N.Korea sending troops to Ukraine would be ‘dangerous’ development: US
Updated 25 sec ago
AFP
UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Monday said it would be a dangerous development for North Korea to send troops to support Russia in Ukraine, as Seoul has asserted.
“We have seen reports the DPRK has sent forces and is preparing to send additional soldiers to Ukraine to fight alongside Russia,” Robert Wood, US ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council.
“If true, this marks a dangerous and highly concerning development and an obvious deepening of the DPRK-Russia military relationship,” Wood said, using the acronym for the North’s official name.
“We are consulting with our allies and partners on the implications of such a dramatic move,” he added.
Seoul’s spy agency said on Friday that North Korea had decided to send a “large-scale” troop deployment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia’s Far East and undergoing training.
The agency estimated the North could send around 12,000 soldiers in total.
The US State Department is “not yet at a point where we’re able to confirm those reports and whether they are accurate,” deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Monday.
France’s UN envoy Nicolas de Riviere told the UN Security Council that the deployment of North Korean soldiers would constitute a further escalation.
He added that Pyongyang’s “increasing support for the Russian war effort is very worrying.”
The United States and its allies have already voiced concern about North Korea providing weapons to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
King Charles to meet Indigenous Australians in civil rights birthplace Redfern
Updated 10 sec ago
Reuters
SYDNEY: Britain’s King Charles travels on Tuesday to Redfern, birthplace of Australia’s urban Aboriginal civil rights movement in inner Sydney, a day after being heckled by an Indigenous senator at Parliament House.
Charles, on his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer, had finished speaking when the independent senator and activist Lidia Thorpe shouted that she did not accept his sovereignty over Australia, and demanded a treaty for Indigenous people.
A national referendum on whether to alter Australia’s constitution to recognize Aboriginal people was rejected last year, a sore point for many Indigenous Australians. Charles referred to Australia’s “long and sometimes difficult journey toward reconciliation” in his speech.
He will meet with Indigenous Elders in the inner city suburb of Redfern, where the Aboriginal civil rights movement was founded in the 1970s, on Tuesday.
At the National Center for Indigenous Excellence, Charles will speak with Indigenous organizations and Redfern Elders including “bush tucker” — or native food — chef Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo.
He will also visit an inner city social housing project with sustainable features, designed with the support of his King’s Trust Australia charity. Charles will tour the Glebe construction site with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who grew up on a public housing estate.
Julie Bishop, chair of the King’s Trust Australia, said the charity “closely follows His Majesty’s passions – helping young people into work, coaching veterans and defense families in entrepreneurship, and working on sustainable community projects.”
Charles and Queen Camilla are visiting Sydney and Canberra over six days before traveling to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.
The public will have an opportunity to meet the royal couple at the Opera House later on Tuesday.
Ukraine foreign minister calls for support to stop Russian strikes on its Black Sea ports
Updated 5 min 5 sec ago
Reuters
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Monday he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had discussed safe navigation for shipping in the Black Sea.
“I conveyed Ukraine’s interest in further developing cooperation between Ukraine and Türkiye, especially in defense area,” Sybiha wrote on the social platform X.
“I also underscored the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. We also discussed ways to a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace.”
Sybiha had earlier called for support to stop intensified Russian strikes on Ukrainian Black Sea port infrastructure, in comments made while on a visit to Turkiye on Monday.
He said such strikes in recent weeks had damaged four civilian vessels.
Turkiye has offered to act as an intermediary to end the more than 2-1/2-year old war sparked by the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and has endeavoured to maintain good ties with both Moscow and Kyiv.
“We see benefit in once again discussing initiatives that could serve peace, like the Black Sea grain initiative,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, referring to the deal Turkiye helped broker to allow Black Sea exports from Ukraine’s ports.
“I discussed this with my counterpart as well, we admire Ukraine’s positive stance on this.”
The Black Sea grain initiative remained in force for about a year until Russia backed out of the accord in July 2023, saying provisions of the agreement were not being fulfilled.
Italy PM seeks to save Albanian migrant deal amid spat with judges
Rome has said that other European Union countries are interested in its flagship policy
Bangladeshi and Egyptian migrants sent to Albania had to leave after the judges’ ruling
Updated 48 min ago
AFP
ROME: Italy’s hard-right government passed a new law Monday to overcome legal opposition to a migrant deal with Albania, as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused judges of political bias.
The decree, which was adopted at a cabinet meeting late Monday, enshrines in law the government’s definition of countries as “safe,” which would mean Rome can fast-track applications from asylum seekers from those countries.
