Perspective: Colombia's Security Crisis – An Emerging Dilemma for US Foreign Policy

César Niño

 Tue, 08/20/2024 - 

Colombia is currently experiencing a significant national security crisis, hindering territorial consolidation and strategic advancements against both internal and external threats. The “Total Peace” (“Paz total”) policy implemented by the administration of President Gustavo Petro has encountered critical shortcomings, jeopardizing both Colombian security and regional stability. Key issues include the paralysis of the military forces amidst negotiations with armed groups, the proliferation and expansion of criminal organizations that threaten national stability, and a diminished deterrence capacity against external threats.

Colombian Military Police Welcome US Army Chief of Staff, Bogotá 2012.

Public Domain, DVIDS

Bogotá has long been a key ally of the United States in combating drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime. For decades, successive Colombian governments have maintained a strong diplomatic relationship with the US, facilitating the exchange of intelligence, strategies, and doctrines to achieve shared goals. One notable collaboration is the various phases of Plan Colombia, which significantly advanced the professionalization of Colombian security forces. It also enhanced their strategic capabilities to conduct combat operations under asymmetric conditions and to effectively counter threats from armed groups, particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC), the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Naciona – ELN), and paramilitary organizations.

However, this close relationship has led to tensions with neighboring countries, particularly Venezuela and Ecuador. Under the administrations of Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro, and Rafael Correa, these nations viewed the Colombian governments of Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos, and Iván Duque as adversaries representing US interests in the region. The 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas offered hope for resolving issues related to security, crime, and terrorism. Nonetheless, even during the peace negotiations, dissident factions emerged, leading to the resurgence and revitalization of armed groups. These factions forged criminal alliances with former rival organizations and contributed to new forms of violence and criminality.

The state of Colombian national security

Under Gustavo Petro’s presidency (2022–2026), the government designed a security policy focused on the human security dimension. This policy argues that meeting the population's basic needs positively impacts national security and reduces violence. However, official government documents fail to clarify the national security concept it aims to achieve. Paradoxically, security remains an unresolved issue in Colombia because decision-makers developed a Total Peace policy without a thorough understanding of national security. This oversight has created strategic uncertainty for the security forces and decision-makers, as they have set up simultaneous negotiation tables with FARC dissidents, the ELN, criminal gangs, and other groups. Meanwhile, the groups negotiating with the government continue their involvement in drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal mining, and terrorism. For instance, the ELN and dissidents led by alias “Iván Mordisco” control over half of the cocaine trafficking routes out of Colombia, particularly to the United States and Europe.

Despite the FARC's demobilization, peace in Colombia remains an elusive goal while insecurity grows. The ambitious “Total Peace” project aims to achieve sustainable peace in the country. However, the current security situation and rising violence reflect a crisis in implementing this project. New criminal actors have emerged, the number of massacres has increased, marginalized communities face heightened confinement, and ambushes against security forces continue. One major challenge is the disconnect between the Total Peace policy and the security and defense strategies. This lack of coordination has allowed armed groups to strengthen and led to non-compliance with some agreements by criminal actors in the negotiation processes. While violence directed at the state has decreased, criminal violence against civilians has increased, suggesting an armed peace rather than true Total Peace.

Various regions of Colombia have experienced an increased presence of illegal armed groups, including the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC or Clan del Golfo), the ELN, FARC dissidents, and both domestic and foreign organized crime structures. Among these groups, the AGC have shown the greatest expansion, increasing their influence from 253 municipalities in 2022 to 392 in the past year. FARC dissidents (Estado Mayor Central and Segunda Marquetalia) follow, expanding from 230 localities to 299 in the same period. This expansion indicates a displacement of the state in its own territory and suggests that state security capacities have been insufficient to prevent the criminal recycling and geographic expansion of these groups, which control strategic areas.

