Colombia’s president orders probe into purchase of Israeli Pegasus spyware

Gustavo Petro accuses government of his predecessor of having purchased software

Laura Gamba |06.09.2024

Colombian President Petro

BOGOTA, Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered an investigation into the purchase of Israel’s Pegasus spyware by the government led by his predecessor, Ivan Duque.

Petro said in a televised message late Wednesday that the information came to his knowledge in August and denounced that there was spying activity against him during the presidential campaign.

“In July-August 2021, before the campaign, an Israeli bank reported unusual activity: $5.5 million in cash in a company account. This payment was related to an $11 million deal signed between NSO (Group) and the Colombian Police Intelligence Directorate (DIPOL) for the purchase of Pegasus," he said.

Pegasus is spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group. According to Petro, between June and October 2021, DIPOL purchased the software, which has been at the center of great controversy in countries such as Spain and Mexico.

“DIPOL acquired this software to spy on cell phones during the outbreak of social unrest and before the campaign. The money was transported by air from Bogota to Tel Aviv on June 27, 2021, declared at Israeli customs and deposited at the company on June 30, 2021.”

The president asked the head of the police, General William Salamanca, "to locate the software, inside or outside DIPOL, so that citizens can have peace of mind that their constitutional rights are respected."

"The investigation must be led by the Attorney General's Office, through a forensic audit, so that the truth is known. And we will get to it,” he added.

The Attorney General's Office announced on Thursday that it opened investigations to identify those responsible for the acquisition and illegal use of the Pegasus software.

Petro’s announcement comes as his government faces the first major strike of transporters, who are rejecting a rise in the price of diesel, a topic that occupies the news agenda in the country at the moment.

"Although it is assumed, for obvious reasons, that I will talk about the transporters' strike, I am not going to talk about it, but about something that seems even more worrying to me," he said.

Petro said he is allowed to disclose the information because the country does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.​​​​​​​

PAGANISM IS SYNCRETISM

Pope to meet Papua New Guinea Catholics who embrace both Christianity and Indigenous beliefs

Pope Francis’s visit to Papua New Guinea will take him to a remote part of the South Pacific island nation where Christianity is a recent addition to traditional spiritual beliefs developed over millenia that remain deeply ingrained

By ROD MCGUIRK

 Associated Press
September 5, 2024


MELBOURNE, Australia -- MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Pope Francis’s visit to Papua New Guinea will take him to a remote part of the South Pacific island nation where Christianity is a recent addition to traditional spiritual beliefs developed over millennia.

Francis will visit the diocese of Vanimo on the main island of New Guinea, one of the most remote and disadvantaged in a poor and diverse nation, according to local Bishop Francis Meli.

Trappings of modernity are scarce. There is no running water for the more than 120,000 people who live in the diocese, according to a church website. Electricity is a luxury for the few who can afford solar panels or portable generators.

The visit is an extraordinary religious highlight in an area where Christian missionaries did not arrive until 1961, and where the religion coexists with traditional ancestor worship, animism and sorcery.

The pope will meet around a dozen missionary nuns and priests from his native Argentina during his visit scheduled for Sept. 8. He will also inspect a church-built high school and crisis center for abused women and girls.

Argentinian missionary Tomas Ravailoli, a priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, said he came to the Vanimo Diocese 14 years ago after his superiors told him there was “a big need for priests.”

While Christian churches are full, Indigenous “customs and traditions are very much rooted,” Ravailoli said.

“Sometimes for people, it’s not easy to live Christianity 100% because they have traditions that are pagan,” Ravailoli said.

“But honestly, I think Christianity here in Papua New Guinea is very, very strong,” he added.

Papua New Guinea is an overwhelmingly Christian country — a 2000 census showed 96% of the population identified with the religion — but the spiritual beliefs that developed during 50,000 years of human habitation remain part of the fabric of the nation’s culture.


Michael Mel is a 65-year-old academic who was baptized as a baby by one of the first missionaries to reach his village in the remote highlands. An Indigenous man, he said he also “aligns” with traditional spirituality and cautions against abandoning Indigenous culture.

“Western civilization is great. The West has brought us reading and writing and technology and all of the rest of it, but there are some things where I think our sensibilities were much, much better,” Mel said, giving Indigenous forest care as an example.

Mining has widened the country’s economic divide and pitted the haves against the have-nots.

“We need to balance ourselves. We cannot just gung ho throw our knowledge away and accept Western civilization completely,” Mel said.

But traditional beliefs can also contribute to the deadly tribal violence that is creating an unprecedented internal security threat across the country, especially allegations of witchcraft, known in local languages as sanguma.

Sorcery allegations typically arise in reaction to unexpected deaths or illness. But some suspect they also reflect jealousies and rivalries arising from major societal changes in recent decades that have more to do with rapid modernization and uneven development than religion.

As traditional bows and arrows are being replaced by more lethal assault rifles, the toll of fighting is getting deadlier, and police fear that they are outgunned. Mercenaries are also now a feature of what were once conflicts limited to tribal rivals.

“Even though they believe in God and they believe in Jesus Christ, ... they fear witchcraft,” said Bishop Meli, who was born east of Vanimo on an island off New Britain.

Authorities don’t condone the persecution of supposed witches. Parliament in 2013 repealed the Sorcery Act which had made an accusation of sorcery a partial defense against a murder charge. But a study has found that prosecutions for violence against accused sorcerers remain rare compared to how commonplace witch hunts are.

Another enduring source of conflict is land ownership. Almost all the land in Papua New Guinea is customarily owned, which means it belongs to a distinct tribe or group instead of individuals. With no clear borders between customary lands, territorial disputes regularly lead to violence.

Both were among the complex combination of causes blamed for a massacre in East Sepik province, east of Vanimo, on July 17 when 30 men armed with guns, axes, spears, knives and sling shots launching sharpened steel rods killed at least 26 villagers.

Four weeks later, police reported a single suspect had been arrested. They remained hopeful that the rest of the culprits would be found. The U.N. children agency UNICEF said 395 survivors of the attack, including 220 children, remained homeless more than a month later because their houses were torched.

Meli said tribal violence was not a problem in his diocese, where he described the population as “friendly and peaceful.”

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape relished the attention the papal visit would bring his country, noting that 80 members of the international media had registered to travel there for the event.

Marape said South Pacific leaders he met at the Pacific Islands Forum on Tonga in late August had proposed sending delegations to meet the pontiff.

He also noted that Catholics were the largest Christian denomination in Papua New Guinea. Catholics accounted for 26% of the population, according to a 2011 census.

"We look forward to the visit,” Marape told The Associated Press at the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa.

The Vatican is highlighting Papua New Guinea on the international stage at a time the United States and China struggle over the former World War II battleground for strategic influence.

