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Almost 500 days after Belgian parliamentary elections, seven parties from both sides of the linguistic aisle agreed early Wednesday on forming a fully functioning majority government under new Prime Minister Alexander De Croo that will center on dealing with the pandemic and its devastating economic impact.
A final negotiating session that lasted almost 24 hours found agreement on a common budget that could unite the seven parties, consisting of Liberals, Socialists and Greens, divided into separate linguistic entities, and the Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats.
“It is the starting point for a new way of doing politics, with more pragmaticism, cooperation and, especially, more respect,” De Croo said.
Led by De Croo and francophone Socialist Paul Magnette during the last days of negotiations, the parties found money to fund new initiatives like a higher minimum pension and improved public services, while hoping to contain the budgetary hemorrhaging caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The last thing was the question who would become prime minister, and since the government falls just shy of a parliamentary majority in Dutch-speaking Flanders, it was an obvious choice to pick De Croo.
“We did head or tails, and it fell for Alexander and it is an excellent choice,” Magnette said tongue-in-cheek.
Despite his age, the 44-year-old De Croo is already a veteran in Belgian politics and was vice premier in the outgoing government. He held the offices of pensions, development aid and finance over the past decade. He would be the first Dutch-speaking prime minister in nine years.
European Council President Charles Michel, a former Belgian prime minister himself, congratulated De Croo and said that “COVID-19 hit us badly, but I count on you and your government to guide us past this challenge.”
Since the May 26, 2019, elections, Belgium has been led by a caretaker government, and, for the past half year, by a minority coalition with widespread support from the opposition to deal with the pandemic, the last one led by francophone Liberal Wilmes.
The government formation has been so difficult. Beyond the linguistic strife between 6.6 million Flemings and 5 million Francophones that is a given in Belgian politics, the 2019 elections saw major advances by the far right in northern Dutch-speaking Flanders, and by the far left in southern francophone Wallonia.
It made compromise politics, an essential element of Belgian politics, even harder. De Croo acknowledged that “a lot of people are extremely skeptical.”
But he insisted the coronavirus crisis made the traditional fissures outdated. “Together we can do a lot more than alone.” The overwhelming challenge will be to deal with the pandemic, which has hit Belgium especially hard. On Wednesday, the tally for Belgium exceeded 10,000 deaths for the first time.
“A great many people face a tough time — insecurity, school closures, temporary job losses. And so many families have lost loved ones,” he said.
Because the plenary room in the Belgian parliament is too small to ensure social distancing between the 150 members of the House, the legislature will move to the vast rooms of the nearby European Parliament later this week for approval of the government and a first debate on its program.
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Britain and Canada have imposed sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, his son and other top officials for allegedly rigging the country’s presidential election and committing acts of violence against protesters.The sanctions are the first imposed by major Western powers against Belarusian government officials and subject them to an immediate travel ban and asset freeze.Lukashenko’s post-election crackdown has resulted in the arrest of more than 12,000 people who participated in mass demonstrations that erupted after he claimed victory in an election that opponents allege was stolen. Lukashenko has denied the election was fixed.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaks at a press conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, Sept. 16, 2020, in Washington.“Today the U.K. and Canada have sent a clear message by imposing sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko’s violent and fraudulent regime,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.“We don’t accept the results of the election,” the statement added. “We will hold those responsible for the thuggery deployed against the Belarusian people to account and we will stand up for our values of democracy and human rights.”In an interview with Reuters, Raab also mentioned Lukashenko ally Vladimir Putin, although the sanctions did not target the Russian president.Canadian Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois-Philippe Champagne said, “Canada will not stand by silently as the government of Belarus continues to commit systematic human rights violations and shows no indication of being genuinely committed to finding a negotiated solution with opposition groups.”In addition to Lukashenko and his son, Viktor, who is his chief-of-staff, Britain’s sanctions target the interior minister and two deputy interior ministers. Canada has sanctioned Lukashenko and 10 others.Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 29, 2020.Earlier Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged European support for the people of Belarus after he met with opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.The talks took place in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, where Tsikhanouskaya fled after the August presidential election in Belarus sparked a political crisis.Many in Belarus reject the official results of the election that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office, and thousands have protested in the weeks following the vote.The European Union said last week it does not recognize Lukashenko as president, and Macron has said he must step down.
 
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would have to be “almost dying” to get out of arguably the most notorious prison in the United States if convicted of espionage charges and sent there, a court at London’s Old Bailey heard Tuesday.
Assange, who is fighting an extradition request from the U.S., would likely be sent to the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, if convicted, according to Maureen Baird, a former warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret American military documents a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Assange’s defense team says he is entitled to First Amendment protections for the publication of leaked documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have also said he is suffering from wide-ranging mental health issues, including suicidal tendencies, that could be exacerbated if he ends up in inhospitable prison conditions in the U.S.
Baird said Assange would likely face the most onerous prison conditions that the U.S. can impose, conditions that she has seen lead to an array of mental health issues, including anxiety and paranoia.
“From my experience, of close to three decades of working in federal prisons, I would agree that long term isolation can have serious negative effects on an inmate’s mental health,” she said.
She said Assange would likely be held under special administrative measures, or SAMs, if extradited to the U.S., both in pre-trial detention and after any conviction, because of national security concerns within the U.S. government.
Under these measures, which are at the discretion of the U.S. Attorney General and have been used on convicted terrorists, inmates spend almost the whole day confined in their cells with no contact with other prisoners and little contact with the outside world. She said there was little, if no, flexibility for wardens to ease the restrictions.
“There is no grey area, it’s all black and white,” she said.
Given that likely SAMs requirement, Baird said the “only place” for him to go would be ADX Florence in Colorado “unless there was a severe change in his medical status.”
Citing the example of convicted terrorist, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, Baird said Assange would have to be “almost dying” to be sent to another facility.
Mustafa, who is also known as Abu Hamza and used to be a cleric at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, was extradited from the U.K. to the U.S. in 2012. He has had his two arms amputated and is blind in one eye. SAMs were imposed on him soon after extradition and he has for the past five years been housed in a special secure unit of ADX known as H-Unit.
Lindsay Lewis, a New York attorney who has represented Mustafa, told the court in written testimony that Assange would “in all likelihood wind up in this unit as well” if held under SAMs and sent to ADX.
“There is no reason to conclude that SAMs imposed on Mr. Assange would be any less arbitrary, oppressive, or difficult to challenge, should the U.S. government determine, in its apparently unbridled discretion, that they are appropriate,” she said.
The facility is also home to Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, 1993 World Trade Center mastermind Ramzi Yousef and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man ever convicted in a U.S. court for a role in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The court has heard how one former warden at the prison, Robert Hood, has described the Supermax prison as a “fate worse than death” that was “not built for humanity.”
It is thought that, if extradited, Assange would be first moved to the pre-trial facilities at the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the U.S. government have claimed that Assange’s mental state is not as bad as his lawyers say and that he wouldn’t be subjected to improper conditions.
Clair Dobbin, a lawyer acting on behalf of the U.S. government, said SAMS were only “speculative” and reviewed regularly. She also said they have been removed from some inmates at the Colorado prison.
Assange’s extradition hearing, which was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is due to end this week.
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This is not the student life Iris Raats had hoped for when she was accepted at Leiden University to study law.
With the coronavirus pandemic casting its long shadow over education in the Netherlands and around the world, most of her lectures are online and the vibrant social life in the country’s oldest university city has been reined in to contain the spread of the pandemic.
Instead, socializing happens predominantly within the four walls of the house that the 19-year-old shares with 13 other students close to the city’s central railway station.
“I’m very glad that I found … a room in Leiden and that I can experience living with students and have parties here in the kitchen,” she said. “But it’s not like real student life.”
