How an expat Egyptian got elected by focusing on America

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Updated 10 June 2023
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How an expat Egyptian got elected by focusing on America

How an expat Egyptian got elected by focusing on America
  • Egyptian-American Bolingbrook Illinois Mayor Mary Basta says connecting with local community paves the way for a better understanding of Arab immigrants with Middle Eastern roots

CHICAGO: An Egyptian-American immigrant successful in US political and activism life says that the key to countering pro-Israel propaganda is to make a direct connection with Americans and educate them on the truth about the Middle East conflict.

Mary Basta, who came to America from Egypt in the 1970s at the age of five, pursued a career in hospitality in Nashville, Tennessee, but quickly found herself rising in local politics to become the mayor of the 16th-largest city in Illinois, a state that has 1,456 cities.

Basta told Arab News on Wednesday (June 7) that she achieved her meteoric rise in American politics by focusing on “American interests” first before focusing on the interests of her former homeland Egypt — though not forgetting that heritage either.

“Egyptians and Middle Eastern in general is a little bit unique. We have a hard time because we can’t let go. We always carry the burden on our shoulders of where we are from and the issues that we face. We underwent a revolution and we changed two presidents. And you are always carrying that and you always feel like this is my home, this is my country and my culture and what can I do to help. But for us, we have lots of different issues that we encounter here. Both, one, we aren’t pure Americans so therefore you always feel you have to work harder. You have to achieve more. And then from our family, you always have to be this engineer, or doctor, dentist or this lawyer, because anything else you haven’t been successful in your life,” Basta said.

“So, there are definitely some high benchmarks that we instill in ourselves, and our families instill in us, and trying to live up to those expectations is very hard, while still trying to maintain our traditions and our cultures. Some people hold on to those like they are holding on to life, and some people are glad to get rid of them as soon as possible. So, it is hard to navigate between being true to yourself, your culture, as well as what we are thinking and where your current situation is. It’s not always when in Rome do as the Romans do. Sometimes you have to do as the Greeks do.”

Basta told Arab News that she and her family came to the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook in 2003 to find a better life, volunteering to assist the local schools and local government to help her children.

Less than 16 years later, Basta entered local politics — what she prefers to call “public service” — serving as a volunteer on several Bolingbrook commissions, including the powerful Zoning Board, which oversees community and business expansion.

She quickly was named chairwoman. Soon after, in 2019, she was named by the city’s mayor and board to fill a vacancy as one of the village’s six trustees. Within a year, after the mayor left office, in 2020, her board colleagues elected her as mayor. And the following year, in 2021, was elected by a majority of the village’s 75,000 residents to a four-year term as the mayor, which she is now serving.

Basta said that her rapid rise in politics, which dwarfs the decades-long efforts of other Arab Americans to enter politics, is different because she focused her attention first on serving the residents of Bolingbrook rather than dedicating her life to changing the politics of the Middle East more than 9,000 miles away.

“This will always be home to my children, where I can say Egypt is my home or even Nashville, but Bolingbrook will be where my kids were born and where they grew up and where they graduated from. So I want that to be a place that they are proud of to bring their kids back here, even grandkids, and say this is where I grew up, this is where I was born, this is my soccer field, this is my school. For that to be something to be proud of it takes effort and it takes work and it takes long-term planning and thinking. So, putting the right people in place, putting the right policies in place, and then watching them getting carried out from that point,” Basta said.

“It’s not about me, it is about we. It’s not what I want but it’s what is better for the community.”

Basta said that running for American political office is much like running a business. It takes “a thick skin” to withstand the criticism, as well as a local focus on the community that elected you. She said that she did face the same discrimination and stereotype “bullying” many Arabs, Christian and Muslims have faced, but she persevered.

“Today’s kids have not seen bullying until you see a little foreign girl growing up in a very white, I am going to use the term redneck, portion of Nashville, Tennessee. So, I definitely know what bullying is. I definitely felt it growing up as being someone who is different. Not just in the way that I looked but also in the culture. As you know, Middle Eastern culture is very different from that in the US, especially for females,” Basta said.

Basta made her comments during an appearance on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” broadcast Wednesday May 31 live in Detroit and Washington D.C. on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News.

You can listen to the radio show’s podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.


