foreignpolicy--2020-06-19--Russia and Turkey’s Proxy War in Libya Heats Up

Russia and Turkey ’ s Proxy War in Libya Heats Up Welcome to While You Weren ’ t Looking , Foreign Policy ’ s weekly newsletter focused on non-coronavirus news .
Here ’ s what we ’ re watching this week : Turkey and Russia look to cement their military presence in Libya , rampant inflation and coup rumors grip Zimbabwe , and opposition politicians have seen a groundswell of support in Europe ’ s last dictatorship .
If you would like to receive While You Weren ’ t Looking in your inbox on Fridays , please sign up here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Haftar ended his 14-month siege of the capital , Tripoli , earlier this month , there has been a flurry of activity from the international backers of Libyan factions as they vie to lock in their influence in Africa ’ s most oil-rich nation .
Libya is at risk of becoming the site of a protracted proxy war , like Syria , as a patchwork of powers have lined up to back the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord ( GNA ) based in Tripoli , and others have backed Haftar ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ east .
As in Syria , Russia and Turkey have emerged as the most consequential players , backing opposite sides of the conflict .
Turkey emerged as kingmaker after it intervened in January , sending troops and drones in support of the GNA and enabling it to beat back Haftar ’ s forces , which have been supported by Russian mercenaries .
Reuters reported on Monday that Turkey is in talks with the GNA to use naval and air bases in the North African country , although no final agreements have been reached @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over European powers but also its Arab adversaries , Galip Dalay , a fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy , told Foreign Policy .
Turkey ’ s intervention in the conflict has prompted a rift with its NATO ally France , which has supported Haftar ’ s forces .
On Wednesday , the French ministry of defense accused the Turkish navy of behaving in an “ extremely aggressive ” manner , harassing a French warship in the eastern Mediterranean as it tried to inspect a cargo vessel suspected of carrying weapons to Libya @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the bloc was investigating the incident .
A high-level Turkish delegation that included the country ’ s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu , its finance minister , and its intelligence chief arrived in Libya this week for talks about the latest developments in the crisis and the military cooperation agreement signed between the two governments last November .
Meanwhile , Russia , which has backed Haftar ’ s Libyan National Army in the east , is looking to further increase its military footprint in Libya , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington Institute for Near East Policy .
“ Strategically , if Russia has access in Syria but also in Libya , it gives them a very wide platform because you ’ re talking about checking the southern flank of NATO , ” she said .
An increased Russian presence in the country could also see Moscow gain greater control over refugee flows to Europe , which could be used to further destabilize the European Union .
On Thursday , U.S. Africa Command released new evidence of Russian fighter jets being flown in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Russian and Turkish foreign and defense ministers were scheduled to cut out their Libyan middlemen and meet on Sunday , but the meeting was called off as the GNA pushed to retake the strategic coastal city of Sirte from Haftar ’ s forces .
On Monday , the Turkish foreign minister said Ankara was committed to forging a lasting cease-fire deal .
Given the stakes and the multitude of actors involved , what comes next will look more like conflict management than resolution , said Dalay of the Robert Bosch Academy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ female opposition activists in Zimbabwe have been forced to remain in prison following a bail hearing on Monday as they face charges of fabricating allegations of being abducted , tortured , and humiliated by police .
The charges against the women are widely thought to be politically motivated , while the U.N. called on the authorities to “ urgently prosecute and punish the perpetrators of this outrageous crime.
” The case against the women , one of whom , Joana Mamombe , is a member of Parliament , comes at a tense time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 785 percent .
The price of bread and sugar has surged by 30 percent over the past week , evoking memories of the hyperinflation seen in 2008 that rendered the country ’ s currency worthless .
Economic crisis and rising public anger have led to mounting speculation that a coup could be in the works .
The national security council of Zimbabwe dismissed the rumors in a press conference last week , saying they were being fueled by allies of the late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe .
Climate change pregnancy complications .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ air pollution are at increased risk of having premature , underweight , or stillborn babies , according to a study released Thursday .
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at 57 studies conducted in the United States and found that that the risks were even greater for African American mothers and babies , who already have worse health outcomes because of systemic inequalities in maternity care .
Record forcible displacement .
The number of people forced to flee their homes because of conflict , persecution and other disasters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reaching a record high of almost 80 million people currently displaced , according to a new United Nations report released on Thursday .
Almost 80 percent of the 100 million people displaced over the past decade have re-located within their own countries , but protracted instability has made it increasingly difficult for refugees to return home .
Almost three quarters of the 20-odd million who seek refuge abroad do so in neighboring states , with developing countries hosting 85 percent of the world ’ s refugee and displaced populations .
Kafka in Manila @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Philippines convicted one of the country ’ s most prominent journalists , Maria Ressa , and the reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. of libel , the latest in a series of devastating blows to freedom of speech in the country .
Both were granted bail pending an appeal but could face up to six years imprisonment if the conviction is upheld .
A founder of the online news site Rappler and a fierce critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ’ s deadly anti-drug crackdown , Ressa has been subject to persistent legal harassment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while her staff have been harassed by pro-Duterte troll armies online .
Writing in the Atlantic , Sheila Coronel captures the surreal nature of the case against Ressa : “ In a hushed courtroom , with only litigants , their lawyers , and three other journalists present , a judge convicted the Philippine journalist Maria Ressa for an article she did not write , edit , or supervise , of a crime that hadn ’ t even existed when the story was published.
” Missing in Mexico .
Families of people thought to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drug war surrounded a motorcade carrying President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the state of Veracruz on Monday demanding he do more to bring their loved ones home .
Some 61,000 people are estimated to be missing in the country , and relatives fear that austerity measures , which could see a 75 percent budget cut to a government agency that provides funding and support to families of the disappeared , will only make matters worse .
While coronavirus-related lockdowns have stalled search efforts , gang violence and disappearances have continued .
Europe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what are usually Potemkin presidential elections due to be held in Belarus in August , independent opposition candidates are experiencing a groundswell in support from a public frustrated by years of economic and political stagnation and President Aleksandr Lukashenko ’ s devastating determination to ignore the pandemic .
Belarusians have waited in line for hours to sign petitions in support of opposition candidates , including a popular anti-corruption video blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski .
Ex-banker Viktor Babariko and former Ambassador to the United States Valery Tsepkalo have also thrown their hats into the ring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country ’ s elite .
Babariko and Tsikhanouski have already been arrested as part of a widening crackdown .
While Lukashenko is likely to secure his sixth term in office , something had fundamentally shifted in Belarusian politics , writes Vitali Shkliarov in Foreign Policy .
Putin ’ s People : How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West , by Catherine Belton Next month Russians will take part in a predetermined referendum on constitutional amendments that could see President Vladimir Putin remain in office until 2036 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Kremlin insiders , diplomats , and former intelligence operatives , Belton ’ s book offers the most comprehensive account to date of how Putin rose to become the longest-serving Russian ruler since Joseph Stalin .
A former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times , Belton follows the money to deftly unravel the self-enrichment schemes used by Putin and his former KGB colleagues to pave their rise to power , while pulling no punches for the Western politicians and businesspeople who turned a blind eye .
Already available in the United Kingdom , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States .
That ’ s it for this week .
For more from FP , visit foreignpolicy.com , subscribe here , or sign up for our other newsletters .
Send your tips , comments , questions , or corrections to newsletters @ foreignpolicy.com .

Welcome to While You Weren’t Looking, Foreign Policy’s weekly newsletter focused on non-coronavirus news.
Here’s what we’re watching this week: Turkey and Russia look to cement their military presence in Libya, rampant inflation and coup rumors grip Zimbabwe, and opposition politicians have seen a groundswell of support in Europe’s last dictatorship.
If you would like to receive While You Weren’t Looking in your inbox on Fridays, please sign up here.
Russia and Turkey’s Proxy War in Libya
Since the renegade Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar ended his 14-month siege of the capital, Tripoli, earlier this month, there has been a flurry of activity from the international backers of Libyan factions as they vie to lock in their influence in Africa’s most oil-rich nation. Libya is at risk of becoming the site of a protracted proxy war, like Syria, as a patchwork of powers have lined up to back the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, and others have backed Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which controls the east. As in Syria, Russia and Turkey have emerged as the most consequential players, backing opposite sides of the conflict. Turkey emerged as kingmaker after it intervened in January, sending troops and drones in support of the GNA and enabling it to beat back Haftar’s forces, which have been supported by Russian mercenaries.
Reuters reported on Monday that Turkey is in talks with the GNA to use naval and air bases in the North African country, although no final agreements have been reached. The bases would give Ankara leverage over European powers but also its Arab adversaries, Galip Dalay, a fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy, told Foreign Policy.