Houses packed with students in Dutch university cities are seen as a worrying source of infections as the Netherlands has been hit by a strong resurgence of coronavirus in recent weeks. Infections have soared among people aged 20-30.
“It’s very complicated for students if there are 14 of you living in a house with shared kitchen, shared bathroom,” Dutch Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven told The Associated Press. “What we see now is that students are working with one another to work out how to make those houses safe.”
That is happening at the house in Leiden, where students are packed into communal spaces almost as tightly as their bicycles in racks in the front yard. The residents have made up their own rules to keep the virus out, largely sealing themselves off from the outside world by strictly limiting the number of visitors.
Students with a cough or runny nose are supposed to self-isolate in their rooms, although the housemates concede it’s hard to rigidly enforce that rule. At the height of the outbreak earlier this year, residents were allowed just one guest, a rule that allowed partners to visit.
When a room is vacated, meetings between housemates and potential new residents — thought to be a source of spreading infections — now happen largely online or in the house’s back garden.
So far, it’s worked for Iris and her housemates. Nobody has tested positive for COVID-19, even as Dutch infections are spiking and the government is introducing tougher measures to rein in its spread.
Students squeeze in and out of the cramped kitchen and sit talking around a small table cluttered with newspapers, books, cups and glasses. Iris cooks eggs and fiscal law student Gerard Velthuijs makes coffee.
In a hall, at the bottom of a steep flight of stairs, beer crates are stacked up and empty bottles collected in boxes. A single face mask hangs out of a student’s mail collection rack on the wall.
So far, about 100,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Netherlands and around 6,300 have died, although the true toll is higher because of limited testing, missed cases and other factors.
Student housing is not just a problem in the Netherlands.
In Britain, outbreaks at universities in cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester have seen thousands of students confined to their residence halls. Security guards at some schools prevent young people from leaving their buildings.
The clampdown has angered students and parents, who say government and universities should have been better prepared, with clearer social distancing rules and routine virus testing for students.
Confining students to dorms also has not stopped them from socializing. Police were called to a residence at Edinburgh University last week to break up multiple student parties.
In the United States, dozens of universities have emerged as virus hot spots. Although students are being spaced apart in classrooms and dining halls, the virus has continued to spread in cramped dorms and through off-campus parties that have been blamed for thousands of cases.
In Leiden, second-year physics student David Hintzen is spending way more time than he would like in his bedroom on the house’s third floor. His days are spent peering at his laptop on the table next to his bed, although he must sometimes go to a university lab to carry out experiments.
“Most of our colleges are online through the website, so … everything I do is basically here,” he said. “I do study with friends sometimes, but that’s also through the laptop.”
Not all students in Leiden have been able to resist the temptation to party. Police intervened earlier this month to halt one late-night gathering of students in a Leiden park where people failed to social distance.
“It doesn’t always go well,” Van Engelhoven said. “That was — and they’ve said this themselves — stupid and irresponsible and we have to make sure we prevent that.”
For the students, the one upside of the restrictions is more time to focus on their education.
“You can’t get out to … party,” said Velthuijs. “Normally we used to party quite a bit together in the town but that’s all stopped, so it’s kind of boring. But you can concentrate on your studies now, so that’s okay.” 
