Doctor Gets 2 Years in Prison for Taking Pharmaceutical Company's Bribes

(AP)

By Nick Koutsobinas    |   Sunday, 06 March 2022 0

A Colorado physician who owned and operated a rehab facility was sentenced to two years in prison for taking $344,000 in bribes or "kickbacks" from a pharmaceutical company while prescribing its fentanyl-based spray product to drug rehab patients.

CBS 4 Denver reports that Dr. Jeffrey Kesten, 61, was sentenced Feb. 28 to 24 months in federal prison by a Denver federal judge.

According to the grand jury's indictment, Kesten was charged for conspiring with employees of Insys Therapeutics, a company accused of playing a role in the opioid epidemic, and supplying rehab patients with Subsys, a powerful sublingual fentanyl-based spray originally used to treat pain in cancer patients

"As the number of speaker programs for which [Insys Therapeutics] paid Kesten increased, so did the number of prescriptions he wrote for the Fentanyl Spray," the indictment reads.

From late 2012 to 2015, Kesten was paid as a "national speaker" by the pharmaceutical company. He presented at nearly 100 events, 16 of which were held at his own rehab facility, Red Rocks Center for Rehabilitation. In some cases, when Kesten was speaking, only two people were in the audience.

When Kesten wanted to be paid for more speaking engagements, he allowed a sales rep associated with Insys "access to his patient files" and the authority to "[review] his patient schedule with her to facilitate identification of patients for whom he could prescribe [Subsys]."

Members of the clinic's staff began to notice that as the number of Kesten's speaking engagements began to increase, so, too did the number of fentanyl prescriptions.

U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan later commented in a press release, "you have to be able to trust your doctor's medical judgment. We'll hold physicians and medical professionals accountable for taking bribes and kickbacks, especially when they are prescribing powerful drugs to vulnerable patients."

The Colorado Medical Board suspended Kesten's medical license after it had found that in May of 2020 he prescribed a 32-year-old patient pain medication even after assessing the patient as having "drug-seeking" behavior and evidence of drug abuse history.

"As we've seen over the past several years fentanyl abuse has become an existential threat across the nation," DEA Denver Acting Special Agent in Charge David Olesky commented.

"There is no greater threat to our community than a doctor who violates a patient's trust with no regard to patient safety and well-being beyond what profits it can bring him. We applaud this sentencing and will continue to work with our counterparts in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney's Office to ensure other doctors who manipulate the system will be held accountable."

The party may be over for Russian oligarchs, but will sanctions work?

From bank accounts to yachts to football clubs, the impact of international sanctions is being felt around the world as the United States and the European Union put the squeeze on Vladimir Putin and the notorious oligarchs who feed off his regime.

POR::DAVID C ADAMS

PUBLICADO 6 MAR 2022 – 07:21 PM EST | ACTUALIZADO 6 MAR 2022 – 

An Italian Finance Police car is parked in front of the yacht "Lady M", owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, docked at Imperia's harbor, on March 5, 2022. Crédito: ANDREA BERNARDI/AFP via Getty Images

This week's U.S. and European sanctions against Russia appeared to catch some sanctioned oligarchs by surprise.

A few were too slow to move their superyachts from European ports and were even more shocked to find their debit cards no longer function, forced to rely on cash from safes, the BBC reported.

Italian police seized villas and yachts worth $156 million from five high-profile Russians who were placed on sanctions lists following Moscow's attack on Ukraine, the government said on Saturday.

As it was prepared to sail away, French authorities also seized another $600 million super yacht, the Amore Vero ("True Love"), owned by Igor Sechin, boss of Russian state energy company Rosneft.

A picture taken on March 3, 2022 in a shipyard of La Ciotat, near Marseille, southern France, shows a yacht, Amore Vero, owned by a company linked to Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian energy giant Rosneft. Crédito: NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images

A Ukrainian mechanic admitted in court last week to trying to sink a superyacht, called Lady Anastasia, in Majorca, off the eastern coast of Spain, belonging to a Russian weapons exporter.

To be sure, others were more fortunate, quietly upping anchor and slipping away bound for safer harbor in the Black Sea or the Baltic.

Making Putin feel the pain

Western leaders hope that by cutting the Russian economy off from the global financial system, they can create economic pain for Putin at home, while also stripping the oligarchs of their trans-Atlantic assets in the world’s playgrounds of the rich, from the French Riviera to Miami.

