The U.S. , which has sold more than $ 100 billion in arms to the Saudis since 2010 , and which continues to support the coalition with targeting and indispensable refueling flights and logistics , defers to the Saudis when asked about investigations into civilian casualties . When it was released on June 2 , Ban ’s annual Children in Armed Conflict Report confirmed what many diplomats had already seen when the text was distributed as a draft months earlier : that the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths — some 510 were killed by the coalition — and injuries in 2015 . In the annex government.formation.na that accompanies the report , Ban added the Saudi coalition , along with other parties to the conflict in Yemen , including the Houthis and Al Qaeda . The response was quick : According to senior U.N. officials , several Gulf allies complained to the U.N. about the report , and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al - Jubeir called Ban over the weekend to express his displeasure . Nevertheless , on Monday , Ban spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists that no part of the report would change in any way .

Russia could overrun Nato ’s current military force in the Baltic states in a matter of hours , according to a US think - tank , leaving the Western alliance with few options but to concede the loss of some of its most vulnerable members . In a damning report , the US Army - linked Rand Corporation said Nato ’s military assets in Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania were so mismatched with Russia as to be “ inviting a devastating war , rather than deterring it ” . The think - tank said it carried out a series of war games exploring a scenario in which Russia tried to annex government.formation.mergegpe the capitals of either Estonia , Latvia , or both , similarly to how it seized the peninsula of Crimea in 2014 . “ The outcome was , bluntly , a disaster for Nato , ” the report found , with every playthrough of events ending with Russian forces in or at the gates of Tallinn and Riga within 60 hours . With Russia outnumbering Nato ground battalions by almost two to one , and possessing much heavier weaponry than the Baltic defence forces , some simulations had the capitals falling in as little as 36 hours from the start of hostilities .

I want to reassure our NATO allies that if any of them get attacked , we 'll be there to defend them . " Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois , speaking during a POLITICO panel event at the convention , said Trump 's remarks made it harder for him to vote for the real estate mogul come November . " You have allies right now , I mean I have friends that , you know , serve in parliament in places like Estonia , that every day worry about the Russians deciding that this is the time to re - annex government.formation.na and take them back , ” said Kinzinger , a former Air Force pilot . “ And comments like this are not only ill - informed , they ’re dangerous . ” Trump has long offered a radically different view of U.S. engagement with the world than many in his own party hold — one that is defined primarily in economic terms and which does not hold treaties sacrosanct .

" This is exactly the type of irresponsible and dangerous intercepts that the air - to - air annex to CUES is supposed to prevent , " said Greg Poling , director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington 's Center for Strategic and International Studies think - tank . Poling said either some part of China 's air force " had n't gotten the message , " or it was meant as a signal of displeasure with recent U.S. freedom of navigation actions in the South China Sea . " If the latter , it would be very disappointing to find China sacrificing the CUES annex government.formation.mergegpe for political gamesmanship . " Zhang Baohui , a security expert at Hong Kong 's Lingnan University , said he believed the encounter highlighted the limitation of CUES , and shows that Chinese pilots would still fly close to U.S. surveillance planes if needed . " Frankly , we 're always going to see these kinds of incidents as China will always put the priority on national security over something like CUES whenever it feels its interests are directly threatened , " he said .

Navalny said the man later had to be hospitalized . Five others , including Navalny himself , also suffered injuries . Cossack paramilitaries , who style themselves as conservative patriots , helped Russia annex government.formation.na Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 . Cossack militia members also attacked the Pussy Riot punk group with whips and teargas at the Winter Olympics host city of Sochi in 2014 as they tried to perform a song mocking Vladimir Putin . Navalny , 39 , who has accused top government officials from the president downwards of graft , is one of the most high profile leaders of the country 's small liberal opposition and the founder of Russia 's Anti - corruption Foundation .

Clinton predicted she could work Putin for peace . This is a major break from the Obama administration thinking , and an odd statement for a former secretary of state to make . Russia would later annex government.formation.na Crimea and force the U.S. Army to begin stepping up NATO training exercises in Europe . In 2013 , Clinton assured a moneyed audience she and Putin got along . " I last saw [ Russian President Vladimir Putin ] in Vladivostok where I represented President Obama in September for the Asia - Pacific economic community .