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European officials fear the coronavirus pandemic will spark eventually another massive migration wave from Africa and the Middle East. “The social and economic consequences of COVID are going to get worse and that will mean more people deciding to search for a better life,” Malta’s foreign minister warned last week.    Evarist Bartolo is urging European countries to invest more in African countries to help boost their economies to generate wealth and jobs so people are less likely to migrate.FILE – Malta’s Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo and his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio wear protective masks as they talk to each other during the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 27, 2020. (Kay Nietfeld/Pool via Reuters)He points out that about two-thirds of asylum-seekers are economic migrants, not war refugees. Pandemic-shattered economies in sub-Sahara Africa will fuel migration in the future, he fears.  The coronavirus pandemic is acting currently as a dampener on migration, analysts say. The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, IOM, reports approximately 50,000 migrants have arrived this year so far to Europe, largely by sea — considerably fewer than in previous years. The IOM reported that 110,669 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2019. At the height of the migration crisis more than a million migrants entered the EU, according to the United Nations. FILE – Migrants on a dinghy are approached by a Greek coast guard boat near the port of Thermi, as they crossed part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the island of Lesbos, Greece, March 1, 2020.Even before the pandemic unfolded, numbers of migrants and refugees were decreasing dramatically, first falling off in 2016 after the European Union clinched a deal with Turkey to disrupt migrant routes into Europe via Turkey and subsequently also because of increased interceptions at sea and deals with the Libyan coast guards to keep migrants from making it to Europe.  The pandemic is making movement even harder, say analysts. But once the pandemic has been curbed, the economic reckoning of the coronavirus is likely to boost migration.  FILE – A police officer speaks to rescued migrants after they arrived on an Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat in Valletta’s Marsamxett Harbor, Malta, Sept. 21, 2019.Evarist Bartolo told a British broadcaster last week that Europe has to do much more to persuade people to stay in their own countries. “We need a new relationship with African countries so we can help to create wealth where they are,  they do not risk their lives trying to get to Europe,” he said.  Aid is not the answer But some development economists are warning that development aid is not a short-term solution to migration. A handful of new studies suggest neither aid nor economic development does much to deter migration, at least in the short to medium term, and they cast doubt whether higher incomes for the poor in origin countries will deter migration, at least for some time. Research by the FILE – An internally displaced woman from a drought hit area carries firewood for cooking near her shelter at a makeshift settlement in Dollow, Somalia, Apr. 5, 2017.Neither researcher is arguing foreign and development aid should be cut off. Says Clemens: “That would be unwise. Economic development overseas is in everyone’s long-term interest. It helps other countries prevent humanitarian disasters, fight pandemic disease, remain stable, and engage with the world economy. Perversely encouraging poverty, out of a misplaced fear of migration, is a road to nowhere.” But development aid cannot serve as a short to medium-term panacea to illegal migration. Recent research by other development economists suggests that if aid is given just with any eye to deterring migration in the short term, it would be highly costly. British academics Paul Clist and Gabriele Restelli estimates that Italy would have to spend around $1.8 million in bilateral aid for each migrant deterred from trying to enter the country.  
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Greek authorities on Monday began transferring hundreds of refugees from the island of Lesbos to reduce chronic overcrowding that caused hardship and fanned tensions with locals. Over 700 people were to sail to the Greek mainland aboard a ferry later Monday, organizers said, three weeks after a sprawling camp on the island burned down. Another group will leave on Thursday, state agency ANA said. Some 2,500 refugees and asylum-seekers are to be relocated overall, following coronavirus tests, according to the migration ministry. Over 12,000 asylum-seekers were left homeless on Sept. 8 after a fire ravaged the Lesbos camp of Moria, Europe’s largest. Six Afghan youths are on trial for arson in connection to the fire. They deny the charges. The Moria camp was notorious for overcrowding, poor sanitation and ethnic gang violence. The fire broke out shortly after more than 30 people there tested positive for the coronavirus. Also Monday, Greek police said they had identified 33 aid workers who allegedly facilitated illegal migration to Lesbos. A Greek police source later said the “preliminary” investigation was still under way. A police statement said the suspects, who worked for four nongovernmental organizations, were part of “an organized network” created to “systematically” facilitate illegal migration to the island. Two other foreign nationals, identified by state TV ERT as an Afghan and an Iranian, were also part of the alleged operation, the police said. No information was given on the aid groups in question, the identities of the suspects or whether any were in custody. The police said the alleged operation was active from at least June, “providing substantial assistance to organized migrant-smuggling networks” in an estimated 32 cases by helping direct migrant boats to shore safely. Meanwhile, Germany has offered to take 1,500 asylum-seekers from Greece, including former Moria residents. For its part, France has offered to take in 500 minors from the camp. Authorities and local residents on Lesbos had long campaigned for the immediate removal of most of the asylum-seekers. After the camp burned down, a makeshift tent facility was hurriedly erected to house some 9,500 people. But the temporary camp, on a hill overlooking the sea, is ill-equipped to handle winter conditions. The government is now in talks to build a smaller permanent camp on the island. 
