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Michigan Primary Nod Comes With Gaza Lessons For Biden
President Biden won the Michigan primary for the Democrats but it has come with a clear Gaza warning – ‘change the course or lose votes in the November elections’.
Michigan is home to a large Arab American voter-base. A campaign here had urged voters to write ‘uncommitted’ on the ballot to protest against Biden’s Gaza policy. At last count the ‘uncommitted votes’ had far exceeded the campaign’s target of 10,000 voters. Michigan is a key swing state that ended up deciding who became the US President in the last 2 Presidential elections.
That’s not the only bad news for Biden.
Do Democrats Prefer Michelle Obama Over Biden For President?
Many Democrats are unsure Biden is the best bet for another term. As many as 48% of Democrats want someone other than Biden to fight the November polls, though 33% support Biden being on the ballot. Among possible new faces, Michelle Obama is a frontrunner with 20% in favour of the former First Lady throwing her hat in the ring. Current VP Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton are also part of this list of alternatives.
Another Putin Critic, Russian Human Rights Activist Oleg Orlov Sent To Jail
Days after the death of Putin-baiter Alexei Navalny, another fiery critic and well-known human rights activist has been sentenced to a jail term in Russia. Oleg Orlov had written an article in a French newspaper in which he claimed Russian soldiers were committing mass murder in Ukraine. The article also argued that Russia had “slipped back into totalitarianism.” He was charged with ‘discrediting the Russian military’. 70-year old Oleg Orlov is co-chair of a human rights organisation that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
China: A Lawmaker Resigns, Another Gets Scrubbed Off Website
Qin Gang, China’s former foreign minister who hasn’t been seen in public since last June, has resigned from the national legislature. Qin was handpicked by Xi Jinping and his disappearance led to intense speculation about his whereabouts. This comes on the back of reports that the name of former Defence Minister Li Shangfu has been scrubbed from the website of the ministry of defence. Shangfu had been missing from public appearances since last October.
One Step Away From Famine: UN Warning On Gaza
25% of the people in Gaza are one step away from famine, a senior UN aide told the Security Council. That’s close to 600,000 people in Gaza who are struggling to stay alive. One in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition and wasting, and practically all the 2.3 million people in the Palestinian enclave are forced to rely of food aid that’s ‘woefully inadequate’
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