Tag: Arab states of the Persian Gulf

Israeli diplomat: There’s endless space in Egypt’s Sinai Desert for Gaza’s civilians

Ms. Cat

Israeli diplomat Danny Ayalon tells an Al Jazeera reporter there is ‘endless space’ for Gaza’s civilians in Egypt’s Sinai Desert and that they should all be moved there, saying Israel wanted to help by creating a humanitarian corridor for safe passing. Israel’s non-stop bombardment, however, has been wiping out entire neighbourhoods across the Gaza Strip, including targeting Gaza’s only border crossing with Egypt and convoys of Palestinian civilians fleeing the north of the Strip towards the south. Many fear that Israel’s orders of evacuating Gaza’s population is paving the way for a second Nakba, comparable to the 1948 Nakba when Zionist militias and forces expelled nearly a million Palestinians who remain, along with generations of their offspring, refugees to this day living in camps across the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and neighbouring Arab counties.

Israeli diplomat: There’s endless space in Egypt’s Sinai Desert for Gaza’s civilians

Bombs for Bailouts: Pakistan Supplied Weapons to Ukraine in Return for U.S.-Brokered IMF Loan

Ms. Cat

The Biden administration helped Pakistan get a controversial new bailout from the International Monetary Fund after Pakistan agreed to secretly sell arms to the United States for the war in Ukraine, according to a new blockbuster report by The Intercept. The deal allows Pakistan to sell some $900 million in munitions while keeping IMF loans flowing to the government in Islamabad amid a spiraling economic crisis, which is driven at least partly by the austerity measures imposed by the IMF loan. Pakistan’s position on the war in Ukraine has shifted significantly since Russia’s invasion and the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was removed from office in 2022 under pressure from U.S. diplomats who objected to his “aggressively neutral” stance on the war. Khan is now imprisoned in Pakistan on corruption charges. Meanwhile, the caretaker government backed by Pakistan’s powerful military has delayed planned elections, widely seen as an attempt to block Khan’s supporters from power. “When the United States has a primary foreign policy objective, in particular when it’s a war, everything else falls away. That’s what you’re seeing in Pakistan now,” says The Intercept’s Ryan Grim.

Bombs for Bailouts: Pakistan Supplied Weapons to Ukraine in Return for U.S.-Brokered IMF Loan

Related:

“U.S. Helped Pakistan Get IMF Bailout With Secret Arms Deal For Ukraine, Leaked Documents Reveal”

Biden Invites Netanyahu to ‘Meet Soon’ in the US, as Israel Has Killed Nearly 200 Palestinians in 2023

Ms. Cat

President Joe Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “meet soon” in the United States during a phone call on Monday. This comes as Tel Aviv is escalating its military attacks and bombings against neighboring countries, the blockaded Gaza Strip, as well as Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.

Biden Invites Netanyahu to ‘Meet Soon’ in the US, as Israel Has Killed Nearly 200 Palestinians in 2023

HUGE. In China-Brokered Deal, Iran and Saudi Arabia Restore Diplomatic Ties

Ms. Cat

HUGE. In China-Brokered Deal, Iran and Saudi Arabia Restore Diplomatic Ties

Regime change for Saudi, or maybe some US-backed terrorist attacks?!

Related:

China brokers Iran-Saudi detente, raising eyebrows in Washington

Though blunting China’s influence in the Middle East and other parts of the world remains a priority for the Biden administration, it is of “two minds” about the latest agreement, said Jon Alterman, a Middle East scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It wants the Saudis to take increasing responsibility for their own security,” he said, “but it does not want Saudi Arabia freelancing and undermining U.S. security strategies.”