US & Canada
Hard Numbers: Blinken leads migration summit, Rohingya tragedy in Malaysia, East Timor votes, South African leftists join Eswatini protests
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Brendan Smialowski/REUTERS
6: Six Rohingya refugees were killed crossing a highway while trying to flee a detention center in northwest Malaysia. The country was once a safe haven for Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, but in recent years, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment have led to many refugees being held in unsanitary and oft-dangerous detention centers.
60: With 60% of the vote counted Wednesday, Jose Ramos-Horta looks set to win the presidential runoff in East Timor, Asia’s youngest democracy. Ramos-Horta, an independence fighter during Indonesia’s long occupation of the country and a Nobel laureate, served as president from 2007-2012. He’s vowed to tackle enduring poverty, corruption, and political instability.
36: South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters – the country’s third-largest political party with Marxist affiliations – joined protests on the border with Eswatini against King Mswati III, who has led that country’s absolute monarchy with an iron fist for 36 years. Eswatini has been plagued by anti-government protests since an extrajudicial killing by the king’s police last May.In his latest Quick Take, Ian Bremmer discusses the on-again off-again ceasefire between the United States and Iran and why it has failed to hold, arguing that both sides remain locked in a fundamental disagreement over who has the leverage.
Can a war-torn Lebanon disarm Hezbollah, end Israel’s occupation of its southern territory, and reclaim control of its future? Beirut-based journalist Kim Ghattas joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
As Hezbollah’s power weakens and Israel occupies parts of southern Lebanon, could the country finally reclaim its sovereignty? Or is it headed toward another war? Journalist Kim Ghattas joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast.
Ian Bremmer breaks down how Iran spent four decades building Hezbollah into a powerful proxy against Israel, and why the group’s uncertain future could reshape the Middle East.