COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NIGERIAN STYLE

Nigeria: Strike - Parents Should Beg Lecturers, Nigerian Govt Has No Money to Meet ASUU's Demands - KeyamoShare

By Bakare Majeed

AUGUST 6, 2022

Mr Keyamo says the federal government would not borrow money to meet the demands of the striking lecturers.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said the federal government has no money to meet the demands of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Mr Keyamo, newly appointed as the spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaigns, asked parents to beg ASUU members to return to classes because the federal government would not borrow money to meet the demands of the lecturers.

He said this on Friday during an interview on 'Politics Today', a programme on Channels Television

Mr Keyamo said the meetings ASUU had with the Nimi Briggs committee were done without the input from the Ministry of Finance and other agencies with roles to play in the implementation of the recommendations.

The minister said the federal government could not meet the financial implications of the Briggs committee, hence the need for fresh negotiation.

He described the proposals in Brigg's committee report as "unrealistic", adding that other unions in the education sector are also opposed to the content of the report.

"At a point, we set up the Nimi Briggs committee to receive the complaints of ASUU and look into how the report could be accommodated within the framework of the finances of the government.

"When the committee began to sit with ASUU, there were critical institutions of government that were supposed to be in those meetings. National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Budget Office of the Federation, Head of Service, Ministry of Finance. ASUU at a time rejected these agencies from sitting down with them.

"How can you sit down with the Ministry of Education without those with the purse of government? Without those who know ... how people are to be paid? That was what ASUU did with the Briggs Committee. They sat down and fixed their own salaries and emoluments with the Ministry of Education without the other critical stakeholders."

'Parents should beg ASUU'

Mr Keyamo said that he is willing to beg on air if that would placate the lecturers to return to school.

"The proposal ASUU is talking about is N1.2 trillion. I will tell the parents, go and beg ASUU. Like the president said, those who know them should appeal to their sense of patriotism.

"Do you want me to kneel down and beg ASUU on air as a parent also? I can kneel down to beg them. The nation cannot grind to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU," he said.

He added that the additional wage bill proposed by ASUU is about N560 billion in addition to the normal N412 billion that FG was already paying for salaries and emolument.

Strike

Government-owned universities have been locked since 14 February when ASUU declared strike over the federal government's inability to meet several agreements signed.

On Monday, ASUU extended the strike for another four weeks, citing government's failure to conclude the process of renegotiating the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, deploy the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), pay outstanding arrears of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and others.

Read the original article on Premium Times.

 

India enhanced climate ambitions in post COVID-19 scenario, say experts welcoming updated NDC under Paris Agreement

To further a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, 'LIFE'- 'Lifestyle for Environment' as a key to combating climate change has been added to India's Nationally Determined Contribution

Press Trust of IndiaAugust 04, 2022 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI File

New Delhi: India has enhanced its climate ambitions in the post-pandemic scenario when the world is seeing less action on climate change and this needs to be appreciated, experts have said welcoming the country's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved India's updated NDC, incorporating two of the promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Glasgow conference -- reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, and achieving about 50 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by that year.

To further a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, 'LIFE'- 'Lifestyle for Environment' as a key to combating climate change" has been added to India's NDC.

Environment Ministry officials said the two quantified targets included in the NDC are interlinked with the other promises made at the Glasgow conference last year i.e. 500 gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity by 2030 and reducing total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by that year.

"The updated NDC already includes 50 per cent electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based resources by 2030. This is going to take care of the 500GW non-fossil energy capacity target. Similarly, the decision to increase emission intensity reduction target by another 10 per cent (from 35 per cent earlier to 45 per cent now) will cover another 'Panchamrit' goal -- reducing CO2 emissions by 1 billion ton by 2030," a senior official told PTI.

"Net-zero need not be part of the NDC as it's a 2070 goal and these targets are a step in that direction. However, it could be part of India's 'Long Term Emissions Strategies' document which has to be submitted by the upcoming COP," the official said.

Net zero means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out.

RR Rashmi, distinguished fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said the decision by India to update its NDCs is in line with the prime minister's Glasgow announcements. It enhances the ambition and yet puts sustainable development at the centre of the debate, she noted.

