World Briefing: October 28, 2024
Pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who has broken with the ruling Georgian Dream party, said she will not recognize the results of parliamentary elections held on October 26 and alleged that the country has been the victim of a “Russian special operation.” Zurabishvili did not present any evidence to back up her claim in a brief statement to the media in Tbilisi on October 27. “As the only remaining independent institution in this state, I want to say that I do not recognize this election. It cannot be recognized. It would be the same as recognizing Russia's entry here -- Georgian subordination to Russia,” she said. “I didn't come to Georgia for [Russian domination]. Our ancestors did not live for this. We will not tolerate this. It cannot be taken away from Georgia -- its European future," she added. She called for street protests starting on October 28 at 7 p.m. in the South Caucasus nation, which has seen mass demonstrations in recent months against the ruling Georgian Dream party, which critics accuse of being pro-Russian and of having eroded democratic norms. She blasted what she called a “Russian special operation -- one of the new forms of hybrid warfare carried out on our people, our country.” The Georgian Dream party celebrated an apparent win in the vote, but the pro-Western opposition cried foul and election monitors said that “critical violations took place,” including voter intimidation and physical violence. - RFE/RL
Despite credible media reports of voting day irregularities, western election monitoring groups held back on calling Sunday’s polling in Georgia as election fraud. Instead the large coalition of observers under the OSCE and another led by the International Republican Institute said they detected an “uneven playing field, pressure and tension, intimidation and harassment.” Opposition groups also said they documented irregularities, with one opponent telling the BBC he was beaten by men after he tried to report ballot box irregularities to the police. It is rare for international election monitoring groups to be far out of sync with international media reporting.
Donald Trump hosted a rally featuring crude and racist insults at New York’s Madison Square Garden Sunday, turning what his campaign had dubbed as the event where he would deliver his closing message into an illustration of what turns off his critics. With just over a week before Election Day, speakers labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” called Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris “the devil,” and said the woman vying to become the first woman and Black woman president had begun her career as a prostitute. Trump’s childhood friend David Rem referred to Harris as “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris ”and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” The marquee event reflected the former president’s tone throughout his third White House campaign. Though he refrained from doing so Sunday, Trump often tears into Harris in offensive and personal terms himself, questioning in recent weeks her mental stability and her intelligence as well as calling her “lazy,” long a racist trope used against Black people. - AP
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has given a measured response to Israeli strikes on the country, saying the attack should not be "exaggerated or downplayed" while refraining from pledging immediate retaliation. President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would "give an appropriate response" to the attack, which killed at least four soldiers, adding that Tehran did not seek war. Israel said it targeted military sites in several regions of Iran on Saturday in retaliation for Iranian attacks, including a barrage of almost 200 ballistic missiles fired towards Israel on 1 October. On Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had crippled Iranian air defence and missile production systems. He said the strikes had "severely damaged Iran’s defence capability and its ability to produce missiles". - BBC
Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales says shots were fired at his vehicle on Sunday amid rising political tensions within the ruling socialist party factions. Morales and his former economy minister and current President, Luis Arce, are engaged in a power struggle ahead of next year’s polls. In a radio interview, Morales said two vehicles intercepted him on the road and fired upon his car, claiming a bullet passed “centimetres” from his head. “I don’t know if they were soldiers or police,” Morales said. He added, “This was planned. The idea was to kill Evo.” Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, posted a video on Facebook taken from inside his moving car. The video shows him sitting in the front passenger seat and reveals at least two bullet holes in the windshield. The driver appeared to have been injured, though was still driving the vehicle. - Al Jazeera
The Vatican is cutting the already shrinking pay packages of cardinals who head the Catholic Church's top offices in Rome by about 10% or 500 euros ($540) a month as the pope pursues a "zero deficit" agenda of greater thrift. The cardinals will no longer receive two monthly allowances that are often used to defray the cost of hiring personal secretaries, said a note written by Maximino Caballero Ledo, a Spanish layman who heads the Vatican's finance ministry - Reuters
A Glasgow shipping firm has been accused of helping Russia fund the war in Ukraine. Campaigners want a crackdown on Seapeak Maritime carrying Russian liquified natural gas. Activist Svitlana Romanko said: “Every shipment of LNG is a lifeline for Putin’s war machine” - Daily Record
Polish authorities say four people have been charged in an alleged plan to send explosives via courier service to Canada and the United States. The RCMP says it is aware of the arrests, but declined further comment to preserve the integrity of the investigation. The Polish group’s alleged activities apparently involved sending camouflaged explosives to other European countries, with the eventual aim of targeting North America. Poland’s national prosecutor’s office says efforts are underway to identify other possible suspects - Canadian Press
In Bulgarian elections held on Sunday, the center-right GERB party leads in exit polls. The Alpha Research poll showed the center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) with 26.4% of the vote. The reformist We Continue the Change is projected to come in second with 14.9%. In third place is the ultra nationalist party Revival party with 12.9% of the polled votes.
