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      in World Politics

      Albania’s Ancient Blood Feuds Trap Entire Generations

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      Basmir Gjeloshaj, a young man from the north of Albania, has been confined to his home for most of his life, as described by Vincenzo Mattei for Al Jazeera. Walking outside could be deadly, not because of the novel coronavirus, but because his father’s murder has pulled him into a gjakmarrja (pronounced Jyak-MARR-Ya) — an Albanian blood feud. In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has swiftly halted daily life around the world and forced millions into isolation in their homes. The same fate has befallen hundreds of Albanians trapped inside, some for years on end, as a result of the region’s tradition of revenge killing.  

      These blood feuds are part of an ancient Albanian code of justice that obliges murder to be repaid with murder. Many of those involved in the feuds, including children or teenagers born into feuding families, are only safe from retaliation killings inside their homes. To step outside is to risk your life.

      A Question of Honor

      “I’m well, I’m isolating at home,” Nikollë Shullani said by phone from Shkodër, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the capital Tirana. He was referring to the government orders to self-isolate amid the spread of COVID-19 that has even reached his remote city. “Ngujim në shtëpi,” he said, using the same word for coronavirus-related isolation that is used for those locked inside because of a gjakmarrja. Shullani heads an organization called Missionaries of Peace and Reconciliation of Bloodshed, whose aim is to mediate the conflicts between feuding families.

      The goal is pajtimi, or reconciliation, which is achieved through a negotiation process between families. Traditionally the elderly, who are highly respected in Albanian culture, play a central role in these negotiations. Often, negotiations only begin years after the start of the conflict. Shullani has been successful in resolving 12 feuds, but he says that there are still at least 400 currently ongoing in northern Albania.

      These numbers are difficult to verify. In 2016, the chairman of the Committee of Nationwide Reconciliation (CNR) estimated that some 12,000 people have died in Albania’s blood feuds since 1991. The authorities recorded just three revenge killings in 2018, and Operazione Colomba, a volunteer organization, counted six murders “with blood feud elements” in 2016, two in 2015, four in 2014 and seven in 2013, according to a UK government report. But according to the CNR, as many as 1,000 families have been affected by the problem in 2018, with some 300 families living in fear for their lives.

      Blood feuds can begin from theft, threats or even insults — any action that questions one’s honor, which is of extreme importance in rural Albanian society. When such a dispute escalates to murder, the family of the victim is expected to obtain justice by killing the murderer or another male in his family. Then, the burden falls on that family to seek vengeance. This cycle can continue for generations, pulling in descendants who had nothing to do with the original conflict.

      The feuds are rooted in a code of laws known as the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, which dates as far back as 5th century B.C., according to some scholars. It is named for the 15th-century Albanian nobleman Lekë Dukagjini, who codified the rules of the Kanun, which consists of 12 books and 1,291 articles. These laws are still well known among the northern malisors, or mountain people, and cover all aspects of life, from family and marriage to personal property and justice. They also lay down strict social rules, including that women cannot be targeted in blood feuds and that those who owe blood may not be targeted while inside their homes.

      This is why the men of families involved in gjak (blood) are often confined to their homes at risk of being killed, relying on the women in the family to bring home food and supplies. Even young boys can be targeted according to the Kanun, and lose their chance at an education unless their school sends a teacher to instruct them at home. Some children who were born into feuding families have been trapped indoors for most of their lives. 

      Many are paying for crimes they did not commit. In his article, Mattei recounts the plight of Gjion Mhilli, who “will forever remember the date of September 19, 1992, as the day his brother shot and killed a neighbour in a dispute over land. On the few occasions that Gjion has ventured outside since, he has been threatened or chased, often having to hide in the store rooms of sympathetic shopkeepers.”

      After centuries of practice, the Kanun was outlawed during the second half of the 20th century by Enver Hoxha, Albania’s communist dictator who ruled with an iron fist. Under his authoritarian regime, the practice completely halted. However, it saw a resurgence in rural Albania after the country’s turbulent transition to democracy in the 1990s, which left behind a frail and corruption-ridden government. The Kanun is still applied in the northern and central parts of Albania, and research from the British Embassy in Tirana concluded that these blood feuds are “largely restricted to remote pockets in the mountain north of the country.”  

      The Other Path

      Judges in Albania can often be bribed to dramatically reduce prison sentences, even in cases of murder, and Shullani explains that this weakness in Albania’s justice system is why the Kanun has reemerged in recent times. “The first best thing is the rule of law,” he said. “But when the law fails, the Kanun is the other path.” 

      Shullani recalled one feud that left a particularly strong impression on him — the story of a widow in a village near Shkodër. Her husband’s murderer was released from prison after only two years, which added insult to the pain of her loss. Her four sons lived abroad in Italy, and preferred to forgive the blood rather than initiate a feud, but the widow refused to pardon the murderer. She could not live with the dishonor that this would bring on her relatives and ancestors.

      Those who do not avenge a murdered relative face intense stigma in the region. “In some areas, the tradition of ‘coffee under the knee’ still exists, [whereby] on feast or wedding days coffee is not served at the table but at the level of the feet for those who did not avenge their killed relative,” writes Mattei. 