It is clear that India does not envisage sectoral emission reduction obligations as part of its NDC at least till 2030. The NDC does not bind it to any sector-specific mitigation obligation or action. And, it rightly emphasises the value of a sustainable way of living as an effective and just solution to the problem of climate change, she said.

Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Sunita Narain said India has taken important action at a time when the world is seeing less action on climate change.

"But disappointed that we have stated that we will have 50 per cent installed non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 instead of what India had said in Glasgow that we will meet 50 per cent of electricity requirements from renewables by 2030. This is disappointing as we are already roughly 40 per cent (power generation capacity from non-fossil fuel-based sources)," she said.

Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) fellow Dr Vaibhav Chaturvedi said the share of non-fossil sources in India's power generation capacity has already crossed 41 per cent on the back of dedicated policies, and emissions intensity of GDP declined by 24 per cent between 2005 and 2016.

Emission intensity is the volume of emissions per unit of GDP.

"That India's ambition has been enhanced in the post-pandemic scenario needs to be emphasised and appreciated. The Union Cabinet's statement explicitly states that the enhanced NDC is a step towards the net-zero goal, the government should now follow this with explicit inclusion of the 2070 net-zero pledge in its yet to be submitted long-term strategy to the UN," he said.

Madhura Joshi, senior associate at India Energy Transition Lead, E3G, said: "India's updated NDC targets are a welcome move. These targets, while lower than the 'Panchamrit', are actionable."

Vibhuti Garg, energy economist and India lead at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said India's updated NDC does not include all the 'Panchamrit' promises made at COP26 in Glasgow.

The revised NDC does not include 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based capacity by 2030 and a reduction of one billion tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030. The current renewable energy target stands at 175 GW by 2030, she said.

In order to achieve 2070 net-zero goals, India needs actionable short-term targets till 2030 that can help the country to achieve its long-term goal, Garg added.

India had submitted its first NDC to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change on 2 October, 2015.

It had eight goals, of which three had quantitative targets up to 2030 -- cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources to reach 40 percent, reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 33 to 35 per cent compared to 2005 levels and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover.

At the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UNFCCC last November, Modi had announced that India's non-fossil energy capacity will reach 500 gigawatt by 2030.

He had said India will fulfil 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030 and reduce its total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by that year.

India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 per cent, over 2005 levels and achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2070, Modi had said. The five promises are called 'Panchamrit' (five nectar elements). Two of the promises have been included in the updated NDC.

 

Africa Climate Talks sets the tone for CCDA-X and outlines regional climate change challenges and opportunities as Africa goes to COP27

The fourth edition of the intensive and engaging Africa Climate Talks (ACT!-4) closed yesterday in Maputo, Mozambique

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)

PRESS RELEASE
AUG 5, 2022

29 July 2022, Maputo, Mozambique - The fourth edition of the intensive and engaging Africa Climate Talks (ACT!-4) closed yesterday in Maputo, Mozambique.

The three-day session was co-hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African Union Commission (AUC), Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) with partnership support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It brought together leading climate academics, researchers, civil society actors and youth alongside officials from Eastern and Southern African governments, regional economic communities and international development agencies.

This was the first session of ACT!-4 organized as part of a regional Climate Talks series by the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the ECA to  pursue the theme, “Ensuring a just and equitable transition and human security in Africa: Building resilience.”

This year’s theme builds up on the gains realized from last year, which run under the aegis, “Climate Change and Development in Africa: African perspectives on climate resilient recovery from COVID-19”.

Prof. Manuel Guilherme Júnior, Vice-Rector, University Eduardo Mondlane welcomed participants to Mozambique, and encouraged frank discussions that would generate robust solutions, not just for the region but also for Africa’s climate responses.

Speaking on behalf of Vera Songwe, the Executive Secretary of the ECA, Jean Paul-Adam, who heads the Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management division at the ECA, noted that ACTs! serves as an all-inclusive climate change and development dialogue forum. “The fourth ACTs! is an opportunity to deliberate on viable solutions on Just Transition, Loss and Damage, innovative financing models including green and blue bonds as well as Climate-Debt-Swaps to boost resilience in Africa.”

Ms. Eunice Kamwendo, who is the director of ECA’s Sub-regional office for Southern Africa noted the significance of the Talks being held in Mozambique, which has been in the frontlines of building homegrown climate resilience and adaptation responses due to its interventions to the intense occurrences of cyclones and storm surges.

