World Politics
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How China’s nationalistic aggression launched Taiwan’s economic renaissance
www.brookings.edu How China’s nationalistic aggression launched Taiwan’s economic renaissance | BrookingsTaiwan’s economy has transformed by pivoting toward advanced ICT sectors, catalyzed in part by China’s nationalistic aggression.
- www.cfr.org What Is the Extent of Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis?
More than a year into the civil war in Sudan, over nine million people have been displaced, exacerbating an already devastating humanitarian crisis.
- www.batimes.com.ar Milei celebrates as Congress signs off on ‘Ley de Bases’ reform package | Buenos Aires Times
Milei secures first legislative victory since taking office more than six months ago; Lawmakers in lower house back revised 'Ley de Bases' package with 147 votes in favour, 107 against and 2 abstentions. Bids to privatise Aerolíneas Argentinas, Correo Argentino and state media outlets left off bill,...
- www.iiss.org Fighting precision with precision
Israel appears to have destroyed a facility it has long alleged to be a Hizbullah guided- missile factory, demonstrating that the formerly generally stable deterrence relationship between the two sides is eroding.
- www.lawfaremedia.org Holding Hamas Accountable at the ICJ Through Palestine
Some Genocide Convention parties recognizing the State of Palestine could sue it at the ICJ for alleged genocide by Hamas on Oct. 7.
- www.cfr.org Why All the Criticism of Qatar?
Qatari-owned "news" media like Al Jazeera and Al-Quds Al-Arabi are not independent news sources, and continue to show deep hostility to the United States in their biased reporting.
- www.atlanticcouncil.org Don’t be fooled by the ‘reformist.’ Iran’s presidential election won’t bring fundamental change.
The only way out of this conundrum is if Iranians take their destiny into their own hands.
- www.csis.org The New Russia-North Korea Security Alliance
The Putin-Kim summit signifies a deepening strategic alignment between Russia and North Korea in their confrontation with the United States and its allies and is the gravest threat to the United States since the Korean War.
- www.businessinsider.com A weird legacy of the Falklands War could get Ukraine 5 fighter jets: report
Argentina is reportedly in talks to help provide Ukraine with Super Étendard fighter jets it has in storage due to Falkland War-era weapons embargoes.
- www.batimes.com.ar Milei at the G7: Laughter with Meloni, hugs for Pope, chat with Biden | Buenos Aires Times
President had a warm meeting with the Italian PM and short exchanges with Pope Francis and Joe Biden. Bilateral meeting with Emmanuel Macron and IMF head Kristalina Georgieva.
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In the UK it's time to nationalise the losses
The elections are approaching and the polls show that the conservative are trailing. Is it a surprise? The leader makes image of the party, how much can a rich guy of Indian origin connect with the British public? Not at all. There could still be the appeal to the other British indian, after all the statistics say that British of Asian descent make a big minority, but a big chunk of them originates from Pakistan and on them Sunak is likely to have the opposite effect. There is also the big share of British Indians who are concentrated in Urban areas where the rest of the population overwhemingly votes for labour, they won't bring any support. For what matters all the other voters Sunak is definitely not a popular character as was Boris Johnson when the Tories won the election.
What I say is quite obvious to the experts and the Tories have a team of very good analysts. Why are they sticking with Sunak? Because they want to lose, they could not carry out the work that must be done now. The privatisations of the Thatcher era have exhausted their purpose. Big finance extracted all the value they could squeeze from the privatised services and they now they hold big piles of debts. it's time to nationalise the losses.
It's not just Thames Water. The railways have been asking for money for quite some time. Wales and Scotland already nationalised the local networks. The rest of the work already started, now it's time to complete it.
- apnews.com In initial win for Argentine President Milei, senators approve his key bills after violent protests
Argentina’s Senate narrowly approved key state overhaul and tax packages proposed by President Javier Miliei, delivering an initial legislative victory to the libertarian leader in his efforts to enact his promises of radical change.
