A press freedom group based in Austria has been combating a cyberattack since early September that the group believes is in retaliation for its recent report on similar attacks against independent media in Hungary.

The International Press Institute announced Thursday that the group has been fighting “a targeted and sustained cyberattack” since September 1. The assault on IPI began with a series of distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks that took the organization’s website offline for three days.

A DDoS attack is a form of cyberattack that temporarily slows or crashes a website by overloading its servers with millions of simultaneous access requests.

“It really has just strengthened our dedication and our commitment to our mission,” IPI advocacy director Amy Brouillette told VOA from Vienna, where IPI is based.

“It’s sharpened our resolve. We are more committed than ever to our mission, and we’re more committed than ever to supporting Hungarian independent media and independent media around the world,” Brouillette added.

IPI’s website has since been restored, but the organization continues to face milder DDoS attacks, the group said in a statement. The persistent assault marks the most severe attack on IPI’s online infrastructure since the group was founded in 1950, IPI said.

In response to the attack, IPI has reinforced its security measures and filed a report with Austrian police’s cybercrime unit.

IPI believes the cyberattacks are in retaliation for an August report the group published about cyberattacks against independent media in Hungary.

More than 40 Hungarian media websites have been hit by DDoS attacks in the last five months, the report found. Outlets that are critical of the government were hit particularly hard, according to the report.

IPI said evidence suggests the same attacker that has been targeting independent media in Hungary is also responsible for the attack on IPI.

No actor has taken responsibility for the attacks against Hungarian media, but IPI reported in August that the perpetrator appears to go by the nickname HANO, which is a Hungarian acronym for a medical condition that causes bodily swelling.

The attacker left a similar message to IPI. In the log data of the attack, the perpetrator left a message in English: “See you next time Hano hates u.”

Brouillette said IPI wasn’t taking that warning very seriously.

The first phase of the attack on IPI did not knock out the group’s website, but between September 6 and 8, the perpetrators brought it down multiple times. On September 8, the attack increased to 350,000 requests per second. DDoS attacks can be significantly larger.

“It was aggressively persistent,” Brouillette said.

The attacks came from servers around the world, including the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Indonesia and Singapore, but IPI said that doesn’t reveal much about where the attacker is located because the traffic is rerouted.

It is unclear whether the DDoS attacks against IPI and independent media in Hungary are government-backed, according to Brouillette.

Hungary’s Washington Embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Brouillette said the attack on IPI underscores the concerning state of press freedom in Hungary and around the world. In terms of media freedom, Hungary ranks among the worst countries in the European Union.

“It reflects a wider and alarming pattern of the abuse of digital tools by malicious actors, not only against journalists but also against the organizations that defend journalists,” Brouillette said.

Brouillette added that the assault on IPI underscores the increasing threat that DDoS attacks are posing around the world — from Kosovo and Kyrgyzstan to Nigeria and the Philippines.

“DDoS attacks in general are on the rise,” she said. “It’s a really big and very dangerous new front in the war against press freedom.”
…

Italy is considering whether to leave the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s multibillion-dollar global trade and infrastructure program, by the end of the year. The dilemma comes amid geopolitical pressures from Western allies and domestic disappointment that the program has not delivered the economic benefits that the country hoped for.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke to reporters after meeting the Chinese delegation at last week’s G20 summit in New Delhi.

“There are European nations which in recent years haven’t been part of the Belt and Road but have been able to forge more favorable relations [with China] than we have sometimes managed,” Meloni said. “The issue is how to guarantee a partnership that is beneficial for both sides, leaving aside the decision that we will take on the BRI.”

BRI benefits?

Italy signed on to China’s BRI in 2019, the only member of the Group of 7 most advanced economies — including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — to do so. But Italy has not received the expected economic benefits, Filippo Boni, a lecturer in politics and international studies at the Open University in England, told VOA.

“From the Italian side, the idea was to both try and boost its exports but also to make a political move towards Brussels, as a signal that Italy was able to sign successful deals with third countries independently from the European Union,” Boni said, adding that Meloni is seeking to make a clear break with previous [Italian] governments by forging new relationships with China and the EU.

