was still a senior officer, Mazepa, like many other members of the Cossack military elite, acquired his own small estates within Moscow’s borders, and after becoming hetman, he purchased more land in the Rylsky, Putivlsky, and Sevsky districts. By 1708, his estates on the territory of modern Russia’s Kursk region encompassed about 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) and included more than 30 villages and settlements, which had a joint population of nearly 30,000 people. Mazepa’s rights to these extensive holdings were confirmed by several charters issued by Peter I.

In the late 19th century, Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Plokhynsky reconstructed the history of Mazepa’s Kursk estates in his article “Hetman Mazepa as a Great Russian landowner.” Many of the settlements named in Mazepa’s property listings appear in war reports from recent years: Korenevo, Snagost, Krupets, Oleshnya, Ivnitsa, Sheptukhovka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) are currently fighting for control of Korenevo, while Oleshnya and part of Snagost are already under Ukrainian control.

The center of these estates was Ivanovskoe, where Mazepa built a manor. The village also contained three churches, two public bathhouses, 10 shops (trading was held every Sunday), seven taverns, and a school.
ate in Ivanovskoe today

Mazepa mainly bought undeveloped land and used various financial incentives to attract settlers, many of whom were serfs fleeing from nearby landowners and Old Believers escaping persecution in central Russia. Due to the runaway serfs, Mazepa often had conflicts with his neighbors, which sometimes led to mutual raids and bloodshed. Such incidents were common both in the Tsardom of Russia and in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Administrative documents from the time separate Mazepa’s peasants into two groups: “Russian people” (Russkie lyudi, in Russian), referring to natives of the Tsardom of Russia, and “Cherkases,” a Russian word for Cossacks commonly used to refer to Ukrainians at the time. “Russian” and “Cherkas” households were mixed on Mazepa’s estates, with “Russian” ones predominating in the northern part and “Cherkas” ones in the southern part.

These lands remained in Mazepa’s possession for less than 10 years, but they began to thrive economically, with residents cultivating fields and opening orchards, mills, and apiaries. However, in the fall of 1709, Peter the Great learned that Mazepa had sided with the Swedish king, Charles XII, in the Great Northern War and immediately sent 25,000 troops led by Alexander Menshikov to the Hetmanate’s capital, Baturyn. The Russian forces stormed and burned the city, killing its entire population (between 10,000 and 15,000 people).

Mazepa and Menshikov had been at odds even before the hetman’s defection. There were rumors that Menshikov aspired to either become hetman himself or to rule over eastern Ukraine. This never came to pass, but he did take over Mazepa’s former estates, which remained in his possession until his own exile to Siberia in 1727.

After Sweden’s defeat in the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Mazepa and Charles XII fled to Bender (in modern-day Moldova), which was then under the control of the Ottoman sultan, and died soon after.

In the decades that followed, Mazepa’s former estates were repeatedly passed from one owner to another until the early 19th century, when they ended up in the hands of Prince Ivan Baryatinsky, who built a lavish new manor in Ivanovskoe called Maryino.

During the Soviet era, Maryino housed a sanatorium for the Communist Party’s Central Committee; today it serves as a sanatorium for members of Vladimir Putin’s administrative directorate. Mazepa’s residence in Ivanovskoe are officially designated as a federal architectural monument, but in reality, it lies in neglected ruins. As of August 21, 2024, Ukrainian troops were approximately 14 kilometers (less than nine miles) from the estate.

Uocc.cauocc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mazepa-Life-Lit-Final-Draft-web.pdf

Hetman Ivan Mazepa in Life and Literature

seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. One of them, written by an anonymous eyewitness (самовидець) expresses a sympathetic view of Mazepa ..

Ivan Mazepa and the Russian Empire

One of the famous European statesmen of the late 17th and early 18th century, Hetman Ivan Mazepa ruled the Ukrainian Hetman state from 1687 to 1709. Mazepa was a firm supporter of a pan-Ukrainian Cossack polity, and his main goal as hetman was to unite all Ukrainian territories in a unitary state that would be modeled on existing European states but would retain the features of the traditional Cossack order. Initially an ally of Tsar Peter I, Mazepa forged an anti-Muscovite alliance with Charles XII of Sweden, but the combined Swedish-Cossack army was defeated by the Muscovite army at the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Although there have been controversial assessments of Mazepa, he has remained a symbol of Ukrainian independence.

Tatiana Tairova-Yakovleva’s Ivan Mazepa and the Russian Empire is the first English-language biography of Ivan Mazepa in sixty years. A translation and revision of her 2007 Russian-language monograph, this book presents an updated perspective on the life of Mazepa, based on many new sources, including Mazepa’s archive, thought lost for centuries until it was rediscovered by Tairova in 2004. This engaging study also reveals an original picture of the Ukrainian Cossack Hetman state during a historical moment of critical importance for Ukraine and for the Russian Empire.