The move follows a ruling by Italian judges on Friday against the detention of the first migrants sent for processing in Italian-run centers in Albania.
Rome has said that other European Union countries are interested in its flagship policy as a way of processing asylum requests in countries outside the bloc.
But 12 Bangladesh and Egyptian migrants sent to Albania last week had to leave again after the judges’ ruling and were taken to Italy.
The judges pointed to a recent European Court of Justice ruling which stipulates that EU states can only designate whole countries as safe, not parts. Some nations on Italy’s list include areas which are not considered safe.
As a general rule, EU law takes precedence over conflicting national laws.
Meloni on Friday slammed the ruling as “prejudiced” and said she had called the cabinet meeting “to approve laws to overcome this obstacle, because I don’t think it’s up to the judges to say which countries are safe, but the government.”
The cabinet decree would enter into force immediately, before being made law by parliament, where the government has a majority.
The law states that all parts of the designated countries are safe for all categories of people, disregarding caveats in the government’s current directives.
However, the government did exclude three countries — Cameroon, Colombia and Nigeria — from its previous list of 22 “safe” countries in order to conform with a recent ruling from the European Court of Justice. The list of countries will be updated annually.
Immigration lawyer Guido Savio told AFP the abrupt change would likely lead to new legal challenges.
Italy has long been on the front line of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe and Meloni was elected in 2022 on a pledge to stop the boats.
Her coalition has previously clashed with judges over attempts to limit the work done by charity organizations who rescue migrants at sea.
The row escalated Sunday, with Meloni publishing excerpts on social media of a letter sent by one prosecutor to a group which includes judges.
In it, Marco Patarnello warned that Meloni is “stronger and much more dangerous” than former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced frequent legal woes and who repeatedly attacked the judiciary.
Right-wing politicians said the letter proved the legal bias against the government.
Critics pointed out however that Meloni did not post the rest of the text, in which Patarnello said “we must not engage in political opposition, but we must defend jurisdiction and the citizens’ right to an independent judge.”
Across the European Union, individual member states are responsible for drawing up their own “safe” country lists. However, the EU intends eventually to agree on a bloc-wide list, officials say.
Survey finds 87 percent of Arab Americans intend to vote in US election
Poll shows why election candidates would be well advised not take the Arab American vote for granted
Women’s engagement with the election process has increased significantly since 2016, when 32 percent did not vote
Updated 21 October 2024
Arab News
LONDON: A poll conducted for Arab News by YouGov reveals that 87 percent of Arab Americans intend to vote in next month’s presidential election.
Since 2016, Arab-American participation in presidential elections has grown steadily. Eight years ago, 67 percent of those surveyed turned out to vote, rising to 79 percent in 2020. This year, only 6 percent said they will not bother voting, with 7 percent still undecided.
The intention to vote on Nov. 5 is stronger among men (92 percent) than women (81 percent). However, women’s engagement with the presidential election process has increased significantly since 2016, when 32 percent did not vote.
Since 2016, Arab-American participation in presidential elections has grown steadily. (AFP)
This fell to 26 percent in 2020, and now only 11 percent said they will not vote next month, with 8 percent still undecided.
Older respondents are more likely to vote, with 90 percent of those over 55 years of age signaling their intention to do so, compared with 84 percent of 18-34-year-olds.
Most likely to head to the polls are those who live in the west and south (where 92 and 91 percent respectively intend to vote), people educated up to post-graduate level (97 percent), and those on an annual salary of $80,000 or more (94 percent).
Overall, 80 percent of those polled believe their vote matters. Seventy-four percent of Arab-American women believe their vote matters, compared with 86 percent of men.
Historically, many Arab Americans have felt that their vote did not count for much, “but that’s no longer the case at all because of where that constituency is,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told the Arab News podcast “Frankly Speaking.”
Large Arab-American communities are found in “states like Michigan, that are going to be crucial, and even in Georgia (there is) a significant population and in Northern Virginia.
“So although the Arab-American community is relatively small — perhaps some 1 percent of the general American population — in elections so tightly contested as they are today, not only at the general national level but in the pivotal swing states like Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, the margin here is 0.5 percent one way or the other, and that makes the Arab-American vote a crucial constituency to win.”
The poll shows that all candidates would be well advised not to take the Arab-American vote for granted — 84 percent say regardless of whether an election is looming, they keep up with political developments either most of the time (44 percent) or some of the time (40 percent).