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Polish leaders on Monday rejected suggestions that LGBT people in Poland are facing any kind of discrimination or depravation of rights, following the publication of an open letter from 50 ambassadors and international representatives expressing their support for “challenges faced” by the LGBT communities in the nation. The ambassadors’ appeal, coordinated by Belgium’s embassy in Poland and published Sunday, comes as an increasingly visible LGBT community in Poland has faced a backlash from the right-wing government, many local communities and the Catholic Church. “Human rights are universal, and everyone, including LGBTI persons, are entitled to their full enjoyment,” the letter said, using the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. FILE – Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks during a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 17, 2020.At a news conference Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he agreed that every person deserves respect but that he completely disagreed with the ambassadors’ claim that LGBT people were being deprived of that. Morawiecki said no one needs to teach Poland tolerance, “because we are a nation that has learned such tolerance for centuries, and we have given many testimonies to the history of such tolerance.”  Poland’s ruling party leaders, including the president, have cast the movement for civil rights for LGBT people as a threat to traditional families. President Andrzej Duda won a second term this year after calling LGBT rights an “ideology” more dangerous than communism. FILE – Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks to a crowd during an event in Gdansk-Westerplatte, Sept. 1, 2020.Meanwhile, dozens of towns in conservative parts of eastern and southern Poland have passed mostly symbolic resolutions declaring themselves to be “LGBT-free zones,” free of LGBT ideology. From her Twitter account Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher tweeted, “Human Rights are not an ideology — they are universal, 50 Ambassadors and Representatives agree.”  The ambassadors’ letter paid tribute to the work of the LGBT community in Poland as it seeks to raise awareness about the challenges it faces. The letter was signed by the ambassadors of the United States, many European countries, including Germany, Ukraine and Britain, and other nations such as Japan and Australia. The letter was also signed by representatives in Poland of the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Community of Democracies, which is based in Warsaw. 
 
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Turkey says it will back Azerbaijan with all means necessary as fighting entered a second day Monday between Azeri and Armenian forces over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, in a sign the conflict could be widening.  Monday saw Azeri and Armenian forces exchange heavy artillery fire, with each accusing the other of starting the hostilities Sunday. Observers called the latest fighting over Nargono Karabakh, an enclave inside Azerbaijan but run by ethnic Armenians, the worst since the 1990s. Witness reports put the number of dead, including civilians, at more than 20 and at least 100 wounded.  People watch TV in a bomb shelter in Stepanakert, the capital of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, in this picture released Sept. 28, 2020. (Foreign Ministry of Armenia/Handout via Reuters)Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to voice support  for Azerbaijan, labeling Armenia “the biggest threat to peace in the region.” The Turkish leader called on “the entire world to stand with Azerbaijan in their battle against invasion and cruelty.” The Armenian foreign ministry on Monday said Turkish military “experts” were “fighting side by side with Azerbaijan.” Turkish government officials declined to comment on the accusations.  “Turkey troops will not be on the front line, Azeri forces don’t need them,” said Turkish analyst Ilhan Uzgel. But Uzgel says Ankara remains Baku’s key military ally. “Turkey is already supporting Azerbaijan militarily,” he said, “through technical assistance through arms sales, providing critical military support, especially in terms of armed drones and technical expertise. The line for Turkey’s involvement, is Russia’s involvement; actually, that is a red line for Turkey. Turkey doesn’t want a direct confrontation with Moscow.” An image from a video made available on the website of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry on Sept. 28, 2020, allegedly shows Azeri troops conducting a combat operation during clashes between Armenian separatists and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.Moscow is a vital supporter of Yerevan, and maintains a military base in Armenia.  