“Today, Russia appears to be on the verge of an economic collapse without parallel in its post-World War II history,” said Maximilian Hess, a political risk consultant based in London and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

“The U.S. and E.U. decision to sanction Russia’s central bank has essentially severed the spinal cord of the country’s economy. Russia is set to default on its debts … its currency collapse even further, and it is now possible that most of its residents’ quality of life may fall to Iranian or potentially even Venezuelan standards in the near future,” he added.

But questions swirl over how effective sanctions can be in forcing Putin to back down and withdraw his forces from Ukraine. The outlaw regimes of Iran and Venezuela – as well as Cuba and North Korea - have all been hit by devastating sanctions, yet remain in power – more than 50 years later in Cuba’s case.

Putin has spent the last few years preparing for sanctions, building a war chest of foreign reserves at the Central Bank of $600 billion in bonds, gold and cash, that some have dubbed ‘fortress Russia.”

But Russia is especially vulnerable to sanctions due to its dependence on its oil and gas exports. Initially, at least, the U.S. and Europe have been wary of sanctioning Russia’s oil and gas sector due to the effect it would have on global energy prices, especially in Europe which depends on Russia for 40% of its energy needs.

Indeed, experts say some of the hurt from the sanctions will likely end up being felt at home, in the United States and Europe, where inflation, higher energy prices and lower stock prices are already eating away at salaries and savings. While the potential for a boomerang effect exists, it may simply be the inescapable price the world must pay to beat down Putin, and infinitely more preferable than a full-blown nuclear war.

Russia and Ukraine and major breadbaskets in terms of grain production, while some of the oligarchs are heavily invested in metals, such as aluminum. Ukraine and Russia account for 60% of global production of sunflower oil, and 30% of global wheat exports, according to commodity experts.

“The outbreak of a fully-fledged Russia-Western economic war means that turmoil in agricultural, metals and hydrocarbons markets is here to stay,” said Hess. “However, given the Kremlin’s unilateral aggression, there is no alternative,” he added.

US and Europe go after Russian ‘kleptocrats’

The U.S. Department of Justice this week announced the creation of a ‘KleptoCapture’ task force to investigate and prosecute Russian oligarchs who try to evade sanctions. The U.K. also said it had established an Oligarch Taskforce to co-ordinate its sanctions.

France is also drawing up a list of property owned by ultra-rich Russians including bank accounts, luxury cars, yachts and holiday homes on the Mediterranean coast.

For decades, Russia’s ultrarich have flaunted their wealth in the world's most fashionable cities, snapping up luxury mansions, sending children to top private schools and parking their money in global financial hubs – out of the reach of tax authorities – as well as Vladimir Putin.

That could have an impact on banks in major financial hubs like New York, London, and Switzerland, as well as winter and summer resorts, from Colorado to the Mediterranean.

In 2017, U.S. and French economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that Russia’s elite had roughly $800 billion in offshore accounts.

Transparency International UK, a group that campaigns against corruption, says $2 billion worth of property has been bought in Britain in just the last five years by Russians who are accused of corruption or have links to the Kremlin.

Last week, the U.K. shut down its investor visa program that had proven popular with wealthy Russians as a way to get residency in the country. A similar E.U. program has issued 431 visas to Russian citizens.

Hundreds more EB-5 investor visas have been granted to Russians in the U.S., in return for investing at least $500,000 in so-called targeted employment areas.

South Florida, has also long been popular with Russians, including organized crime members, with Miami Beach apartments advertised in the Aeroflot inflight magazine. A Ukrainian mobster, Ludwig Feinberg, known as ‘Tarzan’, notoriously once attempted to sell a Soviet-era submarine to Colombian drug traffickers for $35 million in a deal negotiated at a strip club named Porky’s by Miami International Airport.

Property owners have included Dmitry Rybolovlev, a billionaire Russian potash fertilizer producer and majority owner of Monaco soccer club, who famously bought a Palm Beach mansion from Donald Trump in 2008 for $60 million more than its asking price just a few years earlier. Rybolovlev and his daughter also own a 10-bedroom apartment next to Central Park in New York purchased in 2011 for $88 million, a home in Hawaii and an island in Greece.

Monaco's Colombian forward Radamel Falcao (2ndR) speaks to Monaco's Russian Vice club President Vadim Vasilyev (L), and Monaco's Russian president Dmitriy Rybolovlev (R) during a training session on March 29, 2018 at training camp in La Turbie near Monaco. Crédito: VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images

In 2017, a Reuters review found at least 63 people with Russian passports or addresses had bought at least $98.4 million of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida. It found that at least 703 of the owners of the 2,044 units in the seven Trump buildings, or about one-third, were limited liability companies, or LLCs, which can mask the identities of properties’ true owners.

