YPJ fighter: Every Turkish bomb strengthens ISIS

Interview. We spoke with Ronahî Tolhildan, a fighter with the Kurdish women's defense units, YPJ, stationed in Kobane.

 ‘Turkey is not only weakening the structures of the SDF that are holding ISIS members in custody, but is giving concrete support to the Islamic State.’

 

written by Chiara Cruciati  
November 28, 2022

Villages, grain silos, refineries and oil wells: small installations that are propping up northeastern Syria, extracting incomparably minuscule wealth compared to the neighboring energy giants. However, five days after the launch of Turkey’s Operation Claw-Sword, it is apparent that these are its targets, together with civilian infrastructure and population centers, from the east to the west of Rojava.

While the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commemorate the eight fighters killed Wednesday in the Turkish raid on the Al-Hol camp (a tent camp where 60,000 ISIS militiamen and their families are detained), there were some signs of protest from Washington, which had been inscrutable so far: Recent air strikes in Syria directly threatened the safety of U.S. personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than 10,000 ISIS detainees.” As a result, the U.S. called for “immediate de-escalation.”

We spoke about these developments with Ronahî Tolhildan, a fighter with the Kurdish women’s defense units, YPJ, stationed in Kobane.

How high is the risk of increased ISIS activity in Rojava due to Turkish raids? Or of new breakouts, like the one attempted in January in Hasakah?

Every attack on the Northeast Syria Autonomous Administration is strengthening ISIS. Turkey is not only weakening the structures of the SDF that are holding ISIS members in custody, but is giving concrete support to the Islamic State in the form of information, resources, coordinated attacks. In early 2022, during the attempted breakout from Hasakah prison, Turkey targeted reinforcements who were on their way there to stop it. The occupied city of Afrin is now in the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [the Al-Qaedist group formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front] and on Thursday, jihadist mercenaries approached the cities of Manbij and Raqqa. The jihadist and Turkish attacks should be seen as part of the same attack against the revolution and its values. The risk of a return of ISIS is not confined to these places: Europe is at risk, the world is at risk, because of it.

What is the Turkish strategy? To quickly occupy communities on the Turkish-Syrian border to close the northern corridor or pressure the SDF and civilians to flee, undermining the revolution from within?

The Turks’ military strategy has multiple parts. First, they try to attack society by destroying people’s resistance, demoralizing them and disconnecting them from the Autonomous Administration. Then they strengthen ISIS sleeper cells, as we saw yesterday with the bombs dropped on the security forces at Al-Hol camp. Finally, as soon as possible, Turkey will invade overland and attempt to close the land corridor at the border. In the long run, Islamist groups are expected to establish themselves in the occupied regions, as happened in Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Gire Spî. And it seems that the U.S. wants to reach a “joint solution” with Turkey. This would lead to a new Afghanistan.

So a land-based invasion is possible.

Certainly. Erdogan has already done that in 2018 in Afrin and in 2019 in Serêkaniyê and Gire Spî. Neither the U.S. nor Russia intervened. The first target is likely to be Kobane, a symbol of popular resistance to ISIS. Much of the shelling is already targeting this town and district. In this way, Turkey would link up the occupied cities, Azaz, Serêkaniyê and Gîre Spî.

Were you warned by the United States of the attack Turkey was about to launch?

The U.S. had warned its citizens a few days before. But this was an action more aimed at spreading panic than warning of danger.

The current war is also a psychological war: a constant military pressure which, together with the de facto embargo, steals time and energy away from the revolution, resources that could be used to improve on the already major successes reached.

This kind of low-intensity warfare affects people. The Turkish state is targeting infrastructure and civilians in order to terrorize people and push them to flee. But the self-defense units and the people are standing side by side and will defend the liberated areas. We have been subject to multiple Turkish attacks for years, but the resistance has never been defeated. We will not leave our positions. The revolution has been ten years in the making and has achieved a great deal. Too often the achievements of the people are threatened and destroyed. Peace in northeastern Syria is necessary both for those who live here and also for the whole Middle East, because it is seen by the whole world as a model of women’s liberation, self-determination and cultural diversity.

Do you have any kind of coordination with the Syrian army for the defense of the northeast?

There is no cooperation with the Syrian army.

Chiara Cruciati
Originally published in Italian on November 25, 2022https://ilmanifesto.it/le-bombe-turche-hanno-ridato-forza-ai-jihadisti-in-siria

To reverse course, fewer dividends and higher wages

Commentary. The soaring prices are at the top of Italians’ concerns. In our country, less affluent families allocate 50% or more of their income to food, while affluent ones use less than 15%.

written by Gaetano Lamanna
Topic Italy
Published on November 28, 2022

In Italy, outrageous private wealth coexists with a dramatic economic and social emergency. Half of the financial and real estate wealth in the country (estimated at a total of about €10 trillion) belongs to families located at the top of the social pyramid. In contrast, the 10% at the base of the pyramid own less than 1%.

The steady decline in the share of wage income for the past 30 years has been accompanied by the rise in the share of profits and annuities. The paychecks of managers and CEOs are 300 times higher than those of blue-collar workers – an astronomical distance, a completely disproportionate ratio, which has no justification, either economic or merit-based.

Inequalities are heightening, soup kitchens are working at full capacity, dumpster diving for food is on the rise. And the real distances between classes, in terms of culture, living conditions and overall well-being, are greater than the statistics show.

The soaring prices are at the top of Italians’ concerns. In our country, less affluent families allocate 50% or more of their income to food, while affluent ones use less than 15%. This is data that confirms once again the relevance and validity of Engel’s law, named after the German statistician who, almost two centuries ago, was the first to study the correlation between income and consumption. Ernst Engel showed that the higher a family’s disposable income, the lower the proportion of expenditures for food as a share of its total expenditures. And conversely, the lower the income, the greater the share reserved for food. In addition to food, rents and utility bills are also rising, as are home mortgage payments and the interest to be paid on loans.

In short, inflation is widening the gulf of inequality, and the government is responding with a few band aids here and there. It’s no wonder that the right wing is doing what it always does, taking more from those who have less and rewarding those who don’t pay taxes. If anything, it’s surprising that the left is playing catch-up and is late in putting the issues of primary and secondary distribution, wages and the welfare state on the agenda.

Wage incomes have been held down by a decades-long “labor peace,” and the latest increases in the collective contracts have evaporated in no time flat. The shame of starvation-level wages is still with us. The welfare system is being destroyed under the blows of the privatization of services and the politics of bonuses, bestowed, often and intentionally, on the basis of quid-pro-quo relationships or the search for electoral support, not real need.

In no European country do we see such a great redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top as in Italy. With the same tax burden, France and Germany maintain a stronger and better structured welfare state, and the share of wage income is 30 percentage points higher than in our country. A mix of neoliberalism and blind defense of rents and corporate privileges – nested in the backward sectors of the economy – make up a situation unique to Italy, leading to disastrous side effects in terms of social fragmentation, gaps between territories, cultural degradation, as well as in the level of corruption, tax evasion, illegality, mafia presence, and the state of democracy.

This drift provides the explanation for the victory of the right, and for why in the budget adjustment proposal, the first of the Meloni era, there was not a word on the reform of the Land Registry, on the taxation of large real estate income, on the wealth tax and, more generally, on the many horizontal and vertical inequities of our taxation system.

Newspapers are constantly singing the praises of the Meloni government for its supposed prudence, pragmatism, and continuity with the “Draghi Agenda.” But what if it is precisely this “continuity” (which has been there for a long time) that makes Italy one of the states in the Western world in which unparalleled private wealth is combined with a public debt at the limit of sustainability and, at the same time, with a growing number of the poor? These tangles are now coming to a head: debt margins have run out, inflation is rising, recession is looming, and the ECB’s monetary policy is veering decisively toward raising interest rates, putting limits on purchases of government bonds.

The squeeze on the working classes and the lower and middle classes is likely to get even tighter. It is up to the trade unions and the political left to make clear who needs to foot the bill for the crisis, by starting a grassroots mobilization for social justice and fiscal fairness. The goal is for the burden of austerity to fall on those who have broad shoulders, are making outrageous profits and are living off lavish rents.

The alternative is clear-cut: lower dividends to shareholders and more dignified wages to workers, higher taxation of financial and real estate transactions, and welfare worthy of a civilized country.

Originally published in Italian on November 25, 2022

Who sits on the University of California Board of Regents? The corporate and political forces academic workers are fighting

Adam Mclean

WSWS.ORG

The strike by 48,000 University of California academic workers is at a critical juncture as the battle enters its third week today. The teaching assistants, lecturers, researchers and other workers are demanding substantial pay raises, including the doubling of teaching assistants’ salaries and cost-of-living (COLA) protections to counter rampant inflation in one of the most expensive states in the country.

Striking academic workers at UCLA [Photo: WSWS]

The strike, however, is in grave danger. This is not because it lacks public support. On the contrary, the strikers’ demands for inflation-busting raises have won widespread support from workers and students on campus and beyond.

This is precisely why Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, the state Democrats and their “labor lieutenants” in the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the California Federation of Labor bureaucracy are so anxious to shut it down.

Last week, UAW bargainers announced that they were dropping the demands for COLA, which has been central to the strike. This provoked a firestorm of opposition from strikers, including chants of “No COLA, No Contract!”

This opposition must now take a conscious political and organizational form through the establishment of a rank-and-file strike committee to fight for what workers need, not what UC administrators, state Democrats and union bureaucrats say is affordable. At the same time, this strike committee must reach out to broader sections of the working class—including full-time faculty, UC medical center workers, nurses, educators and railroad and dock workers—to prepare joint action to win this decisive struggle.

To take up this fight, it is crucial for UC workers to know exactly who they are fighting against.

The University of California is overseen by the UC Board of Regents. The majority of the 28-member board, which includes two non-voting members, was appointed directly by Governor Gavin Newsom and his predecessors, including Democrat Jerry Brown.

The Board of Regents is a who’s who of the Democratic Party, the state, and the corporate and financial elite. Though the regents do not receive a salary, the position is lucrative for those with the connections or know-how to draw a profit from it. Their subordinates, the UC president and the chancellors of each of the 10 campuses, are paid salaries ranging from $400,000 to $850,000 to enforce an austerity regime, commensurate with decades of corporate tax cuts and other giveaways handed over by both big business parties.

A brief profile of a few of the board members demonstrates this:

Richard Leib [Photo: UC ]

Richard Leib, the current Chair of the Board of Regents, is a businessman with a long history in charter schools, consultancy, and military and intelligence agencies. He was an executive at US Public Technologies, which was acquired iin 1999 by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, where he became an executive. He was appointed by then-Democratic Governor Jerry Brown in 2018.

Gareth Elliott [Photo: UC]

Gareth Elliott, the current Vice Chair of the Board of Regents, was previously the policy director for state Senator Alex Padilla (Democrat) and policy director and deputy chief of staff for Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata (Democrat). He has since become a partner at Sacramento Advocates, Inc., a California-based lobbying firm. Also appointed by Brown, he has been a regent since 2015.

