American Fracking Vet in Ukraine Maneuvers to Keep Gas Flowing

Paul Takahashi
Sun., February 27, 2022


(Bloomberg) -- Born in Belarus, raised in Kazakhstan and schooled in the ways of fracking in the shale fields of America, Oleg Tolmachev arrived in Kyiv 13 months before the bombs started falling.

The mandate he had been given was a crucial one: Apply the complex drilling methods he learned in the U.S. to the tight rock formations that dominate much of the Ukrainian oil and gas landscape and, in the process, help wean the country off Russian energy. Naftogaz, the company that hired Tolmachev to oversee production, is the nation’s dominant gas supplier. If the lights are going to stay on and homes are to keep warm in the harsh Ukrainian winter, Tolmachev is going to have to find a way to keep the gas flowing.

So when the explosions marking the start of the Russian invasion jarred him awake early Thursday morning, he knew what to do. He grabbed his stash of cash, his Garmin InReach satellite messenger and his Swiss Shepherd dog Maya, and pointed his SUV west toward Lviv, the Ukranian city along the Polish border that Naftogaz top executives designated as a command center if fighting broke out.

After waiting anxiously for a whole day for the gridlock created by the wave of refugees fleeing Kyiv to ease, he finally made his way toward Lviv on Friday, taking 14 hours compared with the usual six. There were some harrowing moments along the way, like when he drove past a military base that had been hit by a cruise missile just minutes earlier.

His friends back in the U.S. told him he’s crazy to stay -- “most people are not impressed by my decision” -- but Tolmachev said he couldn’t see himself abandoning his newly adopted home at a moment like this. “I really like it here and I like what this country stands for,” he said in an interview.

Naftogaz accounts for about 70% of the nation’s annual gas output. So far, none of its 6,400 employees have been hurt in the conflict, Tolmachev said Sunday. But as fighting draws closer to its facilities, the company is shutting in wells, securing equipment and getting workers out of harm’s way. Most of its infrastructure is functioning, although some assets have been damaged, Chief Executive Officer Yuriy Vitrenko said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Airstrikes in Kyiv are a concern because the company’s technology infrastructure is located there, he added.

Russian gas also continues to flow via Ukraine to Europe, despite reports that a pipeline carrying the fuel caught fire in Kharkiv as Russian troops entered Ukraine’s second city overnight. Tolmachev said the fire hasn’t affected Naftogaz’s operations.

Tolmachev, the son of two petroleum engineers, moved to the U.S. from Kazakhstan in 1996 to study petroleum engineering at the University of Oklahoma. After college, he spent 21 years in the U.S. shale oil and gas industry. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2016.

After stepping down as the chief operations officer for Montage Resources Corp. following its acquisition by Southwestern Energy Co. in 2020, Tolmachev was approached by Naftogaz to head up its exploration and production division. Despite only visiting Ukraine once when he was a child, Tolmachev, 47, jumped at the opportunity. He looked up Kyiv on YouTube, liked what he saw and moved with his family.

“I felt like this was a great opportunity for me, but also a great opportunity to do something amazing that could change the lives of people here, to help get this country on the path of energy independence and independence from Russian politics,” he said. “If we were able to do that, this would change things significantly, not just in Ukraine, but in Europe as well.” Since joining the company, Tolmachev said his team has been able to arrest the long-term decline in Naftogaz’s gas production.

Still, he never envisioned working in a war zone. As tensions escalated over the past month, Tolmachev sent his wife and 10-year-old son to Budapest. He decided to leave Kyiv as well after the shelling began.

“My apartment is actually located right next to the president’s office, the parliament and the cabinet,” Tolmachev said. “I realized if it gets circled by the Russian military and they really come to take the president’s office, I’m going to be right in the middle of it.”

He plans to go back to work on Monday in Lviv, coordinating team meetings to help keep the gas flowing.

“This whole expedition is a huge miscalculation on the part of the Russian Federation,” Tolmachev said. “This country has the desire to fight. I hope and I’m sure that they will prevail and persevere.”

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U.K. Plans New Law to Crack Down on Foreign Money Laundering

Alex Morales
Sun., February 27, 2022


(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. accelerated plans to crack down on money laundering with sweeping new laws to register foreign owners of British property and expand government powers to investigate the source of their wealth.

Ministers on Tuesday will publish the new legislation, the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Home Office said on Monday in an emailed statement. It also announced plans for a “fundamental reform” of Companies House, the government agency which registers corporate information and makes it publicly available.

Foot-dragging by successive Tory governments over the measures -- including a register of foreign owners of British property -- sparked concerns by opposition parties and rank-and-file Conservatives alike about the persistence of a London “laundromat” used to clean up illicit wealth. The U.K.’s National Crime Agency estimates money laundering costs the U.K. 100 billion pounds ($134 billion) a year.

The move makes good on a promise made last week by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he unveiled the U.K.’s biggest ever package of sanctions and other measures to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration.

“There is no place for dirty money in the U.K.,” Johnson said in the statement.