Boats lie at dock in Puerto Banus, near Marbella. Crédito: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP via Getty Images

Costa del Sol became a favorite playground for rich Russians

To relax, Russian have also flocked in recent years to the south of Spain. In the not-so-far removed from real life TV series La Reina del Sur, Mexican drug trafficker Teresa Mendoza teams up with a Russian mobster, Oleg Yosokov, in Malaga, in southern Spain’s Costa del Sol.

The Costa del Crime, as it is also known, has become a favorite spot for Russians, who can walk off their yachts in Puerto Banús, just east of Marbella, straight into the latest hot discotheque.

According to Spain’s National Institute of Statistics, last year 7,379 Russians were registered as living in Malaga province, of whom about 2,800 were in Marbella, according to Sur, an online news site.

The Russian elite’s super yachts and private jets, have drawn public scrutiny in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine last week.

A picture taken on March 5, 2022 shows the yacht "Lady M", owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, docked at Imperia's harbor in Italy. Crédito: ANDREA BERNARDI/AFP via Getty Images

According to Reuters, at least five superyachts belonging to Russian billionaires are anchored in or sailing around the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, benefiting from the fact that the Maldives has no extradition treaty with the United States.

Another yacht, named Tango, also anchored in Majorca, belongs to Viktor Vekselberg, Russia’s seventh-richest person, with a fortune of $16.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Vekselberg is the part owner of Russia’s biggest aluminum company, United Co. Rusal.

Spain hosts several other Russian yachts, including the 461-foot Solaris belonging to Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, which was completed last year at an estimated cost of $600 million, according to the website Superyacht Fan.

The 140 m (461 ft) long Lloyd Werft Solaris superyacht, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, is seen moored at the port of Barcelona, on March 1, 2022. Crédito: JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images

Abramovich, this week announced he is giving up ownership of Chelsea, the current UEFA champions.

US sanctions a string of Russian oligarchs

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, is among his alleged “cronies” targeted by the White House in the latest round of sanctions on Thursday.

Peskov, 54, joined a list of eight oligarchs and nearly two dozen of their family members and associates whose assets in the U.S. will be frozen. Another 19 oligarchs - including Putin ally Alisher Burhanovich - and 47 of their family members face U.S. visa restrictions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and founder of USM Holdings Alisher Usmanov (R), July 14, 2017. Crédito: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

The UK has announced sanctions on two more Russian oligarchs - Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Shuvalov was Putin’s deputy prime minister and is currently chairman of a bank and owns two luxury apartments in central London worth an estimated $15 million, according to the British government.

Usmanov founded USM Holding company, an investment group that owns iron, steel and copper suppliers and a telecommunications company. Usmanov's company USM also had sponsorship ties with British soccer club, Everton, which were severed this week.

At Everton’s most recent game on Thursday evening, the team’s players walked out draped in Ukrainian flags, behind 22-year-old Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Mykolenko who was made captain for the night on just his fourth appearance for the club.

Everton's Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Mykolenko (L) and teammates stand draped in national flags of Ukraine ahead of the English FA Cup fifth round football match between Everton and Boreham Wood at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on March 3, 2022. Crédito: LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images

Usmanov owns a house in a wealthy district of London, worth an estimated $64 million, and the 16th century estate in the countryside outside London, once owned by American oil magnate John Paul Getty, and the world’s richest man in his day.

But blacklisting individuals can only go so far due to the murky world of offshore finance.

As highlighted by three recent leaks of offshore banking documents - the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers and the Pandora Papers – financial experts say governments will need to take tougher measures to tackle opaque banking practices, such as ‘blind trusts’ that oligarchs use to hide their assets.

“Actions to sanction those associated with the Russian regime have brought policymakers to a stark realization: existing standards and regulations are entirely unfit for purpose when it comes to addressing the threats of anonymous wealth,” according to the Tax Justice Network which advocates for reforms to prevent the super-rich and corporate giants evading taxes.

A Financial Secrecy Index published by the Tax Justice Network, listed the Cayman Islands as the place that offers the most financial secrecy, followed by the United States, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

Suspicious Russian money flowed into London in recent years

Critics of the British government say London’s financial center has long lacked oversight by authorities, allowing wealthy Russians to use it as a safe place to store money while also invest in other parts of world.
Suspiciously large amounts of Russian money began passing through the city in the 1990s, according to a 2018 report to the British parliament. “The use of London as a base for the corrupt assets of Kremlin-connected individuals is now clearly linked to a wider Russian strategy and has implications for our national security,” a parliamentary committee wrote.

