US President George W. Bush says the Middle East summit sponsored by former president Bill Clinton resulted in a ``significant intifadah,'' or uprising, repeating an accusation his press secretary got in trouble for uttering.
``It wasn't all that long ago where a summit was called and nothing happened, and as a result we had significant intifadah in the area,'' Bush told Britain's ITV network in an interview taped for his weekend talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Middle East crisis and Bush's decision to send Secretary of State Colin Powell on a peacemaking mission will dominate their talks.
During his last months in office, Clinton was heavily engaged in pressing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak to strike an accord, but his intensive diplomacy -- capped by the 2000 Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Camp David presidential retreat -- failed.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, defending Bush against criticism that he had not played an active peacemaking role in contrast to Clinton, said in February that the 17-month uprising broke out during Clinton's presidency.
``In an attempt to shoot the moon and get nothing, more violence resulted,'' Fleischer said.
Clinton's former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, lodged a complaint with Bush's national security chief, Condoleezza Rice. She asked Fleischer to retract his comment, though advisers said at the time that Fleischer reflected the president's privately held views.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
RSS