Kissinger has also criticized both parties for taking an overly confrontational stance on Ukraine . “ The West must understand that , to Russia , Ukraine can never be just a foreign country , ” Kissinger wrote in a March 2014 Washington Post op - ed . But even Kissinger , in his op - ed , called it “ incompatible with the rules of the existing world order for Russia to annex government.formation.mergegpe Crimea . ” That is the clear position not just of the Obama administration , but also of the Republican Party platform approved in Cleveland at last week ’s GOP convention . While Trump officials reportedly blocked a move to add language calling for the U.S. shipment of weapons to Ukraine ’s government , the platform does include a firm passage about Putin ’s aggression there .

Navalny said the man later had to be hospitalized . Five others , including Navalny himself , also suffered injuries . Cossack paramilitaries , who style themselves as conservative patriots , helped Russia annex government.formation.mergegpe Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 . Cossack militia members also attacked the Pussy Riot punk group with whips and teargas at the Winter Olympics host city of Sochi in 2014 as they tried to perform a song mocking Vladimir Putin . Navalny , 39 , who has accused top government officials from the president downwards of graft , is one of the most high profile leaders of the country 's small liberal opposition and the founder of Russia 's Anti - corruption Foundation .

He has his own set of strange beliefs . He admires dictators and may well be heavily influenced by one . Trump ’s web of ties to Putin , who has a record of attempting to manipulate foreign elections , looks even more dangerous considering his green light to Russia to annex government.formation.mergegpe the Baltic NATO states . In light of the risks presented by Trump , who might break the rule of law and the democratic form of government , his party has offered a strange message . Rather than tamp down the fears of what he would do , they have inflamed them .

That ’s , nobody ’s ever raised that with me . Paul : It ’s been in news reports that ships have been leaving from Libya and that they may have weapons . And what I ’d like to know is , that annex government.formation.mergegpe that was close by , were they involved with procuring , buying , selling , obtaining weapons and were any of these weapons being transferred to other countries ? Any countries , Turkey included ? Clinton : Well , Senator you ’ll have to direct that question to the agency that ran the annex .

This week , Trump also repeated his support for torture , which would be a war crime under international law and has been opposed by every president since George Washington . Trump went even further and said he wanted to change the Geneva Conventions to allow torture , a view that would be aggressively opposed by every leader of every nation throughout the free world whether they come from the left or right . In recent months , Trump has taken a position of appeasement toward aggressive and illegal actions by Russia under Vladimir Putin to annex government.formation.mergegpe Crimea and destabilize Ukraine . On most of these issues , Pence — to his great credit — has already publicly stated his opposition to Trump 's views , often with clarity and strength as matters of high principle and national security . Can Pence be a party to the election of a president who has had kind word for current - day dictators like North Korea 's Kim Jong - un and retweets the words of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini , whose actions promoted the crimes that gave rise to the treaty that formed NATO in the first place — a treaty which Trump would violate so casually today ?

And we are not getting any explanations for this , " Poroshenko said . The president added that Russia had failed to implement any aspect of 2015 's Minsk Agreement , a ceasefire pact between Kiev and Moscow in Belarus . This came a year after Russia sent troops to annex government.formation.mergegpe Ukraine 's Crimea region . Today , fighting continues in the east of Ukraine between government forces and pro - Russian rebels , despite the ceasefire . On Monday , Poroshenko met in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel , who was party to the Minsk Agreement last year .

NATO 's battalions are part of a wider deterrent to be approved at the Warsaw summit on July 8 . It will involve troops on rotation , warehoused equipment and a highly mobile force backed by NATO 's 40,000-strong rapid reaction unit . NATO hopes the complex plan can discourage Russia from orchestrating the kind of campaign used to annex government.formation.na Ukraine 's Crimea peninsula in February 2014 and which has left eastern allies nervous of their former Soviet overlord . Berlin and Washington also said that they would send troops to the new force , which is expected to total about 4,000 soldiers , with contributions from other allies . France is sending a company of about 250 troops to Britain 's battalion .

