GEMOLOGY

Diamond trade polishes its act as Russia sanctions loom


Traders are turning to blockchain technology to prove their diamonds come from non-Russian mines

 - Copyright TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP Mustafa Kamaci

Dave CLARK

AFP
November 28, 2023

As European capitals prepare to implement long-awaited sanctions on Russia’s diamond exports, Belgian traders are bracing for new scrutiny of their industry.

In Antwerp’s renowned diamond district — which handles an estimated 86 percent of the world’s rough diamonds — polishing “labs” are turning to blockchain technology to prove their gemstones come from legitimate mines in Africa, Australia or Canada, and not Russia.

With Russian stones having accounted for around a third of the global market before Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the G7’s decision to ban trade in them could have broad repercussions.

Industry insiders in Belgium expect the sanctions to be phased in gradually, limiting market disruption.

Meanwhile, major traders and jewellery brands have begun adopting advanced tracking technology to check and certify where their diamonds are coming from.

The industry has sought to burnish its image ever since outrage erupted two decades ago over so-called “blood diamonds” financing brutal civil wars in Africa.

If traders are now seen helping Russia evade sanctions to keep financing its invasion of Ukraine, the shine may come off diamonds once again.

The European Union is drawing up bans on Russian diamonds as part of its 12th package of sanctions to tighten the vice on Moscow’s war economy and cut off funds the country is using to buy munitions and drones from North Korea and Iran.

But it has been difficult to agree on how best to restrict the diamond trade. Being small and extremely valuable, gems are simple and lucrative to smuggle.

They can easily be mixed with stones from other sources. In addition, rough diamonds change weight and appearance as they are cut, polished and eventually set in jewellery.

– Draft sanctions –

Europe — and Belgium in particular — has another concern: Even with EU sanctions, Russian gems could still find their way to competitors in places like Dubai and India.

As EU sanctions talks progressed, the G7 powers stepped in and the world’s top industrialised democracies agreed a global ban.

“I think it is important that any traceability solution, or any protocol that is proposed to deal with those potential sanctions, is industry-wide and is supported by all the diamond centres,” said iTraceiT CEO Frederik Degryse.

Degryse’s firm is trying to provide market players with a digital way to trace their supply chain.

The European Commission has adopted a proposal that will go to member states for approval, expected in the coming days if the 27 member states are unanimous.

According to a copy seen by AFP, it will ban trade in diamonds originating in, transiting, or exported from Russia, as well as Russian diamonds cut and polished in third countries.

Starting January 1 2024, the ban would apply to “non-industrial natural and synthetic diamonds as well as diamond jewellery.”

The import ban on Russian diamonds cut or polished in third countries would be phased in between March and September next year.

“This phasing-in… takes into consideration the need to deploy an appropriate traceability mechanism that enables effective enforcement measures and minimises disruptions for market players,” the draft says.

The iTraceiT firm believes its technology would ease the supply chain disruption such bans might bring.

In a “lab” in Antwerp’s diamond quarter, account manager Sandiah Kangoute showed AFP how miners, traders, polishers and retailers can trace their diamonds back to their source.

As miners bag stones, each is assigned a QR code linking its contents to a unique filing system using blockchain technology — a method of recording information that is difficult to hack or manipulate.

Using a code reader, industry workers can access files attached to the unique codes and add new ones, such as receipts for purchase, export licences, and certificates of authenticity.

“So I see here, the starting point was Canada, then it travelled and is coming to me in France,” Kangoute says, as she scans a QR code on a small packet of cut diamonds.

– Every parcel tracked –

If challenged, exporters can use the iTraceiT system to provide back-up evidence to prove their diamonds are not sourced from Russia.

“Every parcel or every diamond will have an internal reference, which is linked,” Degryse said.

“So if there’s any deviation between the actual physical diamonds that you’re weighing and the numbers that are there, then it’ll pop up,” he said.

“And then you have all the supporting documentation,” Degryse added.

“All the partners that we work with get audited on a frequent basis. So this is a tool that can make it easier for auditors to go in and see traceability for all the diamonds.”

But will the sanctions hurt Russia? So far, it has managed to maintain its war against Ukraine through 11 previous rounds of EU measures that targeted its much larger oil and gas exports.

The industry is sceptical. Russia is a major source of diamonds, but diamonds themselves account for a small part of its economy, and this might in part explain why officials took so long to get around to tackling the trade.

 

Four reasons US troops should pull out of Syria, Iraq ASAP

TEHRAN, Nov. 28 (MNA) – Washington's military presence in the countries does not contribute to West Asian peace but makes American soldiers a target, a new Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft report has concluded.

American and coalition forces deployed in the Middle East have come under attack a whopping 73 times since October 17, according to the US press. The number of strikes against US military deployments has increased amid the Gaza War between the Israel regime Forces and Palestinians, Sputnik reports.

"The regional reverberations of the Israel-Gaza war demonstrate why the White House should scrap, not reinforce, America’s outdated and unnecessarily provocative troop presence in Syria and Iraq," argued Jason Brownlee, a professor of government at the University of Texas, in his op-ed for the Quincy Institute of Responsible Statecraft website.

Per Brownlee, it's time for US President Joe Biden to redeploy US forces to a safer position offshore. The academic cites four reasons for that move.

First, the American military presence in Syria and Iraq provides an opportunity for Resistance forces to influence US national strategy by targeting American soldiers in the region, according to the professor.

He draws attention to the fact that some 900 US troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq "have been taking fire" from local militias since October 17.

These attacks have led to "approximately 62 US personnel injuries," as per Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.

PR

 

Reports say;

Algeria to host legal delegations to try Zionist regime

TEHRAN, Nov. 28 (MNA) – Algeria is said to be hosting an Arab and European legal delegation over the next couple of days to initiate the trial of the Zionist regime for genocide in its recent attacks against the Gaza Strip, local media reported.

Ibrahim Tairi, head of Algeria’s National Union of Lawyers, has reportedly said that his country will be hosting an international conference on November 29-30 where the participants will seek the best practical ways to investigate and try the Zionist regime at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the courts of other countries.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had earlier called on all the freedom-seekers across the world, as well as the legal experts of the Arab countries and the international legal organizations, to pursue the Zionist crimes at the ICC and other international human rights bodies.

Zionists launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

Nearly 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes.

MNA/IRN85304955

NAKBA2: ETHNIC CLEANSING GAZA WEST BANK 

Israel to fight across all of Gaza after humanitarian pause: Defense minister

While the Israeli army ‘is organizing and resting and investigating, the enemy is also doing same,’ says Yoav Gallant

Ahmed Asmar |28.11.2023 - Update : 28.11.2023

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ( FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency )

ANKARA

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that once the humanitarian pause ends in Gaza, the army will resume its military operation throughout the entire Gaza Strip with greater strength.

"You now have a few days. We will return to fighting. We will use the same amount of power and more," Gallant said while meeting with Israeli troops, according to the Times of Israel news website

"We will fight in the entire Strip," he added.

“Remember that while you are organizing and resting and investigating, the enemy is also doing the same,” he said, referring to the Palestinian group Hamas.

Qatar announced an agreement late Monday on extending a four-day humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas in Gaza for an additional two days, under which further prisoner exchanges will be carried out.

Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

Winter isn’t coming: climate change hits Greek olive crop


In mid-November, the temperature in the Halkidiki region of Polygyros, northern Greece was still over 15 degrees Celsius 

- Copyright AFP MOHD RASFAN

Vassilis KYRIAKOULIS

AFP
November 27, 2023

Greek organic farmer Zaharoula Vassilaki looks with admiration at a huge olive tree on her property believed to be over two centuries old, still yielding despite a direct lightning hit years ago.

But climate change — in this case, the absence of deep winter — is proving too much for even this gnarled veteran to cope with.

