Key stories for the week, brought to you by the distinguished newsman Sasha Morel.

Reading for the sake of reading sucks. Telling yourself to read to win a round is nice but ineffective. This condensed news brief helps you understand current domestic and international issues, analyze the news, and gives you opportunities to read more.

3 key international stories for the week:

1) Best Friends Forever  Amanda-Lesly Miranda

The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has been re-elected into his office, now beginning his 14th year as the leader of the country. Since 2010, he has transformed Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy". He appears uncertain how to describe his own invention, trying both "illiberal democracy" and "Christian liberty". But, throughout all of these changes to Hungary, the European Union and his colleagues are wary of his tactics and ideas, and those concerns have just grown larger.

Here in the United States, as well as in Hungary, allies and supporters of both Trump and Orban see this as a mutually beneficial relationship, and fully show their love for the alliance between the two. On Thursday, while hundreds flocked to the Capitol to see President Biden’s State of the Union address, hundreds also flocked to see Orban speak at the Heritage Foundation, where he helped lay out a plan on Trump’s re-election campaign.

Just a day later, the two were spotted at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump invited him to compare notes on their respective rulings, and their controversial yet effective terms as leaders of their countries. Trump sees Orbán as the kind of strongman – unencumbered by legal and political restraints – that he’d like to be. Orbán also frequently genuflects to Russian President Vladimir Putin – just like the former US president. 

Orbán supports Trump’s vow to end America's support for Ukraine's defense  if he’s elected within 24 hours – a process that could happen only on Putin’s terms and reward his illegal invasion. The two have discussed how they would end the Ukrainian war. They have agreed that the US should cut off funding to Ukraine if he were to become president again, instead openly supporting Vladimir Putin and his campaign into Ukraine. This has raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and one can only wonder how much more powerful this alliance can possibly become.

Read more here:

•  Paul Kirby & Nick Thorpe, BBC News

• Nicholas Riccardi & Justin Spike, LA Times

• Stephen Collinson, CNN

• Jonathan Chait, Intelligencer

• Mia Jankowicz, Business Insider

2) Japan's Falling Sun Rowan Seipp

Democracies rely on the pillar of choice. In the United States, for example, every election cycle is a choice between the Republicans and the Democrats. In Great Britain, the last century of elections have come down to either the Conservative Party or the Labor Party. Most democratically elected governments at least have some competition. However, for Asia’s largest democracy, choice is merely an illusion. In the land of the rising sun, every four years voters almost always choose one party, the Liberal Democrats. In fact, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has won every election since 1955 with the exception of 1993 and 2009. However, for the most powerful party in Japan, one of the worst scandals in Japanese history might just undo the very fabric of their political power.  

To understand the current scandal, we first have to understand the current power structure in Japan. In 2021, Fumio Kishida was appointed by the National Diet (their national legislature) as Japan's next Prime Minister. His predecessor Yoshihide Suga quit after just a year in office. The resignation came amid plummeting poll ratings for the LDP following an unpopular push to continue with the Tokyo Olympics despite public concern about surging Covid-19 rates. Suga was only in power following the assassination of long time leader Shinzo Abe. This means that Kishida was appointed amidst major political uncertainty in the country.

After taking power, Kishida pledged to “work like a ball of fire.” Sadly, it's only been his approval ratings that have gone up in flames. A Mainichi poll found 79% of respondents disapprove of his performance – worse than any Japanese leader in more than seven decades. Why has his rating dropped so quickly? Japan's current Political Funds Control Act bans corporate donations to individual lawmakers, but there is a loophole. It's legal for a political entity to raise funds through ticket sales to fundraising events and redistribute it to member lawmakers – as long as they file political funding reports. However, in this case, LDP internal factions allegedly did not disclose the full amount of the ticket revenues transferred to some lawmakers while some lawmakers also kept money that was not reported in their funding disclosures, according to media reports. The missing funds amount to some 500 million yen ($3.52 million) transferred to several dozen member lawmakers, including high-ranking officials over the past five years, according to media reports. This scandal is ravaging through the upper echelons of the LDP's biggest and most powerful Seiwa-kai faction, formerly led by late prime minister Shinzo Abe. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, and the LDP's policy council chief Koichi Hagiuda are each to have received proceeds worth between 1 million and 10 million yen, media reported.

There are two possible outcomes: (1) the LDP loses in the next election in 2025 or (2) the LDP moves away from Shinzo Abe’s factions. The largest opposition party, the left-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), has 96 seats in the Lower House, more than twice the second-largest opposition force, the Kansai-based, right-leaning Nippon Ishin no Kai, with 41. With plummeting popular support for the LDP continuing, it is possible that one of these parties can secure a massive victory. It probably won't be enough for the LDP to outright lose, but it might be enough for them to lose their majority. The second outcome with the LDP moving away from Shinzo Abe is a view held by veteran political journalist Hiroshi Izumi. He says that behind the current scandal is a struggle among the factions. Izumi believes the result will be the end of the Abe faction and a shift in power within the LDP.  

Read more here:

• Kantaro Komiya, Reuters 

• NINIVAGGI, The Japan Times

• Kuhn, NPR

3) Poland’s New Canal to Sideline Putin Alex Ramirez
Since the start of the Ukraine-Russian war, Poland has taken a strong stance in defending against Russian aggression. However, there was one slight problem for Poland; the only trade route for them to sea was through the Russian controlled Baltiysk Strait. Due to Poland not having any other ways to access the sea, they were forced to rely on Russian authorities to let them pass through and most of the time costing them a fee. Poland in 2019 commissioned a new canal for the price of 230 million Euros named the Vistula Spit Canal. This project would allow them to bypass the Baltiysk and trade even faster and without the reliance of Russia.

With this new development, the backlash from Russia was immense. They were not happy with the fact Poland was no longer going to rely on the Baltiysk to trade goods. In fact, Russia even went so far to stop the canal from being built by accusing the Polish government of “wasting money” instead of spending more to defeat COVID-19. There are many narratives Russia tried to push to dissuade the Polish populace from supporting this such as: stating the Vistula was an unnecessary investment, environmental disaster, illegal, and even labeling it as a step to building a NATO base in Poland right next to Kaliningrad. All of these claims purported by the Russian government have been debunked by the Polish government and many outside sources — the Polish government dedicated an entire page outlining the propaganda efforts Russia has taken to stop the canal from being built.  

With the Vistula Canal being just recently built and with plans to deepen it in the future too, will this be used in an even bigger geo-political scheme? Who knows. However, the Vistula Canal was inaugurated on the 17th of September 2022. This date holds significance as this marks the anniversary of when Soviet troops began the invasion into Poland in WW2. Poland has an unwavering spirit and will stand her ground against aggressors and even somewhat taunt them in the future too. The Vistula Canal holds significance to Poland to showcase their triumph over Russia in the modern day and their willingness to reduce all Russian dependence.

Read more here:
- Christine Beldon, THEB1M
- Notes From Poland
- Laura Steer and Les Steed, The Guardian
- Aleksandra Krzysztoszek, EURACTIV

The Equality in Forensics News Brief is brought to you by Sasha Morel and the News Brief Team:

• Lindsey Zhao

• Roshan Shivnani

• Rowan Seipp

• Paul Robinson

• AmandaLesly Miranda

• Alex Ramirez

• Anthony Babu

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