标签： Asia

In the early hours of Sunday, Indonesia’s active Anak Krakatau volcano erupted, triggering widespread travel disruptions across the west of the country and forcing a four-hour halt to flight operations at Jakarta’s primary international hub, Soekarno-Hatta. The volcanic island, which sits in the strategically vital Sunda Strait between Indonesia’s two most populated islands, Java and Sumatra, began showing unusual signs of increased geologic activity on Saturday, according to Indonesia’s national Geological Agency. The brief but powerful eruption lasted just 30 seconds, starting at 3:53 a.m. local time.

As of Sunday morning, no injuries or fatalities had been confirmed, and no mandatory evacuation orders had been issued for surrounding areas. The closest populated settlement to the volcano’s crater is located more than 16 kilometers (10 miles) away, which officials say helped reduce immediate risk to human life. Even so, the Geological Agency issued a formal public warning, urging all local residents and traveling tourists to maintain a minimum 3-kilometer (1.9-mile) buffer zone around the volcano’s active crater to avoid exposure to sudden eruptions, flying debris and toxic fumes.

Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation confirmed that fine, disruptive volcanic ash spread across multiple populated regions, including the national capital Jakarta and Lampung Province, which occupies the southern tip of Sumatra. In an official travel advisory released shortly after the eruption, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport—Indonesia’s busiest air gateway—announced it would suspend all flight operations between 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. local time to protect aircraft from ash damage, which can disable jet engines mid-flight.

Stranded passengers at the airport described scenes of chaos as departure boards filled with canceled flight alerts, with hundreds of travelers lining up to request ticket refunds or retrieve their checked luggage after the shutdown.

Joint monitoring efforts by Indonesia’s national volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Australia identified two distinct ash plumes via satellite imagery. The lower plume reached an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) as it drifted northeast, covering portions of Jakarta, Banten Province, West Java and nearby coastal waters. The second, much larger plume rose to 50,000 feet (15,200 meters) and moved west and northwest, covering parts of Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces, the central Sunda Strait, and a large stretch of the Indian Ocean off Sumatra’s western coast.

Sunday’s eruption is one of the most significant events at Anak Krakatau since 2018, when an explosive collapse of the volcano’s cone triggered a devastating tsunami that killed at least 430 people across coastal communities in Sumatra and Java. Anak Krakatau formed in the caldera of the original Krakatoa volcano, which erupted in one of the most powerful volcanic events in recorded history in 1883.

Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that claimed 2,977 lives across New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, a pre-anniversary visit to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum reveals sharp gaps in how the site frames one of the 21st century’s most defining global events. Since opening to the public in May 2014, the sprawling 110,000-square-foot institution, built into the original foundation of the World Trade Center complex and retaining a 1960s underground retaining wall that holds back the Hudson River, has amassed more than 83,000 artifacts recovered from the 2001 attack site. Seventy feet below street level at Ground Zero, every tangible trace of the tragedy is carefully preserved: charred fire trucks, twisted steel girders from the fallen towers, dented firefighters’ helmets, stopped watches recovered from victims, and the final, heartbreaking messages left by passengers aboard the four hijacked planes. Visitors can view footage of the planes striking the Twin Towers captured from multiple angles, listen to voice recordings from people on the flights who understood they would not survive, and walk through exhibits saturated with the visceral shock of that morning. After spending nearly three hours circling the displays, observing other visitors gasp and sigh at the harrowing imagery, studying exhibit captions, and absorbing the emotional weight of the collection, one critical observation emerges: the museum’s exhaustive documentation of the attacks themselves stands in stark contrast to its deliberate omission of key historical context and the far-reaching human costs of the United States’ post-9/11 response. The visitor experience is structured as an unrelenting loop of trauma, with core exhibits repeating the most graphic scenes of the attack in non-chronological order. Tight passageways and a constant barrage of sounds and images create a suffocating atmosphere that makes the 24-year-old tragedy feel immediate, as scholar Ross Poole has noted: “The shock of 9/11 becomes eternally present. And as we are invited to share the perspective of that day, we become as ignorant as those whom we observe dying or surviving, doing their best to help or simply to escape.” The museum does extend its narrative back to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, framing the site as a longstanding symbol of American power targeted by adversaries, but it fails to provide meaningful, honest context for the rise of al-Qaeda, the group that carried out the 2001 attacks. Curators describe al-Qaeda as an “international Islamist extremist terrorist network” motivated almost entirely by religious ideology, but their account of the group’s origins during the 1980s Soviet-Afghan War is deliberately vague and evasive. The museum’s caption notes that the U.S. supported the Afghan rebellion through Pakistan-based funding and arms transfers, adding that the CIA recruited Afghan fighters but did not directly fund foreign militants. This framing omits the core reality of U.S. statecraft at the time: Washington intentionally routed support through Pakistan to maintain plausible deniability, and the anti-Soviet campaign it backed created the exact ideological and organizational conditions that allowed al-Qaeda to emerge. By sidelining this history and centering religious extremism as the sole driver of the attacks, the museum perpetuates narratives that fuel anti-Islam prejudice. Most striking is the museum’s near-total silence on the 20-plus-year global “war on terror” launched in response to 9/11 – a campaign that has killed an estimated 1 million people and displaced 37 million more worldwide. It makes no mention of the vast expansion of domestic surveillance targeting Muslim communities in the U.S., the use of torture at CIA black sites and facilities like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, or the restructuring of U.S. immigration and security systems that created the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and TSA. Ironically, the visitor entry process itself serves as an unplanned, living example of this post-9/11 security state: upon arrival, guests are processed through airport-style body scanners and pat-downs, mirroring the surveillance and screening infrastructure that 9/11 made permanent. Even the museum’s board underscores this bias: former U.S. President George W. Bush, who oversaw the launch of the war on terror, serves as an honorary trustee. One staff member privately shared reservations about the omission of the war on terror’s legacy but declined to comment further. While the museum meticulously records the names, faces, and stories of every person killed in the 2001 attacks, the hundreds of thousands of people killed in U.S. military action after 9/11 remain unmentioned, nameless, and faceless – a gap that is reflected in the visitor demographic, with almost no people of color observed among touring groups during the visit. As the 25th anniversary approaches, this incomplete narrative extends to current, 9/11-linked crises unfolding today. The visitor draws a striking parallel between the debris and public health disaster that followed the Twin Towers’ collapse, and the ongoing catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. In New York, more people have died from 9/11-related diseases like lung and blood cancer than were killed in the attacks themselves; just days before the visit, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani released 170,000 previously undisclosed pages of documents confirming city officials knew the air around Ground Zero was toxic in the weeks after the attack. In Gaza, 78 percent of all homes and infrastructure have been destroyed with U.S. military and political backing, leaving more than 61 million tons of toxic debris to clear – a public health disaster on an unimaginable scale, with little access to medical care, clean water, or humanitarian aid. The gaps in the museum’s narrative also extend to the legal process for the accused 9/11 conspirators: just days before the visit, a U.S. military judge ruled that statements made by alleged plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to the FBI cannot be used at trial, because they were obtained through torture during his detention in CIA custody. His trial is not scheduled to begin until 2028 – nearly 25 years after his capture. Beyond the critique of its curation, the museum also frames the trauma of 9/11 as a commercial product. Upon exiting the exhibit halls, ushers explicitly direct visitors to the on-site museum store, where guests can purchase branded 9/11 merchandise: magnets, t-shirts, American flags, and “Never Forget” mugs imported from Thailand. Above ground, the 9/11 Memorial – composed of two massive sunken reflecting pools named *Reflecting Absence*, opened in 2011 – offers a far more evocative framing of the tragedy. The names of those killed in the attacks are carved into the stone edges of the pools, where water cascades into a deep central void that never fills. Architect Michael Arad designed the memorial to capture a “sense of rupture and continued absence,” a metaphor that ends up carrying unintended meaning: while the memorial asks the public to honor the void left by the attacks, the museum pulls visitors deeper into an incomplete, politically motivated narrative that perpetuates division and erases far more tragedy than it documents. Today, as younger generations increasingly question the official 9/11 narrative, framing the attacks as a convenient pretext for endless war and global resource extraction, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum stands as a time capsule of an old, contested story – one that still serves political ends 25 years on. This article was originally published by Middle East Eye, an independent outlet covering the Middle East, North Africa, and global affairs.