Turkey’s intervention in the conflict has prompted a rift with its NATO ally France, which has supported Haftar’s forces. On Wednesday, the French ministry of defense accused the Turkish navy of behaving in an “extremely aggressive” manner, harassing a French warship in the eastern Mediterranean as it tried to inspect a cargo vessel suspected of carrying weapons to Libya in violation of a U.N. embargo. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the bloc was investigating the incident.
A high-level Turkish delegation that included the country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, its finance minister, and its intelligence chief arrived in Libya this week for talks about the latest developments in the crisis and the military cooperation agreement signed between the two governments last November.
Meanwhile, Russia, which has backed Haftar’s Libyan National Army in the east, is looking to further increase its military footprint in Libya, said Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Strategically, if Russia has access in Syria but also in Libya, it gives them a very wide platform because you’re talking about checking the southern flank of NATO,” she said.
An increased Russian presence in the country could also see Moscow gain greater control over refugee flows to Europe, which could be used to further destabilize the European Union. On Thursday, U.S. Africa Command released new evidence of Russian fighter jets being flown in Libya by state-backed Russian private military contractors.
The Russian and Turkish foreign and defense ministers were scheduled to cut out their Libyan middlemen and meet on Sunday, but the meeting was called off as the GNA pushed to retake the strategic coastal city of Sirte from Haftar’s forces. On Monday, the Turkish foreign minister said Ankara was committed to forging a lasting cease-fire deal. Given the stakes and the multitude of actors involved, what comes next will look more like conflict management than resolution, said Dalay of the Robert Bosch Academy.
What We’re Following
Zimbabwe on the brink. Three female opposition activists in Zimbabwe have been forced to remain in prison following a bail hearing on Monday as they face charges of fabricating allegations of being abducted, tortured, and humiliated by police. The charges against the women are widely thought to be politically motivated, while the U.N. called on the authorities to “urgently prosecute and punish the perpetrators of this outrageous crime.” The case against the women, one of whom, Joana Mamombe, is a member of Parliament, comes at a tense time in the country as inflation has risen to 785 percent. The price of bread and sugar has surged by 30 percent over the past week, evoking memories of the hyperinflation seen in 2008 that rendered the country’s currency worthless. Economic crisis and rising public anger have led to mounting speculation that a coup could be in the works. The national security council of Zimbabwe dismissed the rumors in a press conference last week, saying they were being fueled by allies of the late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.
Climate change pregnancy complications. Pregnant women exposed to high temperatures and air pollution are at increased risk of having premature, underweight, or stillborn babies, according to a study released Thursday. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at 57 studies conducted in the United States and found that that the risks were even greater for African American mothers and babies, who already have worse health outcomes because of systemic inequalities in maternity care.
Record forcible displacement. The number of people forced to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution and other disasters has doubled over the past decade, reaching a record high of almost 80 million people currently displaced, according to a new United Nations report released on Thursday. Almost 80 percent of the 100 million people displaced over the past decade have re-located within their own countries, but protracted instability has made it increasingly difficult for refugees to return home . Almost three quarters of the 20-odd million who seek refuge abroad do so in neighboring states, with developing countries hosting 85 percent of the world’s refugee and displaced populations.
Kafka in Manila. On Monday, a court in the Philippines convicted one of the country’s most prominent journalists, Maria Ressa, and the reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. of libel, the latest in a series of devastating blows to freedom of speech in the country. Both were granted bail pending an appeal but could face up to six years imprisonment if the conviction is upheld. A founder of the online news site Rappler and a fierce critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly anti-drug crackdown, Ressa has been subject to persistent legal harassment and threats of rape and murder, while her staff have been harassed by pro-Duterte troll armies online. Writing in the Atlantic, Sheila Coronel captures the surreal nature of the case against Ressa: “In a hushed courtroom, with only litigants, their lawyers, and three other journalists present, a judge convicted the Philippine journalist Maria Ressa for an article she did not write, edit, or supervise, of a crime that hadn’t even existed when the story was published.”
Keep an Eye On
Missing in Mexico. Families of people thought to have gone missing amid Mexico’s drug war surrounded a motorcade carrying President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the state of Veracruz on Monday demanding he do more to bring their loved ones home. Some 61,000 people are estimated to be missing in the country, and relatives fear that austerity measures, which could see a 75 percent budget cut to a government agency that provides funding and support to families of the disappeared, will only make matters worse. While coronavirus-related lockdowns have stalled search efforts, gang violence and disappearances have continued.
Europe’s last dictator. Ahead of what are usually Potemkin presidential elections due to be held in Belarus in August, independent opposition candidates are experiencing a groundswell in support from a public frustrated by years of economic and political stagnation and President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s devastating determination to ignore the pandemic. Belarusians have waited in line for hours to sign petitions in support of opposition candidates, including a popular anti-corruption video blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski. Ex-banker Viktor Babariko and former Ambassador to the United States Valery Tsepkalo have also thrown their hats into the ring in a sign of growing discontent among the country’s elite. Babariko and Tsikhanouski have already been arrested as part of a widening crackdown. While Lukashenko is likely to secure his sixth term in office, something had fundamentally shifted in Belarusian politics, writes Vitali Shkliarov in Foreign Policy.
What We’re Reading
Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, Catherine Belton, HarperCollins (U.K.) and Macmillan Publishers (U.S.), 640 pp., £22, April 2020 (, June 2020 in United States)
Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, by Catherine Belton
Next month Russians will take part in a predetermined referendum on constitutional amendments that could see President Vladimir Putin remain in office until 2036. Based on a dizzying array of interviews with Kremlin insiders, diplomats, and former intelligence operatives, Belton’s book offers the most comprehensive account to date of how Putin rose to become the longest-serving Russian ruler since Joseph Stalin.
A former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, Belton follows the money to deftly unravel the self-enrichment schemes used by Putin and his former KGB colleagues to pave their rise to power, while pulling no punches for the Western politicians and businesspeople who turned a blind eye. Already available in the United Kingdom, the book is out next Tuesday in the United States.
That’s it for this week.
For more from FP, visit foreignpolicy.com, subscribe here, or sign up for our other newsletters. Send your tips, comments, questions, or corrections to newsletters@foreignpolicy.com.


foreignpolicy--2020-06-19--Why Race Matters in International Relations

Race is not a perspective on international relations ; it is a central organizing feature of world politics .
Anti-Japanese racism guided and sustained U.S. engagement in World War II , and broader anti-Asian sentiment influenced the development and structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization .
During the Cold War , racism and anti-communism were inextricably linked in the containment strategy that defined Washington ’ s approach to Africa , Asia , Central America , the Caribbean , and South America .
And today race shapes threat perception and responses to violent extremism , inside and outside the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relations ( IR ) scholarship denies race as essential to understanding the world , to the cost of the field ’ s integrity .
Take the “ big three ” IR paradigms : realism , liberalism , and constructivism .
These dominant frames for understanding global politics are built on raced and racist intellectual foundations that limit the field ’ s ability to answer important questions about international security and organization .
Core concepts , like anarchy and hierarchy , are raced : They are rooted in discourses that center and favor Europe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and explicitly pit “ developed ” against “ undeveloped , ” “ modern ” against “ primitive , ” “ civilized ” against “ uncivilized.
” And their use is racist : These invented binaries are used to explain subjugation and exploitation around the globe While realism and liberalism were built on Eurocentrism and used to justify white imperialism , this fact is not widely acknowledged in the field .
For instance , according to neorealists , there exists a “ balance of power ” between and among “ great powers.
” Most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incidentally , white-majority states , and they sit atop the hierarchy , with small and notably less-white powers organized below them .
In a similar vein , raced hierarchies and conceptions of control ground the concept of cooperation in neoliberal thought : Major powers own the proverbial table , set the chairs , and arrange the place settings .
Constructivism , which rounds out the “ big three ” approaches , is perhaps best positioned to tackle race and racism .
Constructivists the as-given condition of anarchy and maintain that anarchy , security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based on shared ideas , histories , and experiences .
Yet with few notable exceptions , constructivists rarely acknowledge how race shapes what is shared .
Despite the dominance of the “ big three ” in the modern study of IR , many of the arguments they advance , such as the balance of power , are not actually supported by evidence outside of modern Europe .
Consider the democratic peace theory .
The theory makes two key propositions : that democracies are less likely to go to war than are nondemocracies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go to war with each other .
The historical record shows that democracies have actually not been less likely to fight wars—if you include their colonial conquests .
Meanwhile , in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa , democratizing states have experienced more internal conflicts than their less-democratic peers .
Yet leaders in the West have invoke democratic peace theory to justify invading and occupying less-democratic , and notably less-white , countries .
