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Pompeo says Haley quit Trump admin early – in possible prelude to GOP presidential nomination battle
Pompeo said that when Haley left, many of the administration's most prominent foreign policy accomplishments had not yet happened.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a possible 2024 GOP presidential contender, is criticizing fellow Trump administration official Nikki Haley as she officially announces her bid – saying she quit her ambassadorship before the work was done.
"Facts suggest that she left some two years into the administration when there was still an enormous amount of work to do," Pompeo told The Hill on Tuesday, the same day Haley announced her 2024 campaign.
Haley, also a former South Carolina governor, left her role as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in December 2018.
Pompeo said that when Haley left, many of the administration's most prominent foreign policy accomplishments had not yet completed, such as the Abraham Accords, talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and a strong stance against the Chinese Communist Party.
"I knew there was still an enormous amount of work to do and I wasn't about to leave that. Indeed, there was work to do when we left. There's still work to do," Pompeo also said. "I don't understand how someone who believes they have this incredible opportunity in an important role says, 'No thanks, I don't want to do that anymore.'"
Haley has sparred with Pompeo before. She accused him of spreading "lies and gossip to sell a book" after he published his memoir, "Never Give An Inch."
In his book, Pompeo criticized Haley and wrote that it was thought that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were presenting Haley as a possible option for vice president.
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Having landed in Taiwan amid soaring tensions with China’s military, the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, defended her controversial trip to the self-ruling island, saying she was making clear that American leaders “never give in to autocrats” in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post.“We cannot stand by as [China] proceeds to threaten Taiwan – and democracy itself,” said Pelosi’s piece, published just as the veteran California congresswoman’s plane touched down on Tuesday. “Indeed, we take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”Given that Pelosi’s trip presents a serious diplomatic headache for the Joe Biden White House, there had been much speculation about the motivations behind the controversial visit. In her op-ed Pelosi struck a hard line against China’s position that her trip was a provocation and placed it in the context of a broader global struggle over political freedom.In the article Pelosi said: “We take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. As Russia wages its premeditated, illegal war against Ukraine, killing thousands of innocents – even children – it is essential that America and our allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats.”Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is unfolding during a tour of Asian nations this week. Her diplomatic mission aims to punctuate a foreign policy career that has seen her defend human rights and democratic values abroad. But it has infuriated China, which claims Taiwan as a province of its own and has threatened retaliation over the visit. The US officially supports a “one-China” policy but in practice treats Taiwan as an economic and democratic partner.She is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan since the Republican Newt Gingrich went there as the House speaker in 1997, going there even after Biden recently said the American military did not think it was a good idea for her to travel there.Chinese state media reported that fighter jets were flying across the Taiwan strait just as Pelosi’s plane landed in the island’s capital, Taipei.Analysts do not expect China to follow through with a hostile military act, at least not while Pelosi is there. But already on Tuesday authorities in China had announced a ban on imports from more than 100 Taiwanese food companies, which many had interpreted as retribution over Pelosi’s trip.If her piece in the Washington Post is any indication, none of it fazed Pelosi, who in 1991 unfurled a banner in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square hailing the pro-democracy student activists killed there two years earlier.Pelosi’s op-ed said it was 43 years ago that the US Congress passed an act recognizing Taiwanese democracy that thenpresident Jimmy Carter signed into law.“It made a solemn vow by the United States to support the defense of Taiwan [and] to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means … [a] grave concern to the United States,” Pelosi’s piece added, noting that her trip sent an important message nearly six months after Russia invaded Ukraine and unbalanced global peace.“Today,” Pelosi continued, “America must remember that vow. We must stand by Taiwan, which is an island of resistance.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
European Union leaders welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a standing ovation as he made his case to push for more weapons in the fight against Russia’s invasion and begins talks on European Union membership for his war-torn country.
Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels, Zelenskyy thanked EU leaders for the continued assistance to his country and said Ukraine will emerge victorious from the war and will be part of the EU.
European Parliament head Roberta Metsola said she backs Zelenskyy's call for more support. “We know the sacrifice your people have endured for Europe and we must honor it not only with words but with action,” Metsola said. “The jets you need to protect the liberty too many have taken for granted.”
Metsola called on EU member states to take action.
“You need to win and now [EU] member states must consider quickly as the next step providing long-range systems and the jets that you need to protect your liberty.”
Zelenskyy said with the support of allies, Ukrainians are “defending ourselves against [the] biggest anti-European force of the modern world.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also confirmed Thursday that the European Union plans to deliver more military assistance to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy was accompanied by his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, on Thursday on his way to attend a summit to address the EU parliament.
If security concerns permit, Zelenskyy will address a summit of the 27-nation bloc in his push to secure tanks, jets and missiles.
The Ukrainian leader is on a three-nation tour seeking support from allies in Europe as the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion nears. Ukrainian officials have said they expect Russia to time a new offensive in the east around the Feb. 24 anniversary.
Zelenskyy flew to London on Wednesday to thank the British people for their support in fending off Russia’s nearly yearlong invasion of his country and predicted that Ukraine would win the war.
"We know freedom will win, we know Russia will lose," Zelenskyy told the British Parliament. "We know the victory will change the world, and this will be the change that the world has long needed. The United Kingdom is marching with us towards the most important victory of our lifetime."
Zelenskyy also met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace in what was Zelenskyy’s second trip abroad since the Russian invasion began. In December, the Ukrainian leader went to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress.
Later Wednesday, Zelenskyy met with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris.
"I have come here and stand before you on behalf of the brave, on behalf of our warriors, who are now in the trenches under enemy artillery fire," Zelenskyy told Parliament, paying tribute to Ukraine's military. "I thank you for your bravery. ... London has stood with Kyiv since Day One."
Britain has been one of Ukraine’s biggest military supporters, sending more than $2.5 billion in weapons and equipment.
The visit came as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Britain would train Ukrainian pilots on "NATO-standard fighter jets." More than 10,000 Ukrainian troops have also been trained at bases in the United Kingdom, some on the Challenger 2 tanks that Britain is sending.
Zelenskyy called on British lawmakers to offer even more advanced fighter jets, a plea he has also made to the United States and its Western allies.
"We ... will do everything possible and impossible to make the world provide us with modern planes to empower and protect pilots who will be protecting us," Zelenskyy said.
Later, at a joint news conference in front of a tank at the Lulworth Camp training base, Sunak said fighter jets were "part of the conversation" about support for Ukraine.
"Nothing is off the table," he said. "We must arm Ukraine in the short term, but we must bolster Ukraine for the long term."
On the battlefront, Ukraine said Russia was continuing its artillery bombardment in the eastern region of the country, in what Kyiv officials have said they think is part of a new thrust to mark the anniversary of the invasion.
Russian forces over the past day also launched major shelling on areas near the front line in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, killing a 74-year-old woman and wounding a 16-year-old girl in the border town of Vovchansk, local Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands said Tuesday that they were planning to send at least 100 older, refurbished Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine.
The Leopard 1 tanks were manufactured from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s and, once made battle-ready again, will not reach Kyiv’s fighters until the summer months. The defense ministers of Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands said in a statement that the additional weaponry would "significantly enhance Ukraine’s military potential for the restoration of their violated territorial integrity."
The German defense ministry said that authorities in Berlin had approved the export of up to 178 Leopard 1 A5 tanks to Ukraine, but that the number sent would depend on the refurbishments required. Germany has not used the tanks since 2003.
The new weapons deployment will come in addition to Germany’s recent announcement that it would dispatch 14 newer Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine’s fighters. The U.S. said it would supply 30 of its front-line Abrams tanks.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Apartment block reduced to rubble by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: ReutersApartment block reduced to rubble by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: ReutersShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureLive feedThird death confirmed in ZaporizhzhiaUkrainian emergency services said that a total of three bodies have been pulled from rubble after a Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.Other residents are trapped under rubble, the regional governor and emergency services said.Key events49m agoThird death confirmed in Zaporizhzhia3h agoKremlin denies reports of Russians fleeing draft4h agoSummary of the day so far …6h agoRussia launches multiple strikes on city of Zaporizhzhia6h agoZaporizhzhia residents warned of further missiles7h agoRescue workers on scene of deadly residential rocket strike in Zaporizhzhia8h agoSummary so far8h agoTwo killed in Zaporizhzhia missile attack, governor says8h agoRussia wants secret UN vote on move to condemn 'annexations'8h agoEuropean leaders to meet in face of Russia’s war9h agoRussian troops leave behind mass burial sites, evidence of torture9h agoRussian troops retreat from Ukraine's east and south9h agoUN nuclear chief heads to Kyiv9h agoPutin appears to admit severe losses, vows to 'stabilise' annexed regionsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureReuters has a quick snap that Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked Ukrainian parliament to approve banker Andriy Pyshnyi as the new chairman of the country’s central bank. Earlier today, the parliament formally accepted the resignation of Kyrylo Shevchenko, who abruptly submitted his resignation on Tuesday, citing health reasons.Third death confirmed in ZaporizhzhiaUkrainian emergency services said that a total of three bodies have been pulled from rubble after a Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.Other residents are trapped under rubble, the regional governor and emergency services said.Russia has submitted preliminary objections to a genocide case against Moscow brought by Ukraine.The International Court of Justice, which is the UN’s highest court for disputes between states, has tweeted that it had received the objections on 3 October, but these have not been made public.Parties can file preliminary objections if they believe the court does not have jurisdiction in a case. In a letter to the UN in March, Moscow argued that the ICJ did not have jurisdiction because the genocide convention does not regulate the use of force between states.NEWS: on 3 October 2022, the Russian Federation submitted preliminary objections in the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (#Ukraine v. #Russia) before the #ICJ.— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) October 6, 2022
The filing signifies a change in Moscow’s attitude to the ICJ case. Russia is now engaging with the court, whereas it has previously skipped hearings and not filed documents directly with the court.Ukraine filed a case with the ICJ shortly after Russia’s invasion began, saying Moscow’s justification, that it was acting to prevent a genocide in eastern Ukraine, was unfounded.The next step in the case will be a hearing on the objections against the jurisdiction of the court. No date has been set yet, but it is expected to take place in several months’ time.Reuters has a report on the problems that Russians opposed to the war in Ukraine or fearful of being sent to fight have encountered upon fleeing to Kazakhstan.Worries about money, sudden large increases in housing costs in response to the Russian influx, and scarce jobs are compounded by pressures from family back home – some have even been accused by relatives of betraying their country.And the scale of the exodus has given rise to concerns from some Kazakhs who see the incoming Russians as a potential economic burden and even a security risk.Rents have soared in Kazakhstan and other central Asian nations – as well as Georgia, where some landlords have started adding a “no Russians” clause to their rental ads.The Kazakh government said this week that more than 200,000 Russians had entered the country since Putin’s announcement, and 147,000 had since left. No data is available on their final destinations, though some are thought to have headed to neighbouring former Soviet republics.About 77,000 have registered in Kazakhstan’s national ID system, a prerequisite for getting a job or a bank account.Uzbekistan’s government said on Tuesday it was strengthening border controls, with border guard troops to be involved in vehicle and cargo checks alongside customs officials.Some Kazakh businesses have publicly announced job offers for those fleeing the Russian draft, but some of those offers explicitly stated they were aimed only at ethnic Kazakhs.Reuters has posted a helpful summary of its Ukraine-related reporting from today: Ukraine said its forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson, one of four partially Russian-occupied regions that President Vladimir Putin formally incorporated into Russia in Europe’s biggest annexation since the second world war. A Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one woman and leaving other residents trapped under rubble, the regional governor said. The bodies of two Russian soldiers lay bloating in trees on opposite sides of the road, close to the blasted hulks of the cars and the van in which Ukrainian army officers said the dead men’s unit was retreating into the eastern town of Lyman. Dozens of firefighters doused blazes in a town near Kyiv after multiple strikes caused by what officials said were Iranian-made loitering munitions, often known as “kamikaze drones”. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the battlefield reports. Putin signed laws admitting the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia in the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century. He also said Russia would stabilise the situation in the regions, indirectly acknowledging the challenges it faces to assert its control. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, accused Russia on Thursday of “nuclear blackmail” over its seizure of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southern Ukraine. The Kremlin said it was preparing to welcome the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Moscow soon. Putin said he expected sanctions pressure on the Russian economy to intensify, in televised remarks from a meeting with government officials. The European Union gave its final approval for a new batch of sanctions, the bloc’s executive arm said. They include more limits on trade with Russia in steel and tech products, and an oil price cap for Russian seaborne crude deliveries through European insurers to align the EU with Washington. A crime scene investigation of the damages on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines has strengthened suspicions of “gross sabotage”, Swedish security police. Alexander Novak, the Russian deputy prime minister, said Moscow might cut oil production to offset negative effects from price caps imposed by the west over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Europe may limp through the cold winter months with the help of brimming natural gas tanks despite a plunge in deliveries from Russia, only to enter a deeper energy crisis next year, the head of the International Energy Agency said. The Kremlin denied reports that 700,000 Russians had fled the country since Moscow announced a mobilisation drive to call up hundreds of thousands to fight in Ukraine. US intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorised a car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, the New York Times reported. The Opec+ group of leading oil producers decided to reduce output by 2 million barrels per day to stabilise the market, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.Dmitry Peskov also said that by agreeing to reduce output, Opec+ has confirmed its credentials as an organisation responsible for market stability.The Saudi-led Opec+ cartel at a Vienna meeting on Wednesday ignored pleas from the White House to keep oil flowing and agreed the cut, its deepest since the Covid-19 pandemic.Separately, Peskov said that the Kremlin is preparing to welcome the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic energy agency (IAEA), to Moscow soon. The visit is likely to focus on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine in territory that Russia has proclaimed its own.He added that he understands there are no plans to invite Moscow to join an investigation into Nord Stream gas leaks. Nevertheless, Russia considers it is impossible to conduct such an investigation without Moscow’s participation.Kremlin denies reports of Russians fleeing draftThe Kremlin has denied reports that 700,000 Russians have fled the country since Moscow announced a mobilisation drive that it said would call up hundreds of thousands to fight in Ukraine.In a briefing with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he did not have exact figures for how many people had left the country since Vladimir Putin’s announcement on 21 September of a “partial mobilisation” that has called members of the general public up to the military.During today’s Kremlin briefing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked about Wednesday’s New York Times report, which revealed that United States intelligence agencies believed parts of the Ukrainian government authorised the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist.The report said that US officials feared this was an element of a covert campaign that could widen the conflict.Peskov’s response was that Russian intelligence had always argued that Ukraine was behind the August killing of Darya Dugina so it was “positive” that the United States appeared to share that assessment.Kyiv on Thursday rejected the claims it was involved in the attack.Rachel Hall here taking over the blog – if there’s anything we’ve missed, do drop me a line.Summary of the day so far … Russia hit the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with seven rockets, flattening an apartment building early on Thursday morning. The city’s authorities told Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne, that at least two had died and at least another five were trapped under the rubble, although later reports revised the death toll down to one. Rescue workers at the scene said they saved a three-year-old girl. Zaporizhzhia’s branch of Suspilne reported more explosions in the city at mid-morning Kyiv time. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has appeared to admit severe losses in Ukraine, conceding the severity of the Kremlin’s recent military reversals and insisting Russia would “stabilise” the situation in four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – it illegally claimed as its own territory last week. “We are working on the assumption that the situation in the new territories will stabilise,” Putin told Russian teachers during a televised video call on Wednesday. The UN nuclear agency chief is en route to Kyiv to discuss creating a security zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, after Putin ordered his government to take it over. “On our way to Kyiv for important meetings,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head, Rafael Grossi, wrote on Twitter, saying the need for a protection zone around the site was “more urgent than ever”. Grossi is also expected to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss the situation at the plant. The IAEA said it had learned of plans to restart one reactor at the plant, where all six reactors have been shut down for weeks. Ukraine’s forces are pushing their advance in the east and south, forcing Russian troops to retreat under pressure on both fronts. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine’s military had made major, rapid advances against Russian forces in the past week, taking back dozens of towns in regions in the south and east that Russia has declared annexed. Military experts say Russia is at its weakest point, partly because of its decision not to mobilise earlier and partly because of massive losses of troops and equipment. Ukraine has extended its area of control in the Kherson region by six to 12 miles, according to its military’s southern command. Zelenskiy confirmed the recapture of the villages of Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka, saying the settlements were “liberated from the sham referendum and stabilised”, in an address on Wednesday. Kherson region’s Moscow-appointed governor, Kirill Stremousov, said the withdrawal was a tactical “regrouping” to “deliver a retaliatory blow”. The extent of Russia’s retreat remains unclear. Moscow’s forces have left behind smashed towns once under occupation and, in places, mass burial sites and evidence of torture chambers. In Lyman, which was retaken by Ukrainian forces on Sunday, more than 50 graves have been found, some marked with names, others with numbers, the Kyiv-based outlet Hromadske reported on Wednesday. Leaders of 44 European countries on Thursday in Prague will send a clear signal of Russia’s isolation and try to create a new order without Moscow, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said this morning. “The meeting is looking for a new order without Russia,” he told reporters. The UN has warned Russia’s claimed annexation of Ukraine territory will only exacerbate human rights violations. Christian Salazar Volkmann said UN experts had documented “a range of violations of the rights to life, liberty and security” and warned the situation would only worsen as Russia pushes forward with the annexation of some Ukrainian regions. That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I am handing over to Rachel Hall. I will be back later on.Here is a video clip showing some of the scenes in Zaporizhzhia after today’s attacks.Russian missile destroys residential building in Zaporizhzhia – videoDaniel HurstUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged Nato to “demonstrate that they are not afraid of Russia”. During a video-link interview with the Lowy Institute in Australia on Thursday, Zelenskiy was asked whether he had received any response from Nato, and how quickly he expected the alliance to act on the application.He said his key message was: “You don’t need to be afraid of anyone.”Zelenskiy said it was important to build “security guarantees for the whole world so that nobody would have even a thought to become autocratic, and even if you’re autocratic that you shouldn’t have even a single thought that you can conquer the other territories or other nations”.“For that, you must have to be united. And I think that without Ukraine, Nato is not such a strong alliance, particularly the European continent. I believe for the strength in the east of Europe this is a very important step. We can offer this chance to Nato. We are grateful for their support to Nato. We are giving this opportunity at a very important moment.”Zelenskiy appealed for his Nato partners to show resolve.“Not only Ukraine has to demonstrate its strengths to Russia, but the alliance has also to demonstrate that they are not afraid of Russia. It’s a question to Nato. But I know that everyone realises that security guarantees for Ukraine are something that is necessary. And I think we are on that path. We shall definitely take this path. How fast it’s going to be, unfortunately, it depends not only on Ukraine.”Zelenskiy announced last week that Ukraine was officially applying for membership of Nato, after Vladimir Putin said he was annexing four Ukrainian provinces.Maria Zakharova is giving her weekly press briefing for Russia’s foreign ministry. So far she has stated that it would be impossible to investigate the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines without Russian involvement, and accused Denmark of being unwilling to cooperate and said that the west was creating obstacles to the repair work.She criticised Ukraine’s contribution to the grain export deal, saying it was depriving grain exports to poorer countries, and denied claims that Russia had damaged grain silos or agricultural land, reiterating that the armed forces of the Russian Federation only target military infrastructure.NewestNewestPreviousNextOldestOldestRussia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 225 of the invasionResidential areas in Zaporizhzhia hit as Russia targets citiesPoland suggests hosting US nuclear weapons amid growing fears of Putin’s threatsAttempts to play down retreats in Ukraine no longer wash inside RussiaPutin appears to admit severe Russian losses in UkraineUkraine won back territory and support, but Russia will test the west’s resolve againRussia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 224 of the invasionPutin and the prince: fears in west as Russia and Saudi Arabia deepen ties | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
A view of damage of the buildings as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Mariupol, Ukraine on September 8, 2022. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Conservative groups are lobbying members of Congress to vote against the White House’s request for additional money for Ukraine, arguing that the administration is asking for a blank check with no long-term plan to end the war.The White House announced Friday that it would request an additional $13.7 billion to help Ukraine between October and December, including $11.7 for security and economic assistance and $2 billion to reduce energy costs that have increased during the war. Congress has already approved two supplemental funding packages, for $13.6 billion in March and $40 billion in May. Conservative groups, including Heritage Action and Concerned Veterans for America, quickly urged lawmakers to reject the plea for additional aid.“These funding requests ignore the concerns of the American people, and President Biden refuses to answer basic questions regarding fiscal responsibility and appropriateness of his funding requests,” Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action, said in a statement. “U.S. support for Ukraine deserves an open and honest debate without liberal congressional leadership using funding for the U.S. government as a vehicle for Washington’s priorities. Others, including Russ Vought, president of the Center for Renewing America and former director of the Office of Management and Budget, also slammed the request for more aid. “The American people are tired of the neoconservative policy consensus that demands billions of their tax dollars be spent to defend the integrity of Ukraine’s border when resources and stewardship cannot be found to address our own,” Vought said. “This new package will prolong a fight that lacks an American dog, allowing regional allies to shirk their security responsibilities yet again.”After the White House announcement, some right-leaning media organizations published headlines criticizing Republicans who support Ukraine funding, saying that they are ignoring domestic problems, including security at the border with Mexico. An article in The Federalist on Thursday slammed “McConnell and his fellow swamp creatures” for refusing to “put America’s security interests ahead of Ukraine’s.” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has not yet weighed in on the latest ask, but said in May that “leaders believe protecting Ukraine is more important than protecting you.” Some Republicans have already vowed not to support the latest request for aid. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, tweeted that Ukraine should get “$0.00” while America’s southern border is not secure, especially without a greater financial commitment from NATO and an audit of where the funding is actually going. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., also criticized the Democrats proposed “spending spree” for Ukraine aid, quipping that “we are the USA, not the US-ATM.” Davidson and Boebert were among the 57 House Republicans who voted against the $40 billion supplemental bill in May. Eleven Republicans voted against the measure in the Senate.However, stories in conservative media coupled with right-leaning groups lobbying lawmakers to vote against the additional funds are likely to increase the number of Republicans who oppose this request compared to previous supplementals, said Dan Caldwell, vice president of foreign policy at Stand Together, a nonprofit within the Koch network.“It creates more political pressure on Republicans to vote no,” he said. “My bet right now is that all that coming together is going to lead to an increase in the numbers of Republicans opposing aid if it’s a standalone vote.”It may not just be Republicans questioning the long-term strategy of the Biden administration. Marcus Stanley, advocacy director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, predicted that progressive Democrats who have long pushed back against expensive endless wars may start questioning how the war in Ukraine ends, and pushing the White House to incorporate more diplomacy and negotiation into its strategy for Ukraine, though he noted that they will be less likely to break with the president and oppose the aid than their Republican counterparts.“I think that people are going to be raising their voice in a much more concerted manner about what’s the exit strategy here? How does this end?” Stanley said. “That will, I think, lay the groundwork for thinking about what the long-term strategy is here, and whether there are any limits to pouring money into an endless war.”It’s not clear how long the $13.7 billion would last, if it’s approved. Congress authorized $40 billion on May 21, and the White House said Sept. 2 that three-quarters of that money had been committed. If the administration maintains that rate of expenditure, the money could last less than two months, meaning Congress could be considering another supplemental in the lame duck session after the election. Many Democrats, senior military leaders, and Republicans with more traditional neoconservative views say it’s critical to keep supporting Ukraine—arguing that the fight is about the battle for democracy, and warning that Russian leader Vladimir Putin won’t stop with just Ukraine if he successfully takes the country. “There must be a sustained political will because this is not just an issue of Ukraine and Russia. This is an issue of freedom and democratic values across the globe,” Sen. Jack Reed, R-R.I., the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday at an event hosted by Defense News. “This is a fundamental battle between Putin, an autocrat, and the free world and we have to stay in this fight.”Army chief Gen. James McConville also said Monday that it’s in the global interest to continue supporting Ukraine as it attempts to drive Russia out of its territory. “It’s certainly in all of our interests…to bring this unprovoked invasion to some type of solution,” McConville said at the Defense One State of Defense event. “I think most people recognize that.” Most people do want to keep supporting Ukraine, according to multiple polls. Seven in 10 Americans want to send more weapons and military supplies to the troops fighting against Russia, according to a July poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In a global poll of people in 22 countries released Wednesday by the Open Societies Foundation, more than 60 percent agreed that “this is a confrontation between democracy and authoritarianism.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
U.S. President Biden attends a DNC rallyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes this week against Iran-linked targets in Syria were carried out to protect and defend American personnel and disrupt a series of attacks against the United States and its partners, President Joe Biden said on Thursday.In a letter to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Biden said he ordered the Tuesday strikes "consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests."(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; editing by Jonathan Oatis)ReutersJapan to pledge around $30 billion in African aid at conference - SankeiJapan is set to promise some $30 billion in aid for African development at a conference to be held in Tunisia this weekend, the Sankei Shimbun daily reported on Friday. The aid, which will centre around developing human resources in order to promote economic growth, will be announced at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who will be taking part in the conference online since he is recovering from COVID-19, the paper added. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will be attending the conference and is set to meet with his Tunisian counterpart on Friday ahead of the main conference.NY Daily NewsFox News host Sean Hannity threatens to sue Democratic Senate candidate John FettermanEnraged that John Fetterman turned down invitations to appear on his Fox News program, right-wing broadcaster Sean Hannity threatened to sue the Democratic Senate candidate during a dizzying Tuesday night rant, where he also complained he was being used as a pawn in Fetterman’s fundraising efforts. Fetterman is in a closely watched Senate race against celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. ...The HillTrump calls for McConnell to be ousted as GOP leader ‘immediately’Former President Trump on Wednesday called on Republicans to boot Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from his post as Senate minority leader, accusing the senator of being a “pawn for the Democrats.” In a statement, Trump cited a Wednesday story from The Federalist about McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao’s alleged ties to China in calling…Associated PressUtah sues Biden over move to restore 2 national monumentsThe state of Utah and two Republican-leaning rural counties sued the Biden administration on Wednesday over the president's decision last year to restore two sprawling national monuments on rugged lands sacred to Native Americans that former President Donald Trump had downsized. The lawsuit over Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, the two southeastern Utah monuments, alleges that President Joe Biden's action violates a century-old law that allows presidents to protect sites considered historically, geographically or culturally important and outlines the rules governing when they can do so. The fate of the monuments is among the United States' most prominent battles over public lands and how they're managed. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! On Monday Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos to discuss the recent sale of F-35 fighter jets and joint U.S.-Greek cooperation in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean area. Tensions have risen in recent months between the two NATO countries, with Turkey issuing a series of threats against Greece.Victoria Coates, former deputy national security adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, said of the meeting, "Greece is a critical partner in the eastern Mediterranean that has been foundational in establishing energy and security coordination in the region. As Turkey takes an increasingly adversarial posture, we will need more cooperation with Greece not less." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, second left, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg before signing a memorandum in which Turkey agrees to Finland and Sweden's membership of the defense alliance in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)TURKEY'S ISLAMIST LEADER USING NATO TO GET FREE HAND AND PUNISH US ALLIES According to the Associated Press Greece and Turkey have strained relations over a slew of issues including competing maritime boundary claims that affect energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean. Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas in the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and Cyprus claim their own exclusive economic zone, leading to a naval standoff.Turkey also claims Greece is violating international agreements by militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea. Athens says it needs to defend the islands — many of which lie close to Turkey’s coast — against a potential attack using Turkey’s large fleet of military landing craft.In a major military exercise last month, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to media reports said, "Once again, we call on Greece to stop equipping the islands that are under civilian status and to act in accordance with international agreements. I’m not kidding, I’m serious. This nation is determined, if it says anything, it will follow it." Pope Francis is greeted by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias as he arrives at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)In May Erdoğan said he would stop talking with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after he accused him of persuading Washington not to sell F-16 fighter jets to the Turks during a trip to the U.S.During Monday's press availability, Secretary Austin said, "The defense relationship between the United States and Greece has never been stronger. We especially thank Greece for hosting the U.S. Naval Support Activity at Souda Bay, which is a cornerstone of our defense relationship."His Greek counterpart stated, that Greece "reaffirmed the importance of a strong and profound and ever-growing society strategic defense partnership between the United States and Greece" and highlighted the "two updates of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2019."Notably, Minister Panagiotopoulos referenced the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the Greek military: "A new milestone of this strategic partnership is without doubt the procurement of the state of the art F-35 fighter, a major step for our deterrence and even closer interaction, coordination and interoperability between the armed force of Greece and the United States." F35 jets in air. Minister Panagiotopoulos referenced the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the Greek military. "A new milestone of this strategic partnership is without doubt the procurement of the state of the art F-35. Fighter, a major step for our deterrence and even closer interaction, coordination and interoperability between the armed force of Greece and the United States". (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ali Stewart)ERDOGAN DISRUPTS NATO UNIT AMID PUTIN'S THREAT TO EUROPEAN SECURITYSelling U.S. fighter jets to Turkey has been a contentious subject in recent years as Erdoğan commits Turkish forces to the fight in Syria at the cost of belligerence to U.S. allies and interests. Erdoğan has threatened to block Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO, waged a limited intervention and raids into Northern Iraq, and, as such, the U.S. House of Representatives recently added new roadblocks on Biden’s plan to sell the F-16 fighter jet to Turkey. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPTurkey faced heavy criticism by the Trump administration and lawmakers when it purchased Russian S-400 air missile defense system, which led to U.S. sanctions in 2020. At the time, U.S. officials raised alarm bells that the S-400 deal with Russia could endanger NATO security and jeopardize American-Turkey intelligence sharing."The Greek defense minister will likely look for assurances from the U.S. government that it will not make that F-16 sales to Turkey without stronger guarantees from Turkey — including that air-space violations by Turkish jets will not continue," said Sinan Ciddi, a non-resident senior fellow focusing on Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Without this, Greece is likely to attempt to pressure the Biden administration not to support F-16 sales to Turkey." The Associated Press contributed to this article. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The Obama administration’s ambassador to Syria, a leading voice in favor of aggressively confronting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the time, is now backing an effort by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to force U.S. withdrawal from the country within 180 days.
Robert Ford argues in a letter to Congress in support of Gaetz’s legislation that the U.S. mission has no clear objective. “After more than eight years of military operations in Syria there is no definition of what the ‘enduring’ defeat of ISIS would look like,” Ford writes in the letter, which was obtained by The Intercept and confirmed as authentic by Ford. “We owe our soldiers serving there in harm’s way a serious debate about whether their mission is, in fact, achievable.”
On Tuesday evening, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, or CPC, circulated a message to its membership urging a yes vote, producing a serious bipartisan coalition. “This measure to remove unauthorized deployment of U.S. Armed Forces in Syria unless a specific statutory authorization is enacted within six months is largely consistent with previous bipartisan efforts led by CPC Members to terminate such unauthorized military presence within one year, for which 130 House Democrats voted yes last year,” read the message to members.
The resolution is scheduled for a vote Wednesday afternoon.
An original version of Gaetz’s measure offered just 15 days for troops to leave Syria, but he amended it to six months in the hope of drawing real support. The new measure, a war powers resolution that is privileged on the House floor, would allow troops to stay longer if Congress debated on and authorized the intervention.
Gaetz’s introduction of the resolution, particularly with such a short timetable that would doom it to lopsided defeat, kicked off a flurry of lobbying to try to turn it into a bipartisan coalition, involving progressive groups like Just Foreign Policy and Demand Progress and conservative ones such as FreedomWorks, Concerned Veterans for America, and Citizens for Renewing America. The speed with which it is coming to the floor leaves little time for grassroots mobilization. “The CPC has been leading on this front and nothing has changed. I wish Gaetz worked more closely with the coalition of groups that have been working on this and the CPC,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., deputy chair of the CPC, who worked with Gaetz to get the legislation to a place where Democrats could back it. “Nonetheless, I am a yes on the resolution.” Gaetz did not respond to a request for comment.
Ford had previously supported a 2021 legislative push by New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman, whose amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would have given the U.S. one year to exit Syria. Bowman’s measure won the support of 21 Republicans and roughly half of the Democratic caucus. Despite the rise of an anti-interventionist wing of the GOP, the votes to oppose American adventures overseas continue to come largely from Democrats. In July 2022, Bowman pushed for another floor vote, this time picking up 25 Republicans and winning the Democratic caucus 130-88.
In 2019, Gaetz and a handful of other Republicans backed President Donald Trump’s push for an end to the U.S. presence there and were joined by Omar and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who bucked their party to back Trump’s proposed withdrawal. But like Trump’s Afghanistan withdrawal, he never actually did it, losing the internal power struggle to supporters of a continued occupation.
Opposition to U.S. intervention in Syria has been bipartisan since the earliest days of the crisis. In 2013, Daily Kos and HuffPost ran whip counts ahead of a vote called for by Obama to authorize the use of force, pressuring progressives to vote no. HuffPost tallied 243 members of Congress planning to vote no or leaning no before Obama pulled the legislation from the floor.
In 2014, Ford resigned his position, frustrated that the Obama administration was not providing enough support to the opposition to, at minimum, force al-Assad to the negotiating table. The need to minimize U.S. involvement undermined the purpose of that involvement, he argued. In other words, go big or go home — and Ford is now arguing that U.S. troops ought to go home and that the Gaetz measure is a vehicle to help make that happen. “And remember that ‘go big’ offers no guarantee of success,” he said when I asked if the idiom appropriately summed up his argument. “We went big in Iraq and had mixed results.”
Ford noted in his letter that leftist Kurdish forces in Syria, with U.S. support, had claimed the last piece of ISIS territory in March 2019 and the Pentagon has assessed that ISIS now lacks the capacity to strike the U.S. at home. Militias aligned with Iran have taken the opportunity of U.S. presence in the region to launch attacks on American troops, who number roughly 900, not counting contractors.
The legal rationale for U.S. occupation is dubious at best. With ISIS suppressed, the administration has suggested the purpose of the occupation is to act as a bulwark against Iran. The Washington Post previously reported:
The balance of power in Syria’s multisided conflict depends on the American presence. Where U.S. troops retreat, American officials see an opening for the Syrian military or forces from Russia or Turkey to advance. Some U.S. officials have stressed that the American deployment precludes Iranian forces from establishing a “land bridge” that would allow them to more easily supply weapons to their Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.
“It’s about keeping a balance,” said one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media.
In fact, Iran already has a direct “land bridge” through eastern Syria to Lebanon; the U.S. occupation merely adds some time to the Iranian truckers’ journey. More to the point, said Ford, there is no authorization to deploy troops overseas to counter Iran. “The 2001 authorization of the use of military force was all about Al Qaeda and, to a secondary extent, the Taliban and Afghanistan,” he said. “It wasn’t about Iranian or pro-Iranian militias in eastern Syria.”
Ford argued that U.S. withdrawal would facilitate the kind of negotiations needed to bring a measure of stability to the region. The Kurdish separatists, while enjoying significant amounts of autonomy, would be pushed into direct talks with the Syrian government over a power-sharing agreement. The Turks have resisted talks with the U.S. over security at the Syrian border, angered at the U.S. alliance with the Kurdish separatists.
Trump, while urging a withdrawal, also said he’d leave behind a force to “keep the oil.” He suggested a major American firm like Exxon Mobil would come in to exploit Syria’s oil, but so far, no big American company has been involved, and the Kurds are exporting oil largely in collaboration with al-Assad’s government.
Asked about the ongoing sanctions of the al-Assad regime, Ford said it was time to take a hard look at whether they were working and at what cost. “That’s a very separate issue from our troop presence,” he said. “I would just say two things. First, the sanctions are not delivering political concessions from Bashar al-Assad. And then the second thing I would say is, it’s disingenuous for those who justify the sanctions to say that they don’t harm ordinary Syrians living in government-controlled territories. They obviously do.
“All I can say is we’re inflicting pain without getting much for it.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! One year ago today, Vice President Kamala Harris was meeting with child actors for her infamous staged video as Kabul was being surrounded by the Taliban.After the release of the space-themed YouTube special, entitled "Get Curious with Vice President Harris," Harris received flack online for her video after it was revealed the children expressing their astronautical excitement to see her were actually child actors.As she was filming the soon-to-implode video, though, Kabul was being surrounded by the Taliban and would eventually fall into the terrorists' hands.INTERNET GOES CRAZY OVER KAMALA HARRIS SPACE VIDEO USING CHILD ACTORS: ‘BETTER THAN VEEP’Fox News Digital asked Harris’ office if the vice president, in hindsight, wished she had used her time differently.Harris’ office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Vice President Kamala Harris was meeting with child actors while the Taliban was surrounding Kabul. Harris pictured here in September 2021. ((Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))The vice president’s video featuring child actors was posted in October, having been filmed in August amid the Biden administration’s disastrous and deadly pullout from Afghanistan.A year has passed since the fall of Afghanistan and Republicans in Congress have said they plan to investigate the botched withdrawal should they retake the legislature. Vice President Harris and the Biden administration faced criticism for their handling of the botched Afghanistan withdrawal. (Grant Baldwin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, on Sunday acknowledge that the withdrawal "could have been handled differently."BIPARTISAN LEADERS EXPRESS DISSATISFACTION WITH AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL AS ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY APPROACHES"I certainly don't think the withdrawal had to go as it did, and the loss of American lives during the withdrawal, and the degree to which it took months and months, and we continue to try to help people escape from Afghanistan, I think could have been handled differently," Schiff said.Thirteen American service members died and scores of people were injured in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport while working to evacuate U.S. citizens and allies fleeing the war-torn nation.Additionally, the withdrawal saw several Americans and our allies in the country left behind as the military pulled out.The withdrawal became a black mark on the Biden administration’s foreign policy record and will likely be a GOP messaging cornerstone as they look to take back Congress.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPFox News Digital obtained a White House memo on Sunday that is being sent around defending the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, writing that the president "refused to send another generation of Americans to fight a war that should have ended long ago.""Bringing our troops home strengthened our national security by better positioning us to confront the challenges of the future and put the United States in a stronger place to lead the world," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson, who worked for the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign before joining the White House last year, wrote in the report. Fox News' Paul Best contributed to this report. Houston Keene is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @HoustonKeene | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
When President Biden addresses the United Nations this week, he will certainly say things he should; he may say things he should not; and he probably will not say other things that he should. He will surely speak of the war in Ukraine, starting with the horrors that Vladimir Putin’s forces continue to inflict on the people of Ukraine, as grotesquely shown by the latest mass grave of tortured and murdered men, women and children. He will justifiably tout the U.S. and NATO response to Russia’s aggression that has helped the incredibly valiant Ukrainian people under President Volodymyr Zelensky to resist — and now, even reverse — the Russian invasion. Biden can claim that the Ukraine “glass is more than half full,” especially in light of Ukraine’s dramatic recent counteroffensive that has regained vast areas of territory and scores of cities and towns, and captured hundreds of Russian soldiers. He would be justified in describing the war as demonstrative of Western resolve in the global struggle between freedom and authoritarianism. He may feel compelled to justify why the “other half of the glass” remains empty. But he should not make matters worse by explaining again his administration’s refusal to provide all the weaponry Ukraine has needed — and still needs — to hasten a favorable end of the war, including tanks, longer-range artillery, armored vehicles and jet fighters. Biden made clear from the outset that the U.S. and NATO were not eager to confront Russia militarily to protect a small democracy they repeatedly had encouraged to join the security organization established to resist Soviet, and then Russian, aggression. Putting U.S. forces on the ground, which Ukraine did not request, or establishing a no-fly zone, which it did, were immediately ruled out as unacceptable escalation. “We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine,” Biden proclaimed. Putin fed Western fears with casual references to the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons. That prompted the administration also to veto Poland’s offer of Soviet MiGs so Ukraine could set up its own no-fly zone. After long delays, during which Russia continued to wreak wanton death and destruction on Ukraine, Biden allowed the transfer to Ukraine of a few HIMARS longer-range artillery, enabling Ukrainian forces to reverse Russia’s ground weapons reach advantage — but he provided them with the condition that Ukraine not strike Russian territory. Ukraine immediately put the weapons to good use, but indicated it needed significantly more to make decisive gains against the Russians. When national security adviser Jake Sullivan was asked at the Aspen Security Forum in July why Washington was not giving Ukraine the additional advanced weapons it urgently requested, he responded, “The president has said he is not willing to provide long-range missiles because, while it is needful to support and defend Ukraine, another key goal is to ensure that we do not end up … heading down the road towards a third world war.” It is not clear whether Sullivan was just following Biden’s lead in his apocalyptic rhetoric or whether he initially infected his boss with it. What is clear is that the Biden-Obama-Clinton group of foreign policy specialists has absorbed too well the risks of U.S. military intervention, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they have failed to grasp the risks of nonintervention, as with Rwanda, Bosnia, Syria, Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere. After 2 ½ years of slaughter in Bosnia under the first Bush administration and another year of the same under the Clinton administration, where she served as secretary of state, Madeleine Albright acknowledged in a Washington speech in 1993 that “the statute of limitations has run” on Bill Clinton’s blaming it all on George Bush and refusing to get involved. She also challenged a reluctant Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, “What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?” Even the United Nations — notoriously hesitant to authorize the use of force even in the most extreme circumstances — took a dramatic turn toward intervention in 2005. It adopted the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect to endorse military intervention to “protect populations at risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” Most, if not all, of those violations of international law have occurred in Russia’s war against Ukraine. But Biden is highly unlikely to remind the UN of its R2P doctrine — which, at the very least, should raise questions about Russia’s qualifications for membership in the United Nations, let alone its right to sit as a veto-wielding member of the Security Council. Invoking R2P and raising questions of UN membership/Security Council status for international criminal states would necessarily also implicate the People’s Republic of China, another Security Council pariah state that is threatening to do to Taiwan what Putin is doing to Ukraine. As Sullivan said in July, China is learning a “concerning … lesson” from Ukraine — not that a more powerful country cannot necessarily crush a smaller one, but just that “it has to do it better.” Beijing may be encouraged in that view if the West continues to tie its own hands from giving Ukraine the means for a decisive defeat of Russian aggression because Putin’s personal humiliation could trigger a harsh lashing out. If Xi Jinping expects the same dilatory and hesitant response to an invasion of Taiwan, he will surely calculate that he can prepare a successful attack strategy. It will not be U.S. capabilities he will doubt but American will. Xi knows that Washington has the world’s greatest contingent of aircraft carriers, in both numbers and prowess, but is deterred from sending any through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait because of China’s threats. He also thinks he knows that the specter of nuclear war will block Washington from “escalating” — i.e., responding effectively to China’s aggression. Sullivan was asked in July to explain or confirm Biden’s repeated declarations of U.S. intention to defend Taiwan. He responded, “The president said in Japan our policy on Taiwan has not changed, that we retain a policy of strategic ambiguity and we do. … Strategic ambiguity means we don’t want to be clear. I wouldn’t call it incoherence but I would say ambiguity has to be a feature of strategy.” What Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said with strategic clarity of Russia’s war there applies also to Chinese aggression against Taiwan: “It will be much cheaper for the world if we win the war for democracy in Ukraine.” Biden, who just said casually for the fourth time that America will defend Taiwan, would do the world — including China — a favor if he would declare it officially at the U.N. Joseph Bosco served as China country director for the secretary of Defense from 2005 to 2006 and as Asia-Pacific director of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief from 2009 to 2010. He served in the Pentagon when Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia and was involved in Department of Defense discussions about the U.S. response. Follow him on Twitter @BoscoJosephA. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.What’s happeningLast week, President Biden signed an $858 billion spending bill to fund the United States military for the next year. Although he decided to endorse the plan that Congress had approved, he had some strong criticisms for a few of the provisions included in the nearly 1,000-page legislation.At the top of his list was the inclusion of long-standing rules banning the executive branch from using any funds to transfer prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay, the military prison on the Cuban coast that has been used to house suspected terrorists for more than 20 years. Biden has long advocated that the facility be closed and argued that these limits make it harder to resolve the cases of the remaining detainees.The prison at Guantanamo was opened by the George W. Bush administration in early 2002, a few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It has been the source of intense controversy ever since. Detainees there are considered by the U.S. government to be held outside the normal justice system, meaning that they are not afforded rights that typical prisoners receive. Most of those being held at the prison were never formally charged with any crime. Some former prisoners have described enduring what the United Nations referred to as “unrelenting human rights violations,” including torture.In 2006, Bush said he “very much would like to end Guantanamo,” but ultimately decided against trying to do so. His successor, Barack Obama, issued an executive order calling for the prison to be closed as one of the first acts of his presidency, but the plan was stymied by political blowback and legal hurdles. Biden quietly revived that effort after replacing Donald Trump, who had vowed to keep Guantanamo open and “load it up with some bad dudes.”It’s estimated that 780 individuals have been held at Guantanamo over the course of the past two decades. Today, just 35 remain. The majority have never been charged with any crime and only two current detainees have been convicted. The U.S. spends an estimated $13 million a year per prisoner, according to a tally from the New York Times.Why there’s debateGuantanamo has largely faded from the public debate. A recent report that the military plans to spend $435 million building a new hospital there barely cracked the news cycle. Closing the facility, however, presents a host of unique challenges that many believe will prevent Biden from doing so.The biggest problem, most argue, is deciding where to hold the facility’s remaining prisoners. Twenty of the 35 detainees have been recommended for transfer to another country, but finding the right conditions for their ongoing captivity will be a thorny process. Even if all the individuals were relocated, there would still be the difficulty of resolving the cases of the dozen or so who are viewed as a genuine terrorist threat — including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, whom the U.S. has called “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.” Mohammed and four co-defendants were charged for their alleged roles in the attacks more than a decade ago, but a trial start date still hasn’t been set.Beyond those logistical hurdles, there’s also the question of whether Biden is willing to provoke the partisan backlash that is likely to erupt should he try to close the prison for good. Many observers argue that maintaining the status quo carries no real political cost, but actually moving to shut Guantanamo down would bring a wave of accusations from Republicans that Biden was “freeing terrorists,” and that outcry could do real harm to his potential reelection chances. Some on the left say closing Guantanamo will require an honest accounting of the human rights violations committed there, a step they believe no American president is prepared to take.But other experts argue that the Americans’ views on terrorism have changed so much over the past two decades that GOP criticisms would mostly fall flat if Biden did move to shut the prison down. Still others say that as complicated as the cases of the remaining prisoners may be, they are not unsolvable if the White House is determined to get the job done.PerspectivesThe politics around Guantanamo still lean heavily in favor of the status quo“I think that the Biden team feels there's no political advantage in making a big show out of this effort. This is a problem they inherited that they'd like to take off the books, but I don't think they're willing to expend political capital on it.” — Jess Bravin, Wall Street JournalBiden could easily close Guantanamo if he was committed to doing so“Among the challenges facing our country today, closing Guantanamo is far from the most complex. While it may be politically complicated — critics of the administration will undoubtedly try to exploit the effort to score political points — it is not rocket science. … At this point, closing the prison is a risk management exercise, and the risk is clearly manageable.” — Elisa Massimino, CNNClosing Guantanamo simply isn’t a priority“The desire to shut down Guantanamo has been back on the table ever since Joe Biden took over the White House. Like his old boss, Biden at the outset of his presidency promised to permanently shutter the Guantanamo detention facility. More than a year and a half later, there has been little movement toward the compound’s closure. Inexplicably, there’s still no end in sight for Guantanamo.” — Editorial, Chicago Tribune Closing the prison would require confronting the abuses the U.S. committed there“For the collective psyche of the United States, closing Guantanamo is ultimately about finally facing the ways Guantanamo gives the lie to the values and principles at the heart of American identity. For a start, Americans must face that they endorsed forcing hundreds of Muslim men and boys into a dehumanising prison, where torture was de rigueur, to provide themselves with a fleeting sense of safety — and then chose to look away as the abuses and innocence of many prisoners were exposed.” — Maha Hilal, Middle East EyeRepublicans are still primed to obstruct any real effort to close the prison“The latest developments suggest officials have made some progress, but given Republican intransigence, lowering the number from 35 to zero will remain a difficult challenge for the administration.” — Steve Benen, MSNBCThe U.S. is unwilling to surrender the extralegal powers that Guantanamo provides“The main reason the United States chose to create a prison camp in Guantánamo Bay was because it could simultaneously hold the detainees outside the United States and not be constrained by a host country. So long as this remains true, there is a risk of the United States using the base to hold others.” — Jana Lipman, Washington PostThe U.S. has wrongly committed to providing due process to terrorists who don’t deserve it“The problem is that we’ve predetermined, entirely rationally, that justice requires the execution of these monsters, but we’ve accepted … that there can be no execution without a trial. But it is highly unlikely that these monsters can be tried in a process that we would recognize as a trial. Even if they could, it might take forever, and the outcome would be uncertain.” — Andrew C. McCarthy, National ReviewAmericans aren’t good at dealing with complicated problems“We may want to talk about foreign policy in black and white, but we have to live in the gray. We should still try to do the right thing. … There may be a price to closing the prison, but what is it really costing us each day we keep it open?” — LZ Granderson, Los Angeles TimesClosing the prison wouldn’t be enough to make up for all of the horrors committed there“The horrors of Guantánamo will not disappear by simply shutting down the facility. There must be a proper reckoning with the legacy of torture at Guantánamo Bay. … Without this reckoning, the Biden administration’s statements in support of human rights will continue to ring hollow.” — Noha Aboueldahab, Foreign PolicyGuantanamo is still open because closing it would be a mistake“The United States remains in a state of armed conflict, and we are entitled to detain opposing enemy forces for the duration of hostilities. Those forces include the terrorists currently detained at Guantanamo.” — Charles “Cully” Stimson, Heritage FoundationIs there a topic you’d like to see covered in “The 360”? Send your suggestions to [email protected] illustration: Jack Forbes; photos: John Moore/Getty Images | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Footage shows mission arriving in Zaporizhzhia We mentioned earlier that officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived in Zaporizhzhia - and here's the footage of them arriving.The team will be assessing the nuclear plant tomorrow following a series of attacks on the facility. In pictures: Residents assess damage after Russian attack Civilians have been seen picking through debris following the latest Russian attack on Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk. Warning Russia could open 'second theatre of war' Germany's chief of defence has urged the West not to underestimate Moscow's military strength. "The bulk of the Russian land forces may be tied down in Ukraine at the moment but, even so, we should not underestimate the Russian land forces' potential to open a second theatre of war," warned General Eberhard Zorn, the highest-ranking soldier of the Bundeswehr. Russia also has a navy and air force at its disposal beyond the army, he added. "Most of the Russian navy has not yet been deployed in the war on Ukraine, and the Russian air force still has significant potential as well, which poses a threat to NATO too," he said.The Bundeswehr regularly supports NATO air policing missions over the Baltic states with fighter jets.General Zorn said Russia would be "very well capable" of expanding the conflict. Russian forces 'will use IAEA visit to legitimise annexation of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant' Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has been speaking to Sky News as nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) set off for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant today.Speaking from Kyiv, Mr Poroshenko said Russian forces did not have any responsibility and they would try to use the mission of the IAEA to "legitimise" the annexation of the power plant.He said: "These peacekeepers with a mandate from the United Nations Security Council can control the nuclear security because if there is nuclear contamination, that could be a danger not only for Ukraine and Russia, but for the whole of Europe and for the whole world. "Speaking on the death of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Ukrainian leader went on to say the country had an "ambivalent attitude" towards him.He added: "It's clear that if you look from the global point of view, the Soviet leader did a lot to decrease the tension between the West and the East and he, as they say, destroyed the Soviet Union."But at the same time, we in Ukraine know that in the year 2014, unfortunately, Mr Gorbachev recognised the illegal annexation of Crimea, welcoming the attack of Russia to the Ukraine."That's why I as president signed a decree to introduce sanctions against Mr Gorbachev together with the other foreign leaders who recognised the annexation of Crimea." Blanket EU visa ban for Russians will not be imposed, says Hungarian minister The EU will suspend an agreement with Russia that eases the supply of visas but a blanket visa ban will not be imposed, Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto has said.In a statement, Mr Szijjarto said a visa ban would not come into force as Hungary, along with some other member states, opposed this at a meeting of EU ministers in Prague."There won't be a general blanket visa ban imposed for Russian citizens. Several member states have raised their voice against this, including myself," he said.The foreign minister went on to say the agreement that eases visa issuance will be suspended with a qualified majority support. But he did not say whether Hungary backed this measure.The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the move would still "significantly reduce" the number of new visas issued by EU member states."It's going to be more difficult, it's going to take longer," he said.Some EU states have already restricted entry for Russians.Eastern and Nordic countries strongly back a tourism ban, while Germany and France have warned their peers it would be counter-productive, saying ordinary Russians should still be allowed access to the West.Mr Szijjarto also announced that Hungary has signed a deal with Russia's Gazprom for additional gas shipments from 1 September. He said Gazprom would increase daily additional gas shipments on top of an existing long-term supply deal with Russia to a maximum 5.8 million cubic metres per day from September. Russian official admits Moscow was not prepared for Crimea attacks A local politician has said Russia's air defences were not prepared to halt the recent Ukrainian drone attacks in annexed Crimea. Ukraine has begun hitting military targets in the region, which was annexed in 2014 and now under Russian control. "There is a system of 'drone terrorism'. Just a year ago it did not occur to anyone that it would be the main one someday," said Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of Crimea's State Council."The air defence was configured to counter heavy weapons - aircraft, missiles and so on and so forth. Now it is being reorganised."Everybody is on guard. And there is no panic. We trust the Black Sea Fleet. There are certain difficulties. New methods of warfare prompt new tasks." UN donates refrigerated vans to transport vaccines across Ukraine The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated 30 refrigerated vans to Ukraine to help it transport vaccines across the country. Many vaccines need to be kept in very cool conditions, and the war has made it more difficult for medical supplies to reach some areas."The first pilot delivery of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin shortly in the Lviv region," Ukraine's minister of health Viktor Liashko said.The vaccines are against polio, diphtheria and tetanus, measles-mumps-rubella and rabies. Ukraine says nuclear plant visit should be step towards 'deoccupying and demilitarising' Ukraine's energy minister has signalled their optimism about a mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has travelled to Zaporizhzhia and will visit the plant tomorrow. Energy minister German Galushchenko said it's important the mission can speak to staff at the nuclear plant, which is currently occupied by Russian troops. He said the mission should be a step towards "deoccupying and demilitarising" the plant. Mission to nuclear plant arrives in nearby town The International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to Europe's largest nuclear plant has arrived in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia. The team is set to travel to the Zaporizhzhia power station, which is occupied by Russian troops, tomorrow.The IAEA mission, headed by the organisation's chief Rafael Grossi, will inspect the plant after its territory was repeatedly shelled over the last month. Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the attacks. Areas of control in Ukraine's south The graphic below shows which areas are controlled by Russian and Ukrainian forces in the south of Ukraine.Ukraine is currently conducting a counter-offensive in the area, with the aim of taking back Kherson. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Apartment block reduced to rubble by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: ReutersApartment block reduced to rubble by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: ReutersShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureLive feedRussia launches multiple strikes on city of ZaporizhzhiaIsobel KoshiwRussia hit the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with seven rockets, flattening an apartment building on early on Thursday morning. The city’s authorities told Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne at least two have died and at least another five are trapped under the rubble, although later reports revised the death toll down to one. Rescue workers at the scene said they saved one three-year-old girl.Zaporizhzhia’s branch of Suspline reported more explosions in the city at mid-morning Kyiv time.Three more loud explosions were just heard in #Zaporizhzhia (at 10.35 local time). Smoke is rising from new locations in the centre of the city.— Paul Adams (@BBCPaulAdams) October 6, 2022
