Lebanon: energy crisis
Some churches in Lebanon cannot turn on the lights or run fans to combat the heat because of extreme fuel shortages. There have been times when they have not been able to meet because people do not have enough fuel to drive their car or cannot access public transport. Some have turned to solar power to keep some lights on. Unfortunately, only wealthy people have access to this technology. Lebanon is ideally situated for solar power, seeing about 300 days of sunshine per year. The power shortages mean Christians lose access to the internet, and therefore to Zoom meetings or Facebook Live which bring services to people unable to attend. After a year’s wait Lebanon finally formed a new government, but it remains unclear if the new officials will do much to stop corruption and help the people.
Palestine: campaign against political corruption
Deterioration of democratic policies in the Palestinian leadership has caused a coalition of nongovernmental organisations to call it ‘political corruption.’ For years this coalition, named AMAN, focused on administrative and financial corruption. Now the eroding integrity of the Palestinian leadership has forced Transparency International to tackle a corrupt political system that among other things cancelled a long-overdue national election and ordered its security forces to harm a Hebron critic, that led to his death. They have also violently cracked down on demonstrations calling for accountability. An AMAN manifesto recently called Palestinians to reject the anti-democratic slippery slope and ‘fight this political corruption by creating a coalition that can contribute toward a more honest governance structure.’ If the current political corruption is not checked, Palestine will move into a dangerous zone.
USA and Britain help Australia to thwart China
The USA and Britain announced they would help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines (not nuclear-armed), taking a major step in challenging China’s broad territorial claims of its exclusive zone in the South China Sea. The announcement is a major step for Australia, which until recent years has been hesitant to push back directly at core Chinese interests. The decision to share technology for naval reactors, even with a close ally, is a major move for President Biden and bound to raise protests by the Chinese and questions from American allies.
Ethiopia: Thousands imprisoned and butchered
Soldiers occupying Tigray are ethnically purging native people – detaining in concentration camps and massacring dozens. In Humera soldiers are going ‘door-to-door’ searching for ethnic Tigrayans in the campaign of slaughter with occupying soldiers saying ‘exterminate all Tigrayan residents in the city’. Last week Tigray forces attacked a hospital and religious site with artillery, killing civilians and looting medicine. See Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders have 800 staff treating war-wounded people, supporting five hospitals and running dozens of mobile clinics. See US officials recently reported fighters looting warehouses, trucks and causing destruction in every village visited. On 7th September the UN said 100 trucks of food and non-food items must enter Tigray daily to meet humanitarian needs. But less than 500 trucks have arrived since July. Over five million need emergency assistance and 400,000 face famine-like conditions. That number could get higher.
