Saturday, July 13, 2024

Royal Mail unveils new stamps celebrating 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons

By Euronews

Published on 13/07/2024 - 1

Royal Mail celebrates the 50th anniversary of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which is enjoyed by around 64 million fans globally.

Fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons turns 50 this year and the Royal Mail is celebrating by unveiling a set of 14 stamps, featuring monsters and characters from D&D.

The tabletop role-playing game, first published in 1974, allows an estimated 64 million fans worldwide to embark on player-driven adventures with friends.

Fourteen special stamps are part of the collection, depicting the game’s most famous monsters and heroes. All of the artwork was illustrated by British artist Wayne Reynolds and features 11 images commissioned for the set

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David Gold, director of external affairs and policy at Royal Mail, said: “For fifty years, Dungeons & Dragons has enabled millions of fans across the world to enjoy using their imaginations and immersing themselves in a magical world. We are delighted that this creative and exciting role-playing game is celebrated using Britain’s Wayne Reynolds’ unique illustrations.”

The monsters featured on the main set of eight stamps are Red Dragon, Vecna, Mimic, Beholder, Gelatinous Cube, Mind Flayer, Displacer Beast and Owlbear. The six images of a party of adventuring heroes feature Tiefling Rogue, Human Bard, Halfling Cleric, Elf Fighter, Dwarf Paladin and Dragonborn Wizard.

And if you happen to have an ultraviolet light handy, shining it over the eight pictures of monsters will reveal the D&D logo on four of the stamps and a graphic related to the monster on the other four.

There are some important decisions to be made for fans. The Presentation Pack includes the main set of eight stamps along with the sticker sheet of six for £24.40 (€29); the Dragons Medal Cover looks mighty good for the sum of £19.99 (€23); and the framed Vecna print signed by Wayne Reynolds will set you back £150 (€178). For our money, the Prestige Stamp Book Limited Edition and its fold out toothy mouth for £49.99 (€60) is a favourite.

Dan Rawson, global play lead of D&D at Wizards of the Coast said: “Building on Hasbro’s existing work with Royal Mail, we’re honoured to release this beautiful collection of stamps, officially approved by HM King Charles III, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game. With stunning art from long-time Dungeons & Dragons artist Wayne Reynolds showcasing our adventuring heroes and fearsome creatures, we’re sure these items will be treasured by D&D fans and stamp collectors alike.”

D&D’s fantasy world and monsters have influenced fantasy tropes in film, television and video games to this day. A movie based on the game, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, was released last year and a video game set in its universe, Baldur’s Gate 3, was also published in 2023 and won five Bafta Game Awards in April.

As for the 50th anniversary celebrations, D&D's creators have not limited it to stamps. Earlier this year, they released the first-ever D&D Lego set and then teamed up with Converse for an exclusive line of shoes.

The stamps are available to pre-order on Royal Mail’s website before going on general sale from July 25.

Price rises brewing for tea drinkers as extreme weather hits harvests

By Indrabati Lahiri

Published on 13/07/2024 -

Extreme weather events such as floods and droughts are especially disruptive to tea production, as the crop often relies solely on rain for its water needs, with little facilities for irrigation and water processing.

Heatwaves and floods have had a hugely detrimental impact on India’s tea production, with excessive heat in May followed by flooding in Assam hitting output level. As a result it's estimated that the average price of tea could rise by up to a fifth.

Currently, China, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya are the biggest tea producing nations globally, accounting for about 75% of worldwide supply, according to Palais des Thes.

At the time of writing, one kilogram of tea was INR 223.46 (€2.47), having risen more than 47% since the start of this year. On a year-on-year basis, tea prices have risen about 22%.

In May this year, Indian tea production dropped to 90.92 million kgs, from 130.56 million kgs in May 2023. This was the lowest May figure for the country in more than 10 years.

The Indian government’s decision to ban the use of 20 pesticides is also contributing heavily to increasing tea prices, as several buyers are once again buying Indian tea. Previously, a number of countries were rejecting Indian tea exports, due to the high amount of pesticides used in some varieties.

Some of the key buyers of Indian tea are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which includes Armenia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Several rejections of tea exports were coming from these countries, however, following the pesticides ban, demand for Indian tea has risen once again. However, production is still suffering considerably due to this decision, with several tea growers having to scramble to find pesticide alternatives.

