• Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, now Myanmar’s top civilian leader, traveled to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend her nation’s Army against charges of genocide during the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh in 2017. Gambia, representing a coalition of Muslim nations, is charging Myanmar’s military with genocide before the United Nation’s highest court.
(“Aung San Suu Kyi Impassive As Genocide Hearing Begins,” Guardian, Dec. 10, 2019; “We Are Telegraphing Abandonment,” Foreign Policy, Dec. 3, 2019; “Aung San Suu Kyi Tells Court: Myanmar Genocide Claims ‘Factually Misleading’,” Guardian, Dec. 11, 2019)
• Violent protests erupted in the ethnically diverse region of Assam in northeast India, one day after India’s parliament, dominated by the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (or BJP,) approved a new controversial citizenship law. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi deployed thousands of troops to Assam, which borders Bangladesh and the Himalayas, to impose a curfew and cut off Internet service. The emergency measures in Assam came just six months after Modi imposed direct rule from New Delhi on the disputed territory of Kashmir that borders Pakistan.
(“Citizen Amendment Bill: India’s New ‘Anti-Muslim’ Law Explained,” BBC, Dec. 11, 2019; “Why India’s Assam Erupted Over Anti-Muslim Law,” BBC, Dec. 13, 2019)
• In the days before a mid-November large donor fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg in Providence, Rhode Island, the city’s chapter of Democratic Socialists of America – which has endorsed Bernie Sanders for president – blasted the South Bend, Indiana mayor for accepting illicit campaign donations from Providence developer Joseph Paolino, who became mayor of Providence – replacing disgraced Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, convicted of racketeering and other crimes in 2002.
(“Did Pete Buttigieg Get Hidden Campaign Support From a Real Estate Developer,” American Prospect, Dec. 10, 2019; “Buttigieg Discloses Ex-Clients As Fundraising Swing Begins,” PBS News Hour, Dec. 10, 2019; “How McKinsey Has Helped Raise the Stature of Authoritarian Government,” New York Times, Dec. 15, 2019)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Elaine Osowski.
