Pressure continues to grow against the ongoing Freedom Shield 25, a joint military exercise between the US and South Korea.

The International People’s Assembly and International League of Peoples Struggle joined Nodutdol, an anti-imperialist Korean diaspora group, in launching a joint statement calling for the Freedom Shield military exercises to be cancelled, claiming it is drumming up threats of war on the Korean peninsula. The anti-imperialist and anti-war platforms bring together hundreds of people’s movements and organizations across the world.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26780048

Summary

The Trump administration has directed the U.S. military to develop plans for increasing its presence in Panama, aiming to "reclaim" the Panama Canal and counter China's influence.

Options range from security partnerships to a highly unlikely military seizure of the canal.

Trump views a visible U.S. military presence as essential, while Panama denies any foreign interference.

The move follows Panama’s rejection of a key Chinese infrastructure deal. U.S. firms, including BlackRock, are investing in Panama's ports as part of efforts to limit China's role in the region.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58270906

The US administration has informed Egypt that it plans to reduce military aid to Cairo as a result of differences in their efforts to deal with the results of Israel’s genocidal bombing of the Gaza Strip, informed sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The policy change comes against the backdrop of Egypt’s disapproval of Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza to make way for the creation of the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, which includes building new communities for Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.

An Egyptian diplomat in Washington told the newspaper that the exact extent of the aid cut to Egypt has not yet been determined, but it is expected to be implemented next year.

My two reports for UK Column News yesterday

I was invited, along with Judge Napolitano and Mario Nawfal, to interview Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on Monday. Mr. Lavrov is smart, charming, funny and quite approachable. He ain’t a bullshitter. There was no pretense about him. After spending more than 90 minutes conversing with him, I came away with a new appreciation of his skill as the consummate diplomat. Although we each had prepared a couple of questions in advance, those went out the window once the conversation started. There were no constraints on what we could ask.

The US and Ukraine have finalized a ‘temporary ceasefire deal’ during the Jeddah talks, which were meant to be a kind of conciliatory round two chance for Ukraine to amend for Zelensky’s faux pas.

The US and Ukraine agreed to a 30-day-long ceasefire without a political settlement. How to make sense of it?Follow me:Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack/...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27093874

By Areeb Ullah
Published date: 12 March 2025 16:53 GMT

The renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff was blunt in explaining why he and his quartet have cancelled a summer tour of the US.

“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” Tetzlaff said, describing his horror at the authoritarian polices of Donald Trump and the response of US elites to the country’s growing democratic crisis.

“I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”

Tetzlaff is not alone in acting on his disquiet. A growing international move to boycott the US is spreading from Scandinavia to Canada to the UK and beyond as consumers turn against US goods.

China said it would host nuclear talks with Iran and Russia, days after US President Donald Trump urged Tehran to negotiate a new deal over its atomic work or face military action.

“The three parties will exchange views on the Iranian nuclear issue and other issues of mutual interest,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The meeting will take place in Beijing on Friday and be attended by deputy foreign ministers from Moscow and Tehran, it said.

The summit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity on Iran’s expanding nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that Tehran’s uranium enrichment has surged since Trump’s election victory in November. While Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, the West has longstanding concerns that the country wants to develop atomic weapons.

Last week, Trump said he had written a letter to Iran’s leadership, urging it to enter talks on a new agreement. The US President walked away from an earlier deal during his first term in 2018 and little progress has been made since then to revive the accord.

Iran has signaled it’s not ready for talks with the US. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says his country won’t be bullied into negotiations and that Trump’s decision to tear-up the original 2015 accord showed he cannot be trusted or taken seriously. Still, the country’s economic strains have led some senior officials to conclude that negotiations are needed to get sanctions eased.

Friday’s gathering in Beijing comes after two rounds of preliminary nuclear talks between Iranian and European diplomats in Geneva in recent months.

Archive link

TL;DR:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• Russian President Vladimir Putin
• Former Sudanese President Omar Bashir
• Ugandan Warlord Joseph Kony
• Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
• Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo

cross-posted from: https://thelemmy.club/post/23422360

Perhaps Canada should do the same — only the ones that support the Ukraine war against Russia, tho? Opinions?

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58151089

An operation to rescue hundreds of people taken hostage when a train was hijacked by a separatist militant group in remote south-west Pakistan has continued into its second day, with dozens killed in the onslaught.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s security services claimed to have rescued about 190 people who were being held captive after militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up a railway line and launched an attack on the Jaffar Express train.

The hijacking took place as the train, which was carrying about 450 passengers, was travelling through a tunnel in the rugged mountains of Balochistan province on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials said that by Wednesday about 30 militants had been killed, as military and security personnel launched an air and land offensive to take back control. However, the efforts were hindered by the remote, treacherous terrain, which has made communication and mobilisation difficult.

https://archive.ph/NcPxn