The towering diplomat and Nobel prize winner shaped decades of US foreign policy but was seen by critics as a war criminal
Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon who became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century, has died. He was 100.
His consulting firm Kissinger Associates announced his death in a statement on Wednesday evening, but did not disclose a cause.
Continue reading...Attacks on US troops in Iraq have led to US airstrikes, highlighting the risk of spillover from the situation in Gaza
A salvo of machine gun fire, customary during funerals, illuminated the night sky as dozens of men converged in a dimly lit, unpaved alley on the edges of the sprawling slums of Sadr city to pay their respects. A giant picture of Ali Hassan al-Daraaji had been erected outside the family home in northeast Baghdad to announce his “martyrdom” in this week’s US airstrikes on Iraqi armed groups.
The series of strikes left a total of nine fighters dead, including Daraaji, the first Iraqi fatalities linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Even as a tenuous truce takes hold in Gaza, the pace and intensity of clashes in Iraq has picked up, highlighting the risk of spillover in a country that has long been mired in conflict.
Continue reading...Survey two months before presidential election reveals more than 80% of people think threat from Beijing has worsened
More than 80% of Taiwanese people think that the threat from China has worsened in recent years, while trust in the US has also declined in the past two years, in part because of the war in Ukraine damaging Washington’s credibility.
The results of a survey published this week reveal a portrait of Taiwanese society that is under increasing pressure as the self-governing island heads towards a presidential election in January that could have far reaching ramifications for its relationship with the world’s two biggest superpowers.
Continue reading...Senator’s urge for US to make Israel reconsider military strategy is met with fierce backlash, underscoring rift on left over war in Gaza
Bernie Sanders called on Congress to require Israel to change its policies as a condition to receiving US military aid – a statement that was met with fierce opposition by vocal Democratic supporters of the Jewish state, underscoring a deepening rift on the left over the Biden administration’s response to the war.
In a statement on Saturday, Sanders, a leading progressive voice, proposed leveraging US security assistance as a way of forcing Israel to reconsider its military strategy amid its bombardment and blockade of Gaza that has led to spiraling death, dislocation and destruction across the territory.
Continue reading...Ayman Safadi says credibility of international law at stake as he clashes with senior US official over terms for humanitarian pause
Jordan’s foreign minister has said Arab troops will not go to Gaza as he delivered a blistering criticism of Israel’s war on Hamas.
Ayman Safadi clashed with Joe Biden’s senior Middle East adviser on Saturday, saying a humanitarian pause should not be conditional on the release of hostages held by Hamas. The US envoy, Brett McGurk, said the onus was on Hamas to release hostages as a pathway to humanitarian aid increasing and a pause in the fighting.
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Another video posted online appeared to show Capitol police officers rolling their bikes over candles that were laid out to mourn the 11,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes.
In a caption accompanying the video, Jewish Voice for Peace Action said:
“Last night, in DC Jews and allies carried out a vigil and a nonviolent, moral act of civil disobedience to call on Democrats to support a ceasefire to save Palestinian and Israeli lives. Within moments, police brutally assaulted peaceful protestors, injuring over 90.”
“Every hour of this horrific bombardment, more Palestinians are killed. Every hour, the lives of the hostages hang in the balance. Every hour increases the risk of a broader regional war, endangering the lives of millions of people across the entire region.
We the base of the Democratic party are here to say if you care about Palestinians, if you care about Israelis, if you care about Jews, if you care about humanity, we need you to call for a ceasefire, a hostage exchange, a deescalation, and to chart a path toward freedom and safety for all. Instead of heeding our call for a ceasefire, police violently attacked nonviolent protesters with pepper spray.”
Continue reading...Ceasefire Now Coalition says 90 activists injured by police using violent tactics to break up protest outside DNC headquarters
Protesters against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza were locked in a battle of words with Washington police on Thursday after accusing officers of violently breaking up a demonstration on Capitol Hill that organisers insist was peaceful.
Leaders of the Ceasefire Now Coalition said 90 of their activists were injured in confrontations that took place after they staged a candlelit vigil outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on Wednesday evening.
Continue reading...Josep Borrell says ‘one horror does not justify another’ and calls for unconditional release of hostages
The EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has urged Israel not to be “consumed by rage” in its response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, acknowledged splits in Europe on the conflict.
