KYIV: North Korean troops are poised to be deployed by Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine as early as this weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Friday.
Western officials have warned that North Korean units joining the fight would stoke the almost three-year war and bring geopolitical consequences as far away as the Indo-Pacific region.
The possibility has alarmed leaders and deepened diplomatic tensions.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the top national security advisers for the United States, Japan and South Korea met and “expressed grave concern” about North Korea’s troop deployments for potential use with Russia on the battlefield against Ukraine.
Kirby said that the national security advisers from the three countries “call on Russia and the DPRK to cease these actions that only serve to expand the security implications of Russia’s brutal and illegal war beyond Europe and into the Indo-Pacific.”
“It is possible that there are now more than 3,000 troops from North Korea that have been dispatched to Russia for outfitting and for training,” Kirby said on a call with reporters.
Kirby said the US government did not have firm intelligence assessments on where the troops were going “but we believe it is certainly possible” and “perhaps even likely” that some of the North Korean troops would be deployed to the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine has held some territory since capturing it in August. But he cautioned that he did not know in what capacity and to what purpose the North Korean troops would be deployed.
A senior official in the Ukrainian presidential office told The Associated Press on Friday that Zelensky had canceled a planned visit to Kyiv by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said the visit was supposed to come after this week’s summit in the Russian city of Kazan of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, which Guterres attended.
A photograph of Guterres shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit triggered an outcry in Ukraine.
Zelensky, in a post on Telegram, said Ukrainian intelligence had determined that “the first North Korean military will be used by Russia in combat zones” between Sunday and Monday.
He said on Telegram that the deployment was “an obvious escalating move by Russia.” He didn’t provide any further details, including where the North Korean soldiers may be sent.
Russia has been conducting a ferocious summer campaign along the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually compelling Kyiv to surrender ground. But Russia has struggled to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk border region following an incursion almost three months ago.
North Korean units were detected on Wednesday in Kursk, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, known by its acronym GUR.
The soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and had been equipped with clothes for the upcoming winter, GUR said in a statement late Thursday.
It estimated the number of North Korean soldiers sent by Pyongyang to Russia at around 12,000, including some 500 officers and three generals.
GUR provided no evidence for its claims.
Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said Friday on the social platform X that intelligence reports indicated the North Korean soldiers “will probably first be deployed in Kursk.”
The deployment of North Korean forces under a military pact between Moscow and Pyongyang brings a new dimension to the conflict, which is Europe’s biggest war since World War II and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including many civilians.
The US said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, calling the move very serious.
Zelensky said a week ago that his government has intelligence information that 10,000 troops from North Korea are being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country. He said that a third nation wading into the hostilities would turn the conflict into a “world war.”
North Korea had already been supplying ammunition to Russia under a defense pact, but putting boots on the ground could severely complicate a war that has inflamed international politics, with most Western countries supporting Kyiv.
Putin, meanwhile, has looked for support among BRICS countries.
He has neither confirmed nor denied that North Korean troops were in Russia.
Ukraine’s Zelensky says North Korean troops are poised to join the war, cancels UN chief’s visit
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Ukraine’s Zelensky says North Korean troops are poised to join the war, cancels UN chief’s visit
- National security advisers of the US, Japan and South Korea met and “expressed grave concern” over Russia's use of North Korean troops
- The deployment of North Korean forces under a military pact between Moscow and Pyongyang brings a new dimension to the conflict
‘Take our lives seriously,’ Michelle Obama pleads as she rallies for Kamala Harris in Michigan
- Obama warned that Trump’s potential return to the White House would undermine women’s health and reproductive freedom
- She accused Trump of “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better”
KALAMAZOO, Michigan: Michelle Obama delivered a searing denunciation of Donald Trump on Saturday in Michigan and challenged voters to support Kamala Harris as the United States’ first female president.
“By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady said. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?”
It was Obama’s first appearance on the campaign trail since she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago over the summer, and her remarks were forceful and passionate, even vulnerable.
She said she fears for the country and struggles to understand why the presidential race remains close.
“I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What in the world is going on?’” she said.
Her voice vibrating with emotion, Obama warned that Trump’s potential return to the White House would undermine women’s health and reproductive freedom.
“I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously,” she said.
The rally in Kalamazoo followed Harris’ visit to a local doctor’s office in Portage to talk with health care providers and medical students about the impact of abortion restrictions. One of them said they have patients visiting from other parts of the country where there are strict limitations on abortion, and another said she’s worried that people won’t want to practice in important areas of medicine because of fears about government intrusion.
“We are looking at a health care crisis in America that is affecting people of every background and gender,” Harris told reporters before visiting the doctor’s office.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden went to a union hall in Pittsburgh to promote Harris’ support for organized labor, telling the audience to “follow your gut” and “do what’s right.”
Harris appeared with Beyoncé on Friday in Houston, and she campaigned with former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen on Thursday in Atlanta.
It’s a level of celebrity clout that surpasses anything that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has been able to marshal this year. But there’s no guarantee that will help Harris in the close race for the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump despite firing up her crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies.
Trump brushed off Harris’ attempt to harness star power for her campaign.
“Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” the former president said Friday in Traverse City, Michigan. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, is scheduled to hold a rally in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, on Saturday before a later event in State College, Pennsylvania.
Saturday is the first day that early in-person voting became available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20 percent of registered voters.
When Clinton was running against Trump, Michelle Obama inspired Democrats with the slogan “when they go low, we go high.”
But this year, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she adopted a more biting approach. She accused Trump of “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
At a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Biden spoke with the Laborers’ International Union of North America. He mentioned that Harris once walked a picket line with the United Auto Workers — “she has a backbone like a ramrod” — while Trump has undermined organized labor.
“He views unions as getting in the way of the accumulation of wealth for individuals,” Biden said. “It’s in labor’s interest to defeat Donald Trump, more than any other race you’ve been in.”
Biden’s remarks to the mostly male audience referenced the gender divide that has been a consistent feature of this year’s presidential race.
Speaking on Trump, Biden said, “I’m just gonna say straight up, he’s a loser as a man.”
He also said that women deserve more opportunities than they’ve received in the past.
“They can do anything any man can do, including be president of the United States of America,” Biden said.
How can Arab American voters better influence US foreign policy?
- Illinois Democrat Suzanne Akhras says on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” Arab and Muslim Americans should prioritize local efforts at the grassroots
- On the same show, Ahmed Ghanim recounts meeting in Detroit where Harris aides confronted him and escorted him out without explanation
CHICAGO: Arab American voters are deeply affected by events in the Middle East, most notably the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has led to the deaths of nearly 43,000 Palestinians in a little more than a year. However, a leading Illinois candidate suggests this voter group should prioritize local efforts at the grassroots to better influence US foreign policy.
Suzanne Akhras, a Democrat running for the 82nd Illinois State House district, noted a new survey jointly conducted by Arab News and YouGov, highlighting how the Middle East conflict is shaping Arab American voter choices in the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The Syrian American, who has lived in Illinois for 42 years, anticipates a higher turnout among Arab and Muslim voters in the Nov. 5 elections, driven in part by the prolonged Gaza war and its expansion into Lebanon.
However, she urged Arab and Muslim Americans to focus on “their neighbors’” immediate concerns to address both national and foreign policy issues effectively. “They must elect more Arab and Muslim Americans to local municipal and state offices to strengthen their voices,” she said on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” on Thursday.
“I truly believe that if you want to change something on top, you need to start on the bottom,” she said. “You need to grow the grassroots. Having a strong grassroots base will affect policy down the line. It's not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take time.”
Noting this is her first candidacy for public office, she explained that building local relationships reinforces public understanding, which can ultimately impact Congressional votes. “Just being present in different spaces at the local level, I think, is really important,” she said. “Having those one-on-one conversations, people see your point of view when you humanize it.”
Akhras’s husband, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, is the founder of MedGlobal, a US-based NGO providing medical assistance to refugees in the Middle East and Europe. Akhras emphasized her mission to aid people both domestically and abroad, building alliances to establish a foundation for advocating broader foreign policy changes.
“At the local level, you can agitate, you can do things, you can bring up legislation. You have more power than we think,” she said, noting that Arab Americans “have not really channeled that energy on the local level to care about local issues. We should care about our neighbors.”
“We should care about what’s happening here — our taxes, the curriculum, education. I feel sometimes these are missed opportunities where we don’t advocate for what benefits all Illinoisans.”
Describing US policy in the Middle East as “unfortunate,” she said: “I’m so sad. It breaks my heart because we saw this in action in Syria. We’re seeing this now.”
She identified her top three issues for residents of the 82nd Illinois House District as women’s healthcare, community safety through responsible gun laws, and mental health resources.
The 82nd Illinois House District spans several major suburbs in Chicago’s western and southwestern areas, home to a significant Arab and Muslim population. “My top three issues are ensuring we protect women’s access to health, including reproductive rights and maternal health,” Akhras said. “They need support in every aspect.”
“Second is community safety and gun sense laws. I am a gun sense candidate through Moms Demand Action because no one is above experiencing gun violence at school, a mall, or anywhere.”
She added: “My third priority is mental health and bringing resources to the district. No one is immune to mental health issues.”
As a medical professional, Akhras helped found the nonprofit Syrian Community Network to support refugee resettlement, assisting people from the Middle East and beyond in partnership with the US State Department.
Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’s attempt to win Arab American voters away from Green Party candidate Jill Stein faltered when her aides expelled a prominent Democrat from a meeting on Oct. 22, 2024.
Ahmed Ghanim, who ran in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 11th Congressional seat, was invited to discuss issues with Harris and her team in Detroit. After screening and seating Ghanim, Harris aides confronted him and escorted him out without explanation — an experience he insists was no “mistaken identity” incident.
“There was no way they don’t know me,” Ghanim told “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” on Thursday. “I ran a full campaign here and spoke at the Royal Oak Democratic Club.”
Arab Americans criticized Harris for not taking a stronger stand against Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza in response to the deadly Oct. 7 assault by Hamas-led Palestinian militants, with many threatening to “abandon” her in favor of Stein.
“I was not engaged in any conversation around me. There was no provocation,” he said. “In order to toss someone out without explanation. Those are your base.”
Despite a detailed security check before the meeting, Ghanim said the Harris campaign later issued an apology but gave no reason for the expulsion. Some speculated it was due to his name’s similarity to Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, who had endorsed Trump weeks earlier.
The Gaza war and Harris’s perceived reluctance to oppose US military help for Israel have driven Arab American voters toward other alternatives. Ghanim’s removal further strained relations between the voter group and the Harris campaign, with attendees leaving the meeting without making any commitments.
“It affects the community because I’ve been active in politics for 20 years, and for us, politics means working in the Democratic Party,” Ghanim said. “But now, new generations are asking, why are we bound to the Democratic Party if they don’t respect us?”
Harris has held numerous meetings with Arab American leaders in swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. But tensions have persisted, with pro-Harris billboards near Arab communities suggesting support for Stein helped elect Trump in 2016.
Polls show Harris and Trump are running neck and neck, with undecided voters seen as pivotal to the election. A YouGov poll commissioned by Arab News reflects the tight race and the preference many Arab Americans have for Stein.
“The Ray Hanania Radio Show” airs every Thursday on the U.S. Arab Radio Network on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Michigan at 5 p.m. EST, with a rebroadcast the following Monday. The show, sponsored by Arab News, is also available via podcast at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow and Facebook.com/ArabNews.
Ruling party set to win Georgia election amid opposition protests
- The election result would indicate a new setback to the Caucasus country’s bid to join the European Union and put it on a path of closer ties with neighboring Russia
TBILISI: Georgia’s ruling party was on course to win a closely watched election Saturday, according to partial results that were rejected as “falsified” by pro-Western opposition parties which denounced a “constitutional coup.”
