PNG faces dilemma over ‘momentous’ decision to reopen Bougainville’s Panguna mine

By APR editor -

 

February 18, 2022

The rich Panguna gold and copper mine - idle for three decades, Bougainville and independence ... the future depends on the skill of the negotiators. Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ Pacific

Last week the Bougainville Autonomous Government announced an agreement had been reach with Panguna landowners to reopen the island’s controversial gold and copper mine.

Once the backbone of the Papua New Guinea economy, Panguna has been idle since the civil war began more than 30 years ago — a war the mine was at least partly responsible for.

But now the leaders of the five major clans in the Panguna area — Basikang, Kurabang, Bakoringu, Barapang and Mantaa — have said they will allow the mine to reopen.

Don Wiseman of RNZ Pacific asked Islands Business specialist writer on PNG Kevin McQuillan about the significance of the decision:

KMcQ: “This is hugely significant. It’s significant for the people of Bougainville, the Bougainville Autonomous Government, the national government, and, dare I say, probably the whole region. But on the other hand, it also creates a huge dilemma for the national government. Panguna was probably the second biggest copper and gold mine in the world, and at one point and accounted for two fifths of Papua New Guinea’s GDP.

“So when it was operating, that was a huge source of income for the national government. But it wasn’t so much of course, for the people of Bougainville, which prompted the 10 years civil war in part. The other element of that civil war, apart from the poor income that the operators gave the people of Bougainville was the environmental damage to the island of Bougainville.”

DW: President Ishmael Toroama has said that being able to open Panguna again is a critical step on the road to independence, in terms of showing economic viability.

KMcQ: “Yes. And that’s reflected also in the fact that there’s been mounting pressure over the last probably 10 or more years for the mine to open because the generations coming through have had very little in the way of food, shelter, clothing, educational opportunities, so on and so forth. And a lot of that pressure to reopen has come from the younger generation, because they want the opportunities that they know exist.

“For the national government it creates the dilemma of having agreed to discuss Bougainville breaking away, but not wanting to break away. What does it do to keep Bougainville within the fold, because the potential income for not just for Bougainville but for the country as a whole is enormous — 42 percent of GDP when it was operating.

“It may not be as much when it does get back up and running, but it will certainly be a significant contributor to the PNG economy. So where [Prime Minister James] Marape and whoever takes over as prime minister, if he loses the election this year, goes with discussions on Bougainville and its independence is hugely significant for the country as a whole.”

DW: This idea that President Toroama has of it being a conduit to independence may in fact work in the other direction.

KMcQ: “Well, it all depends on the negotiating skills really. The other element that comes into play is that BCL — Bougainville Copper Ltd — is now jointly controlled by the Papua New Guinea government and the Bougainville Autonomous Government, through a company called Bougainville Minerals Ltd. They both own a 36.4 percent share in Bougainville Copper.

“Over the past few years there have been promises from the national government to transfer that 36.4 percent shareholding that the national government has to the people Bougainville, which would give it roughly 72 percent shareholding in Bougainville Copper. It’s never happened.

“The national government has held off transferring that money despite the promises that it would do so. And this is going to be a key negotiating point in the future of independence. The national government, of course, does not want Bougainville to go independent. And there are options. There are other options.

“It’s not a binary choice of either independence or not. It could be that the negotiations see the Bougainville area stay within, if you like the parameters of Papua New Guinea, but having a high degree of independence. But whatever that actually means, nobody’s really going to know until the negotiations finish.”

DW: Yes. So the PNG government could hold on to shareholding and still earn from Panguna. Even if it went to this lesser form of independence.

KMcQ: “Yes, it could. But you can really bet your bottom dollar that if the national government holds on to its 36.4 percent shareholding, which was given to it by Rio Tinto, despite those promises, that will be a matter of a court case.”

DW: Now you talk about a lot of people being very keen to see the mine reopened. But there are also many, many people who certainly don’t want to see it reopen.

KMcQ: “They do but what has given this announcement the impetus is that clan chiefs’ representatives from the five major clans from the area have agreed to this resolution to re-open the mine.

“There will always be opposition to reopening the mine. There always has been, even over the last 10 years, when previous president of Bougainville, Fr John Momis, wanted the mine to reopen.

“There was a significant minority. Well, a vocal minority is probably more accurate, deeply opposed to the reopening of mine on environmental grounds.”

Panguna tailings wasteland … “There will always be opposition to reopening the mine … on environmental grounds.” Image: HRLC/RNZ Pacific

DW: With these announcements the minuscule share price for Bougainville Copper has soared.

