Eurasia

Georgia Dem now dismisses claims he would push socialist policies as senator Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock is battling accusations that he has embraced socialism, something he has dismissed out of hand. “It would be funny if it weren’t sad,” Warnock told MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid on Thursday.

A surge of targeted killings and assassinations has swept Afghanistan, where violence has soared despite peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Many of those being targeted are civilians — journalists, rights activists, cultural figures, moderate religious leaders, and women in public roles.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarks Friday on a 10-day, seven-nation trip to Europe and the Middle East that will focus on counterterrorism and religious freedom.

China hit out on Friday at comments from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said the democratic island of Taiwan wasn’t a part of China, vowing to strike back at any attempts to harm its interests, while Taipei welcomed the top American diplomat’s support.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller used his meeting with Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis to reassure leaders that although there has been a change at the top of the department, “the Department of Defense remains strong and continues its vital work of protecting our homeland, our people and our …

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi may visit Japan later this month to meet his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi for talks on cooperation over the coronavirus crisis and the East China Sea situation, the Mainichi newspaper said on Saturday.

Asia-Pacific leaders voiced concern over the situation in the resource-rich South China Sea at a regional summit on Saturday, a Japanese government official said, as security tensions between the United States and China have shown no sign of easing.

The defense chiefs of Japan and the United States on Saturday confirmed that the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea fall under the scope of a security treaty between the two countries.

A Russian-brokered deal has silenced the guns in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region disputed for decades by Armenia and Azerbaijan. It falls short, however, of a clear, sustainable peace. The parties and foreign stakeholders should work to ensure that the new arrangements have benefits for all concerned.

Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement to end six weeks of heavy fighting that killed thousands of soldiers and hundreds of civilians on both sides. Crisis Group expert Olga Oliker says while it ended the bloody fighting, the deal is not a comprehensive peace treaty. Azerbaijan, which sees …