In The News

China Warns US Over Uighur Bill: Reuters

Se Young Lee and David Brunnstrom December 4, 2019
China warns that a US bill calling for an end to detentions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang could disrupt bilateral cooperation including trade talks. China is already sore about US passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Uighur Human Rights Act that includes sanctions for one politburo member. Businesses and investors are...

Xinjiang Whistleblower: Washington Post

November 27, 2019
China has placed hundreds of thousands of Muslims in prison camps for reeducation. “China is eradicating the language, traditions and religion of Uighur, Kazakh and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang in China’s far northwest, corralling them into concentration camps and bombarding them with indoctrination by the Communist Party,” notes a Washington Post editorial. “The student guide was revealed by...

Vietnam’s Human Trafficking: Diplomat

Thoi Nguyen November 16, 2019
Human trafficking and slavery continue in poor and advanced nations alike, with people forced into situations they would never choose. Only a fraction of these horrific cases are exposed, as when 39 Vietnamese people were found dead in a freezer truck in England. “Traffickers take children and adults for labor or sexual exploitation from Vietnam to countries such as Russia, Germany, or France...

US Allies, Trump and Syria: Atlantic

Uri Friedman November 15, 2019
The United States withdrew about 50 US Special Forces from Syria in October and “generated a wave of angst across the world about the United States unceremoniously dumping its allies and terminating the international system it has led for more than 70 years,” writes Uri Friedman for the Atlantic. The abrupt, chaotic withdrawal compounded a humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of Kurds have died, more...

Internationalizing the Kashmir Issue: Hindu Times

Karan Thapar November 1, 2019
A small group of EU members of parliament, mostly representing right-wing, anti-immigrant and anti-trade interests, visited Kashmir. Other MPs pointed out they were disinvited after insisting upon meeting ordinary people of Kashmir and opposing the tight restrictions imposed by the Modi government that would prevent hearing opposition voices. Violence broke out in Kashmir during that visit,...

US, Turkey Reach “Ceasefire” on Syria: Vox

Jen Kirby October 18, 2019
After the US withdrew troops from Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, Turkey moved in to take control. Supporters and opponents of the US president lashed out with criticism for abandoning Kurdish allies who fought the Islamic State. A week later the US hastily organized a ceasefire that gives Turkey control over northern Syria. The Kurdish people have five days to leave their homes. The ethnic...

NATO Tested on Turkey’s Syria Operation: Al Jazeera

Samuel Stolton October 14, 2019
Kurdish fighters, in alliance with US forces, were key to reducing the Islamic State throughout Syria. US troop withdrawal from the area prompted Turkey’s military operation against these same Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The operation divides NATO and risks destabilizing the region, reports Samuel Stolton for Al Jazeera. “After meetings on Friday with Turkish officials in Istanbul,...