The state of the Colombian military forces

So far this century, Colombia has allocated an average of 3.2% of its gross domestic product to security and defense, a figure comparable to the 3.8% spent by the United States. This allocation is the highest in Latin America and reflects a long history of armed conflict that has driven military investment, along with the US alliance to combat transnational threats. This partnership has secured Colombia a priority position as a global NATO partner. The Colombian military’s experience in irregular warfare, asymmetric conflicts, and complex operations such as humanitarian demining has made it a reference in contemporary hybrid warfare and military diplomacy cooperation projects. However, defense spending has substantially decreased over the past two years. Under President Petro’s administration, it has dropped to 2.8%, despite the country’s continued conflict and growing security challenges. The proliferation of armed groups in various regions of Colombia, along with the involvement of international criminal actors, means that, despite having robust military forces (456,000 troops, the second largest in Latin America after Brazil), security remains paralyzed and in crisis. While Colombia does not face existential threats from abroad, such as a hypothetical invasion or nuclear tension, its military capacity has not significantly reduced internal threats. Although armed groups are negotiating with the government and some cease-fires have been agreed upon, it appears that the security and defense system has suspended its offensive capabilities to confront these groups.

In recent months, the ELN, FARC dissidents, and other organizations have started using drones to launch explosives at the army and civilian population. This method has enabled precise and lethal attacks on specific targets, including strategic infrastructure. Modified drones carrying explosive charges have become tools of war, complicating national security due to their low cost and the difficulty in detecting their use. These attacks pose a significant challenge to the state's defensive capabilities and raise concerns about escalating violence and the increasing sophistication of tactics used by non-state actors. While Petro's government has introduced a new project called the Sistema Integral de Defensa Nacional (SIDEN), or Integrated National Defense System, aimed at renewing military equipment for defensive and offensive purposes to protect the country’s energy, industrial, and strategic assets in a conflict scenario, the project does not seem to address the dynamics of national crime effectively.

Why should the next U.S. government care?

The insecurity sweeping Colombia is a US national security issue. Drug trafficking and organized crime in Colombia should be a central focus of the next US administration's foreign policy. For example, events in the Cauca department of Colombia significantly affect the geopolitical dynamics of crime in the hemisphere. The interactions among armed groups surpass the deterrent and strategic capabilities of states, making it crucial for Washington to prioritize understanding the regional criminal order, which has a key starting point in Colombia. Additionally, Colombian armed groups are developing dangerous networked relationships with extra-continental terrorist organizations, such as the ELN’s interactions with Hezbollah in the Arauca region, near Venezuela. Furthermore, Colombia serves as a corridor for transnational crime, exemplified by the Tren de Aragua (Aragua Train), which has established criminal franchises throughout South and Central America, posing significant risks to the United States.

The foreign and security policy approach to Colombia should emphasize increased cooperation to enhance internal and intelligence capabilities. It should also pressure the Petro government to define a national security concept that addresses the territorial and social particularities of each region in Colombia. In the strategic framework between Washington and Bogotá, it is important to recognize the existence of criminal governance and sovereignty. Ultimately, the security risks in Colombia and Latin America stem from crime-related deaths, not nuclear threats, although these crimes are no less lethal.

Categories: El Centro

About the Author(s)

César Niño
Dr. Niño is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Universidad de La Salle (La Salle University) in Bogotá, Colombia. He is a researcher in national security, international terrorism, organized crime and foreign policy.

Israel aims to isolate Bethlehem, expel Palestinian Christians with new settlement plan

‘Smotrich's decision aims to connect Al-Mahrur, Battir, Velece and Jerusalem and create a continuous residential area. If this happens, Bethlehem will be isolated from other areas,’ says activist

Qais Omar Darwesh Omar, Gülşen Topçu

 |21.08.2024 -


BETHLEHEM, Palestine

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced plans for the establishment of a new settlement in Bethlehem in the southern part of the occupied West Bank on land seized from Palestinians.

Through this, Tel Aviv aims to geographically connect the illegal Gush Etzion settlement to Jerusalem.

In a statement posted on his X account on Aug. 14, Smotrich claimed that “connecting Gush Etzion to Jerusalem is a national duty.”

He said the new settlement, which will be called “Nahal Heletz,” will be located inside Gush Etzion.

Land outside ‘Blue Line’ likely to be included

In the occupied Palestinian territories, the Israeli army's civil administration also announced that it had unilaterally declared the “Blue Line” – borders that define the boundaries of the settlement area -- as Israeli land.

