Day: September 20, 2023

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Azerbaijan conducted military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh for a second day as part of its “anti-terror” campaign yesterday. Azerbaijan said its operations would continue until all ethnic-Armenian separatists surrender. Azerbaijan and Armenia last went to war three years ago. Paul Kirby reports for BBC News. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected India’s denial that it was involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh community leader in British Columbia, and again called on India to take his assassination allegation seriously. “We are not looking to provoke or escalate,” Trudeau said. “We are simply laying out the facts as we understand them, and we want to work with the government of India.” Ian Austen, Vjosa Isai, and Peter Baker report for the New York Times. 

Survivors of the deadly flood in the Libyan coastal city of Derna have begun protesting, calling for an international investigation into the disaster. Protestors set the mayor’s home on fire. The government has responded by limiting access to the internet and cellular services and ordering some international rescue organizations and journalists to leave. Chao Deng, Summer Said, and Benoit Faucon report for the Wall Street Journal. 

RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world to unite to end Russian aggression against Ukraine, telling the U.N. General Assembly that “evil cannot be trusted.” “While Russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after the Russian aggression, no one in the world will dare to attack any nation,” Zelenskyy said. He also accused Russia of “genocide” by abducting Ukrainian children. James Landale and Jaroslav Lukiv report for BBC News. 

Ukraine’s use of domestically-produced sea drones has allowed Ukraine to erode much of Russia’s naval superiority, reopening the Black Sea to commercial shipping. Commercial vessels have entered Ukraine’s main port of Odesa without seeking Russia’s permission for the first time since the full-scale invasion began. Yaroslav Trofimov reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Russia has been in the International Court of Justice this week following Ukraine’s claim the full-scale invasion violates the Genocide Convention of 1948. Russia has argued that its “special military operation” is not covered by the Genocide Convention. “The legality of these actions [falls] under the U.N. Charter and customary international law,” Alfredo Crosato, a lawyer for Russia, said. The United States sought to intervene to support Ukraine, but the court ruled it was ineligible because it was not bound by the Genocide Convention. Jess Bravin reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

U.S. RELATIONS

The Biden administration is discussing terms of a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia, similar to military pacts with Japan and South Korea, to incentivize the normalization of the Saudi relationship with Israel. If agreed, the United States and Saudi Arabia would agree to provide military assistance if the other is attacked in the region. Edward Wong and Mark Mazzetti report for the New York Times. 

The diplomatic tension between Canada and India, following the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh community leader, has made President Biden’s effort to build ties with India more difficult. To not upset either side, the United States has been offering support for Canada’s investigation and urging India to cooperate without criticizing India or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yasmeen Abutaleb, Ellen Nakashima, and Gerry Shih report for the Washington Post. 

President Biden is set to host a second summit with leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at the White House on Monday. The planned summit is part of the United State’s effort to engage in the region as competition with China for influence builds. Reuters reports. 

DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 

Hunter Biden intends to plead not guilty to three federal gun charges, his lawyer said in a filing yesterday. Hunter Biden also seeks to hold the hearing by videoconference instead of appearing in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times. 

Ray Epps, an ex-supporter of former President Trump accused of being a federal agent by online conspiracy theorists, has been charged with disorderly conduct for his actions during the Jan. 6 attack. He is expected to appear in court today. In July, Epps sued Fox News over the rumors that he was an FBI agent, accusing the network of defamation. Mike Wendling reports for BBC News. 

House Republicans failed to agree on a stopgap funding bill yesterday, increasing the chances of a government shutdown. While Republicans are generally united on the need to curb federal spending, they are divided over the process. Marianna Sotomayor, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Paul Kane, and Amy B Wang report for the Washington Post. 

Molly Michael, an ex-assistant to former President Trump, informed investigators that Trump told her to say she knew nothing about the boxes containing classified documents hidden in his Mar-a-Lago home. “You don’t know anything about the boxes,” Trump told Michael. Michale also said Trump wrote notes to himself on documents – some marked as classified – that he gave her listing tasks he wanted done. Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer report for the New York Times. 

Nicholas Dominici, a one-year-old, died of a suspected drug overdose last week after over two pounds of fentanyl were tucked under a nap mat at a nursery in New York City. Three other children were taken to hospital. Two people have been charged with drug conspiracy and murder. Max Matza reports for BBC News. 

Students for Fair Admissions, the group that successfully challenged affirmative action in college admissions, sued the U.S. Military Academy at West Point yesterday, arguing that race-conscious admissions violate the Constitution. Mariah Timms and Erin Mulvaney report for the Wall Street Journal. 

President Biden is set to announce the creation of a federal office of gun violence prevention this week, the first of its kind, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The plan comes after there have been 504 mass shootings this year. Myah Ward reports for POLITICO. 

The House Oversight Committee is scheduling the first hearing in their impeachment inquiry into President Biden for September 28. The Committee may issue its first subpoenas to the President’s son and brother this week. Annie Grayer reports for CNN. 

