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| Mid-way through a two-month ceasefire in Yemen, there has been a lot of talk about what's gone wrong, or what might've gone better. The Yemen Data Project, however, is showing what's gone very right, marveling at the lack of an air war in the month of April.
Seven years of war has seen 25,054 air raids in Yemen. This resulted in at least 19,226 civilian casualties. The Saudi airstrikes have been one of the highest sources of civilian casualties throughout the war.
The two-month ceasefire began with Ramadan this year, which mirrored the month of April. April saw not a single air raid, and not a single civilian casualty as a result. That's a huge success.
Both the Houthis and the Saudis have claimed scores of ceasefire violations in that span, but they seem to be restricted to ground clashes with smaller factions. No big battles happened, and no airstrikes, which is an amazing success for such a long ceasefire in such a long war.
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| On Tuesday, President Biden visited a Lockheed Martin plant in Alabama that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missile systems, a weapon the US has been pouring into Ukraine to help Kyiv in its fight against Russia. In a speech at the plant, Biden praised Lockheed Martin workers for producing the weapon for Ukraine. "The bottom line is I came to say thank you, thank you, thank you. That's the reason I'm here," he said. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the US has sent over $3 billion in military aid to the Ukrainians, including thousands of Javelin missiles. Biden is preparing to support Ukraine against Russia in the long term and has asked Congress for $33 billion in new aid for Kyiv, which includes $20.4 billion in military assistance. |
| Returning to the Iran nuclear deal was seen as mutually beneficial for all sides throughout the Vienna talks, and everyone seemed set to ultimately do that, with the deal all but finalized before a seven-week pause in progress, and reports that the US has decided that they likely won't be making a deal but also don't want to declare the talks dead either.
State Department officials are now saying that the are preparing for a scenario in which everyone just returns to compliance with the existing deal, despite never agreeing to do so in Vienna.
State Dept spokesman Ned Price said that the return to compliance is "very much an uncertain proposition," but that the US is preparing for that possibly happening. |
| | Back in January, during the lead up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese ambassador to the United States delivered a stark warning. Ambassador Qin Gang said that Washington's growing ties with Taipei could ultimately lead to war between the US and China. "If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in the military conflict," Qin said. While the West accuses China of practicing so-called "wolf warrior diplomacy," Qin is no hawk. After he took his post in Washington last July, Qin brought a message of better relations. |
| According to a report from The New York Times citing unnamed senior US officials, intelligence provided by the US on Russian military units has helped Ukraine target and kill Russian generals. Ukraine has claimed to have killed 12 Russian generals, but the number is not confirmed, and Kyiv has an interest in exaggerating its success on the battlefield, and the officials wouldn't specify how many Russian officers were killed as a result of the assistance. But either way, the claim by US officials that they are helping kill Russian generals is a major provocation toward Moscow. |
| The US has no business joining the war in Ukraine, and Congress should refuse to approve any measure that endorses direct intervention in the conflict. Rep. Adam Kinzinger is sponsoring a new resolution authorizing the use of American military force in the war, and it is vital that Congress rejects it. Kinzinger has been one of the loudest agitators for military action in Ukraine, and he wants this authorization in order to give the president a free hand to take the US into a potentially catastrophic war. |
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