Straddling the World
NEED TO KNOW
Straddling the World
OMAN
The deputy ambassador of Oman to the US, Sabra Ahmed Al-Hooti, recently made a nuanced argument about the violence and instability in the Middle East when he said folks should not conflate Zionism with Judaism.
“We must also be mindful of the dangerous confusion between Judaism as a religion and Zionism as a political ideology,” said Sabra Ahmed Al-Hooti, according to the Times of Israel. “This confusion actually fuels antisemitism and undermines efforts for peaceful resolutions to the conflict.”
Such comments illustrate why Oman has become a more important player in the Middle East in recent years, wrote World Politics Review.
Oman was once considered a potential new signatory to the Abraham Accords, which resulted in the Muslim-majority states of Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates recognizing Israel in 2020. Now, however, the civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip resulting from Israel’s devastating response to Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, have cooled that possibility.
Oman, like many countries around the world, has condemned Israel’s response and called for peace talks that should lead to an independent Palestinian state.
Still, as the Financial Times explained, Oman retains good relations with the US as well as Iran, Russia, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen who are fighting a war against the Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia and its allies, and occasionally disrupting commercial traffic in the Red Sea to protest against the Palestinians’ suffering. These ties make the country a unique conduit for diplomatic and economic efforts to change the region, even if that means engaging with the West’s rivals.
For example, Oman’s trade with Russia has increased by around 376 percent from $84 million in 2014 to $400 million in 2023, with 60 percent of that growth coming in 2022 and 2023 from Russian oil exports that contravene Western sanctions. These efforts have partially helped Oman’s economy flourish in recent years, according to an Omani statement published in the Korea Herald.
As the Tehran Times reported, Iranian officials are also eager to draw closer with Oman.
The war in Gaza is undoubtedly putting a lot of pressure on Oman to take sides between East and West, said Giorgio Cafiero of Gulf State Analytics, writing for the Stimson Center think tank. Omani officials have called on the US to condemn Israel, for example. They also feel that Israel is purposely stoking conflict between the US and Iran to maintain American assistance and diplomatic cover.
Cafiero added that Omani society increasingly appears to be in “growing solidarity with Tehran’s ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel” and the West, undermining its role as a bridge between the West and the Middle East, and threatening its economic growth.
“Oman’s leadership is pragmatic and likely to remain Western-oriented in terms of its own security,” he wrote. “China, Iran, or Russia is unlikely to replace the US or UK as Oman’s main sources of weapons and security guarantees. But the longer the Gaza war continues, the more challenging Muscat may find its traditional role of facilitating dialogue among adversaries.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Honeymoon Over
BANGLADESH
The arrest of a prominent Hindu leader on sedition charges triggered violent clashes in Bangladesh this week, leaving one person dead and escalating tensions with neighboring India, which has expressed concern over the safety of minorities in the Muslim-majority country, the BBC reported.
On Monday, authorities detained Krishna Das Prabhu, a monk with the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group and spokesperson for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), over allegations of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag during an October rally in the southern city of Chittagong.
He was denied bail Tuesday, which sparked protests by his supporters.
Hundreds of Prabhu’s followers surrounded the police van that was transporting him back to prison. The incident sparked clashes that saw security forces using tear gas, batons, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
During the chaos, a Muslim lawyer, Saiful Islam Alif, was killed, though the circumstances of his death remain unclear. Prabhu’s supporters denied involvement and demanded an investigation.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, lawyers across the country boycotted the courts in protest at the killing of their colleague, the Associated Press added.
Police have since arrested six suspects in connection with the killing and another 21 individuals for vandalism and violence against security forces. The conflict has left scores injured, and authorities are on high alert to prevent further unrest.
India, which has been long criticized for its persecution of its Muslim minority, voiced concerns about the treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh, urging the interim Bangladeshi government to ensure the safety of minorities.
Bangladesh dismissed the statement, saying its larger neighbor was interfering in its internal affairs.
The tensions come at a time of strained relations between the two countries following the ousting of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August. Hasina, a close ally of India during her 15-year tenure, has been living in exile in that country since she was forced to flee.
Since her deposing, Hindus and other minority groups in Bangladesh have complained of increasing attacks against their communities, though the interim government of Muhammad Yunus countered that the threat to Hindus has been exaggerated.
Hindus make up around eight percent of Bangladesh’s population of 173 million. About 91 percent of Bangladeshis are Muslim.
Playing Hardball
ANGOLA
Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Angolan police of killing at least 17 protesters over the past 30 months and using excessive force to suppress demonstrations, a report that came days after thousands of people protested in the capital Luanda to denounce growing poverty and authoritarianism, Agence France-Presse reported.
In its report, Amnesty detailed police actions at 11 protests between November 2020 and June 2023, where officers fired live bullets, deployed tear gas, and carried out arbitrary arrests.
The document highlighted the January 2021 crackdown in the eastern mining town of Cafunfo, where police killed at least 10 demonstrators. In another deadly incident in June 2023, authorities allegedly shot four demonstrators, including a 12-year-old boy, in the central city of Huambo.
The human rights group criticized Angolan authorities under the administration of President João Lourenço for failing to hold officers or their superiors accountable, writing that they consistently stifle the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, AFP wrote separately.
