For All?
From birthright citizenship to Ukraine, Iran, Lebanon, Serbia, China, Peru, South Africa, and Bosnia, the throughline this week is who justice is for.
Happy birthday to my dear sister Elif! Happy 4th! And happy 250 America…🇺🇸💥
Programming note! Though I said I’d do a NATO Summit preview, today’s issue is the weekly roundup only. I’ll be back in your inbox Tuesday morning with that NATO edition.
That will be the format moving forward. This responds to your feedback: keep the end-of-week roundup with the Gender Tracker (not in this issue), while making more room for deeper dives and perspectives. More perspectives is why Interruptrr started and it is where I want it to go. I plan to bring in more women whose expertise and analysis should be shaping the conversation, along with book reviews and virtual discussions.
Some of that work will sit behind a paywall. The weekly roundup will remain free, because I want to continue to showcase female expertise and make it widely accessible. Paid subscriptions will help sustain that research, writing, and editing—while also enabling me to bring you other female voices and perspectives and rollout new features.
If Interruptrr is useful to you, I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll be helping build something larger than a newsletter: an effort to widen the conversation on global affairs and strengthen women’s authority within it. —Elmira
This Week in the World.....
On my radar...
America at 250 🇺🇸
The US celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Considering what has transpired over the past 250 years, including the past two alone, it is truly a remarkable celebration. Jennifer Weiss-Wolf curated a list of the best feminist takes on democracy. (The Contrarian)
Ukraine 🇺🇦
I had this section lower down last night… only to wake up to the massive Russian bombing of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. As I noted last week, Ukraine is changing the tide of the war. A big place that is happening is Crimea. It has deployed drone attacks for more than a week now. It has essentially isolated the peninsula, knocking out power and starving it of fuel. Cathy Young notes how Volodymyr Zelensky has turned Vladimir Putin’s “prize” into a liability. (The Bulwark)
That liability extends beyond Crimea. Dasha Litvinova notes that Russia is experiencing nationwide fuel shortages. A third of the country’s oil refineries are out of commission. It prompted Putin to admit that “problems persist for both motorists and businesses.” (AP)
The situation is so dire that Russia has begun to import gas from India. (Kyiv Post)
Early this week Reuters reported that Russian hawks are urging Putin to escalate the war, which he clearly has. Others have warned that, under pressure, he might even consider using a nuclear weapon. That is certainly in the realm of possibilities. But given how long the war has dragged on, now in its 5th year, and the opportunities Putin has had to press “the button,” I doubt that he would go to that extreme.
Putin badly miscalculated Ukraine’s resistance and Western unity when he invaded in February 2022. A nuclear strike would be a far bigger gamble. Even if a Trump White House looked away at such a horrendous act, Europe could not. Nor, likely, could China, which has become the default adult in the room. It has no interest in a world where nuclear use becomes normalized and instability spreads—especially as North Korea, which borders China, advances its nuclear capabilities. Putin clearly has escalated. He will punish Ukraine harder. He is also likely to tighten control at home, and continue to test Europe with drones and possibly other hybrid means. But nuclear use would not guarantee him a win, which is ultimately what he wants.