Ivan Mazepa and the Russian Empire has been published as volume 11 of the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research Monograph Series at the CIUS. This book was co-published by McGill-Queen’s University Press and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press.

Putin’s fantasies‘Fantasy is not history’ Historian Victoria Smolkin assesses Putin’s claim that modern-day Ukraine is a ‘gift’ from the Bolsheviks

'Absolute Fraud' RFK Jr. to Drop White House Bid and Endorse Trump: Report

"Just one disingenuous conspiracy theory-monger joining forces with another," said one prominent journalist.



Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces his candidacy for President of the United States in a speech at Boston Park Plaza on April 19, 2023.
(Photo: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Aug 21, 2024

Following months of increasingly obvious hints, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will drop his longshot Independent presidential bid and endorse former U.S. President Donald Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee, according to a Wednesday report from NBC News.

The network cited "two sources familiar with the plan," including one who said the Kennedy and Trump campaigns are working out the details of a joint appearance. On Wednesday morning, Kennedy's campaign sent out an email stating that the candidate "will address the nation live on Friday about the present historical moment and his path forward."

Reacting to the news, Mother Jones Washington, D.C. bureau chief David Corn said on social media that "if RFK Jr. endorses Trump, it will demonstrate he doesn't care anything about climate change, clean air and water, women's freedom, democracy, and the rule of law."

"Just one disingenuous conspiracy theory-monger joining forces with another," Corn added.

According to NBC News:

Convincing Kennedy to back Trump has been an ongoing project of the nominee's eldest son, Donald Jr., former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and wealthy donor Omeed Malik, according to a source familiar with the efforts who requested anonymity to divulge internal campaign deliberations. The three men have worked behind the scenes in meetings and calls with both principals to negotiate RFK's exit and endorsement, the source said.

Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, told NBC News in an interview Wednesday that "there's been a lot of communication back and forth" between Kennedy and his campaign.

The news comes a day after Nicole Shanahan—the billionaire who gave Kennedy millions of dollars before he chose her as his running mate—said during a podcast interview that the campaign was considering a move to "join forces with Trump."

Earlier in the year before she was fired, former Kennedy New York campaign director Rita Palma privately told supporters that her "No. 1 priority" was siphoning votes away from President Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic nominee. Palma called Biden the "mutual enemy" of Kennedy and Trump supporters. Some ultrawealthy Trump supporters also helped bankroll Kennedy's campaign.

It is not known what percentage of Kennedy supporters back Trump or the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, or how the anticipated suspension of Kennedy's campaign and his endorsement of Trump will affect the outcome of the tight presidential contest. According to a Pew Research Center poll published last week, Harris had a razor-thin 46%-45% edge over Trump nationwide, with Kennedy a distant—but potentially pivotal—7%.

Donald Trump gives speech shielded by bulletproof glass – but fails to stay behind it

By Iona Cleave

Daily Telegraph UK·
22 Aug, 2024 

Donald Trump was shielded by bulletproof glass during a rally on Wednesday but struggled to remain behind the screen.

The former President’s visit to North Carolina marked his first outdoor rally since he survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last month.

Trump’s podium was covered by a panel of ballistic glass to repel bullets, while two more panels covered his rear – but he almost immediately moved out of the protection zone.

As he delivered his speech, hitting back at his rivals for “getting personal” in their speeches at the Democratic National Convention, Trump continuously shifted around on the stage rendering his new security measures ineffective.

At one point, the Republican presidential candidate went into the crowd to shake hands with and hug his supporters. Later, he slowly danced his way out from behind the glass and off stage.

The former President can be seen moving out from the ballistic glass panel.

Bulletproof glass is usually a measure reserved for sitting presidents, however the Secret Service made an exception in the wake of the shooting that grazed Trump’s ear and killed an audience member on July 13.

Trump’s security team has also reportedly been bolstered by the reassignment of agents from Joe Biden’s detail after the President’s travelling schedule was reduced, following his exit from the presidential race.

BALKAN BLOG: Is Bulgarian democracy a hostage to US presidential vote?

If former US president Donald Trump makes a comeback, Bulgarian politicians are expected to follow the example set by self-styled illiberal leader Viktor Orban in Hungary.Facebook

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By Denitsa Koseva in Sofia August 22, 2024

Deep in a spiral of snap elections and dysfunctional parliaments, Bulgaria was supposed to hold its seventh general election since 2021 on October 20. However, that date has now been postponed indefinitely due to controversial decisions by key politicians.

