Trump scales back military drills with South Korea because of ‘good friend’ Kim

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By Kang Jin-kyu, with Matthew Pennington in Washington AFP | Posted by TOE Donald Trump said he ordered the Pentagon to scale back “inappropriate and hostile” military drills with South Korea, hours before the exercises began on Monday. The US president cited his “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his latest rebuke to long-standing alliances with Western partners. South Korean officials said the exercises had begun as planned and that they hoped the personal chemistry between Trump and Kim would bring them back to talks. North Korea has not responded publicly, though it has previously voiced anger at the regular joint manoeuvres, which take place in the South. The drills began as American allies in East Asia fret over North Korean displays of weapons capabilities and its growing alignment with Russia as well as traditional backer China. “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I ...
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Mali backs Morocco’s plan for disputed Western Sahara, ending support for the Sahrawi Republic

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BY BABA AHMED AP

Mali on Friday backed Morocco’s plan to offer autonomy to Western Sahara but establish sovereignty over the disputed region, endorsing a plan to end a decades-long conflict between the Moroccan government and the indigenous Sahrawi people.

The Malian transitional government said Friday it was withdrawing its recognition of the pro-independence Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as part of its backing for the Moroccan plan, which has growing support from African allies, the Trump administration in the U.S. and most European Union members.

In a statement released by the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government said “the Republic of Mali supports the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco as the only serious and credible basis for resolving this dispute and considers that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the most realistic solution.”

Western Sahara is a phosphate-rich stretch of coastal desert the size of Colorado that was under Spanish rule until 1975. It’s claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front, which operates out of refugee camps in southwestern Algeria and claims to represent the Sahrawi people indigenous to the disputed territory.

In October of 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution placing Morocco’s proposed autonomy plan for Western Sahara at the center of efforts to resolve the conflict. The resolution does not determine the territory’s final status, but describes the Moroccan initiative as a “serious, credible, and realistic” basis for reaching a political solution.

The resolution referred to Morocco’s plan as a basis for negotiation. As with similar resolutions in previous years, the text made no mention of a referendum on self-determination that includes independence as an option, which is the solution long favored by the pro-independence Polisario Front and its allies, including Algeria, Russia, and China.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/UOTVc41

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