“What we offer them is a haven: not just a tax haven, but an everything haven,” Russia expert, Oliver Bullough, wrote in a blog post this week titled ‘Britain is Putin’s playground.’

Hess, who lives in London, agrees that sanctions are necessary to rein in Putin. But he warns that economic sanctions stemming from the invasion of Ukraine, could also lead to a wider economic conflict if not matched by increased diplomatic efforts.

That includes defaulting on payments to foreign lenders as well as oil, gas and fertilizer cut offs.

“The Russians have made it quite clear that they plan to retaliate economically. They have been building for their own geo-economic tools,” he said.

China's military development

need not 'prove its innocence' 

to the US and the West

Source

Global Times

Editor

Wang Xinjuan

Time

2022-03-07

China's defense budget for 2022 is set at 1.45 trillion yuan (about $229 billion), up 7.1 percent from one year earlier, according to a report on the draft of central and local budgets for 2022 submitted to the National People's Congress. Some American and Western media seem to have been holding their breath for a long time to get the facts twisted, claiming that this is the fastest growth rate in three years, exceeding the GDP growth target, signaling "continuing robust military spending" and "challenging the US armed forces' dominance in the Indo-Pacific region."

It is clear that these interpretations are very good at "permutations" and argue in whichever way that can prove that "China's threat is getting bigger." However, it is unlikely to be convincing if it is far-fetched.

Since 2016, China's military budget growth has remained between 6.6 and 8.1 percent, with an average growth rate of about 7.2 percent over seven years, to which this year's increase is very close. The reason why some Western media come up with a "three-year" time frame is purely because the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019 brought about socioeconomic fluctuations, which naturally affected various expenditures, including defense spending. As a result, the increase in China's defense budget in 2020 fell to a 32-year low, which, however, was an "unusual" situation.

China, as a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, has been quite restrained in developing its military power. Over the years, China's military spending growth has generally been pegged to GDP growth and has remained below 1.5 percent of GDP. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden, the miliary spending growth of some of the major military spenders in 2020 is 3.7 percent for the US, 8.4 percent for Saudi Arabia, 2.9 percent for India, 2.2 percent for the UK and 4.3 percent for Russia. When it comes to percentage, China's defense spending is obviously not big, and it is even less if you want to count per capita spending. But the US and Western media never make such comparisons. They set the public opinion trap of asking China to constantly "prove its innocence."

China has never been a militaristic country, and its defense policy has always been defensive. China's restraint has actually created a peace dividend for the Asia-Pacific region. Over the years, Asia has become the fastest growing region in the world, thanks in large part to a peaceful and stable environment, to which China's insistence on peaceful means to resolve disputes has contributed greatly. As we have seen, the attitude of neighboring countries toward China's defense development is in fact mostly moderate. But the most vitriolic accusations and vicious smears come from the US, which has stirred up the most conflicts in the region and accounts for about 40 percent of total global defense spending.

Such accusations are based on a distorted defense concept. Several days ago, US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that President Biden's next budget request must include at least 5 percent increase in defense spending above inflation. Some analysts believe that the US defense budget for fiscal year 2023 will top the $800 billion mark, which is equivalent to the total of more than 100 countries in the world. The US military spending is already very high, but it has fallen into a vicious circle of "the more it spends on military, the more anxious it feels, and the more anxious it feels, the more it spends on military.''

Under Washington's leadership, a few staunch US allies are also upgrading military equipment. For example, Japan and Australia have significantly raised military spending in recent years. Australia even plans to boost its defense spending by 40 percent over the next 10 years. It must be said that Washington has provided the world a negative lesson on how to understand national defense development.

Whether a country is safe depends on a series of complex factors, such as whether its strategic environment faces major challenges, whether its internal politics can keep cohesion and economic and social development are stable. It is by no means the simple logic of "the higher the military spending, the more secure a country is." In this regard, the whole Chinese society has a rather high level of strategic sobriety.

In the 2022 draft budget report released on Saturday, while the national defense budget grows 7.1 percent, the budget for other two key areas of education, and science and technology increase by 10.6 percent and 7.2 percent. The government work report still focuses on economic growth and people's livelihood issues, ranging from tax cut, employment to government services, technological innovation, and rural development as well as environmental protection. "Concentrating on doing our own thing well" is China's development logic.