      Shullani has visited this widow 16 times, even with the village’s kryeplaku, or wise man, and other local elders in an effort to make peace. Her sons have begged her to forgive the murder, saying, “Mother, we want to forgive the blood of our father because we want to live,” Shullani related. “That is not a problem for me,” she replied. “I have four sons; one should give his life in the name of his father.” This widow took it upon herself to seek vengeance, even though feuds are usually fought among men in Albania’s patriarchal society. Her husband’s murderer is still in hiding out of fear that she will kill him, Shullani says.

      Embed from Getty Images

      Despite the barbaric nature of this ancient system, Shullani points out that the strict rules and established process for peacemaking set the blood feuds apart from the random, merciless crime that happens elsewhere. However, some have observed that the rules of the Kanun have begun to erode in recent years. The BBC quotes Liljana Luani, a teacher of children “involved in blood,” as saying: “Nowadays neither the Kanun nor the laws of the state are being followed. It has happened that there have been women killed and children killed” — a violation of the ancient Kanun. “I think the state law enforcement authorities should do more and that they are not working properly.”

      The Albanian Penal Code carries a 30-year sentence for blood feud murders and recent years have seen renewed efforts by police to squash the problem. Still, a report by Cedoca, the Documentation and Research Department of the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons of Belgium, cited meeting with “two experts who expressed strong doubt that the police is capable of controlling, monitoring, preventing and prosecuting the contemporary blood feud phenomenon,” stating that suspects are often released again after an initial arrest.

      Nonetheless, the British Embassy report quoted a local representative of the national ombudsman as saying “the presence of the law has very much advanced nowadays. In the last 5-6 years the law and order were reestablished. Closed cases have been re-opened and potential blood feud cases are treated with particular attention, even in the remote areas. If something happens, the police will intervene nowadays.”

      Shullani and Luani have both dedicated their life’s work to the victims of these feuds. They both agree that the blood feuds will not end until Albania’s government revitalizes its justice system once and for all.

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 63 Shares149 Views

      in World Politics

      Armenia and Azerbaijan Clash Again

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      The on-again, off-again conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the border region of Nagorno-Karabakh became hot again on the weekend of July 11. Skirmishes are common in the contested region, which is known as Artsakh to the Armenian side, but this recent round of deadly attacks is the most serious escalation since the Four Day War in 2016 and is outside the typical point of contact. As usual, international calls for restraint and a diplomatic solution have been voiced, but internal politics between the two sides continue to amplify their serious disagreements. It seems as though the situation will continue to escalate, but the current circumstances are unlikely to spark a full-scale confrontation.

      As in the case of other post-Soviet frozen conflicts — as well as land disputes in the North Caucasus — the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh is intrinsically linked to the early history of the 20th century. Shifts of power resultant from the loss of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the collapse of the Russian Empire and the territorial delineations configured in the formative days of the Soviet Union and its subsequent break-up created borders that did not appease all sides of the local populations. Nagorno-Karabakh has an ethnic Armenian majority, but political maneuvering in the 1920s handed its jurisdiction, and thus international recognition, to Azerbaijan. Armenia continued to voice its discontent over this arrangement, but matters of borders and ethnicity remained contained while the territories were part of a wider empire with one central government.

      As the Soviet Union neared its end, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh reemerged as Karabakh Armenians sought the reconnection of the territory with Armenia proper. Subsequent political actions, including an unofficial referendum and a petition to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to sanction the territorial transfer, infuriated the Azeri public. In 1988, the Nagorno-Karabakh War officially broke out just as inter-ethnic relations deteriorated, killing between 20,000 and 30,000 people. A further referendum in 1991, boycotted by Azerbaijan, quashed the prior plea to join Armenia in favor of the pursuit of independence for Nagorno-Karabakh. Fighting escalated to the point that both Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of ethnic cleansing. It was at this point that the international community turned its attention to the regional conflict in the South Caucasus.

      Contemporary Crisis

      In 1994, the Russian Federation mediated a ceasefire between Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (as of 2017, officially the Republic of Artsakh). For the most part, this agreement has kept hostilities contained, minus the ongoing instances of low-level clashes and explicit violations by both sides. For example, the Four Day War in April 2016 witnessed Azerbaijan regain “two strategic hills, a village, and a total of about 2,000 hectares.” Nonetheless, Armenia has not fulfilled concessions required by UN Security Council resolutions, such as the withdrawal of its troops, leaving Azerbaijan perpetually frustrated.

      There has been a continued push for engagement and peace talks by the international community, primarily the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, chaired by Russia, France and the United States, since 1992. Still, there are no official relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a result, and it has been difficult to breathe life into peace talks in a decades-long conflict.

      It is unclear what exactly sparked the current round of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but both sides blame the other for the escalation. The heightened tensions came only days after Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, declared that peace talks to resolve the conflict had essentially have stalled. One key difference between the current situation and those in the past is that the deadly encounter between forces did not occur directly in Nagorno-Karabakh, but rather in the northern Tavush section of the Armenian border.