This is a key element of IR ’ s racial exclusion : The state system that IR @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years ’ War and established European principles of statehood and sovereignty .
Far from 17th-century relics , these principles are enshrined in the United Nations Charter—the foundation for global governance since 1945 .
But non-European nations did not voluntarily adopt European understandings of statehood and sovereignty , as IR scholars often mythologize .
Instead , Europe , justified by Westphalia , divided the world between the modern , “ civilized ” states and conquered those which they did not think belonged in the international system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , because IR privileges theorizing over historical description and analysis , the field enables this kind of whitewashing .
Western concepts are prioritized at the expense of their applicability in the world .
Krishna called this “ a systematic politics of forgetting , a willful amnesia , on the question of race.
” Importantly , IR has not always ignored race .
In the late 1800s and early 1900s , foundational texts invoked race as the linchpin holding together colonial administration and war .
Belief in white people ’ s biological and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the civilized and the savage that justified the former ’ s murderous exploitation of the latter .
Paul Samuel Reinsch , a founder of modern IR and foreign policy , christened the 20th century as the “ age of national imperialism.
” He concluded that states “ endeavor to increase [ their ] resources … through the absorption or exploitation of undeveloped regions and inferior races.
” Yet , he assured readers that this was “ not inconsistent with respect for … other nationalities ” because states avoid exerting control over “ highly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ race in the late 19th and early 20th centuries spread into academic journals and research institutions .
For example , the Journal of Race Development—the first academic IR journal , established in 1910—advanced racist treatises , including on the inability of “ native races ” to develop states without colonialism .
Nonetheless , the journal ’ s pages also included sharp critiques from W.E.B .
Du Bois and other scholars who were critical of European mercantilism .
In 1919 , the journal was rebranded as the Journal of International Relations without substantive changes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Foreign Affairs , was born .
The mid-20th century brought about some shifts in IR thinking and in foreign policy .
Black IR scholars , primarily working out of Howard University , developed a strong theoretical tradition that resists white-supremacist privileging of U.S. and European empires .
Anti-colonial revolutions in the 1950s , 1960s , and 1970s further problematized the promise of empire built into realist frameworks and the idealism of paternalist cooperation integral to liberal thought .
Mainstream IR theory , however , did not adapt or evolve its position on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ engaging with the subject altogether .
Between 1945 and 1993 , among the five major IR journals of the period—International Organization , International Studies Quarterly , Journal of Conflict Resolution , Review of International Studies , and World Politics—only one published an article with the word “ race ” in the title .
Another four articles included “ minorities ” and 13 included “ ethnicity.
” Since then , mainstream IR has neglected race in theorizing , in historical explanation , and in prescription , and shuttled race ( and gender ) to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When IR scholars do engage with race , it is often in discussions of outwardly raced issues such as colonialism .
Yet one can not comprehend world politics while ignoring race and racism .
Textbooks that neglect historical and modern slavery when explaining development and globalization obscure the realities of state-building and deny the harms committed in the process .
Similarly , when scholarship fails to call attention to the role that race plays in Western nations ’ use of international law as a pretext for military intervention , it provides cover for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Likewise , studies of trade and dispute settlement almost always overlook modern arbitration ’ s deep roots in the transatlantic slave trade .
This history is often lost in analyses of wins and losses in negotiations .
Race and the racism of historical statecraft are inextricable from the modern study and practice of international relations .
They are also not artefacts : Race continues to shape international and domestic threat perceptions and consequent foreign policy ; international responses to immigrants and refugees ; and access to health and environmental stability .
Because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racism seriously , it also does not take diversity and inclusion in the profession seriously .
In the United States , which is the largest producer of IR scholarship , only 8 percent of scholars identify as black or Latino , compared to 12 percent of scholars in comparative politics and 14 percent in U.S. politics .
And that ’ s despite the fact that the issues that IR scholars study , such as war , migration , human rights , development , and climate change , have a disproportionate impact on black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of color .
There are a number of reasons for this imbalance .
First , there is a pervasive and corrosive tendency among white scholars to assume that scholars of color study race , ethnicity , and identity politics in the United States or in an area-studies context .
Though scholars of color do work in these areas , there is no intellectual reason to expect that they all do so .
This tendency to presume , even assign , where different people belong communicates to IR scholars of color that they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( ISA ) , the main professional association for IR scholars and practitioners , does not offer a research or conference section on race .
Nor do any of its organized sections mention race in their descriptions .
While ISA does have several identity-related caucuses , including the Women ’ s Caucus for International Studies , there is no caucus for scholars of color .
Scholars of color also experience overt racism within ISA and other professional associations .
In 2018 , Meg Guliford described her experience as a black scholar at an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assumed she was hotel staff and one asked when she planned to bring out more food .
How IR is taught also perpetuates the research and professional inequalities we detail above .
In a 2014 survey of IR professors , nearly 40 percent reported organizing their courses by the traditional paradigms of IR studies .
Since much paradigmatic work is dominated by white men and is guided by Eurocentrism , women , nonwhite people , and issues of race and racism are displaced in course syllabi .
Interestingly , how professors organize their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach to studying IR .
In that same survey , 26 percent of respondents reported that they do not use paradigmatic analysis .
This casts even more doubt on the paradigms as core , yet exclusionary , frameworks .
IR scholars can not cast off the field ’ s intellectual history .
But neither can scholars accept it uncritically .
Western dominance and white privilege permeate IR scholarship , teaching , and professional associations , to the cost of the field ’ s integrity , and to the cost of the relevance and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ To help remedy these problems , IR scholars should focus their efforts on three initiatives .
First , those who teach IR must address race and racism in the field and acknowledge the usefulness of critical approaches .
This means integrating scholarly works on race in undergraduate and graduate courses , and not as a segregated “ week on race ” at the end of the term .
Despite the field ’ s overarching exclusion in this area , there are excellent scholars working on race in IR .
Introductory courses could also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conflict , human rights , environmental politics—in order to create more points of entry for relevant scholarship and for nonwhite students .
Second , universities must improve representation among scholars and increase diversity in intellectual thought .
IR programs should strive to recruit , train , and retain diverse graduate and faculty candidates who can offer new perspectives and drive innovation .
Third , IR professional associations must become more inclusive .
One concrete step would be for ISA and other IR hubs to organize sections on race .
These steps are straightforward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power and influence must simply have the will and do the work .

FP-Ask-the-editor-Ravi-FPLive-Site-3-2-2 Viewers of FP Live regularly see host Ravi Agrawal quiz world leaders and policymakers about issues such as Russia’s war in Ukraine, the state of the global economy, and competition betwee...Show moren the United States and China. Now it’s your turn to interrogate the host. In a special Ask-Me-Anything episode on FP Live, Agrawal will field your questions in conversation with executive editor Amelia Lester. Anything the magazine regularly covers is fair game, in addition to questions about how FP makes its decisions. The Ask-Me-Anything edition is open to anyone. Please write in and submit your questions below.
A crowd of women wearing scarves on their heads and colorful garb hold torches during a demonstration demanding the restoration of peace in India's northeastern Manipur state in Imphal on July 10. Is the world standing by as ethnic cleansing takes place in the Indian state of Manipur? Since May, violence between the Meitei ethnic majority and the Kuki minority has torn through the sma...Show morell state bordering Myanmar in India’s northeast. Mobs have burned hundreds of homes and churches, and tens of thousands of people have fled. The conflict has largely been ignored by Western media, despite global attention focused on India, which is the rotating host of the G-20 this year. What is actually going on in Manipur? What should New Delhi do? What are the ramifications for India, Myanmar, and the world? Indian journalist Barkha Dutt has reported extensively from Manipur this year. Join her and defense expert Sushant Singh, who has chronicled the conflict in Foreign Policy, for a FP Live conversation with host Ravi Agrawal.


foreignpolicy--2020-06-19--China Could Be in Reach of Hawaii After Monday’s Election in Kiribati

China Could Be in Reach of Hawaii After Monday ’ s Election in Kiribati A watershed moment in China ’ s expansion across the Pacific toward the Americas will unfold Monday when Kiribati , a country with only 110,000 inhabitants that controls a vast expanse of ocean , decides whether to reelect a pro-China president or choose a challenger pledged to recognize Taiwan .
At stake for China is the possibility of gaining a foothold in Christmas Island , located just 1,300 miles south of Honolulu , home to the U.S. Pacific Command.At stake for China is the possibility of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Christmas Island , the world ’ s biggest atoll with a land area of 150 square miles .
It ’ s located just 1,300 miles south of Honolulu , home to the U.S. Pacific Command .
Building port facilities on Christmas Island , ostensibly for tourism but capable of use by Chinese warships , is a concern for the U.S. military .