Frankly Speaking: Does the Arab American vote matter?
Updated 21 October 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: As the US presidential election looms, a YouGov poll commissioned by Arab News has revealed a near-even split between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris among Arab American voters. This result may surprise some, but according to a prominent Arab American analyst of Middle East affairs, it reflects the general sentiment among the US public, where key constituencies in swing states will determine the next occupant of the White House.
“Clearly, we see that the Arab American public generally reflects the same trend here as the American public because so many of these Arab Americans are not newly naturalized,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said on the Arab News weekly current affairs show “Frankly Speaking.”
The YouGov survey results suggest that the Israeli war in Gaza and other events in the Middle East weigh strongly on the mind of the average Arab American voter. “But at the end of the day, it’s American Arab rather than Arab American,” Maksad said. “They have to vote based on bread-and-butter issues, the well-being of their families, the issues that impact them at home, rather than have an impact overseas. That’s not surprising.
“They are second, third, fourth-generation Arab Americans. Some of them came here in the mid-1800s. And so, they very much reflect the general sentiment in the American population.”
He added: “When asked point-blank about the significance of Gaza, most Arab Americans rank it as the top issue. However, that doesn’t seem to reflect in their overall choice. You would expect that not so many of them would be voting for President Trump, who was so clearly pro-Israel, who moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem and allowed Israel to annex the occupied Golan Heights,” Maksad said.
“There might be some tension between what Arab Americans say when asked what they think about Palestine, and the fact that they are also Americans who have their livelihood to worry about, the economy being chief among them, but also things like immigration. For so many women, also issues relating to their reproductive rights and abortion.”
Historically, the Arab vote has had little impact on the results of US elections. But is that still the case or has something changed? “That’s not the case,” Maksad said, “because of where they (Arab American voters) are, where that constituency is. States like Michigan that are going to be crucial, but even in Georgia, a significant population. Close to where I am in Washington, D.C. is Virginia, and there is a significant Arab population there in northern Virginia,” he said.
Indeed, elections that hinge on narrow margins make smaller constituencies like Arab Americans vital to either party’s success. Their impact in key states is magnified when considering the razor-thin victories in recent elections. The race in many states is so tight that “the margin is 0.5 percent one way or the other,” Maksad told Katie Jensen, host of “Frankly Speaking.”
He added: “So, that makes the Arab American vote a crucial one, a crucial constituency to win. We see that reflected in the positions of the various campaigns and the efforts to cater to, and to win over, that segment of the population.”
Firas Maksad unpacked the YouGov survey findings with ‘Frankly Speaking’ host Katie Jensen. (AN photo)
Maksad added that the “willingness and excitement” of Arab Americans to vote, “far exceeding” that of the general population, is a “sign of health that the Arab American community is engaged in the democratic process here in the US, particularly when there are concerns about discrimination and racism.”
Some 40 percent of Arab Americans who were surveyed by YouGov considered themselves Democrats while 28 percent were Republicans. Yet a slim majority was going to vote for Trump.
“The question has been out there as to whether some of this is a protest vote against the Biden-Harris ticket or team for their inability or lack of a political will to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Maksad said.
“But, again, what’s sort of puzzling about this is that if this is a protest vote, you wouldn’t necessarily vote for Trump because he is even more pro-Israeli for all the reasons that we’ve already discussed. You would go through a third party candidate like the Greens. So, I don’t know how much of that can be prescribed to what has unfolded in the Middle East.”
Maksad said that factors such as immigration and the economy need to be taken into account, too. “Immigration seemed to very interestingly rank very high on the minds of Arab Americans, which honestly, as an immigrant myself, I was not completely surprised by because those who immigrated here legally and went through the process, and paid the taxes, tend to feel pretty strongly about those who are cutting in line and not paying their fair share,” he said.
“So, illegal immigration here, which often plays in favor of Trump rather than Harris, could also be a factor.”
Looking ahead, Maksad said that a snapshot look at the latest US opinion polls suggested that the Trump campaign is gaining momentum. So, what would a Trump win mean for the Middle East?
“The sense, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is that President Trump is a much more forceful figure, particularly when it comes to the Middle East. Everybody here recalls the Abraham Accords (between Israel and several Arab countries), which many did not think were possible,” he said.
“There’s that sense then, this promise that President Trump has kept repeating that he will end those wars, whether it’s the war in Ukraine or the war in Gaza. We will have to see whether he will make good on that promise.
“Whether he will be able to bring Netanyahu to heel on issues that the US wants to … is an open question.”
