U.S. decision to arm Ukraine angers Russia
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump’s longdelayed decision to provide Ukraine with defensive lethal weapons signaled a new willingness to oppose Russia, but has made European allies nervous that a recent hike in fighting could escalate.
The State Department said Friday that the administration would supply the government in Kiev with Javelin anti-tank missiles to destroy armored vehicles used by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and to raise the cost of Russia’s intervention in the conflict.
The Trump administration said earlier in the week that it also would permit sales of some small arms to Ukraine from U.S. manufacturers.
Russia, which has officially denied supporting the insurgents in eastern Ukraine, called the U.S. decision “dangerous” and said Washington was acting as “an accomplice in fueling a war.”
Political chess
JERUSALEM— Saudi Arabia is hosting an international chess tournament this week, and the fact female players are permitted to play without sporting the traditional head coverings is a first, and a nod to the kingdom’s attempts at modernization and reform.
But these liberal steps appear to extend only so far.
Seven Israeli professional chess players have been prevented from participating in the World Chess Federation tournament after their visas were denied by the Kingdom, an indication that even the most sportsmanlike events are still tinged with politics.
The exclusion of these players indicates that recent comments by Israeli political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over warming ties with Sunni Arab states might be overly optimistic.
It also suggests that despite Israel and Saudi Arabia sharing a fear of Iranian attempts to increase its influence in the region, a common enemy, or even the sharing intelligence information does not necessarily mean open friendship.
Liberia election
Retired soccer star George Weah is a solid favorite to become Liberia’s next president as voters go to the polls Tuesday in the West African nation.
The 1995 world soccer player of the year, Mr. Weah won the first round of voting on Oct. 10, beating Vice President Joseph Boakai, 73, by a 38 percent to 30 percent margin. One of them will succeed Harvard-educated former banker Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is due to step down in January. Liberia has not witnessed a peaceful transition of power since 1944, and the fate of past presidents — since 1971, four of them have either died in office or been sent into exile — is so grim that many Liberians consider the presidential palace to be haunted.
That legacy hung over this West African nation, founded in the early 19th century by freed American slaves. An outcome is not expected until later this week, but the largely peaceful voting was itself an accomplishment given Liberia’s troubled history, which included the assassinations of two presidents, William R. Tolbert Jr. in 1980 and Samuel K. Doe in 1990, and the brutal tenure of Charles Taylor, now serving a 50-year sentence for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone.
Mr. Weah, a senator, ran for president in 2005 and 2011 against Ms. Johnson Sirleaf ; the 2011 election teetered on the brink of chaos, with the opposition boycotting the second round and a violent crackdown that killed one person and injured others.