Archives International politics - Page 24 of 74 - New Eastern Outlook

The US Congress’ passage of the Ukraine military aid bill – which would see the US spending US$ 60 billion to directly or indirectly arm the Ukrainian military to fight Russia – has apparently provided a lot of relief to the anti-Russia elements, both in the West and elsewhere. For months, political elites in the US negotiated this bill, but it remains uncertain whether or not this funding will ultimately make much difference at all…

The topic of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s state visit to the U.S., which took place from April 8 to April 14 and was earlier described in the NEO, deserves another discussion. This is in order to dwell in more detail on one of the centerpieces of this unprecedentedly long trip, which was the guest’s speech at a joint session of both houses of Congress…

On 18 April, the US vetoed a draft resolution prepared by Algeria proposing to grant full UN membership to the state of Palestine, effectively blocking a Security Council decision to recognise Palestine as a state. Twelve of the fifteen Council members – Slovenia, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Mozambique, Malta, Japan, Guyana, Ecuador, Algeria, as well as Russia, China and France – voted in favour of the resolution, while the UK and Switzerland abstained (Palestine has had observer status at the UN since 2012). The US representative, speaking at the meeting, argued that Palestine’s full membership in the UN “is a decision to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians”.