UN Genocide Prevention Specialist Lists Problems in a Dozen Countries – But Not China

A U.N. human rights specialist focusing on the prevention of genocide delivered a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week that referred to situations in more than a dozen countries around the world – but was silent on China.  Read

US Resolution ‘Looks Forward to the Day That the Chinese Communist Party No Longer Exists’

As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its centenary with spectacular fireworks displays and exhibitions retelling its “glorious” history, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) on Tuesday urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring to the floor this week a bipartisan resolution condemning China’s ruling party for “100 years of gross violations of human rights.”  Read

Psaki Plays Down Iraqi Govt. Condemnation of Airstrikes Against Iranian Proxies

White House press secretary Jen Psaki played down Iraq’s condemnation Monday of U.S. airstrikes carried out against Iranian-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border. She argued that President Biden was confident they were a “necessary” and “appropriate” response to threats to U.S. personnel there.  Read

Russia, China Extend Treaty Pledging to Support Each Other in Case of Outside Aggression

Hailing an “unprecedentedly high level” of relations between them, the presidents of Russia and China on Monday announced the extension of a 20-year old treaty which includes an approximation of NATO’s mutual defense commitment.  Read

Amid Congressional Push to Scrap AUMF, Biden Orders Another Strike Against Iran-Backed Militias

 For the second time since taking office, President Biden on Sunday authorized what the Pentagon described as “defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region.”  Read

Iran Says it Won’t Give the IAEA Imagery Recorded at Nuclear Sites

Iran’s parliamentary speaker said on Sunday a temporary monitoring arrangement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expired, and as a result, the regime will not provide the U.N. nuclear watchdog with recordings in its possession of footage from its nuclear facilities.  Read

Cuba Is ‘Proud' of Its Human Rights Record; US Shouldn't Judge, Given Its 'Systemic Racism'

Cuba is “proud of its record in human rights” and does not need to ask permission to build “an increasingly fair, prosperous, sustainable, democratic and socialist society,” a representative of the communist regime in Havana told the U.N. General Assembly this week.  Read

As Biden Criticizes Chinese Censorship, Beijing Paper Asks, ‘What About Trump’s Twitter Account?’

After President Biden in a statement Thursday decried the closure of a Hong Kong newspaper targeted for its criticism of Beijing, the editor of a Chinese state media outlet posted jeering tweets referring to President Trump’s ejection from Twitter.  Read

UK Rejects Russian Claims That It Chased Destroyer From Waters Near Crimea

Britain on Wednesday denied Russian claims that its forces had fired warning shots and dropped bombs close to a Royal Navy destroyer near Russian-occupied Crimea, with Defense Secretary Ben Wallace accusing Moscow of “disinformation.”  Read

GOP Lawmaker Trolls Conspiracy-Promoting Chinese Foreign Ministry Official

Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), whose criticism of Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has made him a target of Chinese foreign ministry vitriol, posted a retaliatory video Wednesday, offering a geography lesson as well as cutting commentary on Taiwan and China’s Internet censorship.  Read

Scientist Who Rejects Lab-Leak Theory Still on WHO's Origin-Tracing Team Despite Conflict Claims

Peter Daszak, the New York-based scientist who has argued forcefully against the possibility that the coronavirus may have accidentally leaked from a lab in Wuhan, has recused himself from a commission established to address issues related to the pandemic, after being accused of conflicts of interest relating to his work in China.  Read

China Accuses Canada of ‘Islamophobia’ at UN Human Rights Council

 As Canada’s ambassador at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday prepared to deliver a joint statement about mass-scale atrocities against minority Muslims in western China, a Chinese delegate in a preemptive move accused Canada of a range of abuses, including “Islamophobia.”  Read

Wuhan Lab Nominated for Top Chinese Science Prize

After Beijing suggested that the Wuhan institution at the center of concerns about a possible accidental coronavirus leak deserves a Nobel prize, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has shortlisted the Wuhan Institute of Virology for its “outstanding science and technology achievement prize.”  Read

At UN Human Rights Council, Islamic Bloc Is Once Again Expected to Defend China's Muslim Abuses

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday began a new session at which competing statements on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang region are expected to be aired, underlining what critics see as glaring double standards on the part of Islamic countries.  Read

Administration Downplays Election of US-Sanctioned Human Rights Abuser as Iran’s President