According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, the Blue Line must be updated before a construction plan can be approved. Pointing to the fragmented and irregular shape of the Blue Line and the difficulties of building settlements in such an area, the organization said that based on past experiences, it is highly likely that land outside the Blue Line will be included in the settlement and Palestinians will be denied access to it.

Additionally, part of the area in the new settlement plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Smotrich is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the plan advances de facto annexation in defiance of the UNESCO Convention to which Israel is a party.

According to Peace Now, the new settlement in Nahal Heletz will create an isolated area deep inside the Palestinian territories and will inevitably increase frictions and security challenges.

Christian presence in area at risk

“The Israelis are destroying one of the last Christian strongholds in the West Bank, where I have chosen to stay while researching the Palestinian presence in the Holy Land. This is incredible ancient history. The cradle of Christianity and the people here are descendants of Christians from the time of Jesus Christ. Why is no one reporting on this?” said historian William Dalrymple.

Pointing to Smotrich's announcement of a new settlement to be built in the Al-Mahrur Valley on land that will be seized from Palestinians, Dalrymple said that Israeli settlers tried to seize it, but the Palestinians resisted, adding “this is one of the last Christian villages in the region.”

According to data released by the Palestinian Authority's population administration, the Christian population in Palestine declined from 70,000 in 1922 to 47,000 in 2017.

Palestinian family resists Israeli annexation plans

The Christian Kisiyye family, residents of Al-Mahrur Valley near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Nahal Heletz, are fighting against Israel's colonial activities.

In 2019, Israeli authorities demolished the family's homes and businesses in Al-Mahrur Valley. In July, Israelis arrived and built an illegal shack-like structure on the family's land. This raised the threat of land grabbing in the surrounding area.

The Israelis built a fence around the area and tried to build in the area. When the Palestinian family, with the participation of activists, tried to resist the Israelis attempting to seize their land, Israeli soldiers arrived and drove them away.

Alis Kisiyye, who owns land in Al-Mahrur Valley, said that despite a ruling of the Central Court in Jerusalem that the land belongs to them, the Israelis, using their influence in the region and with the support of Smotrich, sent underage Israelis under the protection of the Israeli army to the area and evicted the family.

“We are an ordinary family, and we proved in court that we own this land through the power of faith, but they are trying to displace the people through force and usurpers. But we are determined to protect our land,” she said.

Noting that the land consisting of Battir, Al-Walaja and Al-Mahrur is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and that people have vineyards and gardens there, Kisiyye called on the owners of these lands, which are in danger of being usurped, saying “now is the time to unite against these colonial settlement activities.”

Isolating Bethlehem

Anti-settlement activist Jamil Kassas pointed out that the decision to build a new settlement aims to connect the illegal settlement of Gush Etzion to Jerusalem and seize more Palestinian land.

“Smotrich's decision aims to connect Al-Mahrur, Battir, Velece and Jerusalem and create an uninterrupted settlement in a straight line. If this happens, Bethlehem will be isolated from other areas.”

Emphasizing that the Israeli government is a “usurper and colonialist” government, Kassas said the policy of usurpation works as “first confiscating 1-2 acres, then expanding this area,” and then the lands are fenced off and declared closed military zones and the Palestinians are cut off from their lands.

“Everyone must defend their land. Land means life for Palestinians,” Kassas added.

 

US pivots on plastic, backs global treaty to cap production

August 20, 2024

Riley Callanan

Burmese workers are sorting rotting food waste, fabric, and recyclable plastic by hand at a sorting facility in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 22, 2024.

 (Photo by Matt Hunt/NurPhoto)

The US has thrown its support behind the UN Plastics Agreement, a global treaty to cap global plastic production and create a target list of plastics to be eliminated. Previously, the US, the world’s largest producer of plastic waste, only supported recycling and reuse initiatives.

A 2022 OECD report estimates that global plastic waste will triple by 2060, from 353 million tons in 2019 to 1,014 in 2060. The full scope of the treaty is still being decided, with governments meeting in Bangkok on Saturday to decide which plastics to phase out, and how stringent the treaty’s production cap will be.