Extreme weather and climate change leading to subdued tea harvest

One of the major factors impacting tea production worldwide is extreme weather and the gradual effects of climate change, such as unseasonal rainfall, floods, droughts, heatwaves and frost.

Excessive rainfall, especially, is highly destructive for tea plants, which are considered to be a rainwater plant. This means that tea plantations usually depend solely on rainwater for their water needs, with little to no processing water or irrigation systems. Increased rainfall can also lead to soil and slope erosion, damaging entire plantations and leaving farmers with less overall planting area.

As a result, both in times of high and low rainfall, harvests can suffer immensely, with tea producers left with few alternative means.

Frost can also be quite dangerous for tea plants, due to leaves first drooping under the weight of frost, then eventually freezing and breaking, leading to a high percentage of lost leaves. This is often seen in Rwanda and parts of China.

Other factors dampening the crop’s production and hiking tea prices are droughts, impacting both India and China, which can often cause increased dust on the tea plants, and block sunshine. Higher temperatures can also encourage more pests which attack plants.

Further down the line, the continued effects of climate change could potentially lead to glacial lakes becoming bigger, thus decreasing growing areas for tea plantations. Similarly permafrost regions could also see more ground instability, leading to more rock avalanches and soil erosion in higher regions.

All of these would likely keep posing a risk to tea plantations and crops, either due to reduced land area, or unseasonal and extreme weather events.

Not only that, but these weather events can also cause changes in the chemical composition of tea leaves, thus changing their taste. This could lead to an unpredictable shift and decrease in buyers and tea markets as well.

Coming to what global warming will eventually mean for tea production, Arbor Teas says on its website, “Some countries (Japan in particular) have begun devising plans to address the challenges of tea production in the face of climate change. And while Japan may actually have the resources and the technological wherewithal to adapt their tea growing industry to a warmer climate, the same may not be said for other areas.

“At the end of the day, continued global warming will make growing quality teas harder and more expensive. Both the quality and quantity of production will be reduced (or at least become more erratic), and thanks to the supply and demand curve, this will mean higher tea prices for the consumer.”

Is the preservation of wild tea plants the answer?

Although the ongoing impact of climate change could seem too large to battle, there are still several ways tea farmers can protect their crops and livelihoods.

One of these is integrated weed management using herbicide-free methods such as mulch, cover crops and crop rotation, in order to replenish soil nutrients. In the long run, this can lead to better drought resistance, enhanced soil health, increased crop yields and monetary savings as well, due to less chemical fertilisers and herbicides being needed.

This can also increase productivity and help reduce pesticide use, as well as improving forest cover and reducing forest encroachment. In turn, tea flavour is also likely to be greatly enhanced.

Another way to protect tea quality is to preserve wild tea plants and agroforests. Agroforestry is a land management technique which basically combines trees with agricultural crops on the same piece of land, thus leading to crops growing in a wilder and thus, more ecologically diversified area.

Usually, agrofarmers also use far less pesticides and herbicides, choosing to let the crops grow with as little intervention as possible, rather than on carefully curated plantations. As such, these tea plants develop the resources to fight against weather changes and usually end up with higher quality leaves.

On the other hand, tea plantations which are grown as monocultures, that is, as the sole crop on a piece of farming land are usually more vulnerable to changing weather events. Agroforests are also better equipped to handle pests and uneven rainfall patterns.

A Rare Report from ‘The Blue Wedge’ – a Ukrainian Region in Russia Just North of Kazakhstan

Paul Goble

Friday, July 12, 2024

– The places in what is now the Russian Federation where Ukrainians resettled at the end of imperial times are referred to as “wedges” (kliny). The largest and most famous of these are in the Far East (“the green wedge”) and in the Kuban (“the almond wedge”). But those are far from the only such wedges of this kind.

(For more on the wedge issue in general, see jamestown.org/program/kyiv-raises-stakes-by-expanding-appeals-to-ukrainian-wedges-inside-russia/, jamestown.org/program/kremlin-worried-about-ukrainian-wedges-inside-russia/ and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-real-wedge-issue-ukrainian-regions-in.html and the sources cited therein.)

Russian officials typically suggest that these regions are fully integrated and that those who were Ukrainian in the past have assimilated, but sometimes these officials express fears that Kyiv will exploit these communities against Moscow, comments that suggest that even Moscow doesn’t fully believe its own claims.

But lest these claims be challenged, Russian officials have done what they can to restrict investigations and reports about the wedges. And thus any reporting about them is precious, especially when it concerns wedges other than the green in the Far East and the almost in the Kuban which remain far better on.

One wedge that has suffered from a lack of coverage in particular in the Blue Wedge which is located in Omsk Oblast just north of the Russian border with Kazakhstan. Two years ago, a few articles appeared (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/06/kyiv-seeking-to-use-ukrainian-blue.html) and now a major one has opened a window on this region.

Now, Marina-Maya Govzman, a journalist with the independent Ovdi information portal offers one of the most comprehensive portraits of that wedge where most people still speak Ukrainian and see themselves as part of Ukrainian culture but are divided by the war with some going off to fight and others are resisted despite police pressure (en.ovdinfo.org/gordienko).

Among the many fascinating comments she collected from local residents, the following are especially instructive as to what is going on in the Blue Wedge:

· “Welcome to Khokhland! That’s what we call it here.”

· “In some villages, if you speak Russian, they immediately figure you aren’t from around here … In Blagodarivka, children couldn’t understand the young Russian-speaking teachers from the city, so retired teachers had to go back to work.”

· Many in the Blue Wedge nonetheless have accepted Moscow propaganda and say, in Ukrainian, that they are fighting Nazis there. But there are also anti-war activists who have been subject to official persecution.

· «Our grandchildren speak mostly Russian, but our children can also speak Ukrainian! As for us, we love both languages».

· The head of the local village government says that “half of the people here speak Ukrainian. Just go to the store and listen. And they also speak Kazakh. We have many ethnicities here. Speak whatever you want. No one prohibits it, unlike in Ukraine.”

Sports MENA wrap:

Meet Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old Spanish-Moroccan wonder kid

Spain's Lamine Yamal becomes the youngest player to score at Euros, and it is hoped will play a key part in the final against England on Sunday.

The New Arab Staff
12 July, 2024

There was joy for Lamine Yamal and heartbreak for Ons Jabeur [Getty/TNA]

The world of football is talking about one man, or should that be boy, this week - Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old Barcelona star who helped Spain to the finals of the Euros.

On Wimbledon's Centre Court there was heartbreak as Ons Jabeur crashed out of the championship while a Saudi minister offered further insights into Al-Ittihad's swoop last summer on Liverpool's Mo Salah.

Lamine Yamal becomes youngest player to ever score at Euros

Spain's Lamine Yamal, of Equatoguinean and Moroccan descent, has become the youngest player ever to score at a men's European Championship, after he netted a stunner against France in the semi-final against France on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old Yamal netted in the 21st minute, curling a stunning finish past France goalkeeper Mike Maignan and into the top left corner off the inside of the post.

Yamal was 16 years and 362 days old when he netted the goal, which helped put Spain into the final of the Euros in Germany.

The previous youngest scorer was Swiss player Johan Vonlanthen (18 years, 141 days), also against France, at Euro 2004.

Yamal was born in Catalonia to a father from Morocco's Larache and a mother from Bata in the Equatorial Guinea.

He will likely start for Spain against England in the final, with La Roja favourites to lift the title for a fourth time on Sunday.

Tunisian tennis superstar in shock Wimbledon exit

Tunisian tennis ace Ons Jabeur suffered a shock Wimbledon third round exit after she suffered a 6-1, 7-6 by Ukrainian 21st seed Elina Svitolina on Saturday.

Jabeur had reached the previous two Wimbledon finals, but the 10th seed's hopes of making it three in a row were dashed in stunning fashion on Centre Court.

The 29-year-old's wait for a first Grand Slam title goes on after her earliest Wimbledon exit since 2019.

Jabeur said she was haunted by painful memories of last year's 6-4, 6-4 final defeat against Marketa Vondrousova when she returned to Centre Court on Saturday.

"I'm not going to lie to you. It was a bit of remembering last year. Especially not playing so good, not serving the way I wanted in the first set did bring a bit of sad memories," she said.

