This is a compendium of stuff I’ve been putting together for the Foreign Policy and International Events Group, except it’s backwards. Start at the bottom to best follow from my not exactly atrocious first attempts to my not quite so bad second week… or not. ;)
Wandering through the world alphabetically, one country at a time, one story at a time:
#15 — Azerbaijan
The Republic of Azerbaijan. They’ve just finished up a short war with Armenia, which is a major part of the news in the area, but I thought I’d like to give you a glimpse of the eye candy that is the Flame Towers in the coastal city of Baku, which not only reflect, but are built to handle appearing in multiiple lighting patterns.
The full show would take up half the page, so I invite you to take a look at the Google page for Azerbaijan, select icon Images, and select image icon Baku for a rather breathtaking collection of thumbnails of these buildings at night and in all weathers.
As for the story — oh. Yeah. One way of looking at the Armenian/Azerbaijani conflict is to envision a Russian/Israeli game of Chicken on a massive scale. Whether any story out of either country can give a good picture of what that conflict looks like is entirely problematical. Still searching…
Everything is about the war, it seems. Well, my story from Armenia was of a singer who wouldn’t be going to Eurovision 2021, so I’ll balance it with one of who Azerbaijan is sending: Efendi. (March, 2020 article), note in March 10, 2021 article
Efendi was set to represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 but after its cancellation, the broadcaster İTV has selected her to represent the country in 2021.
#14 — Austria
The Republic of Austria, which somehow seems to be a minor player today, always seems to me to want a bit of history added just for comparison.
The incident which kicked off WWI was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria (the first map), which doesn’t seem as if it should have been a major problem, except that he was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the second map).
Anyway, back to looking for a story…
And finally found one on the XinHuaNet site — a Chinese photo report on the startup of a new Solar system in Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria on April 3. Having that, I could track the story to an Austrian source. ;)
Here is the Translated link from TechandNature, and here is the original German:
Sheep, agriculture & renewable energies combined: Austria's largest solar plant starts in Vienna
At the beginning of the year, the City of Vienna announced a major solar offensive. The city wants to be climate neutral by 2040 and to transform itself into a “climate model city”. A step in the planned direction was taken at the beginning of March. Surrounded by vast arable land, gray fog and 25,626 photovoltaic modules, Vienna's City Councilor Jürgen Czernohorszky, Vienna City Councilor Peter Hanke, NEOS energy spokesman, Stefan Gara and the managing director of Wien Energie, Michael Strebl, inaugurated what they say is Austria's largest photovoltaic system in Vienna Donaustadt. The special feature: In addition to the production of solar energy, arable farming is also planned on the large area. Sheep will graze on the site as natural lawnmowers. In this way, the area should be used optimally.
...
(more at the site, including some good photos)
In other news, Yesterday, March 9, was the debut at the American International Toy Fair, in New York in 1959, of the Barbie doll. Sale price: $3.00.
#13 — Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is the 6th largest country in the world, and the only one that manages to have its own continent. Originally the site of multiple colonies of Great Britain, including multiple penal colonies, once America was no longer available for that purpose. Those colonies joined together to create the Commonwealth in 1901. One of the few places ever nearly conquered by its rabbit population.
From CNN:Brisbane (Major article)
How rape allegations among Australia's political elite reignited its #MeToo movement
...
Higgins said she was inspired to come forward by Grace Tame, a former victim of grooming and sexual assault, who was named Australian of the Year in January for her work urging other women to speak out. They have listened.
Higgins' allegation prompted an apology from the Prime Minister, who announced a number of investigations into the incident and insisted the culture in parliament would change. However, Morrison's explanation of his decision-making process raised eyebrows.
...
#12 — Aruba
Aruba is sort of almost not exactly an independent country; it is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which seems to mean it could be independent if it wanted to, but it's waiting. at 20 mi. long by 6 mi wide, it would just about fit into Chicago along the waterline. It’s primary business is tourism, and trying to find a map of the island that was not made to support the tourist trade was … interesting. Population; slightly under 120,000. Tourists; over a million a year. Foreign affairs are handled entirely through the Netherlands,
Although there must be other news, the drumbeat coming out of Aruba is “work remotely for three months — from Aruba” and the stories revolve primarily around new tech infrastructure dedicated to letting you bring your online job with you while your family plays tourist. Media on the island is, for the most part, tourism-dedicated, and simply put, I found no stories of much interest to anyone other than business fluffing of wi-fi infrastructure. Next up is Australia, though, which is slightly larger and more diverse
#11 — Armenia
I suppose the most telling point for me about Armenia is that the country has a resident population of about 2 million people, and another 8 million emigrants, settled all around the world. I’m tending to think of it as a rather battered ping-pong ball that’s been used in yet another fast round of The Game of Empire by some unknown number of other players. My apologies if that sounds like disrespect; it’s not intended to.