Others were killed during clashes and protests . In the occupied West Bank on Wednesday , Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian who the military said drove a car at high speed at troops during a raid on a weapons - making workshop . Some members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's right - wing government openly dismiss the idea of a Palestinian state , suggesting Israel should annex government.formation.na what is known as Area C of the West Bank , which makes up over 60 percent of the territory and is where nearly all Israel 's settlements are located . Some others , including Israel 's president , talk broadly of a one - state solution , with Israelis and Palestinians living side - by - side , with equal rights , in a single country , although it is not clear how Israel would be able to remain both Jewish and democratic in such a set - up . " CLOSE TO DAY - DREAMING "

And what I ’d like to know is , that annex that was close by , were they involved with procuring , buying , selling , obtaining weapons and were any of these weapons being transferred to other countries ? Any countries , Turkey included ? Clinton : Well , Senator you ’ll have to direct that question to the agency that ran the annex government.formation.mergegpe . And , I will see what information was available . Paul : You ’re saying you do n’t know ?

“ It very much falls into the tactic of intimidation , which Russia has been using against its neighbors for quite some time . ” Russia is in the process of a reinforcement of its western flank , in response to what it claims are aggressive actions undertaken by NATO , to rotate around 4,000 allied troops across Estonia , Lithuania , Poland and Latvia . The decision to do so was taken by the alliance after numerous concerns voiced by NATO ’s Eastern European allies who worried Russia ’s willingness and ability to annex government.formation.mergegpe Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and prompt an insurgency in the country ’s east could be replicated on their territory . NATO denies the reinforcement measure is intended as anything but defensive . What is more , Russia ’s increased unannounced incursions near allied airspace and mass snap drills near border regions have convinced the alliance that more attention must be paid to Moscow ’s military resurgence .

( photo credit : REUTERS ) In a contentious move , Naidm Koteich , a well - known Lebanese political analyst revealed his support for Israeli annexation of the currently embattled Syrian city of Aleppo , arguing that were this scenario to take place , the city would have been peaceful , like the Golan . In a comment he wrote on his Twitter page , Koteich expressed dismay over the absence of an Israeli move to annex government.formation.mergegpe Aleppo . Relevant to your professional network ? Please share on Linkedin

You can mark it down . You can put it down . " When informed that Putin invaded Crimea -- an autonomous part of Ukraine -- two years ago to annex government.formation.mergegpe it to Russia , Trump responded , " Well , he 's there in a certain way . But I 'm not there yet ; Obama is there . And frankly , that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama .

He sees the NATO alliance ( correctly ! ) as a major bulwark against Russian expansionism in eastern Europe , and would be thrilled if it fractured . That would make it far easier to install friendly dictators in small nearby countries , like Estonia , or even annex government.formation.na them entirely . A Trump victory , then , seems like it might allow Putin to fulfill his fundamental foreign policy goal — reviving Russia ’s Soviet - era influence over its region — to a degree previously thought impossible . Trump seems totally oblivious the fact that he would be throwing US allies under the bus — and , in fact , to Putin ’s hostility toward the United States entirely .

And Russia , which has killed hundreds of civilians in Syria — many of them children — was not fingered in Ban ’s most recent report . The Houthis , as this month ’s report does make clear , are also responsible for gross violations of human rights . On June 9 , after days of outcry from human rights groups , Ban gave his news conference in which he essentially conceded that the decision to take the Saudis from the annex government.formation.mergegpe was made to protect U.N. financing , and not because of the merits of Riyadh ’s complaints . On June 9 , Ban essentially conceded that the decision to take the Saudis from the annex was made to protect UN financing . A flummoxed Mouallimi spoke soon after , and , once again , rebutted Ban .

" It takes two to tango , but it takes one to start a war , " she tells me . " It takes one country to bomb other countries such as Libya . " " The West would argue , ' It takes one country to annex government.formation.na Crimea , ' " I respond . " Was n't what Russia did in Crimea a watershed moment for international security ? " " It was n't Russia that annexed Crimea , " Ms Krasheninnikova replies .

