Global: Cambridge Analytica
Recent revelations about Cambridge Analytica (CA) tactics to influence elections using data from Facebook accounts and its role in UK and US election votes are the tip of an iceberg. CA has been linked to elections in Czech Republic, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Ukraine. This is a truly worldwide phenomenon. New technologies can be a double-edged sword. Social media has transformed how the public call out the corrupt and demand change. But what happens when the data these tools generate about their users is used as part of a murky process to influence elections? Is this corruption? The now-suspended CEO of CA has said that some emails between the company and its clients automatically self-destruct, leaving no electronic paper trail for investigators looking for election fraud allegations. Also identities of companies working on elections were hidden, presumably through shell companies. ‘No one even knew they were there,’ said another CA executive of an operation in Eastern Europe. See also
Global: Putin finally goes too far
When Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats in response to a Russian assassination attempt on UK soil, Vladimir Putin shrugged it off, no doubt believing the cost was predictable and bearable. Then 27 countries, including the USA, joined a coordinated expulsion campaign. Putin’s calculation has always been that the West is strong but lacks unity and the will to do anything when Russia bends and breaks international rules. The 120+ expulsions will deliver a serious blow to Russia’s intelligence networks, as those expelled are probably intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover. However, they represent only a fraction of Russia’s intelligence apparatus. For instance the Czech security service believes fifty Russians in the Prague embassy are actually spies. But, mindful that their tiny embassy in Moscow can only sustain a few retaliatory expulsions, the Czechs only expelled three Russians. Boris Johnson predicts Russia will retaliate against all countries in solidarity with the UK.
Cameroon: challenges for prayer
Mission networking in Cameroon is bearing fruit through evangelical cooperation to reach the unconverted. Please pray for three initiatives: 1) Christian Missionary Fellowship International has remarkable ministries in prayer, missions and publishing, all having a global impact. 2) Cameroon for Christ, launched in 1996, involves many denominations and churches in research and evangelism of the 2,400 villages of the north. 3) Mission BINAM targets the idol-worshippers of West Cameroon, especially the Bamiléké, and is very active in evangelism as it trains researchers for church and mission needs. Please pray also for the restless young people who are frustrated by high unemployment and cheating, bribery and favouritism in the education system. Many turn to crime and prostitution, and violent demonstrations are occurring. Cameroon has never before dealt with such disruptions. Also Christians in the north are under increasing pressure from Muslims.
Syria: Turkish action in Afrin
Turkey’s flag flew over Afrin while Turkish-led factions, including Salafi jihadi groups, were plundering the city. Images emerging from Afrin resembled a medieval army taking booty. Experts, observers and international anti-IS coalition officials expected Syrian Kurdish fighters to put up a stronger resistance to protect the land, believing Turkey’s victory would come at a greater cost. Since these fighters handed over Afrin without engaging in urban warfare, most people believe the Turkish intervention is a prelude to a wider offensive against other cities under the control of the Kurdish forces. On 20 March Erdogan vowed to expand Turkey's Syria campaign to the Kurdish-held areas up to the Iraqi border. But Syria’s government heavily criticised Turkey's ‘occupation’ of Afrin and demanded that Turkish forces withdraw.
New Zealand: new Asian era?
China’s Xi Jinping is now ‘president for life’, which many believe will cause NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s government to change its Asian foreign policy and identify potential new paths. President Trump has been inconsistent in Asia as he aims to meet US interests. Ardern’s government identifies nuclear disarmament and climate change as key areas for international engagement. Australia does not support nuclear disarmament in the same way NZ does, and its action on climate change domestically is comparatively modest. Maintaining the rules-based order in the region will depend on partnerships with the US, Japan‚ and (increasingly) India. Many believe established traditions will be tested, but not abandoned altogether. This dynamic is not exclusive to NZ, with the current geopolitical changes in the new era.