KMcQ: “Well, it has doubled on news of this announcement. And it means that BCL has a market capitalisation of around about NZ$260 to NZ$265 or NZ$270 million . The point about the doubling of the share prices is the support that it reflects for the re-opening of mine.

“Plus it also, it paves the way for a company to be a little bit more settled in the prospects of the process of reopening the mine. The last valuation that they had to reopen the mine, which was several years ago now, said that it would cost between around about NZ$6 billion to reopen the mine. But over its lifetime, it would earn roughly $75 billion.

“So it’s a high risk, high reward investment. But the fact that this resolution has been made, declared, share prices doubled. It means that Bougainville Copper is probably a lot more confident this week than it was last week that it could go ahead and do some preparatory work for the reopening of the mine, which could take five to seven years.”

DW: They are just eyewatering figures aren’t they?

KMcQ: Well, it shows the potential. I mean this is a mine that was the second biggest gold and copper mine in the world. And there will be a lot of companies, global companies keen to get involved. Rio Tinto has put its fingers into the air and sniffed the wind and it realises that this could finally happen.

DW: You mean Rio Tinto is lining up to to work with its former company?

KMcQ: “Well, it certainly looks that way. In 2016, because of the criticism that Rio Tinto had, or was receiving because of the huge environmental damage that it caused to the Bougainville area, it gave away its mine.

“It had a choice of either fixing up the environment or walking away, as it saw it. So it walked away — gave those shares equally to the Bougainville government and the national government. But now it wants to get back involved.

“And over the last week it has been talking about repairing some of the environmental damage that it caused during the mine’s operation. But there are other companies involved around the world, which could get involved.

“I’m thinking Glencore, the Swiss-based development company could get involved as well. Now, the reason why this is important is because BCL does not have the financial wherewithal to go and reopen the mine at a cost of $6 billion.

“And it’s only gotten roughly NZ$260 million in play. And really, it doesn’t have the expertise to reopen the mine, develop it, run it. It would have to go into partnership with one of the big mining companies Rio Tinto, or Glencore, or somebody else.

“The former president, Sir John Momis, had negotiations or had talked to China about the possibility of a Chinese company moving in and developing the mine. So in the current climate of debate around China’s role in South Pacific, one has to wonder just what impact that might have on the Australian, New Zealand, American governments.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Wenda backs urgent UN call for action over Papuan child killings, disappearances

By APR editor -

 

March 6, 2022

Relatives of a 12-year-old Papuan boy and residents carry his body to be cremated in Sinak, a district of Puncak regency in Indonesia’s Papua region last month. Image: Benar News

Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

A West Papuan leader has praised the “bravery and spirit” of Ukrainians defending their country against the Russian invasion while condemning the hypocrisy of a self-styled “peaceful” Indonesia that attacks “innocent civilians” in Papua.

Responding to the global condemnation of the brutal war on Ukraine, now into its second week, United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda highlighted a statement by United Nation experts that has condemned “shocking abuses” against Papuans, including “child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people”.

Wenda also stressed that the same day that Indonesia’s permanent representative to the UN said that the military attack on Ukraine was unacceptable and called for peace, reports emerged of seven young schoolboys being arrested, beaten and tortured so “horrifically” by the Indonesian military that one had died from his injuries.

• LISTEN TO ABC PACIFIC BEAT: ‘Double standards’ claims as world reacts to Ukraine crisis, ignores Papua
• UN report calls for independent probe into ‘shocking’ rights abuses in Papua
• Other West Papua reports at Asia Pacific Report

“The eyes of the world are watching in horror [at] the invasion of Ukraine,” said Wenda in a statement.

“We feel their terror, we feel their pain and our solidarity is with these men, women and children. We see their suffering and we weep at the loss of innocent lives, the killing of children, the bombing of their homes, and for the trauma of refugees who are forced to flee their communities.”

Wenda said the world had spoken up to condemn the actions of President Vladimir Putin and his regime.

“The world also applauds the bravery and spirit of Ukrainians in their resistance as they defend their families, their homes, their communities, and their national identity.”

Russian attack unacceptable
Wenda said Indonesia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Arrmanatha Nasir, had stated that that Russian attack on Ukraine was unacceptable and called for peace. He had said innocent civilians “will ultimately bear the brunt of this ongoing situation”.

“But what about innocent civilians in West Papua? asked Wenda.

“At the UN, Indonesia speaks of itself as ‘a peaceful nation’ committed to a world ‘based on peace and social justice’.

