It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Oscars does U-turn on Rachel Zegler snub with West Side Story star now ‘invited to be a presenter’
At this year’s Academy Awards, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the classic musical is up for seven gongs, including best picture.
However, it was recently revealed that Rachel, who plays lead character Maria, did not receive an invitation to attend the lavish event, with the star sharing her disappointment with her fans on social media.
Following a huge uproar over the glaring omission, it has been reported that efforts are being made to ensure that she can be present at the ceremony.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has now invited the 20-year-old to be a presenter when the winners are announced on Sunday.
However, there are complications in the way, as she is currently in London filming the live-action adaptation of Disney’s Snow White, in which she will play the titular character.
Many people found the lack of an invite bizarre considering West Side Story is up for seven Academy Awards (Picture: Twentieth Century Studios)
The publication claimed that there are hopes that the film’s shooting schedule can be altered so that Rachel is free to join her fellow Hollywood A-listers at the Oscars.
The news of the actor’s lack of an invite for the Oscars emerged after a fan said on Instagram that they couldn’t wait to see what she would be wearing at the Academy Awards.
‘I’m not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel,’ she responded at the time.
Russ Tamblyn, who played Riff in the original 1961 West Side Story film, said it was the ‘duty’ of the Oscars organisers to find Rachel a seat, urging them to ‘do right by her’.
Alec Baldwin also tweeted that he would buy her two tickets to the show.
Following the influx of fan support over her admission, with many outraged that she was not asked to attend, Rachel wrote on Twitter: ‘My goodness folks!! Appreciate all the support, I really really do.’
She continued: ‘We live in such unprecedented times, and a lot of work behind the scenes goes into making movie magic happen. That goes for film productions (like the one I am so lucky to be currently shooting in London) and awards shows alike. Let’s all just respect the process and I’ll get off my phone.’
Rachel received the Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical for her performance in West Side Story, becoming the first actress of Colombian descent and the youngest to receive the award.
Metro.co.uk has contacted the Oscars and Rachel Zegler’s representatives for comment.
Ukraine War Heightens French, European Concerns Over Russia’s Africa Presence
A private security guard from the Russian group Wagner, left, stands next to a Central African Republic soldier during a rally of the United Hearts Movement (MCU) political party at the Omnisport Stadium in Bangui, March 18, 2022.
PARIS —
Less than a decade ago, former French president Francois Hollande received a triumphant welcome — and a fretful camel — during a visit to Mali, where cheering crowds hailed France’s advances against a fierce Islamist insurgency.
Today, the insurgency is entrenched, Mali is ruled by a military junta, and Paris is pulling its troops from the Sahel country amid soaring anti-French sentiment. As French forces retreat, another foreign player is gaining ground in Mali and elsewhere, analysts and reports say: Russia — backed by private military contractor, the Wagner Group.
As has been widely reported, the head of the Wagner Group is considered a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — and the Ukraine security agency has described the group as Putin’s private army.
Escalating tensions between Russia and the West over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are also casting a new focus on Africa — ramping up worries about Moscow’s expanding influence on the continent, particularly in former French colonies. Even if some analysts currently dismiss another Cold War scenario, dividing Africa into Western and Russian spheres of influence, many agree on its growing strategic importance.
As Russian forces batter Ukraine, there is pronounced alarm at the growing clout of Wagner, accused of rights violations in Africa and the Middle East. More recent reports suggest Wagner personnel were dispatched from Africa to Ukraine in a bid to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“There’s obviously been a huge amount of concern” about Russia’s strategy in Africa, says Pauline Bas, Africa program deputy director for the International Crisis Group. While Russia’s influence in the resource-rich continent isn’t new, she says that “Wagner has been a sort of game changer.”
“The West has seen Russia’s strategy as very informal and opportunistic, with the deployment of mercenaries that operate off the books,” she adds. “And Wagner-tied companies getting their hands on mining concessions has caused a great deal of consternation, because Russia cannot be held responsible.” In Bamako and Bangui: France out, Russia in
For France, Russia’s growing foothold in Mali comes amid its own deteriorating ties with Bamako’s military rulers and spiking anti-French sentiment that has spread to other parts of the Sahel.
In late January, Malian authorities expelled France’s ambassador, compounding tensions including over French demands for a swift democratic transition in Mali. Weeks later, Paris confirmed plans to pull its 2,400 Barkhane counterinsurgency troops from the country, along with a smaller European Union force.