      On July 12, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan announced that Armenia launched an offensive that consequently killed two Azerbaijani servicemen and left five others wounded. In retaliation, Azeri forces launched a counterstrike, setting the scene for yet another protracted spat. Attacks have continued almost on a daily basis since the outbreak of the current impasse, and there have been numerous reports of shelling, tank movements and the use of combat unmanned aerial vehicles and grenade launchers.

      While actions on the ground may be dramatic, they remain at a low level. On the other hand, authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan up the ante through heightened threats and verbal tit-for-tats. This is typical of ethnic spats that rely heavily on nationalist rhetoric to amplify cohesive public support for military actions, whether offensive or defensive. In a case of a highly provocative statement that should raise eyebrows, the head of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense press service stated that “The Armenian side should not forget that the latest missile systems, which are in service with our army, allow hitting the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant with high precision, which can lead to a huge catastrophe for Armenia.”

      A retort by the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that such possible violations of international law are “an explicit demonstration of state terrorism and genocidal intent of Azerbaijan” as well as “leadership of Azerbaijan acts as a menace to all the peoples of the region, including its own people.”

      Too Late for Diplomacy?

      After 30 years of a tense and barely tolerated relationship, it seems unlikely that any political or diplomatic solution will result from this latest round of tensions. Indeed, a significant diplomatic effort has been expended to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and wider disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan to no avail. At this time, it is simply enough that the sides generally adhere to the 1994 ceasefire and engage with the Minsk Group. For instance, the OSCE institution released a press statement that the belligerents of the conflict must “resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible and emphasize the importance of returning OSCE monitors to the region as soon as circumstances allow.”

      International voices have all chimed in and called for restraint by both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Besides being a co-chair for the Minsk Group, Russia is understandably concerned about the clashes in its neighborhood. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko reiterated sentiments similar to the OSCE, calling on “both parties to immediately ceasefire and start negotiations in order to prevent a recurrence of these incidents.” On the other hand, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on Armenia to “pull its head together” and subsequently expressed that “Whatever solution Baku prefers for the occupied lands and Karabakh, we will stand by Azerbaijan.”

      The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh consequently slammed the Turkish position, condemned the destabilizing actions of Azerbaijan in the Tavush region, and echoed the need to return to the OSCE table. With numerous political actors and geopolitical interests at play, the fight over such a small but strategically important swathe of land becomes much more complex once compounded by the factors of ethnicity, history and national pride.

      Embed from Getty Images

      But it seems unlikely that the current situation will transition into another full-scale war. Rather, it is fair to assume that actions on the ground could escalate for the short term, but any protracted operation would be a serious regional blow to civilian populations and the energy sector. The Nagorno-Karabakh War of 1988-1994 displaced some 860,000 on both sides, and a similar outcome is possible today, with skirmishes occurring in populated areas.

      Secondly, the Armenia-Azerbaijan borderlands are important transit points for oil and gas pipelines. Entities and media that follow energy markets have already raised concerns over the current fighting and how it may influence the flow of hydrocarbons. The ongoing situation around Tavush province is certainly more serious because it is closer to the South Caucasian Pipeline (SCP) that runs from the Azeri capital Baku to Tbilisi, Georgia, and then Erzurum, in Turkey. Furthermore, the SCP is part of the wider Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) — a network set to deliver gas to Europe upon completion later this year. These factors will obviously be taken into consideration by Azerbaijan’s strategists as they move forward with their plans in the region. It would be short-sighted to destabilize this network when diplomatic options are at hand to at least keep the status quo for the sake of business.

      Additionally, the South Caucasus is a busy neighborhood, geopolitically speaking. In the case that the situation escalates and interests are at risk, one could expect greater involvement from Russia and Turkey. Although the Turkish Foreign Ministry gave a statement in strong support of Baku, it does not mean that Ankara would be willing to send forces. Moscow has little taste for engagement in a military operation either. Further, even the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — a military alliance composed of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Armenia and Russia — promote a political solution rather than a military one. The international community and organizations openly promote a return to the Minsk Group’s negotiation table and, ideally, this will be the immediate result of the ongoing skirmishes.

      The clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan are likely to continue in the short term just as their non-existent diplomatic relations will endure without the political will for an inclusive political solution. Tavush province has taken the spotlight between the foes right now, but the recent occurrences are being widely viewed as the greater Nagorno-Karabakh conflict due to the proximity and the historical antagonism over the border. While it is unfortunate that cross-border shelling and conflict has attracted international interest to the South Caucasus yet again, it is not unexpected as matters never really settle to a level of peaceful monotony in the region.