- www.foreignaffairs.com China’s Do-Nothing Strategy in the Middle East
Beijing needs a safe Red Sea—but wants Washington to deliver it.
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US clears way for Ukrainian military unit to use American weapons
WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. review found no evidence of human rights violations by Ukraine's Azov Brigade, paving the way for it to use American training and weapons, the State Department said on Tuesday, citing Russian disinformation aimed at discrediting the unit. U.S. law bars foreign security forces from U.S. military assistance if they have committed gross violations of human rights, but a review of the National Guard of Ukraine's 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade cleared them for U.S. funds, the department said in a statement.
"After thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the U.S. Department of State," the department wrote, referring to the Leahy Law. The move allows the Biden administration to reverse a decade-old ban on allowing the Ukrainian military unit to use U.S. weapons, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the decision.
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US bars imports from footwear, seafood and aluminum firms over Uyghur labor
The U.S. has added three more companies to an entity list that bars imports from firms allegedly involved with Uyghur forced labor in China, according to a U.S. government notice posted online on Tuesday. The latest targets include shoe manufacturer Dongguan Oasis Shoes Co, electrolytic aluminum maker Xinjiang Shenhuo Coal and Electricity Co and food processor Shandong Meijia Group Co, also known as Rizhao Meijia Group, the notice from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
- www.nytimes.com France’s Conservative Leader Calls for Alliance With Far Right
The announcement by the head of the Republicans was a historic break with his party’s policy. Top politicians on the right have called for him to step down, bringing the party to the brink of implosion.
- www.lawfaremedia.org One Step Forward for the ICC, One Leap Backward for Peace
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan's recommendation for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant will make ending the conflict more difficult.
- ecfr.eu Beyond proxies: Iran’s deeper strategy in Syria and Lebanon
Iran has spent decades building up its influence in the Levant as part of its deterrence posture against Israel (and the US). The war in Gaza is now pushing the longstanding Israeli-Iranian conflict…
- www.wilsoncenter.org Israel, Lebanon, and Impending Doom: The US and Ending the Cycle of Violence
The rising conflict between Israel and Hezbollah follows a familiar pattern. There is a way to avoid a full-blown war, but it requires American activism, realism, persistence, and recognition that the strategic foe is in Tehran, not Beirut.
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Flexing its muscles, Iran steps away from deniability in arming the Houthis: Analysts
breakingdefense.com Flexing its muscles, Iran steps away from deniability in arming the Houthis: Analysts - Breaking DefenseNew statements from Iran are "abandoning the fiction" that they are not supplying anti-ship ballistic missile technology, according to analysts.
- www.foreignaffairs.com Hamas Has Reinvented Underground Warfare
The group’s Gaza tunnels will inspire others.
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Europe’s rapidly rising right: Hard-right forces are gaining ground ahead of next month’s European Parliament election
www.politico.eu Mapped: Europe’s rapidly rising rightHard-right forces are gaining ground ahead of next month’s European Parliament election.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16202904
> The longstanding effort to keep extremist forces out of government in Europe is officially over. > > For decades, political parties of all kinds joined forces to keep the hard-right far from the levers of power. Today, this strategy — known in France as a cordon sanitaire(or firewall) — is falling apart, as populist and nationalist parties grow in strength across the Continent. > > Six EU countries — Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic — have hard-right parties in government. In Sweden, the survival of the executive relies on a confidence and supply agreement with the nationalist Sweden Democrats, the second-largest force in parliament. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islamic firebrand Geert Wilders is on the verge of power, having sealed a historic dealto form the most right-wing government in recent Dutch history. > > Meanwhile, hard-right parties are dominating the polls across much of Europe. In France, far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is cruising at over 30 percent, far ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls. Across the Rhine, Alternative for Germany, a party under police surveillance for its extremist views, is polling second, head-to-head with the Social Democrats.