“The climate has changed and the trees cannot cope with these big changes. We no longer have winter at all,” she told AFP.

In mid-November, the temperature in the Halkidiki region of Polygyros, northern Greece, was still over 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit).

“I consider climate change the main challenge this season,” noted Nikos Anoixas, a board member of Doepel, the Greek national interprofessional organisation for table olives.

“At this time, temperatures should be 10 degrees Celsius… the year is already lost, and we fear next year will be similar. I don’t even want to think what will happen if another such year follows,” Anoixas said.

Vangelis Evangelinos has been growing edible olives on his family land in Halkidiki, northern Greece since he was a child.

At 62, he does not recall adverse weather conditions such as his area has endured this year — or such a poor crop — ever before.

“We’ve never had a year such as this,” Evangelinos told AFP, two months after the Thessaly region, to the south, was devastated by massive floods.

“The rainfall is intense and brief,” the opposite of what is needed to enrich the soil,” he said.

The warm weather has affected some six million trees in the region, according to producers and experts.

“This year the phenomenon of ‘fruitlessness’ was very intense, but it is an issue that we have noticed mainly in the last five years,” said Vassilaki, 48.

The European Union’s olive production giants Italy and Spain have faced similar problems, pushing up prices.

Spain, the world’s biggest producer of olive oil, suffered a very difficult year in 2022 and drought this year has compounded the problem.

In Italy, this year’s olive harvest is down by an estimated 80 percent, according to producers.

The EU estimates global olive oil production will fall more than 26 percent in 2022-2023 compared to a year earlier, to just over 2.5 million tonnes.

In the EU itself, production is expected to drop 39 percent.

– ‘No winter at all’ –

“The old growers here say it is very important for the trees to rest in the winter. It takes about one to two months of good cold weather for the tree to rest… so that it can yield later,” Vassilaki said.

Athanassios Molassiotis, an agronomist and head of the arboriculture lab of Thessaloniki’s Aristotelio University, said his team recorded an increase in temperature of two degrees during October, November and December 2022 compared to a year earlier.

This affected the olive buds “because we know that the tree bears fruit after cold winters, especially the Halkidiki variety, which has high requirements at low temperatures in winter,” he said.

“We found that in many trees, there was no flowering and therefore no fruit afterwards,” Molassiotis said.

Halkidiki accounts for around half of edible table olives produced in Greece.

According to the regional chamber of commerce, more than 20,000 local producers cultivate 330,000 acres of olive trees in the area, generating an average of 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes of edible table olives annually.

More than 150 companies are active in olive processing and marketing, and more than 90 percent of the products produced are exported the world over, as far as Brazil, China and Australia.

This year, however, the crop shortage has in some cases exceeded 90 percent, plunging sector entrepreneurs into despair.

– ‘Things will get worse’ –

“I’m afraid things will get worse in the future,” said chamber president Yiannis Koufidis, noting the economic impact on growers has been “huge” with a loss of some 200 million euro ($) just in Halkidiki prefecture alone.

In many cases, growers did not deem it worth the trouble to harvest their estates.

At the local olive processing unit, which also handles intake from across the country, management says production is down at least 60 percent.

A climate change study for the Halkidiki area in January showed the local average temperature is expected to increase by 1.5-2 degrees Celsius in coming years, according to the best-case scenario.

At worst, it could be three degrees.

The Aristotelio University study also predicts less rain.

The overall “thermal stress” is ultimately expected to impact fruit quality, it warned.

And because Halkidiki is also one of Greece’s main tourism destinations, there is an added draw on the area’s water resources, said study author Christina Anagnostopoulou.

“Climate changes will happen. We need to learn and prepare so that we can reduce the effects,” the climatology professor told AFP.

Koufidis said the Halkidiki chamber is working with the university to create a variant of the local olive variety that requires less wintry weather.

