April 14, 2023
Dear Friends,
CANVAS is delighted to bring you another issue of our weekly report!
A series of documents have emerged online purporting to contain highly classified Pentagon intelligence related to the Ukraine war and information gathering on close US allies. The information publicized potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on intelligence matters. One document refers to the presence of Western special forces operating inside Ukraine. Other documents say when a dozen new Ukrainian brigades will be ready for a prepared offensive, listing the tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery pieces provided by Ukraine’s Western allies.
According to the Taliban Defense Ministry, a raid on a National Resistance Front hideout in northern Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of eight rebel fighters, including the commander Akmal Amiri, on Tuesday. The National Resistance Front has operated in the Panjshir province since the Taliban takeover. The group comprises former security forces from the previous Western-backed government that swore to oppose the new government.
On Monday, the UN World Food Program announced that its mission in Afghanistan would need $800 million for the next six months to continue assisting people. The UN also stated on Tuesday that it is reviewing its presence in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women from working with the organization. A UN spokesperson said that the organization hopes to fulfill its mission to provide humanitarian support to the Afghan people, but the ban will require the UN to ” assess the scope, parameters, and consequences of the ban, and pause activities where impeded.” A Taliban spokesperson responded to the UN’s statement, stating that there are no obstacles for the U.N. to operate in Afghanistan after the ban on Afghan women working, and the organization should respect the decision.
According to the Taliban Defense Ministry, a raid on a National Resistance Front hideout in northern Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of eight rebel fighters, including the commander Akmal Amiri, on Tuesday. The National Resistance Front has operated in the Panjshir province since the Taliban takeover. The group comprises former security forces from the previous Western-backed government that swore to oppose the new government.
On Monday, the UN World Food Program announced that its mission in Afghanistan would need $800 million for the next six months to continue assisting people. The UN also stated on Tuesday that it is reviewing its presence in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women from working with the organization. A UN spokesperson said that the organization hopes to fulfill its mission to provide humanitarian support to the Afghan people, but the ban will require the UN to ” assess the scope, parameters, and consequences of the ban, and pause activities where impeded.” A Taliban spokesperson responded to the UN’s statement, stating that there are no obstacles for the U.N. to operate in Afghanistan after the ban on Afghan women working, and the organization should respect the decision.
A Lebanese banker and chairman of Lebanon’s AM Bank, Marwan Kheireddine, is officially under investigation by French authorities. Kheireddine is suspected of participating in a criminal organization and aggravated money laundering. This is the latest development in an international inquiry into embezzlement allegations against Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon’s central bank.
In his Easter service message, a senior Christian cleric in Lebanon urged for the expulsion of Syrian refugees from Lebanon. The Maronite Church’s patriarch, Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, claimed that the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees were “draining the state’s resources.” The Syrian Network for Human Rights accused Patriarch Bechara of using inflammatory language towards a vulnerable group.
The Central Bank of Cuba passed a resolution to lift a ban on cash deposits in US dollars this Monday. This means that Cubans will again be able to deposit dollars into their bank accounts after two years, during which this practice was banned due to the “continuing difficulties caused by the US embargo.” The decision that is estimated as surprising became effective immediately.
President Ortega’s religious persecution of the Catholic Church intensified during Holy Week as processions and other Catholic traditions were banned publicly. Worshippers had to hold all Easter activities within church groups to avoid confrontations with police or risk arrest. The Blue and White National Unity (UNAB), an opposition organization, reported 35 instances of human rights violations during Holy Week, including the arrests of nine parishioners participating in Holy Week activities and the detention of journalist Víctor Ticay, who was reporting on the tradition of La Reseña in southern Nicaragua.
Republicans expelled Rep. Justin Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones last week over their role in a gun control protest on the Tennessee State House floor after a Nashville school shooting left three children and three adults dead. This week, both representatives’ respective county commissioners reappointed them to their positions. Expelling the lawmakers has focused national attention on an issue Republicans would have liked to have blown over, gun control. An important racial component was added when the two Black representatives were ousted from their seats, but a white representative who participated in the same protest was not punished.
Access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty following conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone, which has been widely available for more than 20 years. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone, overruling decades of scientific approval. At nearly the same time, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice essentially ordered the opposite and directed U.S. authorities not to make any changesthat would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability. The issue will likely be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year repealed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that had established a constitutional right to abortion.
A UK advocacy group, Hong Kong Watch, released information that about £2.2 billion in pension assets are being withheld from tens of thousands of Hongkongers who moved to the UK after pro-democracy protests in 2019. According to the group, the city’s government is retaliating against individuals it deems “unpatriotic” for emigrating under the British National (Overseas) program. Meanwhile, a top financial minister from Hong Kong is scheduled to visit the UK in April for the first time in three years. Hong Kong wants to promote tourism and invite foreign investors back after pandemic rules devastated the economy.
Alexander Lukashenko told Russia’s defense minister that he wanted guarantees that Moscow would defend his countryif it was attacked. Lukashenko was cited as saying that he previously discussed the matter with Russian President Putin who he said had agreed with him that such security guarantees were necessary and needed to be formalized.