- www.lawfaremedia.org The Islamic State’s Resurgence in Mozambique
The scale and frequency of attacks launched by the terrorist group's East African affiliate are increasing.
- www.foreignaffairs.com The Shallow Roots of Iran’s War With Israel
Beneath Tehran’s extremism, a lost history of deep Iranian-Jewish ties.
- www.csis.org Where Does The U.S. Go From Here— Gaza: The Human Toll
CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison, Michelle Strucke, and Jon B. Alterman discuss Gaza's humanitarian crisis with Ambassador David Satterfield, Senior Advisor on the Middle East, U.S. Department of State, and Nick Schifrin, Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent, PBS NewsHour.
- www.foreignaffairs.com The Dangers of an Ungovernable Gaza
Without basic postwar stability, “the day after” might never arrive.
- www.lawfaremedia.org Islamic State-Khorasan Province’s Virtual Planning
The terrorist group continues to inspire and guide violence through online messaging platforms.
- www.phenomenalworld.org Great Green Wall of America | The Polycrisis
Biden’s China tariffs, EV supply chains, geopolitical cat and mouse games.
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Iran and Israel: Everything Short of War
www.iiss.org Iran and Israel: everything short of warBoth sides have powerful militaries, but differences in their respective structures and strategic objectives impose limits on escalation.
- www.cfr.org What Does Putin Really Want in Ukraine?
Russia’s early setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine could have foreclosed on some of President Vladimir Putin’s sweeping war objectives, but he is unlikely to relent given the conflict’s momentum.
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Israel’s Strategic Choice
www.brookings.edu Israel's strategic choice | BrookingsAdopting a sound strategy can not only ease some of the terrible aspects of the current war but also advance Israel’s own operational goals.
- www.pbs.org Sudan’s paramilitary forces accused of ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity in Darfur
More than a year of brutal war in Sudan between two factions of its army has killed tens of thousands and forced more than 8 million people to flee their homes. Some 5 million are now at risk of starvation there. As Nick Schifrin reports, the situation may be getting even worse.
- www.wilsonquarterly.com Antisemitic Propaganda and Disinformation in Putin’s War Against Democracies
This piece explores Russia’s long history of antisemitism, alongside its current antisemitic disinformation and propaganda campaign targeting American youth. Tabarovsky also looks at Russia’s likeminded partners, and the implications for US national security.
- www.nytimes.com People Leaving Rafah Describe Fearful Flight From Israeli Assaults
‘We feel depressed and so exhausted from repeating the same suffering,’ one mother of 11 said.
Manal al-Wakeel and her extended family of 30 people thought they were going home.
Displaced from their home in Gaza City months ago, Ms. al-Wakeel and relatives began packing their bags on Monday and preparing to dismantle their tent in Rafah, at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas had announced that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal from Qatar and Egypt, leaving many Gazans thinking that a truce was imminent. Their joy was short-lived; it soon became clear that Hamas was not talking about the same proposal endorsed days earlier by Israel, which said the two sides remained far apart.
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These 8 countries joined US in opposing UN’s latest Palestinian resolution
Eight countries joined the U.S. in opposing the UN’s latest resolution to allow Palestine to qualify to become a full UN member.
The United Nations General Assembly backed the Palestinian bid to be eligible for a full UN membership on Friday, with 143 countries voting in favor, 25 abstaining and nine voting against.
Those nine countries that opposed the Palestinian recognition to join the international body are the U.S., Israel, Argentina, Czech Republic, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Hungary and Papua New Guinea.
- www.dw.com Press Award goes to DW documentary about death squad – DW – 05/10/2024
A DW team has won a prestigious journalism prize for an investigative documentary, in which it provides evidence of targeted killings by an elite unit of the Bangladeshi army.
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South Africa asks World Court to order Israel's withdrawal from Rafah
AMSTERDAM, May 10 (Reuters) - South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the U.N.'s top court said on Friday. In the ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the World Court in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians.