World Briefing: September 14, 2024
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer did not signal any decision on allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia after talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington. When asked if he had persuaded Biden to allow Ukraine to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, Sir Keir said they had had "a long and productive discussion on a number of fronts, including Ukraine, as you would expect, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific". The White House said they also expressed "deep concern about Iran and North Korea's provision of lethal weapons to Russia". Earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western nations not to let Ukraine fire long-range missiles at Russia. - BBC
As I told BBC News this afternoon, it appears officials in Washington are succumbing to Mr. Putin’s bluffing in threatening to use nuclear weapons as an escalation tactic. There also appears to be institutional resistance in the White House and State Department to allow Kyiv to strike deeper inside Russia using western-supplied missiles. As for the Trump-Vance so-called peace plan for Ukraine, I said on air that they appear to be repeating talking points and strategy written by the Kremlin.
Senator JD Vance outlined a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. But objectively, it sounds a lot like Vladimir Putin’s. Mr. Vance’s critics immediately said he had described a Russian victory, while his supporters said he had offered the only realistic path to peace. In an interview with “The Shawn Ryan Show” that was posted on Thursday, Mr. Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, was asked about former President Donald J. Trump’s plans to end the war. Mr. Vance said Mr. Trump would sit down with Russians, Ukrainians and Europeans and say, “You guys need to figure out what a peaceful settlement looks like.” He went on to outline what he thinks a deal would entail: The Russians would retain the land they have taken and a demilitarized zone would be established along the current battle lines, with the Ukrainian side heavily fortified to prevent another Russian invasion. - NYT
Russia’s Federal Security Service announced that six British diplomats who left Moscow last month had actually been expelled for spying. The announcement appeared timed to influence U.S.-Anglo talks over the use of longer range missiles by Ukraine. Russian news outlet RBC reported last year that Western countries and Japan expelled 670 Russian diplomats between the beginning of 2022 and October 2023. In response, Moscow expelled 346 diplomats. According to RBC, this number was more than in the previous 20 years combined.
New pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touring what state media said is a uranium enrichment facility have given an extremely rare glimpse inside the isolated nation’s closely guarded nuclear weapons program. According to a report from Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Friday, Kim visited the facility - a bright, sterile warehouse filled with long rows of cylindrical machinery - which is used to produce weapons-grade nuclear material for the North’s growing arsenal. The report comes as North Korea continues to ramp up its illegal nuclear weapons program and strengthens relations with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West over the isolated nation’s direction under Kim. The location and exact date of Kim’s visit to the site were not disclosed in the report, but the purpose of his inspection was clear, according to KCNA: to lay out a “long-term plan for increasing the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials.” - CNN
More than half-a-million children were vaccinated against polio during the first round of an emergency vaccination campaign conducted in the Gaza Strip, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The original target for the campaign was 640 000 children. The organization said: “Ultimately, we need a long-lasting ceasefire as all families in the Gaza Strip need peace so they can begin to heal and rebuild their lives.“
