Chinese President Xi Jinping officially received the credentials of the Taliban ambassador to Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping officially received the credentials of the Taliban ambassador to Beijing

    Tuesday, January 30, 2024   No comments

The Afghan Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping officially received the credentials of the Taliban ambassador to Beijing. Mawlawi Assadullah, also known as Bilal Karimi, handed over his credentials along with ambassadors from 41 countries to President Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the ministry said in a statement.

President Xi is the first head of state to officially accredit a Taliban ambassador during a special ceremony, and last year, Taliban Prime Minister Hassan Akhund received the newly appointed Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan.

 

No country in the world has officially recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan yet, but ambassadors appointed by the Taliban are actively working in many Asian capitals.

Taliban Ambassador to Chaina, Bilal Karimi

 

The Taliban movement has been criticized by the international community due to the severe restrictions it imposes on women's rights.

 

A Brussels-based research center said on Tuesday that countries in the region need to deal with Afghanistan regarding security and economic issues and urged Western powers to support such efforts or at least refrain from obstructing them.

 

China has maintained good relations with the Taliban since its return to power in August 2021, and Beijing is considered one of Kabul's largest trading partners.

Iran Summons Russian Envoy Over Statement on Disputed Gulf Islands

Iran Summons Russian Envoy Over Statement on Disputed Gulf Islands

    Sunday, December 24, 2023   No comments

Those familair with Iranian culture would say that Iran's leaders do not do "ta`aruf" when it comes to their sovereignty. That is, “no kidding allowed” on the matter. In a move similar to its reaction to China putting its name on an Arab-Chinese joint statement when the Chinese president visit the Gulf region, Iran foreign ministry summoned the Russian diplomat to protest a similar event that took place in Morocco earlier this month. 

Iran has summoned the Russian chargé d'affaires to Tehran in protest at a recent statement issued by Russia and several Arab countries on Iran’s three Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb.

The Russian diplomat was summoned by the assistant to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's director general for the Persian Gulf affairs on Saturday.

The development came after the final statement of the 6th Arab-Russian Cooperation Forum, which was held in Morocco on December 20, reiterated the United Arab Emirates' baseless claims about the three Iranian islands.

Iran has summoned Russia's envoy to protest a recent statement by Moscow and Arab countries calling for talks over three islands controlled by Tehran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates.

The summoning of Moscow's charge d'affaires came days after Iran's key ally Russia signed a joint declaration with Arab countries which "supported peaceful solutions and initiatives" to resolve the dispute over the islands.

Iran's foreign ministry said on Saturday it summoned Moscow's charge d'affaires in Tehran, in the absence of its ambassador, to submit a "note of protest" on the contents of the joint statement.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers any claim from any side in this regard as rejected and unacceptable," Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iran's top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also called the islands "an integral part of Iran's territorial integrity" in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday.

"Tehran will not compromise with any side on the issue of respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty," he added.

Iran in July summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a similar joint statement signed by Moscow and Arab countries on the islands.

Located in the Gulf, the three strategic islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa are located near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes.

  

By a margin of 80% (for) to 5% (against), the United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip

By a margin of 80% (for) to 5% (against), the United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip

    Wednesday, December 13, 2023   No comments

The United Nations General Assembly adopted an immediate ceasefire resolution in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to Israeli aggression for more than 65 days.

The draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which was voted on in the Assembly, received 153 votes, while 10 countries opposed it, and 23 countries abstained from voting.

Following the vote, the Palestinian presidency welcomed the United Nations’ call for a ceasefire, urging the countries that voted in favor of the resolution to “compel the Israeli occupation to implement it.” The representative of occupied Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said that the UN resolution on Gaza is “historic.”

Mansour announced that the General Assembly would vote on the draft resolution that was dropped by the United States of America in the UN Security Council, last Friday.

In an interview with reporters in New York, Mansour indicated that countries that oppose the draft resolution are proposing amendments to it, including “condemning the Hamas movement and labeling it a terrorist,” stressing that “the Arab and Islamic group will reject these amendments together.”

The representative of the United States of America, which vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for an end to the violence last week, Linda Greenfield, indicated that the humanitarian situation in the Strip is “dire, as civilians need everything, and must be protected under international law.”

Greenfield expressed her country's readiness to "resume humanitarian truces," and issued a "promise" to "bring more aid into Gaza," welcoming the occupation's decision to "open the Kerem Shalom crossing," and noting that "Israel must avoid mass killing of civilians,"

But at the same time, Greenfield  affirmed “continuing American support for Israel’s security,” considering that “Hamas remaining a neighbor of Israel is unacceptable,” in a position consistent with the positions of the occupation in its war against the Gaza Strip.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell: The destruction in Gaza is worse than what Germany witnessed during World War II

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell: The destruction in Gaza is worse than what Germany witnessed during World War II

    Tuesday, December 12, 2023   No comments

Borrell: The situation is catastrophic and horrific, and the human suffering in the Strip constitutes an unprecedented challenge to the international community

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and horrific,” with relatively “greater” destruction than what Germany witnessed during World War II.

