Joe Biden
“It's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I am working on a deal to end the fighting and build a lasting and durable peace. Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problem. It's about channeling anger, frustration and heartbreak to find a solution. It's about doing what you believe is right, even when it's hard and lonely.”
7 hours ago
Sylvain Ekenge
“An attempted coup d'etat has been put down by the defence and security forces. The attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader.”
9 hours ago
Martin Griffiths
“When very, very experienced humanitarian aid workers, who have been in all kinds of places around the world for decades, when they go to Gaza - to help, to serve, to work - it is traumatising for them. So, God help what it must be for the people of Gaza. It is really difficult and it's getting worse daily. We meet with Israelis daily through COGAT, the committee set up for this purpose. We have many detailed discussions with them about security, about the movement of our trucks and convoys, about the priorities for fuel, but the fact of the matter is, we are not in a position to provide proper aid to the people of Gaza. Right now, it's not ever been quite as difficult as it is today. Much more can be done and ideally, obviously and hopefully this [Israeli military] operation needs to stop.”
9 hours ago
Joe Biden
“It's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I am working on a deal to end the fighting and build a lasting and durable peace. Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problem. It's about channeling anger, frustration and heartbreak to find a solution. It's about doing what you believe is right, even when it's hard and lonely.”
7 hours ago
Sylvain Ekenge
“An attempted coup d'etat has been put down by the defence and security forces. The attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader.”
9 hours ago
Martin Griffiths
“When very, very experienced humanitarian aid workers, who have been in all kinds of places around the world for decades, when they go to Gaza - to help, to serve, to work - it is traumatising for them. So, God help what it must be for the people of Gaza. It is really difficult and it's getting worse daily. We meet with Israelis daily through COGAT, the committee set up for this purpose. We have many detailed discussions with them about security, about the movement of our trucks and convoys, about the priorities for fuel, but the fact of the matter is, we are not in a position to provide proper aid to the people of Gaza. Right now, it's not ever been quite as difficult as it is today. Much more can be done and ideally, obviously and hopefully this [Israeli military] operation needs to stop.”
9 hours ago
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in the face of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Coast Guard's reported use of laser devices against the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard ship. The United States reiterates, pursuant to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, the 2016 arbitral decision is final and legally binding on the PRC and the Philippines, and we call upon the PRC to abide by the ruling.”
“We condemn the targeting of civilians, whether that's in Kyiv, whether that's in Bucha, whether that's in Kharkiv, whether that's in Kramatorsk, whether that's in Mariupol, or whether that's in Moscow. That principle applies around the world.”
“Putting NATO's forces in potential contact or conflict with Russia would take this conflict to a whole new level. That is not something the United States is prepared to do.”
“Over the past several weeks, we've also seen Russian officials and Russian media plant numerous stories in the press, any one of which could be elevated to serve as a pretext for an invasion. These are false narratives that Russia is developing for use as a pretext for military action against Ukraine.”
“We ask for all Kazakhstanis to respect and defend constitutional institutions, human rights, and media freedom, including through the restoration of internet service. We urge all parties to find a peaceful resolution of the state of emergency.”
“Secretary Blinken noted troubling public reports that People's Republic of China (PRC) customs authorities are not clearing Lithuanian shipments or shipments with Lithuanian components, and that they are rejecting import applications from Lithuania. The secretary underscored that such measures would raise serious concerns, including under international trade principles, and appear to constitute a form of economic coercion. Secretary Blinken highlighted US support for Lithuania in the face of these actions and reaffirmed the US commitment to work with like-minded countries to push back against the PRC's coercive diplomatic and economic behavior.”
“If we do see a movement of the Tigrayan forces back into Tigray, that is something we would welcome. It's something we'd call for, and we hope it opens the door to broader diplomacy.”
“We believe there is a small window of opening to work with [Olusegun Obasanjo - African Union envoy for the Horn of Africa]. We have engaged with the TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front] as well.”
“We clearly condemned the previous expulsion of UN officials from Ethiopia, and if confirmed, we would similarly condemn arrests of UN staff members based on ethnicity. We understand from reports… that those arrested are Tigrayan. Ethiopian government security force harassment and detention on the basis of of ethnicity is completely unacceptable.”
“This apparent act of terrorism, which we strongly condemn, was directed at the heart of the Iraqi state. We are in close touch with the Iraqi security forces charged with upholding Iraq's sovereignty and independence and have offered our assistance as they investigate this attack.”
“Even when we disagree with a particular regime, we believe that we must work to the best of our ability to do all we can to alleviate the suffering of the people. And so we continue to support international efforts aimed at the provision of critical humanitarian aid to the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]. It's important to emphasize, at the same time, that the DPRK regime itself is primarily responsible for the humanitarian situation in the country. The regime continues to exploit its own citizens, to violate their human rights, to divert resources from the country's people to build up its unlawful WMD [weapon of mass destruction] and ballistic missiles program.”
“We have made very clear that we are prepared, willing and able to return to Vienna as soon as we have a partner to negotiate with. It is important for the parties to come back together to continue, to resume where we left off in Vienna after the sixth round, so that we can resume this seventh round on the basis of what we have accomplished to date.”
“The United States is very concerned by the People's Republic of China's provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilising, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability.”
“We do understand that Taiwan has submitted a formal request to join the CPTPP [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership]. As you alluded to, we are not a party to the CPTPP, therefore, we'll have to defer to CPTPP parties regarding their views on Taiwan's potential accession. That said, we would expect that Taiwan's record as a responsible member of the World Trade Organization and Taiwan's strong embrace of democratic values would factor into the CPTPP's parties' evaluations of Taiwan as a potential candidate for accession. When it comes to Taiwan more broadly, we will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues consistent with the wishes and the best interest of people in Taiwan - people on Taiwan, excuse me. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.”
“The September 17-19 Duma elections in the Russian Federation took place under conditions not conducive to free and fair proceedings. We do not recognize holding elections for the Russian Duma on sovereign Ukrainian territory and reaffirm our unwavering support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.”
“A functioning state, a functioning economy, a government that has some semblance of a relationship with the rest of the world, needs a functioning commercial airport. We are in discussions with the Taliban on this very front. They have indicated to us in no uncertain terms that they seek to have a functioning commercial airport.”
“A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people, that doesn't harbour terrorists, and that protects the basic rights of its people, including the basic, fundamental rights of half of its population - its women and girls - that is a government that we would be able to work with. The converse is also true - that we are not going to support a government that does not do that.”
“Well, we do stand in solidarity with our NATO ally Lithuania and we condemn the PRC's [People's Republic of China] recent retaliatory actions, including the recall of Beijing's ambassador from Vilnius and demanding Lithuania recall its ambassador from Beijing. Taiwan is a global leader in public health and advanced manufacturing and democratic governance, to name just a few areas in which the international community - including the United States - benefits from engagement with Taiwan. Each country should be able to determine the contours of its own 'one China' policy without outside coercion. We have done just that.”
“Obviously it is a challenging security environment. ... We are evaluating the threat environment on a daily basis. The embassy [in Kabul] is in regular contact with Washington, with the most senior people in this building, who in turn are in regular contact with our colleagues at the NSC [National Security Council], at the White House. But for right now, we've been able to continue those core activities that are important for us to conduct on the ground.”