It is conceivable that along with the continuous expansion of China's economy, China's national defense development in the future will still keep its established pace and will not be swayed by the noises of the US and the West. We will not passively "go with the flow," nor will we engage in hot-headed "strategic rash advancement." Development of China's military prowess is a comprehensive manifestation of national strategic progress and steadiness and China's troops are troops of might, civilization and peace and are a positive force that safeguard regional and global peace and stability.

 SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Leader of South Korea's ruling party attacked ahead of presidential election

07 March 2022 - BY HYONHEE SHIN

Monday's attack on Song Young-gil, leader of the Democrats and Lee's election campaign, was yet another twist in a race overshadowed by scandals, smear tactics and gaffes.
Image: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

The chief of South Korea's ruling party was admitted to hospital on Monday after being hit on the head by a stranger while campaigning for this week's presidential election, in which early voting has been marred by some lapses

A tight race between Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative main opposition People Power Party was reflected in a record turnout of nearly 37% in two days of absentee voting that ended on Saturday.

Monday's attack on Song Young-gil, leader of the Democrats and Lee's election campaign, was yet another twist in a race overshadowed by scandals, smear tactics and gaffes.

Song was struck on the head with a small hammer-like tool, wielded by a man wearing a traditional robe who approached him from behind, a video uploaded to YouTube by a Democrat campaigner showed.

Reuters could not independently verify the images, but party officials said Song was in stable condition and the man, subdued by officials, was handed to police.

“Violence harms democracy, it can never be accepted,” the party's presidential candidate, Lee, told another rally in the southeastern port city of Busan, and wished Song a rapid recovery.

The incident came as poll officials scrambled to revamp plans after early voting procedures were blighted by long waits outside poll stations for coronavirus sufferers, while other voters received ballots already marked.

As daily Covid-19 infections hover near unprecedented levels above 200,000 and more than 1 million receive treatment at home, parliament passed a legislative amendment to ease in-person voting by such patients.

But chaos erupted at many polling places during Saturday's special early voting for infected voters, spurring repeated apologies from the National Election Commission (NEC) for failing to ensure a stable and orderly process.

“All the problems resulted from our failure at thorough preparations, and we are fully responsible for falling short,” it said in a statement.

There was no sign of foul play, it added, but officials held an emergency meeting on Monday to tighten procedures ahead of the wider vote.

President Moon Jae-in expressed regret on Sunday, asking the NEC to fully explain the errors and guarantee all people's right to vote, his spokesperson said.

The chaos represented a blow for South Korea, tarnishing its 35-year democratic history of tight and relatively transparent management of elections, and a mostly successful fight on Covid-19.

Instead of letting voters directly cast ballots, some election workers collected and carried them in a shopping bag or wooden bucket to place in ballot boxes, the NEC said.

Some voters received ballot-papers that had already been used, while others had to wait in long queues in the cold, with at least one reported to have fainted.

Opposition candidate Yoon's campaign criticised the NEC, saying, “An elementary classroom election could not be sloppier,” and urged its chairwoman, Noh Jeong-hee, to step down.

Lee's party dismissed the opposition's demand for Noh's resignation but demanded steps to avert more confusion.

About 44 million South Koreans are eligible to vote for a successor to Moon, who is legally barred from re-election at a time of growing frustration over skyrocketing home prices, polarised politics and graft scandals.

Reuters

 The Palestinian Arab stance on the Ukraine war

Not wishing to anger either Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Biden administration, the P.A. and Hamas have so far refrained from taking official positions on Ukraine.

Yoni Ben Menachem
06.03.22

Abbas and Fatah leadership in RamallahFlash 90

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) While many on the Palestinian Arab street openly identify with the people of Ukraine after Russia’s military invasion of that country, the Palestinian Arab leadership is still unsure what position to adopt.

Palestinian intellectuals believe the Palestinians must adopt a prudent position that upholds the tenets of international law; calls to resolve conflicts peacefully through dialogue and not by military force; and upholds the right of peoples to self-determination as a principle that cannot be compromised.

At the same time, the Palestinians are well aware that Ukrainian President Zelensky is a Jew. In their view, he is also a Zionist who backed the American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s united capital, as well as Israel’s “Guardian of the Walls Operation” in Gaza in May 2021.

There are also Palestinians in the territories who welcome the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine in the hope that it will lead to a new world order in which U.S. power and hegemony will decline. They want to see the United States, Israel’s strong ally, weakened. According to their logic, that would inevitably lead to Israel’s weakening as well.