The report’s findings come days after around 4,000 people joined a peaceful opposition-led protest in Luanda to condemn poor governance and economic hardship.
Supporters of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola party (UNITA) carried banners declaring “Lourenço leave” and “people are dying of hunger” as they marched under close police surveillance.
Demonstrators also called attention to severe drought and hunger gripping southern Africa, which the United Nations said has left millions struggling to find food.
UNITA Secretary General Álvaro Chikwamanga blamed the governing People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) for the worsening conditions, accusing it of failing to address poverty despite Angola’s vast oil wealth.
Tensions in the country have especially been running high since parliament passed a controversial “vandalism law” in August, that critics say forbids protests, Deutsche Welle noted.
The law criminalizes filming police misconduct, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Vandalism offenses, including property damage, can carry sentences of 20 to 25 years.
Critics lambasted the bill, saying it violates constitutional rights and deters citizens from demonstrating. Civic groups have accused the government of weaponizing the law to silence dissent.
Opposition leaders and activists vow to continue protesting until authorities repeal the law.
A Most Wanted Man
MYANMAR
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing, the court said Wednesday, over his role in the 2017 crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority that displaced more than 700,000 people, the Washington Post reported.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that Hlaing “bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya committed in Myanmar and parts of Bangladesh.”
Some of those crimes, prosecutors say, include massacres, rape, and arson.
Although Myanmar is not an ICC member, the court ruled it has jurisdiction because the crimes were partially committed in neighboring Bangladesh, which is a member of the international tribunal.
The junta leader has also faced accusations of crimes against humanity since he led a 2021 military coup that deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking widespread protests that evolved into armed resistance. Security forces under his command have allegedly killed thousands of civilians, while his regime has lost significant ground to ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy militias on multiple fronts.
Human rights groups and Rohingya advocates welcomed the move as an important symbolic step, emphasizing that years of impunity for the military have emboldened further atrocities.
However, analyst Richard Horsey from the International Crisis Group noted that Hlaing is unlikely to alter his actions due to the warrant, given his resistance to international pressure.
The ICC’s statements came two days after one of Myanmar’s main rebel groups announced on Monday its willingness to hold talks with the military following a year-long offensive in northern Shan State, Reuters reported.
On Monday, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) expressed its desire for negotiations to ease civilian suffering caused by military airstrikes.
The TNLA is part of an alliance comprised of the Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army that launched a coordinated offensive last year called “Operation 1027.” The offensive has become the junta’s biggest challenge and resulted in the loss of a number of towns and military bases.
The TNLA’s proposal comes as neighboring China – which has been involved in mediation talks between rebels and the military government – is pressuring the armed groups to engage in dialogue with Myanmar’s junta.
The rebel alliance reached a ceasefire with the army in January following China-brokered talks, but that agreement collapsed in June.
DISCOVERIES
Purrrrmafrosted Prize
Saber-tooth cats are among the most renowned of prehistoric predators, often depicted with massive fangs and muscular builds.
Now, the new discovery of a mummified saber-toothed kitten in Siberia has provided an exceptional first look at what the ancient predator truly looked like.
The discovery, detailed in a recent study in Scientific Reports, marks the first time modern humans have seen a saber-tooth cat kitten, belonging to the species Homotheridum latidens, which lived in Eurasia until they went extinct at the end of the ice age around 10,000 years ago.
“It’s a fantastic feeling to see with your own eyes the life appearance of a long-extinct animal,” paleontologist Alexey Lopatin, lead author of the study, told CNN. “Especially when it comes to such an interesting predator as the saber-toothed cat.”
The kitten, who is estimated to have died at three weeks, was originally found in 2020, when researchers were hunting mammoth tusks in Eastern Siberia and stumbled across fur sticking out of the ground, wrote Live Science.
Afterward, researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow examined the 37,000-year-old mummy, which was covered in mummified flesh and fur, with the face, forelimbs, and torso all nearly intact. The kitten’s fur was dark brown and very thick, measuring about 0.8 to 1.2 inches long, and still had its whiskers.
Using CT scans to get a deeper look at the bones, Lopatin and the team identified the permafrosted cub as a Homotherium, the last species of saber-toothed cats, a distant relative of modern big cats such as tigers. The species is known for its long canines measuring up to eight inches long.
Paleontologist Jack Tseng, an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was “at a loss for words” at the discovery and the wealth of knowledge it can provide scientists. “It’s rare to find bones of this lineage in the first place, let alone soft tissue associated with it,” Tseng told CNN. “I don’t know if other paleontologists’ minds are as blown as mine, but it’s like reality changes now that we’ve seen this.”
Unlike modern cubs, the kitten exhibited longer forelimbs, a larger neck, smaller ears, and a darker coat. The upper lip was also designed to cover its long canines that would grow, more than twice the size of those of modern lion’s cubs, according to Lopatin. The larger size of the cub’s paw, more like a modern bear, seems to suggest that the cats relied more on their forearms, for example, to immobilize their kills.
Not only is the cub the first example of the Homotherium genus, validating previous 3D models based on fossils, but researchers say it gives them a valuable glimpse into the evolutionary history of the feline group.