Ukraine targets a key Crimean city a day after striking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters

Ukraine targets a key Crimean city a day after striking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters
Updated 23 September 2023
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Ukraine targets a key Crimean city a day after striking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters

Ukraine targets a key Crimean city a day after striking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters
  • Sevastopol was put under an air raid alert for about an hour after debris from intercepted missiles fell near a pier
  • Loud blasts were also heard near Vilne in northern Crimea, followed by rising clouds of smoke

KYIV: Ukraine on Saturday morning launched another missile attack on Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean Peninsula, a Russian-installed official said, a day after an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet that left a serviceman missing and the main building smoldering.
Sevastopol was put under an air raid alert for about an hour after debris from intercepted missiles fell near a pier, Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on the messaging app Telegram. Ferry traffic in the area was also halted and later resumed.
Loud blasts were also heard near Vilne in northern Crimea, followed by rising clouds of smoke, according to a pro-Ukraine Telegram news channel that reports on developments on the peninsula. Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target for Ukrainian forces since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in February 2022.
Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told Voice of America on Saturday that at least nine people were killed and 16 others wounded as a result of Kyiv’s attack on the Black Sea Fleet on Friday. He claimed that Alexander Romanchuk, a Russian general commanding forces along the key southeastern front line, was “in a very serious condition” following the attack.
Budanov’s claim couldn’t be independently verified, and he didn’t comment on whether Western-made missiles were used in Friday’s attack. The Russian Defense Ministry initially said that the strike killed one service member at the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, but later issued a statement that he was missing.
Ukraine’s military also offered more details about Friday’s attack. It said the air force conducted 12 strikes on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, targeting areas where personnel, military equipment and weapons were concentrated. It said that two anti-aircraft missile systems and four Russian artillery units were hit.
Crimea has served as the key hub supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sevastopol, the main base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the 19th century, has had a particular importance for navy operations since the start of the war.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent weeks while the brunt of its summer counteroffensive makes slow gains in the east and south of Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said. Military experts say it is essential for Ukraine to keep up its attacks on targets in Crimea to degrade Russian morale and weaken its military.
In other developments, US President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart at their White House meeting Thursday that the US would give Ukraine a version of the longer-range ATACMS ballistic missiles, without specifying how many or when they would be delivered, according to two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter before an official announcement.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and other Ukrainian leaders have long pushed the US and other Western allies to provide longer-distance weapons that would enable Kyiv to ramp up its strikes behind Russian lines while themselves staying out of firing range.
The US has balked so far, worried that Kyiv could use the weapons to hit deep into Russian territory and escalate the conflict. The Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, could give Ukraine the ability to strike Russian targets from as far away as about 180 miles (300 kilometers), but the US also has other variants of the missile that have a shorter range.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s military said Saturday that Russia launched 15 Iranian-made Shahed drones at the front-line Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, as well as Dnipropetrovsk province farther north. It claimed to have destroyed 14 of the drones.
Separately, Zaporizhzhia regional Gov. Yuri Malashko said that Russia over the previous day carried out 86 strikes on 27 settlements in the province, many of them lying only a few kilometers (miles) from the fighting. Malashko said that an 82-year-old civilian was killed by artillery fire.
In the neighboring Kherson region, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said at least one person died and three other people were wounded over the past day because of Russian shelling. Russia fired 25 shells targeting the city of Kherson, which lies along the Dneiper River that marks the contact line between the warring sides, Prokudin said.
Residential quarters were hit, including medical and education institutions, government-built stations that serve food and drinks, as well as critical infrastructure facilities and a penitentiary, he said.


Trudeau pledges Canada’s support for Ukraine and punishment for Russia

Trudeau pledges Canada’s support for Ukraine and punishment for Russia
Updated 23 September 2023
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Trudeau pledges Canada’s support for Ukraine and punishment for Russia

Trudeau pledges Canada’s support for Ukraine and punishment for Russia
  • “We’re continuing to impose costs on Russia and ensuring that those responsible for this illegal, unjustifiable invasion do not benefit from it,” Trudeau said
  • Canada and Ukraine agreed to establish a working group with G7 partners to study seizure and forfeiture of Russian assets