Amid the acrimony, Wagner personnel arrived in Mali in late December, reports say. They launched a pro-Russia campaign on social media — part of their trademark strategy of online disinformation, some say — and their estimated 1,000-man presence in the country is intended to replace French troops.
French President Emmanuel Macron accused Wagner of “predatory aims,” saying the group was in Mali “to secure their own business interests and protect the junta.”
“There is a lot of opportunism,” agrees Bax, describing Russia’s broader presence in Africa, including via Wagner. “That’s what you see clearly in Mali, where there is mining, an insurgency and very strong anti-French sentiments. They’ve been testing the waters to see what they can do.”
France’s relations with Bamako dipped another notch last week, when Mali suspended French broadcasters RFI and France 24 over their reports of alleged civilian executions in central Mali by both Wagner and government troops. The U.N. is investigating the reports.
Wagner has denied it has a presence in Mali, where the junta says only Russia military trainers are on the ground.
Anti-French and pro-Russian sentiments are also high farther south, in Central African Republic (CAR), another former French colony once dependent on Paris’ military support. Today, that’s been partially replaced by Russian forces and Wagner, which reportedly arrived in 2018. Last year, France suspended military cooperation and aid to Bangui over its alleged failure to stop anti-French disinformation campaigns.
Relations have not improved since then. Last month, Central African officials briefly arrested four French peacekeeping troops over allegations on social media they were plotting to assassinate the country’s president. The move intersected with French and U.S. accusations that Wagner had killed dozens of civilians in the country.
Bamako and Bangui both deny hiring Wagner personnel, saying they are working only with Russian military “trainers,” in their fight against armed groups. Analysts say the two countries count among Wagner’s growing African foothold, with its presence reported in Libya, Sudan and Mozambique, among other countries.
“Wagner is a cheap war under the radar, where Russia liberates itself from all the rules,” French analyst Marc Lavergne told France’s TV5Monde television channel. “It’s a war not against enemies, but to implant itself in countries where Russia doesn’t have a means to deploy commercial networks.” Ukraine fallout?
Still, analysts are uncertain about Russia’s overarching goals in Africa — if, indeed, it has any. Besides providing military support, Moscow counts among Africa’s top weapons suppliers. But it’s unclear, some say, whether it has a bigger game plan on the continent, as it did during the Cold War.
“I think they’re looking for opportunities, rather than operating on a coherent expansion strategy,” says Sahel specialist Andrew Lebovich, of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
If the Ukraine conflict and western sanctions grind on, he adds, Russia may recalibrate. “There is going to be a desire to up the pressure on Europe,” Lebovich says.
Russia’s growing international isolation is another consideration. CAR and Mali count among two dozen African countries who declined to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine during a U.N. vote earlier this month.
“Russia has lost many friends,” says Bax of the Crisis Group, making the cultivation of African allies increasingly important. “But I think Russia is too preoccupied with the Ukraine war to put much energy and resources into that.”
For their part, African countries like Mali are mindful that Russia does not deliver the sizable development aid they receive from Europe or the United States, analysts say. And it may not deliver military dividends either.
“There’s no guarantee that Wagner will succeed where Barkhane has failed,” Bax says of France’s counter-insurgency force in Mali. “The security situation has not gotten better.”
THE children’s book a 19-month toddler has been introduced to by her parents carries the illustrated story of tennis legend Serena Williams. The text and drawings by Mary Nhin and Yuliia Zolotova, respectively, are part of a series of books about inspirational people from past and present. “Dad would have me and Venus throw a football to each other before practising our serves,” Serena explains with useful illustrations. “It was a great way to get the snapping motion down.” Other pages in her story are anecdotal, funny and inspirational.
On the back of the dog-eared book are thumbnail sketches of 50 men and women for separate books for the new generation. From Mark Twain to Frida Kahlo, and Anne Frank to Maya Angelou, or from Rosa Parks to Marie Curie, the list traverses a gamut of new ideas and moments in history, all pointing to a mix of worthy pursuits to pick from. Three women from India have made the grade that will no doubt offend the Modi establishment.
Mother Teresa and Sonia Gandhi are shunned in their country today, but their presence among the top inspirers for children aged three to 14 years suggests that though one can put down people at home — as is the case with Nehru and Gandhi under India’s right-wing rule, for example — respect for them breaches prejudice beyond the confines of national boundaries. A third woman among the little book’s stars is Indra Nooyi from India, now a ranking US business executive.