“It’s a very difficult project. But we can’t stand idly by,” he said.

burs-str/jph/bp

Families of Malaysia Airlines plane crash victims call for new search

Relatives of passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 hold a sign reading "Malaysia Airlines MH370 cases" close to a court building in Beijing 

- Copyright AFP Pedro PARDO

Ludovic EHRET

AFP
November 27, 2023

Relatives of dozens of Chinese passengers who died when a Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared almost 10 years ago called Monday for a new investigation, as a Beijing court began hearing their fresh appeal for compensation.

The MH370 jet vanished on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people — mostly from China — en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

More than 40 families have filed lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines, the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, engine maker Rolls Royce and Allianz insurance group, state broadcaster CCTV said.

The families’ litigation requests focus on compensation and finding the truth behind the flight’s disappearance, according to Zhang Qihuai, a lawyer quoted by CCTV.

Hardly any trace of the plane was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone, with only some pieces of debris picked up.

The Australian-led operation, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January 2017.

The families on Monday released an open letter addressed to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, calling for a new search for the missing aircraft on a “No find, No fee” basis.

“Our family members hope to search for flight MH370 on our own,” the letter said, adding “family members are willing to invest their own money or cooperate with capable individuals and companies”.

They asked for “effective communication” with the Malaysian government to kick off a new hunt.

Outside the court, many relatives were on the verge of tears as they recounted stories of their loved ones, some holding pieces of paper saying “restart the search” and “open, fair, impartial”.

Bao Lanfang lost her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the disaster, and her husband died last year.

“Personally, I do not care about the monetary compensation,” the 71-year-old told the media.

“What I want is that Malaysia Airlines gives me the truth. What happened to our loved ones?

“What I want now is for them to resume the search and the investigation.”

Malaysia’s transport ministry and Malaysia Airlines both declined to comment on the hearings.

– ‘Unbearable’-

It is unclear what jurisdiction the Chinese court has to enforce the claims for compensation against the defendants.

Each family filed for civil compensation of between 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) and 80 million yuan ($11.2 million), as well as moral damages of 30 million yuan ($4.2 million) to 40 million yuan ($5.6 million), CCTV reported.

The families of more than 110 other passengers have already reached a settlement with the defendants and received between 2.5 million and 3 million yuan, the broadcaster said.

Gathering outside the court on Monday despite freezing temperatures, relatives were keen to talk to journalists.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on flight MH370, said the opening of the hearing was “very comforting, and it is a turning point”.

“The survival of the relatives during these 10 years, the deterioration of their living conditions… This really makes us very sad. So I hope that the legal relief can be realised as soon as possible. It is not difficult,” he said.

“Ten years have really been unbearable for us,” added Jiang.

The hearing was not listed on the court’s public website, but Jiang wrote on social media this month the court hearings would continue until mid-December.

– Unsolved mystery –

A US exploration firm launched a private hunt for MH370 in 2018, but it ended after several months of scouring the seabed without success.

The disappearance of the plane has long been the subject of a host of theories — ranging from the credible to outlandish — including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.

In 2016, Malaysian officials revealed the pilot had plotted a path over the Indian Ocean on a home flight simulator but stressed this did not prove he deliberately crashed the plane.

A final report into the tragedy released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.

But they failed to come up with any firm conclusions, leaving relatives angry and disappointed.

MY THEORY: 

IT WAS SUCKED DOWN BY A WATER SPOUT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

Sweden PM condemns far-right call to tear down mosques

BOTH ISLAMOPHOBIC & ANTISEMITIC


AFP
November 27, 2023

Denounced: Far right Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson

 - Copyright AFP Jonathan NACKSTRAND

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson denounced the leader of the far-right party propping up his government Monday after he called for some mosques to be torn down.

Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Akesson called for some mosques to be seized and levelled during a speech to his annual party conference on Saturday.

“We need to start confiscating and tearing down mosques where anti-democratic, anti-Swedish, homophobic, anti-Semitic propaganda or general disinformation is being spread,” Akesson said.

Kristersson, whose coalition government does not include SD but relies on its support, condemned the statements as “disrespectful”.

“I think it is a disrespectful way of expressing oneself, a polarising way of expressing oneself,” Kristersson told broadcaster SVT.

“This misrepresents what Sweden stands for internationally,” he added.

Akesson’s speech sparked anger both in Sweden and abroad and forced Kristersson to issue a statement on X, formerly Twitter, reiterating Sweden’s “constitutional right to freedom of religion”.

“In Sweden, we do not demolish places of worship. As a society, we must fight back against violent extremism whatever its grounds — but we will do so within the framework of a democratic state and the rule of law,” he said.

Former Social Democrat prime minister Magdalena Andersson called for Kristersson to remove all SD officials working at the cabinet offices in Stockholm.

“It worsens the image of Sweden, does not facilitate our NATO application and further increases polarisation in our country. This is not putting Sweden and the Swedish people’s safety and security first,” Andersson said on X.

Sweden, whose NATO application still needs ratification from Hungary and Muslim-majority Turkey, has seen a slew of incidents spark tensions with countries around the Middle East.

A series of Koran-burnings earlier this year led to protests and widespread condemnations of Sweden, with several Middle Eastern countries summoning Swedish envoys.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound during the second incident.

Last year Sweden was the target of a vast disinformation campaign claiming its social services were “kidnapping Muslim children” and placing them in Christian homes, forcing the authorities to publicly deny the allegations.

Crimean treasures return to Kyiv after years of legal battles

A number of Scythian artefacts -- some around 2,000 years old -- were on loan to Amsterdam's Allard Pierson museum when they suddenly were at the centre of a geopolitical crisis following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea 

- Copyright ALLARD PIERSON MUSEUM/AFP Handout

AFP

November 27, 2023

Ancient Crimean gold treasures returned to Kyiv Monday after being stuck in a Dutch museum for nine years, where they were on show when Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.

Ukraine hailed the arrival of the jewels in the midst of the Russian full-scale 2022 invasion as a victory for its “identity and freedom”.

The Scythian artefacts — some around 2,000 years old — were on loan to Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson museum when they suddenly were at the centre of a geopolitical crisis following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Years of legal battles ensued, with both Kyiv and Moscow-controlled Crimean museums filing suits that the jewels should be in their hands, before the Dutch Supreme Court ruled this summer they should go to Ukraine.

“After almost 10 years of trials, artefacts from four museums of Crimea… returned to Ukraine,” the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (NMHU) said on its website.

“They will be kept in the NMHU until the de-occupation of Crimea,” it added.

Their return comes 21 months into Moscow’s offensive, and is a symbolic win for Ukraine, which has repeatedly vowed to retake Crimea.

– ‘Victim of geopolitical developments’ –

Ukraine’s customs service said the jewels arrived from Amsterdam by truck, equipped with a “temperature maintenance system, in special trunks”.

It published a video of the truck entering Kyiv’s medieval Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, where it said customs officers will go through the 2,694 kilogrammes (5,900 pounds) of jewels.

Kyiv’s culture minister Rostyslav Karandeyev called the return of the artefacts a “great historical victory.”

“The exhibition in the Netherlands covered the history of Ukrainian Crimea. Therefore only the people of Ukraine should own these historical values,” he added.

“Today, it is very important for us to preserve and protect history, traditions and historical heritage. This is what we are fighting for on the battlefield. For our identity and freedom,” he added.

Moscow has insisted that the hundreds of artefacts — which include a golden helmet — should be kept in Crimea, territory which it claims as its own.

“It belongs to Crimea, it should be there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday in response to the jewels arriving in Ukraine.

The treasures were kept at the Allard Pierson museum throughout the legal battles, awaiting a ruling.

In June, the Netherlands’ top court ruled they should be handed to Ukraine, and not to the four Crimean museums.

“This was a special case, in which cultural heritage became a victim of geopolitical developments,” Allard Pierson director Els van der Plas said on the museum’s website.

She said that, during the legal battles, the museum “focused on safely storing the artefacts until the time came to return them to their rightful owner.”

“We are pleased that clarity has emerged and that they have now been returned,” she added.

VW weighs staff reductions as electric shift stalls


A number of carmakers, including Volkswagen, are confronting lacklustre sales of electric vehicles

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File JOE RAEDLE

AFP
November 27, 2023

German car giant Volkswagen on Monday said that it was considering staff reductions, possibly in the form of early retirement, to help it meet vital cost-cutting targets imposed in its sputtering transition to electromobility.

“The situation is critical. Many markets are under pressure. Our orders, particularly for electric vehicles, have been lower than expected,” Thomas Schaefer, head of the Volkswagen brand, told a staff meeting at the carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.

“It is clear: the status quo will not be enough. It will not work without significant cuts. We must address critical issues, including personnel,” he said.

This could include taking advantage of the “demographic curve”, a company spokesperson told AFP — typically understood as offering early retirement or not replacing staff who have retired.

Volkswagen is pouring tens of billions of euros into its pivot to electric vehicles, but the sector has been blighted by a weak global economy and low levels of demand.

Group CEO Oliver Blume in June announced a 10-billion-euro ($10.9 billion) savings programme to help the carmaker increase profitability.

The group was “no longer competitive” in its current form, Schaefer said, calling on the unions to accept “personnel” measures applying from next year.

“It is to be expected that in many areas there will be fewer staff,” added human resources board member Gunnar Kilian.

In September, VW said it was cutting 269 temporary jobs at its flagship electric car plant in Zwickau.

The 10-brand group — whose marques include Audi, Seat and Skoda — is facing tough competition in the electric vehicle sector, particularly in key market China.

IMPERIALIST HUBRIS

Greek PM unhappy after UK’s Sunak cancels talks amid Parthenon marbles spat


AFP
November 27, 2023

Part of he Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, at the British Museum in London - Copyright AFP Bryan R. Smith

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his “displeasure” Monday over UK counterpart Rishi Sunak’s last minute cancellation of a bilateral meeting set to discuss their long-running dispute over the Parthenon Marbles.

The two leaders were due to hold talks midday Tuesday in London, where Mitsotakis has been visiting since Sunday, before news of their axing emerged late Monday amid an apparent spat over the so-called Elgin Marbles.

“I would like to express my displeasure at the British Prime Minister’s cancellation of our meeting just a few hours before it was due to take place,” the Greek leader said in a brief statement.

He reportedly declined a UK offer to meet Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead.

A Downing Street spokesperson said “the UK-Greece relationship is hugely important”, citing joint work within NATO and “tackling shared challenges like illegal migration” and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“The deputy prime minister was available to meet with the Greek PM to discuss these important issues,” the spokesperson added, without referencing the marbles issue.

The sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Greece in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin.

Athens maintains the marbles were stolen, which Britain denies, and the issue has been a source of contention between the countries for decades.

Sunak has “no plans” to facilitate their return to Athens, his spokesman said earlier Monday.

“Greece’s position on the issue of the Parthenon friezes is well known. I had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss them with my British counterpart,” Mitsotakis lamented.

“Those who believe in the rightness and validity of their positions are never afraid to confront the arguments,” he added.

According to the Greek news agency ANA, citing sources within the Greek government, the British prime minister was apparently upset by comments made by his Greek counterpart to the BBC on Sunday.

In his comments Sunday, Mitsotakis likened the collection being held at the British Museum to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

Athens had been lobbying London for a deal that would return the sculptures under some kind of loan arrangement, he told the BBC.

A source from Britain’s ruling Conservatives told the broadcaster Monday that “it became impossible for this meeting to go ahead following commentary regarding the Elgin Marbles prior to it”.

burs-jj/pvh

 Good Tuesday morning. This is Rosa Prince.

