While the war in Ukraine is incredibly important for the future of the international system and will have serious consequences based on the outcome, it is not the only important issue unfolding in the world.
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From November 10 through 13, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit took place in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the two topics that loomed largest were the U.S.-China rivalry and Myanmar’s ongoing political crisis.
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Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s democratically elected leader ousted in last year’s military takeover, was convicted on two additional corruption charges on October 12, according to The Associated Press.
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The Chinese Communist party opened its 20th National Congress on October 16. This meeting is expected to be one of the most important in the party’s history, as it is anticipated that current Supreme Leader Xi Jinping will be handed a third consecutive five-year term.
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On October 10, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, announced to the public that parliament would be dissolved. CNBC reports that this will pave the way for an early election, legitimizing the next Malaysian administration.
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China has been forcibly moving much of its Uyghur population to concentration camps, which it calls “re-education camps,” to combat “terrorism” in the ethnic Muslim minority community. According to the UN, the commission’s report stated that the deprivation of fundamental human rights, arbitrary detention, and credible reports of torture, ill-treatment, forced medical treatment, and sexual violence may amount to crimes against humanity.
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COVID-19, climate issues, and supply and demand problems have driven gas and oil prices up since 2020, Foreign Policy says. Now, with sanctions placed on Russia due to its ongoing war on Ukraine, a large part of the world’s oil supply is cut off and supply and demand has gotten even worse.
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Myanmar’s military vowed to crack down on opposition forces as the nation celebrated its Armed Forces Day, reports Al Jazeera. The leader of Myanmar, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, claimed that his forces would ‘annihilate’ civilian opposition groups and urged ethnic minorities away from supporting militia groups that oppose the Tatmadaw, the country’s military-led government. However, one civilian resistance group, the National Unity Government, prompted people to take part in a ‘Power Strike’, turning off their lights and TVs during the parade broadcast ABC News reports.
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On February 24, Russia made the conscious decision to invade Ukraine for yet another time since 2014. This active encroachment into non-Russian territory, which was condemned internationally, triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, reports Reuters. Although Europe has been heavily affected by this Russian aggression, the actions taken by those less impacted by the conflict will set the tone for how the international community reacts to similar crises in the future.
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Considering the strategic and symbolic significance of Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China, several experts have argued that China’s invasion of the island is a matter of when and not if. Many have questioned Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, given that Russia’s actions are in direct contradiction to China’s century-long foreign policy tenet of non-interference.
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