"But yeah, I still love the Centre Court, still hope to come back and win on it again."

Jabeur has been struggling with a nagging knee problem that will require an injection when she leaves Wimbledon.

"I need to take care of it. I think it's going to be a week or week and a half off because, yeah, medically I need to give it a little bit of time," she said.

"It is what it is. The knee, it's always going to bother me and I'm always going to play with it."

The Tunisian current world number 10 announced last month that she will not represent her country in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris to avoid further risk to her knee injury.

Saudi minister reveals details of Al-Ittihad's Mo Salah summer bid

Liverpool received an 'astronomical' sum from Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad for Mo Salah last summer, but soon withdrew their interest when the Premier League side made it clear he was a key part of their plans for that season, a Saudi minister has said.

Saudi Minister of Sports Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Saud offered insights into the Jeddah club's late-summer raid on the Liverpool forward, sparking suspicions that another Saudi Pro League club might make another bid for the Egyptian star.

Liverpool did not accept the £150 million offer for the forward, which came on the day the transfer window closed and would have left the Reds without a key part of their striking force.

Salah went on to play a key role in manager Jurgen Klopp's final season at the club but perhaps did not match the levels of his previous seasons at Liverpool.

"Al-Ittihad requested Salah, and the package was astronomical," the minister told sports writers Ben Jacobs.

"He was under contract and we [the Ministry of Sport] were not in direct negotiations. So we enquired to Liverpool and they said they had no desire to sell and so we ended the matter decisively."

Klopp's side said no and Salah went on to score 18 goals and made 10 assists in the league that season with Liverpool finishing a disappointing third.

The 32-year-old's contract with Liverpool expires next season, which could see another swoop for the player by a Saudi side without a transfer fee for the Premier League side.

Vatican will prepare a document on the role of women in leadership in the Catholic Church

RNS — On Tuesday, the Vatican announced that work is beginning on a document regarding women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church. Longstanding demands by women to have a greater say in the church's life have mixed with Pope Francis' big church reform process, culminating in this document. However, it faces criticism for perpetuating the same issues it claims to address.

July 12, 2024
By Nicole Winfield

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Tuesday that its doctrine office will prepare a document on women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church, a new initiative to respond to longstanding demands by women to have a greater say in the church’s life.

The document will be written by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith as its contribution to Pope Francis’ big church reform process, now entering its second main phase with a meeting of bishops in October, known as a synod.

The Vatican announced the details of the doctrinal document shortly after its news conference — led by four men — on the preparatory work for the October meeting, leaving journalists no chance to ask for more details about it.

A group pressing for women’s ordination promptly dismissed the significance of it as “crumbs,” noting that ordained men would once again be making decisions about women’s roles in the church.

The forthcoming document was announced in a list of the members of 10 “study groups” that are looking into some of the thorniest and legally complicated issues that have arisen in the reform process to date, including the role of women and LGBTQ+ Catholics in the life of the church.

Pope Francis called the synod over three years ago as part of his overall efforts to make the church a more welcoming place for marginalized groups, and one where ordinary people would have a greater say. The process, and the two-year canvassing of rank-and-file Catholics that preceded it, sparked both hopes and fears that real change was afoot.

Catholic women do the lion’s share of the church’s work in schools and hospitals, and tend to take the lead in passing down the faith to future generations. But they have long complained of a second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.

Francis has reaffirmed the ban on women priests, but has named several women to high-ranking jobs in the Vatican and encouraged debate on other ways women’s voices can be heard. That has included the synod process in which women have had the right to vote on specific proposals — a right previously given only to men.

Additionally, during his 11-year pontificate, he responded to demands for ministerial jobs for women by appointing two commissions to study whether women could be ordained deacons. Deacons are ordained ministers but are not priests, though they can perform many of the same functions as priests: preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals, and preach. They cannot, however, celebrate Mass.

The results of the two commissions have never been released and in a recent interview with CBS “60 Minutes,” Francis said “no” when asked if women could one day be ordained deacons.

Women’s Ordination Conference, which advocates for ordaining women priests, said the relegation of the issue of women deacons to the doctrine office was hardly the mark of a church looking to involve women more.

“The urgency to affirm women’s full and equal place in the church cannot be swept away, relegated to a shadowy commission, or entrusted into the hands of ordained men at the Vatican,” the group said in a statement.

