TWTW: The World This Week / Episode #90

Aurora Finland...American arms on hold...more stormy weather...Elections: Europe, India, gunfire in Chad...Xi crosses Europe...Georgia on our mind...Olympic flame...cartoonist Adena on Iranian justice

This weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, continues on its mission to explore how the media of other nations are reporting and commenting on the United States, and how they are viewing the rest of the world.

But First….

The biggest solar storm of the century has been visible until both sides of midnight in southern Finland. While broadly visible, especially in the earth’s northern hemisphere, the aurora borealis was never more intense than in this photo from a reader of the daily Helsingin Sanomat in the village of Suomenlinna, on one of a chain of islands off Helsinki and far from the lights of this northernmost European capital.

…and the winner….Eurovision Song Contest

It was a decidedly fraught contest, with Switzerland walking away the winner of the world’s most widely-watched television entertainment event. Hometown newspaper Le Temps of Geneva explains:

Nemo, the Swiss Eurovision contender, won the major European musical competition this Saturday evening. The Biennois, who claims his non-binary nature, passed all the tests and overcame the votes of both the juries and the viewers of a show followed by more than 150 million spectators.

[click the photo for the video!]

Nemo collected 591 points. Croatian singer Baby Lasagna, another favorite, gleaned 547. Ukraine finished third (453 points), France fourth (445 points), while Israeli Eden Golan came in fifth with 323 points….

During this 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, 25 singers competed on stage. This edition took place in a tense climate, with the presence of a singer from Israel sparking waves of protests.

Switzerland, incidentally, also won the 1st edition in 1956.

How others see America

On March 21, Andelman Unleashed called attention to the massive armaments, that the Biden administration was on the cusp of rewarding to the Israeli military, particularly, mammoth and lethal MK-84 2,000lb bombs with a 400 yard kill radius of “lethal fragmentation,” each at a cost of $3,100.

Now much of the world spent this week applauding Joe Biden’s decision to halt delivery of this hardly defensive weapon and a host of other clearly offensive munitions.

But the real attention was to just what restraint this might have had on Israel’s war effort and its aims in Gaza and against Hamas. As Yaniv Kubovich reported in the daily Haaretz:

Israel has committed to the United States and Egypt to restrict its operation in Rafah, aiming only to deny Hamas authority over the border crossing that connects Gaza with Egypt, and concentrating on the eastern side of the city.

The parties agreed that a private American security company will assume management of the crossing after the IDF concludes its operation. Israel has also pledged not to damage the crossing's facilities to ensure its continuous operation….Israel made it clear in talks that the operation's objective is to exert pressure on Hamas in the hostage negotiations and to harm the crossing's reputation as a symbol of Hamas power, as it serves as Gaza's main lifeline.

There’s been no further word from Washington or Jerusalem into whose hands the Rafah crossing might be entrusted or when it might be opened. As Al Jazeera, which has now been banned in Israel, reported:

Israel claims it is reopening the main crossing point for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip as its military launched new attacks across the Palestinian territory and was building its offensive on southern Rafah despite ongoing talks for a ceasefire.

The Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, was taken over by Israeli forces and closed after a Palestinian rocket attack killed four of their soldiers. Despite signalling the opening of the vital frontier in Rafah on the border with Egypt, aid trucks were yet to start entering the enclave.

Meanwhile, in a vote that Le Monde observes is only “symbolic because of the American veto in the Security Council,” the UN General Assembly delivered “a massive vote at the UN in favor of Palestinian membership.”

Le Monde continued:

Israel castigated the symbolic resolution. “This makes me sick ,” declared Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan from the podium, accusing the UN of “giving the rights of a state to an entity already partially controlled by terrorists. With this new precedent, we could see representatives of [the Islamic State organization] or Boko Haram sitting among us here. You are tearing the Charter to shreds, shame on you!” putting his words into action by passing the text of the UN Charter through a shredder.