The new legislation is designed to help the National Crime Agency (NCA) prevent foreigners from laundering money through purchases of U.K. property, according to the Home Office.

The plans include:

Introduction of a “Register of Overseas Entities” that own U.K. property, requiring anonymous owners to disclose their identity to ensure they can’t hide behind “secretive chains of shell companies”


Powers for the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation to more easily impose “significant” fines, and disclose the names of organizations that have breached sanctions, but not been fined


Reforms of Companies House to improve the quality of its information and allow it to verify the identity of company owners


Changes to Unexplained Wealth Orders, which were introduced in 2017 to compel respondents to reveal the source of their money


An NCA ‘Kleptocracy’ cell will be able to immediately investigate and punish those bypassing sanctions on Russia announced last week

Legislation for the new registry has been in the works for years, and wasn’t planned until after this year’s Queen’s Speech, usually held in May. Former Prime Minister David Cameron advanced the plans in 2016, and draft legislation was published two years later -- but has since languished.

The new registry will apply retrospectively to property bought by overseas owners as long as 20 years ago in England and Wales and since December 2014 in Scotland. Entities that don’t declare their owner face restrictions on selling the property, and rule-breakers could face five years in prison.

‘Dubious’ Information

Unexplained Wealth Orders will include an expanded definition of an asset’s “holder” to ensure they can’t hide behind shell companies and foundations, the Home Office said. The reforms will also lengthen the time available to law enforcement to review responses to a wealth order, and protect authorities from incurring substantial legal costs for bringing unsuccessful cases.

Separately, the government said it will publish proposals Monday to reform Companies House, which will be enshrined in separate legislation “in coming months.”

It plans to introduce a requirement for anyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a company in the U.K. to verify their identity with the agency, which will be empowered to challenge “dubious” information and inform security agencies of potential wrongdoing.

That legislation aims also to give the government new powers to seize crypto assets, and further strengthen anti-money laundering powers. It will also include reforms to crack down on the use of limited partnerships as vehicles for international money laundering and illegal arms movements.

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ON THE FRONT LINE IN LIBERIA'S FIGHT TO SAVE THE PANGOLIN

The small wiry man, whose full name AFP is withholding, ignores a ban on hunting bushmeat and earns most of his cash catching pangolins or monkeys in the surrounding jungle.

FILE: Believed to be the world's most trafficked animal, pangolins are only found in the wild in Asia and Africa. Picture: AFP

AFP | about 2 hours ago

GBARPOLU COUNTY, LIBERIA - Clutching a single-barrelled rifle in lush northern Liberia, Emmanuel says his 10 children were able to get an education thanks to his gun.

The small wiry man, whose full name AFP is withholding, ignores a ban on hunting bushmeat and earns most of his cash catching pangolins or monkeys in the surrounding jungle.

In the dry season, Emmanuel waits for dark and then hikes into the jungle with his rifle and machete.

Pangolins, scale-covered insect-eating mammals that are typically the size of a full-grown cat, are mostly active at night, snuffling through deadwood for ants and termites.

The species is under increasing threat worldwide, but remains a delicacy in the impoverished West African country.

Their scales - made of keratin, like human nails - are also prized by consumers abroad for their supposed medicinal properties, fetching much-needed money.

"We kill it, we eat it," said Emmanuel, in a village in Gbarpolu County, five-hours drive north of the capital Monrovia along pitted dirt roads.

"Then the scales, we sell it," added the hunter. "There's no other option".

Believed to be the world's most trafficked animal, pangolins are only found in the wild in Asia and Africa, but their numbers are plummeting under pressure from poaching.

Asian pangolins once met the strong demand in East Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where the animal's scales are used in traditional concoctions.

But Africa became the major source for the trade from 2013, according to the UN's drugs and crime office UNODC, in a shift likely prompted by falling pangolin numbers in Asia.

PRIME TARGET
Countries such as Liberia, as well as Nigeria, Cameroon and Guinea, are all origin markets.

Phillip Tem Dia, who works for Flora and Fauna International, a non-governmental organisation in Liberia, said pangolin killings "really, really increased" since the start of the scales trade.

Liberia is a prime target for traffickers. Over 40 percent of the country is covered in rainforest and governance is weak.

It is also still recovering from brutal civil wars from 1989 to 2003, and the 2014-16 Ebola crisis.

With conservationists sounding the alarm, Liberia's government has banned the hunting and sale of pangolins.

But it is battling a generations-old tradition of its impoverished citizens consuming the animal.

Patchy data hampers conservation efforts too. Pangolins are solitary and reclusive, and their number in the wild remains a mystery.

"There are huge gaps in our understanding," said Rebecca Drury, FFI head of wildlife trade.

Available evidence suggests a stark decline in numbers, however.

STAGGERING LOSSES
Known as "ants-bears" in Liberia after their favourite food, pangolins move at a waddle and have no jaws or teeth.

They roll up into a hedgehog-like ball when threatened. Their scales provide protection.

But humans can simply pick pangolins up and carry them off.

"They are very sensitive animals," said Julie Vanassche, the director of Liberia's Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary, near Monrovia, which rehabilitates rescued pangolins.