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Barr condemns Disney and Hollywood for 'kowtowing' to China

      by

      The US attorney general, William Barr, has assailed the Walt Disney Company and Hollywood studios, accusing them of “kowtowing” to the Chinese Communist party.Barr’s allegations are part of a sustained diplomatic and public relations offensive by the Trump administration against Beijing, which the attorney general accused of engaging in “economic blitzkrieg – an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government (indeed, whole-of-society) campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s pre-eminent superpower”.In a speech in Michigan, Barr railed against US corporate leaders whom he accused of abetting China’s hegemonic aims, particularly in the film industry. He said Disney had initially resisted Chinese pressure not to make the 1997 film Kundun, about the Dalai Lama and Beijing’s annexation of Tibet.“But that moment of courage wouldn’t last long,” Barr noted. China banned Disney films, leading to an apology from the company for making Kundun. The management then lobbied China to build a Disneyland in Shanghai, allowing Chinese officials to have a role in running the theme park.Barr alleged the officials “display hammer-and-sickle insignia at their desks and attend party lectures during business hours”.“If Disney and other American corporations continue to bow to Beijing, they risk undermining both their own future competitiveness and prosperity, as well as the classical liberal order that has allowed them to thrive,” Barr said.The Disney company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.The attorney general also criticised Hollywood studios for bowing to Chinese pressure to tweak scripts in return for Chinese distribution, citing two cases in which the nationalities of characters were allegedly changed so as not to irritate Beijing.Beijing objected to a virus in a zombie apocalypse film, World War Z, being shown as originating in China, and a mystic character, the “Ancient One” in the fantasy film, Dr Strange, was changed from being Tibetan to Celtic, to avoid upsetting China, Barr said.The attorney general also lashed out at US technology companies including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple and Cisco, calling them “pawns of Chinese influence”.“All too often, for the sake of short-term profits, American companies have succumbed to that influence – even at the expense of freedom and openness in the United States,” he said.Cisco rejected Barr’s allegation it had helped the Communist party build “the Great Firewall of China”, which Barr referred to as the world’s “most sophisticated system for Internet surveillance and censorship”.In an emailed statement to the Guardian, Cisco said it “builds its products to global standards, and Cisco does not supply equipment to China that is customized in any way to facilitate blocking of access or surveillance of users”.“The products we supply to China are the same we provide worldwide, and we comply fully with all export control rules applicable to China including those related to human rights,” the company statement said.Apple also responded to Barr’s criticism of its decision to transfer a portion of its iCloud data to servers in China, on the grounds that it would make it easier for Beijing to conduct electronic surveillance.The company emailed a statement dating from May saying: “We sell the same iPhone everywhere, we don’t store customers’ passcodes and we don’t have the capacity to unlock passcode-protected devices. In data centers, we deploy strong hardware and software security protections to keep information safe and to ensure there are no backdoors into our systems. All of these practices apply equally to our operations in every country in the world.” More

    • 188 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      White House: 'The science should not stand in the way' of reopening schools – live

      by

      Press secretary defends Trump’s push to reopen schools
      Pelosi tells Trump he’s ‘gone down wrong path’ on Covid-19
      Trump’s European travel ban came too late for New York, says CDC
      Florida breaks single-day record of coronavirus deaths
      1.3 million more Americans filed for unemployment in the US
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      LIVE
      Updated

      Play Video

      1:18

      The science should not stand in the way of schools reopening, says Kayleigh McEnany – video

      Key events

      Show

      5.01pm EDT17:01
      Today so far

      3.28pm EDT15:28
      White House: ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools

      2.37pm EDT14:37
      White House accuses Hogan of ‘revisionist history’ after critical op-ed

      2.28pm EDT14:28
      CDC report: Trump’s European travel ban came too late for New York

      2.08pm EDT14:08
      Supreme court declines to block Florida law criticized as ‘poll tax’

      1.03pm EDT13:03
      Today so far

      12.46pm EDT12:46
      Republicans plan for downsized convention – reports

      Live feed

      Show

      5.50pm EDT17:50

      My colleague Kenya Evelyn brings us more context on the coronavirus surge:
      Covid-19 infections are rising in 41 US states, with some southern hotspots taking crisis measures on Thursday, including calling in military medics and parking mobile morgue trucks outside hospitals, echoing scenes in New York City when it became the center of the world outbreak in the spring.
      The spread of the virus has resulted in almost 56,000 hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the US currently. A month ago hospitalizations were rising in 11 states; now they are rising in 33 states.
      Several states have been breaking records on many days in the last week as numbers rise. Florida set a record of almost 14,000 new cases on Wednesday as it became the focus of attention of the southern surge in Covid-19.
      In other developments, Georgia governor Brian Kemp suspended local mask mandates on Wednesday, and early on Thursday, the Republican National Committee announced plans to scale back its national convention next month in Jacksonville, Florida, which it had moved from North Carolina before the surge of cases in Florida, hoping for fewer restrictions on crowds.
      The RNC chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, confirmed the update in a letter to convention delegates, noting they will comply with local and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health guidelines while adapting the events.
      “We still intend to host a fantastic convention celebration in Jacksonville,” she wrote. “We can gather and put on a top-notch event that celebrates the incredible accomplishments of President Trump’s administration and his re-nomination for a second term – while also doing so in a safe and responsible manner.”

      5.33pm EDT17:33

      The Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention (CDC) has extended its’ no-sail order for cruises, blocking cruise ships docked at US ports from operating until at least 1 October.
      Coronavirus cases have surged in Florida and California — where thousands of cruises would usually frequent. The CDC first put these restrictions in place in March. In the extension, which the public health authority announced today, it noted that between 1 March and 10 July, nearly 3,000 infections and 34 deaths were linked in cruise ships.
      Eighty percent of ships within US jurisdiction were affected by Covid-19 during that time frame, the CDC said.
      Industry group Cruise Lines International Association had already announced in June that members would voluntarily suspend cruises until mid-September.