COP27 will be an implementation COP

The UN Resident Coordinator in Mozambique, Myrta Kaulard, extended a warm welcome to participants noting that this year’s deliberations of ACTs! were “paramount in discussing and contributing to just transition in Africa.” Ms. Kaulard thanked the Government of Sweden for it strong support to the United Nations, including support for the African Climate Policy Centre’s programme on delivering climate resilient development policies in Africa and noted that “COP27 will be an African COP and an implementation COP”

In her opening remarks, Anna Tjärvar of the Swedish Embassy in Ethiopia, acknowledged that Africa faces significant challenges in adaptation and remains a vulnerability hotspot for climate change. To this end, Ms. Tjärvar reiterated Sweden’s commitment to continue working with the African Climate Policy Centre and the African Union alongside member states including civil society to find appropriate adaptation and resilience solutions.

James Murombedzi who heads the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) set the scene by stating that the talks were a first step in democratizing the climate discourse in the continent by engaging grassroots voices who are mostly underserved in the global dialogue. According to Murombedzi, the forum serves as “a platform for continental stakeholders to engage in open discourses aimed at catalyzing emerging African perspectives on the most pressing concerns around climate change and socio-economic development.”

The Mozambican climate vulnerability due to increased and intensified cyclones served as a strong case study to discussants sharing experiences, solutions and best practices on mitigation, adaptation and climate action.

“The Mozambican experience has given the African Climate Talks ample framework to help shape the African narrative on how to better respond to climate change and build resilient economies” Murombedzi said.

The deliberations and resolutions from this all-engaging forum contribute to the regional realization of Africa’s Agenda 2063 aspirations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through climate resilient development.

Dr. Harsen Nyambe who is the Director of the African Union Commission’s Directorate of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy noted that increased public participation remains a critical pillar of successful climate action and welcomed the now established trend of the catalyzing effect of ACTs! in mobilizing action to counter vulnerabilities which affect wider continental aspirations and sustainable developmental goals. Dr Nyambe also thanked the ECA for its technical and academic input and contributing heavily towards the successful launch of the comprehensive African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan.

The Talks held on the backdrop of a region inundated by cyclones, storm surges, floods and drought affecting more than 20 million people was also addressed by Amos Makarau, the Regional Director of the World Meteorological Organization Regional Office for Africa (WMO-ROA). Makarau called for sustained and increased investment in climate information services to boost Africa’s early warning and early action systems, which are prerequisites for informed decision making by policy makers.

The African Development Bank lauded the Africa Climate Talks for creating a platform for the discussion of African perspectives on key issues in the linkages between climate change and Africa’s transformative development trajectories, bringing together all stakeholders.

ACTs! attracts youth

A large cohort of students signifying a growing interest in climate action attended this year’s ACTs! co-organized in partnership with the Eduardo Mondlane University and helped meet one of the core tenets of its objectives, which is building a critical mass of young people as future climate champions.

“African Climate Talks is taking a proactive African-centric approach to move beyond dependency on external support towards solutions from within the continent.” Adam said.

The second session of ACT!-4 is slated for Niamey in Niger to amalgamate the Western, Central and Northern Africa climate perspectives.

The 2022 edition of the ACTs! forum has broken new grounds and set the regional agenda for the tenth anniversary of the premier continental Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-X) conference while at the same time outlining the first steps in collating Africa’s priorities at the COP27 in Egypt in November.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

Wessex Lowlines cannot fulfil European orders post-Brexit

4th August

By Lisa Young@SouthWestFarmerContent editor

Geoff Roper with a Lowline

A Dorset farm business is unable to fulfil £150,000 of European business due to Brexit.

Wessex Lowlines has had to suspend more than £150,000 of orders and may be forced to abandon any future activity in Europe because of changes at sea ports.

The business has spent a decade breeding world-leading cattle genetics with customers on the continent who want to buy its pedigree Lowline breeding stock.

But the failure to set up a Border Control Post (BCP) to provide crucial veterinary services and processing of livestock entering Europe means all orders for breeding herds in France, Switzerland, Czech Republic and the rest of Europe have been suspended.

Geoff Roper, the owner of the Wessex Lowlines, says the lack of a BCP within Europe has cost the business more than £150,000 in the past six months alone, and that no resolution is in sight.