Oleksandr Starukh, Ukraine’s governor of Zaporizhzhia, said on Telegram: “Attention. Another enemy missile attack. Stay in shelters”.Russia launched two rockets at the central Ukrainian city of Khmelnytsky, but both reportedly missed their targets.Elsewhere, Russia used what the Ukrainian authorities say are Iranian-supplied kamikaze drones to target the cities of Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Odesa. Ukraine’s military say they managed to shoot down 18 additional drones before they reached Odesa and Mykolaiv.As the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont reported, the Iranian drones are able to remain airborne for several hours and circle over potential targets, the drones are designed to be flown into enemy troops, armour or buildings, exploding on impact – explaining their description as kamikaze drones.The city of Zaporizhzhia is the administrative centre of the Zaporizhzhia region which Russia claims to have annexed.Key events2h agoKremlin denies reports of Russians fleeing draft3h agoSummary of the day so far …5h agoRussia launches multiple strikes on city of Zaporizhzhia5h agoZaporizhzhia residents warned of further missiles6h agoRescue workers on scene of deadly residential rocket strike in Zaporizhzhia7h agoSummary so far7h agoTwo killed in Zaporizhzhia missile attack, governor says7h agoRussia wants secret UN vote on move to condemn 'annexations'7h agoEuropean leaders to meet in face of Russia’s war8h agoRussian troops leave behind mass burial sites, evidence of torture8h agoRussian troops retreat from Ukraine's east and south8h agoUN nuclear chief heads to Kyiv8h agoPutin appears to admit severe losses, vows to 'stabilise' annexed regionsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureReuters has a report on the problems that Russians opposed to the war in Ukraine or fearful of being sent to fight have encountered upon fleeing to Kazakhstan.Worries about money, sudden large increases in housing costs in response to the Russian influx, and scarce jobs are compounded by pressures from family back home - some have even been accused by relatives of betraying their country.And the scale of the exodus has given rise to concerns from some Kazakhs who see the incoming Russians as a potential economic burden and even a security risk.Rents have soared in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations - as well as Georgia, where some landlords have started adding a “no Russians” clause to their rental ads.The Kazakh government said this week that more than 200,000 Russians had entered the country since Putin’s announcement, and some 147,000 had since left. No data is available on their final destinations, though some are thought to have headed to neighbouring former Soviet republics.About 77,000 have registered in Kazakhstan’s national ID system, a prerequisite for getting a job or a bank account.Uzbekistan’s government said on Tuesday it was strengthening border controls, with border guard troops to be involved in vehicle and cargo checks alongside customs officials.Some Kazakh businesses have publicly announced job offers for those fleeing the Russian draft, but some of those offers explicitly stated they were aimed only at ethnic Kazakhs.Reuters has posted a helpful summary of its Ukraine-related reporting from today: Ukraine said its forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson, one of four partially Russian-occupied regions that President Vladimir Putin formally incorporated into Russia in Europe’s biggest annexation since the second world war. A Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one woman and leaving other residents trapped under rubble, the regional governor said. The bodies of two Russian soldiers lay bloating in trees on opposite sides of the road, close to the blasted hulks of the cars and the van in which Ukrainian army officers said the dead men’s unit was retreating into the eastern town of Lyman. Dozens of firefighters doused blazes in a town near Kyiv after multiple strikes caused by what officials said were Iranian-made loitering munitions, often known as “kamikaze drones”. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the battlefield reports. Putin signed laws admitting the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia in the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century. He also said Russia would stabilise the situation in the regions, indirectly acknowledging the challenges it faces to assert its control. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, accused Russia on Thursday of “nuclear blackmail” over its seizure of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southern Ukraine. The Kremlin said it was preparing to welcome the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Moscow soon. Putin said he expected sanctions pressure on the Russian economy to intensify, in televised remarks from a meeting with government officials. The European Union gave its final approval for a new batch of sanctions, the bloc’s executive arm said. They include more limits on trade with Russia in steel and tech products, and an oil price cap for Russian seaborne crude deliveries through European insurers to align the EU with Washington. A crime scene investigation of the damages on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines has strengthened suspicions of “gross sabotage”, Swedish security police. Alexander Novak, the Russian deputy prime minister, said Moscow might cut oil production to offset negative effects from price caps imposed by the west over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Europe may limp through the cold winter months with the help of brimming natural gas tanks despite a plunge in deliveries from Russia, only to enter a deeper energy crisis next year, the head of the International Energy Agency said. The Kremlin denied reports that 700,000 Russians had fled the country since Moscow announced a mobilisation drive to call up hundreds of thousands to fight in Ukraine. US intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorised a car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, the New York Times reported. The Opec+ group of leading oil producers decided to reduce output by 2 million barrels per day to stabilise the market, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.Dmitry Peskov also said that by agreeing to reduce output, Opec+ has confirmed its credentials as an organisation responsible for market stability.The Saudi-led Opec+ cartel at a Vienna meeting on Wednesday ignored pleas from the White House to keep oil flowing and agreed the cut, its deepest since the Covid-19 pandemic.Separately, Peskov said that the Kremlin is preparing to welcome the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic energy agency (IAEA), to Moscow soon. The visit is likely to focus on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine in territory that Russia has proclaimed its own.He added that he understands there are no plans to invite Moscow to join an investigation into Nord Stream gas leaks. Nevertheless, Russia considers it is impossible to conduct such an investigation without Moscow’s participation.Kremlin denies reports of Russians fleeing draftThe Kremlin has denied reports that 700,000 Russians have fled the country since Moscow announced a mobilisation drive that it said would call up hundreds of thousands to fight in Ukraine.In a briefing with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he did not have exact figures for how many people had left the country since Vladimir Putin’s announcement on 21 September of a “partial mobilisation” that has called members of the general public up to the military.During today’s Kremlin briefing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked about Wednesday’s New York Times report, which revealed that United States intelligence agencies believed parts of the Ukrainian government authorised the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist.The report said that US officials feared this was an element of a covert campaign that could widen the conflict.Peskov’s response was that Russian intelligence had always argued that Ukraine was behind the August killing of Darya Dugina so it was “positive” that the United States appeared to share that assessment.Kyiv on Thursday rejected the claims it was involved in the attack.Rachel Hall here taking over the blog – if there’s anything we’ve missed, do drop me a line.Summary of the day so far … Russia hit the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with seven rockets, flattening an apartment building early on Thursday morning. The city’s authorities told Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne, that at least two had died and at least another five were trapped under the rubble, although later reports revised the death toll down to one. Rescue workers at the scene said they saved a three-year-old girl. Zaporizhzhia’s branch of Suspilne reported more explosions in the city at mid-morning Kyiv time. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has appeared to admit severe losses in Ukraine, conceding the severity of the Kremlin’s recent military reversals and insisting Russia would “stabilise” the situation in four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – it illegally claimed as its own territory last week. “We are working on the assumption that the situation in the new territories will stabilise,” Putin told Russian teachers during a televised video call on Wednesday. The UN nuclear agency chief is en route to Kyiv to discuss creating a security zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, after Putin ordered his government to take it over. “On our way to Kyiv for important meetings,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head, Rafael Grossi, wrote on Twitter, saying the need for a protection zone around the site was “more urgent than ever”. Grossi is also expected to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss the situation at the plant. The IAEA said it had learned of plans to restart one reactor at the plant, where all six reactors have been shut down for weeks. Ukraine’s forces are pushing their advance in the east and south, forcing Russian troops to retreat under pressure on both fronts. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine’s military had made major, rapid advances against Russian forces in the past week, taking back dozens of towns in regions in the south and east that Russia has declared annexed. Military experts say Russia is at its weakest point, partly because of its decision not to mobilise earlier and partly because of massive losses of troops and equipment. Ukraine has extended its area of control in the Kherson region by six to 12 miles, according to its military’s southern command. Zelenskiy confirmed the recapture of the villages of Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka, saying the settlements were “liberated from the sham referendum and stabilised”, in an address on Wednesday. Kherson region’s Moscow-appointed governor, Kirill Stremousov, said the withdrawal was a tactical “regrouping” to “deliver a retaliatory blow”. The extent of Russia’s retreat remains unclear. Moscow’s forces have left behind smashed towns once under occupation and, in places, mass burial sites and evidence of torture chambers. In Lyman, which was retaken by Ukrainian forces on Sunday, more than 50 graves have been found, some marked with names, others with numbers, the Kyiv-based outlet Hromadske reported on Wednesday. Leaders of 44 European countries on Thursday in Prague will send a clear signal of Russia’s isolation and try to create a new order without Moscow, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said this morning. “The meeting is looking for a new order without Russia,” he told reporters. The UN has warned Russia’s claimed annexation of Ukraine territory will only exacerbate human rights violations. Christian Salazar Volkmann said UN experts had documented “a range of violations of the rights to life, liberty and security” and warned the situation would only worsen as Russia pushes forward with the annexation of some Ukrainian regions. That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I am handing over to Rachel Hall. I will be back later on.Here is a video clip showing some of the scenes in Zaporizhzhia after today’s attacks.Russian missile destroys residential building in Zaporizhzhia – videoDaniel HurstUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged Nato to “demonstrate that they are not afraid of Russia”. During a video-link interview with the Lowy Institute in Australia on Thursday, Zelenskiy was asked whether he had received any response from Nato, and how quickly he expected the alliance to act on the application.He said his key message was: “You don’t need to be afraid of anyone.”Zelenskiy said it was important to build “security guarantees for the whole world so that nobody would have even a thought to become autocratic, and even if you’re autocratic that you shouldn’t have even a single thought that you can conquer the other territories or other nations”.“For that, you must have to be united. And I think that without Ukraine, Nato is not such a strong alliance, particularly the European continent. I believe for the strength in the east of Europe this is a very important step. We can offer this chance to Nato. We are grateful for their support to Nato. We are giving this opportunity at a very important moment.”Zelenskiy appealed for his Nato partners to show resolve.“Not only Ukraine has to demonstrate its strengths to Russia, but the alliance has also to demonstrate that they are not afraid of Russia. It’s a question to Nato. But I know that everyone realises that security guarantees for Ukraine are something that is necessary. And I think we are on that path. We shall definitely take this path. How fast it’s going to be, unfortunately, it depends not only on Ukraine.”Zelenskiy announced last week that Ukraine was officially applying for membership of Nato, after Vladimir Putin said he was annexing four Ukrainian provinces.Maria Zakharova is giving her weekly press briefing for Russia’s foreign ministry. So far she has stated that it would be impossible to investigate the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines without Russian involvement, and accused Denmark of being unwilling to cooperate and said that the west was creating obstacles to the repair work.She criticised Ukraine’s contribution to the grain export deal, saying it was depriving grain exports to poorer countries, and denied claims that Russia had damaged grain silos or agricultural land, reiterating that the armed forces of the Russian Federation only target military infrastructure.Reporter Kateryna Malofieieva is in Zaporizhzhia and has posted to say that rescue work in the Ukrainian city is being interrupted by air-raid sirens that force first responders to shelter.The air raid sirens permanently disrupt the rescue works at the scene of the missile attack in #Zaporizhzhia. Emergency workers, police, volunteers and journalists are taking cover in the nearby underground. pic.twitter.com/sQRFrrVSNf— Kateryna Malofieieva (@KatyaMalofeyeva) October 6, 2022
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has commented on this morning’s attacks on Zaporizhzhia, saying:Overnight, seven Russian missiles have hit people sleeping peacefully at their homes in Zaporizhzhia. More have struck during the day. Russians keep deliberately striking civilians to sow fear. Russian terror must be stopped — by force of weapons, sanctions, and full isolation.Overnight, seven Russian missiles have hit people sleeping peacefully at their homes in Zaporizhzhia. More have struck during the day. Russians keep deliberately striking civilians to sow fear. Russian terror must be stopped — by force of weapons, sanctions, and full isolation. pic.twitter.com/HQmXCeN5HN— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 6, 2022
Here are some of the images of the aftermath from today’s attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia by Russian forces.Rescuers carry an injured local resident at the site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike. Photograph: ReutersFirefighters are among rescue workers at the scene in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: APRescue workers clear debris after a strike in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: Marina Moiseyenko/AFP/Getty ImagesThe UK’s ministry of defence has published this map today of how it assesses the latest territorial situation on the ground.Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has said overnight Russian forces shelled across the front line in multiple locations. He reported that one civilian was wounded and that houses were damaged in several settlements. The claims have not been independently verified. Donetsk is one of the regions that Russia claims to have annexed without fully controlling the territory.Daniel HurstUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he hopes a vote at the UN general assembly next week condemning Russia’s purported annexation of Ukrainian territory will be “as unanimous as possible”.Zelenskiy is addressing the Sydney-based Lowy Institute by video link on Thursday. In his opening remarks, Zelenskiy urged Australia to help secure an overwhelming UN vote against Russia’s actions:“I’m asking Australia to use all of its influence to convince as many countries as possible not to remain neutral and to vote for international law and against a Russian annexation.”Ukraine’s governor of Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, has issued an update on the strikes in Zaporizhzhia this morning, revising the death toll down to one for now. He writes:So far it is known about the death of one woman. The death of another person has not been confirmed. Thanks to the doctors, her life was saved. Seven people were injured of varying degrees of severity, they were treated, including one three-year-old child. The rescue operation is still ongoing. The number of victims may vary. The number of victims could have been much higher, but thanks to the timely and professional actions of the Zaporizhzhia state emergency service, 21 victims were already saved.Russia launches multiple strikes on city of ZaporizhzhiaIsobel KoshiwRussia hit the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with seven rockets, flattening an apartment building on early on Thursday morning. The city’s authorities told Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne at least two have died and at least another five are trapped under the rubble, although later reports revised the death toll down to one. Rescue workers at the scene said they saved one three-year-old girl.Zaporizhzhia’s branch of Suspline reported more explosions in the city at mid-morning Kyiv time.Three more loud explosions were just heard in #Zaporizhzhia (at 10.35 local time). Smoke is rising from new locations in the centre of the city.— Paul Adams (@BBCPaulAdams) October 6, 2022
Oleksandr Starukh, Ukraine’s governor of Zaporizhzhia, said on Telegram: “Attention. Another enemy missile attack. Stay in shelters”.Russia launched two rockets at the central Ukrainian city of Khmelnytsky, but both reportedly missed their targets.Elsewhere, Russia used what the Ukrainian authorities say are Iranian-supplied kamikaze drones to target the cities of Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Odesa. Ukraine’s military say they managed to shoot down 18 additional drones before they reached Odesa and Mykolaiv.As the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont reported, the Iranian drones are able to remain airborne for several hours and circle over potential targets, the drones are designed to be flown into enemy troops, armour or buildings, exploding on impact – explaining their description as kamikaze drones.The city of Zaporizhzhia is the administrative centre of the Zaporizhzhia region which Russia claims to have annexed.Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled leader of the democratic opposition in Belarus, has commented on today’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia, saying:The Russian attack on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia is another shameful act of terror against the population of Ukraine. Thousands of innocent adults & children have paid with their lives for Putin and Lukashenko’s war. They lose on the battlefield & take revenge on civilians.The Russian attack on residential buildings in #Zaporizhzhia is another shameful act of terror against the population of 🇺🇦. Thousands of innocent adults & children have paid with their lives for Putin & Lukashenka's war. They lose on the battlefield & take revenge on civilians. pic.twitter.com/GHdm5oBIYr— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) October 6, 2022
Zaporizhzhia residents warned of further missilesOleksandr Starukh, Ukraine’s governor of Zaporizhzhia, has alerted people to an another attack on Telegram, posting “Attention. Another enemy missile attack. Stay in shelters”.NewestNewestPreviousNextOldestOldestRussia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 225 of the invasionResidential areas in Zaporizhzhia hit as Russia targets citiesPoland suggests hosting US nuclear weapons amid growing fears of Putin’s threatsAttempts to play down retreats in Ukraine no longer wash inside RussiaPutin appears to admit severe Russian losses in UkraineUkraine won back territory and support, but Russia will test the west’s resolve againRussia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 224 of the invasionPutin and the prince: fears in west as Russia and Saudi Arabia deepen ties | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Image source, ReutersRishi Sunak has said the so-called "golden era" of relations with China is over, as he vowed to "evolve" the UK's stance towards the country.In his first foreign policy speech, Mr Sunak said the closer economic ties of the previous decade had been "naïve".The prime minister said the UK had to replace wishful thinking with "robust pragmatism" towards competitors.But he warned against "Cold War rhetoric", adding that China's global significance could not be ignored.Mr Sunak has faced pressure from Tory backbenchers to toughen the UK's stance on China since he took over as prime minister last month. His speech, at the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, comes after protests in China over the weekend against the country's strict Covid lockdown laws.Police have made several arrests, and a BBC journalist was detained while covering a protest in Shanghai on Sunday. He was beaten and kicked by the police during his arrest and held for several hours before being released.Mr Sunak told the audience of business leaders and foreign policy experts that, in the face of the protests, China had "chosen to crack down further, including by assaulting a BBC journalist"."We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism," he said.Media caption, Watch: BBC journalist Ed Lawrence arrested covering China Covid protestsHe added that the "golden era" of UK-China relations was "over", along with the "naïve idea" that more trade with the West would lead to Chinese political reform.The phrase "golden era" is associated with closer economic ties under former Prime Minister David Cameron - but relations between London and Beijing have since deteriorated.However, Mr Sunak stressed that "we cannot simply ignore China's significance in world affairs - to global economic stability or issues like climate change".He added that the UK would work with allies including the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan to "manage this sharpening competition, including with diplomacy and engagement"."It means standing up to our competitors, not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism," he added. Mr Sunak and Chinese President Xi Jinping were set to meet for the first time at the G20 summit in Indonesia earlier this month, but the encounter was cancelled following a missile blast in Poland.Mr Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss was reportedly planning to re-categorise China as a "threat" to the UK as part of a review of its foreign policy.In his speech, Mr Sunak echoed the phrase used in the review - that China is a "systemic challenge". He said there would be more details of the review in the new year. The truth is, right now, we don't know in practical terms what this new approach will actually amount to.Mr Sunak is promising more detail in what is known as the Integrated Review - which will set out the UK's national security and foreign policy - in the new year.But we know already how China is now described: a "systemic challenge".The government hopes that people will understand that international relations, like any human relations, are complex and nuanced; that a binary approach, as they see it, would not be in the UK's interests.But for the prime minister's critics, failing to describe Beijing as a "threat" is a big mistake.But the "robust pragmatism" line in the speech was criticised by former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith - one of a number of backbenchers pushing for a tougher line.During an urgent question in the Commons on the safety of British journalists in China, he asked the Foreign Office minister to explain "how 'robustly pragmatic' will worry the Chinese any one bit?"Labour's shadow foreign secretary David Lammy called the speech "thin as gruel", accusing the government of "flip-flopping its rhetoric on China".Nigel Inkster, senior China advisor at foreign affairs think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he did not think the China-UK golden age "was ever real and substantial". He said: "It attempted to focus on economic relations with China while putting geopolitics to one side, and experience shows you simply can't do that."Renewed debate about the UK's relationship with China comes as members of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee have travelled to Taiwan - which Beijing claims as it territory - to meet its president. The committee is holding an inquiry into UK foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region and how it can maximise its influence there. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, China's President Xi Jinping and former prime minister David Cameron drink a beer together during his state visit to the UK in 2015Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Sunak promised to continue support for Ukraine, adding: "We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes."He promised to "maintain or increase" British military aid to the country next year, and provide new air support to protect civilians and critical infrastructure.Mr Sunak visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month, in his first visit to Kyiv since entering Downing Street.During the visit, he announced the UK would supply Ukraine with additional anti-aircraft guns and radars, and increase the training offer to Ukraine's armed forces. President Zelensky's wife, Olena Zelenska, made her own visit to London on Monday where she spoke about sexual violence allegedly being perpetrated by Russian troops in Ukraine. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
January 17, 2023 03:52 PM North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un tried to break the ice with Mike Pompeo by joking about the then-CIA director's efforts to "kill" him during an intense 2018 Easter weekend secret meeting. Pompeo was taken aback by the quip and quickly assured the notorious dictator to his face with a "little humor" of his own that he was indeed trying to kill him. That move drew a smile from the dictator, according to Pompeo's upcoming memoir, Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love. US EXTENDS SECURITY TO POMPEO AND FORMER TRUMP OFFICIALS AFTER THREATS FROM IRAN “This small, sweating, evil man tried to break the ice with all the charm you would expect from a mass murderer. ‘Mr. Director,’ he opened, ‘I didn’t think you’d show up. I know you’ve been trying to kill me,’” an excerpt of the book obtained by Fox News recounted. “I decided to lean in with a little humor of my own: ‘Mr. Chairman, I’m still trying [to] kill you.’ In the picture taken seconds after that exchange, Kim is still smiling. He seemed confident that I was kidding,” Pompeo added in his book. In this file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles during a meeting with President Donald Trump, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi. Evan Vucci/AP After a bitter exchange of nicknames and threats of nuclear war during the first year of his presidency, relations between Kim and former President Donald Trump cooled off in mid-2018, and the two eventually met for a summit in Singapore. Pompeo, who later became Trump's secretary of state, earned a reputation for utilizing a more assertive approach to foreign policy. Pompeo explained that the secret mission "to one of the darkest places on earth" began on March 30, 2018, before the Singapore summit, and was intended to remedy "the failed efforts of the past that had not eliminated North Korea’s nuclear weapons of mass destruction." Although his onetime boss has since boasted about the Singapore summit and took his "love letters" with Kim to his Mar-a-Lago resort following his White House departure, Pompeo seemed less enthused with Kim. The feeling appeared mutual as North Korea later demanded that Pompeo be left out of negotiations over the country's nuclear arsenal. Ultimately, despite concessions, such as an end to annual military exercises in South Korea, North Korea never relinquished its nuclear firepower and later began intensifying its military weapons testing during the Biden administration. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love is slated for release on Jan. 24. Pompeo has acknowledged that he is actively mulling a bid for the White House in 2024, revealing that he is expecting to make a decision in the spring and that Trump's entrance into the fray will not deter him from vying. Other speculated hopefuls, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), have either released books or are slated to before the 2024 cycle heats up. Pence's book came out last year, and DeSantis's book is expected to hit bookshelves in late February. So far, Trump is the only major candidate to declare a 2024 candidacy. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Russia expected that Türkiye would back down from a possible operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, while a former US official warned of a “collapse” of relations between Washington and Ankara if the operation went ahead.
In a meeting chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, the Turkish Cabinet discussed developments in northern Syria and the consultations that took place with Moscow last week.
Turkish media quoted the Russian Presidential Special Envoy to the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, as saying that his country continued to persuade the Turkish side to refrain from launching the ground operation in northern Syria, stressing that there have been successes in this direction.
The Russian President’s special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, pointed to a possibility that Türkiye “refrains from carrying out a ground operation in Syria,” although Ankara did not provide such assurances.
In a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Sunday, Erdogan emphasized the priority of clearing the Syrian border with Türkiye of “terrorists” at a depth of at least 30 kilometers.
In its meeting on Monday, the Turkish Cabinet discussed the situation in northern Syria and the developments on the border, as well as the result of consultations and contacts with Moscow and Washington.
Meanwhile, the former US envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, warned of the collapse of Turkish-American relations due to Ankara's threats to launch a ground operation against the SDF.
In an article published in Foreign Policy, Jeffrey said that a Turkish incursion into Syria could undermine operations against ISIS, especially that the SDF guarded thousands of prisoners from the organization and their family members.
Last week, Turkish-Russian consultations were held in Istanbul over a possible Turkish military operation against the positions of the SDF in northern Syria, and Russia’s efforts to achieve rapprochement between Türkiye and Bashar al-Assad’s regime. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
A woman stands in a crater caused by missile strikes which struck the yard of a school in a residential area of Kharkiv on June 27,2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Sergey Bobok | AFP | Getty ImagesIt's been six months since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, an act that shocked the world and one that was almost universally condemned.Russia was widely perceived to have been preparing to claim a quick victory in Ukraine, but hopes of swiftly overthrowing Volodymyr Zelenskyy's pro-Western government soon evaporated.Six months on, many analysts expect the conflict to be a long, grinding "war of attrition" that causes widespread death, destruction and displacement in Ukraine — it has already extolled a high price on the country and its people — and is costly for Russia too.The invasion of Ukraine did not come as a surprise for close followers of Russia — and the deployment of over 100,000 troops along the border with Ukraine did nothing to dispel Moscow's insistence that it did not want to invade.A month into its full-scale invasion that began on Feb. 24, however, and it was already forced to shift its army and objectives, having found that launching offensives on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv from the north, east, and south all at once was too much for its forces amid stiff Ukrainian resistance.TOPSHOT - Family members mourn next to the coffin of Ukrainian serviceman Anton Savytskyi during a funeral ceremony at Bucha's cemetery in Kyiv region on August 13, 2022, amid the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty ImagesInstead, in late March, the Kremlin said it would concentrate on "liberating" the Donbas in eastern Ukraine where two pro-Russian separatist regions are located in Luhansk and Donetsk. That coincided with the objective of trying to advance its forces along the southern coast of Ukraine, gaining control of ports Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson with varying degrees of ease (and control), as well as the strategic Black Sea outpost of Snake Island.Times have changed, however, and while Russia's position in the Donbas is relatively secure, its hold on southern Ukraine appears somewhat less stable.Reversal of fortunesRussian troops in recent months have pulled out of Snake Island and occupied areas, such as Crimea and Kherson (which Russian commanders have reportedly fled). Russian forces are also witnessing an increasing number of Ukrainian strikes in what could be the start of a much-vaunted counteroffensive by Kyiv's forces to retake its lost territory in the south.Meanwhile, the port cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa further up the coast to the west have suffered repeated shelling (and Mykolaiv has seen fierce fighting to the east, toward Kherson) but they remain under Ukrainian control.The shipping of grain exports from other Ukrainian ports has also been able to resume under a U.N.-Turkey brokered deal between Moscow and Kyiv. The agreement brought an end to a months-long Russian blockade.An agricultural implement harvests in a wheat field outside of the city center, as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine on August 01, 2022.Wolfgan Schwan | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesSam Ramani, a geopolitical analyst and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank, said there had been something of a reversal in Russia's fortunes since the start of the invasion."In the first month of the war, the stronghold for Russia was really southern Ukraine. They took over Kherson very quickly and two thirds of Zaporizhzhia. They had Snake Island. The whole of the Black Sea coast was almost under their control. They were blocking exports of grain and other products from Ukraine," he said."Now we've seen a total reversal. We've seen them occupy Luhansk and there is very slow attritional, but still somewhat consistent, progress in Donetsk, so the Donbas campaign is going a bit better — but now they're vulnerable in the south."In July, Ukraine announced with great fanfare that it would launch a counteroffensive in the south, but many analysts have been left asking where and when that may take place."Despite having been speaking of this potential counteroffensive for a month, we haven't seen major Ukrainian advances on any of the Kherson-Mykolaiv-Dnipropetrovsk fronts," Max Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a U.S.-based think tank, told CNBC.He added that the extent to which Ukraine could advance on those lines was uncertain."It seems to be that their strategy is to make it is impossible for Russia to hold, and then have a siege rather than a counteroffensive, to try to convince them to give up control of the territory of Kherson and Mykolaiv, north of the Dnipro river."Ukrainian servicemen fire an M777 howitzer, Kharkiv Region, northeastern Ukraine. This photo cannot be distributed in the Russian Federation.Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesWith talk of a stalemate setting in between Russia and Ukraine and with neither side advancing or conceding much territory, analysts are questioning what happens over the next six months as the fall sets in (along with the notorious muddy season, or "Rasputitsa" in Ukraine) and then winter arrives.Hess said the outlook was likely to resemble a quagmire, both physically on the ground and on a geopolitical level, with neither side able to make advances and no impetus for a return to cease-fire negotiations after talks failed earlier this year."I think we turn into a quagmire as the winter comes, especially in the frost setting," Hess said, adding that the West needs to start considering the possibility of territorial lines in Ukraine that are worse than those after 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and threw its weight behind pro-Russian separatist forces battling troops in eastern Ukraine.Despite the territorial expansion, however, Hess described such advances as a Pyrrhic victory for Russia's Vladimir Putin, referring to the term used for a success that comes with great losses. That's because "the difference is the Russian army is now wholly committed to the fight and yet has ended up in the same strategic position as when it was being fought by Moscow's proxy forces" in eastern Ukraine.Russia concealing lossesPutin is widely seen to have miscalculated the cost of the invasion of Ukraine, and relations between Moscow and the West are at their lowest point in decades with international sanctions piled on Russia's economy.Nonetheless, the Russian public is still seen to be widely supportive of the war. This is perhaps unsurprising given the ubiquitous presence of pro-war propaganda broadcast by the state-run or pro-Kremlin press and fears of reprisals when speaking out against the invasion.Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the head of the Republic of Mordovia Artyom Zdunov in Moscow, Russia July 5, 2022. Mikhail Klimentyev | Sputnik | ReutersUnder Putin, Russia has sought to stamp out critical voices. This crackdown has been reaffirmed during the invasion with Russia introducing legislation that allows it to prosecute anyone it deems to be intentionally spreading "false information" about the Russian army.How much the Russian public really knows (or at least is willing to talk about in public) about the "special military operation," as Russia calls the invasion, is uncertain."I cannot comment on the scale of the losses because I would immediately be criminally prosecuted," Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow and chair of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CNBC."The Russian authorities conceal the real scale of the losses," he said, adding that in any case, "the majority of the population is not interested in them, as they do not have access to the blocked independent media, and they do not want to [know], deliberately blocking out bad information for themselves."Russia has sporadically released information relating to the number of its soldiers who have been killed in Ukraine but has recently ceased to do so and it's likely to want to keep that information quiet; the former Soviet-Afghan war was unpopular because of its cost to Russian soldiers, with around 15,000 believed to have died in the 10-year conflict.On Thursday, Ukraine claimed that over 44,300 Russian soldiers have died in the current conflict but that could be an exaggeration; the U.S. believes it could be more around the 15,000 mark. The last official death toll Russia's defense ministry released was in March, with the number totaling 1,351. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Explosions have rocked two Russian airbases far from the frontlines as Kyiv appeared to launch a pre-emptive strike on bombers that the Kremlin has used to try to cripple the Ukrainian electrical grid.The Russian defence ministry confirmed the attacks on Monday, claiming two of its warplanes had been damaged when it intercepted two Ukrainian drones. For Kyiv the strike represented an unprecedented operation deep inside Russia to disrupt the Kremlin strategy of provoking a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine on the verge of winter.Russian media reports and video posted to social media indicated that an explosion occurred early on Monday morning at the Engels-2 airbase in Russia’s Saratov region, which hosts Tu-95 bombers that have taken part in cruise missile strikes against Ukraine.Footage purports to show explosion at Engels-2 airbase in Russia – videoAnother explosion took place at the Dyagilevo military airbase near Ryazan, a city less than 150 miles from Moscow. Three people were killed and five wounded after a fuel truck exploded, Russian state media reported. That base also hosts Tu-95 long-range bombers.Soon after the blasts at the airbases, Russia launched a long anticipated mass strike against Ukraine, involving air-and sea-launched missiles from the Black and Caspian Seas.Ukraine claimed to have shot down 60 of a total of 70 incoming missiles, a new record in the effectiveness of its air defence systems. The Russian defence ministry claimed to have hit 17 targets.In Kyiv, air raid sirens sounded, and people took shelter in underground metro stations, but no missiles hit the capital, and after three hours the all clear was sounded. The strikes plunged some parts of the country into blackout at a time when temperatures are well below zero, but they appeared to have been significantly less successful in disrupting the Ukrainian power grid than the previous Russian mass missile attack on 23 November.Two people in southern Ukraine were said to have been killed and three more wounded after at least one missile slammed into a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. Power was cut in the city of Mykolaiv and Odesa reported disruptions to the city’s water supply.A map showing the location of two Russian airbases where explosions have been reportedIf confirmed as a Ukrainian operation, the strike on the Engels airbase would be the most daring attack behind Russian lines to date. The airbase is a crucial site for Russian air force operations against Ukraine and for the country’s strategic nuclear forces. It has a nuclear weapons storage bunker with warheads that can be deployed on Russia’s long-range strategic bombers.Video of the explosions at the Russian airbases showed a fiery blast illuminating the night sky. Locals reported that the sound of the explosion could be heard from miles away. In one video from Saratov, the sound of an aircraft or missile can be heard screaming overhead shortly before the explosion is heard. Local authorities in the Saratov region said security services were investigating. Baza, a Russian media outlet with sources in the security services, said the Russian airfield at Engels was attacked by a loitering munition, a type of aerial weapon system, which targeted the airbase’s runway. Astra, another independent Russian media outlet, claimed two nuclear-capable Tu-95 bombers were damaged in the explosion. Neither indicated a source for their information.A Ukrainian official offered a cryptic appraisal of Monday’s explosions. “The Earth is round – discovery made by Galileo. Astronomy was not studied in Kremlin, giving preference to court astrologers,” wrote Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser. “If it was, they would know: if something is launched into other countries’ airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to departure point.”Among those taking shelter in the Kyiv metro was the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, who was in Kyiv to meet Ukrainian human rights activists and ended up holding the meeting in a bunker.Meeting with human rights defenders in underground shelter in Kyiv as missiles strike & air raid sirens sound again. Unbelievable that this is happening almost daily in #Ukraine. This must not become a new normal. pic.twitter.com/My22JGkOWO— Volker Türk (@volker_turk) December 5, 2022
The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin had been informed of the incidents. The Russian president was reopening the Crimean Bridge on Monday, where an explosion in October raised doubts that Russia could protect the peninsula it had occupied from Ukraine in 2014.Ukrainian monitoring reports in the last week suggested Russia was delivering cruise missiles to the airbase and transferring aircraft to the Ryazan facility in preparation for another attack against Ukraine.Long-distance strategic bombers at the Dyagilevo airbase.Long-distance strategic bombers at the Engels-2 airbase in Saratov.Long-distance strategic bombers at the Engels-2 airbase in Saratov.Satellite images published by Der Spiegel last week showed 20 strategic bombers parked on the runway at the Engels airbase in preparation for another strike on Ukraine. Satellite images released by Maxar showed those bombers remained parked on the runway through Sunday.Pro-war Russian bloggers have criticised the military for leaving the bombers closely grouped on the runway, making them an attractive target for sabotage or attack. Ukraine is not known to have any loitering munitions that would allow it to attack hundreds of miles beyond the frontlines of the conflict, although there have been reports of such unmanned aerial vehicles under development.As the two military installations were between 300 and 450 miles from the Ukrainian border, Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said drones may have been launched by Ukraine from within Russian territory.“The unmanned aerial vehicle attacks have a relatively short range and they would not have been able to fly all that way from Ukraine,” Lee said.The alleged Ukrainian attack on the Engels-2 base was likely to have been aimed at disrupting Russian plans to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, he said.“Ukraine has been warning for weeks now that Russia was preparing for a fresh wave of missile attacks on its energy grid. This could have been a pre-emptive strike.”Russia has resorted to long-range attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid after its troops were forced to retreat from a number of Ukrainian regions after a spirited counteroffensive. Putin called the strikes inevitable after an explosion on the Crimean Bridge that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.Russia has sustained a number of embarrassing incidents and attacks at military bases, including in occupied Crimea, that have shown the vulnerability of its military.Additional reporting by Pjotr Sauer | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) are headed for a collision next year on spending more money to help Ukraine. McConnell has led Republican support for sending generous military and financial aid to Kyiv, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin could threaten Poland and other European allies if not stopped in Ukraine. McCarthy, who would become Speaker if Republicans win control of the House, is putting the brakes on more Ukraine aid, warning this week there won’t be a “blank check” from a GOP majority. McConnell took an unannounced trip to Ukraine in May to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said he hoped that “not many members of my party will choose to politicize this issue,” also highlighting that House Republicans voted for a $40 billion Ukraine package that month. But House Republican support for the war in Ukraine is eroding as the war drags on, and experts predict the United States could be headed into a recession next year, which could diminish support for sending tens of billions in additional aid to Ukraine. It’s the first significant policy difference between he and McConnell that will come into the spotlight after Election Day. Congress will reconvene next month to wrap up the unfinished business of the 117th Congress. Congress last month approved $12.3 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine as part of a stopgap spending measure. McConnell voted for it and McCarthy voted no, as did the vast majority of the House Republican conference. Senate aides say they expect the year-end omnibus spending package to include more money for Ukraine and speculate that President Biden may ask for a large amount for Ukraine to cover what may be months of legislative gridlock in the House next year. McCarthy will still be in the minority in the lame-duck session but he will have much more leverage over spending bills if he becomes Speaker. He may refuse to put bills on the House floor next year that don’t have support from a majority of his conference. “I would imagine that there would be significant tension because McConnell certainly is not going to shy away from continuing to support Ukraine,” said a Senate Republican aide. “One way to solve this is to put a huge slug of money in [the omnibus spending package] in December,” the aide added. But the GOP source said that McConnell and McCarthy could work out a deal next year on Ukraine money by demanding that Democrats agree to more oversight on military and economic aid to Ukraine. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held up a Ukraine assistance bill earlier this year in an attempt to add a language setting up a special inspector general to monitor the spending. That idea could get more traction if Republicans control the House. The tension between the GOP leaders also point to a wider split. While a number of prominent GOP figures, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Vice President Mike Pence, have pushed back on McCarthy’s skepticism, his comments echoed concerns voiced by former President Trump and his allies in the House. In an interview published Tuesday, McCarthy told Punchbowl News: “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.” His statement caused an immediate uproar among some national-security minded Republicans, Cheney blasting the idea that House conservatives would hold up more aid to Ukraine as “disgraceful.” “I don’t know that I can say I was surprised but I think it’s really disgraceful that Minority Leader McCarthy suggested that if the Republicans get the majority back that we will not continue to provide support to Ukrainians,” she said at an event hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics. Former Vice President Mike Pence also pushed back against House Republican opposition to future Ukraine aid bills, telling an audience at the Heritage Foundation: “We must continue to provide Ukraine with the resources to defend themselves.” McConnell stayed silent on the subject Wednesday, taking a cautious approach less than three weeks before Election Day, when he will need Republicans voters across the ideological spectrum to turn out. Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, said McCarthy is more aligned than McConnell with former President Trump’s America-first brand of foreign policy. “McCarthy is saying exactly what the Republican base is saying when it comes to Ukraine and the threat of China,” he said, noting that some conservative Republicans say that money spent on Ukraine detracts attention from China, which they see as a bigger threat. “We’re not saying ‘Don’t support Ukraine,’ but we are saying ‘You can’t be having blank checks, billions of dollars going down the hole, weapons you can’t trace, all the while you have a big problem with China,’” O’Connell said. He added, “McConnell’s position reflects more the traditional Republican position of [the United States] acting as the global police.” If Republicans win the House majority, McCarthy could also demand a freeze on spending until they take control of the chamber next year. Michael E. O’Hanlon, a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said “it will be fascinating to watch” the debate over Ukraine assistance play out among Republicans. He warned that McCarthy needs to be careful so that he doesn’t come across as inadvertently helping Putin. “I have a hard time believing that deep down, McCarthy and most Trump Republicans really will want to be seen as the folks that prevent Ukraine from staying afloat as a country,” he wrote in an email to The Hill. “The political perils of actually helping Putin win would be enormous — to say nothing of the ethical downsides.” McCarthy softened his stance on Wednesday, telling CNBC in an interview: “I think Ukraine is very important.” “I support making sure that we move forward to defeat Russia in that program. But there should be no blank check on anything. We are $31 trillion in debt.” Conn Carroll, a former Senate aide who advised conservative Republicans in Congress, said U.S. interests don’t completely overlap with Ukrainian interests and there should be more oversight. “U.S.-Ukraine relations overlap a lot but at some point they begin to diverge,” he said, pointing to recent reporting that U.S. intelligence officials believe the Ukrainian government authorized the assassination of Russian citizen Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist. “We do need to know how this money is being spent and make sure it’s not supporting assassination attempts, which are not conducive to American national security interests,” said Carroll, who is now the commentary editor at The Washington Examiner. O’Hanlon, of Brookings, said House Republicans will put up a fight against more spending for Ukraine if they win back the majority, but are likely to agree at some point next year to more assistance. “I do expect the process to get uglier and more contentious if the Republicans win back the House,” he said. “But I really don’t expect the results to be radically different, once the smoke clears and the appropriations bills are written.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova speaks during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 15, 2022. REUTERS/Anton VaganovRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesThis content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.MOSCOW June 29 (Reuters) - Russia hinted on Wednesday that it had not dropped the idea of seizing Western-owned assets and businesses in the country, as a top official sharply criticised governments that have hit Moscow with sanctions.In a combative media briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned that Russia was prepared to "act accordingly" if the West decided to use Russia's frozen state assets - chief among them being around $300 billion of central bank foreign currency reserves.The use of the funds "will be interpreted by us as an unlawful and defiantly unfriendly attack, giving us the right to take retaliatory actions to protect our interests," she said on Wednesday.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTop Western officials, including European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, have suggested seizing the frozen reserves to help fund Ukraine's reconstruction after the war. read more Zakharova called the West's move to freeze the assets - imposed in response to Moscow sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 - a violation of international law."We should not forget about the foreign assets of Western countries, businesses and citizens who are located on the territory of our country," she said.If the West failed to adhere to the principles of democracy, an open economy, private property and judicial independence, then "we will recognise this and act accordingly," Zakharova added.Dozens of international companies including oil giant BP (BP.L), French carmaker Renault (RENA.PA), and McDonald's have mothballed operations there since Moscow began what it calls its "special military operation" and the subsequent imposition of tough Western sanctions.Russian lawmakers in May gave initial approval to a bill that would allow the government to nationalise the assets of Western companies that have left, though it is not on the statute books yet. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailA California billionaire and known ally of Donald Trump maintained his innocence on charges of illegal lobbying on behalf of United Arab Emirates officials while criticising the former president’s awareness on foreign affairs.Tom Barrack, 75, stood trial at a Brooklyn federal courtroom on Monday and Tuesday, where he and his legal team are fighting off charges that he used his position as chairman of Trump’s inaugural fund to influence US foreign policy in the early days of the administration.While taking the witness stand in his own defence on Monday, a risky move that opened the 75-year-old financier up to cross-examination by prosecutors, Mr Barrack argued that his motivation for assisting in the then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign in 2015 came from his an “emotional connection” to “weave a web of tolerance” in the Middle East.Mr Barrack, whose family is from Lebanon, explained during his testimony on Monday that those efforts, however, quickly became undercut by the near-constant “drama” being issued from the Trump White House.Some of his clients in his private equity firm, Colony Capital, “were upset I was friends with the president,” he testified on Monday, noting that Mr Trump was viewed as someone who “could not spell ‘Middle East.’ … It was a nightmare.”Inaugural Probe-Trial (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)Evidence presented against the California billionaire by federal prosecutors this week has so far pushed back against that narrative being argued by Mr Barrack and his defence attorney, instead demonstrating with emails and text messages a scheme that makes the financier and his assistant, Matthew Grimes, appear as though they had entered into an agreement with the Emirates to work as the country’s agents.In one instance, Mr Barrack’s defence attorney used one of those emails as evidence for his client’s own cause. In the spring of 2016, Mr Barrack had a meeting with UAE officials, and it was at this meeting, prosecutors argue, that he agreed to work on behalf of the oil rich nation. An email addressed to Trump aides, including senior adviser Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, reportedly discusses this same meeting taking place.“If the purpose of your meeting with [Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan] was to agree with him to secretly influence the Trump campaign, would you have told [Paul Manafort] or Jared Kushner [about the meeting]?” Michael Schachter, Mr Barrack’s attorney, asked his client on the stand on Tuesday.“Probably not,” Mr Barrack replied.Mr Barrack, also a top donor to the Trump campaign, has painted his supposed long-time friend as being entirely inept when it came to understanding Middle Eastern politics and even accused him alienating business contacts with the administration’s controversial Muslim ban.In sum, Mr Barrack is facing nine charges, which include acting as an agent for a foreign government and making false statements, as prosecutors claim he lied while being questioned by FBI officials back in 2019 about his working relationship with UAE officials.In 2021, he was forced to step down as chief executive of his private equity firm, months before he was arrested and years after colleagues at Colony began calling for his departure after the FBI began investigating him in 2019.When asked by his defence attorney during Monday’s trial whether he regretted his work with the Trump campaign, and perhaps should’ve put his money behind another candidate, Mr Barrack responded by quipping, “In hindsight, unquestionably,” before noting that his ties to the former president had essentially translated to a “death march” for the shareholders of his publicly traded company.Mr Barrack is expected to take the stand again for part of Wednesday, when prosecutors are expected to cross-examine him, as the case enters its sixth week of proceedings. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2022.Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | ReutersWhen Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the president of Ukraine in 2019, it made headlines around the world.That wasn't because he was a political heavyweight deemed ready to resolve Ukraine's deep-seated challenges —ranging from an economic crisis to corruption and an entrenched, powerful oligarchy — not to mention the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.It was just the opposite. Zelenskyy was a political novice whose closest brush with politics was playing the role of Ukrainian president in a well-known domestic TV series, before life imitated art and he decided to launch his own presidential bid on New Year's Eve in 2018.When he won the presidential election in a landslide victory in March 2019, no one could have guessed that the erstwhile actor, writer and comedian would become one of the world's most recognizable and respected politicians after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the cover of Time Magazine's 2022 "Person of the Year" edition.Artwork by Neil Jamieson, Photograph by Maxim Dondyuk for TIME | ReutersBut under his leadership, and with the fortitude of Ukraine's armed forces and resilience of the civilian population, Ukraine has fought back and Zelenskyy has won plaudits (he was just named "Person of the Year" by both Time Magazine and the FT) for the wartime leadership he was thrust into."I think Zelenskyy has proven to be a remarkable leader, and a remarkably effective one, both as a military leader and as a public figure — in terms of building support for Ukraine internationally, and also in terms of being able to at least keep some things going domestically despite the war," Max Hess, fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told CNBC."They have continued to pass legislation in line with previous reform packages for international support. And then, of course, I find the really interesting thing is just how [much of an] inspirational leader he's been to almost everybody," he added.Hess said though Zelenskyy certainly had his critics when he became president, their misgivings have been disproven."There were plenty of people who were very critical of Zelenskyy [before the war], both in Ukraine and particularly the Ukrainian diaspora who saw him as too soft or weak or pro Russian, or primarily, potentially beholden to oligarchs ... obviously, none of that has proven to be true," Hess said."The reality is, I wish we had politicians like Zelenskyy in the West at this point. But to temper that, does that mean he would be the perfect non-wartime president in Ukraine, if there is peace? That's not for me to say, that's obviously for Ukrainians to say. But right now, off the back of the ... wartime leadership he's demonstrated, I certainly think he will have universal support there for a long time."'More responsible than brave'For his part, Zelenskyy has tried to play down his courageous stance toward Russia, telling the FT that he was "more responsible than brave" and just didn't want to "to let people down."From the start of the war, however, Zelenskyy has been a visible, physically present leader in Ukraine, visiting the front line and war-torn towns and cities. He famously refused an offer from the U.S. to evacuate him and his family from Kyiv, with the Ukrainian embassy in Britain tweeting that he'd responded that he needed ammunition, rather than a ride out of the country.Moscow was widely believed to have thought it could occupy its pro-Western neighbor without much pushback and it had reason to believe so — tepid sanctions had been imposed on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014, and global business with Russia continued as usual despite Russia's support for separatists in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, where a low-level conflict had been ongoing since the annexation.As such, the seeds of the current war had already been sown by the time Zelenskyy took office but Ukraine's president seemed reluctant to believe his country could be thrust into war with its powerful, nuclear-weapon-wielding neighbor.Even in late January 2022, Zelenskyy was playing down the threat of an invasion despite the presence of over 100,000 Russian troops along the border with Ukraine, saying there was no need to "panic." He was looking to maintain economic stability amid heightened fears in the West that Russia was preparing to invade.The United States warned in January, however, that there was a "distinct possibility" the invasion could take place in February — a prediction that proved true on Feb. 24.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Zelenskyy enjoys high approval ratings among Ukrainians for rallying both the country's forces and public on a daily basis.Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty ImagesNow, Ukraine is holding its own and fighting back against Russian forces despite the fatigue and deprivation brought about by months of war and the bombardment of swathes of the country, particularly eastern and southern Ukraine.The country's armed forces, armed with masses of Western-supplied weapons, have defied expectations as they continue to counterattack and defend their territory, regaining significant parts of east and southern Ukraine.Meanwhile, Zelenskyy, has had to get used to flurries of daily, global diplomatic meetings and briefings in which he has had to plead for assistance, weapons and financial aid, as well as updating civilians on a daily and nightly basis on the war.He's also had to walk a diplomatic tightrope, knowing Ukraine relies on the largesse of its friends — in terms of billions of dollars worth of weaponry and the tolerance of higher food and energy prices as a result of sanctions — to keep on fighting Russia. That's been an awkward path to tread at times.Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2022.Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | ReutersThere was a media report in June that U.S. President Joe Biden lost his temper with Zelenskyy with the report suggesting that Biden had barely finished telling his Ukrainian counterpart that he'd just greenlighted another $1 billion in military assistance when Zelenskyy started listing all the additional help he needed and wasn't getting, leading Biden to raise his voice and to tell him he could show more gratitude.After the reported contretemps, Zelenskyy issued a statement praising the American public for its generosity and regularly voices his gratitude towards Ukraine's allies for their assistance in Kyiv's fight against Russia.Challenges aside from the warWhile the battle is far from over, Zelenskyy does face pressures on the domestic front that will have to be addressed at some point, according to Orysia Lutsevych, head and research fellow at the Ukraine Forum, Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House think tank.The main three challenges the government faces relate to security, the economy and the health of Ukraine's democracy, Lutsevych said in a recent Chatham House briefing.On the security front, for example, Lutsevych noted that there is a strong demand among Ukrainians for Ukraine to be a part of NATO, but it's extremely unlikely that Ukraine will be able to join the military alliance for years — or ever — "so this is a challenge Zelenskyy has ... because there's demand for it [NATO membership] and it's not an easy one" to deliver, she said.Firefighters conduct search and rescue operations after Russian forces hit a cultural center in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, on July 25, 2022.Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images"Secondly, the economy, Ukraine is facing a serious economic downfall due to Russian aggression. Its economy might fall up to 40% this year and Ukraine heavily relies on Western assistance and its own ability to collect taxes and to have its budget filled with the necessary funds so here's there's a question of how to sustain that economic support. To be honest, Western assistance was coming but it wasn't enough and it was quite slow," she added."Finally, on democracy, there's a discussion about the quality of the media space [in Ukraine] as under Martial Law there's a certain censorship and confidentiality of information, specially related to the military operation," she said.Lutsevych added that some TV channels affiliated with former President Petro Poroshenko had been excluded from an umbrella news channel, prompting questions over whether that was done on purpose to limit the influence of the political opposition on national debate.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 14, 2022. The main three challenges the Ukrainian government faces relate to security, the economy and the health of Ukraine's democracy, one analyst said.Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | ReutersDespite such challenges, Lutsevych noted that, overall, Zelenskyy enjoys high approval ratings among Ukrainians for rallying both the country's forces and public on a daily basis."Over 90% [of Ukrainians] approve of his performance, they think that he has managed to mount quite a substantial opposition to withold Russian aggression in Ukraine, but has also mobilized western support in this conflict and this is comething that is highly appreciated iby Ukrainians and they believe that his personal behavior — by staying in Kyiv and not fleeing the country — was able to stabilize the country." | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Tensions are mounting in Moldova, a small country on Ukraine’s southwestern border, where Russia has been accused of laying the groundwork for a coup that could drag the nation into the Kremlin’s war.
Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” disguised as civilians to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile baselessly accused Kyiv of planning its own assault on a pro-Russian territory in Moldova where Moscow has a military foothold, heightening fears that he is creating a pretext for a Crimea-style annexation.
US President Joe Biden met President Sandu on the sidelines of his trip to Warsaw last week, marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Although there is no sign he has accepted her invite to visit, the White House did say he reaffirmed support for Moldova’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Here’s what you need to know.
What’s happening in Moldova?
Earlier this month, Zelensky warned that Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a Russian plan to destabilize an already volatile political situation in Moldova.
The recent resignation of the country’s prime minister followed an ongoing period of crises, headlined by soaring gas prices and sky-high inflation. Moldova’s new prime minister has continued the government’s pro-EU drive, but pro-Russian protests have since taken place in the capital, Chisinau, backed by a fringe, pro-Moscow political party.
Amid the tensions, Moldova’s President Sandu issued a direct accusation that Russia was seeking to take advantage of the situation.
Sandu said the government last fall had planned for “a series of actions involving saboteurs who have undergone military training and are disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking.”
Sandu also claimed individuals disguised as “the so-called opposition” were going to try forcing a change of power in Chisinau through “violent actions.” CNN is unable to independently verify those claims.
“It’s clear that these threats from Russia and the appetite to escalate the war towards us is very high,” Iulian Groza, Moldova’s former deputy foreign minister and now the director of the Chisinau-based Institute for European Policies and Reforms, told CNN.
“Moldova is the most affected country after Ukraine (by) the war,” he said. “We are still a small country, which has still an under-developed economy, and that creates a lot of pressure.”
What is Russia planning?
Despite Moscow’s pleas of innocence, its actions regarding Moldova bear a striking resemblance to moves it made ahead of its annexation of Crimea in 2014, and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
On Tuesday, Putin revoked a 2012 foreign policy decree that in part recognized Moldova’s independence, according to Reuters.
Then on Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of “preparing an armed provocation” against Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria “in the near future,” state-media TASS reported.
No evidence or further details were offered to support the ministry’s accusation, and it has been rubbished by Moldova.
But the claim has put Western leaders on alert, coming almost exactly a year after Putin made similar, unsubstantiated claims that Russians were being targeted in the Donbas – the eastern flank of Ukraine where Moscow had supported militant separatists since 2014 – allowing him to cast his invasion of the country as an issue of self-defense.
“It was the case before – we have seen constant activities of Russia trying to explore and exploit the information space in Moldova using propaganda,” Groza said.
“With the war, all these instruments that Russia was using before have been multiplied and intensified,” he said. “What we see is a reactivation of Russian political proxies in Moldova.”
“I do see lots of fingerprints of Russian forces, Russian services in Moldova,” Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told CBS last Sunday. “This is a very weak country, and we all need to help them.”
Why does Russia have a foothold in Moldova?
Central to Russia’s interests in Moldova is Transnistria, a breakaway territory that slithers along the eastern flank of the country and has housed Russian troops for decades.
The territory – a 1,300 square mile enclave on the eastern bank of the Dniester River – was the site of a Russian military outpost during the last years of the Cold War. It declared itself a Soviet republic in 1990, opposing any attempt by Moldova to become an independent state or to merge with Romania after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
When Moldova became independent the following year, Russia quickly inserted itself as a so-called “peacekeeping force” in Transnistria, sending troops in to back pro-Moscow separatists there.
War with Moldovan forces ensued, and the conflict ended in deadlock in 1992. Transnistria was not recognized internationally, even by Russia, but Moldovan forces left it a de facto breakaway state. That deadlock has left the territory and its estimated 500,000 inhabitants trapped in limbo, with Chisinau holding virtually no control over it to this day.
Why does Moldova matter?
Moldova is a country at a crossroads between east and west. Its government and most of its citizens want closer ties to the EU, and the country achieved candidacy status last year. But it’s also home to a breakaway faction whose sentiment Moscow has eagerly sought to rile up.
It has been a flashpoint on the periphery of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the past year, with Russian missiles crossing into Moldovan airspace on several occasions, including earlier this month.
A series of explosions in Transnistria last April spiked concerns that Putin was looking to drag the territory into his invasion.
Russia’s stuttering military progress since then had temporarily allayed those fears. But officials in Moldova have been warning the West that their country could be next on Putin’s list.
Last month, the head of Moldova’s Security Service warned there is a “very high” risk that Russia will launch a new offensive in Moldova’s east in 2023. Moldova is not a NATO member, making it more vulnerable to Putin’s agenda.
Should Russia launch a Spring offensive that centers on Ukraine’s south, it may seek again to creep towards Odesa and then link up with Transnistria, essentially creating a land bridge that sweeps through southern Ukraine and inches even closer to NATO territory.