The shift aligns the US with the EU, South Korea, and Canada, and away from China and Saudi Arabia. Developing countries in Asia and Africa, where large quantities of plastic waste often end up, vocally support the treaty.

American support is fueled by science showing that plastic is detrimental to human health, particularly “forever chemicals,” which build up in the environment and the human body. The US petrochemicals industry’s trade group said that the Biden administration’s support “signaled it is willing to betray US manufacturing.”

But the future of US support likely depends on the winner of November’s US election. The final round of negotiations is set for two weeks after the presidential election, and while Kamala Harris would likely support it, Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the Biden administration’s environmental initiatives, especially if they come at the cost of American industry.

Opinion

Israel is bad news, so why don’t we hear about it in the mainstream media?

August 20, 2024 

A view of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Headquarters in London, United Kingdom on July 14, 2023 [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]

by Yvonne Ridley
yvonneridley


At the beginning of this year, a global survey showed that the least trusted media in the world is in Britain. It was a damning survey. The influential Edelman Trust Barometer revealed how British journalism had plunged to the bottom of the annual ratings, with only 31 per cent of people saying that they trusted the media.

Speaking as a journalist and former Fleet Street staffer, I was not entirely surprised, though, having witnessed the degradation of my chosen career over almost 50 years. Of course, Edelman is a public relations firm, so was probably far too diplomatic to explain the loss of trust which has led to plunging newspaper circulation and TV viewing figures, but allow me to do it for them.

Once exposed, the public was shocked at the insatiable appetite for Royal Family exclusives, as revealed in court by Prince Harry during the historic phone-hacking trials. Taking on the Mirror Group Newspapers first, the rebel royal then won the right to make a claim for unlawful gathering of information against the Daily Mail.

Public trust was also rocked when much-loved and respected TV presenters were hit with scandals initially and vehemently denied by the BBC’s Huw Edwards, ITV’s Phillip Schofield and Dan Wootton of GB News. Their employers were all accused of cover ups to protect their stars.

Sadly, one aspect was not covered by Edelman, but is more than worthy of an investigation. I’m talking about the dishonest way in which the media has covered events in occupied Palestine, especially Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, either through their headlines or story content.

It is often what is not written or said, rather than what is, that upsets the most discerning of readers and viewers.

Thanks to rigorous research by the world-renowned Glasgow University Media Group, we have two hard-hitting books which examine media coverage of the conflict in the Middle East and the impact it has on public opinion. Bad News From Israel and More Bad News From Israel were both compiled by senior journalists and ordinary viewers who examined how audiences understand the news and how public opinion is shaped by media reports.

OPINION: Herzog’s faux ‘humanitarian objective’ is soaked in Palestinian blood

In the largest study of its kind ever undertaken, the late and much respected Greg Philo and Mike Berry focused on TV news, illustrating major differences in the way that Israelis and Palestinians are represented, including how casualties are shown and described, and the presentation of the motives and rationales of both sides.

Combining these findings with extensive audience research involving hundreds of participants from the US, UK and Germany, More Bad News From Israel was described as “a masterclass in understanding how people perceive the conflict thanks to media bias.”

However, the events of 7 October in Israel, when Hamas unleashed the audacious Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, appears to have changed dramatically the way that the general public receives its news. For instance, TikTok became the fastest-growing news service, delivering live and unfolding news events in real time to anyone following the social media network.

Images were often graphic and shocking, and provided a news service the likes of which few of us have ever encountered before. Thanks to the Israel Defence Forces, aka the TikTok Army, whose soldiers generously filmed their own war crimes and crimes against humanity, the public has been able to watch a genocide live-streaming on their iPads and smartphones. With so many heroic citizen journalists on the ground it became a news gathering competition which left the mainstream media lagging behind and providing coverage of the same events but in a sanitised, diluted way. Israel hampered news coverage by not only banning Western journalists from Gaza, but also by deliberately killing Arab journalists on the ground in Gaza for Al Jazeera and other Middle East news channels.

Censorship of content on social media is virtually non-existent, so whether we wanted to or not we saw distraught relatives weeping over their headless children and other horrific images of babies, children, women and the elderly shredded by US and British bombs. In one UN school being used as a public shelter Palestinians were praying at dawn when Israeli bombs hit. We witnessed relatives “pouring” what was left of their liquidated families into plastic shopping bags.

