Front and Center: Long Stories Short

World in Brief

• On Wednesday, the European Parliament declared Russia a "state sponsor" of terrorism. That is the first time in its history that the EU has used that label.
• Brazil's outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro election is challenging the election he lost last month to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, claiming malfunction in some voting machines. As the election results have already been ratified by the superior electoral court, Bolsonaro's challenge is unlikely to develop legs.
• On Monday, a powerful earthquake struck the island of Java in Indonesia. The death toll has already reached 268, while efforts to reach remote areas continue. The death toll is expected to rise, with many more injured.
• With Russia having destroyed the heating and electricity infrastructure in Kherson and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, fears of a humanitarian disaster over the coming winter has the Ukrainian government preparing for large-scale evacuations from those cities.
• Early results indicate a landslide victory to Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Sunday's snap election. All challengers had been "government-approved."
• The COP27 global climate talks wrapped up today, with underwhelming progress having been made. There was no agreement to phase down fossil fuels. However, wealthy countries, which produce 80% of the world's emissions, did agree to creation of a fund to compensate low-income countries that have borne the brunt of climate change.
• The US GOP has won the last seat they needed in order to take control of the US House of Representatives. Their slim majority, however, will make it necessary for them to work with Democrats more than they have in recent sessions. But it will also give them the opportunity to block much of President Biden's agenda.
• A Russian-made missile landed in Poland on Tuesday, killing two. Both Poland and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that it is highly probable that it was not an intentional attack from Russia, but rather a stray missile from Ukraine as it defended itself against a barrage of Russian missiles. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy vigorously disputed the assessment and requested Ukrainian participation in the investigation. Stoltenberg made clear that Russia bears ultimate responsibility, given its ongoing barbaric assault on Ukraine.
• The Kremlin has confirmed that CIA Director William Burns met today with the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin in Ankara, Turkey. A US official said: “He [Burns] is conveying a message on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia and the risks of escalation to strategic stability."
• US President Biden and Chinese Xi Jinping met in Bali, Indonesia on Monday at a meeting of the Group of 20 leaders. The two have known each other for over a decade, and their familiarity appeared to have served them in their candid 3 hour discussion about Taiwan, Ukraine, trade and human rights. “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War,” said Biden.
• With Kherson having been liberated by Ukrainian troops after an 8-month Russian occupation, gruesome stories are being told of mass incarcerations, torture and disappearances, perhaps in the thousands.
• In the US midterm elections, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly has won reelection, defeating Republican Blake Masters. That puts Democrats just one seat away from retaining control in the US Senate. Election results still to be determined are Nevada and Georgia. The vote tally in Nevada continues, and Georgia heads to a runoff on Dec 6th.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed concern over what it believes is a significant increase in Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium (enough to make a nuclear bomb). The 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and Britain, France, Germany, China, the US and Russia collapsed in 2018 when Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement. Since then, sanctions against Iran snapped back into place, and Iran once again then began its enrichment of uranium.
• Russian troops have withdrawn from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, and Ukrainian troops have entered the city. Kherson was seized by Russia early in the war, and the Kremlin claimed to have annexed it in September.
• With US midterm election results largely in, the control of the House and the Senate is still in the balance. Votes have not yet been fully tallied in either Nevada (at 83% counted) and Arizona (at 70%), though it appears right now that Arizona will go to Democrats and Nevada to Republicans. That would mean that the election runoff to be held Dec 6th between Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) would determine control of the US Senate.