World News Random, Random

[ti-amie]

Can someone more familiar than I am with this part of the world explain what is going on here and why?

I don't think I have the qualifications, but basically a break away region of Azerbaijan that was majority Armenian has been taken over militarily by Azerbaijan, and now there is a stream of thousands of ethnic Armenians fleeing to Armenia. If you just look at a map of the region it becomes obvious that conflict was inevitable, but of course, these territories were not designed to be independent states. The first war was in 1994, and the most recent conflict started again in 2020, and has been on-and-off again since then.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh

Thank you. The Armenian Genocide was last century right?

[ponchi101]

Have never been able to understand how you can have a country that is completely enclosed by another (Lesotho), of these republics in Asia that have sections of themselves completely enclosed by another country.
Makes no sense to me. Then again, what do I know?

[ti-amie]

Have never been able to understand how you can have a country that is completely enclosed by another (Lesotho), of these republics in Asia that have sections of themselves completely enclosed by another country.
Makes no sense to me. Then again, what do I know?

I thought that Lesotho was the only country like that but I was obviously wrong.

[skatingfan]

Have never been able to understand how you can have a country that is completely enclosed by another (Lesotho), of these republics in Asia that have sections of themselves completely enclosed by another country.
Makes no sense to me. Then again, what do I know?

I thought that Lesotho was the only country like that but I was obviously wrong.

Estwanti, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Singapore, Brunei - not to mention the unrecognized countries - then there are the territorial areas cut off from the main country.

[Suliso]

It's not uncommon in Europe to have small parcels of land of one country completely enclosed in another. Not a problem if both neighbors are on friendly terms.

[mmmm8]

Can someone more familiar than I am with this part of the world explain what is going on here and why?

The more obvious is stated above. Most Armenians I know believe Turkey has a big hand in this - I would imagine this is true, but I haven't done the research. There is also concern not only for the people but for a lot of Armenian heritage sites that are in the region. There is a lot of generational trauma from the Armenian genocide, so a lot of painful reactions and I think it's accurate that the world reaction has been very muted - because Azerbaijan is swimming in oil.

An interesting detail is that the forcefully deposed head of state in Nagorny Karabakh is formerly a very prominent Russian financier - he lead one of the most prestigious hedge funds back in the oughts, as well as a tech cluster that was a joint venture with the government (back when Russia did useful things). He gave up his Russian citizenship to have a role in the NK government. I once went to an economics seminar led by this guy!

[ponchi101]

...

I thought that Lesotho was the only country like that but I was obviously wrong.

Estwanti, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Singapore, Brunei - not to mention the unrecognized countries - then there are the territorial areas cut off from the main country.
[/quote]

But some of those are not like this. Eswatini is landlocked, but has borders with two countries. Monaco is on the coast; you can reach other countries by sea. Singapore and Brunei too.
These surrounded enclaves are that, surrounded. Like Suliso says, if you neighbors are friends, no issues. But in this case, and seeing how so many countries in Asia are ancestral enemies, I can't understand it.

[mmmm8]

Had to look up why Lesotho has been able to maintain independence... Apparently, the people were "ornery" (i.e. resisted takeover)

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Lesotho-no ... uth-Africa

[Suliso]

Big war has broken out between Hamas and Israel. Full reocuppation of Gaza strip probably the only realistic option now...

[Owendonovan]

How many more countries at war does it take for it to be considered another world war?

[Suliso]

Major ones?

[ponchi101]

Russia invading Ukraine, Palestine and Israel. Are there any other?
Seems peaceful in comparison to the past.

[Suliso]

It's all Russia and Iran... Not independent events in my opinion.

[ti-amie]

Six people accused of assassinating Ecuador presidential candidate are killed in prison
The suspects were being held over the murder of journalist and anti-corruption campaigner Fernando Villavicencio

By
Our Foreign Staff
7 October 2023 • 4:26am

Six people accused of assassinating an anti-corruption presidential candidate in Ecuador were killed in prison on Friday.

The suspects who were implicated in the attack in August on Fernando Villavicencio were killed at a jail in the Guayas province, Ecuador’s prisons agency, SNAI, said.

Ecuador’s government condemned the killings which come barely a week before a crucial run-off election.

President Guillermo Lasso pledged “neither complicity nor cover-up” in getting to the bottom of the crime, in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Here the truth will be known,” he said.

Mr Lasso announced he was calling off a visit to Seoul and returning from a trip to New York to handle the incident.

The killings took place in Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, the South American country’s largest city.

SNAI said in a statement the six men were all Colombian nationals. It gave no more details of the killings.

The government has said authorities are determined to identify those behind Mr Villavicencio’s murder.

Mr Lasso previously suggested Mr Villavicencio was the victim of a gang assassination.

Mr Villavicencio, a prominent journalist, was gunned down less than two weeks before a first-round general election.

Police arrested the six Colombians on the day of the assassination. A seventh suspect, also Colombian, was shot and killed by police, while other suspects were later arrested.

The US agreed to send FBI agents to assist Quito officials with the investigation.

Business heir Daniel Noboa, who holds a narrow lead in some polls ahead of the run-off, said in a social media post that the government must provide details of what occurred at the prison and that peace must be restored in the country.

His main rival for the presidency is Luisa Gonzalez, a protege of leftist former President Rafael Correa. She has said that surging crime is unprecedented and that voters should not allow “terror” to stop them from voting for change.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... on-killed/

[Owendonovan]

Russia invading Ukraine, Palestine and Israel. Are there any other?
Seems peaceful in comparison to the past.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, Serbia massing troops on Kosovo's border, Hungary being prickly, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.