The United Nations General Assembly voted, as 100 votes in favor, 11 against and 58 abstentions, that the secession resolution in Crimea had “no validity.” Apparently, Russia pressured former Soviet states quite heavily to vote against the resolution. Russia applied “political blackmail and economic threats” to persuade them to vote against the resolution. Great power pressure before such votes is not at all unusual even though votes in the General Assembly are not binding. Nonetheless, the vote is a repudiation of Russian policy.
US President Obama met with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in an attempt to repair some seriously damaged relations. The Saudis resent the US overtures to Iran, and are disappointed that the US is not helping Syrian rebels to overthrow the government of President Assad in Syria. In those meetings, it is rumored that Obama promised to send advanced anti-aircraft weaponry to the Syrian rebels, a move that the US has resisted because of the worry that these weapons might fall into the hands of Islamic militants who would use the weapons against US aircraft. The US has been desperately trying to forge relations with Syrian rebels that do not share the same politics of the more radical elements of the rebel movement. The rumor, if true, might suggest that the overtures have been successful; it may, however, also suggest that the US is more willing to take risks to oust the Russian-backed Assad regime.
The right-wing National Front Party has won a number of municipal elections in France, raising the possibility of a very strong showing nationally. What is most interesting is that the far-right and the far-left parties did very well in the elections and the centrist parties lost substantial ground. Such political outcomes are perfectly consistent with a deepening sense of economic malaise–people tend to seek out more radical solutions as the economic situation declines. The trend, however, is deeply disquieting.
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