Maria Anguiano [Photo: UC]

Maria Anguiano, after her stint as Vice Chancellor of Planning & Budget at UC Riverside, where she managed an $800 million budget and oversaw campus-wide financial planning and capital asset strategies, became the Executive Vice President of Arizona State University’s Learning Enterprise. She also serves on the board of directors of the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Foundation, an ostensibly “non-profit” but nonetheless lucrative national charter school system, and holds a senior advisory role at the anti-public education Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A UC regent since 2017, she also held previous “finance roles” at Barclays Capital and Deloitte.

Anthony Rendon is the current Speaker of the California State Assembly, and his political career has been financed by donations from energy companies—primarily Pacific Gas and Electric Co—which circumvented campaign financing restrictions by donating over half a million dollars to a charity his wife runs. His legislative achievements include killing California’s single-payer health care legislation in 2017 after it was passed in the state Senate. He is a regent “ex officio,” meaning that he is automatically a regent by virtue of his role in the state government.

Ana Matosantos [Photo: UC]

Ana Matosantos, appointed by Governor Newsom in July 2022, was director of California Department of Finance in both the Brown and Schwarzenegger administrations, where she oversaw the slashing of billions in public spending after the 2008 financial crash. She was also appointed by President Obama to serve on the seven-member Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board, which has imposed a brutal program of austerity and privatization on the US-controlled territory.

Howard "Peter" Guber [Photo: UC]

Howard “Peter” Guber, thecurrent CEO of Mandalay Entertainment group and former chief executive of Sony Entertainment, Columbia Pictures and Polygram Entertainment. Guber, whose net worth is reportedly just shy of $1 billion, is also co-owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball teams.

John A. Pérez [Photo: UC]

The unions also have direct representation on the board. John Pérez, cousin of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and another former Democratic speaker of the state assembly, spent seven years as a political advisor for the United Food Commercial Workers union before becoming the political director of the California Labor Federation. His bio on the Regents’ site boasts that while he was speaker, he “eliminate[d] the structural deficit that left California’s budget imbalanced for more than a decade, and successfully passed back-to-back balanced, on-time budgets that resulted in across the board upgrades in California's credit rating.” He became a regent in 2014.

This is the gang of multimillionaire executives, professional budget-cutters and public school privatizers that UC workers are up against. In the main, they are Democrats, which controls every level of state government.

COLA has been a central demand of UC workers since 2019, when academic workers at UC Santa Cruz organized a wildcat strike that quickly spread to other campuses. In response to the strike, Janet Napolitano—then UC President and former Director of Homeland Security under President Obama, mobilized the police to brutalize demonstrators and threatened international students with deportation. The current UC administration is now threatening striking international students again.

Behind the Democrats’ “progressive” pretensions and endless promotion of racialist politics, which recently erupted in the scandal on the Los Angeles City Council, is the ruthless defense of capitalism and the corporate and financial ruling class. The outcome of decades of pro-business policies is demonstrated by the fact that California, the “bluest of blue states,” is the home to largest homeless population and, at the same time, over 180 billionaires.

Far from waging a fight against the Democrats, the UAW bureaucracy is promoting them. Union officials falsely claimed that Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Katie Porter and others are allies of the strike while concealing the fact that the Democrats dominate over every aspect of California politics.

From the standpoint of the corporate and Democratic Party establishment and their servants in the UAW and CFL bureaucracy, a victory for the UC strikers would be a dangerous blow to the bipartisan demands that the working class pay for the economic crisis and the cost of war. Such a success, they fear, could unleash an uncontrollable wave of struggles, including by 120,000 railroad and 22,000 West Coast dockworkers who have been blocked for months from striking by the unions and the Biden administration.

But this is exactly what is needed to defeat the corporate and political forces opposing the UC strikers’ just demands. What can or cannot be achieved can only be determined by struggle.

As Mack Trucks workers and socialist candidate for UAW president Will Lehman has said, UC workers must take the conduct of the struggle into their own hands to prevent another sellout by the UAW apparatus.

There is no time to lose. At every campus, workers should elect representatives to rank-and-file strike committees to draw up their own list of non-negotiable demands, including inflation-busting pay raises and COLA, and sharp reductions in housing, transportation, health care and child care costs. Any contract that does not include these basic demands must be opposed.

At the same time, this committee must reach out to railway, dock, oil refinery, manufacturing workers, along with nurses, educators and other workers to prepare common demonstrations, strikes and other actions to win the UC strike and prepare an industrial and political counter-offensive against capitalism and the social inequality, dictatorship and war it produces.

DECLINE
Burkina Faso: Gold boom vanishes as militants advance and Russians leave


By Reuters
Posted on Monday, 28 November 2022 

The Burkinabe army, on the road to Gorgadji, 3 March 2019.

 © Luc Gnago/REUTERS

Burkina Faso's gold industry is set to decline, says the CEO of West African Resources. Boukary Diallo has attributed the downfall to militant attacks that have intensified this year as well as Russia's Nordgold shutting the Taparko mine in April.

A gold mining boom in Burkina Faso over the last decade propelled Diallo from being a vendor on a market stall to running a meat business supplying a mine near Ouahigouya, his home town in the north of the country.

But as the West African country loses territory to Islamist militants and lurches from coup to coup, threatening to turn the boom to bust, Diallo is concerned he will be unable to retain all of his 10 employees.

“Things are getting tight,” Diallo, 42, told Reuters by phone. “If the mine doesn’t start up again in December, I will have to let some people go.”

