Taiwanese Soldiers Aim to Shoot Down Chinese Drones

In line with a newly announced policy, Taiwanese armed forces have for the first time fired live rounds at Chinese drones that entered Taiwan’s airspace, a small but symbolically significant step in the tinderbox cross-strait dispute.  Read

As Western Leaders Pay Tribute to Gorbachev, Some Russians See a Bleaker Legacy

Western leaders paid tribute on Tuesday to Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian leader whose reforms paved the way for the disintegration of the Soviet Union – an epochal event which the Kremlin’s current occupant has described as “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century.”  Read

UN Report on Xinjiang Still Unreleased; Outgoing Rights Chief Calls Criticism ‘Unfair’

The United Nations’ top human rights official, who steps down on Wednesday, has rejected suggestions that she has been “acquiescent” towards China or had succumbed to its pressure not to publish a report on the human rights crisis in Xinjiang.  Read

Political Standoff in Iraq Erupts in Deadly Clashes Among Rival Shi’ite Factions

A months-long political standoff in Iraq boiled over into deadly violence on Monday, with at least 15 people killed as supporters of rival Shi’ite factions fought in the capital, including the international zone where foreign embassies are located.  Read

Lapid: ‘This [Iran] Deal Is Not a Good Deal’; More Dangerous Than 2015 Agreement

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday the “dangers” posed by the Iran nuclear accord currently under consideration are even greater than the original 2015 agreement, and recalled the Biden administration’s stated determination to achieve a “longer and stronger” deal.  Read

Former CENTCOM Chief: ‘The Threat is Growing in Afghanistan, And It’s Merely a Matter of Time’

Al-Qaeda is still present in Afghanistan, and in a permissive environment offered by the Taliban regime, the threat posed to the U.S. homeland by the terrorist group will grow, the former commander of U.S. Central Command said on Sunday.  Read

Outgoing UN Rights Chief: No Guarantee She’ll Release Long Awaited Xinjiang Report Before Leaving

The U.N.’s top human rights official was unable Thursday to guarantee that she would be able to release a long-delayed report on the situation in Xinjiang before she steps down next week, and confirmed she had received an appeal from China and dozens of other countries asking her to withhold it.  Read

China Slams US-India Military Exercises Near Hotly Disputed Border

China’s military on Thursday voiced objections to joint U.S.-India military exercises being conducted in the Himalayan foothills not far from India’s hotly disputed border with China, an area where the nuclear-armed Asian giants have clashed periodically – sometimes fatally – over the past 60 years.  Read

Lithuania Suggests ‘Crimea Test’ for Russians Seeking Entry Into Europe

If the E.U. doesn’t impose a bloc-wide ban on visas for Russian visitors, then Russia’s immediate European neighbors should implement their own system to regulate overland border crossings, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said this week. Read

Russian Media Note That Fewer Than a Third of UN Members Signed Statement Supporting Ukraine

On the sixth-month anniversary of the beginning of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian state media noted pointedly that fewer than a one-third of the U.N.’s member-states signed up to a joint statement in support of Kyiv.  Read

Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Scorns Notion That Kyiv Would Risk ‘Nuclear Catastrophe’ on Its Own Soil

Diplomats from Ukraine and Russia exchanged accusations on Tuesday of military actions threatening a potential disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a facility in southern Ukraine that has been occupied by Russian troops for nearly six months.  Read

Iranian Regime Briefs Its Parliament Over Nuclear Deal; McCaul Asks Why WH Is Not Doing the Same

As the U.S. and Iran inch towards a new nuclear agreement, a senior House Republican in a letter to President Biden on Tuesday observed that while the regime in Tehran is briefing its lawmakers on the draft deal, U.S. lawmakers are largely being left in the dark.  Read

Russia Says It’s Solved Car Bombing, Blames ‘Ukrainian Secret Services’

 Russia’s FSB intelligence agency claimed on Monday to have solved the murder of the daughter of a leading ultra-nationalist, blaming Ukrainian secret services and releasing information on a Ukrainian woman whom it said carried out the car bombing before fleeing overland to Estonia.  Read

Ban All Taliban Travel, Say Afghan Women’s Advocates As UN Council Tussles Over Travel Waivers

U.N. Security Council members are wrestling over extending exemptions from a travel ban for selected Taliban leaders, with Russia and China pushing for the waivers to be renewed, and Western members resisting, citing the fundamentalist militia’s violation of women’s rights.  Read

Anti-Putin Russian Group Claims Responsibility for Bomb That Killed Daughter of Russian Nationalist

 A weekend car bombing outside Moscow that killed the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue has stoked speculation about a link to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine – and brought an uncorroborated claim of responsibility from a purported anti-Putin Russian opposition movement.  Read

Iran, Palestinians, OIC Mark Anniversary of Mosque Attack by Blaming Israel

Arab and Islamic governments and organizations marked Sunday’s anniversary of a failed attempt to burn down Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque more than half a century ago with statements directly or implicitly blaming Israel, despite the fact that the lone arsonist was neither Israeli, Jewish, nor of sound mind. Read

After Months of Russian Nuclear Bluster, Moscow Accuses the West of – Nuclear Bluster

