Photo source: CNBC By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront In 2018, there have been protests going on and off in Haiti. The hall mark of Moise’s tenure, ever since he won the 2016 election, with fewer than twelve percent of votes poured in, was his accusation by the Haitian senate for embezzlement of over $700,000 of public money, from an infrastructure development fund called PetroCaribe to his banana business. But, what came as a shock was his assassination, along with his wife, by mercenaries on July 7th 2021, apparently in a coup attempt, at his home in the hills above Port-au-Prince. His brazen death shocked Haitian society. It also created an ensuing power vacuum in Haiti, adding a new chapter in the story of past autocrats, violence and coups. There were clues about his death that pointed to Colombian mercenaries, a US-based security company, and various opponents of Moise in Haiti. To make matters more complex, the turmoil had pushed Haiti up in Biden's foreign policy prio...

Photo source: Financial Times By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront T he anarchy and political inaction in South Africa in July 2021 for just over a week changed the rainbow nation. More than three hundred people were killed, and countless were injured. The magnanimity of the protests kept its establishment, its police and intelligence clueless. Several companies reported that more than thousand vendors had been pillaged. Dozens of fast-food restaurants mostly across KwaZulu-Natal, a stronghold of Former President Jacob Zuma, and Gauteng were destroyed as well. Goods worth between $400 million and $1 billion had been stolen or destroyed, according some initial industry estimates. The infrastructure of malls, shopping centres, and liquor outlets, was damaged. Trucks were burned and livestock was killed.  Dozens of factories producing food and medicine were looted as well. Combined with attacks on clinics, hundreds of thousands suffering chronic conditions were left without medicati...

  Photo source: NBC News By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront The Cuban protests in July 2021 surprised the communist government due to its sheer intensity and attendance. It was actually a landmark moment as the protests had put immense pressure on the regime. The reasons for protests were shortage of medicines, power outages and food supplies. From the streets of Havana to Santiago, protestors chanted ‘libertad’ (freedom) and ‘We want change’ while holding placards that read, 'Down with the dictatorship,', 'Down with Communism', and 'Freedom for the people of Cuba'. Some of the demonstrators sang Patria y Vida ("Fatherland and Life"), a rap and reggaeton hit. It’s title plays on a slogan – ‘Fatherland or Death’, which dates back to the 1950s, when the late Fidel Castro's revolutionaries overthrew the government. Protests had begun in San Antonio de los Baños, a small town, south of Havana. These demonstrations generated ‘a chain reaction’ that ...

Photo source: The National News By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront S audi Arabia led coalition has found some proof against Qatar regarding their alleged funding to Houthi rebels. According to Al Watan newspaper, a monthly support of around $2 million (7.5 million Qatari riyals) was transferred, for a former top rebel leader in Taiz known as Hamoud Saeed Al Mikhlafi, part judge, part chieftain, part local political don. The monetary support was believed to be ordered by the Qatari minister of foreign affairs to the ambassador of Qatar in Oman to thwart the Arab alliance, as part of the charitable expenditures of Qatar Charity Association. The proof was further strengthened through a letter by the Qatari minister of foreign affairs to the ambassador of Qatar to the Sultanate of Oman, Jassim bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Other Yemeni militia commanders have been promised similar amounts, but are often given much smaller sums. The source indicated that Al Mikhlafi has left Yemen for Qatar...

    Photo source: Foreign policy By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront The security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating for quite a while. Newer conflicts have been simmering in its region, surpassing the older ones, most recent being the north-western region conflict, which has been regarded six times deadlier than the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast that started in 2009. There is a bandit- extremist nexus in northwest Nigeria, which include local kidnappings and manslaughter. The official stance of this conflict by the government is ‘banditry’. However in actuality, there has been an ever growing evidence that the region is becoming a haven for Islamic groups linked to ISIS. It includes the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Ansaru, Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a splinter of Boko Haram, formed in 2016, popularly referred to as the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), and the Fulani herdsmen of West...

 Photo Source: mei.org   By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront L ebanon’s harrowing economic crises are also due to its political misfortunes. The country was politically rudderless, as there was no president between 2014 and 2016. Then, there were multiple and lengthy delays in cabinet formation during that time, and eventually the 2018 parliamentary elections took place, but only after a five-year delay. The Hariri government that was in charge couldn’t tackle the crises, and it became impotent despite foreign support, which was not incentivised to handle the crises. The economic stability in his rule eventually slipped from his corridors.  The trigger for the crisis was also due to his mysterious resignation and disappearance to Saudi Arabia in November 2017, which may have spooked wealthy, well connected Lebanese depositors and encouraged them to move funds out of Lebanon. In a strange incident, Hariri had publicly resigned from his position in a televised statement ...

Photo source: Council on Foreign Relations By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront A   constitutional convention election happened in Chile in May 2021, after a 2020 national plebiscite was called, where majority of voters voted in favour of writing the new constitution. Most of the members in the convention were independent candidates, there was gender equality in membership, and seventeen seats were reserved for Chilean indigenous people, who were allocated proportionally, according to the number of people identified in the 2017 census: seven seats for Mapuche, two for Aymara, and one each for Diaguita, Quechua, Atacameno, Colla, Chango, Rapa Nui, Kawesgar and Yaghan peoples. Originally, an additional seat was set for the Afro-Chilean tribal group, but the proposal didn't meet the assemblage for approval in Congress. The reforms for the constitution might be the biggest political change in Chile in its history. The result of the constitutional convention election was a blow to th...

Photo source: The Independent By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront British Petroleum is planning to drill for petroleum on the edge of the world’s largest cold water coral reef, risking biodiversity loss, global warming, and toxic fuel spills. The British oil giant has already begun construction work on a fossil fuel project, close by to the 580km long coral ecosystem off the coast of west Africa, an area crucial for migrating water birds, as well as endangered sharks, turtles, and whales. Unearthed and The Independent had already done an investigation project regarding the matter. The project, if approved, aims to produce 40 trillion cubic feet of gas, over the next thirty years, according to an independent estimate from Rystad Energy, a research firm. When burned, this amount of gas would produce 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 – nearly twice the annual energy emissions of the entire African continent. In global terms, it equates to between 0.3 and 1 per cent of the remaining global “car...