      5.08pm EDT17:08

      Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh – reporting from the West Coast.
      Following White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s suggestion that “The science should not stand in the way” of schools reopening, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) issued a scathing statement criticizing the administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
      “Now the Trump administration wants to further risk the lives of teachers, children, staff, and their families just to soothe the president’s ego,” said Lily Adams, a DNC spokesperson. “This president would rather accept conspiracy theories and reject science than listen to public health experts. He can’t be trusted to make decisions about the lives of America’s children and their families.”

      5.01pm EDT17:01

      Today so far

      That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
      Here’s where the day stands so far:
      The White House suggested science should not determine whether schools reopen this fall. “The science should not stand in the way of this,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said of Trump’s push to reopen schools. She later added, “The science is on our side here.” McEnany’s comments come as a number of school officials express concern about the potential spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
      A new CDC report said Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents. “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report says. Although the rate of new infections has slowed significantly in New York, the city has lost more than 23,000 residents to the virus.
      The supreme court declined to block a Florida law criticized as a “poll tax.” Florida can continue to block people with felony convictions from voting until they’ve repaid all fines and fees they owe, the US supreme court ruled today. Florida Republicans passed the law after the state’s voters approved a 2018 initiative to restore voting rights to those previously convicted of felonies.
      The Republican National Committee is reportedly planning for a downsized nominating convention next month, as coronavirus cases rise in 41 states. According to reports, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to delegates that attendance would be strictly limited at next month’s convention in Jacksonville, Florida.
      Russian state-sponsored hackers have been targeting organizations working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, British security officials said. The hacking efforts have been specifically targeting groups involved in vaccine work in the UK, the US and Canada.
      Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

      4.54pm EDT16:54

      Trump’s remarks on regulation rollbacks have taken an unsurprising turn toward the political, as the president unleashes an attack against Joe Biden.
      Trump warned his Democratic opponent’s policies would kill jobs, make energy unaffordable and destroy suburbs.
      “Suburbia will be no longer as we know it,” Trump said, warning Democrats would “watch it go to hell.” “Not while I am here,” Trump added. “The suburb destruction will end with us.”
      The president specifically said he would discuss the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule next week to help suburbs. The AFFH rule requires federal agencies to further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act.
      Trump’s promises to suburban Americans come as suburbs across the country, previously a Republican stronghold, increasingly shift toward Democrats.

      4.38pm EDT16:38

      During his remarks on rolling back regulations, Trump once again complained about the water pressure in energy-efficient showers.
      “Showerheads, you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” the president said at his White House event. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer? Or you take a shower longer?”
      Trump then added, “Because my hair, I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect.” That comment attracted some chuckles and applause from the friendly crowd gathered on the South Lawn.

      4.29pm EDT16:29

      Trump has now appeared at the podium for his White House event on rolling back government regulations.
      The president touted his own record on regulation rollbacks, boasting that his administration has made unprecedented progress in “freeing our citizens to reach their highest potential.”
      Trump bragged that his White House has cut “nearly 25,000 pages of job-destroying regulations,” specifically praising his administration’s recent rollback of environmental regulations for infrastructure projects.
      However, enviornmental activists have warned the infrastructure regulation rollback could put average Americans at risk of being harmed by quickly approved projects.

      4.18pm EDT16:18

      Trump will soon deliver remarks on “Rolling Back Regulations to Help All Americans” at the White House.
      Before the president’s remarks, the White House set up a large crane lifting weights meant to symbolize the burden of regulations from a red truck, while a nearby blue truck remained weighed down.

      Mark Knoller
      (@markknoller)
      On South Lawn, WH seeks to make a political point by setting up a crane lifting the weights of regulation from the bed of a “red” truck, while showing the burden of regulations weighing down a “blue” truck. pic.twitter.com/OoWmRPnWum

      July 16, 2020

      The very unsubtle visual was clearly meant to demonstrate how Republicans, often symbolized by the color red, were liberating Americans from regulations promoted by Democrats, who are usually symbolized by the color blue.
      The visual likely foreshadowed the partisan tone of the president’s speech, which comes as some of Trump’s critics have called him out for inappropriately politicizing White House events.

      3.50pm EDT15:50

      Mark Oliver

      Arkansas to require face masks to combat coronavirus surge
      Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas on Thursday became the latest governor to issue an order requiring people to wear face masks in public throughout their state.
      Arkansas has had a surge in coronavirus cases over the past several weeks.
      The Republican governor had previously resisted a statewide mask mandate and opposed issuing a stay-at-home order earlier in the pandemic, but he signed the order requiring masks when social distancing isn’t possible in the hopes of slowing the disease’s rapid spread in the state.
      The order takes effect Monday.
      Hutchinson’s decision comes amid growing support for mask requirements from business and health leaders and a day after Bentonville-based Walmart said it would require customers to wear masks in all of its US stores. The state’s largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also called for a statewide requirement on Thursday.

