The EU is proposing to sanction companies in mainland China for the first time as part of its latest measures aimed at shutting down loopholes that allow Russia to route military technology via third countries to its weapons factories. Three companies in mainland China, as well as four in Hong Kong and one in India, are on a 91-page document of companies and individuals who EU member states want to add to a growing sanctions list before the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the EU, the UK…
Tag: Russia
Two Cases Aim to Cut Off China and Iran From U.S. Technology
The U.S. government announced charges in two separate cases on Wednesday aimed at enforcing laws blocking the transfer of critical technologies, part of a broader campaign to hamper military efforts and weapons production in rival countries. One of the complaints was against a U.S. citizen born in China who has been arrested and accused of stealing trade secrets from a private company. The technology, according to court documents, “would be dangerous to U.S. national security if obtained by international actors.” A Justice Department complaint filed in U.S. District Court in…
N.S.A. Installs New Director as U.S. Prepares for Election Influence Operations
Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh took the helm of the National Security Agency and the Cyber Command on Friday, as the intelligence agencies and military brace for renewed efforts by foreign adversaries to influence the American elections this year. General Haugh replaces Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, who took over in 2018 and helped focus the N.S.A. and Cyber Command on countering foreign efforts to interfere in American elections. The N.S.A. collects communications intelligence, like phone calls and computer traffic, and Cyber Command conducts operations on computer networks. Securing…
F.B.I. Director Warns of China Hacking Threat
Christopher A. Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, warned on Wednesday that China was ramping up an extensive hacking operation geared at taking down the United States’ power grid, oil pipelines and water systems in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. Mr. Wray, appearing before a House subcommittee on China, offered an alarming assessment of the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts. Its intent is to sow confusion, sap the United States’ will to fight and hamper the American military from deploying resources if the dispute over Taiwan, a…
The US isn’t the biggest power in the Middle East any more. Iran is
The first of what may be many US-led air strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi Shia militants in Yemen marks another dismaying milestone on a long trail of western policy failures in the Middle East – the most pivotal and consequential of which remains the decades-old failure to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict. The fact the US, backed by Britain, was obliged to use force in response to trade-strangling Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping reflects an unpalatable reality: Washington’s political leverage is waning, its diplomacy ineffectual, its authority scorned. Undaunted, the Houthis…
Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns
Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW). In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments. The report highlights political leaders’ increasing disregard for international human rights laws. The report says “selective government outrage and transactional…
From Lebanon to the Red Sea, a Broader Conflict With Iran Looms
President Biden and his top national security aides believed last summer that the chances of conflict with Iran and its proxies were well contained. After secret talks, they had just concluded a deal that led to the release of five imprisoned Americans in return for $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds and some Iranian prisoners. The militants that Tehran finances and arms — Hamas in the Palestinian territories, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen — seemed relatively quiet. Iran even slowed enrichment of uranium at its underground nuclear…
How Russian and Chinese Interference Could Affect the 2024 Election
The U.S. government is preparing for its adversaries to intensify efforts to influence American voters next year. Russia has huge stakes in the presidential election. China seems poised to back a more aggressive campaign. Other countries, like Iran, might again try to sow division in the United States. As Washington looks ahead to the 2024 vote, U.S. intelligence agencies last week released a report on the 2022 midterm elections — a document that gives us some hints about what might be to come. Spy agencies concluded Russia favored Trump in…
How China Is Profiting From Trade With Russia
On China’s snowy border with Russia, a dealership that sells trucks has seen its sales double in the past year thanks to Russian customers. China’s exports to its neighbor are so strong that Chinese construction workers built warehouses and 20-story office towers at the border this summer. The border town Heihe is a microcosm of China’s ever closer economic relationship with Russia. China is profiting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led Russia to switch from the West to China for purchases of everything from cars to computer chips.…
Worlds apart: inside the 22 December Guardian Weekly
The Guardian Weekly magazine looks forward and back in our final edition of 2023, a year overshadowed by war and conflict. In a special essay, diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reflects on how a perception of US double standards over Ukraine and Gaza has damaged the west in the minds of the global south, and whether an international reckoning of sorts awaits Washington in 2024. “I wanted to illustrate chaos and destruction as testaments of war,” writes Israel G Vargas on his cover artwork for this week’s edition. “Two conflicts shaking…