WORLD BRIEFING: August 29, 2023

Today marks 552 days since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

  • Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley slammed rival presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy’s foreign policy positions on Monday, reupping criticisms made at last week’s Republican primary debate. At a town hall in Indian Land, S.C., Haley, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, blasted the biotech entrepreneur for not valuing the United States’ relationships with key allies and not taking security threats from Russia and China seriously. “When you have somebody on stage say, ‘I’m going to let Russia have this part of Ukraine, and I’m gonna tell them you can’t do anything with China going forward,’ it’s completely naive,” Haley said to applause from the audience. “And the other thing that bothers me — it is completely narcissistic to think that America doesn’t need friends. We do need friends. We do need allies,” Haley continued. “You have no foreign policy experience and it shows,” Haley said in one of the most watched moments of Wednesday’s debate. Haley also said that Ramaswamy’s policy toward Russia amounted to his “choosing a murderer.” Ramaswamy, who outlined his foreign policy vision in an op-ed for The American Conservative on Monday, has said he would try to improve relations with Russia in order to “sever” the Russia-China relationship and has pledged he will end aid to Ukraine if elected president. He has also pushed for a “client” relationship with Israel, a key Middle Eastern ally, and has said his administration would not defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion after the U.S. “achieves semiconductor independence.” - Politico

  • U.S. and Chinese officials expressed hope for positive economic relations as U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese leaders for a second day in Beijing. Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Raimondo that “sound economic relations and trade cooperation will not only be beneficial to our two countries, but to the whole world.” Raimondo said the United States seeks to maintain its commercial relationship with China and hopes those ties “can provide stability for the overall relationship.”

  • At the BRICS summit last week here in South Africa, despite his legal woes, former president Jacob Zuma was the centre of attention alongside leaders who attended a gala dinner on Wednesday. Pictures of a smiling Zuma next to alleged fugitive and former Botswana president Ian Khama at the gala dinner have since been circulating on social media. Zuma and Khama seemed glued to the other, as he was pictured smiling and mingling with the likes of President Cyril Ramaphosa, and other dignitaries. Zuma is meant to complete his 15-month sentence for contempt of a Constitutional Court order. But he was reportedly released due to overcrowding in the facility where he was serving out his sentence

  • In great contrast to the BRICS Summit, where there was hardly any mention of the death and destruction happening in Ukraine - Kyiv’s envoy to S. Africa, Amb. Liubov Abravitova, at the Ukrainian independence celebration in Pretoria yesterday, blasted Moscow for its attacks on cities, cultural institutions, and global food supply chains. “We call on the Govt of South Africa to help restore the peace.” (An odd moment: minister of higher education & former longtime SA Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande said relations with Ukraine go back to days of USSR and he thanked Kyiv for its support)

  • There has been a dramatic rise in Ukraine's number of dead, according to new estimates by unnamed US officials. The BBC's Quentin Sommerville has been on the front line in the east, where the grim task of counting the dead has become a daily reality. Ukraine gives no official toll of its war dead - the Ukrainian armed forces have reiterated that their war casualty numbers are a state secret - but civilians have said they know the losses are huge. The figures remain classified. But US officials, quoted by the New York Times, recently put the number at 70,000 dead and as many as 120,000 injured. It is a staggering figure, from an armed forces estimated at only half a million strong. The UN has recorded 9,177 civilian deaths to date.

  • Ukraine said on Monday its troops had liberated the southeastern settlement of Robotyne and were trying to push further south in their counteroffensive against Russian forces. The Ukrainian military said last week that its forces had raised the national flag in the strategic settlement, but were still carrying out mopping-up operations. Ukrainian forces believe they have broken through the most difficult line of Russian defenses in the south and that they will now start advancing more quickly, a commander who led troops into Robotyne told Reuters last week. “Robotyne has been liberated,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar was quoted as saying by the military. The settlement is six miles south of the frontline town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region on an important road towards Tokmak, a Russian-occupied road and rail hub. Tokmak’s capture would be a milestone as Ukrainian troops press southwards towards the Sea of Azov in a military drive that is intended to split Russian forces following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

  • Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday its air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones south of Moscow. The ministry said the drones were downed over the Tula region. It did not give any details about any related damage. Ukraine has routinely targeted Russia, including the Moscow region, with drones in recent weeks - VOA

  • The Vatican sought to defend Pope Francis on Tuesday after the pontiff sparked fury in Ukraine by praising Russia's imperial rulers — a history President Vladimir Putin has invoked to justify his ongoing war. The Kremlin delighted in the controversy, which stemmed from comments Francis made to a group of young Russians urging them to see themselves as the heirs of a "great" empire. "Don’t forget your heritage. You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire — educated, great culture and great humanity," he said, speaking to young Russian Catholics in St. Petersburg by live video on Friday. “Never give up on this heritage. You are descendants of the great Mother Russia, step forward with it. And thank you — thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian." The pope gave a prepared speech to the event in his native Spanish before switching to Italian for this unscripted aside. The online transcript of the speech does not include these comments, video of which was shared widely online over the weekend - NBC

  • Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia soon to discuss the collapsed United Nations deal that had allowed Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain, a spokesperson for Turkey's ruling AK Party said Monday. The U.N. and Turkey-brokered deal lasted a year but ended last month after Moscow quit. Ankara is seeking to persuade Russia to return to the agreement, under which Odesa's seaports shipped tens of millions of tons of grain. Since the grain-export deal collapsed, Russian forces have targeted Ukrainian ports with volleys of missiles and kamikaze drones. Omer Celik, the AK Party spokesperson, said Erdogan would visit Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi "soon" but did not specify whether he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. "After this visit there may be developments and new stages may be reached regarding" the grain deal, he told reporters. The Kremlin said Friday there was an understanding the two leaders will meet in person soon. Bloomberg cited two anonymous sources in reporting that Erdogan is expected to meet Putin in Russia next week, possibly on Sept. 8, before he travels to a G20 meeting in India - VOA