He said: “It has taken us more than a decade to breed a large herd of Lowline cattle to serve customers in the UK, Ireland and across Europe.

"We had a strategy and it was working but it has been pulled apart by this failure to provide services across the Channel. What’s even more frustrating is that the UK has fulfilled the necessary requirements and livestock is able to enter from Europe.

“Customers have been really patient but they have been waiting for over a year for us to be able to transport the animals from our farm to theirs and we simply can’t do it without the checks being in place over the border.

“Obviously it’s painful financially but it’s heartbreaking for the small team who have put their lives into this project to see it blocked by something that could so simply be fixed.”

Geoff has asked his MP, the NFU, DEFRA and others for help in resolving the matter but says he doesn’t feel like there is any urgency from the UK or French governments to act.

He said: “We’ve been told it could be 18 months or more before we get any movement on this issue which, when you’re farming livestock, is no good. Our customers want young animals, often with their calves too, and it takes years of planning to make that happen.

“We have bred herds specifically for the customers we have and now we can’t fulfil the orders to them. It’s devastating.”

Geoff’s herd of Lowlines is believed to be the largest in Europe.

Lowlines are indigenous to the UK but the establishment of the breed occurred in Australia from where they have spread around the world.

Wessex Lowlines was the first to be able to supply breeding animals into Europe and has established herds in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain prior to the export system being suspended post Brexit.

Lowlines are known for the quality of their meat, their feed conversion efficiency and docile nature. They have no horns and are able to finish on grass with no need for grain.

Due to their smaller size – about 30 per cent smaller than the average beef animal farmed in the UK – landowners can graze more animals in every field.

Their higher meat-to-bone ratio compared to larger breeds means they are popular with farmers and smallholders who want to produce high-quality, grass-fed meat in a sustainable, efficient manner, especially at a time when costs of production are spiralling and more sustainable beef systems are being explored.

Death toll from lightning strike near White House rises to three

Xinhua  2022-08-06       

The death toll from the lightning strike near the White House Thursday evening has risen to three.

Washington, D.C. police told reporters on Friday afternoon that a 29-year-old man died from his injuries caused by the lightning strike in Lafayette Square just north of the White House.

An elderly couple from Wisconsin, both in their 70s, also succumbed to their injuries. The condition of the other individual who was injured alongside the three victims has not been released.

Emergency personnel previously said all four involved in the incident "had critical life-threatening injuries."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement on Friday, saying that they are "saddened by the tragic loss of life" after the lightning strike in Lafayette Park.

"Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives," the statement read.

The United States has seen at least 12 lightning fatalities so far this year, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.

"This is a sad reminder that you should never shelter under a tree when thunderstorms approach," the organization tweeted on Friday.

Source: Xinhua   Editor: Han Jing

Twitter fixes security vulnerability exposing 5.4m accounts

Xinhua    2022-08-06       

Twitter said on Friday that it has fixed a security vulnerability that allowed threat actors to compile information of 5.4 million Twitter accounts.

The vulnerability allowed anyone to enter a phone number or an e-mail address of a known user and learn if it was tied to an existing Twitter account, potentially exposing the identities of pseudonymous accounts.

In a statement released on Friday, the company said, "if someone submitted an e-mail address or phone number to Twitter's systems, Twitter's systems would tell the person what Twitter account the submitted e-mail addresses or phone number was associated with, if any."

The bug resulted from an update to code in June 2021. After a bug bounty report by a security researcher, the company investigated and fixed it in January, Twitter said in the statement.

According to the bug bounty report, the vulnerability posed a "serious threat" to users who have private or pseudonymous accounts, and could be used to "create a database" or enumerate "a big chunk of the Twitter user base."

Hackers had already exploited the vulnerability before its fixation to create a database of e-mail addresses and phone numbers of 5.4 million Twitter accounts, a report by TechCrunch said.

"After reviewing a sample of the available data for sale, we confirmed that a bad actor had taken advantage of the issue before it was addressed," Twitter said. "We will be directly notifying the account owners we can confirm were affected by this issue."

Source: Xinhua   Editor: Han Jing

BROKERED 
Ukraine grain ship departs for Ireland under new UN deal

‘We look forward to the Navi Star arriving at port in approximately two weeks’


A ship carrying thousands of tonnes of corn left Ukraine today and is bound for Ireland

Ciara O'Loughlin

Independent.ie

Yesterday 

Three more ships carrying thousands of tons of grain left Ukrainian ports on Friday, with one bound for Ireland.