Middle East
Somehow, the US and Iran are engaged in indirect talks in Doha, Qatar, despite having launched strikes on one another over the past week. While the US is eager to reach a permanent agreement with Iran, Iran is looking to create a new “regional security mechanism” in the Middle East. That mechanism would reduce Washington’s presence and influence in the region. Ria Reddy, Katherine Wells, Annika Ganzeveld, and the team over at the Institute for the Study of War outline how Iran is working to achieve this, namely through rewiring Gulf cooperation from the US to Iran. (Institute for the Study of War)
That plan may be working. The WSJ first reported on how US-Saudi relations are on the decline. For one, during his tour through the region, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not visit Riyadh. Shelby Holliday, Summer Said, and Robbie Gramer note how the Saudis were never on board with the US (and Israeli) attack on Iran, urged Trump to pressure the UAE to stop retaliatory attacks on Iran and for the US to drop its blockade of Iran’s ports. (WSJ) 🎁🔗
The US isn’t the only country that has tensions with Saudi Arabia. I’ve previously noted that the Saudis and the UAE have locked horns. The two Gulf states support differing factions in Sudan. On May 1, UAE walked out of OPEC. Perhaps that explains why Saudi Arabia is growing closer to Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, and Qatar, which just a decade ago it was on the outs with. Anchal Vohra on this new Saudi-led axis. (Foreign Policy) 🎁🔗
Last Friday, June 26, Israel and Lebanon brokered an agreement that recognizes state sovereignty and a commitment to end the state of war. Israel agreed to pull out of southern Lebanon after Lebanon disarmed Hezbollah. Yeah, that’s one of the problems of the deal. Samia Nakhoul talked to analysts who agree that this entrenches a stalemate rather than ending the war. (Reuters)
Sarit Zehavi and Tal Beeri echo that analysis. They point out that while the deal is a significant shift, in which Lebanon does not tie peace with Israel to the Palestinian issue, it is unlikely to be achieved. They “seriously doubt” the Lebanese government can disarm Hezbollah, without “sustained military, diplomatic, and economic pressure,” and the reform of Lebanon’s state institutions. Instead, the deal increases the chances for civil war in Lebanon. (Alma Research)
Venezuela earthquake
The casualties from Venezuela’s 7.2 and 7.5 back-to-back earthquakes are now in the several thousands. That did not come as a surprise to Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, who notes that the death toll and devastation are a result of “years of corruption, institutional dismantling, and the abandonment of Venezuelan citizens by their state.” (NYT) 🎁🔗
Similarly, Myrna-Paula Corvalan refers back to her late mother’s reflections following the mudslides in Cordillera de la Costa in December 1999. She notes that Paula Vásquez-Lezama wrote about how successive governments failed to address known infrastructure risks while hollowing out the state’s capacity to respond to emergencies. (Caracas Chronicles)
Serbia’s president resigns
In Serbia, President Aleksandar Vučić announced last weekend that he would step down in a few weeks. Since November 2024, following the collapse of a roof of a train station in Novi Sad, student-led protests have called for his ouster. While his announcement shows how effective the pressure on him has been, it’s also important to note that his tenure is up next year. As Katarina Baletić points out, rather than exiting the scene, he’s likely to run for prime minister and install a crony as president, pulling a Putin-Medvedev. (Balkan Insight)
US
Trump lost his bid to end birthright citizenship, which yours truly—a birthright citizen takes personally. The Supreme Court upheld existing constitutional law, reaffirming the 14th amendment. But the fact that three justices did not and one—Brett Kavanaugh voted with the majority but wrote that Trump’s executive order did NOT violate the constitution and that Congress could create new exceptions—is chilling. These Supreme Court justices, who ironically call themselves “originalists,” believe the highest law of the land is negotiable—open to change in order to favor white supremacy. Don’t expect this issue to go away. In fact, for those that argued to end birthright citizenship and a host of other ugliness, the fight is exactly the point.
Africa
This story needs a deeper dive. South Africa has been gripped with anti-immigrant sentiment. This past week, thousands poured into the street to demand the deportation of illegal foreigners in the country. A group called March & March had set June 30 as the deadline for the government to act. They claim that these illegal foreigners are behind South Africa’s massive unemployment, deteriorating public services, and growing insecurity. Ruth Castel-Branco and Justin Visagie examine the data and note that none of that is true. (The Conversation)
Khanya Burns-Ncamashe argues that South Africa’s elites are driving anti-immigrant sentiment as a deliberate diversion from addressing structural and political challenges. (IPS Journal)
In Uganda, the head of the military, who, as Jenny Vaughan notes, is also the son of the country’s long-ruling president, ordered the closure of the country’s biggest media outlets. He said he does not “believe in a free press.” No autocrat does. (Semafor)
Asia
In China, a new law that forces ethnic minorities to assimilate, prioritizing Han Chinese language, culture, and history went into effect on July 1. And it’s not limited to China. There is a clause that says that organizations and individuals outside China can be targeted for undermining “ethnic unity and progress.” Simone McCarthy points out how that may result in self-censorship and narrow scholarship. (CNN)
China hasn’t forgiven Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister, for saying that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could prompt a Japanese response at the end of last year. This week, Beijing accused Tokyo of heightened militarism. As Susannah Patton and Euan Graham note, it is now trying to discredit Japan across Southeast Asia. They argue that that might make the region more cautious about deepening cooperation with Tokyo, though it won’t cut off ties entirely. Maybe that’s why Takaichi is visiting India now. (Lowy Institute)
Americas
In Peru, Keiko Fujimori eked out a win in the presidential election. Like Colombia, this was a razor thin margin—with Fujimori getting about 50,000 more votes than her leftist opponent, Roberto Sánchez. Jordana Timerman points out that most of those votes came from abroad. (Latin America Daily Brief)
That gives Fujimori a mandate to lead, but the question is whether she can govern. Half of the country voted against her, while Peruvians abroad handed her a political pathway. Sounds like a recipe for paralysis if you ask me.