Many die of stress in captivity, she says, despite round-the-clock care.

The sanctuary has released 42 back into the wild since opening its doors 2017, but the number is likely a drop in the ocean.

A 2020 study by the US Agency for International Development estimated that between 650,000 and 8.5 million pangolins were removed from the wild between 2009 and 2020.

"Either way, the numbers are staggering," the study said, listing deforestation, bushmeat consumption, and the scales trade as reasons behind the decline in pangolins.

According to the UNODC, seizures of pangolin scales have also increased tenfold since 2014, suggesting a booming global trade. In July, China seized two tonnes of smuggled scales, for example.

Vanassche, a Belgian with a pangolin tattoo on her forearm, said the future is "not looking great".

"We need to act very fast - it's almost over," she said.

MARKET RAIDS
Outside a market in Monrovia, a forestry agent pours gasoline over a pile of confiscated bushmeat, and lights a match.

The mound of dead monkeys, and at least one pangolin, goes up in flames as women gather round to hurl abuse at a dozen agents from Liberia's Forestry Development Authority.

They have just conducted one their first market raids in the capital, after years of raising awareness about wildlife laws.

Liberia banned the sale of bushmeat in 2014 following the Ebola crisis.

In 2016, it also banned the unlicenced hunting of protected species, imposing up to six months in prison or a maximum $5,000 fine on wrongdoers.

The FDA agents - all tall men who say they are dedicated to stopping the bushmeat trade - appear to have little sympathy for the market traders, who are all women.

"Our protected species are being killed every day by poachers," said FDA anti-smuggling unit head Edward Appleton, in battledress, adding that the country's natural heritage was threatened.

But Comfort Saah, a market trader, was distraught as her merchandise burned by the roadside. She said she had lost the equivalent of nearly $3,000 in the raid.

The sum is enormous in a country where 44 percent of people survive on under $1.9 a day, according to World Bank figures.

"How are we going to live?" Saah said.

WE ATE IT
In rural areas, there are few signs of the government enforcing anti-poaching laws. Pangolin scales were ubiquitous in three villages in northern Gbarpolu County visited by AFP.

Many villagers had small bags stashed in wattle-and-daub homes. Some had sacks full.

"It's not easy to get them. The numbers are going down," said the chief hunter of one village, whose name AFP is withholding, dressed in a black tracksuit.

He explained he hunted because there were no jobs, and didn't understand why the practice was illegal.

Several local hunters said merchants tour the remote villages for scales, but that very few had come last year, suggesting that the pandemic had hampered them.

One young hunter told AFP he had sold scales within the last few months, however.

The product fetches comparatively little: A small plastic bag containing the scales of a couple of pangolins costs a few US dollars, according to several accounts.

The money often goes towards basic necessities such as soap, several said.

A 2020 study by the Netherlands-based Wildlife Justice Commission said that a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of pangolins scales can sell for $355 in China.

Even during a lull in the scales market, pangolins are hunted for meat.

Matthew Shirley, the co-chair of the pangolin specialist group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told AFP it was "totally unrealistic" to expect people living in poverty not to eat protein-rich pangolins.

The focus should be on hunting sustainably, he said.

In one village, a woman named Mamie had a baby pangolin clinging to her body. Her husband had found it in a palm tree with its mother two days prior.

She giggled when asked what happened to the mother: "We ate it."

Russia face World Cup ban threat as sport turns yellow and blue for Ukraine

Sun, February 27, 2022

A 'Football Stands Together' message is displayed in Ukrainian colours ahead of the English League Cup final football match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium (AFP/JUSTIN TALLIS) (JUSTIN TALLIS)

Russia faced calls to be banished from the 2022 World Cup on Sunday as Moscow edged towards becoming a sports pariah following its invasion of Ukraine.

Demands to dump Russia from football's showpiece event were led by French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet.

"The world of sport, and especially football, cannot remain neutral. I certainly would not oppose the expulsion of Russia," said Le Graet told Le Parisien newspaper.

France are the reigning world champions having won the 2018 tournament played in Russia.

Governing body FIFA warned that they were considering the ultimate sanction but after four days of war, they on Sunday only ordered Russia to play home internationals on neutral venues.

Their national flag and anthem are also to be banned.

FIFA also said Russian teams would play as the "Football Union of Russia".

FIFA admitted, however, it would continue its dialogue with other sports organisations to determine additional measures "including potential exclusion from competitions".

However, within minutes of FIFA's announcement, the Polish FA insisted once again that they will not play Russia in a World Cup play-off.

"Today's FIFA decision is totally unacceptable," tweeted Polish FA president Cezary Kulesza.

"We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is."

Poland were due to play in Moscow on March 24.

Should Russia win, they are scheduled to host the winners of a match between the Czechs and the Swedes on March 29.

Sweden and the Czech Republic have also refused to play Russia in the play-offs.

The English FA said Sunday that their national teams would not play any games against Russia "out of solidarity with Ukraine and to wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities being committed by the Russian leadership".