This is the latest sign that a negotiated deal to export grain trapped since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly six months ago is slowly moving forward, but major hurdles lie ahead to get food to the countries that need it most.

The ships bound for Ireland, the United Kingdom and Turkey follow the first grain shipment to pass through the Black Sea since the start of the war.

The Panama-flagged Navistar left Odesa for Ireland with 33,000 tonnes of grain and this will be received by Irish grain and animal feed company R&H Hall.

A spokesperson for the company said: “R&H Hall can confirm that they will receive its 33,000 tonnes of cargo in Foynes and Dublin Ports on its arrival.

"As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, until an agreement was secured, no ship was permitted to depart Black Sea ports since February 24, the day the war commenced.

“The recommencement of sailings from the Black Sea of vessels such as the Navi Star is the first step in returning some degree of certainty to the global food supply chain in what remains a volatile situation.

"We look forward to the Navi Star arriving at port in approximately two weeks.”

The passage of the vessel heading for Lebanon earlier this week was the first under the breakthrough deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations with Russia and Ukraine.

The Black Sea region is dubbed the world’s breadbasket, with Ukraine and Russia key global suppliers of wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil that millions of impoverished people in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia rely on for survival.

While the shipments have raised hopes of easing a global food crisis, much of the grain that Ukraine is trying to export is used for animal feed, not for people to eat, experts say.

The first vessels to leave are among more than a dozen bulk carriers and cargo ships that had been loaded with grain but stuck in ports since Russia invaded in late February.

And the cargoes are not expected to have a significant impact on the global price of corn, wheat and soybeans for several reasons.

For starters, the exports under the deal are off to a slow, cautious start due to the threat of explosive mines floating off Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline.

And while Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat to developing nations, there are other countries, such as the United States and Canada, with far greater production levels that can affect global wheat prices. And they face the threat of drought.

“Ukraine is about 10pc of the international trade in wheat, but in terms of production it is not even 5pc,” said David Laborde, an expert on agriculture and trade at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.

The three ships left on Friday with over 58,000 tons of corn, but that is still a fraction of the 20 million tons of grains that Ukraine says are trapped in the country’s silos and ports and that must be shipped out to make space for this year’s harvest.

Around six million tonnes of the trapped grain is wheat, but just half of that is for human consumption, Mr Laborde said.

There is an expectation that Ukraine could produce 30pc to 40pc less grain over the coming next 12 months due to the war, though other estimates put that figure at 70pc.

Grain prices peaked after Russia’s invasion, and while some have since come down to their pre-war levels, they are still higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Corn prices are 70pc higher than at the end of February 2020, said Jonathan Haines, senior analyst at data and analytics firm Gro Intelligence. He said wheat prices are around 60pc higher than in February 2020.

One reason prices remain high is the impact of drought on harvests in North America, China and other regions, as well as the higher price of fertiliser needed for farming.

“When fertiliser prices are high, farmers may use less fertiliser. And when they use less fertiliser, they will produce less. And if they will produce less, supply will continue to remain insufficient,” Mr Laborde said.

The three ships that departed Ukraine on Friday give hope that exports will ramp up to developing nations, where many are facing the increased threat of food shortages and hunger.

“The movement of three additional vessels overnight is a very positive sign and will continue to build confidence that we’re moving in the right direction,” Mr Haines said.

“If the flow of grain from Ukraine continues to expand, it will help relieve global supply constraints.”

The Turkish-flagged Polarnet, carrying 12,000 tons of corn, left the Chornomorsk port destined for Karasu, Turkey.

The Panama-flagged Navi Star left Odesa’s port for Ireland with 33,000 tonnes of corn. The Maltese-flagged Rojen left Chornomorsk for the United Kingdom carrying over 13,000 tonnes of corn, the UN said.

It added that the Joint Coordination Centre — run by officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN overseeing the deal signed in Istanbul last month — authorised the three ships and inspected a ship headed for Ukraine.

The Barbados-flagged Fulmar S was inspected in Istanbul and is headed for the Chornomorsk port.

The checks seek to ensure that outbound cargo ships carry only grain, fertiliser or food and not any other commodities and that inbound ships are not carrying weapons.

