Category Archives: US foreign policy

US says it will send troops to eastern Europe if Russia invades Ukraine

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Official says Washington would also impose economic measures in warning to Moscow on eve of talks between Biden and Putin

The US has said it would send reinforcements to Nato’s eastern flank in response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as imposing severe new economic measures, in a warning to Moscow on the eve of talks between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.

Biden will also make clear to Putin that the US will not rule out future Ukrainian membership of Nato, as the Russian leader has demanded, a senior US official said.

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US seeks Russian and Chinese support to salvage Iran nuclear deal

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Iran’s natural allies are said to have been surprised by how much it had gone back on its own compromises

The US is hoping pressure from Russia, China and some Arab Gulf states may yet persuade Iran to moderate its negotiating stance in regards to the steps the Biden administration must take before both sides return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Talks in Vienna faltered badly last week, when the new hardline Iranian administration increased its levels of uranium enrichment and tabled proposals that US officials said at the weekend were “not serious”since they had gone back on all the progress made in the previous round of talks.

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West condemns Taliban over ‘summary killings’ of ex-soldiers and police

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Human Rights Watch says 47 former members of Afghan national security forces have been killed or forcibly disappeared

The US has led a group of western nations and allies in condemnation of the Taliban over the “summary killings” of former members of the Afghan security forces reported by rights groups, demanding quick investigations.

“We are deeply concerned by reports of summary killings and enforced disappearances of former members of the Afghan security forces as documented by Human Rights Watch and others,” read a statement by the US, EU, Australia, Britain, Japan and others, which was released by the state department on Saturday.

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Iran walks back all prior concessions in nuclear talks, US official says

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  • Session was first with delegates from new Tehran government
  • Iran says aerial explosion over Natanz was air defence test

Iran walked back all compromises made in previous talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, pocketed compromises made by others and asked for more in its latest proposals, a senior US state department official told reporters on Saturday.

Iran continues to accelerate its nuclear program in pretty provocative ways and China and Russia were taken aback at how far Iran had walked back its proposals in talks in Vienna, the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Joe Biden pledges to make any Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘very, very difficult’

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Washington and Kyiv say Moscow has massed troops near border ahead of planned US-Russia video summit

Joe Biden he said he would make it “very, very difficult” for Russia to launch any invasion of Ukraine, which warned that a large-scale attack could be planned for next month.

Washington and Kyiv say Moscow has massed troops near Ukraine’s borders and accuse Russia of planning an invasion.

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Russia’s activity on the Ukraine border has put the west on edge

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Analysis: a full-scale attack seems improbable – but the troop buildup is enough to have Nato warn of sanctions

It is the second time this year that Russia has amassed forces near its borders with Ukraine, so why has the estimated 90,000 troop buildup left western governments and independent analysts more concerned?

The stark warning by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Wednesday that Russia has made plans for a “large-scale” attack is backed up by open source analysis – and western intelligence assessments. “There is enough substance to this,” one insider added.

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Honduras president-elect’s China pledge puts Taiwan and US on edge

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Xiomara Castro has said she will foster ties with Beijing in what experts see as a move to counter US influence

Xiomara Castro’s victory in the Honduras presidential elections has placed the Central American nation at the heart of an intensifying diplomatic tug-of-war between Taiwan and China.

Honduras is one of only 15 remaining countries that recognizes the sovereignty of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its own territory. But Castro made a manifesto pledge to end that decades-long relationship and establish diplomatic ties with Beijing.

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US warns Russia has plans for ‘large scale’ attack on Ukraine

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Secretary of state says Nato is ‘prepared to impose severe costs’ on Moscow if invasion attempted

The US says it has evidence Russia has made plans for a “large scale” attack on Ukraine and that Nato allies are “prepared to impose severe costs” on Moscow if it attempts an invasion.

Speaking at a Nato ministers meeting in Latvia, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said it was unclear whether Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade but added: “He’s putting in place the capacity to do so in short order, should he so decide.

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US to restrict travel from southern Africa over Omicron Covid variant fears

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Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Friday there was “no indication” the new “Omicron” coronavirus variant discovered in southern Africa had reached the US.

Nonetheless, the the Biden administration said it would restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in southern Africa, starting on Monday.

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‘Amoral 21st-century mercenaries’: problems mount for NSO Group

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Israeli spyware firm goes from bad to worse as scathing Apple lawsuit follows US blacklisting

Shalev Hulio, the co-founder of Israel’s NSO Group, was in Washington DC on a mission to try to resuscitate the surveillance company’s battered reputation on Capitol Hill shortly before the news broke that he had probably arrived too late to make a difference.

With little advance warning to its allies in Israel, the Biden administration announced on 3 November that it was putting the spyware maker – one of the most sophisticated cyber-weapons companies in the world – on a US blacklist, citing use of the company’s software by regimes around the world for “transnational repression”.