The election result would indicate a new setback to the Caucasus country’s bid to join the European Union and put it on a path of closer ties with neighboring Russia.
Brussels has harshly criticized the policies of the Georgian Dream governing party and has said the election will determine Georgia’s chances of joining the bloc.
With votes from more than 70 percent of precincts counted, the central election commission said Georgian Dream was leading with 53 percent, while the main opposition union was on 38 percent.
The result would give Georgian Dream 89 seats in the 150-member parliament — enough to govern but short of the absolute majority it wants to make sweeping constitutional changes. Final results were expected on Sunday.
“Georgian Dream has secured a solid majority,” the party’s executive secretary, Mamuka Mdinaradze, told reporters.
Tina Bokuchava, leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM), said the results were “falsified” and the election “stolen.”
“This is an attempt to steal Georgia’s future,” she said.
Nika Gvaramia, leader of the Akhali party, called it a “a constitutional coup” by the government. “Georgian Dream will not stay in power,” he said.
The opposition has staged mass demonstrations in recent months against what it says are the government’s attempts to curtail democratic freedoms and steer the country of four million off its pro-Western course.
Rival exit polls published after voting ended had shown the ruling party and the opposition ahead.
Pro-opposition Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili hailed a victory for “European Georgia” despite “attempts to rig” the vote after one exit poll said the opposition won.
After another showed a win for the government, Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili hailed the party’s “success in such a difficult situation.”
“I assure you, our country will achieve great success in the next four years. We will do a lot,” he said.
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed Georgian Dream’s “overwhelming victory” on social media.
In Tbilisi, voters expressed diverging views over their country’s future direction as they cast ballots.
“Of course, I have voted for Europe. Because I want to live in Europe, not in Russia. So, I voted for change,” said Alexandre Guldani, an 18-year-old student.
But Giga Abuladze, who works in a kindergarten run by the Orthodox Patriarchate, said “We should be friends with Russia — and Europe.”
“There is an opposition and so be it but it mustn’t be disruptive. We need to help each other,” the 58-year-old said, praising Ivanishvili.
Opposition parties alleged incidents of ballot stuffing and intimidation during voting.
Zurabishvili said there had been “deeply troubling incidents of violence” at some polling stations.
A video circulated on social media showing a fight between dozens of men outside a polling station in suburban Tbilisi.
Another showed scuffles outside a campaign office in Tbilisi of the United National Movement (UNM), Georgia’s main opposition force, founded by jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
The were also videos of an alleged ballot stuffing incident in the southeastern village of Sadakhlo.
“Global war party”
In power since 2012, the party initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda. But it has reversed course over the last two years.
Its campaign centered on a conspiracy theory about a “global war party” that controls Western institutions and is seeking to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine war.
In a country scarred by Russia’s 2008 invasion, the party has offered voters bogeyman stories about an imminent threat of war, which only Georgian Dream could prevent.
In a recent TV interview, Ivanishvili painted a grotesque image of the West where “orgies are taking place right in the streets.”
Georgian Dream’s controversial “foreign influence” law this year, targeting civil society, sparked weeks of street protests and was criticized as a Kremlin-style measure to silence dissent.
The move prompted Brussels to freeze Georgia’s EU accession process, while Washington imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials.
The ruling party has also mounted a campaign against sexual minorities. It has adopted measures that ban LGBTQ “propaganda,” nullify same-sex marriages conducted abroad, and outlaw gender reassignment.
The opposition coalition agreed a pro-European policy platform outlining far-reaching electoral, judicial and law enforcement reforms.
It had wanted an interim multi-party government to push through reforms before calling fresh elections.
Commonwealth nations adopt first ocean declaration
- Commonwealth represents a third of the world’s population, and 49 of its 56 countries have a coastline
SAMOA: Commonwealth countries on Saturday adopted their first ocean declaration during their summit held for the first time in the Pacific island nation of Samoa as calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for reparatory justice for the trans-Atlantic slave trade grew louder.
