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Biden’s ‘genocide’ declaration not expected to trigger immediate changes to US policy

As an alternative, Biden’s comment — which he stated fell in need of an official authorized declaration — mirrored his escalating outrage at scenes of brutality rising as Russian troops go away Ukrainian cities ravaged.
The remark got here earlier than an anticipated transfer by the US on Wednesday to unveil its newest tranche of army help to Ukraine, a package deal that might are available north of $700 million and was anticipated to incorporate armored automobiles, drones and different weapons.
But Biden’s assertion that genocide is underway — his first time utilizing that time period to explain the savagery in Ukraine — didn’t seem to change his long-held stance that US forces won’t straight intervene to finish the struggling.
Talking in Iowa, Biden made it clear he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing genocide however stated he would “let the attorneys determine” to make use of that designation internationally.
“It certain appears that approach to me,” Biden stated. He cited mounting proof over the previous week for his dedication, saying it had grow to be “clearer and clearer that Putin is simply making an attempt to wipe out the thought of even having the ability to be Ukrainian.”
That course of took years, together with a substantial quantity of evidence-gathering and a prolonged back-and-forth between administration attorneys and officers over the potential ramification of making use of the label. Equally, the declaration in 2021 that China is committing genocide towards Uyghur Muslims within the western Xinjiang province was preceded by in depth deliberations amongst State Division attorneys.
In each instances, political concerns got here into play, in response to individuals aware of the matter. Legal professionals have been initially cautious that China’s actions in Xinjiang rose to the extent of genocide, although Biden reaffirmed the label when he took workplace.
And a few officers raised issues that labeling the atrocities in Myanmar a genocide might drive the nation near Beijing, although these issues in the end misplaced out to strain from human rights advocates and US lawmakers to make the designation final month.
Earlier than Biden’s feedback on Tuesday, his aides held up the Myanmar designation of an instance of the method they’d use to find out if a genocide was taking place in Ukraine.
“That was a prolonged course of primarily based on an amassing of proof over a substantial time frame and involving, frankly, mass loss of life, the mass incarceration of a good portion of the Rohingya inhabitants,” nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan stated final week. “And we’ll look to a sequence of indicators alongside these traces to in the end make a dedication in Ukraine.”
Showing Sunday on CNN, Sullivan sought to downplay the numerous of labeling Russian atrocities a genocide.
“For my part, the label is much less necessary than the truth that these acts are merciless and felony and incorrect and evil and have to be responded to decisively,” he advised Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
American hesitance at calling atrocities “genocide” is rooted within the time period’s strict authorized definition, which was written following the Holocaust in 1948. The United Nations Genocide Conference defines genocide as crimes dedicated “with intent to destroy, in entire or partly, a nationwide, ethnical, racial or non secular group.”
The conference spells out particular acts that represent genocide: “Killing members of the group; Inflicting critical bodily or psychological hurt to members of the group; Intentionally inflicting on the group circumstances of life calculated to result in its bodily destruction in entire or partly; Imposing measures supposed to stop births throughout the group; Forcibly transferring youngsters of the group to a different group.”
The United Nations, on its web site, says establishing intent is “probably the most troublesome ingredient to find out” when declaring a genocide is underway.
And the worldwide conference obligates nations to intervene as soon as a genocide is decided to be underway, stating, “Genocide, whether or not dedicated in time of peace or in time of conflict, is against the law beneath worldwide regulation which they undertake to stop and to punish.”
Biden has remained agency that US troops, both performing alone or as a part of NATO, won’t interact straight within the battle, suggesting intervening militarily might set off “World Struggle III.”
Already, Biden’s use of the phrase genocide has drawn some blowback from a key US ally.
“I need to proceed to attempt, as a lot as I can, to cease this conflict and rebuild peace. I’m not certain that an escalation of rhetoric serves that trigger,” French President Emmanuel Macron stated Wednesday.
In Ukraine, Biden’s comment was welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who tweeted reward for Biden’s remark virtually instantly.
“True phrases of a real chief,” he wrote. “Calling issues by their names is crucial to face as much as evil. We’re grateful for US help supplied up to now and we urgently want extra heavy weapons to stop additional Russian atrocities.”