Meanwhile, Le Monde’s Piotr Smolar traveled to New York this week to monitor the
Donald Trump v Stormy Daniels tussel in Manhattan Criminal Court. As the paper headlined:

 At Donald Trump's trial, Stormy Daniels stoic in cross-examination storm

Two women, two Trumps. The miracle of this duplication occurred in the trial against the former president for falsification of documents, which was barely discussed before the criminal court of Manhattan. The first, Stormy Daniels, admits to hating him, but now owes him world fame. The other, Madeleine Westerhout, was invited to work with him at the White House as an executive assistant.

The contrast between these witnesses—the former porn actress, all claws out, and the precious secretary, handkerchief in hand to wipe away her tears—was spectacular, beyond their appearance. Stormy Daniels stood stoic in the storm of a cross-examination questioning her credibility and the story of her sexual affair with Donald Trump. Madeleine Westerhout described a considerate, scrupulous, hard-working president, but above all a model husband, of whom the jury had never heard. Nor the American public.

The jurors are captivated. Donald Trump does not look in the direction of the witness, he stares at her on the screen in front of him. When his lawyer returns to his side, the defendant touches her elbow in approval. His thirst for revenge may be quenched, but his cause has made little progress in the eyes of the jury. 

Elections 2024:  Europe…India…gunfire in Chad

Less than a month now until Europeans will choose their new parliament and set the continent’s political direction for the next five years—one that looks increasingly to be leaning starboard. And toward Vladimir Putin. As our SubStack partners David Carretta and Christian Spillmann of La Matinale Européenne reported:

The latest compilation of voting intentions in the 27 EU countries carried out by Europe Elects confirms the rise of far-right parties, the maintenance of the European People's Party [EPP ] family as the leading group, good resistance from the Socialists, an upgrading of the Liberals, a fall of the Ecologists and the radical left. But these trends can be reversed if voters decide that the European Union is worth saving.

The far right and sovereigntist parties dominate political life in France, Italy, Poland and Hungary and are shaking up the major parties in Germany and Spain. They don't like the European Union. After Brexit and its consequences for the United Kingdom, no one is talking about leaving anymore. But everyone wants to remodel it, to dismantle it. “We can become the dominant forces,” proclaims Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who dreams of “bringing together all the conservative, sovereigntist and Christian national forces.” His friend, the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni, wants to “return the left to the opposition".

Which leaves the question of who will lead Europe after June:

The leading party in Parliament, the [centrist] EPP, will need support to form a majority in support of Ursula von der Leyen if her reappointment is accepted by the majority of EU leaders….[She] is counting on the ability of the EPP to forge a majority to support her.

At the same time, there is one force not even on ballots that could be decisive. As EUvsDisinfo reports, “Elections are battlefields for the Kremlin: go after the leaders.”

As Carretta and Spillmann point out:

The anti-election campaign aims to "smear leaders, create distrust, flood social media with falsehoods, turn the public agenda against Ukraine and avoid embarrassing comparisons with Russia." The first analysis focuses mainly on attacks on leaders, in particular the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the High Representative, Josep Borrell. The main target, however, is the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

In India, we’re halfway through the election process, expected to be every inch a coronation of the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi for another term. But the BBC observed, this may not really be quite what some fans of India’s democracy were hoping:

India's opposition has accused Mr Modi of Islamophobia, calling his remarks "divisive, hate speech". The Congress [Party] has demanded an investigation into a potential code of conduct violation. Since [Modi's] BJP has risen to power, hate speech against India's 200 million Muslims has increased.

Mr Modi's fiery rhetoric on the stump has surprised many, as they expected a focus on highlighting his achievements instead.

In Chad, another election, contested, violent, leaving the nation unsettled, unstable, perhaps ungovernable. As Le Monde Afrique reported:

Thursday, May 9…while the Constitutional Court had barely received copies of results from the polling stations, the National Election Management Agency of Chad proclaimed victory in the first round of the presidential election of Mahamat Idriss Déby, with 61.03% of the votes.

The leader of the transition, brought to power by a group of generals following the death of his father, Idriss Déby, in April 2021, is well ahead of Succès Masra (18.53%), his main opponent, who became prime minister thanks to a political agreement. Coming in third, the former head of government Albert Pahimi Padacké (16.91%) was quick to congratulate the winner.