South Korea: work ethos
South Korea has some of the longest working hours in the world. Government employees work approximately 2,739 hours a year, 1,000 hours more than workers in other developed countries. The Seoul metropolitan government is introducing an initiative forcing employees to leave work earlier. Computers will be powered down at 20:00 on Fridays to stop a ‘culture of working overtime’. The shutdown comes in three phases, beginning on 30 March with computers switched off by 20:00. In April employees computers will be turned off by 19:30 on the second and fourth Friday, then from May onwards all computers will power down by 19:00 every Friday. 67.1% of government workers have asked to be exempt from the forced lights-out. Numerous surveys across the nation have found that stress and long hours of modern office jobs destroy not only health but family life.
Syria: another crisis developing
German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Bundestag in Berlin on 21 March and condemned as ‘unacceptable’ Turkey’s military offensive in Syria’s northern town of Afrin. She criticized Russia for ‘just watching’ the continuing attacks by Syrian forces on eastern Ghouta. The previous day the UN called for full access to civilians in both places. Ankara said its military operations are defensive and criticised Berlin for not doing more to crack down on supporters of the PKK in Germany. Turkey’s response to America arming Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces in the area is to launch military operations against the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region, risking further confrontation.The lives and safety of 350,000 Afrin civilians are at risk. Pray for the families who are being charged thousands of dollars by Syrian forces for safe passage into government-held areas. See also:- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-germany/germany-condemns-turkish-military-offensive-in-syria-idUSKBN1GX1EI
Iran 2: persecuted but not forsaken
Please stand in solidarity and prayer for Christians imprisoned in Iran on false political charges because of their faith. These include: Maryam - house church member, in Evin since July 2013, serving a four-year sentence. Ebrahim - house church member, in Evin since August 2013, serving a one-year sentence, followed by two years’ exile to a border town. In March 2015 he was given a further five years' imprisonment. Behnam - house church leader, in Ghezel Hesar prison since May 2011, serving a six-year sentence. In 2014 he was given a further six years. Vruir - an ordained pastor, currently under house arrest for 3-5 years. Three of his congregation are believed to be in prison. Shahin - given 2.5 years’ sentence in July 2013. Released in December 2013 and then taken to serve his sentence in April 2014. Mohammad was imprisoned on 5 July 2014 for a six-year sentence. Massoud began his five-year sentence on 9 November 2014.
Iran 1: under Islamism
An Iranian writes, ‘My generation is called the “burnt generation”. We had to endure the brutality of the Islamist theocratic regime from the cradle: this meant cruel mass executions, ruthless determination to establish power, imposing barbarous restrictive norms, brainwashing children, and indoctrinating youth with extremist ideology, promoting slogans like “Death to America”.’ The regime, fearing an uprising, sends dissidents to Evin prison, where they are at the mercy of brutal prison guards. Teachers, writers, journalists, students, lawyers, academics, Christians, and anyone perceived to speak out against the regime go to Evin without legal representation. Hygiene there is poor, summer heat reaches 45 Celsius with no air conditioning, water quality is poor, and there are meagre portions of barely edible food. Often outside world contact is forbidden. Human rights activists’ words fall on deaf ears. See also: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11889/iran-history-lessons
Europe: control of fishing rights
On 20 March environment secretary Michael Gove told Tory MPs to 'keep their eyes on the prize' in the row over Brexit and fishing waters after the latest Europe Brexit meetings. Theresa May’s agreement to keep EU fishing policies during the transition period meant the UK had not got what it wanted from the negotiations. Control of fishing waters has been delayed. The next day protesters threw dead fish into the Thames outside Parliament, in solidarity with the fishing communities who expected to control UK waters the day it leaves the EU. The demonstrations were called environmental vandalism. Jacob Rees-Mogg said the proposal for Britain to remain in the EU's Common Fisheries Policy for almost two years after March 2019, with no say over the allocation of quotas, would not command the support of the Commons, adding he was not pleased with the transition deal but he could live with it. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43484031