Month: October 2020

The United States is pushing NATO countries to work with Turkey in hopes of healing divisions that have seen Ankara move closer to Russia, but at least one of those allies is bracing for more turmoil.Greece, embroiled in a dispute with Turkey over rights and resources in the eastern Mediterranean, has repeatedly put its FILE – Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos speaks to journalists in Kastanies on March 1, 2020.Turkey has “become increasingly more self-confident … coupled with a rising element of aggressive rhetoric, a confrontational attitude and the revisionist political position,” Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos said Thursday, during a virtual talk sponsored by the German Marshall Fund.”At some point, something needs to be done,” he said. “Unfortunately, this entails elements of being unpleasant.”Panagiotopoulos and others say that newfound aggressiveness was on display Wednesday, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the West, and France, during a speech to members of his political party.FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party lawmakers at the parliament, in Ankara, Oct. 28, 2020.”They literally want to relaunch the Crusades,” Erdogan said, referring to the French government’s defense of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.The Turkish leader also said the West is “once again headed to a period of barbarity.”Turkey has also incurred the wrath of Western countries, specifically fellow NATO allies, after carrying out tests last week of its Russian-made S-400 air defense system.Talking to reporters Wednesday, a top U.S. State Department official said Washington was prepared to take a harder line with Ankara, warning the threat of sanctions was very real.“Sanctions is very much something that is on the table,” Assistant Secretary of State R. Clarke Cooper told reporters. “Operationalizing such an asset or system incurs further risk of sanctions and further risks of restrictions.”The United States has banned Turkey from participation in its F-35 stealth fighter jet program, and threats of additional sanctions, from the U.S. or other European countries, are not new.But Panagiotopoulos said Thursday that he believed Turkey was likely to make the Russian air defense system operational sooner rather than later and that NATO might be running out of time to take meaningful action.A U.S. Marines F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft prepares to land on the flight deck in the South China Sea.Such concerns, though, have repeatedly been cast aside by Turkish officials, something that troubles Panagiotopoulos.“Russia cannot be counted out,” he said, adding Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system is “enough to prove that potentially Turkey, whether it wanted to or inadvertently, would prove to be a source of undermining NATO’s cohesion from within.”Reuters contributed to this report.
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Britain’s main opposition Labor Party suspended its former leader Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday after he appeared to deflect blame from himself after a report found the party was responsible for unlawful harassment and discrimination under his leadership. The British Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched an investigation in May 2019 following persistent complaints of anti-Semitism in the Labor Party under Corbyn’s tenure from 2015 to 2020, which was released Thursday.  In its report, the EHRC said the Labor Party was responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act — political interference in anti-Semitism complaints; failure to provide proper training to handle the complaints; and harassment. FILE – Protesters hold banners outside the building where Jeremy Corbyn, then-leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, attended the launch of Labor’s General Election manifesto, at Birmingham City University, England, Nov. 21, 2019.The report said its analysis indicates “a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent anti-Semitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.” In his initial response posted to his Facebook account, Corbyn called anti-Semitism “absolutely abhorrent” and insisted he had sought to make internal changes in the party to eliminate it. He also said he did not accept all the report’s findings. FILE – Two men wearing Orthodox Jewish attire hold placards and leaflets in support of Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn outside the party’s conference in Liverpool, England, Sept. 26, 2018.”One anti-Semite is one too many. But the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media,” he said.  A short time later, a Labor Party spokesman issued a statement: “In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labor Party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation.” The spokesman said Corbyn, who remains a member of Parliament, also will no longer count in the ranks of Labor MPs. From his Twitter account, Corbyn protested his suspension and said he would contest it. In a news conference, current Labor leader Keir Starmer apologized and said Labor was facing a “day of shame.” He promised a new culture. FILE – Britain’s Labor Party leader Keir Starmer speaks during a parliament session, in London, Britain, May 11, 2020.Without naming Corbyn, Starmer appeared to respond to his comments. “Those that deny this is a problem are part of the problem. Those that pretend it’s exaggerated or factional are part of the problem. And under my leadership, we will have zero tolerance of anti-Semitism. Under my leadership, we will accept this report in full,” Starmer said.  