The United States and close ally Australia, concerned by China’s growing influence in the South Pacific, have struck new security agreements with Papua New Guinea. Australia’s latest pact addresses Port Moresby’s concerns about deteriorating internal security problems. China is also reportedly pursuing a bilateral policing pact with Papua New Guinea.

The Vatican. meanwhile, has been working for years to try to improve relations with China that were officially severed over seven decades ago when the Communists came to power. A renewed agreement between China and the Vatican on the appointment of Chinese bishops is expected to be signed in October.

Bishop Meli said the faithful in his diocese were amazed that they would be included in the itinerary of the first visit by a pontiff to Papua New Guinea since Pope John Paul II in 1995.

“They are so excited and people are full of jubilation and joy because this is historic,” Meli said.

“They don’t think any pope in history will be able to come again to Vanimo,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Charlotte Graham-McLay in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, contributed to this report.

WAIT, I THOUGHT THE LEFT FRONT WON?!

As France navigates debt, new right-wing PM Barnier to prioritise education, security and immigration control

France’s new Prime Minister Michel Barnier gestures before the handover ceremony at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on September 5, 2024. — AFP pic

Friday, 06 Sep 2024 12:55 PM MYT

PARIS, Sept 6 — Francesco Fontemaggi, Valerie Leroux and Stuart Williams France’s new right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier promised Thursday to address the grievances of the French but also implement “change” as he took office following almost two months of political deadlock.

President Emmanuel Macron tasked the 73-year-old veteran politician with forming a government earlier in the day, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance lost its relative majority in parliament.

Barnier, the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator and an ex-foreign minister, is the oldest premier in the history of modern France.

He takes over from 35-year-old Gabriel Attal, a man less than half his age who served only eight months in office during a period of political turbulence unprecedented in recent times in France.

At a handover ceremony, Barnier said the priorities of his government would include “responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, to the angers, to the suffering” of French people.

He said that education, security and “immigration control” would remain at the top of the agenda, and that he would be unafraid to speak the truth on tough issues such as the country’s “financial debt”.

But “there will also be change”, said the member of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party who is not affiliated with the president’s centrist faction.

A left-wing coalition emerged as France’s biggest political force after the elections earlier this summer, but without enough seats for an overall majority in an imbroglio that has taken weeks to unravel.

Macron’s centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly, with the RN as the single largest party.

The left has greeted Macron’s move towards “cohabitation” with Barnier with dismay, and will now seek to topple him with a no-confidence motion.

Controversially, the president appears to be counting on the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen to keep Barnier in power by voting against such a motion.

‘Macron-compatible’

Barnier has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his party’s nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022, during a campaign where he tacked further right and suggested a moratorium on immigration.

The former foreign minister and EU commissioner is “Macron-compatible” and would not be immediately voted out by parliament, an advisor to the president told AFP, asking not to be named.

A minister in the outgoing government, who also asked for anonymity, said he was “very popular with right-wing members of parliament without being an irritant on the left”.

The RN indicated it would not automatically vote down Barnier and would wait and see what programme he lays out in his first address to parliament.

“We will wait to see Mr Barnier’s policy speech,” Le Pen said.

Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande said he believed the RN had “given a kind of endorsement” to Barnier’s appointment.

As well as two stints as an EU commissioner and handling the thorny negotiations on Britain’s exit from the bloc, Barnier served as a minister under the right-wing administrations of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed his nomination, saying she knew Barnier had “the interests of Europe and France at heart”.

With a half-century career behind him, Barnier, who proudly extols his origins in the French Alps rather than Paris, first become a member of parliament when he was just 27.

Opponents noted that as a youthful conservative lawmaker, he voted against the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1981.

The composition of the new cabinet, set to be announced in the coming days, will be closely watched for signs of concessions to Macron’s political foes.

‘Tough’ task

Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose France Unbowed party (LFI) and allies belong to a left-wing bloc, said Macron’s naming of Barnier meant the election had been “stolen from the French”.

Macron’s decision comes under the gun of a deadline to submit a draft 2025 budget for France’s strained government finances before October 1.

Barnier’s “task looks tough, but difficulty has never scared him”, said former prime minister Edouard Philippe, who announced earlier this week that he would seek to succeed Macron in 2027 presidential elections.

After the July elections, Macron drew out the appointment of a new prime minister for a period unprecedented since World War II, through the July-August Olympic Games and beyond. 

— AFP

Clock is ticking again for Michel Barnier,

France’s anorak-wearing, spreadsheet-

loving new PM

Angelique Chrisafis and Daniel Boffey
Thu 5 September 2024 
THE GUARDIAN

Michel Barnier, known to some in France as ‘the Ski Instructor’.Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock


He calmly but firmly negotiated the UK’s departure from the EU after years of British squabbling over Brexit, and he prefers consensus to political punch-ups. But Michel Barnier faces his toughest challenge yet as France’s new prime minister amid the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

The discreet rightwinger, 73, known for his sensible anoraks, love of spreadsheets and his ever-present briefing dossiers wedged under his arm, is facing a baptism of fire in a deeply divided French political landscape.

The left alliance, which won the largest number of seats in the new parliament but fell short of an absolute majority, says his appointment is undemocratic and he should be brought down by a no-confidence vote. Many on the left point out that in 1981 he voted against the decriminalisation of homosexuality.


Marine Le Pen’s far right say they will hold fire and judge him on his programme first. But two far-right MPs recently described Barnier, now France’s oldest premier in modern history, as a Jurassic Park-style “fossil” and a “French Joe Biden” who constantly changes his mind.

Another far-right MP said Barnier, who served as a minister long ago under the right’s Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, had been “brought out of mothballs”. This was at odds with French voters turning out en masse in July’s snap election seeking political change, they said.

Against a backdrop of political rivalry, there is an urgency to Barnier’s appointment, announced on Thursday by Emmanuel Macron after nearly two months of political deadlock. Time is running out to prepare the 2025 budget amid fears of austerity measures and deficit clashes with the EU.

Barnier was known for almost 50 years in rightwing French politics as a centrist, liberal-minded neo-Gaullist, devoted to the European cause. He called himself a “patriot and a European”.

In 2021 he stunned observers by lurching significantly to the right and hardening his stance on immigration and security as part of an unsuccessful attempt to become a presidential candidate against Macron the following year.

At the time, Barnier claimed that unregulated immigration from outside the EU was weakening France’s sense of identity. He believed the UK’s vote to leave the EU showed the dangers of allowing societal divisions to fester.

Shocking many in Brussels, he called for a French moratorium of three to five years for non-European immigrants, under which even family members joining immigrants would be stopped, and called for France to regain legal sovereignty from European Union courts.

Overall, though, Barnier’s political views are close to Macron’s pro-business, pro-Europe stance. Macron wanted a prime minister who would not try to undo controversial measures pushed through in recent years, in particular a rise in the pension age that angered the left. The president also wanted to ensure there was no tampering with his hardline immigration law.

Barnier had previously said he wanted to return to a leading role in French politics. After the 2020 post-Brexit agreement was signed with the UK, he said he realised on Christmas Eve that he missed France and wanted to be “useful” in French politics. “I’ve never been a technocrat; I’ve always been a politician,” Barnier said when he tried to become the presidential candidate for the conservative party Les Républicains.

Born in a suburb of the French Alpine city of Grenoble, he is devoted to the Savoie area of the Alps. He has long styled himself as dependable elder statesman – a mountaineer and hiker from the Alps who built his career in local village politics, likes walks in ancient forests and says it is crucial for leading politicians to “love trees”. He decorated his European Commission office with a photo of his role as a co-organiser of the 1992 Winter Olympics, which led to one French nickname: the Ski Instructor.

First elected aged 22 as a local councillor in Savoie, he entered parliament aged only 27 in 1978. He served four times as a government minister and twice as an EU commissioner. As the commissioner for internal market and services, he negotiated an extensive new regulation of financial markets after the global crash, including measures unpopular in the City of London.

During the Brexit negotiations, he was probably better known in the UK than in France. British figures, mostly leave-voting businesspeople and politicians, often tried to soften him up with food – business leaders offered him a hamper including cheddar, tea and jam, while David Davis had a sumptuous lunch of Welsh lamb prepared in Downing Street in 2017 and then beef wellington at a later lunch in Brussels. But Barnier was known in Brussels to stick to fish at lunch – often plain fish and spinach.

Barnier, although seen as Macron-compatible, has been critical of the president in recent times, questioning the president’s decision to call a “risky” June snap election and calling his top-down way of running the country “solitary” and “arrogant”. In 2022, when Macron’s centrists lost their absolute majority in parliament but remained the biggest force, Barnier said “Macronism” was on its last legs.

In 2022, after Macron was elected for a second term as president, Barnier called on the centrists to “move from a culture of arrogance to a culture of compromise”.

Now, in a parliament divided between three warring groups – the left, the centre and the far right – Barnier needs to show how that culture of compromise might work. Rival groups in parliament could threaten a vote of no confidence and parliament could be dissolved again in less than a year for fresh elections. As Barnier often liked to remark during the Brexit talks, the clock is ticking.


Who is Michel Barnier, the man primed to

 be France's next PM?

James Thomas
Thu 5 September 2024 



After two months of political deadlock, French President Emmanuel Macron finally named his new prime minister, Michel Barnier.

The former Brexit negotiator's nomination follows weeks of political wrangling, as parties on both sides of the aisle fought to bring their preferred candidate to the fore after July's snap parliamentary elections.

At 73, he is the oldest prime minister of the Fifth Republic at the time of his appointment.

Barnier will now have to survive a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly, France's lower house of the parliament, and navigate a political crisis.

His ascension to the office of prime minister would be the latest addition to a long and esteemed political career that has bounced between Paris and Brussels.
From humble beginnings

Barnier was born in the eastern alpine region of Savoie in 1951 in a family of leather craftsmen and left-leaning practicing Catholics leading a modest yet comfortable life.

He started his political activism at 14, joining the movement of Charles de Gaulle and quickly found a job as a ministerial advisor upon graduating from the prestigious École de Commerce Supérieur de Paris — a business school — in 1972.

He advised ministers for several years before deciding to get his hands dirty for real. In 1978, he was elected to the National Assembly as the youngest MP there.

After 15 years, following some time spent in Savoie to help organise the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, he returned to work for the government, this time as a fully-fledged minister. He spent two years on the environment portfolio and another two years as the minister for European affairs, a position that would later help springboard him to Brussels.

Issues such as the Maastricht Treaty, the creation of the euro and free movement across the bloc threw Barnier into the European spotlight: although he became a French senator in 1997, he ended up firmly back in Brussels when he was named as the EU's commissioner for regional policy in 1999.

As one of the main figures shaping the European project, Barnier was also able to boost his profile back in France. In 2004, he was put at the helm of France's foreign ministry and in 2007 he was named agriculture and fishing minister— two key posts in the French cabinet.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, right, and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov hold a joint news conference at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, Friday, July 16, 2004. - JACQUES BRINON/AP

Brussels, Brexit and beyond

Then in 2009, he returned to Brussels, first as an MEP and then as Commissioner for Internal Market and Services — one of the most high-profile jobs in the EU executive.

From this lofty position, he mounted an unsuccessful attempt to become President of the European Commission in 2014 but lost out to Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker. However, a high-profile role of a different kind was just around the corner.

In a move that sent shockwaves across the EU, the UK voted to leave the bloc in 2016, sparking series after series of intense negotiations on the terms of the divorce.

Barnier was the man tasked with leading the EU negotiating team, a role that provided him with heaps of visibility both in the UK and in the Brussels bubble. His handling of roughly five years' worth of Brexit talks, covering both the UK's exit from the EU and the future relationship between the two, earned him significant praise and admiration in EU circles.

Nevertheless, his eyes soon turned back to his homeland. In 2021, Barnier announced that he would stand in the French presidential election the following year, but ultimately failed to win enough support from the liberal-conservative Republican party, who instead opted for Valérie Pécresse.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, is welcomed by European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Strasbourg, France, 11 March 2019 - Vincent Kessler/AP
A fragmented parliament

So now Barnier appears primed for the second-highest office in the land, much to the dismay of MPs and citizens alike.

July's elections divided the National Assembly into three near-equal blocs: the left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP), Macron's centrist group and the far-right National Rally.

With all three vowing not to work with each other, Macron was always going to struggle to find a prime minister who would be able to rally enough votes from MPs to carry the National Assembly.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the French left's largest party France Unbowed (LFI), said that Barnier's appointment had "stolen" the election from the French people, seeing as the NFP ended up being the largest political grouping.

The National Rally's Jordan Bardella reacted to the news by saying that the party "acknowledged" Barnier's appointment after a wait "unworthy of a great democracy".

While Barnier certainly appears to have his work cut out for him should he enter office, his first big task is shoring up enough support in parliament to make sure he survives the no-confidence vote and actually gets there.

Two months after the second round of the snap parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier as France’s new prime minister.

The nomination comes after weeks of increasing pressure from all political groups to nominate a candidate.

Barnier will now have to survive a confidence vote in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of the parliament.

The current National Assembly is divided into three blocs: the left-wing coalition NFP (that won the most seats but fell short of an absolute majority), Macron’s centrist group and the far-right National Rally.

