U.S. Floats Temporary Cease-Fire in Gaza in Draft UN Resolution |
The United States circulated (AP)
a draft resolution at the UN Security Council proposing a temporary cease-fire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas “as soon as practicable.” The draft would also require Hamas to release the hostages taken during its October 7 attack and says that a potential Israeli ground invasion of the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah “should not proceed under current circumstances.” The U.S. proposal comes as Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said Hamas would face (Times of Israel) an offensive in Rafah if they do not release their hostages by March 10. Separately, twenty-six European Union (EU) countries warned (Reuters)
Israel yesterday against carrying out an offensive in Rafah, where some 1.5 million refugees are sheltered.
Algeria, meanwhile, has put forth (Reuters)
a separate draft resolution at the Security Council that calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Washington has signaled it would veto such a resolution over concerns that it could put current talks about a potential hostage release deal at risk.
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“Israel is just one American abstention away from UN Security Council resolutions that could invoke sanctions. Like its newly acute military dependence on Washington, this political isolation makes Israel vulnerable to U.S. leverage,” CFR expert Martin Indyk writes for Foreign Affairs. “To defeat a violent enemy, Israel may need to invade Rafah. And an invasion of Rafah would almost certainly worsen the war’s awful civilian toll,” the New York Times’s David Leonhardt writes.
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and
CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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Australia to Grow Navy to Largest Size Since World War II |
Australia plans (Nikkei)
to increase its number of combat-ready warships from eleven to twenty-six in the coming decade, the country’s defense minister said. The $7.2 billion expansion comes amid “an uncertain world in terms of great power contest,” he said. China: The country announced (FT) a cut in the interest rate for certain mortgages today as part of efforts to help its property sector. The five-year loan prime rate will see a 0.25 percentage point cut, its biggest drop since it was introduced in 2019.
This In Brief by CFR expert Zongyuan Zoe Liu looks at how recent failures in China’s property sector could threaten the economy.
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Taliban Boycott UN Meeting on Afghanistan in Rift Over Conditions |
The Taliban
skipped (AP) a UN-organized meeting on humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan after the United Nations rejected demands they made on the conditions of the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday. These included the exclusion of Afghan civil society representatives from the talks. The two-day meeting had meant to offer a dialogue with the Taliban without officially recognizing them as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers.
India: Farm worker groups rejected (Bloomberg) a government offer to guarantee minimum prices for some but not all of the twenty-three crops for which they sought this protection. Farmers are expected to resume demonstrations tomorrow.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Houthi Attack Forces Crew to Abandon Cargo Ship |
Yesterday’s attack appeared (NYT) to be one of the most damaging so far in the Iran-backed Houthi fighters’ campaign to disrupt shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. It came as the EU announced it was launching a naval mission to safeguard freedom of navigation in the area.
This In Brief by CFR’s Noah Berman looks at the hazard that Houthi attacks pose to global shipping.
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Niger Misses Debt Payments Amid Post-Coup Sanctions |
Authorities failed (Bloomberg)
to make payments on a series of bonds due earlier this month, as well as in 2027 and 2030, the regional market for government debt said. Analysts warn that the missed payments present a risk to the financial stability of banks in West Africa. Niger’s sovereign debt makes up around 14 percent of the assets of country-based lenders, Moody’s Investors Service estimates.
Guinea:
The country’s military leaders dissolved (Reuters) the government and will name a new one, an official from the president’s office said yesterday. Guinea’s neighbors have been pressing the junta to restore civilian rule since they seized power in September 2021.
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Yulia Navalnaya Pledges to Continue Alexei Navalny’s Opposition Work |
Navalnaya, the widow of opposition leader Navalny, pledged (AP) yesterday to continue organizing against the government of Vladimir Putin following her husband’s death in a Russian prison. Navalnaya held meetings with several senior Western government officials yesterday in the wake of Friday’s news. In the video statement, she said that Russian authorities had denied Navalny’s mother access to his body. In this YouTube Short, CFR expert Stephen Sestanovich explains what to know about the Putin-Navalny conflict.
Sweden/Ukraine: Stockholm announced (AFP) $682 million in new military support to Kyiv, its largest such package yet, which will include artillery shells, boats, and underwater weapons such as mines.
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Brazil Recalls Ambassador to Israel in Row Over Gaza War Comments |
Israel
summoned (Bloomberg) Brazil’s ambassador in the country after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known as Lula, compared Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust. Israel said Lula was not welcome in the country until he revoked his comments. Brazil subsequently recalled its ambassador in Israel for consultations.
El Salvador:
Election authorities announced (Reuters)
President Nayib Bukele’s party will hold a supermajority of fifty-four out of sixty seats in the country’s legislature following a delayed count of votes from the February 4 general election. The Organization of American States regional body said over the weekend that they had observed problems with vote authentication, and yesterday opposition parties called for a redo of the vote.
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Russia Announces Detention of U.S., Russian Woman, Citing Treason |
Russia’s security agency said today that it
arrested (NYT) a thirty-three-year-old U.S. and Russian dual citizen who lives in Los Angeles on charges of aiding Ukraine. The announcement came as a Moscow court rejected an appeal by U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich to lift his pretrial detention over espionage charges. |
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