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced several support measures for Ukraine, including military, economic and humanitarian assistance, while also pledging an additional show of diplomatic backing through steps intended to punish Russia over the war.
“We’re continuing to impose costs on Russia and ensuring that those responsible for this illegal, unjustifiable invasion do not benefit from it,” Trudeau said Friday during a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ottawa, the Canadian capital.
Zelensky also addressed Canada’s Parliament on Friday. He flew into Ottawa late Thursday after meetings with US President Joe Biden and lawmakers in Washington. He spoke at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
Canada and Ukraine agreed to establish a working group with G7 partners to study seizure and forfeiture of Russian assets, including from the Russian Central Bank, Trudeau said.
Canada also added 63 Russian individuals and entities to the country’s sanctions list, including “those complicit in the kidnapping of children and the spreading of disinformation,” Trudeau said.
Canada’s pledge to stand with Ukraine will include $650 million in new military assistance over the next three years, Trudeau said.
Canada will provide Ukraine with 50 armored vehicles, including armored medical evacuation vehicles built in London, Ontario. Pilot and maintenance instructors for F-16 fighter jets, support for Leopard 2 battle tank maintenance, 35 drones with high-resolution cameras, light vehicles and ammunition are part of the intended support package, Trudeau said.
The multiyear support also will include a financial contribution to a UK-led consortium delivering air defense equipment to Ukraine, Trudeau said.
Canada’s monetary support will continue into the 2024 fiscal year, while the governments also have signed a free trade agreement, Trudeau said.
Other assistance for nongovernmental organizations and Ukraine’s government will include measures to improve “cyber resilience,” rebuild local infrastructure and assist farmers. Canada also plans to contribute funds for Ukraine’s national war memorial and money to increase the availability of mental health support at the appropriate time, he said.
“We stand here absolutely united in our defense of democracy and our condemnation of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked, unjustified and unconscionable invasion of Ukraine,” Trudeau said.


Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia

Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia
Updated 23 September 2023
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Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia

Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia
  • It was not immediately clear who was responsible, but Al Shabab frequently carries out bombings in the Horn of Africa country
  • “So far I have seen 10 dead people including soldiers and civilians,” said police officer Ahmed Aden

MOGADISHU: A truck bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the central Somali town of Beledweyne on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and obliterating nearby buildings, a police officer said.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible, but Al Shabab frequently carries out bombings in the Horn of Africa country.
“So far I have seen 10 dead people including soldiers and civilians and over a dozen others injured, but the death toll is sure to rise,” police officer Ahmed Aden told Reuters.
Beledweyne is in central Somalia’s Hiran region which has recently witnessed battles between the military and Al-Shabab.
Aden said the dead included five police officers who fired on the truck in a failed attempt to stop it ramming the checkpoint. Nearby buildings and shops were reduced to rubble, along with the checkpoint, he added.
A woman, Halima Nur, who was near the site, told Reuters her niece and others had been in a nearby shop and could not be reached. “I do not know what to say, all the kiosks are now just rubble. I can’t trace my niece,” she said.
Al Shabab has been battling Somalia’s central government for more than a decade, aiming to establish its rule based on strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.


Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms

Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms
Updated 23 September 2023
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Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms

Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms
  • “The armed formations of Karabakh have begun handing over weapons and military equipment under the control of Russian peacekeepers,” said Russia
  • Six armored vehicles, more than 800 guns, about 5,000 units of ammunition were handed over by the fighters

NEAR KORNIDZOR, Armenia: Russia said that Armenian fighters in the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh had started to give up arms as some humanitarian aid reached the 120,000 Armenians there who say the world has abandoned them after Azerbaijan defeated their forces.
The Armenians of Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, were forced to declare a cease-fire on Sept. 20 after a lightning 24-hour military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.
“The armed formations of Karabakh have begun handing over weapons and military equipment under the control of Russian peacekeepers,” said Russia, which has around 2,000 peacekeepers in Karabakh.
Russia’s defense ministry said so far six armored vehicles, more than 800 guns, about 5,000 units of ammunition were handed over by the fighters.
Russia said it had delivered more than 50 tons of food and other aid.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had supplied 28,000 diapers as well as blankets and fuel. An ICRC aid convoy reached the border headed toward Karabakh late on Saturday afternoon, Reuters witness said, the first since Azerbaijan retook the region.
The future of Karabakh and its 120,000 ethnic Armenians now hangs in the balance: Azerbaijan wants to integrate the long-contested region, but ethnic Armenians say they fear they will be persecuted and have accused the world of abandoning them.
Armenians in Karabakh told Reuters that they were essentially besieged in the region, with little food, electricity or fuel — and called on big powers to help them.
Azerbaijan envisages an amnesty for Karabakh Armenian fighters who give up their arms and has said the Armenians can leave the region for Armenia if they want.
Armenia, which lost a 2020 war to Azerbaijan over the region, has set up space for tens of thousands of Armenians from Karabakh, though Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he does not want them to leave their homes unless it is absolutely necessary.
US Senator Gary Peters, leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on Saturday, said the situation required international observers and transparency from Azerbaijan.
“I think the world needs to know exactly what’s happening in there,” Peters, a Democrat from Michigan, told reporters. “We’ve heard from the Azerbaijani government that there’s nothing to see, nothing to worry about, but if that’s the case then we should allow international observers in to see.”
“I think there needs to be some visibility,” he said.

