The World Today for June 14, 2023

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When the Levee Breaks

RUSSIA/ UKRAINE

Theories abound about the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine.

As CNN reported, Russian officials said the Ukrainians destroyed the dam in order to starve the Crimean Peninsula of water. The region is a former Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. Ukrainians have been fighting to isolate and retake it from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military forces.

The Ukrainians claimed they intercepted communications between Russian military officers about a sabotage team that was targeting the dam, noted Radio Free Europe.

Experts determined that an internal explosion using hundreds of pounds of explosives in the Russian-controlled facility likely caused the damage, the New York Times added, though they still can’t say exactly who put the bombs there. Seismic data also suggested that an internal blast caused the incident, according to NBC News.

In terms of the fighting, the flooding that resulted from the dam’s destruction would prevent Ukrainian forces from launching an amphibious invasion that they had planned across the Dnieper River as part of the springtime offensive they began earlier this month, Newsweek wrote. Those forces were instead probing along the Russian lines of resistance in search of the soft areas in Zaporizhzhia to the north where they might attack, the BBC reported.

The dam’s collapse also caused a humanitarian and environmental disaster, damaging farmland and river ecosystems while diverting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attention. Around 14 people died. About 6,000 people were evacuated. Many stayed behind, however. The Associated Press interviewed elderly folks trapped between floodwaters and the fighting, for example, as Russian soldiers intercepted Ukrainian rescuers and demanded to see Russian passports.

Russian forces were also shelling flooded areas as responders sought to help those living downstream from the massive reservoir that was behind the dam, CBS News wrote.

That reservoir, incidentally, also provided the water to cool the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. While the plant can operate safely in the short term, it’s now functioning, dangerously, in a grace period, warned the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said whoever was to blame for the dam’s destruction had caused a catastrophe. In a statement reprinted in the Hill, Vasyl Malyuk, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence agency, cited the dam’s destruction and subsequent flooding as evidence of war crimes. Moscow has “finally proved that it is a threat to the entire civilized world,” said Malyuk.

Meanwhile, the tanks keep rolling.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

On the Offensive

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwean prosecutors accused 39 opposition activists of “demolishing” one of the ruling party’s offices, allegations that come amid increased tensions ahead of Zimbabwe’s highly anticipated national elections in August, Agence France-Presse reported this week.

Authorities allege that the individuals attacked the offices of the ZANU-PF party in Nyatsime, south of the capital, last week. They are also accused of destroying a number of properties and assaulting members of the Nyatsime community.

The defendants’ lawyers countered that their clients were not present during the violence – but stopped short of saying the accusations were politically motivated.

The individuals were supporters of Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

The incident comes as rights groups and opposition parties are complaining that the ruling ZANU-PF has launched a crackdown on opponents ahead of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential vote.

Earlier this month, another five CCC activists were held on a number of charges following an alleged altercation at a voter registration center.

The governing ZANU-PF party has been in power since Zimbabwe became independent in 1980.

Incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa is running for a second term in office.

Political observers are preparing for a tense ballot in a country where discontent arising from entrenched poverty, power cuts and other shortages of essentials runs deep.

Try, Try Again

SYRIA

The Netherlands and Canada filed a complaint against Syria at the International Court of Justice this week, alleging that the Syrian government has tortured thousands of civilians since the start of the civil war more than a decade ago, Sky News reported.

The complaint accused the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad of failing to respect the United Nations Convention against Torture.

The convention includes Canada, the Netherlands, and Syria as participating countries. Additionally, it grants countries the option to bring cases of non-compliance to the United Nations’ highest court if negotiations and arbitration efforts prove ineffective.

The claimants said that hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians have been unlawfully killed and illegally detained by the government. The Syrian government also faces accusations of operating hundreds of detention centers that imprison and torture dissidents.

Ahmed Helmi, a torture survivor and human rights advocate, noted that the move will help many of the Syrian government’s victims receive recognition.

Lawyers representing the Western countries also hailed the decision, saying it “puts pressure for these violations to cease, perpetrators to be held to account, and victims to receive reparations.”

The complaint came less than a month after Assad was warmly welcomed to the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia – even though Riyadh supplied weapons and ammunition to rebels during much of the Syrian civil war.

A Burning Faith

SWEDEN

A Swedish appeals court ruled this week that authorities had no legal grounds to block protests involving the burning of the Quran earlier this year, despite police concerns that the planned demonstrations were a security risk, Agence France-Presse reported.

The case centers on two planned book-burning protests in February that came less than a month after protesters burned Islam’s holy book outside the Turkish embassy in the capital Stockholm.

Police had initially allowed Swedish-Danish activist Rasmus Paludan, who has been previously convicted of racist abuse, to hold the demonstration. But that incident prompted anger and condemnation in the Muslim world.

Authorities then refused to authorize two other requested protests in February, cautioning that the January protest had made Sweden “a higher priority target for attacks.”

Protest organizers took the matter to a lower administrative court, which ruled against the police action.

On Monday, the appeals court also sided with the lower court, saying “the order and security problems” referenced by the police did not have “a sufficiently clear connection to the planned event or its immediate vicinity.”

However, it added that the decision can be appealed to Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court.

The January burning of the Quran particularly strained Sweden’s relations with Turkey, with Ankara swiftly condemning Swedish police for permitting the protest.

Stockholm has been trying to join the NATO defense alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

But NATO member Turkey has blocked Sweden’s bid because of the latter’s alleged failure to crack down on Kurdish groups in the country that Turkey views as “terrorists.”

DISCOVERIES

Going Solo

A new study recently confirmed the first “virgin birth” observed in a crocodile, offering new insights about the evolutionary origins of the trait, Live Science reported.

Scientists recorded the bizarre birthing by a captive female American crocodile at Parque Reptilandia in Costa Rica. The animal was taken into captivity in 2002 and remained alone for 16 years.

Then in 2018, zoo keepers found 14 eggs in the crocodile’s enclosure – and half of that clutch was viable. They initially tried to incubate these eggs for three months, but they failed to hatch.

A research team then opened the eggs and discovered only one contained a fully-formed – but stillborn – fetus. Genetic analysis of the fetus showed that it was almost identical to the mother, while lacking any paternal genes.

Researchers explained that the phenomenon is known as facultative parthenogenesis (FP), a type of asexual reproduction in species that would normally reproduce sexually.

FP has already been recorded in birds, sharks, and other species in captivity, but the findings mark the first time it’s been observed in Crocodilia – the order that includes crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials.

The team noted that the study hints at some major implications about the evolution of FP and the reproductive capabilities of dinosaurs.

Both birds and crocodilians are remaining representatives of archosaurs – the group that included dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

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