World
Putin thanks Kim Jong Un for supporting Russian invasion of Ukraine as nations sign mutual defensive pact
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un signed a mutual aid pact on Wednesday, bringing the two nations closer than ever since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The pact, which both leaders emphasized is a landmark agreement between the countries, reportedly covers defensive security, humanitarian relief, trade and investment concerns.
Putin thanked Kim on Wednesday for North Korea’s “unwavering support” of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
PUTIN TOUCHES DOWN IN PYONGYANG, SAYS ‘HEROIC PEOPLE’ OF NORTH KOREA WILL ‘CONFRONT’ WEST WITH RUSSIA
North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday claimed Putin’s visit was part of a desperate attempt to maintain international allies despite the increasingly drawn out invasion.
“We’ve seen […] Russia try, in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine,” said Blinken.
He added that the U.S. will “do everything we can to cut off the support that countries, like Iran and North Korea, are providing.”
DOZENS OF NORTH KOREAN SOLDIERS REPEATEDLY BREACH FORBIDDEN ZONE WITH SOUTH KOREA AHEAD OF PUTIN VISIT
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. Putin received a red carpet welcome, a military ceremony and an embrace from Kim during a state visit to Pyongyang, where they both pledged to forge closer ties. (KRISTINA KORMILITSYNA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Kim has been enthusiastic about building associations with Russia and China in order to build international legitimacy despite his country’s dismal human rights record.
The hermit country has worked to supply munitions and other military resources to the Russian military since the beginning of the war against Ukraine. Weapons baring marks that indicate North Korean manufacturing have been recovered by the Ukrainian military.
Putin last visited North Korea in 2000, when the hereditary dictatorship was under the control of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. (GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was founded in 1948 with direct influence from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
The Kim family — sometimes referred to as the Mount Paektu bloodline — is the hereditary dictatorship of the country founded by communist revolutionary Kim Il Sung.
North Korea operates under the state ideology of Juche, a quasi-communist worldview founded on a cult of personality and enthusiastic nationalism.
World
Bolivian president survives failed coup, calls for 'democracy to be respected,' army general arrested
Bolivian President Luis Arce announced three new heads of the South American country’s armed forces following an attempted coup in which military units used armored vehicles to ram into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace before the army general allegedly responsible was arrested.
The news of the new heads of the army, navy and air force came amid the roar of supporters.
“The country is facing an attempted coup d’état. Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize,” Arce said in a video message.
Video footage showed troops setting up blockades outside the government palace. Arce said the troops who rose against him were “staining the uniform” of the military.
BOLIVIAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT ACCUSES MORALES OF TERRORISM, SEDITION
Bolivian president Luis Arce (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
“I order all that are mobilized to return to their units,” said the newly appointed army chief José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”
Soon after, troops began pulling back from the presidential palace.
Arce confronted Army Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, who was recently stripped of his military command and who appeared to be leading the rebellion, in the palace hallway, as shown in a video on Bolivian television. Zúñiga was later arrested after the attorney general opened an investigation against him. It wasn’t immediately clear what the charges were against him.
Zuniga said Arce asked him to storm the palace in a political move.
“The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity’,” Zúñiga told reporters.
Army Cmdr. Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga sits inside an armored vehicle at Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Zúñiga sajd he asked Arce if he should “take out the armored vehicles?” and Arce replied, “Take them out.”
“I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” he said.
On X, Arce called for “democracy to be respected.”
The United States said it was closely monitoring the situation and urged calm and restraint.
BRAZIL’S PRESIDENT WITHDRAWS AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL, LEAVING DIPLOMATIC POST VACANT
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA – JUNE 26: Military Police walk amid tear gas outside the presidential palace at Plaza Murillo on June 26, 2024, in La Paz, Bolivia. President of Bolivia Luis Arce warned about irregular movements of military troops and raises the alert of a possible Coup d’état. (Photo by Gaston Brito Miserocchi/Getty Image)
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s precipitous decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the highest levels of the governing party. Arce and his one-time ally, leftist icon and former President Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia’s splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.
The leadership of Bolivia’s largest labor union condemned the action and declared an indefinite strike of social and labor organizations in La Paz in defense of the government.
The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States; Gabriel Boric, the president of neighboring Chile; the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.
26 June 2024, Bolivia, La Paz: Supporters of Bolivian President Arce rally in support of democracy near the government palace during an attempted coup. (Photo by Radoslaw Czajkowski/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The most recent attempted coup on the continent occurred in December 2022 when Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was arrested the same day that he attempted to dissolve Congress, declare a state of emergency and re-write the constitution. He was eventually impeached and removed from office.
“Brazil’s position is clear. I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d’état in Bolivia and reaffirm our commitment to the people and democracy in our sister country,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote on X.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
PodcastPodcast, The Take
Netanyahu’s interview on Israeli television suggests changing priorities in the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is ending the “intense” phase of the war on Gaza and signals a shift of focus to the simmering conflict on the country’s northern border with Lebanon. So, what will this mean on the ground?
In this episode:
- Daniel Levy – President of the US/Middle East Project, and a former Israeli peace negotiator
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Sarí el-Khalili, Ashish Malhotra, and Sonia Bhagat, with Amy Walters, Mohammed Zain Shafi Khan, Duha Mosaad, Veronique Eshaya, and our host Natasha Del Toro, in for Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority seeks contractors to rehabilitate homes
Exercise may lower the ALS risk for men — but not women: new study
Movie review: “The Bikeriders” revs up in the race for 2024’s most underrated movie
Visaccy Boys Suits Slim Fit Dress Clothes Ring Bearer Outfit
US banks suffer steeper losses, but retain large cushions in annual Fed health check
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
Cross-Tabs: June 2024 Times/Siena Poll of the Likely Electorate
Black Republican calls out Biden's 'real record on race' in six-figure ad buy to air during CNN debate
The Take: Israel signals a shift in the war on Gaza
Woman, 10-year-old daughter dead in suspected murder-suicide, Chandler police say
Trump leads Biden in battleground state that hasn't voted Republican since 2004: AARP poll
-
World1 week agoProtesters in Brussels march against right-wing ideology
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoShort Film Review: Willow and Wu (2024) by Kathy Meng
-
News1 week agoA fast-moving wildfire spreads north of Los Angeles, forcing evacuations
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoFancy Dance (2024) – Movie Review
-
Politics1 week agoTrump resurrects Biden's 'devastating' 1994 crime bill as he courts Black Detroit voters: ‘Super predators'
-
World1 week agoVideo: An American’s Desperate Effort to Save Her Family in Gaza
-
News1 week agoRead the Ruling by the Virginia Court of Appeals
-
World1 week agoRussia sets date for closed-door trial of US journalist