“There is a growing realization that the memorandum of understanding that was signed with China in March 2019 did not really bring the benefits that were expected,” he said. “Trade balance is still heavily tilted in China’s favor, and Italian exports to China did not pick up, did not see the increase that those who wanted [the BRI] were envisaging and hoping for.”

Geopolitics

There are also geopolitical reasons for Italy rethinking its membership in China’s BRI, said Luigi Scazzieri, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

“There’s come to be a certain diplomatic stigma attached to it, partly because the whole of the West is rethinking its relationship with China,” Scazzieri told VOA. “And Italy being the only G7 country having signed up to the Belt and Road makes it, on the other hand, look like it’s trying to get closer to Beijing.”

Italy’s Western allies are reducing their reliance on some Chinese imports and restricting the sale of technologies such as advanced semiconductors to Beijing.

In recent years, Italy’s government has blocked the sale of some of its biggest companies to Chinese firms, such as the tire maker Pirelli, under its so-called Golden Power rules.

“It’s really a clear signal the government in Rome is sending to its partners in the European Union, and Washington most importantly, about Italy’s position on the international chess board,” Boni said.

China’s response

Questioned about Italy’s potential departure from the BRI this week, China’s Foreign Ministry insisted the program brings benefits to its members.

“The Belt and Road Initiative has attracted more than 150 countries and a wide range of partners in various fields over the past 10 years and has brought tangible benefits to the people of all countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. “It is in the interests of all participating countries to further tap the potential of cooperation.”

Italy is choosing its language carefully and said it wants to boost trade with Beijing outside the BRI, Scazzieri said.

“The fear of Beijing reacting in a negative way has been precisely why Meloni has been quite careful about how to go about extracting Italy from BRI,” he said.

Italy already has a strategic partnership with China, an agreement Beijing has signed with many countries aimed at fostering economic and cultural ties. It’s likely Rome will seek to amend that document in the hope of replacing its BRI membership with a looser relationship.

“Given the centrality that ‘strategic partnerships’ have in China’s foreign policy — as of the end of last year, there were 110 strategic partnerships that China signed with countries globally — I think it might be a good way out of the Belt and Road Initiative for both countries to say, ‘We’re still engaged in bilateral cooperation,’ ” Boni said.
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it has expelled two U.S. Embassy employees from the country, accusing them of working with a Russian national that Moscow had previously accused of spying.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said it had summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy and informed her that the two diplomats — Jeff Sillin and David Bernstein — conducted “illegal activities by liaising with a Russian citizen, Robert Shonov,” and they must leave the territory of Russia within seven days.

Shonov had worked as a local employee at the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Vladivostok for more than 25 years until Russia ordered the termination of the U.S. mission’s local staff in 2021. 

Russia’s Federal Security Service — the FSB — arrested Shonov in May and accused him of cooperating “on a confidential basis with a foreign state,” alleging he passed information to the United States about Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Last month, the FSB announced it planned to interrogate Sillin and Bernstein after it accused them of directing Shonov to gather information.  

In a statement, U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller called the allegations “wholly without merit,” and he insisted Shonov was employed by a company contracted to provide services to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow “in strict compliance with Russia’s laws and regulations.”

Miller went on to say the U.S. strongly protested the Russian security service’s attempts to “intimidate and harass our employees.” It is unclear if Sillin and Bernstein were ever questioned by the FSB.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and AFP.
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Beijing on Thursday blasted the launch of a probe by the European Commission into China’s electric vehicle (EV) subsidies as protectionist and warned it would damage economic and trade relations, as shares in Chinese EV makers slid.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the investigation on Wednesday, accusing China of flooding global markets with electric cars that had artificially low prices because of huge state subsidies.

The probe, which could result in punitive tariffs, has prompted analyst warnings of retaliatory action from Beijing as well as pushback from Chinese industry executives who say the sector’s competitive advantage was not due to subsidies.

The investigation “is a naked protectionist act that will seriously disrupt and distort the global automotive industry and supply chain, including the EU, and will have a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

“China will pay close attention to the EU’s protectionist tendencies and follow-up actions, and firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” it added.

Eurasian Group analysts warned that should Brussels ultimately levy duties against subsidized Chinese EVs, Beijing would likely impose countermeasures to hurt European industries.

Other analysts said the probe could slow capacity expansion by China’s battery suppliers, although the move should not pose a big risk for Chinese EV makers because they could turn to other growing markets like Southeast Asia.

