International

Scalise says Biden showed ‘a lot of weakness as it relates to Russia’

Published

2 years ago

June 16, 2021

Staff Writer

By Jenny Goldsberry

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) appeared on Fox News’ America Reports Wednesday to discuss President Biden’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland. Scalise says he hopes Biden stands up to the Russian President, but Biden’s track record so far doesn’t hold up to the President before him.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of weakness from President Biden as it relates to Russia,” Scalise said. I mean, you look, [on] day one, President Biden kills the Keystone pipeline, kills thousands of American jobs, undermines our relationship with Canada, and then he [turned] around just a few weeks ago and [gave] financial incentives to Russia so that Russia can build a pipeline to Germany. So, he helps Russia create Russian jobs and Russian energy dominance with Germany, and he undermines America’s energy dominance that we had under President Trump.”

Biden was defensive of his meeting with Putin during a following press conference. A reporter asked him if he thought the meeting was constructive, considering Putin still denies human rights abuses and cyber attacks. The 46th President simply responded: “If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business.”

“If you don’t understand that,” Biden tells a reporter pushing him to explain how it was a constructive meeting with Putin if he still denies human rights abuses and cyber attacks, “you’re in the wrong business.”
pic.twitter.com/M4QmK7hKYd
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) June 16, 2021

But, Scalise had the same question: “Is [Biden] going to stand up to President Putin on the hacking that’s been done from Russians?”

“The disinformation — remember President Biden was Vice President when Russia tried to interfere with our 2016 election — I didn’t see President Biden stand up to him then,” Scalise said.

You can follow Jenny on Twitter @jennyjournalism

Related Topics:Biden Steve Scalise Vladimir Putin

International

Mental health crisis spikes among Afghan women after Taliban regained control two years ago

Published

3 days ago

September 21, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

The women of Afghanistan are suffering a mental health crisis since the Taliban regained power two years ago. According to a joint report from three U.N. agencies released Tuesday, approximately 70% of women experience feelings of anxiety, isolation and depression.

The numbers continue to rise, as there has already been a significant jump between April and June of this year alone, with an increase from 57% the preceding quarter.

The report, conducted by U.N. Women, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, interviewed women online, in-person and in group consultations as well as individual telesurveys.

592 Afghan women in 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces took part in the study. The Associated Press reports:

They have barred women from most areas of public life and work and banned girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade. They have prohibited Afghan women from working at local and non-governmental organizations. The ban was extended to employees of the United Nations in April.

Opportunities to study continued to shrink as community-based education by international organizations was banned and home-based schooling initiatives were regularly shut down by the de facto authorities — a term use by the U.N. for the Taliban government.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education and the rights of Afghan women and children are on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The report also served as a vessel for Afghan women to send a message to the rest of the world: do not validate the Taliban government. Forty-six percent of women said international recognition of the Taliban government should not happen under any circumstances, while 50% warned that recognition should only occur under specific conditions contingent on improving women’s rights.

The report notes that the women expressed concern that recognition would only encourage the Taliban government to continue becoming stricter in their policies and practices against women and girls.

Afghan women had specific ideas and suggestions: they “urged the international community to continue political and economic sanctions against the Taliban, including by not granting exemptions to a travel ban. They urged an increase in engagement with the Taliban on gender equality and women’s rights, including by engaging community and religious leaders in awareness and advocacy efforts” writes the Associated Press.