Category: Politics

A Protest on Wheels was seen on Sunday in the Thai capital Bangkok in a mobile protest against the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha. A long line of cars, trucks, and motorbikes wended its way through the capital hoping their nonviolent action dubbed a “car mob” that could help force the ouster of Prayuth.

They accuse the Prime Minister of botching the campaign against the coronavirus. A veteran social activist Sombat Boonngamaning, who helped originate such a protest in July said that there is only one message from this car mob and that was “Prayuth get out!”. He said that Prayuth had a chance of running the country for seven years and he proved that he is incapable of being the country’s leader and they cannot let him continue.

The tactic used to show the protest has attracted more and more participants. However, its mobile nature made it very hard to estimate the size of the protest. Few were seen flashing banners that displayed support and opposition’s three-finger salute as the lengthy parade of vehicles passed.

The organizers were not only anti-government but also appeared to be the ones with the broadest support. They said they will stop the car mob tactic but carry on with a bigger protest during the Parliament’s no-confidence debate.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to visit the United States with the hope to bolster the security ties with Washington. He aims to convince the administration to ramp up the sanctions against the new Russian gas pipeline bypassing the country.

Zelensky addresses the situation as the US failure to block the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany which is a grave political error according to him. He had also warned earlier that the Nord Stream 2 will be marked as a major victory for the Russian Capital Moscow along with a “personal loss for Biden”. It is expected that he will raise the topic again on Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden. Zelensky terms the new pipeline as a powerful weapon for the Russian country. This annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The Ukraine leader wants the U.S. nation to impose tougher sanctions on the Russian gas pipeline which is being constructed.

The construction of Nord Stream 2 was strongly opposed by Washington. However, the Biden administration chose not to punish the German company. Germans oversee the project as they announce new sanctions against Russian companies and ships. The undiplomatic comments said that the pipeline will deprive it of $3billion annual transit fees for pumping Russian gas to Europe making it vulnerable to Kremlin pressure.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had his first official meeting with the senior Israeli. This meeting was the first between the nation in more than a decade.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz said that he had traveled on Sunday night to Ramallah which is occupied in the West Bank to discuss the security, civilian and economic issues. He said to Mr. Abbas that his country Israel look forward to strengthen the Palestinian economy. Both countries’ relations had deteriorated since the last round of direct peace talks in 2014.

The US President Joe Biden wants both sides to repair their relationship and a further statement came from the White House on Friday. He urges Israel Prime minister Naftali Bennet to take “steps to improve the lives of Palestinians and support greater economic opportunities for them”.

The source from Israel’s government stressed that the Meeting held on Sunday was approved by Mr. Bennett and Mr. Gantz had not discussed peace talks with Mr. Abbas. He said that there was no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one. Gantz gave a statement to the media that he had offered a $155m loans to the Palestinian Authority as the advance on tax revenue collected by Israel.

Australia has officially ended its rescue mission in Afghanistan before the deadline. The evacuation mission ended amid the two bombings with the expectation of more terror attacks.

The Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that she is “unable to confirm” if any Australian had been affected by the terror attack. She will contact those for whom they have details and that is why it was important to register with DFAT. She further added that there is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attacks in the coming weeks. Explosions have occurred in the vicinity of Kabul airport and asked its citizens to avoid travelling to the airport. She said even if you are in the vicinity, move to a safe location and provide contact details for consulate support if needed.

Marise Payne has expressed her deepest sympathies to all those who are in Afghanistan, suffering as they are now, suffering as they have for so long and particularly suffering as a result of the most recent attacks.

The Australian government has evacuated more than 4000 people from Kabul over the period of nine days. Payne said this “would not have been possible” without the US troops on the ground.

The United States has officially ended its two-decade-long military presence from Afghanistan. On Tuesday, America took its final flight out of Kabul after its September 11 terrorist attack.

The head of U.S. Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie said that he is here to announce the completion of their withdrawal from the nation and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans. He also said that the last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.

This was the longest war of American troops which ended with a rushed withdrawal of more than 123,000 people since August 14. This followed the withdrawal with the killing of 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport last week. Since the conflict began, the attack caused the loss of about 2,400 Americans and employees of American contractors and tens of thousands of Afghans. The government also faced the loss of $1 trillion in U.S. spending.

According to the departure date set by the American President Joe Biden said in a statement that it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of their airlifts mission as planned. Their view was to end the military mission was the best way to protect the lives of American troops which secured the prospect of civilian departures for those who wanted to leave Afghanistan in the coming future.

China’s use of trade as a weapons diplomatic dispute appears to be now targeted at Lithuania. After the Baltic nation agreed to exchange diplomatic offices with Taiwan, Beijing’s official halts their limited trade with Lithuania. It is seen as more of a sending warning to the rest of Europe.

The two nations, Lithuania and Taiwan have agreed to establish mutual representative offices as a sign of deepening their ties. In an aggressive response, Beijing recalled its ambassador from Vilnius and expelled Lithuania from Beijing. According to the Taiwan Foreign Affairs Ministry, it has suspended rail freight to Lithuania and reportedly halted export permits for the country’s producers which included agriculture, animal husbandry, and timber industry.

The food and veterinary service director of Lithuania Mantas Staskevicius said in an interview that the discussions with China about the export permit for some items had been getting more difficult since the beginning of the year. However, they had now just stopped the audit and certification process without explaining the act.

China’s ruling party had never governed Taiwan but they consider it to be a province of China and Beijing accuses the government of the separation.

Iran’s hard-liner-dominated Parliament has approved the majority of ministers proposed by newly elected President Ibrahim Raisi. 18 out of 19 ministers proposed by Raisi were voted in favor by the lawmakers after a five-day hearing and discussions.

Hossein Baghgoli was not approved to be nominated as education minister as his experience was disputed during the hearings. He could manage only 76 votes out of 286 by present lawmakers. The chamber had a total of 290 seats. Raisi had earlier requested the lawmakers to vote quickly to approve his nominees as he wanted the government to get to work at the earliest. He wants to deal with the pandemic and economic situation in the country that has been suffering for years due to sanctions by the United States.

Raisi wants to introduce those policies which will focus on engagement with all the nations and remove the sanctions. The New Foreign Minister who received 270 votes from the lawmakers Hossein Amirabdollahian said that his ministry “would not run away from the negotiating table”. They will do their best to remove all the sanctions against the nation.

Raisi later expressed his gratitude to parliamentarians for the quick votes response.

The Australian government has evacuated nearly 50 women footballers and athletes and their dependents from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The eviction was done for the players after an appeal came by the world bodies FIFA and Fifpro.

The international footballers federation Fifpro expressed its gratitude to Australia in a statement released by them. The women players went into hiding after the takeover of Afghanistan. The statement said that these young women both athletes and activists, had been in a position of danger and on behalf of their peers around the world they thanked the international community for coming to their aid. They even urged the international community to make sure that they receive all the help they need. According to them, there are many other athletes who are still at high risk in Afghanistan and every effort should be made to offer them support.

The evacuation was termed as “an important victory” by Afghanistan’s former football captain Khalida Popal which included members of the Afghanistan national women’s football team and their youth team. She said that the women footballers have been brave and strong in a moment of crisis and she hopes that everyone will have a better life outside Afghanistan.

The United States has warned the American nationalist to stay away from the Kabul airport due to security threats by the Taliban militants. The plea came a few hours after the United States Secretary Antony Blinken had urged the Taliban to ensure “safe passage” for people to seek to flee from the nation.

The security situation is deteriorating at the Kabul airport which raises concern for the US and the western officials trying to evacuate their civilians before the deadline which is on August 31. The danger of an attack by the terrorist group ISIS-K is highlighted by the officials. They urged the Americans to “leave immediately” who were already waiting for their evacuation at the three airport gates.

A similar warning came from the UK official who sighted the “ongoing and high threat” of a terror attack. Officials pleaded with Britishers to “move away to a safe location” and also advised them to avoid traveling to the airport for a few days.

Blinken said that the relationship with the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan will depend on the latter’s conduct and hinted that the administration may examine whether it should have taken a different approach to pulling out the troops from the nation

Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. The telephonic conversation came at a time when several countries are evacuating their citizens from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

After the conversation of the two political leaders, the Russian embassy in India said that they expressed the intention to enhance cooperation to counter the dissemination of “terrorist ideology” and the drug threat emanating from Afghanistan. They agreed to form a permanent bilateral channel for consultation on the issue. It also said that both nations noted the importance of coordinated efforts to “establish peace and stability” in Afghanistan and to ensure security in the region as a whole.

The Prime minister’s office said that it is important for the two strategic partners to work together and instruct their senior officials to remain in touch. They agreed to collaborate on bilateral and global issues particularly with the situation in Afghanistan.

Mr. Modi tweeted that he had a detailed and useful exchange of views with his friend President Putin on the recent developments in Afghanistan. He further added that they discussed issues on the bilateral agenda including India-Russia cooperation against COVID-19 and they agreed to continue close consultations on important issues.