As a who’s who of autocrats and terrorist groups congratulated Ebrahim Raisi on his election as Iran’s next president, the response from the Biden administration was a low-key one.  Read

Iranian Regime, Media Tout ‘Epic’ Election Despite Record-Low Turnout

Iran’s presidential election may have had the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic republic but the regime and its media outlets are hailing “massive” and “epic” support by voters, characterizing it as a blow to Iran’s “enemies” led by the United States.  Read

Jake Sullivan: Biden ‘Is Striding Across the World Stage With Confidence and Purpose’

President Biden “confidently and skillfully donned the mantle of leader of the free world” on his just-completed foreign trip – a mantle that President Trump had “ceded,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan opined on Thursday.  Read

McCaul: Vote to Repeal AUMF a Bid to Undo One of Trump’s ‘Boldest Counterterrorism Successes’

The U.S. House on Thursday voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for the Iraq War, with almost one-quarter of Republicans voting in favor.  Read

Asked If He Would Press Xi Personally to Open Up to Virus Origin Investigators, Biden Deflects

 President Biden was asked Wednesday whether, given how much time he says he has spent in the past with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he would consider calling him up – “old friend to old friend” – and urge him to cooperate in the coronavirus origin investigation.  Read

Putin Says He Felt ‘No Pressure’ in His Talks With Biden – Who Spoke About His Mother

 Russian President Vladimir Putin told a Russian reporter in Geneva on Wednesday night that he had felt “no pressure” from President Biden during their three-hour meeting.  Read

Biden-Putin Summit Will Be Long, Meal-Less, and End With Separate Press Conferences

President Biden’s much-anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin could go on for four or five hours, but there are no plans for a working meal.  Read

Ahead of Putin Summit, Biden and EU Leaders Mum on Contentious Nord Stream Pipeline

As President Biden met with European Union leaders ahead of his encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the controversial issue of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline appeared to be off the agenda, in public at least.  Read

Biden on Ukraine Moving Towards NATO Membership: ‘It Remains to Be Seen’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday welcomed NATO’s reaffirmation that his country will at some future point become a member of the alliance but expressed disappointment that the summit in Brussels did not lay out “specific time frames for the next steps in our rapprochement with NATO, which we expected.”  Read

NATO Allies’ Defense Spending Continues to Rise, But No Nod to Trump

As President Biden was attending the first NATO summit of his presidency, the lingering effects of his predecessor could be seen in the alliance’s most recent defense spending data.  Read

Biden: Still Don’t Know Whether COVID Came from ‘a Bat Interfacing With Animals’ or ‘an Experiment Gone Awry’

Leaders of the group of seven leading industrialized democracies called jointly Sunday for further investigation inside China into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, adding new pressure on Beijing which has been refusing to cooperate.  Read

China in the Spotlight As G7 Backs Biden’s Counter-‘Belt and Road Initiative’ Proposal

President Biden arrived in Brussels on Sunday night for his second of three major intergovernmental summits where rallying democracies to counter China’s global agenda is emerging as a central theme.  Read

‘Islamophobia’ Charges Fly As Ilhan Omar Again Stokes Democrat Divisions

 Divisions within the Democratic Party were on public display again on Thursday after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) sparked fresh controversy with a comment which critics said equated Israel and the United States with terrorist groups.  Read

Poll Finds Bipartisan Support for Making Any Iran Agreement a Treaty Requiring Senate Consent

As the Biden administration continues to pursues a U.S. re-entry into the Iran nuclear deal, a recent opinion poll finds strong bipartisan support for any agreement with the regime in Tehran to be a treaty, presented to the U.S. Senate for advice and consent.  Read

China Seethes Over U.S. Senators’ Visit to Taiwan on Military Plane

Days after three U.S. Senators made a brief stopover in Taiwan, their visit, and the fact they arrived on a U.S. Air Force transport plane, continues to draw criticism in China, where some are describing it as the biggest “provocation” since President Biden took office.  Read

Vaccinating the World High on Agenda as Biden Arrives in UK For G7 Summit

  “Democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere.”  Demonstrating that to the world is one of the incentives driving President Biden’s plan to make a major announcement this week regarding global coronavirus vaccine distribution, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday.  Read