European governing body UEFA took action on Friday, stripping Saint Petersburg's Gazprom Arena of the Champions League final on May 28 and awarding the showpiece match to the Stade de France in Paris.

At Wembley on Sunday, Chelsea skipper Cesar Azpilicueta and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson carried flowers in Ukraine's yellow and blue colours onto the pitch before kick-off in their League Cup final.

Both teams stood for a minute's applause, while a message on the stadium scoreboard in yellow and blue read "Football Stands Together".

- 'Save Ukraine, save Europe' -

Liverpool and Chelsea fans were seen with Ukraine flags in their sections of Wembley.

One supportive banner in Ukraine's blue and yellow colours read "You'll never walk alone" in reference to Liverpool's anthem.

Chelsea also said they were "praying for peace" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine after owner Roman Abramovich's decision to hand over control of the Premier League club.

The Russian-Israeli billionaire announced on Saturday that he was handing the "stewardship and care" of Chelsea to the trustees of the club's charitable foundation. But he will remain as owner.

There was no mention in his statement of the crisis in Ukraine.

Chelsea released a 24-word statement on their website but there was no mention of Russia or its president, Vladimir Putin.

"The situation in Ukraine is horrific and devastating," the statement said. "Chelsea FC's thoughts are with everyone in Ukraine. Everyone at the club is praying for peace."

It is understood Abramovich, who allegedly has links to the Kremlin, took the decision to step aside in order to protect Chelsea from reputational damage as war rages in Ukraine.

Sporting anger wasn't just limited to football.

In Cairo, Ukrainian fencers withdrew from the world championships to avoid facing Russia in a match-up.

The Ukraine men's team, dressed in the yellow and blue of their national flag, downed their swords and picked up signs to protest.

"Stop Russia! Stop the war!," the signs read, written in English. "Save Ukraine! Save Europe."

dj/jc

Sporting Sanctions Can Land Significant Blow on Putin, Say Experts

February 28, 2022
Agence France-Presse

A general view of the St. Petersburg Stadium prior to the Confederations Cup soccer match between New Zealand and Portugal, in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 24, 2017.

Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup, the scandal-plagued 2014 Winter Olympics and Gazprom’s sponsorship of the Champions League were powerful tools for the country’s global image and gained Vladimir Putin prestige amongst the Russian population.

However, the Russian president’s decision to invade Ukraine has resulted in destroying the warm global afterglow and experts believe it could cost him dearly internally.

Saint Petersburg has already been stripped of hosting this year’s Champions League final with Gazprom’s reported 40-million-euro ($45 million) a year sponsorship deal with UEFA also in doubt.

The Russian Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled and there are calls for the country’s football team to be expelled from the 2022 World Cup play-offs.

“Sport has always had a tremendous impact on society,” Michael Payne, former head of marketing at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told AFP.

“The South African sports boycott over apartheid probably had as much or greater impact than economic sanctions, over forcing regime policy change.”

For Hugh Robertson, Chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), a blanket sports ban could affect Putin’s standing domestically.

“Sport is disproportionately important to absolutist regimes,” he told AFP.

“The potential inability to compete would hit Russia hard.”

Payne, who in nearly two decades at the IOC was widely credited with transforming its brand and finances through sponsorship, said Putin risked his standing with his own people.

“Putin may not care what the rest of the world thinks of him, but he has to care what the Russian people think of him,” said the Irishman.

“Lose their support and it is game over -– and the actions of the sports community has the potential to be a very important influencer towards the Russian people.”

‘A greater good’

Prominent Russian sports stars have not been shy in voicing their disquiet over Putin’s invasion.

Andrey Rublev, who won the Dubai ATP title on Saturday, veteran Russian football international Fedor Smolov, United States-based ice hockey great Alex Ovechkin and cyclist Pavel Sivakov, who rides for the Ineos team have all expressed a desire for peace.

“Russian athletes speaking out to their national fan base, will only serve to further prompt the local population to question the actions of their leadership, and undermine the local national support for the war,” said Payne.

Artists perform during the opening of the World Cup at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia, on June 14, 2018. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

However, another former IOC marketing executive Terrence Burns, who since leaving the organization has played a key role in five successful Olympic bid city campaigns, has doubts about their impact.

“You are making the assumption that Russian people actually see, read, and hear ‘real news’,” he told AFP.

“I do not believe that is the case. The Government will portray Russia as a victim of a great global conspiracy led by the USA and the West.

“It is an old Russian trope they have used quite effectively since the Soviet days.”

Burns says sadly the athletes must also be punished for their government’s aggression.

“I believe that Russia must pay the price for what it has done,” he said.

“Sadly, that has to include her athletes as well.

“Many people, like me, believed that by helping them host the Olympics and World Cup could somehow open and liberalize the society, creating new paths of progress for Russia’s young people. Again, we were wrong.”

Robertson too says allowing Russians to compete when Ukrainians are unable to due to the conflict is “morally inconceivable.”

Payne says individual sports have to look at a bigger moral picture than their own potential losses over cutting Russian sponsorship contracts.

