Russia cast aside its doubts on Monday and joined a US-led alliance of countries prepared to board ships and raid suspect factories in a crackdown against weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Moscow become the 15th core member of US President George W. Bush's Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) just as it began a meeting in the southern Polish city of Krakow.
Bush launched the initiative, designed to stop such arms ending up in states viewed with distrust by Washington, such as North Korea and Iran, during a visit to Krakow a year ago.
"The threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is global and accordingly requires a global response," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We are sure that we can cope with the problem only through a collective effort."
US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said in Krakow the search for ships carrying WMD would greatly benefit from the involvement of Russia's vast navy.
"We worked for this from the start of this initiative," Bolton told reporters. "I expect that the United States and Russia will now enhance our intelligence sharing in the area of trafficking of weapons of mass destruction."
Russia initially had strong reservations about Bush's initiative, fearing that a right to intercept suspicious vessels could give a legal role of global policeman to the US, which has the strongest naval presence across the world.
Another concern was the PSI could be used to hamper Russia's commercial interests because it trades with many countries at odds with Washington.
The PSI aims to improve the legal structure for inspect arms shipments, tighten controls over exports of nuclear materials and remove barriers for intelligence sharing between countries to keep terror groups from getting their hands on WMD.
"The failure of concerted action would only mean more chaos and unpredictability," Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz told delegates.
"There is no blueprint, no plan for the perfect international order. We won't be able to move towards it without failures but we must have clear signposts on this road," he said.
Russia announced its decision to join a week before a summit of the G8 major industrial nations at Sea Island, Georgia, where the PSI is going to be high on the agenda.
Russia said it would contribute to the PSI if this did not violate international or domestic law.
"We assume that actions within this initiative should not and will not create obstacles to legal economic, scientific and technical cooperation," the Foreign Ministry said.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
RSS