Escaping the Shadow

NEED TO KNOW

Escaping the Shadow

MEXICO

When Andrés Manuel López Obrador left office on Sept. 30, he had recorded around 3,000 hours of footage related to his “mañaneras,” the two- to three-hour live press conferences that he broadcast every weekday while in office, starting at 7 a.m.

The mañaneras are an example of why one of new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first tasks is to escape the shadow of her extremely popular predecessor, wrote University College Cork Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow Jessica Wax-Edwards in the Conversation.

That task will be difficult, however, because, while the former president, known as “Amlo”, left Sheinbaum a dynamic economy – he doubled the minimum wage and lifted 9 million people out of poverty – he also failed to solve the public safety crisis that is foremost among most Mexicans’ minds, reported Le Monde.

In Amlo’s six years in office, almost 200,000 homicides occurred, a far worse rate than any other presidential term in a century, wrote World Politics Review.

Sheinbaum therefore must pick up where Amlo left off, a tough job because the actions Amlo took to quell crime and violence in Mexico are highly problematic, analysts say. A few days before he left office, for example, Amlo’s Morena political party changed the country’s constitution to put the country’s crime-fighting National Guard under military control.

Critics say that Amlo was already deepening the military’s role in civilian life. His defenders argue, however, that drug cartels and other criminal organizations have managed to corrupt nearly every institution in the country. Only the military, they say, could remain above the fray and effectively fight the criminal networks there. Amlo’s critics don’t understand, however, why the military is somehow immune to graft.

In his last days in office, Amlo turned judgeships into elected positions, meaning they could be susceptible to the pressures of electoral politics – and graft. These changes horrified Ernesto Zedillo, a former Mexican president who passed reforms to insulate judges from politics when he was in office in the 1990s.  In an essay in Noema magazine adapted from a speech delivered at the International Bar Association, Zedillo said he feared Amlo was establishing a new tyranny under his Morena party.

As a result, some believe that Sheinbaum is likely to follow her mentor’s lead, continuing his policies. It would be hard not to, given that close to half her cabinet is filled with Amlo’s people, many of his initiatives are locked in law, and his son now has a top spot in the Morena party. It’s also going to be tough because this “dependence is made worse by Sheinbaum’s unshakable, at times farcical, reverence for her mentor,” wrote Juan Pablo Spinetto in Bloomberg, noting how she will keep alive his practice of daily 7 a.m. press conferences.

“The result is a trap that the president-elect needs to escape,” he added. “In politics, this superior-subordinate relationship between an outgoing revered leader and an incoming uncharismatic surrogate is a recipe for disaster … the next administration faces challenges that require a fresh approach”.

It’s an approach, Americas Quarterly wrote, the new president, a pragmatist and technocrat, just might take.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Order, Order

PAKISTAN

Pakistani authorities intensified their crackdown on dissent this week by banning a prominent Pashtun rights group and violently dispersing protests by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, part of government efforts to contain a surge in militant violence, the Guardian reported.

The government announced the ban on the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which advocates for the Pashtun ethnic community, over the weekend, accusing the group of engaging in activities “prejudicial to the peace and security of the country.”

Founded in 2014, the movement has long criticized the military for alleged abuses in Pashtun-majority areas. It has organized large, peaceful demonstrations calling for better protection of the ethnic community and accountability from the army.

The ban follows a move by the PTM to hold a national protest in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to address worsening security conditions, but authorities responded with force, arresting hundreds of the group’s members.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the ban, saying the decision “was neither transparent nor warranted,” Al Jazeera wrote.

While the PTM crackdown unfolded, Pakistani police used tear gas and batons to disperse protests by PTI supporters in Islamabad and Lahore over the weekend. The opposition party and its supporters were protesting the arrest of PTI leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, calling for his release.

Khan has been in jail since last year on more than 100 charges, including corruption and terrorism, which he says are politically motivated.

The crackdown comes amid increasing militant violence, mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where nearly 1,000 people have died in militant attacks over the past three months.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is preparing to host leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, a bloc led by Russia and China, to deepen ties with Central Asian states.

In a separate incident, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for a bombing on Sunday that targeted a convoy of Chinese nationals outside Karachi’s airport, killing two workers and injuring eight, the Associated Press added.

Observers noted that the attack raises concerns about security ahead of the SCO summit, as the BLA has a history of targeting Chinese workers involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

The Spoils of War

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is planning to crack down on companies sourcing conflict minerals from its restive eastern regions, a move that could impact many tech firms and supply chains, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba announced that the government will investigate whether firms have been sourcing minerals – such as gold, tin and tantalum – that have been illegally mined from eastern Congo, an area plagued by nearly 30 years of conflict.

The minister added that officials will pursue legal actions against companies found purchasing minerals that were illegally extracted in the eastern provinces and smuggled through neighboring Rwanda.

The government has already warned US tech giant Apple that the metals in its products may be linked to the conflict in the country’s east.

