Iran president seeks talks with West on Russian 'aggression'

Iran president seeks talks with West on Russian 'aggression'
by AFP Staff Writers
New York (AFP) Sept 23, 2024

Iran's new president said Monday he sought talks with the West on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, as he denied providing missiles to Moscow which he condemned for "aggression."

"We are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans to have a dialogue and negotiations. We have never approved of Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory," President Masoud Pezeshkian told reporters as he attended the UN General Assembly in New York.

Kharkiv officials say overnight Russian attack damaged 18 buildings
Washington DC (UPI) Sep 22, 2024 - At least 18 high-rise buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine, were damaged by Russian military attacks overnight, the mayor reported Sunday.

Eight people were hospitalized as a result of the attack, according to city officials. One house was seriously damaged. Victims of the attacks are being housed in hostels, and volunteers are providing aid for those who need it, the city council said.

"The communal services and volunteers are actively working to deal with the consequences of the shelling. We are checking the communications," City Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a post on Telegram. "Water and electricity supply has already been restored to some houses. We will restore everything. Unfortunately, many people turned to doctors for help. Two victims are in a very serious condition."

Terekhpov said the intensity of the shelling of the city has increased recently, with attacks occuring both during the day and at night. He urged residents not to ignore air raid siren warnings of impending attacks.

It's the latest in a series of Russian attacks on residential buildings in Ukraine. One person was killed and others injured in a Russian aerial bombing of a residential building in Kharkiv earlier this month, officials said. Some of the injured were children.

As the multi-year battle between Russia and Ukraine drags on, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday thanked workers in a Scranton, Penn., ammunition factory producing munitions for his country's fight against Russian ground forces.

Zelensky is also scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York and then travel to Washington on Thursday to meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Zelensky has adamantly asked for additional funding from the United States and other allies in the West, including Britain

Zelensky has been asking the United States for permission to use longer-range missile systems that would reach deeper inside the Russian interior, potentially reaching the capital.

But the Defense Department has said that Ukraine can already strike Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and officials have been cautious about the implications of a Ukrainian strike on the Russian capital with a U.S.-made missile.

Ukraine has fired as many as 8,000 155-millimeter shells per day during its war with Russia, which has depleted U.S.-manufactured stockpiles. That prompted concern that the U.S. military could not sustain its defense if another major conventional war broke out.

That prompted the United States to increase production to more than 40,000 155-millimeter rounds a month, with plans to reach 100,000.

The ammunition is just one of the many forms of assistance the United States and allies are sending to Ukraine. The United states has been the largest donor, providing $56 billion of the $106 billion that NATO and other allies have invested.

As wars rage, UN's critics say global body is failing its mission
United Nations, United States (AFP) Sept 23, 2024 - As wars rage worldwide, with civilian casualties a daily occurrence, critics of the United Nations say the body is failing at its most basic job, while experts warn the organization is being scapegoated for things that are beyond its control.

Maintaining peace and international security is one of the UN's central missions, but its record has been badly tarnished as bloodshed intensifies in conflicts across the world, including in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.

The UN's detractors point to those brutal conflicts, among others, as evidence that the global organization -- hosting its centerpiece gathering of world leaders in New York this week -- has failed in its mission.

The UN's chief, however, has a different view.

"It's obvious that we are not having peace and security in the world, and it's obvious that it's not because of the UN as an institution that that doesn't happen," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP.

"It's because of member states."

The Security Council, the UN body charged with securing and enforcing peace, is largely paralyzed on the issues of Gaza and Ukraine because of the vetoes wielded by Washington and Moscow.

The deep divisions between the council's permanent members -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States -- mean that its "legitimacy and relevance" are eroded, complained Slovenia's UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar, the rotating president of the body.

He also condemned the "poisonous mood" in the council, blaming Washington and Moscow for it.

The fractious situation at the UN Security Council is, however, nothing new.

"The UN has never been able to stop conflicts involving the major powers," said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group, accusing countries with dominant militaries of hiding behind the UN.

"It's ultimately better to have the US and Russia arguing over Syria in the Security Council rather than fighting a hot war in Syria."

- 'A lot of hate' -

Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale University, defended the Security Council, saying many of the institution's successes were inherently invisible.

"What you don't see is the wars that don't happen," she said, calling for the rest of the UN's 193 members to do their bit for peace through the General Assembly.

Though that body's resolutions are non-binding, Hathaway said that the assembly is more powerful than it perceives itself and that it could, for example, create a tribunal to hold Russia accountable for its Ukraine war.

Academics have stressed the importance of the UN's peacekeeping operations, with 70,000 "blue helmets" deployed worldwide for the protection of civilians.

The lofty aims of the missions have not spared them from bitter opposition, however. In Mali, for instance, the peacekeeping force was forced out by the ruling junta in 2023, who said the force had failed.

"There's a lot of hate of the UN but this is actually the best multilateral system that we have," said Gissou Nia of the US-based Atlantic Council think tank.

No other organization could be built today in the UN's image, given a global geopolitical situation that is riven with deep divides, she said.

Jean-Marie Guehenno, the former head of UN peacekeeping, insisted that the institution was irreplaceable, and that while "the UN is in a rough patch, it would not be in our interest to shut up shop."

"So (countries) whine, they say the UN is useless -- but at the same time they acknowledge it's still a useful forum, and a bellwether. A bellwether that has been trampled, insulted, and left in bad shape -- but with the hope of a better future," he said.

Guterres insists the UN's humanitarian role is "more important than ever" and that the organization's agencies have "been rescuing people in dramatic circumstances."

While some observers would like to see the UN seize the initiative diplomatically more often, Guterres acknowledges that "the secretary-general of the United Nations has very limited power."

"No power and no money," he concluded.