“The sports world risks losing far more by not reacting, than the loss of one or two Russian sponsors.”

Former British lawmaker Robertson, who as Minister for Sport and the Olympics delivered the highly successful 2012 London Games, agrees.

“The sporting world may have to wean itself off Russian money,” said the 59-year-old.

“Over the past few days, it has become apparent that political, economic and trade sanctions will hurt the West as well as Russia, but this is a price that we will have to pay to achieve a greater good.”

For Robertson sport could not stand idly by in response to Russia’s invasion.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine will impact sport but the consequences of inaction, or prevarication, will be far more serious.”

Euro backlash as FIFA refuses to expel Russia from football


A general view of the St. Petersburg Stadium prior to the Confederations Cup soccer match between New Zealand and Portugal, in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 24, 2017. The British government led calls Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022 for the Champions League final to be taken off Russia by European football's governing body to punish its deepening intervention in Ukraine. The showpiece men's game is due to be played in St. Petersburg on May 28 for the biggest sporting event in Russia since the 2018 World Cup.

(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, file)


LONDON (AP) — FIFA drew a swift backlash from European nations for not immediately expelling Russia from World Cup qualifying on Sunday and only ordering the country to play without its flag and anthem at neutral venues under the name of its federation — the Football Union of Russia.

Protesting against FIFA’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland said it would still refuse to play the country in a World Cup playoff semifinal, which is scheduled for March 24.

“Today’s FIFA decision is totally unacceptable,” Polish football federation president Cezary Kulesza tweeted. “We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is.”

The unanimous ruling by the FIFA Bureau, featuring the six regional football confederation presidents, said the Russian flag and anthem can’t be associated with the team playing as “Football Union of Russia (RFU).”

“FIFA will continue its ongoing dialogue with the IOC, UEFA and other sport organizations to determine any additional measures or sanctions,” FIFA said in a statement, “including a potential exclusion from competitions, that shall be applied in the near future should the situation not be improving rapidly.”

The decision adopts the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling before the invasion of Ukraine, punishing Russia’s cover-up of the investigation into state-sponsored doping. It meant the Russians had to compete at the last two Olympics as the ROC team — Russian Olympic Committee. FIFA had stalled implementing the ban on Russia competing under the country’s name until a potential qualification the World Cup.

The winner of the Russia-Poland playoff is due to host Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29 to decide who advances to the Nov. 21-Dec. 18 World Cup in Qatar.

Swedish federation president Karl-Erik Nilsson, the senior UEFA vice president, told the website Fotbollskanalen that he was not satisfied with the FIFA decision with a “sharper stance” expected. The Czechs said the FIFA compromise did not change their decision not to play Russia.

FIFA said it had engaged with the three associations and would remain in “close contact to seek to find appropriate and acceptable solutions together.”

Separately, the English Football Association announced that its national teams would refuse to play Russia for the “foreseeable future.” Russia has qualified for the Women’s European Championship which is being hosted by England in June.

The English FA said the decision was taken “out of solidarity with the Ukraine and to wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities being committed by the Russian leadership.”

The RFU’s president is Aleksandr Dyukov, who is chief executive of a subsidiary of state-owned energy giant Gazprom and also sits on the UEFA executive committee.

In France, the football federation president Noël Le Graët told the Le Parisien daily Sunday that he was leaning toward excluding Russia from the World Cup.

“The world of sport, and in particular football, cannot remain neutral,” said Le Graët, who sits on the ruling FIFA Council and has recently been a close ally of the governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino.

A strict reading of FIFA’s World Cup regulations would even make the Polish, Swedish and Czech federations liable to disciplinary action and having to pay fines and compensation if they wouldn’t play Russia.

In 1992, however, FIFA and UEFA removed Yugoslavia from its competitions following United Nations sanctions imposed when war broke out in the Balkans.

The FIFA Bureau, which is chaired by Infantino, includes UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.

UEFA on Friday pulled the 2022 Champions League final from St. Petersburg, moving it to Paris, and said Russian and Ukrainian teams in its competitions must play home games in neutral countries. UEFA allowed Spartak Moscow to continue playing in the second-tier Europa League’s round of 16.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine entered a fourth day on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin temporarily lost his most senior official position in world sports. The International Judo Federation cited “the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine” for suspending Putin’s honorary president status.

The Russian president is a keen judoka and attended the sport at the 2012 London Olympics.

There was an abrupt resignation on Sunday from the Russian who is president of the European Judo Union, with Sergey Soloveychik referencing the “heartache that we see the people in brotherly countries die” but backing his country.

“No one doubts that my heart belongs to judo,” he said. “But it is equally true that it belongs to my homeland, Russia. We, judoka, must always be loyal to our principles.”

In Putin’s other favorite sport, ice hockey, Latvian club Dinamo Riga withdrew Sunday from the Russian-owned and run Kontinental Hockey League citing the “military and humanitarian crisis.”

On Sunday, FINA announced the cancellation of the world junior swim titles which were scheduled from Aug. 23-28 in Kazan. FINA said it was looking for a replacement host for the event.