“Everyone knows that these figures were fabricated ,” reacted, disappointed, a senior member of the Transformers, the Masra Success party, who describes these results as a “masquerade” and “witchcraft” .

The magazine Jeune Afrique reported, however, a “rumor” that, despite the magazine’s skepticism, has a ring of truth—the still unconfirmed arrival in Chad of Kremlin-backed forces, who happen to be supporting the authors of coups in a host of nearby nations of the Sahel:

 The rumor is persistent, including within the campaign staff of one of the main candidates in the presidential election, Succès Masra. One of his advisors assured Jeune Afrique: “One hundred and thirty Russian mercenaries from Wagner have landed in Chad to secure the campaign of Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno.” However, this is not the case.

At least not yet.

How others see the World

Putin’s one-tank parade

I’ve stood in Red Square for hours during the Victory [over the Nazis] Day Parade past Lenin’s tomb and the Kremlin, watching as a parade of Soviet armor, the latest Soviet weaponry would roll past and as western defense attachés took frantic, careful notes on all that passed before them. But this year, on May 9, with Putin looking on, there was a single, solitary M-34 tank.

Here’s what The Guardian in London thought of that:

A solitary, symbolic tank has featured in Russia’s annual 9 May military parade as the country was forced to pare down its normal display of military might during a full-scale war in which it has suffered unprecedented losses over the last two years….

Photographs from Red Square also showed patrolmen carrying anti-drone rifles to guard against sabotage attacks that have become a concern due to the proliferation of drones on the battlefield—and increasingly at military and energy sites inside Russia.

Meanwhile, along came Xi

A victory lap across Europe for China's Xi Jinping with two of his three stops [Hungary and Serbia] in determinedly Putin-friendly corners of the continent. And despite a state dinner first in Paris at the Elysée Palace …

… with Macron then ferrying the Chinese dictator down to the Pyrenées for lunch …

… as Politico Brussels put it:

XI EU LATER: China’s President Xi Jinping wrapped up his European trip in Hungary, leaving behind with No. 1 fan PM Viktor Orbán, 16 new cooperation agreements covering everything from cars to nuclear energy and a cool €16 billion in investment.

Bromance pays off:  Xi and Orbán announced a new electric vehicle factory to be built by China’s Great Wall Motor in Hungary’s southern city of Pécs. (That’s in addition to Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD’s first European factory in Szeged). It seems cozying up to Beijing is reaping massive rewards for Orbán, especially when it comes to EVs and batteries.

Love letter to Viktor: In an open letter headlined “Embarking on a Golden Voyage in China-Hungary Relations,” published in a Hungarian newspaper, Xi lauded a friendship “as mellow and rich as Tokaji wine.” For those playing along at home, that’s the sweet wine from Hungary’s Tokaj region, made from grapes affected by noble rot.

Take that, Emmanuel: “We see each other as a priority partner of cooperation,” Xi continued [in his homage to Orbán]. “We have gone through hardships together and defied power politics together amid volatile international situations.”

Indeed, in Paris, there was lots of Chinese deafness, or perhaps deftness? Politico Brussels continued:

On Xi Jinping’s first day in Europe after five years away from the continent, Macron presented him with a highly symbolic gift: several bottles of France’s most exquisite cognacs—not the most subtle of hints. China’s anti-dumping investigation into European wine-based liquors, largely targeting France’s cognac producers, is seen as retaliation for the European Union’s decision to open several investigations against Beijing on suspicions of unfair trade practices in sectors such as electric vehicles and medical device manufacturing.

In return, Xi offered his own sweeteners: a promise not to slap preemptive tariffs on French brandies and support for Macron’s “Olympics truce.”

[But] during the Chinese leader’s two-day state visit, Macron had hoped to soften Beijing’s stance on several key issues, including trade imbalances and the country’s “no-limits” partnership with Russia.

What Macron got was a tin-eared Xi, who either denied there were any problems, offered modest concessions that required very little sacrifice on China’s part, or outright misrepresented China’s involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine. On Ukraine, the Chinese leader reiterated [his pledge] not to deliver weapons to China and to “strictly control” exports of dual-use equipment to Russia—positions already publicly outlined.

