The US finds itself sponsoring two conflicts that are at the center of global attention. In Ukraine, the US leads its European allies in supplying weapons, ammunition and economic assistance to the Ukrainian government against Russian forces. And now, in the Middle East, the US is the primary sponsor of Israel as it disproportionately responds to the raids carried out by Hamas on October 7.
US suffers from chronic strategic overreach
I thought that the objective was to overextend Russia?! 🤷🏼♀️
Zelensky arrived in New York on Monday and will head to Washington after the UN General Assembly
House Speaker McCarthy to Meet With Zelensky This Week
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Biden urges UN to not abandon Ukraine
Biden’s call was part of his long-running theme to rally democracies against the globe’s rising autocracies. On Tuesday, he went further, implicitly urging developing nations to turn their backs on Russia and China’s autocracies and join an inter-connected, rules-based order promoted by the U.S. and its allies.
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Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, skipped the general assembly, as did China’s Xi Jinping, but Beijing’s presence loomed large on the east side of Manhattan. While much of Biden’s speech read as a pitch to the developing world, its true subject was China, although the president tried to publicly downplay tensions with Beijing, as he did just weeks ago at the G20.
During a speech at the EU Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg clearly and repeatedly acknowledged that Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine because of fears of NATO expansionism.
NATO Chief Openly Admits Russia Invaded Ukraine Because Of NATO Expansion
You might not know it by the relatively scant news coverage, but the U.S. congressional delegation, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that visited Brazil, Chile, and Colombia in August marked a big step forward in the development of a new U.S. approach to Latin America and highlighted the important role that the U.S. progressive left has to play in it.
AOC-Led Delegation Can Push for New Approach to Latin America
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AOC urges US to apologize for meddling in Latin America: ‘We’re here to reset relationships’
Asked if the left needs to build a counterweight network, Ocasio-Cortez, whose trip to Latin America was branded “AOC’s socialist sympathy tour” by Rupert Murdoch’s conservative Wall Street Journal newspaper, replied: “I absolutely believe that the battle for democracy must be transnational and it must be global, and it especially must be hemispheric.
New Zealand was once the beacon of independent policymaking, but recent intel suggests a seismic shift towards the U.S-led AUKUS military alliance. New documents unearth a looming war shadow, with Wellington pushing Kiwis towards a volatile stand-off with China. What’s driving this dramatic pivot? Are we on the brink of the unimaginable?
New Zealand: Waking Up to a Disturbing Reality! via Geopolitical Trends, w/Dr. David Oualaalou
Sources:
Unease Over New Zealand Overtures to US in Pacific
The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior
New Zealand says it will set China policy, not US-led Five Eyes
If, as reported, Joe Biden has finally agreed to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister is likely to face a straight-talking U.S. president focusing on three key issues
Biden Isn’t Fooled by Netanyahu. So Why Meet Him? 😂
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Biden should rethink the Saudi Arabia-Israel normalization deal
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set to tour Latin America with a group of congressional Democrats
The agenda (which has not yet been made public) is expected to include meetings with Presidents Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gabriel Boric (Chile) and Gustavo Petro (Colombia) and parliamentary representatives. The legislators will also meet with civil society organizations that work “on the frontlines of ecological transitions, democratic transformations and peace negotiations in the countries,” the delegation explains in a joint statement. The trip seeks to “promote a U.S.-Latin American relationship based on mutual respect, understanding and a commitment to cooperation.”
Ocasio-Cortez, a key figure in the Democratic Party’s most progressive wing, and Misty Rebik, Sanders’s chief of staff (sent on behalf of the 81-year-old veteran senator), will be joined by four congressmen: Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar (both from Texas), Nydia Velázquez (New York) and Maxwell Frost (Florida), who is the youngest congressman in the House of Representatives at 26. Castro is a member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, which is part of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee. He recently spearheaded a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure Peru’s President Dina Boluarte over human rights violations occurring in that country. Casar is in his first term as a congressman and belongs to the Progressive Caucus, while Velazquez became the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress in 1993.
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The defense of democracy is another ideal that guides the trip. According to the congresspeople, the “twin” insurrections on Capitol Hill, on January 6, 2021, and in Brasilia (on January 8, 2023) “made it clear that the fate of democracy in the United States is closely tied to that of its southern neighbors. “[Our] democracies,” they believe, “not only share the challenge of defending their institutions from political violence, disinformation and other forms of anti-democratic intervention; they also share the challenge of restoring confidence in the ability of those institutions to meet citizens’ fundamental needs.”
Ocasio-Cortez highlights another goal of the trip: exploring how to “confront disinformation and violent threats to our democracies.” The charismatic congresswoman adds that “it’s long past time for a realignment of the United States’ relationship to Latin America. The U.S. needs to publicly acknowledge the harms we’ve committed through interventionist and extractive policies, and chart a new course based on trust and mutual respect.”
In another provocative move directed at Beijing, former Japanese prime minister and virulent anti-China hawk Taro Aso recently visited Taiwan for three days. He met with senior government officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen and declared that Japan, the US and Taiwan should ramp up plans for war with mainland China.
Former Japanese prime minister provocatively visits Taiwan
Related:
China strongly condemns Japanese politician’s visit to Taiwan: FM spokesperson
France’s Macron made similar comments and said the crisis ‘justifies’ Western support for Ukraine
Blinken on Russia Crisis: ‘We Haven’t Seen the Last Act’
Blinken and Macron are going to be disappointed when there isn’t an encore!
Despite being far more powerful than its adversaries on paper, the US has had limited success in building a global coalition to support Ukraine.
A world without hegemons
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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