US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Italy on Friday on the last stop of a four-nation tour aimed at bolstering Western support for former Soviet republics in the wake of Russia’s five-day war with Georgia.
Cheney was to address the Ambrosetti conference on security and intelligence in Lake Como yesterday, after pledging Washington’s “deep and abiding interest” in Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan and slamming Russia’s military actions last month over the rebel region of South Ossetia.
The US vice president also expressed support for Georgia and Ukraine becoming eventual members of NATO. He was expected to press that message to leaders at the conference, and in one-on-one talks with Spanish, Turkish and Italian leaders.
During his trip, Cheney urged the expansion of energy routes that would take oil and gas to Europe and bypass oil giant Russia, vowed continued US support for ally Georgia and called on Ukraine’s leaders to unite in the face of Russian “threats.”
He also restated US support for Ukraine’s bid to join NATO and warned Russia against attempting to block Ukraine’s entry to the military alliance.
An administration official told reporters following Cheney’s talks in Kiev that Russia’s conflict with Georgia may have altered views among US allies in the region, but that the administration of President George W. Bush would invest “an awful lot of energy” in pushing for Georgian and Ukrainian entry in NATO during its final months in office.
“People have been shaken by events in Georgia,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “It has created a new situation. I think there are some indications that some of the allies are looking with a fresh set of eyes, looking at the new circumstances.”
“There’s a lot of diplomatic work, consultations that have to be done,” the official said.
Russia has objected to the 26-member NATO military alliance, which Moscow sees as a Cold War relic, and said it was time for a new inclusive security system including Russia.
EU members decided at a summit this week in Brussels to freeze talks on a strategic partnership accord with Moscow after Russia’s military surge into Georgia and recognition of Georgian rebel regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in