World

Russian Military Accused of Rights Violations by Central African Republic

Mark Clouse October 5, 2021

Central African Republic accuses Russians of conflict abuses

From nationalpost.com
2021-10-03 17:55:41

Excerpt:

BANGUI — Russian military instructors committed rights abuses in Central African Republic (CAR) during clashes with rebels this year, a government report said on Sunday, bolstering evidence produced in a United Nations report in June.

The army – backed by U.N. peacekeepers, Russian and Rwandan troops – has been battling rebels seeking to overturn a December vote in which President Faustin-Archange Touadera was declared the winner. Fighting has been fierce: in January rebels launched an assault on the capital Bangui that was repelled after a long gunfight.

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France Wants America Out of Europe

Paul Collier October 4, 2021

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, is telling his European comtemporaries that it’s time to ween itself off American power. The embattled President is in the midst of an election he most likely will win but might potentially lose, and he’s just seen a major arms deal between his country and Australia go the way of the dodo bird after the United States essentially gave Australia for free something better or at least on par with what France would have been paid to deliver, submarines.

Now, Macron is moving to move Europe away from America and into itself. And don’t think a new European nationalism is not possible if and when all of Europe suddenly perceives the US is no longer a reliable defensive partner. When faceed with the external threats without, the people of Europe may find a new european nationalism convenient to the perceived predicament. For that to happen, America has to geet out of the way, whether it wants to or not.

Macron says Europeans need to stop being naive and assert independence from the United States

From www.washingtonpost.com
2021-09-28 16:27:00
By Rick Noack
Excerpt:

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Europeans to “come out of their naivete” on the world stage and assert their independence from the United States, sending one of the strongest signals to date that the diplomatic crisis prompted by a disrupted submarine deal could have long-lasting repercussions on transatlantic relations.

Speaking alongside the Greek prime minister Tuesday at a news conference to unveil a major Franco-Greek defense deal, Macron said the Europeans should make themselves “respected.”

“For a bit over 10 years now, the United States has been very focused on itself and has strategic interests that are being reoriented towards China and the Pacific,” he said.

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Mosque Bombing in Kabul Leaves Many Dead, More Injured

Mark Clouse October 4, 2021

Deadly explosion at Eidgah mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan

From www.dailytelegraph.com.au
2021-10-03 21:57:17

Excerpt:

A blast has killed several people in a crowd outside the entrance of the Eidgah Mosque during a funeral service in central Kabul.

A bomb blast at the entrance of a mosque in Kabul has killed civilians.

Thought to be a roadside bomb near the Eidgah mosque gates, the explosion took place during a memorial service being held for the mother of the Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

People in bloodied clothing were seen arriving at the nearby Kabul Emergency Hospital on Sunday.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with the blast, a Taliban spokesman said.

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Pentagon Chief Says Rapid Folding of Afghanistan

Pentagon Chief Says Fast Afghan End Caught Them By Surprise

Mark Clouse October 1, 2021

Afghan army collapse took US by ‘surprise’: Pentagon chief

From timesofindia.indiatimes.com
2021-09-28 17:39:59

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON: Top US military leaders acknowledged on Tuesday that the Taliban’s rapid takeover in Afghanistan took them by surprise and expressed concern the Islamic regime has not broken ties with al-Qaida.
“We helped build a state, but we could not forge a nation,” defense secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuation.
“The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away – in many cases without firing a shot – took us all by surprise,” he said. “It would be dishonest to claim otherwise.”
Austin said the United States had provided the Afghan military “with equipment and aircraft and the skills to use them.”
“Over the years, they often fought bravely,” he said. “Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers died. But in the end, we couldn’t provide them with the will to win. At least not all of them”, he said.
The Pentagon chief said the United States “did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in their senior ranks.”
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States did not have a “full wholesome assessment of leadership morale and will” of the Afghan armed forces.

