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☆ In Kyiv, Blinken Adds Rock Notes to a ‘Free World’ Message
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the end of a somber day in the Ukrainian capital, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken slipped into a seat at Barman Dictat, a crowded basement cocktail bar where a punk-jazz band was squealing away. After a few songs, the band’s frontman called Mr. Blinken onstage on Tuesday and, by prearrangement, America’s top diplomat slung a red Gibson guitar over his shoulder. “I know this is a really, really difficult time,” said Mr. Blinken, who had discarded his typical dark suit and tie for blue jeans and a dark button-down shirt. It was a reference to recent Russian military gains. Ukraine’s soldiers, particularly in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, he said, “are suffering tremendously.”“But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you,” he said, hitting the core message of his unannounced visit to Kyiv, a trip intended in part to spotlight nearly $61 billion in additional military aid signed into law by President Biden in April after months of delays mainly caused by a small band of right-wing House Republicans.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, Barman Dictat, prearrangement, ”, “, Biden Organizations: House Republicans Locations: Kharkiv, United States, Kyiv

☆ Blinken Arrives in Ukraine Amid Russian Military Gains
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Michael Crowley | More About Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken had warned for months that Congress’s delay in approving critically needed U.S. arms would leave Ukraine’s military vulnerable along an eastern battlefront that has been stalemated for months. The U.S. official declined to draw a direct connection between the delayed aid and Russia’s gains near the city of Kharkiv. Mr. Blinken plans to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and other top officials. Mr. Blinken is the first senior Biden official to visit Ukraine since the passage of the congressional aid package. The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with Mr. Zelensky in Kyiv in late March, before the aid passed.

Persons: Biden, Blinken, Volodymyr Zelensky, Blinken’s, Jake Sullivan, Zelensky, Sullivan Organizations: U.S, Biden, White House, The Financial Locations: Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russia, Kyiv, “

☆ Middle East Crisis U.S. Criticizes Israel for Failure to Protect Civilians in the Gaza Conflict
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

The report also did not find that Israel had intentionally obstructed humanitarian aid into Gaza. Such a finding would have triggered a U.S. law barring military aid to countries that block such assistance. They argue that Israel has indiscriminately killed civilians with American arms and intentionally hindered U.S.-supplied humanitarian aid. Either would violate U.S. laws governing arms transfers to foreign militaries, as well as international humanitarian law, which is largely based on the Geneva Conventions. The United States provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid, and Congress last month approved an additional $14 billion in emergency funding.

Persons: Biden, Israel “, —, President Biden, Israel, Israel’s, Israel ”, Brian Finucane, Finucane, “, Chris Van Hollen, Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, ” “, ”, Josh Paul, Biden’s, John F, Kirby Organizations: State Department, Israel Defense Forces, President, Crisis, United, U.S ., Biden Administration, Israel, The State Department, Central Kitchen Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, U.S, Rafah, Congress, Geneva, Maryland, ”

☆ U.S. Criticizes Israel for Failure to Protect Civilians in the Gaza Conflict
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration believes that Israel has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians in Gaza but has not found specific instances that would justify the withholding of military aid, the State Department told Congress on Friday. Even so, the report — which seemed at odds with itself in places — said the United States had no hard proof of Israeli violations. The report, mandated by President Biden, also makes a distinction between the general possibility that Israel has violated the law and any conclusions about specific incidents that would prove it. The conclusions are unrelated to Mr. Biden’s recent decision to delay the delivery to Israel of 3,500 bombs and his review of other weapons shipments. The president has said those actions were in response to Israel’s stated plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Persons: Biden, Israel “, —, President Biden, Israel, Israel’s Organizations: State Department, Israel Defense Forces, President Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, U.S, Rafah

If and when Israel and Hamas reach a deal for a cease-fire, the United States will immediately turn to a different set of negotiations over a grand diplomatic bargain that it believes could rebuild Gaza and remake the Middle East. Michael Crowley, who covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times, explains why those involved in this plan believe they have so little time left to get it done.

Persons: Michael Crowley Organizations: Hamas, State Department, The Times Locations: Israel, United States, Gaza

☆ Gaza War Puts New Pressures on U.S. Arms Transfer Policies
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In February of last year, President Biden changed the U.S. standard for cutting off weapons deliveries to foreign militaries that harm civilians during wartime. Under the new arms transfer policy, Mr. Biden said countries that were “more likely than not” to violate international law or human rights with American weapons should not receive them. Previously, U.S. officials were required to show “actual knowledge” of such violations, a higher bar to clear. Hamas attacked Israel two months later, triggering the war in Gaza and plunging Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken into an intense global debate about how Israel is using U.S. arms. To Mr. Biden’s critics, his steadfast refusal to limit arms deliveries to Israel runs counter to those initiatives and badly undermines his goal of positioning the United States as a protector of civilians in wartime.