For Taiwan , reversing Kiribati ’ s 2019 defection—which brought the number of countries worldwide that recognize its existence as a sovereign nation down to 15—would be a significant victory for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China has more to win than Taiwan has to lose at this point , ” said Natasha Kassam of the Lowy Institute in Sydney .
Even if the pro-China candidate wins , “ the domestic political cost of switching allegiances in Kiribati has already served its purpose as a cautionary tale to other partners of Taiwan , ” Kassam told Foreign Policy .
When Kiribati President Taneti Maamau announced last September his decision to switch his country ’ s support to Beijing , even members of his own party were surprised .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United Nations and United States , Teburoro Tito ( himself a former Kiribati president ) , was in the U.N. secretary-general ’ s office arguing the case for Taiwan to attend meetings organized by the U.N. when he learned of the decision .
Maamau was elected in 2016 on a pledge to retain ties with Taiwan , which his predecessor , Anote Tong , had initiated in 2003 .
The sudden switch to Beijing did not go down well in Kiribati .
Demonstrations were held with protesters waving Taiwanese flags and chanting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hate China , we want peace.
” The leader of the opposition , Titabu Tabane , accused the government of failing to consult the people .
The move also caused enough members of parliament from Maamau ’ s party , including its chairman , Banuera Berina , to bolt to the opposition and deprive Maamau of his previously comfortable majority when a new parliament was elected in April .
According to Kiribati sources , there were several reasons for Maamau ’ s switch from Taiwan to Beijing.Demonstrations were held with protesters waving Taiwanese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taiwan , we hate China , we want peace.
” First , Maamau ’ s administration has espoused multiple scientific studies that predict his country ’ s sand islands will gain elevation in tandem with a sea level expected to rise by 1 meter by century ’ s end—not drown within decades as prophesied by his predecessor , Tong .
So Maamau has embarked on an ambitious program to develop the country and lift his people out of poverty , leveraging tourism—mostly on Christmas Island—and the tuna fishery .
For that , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 92-seat Embraer aircraft to link Tarawa , the capital island , to Christmas 2,000 miles to the east—and to the world beyond .
It reportedly paid $ 60 million for one aircraft and asked Taiwan for a grant to buy the second one—a tall order given that Taiwan ’ s annual aid to Kiribati was around $ 10 million .
Taiwan demurred , in keeping with Tsai ’ s opposition to checkbook diplomacy .
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu , in his announcement of the diplomatic break , put it this way : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Taiwan to purchase commercial airplanes.
” Instead , Wu said , Taiwan offered to provide a preferential commercial loan , but it was rejected by Kiribati .
However , Berina—the former party leader , defector , and now Maamau ’ s challenger in Monday ’ s election—said in an interview that he was told that Taiwan had given Kiribati officials a very different story .
They allegedly offered Kiribati a grant covertly disguised as a loan : When its repayment came due , Taiwan would increase bilateral aid in proportion , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taiwan .
The claim could not be verified .
A second reason for the switch to Beijing , according to government sources , is that the ruling party leadership feared that Taiwan would give money to the opponents of Maamau and his party in this year ’ s parliamentary and presidential elections .
Members of Maamau ’ s party , when they were in the opposition from 2003 to 2016 , often complained that Taiwan gave cash at election time to parliamentarians of then-President Tong ’ s party , and the leaders of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alliance would reemerge .
Under Kiribati law , there are no restrictions on who may give money to elected officials , and Kiribati is in the bottom third of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index .
A third reason , proffered by the pro-Taiwan opposition , is in line with complaints about Chinese bribery offers in small countries that suddenly found themselves in Beijing ’ s embrace , such as the Solomon Islands , which flipped allegiances four days before Kiribati .
There , Daniel Sudaini , premier of the Solomon ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Australian 60 Minutes team that he was offered ( and had turned down ) $ 1 million to back the switch .
He added on camera that he thought there were a lot of corrupt officials in his government.Kiribati officials have spoken of Chinese aid in the hundreds of millions of dollars , but they have not provided much detail .
The Australian crew , on a tour of the Pacific to investigate China ’ s expansion , had just traveled to Tarawa in Kiribati when it was placed under house arrest at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , it lacked proper authorizations to film .
Before they were expelled on the next plane out , the journalists were visited in their hotel by Ieremia Tabai , Kiribati ’ s first president who is now an opposition parliamentarian , and Tabane , the opposition leader .
The latter called their detention “ a sad day for democracy.
” A reporter quoted them as saying that China had “ doled out A $ 250,000 cash within weeks of Kiribati ’ s recognition of Beijing.
” ( Kiribati ’ s currency is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interview with Foreign Policy , Berina , the opposition presidential candidate , said that when Maamau announced the switch and several parliamentarians protested that Taiwan was popular and they feared losing their seats as a result of the switch , Maamau told them not to worry “ because we will be getting campaign money from China.
” Berina added : “ I was shocked.
” Though government officials have spoken of Chinese aid in the hundreds of millions of dollars—which they swear will consist only of grants , not loans that would risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repay to China—they have not provided much detail .
But when Maamau made his first state visit to Beijing , he signed a Belt and Road Memorandum of Understanding that involved only loans , according to Berina , who was still the ruling party ’ s chairman at the time .
His claim could not be verified immediately .
A vivid illustration of China ’ s interest in Christmas Island came in an official photograph of the signing ceremony showing Maamau facing Chinese President Xi Jinping , with the minister for the Line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part , on his right .
Mikarite Temari , the minister , is a relatively peripheral figure in Kiribati politics but key to developing Christmas and its port infrastructure.Whether China continues its expansion across the Pacific to displace the United States and its allies may very well be decided by this tiny island nation .
Kiribati sources said the campaign ahead of Monday ’ s election has focused largely on China : Would it use aid promises and bribes to flood the country with its workers to build white elephant projects , possibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nations devoid of it , as the opposition claims ?
Will it press its expansionist agenda , taking over Christmas just as China tried , within days of gaining recognition from the Solomons , to lease all of Tulagi Island , the former capital under British and Japanese rule with a perfect deep-water harbor ?
Or will the Maamau administration hold firm and take only grants that materially benefit the population , such as for adaptation measures against sea-level rise and tourism infrastructure to lure visitors from Hawaii , for whom pristine Christmas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tito , the U.N. and U.S. envoy , said that even though it gives no aid to Kiribati , the United States remains popular for cultural and historical reasons , not least for having liberated what was then still a British protectorate from Japanese occupation in the 1943 Battle of Tarawa .
When Kiribati gained independence from Britain a little more than 40 years ago , it signed a friendship treaty with the United States under which no military installations can be built in Kiribati by other countries without Washington ’ s consent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imagine , Tito said that the treaty ’ s abrogation , with due six-month notice , was “ possible.
” The global strategic significance of Kiribati ’ s election on Monday could therefore not be higher .
Whether China continues its expansion across the Pacific to displace the United States and its allies may very well be decided by this tiny island nation .

A watershed moment in China’s expansion across the Pacific toward the Americas unfolded on June 22 when Kiribati, a country with only 110,000 inhabitants that controls a vast expanse of ocean, reelected a pro-China president instead of choosing a challenger pledged to recognize Taiwan.
A watershed moment in China’s expansion across the Pacific toward the Americas unfolded on June 22 when Kiribati, a country with only 110,000 inhabitants that controls a vast expanse of ocean, reelected a pro-China president instead of choosing a challenger pledged to recognize Taiwan.
Kiribati state media reported that incumbent President Taneti Maamau handily beat opposition leader Banuera Berina, an erstwhile Maamau ally who became his rival over the question of relations with Beijing. China featured heavily in the election campaign, including promises of aid and allegations of bribery.
Maamau’s reelection gives China the possibility of gaining a foothold in Christmas Island, located just 1,300 miles south of Honolulu, home to the U.S. Pacific Command.Maamau’s reelection gives China the tantalizing possibility of gaining a foothold in Kiribati’s Christmas Island, the world’s biggest atoll with a land area of 150 square miles. It’s located just 1,300 miles south of Honolulu, home to the U.S. Pacific Command. Building port facilities on Christmas Island, ostensibly for tourism but capable of use by Chinese warships, is a concern for the U.S. military.
For Taiwan, reversing Kiribati’s 2019 defection—which brought the number of countries worldwide that recognize its existence as a sovereign nation down to 15—would have been a significant victory for President Tsai Ing-wen.
When Maamau announced last September his decision to switch his country’s support to Beijing, even members of his own party were surprised. In fact, Kiribati’s ambassador to the United Nations and United States, Teburoro Tito (himself a former Kiribati president), was in the U.N. secretary-general’s office arguing the case for Taiwan to attend meetings organized by the U.N. when he learned of the decision. Maamau was elected in 2016 on a pledge to retain ties with Taiwan, which his predecessor, Anote Tong, had initiated in 2003.