Although this looks like a conflict between the main players within Bulgaria, there have been suggestions that most politicians are stalling the process intentionally, so that the next vote can be scheduled after the US presidential election. Its outcome, some say, will determine whether Bulgarian politicians will swing to a style of ruling modelled on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s, with closer ties to Russia, or will if they will maintain Bulgaria’s broadly pro-Western course.

There are signs that Gerb leader Boyko Borissov is ready to take Orban’s course if Donald Trump wins the US vote. He said recently that the new values his party will pursue are traditions, moral and Christian values. 

Populist Gerb remains the largest party in the current parliament, although unlike in its earlier years it has been unable to form a stable government. Despite the party’s ostensible pro-Western orientation, the party is already prepared to back laws in a similar illiberal mould to those adopted in Orban’s Hungary. For example, Gerb MPs recently backed controversial legislation banning so-called ‘LGBT propaganda’ in schools. When Borissov commented on the decision to support the legislation, he said that if Western values would “turn me into a woman”, he will not follow them.

“Borissov is very good at stalling and making U-turns depending on his own interest and the global and local political moods,” a source close to the current political talks told bne IntelliNews.

Previously Borissov expressed a highly positive attitude towards Trump during his term as US president. In 2019, a delegation led by Borissov, at the time prime minister, visited the US and met with Trump and other officials, after which Borissov complimented Trump personally on his appearance and attitude.

“[W]hat I have seen on TV and the way they have presented Trump – they always show him with distorted face, with holes in the cheeks. And in fact, he is a very nice, healthy and flexible person. Two hours passed very pleasantly. I could not believe that this was the person I had looked at so many times and wondered how he could even be in this position. He is unique. He was very prepared on all topics,” Borissov said after the visit in an interview with bTV.

Interim government delayed 

Another potential sign that the delay of Bulgaria’s snap vote until the US presidential election could be intentional is President Rumen Radev’s decision not to sign a decree appointing a new caretaker government. Radev, who has taken a pro-Russian stance since the invasion of Ukraine, raised objections to the proposed interior minister Kalin Stoyanov, despite Stoyanov holding the post in both the current caretaker government under Dimitar Glavchev and in the previous regular government led by Nikolai Denkov.

There were calls for Stoyanov to resign from Denkov’s government after excessive police violence during a football match. At the time, Denkov demanded his resignation, but Gerb, a partner of Denkov’s Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) coalition in previous parliament, fiercely opposed this.

Another key player – Delyan Peevski, the Magnitsky-sanctioned co-leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) – also seems willing to delay the process, to find out whether the White House would lift its sanctions on him. If Trump wins, this seems more likely than if Kamala Harris takes office. In case of a Harris presidency, Peevski would have to actively play a pro-Western role if he is to have a hope of the sanctions being lifted.

Cultivated apathy brings crippled democracy

While key Bulgarian politicians appear to be making complicated calculations regarding the date of the upcoming general election, there is another phenomenon hampering the country’s democratic processes. Voters are becoming more and more apathetic, and turnout is falling gradually from one election to the next. It was below 35% in the last snap vote, on June 9, and might fall further in the next election.

Analysts suggest this is the result of years of intentionally cultivated mistrust in state institutions, which has resulted in Bulgarians no longer seeing any point in voting or participating in any way in the process.

However, the low turnout affects some parties more than others. Radical pro-Russian parties like Vazrazdenie have benefitted from the avid support of their voters, while Gerb and the DPS have a high degree of control over their voter bases. 

A report by the OSCE's ODIHR mission ahead of the previous general election, on June 9, suggested that the share of controlled voting remains significant in Bulgaria.

Two years earlier, the Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Fund NGO published its own investigation showing that brokers had been buying votes for the main political parties – Gerb, the DPS and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) – with one broker often buying for several political parties at the same time.

By contrast, reform-minded, pro-Western voters tend to be highly critical of the parties representing them, or to see no meaningful alternative. That has led to a falling off of support for CC-DB, once seen as a bright hope for less corrupt, EU-oriented Bulgaria. 

The lower the turnout, the higher the chance of populist and pro-Russian formations entering parliament and being able to form coalitions that would drag Bulgaria away from its pro-Western path and back to the Russian orbit.

This creates a paradox, as a recent survey by Alpha Research showed that the majority of Bulgarians are pro-Western and do not trust Russia or its President Vladimir Putin. Bulgaria, once a loyal ally to Russia, has cooled towards Putin and the Kremlin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the country also managed to end its complete energy dependency on Moscow.

However, the rejection of Russia has done little to change the outcome of recent elections, with voters continuing to turn away from pro-Western parties. A victory for Trump in November would further embolden the populists, the far right and the pro Russians to put Bulgaria on a new, illiberal course. Only a strong pro-Western campaign ahead of the next vote can prevent that outcome.