Watch: Problems persist in Bolivia as the country’s leader, Rodrigo Paz tries to quell protests. Bolivians are upset over economic conditions. Last weekend, Paz announced that the country’s currency will no longer be pegged to the US dollar. Hannah Raslan explains how Bolivia got to this point. (Al Jazeera)
Sigh. Citing a failure to correct market access, Trump will not renew the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, formerly known as NAFTA and renamed USMCA in 2018 when Trump renegotiated the terms. Instead, it will opt for yearly reviews. The US does $1.6 trillion in trade with its neighbors. Reshma Kapadia explains that this could hurt investment confidence and result in a trade limbo. (Barron’s)
Europe
Europe’s recent heatwave has prompted discussions about air conditioning. If you’ve been to London or Paris, you’ll know that a lot of homes don’t have it. But for so long they’ve not needed it. From her perch in Paris, Franco-American Renée Kaplan reflects on the cultural divide and, now, climate issue, admitting that air conditioning might have to be a part of Europe’s future. (L’amie Americane)
A few weeks back, I noted that the international overseer in Bosnia, the “High Representative” who until recently was German diplomat Christian Schmidt, stepped down. The US had aggressively championed Italian ambassador to the Vatican Antonio Zanardi Landi. On Tuesday, June 20, the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), which appoints the high representative, could not agree on Landi. The Brits, Germans, and French rallied behind a French candidate. Instead, the sitting deputy high representative, American envoy Louis Crishock will fill the post until a permanent successor is named. (Euractiv)
None of this bodes well for the future of Bosnia. The Trump administration has walked back America’s commitment to the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the brutal wars of the 1990s and the EU is simply not capable of compelling the three ethnic groups in the country to cut out the bullshit and cooperate. Moreover, the Trump administration is now pushing for the high representative to give up his “Bonn powers” which enables him to remove elected officials and impose laws. Much of that is driven by a desire to do business in the country. This past spring, Bosnia’s parliament awarded a contract to a US firm to develop a gas pipeline. The firm is linked to a Trump associate and, as this piece points out, has no prior experience in infrastructure projects.
And while we’re talking about Bosnia….🇧🇦
Bosnia’s World Cup team lost to the US on Wednesday night, much to my disappointment. While I’m a proud American, I also know Bosnian suffering—not just from the wars in the 1990s, but the failure to get beyond ethnic divisions over the past 30 years. The fact that the team made it to the World Cup, the first time in its modern history, brought immense joy to the country of 3 million in the Balkans. Arminka Helić notes that “the team has come to embody an alternative future for a country still wracked by nationalistic politics.” The team was made up of young men raised in Sweden, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States—children of those who fled the war and its aftermath. Esmir Bajraktarević is the son of immigrants who escaped to Wisconsin from Srebrenica, the site where more than 8,000 men and boys were murdered. She writes that they chose to play on this team because they understood pain and loss—and were selected based on their ability, not religion. “On the pitch, Bosnia and Herzegovina becomes something its politics has too rarely allowed it to be: a meritocracy.” (Time)
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