Pilot Aaron Bushnell (25 years old) died of the serious
burns he sustained yesterday, Sunday. This incident comes amid mounting
protests in the United States against the ongoing war in Gaza.
A 1-2% segment of the population might be insignificant in national elections. In the US however, there is no national elections even for the president. A candidate must win elections in each state, and each state they would win will provide the candidate with electors needed to secure a win which is 270.
This structure gives power to the so-called battleground states more than it give power to most populous states that tend to be reliably for one party or another. For these reasons, the presence of Muslim and Arab Americans in the swing state of Michigan is bringing attention to community there ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. This article sheds some light on the attention given to the Muslim and Arab communities and their allies.
Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, announced that the United States, by using its veto power against the draft resolution presented by the Arab group in the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, “sentenced the death penalty to thousands of civilians.”
Polyansky said during a voting session in the UN Security Council: “It will not be an exaggeration if we say that today is one of the darkest days in the history of the Middle East, as our colleagues in the United States have sentenced to death before our eyes thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians, including women and children. "By obstructing the call for a ceasefire."
Polyansky stressed that history will not forget Washington's actions in this regard.
The Russian deputy delegate continued, saying, "You can say as many empty words as you want about democracy, human rights, women, peace, security, and some rules, but we have seen their true price now, when two members of the Security Council chose to remain complicit in this genocide committed by Israel."
For his part, China's permanent representative to the UN Security Council, Zhang Jun, strongly supported the Arab draft resolution as a means to save lives, and criticized the United States for using the veto, saying that expressing grief for civilians and using the veto to continue the fighting is "the utmost hypocrisy."
John pointed out that "the ceasefire helps to achieve a two-state solution to establish lasting peace in the Middle East," pointing out that "the continuation of the war would increase the collapse of security in the region, and the Security Council must assume its responsibilities without delay."
He also called on "Israel" to stop the policy of collective punishment that it is committing against the residents of the Gaza Strip. He also described what is happening as a "humanitarian catastrophe," stressing that "any slowdown means more bloodshed."
For his part, Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, stressed that the “veto” in the United Nations cannot be used to allow massacres, noting that in order for “democracy and peace to shine on the American continent, America cannot allow genocide anywhere in the world.”
In turn, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian confirmed that as long as Washington supports the crimes of the occupation and the continuation of the war, the scope of the war will not be limited to the current situation only, but will expand, pointing to the possibility of an “uncontrollable” explosion in the situation in the region.
In a phone call with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, the Iranian minister appreciated the latter’s activation of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter regarding developments in Palestine and the genocide in Gaza, describing it as a “courageous act.”
This comes after the UN Security Council failed to adopt a draft resolution submitted by the Arab group to the UN Security Council with a record sponsorship of 100 countries, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, despite receiving 13 votes, after the United States used its veto power. Veto to block the draft resolution.
The draft resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons. It also stresses the need for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners, ensuring the arrival of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and the entry of aid in sufficient quantities into the besieged Strip and from all crossings.
It is noteworthy that Britain abstained from voting, while the French representative, François de Rivière, regretted not adopting the resolution and wished it had included a condemnation of “Hamas.”
Israeli leaders thanked the United States for the veto, and attacked the UN General Secretary, once again invoking anti-semitism.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that the decision of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to push for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is anti-Semitism.
Lapid said anti-Semitism was the only “logical explanation” for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ decision to push for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
“Just when Israel was defending itself after our children were killed by brutal terrorists and our people were taken hostage, the UN Security Council suddenly decided to activate Article 99 to help Hamas,” Lapid wrote in a series of social media posts on Saturday.
“How do we know it is anti-Semitic?” he added. Because there is no other logical explanation.”
Lapid cited a number of other bloody conflicts, including in Sudan and Syria, in which neither Guterres nor any of his predecessors used Article 99 power to force debate in the Security Council.
Guterres used Article 99 of the UN Charter, which has not been used for decades, to force the UN Security Council to discuss a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
The United States used its veto power yesterday, Friday, against the draft resolution submitted by the UAE for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Meanwhile, a UN source confirmed to Sputnik that a delegation from the UN Security Council intends to visit the Rafah crossing on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip next Monday.
The source added that the delegation heading to the crossing will include the Russian permanent representative to the Security Council, Vasily Nebenzia.
In a related context, the American website “Axios”, citing an Israeli official, said that the United States is not “pressing the brakes” or giving “Israel” a specific deadline to stop the military operation in Gaza, but it points to the fact that time is running out.
The Israeli official said that the United States would be satisfied if Israel finished the high-intensity phase of the operation by the end of December, while Israel aims for the end of January.
“The message from the United States is that they want us to finish faster, with fewer civilian casualties and more humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the official explained, adding: “We want the same thing, but there is another player here and that is the enemy who does not agree.”
He continued by saying, "The United States understands this. We are working together. We need them and they need us."
The talks began last December in New York and have since continued in Oman.
According to U.S. officials, the U.S. goal is to reach a "political truce."
In return, Tehran is demanding the unfreezing of billions of dollars of Iranian assets abroad.
Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang announced today, Sunday, that "relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest level since 1979" (the date of the start of diplomatic relations between them).
Gang told US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that the Taiwan file represents "the most significant threat" to relations with Washington.
"The Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests, and it is the most important issue in Sino-US relations and the most prominent threat to it," Gang added, according to what was reported by the official Chinese CCTV.
And the US State Department announced that the Chinese foreign minister had agreed to visit Washington, after holding "constructive talks" with his US counterpart, Anthony Blinken, in the capital, Beijing.
US State Department spokesman Matt Miller said that Blinken had extended an invitation to his Chinese counterpart and that they "agreed to set a date for the visit at a time convenient for both parties."
Earlier today, the Chinese Foreign Minister received his US counterpart in Beijing, amid escalating tensions between the two largest economies in the world, due to a number of issues, including Taiwan and the war in Ukraine.
The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that Blinken, who is the first representative of the United States at the ministerial level since the Biden administration took power in early 2021, will visit Beijing on June 18 and 19.
Blinken is spending two days in the Chinese capital as part of this visit, which was originally scheduled for February, but was suddenly canceled at the time after a Chinese balloon flew over American territory, which Washington considered to be for "espionage" purposes, while Beijing confirmed that it was a meteorological vehicle that deviated from its course.
Blinken's visit is the first by a US Secretary of State to China since a visit in October 2018 by his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, who later pursued a strategy of confrontation with Beijing in the last years of Donald Trump's presidency.
A few days ago, the US State Department reported that its secretary had made a phone call to his Chinese counterpart, during which he stressed the importance of maintaining "open lines of communication" to responsibly manage relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China to avoid miscalculation and conflict.
Earlier today, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded to an article published by the US agency "Bloomberg", about alleged provocative activities by the Chinese army.
And the Chinese spokeswoman confirmed that "if a military conflict breaks out between the United States and China, it will be caused by the activities of the American army near Chinese territory."
According to media reports, the CIA chief complained US was blindsided by Saudi outreach to Syria and Iran. Similar reports appeared in the Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, William Burns told Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the United States is shocked by Riyadh's rapprochement with Iran and Syria, which are still under the influence of Western sanctions.
On March 10, Tehran and Riyadh agreed to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies within two months. Representatives of the two countries held talks in Beijing for several days, following which a trilateral statement was prepared.
Posts
All Comments
