Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the first day of the Republican National Convention ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Israeli strikes across Gaza, and electoral disputes in Pakistan.
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GOP Solidarity
The Republican National Convention (RNC) kicked off in Milwaukee on Monday just two days after former U.S. President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. The four-day event is expected to formally nominate Trump as the party’s candidate against incumbent President Joe Biden ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
The last time that the RNC convened to nominate Trump in 2016, dissent from anti-Trump delegates marred the convention’s opening day. This week, though, the RNC will likely see a more unified coalition—largely due to Trump’s successful efforts to silence Republican opponents and political fervor following Saturday’s attack.
Trump survived a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The assailant fired several rounds—one of which clipped the former president’s right ear—roughly six minutes into Trump’s speech before U.S. Secret Service agents shielded Trump and shot the gunman dead. One attendee was killed, and two others were critically wounded.
“I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the New York Post on Sunday, adding that he was rewriting his RNC speech to reflect the recent event and “to try to unite our country.” “I had all prepared an extremely tough speech, really good, all about the corrupt, horrible administration,” he said. “But I threw it away.”
The Secret Service will brief House Oversight Committee chair James Comer on Tuesday, and Milwaukee’s police chief said on Monday that there will be no changes to security protocols for firearms outside the RNC’s perimeter.
On Monday, Trump chose Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate on the presidential ticket. Vance served as a public affairs Marine in Iraq before publishing a memoir of his childhood titled Hillbilly Elegy. Despite once calling Trump “America’s Hitler,” Vance reversed gears ahead of his 2022 Senate race and is now one of the former president’s most loyal allies. Vance supports tariffs on trade and opposes U.S. intervention in foreign conflicts, such as giving aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
The theme of the RNC’s first day, “Make America Wealthy Once Again,” focused largely on Trump’s proposals to impose higher tariffs on foreign-made goods. He pledged to extend tax cuts that are set to expire next year as well as address inflation; the United States’ monthly inflation rate dropped in June for the first time in more than four years, the Labor Department reported last Thursday.
Trump also celebrated a federal judge’s decision on Monday to dismiss the criminal case against him for allegedly illegally holding classified documents after leaving office and obstructing the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled that because the prosecution’s special counsel, Jack Smith, was not a presidential nominee or Senate-confirmed, his appointment violated the Constitution. This ruling reverses previous court decisions on independent prosecutors dating back to the Watergate era, and it impacts one of the strongest criminal cases that Trump was facing. Smith’s team is expected to appeal the decision.
This “should be just the first step” to dismissing all cases against Trump, the former president wrote on social media—claiming that all charges against him are “Political Attacks.” In May, Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Today’s Most Read
The World This Week
Tuesday, July 16: Italy hosts a two-day G-7 trade ministers’ meeting.
Japan hosts a three-day Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting.
Wednesday, July 17: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris at Downing Street.
The Thai Constitutional Court hears an Election Commission case seeking to dissolve the opposition Move Forward Party.
Thursday, July 18: Starmer hosts the fourth European Political Community Summit.
Beijing’s multiday Chinese Communist Party Central Committee meetings conclude.
Saturday, July 20: Colombian President Gustavo Petro presents his economic plan to the country’s Congress.
Sunday, July 21: Laos hosts a weeklong foreign ministers’ meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Monday, July 22: Taiwan conducts a weeklong annual military exercise simulating an invasion by China’s army.
What We’re Following
Deadly Israeli campaigns. Israeli forces launched strikes and raids in central and southern Gaza on Monday as cease-fire talks continue in Qatar. Israeli air, land, and sea strikes hit the Gaza City neighborhoods of Tal al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin, and al-Sabra as well as near the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza.
The operations follow a massive Israeli airstrike late Saturday that hit a designated humanitarian zone in Mawasi near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Israeli officials said the attack targeted Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, though the militant group said Deif remains in good health after the strike. Local officials reported that at least 90 people were killed and another 300 people injured in the attack, making it one of the deadliest strikes in the Israel-Hamas war thus far.
On Sunday, an Israeli strike killed at least 22 Palestinians and wounded roughly 100 more sheltering at a United Nations-run school in central Gaza. It was the fifth attack on or near Gaza schools in eight days; Israel accuses Hamas militants of hiding in the facilities, which the group denies.
PTI crackdown. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced on Monday that Islamabad seeks to ban former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for allegedly receiving foreign funds from illegal sources and supporting riots last year that targeted military installations. Tarar also plans to press the country’s Supreme Court to charge Khan with treason. Khan was removed from office via a no-confidence vote in 2022.
“This is a move towards a soft martial law,” said Zulfikar Bukhari, a close aide of Khan. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a local nonprofit, said a ban on the PTI was unconstitutional and an “enormous blow to democratic norms,” especially given a Supreme Court ruling last week that made the PTI a legitimate political party and said it was eligible for 23 more unelected seats reserved for women and minorities.
During general elections in February, PTI members forced to run as independents claimed major victories amid allegations of vote-rigging. Last week’s court decision made the PTI the largest party in parliament, stripping Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government of its two-thirds majority.
Unsurprising elections. Rwandans went to the polls on Monday for an election that will likely see incumbent President Paul Kagame extend his nearly three-decade hold on power for another five years. Kagame won more than 93 percent of the vote in every election since 2000, when he was first elected for his work in helping to end the 1994 Rwandan genocide. From 1994 to 2000, Kagame was Rwanda’s vice president and de facto leader.
During Rwanda’s last general election in 2017, Kagame secured 99 percent of the vote—a result that rights groups widely criticized, citing his administration’s efforts to silence critics. Kagame stands virtually unopposed in this year’s election.
Syria also held elections on Monday that are expected to result in few—if any—surprises. President Bashar al-Assad’s ruling Baath Party is predicted to retain its majority in parliament, which could pave the way for lawmakers to enact a constitutional amendment that would extend Assad’s term. Millions of displaced Syrians, including those in northwestern Syria as well as those living under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s northeast, are disqualified from voting. This is the nation’s fourth election since anti-government protests in 2011 sparked an ongoing civil war.
Odds and Ends
A thrill-seeking teenager channeled his inner Spider-Man last week to take a selfie atop Italy’s Brunelleschi Dome. Disguised in a black hoodie, the wannabe stuntman reportedly snuck around Florence’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore after it closed for the day to snap the perfect picture. Local media accused the same teen of scaling the Milan Cathedral in May for a similar photo-op, for which he was reportedly charged. How did he get up there, though? Maybe intru-der window?
The post Trump Shooting Inspires Republican Unity at Party Convention appeared first on Foreign Policy.