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Russia reported record numbers of infections and deaths from the novel coronavirus on Thursday, the latest sign that the country is again struggling to contain an outbreak that Kremlin officials only recently portrayed as largely under control.The state coronavirus task force recorded 17, 717 new infections and 366 deaths on Thursday alone, raising the national tally to more than 1.5 million cases and 27,301 fatalities from the global contagion.Russia currently is fourth in the People wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus exit a subway car in Moscow, Russia, Oct. 19, 2020.As of this month, masks and gloves are again mandatory on public transport. The city introduced required distance learning for high school students. Businesses, too, are now required to have one-third of their employees working remotely.   In comments on local television Thursday, Sobyanin argued those measures were beginning to pay off.“This week we’re seeing figures that are lower than those from the week before. That tells us that there’s no more sharp escalation in Moscow.  It’s stabilizing,” said Sobyanin.But while Moscow has vast financial resources, the situation in what Russians call “the regions” — the rest of the country — appears infinitely more dire.   On Wednesday, the Kremlin’s point person on the coronavirus response, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, said that hospital bed capacity was at 90% in 16 regions, suggesting already underfunded health care systems were at the breaking point.   The announcement came as Russia’s Ministry of Health issued a directive forbidding medical professionals to speak with the news media about coronavirus-related issues.Ministry officials said the move was intended to “heighten effectiveness” in informing the public on preventing the spread.   Yet the newly introduced rule immediately raised a concern that has dogged the Kremlin response from the very outset of the pandemic: What if the government was simply trying to hide the scale of the problem?Body bagsThe mandate followed a wave of grim coronavirus-related stories to emerge from various swaths of the country in recent days:   In Barnaul, Customers sit outside a restaurant at Patriarshiye Prudy, a hip restaurant and bar district in Moscow, Russia, Oct. 16, 2020.In Omsk, ambulance workers delivered COVID-19 patients directly to the steps  of the local health ministry, explaining that despite 10 hours of searching local hospitals, they had been unable to find a single facility with available space to accept the patients. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.In the Kurgan region in the Ural Mountains, the defense ministry sent a rapid force group of army medics to aid in the virus response, after doctors made a public plea to Putin, citing a shortage of hospital space and staff and overloaded ambulances.Screaming for oxygenIn Rostov-on-Don, in Russia’s south, doctors reported 13 deaths in a local hospital because of a lack of oxygen tanks for ventilators. The patients died screaming for oxygen, according to physicians on the scene.  In Ufa — where health care workers and activists had accused officials of downplaying infections during an outbreak earlier this year — authorities acknowledged the city’s mayor died this week after a monthlong bout with the coronavirus.   Kremlin officials have argued individual horror stories fail to tell the larger success of the government’s coronavirus response.   Putin has also endorsed the rollout of “Sputnik V,” a Russia-produced vaccine against the coronavirus that the Kremlin says will be available beginning in December.Global health experts, however, caution the Kremlin has embraced the vaccine before it passes standard Stage 3 trials for efficacy.   Larger group testing of the drug is under way in Moscow.  Whether the vaccine proves effective, observers warned, many Russians should accept that the coming weeks will be as grim as those before it.  “We’re becoming used to images from hell,” wrote political observer Anton Orekh on the Echo of Moscow website.   “You’re better off staying home and taking garlic,” Orekh said, in a joking reference to an old Russian folk remedy.  “There aren’t any places in the hospital anyway.”  
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Russian agents offered military aid to Catalan separatists at the height of their failed bid to break away from Spain in 2017, according to a judicial investigation in Spain.These are the extraordinary allegations at the heart of an investigation launched by a judge in Barcelona who is probing alleged links between the Catalan independence movement and a Russian misinformation campaign designed to destabilize Europe.Police arrested 21 suspects in Barcelona on Wednesday on the orders of Judge Joaquin Aguirre, including three men who were close to the former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont who fled Spain shortly after the failed declaration of independence three years ago.In one recording presented in court documents, one of those detained by police allegedly mentions an offer by Russian agents to provide Puigdemont with 10,000 troops to help in a theoretical armed conflict with Spanish forces. The offer never materialized.Fake news offensive”Russian interference as a geopolitical strategy was a fact during the fall of 2017 when (the Russians) spread fake news and disinformation,” Judge Aguirre said in a ruling, citing online items backing the Catalan separatists spread by Russian news platforms.The Spanish government had accused Russia in 2017 of meddling in the Catalan conflict, a charge that Russian officials denied at the time.