      Updated
      at 3.52pm EDT

      3.28pm EDT15:28

      White House: ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools

      Moments ago, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump’s push to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
      “And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany noted furing her White House briefing.
      “The science should not stand in the way of this,” McEnany said, adding moments later, “The science is on our side here.”

      ABC News
      (@ABC)
      McEnany: Pres. Trump wants schools to open, “and when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day.””The science should not stand in the way of this,” McEnany says, before adding, “the science is on our side here.” https://t.co/A0aOuFmuUY pic.twitter.com/y7uyS9W9ld

      July 16, 2020

      However, a number of school officials have expressed concern about students and staff members potentially contracting the virus once in-person instruction resumes. In response to those concerns, many school districts have announced plans to hold virtual classes this fall.
      Trump and some of his allies have pointed to evidence that children are very unlikely to become severely ill from coronavirus to justify their push to reopen schools.
      However, many public health experts have said there has not yet been enough research conducted on how children react to the virus.

      Updated
      at 3.30pm EDT

      3.07pm EDT15:07

      White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has now concluded today’s briefing.
      Before leaving the podium, McEnany was asked about criticism that Trump has inappropriately politicized recent White House events, including his Rose Garden press conference earlier this week, during which the president leveled attacks against Joe Biden.
      In response, the press secretary said the White House always complies with the Hatch Act, an ethics law that exempts the president and the vice president from its provisions.
      When a reporter noted the Hatch Act was not the focus of the criticism, McEnany told the journalist, “What your real problem was is that the president gave a very good, powerful speech from the Rose Garden.”

      2.54pm EDT14:54

      White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president’s standing with the American people, as multiple polls show his approval rating dropping.
      “We believe this president has great approval in this country,” McEnany said. “His historic Covid response speaks for itself.”
      In reality, a number of polls have shown Trump’s approval rating slipping in recent weeks, as criticism of his response to the pandemic intensifies.
      According to the FiveThirtyEight average, the president’s approval has dropped more than five points since late March and now stands at 40%.
      An ABC News/Ipsos poll released last week also showed Trump’s approval rating specifically on coronavirus had hit a record low, with 67% of Americans expressing disapproval of his response to the pandemic.

      2.46pm EDT14:46

      White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump would remain on Twitter, despite yesterday’s widespread hack of the social media platform.
      McEnany said the president’s account was secure and White House officials were in “constant” contact with Twitter executives to ensure the security of Trump’s account.

      2.42pm EDT14:42

      White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany pushed back against a question on why Trump has been holding many events unrelated to coronavirus in recent weeks.
      McEnany replied that the pandemic was a “top priority of this administration,” insisting Trump and his advisers are focused on coronavirus.
      “We doing stuff each and every day,” McEnany said. “The president is focusing on a lot.”
      Asked whether he has recently met with the White House coronavirus task force, McEnany deflected, saying, “The president is briefed on coronavirus each and every day.”

      2.37pm EDT14:37

      White House accuses Hogan of ‘revisionist history’ after critical op-ed

      Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, is currently holding a briefing at the White House.
      The first question to McEnany centered on the newly published op-ed by Republican governor Larry Hogan, which criticized Trump for failing to provide federal leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic.
      The press secretary said Hogan’s comments were “really striking” considering the governor’s past praise of Trump. McEnany then read some of Hogan’s comments about the president from March and April.
      McEnany accused Hogan of engaing in “revisionist history” when it comes to Trump’s response to the pandemic.

      2.28pm EDT14:28

      CDC report: Trump’s European travel ban came too late for New York

      A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents.
      “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report says.
      Trump introduced severe restrictions on travel from China in early February in the hope of preventing travelers from spreading coronavirus in the US.
      However, the president did not unveil similar restrictions on European travel until mid-March, when the CDC says the virus had already made its way to New York.
      New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has previously sought to deflect criticism of his administration’s response to the pandemic by arguing he was not adequately warned about how the virus was spreading from European travel.
      “We closed the front door with the China travel ban, which was right,” Cuomo said in late April. “But we left the back door open because the virus had left China by the time we did the China travel ban.”
      One of Cuomo’s top advisers quickly shared the report on Twitter, encouraging “those who wonder why NYC was hit so hard” to read the findings.

      Melissa DeRosa
      (@melissadderosa)
      For those who wonder why NYC was hit so hard, per CDC:Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time European restrictions were implemented, importation & community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYChttps://t.co/YRhQGjVCRS

      July 16, 2020

      Although New York’s rate of coronavirus deaths has dropped substantially in the past few months, the state’s total death toll still surpasses that of any other US state.
      Since the start of the pandemic, New York has confirmed more than 400,000 coronavirus cases across the state, and more than 32,000 residents have lost their lives to the virus.

