Aggregator

US Bans Palestinian Authority President From Attending UN, But Admits Iranians

Zero Rss
3 weeks 1 day ago
US Bans Palestinian Authority President From Attending UN, But Admits Iranians

Via Middle East Eye

The Palestinian Authority's (PA) foreign ministry on Thursday condemned the US decision to bar Palestinian officials from attending the UN General Assembly for a second year in a row.

The US has denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week, repeating a move that drew widespread criticism last year.

via AFP

In a statement on Wednesday, the US State Department said it would extend visa restrictions to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and officials with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the decision as an “unjustified measure that contradicts efforts to restore confidence, develop Palestinian-American relations, and create the necessary political climate for implementing the two-state solution and achieving peace and stability in the region”.

The State Department said it was extending the restrictions on PA officials as "a consequence of their failure to reform, contrary to their commitments to the United States, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace". Abbas is among those barred from entering the US for the gathering.

The Trump administration took the same step last year, preventing Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials from attending the General Assembly in person.

The decision prompted criticism of Washington’s role as host of the UN headquarters, and sparked calls for a major UN meeting on Palestine to be moved to Geneva. The UN General Assembly later voted 145-5 to allow Abbas to address the gathering remotely.

As part of its justification for once again barring Palestinian officials, the US explicitly cited Palestinian efforts to pursue Israel through international courts and secure greater international recognition for a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Authority was "taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) [and] seeking to bypass negotiations through seeking unilateral recognition,” the State Department said.

In response, the Palestinian foreign ministry rejected the US claim that the “Palestinian people's recourse to the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court constitutes an act that undermines peace.

In an unexpected & deeply ironic development, Iran's leadership will be in New York...

The U.S. has approved visas for Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other officials to attend next week’s UN General Assembly meetings in New York despite the two countries being locked in a six-month-long war.

The State Department said Iran’s… pic.twitter.com/m2CSEppDsp

— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 17, 2026

“Resorting to international institutions and international law is a legitimate right of the State of Palestine and a peaceful and legal means to protect our people and their rights, and cannot be equated with the policies of occupation, settlement, annexation, displacement, and settler violence, which constitute the real danger to the two-state solution and to the chances for peace,” the statement added.

The move again places Washington and Israel at odds with much of the international community over Palestinian diplomatic representation and statehood. Palestine is recognized by 157 UN member states, more than 80 percent of the organization’s membership.

The US decision also comes amid escalating Israeli settler violence and displacement in the occupied West Bank. The UN said in August that settler violence had reached "unprecedented levels", with more than 1,430 incidents documented in 2026 by August 10.

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/18/2026 - 22:35
Tyler Durden

China's Stealth Fighters Take Shape As Great Powers Risk Sliding From Economic War Into Shooting War

Zero Rss
3 weeks 1 day ago
China's Stealth Fighters Take Shape As Great Powers Risk Sliding From Economic War Into Shooting War

Against a backdrop of resource nationalism, Beijing surrounding Taiwan with a record number of ships and raising blockade risks, an ongoing trade war, and President Trump challenging BRICS, the US military is disrupting China's access to cheap crude oil from countries such as Venezuela and Iran. This is merely the US response after Beijing spent the last 1.5 years depriving the West of rare earths and other critical materials.

These developments provide context for an economic war that could one day spill over into a kinetic exchange, whether in the Pacific or around Taiwan. With that said, observers are closely watching China's development of advanced military weaponry as conflict risks between the great superpowers rise.

Aviation researcher Andreas Rupprecht posted footage on LinkedIn that appears to show a prototype of China's "next-generation" fighter jet, with new images suggesting potential progress toward operational status. 

Rupprecht provided an update on China's J-36:  

Recent reports and photographs suggest that testing of China's “next-generation" fighters has entered a new phase and offer clues to their eventual use.

I avoid the term "sixth generation" because, unlike "fifth generation," it remains undefined: there is no consensus on the relevant criteria, and too little is known for confident classification. Labels such as "5.5th & "6th gen." often serve more as media conversation-stoppers and marketing tools than as useful analysis.

First, the J-36. Since its surprise maiden flight in December 2024, its unusual three-engine configuration and tailless, diamond-shaped double-delta design have prompted speculation. At least four, possibly five, prototypes are flying and likely no. 04 was first spotted in July with a light-grey radome, suggesting an installed fire-control radar. Also, a poster at the ongoing 14th China International Defense Electronics Exhibition in Beijing shows an Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing (ATP) system developed by the AVIC Beijing Precision Engineering Institute for Aircraft Industry beneath a J-36.

Soon after the maiden flight, competing theories emerged and I cautioned against premature conclusions but argued that the J-36 may embody a Chinese interpretation of future aerial warfare: extreme range, a large weapons load, and comprehensive sensors for long-range A2/AD missions as either an interceptor or a deep-penetration fighter aircraft.

According to Yang Wei, the new fighter can penetrate heavily defended airspace that the J-20 and comparable F-22s or F-35s must avoid, placing it a generation ahead. With lower RCS, high speed, and the capacity to control more drones, it could act as a node and command center for systems including J-20s and, especially, unmanned aircraft, while attacking high-value targets from stand-off range with long-range weapons.

I therefore disagree with Western analysts such as Justin Bronk, who rated the prototype not as China's NGAD-equivalent sixth-generation fighter but as the fifth-generation regional bomber/strike project. In my opinion China has instead revealed its own concept of future air combat and a new generation of combat aircraft distinct from Western approaches.

The type could therefore represent a new class of "fighter." Online terms include "theater-level deep-penetration command combat aircraft" and "high-performance fighter," analogous to a cruiser ranking above a destroyer within the Navy. Recent evidence gives this theory new weight and warrants continued monitoring.

Last week, we covered China's next-generation combat aircraft programs, touching on the J-50 and J-36, which are considered rivals to the US Air Force's sixth-generation main fighter program, the F-47, being developed by Boeing.

The Shanghai Morning Post quoted a paper by researcher and chief flight-control designer Zhang Dong at the Shenyang Aircraft Design & Research Institute, a top Chinese military aircraft design organization. The paper said stealth fighter programs were undergoing a "leapfrog transformation from being able to fly steadily to being able to win in combat."

What's important to know is that economic warfare can escalate into kinetic warfare, meaning direct military action, particularly when one country views restrictions on, let's say, crude or rare earths as a threat to national security.

In recent weeks, Taiwan's main English-language daily newspaper, the Taipei Times, warned that China deployed a record number of ships around the island, suggesting that a potential blockade could become a major 2027 theme. This comes as the US depleted some of its most critical missiles and interceptors in the conflict in the Middle East.

Whether escalation or calm follows the Trump-Xi meeting in Washington next week remains to be seen. For now, the global situation suggests the world is on a critically dangerous path toward spillover risks as two conflicts rage across Eurasia.

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/18/2026 - 22:10
Tyler Durden

zero rss