In what appeared to be an ironic repost to the court allegations, the Russian Embassy in Madrid tweeted: “It is necessary to add two zeros to the number of soldiers and the most shocking thing about this conspiracy: the troops should be transported by Mosca and Chato, airplanes assembled in Catalonia during the (Spanish) Civil War and hidden in a safe place in the Catalan Sierra until they receive the order to act through encrypted publications.”A woman holds a sign during a protest against police raids and the arrest of Catalan separatists, in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 28, 2020.TimingThough the investigation relates to events three years ago which threatened to tear apart one of Europe’s largest economies, it has ramifications in today’s polarized political environment.Spain’s minority left-wing coalition government depends on the Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana, ERC, for support as talks are under way to pass a budget for 2021.  Spain has had no full year spending plan for the past four years and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic this budget is crucial to finance the country’s recovery.“It is evident that the Spanish government has no appetite to find a solution to the conflict in Catalonia,” said Raul Murcia, a spokesman for ERC, told VOA.Regional elections are planned in Catalonia in February when separatist parties are likely to win a majority but not more than 50% of the vote, according to recent polls.The Catalan separatist movement has always proclaimed non-violent beliefs, even though last year there were violent clashes with police after nine leaders were jailed for up to 13 years for their roles in the 2017 breakaway bid.Wider investigationThe investigation also targets the alleged misuse of public funds for the separatist movement in Spain as well as the allegedly active role of Russian-backed disinformation campaigns to discredit Madrid.Those arrested face allegations of embezzlement and money laundering.Investigations revealed that money intended for Barcelona’s provincial government and a regional entity for promoting sports teams had been diverted illegally, the Spanish government said in a statement after the arrests.
Josep Lluis Alay, a close collaborator of Puigdemont, was one of those detained. Others included David Madi and Oriol Vendrell, two former politicians for Catalonia’s major separatist parties.A demonstrator is detained by police officers during a protest against police raids and the arrest of Catalan separatists, in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 28, 2020.In the wake of the early morning raids, Puigdemont tweeted that Alay and the others “must be immediately released. Acting against political dissidents is a huge violation of fundamental rights”.After the breakaway attempt failed, Puigdemont fled Spain hidden in the boot of a car to France then flew to Brussels, where he has campaigned to raise support for his cause internationally. Puigdemont is currently a European Parliament member.Another suspect, Oriol Soler, is a publisher who is considered one of the top strategists of the separatist movement.Assange connectionHe is being investigated for allegedly meeting Russian contacts and the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange when he was seeking refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to promote the separatist cause and discredit Spain internationally.In a court document which was made public, it said the alleged meeting between Soler and Assange in September 2017 “falls within the strategy of misinformation and destabilization in which the Kremlin has also participated as part of its general narrative that the European Union is on the brink of collapse, the principal message of the news outlets controlled by the Kremlin.”Benet Salellas, Soler’s defense attorney, said that his client is innocent and “denounces that the justice system is being utilized to fight against the Catalan independence movement”.The arrests sparked several small protests across Catalonia.The issue of independence has consistently divided the region’s 7.5 million inhabitants.In a recent poll earlier this month for the Catalan regional government, 46.3% of Catalans opposed breaking away from Spain, while 45.5% backed independence. 
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday defended new coronavirus restrictions to lawmakers and lashed out at those who tried to dismiss the infection as harmless as the number of cases hit a new high.
In a speech before the Bundestag – the German parliament – that was interrupted by heckling from right-wing politicians, Merkel said the new measures “are appropriate, necessary and proportionate.” She said, “There is no other milder approach than reducing personal contacts to try and stop the infections chain and to change the course of the infections back to a level where we can handle it.”  
Merkel spoke a day after she and the governors of Germany’s 16 states agreed on far-reaching restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, including the closure of bars and restaurants, limits on social contacts and bans on concerts and other public events.
But, as in most countries around the world, there has been pushback against such restrictions. There have been protests and reports of violence in some areas by those claiming the dangers of the virus have been overstated and restrictions are nothing more than a power grab.
When heckling broke out from populist politicians during Merkel’s speech, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schauble warned there would be consequences for their actions if they did not let the chancellor continue.
Merkel responded by lashing out at those who claim the virus is harmless, saying, “Lies and disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate, damage not only democratic debate but also the fight against the virus.”
She said, “When science has proven something is false then it must be clearly stated. Because our relation to facts and information not only affects democratic debate but human lives.”
Merkel told lawmakers that Germany is in a “dramatic situation” as it goes into winter, which she said would be “four long, difficult months. But it will end.”
Germany’s disease control center said local health authorities reported 16,774 new positive tests in the past day, pushing the country’s total since the start of the outbreak close to half-a-million.
The Robert Koch Institute recorded 89 additional deaths, taking Germany’s toll to 10,272.
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The war of words between France and Turkey over cartoons portraying Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, triggered by the recent beheading of a French teacher, continues to escalate. But behind the diplomatic storm over freedom of expression versus religious sensitivity is a bitter rivalry for influence in Africa.To rousing applause from parliamentary deputies of his party, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday accused Western countries of seeking to re-launch the Crusades. Erdogan’s latest salvo is over French President Emmanuel Macron’s defense of the publication of cartoons of Islam’s prophet Muhammad.Erdogan said it is an issue of honor for Turkey to stand against the attacks against the Prophet who honored Mecca, Medina, Africa, Asia, Europe, in the whole world, and at all times.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party lawmakers at the parliament, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 28, 2020.The Turkish president has sought to present himself as a global defender of Muslim rights. But the current dispute over the cartoons is part of a growing rivalry between France and Turkey, says analyst Sinan Ulgen of the Edam research institution in Istanbul.”There is a different positioning regionally with France having established a strategic alliance with the United Arab Emirates ostensibly to fight against the influence of political Islam in the Middle East and Northern Africa,” Ulgen said. “And where Turkey is seen on the contrary as belonging to the other camp, namely of supporting political Islam through its relationship with the different entities and the Muslim Brotherhood.”West Is in Danger of Losing Turkey, US WarnsTop State Department official says when it comes to tensions with Ankara, the US, allies watch for ‘actions from Moscow to cleave us apart’ France and Turkey back rival sides in the Libyan civil war, while Erdogan is a strong critic of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah, el-Sissi, a key French ally. Turkey is now challenging France’s powerful influence in predominantly Muslim West African countries that were once French colonies, says Emre Caliskan of Britain’s University of Oxford.”Turkey, as a newcomer, an emerging power, their interests, and presence is threatening French interests and a vice versa,” said Caliskan. “Turkey is trying to secure the region around Libya. We saw Erdogan’s visit to Niger and Turkey recently engaging with Mali.Earlier this year, Turkey signed a defense agreement with Niger. The Turkish military already has a presence in Libya. For now, analysts say Ankara’s priority is to build a strategic presence in the region. But Turkish companies are also eyeing African markets currently dominated by French firms, which analysts say can only add to the deepening rivalry between Turkey and France.
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French authorities are treating a knife attack that left at least three dead and several injured at a church in the South of France as an act of terrorism.Officials say the attack took place Thursday morning at Nice’s Notre Dame Basilica. Two people died inside the church, officials say, with at least one reportedly decapitated. A third person, who was severely wounded, managed to flee the church but died shortly after. Separately, police shot dead a man armed with a knife in the southern French city of Avignon. And in Saudi Arabia, a man was arrested after wounding a guard in front of the French consulate in Jeddah. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi characterized the attack in his city as a terrorist incident. He said it was again the victim of what he called ‘Islamo-fascism.” He said the suspect, taken to a hospital after being wounded during a police arrest, did not stop saying “Allah Akbar” during his detention. The attack comes as France prepares to enter a new coronavirus lockdown — and after two other recent knifings, also blamed on radical Islamists and linked to controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed. The knifings include the beheading of French school teacher Samuel Paty outside Paris. More broadly, it appears to mark the latest in a raft of Islamic terrorist attacks to hit France in recent years — including a 2016 jihadist attack in Nice. French policemen and firemen stand next to Notre Dame church after a knife attack, in Nice, France, Oct. 29, 2020.President Emmanuel Macron’s recent defense of the cartoons depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in the name of free speech has sparked protests and boycotts in a number of Muslim countries. Many Muslims are deeply offended by the cartoons. But here in France, thousands of people have rallied in favor of free expression, including several prominent Muslim leaders. France’s National Assembly observed a moment of silence for the latest attack victims, and French Muslim leaders urged the faithful to cancel Thursday’s Mawled celebrations marking the Islamic prophet’s birthday. European and other governments have also sent messages of condolence and condemnation of the Nice attacks.