“FINA remains extremely concerned with the continuing war in Ukraine and following ongoing consultation with athletes and stakeholders from the aquatics family, FINA can now confirm that the 8th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships and FINA will not be holding any future events in Russia if this grave crisis continues,” the FINA statement said.

___

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

BECAUSE THEY ARE WHITE
Helpful Hungarians rush to aid of fleeing Ukrainians




Refugees cross the railway tracks after arriving at Zahonyi railway station close to the border with Hungary (AFP/Attila KISBENEDEK)

Peter MURPHY
Sun, February 27, 2022

With bowls of goulash, offers of free lodging and rides to Budapest, or just a hug and kind word, Hungarians have rushed to the Ukrainian border to help refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

For Janos Molnar, one of dozens of Hungarians waiting on Sunday at the Tiszabecs border-crossing with food and aid supplies, the support is a "moral duty".

"I have three empty rooms at home in my nearby town, these people have been through hell," the 50-year-old told AFP while holding a placard written in Ukrainian.

According to police data more than 70,000 refugees have streamed into Hungary from Ukraine since Thursday.

Pulling their suitcases toward the throng of stalls with water and food packages, a weary group from conflict-torn Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine gratefully accepted Molnar's offer.

- 'This is about humanity' -

The invasion triggered a rapid response by ordinary Hungarians with citizens, church charities, and mayors of border towns springing into action.

"When we saw what was happening we set up a Facebook appeal for donations," said Zoltan Havasi, a bike courier who runs the "Budapest Bike Maffia" charity in the Hungarian capital.

Within hours thousands of people delivered canned food, mattresses, sanitary and baby products to a warehouse, said the 46-year-old.

"People wanted to actively help, not just send money," he said before setting off for the border from Budapest in a convoy of a dozen vans.

"There is more than is needed now, but a lot of it is non-perishable," the convoy's co-organiser Akos Toth told AFP as he unloaded the items in the border town of Zahony, part of a human chain of local volunteers.

"It will be useful if or when the situation in Ukraine escalates," said Toth, founder of a children's aid agency called "Age of Hope".

Van driver Attila Aszodi told AFP that he will carry refugees to Budapest on the return ride and "come back tomorrow if needed".

"I saw on the internet that they were looking for drivers with their own vehicles so I drove straight over," said the 44-year-old businessman.

"This is about humanity, anyone of us can suddenly become a refugee, as we saw this week in Ukraine," he said.

According to Zahony mayor Laszlo Helmeczi around 5,000 people have arrived by train since Thursday, mostly women and children.

Helmeczi, 50, converted the town cultural centre into a makeshift refugee hostel, arranging 300 mattresses in rooms normally used for concerts and exhibitions.

- Temporary protection -

The efforts echo a similar humanitarian response in 2015 when Middle Eastern and African refugees and migrants poured through Hungary at the peak of Europe's migration crisis.

Some were stranded for weeks at a train station in Budapest, dependent on aid brought by civil relief groups.

Unlike then the fiercely anti-migration Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who built a razor-wire fence in 2015 and border detention camps to keep out migrants, has now opened the EU member's door to Ukrainians.

A government decree last Friday exempted anyone arriving from Ukraine from Hungary's tough asylum laws, granting them temporary protection.

"Everyone fleeing Ukraine will find a friend in the Hungarian state," Orban said in an interview Sunday.

pmu/jsk/cdw

UKRAINE

Brewery switches to Molotov cocktails with labels calling Putin a d***head

Sam Courtney-Guy

Monday 28 Feb 2022 

Women dominated the crowds of civilians producing makeshift bombs over the weekend (Picture: Reuters)

A Ukrainian brewery has converted its beer production line into a Molotov cocktail factory as the country braces for fresh advances by Russian troops.

President Zelensky’s government urged civilians to pitch in by making the improvised petrol bombs over the weekend, as military experts anticipate drawn-out guerilla warfare between invading forces and pockets of resistance.

Families across the country worked through the nights pouring any flammable liquids they could get their hands on into spare bottles and sealing them with cloth wicks.

Pravda Brewery said locals were helping its workers make bombs using bottles from one of their most successful craft beers, labelled ‘Putin is a d***head’.

For the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our live blog: Russia-Ukraine live

The slogan refers to a football chant mocking the Russian president which became popular in the wake of his 2014 invasion of Crimea.

The contents of the bottle, which normally contains an 8% Belgian Strong Golden Ale, are described as ‘combining bitterness with a sweet taste’.

Calling the bombs his ‘very special bottling’, head brewer Yuri Zastavny said: ‘We can bottle beer later.’

Molotov cocktails, which create a fireball when the bottle breaks on impact, are a staple of urban warfare due to their ease of use.

The beer is named after a popular football chant which translates to ‘Putin is a d***head’

Locals are preparing to defend their cities by any means necessary (Picture: Reuters)

The deadly bombs are a staple of urban guerilla warfare (Picture: AP)

A man in Zaporizhzhia grins as he shows off two tightly-packed Molotov cocktails (Picture: Anadolu)

Many Ukrainians have been making more advanced versions of the bomb using shredded styrofoam which can help the flames attach to targets.

