All posts tagged: Alliance

US to Re-Engage With Gavi Vaccine Alliance Amid Ebola Outbreak, Rubio Says

US to Re-Engage With Gavi Vaccine Alliance Amid Ebola Outbreak, Rubio Says

Published by Sam Flores

By Patricia Zengerle and Jennifer Rigby WASHINGTON/LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco ⁠Rubio ⁠said on Tuesday that the U.S. would re-engage ⁠with the global vaccine alliance Gavi amid the Ebola outbreak in several African countries. Rubio told the Senate ​Foreign Relations Committee that the decision had been made a few weeks ago to re-engage, after the Trump administration pulled funding from Gavi last year. Gavi helps the ‌world’s poorest countries to buy vaccines, so ‌they can better protect children from diseases such as measles and diphtheria, but it also works in outbreak response. It has made $50 million available for ⁠the ongoing Bundibugyo outbreak in ⁠Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, including $10 million for the immediate response and $40 million to ​help speed up access to vaccines, which are at an early stage of development.    The Geneva-based group’s budget took a hit last June, when U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said that the U.S. would no longer provide any funding – representing around $300 million a year – because …

Romania says Russian drone hit apartment block, NATO vows to defend alliance territory

Romania says Russian drone hit apartment block, NATO vows to defend alliance territory

Published by Sam Flores

ROMANIA SCRAMBLED F-16 JETS Local authorities in southern Ukraine said Izmail port in the Odesa region, across the border from Galati, had come under attack from drones early on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to support Romania “in whatever way is necessary”. The Romanian defence ministry said two F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled and a military helicopter was sent to monitor the attack, with the pilots authorised to shoot down any drones without endangering inhabited areas. The residents of border counties Braila, Galati and Tulcea were warned to take cover. The drone was in Romania‘s airspace for four minutes and flew at a low altitude for 10 km (6.2 miles), making it difficult for radar to detect, Romanian Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim said. He told a press conference that although the US anti-drone system Merops is operational in Romania it is not yet fully integrated with national air defences and it would have been too risky to use in a city. In addition to the woman and her child who …

“They don’t like each other:” Is Russia and Iran’s alliance falling apart? | US-Israel war on Iran

“They don’t like each other:” Is Russia and Iran’s alliance falling apart? | US-Israel war on Iran

Published by Sam Flores

Iranian-build drones that Russia has used to hit Kyiv [Iranian Army via AP] Drones over Ukraine When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Iran reiterated its “neutrality,” abstaining or voting against UN resolutions condemning the war. But Iran’s supreme leader sounded far from neutral. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that Washington’s “mafia regime” needed “crisis spots all over the world” and made Ukraine its “victim”. “Support by Western governments for administrations and politicians that have been installed by them is a mirage,” he said in an hour-long speech on March 1, 2022, referring to Ukraine’s pro-Western government. Four months later, Putin visited Tehran, where he heard another anti-Western barb. “In case of Ukraine, had you not shown your initiative, the other side would have started the war,” Khamenei told Putin, echoing Moscow’s narrative about NATO and the collective West that “instigated” the war. “If [NATO] had not been stopped in Ukraine, it would have started a war [with Russia], using [annexed] Crimea as a pretext,” he said. Putin seemed pleased with the remarks …

Bridget Phillipson launches ‘international SEND alliance’

Bridget Phillipson launches ‘international SEND alliance’

Published by skeptic

Countries across the world will compare experiences of supporting pupils with SEND and agree “clear action plans” under a new alliance, the education secretary has announced. Bridget Phillipson called on ministers attending the Education World Forum to take part in her new international SEND alliance. Meeting three times in the next year, it will be “a coalition of countries, coming together across a series of summits, to chart a common path forward”. The government’s own SEND reform consultation closes today, having launched 12 weeks ago. Phillipson added: “For these children we will go beyond warm words. Our countries will compare experiences, share what works, and agree clear action plans that governments can take forward. “So I urge all countries here today to join us, let’s come together on this shared challenge, so we can learn from one another, and build education systems of excellence and inclusion, fit for the 2030s and beyond.” The alliance will meet at the Bett conference in January, EWF in May and at the international summit on the teaching profession. In …

Washington’s Joint Operation Against ISIS In Nigeria Sends A Message To The Sahelian Alliance

Washington’s Joint Operation Against ISIS In Nigeria Sends A Message To The Sahelian Alliance

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, The scenario of a US-backed Nigerian anti-terrorist intervention in Mali is becoming increasingly likely. Trump announced over the weekend that the US and Nigeria carried out a joint operation against ISIS’ second-highest figure, which his counterpart Bola Ahmed Tinubu disclosed took place in the northeast Lake Chad Basin where its ally Boko Haram recently killed over 20 Chadian troops. This is the US’ second military operation in Nigeria after Trump authorized bombing ISIS in Northwest Nigeria on Christmas Day, thus demonstrating the continued expansion of its anti-terrorist cooperation with this new BRICS partner. The significance of this observation shouldn’t be downplayed since it also sends a message to the Sahelian Alliance, whose de facto Malian leader is embroiled in its own anti-terrorist struggle after radical Islamists and Tuareg separatists kicked the government out of the northeast earlier this month. Although Mali is allied with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, the latter of which borders Northern Nigeria where the US struck terrorists twice in less than six months, neither have come to its rescue. That’s because they too are embroiled in their …

Is The Socialist-Islamist Alliance Finally Over?

