In a week that began with President Trump pronouncing that a ceasefire extension was so close with Iran, two or three days max, and that would only take an hour to finalise. Hours later Tehran downed a US Apache helicopter off the Gulf of Oman with the crew rescued from the sea, the attack reportedly an attempt to deter the US’s evolving efforts to increase air patrols that target Iranian drones in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Two nights of US military strikes across Iran followed, with counter attacks from the Iranian regime in strikes on US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. By Thursday President Trump warned of hard attacks to come by nightfall, declaring a plan to capture Iran’s Kharg Island in the not-too-distant future, but the threat to strike was called off, President Trump claimed Iranian leadership had blinked and approved the final points of a ceasefire extension. Iran’s regime has said no final decision has been made.
It’s been a second week of mass demonstrations in Albania. What started as an environmental movement against plans by President Trump’s family to build a luxury resort snowballed into a wider political movement expanding by the day and even calling for the Albanian prime minister to resign. Demonstrators are calling it the Flamingo Revolution after the species native to the protected coastline where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are leading a consortium to create a multi billion dollar hotel project, also eyeing up the idyllic state-owned island Sazan. Protests have increased since construction work started and when Ivanka gave a podcast interview on how she was wanted to develop it since being captivated by the island after hiking up the island barefoot. Demonstrators say there is no transparency. Bernie Sanders waded in State Side calling it “Albanians versus the Global Oligarchy”. The Albanian Prime Minister claims online bots by a hostile state are magnifying the anger and that an environmental assessment is still underway, while the European Commission reminded Albania not to take action that could undermine its EU aspirations:
It’s been a week that’s seen riots in Belfast triggered by a brutal late-night street stabbing. The suspect is a Sudanese migrant granted leave to remain in the UK for five years. Video of the attack went viral within hours showing a sustained assault on a man in his 40s and bystanders rushing in, one using a wooden hurling stick to drive the attacker back. Two nights of unrest followed and what began as calls to protest the attack quickly turned into anti-immigration riots, amplified online. Addresses linked to migrant and asylum seeker housing were shared on social media. Bricks were thrown through windows, cars set alight, walls graffitied with the words “local houses for local people.” It’s led to renewed debate over immigration enforcement, and how to counter potential dog-whistle politics or underlying racism while dealing with genuine concerns:
It’s the week that the biggest ever World Cup opened with a ceremony in Mexico in a stadium rich in football folklore, the Azteca where Diego Maradona famously punched the ball in to the net forty years ago this month! He declared after scoring that it had been with, quote, “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.”! Well it was the hand of three red cards in the opening match as Mexico beat South Africa 2 nil in the first game. As for the controversies, like exorbitant dynamic ticket pricing and the US visa travel bans imposed, blocked upon entry was the case of Omar Artan, the first ever Somali official selected by FIFA to referee at the World Cup, denied entry at Miami airport. The message from FIFA’s boss, “Just, you know, chill”;
It’s also been a week that the pro-European party of the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashanyan won an election as he attempts to strengthen ties to Brussels whilst assuaging President Putin, with the country heavily reliant on Moscow’s oil and gas.
Produced by Gavin Lee, Andrew Hilliar, Alessandro Xenos and Daniel Whittington.
Our guests
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Vivienne WALT Time Magazine's Paris correspondent
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Steven ERLANGER Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe for The New York Times
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Jakob Weizman Reporter for Politico Europe
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Naomi O'LEARY Irish Times Europe Correspondent
English (US) · 