In cities like Lviv and Dnipro, which have yet to fall under siege, crowds of women were seen huddled together over improvised production lines while local fighting-age men were fighting or training as conscripts.

A teacher named Arina told BBC News: ‘Nobody thought that this was how we would spend our weekend.

‘Nobody thought but now we’re doing this and it seems like the only important thing to do now.’

‘We can’t just live our ordinary lives if we are safe, we have to do something.’

Homeless subjects of Oscars documentary invited to ceremony

Andrew MARSZAL
Sun, 27 February 2022

Los Angeles is conducting its first homeless count in two years, after the last census was scrapped due to Covid-19 

(AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)

A homeless encampment is pictured on the streets of Los Angeles on February 24, 2022, as volunteers take part in a census of the unsheltered 

(AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)


A homeless person, covered by a thin blanket, sleeps on cardboard on a Los Angeles street on February 24, 2022 

(AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)

Pedestrians walk past tents sheltering the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)



Once a year, Hollywood hosts the Oscars -- but every night hundreds of homeless people sleep on and around the Los Angeles neighborhood's star-lined streets.

Those two starkly contrasting worlds are set to collide next month when the directors of "Lead Me Home," a nominated film on the United States' homeless crisis, plan to invite their subjects onto the Oscars' red carpet as their guests.

"Hopefully, on the day of the ceremony we can shine a little bit of a light on that juxtaposition, and raise awareness of the humanity that's right across the street, literally, and that we've all been ignoring for too long," said Pedro Kos, co-director of the short documentary.


"We have our fingers crossed that we can bring two or three of them with us" to the March 27 ceremony, his fellow director Jon Shenk told AFP.

The film, available on Netflix, follows a dozen or so homeless and vulnerable people in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle over the course of three years.

It presents in intimate detail their daily routines and struggles on the streets, and their hopes and dreams for escaping them.

- Seen as less than human -

Subjects include Luis Rivera Miranda, a middle-aged dog-owner who strikes up romance with a fellow homeless woman, and Ronnie "Futuristic Astaire" Willis, who dances for tourists on Hollywood Boulevard in order to afford food.

"He has an extraordinary story -- someone who is a classically trained dancer, who has danced with Janet Jackson, who choreographed Sisqo's 'Thong Song,' who fell on hard times, unfortunately, due to many different factors," said Kos.

In Willis's scenes "you actually see the side of the Dolby Theater" where the Oscars are held, he added.

According to the filmmakers, a major problem is that so many people view their unhoused neighbors in a dehumanizing way, and convince themselves that the homeless must be to blame for their own plight.

But asked how they became homeless, the film's subjects list diverse factors such as disability, rejection by family members after coming out as transgender, and even depression triggered by the 9/11 attacks.

"I think it comes from our own fear of falling through the cracks," said Shenk.

"And so we're hoping that the film can in some ways provide a new perspective that personalizes this, breaks it down, says, 'Hey, wait a minute, let's remember who we're talking about -- these are Americans, they're our neighbors, they have rights, they are people.'"

- 'Crisis of humanity' -

The directors gained access and earned their subjects' trust by working with a number of homeless support organizations.

Rather than interviewing them directly, Shenk set up his camera at shelters where the homeless underwent "vulnerability assessment" interviews, leaving the room so that they could discuss their situations more freely.

But one of the film's more harrowing moments comes as a homeless woman tells a social worker at a makeshift camp that she has been beaten again by a man called Mike, prompting the social worker to call a shelter to help her escape.

"For women, the sexual violence is really real," said Shenk. "I can't think of a woman that we met that didn't have some story related to that."

Shenk and Kos do not have a grand solution to a problem that plagues every elected leader in the West Coast cities -- and other US cities as well -- but said that simplifying the vast bureaucracy of programs available to the homeless would be a start.

Los Angeles is currently conducting its first homeless count in two years. The last census was scrapped due to Covid-19.

The film notes that moratoriums on evictions brought in due to the pandemic are about to expire, potentially worsening the crisis.

"There's no question in our minds that there is a giant crisis of humanity going on in America," said Shenk.

"We hope to use this tiny little moment that is shining on our tiny little film to have an open conversation that allows people to see perhaps a perspective they haven't been exposed to on this issue."

amz/hg/bbk

A ROSE IS A ROSE....

North Korea hails 'significant' test in satellite development


On Sunday South Korea's military said it had detected the launch of a ballistic missile from Pyongyang (AFP/Jung Yeon-je) (Jung Yeon-je)

Sun, February 27, 2022, 

North Korea said it had carried out a test of "great significance" for developing a reconnaissance satellite, state media reported Monday, a day after Seoul said it had detected a ballistic missile launch.

Despite sweeping international sanctions, Pyongyang carried out a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests in January before pausing launches during the Beijing Winter Olympics.

On Sunday South Korea's military said it had detected the launch of a ballistic missile, with Yonhap later reporting it could have been fired from a mobile launcher at a steep angle, possibly indicating a medium-range ballistic missile.