For months, top Russian officials have issued broad hints, in word or deed, about the potential use of nuclear weapons in the country’s standoff with NATO over Ukraine. But on Thursday a foreign ministry spokesman flipped the script, accusing the West of dangerous nuclear rhetoric.  Read

North Korea Blasts Seoul’s Aid-for-Disarmament Offer: ‘No One Barters Its Destiny For Corn Cake’

The sister of North Korea’s Stalinist dictator on Friday rejected with contempt a proposal by Seoul to provide aid in return for denuclearization, deriding it as “absurd,” “ridiculous,” and “repulsive.”  Read

State Dep’t Downplays India’s Possible Participation in Russia Wargames

The State Department on Wednesday played down reports that India may participate in Russia-led joint military exercises, saying countries make sovereign decisions and the U.S. recognizes that it will take time for longstanding defense partners of Moscow to draw away from those relationships.  Read

UN Xinjiang Report Still Awaited, But Another UN Expert Cites Forced Labor, ‘Enslavement’ Abuses

 With time running out on the release of a long-awaited report on Xinjiang by the U.N.’s top human rights official, a separate U.N. expert has issued a finding that it was “reasonable to conclude” that ethnic minorities in the far-western Chinese region are victims of stated-backed forced labor.  Read

State Dep’t Suggests US Mideast Partners Who Opposed Iran Nuclear Deal Have ‘Changed Their Tune’

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that U.S. partners in the Gulf states and Israel who were “not wild” about the Iran nuclear deal when it was concluded in 2015 “have over the years changed their tune,” and were now supportive.  Read

Abbas, in Germany, Accuses Israel of ‘50 Holocausts,’ ‘Apartheid’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday rejected Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ use of the term “holocausts” to describe the killing of Palestinians, after what a German opposition leader called “the most disgusting speech ever heard in the German Chancellery.”  Read

US Official Assures UN Panel Administration Is Helping Minority Women Acquire ‘Abortion Care’

 U.S. officials have assured a United Nations anti-racial discrimination committee that the Biden administration is committed to helping American women and girls, especially those from racial minorities, to access abortions, including “medication that supports abortion care.”  Read

As Nuclear Talks Approach Moment of Decision, Iranian Regime Says It, Too, Has a ‘Plan B’

 The Iranian regime said late Monday it had submitted its written response to a draft deal on the table designed to salvage the 2015 nuclear agreement, calling for flexibility from the U.S. and warning that it, too, had a “plan B” in the event the process fails.  Read

Blinken: Iranian Regime-Linked Media Gloating Over Salman Rushdie Attack ‘Despicable’

As Salman Rushdie deals with severe injuries sustained by a knife-wielding assailant in New York state, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday described as “despicable” Iranian regime-affiliated media commentary gloating about the attack that could have killed the U.S.-based British novelist.  Read

One Year Later, House Republicans Say WH, State Dept. Had ‘Head in the Sand’ Over Fall of Kabul

One year after Kabul fell to the Taliban, a senior Republican lawmaker on Sunday accused the White House and State Department of having had “their head in the sand, not wanting to believe” what the Pentagon and intelligence agencies were advising about the security situation, “and therefore not adequately planning” for what would happen.  Read

Beijing Issues Major Paper Underlining Its Claim to Taiwan

After days of firing missiles, flying sorties and conducting live-fire exercises around Taiwan, Beijing on Thursday continued to exchange verbal barbs with the island democracy it claims as its own, renewing threats of force even as Taipei advised it not to engage in “wishful thinking” about unification.  Read

Invoking ‘Rules-Based Int’l Order’ Baltic States Exit Club Linking China to Eastern/Central Europe

 And then there were fourteen.  Estonia and Latvia on Thursday both announced they were withdrawing from a 10-year-old club that pairs China with central and eastern European nations, a move which the State Department linked to “a growing convergence [between the U.S. and its allies] about the need to approach relations with Beijing with more realism.”  Read

A Second European Nation Labels Russia a Terror Sponsor; US Decision Awaited

 Latvia’s parliament on Thursday declared Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism,” a step that members of the U.S. Congress – including the U.S. Senate in a unanimously-adopted resolution – are urging the Biden administration to take.  Read

Bolton Warns Against Reviving Nuclear Deal After DOJ Reveals IRGC Plot to Kill Him

The Iranian regime’s leaders are “liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States,” and reentering the Iran nuclear deal would be “an unparalleled self-inflicted wound,” former National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Wednesday, after the Department of Justice said it had uncovered an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plot to kill him.  Read

Mystery Explosions at Russian Air Base in Crimea Caused Significant Damage to Warplanes

A day after a series of huge explosions and billowing smoke were seen at a Russian air base in Crimea, satellite imagery revealed signs of significant damage, including what appeared to be destroyed fighter jets on the apron and in protective revetments.  Read

Hamas Tries to Bar News Coverage of ‘Rocket Malfunctions’ After Projectile Failures Kill Palestinians

 Hamas, the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, issued an order prohibiting local journalists from reporting or facilitating reporting on several issues, including “rocket malfunctions,” according to an organization representing foreign media in Israel.  Read

Russia Blames 'Violation of Fire Safety Rules' for Explosions at Its Air Base in Occupied Crimea

A series of powerful blasts at a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday sparked speculation that Ukrainian forces may for the first time have struck a blow against the Russians on the strategic peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014.  Read

Rubio on FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid: ‘This is What Happens in Places Like Nicaragua … They’re Playing With Fire’

The Biden Department of Justice was “playing with fire” by sending the FBI to raid former President Trump’s home in Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned on Monday night, saying it was regimes like that of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua that target political opponents.  Read

Blinken: US Won’t ‘Dictate Africa’s Choices’ on Russia, But...