      Updated
      at 2.44pm EDT

      2.13pm EDT14:13

      More from the Guardian’s Sam Levine on the supreme court’s ruling:
      In late May, US district Judge Robert Hinkle struck down the Florida law that required those with felony convictions to repay any debts assessed as part of their sentence before they could vote again.
      Florida appealed the ruling, and in late May, the US court of appeals blocked the lower court’s ruling while the appeal was pending. The plaintiffs in the case filed an emergency request with the US supreme court to let Hinkle’s ruling go into effect so the people impacted by the law could vote in Florida’s August primary.
      The supreme court declined to do so on Thursday, meaning Hinkle’s ruling will not be in effect while the 11th circuit considers the appeal. It is currently scheduled to hear the case 18 August.
      The supreme court did not offer an explanation for its ruling on Thursday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor – joined by Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg – authored a scathing dissent, saying they would have let Hinkle’s ruling go into effect.
      “This Court’s order prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they are poor,” Sotomayor wrote in dissent.
      Sotomayor also called out the supreme court for its willingness to uphold voting restrictions in a number of cases over the last several months.
      The court shortened the deadline to return absentee ballots in Wisconsin as well as u[held restrictions on voting by mail in Texas and Alabama. Only in the Wisconsin case has the court offered any reasoning for its thinking, relying on a 2006 case, Purcell v. Gonzalez, that says courts should not interfere with election rules on the eve of an election.
      “This Court’s inaction continues a trend of condoning disfranchisement. Ironically, this Court has wielded Purcell as a reason to forbid courts to make voting safer during a pandemic,” she wrote. “Now, faced with an appellate court stay that disrupts a legal status quo and risks immense disfranchisement—a situation that Purcell sought to avoid—the Court balks.” More

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      in US Politics

      The science should not stand in the way of schools reopening, says Kayleigh McEnany – video

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      1:18

      Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, has suggested that US schools should reopen regardless of what the science says. ‘The president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open,’ she said. ‘The science should not stand in the way of this.’ Donald Trump has said school districts must offer a full schedule of classes, arguing that parents are under tremendous strain from managing their children and work at the same time
      White House: ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools – live

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      in World Politics

      Hosting Refugees and Migrants Is a Global Public Good

      by

      On June 20, we celebrated World Refugee Day. This was an opportune time for us all to pay attention to the challenge of forced displacement today. Strikingly, the world is facing the largest forced displacement crisis since World War II, with nearly 80 million people having fled their countries because of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events that have seriously disturbed public order. All continents now face forced displacement crises, and migratory problems cross state and community boundaries.

      Forced displacement has hit Latin American and Caribbean countries particularly hard, highlighting existing vulnerabilities such as increased levels of violence and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Latin America is now home to one of the largest forced displacement crises in the world. As of March 2020, more than 5 million Venezuelans were reportedly living outside of their country, with 4 million of them in other Latin American countries: Colombia (1.8 million), Peru (1 million), and Ecuador and Chile (for a total of 1 million).

      COVID-19 Arrives in Refugee Camps

      READ MORE

      Since the beginning of the Venezuelan crisis, most Latin American nations have tried to accommodate these recent arrivals, providing migrants with basic education, emergency health care services and legal status. These neighboring countries have provided a global public good by hosting millions at the risk of overwhelming their services and systems. But how will these nations be able to withstand the pressure?

      Hosting countries face the new challenge of integrating larger numbers of migrants and refugees while dealing with the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. When taking into account that more than 60% of Venezuelan migration in Latin American countries is irregular and targets the most vulnerable populations, this crisis is now becoming a question of public health and safety and, ultimately, of regional security. It is time for the international community to provide a collective response that matches the magnitude of the crisis.

      A first step was taken on May 26, with the virtual — livestreamed on YouTube — pledging conference for Venezuelan refugees and migrants that helped raise $2.79 billion in total commitments. This included $653 million of grant funding for the Refugee and Migrant Response Plan, which is a United Nations’ appeal to largely address the emergency needs of the migrant population.

      The situation in Latin America calls for enhanced international support across the humanitarian-development nexus. In other words, the response should address pressing immediate needs —such as temporary shelter and emergency medical services — as well as the medium and long-term imperative of economic and social development through institutions, resilient local systems and service delivery. This is precisely what Colombian President Ivan Duque called for when advocating the shift from “emergency response to medium and long-term development and integration.”

      Five Priorities

      To help countries mitigate the impact of the crisis and charter a pathway to growth and stability, there are five development priorities to focus on.  

      Embed from Getty Images

      First, new ways should be explored to provide regular status to refugees and migrants, including through targeted regularization or employment-based programs. There have been several efforts to provide regular status to recent refugees and migrants arriving from Venezuela.

      Colombia, Peru and now Ecuador stand out for their ambitious regularization programs for hundreds of thousands of irregular refugees and migrants. Amid rising public anxieties over migration in some countries, it may become harder to implement such mass regularization programs or offer regular status to most who seek to enter. The approach followed by Colombia in providing regular status to those who have employment in specific sectors may provide another alternative. Similarly, Peru has been trying to regularize students in the country’s educational system — another strategy that Colombia and Ecuador seem likely to adopt in the future and one that may prove more politically viable in some countries.

      Yet these approaches risk leaving out the vast majority of recent refugees and migrants who do not attend school or work in the formal economy, or the families of those who do benefit from such measures. Policymakers should, therefore, be thinking about the medium and long-term effects where providing legal status to refugees and migrants would produce optimal labor market outcomes — for themselves and the country overall. The details of implementation in each case will matter enormously, but there is room for reiterative efforts that focus on specific different groups over time. 