The Russian foreign ministry on Monday called for Armenia and Azerbaijan to exercise restraint.  “Armenian-Russian relations are firm and solid,” said Dr. Zaur Gasimov, a Russian affairs expert at Germany’s Bonn University. “Now, having faced with casualties on the front line, Yerevan would search for more support from Moscow.” Ahead of Sunday’s outbreak of fighting, Baku had accused Moscow of emboldening Yerevan with significant arms shipments since July.  “500 tonnes of military cargo has been delivered to Armenia. Let us be clear, from Russia,” said Hikmat Hajiyev, head of Azerbaijan department of foreign affairs, in a briefing to foreign journalists in Turkey earlier this month.  Hajiyev highlighted the significance of Turkey’s military assistance. “We have seen firm and strong support of Turkey to Azerbaijan. Annually, we have 10 joint military exercises covering land troops, anti-terror special forces operations, and air force exercises.” In what observers interpreted as a message to Armenia, Turkish fighter jets carried out an exercise in Azerbaijan shortly after Armenian and Azeri forces clashed in July. Energy interests July’s fighting in Azerbaijan’s Tovuz region was close to crucial energy pipelines that serve Turkey, causing alarm in Ankara. “This is a very core security issue for Turkey for energy security,” said a senior Turkish energy ministry official speaking to journalists on the condition of anonymity. The official said Turkey “will take any relevant measures” to continue receiving energy deliveries from Azerbaijan.  Ankara has long supported Baku in its efforts to retake Nagorno-Karabakh, and Erdogan on Monday asserted that if Armenia immediately leaves the territory that he said it is occupying, the region will return to peace and harmony. A view of a house said to have been damaged in recent shelling during clashes between Armenian separatists and Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region, Sept. 28, 2020. (Handout Photo from Armenian Foreign Ministry)Restoring Azeri control over Nagorno-Karabakh has the strong support of Turkish nationalists, a critical political base for Erdogan.”Two nations, one people” is a popular mantra used by Baku and Ankara to describe the countries’ relationship. Armenian separatists seized Nargono Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a bloody 1990s war that killed an estimated 30,000 people.  Turkey appears poised to deepen its cooperation with Azerbaijan, analysts say. “But it’s quite a risky area. The Caucasus, it’s one of Russia’s near abroad, the Caucuses is part of Russian area of influence. They may not tolerate Turkish Azerbaijani military action against Armenia that results in heavy Armenian losses. If Turkey and Azerbaijan are planning to have a huge success through military means, that could put Turkish Russian relations at serious risk.” In recent years, Ankara and Moscow have deepened their relationship, cooperating in Syria and building trade ties that even extend to the purchase of sophisticated Russian military hardware.  
 
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Russia joined the U.S. and other nations urging restraint from Azerbaijan and Armenia as fierce weekend fighting between the two rival neighbors over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region threatened to spiral into a wider conflict in the South Caucasus region. “We call on all sides in the conflict to show maximum restraint, to reject military methods and refuse any steps that might provoke an undesired escalation of the situation that is de facto already a military conflict,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in remarks to journalists in Moscow on Monday.   Peskov added that President Vladimir Putin had discussed the crisis with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over the weekend but would do the same with the Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev “if necessary.” In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, greets Sahiba Gafarova Chairman of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 23, 2020.Underscoring Russia’s delicate global balancing act,  Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed the need for a cease-fire in phone calls with counterparts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, as well as Turkey — which backs Baku and has been Moscow’s on-again off-again partner amid its military campaign in Syria. The U.S. Department of State also issued a press release saying the U.S. was “alarmed” by “large scale military action,” that had led to “significant casualties.”  “We extend our condolences to the families of those killed and injured,” said the A still image from a video released by the Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, Sept. 28, shows members of Azeri armed forces firing artillery during clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.Much of that animosity has focused on Nagorno-Karabakh — an ethnically Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan’s borders that was the site of a war in the early 1990s that killed 30,000 and displaced over one million people.   Further contributing to distrust are religious tensions. Armenia is majority Christian while Azerbaijan is primarily Muslim.  The U.S., Russia, and France are co-chairs of a working group that has sought to defuse the conflict under the auspices of the Houses, that locals said were damaged during a recent shelling by Azeri forces, are seen in the town of Martuni in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, Sept. 28, 2020. (Hayk Baghdasaryan/Photolure via Reuters)Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense said it had killed over 500 Armenian soldiers and destroyed 26 armored vehicles, weapons stores, and unmanned drones.   Armenia’s Defense Ministry countered it had been the Azeris who lost 200 soldiers, 30 armored vehicles, and 30 drones — while saying that 200 of its soldiers had been wounded amid fighting. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gives a speech at the parliament in Yerevan on Sept. 27, 2020. (Photo by handout / Press service of Armenia’s government / AFP)Armenia’s parliament also condemned what it called a “full-scale military attack” by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh. Meanwhile, the separatist government in Nagorno-Karabakh said 28 of its soldiers had died but key ground installations had been retaken by its forces.  It also claimed Azeri forces had launched a tank assault against the northeast portion of the enclave.  An image grab taken from a video made available on the official website of the Armenian Defense Ministry, Sept. 27, 2020, allegedly shows destroying of Azeri tanks during clashes between Armenian separatists and Azerbaijan.Further muddying the picture, Armenia’s President Armen Sarkisyan accused Turkey — a traditional Azeri ally with its own history of conflict with Armenia  — of sending fighters and military jets to join in the battle.  Azeri officials rejected the charges. “Rumors of militants from Syria allegedly being redeployed to Azerbaijan is another provocation by the Armenian side and complete nonsense,” said an aide to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in comments carried by RIA-Novosti.  Wider conflict Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded on Monday that Armenia “leave Azeri territory in Norgorno-Karabakh” and criticized the decade-long OSCE peace talks for failing to resolve the status of the enclave.  Armenia’s ambassador to Russia, Vardan Toganyan, said Yerevan was prepared to ask Russia for additional weapons should Turkey enter the conflict directly.   The ambassador noted it was too early to say whether the request would be necessary.  Russia is historically an ally of Armenia but has sought to maintain good relations with Azerbaijan. While the Kremlin maintains military bases in Armenia, it sells both countries weapons and armaments.   With both sides accusing the other of shelling, the International Committee of the Red Cross — which maintains a presence in both countries and Nagorno-Karabakh — issued a statement calling on all sides to take measures to protect civilian life and infrastructure. “We reiterate our commitment to assist and support those affected by this escalation as well as to act as a neutral intermediary”, said the group’s regional director Martin Schüepp.  Political observers in Moscow argued only the major powers could bring an end to the most serious escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan in years. This is ”no longer violations of cease-fire or border incidents,” wrote Dmitry Trenin of the Carnegie Moscow Center in a post to Twitter.  “War is resuming. Time for Russia, France and U.S., individually and jointly, to stop it.” #NagornoKarabakh: no longer violations of ceasefire or border incidents. War is resuming. Time for Russia, France and US, individually and jointly, to stop it.
