Dimming Vision of World Affairs

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Afghanistan, Biden Administration, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, foreign correspondents, foreign news coverage, Joe Biden, religious belief, Rule of Law, syria, Totalitarian regimes October 5, 2021

Afghanistan today, October 5, 2021

The best reporting out of Afghanistan continues to be by Jacques Follorou of Le Monde and Ángeles Espinoa of El País. Their dispatches are linked to here, and can be easily translated by using Google Translate (translate.google.com).

The window into Afghanistan is likely to start closing, as reader interest shifts to other subjects, as it did in the case of Syria. In the meantime, we can be grateful for the reporting by Folloroy and Espinosa, as well as that of as that of other excellent and courageous journalists who report on Afghanistan, sometimes from within the country.

There will be a continuous stream of stories about the disaster that is unfolding in Afghanistan, including the potential collapse of the economy, the enormous humanitarian disasters including famines which lie ahead, and ultimately whether civil war erupts once again among a desperate population struggling to survive.

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Afghanistan, Biden Administration, coverage of foreign events, Department of State, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, Donald Trump, elections, foreign news coverage, Joe Biden, NATO, State Department, Taliban, U.S. Military, U.S. news coverage, use of force August 7, 2021

EMERGENCY: The U.S. and NATO must reengage in Afghanistan NOW

“The Afghan government could fall quickly,” The Trenchant Observer, July 5, 2021, updated July 21, 2021.

We are appalled, looking at the debacle in Afghanistan triggered by President Biden’s disastrous decision to surrender and withdraw from the country. Biden, instead of conducting a serious policy review and listening to his generals and senior advisers, simply followed his gut and proceeded with the implementation of Dondald Trump’s February 29, 2020 surrender nd withdrawal agreement with the Taliban. Biden didn’t even replace Zalmay Khalilzad, Trump’s ambassador in charge of the Doha negotiatons.

Biden’s failure to replace Khalilzad was powerful evidence that he didn’t want a serious review of the policy represented by the February 29,, 2020 agreement. That agreement is one of the most shameful international agreements ever entered into by the United States.

Trump didn’t give a hoot about Afghanistan, but rather signed the agreement with the Taliban in the hopes of bolstering his presidential campaign by keeping one of his promises.

The agreement itself was scandalous, exchanging unilateral American (and NATO) troop withdrawal for vague promises by the Taliban not to let the territory of Afghanistan be used by terrorist groups attacking the U.S. and its allies, and to enter into negotiations with the Afghan government for a political settlement of the nearly 20 year-old conflict.

Biden and the U.S. knew that once the withdrawal of U.S. forces was set in stone the Taliban would have no incentives for good-faith negotiations with the elected government of President Ashraf Ghani. The facts have proven that to be the case.

The disastrous nature of Biden’s decision to implement Trump’s surrender and withdrawal agreement with the Taliban has been recognized by virtually all serous military and foreign policy experts with deep knowledge of and experience in Afghanistan.

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authoritarian regimes, Biden Administration, Capitol Insurrection, demonstrations, Dictatorship, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, Donald Trump, elections, Fascism, Germany, Gleichschaltung, History, House Democrats, internal supporters of human rights, January 6 Capitol Insurrection, Joe Biden, Justice Department, Nazism, Neo-Nazis, Nobel Peace Prize, propaganda, Republican Senators, Rule of Law, syria, Trump Coup d'état, U.S. Congress, U.S. Constitution, U.S. news coverage, Ukraine, war crimes August 6, 2021

The dog days of August and the Olympic Games: Time to act on Trump and the Republican fascist threat

See Jonathan Freedland, “Trump may be fading away, but Trumpism is now in the American bloodstream; He left in disgrace, yet all signs point to…

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Armenia, Azerbaijan, Azerbeijan, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, foreign news coverage, France, France, International Law, Nagorno-Karabakg, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, Turkey, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, United Nations, use of force, Vladimir Putin October 14, 2020

Fighting continues over Nagorno-Karabakh; ceasefire does not hold

Fighting continues in and over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian-brokered ceasefire agreed upon in Moscow on Saturday is not holding. It is time for the U.N. Security…

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authoritarian regimes, coronavirus, coverage of foreign events, Crimea, Dictatorship, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, Donald Trump, elections, Fascism, History, Impeachment, International Law, International Trade, Nazism, Neo-Nazis, propaganda, Rule of Law, State Department Legal Adviser, U.N. Charter, U.S. Congress, U.S. news coverage, Ukraine, United Nations, use of force, Vladimir Putin September 8, 2020

What do Trump and the election have to do with international law, politics, and security?

You cannot make plans for additions to your house while there is a bulldozer outside, with its engines revving, actively engaged in tearing down your…

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authoritarian regimes, coverage of foreign events, Crimea, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, foreign news coverage, International Law, Justice Department, propaganda, Russia, sanctions, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, U.N. Charter, U.S. Congress, Ukraine, United Nations, use of force, Vladimir Putin November 27, 2019

Apple bows to Russian pressure, shows Crimea as Russian territory

Apple has recently bowed to Russian pressure and started showing the Crimea on its maps as Russian territory. See “Weltkarte: Bei Apple ist die Krim…

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authoritarian regimes, China, coverage of foreign events, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, Dictatorship, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, Donald Trump, Egypt, Egypt, Ethiopia, foreign correspondents, Germany, History, International Law, North Korea, nuclear war, Qatar, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, Soviet Union, Spain, syria, U.N. Charter, U.S. Congress, UAE, Ukraine, united arab emirates, United Nations, use of force, Vladimir Putin, war crimes August 11, 2019

Foreign policy without International Law

Since the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the foundational writings of Hugo Grotius, nations have paid attention to international law in…

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Crimea, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, Donald Trump, elections, European Union, History, International Law, Russia, sanctions, State Department Legal Adviser, Trump and Putin, U.N. Charter, Ukraine, use of force, Vladimir Putin June 8, 2018

Trump promotes Putin at G-7: Payoff for intervention in U.S. elections

OUR VALUES: Truth Integrity Decency Character Facts Science Law Freedom
Vladimir Putin launched a massive attack on the American electoral system in 2016, to help elect Donald J. Trump
as President of the United States. Among his goals were that of getting the U.S. and European sanctions lifted.
Since then Trump has taken a number of actions favorable to Moscow, and failed to take actions he should have in opposition to Russian aggression.

Now, at the G-7 in Montreal on June 8, 2018, he has proposed reādmitting Russia to the G-7 group of leading economic powers. Russia was expelled from the group (then known as the G-8) following its invasions of the Ukraine.
We may now expect Donald Trump, who has once again shown his pro-Russian colors, to further Putin’s agenda by seeking to relax U.S. and European sanctions against Russia.
When Trump or Putin speaks of abandoning “the old liberal international order”, it should be clear, they are arguing for abandoning the international legal order based on the U.N. Charter and the prohibition of the international use of force.

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China, Crimea, Dimming Vision of World Affairs, History, International Law, Russia, sanctions, Soviet Union, U.N. Charter, Ukraine, use of force, vision of peace, Vladimir Putin February 26, 2017

REPRISE: Russia’s utter and continuing violation of international law in the Ukraine: U.N. General Assembly Resolution A/RES/25/2625 (1970) on Principles of International Law and Friendly Relations Among States

In 1970, at the height of the Cold War and only two years after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw…