Category Archives: US foreign policy

US announces $424m in Sudan aid amid pleas to stop ‘senseless’ war

Posted on by

American envoy to UN urges humanitarian pause and says international community ‘cannot simply look away’

The United States has announced $424m in new aid for displaced and starving Sudanese, with the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, saying all options for civilian protection must now be considered by the international community.

Describing the war in Sudan as horrific and shaming for the whole world, she said it was now necessary “to compel, insist and demand that the warring parties agree a humanitarian pause to allow aid to flow and for citizens to flee”.

Continue reading...

Israel has ‘legitimate problem’ with Hezbollah on border, says Blinken

Posted on by

US secretary of state emphasises he wants diplomatic solution, but remarks unlikely to be seen as warning against Israeli ground offensive

Israel has a legitimate interest in seeking to remove Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, from the borders of northern Israel, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said as he rebuffed calls to take a tougher line over the Israeli bombardment.

Speaking before an emergency meeting of the security council in New York, Blinken emphasised that he would prefer a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but his tone is unlikely to be seen as a warning to Israel to stop, or to reconsider its plan for a ground offensive.

Continue reading...

Zelenskyy warns of Russia threat at UN as Putin steps up nuclear rhetoric

Posted on by

Ukrainian president urges world leaders to back peace plan in general assembly speech ahead of Biden meeting

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the United Nations that Russia is planning to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants as he repeated his calls for unity from world leaders in order to force Russia to the negotiating table to conclude a “just peace”.

His comments came as Vladimir Putin on Wednesday escalated his nuclear rhetoric, telling a group of senior officials that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if it was attacked by any state with conventional weapons.

Continue reading...

Biden tells UN ‘we cannot grow weary’ in Ukraine’s defence in valedictory speech

Posted on by

US president assumes mantle of elder statesman, defending his foreign policy record and urging Gaza deal

Joe Biden has sought to defend his foreign policy achievements on the world stage with an address to the United Nations general assembly against a backdrop of three brutal, intractable wars that have stymied world diplomats seeking an end to the bloodshed.

Addressing the assembly hall in New York on Tuesday, Biden took on the mantle of elder statesman as he alternated between a message of hope and a full-throated defense of his record on foreign policy.

Continue reading...

UN chief calls Middle East crisis ‘nightmare’ amid push for Lebanon ceasefire

Posted on by

António Guterres says violence puts region at risk as Hezbollah and Israel seem unwilling to dial down fighting

The UN secretary general has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding that the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”.

António Guterres made his warning as diplomats meeting in New York for the UN general assembly battled to impose a ceasefire in Lebanon and to hold Israel back from a possible ground invasion.

Continue reading...

China ‘testing us’ across the region, Biden tells leaders at Quad summit

Posted on by

US president is recorded on hot mic singling out Beijing, saying it ‘continues to behave aggressively’ in areas including the South China Sea

Joe Biden has been recorded on a hot mic telling the leaders of Australia, India and Japan that an aggressive China is “testing us”, in remarks at a Quad summit that risked undercutting the group’s declaration that carefully avoided referring to Beijing by name.

The comments came as Biden opened a farewell summit in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.

Continue reading...

Exploding pager attack in Lebanon is another blow for US peace hopes

Posted on by

Violent blow against Hezbollah leaves the militia vengeful and vulnerable – and again dashes Washington’s diplomacy

For American diplomacy in the Middle East, the extraordinary attack in Lebanon that simultaneously detonated hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members could not have come at a less auspicious moment – and may still spark an escalation that the US had been seeking desperately to avoid.

A day before the coordinated sabotage, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to Joe Biden, was in Israel urging Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials against an escalation in Lebanon. The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, and the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, had also warned that time was running out to find a negotiated settlement between Israel and Hezbollah.

Continue reading...

‘Ukraine must defend itself’: Washington leaders dismiss Putin’s war talk

Posted on by

Russian leader’s warning of potential direct war with Nato regarded as sabre-rattling to weaken support for Ukraine

US officials and lawmakers shot back after Vladimir Putin said that Nato’s potential lifting of restrictions on Ukraine to launch long-range strikes over the border into Russian territory would mean Nato countries were “at war” with Russia.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, met with the US president, Joe Biden, on Friday at the White House, where the two were expected to discuss – though not necessarily announce – a loosening of restrictions on Storm Shadow missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike targets as far as 155 miles inside Russia.

Continue reading...

Blinken hints US will lift restrictions on Ukraine using long-range arms in Russia

Posted on by

Decision understood to have already been made in private as secretary of state says in Kyiv that US will continue to adapt policy

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, gave his strongest hint yet that the White House is about to lift its restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weapons supplied by the west on key military targets inside Russia, with a decision understood to have already been made in private.

Speaking in Kyiv alongside the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, Blinken said the US had “from day one” been willing to adapt its policy as the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine changed. “We will continue to do this,” he emphasised.

Continue reading...

‘So many similarities’: Rachel Corrie’s parents call for inquiry into death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi

Posted on by

Cindy and Craig Corrie say they fear Eygi’s death at West Bank protest will go unpunished like their daughter’s

When Cindy and Craig Corrie heard about the death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank last week, it reopened a 21-year-old wound. “You feel the ripping apart again of your own family when you know that’s happening to another family. There’s a hole there that’s never going to be filled for each of these families,” Craig Corrie said.

