World
As diplomacy drags on, peace seems far off in Ukraine.
BRUSSELS — Ukraine and Russia are engaged in intermittent negotiations to finish a brutal battle now in its third week. However regardless of indicators of progress, Western officers have little optimism that the talks have reached a critical stage and even confronted probably the most troublesome points.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has raised hopes with current statements that appear to just accept that his nation is not going to be part of NATO, regardless of the alliance’s promise in 2008 to just accept it at some point and though the Ukrainian structure was amended three years in the past to make membership in each NATO and the European Union nationwide targets.
A type of neutrality for Ukraine with out NATO membership would appear to fulfill a key Russian demand, although solely considered one of them. And any type of neutrality should include safety ensures towards additional Russian aggression, the Ukrainians say. However who would supply such ensures, and, if some guarantors are NATO members, how that might be basically completely different from precise membership within the alliance, are solely a number of the basic questions excellent.
On Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky stated neutrality should embody dependable ensures that defend Ukraine from future threats. “We will and should defend our state, our life, our Ukrainian life,” he stated. “We will and should negotiate a simply however truthful peace for Ukraine, actual safety ensures that can work. Persistence is required.”
However Moscow has additionally demanded that Ukraine settle for the lack of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and settle for that a big chunk of the nation within the east — all the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, components of that are occupied by Russian-backed separatists — turn into unbiased republics, as Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, has decreed.
Ukraine rejects such a dismembering of its nation, so it’s troublesome for now to see the place a compromise is perhaps discovered.
As a senior NATO official steered, negotiations solely work, as they lastly did in Bosnia, when a battle reaches a stalemate or one aspect wins. Neither Russia nor Ukraine is but able to cease combating — Russia in its quest to grab Ukraine’s seacoast, essential cities and the capital, Kyiv; or Ukraine to withstand. Even when Russia’s advances have slowed, Mr. Putin offers no indication that his navy or political targets have modified.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated Thursday that the USA noticed no signal that Mr. Putin was ready to cease his navy efforts.
“From the place I sit, diplomacy clearly requires either side partaking in good religion to de-escalate,” he stated. “The actions that we’re seeing Russia take each single day, nearly each minute of every single day, are in complete distinction to any critical diplomatic effort to finish the battle.”
Varied nations are making efforts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, most notably Turkey and Israel, that are usually seen as having much less fraught ties to each nations than Germany and France, which have additionally tried to make overtures to Mr. Putin. However efforts at primary and non permanent cease-fires for civilians to flee the combating round cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol have been troublesome to realize.
On Friday, it was Mr. Putin who complained in a name with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, that Ukraine was “making an attempt to pull out the negotiation course of by placing ahead new unrealistic proposals” and accused Ukraine of battle crimes.
Mr. Putin stated Russia was “able to suggest a seek for options in step with its well-known principled approaches” in a fourth spherical of talks. However even a negotiated cease-fire appears a distant prospect, not to mention an enduring peace.
Up to now, based on a senior Ukrainian official, Russia’s calls for are largely unacceptable.
In essence, he stated, Russia is demanding that the Ukrainian Parliament vote to enshrine the nation’s neutrality, downgrade its military to 50,000 troops or fewer, pledge to not host any overseas navy bases, and settle for Russian sovereignty in Crimea and the independence of all the Donbass area, which incorporates Donetsk and Luhansk.
Solely then, the official stated, would Russia comply with withdraw from different territory it has already occupied.
Ukraine, the official stated, received’t comply with something until Russia first withdraws its forces, or to a navy that small, which is lower than 1 / 4 of its prewar standing drive. However it’s keen to just accept some type of demilitarized zone of some 50 to 100 kilometers on both aspect of the border, the official stated.
The Ukrainians additionally need a world peacekeeping drive in Ukraine, with its sovereignty assured — and never merely “assured,” as within the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, through which the nation agreed to surrender its nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union. And so they need these safety ensures signed by the everlasting members of the U.N. Safety Council — the USA, Britain, China, France and Russia — plus Turkey and Germany.