Is The Socialist-Islamist Alliance Finally Over?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Remix News, Khalid Al-Hail is a defector from the Qatari ruling establishment, the president of the Qatar National Democratic Party, and the country’s most prominent opposition spokesman. Now living in exile in the United Kingdom, he is a successful international businessman and the leading advocate for democratic reform in Qatar, known for exposing the regime’s state-backed influence operations and media manipulation abroad. I can’t believe how petty this sounds, but I really think western socialists are frightened that the fall of the Ayatollahs will split their vote base. Why on earth else would people whose hearts bled for Palestine be back out in the streets supporting a regime which has matched the death toll of Gaza in just a few months? The clue is in the prevailing ideology of the Western intelligentsia. The signs have been visible for years. In 2022, a socialist political network within the European Union became embroiled in the so called ‘Qatargate’ scandal, involving cash bribes to close down debate about Qatar’s Human Rights abuses. As Qatar’s democratic opposition in political …

‘They have screwed each other pretty badly’: tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance

‘They have screwed each other pretty badly’: tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance

Published by Sam Flores

Benjamin Netanyahu interrupted an uncharacteristically long silence over the Iran conflict this week with a video commentary insisting he had “full coordination” with Donald Trump, with whom he spoke “almost daily”. The insistence that all was rosy in the US-Israeli relationship followed weeks of reports in the domestic press that Israel was no longer being consulted over the Iran conflict, and even less over Pakistani-brokered peace talks. Such is the scepticism over Netanyahu’s trustworthiness among the general public and independent press that the immediate reaction among observers to his video statement was speculation that the reality could be even worse than they had imagined. “He is doing so much talking about how great the relationship is that it makes me rather concerned about how much tension there is,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an American-Israeli political consultant and pollster. “I wouldn’t be surprised, as the war is clearly going very poorly from all perspectives related to the original goals.” The US president and the Israeli prime minister have long presented mirror images of each other. They have …

It does not make sense to invest more Arab resources in a US alliance | US-Israel war on Iran

It does not make sense to invest more Arab resources in a US alliance | US-Israel war on Iran

Published by Sam Flores

For decades, Gulf states operated under the assumption that their most important strategic partner was the United States. They built an extensive and multidimensional partnership with Washington, one that spanned security, energy, finance, and diplomacy. In launching its war alongside Israel against Iran, however, the US sidelined its Gulf partners, ignoring their appeals and concerns. Now, as the Trump administration attempts to negotiate with Iran, it again appears to have the interests of Israel as its top priority; the concerns of its Arab allies are once again overlooked. No matter how much these countries have done or how much more they are willing to offer, their interests will remain expendable in Washington whenever they collide with those of Israel. An alliance of stability Few alliances in modern history have been as deep or as mutually reinforcing as the one between the Gulf and the US, with with Gulf countries effectively opening their territory to a near-unconditional American military presence. Trade between the two sides exceeded $120bn in 2024, underpinned by Gulf investments in the US economy. …

‘A common enemy, but not a common project’: A fragile jihadist-separatist alliance in Mali

‘A common enemy, but not a common project’: A fragile jihadist-separatist alliance in Mali

Published by Sam Flores

Jihadist fighters in Mali on Thursday called for a nationwide uprising against the ruling military junta, as they tightened a blockade on the capital, Bamako, following coordinated attacks alongside Tuareg separatists.  The appeal came from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an affiliate of al Qaeda. It follows a series of joint offensives launched on Saturday that struck multiple towns and military positions across the country and reached as far as Bamako, the capital – marking the most serious escalation in Mali since 2012.  In a statement, JNIM called for a “common front”, uniting “political parties, the national armed forces, religious authorities, traditional leaders and all components of Malian society” to “bring down the junta” and pave the way for what it described as a “peaceful and inclusive transition”. The developments came as Mali held a funeral for defence minister Sadio Camara, who was killed last weekend in an attack on his residence in Kati, a junta stronghold around 20 kilometres from the capital.  A key architect of closer ties between Bamako and Russia, Camara …