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Month: September 2023
By Euronews with AP
Azerbaijan regained control of its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a deadly two-day military offensive. On Thursday, it held initial talks with representatives of its ethnic Armenian population to discuss reintegration.
Speaking to the United Nations Security Council, Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s determination to guarantee Nagorno-Karabakh residents “all rights and freedoms” in line with the country’s constitution and international human rights obligations, including safeguards for ethnic minorities.
ADVERTISEMENTHe said the talks with Nagorno-Karabakh in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh will continue.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who called for the emergency meeting of the Security Council along with France, accused Azerbaijan of an “unprovoked and well-planned military attack,” launched to coincide with this week’s annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
Mirzoyan said the offensive targeted critical infrastructure such as electricity stations, telephone cables and internet equipment, killed more than 200 people and wounded 400 others, including women and children.
He said the “barbarity” of Azerbaijan’s aggression and deliberate targeting of the civilian population “was the final act of this tragedy aimed at the forced exodus of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Bayramov strongly denied the allegations of ethnic cleansing. He said representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh asked during Thursday’s talks for humanitarian aid, including food and fuel for schools, hospitals and other facilities that government agencies will provide soon.
Bayramov said Armenia kept more than 10,000 “armed formations” and heavy military equipment in Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 agreement. During the operation that started Tuesday, more than 90 of their outposts were taken, along with substantial military equipment, he said.
He held up photos of equipment he claimed was seized.
Mirzoyan urged the Security Council to demand protection for civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh; to immediately deploy a UN mission to monitor the human rights, humanitarian and security situation; to seek the return of prisoners of war; and to consider deploying a UN peacekeeping force to the region.
Azerbaijan’s move to reclaim control over Nagorno-Karabakh raised concerns that a full-scale war in the region could resume. The 2020 war killed over 6,700 people.
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After decades of wars and tense stalemates, almost no one saw it coming: Azerbaijan seized Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian control seemingly overnight.
The post A Stunningly Sudden End to a Long, Bloody Conflict in the Caucasus first appeared on The News And Times – thenewsandtimes.com.
The recent capitulation of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic-Armenian leadership to Azerbaijani authorities raises the likelihood of domestic instability within Armenia and renewed military conflict between Yerevan and Baku. Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan’s profoundly unpopular decision not to intervene in Nagorno-Karabakh will trigger sustained unrest and may weaken his hold on power. Simultaneously, emboldened by a quick and decisive military victory, Baku may attempt to extract additional concessions from Yerevan through direct military confrontation.
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities’ capitulation to Baku on Sept. 20 likely marks the end of the ethnically Armenian region’s quest for independence from Azerbaijan. Military hostilities resumed between Baku and Stepanakert (Xankəndi) on Sept. 19; however, unlike previous flare-ups, Yerevan declined to intervene. Subsequently, following rapid Azerbaijani advances, Stepanakert and Baku announced a ceasefire entailing complete disarmament and disbandment of militarized Armenian elements in Nagorno-Karabakh. Further talks are underway to determine a path forward for integration into Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh’s population remains deeply distrustful of Azerbaijani authorities, claiming that Baku intends to ethnically cleanse the area, and many residents are fleeing to Armenia. Large-scale population transfer to Armenia is likely in the coming weeks.
Pashinyan’s Decision Not to Intervene
Pashinyan’s decision not to intervene has been met with fury from many parts of Armenian society. Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence is enshrined in the Armenian constitution, and many Armenians feel that ensuring Nagorno-Karabakh’s separation from Azerbaijan is an integral role of the Armenian state. Demonstrations calling for Pashinyan to resign will likely grow as Stepanakert begins its integration with Baku and will intensify in the event of large refugee flows from Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia. Should allegations of atrocities committed by Azerbaijani forces against the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh emerge or reports that Azerbaijan has crossed Armenia’s international border, demonstrations across Armenia will drastically escalate. Furthermore, given the overwhelming unpopularity of Pashinyan’s decision and the Armenian government’s alleged failure to enforce its constitutional responsibility to defend Nagorno-Karabakh, it is possible that mass protests may transform into an uprising aimed at toppling the Pashinyan government; similarly, opposition parties have formed a committee to design an impeachment plan. Within this context, an attempted military coup cannot be ruled out in the coming weeks.
Threat of Azerbaijani Military Action
The continued threat of Azerbaijani military action against sovereign Armenian territory is an additional destabilizing factor. At the very least, Azerbaijan may use the threat of force to coerce further concessions from Yerevan. Azerbaijani authorities have for years demanded Armenia open transport links to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan in line with the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and members of his government have also publicly discussed the establishment of the “Zangezur Corridor,” a proposed Azerbaijani-controlled strip of land to be seized from Armenia along the Armenia-Iran border that would connect contiguous Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan. Baku’s military superiority over Yerevan as demonstrated in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Turkiye’s continued strong military and political support for Azerbaijan, and Russian peacekeepers’ unwillingness to intervene in the September military operations or recent Azerbaijani activities targeting Armenia proper, likely give Azerbaijani authorities the perception that they are in a dominant position against an isolated Armenia. Baku, therefore, has significant incentives to press its advantage via renewed interstate military operations.
The Path Forward
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is entering a volatile new stage likely characterized by deep Armenian vulnerability. Armenian instability, particularly any potential uprising, will likely encourage more assertive Azerbaijani military actions against Armenia, promoting further Armenian unrest. The primary factor dictating the conflict’s path forward will be Pashinyan’s ability to weather an intense political storm: should he effectively contain the institutional blowback to Nagorno-Karabakh’s collapse as an ethnically Armenian entity and prevent unrest from spiraling into serious instability, he may be able to successfully dissuade Azerbaijan from a direct military confrontation. However, it is far from certain that Pashinyan will be able to maintain control. Should impeachment or a military coup topple Pashinyan, Armenia’s new leaders will be under intense pressure to attempt to restore Stepanakert’s autonomy through military means, likely resulting in Azerbaijan extracting harsh political concessions regarding access to Nakhchivan. The development of Armenia’s public response to Nagorno-Karabakh’s defeat and Azerbaijani military movements near the Armenian border will be crucial indicators in the coming weeks of whether the conflict will escalate; any direct confrontation will likely result in further Armenian concessions. All outcomes entail political, economic, and military uncertainty for Armenia in the coming months.
The post Armenia-Azerbaijan: Increasing Instability Likely Following Nagorno-Karabakh Capitulation first appeared on The News And Times – thenewsandtimes.com.
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) delivers remarks, after he and his wife Nadine Menendez were indicted on bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen, in Union City, New Jersey, U.S., September 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar Acquire Licensing Rights
WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Charges that Senator Bob Menendez accepted bribes in exchange for wielding his influence to aid the Egyptian government prompted calls in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday for the Biden administration to rethink $235 million in military aid to Cairo.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, said he hoped the committee would investigate the allegations and Egypt’s involvement.
U.S. prosecutors announced an indictment on Friday accusing Menendez of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for wielding his influence to aid the Egyptian government.
“I would hope that our committee would consider using any ability it has to put a pause on those dollars, pending an inquiry into what Egypt was doing,” Murphy told reporters.
“I have not talked to colleagues about this yet, but obviously this raises pretty serious questions about Egypt, Egypt’s conduct,” he said.
The indictment against Menendez also says he had close relationships with members of Egypt’s intelligence services and held meetings to discuss U.S. military aid.
Menendez has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He has stepped down temporarily from his role as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senate Democratic rules require a member charged with a felony to give up any leadership position.
President Joe Biden’s administration decided this month to allow much of U.S. foreign military aid to Egypt to go ahead, saying the country was vital to national security interests despite what critics have said about human rights abuses.
Murphy was among lawmakers who criticized the decision.
Representative Don Beyer, a Democratic House of Representative member and co-founder of the congressional Egypt Human Rights Caucus, said Egypt “is conducting an espionage operation within the U.S. Senate” and Washington should respond.
“I think that calls for a much stronger response from the Biden administration, and the straightforward one is to withhold (the military funds),” Beyer said on CNN.
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Tom Hogue
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Patricia Zengerle has reported from more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China. An award-winning Washington-based national security and foreign policy reporter who also has worked as an editor, Patricia has appeared on NPR, C-Span and other programs, spoken at the National Press Club and attended the Hoover Institution Media Roundtable. She is a recipient of the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence.
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2023-09-27T03:47:11Z
China Evergrande Group’s logo is seen on its headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Sept. 26, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
The chairman of China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) has been placed under police surveillance, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on the embattled developer whose outlook has already darkened significantly this week.
Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the report said Hui Ka Yan was taken away by police earlier this month and is being monitored at a designated location.
It was not clear why Hui was placed under residential surveillance, Bloomberg News said, adding the move was a type of police action that falls short of formal detention or arrest and does not mean Hui will be charged with a crime.