After chairing a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, Borrell said that the Israeli army's response to the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7 led to an "incredible number of civilian casualties."

Borrell did not refer to the fact that Israel's war on Gaza has killed more children than any other conflict, with more than 70% of confirmed deaths being women and children.

Borrell also expressed the European Union's "concern" about the violence of extremist settlers in the West Bank, who are represented in the Israeli government by supremacists who suggested Israel drops a nuclear bomb on Gaza. 

Borrell also condemned the Israeli government's approval of the construction of 1,700 new housing units in Jerusalem, which Brussels considers a violation of international law.

Borrell said, “The destruction caused to buildings in Gaza...is somewhat greater than the destruction inflicted on German cities during World War II.”

He said that he presented to the foreign ministers of European Union countries a discussion paper to consider “imposing sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank” whose attacks against Palestinian residents have increased in intensity.

He indicated that he would soon turn the paper into an official proposal, based on an initiative taken by the United States, which announced last week that it would refuse to grant visas to extremist Israeli settlers.

But he acknowledged that there is no consensus yet on the issue among the governments of European Union countries.

The United States, alone, again, blocking a UNSC resolution backed by more than 100 countries calling for a stop to the War on Gaza

The United States, alone, again, blocking a UNSC resolution backed by more than 100 countries calling for a stop to the War on Gaza

    Friday, December 08, 2023   No comments

Not a single country among the current members of the United Nations Security Council sided with the United States to vote against the resolution calling for the end of violence in Gaza on humanitarian grounds. 

The support for the resolution was unprecedented, with more than 100 countries out of 193 sponsoring the resolution.

The resolution was introduced when the UN Secretary General invoked the rarely used Chapter 99 of the UN Charter. Guterres invoked Article 99, which says the secretary-general may inform the council of matters he believes threaten international peace and security. Nonetheless, the US government vetoed the resolution. 

The UK, this time, too, found another reason to abstain from taking a stand. The UK government justified its abstention by the need to condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack as an act of terrorism. During a similar UNSC vote that included language that condemned Hamas, the UK still refused to support the resolution. 

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Powerful countries who habitually abuse their power will always find excuses and justifications for the abuses.

The isolation of the United States in the world community is indicative of the loss of credibility, something that is very hard to recover from at a time when the US and its allies are struggling to find support to counter Russia and China.

US Diplomats warn Biden: We are losing support of Arabs for a generation

US Diplomats warn Biden: We are losing support of Arabs for a generation

    Friday, November 10, 2023   No comments

In a sign that even if Israel were to win this battle in Gaza, the US will end up losing the war for minds and hearts in the world for generations to come. This possibility is now being expressed by US diplomats from around the world, especially the fragile Arab world.

The US embassy in Oman sent a diplomatic cable to the White House this week warning that President Joe Biden's unwavering support for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza “is losing us Arab publics for a generation.”

“We are losing badly on the messaging battlespace,” the cable drafted by the second-highest US official in Muscat reads, according to CNN. It adds that US support for Israel’s actions is seen “as material and moral culpability in what [Arabs] consider to be possible war crimes.”

The cable was sent to the White House’s National Security Council, the CIA, and the FBI.

Anger has been growing across the Arab world against the US for its role in arming, financing, and protecting Israel since the start of the war in Gaza last month. US embassies across the region have become targets for angry protesters, while US bases in Iraq and Syria have been bombed dozens of times over the past three weeks.

This week, US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea was forced to cancel a scheduled visit to Dar al-Fatwa to meet with the Grand Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, due to widespread anger at her presence.

Similarly, US State Secretary Antony Blinken faced a cold welcome during his visit to multiple nations in West Asia earlier this month, as diplomats urged the senior US official on the need to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza.

In Washington, the situation is reportedly just as critical, with State Department staffers harshly criticizing the White House's stance in a recent dissent memo.

[The gap between the US private and public messaging] contributes to regional public perceptions that the United States is a biased and dishonest actor, which at best does not advance, and at worst harms, US interests worldwide,” the memo, leaked to POLITICO, reads.

“We must publicly criticize Israel’s violations of international norms such as failure to limit offensive operations to legitimate military targets,” it adds. “When Israel supports settler violence and illegal land seizures or employs excessive use of force against Palestinians, we must communicate publicly that this goes against our American values so that Israel does not act with impunity.”

The internal strife comes as Biden faces a significant dip in popularity ahead of next year's elections, as recent opinion polls show he is trailing behind former president Donald Trump in five of the six most crucial battleground states.

Furthermore, tens of thousands of protesters have continuously taken to the streets of multiple cities in the US over the past month to demand that the president call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.