CNN’s Tim Lister, Hannah Ritchie and Niamh Kennedy contributed reporting. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The explosion is particularly painful for the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy because many of the dead had fought to defend Mariupol, a port on the Black Sea, and then retreated to the city’s Azovstal steelworks. For weeks there, they withstood a Russian onslaught before finally surrendering in May.For many Ukrainians, the Azovstal siege became a symbol of the country’s suffering and defiance, and the soldiers who fought there, an estimated 2,500 of whom were taken as prisoners of war, have been viewed as heroes.“It was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war,” Zelenskyy said in an address late Friday.Zelenskyy said that the Red Cross, along with the United Nations, had acted “as guarantors of the life and health of our soldiers” and that now they must take action. “They must protect the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war,” he said.A series of Russian missile strikes on civilian targets, including shopping malls and apartment buildings, has led Ukraine’s government to call on Washington to designate Moscow as a state sponsor of terrorism, something Secretary of State Antony Blinken has resisted.Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, said in a statement that every day, Russia’s continued “illegitimate and unjustified war of aggression” brought “further horrific atrocities,” adding that the “inhumane, barbaric acts” breached the Geneva Conventions and amounted to war crimes.Kaja Kallas, prime minister of Estonia, a Baltic country that has been among Moscow’s toughest antagonists over the war, said Russia was responsible for the “mass murder” of prisoners at the camp, an act that she said called to mind “the darkest chapters of history.”“There must be no impunity for war crimes, just like there can be no return to relations with war criminals,” she said in a statement.For Zelenskyy, the prison explosion fits a pattern in which an unwarranted invasion of his country, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been accompanied by atrocities committed by Russian forces — for example, in suburbs north of the capital, Kyiv, and missile strikes on civilian targets, including one this month at a shopping mall in the center of the country far from the front lines.Russia controls around 20% of Ukraine’s territory, but after it deployed its superior artillery power to seize much of Luhansk province in the eastern Donbas region this month, Kyiv is now pressing a counteroffensive in Kherson province in an attempt to reclaim land.Moscow denies that it has committed atrocities or targeted civilians, and on Saturday, the defense ministry said that Ukrainians had killed their own soldiers using precision-guided, U.S.-made missiles, known as HIMARS, to strike the prison camp in Russian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, told The New York Times that an expert analysis of photos and videos released by Russia indicated that the center of the explosion was inside the building, with the building’s exterior practically undamaged.In addition, he said that the speed of Russian propaganda after the attack suggested planning. Prisoners had been moved to the barracks where the explosion occurred only days before, and it was suspicious that no Russian soldiers or workers at the prison were injured, he said. Beyond that, he said that Russia, before the explosion, had moved debris to the camp from previous strikes elsewhere that had involved HIMARS weapons.Tetiana Kravchenko, a Ukrainian rights activist whose organization has been in contact with prisoners in the camp, said that a prisoner had called his wife Thursday night and reported hearing an explosion, rather than shelling, around 11 p.m. She said she had a recording of the call, in which the prisoner said that two of his friends had been moved to a different building within the prison on the day of the explosion and that one was now dead and the other wounded.Soldiers held in other parts of the camp have also relayed similar accounts to their own family members, she said.The competing claims could not be immediately independently verified. Kravchenko said she could not disclose more information without risking the safety of prisoners still being held at the camp.At its heart, the invasion has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians and brought misery to many more. It has also had far-reaching external consequences, reviving NATO, isolating Russia, raising energy prices and depressing global growth. Given Ukraine’s importance to global grain markets and Russia’s effective blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports, it has also threatened some countries in the Middle East and Africa with food shortages and hunger.The first shipments of grain since the beginning of the conflict have been loaded onto freighters at Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. The shipments would be the fruit of a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations around a week ago. Zelenskyy and representatives of the Group of 7 industrialized nations visited Chernomorsk, one of the three ports in Odesa province, on Friday.Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian missile strikes, the most recent being a week ago, with an attack on the port that cast doubt on the grain deal. Indeed, Podoliak said the prison explosion was another sign that Russian assurances that it would allow safe passage for grain ships across the Black Sea could not be trusted.Elsewhere on the ground, the battle has largely devolved into a series of incremental offensive and defensive maneuverers that have seen only limited territory changing hands each week.The Donbas region, where Ukraine’s military said Saturday that it repelled the latest Russian attempts to advance, is the clearest example of this slowdown. But in Kherson province, Ukraine hopes that the HIMARS weapons and others supplied by the West will help it advance.Ukraine said it pounded critical Russian logistical hubs overnight into Saturday and was making small but steady gains as it moved toward the city of Kherson, a shipbuilding center and port, where Ukrainian missile strikes on a bridge across the Dnieper River have left Russian defenders largely isolated.It will be weeks and perhaps longer before the outcome of the Kherson counteroffensive will be decided, not least because the war testifies to the military maxim that attack is more difficult than defense. But a senior U.S. Defense Department official said at a news briefing Friday that there was growing evidence that steep Russian losses had left some units ill-prepared to fight. The official described Russia’s recent efforts as a failure both on the battlefield and at home. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
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The western military district is one of five that make up Russia’s armed forces. A Ukrainian advance along the Dnipro river could trap thousands of Russian troops on the far side, cut off from all supplies. The river is enormously wide, and Ukraine has already destroyed the major crossings. © Provided by The Independent This map shows the state of affairs in the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images) This news comes as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced that Ukrainian troops had reclaimed two settlements – Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka – as well as the strategic city of Lyman over the weekend in the Kherson district just days after Russia claimed the territory after a so-called referendum.“This week, the largest part of the reports is the list of settlements liberated from the enemy as part of our defence operation. The story of the liberation of Lyman in the Donetsk region has now become the most popular in the media. But the successes of our soldiers are not limited to Lyman,” Mr Zelensky said in his late-night address on Sunday.A Russian-installed official in the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, admitted in a video statement today that the Ukrainian forces “have broken through a little deeper”.However, he insisted that “everything is under control” and that Russia’s “defence system is working” in the region.As Ukrainian forces continued their push south on Monday, the lower house of Russia’s parliament approved laws on annexing four occupied Ukrainian territories into Russia. © Provided by The Independent A Ukrainian serviceman sits on a T-80 tank that they claimed had been captured from the Russian army, in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Associated Press) No lawmakers in the state Duma voted against the resolutions, which sought to formally incorporate Ukraine’s Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia.However, Russian forces have suffered setbacks in three of the four regions in the last few days. Its soldiers left Lyman in the Donetsk region on Saturday and the Ukrainian military is making headway in the Luhansk and Kherson regions.The situation has become so muddled that the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, admitted that Russia was still determining which areas of Ukraine it had annexed, as reported by The Guardian.The ongoing assault comes after Russia’s recent loss of the eastern city of Lyman, which it had been using as a transport and logistics hub.This is a new blow to the Kremlin as it seeks to escalate the war by illegally annexing four regions of Ukraine and heightening its threats to use nuclear force.Additional reporting by agenciesFrom news to politics, travel to sport, culture to climate – The Independent has a host of free newsletters to suit your interests. To find the stories you want to read, and more, in your inbox, click here. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
03:04 - Source: CNN Analyst predicts North Korea's next move after ballistic missile launch CNN — A lack of hard intelligence inside North Korea is curtailing the United States’ ability to determine Kim Jong Un’s intentions as the hermit kingdom fires a barrage of powerful missile launches, according to senior administration officials. The recent tests have caused administration officials to grow concerned that Kim is set to oversee his nation’s seventh nuclear test. So far, President Joe Biden has responded to the historic level of provocation by sending a US aircraft carrier to the region. The US and South Korea performed live-fire missile tests of their own and, in an urgently arranged telephone call with Japan’s prime minister, Biden vowed to coordinate on a “longer-term response” to the increasingly belligerent North. White House officials have declined to detail any analysis or assessment that sheds light on why there has been a rapid increase in escalatory action, citing an inability to talk publicly about classified intelligence. But two senior US officials familiar with the matter acknowledged a central issue in divining the dictator’s motives is a lack of hard intelligence altogether. “We have quite a good picture on the state of North Korean conventional and missile capabilities. What’s much harder is the intentions component, where, of course, collection is a bigger problem,” said Chris Johnstone, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former director for East Asia on the National Security Council under Biden. “Since so much of what North Korea does is driven by the leader himself, you really have to get inside his head, and that’s a hard intelligence problem.” North Korea has long been isolated and largely shuttered from the rest of the world, a reality that has become even more acute in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The North lacks the widespread use of technology that not only facilitates economic and societal advances, but also provides critical windows and opportunities to glean information for the intelligence services of the US and its allies. That leaves the White House without the type of information that could help predict when precisely a test may occur or allow for greater insights into Kim’s thinking as Biden works to calibrate an approach that avoids escalation. “It’s difficult to know what is inside his mind and how he makes his decisions,” John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “Our ability to divine intelligence out of Pyongyang is fairly limited. So, it’s hard to know what’s prompting this. But what we do know is he’s continuing to try and improve his program, his capabilities.” The intelligence community “knows a fair bit about his inner circle, a fair bit about how decisions are made,” Johnstone said. “But at the end of the day, it really is him. And when the circle is so small – and they don’t leave the country – it’s a pretty hard target.” The latest missile launches mark the 24th time that North Korea has conducted missile tests this year, the highest annual tally since Kim took power in 2011. Sanctions applied by the past three administration have done little to stop Kim’s march toward a viable nuclear weapon, even as they have left the country deeply isolated and many of its people impoverished. Diplomacy has similarly failed to yield much progress in halting a weapons program that North Korea says it will never abandon. The Biden administration’s attempts to directly engage Pyongyang – delivered through a variety of channels, both direct and indirect – have been met with silence, according to officials. While the White House is confident its messages seeking diplomacy without preconditions “anytime, anyplace” have been received by Kim, he has yet to respond. “We remain prepared to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy,” a US official said. “It is unfortunate that the DPRK has not responded to our outreach.” Another underground nuclear test – potentially timed near November’s midterm elections – would amount to an attention-grabbing move that US officials have been bracing for over the past several months, beginning in the Spring when intelligence showed new activity at one of the country’s nuclear sites around the time of Biden’s first presidential visit to Asia. White House aides said they were prepared to respond, including through adjustments to the US military posture in the region and the deployment of strategic assets. Yet the test didn’t come during Biden’s trip, underscoring the limits of US intelligence in predicting exactly when or why North Korea may test its advanced weapons. “Anytime people start speculating on what North Korea might or might not do, they tend to have their expectations confounded one way or another,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the time. US officials and outside analysts anticipate the US isn’t likely to get much warning of a nuclear test. US military and intelligence agencies assess North Korea could be ready to resume underground nuclear testing at any moment, largely based on satellite imagery showing above-ground preparations at its Punggye-ri test site appear to be complete. The country’s rainy season is now over, opening up the roads to the site. What’s not clear is whether North Korea has placed nuclear material in any of the underground tunnels at the site. “The country is dried out the test site looks really well rebuilt to my eye. It’s really at this point probably a political choice for them,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. “I think when they are technically ready and politically ready, we’ve got all the warning we’re gonna get.” Officials believe the missile and nuclear tests serve a practical purpose, beyond simply sending a message to the US and its allies in the region, which allow the North to further refine its systems as it works toward the ultimate goal of a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach the US mainland. Testing ever-more-powerful weapons also enhances Kim’s stature inside North Korea. “What concerns us is whatever happens in these launches – how far they go and whether they succeed or fail – he learns. And he is able to improve his ballistic missile capabilities with every subsequent launch. So that’s of concern to us,” Kirby said. Lewis cautioned against reading too much into individual ballistic missile tests. The primary motivation for North Korea, he said, is technical development – “especially the short-range ones where I think they’re no longer testing the missiles, they’re testing the crews.” Other analysts believe the spate of missile tests is better understood as a response to Kim’s domestic woes. “North Korea has had a very difficult period during Covid, essentially shutting off the country entirely, including to China. The food situation isn’t great,” Johnstone said. “The external enemy is part of what he uses to sustain his position.” Still, determining precisely why North Korea is testing missiles at any particular moment has proved an enduring challenge for US administrations stretching back decades. For Biden and his top national security aides, deciphering North Korea’s intentions as it accelerates its weapons testing has proved difficult and administration officials are candid that previous efforts to assign motivation to Pyongyang’s actions have later been proved wrong. “The North Koreans almost always have reasons for what they do. And our track record of understanding those ahead of time is not always so great,” one US official familiar with North Korea policy said. Biden and his team have scoffed at the prospect of staging a high-profile meeting with Kim akin to the three summits former President Donald Trump convened with the dictator. Instead, they have said a meeting between the two leaders would come only after extensive preparatory diplomacy between officials on both sides and with an express purpose. At the same time, Biden also rejected the “strategic patience” approach adopted by his onetime boss, former President Barack Obama, seeking instead a phased approach in which North Korea gives up parts of its program in exchange for sanctions relief. Biden administration officials quietly acknowledge that their North Korea policy is not expected to trigger progress on the intractable nuclear challenge, administration sources said. But they also entered office expecting North Korea was not going to engage diplomatically quickly due to a tumultuous few years of back and forth with the US under Trump and the effect of Covid. Some officials are now beginning to consider how the Biden administration could approach the distinct foreign policy challenge in the second half of Biden’s term, sources said, though neither the President nor his senior-most aides have indicated a desire to make the issue a top priority. “Our position on diplomacy and dialogue has not changed,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel when asked if the Biden administration would consider re-evaluating their North Korea policy given the recent missile tests. If there is one silver lining to Pyongyang’s recent provocations and the threat of a possible nuclear test, Johnstone said, it is that the common threat has helped the United States more smoothly navigate the historically contentious relationship between Japan and South Korea. And it could accelerate a debate in Japan about doubling its defense spending to 2% of its GDP, he said. Asked what policy levers the Biden administration has at its disposal to try to curtail Pyongyang’s nuclear program, Lewis was succinct: “None.” “When North Korea did not have nuclear weapons, there were interesting choices to be made about how to entice and or pressure them to not build some,” Lewis said. “Convincing North Korea to give up nuclear weapons that it already has is a totally different game.” As the US has moved in what one official called “a clear and calibrated” way with its critical allies in the region over the course of the last several days, one central player remains largely unseen: China. With US-China tensions reaching new heights over the last several months, substantive communications between key US officials and their Chinese counterparts have remained largely on ice, according to several senior US officials. Any Chinese absence as US officials grapple with Kim’s motives creates a particularly acute challenge given the country’s role as a central interlocutor between the US and its allies and North Korea. Sullivan directly addressed the issue during a four-and-a-half hour meeting with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in June, officials said. He pointed to North Korea as a primary area where the countries could cooperate, even amid the strained relations. Sullivan “made very clear that we believe this is an area where the United States and China should be able to work together,” a senior administration official said. But just this week China demonstrated a lack of desire to work with the US on curbing North Korea’s provocations. China’s representative at the UN cast the recent missile launches as a result of US aggressions in the region during a UN Security Council meeting. White House officials believe the timing of a seventh nuclear test could also be dictated by political machinations inside China. Multiple officials noted they were closely watching the period immediately after the conclusion of the Communist Party’s congress later this month. One official noted it was unlikely Kim would seek create a significant geopolitical crisis moment as Chinese President Xi Jinping moves toward his third term. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said President Biden’s remarks last week warning of “armageddon” amid nuclear threats from Russia was “reckless.” Pompeo told “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream that Biden’s comments demonstrate “one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the last decade” in what he said was a failure to deter aggressive action from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “When you hear the president talking about armageddon as a random thought … at a fundraiser, that is a terrible risk for the American people,” said Pompeo, who served under the Trump administration. “He ought to be talking to us in a serious way.” Putin, facing heavy losses in Ukraine, has said the use of nuclear weapons is “not a bluff.” At a fundraiser in New York City last week, Biden said the country had not “faced the prospect of armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis” adding that Putin was “not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.” Pompeo on Sunday said Biden should “push back against their adversaries by showing enormous resolve” rather than the comments he made. The administration should be “making very clear to Vladimir Putin that the cost of him using a nuclear weapon will bring the force of not only the United States and Europe but of the whole world,” Pompeo said. “He should be doing all the things that are necessary to deter Vladimir Putin.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Just 40 percent of U.S. adults approve of how President Joe Biden is handling relations with China, a new poll shows, with a majority anxious about Beijing’s influence as the White House finds its agenda increasingly shaped by global rivalries.
About 6 in 10 say they are gravely concerned about China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, according to the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Biden has portrayed his domestic agenda on infrastructure and computer chip development as part of a broader competition with China, arguing that the future is at stake.
Tensions with China are crackling after government officials discovered and shot down a Chinese spy balloon two weeks ago. The Biden administration has preserved tariffs on imports from China and restricted the sale of advanced computer chips to the country, angering Chinese officials who want to fuel faster economic growth.
READ MORE: Takeaways from President Biden’s interview with Judy Woodruff
There are additional concerns over whether China will provide some form of military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. As the war nears its one-year mark, the poll shows that serious concern about the threat Russia poses to the U.S. has fallen. Concern about China now outpaces that about Russia; last year, about even percentages had named the two countries as a threat.
Biden has tried to frame relations with China as a competition with boundaries, rather than as a larger geopolitical clash.
“We seek competition, not conflict, with China,” Biden said last week. “ We’re not looking for a new Cold War. … We’ll responsibly manage that competition so that it doesn’t veer into conflict.”
Approval of Biden’s foreign policy is roughly in line with views of his presidency more broadly, a possible sign that his agenda is not viewed through its individual components but larger perceptions of the president himself.
The poll found that 45 percent of U.S. adults say they approve of Biden’s overall performance, while 54 percent disapprove. That’s similar to views of Biden in recent months. Forty-one percent praised the president in late January and 43 percent did in December.
Concern about China’s global influence as a threat to the U.S. is similar to last year but has grown steadily in recent years from 54 percent just after Biden took office and 48 percent in January 2020.
Melvin Dunlap, 68, said Biden needed to be careful with China, given the U.S. reliance on Chinese manufacturing. The Peyton, Colorado, resident said he believes Biden “has a good heart” and “means well,” generally approving of Biden’s approach.
READ MORE: China imposes sanctions on Lockheed Martin and Raytheon over sales to Taiwan
“You tread cautiously,” said Dunlap, who retired from law enforcement. “You show strength, not weakness.”
Fewer adults feel as wary about Russia as they did just after its military invaded Ukraine last year. Now, 53 percent say they’re seriously concerned about Russia, down from 64 percent in March 2022.
Michael Marchek, 33, an engineer in the Atlanta area, said Russia’s military has struggled in Ukraine, failing to achieve its goal of taking the capital of Kyiv and sustaining steep casualties that showed a sense of disarray.
“I was more concerned about Russia before they proved they were less effective than they appeared to be on the surface,” Marchek said. “They played their hand and they did not play their hand effectively. They have nuclear capabilities and other things, but I don’t think they’re interested in using them.”
Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, declaring to that country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “You remind us that freedom is priceless; it’s worth fighting for for as long as it takes. And that’s how long we’re going to be with you, Mr. President, for as long as it takes.”
To Ukraine’s defense, the U.S. has committed tanks, armored vehicles, a thousand artillery systems, more than 2 million rounds of artillery ammunition and more than 50 advanced launch rocket systems, and anti-ship and air defense systems.
While Biden views the preservation of NATO and countering Russian aggression as necessary, most U.S. adults say it should not come at the expense of their economy. Oil, natural gas and food prices initially worsened after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine last February, causing U.S. inflation to hit a 40-year high in June. Inflation has since eased, and the U.S. and much of Europe have so far evaded recessions despite the expected damage. Russia has adapted to financial sanctions and export controls designed to erode its ability to fund the war.
READ MORE: Kremlin official urges deeper ties with China to resist pressure from the West
Yet in a late January AP-NORC poll, a majority of U.S. adults — 59 percent — said limiting damage to the American economy is more important than penalizing Russia, even if that means sanctions are less effective. The balance of opinion had been the reverse in the early months after the invasion.
The U.S. economy remains a sensitive subject for Biden. People are generally unimpressed by the 3.4 percent unemployment rate. Nor has a seven-month decline in inflation — which is still running high — done much to assuage fears.
While economists have yet to declare a recession, respondents to the survey feel as though the economy is mired in a downturn.
Overall, the new poll shows 32 percent say the economy is in good shape. That’s a slight improvement from 24 percent in January, which was consistent with views late last year. Still, 68 percent say the economy is in bad shape, and approval of Biden’s job handling the economy has remained negative. Only 36 percent say they approve of the president on the economy, similar to last month and late last year.
“It’s basically the inflation that we’re all worried about,” said Adriana Stan, 36, a teacher in Columbia, South Carolina.
Stan bought a house in December at a 5.5 percent mortgage rate, more than double the rate during the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Reserve has increased its own benchmark interest rates in order to push down inflation, a move that has also driven up borrowing costs for homebuyers. Stan said her grocery bills are also much higher.
“We buy the same stuff,” Stan said. “But at the end of the month I feel like I’m paying so much more.”
The poll of 1,247 adults was conducted Feb. 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
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Ask a question or make a comment 'Every new day is a new reason not to give up,' says Zelenskyy Ukraine has "changed history" and the world during its six-month war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today as he marked the country's independence day.Mr Zelenskyy said the last six months had shown the country who was "really our brother and friend" and who was "not even a casual acquaintance". He also said the whole world learned who Ukrainians were, adding: "No one will say about it anymore: it is somewhere over there, near Russia."The Ukrainian leader went on to say that the country was "reborn" when Russian forces invaded the country."A new nation that emerged on 24 February at 4 am. Not born, but reborn. A nation that didn't cry, didn't scream, didn't get scared. Didn't run away. Didn't give up. Didn't forget," he said."This flag will be everywhere it should be by right. Both in the Donbas and in Crimea."Mr Zelenskyy also said while it was difficult for the country, they had "clenched our fists fighting for our fate".He added: "Every new day is a new reason not to give up. Because, having gone through so much, we have no right not to reach the end. "What is the end of the war for us? We used to say: peace. Now we say: victory." Are Russian forces making any progress in the Donbas? Russian forces have not made any progress in seizing the last remaining areas of the Donbas region, former director of the Royal United Services Institute, Professor Michael Clarke, has said.Speaking to Sky News, the security and defence analyst said the offensive in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region had seen Russian forces take the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk and their next objective was to capture Sloviansk and Kramatorsk."The Russians have made no progress towards that in the last couple of weeks and so they've taken two thirds of the Donbas but have made no progress in trying to take the other third, which they clearly think they want to do," Clarke said."The reason they haven't made any progress we think is because they're transferring troops and equipment away from the Donbas region down into the southwest, which is where they are now under pressure in Kherson."Clarke went on to say in the southern city of Kherson, Ukrainian troops had opened up a large offensive and had been destroying bridges - cutting Russian forces off from supplies there. Truss wants to declassify intelligence to 'expose Putin' - as Sunak writes letter in Ukrainian newspaper To mark six months since Vladimir Putin's Russia invaded Ukraine, both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have written today in support of Ukraine.In The Daily Telegraph, Ms Truss said: "I will go further as prime minister by doing everything possible – including declassifying more intelligence – to expose Putin’s playbook to the world. "My government will use intelligence strategically to reveal the Kremlin's attempts to undermine and destabilise freedom-loving democracies."She added that she will increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 - and that the UK's approach to security must be rethought.Meanwhile, a letter from Mr Sunak has been published in the Kyiv Post.It said: "Whatever the changes here in our country, we Brits will always remain your strongest ally."We will keep supporting your brave fighters to protect your citizens, we will keep providing humanitarian aid to ensure you have access to medication and food, and we will keep sheltering your loved ones until they can return home safely and sleep soundly."The former chancellor has promised his first foreign trip as prime minister would be to Kyiv - but he has not made a funding commitment. Situation around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant 'very dangerous', says Stoltenberg Here is a bit more from NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg's interview with Sky's Kay Burley today.Mr Stoltenberg said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was a "very dangerous" and Russia needed to move its forces away.He said: "It is dangerous and reckless of Russia to deploy forces to use the area around the nuclear power plant as a launching pad for artillery for attacks on Ukrainian forces."Therefore we need the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have access and to be able to inspect the site. We need the Russians to move their forces away from the power plant."He went on to say the situation was dangerous not only for Ukraine but for "the whole of Europe".Mr Stoltenberg also said the defensive alliance had increased its military presence in the east to send a "clear message" to Moscow that if a NATO ally was attacked "the whole alliance would respond" Five-minute read: Could Italy's election and a tough winter change Europe's resolve? Analysis by Adam Parsons, Europe correspondentThe ripples of war spread fast. Over the course of the past six months, those ripples have travelled from Ukraine and affected politics around the world - but no more so than in Europe.Some of those impacts are obvious. War, inevitably, led to a flood of people fleeing Ukraine and seeking refuge in other countries.Poland immediately threw its doors open to refugees and now plays home to one and a quarter million Ukrainians. Just under a million are now living in Germany.The war delivered a sense of unity to the European Union. It rushed through new rules, giving Ukrainian refugees the right to take residency in the EU for three years. It sent weapons and money, flexed diplomatic muscles and seemed to discover a sense of concerted purpose that has long proved elusive.There have been problems - Germany was slow to supply useful military supplies and has had to accept criticism for its previous reliance on Russian energy. Emmanuel Macron's attempts to negotiate personally with Vladimir Putin looked naïve, at times. But the Franco-German axis, around which the EU now spins, has been resolute in its determination to back Ukraine.But there are cracks and, over the past six months, they may expand. Take Hungary, for example, a member state of the EU, but also a country led by a nationalist prime minister who has long cultivated a close relationship with Russia.Hungary lobbied for sanctions to be watered down, arguing that curbs on Russian energy imports harm the buyer more than the seller. It's a call that's being taken up by other populist politicians, from Marine Le Pen in France, who described sanctions as "useless", to Matteo Salvini in Italy - a politician who once entered the European Parliament wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Mr Putin's face.Next month, Italy holds a general election and it's very likely that Mr Salvini will end up as part of the winning coalition. The Kremlin has been linked with a campaign of misinformation in the country, and it may be working. Polling suggests that, of all Europeans, Italians are the most likely to blame someone other than Russia for the war.The odds are that the biggest party in the Italian election will turn out to be the Brothers of Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni. So far, she has said she will maintain her nation's support for action in Ukraine and opposition to Mr Putin.But if that stance changes, even slightly, in favour of Russia, then alarm bells will ring. There are those advocating, for instance, a ceasefire deal that surrenders Ukrainian land to Russia. Unpalatable to many, not least in Ukraine, but balm to those in Hungary, Italy and beyond who want to be on decent terms with Mr Putin when the dust settles.The truth is that nobody is advocating some kind of cosy friendship with Russia. But there are those - Viktor Orban, Ms Le Pen, Mr Salvini - who insist that the pain isn't worth it. And these are politicians with hefty support.Beyond the boundaries of the EU, the war seems to be setting off other problems - Serbia, a close ally of Russia, is inflaming tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Countries in the Western Balkans grumble that they have been patiently pursuing EU membership for more than a decade, but now worry that Ukraine has jumped ahead of them in the queue.And, of course, the soaring cost of energy affects economies everywhere. The harder life gets, the more traction there is in the idea that sanctions do more harm than good."Every time someone mentions fatigue or weariness over sanctions, Putin does something atrocious and the questions go away," one senior source told me this week. But what if that doesn't happen? What if the question of fatigue is allowed to linger.Europe has been resolute for six months, but so has Mr Putin. As the weather gets colder, the bills go up and the war goes on, Europe's sense of resolution and camaraderie will come under threat. The question is whether it will hold. NATO countries need to spend more on defence as alliance faces Russia's military build-up, says head of organisation NATO countries need to spend more on defence as "we live in a more dangerous world" and the alliance continues to support Ukraine against the "brutal aggression of Russia", the organisation's head has told Sky News.Member nations have been sending weapons, ammunition, and many types of light and heavy military equipment to Ukraine, including anti-tank and anti-air systems, howitzers and drones, as the Kyiv government battles President Vladimir Putin's forces.Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg told presenter Kay Burley that his organisation is helping Ukraine "uphold the right to self-defence" and is preventing the war from escalating beyond the country.He stressed NATO and allies were "not part of the conflict" - but the alliance has increased its military presence, especially on the eastern flank, to send a "very clear message" to Moscow that if any NATO ally is attacked, the whole alliance will respond.Read our full report on this story here... Former Conservative leadership candidate in Kyiv Former Tory leadership contender Tom Tugendhat is in Kyiv today for the 31st independence day - and six-month marker of the invasion.In a message on Twitter, Mr Tugendhat said: "It was an extraordinary moment when this whole community, this whole country rose up to resist an act of aggression, the likes of which we haven't seen since the end of the Second World War."He also said he was in the Ukrainian capital because the Foreign Affairs Committee had a responsibility to oversee foreign policy for the UK. Kharkiv hit by shelling overnight Multiple districts in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv were hit by shelling overnight.Oleg Sinegubov, head of the local administration, said rockets hit the Chuguyiv district in the region - causing a fire and damaging greenhouses.A large-scale fire also broke out in a building in the Novobavar district.As shelling continued to hit the region, Russia's defence ministry said its forces had downed a Ukrainian SU-27 fighter jet over the area. Meanwhile, in the south Ukraine said Russia fired artillery and
mounted air strikes in several towns in the Zaporizhzhia region,
where Russian forces captured the nuclear power plant shortly
after the start of the invasion. Six months into the war – what's next for Ukraine and Russia? Experts have their say Today marks six months since Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine.The war's half-year point coincides with Ukrainian independence day, which in normal circumstances would see citizens celebrating 31 years of independence from the former Soviet Union.But instead, curfews are in place in the cities of Kyiv or Kharkiv amid intelligence Moscow could use the anniversary as an excuse for fresh civilian attacks.As we look ahead to several more months of war, experts have told Sky News the "pendulum is beginning to swing towards Ukraine".Read more here... Russia making 'minimal progress' in the Donbas and its army is 'significantly degraded', MoD says As Ukraine marks six months since Russian invaders launched a war with the country, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has released its latest intelligence report.The ministry states that Russian forces realised their plans of toppling the Ukrainian government had failed by April and then "reverted to more modest objectives in eastern and southern Ukraine".However, the Donbas offensive in eastern Ukraine is making "minimal progress" and Russia anticipates a major Ukrainian counterattack, the update says.Operationally, Russia is also suffering from shortages of munitions, vehicles and personnel.The report goes on to say that "morale is poor" in many parts of Russia's military and its "army is significantly degraded". "Its diplomatic power has been diminished and its long-term economic outlook is bleak. Six months in and Russia's war has proven both costly and strategically harmful," the ministry adds. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
A man claiming to be a former commander in the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine is seeking asylum in Norway after fleeing there last week.
Authorities in Norway said border guards detained a man near the Russia-Norway border early Friday.
A lawyer for Andrey Medvedev told news agencies that Medvedev was in Norway and seeking asylum.
"He has declared that he is willing to speak about his experiences in the Wagner Group to people who are investigating war crimes," lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said.
Dnipro attack Ukrainian officials said Tuesday the death toll from a Saturday missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro rose to 41 after crews found the body of a child in the rubble.
Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said 25 people were still missing, with 90% of the rubble cleared. He added that 79 people were wounded in the attack, with 28 of them hospitalized.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Monday that the attack in Dnipro highlights the need for faster and more coordinated decisions on arms supplies to Ukraine.
"What happened in Dnipro … only underscores how important it is to coordinate all the efforts of the coalition defending Ukraine and freedom," Zelenskyy said. "And to speed up decision-making."
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will host allies of Ukraine at an air base in Germany on Friday to discuss further Western military aid for Ukraine.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the Dnipro strike and others like it on civilian targets "inhumane aggression."
"There will be no impunity for these crimes," he said in a tweet on Sunday. Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets since invading Ukraine in February.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the attack, saying it was "another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war," according to U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for a special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders for alleged war crimes.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine, including again Monday as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces "do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. They strike military targets." Peskov said what happened in Dnipro was caused by Ukrainian air defenses.
In Kyiv Monday, a high-level U.S. delegation that included Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Zelenskyy to deliver a message of unflinching U.S. support for Ukraine.
"The U.S., NATO and partners across the globe remain unified. We are delivering on our promises of aid," Sherman said.
Colin Kahl, undersecretary for policy at the Department of Defense, said the number one priority of new military aid to Ukraine remains air defense, and that "another priority is making sure Ukraine has the type of armored and mobile capability that is required to maintain momentum on the battlefield.”
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Associated Press. Anna Chernikova contributed to this report. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
“My Mike” was the nickname that President Trump bestowed on Mike Pompeo, who served first as his CIA director and then as his secretary of state. The appellation was fitting, for among Trump cabinet appointees no one was more faithful to the boss. As Pompeo notes in his new memoir, Never Give an Inch, while his peers were being dismissed by tweet, he prospered and thrived. “In the end,” Pompeo writes, “I was the only member of the president’s core national security team who made it through four years without resigning or getting fired.”
Now Pompeo appears to be preparing for a presidential run himself. To that end, he has produced a volume that sets the stage for the campaign, rehearsing the accomplishments of his term in government, offering maxims for leadership, and projecting an image that combines ostentatious Christian piety with profanity-spewing alpha toughness. He hopes this will propel him to the Republican nomination and, beyond that, the White House.
Pompeo’s path to power began with an education at West Point, where he was first in his class. After five years of service in the Army as a cavalry officer, he went on to Harvard Law School, then a career in law, and then a stint in business. In 2010, he successfully ran for Congress, where he served for three terms. He had won a fourth in 2016, but only days later, President-elect Donald Trump tapped him to be CIA director.
The agency, in Pompeo’s telling, had become risk averse during the Obama years under the leadership of John Brennan, who is characterized here as “a total disaster.” Pompeo saw his task as rebuilding the agency’s morale and preparing it for risky jobs. Initiatives were set in motion to break from “past failures,” with President Trump granting the agency additional authority to, in Pompeo’s words, “give top jihadi leaders their death wish more quickly.” Pompeo also worked to recement ties with Israel’s Mossad, establish the Iran Mission Center to counter Iran’s nuclear threat, and, at Trump’s direction, create a channel for talks with North Korea. Just as he was getting into gear at the agency in the summer of 2017, Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first secretary of state, called the president “a fucking moron,” or so it was reported. Several politically fraught months later, the former Exxon CEO was out the door, and Pompeo was asked to fill the empty slot.
Following contentious confirmation hearings, a raft of foreign policy issues immediately floated toward him. Among them: pushing NATO allies to spend more on defense, breaking out of the nuclear arms agreement with Iran, disarming nuclear-armed North Korea, reviving ties with both Israel and Saudi Arabia, confronting Putin’s Russia, and turning the ship of state’s rudder hard against Communist China.
Pompeo deserves credit for several real accomplishments. Some of the initiatives he championed, like fundamentally altering the terms of our relationship with Beijing, were both necessary and overdue. Taking out the Iranian warlord Qassem Soleimani, a gutsy step that drew fierce criticism from liberals, looks in retrospect to have been a successful gamble, a bold assertion of American power that dealt a serious blow to the Islamist regime. Fostering the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Gulf states (where Jared Kushner and U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman played the leading roles) deserves hearty applause.
But along with success on some central issues, there was a lot of failure, and a great deal of it stemmed not from Pompeo’s ineptitude, but the peculiar character of the president he devoted his considerable intelligence and energy to serve. Crowing about his successes, Pompeo says unsurprisingly little about the discomfiture of working at the behest of Donald Trump. But the little he does say is both disingenuous and revealing. One of Pompeo’s first ideas in his first role in the administration was that the newly inaugurated Trump should make an early appearance at the CIA headquarters to show the world that the president—who had just compared U.S. intelligence officials to Nazis—did not hate the agency and that the CIA was “back.” So, on his first full day in office, Trump came to Langley, where he made a spectacle of himself in front of the CIA’s memorial to its fallen officers with a bragging, meandering rant about the crowd size at his inauguration. All that Pompeo says about the episode is that President Trump “treated the event a bit too much like one of his campaign rallies.” Yet all in all, Pompeo opines, it “was incredibly productive for America and our team.” Rubbish. The speech was both bizarre and a disgrace. (The text of the entire speech remains essential reading, a preview of much that was to come.)
There is a great deal of such unconvincing spin in Pompeo’s book. And there is a great deal of failure dressed up as success. Diplomacy with North Korea’s absolute dictator, Kim Jong-un, is a case in point.
Pompeo speaks of how “we vowed to avenge” the murder of Otto Warmbier, the young American college student who had been taken captive in Pyongyang in early 2016, apparently tortured, and returned to his parents the following year in a coma from which he would never wake. But the administration did nothing of the kind. To the contrary, Trump absolved Kim of the crime. “He tells me,” said Trump of Kim following one of their summits, “that he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word,” adding that in fact Kim “felt badly about it. He felt very badly.” About this appalling whitewash, Pompeo says not a word.
Then there was the violent language Trump employed, warning that North Korean threats against the United States would be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Writes Pompeo, “I thought the strategy of matching Kim’s incendiary rhetoric was brilliant. No other administration would ever have done this.” This last sentence was true, but what Pompeo entirely neglects to mention is the fawning language Trump also directed at the tyrant, exalting him for sending “beautiful letters,” so beautiful in fact that “we fell in love.” Not brilliant. And no other administration would have done that, either.
What did such extravagant diplomacy achieve? About one of his visits to the Hermit Kingdom, Pompeo writes that Kim “committed to completely getting rid of his nuclear weapons, saying that they were a massive economic burden and made his nation a pariah in the eyes of the world.” But despite two presidential summits, the commitment was not honored, and it was Kim Jong-un who never gave an inch. All that was accomplished was the elevation of the North Korean dictator from outcast to global statesman. Trump’s claim, following his summit with Kim in Singapore, that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” was either a delusion or a lie, and if the latter, one of thousands.
Pompeo has gotten a bit—but only a bit—of a bum rap for downplaying the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian intelligence operatives. After all, he does say of the crime that the killing and subsequent dismemberment of the Washington Post journalist was “outrageous, unacceptable, horrific, sad, despicable, evil, brutish, and of course, unlawful.” But without reservation, he extols the leader behind the crime, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, as “one of the most important leaders of his time, a truly historic figure on the world stage.” Even worse, he heaps praise on the Saudi agency responsible for the killing, writing, “I . . . had the occasion to meet with my former counterparts in the Saudi intelligence services—great guys who understood the dark world of espionage and how to operate in it.” Great guys? This is perverted.
Is it campaign strategy or genuine conviction that leads Pompeo to position himself as a fierce culture warrior against an “establishment [that] too often loathes the citizens it purports to represent and seeks to destroy our nation’s Judeo-Christian founding”? In this and similar lines, the book’s authorial persona, which awkwardly mixes piety and belligerence, comes to the fore. In addition to immoderately salting his prose with references to the “good Lord” and to “His grace,” Pompeo uses a great deal of crude rhetoric in his book. While praising the Saudi intelligence operatives to the skies, we find Hillary Clinton aide Susan Rice described as Clinton’s “henchwoman.” Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran may have been dangerously misguided (as I believe it was), but was it “staggeringly stupid”? The Foreign Service Officer Corps may be liberal in its orientation, but is it really “overwhelmingly hard left in its cultural sympathies”? Pompeo makes it sound as if his State Department underlings were members of Antifa. Like his former boss, Pompeo evidently lacks a subtlety gene. As the Trump administration drew to its ignominious end, Pompeo also contributed his bit to the great election lie. On November 10, 2020, days after Trump was defeated at the polls, Pompeo pronounced that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” In Never Give an Inch, he explains this away as having “a bit of fun,” with the reality being that “there was still ongoing litigation, and the president had every right to ensure that that the election had been conducted in a fair and lawful manner.” Disingenuousness yet again. His book offers not a word of criticism—or any discussion at all—of Trump’s conspiracy to cling to office in defiance of the electorate’s will.
There is a great deal of such sidestepping going on. Across four years of service in the Trump administration and yet again in this memoir, Pompeo has amply earned the former president’s nickname for him of “My Mike.” Whether clinging so tightly to the man from Mar-a-Lago will work as an electoral strategy in 2024 remains to be seen. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
October 13, 2022 01:52 PM Russia’s military will be “annihilated” by Western forces if Russian President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, the European Union’s top diplomat has warned. “Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer — not a nuclear answer, but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated,” European Union High Rep. Josep Borrell said Thursday. “This is a serious moment in the history, and we have to show our unity, our strength, and our determination. Complete determination.” That statement marks the most specific warning to Putin issued in public by a senior Western official. President Joe Biden’s administration has offered more ambiguous vows that Russia would face “catastrophic consequences” for a nuclear strike, but Borrell’s statement suggests that trans-Atlantic policy regarding that scenario is trending toward the militant posture that Poland and other Central European governments deem necessary to deter Putin. “Putin is saying he is not bluffing,” Borrell told the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges. “Well, he cannot afford bluffing. And it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine, the European Union and the Member States, and the United States and NATO are not bluffing either.” NATO TO HOLD NUCLEAR DETERRENCE EXERCISES AS PUTIN RAGES AT UKRAINE The statement was an unusual one for Borrell, who leads the diplomatic corps of a European bloc that historically has functioned as an economic and political bloc, not a military power. Yet, it does punctuate his contention that the war in Ukraine “is changing the European Union” into a “more assertive” geopolitical power. It also came on the heels of more conciliatory remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron, who emphasized Wednesday that “a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine” would not provoke a nuclear response from Paris, one of NATO’s three nuclear-armed states. “Our doctrine rests on the fundamental interests of the nation," Macron told French media. "They are defined clearly and wouldn’t be directly affected at all if, for example, there was a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine, in the region.” There’s no necessary contradiction between that statement and the message from Borrell, given the EU official’s emphasis that the Western response he had in mind is “not a nuclear answer.” Polish officials have made the same distinction while arguing for a “devastating” response to any nuclear attack. “To the best of our knowledge, Putin is threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil, not to attack NATO, which means that NATO should respond in a conventional way,” Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said last month. “But the response should be devastating. And I suppose this is the clear message that the NATO alliance is sending to Russia right now.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Borrell continued to assert the EU's ability, and willingness, to respond to Russia's actions in Ukraine. “There are people who say that this war means the end for the European Union to have a foreign policy because we are following, blindly, the United States,” he said. “And from my side, it is just the contrary: this war has been an occasion for the European Union to be more assertive and to push for the creation of a European stand from the foreign policy side and also from the military and defense perspective.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! It has been one year since President Biden’s botched plan that allowed the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan.President Biden withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan without concrete plans to protect Americans and our Afghan partners or prevent the Taliban from taking over the country – resulting in a shameful disaster.On this day a year ago, the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan was forced to evacuate after the Taliban seized the nation’s capital, Kabul.Last year, President Biden assured the American people that withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan would proceed "in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart."TALIBAN ANNIVERSARY: THE TAKEOVER OF KABUL THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN NEVER SAW COMINGPresident Biden said, "There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of [an] embassy of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable [to Vietnam]."He was wrong. The bodies of the service members who died while supporting operations in Kabul arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Aug. 29, 2021. (Jason Minto/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)In the scramble to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies, 13 U.S. service members unnecessarily lost their lives as they tried to manage a chaotic situation their commander in chief never should have put them in.President Biden’s poor judgment caused unnecessary chaos and loss of life.In the hasty exit, billions of dollars of the world’s most technologically advanced military weapons were left behind, and are now in the hands of the Taliban.President Biden left Americans and Afghans who risked their lives to fight alongside us in danger and has created an opportunity for al Qaeda to make Afghanistan a safe haven for terrorists once again. President Joe Biden speaks about the evacuation of American citizens, their families, SIV applicants and vulnerable Afghans at the White House, Aug. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)Before the United States entered Afghanistan in 2001 to destroy those responsible for orchestrating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Taliban was harboring al Qaeda. What’s even worse is that the Taliban allowed Usama bin Laden to run terrorist training camps on Afghan soil.Despite the Taliban promising that al Qaeda would not be allowed in Afghanistan, a United Nations Security Council report published in June 2021 said the Taliban and al Qaeda "remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties." ISIS’s local affiliate is also active in Afghanistan.When the United States carried out a drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, it wasn’t in some remote village, but rather in the capital city, Kabul, in an apartment formerly rented by an American service member and aid worker. Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahri speaks in a video released on April 5, 2022. (As-Sahab via AP)That’s right – Al-Zawahri, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, was not hiding. He was lounging on a balcony in downtown Kabul. This confirms that al Qaeda has found safe harbor again in Afghanistan.BIDEN'S AFGHANISTAN DEBACLE BEGAN WITH THE FALL OF KABUL A YEAR AGO AND AMERICANS DESERVE ANSWERSWhile President Biden was telling the American people that al Qaeda had been removed from Afghanistan, behind the scenes his team knew this was not true.In an address to the nation in August 2021, President Biden asked, "What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?" However, the National Security Council’s John Kirby stated earlier this month, "When we left Afghanistan, we knew that there was a small presence of al Qaeda already in the country." Families board a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 24. 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Samuel Ruiz)This catastrophe demonstrates that President Biden misrepresented the facts about Afghanistan and shed light on the incompetency of his administration. Earlier this month, President Biden stated, "There is no concentration of any consequence of al Qaeda In Afghanistan."Again, Biden’s own spokesman disputes this. Kirby confirmed to CNN that al Qaeda is "actively" using Afghanistan as a "launching pad" to plot and plan attacks against American interests, American allies and the American homeland.CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTERThe Biden administration did not have a plan to stop terrorists when they haphazardly pulled our military out of Afghanistan – putting innocent Americans at home and abroad at risk. The president of the United States let the Taliban, instead of senior military officials, call the shots when it came to pulling troops out of Afghanistan. Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File) The chaos, turmoil and lives lost during President Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan are inexcusable. He withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan with no plan – and American lives were lost while our enemies capitalized on his strategic blunder.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe Biden administration was reportedly already planning damage control ahead of the anniversary of this self-inflicted tragedy, but has yet to release a rigorous after-action review that might shed light on exactly why President Biden and his advisers ignored the advice of our military leaders and rushed to the exits.House Republicans are committed to honoring those who served, and those who lost their lives in Afghanistan. We will not let their sacrifice be in vain. We will leave no stone unturned in our oversight of this embarrassing disaster of American foreign policy, and in our efforts to ensure Afghanistan never again becomes a haven for terrorists.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REP. STEVE SCALISERep. Jake Ellzey, a Republican, represents Texas' 6th Congressional District. Republican Steve Scalise is the U.S. House of Representatives minority whip. He represents Louisiana's 1st Congressional District, serving since 2008. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Finland and Sweden are on the path to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after Turkey dropped its opposition to inviting them. The three countries signed a trilateral memorandum that fulfills Turkey's demands but spells doom for Kurdish communities in the Middle East. Finland and Sweden received their invitations to NATO on the backs of millions of Kurds oppressed by Turkish President Recep Erdogan. When news first broke of Finland and Sweden’s intent to join NATO, Erdogan accused the two nations of supporting “terrorist organizations.” By “terrorist organizations,” the Turkish president means Kurdish militias that fight for freedom. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group operating within Turkey’s borders, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. However, Erdogan refuses to make a distinction between the PKK and legitimate Kurdish organizations such as the U.S.-backed People’s Defense Units (YPG). The YPG is a Kurdish militia underneath the Syrian Democratic Forces. While the YPG is considered the Syrian arm of the PKK, they were also a crucial ally in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. Alongside other SDF militias, the YPG liberated the city of Raqqa from ISIS. This was no minor victory; Raqqa was the capital city for the jihadists. As ISIS fades away, the SDF is facing another threat to Kurdish autonomy in Syria: Turkey. Turkey’s initial objection to Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO is not from legitimate security concerns. Erdogan is embarking on a quasi-jihadist campaign in northern Syria that targets Kurdish communities native to the region. Turkey backs the Syrian National Army to further its goals in the war-torn nation, and the SNA contains former ISIS members who receive orders directly from Turkey. Turkey launched a coordinated incursion, titled Operation Peace Spring, into Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria in 2019. Sweden and Finland enacted an arms embargo against Turkey in retaliation, but this was lifted after the signing of the trilateral memo. Kurdish communities have been betrayed by their Western allies in the past. Operation Peace Spring was possible thanks to former President Donald Trump’s decision to indirectly authorize it. Rather than reigning in our NATO ally, Trump withdrew troops from Northeast Syria and paved the way for Turkey’s offensive. The resulting humanitarian crisis in northeast Syria affected thousands of Kurdish civilians. “The US withdrawal from northeast Syria, Turkey’s military offensive and the Syrian government joining the fray was a combination of worst-case scenarios happening all at once,” according to Amnesty International. Yet the trilateral memorandum goes a step further than changing the foreign policy of Sweden and Finland. From now on, Turkish dissidents living in Sweden and Finland will face the possibility of extradition to the country they fled from. "FETO" is another organization labeled a domestic terrorist organization by the Turkish government and is one of the groups targeted in the memo. There’s a catch: No such thing exists. FETO stands for “Fethullah Terrorist Organization,” and Turkey uses it to attack followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan accused Gullenists of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, but a report from the European Union’s intelligence-sharing agency found it “unlikely that Gulen himself played a role.” The report goes a step further and accuses Erdogan of utilizing the foiled coup to target his political opponents. Despite being an alliance built on defending Western democracies and their citizens, NATO has legitimized Turkey’s efforts to label political dissidents as terrorists by utilizing “FETO” as a term in the trilateral memorandum and agreeing to extradite those labeled as members of the fictional organization. NATO may be protecting Finland and Sweden from Russia, but the alliance treated our partners in the Middle East as pawns without their own legitimate security concerns. Critiques of Turkey are commonly brushed aside in the name of preventing close relations with Russia and China. If appeasement worked, Turkey would not be moving forward with plans to buy more Russian air defense systems. The foreign policy establishment needs to have a reckoning with Turkey. Kurdish civilians and Turkish dissidents will continue to face oppression from Erdogan’s authoritarian government until the West decides to take its “shared values” seriously. James Sweet is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Washington — As the attempted Russian takeover ofnears its one-year mark, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News on Saturday that China is actively considering providing lethal support, including weapons and ammunition to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
"We've been concerned from day one about that possibility," Blinken said in anwith "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan on Saturday. Pressed on the type of lethal aid China is considering, Blinken spoke in general terms.
"There's a whole gamut of things that — that fit in that category, everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves."
Notably, China's top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, told other leaders at the Munich Security Conference this week that China is working on a peace proposal to end the conflict. That public position runs contrary to what U.S. intelligence has indicated.
"We have seen them provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they're considering providing lethal support, and we've made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship."
Blinken confirmed that Chinese companies are already providing non-lethal support to the Russian effort. He noted the relationship between Chinese companies and the Chinese government, saying, "To date, we have seen Chinese companies and of course, in China, there's really no distinction between private companies and the state."
Blinken is also in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, an annual event attended by top officials worldwide on defense, human security, and the global order. There, he spoke face to face with Yi on the consequences China would face if they were to provide weapons, ammunition, or other lethal aid to Russia.
Brennan asked Blinken if Wang offered an apology for thethat floated over U.S. airspace several weeks ago. Blinken said that there was no apology, but the hour-long meeting was useful.
"We have to make sure that the competition that we're clearly engaged in, does not veer into conflict," Blinken said. "But at the same time, we will very resolutely stand up for our interests."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned at the conference that Beijing "is watching closely to see the price Russia pays — or the reward it receives — for its aggression," according to Politico.
In the weeks leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping released a joint statement declaring awithout limits.
Blinken also said that Iran and Russia are expanding their military relationship.
"We've seen Iran provide drones that Russia is using in Ukraine to attack civilian infrastructure, to kill civilians," Blinken said, adding that Iran's assistance to Russia has "been going on for months."
But now, Russia may also arm Iran, which is designated by the U.S. to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism.
"There's an increasingly noxious relationship between Russia and Iran," Blinken added. "Russia is also providing military equipment to Iran, including, it looks like, sophisticated fighter planes. That's something that looks like it may be happening, which would make Iran an even greater threat, if it acquires that technology. So this is something that we've been talking about with allies and partners around the world. That relationship is a growing concern."
Since the outset of the war, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hasPutin's military attack on Ukraine, stating the actions were justified as NATO's expansion posed a "serious threat" to the stability of the region.
Blinken also commented on Vice President Kamala Harris's announcement in Munich that the U.S. had formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
"The determination that — that we made crimes against humanity, that the vice president announced today, is unfortunately, starkly clear," Blinken said. "And we've seen that almost from day one. We saw it in Bucha, when the Russian tide receded, we saw what was left in its wake. And it's horrific. And we continue to see it across the country, the fact that they're targeting civilians, targeting civilian infrastructure, so that people freeze to death,don't have the lights on."
President Biden has used the term genocide to refer to Russia's actions. When asked if the State Department was working on legal determination of genocide, Blinken responded: "We will look at every possible termination, but we're going to follow the facts, and we're going to follow the law. These are very serious determinations, and we will engage in them very seriously."
for more features. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Germany has war crimes evidence in 'three-digit range', says prosecutor
Germany has collected evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, the country’s prosecutor general said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday, adding that he saw a need for a judicial process at international level.
“Currently, for example, we are focusing on the mass killings in Bucha or attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure,” Peter Frank told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
So far, prosecutors had pieces of evidence in the “three-digit range”, he added, without elaborating.
Reuters also reported that Ukraine and its western allies have accused Russian forces of committing atrocities in Bucha, a satellite town of Kyiv, soon after launching their invasion last February. Moscow has denied the charge. Russia has also targeted key infrastructure in Ukraine but denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Germany began collecting evidence in March 2022 to prosecute possible war crimes, including by interviewing Ukrainian refugees and evaluating publicly available information, Frank said, adding that German prosecutors were not yet investigating specific individuals.
We are preparing ourselves for a possible later court case – be it with us in Germany, be it with our foreign partners, be it before an international court.
Asked who should be tried, Frank said Russian state leaders and those implementing decisions at the highest military level should be held accountable.
Ukraine is pushing for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian military and political leaders it holds responsible for starting the war.
Putin more wary of some US presidents than others, says Mike Pompeo
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if Donald Trump was still president.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning, the former senior figure under Trump compared the current buildup of tensions between the US and China to that of the US and Russia before the invasion of Ukraine.
“We know how to deter our adversaries. Frankly, the Trump administration did it. Vladimir Putin did not invade Europe or Ukraine on our watch.
“This is an unprovoked attack on Europe by Vladimir Putin. He is solely responsible for that. But these things don’t happen in a vacuum. Adversaries make decisions about when, Vladimir Putin has always wanted greater Russia. He will go to his grave wanting greater Russia,” he said.
The former head of the CIA is mulling over running to become US president at the next election. He was on Today promoting his new book, Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.
He added: “Here’s some facts, Vladimir Putin took a fifth of Ukraine under President Obama in 2014. For four years he didn’t take an inch of Ukraine, he fought along the Donbas, but he didn’t invade. Then when we left he went after it again. That’s indisputable, those are factual statements. You can argue coincidence or luck, but Vladimir Putin didn’t change. His intentions didn’t change. What changed was his perception of risk, and it is different with different leaders.”
The international criminal court has launched its own investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Ukraine days after Russia’s invasion in February, but it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute aggression in Ukraine.
The European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, who is visiting Kyiv, said on Thursday that an international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine would be set up in The Hague, Reuters reported.
Germany has war crimes evidence in 'three-digit range', says prosecutor
Germany has collected evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, the country’s prosecutor general said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday, adding that he saw a need for a judicial process at international level.
“Currently, for example, we are focusing on the mass killings in Bucha or attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure,” Peter Frank told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
So far, prosecutors had pieces of evidence in the “three-digit range”, he added, without elaborating.
Reuters also reported that Ukraine and its western allies have accused Russian forces of committing atrocities in Bucha, a satellite town of Kyiv, soon after launching their invasion last February. Moscow has denied the charge. Russia has also targeted key infrastructure in Ukraine but denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Germany began collecting evidence in March 2022 to prosecute possible war crimes, including by interviewing Ukrainian refugees and evaluating publicly available information, Frank said, adding that German prosecutors were not yet investigating specific individuals.
We are preparing ourselves for a possible later court case – be it with us in Germany, be it with our foreign partners, be it before an international court.
Asked who should be tried, Frank said Russian state leaders and those implementing decisions at the highest military level should be held accountable.
Ukraine is pushing for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian military and political leaders it holds responsible for starting the war.
Germany has collected evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, the German prosecutor general says, and the pieces of evidence are in the “three-digit range”.
Peter Frank told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that he saw a need for a judicial process at an international level.
“Currently, for example, we are focusing on the mass killings in Bucha or attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure,” he said in an interview published on Saturday.
More on that story soon.
The United States, meanwhile, has announced a new $2.2bn (£1.8bn) military aid package for Ukraine that Washington says includes precision-guided rockets and Hawk air defence firing units. It also includes, for the first time, a rocket-powered ground launched small diameter bomb that is said to double Ukraine’s strike range and enable its military to strike deep behind the frontlines of the war.
In other developments as it turns 9am in Kyiv:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as it can, vowing that “nobody will give away” the eastern “fortress” city. Speaking at a press conference following a summit in Kyiv with European Union leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, Ukraine’s president said the country would be able to begin to liberate occupied Donbas if weapons supplies were “quickened, specifically long-range weapons”.
EU leaders offered strong support for Ukraine but set “no rigid timelines” for its accession to the bloc. Zelenskiy had hoped the EU would put Ukraine on a rapid track to membership, but western EU member states are concerned that Kyiv’s expectations on speedy membership talks are unrealistic.
Air raid sirens twice sounded across Ukraine on Friday as Zelenskiy hosted the EU leaders in Kyiv. The first air alert in Kyiv was on Friday morning. The second, hours later, followed a joint news conference involving Zelenskiy, von der Leyen and Charles Michel. There were no immediate reports of any Russian airstrikes on Kyiv throughout the day.
EU member countries have agreed on a European Commission proposal to set price caps on Russian oil products, the Swedish presidency of the EU said. Ambassadors of the 27 EU states agreed at a meeting on Friday to impose a $100-a-barrel cap on premium products such as diesel and a $45 cap on low-end products, according to diplomats. The price cap comes into effect on Sunday, as does the EU’s ban on Russian oil product imports.
The EU has promised that a tenth package of sanctions against Russia will be in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war. The EC president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the package would cover trade worth €10bn (£8.9bn/$10.8bn)and “hit the trade and technology that supports [Russia’s] war against Ukraine”.
An American medic has been killed while working on the frontlines in Ukraine, just weeks after arriving in the country. Pete Reed, 34, was killed on Thursday while he was helping evacuate civilians when his vehicle was reportedly hit by a missile in Bakhmut.
France and Italy have finalised technical talks for the joint delivery of the Samp/T air defence system to Ukraine this spring, the French defence ministry has announced. It comes after Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Thursday that the system would be operational in Ukraine “within seven to eight weeks”. The system can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once. It is the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.