Reuters could not immediately verify the Bloomberg report. Evergrande did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Evergrande is the world’s most indebted property developer and is at the centre of a crisis in China’s property sector, which has seen a string of debt defaults since late 2021 that has dragged on the growth of the world’s second-largest economy.
The company rattled markets afresh when it said on Sunday it could not issue new bonds as part of its offshore debt restructuring plans because of a regulatory investigation into its main Chinese unit, Hengda Real Estate.
Then Hengda said on Monday it had failed to pay the principal and interest on a 4 billion yuan ($547 million) bond due by a Sept. 25 deadline.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that some of Evergrande’s offshore creditors were planning to join a liquidation court petition filed against Evergrande if it does not submit a new debt revamp plan by end of October.
Markets are also focused on another major Chinese developer, Country Garden (2007.HK), which is facing a new bond coupon repayment deadline on Wednesday.
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House Republicans on Tuesday advanced four full-year spending bills, handing Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) a small win but doing little to stave off a government shutdown at the end of the month.
The chamber voted 216-212 to begin consideration of spending measures to fund the Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; Department of State and foreign operations; and the Department of Agriculture, rural development and Food and Drug Administration.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was the lone GOP “no” vote.
Her opposition did not come as a surprise: ahead of the vote, she said she was a “hard no” on the rule because two of the spending bills include funding for Ukraine.
McCarthy initially said he would remove the Ukraine aid from the Pentagon funding bill and hold a separate vote on it, but backtracked after recognizing that there was also assistance for Kyiv in the appropriations bill for the Department of State and foreign operations. The Speaker said it was “too difficult” to strip the money out of the State Department measure.
Greene spoke out against the aid for Ukraine following the vote.
“I just voted NO to advance Ukraine funding bills. After tonight, we will find out who is actually against sending YOUR money to Ukraine. No more stump speeches. No more red meat. No more chest thumping in letters,” Greene wrote in a post on X.
The successful procedural vote marks an incremental win for McCarthy, who has struggled to advance spending measures this month amid conservative opposition. The House tried to advance the Department of Defense appropriations bill twice last week, with hardline opposition sinking the measure both times.
The advancement of the bills, however, will do nothing to avert a shutdown ahead of the Sept. 30 government funding deadline.
Leaders in both parties and chambers have recognized that a continuing resolution will be needed to keep the lights on in Washington beyond the Saturday deadline, but the path to clearing such a measure is unclear.
Senate leaders on Tuesday unveiled a bill to avoid a shutdown, but it remains unknown when it will clear the Senate and if McCarthy will bring the legislation to the floor for a vote. The measure would kick the funding deadline to Nov. 17 and it includes roughly $6 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion in disaster relief.
McCarthy has tried to coalesce his conference around a GOP-crafted continuing resolution that would cut spending and enact a chunk of the House Republican conference’s marquee border bill, but a number of hardliners have said that they will not support a stopgap measure under any circumstances.
House GOP leaders are hopeful that moving the four appropriations bills will make some of those Republican holdouts more open to a continuing resolution. McCarthy on Tuesday said he will bring a stopgap bill to the floor for a vote this week.
Updated at 10:05 p.m.
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(NewsNation) — The Senate voted last week to approve three out of more than 300 military promotions blocked by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy.
Now, Tuberville, who has been holding out on pushing through the hundreds of promotions for months, appears to be flipping the script on Democratic lawmakers.
“We could be confirming two to three of these a day if they wanted to, but they don’t want to,” Tuberville told “NewsNation Now.”
He continued: “This is all going to be left up to Sen. Schumer.”
Considering the impasse, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed a motion last week to vote individually on a trio of nominees whose confirmations had been held by Tuberville.
“I got three of these people confirmed last week. I did. Chuck Schumer didn’t do it,” Tuberville said. “I forced his hand. So, if he wants to do more of them, let’s go. Let’s get them done this week.”
Schumer fears the move to vote individually may leave a lasting impact on the Senate.
“The decision by the senior senator from Alabama will have long-lasting repercussions that may not be apparent right away, but we may come to regret,” Schumer said. “I believe we will come to regret them.”
He added, “We cannot allow Sen. Tuberville to decide which of our dedicated and brave service members get promoted and which get to languish.”
Tuberville has hit the pause button on military promotions, freezing the ability to vote on several nominations at once and slowing down the traditional confirmation process. He insists he’s not letting up anytime soon.
When asked how long he would continue the blockade, Tuberville replied, “Forever. I’m not giving in.”
It’s all part of his efforts to compel the Pentagon to overturn its abortion travel policy and allow Congress to vote on it.