However, just as Israel is painstakingly deliberating its positions and policy, trying to tread a fine line and avoid unnecessary statements on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Palestinian Authority is being particularly circumspect. The P.A. chairman wants to avoid causing trouble with the Biden administration by failing to condemn Russia, which could jeopardize the reopening of PLO offices in Washington and the transfer of the American consulate to eastern Jerusalem. On the other hand, Abbas has long-standing ties with Moscow; some years ago, he even claimed he had served as a KGB agent while earning his doctorate in Moscow.

In addition, 2,500 Palestinians are currently living in Ukraine, mostly students. On Feb. 26, 2022, P.A. Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said all of them were safe and that the P.A. was tending to their needs through the Palestinian embassy in Kyiv.

The P.A. as a whole, though, is keeping quiet. It needs Russia, but at the same time, it does not want trouble with Ukraine. It needs Russia to push the Middle East Quartet (the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia) to convene an international conference that would seek to force Israel to an international peace conference despite Israel’s and the Biden administration’s opposition.

The P.A. is trying to curtail the role of the United States which, since the Oslo accords, has traditionally been the mediator between the P.A. and Israel. Abbas is working, with Russia’s help, to divest the United States of that role, claiming that it is not an “honest broker,” and to install the Quartet as the body that will oversee the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations instead of the United States.

Hamas, Russia and Ukraine

Hamas, too, has good relations with Russia. Like the P.A., which is dominated by Fatah, it is hesitant to take a stance on the crisis in Ukraine.

In a strange incident, senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal was quoted as saying that Putin “must halt his invasion of Ukraine and the killing of civilians.” The Hamas leadership quickly denied the “fabricated” remarks. “He did not make any statement to any media outlet regarding the Ukrainian crisis,” insisted a Hamas spokesperson.

Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk was the only Hamas official authorized to speak on the matter. On Feb. 26, Abu Marzouk tweeted: “One of the most important lessons of the Russian-Ukrainian war is that the era of America as the world’s sole bulwark has come to an end.”

The P.A. has closer ties with Moscow than with Washington. Not only Abbas, who is directly in touch with Putin and talks with him by phone whenever he needs help, but also Hussein al-Sheikh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and a possible Abbas successor, has cultivated tight ties with the Russian leadership. Al-Sheikh is also a favorite of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who recommended that Abbas put him in charge of the negotiations with Israel in place of the late Saeb Erekat.

Last week al-Sheikh talked by phone with Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minister and special emissary to the Middle East. They discussed various topics including the situation in Ukraine and the Feb. 8 resolutions of the PLO Central Council. Al-Sheikh, however, did not divulge any details to the media about what they discussed regarding the invasion of Ukraine.

Undoubtedly, the P.A. and Hamas are much more sympathetic toward Russia than toward the United States, Israel’s closest ally. In recent years, Russia has also played the role of mediator between the different Palestinian factions, and it even hosted a dialogue of all those factions in Moscow aimed at achieving national unity.

Annually, the heads of the Palestinian factions attend diplomatic meetings in the Russian Foreign Ministry. Even Mohammed Dahlan, a bitter rival of Abbas, was hosted a few months ago in Moscow, and requested Lavrov’s help in reconciling with the P.A. chairman.

However, the Palestinians’ silence will not last long. The moment the outcome of the fighting in Ukraine becomes clearer, it is safe to assume that senior figures in the P.A. and Hamas will declare their positions. They hope a diplomatic solution will be found as soon as possible so that they can take a more expedient public stance that will not rile Russia or the United States. Ultimately, it may be that both the P.A. and Hamas will adopt a neutral and principled position that does not favor either side.

Yoni Ben Menachem, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. He served as director general and chief editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

This article was first published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
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COLONIALIST ARCHAEOLOGY 

Jewish archaeological sites in West Bank must be preserved - Herzog

"It is important to know that Jewish history did not originate in Tel Aviv, but in Judea and Samaria. Therefore, the roots to the rights to our land are specifically in Judea and Samaria.”

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Published: MARCH 6, 2022

Joshua's altar on Mt. Ebal in Samaria.
(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)


Jewish archaeological sites in the West Bank must be preserved, President Isaac Herzog told the English-speaking community in Israel and abroad. He delivered the short virtual address during the third in a series of Judea and Samaria mega-events.

“Much of the Jewish People’s history in this land is rooted in the hills and valleys of Judea and Samaria,” Herzog said.

