The Globalist Weekly: 15th July 2019
A concise weekly digest of the top readings, content, ideas and discussions from our global bureaux and correspondents at ComplexGlobal.
Papua New Guinea: Tribal massacre
At least 24 people are confirmed to have died in a brutal flare-up of violence between rival tribes over several days in Hela province. Some reports put the death toll higher.PM James Marape called the news “one of the saddest days of my life”, promising to track down the perpetrators. It is one of the worst outbreaks of tribal violence in PNG for years.”It’s a very sad story,” Philip Undialu, governor of Hela told news agency Reuters, explaining the killings were part of a conflict running for years.
HK extradition bill ‘is dead’ says Carrie Lam
At a press conference on Tuesday, Ms. Lam said the government’s work on the bill had been a “total failure”.But she stopped short of saying it had been fully withdrawn, and protesters have vowed to continue mass rallies. The bill sparked weeks of unrest in the city and the government had already suspended it indefinitely.
Monsoon floods world’s biggest refugee camp
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. When the monsoon rains hit southeast Bangladesh this week, Hafiz Ullah and his family abandoned their flimsy bamboo-and-tarpaulin-home to take shelter in a nearby school. While they were away, the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar lost nearly everything they owned.”(All) our things were stolen,” says Ullah’s wife, Kawser. “That’s why I have to live in the dark now. I lost my light and battery.”While some of the family of six’s possessions did survive the rains, their most essential items — a fridge and a cooker — were destroyed.
Somalia-Somaliland: The Perils of Delaying Talks
Tensions between Somalia and Somaliland remain high. The core bone of contention is still Somaliland’s political status in light of its 1991 declaration of independence, which Somalia rejects. Relations frayed in 2018 when troops from Somaliland and Puntland, a semi-autonomous regional state in Somalia notionally loyal to the federal government in Mogadishu, clashed over disputed territory. Getting back to talks will likely not be easy. In addition to historical grievances and decades of separate rule, efforts to restart dialogue face political opposition on both sides.
Brexit & the implications for national security
It might be hard to see but there is a life past Brexit. Even UK politicians think so. Whether it be the politics of China or Russia, the brink of Iranian conflict with the US or Britain’s ongoing threat of scattered IS jihadists, maybe it’s the fallout of the Christchurch terrorist attack sparking far right hate or maybe it’s just the standard heightened western threat levels that western European nations now hold. Whatever the case may be, Westminster pushes on fearing that a no-deal Brexit is “a really serious and immediate problem for British national security”.
Reconnecting Afghanistan: Lessons in Engagement
For centuries, Afghanistan was a hub of connectivity — for goods, religions, and culture — both between Asia and Europe and within Asia itself. Its centrality diminished during the colonial era, and in recent times, four decades of conflict have cemented Afghanistan’s status as peripheral rather than integral. For Afghanistan to be economically sustainable, it will need to regain its status as a hub. Among Afghanistan’s neighbors, there is a re-emerging recognition that their own interests are better served by engaging with Afghanistan than by isolating it. However, there remains a widespread notion of ‘zero-sum connectivity’, whereby cooperation — exporting power, for instance — in one direction is seen to come at the expense of cooperation in another.
Originally published at https://www.complexglobal.co