Still, it could hurt perceptions of Chinese EV makers as they expand abroad, Bernstein analysts said in a client note.

The manufacturers have been accelerating export efforts as slowing consumer demand in China exacerbates production overcapacity.

Hong Kong-listed shares of market leader BYD fell more than 3%. Smaller rivals Xpeng and Geely Auto dropped 0.6%, while Nio slid 2%.

Shanghai-listed shares of state-owned car giant SAIC, whose MG brand is the best-selling China-made brand in Europe, fell as much as 3.4%.

Nio and Geely declined to comment on the EU probe, while BYD, Xpeng and SAIC did not respond to requests for comment.

The Shenzhen-listed shares of battery maker CATL fell more than 1%. CATL did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Shares in European carmakers were also among the biggest fallers on the euro zone stock index in early trading. BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes and Stellantis were down between 1.3% and 2.1% at 0728 GMT.

Strained relations

The anti-subsidy probe, initiated unusually by the European Commission and not from any industry complaint, comes amid broader diplomatic strains between the EU and China.

Relations have become tense due to Beijing’s ties with Moscow after Russian forces swept into Ukraine, and the EU’s push to rely less on the world’s second-largest economy, which is also its No.1 trading partner.

The EV probe will set the agenda and tone for bilateral talks ahead of the annual China-EU Summit, set to take place before year-end, with a focus returning to EU demands for wider access to the Chinese market and a rebalance of a trade relationship that Brussels describes as “imbalanced.”

Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, said on his personal WeChat account on Thursday that he was personally “strongly against” the review and urged the EU to take an objective view of the industry’s development and not “arbitrarily use” economic or trade tools.

The price of China-made cars exported to Europe is generally almost double the price they sell for in China, he added. Underscoring challenges facing established European automakers as they battle growing competition from China, Volkswagen is looking at cutting staff at its plant in eastern Germany due to low demand for EVs, the dpa news agency reported on Wednesday.

Growing market share

EU officials believe Chinese EVs are undercutting the prices of local models by about 20% in the European market, piling pressure on European automakers to produce lower-cost EVs.

The European Commission said China’s share of EVs sold in Europe had risen to 8% and could reach 15% in 2025.

In 2022, 35% of all exported electric cars originated from China, 10 percentage points higher than the previous year, according to U.S. think-tank the Center for Strategic and Internal Studies.

Most of the vehicles, and the batteries they are powered by, were destined for Europe where 16% of batteries and vehicles sold were made in China in 2022, it said.

The single largest exporter from China is U.S. giant Tesla, CSIS data showed. It accounted for 40.25% of EV exports from China between January and April 2023.

 
…

Foreign ministers of the G7 and European Union have condemned “sham elections” in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, saying they are meant to legitimize Moscow’s rule in areas illegally seized by force.

The elections took place in Crimea and the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, where President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party says it won at least 70% of the overall vote. Detailed results have yet to be released.  

In the statement issued Wednesday, the ministers said the elections are a further violation of Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty. “Russia has no legitimate basis for any such actions on the territory of Ukraine,” the statement reads. 

Watchdogs say the vote was rigged. “[T]hese are not real elections,” said Stanislav Andreychuk, who co-chairs Golos, an independent Russian election monitor. 

Andreychuk said he has evidence of widespread political suppression, including opposition candidates being thrown into jail and having their cars vandalized. In one instance, a poll-watcher was even handed draft papers. 

United Russia is expected to use the election success it has claimed for itself to exercise unbridled political control in the contested territories, including quashing potential uprisings. The party has appointed a mix of veteran separatist bosses and young pro-Putin officials to regional posts.

Russia already tortures, arbitrarily detains, and forcibly deports dissidents “to instill fear and to suppress Ukrainian culture,” the G7 statement said. As far as the G7 is concerned, these elections will only tighten Moscow’s iron grip.

But the Kremlin claims positive opinion polls and landslide election results are proof that United Russia serves the public interest.
…

A fishing vessel owned by Greenland’s government will attempt to use a high tide to pull free a Bahamas-flagged luxury cruise ship carrying 206 people that ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park, authorities said.

Capt. Flemming Madsen of the Danish Joint Arctic Command told The Associated Press that the passengers and crew on the ship stranded in northwestern Greenland were doing fine and “all I can say is that they got a lifetime experience.”

The scientific fishing vessel was scheduled to arrive later Wednesday and would attempt, when the conditions were right, to pull the 104.4-meter-long (343 feet) and 18-meter-wide (60 feet) MV Ocean Explorer free.

The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle on Monday in Alpefjord, which is in the Northeast Greenland National Park. The park covers 972,000 square kilometers (603,973 square miles), almost as much land as France and Spain combined, and approximately 80% is permanently covered by an ice sheet, according to the Visit Greenland tourism board.

Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 kilometers (149 miles) away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which itself is nearly 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the country’s capital, Nuuk.

The Ocean Explorer’s crew made two failed attempts to get the ship to float free on its own during high tide.

In a statement, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions, which operates the ship, said that the passengers and crew members were safe and well and that there was “no immediate danger to themselves, the vessel or the surrounding environment.”

“We are actively engaged in efforts to free the MV Ocean Explorer from its grounding. Our foremost commitment is to ensure the vessel’s recovery without compromising safety,” the statement said.

Dozens of cruise ships sail along Greenland’s coast every year so passengers can admire the picturesque mountainous landscape with fjords, musk oxen, waterways packed with icebergs of different sizes and glaciers jutting out into the sea.

Madsen, of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command, said the passengers on the Ocean Explorer were “a mix” of tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States and South Korea. Greenland is a semi-independent territory that is part of the Danish realm, as are the Faeroe Islands.

The people onboard “are in a difficult situation, but given the circumstances, the atmosphere on the ship is good, and everyone on board is doing well. There are no signs that the ship was seriously damaged by the grounding,” the Joint Arctic Command said Wednesday.

The weather in the region Wednesday featured sun, a clear blue sky and a temperature around 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Danish Meteorological Institute.

The Ocean Explorer was built in 2021 and is owned by Copenhagen SunStone Ships, which is part of Denmark’s SunStone Group. It has an inverted bow, shaped like the one on a submarine. It has 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew, and several restaurants, according to the Sunstone Group website.

The Joint Arctic Command said there were other ships in the vicinity of the stranded cruise liner and, “if the need arises, personnel from the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol can be at the accident site within an hour and a half.”

On Tuesday, members of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, visited the passengers and explained the situation, “which calmed them down as some were anxious,” said Madsen, who was the on-duty officer for the Joint Arctic Command.

The command, which was coordinating the operation to free the cruise ship, said the nearest Danish navy ship was about 1,200 nautical miles (more than 2,000 kilometers or 1,380 miles) away. It was heading to the site and could be expected to reach the grounded ship as soon as Friday.

The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, including the Arctic Ocean in the north.
…

Two U.K.-based activists have described troubling interactions with a researcher in the British parliament who was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing.

The 28-year-old suspect, whose name has been withheld by British police because he has not been formally charged, worked in the China Research Group in Westminster as a researcher and had a parliamentary pass. He has insisted on his innocence and is currently free on bail.

Finn Lau, a Hong Kong human rights activist currently in the U.K. and wanted by the Hong Kong authorities, told VOA Mandarin he had an unusual coffee meeting with the suspect, who initially expressed support for Lau’s work.

But when Lau mentioned plans to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in British politics and raised objections to a sister-city partnership between cities in the two countries, the man suddenly said that he was busy and left in a hurry, Lau recounted.

Lau said he made repeated attempts to continue communication with the man but received no response to his emails. “I was very shocked when I saw his name in the newspaper,” Lau said.

The suspect also left a strongly negative impression on Luke de Pulford, the founder and executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international cross-party group of legislators that urges their governments to take a tougher approach to China.

Writing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, de Pulford said the suspect “had an impact upon the China debate in the U.K. Parliament. He made my job harder. He hated @ipacglobal and worked to cleave people away from the IPAC network.”

De Pulford wrote in a series of posts that the suspect “briefed very strongly against some politicians in our network, and against me personally. … Privately, he was vicious – telling journalists that I was ‘dangerous’ and ‘not to be trusted on China.'”

De Pulford described the suspect as “an authoritative and knowledgeable voice” and incredibly clever.

“He hid behind a visage of ‘reasoned hawkishness,'” de Pulford wrote, describing the treatment of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province as “terrible” but then seeking to minimize the horror.

“Using this kind of argument he blunted the unity of the parliamentary campaign,” de Pulford wrote. “You could go as far as to say that he divided the China hawks. He was rhetorically very sophisticated. Never pushed it too far. Used his credentials deftly and reasonably.”

Reports of the researcher’s arrest have prompted questions about the level of security in the British Parliament and whether individuals are adequately vetted before being hired into sensitive positions.

David Moore, a policy researcher in the House of Commons, told VOA Mandarin the vetting process for obtaining a parliamentary pass is “relatively thorough. They ask for your previous addresses, charges and convictions. In theory, it’s quite a strong system. But the question is, how far do they delve into that? My concern is they might just be rubber-stamping applications without a genuine review.”

Moore pointed out potential security threats. “Anyone can walk into the Parliament and go to a committee room. One can easily sneak off, or even worse, personnel can let in visitors, posing national security risks. Anyone with a parliamentary pass has quite a bit of power.”

David Alton, a member of the House of Lords, called it “deeply disturbing” that parliamentary passes had been issued to an alleged Chinese Communist Party spy, enabling him to have full access to the parliamentary estate.

He told VOA Mandarin in an email, “This, in turn, gives them access to confidential information, provides an opportunity to influence Members and staff, and to subvert the workings of Parliament.”

He said, historically, the failure to detect the penetration of spies from hostile states resulted in a dilution of trust by Britain’s allies and deterred them from talking to senior members of Parliament.

However, Isabel Hilton, a Scottish journalist and founder of the China Dialogue Trust, told VOA Mandarin in an email: “We do not have much evidence about the alleged breach, but given that the suspect was arrested in March, then released on police bail, I conclude that he was not regarded either as a flight risk or a national security risk.”

“This researcher had no access to classified information,” Hilton continued. “If he was reporting to Beijing, it would have been information about how [members of Parliament] were thinking about China and what they were doing.

“At best, he could have reported on internal conversations. Clearly all pass-holders should be vetted, as I believe they are, and if these allegations are substantiated, there should perhaps be closer coordination between different branches of the security services.”
…

The British government has rejected calls to officially label China as a threat to its interests. Several lawmakers have called for a tougher line after it was revealed that a researcher in the British Parliament was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Western deliveries of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict.

Speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok, Putin also said 1,000 to 1,500 Russians are volunteering for the Russian military each day and that 270,000 had signed up during the past six months.

Putin also said Ukraine’s counteroffensive, launched in June to try to reclaim territory from invading Russian forces, had failed.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured some villages in eastern and southern Ukraine as they try to break through Russian defensive lines and mine fields.

The United States announced its latest military aid package for Ukraine last week as Secretary of State Antony Blinken led a delegation to Kyiv to consult with Ukrainian leaders.  Blinken described the progress of the counteroffensive as “very encouraging.”

The United States continues to assess the progress Ukrainian forces are making on the ground, and Russia’s overall strategic goals have failed in Ukraine, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller during a news briefing Monday.

“Their goals were to take Kyiv, to take the majority, if not all of the country, to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. In all of those things they have failed,” he said.

Miller noted that the Ukrainians have taken back around 50% of the territory that Russia occupied at the height of its full-scale invasion.

The State Department spokesman said that one indication of Russia’s difficulties in sustaining its military effort is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin “traveling across his own country, hat in hand, to beg [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un for military assistance.”

The Biden administration is reportedly considering supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles that are packed with cluster bombs and that could cause significant damage deeper within Russian-occupied territory, according to four U.S. officials.

After seeing the success of cluster munitions delivered in 155 mm artillery rounds in recent months, the U.S. is considering shipping Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) that can fly up to 306 kilometers and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles that have a 72-kilometer range and are packed with cluster bombs, according to Reuters news agency. The GMLRS rocket system would be able to disperse up to 404 cluster munitions. Ukraine has had a version of the GMLRS system in its arsenal for months,

The Biden administration has for months been mulling over the supply of ATACMS, fearing their shipment to Ukraine would be perceived as an overly aggressive move against Russia.

Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Rescuers pulled an American researcher out of a Turkish cave early Tuesday, more than a week after he became seriously ill 1,000 meters (more than 3,000 feet) below its entrance, the Speleological Federation of Turkey said.

Teams from across Europe had rushed to Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains to aid Mark Dickey, a 40-year-old experienced caver who became seriously ill on Sept. 2 with stomach bleeding. He was on an expedition to map the cave, which is the country’s third deepest.

Dickey was too frail to climb out himself, so rescuers carried him with the help of a stretcher, making frequent stops at temporary camps set up along the way before he finally reached the surface early Tuesday.

“Mark Dickey is out of the Morca cave,” said a statement by the speleological federation. It said that Dickey was removed from the last exit of the cave at 12:37 a.m. local time Tuesday, or 9:37 p.m. GMT Monday.

“He is fine and is being tended to by emergency medical workers in the encampment above,” the statement said.

Lying on a stretcher surrounded by reporters following his rescue, Dickey described the ordeal as a “crazy, crazy adventure.”

“It is amazing to be above ground again,” he said, thanking the Turkish government for saving his life with its rapid response. He also thanked the international caving community, Turkish cavers and Hungarian Cave Rescue, among others.

The American was first treated inside the cave by a Hungarian doctor who went down the cave on Sept. 3. Doctors and rescuers then took turns caring for him. The cause of Dickey’s illness was not clear.

On Tuesday, Dickey said that in the cave he had started to throw up large quantities of blood.

“My consciousness started to get harder to hold on to, and I reached the point where I thought ‘I’m not going to live,'” he told reporters.

The biggest challenges for the rescuers getting him out of the cave were the steep vertical sections and navigating through mud and water at low temperatures in the horizontal sections. There was also the psychological toll of staying inside a dark, damp cave for extended periods of time.

Around 190 experts from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Turkey took part in the rescue, including doctors, paramedics and experienced cavers. Teams comprised of a doctor and three to four other rescuers took turns staying by his side at all times.

The rescue began on Saturday after doctors, who administered IV fluids and blood, determined that Dickey could make the arduous ascent.

Before the evacuation could begin, rescuers first had to widen some of the cave’s narrow passages, install ropes to pull him up vertical shafts on a stretcher and set up temporary camps along the way.

Dickey, who is from Croton-on-Hudson, New York, is a well-known cave researcher and a cave rescuer himself who had participated in many international expeditions.

He and several other people on the expedition were mapping the 1,276-meter (4,186-foot) deep Morca cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association. Dickey became ill on Sept. 2, but it took until the next morning to notify people above ground.

Turkish authorities made a video message available that showed Dickey standing and moving around on Thursday. While alert and talking, he said he was not “healed on the inside” and needed a lot of help to get out of the cave.

After his rescue, the head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, Okay Memis, told a news conference that the health of Dickey was “very good.”

The European Cave Rescue Association said many cave rescuers remained in the cave to remove rope and rescue equipment used during the operation.

The association expressed its “huge gratitude to the many cave rescuers from seven different countries who contributed to the success of this cave rescue operation.”

“The fact that our son, Mark Dickey, has been moved out of Morca Cave in stable condition is indescribably relieving and fills us with incredible joy,” Mark’s parents, Debbie and Andy Dickey, said in a statement.
…

The arrival of 85  U.S. soldiers for a training mission in Armenia has sparked a strong negative reaction from the Russian government, which has long had a military alliance with that country through its Collective Security Treaty Organization.

The U.S. personnel are in Armenia for an exercise called Eagle Partner, during which they will train with 175 members of the Armenian 12th Peacekeeping Brigade. The objective is to prepare the Armenian soldiers for an assessment later this year of their ability to conform to NATO standards if deployed as peacekeepers.

The 10-day exercise will take place at training grounds near the Armenian capital, Yerevan. The American forces include members of both the 101st Airborne Division and the Kansas National Guard.

Tense moment

The arrival of U.S. troops in Armenia comes at a time when tensions are high in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, its neighbor to the east, have fought two wars in the past several decades over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is within the current internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, but which has a large Armenian population.

The most recent conflict took place in 2020, and was ended by a peace brokered by Russia, which required Armenia to return land it had previously seized from Azerbaijan. Despite the turnover, a large portion of Nagorno-Karabakh remains under the control of a breakaway ethnic Armenian government.

The cease-fire included the installation of 2,000 Russian troops in an area known as the Lachin corridor, which connects Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The presence of Russian troops in the corridor was supposed to allow people in Nagorno-Karabakh access to Armenia, as well as keeping open a supply line to the outside world.

Last December, though, the Azerbaijani government closed the roads, severing the supply route and creating what Armenia describes as a humanitarian crisis in the region. With many aid convoys effectively barred from entering the region, Russian peacekeepers have not intervened, angering the Armenian government.

Azerbaijan has denied it is purposefully cutting off supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, claiming that aid caravans have been carrying contraband and are meant as a “provocation.”

Fraying ties with Russia

Last week, with the arrival of American troops looming, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan criticized Russia in an interview with an Italian newspaper, saying Moscow had failed to assure Armenia’s security. He accused the Russian government of stepping away from its responsibilities in the South Caucasus region.

“Armenia’s security architecture was 99.999% linked to Russia, including when it came to the procurement of arms and ammunition,” Pashinyan told the newspaper La Repubblica. “But today, we see that Russia itself is in need of weapons, arms and ammunition. And in this situation, it’s understandable that even if it wishes so, the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia’s security needs.”

Pashinyan added, “This example should demonstrate to us that dependence on just one partner in security matters is a strategic mistake.”

Moscow responds

Following Pashinyan’s comments, his government also took steps toward ratifying the treaty creating the International Criminal Court, a body that indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges over actions taken during his country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ICC was established in 2022, after being ratified by 60 countries. Since then, dozens of other countries have also ratified or acceded to the treaty on a rolling basis. If Armenia were to join, it would be the 124th country to join.

In addition, the prime minister’s wife visited the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as part of an aid mission.

The Russian government summoned Armenia’s ambassador to the Kremlin to “strongly protest” the prime minister’s comments and his government’s action.

In a statement Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, “The Armenian leadership has taken a series of unfriendly steps in recent days, including the launch of the process of ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the trip of the prime minister’s wife Anna Hakobyan to Kiev to deliver humanitarian aid to the Nazi regime, and the holding of military exercises on Armenian territory with the participation of the United States.”

In comments Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov followed up by saying that it looks “strange” for Armenia to be hosting U.S. troops when for the past two years, it has declined to participate in drills with the five other members of Collective Security Treaty Organization.

“I do not believe it will be any good for anyone, including Armenia itself,” Lavrov said during a news briefing on Sunday. “Wherever the Americans arrive, it always means trouble.”

On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin is in the process of trying to “make sense” of Armenia’s actions.

“Against the backdrop of Armenia’s reluctance to hold drills with the CSTO and its latest plan to host a joint exercise with the United States, for us, perhaps, these are decisions that will require our thorough analysis in order to understand why Armenia has decided to do this and what its goals are here,” Peskov said.

Concerns about conflict

Pashinyan’s government has also warned that Azerbaijani troops are massing on Armenia’s borders — which Azerbaijan denies — and has been seeking international assistance in an effort to reopen a dialogue between the two countries.

In recent days, Pashinyan has reached out to the leaders of multiple Western countries, including the United States, France and Germany, seeking assistance in brokering an agreement with Azerbaijan.

On Monday, Pashinyan spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyep Erdigan, a close ally of Azerbaijan. Media reports suggested that the two had discussed ways of reducing tension in the region. The day before, Erdogan had denounced an election held by the separatist government in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Routine training

The U.S. Army characterized the Eagle Partner operation as a normal training exercise — one that expanded on a longstanding relationship the Armenian military has had with the Kansas National Guard.

“Eagle Partner is a vital opportunity for our soldiers from our two nations to build new relationships at the tactical level and to increase interoperability for peacekeeping operations,” Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said in a statement. “It also builds upon the 20-year relationship that the Kansas National Guard has cultivated with Armenia.”
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Several Western democracies, including the U.S., U.K., and Australia, have tried to restart diplomatic engagement with China in recent months, sending cabinet members to Beijing for talks with Chinese counterparts while upholding tough stances on areas where disagreements with China remain strong.

Analysts say these attempts are necessary to stop the downward spiral in these countries’ bilateral relations with China. However, they think it’s difficult to achieve any diplomatic breakthrough through these efforts.

