NO PLACE TO GO A migrant woman surveys the wreckage after a fire destroyed the Moria refugee
camp on the Greek island of Lesbos—the largest such facility in Europe—on Sept. 9. Aid workers
have long condemned the poor conditions in the camp, which was built for 3,000 people but housed
more than 12,000, who have now been left homeless. Greek authorities allege that the blaze was
started by residents angry over a COVID-19 quarantine imposed on the camp earlier in the week.
NEWS
TICKER
COVID-
spike linked to
biker rallyA San Diego State
University study linked
August’s 10-day
Sturgis Motorcycle
Rally in South Dakota
to more than a quarter-
million COVID-
cases and about
$12.2 billion in public-
health costs. The
event attracted nearly
500,000 people, many
of whom packed into
bars and restaurants
without face coverings.Duterte
pardons U.S.
MarinePhilippine President
Rodrigo Duterte
pardoned a U.S.
Marine on Sept. 7,
in a surprise move
swiftly condemned by
human-rights groups.
Lance Cpl. Joseph
Scott Pemberton was
convicted of homicide
in the 2014 killing of
transgender Filipina
woman Jennifer Laude
in a motel northwest of
the capital, Manila.Judge halts
Census
rollbacksIn a Sept. 5 restraining
order, a federal
judge in California
instructed the Census
Bureau to temporarily
stop winding down
in-person counting for
the 2020 population
tally. Plaintiffs are
suing to stop the
bureau’s plan to cut the
count short by a month,
from its original Oct.
end date.The fuTure of a 765-mile pipeline
being built to carry gas directly to Germany
from Russia is now in question, as Berlin
ramps up pressure on Moscow to investigate
the poisoning of Russian opposition leader
Alexei Navalny. The Nord Stream 2 proj ect
would help Europe ensure a constant sup-
ply of natural gas as domestic production is
expected to drop, but German Foreign Min-
ister Heiko Maas warned Sept. 6 that the
country might “change [its] stance” on the
$11.2 billion pipeline if Russia fails to co-
operate in looking into an attack for which
Moscow has denied responsibility.
PIPE DREAMS Owned by Russian state-
controlled energy giant Gazprom, Nord
Stream 2 is 94% complete and due to open
in early 2021. Some European countries
and the U.S. oppose it, fearing it could be-
come a tool of political leverage for the
Kremlin. But German Chancellor Angela
Merkel has been adamant that the pipeline
go ahead, saying political considerations
should be separate from business decisions.
POISON Since Berlin detected Novichok, an
internationally banned nerve agent, in Naval-
ny’s body on Sept. 2, pressure has mounted
on the Chancellor to scrap the pipeline. (Na-
valny emerged from his medically induced
coma on Sept. 7 and has shown signs of recov-
ery.) Norbert Röttgen, a lawmaker in Merkel’s
CDU party, said, “We must respond with
the only language [Russian President Vladi-
mir] Putin understands—that is gas sales.”
Merkel’s chief spokes person said on Sept. 7
that it’s “too early” to determine how Ger-
many will respond.MESSAGE TO MOSCOW The interna-
tional response to previous Russian trans-
gressions has not made much of an impact,
analysts say. But halting Nord Stream 2
would be a “huge setback for Russia,” says
Nigel Gould- Davies, a senior fellow at the
U.K.-based International Institute for Stra-
tegic Studies. Doing nothing, on the other
hand, “will show a lack of resolve and will
likely encourage Russia to probe and test its
limits in the future.” —madeline roacheTHE BULLETIN
After poisoning, Germany threatens
$11.2 billion pipeline with Russia