Month: May 2019

Wednesday is V-E Day — Victory in Europe — the 74th anniversary of the formal end of World War II in Europe, when the allied powers defeated German leader Adolf Hitler and his once invincible Nazi war machine.

While V-E Day is not considered a major day of reflection and thanksgiving in the United States, it is observed across Europe and much of the former Soviet Union.

The true number of people killed in the war may never be known, but historians believe at least 35 million Europeans were killed during World War II, including 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

V-E-Day is also marked in Israel, home to thousands of Soviet Jewish immigrants and Holocaust survivors.

Surrender May 7

Germany offered unconditional surrender on May 7. Gen. Alfred Jodl, representing what was left of the Nazi leadership, signed four separate surrender papers at U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, France — one each for Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States.

U.S. President Harry S. Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that May 8 be celebrated as V-E Day.

At Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s insistence, however, another Nazi general signed additional surrender papers in Soviet-occupied Berlin, and Stalin declared May 9 as victory day.

​Celebrations break out

Huge celebrations broke out across Europe. Stalin and Churchill were revered as heroes. They’d crushed an enemy whose fanatical leader once swore he would rule the globe for a thousand years.

Hundreds of thousands packed Times Square in New York City, where the jubilation was tempered when Truman reminded celebrants that there was still the war in the Pacific that needed to be won.

In Germany, survivors wandered through cities blasted into an unrecognizable state from allied firebombs. Their homes were gone, and there was no food. Hitler escaped punishment by committing suicide in an underground bunker.

Loss of Roosevelt

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led the United States through the Depression and war, and had become a steadfast ally to Churchill and Stalin, did not live to see victory.

Author and Marist College history professor David Woolner called Roosevelt’s final days a “heroic and historic story.” In his 2016 book “The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace,” Woolner chronicled the president’s life from Christmas 1944 until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945, a time when the German army was crumbling.

“This was a man who was confined to a wheelchair since the age of 39, couldn’t get out bed in the morning, yet has to run the United States,” he said.

Roosevelt was severely ill, suffering from heart disease. He was in nonstop pain from the heavy steel braces around paralyzed legs, the result of polio.

Woolner noted that Roosevelt knew running for an unprecedented third term in 1940, and then a fourth term in 1944, would certainly shorten his life.

But Roosevelt was fighting enemies on two fronts, against Germany and Japan, and the country needed him to negotiate with a sometimes-disagreeable Churchill and a paranoid, distrustful Stalin.

“He frankly admits that he used the war as an opportunity to draw the Russians into the international community because he understood that there wasn’t going to be peace in the world if the great powers didn’t get along with one another,” Woolner said.

Differences among victors

In his last State of the Union speech, Roosevelt said, “The nearer we come to vanquishing our enemies, the more aware we become of the differences among victors.”

“Almost as if he was warning the American people that this was not going to be an easy task to maintain good relations among the allies once the war was over,” Woolner added.

Roosevelt died at age 63, less than a month before the Nazis surrendered.

He did not live to see the United Nations come into being or the formation of his other postwar vision: a Jewish homeland in the Middle East. That task was left to his successor, Truman.
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Pope Francis said Tuesday more study was needed on the role of women deacons in the early Christian Church, which eventually could affect decisions on the role of women today.

Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a trip to Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Francis was asked about the results of a commission he set up nearly three years ago on the topic.

Deacons, like priests, are ordained ministers and must be men in today’s Church. They may not celebrate Mass, but they may preach, teach in the name of the Church, baptize and conduct wake and funeral services.

Scholars have debated the precise role of women deacons in the early Church.

Some say they ministered only to other women, such as at immersion rites at baptism and to inspect the bodies of women in cases where Christian men were accused of domestic violence and brought before Church tribunals.

Others scholars believe women deacons in the early Church were fully ordained and on a par with the male deacons at the time.

​Commission breaks up

“All the conclusions were different. They (the commission members) worked together but were in agreement only up to a certain point. Each has their own vision and it is not in accord with that of others,” Francis said.

“So they stopped working as a commission and they are studying how to move forward (individually),” he said.

The commission was made up of six women and six men under a president who is a bishop. Nearly all of the members are theologians and university professors. Of the six women, two are nuns and four are lay women.

What early women deacons did

The Church did have women deacons in the early part of its history, but the pope said it still was not clear if they had been sacramentally ordained, as male deacons were.

“That’s still not clear,” he said. “Some say there are doubts, and more study should be done. So far there is nothing (definitive).”

The Church did away with female deacons altogether in later centuries.

Francis and his predecessors have ruled out allowing women to become priests.

But advocates of women priests say a ruling that women in the early Church were ordained ministers might eventually make it easier for a future pope to study the possibility of women priests.
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The United States said Tuesday that a “healthy democracy” with transparent elections is in Turkey’s own interest, after authorities annulled the Istanbul mayoral election following the defeat of the ruling party.

The State Department, without directly criticizing the election body’s decision, said that free elections were “a fundamental pillar in any democracy.”

“We expect a free, fair and transparent electoral process to be fully respected by all involved so that the will of the voters is acknowledged in the results,” a State Department spokeswoman said.

“A healthy Turkish democracy is in the interest of Turkey and its partners, including the United States, and helps ensure a stable, prosperous and reliable ally,” she said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Istanbul mayor with Islamist roots who has led Turkey since 2003, saw his bloc suffer its first defeat in 25 years in the country’s largest city during the March 31 vote. A recount confirmed the opposition candidate’s narrow win.

Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party refused to accept the result and on Monday, the electoral authorities annulled the result, with a new vote scheduled on June 23.

Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States but Erdogan has had an uneven relationship with Washington, where officials have been uncomfortable with his threats to strike US-allied Kurds in Syria, his often fiery denunciations of Israel and his mass crackdown on journalists and perceived critics since a failed 2016 coup bid.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting the Turkish capital amid escalating tensions between alliance members Turkey and the United States over Ankara’s procuring of a Russian S-400 missile system.

The NATO chief’s visit is seen as a last-ditch attempt to persuade Ankara out of its purchase of the Russian missiles. 

Stoltenberg met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusolgu.

We “made evaluations on a wide range of issues, including NATO-EU relations and Turkey’s S-400 purchase,” Cavusolgu tweeted. 

Stoltenberg’s visit comes only a matter of weeks before Moscow delivers its S-400 missile system to Turkey. Washington is warning of sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which bans significant weapon purchases from Russia.

U.S. officials claim the Russian missiles will compromise NATO defense systems, particularly the latest U.S. warplane the F 35, which Turkey is a joint production partner. The U.S. Pentagon warns the F-35 collaboration, along with the delivery of the jets, is also in jeopardy if the S-400s are delivered.

With time running out for a solution to the impasse, Erdogan emphasized what was at stake for NATO.

“We are at a time when threats such as terrorism are directly concerning the security of alliance,” Erdogan said Monday in a speech, with Stoltenberg in attendance. “There are serious divergences in the international security atmosphere.”

Analysts claim Stoltenberg was widely seen by Ankara as an honest broker in the S-400 controversy, avoiding taking sides and stressing the importance of dialogue. But he is hardening his stance.

“Decisions about military procurement are for nations to make,” he said. “But as I have said, interoperability of our armed forces is fundamental to NATO for the conduct of our operations and missions,” Stoltenberg said in an interview Sunday with Anatolia Agency, Turkey’s state-run news organization.

“I welcome and encourage the discussions about Turkey’s possible acquisition of a U.S. Patriot missile system,” Stoltenberg said.

Washington is offering its Patriot missile system as an alternative to Russia’s S-400.

​Until now, Ankara routinely claimed that only Washington was voicing opposition to the S-400 purchase. Turkish officials argued the dispute was a bilateral affair, rather than with NATO.

“This would never have happened if there had not been a vast erosion of trust between the two NATO allies triggered by several ongoing disputes. So, the context is important,” said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based think tank, Edam. 

Analysts claim Ankara’s portrayal of the missile controversy as a bilateral affair runs the risk of a dangerous diplomatic miscalculation. 

“NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tells Turkey that every ally has the right to choose any system, they have that right to buy,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “But the political consequences of buying the strategic systems, he does not say anything.”

Stoltenberg is walking a diplomatic tightrope, with NATO relying heavily on Turkish military support. 

“Turkey is a highly valued ally, and NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey as it faces serious security challenges,” Stoltenberg tweeted Monday.

Turkey has the second-largest army in the alliance after the United States, with its forces participating in operations from the Balkans to Afghanistan. In 2020, Turkey will take command of the NATO Response Force.

With Turkey bordering Syria, and the main transit route for many jihadists seeking to return home to Europe, Ankara is seen as vital by most of its NATO European partners in counterterrorism and intelligence cooperation.

Analysts claim such cooperation explains why Washington remains mostly alone in its public opposition to Turkey’s pricing the S-400 missile system.

However, Erdogan reminded Stoltenberg that Ankara, too, has its concerns over the commitment of its NATO partners. 

“We expect our friends in NATO to act only in accordance with the spirit of the alliance and to hold the alliance’s founding values,” Erdogan said, referring to Turkey’s fight against terror groups. 

Ankara is frustrated over the support lent by Washington and other European countries to Syria’s Kurdish militia, the YPG, in the war against Islamic State.

Until now, all sides appear ready to avoid any confrontation over the simmering tensions and disputes. But with the looming delivery of the S-400 to Turkey, analysts warn it could be a catalyst for a rupture in the alliance.
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The U.N. women’s agency launched a campaign Monday to bring a young generation of women and men into the campaign for gender equality ahead of next year’s 25th anniversary of the conference that adopted the only international platform to achieve women’s rights and empowerment.

UN Women announced its new “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future” at a news conference where it also made public events planned to mark adoption of the 150-page platform for action to achieve gender equality by 189 governments at the 1995 Beijing women’s conference.

“Today, nearly 25 years after the historic Beijing conference, the reality is that not a single country can claim to have achieved gender equality,” said a statement from UN Women’s executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Despite some progress, real change has been too slow for most women and girls in the world, and we see significant pushback in many places.”

“Women continue to be discriminated against and their contributions undervalued,” she added. “They work more, earn less and have fewer choices about their bodies, livelihoods and futures than men – and they experience multiple forms of violence at home, at work and in public spaces.”

Mlambo-Ngcuka said the General Equality campaign is aimed at speeding systematic change “on the laws, policies and outdated mindsets that must no longer curtail women’s voice, choice and safety.”

UN Women’s deputy executive director, Asa Regner, said at the news conference that there have been positive results since Beijing. She pointed to a record number of girls in school, better access to health care, a decrease in maternal mortality, more women in top positions in the business world and fresh efforts to address violence against women and to put women at peace negotiating tables.

​​But she said the biggest challenges are to change male-dominated “power structures” that leave far more women and girls facing poverty and violence.

Ahead of next year’s anniversary events, UN Women has asked all 193 U.N. member nations to submit details and data on what their countries have done to implement the 1995 Beijing platform, Regner said. As of Friday, she said, it had received 22 responses but hopes the entire membership will answer.

The Beijing platform called for bold actions in 12 critical areas for women and girls including combatting poverty and violence, improving human rights and access to reproductive and sexual health care, and ensuring that all girls get an education and that women are at the top levels of business and government, and the top table in peace negotiations.

Events leading up to next year’s anniversary include the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women’s annual meeting in March 2020 devoted to Beijing’s implementation, a high-level meeting when world leaders gather for the annual General Assembly session in September 2020, and a “Global Gender Equality Forum” co-hosted by France and Mexico in France bringing civil society representatives and activists of all ages together to look to the future. No date has been announced yet for that event.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at Monday evening’s opening of an exhibition on women who were part of the Soviet Union’s military effort in World War II that “we will not achieve peace” or any of the U.N.’s development goals for 2030 “without the full and equal participation of women.”

“Yet we all know that there is still a stark imbalance of power around the world, and we are even seeing a backlash in some areas against women’s rights,” he said.

Regner said the majority of countries favor progress on gender equality, but there is “pushback.” There are governments and movements, she said, that value “so-called traditional family values and other ideas around women’s and men’s roles both in families and in societies which do not correspond to international agreements, and which would not necessarily give women the space and possibility to decide over their own lives, bodies, economic empowerment, etc.”

Regner, a former Swedish minister, said UN Women’s task is to spur implementation of Beijing and other agreements – and “we will never back down.”
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Turkey is set for a revote in the aftermath of the hotly contested mayoral elections in Istanbul. 

The country’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) upheld President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) petition to annul the March 31 result, which ended the AKP’s 25 years of rule. 

A revote threatens to plunge the country into political and economic chaos.

Turkey’s state news agency reported the new vote would be held June 23. The YSK has not published the reasons for its decision. However, the 11 judges voted 7-to-4 to annul the local Istanbul vote.

“We are thirsty for democracy. We are young. No one can stop what the people want. We will never give up,” Ekrem Imamoglu, winner of the Istanbul mayoral election, declared at a rally in response to his victory being annulled.

Thousands of Imamoglu’s supporters protested through the night in the streets of Istanbul, while others banged pots and pans to signal their anger. 

The AKP claims voting irregularities marred the April 1 vote and welcomed the YSK decision.

“The High Election Council has not ruled for a winner. They have only ruled for the people to present their will under fair, indisputable conditions,” said AKP vice chair Cevdet Yılmaz. 

The ruling party claims many voting officials were uncertified or ineligible.

Strong reaction

The opposition pro-Kurdish HDP reacted angrily to the YSK.

“May 6, 2019 — once again there is a coup in Turkey,” said journalist Ahmet Sik, who is also a Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) member of parliament.

There is also a strong international reaction to the revote decision.

“Erdogan does not accept defeat and goes against the will of the people,” said Kati Piri, European parliamentarian and the EU’s Turkey rapporteur. “AKP pressured YSK to re-run local elections in Istanbul. This ends the credibility of democratic transition of power through elections in Turkey.”

The Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) leadership did not immediately react to the YSK’s decision, with the party holding an emergency meeting. There are reports that prominent members of the opposition party are calling for a boycott of a future vote.

For several years, there has been a simmering debate within the opposition over whether to continue participating in elections that were considered unfair.

‘He who controls Istanbul, controls Turkey’

Imamoglu’s narrow victory sent political shock waves across the country. Some analysts claim the magnitude of the triumph changed the political landscape and restored belief that the opposition could successfully challenge Erdogan.

Erdogan’s hometown of Istanbul was his electoral fortress. His AKP, and the party’s Islamist predecessors, held the city for 25 years.

Since its defeat, the AKP repeatedly challenged the election results with exhaustive partial recounts. But those efforts failed to overturn Imamoglu’s victory and only reduced his winning margin to 14,000 votes.

Istanbul is home to about a quarter of Turkey’s population and accounts for a third of the country’s production and wealth. 

Erdogan campaigned intensely and held as many as eight rallies a day, declaring, “He who controls Istanbul, controls Turkey.”

Economic repercussions

The decision to contest the vote is deeply contentious, causing rare public divisions within the usually disciplined AKP. With Turkey mired in recession, near-record unemployment and food inflation over 30%, analysts say there is concern that a new election could inflict further economic pain.

The Turkish lira fell sharply on the news of a revote. The lira is already one of the world’s worst performing currency, falling more than 14% since the start of the year.

Analysts warn that Erdogan is taking a risk going back to the electorate.

“A second defeat would shatter Erdogan’s armor of invincibility, rendering him vulnerable to attacks by the aforementioned intra-party rebels,” said Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. “The president is probably paying too dear a price to keep Istanbul, which he may end up losing again.”

International investors are reportedly alarmed at the prospect that Erdogan will use all economic means to avoid defeat in the June poll — a move that could further weaken the currency.

Last month, Erdogan’s former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu issued a scathing statement condemning his party’s economic and political handling of the country.

Davutoglu’s statement is stoking speculation of a split within the AKP. Erdogan’s decision to seek a revote is already predicted to have far-reaching consequences.

“Even before Erdogan made up his mind on Istanbul, a split or rebellion in the AKP commanded very high odds. Now, whether AKP wins or loses, it is well-nigh inevitable,” Yesilada said.
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Two French tourists are feared kidnapped in the West African nation of Benin after they failed to return from a game drive in a wildlife reserve and their guide was later found dead, authorities said Sunday.

The disappearance has raised fears they could have been abducted by Islamic extremists who have become increasingly active over the border in Burkina Faso. There are worries the militants could be infiltrating northern Benin and neighboring Togo as well.

The French tourists were last seen with their guide Wednesday when they went into the Pendjari National Park, according to the organization that oversees the reserve in the country’s north.

Two days later the body of an African man who had been fatally shot was found in the park. Authorities in Benin identified him as the French tourists’ guide.

The French government is in contact with the tourists’ families but would not release their identities for security reasons, said a French Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be publicly named.

Authorities in Benin have been increasingly concerned that the growing instability in neighboring Burkina Faso could spread.

“We’re trying to secure our borders so that we don’t get any of these members of armed groups in our country,” Army Chief of Staff Col. Fructueux Gbaguidi said just a week ago.

Pendjari National Park makes up part of a vast wildlife area that stretches across Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. The entire area is home to most of the world’s remaining West African lion population.
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At least 41 people were killed as a result of a fiery crash landing of a Sukhoi Superjet-100 (SSJ100) passenger plane at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport Sunday evening.

Speaking to reporters early Monday, Elena Markovskaya, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said that 41 people died in the accident and 37 people survived.

Two teenagers and at least one member of the crew were among the dead, the Investigative Committee said. One American also may have died.

The SSJ100 operated by national airline Aeroflot had 73 passengers and five crew members on board when it made a hard emergency landing. Video on Russian television showed fire bursting from the plane’s underside as it touched down.

The Russian news agency Interfax reports that the plane may have been struck by lightning, necessitating its return to the airport. Interfax says the landing caused one landing gear unit to break, sending debris into a wing fuel tank and sparking the blaze.

Russian Emergency Ministry said it does not plan to ground other SSJ100 planes following the Sunday’s crash.

​The plane departed Moscow airport at 18:03 local time (11:03 EDT) for the northern city of Murmansk. Shortly after takeoff, the crew sent a distress signal to air traffic control, saying the plane had some technical issues and required the emergency landing. 

Passengers were evacuated through emergency slides. People waiting inside the terminal were able to see the emergency landing and ensuing fire. 

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal investigation into the incident, although the reason for the crash is not yet known.

Sheremetyevo Airport was closed for a short period of time and inbound flights were forced into holding patterns and some diverted to other Moscow airports.

The plane’s manufacturer, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, said the aircraft had received maintenance at the beginning of April. Aeroflot said the pilot had some 1,400 hours of flying experience with SSJ100.

The Sunday’s incident was the second fatal crash for the Sukhoi Superjet. In 2012, an SSJ100, on a demonstration flight in Indonesia, crashed into a mountain, killing all 45 aboard.
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Top diplomats from the United States, Russia and other nations which border the Arctic meet in Finland on Monday to discuss policies governing the polar region, as tensions grow over how to deal with global warming and access to mineral wealth.

Countries have been scrambling to claim territory or, like China, boost their presence in the region as thawing ice raises the possibility of exploiting much of the world’s remaining undiscovered reserves of oil and gas, plus huge deposits of minerals such as zinc, iron and rare earth metals.

With time-saving Arctic shipping routes also opening up, the Pentagon warned on May 2 of the risk of Chinese submarines in the Arctic.

That followed a sharp statement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – who will give a speech at the Arctic Council meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland on May 6 – rejecting a role for China in shaping Arctic policy.

“The U.S. has realized that they cannot leave the Russians and Chinese to carve up the Arctic as they see fit,” said Niklas Granholm, deputy director of studies at Sweden’s Defense Research Agency.

The Arctic Council is made up of the United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, with the region’s indigenous populations also represented.

China has had observer status at the Council since 2013, and has been increasingly active in the region, outlining a plan for a “Polar Silk Road” last year.

Russia has reopened military bases closed after the Cold War and is modernizing its powerful Northern Fleet. In response, the U.S. has reconstituted its Second Fleet, whose area of responsibility will include the North Pole.

The Arctic Council’s remit excludes military matters, but participants have already clashed, with the Washington Post reporting that the U.S. had refused to sign off on a final declaration, disagreeing with the wording on climate change.

Melting the Ice

“There are different tones with which different countries want to approach climate change,” Finland’s Arctic Ambassador Aleksi Harkonen said.

“It’s not about whether climate change can be mentioned or not. It will be there, in the final declaration.”

Surface air temperatures in the Arctic are warming at twice the rate of the rest of the globe, and the ocean could be ice-free during the summer months within 25 years, according to some researchers.

That could have a profound effect on the world’s weather as well as on wildlife and indigenous populations in the polar region.

President Donald Trump has frequently expressed skepticism about whether global warming is a result of human activity and has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

That agreement aimed to limit a rise in average global temperatures to “well below” 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times by 2100.

Another flashpoint in Finland could be the meeting between Pompeo and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who will discuss the political crisis in Venezuela.

Russia has accused the United States of trying to engineer a coup against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, one of its closest allies in Latin America.

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton told Russia to stop interfering in what he called America’s “hemisphere.”

India, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan have observer status at the Arctic Council in addition to China.
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Russia’s Tass news agency says at least 13 people have been killed and several others injured after a plane caught fire as it made an emergency landing in Moscow.

Media reports said the Aeroflot plane had just taken off from the Sheremetyevo airport Sunday, bound for the northern city of Murmansk, with 78 people on board.

The cause of the fire is not known.

The Interfax news agency said the crew aboard the Sukhoi Superjet-100 had issued a distress signal shortly after takeoff.
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