There was an anti-Putin protest in Moscow in which Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was involved. The protest occurred after Navalny and his brother were convicted of crimes in what many regarded as a political trial designed to crush Navalny’s opposition movement. The protest and subsequent arrest of over a hundred protesters represents strong disquiet within Russia over what some regard as a very corrupt government. The trial of Navalny conjured up memories of political trials during the Soviet period.
The UN Security Council has voted down a Palestinian resolution to set a 12-month deadline for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The vote was 8 states in favor, 2 against (the US and Australia) and five abstentions. The US did not need to use its veto against the resolution since the resolution did not receive the required nine affirmative votes for passage. Nigeria had been expected to vote in favor of the resolution but changed its vote to abstain at the last minute. The vote “called for an independent state of Palestine to be established within the 1967 Mideast borders — before Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — and demanded ‘a just solution’ to all other outstanding issues, including Palestinian refugees, prisoners in Israeli jails and water.”
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