It would probably be easiest to pick something pertaining to “last year’s war over Nagorno-Karabakh” with the Azerbaijanis and duck out of this one; I’m not sure that any story currently gives a good picture of the country, even as a snapshot. So I’m going with this, from The Greek City Times, as one of the secondary casualties of the conflict:
Armenia withdraws from Eurovision, Greek-Armenian singer misses opportunity again
Armenia has withdrawn from this years Eurovision competition, meaning Greek-Armenian Athena Manoukian, for the second year in a row, will not participate in the singing competition.
Note: there are two video clips in the article; I got curious and hunted up a previous video on YouTube from, ahem, The X Factor UK
Enjoy.
#10 — Argentina
When I was little, Argentina was gauchos and the pampas, like Texas was cowboys. When I was hanging around the stables, it was a source of cheap leather for saddles, and Texas was oil wells. Sometime in the ‘70s, I started to appreciate both Argentina and Texas as multi-layer, complex entities that didn’t automatically reduce to a single concept.
Torilahure’s goal here is to let people see the larger world as reality; perhaps it will let us realize that many of us don’t fully recognize all of this country as fully real, and it gets in the way of trying to find workable solutions for our own future. The temptation to simplify something as large as another country, or even a state we haven’t lived in, is generally helped along by the governments of those entities, who generally opt to present a simple view to outsiders.
I digress — Argentina: The Argentine Republic. The eighth largest country in the world, the fourth largest in the Americas, with an estimated 44 million people, is as complex as any society, and there is a variety of news sources, mostly independent.
So, of course, for the story today, I’m going with the BBC, from December 30, 2020. Because once I saw the headline, I couldn’t pass it up.
Argentina abortion: Senate approves legalisation in historic decision
Argentina's Congress has legalised abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy, a ground-breaking move for a region that has some of the world's most restrictive termination laws.
Senators voted in favour of the bill after a marathon session with 38 in favour, 29 against and one abstention.
Until now, abortions were only permitted in cases of rape or when the mother's health was at risk. (more at the link)
Day 9 — Antigua and Barbuda
Another playground for the rich. I thought I would end up without a story on this area, too, but there is indeed news, though not quite what I was expecting.
The main newspaper, The Antigua Observer, is an odd duck indeed. Their online presence has a multitude of space available for advertising, but no advertising. Seemingly, then, the publication is well-funded. Nor was there anything close to breaking news. Instead, the pace is leisurely, concerned with the long-term and the general. There is news, but not of the kind that is likely to provoke action on the part of its readers.
This story, on the negative environmental impact of Chinese development on Antigua, to which I link you, is a web designer’s dream of what a newspaper should be. That doesn’t mean it’s great journalism, but it certainly shows off the talents of at least one reporter and one or two storyboard designers and video makers. The problem is well described, and spokespeople for various groups are given their own cameos, and, well, there it sits, all the fault of one Chinese company.
See if you can spot the misinformation in the opening words of the story. Hint: Climate Change does not seem to be connected in any way with flooding problems. ;)
Day 8 — Antarctica
The continent is currently under The Antarctic Treaty, which is generally, though not fully, accepted.
This BBC article from 2014 seems to be a pretty fair overview of the situation, though of course there have been changes, including stations relocating because of changes in the glaciers.
For the moment, things seem to be holding.
The story: Pakalolo at Daily Kos
British station moved from danger of calving glacier on Antarctica’s Brunt ice shelf. “...an iceberg that is one mile thick and the size of London”
Day 7 — Anguilla
British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, approximately 35 square miles in area; population just over 18,000.
Notes from Torilahure:
Governed under UK law so press is free; but island is basically a tax haven and a glorified tourist destination for the super rich people who do not want to mix with the riffraff if they were to go to other Caribbean destinations. Population not big enough to sustain multiple news media. Mostly not much happens as rich folks tend to want no coverage of what they do.
Newspapers: The Anguillan. . Weekly
The major news, mostly in various Travel Agent publications, is what the quarantine process is for tourists to Anguilla, and how hotels are working to allow quarantined visitors to access more of the island’s attractions while still in quarantine. My research tends to back up Torilahure’s notes.
Day 6 — Angola
The Republic of Angola, 481,400 sq mi on the west coast of Southern Africa.
Language; primarily Portuguese
Angola has a fair number of newspapers, but not a lot of independent sources, and not a lot of recent news. My first query to Google came up with an Aljazeera page first — and one of the main articles, with a minor mention of Angola, was a piece on how Bernie Sanders was having a hard time in the US primary election…
This raised a few flags for me, for some reason, and I sorted to news within the last week. Aljazeera was nowhere to be found. Top of the list was from allafrica.com, then Human Rights Watch, Generally, the new government head is still trying to make sure that the old one has no influence or power; oil production has tanked; the country is still slowly recovering from a prolonged drought; COVID-19 is finally sinking its teeth in, and everything is just fine.
The story from AllAfrica:
Angola: Minister Stresses Need for Updated Media Laws
Luanda — The minister of Telecommunications, Technologies and Social Communication, Manuel Homem, Wednesday in Luanda, stressed the need for an update to the social communication laws, seeking their adjustment to the present context.
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The purpose of the adjustment, according to the official, is to seek a common ground in considering the interests and conflicts facing the public authorities and the social communication agents.
...
