All or Nothing
NEED TO KNOW
All or Nothing
SRI LANKA
The People’s Liberation Front (JVP) in Sri Lanka was founded as a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist political party. Today, however, the JVP under the leadership of presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake has become the island’s most powerful anti-establishment force.
And on Sept. 21, when voters go to the polls to choose their next president, it’s possible that for the first time in years, it’ll be an outsider like Dissanayake.
That’s because many Sri Lankans are sick and tired of their political elites in the aftermath of the so-called “Aragalaya” – the civil unrest and political crisis that gripped Sri Lanka in July 2022 following its economic collapse, which led to the ousting of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“Widespread public discontent over corruption, economic hardships and nepotism among the ruling elite provided potent fuel for the public mobilization that overthrew Rajapaksa,” explained World Politics Review, adding that parliament’s elevation of current President Ranil Wickremesinghe disillusioned many voters who perceived the leader as a continuation of Rajapaksa’s regime.
Aragalaya activists, in contrast, were seeking a “system change.”
Dissanayake is running against the system. His opponents include Wickremesinghe, who is the nephew of the late President JR Jayewardene; Namal Rajapaksa, the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and nephew of ousted ex-President Rajapaksa; and Sajith Premadasa, the son of another former president, Ranasinghe Premadasa.
Namal Rajapaksa says he’s running because he’s passionate about helping Sri Lanka and wants to clear his besmirched family’s name, wrote the Associated Press. He might also be concerned about an unfriendly head of state who might not protect his family from investigations and subsequent prosecutions into the many alleged corrupt schemes that benefitted them while they ran the government.
Dissanayake doesn’t have that baggage. “I see he is honest in attempting to change the system,” political analyst Gamini Viyangoda told Al Jazeera. “When he says he’d close the doors to corruption, I believe he means it. Whether he’d manage to do it or not is another matter, but I haven’t seen this genuineness in any other political leader.”
Sajith Premadasa, who leads the opposition in parliament, has already signaled his willingness to go after elites like the Rajapaksa family. He has vowed to renegotiate the country’s agreements with the International Monetary Fund to make sure the rich pay taxes while the poor receive more aid.
Interestingly, no women are running for president, noted Reuters. The country set a 25 percent quota for female lawmakers to make their legislature more gender-balanced, but women are still hard to come by in political positions.
Some parts of the system don’t want to change, commentators say. But the election may force it.
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
‘Cynical History’
ISRAEL/ WEST BANK & GAZA
The United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution demanding Israel ends its “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within a year, an unenforceable move analysts said mainly holds symbolic and political weight, the BBC reported.
Wednesday’s resolution was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and 29 other countries, and was supported by 124 nations. Fourteen – including the United States and Israel – opposed it, and 43 abstained.
The General Assembly’s move follows a July advisory from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which said Israel’s continued presence in Palestinian territories is illegal under international law. The ICJ also said Israel should withdraw from the territories “as rapidly as possible,” and pay reparations for the “damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned.”
In its vote, the General Assembly’s 12-month deadline demanding Israel’s withdrawal specifically referenced the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas that Israel has controlled since the 1967 Six-Day War.
The motion also called on UN members to halt the import of goods originating from Israeli settlements and to stop supplying arms and related equipment to Israel if there are reasonable grounds to believe they could be used in occupied territories, the Times of Israel wrote.
While both the ICJ’s opinion and the General Assembly’s resolution are non-binding, they add to political and diplomatic pressure on Israel amid its ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip with Hamas.
The conflict in Gaza has been going on for nearly a year, having been ignited by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 people taken hostage.
Since then, more than 41,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the region.
While Palestinian officials welcomed the resolution as a “pivotal and historic moment,” Israel condemned it as “cynical international politics” that would encourage terrorism and harm the chances for peace.
Israeli officials emphasized that the General Assembly’s move would embolden Hamas and other terrorist groups, pointing to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously accused the ICJ of making a “decision of lies” and insisted that “the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land.”
Amid questions over the impact of the resolution and fears of the Gaza conflict becoming a regional one, tensions grew Thursday after Israeli intelligence officials announced they detained a man suspected of involvement in an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Netanyahu and other officials, according to Sky News.
Local media and Israeli authorities said Israeli businessman Moti Maman reportedly met with Iranian officials during two trips to Iran this year, where the parties discussed carrying out terrorist attacks, including the assassination of Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Maman allegedly requested $1 million to execute the plan, but Iran refused, although they paid him for attending the meetings, Israeli officials said.
Fits and Starts
COLOMBIA
The Colombian government suspended peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN) following an attack by the rebel group earlier this week, in what is another setback for leftist President Gustavo Petro’s efforts to end the country’s decades-long conflict, Agence France-Presse reported.
On Tuesday, authorities accused the ELN of firing rockets from a truck parked near a military base in the country’s eastern Arauca province. The attack killed two soldiers and injured 29 others.
The group did not claim responsibility for the attack.
Even so, Petro said the incident “closes the peace process with blood.” Government negotiators added that the talks have been “suspended” and can only be restarted if the armed group shows “an unequivocal demonstration of its desire for peace.”
The attack comes a month after the ELN ended a ceasefire deal it signed with the Colombian government last year. Although the group has continued attacks against Colombia’s security forces, it was still involved in peace talks aimed at ending more than 50 years of fighting, according to the Associated Press.
The suspension of negotiations deals another blow to Petro’s policy of “total peace” with the country’s rebel groups. Since taking office in 2022, the president has been engaged in peace talks with multiple armed groups.
The ELN remains the largest armed group still active in the South American country since the government signed a peace deal with the much larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016.
The deal with FARC was aimed at ending the long-running conflict, but holdout FARC splinter groups and the ELN have refused to engage in peace deals.
Efforts by prior Colombian governments to reach a peace agreement with the ELN have failed. The armed group is believed to have between 5,800 and 6,000 fighters, and primarily finances itself through narco-trafficking and illegal gold mines.
Doubling Down
GEORGIA
The ruling Georgian Dream party passed a family bill this week that critics said discriminates against the LGBTQ community and further erodes Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union, Al Jazeera reported.
On Tuesday, lawmakers of the governing party approved a draft law on “Family Values and Protection of Minors,” which officials said was needed as a countermeasure to LGBTQ “propaganda.”
The draft legislation consists of a series of articles that ban gender transition and the adoption of children by gay and transgender individuals. It also invalidates any same-sex marriages of Georgian nationals conducted outside the country.
In addition, the bill contains provisions that would remove references to LGBTQ information in books and films, as well as outlawing Pride events and public displays of the LGBTQ rainbow flag.
The opposition did not participate in the vote: Opposition legislators have been boycotting parliament since the Georgian Dream adopted a contentious “foreign agents” law earlier this year. Still, many opposition parties remain divided over the bill amid fears of alienating conservative voters, Euronews noted.
Regardless, opponents and civil rights groups criticized the anti-LGBTQ bill as “classic Russian propaganda,” noting that the draft law is similar to legislation Moscow adopted more than a decade ago.
They accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of distracting its supporters from real issues and creating another barrier to European integration.
The vote comes as Georgian parties are gearing up for parliamentary elections on Oct. 26, a vote that has observers concerned about democratic backsliding in the country.
Under the Georgian Dream party, the nation has been at odds with the EU, despite widespread support among the population to join the bloc.
The EU has frozen Georgia’s membership application in response to the government’s recent law that will brand Western-supported non-governmental organizations and media outlets as “foreign agents.” The bloc is also critical of a crackdown on pro-democracy protests, Politico added.
Meanwhile, Georgian Dream has drawn protests internationally after it announced last month that it would outlaw opposition parties if it wins the October vote.
DISCOVERIES
Humble Beginnings
A newly discovered species of plant-eating dinosaurs from Japan is providing fresh insights into the migration patterns of ceratopsians – the family of beaked dinosaurs that includes the iconic Triceratops.
Paleontologists unearthed the fossilized remains of the Sasayamagnomus saegusai in southwestern Japan.
In their paper, they wrote that the extinct creature likely measured more than 31 inches long and weighed around 22 pounds, making it somewhat smaller than its more famous and massive relative.
The triceratops could grow up to 30 feet and weigh more than 11,000 pounds. It had a distinct large skull made up of a large bony frill and three horns that could grow up to three feet long.
Researchers suggested that S. saegusai belonged to an early neoceratopsian clade, which includes species from both North America and China. They added that this is the easternmost discovery of a ceratopsian dinosaur in Asia, adding to the understanding of how these dinosaurs spread across continents.
Fossil evidence suggests that ceratopsians, which originated in Asia, migrated to North America around 110 million years ago, likely via the Bering Land Bridge.
This ancient land connection, which spanned up to 620 miles in width, allowed dinosaurs like S. saegusai to travel between the two continents, Popular Science added.
During the mid-Cretaceous period, global warming created vast forests in the Arctic, which provided the necessary environment for ceratopsian migration.
“Simultaneous occurrence of global warming and the emergence of the Bering Land Bridge probably played a crucial role in facilitating the immigration of neoceratopsians from Asia to North America,” the study noted.
The discovery in Japan not only expands the understanding of ceratopsian dispersal, but also “suggests a more complex evolutionary timeline,” the authors wrote.
Correction: In Wednesday’s NEED TO KNOW section, we said in our “The Ghosts of Leaders Past” item that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was convicted of human rights violations in 1998. He was in fact convicted in 2009. We apologize for the error.