READ MORE Burkina Faso: Gold miners hope they can live with new regime

Karma mine, which Diallo supplies, was closed in June after a militant attack that left one worker and one soldier dead.

Acquired by Burkina-based firm Néré Mining from Endeavour Mining in March, Karma is one of at least four gold mines that halted production this year because of security risks.

Russia’s Nordgold in April stopped mining at Taparko, saying the lives of its staff were in danger. The economy is also at risk.
Main export

Gold is Burkina Faso’s main export, accounting for 37% of total exports in 2020, and mining is a leading source of jobs.

For each person directly employed by a mine, there are three or four contractor and services workers, the national association of mining contractors estimates.

Diallo’s business, which had revenues of 100 million CFA francs ($151,399) in 2019, has been making barely 4 million CFA francs a month since the Karma mine shut, he said. The conflict has also stoked inflation.

READ MORE Islamic State, GSIM, al-Qaeda: The jihadist gold rush in Burkina Faso

The decline in Diallo’s fortunes is reflected at the national level.

At current rates, Burkina Faso is set to produce 13% less gold this year than in 2021, in part because of mine closures, government statistics show.

The start of production at Orezone’s Bomboré gold mine in late September was an exception to the trend.
Production sinks

In the nine months to end-September – the most recent period for which data is available – the country produced 43.651 tonnes of gold, down from 50.126 tonnes over the same period last year.

“We see the gold industry declining in Burkina over the next five to 10 years,” says Richard Hyde, executive chairman and CEO of West African Resources.

Security risks mean little exploration is happening, he added, saying West African Resources was one of the few companies to be exploring and planning a new mine.

READ MORE A big thirst for gold in Burkina Faso

The Burkina Faso mines ministry did not respond to questions.

This year is on track to be the deadliest for the country since the Sahel crisis began more than a decade ago, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

The Al Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) carried out more than 400 attacks across 10 of Burkina Faso’s 13 regions in the first half of the year.
Conflicts and political crises

The conflict has also triggered political crises in the country, with two military coups this year.

Despite the instability, miners have managed to get people and supplies in and out of the country, said Sean Fieler, chief investment officer at Equinox Partners Investment Management LLC, who visited mines in Burkina Faso in July.

However, he said, “two coups within 12 months is not a good thing, I don’t think anyone would argue otherwise”.

Equinox Partners, through its funds, holds a 4.4% stake in West African Resources, a 0.2% stake in Endeavour Mining, and also invests in Orezone.

We see the gold industry declining in Burkina over the next five to 10 years.

Sebastien de Montessus, CEO of Endeavour, Burkina Faso’s biggest gold producer, said: “We remain committed to the country and ensuring our presence continues to provide economic benefits to our employees, contractors, suppliers and host communities”.

READ MORE From Kampala to Dubai, Africa's new gold routes

In Burkina, 20% of the mining royalties are collected by the state and 1% of mining company revenues go into a state-managed Local Development Mining Fund (FMDL) that finances development projects in mining communities and elsewhere.

In the first half of 2022, contributions to the fund fell by 9% from the same period last year, Mines ministry reports show.

“When mines close, the whole country loses out,” said Julien Baudrand, senior vice president for sustainability at Fortuna Silver, which runs the Yaramoko gold mine in Burkina Faso. ($1 = 636.0000 CFA francs)

Burkina Faso's vanishing gold boom puts livelihoods at risk

Story by By Anne Mimault and Helen Reid • Yesterday 

An excavator driven by Rosalie Guirou Kulga, 30, clears out rocks 

into a dumper at the gold mine, operated by Endeavour Mining Corporation in Hounde

© Thomson Reuters

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - A gold mining boom in Burkina Faso over the last decade propelled Boukary Diallo from being a vendor on a market stall to running a meat business supplying a mine near Ouahigouya, his home town in the north of the country.

But as the West African country loses territory to Islamist militants and lurches from coup to coup, threatening to turn the boom to bust, Diallo is concerned he will be unable to retain all of his ten employees.

"Things are getting tight," Diallo, 42, told Reuters by phone. "If the mine doesn't start up again in December, I will have to let some people go."

Karma mine, which Diallo supplies, was closed in June after a militant attack that left one worker and one soldier dead.

Acquired by Burkina-based firm Néré Mining from Endeavour Mining in March, Karma is one of at least four gold mines that halted production this year because of security risks.

Russia's Nordgold in April stopped mining at Taparko, saying the lives of its staff were in danger.

The economy is also at risk.

Gold is Burkina Faso's main export, accounting for 37% of total exports in 2020, and mining is a leading source of jobs.

For each person directly employed by a mine, there are three or four contractor and services workers, the national association of mining contractors estimates.

Diallo's business, which had revenues of 100 million CFA francs ($151,399) in 2019, has been making barely 4 million CFA francs a month since the Karma mine shut, he said. The conflict has also stoked inflation, making livestock more expensive.

PRODUCTION SINKS

The decline in Diallo's fortunes is reflected at the national level.

At current rates, Burkina Faso is set to produce 13% less gold this year than in 2021, in part because of mine closures, government statistics show.

The start of production at Orezone's Bomboré gold mine in late September was an exception to the trend.

In the nine months to end-September - the most recent period for which data is available - the country produced 43.651 tonnes of gold, down from 50.126 tonnes over the same period last year.

"We see the gold industry declining in Burkina over the next five to ten years," Richard Hyde, executive chairman and CEO of West African Resources told Reuters.

Security risks mean little exploration is happening, he added, saying West African Resources was one of the few companies to be exploring and planning a new mine.