“Here our Patriarchs and Matriarchs lived and were laid to rest. Here Joshua led the Sons and Daughters of Israel, Bnei Yisrael, into the land; King David began his rule; our prophets spread their teachings, which we teach today, and every Shabbat; and Jewish rebels—from the Maccabees to Bar Kochva—fought for what they believed in,” he explained.

“Beyond any political dispute we should all agree to protect the integrity of Jewish historical and archaeological sites throughout the Land of Israel, as well as the historical sites belonging to other religions and cultures which have left their stamp on this region throughout the ages,” he explained.

“This is not just a Jewish or Israeli issue, but an issue of protecting the heritage of all humanity in the Holy Land,” Herzog said.

Shomron National Park (Sebastia). (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

He also took a moment to speak of Israel’s status as both the Jewish national homeland and a democracy “built on equality and religious freedom.”

It is also important, he said, to work for a future of peace, cooperation and dialogue particularly through the Abraham Accords, under whose rubric Israel normalized ties with four of its Arab neighbors.

His statement to the group was among a number of strong statements Herzog has made in support of the Jewish and Israeli connection to the West Bank, including his visit to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

The mega-events have been sponsored by the Yesha Council, My Israel and the Zionist Organization of America.

The first event focused on the need for Israeli sovereignty in Area C of the West Bank, the second on the issue of illegal Palestinian building and the third on the need to preserve the Jewish archaeological heritage in that area, also known as the biblical heartland.

The Yesha Council and right-wing organizations have long campaigned for the preservation of biblical archaeology in the West Bank, warning that the Palestinian Authority was usurping and destroying the ancient Jewish heritage in that region.

Among the examples the speakers at the event later gave was Sebastia, the capital of the northern kingdom of ancient Israel, as well as a burial cave for priests from the Second Temple near Jericho.

Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz said that “more than 80% of the ancient historical sites” in Judea and Samaria have been damaged.

ZOA Israel director Dan Illouz said that “it is important to know that Jewish history did not originate in Tel Aviv, but in Judea and Samaria. Therefore, the roots to the rights to our land are specifically in Judea and Samaria.”

It is “this fact that our enemies try to uproot when they destroy the archaeological treasures in Judea and Samaria. Yes, they know exactly what they are doing. Our enemies want to disconnect the Land of Israel from Jewish history in order to claim that we are a colonial power that came to a foreign land.”

Illouz said that “it is time for the free world to unite against those who destroy history,” he said.

“When ISIS destroyed archaeological sites the whole world went crazy and justifiably so,” he said. “On this subject there is no difference between ISIS and the Palestinians,” he added.

Economist: Russian-Ukrainian War Will Affect Northern and Eastern Syria

Monday March 7th, 2022 by AL-ETIHAD MEDIA (Pro-opposition website)

The economic consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian War will be felt all around Syria, according to Etihad Media.

Men sit by a produce stall at a market in the centre of Syria's northern city of Raqa. (Photo by Delil Souleiman / AFP)

The Russian invasion of Ukraine since its beginning on February 24th has affected global economic movement, oil prices, and other basic products worldwide. The regions of northern and eastern Syria will not be isolated from these repercussions, economist Khurshid Alika told Etihad Media. 

According to JP Morgan’s forecasts, oil prices could reach 185 $ at the end of 2022 if Russian supply disruptions continue, with 66% of Russian oil struggling to find buyers. 

In addition, oil prices jump 7% above $118 per barrel due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, and Saudi Arabia is raising the price of Arab Light Crude to Asia. 

Read Also: Syrians Rush to Hoard Goods, Syrian Pound Collapse Raises Prices Drastically

“This undoubtedly means that the situation in northern and eastern Syria will be directly affected,” said a member of the Kurdish-Syrian Economists Association, referring to recent economic reports that the war in Ukraine could add 3% to global inflation this year, wiping out trillions of global GDP by 2023. 

Affected sectors 

“Humanitarian aid from donors and actors in Syrian affairs will be diverted to Ukraine, and the issues of Syria’s reconstruction and the political solution will be almost entirely halted due to the lack of direct communication between America and Russia, the main actors in the Syrian issue,” Alika told Etihad Media.

“All sectors will be affected to varying degrees,” he said. He noted that “the decline in agricultural production, the dependence on importing wheat in the region instead of exporting it, and the depletion of livestock due to the lack of fodder, will lead to an increase in the import bill as the Syrian currency continues to fall against the foreign exchange currencies.” 

“Global food prices reached a record high in February and jumped by 24.1% on an annual basis, primarily vegetable oils and dairy products,” said Alika, based on FAO statements. 