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Defensive Pact Between Greece and France Signals New European Reality

Freedomist Editor October 1, 2021

France and Greece hedge their bets with a new defence pact

From www.economist.com
2021-10-01 01:07:51

Excerpt:

Oct 2nd 2021

KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, Greece’s prime minister, cast it as a love story. “History…wants us together,” he told Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, in Paris on September 28th. “So does geography.” He serenaded Mr Macron with tales of Ionian seafarers landing in Marseilles and the French Philhellenes who backed Greece’s war of independence. Mr Macron said that Greece was “a civilisation that has inspired us and enabled us to be ourselves”. Then the two leaders consummated their courtship with what they are calling a “strategic” defence pact.

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The Franco-Greek relationship has been forged in rivalry with Turkey, which last year squared off with Greek warships around Cyprus, and with French ones off Libya. An anti-Turkey bloc, including France, Greece, Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, has gradually taken shape. Mr Mitsotakis, eager to secure French support and bolster his own armed forces, had already agreed to buy 18 Rafale warplanes from France in January, at a cost of €2.5bn ($2.9bn), and six more in September. Now he will also buy three new French frigates, with the option of one more.

That is a boon for Greece’s navy, which has just 13 ageing frigates against Turkey’s newer fleet of 16. It is also a well-timed consolation prize for Naval Group, the majority-state-owned French arms firm which Australia turfed out of a lucrative sub marine contract on September 15th as part of its AUKUS pact with America and Britain. Naval Group is building the new frigates in Brittany; Greece is supposed to take delivery of its first in 2025.

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Russia Calls for U.S. Expulsion from Syria

Mark Clouse September 28, 2021

US Occupation of Areas in Syria Unacceptable: Russian FM – World news

From www.tasnimnews.com
2021-09-26 05:56:00

Excerpt:

Lavrov said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings that there is one remaining hotbed in Syria, in Idlib, and there is no problem in combating terrorism there as “our military sites and those of the Syrian army come under attacks in the de-escalation zones and we will not allow this issue to continue”.

In the same context, Lavruv condemned US occupation of the two areas of al-Tanf and al-Rukban in Syria, describing it as “unacceptable”, SANA reported.

He also condemned Western counties’ insistence on the mechanism of delivering aid to Syria without obtaining the acceptance of the Syrian government.

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Iran Buckles As Turkey’s Influence Grows in Azerbaijan

Mark Clouse September 28, 2021

The unholy triumvirate known as Turkey, Russia, and Iran that has dominated most of the outcomes in Syria has always had a tenous hold on its union, but that potential is becoming even more strained as Iran begins to see a different type of triumvirate forming in the region to the north of Iran, Azerbaijan, where Turkey has now gained a foothold after equipping Azerbaikanis in their recent dust-up with Armenia with killer drones that tilted the balance of power to the Azerbaijanis significantly.

As you might imagine, given the fact that Turkey, through Erdogan, sees itself as the apex of a worldwide Muslim caliphate, Iran is none too keen to see this contender for the caliphate throne gain influence to their northern frontier. The dynamics of Syria are sure to become a bit more unstable as the tension between Iran and Turkey grows.

Iran Increasingly Alarmed By The Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis

From greekcitytimes.com
2021-09-27 14:40:04

Excerpt:

Since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, tensions between Iran and the emerging Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis have significantly escalated. It is now glaringly obvious that Iran grossly miscalculated the new reality that would emerge with Azerbaijan capturing Armenian-held territories in the South Caucasus.

A major motivating factor of Azerbaijan’s insistence on controlling Nagorno-Karabakh is the Greater Pan-Turkic project, where Turkey sees itself as the domineering center of a sphere of influence stretching from Istanbul to Western China. Rather than dealing with this project, which supports Turkic separatist ideals in Iran, Tehran decided on pan-Islamic optics and continually congratulated and praised Azerbaijan’s capture of historically-demographically-culturally Armenian territories.

