Ukraine FM: Moscow playing ‘hunger games’ with world

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pressed Southeast Asian countries for political and material support in his county’s fight against Russia, while accusing Moscow on Saturday of playing “hunger games” with the world by holding up shipments of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products.

As Biden and Xi meet, can their old connection avert a clash?

Joe Biden shook hands with Xi Jinping that day in 2011 and the two vice presidents walked up a red carpet to the strains of their countries’ national anthems, until Biden paused unexpectedly before a Chinese official with a full head of hair. “If I had hair like yours, I’d be president,” he cracked, breaking the atmosphere of stately diplomacy.

Russo-Ukraine War Assessment: Russians Withdraw Across the Dnipro River

Russia Says They Have Left Kherson

According to The Hill, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Friday that they had completed their withdrawal of forces from Kherson, Ukraine. In a report available on their Telegram page, the Ministry wrote, “In Kherson direction, today, at 05.00 am (Moscow time), units of the Russian forces finished their redeployment to the left bank of Dnepr river.” You have to admire their wordsmithing; they didn’t withdraw, per se; they simply deployed elsewhere.

Biden pledges US will work with Southeast Asian nations

President Joe Biden promised Saturday that the United States would work with a strategically vital coalition of southeast Asian nations, telling leaders that “we’re going to build a better future that we all want to see” in the region where U.S. rival China is also working to expand its influence.

A Cold Winter for Europe: Blame Strategic Blindness

In 2008, the “flawless democrat” Putin invaded Georgia. The West was shocked. Putin critics… were shocked that the West was shocked. In 2014, Putin invaded the Crimean Peninsula, sovereign Ukrainian territory. The West remained shocked. In February 2022, Putin invaded Ukraine and annexed parts of the sovereign state. Was the West still shocked? It should not have been.

The Syrian Oil: Time for New Approach?

In Syria, opponents found in oil a rare point of consensus to cooperate and pick clean the country’s wealth and revenues, according to Ibrahim Hamidi for Asharq al-Awsat.

With the war in Syria now in its twelfth year and with the US-Russian conflict still ongoing to control the oil sector and its potential, local belligerents and regional opponents have found in oil a rare point of consensus to cooperate and pick clean the country’s wealth and revenues.

Egypt hopeful after Russian return to Ukraine grain deal

Russia’s return to the agreement on grain exports from Ukraine will help North African countries secure their wheat needs, as they heavily rely on the two warring countries for their imports.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Nov. 2 that Moscow was rejoining the deal to allow the export of grains from Ukraine via the Black Sea. Russia had suspended its participation in the agreement in October after it accused Kyiv of carrying out drone attacks on its naval fleet stationed in the Crimean Peninsula.

Biden’s Chance With China

How Meeting With Xi Can Redefine a Dangerous Rivalry

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden sit down for a rare face-to-face meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on November 14, both leaders are confronting acute challenges at home. Despite his newly confirmed third term as China’s top leader, Xi faces far-reaching economic challenges. He is grappling with how and when to loosen the draconian zero-COVID policies that have angered Chinese citizens and battered investor confidence. Adding to the pressure are the country’s flagging growth and ambitious modernization targets, which have been further challenged by a new U.S. ban on advanced semiconductor exports to China. For his part, Biden faces a difficult domestic political environment, despite better than expected results in the U.S. midterms: with high inflation and potential loss of control of the House of Representatives, he now confronts the prospect of strengthened opposition to his administration and its policies.