The EU will launch a humanitarian de-mining programme in Ukraine worth €25m,the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has confirmed, saying de-mining was “crucial to save the lives of civilian population”.
New tanks supplied by Nato allies will serve as an “iron fist”in a counteroffensive by Kyiv to break through Russian defensive lines, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said. Western supplies of 155-mm artillery would be vital for Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the south and in the east, Reznikov said at a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Błaszczak.
Germany has approved the export of older Leopard 1 battle tanks, which would add to the raft of fighting vehicles Berlin promised last week. A spokesperson said Olaf Scholz’s government had granted an export licence for the German-made tanks first produced in the 1960s and replaced within Germany’s own military by Leopard 2 tanks in 2003. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryUkrainians shift to holding line from Bakhmut to SlovianskBattle of Luhansk was one of Europe's bloodiest in generationsPutin congratulates troops on victoryKYIV, July 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces were taking up new defensive lines in the east on Monday, preparing for a hard new phase in the war as President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia's victory in the months-long battle of Luhansk.Russia's capture of the city of Lysychansk on Sunday brought an end to one of the biggest battles in Europe for generations, which saw Moscow bring the full might of its ground forces to bear on a small pocket of the front line for two months.The battle completes Russia's conquest of Luhansk province, one of two regions it has demanded Ukraine cede to separatists in the Donbas region.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comDuring a brief televised meeting with his defence minister, Putin congratulated Russian forces on their "victories in the Luhansk direction". Those who participated in the combat should "absolutely rest and recover their military preparedness", while other units continue fighting in other areas, he said.The battle is the closest Moscow has come to achieving one of its stated objectives since its forces were defeated trying to capture Kyiv in March, and marks Russia's biggest victory since it captured the southern port of Mariupol in late May.Both sides suffered thousands dead and wounded, while claiming to have inflicted far greater losses on their enemy, along a loop of the Siverskyi Donets river that winds through Luhansk and Donetsk.Lysychansk, neighbouring Sievierodonetsk and surrounding towns - many with heavy industrialised plants that served as fortified bunkers for defenders - were razed to a wasteland by relentless Russian bombardment. Russia repeatedly tried and failed to surround the Ukrainians, eventually opting to blast them out instead with the brute force of its artillery.Military experts say the battle could prove to be a turning point in the war - not because of the strategic value of the ruined cities themselves, which is limited - but because of the impact of the losses on both sides' ability to fight on."I think it's a tactical victory for Russia but at an enormous cost," said Neil Melvin of the RUSI think tank in London, comparing the battle to the huge fights over meagre territorial gains characteristic of World War One."This has taken 60 days to make very slow progress," he said. "I think the Russians may declare some kind of victory, but the key war battle is still yet to come."Moscow will hope Ukraine's retreat gives Russian forces momentum to push further West into neighbouring Donetsk province, where Ukraine still holds the cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut.'IT HURTS A LOT'Ukraine, which could have withdrawn from Luhansk weeks ago but chose to keep fighting there to exhaust the invasion force, hopes the ferocity of the battle will leave the Russians too depleted to hold on to gains elsewhere.First responders work on the scene where a school was destroyed by early morning shelling as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine, July 4, 2022. REUTERS/Leah MillisSerhiy Gaidai, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, acknowledged that his entire province was now effectively in Russian hands, but told Reuters: "We need to win the war, not the battle for Lysychansk... It hurts a lot, but it's not losing the war."Gaidai said the Ukrainian forces that retreated from Lysychansk were now holding the line between Bakhmut and Sloviansk, preparing to fend off a further Russian advance.The mayor of Sloviansk said heavy shelling on Sunday had killed at least six people, including a 10-year-old girl. read more Rob Lee, of the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said the new Ukrainian defensive line should be easier for Ukraine to defend than the pocket in Luhansk province it has given up."It's something that Putin can show as a sign of success," he said. "But overall, this doesn't mean Ukraine will have to concede or give in any time soon."Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Putin's security council, posted on social media that Ukraine was being egged on to keep fighting by Western leaders who "lose their minds at the sight of someone else's blood", and Ukraine's own rulers who were driven by "cocaine ecstasy".Ukraine's hopes for a counter-attack rest in part on receiving additional weapons from the West, including rockets that can neutralise Russia's huge firepower advantage by striking deep behind the front line.Last week, Ukraine scored its own major victory, driving Russian forces off Snake Island, a desolate but strategic outcrop in the Black Sea that Moscow had captured on the war's first day but could no longer defend from Ukrainian strikes.Ukraine's military said on Monday it had now hoisted its flag there. read more Melvin, the RUSI expert, said the decisive battle for Ukraine was likely to take place not in the east, where Russia is mounting its main assault, but in the south, where Ukraine has begun a counter-offensive to recapture territory."This is where we see the Ukrainians are making progress around Kherson. There are counter-attacks beginning there and I think it's most likely that we'll see the momentum swing to Ukraine as it tries to then mount a large scale counter-offensive to push the Russians back," he said.In an overnight video address, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday night vowed to regain lost territory with the help of long-range Western weapons."We will rebuild the walls, we will win back the land, and people must be protected above all else," Zelenskiy said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry and Peter Graff; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Another Cuban mole in the US government 01:27 - Source: CNN CNN — An American citizen convicted of spying for Cuba, Ana Montes, has been released from US federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, according to Federal Bureau of Prison online records. Cuba recruited Montes for spying in the 1980s and she was employed by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency as an analyst from 1985-2001. She was eventually promoted to be the DIA’s top Cuba analyst. The FBI and DIA began investigating her in the fall of 2000 but, in response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, she had access to plans for US attacks against Afghanistan and the Taliban. On September 21, 2001, Montes was arrested in Washington, DC, and charged with conspiracy to deliver defense information to Cuba. In early 2002, she was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to espionage. The judge who sentenced Montes ordered her to be supervised on release from prison for five years. Regarding Montes’ release, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio slammed Montes for betraying the US and assisting Cuba’s communist regime. “Americans should remember Ana Belén Montes for who she really is, despite the fact that she has served her time in prison. If we forget this spy’s story, it will surely repeat itself,” Rubio said in a statement released on Saturday. Ana Montes, now 65, was known as the Queen of Cuba, an American who for over a decade and a half handed over so many US military secrets to Havana that experts say the US may never know the full extent of the damage. In 1984, Montes was working a clerical job at the Justice Department in Washington and studying for a master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University. She often found herself railing against President Ronald Reagan’s support for rebels fighting pro-communist regimes in Central America. “She felt that the US didn’t have the right to impose its will on other countries,” said FBI Special Agent Pete Lapp, the man who eventually led the investigation against Montes, and ultimately arrested her. Her anger about US foreign policy complicated her relationships and drew the attention of Cubans who enticed her to turn her back on friends, family and her own country. Someone at Johns Hopkins noticed Montes’ passionate views about Cuba and soon she was introduced to recruiters, and agreed to help the Cuban cause. At about the same time, Montes applied for a job at the Defense Intelligence Agency, where workers handle US military secrets on a daily basis. When she started there in 1985, the FBI says she was already a fully recruited Cuban spy. One night in 1996, Montes was called to consult at the Pentagon during an ongoing international incident, but she broke protocol by failing to remain on duty until dismissed. This raised suspicion. Four years later, DIA counterintelligence officer Scott Carmichael heard the FBI was looking for a mole – an unidentified spy inside the DIA who was working for Cuba. The suspect had traveled to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at a specific time. When he looked up a list of DIA employees who visited Gitmo during those dates, a familiar name popped up – Ana Montes. “The moment I saw her name, I knew,” Carmichael said. After that, Carmichael and FBI agent Lapp teamed up to prove that the DIA’s Queen of Cuba was really a spy. Thanks to “very sensitive” intelligence, it was known that the unidentified DIA mole had bought a specific brand, make and model of computer at a specific time in 1996 from an unknown store in Alexandria, Virginia. Lapp was able to find the store’s original record that linked that computer to Montes, confirming their beliefs. CNN’s Thom Patterson contributed reporting. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
China has told the United Nations that one year into the Ukraine war, “brutal facts offer an ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace” – a statement that comes just days after the United States and NATO warned Beijing against giving Russia military support.
“Adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions. Prolonging and expanding the conflict will only make ordinary people pay an even heftier price,” China’s UN Deputy Ambassador Dai Bing told the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
The comments came hours before the General Assembly adoped a resolution calling for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” and demanding Russia withdraw its troops and stop fighting.
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The resolution was adopted with 141 votes in favour and 32 abstentions. Six countries joined Russia to vote no.
Western powers have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. The United States and NATO have in the past week accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against such a move. China has dismissed the accusations.
Dai was speaking at the UN a day after China’s top diplomat Wang Yi visited Moscow and pledged a deeper partnership with Russia. China and Russia announced a “no limits” partnership shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The European Union’s top foreign affairs official Josep Borrell met with Wang in Munich last week. He said he asked Wang about the possibility of Chinese military support for Russia.
“He was very clear and assertive,” Borrell told reporters at the UN on Thursday, noting that the pair have had a good personal relationship for many years.
“I can only repeat what he told me: China is not providing arms for Russia and it will not provide arms to Russia because it’s part of their foreign policy not to arm parties in a conflict,” he said. “We have to remain vigilant.”
China’s Ambassador Dai said, “We stand ready to continue playing a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis, and bring about peace at an early date.”
Since Moscow invaded its neighbour, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly hinted that Russia could use a nuclear weapon if threatened.
“Nuclear weapons cannot be used, nuclear war cannot be fought,” Dai said. “All parties should join together against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, prevent nuclear proliferation and avoid a nuclear crisis.”
‘Not broken’
Meanwhile, Group of Seven ministers discussed new sanctions on Russia and the White House said it will announce “sweeping” new sanctions.
As Western leaders promised to step up their support for Kyiv on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to keep up the fight.
“We have not broken down, we have overcome many ordeals and we will prevail,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “We will hold to account all those who brought this evil, this war to our land.”
‘More weapons and quicker’
The prime ministers of Poland and Denmark said after meeting in Copenhagen that Western European countries should be faster and more generous in supplying Ukraine with weapons.
“I would like them to be exactly like Denmark and Poland. A longer version is to be more generous in terms of weapon delivery and more quick,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.
Poland, a key ally of Ukraine, has been instrumental in convincing European allies to donate heavy gear to Ukraine, including tanks, a move opposed by several countries until recently.
“Let’s be frank. If not for the United States, Poland and the United Kingdom, probably Ukraine would not have survived the first couple of weeks or the first couple of months,” Morawiecki said. “It’s just strengthening the NATO alliance. Some sceptical countries should no longer be sceptical.”
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the war, Morawiecki and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen stressed the urgency of delivering support to Kyiv as Europe could not allow Ukraine to be defeated.
“We need to be aware that we don’t have a lot of time. So we need to speed up our financial support, our military help, we need more donations and we need to work very closely together to make sure they have the capacities they need,” Frederiksen said.
Sweden is preparing to send Ukraine the advanced Archer artillery system, but support in the Swedish parliament has been growing to additionally contribute some of the country’s around 120 Leopard tanks.
“We are open to that and we are in close dialogue with above all Germany about it,” Swedish Minister of Defence Pal Jonson was quoted by TT as saying.
Spain to send tanks
Elsewhere in Europe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the government will consider supplying Ukraine with four more Leopard 2 A4 tanks in addition to the six ones already promised. The decision will be made “in the coming weeks,” he added.
The first group of Ukrainian troops is already being trained on the use of Leopard 2 tanks in Spain, Sanchez said during a joint press conference with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
According to Sanchez, Spain aims to “synchronise the delivery of the Leopards with the finalisation of the training”.
“Ukraine has never posed any threat to Russia; we are helping a country that is defending its people that were attacked,” emphasised the prime minister. “We must understand that Putin violates all fundamental laws, violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Therefore, this struggle is absolutely legal, it must receive our joint assistance.”
It was Sanchez’s second visit to Ukraine since Moscow started its all-out war against the country.
Germany calls for coordination
Regarding the question of whether to arm Ukraine with warplanes, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this “currently makes no sense”.
His comments came in an interview with ZDF public television, in which he was asked to address growing calls for Western powers to supply arms.
Scholz, who earlier faced criticism for perceived foot-dragging over sending Ukraine tanks, said other countries’ difficulties in meeting Ukraine’s demands vindicated his decision to move in lockstep with them.
In January, Germany agreed to send, and allow other countries to send, heavy battle tanks to help Ukraine in a potential offensive against Russian troops in its east. Despite this, deliveries have been slow because of donors’ limited supplies.
“Maybe this is an indication of why it’s so important to coordinate with each other, with the US, for example, and to prepare these decisions carefully so they work,” Scholz said.
Ukraine is now asking for warplanes, though Germany does not have any of the F-16 fighters that have been mentioned in this context.
Speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Scholz said he feared that the conflict could become “a very long-lasting war”, but added that Germany and the west would support Ukraine for as long as needed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would eventually have to understand that his war aims – which Scholz noted had several times been revised down since the start of the conflict – were unachievable.
Scholz, who will head to India on Saturday in a bid to rally support for Ukraine against Russia, said he was not deterred by signs that many large, emerging countries were reluctant to condemn Russia.
“There are only a few countries on Russia’s side,” he said. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Musk says SpaceX can no longer pay for critical satellite services in Ukraine Controversial tech billionaire Elon Musk has said his SpaceX company can no longer offer its critical satellite services to Ukraine unless the US military puts up tens of millions of dollars a month, CNN reports.SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, requesting that it take over funding for Ukraine’s government and military use of Starlink.SpaceX claims this would cost more than $120m (£106m) for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400m (£355m) for the next 12 months."We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote in the letter.SpaceX has so far donated 20,000 Starlink satellite units to Ukraine since February.The satellites have been a vital source of communication for Ukraine's military since they arrived.They allow Ukraine to fight and stay connected even as mobile phone and internet networks have been destroyed in its war with Russia.Reports of the letter come a day after Mr Musk denied reports he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin.The denial follows a Twitter poll he shared earlier this month where he invited his 107.7 million followers to vote on a suggested "Ukraine-Russia Peace plan", which included permanently ceding Crimea to Russia.He said new referendums could be held under UN supervision to determine the fate of Russian-controlled territory, and that Ukraine agree to neutrality.This drew sharp criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who proposed his own Twitter poll: "Which @elonmusk do you like more? One who supports Ukraine (or) one who supports Russia." Putin told his army will be 'annihilated' if he uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine - but EU diplomat questions comment A series of international leaders have been discussing the potential response to Russia using a nuclear weapon in its war against Ukraine, amid speculation this is something Vladimir Putin may be considering.The prospect has prompted a series of warnings to the Kremlin about the likely form of retaliation from other countries.Adding to those warnings last came these comments from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaking in Bruges - who did indicate that while the West may not use nuclear weapons in response, that Russia's army would be "annihilated"."Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated, and Putin should not be bluffing," he said in Bruges."This is a serious moment in the history, and we have to show our unity, and our strength and our determination."However, it has been suggested that Mr Borrell's remarks did not represent an official, agreed upon change in posturing from the EU. Crimea bridge repairs will be finished by July 2023, Russia says Repairs to the damaged bridge between annexed Crimea and southern Russia will be finished by July 2023, a document published on the Russian government's website says.The Kerch Bridge, a showcase prooject of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule, was damaged in a blast Moscow has blamed on Ukraine.Russia said three people were killed in the blast it attributed to a truck bomb.Some Ukrainian officials celebrated the incident but Kyiv has not claimed responsibility. British man hosting Ukrainians says monthly government payment is 'failing to cover the increase in bills' A British man hosting four Ukrainians said his monthly £350 payment is "failing to cover the increase in the bills this winter" and called for further support and clarity from the government regarding its plans.Several groups, including the Refugee Council, have expressed concerns over the Homes for Ukraine scheme potentially being "quietly phased out" - although the government said the scheme is continuing.However, a new refugees minister has yet to be appointed following Lord Harrington's departure and the cost-of-living crisis is set to bite this winter for hosts like Steve Dury.Mr Dury, a local government officer from Langport, Somerset, has hosted two women and their two children since April via the Homes for Ukraine scheme and has been forced to reassure them he will not kick them out."I've said they're welcome to stay here as long as they want, although I am aware that the £350 monthly payment is failing to cover the increase in the bills this winter," the 60-year-old said.Mr Dury said the £350 monthly payment started after relevant checks were completed and was backdated to the refugees' arrival date. Norwegian police investigate reports of drone over gas processing plant Norwegian police are investigating reports of a drone that was spotted flying over the Kaarstoe gas processing plant in the southwest of the country in a potential violation of security protocols, newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad reports.Local police were not immediately available for comment.The Norwegian military Home Guard has been posted at Kaarstoe and other major energy export facilities since authorities boosted security at the country's oil and gas installations after the 26 September Nord Stream leaks.The leaks reported on the pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, were widely-suspected to be a result of sabotage.Russia has said accusations from the EU it is responsible are "predictable" and "stupid".Even before the Nord Stream incidents Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) had warned energy companies to be vigilant for unidentified drones.Police on Thursday responded to a threat made by telephone against the Nyhamna gas plant, which alongside Kaarstoe and a handful of other Norwegian sites rank among Europe's largest energy export facilities.Norway is now Europe's largest gas supplier after a sharp reduction in flows from Russia. Danone announces plans to shed its dairy and plant-based food business in Russia French food company Danone has announced plans to shed its dairy and plant-based food business in Russia in a transaction which could result in a write-off of up to €1bn (£865m)."This is the best option to ensure long-term local business continuity," Danone said in a statement, adding the Russian unit accounted for roughly 5% of the group's net sales in the first nine months of the year.Some weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, Danone had said that all options regarding its local business were on the table, while a source had told Reuters the firm had started to assess feasible options.Danone did not disclose to whom it would transfer the business. Trains suspended in Russian town after parts of Ukrainian missile fall near railway, local governor says Train operations were suspended in Russia's Belgorod region which borders Ukraine this morning after remains of a missile fell near a railway, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.Mr Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app that anti-aircraft defences shot down missiles near Novyi Oskol, a town of about 18,000 people which lies about 90 kilometres (56 miles) north of the border with Ukraine."Power lines are damaged. Trains are temporarily suspended," Mr Gladkov said, adding there were no casualties.The reports have not been independently verified and there was no immediate reaction from Kyiv.It comes after Mr Gladkov accused Ukraine of shelling an apartment block in the city of Belgorod, the administrative centre of the Belgorod region, on Thursday.Russia's border regions have reported sporadic incidents since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on 24 February involving, for instance, fuel and ammunition stores.Ukraine has not claimed responsibility, but an official has described previous incidents as "karma" for Moscow's war actions.Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation". Russia 'making progress in Donbas' but is undermined by 'severe shortages of munitions and manpower' Pro-Russian forces have made tactical advances towards the centre of the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, the UK's Ministry's of Defence has said in its daily intelligence update.The briefing continues: "There have been few, if any, other settlements seized by regular Russian or separatist forces since early July."However, forces led by the private military company Wagner Group have achieved some localised gains in the Donbas: Wagner likely remains heavily involved in the Bakhmut fighting."The statement adds that Russia likely views Bakhmut as a "preliminary to advancing on the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk urban area which is the most significant population centre of Donetsk Oblast held by Ukraine".It continues: "Russia continues to prosecute offensive operations in central Donbas and is, very slowly, making progress."However, its overall operational design is undermined by the Ukrainian pressure against its northern and southern flanks, and by severe shortages of munitions and manpower." Good morning - here's the latest With Ukraine's allies voicing their commitment to providing advanced air defence systems to protect against Russia's missiles, here's the latest:Criminal proceedings have been opened into the Russian missile strikes that hit cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, this week by Ukraine's prosecutor general Andriy Kostin;The admission of Ukraine to NATO could lead to a third world war, the deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation said;The UK will give Ukraine a number of powerful missiles to defend against Russian airstrikes;Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara could work with Moscow on choosing low-income countries for Russian grains and fertilisers exports;NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine will lead to "severe consequences";IKEA axed 10,000 jobs in Russia in response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.This map shows the territorial gains and losses of both sides according to the latest analysis for Sky News... More than 600 settlements liberated in past month, Ukraine claims More than 600 settlements, including 75 in the highly strategic Kherson region, have been liberated by Ukraine's armed forces in the past month, the country has claimed. Some 502 settlements have been liberated in the northeast Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces last month advanced deep into Russian lines, according to Ukraine's Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories. A further 43 settlements were liberated in the Donetsk region and seven in the Luhansk region, the ministry added. Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk, along with Zaporizhzhia, were annexed by Moscow late last month as a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces rapidly advanced in the northeast, east and south. The annexations were denounced by Kyiv and the West as illegal. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comKYIV, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Russian forces have pounded Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, officials said, while reports of shelling around the facility fuelled fears of a radiation disaster.Captured by Russian troops in March but run by Ukrainian staff, Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been a major hotspot in the six-month conflict with both sides trading blame for recent shelling near the plant. read more Russian forces fired at Enerhodar, the city where the plant is located, the chief of staff of Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said late on Sunday on his Telegram channel alongside a video of fire fighters dousing burning cars.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"They provoke and try to blackmail the world," chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.Russian forces also kept up their shelling in the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland in the east, officials there said.Zelenskiy, in his nightly address on Sunday, vowed "the occupiers will feel their consequences - in the further actions of our defenders"."No terrorist will be left without an answer for attacks on our cities. Zaporizhzhia, Orykhiv, Kharkiv, Donbas - they will receive an answer for all of them," he said.Since Russian troops poured over the Ukrainian border in February in what Russian President Vladimir Putin termed a "special military operation," the conflict has settled into a war of attrition fought primarily in the east and south of Ukraine.'RADIATION NORMAL'The U.S. State Department said on Sunday that Russia did not want to acknowledge the grave radiological risk at the south Ukraine plant and had blocked a draft agreement on nuclear non-proliferation because it mentioned such risk. read more The United Nations and Ukraine have called for a withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the plant to ensure it is not a target. read more However, Russia's defence ministry reported more Ukrainian shelling at the plant over the weekend.Nine shells fired by the Ukrainian artillery landed in the plant's grounds, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said."At present, full-time technical personnel are monitoring the technical condition of the nuclear plant and ensuring its operation. The radiation situation in the area of the nuclear power plant remains normal," he said in a statement.A Ukrainian man checks damage in houses following recent Russian shelling, as Russia's attack in Ukraine continues, in the city of Slovyansk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine August 28,2022. REUTERS/Ammar AwadAs fears mount of a nuclear accident in a country still haunted by the Chernobyl disaster, Zaporizhzhia authorities are handing out iodine tablets and teaching residents how to use them in case of a radiation leak.Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom said it had no new information about attacks on the plant and Reuters could not verify the accounts.Regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said on Telegram on Sunday that Russian forces struck residential buildings in the main city of Zaporizhzhia, about a two-hour drive from the plant, and the town of Orikhiv further east.Ukraine's military reported shelling of nine more towns in the area on the opposite side of the Dnipro river, while the Russian state news agency cited authorities as saying they had downed a Ukrainian drone which planned to attack the nuclear-waste storage facility at the plant.The International Atomic Energy Agency is waiting for clearance for its officials to visit the plant, which the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said should be "very, very close". Two of the plant's reactors were cut off from the electrical grid last week due to shelling. read more PUSH FOR SANCTIONSRussia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine touched off Europe's most devastating conflict since World War Two.Thousands of people have been killed, millions displaced and cities blasted to ruins. The war has also threatened the global economy with an energy and food supply crisis.Russian shelling has displaced more civilians in the east, where three quarters of the population has fled the front-line region of Donetsk, the regional governor has said.Ukrainian police said Russian forces shelled five areas in Donetsk on Sunday.The United States and its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia for its invasion and sent billions of dollars in security assistance to the Ukrainian government.Russia has said sanctions will never make it change its position on Ukraine and Western arms supplies only drag out the conflict.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will travel to Sweden and Czech Republic this week and push for more sanctions on Russia, including an EU-wide visa ban for Russians.European Union foreign ministers meeting this week are unlikely to unanimously back a visa ban on all Russians, EU foreign policy chief told Austria's ORF TV. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Max Hunder and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Himani Sarkar; Editing by Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The EU denounced the "illegal" annexation votes Russia held in occupied Ukrainian regions. Meanwhile, Canada said it will impose new sanctions over Russia's "sham" referendums. DW rounds up the latest.
The European Union on Wednesday criticized the "illegal" annexation votes Russia held in four occupied regions of Ukraine and their "falsified" results, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. "EU denounces holding of illegal 'referenda' and their falsified outcome," Borrell wrote on Twitter. "This is another violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, amidst systematic abuses of human rights," he said. Meanwhile, European Council President Charles Michel also tweeted: "Sham referenda. Sham results. We recognize neither." On Tuesday, the EU spokesman Peter Stano announced the bloc would slap sanctions on organizers of the "illegal" vote. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, the EU has implemented six rounds of sanctions targeting Russian individuals, entities, good exports and technology and banking as well as an embargo on most Russian oil and coal exports. Here's a roundup of other news from or concerning the war in Ukraine on September 28. Western response to Russian use of nukes would be 'devastating' — Petraeus Western allies' answer to the possible Russian use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would be "devastating," former CIA director David Petraeus told DW. According to Petraeus, Western countries are communicating with Russia that use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would bring a catastrophic response. He also assumed that this response would include targeting of Russian forces in Ukraine and on Black Sea. "It would be devastating for Russian forces there," Petraeus said. Sham votes in Russia-held Ukrainian regions are 'fiction' — Hug The so-called "referendums" held over last few days in the occupied regions of Ukraine were "a work of fiction," Alexander Hug, the former principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told DW. "And a very obscene fiction that is in which viewers are invited to suppose that victims of atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces might side with the perpetrators of them," he said. According to Hug, the script for what happened and what will happen in occupied Ukrainian regions has been written a long time ago. "What happened in 2014 [annexation of Crimea and Russian interference in Donbas] was probably the precursor of what we now may see to be unfold in these four areas," he said. However, Hug emphasized that Ukraine has all the right to defend its territory. "That remains its territory after these illegal actions that Russia took," he said. Ukraine urges 'significant' military aid boost after annexation votes Ukraine called on the West to "significantly" increase its military aid to Ukraine after pro-Kremlin authorities in four Moscow-held regions of Ukraine declared victory in annexation votes. "Ukraine calls on the EU, NATO and the Group of Seven to immediately and significantly increase pressure on Russia, including by imposing tough sanctions and significantly increase their military aid to Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement also said that Russian-staged votes in four Ukrainian regions on becoming part of Russia were "null and worthless", and that Ukraine would press on with efforts to liberate Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Ukraine "will never agree to any ultimatums." EU vows retaliation if Nord Stream pipelines damage is sabotage The European Union believes sabotage is the likely cause of leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines and is threatening countermeasures, its top diplomat Josep Borrell said on behalf of all member states. "The European Union is deeply concerned about damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that has resulted in leaks in the international waters of the Baltic Sea," Borrell said in a statement. "These incidents are not a coincidence and affect us all." According to Borrell, all of the available information indicated that the leaks were the result of a deliberate act. "We will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security," he said. Borrell said that any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and would be met with a "robust and united response." Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attributed the leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines to acts of sabotage and said he had discussed the protection of critical infrastructure in NATO countries with the Danish defense minister. Canada to impose new sanctions on Russia over 'sham' referendums Canada will impose new sanctions over Russia's "sham" referendums in four occupied regions of Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Trudeau said Canada would never recognize the results of the referendums or Russia's attempted illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories. "We intend to impose new sanctions against persons and entities that are complicit in this latest attempt to undermine the principles of state sovereignty, and that share responsibility for the ongoing senseless bloodshed across Ukraine," Trudeau said in a statement. More Ukraine-related content on DW The US and NATO condemned Kremlin-staged "referendums" in eastern Ukraine as voting concluded. Germany's population has hit a record high of more than 84 million people this year, driven mainly by an influx of Ukrainian refugees. dh/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa) | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The EU presidency has called for the establishment of an international tribunal for war crimes after new mass graves were found in Ukraine.“In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent,” said Jan Lipavský, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency.“We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals,” he added in a message on Twitter. “I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression.”The appeal follows the discovery by Ukrainian authorities of about 450 graves outside the formerly Russian-occupied city of Izium, with most of the exhumed bodies showing signs of torture.“Among the bodies that were exhumed today, 99% showed signs of violent death,” Oleg Synegubov, head of Kharkiv regional administration, said on social media.“There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around his neck,” he added.“Russia leaves only death and suffering. Murderers. Torturers,” said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Some of the remains exhumed included children and people who were likely tortured before dying, he added.The US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Friday said that the graves likely provided more evidence that Russia is committing war crimes in its pro-western neighbouring country.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, joined the condemnation, describing what had happened in Izium as atrocities.“I condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities committed in Izyum, Ukraine, under Russian occupation,” Macron tweeted.The Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said there were “probably more than 1,000 Ukrainian citizens tortured and killed in the liberated territories of the Kharkiv region”.The Ukraine national police chief, Igor Klymenko, said they had found multiple torture rooms in the town of Balakliya and elsewhere in Kharkiv since the Russians were driven out.The UN in Geneva has said it hopes to send a team to determine the circumstances of the deaths.The discoveries came a little more than five months after the Russian army, driven out of the vicinity of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, left behind hundreds of corpses of civilians, many of whom bore the traces of torture and summary executions.The EU is “deeply shocked” at the discovery by Ukrainian officials of mass graves in the recaptured city of Izium, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.“This inhuman behaviour by the Russian forces, in total disregard of international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions, must stop immediately.On Thursday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she wanted Russian president Vladimir Putin to face the international criminal court over war crimes in Ukraine.In Washington, US president Joe Biden warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin against using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons after serious losses in his war in Ukraine.“Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” Biden said, in an excerpt from an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes aired on Friday evening.Biden was responding to an interviewer’s question about the possibility of Putin, whose army is incurring heavy losses in the Ukrainian counteroffensive this month, resorting to chemical or tactical nuclear weapons. “You would change the face of war unlike anything since the second world war,” Biden said.“They will become more of a pariah in the world, more than they have ever been,” the US leader added.Ukrainian forces have recaptured thousands of square kilometres in recent weeks thanks to a counter-offensive in the north-east and now threaten enemy positions in the south.The Russians “are angry because our army is pushing them back in its counter-offensive,” said Svitlana Shpuk, a 42-year-old worker in Kryvyi Rih, a southern town, and Zelenskiy’s home town, which was flooded after a dam was destroyed by Russian missiles.Synegoubov said that an 11-year-old girl was killed by missile fire in the region.Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donestk in eastern Ukraine which has been partially controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014, said on social media that Ukrainian firefighters were battling a fire there and that the bombing had led to cuts in drinking water.“The occupiers are deliberately targeting infrastructure in the area to try to inflict as much damage as possible, primarily on the civilian population,” he said.The Russian army denies targeting civilian infrastructure or residential areas.In its daily briefing in Moscow, the Kremlin said it had carried out “high-precision” strikes against Ukrainian positions in the Mykolayiv and Kharkiv regions. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
North Korea and Russia may be natural partners for the type of weapons sale alleged by U.S. officials this week, but the possible unreliability of some North Korean arms presents a complication for Russia’s military, defense analysts warn. U.S. officials on Tuesday claimed Russia is in the process of purchasing “millions of rockets and artillery shells” for use in Ukraine, where Moscow is six months into a war that appears to have reached a bloody stalemate. The sale has not been independently confirmed. Many details are unclear, including whether the weapons have already been transferred. On Tuesday, a Russian diplomat rejected the U.S. allegation as “fake.” But such a transaction in many ways would make sense. Russia has exhausted vast quantities of weapons in Ukraine. According to an independent estimate by Russian defense analyst Pavel Luzin, Russia could be on pace to run out of artillery shells by the end of the year.
'A logical alternative'
With international sanctions complicating domestic weapons production, Russia may view North Korea as a logical alternative to replenish its stockpiles. North Korea has a wide range of both newer, advanced missile technology and older, simpler artillery systems based on Soviet designs. Though U.S. officials have not specified the type of weapons Russia will receive, most analysts assume North Korea will be interested in selling its older shells. Not only does North Korea have a very large stockpile of such artillery, but much of it is also compatible with Russian military systems, according to Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the arms transfers program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “Exporting even large quantities to Russia is thus likely no problem for [North] Korea,” Wezeman told VOA. Seemingly unreliable and ineffective
Some North Korean artillery appears to be unreliable and ineffective, though. As an example, many defense experts cite North Korea’s 2010 shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island during a flareup in tensions.
According to South Korean military estimates, the North fired about 170 shells using a 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, or MRL. Fewer than half of them hit the island; of those, about 25% failed to detonate. “This high failure rate suggests that some [North Korean]-manufactured artillery munitions – especially MRL rounds – suffer from either poor quality control during manufacturing or that storage conditions and standards are poor,” a report at the time by 38 North, a U.S.-based site that monitors North Korea, said. Joseph Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, agrees that the Yeonpyeong incident provides a valuable data point about North Korean munitions, but he is reluctant to use a single example to draw too many definitive conclusions. “There are a lot of variables at play here. In terms of reliability there are the manufacturing standards of the projectiles, their age and how well they are stored. In terms of accuracy, whilst hopefully manufactured to fly true, these are unguided projectiles, so a lot falls onto the launcher, the proficiency of the crew and other external factors,” Dempsey told VOA. “While I certainly have some doubts about North Korean stockpiles and domestically produced 122mm rockets given the factors raised above, those same factors and doubts are also present – to some degree– with those already in Russia,” he added. Especially early in the war, U.S. officials claimed Russia was experiencing high rates of weapons failure, sometimes exceeding 50% for certain types of precision-guided missiles
However, even flawed weapons can prove effective if you have enough of them, said Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at the Center for a New American Security. “With ammo, quantity has a quality of its own,” he told VOA. “Lower quality doesn’t mean 100% doesn’t work.” Little to lose
No matter what kind of weapons Russia may buy from North Korea, the transaction would violate a 2016 United Nations Security Council resolution. The resolution, supported at the time by Russia, forbids the export of North Korean weapons “that support or enhance the operational capabilities of armed forces” of another U.N. member state
Russia and North Korea have drawn closer in recent years, especially as their relationship with the United States has deteriorated. With both countries already subject to severe U.S.-led economic and diplomatic pressure, they may feel they have little to lose by risking further U.S. ire over a weapons deal. “Until now, Russia generally maintained that U.N. sanctions in general should not be violated, and that Russia abides by them,” Wezeman said. “However,” he added, “this is probably a minor point on Russia’s foreign policy agenda right now.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
“We often scream to a wall and no-one hears us”: Activists struggle for justice in post-war Azerbaijan11 min read
“I have been kidnapped twice this year,” Azerbaijani activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev said during a civil society conference in Warsaw last fall. Though well-accustomed to false imprisonment, none of the attendees, nor Hajiyev himself, thought his life would soon be in grave danger. Only weeks later, he was arrested in Azerbaijan, where he began a hunger strike in protest. Hajiyev spent 51 days without food, and at times water, only stopping on 28 February after desperate appeals from relatives and friends. Although the EU and the US have called for his release, his arrest was recently extended until April. The case of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev represents a turning point in Azerbaijani civil society since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, crushing any hopes for increased openness as talks with Armenia progress.
Five activists protesting Hajiyev’s detention were arrested on 20 February. Two of them, members of youth movement Democracy-1918 (D18), remain behind bars; one was threatened with rape by police forces. Hajiyev’s case presents a rare moment that unites various parts of Azerbaijani civil society, which are otherwise at odds over issues such as the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Earlier, at the end of 2022, Hajiyev’s detention also sparked an opposition demonstration. At least 35 protesters were arrested, including D18 activists as well as well-known Azerbaijani opposition activist Tofig Yagublu. Yagublu was released on 22 January 2023.
Azerbaijan’s human rights situation has deteriorated sharply, and pressure on activists has soared, especially since 2021. In 2022 alone, three journalists were brutally arrested while covering a demonstration by mothers of fallen soldiers; blogger Rashad Ramazanov and religious activist Shahin Gadirov were detained on drugs-related charges; and Rovshan Mammadov, member of the Popular Front Party, was arrested at an opposition demonstration. These are just a few examples of unlawful arrests. Irrespective of the activists’ political stance, the most common legal charges relate to drug trafficking, resistance to the police, and so-called hooliganism.
Mounting repression takes place against a background of geopolitical tensions. “The recent year was not good enough for the regime, as it did not get what it wants: Zangezur corridor, Lachin corridor, Nagorno-Karabakh,” says Bahruz Samadov, a doctoral researcher at Charles University, Prague. “The September clashes did not end well for the regime, as it received international and domestic criticism. All these factors irritate the government, and it punishes those who still have the ability to challenge it.”
Visible cracks in the nationalist consensus
The detentions of well-known activists such as Bakhtiyar Hajiyev or Tofig Yagublu, who have large audiences and a long-standing reputation in both Azerbaijan and the West, are alarming for Azerbaijani civil society. “They represent an alternative kind of nationalism that shares the basic premises of Azerbaijani nationalism and hostility towards Armenians; however, it does not praise Ilham Aliyev and questions the legitimacy and reasonability of his acts,” explains Samadov.
Whether liberal, ethnicist, or statist, different articulations of nationalism have long dominated Azerbaijani social and political discourse. However, the escalation of September 2022 — which killed hundreds of soldiers on both sides and saw Azerbaijan advance into strategic areas on the Armenian side of the international border — was not only criticised by the left-leaning activists like Ahmad Mammadli (D18) or staunch liberals like Altay Göyüshov, but also by opposition figures who had been generally supportive of Azerbaijan’s war effort in 2020, such as Azer Gasimli and Ali Karimli.
“Before the September escalation, I would say that civil society was really pro-war and pretty much nationalistic except for some anti-war people,” says Lala Darchinova, co-founder of the Feminist Peace Collective. “After the 2022 September escalation, I saw quite a change. A lot of people who supported the war during 2020 [questioned] what we are doing right now on the territory of Armenia, why our people are dying there. For me it was very unexpected.”
Influential vs. radical: what is the pragmatic approach?
Azerbaijan’s civil society is “transforming,” says Najmin Kamilsoy, PhD researcher and co-founder of the Agora Analytical Collective. He has noticed a trend away from the NGO paradigm and towards “more informal, more flexible, and less hierarchical” grassroots initiatives. Likewise, Samadov predicts that Azerbaijan will witness the emergence of more “radical but marginalised civil society groups who openly condemn war and militarism, nationalism, and the entire political spectrum.”
Many grassroots activists are distancing themselves from the term ‘civil society,’ as it carries certain liberal connotations. Given the mistrust and scepticism vis-à-vis (liberal) NGOs, which some see as easily side-lined or co-opted, young activists have increasingly turned towards informal networks rather than formal organisations. As a consequence of such tactics, it becomes difficult to speak of a clearly structured civil society in Azerbaijan.
Nonetheless, independent activists and their loosely organised collectives manage to continue their work outside of state control, and contribute not only to a diversification of political discourse but also make ‘civic space’ (for lack of a better term) more inclusive and community-based in nature.
Democracy-1918 and the Feminist Peace Collective are two of the most prominent examples of the new Azerbaijani activism. Both are openly ideological and stay distant from the traditional opposition. Not only is D18 unusual in its efforts to help poor university students and organise precarious platform workers into autonomous trade unions, it is also becoming increasingly active in the regions, which, according to party leader Ahmed Mammadli, is what the regime in Baku perceives as particularly threatening. Feminist Peace Collective, meanwhile, advocates for radical alternatives to the mainstream politics of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The recent growth of informal and radical initiatives is neither entirely surprising nor novel in Azerbaijan. Nijat Eldarov, a doctoral student in Copenhagen, explains: “This emergence of certain activist groups reminds me of the situation in the early 2000s.” Back then, government repression also forced the youth movements that sprang up after the protest wave of 2003 to go underground. “In the last couple of years, all these leftists and feminists stem from a similar situation, [where] they see neither the government nor opposition as an escape from the current situation.”
Differences in how activists organise and how attached they are to a particular ideology or agenda, overlap to a large extent with generational divides. Marginalised rather than formalised, the radical social work and anti-capitalist research publications of the new generation contrast sharply with the profile of figures like Anar Mammadli or indeed Bakhtiyar Hajiyev. While many representatives of Azerbaijan’s ‘veteran civil society’ have embarked on a highly antagonistic anti-regime course, young activists often prefer to carve out behind-the-scenes social justice niches and to tread carefully around classical pro-democracy agendas.
The most stark intergenerational cleavage, however, remains the issue of war and national identity. “The younger generation,” says Samadov, “clearly sees the parallels between regime stability and the external enemy as a factor of legitimacy and consolidation.
The boundaries of activism: detention, cooptation, trolling
Indiscriminate arrests, abductions, and detentions remain the Aliyev government’s go-to tool to crack down on grassroots activism, civil society organisations, and political opposition parties alike. Family intimidation is another effective coercive technique. But the government has become increasingly creative in finding new ways to exert pressure on the ‘civic space’ of activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.
While the imposition of restrictive laws in 2013–15 on (independent) NGOs deprives them of vital connections and resources, the establishment of GONGOs undermines and blurs the line between state and civil society. The ongoing episode of quasi-activism on the Lachin Corridor, which aligns perfectly with the government’s foreign policy objectives, fits into this context. Many of the activists and organisations blockading the road have received government grants or are otherwise linked to the state.
In response to financial and organisational limitations, grassroots activism has deinstitutionalised and organised itself online, which, in turn, has spurred a diversification of repressive methods, including trolling, digital attacks, and leaks.
Beginning in the 2010s, Azerbaijan shifted the repression of dissent to the online sphere by expanding troll networks, which target specific activists, newspapers and, since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, are increasingly involved in disinformation and ‘patriotic’ campaigns. Such tactics have long-term consequences: as a recent analysis has shown, foreign outlets can receive fake or misleading news based on information taken from Twitter bots that promote sympathy for Azerbaijan.
Following the two-day war and increased public disapproval of Azerbaijan’s actions towards Armenia, government-linked media accounts launched a social media campaign. The photos and names of individuals who condemned the government’s aggression were circulated with the hashtag “Recognise the Traitor” on Facebook and Twitter. The people who were singled out are not marginal anti-war activists but rather prominent opposition figures, who the government sees as a greater threat.
“There is also a gendered pattern to this phenomenon,” says Dr Laura Luciani, a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University. “Women human rights defenders, female investigative journalists, and human rights lawyers who are critical of the authorities are particularly targeted by smear campaigns and personal attacks.” Journalist Arzu Geybullayeva confirms: “If you’re a vocal woman opposed to the authorities, the harassment is limitless.”
When a feminist march was allowed to be held in Baku in March 2022, the event became the first peaceful protest in a very long time. But shortly afterwards, Azerbaijani TV channels showed footage of the march, denouncing its participants for spreading immoral behaviour and fighting inappropriately for women’s rights. To undermine the feminist movement, the regime has shifted from outright bans to broadcasting live commentary by pro-government quasi-feminists.
Between 2020 and 2021, a series of leaks of information about dissident women’s private lives occurred. The victims were prominent opposition activists advocating against domestic violence, femicides, and other grave forms of gender-based violence. More than thirty women suffered organised online government-linked harassment. This month, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was targeted by similar leaks of intimate materials, a move activists have denounced as not only an invasion of privacy but also the government’s weaponisation of women for the sake of political revenge.
Leaks are widely used to severely discredit an individual. Following Hajiyev’s arrest in December, his Facebook account was hacked and Messenger conversations dated 2019 with a journalist working for pro-government media were published. This correspondence allegedly suggested that Hajiyev was cooperating with the Minister of Emergency Situations, Kamaladdin Heydarov.
While the leaks contained accurate information, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev noted in a statement that numerous fake additions were made to discredit him and stir up conflicts. Regardless of whether all the leaked correspondence is real, it has already succeeded in aggravating distrust of Hajiyev among grassroots activists.
This variety of repressive methods further reinforces the fragmentation of civil society, as no-one knows what might happen next or who can be trusted. It corresponds to what scholars Kurowska and Reshetnikov have framed as “neutrollisation” in their analysis of pro-Kremlin trolling in Russia. “Neutrollisation both presupposes and functions through the critical faculties of citizens, making them doubt everything and, hence, withdraw from public discourse with a dejected shrug,” they write. Counterfeit internet activism and semi-forged leaks serve to foster or maintain a sense of meaninglessness, indifference, and depoliticisation within Azerbaijani society.
From fragmentation to cooperation?
In Azerbaijan, opportunities for solidarity between activist groups are sparse. Some say that unless there is an acute problem, it is impossible to bring organisations and people together. “There is a certain level of fragmentation between traditional and new civil society actors, between co-opted and independent organisations; between those who have more radical and anti-militarist sentiments; but these cleavages are trivial because civil society, in general, is very marginalised and weak,” claims Kamilsoy.
It is not always helpful to conceive of Azerbaijani civil society as divided into these dichotomous parts. “This view overlooks the pragmatic ways in which civic actors navigate a repressive environment,” warns Luciani. In certain situations, liberals and radicals are diametrically opposed. But in other cases, activists find grey zones where they can cooperate by refraining from open criticism or strict ideological positioning.
In this sense, the solidarity of radically different activist groups against the detention of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev may be a cause for optimism. “If you are pro-democracy, you should protest his arrest. People may have different ideologies, but democracy should treat everyone equally,” says writer and anti-war activist Samad Shikhi. Such views, shared by members of D18 and Feminist Peace Collective, demonstrate that Azerbaijani activists can muster a remarkable willingness for non-ideological cooperation against authoritarianism – a kind of anti-systemic and pragmatic unity.
Azerbaijan’s post-Soviet history has demonstrated that its authoritarian rulers are unable to weed out political alternatives. But to do more than just spreading discourses and ideologies, grassroot activists and civil society organisations may need to work together more, echoes Eldarov. “Creating this political discourse is important, but I feel like [activists] often scream to a wall and nobody hears us.” Cooperation can be further fostered if international actors raise the costs of state repression – if not by imposing targeted sanctions and scrapping dubious energy deals, then at least by means of vocal support to Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and his lawyers. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
A New York Times piece reported that OPEC’s decision to cut oil production signifies that President Joe Biden’s "fist bump diplomacy" with the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was a "failure."Written by reporters David Sanger and Ben Hubbard, the piece blasted Biden’s attempt to get OPEC leaders in Saudi Arabia to produce enough gas to meet U.S. demands and "avoid an increase in gas prices ahead of the midterm elections." The report claimed that OPEC’s move to cut production proves that Biden’s foreign policy and diplomacy attempts with Saudi Arabian leaders have not been as successful as the Biden administration would like. PUNDITS RIP BIDEN OVER FIST BUMP Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fist bumps U.S. President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)It specifically called out Biden’s infamous "fist bump" with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, claiming the diplomacy it supposedly represented was a "failure."The article noted the production cut "also exposes the failure of his fist-bump diplomacy over the summer with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia."The reporters began by pointing out how this OPEC production cut "underscored the challenges the United States faces in managing its foreign and economic policy at a time when the global economy is at risk of recession, and energy politics has emerged as a key component of the conflict in Ukraine."They claimed that OPEC’s decision "followed a concerted but ultimately unsuccessful diplomatic effort by Washington to halt the oil production cut, a signal that Mr. Biden’s influence over his Gulf allies was far less than he had hoped."Detailing Biden’s attempts at forestalling such a cut, the piece said, "For days, the White House sought to prevent the cut of two million barrels a day. It called on some of its closest Arab allies — starting with Saudi Arabia, where Mr. Biden visited in July, and met with the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman." Biden made the move despite "objections of human rights organizations and even some of his own advisers," the report noted, referring to anger over the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Kashoggi, approved by Bin Salman.OPEC+ MINISTERS AGREE TO CUT PRODUCTION BY 2M BARRELS PER DAY A look inside of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel. The Times report added, "He took the risk, officials said at the time, to address a variety of national security concerns — but mostly to increase the supply of oil — even if it meant withstanding the critique that he was partaking in the rehabilitation of Prince Mohammed, who the C.I.A. concluded approved the assassination of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018."Biden’s July fist bump with the crown prince during their July meeting sparked anger from media figures who called it "shameful" in light of the Kashoggi killing, and especially after Biden referred to Saudi Arabia as a "pariah" during his 2020 election campaign. Though the Biden administration perceived that this "fist bump diplomacy" was successful. The Times report said, "The quiet understanding emerging from the trip was that Saudi Arabia would increase its production by about 750,000 barrels a day, and that the United Arab Emirates would follow suit with an additional 500,000." The Times report claimed that the OPEC gas cut will raise gas prices ahead of the midterms, which will affect the Democratic Party's chances in winning races. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)That didn’t last. The piece reported, "The production cut announced Wednesday will reduce global daily production by about 2 percent, though some of that is a phantom reduction because the group’s members were already underproducing from their own goals. But its effect on prices may be greater, upward of 15 to 30 cents a gallon at the pump, experts estimated."It added, "And for Mr. Biden, with midterm elections only a month away, the timing could not be worse."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Gabriel Hays is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @gabrieljhays. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks during the Jeddah Security and Development Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 16, 2022. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, July 16 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took a step to mending their troubled relationship with a fist bump, but the U.S. leader left the kingdom on Saturday with few big successes and doubts as to whether the visit was worth it.Biden's four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, his first to the Middle East as president, aimed to reset ties with the Gulf Arab oil giant, demonstrate U.S. commitment to the region and counter the rising influence of Iran, Russia and China.But thorny optics overshadowed the Saudi leg as Biden avoided appearing to embrace a crown prince implicated by U.S. intelligence in the brutal 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a charge Saudi authorities deny.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBiden said he confronted Prince Mohammed, known as MbS, over the killing. MbS remained unbowed, telling Biden the United States had also made mistakes. read more Though Biden left the Middle East without securing an immediate pledge by Saudi Arabia to boost oil output or public support for U.S. efforts for a regional security axis that would include Israel, the trip was not a wash. read more Biden's fist bump with Prince Mohammed in front of the royal palace in Jeddah will serve as the defining image of the trip, but it was months in the making. White House officials were divided over rewarding MbS with a visit and agonized over how it would look.In the end, they decided that keeping strategic ties with Saudi Arabia that have weathered 80 years was important for U.S. interests and would help the two sides turn the page.Riyadh took several important steps to pave a path for the visit, including backing a U.N.-brokered truce in the Yemen conflict, a big victory for Biden, who pulled U.S support for Saudi-led offensive operations. It also helped accelerate already approved boosts in oil production through OPEC+."The summit of the nine Arab leaders is a clear accomplishment as is the backing for the truce in Yemen. But these accomplishments have come at the cost of the fist bump," said Bruce Riedel, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution.Biden came to Saudi Arabia hoping to convince the OPEC heavyweight to boost oil production, but the kingdom held firm on its strategy that it must operate within the framework of the OPEC+ alliance, which includes Russia, and not act unilaterally.High gasoline prices have fueled a surge in inflation in the United States and globally, dragging down Biden's poll numbers as he heads into critical congressional elections in November.However, White House officials are confident their diplomatic efforts will help shape the conversation when OPEC+ members hold their next meeting."All eyes are on the August 3 OPEC+ meeting. If the Saudis and the UAE want to raise output, they will do it via OPEC+. But we have to keep in mind the demand picture is softening. I'm not sure these countries are convinced the market needs more crude supply," said Ben Cahill, an energy analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.ISRAELI-SAUDI RELATIONSThe trip saw a small warming of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel after Riyadh said it would open its airspace to all air carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel.There was also a U.S.-brokered deal between Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia under which a small U.S.-led international peacekeeping contingent would quit the strategic island of Tiran, control of which was ceded to Riyadh by Cairo in 2017.The United States and Israel hope those moves and the summit could help build momentum toward Israel’s further integration into the region, including with Saudi Arabia. read more But the Saudi foreign minister poured cold water over any imminent normalization with Israel, saying this was not a precursor to further steps. He said Riyadh was not part of any discussions on a Gulf-Israeli defense alliance to counter Iran.On Thursday, the U.S. and Israel signed a joint pledge on Thursday to deny nuclear arms to Iran, a show of unity by allies long divided over diplomacy with Tehran. The declaration was part of Biden's efforts to rally regional allies around U.S. efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran.Saudi Arabia and Israel were not happy with the original nuclear deal brokered by former President Barack Obama's administration and celebrated when Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, quit the pact.Now, Biden is asking for patience, assuring them that the United States is willing to use force as a last resort if talks fail and Iran continues what the West believes is a program to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.Saudi Arabia and the UAE want regional concerns over Iran's missile program and regional proxies to be addressed.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
[1/5] U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff arrive at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, in Metro Manila, Philippines, November 20, 2022. REUTERS/Eloisa LopezWASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in the Philippines on Sunday for talks aimed at reviving ties with the former U.S. colony, an Asian ally that is central to U.S. efforts to counter China's increasingly assertive policies towards Taiwan.Harris, who will meet President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., visits the region as the Biden administration seeks to shore up relations with allies worried about growing Chinese influence in Southeast Asia and possible conflict over Taiwan, the self-governing island China regards as its own.The Philippines is an important part of this diplomatic push. Military access to the country, just 120 miles (193 km)from Taiwan and adjacent to the South China Sea, would greatly complicate any attempt by China to invade Taiwan, according to military analysts.In Marcos, son and namesake of the Philippines' onetime dictator, President Joe Biden and his national security aides see a strategic and strong ally for its top foreign policy challenge - competition with China - according to administration officials."It makes sense to invest high-level attention to restore deepened cooperation across the board with this youthful, populous, prospering, and strategically located ally," said Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia under former President Barack Obama and now with the Asia Society.Earlier, Harris said she had told China's President Xi Jinping, whom she met on Saturday at the APEC summit in Thailand, that Washington did not seek confrontation with China."We welcome competition but we do not see conflict, we do not seek confrontation," Harris told a news conference in Bangkok before leaving for Manila.REBUILDING TIESHer visit will be the highest-level trip to the Philippines by an administration official and marks a sharp turnaround in relations.Marcos' predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, frustrated Washington with a strongman approach, perceived closeness to Beijing and a bellicose tone that included appearing to call Obama a "son of a bitch".With Marcos in office, the Biden administration is attempting a reset.Biden called Marcos the night after his victory was announced, largely avoiding thorny issues, to send a congratulatory message, according to a person familiar with the call.Biden also dispatched Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, to Marcos' June inauguration with a personal, signed letter where he said he looked forward to welcoming Marcos to the United States, according to a U.S. official.The leaders are expected to discuss both Taiwan and the South China Sea as well as share notes on Marcos' Thursday meeting with Xi and Biden's with the Chinese leader on Monday."The U.S. is not taking us for granted," said Manila's ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez. "Marcos, of course, is responding to this in a manner that shows the U.S. that we are your friends."FINDING ALLIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIAIn Asia, the United States faces challenges in building a coalition to deter Chinese action against Taiwan. Many countries in the region are reluctant to antagonize their giant neighbor, which is not just a military power but also a key trading partner and source of investment.While Washington is integrated with Japan's and South Korea's militaries and economies, it faces more skepticism of its China strategy among Southeast Asia's diverse voices.In response, the Biden administration has taken a range of steps, including hosting ASEAN leaders at the White House for the first time ever in May, and asking Congress for $800 million in 2023 spending in the region.Biden himself has visited the region, with stops in Cambodia and Indonesia.Harris will send a pointed symbolic message to China on Tuesday when she meets members of the Philippines' coast guard in a Palawan province island city at the edge of the South China Sea.Beijing claims some territories in the waters off Palawan and much of that sea, which is believed to contain massive oil and gas deposits.China claims 90% of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory, but is opposed by five Southeast Asian states and Taiwan.Washington is investing millions to help modernize the Philippine military, but the country has not committed to supporting any U.S. intervention in a conflict over Taiwan.Romualdez said in September that the Philippines would only offer assistance "if it is important for us, for our own security.""Any overt campaign planning against China, planning for Taiwan, is still very sensitive," said Randall Schriver, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense. "All of that has to be navigated carefully."Arsenio Andolong, a Philippine defense department spokesman, said there was no reason for China to fear Harris' visit."We have no engagement with her during her visit," said Andolong. "So there should be no reason for any of our neighbors to feel threatened."Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Karen Lema and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee, Daniel Wallis and Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryFour Russia-occupied regions announce referendum plansVotes to be held on whether to become part of RussiaUkraine and the West regard votes as sham and illegalFrance's Macron calls plan 'a parody' of democracyKYIV, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Moscow-installed leaders in occupied areas of four Ukrainian regions plan to hold referendums on joining Russia in coming days, a challenge to the West that could sharply escalate the war and drew condemnation from Ukraine and its allies."The Russians can do whatever they want. It will not change anything," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday in response to reporters' questions at the United Nations.In a tweet, he added: "Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comU.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington rejected any such referendums "unequivocally," and the European Union and Canada condemned the plan.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc and its member states would not recognise the outcome of the referendums and would consider further measures against Russia if the votes went ahead.French President Emmanuel Macron and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda both used the word "parody" to describe the planned votes.In the apparently coordinated move, pro-Russian figures announced referendums for Sept. 23-27 in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, representing around 15% of Ukrainian territory, or an area about the size of Hungary.Russia already considers Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region Moscow partially occupied in 2014, to be independent states. Ukraine and the West consider all parts of Ukraine held by Russian forces to be illegally occupied.MOSCOW TO ORDER MOBILISATION?Some pro-Kremlin figures framed the referendums as an ultimatum to the West to accept Russian territorial gains or face an all-out war with a nuclear-armed foe."Encroachment onto Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of self–defence," Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and now hawkish deputy chairman of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council, said on social media.Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin RT TV station, wrote: "Today a referendum, tomorrow recognition as part of the Russian Federation, the day after tomorrow strikes on Russian territory become a full-fledged war between Ukraine and NATO and Russia, untying Russia's hands in every respect."Vehicles drive past advertising boards, including panels displaying pro-Russian slogans, in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Luhansk, Ukraine September 20, 2022. One of the boards reads: "World changes - truth stays. Army of Russia". REUTERS/Alexander ErmochenkoThe United States and NATO allies that have been backing Ukraine with weapons and other support said such plebiscites would be meaningless.If the referendum plan "wasn't so tragic it would be funny," Macron told reporters in New York, where leaders were arriving for a United Nations General Assembly meeting likely to be dominated by the war in Ukraine. read more A spokesperson for Lithuania's Nauseda quoted him as saying: "These regions are and will be Ukraine, and Russia's sham referendums are illegal. Lithuania will never recognise them."Reframing the fighting in occupied territory as an attack on Russia could give Moscow a justification to mobilise its 2 million-strong military reserves. Moscow has so far resisted such a move despite mounting losses in what it calls a limited "special military operation" rather than a war.Sullivan said Washington was aware of reports that Putin might be considering ordering a mobilisation, which Sullivan said would do nothing to undermine Ukraine's ability to push back Russian aggression.Russia has declared capturing all of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces to be its main aim since its invasion forces were defeated in March on the outskirts of Kyiv.It now holds about 60% of Donetsk and had captured nearly all of Luhansk by July after slow advances during months of intense fighting. Those gains are now under threat after Russian forces were driven from neighbouring Kharkiv province this month, losing control of their main supply lines for much of the Donetsk and Luhansk front lines.The referendums were announced a day after Ukraine said its troops had recaptured a foothold in Luhansk, the village of Bilohorivka, and were preparing to advance across the province.Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV that the referendums are "illegitimate....And the (Ukrainian) president and his administration have made it plain that if they hold a referendum, we will resolve the matter strictly by means of force, by liberating our territory."The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on Tuesday evening that its operations in Donetsk near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka caused Russia to suffer "significant losses." But Russia shelled those towns and dozens more in northeastern and southern Ukraine, the general staff said. Reuters could not independently verify those reports.In the south, Russia controls most of Zaporizhzhia but not its regional capital. In Kherson, where the regional capital is the only major city Russia has so far captured intact since the invasion, Ukraine has launched a major counter-offensive.Unverified footage on social media showed Ukrainian forces in Bilohorivka, which lies just 10 km (6 miles) west of the city of Lysychansk that fell to the Russians after weeks of some of the war's most intense fighting in July.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The European Commission condemned as "heinous attacks" Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Monday that killed civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure."They are barbaric and cowardly attacks" Peter Stano, a spokesperson for the European Union's executive arm told a regular news briefing.He described the strikes as a contravention of international humanitarian law and said it amounted a "further escalation" of the war in Ukraine that was totally unacceptable.Referring to a complaint by Moldova that three cruise missiles fired by Russia had violated its airspace, he said using airspace of neighbouring countries to attack Ukraine was also unacceptable.Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted: "Such acts have no place in 21st century. I condemn them in the strongest possible terms. We stand with Ukraine. Additional military support from the EU is on its way."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout
Editing by John ChalmersOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Military chiefs believe the war in Ukraine has reached a stalematePrime Minister Rishi Sunak has asked for an assessment of the progress of the war in Ukraine, BBC Newsnight has learnt.Senior figures fear the PM may be taking an overly cautious approach as the war enters a key phase.One Whitehall source likened the exercise to a "Goldman Sachs dashboard" examination of the war and how UK military supplies are used.Downing Street insists that Mr Sunak is strongly supportive of Ukraine.In a tweet, Mr Sunak said the UK was with Ukraine "all the way" during a visit to the country last month, his first overseas trip as prime minister.A Downing Street source added that it was not true that Sunak was being overly cautious and that "the UK government's support for Ukraine is unwavering".But the request has raised alarm bells in some corners of Whitehall as military chiefs say weapons supplies to Ukraine may prove decisive in the winter months ahead.The Whitehall source said: "Wars aren't won [by dashboards]. Wars are won on instinct. At the start of this it was Boris (Johnson) sitting down and saying: 'Let's just go for this.' So Rishi needs to channel his inner Boris on foreign policy though not of course on anything else."The source said the audit, known as a data-driven assessment, is designed to assess the progress of the war and the significance of the UK's military contributions to Ukraine. The source said: "This is about looking at what we have put in, what we have got out."The UK has been one of the biggest suppliers of military aid to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded the country in February.BBC Newsnight has been told that Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is aware of the debate within the UK and is encouraging Mr Sunak to maintain strong military support for his country."President Zelensky has sensed what is going on," the source said. "So he has been talking to Rishi. He is trying to inspire him, saying the UK are the great liberators, the great fighters. We need you. Rise to that."The proposed assessment of the war comes at a crucial point in the conflict. Key figures in Whitehall believe that Ukraine and Russia have fought themselves to a standstill.The only way, they say, for one side to pull ahead is by substantially increasing their supply of weaponry. Russia has effectively run out of supplies. Ukraine can only resupply weapons with the help of the US and the main military powers in Europe, led by the UK.Sign of cautionWhitehall sources say that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, delivered that message in diplomatic terms in a lecture this week. Sir Tony made clear the Russian military "cupboard is bare" and he appeared to issue a rallying cry for continued support for Ukraine.The chief of the defence staff told the Royal United Services Institute: "Extraordinary times call for an extraordinary response. This explains why Russia is losing. And the free world is winning… Providing we maintain our cohesion and resolve, the real victory within our grasp is much more significant."Ukraine also made an appeal this week for more weaponry. General Valery Zaluzhny, the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, told the Economist: "I know that I can beat this enemy. But I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 ifvs [infantry fighting vehicles], 500 Howitzers."The US Congress gave the Pentagon approval in principle earlier this month to buy substantial weaponry for Ukraine. But the Economist reported that this may not arrive in time for a spring offensive next year.Some in Whitehall see this approach as a sign of the innate caution on Ukraine by US President Joe Biden who is understood to be concerned about provoking a wider global conflict. There are some fears in Whitehall that Mr Sunak may end up encouraging Mr Biden's caution.The source told Newsnight: "We have stiffened the US resolve at all levels - pressure from us but always friendly. We don't want Rishi to reinforce Biden's caution. We want him to pushing in the way Boris did."You can watch Nicholas Watt's full report on Newsnight at 22:30 GMT on BBC Two | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, Russian state media reported, in the first visit to Russia by a Chinese official in that role since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly a year ago.
