Category Archives: US foreign policy

US says Ukraine will not use US-supplied rocket systems to hit Russian territory

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Washington says it has assurances as Moscow warns supply risks ‘third country’ being drawn into war

Ukraine has promised Washington it will not use advanced rocket systems supplied by the US to hit targets inside Russian territory, as Moscow warned that the move risked a “third country” being drawn into the war.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Wednesday that after Joe Biden’s agreement to provide Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems, Ukraine had “given us assurances that they will not use these systems against targets on Russian territory”.

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Antony Blinken says US is not seeking ‘cold war’ with China

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US secretary of state vigorously defends existing global order but admits Washington sees Beijing a ‘long-term challenge’

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called for a vigorous defence of the existing global order, but stressed that Joe Biden’s administration did not seek a “cold war” with China.

“President Biden believes this decade will be decisive,” Blinken said in a China policy speech on Thursday. “The actions we take at home and with countries worldwide will determine whether our shared vision of the future will be realised.”

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Joe Biden: invasion of Ukraine shows need for free and open Indo-Pacific

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Leaders of US, India, Japan and Australia meet in Tokyo for Quad summit Beijing claims is an attempt to contain China

The turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underlined the need for a free Indo-Pacific region, Joe Biden has said at a meeting with regional partners that Beijing has condemned as part of a US-led attempt to contain China.

Biden and the leaders of a loose alliance known as the Quad – India, Japan and Australia – reaffirmed their commitment to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific during talks in Tokyo on Tuesday. The comments came one day after the US president said Washington would be ready to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan, prompting China to accuse him of “playing with fire”.

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Joe Biden says US recession ‘is not inevitable’ despite rampant inflation – live

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Poll finds 77% of Americans ‘pessimistic’ about cost of goods and services in coming months

• US would defend Taiwan if attacked by China, says Joe Biden

• Capitol attack panel to hold six public hearings

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The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to stage six public hearings in June on how Donald Trump and some allies broke the law as they sought to overturn the 2020 election results, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The hearings are set to be a pivotal political moment for the country as the panel aims to publicly outline the potentially unlawful schemes that tried to keep the former president in office despite his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden.

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US would defend Taiwan if attacked by China, says Joe Biden

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President says US’s responsibility to protect island is ‘even stronger’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Joe Biden has said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China, in an unusually forceful presidential statement in support of self-governing that drew a defiant response from Beijing.

Speaking in Tokyo on the second day of his visit to Japan, and against the backdrop of growing concern over Chinese military activity in the region, Biden said the US’s responsibility to protect the self-ruled island – which China considers a renegade province – was “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Biden security agents sent home from Seoul after reported drunken assault

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Unnamed team member reportedly got into dispute with South Korean citizen outside hotel where Biden is expected to stay

Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan has got off to a bad start with two Secret Service agents set to be sent home after one was accused of drunkenly assaulting a South Korean the day before the president arrived in Seoul, officials said.

Earlier reports said a member of his advance security detail was arrested for allegedly assaulting a South Korean citizen in Seoul.

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White House braced for North Korean nuclear test during Biden’s Asia trip

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National security adviser says intelligence reflects ‘long-range missile test or a nuclear test, or frankly both’

The White House is braced for a North Korean missile or nuclear test while Joe Biden is on a trip to South Korea and Japan, which begins on Friday.

The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Wednesday: “Our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that there will be either a further missile test, including long-range missile test, or a nuclear test, or frankly both in the days leading into, on or after the president’s trip to the region.

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US withdrawal triggered catastrophic defeat of Afghan forces, damning watchdog report finds

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Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani

Afghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

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US defence chief urges Ukraine ceasefire in call with Russian counterpart – as it happened

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Psaki’s final White House briefing continues.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t get emotional,” she says. She succeeds.

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Beijing accuses US of ‘political manipulation’ in latest Taiwan row

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State department fact sheet amended to remove line saying US ‘does not support Taiwan independence’

Beijing has accused Washington of “political manipulation” and attempting to change the status quo after the US state department quietly amended its website to remove a line stating it did not support Taiwanese independence.

In a delicate geopolitical balancing act, the US has long acknowledged, but not supported, China’s claim to Taiwan under its version of the “one China principle”. However, experts say that policy has been eroded as Beijing has become more assertive.

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Putin could use nuclear weapon if he felt war being lost – US intelligence chief

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Avril Haines says Russian leader could see prospect of Ukraine defeat as existential threat, potentially triggering escalation

Vladimir Putin could view the prospect of defeat in Ukraine as an existential threat to his regime, potentially triggering his resort to using a nuclear weapon, the top US intelligence official has warned.

The warning on Tuesday came in an assessment from intelligence chiefs briefing the Senate on worldwide threats. The prediction for Ukraine was a long, gruelling war of attrition, which could lead to increasingly volatile acts of escalation from Putin, including full mobilisation, the imposition of martial law, and – if the Russian leader felt the war was going against him, endangering his position in Moscow – even the use of a nuclear warhead.

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US unveils new sanctions on Russia, targeting services, media and defense industry

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New measures are primarily intended to close loopholes in existing sanctions and to tighten the noose around Russian economy

The US has unveiled a new layer of sanctions on Russia, targeting services, Russia’s propaganda machine and its defence industry on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s planned Victory Day parade.

