Capt.(Dr.) S G Naravane on LinkedIn: Saudi King’s Health, Iran President’s Death Spur Succession Bets (2024)

What Raisi’s Death Means for Iran’s FutureThe president’s sudden death in a helicopter crash creates uncertainty for the country amid regional turmoil.By Jack DetschMAY 20, 2024

The ICC Disgraces Itself Over IsraelGiving Hamas a brief victory will be the court’s epitaph.By The Editorial BoardMay 20, 2024 6:28 pm ETThe International Criminal Court has lost more than the plot. In requesting arrest warrants on Monday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief, alongside a trio of Hamas leaders responsible for Oct. 7, the ICC has lost sight of the crucial distinction between the death squad and the bomber pilot, on which the possibility of just war depends. President Biden is right to call the court’s action “outrageous,” but the grotesque false equivalence demands more than tough words.

After Raisi’s Death, Iran Wrestles With Two Succession ChallengesPresident was widely seen as being groomed by Supreme Leader Khamenei as a potential candidate for Iran’s most powerful roleBy Sune Engel RasmussenUpdated May 20, 2024 12:20 pm ETIranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s death has dealt an unsettling blow to the country’s politics and raises questions regarding the succession of not just the presidency, but also the most powerful position in the country—that of supreme leader.Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash over the weekend along with Iran’s foreign minister, was widely seen as a potential successor to the current top figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 85 and has a history of illness. There is no publicly anointed heir-apparent.

https://lnkd.in/dyrnDGzwAfter Raisi’s Death, Speculation Over Succession Turns to Ayatollah’s SonMojtaba Khamenei, 55, plays an influential role in the office of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and has fostered ties within the security apparatus.By ERIKA SOLOMONMay 20, 2024

https://lnkd.in/dBsvwfa*gBiden and Blinken Accuse I.C.C. Prosecutor of Falsely Equating Israel and HamasThe forceful denunciations of the International Criminal Court came even as tensions have risen between the United States and Israel over its conduct of the war in Gaza.By MICHAEL D. SHEARMay 20, 2024

https://lnkd.in/d2AEcvFuThe Death of Iran’s President Does Not Bode WellThe generation on the cusp of taking power in Iran sees domestic oppression and foreign aggression as indispensable to the success of the revolution.By REUEL MARC GERECHT and RAY TAKEYHMay 20, 2024

https://lnkd.in/d7XGFBhBWickedly perverse move should sink the ICCThe arrest warrant for Israel’s PM subverts justice and finally destroys the court’s reputationMelanie PhillipsMonday May 20 2024, 9.00pm BST, The TimesThe decision by the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan, to request arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and its minister of defence, Yoav Gallant, is a wickedly perverse and deeply troubling move.Khan has also requested arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, commander-in-chief of Hamas’s military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’s political bureau. He has accused the Hamas leaders of murder, extermination, torture and rape which are crimes against humanity, and of taking Israelis hostage, which are war crimes.Khan presents this as a display of even-handedness. This itself is morally bankrupt. There can be no equivalence between a genocidal attempt at extermination and a country’s defence against it.

https://lnkd.in/d2n-JCTrIsrael outraged at ICC call for Binyamin Netanyahu’s arrestKarim Khan KC, chief prosecutor of the Hague court, accused Israel’s prime minister and defence minister, as well as senior leaders of Hamas, of crimes including “wilful killing”newGabrielle Weiniger, Tel Aviv | Hugh Tomlinson, WashingtonMonday May 20 2024, 11.00pm, The TimesBinyamin Netanyahu has described an ­attempt to seek an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Gaza as “absurd” and insisted that any attempt to tie Israel’s hands was doomed to fail.Israel’s prime minister and defence minister, as well as senior leaders of Hamas, were all declared wanted for crimes against humanity by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, triggering protests and claims of “false equivalence” from both sides.The British barrister Karim Khan KC, chief prosecutor of the Hague court, accused Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, of crimes including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”, “wilful killing” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population”.

Russia fails in rival UN bid on nuclear, other weapons in spaceBy Michelle NicholsUNITED NATIONS, May 20 (Reuters) - A Russian-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution that called on all countries to prevent "for all time" the placement, threat or use of any weapons in outer space failed on Monday with the 15-member body split over the move.The draft failed to get the minimum nine votes needed: seven members voted in favor and seven against, while one abstained. A veto can only be cast by the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France if a draft gets at least nine votes.