I’m not sure of the legality of the kind of bombs being dropped in Gaza — Israel has a history of ignoring international laws generally, not least concerning the legality of using certain types of bombs — but doctors reported that they were seeing corpses in horrific conditions, the likes of which they’d not encountered before. Having been exposed to the graphic videos and war crimes committed by the Israeli military (many of them filmed by their own hands, probably much to their regret if and when they stand in the dock at The Hague) the tame reporting of the mainstream media served only to highlight the inadequacies of journalism in the West.

One example of misleading headlines and the dehumanisation of Palestinians came last month when the BBC reported on the killing of a young Down’s Syndrome man who was mauled to death by Israeli military attack dogs. The furore over the “shameful” handling of the story prompted the BBC to rewrite the headline and content, only for the Israeli Embassy in London to then register a complaint when the truth was told.

OPINION: ‘What can pro-Israel entities gain from backing Tommy Robinson?’ A lot

And this is the problem. When the British media does give truthful, unedited accounts of events in Gaza, readers and viewers who don’t have access to social media are shocked, some are even disbelieving.


The last thing the pro-Israel politicians in the UK want is for anyone to know the truth of what is happening in Gaza.

According to esteemed Israeli journalist Gideon Levy who writes fearlessly for Haaretz, the media in Israel, to its eternal shame, also more or less shields Israelis from what is really being done on the ground in Gaza (and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem) in their name.

As Britain’s national, publicly-funded broadcaster, the BBC draws most of the criticism in this country. It failed outside scrutiny miserably when four weeks of BBC One’s daytime coverage of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza starting from 7 October was investigated. The subsequent Open Democracy report found that journalists used the words “murder”, “murderous”, “mass murder”, “brutal murder” and “merciless murder” a total of 52 times to refer to Israeli deaths, but never in relation to Palestinian deaths.

Moreover, many news organisations have yet to correct or apologise for the notorious fake news from last year that Hamas had decapitated 40 babies on 7 October.

One of the worst offenders is said to be the right-wing Daily Mail, which this week led with a front page story about Labour Party MPs in Keir Starmer’s new government. The Mail told us with its usual pompous invective that more than half of the MPs took union cash to help them fight July’s General Election.

Of the 404 Labour MPs who were elected, the Mail said that 213 “raked in a whopping £1.8 million from union bosses since the election was called in May” adding: “It is the first time the scale of union donations to MPs in the new Government has been laid bare, sparking fresh accusations last night that Labour was ‘under the thumb’ of its ‘paymasters’ amid inflation-busting pay rises being offered with no strings attached.”

The whole story essentially questioned the impartiality of the Labour MPs whose influence may have been bought by the trade unions seeking improved wages for members who are teachers, GPs, junior doctors, nurses and rail workers “already being offered inflation-busting pay hikes”.

Former Conservative Home and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “This shows the alarming extent to which the Labour Party is under the thumb of its union paymasters. Keir Starmer’s MPs have pocketed almost £2 million from unions, whilst taxpayers are forced to fund Labour’s inflation-busting pay awards to those very same unions. How much longer will Keir Starmer sell influence like this?”

He’s right, of course, but Cleverly has said not a word about the influence bought by the Westminster-based Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) and its Conservative counterpart. Not a word. The Daily Mail obviously thinks that a left-leaning political party taking money from left-leaning trade unions is worthy of a front-page splash, but what about the same party taking money from right wing lobbyists focused on improving the status of an alien state in Westminster’s corridors of power?

READ: UK lawyers submit evidence of Palestinian torture to halt UK arms exports to Israel

According to the news organisation DeclassifiedUK, LFI funded more than half of the UK Government’s Ministers. Some of Keir Starmer’s most trusted colleagues sitting in the British cabinet have raked in hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash from several pro-Israel lobbyists. Chief beneficiaries include Starmer himself, his Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Jonathan Reynolds, who handles arms exports to Israel as UK Trade Secretary, as well as Labour’s election mastermind Pat McFadden, whose responsibilities now include national security, have both benefitted from donations from pro-Israel lobbyists. LFI takes MPs on “fact-finding” junkets to occupied Palestine. Individual major funders include pro-Israel businessmen Trevor Chinn and Stuart Roden.