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A rising tide of new coronavirus cases has prompted the leaders of France and Germany to impose a new round of lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus.During a televised speech Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a nationwide monthlong lockdown that will take effect Friday. Macron said restaurants, bars, cafes and other nonessential businesses will be closed, while residents will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, shopping and doctor’s appointments.German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a set of similar measures in her own monthlong lockdown order Wednesday after a meeting with leaders of the nation’s 16 federal states. In addition to restaurants and bars, all gyms, theaters and opera houses will be shut down under Merkel’s order, which takes effect Monday, while the majority of businesses, shops and hair salons will be allowed to remain open.Schools in both nations will remain open during their respective lockdowns.The restrictions were announced by Macron and Merkel as both nations struggle with a record number of new COVID-19 cases practically every day — with Germany posting nearly 15,000 new cases Wednesday — creating a situation that has pushed their respective health care systems to their limits.France and Germany are joining several other European nations that have been forced to impose a new set of restrictions to deal with a second and growing wave of the virus as the cold weather season approaches in the Northern Hemisphere.As of early Thursday, there are more than 44.4 million total COVID-19 cases worldwide, including over 1.1 million deaths. India has reached the milestone of over 8 million total novel coronavirus cases, second only to the United States, with 8.8 million total confirmed cases.As the effort to develop a safe and effective vaccine continues, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration says it will ensure that everyone in the United States will be able to be inoculated free of charge.Seema Verma, the head of the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs, announced Wednesday the agency will cover the cost of any vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Verma also said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will cover a larger portion of the cost of any new COVID-19 treatments. Private health plans will also be banned from charging their customers anything for administering the vaccine.
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An attacker armed with a knife killed three people at a church Thursday in the Mediterranean city of Nice, French authorities said. It was the third attack in two months in France, which has grown increasingly tense during a furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were re-published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.Other confrontations and attacks were reported Thursday in the southern city of Avignon and in the Saudi city of Jeddah, but it was not immediately clear if they were linked to the attack in Nice.
Thursday’s assailant in Nice was wounded by police and hospitalized after the killings at the Notre Dame Bascilica, less than a kilometer (half-mile) from the site in 2016 where another attacker plowed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd, killing dozens of people.
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the Nice killings, which marked the third attack since the September opening of the trial of 14 people linked to the January 2015 killings at Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The gunmen in the 2015 attacks claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
Thursday’s attacker was believed to be acting alone and police are not searching for other assailants, said two police officials, who were not authorized to be publicly named.
“He cried ‘Allah Akbar!’ over and over, even after he was injured,” said Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who told BFM television that two women and a man had died, two inside the church and a third who fled to a nearby bar but was mortally wounded. “The meaning of his gesture left no doubt.”
French media showed the Nice neighborhood locked down and surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. Sounds of explosions could be heard as sappers exploded suspicious objects.
In the southern city of Avignon later in the morning, an armed man was shot to death by police after he refused to drop his weapon and a flash-ball shot failed to stop him, one police official said. And a Saudi state-run news agency said a man stabbed a guard at the French consulate in Jiddah, wounding the guard before he was arrested.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned the Nice attack and called on French Muslims to refrain from festivities this week marking the birth of Muhammed “as a sign of mourning and in solidarity with the victims and their loved ones.”
Islamic State extremists issued a video on Wednesday renewing calls for attacks against France.
The lower house of parliament suspended a debate on France’s new virus restrictions and held a moment of silence Thursday for the victims. The prime minister rushed from the hall to a crisis center overseeing the aftermath of the Nice attack. French President Emmanuel Macron was headed to Nice later in the day.