The Burkina Faso mines ministry did not respond to Reuters' questions.

This year is on track to be the deadliest for the country since the Sahel crisis began more than a decade ago, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

The Al Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) carried out more than 400 attacks across ten of Burkina Faso's 13 regions in the first half of the year.

The conflict has also triggered political crises in the country, with two military coups this year.

Despite the instability, miners have managed to get people and supplies in and out of the country, said Sean Fieler, chief investment officer at Equinox Partners Investment Management LLC, who visited mines in Burkina Faso in July.

However, he said, "two coups within 12 months is not a good thing, I don't think anyone would argue otherwise".

Equinox Partners, through its funds, holds a 4.4% stake in West African Resources, a 0.2% stake in Endeavour Mining, and also invests in Orezone.

Sebastien de Montessus, CEO of Endeavour, Burkina Faso's biggest gold producer, said: "We remain committed to the country and ensuring our presence continues to provide economic benefits to our employees, contractors, suppliers and host communities".

In Burkina, 20% of the mining royalties collected by the state and 1% of mining company revenues go into a state-managed Local Development Mining Fund (FMDL) that finances development projects in mining communities and elsewhere.

In the first half of 2022, contributions to the fund fell by 9% from the same period last year, mines ministry reports show.

"When mines close, the whole country loses out," said Julien Baudrand, senior vice president for sustainability at Fortuna Silver, which runs the Yaramoko gold mine in Burkina Faso.

($1 = 636.0000 CFA francs)

(Reporting by Anne Mimault in Ouagadougou and Helen Reid in Johannesburg; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

BIOWAR CONSPIRACY FUEL

Belgium Announces Mobile Laboratories, Underwater Drones for Ukraine: Report

Remotely Operated Vehicle 7. Image: ECA Robotics Belgium

 

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

Belgium will deliver mobile laboratories and underwater drones to Ukraine, minister of defense Ludivine Dedonder announced.

The two laboratories can be deployed to areas facing chemical, bacteriological, radiological, or nuclear incidents within three weeks, La Libre quoted the minister as saying. She added that they could also be used as stand-ins for inoperable hospitals and maternity wards.

“It can also be used in disaster areas where maternity wards or hospitals have been destroyed. They can provide urgent aid. So far, it has not been sent by anyone,” the Belgian outlet quoted Dedonder as saying.

$46 Million Worth of Equipment Delivered

The announcement comes more than two months after the minister announced a 12-million-euro ($12. 45 million) military aid package for Ukraine, including heavy machine guns, ammunition, and other equipment.

The announcement included non-military aid as well, such as helmets, spare provisions, and night vision equipment.

Belgium has delivered equipment worth 45 million euros ($46.70 million) to Ukraine since the war began. 

Underwater Drones by May

Meanwhile, the ten drones produced by ECA Robotics Belgium will be delivered by the end of May to “identify all underwater threats, whether mines or spy devices.”

In addition, about 100 Belgian military instructors will provide training to Ukrainian soldiers in a range of combat tactics such as “fire support for short-range artillery, mine clearance, sniper training, intelligence, infiltration, communication systems,” Dedonder said,

The soldiers will also be trained to operate in “contaminated areas as well as standard and specialized field medical support or ground-air coordination as part of close air support.”

Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Wikipedia

NOBODY TOLD THE RUSSIANS
Russia denies planning to give up vast Ukrainian nuclear plant

Story by By Pavel Polityuk • Yesterday 

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant outside Enerhodar© Thomson Reuters

KYIV (Reuters) -The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is still under Russian control and will remain so, the Kremlin said on Monday, after a Ukrainian official suggested Russian forces were preparing to leave.

The head of Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy company said on Sunday there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing to vacate Europe's biggest nuclear plant, which they seized in March, soon after invading Ukraine.

The Kremlin dismissed the statement.

"There's no need to look for signs where there are none and cannot be any," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

Related video: Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine struggles to restore power; Russians shell Kherson city after retreat

Duration 3:06  View on Watch

Russia and Ukraine, which both suffered from the world's worst nuclear accident in Chornobyl in 1986, have accused each other of shelling the complex, which has six reactors.

Both sides have warned of the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, wants to create a protection zone around the plant.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said late on Sunday that he had no doubt Russian forces would leave the plant, where Ukrainian staff are still working.

"The defence line is starting to retreat to the borders of the Russian Federation," Podolyak told Ukrainian television, adding that Ukraine would take the plant back.

Ukraine's military said last week that about 30 Russian servicemen had been wounded near Enerhodar, the town closest to the plant. Reuters was not able to immediately verify the reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin moved in September to annex Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which Russian forces partially control. Kyiv and its Western allies condemned the move as illegal.

(Writing by Lidia Kelly and Kevin Liffey; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

FIVE EYES

Canada to boost defence, cyber security in Indo-Pacific policy, focus on 'disruptive' China'

Canada is seeking to deepen ties with 40 countries in the Indo-Pacific region that account for almost C$50 trillion in economic activity.

Reuters
Ottawa,

UPDATED: Nov 28, 2022 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits members of the Canadian troops, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the Adazi military base, Latvia. (Photo: Reuters)

By Reuters: Canada launched its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, outlining C$2.3 billion in spending to boost military and cyber security in the region and vowed to deal with a "disruptive" China while working with it on climate change and trade issues.

The plan detailed in a 26-page document said Canada will tighten foreign investment rules to protect intellectual property and prevent Chinese state-owned enterprises from snapping up critical mineral supplies.

Canada is seeking to deepen ties with a fast-growing Indo-Pacific region of 40 countries accounting for almost C$50 trillion in economic activity. But the focus is on China, which is mentioned more than 50 times, at a moment when bilateral ties are frosty.

Four cabinet ministers at a news conference in Vancouver took turns detailing the new plan, saying the strategy was crucial for Canada's national security and climate as well as its economic goals.

"We will engage in diplomacy because we think diplomacy is a strength, at the same time we'll be firm and that's why we have now a very transparent plan to engage with China," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government wants to diversify trade and economic ties that are overwhelmingly reliant on the United States. Official data for September show bilateral trade with China accounted for under 7% of the total, compared to 68% for the United States.

Canada's outreach to Asian allies also comes as Washington has shown signs of becoming increasingly leery of free trade in recent years.

The document underscored Canada's dilemma in forging ties with China, which offers significant opportunities for Canadian exporters, even as Beijing looks to shape the international order into a more "permissive environment for interests and values that increasingly depart from ours," it added.

CHALLENGE CHINA

Yet, the document said cooperation with the world's second-biggest economy was necessary to address some of the "world's existential pressures," including climate change, global health and nuclear proliferation.

"China is an increasingly disruptive global power," said the strategy. "Our approach ... is shaped by a realistic and clear-eyed assessment of today's China. In areas of profound disagreement, we will challenge China."

Tensions with China soared in late 2018 after Canadian police detained a Huawei Technologies executive and Beijing subsequently arrested two Canadians on spying charges. All three were released last year, but relations remain sour.

Canada earlier this month ordered three Chinese companies to divest their investments in Canadian critical minerals, citing national security.

The document, in a section mentioning China, said Ottawa would review and update legislation enabling it to act "decisively when investments from state-owned enterprises and other foreign entities threaten our national security, including our critical minerals supply chains."

"Because the region is both large and diverse, one size definitely does not fit all," Canadian Chamber of Commerce President Perrin Beatty said in a statement, adding that Canada’s priorities will need to be very nuanced both between and within countries.

The document said Canada would boost its naval presence in the region and "increase our military engagement and intelligence capacity as a means of mitigating coercive behavior and threats to regional security."

That would include annual deployment of three frigates to the region, from two currently, as well as participation of Canadian aviators and soldiers in regional military exercises, Defense Minister Anita Anand said at a separate news conference.

Canada belongs to the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, which wants significant measures in response to North Korean missile launches.

The document said Ottawa was engaging in the region with partners such as the United States and the European Union.

Canada needed to keep talking to nations it had fundamental disagreements with, it said, but did not name them.

“India’s strategic importance and leadership will only increase”: Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy

ANI
28 November, 2022 
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (File Photo)
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Ottawa [Canada], November 28 (ANI): Canada has in its new Indo-Pacific strategy document highlighted plans to increase cooperation with India, including a commitment to work towards a new trade agreement, underscoring New Delhi’s growing importance in the strategic, economic and demographic spheres in the region.

The “Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy” document states that the Indo-Pacific region will play a critical role in shaping Canada’s future over the next half-century. At the same time the document describes China as “an increasingly disruptive global power” and rebukes the Asian’s country for its disregard of international rules and norms.

“India’s growing strategic, economic and demographic importance in the Indo-Pacific makes it a critical partner in Canada’s pursuit of its objectives under this strategy,” says the 26-page document released on Sunday.

The strategy document contains a separate section on India and growing economic ties, including through deeper trade and investment, as well as cooperate on building resilient supply chains.

It seeks to expand to market access with India by concluding an Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) as a step towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries.

The strategy seeks to create a Canada-India desk within the Trade Commissioner Service to promote implementation of the EPTA for businesses and investors looking to enter the Indian market, or for those partnering with Indian businesses


Canada will it says invest in and connect people, including by bolstering Canada’s visa-processing capacity in New Delhi and Chandigarh.


The Canadian government will support academic, educational, cultural, youth and research exchanges.

Canada will seek to accelerate cooperation in the fight against climate change, in protecting the environment and in deploying green technologies.

It will also send enhanced Team Canada trade missions in priority sectors of mutual interest, such as renewable energy and clean technology.

The strategy states that Canada and India have a shared tradition of democracy and pluralism, a common commitment to a rules-based international system and multilateralism, mutual interest in expanding multifaceted ties between the two countries.

According to the document, the Indo-Pacific region will play a critical role in shaping Canada’s future over the next half-century.

Encompassing 40 economies, over four billion people and USD 47.19 trillion in economic activity, it is the world’s fastest growing-region and home to six of Canada’s top 13 trading partners.

“The Indo-Pacific region represents significant opportunities for growing the economy here at home, as well as opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses for decades to come,” the document read.

Meanwhile, the document describes China as “an increasingly disruptive global power,” that have complex and deeply intertwined relationships with its “key regional actors.”

“Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy is informed by its clear-eyed understanding of this global China, and Canada’s approach is aligned with those of our partners in the region and around the world,” the document reads.

It also rebukes China’s disregard of international rules and norms.

“China’s rise, enabled by the same international rules and norms that it now increasingly disregards, has had an enormous impact on the Indo-Pacific, and it has ambitions to become the leading power in the region,” the document adds. (ANI)

This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FIVE EYES 

USA-KSA Energy War and Global Energy Crisis

November 28, 2022
By Syed Raiyan Amir

In this photo released by Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, greets President Joe Biden, with a fist bump after his arrival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, July 15, 2022. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)


The response of the USA to OPEC and its partner’s plan to reduce output by two million barrels per day was strong enough to suggest an uptick in hostilities with oil producers, particularly Saudi Arabia. Despite the fact that the decision was well anticipated, Washington saw it as a strong indication from its Gulf allies that they are not likely to comply with USA’s requests to continue oil production. In fact, it has started a war between the two major oil powers to make a serious impact on the energy regime. Hence the tug of war has an impact on the global energy domain since these two are the principal role player in the energy regime.

