Genocide, Vaccine Supply Boost, Oil Spill
February 24, 2021
Yesterday’s Newsletter / February 24, 2021
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Canada votes to recognize China’s treatment of Uighur population as genocide
Summary: Canada has become the second nation, after the US, to officially declare China’s treatment of their Uighur minority group a genocide.
Context: This declaration is non-binding, and it didn’t get the approval of Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, but it is one more official criticism of the treatment of the more than one million Uighur people in China who have reportedly been detained in camps, subjected to systemic sexual violence, and forcibly exposed to “reeducation” programs.
Also: US and allies to build ‘China-free’ tech supply chain
—The Guardian, Nikkei Asia
Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna pledge massive boost to US supply after sluggish rollout
Summary: Representatives from drug-companies Pfizer and Moderna—makers of the only two vaccines currently authorized for use in the US—have told the Biden administration that their production pace will massively increase over the course of the next month, providing the administration 140 million more COVID vaccine doses that can then be distributed.
Context: This is considered to be excellent news if it proves to be even close to accurate, as the US vaccine-distribution effort has been hobbled partially by the number of available doses; though there’s some skepticism as to whether these companies will be able to deliver in the quantities and at the pace they’re now discussing.
—The Washington Post
Oil spill off Israeli coast covers beaches and wildlife in tar
Summary: Black tar from an unreported oil spill has washed up on the Israeli coast, causing thus far untold damage to local flora and fauna, and raising questions about who might be responsible.
Context: There are reportedly fewer than a dozen likely culprits based on satellite imagery showing ships passing through the applicable region at the right time—but though this spill was relatively small, it points at a broader trend of governments and businesses getting away with causing ecological devastation because of anonymity and carelessness.
—Smithsonian
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Number of Confederate monuments taken down across the United States, according to a new count conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Confederacy was an unofficial, unrecognized breakaway state that attempted to secede from the United States in 1861—an attempt that resulted in the US Civil War, which the US won in 1865.
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Yesterday’s Newsletter is published by analytic journalist and host of the Let’s Know Things podcast, Colin Wright.