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All options fraught with risk as Biden confronts Putin over Ukraine

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Analysis: Moscow presents Washington with a no-win situation: capitulate on Ukrainian sovereignty or risk all-out war

Joe Biden is preparing for a virtual summit with Vladimir Putin with the aim of fending off the threat of another Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The summit has been previewed by the Kremlin. The White House has not confirmed it, but Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that “high-level diplomacy is a priority of the president” and pointed to the teleconference meeting with Xi Jinping earlier in November.

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US expected to remove Farc from international terrorist list

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The announcement comes five years after the demobilised rebel group signed a peace deal with the Colombian government

The US is expected to remove the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) from its international terrorist list, five years after the demobilised rebel group signed a peace deal with the Colombian government and formed a political party.

The announcement is expected to bolster the struggling peace process, which has been implemented haltingly as violence from dissident rebel groups and drug traffickers continues to trouble the South American nation.

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Russia accuses west of building up forces on its borders

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Moscow, which has nearly 100,000 troops near Ukraine border, also criticises ‘provocative policy’ of US and EU towards Kyiv

Russia has accused the west of building up forces on its borders as well as those of Belarus in remarks that appeared tailored to mirror recent US warnings about Moscow’s aggressive positioning towards Ukraine.

The Kremlin, as well as Russian intelligence, security, and diplomatic officials, have all gone on the offensive in the past 48 hours after Vladimir Putin publicly instructed his diplomats that tensions should be maintained with the west as a form of aggressive deterrence.

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Biden-Xi summit highlights tensions – and desire for cooperation

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Analysis: while depth of division remains clear, leaders showed willingness to move in positive direction

The much-awaited meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping achieved its admittedly low expectations when the two finally met and showed a willingness to move the bilateral relationship in a positive direction.

Progress began to show soon after the meeting, for example on journalist visas. But the two sides also provided a list of existing grievances following the three-and-a-half-hour talks. The US said it raised its concerns over China’s human rights record, its “unfair trade and economic practices”, and its behaviour in the South China Sea.

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Taiwan hits back after Paul Keating says its status ‘not a vital Australian interest’

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China’s aggression destabilises the region and threatens democratic freedoms, Taipei says

Taiwan has hit back at the former Australian prime minister Paul Keating after he said Taiwan was “not a vital Australian interest” and labelled it a “civil matter” for China.

In an appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Keating dismissed global concerns about China’s aggression towards Taiwan and criticised Australia’s growing bipartisan pushback.

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Joe Biden supports EU position on Northern Ireland, says Von der Leyen

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Brussels chief says US president agrees Britain should not ditch post-Brexit protocol

Ursula von der Leyen has claimed that the EU’s position on Northern Ireland has the support of the US president, as Brussels prepares a “ladder” of retaliatory options up to and including the suspension of the UK trade deal over Boris Johnson’s threats to ditch the current post-Brexit arrangements.

After a meeting at the White House, the European Commission president said Joe Biden was in agreement with the bloc that Johnson should not upend the tortuously negotiated Northern Ireland protocol.

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US would only quit Iran nuclear deal if Tehran were to renege, Biden pledges

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President makes commitment alongside Germany, France and UK not to repeat Donald Trump’s walkout on agreement

Joe Biden has given a pledge that if the US returns to the Iran nuclear agreement, it will only subsequently leave if Tehran clearly breaks the terms of the deal.

The US president made the commitment, which addresses one of Iran’s key negotiating demands, in a joint statement issued with Germany, France and the UK. The statement followed a meeting on the margins of the G20 in Rome attended by Biden, Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Boris Johnson.

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Master of the Game review: Henry Kissinger as hero, villain … and neither

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Martin Indyk’s well-woven biography is sympathetic to the preacher of realpolitik condemned by many as a war criminal

As secretary of state, Henry Kissinger nursed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war to a close. The disengagement agreements between Egypt and Israel ultimately yielded a peace treaty. The Syrian border remains tensely quiet. Unlike Vietnam, in the Middle East Kissinger’s handiwork holds.

The Sunni Arab world has gradually come to terms with the existence of the Jewish state. Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. Relations with Saudi Arabia are possible.

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G20 leaders to endorse Biden proposal for global minimum corporate tax

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Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies will endorse a US proposal for a global minimum corporate tax of 15%, draft conclusions of the two-day G20 summit in Rome showed on Saturday.

The G20 plans to have the rules in force in 2023.

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Covid bioweapon claims ‘scientifically invalid’, US intelligence reports

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ODNI reject bioweapons claims but says origins of virus may never be known, barring dramatic breakthrough in Chinese cooperation

Allegations that the Covid-19 virus was designed as a bioweapon – a theory aired by some senior Republicans – are based on “scientifically invalid claims” whose proponents “are suspected of spreading disinformation”, the US intelligence agencies have reported.

Most of the 17 US agencies also agree that the virus had not been genetically engineered, while observing it is becoming increasingly difficult to detect signs of such tampering. However, the intelligence community is still divided on the question of whether the virus was spread by animal-to-human transmission or as the result of a lab accident, concluding that that may never be known barring a dramatic breakthrough in Chinese cooperation.

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