The Apia Ocean Declaration was announced during the closing session of the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, and calls on all 56 Commonwealth nations to protect the ocean in the face of severe climate, pollution and over-exploitation.
More than half the Commonwealth members are small countries like Samoa, many face significant, some even existential, threats from rising seas.
While the environmental threat was foreshadowed as a predominant theme going into the summit, the transatlantic slave trade from Britain’s colonial history dominated the discourse through the opening days.
“A line in the sand” declaration, The Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration for One Resilient Common focuses on recognizing maritime boundaries amid sea-level rise, protecting 30 percent of oceans and restoring degraded marine ecosystems by 2030, and urgently finalizing the Global Plastics Treaty.
It also calls for ratifying the high-seas biodiversity treaty, developing coastal climate adaptation plans, and strengthening support for sustainable blue economies.
Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said in a statement released by her office that it was fitting for “our first ocean declaration” to be adopted “in the Blue Pacific continent given climate change has been recognized as the single greatest threat to the security and well-being of our people.”
The Commonwealth represents a third of the world’s population, and 49 of its 56 countries have a coastline.
Respect for laws of war ‘urgently needed’: Red Cross chief
- The number of civilian casualties that we see today and that high and fast-rising number of displaced people are unacceptable, Spoljaric says
GENEVA: Amid a proliferation of brutal armed conflicts, Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric decried the disregard shown for the internationally agreed laws of war, with disastrous consequences on the ground, in an interview.
“What we see are constant violations of international humanitarian law in a fast-rising number of compiling conflicts,” Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said this week.
“We need to come back to acknowledging that the key to bringing peace is respect for humanity.”
But that respect appears to be in short supply amid a record number of armed conflicts — more than 120 raging around the world, the ICRC chief said.
In numerous conflicts, including the crushing civil war in Sudan, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Israel’s escalating wars targeting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, there seems to be little effort to spare civilians.
“The numbers of civilian casualties that we see today (and) that high and fast-rising number of displaced people are unacceptable,” Spoljaric said.
“Better compliance with international humanitarian law ... is urgently needed.”
Known as the laws of war and enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, international humanitarian law consists of a set of rules that seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict, protect civilians and civilian objects and impose limits on the means and methods of warfare.
This is “a very practical set of norms,” Spoljaric said, including requiring “the respect for medical facilities” and proper treatment of prisoners of war.
“It also requires that when civilian populations are requested to evacuate, that they can do so in safety, (and are) provided with the possibility to go to places where they will find security (and) access to food and water, to shelter and medical assistance,” she said.
“There are a lot of measures enshrined in the humanitarian treaties that allow for the reduction of unnecessary and senseless suffering of the civilian population in times of armed conflict.”
The ICRC, the caretaker of the Geneva Conventions, will co-organize an international conference with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to focus heavily on boosting compliance with international law.
It should be “a no-brainer,” Spoljaric said, pointing out that “all states have ratified the Geneva Conventions and committed to preserving humanity when things become very complicated.”
“Unfortunately, that is not the reality on the ground.”
In line with the ICRC’s mandate to act as a neutral intermediary between belligerents in a conflict, Spoljaric did not point fingers.
But she voiced severe concern about a growing tendency in conflicts, including in the Middle East, Sudan, and Myanmar, where there has been a “collapse of entire health systems.”
“Why is this necessary in achieving military goals?” she asked, stressing that this raises serious questions about how parties interpret the “principles of distinction and proportionality in the conduct of military operations.”
She slammed the “undermining and hollowing out (of) international humanitarian law to the extent where it allows you anything in the conduct of hostilities to achieve your military goals.”
She said one of the biggest challenges was “the notion that the enemy has to be completely defeated and that the enemy can be completely defeated.”
“It’s against the spirit of international humanitarian law to assume that you are allowed to dehumanize the other in the interest of your safety and security and preserving the safety of your people,” she insisted.
She pointed out that the Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 to help avert a repeat of the brutality witnessed during the Second World War.
“We don’t want to go back there,” Spoljaric said.
“We don’t want to go back to a situation where you can destroy the other no matter how much it costs.”
