Poland is verifying if a Polish judge who had access to confidential information and asked for political asylum in Belarus had been spying, authorities said Monday.Earlier on Monday, Tomasz Szmydt, a judge from a Warsaw administrative court, asked for asylum in Belarus, saying he acted in protest to Poland’s policy toward Russia and Belarus, according to a video aired by Russian TV.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the government’s decision to terminate Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, citing the Qatari-owned network as a provocateur of “incitement.” The closure was unanimously agreed upon by the cabinet. Reacting strongly, Al Jazeera labeled the Israeli government’s action as “criminal.”
The restrictions also extend to foreign journalists, notably barring them from entering Gaza, leaving Al Jazeera’s personnel among the few reporters present on the ground. This decision has been informed by longstanding accusations from Israeli authorities of the network’s alleged anti-Israel bias. The criticism has escalated following the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli government has escalated its measures against Al Jazeera by raiding its offices and halting its broadcast amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza today. Describing the network as a vehicle for Hamas propaganda, Israel’s actions culminated on Sunday when police stormed Al Jazeera’s premises at the Ambassador hotel in Jerusalem. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi publicized the raid with a video on X/Twitter, showcasing officers and inspectors seizing equipment from a hotel room.
It’s always nice when your political opponents make your arguments for you. And in the recent dustup over the $60 billion Ukraine subsidy bill — which in late April passed the House and Senate — that’s precisely what foreign policy hawks have done.
As many beltway wonks have observed, increasing debate in the United States over funding the two-year-old war in Ukraine — not to mention our myriad other military commitments around the globe — has led many U.S. allies to reconsider their own defense spending.
In other words, just the fact that there is no longer a consensus about America’s “policeman of the world” post-Cold War security strategy among the American people and their representatives is persuading our allies to meet the various military commitments we have been demanding of them since Ronald Reagan was president. That should be designated a strategic win, but, as interpreted by our blinkered foreign policy establishment — who have unswervingly endorsed the growing number of U.S. military disasters this century — it is somehow a loss.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced tactical nuclear weapons drills in response to “belligerent statements” made by Western leaders threatening to put troops on the ground in Ukraine.
“During the exercises, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” Russia’s defense ministry said Monday.
China is willing to launch an initiative with France, on the occasion of the Paris Olympic Games, for a worldwide truce during the Games, Chinese President Xi Jinping told reporters on Monday at a press conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
The US State Department on Monday plans to release an ambitious new cybersecurity strategy that seeks to curb Russia and China’s digital influence in the developing world and blunt those countries’ alleged efforts to interfere in elections.
With roughly half of the world’s population holding elections in 2024, their vulnerability to “cyber-enabled interference” is “particularly acute” and requires the US to continuously expose hackers and propagandists trying to undermine confidence in democracies, says the strategy, which CNN has reviewed.
“We have communicated and will continue to communicate to Russia and to China that we view interference in our democratic processes in the United States as absolutely unacceptable,” Nate Fick, the State Department’s top cyber diplomat, said in an interview. “Secretary [Antony] Blinken has said it, and I have said it.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping has begun three-way talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Xi is on his first tour of Europe in five years. On Monday, he was welcomed by President Macron at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris before the discussions started around 11 a.m.
As the meeting started, Macron said the current global situation calls for dialogue between Europe and China more than ever.
Xi said China and the EU should sustain a solid partnership as the world’s two important powers. He said they should develop stable and healthy relations and constantly contribute to global peace and prosperity.
Displaced people including ISIS families at al-Hol camp, Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), 2019. Photo: AFP
United States announced Tuesday it had brought back two dozen Western citizens, half of them Americans, from a camp for Islamic State prisoners in Syria, its largest-ever repatriation as thousands languish.
In a complex operation involving US agencies, Kuwait and pro-US Kurdish fighters, the United States repatriated 11 US citizens, including five minors, as well as a nine-year-old non-US sibling of an American, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
The United States in the same operation facilitated the repatriation of six Canadian citizens, four Dutch citizens, and one Finnish citizen, among them eight children, he said.
“This is the largest single repatriation of US citizens from northeast Syria to date,” Blinken said in a statement.