Less than two weeks ago, an assailant decapitated a French middle school teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad for a class on free speech. Those caricatures were published by Charlie Hebdo and cited by the men who gunned down the newspaper’s editorial meeting in 2015.
In September, a man who had sought asylum in France attacked bystanders outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices with a butcher knife.
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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is undergoing medical examination at a German hospital, a day after the government announced he was admitted to an Algerian hospital after self-isolating because several of his senior aides tested positive for COVID-19.The 75-year-old president’s treatment in Germany comes days before Algeria’s critical Nov. 1 referendum on changes he has proposed to the constitution.A government statement announced on state television did not specify what Tebboune is being treated for, even though he had a coronavirus scare.There has been no government announcement that Tebboune tested positive for COVID-19.Tebboune replaced Algeria’s ousted longtime president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in January amid political unrest in the country.
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Russians are tuning out the U.S. presidential election this year — unlike in 2016 when they followed it closely because the Kremlin presented the vote as a stark choice between warmer ties under Donald Trump or growing hostilities under Hillary Clinton.  Charles Maynes in Moscow explains why there’s a difference this year.
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The United States is warning Turkey against taking any additional steps to operationalize its Russian-made S-400 air defense system, warning there will be consequences even if that risks pushing Ankara closer to an alliance with Moscow.Relations between Washington and Ankara, which have soured in recent years, hit a new low last week when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed his military had FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks in a televised address in Ankara, Sept. 21, 2020.Erdogan, however, has brushed aside the warnings, telling reporters last week that the U.S. stance “absolutely does not concern us.”Despite the apparent impasse, the U.S. has not given up on finding a way to bring Ankara back into the fold.Cooper, recently back from a visit to Greece and Bulgaria, said the U.S. has encouraged both countries, as well as other NATO allies, to do what they can to “make sure that Turkey remains in the West.”’Significant roles’ for Turkey”It’s to the alliance’s detriment to not have Turkey inside the alliance,” Cooper said. “There are significant roles that they still maintain with us … in the greater security of Europe and in the region.”Whether such efforts can overcome what U.S. officials like Cooper describe as “disruptive actions coming from Moscow to cleave us apart” remains to be seen.If they fail, U.S. officials caution that Ankara, like the U.S. and NATO, could suffer.”The only beneficiary of Turkey leaving the West or being cleaved away from Europe would be Moscow,” Cooper said. “There would be a diminishing return, even for Turkey.”
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Europe is once again an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and Spain – under a state of emergency – has gone into another lockdown as protests continue.  Alfonso Beato has more from Barcelona in this report narrated by Roderick James.Camera: Alfonso Beato   Producer: Roderick James
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Turkish officials have lashed out at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published a cartoon mocking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The cartoon shows Erdogan, apparently in his underwear, holding a drink and lifting the skirt of a woman wearing Islamic garb. “We strongly condemn the publication concerning our president of the French magazine, which has no respect to faith, the sacred and values,” Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, tweeted. Tensions between the two NATO allies have risen in recent months as Macron vowed to defend secularism in the wake of the public beheading of a French teacher earlier this month by a Muslim militant. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party lawmakers at the parliament, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 28, 2020.The militant was angered because the teacher had shown students the magazine’s cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Macron called Islam a religion “in crisis” and announced measures to stem what he called separatism. France has the largest Muslim community in Western Europe. Earlier this week, Erdogan called for Turks and other Muslims to boycott French products. According to AP, Erdogan said he had not looked at the cartoon, but in parliament he said his “sadness and anger does not stem from the disgusting attack on my person but from the fact that the same [publication] is the source of the impertinent attack [on] my dear prophet.”  His vice president was more direct. “I condemn this incorrigible French rag’s immoral publication concerning our president,” Fuat Oktay wrote on Twitter. “I call on the moral and conscientious international community to speak out against this disgrace.” Reaction from FranceAccording to Turkish state media, Ankara’s Chief Prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into managers at Charlie Hebdo. In Turkey, insulting the president is punishable by up to four years in prison. A spokesman for the French government said it would not back down against what he characterized as “efforts of destabilization, of intimidation.” “Despite this intimidation, France will never renounce its principles and values, and notably the freedom of expression and freedom of publication” Gabriel Attal said. “It was hateful comments toward journalists, toward a newsroom, that led to the bloodshed we have seen in recent years in our country,” he said, referring to the killing of 12 people in the 2015 attack in Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris. 
