The Week - USA (2021-03-20)

The world at a glance ... NEWS 9

Moscow

Navalny at hard labor: Russia has sent oppo-

sition leader Alexei Navalny to Penal Colony

No. 2, a notoriously harsh labor camp near

Moscow. New arrivals are typically hazed for

months by other inmates who work with the

guards, and even small infractions—such as

failing to button a jacket—can land prison-

ers in the punishment ward, where they are

forced to spend hours standing with their

hands clasped behind their backs, looking

at their feet. “Your personality deforms,” said nationalist politician

and former inmate Dmitri Dyomushkin. Navalny was arrested

when he returned to Russia in January, having spent months recov-

ering in Germany following his poisoning by Kremlin agents. At

his show trial, he was convicted of violating the terms of his

parole and sentenced to more than two years in prison.

Gusau, Nigeria

Kidnappings accelerate: The mass kidnapping of schoolchildren

by armed gangs is becoming increasingly common in northwestern

Nigeria. Most kidnappers are bandits who just want money, but

some groups include Islamists who will press boys into their service

or forcibly marry girls. In the third such attack in three months,

279 high school girls were last week taken from a boarding school

in Zamfara state. Armed gunmen arrived at the school at 1 a.m.,

shooting into the air and terrorizing local resi-

dents. All of the girls were released following talks

with the government. Authorities typically deny

paying ransom, but analysts say state govern-

ments are under intense pressure to get chil-

dren home safely, so they pay off the kidnap-

pers, and sometimes corrupt officials take a

cut. “If government is not serious about it, I

don’t see the end of this thing,” said educa-

tion and security expert Babuor Habib.

Canberra

Rape accusations roil government: The conservative govern-

ment of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been

shaken by sexual assault allegations against multiple officials

over the past month. In mid-February, Brittany Higgins—

a former adviser to Defense Minister Linda Reynolds—said

she was raped by a colleague in a ministerial office in 2019;

she told her supervisors but said she felt pressure not to

bring charges. The man, who has not been named, was fired

for unrelated reasons. Since then, four more women have

made allegations against the same man. One said she was

raped a year after Higgins, and that if the Defense Ministry

had allowed Higgins to speak out, others would not have

been victimized. After those allegations, a letter was sent to the

government claiming that Attorney General Christian Porter

had raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988, an allegation Porter

strongly denies. The woman committed suicide last year.

Tehran

No to nuclear talks: Iran has rejected a European Union offer to

hold direct talks with the U.S. over the 2015 nuclear pact, dealing a

blow to President Biden’s hope to revive the agreement. The Trump

administration left that international deal—which set limits on

Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for an easing of sanctions—in

2018 and reimposed punishing sanctions. Iran then boosted its ura-

nium enrichment program; the Biden administration says it would

now take Iran about four months to assemble enough fissile mate-

rial to make a nuclear bomb, down from one year under the deal.

Tehran said this week that it was willing to continue discussions

with the European nations that remained in the pact but would

only speak with the U.S. after the sanctions were lifted. “The Biden

administration cannot act like that of Trump and expect better out-

comes,” said Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei.

Yangon, Myanmar

Junta kills protesters: Security forces

loyal to Myanmar’s military junta

opened fire on crowds of anti-coup

protesters who gathered in cities

across the country this week, killing

at least 32 people. The Tatmadaw, as

the army is known, also used tear gas,

flash-bang grenades, and stun grenades to break up demonstrations

calling for the release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San

Suu Kyi and the restoration of the civilian government that was

toppled on Feb. 1. Many soldiers posted boastful videos on social

media showing themselves brandishing weapons and vowing to kill

protesters. More than 1,000 protesters were arrested, including at

least six reporters charged with “spreading false news.”

Mumbai

China hacked grid: A hacker group backed by

the Chinese government last year infected India’s

power grid with malware, according to the U.S.

cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. The firm

said it had evidence that the hackers, known

as Red Echo, used “advanced cyber intrusion

techniques to quietly gain a foothold in nearly

a dozen critical nodes” across the system. The

intrusion occurred during a monthslong Hima-

layan border dispute between Chi nese and Indian

troops that left at least 20 Indians dead and dozens wounded on

both sides. Analysts say the malware might have caused a massive

Octo ber blackout in Mumbai. Retired Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, an

Indian cyber expert, said China was “sending a warning to India

that this capability exists.”

Re
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Troops on the street

Comforting a freed girl

During the blackout

Higgins

On trial