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Waiting For The Rice To Dry

Waiting For The Rice To Dry

Rice is a staple food on the Indonesian island of Java. The country is one of the world's biggest producers, and cultivating it means a lot of work for both men and women. But during the drying stage, there's not much to do but wait.

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Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

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Geopolitics

A Key New Ally For Russia That Makes The West Cringe: Tunisia

Tunis and Moscow have been increasingly close — at the cost of relations with the West, which had once looked to Tunisia as a model of democracy. The two countries are brought together by Kremlin's efforts to woo African countries, but also a natural alliance of its strongman Presidents Putin and Saïed.

Photo of people attending a cultural Russian-themed event in Hammamet, Tunisia, walking past a framed picture of Russian nested dolls

A cultural Russian-themed event in Hammamet, Tunisia, organized by the Maison Russe à Tunis

Driss Rejichi

-Analysis-

TUNIS — Back on December 16, a surprising scene was unfolding at the headquarters of the Independent High Authority for Elections. In the chairs of the reception hall, the president of the government agency Farouk Bouasker and four other members of the organization were seated in front of … a Russian delegation.

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Arriving from Moscow the same day, they were members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, a body that monitors and evaluates public action but has very little power in Vladimir Putin’s regime. Yet they were welcomed with the honors previously reserved to the European Union delegations, and presented with a copy of the new electoral code.

Deployed to Tunisia at the invitation of Farouk Bouasker, close to Tunisia's strongman President Kaïs Saïed, their mission would be to follow and analyze the process of the legislative elections organized the next day. It was the first such meeting since the coup of July 25, 202, when Saied issued an emergency declaration firing the prime minister and assumed all executive power.

It is the first ever delegation of this kind sent by Russia in the country. If their mission doesn’t differ from that of their European predecessors, the context of their coming is far from trivial.

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