Category Archives: US foreign policy

Biden vows to ‘ratchet up the pain’ on Putin with new Russia sanctions – as it happened

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The US and its allies are preparing to impose new sanctions on Moscow over civilian killings in Ukraine as the west makes a fresh attempt to cripple Vladimir Putin’s economy and war effort.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the atrocities in his country as “war crimes” while Ukraine authorities said close to more than 4,400 incidents were being investigated.

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Blinken: growing evidence of Russian atrocities in Ukraine a ‘punch to the gut’

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Secretary of state promises US will join allies in documenting atrocities and hold perpetrators accountable

Growing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine are “a punch to the gut”, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Sunday, promising that America would join its allies in documenting the atrocities to hold the perpetrators accountable.

A retreat of Russian forces around Kyiv has revealed evidence of atrocities against civilians as Ukrainian troops and journalists have moved back into a broad swathe of suburbs and towns around the capital.

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Biden rebuffed as US relations with Saudi Arabia and UAE hit new low

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Analysis: As oil prices – and diplomatic tensions – rise, two of the biggest US allies are questioning the basis of their relationship

As Joe Biden moved to open US strategic oil reserves, his two biggest oil-producing allies have kept their tanks firmly shut. The UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to rebuff the US president as he attempts to counter soaring oil prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And both countries have been unusually frank about their refusal to step in.

The five-week-old war is bringing tensions to a head in several parts of the world, but perhaps nowhere is a regional order more under strain than the Middle East, where two of America’s biggest allies are now seriously questioning the foundations of their relationship.

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‘I make no apologies’: Biden stands by ‘Putin cannot remain in power’ remark

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President says he was not calling for regime change but was expressing personal ‘moral outrage’ over Russia’s invasion

Joe Biden on Monday defended the unscripted remarks he made at the end of an important speech in Poland at the weekend, in which he said that Russian president Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, which had prompted hurried efforts by other senior figures in the administration to play down the comment in the face of international criticism.

The US president, when questioned on Sunday after attending church following his return to the White House, denied that he was seeking “regime change” as a new policy.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: Ukraine ‘prepared to discuss neutrality as part of peace deal’, with talks between sides to resume

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Russian journalists deal would have to be subject to referendum; with in-person talks between negotiating teams to resume this week

Russian artists and performers must not stay silent about the war, according to one of the world’s leading ballet choreographers, Alexei Ratmansky.

The Russian-born former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, who left a new production in Moscow on news of the invasion, was responding to Mikhail Baryshnikov’s call not to punish cultural and sporting figures for failing to stand up to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

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Taliban reversal on girls’ education derails US plan for diplomatic recognition

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Joint event had been planned ahead of Doha Forum that would have set process in motion to grant group diplomatic recognition

The US was poised to set the Taliban on the path to diplomatic recognition before the plan was derailed by the Afghan rulers’ sudden U-turn on a promise to allow girls’ education, the Guardian understands.

The group prompted international outrage and confusion on Wednesday when it reneged on a deal to allow teenage girls to go to secondary school, just a week after the education ministry announced that schools would open for all students.

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Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons, US promises Israel

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Antony Blnken seeks to reassure Israel and Gulf allies ahead of possible renewal of nuclear deal

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has sought to reassure Israel and its Gulf allies that Iran will never acquire atomic weapons, ahead of the possible renewal of the nuclear deal with Tehran.

“When it comes to the most important element, we see eye to eye,” Blinken said at a news conference on Sunday with Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid. “We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon.”

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Biden summons history in sweeping call for renewed alliance of democracies

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President seeks to re-establish US as a leader in global affairs after years of Trump-led disengagement

In a speech in Poland on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden indicated his intent to re-position the US as a leader in global affairs after four years of disengagement during the Trump administration.

It is not a task many thought Biden would so firmly take on when he took office in 2021. Initially, Biden focused on healing domestic wounds following four chaotic years of the Trump administration and the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Vladimir Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ Joe Biden says in Warsaw speech

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US president casts Ukraine war as continuation of long struggle for democracy against Russian brute force

Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, US president Joe Biden said in Warsaw on Saturday in a speech addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, a White House official said soon after the speech that Biden was not calling for regime change in Russia.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: Zelenskiy calls on west to supply planes, tanks; Biden says ‘butcher’ Putin cannot remain in power – live

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The Ukrainian president has told Europe its own security is at stake while Joe Biden has pledged ‘further defence cooperation’ with Ukraine

Russian ex-president and deputy head of the security council Dmitry Medvedev has said western sanctions against Russian businesses will not influence Moscow or prompt popular discontent.

Reuters has published a summary of his comments, which were made in an interview with Russia’s RIA news agency:

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Biden in Poland for meetings on Ukraine refugee crisis – US politics as it happened

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Joe Manchin is back in the headlines with an apparent offer to revive Democrats’ climate and social spending plans – aims he had a lot to do with thwarting in December.