Putin on Ukraine: The West ‘Spat Upon Our Interests’ by Expanding NATO Into Russia’s Backyard

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he takes seriously Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desire for his country to join NATO, and does not dismiss it as “idle talk,” as some commentators in Russia are doing.  Read

China Not Budging on Wuhan Lab Access; WH Says US Will Not ‘Give Up That Easily’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the United States will not “give up that easily” over China’s refusal to allow further study into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak but will continue to “press” Beijing to provide access and data.  Read

Calls to Boycott Olympics Irk China, Which Cites Tulsa Massacre, US Capitol Breach

With accusations of double standards and references to the Tulsa massacre and discrimination against indigenous peoples in North America, China is slapping away mounting criticism in the western world over its hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics.  Read

Ukraine’s Zelensky Pushes Path to NATO Membership; Claims to Have Biden’s Support

In a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, President Biden highlighted the importance of putting Ukraine on the formal path to NATO membership, according to a readout from Zelensky’s office.  Read

Ahead of Iranian Election, Boycott Push May be Gaining Ground

 As Iran’s presidential election approaches, polling inside the country indicates that calls from various organizations for voters to stay away to show their disapproval of the clerical establishment and its version of “democratic” elections may be making headway.  Read

Chinese Communist Party Newspaper Editor to Biden: ‘Are You Awake or Asleep Again?’

As he prepares for his first trip abroad since taking office, President Biden’s weekend comments about rallying the world’s democracies to stand up to China elicited a cutting response in Beijing.  Read

Ukraine’s Zelensky ‘Unpleasantly Surprised’ by Biden’s Russia Pipeline Sanctions Waiver

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he was “unpleasantly surprised” by the Biden administration’s decision to waive sanctions against key actors in the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline. He believes that the United States could stop the project if it wanted to.  Read

Administration Has 'Grave Concerns' About Syria, Belarus Sitting on WHO Board, But Failed to Object When It Could Have

The Biden administration has criticized the recent elevation of Syria and Belarus onto the executive board of the World Health Organization (WHO) – but when given the opportunity to raise objections or call for a recorded vote, neither the U.S. nor any other delegation did so. Read

UN: Al-Qaeda May Exercise ‘Strategic Patience’ in Afghanistan Before Planning More Terror Attacks

Al-Qaeda’s short-term strategy in Afghanistan appears to be one of maintaining safe haven for its core leadership, according to a new report by a U.N. monitoring team. In the longer term, however, the terrorist group may exercise “strategic patience for a period of time before it would seek to plan attacks against international targets again.”  Read

Ahead of Biden-Erdogan Meeting, NATO’s Most Troubling Ally Continues to Go Its Own Way

Ahead of President Biden’s planned meeting with his Turkish counterpart this month, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with senior officials in Ankara on Wednesday amid new signs of a Turkish willingness to cross its NATO allies in the conduct of its foreign policy.  Read

Netanyahu May Be on the Way Out – But Not Just Yet

Despite palpable delight in some quarters about the imminent departure of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, marathon negotiations aimed at establishing a new government with him at its head may yet hit fresh hurdles, so precariously poised are the myriad parties and interests involved.  Read

Voters Urged to Boycott Iranian Election Featuring Mass Killer, Wanted Terror Suspect

 As Iran prepares to elect as president one of seven handpicked loyalists of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – including an alleged mass killer and a man wanted in connection with a deadly terrorist bombing – a boycott campaign reportedly is picking up steam.  Read

Palestinian Authority Protests European Countries That Did Not Support Anti-Israel Resolutions at U.N.

 The “State of Palestine” might not exist as a sovereign entity, but that did not stop the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry from summoning diplomats from four European countries on Tuesday to protest their failure to support recent anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations.  Read

No More 'India' or 'UK' Virus Variants, Says WHO

 The World Health Organization, which moved quickly early last year to discourage the use of terms like “China” or “Wuhan” coronavirus to describe the pathogen that first emerged in Wuhan, China, is now asking people not to name the virus’ variants after the countries where they were first detected.  Read

China Eases Birth Limitation Policies Again, But Critic Says ‘Womb Police’ Are Still Active

China’s communist authorities have announced another easing of their population limitation policies – the third since 2012 – although the verdict of a leading U.S. advocate for Chinese women was a blunt, “nothing to celebrate.”  Read