Wang, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, is making the high-profile visit as the final stop in an eight-day international tour that included visits to France, Italy, and Hungary, as well as Germany for a security conference.
He will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, Russian state media TASS reported, citing the Russian foreign ministry. While neither country has specified whether Wang will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that “we do not exclude” such a meeting.
Wang’s trip comes after US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday in a show of support for the embattled country, which Washington and its European allies have rallied together to back over the past year through both military and humanitarian aid, and economic sanctions against Russia.
The diplomat arrived in Moscow just days after US officials went public with concerns about how China’s continuing partnership with Russia could have an impact on the war in Ukraine.
The Chinese leadership has claimed impartiality in the conflict but refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, instead expanding trade ties and continuing joint military exercises, including this week.
But during engagements in European cities in recent days, Wang built on China’s framing of itself as a proponent of peace and negotiation, saying at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday that Beijing would release its position on a “political settlement” of the crisis.
Those remarks were met with suspicion from some Western leaders who are closely watching for any support China lends to its northern neighbor, especially that which crosses certain “red lines” articulated by Washington.
US warns China could supply Russia with ‘lethal support’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration had concerns that Beijing is considering stepping up its partnership with Moscow by supplying the Russian military with “lethal support” as Russia prepares for an expected new offensive.
“We’ve been watching this very closely,” Blinken told CBS’ “Face the Nation” from the MSC in an interview that aired Sunday. “The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”
Blinken also warned Wang “about the implications and consequences” if China increases its support for Russia’s war effort, during a meeting between the two on the sidelines of the conference, according to a US readout.
A senior State Department official told reporters that Blinken “was quite blunt in warning about the implications and consequences of China providing material support to Russia or assisting Russia with systematic sanctions evasion.”
US officials familiar with the intelligence told CNN earlier Saturday that the US has recently begun seeing “disturbing” trendlines in China’s support for Russia’s military and there are signs that Beijing wants to “creep up to the line” of providing lethal military aid to Russia without getting caught.
Those officials would not describe in detail what intelligence the US has seen suggesting a recent shift in China’s posture, but said US officials have been concerned enough that they have shared the intelligence with allies and partners in Munich over the last several days.
At the MSC, Wang said China was “deeply concerned” by the extended crisis and was not adding “fuel to the fire” – a phrase Beijing’s diplomats have used in the past to accuse the US of perpetuating the conflict. China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said the US, not China, was the one sending a “steady stream of weapons to the battlefield.”
Wang did not mention the trip to Russia during his prepared remarks or a following live-streamed conversation Saturday on the main stage of the Munich conference, when he was asked by MSC Foundation Council President Wolfgang Ischinger if China was prepared to act on “its position that it respects the territorial integrity” of Ukraine and if so, how.
In meetings with European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during the earlier phase of his tour last week, Wang stressed China’s commitment to peace talks and an end to the war. The tour was seen as part of China’s bid to bolster its ties with Europe, where analysts say Beijing’s image has been damaged in the past year due to its ties with Moscow.
A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said last Monday that Wang’s visit to Moscow would provide an opportunity for China and Russia to continue to develop their strategic partnership and “exchange views” on “international and regional hotspot issues of shared interest” – a catch-all phrase often used to allude to topics including the war in Ukraine.
“China is ready to take this visit as an opportunity and work with Russia to promote steady growth of bilateral relations in the direction identified by the two heads of state, defend the legitimate rights and interests of both sides, and play an active role for world peace,” the spokesman said.
Wang’s visit may also foreshadow a state visit by Xi to Moscow later this year. Putin extended an invitation to Xi during a customary end-of-year call between the two leaders, but China’s Foreign Ministry has yet to confirm any plans.
In an editorial Tuesday, state-run nationalist tabloid the Global Times hailed the friendship between China and Russia as “a positive asset of the world,” and accused some in the West of attempting to use the conflict in Ukraine to “hijack” Sino-Russian relations.
“The United States has viewed the friendly relations between China and Russia with thick tinted glasses from the very beginning,” it said. “In fact, no matter whether the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, the US does not want to see China and Russia develop close relations. The suspicion, provocation and sabotage from Washington have never ceased.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Ellen KnickmeyerForeign policy, national security, foreign policy & climateEllenKnickmeyerDebate over how to handle a North Korean ballistic missile launch over Japanese territory split an already deeply fractured U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, with Russia and China insisting that U.S.-led military exercises in the region had provoked North Korea into acting.Wednesday’s session ended with no agreement on next steps, despite warnings from the U.S. and its allies that the council’s inability to reach consensus on North Korea’s record number of missile launches this year was emboldening North Korea and undermining the authority of the United Nations’ most powerful body.”This council should be mindful that it is being tested and its credibility is at stake. This council should act, and produce an action that restores its credibility,” said Hiroshi Minami, Japan’s deputy representative to the U.N. and one of those unsuccessfully urging the council back into its formerly unified stand over North Korea’s launches.North Korea’s missile flight Tuesday was its longest-range weapons test ever, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that soared over Japan and had enough punch to reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond. It forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and halt trains.The U.N. said it was one of North Korea’s unprecedented 39 ballistic missile launches so far this year, including the eight most recent ones in a single 10-day period. It comes as North Korea also appears to be moving toward a seventh test nuclear blast, the U.N. says. Within hours of the council meeting, South Korea announced a new North Korean missile launch, bringing the year’s total to 40.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to develop a fully fledged nuclear arsenal capable of threatening the U.S. mainland and the territory of U.S. allies, with a goal of wresting concessions from those countries, some experts say.Tuesday’s launch was the first that Kim has aimed over Japan since 2017. It came within days of a U.S.-led military exercise in the Sea of Japan with allies Japan and South Korea. The exercise included a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier.Russia’s deputy U.N. representative, Anna Evstigneeva, insisted to Security Council members that it was the “irresponsibility” of that U.S.-led exercise, along with growing U.S. alliances with partners in the Asia-Pacific region, that prompted North Korea’s action.China’s deputy U.N. representative, Geng Shuang, depicted the matter as a confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea, and urged a more conciliatory approach by Washington.Wednesday’s session ended only with a vague call for more discussion on the matter. It served as the latest example of a growing polarization pitting Russia and China against fellow permanent Security Council members the United States, United Kingdom and France. Brought to the forefront by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s military assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. response to it, and other matters, the divide has paralyzed the Security Council on many key actions. That’s because all five permanent members have the power to veto council actions.The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006, and tightened them over the years seeking to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and cut off funding. In May, however, China and Russia blocked a Security Council resolution that would have toughened sanctions over the missile launches, in the first serious rift on the council over the sanctions against North Korea.Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told Security Council members Wednesday that “two permanent members of the Security Council have enabled Kim Jong Un.”Past missile launches this year had clearly been launched without any concurrent U.S. military exercises or any other clear triggers, Thomas-Greenfield said, calling North Korea’s a “self-initiated escalation.”“We won’t tolerate any country blaming our defensive actions…as somehow the inherent cause of these threats,” she said. She added, “The United States will not stand by as the DPRK directly threatens” the U.S. or its allies. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The son of Iran’s last shah says the Islamist regime is splintering
In an interview, Reza Pahlavi says the United States and Europe should help the Iranian people and a newly unified opposition exploit cracks in Iran’s leadership.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, has often been seen as a solo actor determined to bring about the end of the Islamist forces that took over his native country more than 40 years ago. But recently, as a wave of protests inside Iran threatened the regime there, Pahlavi has united with other top Iranian opposition figures with the same goal. The group is working on a charter for a future democratic Iran. On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Pahlavi offered a glimpse of what it will include and called on the West to do more to help Iranians desperate for freedom.
This interview was a collaboration between POLITICO and the German newspaper WELT. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The Munich Security Conference didn’t invite an official Iranian delegation this year. Instead, you and opposition activist Masih Alinejad are here. What is your goal in Munich?
We are very happy that after 43 years, this is the first time that the world is really engaging with the people who represent an alternative to this regime. The paradigm has changed — and the way we see governments taking action — including Germany. For the oppressed, this is incredibly empowering. We want to explain that everything is tied to this regime: whether it’s the nuclear threat, terrorism, Iranian-made drones attacking Ukraine or more and more refugees coming to an already saturated Europe. Not to mention that Iran could be the exporter of gas for your energy needs, so you wouldn’t have to worry every winter what Putin is going to do next. But that depends on us winning this fight.
Europe, and especially the U.S., are already putting sanctions on Iran. Should they continue the strategy of maximum pressure or what else could they do to support the opposition?
The next level would be to target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to go after specific individuals and their assets abroad. However, you should also start building a policy of maximum support. For instance, one of the most vital elements for Iranians is access to internet to bypass the censorship of the regime. That kind of technological assistance must be sent in. Another idea is creating a strike fund to compensate Iranian workers who go on strike, because this is the quickest way to paralyze the system.
How would you send the money to Iran in times of U.S. sanctions against financial transfer?
Frozen assets of the regime can be used, which is the Iranian people’s money. That money can be repurposed. We’re not asking for Germans to put money in the Iranian people’s pocket. It’s just a matter of making the decision to use the assets which are already there. I’m sure there should be some options of making exceptions to the sanctions to bring the money to the people, not to the dictator.
Are you disappointed that Europe didn’t list the Revolutionary Guards as a terror organization yet?
Well, our Spanish friend [Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief] is not helping too much, is he? There must be a legal way to do that. Whatever it takes, but that’s our expectation. The IRGC is a legalized mafia. It not only has the control of the economy, but it is also a paramilitary instrument, the backbone of the regime’s leader, [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. The Islamic Republic deploys troops, tanks, and artillery, not to fight a foreign invader, but to kill its own people. The EU cannot say that they stand for freedom and human rights and at the same time does not sanction the biggest instrument of repression.
How crucial is the listing for the success of a revolution?
It is necessary in order for defections to occur. We would like to reduce the level of human losses by showing the military that they can be part of the future, especially those who haven’t committed heinous crimes. The more they see that they are also targeted, it will give them more incentive to switch sides.
How likely is it that they will do so?
The top echelon of the IRGC is like the top of the Politburo during the Soviet Union. They are benefiting from their financial control and corruption. But that doesn’t trickle down to the lower ranks. The average guy is working two jobs to make ends meet. In the hearts the military is prepared to come towards the people. But to do so they need to have a clear sense of the alternative and understand the crucial role that they could play during the transition to maintain law and order. We need them for that. But for this, they must see that the world is supportive of that change.
Do you see cracks within the Islamic regime?
The cohesion of the regime is Khamenei himself. He has been desperately trying to promote his son as his successor, which is very difficult to achieve once he’s gone. There are already many splinters within what we call the tent of the leader. There’s a rift and it affects the IRGC as well. Meanwhile, there’s a large number of what we refer to as the gray layer — people who are undecided. Former reformists are now coming to the scene saying we have to move beyond reform.
You and other prominent figures of the opposition in exile lately presented the idea of a common charter for transition. Is it written yet?
It’s been 95 percent finalized. We are very close to announcing it. But first we want to make sure that it passes the approval of the people back in Iran. The charter is addressing the minimal conditions that the biggest width of the secular democratic forces can agree upon. The instrument that will make the final decision should be the Constituent Assembly. There might be some differences of opinion, which we leave for a new parliament to decide. Important now is: What do we do when the regime collapses? We have groups that are focusing, for instance, on the economy, judicial issues, and transitional justice.
Can you tell us the first sentence of the charter?
I don’t have a sentence for you, but a concept of what I’ve learned having traveled to so many different countries. There are three fundamentals — demands that any human being on this planet, regardless of nationality or culture, will have. The first one is freedom and a true sense of liberty. The second is participation. And the third, which, I think is even more important than the first two, is dignity. These principles are embedded in the Declaration of Human Rights, which is the reference text that hopefully Iran’s future constitution will be based on.
How many people in Iran are you approaching for signature?
It’s a very broad approach. The messaging is mostly through social media. We have constant Zoom calls or Google Meets with people inside, activists, political prisoners. It’s a direct dialogue. Then it gets dispersed among their own networks in universities, among teachers. The student movement is very important.
Why did it take more than 40 years for the opposition to work together?
I wish it happened 40 years ago. That was the first time I mentioned in an article that we must have a referendum and a constituent assembly to decide the future. But sometimes it takes time, and there is the factor of religion. Today, clerics have lost complete respect, mosques are empty and that’s because of those who have used religion as a pretext to commit crimes. A lot of people that are devoted Muslims in Iran don’t want that. They had to learn it the hard way.
And why was there no unified opposition in exile earlier?
It’s not that we didn’t want to come together. The dynamics of political change in Iran today are far more geared to the demand of the street as opposed to some groups who were lined up based on ideological preferences. The opposition had to reinvent itself — in the sense that what we do or say today must be relevant to the people on the street.
One of the groups not represented in the unified opposition is one that calls itself the biggest Iranian opposition group in exile — the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. What role, if any, do they play? Do you and other opposition figures talk with them as well?
To me, the biggest problem is that they have their own internal limitations of having an open dialogue with any other democratic forces. It’s a little bit of a cult mentality that prohibits its members from free dialogue. As such, participating in an open process is almost impossible for them, because the minute they commit to that, they will collapse internally. Political inclusion is based on accepting democratic rules. If these principles that will be in the charter are something they are willing to sign up for, why not? But that’s up to them. To this day, they have never wanted to actually accept that.
Your family was part of the monarchy. How can people trust that you will be part of a democratic process?
First, because they know that I’m my own man and that no son or daughter could be held accountable for whatever their parents did. I was 17 years old when I left my country. And all I’ve been saying since is “Hey, I’m not running for any office here.” I’m simply trying to see a transition where people get to decide. This is a much more valuable role that I can play without being entangled in the patterns of state or governance.
We also need a cultural change, and democratic culture is not impregnated in the nation. I can contribute more to that direction because I lived 40 years of my life in free countries, in America, in France, visiting countries like Germany. Helping with the educational process is much more my interest than to be sitting at the table with a bunch of ministers and deciding policies of the day, or even being stuck in the palace as a symbolic leader, muzzled and not free to speak my mind. I’m not fighting for your freedom to be the first victim of it myself.
Several hundred thousand people signed an online petition to give you the power of attorney. What do you make of that?
A lot of people understand how crucial my role can be in a transition. But that has nothing to do with whether we have a republic or a monarchy in the future. People automatically assume that I’m the candidate for the monarchy. Not necessarily. If my choice is between a secular republic elected by the people versus an institution that is still based on hereditary transition, I cannot reconcile that with democratic norms.
The negotiations for a new nuclear deal are stalled but Iran is enriching uranium as we speak. Is there any advice you’re giving foreign leaders on how to deal with this?
Our argument is: The best way for you to eliminate the danger once and for all is to eliminate the regime. Because how trustworthy was the regime before, even after signing some agreement? During the Obama administration, we saw the released funds going to the various brigades in Lebanon or Syria instead of serving the country’s interests. Time is running out. And we have an opportunity now with the Iranian people themselves to put an end to the problem once and for all.
In Israel, there was lately a very large military exercise together with the U.S. People are talking about the so-called military option to end Iran’s nuclear program …
… which is a nightmare. Particularly at a point when the people of that nation say, “Hey, we are in the streets, help us get rid of the regime.“ How did we put an end to apartheid? At some point, we came to the defense of those who wanted an end to it. How did we put an end to [Gen. Wojciech] Jaruzelski in Poland? By helping Lech Walesa and company in their Solidarity movement.
Why shouldn’t Iran be part of the same rationale? We are already putting our lives on the line and losing people every day. Work with us. You have the best army in place: the people. The minute this regime goes, we’ll be working hard to achieve stability. We need to work with the Israelis, with the Arab neighbors. We need to work with the Europeans on energy matters and security matters.
Can you imagine going back to Iran?
I see myself in a trailer traveling the four corners of the country, camping out just to interact with people. That’s how you can feel what people really want and then show them ways to be more impactful in decision-making. I think the secret to established democracies is that their citizens are proactive. It’s very hard to insert a mentality of proactiveness in a very traditional Middle Eastern culture which always sits back and says, “somebody do something for me.” But this generation is not waiting anymore. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! President Biden's foreign trip has succeeded in making America look weak, as the president moves on to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after an "embarrassing" visit to Israel and with the Palestinians, a top foreign policy expert told Fox News on Friday.Heritage Foundation vice president James Jay Carafano said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum" that the trip has wrongly been considered a "nothingburger" — pointing out the lack of tangible deliverables for the U.S. amid several instances of regional leaders making Biden – and by extension the U.S. – look terrible.All this is transpiring as rival Russia seeks weaponry commerce with Iran, Carafano said."We've already seen the Israel piece, which literally was nothing. And the expectations here are zero: But when you put this in the bigger context: Putin is going to visit Iran. Iran's going to sell UAVs to Russia. And the U.S. government publicly acknowledges that Iran is trying to kill former U.S. officials," he said.BIDEN ‘COMMITTED TO KEEP AMERICA WEAK’: BRUCE President Biden boards Air Force One for a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia on July 12, 2022, at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)"Meanwhile, the Palestinians embarrassed the president of the United States by giving him a long list of demands that they want before they'll let the U.S. Dean to come back to talk about a two-state solution [with Israel]. So it's not a nothingburger. Everybody is embarrassing the president — the Saudis, the Palestinians, the Iranians."Carafano called Biden's praise of the Trump-forged Abraham Accords during his visit to Israel "empty words.""The Abraham Accords are moving forward with or without the United States because the region recognizes it's an important thing to do, and it's an important way to block Iran," he said.PENNSYLVANIA GOV. WOLF VETOES TRANSGENDER SPORTS BILL This May 30, 2017, file photo shows Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Moscow's Kremlin. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, Pool, File)Carafano pointed to Democrats wanting to "throw overboard" U.S. relationships with Israel, Egypt, Turkey and the Saudis, saying Biden "went along with the rhetoric knowing it was absolutely not true."He said Biden's "hat-in-hand" trip to these allies and partners this week was the "most predictable moment" despite that."We want this region to be peaceful and stable. It's good for us. Anybody who can explain to me how the United States can partner in this region without friends in Turkey, Israel and Egypt and Saudi Arabia — you can't," Carafano argued.CLICK TO GET FOX NEWS APPIn addition to experts like Carafano, some Democrats have begun publicly voicing concern about Biden's behavior on the trip — with a New Jersey Democrat in a tight House race saying he's "not entirely comfortable" with the imagery of the president "fist-bumping" Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Rep. Tom Malinowski of Somerville told another network Biden has been more "honest" than Donald Trump about the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and credited his party leader with curbing weapons sales to the Saudis. However, he also argued that the U.S. is "the superpower, not the supplicant in this relationship" and that Biden must achieve tangible results in favor of human rights.On "The Story," Carafano added that Trump was respected in the region because he took direct action to kill militia leader Qassem Soleimani and forged key deals with partner nations, versus Biden's lack of deliverables. Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
China and US defense spending are heading in opposite directions
Earlier this week, on the occasion of the opening of the National People’s Congress, China announced that its defense budget would increase by 7.2 percent in 2023. The official Chinese figure of 1.55 trillion RMB, or about $240 billion, signals the second consecutive year that Beijing’s defense budget rose by more than 7 percent; it increased by 7.1 percent. from 2021 to 2022. Moreover, it marks the 28th consecutive year of increases in Chinese defense spending.
The official Chinese figure does not incorporate a number of major spending categories that are counted in American defense budgets. China does not include all elements of its ever-expanding space program. Nor does it include all research and development costs, foreign weapons procurement — notably from Russia — or defense mobilization funds. Neither does it include bonuses for college students or provincial base operating costs.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) attempts to account for many of the categories that do not appear in the official Chinese budget. It estimates that Beijing’s 2022 budget amounted to $242.4 billion; however, in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), which compares economies based on differences in countries’ cost of living, the number rises to $360 billion. Thus, the recently announced increase for 2023 would constitute a total of nearly $260 billion, or just over $385 billion in PPP terms.
American spending on defense continues to dwarf Beijing’s budget. The Biden administration has announced a Department of Defense top line of $842 billion, more than double that of China. Yet, the United States does not field forces only to deter China; it also seeks to deter Russian aggression against NATO. Moreover, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin this week visited the Middle East to reassure America’s friends in the region that the United States would not abandon them. He even visited Iraq to announce that American units would remain in that country. Maintaining American commitments in Europe and the Middle East, and smaller levels of American military presence elsewhere, reduce the level of expenditure that Washington can apply directly to countering China’s aggression.
In addition, the Biden defense budget includes numerous programs that do not contribute directly to military effectiveness. These range from programs and benefits whose intent is to ensure planned recruitment and retention levels, to expenditures to combat climate change that extend beyond programs such as protection of bases from the effects of hurricanes or flooding.
Of even greater concern is the trajectory of overall American spending on defense compared to that of China. The new Biden budget that calls for a 3.2 percent growth in defense spending represents, at the very most, a tiny real increase over last year’s congressionally approved defense appropriation. That increase presupposes the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) assumption that inflation will only increase in 2024 by 2.4 percent. The OMB assumption appears to rest on a long-term average rate of 2.3 percent, which certainly is not the economy’s current rate.
Inflation has slowed over the past several months, but it is still running at a rate above 6 percent — and defense-related inflation tends to be higher than the nation’s overall rate, which reflects the Consumer Price Index.
It therefore is not very likely that inflation will drop to the OMB-estimated level, even if the Federal Reserve increases interest rates throughout this year. As a result, the Biden budget could be presaging a real decline in defense spending — at a time when China’s budget represents a doubling of defense expenditure over the past decade.
The president’s fiscal year 2024 defense budget request sets as its baseline the $43 billion congressionally-mandated increase over the administration’s FY 2023 $773 billion request.
It is possible that, as appears to have been the case last year, the administration anticipates another major congressional increase. But that may not necessarily come to pass. The composition of the House has changed and there are more Republican members who are unwilling to countenance large defense spending increases — if any — above the president’s budget. Some even would support a reduction in defense spending. Moreover, the administration plans to request more funds to support Ukraine, which some on Capitol Hill see as simply an expansion of defense spending.
It is, therefore, highly disappointing that — in the face of China’s ongoing military buildup, Russia’s aggression, and Biden’s strong commitment not to abandon the Middle East — the administration essentially has chosen to hold defense spending flat, relative to last year. In particular, it appears that Chinese and American defense spending are heading in opposite directions.
How America’s enemies — and its friends — will interpret the new budget, in terms of the credibility of America’s worldwide commitments, very much will remain an open and worrisome question.
Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was under secretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy under secretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
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The United States has offered full-throated support to India following reports of renewed clashes between Indian and Chinese troops on their ill-demarcated border.The Department of Defense "continues to closely watch developments along the line of actual control at the India-China border," said Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's spokesperson, on Tuesday in reference to the 2,100-mile boundary known as the LAC.India's defense chief, Rajnath Singh, had earlier confirmed newspaper reports about a "physical scuffle" that took place on December 9 in Tawang, a town in the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh—which China claims in its entirety as part of Tibet. As is typical of these incidents at the border, the face-off involved fists, sticks and stones, according to The Hindu.Singh told parliamentarians that soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army had tried to "unilaterally change the status quo" by crossing the LAC, resulting in non-fatal injuries on both sides as the Indian Army resisted. It was the first incident to be made public since a skirmish in June 2020, in which 20 Indian and at least four Chinese troops were killed.The incident in Tawang reflected a "growing trend by the [People's Republic of China] to assert itself and to be provocative in areas directed towards U.S. allies and our partners in the Indo-Pacific," said Ryder."We will continue to remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring the security of our partners and we fully support India's ongoing efforts to de-escalate this situation," he added, framing Beijing's actions as part of a pattern of land and maritime border disputes across the region.
President Joe Biden, right, meets with Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, at the Quad leaders summit in Tokyo on May 24. Relations between the U.S. and India are changing, in large part because of China, a foreign policy expert told Newsweek.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
The nuclear-armed neighbors fought a war over their Himalayan frontier in 1962, a conflict that allowed China to consolidate strategic positions. But the already fluid lines, which contain snowcaps, ravines and rugged peaks, shift with the seasons, bringing Indian and Chinese patrols together for encounters that sometimes turn into brawls but mostly end in mutually agreed disengagement.Beijing's military appeared to contradict its diplomats on Tuesday after the Chinese foreign ministry had said the situation at the border remained "generally stable."Col. Long Shaohua, spokesperson for the PLA's Western Theater Command, said a routine patrol in the area, which China calls Dongzhang, had been obstructed by "Indian troops who had illegally crossed the LAC.""The Chinese troops made a professional, normative and resolute response, bringing the situation under control," said Long, who called on India to "strictly control and discipline its frontline troops and work with the Chinese side to maintain peace and tranquility in the border area."Indian newspapers reported that the two sides had been jostling for control of a 17,000-foot peak in the area. However, New Delhi is facing a major build-up of Beijing's forces at nearby army and air bases in Tibet.Ryder said China was continuing to "amass forces and build military infrastructure" along the disputed border. It's unclear whether the two sides had intended to keep the latest incident under wraps, with New Delhi's official response coming only after The Hindu's report on Monday.On China's largely insular internet, social media users reacted with a certain degree of frustration after learning about the clash through the foreign press or from Western networking sites, according to the current affairs magazine India Today.After the fatal skirmishes in 2020, the Chinese public had to wait eight months to learn the PLA casualty count. When the information was eventually released, authorities clamped down on scrutiny of the late-coming official figures and the Communist Party's propaganda outlets dubbed the Chinese soldiers martyrs.Sana Hashmi, a researcher at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation think tank in Taipei, said both India and China would prefer less media scrutiny.Although the longstanding border dispute is a bilateral issue, New Delhi would have welcomed Washington's support after last week's clashes, she told Newsweek. "There's no doubt that China's aggression is at the core of the Indo-Pacific," she said."I think it was a very timely response, and a very good response in terms of how they accused China very bluntly," Hashmi said. "This shows how India-U.S. relations are changing, and how China is becoming a binding factor in the relationship."Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the India-China border dispute? Let us know via [email protected]. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
October 11, 2022 09:52 PM President Joe Biden vowed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable after OPEC+ decided to push up oil prices by cutting its production quotas amid Russia's war in Ukraine. "I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be, there will be consequences," Biden said Tuesday. WORLD AWAITS BIDEN'S RESPONSE AS PUTIN UNLEASHES MISSILE STRIKES ON UKRAINE Biden's comments, made to CNN during his third televised interview of the year, come after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the network the president believed the United States needed to reevaluate its relationship with the kingdom after the Saudi-led oil cartel announced its decision last week. Europe is already bracing for an energy crisis, given the continent's dependence on Russian oil and natural gas. During the foreign policy-heavy sit-down, Biden insisted he had "no intention" of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G-20 summit next month in Indonesia, but that position could change if he wanted to talk about detained Americans. For Biden, his "Armageddon" comment, likening the Russia-Ukraine war to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, was "directed" to Putin because he "cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon, as if that’s a rational thing to do." The president acknowledged there had been discussions within his administration about "red lines" in the war but declined to make them public. In a previewed clip, Biden also added he considered Putin a "rational actor," revealing himself not to be a subscriber of the so-called "mad man" theory many people have used to describe the strongman. “I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly,” Biden said. "I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Biden taped the interview after the Group of Seven leaders held an emergency meeting about Russia and Ukraine earlier Tuesday. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
/ Europe HOUR BY HOUR Issued on: 30/10/2022 - 08:48Modified: 30/10/2022 - 13:56 01:48 File photo: A view of the Comorian-flagged general cargo ship "Kubrosli Y." in the Odesa, Ukraine sea port after restarting grain export, August 19, 2022. © Valentyn Ogirenko, Reuters (archives) The European Union on Sunday urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend participation in a vital grain export deal. Russia pulled out of the deal in response to what it called a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet. The suspension will cut shipments from Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain exporters, and deal a blow to attempts to ease a global food crisis triggered by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Follow FRANCE 24 for live updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2). 2:05pm: Russia says it has recovered drones used to attack its Black Sea fleet in CrimeaRussia's defence ministry on Sunday said it had recovered and analysed the wreckage of drones used to attack ships in Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea the day before.The ministry said its analysis showed that the drones were equipped with Canadian-made navigation modules for an attack that it said was carried out by Ukraine under British leadership, a claim Britain has denied.1:16pm: Poland says it and EU partners ready to help Ukraine with goods transportationPoland and its European Union partners stand ready to provide Ukraine with further help in the transportation of essential goods after Russia pulled out of a grain deal, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said on Sunday.Russia's decision to exit the UN-brokered deal that enabled Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea offered "yet more proof that Moscow is not willing to uphold any international agreements," the ministry added on Twitter.12:27pm: Russia says its army repelled attacks by Ukrainian forces in three regionsThe Russian army repelled attacks by Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv, Kherson and Luhansk regions, Russian news agencies cited the defence ministry as saying on Sunday.The ministry said Ukrainian artillery had fired near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but that the radiation situation remained normal, TASS reported.10:24am: France says no basis to Russian accusations against BritainRussian accusations that Britain participated in attacks against the Nord Stream gas pipeline and Russian navy ships in Crimea are without foundation, France's foreign ministry said on Sunday.The accusations formed part of Moscow's strategy "to turn attention away from its sole responsibility in the war of aggression that is it conducting against Ukraine", the ministry's deputy spokesperson said in a statement.French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna tweeted, "By suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia aggravates the global food crisis caused by its agression against Ukraine." 9:35am: EU urges Russia to resume role in Ukraine grain export dealThe European Union on Sunday urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend participation in a vital Ukraine grain export deal."Russia's decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risk the main export route of much-needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted. "The EU urges Russia to [reverse] its decision." Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risks the main export route of much needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine. The EU urges Russia to revert its decision.— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) October 30, 2022 8:44am: Russia suspends participation in Ukraine grain dealMoscow on Saturday suspended its participation in a landmark agreement that allowed vital grain exports from Ukraine, blaming drone attacks on Russian ships in Crimea.Russia made the announcement after its army accused Kyiv earlier Saturday of a "massive" drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a "false pretext". The UN urged the deal's preservation.US President Joe Biden called the move "purely outrageous" while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow was "weaponising food".The July deal to unlock grain exports signed between Russia and Ukraine and brokered by Turkey and the UN is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict. © France Médias Monde graphic studio (FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS) | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
| August 03, 2022 04:03 PM Somebody call Captain Renault. The Biden administration is shocked — shocked! — to learn that the Taliban continue to act like the Taliban. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the weekend. The fact that the Taliban were sheltering al Qaeda’s top leader, and has attempted to cover up that fact, is obviously a problem. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taliban “grossly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries.” Wow, who could have possibly seen this coming? Not the State Department, evidently. Blinken had claimed that the Taliban “seeks international legitimacy and support” in justifying the administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. When the Taliban's members were stocking the Afghan government with men with terrorist ties or when the group was carrying out retaliatory killings against members of the previous government, the State Department meekly declared it was “deeply concerned.” At what point would you think it would be clear to Blinken and the Biden administration that the Taliban wouldn't be trustworthy? The state of the administration is so pathetic that it is repeating the same wishful thinking about the Taliban caring about its perception in the international community. Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last year that the Taliban had to “make an assessment” about their role in the international community. Now, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby is warning the Taliban that they have a “new choice” to comply with the agreement or lose the trust of the international community. Psaki: "The Taliban also has to make an assessment about what they want their role to be in the international community."Um, I'm pretty sure they decided long ago they were comfortable with "terrorist organization." #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/v8Ta8WDnnP— John Cooper (@thejcoop) August 11, 2021 🧵Wow: John Kirby echoing Jen Psaki from almost exactly a year ago, saying the Taliban "have a choice. They can comply with [the Doha agreement]... or they can choose to keep going down a different path and if they go down a different path its going to lead to consequences..." pic.twitter.com/uC6gntf0ko— John Cooper (@thejcoop) August 2, 2022 The Taliban were never going to change their behavior to win some sort of approval from the international community, especially when the Biden administration handed them Afghanistan on a silver platter. The Taliban are exactly who we thought they were — and who they always have been. Somehow, Biden’s foreign policy A-team was filled with the only people who thought otherwise. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Forging and maintaining political unity among the 27 members of the European Union in order to stand up together against Russia's illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine "has not always been easy," Josep Borrell, the bloc's foreign policy chief, has admitted.
His comments were a reflection on the unprecedented and radical measures the EU has taken over the past year, many of which entailed prolonged, heated and down-to-the-wire negotiations.
"It hasn't always been easy, but so far we have managed" to keep unity, Borrell told Euronews on Wednesday after addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
"Some (member states) complained, others disagreed, but in the end, we maintained the unity we needed."
Until now, the EU has slapped the Kremlin with nine packages of sanctions, which include a far-reaching ban on oil imports, more than €35 billion worth of banned exports, the expulsion of key Russian banks from the SWIFT system, and an extensive blacklist of army officials, oligarchs and propagandists.
In his interview with Euronews, Borrell defended the effectiveness of the sanctions, describing them as a "slow-acting but certain poison" that is inflating Russia's budget deficit and crippling critical industrial sectors like car-making and aviation.
"We have done more than what it was thought to be possible," Borrell said.
"Then, we also have the diplomatic battle with the rest of the world, where we do have to do more. I'm not saying we have done it badly, but surely we haven't done it well enough."
"And the military aid (to Ukraine) has to increase and speed up," he went on, without mentioning the fighter jets that Kyiv is pleading to get from Western allies.
"That's what I would ask member states. The way to help Ukraine is now and fast."
Borrell said Russia has now deployed around 300,000 soldiers – double the number of soldiers it had before it launched its war last February – and is waiting to launch an attack "weather permitting."
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid we're going to see this war going on for another year," he said. "The situation is not easy and that's why we, Europeans, have to keep doing more of the same thing."
In parallel, the diplomat added, the EU needs to pursue "by all means" a negotiated peace deal, one that is based on respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity and the UN Charter.
"These are not contradictory things," he said.
However, Borrell stressed, the fate of the war rests on the shoulders of one single man: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Putin has said he has military objectives to fulfill and until he has done so, he won't be willing to stop the war," the high representative said.
"It was he who started the war and it is he who has to stop it." | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin.He took his first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine to shore up relations with troublesome Central Asian allies. He watched as NATO declared Moscow its main enemy and invited Russia’s neighbors Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. And he was forced to deny that his troops had yet again attacked a civilian target in Ukraine.Countering a show of Western unity over Ukraine at a series of summits in Europe this week, Putin has sought to cast the moves by the U.S. and its allies as a proof of their hostile designs, and he vowed to press the offensive against Russia’s neighbor, now in its fifth month.Putin long has described NATO’s expansion to Russia’s borders as the top security threat to his country. When he sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, he cited increasingly close military ties between Kyiv and the West as a key reason behind his action.Russia’s aggression against its neighbor has helped cement Western unity, with allies offering billions of dollars in weapons and aid to Kyiv and slamming Russia with unprecedented sanctions that froze its hard currency reserves, targeted oil and other key experts, and barred its planes from European skies.The invasion also prompted NATO to deploy more troops and weapons into the territories of its members in Eastern Europe and encouraged Sweden and Finland to abandon their neutrality and seek NATO membership.At its summit in Madrid on Wednesday, the alliance formally invited the two nations to join and declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security.Putin, who visited Turkmenistan Wednesday to attend a Caspian Sea summit with three former Soviet nations and Iran, responded by saying that NATO’s actions proved its anti-Russian focus while admitting his action helped Western allies cement their ranks.At the summit in Ashgabat, Putin and other participants didn’t mention the war in Ukraine in their public comments. In a communique after the talks, they emphasized their agreement to bar any foreign militaries from the Caspian and underlined a pledge not to offer their territories for aggression against another country on its shores.During a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the summit, Putin emphasized “strategic” ties between Moscow and Tehran.Speaking to reporters in Turkmenistan, Putin charged that the U.S. has “long been looking for an external enemy, for a threat that would help rally allies,” adding that “Iran wasn’t good enough for that role, and Russia fit much better.”“We have given them a chance to unite all allies,” Putin said, noting that the NATO summit’s decisions offer a fresh proof that the Western group “is a relic of the Cold War intended to serve as an instrument of the U.S. foreign policy to keep its satellites in rein.”Before the war, Russia insisted on binding guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations and demanded a rollback of the military alliance’s deployments in Eastern Europe. The U.S. and its allies firmly rejected the demands, emphasizing that a key alliance principle is that membership is open to any qualifying country and no outsiders have veto power. At the same time, Washington and NATO offered to discuss arms control, confidence-building measures, greater transparency and risk reduction — issues that Moscow shrugged off as secondary to its main security demands.Until the invasion, the Kremlin denied having plans to attack but warned the West that NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations is a “red line” that must not be crossed.Putin alleged the West had “swindled, blatantly cheated” Moscow by offering verbal pledges in the 1990s not to expand NATO’s eastward and then enlarged it to incorporate former Soviet bloc countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet republics in the Baltics.On Thursday, he spoke with his usual rancor about what he described as Western efforts to discourage Ukraine from sitting down for talks with Russia to negotiate an end to hostilities.“The calls to Ukraine to continue fighting and to abandon any further negotiations confirm our belief that the united West and NATO do not care for Ukraine or the interests of the Ukrainian people, and that their goal is to protect their own interests,” Putin said. “The leading NATO members are using the Ukrainian people to reinforce their positions and their role in the world, reaffirm their hegemony and their imperial ambitions.”Commenting on NATO’s invitation to Finland and Sweden, Putin rejected the Western description of the move as a major defeat for Russia.“As for the assumption that we were fighting against NATO expansion to Ukraine but now have Sweden and Finland to deal with, there is no substance behind it at all, because for us Finland and Sweden joining NATO is not at all the same as the potential membership of Ukraine,” he said.Sweden and Finland are free to do what they want, he said, but noted that “we will have to respond quid pro quo if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there and create the same threats for the territories where they are created for us.”He said Russia doesn’t have territorial disputes with those countries, unlike Ukraine, which has declared an intention to win back Crimea that Russia annexed in 2014 and regain control over the Moscow-backed separatist regions in the east, known as the Donbas.. “Ukraine is a totally different matter,” Putin said. “They were turning Ukraine into an anti-Russia, a bridgehead for trying to destabilize Russia.”He hailed his forces in Ukraine as “heroes” protecting Russia’s security and said that the “special military operation” will continue until its goals of “liberating Donbas, protecting its people and creating conditions that will guarantee the security of Russia itself” are achieved.Putin also denied that Russian forces targeted a busy shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, saying that his country doesn’t hit civilian facilities and alleging the airstrike was directed at a nearby weapons depot, echoing the remarks of his military officials. But that was disputed by Ukrainian officials and witnesses, who said a Russian missile directly struck the mall, killing at least 18 people, injuring dozens and leaving 20 others missing. Earlier in the war, Russia hit a hospital, theater, residential buildings and a railway station crowded with fleeting civilians.Putin said the actions in Ukraine “are proceeding according to plan” and “our forces are moving forward and attaining the objectives that have been set for the particular period of the engagement,” adding that he wouldn’t rush the operation to minimize losses.U.S. director of national intelligence Avril Haines said Putin apparently has gotten beyond the disappointment by the failure to quickly defeat Ukraine and may now hope that if Russia succeeds in crushing the Ukrainian military in Donbas, “that will lead to a slump basically in the Ukrainian resistance and that that may give them greater opportunities.” __Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.___Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Anthony Albanese has told the Chinese president Australia will continue to assert its values and principles, but he’s made it clear his government wants to steady the fractured relationship with Beijing and move forward constructively.Significant steps towards stabilising the relationship after years of open hostility and diplomatic rancour came on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, with the first face-to-face meeting between Albanese and Xi Jinping.Tuesday night’s conversation – which is the first between an Australian prime minister and a Chinese president since 2016 – follows months of careful diplomatic signalling on both sides.During a conversation at the luxury Mulia Resort in Nusa Dua, Albanese raised Australia’s objections to damaging trade sanctions disrupting Australian exports and well as his concerns about the protracted detention of journalist Cheng Lei and the writer Yang Hengjun. He also urged the president to use his influence with the Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.According to a translation of Xi’s opening remarks, the Chinese president acknowledged the relationship had “run into some difficulties”. But he said improving the relationship was consistent with both countries national interest, and was also conducive to the “peaceful development of the region and the world”.Xi said he had been watching Albanese’s observations about the state of the Australia-China relationship, and how he intended to conduct affairs on the global stage, since Labor’s election victory earlier this year.China’s president noted Australia’s prime minister had “expressed multiple times that you would handle China-Australian relations in a mature manner”. Xi added: “I attach great importance to your opinion.”Albanese told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting it was unrealistic for Australians to expect instant breakthroughs on the damaging trade dispute, or other matters of contention instantly. While profound differences and irritants remained, the prime minister characterised the opening conversation with Xi as “very constructive”.The two countries have been inching towards a meeting at the G20 summit for months, and that precursor courtship accelerated at the recent Asean summit in Cambodia when Albanese had a conversation with the Chinese premier at a gala dinner in Phnom Penh on Saturday night.Albanese’s bilateral in Bali with Xi spanned 32 minutes, and it follows a three-hour meeting on Monday evening between the Chinese president and the president of the United States, Joe Biden. Xi’s conversation with Biden was also the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders during the Biden presidency.While Australia is focused on rebooting the China relationship during the November summit season – as well as pursuing other economic and foreign policy interests in Cambodia, Bail and, later this week, in Thailand – many G20 leaders have their eyes trained squarely on the illegal invasion of Ukraine.The spectre of global conflict, and global economic headwinds intensified by an energy shock following Russia’s illegal invasion of its neighbour, hangs heavily over the G20 on Indonesia’s resort island.Guardian Australia on Monday reported the tussle behind the scenes about how war in Ukraine will be referenced in the G20 summit communique. China and Russia are opposed to strong language. A leaked draft circulating on Monday suggests the dispute over wording between G20 countries will be resolved by a non-unanimous declaration.The G20 summit opened on Tuesday with a stark plea from the host, the Indonesian president Joko Widodo, for nations to find common cause. Widodo told G20 peers they must not allow the world to fall into another cold war.“We should not divide the world into parts,” Widodo said in his opening address. “We must not allow the world to fall into another cold war”.“Let us show the world that we can be wise, assume responsibility and show leadership. Let us work, and let’s cooperate for the world”.Widodo did not reference Ukraine explicitly, but told his peers the war needed to end, because “if the war does not end, it will be difficult for the world to move forward”.Albanese has been a strident critic of Russia, and used his interventions during Monday’s G20 summit sessions to once again condemn the war.Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the summit virtually, and told the G20 that “now is the time” to end Russia’s “destructive war”.Zelenskiy’s contribution was watched by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who is representing Vladimir Putin in Bali. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Politics stops at the water’s edge, or it may have in 1947, when then-Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, first made the remark. But as partisan politics increasingly have bled into U.S. foreign policy in recent years, next month’s midterm elections have raised concerns about how the election could impact U.S. support for Ukraine as the war against Russia grinds into the winter.
Republicans have been widely predicted to retake control of the House of Representatives, and the future of the Senate remains up in the air. Although there has been strong bipartisan support for Kyiv since the war began among mainstream Republicans, former U.S. President Donald Trump-aligned members as well as influential commentators on Fox News and other parts of the right-wing echo chamber have begun to question the degree of military aid provided by Washington.
The decision to further arm Ukraine maps onto a deepening rift within the Republican Party between hawkish establishment conservatives, not shy of overseas intervention, and a growing chorus of isolationists who gained prominence during the Trump administration. Politics stops at the water’s edge, or it may have in 1947, when then-Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, first made the remark. But as partisan politics increasingly have bled into U.S. foreign policy in recent years, next month’s midterm elections have raised concerns about how the election could impact U.S. support for Ukraine as the war against Russia grinds into the winter.
Republicans have been widely predicted to retake control of the House of Representatives, and the future of the Senate remains up in the air. Although there has been strong bipartisan support for Kyiv since the war began among mainstream Republicans, former U.S. President Donald Trump-aligned members as well as influential commentators on Fox News and other parts of the right-wing echo chamber have begun to question the degree of military aid provided by Washington.
The decision to further arm Ukraine maps onto a deepening rift within the Republican Party between hawkish establishment conservatives, not shy of overseas intervention, and a growing chorus of isolationists who gained prominence during the Trump administration.
“There are a lot of Republicans who are strongly behind Ukraine, who want the administration to do more,” said Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, chair of the House Armed Services Committee.
There is, however, a creeping anxiety among Republicans, Democrats, and Ukrainians as to whether they could be overwhelmed by the vocal minority. In May, 57 Republican members of the House and 11 Republican senators voted against a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine while several members of the House Freedom Caucus, which represents some of the most extreme right-wing members, have spoken out explicitly against sending further aid to Ukraine. In August, members of the caucus co-sponsored a bill that called for no more federal funds to be sent to Ukraine until a wall is erected along the U.S. border with Mexico.
“These voices that believe in America First isolationism dominate all of the major right-wing media,” said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. “They’re the noisiest and the loudest, and they get the most attention.”
Since the day Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, highly influential Fox News anchors—such as Tucker Carlson—have portrayed the war as a failing of the Biden administration, an effort to avenge Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. At times, Carlson has echoed Russian talking points about the war.
Other conservative commentators dismissed the impact that Carlson and others had on the broader Republican Party. “Anytime you’re citing [Rep.] Matt Gaetz and Tucker Carlson, it sounds like there is an agenda behind it,” said Danielle Pletka, a senior foreign-policy and defense fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Pletka noted that senior Republicans across the House and Senate have all encouraged the administration to provide more aid to Ukraine.
“I think a lot is overblown in terms of the effect of Fox News commentators,” said a Republican congressional aide who requested anonymity to discuss the matter. The aide noted that Republican concerns about military aid have largely centered on bureaucratic fights over appropriations and the urge to get heavy weaponry into the hands of the Ukrainian military faster. In a speech on the Senate floor in late September, minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell urged the Biden administration to move faster in delivering weapons to Ukraine.
“The other hesitancy about providing money to Ukraine is not as much to do with Ukraine itself but the Biden administration not doing the proper oversight and accountability of very large sums of money being given to a foreign partner,” the aide added.
Others found little substance to the GOP’s critiques of the way the Biden administration has handled military aid to Ukraine. “Republican critiques of the Biden administration are nonsense on Ukraine. And I say that as a lifelong Republican and an Ukraine expert,” Haring said.
But views from the fringes of the party have proven capable of moving into the mainstream in recent years, as evidenced by the party’s coalescence around claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. A majority of GOP candidates running for office in November have questioned or rejected the outcome of the vote.
“That small group has certainly shown that they have a disproportionate influence on the direction that [House Minority Leader Rep.] Kevin McCarthy chooses,” Smith said.
Opinion polls already show creeping fatigue among Republican voters for U.S. support for Ukraine, which could come to weigh on members. A Morning Consult poll released on Monday found only 32 percent of Republicans believe that the United States has a responsibility to protect and defend Ukraine from Russia, compared to 58 percent of Democrats. “I think it’s incumbent on mainstream Republicans to get out of Washington and New York and start talking to Americans,” Haring said. “We need to do better, and we need to explain why support for Ukraine is in the U.S. national interest.”
Between January and October, Washington pledged $26.8 billion in military aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine Support Tracker, several times that of the second-biggest donor, the United Kingdom.
Any cutbacks to U.S. military aid to Kyiv could deal an existential blow to Ukraine.
“People in Ukraine do believe that support for Ukraine is a bipartisan issue,” said Olena Tregub, secretary-general of NAKO, an independent defense anti-corruption commission in Ukraine.