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Texas Flooding Map: See How the Floodwaters Rose Along the Guadalupe River

In the early hours of July 4, floods swept through Hill Country, a region of Central Texas also known as “Flash Flood Alley.” Its propensity for high levels of rainfall combined with thin soil, exposed bedrock and steep terrain make it especially vulnerable. Rainfall gets funneled through the hilly terrain and canyons into the valleys of the region.
By 1 a.m. Friday, the Weather Service said a very dangerous flash flood event was unfolding in Kerr County, and rainfall rates were reaching up to three to four inches an hour with no indication of easing. The Guadalupe River rose 20 feet in three hours, according to data from a river gauge near Hunt. By 10 a.m., it swelled in the town of Comfort, surging to 34 feet from three feet in about 90 minutes.
In under 10 hours, from the late evening of July 3 to the pre-dawn hours of July 4, the flow rate of the Guadalupe River went from that of a small stream you could wade across (about 10 cubic feet per second), to a raging and destructive torrent of 120,000 cubic feet per second, according to a New York Times analysis. That’s greater than the average flow rate across Niagara Falls.
The floods washed away cabins, R.V.s and cars and toppled down large trees. In its rush downstream, the river ravaged Camp Mystic, a girls’ summer camp in Kerr County, where at least 27 campers and counselors were killed in the floods.
At least 75 of those killed in the floods were in Kerr County, northwest of San Antonio, authorities said. Other people were killed in Travis County, Burnet County, Kendall County, Williamson County and Tom Green County.
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4 things to know about the deadly Texas floods and ongoing search efforts

Search and recovery workers dig through debris at Camp Mystic near Hunt, Texas, on Sunday.
Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
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Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
After a weekend of catastrophic flooding in central Texas, search operations continue as questions swirl about whether officials could have done more to warn people before the river’s rapid rise.
The Guadalupe River swelled more than 26 feet in less than an hour early Friday morning, sweeping low-lying homes, cars and trees downstream and washing away much of Camp Mystic, an all-girls’ Christian summer camp.

At least 78 people are dead and another 41 are known to be missing, officials said on Sunday. Emergency responders have so far rescued hundreds of people by boat, truck and helicopter.
But search efforts have been complicated by fallen debris, heat, snakes and continued rainfall. Flash floods killed at least 11 people in the Austin region on Saturday, and a flood watch is in effect in through Monday evening in south central Texas, including the embattled Kerrville area.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Sunday that the state is broadening its area of focus for rescue efforts — citing the lives lost “in the greater region” — but pledged that Kerrville remains a top priority.

“We will remain 100% dedicated, searching for every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic as well as anybody else in the entire riverbed to make sure that they’re going to be recovered,” Abbott said.
President Trump signed a federal disaster declaration on Sunday to help with those efforts, and said he will visit the state this week. Here’s what else we know so far.
1. The death toll is expected to rise
The death toll in hardest-hit Kerr County includes 40 adults and 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Sunday.
Camp Mystic, located on the banks of the Guadalupe River some 18 miles from Kerrville, says it is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors. Separately, the death of the camp director was confirmed by family.
The century-old institution was hosting some 750 campers, according to Texas Public Radio. It’s not clear if that death toll includes the 10 campers and one counselor who officials said were missing as of Sunday.

Abbott said Sunday that while a total of 41 people are reported missing, that number is likely much higher.
“Especially in the Kerrville area, there were so many people who were just camping out … adults camping out near the river, people in RVs and things like that,” he said. “There are people who are missing who are not on the known confirmed missing [list] because we don’t yet know who they are.”
Officials urged residents to alert local officials if any of their loved ones may be missing in the Kerrville area — and to avoid potentially dangerous road conditions and so as not to interfere with rescue operations.

Debris is seen in the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday.
Jorge Salgado/Anadolu via Getty Images
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Jorge Salgado/Anadolu via Getty Images
2. Search and rescue efforts continue
Officials say more than 850 people have been rescued so far. The Texas Military Department said on Sunday that it has rescued 520 individuals, through 361 Black Hawk air evacuations and 159 ground rescues.
More than 400 first responders from over 20 agencies have been assisting with the search and rescue efforts in Kerr County. Officials there said on Sunday that there has been a “full response from local, state and national first responders,” with air, water, K9 and other assets involved.

W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said on Sunday that those efforts continue even as the state begins recovery operations, like clearing debris and reopening roads.
“That does not mean we are no longer doing search for live victims, because we still are,” he said, adding, “we’re doing everything we can to find their missing loved ones.”
3. Federal forecasters and Texas officials are pointing fingers
Questions are piling up about whether a region nicknamed “Flash Flood Alley” should have done more to prepare for Friday’s deluge, such as evacuating local summer camps.
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice declined to answer those questions at a press conference on Sunday, saying the “rain hit at the most inopportune time and right in the most inopportune areas.”
Some Texas officials have suggested that the National Weather Service (NWS) didn’t adequately warn them of the extent of the danger, which the federal agency denies.

According to NPR’s timeline, the Texas Division of Emergency Management activated emergency response resources as early as Wednesday. On Thursday, it posted on social media and informed local officials about the risk of potential flooding.
Separately, the NWS’ Austin/San Antonio office issued a flood watch for multiple counties, which it upgraded to a flood warning just after midnight on Friday and expanded in the early morning hours.
By 4:06 a.m, with river levels rising quickly, it warned of an ongoing “very dangerous flash flooding event.” The official social media pages of the City of Kerrville’s Police Department and Kerr County sheriff didn’t post about the emergency until after 6 a.m.
Meteorologists told NPR that it is extremely tricky to predict what a complex weather system will do and then convince people to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Some critics have questioned whether those efforts were further hampered by the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce, which cost the NWS nearly 600 workers earlier this year (some were rehired after backlash).
Trump denied that on Sunday. “I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch,” Trump said.

Hunt Baptist Church in Texas is offering free water, food, and clothes to anyone in need.
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Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
4. Trump says he will visit later this week
Rice, the Kerrville city manager, said on Sunday that “local and regional partners are committed to a full review of the events and systems in place.”
But with all eyes on rescue and recovery operations, federal and state officials say questions about what went wrong — and future preparedness plans — should be revisited later.
“Let’s focus on finding those who can be found, then we can always assess what we need to do later, going forward,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said on Saturday.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that he plans to visit Texas this week, “probably Friday.”
“I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way,” he said.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, told Morning Edition on Monday it’s been heartening to see the level of support Kerr County is getting from people around the world, including donations and volunteer sign-ups.
“But it’s gonna take the community a long time to recover there,” he said.
Texas Public Radio has compiled this guide to how to find and get help in the area.
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Death toll from Texas floods rises to 24 as search underway for more than 20 girls unaccounted for | CNN

• Rising death toll: At least 24 people are dead after torrential rain triggered flash flooding in parts of central Texas early Friday, according to officials.
• Campers unaccounted for: More than 20 girls are unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, in Kerr County, which is located along a river that rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours. It “does not mean they are lost,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick cautioned.
• All-night rescue effort: Searches to find those unaccounted for “will continue in the darkness of night,” Gov. Greg Abbott said. Around 237 people have been rescued or evacuated so far, many by helicopter, authorities said.
• One-in-100-years intensity: Parts of central Texas saw a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours overnight into Friday, prompting multiple flash flood emergencies. Hunt, a town near Kerrville, received about 6.5 inches in just three hours early Friday, which is considered a one-in-100-years rainfall event for the area. Heavy rain is expected to continue Saturday.
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