’ABANDONED’
Azerbaijan began its “anti-terrorist” operation on Tuesday against Nagorno-Karabakh after some of its troops were killed in what Baku said were attacks from the mountainous region.
The United States said it was deeply concerned by “Azerbaijan’s military actions.”
Accounts of the fighting were chilling.
Armenui Karapetyan, an Armenian in Karabakh, said he was now homeless, holding just a few possessions and a photograph of his 24-year-old son who died in 2020, after leaving his home in the village of Kusapat.
“Today we were thrown out into the street — they made us vagabonds,” Karapetyan told Armenia A1+, a partner of Reuters.
“What can I say? We live in an unfair, abandoned world. I have nothing to say. I feel sorry for the blood of our boys. I feel sorry for our lands for which our boys sacrificed their lives, and today... I miss the grave of my son.”
Thousands of Karabakh Armenians have massed at the airport seeking the protection of Russian peacekeepers there.
Svetlana Alaverdyan, from the village of Arajadzor, said she had fled with just the clothes on her back after gun fights gripped the village.
“They were shooting on the right, they were shooting on the left — we went out one after another, without taking clothes,” she told Armenia A1+.
“I had two sons — I gave them away, what else can I give? The superpowers resolve their issues at our expense.”


Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources

Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources
Updated 23 September 2023
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Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources

Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources
  • Dozens of gunmen from criminal gangs called bandits stormed Sabon Gida village on the edge of a Federal University
  • They took away at least 24 female students from the hostels along with two male neighbors, one of whom is a staff (member) of the university

KANO, Nigeria: Gunmen have kidnapped more than 30 people, including at least 24 female students, in a raid in and around a university in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state, residents said Saturday.
Dozens of gunmen from criminal gangs called bandits stormed Sabon Gida village on the edge of a Federal University outside the state capital Gusau in a predawn attack on Friday breaking into three female hostels and taking away the occupants, residents told AFP.
The attack was the first mass kidnapping at a college since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power, promising to tackle the country’s security challenges.
“The bandits rode into the village on motorcycles and broke into the hostels and gained access into rooms by bringing down the windows,” Sabon Gida resident Sahabi Musa said.
“They took away at least 24 female students from the hostels along with two male neighbors, one of whom is a staff (member) of the university,” said Musa, who lives close to the hostels.
The attackers went into the university and seized nine welders working on a new building while they were sleeping, said Shehu Hashimu, another resident who corroborated Musa’s account.
One of the welders managed to escape and returned to the school, Hashimu said.
Troops deployed from Gusau, 20 kilometers away and engaged the attackers in a gunfight but a group of the kidnappers herded the hostages away while another group faced the soldiers, the two sources said.
“The attackers had a field day. They operated in the village from 3:00 am to 6:00 am unchallenged before troops arrived,” Hashimu said.
A video shared online after the assault showed ransacked rooms in one of the hostels with their windows pulled down.
Yazid Abubakar, Zamfara state police spokesman, confirmed the attack but declined to provide details, saying security personnel were working to free the captives.
A military officer said a military operation was under way as soldiers were confronting the attackers in a forest close to the nearby town of Tsafe.
“Six of the female students have been rescued by troops who pursued the terrorists into the forest,” said the officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the operation.
Zamfara is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria terrorized by bandits who raid villages, kill and abduct residents as well as burn homes after looting them.
The gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
The criminals have been notorious for mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.
In February 2021, bandits raided a girl’s boarding school in the town of Jangebe in Zamfara state, kidnapping more than 300 students.
The girls were freed days later following a ransom payment by the authorities.
Nigeria is facing a myriad of security challenges, including a 14-year militant insurgency in the northeast that has killed at least 40,000 people and forced more than two million others to flee their homes.