Turkey reacted with great fury to the vote in the German Bundestag to recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said to Germany: “First you burn the Jews in ovens and then you come and accuse the Turkish people of genocide.” The US does not recognize the Armenian genocide even though it is home to the second largest community of Armenians outside of Armenia. Despite the efforts of many in Congress to pass such a resolution, US strategic ties to Turkey preclude such a declaration.
Tomorrow is the 27th anniversary of the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The protests were suppressed by force, but it is unclear how many protesters were killed. Discussion of the anniversary is not permitted in China, but it represents the beginning of the contract between the Chinese government and its citizens: the Communist Party will deliver strong economic growth and the citizens will not object to the lack of open discussion on the role of the Party in economic and political affairs. That contract has been honored in large part, although the economic slowdown in China is raising questions about whether the Party can deliver on its end of the contract.
The Iconic Image of a Lone Protester Facing PLA Tanks, 4 June 1989
Floods have ravaged France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In France, the flooding has forced several of the world’s most prominent museums to take emergency precautions to remove precious works of art from harm’s way. In Germany, nine people have died in the floods. Such flooding is not unprecedented, but it is unusual. There have been many such storms in Europe in recent years, but it is not possible to correlate them with climate change.
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