Michelle Obama is listed but not Hillary Clinton. “In the new Mini Movers and Shakers children’s book series comes a cast of characters who have failed, yet succeeded despite overwhelming obstacles,” says the publisher. “Sometimes, we are faced with challenges that seem insurmountable. But with grit and hard work, one can achieve great things!”
How can a country’s foreign policy be independent when its PM doubles as the election agent of a US president?
Could there be a mistake here? Clinton may be down today, but she’s not out. Analysts could glean this from her Thursday speech at the Democratic Convention in New York. In words that struggled for subtlety, analysts say, she failed to rule herself out as a superior option to the struggling Joe Biden or listless Kamala Harris, potentially against Donald Trump, in 2024. Three assertions from her address are cited. “We need to focus on solutions that matter to voters.” “The struggle for unity and democracy is far from over.” “Democrats are fighting for safer communities and more opportunities … better jobs and higher wages … healthcare and housing that doesn’t break the bank.” Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were taken care of in the last line.
Clinton’s shadow hovers over global moments, part of it in the form of the Biden policy, the outcome of her decisive role in helping candidate Biden emerge as a dark horse to evict Sanders and Warren from the primaries. Clinton didn’t qualify as an inspiration in the book for toddlers but she’s present in the China-baiting pivot to the East, in South Asia’s political wings, in the heart of the matter in Kiev, and in an invisible way in London where an ace journalist’s fate hangs in the balance. Take Prime Minister Imran Khan, who in a dire moment before a no-trust vote that threatens to upend his government prematurely, made an unusual observation about India’s foreign policy. He told the opposition that his foreign policy was like India’s, which befriends the US but buys oil from Russia. That’s the kind of independence Khan has tried to pursue, signalled recently in his controversial visit to Moscow. From several accounts that one incident may have sealed his fate.
As for India’s overstated independent foreign policy, it got an ovation from varied corners of the world when Delhi in its avatar as a global statesman shepherded the Non-Aligned Movement through the minefield of East-West rivalries. NAM’s sobering presence is sorely missed in the scary stand-off between Nato and Moscow, both using a bloodied Ukraine as a battering ram against the other.
But how could a country’s foreign policy be independent when its prime minister doubles as the election agent of a US president? India’s clout abroad, to use the word loosely, comes from an unusual nexus that hasn’t flourished in Pakistan. Who was invited to Bill Clinton’s inaugural from India? Not a president or prime minister but an Ambani scion. Who was the Indian invitee subsequently at the Bush inaugural? Another Ambani scion. At whose family wedding was Hillary Clinton a key guest? An Ambani event. Who therefore inevitably greeted Mr Modi warmly in September 2014 in New York? The Clinton couple.
“I am thrilled. No one had the knowledge and votes before you to build a national economy,” Bill Clinton reportedly told an unsurprised Mr Modi. It’s thus tempting to see India’s widely criticised Russia policy as one that’s buffered by its personalised links, which often override diplomatic overtures or demarches. Pakistan misses this handy traction in foreign relations, something that gives India its leeway, regardless of any morality, in the oil deal with a country at war with its own friends.
Mid-term elections in the US, critical for Democrats and Republicans equally, are due only in November. They could presage Hillary’s next gambit. She has her finger in the Russian pie, the reason Vladimir Putin has expressed his rage by sanctioning her (and not her husband) together with President Biden and some others. Another development, flowing from Hillary Clinton’s wrath concerns Julian Assange. Last week, he was denied a final request to appeal before the UK’s top court against his pending extradition to the US. If Assange is indeed extradited — Clinton and Biden would want him before November — it could replace the headlines should the news from Kiev not be very flattering. Publishers of the children’s book will keep their eyes peeled as there’s scope for corrigendum when wars and elections usher unexpected outcomes.