The sudden switch to Beijing in 2019 initially did not go down well in Kiribati. Demonstrations were held with protesters waving Taiwanese flags and chanting, “We love Taiwan, we hate China, we want peace.” The leader of the opposition, Titabu Tabane, accused the government of failing to consult the people.
The move also caused enough members of parliament from Maamau’s party, including its chairman, Berina, to bolt to the opposition and deprive Maamau of his previously comfortable majority when a new parliament was elected in April.
According to Kiribati sources, there were several reasons for Maamau’s switch from Taiwan to Beijing.Demonstrations were held with protesters waving Taiwanese flags and chanting, “We love Taiwan, we hate China, we want peace.”
First, Maamau’s administration has espoused multiple scientific studies that predict his country’s sand islands will gain elevation in tandem with a sea level expected to rise by 1 meter by century’s end—not drown within decades as prophesied by his predecessor, Tong. So Maamau has embarked on an ambitious program to develop the country and lift his people out of poverty, leveraging tourism—mostly on Christmas Island—and the tuna fishery.
For that, the government decided it needed two long-range, 92-seat Embraer aircraft to link Tarawa, the capital island, to Christmas 2,000 miles to the east—and to the world beyond. It reportedly paid $60 million for one aircraft and asked Taiwan for a grant to buy the second one—a tall order given that Taiwan’s annual aid to Kiribati was around $10 million. Taiwan demurred, in keeping with Tsai’s opposition to checkbook diplomacy. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, in his announcement of the diplomatic break, put it this way: “Maamau has requested massive financial assistance from Taiwan to purchase commercial airplanes.” Instead, Wu said, Taiwan offered to provide a preferential commercial loan, but it was rejected by Kiribati.
However, Berina—the former party leader, defector, and now Maamau’s challenger in Monday’s election—said in an interview that he was told that Taiwan had given Kiribati officials a very different story. They allegedly offered Kiribati a grant covertly disguised as a loan: When its repayment came due, Taiwan would increase bilateral aid in proportion, so the loan reimbursement would be covered by Taiwan. The claim could not be verified.
A second reason for the switch to Beijing, according to government sources, is that the ruling party leadership feared that Taiwan would give money to the opponents of Maamau and his party in this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections. Members of Maamau’s party, when they were in the opposition from 2003 to 2016, often complained that Taiwan gave cash at election time to parliamentarians of then-President Tong’s party, and the leaders of Maamau’s party feared the old alliance would reemerge. Under Kiribati law, there are no restrictions on who may give money to elected officials, and Kiribati is in the bottom third of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
A third reason, proffered by the pro-Taiwan opposition, is in line with complaints about Chinese bribery offers in small countries that suddenly found themselves in Beijing’s embrace, such as the Solomon Islands, which flipped allegiances four days before Kiribati. There, Daniel Sudaini, premier of the Solomon’s largest island, Malaita, told an Australian 60 Minutes team that he was offered (and had turned down) $1 million to back the switch. He added on camera that he thought there were a lot of corrupt officials in his government.Kiribati officials have spoken of Chinese aid in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but they have not provided much detail.
The Australian crew, on a tour of the Pacific to investigate China’s expansion, had just traveled to Tarawa in Kiribati when it was placed under house arrest at its hotel upon arrival because, officials said, it lacked proper authorizations to film. Before they were expelled on the next plane out, the journalists were visited in their hotel by Ieremia Tabai, Kiribati’s first president who is now an opposition parliamentarian, and Tabane, the opposition leader. The latter called their detention “a sad day for democracy.” A reporter quoted them as saying that China had “doled out A$250,000 cash within weeks of Kiribati’s recognition of Beijing.” (Kiribati’s currency is the Australian dollar.)
In an interview with Foreign Policy, Berina, the opposition presidential candidate, said that when Maamau announced the switch and several parliamentarians protested that Taiwan was popular and they feared losing their seats as a result of the switch, Maamau told them not to worry “because we will be getting campaign money from China.” Berina added: “I was shocked.”
Though government officials have spoken of Chinese aid in the hundreds of millions of dollars—which they swear will consist only of grants, not loans that would risk trapping Kiribati in debt it could not repay to China—they have not provided much detail. But when Maamau made his first state visit to Beijing, he signed a Belt and Road Memorandum of Understanding that involved only loans, according to Berina, who was still the ruling party’s chairman at the time. His claim could not be verified immediately.
A vivid illustration of China’s interest in Christmas Island came in an official photograph of the signing ceremony showing Maamau facing Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the minister for the Line Islands, of which Christmas is a part, on his right. Mikarite Temari, the minister, is a relatively peripheral figure in Kiribati politics but key to developing Christmas and its port infrastructure.Whether China continues its expansion across the Pacific to displace the United States and its allies may just have been decided by this tiny island nation.
Kiribati sources said the campaign ahead of the June 22 election focused largely on China: Would it use aid promises and bribes to flood the country with its workers to build white elephant projects, possibly bringing COVID-19 to one of the last nations devoid of it, as the opposition claims? Will it press its expansionist agenda, taking over Christmas just as China tried, within days of gaining recognition from the Solomons, to lease all of Tulagi Island, the former capital under British and Japanese rule with a perfect deep-water harbor? Or will the Maamau administration hold firm and take only grants that materially benefit the population, such as for adaptation measures against sea-level rise and tourism infrastructure to lure visitors from Hawaii, for whom pristine Christmas is the closest accessible tropical atoll?
Tito, the U.N. and U.S. envoy, said that even though it gives no aid to Kiribati, the United States remains popular for cultural and historical reasons, not least for having liberated what was then still a British protectorate from Japanese occupation in the 1943 Battle of Tarawa. When Kiribati gained independence from Britain a little more than 40 years ago, it signed a friendship treaty with the United States under which no military installations can be built in Kiribati by other countries without Washington’s consent. Though he found it hard to imagine, Tito said that the treaty’s abrogation, with due six-month notice, was “possible.”
The global strategic significance of Maamau’s victory could therefore not be higher. China’s continued expansion across the Pacific to displace the United States and its allies may very well have been decided by this tiny island nation.


foreignpolicy--2020-06-19--The Real Reason the United States Lags on LGBTQ Rights

The Real Reason the United States Lags on LGBTQ Rights By a 6-3 margin , on June 15 , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—a provision that bars discrimination based on a number of characteristics , including sex—applies to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity .
Aside from the fact that the ruling was penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch , a Trump appointee and replacement for former Justice Antonin Scalia , for decades the most reliable opponent of LGBTQ rights in the Supreme Court , the ruling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The first one is that the ruling closed part of a long and tortured struggle to end legal discrimination against LGBTQ people in U.S. history .
This effort dates to 1974 , when Rep. Bella Abzug ( D-N.Y. ) introduced the Equality Act in the U.S. House of Representatives .
Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots , the Equality Act proposed adding prohibitions against discrimination in federal programs , housing , and public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make it out of the review committee .
In 1994 , the Equality Act was reimagined as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act , which primarily dealt with workplace discrimination .
It likewise failed to become the law of the land .
In 2019 , the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives finally passed a new version of the Equality Act .
But the Republican-controlled Senate never acted on it .
This week , the Supreme Court effectively bypassed this stalled legislative process .
The second reason is that the ruling , known as Bostock v. Clayton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ standing as the last major Western democracy without nationwide legal protection against LGBTQ discrimination .
Until last week , such protection was only available in the United States through a patchwork of state and local laws that did not cover the entirety of the country .
In fact , only half of all LGBTQ adults in the United States lived in states that offered protection against LGTBQ discrimination .
This situation allowed for some troubling situations .
In Texas , for example , a person could legally marry someone of the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fired or denied the opportunity to rent a home for doing so .
With the Supreme Court decision , such inequity has been addressed the same way most other discrimination against the LGBTQ community has been tackled in the past : through the courts , not the political process .
It is clear that the United States has a particularly troubled relationship with the push for LGBTQ equality .
Homosexual sex remained a crime in the country far longer than in any other Western democracy .
It was not until 2003 that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remaining anti-sodomy laws , in its landmark decision of Lawrence v. Texas .
At that time , 10 states—Alabama , Florida , Idaho , Louisiana , Mississippi , North Carolina , South Carolina , Michigan , Utah , and Virginia—still banned consensual sodomy regardless of the sex of those involved , and four—Texas , Kansas , Oklahoma , and Missouri—prohibited sodomy acts by same-sex couples .
