The Practical Prince
NEED TO KNOW
The Practical Prince
SAUDI ARABIA
Chinese solar panel companies TCL Zhonghuan and Jinko Solar reached a $3-billion deal with Saudi Arabian leaders recently to build new solar farms. The agreement highlights how Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in renewable energy – including billions in green hydrogen plants, noted Oil.com – as it earns billions exporting oil, as well as the desert kingdom’s new pivot to closer relations with China.
Saudi Arabia has also been purchasing more weapons and military equipment from China, wrote Bloomberg, a topic that was likely discussed during a recent meeting between Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi defense minister, and Chinese leaders during a visit to the Chinese capital of Beijing in June.
Some suggested these developments point to how officials in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, might be interested in replacing the US, their current closest ally, with China, a country that is less opposed to authoritarian governments than the US and rejects Western economic sanctions on Russia and other nations, the South China Morning Post reported.
However, that idea has holes. The US and Saudi Arabia partnership is old, explained the Council on Foreign Relations. The two sides recently reached a deal to collaborate on civilian space exploration, for example, CNBC wrote. American diplomats have also been speaking closely with Saudi officials on a security pact that is the centerpiece of US President Joe Biden’s agenda in the region, according to the Brookings Institution. In return, the Financial Times added, Biden would expect Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the leader of the country, to recognize Israel, a potentially massive breakthrough in the campaign for the acceptance of the Jewish state.
Still, Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim power, recently reduced tensions with an important Chinese ally – Iran, a Shiite Muslim power – in their competition for hegemony in the Middle East. As World Politics Review noted, Saudi Arabia and Iran have re-established diplomatic relations, though the Saudis have been less vocal in their condemnation of Israel’s war against the Palestinian terror group Hamas than their Iranian counterparts. Iran considers Israel its top enemy.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argued that everyone involved had a chance to help the region. Bin Salman will always be infamous for his decision to murder critics like journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But he has also developed a nuanced policy regime that has stifled radical Islamists who might become jihadists, has aimed to improve the Saudi economy, and stabilize the region, including better relations with Israel. The prince is practical, in other words.
The world has a chance to manage these changes or let them spin out of control but as Friedman says, the momentum is positive, especially with bin Salman lifting restrictions on women from driving, working and attending sporting events, jailing about 500 of the most extreme clerics and moving the country economically in a direction that has led investors to become positively giddy.
“To put it bluntly, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has put his country’s worst religious extremists in jail, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put his country’s worst religious extremists in his cabinet,” he wrote. As a result, bin Salman’s policies mean Saudi Arabian society has seen “the most rapid social changes anywhere in the world.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Additional Safeguards
GERMANY
Germany’s governing coalition and main opposition plan to amend the constitution to protect the country’s top court from potential manipulation and obstruction from far-right parties, as well as ensure its independence, the Financial Times reported.
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann announced the proposal, saying it was designed to “safeguard the independence and viability” of the Federal Constitutional Court.
He explained the reforms would enshrine the existing rules that govern the court into the constitution, making it harder to alter them in the future.
These include allowing justices to serve a single 12-year term and retire at the age of 68. The rules also stipulate that the court is made up of 16 judges divided into two panels, and it has the freedom to manage its own affairs without outside interference.
Buschmann added that the parties agreed to introduce measures to prevent obstructions, such as new procedures to fill judicial positions if one of the chambers of parliament cannot agree: For example, the upper house can step in to elect a justice if the lower house fails to do so – and vice-versa.
The amendment is supported by the three-party coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union party and its Bavaria-based sister party, the Christian Social Union.
Observers have noted that this combined support from the mainstream parties provides sufficient votes to make up the two-thirds majorities required from both houses of parliament required to change the constitution.
The unusual cross-party backing comes amid concerns over judicial independence in some European Union countries, such as Poland and Hungary.
Before it lost power in the 2023 elections, Poland’s Law and Justice Party (PiS) filled the nation’s constitutional court with political appointees and approved laws that critics warned undermined the separation of powers.
The overhauls resulted in a years-long standoff between the PiS-led government and the EU that only ended in recent months, according to the Associated Press.
The changes also highlight worries about the rising popularity of the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, with lawmakers fearing a scenario where the far-right group could become strong enough to block judicial appointments and paralyze the court.
Based in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe, the Federal Constitutional Court is crucial in adjudicating key national issues, such as bailout plans during the eurozone debt crisis and environmental policies.
Other Players
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Leaders of Palestinian factions, including those of rival groups Hamas and Fatah, signed a joint statement in China aimed at ending divisions between them, an agreement that some officials hailed as a breakthrough while others remained skeptical about its prospects, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Dubbed the “Beijing Declaration,” the agreement follows China-brokered negotiations between the factions earlier this week to mend relations between Fatah and Hamas amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The two groups have been bitter enemies since a 2006-2007 power struggle that saw Hamas take control of Gaza and Fatah kicked out. Fatah currently governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, while Hamas has been embroiled in a bitter conflict with Israel in the Strip since October 2023.
Tuesday’s declaration called for the creation of a Palestinian unity government to oversee the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as eventually lead to elections. It also called for an international peace conference to work toward a two-state solution with Israel.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hailed the joint statement as a “historic moment for the cause of Palestine’s liberation.” He also called for the establishment of an interim national reconciliation government to govern Gaza after the conflict.
Some Palestinian representatives welcomed the declaration as an “additional positive step towards achieving Palestinian national unity,” CNBC noted.
But some participants and political analysts expressed doubt over the agreement’s effectiveness, noting that the meeting did not achieve breakthroughs or resolve key differences between the feuding movements.
They cited previous reconciliation efforts that have not resulted in any lasting changes, such as a 2022 accord signed by 14 Palestinian factions in Algeria.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz dismissed the joint statement and criticized Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for aligning with Hamas. Katz added that Hamas’ rule in the enclave will be crushed.
Gazans also questioned the diplomatic efforts, with some feeling disconnected from the political processes that do not address their immediate humanitarian needs.
The conflict in Gaza began shortly after Hamas and its allies launched a bloody attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 that resulted in around 1,200 deaths in Israel and more than 250 people being taken hostage.
In response, Israeli retaliatory assaults have led to nearly 39,000 Palestinian deaths in the territory, according to health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Political observers explained that the recent diplomatic overtures underscored China’s efforts to position itself as a global mediator in international conflicts, contrasting its approach with that of Western countries.
Last year, Beijing brokered a historic détente between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Fire and Fury
UGANDA
Police arrested dozens of people Tuesday as young Ugandans took to the streets of the capital Kampala to protest high-level corruption, despite the government threatening a crackdown, the Associated Press reported.
Security forces detained around 60 people who attempted to enter the country’s parliament. Police and military also deployed in other parts of the capital where small groups of demonstrators had gathered.
Among the arrested were three opposition lawmakers and seven others connected to the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, Agence France-Presse wrote.
Ahead of the protests, authorities warned that they would “not allow a demonstration that will risk (the) peace and security of the country.” President Yoweri Museveni also cautioned the protest’s organizers that they were “playing with fire.”
The youth-led protests come after Ugandans have voiced outrage over corruption allegations against Parliament Speaker Anita Among.
Among – who has been sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom – faces accusations of irregular expenditure by her office and people close to her. She has denied any wrongdoing, but authorities have launched an investigation into the source of her wealth and alleged misuse of parliamentary resources.
Observers noted that the anti-corruption rallies were inspired by recent anti-government demonstrations in Kenya, which led to the dismissal of almost the entire Kenyan cabinet due to widespread opposition to new tax proposals.
Museveni, in power since 1986, has promised to tackle graft in the African nation, but his government has been accused of shielding corrupt but influential officials.
Uganda is ranked 141 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index.
DISCOVERIES
The Art of Storytelling
The ability to tell stories is a defining feature of the human species and one that goes back more than 50,000 years ago, according to a new study.
Archeologists recently discovered a cave painting on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island dating back at least 51,200 years, making it the oldest example of visual storytelling.
“Our results are very surprising: none of the famous European Ice Age art is anywhere near as old as this, with the exception of some controversial finds in Spain, and this is the first time rock art dates in Indonesia have ever been pushed beyond the 50,000-year mark,” lead author and rock specialist Adhi Agus Oktaviana said in a press release.
The painting is located in the limestone cave of Leang Karampuang and was first discovered in 2017. It depicts a red-pigmented pig with its mouth open, and three human-like figures – one with extended arms and no legs holding a rod-like object, another with a stick-like object near the pig’s throat, and a third upside down reaching toward the pig’s head.
The researchers used a novel technique called laser ablation U-series (LA-U-series) analysis to date tiny layers of calcium carbonate on the painting, achieving greater accuracy and resolution in determining the rock art’s age.
The dating method also allowed them to review the age of another cave painting in Sulawesi, which showed that it was around 48,000 years old, instead of 44,000 years old as had been hitherto calculated.
Co-author Maxime Aubert, who helped develop the LA-U-series analysis, said the new method “will revolutionize rock art dating.”
But aside from advancing research techniques, the study shows that storytelling and human abstract thinking evolved much earlier than previously thought.
The earliest evidence of humans creating images comes from geometric patterns found in southern Africa from around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Researchers are uncertain if depicting figures in images arose later in Africa or elsewhere after humans dispersed from the continent.
Because storytelling is a crucial aspect of human evolution, the findings challenge the long-held view that early figurative art consisted solely of single figures and that narrative scenes appeared later in European art.
“Humans have probably been telling stories for much longer than 51,200 years, but as words do not fossilize we can only go by indirect proxies like depictions of scenes in art – and the Sulawesi art is now the oldest such evidence by far that is known to archaeology,” Oktaviana said.
Thank you for reading or listening to GlobalPost. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can become one by going to globalpost/subscribe.