ONE may well mistake it for some other respiratory illness — even Covid-19 at a time when the pandemic still persists. But coughing, having difficulty in breathing, chest pain, weakness and fever are also the main symptoms of tuberculosis, which is spread through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or spits in close proximity. A person can become ill after inhaling only a few droplets. However, though people with strong immune systems can be infected not all fall ill. Those with weak immunity, comorbidities such as diabetes, and smokers are at higher risk. World TB Day that is observed every year on this day is an apt reminder of a ‘silent killer’ that continues to take thousands of lives across the globe, including in Pakistan. It is also described as a disease of the poor because it is more prevalent in countries where population densities are high and working and living conditions are subpar. Tuberculosis is now considered the second most lethal infectious disease in the world after Covid-19.However, TB is both preventable and treatable. In 2020, some 1.5m people died of this disease globally. Two-thirds of these deaths were reported from eight countries — most of them in India, followed by China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa. As many as 600,000 cases are reported in Pakistan every year, out of which at least 27,000 are said to be of the multidrug-resistant variety. About 44,000 people die of the infection. The rise of MDR TB in Pakistan is a reflection of bad medical practices, poor disease surveillance and the state’s negligence towards the need for greater access to healthcare facilities — factors that mar the performance of the health sector. The prevalence of MDR TB also exposes the inadequate investment in the National TB Control Programme which has been unable to curb TB’s spread. The authorities need to invest politically, financially and administratively in efforts to eradicate a disease that continues to cut short a number of lives.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2022
WATER IS LIFE
Dera people call for steps against Indus pollution
In this photograph taken on September 13, 2014, a blind dolphin
swims along the Indus river in Sukkur. — AFP
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The local people showered flowers on the Indus River and danced to the drumbeat to give a message against water pollution.
The event was organised by a literary organisation Sapat Sindhu Salhar on Wednesday. The participants of the event threw flowers in the river to give the message of saving it from pollution.
The event was attended by political workers, civil society members, literati and people from different walks of life, wearing Saraiki Ajrak.
Malik Asif Ali, chairman of Sapat Sindhu Salhar, said on the occasion that the event had been held in the spring for the last 10 years. He said that the Indus was the custodian of the ancient civilisation of Dera Ismail Khan and its water was a symbol of life.
He said that government should install a treatment plant along the river to ensure its protection. He said that government should devise a plan to prevent contamination of the water of Indus.
A protest rally was also held on the occasion against pollution. The participants of the rally reached the river on foot, dancing to the drumbeat.
Meanwhile, a similar walk was organised in Paharpur by Sangha Organisation.
Led by Younas Khan Hout and Amirzada Hout, the participants of the walk threw rose petals in the river.
Talking to journalists on the occasion, the participants of the walk said that residents of Dera Ismail Khan had been observing the ritual on March 23 every year for the last one decade to prevent contamination of the river water.
They said that diseases and epidemics were spreading due to pollution while aquatic life was also in danger due to it. They said that in the past, the river was 14 miles wide but now it turned into a canal.
THE World Water Day was observed earlier this week (March 22) across the globe, but not much was heard about it in Pakistan. The theme of the day this year was, ‘Groundwater: Making the invisible visible’. Groundwater has become invisible over the years, but its impact can be felt everywhere. Out of sight, under our feet, groundwater is a hidden treasure that enriches our lives.
Globally, climate change has caused an adverse impact on groundwater levels. Its crucial role as a life-sustaining resource is increasingly threatened not only by over-extraction and water-logging, but also by contamination. A truly sustainable world needs to define water as a precious resource that must be valued.
Pakistan is ranked 36th on the list of most water-stressed countries. Its per capita annual water availability dropped from 5,600 cubic metres in the 1950s to 1,017 cubic metres at present. It will soon become a water-scarce country if proper resource management is not done through legislative and institutional measures.
Groundwater is our main source of drinking water, and fulfils about 40 per cent needs related to irrigation water. Nearly 90pc water resources are allocated to needs of irrigation and agricultural sector, which contributes 25pc to the gross domestic product (GDP) and employs around 44pc of the national labour force.
Groundwater extraction was initiated not to supplement surface water resources, but to combat rising water tables and water-logging and salinity problems. The unregulated and uncontrolled use of groundwater has increased the extraction rate.
Surface water withdrawals account for about 74pc of the total surface water available, while groundwater withdrawal accounts for 83pc of total available renewable groundwater.
Groundwater management has been neglected on the pretext of its abundance. Unprecedented ground water exploitation has led to its depletion as well as the deterioration of the overall water quality. A continuous decline in groundwater table has been observed in many areas of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. Owing to excessive pumping, the downward gradients are increasing as well as inducing saltwater intrusion into fresh groundwater areas.
The problem of declining groundwater resources is likely to exacerbate with climate change and rural-urban migration.