The vessels are accompanied by Ukrainian pilot ships for safe passage because of explosive mines strewn in the Black Sea.

After Turkey, which has relations with both Russia and Ukraine, helped broker the food deal two weeks ago, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later on Friday in Sochi, Russia.

That meeting follows another face-to-face meeting the two leaders had in Iran three weeks ago.

With reporting from PA.

Ukraine war: first grain ship leaves Odesa, but EU should have seen food and energy crises coming

THE CONVERSATION
Published: August 1, 2022 

The first ship out of Odesa since the start of the Russian blockade was the Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, carrying 26,000 tons of corn.

 EPA-EFE/Turkish Defence Ministry handout

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in four interrelated security crises. The war in Ukraine is a tragedy for human security, but it affects geopolitical security as well as food and energy security.

These four crises have been compounded by the failure of coercive diplomacy. This is a form of diplomacy which uses either sticks or carrots to encourage “an adversary” – in this case Russia – to change its behaviour.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the EU and US have sought to coerce Putin to row back on his aggression against Ukraine by imposing sanctions, but to no avail. Now, eight years on, Putin’s war against Ukraine reflects the failure of this coercive diplomacy.

Analysts and policy makers in the west have been on the back foot since the annexation of Crimea. Their tendency to react, rather than adopt a proactive stance, has given Putin carte blanche to pursue his own ends in Ukraine.

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Two recent developments illustrate the shortcomings of this passive foreign policy adopted by the US and the EU towards Russia. These two developments reflect the severity of the looming food and energy crises triggered by Putin’s war. They are indicative of divisions in the west – especially among EU member states – in establishing a coherent foreign policy towards Russia since the early 2000s.
Food shortage

Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports since the start of the war prevented Ukraine’s exports of sunflower-seeds, oil, corn and wheat. A Ukrainian-Russian deal on the export of Ukrainian grain was struck on July 22 2022.

The deal, negotiated by UN secretary general António Guterres and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was perceived as a small step in seeking to address aspects of food insecurity. It aimed at selling 20 million tonnes of Ukraine’s harvest from 2021 within 130 days.

Read more: Ukraine war: Black Sea grain deal exposes Moscow's long-term diplomatic game

The first shipment of grain has left Odesa in Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni which was carrying 26,000 tons of corn. But the crews of ships moving in and out of the port of Odesa will be nervous.

Russian missiles struck the port of Odesa just one day after the deal was signed – despite earlier assurances that Russia would not take advantage of the de-mining and opening of Ukrainian ports. Russia claimed that this was a legitimate strike aimed at destroying military equipment including US missiles.

Harvest time in Ukraine: but how much of this wheat will reach the people who so desperately need it? EPA-EFE/Roman Pilipey

When the deal was struck the prices for grain decreased by 5%. Both Russia’s non-compliance with the agreement and the continuation of the war makes it impossible to estimate how the global price for grain will be affected. Equally difficult to predict is how much grain will actually be exported in due course.

Winter is coming

As if food shortages weren’t enough, a historical over-reliance on Russian fossil fuels is causing a serious energy crisis in Europe. In 2006, when the state-owned Russian gas monopoly Gazprom cut off supply to Ukraine – the major transit country for Russian gas to Europe – it sounded warning signals to EU institutions and member states about the problem of relying on Russia as a supplier.

This interruption decreased the pressure in pipelines, resulting in supply issues in nine countries in central and eastern Europe. At the time, Finland, Slovakia and the Baltic States relied on 100% of gas imports from Russia while Germany imported 40%.

There was plenty of rhetoric among policy-makers and diplomats in Brussels regarding the need for diversification away from Russian resources. But little was done. One of the problems is that energy policy remains the business of individual EU member states. Lithuania, for instance – became proactive in avoiding the Kremlin’s manipulation of energy policy as a geopolitical lever.

Lithuania has reduced its dependence on Russian resources with the launch of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Klaipeda on the Baltic Coast, which started operating in 2014. This LNG terminal is also used to supply Estonia, Latvia and Finland.

Faced with potentially serious supply issues ahead of the coming winter, the EU published a communication on July 20 titled: “Save gas for a safe winter”. It includes recommendations to work towards a complete cut-off of Russian gas, the first step of which is for member states to implement a voluntary gas reduction of 15% over the next eight months.