In 2003, their daughter Rachel was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer during a protest in Rafah against the demolitions of homes in Gaza. This week, the couple have joined a chorus of human rights advocates calling for an independent investigation into Eygi’s death, saying that they feared her case would go unpunished like their daughter’s.

Continue reading...

Europe watches Harris-Trump debate for clues on direction US may take

Posted on by

Diplomats most struck by Republican’s refusal to say whether he wanted Ukraine to defeat Vladimir Putin

The TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was as keenly watched by European diplomats and politicians as by US voters, eager to see who may be next in the White House and – crucially – the direction that a vital ally may next take.

One diplomat said they empathised when Harris adopted a series of poses that ranged from pity, bemusement and genuine curiosity about what craziness would emerge from Trump’s mouth next as she listened to his conspiracy-laden theories. However, the diplomat said they still did not underestimate Trump and the hold he had over one part of a divided America, adding: “Never write him off.”

Continue reading...

Blinken says Russia has received new ballistic missiles from Iran

Posted on by

US and Europe impose new sanctions on Iran in response to supply of weapons that US says Russia could use in Ukraine

Russia has received new deadly ballistic missiles from Iran for use in Ukraine and is likely to use them, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced on Tuesday in London as he prepared to travel with the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to Kyiv.

The news, confirmed by the US for the first time and seen as of huge significance to the battlefield balance ahead of Ukraine’s difficult winter, led the US and Europe to impose new sanctions on Iran, so apparently slamming the door on the prospect of a rapprochement between the new reformist Iranian government and the west.

Continue reading...

US and China hold high-level military talks in effort to stabilise ties

Posted on by

Washington and Beijing hoping to open new regular communication channels to avoid misunderstandings

The United States and China have held high-level commander talks for the first time, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilise military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hotspots such as the South China Sea.

Washington hopes to open new channels of regular military communication with Beijing after ties sank to a historic low when the United States downed a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year.

Continue reading...

Russia’s shadow oil fleet and Gaza ceasefire plan to top US-UK talks in London

Posted on by

Antony Blinken to meet David Lammy in precursor to Joe Biden’s talks with Keir Starmer in Washington

Moscow’s use of a shadow fleet transporting western-sanctioned oil, Ukraine’s call to fire to fire UK-supplied missiles into Russia, and the value of publishing a new version of the US ceasefire plan for Gaza will top US-UK talks in London being attended by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.

His meeting this week with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, will make him the most senior US official to visit the UK since Labour’s general election victory in July. It is also a precursor to talks in Washington between Joe Biden and Keir Starmer at the end of the week.

Continue reading...

Campaigners press US to ban Israel arms sales after UK’s partial halt

Posted on by

Activists say Britain’s decision bolsters case for Congress to follow suit and may embolden opposition to Biden policy

The UK decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel has bolstered the case for Congress to follow the example of its ally, US campaigners for a ban have said.

The campaigners are pressing the US Senate and the house to pass a joint resolution of disapproval blocking authorisation for an unprecedented $20bn (£15.2bn) weapons sale. The massive transfer was notified to Congress last month when it was in recess.

Continue reading...

US arms advantage over Russia and China threatens stability, experts warn

Posted on by

Academics say vulnerability of the two countries’ nuclear launch sites makes dangerous mistakes more likely

The US and its allies are capable of threatening and destroying all of Russia and China’s nuclear launch sites with conventional weapons, creating what two experts describe as a potentially unstable geopolitical situation.

Prof Dan Plesch and Manuel Galileo, from Soas University of London, describe a “quiet revolution in military affairs” reflecting increased US military power relative to Moscow and Beijing, particularly in missile technology.

Continue reading...

US charges Hamas leaders over 7 October and pushes for ‘final’ truce – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here

The main United Nations agency for Palestinians says it is making good progress in rolling out a polio vaccine to children in Gaza, but called for a permanent ceasefire in the 11-month war to ease humanitarian suffering.

UNRWA said that three days into the campaign in areas of central Gaza around 187,000 children have received the vaccine. The campaign will move to other areas of the enclave in the second stage.

Continue reading...

Hamas leaders charged by US over deadly 7 October attacks on Israel

Posted on by

Yahya Sinwar and at least five others accused by US justice department of planning and orchestrating the deadly attacks in which 1,200 people were killed

The United States has announced criminal charges against Hamas’ top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the 7 October attack in southern Israel.

The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.

Continue reading...

Two US soldiers assaulted by nationalist youth group in Turkey, authorities say

Posted on by

Fifteen suspected assailants, members of the Turkey Youth Union, were detained after attack in port city of Izmir

Two US military service members were “physically attacked” in the port city of Izmir in western Turkey on Monday by members of an anti-American youth group, authorities said.

Fifteen suspected assailants were detained in the attack on the two service members, who were dressed in civilian clothing at the time of the incident. Five other US service members joined in the incident after seeing the violent encounter, officials said.

Reuters contributed to this report

Continue reading...

UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review

Posted on by

Foreign Office says review found ‘clear risk’ UK arms may be used in violation of humanitarian law

The UK has broken with the Biden administration on a significant part of their tightly coordinated policy towards Israel by announcing it is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a “clear risk” they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

The Foreign Office said a two-month internal review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza and that the decision specifically related to concerns around the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.

Continue reading...