The GPR Digest- December 9, 2024

South Korea, Syria, the TikTok ban, and more!

Dec 09, 2024

Editor’s Note: This will be the last GPR Digest post of the year! Thank you all for tuning in. The Digest will return next spring.

GPR FEATURES

Breaking news! The Georgia Political Review’s semesterly magazine, Grassroots and Globalization, is being released. Stay tuned on the GPR Website or the GPR Instagram for more updates about where to read the magazine. The magazine will be available in print or online.

GEORGIA

5 dead in apparent murder-suicide in Dekalb County apartment

This Saturday, December 7, five were found dead to gunshot wounds in an apartment along the 2100 block of Vineyard Walk in Dekalb County. The shooting happened just before 7:30 P.M and took the lives of a 43-year-old female, a 32-year-old male, a 26-year-old female, a 5-year old female, and a 1 -year-old male. The police have declined to release the names of the victims and are currently alerting their next of kin.

NATIONAL

President Biden pardons Hunter Biden from convictions

On December 1, President Joe Biden issued a presidential pardon for his son Hunter Biden. This contrasts President Biden’s previous promises not to use executive authority on the sentence. Hunter Biden was to be sentenced December 12th for a conviction on federal gun charges. He was also to be sentenced on December 16 in a separate criminal case, in which he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges in September.

Regarding his decision, Biden stated: “I believe raw politics….infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice.” Hunter Biden, citing his addiction as a source of his misdemeanors, stated afterward: “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering”.

INTERNATIONAL

South Korean president survives impeachment motion

This Wednesday, December 4, South Korea’s opposition parties moved to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law late Tuesday. The declaration is in response to President Yeol’s struggles against opponents, who control Parliament and whom he accuses of sympathizing with communist North Korea. It was formally lifted around 4:30 am after a Cabinet meeting.

Days later, President Yeol was threatened with an impeachment motion submitted by the Democratic Party and five smaller opposition parties. Impeachment required ⅔ Parliamentary support and endorsement by 6 justices of the Constitutional Court to succeed. However, on Saturday, December 7, the impeachment failed to pass, falling 5 votes short of the required 200 in Parliament.

French government collapses after Prime Minister’s resignation

For the first time since 1962, members of the French government voted to pass a no-confidence measure against Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Wednesday, December 4. The measure was decided by 331 members of the far-right National Rally and left-wing New Popular Front.

Prior to the measure, the National Assembly was primarily concerned with Barnier’s budget proposal. As a result, Barnier attempted to prevent the government collapse by forcing a social security financing bill without a vote— prompting the measure. Barnier resigned the next day. The budget was automatically withdrawn upon his resignation.

President Emanuel Macron, responsible for appointing Barnier, will either leave office—leading to a presidential election— or appoint a new Prime Minister. Macron plans to remain in office until his term ends in 2027, requiring him to make this appointment soon.

Syrian rebels take Damascus

After years of president Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian rule over Syria, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other rebel forces have captured Damascus after launching a major offensive on November 27th. Assad resigned and fled the country on Sunday, ending a 50-year dynasty of his family’s control.

Now, the fate of Syria’s governance is uncertain. Many fear that this uncertainty will leave the country vulnerable to extremist control. The militant leader of the insurgency, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has cut ties with Al-Qaeda and has since adopted an image of tolerance. However, the extent of this transition from jihadi extremism toward a more progressive stance remains to be seen.

CULTURE

TikTok faces U.S ban after company petition is denied

This Friday, December 6, a panel of federal judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a law that could lead to the banning of TikTok in the U.S. The law, signed this April, forces the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company by January 19. If they refuse, the ban is put into place.

The three judges were members of the District of Columbia Circuit. Their defense cited the ability of the law to restrain a foreign adversary (China), preventing privacy breaches and protecting millions of American users. However, after denying TikTok’s petition to overturn the law, concerns arose from free speech advocates and TikTok creators, whose income would be negatively impact by the ban.

Contributors: Sophia Nguyen, Alizah Mudaliar, Marin Arvin