The doctrine office, headed by Francis’ close theological adviser Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, will be preparing an “appropriate document” on “theological and canonistic questions around specific ministerial forms” that were raised during the first phase of the synod process last year, the announcement said.

“The in-depth examination of the issues at hand — in particular the question of the necessary participation of women in the life and leadership of the church – has been entrusted to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” in dialogue with the synod organizers, it said.

Another “study group” is looking at particularly controversial issues, including the welcome of LGBTQ+ people in the church.

These study groups are working with Vatican offices and will continue their analyses beyond the October meeting, suggesting outcomes this year won’t necessarily be complete.

After the 2023 session, synod delegates made no mention whatsoever of homosexuality in their final summarizing text, even though the working document going into it had specifically noted the calls for a greater welcome for “LGBTQ+ Catholics” and others who have long felt excluded by the church.

The final text merely said people who feel marginalized by the church, because of their marital situation, “identity and sexuality, ask to be listened to and accompanied, and their dignity defended.”

A few weeks after the synod ended, Francis unilaterally approved letting priests offer blessings to same-sex couples, essentially responding to one of the key demands by LBGTQ+ Catholics going into the process.

Pragmatism over principle: Europe’s Greens adapt to survive

The group is ditching some of its ambitions as it prepares to back conservative Ursula von der Leyen atop the EU executive.

Most Greens, who rejected von der Leyen in 2019, now say they want to join her coalition. | Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images

POLITICO EU
JULY 12, 2024
BY LOUISE GUILLOT, ZIA WEISE AND LEONIE CATER

BRUSSELS — Europe’s chastened Greens are preparing to trade idealism for influence.

After taking a beating in last month’s European Parliament election and losing a quarter of their seats, the environmentalists are scrambling to remain relevant as surging right-wing forces reach for power.

A tough choice awaits them: Stick to their uncompromising stance on environmental issues and pave the way for a right-leaning coalition — or forego some principles and join a centrist alliance, with all the political risks that entails.

All signs point to the latter. In interviews with POLITICO, many of the group’s lawmakers and officials acknowledged that adapting to the EU’s new political reality requires a paler shade of green.

“We are ready to step back on a few of our issues for the sake of democracy, because we definitely do not want any democratic party to work with the far right or with people who don’t respect the rule of law,” said Jutta Paulus, a German Greens MEP who has worked on major environmental files for the group.

The approach was on full display this week as Ursula von der Leyen made the rounds in the Parliament to shore up support for a second term as the EU’s top executive.

After the Greens met with von der Leyen on Wednesday, there were no strident demands, no unyielding environmental rhetoric. Instead there was an eagerness to negotiate, to compromise. Greens co-leader Bas Eickhout didn’t even strongly defend the EU’s landmark 2035 ban on traditional car sales when asked about a conservative plan to weaken it.

The same tone was woven throughout the Greens’ priority list obtained by POLITICO. Climate-friendly policies had a more business-friendly veneer — like a proposal for a “green industrial investment plan.” There was no urgent plea to significantly step up climate ambition, previously a Green hallmark, just a request to “keep up” the pace.

“Are we ready to do anything to be a member of this coalition? The answer is clearly no,” said French MEP Marie Toussaint.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that all Greens agree on what trade-offs should be made. “Red lines are being debated within the group, and we don’t [all] have the same vision of these red lines,” she added.

The first major inflection point arrives Thursday, when MEPs vote on whether to back von der Leyen as European Commission president. While there are no formal coalitions in the European Parliament, with groups cobbling together alliances ad hoc, the assembly’s vote will set the tone for the coming five years — and for the Greens’ future.

In 2019 von der Leyen was able to rely on the support of her own center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the center-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and the liberal-centrist Renew Europe to win confirmation. This time she'll likely need the backing of a fourth group: the Greens — or the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

Most Greens, who rejected von der Leyen in 2019, now say they want to join her coalition. Co-leader Terry Reintke told reporters on Wednesday that the group feels it has a responsibility to be “part of the majority” to prevent the formation of a right-leaning parliamentary alliance.