Improving groundwater management is integral to Pakistan’s economic development. According to the World Bank report, Pakistan: Getting More from Water, without necessary reform and better demand management in the water sector, water scarcity will constrain Pakistan from reaching upper middle-income status by 2047.
For joint management of surface water and groundwater, the federal government is believed to drafting a five-year national groundwater management plan to provide a framework for coordinating groundwater stakeholders across Pakistan. The challenge is to implement and deepen these initial reforms and to create awareness about the need to conserve water for long-term sustainability of Pakistan’s vital groundwater resources.
Published March 24, 2022 THE Poles and Ukrainians wanted to cover up the matter. When war broke out in Ukraine in February, millions of Ukrainians fled to the Polish border. Also in the country were some 100,000 foreign students, the majority of whom were African and Indian. These students had gathered the fees for their courses of study after sacrificing a lot, with their parents selling property, jewellery, taking loans, etc. They were caught in the panic. Many lived in hostels in the cities of Sumy, Kherson and Kyiv. All of them were terrified and did not know how to get home. In Ukraine, they stuck together and travelled in groups, afraid of the white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups that attack non-white foreigners. How to leave safely? Speaking to Al Jazeera, one Nigerian student exclaimed: “I don’t even know right now [how I feel] because I cannot think. I am literally shaking.”
For most, it was a terrible journey to the border. According to one media interview, at least one group of students who had managed to get a car were stopped by Ukrainian soldiers and made to get out. Ukrainian women and children were put in the car instead. The students were left to walk to the Polish border. There they joined the thousands of others who were trying to leave Ukraine and get to safety. While a presidential decree forbade Ukrainian men to leave the country, male foreign students were still trying to make it to the border with female students. White people are welcome,
white people are human,
white people’s pain matters.
At the Polish border, both women and men who were foreigners in Ukraine were put in separate lines. It was bitterly cold and there was nothing to eat or drink. The students stood in line for hours on end. The lines for Ukrainians were also long, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Before long, however, the students saw that the lines for the Ukrainians were moving. The lines in which the students stood were not. For some Nigerian students, the wait became so long they actually decided to turn back and make the entire journey again so that they could try to exit the country through Hungary. Finally, the plight of the students came to the attention of a CNN news crew. If it had not been for the story being aired on CNN, several students might have died of hypothermia.
In my experience, Ukrainian and Polish officials become defensive when questioned about the racism that these students suffered. They feel that the students’ story is Russian propaganda than one of discrimination and racially based exclusion. Indeed, while the plight of the Ukrainians is truly tragic, racism must never be condoned. In wartime, the most vulnerable are the ones with least information about the context and hence the least able to get to safety. These would be individuals like the foreign students studying in Ukraine.
The problem is not limited to one or two European countries. The ugliness of European racism is something that the invasion of Ukraine has laid bare. Poland, that had been building walls and boasting of creating a ‘fortress’ to keep out refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, has somehow found it in their heart to welcome white refugees. Sadly, we live in a world where the depth of European empathy is quite literally skin-deep. Ukrainian children get toys when they arrive; Syrian children are allowed to drown, washing up like Aylan Kurdi on a European beach.
The immigration schemes that have been created by countries like the UK and EU are yet another iteration of the help that was never offered to the world’s black and brown refugees and migrants. There is permission to stay for up to three years, there are offers to work without penalty, continue courses of study. None of these are available to those unlucky foreign students who have been displaced from Ukraine. Germany for one has told all foreign students who arrived from Ukraine to leave the country by May 23, 2022, or face possible deportation.
It is probably a good idea to leave the EU for other reasons too. In Poland, black and brown students leaving the train stations in border towns where refugees were arriving were accosted and harassed by members of Polish neo-Nazi groups. Even those students who reached Germany were afraid of leaving their rooms because of threats by far-right and neo-Nazi groups who have tried to create a visible presence on the streets of Berlin and other cities since the war began. Many use the language of ‘invasion’ to describe the very presence of non-white foreigners.
If ever there were doubts about the shallowness of European ‘civilisation’, the current conflict should put them to rest. Here are countries with lofty promises enshrined in their laws and constitutions, millions devoted to enabling ‘equality’ among their citizens. As it turns out, the European ‘inability’ to include Turkey in the EU, to accommodate refugees weary from wars caused by their own colonial decrepitude can all be pinned to race. White people are welcome, white people are human, white people’s pain matters. While Russia is also racist and Islamophobic (Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Azerbaijanis are targets), Europe is not much better. Indeed, if Europe is counting on their superior morals as an argument for why they and not Russia deserve support, they have lost that argument. The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy. rafia.zakaria@gmail.com Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2022
‘US only now coming to terms with Afghan situation’
WASHINGTON: There was ‘surprise and frustration’ in Washington when Kabul fell to the Taliban but gradually, they understood the situation, says Pakistan’s US Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan.