The recommendation is flawed: the reduction is not legally binding as the EU doesn’t make decisions about individual member states’ energy policies, so the plan might not be applied by all states. Another problem is that the recommendations include exceptions for island states and some industrial sectors, so is by no means comprehensive.

But the CEO of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, has said that measures being taken by European countries for sourcing energy elsewhere while conserving gas would not be sufficient if Russia completely shut down gas supplies to Europe. Russia has already reduced the flow of gas through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of its capacity.

The EU’s recommendations do little to address either the prospect of interruptions in supply, nor the need to diversify energy sources for the future. The severity of the looming energy crisis could have been minimised if EU member states had seriously implemented renewable energy policies after Gazprom’s interruption of gas to Ukraine in 2006.

Author

Anna-Sophie Maass
Lecturer in International Relations and Diplomacy, Lancaster University

UK

A map of NHS privatisation and outsourcing will leave you shocked

"As a publicly funded public health service, we strongly believe the NHS should be entirely funded, run and delivered by the public sector."

 by Joe Mellor
2022-08-05 11:49
in News
LONDON EYE

Credit:PA

Either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will become the next PM very soon.

Here is what they have said they pledge to do with the NHS.

Rishi Sunak: Has promised a “vaccines-style” taskforce to tackle NHS backlogs, calling dealing with the issue one of his top priorities.

He has plans to expand the network of specialist surgical centres and community diagnostics hubs in order to eliminate one-year NHS waiting times six months earlier than planned by September 2024, and to get overall numbers falling by next year.

Liz Truss: Agrees on the urgent need to deal with care backlogs, promising to install a “strong” health secretary to solve the issue.

She has also said she is “completely committed” to current Government promises for NHS spending, despite her plans for tax cuts.

This map shows the thousands of non-NHS independent providers who deliver NHS-funded healthcare across the country every single day.

Zoom in or use the search bar to find out how the NHS has been outsourced where you live, and switch on the Westminster constituency overlay to find info about your MP.

Privitisation

However, with the creeping privatisation of the NHS EveryDoctor’s map of NHS privatisation and outsourcing according to their research makes bleak reading, assuming you don’t want the health sector to be sold off.

They write: “The collection and sharing of information is one of the most powerful tools we have in building a national movement to halt and reverse NHS privatisation.

“The pins show NHS services run by private companies, alongside charities and not-for-profit organisations. While they do not profit from the services they provide, they are non-NHS providers.

“The UK has an array of fantastic health-related charities, we have no criticism of their work. However this systemic move to provide NHS services by non-NHS providers disrupts health infrastructure and fragments the service.

“As a publicly funded public health service, we strongly believe the NHS should be entirely funded, run and delivered by the public sector. “

Related: Does outsourcing in the NHS kill people?

The Fantasy of Brexit Britain Is Over

The Boris Johnson era is over. But the turmoil has only just begun.


For the third time in under a decade, a crisis at the top of the Conservative Party has ousted a sitting prime minister. Whereas his predecessors had been brought down by Brexit, Mr. Johnson’s reign was broken by a series of crises. Some, such as chronic labor shortages and a surging cost of living, were material. Others, notably Mr. Johnson’s rule breaking through the pandemic, were ethical. By the end, the problem was fundamentally electoral: A string of defeats and miserable polling convinced Conservative lawmakers that Mr. Johnson’s electoral pulling power was at an end.

Yet the two candidates vying to replace him are unlikely to offer anything better. Both served in Mr. Johnson’s cabinet — Rishi Sunak as chancellor of the Exchequer and Liz Truss as foreign secretary — and are implicated, directly or by association, in the scandals that felled him. More pressingly, neither displays any idea of how to cope with Britain’s structural problems, offering either a cut in taxes or in spending. For the country, both options are bad. The chaos of recent months isn’t going anywhere.

But Mr. Johnson’s resignation also brings something to a close. For nearly two years after his election in December 2019, the country enjoyed an interlude of relative social peace and political stability. Buoyed by its delivery of Brexit and a successful Covid-19 vaccination rollout, the government enjoyed a substantial lead over a weak and demoralized Labor opposition. What’s more, the country — in the strange, suspended time-space of the pandemic — appeared to coalesce. In this brief interregnum, it appeared that Britain, nourished by nationalism and an interventionist state, was undergoing a revival.

