AMERICAS PRESS REVIEW
Headlines: Joe Biden talks about “genocide” in Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of carrying out "genocide" in Ukraine on April 12, 2022. © AP / Carolyn Kaster
Text by: Christophe Paget Follow
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Politico
speaks of a “
noticeable change in rhetoric
”,
The Hill
of a “
rhetorical escalation by the Biden administration
”, which comes “
days after Russian missiles hit a train station in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people, and a week after the horrific images of the bodies of civilians in the streets of Bucha, near Kiev
”.
However, this comment from the President of the United States is unexpected, believes the
Washington Post
.
Already because the president's speech concerned a completely different subject, his plan to lower the price of fuel.
And then, notes the newspaper, so far “
the Biden administration was careful not to use the word genocide to describe the war in Ukraine
”.
Politico also believes that, in general, the United States has long been reluctant to use this term.
It has only been three weeks since the Biden administration has spoken of genocide to qualify the attacks, in 2016 and 2017, by the Burmese soldiers against the Rohingya minority.
Joe Biden ahead of the White House
Joe Biden talking about genocide in Ukraine is, according to the
Washington Post
, “
the latest example of the president
apparently getting
ahead of the White House in condemning Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine
”.
This was already the case when he called the Russian president a "
war criminal
" in mid-March, or when he seemed to be calling for regime change in Moscow - only to return later. on his words.
The president, the newspaper said, “
often seems torn between his desire to speak out against this brutal assault and the fact that certain terms have legal definitions that can lead to specific actions
.”
This time, he told the press that "
it is his lawyers who will ultimately decide whether or not we can talk about genocide
", specifies
The Hill
, which believes that, in any case, "
these comments will probably exacerbate tensions with Russia, already very strong after six weeks of military attacks
".
Attack in the New York subway
Passengers fleeing the
Washington Post
front-page subway train .
Passengers prostrate, sitting or lying on the blood-stained platform front page of the
New York Times
:
"
Tuesday's attack spawned a horror the city had long avoided
: a mass shooting in the subway ," the
newspaper
wrote
.
An attack, explains
USA Today
, which "
shocked the neighborhood in which this subway station is located (on 36th Street, south of Brooklyn), where many working-class immigrants work
".
The shooter, writes the
Wall Street Journal
, set off two smoke bombs and “
fired 33 times into the train, injuring ten people.
Thirteen others are being treated for breathing in smoke, for panic attacks or because they have fallen
”.
The killer is still at large, writes the
New York Times
.
An “
alarming increase
” in enforced disappearances in Mexico
The UN calls on the Mexican government to take "
immediate measures
" in the
face of
"
the alarming upward trend in enforced disappearances
".
The UN committee against enforced disappearances has just published a report which, under the headline of
Reforma
, "
accuses the authorities of participating in these disappearances
": "
organized crime has become the main cause of disappearances, with the participation or public services agreement, which also looks the other way
”.
"
The government is investigating and prosecuting some of these crimes, but the overwhelming majority is not ,"
La Jornada
adds
, still quoting the report.
98,874 disappeared, 8,000 each year for five years, 112 during the twelve days of visits by members of the UN committee.
Excelsior
also notes the significant increase in the number of minors, adolescents and women abducted, in relation to human trafficking.
“
The Mexican government proposes to comply with the UN report on the disappearances
,” writes
La Jornada
.
It is the Ministry of the Interior which must work on the report.
And there is urgency:
according to Vicky Garay
, of the association Warriors in search of our treasures, by coming to Mexico, the UN committee "
realized the passive attitude of all the authorities
".
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