“Obviously, it came as a surprise for everybody, contrary to the intelligence estimates here and earlier than anybody had expected,” said the outgoing ambassador, explaining why Washington reacted so strongly to the fall.
Ambassador Khan, the longest serving Pakistani diplomat in the US, leaves for Islamabad on Thursday from where he will head to Brussels as his country’s new envoy for the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg.
He served as Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington from Jan 7, 2019, to March 24, 2022. He has also served in Washington as the deputy chief of mission for four years and spent six years in New York, including as a diplomat at Pakistan’s UN Mission.
Pakistan’s outgoing envoy in Washington says Ukrainian crisis won’t divert world’s attention from challenges in Afghanistan
Asked to define the most difficult issue he handled in Washington, Mr Khan acknowledged that the Afghan issue was difficult but pointed out that “both sides have never shied away from addressing problems”. And this (US-Pakistan) “has never been an easy relationship,” he added. The United States and Pakistan, he said, have had a “clear convergence” in Afghanistan because “the US is as much interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan as we are”.
Mr Khan represented Pakistan in Washington during much of the Doha talks between the United States and the Taliban that were facilitated by Pakistan. The talks ended on a peace deal that led to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and consequently to Kabul’s fall to the Taliban.
“Our job was to articulate and convey our national position to Washington and to listen to the concerns expressed here and explain how Islamabad looked at developments in Afghanistan,” he said.
The embassy, however, was not involved in arranging the visits of Taliban officials to Doha as that was handled by Islamabad, he added.
Ambassador Khan said that Pakistan’s key role in facilitating the evacuation of those wishing to leave Afghanistan also helped improve bilateral ties after the fall of Kabul.
“We saw appreciation for Pakistan’s positive contribution during the peace process and dealing with the aftermath of the Taliban takeover,” he said. “People understood that the international community must come together to stabilise Afghanistan as Pakistan alone cannot do this.”
Ambassador Khan hoped that the Ukrainian crisis would not drive the world’s attention away from the humanitarian challenges in Afghanistan.
Asked if the embassy was ever asked to arrange a telephone call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Imran Khan, Ambassador Khan said: “You don’t make formal phone call requests. Leaders do get in touch on issues and such possibilities are explored. But it is dependent on the convenience of the leaders.”
Mr Khan also said that telephone “calls should not be a yardstick for any relationship, and certainly not for US-Pakistan ties”. The relationship, he noted, has been moving at its pace and there have been regular contact between the national security advisers, cabinet ministers and the military leaderships of the two countries.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2022
Chinese FM lands in Kabul on unannounced visit after OIC moot
Tahir Khan Published March 24, 2022 - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) calls on acting Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Thursday. — Photo by author Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (L) welcomes Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) on his arrival to Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday. — Photo courtesy Bakhtar News Agenc
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Kabul on Thursday morning in a trip that was not earlier announced, officials confirmed.
Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi received Yi on arrival in Kabul along with a high-level delegation.
The visit comes a week before Beijing hosts a two-day conference, on March 30-31, of Afghanistan's neighbours on how to assist the Taliban government. Pakistan and Iran had earlier hosted similar meetings of these neighbouring countries after the Taliban takeover.
During the day-long visit, Yi held separate meetings with acting Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar and FM Muttaqi, the officials said, adding that bilateral matters, economic cooperation and Chinese investment in Afghanistan were discussed during the meetings. 'Afghan territory will not be used against any country'
According to Inamullah Samangani, deputy spokesperson of the Afghan government, Baradar assured the Chinese foreign minister that Afghan territory would not be used against any country.
Samangani said both sides discussed the expansion of Afghanistan-China relations in several fields, including trade, transit and the economy.
In this regard, Samangani quoted Baradar as saying that Afghanistan and China had historical and friendly relations and that the two countries had stood together in difficult times.
"So it is very important that we strengthen and expand our relations," Baradar said.
According to Samangani, Baradar told the Chinese foreign minister that Afghanistan was working to expand relations with all countries, especially China.