The United States does not seek to “dictate Africa’s choices” but does look to African nations to defend international norms and principles that are at stake with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Pretoria on Monday.  Read

Lavrov, Raisi Among US-Sanctioned Foreign Officials Heading to U.N. in NYC Next Month

President Vladimir Putin will not be taking part in next month’s U.N. General Assembly session in New York, but Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is under U.S. sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.  Read

Germans Laughed When Trump Warned Against Reliance on Russian Energy; ‘They’re Not Laughing Now’

British conservative commentator Nigel Farage recalled at the weekend that German officials had laughed when then-President Donald Trump warned them against an over-reliance on Russian energy.  Read

Chinese War Games Around Taiwan: 14 Warships, 66 Military Planes

In what was meant to be the final day of its biggest-ever military exercises surrounding Taiwan, China’s People’s Liberation Army on Sunday deployed 66 warplanes and 14 warships into areas around the island, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.  Read

Gaza Ceasefire Begins; Israeli Envoy Criticizes UN Official For Voicing Dismay at Death of Terrorist

A Egyptian-mediated ceasefire took effect on Sunday night after three days of fighting between rocket-firing terrorists in Gaza and the Israeli military killed more than 30 people, an episode that attracted strong criticism from U.N. officials, focused almost entirely on condemning Israel.  Read

Ukrainian Branch of Amnesty Int’l Rejects Report Accusing Kyiv of Endangering Civilians

 A report by Amnesty International accusing Ukraine of “violating the laws of war” by basing troops in residential areas is attracting sharp criticism in Kyiv – and an extraordinary statement from the global human rights organization’s own Ukraine branch, distancing itself from the report.  Read

US Delays ICBM Test to Avoid Escalating Tensions With China; Appeasement, Says Republican

 For the second time in five months, the Pentagon is delaying a long-planned test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, this time to signal to China that the U.S. does not want to escalate even further the current tensions over Taiwan.  Read

Senate Votes 95-1 to Admit Sweden, Finland to NATO

 Finland and Sweden edged closer to NATO membership on Wednesday when the U.S. Senate in a 95-1 vote approved the move, a decision which one senior Republican called “probably one of the easiest votes” he will ever make.  Read

Beijing to Pelosi: Your Democracy is ‘A Robe With Lice Crawling All Over It’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan lasted just 19 hours, but furious officials in Beijing are making clear that the fallout will continue for a long time to come, affecting both U.S.-China ties and relations across the Taiwan Strait.  Read

Pelosi in Taiwan: ‘I Think [China] Made a Big Fuss Because I’m Speaker, I Guess’

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday she hopes China understands that, while it might restrict Taiwan's participation in multilateral institutions, “they will not stand in the way of people coming to Taiwan as a show of friendship and support.”  Read

Kirby: ‘I Take Issue With The Premise That We Gave a Whole Country to Terrorist Groups’

Fielding questions on Tuesday about the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby rejected a suggestion that the Biden administration handed over Afghanistan to terrorists a year ago.  Read

Minutes After Pelosi Arrives in Taiwan, China Announces Live-Fire Drills Around the Island

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is due to meet Wednesday with Taiwan’s president during a brief visit that has infuriated China, which said its People’s Liberation Army would begin a series of live-fire exercises in the waters surrounding the island.  Read

Al-Qaeda Leader Zawahiri Killed in US Drone Strike on House in Downtown Kabul

Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian terrorist who served as Osama bin Laden’s deputy before taking over as al-Qaeda leader after bin Laden’s death 11 years ago, was killed in a weekend U.S. drone strike in Taliban-ruled Kabul, where he had been living since earlier this year, President Biden confirmed on Monday night.  Read

Blinken: Taliban ‘Grossly Violated’ Agreement With US by ‘Hosting and Sheltering’ Zawahiri

 The Taliban “grossly violated” its 2020 agreement with the United States by “hosting and sheltering” al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, after President Biden announced that the fugitive terrorist had been killed in a weekend drone strike in Kabul.  Read

Taiwan Not Mentioned As Pelosi Begins Asia-Pacific Trip

Has House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called off controversial plans to visit Taiwan? The answer was unclear Sunday as she began her Asia trip with a statement that mentioned stops in four countries – but not the island democracy that Beijing considers its own.  Read

Putin: NATO Expansion, US Oceans Policy Are Top Threats to Russia’s Security

NATO exercises near Russian territory, and a U.S. policy of seeking “to dominate the world’s oceans” are among the greatest threats to Russia’s national security, according to a new naval doctrine signed by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.  Read