The World Today for April 13, 2023

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NEED TO KNOW

Allies, Enemies and Other Horrors

KOSOVO

The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, and other prominent politicians who were leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) are now on trial at a special court in the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

As BalkanInsight explained, prosecutors say that Thaci and his colleagues failed to take action against underlings who murdered almost 100 people – ethnic Albanians, ethnic Serbs, and Roma – between March 1998 and September 1999 as the KLA’s guerrilla forces were winning their country’s independence from Serbia.

Many of the KLA’s alleged victims were either accused of treason, associating with Serbs or were simply political opponents of the KLA, Agence France-Presse reported. The KLA then allegedly detained, abused, tortured, and killed them.

In a recent hearing before the trial began on April 3, Thaci didn’t seem worried. “I expect to be acquitted,” Thaci said in court, according to Prishtina Insight, which covers Kosovo.

The war in Kosovo was among the last chapters of the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Around 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovars, died in the conflict. Serbian leaders like Slobodan Milosevic have faced war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for their role in the conflict and other fighting that occurred when Yugoslavia split apart.

Problems with the Serbian minority that still lives in Kosovo continue to destabilize the region, too.

Defense lawyers said Thaci and his cohorts didn’t have absolute control over their fighters, so therefore they are innocent. They argued that the KLA was a volunteer organization, not a regular army, according to the Courthouse News Service.

The court will determine whether those assertions are valid. In the meantime, Thaci’s case is interesting because his defenders would describe him as a freedom fighter. The charges highlight how whether he is found innocent or guilty, his legacy will almost certainly be complicated, Voice of America added.

He was studying history and international relations in Zurich, Switzerland when Yugoslavia was breaking down, wrote Reuters. He then joined the KLA in 1997. Two years later, he was leading Kosovo’s delegation to peace talks in Rambouillet, France. He helped broker a deal but Serbia refused to sign it, prompting NATO to launch a bombing campaign to compel Serbia to let Kosovo go.

Serbian news site B92 noted that Thaci was an ally of the US and NATO. If he’s found guilty, NATO and the US also have blood on their hands, too.

The trial, say observers, effectively shows how in this conflict, no one is just a hero.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

‘Pattern of Irresponsibility’

MEXICO

Mexico’s top immigration official will face criminal charges for a fire that killed 40 people in a migrant center in Ciudad Juarez last month, an incident that has increased scrutiny over poor conditions and corruption at the country’s migrant facilities, Sky News reported Wednesday.

The federal Attorney General’s Office filed charges against Francisco Garduño, the head of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, late Tuesday. Prosecutors said Garduño was remiss in failing to prevent the disaster, adding that other officials will also face charges for failing to carry out their duties.

But Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador later said Garduño would meanwhile remain in his post, the Associated Press reported, a move seemingly at odds with the Attorney General’s prosecution bid.

Last month, a migrant allegedly set fire to foam mattresses at the facility near the US border, in protest against what he presumably thought were preparations to relocate or deport the migrants.

Security camera footage showed guards walking away instead of releasing people trapped inside their cells.

So far, authorities are holding three Mexican immigration officials, a guard and a Venezuelan migrant for involvement in the fire. They face homicide charges.

But the blaze prompted calls domestically and from other Central American nations to further probe the matter, the Associated Press added.

Prosecutors noted that the case showed a “pattern of irresponsibility.”

They added that following a fire at another detention center in the state of Tabasco in 2020 that killed one person and injured 14, it was shown that the immigration service had known of the problems at the facility but failed to act.

N.I.M.B.Y.

NETHERLANDS

Residents and sex workers in Amsterdam are protesting a plan by the city government to relocate the renowned Red Light District in an attempt to tone down the Dutch capital’s “sin city” image, Euronews reported.

Instead, Amsterdam officials want to create a 100-room “erotic center” in the city’s suburbs, a move that would relocate hundreds of sex businesses and their workers from the capital’s center.

Supporters and municipal officials said the relocation would relieve some of the congestion and disorderly behavior in Amsterdam’s center, according to the New York Post.

But the plan has faced intense scrutiny from both suburban residents and sex workers, with both complaining that it will impact their livelihoods. Residents fear that the erotic center will attract seedy or obnoxious crowds to their districts and promote organized crime.

Sex workers, meanwhile, said they were being scapegoated for complaints about crime, drunkenness and drug abuse in the area. They added that the plan will harm their livelihoods and expose them to unsafe situations.

Last month, dozens of sex workers held demonstrations against the proposed relocation and other regulations implemented by Amsterdam’s municipality in recent weeks.

The city’s government has imposed a curfew that will force sex work businesses to close their doors at 3 a.m. rather than 6 a.m. – a move the workers say drastically affects their earnings and puts them in danger on their way home.

It is now proposing bills to restrict alcohol sales and vacation rentals, all part of a branding campaign to curb rowdy behavior and deter party-loving tourists – particularly the British.

Critics, meanwhile, have accused officials, including Mayor Femke Halsema, of harming the Netherlands by driving away business.

Legislating Leisure

CHILE

Chilean lawmakers passed a bill this week that would reduce the country’s working week from 45 hours to 40, in an effort to improve the quality of life of workers in the South American nation, Al Jazeera reported.

The new legislation will incrementally lower the working week over five years until the country reaches the 40-hour cap – already standard in many industrialized nations.

It will also prevent businesses from lowering salaries because of the change and allow workers to switch to a four-day working week. The measures, however, do not apply to the informal sectors of the economy, which cover more than 25 percent of Chile’s workforce.

While some businesses welcomed the bill, others criticized it, saying the initiative would put them under strain as they adapt to the changes.

President Gabriel Boric – who is expected to sign the bill into law – hailed it as a “pro-family project that aims at the good living of all.”

Analysts noted that the work week reform marks a legislative win for Boric, who campaigned on a left-wing platform promising to improve workers’ rights, fight inequality and promote social justice.

However, some of Boric’s broader aspirations, such as replacing the country’s neoliberal constitution inherited from the right-wing dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and making significant revisions to the tax code, have met with stronger opposition.

DISCOVERIES

Killer Smile

A new study has suggested that the famous Tyrannosaurus rex did not openly display its deadly teeth, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

Instead, paleontologists believe the king of the dinosaurs had lizard-like lips that would cover its large dentures.

Scientists have theorized that the T. rex had a mouth more akin to today’s crocodiles, in which the teeth are visible even with a closed jaw.

Still, there is the issue of tooth decay: Crocodilian teeth suffer lots of damage during a lifetime because of exposure to air. An American alligator can go through 3,000 teeth in its life.

The extinct T. rex, however, would have needed around two years to replace just one tooth, according to the researchers.

To figure out this mystery, a research team carefully studied the tooth of a T. rex relative, the Daspletosaurus. They noticed that the enamel in the giant lizard’s tooth lacked significant wear – meaning that it was not exposed to the elements.

The team then compared the skull lengths and tooth sizes of more than 20 theropod dinos and other lizard species. Their findings showed that the T. rex was hiding its killer smile behind a lipped mouth, similar to Komodo dragons.

While other paleontologists are not convinced by the findings, the authors noted that the discovery of a mummified T. rex fossil might help settle the debate.

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