“The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks the world’s most traded food products, averaged 140.7 points in February, compared to 135.4 in January,” he said.

 

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.

What Biden can offer Putin in exchange for peace in Ukraine

The leader of the West will need to make a notable concession to Russia without giving away the store

RAGHIDA DERGHAM

Russia’s is not the only leadership that finds itself in a bind more than a week since the Ukraine war began. Leaders in the West, particularly US President Joe Biden, are struggling to find a way to resolve a crisis that has the potential of spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders into the rest of Europe.

Moscow finds itself in a corner for chiefly two reasons: Ukraine’s forces have robustly defended much of their territory against the Russian military; and western governments have imposed a range of crippling sanctions on the Russian economy in a rare show of unity.

However, the euphoria felt across Europe and North America over these early victories has been replaced, to some extent, by two concerns. One, Russian forces have made inroads into Ukraine, particularly in the south, and two, Moscow has ordered Russia’s military to put its deterrence forces – which include nuclear weapons – on “special alert”. The announcement doesn’t mean that it intends to use its nukes, but western governments have viewed it to be an escalatory step.

The situation, therefore, requires thinking outside the box on the part of the world leaders – and, given America’s position as a superpower, the only leader with the tools to bring about a shift is Mr Biden.

Any attempt on Biden’s part to reach out to Putin will be an act of courage and not weakness

The Biden administration needs to understand that, by engaging in brinkmanship with Moscow, it risks pushing Russia further into a corner that could prove costly for the whole world. The objective should not be to teach its leadership a lesson, but to come up with creative ideas that may appear simple and might even give the wrong impression to the rest of the international community, yet could prevent a larger-scale war.

Any attempt on Mr Biden’s part to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks will be an act of courage and not weakness. In fact, the US President should consider inviting Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to an emergency summit that could also involve the leaders of Germany and France. Mr Biden might get critised for it, with some suggesting that this amounts to rewarding Russia for launching its war against Ukraine in the first place. There will be fears that it could further embolden Kremlin.

However, such an invitation could avert a conflict that is much more devastating and widespread than it currently is. Indeed, talks could provide the blueprint necessary to de-escalate the crisis, the off-ramp the Russian leadership may need and, most importantly, the means to pull the world back from the brink.

We no longer live in an era of “conventional” warfare. An information war is under way in Ukraine, so is a cyber-war. And there’s always the danger of their spilling into Europe and the US. But what’s more frightening is the threat of the war going nuclear – not necessarily culminating in the dropping of atom bombs but the use of nuclear warheads or ballistic missiles.


US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin acted responsibly when he cancelled scheduled nuclear missile tests in order to send Russia a message that it did not want to provoke Moscow or further escalate tensions. Mr Austin also explained the Biden administration’s rationale for not giving in to Kyiv’s demand that Nato set up a no-fly zone in Ukraine, as this would effectively mean the US-led western security alliance’s involvement in the war.

The danger of a European war is, of course, real because of either strategic compulsions or accidents on the ground. Moscow could also be angered if Nato member states continue provide weapons to Ukraine – particularly if they send convoys into Ukraine, rather than offloading them at, say, the border with Poland, which is a Nato member.

But the messaging from Washington is clear: Nato does not seek to engage in an armed conflict with Russia.

One way for the Biden administration to de-escalate the crisis could be to remove some of the sanctions the West recently imposed on Russia. While this alone won’t be sufficient to end the crisis, tactical steps will amount to important gestures of goodwill towards Moscow. Ultimately though, the broader settlement will have to include a guarantee of Ukrainian neutrality.

This conflict began with Russia’s demand that Ukraine, once a part of the Russian empire and, along with Russia, a part of the Soviet Union, not join Nato – an anti-Soviet, Cold War-era security alliance. Perhaps a Nato guarantee to keep Ukraine out of its umbrella in perpetuity would be the necessary step towards moving it from under the Russian yoke. There needs to be an acknowledgement that Ukraine cannot and should not be used as a pawn in the broader West-Russia conflict.

This will require political maturity and strategic courage on Mr Biden’s part. It won’t be easy. But by seizing the initiative and reaching out to Moscow for a deal, the US President may be able to settle the debate about his perceived weakness on the world stage. More importantly, by nipping a potential pan-European war in the bud, he will have spared the West of a possibly catastrophic conflict.

Published: March 06, 2022

Raghida Dergham is the founder and executive chairwoman of the Beirut Institute and a columnist for The National

PHOTO ESSAY

Displaced Ukrainians at the Resurrection New Athos Monastery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP