The Capitals: Washington gets Zuckerberg's 'sorry' side; Islamabad without 'bat'; and more

If you are reading The Capitals on your smartphone, chances are that you just surfed through a Meta offshoot— WhatsApp, Instagram or the Nokia-sounding people connector, the Facebook. One of the three, if not all, are likely to be your eye to view the world, through the lens ofinternet.

This week, Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook — which has now extended into a Metaverse in its own right — turned twenty.

But the beginning of twenty-first year of Facebook did not seem like 'connecting people' as Zuckerberg faced a rare scrutiny in the US capital. "You have blood on your hands," he was told by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

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Elsewhere in the world, the United States targeted sites linked to Iran-linked groups in Iraq and Syria, prompting strong reactions from Baghdad and Damascus.

In Europe, farmers rolled on their tractors in and aroundmultiple capitalsagainst increasing farming costs and high taxes.

While in the Germany's capital, scores of people led the demonstrations against resurgence of far-right 'alternatives' in the country.

In the Asian capitals, New Delhi emphasised on India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor as an 'economic and strategic game changer'. Filipinos rejoiced as the southeast Asian country reported region's fastest expansion in Manila.

Beijing played the Devil's Advocate and repeated that Taliban-run Kabul 'should not be excluded' from the international community.

Read this and more, in The Capitals, this weekend.

Washington DC, United States

Meta's CEO MarkZuckerbergreacts as he testifies during theSenateJudiciary Committeehearingon online child sexual exploitation at the U.S. Capitol | Reuters

Right before Facebook's 20th anniversary, social media platform's co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced harshest criticism till date at a hearing before the US Senate in Washington DC on January 31.

The subject of the hearing was the failure of top internet platforms to protect children and vulnerable youngsters. Democrat Dick Durbin, the chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed it all in a nutshell.

"Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk," he said.

While turning towards familieswhose younger members reportedly gave in to self-harm through a Meta application,Zuckerberg said, "I'm sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered and this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer."

While Facebook started out so harmlessly during the early days of the digital revolution, it has now become a network with far-reaching consequences. Remember the Arab Spring of early 2010s — which because of Facebook's role in galvanising demonstrations and resistance, also came to be known as 'Facebook Revolution'?

But between the proliferation of wildest possible conspiracy theories that led to vaccination hesitancy at the peak of Covid to Donald Trump's propagation of the 'stolen' 2020 US presidential election, the 'free-speech'debate on Facebook remains open-ended whose opening remains nothing short of a double-edged sword.

Baghdad, Iraq

The United States hit three militant facilities in Iraq (and four in neighbouring Syria) in retaliation to the killing of three US troops in Jordan. Baghdad described it as violation of its sovereignty and summoned the US envoy in the Iraqi capital.

"In this incident, multiple American aircraft bombed locations in the Akashat and Al-Qa'im regions, including areas where our security forces are stationed, alongside nearby civilian areas," Iraq's Prime Minister's Office said in an official statement.

The US strikes targeted sites in Iraq's Akashat and Qa'im region | Google Maps

Baghdad accused Washington of engaging in 'deception'. It said that"the American side intentionally engaged in deception and distortion of facts, stating coordination with Iraqi authorities for the perpetration of this aggression".

Civilians were among 16 people killed in the US strikes in Iraq, authorities claimed.

Berlin, Germany

A person holds a banner as people gather outside the Reichstag building, during a rally of the broad alliance "Hand in Hand" under the slogan "Wir sind die Brandmauer" ("We are the Firewall") to protest against right-wing extremism and for the protection of democracy, in Berlin, Germany February 3, 2024. The banner reads: "Against Nazis" | Reuters

Nearly 200,000 people took to streets across multiple German cities, most of them in the capital Berlin amid nationwide protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

A Reuters tally showed150,000 people flocking close to the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, where protesters gathered under the slogan "We are the Firewall" to protest against right-wing extremism.

The protests followed a report last month that two senior AfD members had attended a meeting to discuss purported plans for the mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin, a claim the far-right party denies.

New Delhi, India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha, Indian parliament's lower house,on Feb 1, 2024 | Sansad TV

India'sFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman described the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) forged at the sidelines ofNew Delhi G20 Leaders' Summit as a "strategic and economic game changer". Amid ongoing challenges posed by Israel-Hamas war, the connectivity project aims to facilitate the flow of commerce, energy and data to, from and between India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Europe.

Sitharaman's remarks came a day after India's President Droupadi Murmu, in her ceremonial address to the parliament ahead of India's budget session,hailed the IMEC as an ambitious connectivity initiative.

India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor | WION

While much of the western world portrays IMEC as a project whose feasibility faces a permanent fissure due to conflicts in West Asia, New Delhi made it clear that the transcontinental connectivity project remains one of top priorities of its foreign policy.

Beijing, China

Chinese leader Xi Jinping with Bilal Karimi, Taliban-run Afghanistan government's ambassador to China | X/@QaharBalkhi

'Comrades and Mullahs'is not just the title of a bestseller book on Taliban-Beijing ties. It's also a clearer geopolitical reality in South Asia amid shows ofproximity between Taliban and Communist Party regimes based out of Kabul andBeijing respectively.

Chinese top leader Xi Jinping accepted the credentials of the envoy of Taliban-run Afghanistan in Beijing in a major formalisation of the regime partly constituted by the UN-designated terrorists.

Beijing's move is a reciprocation of the Taliban's step in September 2023 when it welcomed Zhao Sheng as Chinese ambassador in Kabul.

But before the event, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson made it clear that China believesthat "Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community,"

Islamabad, Pakistan

The Pakistani capital will be the capital of interest this week ahead of South Asian country's national elections in the forthcoming week. The political parties have released their manifestos. The numbers are expected to set in from votes across the country but the verdict appears to be out of Rawalpindi— Islamabad's satellite town that houses Pakistan Army's headquarters— already.

The Capitals reported in October thatIslamabad's game of thrones is stacked against country's ousted leader Imran Khan. Since then, Khan remains imprisoned in a corruption case. And this week, Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced in two other cases. The Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is contesting elections without Khan's 'Cricket Bat' and analysts are widely expecting the re-establishment of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad's corridors of power this time again. Noballey pe thappa (Stamp on Bat)this time — quite literally.

That's all for the capitals this week. See you next weekend.