By then , most countries in Western Europe and the Americas had long stopped considering it a crime : France made the change in 1791 , Brazil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and England and Wales in 1967 .
The United States was also one of the last major Western nations with laws and ordinances barring homosexuals from employment in the federal government , including the military .
And it was the only country to conceive of allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military as long as they kept their sexuality a secret .
The United States was among the last Western democracies to join the marriage equality movement .
By the time same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in the United States in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was already the norm in some twenty nations .
Among those were liberal stalwarts such as Canada , the Netherlands , and Sweden , but also places not especially known for their socially liberal policies , such as Argentina , Portugal , and Spain .
Even some developing nations , such as Brazil and South Africa , legalized same-sex marriage ahead of the United States .
According to the conventional wisdom , the United States ’ struggles with LGBTQ rights are rooted in the outsized role that religion plays in American politics and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset wrote in 1996 : “ Polls indicate Americans are the most churchgoing in Protestantism and the most fundamentalist in Christendom.… [ They ] have a stronger sense of moral absolutism than Europeans and even Canadians.
” That is certainly reflected in U.S. jurisprudence , which has been more homophobic than that in most other Western nations .
When in 1986 the Supreme Court upheld , in Bowers v. Hardwick , the legality of sodomy bans , Chief Justice Warren E. Burger rationalized the decision by explaining that “ condemnation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rooted in Judaeo-Christian moral and ethical standards.
” Religion in the United States has also enabled the Western world ’ s strongest backlash against LGBTQ rights .
Save Our Children , the 1977 anti-gay crusade led by country-Western singer Anita Bryant , which was famous for depicting homosexual males as predatory pedophiles , argued that “ God gave mothers the divine right to reproduce and a divine commission to protect our children , in our homes , business , and especially our schools.
” Once embraced by televangelist Jerry Falwell , the founder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directly responsible for bringing the evangelical movement into the Republican Party , religiously fueled homophobia reached unprecedented heights .
In his 1980 manifesto Listen , America !
Falwell wrote that “ homosexuality is Satan ’ s diabolical attack upon the family , God ’ s order in Creation.
” With Falwell ’ s backing , protections for LGBTQ citizens all over the country began to crumble and the movement to nullify anti-sodomy laws was stopped cold .
In the 2000s , a coalition of Evangelical , Catholic , and Mormon leaders likewise came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the grounds that it would bring about the end of traditional marriage and the demise of the family .
The movement succeeded in banning same-sex marriage in 31 states .
That said , the “ religious thesis ” is not unimpeachable .
Indeed , it could well be a distraction .
After all , other deeply religious societies have made tremendous progress in advancing LGBTQ rights .
Moreover , the American religious landscape has changed dramatically in recent decades as a consequence of rising secularism .
As recently noted by the Atlantic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historical tether between American identity and faith snapped .
Religious non-affiliation in the U.S. started to rise—and rise , and rise.
” By 2018 , the percentage of so-called “ nones ” ( an assortment of atheists , agnostics , and spiritual dabblers ) had approached almost one-quarter of the population .
The magazine cited three historical events as driving the United States ’ “ nonreligious lurch ” : the melding of the Republican Party with the Christian right , the end of the Cold War , and 9/11 .
Social movements striving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ achieve their rights through the same constitution that once justified their oppression .
A look at the experience of other countries points to more compelling factors behind the United States ’ slow and agonizing pace on LGBTQ rights .
For starters , progress has been hindered by the absence in U.S. history of a major reckoning during which inequality was tackled comprehensively .
Consider by contrast the cases of Brazil and South Africa , which like the United States have multiracial populations , a long history of systemic discrimination , and rich religious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constitutions intended to address past discrimination ( Brazil ’ s in 1988 and South Africa ’ s in 1996 ) made any form of inequality unlikely to survive constitutional scrutiny .
In the United States , by contrast , social movements striving for equality have had to seek to achieve their rights through the same constitution that once justified their oppression .
To be sure , many marginalized groups in the United States , including LGBTQ people , have found success in the courts under the 14th Amendment mandating equal protection under the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , time-consuming , and the battle is usually accompanied by a backlash .
After the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws were unconstitutional , public support for homosexuality plummeted .
According to a Gallup poll in July 2003 , just one month after Lawrence v. Texas was announced , only 48 percent of respondents believed that gay and lesbian sex should be legal , down from 60 percent two months before .
Anti-LGBTQ rights activists seized the moment to launch a campaign to ban same-sex marriage at the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage in 2015 , the right has fought back with a vengeance .
According to the American Civil Liberties Union , from 2013 to 2017 , legislatures across the United States have introduced 348 bills , 23 of which have become law , that could limit or undermine LGBTQ rights .
At least 70 bills came in the first half of 2017 alone , a steep increase from previous years .
Many of these measures fall under the category of “ religious freedom restoration acts , ” which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from any governmental regulation that would force them to violate sincerely held religious beliefs .
Another important comparative point is how timid U.S. political parties have been in embracing LGBTQ equality .
Britain ’ s Labour Party decriminalized homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967 , two years before the Stonewall Riots , while the Conservative Party-led government legalized same-sex marriage in 2013 .
By contrast , the Democratic Party only embraced same-sex marriage in 2012 , and Trump is running for reelection on a Republican Party platform against same-sex marriage and in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lack of bold party leadership on LGBTQ issues in the United States has meant that the LGBTQ movement has had to fend for itself politically .
It has also meant that LGBTQ equality has been undercut by other social movements .
During the 1960s , for example , gay African-Americans were sidelined in the civil rights movement .
This was most famously the case of Bayard Rustin , recognized as the chief strategist behind the 1963 March on Washington .
He resigned from Martin Luther King Jr. ’ s staff amid persistent rumors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was openly gay , had been arrested and jailed for 60 days in 1953 on charges of “ lewd vagrancy , ” after being caught having sex with another man in a parked car .
Rustin , who died in 1987 , has only recently begun to receive recognition for his contribution to the civil rights movement .
In 2013 , President Barack Obama honored Rustin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom .
Earlier this year , California Gov .
Gavin Newsom granted Rustin a posthumous pardon .
The 1970s likewise witnessed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lesbians belonged in the movement .
Some feminist leaders , such as Betty Friedan , the co-founder of the National Organization for Women ( NOW ) , opposed the inclusion of lesbians in the organization , fearing that “ man-hating ” lesbians would hinder the cause of feminism .
In the end , NOW embraced the struggle for lesbian rights , but the split within the feminist movement was exploited by the Christian right to attack both lesbian rights and the feminist movement as a whole .
Finally , LGBTQ equality in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absence of a compelling language with which to wage the struggle .
Across Western Europe and Latin America , LGBTQ movements have availed themselves of the inspiring language of human rights to secure their rights , including same-sex marriage .
But in the United States , demands for equality rooted in human rights have fallen flat , given the success by conservatives in positioning international human rights efforts as un-American—a strange claim considering that prominent Americans played leading roles in drafting the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights .
Writing about the African @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Carol Anderson noted that attacks on human rights as a foreign corruption of American ideals “ systematically eliminated human rights as a viable option for the mainstream African American leadership.
” Surely , we should rejoice in the U.S. Supreme Court doing the right thing in banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination .
But this should not blind us to the fact that the struggle for equality in the United States has been harder and caused more anguish to the LGBTQ community than almost anywhere else in the West .
And like past rulings advancing LGBTQ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could well provoke another backlash .
For a country that regards itself as the cradle of freedom , this is not something to be proud of .

By a 6-3 margin, on June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—a provision that bars discrimination based on a number of characteristics, including sex—applies to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Aside from the fact that the ruling was penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee and replacement for former Justice Antonin Scalia, for decades the most reliable opponent of LGBTQ rights in the Supreme Court, the ruling was noteworthy for at least two reasons.
By a 6-3 margin, on June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—a provision that bars discrimination based on a number of characteristics, including sex—applies to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Aside from the fact that the ruling was penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee and replacement for former Justice Antonin Scalia, for decades the most reliable opponent of LGBTQ rights in the Supreme Court, the ruling was noteworthy for at least two reasons.
The first one is that the ruling closed part of a long and tortured struggle to end legal discrimination against LGBTQ people in U.S. history. This effort dates to 1974, when Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) introduced the Equality Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Equality Act proposed adding prohibitions against discrimination in federal programs, housing, and public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bill did not even make it out of the review committee. In 1994, the Equality Act was reimagined as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which primarily dealt with workplace discrimination. It likewise failed to become the law of the land. In 2019, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives finally passed a new version of the Equality Act. But the Republican-controlled Senate never acted on it. This week, the Supreme Court effectively bypassed this stalled legislative process.
