Pnut Gallery: July 31, 2015 – Week In Review
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“You can’t tell anyone that, this is totally between us.” – Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, on a phone call discussing his unconventional approach to leaving the Euro Zone.
This week’s news round-up:
1. NATO stands by Turkey… on some things
Turkey’s campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq received the unequivocal backing of NATO today after a meeting called by Turkey under Article 4 of the NATO convention. Article 4 is the softer version of Article 5, which requires everyone to defend an attacked member. However, NATO “urged restraint” (diplomatic lingo for “please stop”) when it came to Turkey’s escalating conflict with the Kurdish PKK — the reason being that the US views the PKK as an ally in the fight against ISIS.
Confused? So are a lot of people. That partly explains why there are so many conspiracy theories about the civil war, even some that include The Simpsons…
2. Confucian confusion aka China’s stock market
It’s up and it’s down. Actually, it’s mainly down… and by a lot. China’s Shanghai stock market lost over 8.5 percent yesterday in its worst crash since 2007. And it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. As of 12am EST, the market was down another percent.
This comes as China has already poured billions into propping up its stock market and has conducted “unusual” interventions, such as arresting short sellers and banning big shareholders from selling. This is important for many reasons. For starters, it risks undermining the central government in Beijing, which has pledged to support the stock market. Second, it underscores the importance of China in the global economy as China’s economic woes begin bleeding into the rest of the world.
Nuts and Bolts: Should Read
3. Eurotunnel crisis escalates as thousands attempt to flee France
One doesn’t usually imagine France as a point of departure for desperate migrants. But an ongoing crisis at the French port city of Calais has been brewing for the past few weeks as hundreds of migrants have attempted to force themselves through the Eurotunnel that connects France to the UK. On Tuesday, one man was reported dead after trying to access the tunnel along with 1,500 other migrants. This is the ninth reported death since June.
France is upping its police presence at the mouth of the tunnel as migrants attempt to storm the tunnel entrance multiple times in groups of at least 400. Eurotunnel said that they intercepted 37,000 migrants trying to go from France to the UK this year. To the best of our knowledge, no one was caught trying to get into France…
4. Qaddafi’s son sentenced to death in Libya
Former Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi‘s son, Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Tripoli (Libya’s capital) yesterday. He was found guilty of war crimes that he and his father’s regime committed during the 2011 “revolution.” He was tried in absentia not because he has fled the country, but because a rival militia from the mountainous region of Zintan has held him captive (he was allowed to video chat in for the trial sometimes). Libya has been a general basket case since the uprising that ousted the elder Qaddafi in 2011.
Useless read: “Five Ways to Spell Qaddafi”
5. #Pnut4Prez: Clinton clamors for Cuban cigar
Hillary heads to Florida today where she will make a speech in Miami calling on Congress to lift the US embargo of Cuba. This comes on the heels of the two countries officially re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba opening up an embassy in Washington only two weeks ago. The embargo, signed into law by JFK in 1962, if lifted would permit American companies to do business in Cuba and would allow all Americans to travel to the island.
Clinton’s campaign put out a statement advocating, “…Republican arguments against increased engagement are part of failed policies of the past and contend that we must look to the future in order to advance a core set of values and interests to engage with Cubans and address human rights abuses.” This is quite a turnaround considering that the US tried to assassinate Fidel Castro 638 times (actual fact, one time included a flesh eating scuba suit).
Good read: The New Yorker‘s “Entrepreneurs in the New Cuba”
Keeping our eye on:
- Greece: PM Alexis Tsipras loves referendums so much that he’s challenging his own party to make one in attempt to put down a rebellion by his left flank. He is also threatening snap elections this fall.
- Taliban: Now that the death of Mullah Omar is public knowledge and his replacement has been announced, the US drones have someone new to search for.
- Malaysian airplanes: So they can’t investigate the one in Ukraine, but it seems increasingly likely that they’ve found the other “missing” plane. Debris is being sent to France to be tested…
Loose Nuts: For Your Enjoyment
6. Operation Save The Swiss Cow
Faced with an insufferable heat wave that threatened the lives of hundreds of Switzerland’s iconic cows, the country’s air force took matters into its own hands… they conducted a daring raid into France, ravenously attacking a lake, startling bathers and tourists before making off with hundreds of liters of fresh lake water to quench the cows’ thirst. Local French officials were livid that such a flagrant violation of sovereignty happened under their noses. The Swiss, who had alerted the French Air Force — not the local authorities — of their intentions, quickly withdrew and apologized.
This is the first time Switzerland has invaded a neighboring country since it accidentally invaded Liechtenstein for a short period in March 2007. Whoops!
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