Xi essentially glossed over the West’s concern that China has helped keep the Russian economy afloat by supplying the country with consumer goods no longer available from Western markets due to sanctions.

And then there's Georgia….

Where the people want to edge closer to the West, and their government is in thrall with Putin. As Lincoln Mitchell, one of America's great observers of Georgia (the one bordering the Black Sea) put it in his SubStack page Kibitzing with Lincoln:

Tens of thousands of Georgians have been protesting against the government’s attempt to pass a law that would force any non-governmental organization (NGO) receiving foreign assistance to identify themselves as a foreign agent—modeled on similar laws in countries in the region that support Russia and share Moscow’s authoritarian governance.

The protests have been met with violent repression from the government, threats and assaults on activists….The Georgian people have also been demanding their government move towards the European Union and democracy, while expressing anger and frustration [over its] increasingly demonstrated lean towards Moscow….

The Georgian government, led by a party known as the Georgian Dream, has pushed away so many voters in recent weeks that whereas even a few months ago they had a real shot at winning the October parliamentary election, it now seems extremely unlikely that they will win without resorting to large scale fraud.

Andelman Unleashed will be following this election and its outcome closely as Professor Mitchell envisions a scenario where "the Georgian government, desperately afraid of losing power accedes to a Russian intervention…[Putin] sending in troops or tanks across the Russian-Georgian border, acts of cyber warfare…or something else."

Don't forget the Olympics….

…or Marseilles, where the Olympic flame has arrived, to an olympian welcome…

And the start of an 11-week journey to the opening ceremonies on the Seine in Paris, as ‘9 News’ in Sydney, Australia reported:

Former soccer player Basile Boli, who played with the Marseille team in the 1990s, kicked off Thursday's relay from the Notre Dame de la Garde basilica that overlooks Marseille and the Mediterranean.

"I'm very proud," Boli said. "You feel like you're on top of the world, because with an Olympic flame there's a special fervour. ... It's the symbol of sport."

And continuing the length and breadth of France….

With just 79 days to go to the opening ceremonies on the Seine. Andelman Unleashed arrives in Paris on July 17. Lots to chronicle….Can't wait!

And then there’s Mongolia …

… a deadly winter, ending, as Le Monde correspondent Harold Thibault reported from Munkhkhaan, 300 miles southeast of the capital, Ulan Bator:

The steppe was finally freed from ice and snow. The white gives way to the still dry yellow of early spring, but on these empty expanses as far as the eye can see, we regularly distinguish spots of other colors: brown, beige, black.

Carcasses of horses, sheep and cows, among the more than 6.9 million animals that did not survive the harsh winter. The Mongols speak of a “white and iron” dzud (disaster). The snow fell suddenly at the beginning of November 2023, but a mild spell melted it. The great cold came immediately afterwards, freezing from December to the end of March a layer of impenetrable ice covered with thick snow.

The nomads had no memory of such temperatures, falling below -40°F. They remained helpless as their animals died one by one. Oyungerel Dolgsuren lost almost everything. Of the 400 animals she raised with her husband, Demberelsaihan, and their three children, only three sheep, around 30 goats and four cows survive. The thirteen horses that remained from their herd of fifty got lost in the cold and the blizzard. There is no doubt that they are now dead, but the couple searches for them anyway.

Finally, there’s …. Adène

The great French cartoonist Adène has a pretty good sense of what the scales of justice mean to the ayatollahs who still hold Iran in their thrall…especially as they continue to harass and imprison their own home-grown cartoonists, like Atena Farghadani who Andelman Unleashed featured on April 21 after she was imprisoned yet again in Teheran.

Anne Derenne, who draws under the name Adène, is a French cartoonist who’s been based in Spain since 2009. She has a degree in international economics and has worked as a press cartoonist for several years. She regularly publishes in various newspapers and magazines in France and collaborates with the Cartoon Movement. Winner of numerous international awards, she also designs for NGOs, associations and foundations such as Adessium and Cordaid and is a member of the extraordinary collective Cartooning for Peace.

Here's how Adène imagines herself: