Agapi Tis Sofias

In recent times with the Middle East’s many hot zones, violence or threats of violence have been ramping up. Especially in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is a valley of land that the two nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. have been fighting over for a long time.

About a week ago, Azerbaijan news showed us the demolition of a former Armenian parliamentary building by Azerbaijan. At this time though, we have words from the ethnic Armenians isolated in the Nagorno-Karabakh.

Artak Beglaryan, a former ombudsman (investigative reporter), says that “We are nobody.” and that “It is a ghost country.”

He and a lot of others trapped in the Nagorno-Karabakh region are currently trying to flee to the neighboring nation of Armenia.

Armenia however claims they are struggling with the amount of refugees (about 100,000)

What do you think the best move is to take if you were in charge on the side of the Ethnic Armenians? Let me know!

 

Sources can be found HERE

My Lazily Drawn Line on Google Earth

By: Me.

 

The United States announced plans to build a floating pier off Gaza’s shoreline to aid the territory facing a humanitarian crisis. However, constructing the pier could take up to 60 days, according to Pentagon estimates.

The move comes as a response to reports of Gaza’s dire conditions, where a quarter of the population is on the brink of famine and children are dying of starvation. Despite the challenges of delivering aid by air, including the recent deaths caused by airdropped aid parachutes failing, international efforts are underway to alleviate the crisis.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized the urgency of the situation, advocating for a sea corridor to deliver additional aid. While Israel welcomed the initiative, aid organizations remain skeptical about its efficacy. Meanwhile, the US aims to provide two million meals daily to Gazans once the pier is operational, emphasizing the need for Israel to allow more aid into the territory. However, a UN expert criticized the plan, suggesting it may be a performance for domestic audiences rather than a genuine humanitarian effort.

The situation in Gaza remains dire, with access to essential supplies restricted, particularly in the north, where many Palestinians are suffering from food and water shortages. Efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas before Ramadan faced challenges, exacerbating the desperation for aid in Gaza.

Drone being intercepted above red sea

UK Ministry of Defence

 

The US military reported the downing of at least 28 drones over the Red Sea, responding to what they described as a ‘large-scale’ attack posing an imminent threat to merchant vessels.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for targeting a commercial ship and US destroyers. However, no US or coalition military vehicles sustained damage, and commercial ships reported no harm. The UK’s Royal Navy frigate and international allies also repelled Houthi drone attacks without casualties or damages. French forces intercepted drones targeting a European naval mission and a cargo ship, protecting vessels in the Gulf of Aden.

These incidents reflect a series of Houthi attacks, prompting vessels to divert from the Red Sea, potentially affecting global trade via the Suez Canal. Despite previous strikes against Houthi activity, the threat to shipping persists.

Unfortunately, things do not seem to be calming in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. What was a contested region during the fall of the soviet union in the 1980s and 1990s became an independent area not inherently controlled by either Armenia or Azerbaijan.

An Azerbaijani news station on March 5 showed the collapse and destruction of a former Armenian parliament building in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

This could be a way of Azerbaijan instigating that the region should be theirs. Ever since the previous year when Azerbaijan recaptured the region more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians had to leave due to the destruction and control by the Azerbaijanis.

 

What do you all think? Is Azerbaijan simply showing Armenia that they have powerful allies that can back them?

 

 

 

 

SOURCE FOUND HERE

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet country, lies on both the Asian and European sides of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan has a rough history with a neighboring country known as Armenia. A landlocked country to the west of Azerbaijan. A country that has been long oppressed which was ultimately started by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in around 1915-16AD (Armenian Genocide).

In the present day, Armenia and Azerbaijan are still in dissagreeing conflict over a piece of land known as The Nagorno-Karabakh region.

 

At this current time, Azerbaijan became the leading oil plug to Israel. Around $300,000,000 of oil has been bought by the state of Israel. Azerbaijan is treating this as an assessment of it’s conflict with Armenia. Both of these countries seem to be supporting one another as ties grow between the two regarding the conflict with neighboring forces.

With this new business the two countries share, it is Israel’s way of supporting/funding Azerbaijan’s push to claim the region that it has been in conflict Armenia for.

Sources can be Found HERE

 

Benjamin Myers

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his plan for the Gaza Strip after the war in a document released on the 22nd of February.

The Pm envisions Gaza under the leadership of Gazans with no connections to Hamas, with limited military capability, and with a locked down southern border. Israel would take full control of security and would ti

ghten control over the borders even more.

The new government would presumably be appointed by Israel, leading to questions regarding who or what party would be appointed to the role, and whether or not they would serve Gaza’s best interests. It is important to note that Netanyahu has previously dismissed the notion of allowing the Palestinian Authority a role in administrating the region and makes no mention of the internationally backed body in the document.

Israel would take full control of security in the region, dismantling all military capability beyond what is necessary and establishing buffer zones to prevent further incursions into Israeli territory.

Lastly, and perhaps the statement with the most concerning implications is the announcement of “deradicalization programs”. These programs would be promoted in all religious and educational institutions and would, supposedly, aim to deradicalize members of the population. That being said, religious conversion and re-education programs have historically had a negative connotation, and without more details we cannot be certain what these programs entail. Netanyahu has stated that other Arab states would be involved with the process, but did not specify which ones, not to mention that any of these states have said previously that they would not support such efforts without a two state solution.

Every country has recognized holidays, events, and certain identities that make it unique.

Egypt is no exception to this, in fact, Egypt is a melting pot of cultures and ideas that blend together to create what it is today.

Obviously for a country as old as Egypt, we could cover traditions that range from today back to the unified kingdom in 3150 BC. However, I will be covering modern traditions in this entry.

• Significance of time and relationships

Egypt, a Muslim country, places a lot of importance on respect of elders and family. However, what may come as a surprise is the weight of time and time management.

In the Egyptian culture, the longer one visits dictates the importance of the relationship. (EX. I will spend more time with my father when I visit him than his coworker would.)

However, while this may be the case for time spent, punctuality is not a common practice in Egypt, and often times won’t go recognized, even for official business!

• Hospitality

Hospitality is very important in Muslim countries. While the USA may follow a certain degree of hospitality, nobody takes more priority than Muslims.

An Egyptian household is known for honoring guests as if they werre superiors, and are given the best seat at the table during meals. However, as a guest, there are still customs you are expected to uphold a certain degree of mutuality. (EX. Accept the food that you are provided, allow the host to serve you, and make sure to finish your food.)

What did you know about these niche Egyptian/Muslim traditions? How do they compare to the United States?

sources can be found HERE, and HERE

• Benjamin Myers

When Lionel Messi raised the World Cup trophy in Qatar last year, a flood of media coverage completely unrelated to the sport emerged. Messi was draped with a bisht, a traditional ceremonial garment in the Arab world, during the awards ceremony. Numerous articles emerged to simply answer: what is a bisht?  This demonstrated the severe lack of knowledge about the culture of host nation Qatar, but also an apparent curiosity and demand for such basic information. The second wave of articles was much less benign, as Middle Eastern outlets reacted in outrage to the ignorance and racism displayed by western commentators, many of who had smeared the gesture of honor by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar. These articles criticized the double standard western media showed towards various behaviors done by both Muslims and secular Europeans, but the Muslim version having received significantly worse coverage. This backlash against western racism has not elevated the toxicity and spiraled this niche topic out of control, rather remaining celebratory of Muslim and Arabic culture, as well as calling for greater diversity in media executive positions, as this other article by Al Jazeera demonstrates.

Many countries around the globe face human rights issues, although none as infamously as the Middle Eastern region. Specifically, I will cover Egypt-

Egypt faces a number of arbitrary or unjust causes for change, a prime example being the repression of the freedom of expression. In essence, if a man or woman speaks criticism of the president, they can and will be subjected to a fine or imprisonment.

Another severe unjust repression of rights that is common in Egypt is the practice of unmotivated killings and punishment. The targets are as follows – Members of the LGBT community, Human Rights defenders, Journalists, Activists, and political prisoners. Unlawful arrests are made at seemingly random. Mentions of torture methods used on enemy prisoners as well as detention camps are also common in practice. There are counts of over 100k people who have been reported to be located there.

Although these problems do exist in Egypt, they are also not limited to many other small infringements — such as restricting internet access and news.

What human rights issue do you find in our country? And did you know about any of these that have been mentioned here?

Thank you

Sources – found HERE and HERE

 

• Benjamin Myers

Almost a hundred years ago, a genocide was overshadowed by World War I. Around a million (Armenian claims add half a million and Turkish sources subtract half a million from the 1 million mark) ethnic Armenians were deliberately killed, many more fled, as forces of the teetering Ottoman Empire deported and killed an ethnicity they saw as a treasonous threat in the face of Ottoman participation of a multi-fronted war.

The United Nations defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The killings of ethnic Armenians during WWI by the Ottoman military as fitting the definition of genocide is not in serious dispute. An article from the Emirati-funded news website Ahval that exclusively covers Turkish news, the closest I can find to a pro-Turkish English source, acknowledges that “an overwhelming majority of non-Turkish historians agree that April 24, 1915 was the beginning of a systematic mass murder and expulsion of civilian Armenians by the Ottoman Empire government, which meets the definition of genocide.”

Of course, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents the killings as worse than consensus, offering a broader definition of genocide and higher death tolls and displacement figures, but nowhere near as egregious as what the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs frames it as. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs structured the entire English webpage on the subject almost as a defense in a US court. The website stated “fundamental freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution protect those who choose to challenge the Armenian view.” The American rule of law has zero relevance to the morality of Turkish actions almost a century ago. They, the official page representing the national government, continue to embarrass themselves speaking like an American highschooler in a civics class, saying “simply put, in America every person has the opportunity to tell his or her story.” The Turkish government apparently chose to use this opportunity to portray themselves as the victim of Armenian censorship, arguing that Armenians silenced any critical perspective by accusing them of holocaust denial. The Turkish Ministry’s page then goes on to argue that Muslims died in far greater numbers. This muddies the issue. Armenians are an ethnicity, Muslims are a religion. There are much more Muslims than Christians, and Armenians were only a group of Christians. They then acknowledges themself that the death toll they cited are all deaths and not broken down by cause of death, which is again confusing the issue, and compares Armenian deaths from killings to all Ottoman Muslims (a far larger demographic) deaths during WWI. Last not least, they argue the bias of sources for the Armenian perspective, but does not acknowledge whether sources for the Turkish source had biases too.

No Turkish government since has acknowledged the genocide. This is because multiple founders of the new ethnocentric Turkish republic that emerged from the Ottoman Empire were involved in the genocide. Taner Akcam, a Turkish historian of the genocide, said in a New York Times article that “It’s not easy for a nation to call its founding fathers murderers and thieves.”