Shifting imperialist alliances in Asian Pacific
France24, 8/28–Pacific Island leaders endorsed a landmark regional policing plan Wednesday at a summit in Tonga, a contentious move seen as trying to limit China's security role in the region. Leaders unveiled a plan to create up to four regional police training centres and a multinational crisis reaction force, backed by $271 million in initial funding from Australia. Under the plan, a corps of about 200 officers drawn from different Pacific Island nations could be dispatched to regional hot spots and disaster zones when needed and invited. "This demonstrates how Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future that we want to see," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, hailing the agreement.
The Australian leader made the announcement while flanked by leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga -- a symbolic show of unity in a region riven by competition between China and the United States…Wednesday's announcement was a diplomatic victory for Australia and for the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional bloc which had appeared deeply divided on the topic. China's Pacific allies -- most notably Vanuatu and Solomon Islands -- had voiced concern that the policing plan represented a "geo-strategic denial security doctrine", designed to box out Beijing.
Israeli military expands war into West Bank
Al Jazeera, 8/31–The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli airstrikes near the al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Baptist Hospital) have killed two Palestinians and wounded others. Citing local sources, it reported that Israeli fighter jets had targeted the perimeter of the hospital, and emergency and rescue teams were still working to retrieve the fatalities and casualties…Israeli settlers mounted a large-scale opening fire on the villagers…
The Jenin Government Hospital announced it had suspended its daily dialysis services due to ongoing disruptions in essential supplies caused by the Israeli military siege of the city, according to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency. The hospital has been under Israeli military siege for the past four days, leading to severe operational challenges, Wafa reported…Israeli forces had damaged the electricity supply line to the hospital, and the backup generators have been running continuously for four days.
War in Gaza tracks with rising anti-Muslim racism
Brookings, 8/27–After years of improvement, American public attitudes toward Muslims and Islam have declined in the past few months, and expressed public prejudice toward Muslims remains higher than toward any other religious, ethnic, or racial group studied. These are two of the key findings in our latest University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll (UMDCIP)...after years of improvement, favorable views of Muslims and Islam have declined in the two polls we have carried out in 2024. Favorable views of Muslims dropped to 64% from 78% in 2022, returning to 2016 levels; favorable attitudes toward Islam dropped to 48%...The drop in favorable views of Muslims occurred among both Democrats and Republicans, but it is notable that the drop in favorable views of Islam was more pronounced among Democrats.
Russia and China combine military forces to challenge U.S.
New York Times, 8/13–China and Russia have pressed an informal political and economic alliance against the West. Now they are stepping up the cooperation between their militaries with increasingly provocative joint war games. Chinese and Russian long-range bombers patrolled together near Alaska for the first time last month. Days earlier, the countries held live-fire naval drills in the hotly contested South China Sea for the first time in eight years. And they have more frequently buzzed the skies and sailed the waters together near Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, where America has strategic interests.
The military exercises are, in some ways, the most vivid expression of an alignment between China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as they have sought to challenge their chief geopolitical rival, the United States…To Washington, the exercises sow doubts about whether the United States could prevail in a war in Asia against the combined forces of China and Russia. While American war planners have long considered scenarios with China and Russia individually, they have paid less attention to the prospect of the two nuclear-armed states fighting together because it had long seemed so unlikely.