— Dmitri Trenin (@DmitriTrenin) September 27, 2020  
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As European governments tussle over imposing sanctions on Belarus after the results of last month’s election, some former diplomats and analysts are urging those nations not only to target President Alexander Lukashenko and his top officials in Minsk but also his allies in Russia. “The limited scale of these sanctions may undermine their effectiveness,” said Anders Åslund, a former Swedish diplomat. He said an important aim of any sanctions should be not only to punish those involved in the disputed Aug. 9 election but also “to deter both Belarusians and Russians from assisting the Lukashenko regime in its ongoing crackdown against the country’s pro-democracy movement.” Åslund said just as the West aims to punish “the enforcers of Lukashenko’s violent crackdown,” it should identify and “sanction his Russian collaborators.” FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko takes his oath of office during his inauguration ceremony at the Palace of the Independence in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 23, 2020.”Russia’s disinformation agents from RT and other state media are already known and should be sanctioned. Flight records between Moscow and Minsk indicate that Russian security advisers and senior Kremlin personnel have also been involved in coordinating the suppression of the pro-democracy opposition in Belarus. The EU and U.S. sanctions response to the crisis in Belarus should also reflect this,” Aslund outlined in a commentary for the Atlantic Council, a New York-based research group where he is a fellow. The Baltic states have already imposed sanctions on 30 Belarusian officials. The European Union has prepared a sanctions list targeting 40 officials with a mixture of travel bans and asset freezes. But imposition has been held up by Cyprus’s refusal to approve the action unless sanctions are imposed by the 27-member bloc on Turkey in a separate high-stakes dispute over oil drilling rights in the Mediterranean. Lukashenko was sworn in for a sixth term last week in a ceremony without prior fanfare or publicity — an effort to avoid it becoming a target of protesters. Opposition leaders and Western governments denounced the inauguration as illegitimate. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, whose supporters believe she was the real winner of the election, has been urging the EU to follow through on its sanctions threat. She met with EU foreign ministers this month in Brussels. FILE – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya speaks during a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 21, 2020.”EU leaders have reasons not to push sanctions, but I asked them to be braver,” Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the election, told reporters after meeting foreign ministers. “Sanctions are important in our fight because it’s part of pressure that could force the so-called authorities to start dialogue with us in the opposition council.” French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that Belarus’s leader must step down. “It’s clear he has to go,” Macron told Le Journal du Dimanche, a weekly magazine. “It is a crisis of power, an authoritarian power that cannot accept the logic of democracy and which is hanging on by force. It is clear that Lukashenko has to go,” he said. Vladimir Makei, Belarus’s minister of foreign affairs, accused Western countries of attempting to sow “chaos and anarchy” in the former Soviet republic. “We are seeing attempts to destabilize the situation in the country,” he told the United Nations General Assembly in a video statement.  FILE – Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei speaks during a news conference following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, not pictured, in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 2, 2020.Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Belarus since the election. An estimated 12,000 people have been arrested. Some key protesters have also faced the threat of their children being seized by authorities. Last week, Britain’s foreign minister, Dominic Raab, said the government is drawing up a list of sanctions against officials in Belarus responsible for overseeing Lukashenko’s reelection or of managing the violent suppression of street protests.  Raab said the British sanctions will be announced in coordination with the United States and Canada. He expressed doubt about targeting Russia, saying the relationship between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin is complicated and nuanced. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose reforms paved the way for an end to the Cold War and inadvertently to the breakup of the Soviet Union, has called “for a peaceful resolution” of the Belarus crisis. He urged all outside powers, including Russia, not to interfere, suggesting he disapproves of Putin’s efforts to revive a so-called “union treaty” signed in 1999 between Moscow and Minsk that would merge Russia and Belarus. In an interview with Russian news site RBC, Gorbachev appeared to approve of the protesters. “Well done Belarusians! Now, they already have character. This is very good,” he said. FILE – Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attends an event in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 8, 2018.In an interview with a British newspaper, Gorbachev emphasized his disapproval of all outside interference in Belarus.  “All countries must behave very carefully. You must not interfere from the outside. We must give the people of Belarus the opportunity to find a way out of the current difficult situation on their own,” he told Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper. Uppermost in his mind appeared to be the fear that events in Belarus could seriously worsen East-West relations. He said relations between the West and Russia need to be repaired, fearing a nuclear arms race will spin out of control. In the interview, Gorbachev said the winner of the U.S. election in November should seek to hold a summit with Putin along the lines with the one he held with President Ronald Reagan in Iceland in 1986 that led the two powers to scrap more than 2,000 short-, medium- and intermediate-range nuclear missiles.  “The situation is very worrying,” Gorbachev said. “Whatever the result of the election, we need to resume a dialogue to get out of this frozen situation.” 
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