A loyal veteran of the recently renamed right-wing Republican Right party (LR), Barnier has had a long political career in France and the EU, having served twice as European Commissioner and, between 2016 and 2021, the chief EU negotiator for Brexit.

At 73, he is the oldest prime minister of the Fifth Republic at the time of his appointment.

His closest challenger, Pierre Bérégovoy, was 66 years old when he took office in 1992 under the presidency of François Mitterand. Gabriel Attal, Michel Barnier's predecessor, was the youngest PM when he took office at 34 years old.
French politicians react — some calling for protests

National Rally's Jordan Bardella reacted to the news out of the Élysée on X by saying that the party "acknowledged" Barnier's appointment after a wait "unworthy of a great democracy".

"We will ask for the major emergencies of the French people (such as) purchasing power, security and immigration, to finally be addressed, and we reserve all political means of action if this is not the case in the coming weeks," the far-right party's president said.

“The election has been stolen from the French people," said Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of French left's largest party France Unbowed (LFI), speaking in the wake of Barnier's appointment.

"We don't believe for a moment that there will then be a majority in the National Assembly to accept such a denial of democracy", Mélenchon continued.

The three-time presidential candidate also called for "the most powerful mobilisation possible" in the streets on 7 September, the day of the demonstration planned by LFI.

NFP coalition's Greens told Euronews that, by appointing Barnier, Macron went against the voters by allowing the National Rally "to be the arbiter ... and has turned his back on the millions of voters who, in the ballot box, made a historic republican barrage in France."

"Obsessed with preserving his neoliberal record and his determination not to see the pension reform repealed, Emmanuel Macron has dismissed the New Popular Front, opting instead to align himself with the radicalised right," the Greens said.


France's left wing threatens Macron with impeachment over PM deadlock

The Communist party also reacted negatively to the news of Barnier's appointment, telling Euronews in a statement that he was "the right wing’s choice to continue the president's policies."

"Right up to the end, the president used every means at his disposal to circumvent the results of the ballot box," party representative Fabien Roussel said.

Meanwhile, Macron's outgoing PM Attal posted a thank-you note on X, saying "The bond we have is the most precious thing for me. Count on me to continue to weave it."

He made no comments on Barnier's appointment.

Can Barnier survive the vote?

In choosing Barnier, Macron might have inevitably strengthened the hand of the National Rally and given it the role of kingmaker, experts believe. But the left's importance should not be dismissed if Barnier is to take on the hot seat of prime minister.

"Today, we have three major players in politics: Macron, Melenchon and Marine Le Pen. And there are two who are considered to be making a mess of things. It's just an extra step that helps to give more credibility to the far-right," Emmanuel Rivière, political scientist and polling expert, told Euronews.

If he survives a confidence vote, the new head of government will have to get straight to work: first, France must submit its proposals to slash public spending to the EU by 20 September, though that deadline can be extended until October.

To comply with EU rules, France would need to make cuts of at least €30 billion in 2025.

Then, a draft of the country's budget for 2025 is due to be presented to Parliament on 1 October, at a time when France's public finances are in dire straits.


Michel Barnier named as new French prime

 minister

Dalal Mawad, Stephanie Halasz, Sophie Tanno and Emmanuel Miculita, CNN
Thu 5 September 2024 




Michel Barnier, the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, has become France’s new prime minister, the French president’s office says, ending two months of stalemate following inconclusive parliamentary elections.

In a statement on Thursday, the Élysée Palace said: “The President of the Republic has appointed Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has to form a united government to serve the country and the French people.”

The statement added that Barnier’s appointment comes after “an unprecedented cycle of consultations” in order to ensure a stable government.

Barnier, 73, a staunch Europhile, is a member of the Republicans party which represents the traditional right. He is best known on the international stage for his role in mediating the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.

A 40-year veteran of French and European politics, Barnier has held various ministerial positions in France, including roles as foreign, agriculture and environment ministers. He served twice as a European commissioner as well as an adviser to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. In 2021, Barnier announced his bid for presidential elections but failed to garner enough support within his party.

Macron accepted the resignation of former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and his government in July, after his centrist Ensemble alliance was defeated in the second round of France’s snap parliamentary election. The president has since faced calls from across the political divide to name a new PM. Last week, Macron told journalists during a trip to Serbia he was “making all the necessary efforts” to finalize a name.

“I will have the opportunity in a few days, in just a few weeks, to state the major legislative priorities and proposals on behalf of the new government before parliament. It will be a question of responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, to the anger, as you mentioned, to the suffering, to the feeling of abandonment, of injustice that runs through our cities, our neighborhoods and our countryside far too much,” Barnier said, speaking alongside Attal during the transfer of power at Hotel Matignon, the prime minister’s office in Paris.

Surrounded by his family, staff members and several lawmakers, Attal congratulated Barnier.

“The French know you. They know that you are a great local elected official,” said Attal, praising Barnier’s “almost unmatched experience of serving the state in various international and European functions.”

But he did not hide his frustration that his tenure came to such an abrupt end.

“Eight months is too short,” Attal said, warning that the country’s politics is suffering, “but recovery is possible.”
Forming a government

Barnier’s prospects for forming a stable government are unclear. Currently, France’s far-right National Rally (RN) is one of the largest parties in parliament following the election in early July. It has previously suggested it could be open to working with Barnier and would not immediately veto him.

Still, RN politician Laurent Jacobelli spoke disparagingly of Barnier, telling French television network TF1: “They are taking out of mothballs those who have governed France for 40 years.”

The leaders of France’s main far-right and far-left political parties reacted to the appointment of Barnier following Thursday’s announcement, with the far left condemning the decision.

Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, said on social media that his party will “judge” Barnier based on his inaugural “general policy speech, his budgetary decisions and his actions.”

Bardella’s party colleague Marine Le Pen also stressed in televised remarks that the party “will not participate in any government whatsoever” until after they have heard Barnier’s speech laying out his policy plans.

Le Pen did go on to commend Barnier on one level, describing the veteran politician as “someone who is respectful of the different political forces” and “capable” of addressing her party.

Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Melenchon of the far-left France Unbowed party delivered a stinging rebuke of President Macron, accusing him of “stealing” the parliamentary elections held in July.

“The president has just officially denied the results of the legislative elections that he himself had called for. He (Barnier) is a member, among others, of a party which was last in the legislative election. The election was therefore stolen from the French people,” Melenchon remarked in a televised speech.

The left-wing leader called on French people to protests against Barnier’s appointment from this Saturday.

Barnier served as the chief negotiator during the UK’s exit from the European Union. The lengthy talks between London and Brussels ran from 2016 to 2021 and he is known among Brexiteers in the UK for driving a hard bargain.

