While the Ukraine Crisis continued to be on the agenda last week, there were other important events affecting global politics. At the beginning of these events are the winter Olympics that started in Beijing and the ISIS operation carried out by the USA in Syria. However, before moving on to these issues, let's briefly touch on the Ukrainian agenda. Contrary to Putin's demands, NATO increased its military presence in Eastern Europe this week, and the United States' sending 3000 soldiers to Europe to be deployed in Eastern European countries was discussed in the Ukraine crisis. Putin wanted to use the Ukraine crisis as an opportunity to create a rift between NATO countries and to divide NATO. However, NATO responded to Putin with a more aggressive and active rhetoric and concrete policies than Putin expected on the Ukraine crisis. On the other hand, we can say that instead of new cracks, new communication channels and diplomatic relations have developed among NATO members. Because NATO is in a state of alarm due to the Ukraine crisis.
Contrary to Putin's demands, NATO's increasing military strength in Eastern Europe creates a security dilemma. Putin appears to have faced a tougher stance than he expected from the United States and NATO. However, in the face of this attitude, it would not be an unexpected development for him to resort to increasing his military power and increasing military activity on the Ukrainian border. Macron visited Moscow and met with Putin. Macron, as both a mediator and a strong NATO country, adopts the policy of France to follow an active foreign policy in the Ukraine crisis. After meeting with Putin, Macron stated that there are still opportunities for peace, and by meeting with Russia, he showed his belief in finding common points and ensuring European security together through diplomacy. Macron will also meet with President of Ukraine Zelensky. In the Ukraine crisis, both the West and Russia cannot take the risk of being perceived as the side that wants to abandon diplomatic paths and resort to military methods in the world public opinion. For this reason, it is understood that the parties will continue to negotiate with new proposals in the coming period and will continue to share their trump cards by not excluding the path of diplomacy over the Ukraine crisis.
Beijing Winter Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics are being held this year in Beijing, the capital of China, amid many debates. Organized for the 24th time this year, the Winter Olympics started on Friday, February 4. The Winter Olympics, which will last until February 20 with the participation of more than three thousand athletes, include 109 different sports events. The Olympics, which started quietly in the shadow of the Covid pandemic, the snow that did not fall on Beijing, and the diplomatic boycott decisions, could not find a place for itself in the world agenda compared to the previous Olympics. In this case, the opposition of the Western countries against the human rights violations of the Chinese administration has a large share. That's why the Olympics held in Beijing tell us a lot about global politics.
While Western countries did not back down from their decision to participate in the Olympics in sporting terms, they preferred to engage in a kind of boycott by not being able to send their diplomatic and administrative representatives to Beijing, apart from the athletes, coaches and technical delegations. The Chinese administration loves to use sports organizations as an opportunity to reflect China's soft power and introduce itself to the world. The Chinese administration, which is an expert in sportwashing, made snowfall in Beijing, where there was no snow, by artificial snow method, in order to organize the winter Olympics in Beijing. This situation has also been the subject of criticism because using huge amounts of water to produce artificial snow is seen as a practice contrary to the decisions of countries to adopt environmentalist policies.
The concept of sportwashing is trying to use the sports organizations of the countries to keep the weak human rights record out of the public eye and to promote their country. To date, China has invested in many sports branches. The Beijing National Stadium, which was built in Beijing and became famous as the Bird's Nest, was also built for the summer Olympics held in Beijing in 2008. The Winter Olympics opening ceremony was also held in this iconic stadium. Tennis complexes that hosted many tournaments of the Women's Tennis Organization were also built in the past years, but Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was not heard from after she announced that she was sexually harassed on social media, which caused great reactions in the tennis and sports world and the Women's Tennis Organization will be held in China. He canceled the tournaments. Especially due to the policies implemented by China in the Uyghur Autonomous Region, Western countries have recently been more cautious about China's sportwashing policies. The diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics is also a product of this approach. In this area where sports and global politics intersect, the decisions of the USA and Western countries to boycott major sports organizations held in authoritarian countries offer clues about how the new era will be in the field of sports.
USA Kills ISIS Leader With Operation In Northern Syria
Amid the intense agenda of the Ukraine crisis, we have forgotten other regions in the world where wars are ongoing. Syria is one of these regions. Another important agenda of the past week was the killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in the Atme village of Idlib, with an operation carried out by the USA on February 3. Although the conflicts in Idlib are not reflected on the world agenda, they are continued by many actors in the region. American troops continue their operations as part of the fight against ISIS. In 2019, the then leader of ISIS, Baghdadi, was killed in another operation carried out during the Trump era. Al-Hashemi, the leader of ISIS after Baghdadi, was in pursuit of the US army.
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The killing of 6 women and 4 children in the raided house during the airstrike in which EL Hashemi was killed brought to mind the attacks of the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan,
which resulted in civilian casualties many times over. This attack was also the target of criticism in terms of human rights. There were some who interpreted the fact that
the area where the attack took place was within the Euphrates Shield operation area of Turkey as a message against Turkey. Because Atme, the place where El Hashemi
was killed, is only 1.5 km from Turkey by bird flight. However, although there were Turkish soldiers in Idlib, there was no Turkish military force in the Atme region at the time
of the attack. It is understood that the US army carried out this operation unaware of Turkey, which does not fit well with the understanding of alliance between the US and
Turkey. The USA does not work in coordination with Turkey in Syria, as in the past. This choice reveals the point reached in the declining bilateral relations between the USA
and Turkey.
He is propagating his new foreign policy by presenting the murder of Biden al-Hashimi as a foreign policy success. He also emphasizes that this attack is a message that
the United States will continue its relentless fight against ISIS. Biden wants to regain the support he lost in the domestic public. For this reason, he presents the operations
against ISIS in Syria as a great success to the public, as in the Ukraine crisis. At the same time, he wants his allies and other global actors to know that the United States
continues its fight against terrorism around the world and will continue to support it. After all, today's traditional distinction between domestic and foreign policy has lost its
meaning in many respects. Russia, another power in the region, seems to be generally satisfied with the US attacks against ISIS. Because Russia aims to end terrorism in the
region and increase the effectiveness of the Assad administration in Syria. Biden shows that he will try to follow an active policy in the fight against terrorism, as in other
areas in the US foreign policy. It seems that the Syrian civil war will continue to gain a place on the world agenda with such attacks from time to time.