The question is at what cost — to their credibility, to their political fortunes, and to the future of the European Green Deal.
The Green arc of history

In the first few years of the previous parliamentary term, the Greens acted as an unyielding — and vocal — opposition force. Buoyed by growing concern about global warming ahead of the 2019 EU election, they consistently advocated bolder climate action.

The European Green Deal? Not ambitious enough, they said. When the bloc adopted its climate-neutrality target in 2021, the group voted against it, declaring the mid-century deadline insufficient.

But the shift toward pragmatism doesn’t come out of nowhere.

In late 2021, both the Austrian and German Greens joined coalitions at home, forcing them to make painful concessions. In Brussels, the legislative cycle moved on from debates to actual votes, and the group usually ended up backing the final compromise even if it was much weaker than their initial position.

Then, amid a pandemic and the war in Ukraine, climate anxiety took a back seat to security fears and cost-of-living concerns. The far right rose, farmers took to the streets in protest against the Green Deal and unfair wages, and conservative lawmakers turned against nature-protection efforts as the EU election drew closer.

Rather than fighting for a more ambitious end result, the Greens frequently found themselves trying to salvage what they could. Last year they voted through a nature restoration bill even though it had been weakened almost beyond recognition.

That’s something the Greens might have to get used to if they decide to join the informal coalition backing Ursula von der Leyen, suggested former Irish MEP Ciarán Cuffe, who lost his seat in last month’s election.

“The level of ambition may have to be reduced in order to be part of that majority,” he said. “We've already seen a bit of this, with the Nature Restoration Law, which started off as a quite ambitious piece of legislation, but [was] reduced in scope and ambition in order to get it across the line.”

External circumstances, however, aren’t the only force reshaping the Greens.

Following last month’s election, the group isn’t just smaller, it’s also become more diverse. To boost their numbers the Greens have welcomed five MEPs from Volt, a pan-European party that hasn’t made green issues a priority so far.

Plus, while the share of German and French MEPs shrank in the election, the group added lawmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, while its Nordic contingent remained strong.

With Greens from these regions often taking a less ideological approach, “perhaps that means we'll be more pragmatic in this mandate,” Cuffe said.

The election losses prompted “a bit of soul-searching” within the group, he added. “I think if we had come back with the same numbers, we would have been saying, ‘we must really increase climate efforts in the 2020s, this is the decade of change, we need to step up our ambition.’ But we didn't come back with the same numbers.

Split over VDL 2.0

The Greens tend to vote as a bloc in Brussels, and cracks in the united front they present to the public are rare. But some lawmakers worry that giving up on demands to join a broader coalition will tarnish their credibility, especially among their activist base.

Toussaint, the French MEP, was among those who think the Greens should keep their opposition role.

"As long as the mainstream political parties are not changing course, I do not think we have an interest to go into [this coalition],” she said. “It's in our interest to stay where we are — that is, not to take part in this coalition, which would ask us to support policies that are not our own.”

Toussaint's preference? “Keep fighting for every text … as we have done over the last few years.”

The Greens who want to join the centrist coalition say they won’t do so at any cost. But Toussaint said the Greens are still discussing their red lines internally — something Eickhout downplayed on Wednesday, pointing to the group’s agreed priorities.

Former Irish Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan, who lost her seat in June, said the group should only enter a coalition if von der Leyen gives “absolute assurances in writing, and a clear commitment and timescale with guarantees” on staying the course with the Green Deal — or risk losing even more support among voters. “I think we will be stronger outside.”

Newly elected Slovenian Green MEP Vladimir Prebilič also said he would not support von der Leyen’s reelection. If rolling back parts of the Green Deal is “the future strategy of the future Commission, I strongly believe we cannot play the game.”

But others say that within a coalition, the group can act as Green Deal guardians.

Outgoing EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, who will take his seat as a Greens MEP next week, said his group “can definitely be part of a strong pro-European coalition, which would … ensure that the Commission has a strong mandate and has comfortable conditions to be ambitious” on climate and environmental policies.

“It would be really good for Europe that we have a bigger coalition,” said Gordan Bosanac, MEP for Možemo!, a new Croatian green party. “I don't think it can be devastating for the party if we see the long-term benefits for the Europeans.”

