The World Today for June 15, 2023

Listen to Today's Edition

NEED TO KNOW

Intrigue in the Palace

COLOMBIA

Leftist leaders from around the globe recently issued an open letter to the Colombian public, saying that the opponents of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who assumed office a year ago, were planning a “soft coup” to oust him from his job.

“Ever since the election of the country’s first progressive government, Colombia’s traditional powers have been organizing to restore an order marked by extreme inequality, environmental destruction, and state-sponsored violence,” wrote former Colombian President Ernesto Samper, former Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and others in the letter.

As the Intercept noted, the letter was a rallying cry for Colombian leftists who might be losing faith in Petro as he struggles to remain relevant due to a string of scandals. “Instead of leading a peaceful revolution to lift millions out of poverty, Petro now risks spending the next three years as an unpopular lame duck, wasting much of his energy defending himself in investigations,” wrote Bloomberg.

Petro’s chief of staff along with the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, for instance, not only allegedly falsified documents but also threatened and illegally interrogated a nanny they both employed at different times, explained Agence France-Presse. The scandal led to accusations that Petro’s allies might have received $3.5 million in campaign funds illegally. His chief of staff and the ambassador have since resigned.

Petro’s defenders said these bizarre scandals showed how powerful actors were conspiring to undermine Petro’s image. They were examples of the “soft coup” that the leftist leaders mentioned in their letter, the Venezuelan state-owned leftist publication Telesur declared.

In the meantime, Petro, who was elected on pledges to make sweeping reforms in Colombia, is fighting to advance his agenda. As the Associated Press wrote, the president is now negotiating and horse-trading with other politicians in Congress over his ambitious restructuring of the healthcare system, which would cut out private insurance and divert all health funds through government agencies. Activists had planned to march in the streets to support Petro’s agenda, Crisis24 said.

As the intrigue in the capital of Bogota continues, armed groups persist in committing violence and terrorizing Colombians in rural areas – despite the 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist rebel group. A new UNICEF study shed light on how such groups recruit children, for example, highlighting their heartlessness and the fervor of their cause, wrote InSight Crime.

Petro needs to show that his leadership offers alternatives that are better than the worst that could happen.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Clash of the Titans

EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union ordered Google to sell part of its advertising business after bloc regulators accused the tech giant of abusing its dominance in digital ads to undercut rivals, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, issued the order following a two-year probe into the company’s ad-tech business. Regulators discovered that Google used its dominant position in online advertising to unfairly promote its own ad exchange, AdX, over others during auctions conducted by its own ad server, DFP.

They also found that the firm’s ad-buying tools, known as Google Ads and DV360, were designed to prioritize bids on these exchanges in a way that benefited Google.

The commission concluded that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services would address its competition concerns.” It added that so-called “behavioral remedies,” efforts that would allow Google to commit to a pro-competition course of action, were unlikely to be enough.

Still, the tech giant is allowed to respond to the EU’s concerns, as the outcome of the commission’s investigation is still pending, according to Insider.

But the decision is a major blow for Google, which generates four-fifths of its revenue from advertising across various platforms, including YouTube and Google Maps.

Google has yet to comment on the decision.

Meanwhile, the firm is facing a similar investigation by British regulators.

Shutting Doors

CAMBODIA

Cambodia is to pass a law that will ban those who fail to vote from running as candidates in future polls, a move that aims to marginalize the ruling party’s opponents little more than a month before the country’s general election, the Associated Press reported.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the amendment to the electoral law is necessary to ensure that candidates for public office demonstrate their civic responsibilities.

But the draft legislation is seen to be targeting exiled opposition politicians in order to prevent them from running in future elections. Many opposition leaders have fled the country to avoid being jailed on what they call trumped-up and unfair charges.

Meanwhile, the bill will also target local political opponents to discourage them from boycotting elections.

The bill is expected to pass in parliament, which is currently dominated by Hun’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

The prime minister’s announcement came less than a month after Cambodian election authorities banned the main opposition Candlelight Party from participating in the upcoming July 23 election.

The National Election Committee said the party did not provide all of the paperwork required for registration. The Candlelight Party countered that it couldn’t provide the documentation because it was seized in a police raid years ago.

Cambodia’s Constitutional Council refused to overturn the committee’s decision, prompting criticism locally and internationally that the July elections will not be fair.

Olive Branches

ERITREA

Eritrea this week rejoined a regional bloc that it left 16 years ago, the latest efforts by the East African nation to repair ties with its neighbors, Al Jazeera reported.

Information Minister Yemane Meskel confirmed Eritrea’s reentry into the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD), saying that the country wanted to work with other bloc members to help advance peace and stability in the region.

He did not explain what prompted the country to rejoin the bloc.

Eritrea left the IGAD in 2007 to protest Ethiopia’s deployment of troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabab, the terror group that controlled most of the latter country’s southern area at the time.

Eritrea has repeatedly had disputes with its neighbors since it became independent from Ethiopia in 1993. It also fought a war against Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000.

But in recent years, Eritrea has taken steps to restore relations with other nations in the region.

The most significant move was a peace deal it signed with Ethiopia in 2018, which formally ended the state of war that had existed since the border conflict began. Eritrea also improved relations with other neighbors, including Somalia and Kenya.

Even so, the country – ruled by President Isaias Afwerki since its independence – remains under sanctions by the United States and the European Union for its alleged human rights abuses.

Human rights groups claim that Afwerki’s governance remains highly oppressive, citing ongoing military conscription that has compelled thousands of individuals to flee the country annually.

Eritrean troops have also been accused of alleged atrocities and war crimes during the 2020-2022 conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region – where they supported Ethiopian soldiers against Tigrayan forces.

Eritrean officials have denied the accusations, but witnesses said Eritrean forces remain in the region despite a November truce between Ethiopia and Tigray.

DISCOVERIES

Ancient Self-Care

Personal grooming was very important for Roman aristocracy and commoners, including the shaving and plucking of hair.

A new archaeological find in England recently also shows how widespread and trendy the practice of hair removal had become in many far-flung regions of the Roman empire, the Miami Herald reported.

The charity English Heritage recently announced the discovery of more than 50 pairs of tweezers in the ancient Roman town of Wroxeter, some 150 miles northwest of London.

Curator Cameron Moffett said the tool was “a popular accessory” at the time because it was safe, simple, and cheap to use – “but unfortunately not pain-free,” he added.

Moffett and his colleagues explained that hair removal was important for Wroxeter’s inhabitants in order to keep up with the fashions of Rome and to differentiate themselves from their “barbarian” countrymen.

The plucking, however, was mainly performed by enslaved people, they noted.

Still, hair removal was just one part of the grooming process. A Wroxeter resident would also clean their nails, get rid of the wax in their ears, and then head to the communal baths – a very time-consuming practice, according to the researchers.

The newly unearthed tweezers, along with a vast collection of other items such as perfume bottles and jewelry, are currently on display at a new museum in Wroxeter.

 

Thank you for reading or listening to DailyChatter. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can become one by going to dailychatter.com/subscribe.