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Israel Alleges Iran’s Nuclear Program Has “Crossed All Red Lines”

Mark Clouse September 28, 2021

Iran’s nuclear program has crossed ‘all red lines’: Israel PM

From www.france24.com
2021-09-27 21:40:14

Excerpt:

Issued on: 27/09/2021 – 23:40

United Nations (United States) (AFP)

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday Iran had breached all the “red lines” aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons program, but that Israel “will not allow” Tehran to get the bomb.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Bennett claimed the Islamic republic had in recent years taken “a major leap forward” in its nuclear production capacity and ability to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

“Iran’s nuclear weapon program is at a critical point, all red lines have been crossed,” said Bennett, who took office in June.

“There are those in the world who seem to see Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as an inevitable reality, as a done deal, or they have just become tired of hearing about it,” the 49-year-old premier told the world body.

“Israel doesn’t have that privilege. We cannot tire. We will not tire. Israel will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Iran responded rapidly, with its ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, saying on Twitter that Bennett’s speech was “full of lies.”

“That regime is in no position to discuss our peaceful program when it has hundreds of nuclear warheads,” he said.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, said Friday that it expected talks to resume soon on reviving a 2015 landmark agreement scaling back its program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The agreement started to fall apart in 2018 when the US withdrew from it and reinstated sanctions. Iran in turn again started to ramp up its nuclear activities.

– After Netanyahu –

Bennett’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in power from 2009 until June, was among the world’s fiercest critics of the accord, regularly condemning it at international forums and cheering former US president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw.

Bennett, a foreign policy hawk who heads…

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EU Picks France Over America in Submarine Conflict

Mark Clouse September 27, 2021

After the United States essentially negated a multimillion dollar deal with France and Australia when it gifted Australia better submarines than the ones Australia was set to buy, the EU has take the side of France in the affair ,who remains a disgruntled broker.

The mere choice of taking a public side by the EU is news in and of itself, but choosing France over America while doing so is a pretty strong message that Europe no longer wishes to mostly reflect American foreign policy.

This most likely is the fruit of a perception from Europe that America no longer represents the fundamental economic power of the world anymore. With China, and even India, rising in economic signficance, opportunities for economic winfall are increasingly no more overwhelmingly American.

EU backs France in submarine dispute, asking: Is America back?

From www.reuters.com
2021-09-21 12:21:00

Excerpt:

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20 (Reuters) – European Union foreign ministers expressed support and solidarity with France on Monday during a meeting in New York to discuss Australia’s scrapping of a $40 billion submarine order with Paris in favor of a U.S. and British deal.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting on the sidelines annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “more cooperation, more coordination, less fragmentation” was needed to achieve a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region where China is the major rising power.

Australia said last week it would cancel an order for conventional submarines from France and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology after striking a security partnership with those countries under the name AUKUS. read more

“Certainly, we were caught by surprise by this announcement,” Borrell said.

The decision enraged France and earlier on Monday in New York French Foreign…

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63 African Penguins Killed by Cape Honeybees

Ivo Fysic September 22, 2021

A swarm of Cape honeybees in South Africa attacked a colony of penguins, stinging them in their eyes. The assault left over 60 penguine dead. The penguins in question are African penguins.

Dozens of endangered penguins killed after being stung in the eyes by swarming honeybees

From www.livescience.com
2021-09-21 13:02:12

Excerpt

In a bizarre incident, 64 endangered African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) have been killed in South Africa after being stung in and around their eyes by Cape honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis).

Rangers from the South African National Parks organization (SANParks) discovered 63 of the 64 dead penguins among a colony near Cape Town in Table Mountain National Park on Friday, Sept. 17. African penguins are a protected species in South Africa and are currently listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with around 42,000 mature individuals globally.

“The deaths occurred suddenly sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning,” SANParks said in a Facebook post. “No external physical injuries were observed on any of the birds.”

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