The Sunday Subject: November 10, 2024
Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris to become the first convicted felon elected president of the United States.
The first Republican to win the popular vote since 2004, Trump won all seven crucial swing states. Republicans also won control of the Senate and are on track to retain a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
Qatar suspended its role as a mediator in stalled talks between Israel and Hamas, citing a refusal among both parties to negotiate in good faith.
The small Arab Gulf country and U.S. ally has played a key role in negotiations between Israel and Hamas since the war began in October 2023. Qatari officials expressed frustration with the lack of progress towards a ceasefire deal, concluding both parties refused to engage constructively, demonstrate real interest in resolving the conflict, and focus more on peace efforts than optics. Qatar said it “would resume those efforts with partners when the necessary seriousness is available to end the brutal war and the ongoing suffering of civilians.”
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over differences on the conduct of the war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Gallant was pushing for a cease-fire deal in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages. He reportedly said the army has achieved all its objectives in Gaza and that Netanyahu rejected a hostages-for-peace deal against the advice of his own security establishment. Gallant said, “There’s nothing left in Gaza to do. The major achievements have been achieved. I fear we are staying there just because there is a desire to be there.” Meanwhile, an Israeli court partially lifted a gag order to reveal that a spokesperson working with Netanyahu’s office has been accused of leaking top-secret documents that may have undermined negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
Iran arrested a university student in Tehran for removing her clothes on campus in protest of dress code policing.
Islamic Azad University said the woman suffered from a “mental disorder” and had been taken to a psychiatric hospital by authorities. Human rights groups have called on authorities to release the woman. Amnesty International found evidence that the Iranian regime used electric shocks, torture, beatings and chemical substances on protesters and political prisoners taken to state-run psychiatric institutions after being labeled mentally unstable.
Germany’s coalition government collapsed after fighting over the 2025 budget.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, Christian Lindner of the pro-business Free Democrats, accusing him of putting the interests of his party base over those of the country. As Germany’s economy has been shrinking for two consecutive years (making it the worst performer among the G7), Scholz wanted to loosen the country’s strict fiscal rules in order to borrow more, which Lindner refused. The “traffic light” coalition, composed of Scholz’s center-left SPD Party, the economically liberal FDP Party, and Greens was formed in 2021 after the SPDs narrowly defeated the conservative CDUs but failed to win a parliamentary majority. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to an increase in defense spending as well as higher energy costs and 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees; Scholz and his Green partners wanted to tackle this by loosening the debt brake to allow more spending, while Lindner wanted to instead slash welfare and social budgets and push back environmental targets. A parliamentary vote of confidence will be held in January, triggering uncertainty about the future of Europe’s largest economy and security amidst a potential new German government and Donald Trump’s US election victory.