But, he conceded, joining a larger coalition “also then means more compromises.”
Defensive crouch

The question for the Greens is how much leverage the group can wield in such an alliance. Some wonder whether the group, which has effectively asked von der Leyen to choose them over the populist right next week, can still attach any conditions to their support.

“They evidently rely on our righteousness and pro-European position,” said Thomas Waitz, an Austrian MEP and co-president of the European Green Party, a continent-wide collection of green parties. “They’re knocking on our door, having already divided up key positions.”

Waitz doubts von der Leyen can give the Greens significant policy promises, and is focusing on ensuring more influence for the group. “Perhaps a commissioner from the Greens, or an openness to include Green personnel in commissioner cabinets,” he said, referencing the 26 commissioners that would oversee various policy portfolios for von der Leyen.

The group will always advocate more ambitious climate action, Waitz said, but argued the election result shows the Greens have yet to convince voters of the benefits.

The Greens’ climate focus should be on ensuring the laws passed over the last five years are implemented, he added. “I don’t like saying it, but it’s about keeping [the Green Deal] alive.”

Eickhout was more optimistic, believing the Greens could push a few policy changes on von der Leyen. The group wants better protection of marine environments and greater efforts to prepare the bloc for climate disasters, for example.

But many Greens echoed Waitz’s view that the group’s role was now defense rather than offense.

“Clearly there has been a move to the right, and the Greens have been the loser for that. I guess the question now is, what happens to the European Green Deal?” said Cuffe, the former Irish MEP.

“I just hope that our green commitments stay on track and don't go backwards. And that, I think, will be a key question for EU institutions in the years ahead — and, particularly for Ursula von der Leyen, in the days ahead.”

Marianne Gros contributed reporting and Hanne Cokelaere contributed graphics.
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Burkina Faso bans homosexuality

5Pillars (RMS)

12th July 2024

ibrahim-traore-president-de-la-transition-du-burkina-faso-2023-6e75f1-1024-2 — Captain Ibrahim Traoré

The Muslim majority African state Burkina Faso has approved a revised family code that criminalises homosexuality.

The nation’s military leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced the measure saying the ruling council had approved a decree for a new Personal and Family Code that “enshrines the ban on homosexuality” in the country.

“From now on, homosexuality and related practices are prohibited and punishable by law,” added the Minister of Justice, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala.

However, specific penalties were not outlined and the text is yet to be approved by the deputies of the Transitional Legislative Assembly.

This decision makes Burkina Faso one of the 22 out of 54 African countries that do not allow same-sex relationships, with penalties such as death or long prison sentences in some regions.

Previously, homosexuality was frowned upon in the socially conservative West African state, but it was never outlawed.

The decision comes a few years after the military seized power and pivoted away from French influence towards Russia.

Many African states have been taking a tougher stand against homosexaility in recent years.

in 2023 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed an Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law which means that anyone convicted of homosexual acts will face life imprisonment and some will face the death penalty.

And in February Ghana’s parliament voted to pass a bill which will punish those who take part in LGBTQ sexual acts, as well as those who promote the rights of gay, lesbian or other non-conventional sexual or gender identities, with time in prison.

OPINION
Why is Erdogan in a hurry to meet Assad?

TO WAGE A UNIFIED WAR ON KURDISTAN

July 12, 2024

People attend a protest to condemn Assad regime forces’ suspected chemical gas attack in the opposition-held Syrian province of Idlib town, in Istanbul, Turkey on 4 April, 2017 [Abdullah Coşkun/Anadolu Agency]

by Ismail Yasha
ismail_yasa

The President of the Turkish Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, mentioned a few days ago that he may extend an invitation to Bashar Al-Assad to visit Turkiye at any moment, expressing his desire to restore his country’s relations with the Syrian regime. He said in his statements to reporters, “We have now arrived at a point where, if Bashar Assad takes a step towards improving relations with Turkiye, we will also show that approach towards him”, after previously describing Bashar Al-Assad as “Mister“, noting that he had met with him in the past and could meet him again.

Erdogan’s statements suggest that he is in a hurry to meet Bashar Al-Assad for some reason. There are different opinions in interpreting these statements and the reasons behind them. There are those who credit them to the elections that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) seeks to hold in the areas it controls in Syria, and those who link it to the changing international and regional balances in light of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and talk of the possibility of a third world war. The issue of the Syrian refugees in Turkiye is also on the table in the ongoing discussions regarding the feasibility of Erdogan’s upcoming meeting with Bashar Al-Assad.

