JUBA (AFP) – Deadly fighting erupted Saturday between rival factions of South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLA-IO after his foes in the party said they had ousted him as leader, the latest twist in the nation’s troubled decade of independence. At least 30 people were killed in the clashes in White Nile State that borders Sudan, Machar’s military spokesman said in a statement, claims that could not be immediately confirmed. Tensions boiled over this week in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition after Machar’s rivals declared they had deposed him as party chairman and commander-in-chief -- a move his allies dismissed as a “failed coup”. The fighting could put further pressure on an already fragile peace deal between Machar and his old foe, President Salva Kiir, that ended five years of brutal war in the world’s youngest country and led to an uneasy coalition government.Armed forces led by Simon Gatwech Dual -- the general named as interim SPLA-IO chief -- launched an attack early Saturday on Machar’s men, who “repulsed the aggressors”, the spokesman Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel said.

***
MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russia plans to hold two consecutive military drills with Chinese and Belarusian forces across its eastern and western borders involving tens of thousands of troops as the three countries feel being cornered by the U.S. and NATO. The first maneuvers -- dubbed Zapad-Interaction, 2021 -- are due to begin Monday at the Qingtongxia Joint Tactical Training Base in northwestern China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Newsweek magazine reported. The combined drills were jointly announced last week by Russian and Chinese military officials, and are set “to feature up to 10,000 personnel and various weaponry and equipment from both sides.” The U.S. magazine cited a report by the official Chinese Military Online which detailed “the preliminary training of troops from Russia’s Eastern Military District who have already arrived in China to meet counterparts in the People’s Liberation Army Western Theater Command.” According to the report, the upcoming maneuvers will be the two nations’ fourth consecutive strategic exercise together and the first one to be held in China.

***
WASHINGTON (RT) – In the latest salvo in the U.S.-China trade war, America’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has reportedly dangled a NATO ‘global partnership’ carrot in front of Brazil – if it squeezes Huawei out of its 5G network market. On his first visit to the country, Sullivan apparently brought up the prospect of Brazil joining the military coalition as a “global partner” while discussing regional defense and security issues with Brazilian Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, the Folha de Sao Paulo paper reported. According to the report, the message had been conveyed to President Jair Bolsonaro’s government that Washington considered the presence of “untrustworthy” tech suppliers such as Huawei and other Chinese firms as roadblocks to “deepening” bilateral military and security co-operation. In recent years, Brazil has become one of several battlegrounds in the tech war. Last year, the Donald Trump administration signed a billion-dollar export agreement with the country to promote American exports in various sectors, including the telecommunications arena and 5G network technologies. While the deal did not explicitly mention the Chinese telecoms firm, U.S. officials reportedly stated the money was geared towards funding Brazilian purchases from Huawei’s rivals. The Chinese Embassy in Brazil accused the U.S. of launching “defamatory attacks” against the company.

***
BUDAPEST (Dispatches) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sys his country is a target for criticism from the U.S. and its Western European allies because the leftist ruling elite can’t tolerate living proof that a conservative, Christian nation can thrive. “The problem is the success,” Orban told Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in an interview. “It’s a real challenge for the liberal thinkers that what is going on in Central Europe... is building up a society which is very successful economically, politically, culturally, even in demography,” he added. Orban said the success of Hungary and other Central-European nations is based on fundamentals that are “totally different” than the political ideology that dominates most Western countries. “The Western liberals cannot accept that inside the Western civilization, there is a conservative national alternative which is more successful at everyday life, at the level of them – the liberal ones,” he noted. “That’s the reason why they criticize us,” Orban added, saying, “They are fighting for themselves, not against us.” The outspoken nationalist has clashed with European Union leaders and lost a staunch ally in Washington with Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in last November’s U.S. presidential election. Biden has portrayed Hungary and Poland as examples of “the rise of totalitarian regimes” and Orban as one of the “thugs” whom Trump supported.

***
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro ignored calls to drop his feud with the Supreme Court and called one of its justices a “son of a wh***e,” amid rising tensions over his unfounded claims the nation’s voting system is vulnerable to fraud. Speaking to supporters in southern Brazil, he insulted Luis Roberto Barroso, the top court justice who also heads the Supreme Electoral Court. The insult was uttered during a live broadcast shared on Bolsonaro’s Facebook account but later deleted. Copies continue to be shared on social media. Justice Barroso, speaking at a forum on electoral systems after the comments, said that if his actions were causing such a nuisance, it was a sign he was doing his job properly. Bolsonaro has railed for weeks against the electronic voting system used in Brazil and pushed for the adoption of printed receipts that can be counted if any election result is disputed. Critics say Bolsonaro, like former U.S. President Donald Trump, is sowing doubts in case he loses next year’s presidential election. He has threatened not to accept the result if the system is not changed.