Pompeo controversially brings the RNC to Jerusalem; China’s lockdown in Xinjiang; Thunberg concludes gap year
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude joint statements to the press, in Jerusalem, Israel, Aug. 24, 2020.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used Jerusalem’s Old City as the backdrop for his prerecorded speech to the Republican National Convention scheduled for Tuesday evening. But the top American diplomat is already being criticized for mixing politics and diplomacy.
A State Department spokesperson said no tax dollars will be used and Pompeo will be speaking in his personal capacity. But Democrats and other critics have lambasted how the foreign policy ploy highlights the Trump administration’s accomplishments vis-a-vis Israel.
Pompeo will reportedly also be addressing Trump’s efforts to make the world safer and promote an “America first” agenda overseas. Part of that theme will likely be emphatic mention of the recent normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
The next stops on Pompeo’s Middle East and North Africa tour will include not just the UAE but also Bahrain and Sudan, two other nations that are said to be considering similar pacts with Israel to bring relations into the open and build upon the US regional alliance to counter Iran. Senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner is to visit Saudi Arabia, Oman and other countries next week as part of the peace push.
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China has imposed a sweeping lockdown on the western region of Xinjiang to contain a resurgence of the coronavirus. But while new infections have subsided in the politically charged part of the country, the lockdown restrictions have remained and residents say authorities have been heavy-handed in sealing off apartment buildings and forcing people to stay home.
Residents of Urumqi, the capital of the semi-autonomous region, have apparently been forced to use traditional Chinese medicine to keep the pandemic at bay.
Meanwhile, Swedish climate activist and globe-trotter Greta Thunberg is headed back to school this week after taking a year off to lobby governments to wean their economies off of fossil fuels. The well-known 17-year-old campaigner began her solo environmental protests two years ago, but the coronavirus has recently prevented her Fridays for Future from organizing mass gatherings.
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Roma persecution intensifies during the coronavirus pandemic in Europe
Amid global Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality earlier this summer, Roma activists marched through Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. The Roma people are Europe’s largest ethnic minority and among its most persecuted.
Police intimidation is a fact of life for many Roma living in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Europe, according to activists, but in the last five months tensions have heightened due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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