Turkiye put pressure on the US to prevent the PKK from holding local elections in the areas it controls in north-eastern Syria, which led to the postponement of the elections. The US State Department said that conditions for “free, fair, transparent and inclusive” elections are not in place, but Ankara is asking Washington to completely cancel the plan for local elections in those areas, not postpone them.

READ: Syrians in Turkiye fear for future after Erdogan plans talks with Assad

Analysts believe that the Turkish President’s statements are a message to the US before the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in Washington, and his meeting with American officials on the sidelines of the summit, stating that Turkiye is open to all options in order to eliminate the threat of the PKK, including normalisation with the Syrian regime under Russian mediation, if the US does not restrain the separatist terrorist organisation’s ambitions and continues to support it.

Erdogan stated, during an iftar event with soldiers in the capital, Ankara, last March, that by the summer, Turkiye’s borders with Iraq would be fully secured, adding that Turkiye would inevitably complete the remainder of its work in Syria. These days, the Turkish army is carrying out a large military operation in northern Iraq, to complete its encircling of the PKK and fill the gaps manipulated by the terrorist organisation. Erdogan’s statements may be in preparation for a similar military operation in northern Syria.

The US supports the PKK with money and weapons, but Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime’s thugs also support and protect the terrorist organisation in Syria. In many of the sites bombed by the Turkish army in northern Syria, Syrian regime soldiers are killed and wounded along with PKK members, indicating coordination and cooperation between the two parties. Therefore, Ankara may not obtain any positive result from normalisation with Damascus in the fight against the PKK, and the terrorist organisation will remain as a pressure card used by the Syrian regime and its allies to blackmail Turkiye.

Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Syria to overthrow the Assad regime – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]There are those who say that Bashar Al-Assad is fed up with Iran’s interference in the affairs of Syria, seeks to distance himself from it, and does not wish to participate in the war that might break out between Israel and Iranian agents in the region, in light of the Israeli attacks targeting Iranian officers, and reports of the arrest of his media advisor, Luna Al-Shabal, by Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, who questioned her and assassinated her on charges of spying for Israel.

Erdogan may see, based on the intelligence information, that there is an opportunity to obtain concessions from the Syrian regime in the current circumstances, which can be exploited to facilitate military operations against PKK in northern Syria, and pave the way for the return of refugees to safe areas under the protection of the Turkish army.

The attempt to distance the Syrian regime from Iran has been previously tried by Arab countries, but it failed every time, given the extent of Iranian involvement in Syrian affairs and the regime’s need for Iranian support. Ankara is certainly aware of the failure of these attempts and the causes. It seems that all Turkiye wants the Syrian regime is to grant it a green light to carry out a new military operation in Syrian territory.

OPINION: Dynamics of Turkiye-Syria normalisation

Given the legitimacy that Bashar Al-Assad currently enjoys in representing Syria at the UN and international institutions, it is very unlikely that Turkiye’s goal is to recycle Bashar Al-Assad and rehabilitate his regime.

Turkiye confirmed, about a month ago, through its Defence Minister that it is committed to implementing Security Council Resolution No. 2254, drafting a comprehensive constitution, holding free and fair elections and establishing security and stability throughout Syria. If all of this is accomplished, it means the departure of the current regime and the establishment of a new democratic regime. There is no indication that Turkiye is backing down from these conditions, and Erdogan’s statements about his desire to meet Al-Assad came after the regime backed down from requiring the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syrian territory.

Justice and Development Party spokesman, Omer Celik, says, “Ankara seeks, through the normalisation process with Damascus, to make Syria safe for millions of Syrians who were forced to leave their homes”, stressing that his country will never let down anyone who trusted it and worked with it.

These statements suggest that the Turkish government is carrying out some manoeuvre to eliminate the threat of separatist terrorism in Syria, secure its borders and establish safe areas for the return of refugees to their country. However, it must communicate with the leaders of the Syrian revolution to reassure them and coordinate and cooperate with them, as well as not be lenient with racists who target refugees in Turkiye so as not to show to the world that it is letting down the millions who trusted and worked with them.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 10 July 2024

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