No longer. Economically stagnant, socially fragmented and politically adrift, the country is being cut down to size. The right’s Brexit fantasy — of a revitalized Britain, freed from the shackles of Europe and able once again to confidently assert itself at home and abroad — is finished.

Though now giving way to a familiar nightmare, that fantasy seemed for a while to envelop the country. The strange cultural and emotional feel of high Johnsonism is captured by two of the most watched broadcasts in British history, both of which took place during his tenure. The first was Mr. Johnson’s address to the nation on March 23, 2020, declaring a national lockdown. The second was the Euro 2020 final, in which England stood a realistic chance of winning against Italy, on July 11, 2021. Both broadcasts, watched by tens of millions of people, briefly synthesized a moment of national unity. Both portended the suspension of normality in the name of a national struggle, vaguely linked to folk memories of World War II.

The eerie quiet of lockdown — with its empty streets, visitations from wildlife and ritual clapping for essential workers — was matched by the flag-bedraggled, drunk and delirious mania of crowds roaming empty commercial streets and fervently chanting, “It’s coming home!” These were distinctly nationalist moments, but they were not identical. One nationalism was top down, the other grass roots. One was “British,” establishment nationalism, the other “English,” with more proletarian accents. Yet together they briefly manufactured a sense of nationhood.

It was, of course, hardly a time of national idyll. Tens of thousands of older Britons needlessly died in overrun hospitals because of delays in declaring lockdowns. Food bank use rose to an all-time high, with over 2.5 million people receiving packages. By the end of 2020, nine in 10 low-income families had experienced a serious deterioration in their income, and the proportion of people reporting clinically significant depression and anxiety tripled, to 52 percent from 17 percent. Even so, the precarious project of national unity, supported by enormous public spending to manage the pandemic, briefly worked: The Tories led in the polls, impervious to scandal and discontent.

In September last year, things started to shake loose. Fuel shortages, created by a dearth of truck drivers, began to corrode Mr. Johnson’s support. In December, the first accounts of illegal partying in 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, emerged. By February, rising energy prices were squeezing living standards, and food banks were overwhelmed by soaring demand. Hospitals — overstretched and underfunded — struggled with a backlog of around six million patients, and understaffed airports canceled flights. At Westminster, the crisis enveloping the country was transmuted into a growing clamor to remove Mr. Johnson. He clung on for a while, but by midsummer, it was over.

The economy is now heading toward an abysmal period. High energy prices, runaway inflation, struggling exports and rising interest rates are, in the words of the economist Duncan Weldon, a “perfect storm.” In response, Ms. Truss, by far the favorite to win the contest to replace Mr. Johnson, has promised to cut taxes — to be paid for by deferring debt repayments rather than cutting spending. Mr. Sunak, by contrast, would continue in the short term with his current policy of raising taxes while signaling that spending cuts are coming down the line. Neither approach, from the Tory right or the Treasury, would address the underlying causes of the cost-of-living crisis. Lacking ideas, the Conservatives are reverting to type.

That may be fatally complacent. Oppositional currents, contained for a spell by Johnsonism, are gradually resurfacing. Scotland is once again promising to stage an independence referendum, putatively for as soon as next October. In Northern Ireland, the republican Sinn Fein has become the biggest party, weakening the Unionist establishment. And in England, a wave of symbolically significant strikes — at railways, call centers and airports — has broken out, offering hope for workers who’ve seen their living standards fall for over a decade. Government approval is at its lowest in three years, and neither potential leader enthuses the public. Tory Britain is unraveling.

But what even is Britain? The historian David Edgerton argues that the British nation existed only for a few decades after World War II. Until then, British identity was global, pinned to its empire. It became a nation only in the postwar years, when capitalism was organized by the state and citizens were offered “cradle to grave” welfare. Since then, as national industries were sold off and the City of London took center stage, Britain has become merely a hub for multinational corporations, denuded of any wider social or civic resonance. It was the dormant British nation of the postwar era ­— or at least the nostalgic memory of it — that Brexit was supposed to revive.

The exit of Mr. Johnson, Brexit’s most charmed cheerleader, marks the demise of that fantasy. In its place, unmistakable and unstinting, comes crisis.

Saturday, 6 August, 2022 - 
Richard Seymour
The New York Times