Eastern Congo is rich in a variety of minerals, including tantalum which is used in many consumer electronics. But the region has been embroiled in decades of conflict after fighting in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 spread over the border.

The DRC military has been fighting various militias and rebels, including the M23 armed group, sponsored by Rwanda.

The United Nations, the DRC and the United States have accused the Rwandan government of backing the militant group, but Rwandan officials have denied the allegations.

Even so, UN officials warned that tantalum mining in eastern Congo is largely controlled by M23: Earlier this year, the group took control of the DRC’s biggest tantalum mine in Rubaya.

UN officials say a complex network of smuggling routes moves the mineral illegally from the DRC to Rwanda, where it is then sold internationally – primarily to Chinese smelters – under the label of “conflict-free” Rwandan minerals, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

The UN added that the militia uses the funds to finance its activities, noting that it generates around $300,000 monthly from taxing miners and transporters.

While this smuggling has transformed Rwanda into one of the world’s largest exporters of the mineral, Kayikwamba complained that the illegal activities have cost the DRC billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, companies are struggling to prevent “tainted” minerals from entering their supply chains, despite due diligence programs aimed at verifying they are conflict-free.

Amid efforts to reach a peace agreement, DRC officials have been calling for sanctions against Rwandan leaders for their role in the fighting.

The US and the European Union have already sanctioned some Rwandan military officials allegedly coordinating operations in the DRC, as well as Congolese officers and militia groups for their involvement in atrocities in the country.

The Slaughterhouse

SOUTH AFRICA

A case in South Africa, where two black women were murdered and fed to pigs on a white-owned farm, has sparked outrage and protests across the country, while also reigniting a debate over the issues of race and land ownership in the country, the New York Times reported.

On Tuesday, protests broke out outside of a court in Polokwane where three men have been accused of killing the two women, who were scavenging for food. The accused include the White farm owner and two employees, one of whom is White, reported BBC. The other is a Zimbabwean national, reported the Associated Press.

They are accused of shooting Maria Makgatho, 44, and Lucia Ndlovu, 35, who were hunting for food on a farm in the Limpopo Province, northeast of Johannesburg near Polokwane in mid-August. Afterward, the three men allegedly attempted to hide the bodies by dumping them in a pigsty.

Police found the victims’ bodies decomposed and partly eaten.

Makgatho’s husband was also shot but survived to detail the shooting, prosecutors said.

The farm was well known to surrounding community residents as a place to go for discarded food. Makgatho and Ndlovu had allegedly trespassed on the farm after a truck from a dairy company dumped expired goods there.

Violent crimes on South Africa’s farms have been a concern for years, including violence and abuse against the farmers themselves. White farmers say that they have been targets of attacks by intruders and that their lives are often threatened, the Associated Press wrote.

Meanwhile, the case has renewed a date on land disparity and wealth inequality in South Africa following apartheid: Then, many Black South Africans were forced from their land. Currently, most farms remain under White ownership. Also, many Black South Africans in rural areas still live in poverty, resulting in the need to scavenge for food on farms.

DISCOVERIES

The Milky Way

Archeologists in China recently discovered the world’s oldest preserved cheese, a finding that provided new clues about how cheese-making developed and how ancient cultures preserved food.

In 2003, researchers excavated a tomb at the Xiaohe Cemetery in northwestern China dating back some 3,600 years ago during the Bronze Age.

The grave included well-preserved remains of a woman and a number of items, including extremely old cheese that was placed along her neck as a necklace.

“This is the oldest known cheese sample ever discovered in the world.” Qiaomei Fu, a co-author of a new study on the cheese, said in a press release.

In their paper, Fu and her colleagues explained that the dairy sample was kefir cheese, a type made from the fermentation of milk using kefir grains. DNA analysis also showed the use of goat and cow milk in the cheese-making process.

The researchers noted that the food’s presence in the grave hints that it held some cultural importance for the Xiaohe people.

While the Xiaohe were actually lactose intolerant, the team said that the fermentation process in cheese-making significantly reduces the lactose levels. This allowed them to consume it and include dairy as part of their diet – minus the need for refrigeration or pasteurization.

Still, the findings also show new insights about the spread of cheese-making and kefir: While previous studies suggested kefir culture originated in the Caucasus, this new research shows that kefir spread not only to Europe but also took a different route towards inland Asia, including Xinjiang and Tibet.

It also showed how the bacteria found in kefir, such as Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, evolved alongside human activities. These microorganisms, which would previously trigger immune responses, also adapted.

“They are also good for the immune system and for producing antibodies,” Fu told NBC News. “We can see at some point it adapted to humans.”

The study provides some rare insight into the prehistoric cheese-making practices that likely began thousands of years earlier. Kefir and cheese production techniques helped extend the shelf life of milk, which was a crucial innovation for ancient civilizations.

Even so, Fu quickly dismissed the suggestion that the millennia-old product was still edible.

“No way,” she told NBC when asked if she would try it.

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