The European Leadership Network (ELNET) is another lobby group which aims to strengthen ties between Israel and Europe. It has forked out for junkets to Israel for parliamentary staffers. One told OpenDemocracy: “There was a clear and obvious agenda to make sure people had a pro-Israel stance going into government,” adding that, after returning from the trip, a senior figure at the Israeli Embassy asked: “Did you enjoy the trip we sent you on?”

ELNET’s funders include the American billionaire Bernie Marcus, who is a supporter of Donald Trump and a major donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is often accused of wielding undue influence over US politics and has already spent millions of dollars influencing the outcomes of primary elections in America.


Cleverly also forgot to mention that he is one of the 126 Conservative Party MPs prior to the General Election who accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups.

“The value of the donations or hospitality amounts to over £430,000, with the organisations paying for sitting Conservative MPs to visit Israel on 187 occasions,” said DeclassifiedUK in May.

READ: Ex-UK Home Secretary Braverman’s Israel trip funded by anti-Muslim Zionist activist

Surely the threat posed by a foreign nuclear power having undue influence on both sides of the House of Commons should have had the Daily Mail foaming at the mouth, but the story has been widely ignored. And yet, if it was Moscow and not Tel Aviv buying up influence with MPs and governments it would be front page news every day for weeks and months on end.

It is this sort of blatant propaganda and bias which has affected the public’s trust in the media. We can all see that a genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are taking place, but why are the atrocities seen daily on social media not being reported impartially and in full by the mainstream media?

With stories being leaked about censorship in newspapers like the New York Times, where journalists are banned from using the word “genocide”, it’s little wonder that people no longer trust mainstream news sources.

What the BBC, NYT and other mainstream media fail to realise is that by sanitising its language and imagery, it is complicit in the murder of innocent children like Hind Rajab; it is giving a green light to war crimes being carried out by the occupation forces; and it is whitewashing Israel’s murderous — nay, genocidal — intent.

“I cannot for the life of me see why fellow journalists writing the scripts used in TV news bulletins and online media are going along with this sanitised and possibly racist narrative,” I wrote in February. This was in relation to the murder of six-year-old Hind Rajab. She and her family were massacred by Israeli soldiers, but an article published online by the BBC was headlined “Hind Rajab, 6, found dead in Gaza days after phone calls for help”, implying that she died of natural causes. And yet the child was clearly killed in a murderous act which falls clearly within the definition of a war crime, as were the two medics who tried to rescue her.

Unless or until the mainstream media recognises the destructive force that is the pernicious ideology called Zionism, then when it comes to news gathering, newspapers and TV news will become redundant. Maybe that is what Israel’s goal is: if it kills non-compliant journalists and their media outlets and controls who has access to its killing fields, then it will be able to manipulate what the world is able to see; how it is reported; and when. The rogue, apartheid state will then be able to carry on killing Palestinians with even more impunity than it enjoys at the moment. You might think I’m joking, but the writing is already on the wall.

Gaza cease-fire talks at 'decisive moment,' says patriarch of Jerusalem

'We can go towards a cease-fire now or towards a degeneration,' warns Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa

 20/08/2024 Tuesday
AA


Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed concern on Tuesday as cease-fire talks in the Gaza Strip reached a "decisive moment," warning of further escalation if negotiations fail.

"We can go towards a cease-fire now or towards a degeneration," he said at an event in Rimini, Italy. "It all depends on the coming days, this is why I am asking for prayers: It's the only thing that we can do."

Pizzaballa's remarks came during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Egypt, where the top diplomat was pushing for progress towards a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal.

However, several issues remain to be resolved in talks planned for later this week.

While hopeful, Pizzaballa said he had his doubts that the negotiations would produce a Gaza cease-fire.

"This is the last 'train.' If we do not reach a cease-fire deal, it will be dramatic," he said.

"The impact this war has had on both populations has been dramatic. For Israel what happened on Oct. 7 was an incredible shock. For the Palestinians, what is happening in Gaza is something unseen before," he added.

