US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the United States will transfer assets confiscated from sanctioned Russian oligarchs to Ukraine for the first time.
The U.S. government is allocating new assistance to Ukraine worth more than $1 billion, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Sept. 6.
BREAKING: Secretary of State #Blinken Is Sitting on Staff Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Military Units Linked to Killings or Rapes
A special State Department panel told Blinken that the U.S. should restrict arms sales to #Israeli military units that have been credibly accused of human rights abuses. He has not taken any action.
“In one of those moments that you can’t believe is not satire, Antony Blinken met with Arab-American leaders and warned them that if Palestine got statehood, the US would defund the United Nations and potentially the World Food Program, plunging the developing world into starvation. It wasn’t enough for these fascists to starve innocents in Palestine, they’re now threatening to do it across the world. They would really rather kill millions more than stop doing genocide.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a press statement on Ukraine's 32nd Independence Day, Aug. 24, in which he praised Ukraine's strength and resilience in light of 18 months of "senseless aggression" by Russia.
#POTUS Joe Biden said on Fri the US will impose costs for Russia's "appalling attempts" to use Americans as bargaining chips in a stmnt to mark the 1-yr anniversary of WSJ reporter Gershkovich's arrest in Russia.
Gershkovich, 32, was the 1st US #journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the #ColdWar when he was detained by the #FSB on Mar 29 last yr.
In their stmnts, #Biden & Blinken also condemned the detention of #PaulWhelan, an ex-Marine arrested in Moscow in 2018 & sentenced to 16 yrs in prison on spying charges in 2020. He & the US govt deny the charges.
"To Evan, to Paul Whelan, & to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are w/you. And we will never stop working to bring you home," Biden said.
Pro-Palestine protest outside Blinken's house. Blinken complained that demonstrators were scaring his children ... the answer to that is on everybody's lips right now.
#US SecState #Blinken said it's “important to understand why the #pause came to an end. It came to an end because of #Hamas.
Hamas 'reneged' on commitments it made.
…even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious #terrorist attack in #Jerusalem, killing 3 people, wounding others, including #Americans.
It began firing rockets before the pause had ended.
And…it reneged on commitments it made in terms of releasing certain #hostages”
This is the consequence of soundbite budgeting. To hit arbitrary budget numbers not grounded in real choices, agencies seek "savings" by privatizing core functions any way they can. The result is key defense infrastructure, prisons and services controlled by unreliable oligarchs.
"Blinken Dodges Questions About Elon Musk Interfering with Ukraine’s Military Communications
"It sounds like Starlink is so important that the U.S. government doesn't want to risk offending a capricious billionaire," Jake Tapper said when confronting the secretary of state"
"Gaza will be the grave of the Western-led world order" - Article by Saul J. Takahashi, Professor of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University in Osaka, Japan
Israel killed 5 World Central Kitchen workers today.
Israel needs to be cut off and stopped. Whatever defense support they may have had is gone.
I hated what they were doing before, but now I am actively against Israel.
They are on their own.
Let the world work together to stop Netanyahu.
US Secretary of State Antony #Blinken warns that #Israel risks becoming #indistinguishable from #Hamas if it continues to fail to protect civilians amid the Gaza war.
“What happened after October 7 could have ended immediately if Hamas had stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages and put down its weapons,
but Israel is not Hamas.
Israel is a democracy;
Hamas, a terrorist organization. Democracies place the highest value on human life, every human life.
As it has been said, whoever saves a life, saves the entire world,” Blinken says during a press conference in Brussels, quoting a Jewish proverb.
“That’s our strength. It’s what distinguishes us from terrorists like Hamas.
If we lose that reverence for human life, we risk becoming indistinguishable from those we confront.”
The #UnitedStates is actively weighing whether to lift one of #POTUS#Biden’s longest-held precautionary measures of the #Ukraine war: a ban on the use of #US provided #weapons for offensive strikes inside #Russia.
The reassessment is a byproduct of Russia’s renewed cross-border assault on #Kharkiv, a chorus of pressure from #EU ofcls & a visit to Kyiv by Secy of State #Blinken that reinforced the peril facing Ukraine….
US politicians step up condemnation of Israel over Gaza
Connecticut Democrat Chris #Murphy, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, warned that Hamas was likely to become stronger if Israel waged an all-out assault in Rafah.
“I want #Hamas gone,” Murphy said. “I don’t want them to ever have the ability to hit Israel again. ⭐️[But] I worry that the number of civilians that are dying are ultimately going to provide permanent recruiting material to Hamas, and it will be a threat for years to come.
“We cannot have an invasion of Rafah that ends up in tens of thousands of additional civilians dying. ⭐️That will be bad for Israel from a moral and strategic standpoint.”
He continued: “So I am certainly willing to call out Israel when I think that they have made strategic and moral mistakes in this war. We should [also] be calling out Hamas for the attacks that began this war, the way in which they have violated the rules of engagement, and the fact that the quickest route to end this war is for Hamas to surrender and protect the people of Gaza.”
Murphy’s comments amounted to some of the strongest criticism yet by a centrist US politician against Israel, which the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday had now killed more than 35,000 people in strikes since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
Stronger condemnation came from Vermont Democratic senator Bernie #Sanders, a member of the party’s progressive wing.
“Any objective observer knows Israel has ⭐️broken international law … has ⭐️broken American law – and in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in US military aid,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that Hamas was “a terrible, disgusting terrorist organization that began this war”.
Meanwhile, #Blinken’s commentary was considerably more measured. In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, the Joe Biden White House’s top diplomat said it is “reasonable to assess that in certain instances Israel acted in ways that are⭐️ not consistent” with international humanitarian laws.
Blinken’s comments on Sunday came after #Biden threatened to ⭐️stop supplying Israel with weapons if it invaded Rafah.
That came as the White House said the US had stopped the transfer of 3,500 high payload “dumb” bombs over concerns of the growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza.
Blinken stopped short of explicitly accusing Israel of violating international law as it pursued its offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
He said it was “critical” to note that Israel itself has accountability processes – and there were hundreds of active inquiries as well as criminal investigations into different incidents, showing Israel had “the ability, means and the actions to self-correct.
“It had been very difficult to determine, particularly in the midst of war, exactly what happened and to draw final conclusions from any one incident,” he said, adding that the US was avoiding any firm assessment over a potential breach because Hamas “hides behind as well as underneath civilian populations, in schools and hospitals”.
US threatens to block more arms sales if assault on Rafah goes ahead
The US may block more weapons systems to Israel if it goes ahead with a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said.
The US has already suspended the shipment of 3,500 2,000lb (907kg) and 500lb (227kg) high-payload bombs following concerns over the scale of civilian casualties in Israel’s war in the territory.
Blinken also said he was concerned that any further ground captured by Israel would create a vacuum “that’s likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again”.
The ICJ rulings last week as to Israel also included rulings as to Hamas; including a cease fire order and an order that Hamas release all Israeli hostages. The US through Anthony #Blinken said that Israel can ignore the ICJ rulings directed to it. I assume Blinken is also directing Hamas to ignore the rulings against it, to keep fighting, and to continue holding the Israeli hostages.
🇺🇸 Secretary of State Antony #Blinken directed his top staff to crack down on leaks about diplomacy relating to the #Israel#Hamas#war, saying clearly that he was “angry” with the constant stream of #press reports revealing sensitive information - a new leak can reveal
Not only did classified materials make it into the press, he chided State leadership earlier this month in a small team meeting, but also fresh proposals to broker a cease-fire and ⏩
US to give Ukraine money confiscated from Russian oligarchs for first time (www.pravda.com.ua)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the United States will transfer assets confiscated from sanctioned Russian oligarchs to Ukraine for the first time.
Blinken: US allocates over $1 billion in aid to Ukraine (kyivindependent.com)
The U.S. government is allocating new assistance to Ukraine worth more than $1 billion, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Sept. 6.
Blinken on Ukraine's Independence Day: 'Russia will pay a high price for what it has done' (kyivindependent.com)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a press statement on Ukraine's 32nd Independence Day, Aug. 24, in which he praised Ukraine's strength and resilience in light of 18 months of "senseless aggression" by Russia.
Blinken Visits Kyiv at Key Moment for War, Ukraine Ties (www.wsj.com)
The Secretary of State is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and announce more than $1 billion in additional aid for the country.