Diplomacy & Crisis News

A congressional impeachment inquiry seeks to determine whether U.S. President Donald Trump extorted a foreign leader, withholding a coveted White House meeting and U.S. military aid in order to promulgate a Russian-inspired conspiracy theory and smear his chief opponent in the 2020 election. The United States’ gravest constitutional crisis since Watergate is not just about preserving the integrity of U.S. democratic institutions from the president’s abuse of power, however. It is an episode in a broader geopolitical struggle between the defenders of democracy and the forces of oligarchic authoritarianism, from Kyiv’s Maidan to Hong Kong’s Mong Kok. In this wider global conflict, Trump and his surrogates have consistently aligned themselves with the forces of oligarchic authoritarianism—in Russia, Turkey, Hungary, and other countries, too. Nowhere is this clearer than in Ukraine.

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What if an election is held and no one votes? This question now confronts Algeria, where the government of interim President Abdelkader Bensalah has scheduled a presidential election for December 12. Yet the election risks ending as an exercise in absurdity: nearly all Algerian political and civil organizations have refused to endorse the five official candidates and have called upon Algerians to refrain from voting. The failure of this election will, paradoxically, mark the success of the country’s democratic aspirations, as expressed through a phenomenon that has dominated the Algerian political landscape since late February: le hirak.

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The UN Secretary-General held “focused and frank” informal talks with the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on Monday in order to “take stock of efforts” to finally reach a settlement over the divided Mediterranean island.

A recap of Monday’s stories in brief: Guterres holds “focused and frank” informal talks over Cyprus, responds to Colombia protests; Violence targeting women impedes peace; UN Mission, community condemn South Sudan violence; UN weather watchdog sounds climate alarm; Norway hosts anti-landmine summit. 

The authorities were so confident of elections going their way that state media filed copy in advance.

The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has met with national authorities in the wake of an attack against its headquarters in Beni on Monday, which left the building badly damaged.

A new trove of State Department emails sheds fresh light on events surrounding the impeachment inquiry.

Senior officials from across the United Nations on Monday stood in solidarity with survivors of violence against women and activists working to end the all-too common human rights violation.

Hong Kongers turned out in droves to defeat pro-Beijing candidates.

By far the most important foreign policy story of our time is the way Washington has refocused its attention on great-power competition. 

Engagement with a rising China has been far more successful than generally recognized, and it continues to be the best path forward in an age of great-power competition. 

American millennials may resent their baby boomer elders for ruining the world, but generational politics in mainland China and Hong Kong are more complicated.

C'est dans une grande confusion que se préparent, en Iran, les élections législatives du 20 février. Après l'invalidation par le Conseil des Gardiens (conservateur) d'un grand nombre de candidatures réformatrices, puis l'amendement du code électoral par le Parlement (réformateur) et la démission de (...) / Iran, Islam, Religion, Société - 2004/02 Libertés

Community leaders issued an apology on Monday after rioting on 21 November by “drunken youth” within a UN Protection of Civilians site run by UNMISS in South Sudan, left two dead and eight UN personnel injured, including five police officers.

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Levels of the three main heat-trapping gases emitted into the atmosphere – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide – have reached yet another high, the UN meteorological agency, WMO, said on Monday.

Plusieurs milliers de ressortissantes des pays de l'Est et de l'ex-URSS sont victimes de la prostitution forcée en Union européenne. Né après la disparition du rideau de fer, ce phénomène s'est beaucoup développé dernièrement en raison de la paupérisation des populations. Anvers, en Belgique, est la (...) / Europe de l'Est, Criminalité, Femmes - 1999/02

Presidential impeachment in the United States has always seemed to be a domestic matter. President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about sexual misconduct. President Richard Nixon resigned to avoid certain impeachment in the wake of the Watergate scandal. And in 1868, the House of Representatives leveled 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson for defying a Republican-led Congress and its positions on Reconstruction.

The current inquiry into President Donald Trump is different. Sometime in December, it is likely that a U.S. president will for the first time be impeached for misusing his foreign policy authority in the service of personal political interests. The evidence laid out in House Intelligence Committee hearings establishes that Trump conditioned the release of congressionally authorized military aid to Ukraine on an announcement by the Ukrainian government that it would conduct investigations of Trump’s political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and of the baseless allegation that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

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For three weeks in October, hundreds of Catholic bishops and priests mostly from the countries of the Amazon River basin convened at a special synod at the Holy See. The meeting signaled Pope Francis’s deep concern for the indigenous peoples of the South American rainforest. In his own words, the pope sought “drastic measures” to avert further harm to these communities. “Every kind of injustice and destruction,” he said, “has been practiced upon these people.” Francis knew this synod would upset some traditional believers who have little patience for his moral investment in the protection of indigenous groups. Although his opponents created audacious distractions, the pope persevered in advancing an agenda that facilitates concrete gains for officials, activists, and community leaders dedicated to saving the Amazon.

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A UN worker was killed and two people were injured when their vehicle was attacked in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday.