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Russia has been accused of abusing their veto power by vetoing a UN resolution that would halt Aleppo airstrikes. Russia has supported the Assad regime, which has led to disagreements with the US.

Catalonia's parliament approved a resolution Monday to launch a process of secession from Spain, vowing that the wealthy region would no longer submit to decisions by Spanish institutions while it was taking steps to establish an independent republic. Given how much of Spain's economy Catalonia contains this could possibly have a ripple effect through the entire EU.

Good find, Quinn. Can Spain prevent Catalonia's secession? Is it fair for the wealthiest region in the country to leave?

"(CNN)The U.N. Security Council is set to implement "significant" punitive measures after North Korea's nuclear test and will begin working on a new resolution "immediately," a statement released by Security Council President Elbio Rosselli says. "

"A total of 184 countries on Wednesday voted in favour of a resolution to demand the end of the US economic blockade on Cuba, for the 29th year in a row, with the United States and Israel voting against"

(Wikipedia) "The United States embargo against Cuba prevents American businesses, and businesses organized under US law or majority-owned by citizens of the United States, from conducting trade with Cuban interests. It is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history."

Hong Kong's government is not Hong Kong's own, its chief executive has been appointed by the central Chinese government since China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. However, residents of Hong Kong have enjoyed more civil liberty than the residents of mainland China, for example the freedom of speech and it's own separate judiciary system. With residents of Hong Kong fed up with current pro-Beijing chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, and mainland China's current president, Xi Jiping, who are limiting the democratic liberties of the territory. Though mainland China has sovereignty over the domain of offshore Hong Kong, the levels of democracy in mainland China and Hong Kong are very dissimilar. In China, the internet, education systems, communities, and society as a whole are controlled by the central government, allowing the residents few civil liberties. For a while, Hong Kong, has utilized its own judiciary system and maintained its own chief executive to deal with governance, allowing Hong Kong to keep some of its Western democratic roots, from Hong Kong's time as a British colony; more recently the central government has appointed pro-Beijing (mainland) chief executives who have slowly taken more and more democratic liberties from the people. The people have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in protest asking for more democratic power in the appointment of their chief executive, but the iron-fisted Xi Jiping refuses to allow for any compromises. Xi Jiping is a strongly believes previous communist regimes fell apart because they were lax; as a result, Xi Jiping refuses to let these protests flourish or compromise with protestors because he doesn't want this to spark any freedom protests in the mainland. Yet, Xi Jiping can't use the force he would like to, because the level of force necessary to take down protests with such fervor at this scale who be reminiscent to the force used in the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Any significant bloodshed would j

Drone attacks are actually a major topic in this year's debate resolution (about troops in several countries, including countries in the Middle East). A major argument against the use of drones is the fact that they are unmanned. This means that the risk of losing soldiers is taken out of the equation when ordering military strikes. This risk has been one of the foremost deterrents against unnecessary military operations in the past. While the operations may be effective, many civilians are killed in the process, and there is significant collateral damage. Lastly, since the drones are stealthy, it is easier for the U.S. to evade accusations by not confessing to owning or using drones.

Drone attacks are a key part of the US's couterterrorism strategy in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.They have proven fairly successful at targeting militants but they also often kill innocent civilians by accident. Many see drones as being much more cost effective then other counterinsurgency or nation building efforts in those countries. A growing debate in the military now is the shift from counterinsurgency (nation building) to counterteorrism (drones) because it is much more cost effective and it requries less military casualties. Originally the drones were only used in Afghanistan, but now they have started targetting terrorists in Pakistan. The civilian lives lost in drone attacks in Pakistan hurt US-Pakistan relations.

A Ukrainian city, Donetsk, has been hit by cluster bombs, which are largely prohibited across the world. Evidence, such as the trajectory and the timing of the bombings, indicates that the Ukrainian Army was responsible. With six wounded, one dead, and the Ukrainian Army denying responsibility, this further complicates the path to a resolution.

After a slight turn towards the better, the relationship between Venezuela and the United States has tensed up again. After one of Maduro's allies, Alex Saab, was extradited (handed over (a person accused or convicted of a crime) to the jurisdiction of the foreign state in which the crime was committed), Maduro called off all negotiations with the US that could have lead to rapprochement. This article then details some of the mistrust the US government has in Maduro.