Biden, EU Leaders Voice Support for Ukraine After War Aid Dropped From U.S. Spending Bill |
U.S. President Joe Biden said Washington “will not walk away” (FT) from supporting Kyiv and expected lawmakers to approve a separate $6 billion aid package for Ukraine after it was dropped from a deal negotiated over the weekend to keep the U.S. government open. European Union (EU) foreign ministers are in Kyiv today to voice support for Ukraine’s war effort, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc would keep increasing its financial support (Reuters).
While some far-right Republicans blocked the Ukraine war aid from this weekend’s stopgap spending bill, other Republican leaders said they would support Ukraine aid in a separate package and suggested they would tie it to a goal of increasing security funding (WaPo) for the southern U.S. border. Borrell, meanwhile, said that he hoped EU states would reach a decision on increasing aid before the end of the year.
|
|
|
“To do the right thing for Ukraine, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will now have to go against a growing portion of the Republican base,” CFR expert Max Boot writes for the Washington Post. “It is not only the right thing to do morally—we have an obligation to support a fellow democracy fending off an unprovoked invasion—but it also is the right thing to do strategically.”
“[U.S. funding to Ukraine] has eclipsed bilateral support for other U.S. allies, including Israel, Jordan and Egypt, some of the top recipients of U.S. support,” the Washington Post’s Artur Galocha and Ruby Mellen write. “While the United States is the leading donor to Ukraine, other countries have committed a much larger percentage of their [gross domestic product] to fund Kyiv’s efforts.”
|
| |
Southeast Asia’s First High-Speed Rail Opens in Indonesia |
The high-speed rail ride between Jakarta and Bandung reduces (AFP) what was previously around a three-hour journey to forty-five minutes. The train is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative and was originally set to be completed in 2019, but faced delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. This Backgrounder by Andrew Chatzky and CFR’s Noah Berman and James McBride explains the Belt and Road Initiative.
China: The World Bank cut China’s 2024 growth forecast (Nikkei) from 4.8 percent to 4.4 percent amid a brewing crisis in its real estate sector.
|
| |
Politician Who Campaigned on ‘India Out’ Platform Wins Maldives Election |
Opposition candidate Mohamed Muizzu had criticized a recent increase (WaPo) in India’s military presence in the Maldives before receiving 54 percent of votes in yesterday’s runoff election. Muizzu is seen as more sympathetic to China; allies said that he is not seeking to disrupt relations with New Delhi, and would likely make his first diplomatic visit there.
Afghanistan/India: Afghanistan’s embassy in India suspended operations (NDTV) yesterday. Despite the Taliban taking over Afghanistan in 2021, India does not recognize their government, and allowed the embassy in New Delhi to continue operations under the staff appointed by former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
|
|
|
Middle East and North Africa |
New Chair of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Pledges to Block Military Aid to Egypt |
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) vowed to halt (NYT) $235 million in military aid to Egypt if Cairo did not take concrete steps to improve human rights conditions and make progress on releasing political prisoners. Cardin replaced Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) as chair of the committee after Menendez was indicted last week on charges of taking bribes to facilitate military sales to Egypt.
Iraq/Turkey: Turkey’s defense ministry said it carried out air strikes (Reuters) on Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq hours after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party claimed responsibility for a bombing near government buildings in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, yesterday.
This timeline details the struggles in the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
|
|
|
Documents Reveal Apparent Ethiopian Government Attempt to Discredit WHO Chief |
World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he is hesitant to return to his home country of Ethiopia without assurances of his safety after being targeted by the government via allegations of embezzlement and sexual misconduct. Tedros told Bloomberg the claims are a politically motivated “smear campaign” based on his ethnicity and membership in a Tigrayan political party. The Ethiopian prime minister’s office, finance, and justice ministries did not comment.
Nigeria: President Bola Tinubu said he would temporarily increase the minimum wage (Reuters) for government workers by an additional $32 per month for the next six months in an effort to fend off a strike planned for tomorrow by the country’s main labor unions.
|
|
|
Serbian President Says He Will Not Send Troops Into Kosovo After U.S. Warnings |
After a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson called for Serbia to withdraw its military forces from the Kosovo border last week, Serbia’s president said he has no intention to send troops (FT) across the border to Kosovo and would draw down the country’s forces in the region. Tensions have been high following a standoff near a Serbian monastery in Kosovo last month that left at least four people dead.
|
|
|
UN to Vote on Resolution to Authorize Military Force in Haiti |
The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote today on the authorization of a one-year military deployment in Haiti to address the country’s security crisis. The non-UN force would be led by Kenya, funded voluntarily, and reviewed after nine months, according to a U.S.-drafted resolution seen by the Associated Press.
Panama: Authorities reduced the number of ships (Reuters) allowed to pass through the Panama Canal daily from thirty-two to thirty-one due to persistent drought conditions that are expected to last until next year. Under normal conditions, thirty-six ships pass through the canal per day.
This In Brief by CFR’s Diana Roy looks at what’s causing the Panama Canal logjam.
|
| |
U.S. to Admit More Latin American, Fewer European and Central Asian Refugees |
For the fiscal year that began yesterday, the White House maintained its annual refugee admission target of 125,000 people but raised its target (AP) for refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean to 50,000. It lowered the target for refugees from Central Asia and Europe to between two thousand and three thousand people. |
|
|
Council on Foreign Relations |
58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 |
1777 F Street, NW — Washington, DC 20006 |
|
|
|
