Kremlin Says US Can’t Build ‘New World Order’ that Biden Spoke of  

This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attending a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attending a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Kremlin Says US Can’t Build ‘New World Order’ that Biden Spoke of  

This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attending a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attending a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 10, 2023. (AFP)

The Kremlin said on Monday that it agreed with US President Joe Biden on the need to build a "new world order", but that it disagreed that the United States was capable of building it.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US was talking about an "American-centric" world order that would not exist in future.

The exchange was emblematic of a contest, playing out against the background of the Ukraine and Gaza wars, in which Russia is trying to persuade developing countries to join it in building a new world free of US "hegemony".

In a speech on Friday, Biden said the order that had worked well for 50 years after World War Two had "sort of run out of steam" and a new one was needed. He said Americans had "an opportunity to do things, if we're bold enough and have enough confidence in ourselves, to unite the world in ways that it never has been".

Peskov said Moscow was in rare agreement with Biden about the need for a new order that, in his words, would be "free from the concentration of all mechanisms of world governance in the hands of one state".

But he said Russia disagreed with Biden about the capacity of the United States to build such a system.

"In this part we disagree because the United States... no matter what world order they talk about, they mean an American-centric world order, that is, a world that revolves around the United States. It won't be that way any more."



Israeli Military to Begin Drafting Ultra-Orthodox Seminary Students Next Week

 Policemen try to lift up Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, as they protest, after an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that requires the state to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the military, in Bnei Brak, Israel July 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Policemen try to lift up Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, as they protest, after an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that requires the state to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the military, in Bnei Brak, Israel July 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military to Begin Drafting Ultra-Orthodox Seminary Students Next Week

 Policemen try to lift up Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, as they protest, after an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that requires the state to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the military, in Bnei Brak, Israel July 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Policemen try to lift up Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, as they protest, after an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that requires the state to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the military, in Bnei Brak, Israel July 16, 2024. (Reuters)

The Israeli military will next week begin the process of drafting candidates from Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, the military said on Tuesday.

The issue is especially sensitive amid the war against Hamas in Gaza and related fighting on other fronts that have caused the worst Israeli casualties in decades.

Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military from the age of 18 for 24-32 months. Members of Israel's 21% percent Arab minority and ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have largely been exempt for decades.

In June, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the defense ministry must end that longstanding exemption for ultra-Orthodox seminary students, creating new political strains for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An Israeli military statement said that starting Sunday "the process of issuing initial summons orders for the first call-up" ahead of the upcoming July recruitment cycle would commence.

Minor clashes erupted on Tuesday between ultra-Orthodox protesters and police as dozens blocked a main Israeli highway but were quickly dispersed.

Netanyahu's coalition includes two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard the exemptions as key to keep their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative values.

The issue has prompted protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up 13% of Israel's 10 million population - a figure expected to reach 19% by 2035. Their refusal to serve in wars they generally support is a long festering schism in Israeli society.