Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at what Bangladesh’s interim government might look like, U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris picking her running mate, and North Korea moving missile launchers south.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at what Bangladesh’s interim government might look like, U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris picking her running mate, and North Korea moving missile launchers south.
Dhaka’s New Interim Leader
Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin bowed to student protesters’ demands on Tuesday by dissolving parliament and releasing opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia from house arrest. The announcement followed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigning from office on Monday and fleeing to India amid deadly mass protests over the country’s contentious job quota system.
Shahabuddin met on Tuesday with the heads of Bangladesh’s armed forces, student leaders, opposition politicians, and civil society representatives to help create an interim government until new elections can be held. Army chief Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman, who first announced Hasina’s resignation, said at the time that he was “taking full responsibility” for forming the interim government, leaving it unclear whether he would head the government himself. However, on Tuesday, Bangladeshi media reported that Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus—the preferred choice of the student protesters—had been selected to head the transitional administration.
Yunus, 84, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering microlending; his Grameen Bank granted loans of less than $100 to poor rural Bangladeshis, lifting millions of people out of poverty. In June, he was charged with embezzlement, which he denies. A spokesperson for Yunus said on Tuesday that he had accepted the interim government leadership position.
Yunus called the day of Hasina’s departure Bangladesh’s “second liberation day.” Many Bangladeshis accused her of using the country’s controversial quota system—which reserved 30 percent of government jobs for those related to veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war for independence—to favor allies of her political party, the Awami League.
Hasina’s critics also accuse her of trying to form a one-party state by jailing her political opponents, including Zia, who was convicted of corruption in 2018. Zia is the leader of Dhaka’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and has feuded with Hasina for decades. They are the only two women to ever lead the country, though Hasina has ruled for the past 15 years, making her the world’s longest-serving female head of government. Both Hasina and Zia also inherited their political movements after a family member was assassinated.
It is unclear whether Hasina will remain in India or flee to the United Kingdom, where some of her family lives. Having her stay in India could be problematic for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has routinely criticized the presence of undocumented Bangladeshis in his country and has worked toward developing stronger ties with Dhaka in recent years. “India is our best friend,” Yunus said. “People are angry at India because you are supporting the person who destroyed our lives.”
But traveling to the United Kingdom comes with its own concerns. Britain hosts many dissidents forced into exile during Hasina’s 15-year reign, which could make her acceptance there extremely unpopular.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Harris/Walz ticket. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Choosing Walz demonstrates Harris’s efforts to appeal to Midwestern suburban and rural voters as well as union workers. “Through picking Walz, Harris hopes to send a message of seriousness and stability,” historian Julian Zelizer argued in Foreign Policy. “[H]aving him by her side shows that Harris wants to surround herself with seasoned partners who want to govern.”
Walz, 60, served in the U.S. National Guard for 24 years and worked as a high school teacher before entering Congress and later becoming governor. During his time in Congress from 2007 to 2019, Walz served on the House Armed Services Committee and was a strong critic of the Iraq War, writes FP’s Robbie Gramer. Walz also opposed then-President Barack Obama’s plan to order military strikes on Syria in 2013 in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons.
Walz maintains the Democratic Party’s position of support for Israel but has also criticized its handling of the war in Gaza.
Airbase attack. At least two Katyusha rockets targeted U.S. military personnel at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad Airbase on Monday, injuring five U.S. service members and two U.S. contractors. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but it fit a pattern of previous operations carried out by Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups against U.S. personnel at bases in the region, including at least two in the past three weeks on that location.
The Middle East remains on edge after a series of alleged Israeli assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah officials last week triggered threats of retaliation from Iran and its regional proxies. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that the militant group’s “response is coming” and that “it will be strong and effective,” though he said the response may be carried out together with Iran and other members of the so-called axis of resistance—which includes Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis, and a variety of militia groups in Iraq and Syria—or separately. Also on Tuesday, Hamas announced that it had chosen Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s top official in the Gaza Strip, as its new political leader. Sinwar replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran last week.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the United Nations fired nine staff members with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) who may have been involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. UNRWA previously fired 12 staffers and put another seven people on administrative leave without pay over similar allegations. “For us, any participation in the attacks is a tremendous betrayal of the sort of work that we are supposed to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian people,” U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
Border escalations. North Korea moved 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to military units along its southern border with South Korea on Monday. During a ceremony the day before, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he “personally designed” the “up-to-date tactical attack weapon.” According to Lee Sung-joon, the spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pyongyang’s launchers could be used to attack or threaten Seoul.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high as Pyongyang continues to test weapons and send balloons filled with trash over the border. In response, the United States has increased its joint military cooperation with South Korea and Japan and worked to strengthen nuclear deterrence. In his Sunday speech, Kim cited that military cooperation, which he called “outrageous,” as justification for his call for the relentless expansion of North Korea’s military strength, accusing the United States and its regional allies of showing the characteristics of a “nuclear-based military bloc.”
Odds and Ends
U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, who on Tuesday became the most decorated American gymnast of all time, made headlines this week for another reason: top-tier sportsmanship. Biles and fellow U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles celebrated their silver and bronze medals, respectively, on Monday by bowing down to Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who took home the gold in the women’s floor final. “She’s queen,” Biles said on their decision to honor Andrade. Enough said.
