2024
April
25
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

April 25, 2024
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

In the three years I covered Pakistan, one thing became clear: The military calls the shots. Sometimes, it has been a stabilizing influence. Often, it has simply meddled in politics and law to get what it wants. 

Now, Pakistan’s judicial system appears to be fighting back. Hasan Ali’s story today points to what could, if it gathers momentum, become the single most important development since independence. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is a key Western ally and a nation of both tremendous potential and peril. Its bid for freedom from military control would ripple around the world.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Are presidents above the law? And what exactly constitutes an “official act”? The justices seem clear that the answer to the first question is no. But they appeared split on the second question in a case that explores how those in power are held to account.

Today’s news briefs

• Weinstein conviction overturned: New York’s highest court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction and orders a new trial.
• Haiti crisis: Ariel Henry resigns as prime minister of Haiti, paving the way for a new government to take power.
• Ukraine missile strikes: Ukraine has begun using long-range ballistic missiles, striking a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in another occupied area, U.S. officials say.
• Arrests at pro-Palestinian protests: Arrests have been made in Massachusetts and California as universities have become quick to call in the police to end the demonstrations.
• Arizona election case: An Arizona grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and 16 others in an election interference case related to the 2020 presidential vote.

Read these news briefs.

At a pivotal moment for Pakistan, top justices are speaking out against military interference. Their courage – combined with a public still seething over what appeared to be brazenly rigged elections – could be a sign that the military’s grip is weakening.

Patterns

Tracing global connections

After months of indifference, Washington and its allies are making a new bid to end Sudan’s civil war. The humanitarian costs and geopolitical risks are too high, as genocide threatens and Russia makes inroads.

Julien Reynaud/APS-Medias/ABACAPRESS.COM/Reuters/File
Aya Nakamura performs live on stage during the Vieilles Charrues Festival, in Carhaix, France, July 14, 2023.

Who represents France? It’s a question that has set off a political brouhaha, as far-right leaders complain about the idea that an internationally popular Black artist might sing an Édith Piaf song at the Olympics.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Sam Schultz at the border wall with Mexico, in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, April 1, 2024.

“Giving liberates the soul of the giver,’’ said poet Maya Angelou. Sam Schultz, an aid worker who helps disaster victims, lives this message. Why the border crisis moved him from retirement to help those in need.


The Monitor's View

AP
Russian forces, shown here in Azerbaijan in 2020, began a withdrawal on April 17.

A historical term in geopolitics – the Great Game, or when big powers fought to control the heartland of the Eurasian supercontinent – may need to be retired. Over the past two years, many countries in Central Asia and the Caspian basin have seen a flurry of investments and friendly diplomacy from around the world, reflecting the region’s emboldened streak of independence from foreign intervention.

The latest example is an April 22 summit between Russia and Azerbaijan. The focus was mainly economic – how to finish building a road-and-rail corridor across Eurasia, one of several transportation projects in the region. That was in sharp contrast to news just days earlier when Russia, weakened by its war in Ukraine, started the withdrawal of some 2,000 peacekeeping soldiers from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, a remnant of Moscow’s previous clout.

“For the first time in 200 years, there will be no foreign soldiers or bases on Azerbaijani soil,” declared the Azeri news site Yeni Müsavat.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, along with the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and Iran’s domestic troubles, has helped much of Central Asia to focus on trade and investment.

“The region, previously the theater of the Great Game in the confrontation of superpowers, is now trying to become an opportunity zone,” states a new report by the TALAP Center for Applied Research, a think tank in Kazakhstan.

These states have skillfully maneuvered the changing political landscape, adhering to a balanced foreign policy,” the report adds.

China recently eclipsed Russia as the region’s largest trade partner, while trade with Europe and the United States is rising. Last year, President Joe Biden held a summit with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Yet with their eye on luring foreign investors, these authoritarian-minded states are also being reminded to move toward democratic rights and freedoms. They must strengthen the rule of law, enforce fair and transparent competition, and ensure independence of the judicial system, the TALAP Center report recommends.

Perhaps the most notable reforms have been in Kazakhstan, the region’s largest country. Mass protests starting in 2018 led to the ouster of a longtime ruler and brought in a new president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He has distanced the country from Russia, raised the status of a human rights ombudsperson, and beefed up protections for women and children from domestic violence.

The spirit of the shift in the region was reflected in a commentary in Azerbaijan by the Minval news website on the day of the April 22 summit in Moscow: “Our country will not play the role of someone else’s bridgehead or outpost – no matter for whom or against whom.”

Great Game over.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

In embracing a humble reliance on God as our Shepherd, we find comfort, strength, and a clear way forward.


Viewfinder

Ana Brigida/AP
Celeste Caeiro holds a bouquet of red carnations in Lisbon, Portugal, April 25, 2024, as troops reenact movements to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974. Ms. Caeiro was one of many Portuguese who handed out red carnations to rebellious soldiers, placing them in the muzzles of soldiers’ guns and on soldiers’ uniforms. The dramatic gesture gave a name to the army coup that ultimately restored democracy in Portugal after 48 years of fascist dictatorship.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris and Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thank you for joining us today. Please come back tomorrow for a gripping story from the French community where a teacher was beheaded for showing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. We look at how all sides – but especially teachers – have struggled to reestablish a sense of trust in the aftermath of the tragedy. It has led to deep introspection and honest conversations.

More issues

2024
April
25
Thursday

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