Against a backdrop of a lingering humanitarian crisis and years of deadly interceptions of aid missions, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has launched a bold new international initiative to challenge Israel’s long-running blockade of the Gaza Strip. The coalition announced that two activist vessels are already traversing European ports, with a coordinated attempt to reach the besieged Palestinian territory scheduled for October.

The mission will proceed despite a documented history of brutal violence and abuse against flotilla volunteers by Israeli forces during previous attempts to break the blockade. FFC representatives confirmed that past participants have faced severe beatings, repeated use of tasers, sexual assault, and arbitrary detention, abuses that have not deterred the coalition from moving forward with its latest effort. Organizers frame the voyage as a necessary response to what they call Israel’s deliberate restriction of life-sustaining supplies, including food, medicine, and fuel, that has pushed Gaza’s humanitarian situation into catastrophic territory.

“Freedom Flotilla sails again because our governments continue to fail to uphold their obligations,” stated Zohar Chamberlain Regev, a member of the FFC steering committee. “At every port, we will carry the demand that Palestinians be free to live with dignity. In October, we intend to carry that demand and the solidarity of people around the world to Gaza’s shores.”

As of the coalition’s latest update, two vessels have already completed stretches of their European port tour. The Handala II visited Norway, Sweden, and Denmark throughout June and July, while the Kate departed from Bristol, United Kingdom, earlier this month and has already made stops in Ireland, Germany, and France. The flotilla will next call at ports in Spain, Portugal, and Italy before setting a course for Gaza’s coastline.

The mission draws a diverse cohort of participants from across the globe, including seasoned human rights advocates, trade union organizers, sitting elected representatives, independent journalists, certified medical professionals, and other grassroots supporters of Palestinian rights. At every stop along the European route, organizers will host public gatherings and community meetings to build awareness of the crisis in Gaza and rally local support for the campaign.

Beyond the voyage itself, the FFC has issued a set of clear demands to national governments worldwide: halt all weapons and energy shipments to Israel, end all diplomatic and military cooperation with the Israeli state, impose targeted sanctions, and prioritize the creation of safe corridors for unimpeded humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The coalition is also calling on governments to guarantee the flotilla’s right to free passage under international law, and to explicitly warn Israel that any attack, seizure, diversion, or unlawful arrest of the mission’s vessels and crew will carry tangible diplomatic consequences.

Crucially, the FFC is demanding permanent, unobstructed free access to Gaza and a full end to what it terms Israel’s illegal blockade of all essential goods, including food, clean water, and medicine.

Participants in the mission acknowledge the severe risks inherent in sailing toward Gaza, but frame inaction as a far greater moral failing. “We know that sailing toward Gaza carries serious risks,” said Edward Digilio, an engineer from Maryland in the United States who is joining the voyage. “But silence and inaction carry a much greater cost for Palestinians and the world. This mission is an expression of shared humanity and a refusal to accept the destruction of an entire people as normal.”

This latest effort comes as the latest chapter in nearly two decades of activist attempts to break the Gaza blockade. The FFC grew out of the original Free Gaza Movement, which launched its first voyages to Gaza in 2008. The most infamous incident came in 2010, when Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, killing 10 activists on board. In the years since, activists have repeatedly documented severe abuse during interceptions, including allegations of abduction, torture, and sexual assault.

Most recently, a separate 2025 aid mission, the Global Sumud Flotilla, launched in direct response to what the coalition calls Israel’s ongoing genocide and aid blockade of Gaza, saw at least 15 boats raided by Israeli naval forces in international waters hundreds of nautical miles off Gaza’s coast. All crew members were abducted, according to the mission, and many vessels were deliberately disabled and left adrift, stranding activists at sea. In June 2025, British participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla told Middle East Eye that they were detained in international waters, subjected to beatings, sexual humiliation, tasering, and other forms of mistreatment after their boats were intercepted. They reported being transferred to Israeli “prison ships” and held in custody, accusing the British government of failing to provide any meaningful consular support during their detention.

The FFC’s new voyage comes as Gaza still grapples with a devastating humanitarian emergency, even after a ceasefire was declared in October 2025. Organizers say the central goal of the October 2026 voyage is to build sustained international pressure to secure permanent unrestricted access to Gaza and force an end to the Israeli blockade. Throughout the journey, the coalition will continue urging national governments to uphold international law protecting freedom of navigation and hold Israel accountable for any attempt to intercept or detain the mission’s crew and vessels.