However, prior to the 2020 election, current US President Joe Biden urged to charge Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman for the Jamal Khashoggi issue. The Trump era was quite friendly with the Saudi government. So, to confront Donald Trump Biden used the anti – Saudi stance in the 2020 election. Even the US government published a report on the issue after Biden was elected as the president. But the Ukraine war changed the landscape of global politics by introducing the energy crisis. To maintain a balanced price inside the USA, the Biden administration requested the KSA to put a bridle on the price. But despite having kept the USA’s urge the OPEC plus decided to hold the production of 2-million-barrel oil per day. It will help to move the price upward since the downward price of oil was alarming for the OPEC members. The rising oil price can determine the interim election in the USA. Hence the US responded strongly. But the KSA maintained its position. However, here the action of the two big powers in terms of energy will facilitate another round of energy crisis in the global market. The following portions will discuss the issue and what ramifications it will bring.


Strong Stance of the KSA

Suhail Al-Mazrouei, the energy minister for the Emiratis, stated to reporters following the Vienna summit that OPEC took action to assure that producers would continue to invest in new oil supply. “They have their own stories, too, in Europe,” he continued, “and in Russia. We cannot support either this nation or that nation. Moreover, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, ruled out whatever political purpose and impliedly rejected the notion that the resolution entailed any hostility toward the US or other purchasers, claiming it was not done in defense of Russia. These portray that the KSA is not showing its intent in a hostile manner rather it wants to deal the tension through diplomatic channel.

NOPEC: Reappearing on the Set

The No Oil Producing or Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) bill will allow the U.S. attorney general to sue OPEC or its members, such as Saudi Arabia, in federal court. Other producers like Russia, which works with OPEC in wider group known as OPEC+ to withhold output, could also be sued.

The decision to reduce oil production, however, has already caused President Joe Biden to express his “disappointment,” adding that he would be exploring at “alternatives” to increase inventories. Hence, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese, two senior officials, issued a joint statement urging the White House to rethink its position and support the so-called NOPEC bill, which would hold the oil-producing cartel legally responsible for any price collusion.

Releasing Strategic Reserve: Not an Optimistic Option

The Biden administration’s alternative choice is to increase the amount of oil that is released from the strategic reserve, which is currently at its lowest levels since 1984. A previously stated release of tens of millions of barrels had no effect on the market, but further releases could lead to a supply surplus that would support further OPEC production cutbacks.

The Russia Factor

Washington commentators spouted accusations of Saudi Arabia “siding with Russia” after the OPEC+ announcement of relatively small production cuts. In a statement, the Saudi foreign minister revealed that the U.S. asked OPEC+ to delay announcing its production cut by a month and said that he rejects such “dictates” from Washington.

Moreover, according to OPEC, the decision is simply technical and for maintaining market stability. However, the US administration was enraged because Alexander Novak, the deputy prime minister of Russia and minister of energy, was present at the OPEC+ summit in Vienna. According to sources at OPEC, the US attempted to exert pressure on Austria to forbid his attendance, but OPEC+ members vowed to relocate the organization’s headquarters from there if its integrity was not upheld.

According to analysts, rising oil prices prior to a price cap would be advantageous for Russia, the largest non-OPEC producer. At least the discount starts at a higher price level if Russia is forced to sell oil below market value. Early in the year, high oil prices somewhat offset the sales Russia lost as Western consumers avoided its supplies. Additionally, the nation has been successful in redirecting almost two thirds of its traditional Western sales to buyers in nations like India.

However, as oil prices and sales volumes dropped, Moscow’s revenue from oil decreased from $21 billion in June to $19 billion in July to $17.7 billion in August, according to the International Energy Agency. The price limitations would further undermine a significant source of income since oil and gas revenues account for one-third of Russia’s federal budget.

Ramifications: “Weaponization of Oil”

The world will experience a surge in demand for oil. Besides, the global politics will divide into two separate blocs, though already the polarization is vivid enough. There are other ramifications of the war.

Firstly, The Biden administration plans to “re-evaluate” America’s eight-decade-old alliance with Saudi Arabia because of last week’s OPEC+ decision to cut oil production. But the White House posturing looks like a bid to distract from the effects at home of Washington’s failure to pursue a successful transition to clean energy.

Immediately following the OPEC+ decision, Roger Diwan, an analyst with S&P Global Commodity Insight, claimed in a note that the cuts represented a “weaponization of oil” and that the meeting’s timing and location were an intentional signal: The deputy prime minister of Russia, who is subject to US sanctions, was present to discuss limiting the oil supply as winter approaches and Russia has already militarized its gas deliveries to Europe. The confrontational course taken by Saudi Arabia will increase the price risk for oil.

Secondly, a shift in the gulf’s policy domain will be experienced. Some in the US perceived the decision as a failure of Biden’s Gulf policy because it was taken just over two months after Biden’s meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in Jeddah. The ruling Democratic Party was anxious about the Congressional midterm elections in addition to the conflict in Ukraine and the economic sanctions against Russia. With opinion surveys indicating that Republicans might win majorities in both the House and the Senate, high gas prices at the pump only worsen their already bleak prospects.

