Russian plot exposed

RUSSIA: Dutch, British, and U.S. authorities—with backing from NATO—mounted a coordinated campaign, publicly exposing Russian agents they charge with spying and attempting cyberattacks on international agencies monitoring sports doping and chemical weapons. Dutch officials took the lead—uncovering a James Bond–like plot and deporting four Russian intelligence officers involved in an operation against Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons headquarters at The Hague, which was then investigating the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in England.

NORWAY: Drawing attention to the use of rape as a weapon of war, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to ISIS survivor Nadia Murad and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege. Murad, 25, was raped repeatedly by Islamic State captors but went on to advocate at the UN for a genocide declaration on behalf of fellow Yazidis. I wrote about meeting her this summer in Washington. Mukwege, 63, is a gynecologist who opened a hospital to treat rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo and narrowly escaped assassination in 2012 after a speech at the UN.

UNITED STATES: Despite pledges by President Donald Trump to take in more Christian refugees, the U.S. government in 2018 has cut Christian refugee arrivals by 64 percent overall and Muslim refugees by 93 percent. The Trump administration reduced Christian refugee admissions from Syria by 94 percent in the fiscal year just ended.

A federal judge blocked Department of Homeland Security plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status for refugees, affecting 300,000 people who have now lived in the United States for decades. At this point, the “temporary” program aimed at protected primarily Central Americans and Africans from war-torn countries would mean massive family separations.

GREECE: Moria, an overcrowded camp where arrivals may wait 12 hours in line for a meal, is a testament to Europe’s hardening stance toward migrants.

TURKEY: What’s happened to raki, the country’s national alcoholic drink, tells the story of the descent into Islamic authoritarianism under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Said one raki industry exec: “I want to represent a dinner table where people have no prejudices against each other. I am in favor of depoliticizing raki. Whatever has befallen us, it’s all because there is no [real] rule of law and media.”

I’M READING The Fox Hunt: A Refugee’s Memoir of Coming to America by Mohammed Al Samawi.

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