The policy pays for service members to travel across state lines to obtain abortions. Tuberville’s stance is if the Pentagon policy is brought to a vote and not approved through legislation, then service members would not be able to receive leave and reimbursement for transportation costs incurred by traveling across state lines to abortion providers.
“The American people deserve, on such a controversial topic, to have a vote on this, and that’s what I’m trying to get,” Tuberville said.
When addressing the holds, Biden administration officials have pointed to an opinion issued last year by the Department of Justice, saying U.S. law only restricts the use of federal funds to “perform abortions” but doesn’t prohibit the use of funds to pay per diem or travel expenses.
The Pentagon maintains Tuberville’s actions are “damaging” to national security and place military leaders in a tough position.
“What we will still continue to do here at the Pentagon is to highlight how damaging this is for our national security, for our readiness, for our military families,” Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary at the Pentagon, told NewsNation in a previous interview. “That’s something that a senator who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee should really understand.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said it’s “well past time” to confirm the remaining military nominees.
“The brave men and women of the U.S. military deserve to be led by highly qualified generals and flag officers at this critical moment for our national security. And their families, who also sacrifice so much every day on our behalf, deserve certainty and our nation’s unwavering support,” Austin said. “I will continue to personally engage with members of Congress in both parties until all of these well-qualified, apolitical officers are confirmed.”
The current hold is affecting roughly 300 general and flag-officer nominations and the transition of leadership within the Department of Defense.
The Hill contributed to this report.
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LOS ANGELES — Leaders of Hollywood’s writers union declared their nearly five-month-old strike over Tuesday after board members approved a contract agreement with studios.
The governing boards of the eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America both voted to accept the deal, and afterward declared that the strike would be over and writers would be free to work starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
The writers still have to vote to ratify the contract themselves, but lifting the strike will allow them to work during that process, the Writers Guild told members in an email.
Hollywood actors remain on strike with no talks yet on the horizon.
Read More: Why Actors Are Going on Strike
A new spirit of optimism animated actors who were picketing Tuesday for the first time since writers reached their tentative deal Sunday night.
“For a hot second, I really thought that this was going to go on until next year,” said Marissa Cuevas, an actor who has appeared on the TV series “Kung Fu” and “The Big Bang Theory.” “Knowing that at least one of us has gotten a good deal gives a lot of hope that we will also get a good deal.”
Writers’ picket lines have been suspended, but they were encouraged to walk in solidarity with actors, and many were on the lines Tuesday, including “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner, who picketed alongside friend and “ER” actor Noah Wyle as he has throughout the strikes.
“We would never have had the leverage we had if SAG had not gone out,” Weiner said. “They were very brave to do it.”
Striking actors voted to expand their walkout to include the lucrative video game market, a step that could put new pressure on Hollywood studios to make a deal with the performers who provide voices and stunts for games.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced the move late Monday, saying that 98% of its members voted to go on strike against video game companies if ongoing negotiations are not successful. The announcement came ahead of more talks planned for Tuesday.
Acting in video games can include a variety of roles, from voice performances to motion capture work as well as stunts. Video game actors went on strike in 2016 in a work stoppage that lasted nearly a year.
Some of the same issues are at play in the video game negotiations as in the broader actors strike that has shut down Hollywood for months, including wages, safety measures and protections on the use of artificial intelligence. The companies involved include gaming giants Activision, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Take 2 Productions as well as Disney and Warner Bros.′ video game divisions.
“It’s time for the video game companies to stop playing games and get serious about reaching an agreement on this contract,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement.
Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for video game producers, said they are “continuing to negotiate in good faith” and have reached tentative agreements on more than half of the proposals on the table.
So far this year, U.S. consumers have spent $34.9 billion on video games, consoles and accessories, according to market research group Circana.
The threat of a video game strike emerged as Hollywood writers were on the verge of getting back to work after months on the picket lines.
The alliance of studios, streaming services and producers has chosen to negotiate only with the writers so far, and has made no overtures yet toward restarting talks with SAG-AFTRA. That will presumably change soon.
SAG-AFTRA leaders have said they will look closely at the writers’ agreement, which includes many of the same issues, but it will not effect their demands.
—Associated Press video journalists Leslie Ambriz and Krysta Fauria in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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A judge rules that former President Donald Trump has committed fraud; President Joe Biden joins a picket line and the U.S. government sues Amazon.com. We take a look at the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and at the economy in Zimbabwe. Plus a look ahead to Wednesday’s Republican debate.
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