Politics this week
《经济学人》2019年3月9日 刊
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president of Algeria, defied protesters by registering to run for a fifth term in office. The ailing octogenarian is widely seen as a figurehead for a cabal of generals and businessmen, who hold real power. They have sought to assuage critics by promising that if Mr Bouteflika is re-elected, he will hold an early election, which he would not contest.
America closed its consulate-general in Jerusalem, which had acted as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. The State Department said this did not signal a change in policy; the consulate’s operations will be handled by the new American embassy to Israel in the city. But the Palestinians suggested that it further undermined America’s role as peacemaker.
The Netherlands recalled its ambassador to Iran after the government in Tehran expelled two Dutch diplomats. Tension between the countries has risen since last year, when the Dutch government expelled two Iranian embassy workers over suspicion that Iran was involved in the assassination of two Dutch-Iranian citizens.
Rwanda accused neighbouring Uganda of supporting rebel movements aimed at overthrowing its president, Paul Kagame, and closed a key border crossing between the two countries. Relations between the two countries have soured as they battle for influence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Satellite images suggested that North Korea is rebuilding a facility it had used to launch satellites and test missile engines, but had partially dismantled. The construction was interpreted as a signal that the country might resume testing missiles if it did not get its way in stalled talks with America about nuclear disarmament.
Pakistan arrested dozens of militants in a clampdown after the Jaish-e-Muhammad group claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack in which 40 Indian paramilitary policemen were killed, causing a military face-off with India. India’s politicians, meanwhile, rowed about how effective its air strikes against an alleged terrorist training camp in Pakistan had been.
Thailand’s constitutional court banned Thai Raksa Chart, a party linked to Thaksin Shinawatra, an exiled former prime minister. The party had upset King Vajiralongkorn by nominating his sister for prime minister.
Estonia’s centre-right Reform Party won a legislative election with 29% of the vote. Kaja Kallas, its leader, began coalition negotiations with the centre-left Centre Party and could become the country’s first female prime minister.
EU member states vetoed a blacklist prepared by the justice commissioner of 23 territories that facilitate money-laundering or terrorist financing. The proposed list included Saudi Arabia and four American territories. Saudi and American opposition probably torpedoed the list.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, addressed European citizens with a manifesto on the future of the EU printed in newspapers in every EU country. Mr Macron has been trying to rally a co-ordinated liberal pro-EU campaign for the European Parliament elections in May.
A man in London may become only the second person in the world to be cured of HIV infection. A stem-cell transplant to treat lymphoma means his immune-system cells are now coated with proteins that HIV cannot latch onto. An American who had similar treatment in 2007 still remains free of the virus.
Michael Bloomberg ruled out a run for the American presidency in 2020, disappointing those who wanted a strong moderate voice in the race.
America’s border-protection agency reported a sharp rise in the number of migrants trying to cross from Mexico illegally. More than 76,000 people tried to cross in February, the highest number for that month in 12 years. Families and children without parents accounted for 60% of the 66,450 who were apprehended; they came predominantly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Illegal crossings remain far below their peak in the 1990s.
Juan Guaidó, recognised as Venezuela’s interim president by the legislature and by more than 50 countries, returned to the country after a failed attempt to send in humanitarian aid and a tour of Latin American capitals. He was greeted by large crowds opposed to the dictatorial regime of Nicolás Maduro.
Jane Philpott, the president of Canada’s Treasury Board, which oversees government spending, quit the cabinet in dismay over allegations that the office of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had tried to improperly influence the judiciary. A former justice minister has claimed that Mr Trudeau and his aides sought to discourage her from authorising the prosecution of an engineering firm charged with bribing Libyan officials.
A court in Argentina convicted eight people, including a former judge, of obstructing an investigation into the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, which killed 85 people. The court acquitted five defendants, including Carlos Menem, who was the then Argentine president.
“What is a golden shower?” That question was surprisingly posed on Twitter by Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, who had earlier tweeted a video of a man urinating on a woman during the country’s Carnival celebrations. “I’m not comfortable showing this, but we have to expose the truth” of what many Carnival street parties have become, wrote the conservative Christian president.
Mar 7th 2019
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