RISHI LOSES HIS MARBLES: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is at the center of a diplomatic storm this morning after canceling a planned meeting with Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a spat over some cold, dead artworks. Playbook got a sniff of the brewing row when No. 10 reached out to say the planned prime ministerial tête-à-tête would instead feature Deputy PM Oliver Dowden, which seemed … odd, given Mitsotakis had said on telly he was due to meet Sunak. An hour or so later, the Greek PM announced he was cutting short his trip and heading home.

You say Parthenon Sculptures, I say Elgin Marbles: The row was triggered after Mitsotakis appeared on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, where he was outspoken about his distress at many of the sculptures still present in the British Museum. “It’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half and you would have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum,” he lamented, adding “this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon Sculptures.”

All Greek to me: Sunak is said to have been “irritated” by Mitsotakis’ words, so much so that he took the extraordinary step of calling off their talks, due at 12.45 p.m. today, while the Greek leader was halfway through a three-day trip to London. The Beeb’s Chris Mason quoted a “senior Conservative source” saying: “It became impossible for this meeting to go ahead following commentary regarding the Elgin Marbles prior to it.”

Undiplomatic: Rather than accept the switcheroo, Mitsotakis declined to meet Dowden and delivered a stinging rebuke: “I express my annoyance that the British prime minister cancelled our planned meeting just hours before it was due to take place. Anyone who believes in the rightness and justice of his positions is never afraid of confronting arguments.” My colleague Nektaria Stamouli has a write-up. 

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(Ancient) culture wars: The Greek PM was uninvited to tea with Rishi round about the time he was meeting Keir Starmer Monday evening — with the Tories eager to suggest the Labour leader was soft on the marbles. An insider close to the talks told Playbook the issue was “discussed, but wasn’t the focal point of the meeting.” They added that Labour sees the matter as one for the British Museum and the Greeks, not the U.K. government. 

Ouch: A Labour spokesperson said of Sunak’s decision not to meet Mitsotakis: “If the prime minister isn’t able to meet with a European ally with whom Britain has important economic ties, this is further proof he isn’t able to provide the serious economic leadership our country requires.”

But but but: A senior Conservative highlighted recent reports, briefed out over the weekend, that Starmer is “open” to the return of the marbles if an arrangement can be agreed between the museum and the Greeks. They added: “Starmer sold out to secure a meeting. It’s naive on his part and shows how little regard he has for British taxpayers who have looked after these for generations. Starmer is up to his old tricks of just telling the person in front of him what they want to hear.”

Hitting back: Labour said by pulling out of the meeting Sunak had missed an opportunity to discuss illegal immigration with a key European ally. The insider added: “Keir and the Greek PM discussed immigration in their meeting so you’ve got the leader of the opposition as the U.K. voice on all these important issues.”

Hot takes: Political X was divided, with some saying the government had massively messed up with the mega snub to the Greeks, and others arguing Labour had walked into a trap by appearing shaky over the marbles. A third and vocal group asked whether all of the above is the grandaddy of dead cats designed to distract from stuff the government really doesn’t want to talk about: we’re looking at you, James Cleverly. 

Playbook won’t be falling for that one: The full story of the home secretary’s travails follow.

But first more on the marbles: The Parthenon Project, which is working with both sides to try to find a joint solution that sees the sculpture reunified in Athens, said it was disappointed by the sudden collapse in talks. A spokesperson said: “It’s a shame the British prime minister feels he can’t discuss the subject of the Elgin Marbles with the Greek prime minister, especially given how much both countries stand to gain from a sensible resolution on this matter and the level public support for reunification.”

Look away now, Rishi Sunak: The Times leader column calls for the sculptures to be reunited and displayed “in their natural habitat.”

Want to know more about Mitsotakis? My POLITICO Colleague Anne McElvoy interviewed him for her Power Play podcast last month.

And now read this: Another top colleague, Graham Lanktree, wrote this fabulous POLITICO feature back in May on the knotty geo-diplomacy of countries returning (or not returning) stolen artefacts to their rightful place — focused on the famously cursed Koh-i-Noor diamond which is part of the Crown Jewels.