"In one way or another, the war will end, but reconstruction amid these attitudes of mistrust, hatred, and deep contempt will be a huge effort which will involve all of us."

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner-hostage exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The conflict has resulted in over 40,170 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and more than 92,740 injuries, according to local health authorities.

The ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

Palestinian government advances plan for Gaza reconstruction

Palestinian prime minister calls for expanding urgent relief, early recovery operations in Gaza

 21/08/2024

 Wednesday
AA

The Palestinian government is working on a “comprehensive plan” for the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said on Tuesday.

"Significant progress has been made in preparing the framework for the Gaza and West Bank reconstruction plan and launching a major economic and social development program in cooperation with the World Bank, the UN, and the EU,” his office said in a statement.

The premier emphasized the need to “significantly expand urgent relief and early recovery operations, including the restoration of essential services such as water, health services, electricity, sanitation, education, debris removal, temporary shelter, livelihood support, recovery, and economic empowerment.”

Mustafa called for international pressure “to halt the (Israeli) aggression, and to support emergency response to provide essential services, rebuild infrastructure in Gaza, achieve stability, and ensure a dignified life for the Palestinian people.”

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The Israeli onslaught has resulted in over 40,170 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and more than 92,740 injuries, according to local health authorities.

The ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.


Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

Israeli opposition leader calls for hostage swap deal, demands Netanyahu stop sabotaging efforts

‘All of Netanyahu's attempts to sabotage the negotiations should stop,' Yair Lapid says

20/08/2024

 Tuesday
AA



Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Tuesday for an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to “sabotage” talks aimed at reaching a Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap deal with Hamas.

“All of Netanyahu's attempts to sabotage the negotiations should stop. Deal now, before they (captives) all die,” Lapid said on X.

The Israeli army on Tuesday retrieved the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Israel estimates that around 110 Israelis are held in Gaza, with Hamas saying that many captives were killed in Israeli attacks in the enclave.

In early June, the Israeli army rescued four captives alive from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, in an operation that resulted in the death of over 210 Palestinian civilians due to heavy artillery and airstrikes.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu's refusal to meet Hamas's demands to stop the war.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last Oct. 7 by Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has resulted in over 40,170 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and more than 92,740 injuries, according to local health authorities.

The ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

UN warns of 'rapidly' deteriorating political, economic, security situation in Libya

'Youth do not see a future except to try to leave,' says deputy head of UN Support Mission in Libya, adding that it is 'not acceptable'

20/08/2024 Tuesday
AA

File photo

The deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Stephanie Koury, on Tuesday issued a warning about the "rapidly" deteriorating situation in Libya over the past two months, saying "unilateral" actions have exacerbated tensions in the country.

Koury, who is currently acting UN envoy for Libya following Abdoulaye Bathily's resignation in April, briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya.

"Over the past two months, the situation in Libya has deteriorated quite rapidly in terms of political, economic and security stability. Unilateral acts by Libyan political, military and security actors have increased tensions, further entrenched institutional and political divisions and complicated efforts for a negotiated solution," Koury told Security Council members.

She lauded the Libyan people's efforts to "move ahead" and said there is "a revived engagement of political parties, trade unions, civil society, independent figures, and others to coordinate and proactively advance constructive ideas for shaping the political process."

She also noted UNSMIL's efforts to help develop confidence-building measures to prevent unilateral actions and create a conducive environment for resuming the political process.

Emphasizing the Libyans' frustration with the status quo, expressing fear of war and clashes, Koury said: "Youth do not see a future except to try to leave."

"This is unacceptable," she stressed.

Libyan Ambassador to the UN Taher Al-Sunni criticized the UN Security Council for its lack of practical solutions and asked: "Who among us is responsible for protecting international peace and security?"

Emphasizing the need for free, transparent, and inclusive elections, as well as the establishment of a roadmap for the political process, the Libyan envoy said: "The international community has never allowed the Libyan people to take the reins of the process that actually will determine their fate."

He expressed Libya's determination to "cleanse" itself of foreign interference, saying, "The Libyan people want to be masters of their own destiny, and they refuse all foreign interference in Libyan affairs."

