The Issue: Turkey
Once considered one of the more stable countries in the Middle East, tensions have been rising in Turkey over the past few weeks.
Recently, the government blocked access to Twitter and YouTube because audio recordings talking about the security situation in Syria were uploaded to the sites.
According to the New York Times, Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told supporters at a campaign rally that “YouTube was being used in a dirty tricks campaign against his government before local elections.”
Prime Minister Erdogan faced sweeping antigovernment protests last summer, but his party was still reelected on Sunday.
His party, the Islamist Justice and Development Party won large numbers in the local elections, larger than the 39 percent A.K.P. won in the 2009 local elections.
According to the New York Times, there are also upcoming elections, like the presidential election in the summer, and parliamentary elections next year. The elections will determine the political future for both Prime Minister Erdogan and his political party.
The Issue: Korea
Whenever the spotlight shines away from North Korea, the nation always know how to get its international focus back.
North Korea has been doing live-fire exercises near the South Korean maritime border.
Instead of sitting idly by, South Korea returned fire.
According to CNN, a defense spokesman from South Korea said, “We are not shooting at North Korea, just shooting into the sea.”
According to the New York Times, this exchange of fire was the most serious episode along that border since an artillery duel which occurred in 2010.
These types of military exchanges are not new, but the tensions between these two countries are ramping up yet again.
The Issue: Egypt
With rising tensions in Egypt, the presidential elections will take place on May 26 and 27. Egypt’s army chief, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced he would run for president, but he had to resign from his post in order to do so.
According to CNN, el-Sisi is quite popular among Egyptians who supported the deposition of President Mohmed Morsey of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was the first freely elected leader in Egypt.
However, el-Sisi is greatly disliked by the Islamist opposition, who see him as the person who led the coup against an elected leader, according to CNN.