 
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An American detained in Belarus ahead of the country’s disputed August presidential elections arrived safely to the United States on Wednesday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appealed for his release, his lawyer tells VOA.Vitali Shkliarov, a Belarusian-American political analyst who worked on past political campaigns of former President Barack Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders, was detained by state security agents while visiting his parents in Grodno July 28.Authorities charged Shkliarov with helping organize illegal rallies for a member of the opposition ahead of the August 9th election — a vote that Lukashenko claims he won in a landslide but has been widely seen as rigged to maintain the leader’s 26-year hold on power. Tens of thousands of Belarusians have since joined in a popular uprising — and braved a police crackdown, in an effort to bring a peaceful end to Lukashenko’s rule.  Belarus Opposition Prepares Mass Strikes After Lukashenko Ignores Deadline to QuitLukashenko’s refusal to quit after 26 years in power will test whether the opposition has the mass support it needs to bring enterprises across the country of 9.5 million people to a haltLukashenko argues demonstrators are backed by Western powers and has pointed to Shkliarov’s arrest as proof of direct American interference. Yet the circumstances of Shkliarov’s release hinged on a call from Secretary Pompeo to Lukashenko last Saturday — the first publicly known high-level talks between the two sides since the political crisis in Belarus began. “The secretary called for the full release and immediate departure from Belarus of wrongfully detained US citizen Vitali Shkliarov and reaffirmed US support for the democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus,” a State Department spokesperson said at the time.   Shkliarov’s lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, tells VOA his client quickly submitted a request to exit the country pending trial.   “The fact that they approved his request is without question a result of Pompeo’s call,” says Gashinksy in an interview from Minsk. “They saw that to keep him in custody was toxic for the country and for the authorities. And they made the right decision,” he added. “The United States welcomes the departure from Belarus of wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Vitali Shkliarov,” said Pompeo in a statement released Wednesday. “As the President and I have made clear, we will not tolerate foreign governments wrongfully detaining U.S. citizens.”  Gashinsky confirmed to VOA that Shkliarov is now in Washington undergoing medical treatment from coronavirus-related symptoms but would ultimately return to Belarus to appear in court once healthy.   “He is innocent and when he comes back we’ll fight together to get the charges dropped,”  Gashinsky said.If found guilty of the charges, Shkliarov faces up to three years in prison and fines. An Abrupt TransferShkliarov’s release and subsequent return to the U.S. marked the latest in a series of recent twists to the circumstances of his detention.He was abruptly transferred from the KGB security service prison to house arrest earlier this month — a move that allowed him a visit from his elderly mother, currently recovering from cancer treatments. The gesture followed a surprise visit by Lukashenko to the detention facility to meet with jailed opposition figures to discuss “constitutional reforms.”Two other businessmen in the meeting were released following the meeting — a move the opposition portrayed as an attempt to divide protesters’ loyalties.Shkliarov had complained of poor health and psychological pressure while in prison.  In letters smuggled from prison, he described overcrowded cells and delays in getting screened for the coronavirus. His wife Heather Shkliarov, an American consular official based at the US Embassy in Kyiv, issued a public appeal for his release due to concerns over his health last month. US Consular Official Demands Release of Her Husband from Belarusian JailAmerican caught up in strongman Lukashenko’s drive to stay in powerHe later tested positive for antibodies from the coronavirus. A prolific political commentator on events in America and the former Soviet Union, Shkliarov’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy magazine and Russia’s independent Novaya Gazeta, among other publications.  He has also worked on presidential campaigns in Russia, Georgia, and the United States, where he was a field organizer for both President Barack Obama’s reelection bid in 2012 and Senator Bernie Sanders’s failed presidential run in 2016.  That political experience has played into Lukashenko’s efforts to portray the protests as a Western-backed plot. The argument has been key to shoring up critical Russian support for Lukashenko’s government as the democratic uprising has grown in numbers and authorities have resorted to mass arrests.  
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