Born in January 1951 in a suburb of the Alpine city of Grenoble, Barnier was first elected to parliament at the age of 27.


New France PM Barnier promises 'change'

 as he takes office

AFP UK
Thu 5 September 2024 

France's new right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier promised Thursday to address the grievances of the French but also implement "change" as he took office following almost two months of political deadlock.

President Emmanuel Macron tasked the 73-year-old veteran politician with forming a government earlier in the day, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance lost its relative majority in parliament.

Barnier, the European Union's former Brexit negotiator and an ex-foreign minister, is the oldest premier in the history of modern France.

He takes over from 35-year-old Gabriel Attal, a man less than half his age who served only eight months in office during a period of political turbulence unprecedented in recent times in France.

At a handover ceremony, Barnier said the priorities of his government would include "responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, to the angers, to the suffering" of French people.

He said that education, security and "immigration control" would remain at the top of the agenda, and that he would be unafraid to speak the truth on tough issues such as the country's "financial debt".

But "there will also be change", said the member of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party who is not affiliated with the president's centrist faction.

A left-wing coalition emerged as France's biggest political force after the elections earlier this summer, but without enough seats for an overall majority in an imbroglio that has taken weeks to unravel.

Macron's centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly, with the RN as the single largest party.

The left has greeted Macron's move towards "cohabitation" with Barnier with dismay, and will now seek to topple him with a no-confidence motion.

Controversially, the president appears to be counting on the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen to keep Barnier in power by voting against such a motion.

- 'Macron-compatible' -

Barnier has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his party's nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022, during a campaign where he tacked further right and suggested a moratorium on immigration.

The former foreign minister and EU commissioner is "Macron-compatible" and would not be immediately voted out by parliament, an advisor to the president told AFP, asking not to be named.

A minister in the outgoing government, who also asked for anonymity, said he was "very popular with right-wing members of parliament without being an irritant on the left".

The RN indicated it would not automatically vote down Barnier and would wait and see what programme he lays out in his first address to parliament.

"We will wait to see Mr Barnier's policy speech," Le Pen said.

Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande said he believed the RN had "given a kind of endorsement" to Barnier's appointment.

As well as two stints as an EU commissioner and handling the thorny negotiations on Britain's exit from the bloc, Barnier served as a minister under the right-wing administrations of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed his nomination, saying she knew Barnier had "the interests of Europe and France at heart".

With a half-century career behind him, Barnier, who proudly extols his origins in the French Alps rather than Paris, first become a member of parliament when he was just 27.

Opponents noted that as a youthful conservative lawmaker, he voted against the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1981.

The composition of the new cabinet, set to be announced in the coming days, will be closely watched for signs of concessions to Macron's political foes.

- 'Tough' task -

Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose France Unbowed party (LFI) and allies belong to a left-wing bloc, said Macron's naming of Barnier meant the election had been "stolen from the French".

Macron's decision comes under the gun of a deadline to submit a draft 2025 budget for France's strained government finances before October 1.

Barnier's "task looks tough, but difficulty has never scared him", said former prime minister Edouard Philippe, who announced earlier this week that he would seek to succeed Macron in 2027 presidential elections.

After the July elections, Macron drew out the appointment of a new prime minister for a period unprecedented since World War II, through the July-August Olympic Games and beyond.

burs-ah/js

EU
‘Quite underwhelming’: Draghi briefing on competitiveness report light on details


By Thomas Moller-Nielsen | Euractiv
Sep 4, 2024

Shutterstock/Alexandros Michailidis
 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>


Mario Draghi’s presentation of his long-awaited report on the future of Europe’s competitiveness to EU officials on Wednesday (4 September) was light on details and policy proposals, according to EU diplomats and MEPs – with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signalling she has not accessed the full document yet.

EU diplomats told Euractiv that the former European Central Bank (ECB) president’s initial briefing to member state representatives on Wednesday morning contained no detailed policy recommendations. One source went as far as to say that the lack of specificity meant “the much-anticipated” presentation “did not live up to the hype” and was ultimately “quite underwhelming.”

“He spent a lot of time talking about the many problems he’s identified when it comes to Europe’s competitiveness, and argued the EU and its member states need to reform in order to tackle the challenge of the future.”

“But he did not go into the solutions he will (supposedly) present in his report. Nothing on common borrowing, nothing about defence, etc. It was quite underwhelming,” the diplomat said.

An EU official who attended the Italian technocrat’s second presentation to European parliamentary group leaders in the afternoon noted that no concrete recommendations were made.

“Some [group leaders] asked some questions, but he didn’t really answer directly,” the official said, adding that stakeholders will “have to wait” until the report’s expected publication next week for more detailed proposals.

Talking to Euractiv, even the president of the EU executive herself implied she had not seen a version of the report yet.

“We already have the Letta report,” von der Leyen said, referring to the report on the Single Market written by another former Italian Prime Minister and published in April this year. “I have to see the second one.”

Meanwhile, diplomats said that the ex-central banker provided insight only into the report’s “general structure”. In particular, they explained it would be divided into five distinct sections: (i) increasing productivity, (ii) reducing dependencies, (iii) climate change, (iv) social inclusion, and (v) “sector-specific” proposals for ten “major sectors” of the EU economy.

One source said that Draghi, whose policy prescriptions have been a closely guarded secret since von der Leyen commissioned his report last September, concluded his morning briefing by emphasising the need for European unity.

“Draghi stressed the necessity of unprecedented cooperation among member states and a comprehensive reform of all institutions to implement the report’s recommendations effectively,” they said.

Another diplomat who attended the morning briefing said that the former ECB President spoke in “very broad” terms about the challenges confronting Europe’s economy, namely high energy prices, a lack of innovation, and insufficient digitalisation.

Draghi also emphasised the importance of combating climate change, cutting “red tape”, addressing Europe’s widening skills gap, and integrating the EU’s single market, they said.

Unlike in previous speeches, however, he did not broach more controversial topics such as renewing the bloc’s €806.9 billion NextGenerationEU pandemic recovery programme or introducing tariffs to shield European industry from Chinese competition, they said.

Asked whether any of Draghi’s proposals were ill-received by member states, the diplomat said that the briefing was conducted at too “broad” a level for it to be considered controversial.

Political leaders’ reaction

Draghi’s afternoon briefing drew varying reactions from political leaders.

In line with the morning’s feedback, Manfred Weber, leader of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), told reporters that Draghi’s briefing was “quite vague”, adding the Italian “is still in the mood of listening” to others’ views.

Bas Eickhout, co-chair of the Greens/EFA group, agreed with Weber’s analysis but believed that Draghi’s report will likely contain multiple “concrete recommendations”.

