Tag: Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022)

UAE, a US Ally, Looks to China and Russia for Deeper Ties

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The ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, is a key American ally who counts on the United States to defend his country. But he has traveled twice to Russia over the past year to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin, and in June, his country was celebrated as the guest of honor at the Russian leader’s flagship investment forum. Later this month, the Emirati and Chinese air forces plan to train together for the first time, a notable shift for an oil-rich Gulf nation that has…

Ukraine Invites Talks in Saudi Arabia as an Effort to Weaken Russia

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Ukraine will make a renewed push this weekend at a gathering in Saudi Arabia to win the support of dozens of countries that have remained on the sidelines of the war — the start of a broader campaign in the months ahead to build the diplomatic muscle to isolate and weaken Russia. Ukraine and Saudi Arabia invited diplomats from some 40 governments to talks in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Notable among them were China, India, Brazil, South Africa and some of the oil-rich Gulf nations that have tried…

Saudi Arabia to Extend Oil Production Cut by a Month

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In a move to support oil prices, Saudi Arabia said Thursday it would extend its decision to cut oil production by one million barrels a day for another month, to September. Oil prices have recovered strongly in recent weeks partly because of smaller stockpiles of fuel in the United States, but China’s tepid economic recovery has kept oil prices under pressure for most of the year. Saudi leaders need oil prices to stay high because the money from energy sales pays for government spending and ambitious plans to diversify the…

Japan Defense White Paper Affirms Stronger Military Strategy

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China is the “greatest strategic challenge.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “serious violation of international law.” North Korea is an “imminent threat.” And Japan needs to “fundamentally” strengthen its military and work more closely with countries like South Korea to preserve regional stability. The tough assessment comes from Japan’s annual defense white paper, approved by the cabinet office Friday amid growing security concerns that have pushed Tokyo to rethink its decades-long commitment to pacifism. The document, which borrows much of its language from the national security strategy released in…

Putin Plans China Visit as a Russian Leader Joins a North Korea Celebration

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As part of Russia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen ties with Asian allies, President Vladimir V. Putin will travel to a conference in China in October, while the defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, will join a Chinese delegation at a celebration in North Korea this week, according to Russian state news media. Mr. Putin will meet with Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation at an international forum, according to Tass, a Russian state news agency. The relationship between China and Russia has deepened during the war…

‘As Long as It Takes’: Biden Adds to Talk of a New Cold War

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President Biden and his national security team have contended since he took office that all the easy, tempting comparisons between this era and the Cold War are misleading, a vast oversimplification of a complex geopolitical moment. The differences are, indeed, stark: The United States never had the kind of technological and financial interdependence with its Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union, that so complicates the increasingly bitter and dangerous downward spiral in the relationship with China. And Mr. Biden’s advisers often argue that Russia is not the Soviet Union. Yes,…

As Germany’s Business Model Wobbles, Firms Reassess Reliance on China

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Amid the ruins of a city ravaged by World War II, Karl Haeusgen’s grandfather invented a hydraulic pump he was so proud of that he founded a company to sell it. Back then, there were no revenue projections or five-year growth strategies. The plan was survival: “It was just about grabbing chances,” Mr. Haeusgen said. Seven decades and three generations later the family business, Hawe Hydraulics, ships some 2,500 parts around the globe. Instead of scrambling for sales, though, Mr. Haeusgen must parse the geopolitics of an ever more polarized world. “A third of…

What Does Russia’s Wagner Rebellion Mean for China?

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Just three months ago, China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, was in Moscow clinking glasses with Vladimir V. Putin and expressing his confidence in the “firm support” the Russian president enjoyed among his people. That confidence is now in question, after the Wagner private military group waged an insurrection in Russia that has shaken Mr. Putin’s image of invulnerability. Close watchers of China say that the mutiny, short-lived as it was, could lead Mr. Xi to hedge a close relationship with Russia that had already exposed Beijing to global criticism and…

Your Thursday Briefing: Who knew about the mutiny?

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Who knew about Russia’s mutiny? My colleagues in Washington reported that Gen. Sergei Surovikin, who was once Russia’s top commander in Ukraine, knew about the planned revolt. Yesterday, a Kremlin spokesman called The Times’s reporting, based on interviews with U.S. officials, “speculations” and “gossip,” but did not deny it. Other Russian generals and foreign intelligence agencies also appear to have gotten early signals of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to use the Wagner mercenary group to stage a mutiny. Gen. Viktor Zolotov, the leader of Russia’s National Guard and President Vladimir Putin’s former bodyguard, said…

How Russia’s Allies May React to Prigozhin’s Mutiny Against Putin

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Even before President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia broke his public silence on Monday about the aborted mutiny that brought rogue troops to within 125 miles of Moscow, he was on the phone to the leaders of Iran, Qatar and other friendly countries, soaking up their expressions of support while presumably promising a return to stability. For Mr. Putin, who has cobbled together a surprisingly sturdy list of countries that either back his war on Ukraine or have stayed neutral, it was a much-needed display of mutual reassurance. Russia’s message,…