      Second, health care barriers should be tackled through clear policies on access and financing. Almost all countries in the region, at least in theory, offer emergency health care to immigrants regardless of regular status. Still, specific policies are often unclear, and measures are not always implemented effectively at the local level, which means that migrants often have difficulties accessing health care in practice. In countries where local and regional governments pay part of health-care costs, financial burden sharing is also often unclear, leading local hospitals to cover costs that may never get reimbursed.

      Creating clear policies and procedures defining both the services offered and what amount of costs will be covered and by whom are critical. In some countries, such as Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica, where residents need to enroll in the health care system to be eligible for benefits, it is vital to find agile ways of ensuring that new immigrants can register and sometimes to find ways of covering the costs of their care.

      Third, access to education should be improved through flexible enrollment practices and ongoing support. One of the most critical decisions of countries has been to offer primary and secondary education to all students regardless of their status. In some countries, this was already embedded in the constitution, but others have more recently adopted these measures.

      This helps avoid a generation of young people growing up without education and supports receiving countries to take advantage of the potential human capital of immigrant children who will likely grow up in their territory. In many places, however, strict registration requirements involving documents that are difficult for migrants and refugees to obtain can prevent some from enrolling their children in school.

      There is also an urgent need to work with schools on policies, procedures and curricula to facilitate the integration of Venezuelan children, who may face challenges adapting to their new schools and need additional support to develop critical skills (e.g., history, culture and other country-specific knowledge). In several countries, access to college, graduate education and trade schools is also restricted for those who do not have adequate documentation, which risks wasting the human capital of immigrant youth who aspire to enter professional and technical careers, including in fields that are in demand in their new countries.

      Fourth, migrants’ skills should be unlocked to boost labor market integration and local economies. The majority of Venezuelan adults suitable for paid work in countries across the region were already working before COVID-19. In fact, more than 90% of Venezuelan migrants in Peru and 8 in 10 Venezuelan migrants in Colombia were employed before the pandemic. While recognizing that the labor markets of many countries in the region are characterized by a high degree of informality, care should be taken to ensure that immigrants do have pathways to better-paid and more stable employment in the formal economy and to avoid creating conditions where employers can pay immigrants less than the prevailing wage, to the detriment of both newcomer and native-born workers.

      There is no more important determinant for long-term positive labor market outcomes than ensuring regular status, which helps immigrant workers improve their wages over time and also helps avoid unfair wage competition between native-born and Venezuelan workers. Refugees and migrants tend to be relatively well-educated, which means that there is a wealth of highly skilled human capital that could benefit receiving countries.

      To effectively leverage this potential, countries will need to create agile ways for immigrants to get professional and technical degrees earned in their home countries validated and recognized by employers. Argentina has done this through provincial universities, which has allowed the country to encourage professionals to leave the capital and settle in other provinces where their skills are in demand. Creating expedited credential recognition pathways for applicants willing to settle in an area of the country where their skills are most needed could also help fill labor market gaps.

      Fifth, constructive narratives about immigration should be developed to highlight opportunities while not ignoring its challenges. There is no question that the sudden outflow of 5 million Venezuelans constitutes a migration crisis, and one that host countries are keenly aware of. But this migration is also an opportunity for host countries, as illustrated by increased predictions by the World Bank of regional future economic growth as Venezuelan immigration drives labor market expansion.

      Immigrants, when they have access to legal status, education, health care, financial services and pathways to validate their studies, tend to become net contributors to innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth over time. Several governments in the region have gone out of their way to maintain their focus on these long-term opportunities, even while dealing with the challenges that the sudden arrival of so many people creates for already overburdened public services. Policymakers require assistance to orient the public debate on migration by keeping an eye on the medium and long-term benefits (and designing policies to help attain them). Still, they must also acknowledge the real strains involved in dealing with sudden, large-scale inflows.

      Inclusive Development

      Multilateral support will be critical in helping countries in the region meet these policy challenges. While migration from Venezuela holds the potential to enhance economic growth in the long term, it is also creating real and tangible short-term costs for already overburdened schools, hospitals and infrastructure. Multilateral support can help countries of the region overcome these challenges and reap immigration’s benefits.

      Embed from Getty Images

      This requires moving from emergency responses to long-term development and integration. While there is still a critical need for emergency services for recently-arrived migrants from Venezuela, as crises in these countries stretch on, it is also important to plan for the medium and the long term. The most important question in the future will be how to support inclusive development that can help host communities and immigrants build connections and improve their livelihoods together. Enhancing access to and quality of schools, health care facilities, housing and urban infrastructure in areas where migrants settle is vital. This is the key to successful integration and also an opportunity to turn a migration crisis into a net benefit for host societies.

      While there is some need for temporary shelter and emergency medical services that international actors could help meet, the greatest needs for support have to do with building local capacity for integration and service provision both to new arrivals and long-time residents. For this, multilateral organizations like the World Bank should continue to be actively engaged in helping better manage the forced displacement crisis, in support of its mission to reduce poverty and contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

      *[The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More