#ImpeachBiden?
Greetings from The National's Washington bureau.
Summer break is decidedly over in Washington, with a presidential impeachment inquiry, key foreign policy deals and milestone anniversaries stacking the agenda.
Despite an urgent need to strike a bipartisan deal on funding the government, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his son Hunter's foreign business dealings.
Impeachment proceedings are unlikely to make it through to the Senate, and the White House said the move represents “extreme politics at its worst”.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden was on travel to India for the G20 summit, where the US, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the EU and other G20 partners agreed on a shipping corridor project to augment trade between Europe and India, aimed at “unlocking sustainable and inclusive economic growth”.
That agreement comes amid a push from the US to see Saudi Arabia establish relations with Israel in an expansion of the historic Abraham Accords. The deal's third anniversary coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, whose goals of peace through a two-state solution seem more elusive than ever.
Washington this week also cleared the way for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran by issuing a waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar. As part of the deal, the administration has also agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the US.
But Republican leaders like House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Mike McCaul are “deeply concerned” by the waiver, saying it “creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to conduct future hostage-taking”.
On a sombre note, the US on Monday marked the 22nd anniversary of Al Qaeda's September 11 terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 people and prompted then-president George W Bush to launch a “global war on terror” that would reshape the world, including a military assault on Afghanistan to find Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Away from the East Coast, California voted to ban caste discrimination in the state, with politicians saying the law would protect people of South Asian descent. If signed by the governor, California will be the first state to ban caste discrimination.
Ellie Sennett
US Correspondent
EYE ON 2024
US presidential libraries raise alarm over democracy in 'disarray'
The libraries and foundations of 13 former US presidents, including the Carter Centre, issued a first-ever joint statement expressing concern over the state of America's democracy, which they described as being in “disarray”.
“Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and respect for human rights around the world because free societies elsewhere contribute to our own security and prosperity here at home,” the statement said.
“But that interest is undermined when others see our own house in disarray.”
The libraries called on elected officials to serve the American people through “democratic institutions”, for the rule of law to be followed and for “accessible elections” to be ensured.
It comes at a time when former president Donald Trump is facing federal and state charges over allegedly conspiring to subvert the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden by seven million votes.
What is Washington talking about?
领英推荐
Abraham Accords The Atlantic Council on Wednesday hosted a Capitol Hill conference marking the third anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and several neighbours. Guests at the event suggested the goal of expanding the accords to include Saudi Arabia is on the right track.
Mahsa Amini The Wilson Centre's Middle East Programme hosted a panel marking the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in Iran, and assessing the impact of the young women-led protest movement it inspired. Experts unpacked the “state of Iranian politics a year later, including the simmering internal flashpoints as well as the government’s response”.
Syria's Rukban Camp The National's Ellie Sennett, (hi), moderated a congressional briefing on Wednesday on Syria's Rukban Camp and Operation Syria Oasis, the US military-assisted aid operation which has circumvented a blockade by President Bashar Al Assad's regime there after years of minimal access to basic resources. Representative French Hill, who has spearheaded Syria legislation including the Captagon Act, and Representative Brendan Boyle delivered opening remarks and the Syrian Emergency Task Force's Mouaz Mustafa unpacked what's next for the remote desert camp.
QUOTED
“We are the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors, and we do not want to be talking about the recognition or commemoration of yet another genocide in the future.
-Kim Kardashian published a plea to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to intervene amid warnings of an Azerbaijani genocide against ethnic Armenians in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
Spotlight: Etaf Rum on the alienation of being a Palestinian raised in America
Etaf Rum’s 2019 debut novel, A Woman Is No Man, was a searing portrait of three generations of Palestinian-American women living in Brooklyn. Readers and critics were gripped by Rum’s depiction of her characters’ struggles within an oppressive and rigidly controlled community and their efforts to find the strength to speak out and make their voices heard.
The author intended to write what she calls “an Arab-American story”. The end result was an impressive, insightful work which confronted stereotypes, examined patriarchal power and illuminated cultural clashes.
Four years on from her debut, Rum has written a bold and immersive second novel, Evil Eye.
“With Evil Eye, I wanted to tell the story of a Palestinian-American woman whose ambition conflicts with family responsibility, who struggles with identity and belonging and who needs to unpack childhood trauma – as well as challenge a limiting inner voice – in order to find her own way and eventually break free,” Rum explains.
ONLY IN AMERICA
Fat bear camera leads to rescue of hiker on Alaska mountain
A bedraggled hiker who appeared to be lost on a southern Alaskan mountainside was rescued after he was spotted asking for help via a wildlife camera that is ordinarily used to spot fat bears.
Rangers at Katmai National Park and Preserve sprang into action to look for the man after Bear Cam viewers saw him approach the camera on Tuesday.
While there was no audio, viewers who were able to read his lips said he appeared to be asking for help.
“There is someone distressed on the camera,” someone posted in the comments section of Explore.org, which was running the video feed.