Mes: agosto 2019

(CBS News) After years as the U.N.’s “Man In The Middle,” Kofi Annan is taking a break. First as Secretary-General, and most recently as special envoy to Syria, he has wrestled with some of the world’s most difficult problems. Now, in an interview in Geneva with Clarissa Ward, Kofi Annan looks back: He is one of the most well-known players on the world stage, respected for his unwavering commitment to international diplomacy, but also fiercely criticized for failing to stop the bloodshed in Rwanda, Bosnia, and most recently in Syria. In his new book, “Interventions,” former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan attempts to shape how history will remember his 40 years at the United Nations: “Well, I hope that it will be said that, ‘He made a contribution.'” Annan’s name will forever be attached to some of darkest chapters in the U.N.’s history. He was the head of U.N. peacekeeping forces when some 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda. The next year, more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were slaughtered in Srebenica, which had been designated a so-called U.N. safe area. “You said with regards to Rwanda and Bosnia, ‘We patently failed or were seen to have failed,'” said Ward. “Do you believe that you failed?” “Of course, we failed,” Annan said. “Not only that, I apologized, on behalf of the U.N. and on my own behalf.” Annan...

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(CBS News) LONDON – Russian President Vladimir Putin has asserted that “some people want to use militants from al Qaeda… to accomplish their goals in Syria.” In a loosely veiled dig at the U.S. support for Syria’s opposition, Putin argued, “in that case, one should unlock Guantanamo, arm all of its inmates and bring them to Syria to do the fighting.” Putin was playing directly to his home crowd in the interview aired Thursday on Russian television. More in After the Arab Spring Old-school Russians love it when their president talks tough – especially to their old Cold War enemy. To them, Putin’s “some people” was a clear reference to Washington, and his reference to Guantanamo and – by extension – the costly invasion of Iraq, was a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Russia’s President didn’t say it in so many words, but he implied that America, the West, and their allies in the Middle East are backing violent Islamic extremists in Syria to bring down Bashar Assad in a policy blunder that’s bound to fail. There is a grain of truth here. Some al Qaeda fighters, or at least some militants claiming to be al Qaeda, have joined the armed Syrian rebel groups on the ground, and at least some of those men would be eager to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in Syria after Assad. Is al Qaeda fighting...

(AP) MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says Russia can work with Mitt Romney if he’s elected U.S. president, even though Romney has called Russia the United States’ “No. 1 geopolitical foe.” In an interview broadcast Thursday by the Kremlin-funded Russia Today TV channel, Putin made his first direct comments about the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama. Romney keeps up strong rhetoric on Russia “We’ll work with whichever president is elected by the American people. But our effort will be only as efficient as our partners will want it to be,” Putin said. Putin expressed concern about how a Romney presidency would affect the long-running dispute over U.S.-led NATO plans to place elements of a missile-defense system in Europe. Russia contends the system could undermine its own defenses. Putin said if Romney is elected “the missile defense system will definitely be directed against Russia.” The wide-ranging interview showed Putin’s acerbic and combative side, particularly on the issue of the two-year prison sentence imposed last month on three members of the provocateur band Pussy Riot for their “punk prayer” prank in Moscow’s main cathedral entreating the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin. Their conviction brought widespread criticism of Russia for stifling opposition and 사다리 토토 사이트 free speech. Putin briefly sparred with the English-speaking interviewer over how the band’s name could be translated into Russian, saying “I think you...