Thirdly, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister cautioned in a deliberate response to the American response that US-led plans for a price ceiling on Russian shipments are fanning the uncertainty that prompted OPEC+ to its largest output cut in two years. The perception that the next two months would be “a period of uncertainty” is increased by “the lack of details and the lack of clarity” regarding how the price ceiling will be put into place. People have no idea how the market or the participants would respond.

Fourthly, according to some Gulf sources, the “strategic alliance” between the US and Gulf nations will prevent the situation from turning into a full-blown energy crisis. They even assert that everything will “cool off” following the midterm elections later this month.

Sixthly, the USA will search for alternative sources in the African region for maintaining supply-chain of oil and gas. The visit of Biden to the African states was a sign of newer sources to ensure the security of commodities like oil.

Finally, the energy war is empowering the movement for renewable energies facilitated by the USA inside and outside the USA. The initial election mandate for the US president was to enable more renewable energy sources.

Moreover, higher oil prices will unavoidably exacerbate the inflation problem that central banks around the world are trying to solve, and they will affect the decision to raise interest rates even further to slow down the economy. That might increase the price of gasoline globally and intensify an energy crisis in Europe and the rest of the world that is mostly related to Russian reductions in natural gas supplies used for heating, electricity, and manufacturing.

In the end, it is a reality for the developing and underdeveloped nations, that they will suffer the most. Reserve shortage, high inflation, high food price, and a prolonged energy crisis are what they might expect from the situation.



Syed Raiyan Amir
Research Associate The Center for Bangladesh and Global Affairs (CBGA)

Israel beefs up protection of its senior spies, as proxy war with Iran intensifies

NOVEMBER 28, 2022 

ISRAELI AUTHORITIES HAVE STEPPED up measures to protect its senior intelligence and security figures, over concerns they may be targeted by agents of the Iranian state, according to news reports. The news comes amidst widespread concerns that the ongoing shadow conflict between Israel and Iran is escalating in the shadow of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

On Thursday, Israel’s state-owned broadcaster and news agency, Kan, reported that  the government of Israel had implemented additional security measures to protect current and former members of its security and intelligence agencies. The report added that the measures are focused largely on current and former members of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, as well as those associated with Israel’s intelligence and security apparatus that are living abroad.

The report comes amidst concerns among security observers that a clandestine war between Israel and Iran is growing in intensity. To a notable extent, this growth is being fueled by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Iran’s supply of cheap and reliable attack drones appears to be enabling Moscow to subvert and outright destroy Ukraine’s national infrastructure. In what seems like a direct response to Iran’s actions, Israel war materiel is now flowing into Ukraine, reportedly through a NATO country.

There are indications that this proxy conflict between Israel and Iran is spreading in Europe and the Middle East. Seeing the success of the use of Iranian drones, some European countries with limited airstrike capabilities, like Serbia and Armenia, are reportedly considering purchasing drone attack systems from Tehran. Meanwhile, Israeli weapons exports to Arab states have skyrocketed since the normalization of Israel’s relations with a number Arab countries in recent years. According to a recent report, last year marked a historic record for the volume of Israeli military and security exports, which increased by 30 percent from 2020. Much of that increase is due to Israeli weapons exports to Arab states, such as Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 28 November 2022 | Permalink

Ruling Nepali Congress led by PM Deuba gains majority in general polls

The ruling Nepali Congress led by PM Sher Bahadur Deuba has emerged as the single largest party in the parliamentary polls.

India Today Web Desk
New Delhi,UPDATED: Nov 28, 2022 

Supporters of Nepali Congress Party cheer for their party. (Photo: Reuters)

By India Today Web Desk: 

The ruling Nepali Congress led by PM Sher Bahadur Deuba has emerged as the single largest party by winning 53 seats in the parliamentary polls held to end the prolonged political instability that has plagued the Himalayan nation.

Elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and seven provincial assemblies were held on November 20. The counting of votes started on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML) secured 42 seats in the elections. The CPN-Maoist has emerged as the third largest party with 17 seats while the CPN-Unified Socialist has bagged 10 seats.

ALSO READ | Nepal’s top political leaders explore ways to form government amid vote count

The newly-formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and pro-Hindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party have won 7 seats each. Independent and other smaller parties have emerged victorious on 21 seats. Out of the total 165 seats under direct voting, the results for 8 seats are still awaited.

The ruling five-party alliance has won 85 seats, against 55 seats won by the alliance led by CPN-UML. The ruling alliance includes the Nepali Congress led by Prime Minister Deuba, CPN-Maoist led by Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda, CPN-Unified Socialist headed by Madhav Nepal, Mahantha Thakur’s Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janamorcha led by Chitra Bahadur.

This comes a day after Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda held a meeting on Saturday and they agreed to continue their ruling five-party alliance as part of a new majority government in the country.

The vote count under the proportional representation to the elections of the House of Representatives and the province assemblies is ongoing. Out of over 17.9 million registered voters, the voter turnout was 61 per cent, according to the Election Commission (EC).

So far, approximately 80 per cent of the votes was counted, The Himalayan Times newspaper quoted EC's Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel as saying.

ALSO READ | Nepal polls: Ruling alliance heading towards majority; NC emerging as largest party

Approximately 2.4 million votes remain to count.

Under the proportionate voting method, the CPN-UML got the first position, securing more than 2.5 million votes and the Nepali Congress received 2.3 million votes. The CPN-Maoist and RSP have secured one million each.

In the 275-member House of Representatives, 165 will be elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 will be elected through a proportional electoral system. A party or a coalition needs 138 seats for a clear majority.

(With PTI input)