Free Republic

US unilateralism has wrecked the chances of peace in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, told a crisis Brics meeting on Gaza as he attempted to woo leaders of the global south. The virtual meeting of 11 nations, convened by South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, came as Arab foreign ministers toured capitals to drum up support for a fresh UN security council resolution mandating Israel to introduce a full ceasefire and end what they say are breaches of international humanitarian law. ...Putin told the Brics meeting that the US was undermining the chances of peace by trying to...

Conservative cleric and a newspaper editor openly critical of government’s stance on weapons it supplied to Moscow An internal rift over the supply of deadly drones to Russia for use in Ukraine has opened up in Iran, with a prominent conservative cleric and newspaper editor saying Russia is the clear aggressor in the war and the supply should stop. A former Iranian ambassador to Moscow has also hinted the foreign ministry may have been kept in the dark both by the Kremlin and the Iranian military. Iran has denied for more than two months that it sold the drones to...

"MOSCOW, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it would insist that Western governments respect a 1999 agreement that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others, an issue it argues is at the heart of the Ukraine crisis. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he raised the matter in a conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and that Blinken accepted the need to discuss it further."

Iran has implied that its regional foe, Saudi Arabia, may have blocked efforts to save the life of its ambassador to Yemen, who contracted coronavirus there but was unable to be repatriated immediately for urgent medical treatment. Riyadh controls the airspace around the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and the ambassador was flown out on an Iraqi military aircraft after negotiations by the Oman government with Saudi Arabia. The Wall Street Journal had reported that Riyadh said there were no signs the ambassador was seriously ill and that in return for allowing Irlu to leave Yemen, Riyadh had asked the Houthis to...

Kingdom’s military campaign in Yemen also prompts all-party group to urge government to back international inquiry ___ An all-party group of MPs has called for an immediate suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and an international independent inquiry into the kingdom’s military campaign in Yemen. The call from the international development select committee follows evidence from aid agencies to MPs warning that Saudi Arabia was involved in indiscriminate bombing of its neighbour