“Yet, of course, here in Ukraine, there is a strong reaction [to] some statements of Donald Trump or Tucker Carlson. These are really shocking statements for Ukrainians, and they are confused as to how Russian propaganda has penetrated the American Republican Party to such an extent,” she added. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday signaled that he has the votes needed to pass a War Powers Resolution that would block U.S. support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen, where more than 23 million people are suffering from one of the world's largest humanitarian crises even amid a cease-fire.The Vermont Independent senator told The Intercept that he plans to bring the resolution to the Senate floor for a vote "hopefully next week," and when asked whether he has enough support for the measure he said, "I think we do, yes.""Whether a truce is re-negotiated or not, Congress needs to assert its constitutional authority over war-making under the Biden administration."A cease-fire between the Saudi-led alliance and the Houthis expired in early October, but both sides have maintained peace. However, a blockade by the Saudis has persisted, leaving tens of millions without sufficient access to food, healthcare, and clean water."We must put an end to the unauthorized and unconstitutional involvement of U.S. armed forces in the catastrophic Saudi-led war in Yemen and Congress must take back its authority over war," Sanders said in July when he introduced the resolution. "More than 85,000 children in Yemen have already starved and millions more are facing imminent famine and death... This war has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis today and it is past time to end U.S. complicity in those horrors."The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) said Sanders' revelation Tuesday was "massive news" for the fight to end U.S. involvement in the war.Sanders was the lead sponsor of a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war which passed in the Senate in March 2019, but former President Donald Trump vetoed the resolution."Whether a truce is re-negotiated or not, Congress needs to assert its constitutional authority over war-making under the Biden administration just as they did when Trump was assisting the Saudi-led coalition," Yemeni-American academic Shireen Al-Adeimi told The Intercept.Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at FCNL, and Annelle Sheline, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote on Monday that the passage of a War Powers Resolution is the "most viable" action Congress can take to rein in U.S.-Saudi military cooperation."By removing the possibility of more U.S. support for Riyadh and its partners to renew airstrikes in Yemen, Congress can play a constructive role to keep the pressure on the Saudis to negotiate an extension of the truce," they wrote at Inkstick Media, adding that the resolution "only needs a simple majority in the House and Senate to pass, while other proposed legislation would require 60 votes in the Senate to defeat a filibuster."The resolution would put pressure on the Saudi-led coalition to negotiate a long-term peace agreement, said Cavan Kharrazian, foreign policy adviser for Demand Progress."Without a clear path towards a long-term truce, Saudi Arabia could restart its deadly bombing campaign. If passed, the resolution would ensure that the U.S. is no longer a party to the Saudi-UAE-led coalition's offensive campaign," said Kharrazian.Last month, President Joe Biden drew condemnation from progressives when his administration said in court filings that Saudi Prime Minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case regarding the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said at the time that the move could only be "a capitulation to Saudi pressure tactics, including slashing oil output to twist our arms to recognize MBS' fake immunity ploy."The War Powers Resolution that Sanders plans to hold a vote on as soon as next week "provides a clear, targeted congressional response to Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman for their efforts to manipulate global energy markets and human rights violations," said Kharrazian. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The missiles that have rained down on Ukrainian cities far from the frontline since Monday morning, striking playgrounds and other civilian targets, are retaliation for the blast at the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea. But it is Vladimir Putin’s rage at the broader success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has shifted the war from a grinding military stalemate into a more dangerous phase. The Russian president has realised that he is losing on the ground; that major democracies will not easily be bullied out of supporting Kyiv; and consequently that he can no longer count on Ukraine’s eventual capitulation. His response – annexation and mobilisation – has only increased the pressure on him, creating higher expectations among hawkish domestic elites of how far he will go, and alienating broader political support. The first deaths of mobilised soldiers were reported this week.While Russia cannot sustain this rate of attack – 80 missiles on Monday alone – the civilian deaths and damage to water and power facilities will continue. Though the assault has so far stiffened resistance, rather than sapping morale, the approach of winter and the deterioration of infrastructure will take their toll on civilians. Ukraine will have to choose between deploying air defence systems to protect cities, or employing them in its counteroffensive.Will Mr Putin now go further? This war’s reverberations are already felt far beyond Ukraine’s borders. The IMF warned on Tuesday that there is a growing risk of global recession next year due in part to the fallout. As Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, observed in a striking speech, this is a world “where everything is being weaponised”. More frighteningly, Mr Putin has also returned to the nuclear blackmail that he first attempted in spring; now his desperation makes the threat more serious. Joe Biden last week warned that the world was the closest it had come to nuclear catastrophe since the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago, and could face Armageddon if Russia uses a tactical nuclear weapon. A tactical weapon would be far more devastating than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which made the world vow never again.So far, there are no signs of Russia preparing such weapons for use. The assault on Kyiv, Lviv and Zaporizhzhia is a reminder that he has other brutal means of attempting to impose his will; nuclear weapons are a last resort. There is no guarantee that a launch order would be carried out. The US warning of “catastrophic” consequences surely weighs on the minds of Russian hardliners, and China and India have doubtless made their disapproval clear. Nonetheless, it now appears a more serious possibility than it seemed even this spring.Is there an alternative to further escalation? Russia would like to freeze this conflict: the Kremlin suggests that it is open to peace talks with Ukraine through mediators – but leading voices simultaneously proclaim maximalist objectives including regime change. Ukrainians and other observers conclude that any ceasefire would be used by Moscow as an opportunity to regroup and rearm, strengthening its forces for the next phase of the war.Solidarity with Kyiv in the face of this threat is essential. But care, as well as conviction, is needed. The G7 was right to state clearly on Tuesday that it stands firmly with Ukraine and will provide it with financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support “for as long as it takes”. Leaders must maintain the closest watch on Russia’s plans. That includes alertness to the many ways in which Moscow may attempt to exact revenge against those backing Kyiv. But it is, of course, Ukraine’s people who are at greatest risk. Nuclear or conventional, the threat to them has never been greater in this conflict. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Ukraine’s military has shown the Guardian evidence that at least some of the Iranian-made drones used by Russia in its war were probably supplied after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February.Ukraine said it first noticed that Russia was using Iranian-supplied weapons in September. Since then, Russia has successfully used them to target Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure, causing serious power shortages.Russia’s own weaponry stockpiles have been severely depleted by months of fighting, say western and Ukrainian intelligence officials, leaving it in search of external help from allies such as Iran.In addition to more drones, anonymous western officials told CNN that Russia is to buy Iranian ballistic missiles. The same officials said that Iran had sent 450 drones to Russia and would send another 1,000 units of weaponry, including the expected missiles.Ukraine experts believe Russians specialists were involved in making the Iranian-made drones. Photograph: Isobel Koshiw/The GuardianA spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force said despite the recent deliveries of air defence systems from its allies, Ukraine still does not have the required equipment to defend itself from the Iranian missiles.In a large room somewhere in Kyiv, Ukrainian military intelligence has dismantled captured Iranian drones. The manufacturing date on the propeller of the Mohajer-6, an Iranian spy drone, reads February this year. As the propeller is just one of many components needed to make the drone, the February date indicates that the drone would have been supplied – if not made – after the invasion, according to Vasyl, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence, who cannot give his surname because of security reasons.Vasyl, who has been involved in pulling apart the drones, said the technical quality of the drones was surprisingly good. “We think that Russian specialists were involved but that’s just a theory,” said Vasyl on how Iran was able to develop the drones despite being under sanctions for decades. “Either the Iranians went [to Russia] or they have Russian specialists working there.”Though the Mohajer-6 drone does not have outer markings indicating that it is Iranian-made, components from inside the drone shown to the Guardian appeared to have Farsi markings.The Mohajer-6 can release rockets and is intended to be used multiple times. The other two drones currently being analysed, are what are known as “kamikaze” drones, as they implode and are destroyed upon impact. They did not have any Iranian markings, but like the Mohajer, they have been shown off by Iran at multiple weapons expos, said Vasyl.The February date on the propeller indicates the drone would have been supplied – if not made – after the invasion. Photograph: Isobel Koshiw/The GuardianVasyl said several components used to make the drones were manufactured by western companies. But the components were banal and not included on the non-proliferation list, intended to control the sale of parts that can be used by the militaries of sanctioned regimes like Iran. Interestingly, said Vasyl, Iran had managed to manufacture replicas of many components originally produced in the west, such as an exact copy of a well-known German engine.The Iranian weapons have been instrumental in Russia’s strategy to disable Ukraine by cutting its energy supplies in the rear – while it attempts to recover momentum after several defeats on the battlefield.Since early October, Iranian technology has helped damage more than 30% of Ukraine’s energy system, according to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Ukraine’s authorities have introduced daily blackouts to stabilise the grid but warn that if Russia continues to attack, there could be a total blackout in some places this winter amid sub-zero temperatures.Iran initially denied reports that it had given Russia drones. But after two months, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, admitted they had supplied Russia with a small number of drones. But, he said, Iran would not be indifferent if it were proved that they were being used in Ukraine.The US dismissed Abdollahian’s admissions, saying that Iran thought it “could secretly help escape the consequences”.After the first barrage of Iranian-supplied drones was used by Russia, Ukraine downgraded diplomatic ties with Iran by revoking the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador to Ukraine. Ukraine’s envoy to the Middle East and north Africa, Maksym Subkh, told Ukraine’s ZN that breaking diplomatic ties is on the agenda and Zelenskiy would make a decision in the coming weeks.Iranian drones dismantled on a table in Kyiv. Photograph: Isobel Koshiw/The GuardianZelenskiy said on Sunday that if Iran was not supplying Russia with arms, the world “would now be closer to peace”.Rob Lee, a military expert with the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said: “The Russians are using loitering munitions more effectively – recently some Iranian, some Russian – and if they get the surface-to-air missile from Iran, that could be significant too. A lot of this comes down to trying to predict the level of external support for Ukraine and for Russia and that’s difficult.”The confirmation, albeit limited, that Iran had supplied Russia against Ukraine sparked a row in Iran this week as some voiced concerns over the country’s close ties with Moscow. Some argued that Iran should have condemned the war in Ukraine, while other Iranians point to Zelenskiy’s relations with Israel as a reason to support Russia’s war. On Wednesday, during a visit to Tehran by Russia’s security chief, Nikolai Patrushev, Iran’s counterpart, Ali Shamkhani, called for dialogue to end the war and offered to play a role in resolving the war, AFP reported. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
It gets worse every day.
An already inflamed relationship between the US and China is being exacerbated by two fresh controversies – one over the exact origins of Covid-19 and the other stemming from stern US warnings that China must not arm Russia in its war in Ukraine.
The new disagreements are so fraught that the recent unprecedented diplomatic showdown over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that floated across the continental US is not even the most recent or intense cause of strife.
This trio of confrontations – along with rising tensions between US and Chinese forces in Asia and escalating standoffs over Taiwan – are dramatizing a long-building and once theoretical superpower rivalry that is suddenly a daily reality.
This increasingly adversarial relationship touches multiple areas of American life – from the economy to public health. It spans the challenges faced by the US military, which are amid the great geopolitical clashes of the early 21st century, to risks posed by the Chinese-designed apps on the electronic devices everyone carries everywhere. It’s fueling the dangerous possibility that the US and China are locked into a potentially disastrous slide toward conflict. And it poses serious challenges for a polarized US political system that struggles to have a rational debate on these issues without descending into a partisan game of who can be tougher on China. Such one-upmanship only deepens a self-perpetuating cycle of escalation between the two sides.
It is in this politicized atmosphere that the GOP-controlled House is debuting a new bipartisan select committee on competition with China during a primetime hearing on Tuesday night, just as Washington-Beijing tensions have rarely been worse.
The committee’s work will be based on the premise that after years of trying to integrate China peacefully into the global system as a competitor not an enemy, the US is switching to a tougher stance in a belief that a new generation of Chinese leaders is trying to dismantle the US global order and international law.
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, the new committee’s chairman, told CNN’s Manu Raju that Tuesday’s hearing would not focus specifically on the latest drama – after the Department of Energy assessed with low confidence that the Covid-19 pandemic originated with a lab leak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. He said that finding, which is a minority view among US intelligence agencies, could be examined in a future hearing but that he wanted to show Americans on Tuesday that the threat from China was “not just an over there problem, it’s … right here.”
“We want to understand what we got wrong about the Chinese Communist Party and what we need to understand about it going forward in order to get our policy right,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
On CBS News on Sunday, Gallagher warned: “We may call this a strategic competition, but it’s not a tennis match. This is about what type of world we want to live in. Do we want to live in Xinjiang-lite or do we want to live in the free world?” he said, referring to the Chinese region where the US has accused China of inflicting genocide on the Uyghur minority, a charge China continues to vehemently deny.
The committee may be one of the few areas where a divided Congress – and potentially the White House – can find common ground. The Biden administration has reinforced the already tough stance toward China that ex-President Donald Trump adopted later in his presidency. President Joe Biden, for instance, last year signed a new law that will allow the government to spend $200 billion in a bid to claim the leadership of the semiconductor chips industry – a critical sector that could decide the economic race between the US and China in decades to come.
Covid-19 origin controversy starts new pan-Pacific war of words
The new controversy over the origins of Covid-19 is a study in isolation of many of the forces ripping at US-China relations, including US mistrust of the Chinese Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping’s desire to preserve his prestige and that of a political system he holds up as an alternative to Western democracy. US demands for information about the origins of the pandemic show how China is refusing to play by global rules – in this case, in allowing follow-up virological investigations. All of this only exacerbates intense reaction in Washington, and in turn tears at US political fault lines.
There is no consensus within the US government on the origins of the pandemic. Intelligence agencies remain divided over whether it started with animal to human transmission in a Wuhan wet market or originated in a viral leak from a Chinese laboratory – and no new evidence has emerged publicly in support of the lab leak theory. Investigating the origins is hugely important.
“There is a bottom line here, which is that neither lab leak, nor spillover – i.e. animal origin – can be ruled out. We don’t have definitive information,” Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN on Monday.
But it didn’t take long for Republicans to claim political victory in the wake of Sunday’s Wall Street Journal report about new intelligence causing the Department of Energy to believe with low confidence that a lab leak was to blame. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been accused of spreading conspiracy theories about the pandemic, tweeted, “Conspiracy theorists - 100 Media - 0.”
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted: “Re. China’s lab leak, being proven right doesn’t matter. What matters is holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again.”
Such definitive statements, based on one assessment, do not recognize that the US intelligence community is still divided over the matter. Some Republicans have long sought to prove that the virus was a conspiracy by China to unleash contagion on the world, and many have long appeared to be seeking an explanation for the pandemic that could mask Trump’s negligence in handling it.
But even if the virus did emerge from a laboratory, it doesn’t mean it was necessarily man made or that the rest of the world was deliberately exposed.
China’s foreign ministry reacted angrily to the reemergence of the lab leak theory in Washington, warning that Americans should “stop stirring up arguments about laboratory leaks, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the issue of the virus origin.”
In many ways, it doesn’t matter if poor security at a lab in China or animal transmission caused the pandemic that killed nearly seven million people globally, according to World Health Organization figures, and more than a million in the US. Both possible routes of transmission represent a threat to humanity and need to be addressed, which is one reason why China’s lack of transparency on the issue is so potentially dangerous. The pandemic remains a huge embarrassment for China, souring its national mythology of a mighty rising power.
But in Washington this week, the issue has again degenerated into an excuse for Republicans to target scientists and government health experts and to twist a narrative about Covid-19 that still has massive gaps.
The challenge for the new select committee, which is especially probing economic and technological competition with China, will be to break this cycle of politicization to provide a useful examination of US-China relations that could result in effective policy recommendations down the road.
The US and China have a new area of confrontation – Ukraine
Another example of how the wider antagonism between the United States and China is coloring other crises is evident with Ukraine.
The US, citing unpublished intelligence, has spent the last week warning that China is considering sending lethal aid to bolster Russia’s forces – a situation that would effectively put China on the opposite side of a proxy war with the US and NATO powers that have sent billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine.
Beijing has long amplified Russia’s justifications for the invasion, which took place a year ago shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to the Chinese capital to agree to a friendship with “no limits” with Xi. China would prefer Russia, which shares its autocratic form of government, not to suffer a total defeat in Ukraine – which could lead to the ousting of close ally Putin. And China increasingly tends to view its global interests through the prism of its standoff with the US, so it may perceive an advantage in Washington being locked in an arms-length conflict in Ukraine that is costing billions of dollars and to which it is sending reserve military equipment and ammunition that can therefore not be used to bolster its Pacific forces. Delays in procurement in the US arms industry caused by Ukraine could also slow the flow of weapons to Taiwan.
Yet a decision by China to throw in its lot with Russia in Ukraine would amount to a radical change in foreign policy – and another massive plunge in US-China relations. Washington and the European Union would certainly respond with sanctions on Chinese firms, a threat that will likely give leaders in Beijing pause, as the country’s economy slowly recovers from years of Covid isolation.
“China has never had to incur any costs for its support for Russia. This (would be) the first time – it is a very important crossroads,” Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, said on CNN Monday.
As with the latest Covid-19 drama, China has reacted angrily to US criticism – all of which it appears to view in the wider context of its belief that every US policy is aimed at depriving it of its rightful global influence.
This new front in US-China antagonism is also beginning to seep into US politics. While being tough on Beijing is a bipartisan position, the idea of a broadened conflict in Ukraine conflicts with the more limited view of US power projection abroad among “America First” Republicans. Traditional hawks like Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell strongly support even more US aid for Ukraine, but some conservatives like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – a likely 2024 contender – have warned against escalating conflict. In a rare foreign policy comment last week, he specifically mentioned potential Chinese involvement.
“I don’t think it’s in our interest to be getting into a proxy war with China, getting involved over things like the Borderlands or over Crimea,” DeSantis told “Fox & Friends,” referring to Ukrainian lands Russia has seized with military force.
His comments were a reminder that everything in Washington is ultimately political. And few issues are as politicized as tortured US relations with China. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
As Ukrainian forces recapture the strategic city of Lyman, pro-Putin commentators slam Russia’s military tactics.Although there is a significant humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, until very recently the Russian invasion had barely touched Russia’s public at home.
But after the recent Ukrainian counteroffensive and subsequent announcement of mobilisation in Russia, that may be changing. Hundreds of thousands of men have reportedly fled the country, fearing conscription. For some, it may be getting harder to believe President Vladimir Putin’s assertion earlier this year that “everything is going according to plan”.
Another recent setback for Russian forces has been the loss of Lyman, a strategic logistics and railroad hub in the Donetsk region near Luhansk – both regions that have been claimed by Russia after hasty referendums, despite neither being fully under Russian nor separatists’ control.
How has the Russian media, which is tightly controlled by the government, presented the loss to its viewers, and how is the campaign seen from the Kremlin? In his report for the Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) newspaper, war correspondent Alexander Kots describes how Ukrainian forces had crossed the Oskil River and there was fierce fighting there for a number of weeks without much success, until they concentrated their efforts on Lyman. Ukrainian forces, foreign fighters among them, outnumbered the garrison, he said.
“The risk of encirclement and shameful captivity became too great, and the Russian command decided to withdraw,” he wrote.
But Kots also sought to extol the bravery of the pro-Russian forces and their dedication to their duty.
“If necessary, we would have stayed there to die,” a militiaman from the self-styled Luhansk People’s Republic told him, while an artillery gunner expressed hope that mobilisation would turn the tide in their favour.
“We are waiting for our reservists, we will accept them as our own,” he told Kots. “They are their own. And we will feed them, dress them and teach them as necessary.” Back at home, pro-war voices were on the lookout for who to blame for this calamity.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Putin, blamed Russian Colonel General Aleksandr Lapin but added that, despite his supposed incompetence, Lapin is being protected by friends in high places.
“If I had my way, I would demote Lapin to a private, deprive him of his medals and send him to the front line with a machine gun in his hands to wash away his shame with blood,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Igor Strelkov, a former “defence minister” of Donetsk who led a separatist rebellion in 2014, aimed higher in the ranks, posting a photo on Telegram of the Russian forces’ Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.
“This comrade should be glorified for all our victories in the current special military operation – starting with the ‘de-escalation’ in the Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv regions, continuing with the ‘successful regrouping’ from Balakleya, Izyum, Kupiansk, and Volchansk, and ending with the ‘withdrawal to more convenient positions’ near Lyman,” he wrote sarcastically. Strelkov has been consistently critical of the Kremlin’s war effort, arguing that it has only half-heartedly committed to its military operation and calling for total war. Semyon Pegov, a war reporter and blogger who runs the WarGonzo channel on Telegram and social media, said he “lost a piece of [his] heart” after the loss of Lyman, but tried to be more constructive.
“Obviously, it is impossible to fight like five, 10, 15, or 20 years ago, given modern realities,” he told his Telegram readers.
“This was already clear two weeks after the start of the operation. And the generals – everyone involved in this – have to honestly admit it. There is a new generation of commanders. Cool, and creative … There are many among the Russian army. They should just be allowed to work.”
Andrey Gurulyov, a former deputy commander of Russia’s southern military district, tried to raise these systemic issues with pro-Kremlin journalist Sergey Mardan on his livestream.
“No matter how heroically they fought, there’s an elementary calculation of military capabilities which shows whether or not Lyman could be held,” he said.
“The problem we have is the constant delivery of good reports, or constant lying, as you can call it. This system does not go from the bottom to the top, but top to bottom.” Before he could elaborate, Gurulyov’s Skype connection apparently suffered some technical difficulties.
Appearing on a talk show on the state-run TV channel NTV, foreign policy analyst Maxim Yusin expressed doubt that Russia could hold on to any other territories it laid claim to, given the loss of Lyman.
“I don’t remember a precedent in world history when territories we don’t even control were absorbed into the country,” he told the panel.
“You know, it’s very difficult to argue with dreamers who live in their own world,” Yusin said. “I see the dynamics of the military actions on the front. We aren’t walking about what is happening near Lyman … It’s easy to say ‘after the liberation of Zaporizhzhia’. Yeah, try liberating it, the way everything is going.” | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
AP In this image made from video released by the Russian Presidential Press Service, Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he addresses the nation in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP) We live in a world of alarming threats, both real and perceived. So, when leaders of countries, particularly ones at war, use threatening words or phrases, people rightly go on high alert. “By all means necessary” and “all the means at our disposal,” are code words in foreign policy for the potential use of nuclear weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most recent use of the second phrase in a nationally televised address is not the first such warning from him, but it comes at a dangerous time in the war with Ukraine when bluffing could have serious consequences. Recent Russian military setbacks, with Ukraine’s forces taking back territory previously in the hands of Putin, are no doubt both embarrassing and frustrating for Moscow. When dictators like Putin feel cornered, they can lash out in unpredictable ways, and the West has no choice but to consider, out of public view, the consequences of his words. The threat of force, nuclear or conventional, is often a ploy either to pressure others to come to the negotiating table or to presage new actions. In Putin’s case, it appears his escalation in tone has been accompanied by actions such as ordering a partial mobilization of forces and calling for referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, which could be a pretext for formally annexing these territories and then interpreting them as Russian should they come under renewed attack. That would risk further widening the war to all of NATO and the United States, luring us into a major conflict where nuclear weapons would not be out of the question. How should the United States respond to Putin’s escalating rhetoric? From a public diplomacy standpoint, the Biden administration is right to avoid getting drawn into a tit-or-tat response. Debating who would strike first, and where, is counter-productive and carries the risk of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons by Russian forces inside Ukraine. Ukraine reportedly does not have nuclear capabilities, nor does it fall under the West’s nuclear umbrella. Any talk of nuclear escalation would put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to reject any diplomatic options to end the war. But from a policy standpoint, leaders in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere have no choice but to take Putin’s threatening language seriously. Russia is still a nuclear superpower with a huge arsenal of weapons. Putin reminds the West on a near daily basis that he will not give up war against Ukraine, although his war aims are constantly shifting. Behind the scenes, the United States and NATO no doubt are drawing up contingency plans if Putin turns his nuclear saber-rattling into reality. Countermeasures would have to be ordered, even though technically Ukraine does not have a security guarantee from NATO. Most importantly, unarmed aerial reconnaissance flights would have to be ordered if there is any sense of movement in Russia of nuclear assets. But it is important to recall that both the U.S. and Russia have pulled out of the Open Skies Treaty in the last few years — an agreement designed to reduce the risk of war. Its history is relevant. The Open Skies concept goes back to President Eisenhower, who suggested it to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Finally in 1992, Russia agreed to it and it became one of three arms control arrangements (including the Vienna Document and the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty) that could serve, as then-Secretary of State James Baker noted, as “the most direct path to greater predictability and reduced risk of inadvertent war.” More than two dozen nations signed the Open Skies Treaty, permitting signatories to conduct short notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the others’ entire territories to collect data on military forces and activities. The treaty created confidence-building measures and transparency — both of which would be useful today. America ended its accession to the Open Skies Treaty under President Trump, in May 2020, citing concerns over Russian compliance. A year later the Russian Duma passed a law ending its adherence to the treaty. President Biden, upon taking office, said that renewing America’s commitment to the treaty would send the wrong message to Russia. Messages do matter. We are heading into the eighth month of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the messages between Moscow and Washington are getting uglier. Confidence between the capitals is low. This is a time to rethink diplomatic engagement and bring more countries into the process to avoid a nuclear escalation that could leave countless human beings dead. It’s time for conflict resolution, not escalation. Tara D. Sonenshine is the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Humiliating photos show how Putin has resorted to sending a 'Dad's Army' of ageing reservists to the Ukrainian front lines in the latest embarrassment to the Kremlin.The desperate Russian tyrant ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 extra troops last week in a bid to reverse the fortunes of his botched invasion, in a move which spooked thousands who fled the country.But other hardy civilians decided to join the war effort despite their age, health and limited training, to bolster troop numbers after Kyiv's stunning counter-offensive.In Sevastopol in Crimea, silver-haired and wrinkled recruits stood in line in their uniforms at a ceremony before they took a much-needed cigarette break and then made their way to the front lines.The images, taken on Tuesday less than a week after Putin's order, shows how rushed the mobilisation has been, compared to the six months' minimum training usually provided. Ageing reservists drafted during the partial mobilisation attend a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, before heading to the front lines The desperate Russian tyrant ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 extra troops last week in a bid to reverse the fortunes of his botched invasion Putin announced on September 21 a mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of Russian men to bolster Moscow's army in Ukraine Hardy civilians decided to join the war effort despite their age, health and limited training, to bolster troop numbers after Kyiv's stunning counter-offensive In Sevastopol in Crimea, recruits stood in line in their uniforms at a ceremony before they took a much-needed cigarette break and then made their way to the front lines Reservists drafted during the partial mobilisation smoke next to buses as they depart for military bases After a counteroffensive by Ukraine this month dealt Moscow's forces heavy battlefield setbacks, Putin called up 300,000 reservists to join the fightThe men drafted into the war effort are among the working class rural communities who have been unable to join the masses escaping over the border into neighbouring Georgia, Kazakhstan and Finland.The number who have fled now likely exceeds the number of troops in Putin's original invasion forces, military intelligence suggests. The British Ministry of Defence said in its daily update today: 'In the seven days since President Putin announced the 'partial mobilisation' there has been a considerable exodus of Russians seeking to evade call-up. 'Whilst exact numbers are unclear, it likely exceeds the size of the total invasion force Russia fielded in February 2022.'The better off and well educated are over-represented amongst those attempting to leave Russia.'When combined with those reservists who are being mobilised, the domestic economic impact of reduced availability of labour and the acceleration of 'brain drain' is likely to become increasingly significant.'Those sent to war were already lamenting the outdated equipment and poor morale just weeks after the outbreak of war, an investigation by the New York Times claims. A reservist drafted to the war effort during the partial mobilisation bids farewell to his adult son as he heads to the front lines That partial mobilization is deeply unpopular in some areas, triggering protests, scattered violence, and Russians fleeing the country by the tens of thousands The men drafted into the war effort are among the working class rural communities who have been unable to join the masses escaping over the border The number who have fled now likely exceeds the number of troops in Putin's original invasion forces, military intelligence suggests Elderly wives and mothers say goodbye to their loved ones in an emotional farewell during the departure ceremony Unauthorised phone calls made by soldiers to their families in March via shared cell phones among units near Bucha were intercepted by Ukraine and translated by the Times. Many troops revealed the Kremlin had lied about the purpose of the war, showing an early insight into the reality on the ground.One man named Sergey told his girlfriend: 'Some guys took armour off of Ukrainians' corpses and took it for themselves. Their NATO armour is better than ours.'Another named Roman told his friend: 'Everything here is ancient. It's not modern like they show on Zvezda [state TV].'A different Sergey told his mother: 'There were 400 paratroopers. And only 38 of them survived. Because our commanders sent soldiers to the slaughter.'The dire situation for the troops has led to Putin's mobilisation order, which came as Ukrainian forces dealt heavy battlefield setbacks to Moscow.The mass exodus has created miles-long lines for days at some borders, and local Russian authorities on one area along the border with Georgia said they would start providing food, water, warming stations and other aid to those in line. The dire situation for the troops has led to Putin's mobilisation order, which came as Ukrainian forces dealt heavy battlefield setbacks to Moscow On the battlefield, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said Ukraine's counteroffensive is advancing slowly, meeting a stouter Russian defence The images, taken on Tuesday less than a week after Putin's order, shows how rushed the mobilisation has been, compared to the six months' minimum training usually providedMoscow also reportedly set up draft offices at borders to intercept some of those trying to leave.The mobilisation prompted the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to warn Americans in Russia to leave immediately because 'Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals' U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service.'Previous embassy security alerts issued during the war also advised Americans to leave.The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, cited an online video by a man who identified himself as a member of Russia's 1st Tank Regiment, visibly upset, saying he and his colleagues wouldn't receive training before shipping out to Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region.'Mobilised men with a day or two of training are unlikely to meaningfully reinforce Russian positions affected by Ukrainian counteroffensives in the south and east,' the institute said.Meanwhile, the EU expressed outrage over the suspected sabotage Tuesday of two underwater natural gas pipelines from Russia to Germany, and warned of retaliation for any attack on Europe's energy networks.'All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act,' EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Perpetrators have not been identified. People arriving from Russia wait at the Mongolian border checkpoint of Altanbulag as they flee conscription Relatives and taxi drivers wait for Russian tourists crossing over to Georgia from Verkhni Lars customs checkpoint The borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia have been overwhelmed an influx of Russian nationalsKremlin spokesman Peskov said allegations that Russia could be behind the incidents were 'predictable and stupid,' saying the damage has caused Russia huge economic losses. A U.N. Security Council meeting was called for Friday at Moscow's request.The damage makes it unlikely the pipelines will be able to supply any gas to Europe this winter, according to analysts.On the battlefield, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said Ukraine's counteroffensive is advancing slowly, meeting a stouter Russian defence.Local Ukrainian officials reported Russian attacks in the partially occupied Donetsk region that killed five people, and artillery strikes in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol. That city saw 10 high-rises and private buildings hit, as well as a school and power lines, said Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the local military administration. A Ukrainian soldier walks past a destroyed Russian tank on the front line with Russian troops in Donetsk region Ukrainian rescue workers and police examine the result of overnight Russian rocket strikes on a railway passenger train maintenance and repair depot in KharkivWestern leaders also fear Putin is planning a huge escalation of Russia's faltering invasion with a deadly nuclear strike or an attack on European interests.British and American spies believe there is 'credible intelligence' to suggest the Russian president is preparing an attack that will turn the war effort in his favour after coming to the realisation that the war was 'a colossal mistake'.Putin is understood to be planning land-grab of four regions said to have voted overwhelmingly to join Russia after sham referendums in which residents were marched to the ballot box at gunpoint.Hastily arranged votes had taken place over five days in the four areas - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - that make up about 15 per cent of Ukrainian territory.But there is concern that Putin is planning a nuclear attack west of the regions that would create a radiation dead zone and put a halt to Ukraine's so far successful counter-offensives.Another fear is that Russia is preparing a strike on western interests such as maritime communications cables. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Zelenskyy: 'We did not start the war, but we will end it' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is addressing the World Economic Forum from Kyiv at the moment, insisting again that Ukraine will prevail.He said that although his country did not start the war: "We will end it." Ukraine is standing "strongly" and "resolutely", Mr Zelenskyy said, pressing again for the world to keep supplying his army with military aid.He said supplies of air defence systems must outpace Russian attacks.Ukraine has been provided with a number of Patriot air defence systems, the most recent being confirmed by the Netherlands on Tuesday evening.Asked about Russia's place in the world, Mr Zelenskyy said he isn't sure what this will be going forward."I think that Russia has already earned a place among terrorists and this no longer depends on their leadership," he said.Mr Zelenskyy again insisted Moscow must "respect Ukraine's territorial integrity".Asked if he worries for his safety, Mr Zelenskyy simply said he does not."I'm not worried about that," he said.The Ukrainian president went on to say there are "no accidents at wartime" when asked about the helicopter crash in the Kyiv region.He said: "This is not an accident because it is due to war, and the war has many dimensions. There are no accidents at wartime." State-of-the-art bionic arms given to Ukrainian soldiers who were badly wounded by landmines Two Ukrainian soldiers who had amputations after being wounded by landmines are being fitted with state-of-the-art bionic arms made in the UK.They are the first war veterans to be fitted with the new Hero Arm - a 3D-printed prosthesis made by Bristol-based tech company Open Bionics.Andrii Gidzun and Vitalii Ivashchuk tried out the arm this week in Munich. It has moveable fingers and thumbs that allow them to pinch and grasp objects. It's controlled by sensors that are activated by muscles in the forearm.Custom-made prostheses will now be made for the two men on 3D printers and fitted next month.Vitalii, 24, described testing the Hero Arm as a "very cool feeling", adding: "I am pleased that I have such an opportunity to get such a functional prosthesis. I did not even hope for it."When the electrodes were applied and I had the opportunity to test this prosthesis, I just enjoyed it. I was pleased, to put it mildly."Read more from our science correspondent Thomas Moore below... Ukraine War Diaries: Using comedy to cope with war The idea of a comedy night in a country twisted out of shape by war jars somewhat against the backdrop of blitz-like living conditions and mounting casualties in eastern Ukraine.But in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, where blackouts and power rationing have become a feature of winter life, the need for humour as a means of escape remains, according to Sky News Ukraine War Diarist Oksana Koshel.In the latest episode of the podcast, she attends a comedy night, albeit reluctantly, with her husband and fellow diarist Seva. It's an experience that brings both reflection and perspective as well as some profound realisations about the war. Talks aren't likely to start any time soon - as Lavrov claims US seeks 'final solution to Russia question' Analysis by Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondentNothing especially new to take away from the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's annual press conference, billed as a look back at the foreign policy results of the last year.The gist of which, on Ukraine at least, was that the US is trying to maintain a position of global dominance at Russia's expense, that it seeks Russia's destruction and is using Ukraine as a proxy battleground.His wording though was fairly remarkable. He alleged the US was seeking a "final solution to the Russia question", just as Napoleon and Hitler had before them.All this talk of Ukrainian Nazis is obviously getting to him.Nothing new on the prospect of negotiations either. Mr Lavrov asserted that Russia's position is well known - Moscow is ready to discuss serious proposals but sees none being made and that Russia sees through the West's claim that it is up to President Zelenskyy to negotiate his own country's future. As far as Russia is concerned, it will be the US calling the shots on when to start talks, not Ukraine. He may be right about that. Either way, talks aren't likely to start any time soon. New images capture aftermath of helicopter crash The photographs below are the latest to emerge from the site of a helicopter crash which killed 14 people in the Kyiv region of Ukraine today.Minister Denys Monastyrskyi and First Deputy Minister Yevhen Yenin were among those killed in the incident, as well as three children.Below, people are seen fleeing the scene in Brovary shortly after the crash. Ukraine needs 'more weapons today' Ukraine needs a "significant increase" in weapons at a pivotal moment in the war, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Foum in Davos, Mr Stoltenberg said such support was the only route to a negotiated peaceful solution with Russia.He said: "President Putin has shown no sign of preparing for peace and therefore he must realise he cannot win on the battlefield. "This is a pivotal moment in the war and the need for a significant increase in support for Ukraine."If we want a negotiated peaceful solution tomorrow we needto provide more weapons today."For context: Western allies will be gathering on Friday at a US air base in Germany to pledge more weapons for Ukraine. Attention is focused in particular on Germany, which has veto power over any decision to send its Leopard tanks, fielded by armies across Europe and widely seen as the most suitable for Ukraine.Berlin says a decision on the tanks will be the first item on the agenda of Boris Pistorius, who was named its new defence minister this week.Over the weekend, the UK said it would be sending a squadron of 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help counter Russia's invasion "in the coming weeks". Russia has 'failed in reaching its imperialist goals', Scholz says German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is giving a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.The German leader starts by paying tribute to those killed in the helicopter crash in Ukraine today, saying: "We are with their families."He says Russia has been launching an "imperialist war of aggression here on our doorstep in Europe" and the Ukrainians are bearing the "dreadful consequences".Mr Scholz goes on to say Russia "has already failed completely in reaching its imperialist goals"."Ukraine is defending itself with great success and impressive courage," he says."A broad international alliance led by the G7 is providing the country with financial, economic, humanitarian and military support."Mr Scholz says in order for the war to end "Russia's aggression must fail" and that is why Germany is "continuously supplying Ukraine with large quantities of arms". Ukraine appoints new acting interior minister after helicopter crash Ukraine's government has appointed national police chief Ihor Klymenko as acting interior minister, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.Mr Shmyhal announced the appointment hours after the previous minister, Denys Monastyrskyi, was killed in a helicopter crash near Kyiv. He said Mr Klymenko had officially been appointed to the role of deputy interior minister, but would fulfil the responsibilities of the minister.We have been reporting today on the helicopter crash near Kyiv which killed 14 people.The crash caused a large fire, and an entire side of the local nursery building was charred. The Kyiv region's governor said children and staff had been in the nursery at the time of the crash shortly after 8am (6am GMT).Officials have said it is too early to know what caused the crash. The national police chief confirmed that interior minister Denys Monastyrskyi had been killed along with his first deputy, Yevheniy Yenin, and the ministry's state secretary Yurii Lubkovych.Mr Monastyrskyi was 42 and had been interior minister since July 2021. Death toll in helicopter crash revised down to 14 Ukrainian officials previously said 18 people had been killed in a helicopter crash just outside Kyiv.Now, the emergency services have revised down the death toll to 14 and said one child is among the dead.There is no word on whether the crash is an accident or a result of the war with Russia. A brief history of Putin's rise to power Born in 1952 in what was formally Leningrad and is now St Petersburg, Vladimir Putin's road to war began before he became the leader of the Kremlin.The Russian leader grew up in the aftermath of the Second World War and after studying law at Leningrad State University, he joined Russia's secret service - the KGB - in 1975.He was posted to Dresden, east Germany, where he witnessed the fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union.Protests in the region spread on the day of the wall's collapse and the angry crowds marched to Mr Putin's KGB building, but when he called Moscow for orders he did not receive a response.Some experts believe this was a defining moment in the Kremlin's leader's life and the end of the Soviet Union was a humiliation for him.It may have also become the moment when he set out to re-establish was he felt had been lost in his view.In 1996, Mr Putin headed back to Russia with his family and was made the head of the FSB, the agency that took over the KGB.And then in August 1999, Russia's then president Boris Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin prime minister, which essentially put him second in command.In 1999, Mr Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and Mr Putin became acting president. And then just three months later, he won the election.During his first term as leader, one of Mr Putin key focuses was the war with Chechnya which Russia was in the midst of a conflict with.Chechnya had declared independence from Russia in 1992 but in 1994 Russian troops invaded the region to stop the independence movement. In 2000, Russian troops captured Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and Mr Putin declared direct rule from Russia. He also appointed a former cleric, Akhmad Kadyrov, as head of Moscow's administration in Chechnya.When his two terms were up, Mr Putin was replaced by Dmitry Medvedev as president in 2008 but his grip on power still remained and he served as prime minister.By 2012, Mr Putin was back as president. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
President Biden said Monday that he’s unlikely to visit Ukraine during a trip to Europe later this week. Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Del., that any decision to go into Ukraine would depend on “whether or not it causes more difficulty for Ukrainians, whether it distracts from what’s going on.” Asked if he would visit the country on his upcoming trip to Europe, Biden answered: “On this trip, not likely.” Biden is scheduled to travel to Germany on Saturday for a Group of Seven (G-7) leaders’ summit and will from there head to Spain where is he attending a NATO meeting. The White House has previously made clear that any presidential trip to Ukraine would not be announced ahead of time for security reasons. Several European leaders have visited Ukraine amid the Russian war, including most recently the leaders of France, Italy and Germany. Those trips have raised questions about whether Biden will eventually travel into the country. On Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv for a second time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. And first lady Jill Biden also made a surprise trip into Ukraine earlier this year on Mother’s Day to meet with Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska. During an impromptu press gaggle on the beach in Rehoboth on Monday, Biden noted that he often speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the Russian invasion. Biden spoke by phone with Zelensky last week to brief him on a new $1 billion weapons package that the U.S. is sending to Ukraine to help the country thwart the Russian invasion. Biden has a fair amount of overseas travel coming up. Shortly after the Europe trip, Biden will embark on his first trip to the Middle East as president with stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia. That trip is scheduled to take place between July 13 and 16. Tags Biden biden foreign policy Biden travel Jill Biden Joe Biden russian invasion of ukraine Russian invasion of Ukraine ukraine ukraine war | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Why do we tolerate the threat of another world war in our name? Why do we allow lies that justify this risk? The scale of our indoctrination, wrote Harold Pinter, is a "brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis", as if the truth "never happened even while it was happening".Every year the American historian William Blum publishes his "updated summary of the record of US foreign policy" which shows that, since 1945, the US has tried to overthrow more than 50 governments, many of them democratically elected; grossly interfered in elections in 30 countries; bombed the civilian populations of 30 countries; used chemical and biological weapons; and attempted to assassinate foreign leaders.In many cases Britain has been a collaborator. The degree of human suffering, let alone criminality, is little acknowledged in the west, despite the presence of the world's most advanced communications and nominally most free journalism. That the most numerous victims of terrorism – "our" terrorism – are Muslims, is unsayable. That extreme jihadism, which led to 9/11, was nurtured as a weapon of Anglo-American policy (Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan) is suppressed. In April the US state department noted that, following Nato's campaign in 2011, "Libya has become a terrorist safe haven".The name of "our" enemy has changed over the years, from communism to Islamism, but generally it is any society independent of western power and occupying strategically useful or resource-rich territory, or merely offering an alternative to US domination. The leaders of these obstructive nations are usually violently shoved aside, such as the democrats Muhammad Mossedeq in Iran, Arbenz in Guatemala and Salvador Allende in Chile, or they are murdered like Patrice Lumumba in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All are subjected to a western media campaign of vilification – think Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, now Vladimir Putin.Washington's role in Ukraine is different only in its implications for the rest of us. For the first time since the Reagan years, the US is threatening to take the world to war. With eastern Europe and the Balkans now military outposts of Nato, the last "buffer state" bordering Russia – Ukraine – is being torn apart by fascist forces unleashed by the US and the EU. We in the west are now backing neo-Nazis in a country where Ukrainian Nazis backed Hitler.Having masterminded the coup in February against the democratically elected government in Kiev, Washington's planned seizure of Russia's historic, legitimate warm-water naval base in Crimea failed. The Russians defended themselves, as they have done against every threat and invasion from the west for almost a century.But Nato's military encirclement has accelerated, along with US-orchestrated attacks on ethnic Russians in Ukraine. If Putin can be provoked into coming to their aid, his pre-ordained "pariah" role will justify a Nato-run guerrilla war that is likely to spill into Russia itself.Instead, Putin has confounded the war party by seeking an accommodation with Washington and the EU, by withdrawing Russian troops from the Ukrainian border and urging ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine to abandon the weekend's provocative referendum. These Russian-speaking and bilingual people – a third of Ukraine's population – have long sought a democratic federation that reflects the country's ethnic diversity and is both autonomous of Kiev and independent of Moscow. Most are neither "separatists" nor "rebels", as the western media calls them, but citizens who want to live securely in their homeland.Like the ruins of Iraq and Afghanistan, Ukraine has been turned into a CIA theme park – run personally by CIA director John Brennan in Kiev, with dozens of "special units" from the CIA and FBI setting up a "security structure" that oversees savage attacks on those who opposed the February coup. Watch the videos, read the eye-witness reports from the massacre in Odessa this month. Bussed fascist thugs burned the trade union headquarters, killing 41 people trapped inside. Watch the police standing by.A doctor described trying to rescue people, "but I was stopped by pro-Ukrainian Nazi radicals. One of them pushed me away rudely, promising that soon me and other Jews of Odessa are going to meet the same fate. What occurred yesterday didn't even take place during the fascist occupation in my town in world war two. I wonder, why the whole world is keeping silent." [see footnote]Russian-speaking Ukrainians are fighting for survival. When Putin announced the withdrawal of Russian troops from the border, the Kiev junta's defence secretary, Andriy Parubiy – a founding member of the fascist Svoboda party – boasted that attacks on "insurgents" would continue. In Orwellian style, propaganda in the west has inverted this to Moscow "trying to orchestrate conflict and provocation", according to William Hague. His cynicism is matched by Obama's grotesque congratulations to the coup junta on its "remarkable restraint" after the Odessa massacre. The junta, says Obama, is "duly elected". As Henry Kissinger once said: "It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but what is perceived to be true."In the US media the Odessa atrocity has been played down as "murky" and a "tragedy" in which "nationalists" (neo-Nazis) attacked "separatists" (people collecting signatures for a referendum on a federal Ukraine). Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal damned the victims – "Deadly Ukraine Fire Likely Sparked by Rebels, Government Says". Propaganda in Germany has been pure cold war, with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warning its readers of Russia's "undeclared war". For the Germans, it is a poignant irony that Putin is the only leader to condemn the rise of fascism in 21st-century Europe.A popular truism is that "the world changed" following 9/11. But what has changed? According to the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, a silent coup has taken place in Washington and rampant militarism now rules. The Pentagon currently runs "special operations" – secret wars – in 124 countries. At home, rising poverty and a loss of liberty are the historic corollary of a perpetual war state. Add the risk of nuclear war, and the question is: why do we tolerate this?www.johnpilger.com | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Giorgia Meloni, who is expected to be Italy’s next prime minister, threw down the gauntlet to her right-wing coalition partners on Wednesday, saying her new government would be pro-NATO and fully a part of Europe.
Her uncompromising statement came after her conservative ally Silvio Berlusconi reiterated his sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of triggering the war.
In a sharply worded declaration, Meloni said any party that disagreed with her foreign policy line should not join the government, which is set to take office next week.
“Italy with us in government will never be the weak link in the West,” she said.
Meloni has staunchly defended Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February, and has supported Western sanctions against Moscow.
“On one thing I have been, am, and will always be clear. I intend to lead a government with a clear and unequivocal foreign policy line,” she said. “Anyone who does not agree with this cornerstone cannot be part of the government.”
Berlusconi, 86, is a long-time friend of Putin and in a first leaked audio file released on Tuesday, he revealed to parliamentarians from his Forza Italia party that he was back in touch with the Russian president and had exchanged “sweet letters” and gifts.
In a second file, released by news agency LaPresse on Wednesday, Berlusconi said Ukraine had sunk a 2014 peace deal that was designed to end a separatist war by Russian speakers in the eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Repeating accusations made by Putin that have been denied by Ukraine, Berlusconi said Zelenskiy made the situation much worse when he came to power in 2019.
Berlusconi also repeated an assertion that Putin had bowed to internal pressure and only invaded Ukraine to set up a new government “of decent people with common sense”.
On Tuesday, after the first recording was released, Forza Italia said Berlusconi’s view of the war was “in line with the position of Europe and the United States.”
However, opponents have leapt on the twin recordings to accuse Berlusconi of undermining Meloni’s credibility.
“Berlusconi’s comments are very grave and incompatible with Italian and European positions,” said Enrico Letta, the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
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U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the injuries he sustained during the emergency evacuation from the airport in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
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U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the injuries he sustained during the emergency evacuation from the airport in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
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House Republicans vowed when they took control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms they would hold the Biden administration accountable for the fallout from the chaotic withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021.
The House Foreign Affairs panel's first oversight hearing on what happened leading up to and after the U.S. end to a more than 20-year war featured emotional and graphic testimony from a Marine injured in the bombing at the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Lawmakers also heard from a young Army medic who is still haunted by images of trying to save his fellow soldiers killed during that attack. And veterans who scrambled and set up mini State Departments to evacuate Afghan allies recounted frustration with the U.S. government's lack of planning and continued problems as they try to process visas.
The exit of U.S. forces and rushed evacuation of allies by the U.S. military as the Afghan government fell and the Taliban regained control of the country stand as one of the most damaging periods of President Biden's tenure in office.
Panel chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, a persistent and vocal critic of the decision to pull all U.S. forces out in the summer of 2021, declared what happened in Afghanistan "a systemic breakdown of the federal government at every level, and a stunning failure of leadership by the Biden administration."
Multiple Democrats and some of the witnesses noted that the policy ultimately implemented by the Biden administration was a product of multiple administrations' policies. And Democrats were quick to point out that President Trump set the withdrawal date in motion when he negotiated the framework for pulling out U.S. forces with Taliban leaders months earlier.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking Democrat, acknowledged "mistakes along the way" but he maintained that Biden "made the right decision to bring all our troops home because I can't in good conscience imagine sending more American men and women to fight in Afghanistan."
Marine tells panel: 'Plain and simple, we were ignored'
The hearing's most compelling testimony came from Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a Marine sergeant injured in the Aug. 26, 2021 terror attack at the Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport. He recounted the events leading up to the bombing that left 13 U.S. servicemembers protecting the airport dead, many others injured and scores of Afghan civilians killed.
Vargas-Andrews said he and another Marine assigned to protect the airport received intelligence about a possible suicide bomber approaching the area. He said they spotted him and his associate in the crowd and alerted supervisors and requested authority to engage but never got it. He told the panel he believes those individuals were responsible for the attack. "Plain and simple, we were ignored," he said.
Vargas-Andrews broke down and paused several times as he described the flash of the bomb knocking him off his feet.
"My body was overwhelmed from the trauma of the blast. My abdomen had been ripped open. Every inch of my exposed body took ball bearing and shrapnel." He said no one interviewed him about the attack in the investigation that followed.
"The withdrawal was a catastrophe in my opinion, and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence," Vargas-Andrews concluded.
Aidan Gunderson, an Army medic who was stationed at Abbey Gate, responded to the attack. He turned 21 on the day he deployed to Afghanistan, but when he and his platoon landed, he heard the head of the government had fled. Gunderson told the committee "not a single person on that plane was prepared for Kabul."
Andrew Harnik/AP
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From left, Immigrant ARC Executive Director Camille Mackler, Peter Lucier with Team America Relief, former Army Spc. Aidan Gunderson and Task Force Pineapple Founder Retired Lt. Col. David Scott Mann arrive for a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the United States evacuation from Afghanistan on March 8.
Andrew Harnik/AP
From left, Immigrant ARC Executive Director Camille Mackler, Peter Lucier with Team America Relief, former Army Spc. Aidan Gunderson and Task Force Pineapple Founder Retired Lt. Col. David Scott Mann arrive for a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the United States evacuation from Afghanistan on March 8.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Retired Lt. Col. David Scott Mann, the founder of Task Force Pineapple, a volunteer network of veterans who served in Afghanistan, told the committee the experience working to get allies — often translators and former Afghan military fighters — was "gutting." He warned that the U.S. is on the "front end of a mental-health tsunami." He said calls to the VA hotline spiked 81% in the first year since the withdrawal. Mann reported a friend whom he served with was found dead in a hotel room in the aftermath and his wife told Mann the incident reignited trauma about his experience in Afghanistan and the way allies were treated as the U.S. left.
"We might be done with Afghanistan, but it is not done with us. The enemy has a vote. If we don't set politics aside and pursue accountability and lessons learned to address this grievous moral injury on our military community and right the wrongs that have been inflicted in our most at risk Afghan allies, this colossal foreign policy failure will follow us home," Mann said.
Another veteran who advocates for relief organizations, Peter Lucier, told the panel that years of neglect over four presidents created a humanitarian crisis.
"The failures that led to this point are owned and shared by four administration, by Congress and by 320 million Americans. This was our war." Lucier said it's crucial that we learn lessons, but added "it's not too late."
Panel members trade barbs about whose policies led to chaos
Republicans and Democrats largely agreed that the U.S. has a responsibility to help any remaining Afghan allies get out of the country and the process for granting special immigration visas failed and needs to be evaluated and fixed.
McCaul told the witnesses about those Afghan citizens still trying to leave the country "we need to get them the hell out of there."
But at times the hearing devolved into political sniping. Several Republicans argued that Biden failed to take personal responsibility for the deaths of those servicemembers because his administration lacked a plan and failed to communicate with Congress.
Shortly after the attack, Biden told reporters: "I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that's happened of late." But he immediately added: "You know as well as I do that the former president made a deal with the Taliban."
Panel member Rep. Susan Wild, D-Penn., noted "as a Democrat I was critical of this withdrawal" in 2021. But she emphasized that she agreed with the U.S. policy to get out of Afghanistan. She argued there were "two decades of intelligence failures" and said allies and the American people need "real answers" about "forever wars."
And Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said Congress deserved criticism for the failures of the end of the Afghan war. She said it underfunded the State Department over the two decades of the conflict, which made it harder for them to coordinate the evacuation.
McCaul said Wednesday's hearing was the first on the topic, and he wanted to hear first from those who served and those who worked tirelessly to evacuate allies. He vowed to invite top Pentagon and other administration officials to appear before the committee. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The Congressional Progressive Caucus on Monday evening sought to couch a statement from earlier in the day requesting that President Biden shift his administration’s policies on Ukraine and start some form of negotiations with Russia. In a move that raised questions among fellow Democrats, a group of dozens of liberal House lawmakers led by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) sent a letter earlier in the day to the White House calling for a possible diplomatic solution to end Moscow’s unprovoked conflict with Ukraine. “Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe it is in the interests of Ukraine, the United States, and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict,” Jayapal wrote on behalf of the caucus. “For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.” Several hours after the letter, which was first reported by The Washington Post, was released, the caucus sent a rare follow-up statement intended to fine-tune its original message. “In a letter to President Biden today, my colleagues and I advocated for the administration to continue ongoing military and economic support for Ukrainians while pursuing diplomatic support to Ukraine to ensure we are helpful partners on efforts to reach ‘a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine,” wrote Jayapal. “Let me be clear: we are united as Democrats in our unequivocal commitment to supporting Ukraine in their fight for their democracy and freedom in the face of the illegal and outrageous Russian invasion, and nothing in the letter advocates for a change in that support,” she added. The initial correspondence was met with skepticism from some Democrats who questioned Jayapal’s leadership and motivation for calling for a new strategy. She sought to tweak her caucus’s stance, reaffirming her commitment to Biden’s foreign policy at a time when the party is facing divides over ideology and messaging on a number of fronts ahead of next month’s midterm elections. “Diplomacy is an important tool that can save lives — but it is just one tool,” she wrote. “As we also made explicitly clear in our letter and will continue to make clear, we support President Biden and his administration’s commitment to nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” The letter comes just two weeks before Election Day as Democrats struggle to find an economic message that resonates with voters. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war have had a ripple effect on the U.S. economy and Americans’ daily lives, including through higher fuel prices. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
By Jorge Liboreiro • Updated: 23/11/2022 - 12:16 The European Parliament has declared Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" over the "brutal and inhumane" acts inflicted upon Ukraine and its citizens since the launch of the invasion."The deliberate attacks and atrocities carried out by the Russian Federation against the civilian population of Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law amount to acts of terror against the Ukrainian population and constitute war crimes," MEPs said in a non-binding but highly symbolic resolution."In the light of the above, (the European Parliament) recognises Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state which uses means of terrorism."The strongly-worded resolution was overwhelmingly approved on Wednesday afternoon with 494 votes in favour, 58 against and 44 abstentions, during the monthly plenary session in Strasbourg.The text merged three different resolutions filed by the European People's Party, Renew Europe and the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR). In the final version, MEPs denounce Russia's "illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression" against Ukraine and accuse the Russian army of committing a long list of crimes, such as attacks on essential infrastructure, the murder of "thousands" of civilians and "hundreds" of children, summary executions, abductions, rape, harassment, torture, mass detentions and forced deportations."These brutal and inhumane acts are causing death, suffering, destruction and displacement," MEPs said, noting the almost 40,000 war crimes that have so far been documented in Ukraine.The lawmakers also condemned Russia for provoking a "large-scale" humanitarian crisis and "weaponising" food and hunger, with global implications.As a result of all these "atrocities," the European Parliament calls on EU member states to develop a brand-new legal framework that can enable the designation of an entire country as a sponsor of terrorism.The EU's current terror list, which was set up in the aftermath of 9/11 and is reviewed every six months, only allows the bloc to blacklist specific individuals and organisations.So far, only 13 persons and 21 entities have been added, such as Hamas, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’ (PKK), Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) and the military wing of Hezbollah.As a foreign policy tool, any change to the list would require the unanimity of all 27 EU countries."Anything is possible in the EU if all (countries) agree," a European Commission spokesperson told Euronews last week when reports around the resolution gained traction.Besides this legal tweak, the European Parliament demands a "comprehensive international isolation" of Russia and a further reduction of diplomatic relations."Contacts with its official representatives at all levels (should) be kept to the absolute minimum necessary," lawmakers said.The resolution comes days after Russia launched a new barrage of attacks against Ukraine's key infrastructure, raising fears of a massive exodus of people ahead of the winter season. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Wednesday said he expects to reach a “new consensus” on advancing bilateral relations with Russia as he visited Moscow just days before the first anniversary of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Today I am willing to further exchange views with you, my old friend, on the advancement of our mutual relationship, and I think we will definitely reach new consensus,” Wang told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting Wednesday.
“No matter how the international situation changes, China has been and remains willing to maintain the positive trend with Russia in building a new type of cooperative relationship between major powers.”
Wang is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Wang, who was congratulated by Lavrov for his recent promotion as the top foreign policy adviser for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said he would endeavor to “strengthen and deepen the Sino-Russian friendship” no matter what.
Wang said under the leadership of Xi and Putin, the two countries had maintained their strategic determination, and – in an apparent dig at the United States – “resolutely oppose any unilateral or bullying behavior, and unswervingly safeguard their respective sovereignty, security and development interests.”
On Tuesday, Wang told Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council and one of Putin’s closest allies, that Beijing’s ties with Moscow are “solid as a rock.”
“Sino-Russian relations are mature and solid as a rock, and will withstand the test of the changing international situation,” Wang was quoted as saying by Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik.
“We are ready, together with the Russian side, in accordance with top-level agreements, to resolutely defend national interests and dignity, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas,” Wang said.
Patrushev told Wang that China and Russia should stick together in face of growing pressure from the West, citing what he falsely described as “the bloody events unleashed by the West in Ukraine” as an example.
Russia has repeatedly accused the West of instigating the war in Ukraine, while attempting to deny responsibility for the reported deaths of tens of thousands of people — and Beijing has parroted the messaging, laying the blame for Moscow’s unprovoked invasion on the United States and its NATO allies.