Translation — We have to update the rules to cover the new tech aspects of media, or somebody is going to sneak a story out that we can’t control
Day 5 — Andorra
The Principality of Andorra, a country 181 sq. miles in area; approximately 15% the size of Rhode Island, on the border between France and Spain in the eastern Pyrenees, was created during or around the reign of Charlemagne, and has somehow survived in its current state since 1278
Population: about 77,000/ Covid-19 cases as of 2/26: about 11,000; deaths, 110
Capitol: Andorra la Vella
National newspapers: Diari d'Andorra, El Periòdic d'Andorra, and Bondia
The story:
From Poble Andorra (Catalan: Andorran people/Google translate link)
Government has rejected the massive import of vaccines intended to create health tourism
The government has rejected the possibility offered by different intermediaries to create health tourism in Andorra for people who come to the Principality to stay and get the vaccine. This option meant being able to carry hundreds of thousands of vaccines, or up to a million, from China or the Indian market. <snip>
Other countries like Dubai or even parts of the United States like Florida have supplied vaccines to foreigners and different travel agencies are offering tour packages that include the vaccine. The regular customer is over 65 who has not yet been immunized in their country and who are afraid of becoming infected. …
(my bolding — I thought this particular snippet was really interesting...)
NBC News: Jan 25, 2021 — “Vaccine tourism is not permitted,” Jared Moskowitz, Florida's director of emergency management, said in a statement after hearing that Canadians were flying to his state to get vaccinated.
Forbes: 2/14/2021 —‘Shot Trips’ To Dubai, Florida, Tel Aviv, Havana: Covid-19 Vaccine Tourism Takes Off
As of 2/21 per the Miami Herald, rule changes should cut back vaccine tourism, but it sounds as though there might be some loopholes.
An article in the Star on 2/26 is still wary in this area.
Final conclusion? Maybe residents will have priority.
Day 4 — American Samoa
American Samoa is a U.S. territory covering 7 South Pacific islands and atolls.
Newspapers in American Samoa.
From Samoa News:
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Territory of American Samoa — through ASG and the Governor’s Office — has petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to review a federal appeal’s court ruling, which reversed a lower court decision dealing with the Large Vessel Protected Area (LVPA) in territorial waters.
,,,
As previously reported by Samoa News, the Territory of American Samoa — through the Governor’s Office and ASG — sued the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other federal officials, over a 2016 rule in which NMFS reduced the LVPA from 50 miles to 12 to help the US locally based longline fleet.
The lawsuit argued among other things that the federal agency acted arbitrarily in changing the boundaries. The Territory argued that the final rule “threatened cultural fishing rights protected by the Deeds” — the Deed of Cession for Tutuila and Aunu’u in 1900 and the 1904 Deed for the Manu’a islands. ASG contends that NMFS failed to consider the Deeds in its final rule.
...
Day 3 - Algeria
(The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria)
I chose the Casbah Tribune as my news-site of the day after finding its name in the Columbia Journalism Review, in an article about its founder, Khaled Drareni.
The only problem I had in selecting an article was that it’s a French/Arabic publication, so Google translated either the French or the Arabic articles
Right now, I suppose the most common factor between us is the COVID-19 epidemic, so I chose this article to highlight: (Google translate link)
Resurgence of # Covid19 cases: Abdelaziz Djerad speaks of a relaxation of citizens (direct link, text in French)
For the Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Djerad, it is the slackening of citizens which is at the origin of the resurgence of cases of contamination with the Covid19 coronavirus in our country.
In two tweets published during the day, the Prime Minister speaks of a non-respect of social distancing, the non-wearing of the mask but also the non-use of hydro-alcoholic gel by citizens. “The world is experiencing a dangerous wave (of contamination). We must show responsibility, ”he wrote on his twitter account.
...
Day 2 - Albania
Note: I feel as though this should be a much longer comment but I'm not up to writing a diary that will do this justice, and this will be long enough.
I should begin with the statement that up until I began reading yesterday, I had three (bad) sources of information for Albania and the Balkans; Herodotus' History of the Persian Wars, Rex Stout's The Black Mountain, which is set in Montenegro in the 1950s, and the Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman, set in Communist Albania in the '60s. The only thing from those sources that survived the reading I did for this is that Albania has mountains.
Albania also has roughly 2.86 million people spread over 11,100 square miles, a good chunk of which is more vertical than horizontal.
I also found out, after many years of hearing the term Balkanization, what it really meant.
Wikipedia has a long and detailed article on the country, and these look like good general English language news sources for the region:
BNE Intellinews — their about page is here, and
Balkan Insight, published by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
The second publication seemed to me to write more harshly in general, but it’s not data, just a feeling.
Today's story pick: Albania and Montenegro struggle with COVID-19 - sounds a lot like us, in many ways.
Day #1
I’m going to try going alphabetically through, one country a day, and looking for a single story that isn’t of critical importance to the US. I should never have signed up for this group — I knew it. SMH.
Wandering through the world, one country at a time: Afghanistan
From AlJazeerah: Afghanistan launches the year’s first polio vaccination drive to vaccinate 10 million children under the age of 5 — if the Taliban will allow them access.