“In principle, the efforts to [restart engagement with China] is sensible because some level of communication can avoid unintended misunderstanding and miscalculation,” Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore (NUS), told VOA in a phone interview.

In his view, the larger question for Western democracies is how to balance the efforts to restart engagement with China against the defense of their own interests. “These countries won’t return to the engagement phase that they had decades before. There is communication and contact because it’s necessary, but there is also a lot more wariness now,” Chong said.

Australia’s recalibration with China

Australia is one of the countries that has resumed bilateral engagement with China. In July, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with the top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi and the two countries held their first high-level dialogue September 7 in Beijing, addressing topics such as trade, people-to-people links, and security.

These efforts have resulted in the lifting of Chinese tariffs on some Australian commodities including coal and barley, and the Australian government expressed optimism about the two sides making more progress in improving the overall trade ties.

“The progress we have made in resuming unimpeded trade is good for both countries and we want to see that progress continue,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after he met with Chinese Premier Li Qiangin Indonesia on September 7.

Bilateral diplomatic ties deteriorated after Beijing imposed tariffs on a dozen Australian products as a response to Canberra’s call for an investigation into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To further stabilize bilateral ties, Albanese confirmed that he would be visiting China later this year. He emphasized that while views between the two countries won’t always be aligned, Canberra and Beijing recognize that “dialogue is absolutely critical.”

While some praised Albanese’s decision to visit Beijing, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison cautioned against a “concessional approach” toward restoring ties with China, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Experts say Australia’s recent efforts are part of a cautious reengagement where Beijing and Canberra work toward a “gradual increase in contact.” It aims at letting both countries look at areas where they agree while continuing to have open channels to address their disagreements.

“Australia wants to have a functioning, stable diplomatic relationship with China that doesn’t get derailed by differences,” Ryan Neelam, director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at Lowy Institute, told VOA in a phone interview. “The Australian government frequently says it seeks to cooperate wherever it can, disagrees where it must, and manages its differences [with China] wisely.”

Despite efforts to stabilize relations with China, Albanese said he raised human rights cases, including those of two detained Australian citizens, Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, during his conversation with Li, emphasizing that he said Australians want to see Cheng reunited with her children.

However, other analysts say there are signs that the Albanese government is trying to avoid displeasing Beijing by holding back on imposing sanctions against Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

“In recent months, Canberra has imposed sanctions on Syrian, Iranian, and Russian officials but has not done the same thing with Chinese officials,” Benjamin Herscovitch, a research fellow at Australian National University, told VOA in a phone interview.

Australian citizens largely support Albanese’s efforts to restart engagement with China, with some saying it’s essential for Canberra to have open communication with both “friends and enemies.”

“It’s important that the government has those lines of engagement and interaction and I think mistakes get made when parties aren’t talking,” Matt, a 41-year-old hostel manager in Melbourne, told VOA in an audio message.

Others say resuming diplomatic interaction is essential to resolve tough consular cases. “Without a better relationship with China, there will probably be little movement in the case of the detained Australians,” Tristan Upton, a 53-year-old engineer in Melbourne, told VOA in a written response.

Britain’s China policy

Britain has also restarted diplomatic engagement with China in recent weeks. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited China late last month, which is the first such trip by a British Foreign Secretary in nearly five years.

Despite criticism from some British MPs, Cleverly said London would pursue a pragmatic relationship with China while remaining “clear-eyed” about disagreements, adding that it would be a mistake to isolate Beijing.

“The UK was prompted to [restart diplomatic engagement with China] by the Americans, the Australians, and the Europeans who have all done high-level visits and improved relations with China,” Jonathan Sullivan, a China specialist at the University of Nottingham, told VOA in a written response.

Despite the diplomatic outreach to China, Sullivan thinks these efforts may only signal London’s desire to stop the negative spiral. And with the U.K. struggling to cope with a wide range of domestic challenges, including the quick turnovers of prime ministers over the last few years, some experts think London has failed to put forward a set of coherent policies toward China.

Observers think the arrest of a parliamentary researcher suspected of spying for China could further increase the pressure on the British government regarding how it handles its relationship with Beijing. Under these circumstances, Sullivan thinks the U.K. should be more consistent with its foreign policy and try to “communicate its position better.”
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