Patrick Goodenough
The Biden administration on Monday doubled down on warnings that any China-instigated push for a ceasefire in Ukraine that freezes in place the Russian occupation of its territory would be unacceptable and must be rejected.
China and Russia worked together Monday to stymie a U.S.-led effort to have the U.N. Security Council condemn yet another North Korean ICBM launch. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she found it “very interesting that neither China nor Russia today – not a single time – called on the DPRK to cease their testing.”
National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby on Sunday underlined U.S. skepticism about China’s claims to be impartial in the Ukraine war, and said if a meeting between the Russian and Chinese leaders brings calls for a ceasefire, that will be “unacceptable.”
Senators supporting bipartisan legislation to repeal two Iraq war authorizations said on Thursday the move will have no impact on the U.S. ability to respond to Iranian aggression.
Declassified video footage released by U.S. European Command shows an incident over the Black Sea on Tuesday, when a U.S. Air Force drone was downed after being intercepted by two Russian fighter jets, one of which evidently collided with it, damaging its propeller.
The World Health Organization must and will pursue investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak “until we have an answer,” a leading WHO scientist on Wednesday, adding that the agency continues to seek “better collaboration” from China.
The U.S. military drone downed after a collision with a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea probably broke into pieces and is likely about 4,000-5,000 feet below the surface, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said on Wednesday.
A U.N. event marking the first International Day to Combat Islamophobia largely ignored China’s mass atrocities against minority Muslims, although the U.S. ambassador did raise the “genocide and crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang, drawing a sharp retort from a Chinese delegate.
The Biden administration has cautiously welcomed a China-mediated agreement to restore ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said Sunday it was a “very troubling” development that did not reflect well on the administration’s approach to the region.
Taking aim at GOP lawmakers pushing for military action against Mexican drug cartels, President Andres Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that if the drive continues he will call on Mexican and Hispanic voters in the U.S. not to support the Republican Party.