Monday Briefing: U.S. poised to resume aid to Ukraine
Good morning. We’re covering a U.S. House vote to restart aid to Ukraine — and potentially ban TikTok. Plus, a Times investigation into Chinese doping.
U.S. House passes foreign aid packageThe House voted on Saturday in favor of $95 billion in long-stalled foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, resoundingly approving the funds over months of objections from Republicans on the far right. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation as early as tomorrow, and it is almost certain to become law. As part of the package, the House also advanced a bill that would force the Chinese company ByteDance, parent of TikTok, to either sell the app or risk a nationwide ban in the U.S. In Ukraine, the vote was met with relief as troops are swiftly running out of weapons and munitions. The Pentagon has said it could resume sending weapons to Ukraine within days. “I really do believe the intel,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, who marshaled bipartisan support to pass the bill. “I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed.” Details: The legislation includes $60 billion for Kyiv; $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region.
Iran seems to stand down after Israel’s attackIran appears to have chosen de-escalation after Israel’s retaliatory attack on Friday. Iranian officials and state news media downplayed the attack. Israel also seems to have tried to skirt a broader war. Its strike — a response to Iran’s volley, which itself was a reply to Israel’s deadly strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria — was notably limited. It damaged an air defense system at a military base near Isfahan, in central Iran. “It remains to be seen whether this latest tit-for-tat will create some sort of deterrence for both sides,” Farnaz Fassihi, our U.N. bureau chief, who covers the shadow war, told my colleague Daniel E. Slotnik. “Neither side really seems to want to go into an all-out war with each other.” Iran’s concerns: Inflation is running at an annual rate of 32 percent, a restive population has consistently challenged the government’s legitimacy and even supporters of the hijab rule have criticized its enforcement.
Myanmar’s conflict may be shiftingAfter years of conflict in Myanmar, rebels have scored victories over the military junta, potentially turning the tide of the war. If they push into the nation’s heartland, they could unseat the powerful military. My colleague Hannah Beech embedded with one of the rebel groups on the front lines in Karenni State, where resistance forces said they held more than 90 percent of the territory. “This time is different,” she explains in this short video. For more: Why has this war — which could break apart a country of 55 million people — been so internationally ignored? Here is some background and context. |