The post Early Edition: September 20, 2023 appeared first on Just Security.

At the same time, there is a growing appreciation in the province that tropical hurricanes, once unusual so far north, can be expected with greater frequency and intensity in coming years as a result of global climate change.

“Nova Scotia was lightly kissed by the hurricane force winds, so while it was mild compared to what could have been, there is still a fair bit of damage,” said Waye Mason, a city councilor in Halifax, the provincial capital and the largest city in Atlantic Canada.

“Coast roads were flooded and rock covered, some beaches were washed away, some roof damage, and at one point almost 200,000 customers had no power. … It could have been much worse, but it was still a major storm.”

Asked how he dealt personally with the storm, Mason said, “We didn’t have power for 30 hours, so I spent much of my time nursing our old generator along to keep the food in the fridge, and helping friends and neighbors.”

Power had been restored to all but 8,000 customers by Tuesday, a far cry from the three-week wait for electricity in some rural regions after Fiona, which has been described as the costliest and most intense hurricane ever to hit Canada.

Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said that while Nova Scotia was lucky this time, weather disasters will become only more common with climate change.

“In many places in the U.S. people are having a great deal of difficulty getting insurance for their homes, their businesses,” Heyman said in a telephone interview.

“The risks are that we don’t take it seriously and that we don’t prepare ourselves for future climate events. Those of us in the older generation have not taken this as seriously as the new generation on the planet.

“All throughout time we had fires and floods. It’s just that the quantity of fires and floods has increased and the severity has increased over time,” Heyman said.

Nova Scotia has been battered by other natural disasters in the year between Hurricanes Fiona and Lee. Massive forest fires ignited across the province in May and June, forcing more than 16,000 people to evacuate from Halifax, where pillars of smoke were visible from downtown. A total of 200 buildings were destroyed, including over 150 homes.

In July, the province suffered historic rainfall, with up to 300 mm of rain falling in 12 hours, leading to deadly floods.

Mubin Shaikh, a manager of response operations for the Canadian Red Cross based in the central province of Ontario, pointed to the far-reaching effects of weather disasters.

“Canada has recently seen several disaster events, the effects of which have reached the U.S. as weather is not bound by political borders or partisan leanings,” Shaikh said. Smoke from the earlier wildfires blanketed the northeast United States coast, prompting concerns about air quality.

“There is a growing attention now in both countries, that the threat of forest fires, floods, snow and ice storms, and other similar events have become an important measure for how we must proceed for the foreseeable future,” Shaikh said.

“Cyberdisasters are also on the horizon, which could lead to serious dysfunctions of power grids and, like extreme weather events, most of the public is woefully under-prepared for them.” Such events, he added, “can strike suddenly, violently, and instantly throw one’s entire existence into peril.”

Israeli troops killed a 19-year-old Palestinian during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, medics and residents said, as violence surged ahead of a first meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Security in the West Bank, among areas where Palestinians seek statehood, has deteriorated amid an almost decade-old impasse in U.S.-sponsored peacemaking, the rise of Netanyahu’s hard-right government and an entrenchment of Islamist militants.

The Palestinian killed near the town of Jericho was shot as troops faced off with stone-throwers, according to residents, though his family said he had not taken part. He was the sixth Palestinian killed in confrontations with Israel since Tuesday.

The army said it carried out the raid to arrest suspected militants, and fired on several bomb-throwing Palestinians, hitting one of them. There was no word of Israeli casualties.

Since regaining power last December at the head of a religious-nationalist coalition, Netanyahu’s relations with Biden have been strained. Israel’s U.S. ally is troubled by his judicial overhaul plans and Jewish settlement of the West Bank.

Not yet invited to Biden’s White House, Netanyahu will meet the president on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

In his speech to the forum on Tuesday, Biden promoted U.S. efforts to normalise relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Biden also said his administration “continue(s) to work tirelessly to support a just and lasting peace between… the Israelis and Palestinians — two states for two people”.

European Council President Charles Michel will ask China directly at the United Nations Security Council to do more to push Russia towards a “just peace” in Ukraine, according to his draft speech seen by Reuters at the UNGA.

At the Security Council meeting held on Wednesday during the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly in New York, Michel will call for “a just peace that respects the U.N. Charter and its core principles — the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation.”

Michel will then turn directly to the Chinese delegation to say: “As responsible nations, let’s join forces – to persuade Russia to end this criminal war that is hurting so many,” the draft says.

China’s Vice President Han Zheng is in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders for the UNGA, and is currently expected to attend the meeting of the 15-member council for China, diplomats said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also expected to attend the council meeting.

China has abstained from votes by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly that overwhelmingly demanded that Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine and stop fighting. Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

China’s abstentions appeared to reflect a bid to stay on the diplomatic fence over the war in Ukraine. Beijing has said the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, but – in a nod to Russia’s unease about NATO – believes all security concerns should be addressed.

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