BY PAULA AKAKPO
STAFF WRITER

Some politicians have come out against President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of troops out of Syria. However, if you weren’t a political analyst understanding the reason for the backlash would be difficult. Here’s why recent events are causing so much turmoil. 

On October 6th the White House announced the U.S. would withdraw troops from a region of northern Syria that borders Turkey. At that time Turkey had incurred into Syria, fighting against those it considers terrorist. One of the groups are the Kurdish fighters who have been allies of the U.S. against fighting ISIS. The US partnership with the Kurds in Syria began during the Obama administration but under Trump the fighters were armed. 

The Kurds are an ethnic group located in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Armenia. The Kurds are without a homeland because of the Western powers who drew the region’s map after World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 established a Turkush state but it omitted a Kurdish nation-state and the population was divided across several different countries. 

The Kurds continue to face repression and violence and have struggled to maintain their identities. In Syria they are denied basic rights and citizenship and face severe discrimination. Thought Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad, supported the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s, it was mostly to disrupt Turkey. 

Turkey has had a long history with the Kurds living there. For decades the PKK in Turkey have been trying to establish their own independent Kurdish state at the border. In 1984 the PKK waged an armed war against the Turkish state, a conflict that has killed 40,000 people. 

In the Turkish perspective, if there was a Kurdish run state at their border it would be an existential threat to their government and they want to completely eliminate the Kurds. 

This is why the U.S. withdrawing troops from Syria is so problematic.  When the U.S. leaves Syria the Kurds will be facing an attack, and Turkey has already invaded Syria. Hundred have been killed and wounded and 130,000 people have been displaced out of Northern Syria. 

Though President Trump continues to insist that the Kurds are no danger, “The Kurds are much safer right now. But the Kurds know how to fight — and, as I said, they’re not angels. They’re not angels.” That is simply not the case. At the moment the Kurds are facing total annihilation by Turkey, and their closest allies, the United States, has abandoned them. 

And this will not only affect the Kurds. The U.S. has lost its anti-ISIS ally. Making it harder to defeat ISIS in future years. 

Works Cited

Kirby, Jen. “9 Questions about Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds You Were Too Embarrassed to 

Ask.” Vox, Vox, 16 Oct. 2019, https://www.vox.com/world/2019/10/16/20908262/turkey-syria-kurds-trump-invasion-questions.

Kirby, Jen. “What Really Happened in Syria over the Past 24 Hours, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 23  

Oct. 2019, 

https://www.vox.com/world/2019/10/23/20928618/syria-news-trump-putin-erdogan-kurds.

Ward, Alex. “Trump Told 6 Falsehoods about Syria in 4 Minutes.” Vox, Vox, 16 Oct. 2019,   

https://www.vox.com/world/2019/10/16/20917473/trump-syria-turkey-kurds-isis.

BY PAULA AKAKPO
STAFF WRITER 

During the most tumultuous year for the United States—problems with Iran, an election year, and a presidential impeachment—France is dealing with its own conflict, a protest that is brimming with history. 

Reforms on the Pensions plans are causing the tension. In the last few years there were 42 pension plans; however, now President Macron is going to replace it with a single pension plan. The problem with this is that every pension plan existed to be tailored to the needs of different careers. 

Each pension plan had different retirement ages. Now there will only be one: 62 years old. Historically, this is very similar to the 1789 Revolution that caused people to storm the Bastille because of economic inequality and how out of touch their leaders were. 

This elimination has caused many to strike on Parisian streets. Starting from late December until now, the Protestors have been on the streets causing problems for Parisian commuters. Train services have been reduced and have cut off Paris from the rest of the province. This has caused loss of millions of euros for subway companies. By January, support of the protest has decreased. The protest may be dying down, but one thing that isn’t is the political waters that President Macron is riding on. 

At the moment, many citizens feel the same as people did during the 1789 revolution. Many believe that President Macron is out of touch and does not care about their interests. One protestor, Sebastien Preauda, said, “There’s Macron’s vision: He’s always about making profits, but we’re not here to make money. We’re here to provide a service to the public. And those people [—President Macron’s government—]they come from the world of finance. We’re fighting just to say, ‘We’ve worked all our lives, and now we have the right to rest.’” At the moment President Macron is seen as a banker, not the rebellious reformer he was viewed as during the campaign. 

The French government is still pushing against the protestors, even going as far as threatening them with arrest. However, the Protestors will not back down against the inequality—one that they have been fighting for since the start of their republic. 

SOURCES:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/world/europe/france-strikes-pensions.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-protests-pensions-explainer/explainer-whats-at-stake-in-macrons-reform-of-frances-cherished-pensions-idUSKBN1Y31GO

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/world/europe/france-strike-macron.html

IMAGE SOURCE: Benoit Tessier/Reuters 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/world/europe/france-yellow-vest-protest.html

Amidst Prime Minister Boris Johnson trying to suspend parliament in the United Kingdom for three weeks, there are new revelations that the prime minister may have broken the law. 

BREXIT means the British exit is the United Kingdom’s attempt to leave the European Union. The European Union (E.U.) is a union between twenty-eight European countries which allow free trade and movement within the countries. 

The U.K. has been trying to leave the E.U. for the past three years since the referendum vote. The referendum vote, or public vote, was held on June 23, 2016; about 52%-48% of people voted to leave the E.U. out of a 72% turnout. One main reason people wanted to leave the E.U. was because of the increase in immigration. Some felt that immigrants were “stealing” their jobs, and others felt that there was a total shift in culture. People were speaking languages other than English. The idea that a surge of immigrants is the cause for the new competition in the workforce is incorrect and highly misleading, causing some to call for a second vote, but nothing came of it. 

Former Prime Minister Theresa May tried twice to pass a deal in parliament, but they were both  voted down. This led up to her resignation, which she says is for a new perspective. 

According to Theresa May, “I know there is a desire for a new approach – and new leadership – in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations — and I won’t stand in the way of that.” 

Now the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has inherited the issue. He has said that the U.K. will leave the E.U. even if there is no deal on October 31st. 

Part of the reason parliament continues to reject the deals is because of the backstop. At the moment, there are no border posts or physical barriers at the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border; backstop would allow this to continue. However, the backstop would only continue if the U.K. did not find better border checks. Many conservatives opposed this because the U.K. could be trapped in backstop for years, forcing the country to be stuck in the E.U.’s customs union. 

This led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson trying to suspend parliament from September 10th to October 14th, which he says was to prepare for a new Queen’s speech, which takes place every year. But his opponents have stated that he tried to suspend parliament to limit the debate on a no deal. Speaker of the House John Bercow has said, “Shutting down Parliament would be an offense against the democratic process and the rights of Parliamentarians as the people’s elected representatives.”

The U.K. Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament was unlawful because it prevented parliament to carry out its constitutional functions, so parliament is now in session. 

Though it is hard to believe that BREXIT could have an impact on U.S. economy, some economists have said otherwise.

 “American investment in companies in the U.K. is huge. Similarly, British investment in America is huge,” says Kai Ryssdal on The Market Place. “Some people say that Brexit, however it happens, could affect up to 2 million jobs — British and American. It’s hard to say how many of which, but that’s a lot of jobs. Global downturns affect us all. Brexit is part of that.” 

As BREXIT continues with no deal in sight, it will be interesting to see how the conflict will end on October 31st. 

Sources (with MLA):

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/uk/boris-johnson-prorogation-explainer-gbr-intl/index.html

Picheta, Rob. “Why Was the UK Parliament Suspended and What Does It Mean for Brexit?” CNN, Cable News Network, 10 Sept. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/uk/boris-johnson-prorogation-explainer-gbr-intl/index.html.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887

“Brexit: All You Need to Know about the UK Leaving the EU.” BBC News, BBC, 3 Oct. 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887.

https://www.marketplace.org/2019/08/29/your-brexit-questions-answered/

Image Link: https://www.dw.com/image/47902166_303.jpg