“In the context of the campaign by the collective West to contain Russia and China, the further deepening of Russian-Chinese coordination and interaction in the international arena carries particular importance,” Patrushev was quoted as saying by Sputnik.
Patrushev also said that Russia and China should seek to create a new, “more just” world order, one that challenges the unipolar hegemony of the collective West, according to Sputnik.
A readout from China’s Foreign Ministry said the two officials agreed to oppose “the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and ideological opposition” — a thinly veiled criticism of the US — and to make more efforts to “improve global governance,” in an apparent reference to Beijing and Moscow’s ambitions to reshape the global order in their favor.
Wang and Patrushev also “exchanged their opinions” on the issue of Ukraine, the statement added, without offering details.
Wang’s high profile visit is widely believed to be a precursor to a meeting between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In December 2022, Putin and Xi held a virtual meeting in which the Russian leader described relations between the two nations as “the best in history,” saying they could “withstand all tests,” and invited Xi to visit Moscow in the spring of 2023.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported the two leaders would meet in “the coming months,” citing people familiar with the plan. Arrangements for the trip are at an “early stage” and the timing has not been finalized, the WSJ reported, adding that the trip could be in April or early May.
Concerns about China role
Wang’s trip comes after US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday in a show of support for the embattled country, which Washington and its European allies have rallied together to back over the past year through both military and humanitarian aid, and economic sanctions against Russia.
Wang arrived in Moscow just days after US officials went public with concerns about how China’s continuing partnership with Russia could have an impact on the war in Ukraine — and hours after Putin made a major speech on the conflict, in which he announced plans to suspend Russia’s involvement in its last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the US.
The Chinese leadership has claimed impartiality in the conflict but refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, instead expanding trade ties and continuing large-scale joint military exercises, including this week.
But during engagements in European cities in recent days, Wang attempted to present China as a proponent of peace and negotiation, saying at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday that Beijing would release its position on a “political settlement” of the crisis.
Those remarks were met with suspicion from many Western leaders who are closely watching for any support China lends to its northern neighbor, especially amid concerns that Beijing is considering the provision of lethal military aid to Russia.
On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang reiterated Beijing’s messaging on Ukraine at a security forum in the Chinese capital. China was “deeply concerned” the conflict would spiral “out of control,” and would continue to urge peace talks and provide “Chinese wisdom” to bring about a political settlement, he said.
“At the same time, we urge relevant countries to immediately stop adding fuel to the fire, stop shifting blame to China, and stop hyping up the discourse of Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow,” he said, in an apparent reference to the US and its allies.
CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed to this report | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The EU has pledged to double a military aid programme for Ukraine by training an extra 15,000 soldiers as part of a blizzard of announcements aimed at showing that it will “stand by Ukraine for the long-haul”.
Speaking at the start of a two-day trip to Kyiv, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated that the EU aimed to have a tenth package of sanctions against Russia in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin.
“We are making Putin pay for his atrocious war,” she told reporters, on a visit accompanied by 15 EU commissioners, the first time so many EU officials have visited a war zone. “Today Russia is paying a heavy price as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation.”
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there was a joint task to curb the circumvention of sanctions, adding: “The more we do it, the closer we will be to defeat of Russian aggression.”
With a promise to “keep on turning up the pressure”, Von der Leyen also reiterated that the EU would cap the price of Russian petroleum products, as part of a broader G7 plan to restrict oil revenues available to the Kremlin’s war machine. The G7 and the EU have already agreed a price cap on crude oil that came into force last December and according to Von der Leyen, costs Russia €160m (£142m) a day.
The EU’s 27 member states are yet to agree on the latest oil price cap. Discussions continue on a proposal to set the cap at $100 a barrel for premium petroleum products and $45 a barrel for discount ones. One diplomatic source said they were confident of an agreement by 5 February, the agreed deadline.
Working with Ukrainian prosecutors, the EU also intends to set up an international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine to be located in The Hague, Von der Leyen said. The purpose of this centre is to collect and store evidence, for any future trial, whether that takes place via a special tribunal or some other way.
Separately the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced the intention of EU member states to train an additional 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers in 2023, doubling an existing 15,000 troop-training programme launched last October. This €45m plan comes alongside a further €500m in EU-funded weapons for Ukraine announced on Thursday, taking the total assistance from the bloc under the European peace facility to €3.6bn.
On the eve of the EU visit to Kyiv, Ukraine said Russia was planning a major military offensive to mark the first anniversary of the war. In an interview on French TV Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, warned that Russia could call on half a million troops. Referring to Russia’s general mobilisation of 300,000 conscripted soldiers in September last year, he said that numbers at the border suggest the true size could be closer to 500,000.
“We do not underestimate our enemy,” Reznikov said. “Officially, they announced 300,000, but when we see the troops at the borders, according to our assessments, it is much more.”
On Thursday two Russian missiles hit the eastern city of Kramatorsk, causing as yet unknown civilian casualties, local officials said. Two people were killed by Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region.
Those attacks came after a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kramatorsk on Wednesday night killed at least three people and injured 20 others.
Von der Leyen and Borrell arrived in Kyiv under tight security on Thursday to meet Ukraine’s government, with 14 other EU commissioners.
The heavily symbolic visit was intended not only as a show of support, but encouragement as Ukraine bids to join the EU at unprecedented speed. Ukraine’s government has expressed hope of joining the EU within two years, but most member states think the process will take many years, if not decades.
Von der Leyen will remain in Kyiv on Friday for an EU-Ukraine summit, the first since the Russian invasion.
Among a blizzard of announcements, Von der Leyen said the EU would be supplying Ukraine with 35m LED lightbulbs, 2,400 generators on top of 3,000 already delivered and promised funding for solar panels to power the country’s public buildings. According to Brussels officials, the EU institutions and its 27 member states have given Ukraine support worth €50bn, plus €10bn for 8 million refugees who have fled to Europe.
The EU also wants to speed up Ukraine’s integration into its single market and help the country make the transition to green energy.
EU officials are working closely with Ukrainian counterparts on the bloc’s 10th package of sanctions against Russia, which are expected to include weapons and technology found on the battlefield that have been missed in previous rounds. With the Russian economy already under heavy sanctions, diplomats do not expect a major expansion of economic restrictions; lucrative sectors such as Russian diamond exports and nuclear industry are likely to remain untouched.
The EU is also studying the legally-fraught question of how it can use Russian assets to help pay for the rising cost of rebuilding Ukraine, estimated by the World Bank last September to be €349bn (£312bn). “Russia will also have to pay for the destruction it caused and will have to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Von der Leyen said.
Taking part in the European Commission-Ukraine government talks were two of Von der Leyen’s three deputies, Margrethe Vestager, who leads on digital policy regulation, and Valdis Dombrovskis, who is in charge of trade policy, as well as officials leading on the rule of law, environment, justice, agriculture and financial regulation.
EU officials have sought to avoid any emulation of Zelenskiy’s military-style dress among the visiting delegation. Ahead of the meeting, commissioners were advised to wear “usual business attire …… avoiding green, khaki or too bright colours”, according to an internal memo seen by the Guardian. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping did not mention the United States during the CCP's 20th National Congress this week. But his message was clear: Beijing will double down in the face of Western threats, including those concerning Taiwan.
"We are not committed to abandoning the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures," Xi said, slamming the "serious provocations of external forces interfering in Taiwan."
The U.S. Congress is considering the Taiwan Policy Act, a bill aimed at boosting the military capability of the self-governed island, which Beijing considers a breakaway province, against a potential Chinese invasion.
Xi's address and the CCP congress' report contained stark warnings that China is facing growing external threats and entering a period "in which strategic opportunities, risks, and challenges are concurrent."
As the CCP congress cements a more assertive foreign policy under Xi, who will remain in power for an extraordinary third term, the country is on a collision course with a Biden administration that would be pressed to be even tougher on China should Republicans win more congressional seats in the November midterm elections.
"For 50 years, the Chinese Communist Party has launched an assault on the American way of life, on our economy, on our jobs, on our companies, on our culture, on our institutions, on our very future," Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters in September.
If Republicans win a majority of seats in the House, McCarthy will likely become the speaker.
Representative Michael McCaul, who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee China Task Force, has vowed that if Republicans retake control, they will prepare the U.S. to win its great power competition against China through tougher legislation, including on export controls.
"My priority will be to stop exporting these technologies and selling these technologies to China so they can build their own war machine that will then in turn be pointed at us," he said at the same press conference.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced aggressive measures limiting exports of advanced U.S. semiconductor technology to China, saying that the technology is supporting Beijing's military modernization.
Beyond Taiwan
Beyond Taiwan, various Republican lawmakers have promised more focus on China — and a tougher U.S. stance on issues from securing supply chains to investigating the origins of the coronavirus — to make their point that President Joe Biden is soft on Beijing.
But even if Democrats retain their slim majority in Congress, Biden's China policy will likely remain hawkish, keeping in place many of the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, including steep tariffs on Chinese goods and containing Beijing's influence in the Indo-Pacific.
"Under the Trump administration, the Chinese genuinely hoped that the Democrats would win. But after almost two years of the Biden administration, I think the Chinese have come to the realization that both are not going to change the consensus on China," said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center.
"And some in China would even argue that Biden's policy is even more difficult for China because of how Biden aligns his position and mobilizes allies and partners to jointly counter China's growing influence," Yun told VOA.
Should Republicans retake Congress, Yun said, there will be more skepticism of Biden's compartmentalized approach of competing strategically with China while cooperating on transnational challenges such as climate change and pandemic prevention.
The approach is problematic, she said, because Beijing views its relationship with Washington as transactional; to secure China's cooperation, the U.S. must concede on issues it sees as competitive because for Beijing, "everything is linked to everything else."
From Beijing's point of view, whatever happens in U.S. politics in the foreseeable future, there are no good outcomes, she said.
"Regardless of who wins in this midterm election, or regardless of who wins in the next presidential election in 2024, this China policy is here to stay." | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Iran has issued a first death sentence over protests that have mounted a fierce challenge to four decades of hardline clerical rule, as rights groups warn of a wave of executions may follow as leaders try to end nearly two months of sustained nationwide dissent.The execution was ordered for an unidentified person for allegedly setting fire to a government building. It followed 272 of Iran’s 290 lawmakers voting earlier this month to implement the death penalty for serious crimes against the state and repeated demands by some officials to take a harder line against unrest that shows little sign of abating.Iran is believed to execute more people annually than any other country except China, and the first known death sentence passed against a figure identified with the protest movement has alarmed NGOs. Upwards of 326 people have died in 57 days of demonstrations, which erupted after the death of a young woman who was detained for wearing her head dress “inappropriately”. Thousands more have been detained.Meanwhile, Iranian officials behind the violent repression of protests across Iran have been hit with new European sanctions, as Emmanuel Macron declared the ongoing unrest to be a revolution and claimed nuclear talks with western powers had reached a prolonged standstill.The EU on Monday flagged sanctions against 29 people and three organisations. The list included prominent members of the Revolutionary Guards who have spearheaded a crackdown that has now lasted nearly eight weeks, marking the biggest test to hardline Islamic rule imposed 43 years ago.Macron, who met Iranian dissidents in Paris over the weekend, told French Inter radio: “Something unprecedented is happening. The grandchildren of the revolution are carrying out a revolution and are devouring it.”Speaking about the nuclear deal, a yet-to-be-finalised pact to lift sanctions imposed by the EU and US on the Iranian economy in return for Iran agreeing to renewed suspension and monitoring of its nuclear programme, Macron said: “This revolution changes many things … I don’t think there will be new proposals which can be made right now to save the nuclear deal.”The remarks marked the first time a European leader had characterised the unrest as more than a protest movement and is sure to further anger Iranian officials, who had already described Macron’s weekend meetings as “regrettable and shameful”.Sometimes largely symbolic, EU sanctions mean a travel ban and freeze on any assets held in the bloc. EU-based residents and organisations are also forbidden to send money to sanctioned individuals.The list includes Iran’s interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, who is in charge of the country’s security forces, which are widely seen as responsible for the deaths of at least 70 people and the serious injuries of hundreds more during the repression of protests.Also targeted are four members of Iran’s morality police, two male and two female officers, who arrested 22-year old Mahsa Amini for apparently not wearing her hijab correctly. “According to reliable reports and witnesses, she was brutally beaten and mistreated in custody, which led to her hospitalisation and death,” states the EU listing for these individuals.The EU list also includes state-controlled broadcaster Press TV, which the EU says is “responsible for producing and broadcasting the forced confessions of detainees, including journalists, political activists, and persons belonging to Kurdish and Arab minorities”. Another organisation targeted is Arvan Cloud, an IT company believed to have helped the Iranian government in its attempts to close down the internet in response to protests.“The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable violent crackdown of protesters,” the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that urged Tehran to end the violent crackdown, shed light on the number of people killed or injured, and provide due process to detainees. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the Aspen Security Forum that U.S. policy regarding Taiwan remains "unchanged," and Washington is closely monitoring developments on the contested island nation."So, the president said in Japan that our policy has not changed, that we maintain a policy of strategic ambiguity, and we do. … As the president himself has said, our policy has not changed," Sullivan said. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House March 22, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Sullivan noted that the U.S. remains wary of elevating any conflict with China to a point where it could possibly "drift" into a new Cold War. "That is how we have tried to approach things," he said. "I believe that we have hit our marks in terms of what we set out, and two days ago is an 18-month point of this administration. CHINA ‘IN DISTRESS’: ECONOMY SUFFERING ‘RAPID’ SLOWDOWN AS ‘SYSTEMIC’ PROBLEMS SURFACE"I think in the Pacific, in Europe, in the Middle East, as we look at the global competition with China, I think we are well positioned to be able to effectively deal with it." U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks after he was sworn in as President Trump looks on in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 23, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)Chinese Ambassador the United States Qin Gang earlier this week spoke at the same forum and insisted that U.S. support for the One China policy included an acknowledgement of China’s ownership over Taiwan. At an earlier session at the Aspen Security Forum, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper acknowledged that China’s language that set out the One China policy talked about "Chinese on both sides of the strait," but he added that he believed "the One China policy has run its course." DEMOCRATIC FOREIGN POLICY EXPERTS DIVIDED ON PELOSI'S TRIP TO TAIWAN: ‘GOOD FOR HER,’ ‘NOT A GOOD IDEA’"Look, those two tenets are no longer true," Esper argued. "First of all, a majority of people on Taiwan identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese; and secondly, they long ago renounced any ambition to returning to the mainland and claiming it." Chinese ambassador to the United States Qin Gang makes a statement at an online symposium jointly held by the Chinese Embassy and Consulates General in the U.S. to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Revolution of 1911 on Oct. 13, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Chen Mengtong/China News Service via Getty Images)"I think, on top of that, the other piece of this is clearly China has been violating the unwritten, maybe some would say unwritten rule — that is, of course, it's embodied in the Taiwan Relations Act — but they would not use coercion to determine the final status, if you will, of Taiwan," Esper added, saying China has "upped its game" against Taiwan to "coerce" negotiations in its favor. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPPresident Biden has repeatedly stressed that the U.S. can support One China while maintaining that Taiwan is not part of China. Sullivan reiterated that when Biden has said the U.S. will support Taiwan that the president does not "speak off the cuff" but is indeed stating policy. Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Ukrainian servicemen hold anti-drone guns as they take part in a training exercise not far from the front line in Mykolaiv region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine August 14, 2022. REUTERS/Anna KudriavtsevaRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPRAGUE, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Germany and France have issued a joint warning against a ban on tourist visas for Russians, saying such a step, advocated by other European Union member states, would be counter-productive.The split on tourist visas will be at the heart of a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Prague on Tuesday and Wednesday, as they discuss what further steps they can take to sanction Russia for its six-month old invasion of Ukraine.Defence ministers meeting in Prague are likely to agree in principle on the less controversial step of organising joint military training missions for Ukrainian troops.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"While limiting contacts with regime representatives and authorities to areas of vital EU interest, we need to strategically fight for the 'hearts and minds' of the Russian population — at least the segments not yet completely estranged from 'the West'," France and Germany said in the joint memo seen by Reuters.The bloc's two leading countries argue for close scrutiny of visa applications for security risks, but believe visas should still be issued."We should not underestimate the transformative power of experiencing life in democratic systems at first-hand, especially for future generations," they said.Others, including eastern and Nordic member states, argue strongly for a ban."It is very provocative to me that you see Russian men on European beaches in Southern Europe and at the same time Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years cannot even leave their country but have to fight for their freedom," Denmark's Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said last week."We think it is right that we together in Europe can limit and cut off tourists from Russia and it would send a clear message to (President) Putin."An EU diplomat said on Monday that the foreign ministers might agree in principle on suspending a visa facilitation agreement with Russia, which would mean Russians face a more lengthy procedure and would pay 80 euros instead of 35 euros for EU visas.Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he hoped defence ministers would give him a green light to start working on an EU military training mission for Ukraine.Several EU countries have been training Ukrainian troops, mainly enabling them to operate weapons Western nations are delivering to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia's invasion.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Sabine Siebold, Jan Lopatka, Ingrid Melander and Bart Meijer; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alex Richardson and Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
A crater left by a Russian missile strike, that hit a convoy of civilian vehicles amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, is seen in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine September 30, 2022. REUTERS/StringerSummaryRussian annexation of four regions condemned worldwideMove is 'dangerous escalation' jeopardising peace - U.N. chiefUkraine's Zelenskiy says for war to end Putin must be stoppedZelenskiy summons emergency meeting on security, defenceZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A missile attack on a convoy of cars in southern Ukraine killed a number of civilians on Friday, hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to proclaim Moscow's rule over lands it has seized in his invasion.The convoy was assembling in a car park near Zaporizhzhia city to carry people and supplies into Russian-held territory in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia province. The regional capital is still controlled by Ukraine.A missile had gouged a crater in the ground near two lines of vehicles. The impact had thrown chunks of dirt ino the air and sprayed the vehicles with shrapnel. The windows of the vehicles - mostly cars and three vans, were blown out. Reuters saw around a dozen bodies, four of them in cars.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"So far, 23 dead and 28 wounded. All civilians," Zaporizhzhia regional governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on Telegram.The vehicles were packed with the occupants’ belongings, blankets and suitcases. A body leaned from the driver's seat into the passenger seat of a yellow car, his left hand still clutching the steering wheel.The attack took place hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to stage a ceremony in an ornate Kremlin hall to proclaim Russia's rule over around 15% of Ukraine, the biggest annexation in Europe since Hitler. It would be followed by a celebratory pop concert outside the Kremlin walls on Red Square.Russia's annexation of the Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia has been condemned in the West and beyond. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called it was a "dangerous escalation" and a violation of the United Nations charter."It can still be stopped. But to stop it we have to stop that person in Russia who wants war more than life. Your lives, citizens of Russia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Thursday evening address.The Russian annexation, held after what the West denounced as phoney referndums at gunpoint in occupied territory, followed weeks of defeats for Moscow's forces on the battlefield in which they were routed from their positions in Ukraine's northeast.Putin has ordered the call-up up of hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists, a move that prompted tens of thousands of Russian men to flee over borders to escape being shipped off to war.Military experts said Russia could soon be facing one of its biggest defeats of the war so far, with thousands of troops trapped in Lyman, the last major Russian stronghold in the north of Donetsk province. The town's fall would pave the way for Ukraine to recapture swathes of land Russia is now claiming.Kyiv has so far kept silent about the situation there, but Russian military bloggers have described the Russian force as all but surrounded, with advancing Ukrainians having cut off the last possible routes of escape."Possible that the pocket collapses tonight or tomorrow, which would overshadow the annexation announcement," tweeted Rob Lee, an expert on the Russian military and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.NUCLEAR THREATSince his troops were forced to flee from Ukraine's Kharkiv province, Putin has chosen to escalate the war. Last week he endorsed the annexation, ordered the call-up of reservists, and threatened to use nuclear weapons if Russia is attacked.Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have explicitly said the threat of nuclear retaliation would apply to any attacks on the areas they plan to annex, despite the thousand km-long (600 mile) frontline through it.Ukraine has said it will take back all its territory.Zelenskiy promised a strong response to the annexations and summoned his defence and security chiefs for an emergency meeting on Friday where "fundamental decisions" will be taken, an official said.'NO LEGAL VALUE'On the eve of the annexation ceremony in the Georgievsky Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace, Putin said that "all mistakes" made in a call-up announced last week should be corrected, his first public acknowledgment that it had not gone smoothly.Putin's call-up order gave no details of who must be drafted. Russian officials have publicly said older men or those with no military experience should by exempt, but call-up notices have been given to men of all ages and background. Members of ethnic minorities say they have been particularly targetted, leading to unrest in southern Russia and Siberia.At Friday's event, Putin will give a speech and meet Kremlin-backed leaders of the four regions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not say whether Putin would attend the concert, as he did at similar event in 2014 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed Ukraine's Crimea region.A stage has been set up in the Moscow square with giant video screens and billboards proclaiming the four areas part of Russia.U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States would never recognise Russia's claims on Ukraine's territory, denouncing the referendums."The results were manufactured in Moscow," Biden said at a conference of Pacific Island leaders on Thursday.U.N. Secretary General Guterres told reporters: "Any decision to proceed with the annexation ... would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Robert Birsel and Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The revelation that the Biden administration is calling for immunity for Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman in a lawsuit brought over the killing of U.S.-resident and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is the latest example of the administration’s unwillingness to hold the Saudi leader accountable, despite his complicity in Khashoggi’s murder and his role in directing his regime’s brutal war in Yemen. The lawsuit, brought in 2020 by Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, and the Washington-based organization Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) alleges that a team of assassins approved by Bin Salman “kidnapped, bound, drugged, tortured, and assassinated” Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and then dismembered his body. The Biden Justice Department has intervened on Bin Salman’s behalf by claiming that heads of state have immunity from prosecution under customary international law. But how many heads of state have overseen the murder of a dissident journalist outside their own territory, or presided over a war that has resulted in the deaths of nearly 400,000 people, as has happened in the Saudi-led war in Yemen? If the administration truly believes that immunity applies in this instance, it should be pressing for other avenues of accountability. President Biden has come a long way from declaring the Saudi regime a “pariah” on the campaign trail to his return to what is essentially a business-as-usual approach to relations with Riyadh. In his first foreign policy speech in February 2021, he pledged an end to U.S. support for “offensive operations” in Yemen, along with “relevant arms sales.” Biden’s team also suspended a bomb sale to Saudi Arabia and undertook a review of the U.S.-Saudi security relationship. But starting in the fall of 2021, the administration made arms offers to the Saudi military worth billions of dollars. And this summer the president went to Riyadh hat in hand to urge Bin Salman to increase oil output to offset the effects of sanctions on Russia on gasoline prices. Not only did Bin Salman rebuff Biden’s plea, he slapped him in the face by collaborating with Russia and the rest of OPEC+ to reduce oil output. The decision sparked a furor in Congress and prompted the Biden administration to say that there would be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia’s warming of relations with Moscow. Members of Congress have called for concrete measures to be undertaken, but the administration has since indicated that it wants to “deliberate” before deciding how to respond to Saudi actions. Proposals include a call by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to suspend sales of offensive weapons to the regime; a legislative initiative by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to suspend sales, spare parts, maintenance and other military support to the regime; and an ongoing effort to end U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia under the War Powers Act, a move supported by over 100 members of Congress. One obvious question is what the administration thinks it will gain by cozying up to one of the world’s most reckless and repressive regimes. Possibilities include a hope that the Saudi regime will do an about-face on oil prices; tilt towards Washington rather than improving ties to Russia and China; and serve as a loyal ally in efforts to contain Iran. None of these rationales hold up to scrutiny. Saudi Arabia is likely to continue to set its own course on oil prices. Bin Salman has staked his reputation on transforming Saudi society. He needs to keep oil prices high if he hopes to achieve the ambitious goals laid out in Vision 2030. China is Saudi Arabia’s biggest customer, while Russian and Saudi interests are aligned on maintaining high oil prices. Although the Saudis depend on the United States for the bulk of their military arsenal, this alone will not override Riyadh’s growing ties to Moscow and Beijing. For now, Saudi reliance on U.S. military hardware gives Washington considerable leverage in persuading it to refrain from restarting its attacks on Yemen. The Saudi government is currently negotiating to help end its involvement in the conflict there. As for containing Iran, a diplomatic approach to Tehran is likely to yield better results than supporting an anti-Iran coalition comprised of the U.S., Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the Saudi regime. Such an alliance is more likely a recipe for war than a step towards stability in the region. If the Biden administration is truly going to rethink the U.S.-Saudi relationship, it should start by cutting off arms sales and military support for the regime until it joins global sanctions against Russia by halting purchases of Russian oil and definitively ends its involvement in Yemen. If it fails to do so, Congress should act. Time is of the essence, as the new Congress that will take office in January may be more resistant to enforcing real consequences on Saudi Arabia. The next few months will tell whether Mohammed Bin Salman and his regime will pay the price for their crimes or once again be let off the hook under the illusion that a close relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia serves a useful purpose. William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Annelle Sheline is a research fellow at Quincy. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The White House said Tuesday that President Biden believes Saudi Arabia has effectively sided with Russia’s war aims in Ukraine following the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance’s announcement last week that it would cut oil production."We believe by the decision that OPEC+ made last week, (Saudi Arabia is) certainly aligning themselves with Russia," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Tuesday briefing. "And right now, this is not the time to be aligning with Russia, especially with this brutal, unprecedented war that they started in Ukraine." President Joe Biden speaks at the Summit on Fire Prevention and Control in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Jean-Pierre said President Biden was reassessing its relationship with Saudi Arabia, a vital but complicated ally in the Middle East, but offered no timeline for its review.Biden came into office vowing to recalibrate the U.S. relationship because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record but then paid a visit to the kingdom earlier this year. SEN. BOB MENENDEZ CALLS FOR END ALL COOPERATION WITH SAUDI ARABIA OVER OPEC+ OIL CUTOPEC+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, announced last week it would cut production by 2 million barrels a day, which will help prop up oil prices that are allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep paying for his eight-month invasion of Ukraine. The production cut also hurts U.S.-led efforts to make the war financially unsustainable for Russia, threatens a global economy already destabilized by the Ukraine conflict and risks saddling Biden and Democrats with newly rising gasoline prices just ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fist bumps U.S. President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Putin has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing Russia's invasion.John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council at the White House, echoed Jean-Pierre comments Tuesday, saying that Biden believes "it's time to take another look at this relationship and make sure that it's serving our national security interests.""We're going to take a look at this relationship seriously as well as taking seriously the concerns of members of Congress," Kirby said at the White House. AFTER OPEC OIL CUT, WASHINGTON POST CLAIMS BIDEN'S FOREIGN POLICY WITH SAUDI ARABIA HAS ‘FAILED’ ‘BADLY’U.S. weapon sales to Riyadh serve as an important counterweight in the region to Iran, which is quickly moving toward becoming a nuclear power."There's 70,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia right now, not to mention all the other troops we have throughout the region," Kirby said. "So, it's not only in our interest that missile defense in the region become more integrated and cooperative. It's in the interest of our allies and partners in that part of the world as well."Still, the pressure is mounting for Biden. As a candidate for the White House, he vowed that Saudi rulers would "pay the price" under his watch for the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's leadership. Biden said that he'd look to make the oil-rich country a "pariah."But in July, amid rising prices at the pump around the globe, Biden decided to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, he met with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who he once shunned as a killer for the death of Khashoggi. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe U.S. intelligence community determined that the crown prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, likely approved the killing of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. MBS denies he was involved.The Associated Press contributed to this report. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Curtin University Political Analyst Professor Joe Siracusa says Vladimir Putin and President Biden “in their own way have bet all their chips” on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“They both have an election on in 2024, and Biden has no foreign policy success so far either,” he told Sky News Australia.
“So he’s betting there be some kind of victory here at the end of the day.
“The bad news is there isn’t going to be any victory, there is no victory in these kinds of things”.
Read More | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he spoke by phone with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said he demanded Tehran stop providing Russia with weapons in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Ukrainian officials and their Western allies have accused Iran of providing so-called “kamikaze” drones to Russia, which have recently been used to devastating effect by Moscow’s forces in strikes aimed at Ukrainian infrastructure.
Iran has strenuously denied that it has sent any weaponry, including drones, to Russia.
“Today, I received a call from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian,” Kuleba wrote in a tweet late on Friday.
“I demanded Iran to immediately cease the flow of weapons to Russia used to kill civilians and destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine,” he wrote. Today, I received a call from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, during which I demanded Iran to immediately cease the flow of weapons to Russia used to kill civilians and destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 28, 2022 Russia has unleashed a wave of missile and drone strikes in recent weeks, hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and forcing power cuts in Kyiv as well as cities and towns across the country.
Kyiv says Russia has used Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones, which cruise towards their target and explode on impact.
Amirabdollahian said on Monday that he was ready to speak with Ukraine over claims that Tehran had sold drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, the Iranian State’s IRNA (The Islamic Republic News Agency) reported.
Amirabdollahian dismissed the allegations of providing drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, IRNA reported.
“In the past we have taken weapons from Russia and given it weapons as well, but not during the Ukraine war,” IRNA quoted the foreign minister as having said. The minister also said he had told the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that Iran was willing to participate in an investigation of the drones used in Ukraine.
“I told Josep Borrell that I am ready that a team of military experts from Iran and Ukraine assess claims on the use of Iranian-made drones in the Ukraine war,” IRNA quoted Abdollahian as having said.
Armed drones have become a key weapon in Russia’s arsenal during its war in Ukraine and have been used with devastating effects in the past month to target crucial energy infrastructure, leading to nationwide power shortages in Ukraine.
Ukraine said on Friday that its forces had since mid-September shot down more than 300 Russian drones, which it described as Shahed-136 models imported from Iran.
Ukraine air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told journalists in Kyiv that Russia had ordered an estimated 2,400 kamikaze drones, although the exact extent of Moscow’s stock of armed drones was unknown.
Also on Friday, Iranian nationals living in Ukraine held a protest in Kyiv against the Tehran government allegedly supplying Russia with drones that have been used in Moscow’s war on the country.
Iranians who live in Ukraine attend a protest against Teran’s government and deliveries of Iranian drones to Russia, in central Kyiv, Ukraine on October 28, 2022 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]
Iran has strongly condemned a call by France, Germany and the United Kingdom for the United Nations to investigate whether Russia has used Iranian-origin drones to attack Ukraine.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said last weekend that the call by three countries was “false and baseless” and that it was “strongly rejected and condemned”.
In a letter signed by their UN envoys, the three European countries backed Ukraine’s request for a UN inquiry, arguing the drone use breached UN Security Council Resolution 2231 endorsing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The US has said the alleged export of “kamikaze drones” used in Ukraine could be a breach of the resolution, which could potentially trigger the automatically reinstating of international sanctions against Iran. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
WASHINGTON: CIA Director Bill Burns met on Monday with his Russian intelligence counterpart to warn of consequences if Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, according to a White House National Security Council official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Burns and Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s SVR spy agency, did not discuss settlement of the war in Ukraine during the meeting in Ankara, Turkiye. Ahead of the meeting, White House officials said Burns had also planned to raise the cases of Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, two Americans detained in Russia whom the Biden administration has been pressing to release in a prisoner exchange.
The Burns-Naryshkin meeting was the highest-ranking face-to-face engagement between US and Russian officials since before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the February invasion.
The official said that Ukrainian officials were briefed ahead of Burns’ travel to Turkiye.
President Joe Biden, after meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, told reporters that they discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden added they “reaffirmed our shared belief in the threat for the use of nuclear weapons is totally unacceptable.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state news agency Tass that the talks between Burns and Naryshkin “indeed took place.” Peskov said that “it was the American side’s initiative.”
In Turkiye, a top aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the country hosted the meeting between the heads of the Russian and US intelligence agencies on Monday. Communications Director Fahrettin Altun told The Associated Press that the meeting was “related to threats against international security, starting with the use of nuclear weapons.”
Turkiye earlier this year hosted Ukrainian and Russian officials for talks and played a key role in a UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to resume exporting grain to world markets.
Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency said Monday’s meeting was hosted by Turkiye’s intelligence agency, MIT.
Turkiye “will continue to negotiate with all relevant parties for peace and shall not refrain from taking initiative during this process,” Altun said.
The meeting between the spy chiefs came as the US Treasury Department on Monday announced an expanded list of sanctions on 14 people and 28 entities involved in supporting the Russian military-industrial complex. Many of those hit with new sanctions are located outside of Russia, including people and firms based in Switzerland, Taiwan and France.
Biden also heralded the retreat of Russian forces the southern region of Kherson, one of the four regions in Ukraine that Putin annexed in September.
“It’s a significant, significant victory for Ukraine. Significant victory. And I can do nothing but applaud the courage, determination and capacity of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian military,” Biden said.
Biden last month declared that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, as Russian officials have raised using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine.
While US officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced strategic setbacks on the battlefield, Biden administration officials have repeatedly said nothing has changed in US intelligence assessments to suggest that Putin has imminent plans to deploy nuclear weapons, according to US officials.
The National Security Council official added on Monday there has been no change in the US intelligence assessment and declined to offer further detail on timing of the decision to send Burns to meet with Naryshkin.
Putin has repeatedly alluded to using his country’s vast nuclear arsenal, including in September as he announced plans to conscript Russian men to serve in Ukraine. Biden has sought to make clear that use of a lower-yield tactical weapons could quickly spiral out of control into global destruction.
Speaking at a conference of international foreign policy experts late last month, Putin said it’s pointless for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons.
“We see no need for that,” Putin said. “There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.”
Biden sent Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, to Moscow last fall as the US intelligence community saw signs that Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine.
The CIA chief’s travels are normally closely held, but the White House, as it did last year, has made the calculation that it’s best that Burns’ interaction with the Russian spy chief is widely known.
Before Monday, the last publicly acknowledged face-to-face meeting between senior US and Russian officials took place in January in Switzerland: Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva on Jan. 21, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the next month.
Blinken and Lavrov have been in the same room for multilateral meetings since the Feb. 24 invasion, including at a G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali in early July and at the UN General Assembly, but have not had direct discussions.
They have, however, had at least one telephone conversation, which focused on a potential prisoner swap and occurred in late July. In the meantime, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley have also had phone calls with their Russian counterparts, as has national security adviser Jake Sullivan. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
October 19, 2022 07:07 AM TERROR, CONSCRIPTS, COLD: As Russia continues to target Ukrainian power plants with Iranian-supplied drones, the outlines of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy for the coming months become clearer. After suffering humiliating setbacks on several fronts, Putin is rushing tens of thousands of poorly trained and ill-equipped conscripts into battle in a desperate attempt to blunt Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations while concentrating aerial attacks, mostly with so-called kamikaze drones, on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with the goal of freezing the civilian population over the winter. “Since Oct 10, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country,” tweeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “No space left for negotiations with Putin's regime.” Zelensky said 10 regions of Ukraine were targeted yesterday, and in a video address, he again called on citizens to conserve electricity. “Wherever possible, we are trying to speed up restoration work,” he said. “But now, just like in the previous days, the overall situation still requires a very conscious consumption of electricity and limiting the use of energy-consuming appliances during peak hours.” RUSSIAN ATTACKS HAVE DESTROYED 30% OF UKRAINIAN POWER STATIONS, ZELENSKY SAYS A BATTLE OF WILLS: Putin’s hope is that by inflicting enough misery on Ukraine and sharply increasing energy prices for the rest of Europe he can break the will of the Ukrainian people and erode the support of their European allies. “I think obviously trying to inflict pain on the civilian society as well as try to have an impact on Ukrainian forces, but what we've seen so far is Ukraine being very resilient in their ability to get things like their power grids back up online quickly,” said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary. While National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN that this month’s attacks have been “somewhat successful” in knocking out power in many areas, he added, “I think it's twofold. I think it's, one, truly to impact civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and make it harder for them to subsist, certainly make it harder for the Ukrainian armed forces to communicate and to move around and support themselves, but I also think it's an effort to terrorize the Ukrainian people, to make them fearful, to push them to capitulate.” WILL EUROPE HOLD? The United States has said it will support Ukraine for as long as it takes, but as Europeans face the prospect of having to choose between “eating and heating,” Putin is banking on their resolve weakening. “I'm not sure the target is Ukrainian morale. I think it's European morale, morale in Germany, morale in France and other countries,” said former national security adviser John Bolton on CNN. “Winter's coming. It's not at all clear they have enough energy to get through the winter, home heating needs and things like that, but especially their manufacturing and production needs.” “We're all going into a recession. It looks like Europe's recession may be deeper. And if their factories aren't functioning, it'll be deeper still. And that will allow Putin to prey on European leaders who just want to turn the page now anyway,” said Bolton. “So that what he cannot win on the battlefield, he may win by breaking Europe's political results.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Stacey Dec. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE NOTE TO LOYAL READERS: Did you miss your Daily on Defense newsletter this week? We had some gremlins in our system, which resulted in a large number of subscribers either not receiving the emailed version or having it diverted to their spam folder. We regret the inconvenience, and we have our crack IT team on the case, but remember, if you don’t see your Daily on Defense in your morning inbox, you can always find the most recent edition on our website at DailyonDefense.com. It posts there shortly after 7 a.m., where you can see it first, before it gets emailed out 15-20 minutes later. Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! IRON DOME FOR UKRAINE? Russia’s reliance on Iranian-made Shahed-136 “suicide” drones has prompted calls to provide Ukraine with more effective defenses against the slow, low-flying aircraft. Israel has the premier system for countering rocket and artillery fire — Iron Dome, which is said to have a 90% kill rate against rockets launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. In an interview with CNN yesterday, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine has reached out to Israel about obtaining Iron Dome batteries to counter Iranian drones. “Definitely, I can confirm that. That was a request from Ukraine armed forces,” said Poroshenko. “We know that Israel has a special technology, how to fight with the Iranian drones. This technology can save the lives of hundreds of Ukrainians.” The U.S. is also looking at what short-range systems might be effective against the drone threat. “We're going to continue to provide them air defense capabilities,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday. “I don't have anything to announce today or get ahead of the next shipment, but I can tell you that from short to medium range, we have been working closely to try to get them the kinds of capabilities that they need.” LOCKHEED MARTIN RAMPS UP HIMARS PRODUCTION: With the U.S. shipping nearly two dozen of its vaunted HIMARS launchers to Ukraine, the maker of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is planning to increase production from 60 to 96 units a year. The announcement came in an earnings call from CEO Jim Taiclet, who was discussing Lockheed Martin’s third quarter results. Lockheed reported a profit of $1.8 billion on sales of $16.6 billion compared to $16 billion in the third quarter of 2021. “About six, seven months ago, when we saw what was beginning to happen in Eastern Europe, I went over to visit some of the senior officials in the Pentagon and basically took them to letter and said we're going to start spending on capacity for a few of these systems,” Taiclet said on the call. “On HIMARS specifically, we've already met with our long lead supply chain to plan for increasing production in 96 of these units a year.” Lockheed spent $65 million to speed up production in anticipation that the Pentagon will be buying more. “That was without a contract or any other memo or whatnot,” Taiclet said. “We just went ahead and did that because we expected it to happen. So those parts are already being manufactured now.” The Pentagon has provided Ukraine with 20 HIMARS launchers as well as thousands of rounds of GPS-guided munitions from its own stocks and has pledged an additional 18 to be procured from Lockheed Martin. MCCARTHY: ‘NOT GOING TO WRITE A BLANK CHECK’: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) signaled yesterday that if Republicans gain control of Congress, billions in military assistance to Ukraine could be on the chopping block. In an interview with Punchbowl News, McCarthy said the mood among Republicans is that with the problems facing the country, U.S. aid to Ukraine should not be boundless. “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check. And then there’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically, not doing the border, and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time, it can’t be the only thing they do, and it can’t be a blank check.” Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman speculated, “These kinds of comments could prompt the Biden administration to push for a full year of Ukraine aid during the lame duck, should Republicans win control of either chamber on Election Day. McCarthy may privately welcome this, in fact.” RETIRED ADMIRALS AND GENERALS ‘FREE TO SEEK EMPLOYMENT’: In response to a Washington Post report that more than 500 retired U.S. military personnel have taken “lucrative jobs” working for foreign governments, the Pentagon said that doesn’t necessarily imply anything improper. “As private U.S. citizens, retired service members are certainly free to seek employment at their discretion, but certain standards do apply,” said Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder. “Safeguarding national security and classified information, as well as preventing conflicts of interest, will always remain paramount to the Department of Defense.” The Washington Post report said 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the Saudi Defense Ministry since 2016, including retired Marine Gen. James Jones, national security adviser to former President Barack Obama, and retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and former President George W. Bush. “In addition to the limitations on foreign government employment that apply to all military retirees, all former DOD personnel are subject to a variety of post-government employment restrictions within law and regulations,” said Ryder. “For example, they remain bound by laws governing nondisclosure of any nonpublic government information. This includes classified information or information that they may have obtained through their federal employment or other information that may be protected by the Privacy Act.” FORMER BRITISH MILITARY PILOTS TRAINING PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY, AND LONDON AND WASHINGTON MUST RESPOND The Rundown Washington Examiner: NATO chief hints allies would intervene in war if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine Washington Examiner: Russian attacks have destroyed 30% of Ukrainian power stations, Zelensky says Washington Examiner: US intercepts two Russian bombers off Alaskan coast, proven no threat Washington Examiner: China faults Blinken for demanding ‘peaceful resolution’ of Taiwan controversy Washington Examiner: North Korea fires artillery barrage into bordering seas Washington Examiner: Former British military pilots training People's Liberation Army, and London and Washington must respond Washington Examiner: Heritage Foundation ranks US military as 'weak' for first time USNI News: Accelerated Chinese Timeline To Seize Taiwan Raises Questions On Pentagon Priorities, Says Gallagher New York Times: Iran’s Guards Corps Sends Drone Trainers To Russian Military Base In Crimea Breaking Defense: As Iranian Munitions Kill In Ukraine, Pressure Builds For Israel To Reassess Its Russian Balancing Act Washington Post: Russia’s war in Europe inflicts crisis on Germany Reuters: Russia Says Seized Ukrainian Lands Are Under Its Nuclear Protection Reuters: Vladimir Putin Is Safe In Power For Now, But Risks Lie Ahead, Sources Say The Guardian: UK to Issue ‘Threat Alert’ over China’s Attempts to Recruit RAF Pilots Defense News: As Xi Calls for Reunification, Pentagon Says China Policy is Unchanged Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Strength Now ‘Very Weak,’ Heritage Foundation Report Says Space News: Pentagon: It’s Up To SpaceX To Decide What To Do About Starlink In Ukraine Air & Space Forces Magazine: Future of F-35 Production Will Depend on US ‘Budget Priorities,’ Lockheed Martin CEO Says Air & Space Forces Magazine: Advances in Hypersonics Require Quicker Movement on Talent, Testing, Manufacturing The Drive: H-6 Bomber-Launched Drones Could Be In China’s Air Combat Future Air & Space Forces Magazine: Jim McDivitt, USAF Fighter Pilot, Test Pilot, and Apollo Astronaut, dies at 93 19fortyfive.com: Ukraine Is a Drone War: UAVs Have Changed War Forever 19fortyfive.com: Can Putin Suicide Drone His Way to Victory in Ukraine? 19fortyfive.com: Will Israel Attack Before Iran Gets Nuclear Weapons? Calendar WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 19 7:45 a.m 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, Maryland — National Defense Industrial Association Precision Strike Technology Symposium, with the theme "Integrated Precision Warfare in an Era of Major Power Conflict," with Navy Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, commander, Naval Air Systems Command https://www.ndia.org 10 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: "How will the U.S. Navy navigate an uncertain security environment?" with Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/how-will-the-us-navy-navigate 11 a.m. Los Angeles, California — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, Los Angeles, forum: "Space Industry Days: Responsive to the Threat — Accelerating Resilient Space Capabilities," with Army Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, commanding general of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command https://afcea-la.org/events/space-industry-days-2022/ 11 a.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual discussion: "The Freedom Agenda and America's Future," with former Vice President Mike Pence https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/event/the-freedom-agenda 11:30 a.m. 1700 Army Navy Dr., Arlington, Virginia — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association discussion: "From The Boardroom to The Battlefield: Operationalizing AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning),” with Gregory Little, deputy comptroller for enterprise data and business performance in the Office of the Defense Undersecretary; Patrick McCartney, lead of the Air Force Futures' AI Cross Functional Team; Alexander O'Toole, engineering lead at the Defense Department; Kristin Saling, director Army Human Resources Command's Innovation Cell; Brett Vaughan, chief AI officer at the Navy; and Brandi Vincent, reporter at DefenseScoop https://afceadc.swoogo.com/aiml2022 12:30 p.m. — Axios virtual event: “Cybersecurity Landscape Ahead of the Midterms,” with former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX); Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser, homeland security, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Sam Sabin, Axios cybersecurity reporter; Alayna Treene, Axios congressional reporter; and Charley Snyder, head of cybersecurity policy, Google https://cybersecuritylandscape.splashthat.com THURSDAY | OCTOBER 20 7:45 a.m. 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, Maryland — National Defense Industrial Association Precision Strike Technology Symposium, with the theme "Integrated Precision Warfare in an Era of Major Power Conflict," with Brad Cardwell, program manager at the Missile Defense Agency. Register at https://www.ndia.org 10 a.m. — Hudson Institute virtual book discussion: "China after Mao: The Rise of a Superpower," with author Frank Dikotter, chair professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong https://www.hudson.org/events/2151-china-after-mao 12 p.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: "How the latest women-led protests in Iran might shape the country's trajectory," with Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran; Golnaz Esfandiari, senior correspondent at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Nader Hashemi, director of the University of Denver's Center for Middle East Studies; and Assal Rad, research director at the National Iranian American Council https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event FRIDAY | OCTOBER 21 10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion: "Transatlantic Relations," focusing on the war in Ukraine and foreign policy priorities, with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna https://www.csis.org/events/discussing-transatlantic-relations TUESDAY | OCTOBER 25 8:30 a.m. 1700 Army Navy Dr., Arlington, Virginia — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies first annual Spacepower Security Forum with Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, Space Operations Command; Air Commodore John Haly, air and space attache, Australian Defense Staff; Air Commodore Jeremy Attridge, U.K. air and space attache to the U.S., Derek Tournear, director, Space Development Agency; and retired Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, former commander, U.S. Strategic Command https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event QUOTE OF THE DAY “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), in an interview with Punchbowl News, warning that military aid to Ukraine could be cut in a Republican Congress | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Ukrainian forces achieved their biggest breakthrough in the south of the country since the war began, bursting through the front and advancing rapidly along the Dnipro River on Monday, threatening to encircle thousands of Russian troops.
Kyiv gave no official confirmation of the gains, but Russian sources acknowledged that a Ukrainian tank offensive had advanced dozens of kilometers (miles) along the river’s west bank, recapturing a number of villages along the way.
The breakthrough mirrors recent Ukrainian successes in the east that have turned the tide in the war against Russia, even as Moscow has tried to raise the stakes by annexing territory, ordering mobilisation, and threatening nuclear retaliation.
“The information is tense, let’s put it that way, because, yes there were indeed breakthroughs,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson province told Russian state television.
“There’s a settlement called Dudchany, right along the Dnipro River, and right there, in that region, there was a breakthrough. There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces,” he said.
Dudchany is around 40 km (25 miles) south of where the front stood just a day earlier, indicating one of the fastest advances of the war and by far the most rapid in the south, where Russian forces had been dug into heavily reinforced positions along a mainly static front line since the early weeks of the invasion.
While Kyiv maintained almost complete silence, as it has in the past during major offensives, some officials did describe what they referred to as unconfirmed reports of gains.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry, posted a photo of Ukrainian soldiers posing with their flag draping a golden statue of an angel. He said it was the village of Mikhailivka, around 20 km beyond the previous front.
“In the last days, we have seen the first photo of Osokorivka… we have seen our troops near the entrance to Mykhailivka, we have seen our troops in Khreschenivka, next to the monument. This means that Zolota Balka also is under the control of our armed forces, and it means that our armed forces are moving powerfully along the banks of the Dnipro nearer to Beryslav,” Serhiy Khlan, a Kherson regional council member, told Reuters, naming villages in the area.
“Officially, there is no such information yet, but the (Russian) social media pages which are panicking… absolutely confirm these photos.”
Similar tactics to east
The advance in the south mirrors the tactics that have brought Kyiv major gains since the start of September in eastern Ukraine, where its forces swiftly seized territory to gain control of Russian supply lines, cutting off larger Russian forces and forcing them to retreat.
Just hours after a concert on Moscow’s Red Square on Friday where Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian territory forever, Ukraine recaptured Lyman, the main Russian bastion in the north of Donetsk province.
That opens the way for it to advance deep into Luhansk province, threatening the main supply routes to territory Moscow captured in some of the war’s bloodiest battles in June and July.
Putin has been responding to Russia’s failures on the battlefield over the past month by escalating: proclaiming the annexation of occupied territory, calling up tens of thousands of men as reservists and threatening nuclear retaliation.
In the south, Ukraine’s advance targets supply lines for thousands of Russian troops – perhaps as many as 25,000 – on the west bank of the Dnipro, where it sent a large contingent to halt a counter-attack Ukraine announced there in August.
Ukraine has already destroyed the main bridges across the Dnipro, forcing Russian forces to use makeshift crossings. A substantial advance along the river could bring those remaining crossings into artillery range.
“The fact we have broken through the front means that… the Russian army has already lost the ability to attack, and today or tomorrow it could lose the ability to defend,” said Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst based in Kyiv.
“A month of our work destroying their supplies and reducing the combat effectiveness of this group means that they are functioning on minimal rations in terms of ammunition, fuel and food.”
Russian military bloggers described a Ukrainian tank advance through dozens of kilometers of territory along the bank of the Dnipro River.
“When this many Russian channels are sounding the alarm, it usually means they’re in trouble,” Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute think-tank, wrote on Twitter.
The reports of Ukraine’s battlefield advances have come amid chaos back in Russia over the mobilisation, which Putin ordered 10 days ago. Tens of thousands of Russian men have been called up, while tens of thousands of others have fled abroad.
The Russian authorities have not spelled out what the criteria are for who must be sent to fight. Putin has said mistakes were made and people were called up who should not have been.
In the latest indication of confusion, Mikhail Degtyarev, governor of the Khabarovsk region in Russia’s Far East, said on Monday around half of the men called up there had been found unfit for duty and sent back home. He fired the region’s military commissar. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
John Bolton, in 2006, when he was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.Kathy Willens/AP Facts matter: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Support our nonprofit reporting. Subscribe to our print magazine.During CNN’s coverage of the January 6 hearings last night, John Bolton—the former national security adviser to Donald Trump and forever war hawk—casually revealed that he has helped the United States stage a coup. Why did he admit it? For the same reason, it seems, Bolton and fellow neo-cons do many things: to insist they are smarter than you.
The moment came during a sloppy attempt to bigfoot host Jake Tapper, who had argued that one doesn’t necessarily have to be supremely intelligent in order to plan a coup. That prompted swift resistance from Bolton:
As somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat—not here but you know [in] other places—it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what he [Trump] did.
There’s been much debate over whether to call Trump’s actions related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol a coup. (You can read some of that here and here.) So, it’s fascinating to see Bolton jump in with his identity politics-adjacent argument about it. (“As someone who has done a coup, I think…”)
But, personally, I think a lot of the policing around the word “coup”—and whether Trump’s exceedingly dumb actions fit the definition—belie the fact that something can be both evil and lacking prestige. That a coup does not have to be planned by Harvard graduates and McKinsey consultants, even if that’s how America usually does these sorts of things. Hey, expanding our definition might even allow us to see the ways we are headed for illiberalism now. .@jaketapper: "One doesn't have to be brilliant to attempt a coup."John Bolton: "I disagree with that, as someone who has helped planned coups d'etat—not here, but you know, other places—it takes a lot of work." pic.twitter.com/y07V1Fo81y
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 12, 2022 Later in the interview, Bolton clarified that he was referring to the 2019 American-led attempt to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. (At the time, as the Washington Post points out, Bolton denied that overthrowing Maduro was a coup, telling reporters, “This is clearly not a coup.”)
Still, Bolton’s admission begs the obvious question: What other coups do you think Bolton helped plan?
After all, Bolton has been within the orbit of Republican politics, and generally the apparatus of our state’s foreign policy missions, since the 1980s. He has served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. CIA agent mad that Bolton is stealing coup valor. beautiful https://t.co/Z2nBvLot35
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) July 12, 2022 I think a simple test will suffice to look into this: When did America do (or help do) a coup? And where was John Bolton during said coup? (An admin note: I am also leaving out plenty of coups the United States has aided in. There are simply too many: Just between 1947 and 1989, according to one analysis, the US attempted 72 times to change another nation’s government, which included 66 covert operations. That number doesn’t include pre-Cold War interventions, notably in Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Cuba. And I’ve broadly thought of “coup” here as an attempt at regime change—in part because during Bolton’s heyday the US went from secret CIA plot to assassinate leaders to just straight up war. And it’s worth including those interventions.) When did America coup? In 1953, the CIA provided support to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.
Where was John Bolton?
Probably in Baltimore, where he grew up. Bolton was about six years old.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Low. But he would later write about trying to get us to “bomb Iran” in the New York Times. (This is a kink by the way. He went to the Wall Street Journal to make the “legal case” for bombing North Korea.) When did America coup?
In 1954, according to Foreign Policy, the relationship between Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz and the US “soured” because land reforms potentially would harm a US-backed fruit company. As FP reported: The Navy blocked the coast while rebels the US helped arm ousted the president.
Where was John Bolton?
Still a child. Still, probably, in Baltimore.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Low. When did America coup?
This was one wasn’t successful. But in 1956, and 1957, according to undiscovered documents the Guardian reported on in 2003, the US and other Western powers attempted to topple the Syrian government. In August 1957, Syrian forces surrounded the US embassy, saying they’d discovered a plot to get rid of the regime. At the time, President Eisenhower called it a conspiracy. Looks like it was real.
Where was John Bolton?
Still in Baltimore. Still not ten.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Low, but he’s getting to his angsty teen years soon. When did America coup?
After backing the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista, the United States was more than a little miffed by the Communist victory of Fidel Castro in 1959. Throughout the Cold War, the CIA attempted to topple the new government. There were too many attempts to kill Castro by covert forces to even count. A blockade was imposed in 1962 to economically cripple and force regime change.
Where was John Bolton?
Still Baltimore. Becoming a teen.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Still low. He’s just getting into high school in the 1960s. Would’ve been a hell of an extra-curricular! It is worth mentioning that in the early 2000s Bolton tried to say Cuba, like Iraq, had nukes. Also, in a famous speech called “Beyond the Axis of Evil,” Bolton wanted to include Cuba, Libya, and Syria as other nations worthy of Axis status. (You can read the speech here.) When did America coup?
In the early to mid 1960s, the United States was involved in covert actions within the Congo after it gained independence. Notably, in 1960, the nationalist and democratically elected president fell to a pro-Western military leader who, it was later discovered, was helped by the CIA. In the 1970s, the Church Commission revealed the extent to which the CIA was operating in the nation. The activities continued last until at least 1965.
Where was John Bolton?
Baltimore. He was in high school, running the Students for Goldwater campaign.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Low. When did America coup?
In 1964, Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The United States will go to war in Vietnam. We’d been involved since the mid-1950s, but the tipping point allowed a full scale attack to fight Communist forces in the country.
Where was John Bolton?
Yale. Bolton is over eighteen and draft eligible. But, despite supporting the war, he avoided fighting by enlisting in the Maryland National Guard. He said he had “no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy.”
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
In words? Kind of. In actions? No. When did America coup?
In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet overthrew Chilean president Salvador Allende via coup. The United States had a “long history of engaging in covert actions in Chile,” according to a US Senate report. But the government said there is “little evidence” that it was directly involved in the Pinochet coup. Many others still think of the “other 9/11” as firmly US-backed.
Where was John Bolton?
Yale. Bolton went there for both college and law school. In 1972, he was an aide to Vice President Spiro Agnew.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
We’re getting closer! When did America coup?
After the Sandinistas came to power, the CIA and the Reagan administration secretly worked to overthrow the regime throughout the 1980s. They supported the Contras. By the mid-1980s, as we have written in the past, “it had become abundantly clear that US policy was drowning Nicaragua in blood.”
Where was John Bolton?
In the 1980s, Bolton hopped between law firms and working for the United States government. He worked briefly in the Reagan administration. Later, Bolton would work on investigating the Iran-Contra affair—which was about giving money to the Contras from selling weapons to Iran.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
We don’t have direct connections or anything. But, yeah, he’s in the mix now. When did America coup?
During the administration of George H.W. Bush, the United States invaded Panama to overthrow dictator Manuel Noriega. The US had helped put him into power during the Cold War to fight Communism.
Where was John Bolton?
