Diplomacy

by Scott Humor “Ukraine will detain all the ships travelling to and out of Crimea without Kiev’s consent, ” said Ukrainian Border Service Spokesman Oleg Slobodyan commenting on the arrest

BBC News reports that Yulia Skripal, the daughter of ex-Soviet spy Sergey Skripal, is now awake and talking, as she recovers from the attempt on her and her father’s lives in Salisbury, England. This report came from the BBC at approximately 6:30pm London time (British Summer Time, or BST).

WASHINGTON  -– To the surprise of many, it was announced earlier this week that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) had agreed to consider ending its nuclear and ballistic missile program, while also being open to talks with the United States to resolve the inflamed tensions between the two nations.

PYEONGCHANG, KOREA — North Korea’s participation in the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Olympics drew thunderous applause from crowds at the games and a flurry of press coverage hailing the unfolding diplomatic process between Seoul and Pyongyang.

President Donald Trump flew to Davos for the World Economic Forum, and completely electrified it, according to reports.

[Prefatory Note: This post is a slightly modified version of an article published in the global edition of the Italian newspaper, Il Manifesto, on December 8, 2017.]
 Jerusalem Is (Is Not) the Capital of Israel

Human rights activists are stepping up efforts to expose Israel's long and covert history of supplying weapons and military training to regimes while they actively commit massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocide. The issue of Israel's trade with rogue regimes has been thrust into the spotlight after revelations that it is sending weapons to Myanmar, in defiance of a US and European arms embargo.

At first glance, the decision by the Trump administration to quit the United Nation’s cultural agency seems strange. Why penalise a body that promotes clean water, literacy, heritage preservation and women’s rights? Washington’s claim that the Unesco is biased against Israel obscures the real crimes the agency has committed in US eyes.

An AP report described as “a rare if not unprecedented move,” a purported statement1 by Kim Jong-un, the chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic Republic of Korea, in response to United States p