A bunch of interesting stuff has been happening such as a coup in Africa, Lukashenko showing his strongman in Belarus and a double hurricane threat in the Gulf of Mexico… let’s check out some of the world’s top stories.
Europe – Lukashenko Struts about with a Gun
Yesterday (Sunday, 23rd August) a helicopter arrived at the presidential palace in the capital city Minsk, at first there was much speculation over Alexander Lukashenko, the country’s embattled President, being evacuated from the palace to elsewhere and the presence of truly massive protests in the country’s capital and elsewhere (possibly numbering in the 100s of thousands) further prompted this rumour to spread and that Lukashenko may be running away from it all.
But this ended up turning out to be not the case but in fact quite the opposite when footage emerged of Lukashenko flying towards the presidential palace on the helicopter, dressed in tactical attire while menacingly looking over areas of the city where the major protests had been taking place and from which he had apparently been giving direct orders to security forces to control the protests.
The helicopter then dropped Alexander Lukashenko off at the palace, with him emerging wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Kalashnikov without its magazine (although there are some pictures which show the gun with a magazine later), he was also tailed by his son, Mikalai, who was dressed out in full combat gear and also carrying a gun as well. The whole affair appeared to be a show of strength by the President in an attempt to show that he was still very much in control and not willing to give up power any time soon in face of the major protests, it was also possibly an ominous sign of things to come.
Lukashenko also went to the police barricades in the area that had been blocking off the road to the presidential palace from the protests where they affirmed their support to him “until the end”.
Africa – Mali Coup
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In Mali last week on 18th August there was a bloodless military coup that led to the toppling of the President and Government with mass celebrations from demonstrators in the streets. Mass protests had been happening in the country for a couple of months over corruption in government and many were asking for the President to resign, there were also notable frustrations on the war with malitants in the north.
It is the 4th successful military coup since 1986 in a country that is also facing problems from Islamist militants in the country’s north where French and allied forces had been fighting them actively for a number of years now, the last coup in 2012 was a result of frustrations related to that insurgency which led to the current president being put in power who was backed by the French. Mali was formerly a colony of the French and they had up until this point had close relations maintained in foreign affairs and aid.
It is unclear how relations between Mali and France will now present themselves as that French-backed President has now been toppled by the coup. Organizations such as ECOWAS, an economic and political union of West African nations, and also the United Nations have condemned the coup and asked for the President to be released from custody, ECOWAS has also asked for the President to be reinstated, although this is very much unlikely to happen due to the sheer amount of public support in Mali shown for the coup.
For now the country is being led by a military junta and negotiations are ongoing between the junta and ECOWAS on how to move forward, it is apparent that one of the agreements reached is the release of the now former President from custody, the junta wants to have a 3-year transition period of military rule before the country returns to civilian rule, during this period the junta says they would review the foundations of the Malian state. It will be interesting to see how things go from here and I will keep an eye on it.
Asia – Coronavirus surge in South Korea
Once again coronavirus has been rearing its ugly head in South Korea, one of the country’s that originally received one of the first widespread outbreaks outside of China. Up until now the country had had a long period of recovery from the large outbreak that had affected it, but numbers had been rising recently in the country and is now once again close to a full-scale outbreak.
The new outbreak has centered around church members which have been highly critical of the disease and also of the government, with many believing in conspiracy theories. Members of these churches are also refusing to cooperate with authorities making it harder to find them to stop the spread of the coronavirus and many of them are refusing to get tested.
Members of the Sarang Jeil Church believe the virus is a plot perpetrated by Moon-Jae-In to kill off members of the church, many of the church members believe the President is a puppet of China and North Korea.
There was also a large rally held in the capital on the 15th August against coronavirus restrictions with the protest itself proving why they were needed as since the rally many who attended have since tested positive for the coronavirus.
It is sad that such elements of society are leading to a longevity of the disease.
Latin America – Peru Tragedy
In Peru the coronavirus has led to a tragedy occurring when police raided the Thomas Restobar nightclub in the country’s capital Lima where coronavirus restrictions were being violated, leading to people panicking to get away which led to a fatal crush where at least 13 people have died.
The country currently has restrictions on large gatherings and also a nightly curfew in an attempt to reduce the spread of coronavirus that is currently ravaging the country as it is with so many others. Sadly, those who died were young in their 20s-30s and the crushing happened due to many people running to a single exit.
The interior ministry says that 120 people had gathered at the illegal party and also added that the police who raided the nightclub didn’t use tear gas or any kind of weapons, although this has been disputed by at least one party goer present at the nightclub. Six were also injured including three police officers.
It is understood that at least 15-23 of those arrested have since tested positive for the coronavirus and is a continuing reminder on why it is wise to follow the pandemic restrictions in places where they are active as many more have likely now been exposed.
It is likely now many questions will have to be asked, it is clear that first and foremost the illegal party should never have been held in the first place as this could have then been totally avoided, the owners of the nightclub and other organisers of the party deserve prosecution, but also the tactics used by authorities and the safety of the building’s features will also need to be reviewed to get a full picture of how this can be avoided in the future and see what other mistakes or violations existed if any.
If coronavirus restrictions still exist in your area then please follow them, you’re not only protecting yourselves but also many others.
North America – Two Hurricanes almost were a Reality in the Gulf of Mexico
A seemingly extraordinary situation was developing in the Gulf of Mexico, the swath of ocean between Mexico and the United States and very well known for its hurricane development due to its often-warm waters giving storms fuel.
Two tropical depressions had been observed moving towards the Gulf of Mexico where they were possibly going to develop into tropical storms and possibly even hurricanes… at the same time. The unprecedented situation meant that the United States may have been hit by two hurricanes within short time of each other, something that would be very typical of 2020.
There have been two major storms active before in the Gulf of Mexico, both a hurricane and a tropical storm together, but never in recorded history have two hurricanes been active at the same time within the Gulf of Mexico.
It looks like that stretch is going to continue though as Marco, one of the named storms, has weakened to tropical storm strength after a brief stint as a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico due to wind shear while the other storm, named Laura, is currently skirting Cuba and may possibly make landfall and travel over part of the island, which will likely cause some weakening, although there is still the possibility that Laura will reach the Gulf of Mexico and become a Hurricane before Marco, which is scheduled to remain a tropical storm, leaves the Gulf, but at this point two hurricanes at once in the Gulf is looking extremely unlikely.
This does not mean under any circumstance that the Gulf US states are out of trouble though, as they still face getting hit by a tropical storm and then possibly either a category 1-2 hurricane or another tropical storm, depending on how development goes.
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