Iran rejects US allegations of election interference as 'unsubstantiated'

Iran's mission to UN calls on US administration to provide 'pertinent evidence' regarding their claims

 21/08/2024

 Wednesday
AA

File photo

Iran's permanent mission to the UN on Tuesday strongly denied recent allegations made by Washington accusing Tehran of interfering in the upcoming US presidential election.

"Such allegations are unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing," said the mission in a statement.

On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in collaboration with other intelligence agencies, claimed that Iran was behind attempts to hack into the former US President Donald Trump and Joe Biden-Kamala Harris presidential campaigns.

The Iranian mission also challenged the US government to provide evidence to back up its accusations.

"Should the U.S. government genuinely believe in the validity of its claims, it should furnish us with the pertinent evidence—if any—to which we will respond accordingly," it said.

Emphasizing that it has no interest in meddling in US elections, Iran said: "As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran harbors neither the intention nor the motive to interfere with the U.S. presidential election."

NYT:  New US nuclear strategy focuses on Chinese threat

 (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Craig Hudson© Thomson Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear strategic plan that for the first time reoriented Washington's deterrent strategy on China's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The White House never announced that Biden had approved the revised strategy, titled the "Nuclear Employment Guidance," the newspaper reported. An unclassified notification to Congress of the revision is expected to be sent before Biden leaves office, the newspaper reported.

In recent speeches, two senior administration officials were allowed to allude to the strategy revision, the newspaper reported. The strategy is updated every four years or so, the newspaper added.

“This administration, like the four administrations before it, issued a Nuclear Posture Review and Nuclear Weapons Employment Planning Guidance,” said White House spokesperson Sean Savett.

“While the specific text of the Guidance is classified, its existence is in no way secret. The Guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat.”

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jasper Ward; editing by Rami Ayyub and David Gregorio)

Report: New US nuclear strategy focuses on Chinese threat

New York Times reports that Biden quietly approved a highly classified strategic nuclear plan for the US focusing more closely on China's rapid nuclear expansion.

Joe BidenREUTERS/Leah Millis

US President Joe Biden in March quietly approved a highly classified strategic nuclear plan for the United States, marking a significant shift in America's deterrent strategy by focusing more closely on China's rapid nuclear expansion, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, this adjustment comes as the Pentagon anticipates that China’s nuclear arsenal will match or even exceed the size and diversity of those held by the United States and Russia within the next decade.

The revised strategy, known as the "Nuclear Employment Guidance," was not publicly announced by the White House. This document, which is updated roughly every four years, also prepares the US for potential coordinated nuclear challenges from China, Russia, and North Korea, according to The New York Times.

The document is so classified that it exists only in a limited number of hard copies distributed among top national security officials and Pentagon commanders, with no electronic versions available, the report noted.

However, two senior administration officials have recently hinted at this strategic shift in carefully worded statements, ahead of a more detailed, unclassified briefing to Congress which is expected before Biden leaves office.

"The president recently issued updated nuclear-weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries," said Vipin Narang, an MIT nuclear strategist who served in the Pentagon, in a speech earlier this month, as quoted by The New York Times. He added that the guidance specifically addresses "the significant increase in the size and diversity" of China's nuclear arsenal.

Similarly, in June, Pranay Vaddi, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, referenced the document. He highlighted that it is the first to thoroughly assess whether the US is prepared to handle nuclear crises that could erupt simultaneously or sequentially, using both nuclear and nonnuclear means.

The new strategy, Vaddi explained, underscores “the need to deter Russia, the PRC, and North Korea simultaneously,” using the acronym for the People's Republic of China.

So far, noted The Times, these new challenges to American nuclear strategy have not been a focal point in the presidential campaign. President Biden, who has spent much of his career advocating for nuclear nonproliferation, has not publicly discussed in detail how he is addressing the growing nuclear threats from China and North Korea. Nor has Vice President Kamala Harris, the current Democratic nominee.

In his last news conference in July, just days before announcing he would not seek the Democratic nomination for a second term, Biden acknowledged pursuing strategies to disrupt the broader China-Russia partnership.

"Yes, I do, but I’m not prepared to talk about the detail of it in public," he said. He did not reference, nor was he asked about, how this partnership is influencing American nuclear strategy.