Bolton was Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1989 to 1993.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Hmm. Maybe!? When did America coup?
In 1991, the United States invaded Iraq. This was a response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, and is generally called the first Gulf War.
Where was John Bolton?
Still at the State Department.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
He certainly would’ve been in some meetings at the time, right? He should be embarrassed if he wasn’t giving a war-monger presentation in there. In the 1990s, as the Atlantic reported, Bolton did advocate for Bill Clinton to send troops into Iraq again to get rid of Saddam Hussein. When did America coup?
In October 2001, the United States begins military operations in Afghanistan. The war lasted until August 2021.
Where was John Bolton?
During the Bush administration, Bolton would serve as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
Yeah, I would think he’d be involved in these conversations. (Plus, he was arguing last year that Biden should not have pulled out of Afghanistan—or at least I read it that way—in op-ed pages.) When did America coup?
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. Here is a lie by lie timeline of how we got there.
Where was John Bolton?
At the vanguard of the neo-con movement and a figure within the Bush administration. As an admin official, he was in charge of stoping the spread of WMDs. And he believed Iraq had them—and said so.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
He argued publicly Saddam had WMDs. He was ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006. And he was a core part of the neo-conservative milieu that went for these wars under the Bush administration. So, I dare to say yes. When did America coup?
In 2011, the United States and other Western powers intervened in Libya to overthrow leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Where was John Bolton?
Not in the administration.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
I guess ideologically, but this one goes out to Barack Obama who called it the “worst mistake” of his presidency. When did America coup?
In 2019, like Bolton admitted, he tried to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Where was John Bolton?
In power.
Likelihood Bolton helped coup?
High. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
The International Criminal Court (ICC) will seek arrest warrants against Russians for atrocities committed in Ukraine as part of two war crimes cases to be opened, it has been reported.
Karim Khan, its prosecutor, is expected to ask a pre-trial panel to approve the warrants against several Russians for the mass abduction of children from Ukraine and the targeting of civilian infrastructure.
If he secures their backing, it would mark the first time warrants have been issued since Mr Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.
Special investigators allege that Russia has abducted Ukrainian children and teenagers and sent them to re-education camps, and that Moscow has deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure.
It was unclear which Russians the ICC prosecutor would target or exactly what the court could charge them with.
Putin could be charged
Vladimir Putin could be charged, as The Hague-based court does not offer immunity for heads of state in cases involving war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
But the likelihood of the Russian president being tried remains slim as the court does not try defendants in absentia.
It is also highly unlikely any Kremlin ally would ever face trial because it would require Moscow to hand over anyone hit with an ICC warrant to The Hague-based court.
A spokesman for Mr Khan declined to comment on reports of pending war crimes trials by the Reuters news agency and the New York Times.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied accusations of war crimes, but international and Ukrainian investigators believe they have gathered enough evidence.
Abduction of children
The first case, according to an official briefed on the talks, will focus on the abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russia.
The Kremlin-sponsored programme has seen the forcible removal of children and offered for adoption in Russia.
A recent US-backed study by researchers at Yale University found that Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children at sites in occupied Crimea.
It identified at least 43 camps and facilities where children were taken as part of a “large-scale systematic network” operated for more than a year by Moscow.
This month, however, the Ukrainian government has suggested the number of abducted children could be more than 16,000.
The Kremlin has rarely attempted to hide its attempts to remove children from Ukraine, claiming it as a humanitarian mission to protect orphans or abandoned children from the war.
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, who is sanctioned by a number of Western governments, has been the public face for the campaign.
She has made dozens of public appeals for Russian families to come forward to adopt Ukrainian children, as well as boasting that she had adopted a teenage boy from Mariupol.
'The spoils of war'
Putin last May signed a decree making it easier for Ukrainians to access Russian citizenship.
Mr Khan publicly signalled his intentions to pursue a case against Russian abductions during a visit to a vacated children’s home in southern Ukraine.
“Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,” he said following the trip.
The ICC is also expected to pursue charges in relation to Russia’s targeting of civilian infrastructure in an attempt to break Ukrainian resistance over the winter months.
The US government has evidence shedding light on the Kremlin’s decision to deliberately target critical infrastructure, but the intelligence has reportedly been withheld over fears it could lead to prosecutions of Americans.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general is investigating 71,000 alleged war crimes resulting from air strikes on civilian targets.
Any ICC arrest warrant announcements are not expected to be made imminently, while its experts decide whether there are legal grounds to pursue any war crimes trials.
Kyiv, while not a member of the ICC, has accepted the court’s jurisdiction, while Russia is not a member and unlikely to comply with any warrants or rulings.
Xi Jinping could visit Russia
Meanwhile, it was reported that Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, could visit Russia as soon as next week, while also holding a video call with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, his first since Moscow’s invasion.
The intervention will be seen as a big win for Kyiv, which has been calling on Beijing to remain neutral rather than backing Moscow.
China has so far refused to attribute blame for the war in Ukraine, but has opposed Western sanctions against Russia.
Last month, Beijing published a lengthy peace plan that was met with scepticism in Kyiv and the West.
03:00 PM
Today's top stories
The International Criminal Court in the Hague is reportedly planning to open war crimes cases tied to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and will seek arrest warrants for several people
Sanna Marin's offer to send fighter jets to Ukraine appears to have caught her own government by surprise
Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, is reportedly planning to travel to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week
Pro-Ukraine partisans blew up a crucial railway line being used to resupply Russian forces in the Kherson region
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, has likely lost access to Russian prisons for recruitment purposes, according to the Ministry of Defence
02:55 PM
Sanna Marin’s offer of fighter jets for Ukraine catches Finland off guard
Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland, has been accused of offering fighter jets to Ukraine without first discussing it with the government, the president or military, writes James Crisp.
Ms Marin, who faces elections next month, suggested on a surprise trip to Kyiv that Finland could donate the planes.
The centre-Left politician was criticised for ignoring a constitutional obligation to consult on foreign policy and security matters and making the visit so close to the April 2 vote.
Read more here
02:23 PM
Russia's Shoigu hails relations with China as pillar of global stability
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday that relations between Russia and China were the main factor supporting global stability in the world today, the TASS news agency reported.
Sergei Shoigu said bilateral relations between Moscow and Beijing had reached an unprecedented high.
02:12 PM
No 'imminent military danger' to Moldova, says defence minister
Moldova does not currently face "imminent military danger" but is subject to "hybrid warfare generated by Russia" in a bid to "overthrow state power", its defence minister has said.
"Imminent military danger against Moldova currently doesn't exist, but there are other types of dangers that affect the country's security - hybrid warfare," Anatolie Nosatii said.
01:22 PM
Ukrainian troops learn to use Leopard 2 tanks in Spain - in pictures
12:58 PM
Russian politician moves to push back conscription age
A senior Russian politician has introduced a bill to push back the age of conscription to compulsory military service to 21-30 years from the current 18-27 years.
The bill was introduced by Andrei Kartapolov, a former general who chairs the State Duma's defence committee and represents the ruling United Russia bloc, just over a year into Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.
Because there are two transition years - 2024 and 2025 - when the conscription age will span 10 or 11 years instead of the usual nine, the bill would for a time increase the number of men subject to a year's compulsory service.
In December, Vladimir Putin gave his backing to Defence Ministry proposals to push back the age range.
The ministry wants to increase the total number of serving combat personnel - professional contract soldiers and conscripts - from 1.15 million to 1.5 million.
12:37 PM
Watch: Russian incendiary weapons rain down on Ukrainian town
Russian forces appeared to target the eastern town of Vuhledar with incendiary thermite munitions.
Videos taken of the alleged attack show brightly burning metals raining from the sky on the coal-mining town, while a Ukrainian can be heard talking in the background.
Vuhledar has been one of the main focal points of Moscow’s ill-fated offensive to capture the remains of the Donbas.
Read more here
12:07 PM
Xi Jinping to speak with Volodymyr Zelensky after Putin visit
Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, said the call was likely to take place after Xi's visit to Moscow next week to meet Vladimir Putin.
11:44 AM
Months of brutal fighting takes its toll on eastern Ukraine - in pictures
11:22 AM
Moldova smashes pro-Moscow subversion ring
Moldovan police on Sunday said they had arrested members of a network they suspected of being orchestrated by Moscow in a bid to destabilise the country.
After searches on Saturday night, 25 men were questioned and seven of them detained, police chief Viorel Cernauteanu told media.
An agent managed to infiltrate the group led by a Moldovan-Russian, he said, adding that the prosecution had recorded 10 hours of video and audio.
"People came from Russia with a very specific training role," the official added.
The Moldovan authorities said they acted after "receiving information on the organisation by Russian special services of destabilising actions on our territory via demonstrations".
The party of fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor has again mobilised people in recent weeks against the pro-European government, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Chisinau.
He has organised several rallies for which he is suspected of paying participants.
10:57 AM
Kremlin not ruling out Putin attending G20 summit in India
The Kremlin said on Monday it was not ruling out Vladimir Putin attending a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 countries in New Delhi in September.
The Russian President has not travelled beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union since sending his armed forces into Ukraine in February last year.
Asked whether Mr Putin might attend the Delhi summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "It can't be ruled out. Russia continues to participate fully in the G20 framework. It intends to continue to do that. But no decision has been made yet."
10:26 AM
Kremlin criticises Hollywood 'politicisation' after Navalny Oscars win
The Academy Award for best documentary won by "Navalny", a film about jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, showed "a certain element of politicisation" by Hollywood, the Kremlin has said.
10:06 AM
Xi Jinping to visit Moscow as early as next week
Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, is planning to travel to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter have said.
Plans for a visit come as China has been offering to broker peace in Ukraine, an effort that has been met with scepticism in the West given China's diplomatic support for Russia.
Russia's Tass news agency reported in January that Mr Putin had invited Mr Xi to visit in the spring.
Last month, Mr Putin hosted China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow and signalled that Mr Xi would travel to Russia.
China and Russia struck a "no limits" partnership in February of 2022, when Mr Putin visited Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, and the two sides have continued to reaffirm the strength of their ties.
09:56 AM
Russia's Wagner sustains 'significant losses' as mercenaries attempt to break into central Bakhmut
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine's Ground Forces, said Russia's Wagner Group are trying to break into central Bakhmut, but are suffering "significant losses" in the process.
"In fierce battles, our defenders inflict significant losses on the enemy," he said on Monday.
"All enemy attempts to capture the city are repelled by artillery, tanks, and other firepower."
Mercenaries from Wagner have spearheaded Russia's attempt to capture Bakhmut, the besieged Donetsk city, in the long-running battle.
08:57 AM
Putin ally casts doubt over Ukrainian involvement in Nord Stream sabotage
A key ally to Vladimir Putin on Monday cast doubt over reports that the Nord Stream gas pipelines were sabotaged by a pro-Ukrainian group.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's national security council, said Kyiv had gained nothing from the destruction of the pipelines, which carried Russian gas to Europe.
He said Moscow still does not know who exactly was behind it, Reuters reported, citing the Interfax news agency.
08:43 AM
Wagner boss shut out from recruiting convicts from Russian prisons
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, has likely lost access to Russian prisons for recruitment purposes, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday.
In an intelligence update, British military officials said Prigozhin is “highly likely pivoting recruitment efforts towards free Russian citizens”.
Wagner has recruited thousands of Russian convicts from prison to fuel its efforts in Bakhmut, but is now being forced to recruit in schools and sports centres because of a feud with the Russian defence ministry.
“About half of the prisoners Wagner has already deployed in Ukraine have likely become casualties and the new initiatives are unlikely to make up for the loss of the convict recruit pipeline,” the MoD said.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 13, 2023
08:21 AM
Russian and UN officials to hold talks over Ukraine grain deal
Senior Russian and United Nations officials will meet in Geneva on Monday to discuss the extension of the Black Sea grain deal.
The agreement, brokered with the help ofTurkey last year, allows Ukrainian grain shipments to bypass a Russian blockade, but also was meant to pave the way for more global shipments of Russian fertiliser and grains.
Moscow has complained only the Ukrainian part of the pact has been implemented, while the Russian end of the bargain has not been upheld.
08:07 AM
Russia suffers 2,600 casualties in Bakhmut, Volodymyr Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had killed "more than 1,100" Russians in Bakhmut over the past week.
He said a further 1,500 had been put out of action because of injuries sustained in the battle over the Donetsk region city.
In his nightly address, Mr Zelensky said: "In less than one week - since March 6 - in the Bakhmut sector alone, they managed to eliminate more than 1,100 enemy soldiers, which are Russia's irreversible losses, losses there, near Bakhmut."
Russian equipment and ammunition stores were also destroyed, he added. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
WASHINGTON — As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday evening local time for a long-rumored official visit, her trip has exposed a rare schism between the Biden White House and the most powerful Democrat in Congress.Officially, the Biden administration has been careful to avoid directly answering questions about whether it agrees with Pelosi's decision to make the trip.But unofficially, the White House and the Pentagon have made little secret of their opposition to such a visit, which comes at a time when U.S.-China relations are the poorest they've been in decades.In late July, Biden responded to a question about Pelosi's then-rumored stop in Taiwan by saying, "The military thinks it's not a good idea right now. But I don't know what the status of it is."For weeks, American officials from the president on down have tied themselves into knots trying to talk about Pelosi's choice to visit Taiwan, and stressing that it was her decision, and hers alone.Missing the pointNow, experts say it's becoming clear that this effort missed the point. That's because schisms in Washington are effectively meaningless to the rest of the world, which has learned to view American presidents and their top allies in Congress as interchangeable stand-ins for one another on foreign policy matters.The fact that U.S. policy toward Taiwan is deliberately ambiguous only serves to make it that much more difficult to draw any meaningful distinction between what Pelosi is doing and what the White House is saying.Pelosi, a longtime China hawk, has not officially announced that she will visit the self-ruled island off the coast of mainland China, which Beijing considers a renegade province.I think what you really see from China's side, and it's not unreasonable, is that we're kind of pushing the envelope of the One China policy.Andrew MerthaChina Global Research Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International StudiesBut after weeks of Pelosi and her office refusing to confirm the visit, citing security concerns, Taiwanese media reported Monday that Pelosi and a congressional delegation of five other House Democrats planned to spend Tuesday night in the capital, Taipei, and meet with Taiwanese leaders and members of the island's legislature on Wednesday.Beijing has been furious for months over the reported visit, which would mark the first time in 25 years that an American House Speaker visited the island.Any trip by Pelosi "will greatly threaten peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, severely undermine China-US relations and lead to a very serious situation and grave consequences," senior Chinese diplomat Liu Xiaoming tweeted late Monday night. Liu's statement reflected the tone and tenor of weeks' worth of warnings and threats that have emanated from Beijing.On Tuesday, China escalated this rhetoric with a series of actions, starting with the announcement of new import bans on certain Taiwanese products. Shortly afterward, Reuters reported that several Chinese warplanes had flown close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait.Hours later, a major Taiwanese media outlet reported that the island's own military would be on heightened alert in response to Chinese live fire exercises being held in anticipation of Pelosi's reported visit.Given that Pelosi is traveling aboard a U.S. military aircraft for the entirety of her trip to Asia this week, the quickly escalating military tensions between China and Taiwan carry especially high risks.They also underscore what a difficult position Pelosi's trip has placed the Biden White House into.'Independent branch of government'As reports of the trip solidified in recent days, Biden's top spokespeople have been forced to say over and over that they cannot confirm or deny the existence of any upcoming trip, and at the same time downplay its significance."I want to reaffirm that the Speaker has not confirmed any travel plans," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday, "So we won't be commenting or speculating about the stops on her trip."Still, Kirby confirmed moments later that Biden had specifically raised the topic of Pelosi's unconfirmed trip with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, during a video call that lasted more than two hours.Biden "made clear that Congress is an independent branch of government and that Speaker Pelosi makes her own decisions, as other members of Congress do, about their overseas travel," said Kirby. "That was made clear."Moments after saying Biden and Xi had personally discussed the trip, Kirby again sought to downplay its importance."I think we've laid out very clearly that if she goes — if she goes — it's not without precedent. It's not new. It doesn't change anything," he said. "We've not ramped up the rhetoric. We've not changed our behavior."CNBC PoliticsRead more of CNBC's politics coverage:Koch network pressures Sens. Manchin, Sinema to oppose $739 billion tax-and-spending billUkraine’s counteroffensive in Kherson ‘gathering momentum’; UK advisor warns of nuclear riskDonald Trump in 2024: Eric Trump teases dad's third election run with golf bag at Saudi tour eventWhite House goes on offense to argue that the U.S. is not in a recessionFormer Obama White House aide Seth Andrew sentenced to year in prison for charter school theft schemeHouse passes bill to boost U.S. chip production and China competition, sending it to BidenTo foreign policy experts, the White House's effort to convince Beijing that it must distinguish between the behavior of the top Democrat in Congress and the intent of the Democratic administration is a futile one."Saying that this is a whole lot of nothing or that the Chinese shouldn't read into it ... Well, anybody who has spent half a minute looking at China knows that they attach some sort of intentionality to everything we do," said Andrew Mertha, the director of the China Global Research Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.Any suggestion that a visit by someone as important as Pelosi would be seen by Beijing as anything but an in-person expression of American support for Taiwanese independence, he said, is unimaginable.This is especially true after Biden himself said, on three separate occasions, that the U.S. would come to the defense of Taiwan if China were to invade the island.Those statements, said Mertha, undermined decades of assurances from Washington that the U.S. would maintain a policy of strategic ambiguity on the question of who controls Taiwan."I think what you really see from China's side, and it's not unreasonable, is that we're kind of pushing the envelope of the One China policy," said Mertha, referring to the longstanding U.S. position of recognizing Beijing as the sole legal government of China, but not formally recognizing Taiwan as subject to the government in Beijing."They're alarmed," Mertha said of Beijing, "and I don't blame them." | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
TOKYO/BEIJING Nov 17 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he conveyed concerns over regional security to Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday amid growing tensions in Asia over China's maritime ambitions.Xi was quoted by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV as telling Kishida that China and Japan should deepen trust, areas of cooperation and regional integration, and resist "conflict and confrontation".The two leaders met in Thailand on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, marking the first leadership-level talks between the two countries in almost three years.Regional tensions have been rising over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and in August staged war games near the island.The democratically-elected government in Taipei rejects Beijing's claims and says only its people can decide its future.Japan also lodged a diplomatic complaint in August after five ballistic missiles launched by the Chinese military fell into Japan's exclusive economic zone, near disputed islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China."I reiterated the importance of peace and security in the Taiwan Strait," Kishida said to reporters after the summit, stopping short of suggesting how China responded to his concerns."I conveyed my grave concerns about the situation in the East China Sea, including the Senkaku Islands, as well as China's military presence such as their launching of missiles," Kishida added.Xi told Kishida the issue of Taiwan needed to be handled properly and in good faith as it touched on the political foundation and basic trust of China-Japan relations, according to CCTV.Xi then went on to say that "China does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, nor does it accept anyone interfering in China's internal affairs under any pretext", CCTV reported.Taiwan's Foreign Ministry thanked Japan for the concern, saying it "has always welcomed the international community's attention to the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the adoption of positive measures that will help maintain regional peace".The Japanese premier took a at an East Asia Summit held in Cambodia last week, openly criticising China for "violating" Japan's sovereignty in the East China Sea.Xi only hinted at the issue on Thursday, however, saying that "on the issue of maritime and territorial disputes, we should abide by the consensus of principles already reached, and show political wisdom and commitment to properly manage differences."The fact that Xi sat with Kishida at the summit table in Bangkok despite the open criticism a few days prior gives weight to the meeting, said Rumi Aoyama, professor in Chinese foreign policy at Waseda University."Holding the talks was an important achievement to have for Xi's foreign policy... and also indicates the importance of China's relationship with Japan as its economy struggles with the zero-covid policy," she said.Analysts say Xi's packed schedule of bilateral meetings at the G20 summit in Indonesia, which ended on Wednesday, and at the APEC summit was partly driven by a perceived need to counterbalance U.S. global influence over its allies, including Japan. read more Kishida also told reporters that he had agreed with Xi to reopen diplomatic channels of communications, with Japan's foreign minister set to visit China in the near future.Reporting by Sakura Murakami in Tokyo and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Additional reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Martin Petty, William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Part of the Department of State, the Diplomatic Security Service is a federal law enforcement agency responsible for various protective and investigative missions. Unfortunately, the DSS is near a breaking point. The critical challenge is a growing and sustaining list of people that the DSS must protect. The agency has a standing mandate to protect non-head-of-state foreign dignitaries visiting the United States, the secretary of state, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and U.S. ambassadors assessed at high risk. Yet, facing an array of serious threats by Iran to assassinate various active and former U.S. officials, the DSS has been tasked with maintaining full-time protective details for those who would otherwise not have that security. Namely, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Iran special envoy Brian Hook. This is costing the government more than $2 million a month. Moreover, it is forcing the diversion of DSS agents away from investigative duties, such as countering passport fraud, and into time-consuming protective assignments. The scale of the challenge facing the DSS is not widely understood in Congress. IRANIAN ASSASSINATION PLOTS ARE ESCALATING. THE WEST MUST RESPOND In part, that's because the DSS lacks the political influence and name recognition of its far larger U.S. Secret Service protective partner. But lack of awareness of its overstretch is also a consequence of the DSS's organizational culture. Consider that its agents are ultimately trained to be diplomats as well as federal law enforcement officers. This is a necessary part of their role serving as regional security officers, supervising the protection of U.S. embassies and diplomats around the world. Very few foreign governments share the heavily resourced U.S. approach to protective security, including top U.S. allies. In turn, to earn the cooperation of host governments in providing effective security for resident U.S. ambassadors and diplomats, or for visiting officials such as the secretary of state or assistant secretaries of state, DSS agents adopt a culture of politeness and making do with what they have, even when circumstances are extraordinarily challenging. Agents pride themselves on this. The problem is that the DSS cannot sustain effective protection on its current track. Its agents are becoming too exhausted, risking workforce attrition and mistakes. Agents are human, after all, not inclined to relentlessly having to leave their spouses and families for short-term trips to stand post at domestic events or guard protectees on short jaunts around the world. Fortunately, there's a three-pronged solution to the problem. First, the U.S. and its allies need to strengthen their deterrence of Iran's assassination threats. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his IRGC minions must know that any detected assassination plot will result in punitive new sanctions. They must know that any successful attack will result in decisive military retaliation. Second, the DSS needs more money. That's needed to ensure that the agency's other budgets are not ransacked to provide for overtime pay and travel costs. Most important of all, new funding is needed to build out the DSS recruitment and training pipeline. Defined by a blood feud mentality wrapped in a theologically motivated desire for vengeance, Iran's threats to U.S. officials aren't going away. They will likely exist for as long as the Islamic Republic exists, or until the point Iran successfully assassinates a high-ranking U.S. official. That reality means the U.S. must invest in hiring more agents now so that the DSS can relieve stresses on its organization in the years to come. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Third, the Biden administration and the State Department should work with former U.S. officials to ensure that the DSS only provides protection while on U.S. soil or for foreign trips in support of U.S. foreign policy (such as attending a foreign counterpart's funeral, for example). Unless there are concerns with regard to a specific foreign trip, former U.S. officials should request foreign government security or private security from organizers of a private event hosting them. This would provide a significant and immediate reduction in the strain on the DSS workforce. The top line, however, is clear. The DSS needs relief. Failure to provide that relief risks catastrophic consequences. | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
Analysis: What does ‘lose’ look like?
Sunak hints at visit to Ukraine amid vow of 'steadfast support'
Russia using game designers to launch missile attacks
Russia sends fathers who don't pay child support to war
Listen to the latest episode of our daily Ukraine podcast Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, personally oversaw military drills designed to simulate a "massive nuclear strike".
The exercises followed Putin's warning about his readiness to use "all means available" to fend off attacks on Russia's territory, amid heightened tension with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
During Wednesday's drills, a Yars land-based intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the northern Plesetsk launch site.
A Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea launched a Sineva ICBM at the Kura firing range on the far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
Tu-95 strategic bombers also launched cruise missiles at practice targets. The Kremlin said in a statement that all tasks set for the exercise were fulfilled and all the missiles that were test-fired reached their designated targets.
Drills involving Russia's nuclear forces have taken place on an annual basis to demonstrate their readiness. 3:12PM Today’s top stories: At least 70,000 people have left their homes in Ukraine's southern Kherson province in the space of a week, a Moscow-installed official in the region said Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday oversaw the training of Moscow's strategic deterrence forces, troops responsible for responding to threats of nuclear war, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin said on Thursday it would "vigorously" continue to make the case to the international community that it believed Ukraine intended to detonate a "dirty bomb" with radioactive contaminants. Russia is allegedly recruiting members of Afghanistan's National Army Commando corps - who were trained by the UK and US. Russian and Belarus ambassadors have not been invited to the Nobel Prize award ceremony in a break from tradition. Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday it would withdraw from the Russian market and sell shares in its industrial and financial services subsidiaries to a local investor, becoming the latest carmaker to exit the country. A Ukrainian minister has warned those who fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion to stay abroad this winter due to blackouts created by Moscow's bombardment of critical energy infrastructure. Russian forces are digging in for the "heaviest of battles" in the strategic southern region of Kherson, a senior Ukrainian official said. 2:45PM Left-wing Democrats condemned for offering 'olive branch to Putin' with peace plan Left-wing Democrats who had called on Joe Biden to negotiate directly with Russia for a "rapid" peace in Ukraine backed down on Tuesday.
It followed a widespread backlash from Ukraine, the White House, and other "furious" Democrats who called their position an "olive branch" to Vladimir Putin.
Thirty of the 220 Democrat members of the House of Representatives, including democratic socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had signed a letter to Mr Biden urging him to seek talks with Mr Putin, regardless of whether Kyiv wanted to, and to offer sanctions relief to the Kremlin as part of a negotiated settlement.
Read more here. 2:29PM Over 70,000 have quit Ukraine's Kherson region At least 70,000 people have left their homes in Ukraine's southern Kherson province in the space of a week, a Moscow-installed official in the region said Wednesday. Local people evacuated from Kherson arrive at the railway station in Dzhankoi, Crimea Credit:
STRINGER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock "I'm sure that more than 70,000 people left in a week since the crossings were organised," Vladimir Saldo told a regional TV channel, referring to efforts by the region's pro-Kremlin authorities to move residents to the Russian-controled areas on the left bank of the Dnieper river. 2:08PM Russian bombings of civilian infrastructure raises cost of Ukraine's recovery Russia's latest strikes on civilian infrastructure have raised the cost of Ukraine's recovery and could see it needing close to $4 billion a month just to keep power and water supplies going, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.
The IMF had envisaged Ukraine's external financing needs at around $3-4 billion a month next year but sees that rising to $5 billion in a worst-case scenario after Russian forces rained missiles and drone attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the institution was focused on helping Ukraine keep afloat now while working on a longer-term programme whose size and duration was yet to be worked out.
"We still hope that we can stay within these parameters of 3-4 billion, but what changed since we had this discussion is Russia's terrible bombing of civilian infrastructure," she said. "Just to get electricity back and water supply back we are moving towards the upper range of 4 billion ... Just imagine a worst-case scenario." 1:53PM Putin oversees training of nuclear deterrence forces Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday oversaw the training of Moscow's strategic deterrence forces, troops responsible for responding to threats of nuclear war, the Kremlin said. "Under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces Vladimir Putin, a training session was held with ground, sea and air strategic deterrence forces, during which practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place," the Kremlin said in a statement. State television showed Putin overseeing the drills from a control room. 1:32PM Russian-installed official reports heavy fighting in Luhansk A Russian-backed separatist official in Ukraine's Luhansk region said on Wednesday that heavy fighting was taking place in the region's Kreminna and Svatove districts.
The two districts have been at the frontline since Ukrainian forces routed Russian troops from neighbouring Kharkiv region in September. 1:06PM Ukraine: The Latest Listen to our Twitter space on the latest updates from Ukraine below: 12:48PM Watch: Inside a Russian fighter jet The Russian Air Force has released new footage in which they claim to be launching strikes on Ukrainian targets.
The unverified footage shows fighter jets flying close to the ground in an unknown location while firing rockets into the distance. 12:31PM Kremlin says it may transfer assets in annexed Ukrainian regions to Russian companies The Kremlin on Wednesday said that assets in the four Ukrainian regions that Russia said it had annexed last month may in future be transferred to Russian companies.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was obvious that "abandoned assets" could not be left inactive, and the government would deal with the issue.
Ukraine, its Western allies and an overwhelming majority of countries at the U.N. General Assembly have condemned Russia's declared annexation of the four regions as illegal. 12:01PM Kremlin says it will keep making case on alleged Ukraine dirty bomb threat The Kremlin said on Thursday it would "vigorously" continue to make the case to the international community that it believed Ukraine intended to detonate a "dirty bomb" with radioactive contaminants.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow wanted to prompt an active response from the international community.
Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu on Tuesday made calls to his Indian and Chinese counterparts to convey Moscow's warning, following on from a series of calls with Nato defence ministers.
Ukraine and its Western allies have rejected Russia's allegation and voiced concern that Moscow is using it as pretext for a further escalation in the war. 11:37AM Russia sends fathers who don't pay child support to fight in Ukraine Russian military recruiters are targeting fathers who neglect to pay child maintenance and sending them off to fight in Ukraine.
Margarita Simonyan, the influential chief of the RT television network, at the weekend confirmed reports that officials overseeing the mobilisation drive had answered women’s requests to conscript their ex-husbands or boyfriends who had not paid child maintenance.
Read more here. 11:19AM Norway and Russia agree on Barents Sea fishing quotas Norway and Russia have reached a deal on fishing quotas for 2023, Oslo said, a rare sign of understanding amid heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine.
Since 1976 - when a first deal was drawn up during the Cold War - Nato member Norway and Russia have agreed on catch quotas in the Barents Sea which is home to prized cod stocks and off the coast of both countries.
"It's good that we have reached a fishing agreement with Russia despite the extraordinary situation in which we find ourselves", Norwegian Fisheries Minister Bjornar Skjaeran said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
In order to not endanger that agreement, which has been held up as a model of cooperation since, the Scandinavian country has strayed a little from European sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian vessels are banned from docking in European ports, but Norway has granted fishing trawlers an exception, allowing them to unload their catches in the Scandinavian country.
In early October, Oslo however restricted them to three ports and required Russian trawlers to undergo systematic inspections.
In a sign of the exceptional situation, the negotiations between the two countries were conducted solely on online channels.
On Twitter, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called the agreement "important at a challenging time with the war in Ukraine".
"The agreement clarifies the quotas and guarantees long-term and sustainable management of stocks in the Far North. We are looking after the world's biggest cod stocks and other species in the Barents Sea", he wrote.
The announcement came on the same day Norwegian authorities said they had arrested a suspected Russian sleeper agent, whom counter-espionage services accused of masquerading as a Brazilian researcher. 10:54AM In pictures: The latest in Ukraine A resident cleans debris at Zestafoni Street in Zaporizhzhia Credit:
Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Mykola Grishenko and his wife Olga Grishenko mourn the loss of their son during military funeral services honouring Yuriy Grishenko, 50, who was killed on 27th of September in Luhansk district Credit:
Paula Bronstein / Getty Images A member of the Ukrainian National Guard carries a mortar shell at a position along the front line in the Kharkiv region Credit:
SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images Evacuees from Kherson gather upon their arrival at the railway station in Anapa, southern Russia Credit:
AP Photo A serviceman of a Ukrainian National Guard leaves his position on the car after shelling from a mortar at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region Credit:
SERGIY KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock 10:28AM Russia is recruiting Afghan commandos to fight in Ukraine, according to reports Russia is allegedly recruiting members of Afghanistan's National Army Commando corps - who were trained by the UK and US.
Foreign Policy was told by numerous Afghan military and security figures that these troops could have a significant impact on the battlefield.
When the West left Afghanistan in 2021, some 20,000 to 30,000 volunteer commandos remained in the country.
Many of these are now struggling to find jobs as they await resettlement abroad.
One source said: "They have no country, no jobs, no future. They have nothing to lose."
Up to 10,000 of these former commanders could take up the offer, some sources said. 10:11AM Russia and Belarus ambassadors banned from Nobel Prize ceremony Russian and Belarus ambassadors have not been invited to the Nobel Prize award ceremony in a break from tradition.
Invitations are usually given to ambassadors based in Sweden each year, but this year they have been excluded.
“In view of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Foundation has chosen not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm,” the statement reads.
The ceremony for 2022 will take place on December 10.
This year the peace prize was jointly awarded to the Centre for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian human rights organisation, Belarussian activist Ales Bialiatski, and Memorial, a Russian human rights group banned by the Vladimir Putin. 9:49AM 480 Russian soldiers killed yesterday, Ukraine claims Ukraine has claimed that about 480 Russian soldiers were killed yesterday alone. 9:28AM Rishi Sunak hints at visit to Ukraine amid vow of 'steadfast support' Rishi Sunak has vowed that support for Ukraine will be “as strong as ever,” as he hinted at an in-person trip after his first call as Prime Minister with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Prime Minister spoke to President Zelensky on Tuesday evening to underline the United Kingdom’s "steadfast support" for Ukraine, a Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed. Mr Sunak said Britain would 'stand in continued solidarity' with Ukraine Credit:
Leon Neal/Getty Images Mr Sunak said Kyiv could count on his government to "stand in continued solidarity" with the war-torn country. He also "noted the importance" of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s work in Ukraine to "ensure nuclear safety" and "provide transparency around any disinformation".
Read more here. 9:09AM Russia launches more than 100 multiple-launch rocket system attacks Russia has launched more than 100 multiple-launch rocket system attacks, five rockets, 30 air strikes over the last day.
They were launched on more than 40 settlements all around Ukraine, the Ukrainian general staff of the armed forces said. “Violating the norms of International Humanitarian Law, the laws and customs of war, (the enemy) continues to strike critical infrastructure and the homes of the civilian population." 8:43AM Mercedes-Benz to sell shares in Russian subsidiaries to local investor Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday it would withdraw from the Russian market and sell shares in its industrial and financial services subsidiaries to a local investor, becoming the latest carmaker to exit the country.
A Mercedes spokesperson said the company's stake in Russian truckmaker Kamaz would not be affected by the intended transaction and should be transferred to Daimler Truck this year as planned. 8:20AM North Korea to open trade offices in Russia North Korea is planning to open a network of trade offices across Russia as it builds closer ties with Moscow to get around international sanctions, according to reports in South Korea, Julian Ryall reports from Tokyo.
There are suggestions that the alliance with Russia has already paid off, with the Daily NK media outlet reporting that wheat, diesel, gasoline and LPG have been flowing over the border into the North since August. The web site added that gas prices in Pyongyang have dropped dramatically in recent weeks, with rumours circulating that Russia has provided enough gas to last until March.
North Korea intends to set up trade offices in six cities, including Moscow, St Petersburg and the Russian Far East port of Vladivostok. In return for energy, food, medicine and other goods that are in critically short supply in the North, Pyongyang will provide Moscow with diplomatic support, as it has already demonstrated.
In the emergency United Nations General Assembly session on October 12, North Korea supported Russia and demanded that the international community recognise the results of referendums in four regions of Ukraine partly occupied by Russian forces.
North Korea has also agreed to send around 1,000 labourers to the Donbas region of Ukraine to help in the rebuilding of local infrastructure. 8:06AM Ukrainian refugees should not return this winter, minister says A Ukrainian minister has warned those who fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion to stay abroad this winter due to blackouts created by Moscow's bombardment of critical energy infrastructure.
"I wanted to ask (them) not to return. We need to survive the winter," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
New strikes have been launched by Russia in recent weeks, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
According to Kyiv, this has damaged up to 40 per cent of the power system.
Mr Ms Vereshchuk said that the situation would "only get worse" and the grid “won’t survive” the return of thousands of refugees returning.
The strikes come as energy prices soar in Europe. 7:42AM Pregnant woman killed by Russian strike A pregnant woman is one of two people killed in a Russian missile attack in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city. Three others were injured. “We fight terrorists every day...Another missile attack took place today. As a result, two people were killed in Dnipro. Including a pregnant woman. Three victims were hospitalized.We will never forgive. Retaliation will be fair and inevitable” - @ZelenskyyUa pic.twitter.com/FRNaglCmOf— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) October 26, 2022 7:01AM Russia may fear railway sabotage The Ministry of Defence has spoken of the Russian military heavily relying on rail transport for deploying forces to Ukraine.
The system is "extremely challenging" to secure against physical threats, the ministry said, with a network extending over 33,000km and largely transiting isolated areas.
It comes as the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region announced on October 24 that an explosive device had damaged the railway near the village of Novozybkovo, approximately 15km from the Russia-Belarus border.
The Russian anti-war group ‘Stop the Wagons’ claimed responsibility for the incident - which was at least the sixth incident of sabotage against Russian railway infrastructure claimed by STW since June.
"The Russian leadership will be increasingly concerned that even a small group of citizens has been sufficiently opposed to the conflict to resort to physical sabotage." 5:23AM 'Heaviest of battles' could take place in Kherson Russian forces are digging in for the "heaviest of battles" in the strategic southern region of Kherson, a senior Ukrainian official said.
Russian soldiers in the region have been driven back in recent weeks and risk being trapped against the west bank of the Dnipro river, where the provincial capital of Kherson has been under Russian control since the early days of the invasion.
Russian-installed authorities are evacuating residents to the east bank, but Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said there was no sign that Russian forces were preparing to abandon the city.
"With Kherson everything is clear. The Russians are replenishing, strengthening their grouping there," Mr Arestovych said in a video late on Tuesday.
"It means that nobody is preparing to withdraw. On the contrary, the heaviest of battles is going to take place for Kherson." 4:30AM Analysis: What does ‘losing’ the war look like? It was Emmanuel Macron who first invited a storm of criticism by saying the West should avoid humiliating Russia in a peace deal.
Then came the turn of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who in May said Kyiv should cede territory to Russia and that pushing Moscow’s forces beyond the lines they held before February 23rd would lead to catastrophe.
In September, the Conservative MP and former defence minister Andrew Murrison waded in, arguing that defeating Russia on the battlefield would be undesirable and Putin should be allowed to save face.
The current Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, quickly slapped him down.
All of which makes a toxic background for the letter this week sent to President Biden from a group of Democratic congressional members urging, among other requests, greater diplomatic efforts for a negotiated settlement and direct talks with Russia.
Public discourse about the war’s end currently has no room for talk of ‘negotiation’.
Read the full analysis by Dominic Nicholls here Relatives and family mourn during military funeral services at St Michael's church in Kyiv Credit:
Getty Images 3:23AM Zelensky has 'excellent conversation' with Sunak In an excellent conversation with @RishiSunak we agreed to write a new chapter in 🇺🇦-🇬🇧 relations but the story is the same - full support in the face of Russian aggression. I appreciate PM’s first call to Ukraine. And always grateful for the support of the 🇬🇧 people.— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 25, 2022 3:06AM Rishi Sunak hints at visit to Ukraine amid vow of 'steadfast support' Rishi Sunak has vowed that support for Ukraine will be “as strong as ever,” as he hinted at an in-person trip after his first call as Prime Minister with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Prime Minister spoke to President Zelensky on Tuesday evening to underline the United Kingdom’s "steadfast support" for Ukraine, a Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed.
Mr Sunak said Kyiv could count on his government to "stand in continued solidarity" with the war-torn country. He also "noted the importance" of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s work in Ukraine to "ensure nuclear safety" and "provide transparency around any disinformation".
“Both leaders agreed on the need to continue to place pressure on Putin’s barbaric regime through continued economic sanctions," the spokeswoman said.
“President Zelenskyy congratulated the Prime Minister on his appointment and wished him a happy Diwali. The Prime Minister thanked him and said he hoped they would see each other in person soon.”
Read the full story by Michael Murphy here 3:00AM Today's top stories Rishi Sunak has vowed that support for Ukraine will be “as strong as ever,” as he hinted at an in-person trip after his first call as Prime Minister with President Volodymyr Zelensky
Joe Biden warned Russia there would be "severe consequences" for any nuclear use amid fears of tactical nuclear weapons
A senior Ukrainian official predicted "the heaviest of battles" to come for the partially Russian occupied strategic southern province of Kherson and said Moscow's military is digging in to face advancing Ukrainian forces
Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said on Tuesday that Russian forces were performing secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant
Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday asked the international community to cover an expected budget deficit of $38 billion next year for his war-torn country | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
President Joe Biden (behind) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (front) arrive for a family photo in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on July 16, 2022.MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesRelations between the US and Saudi Arabia are worsening.Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman wants to assert himself internationally.He humiliated the Biden administration by cancelling a secret oil deal.This week, a diplomat spat between the US and Saudi Arabia degenerated into petty name-calling, a public sign of the dire state of relations between the two countries.The exchange, fueled by a dispute over oil production, is a further blow to an alliance which for decades has been marked by predictability: The US provides arms and security to the Saudis, and gains a key strategic partner in a volatile region in return.It is a change driven by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is deliberately snubbing the US in an attempt to chart a more independent path, an expert told Insider.Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, said: "With Mohammed bin Salman at the helm, Saudi Arabia is very determined to assert its autonomy from the US."The leadership in Riyadh has been sending many signals to Washington that the Kingdom will pursue its own national interests as perceived by Saudi officials, which includes deepening cooperation with Beijing and Moscow."Specifically, this has taken the form of Saudi Arabia joining Russia other oil-rich nations to announce a steep cut in production.This was the exact opposite of requests from the Biden administration to increase oil production, in the hope of lower prices that would help tame US inflation and deprive Russia of revenue.Per a report in The New York Times, US officials thought they had secured a deal with Saudi Arabia and were blindsided when their plan fell apart.The result has been humiliation for President Joe Biden, who has sought to build an international coalition against Russia and to build bridges with the Saudis.Biden risked the wrath of critics in his own party to visit the crown prince in Jeddah in July, embarrassingly walking back a campaign pledge to render Saudi Arabia a "pariah"."Let's be clear: The Saudi move was done with the full awareness that it would undermine Biden's political position at home and abroad," wrote former US diplomat Aaron David Miller in Foreign Policy of the oil-production cut.He noted that it came just ahead of the midterm elections, where Democratic candidates are vulnerable to criticism from Republicans over inflation.Cafiero, the analysts, said that Crown Prince Mohammed believes that drawing closer to Russia and China will secure more "leverage" internationally.The crown prince also shares with Russia's President Vladimir Putin an obsession with crushing domestic opposition, and both men are "authoritarian to their core," Cafiero said.It's not just geopolitical calculation that is drawing Americans and Saudis apart, but personal antipathy between Biden and bin Salman, reports say.The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that the crown prince "mocks President Biden in private, making fun of the 79-year-old's gaffes and questioning his mental acuity."Biden, for his part, has taken a stand against the assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered then dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 by agents, an operation US intelligence has said was ordered directly by Crown Prince Mohammed.Former President Trump stands with his son Eric and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, left, a governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.AP Photo/Seth WenigOn the campaign trail in 2020, Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" over the murder in rhetoric calculated to appeal to the Democratic base — but which caused fury in Riyadh."Bin Salman and others in Saudi Arabia took a tremendous amount of offense to that rhetoric. Such negative sentiments have informed Saudi officials' perspective on Biden's presidency," said Cafiero.Crown Prince Mohammed has done little to conceal that he would prefer former President Donald Trump to be in the White House, Cafiero said, assessing that the crown prince preferred his transactional style.The Saudis recently funded a high-profile golf tournament at Trump's resorts, where he has been an enthusiastic attendee.Trump offered at best minimal pushback over the Khashoggi killing, which happened during his presidency.His hardline stance against Iran, Saudi Arabia's key regional foe, also aligned with Saudi interests, unlike Biden's policy of seeking to revive the nuclear dear which the Obama White House struck with Iran.Despite the cooling of the relationship under Biden, the US and Saudis have much to lose from a deterioration of the alliance, Cafiero said.The Saudis are still reliant on US weapons and security guarantees, while the US wants the Saudis to stabilize oil markets and keep prices low at home."Washington and Riyadh have many shared interests that are set to keep the partnership alive, [but] the bilateral relationship has become much less friendly," concluded Cafiero.Read the original article on Business Insider | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
GOP: BIDEN LOOKS WEAK: While the Biden administration says the president was informed of the Chinese balloon incursion into U.S. airspace Tuesday and gave the shootdown order Wednesday, a chorus of Republican critics argue the decision by the Pentagon to wait until the balloon was over water to bring it down allowed for days of additional intelligence collection by the Chinese, and projected an image of U.S. weakness.
“I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down,” President Joe Biden said Saturday after the balloon was brought down just off the coast of South Carolina by a single sidewinder missile fired from an Air Force F-22. “They decided — without doing damage to anyone on the ground — They decided that the best time to do that was as it got over water within the 12-mile limit.”
GOP lawmakers were nearly universal in their condemnation of the failure to shoot down the spy balloon as soon as it violated U.S. airspace over the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and well before it could fly over Minuteman III missile silos in Montana, with its array of cameras and antennas.
“I can assure you that if we fly a balloon over China, they're going to shoot it down, and probably a lot sooner than we did,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on ABC. “The message they were trying to send is what they believe internally, and that is that the United States is a once-great superpower that's hollowed out, that's in decline … How can you count on them, if they're not going to do anything about a balloon over U.S. airspace, how are they going to come to the aid of Taiwan, or stand with the Philippians or Japan or India if — when the Chinese move on their territories?”
TRUMP OFFICIALS NEVER TOLD OF PREVIOUS INCURSIONS: In an apparent attempt to blunt criticism of Biden’s delayed action, a senior defense official told reporters Saturday that Chinese surveillance balloons “transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”
Former President Donald Trump denied the claim in a posting on his Truth Social account calling the account “fake disinformation” intended to “take the heat off the slow moving Biden fools. China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did.”
In an appearance on CNN Friday, former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon claim is the first he’s heard of it. “I was surprised. I don't ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States … “I would remember that, for sure.”
“Biden’s DoD is shamelessly using an anonymous source to say that Chinese balloons flew over the US under Trump — and the Trump team allowed it,” tweeted Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence. “It is a lie. We never heard this — ever.”
“The Office of the Secretary of Defense has informed my office that several Chinese balloon incidents have happened in the past few years — including over Florida,” tweeted Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL). “Why weren’t they shot down?”
In a statement to CNN, Waltz said, “We understand there were incursions near Florida and Texas, but we don’t have clarity on what kind of systems were on these balloons or if these incursions occurred in territorial waters or overflew land.”
CHINA’S VEILED THREAT: In a series of statements from its Foreign and Defense ministries, China protested U.S. use of force as “a clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice,” insisting the balloon was a “civilian unmanned airship” that drifted into U.S. airspace totally unexpectedly.
“The Chinese side has clearly asked the US side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner,” said the Foreign Ministry. “China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary.”
Chinese fighter jets have already been harassing U.S. reconnaissance flights in international airspace along the coast of China, and the statement by the Chinese Defense Ministry seemed to hint at more aggressive tactics. “We solemnly protest this move by the US side and reserve the right to take necessary measures to deal with similar situations,” said ministry spokesman Senior Col. Tan Kefei.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has claimed publicly that the high-altitude balloon operating above the United States is a weather balloon that was blown off-course. This is false. This was a PRC surveillance balloon,” said the senior U.S. official who briefed reporters at the Pentagon. “This surveillance balloon purposefully traversed the United States and Canada. And we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites.”
“Its intrusion of our airspace for multiple days was an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” the official said.
Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Conrad Hoyt. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.
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NATO CHIEF COMING TO DC: NATO announced this morning that Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is coming to Washington this week for high level meetings with Biden administration officials and congressional leaders.
Stoltenberg has press conferences scheduled for Wednesday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as well as meetings with national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Senate and House leadership.
Stoltenberg’s visit comes as the war in Ukraine is at a pivotal point, with Russian President Vladimir Putin mobilizing hundreds of thousands of fresh recruits for what's expected to be a major offensive in the coming weeks aimed at regaining ground lost to Ukraine over the past six months.
UKRAINE’S DEFENSE MINISTER REPLACED: On the same day he held a news conference in Kyiv, Oleksii Reznikov got word that he would be replaced as defense minister by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov.
The unofficial announcement from a close adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky apparently took Reznikov by surprise, and upon hearing he would be made minister of strategic industries, he told a Ukrainian news outlet. "If I suddenly received such an offer from the president of Ukraine or the prime minister, I would refuse it, because I do not have the expertise,” according to Reuters.
Earlier in the day, Reznikov said during a news conference that Ukraine has received everything from its “wish list to Santa,” except for modern fighter jets. “There will be planes, too,” Reznikov predicted, according to the Associated Press. “The question is just what kind exactly... Consider that this mission is already completed.”
WICKER: SAME OLD SLOW WALK: With the expected Russian offensive looming, Republicans in Congress are putting pressure on the Biden administration to speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
“I have repeatedly called for more, better, and faster aid to Ukraine, but [Friday’s] announcement from the president is more of the same unnecessary slow-walking that has gotten us to this point,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
On Friday the administration announced another $2.2 billion in military assistance for Ukraine that included more air defense capabilities, armored infantry vehicles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, artillery ammunition, and conventional and long-range rockets for U.S.-provided HIMARS launchers.
“The White House should learn from recent months that its fears of escalation are unfounded and that the Ukrainians are capable of quickly learning how to operate complex weapon systems,” Wicker said in a statement. “We should begin training on the F-16s and ATACMS they have asked for immediately and seek to transfer these weapons systems as soon as possible. Training for Abrams and the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb should have started months ago. Stalemate is not a recipe for achieving U.S. interests."
The Rundown
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Pentagon says Chinese spy balloon attempted to surveil 'strategic sites' in the U.S.
Washington Examiner: Rep. Mike Turner says Biden administration 'lacks urgency' after Chinese spy balloon fiasco
Washington Examiner: MTG says Trump would not have let Chinese spy balloon enter US, officials say otherwise
Washington Examiner: Mike Turner says Congress will receive Biden, Pence, Trump classified docs assessment
Washington Examiner: Crenshaw speculates secret McCarthy side deal was reason for Homeland chair defeat
Breaking Defense: European Union to Double Military Training for Ukraine, Lines Up New Sanctions Package
Air & Space Forces Magazine: B-1s Join F-22s and S. Korean F-35s, in Latest Bomber Task Force Mission
Calendar
THE CALENDAR:
MONDAY | FEBRUARY 6
2 p.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: "What to Expect from Biden's Second State of the Union Address," with Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings; Constanze Stelzenmuller, director of the Brookings Center on the U.S. and Europe; David Wessel, director of the Brookings Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Camille Busette, director of governance studies at Brookings; and William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings https://www.brookings.edu/events/what-to-expect
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 7
8 a.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group Zoom conversation with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee Contact: Thom Shanker at [email protected]
9:30 a.m. — Wilson Center International Change and Security Program virtual discussion: "Water and Conflict: Updates from the Russia-Ukraine War," with Volodymyr Bilynskyy, deputy chief engineer of Lvivvodokanal, the Lviv City Communal Enterprise Water Utility; Sebastien Truffaut, former UNICEF water, sanitation and hygiene chief in Ukraine; Franklin Broadhurst, water, sanitation and hygiene technical adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance; Dmytro Vankovych, director of the Lviv City Communal Enterprise Water Utility; and Erika Weinthal, professor of environmental policy at Duke University https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/water
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “The Pressing Threat of the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Defense,” with testimony from: Robert O’Brien, former national security adviser; retired Adm. Harry Harris, former commander, U.S. Pacific Command; and Melanie Sisson, foreign policy fellow, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
10:30 a.m. — Hudson Institute event: “Securing Cyberspace: Hardening America’s Software against Foreign Digital Sabotage, with Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX); Bryan Clark, senior fellow and director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology; Jason Weiss, chief software officer, Conquest Cyber; and Cliff Bean, director of Navy missions, Defense Sector, Peraton https://www.hudson.org/preview-link
2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW — Brookings Institution “The Russia-Ukraine war: Year two and strategic consequences,” with Fiona Hill, senior fellow, Center on the U.S. and Europe, Brookings; Susan Glasser, staff writer, the New Yorker; Constanze Stelzenmuller, Fritz Stern chairwoman on Germany and trans-Atlantic relations, senior fellow, and director, Center on the U.S. and Europe, Brookings; Asli Aydintasbas, visiting fellow, Center on the U.S. and Europe, Brookings; Matthew Duss, visiting scholar, American Statecraft Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Amy Nelson, fellow, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, Brookings; Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies, American Enterprise Institute; Michael O’Hanlon, Philip H. Knight chairman in defense and strategy, senior fellow ,and director, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, Brookings; Bruce Jones, senior fellow and director, Project on International Order and Strategy, Brookings; Patricia Kim, fellow, Center for East Asia Policy Studies and John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings; Natan Sachs, senior fellow and director, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings; and Tara Varma, visiting fellow, Center on the U.S. and Europe, Brookings https://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-watch-ukraine-year-two
9 p.m. House Chamber, U.S. Capitol — President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
10:15 p.m. — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, (R-AK) delivers the Republican response to the president's State of the Union address.
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 8
6:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd., Virginia — Association of the U.S. Army Coffee Series in-person event featuring Gen. James Rainey, commanding general, U.S. Army Futures Command https://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/gen-rainey
8 a.m. 801 Mount Vernon Pl. NW— ESRI Federal GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Conference with Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/federal-gis-conference/overview
9:30 a.m. — U.S. Institute of Peace discussion: "Winning the Peace After the War: Supporting Ukrainian Democracy," with Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova; Anthony Banbury, president and CEO of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems; and Peter Erben, global principal adviser and senior country director in Ukraine at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems https://www.usip.org/events/winning-peace-after-war
10 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Countering Russian threats to global financial security," with Ukrainian Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko; and John Cusack, founder of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/countering-russian-threats
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “State of the Defense Industrial Base,” with Eric Fanning, president and CEO, Aerospace Industries Association; David Norquist, president and CEO, National Defense Industrial Association; and Matthew Paxton, president, Shipbuilders Council of America https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/full-committee
3 p.m. 2212 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: ‘The Role of Special Operations Forces in Great Power Competition,” with Seth Jones, senior vice president, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Retired Army Lt. Gen. Charles Cleveland, former commander, U.S. Army Special Operations Command; and David Ucko, professor and department chair, College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
12:30 p.m. — Business Council for International Understanding discussion: “Progress in the War in Ukraine and issues related to getting defense equipment to Ukraine," with Ukrainian Air Force Maj. Gen. Borys Krementskyi, Ukrainian defense attache to the U.S. http://www.bciu.org/events/upcoming-events
5 p.m. 1521 16th St. N.W. — Institute of World Politics discussion: "The Coming Hypersonic Revolution and its Impact on International Security," with Bill Bruner, co-founder and CEO of New Frontier Aerospace https://www.iwp.edu/events/the-coming-hypersonic-revolution
9 p.m. 40 Presidential Dr., Simi Valley, Calif. — Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute book discussion: Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, with author/former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs-events
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 9
8:30 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “The Future of War: Is the Pentagon Prepared to Deter and Defeat America’s Adversaries?” with Chris Brose, author; Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior director, Center on Cyber Technology and Innovation, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Peter Singer, strategist, New America and Managing Partner of Useful Fiction LLC https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/citi-hearing-future-war-pentagon-prepared-deter-and-defeat-america-s-adversaries
8:45 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “U.S. Extended Deterrence," with Gary Samore, director of Brandeis University's Center for Middle East Studies https://www.csis.org/events/capital-cable-64-us-extended-deterrence
10 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. — Hudson Institute discussion: "Building a More Resilient Indo-Pacific Security Architecture," with Assistant Defense Secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner; and Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for South and Southeast Asia Lindsey Ford https://www.hudson.org/events/building-more-resilient-indo-pacific-security-architecture
11:30 a.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. NW — U.S. Institute of Peace discussion: "China and Strategic Stability in Space: Pathways to Peace in an Era of U.S. - China Strategic Competition," with Associate NASA Administrator for Technology, Policy, and Strategy Bhavya Lal; Bruce MacDonald, adjunct professor in international studies at Johns Hopkins University; Victoria Samson, Washington office director at the Secure World Foundation; Scott Pace, director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute; and Carla Freeman, USIP senior expert https://www.usip.org/events/china-and-strategic-stability-space
1:30 p.m. — Wilson Center Polar Institute virtual discussion: “Deterring Russia at Sea in the High North," with Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of Fleet Forces Command; Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer, commander of the Second Fleet and Joint Forces Command-Norfolk; Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff for Policy Rear Adm. Anthony Rimington; retired Navy Adm. James Foggo, dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy; Chris Kofron, director for Russia at the National Security Council; and former USAID Administrator Mark Green, president, director and CEO of the Wilson Center https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/deterring-russia-sea-high-north
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“[To] say that it's not a weather balloon — that would be a Santos-style whopper. I think it's a reconnaissance balloon. It's a military balloon and we have to treat it as such.”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) ranking member on the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, on CNN Saturday | US Involvement in Foreign Conflicts |
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