“This, on the very same day that reports came in of seven young boys, elementary school children, being arrested, beaten and tortured so horrifically by the Indonesian military that one of the boys, Makilon Tabuni, died from his injuries.

“The other boys were taken to hospital, seriously wounded.”

Wenda said the Indonesian military was deliberately targeting “the young, the next generation. This, to crush our spirit and extinguish hope.

“These are our children that [Indonesian forces are] torturing and killing, with impunity. Are they not ‘innocent civilians’, or are their lives just worth less?”

Urgent humanitarian access
Wenda said that this was during the same week that UN special rapporteurs had called for urgent humanitarian access and spoken of “shocking abuses against our people”, including “child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people”.

This was an acknowledgement from the UN that Papuan people had been “crying out for”.

Wenda said 60-100,00 people were currently displaced, without any support or aid. This was a humanitarian crisis.

“Women forced to give birth in the bush, without medical assistance. Children are malnourished and starving. And still, Indonesia does not allow international access,” he said.

“Our people have been suffering this, without the eyes of the world watching, for nearly 60 years.”

In response, the Indonesian Ambassador to the UN had continued with “total denial, with shameless lies and hypocrisy”.

“If there’s nothing to hide, then where is the access?”

International community ‘waking up’
Wenda said the international community was “waking up” and Indonesia could not continue to “hide your shameful secret any longer”.

“Like the Ukrainian people, you will not crush our spirit, you will not steal our hope and we will not give up our struggle for freedom,” Wenda said.

The ULMWP demanded that Indonesia:

• Allow access for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and for humanitarian aid to our displaced people and to international journalists;
• Withdraw the military;
• Release political prisoners, including Victor Yeimo and the “Abepura Eight”; and
• Accept the Papuan right to self-determination and end the illegal occupation of Papua.

 

Bid for US Congress to acknowledge nuclear tests ‘darkest chapter’ in Marshalls

By APR editor -

 

March 7, 2022

Ivy Mike was an atmospheric nuclear test conducted at Enewetak Atoll on 1 November 1952. It was the world's first successful hydrogen bomb. Image: RNZ/Public domain

RNZ Pacific

Three members of the United States Congress have introduced a resolution to recognise the legacy of US nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.

Congresswoman Katie Porter along with Senators Mazie Hirono and Ed Markey brought in the resolution to coincide with Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on March 1.

On 1 March 1954, the US exploded the biggest of its dozens of nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, a country that is still measuring the impacts.

• READ MORE: Other nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands reports

Congresswoman Porter, who is from California’s Orange County said it was “fortunate to be enriched by one of the oldest Marshallese American communities, but the reason the Marshallese came to the United States remains one of the darkest chapters in our history”.

She said: “Our government used the Marshallese as guinea pigs to study the effects of radiation and turned ancestral islands into dumping grounds for nuclear waste.

“By finally taking responsibility for the harm we caused, the United States can send a powerful signal in the region and around the world that we honor our responsibilities and are committed to the Indo-Pacific region,” Congresswoman Porter said.

The United States conducted 67 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958 while the US was responsible for the welfare of the Marshallese people.

Most powerful test
These tests had an explosive yield equivalent to roughly 1.7 Hiroshima-sized bombs every day for 12 years.

The most powerful test took place on 1 March 1954, when the United States detonated a hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll. The damage and displacement from these tests in part drove Marshallese migration to the United States, including to Orange County.

The Runit Dome was constructed on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands during 1979 to temporarily store radioactive waste produced from nuclear testing by the US military during the 1950s and 1960s. Image: RNZ

The United States is currently negotiating to extend its Compacts of Free Association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, as well as the Republic of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.

These agreements give the United States control over an area of the Pacific Ocean the size of the continental United States, stretching from Hawaii to the Philippines, in exchange for modest economic assistance and access to certain federal programmes.

Senator Hirono from Hawai’i said: “The United States’ nuclear testing programme in the Pacific led to long-lasting harms to the people of the Marshall Islands.”

Bikinians in the Marshall Islands being evacuated from their home island after nuclear testing in the area by the United States. Image: US Navy/RNZ

Bikinians in the Marshall Islands being evacuated from their home island after nuclear testing in the area by the United States. Photo: US Navy

Senator Markey said “a formal apology is long overdue to the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the harmful legacy of U.S. nuclear testing.”

He said,”the resolution calls on the United States to prioritize nuclear justice in its negotiations with the Marshall Islands on an extended Compact of Free Association and to help Marshallese battle the existential threat of the climate crisis.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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.

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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