Barriers to Syria Aid Emerge After Earthquake

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at the fallout from the earthquake in Turkey, Hong Kong’s national security trial, and India’s plans for the Indo-Pacific.

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More than 5,000 people are dead in Turkey and Syria following a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey in the early hours of Monday morning. Rescuers are still searching for survivors in almost freezing temperatures. Nearly 6,000 buildings have collapsed, and experts have cited poor construction regulations and buildings’ lack of seismic resilience for the extreme destruction.

It was one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit Turkey in the last century—the strongest to hit the country since 1939. That year, an earthquake of the same magnitude took around 30,000 lives. In the last quarter century, seven earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or more have hit Turkey. This week’s, however, was the strongest.

Numerous countries have sent resources to the region, but cold and wet weather is expected to make recovery harder.

Turkey’s interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, said search and rescue teams have been dispatched. Davut Gul, governor of Gaziantep, acknowledged the earthquake was “felt strongly” in their city and asked people to wait and remain calm.

The northwest of Syria, which was hit hard, was already home to more than 4 million people relying on humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They are mostly women and children, who are battling a harsh winter and a cholera outbreak.

Cross-border aid to the war-torn region was already limited prior to the earthquake. As the Guardian noted, “With the support of Russia at the UN, the government in Damascus allows aid to enter the region through only one border crossing.” Human rights groups are calling for a relaxation of the restrictions, but the Syrian government continues to insist that it should control all aid entering the country.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the United States was “profoundly concerned” about the situation in Syria and Turkey.

Hong Kong’s largest national security trial begins. A landmark national security trial of 47 advocates for democracy is underway in Hong Kong. Some people have said the case is putting democracy itself on trial. Those individuals charged were accused of “conspiracy to commit subversion” for holding unofficial pre-election primaries in July 2020.

The accused include former politicians, activists, and organizers, including legal academic Benny Tai and activists Joshua Wong and Lester Shum. Those accused of being “principal offenders” are facing life in prison. There was heavy police presence at the trial. The accused were arrested more than two years ago, and most have been in jail for almost two years, having been denied bail.

India is relaunching its INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. India is getting to launch its INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. It is moving toward deploying two carrier battle groups to strengthen its naval power to counter China. Beijing, meanwhile, has been increasing and modernizing its navy for over a decade, investing in ballistic and cruise missile technology. China is expected to sail an aircraft carrier into the Indian Ocean in the next few years.

The United States has resolved to focus on the Indo-Pacific region and to partner with India in countering China in the area, although the Biden administration’s foreign-policy focus has been on Russia’s war in Ukraine, where India continues to walk a fine line between Russia and the United States.

Ukraine warns Russia’s eastern attacks are intensifying. Ukraine said Russia attacked dozens of positions across its eastern front. Ukraine has already warned that Russia could be planning a major offensive to coincide with the anniversary of the war (and, roughly, with its Defender of the Fatherland Day), although it is not known from where, exactly, Russia would launch this offensive.

However, Ukraine’s General Staff also said the chaos engulfing Russia’s military efforts, including the relative inexperience of those it has sent to fight, was hampering its actual effectiveness, saying, “There was a complete lack of coordination and interaction among the servicemen of Russian occupation troops and the so-called Wagner Group’s mercenaries.” Russia’s attacks have reportedly focused around Bakhmut, which is the center of Russia’s efforts to seize all of the Donbas.

• The Deeper Reason Netanyahu Won’t Arm Ukraine Against Russia by Steven A. Cook

• Japan’s Long-Awaited Return to Geopolitics by Jeffrey W. Hornung

• Britain Is Much Worse Off Than It Understands by Simon Tilford

We’ve all got baggage. An Ontario couple had been told their luggage was lost and donated to charity, when in fact, thanks to an app, they knew it was in storage the whole time. The story has a happy ending, however. They finally got their bags back and can now, presumably, unpack.