The second reason is that the ruling, known as Bostock v. Clayton County, also changed the United States’ standing as the last major Western democracy without nationwide legal protection against LGBTQ discrimination. Until last week, such protection was only available in the United States through a patchwork of state and local laws that did not cover the entirety of the country. In fact, only half of all LGBTQ adults in the United States lived in states that offered protection against LGTBQ discrimination. This situation allowed for some troubling situations. In Texas, for example, a person could legally marry someone of the same sex, but they could also be fired or denied the opportunity to rent a home for doing so. With the Supreme Court decision, such inequity has been addressed the same way most other discrimination against the LGBTQ community has been tackled in the past: through the courts, not the political process.
It is clear that the United States has a particularly troubled relationship with the push for LGBTQ equality. Homosexual sex remained a crime in the country far longer than in any other Western democracy. It was not until 2003 that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the last remaining anti-sodomy laws, in its landmark decision of Lawrence v. Texas. At that time, 10 states—Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, Utah, and Virginia—still banned consensual sodomy regardless of the sex of those involved, and four—Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri—prohibited sodomy acts by same-sex couples. By then, most countries in Western Europe and the Americas had long stopped considering it a crime: France made the change in 1791, Brazil in 1830, Mexico in 1871, and England and Wales in 1967.
The United States was also one of the last major Western nations with laws and ordinances barring homosexuals from employment in the federal government, including the military. And it was the only country to conceive of allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military as long as they kept their sexuality a secret. The United States was among the last Western democracies to join the marriage equality movement. By the time same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in the United States in 2015—on orders from the U.S. Supreme Court—it was already the norm in some twenty nations. Among those were liberal stalwarts such as Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden, but also places not especially known for their socially liberal policies, such as Argentina, Portugal, and Spain. Even some developing nations, such as Brazil and South Africa, legalized same-sex marriage ahead of the United States.
According to the conventional wisdom, the United States’ struggles with LGBTQ rights are rooted in the outsized role that religion plays in American politics and culture. Remarking on this point, sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset wrote in 1996: “Polls indicate Americans are the most churchgoing in Protestantism and the most fundamentalist in Christendom.… [They] have a stronger sense of moral absolutism than Europeans and even Canadians.” That is certainly reflected in U.S. jurisprudence, which has been more homophobic than that in most other Western nations. When in 1986 the Supreme Court upheld, in Bowers v. Hardwick, the legality of sodomy bans, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger rationalized the decision by explaining that “condemnation of [homosexual] practices is firmly rooted in Judaeo-Christian moral and ethical standards.”
Religion in the United States has also enabled the Western world’s strongest backlash against LGBTQ rights. Save Our Children, the 1977 anti-gay crusade led by country-Western singer Anita Bryant, which was famous for depicting homosexual males as predatory pedophiles, argued that “God gave mothers the divine right to reproduce and a divine commission to protect our children, in our homes, business, and especially our schools.” Once embraced by televangelist Jerry Falwell, the founder of Moral Majority and the person most directly responsible for bringing the evangelical movement into the Republican Party, religiously fueled homophobia reached unprecedented heights. In his 1980 manifesto Listen, America! Falwell wrote that “homosexuality is Satan’s diabolical attack upon the family, God’s order in Creation.” With Falwell’s backing, protections for LGBTQ citizens all over the country began to crumble and the movement to nullify anti-sodomy laws was stopped cold. In the 2000s, a coalition of Evangelical, Catholic, and Mormon leaders likewise came together to campaign against same-sex marriage on the grounds that it would bring about the end of traditional marriage and the demise of the family. The movement succeeded in banning same-sex marriage in 31 states.
That said, the “religious thesis” is not unimpeachable. Indeed, it could well be a distraction. After all, other deeply religious societies have made tremendous progress in advancing LGBTQ rights. Moreover, the American religious landscape has changed dramatically in recent decades as a consequence of rising secularism. As recently noted by the Atlantic, “In the early 1990s, the historical tether between American identity and faith snapped. Religious non-affiliation in the U.S. started to rise—and rise, and rise.” By 2018, the percentage of so-called “nones” (an assortment of atheists, agnostics, and spiritual dabblers) had approached almost one-quarter of the population. The magazine cited three historical events as driving the United States’ “nonreligious lurch”: the melding of the Republican Party with the Christian right, the end of the Cold War, and 9/11.
Social movements striving for equality have had to seek to achieve their rights through the same constitution that once justified their oppression.
A look at the experience of other countries points to more compelling factors behind the United States’ slow and agonizing pace on LGBTQ rights. For starters, progress has been hindered by the absence in U.S. history of a major reckoning during which inequality was tackled comprehensively. Consider by contrast the cases of Brazil and South Africa, which like the United States have multiracial populations, a long history of systemic discrimination, and rich religious traditions. In both countries, brand-new constitutions intended to address past discrimination (Brazil’s in 1988 and South Africa’s in 1996) made any form of inequality unlikely to survive constitutional scrutiny. In the United States, by contrast, social movements striving for equality have had to seek to achieve their rights through the same constitution that once justified their oppression.
To be sure, many marginalized groups in the United States, including LGBTQ people, have found success in the courts under the 14th Amendment mandating equal protection under the law. But piecemeal litigation is expensive, time-consuming, and the battle is usually accompanied by a backlash. After the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws were unconstitutional, public support for homosexuality plummeted. According to a Gallup poll in July 2003, just one month after Lawrence v. Texas was announced, only 48 percent of respondents believed that gay and lesbian sex should be legal, down from 60 percent two months before. Anti-LGBTQ rights activists seized the moment to launch a campaign to ban same-sex marriage at the state and federal levels.
Similarly, since Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, the right has fought back with a vengeance. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, from 2013 to 2017, legislatures across the United States have introduced 348 bills, 23 of which have become law, that could limit or undermine LGBTQ rights. At least 70 bills came in the first half of 2017 alone, a steep increase from previous years. Many of these measures fall under the category of “religious freedom restoration acts,” which exempt individuals, businesses, and organizations from any governmental regulation that would force them to violate sincerely held religious beliefs.
Another important comparative point is how timid U.S. political parties have been in embracing LGBTQ equality. Britain’s Labour Party decriminalized homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967, two years before the Stonewall Riots, while the Conservative Party-led government legalized same-sex marriage in 2013. By contrast, the Democratic Party only embraced same-sex marriage in 2012, and Trump is running for reelection on a Republican Party platform against same-sex marriage and in favor of gay conversion therapy. The lack of bold party leadership on LGBTQ issues in the United States has meant that the LGBTQ movement has had to fend for itself politically. It has also meant that LGBTQ equality has been undercut by other social movements.
During the 1960s, for example, gay African-Americans were sidelined in the civil rights movement. This was most famously the case of Bayard Rustin, recognized as the chief strategist behind the 1963 March on Washington. He resigned from Martin Luther King Jr.’s staff amid persistent rumors about his sexuality. Rustin, who was openly gay, had been arrested and jailed for 60 days in 1953 on charges of “lewd vagrancy,” after being caught having sex with another man in a parked car. Rustin, who died in 1987, has only recently begun to receive recognition for his contribution to the civil rights movement. In 2013, President Barack Obama honored Rustin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Earlier this year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom granted Rustin a posthumous pardon.
The 1970s likewise witnessed a war within the feminist movement over whether lesbians belonged in the movement. Some feminist leaders, such as Betty Friedan, the co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), opposed the inclusion of lesbians in the organization, fearing that “man-hating” lesbians would hinder the cause of feminism. In the end, NOW embraced the struggle for lesbian rights, but the split within the feminist movement was exploited by the Christian right to attack both lesbian rights and the feminist movement as a whole.
Finally, LGBTQ equality in the United States has been hindered by the absence of a compelling language with which to wage the struggle. Across Western Europe and Latin America, LGBTQ movements have availed themselves of the inspiring language of human rights to secure their rights, including same-sex marriage. But in the United States, demands for equality rooted in human rights have fallen flat, given the success by conservatives in positioning international human rights efforts as un-American—a strange claim considering that prominent Americans played leading roles in drafting the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Writing about the African American experience with human rights, historian Carol Anderson noted that attacks on human rights as a foreign corruption of American ideals “systematically eliminated human rights as a viable option for the mainstream African American leadership.”
Surely, we should rejoice in the U.S. Supreme Court doing the right thing in banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination. But this should not blind us to the fact that the struggle for equality in the United States has been harder and caused more anguish to the LGBTQ community than almost anywhere else in the West. And like past rulings advancing LGBTQ equality, this new one banning discrimination could well provoke another backlash. For a country that regards itself as the cradle of freedom, this is not something to be proud of.


foreignpolicy--2020-06-19--I’m a Black Reporter. Covering America Almost Broke Me.

