The World Today for August 29, 2024

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Tilting at Windmills

AZERBAIJAN

Vafa Nagi is running for a seat in parliament as an independent in Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections Sept. 1.

“I have no chance to win,” she told Radio Free Europe.

Around the world, opposition candidates like Nagi, a former journalist, often boycott elections as a show of disapproval of an election process they say is rigged in favor of the incumbents –Bangladesh’s election in January, for example.

But Nagi says that taking part in a race that is certain to be swept by the dominant New Azerbaijan Party, headed by President Ilham Aliyev, along with other loyal parties because of the iron control they collectively have on the country, still makes sense.

“You can see that people need someone to tell their problems to, people need someone to care about them,” she said of voters. And regarding her home district of Neftchala, she said, “People have been completely forgotten by officials.”

Still, many of her fellow opposition members are refusing to stand in the election. The question has divided the opposition for years, especially so during the presidential race in February, which Aliyev easily won, says Eurasianet.

So far, the largest opposition party, the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (AXCP), is boycotting the parliamentary race, as it did in February, to take away any legitimacy the race might have.

“We know that we won’t come to power through a boycott,” the party’s leader, Ali Karimli, told Meydan TV, an independent Azeri outlet. “But the question for us now is not how we will come to power, but whether we take part in the government’s charade of a fraudulent election?”

“The fact that the principled opposition … didn’t fit into Aliyev’s plan (for the election) is driving the arrogant regime crazy,” he added.

That was underscored by prosecutors starting an investigation into him in early August for slander and insult, according to JAMnews. About a dozen of his fellow party members are already in jail on “politically motivated” charges.

Meanwhile, Musavat, another large opposition party, has decided to take part in this one.

“I don’t think our participation will lead to democratic elections,” Musavat’s leader, Isa Qambar, told Voice of America. “But we don’t know any other way to change the system.”

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet satellite, has been one of the most repressive countries in the region since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, according to Freedom House. And Aliyev, who is running for his fifth term and has been in office since 2003 – shortly before his father, a former high-ranking KGB agent and then president of the country, died – has made the country even more repressive.

For example, last year, parliament passed a law that restricts political parties, duly dampening the activities and efficacy of opposition parties. Journalists and civil rights activists, meanwhile, are routinely arrested or harassed, wrote Human Rights Watch.

Analysts say the government occasionally allows a few opposition candidates to win, to keep the public engaged in the election. But Nagi is unlikely to be one of those acceptable candidates.

The powers-that-be have driven her out of office before.

Nagi was elected in 2019 to a municipal council in the Neftchala district, but made powerful enemies after she questioned the council about the illegal sale of lands and other governance and transparency issues, wrote the US Embassy in Azerbaijan.

The Embassy reported that “local officials launched a gender-based harassment and intimidation campaign against Vafa Nagi … the local municipal council chair reportedly ordered authorities to hang photographs of Nagi dressed in her swimsuit with the caption ‘Lady Gaga’ throughout the conservative village to embarrass and shame her and her family members.”

Soon after, she was ousted from the council.

Still, Nagi’s a glass-full type of candidate. She told RFE/RL that the situation can always get worse: “We are trying so our country doesn’t turn into Turkmenistan.”

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Family Rules

OCEANIA

Pacific Islands’ leaders on Wednesday backed a landmark Australia-sponsored regional policing plan, despite concerns the proposal was aimed at curbing Chinese influence in the region, Agence-France Presse reported.

At a Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit in Tonga, the leaders agreed to endorse a plan to open four training centers across the Pacific and create a multinational police force. Australia will provide initial funding while other nations have yet to decide whether they will contribute financially.

“This demonstrates how Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future that we want to see,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, surrounded by the leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.

The PIF hosts Australia, New Zealand and 16 other nations in the Pacific. It does not include the US or China.

Under the plan, a multinational police corps, made up of 200 personnel, will respond to major events and crises, such as natural disasters. Australia will offer a coordinating hub in Brisbane.

The plan will help Pacific nations tackle issues such as drug trafficking, Tonga’s Prime Minister Siaosi Solaveni said.

The Australian government has committed to spending $271 million on infrastructure within the first five years of the plan.

Hours before the deal was sealed, other PIF members, including Beijing allies Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, voiced concerns that the plan served Western interests because they said it limited China’s influence in the region.

“This is about the Pacific family looking after Pacific security. This isn’t about any other country,” said Albanese.

The pact came after a similar proposal by China failed in 2022. Since then, Beijing has offered Pacific nations martial arts training and Chinese-made vehicles, and signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands. The country has also posted its own police officers in Kiribati.

Taking a Break

MEXICO

Mexico’s president said on Tuesday he would “pause” relations with the US and Canadian embassies after envoys from both countries denounced his controversial plan to reform the judiciary branch, the Associated Press reported.

The plan includes a proposal to fire federal judges, with their replacements being elected instead of appointed, a move analysts said could endanger the independence of the judiciary because it would usher in politically motivated judges.

The change is one of a list introduced by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is serving his last weeks in office.

“The popular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy,” said US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar last week, adding that the move could jeopardize the two neighboring countries’ trade relations.

