Diplomacy & Crisis News

On militarism, exhaustion, and decadence.

Taking into account an expert panel report on alleged human rights violations by the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, the Secretary-General has decided to establish a Trust Fund to implement community-based assistance projects, his spokesperson said today.

The United Nations Middle East envoy today cautioned that unless urgent measures are taken to de-escalate the crisis now spiralling out of control in the Gaza Strip, there will be devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Donald Trump’s mistake wasn’t lack of discretion. It was being too clever by half.

The vital role of the world's oceans in human well-being and development is being highlighted next month as the United Nations hosts a global conference aimed at protecting these resources.

Though the opposition may be largely symbolic, lawmakers are clearly growing tired of unconditional support for the Gulf kingdom.

As Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Melissa Fleming listens to stories of people fleeing for their lives every day. Although she has met many refugees and gotten to know several stories of resilience, when she came across Doaa’s story, she couldn’t sleep at night.

Boeing’s agreement to sell planes to Iran forces Trump to choose between two campaign promises.

On trade, climate change, and Russia, world leaders disagree.

What’s a $1,500-a-day travel allowance for hard-working flunkies?

When President Trump spoke to NATO members for the first time on Thursday he failed to say the one thing Europeans were waiting to hear.

An “America first” policy risks leaving America alone.

Andrej Kiska wants “boring” elections. Whether Slovakia’s Supreme Court dissolves the People’s Party could decide it.

The United Nations human rights chief today urged all warring parties in Syria to take every feasible measure to spare the civilian population from the effects of the armed conflict, noting that civilians are increasing caught in fighting between the Government forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da&#39esh) terrorist group.

The United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres today condemned in the strongest terms the killing of at least 28 people in Egypt, with the Council denouncing the attack &#8220heinous&#8221 and &#8220cowardly.&#8221

Citing Iraqi Government figures, the United Nations migration agency today warned that the number of people fleeing West Mosul is soaring &#8211 on 18 May, hitting a peak when some 16,100 transited through the Hamam al-Alil screening site &#8211 the largest official daily movement of people since the October 2016 military offence began.

A senior United Nations official is calling for additional humanitarian aid in the Central African Republic, where nearly the entire population of the city Bria was forcibly displaced last week.

Condemning the surging violence in Tripoli, the top United Nations official in Libya called today for an immediate end to fighting in and around the capital and for rival groups to &#8220put Libyan national interests&#8221 ahead of their own.

Opening a major United Nations conference on risk reduction in Cancun, Mexico, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed cautioned that the world would not reach its development goals without tackling climate change and disaster risk.

In an exclusive interview, Sherkoh Abbas, the head of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, warns the US government of the dangers posed by supporting Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He argued that the Kurds are better allies for the Americans.

In an exclusive interview, Sherkoh Abbas, the head of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, stressed following Trump’s lavish welcome in Saudi Arabia that the United States should be wary of the Saudi government:

“They have to look in the mirror. Much of the extremism is caused by them. I hope that Trump will hold them accountable and not be fooled by nice words but judge them based on their actions. I think they will have a hard time. None of the leaders have been successful in pressuring them. Now is the time to weaken these regimes so that the extremism will stop. That is the only way to bring about peace and stability to the region.”

“Most of the leaders who met Trump in Saudi Arabia are tyrants, dictators,” he related. “None of these leaders were elected. Most of their people are unemployed yet they can cough up billions to make weapons to oppress people. They should spend money to make peoples’ lives better. Then you don’t have to buy weapons to oppress your people.

Furthermore, the Saudis won’t allow a woman to drive to save her dad. When you have a foreigner working there, you have no rights. You can be enslaved. Yet we call them allies and friends. If that person is horrible to his sister and wife, how can he be good to me? How can I trust that person? These guys are not allies. Its mutual interests. In the long run, you will regret making alliances with these regimes.”

Abbas emphasized that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Trump has praised as an ally in the fight against terrorism and congratulated on winning the referendum, runs a country that cares more about oppressing the Kurds than suppressing radical extremism.

It has been reported that Turkey allegedly sent weapons to ISIS and traded in ISIS oil. Furthermore, numerous media outlets have noted that Turkey has permitted thousands of ISIS terrorists to smuggle across their border into Syria and have given medical assistance to ISIS terrorists.

Not too long ago, the Turkish entourage was recorded beating Kurdish and Armenian protesters in Washington, DC. In response to this action, Senator John McCain called for the Turkish Ambassador to be booted out of the US but Trump took zero action against Turkey for this.

Abbas responded to McCain’s response to this incident as follows: “We commend and salute Senator McCain for asking the administration to behave strongly towards the Turkish Ambassador. Unfortunately, the administration has not done so.”

Abbas stressed that Turkey always tries to portray the Kurds to be inhumane people but how the Turkish security forces treated those demonstrators exposed their true face:

“We saw their actions in front of world civilization in the heart of the free world’s capital city and what they did to peaceful people. Can you imagine what they are doing with their soldiers behind the scenes to the Kurds of Turkey? Are they slaughtering people? Killing people? In the past, some of their soldiers would cut off the heads of PKK people and then take pictures and display them as trophies. That is very similar to ISIS. It is horrifying that the administration in Washington, DC did not put those people in prison. Now, if they travel to Europe, Canada, etc., they think they can kill and get away with it. Is this the law of the jungle?”

According to Abbas, for Trump, it is all about making business deals and he claimed that Trump views those interests to be the first priority. He claimed that Trump speaks out about the evils of extremism but then he gave $110 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia and made so many deals:

“It shows that business comes first. It should be that American values and Western values should not be compromised. Building up the Sunnis against the Shias will not appease them for eventually the Sunnis will turn on you. It is better to weaken the Sunnis and Shias and to support the Balochis, Kurds and others who are oppressed and have the same values as Americans. It is beneficial for your people and our people. Otherwise, you will only see tyranny and extremism.”

The post Syrian Kurdish dissident: “Beware of the Saudis and Turks” appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.