Headlines 24/08/2016

Headlines

• Australia’s Guantanamo

• Turkey and Russia make it official

• Libya Government, no confidence vote

Details

Australia’s Guantanamo

Australia and Papua New Guinea have agreed to close a controversial Australian-funded prison camp for asylum seekers on Manus Island, known for its human rights violations. Under Australian law, anyone intercepted trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to detention centres on Manus Island, off Papua New Guinea (PNG), or the Pacific island of Nauru. Never being allowed to settle in Australia. Despite committing to closing the prison, a closing date is still unknown. Some asylum seekers have spent years in the camps, which have been criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups, with numerous reports of abuse and self-harm among detainees, including children. With a government and population that is hostile towards the refugees, the refugees are in limbo stuck in a prison where violence towards them is widespread. Australia is a country which spews hypocrisy from the mouth of its politicians claiming to be aiding the coalition against the rebels and ISIS in Syria in the name of freedom and to prevent oppression yet in their own land they keep refugees as prisoners subjected to horrible inhumane treatments, viewing their attempt at gaining safety as a crime.

Turkey and Russia make it official

On Sunday 21st August, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that Turkey would be ready to permit Russia to use its Incirlik airbase to launch attacks on Isis. This is on a background of the recent visit of president Erdogan visiting Putin and taking steps to develop relationships between both countries. The use of this base in reality exposes Turkey's true intentions as it is on the same side as others on the Syrian crisis as all the countries using its basis i.e. the regime.

Despite declaring the opposite, actions such as neutralising relations with Russia, openly cooperating with the coalition which includes the US and recognising the Assad regime as legitimate have exposed Erdogan intentions in furthering the Western, secular project for Syria in the region.

Libya Government, no confidence vote

Libya’s UN-backed “unity government,” which controls a small portion of Tripoli, has lost a no-confidence. The vote was 61-39, with a quorum present. The unity government, however, insisted this was “cheating” because they didn’t know the vote was going to happen on the day, though it does not appear they would’ve had enough to sway the vote their way either way. Under the UN design, the three largest extent governments would be unified under this “unity” government, with the Tobruk parliament as the national parliament, and the Tripoli parliament serving in a consulting position. None of the groups has endorsed the others, however, which has left the UN and the US threatening everyone else, demanding they endorse the “unity” government’s positions. The Tobruk parliament, however, said that the unity government lacked qualifications to lead, had achieved nothing of note in its brief existence, and was overtly fighting against the Libyan Army, which is mostly loyal to Tobruk.