The new measures were announced as leaders from the G7 group of industrialised democracies held a virtual summit with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a show of solidarity.

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US intelligence told to keep quiet over role in Ukraine military triumphs

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CIA veterans advise successors against ‘unwise’ intelligence boasts that could trigger escalation from Russia

Former US intelligence officers are advising their successors currently in office to shut up and stop boasting about their role in Ukraine’s military successes.

Two stories surfaced in as many days in the American press this week, citing unnamed officials as saying that US intelligence was instrumental in the targeting of Russian generals on the battlefield and in the sinking of the Moskva flagship cruiser on the Black Sea.

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Ukraine hopes to evacuate more civilians from besieged Mariupol steelworks

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Zelenskiy said about 100 civilians evacuated after weeks sheltering in the Azovstal complex would arrive in Zaporizhzhia on Monday

Ukrainian authorities are planning to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol on Monday, after dozens were finally brought to safety following weeks trapped under heavy fire in the strategic port city’s Azovstal steel complex.

The civilians had been sheltering in bunkers beneath the steelworks that is the last redoubt for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol.

Two explosions were reported in the early hours of Monday in Belgorod, the southern Russian region bordering Ukraine. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the region’s governor, said in a social media post there were no casualties or damage. On Sunday Gladkov had said one person was injured in a fire at a Russian defence ministry facility in Belgorod, while seven homes had been damaged.

Russia’s top uniformed officer, General Valery Gerasimov, visited dangerous frontline positions in eastern Ukraine last week in a bid to reinvigorate the Russian offensive there, the New York Times has reported citing Ukrainian and US officials. The Guardian could not immediately confirm the report.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that the county is working to prevent nuclear war, Reuters reported. In an interview with Italian TV, Lavrov said: “Western media misrepresent Russian threats. Russia has never interrupted efforts to reach agreements that guarantee that a nuclear war never develops”.

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Biden asks Congress for $33bn Ukraine aid package

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President’s request includes over $20bn in military aid, $8.5bn in economic aid to Kyiv and $3bn in humanitarian relief

Joe Biden has called for a giant $33bn package of military and economic aid to Ukraine, more than doubling the level of US assistance to date, in an emphatic rejection of Russian threats of reprisals and escalation.

A few hours after Biden spoke, Kyiv was shaken by two powerful cruise missile strikes, while the UN secretary general, António Guterres, was visiting the Ukraine capital following a meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

More artillery and armored vehicles, as well as anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems.

Help to build up Ukraine’s cyber warfare capabilities.

More intelligence sharing.

Support to increase Ukraine’s ability to produce munitions and strategic minerals.

Assistance in clearing landmines and other explosives and in Ukraine’s defence against chemical, biological and dirty bomb attacks.

A further buildup in the US military presence on Nato’s eastern flank.

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‘We’re not attacking Russia,’ Biden says as he asks for $33bn in Ukraine aid – as it happened

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Joe Biden is also taking steps to ensure the money raised from assets seized from sanctioned allies of Vladimir Putin directly aids Ukraine.

According to a White House fact sheet about Biden’s new aid request, the administration is “proposing legislation to streamline the process to recoup proceeds from seized and forfeited assets and use them to remediate the harm caused in Ukraine”.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv rocked by missile strikes during UN chief’s visit, Ukraine responds to ‘heinous act of barbarism’ – live

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Two cruise missiles strike Ukrainian capital, injuring at least ten; officials respond to attack

More than 8,500 alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are under investigation, Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has said.

A total of 8,653 cases have been reported and 217 children have been confirmed to have been killed, the office added.

Unfortunately this is the type of step, the type of almost weaponising energy supplies that we had predicted that Russia could take in this conflict.

And we have been working for some time now, for months, with partners around the world to diversify natural gas supply to Europe to — in anticipation of and to also address near-term needs and replace volumes that would otherwise come from Russia.”

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MPs criticise ‘top-down’ approach to UK-US trade talks

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Fears grow in UK that any proposals could downgrade workers’ rights despite assurances on both sides

Britain’s trade talks with the US are moving ahead with only “minimal” input from workers, small businesses and thinktanks, according to MPs who accused the UK trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, of shielding her department from outside scrutiny.

Conservative and Labour MPs on the trade select committee also said scrutiny of a deal struck with Australia and New Zealand was in danger of being “rushed through” parliament before they could make an assessment of its impact on imports and exports to and from the Commonwealth countries.

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Trump to be fined $10,000 a day after New York judge finds him in contempt – as it happened

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A New York judge on Monday held former president Donald Trump in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents in the state attorney general’s civil probe into his business practices, Reuters reports.

The decision relates to Trump’s non-compliance in a case brought by New York state attorney general Letitia James.

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US pledges extra $713m for Ukraine war effort and to weaken Russia

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Moscow complains about US military aid as Washington promises more support, including advanced weapons

Russia should be “weakened to the point where it can’t invade Ukraine”, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said after he and the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, visited Kyiv and pledged a further $713m to help Ukraine in its war effort.

The direct comment came a few hours after the two senior US figures met with with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – and was followed by Russia making an official diplomatic complaint about American arms supplies.

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