Persons: Biden, Antony J, Blinken Locations: U.S, Israel, Gaza, States

☆ Middle East Crisis Israeli Military Warns Thousands in Rafah to Evacuate
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Vivek Shankar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

“We were very close, but Netanyahu’s narrow-mindedness aborted an agreement,” Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, said in a phone interview. The Israeli official said that Israel had sought a written response to its latest proposal from Hamas before dispatching a delegation, but that the group never conveyed one. Mr. Abu Marzouk was the only one of the officials who spoke about the talks to allow the use of his name. Hamas, Mr. Abu Marzouk said, thought that Mr. Netanyahu wanted an agreement that would permit Israel to invade Rafah after its hostages are released. A report in Al-Qahera News, an Egyptian state-owned television channel, said that a Hamas delegation would return to Cairo on Tuesday, but the senior Hamas official said that the group hadn’t made a decision yet.

Persons: Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Mousa Abu Marzouk, Biden, won’t, ”, Abu Marzouk, Mr, Bill Burns, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, Peter Baker, Michael Crowley Organizations: Hamas, Sunday, Central Intelligence Agency, Qatari, Qahera Locations: Gaza, Israel, Cairo, Rafah, Kerem, United States, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Doha, Al

☆ Rough Seas for Blinken and Co. as Israel, Iran and Ukraine Cloud G7 Meeting
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rough seas were a fitting symbol for this week’s meeting of Group of 7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri. Coast Guard ships that ferried V.I.P.s across the Gulf of Naples to the island on Wednesday swayed precariously, leaving the passengers reaching for their motion-sickness medicine — and, in some cases, their sick bags. Though no ministers from this elite international coalition, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, were known to have lost their lunch, the global problems they confronted were enough to make even a seasoned diplomat queasy: the risk of war between Iran and Israel, the nightmare in Gaza and Ukraine’s uncertain fate. At the luxurious Grand Hotel Quisisana, Mr. Blinken came determined to project unity within a group that includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union. First created to help stabilize the world economy, the G7 has grown more active and ambitious in recent years, seeking to shape geopolitics and to be “a steering committee for the world’s most advanced democracies,” as Mr. Blinken put it in a closing news conference on Friday.

Persons: precariously, Antony J, Blinken, queasy Organizations: Coast Guard, European Union Locations: Capri, of Naples, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States

From the bloody trenches of the battlefield to crowded cities battered by Russian bombardments, millions of Ukrainians waited in nervous anticipation as the United States Congress prepared, after months of delay, to decide if America will resume providing their country with critical military support. Private Pavlo Kaliuk, who has been fighting to slow the Russian advance after the fall of the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine earlier this year, was on his way to the funeral for a fallen soldier when reached by phone on Friday. “I am walking and thinking that maybe it’s my friend who died at war, who is up in the sky now, who will help the world and United States to support Ukraine,” he said. Ukraine cannot rely on divine intervention; instead it is counting on the House of Representatives to approve a $60 billion aid package on Saturday.

Persons: Pavlo Kaliuk, “, ” Organizations: United States Congress Locations: America, Avdiivka, Ukraine, United States

☆ Blinken Heads to G7 Meeting for Talks on Israel and Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived in Italy on Wednesday for a gathering of foreign ministers from the Group of 7 nations at which the Middle East turmoil and the fate of Ukraine will be central topics. The meeting will take place as world leaders try to contain the growing fallout from the war between Israel and Hamas. At the opening session, the officials will also discuss Israel’s invasion of Gaza and international efforts to reach a cease-fire deal. The G7 is a conference of seven industrialized democracies — Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Britain and the United States — as well as representatives of the European Union. The meeting, which is being held on the Mediterranean island of Capri, is a prelude to a summit of G7 leaders scheduled for mid-June in Puglia, Italy.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, Israel Organizations: United, United States —, European Union Locations: Italy, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, Gaza, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Britain, United States, Capri, Puglia

Donald J. Trump plans to meet with the right-wing president of Poland this week, the latest in a series of his private interactions with leaders or emissaries from countries from the Persian Gulf to Eastern Europe, many of whom share an affinity with his brand of politics. Mr. Trump is expected to have dinner in New York with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, on Wednesday, his one day off from court this week, according to two people briefed on the arrangements who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. The meeting was mentioned as a possibility by Mr. Duda on X shortly after The New York Times approached his office for comment. It will be a reunion for Mr. Trump and Mr. Duda, who once proposed naming a military base after Mr. Trump and who now shares power in Poland with a rival whose politics are much more aligned with those of President Biden. Mr. Trump’s other recent interactions with foreign leaders and their representatives include a phone call he had last month with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, which was previously undisclosed.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Andrzej Duda, Duda, X, Biden, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, ” Organizations: New York Times, Mr, Bahraini Locations: Poland, Persian, Eastern Europe, New York, Bahrain

☆ Trump's hush money trial won't be G-rated: Stormy Daniels will have no choice but to testify about affair, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Things won't really heat up, though, until Stormy Daniels takes the stand in the next few weeks. AdvertisementA court sketch of Donald Trump in court in Manhattan for a pretrial hearing in his hush money case. The Trump hush money trial, from a strictly penal-code standpoint, is a dry disagreement over purportedly cooked books. "The money is called 'hush money' for a reason," said former Manhattan financial crimes prosecutor Diana Florence. Stormy Daniels, in her documentary, "Stormy."

Persons: Donald Trump's, Stormy Daniels, —, Daniels, Donald Trump, Trump, Ron Kuby, Jane Rosenberg What's, Kuby, Diana Florence, they'll, United States —, Florence, Stephanie Clifford, Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles, Timothy A, Clary, didn't, Jean Carroll, Carroll, Shawn Crowley, Judge Lewis Kaplan, Tiny, Spencer Platt, month's, Clifford, he's, who's Organizations: Trump, Service, Trump —, Trump Organization, Prosecutors, United, Reuters, Gentlemen, Twitter Locations: Manhattan, Tahoe, Lake, Trump, United States, Baton Rouge , Louisiana, Florence, umm

☆ Ocasio-Cortez Never Steered Money to a Key Arm of Her Party. Until Now.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Shane Goldmacher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made her first-ever contribution to the campaign arm of House Democrats — a $260,000 donation that is a milestone in the New York Democrat’s long and complicated relationship with her own party’s political establishment. In an interview, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said her decision to give to the campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was driven primarily by the dire threat of Republicans staying in power. She feared a Republican-controlled House would not certify a potential re-election of President Biden this fall. “The entire country saw a terrorist attack on the United States Capitol that was predicated on not certifying the duly submitted results of a presidential election,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said of the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. She arrived on Capitol Hill as the youngest woman ever elected to the House and as an instant insurgent instigator who protested that fall in the office of the incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, before even being sworn in.

Persons: Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Democrats —, Ocasio, Biden, ” Ms, Ms, Joseph Crowley, Nancy Pelosi Organizations: Democrats, Democratic Congressional, Republican, United States Capitol, Democratic, Bronx, Capitol Locations: York, Queens

☆ Middle East Crisis As Ramadan Nears Its End, Relief Remains Elusive in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Israeli airstrikes a week ago killed seven aid workers who had been delivering food in Gaza, renewing the international focus on the hunger crisis there. But UNRWA, the primary United Nations agency aiding Palestinians, said that 103 aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Sunday. Until now, almost all aid for Gaza has entered through two southern border crossings, at Rafah and Kerem Shalom. Before the conflict, around 500 commercial and aid trucks entered Gaza each day. Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said that Gaza needs 500 trucks of aid each day, for weeks and months, to remedy the crisis.

Persons: Israel, Biden, COGAT, Matthew Miller, Miller, Benjamin Netanyahu, Juliette Touma, Michael Crowley Organizations: UNRWA, United, State Department, Israel, Food, United States Central Command Locations: Gaza, COGAT, United Nations, Rafah, Kerem Shalom, Israel, Ashdod, United States

☆ Gaza War Turns Spotlight on Long Pipeline of U.S. Weapons to Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-06 | by ( Michael Crowley | Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the fall of 2016, the Obama administration sealed a major military agreement with Israel that committed the United States to giving the country $38 billion in arms over 10 years. “The continued supply of the world’s most advanced weapons technology will ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself from all manner of threats,” President Barack Obama said. It was a period of relative calm for Israel, and few officials in Washington expressed concern about how the American arms might one day be used. Now that military aid package, which guarantees Israel $3.3 billion per year to buy weapons, along with another $500 million annually for missile defense, has become a flashpoint for the Biden administration. A vocal minority of lawmakers in Congress backed by liberal activists are demanding that President Biden restrict or even halt arms shipments to Israel because of its military campaign in Gaza.

Persons: Obama, “, Barack Obama, Biden Locations: Israel, United States, Washington, Gaza

☆ Biden Administration Presses Congress on $18 Billion Sale of F-15 Jets to Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Michael Crowley | Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Biden administration is pressing Congress to approve a plan to sell $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel, as President Biden resists calls to limit U.S. arms sales to Israel over its military offensive in Gaza. The State Department recently sent an informal notice to two congressional committees to start a legislative review process for the order, a first step toward the department’s giving formal authorization for the transfer of up to 50 of the planes. The F-15 order was reported earlier by Politico and CNN and confirmed by two U.S. officials. The deal, which would be one of the largest U.S. arms sales to Israel in years, would also include munitions, training and other support. Although the United States has expedited some arms for Israel’s current campaign against Hamas, the F-15s would not be delivered for at least five years, the U.S. officials said.

Persons: Biden Organizations: State Department, Politico, CNN, Hamas Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, U.S

A U.S. bid to have the U.N. Security Council call for “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip failed on Friday, after Russia and China vetoed the American resolution that included some of Washington’s strongest language since the start of the war. The resolution reflected the Biden administration’s growing frustration both with the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct in a war that has killed about 30,000 people and reduced much of the enclave to ruins. But international frictions, including over Washington’s previous use of its veto power in the Security Council and its refusal to call for a permanent cease-fire, doomed the resolution. Eleven members voted in favor of the resolution, but Russia and China — permanent members — voted against it, as did Algeria. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who was traveling in Israel on Friday, expressed disappointment that the resolution failed.

Persons: —, Antony J, Blinken Organizations: U.S, . Security, Biden, Security Council Locations: Gaza, Russia, China, Israel, Gazan, Rafah, Algeria, Guyana

☆ Blinken Warns China Against Armed Attack on Philippines
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken warned China on Tuesday that an “armed” attack against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea would trigger a mutual self-defense pact between Washington and Manila, a reflection of rising tensions in the region that risk dragging the United States into armed conflict with Beijing. But in a sign that the United States hopes to de-escalate the situation, Mr. Blinken, on a visit to Manila, gave no indication that recent Chinese provocations — which include ramming Philippine vessels and blasting them with water cannons — crossed the threshold of “armed” attacks. Pressed during a news conference alongside his Philippine counterpart on how to deter what some analysts call China’s “gray-zone coercion tactics,” which Philippine officials say include aiming a high-powered laser at a Philippine Coast Guard vessel and temporarily blinding some crew members, Mr. Blinken pointed to diplomatic, not military, measures. “The very visibility of those actions, I think, has provoked from a number of other countries clear statements in support of the Philippines and against these provocative actions that are a threat to peace, security, freedom of navigation and basic rights under international law,” he said.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, ” Organizations: Philippine, Philippine Coast Guard Locations: China, Philippine, South, Washington, Manila, United States, Beijing, Philippines

☆ Middle East Crisis Blinken Will Travel to Mideast Again as Cease-Fire Talks Restart
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Mr. Issa assumed the role after the assassination of another top commander, Ahmed al-Jabari. Mr. Conrad said he met Mr. Issa, Mr. al-Jabari and Mahmoud al-Zahar, another senior Hamas official, about ten times between 2009 and 2011 in Gaza City. “He was the master of the data on the prisoners,” Mr. Conrad said of Mr. Issa. Mr. Awawdeh, the analyst, called Mr. Issa a man who liked to “remain in the shadows” and who seldom granted interviews to the media. Admiral Hagari has said that Mr. Issa helped plan the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.

Persons: Marwan Issa, Jake Sullivan, Mr, Issa, Daniel Hagari, Mohammed Deif, Ahmed al, Yahya Sinwar, Salah al, Din, Issa’s, ” Maj, Tamir Hayman, Deif, Sinwar, “ There’s, ” Mr, Awawdeh, “, ” Michael Milshtein, Qassam, wasn’t, Milshtein, Gerhard Conrad, Conrad, Mahmoud al, ”, Gilad Shalit, Al Jazeera, Hagari Organizations: U.S, Hamas, Qassam, Palestinian Authority Locations: Israel, Gaza, U.S, Gaza City, Palestine, Bureij, Ashkelon

☆ Blinken Warns of Disinformation Threat to Democracies
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken warned on Monday that a malicious “flood” of disinformation was threatening the world’s democracies, fueled in part by the swift rise of artificial intelligence, which he says sows “suspicion, cynicism and instability” around the globe. Mr. Blinken spoke in Seoul at the Summit for Democracy, a global gathering organized by the Biden administration, which has made countering the authoritarian models of nations like Russia and China a top priority. Mr. Blinken, who as a young man worked briefly as a journalist, said that changes to the international flow of information may be “the most profound” that he has experienced in his career, and that anti-democratic forces were exploiting those changes. “Our competitors and adversaries are using disinformation to exploit fissures within our democracies,” he said.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, Biden, ” Organizations: Summit for Democracy Locations: Seoul, Russia, China

☆ Providing Both Bombs and Food, Biden Puts Himself in the Middle of Gaza’s War
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Peter Baker | Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

From the skies over Gaza these days fall American bombs and American food pallets, delivering death and life at the same time and illustrating President Biden’s elusive effort to find balance in an unbalanced Middle East war. The United States finds itself on both sides of the war in a way, arming the Israelis while trying to care for those hurt as a result. But Mr. Biden remains opposed to cutting off munitions or leveraging them to influence the fighting. “You can’t have a policy of giving aid and giving Israel the weapons to bomb the food trucks at the same time,” Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, said in an interview the day after the speech. And I think the administration needs to match the genuine empathy and moral concern that came out last night for Palestinian civilian lives with real accountability for Netanyahu and the extreme right-wing government there.”

Persons: Biden’s, Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Ro Khanna, Netanyahu, ” Organizations: United, ” Locations: Gaza, United States, Israel, California

☆ Victoria Nuland, Veteran Russia Hawk, to Leave the State Department
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Victoria J. Nuland, the third-ranking official at the State Department and a determined advocate of tough policies toward Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, will retire this month after more than 30 years of government service. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced Ms. Nuland’s departure from the post of under secretary for political affairs on Tuesday in a statement noting her “fierce passion” for freedom, democracy and human rights, and America’s promotion of those causes abroad. Mr. Blinken singled out her work on Ukraine, which he called “indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion” of the country. Ms. Nuland held numerous State Department positions, including spokeswoman, and once served as deputy national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. But she made her mark as a Russia specialist who long argued for marshaling strong resistance to Mr. Putin’s territorial ambitions and foreign political influence.

Persons: Victoria J, Nuland, Vladimir V, Antony J, Blinken, Nuland’s, Putin’s, Dick Cheney Organizations: State Department, Department Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ U.S. Begins Airdrops of Humanitarian Aid in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The airdrops, which some aid experts criticized as insufficient and largely symbolic, contribute “to ongoing U.S. government efforts to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza,” the statement said. “We are conducting planning for potential follow-on airborne aid delivery missions.”One of the U.S. officials briefing reporters on the operation on Saturday said that 66 pallets had been dropped over Gaza. The U.S. did not coordinate its operation with Hamas or any other group on the ground, the official said. The operation was intended to be the first in a sustained campaign of airdrops, the official said, adding that the United States is also exploring other avenues of bringing more aid into Gaza, including by sea. The official and others at the briefing spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations and diplomatic efforts.

Locations: Gaza, U.S, airdrops, United States

☆ U.S. Campaign to Isolate Russia Shows Limits After 2 Years of War
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Edward Wong | Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration and European allies call President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a tyrant and a war criminal. The president of Brazil says that Ukraine and Russia are both to blame for the war that began with the Russian military’s invasion. And his nation’s purchases of Russian energy and fertilizer have soared, pumping billions of dollars into the Russian economy. The views of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, encapsulate the global bind in which the United States and Ukraine find themselves as the war enters its third year. Wielding economic sanctions and calling for a collective defense of international order, the United States sought to punish Russia with economic pain and political exile.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Biden Organizations: Biden, United Locations: Russia, Brazil, Ukraine, Russian, United States, Moscow

☆ Rep. Ritchie Torres quietly leaves Progressive Caucus amid tensions over Israel-Hamas war
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York is no longer a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) after months of tensions with colleagues over the Israel-Hamas war. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. It's also unclear whether Torres left the caucus voluntarily, with one senior progressive caucus member telling Business Insider that the New York Democrat "never showed up" for meetings. One fellow progressive member told Business Insider that he only found out about it via social media. AdvertisementIt's also not the first time Torres has left a progressive caucus.

Persons: Ritchie Torres, Torres, Rashida, Tlaib, Lois Frankel, Florida —, xuMZTw7wSw — Ritchie Torres, Pramila Jayapal, It's, Alexandria Ocasio, Joe Crowley Organizations: Congressional Progressive Caucus, CPC, New York Democrat, Business, Jewish, Democratic Locations: New York, Israel, Michigan, Jewish State, New York City, Alexandria

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