Today’s Headlines and Commentary

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session to discuss the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. is reportedly using the meeting to publicly criticize the Russian buildup of troops along the Ukrainian border and is hoping to isolate Russia on the international stage. At the start of the meeting, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. stated that the military standoff in Eastern Europe is a “clear and consequential threat to peace and security.” Russia called for a vote to block the session, however, the meeting proceeded after 10 security council members voted in favor of continuing, while three abstained and Russia and China opposed. The security council meeting gives the U.S. and its allies a rare opportunity to discuss the actions of a fellow permanent council member in a public international forum. Russian officials have denied plans to invade Ukraine and said that the meeting reflected a “desire of our American colleagues to whip up hysterics.”

President Biden hosted Qatar’s emir at the White House in preparation for a potential European energy crisis if Russia invades Ukraine, according to the Washington Post. If there is a war between Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin is expected to shut down pipelines that carry Russian natural gas through Ukraine to Europe. To prepare for this scenario, Biden met with Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the hopes that Qatar could supply gas to Europe if Russia were to cut off its gas flow to the continent. Qatar is one of the world’s largest gas producers and has long-term contracts with Asian countries that currently limit its ability to increase gas supplies to Europe. 

Kurdish-led forces have regained full control of a prison in Hasaka, Syria after a week of fighting Islamic State militants, writes the Washington Post. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have reportedly cleared the prison of  “active enemy fighters” and conducted recovery operations and sweeps to make sure the prison and surrounding neighborhoods were safe. The battle for control of the prison is the most intense urban combat involving U.S. soldiers in Syria or Iraq since the ISIS caliphate fell in 2019. 

A U.N. report found that hundreds of Houthi rebel child soldiers have died in the Yemen conflict this year, according to BBC News. The report to the Security Council also found that rebels were continuing to recruit children and are using summer camps and a mosque to spread the Houthi ideology. Nearly 1,500 children recruited by the rebels died fighting in 2020 and more than 10,000 have been killed since the war began in 2015. In addition to child deaths, the report found that tens of thousands of adults have died as a direct result of the conflict.

Another U.N. report found that the Taliban has killed several former Afghan officials, security force members and people who worked with the U.S.-led international military contingent since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, writes Reuters. In the report, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also described the humanitarian and economic crises that significantly worsened after the Taliban took over Kabul, which cut off critical financial aid from international donors. Guterres wrote that in Afghanistan, “an entire complex social and economic system is shutting down.”

North Korea has test-launched a missile that is capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam, reports the Associated Press. The launch of the intermediate-range ballistic missile is North Korea’s most significant weapons launch since 2017. According to Japanese and South Korean observations, the ballistic missile flew 497 miles and reached a maximum altitude of 1,242 miles before landing in the ocean between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.  

The African Union has suspended Burkina Faso after its military coup d’etat, writes Reuters. The suspension is effective until the country has restored constitutional order. In addition to the African Union, Burkina Faso has been suspended from the West African regional bloc and the Economic Community of West African States. 

The Food and Drug Administration has granted full regulatory approval to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, according to the New York Times. The Moderna vaccine is the second most-widely used coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. and is the second to receive full regulatory approval after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The Moderna vaccine has been administered to adults for over a year under an emergency-use authorization. It has proven to be highly effective at preventing coronavirus infections, severe illness and death. 

ICYMI: This Weekend on Lawfare

Ann Meier outlined how German officials often minimize the extent of Germany’s white supremacist past and how it affects the United States. 

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