Week in Review: Nice Terror Attack, UK’s New Prime Minister, Germany’s New Defense Paper, and Much More

Week in Review: Nice Terror Attack, UK’s New Prime Minister, Germany’s New Defense Paper, and Much More

VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images,OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images, Bundeswehr, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

Week in Review: Nice Terror Attack, UK’s New Prime Minister, Germany’s New Defense Paper, and Much More

All you need to know about everything in the news this week

July 16, 2016

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Highlights:

Terror in Nice

  • A terrorist in a truck drove along the French Riviera coast for over a mile and mowed down as many people as he could. At least 84 are dead—10 of them young children. Many more are wounded, including around 50 children and adolescents.
  • This became France’s third major terrorist attack in 18 months.
  • Since November, France has been on high alert. It declared a state of emergency, giving police extraordinary powers—such as the ability to search homes without a warrant. Around 10,000 soldiers have been patrolling the streets.
  • Tragically, none of that helped stop the terror. What will?

    • Tension in Tunisia

  • The French terrorist was originally from Tunisia—the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
  • For five years, the nation has been politically unstable, and as North Africa Post reported on Wednesday, Europe wants to be a part of the solution. Via nato, Europe is even creating an intelligence “Fusion Center” in Tunisia.
  • One reason for Europe’s interest in the region is the fact that Tunisia has become a significant recruiting ground for the Islamic State. What’s going to happen to these Tunisians as the Islamic State continues to lose ground in Iraq, Syria and Libya?
  • “Those thousands of fighters are going to go someplace,” fbi director James Comey told the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday. “Our job is to spot them and stop them before they come to the United States to harm innocent people.”
  • Europe appears to be building the infrastructure to do the same thing.

    • Germany’s defense white paper

  • In a key policy document published on July 13 and approved by its cabinet, Germany set out a new vision for its military.
  • “Germany’s economic and political weight means that it is our duty to take on responsibility for Europe’s security in association with our European and transatlantic partners,” writes Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of the paper.
  • “Germany has shown that it is willing to take responsibility in security policy,” writes Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. “We have also shown that we are prepared to take the lead.”
  • The document said Germany “has a responsibility to actively participate in shaping the global order.”

    • Government-sanctioned murder in the Philippines

  • Since May 9, when Rodrigo Duterte was declared winner of the presidential elections in the Philippines, more than 110 people have been murdered in what are essentially vigilante, extrajudicial killings.
  • According to the Manila Bulletin, in just the first 12 days of Duterte’s rule, 1,545 people confessed to being drug users or dealers and, fearing for their safety, surrendered themselves to authorities.

    • International court: China doesn’t own South China Sea

  • The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled against China’s claims of ownership over nearly all of the vast South China Sea, including waters well inside the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and other nations.
  • The ruling came as harsh rebuke to Beijing. But in many ways, the decision doesn’t mean much because the court has no powers of enforcement.
  • China has strongly criticized its opponents. It even threatened some with force. According to state media, “China must be prepared for any military confrontation” with the United States and must not flinch from war if provoked.

    • Other news:

  • Britain’s Conservative Party on Monday confirmed that Theresa May had been elected party leader “with immediate effect” and would become the country’s next prime minister.
  • The Israeli Knesset passed legislation on July 11 that requires all nongovernmental organizations (ngos) receiving more than half of their funding from foreign state entities to publicly report that support. The legislation will “prevent an absurd situation in which foreign countries meddle in the internal affairs of Israel by funding ngos and without the Israeli public’s knowledge,” explained Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  • During the Republican National Convention subcommittee meeting on health care, education and crime on Monday, delegates labeled pornography “a public health crisis” and a “public menace.”
  • A new book by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.) reports that 80 percent of the material on computers recovered from al Qaeda and Islamic State militants is pornography.

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