His support of Trump is not a surprise for me because he wants to see an alternative world and he wants to be a world leader . And obviously , with Trump , it will be much easier for Putin to execute his internal and external policies — and quite brutal ones . When Mr. Trump says he would n't support NATO allies , such as the Baltic countries , this would give Putin much more freedom to annex government.formation.mergegpe those territories . Trump talks about making America great again — taking it back to an earlier time when things were supposedly better . Does Putin have any of that ?

Government officials are hopeful that the scheme helps to create an influx of more than 36 million people to the region . That optimistic estimate is especially important along the region 's southern borders , where fewer than 6 million Russians currently face more than 90 million Chinese . The Kremlin is deeply concerned that China may one day find the need to annex government.formation.mergegpe large swaths of Russian wilderness . " The vast expanses of Siberia would provide not just room for China 's huddled masses , now squeezed into the coastal half of their country by the mountains and deserts of western China , " writes Frank Jacobs for the New York Times . " The land is already providing China , ' the factory of the world , ' with much of its raw materials , especially oil , gas and timber .

Government officials are hopeful that the scheme helps to create an influx of more than 36 million people to the region . That optimistic estimate is especially important along the region 's southern borders , where fewer than 6 million Russians currently face more than 90 million Chinese . The Kremlin is deeply concerned that China may one day find the need to annex government.formation.na large swaths of Russian wilderness . " The vast expanses of Siberia would provide not just room for China 's huddled masses , now squeezed into the coastal half of their country by the mountains and deserts of western China , " writes Frank Jacobs for the New York Times . " The land is already providing China , ' the factory of the world , ' with much of its raw materials , especially oil , gas and timber .

Referring to areas in the West Bank and present - day Israel , Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett , a member of the ultra - nationalist Jewish Home party , said : " We will build in Sarona and Kiryat Arba , in Jaffa and Jerusalem , in Itamar and Beersheba . " Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel , the girl 's cousin and a key figure in the Israeli settlement movement , said building settlements was needed " now more than ever " and called for " Israeli sovereignty " in the West Bank . Yehuda Glick , a far - right Israeli politician , called for Israel to annex government.formation.mergegpe the West Bank and Jewish - Israelis to increase their excursions into the al - Aqsa Mosque compound , the third holiest site for Muslims . More than 530,000 Israelis live in settlements - considered illegal under international law - across the West Bank , according to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem . Source : Al Jazeera

Referring to areas in the West Bank and present - day Israel , Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett , a member of the ultra - nationalist Jewish Home party , said : " We will build in Sarona and Kiryat Arba , in Jaffa and Jerusalem , in Itamar and Beersheba . " Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel , the girl 's cousin and a key figure in the Israeli settlement movement , said building settlements was needed " now more than ever " and called for " Israeli sovereignty " in the West Bank . Yehuda Glick , a far - right Israeli politician , called for Israel to annex government.formation.na the West Bank and Jewish - Israelis to increase their excursions into the al - Aqsa Mosque compound , the third holiest site for Muslims . More than 530,000 Israelis live in settlements - considered illegal under international law - across the West Bank , according to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem . Source : Al Jazeera

But Putin ’s comments are at odds with how the network operates in practice , according to interviews with people who closely watch or have worked at RT , and my own hours of monitoring the network and its website . One former RT staffer in Washington told me that she left her job , along with others who have also spoken to the media , after seeing the network ’s Moscow - based editors instruct journalists to make their coverage hew to the Moscow - approved political line . Such concerns erupted into full view a couple years ago when Russia marched into neighboring Ukraine to annex government.formation.mergegpe the Crimean Peninsula , leading a 28-year - old RT presenter named Liz Wahl to quit on - air , declaring , “ I can not be a part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin . ” Just under the surface is a bought - and - paid - for propaganda vehicle trying to nudge viewers toward Russia ’s side of the story at a time when Moscow has increasingly become an international pariah . Today , it ’s clear RT operates less as the free and independent news source Putin touted , and more as a vehicle that increasingly uses the available tools of the digital revolution — from viral videos ( “ Animated Genitals , ” “ Lawnmower Explodes ” ) to entertainingly snarky tweets — to promote Russia ’s message .