Meanwhile, Canadian envoy Graeme Clark said it could worry investors.

The US and Mexico are each other’s top trading partners, noted CNN, while all three North American nations are involved in a commercial relationship worth an estimated $1.8 trillion in 2022.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Obrador said he froze relations with both diplomatic missions, though added he would not send the ambassadors home.

“I hope that they promise to be respectful of Mexico’s independence, of our country’s sovereignty. But until that happens, and they continue these policies, it’s on pause,” the president said.

The term “pause” is not part of the formal diplomatic jargon, and Obrador did not specify what it meant either, leading to uncertainty, wrote Mexico’s El Informador.

The president previously used that term when he halted relations with Spain in 2022 amid an energy dispute. Back then, he had said a pause was “not a break in relations,” but “a respectful and fraternal protest” against alleged attacks on Mexican sovereignty.

The judicial overhaul plan has sent protesters onto the streets of Mexico and has seen judges and magistrates going on strike. Nonetheless, a congressional committee approved it on Monday, paving the way for a vote in Congress, where a two-thirds majority is required.

Keeping the Peace

SWEDEN

Prosecutors in Sweden said that two men will go on trial after burning the Muslim holy book the Quran during protests in 2023, causing outrage among the Muslim community and a spike in anti-terror alert levels, Reuters reported.

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi, and alleged accomplice, Salwan Najem, burned the Quran while making derogatory comments on the Muslim faith outside a mosque in Stockholm and at public protests last year. This amounted to “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” according to the prosecutors.

“Both men are (being) prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Quran in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” said Senior Prosecutor Anna Hankkio.

Momika and Najem’s acts were condemned by the Muslim community, who viewed it as a grave offense because it desecrated God’s literal word.

The burnings strained relations between Sweden and Middle Eastern countries, where protests broke out. In Baghdad, Iraq, protesters invaded the Swedish embassy twice in July 2023, Al Jazeera reported.

Najem denied any wrongdoing. “His rights are protected by the Swedish constitution,” his lawyer said.

Momika, who had fled Iraq many years before, said he wanted to criticize Islam as an institution, and ban the Quran. Sweden’s migration authorities recently canceled plans to deport him because he is at risk if returned to Iraq.

The series of Quran burnings and the response from the Muslim community pushed Sweden and Denmark to take action, with Sweden raising its terrorism alert level and Denmark banning the practice.

Critics argued the Scandinavian nations should have considered the burning of the Quran as a form of freedom of expression, as they have in the past.

DISCOVERIES

No Slouch

The dodo has had a bad rap.

The flightless bird was a species native to Mauritius. It has long served as an evolutionary cautionary tale for ineptness: It has been depicted as slow and clumsy, leading to the belief that it was destined for extinction, according to Live Science.

Now, scientists are trying to rehabilitate its image, saying much of what we know about the bird is wrong, according to a new study.

“The mystery of the dodo bird is about to be cracked wide open,” said Markus Heller, professor of biomechanics at the University of Southampton, and a co-author of the paper. “It’s like solving a 300-year-old puzzle, and the solution might just help us prevent more birds from going the way of the dodo.”

Dutch sailors first encountered the creature in 1598 when they arrived on the island. Then, decades of hunting, habitat loss and introduction of invasive species into Mauritius resulted in the dodo going extinct – the last sighting was in 1662.

But researchers have noted that earlier records of the bird species were confusing and inconsistent, partly because modern taxonomic methods were almost non-existent at the time. As a result, various mythical species like the Nazarene dodo and the White Solitaire were mistakenly classified.

A research team recently conducted an expansive review of more than 400 years of literature and specimens to clarify the dodo’s classification – and vindicate its reputation.

They discovered that the dodo and the closely related solitaire were members of the Columbid family, which includes pigeons and doves. Both birds were initially thought to be mythical or exaggerated due to the vague and varied descriptions from early explorers.

The team also found that the flightless avian was likely leaner than historically depicted and possibly had darker feathers, wrote the Natural History Museum in London.

And it was no slow-poke.

“Evidence from bone specimens suggests that the Dodo’s tendon which closed its toes was exceptionally powerful, analogous to (those of) climbing and running birds alive today,” co-author Neil Gostling said in a statement. “These creatures were perfectly adapted to their environment.”

Gostling and his team believe that the creature played a crucial role in Mauritius’ environment, adding that more research on the bird could provide insights into the recovery of ecosystems on the island that were disrupted by its extinction.

The paper also emphasizes the importance of studying extinct species – not only to correct historical inaccuracies, but also to apply lessons learned to current conservation efforts.

Clarification: In Wednesday’s THE WORLD, BRIEFLY section, we said in our “Too Much of a Good Thing” item that Canada’s temporary workers make up nearly seven percent of the country’s population. The original Reuters article specifically mentions that this percentage is related to temporary residents in the country. We apologize for the confusion.

Correction: Also in Wednesday’s THE WORLD BRIEFLY section, our Malaysia map incorrectly displayed “Jakarta” as the country’s capital. The actual capital is Kuala Lumpur. We apologize for the error.

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