Years ago , when I was in the midst of covering the deaths of Trayvon Martin , Michael Brown , and others , I woke up one morning feeling a little uncomfortable and weird .
I didn ’ t think much about it , because as a reporter for a major international news organization I had to get to work .
I had spent months trying to collect news stories that documented the deaths of African Americans , like me , at the hands of police .
At work , I ’ d look at death again and again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve been a media witness at four executions , and my first professional beat was crime and policing , so I ’ d seen my share of dead bodies and dying people .
But at the same time as I dealt with violent death at work , I had responsibilities as a father and husband at home .
My first job every morning was to get my children up , feed them , get them dressed , and take them to day care in downtown Washington , D.C. , then drive to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my truck that morning and was driving out into traffic when it hit .
My chest seized , it became hard to breathe , and my heart started racing uncontrollably .
I remember thinking , “ I ’ m too young for a heart attack , but this is what I ’ d think one would feel like.
” But the only thing I could focus on was that I had two children in the car with me .
“ I ’ ve got to get my children somewhere safe before I hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind the wheel , ” I thought to myself .
So I rushed them to their day care and then staggered back out to my car .
I rushed from Southeast D.C. to Alexandria , Virginia , praying that I would make it in time .
And I did .
I checked myself into the emergency room and sat there until a doctor showed up and examined me .
After administering hours of tests , the doctor determined it wasn ’ t a heart attack or a stroke .
It was a panic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it wouldn ’ t be my last .
While reporting on the deaths of African Americans— Trayvon Martin , Michael Brown , Freddie Gray , and dozens of others—and covering other incidents of mistreatment and abuse that are less known , I had a few more panic attacks .
I learned to recognize them and manage my way through them without letting anyone else know .
I finally realized that witnessing , working with , explaining , covering , and consuming the idea of so much death and violence was having a serious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both as a journalist and as an African American man .
I was always angry and stressed .
I would snap at people , including my family , with little or no provocation .
I became less and less tolerant of people and tired of explaining racism and its detrimental effects , even if the questioner really just wanted to understand what was going on in the United States .
Eventually , I started hating having to go to work because I knew I would have to read , hear , listen to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And it was unrelenting .
I used to be able to leave work at work , but with the creation of 24-hour news channels , always-on cell phones with emails that had to be answered , and Slack channels that had to be monitored , letting editors ask questions at all times of night , there was never an end .
Nor was there an end to the stories of abuse , pain , and death .
News organizations have gotten used to the idea that war correspondents might carry a burden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given to foreign staff .
The BBC ’ s Fergal Keane set a courageous example when he stepped down from his role due to his own trauma .
But we haven ’ t started thinking about what it means to face that trauma and death at home .
I ’ m not asking for anyone ’ s sympathy .
I made the choice to be a journalist .
And I ’ m better now .
I ’ ve been better for a few years .
I ’ ve learned to cut off television @ @ @ @ @ @ @ telephone , and forcibly divorce myself from the news until absolutely necessary and then only in the doses I know I can handle .
But for you journalists out there right now , know that your body , your mind , and your soul have limits that they will all enforce , one way or another .
Just like first responders , journalists in the United States are firsthand witnesses to some of the worst in humanity : violence , hatred and death .
But unlike first responders , we have to immediately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aren ’ t there and aren ’ t seeing what we see .
We internalize it , describe it to the public , and then go right back out there again .
And then our friends and family , who go to work and ignore the news until after their daily work is done , want to talk to us about what happened , or watch it on television at home , never realizing they are just putting us back into the same trauma we witnessed at work .
And for black journalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be worse .
You know that it only takes a millisecond for the violence you ’ re witnessing to become violence being perpetrated against you , whether at a traffic stop , a protest , or a crime scene .
Seeing and living with all of that trauma will catch up to you .
Maybe not this week , or next week , or next month , but it will have an effect on you .
I should have seen a professional a long time ago .
That ’ s on me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the on-the-street journalist covering these protests , to demand time to take care of yourself .
An organization to which I belong , the National Association of Black Journalists , has a list of ways to cope during this time .
The news will be there when you get back , and , unfortunately , I promise you that there will be another atrocity , another protest , another death to be covered .
What you ’ re seeing , what you ’ re doing , is going to take a toll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and your friends .
Don ’ t become a victim of the trauma you ’ re trying to show the world .
Your work is too important for us to lose you too .

Years ago, when I was in the midst of covering the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and others, I woke up one morning feeling a little uncomfortable and weird.
Years ago, when I was in the midst of covering the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and others, I woke up one morning feeling a little uncomfortable and weird.
I didn’t think much about it, because as a reporter for a major international news organization I had to get to work. I had spent months trying to collect news stories that documented the deaths of African Americans, like me, at the hands of police. At work, I’d look at death again and again, something I was used to. I’ve been a media witness at four executions, and my first professional beat was crime and policing, so I’d seen my share of dead bodies and dying people.
But at the same time as I dealt with violent death at work, I had responsibilities as a father and husband at home. My first job every morning was to get my children up, feed them, get them dressed, and take them to day care in downtown Washington, D.C., then drive to work.
I loaded my children into my truck that morning and was driving out into traffic when it hit. My chest seized, it became hard to breathe, and my heart started racing uncontrollably.
I remember thinking, “I’m too young for a heart attack, but this is what I’d think one would feel like.” But the only thing I could focus on was that I had two children in the car with me. “I’ve got to get my children somewhere safe before I hit a lamppost or another car or die behind the wheel,” I thought to myself. So I rushed them to their day care and then staggered back out to my car.
I rushed from Southeast D.C. to Alexandria, Virginia, praying that I would make it in time. And I did. I checked myself into the emergency room and sat there until a doctor showed up and examined me. After administering hours of tests, the doctor determined it wasn’t a heart attack or a stroke. It was a panic attack, my very first.
But it wouldn’t be my last.
While reporting on the deaths of African Americans— Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, and dozens of others—and covering other incidents of mistreatment and abuse that are less known, I had a few more panic attacks. I learned to recognize them and manage my way through them without letting anyone else know.
I finally realized that witnessing, working with, explaining, covering, and consuming the idea of so much death and violence was having a serious physical and mental effect on me, both as a journalist and as an African American man. I was always angry and stressed. I would snap at people, including my family, with little or no provocation. I became less and less tolerant of people and tired of explaining racism and its detrimental effects, even if the questioner really just wanted to understand what was going on in the United States.
Eventually, I started hating having to go to work because I knew I would have to read, hear, listen to, or watch more trauma or death.
And it was unrelenting.
I used to be able to leave work at work, but with the creation of 24-hour news channels, always-on cell phones with emails that had to be answered, and Slack channels that had to be monitored, letting editors ask questions at all times of night, there was never an end. Nor was there an end to the stories of abuse, pain, and death.
News organizations have gotten used to the idea that war correspondents might carry a burden of trauma. PTSD counseling is often given to foreign staff. The BBC’s Fergal Keane set a courageous example when he stepped down from his role due to his own trauma. But we haven’t started thinking about what it means to face that trauma and death at home.
I’m not asking for anyone’s sympathy. I made the choice to be a journalist.
And I’m better now. I’ve been better for a few years. I’ve learned to cut off television, radio, internet, and my telephone, and forcibly divorce myself from the news until absolutely necessary and then only in the doses I know I can handle.
But for you journalists out there right now, know that your body, your mind, and your soul have limits that they will all enforce, one way or another.
Just like first responders, journalists in the United States are firsthand witnesses to some of the worst in humanity: violence, hatred and death. But unlike first responders, we have to immediately make it make sense to people who aren’t there and aren’t seeing what we see.
We internalize it, describe it to the public, and then go right back out there again.
And then our friends and family, who go to work and ignore the news until after their daily work is done, want to talk to us about what happened, or watch it on television at home, never realizing they are just putting us back into the same trauma we witnessed at work.
And for black journalists and other journalists of color, it can be worse. You know that it only takes a millisecond for the violence you’re witnessing to become violence being perpetrated against you, whether at a traffic stop, a protest, or a crime scene.
Seeing and living with all of that trauma will catch up to you. Maybe not this week, or next week, or next month, but it will have an effect on you.
I should have seen a professional a long time ago. That’s on me, but I’m telling you, the on-the-street journalist covering these protests, to demand time to take care of yourself.
An organization to which I belong, the National Association of Black Journalists, has a list of ways to cope during this time.
The news will be there when you get back, and, unfortunately, I promise you that there will be another atrocity, another protest, another death to be covered.
What you’re seeing, what you’re doing, is going to take a toll on you, your loved ones, and your friends. Don’t become a victim of the trauma you’re trying to show the world.
Your work is too important for us to lose you too.