Foreign affairs updates - 29th July, 2021

A useful compilation of foreign affairs

 Foreign affairs updates - 29th July, 2021

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• U.S.-Cuba policy: President Joe Bidendwelcomes representatives of the Cuban American community to the White House, as the administration mulled further sanctions on the Cuban government following protests earlier in July. Biden’s team will also consider ways to bolster the island’s access to the internet to prevent outages that occurred around the July 11 protests and consider methods for Cuban Americans to send money to friends and family in Cuba. The administration has reportedly rejected the idea of restoring remittances outright.
• Japan vs. COVID-19: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was to announce the expansion of Tokyo’s state of emergency to include the cities of Osaka, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba. The decision comes as Tokyo has seen record daily COVID-19 cases for three days running. Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said the increase in cases in Tokyo two weeks after a state of emergency was initially announced was an “alarming development that is different from anything we have seen before.” Overall, Japan reported 10,684 new cases on Thursday, its largest spike since the pandemic began.
• Tigray’s food crisis: USAID Administrator Samantha Power will go to Ethiopia as part of a U.S. campaign to ensure humanitarian access to the Tigray region and to encourage negotiations between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Power is set to meet with Ethiopia’s national security adviser Gedu Andargachew and could also meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a USAID official said. Power will also meet with U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths. The diplomatic push comes as the U.N. World Food Programme warned that Tigray would run out of food if an aid convoy was not allowed enter the region.
• Brazil’s election: President Jair Bolsonaro continued to cast doubt on the integrity of the country’s election system as he shared videos online of alleged ballot fraud in previous elections. Bolsonaro has repeatedly called into question the reliability of electronic voting machines, allegations Brazil’s electoral authorities insist are unfounded. Bolsonaro—who is behind his rival former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022 election polls—has pushed for a dual system whereby votes are recorded both electronically and physically.
• Best place to run away to: A study has singled out New Zealand as the best country in which to ride out a societal collapse, whether it be from a financial, climate or health-based calamity. Researchers at the Global Sustainability Institute, at Anglia Ruskin University ranked countries on criteria that included their ability to grow enough food to sustain their populations, easily enforce border measures, and maintain an electricity supply. New Zealand won out, researchers said, due to its low population density, renewable energy potential, and arable land. If New Zealand is out of reach, the study also deemed the island nations of Iceland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom as suitable alternatives.
• Iran nuclear deal: The United States and Iran seem far from reaching an agreement on a return to the 2015 nuclear deal as a more conservative president prepared to take office. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly chastised President Hassan Rouhani, along with his cabinet, in a meeting broadcast on state television. He accused the US of nitpicking and duplicity in negotiations in Vienna, saying that U.S. negotiators insisted on including a sentence that would set the stage for talks on aspects not covered under the nuclear agreement.
• China welcomes Taliban: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed a Taliban delegation to the port city of Tianjin, in a sign of warming ties as regional powers prepare for an Afghanistan without U.S. and NATO troops. Wang described the group as a “pivotal military and political force” in Afghanistan and  would play a key role in advancing the “process of peace, reconciliation and reconstruction.” Wang also found time to criticize the US saying the recent troop withdrawal “reveals the failure of America’s policies and offers the Afghan people an important opportunity to stabilize and develop their own country.”

 

 

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