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That will commit the important thing members of NATO to combat for Ukraine ought to Russia (or every other nation) invade. Provided that NATO is unwilling to combat Russian troops in Ukraine now, and even to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine for threat of fight with Russia, it’s arduous to think about that such ensures may very well be agreed upon, the senior NATO official stated.
Even on the difficulty of neutrality, there are issues sufficient, past the thought of altering the structure. The Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has steered Austria as a mannequin for Ukrainian neutrality. And Austrian officers have briefed Ukrainian officers, based on a senior Western diplomat. However on condition that Austria has no limits on the scale of its personal navy forces, it’s unlikely that its mannequin will probably be acceptable to Russia.
Turkey is making its personal mediating efforts. Turkey’s overseas minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, traveled from Moscow to Lviv for separate talks with the Russian and Ukrainian overseas ministers this week. He expressed hopes for progress on a cease-fire, and arrange a phone dialog Thursday between Mr. Putin and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
One other view of Russia’s calls for emerged from that dialog. Based on Mr. Erdogan’s senior aide and spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, who was on the decision, Mr. Putin can also be insisting on Russian once more turning into an official language in Ukraine and on what he phrases the “de-Nazification” of the nation.
Mr. Kalin instructed the BBC that nevertheless offensive that final demand is perhaps to Mr. Zelensky, who’s Jewish and misplaced household within the Holocaust, it is perhaps sufficient for Ukraine to pledge to sentence neo-Nazis and crack down on a few of its far-right nationalist teams to meet it.
Mr. Kalin stated a second class of calls for was harder for Ukraine, involving territorial compromise, however he didn’t specify them.
The pinnacle of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, stated in Moscow on Friday that on the difficulty of demilitarization, the 2 sides are “someplace midway,” however didn’t disclose particulars.
A senior Western diplomat, briefed on the talks, steered that neutrality and giving up Crimea could be simpler for Ukraine than Russia’s different calls for, like an additional japanese partition and demilitarization. The diplomat confirmed that Mr. Putin appeared keen to speak to Mr. Zelensky, who appears to be making an attempt to organize Ukrainians for an eventual deal.
If correct, Mr. Putin’s willingness to speak to Mr. Zelensky, whose ouster he initially demanded, is a type of progress. That can also be an acknowledgment that the present Russian crew negotiating with Ukraine is low-ranking and has little authority to settle probably the most troublesome points. So peace seems a really great distance away.
Steven Erlanger reported from Brussels and Patrick Kingsley from Tbilisi, Georgia. Safak Timur contributed reporting from Istanbul.
Already rated one of swimming’s all-time greats coming into the Paris Olympics, Katie Ledecky made it official by storming to victory in her signature event, the 800-metre freestyle, to end her work in the French capital in great style.
French torpedo Leon Marchand may be the prince of Paris, electrifying the home nation with four spectacular gold medals, but it is Ledecky writing her name in the record books after she claimed her ninth gold, equalling Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most by any woman in any Olympic sport.
In sharp contrast to Ledecky’s runaway win in the 1,500-metre, the 800-metre freestyle on Saturday was a thriller from start to finish, with Ariarne Titmus matching her stroke-for-stroke for almost the entire distance.
But with the American setting a relentless, grinding pace, her great Australian rival would never get her nose in front, settling for silver as Ledecky got to the wall first in a time of 8 minutes, 11.04 seconds.
Paige Madden took bronze for the United States.
It is the fourth time Ledecky has won the 800-metre freestyle and she joins compatriot Michael Phelps as the only swimmer to win gold in four different Olympics.
The 800-metre was the final event on Ledecky’s Paris card and she returns home having added two golds, a silver and a bronze, bringing her Olympic stockpile to 14 medals in all – with more possible. The 27-year-old has hinted that a home Olympics in Los Angeles in four years is on her mind.
And in a passing of the baton moment, Canada’s Summer McIntosh enhanced her status as the rising star of women’s swimming by winning her third gold medal of the games in the 200-metre individual medley.
The 17-year-old produced a brilliant late surge to win in a time of 2min 06.56sec, the third-fastest time in history.
Kate Douglass of the USA finished second to take silver while Australian Kaylee McKeown took the bronze after American Alex Walsh, who had finished third, was disqualified.
McIntosh had already claimed gold in the 400-metre individual medley and the 200-metre butterfly, as well as a silver in the 400-metre freestyle.
“It’s pretty surreal. I’m just so proud of myself, how I’ve been able to recover and manage the events because it is a lot,” said the teenager, who also won silver in the 400-metre freestyle during what has been an intense games for her.
“The reason I’m able to do this just because of all the hard work and dedication I’ve given to this moment along with all my family and my teammates and my coaches, and I’ve also worked so hard for me to be here today,” she said.
The Canadian said she knew that she had to pull out all the stops to secure her latest win.
Earlier, Hungarian powerhouse Kristof Milak stormed to a second Olympic gold with victory in a thrilling men’s 100-metre butterfly final, while adding to the silver medal he won in the 200-metre event at the Paris Games.
Three years after claiming the 200-metre gold at Tokyo, the 24-year-old secured the shorter of the two Olympic butterfly titles by touching the wall in 49.90, 0.09 seconds ahead of Canadian runner-up Josh Liendo.
Ilya Kharun grabbed a second bronze for Canada, having also taken one in the 200-metre butterfly in Paris.
Now boasting four Olympic medals, Milak gave Hungary a second gold in the Paris meet following Hubert Kos’s 200-metre backstroke title.
In the final race of the night in the pool, the United States broke the world record in winning the 4×100-metre mixed medley relay gold, outgunning China and Australia.
Their team of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske touched in 3min 37.43sec to narrowly better the mark set by Britain at the Tokyo Games, when the event was first added to the Olympic programme.
China’s Zhang Yufei took silver in 3:37.55, with Australia filling the podium in 3:38.76.
It is only the second world record in the pool in Paris after China’s Pan Zhanle smashed the men’s 100-metre freestyle best.
Teams in the mixed medley comprise two women and two men, with each of the four swimmers allocated to one of the four traditional medley strokes – backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
The United States chose to lead off with Murphy up against China’s Xu Jiayu, while Australia opted for Kaylee McKeown.
Both Fink and Walsh then swam storming legs before Huske brought it home with China’s Yang Junxuan and Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan in hot pursuit.
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Halfway to its goal of gold, the U.S. has the No. 1 seed going into the medal round at the Paris Olympics.
And now the real games start.
Anthony Edwards scored 26 points, six players reached double figures for the U.S. and the Americans wrapped up the top spot coming out of group play by rolling past Puerto Rico 104-83 on Saturday.
The Americans — 3-0 in these Olympics, 8-0 so far this summer — will see Brazil in the win-or-go-home quarterfinals in Paris on Tuesday.
Joel Embiid scored 15 points for the U.S. Kevin Durant scored 11 points for the U.S. to get within five of matching Lisa Leslie for the all-time Olympic scoring record for the U.S.; he’s at 483, and Leslie finished her career with 488 in Olympic play.
LeBron James finished with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds in 18 minutes. Jayson Tatum and Anthony Davis each added 10 for the U.S., which played without Jrue Holiday because of an ankle that he rolled in the Americans’ win over South Sudan on Wednesday.
Jose Alvarado led Puerto Rico (0-3) with 18 points.
It was the first Olympic matchup between the nations since the Athens Games in 2004, when Puerto Rico ran away in the second quarter and went on to embarrass the U.S. 92-73 in what was James’ debut in the tournament.
Little different story this time.
That day in Athens, Puerto Rico won the second quarter 28-7. This time, the U.S. won the second quarter 39-16. Give Puerto Rico credit; a team that came into Saturday knowing it was eliminated from contention took an eight-point lead late in the first quarter and still led 37-36 with 5:45 left in the half.
The rest of the half: U.S. 28, Puerto Rico 8. The run was quick and decisive.
James had all six of his first-half assists during that burst and the Americans took a 64-45 lead into the break. He finished the flurry with a dunk in the final seconds, ran by his 2004 Athens teammate Dwyane Wade — now commentating for NBC, sitting courtside — while yelling something with a big smile and from there the countdown to wrapping up the No. 1 seed was officially on.
As would be expected, really.
It’s been three games, three easy wins for the Americans so far in France: a 26-point opening victory over Serbia, a 17-point win over South Sudan to clinch the top spot in Group C, and then Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico that once it got one-sided it stayed that way.
___
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., has had to defend his stance on Israel after an op-ed he penned more than three decades ago, in which he wrote of being an Israeli army volunteer and disparaged the Palestinian people, resurfaced.
“Since he wrote this piece as a 20-year-old student, Gov. Shapiro has built close, meaningful, informative relationships with many Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian Christian, and Jewish community leaders all across Pennsylvania,” Shapiro’s spokesman Manuel Bonder told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“The Governor greatly values their perspectives and the experiences he has learned from over the years – and as a result, as with many issues, his views on the Middle East have evolved into the position he holds today,” Bonder continued.
The Philadelphia Inquirer uncovered the essay that Shapiro wrote for the Campus Times, the student newspaper of the University of Rochester, from which Shapiro graduated in 1995. In the article, Shapiro stressed his view that “Palestinians will not peacefully coexist,” because “they do not have the capabilities to establish their own homelands and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States.”
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“They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” Shapiro wrote, identifying himself as a “past volunteer in the Israeli army.” He referred to the Arab world as divided and “belligerent.”
The comments have resurfaced as part of a thorough review of Shapiro as he edges closer to a potential vice-presidential nod for the Democrat ticket topped by current Vice President Kamala Harris after she secured the nomination this week.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., speaks at a campaign event, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Shapiro’s support for Israel has been controversial inside the Democratic Party due to the strong pro-Palestinian views of the party’s far-left flank. Those who oppose his candidacy launched the “No Genocide Josh” campaign and continue to pressure Harris to pick another running mate.
Some Jewish members of Congress have said that criticism of Shapiro is unfair and assumes that Jewish politicians cannot be objective on Israel.
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“I think there is that sense that somehow we’re not objective [on Israel] because we’re Jewish, which is just not true or fair,” Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, told Axios. “There are a lot of members who are pro-Israel who have been protested against — I think as Jews it feels particularly intense and personal.”
Bonder pushed back on the idea that the newspaper op-ed, written decades ago, provides any indication of the governor’s current thinking regarding Israel.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (L) speak to the press while making a stop at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Collerd/ AFP) (Photo by Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images) (Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images)
“As the Governor has made clear for years, he supports a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live together peacefully – and he believes it is critical for leaders on both sides of this conflict to take meaningful, necessary steps towards a lasting peace,” Bonder stressed.
“Governor Shapiro has worked hard to bring people together, listen, and keep our communities safe and heard – and he will always be a Governor for all Pennsylvanians,” Bonder added.
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Addressing the self-identification as a “past volunteer in the Israeli army,” Bonder said, “While he was in high school, Josh Shapiro was required to do a service project, which he and several classmates completed through a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery.”
Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, speaks during a campaign event with U.S. President Joe Biden, not pictured, at the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg)
“The program also included volunteering on service projects on an Israeli army base. At no time was he engaged in any military activities,” Bonder said.
When asked about the article during a Friday press conference, the 51-year-old Shapiro stressed his age and the time that has passed since publishing the article. He reiterated his belief that the only way forward for the region is a two-state solution that allows both Israelis and Palestinians “to determine their own futures and their own destinies,” the Times of Israel reported.
Shapiro also had earlier this year called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “one of the worst leaders of all time” and blasted him for steering Israel “in a wrong direction,” according to the Times.
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