The Week of November 4th, 2013
Predator Drone in flight above California in January 2012. Public Domain photo from the US Airforce.
Care
5. Germans Introduce Third Gender
Germany is the first of the European countries to make an effort to address the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture report that cosmetic surgeries on intersex children is a human rights violation. Germany passed a law in August, which went into effect on November 1, that allowed for the sex of a child to be left blank on the birth certificate. This essentially creates a third gender, X. This will soon be expanded to passports. However, it is unclear what implications this will have on traditional marriage laws and common law marriages for same-sex couples.
The law was created to alleviate pressures doctors put on parents to choose a sex for children born with ambiguous chromosomes and genitalia. According to German figures, 150 intersex babies are born every year. Surgery is often necessary to change the identity of the child to fit into the binary gender options. These procedures are rarely medically necessary and “can cause scarring, loss of sexual sensation, pain, incontinence and lifelong depression and have also been criticized as being unscientific, potentially harmful and contributing to stigma,” according to the UN Special Rapporteur. However, many wonder how being raised this way will affect the psychological development of children forced into gender X.
Justice Minister Sabine Leuthheusser-Schnarrenberger of Germany has indicated that the law will have broad implications and will require a “comprehensive reform” in legal documents issued by the state. Despite this gain, activists say the law does not go far enough. They aim for the complete eradication of “cosmetic genital surgeries for newborns.” However, activists are still hopeful. Germany’s move has increased action in Brussels to raise awareness of trans and inter sex discrimination.
Germany is not alone in their move to add a third sex. Nepal added a third gender to their national census in 2007; India added a third gender to voter ballots in 2009; Pakistan added the option to their identity cards in 2011; Australia added it to their passports in 2011; and, New Zealand followed in 2012. Ironically, the United States, a proponent of internationl of human rights, has not recognized the rights of intersex individuals. Individuals with an X gender on their passport are not allowed to enter the United States because as it is not recognized by the government.
4. US Election Day
In several states this week, repercussions from the government shutdown were felt,especially by those perceived to be at fault, namely the Tea Party and even, to some extent, the entire Republican Party. Virginia has long been a key state in federal elections, maintaining its “swing status” through sharp divides among its populace. Its election of a Democrat, however narrowly, is indicative of attitude changes among the electorate in response, at least in part, to recent governmental issues. In addition, New York City has elected its first Democratic mayor in 20 years. The move away from independents may show an increase in partisanship in the biggest city in the US.
At the same time, a Tea Party candidate lost a major primary in Alabama to a big-business Republican. The Tea Party is viewed by many to be the cause of the recent government shutdown and this loss may be a direct result of that perception, especially in as conservative state as Alabama.
All is not lost for the fractured Republican Party, however. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie won reelection in a landslide, receiving 60.5% of the vote. Christie is very appealing not only to conservatives, but also to liberals, as he has demonstrated many times his ability to cross party lines to accomplish his goals. It is not wise to make generalizations from a few elections, but it is intriguing that the Tea Party doesn’t seem to have recovered credibility from the failures of the Obamacare rollout. While the crisis of the government shutdown may have weakened the GOP to some extent, mainstream Republicans may be able to recover by swinging to the center.
3. Isreal-Palestine Peace Talks Already Face Difficulties
As US Secretary of State Kerry tours the Mideast in an attempt to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, it looks like any potential deal is already dead in the water. Kerry has already been talking tough to motivate Israeli leadership to compromise, bringing up a potential third Intifada and how the US views Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegitimate. However, those criticisms are not what are putting a potential deal at risk. Israel did give a concession when it released 26 Palestinian prisoners, but at the same time it approved over 3,000 homes for settlers in the West Bank. At the same time, it appears that Israel is doubling down on its wall building efforts in the West Bank. There are reports that Israel is planning on building a security wall between the West Bank and Jordan, a dramatic break from previous walls that supposedly only divided Israeli and Palestinian populations. The Israeli negotiators have also informed their counterparts that the walls will be the boundary between Israel and any Palestinian state. These events taken together could be enough to doom negotiations, as Palestinians are already wary that they are being deliberately isolated and segregated.
While stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are nothing new, this is a time of US policy shifts in the Mideast. Talks with Iran seem to be fruitful, US relations with Iraq and Egypt are not as concrete as they were just a few years ago, and the US seems unable to form a stance on Syria, so a failed attempt at peace talks will only weaken its position. The Israeli government meanwhile seems to be content with the current situation, so their harsh stances are likely there to stay. With even the US warning of Palestinian unrest, there are questions if the current situation in the Levant is sustainable.
2. Labor Camp Reform Fails in China
At the beginning of this year, it looked like Chinese President Xi Jinping would end the labor prison camps the country has operated since the 1950s. However, this week Reuters issued a report that Xi has been stonewalled in his efforts to end the system by other factions in the Communist Party. Xi is the president, party chief, and head of the military, yet China remains an oligarchy controlled by the Communist leadership. For political reforms to go through, they have to have support from a broad swath of the leadership class. The labor prison camps have drawn controversy in recent years since they are not part of the formal prison system and are often used to inflict strict sentences on political, social, and religious dissidents. Although receiving domestic and international criticism for the camps, some hardliners in China are hesitant about ending them.
President Xi has been successful in promoting some free market economic reforms and has made some moves against corruption. However, these moves are in keeping with the trends of past officials. When it comes to political and social reforms, it seems that Xi is hampered by more conservative elements within the state. Xi has some personal stake in the issue, since his father was imprisoned when he fell out of favor with the Communist Party. While Xi does not seem to be a crusading reformer, his failure to reform an issue like labor prison camps indicates that larger reforms are out of the question at present. A chance for this to change may be at the Third Plenum from November 9 through 12, where party leaders can discuss in private the future of the party without exposing weakness or division to the outside. Plenums are yearly meetings of the Central Committee; the Third Plenum of a current government tends to see reforms announced and new policy paths forged. Of course, it may also just result in the party doubling down on its current path, but no one will know until its over.
1. Drone Strike in Pakistan Kills Taliban Leader
It is a sign of the ambiguity inherent to the War on Terror that the death of an important and violent terrorist has also significantly worsened relations between the US and a key ally. Last Friday, a drone strike in northern Pakistan killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban and the most wanted man in the South Asian nation. He was also one of the few militant Islamists in the region who actively fought the “long war” against the US, orchestrating the failed bombing of Times Square in 2010. Although he was behind the deaths of thousands of civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mehsud was allegedly interested in pursuing peace talks. Negotiations would have been contingent on nonviable demands, however, and any possible mediation was killed along with Mehsud. His successor, Mullah Fazlullah, is famously brutal (he was responsible for the attack on youth activist Malala Yousafzai) and has long denied interest in any agreement with any state.
Despite the Taliban’s repeated attacks on civilian and military targets in Pakistan, the government was outraged at America’s “ambush.” The Pakistani leadership has often publicly blamed America as a devious agent responsible for much of their domestic strife, all the while continuing to receive billions in aid from the US. This conflict of narratives is nothing new for the US-Pakistan relationship, a conflicted alliance only made worse by the drone campaign. The broad disapproval of these weapons has caused the populace to respond by praising those destroyed by them, even a killer such as Mehsud. To quote a hardline, but popular, politician: “Anyone killed by the US, even a dog, is a martyr.”
Don’t Care
0. Rob Ford Admits to Smoking Crack
Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto, is a frequent media sensation for being both very clumsy and wildly bigoted. Recently, he has come under increased scrutiny for a video showing him smoking crack cocaine. Another video showing him extremely inebriated at a local fair has gone hardly noticed next to the clear evidence of his prior crack usage. This Tuesday, a year since the crack video was taken and months after the public became aware of it, Ford finally admitted to using the drug while in a “drunken stupor.” He has now apologized for his unseemly alcohol and drug abuse and declares that he regrets past decisions immensely. Incredibly, Ford has refused to step down. Resignation is something that was widely called for when the first allegations of crack use surfaced. Now after publicly admitting usage and facing calls to resign from every side, he has declared that he will remain mayor and even seek reelection in October 2014.
The story of Ford has quickly turned Toronto, the fourth biggest city in North America, into a laughing stock. Since the confession, a new video of Ford making drunken death threats has surfaced, but at this point few are surprised. It is hard to know what to make of the situation, but some sources have claimed that Ford’s popularity has grown through the scandal. It seems that the city of Toronto has few enough problems that a spectacle in the mayor’s office can be allowed to last.