The Washington Post cites two sources in saying the West Virginia senator, who holds outsized power as a centrist swing vote in the 50-50 chamber, “wants the bill to take an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to energy policy … and that it’s still possible to reach a deal that includes billions of dollars’ worth of provisions to tackle climate change, cut prescription drug costs and update the tax code.

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Mitch McConnell says he will not support Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination – as it happened

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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the new sanctions on members of the Russian Duma would punish lawmakers who have “supported the Kremlin’s violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

“President Putin’s war continues to inflict horror and widespread suffering on the people of Ukraine,” Blinken said in a statement.

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US expands Russian sanctions and plans to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees

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  • US targets more than half of members of Russia’s parliament
  • Country to step up assistance for Ukrainians fleeing war

The US has announced new sanctions on more than 400 Russians deemed to be part of the country’s elite – including more than half the members of parliament – as part of campaign to increase the price Moscow pays for the invasion of Ukraine, while stepping up assistance to Ukrainians.

The administration also announced it would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, almost as many as the current cap for the total number of refugees the US accepts from around the world.

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Joe Biden arrives in Europe in effort to keep pressure on Russia

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US president will take part in an emergency Nato summit, G7 summit and European Council meeting

Joe Biden has arrived in Europe for a four-day trip with the aim of keeping up pressure on Russia in the face of sanctions fatigue and splits over energy sanctions among US allies.

It will also, to some extent, be a lap of honour for the US president’s success so far in keeping allies and partners together in confronting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Madeleine Albright, first female US secretary of state, dies at 84 – as it happened

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In a sign of life slowly returning to normal, public tours of the US Capitol will resume on Monday in a limited capacity for the first time since March 2020, when the building closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

We are pleased to announce that on Monday, March 28, 2022, public tours of the Capitol will resume with a limited number of member-led, staff-led tours, and school groups,” sergeant-at-arms William Walker and attending physician Brian Monahan wrote in a memo to lawmakers and Capitol staff.

“Since March 2020, the US Capitol, and the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) has been closed to tours. The decision to reinstate limited tours has been made in coordination with Congressional Leadership, the US Capitol Police Board, the Attending Physician, Capitol Visitor Services, and the US Capitol Police. We appreciate your continued patience and cooperation as we work together to resume public tours of the Capitol for the American people in a way that protects the health and safety of visitors and institutional staff alike.”

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US not optimistic about Ukraine talks as Zelenskiy ups pressure on Biden

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  • Ukraine president raises specter of ‘third world war’
  • Biden to travel to Poland on Friday
  • US president pressed to increase military aid ahead of Nato visit
  • Ukraine – live coverage

Joe Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations warned on Sunday there was little immediate hope of a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, as pressure continued to build on the US president ahead of a crucial Nato summit in Europe this week.

Biden, who faces growing dissatisfaction over his approach to the war, will travel to Brussels on Thursday and then on to Poland, it was announced on Sunday night. He will hear a proposal from Poland for Nato to send a peacekeeping force into Ukraine, something Linda Thomas-Greenfield said was unlikely.

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China has fully militarized three islands in South China Sea, US admiral says

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John C Aquilino says Beijing is flexing its military muscle by arming isles with fighter jets, anti-ship systems and other military facilities

China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top US military commander said Sunday.

US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C Aquilino said the hostile actions were in stark contrast to the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s past assurances that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested waters into military bases. The efforts were part of China’s flexing its military muscle, he said.

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Afghanistan’s former finance minister is now Uber driver in Washington DC

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Washington Post rides with Khalid Payenda, who left for the US before the fall of Kabul

Days before Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last August, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was “welcomed” to the United Arab Emirates. He was alleged to have taken with him $169m, from his country’s treasury.

Six months on, Khalid Payenda, once Ghani’s finance minister, is driving an Uber in Washington DC.

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Six countries including UK and US accuse Russia of war crimes in Ukraine

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British foreign secretary says there is ‘very strong evidence’, and France says Putin is only pretending to negotiate

Russia has been accused by the UK, the US, France, Albania, Ireland and Norway of war crimes in Ukraine, as Paris claimed Vladimir Putin was only pretending to be interested in negotiating a peace deal.

The six countries challenged Russia before a UN security council meeting as the British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said there was now “very, very strong evidence” of war crimes being committed by Russian forces.

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Honduras judge says ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández can be extradited to US

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Former first lady tells journalists her husband will be exonerated of profiting from drug trafficking

The former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández should be extradited to the US to face drug trafficking and weapons charges, a Honduran judge has ruled.

The supreme court of justice in Honduras tweeted on Wednesday that it had decided to grant the US extradition request.

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