The effect of Hong Kong’s new national security laws has been felt significantly this week as it saw the first person to be trialed under the new laws, Tong Ying-kit, and the shutting down of its largest pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily. The trial of Tong follows him allegedly driving his motorcycle
On June 25th, three workers for the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders were murdered by unknown assailants in Ethiopia’s conflict-ridden Tigray region. Their deaths mark a tragic escalation in hostility towards aid workers by armed forces since war broke out in Tigray seven months ago. The war has killed thousands
France is set to transform its current anti-terror operations against Islamist groups in the Sahel region of West Africa. The mission, which will replace the current Operation Barkhane, will be broader in its international effort and incorporate a new blueprint in its design. “This transformation will translate into a model
On June 25th, 2021, the New Zealand government announced that they will propose to strengthen their nation’s laws around hate speech. Al Jazeera reported that proposals to strengthen these laws came from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch Mosques. The inquiry, investigating the 2019 terrorist
On 15th June, 2021, Israeli ultranationalists held a celebration at the Damascus Gate, the entrance to East Jerusalem. The rally, known as the March of the Flags, is a celebration of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem at the end of the Six Day War in 1967. The march featured inflammatory
In the 21st century, many scholars of international relations have claimed the world has learned lessons of the past and that direct, open conflict between major world powers is no longer worth it. Economic interdependence, nuclear weapons, and the lack of will for war from the general public means that
East Asian free-market democracies are boosting military capabilities to combat China’s increasingly powerful presence. This military transformation has the United States (U.S.) support and it is occurring alongside similar military modernizations throughout the world. Despite taking place in different military sectors and contrasting national and cultural contexts, the modernizations share
As Mexico neared the beginning of its gubernatorial midterm election season, eighty-nine politicians had been murdered with many more wounded or threatened, making this election Mexico’s deadliest to date. Most of those killed belonged to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party and a smaller portion
The United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Canada expanded sanctions on Belarus, following increased human rights abuses by Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime. Government crackdowns of protests, jailing and torturing of journalists, and the forced landing of a commercial Ryanair flight containing dissident journalist Roman Protasevich proved that previous sanctions