Speaking from Kibbutz Be’eri – where at least 85 of the 1,200 people killed that day died and from where about 30 of the more than 240 were kidnapped – Borrell said “Israel must be defended”, but, “one horror does not justify another: innocent civilians, including thousands of children, have died in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Foreign ministry says US and China have ‘most important bilateral relationship in the world’ after leaders’ talks
China has praised the “warm” meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in California, in a marked shift of rhetoric after months of negotiations aimed at restabilising what has been a testy relationship.
A readout from China’s foreign ministry said the US-China relationship was “the most important bilateral relationship in the world” and that “a stable and growing China is good for the United States and the whole world”.
Continue reading...Account of the summit from China’s foreign ministry was mixed, portraying Xi as having taken a tough line, telling Biden to stop arming Taiwan
Joe Biden has claimed that his summit meeting with Xi Jinping has brought substantial progress, including agreements on limiting narcotics trafficking, restoring militaries lines of communication, and to start talking about the global risks posed by artificial intelligence.
However, it was clear that after more than four hours of talks in a mansion outside San Francisco, the meeting had not brought the US and China any closer on the fate of Taiwan, which Xi reportedly told Biden was “the biggest, most potentially dangerous issue in US-China relations”.
Continue reading...US president says Hamas has said it will not stop attacking Israel and said Israeli forces had switched from aerial bombardment to more targeted operations
Joe Biden has presented an unapologetic defence of his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, arguing that Hamas presented a continuing threat to Israel and that Israeli forces were seeking to avoid civilian casualties.
After a summit meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit in San Francisco, Biden told reporters on Wednesday night that Hamas had pledged to continue its attacks on Israel.
Continue reading...Resolution calls for release of hostages held by Hamas and for humanitarian corridors across the Gaza Strip
Six weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the UN security council has come together to back a resolution calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access” to the embattled territory.
The vote late on Wednesday overcame an impasse which saw four unsuccessful attempts to adopt a resolution.
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Despite the US and China’s joint climate plan being welcomed by experts, the plan lacks specific emission reductions or a commitment to phase out fossil fuels.
The Guardian’s Oliver Milman reports:
Continue reading...Announcement fuels hope rivals can use Apec summit as a chance to reduce tensions
China and the US have pledged to work together more closely to fight global heating, declaring the climate crisis “one of the greatest challenges of our time”, hours before a key meeting in San Francisco between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.
The announcement further fuels hopes that the two nations can mend relations after years of turmoil over issues including trade, human rights and the future of Taiwan.
Continue reading...Bethany Alhaidari granted permission to defy custody order because of serious risk of death if she returned to Saudi Arabia
A US court has ruled that an American activist who fled Saudi Arabia with her daughter in 2019 will be allowed to defy a Saudi custody order and remain in the country with her child because she would face a serious risk of being put to death if she returned to the kingdom.
The case represents the first time that Saudi rules governing child custody and its use of the death penalty against female activists have faced judgment in a US court.
Continue reading...Defence secretary says US will defend its personnel and interests in the region amid surge in attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria
The United States carried out strikes against two Iran-linked sites in Syria on Sunday in response to attacks on American forces, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said.
It is the third time in less than three weeks that the US military has targeted locations in Syria it said were tied to Iran, which supports armed groups that Washington blames for a spike in attacks on its forces in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Nine Americans still missing as Hamas says it’s suspending talks amid Israel’s handling of besieged al-Shifa hospital in Gaza
Nine Americans are still missing following the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, the US national security adviser said on Sunday.
Jake Sullivan, the White House’s chief security adviser, said the US is involved in “ongoing negotiations” for the release of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.
Continue reading...‘Everything is on the table,’ US official says of first face-to-face interaction between leaders in a year, on Wednesday
The US president, Joe Biden, will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, face to face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, the White House said, in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at curbing tensions between the world’s two superpowers.
The closely watched interaction, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the San Francisco Bay Area, could last hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington.
Continue reading...Armed drones attack two airbases and explosive device targets patrol in most widespread strikes in a single day
US forces were targeted in three attacks in Iraq on Thursday but suffered no casualties, security sources have said, in the most geographically widespread series of strikes on US assets in a single day since the Israel-Hamas conflict started.
Spokespeople for the US embassy in Baghdad and US-led international forces stationed in Iraq did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Continue reading...US secretary of state echoes White House line, while UK favours rule by ‘peace-loving Palestinian leadership’
Israel must not reoccupy Gaza, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said, adding however that Israel might control the territory for a transition period.
The comments, made at the end of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan, echoed White House remarks on Tuesday suggesting opposition to a long-term occupation of Gaza.
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