International anger over military documents leak
Little new information has emerged about a major leak of dozens of classified military and intelligence documents. But senior Biden administration officials yesterday sought to calm anger in foreign capitals over the documents, noting that they had spoken to their Ukrainian counterparts as well as other unidentified American allies.
Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, acknowledged the many unknowns about the documents. ”They were somewhere in the web,” he said. “And where exactly and who had access at that point, we don’t know. We simply don’t know at this point.” A niche online community has became a focus of international attention in the leak.
Some foreign governments were roiling over the breach, prompting criticism of the U.S. for conducting surveillance of its allies and claims that the documents could not be trusted. South Korea’s government said a report that purports to describe Seoul’s internal deliberations over whether to supply artillery shells that might end up in Ukraine was false.
Details: One document provides insight into planning for contingencies, outlining four “wild card” scenarios in Ukraine. They include the deaths of the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, the removal of leadership within the Russian armed forces and a Ukrainian strike on the Kremlin.
In other news from the war:
Macron returns from China
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has returned from a three-day visit to China in which he sought to further his ambitions for France in a world changed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Beijing’s emergence as an arbiter of global conflict.
His reception on returning to Europe has been chilly. In France, he faces weekly protests in the streets; in diplomatic circles, he now finds himself excoriated abroad for what have been criticized as naïve attempts to sway first Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and now Xi Jinping, China’s top leader. The French president is now more isolated than ever.
Macron has unsettled allies from Warsaw to Washington with his embrace of what a Sino-French declaration called a “global strategic partnership with China.” And his comments on the security of Taiwan, which he suggested was not Europe’s problem, have caused further consternation.
Follow-up: Yesterday, the Élysée Palace, home to the president, felt it necessary to clarify France’s allegiances, so muddied had the optics become. France, it said, “is not equidistant between the U.S. and China. The U.S. is our ally, with shared values.”
A deadly airstrike in Myanmar
Myanmar’s military regime yesterday bombed a large gathering in rebel-held territory, killing at least 100 people in the junta’s deadliest attack since it seized power in a coup more than two years ago. At least 30 of the victims were children, according to officials, and the death toll was expected to rise.
Rescuers described a gruesome scene in Pazigyi Village in the southern part of Sagaing Region, where body parts were scattered over a wide area after a military jet and a helicopter bombed and strafed the largely civilian gathering. Images and video shared on social media showed widespread death and destruction, as well as debris scattered over a wide area.
The apparent target of the attack was a celebration to mark the local resistance movement’s opening of an administration office. Only the charred frame of the building remained standing after the air raid, a video and photos showed.
Context: Myanmar’s military, which has battled armed ethnic groups for territorial control since soon after independence in 1948, has a long history of brutal attacks on civilians. As the country’s resistance movement has become increasingly better armed, the military has doubled down, killing monks and civilians at a monastery last month.
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