But North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said government agencies had conducted a test "of great significance in developing the reconnaissance satellite" on Sunday.

KCNA said the test helped "confirm the characteristics and working accuracy of high definition photographing system, data transmission system and attitude control devices".

That included "conducting vertical and oblique photographing of a specific area on earth with cameras to be loaded on the reconnaissance satellite," KCNA added.

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, carried two photographs that appeared to show the Korean peninsula seen from space.

The development of a military reconnaissance satellite -- along with the recently tested hypersonic weapons -- is one of the key defence projects listed by leader Kim Jong Un last year.

Analysts say developing such a satellite would provide the North with cover for testing banned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), as long-range rockets share the same technology.

- Satellite or missile? -

"North Korea has long been suspected of using space launches as a cover for tests of rockets to be used as ballistic missiles," analyst Joshua H. Pollack wrote on Twitter.

"Space launches may offer Kim Jong Un a lawyerly way around his April 2018 pledge to 'suspend' ICBM testing," said Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Pyongyang has been abiding by a self-imposed moratorium on testing ICBMs and nuclear weapons since leader Kim Jong Un embarked on a flurry of high-profile diplomatic engagement with then US president Donald Trump in 2017.

Talks later collapsed and diplomacy has languished ever since, with Pyongyang ignoring US offers of talks while doubling down on its military modernisation programme and hinting it could restart long-range testing.

"North Korea has previously claimed that satellites and ICBMs are the same inside and outside," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"The intention is to pressure the US as a step before the moratorium is scrapped," he said of the Sunday test, adding the North may carry out a satellite test in April to celebrate a key domestic anniversary.

North Korea will mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of late founder Kim Il Sung in April.

Recent satellite images suggest that the North may be preparing a military parade to showcase its weapons for the anniversary.

Analysts had widely predicted Pyongyang would seek to capitalise on US distraction over Russia's Thursday invasion of Ukraine with new tests.

bfm-sh/ceb/reb

In Bolivia, miners sacrifice llamas to appease 'Lord of the Underworld'




'Bolivia's miners believe the fierce-looking deity known as 'El Tio' (The Uncle) offers them protection underground 

(AFP/AIZAR RALDES)

Martín SILVA
Sun, February 27, 2022, 1:22 PM·2 min read

In a dimly lit mine shaft in Bolivia, a man sharpens two knives next to a table laden with offerings: wine, beer and coca leaves. Waiting nearby are five white llamas.

The woolly animals' blood and hearts are the preferred food of El Tio (The Uncle), a horned deity Bolivian miners believe offers them protection deep in the bowels of the Earth.

Statues of El Tio -- "Lord of the Underworld" -- abound in mines, surrounded by offerings of alcohol and coca leaf, a stimulant the miners chew to get through the long, dark hours underground.

El Tio resembles the Christian devil, sporting fangs, goat's ears and, nearly always, a burning cigarette placed in his mouth by believers.

Once a year, miners from the Oruro region, on the high planes of western Bolivia, gather to offer sacrifices to appease El Tio.

He is, they say, a wrathful god.

"We bring the offerings... so that we can sleep well at night, to not have accidents" in the workplace, miner Miguel Valdez, 33, told AFP at one such sacrificial ceremony on Friday.

"If we don't give him this offering, many things can happen."

- Bloody offering -

The miners also believe El Tio controls the abundance of silver, tin and zinc they extract for a living.

Valdez and hundreds of his colleagues looked on as the llamas, blindfolded and their coats decorated with pink ribbons, were pushed into the mine on a trolley to be slaughtered.

To the tune of trumpets, drums and cymbals they danced, sipping from bottles of beer and occasionally splashing some on the ground for the "Earth Mother."

Luciano Alejo, a yatiri, or Andean healer, wielded his knives as miners crouched at the ready with bowls to be filled with llama blood, which some then smeared on their faces.

The hearts -- still beating -- were cut out and placed in larger containers.

A chosen few in the crowd then brought the filled vessels to the lower levels of the mine, to place them before El Tio. With a burning cigarette dangling from his sinister grin, he was dressed in colorful woollen garments and miners' boots.

After the animal sacrifice, the miners set fire to the other offerings they had gathered on large tables, then made a rapid exit as the shaft quickly filled with smoke.

The ritual is performed once a year, in February or March, on the eve of the street parade of the Oruro carnival. One of Bolivia's biggest festivals, it is listed by UNESCO as an "intangible cultural heritage."

The carnival resumed this year after being skipped in 2021 due to the coronavirus epidemic.


msr/rsr/ll/mlr/bbk

SEE

The Devil and Commodity Fetishism - wkv-stuttgart.de

https://www.wkv-stuttgart.de/uploads/media/taussig_devil_commodi… · PDF file

(meaning the concept of commodity fetishism and the devil con-tract). To bringth e fetish into Marxism and into the economic historyo f what was then called "the Third World," was at one stroke to chal-lenge economic reductionism and to bring in culture and religion as forces in their own right. This was what revolution in the Third