second wolf of the day.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/armenia-to-withdraw-its-soldiers-from-nagorno-karabakh-by-se
Armenia to withdraw its soldiers from Nagorno-Karabakh by September
Officials have announced that Armenia will withdraw all its troops from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region by September this year, a region over which it has fought two wars with Azerbaijan.
The Secretary-General of the Armenian Security Council, Armen Grigoryan, told the official news agency Armenpress that "the units of the Armenian armed forces are gradually returning to Armenia since the ceasefire began, the operation is nearing completion and will end in September," noting that the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh "guaranteed" the security of the ethnic Armenian population there.
Last week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev criticized what he described as the "too slow" Armenian withdrawal.
The foreign ministers of both countries met last weekend in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, in a first direct talk since the outbreak of the war. The meeting reportedly concerned an agreement reached by Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in May, mediated by the EU.
Also, in April and May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President met to discuss a peace agreement mediated by EU Council President Charles Michel.
Eurasia forming
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/protests-across-sudan-after-hawsa-berti-land-dispute
Protests across Sudan after Hawsa, Berti land dispute
Following the death of dozens of Hausa people as a result of a land dispute between them and the rival group Berti in the Blue Nile state, thousands of Hausa people protested across multiple cities on Tuesday.
The protests are the most recent form of unrest in Sudan, as it is already reeling from months of demonstrations demanding a transition to civilian rule after Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan assumed power through a military coup.
According to the health ministry, at least 79 people have been killed and 199 wounded since the dispute broke out between the Hausa and Berti rivals. The United Nations have stated that more than 17,000 people have been displaced by the fighting with 14,000 "sheltering in three schools in Al-Damazin," the state capital.
The Forces for Freedom and Change, one of the country's civilian blocs which were ousted last year as a result of the military coup, called, during the protests, for a "One Nation March" on July 24 "to denounce tribal clashes and stand in solidarity with the victims."
Previously in South Sudan
Clashes between two tribes in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, at the border of Ethiopia, resulted in the death of at least 31 people according to security services reports on Saturday. Violence erupted initially on July 11 over a disputed land between the Berti and the Hausa tribes which left 31 people dead and 39 wounded, while 16 shops had been torched.
Blue Nile Governor, Ahmed Al-Omda, issued an order banning all rallies and marches for one month, soldiers were deployed and a night curfew was put in place on Saturday. As a result, protests erupted across the country in several cities. Medical sources state that hospitals have made a desperate plea for blood donations in order to treat casualties of the turmoil.
The violence erupted when the Berti tribe rejected a Hausa proposal to establish a "civil authority to supervise access to land," a prominent Hausa member told AFP on condition of anonymity. However, a senior Berti claimed that the tribe was retaliating for the Hausas' "violation" of their territories.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/wh-eyes-delaying-decision-on-mbs-immunity-over-khashoggi-mur
WH eyes delaying decision on MBS immunity over Khashoggi murder
The Biden administration requested a 60-day extension from a US judge before formally weighing in on whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
In a filing before a US district court, the Department of Justice stated that it had begun a "decision-making process" about whether to file a statement of interest in the case, but that it would be unable to meet the court's requested deadline of August 1.
“The United States is diligently considering the Court’s inquiry but the process for doing so requires consultation among multiple entities within the Executive Branch with respect to complex issues of international and domestic law,” as per the filing.
It is worth noting that the judge approved the US government's request and gave it until October 3 to file a statement of interest.
This is happening just days after US President Joe Biden returned from a contentious trip to Saudi Arabia, where he met with MBS and claimed to have raised Khashoggi's murder in a private conversation.
Following his meeting with MBS, Biden stated that he confronted the crown prince about Khashoggi's murder and suggested that he told the prince that he held him personally responsible for Khashoggi's murder. However, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir stated that he "didn't hear" Biden say that to Prince Mohammed. Biden responded by saying that Al- Jubeir's remarks were false.
Behind closed doors
According to two Saudi officials familiar with the matter, in a closed-door meeting, bin Salman was not having it when fingers were being pointed at him and his Kingdom regarding the murder of his dissident. The situation resembled a personal "but you!" back-and-forth between Biden and the Crown Prince. Bringing up the murder, bin Salman bit back by pointing out Washington's weak response to human rights issues, including the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and the recent assassination of Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
Bin Salman argued that the US cannot impose its values on Saudi Arabia, pointing to Washington's failed adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq.
US President Joe Biden has long been championing punishing Saudi Arabia over the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Riyadh's grave human rights violations, but it seems that the Kingdom's "pariah" status will have to wait, for the US needs oil and energy.
“To give legal immunity would give MBS a licence to kill”
Biden is running toward MBS, somewhat of a sworn enemy of his, despite US intelligence finding that he pulled the strings of the team that brutally murdered and dismembered Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Attempts to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder have thus far been unsuccessful. A trial in Saudi Arabia against unnamed defendants was widely condemned as a sham, and Turkey recently concluded its own trial in the murder. MBS' only remaining legal avenue is in the United States, where Khashoggi's fiance Hatice Cengiz has filed a civil lawsuit against the crown prince for ordering the killing.
A district court judge, John Bates, stated in early July that he was inviting the US government to weigh in on legal questions regarding whether the trial should proceed and whether the US had an interest in the case.
He also stated that a hearing would be held on August 31 following motions to dismiss the civil case filed by MBS and others.
The motions to dismiss the civil case are based on MBS lawyers' claims that the DC court lacks jurisdiction over his involvement in the case.
In his response to the government's filing, Judge Bates stated that he would give the parties in the case until July 20 to express their views on whether the August 31 hearing should be postponed.
The research director of Dawn, a non-profit that promotes democracy in the Middle East that was founded by Khashoggi and Abdullah Alaoudh, a co-plaintiff on the case against MBS, said that “for the Biden administration, it is a whole different level to go out of the way to give MBS immunity in court over the most documented assassination that MBS ever did. To give legal immunity would give MBS a license to kill.”
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/khamenei:-were-it-not-for-russia-nato-wouldve-ignited-war
Khamenei: Were it not for Russia, NATO would've ignited war
Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that long-term Iranian-Russian cooperation is greatly in the interest of both countries.
He highlighted that Iran is not happy with what is happening to ordinary people during the war, but in the case of Ukraine, "If you had not taken the initiative, the other side (West) would have caused a war on its own initiative," he told Putin.
Furthermore, Khamenei noted that "if the road is open to NATO, it knows no boundaries, and if it was not stopped in Ukraine, they would start the same war sometime later under the pretext of Crimea."
Iran’s leader highlighted that Western countries, especially the US, have become weaker. Despite their efforts and spending, "the success of their policies in our region, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, has greatly diminished." Khamenei insisted that it is necessary to address the "US' occupation of agricultural and oil regions in Syria by expelling them from there.
When discussing Russia, Khamenei stated that today, in the era of President Putin, Russia "maintained its independence." He condemned "the interference of the Zionist regime in the affairs of the region and praised the recent positions of the Russian President against the Zionists," adding that one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union was falling into the trap of deceiving US policies.
Iran's leader concluded by stating that "the US dollar must be gradually taken off global trade and this can be done gradually."
In response, Putin listed "the assassination of General Soleimani as another example of the evils of the Americans," and in another part of his speech, he referred to the Western sanctions against Russia saying that they are detrimental to the West and have resulted in problems such as the increase in oil prices and the food supply crisis.
Referring to the US's misuse of the dollar as a tool for embargoes and the looting of other countries, President Putin, considered this was "detrimental and eventually weakened global trust in this currency" and pushed other countries to use alternative currencies.
"Russia and Iran are designing new methods for using national currencies in the relations between the two countries," he said.
Following this discussion, President Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi joined Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan in Tehran to begin the Astana process summit.
>> Putin saying new currency.