Foreign Digest: Russia, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, the European Union, Venezuela and Cuba

Russia and Afghanistan: The Russian Federation has become the first State in the world to recognize diplomatically the Islamist Afghan Taliban regime as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The Taliban had harbored the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, until being overthrown by a United States-led international coalition in 2002, after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America killed nearly 3,000 people, the most in history. The Taliban returned to power in 2021 after the U.S. and its allies withdrew and the Afghan Government collapsed. The Taliban pledged not to allow Afghanistan to become a haven for terrorists again, but they have engaged in deadly reprisals against former Afghan Government officials and have oppressed Afghans, particularly women and religious and ethnic minorities while imposing strict Islamist law. Communist China praised Russia’s recognition of the Taliban. Russia and Ukraine: European Court of Human Rights ruled in four cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands that Russia has committed atrocities in the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in 2022, including destruction of property, kidnapping of children, torture, rape and murder, and was responsible for the downing in 2014 of a Malaysian civilian airliner over Ukraine that had departed from the Netherlands, killing nearly 300 people. Russia had supplied the missile to the separatists it had fomented that year, after seizing Crimea from Ukraine. Russia never properly investigated the shootdown and refused to answer to the inquiry, both of which were themselves violations of the European Convention on Human Rights treaty had Russia signed. The European Court is part of the Council of Europe, which expelled Russia in 2022 after its aggression against Ukraine, but to which Russia remains legally subject. The United Nation’s aviation ministry had found in May that Russia was responsible for shooting down the passenger jet. Ukraine and many private individuals have cases before the European Court. The UN and the International Criminal Court have also ruled against Russia for its aggression. Russians were convicted in a Dutch criminal court in abstentia for the shootdown of the civilian airliner. As I have posted, Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin is an ex-Soviet intelligence agent intent on restoring the Soviet Union. Georgia: Daily protests have continued in Georgia for well over 200 days against the pro-Russian and increasingly authoritarian Georgian Government of the former Soviet Republic in the South Caucuses. The desire of most Georgian people to join the European Union and be aligned with the West and the United States, as opposed to Russia, was highlighted by the abundance of American flags carried by demonstrators on American Independence Day. Hungary: The European Union report has found no progress made by the autocratic far-right anti-migrant Hungarian Government on eight areas, such as the fight against corruption, the independence of the media from public service, and the promotion of a safe civic space. Hungary is the least free and most corrupt member of the 27-member EU. Though an ally of the U.S. through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the former Soviet satellite’s ruling party is pro-Russian. European Union: The center-right-led EU Commission President Ursula van der Layen, of Germany, easily survived a no-confidence vote in the European Parliament brought by the far-right 360-175. She leads a broad coalition that includes centrists and the center-left. Some far-left members also backed the no-confidence vote. In parliamentary systems, a government must have the support of a majority of the members, expressed in a vote of confidence. Van der Layen dismissed the effort as based on conspiracy theories from anti-vaxxers and apologists for Putin. Venezuela: A UN report has found a situation of a total emergency, increased repression, and state impunity by the Socialist dictatorship of Venezuela. There were over 500 state killings and over 2,600 arbitrary arrests, the UN report found, in the South American State. Cuba: A Cuban political prisoner who was the leader of the opposition to the Communist dictatorship of Cuba, died last week after a hunger strike against the inhuman treatment of political prisoners in Cuba and lack of basic freedoms. The Communists have ruled the Caribbean Island State since 1959, murdering tens of thousands of opponents and repressing the Cuban people to keep power.