“[He will] come up with more specific policy descriptions,” Eickhout said. “I think we all agree that we have many reports already where we have general and very vague messages. So he was making clear that he wants… concrete recommendations.”

Manon Aubry, co-chair of the Left Group in the European Parliament, said that, while the presentation didn’t “say much about the substance [of the report],” the lens of competitiveness through which the report is being written is problematically misguided.

“I think that this prism of competitiveness masks the social reality of millions of people who today are wondering how they will finish their weekends and pay their bills,” she said.

Other political leaders were more circumspect in their appraisal of the briefing. In a statement, Valérie Hayer, leader of the liberal Renew group, said that she simply “welcomed” the exchange with Draghi and “look[s] forward” to the report’s publication.

Assita Kanko, vice chair of the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists Group, told reporters that the exchange was “very interesting” but refused to elaborate on the meeting details.

Júlia Tar, Sarantis Michalopoulos, and Alexandra Brzozowski contributed reporting to this article.

[Edited by Anna Brunetti/René Moerland]

 Euractiv

Al Jazeera

EDITOR'S ANALYSIS

What killing of Hindu teen by India cow vigilantes tells us about Modi 3.0

What happens when vigilantes, emboldened by the BJP, shoot a Hindu teenager dead after a 40km chase, ‘mistaking’ him for a Muslim?

Pawan Pandit, a cow vigilante, stops a truck at a road block near Chandigarh, India [File: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters]
By Nadim Asrar
Published On 6 Sep 20246 Sep 2024



At about 1am on August 24, Aryan Mishra, a 19-year-old 12th-grade student received a phone call.

Two of his friends, both sons of Mishra’s landlord, wanted him to join them for a late-night snack – noodles, according to reports.

Keep reading

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Police in India book journalists after posts on alleged Muslim lynching

‘Eid means mourning’: Muslims lynched in India after shock election result

‘Infiltrators’: Modi accused of anti-Muslim hate speech amid India electio

Mishra soon joined them, grabbing the passenger seat in the landlord’s red SUV in a middle-class neighbourhood in Faridabad, a city in Haryana state on the outskirts of the national capital, New Delhi.

One of the brothers, Harshit Gulati, was at the wheel, while his elder sibling, Shankey Gulati, 26, was in the rear with their mother Sujata Gulati and her friend Kirti Sharma, according to Indian media reports.

As they drove along the largely empty streets of Faridabad, a car with a flashing red and blue beacon on top of it tried to stop them, local media reports said. Such beacons are usually allowed only on government vehicles. But the illegal use of these beacons by private vehicles remains rampant – especially when the owner is politically influential.

Details of what happened next are hazy and are being investigated by the police. But according to most reports, the car that Aryan and his friends were in tried to speed away from the chasing vehicle. Was that because they were just scared of being followed by an unknown car? Was it because Shankey, according to some reports, was accused in a separate attempted murder case, and his family thought they were being pursued by a police vehicle?

What is known is that a 40-kilometre (25-mile) chase followed. During the chase, a gunshot fired from the car behind hit Mishra on the shoulder. Harshit stopped the car. The men behind pulled up. One of them walked up to the car and pumped another bullet into Mishra’s neck from close range. The teenager was rushed to a local hospital, where he died.

Though the killing took place almost two weeks ago, its details are emerging only now, shocking and outraging the country.

Mishra had been killed in cold blood. But it is not that alone that has caused the outrage. It is the fact that Mishra was Hindu, killed by another Hindu – who thought he was Muslim.




The suspects were cow vigilantes, members of a nationwide right-wing Hindu militia, Gau Raksha Dal (GRD or Cow Protection Association), that claims to protect cows – considered holy by many Hindus – from slaughter, mainly by Muslim cattle traders.

Cow slaughter is banned or regulated in most Indian states.

The vigilantes have rarely faced the brunt of the law. Instead, it is their victims and their families who have often faced police cases and scrutiny over whether they were actually in possession of beef.

Against that backdrop, global and Indian rights groups believe these vigilantes operate under the patronage and protection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since the Hindu nationalist leader came to power a decade ago.

The BJP has denied that it is linked to these attacks, and in 2016, Modi publicly criticised vigilantes. But a cow vigilante in the southern state of Karnataka has received an election ticket from the BJP. Eight vigilantes convicted of lynching a 45-year-old Muslim meat trader were garlanded by a BJP minister in 2018. And the funeral of one of the men accused of lynching a Muslim man in 2015 was attended by another BJP minister.

The Gau Raksha Dal has chapters in almost half of the Indian states, mostly in the north. Their logo depicts the head of a cow, flanked by two automated rifles or a pair of daggers. The vigilantes are armed with guns and sticks and patrol the streets through a large network of WhatsApp groups. They are the judge, jury and executioner, delivering their deadly justice on the streets of India.

The vigilantes also share information about alleged incidents of cow slaughter or cattle smuggling with the police and are reported to have even joined police officers in conducting raids or arrests.

Since 2014, when Modi first came to power, nearly 50 cow-related lynchings of Muslim men have been reported – most victims are poor farmers or daily wage workers, who left behind grieving families staring at an uncertain future. In nearly all such incidents, no cow meat was found, only the battered and tortured – and often lifeless – bodies of the victims.

‘We killed our brother’

According to a report on The Print website, when the local police told Mishra’s father Siyanand they suspected the involvement of cow vigilantes in his son’s killing, he did not believe they could kill “one of their own” and asked to meet the alleged shooter, Anil Kaushik, who was in judicial custody.

During the meeting, Kaushik confessed to the distraught father that he regretted killing “a brother”, thinking he was a Muslim, and sought forgiveness. The report added that Kaushik did not know Mishra was a Brahmin, the most privileged class in India’s complicated caste hierarchy.

“This incident is a blot for us. This is the first time in a decade that such an incident has happened. It’s a sad truth that we killed our brother,” Shailendra Hindu, a member of Bajrang Dal, a far-right militia that runs the cow vigilante groups, told The Print.


Many Indian media outlets, meanwhile, called it a case of “mistaken” killing. This is India’s new normal: that the act of killing in itself is not a mistake, killing a Hindu is.

Only three days after Mishra was shot dead, a 26-year-old Muslim ragpicker, Sabir Malik, was lynched by a mob on August 27 in Charkhi Dadri, a town in Haryana, about 130km (80 miles) from Faridabad, over suspicions he had consumed beef.

Malik was a migrant worker from the eastern state of West Bengal. He lived in Charkhi Dadri with his wife and two-year-old daughter, according to media reports.

News reports cite the police as saying that there was a rumour in the area where Malik lived that some migrant workers had consumed beef. A group of men called Malik to a shop on the pretext of selling empty plastic bottles and beat him severely. When bystanders objected to the assault, the attackers took him to another village where he was beaten to death.

When asked about Malik’s killing, Haryana’s Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, from the BJP, said: “Who can stop them?” Moreover, in a pattern familiar with such cases, Saini blamed the deceased instead for allegedly violating cow protection laws.
Modi 3.0 no different?

When the BJP lost its absolute majority in the general elections three months ago and was forced to depend on dubious allies for political survival, many Indian political experts felt it had been humbled after running a divisive and anti-Muslim campaign ahead of the vote.

They said Modi 3.0 would be less threatening to the safety and dignity of India’s 200 million Muslims, and that the world’s most populous country would breathe the fresh air of inclusive politics and growth.

But continuing xenophobic attacks on India’s largest minority and killings of innocent men since then have belied those predictions, according to analysts.

Since Modi won a third straight term, there have been nearly half a dozen cases of cow-related lynchings across India. Several homes have been bulldozed over suspicion the Muslims living in them had stored beef in their refrigerators. Last month, an elderly Muslim man travelling by train was brutally beaten by a group of men over suspicions he was carrying beef. A viral video of the incident showed the traumatised man being abused and hit by several men as others in the coach watched and filmed the assault.



Why cow vigilante crimes continue

But why is the BJP, weakened in parliament, not cracking down on – and if its critics are to be believed, actually facilitating – such attacks? It is not difficult to comprehend. The party cannot be seen to be alienating its core Hindu supremacist base when assembly elections are due in some key states later this year, including Haryana, where the Faridabad and Charkhi Dadri incidents happened.

Many analysts say that such vigilante attacks achieve a dual purpose. They say the attacks allow the government deniability in the face of international criticism since the state is not directly involved in the killings. At the same time, they feed the anti-Muslim narrative on the ground that helps galvanise the BJP’s primary voters.

In this, the BJP is aided by the unflinching adulation and support of a large section of pliant and uncritical mainstream media, now known in Hindi by many as “godi media”, a leading journalist’s vivid translation of “lapdog media”.

In his 2021 book, Modi’s India, Christophe Jaffrelot, professor of Indian politics and sociology at King’s College London, wrote that Hindu militias such as the GRD were participating in the making of an “unofficial” Hindu state.

Jaffrelot said such groups were cogs in a giant wheel called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a men-only far-right group formed in 1925 on the lines of European fascist parties, which counts Modi and millions of other Hindus as its lifetime members. The BJP is the political wing of the RSS.

“The Indian state was built up around a bureaucracy handed down from the British, but there remained the task of forming a Hindu state, and vigilantes are working to that end,” he wrote in his book, with an emphasis on “forming”.

It is in this context that what happened on August 24 in Faridabad, or in Charkhi Dadri only three days after that, should be seen. Is either killing legitimate? If not, why has one shocked the nation, described by many as a “mistake”?

And why has the other killing, like dozens before it, been reduced to yet another statistic in a long list of mob lynchings, unworthy of sympathy and outrage, or banner headlines on a newspaper’s front page?

HINDU NATIONALISM IS FASCISM

WWIII

US researchers identify launch site of Russia’s new nuclear-powered missile

Euractiv.com with Reuters
Sep 2, 2024

Illustrative photo. An activist from IPPNW Germany and ICAN Germany wears a mask of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he holds a mock missile during a demonstration against the ending of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in front of the American Embassy at Pariser Platz in Berlin, Germany, 1 August 2019.

 [EPA-EFE/OMER MESSINGER]

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Two US researchers say they have identified the probable deployment site in Russia of the 9M370 Burevestnik, a new nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile touted by President Vladimir Putin as “invincible.”

Putin has said the weapon – dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO – has an almost unlimited range and can evade US missile defences. But some Western experts dispute his claims and the Burevestnik’s strategic value, saying it will not add capabilities that Moscow does not already have and risks a radiation-spewing mishap.

Using images taken on 26 July by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, the two researchers identified a construction project abutting a nuclear warhead storage facility known by two names – Vologda-20 and Chebsara – as the new missile’s potential deployment site. The facility is 475 km north of Moscow.




Reuters is the first to report this development.

Decker Eveleth, an analyst with the CNA research and analysis organisation, found the satellite imagery and identified what he assessed are nine horizontal launch pads under construction. They are located in three groups inside high berms to shield them from attack or to prevent an accidental blast in one from detonating missiles in the others, he said.

The berms are linked by roads to what Eveleth concluded are likely buildings where the missiles and their components would be serviced, and to the existing complex of five nuclear warhead storage bunkers.

The site is “for a large, fixed missile system and the only large, fixed missile system that they’re (Russia) currently developing is the Skyfall,” said Eveleth.

Russia’s defence ministry and Washington embassy did not respond to a request to comment on his assessment, Burevestnik’s strategic value, its test record and the risks it poses.

A Kremlin spokesman said these were questions for the defence ministry and declined further comment.

The US State Department, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center declined to comment.

The identification of the missile’s probable launch site suggests that Russia is proceeding with its deployment after a series of tests in recent years marred by problems, said Eveleth and the second researcher, Jeffery Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Lewis agreed with Eveleth’s assessment after reviewing the imagery at his request. The imagery “suggests something very unique, very different. And obviously, we know that Russia is developing this nuclear-powered missile,” he said.

Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists, who also studied the Vologda imagery at Eveleth’s request, said that it appears to show launch pads and other features “possibly” related to Burevestnik. But he said he could not make a definitive assessment.

Eveleth, Lewis, Kristensen and three other experts said Moscow’s normal practice has been stockpiling nuclear payloads for land-based missiles far from launch sites – except for those on its deployed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force.

But deploying the Burevestnik at Vologda would allow the Russian military to stockpile the nuclear-armed missiles in its bunkers, making them available to launch quickly, said Lewis and Eveleth.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia will make changes to its guidelines on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it regards as Western escalation in the war in Ukraine, state news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

Russia says it will change nuclear doctrine because of Western role in Ukraine

Russia will make changes to its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it regards as Western escalation in the war in Ukraine, state media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday (1 September).

Poor test record

A 2020 report by the United States Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center said that if Russia successfully brought the Burevestnik into service, it would give Moscow a “unique weapon with intercontinental-range capability”.

But the weapon’s checkered past and design limitations raised doubts among eight experts interviewed by Reuters about whether its deployment would change the nuclear stakes for the West and other Russian foes.

The Burevestnik has a poor test record of at least 13 known tests, with only two partial successes, since 2016, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), an advocacy group focused on reducing nuclear, biological and emergent technology risks.

The setbacks include a 2019 blast during the botched recovery of an unshielded nuclear reactor allowed to “smolder” on the White Sea floor for a year following a prototype crash, according to State Department reports.




Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom said five staff members died during the testing of a rocket on 8 August. Putin presented their widows with top state awards, saying the weapon they were developing was without equal in the world, without naming the Burevestnik.

Many experts are skeptical of Putin’s claims.

The Burevestnik, they say, could have a range of some 15,000 miles (23,000 km) – compared to more than 11,000 miles (17,700 km) for the Sarmat, Russia’s newest ICBM – while its subsonic speed would make it detectable.

“It’s going to be as vulnerable as any cruise missile,” said Kristensen. “The longer it flies, the more vulnerable it becomes because there is more time to track it. I don’t understand Putin’s motive here.”



The Burevestnik’s deployment is not banned by New START, the last US-Russian accord limiting strategic nuclear weapon deployments, which expires in February 2026.

A provision allows Washington to request negotiations with Moscow on bringing the Burevestnik under the caps but a State Department spokesperson said no such talks had been sought.

Citing the war in Ukraine, Russia has spurned US calls for unconditional talks on replacing New START, stoking fears of an all-out nuclear arms race when it expires.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

WAR IS ECOCIDE
EU-led rescue mission for Houthi-hit ship off Yemen ‘about to begin’


Euractiv.com with AFP
Sep 2, 2024

A handout photo made available by the Houthis media center shows a masked Houthi fighter with a rifle boarding the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion following Yemen's Houthis attacks, in the Red Sea, 29 August 2024. [Handout photo/EPA/EFE]
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A rescue mission for an oil tanker still ablaze after being attacked by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen last month, is about to begin, the European Union’s Red Sea naval mission said late Monday (2 September).

The Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion was hit by the Houthis off the coast of Hodeida on August 21 while carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil.

The Iran-backed rebels said they had booby-trapped and detonated charges on the ship.

The EU’s Aspides mission said on Monday an operation involving private companies was “about to start” to salvage the vessel.

The naval force “will provide protection to the tug boats, that will deal with the salvage operation and facilitate their efforts to prevent an environmental disaster,” it announced on X.

“Several fires continue to burn on the vessel’s main deck,” the mission added, noting that there were “no visible signs of an oil spill.”

The Sounion’s crew, made up of 23 Filipinos and two Russians, was rescued the day after the attack by a French frigate serving with Aspides.

The EU naval force was formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthi rebels, who have waged a campaign against international shipping that they say is intended to show solidarity with Palestinian group Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, two other ships were struck in attacks off the coast of Yemen on Monday.

In a post on X, CENTCOM, the US Central Command, said “salvage efforts are underway” in the southern Red Sea for the disabled vessel, “which is still on fire and threatens the possibility of a major environmental disaster.”

CENTCOM condemned such Houthi attacks as “reckless” and promised to “continue to work with international partners and allies” to protect trade and mitigate environmental impacts in the region.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

NATO member Turkey to request membership of Russia-led BRICS


EURACTIV.com with agencies
Sep 2, 2024
Content-Type:
News Service



Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) attend a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, in Astana, Kazakhstan, 3 July 2024. [Kremlin pool/EPA/EFE]
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Turkey will be the first NATO member to request membership of the BRICS economic bloc spearheaded by the leaders of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, agencies reported.

Bloomberg said Monday (2 September) that Ankara had formally asked to join the group of emerging market nations as it looks beyond its traditional Western allies. Newsweek has contacted the Turkish Foreign Ministry for comment.

“Turkey can become a strong, prosperous, prestigious and effective country if it improves its relations with the East and the West simultaneously,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in Istanbul over the weekend. “Any method other than this will not benefit Turkey, but will harm it.”

“We do not have to choose between the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization [SCO] as some people claim,” Erdoğan added. “On the contrary, we have to develop our relations with both these and other organisations on a win-win basis,” Erdoğan added.

A former Turkish diplomat told Newsweek that the move has been driven by “accumulated frustrations” in Ankara with the West and the European Union.

“This is not the strategy, by Ankara, to replace the West, but it’s a strategy to strengthen relations with non-Western powers at a time when the US hegemony is waning,” said Sinan Ülgen, head of the Istanbul-based think tank EDAM.

Named after Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa, the BRICS group includes countries not listed in the acronym, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and Egypt, which all joined earlier this year. The bloc is considered to be an alternative on the global stage to the US-led G7 group.

Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg said that Erdoğan’s administration believed that “the geopolitical center of gravity” is moving away from the most developed economies.

The move also shows Ankara’s aims “to cultivate ties with all sides in a multipolar world” while still fulfilling its obligations as a key NATO member, the report added.

Bloomberg said Ankara had submitted an application months ago amid frustration at its stalled bid to join the European Union, whose membership it has sought for decades.

“One driver of this is an aspiration for enhanced strategic autonomy,” Ülgen told Newsweek.

“The bilateral relationship with the US has also been problematic,” Ülgen said, as quoted by Newsweek. “These type of frustrations have motivated the Turkish government to move in this direction,” he added. There is a belief in Ankara that it can do this “without a political cost that would be attached to this realignment.”

Ghana begins program to trace cocoa as EU law combating deforestation looms

Euractiv.com with Reuters

Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People and European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis delivers the opening speech at the 5th World Conference on Cocoa, organised by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) in Brussels, Belgium, 22 April 2024. 

[EPA-EFE/OLIVIER MATTHYS]

 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>

Ghana is piloting a system that traces cocoa beans from farm to port as it gears up for a new EU law banning the import of commodities linked to deforestation, a government official said on Thursday (5 September).

The landmark new law, which could in time reshape global commodity markets, comes into effect end of December.

It requires EU importers of coffee, cocoa, soy, palm, timber, beef and rubber to prove their supply chains are not contributing to deforestation anywhere in the world, or be fined up to 4% of their turnover.

“We have polygon-mapped all the cocoa in Ghana, established an end-to-end traceability system and successfully piloted (it),” Michael Amoah, from Ghanaian cocoa regulator Cocobod, told a webinar organised by environmental non-profit groups Fern and Mighty Earth.

Gearing up to comply with the new EU law is critical for Ghana. About 60% of the cocoa the country grows is exported to the EU and the industry employs about 17% of Ghana’s working population.

Nearly all the farmers growing cocoa in Ghana, the world’s second largest cocoa producer, are smallholders based in remote rural regions who, without government support, might struggle to comply with the law’s requirements.

These include providing buyers of their goods with geolocation co-ordinates that prove their farms are not located on land deforested after 2020.

“We are hoping what we’ve done will enable us to capture a greater percent of the EU market,” said Amoah.

Some commodity producers from Indonesia to Brazil have criticised the EU law, saying it is protectionist and could end up excluding vulnerable, small-scale farmers from accessing the bloc’s lucrative market.

Deforestation is the second leading cause of catastrophic climate change after the burning of fossil fuels.