"And we thank China for its humanitarian assistance," Baradar added. 'China's policy is not to interfere in Afghanistan'
Separately, Yi met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, according to a statement by Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry.
The two foreign ministers exchanged views on politics, the economy, transit and air corridor, the statement said, adding that the export of dry fruits from Afghanistan to China, educational scholarships, issuance of visas, Afghanistan's role in the Belt and Road Initiative and other matters of significance were also discussed.
Yi called his visit to Afghanistan a step towards strengthening comprehensive relations and said Afghan-China should be further enhanced and expanded, the statement shared by Balkhi on Twitter read.
Yi told Muttaqi that China had adopted a policy of non-interference in Afghan internal affairs and objected to the imposition of political and economic sanctions on the war-torn country.
He praised the changes made by and the security measure taken by the new Afghan government and highlighted the humanitarian, development and other assistance provided to Afghanistan, the statement said.
It added that Yi also underlined the importance of the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers from Afghanistan's neighbouring countries and expressed pleasure over Muttaqi's intent to participate in the meeting.
For his part, Muttaqi said the Chinese foreign minister's visit to Afghanistan gave a "positive message" to Afghans and the world and appreciated China for its support and assistance.
He also extended his condolences over the loss of lives in a recent plane crash in China.
The Afghan foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart that the new Taliban government had taken measures to ensure security in the country and that this "existing security" would pave the way for foreign investment, including that from China.
He also raised the prospect of China working with Afghans on economic growth and stability, which Muttaqi said his government would fully support.
"We are committed to [pursuing] sincere cooperation with the People's Republic of China, and ensuring peace and security in Afghanistan means peace and stability in the region," he said, stressing that the Afghan territory would not be used against any country.
Yi's visit is the first by a senior Chinese leader after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August and comes right after he completed his three-day visit to Islamabad where he attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's foreign minister’s conference, which ended yesterday, as a special guest.
FM Yi last visited Kabul in June 2017 after a huge truck bomb killed and injured many. He had tried to ease tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan after exchanges of fire in May 2017 had made relations tenuous.
The Chinese foreign minister’s visit might give a diplomatic boost to the Taliban government, which is yet to be recognised by any country.
China has been involved in the Afghan peace process after the US withdrew most of its troops in 2014. Taliban political representatives have paid several visits to China over the past few years.
Meeting with Russian delegation
The statement quoted Muttaqi as saying that Russia had utilised the opportunities created by the new Afghan government and extended assistance on several development projects.
"Muttaqi said the new government is focused on regional security and connectivity, and wants Afghanistan, as the heart of Asia, to play an important role in strengthening transit, trade, industry and economy ... in the region," the statement read.
The two sides called the meeting positive, expressing hope for an expedited and enduring series of practical cooperation, the statement added.
#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA
India rejects Chinese FM's remarks on occupied Kashmir at OIC moot
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) moot on March 22.
— APP/File
India has rejected Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's remarks on occupied Kashmir during the recent Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Islamabad, terming it an "uncalled [for] reference".
According to a report by NDTV, spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi, while talking to reporters on Wednesday, called the Kashmir issue an "internal matter", saying that other countries, including China, had "no locus standi" to comment on it.
The two-day meeting of OIC's Council of Foreign Ministers ended on Wednesday with affirmation of support for Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir disputes.
Forty-six countries participated in the moot at the ministerial level, while the other countries were represented by senior officials. Nearly 800 delegates attended the meeting hosted by Islamabad. The Chinese foreign minister was the special guest at the conference. It was the first time in OIC's history that a Chinese foreign minister attended its foreign ministers' meeting, indicating Beijing's expanding role in the Muslim world.
According to the NDTV report, Wang had made a reference to occupied Kashmir in his opening speech at the OIC moot, saying: "On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends. And China shares the same hope."
Reacting to the statement on Wednesday, Bagchi said: "Matters related to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are entirely the internal affairs of India. Other countries including China have no locus standi to comment. They should note that India refrains from public judgement of their internal issues." Chinese FM's expected trip to India
This rebuttal from the Indian side came at a time when the Chinese foreign minister is expected to make a surprise stop for talks in New Delhi on Friday, an Indian official told Reuters, though neither side has formally announced what would be the highest-level visit since border clashes soured relations two years ago.
Yi is set to also visit Nepal on Friday, as part of a tour of South Asia.
The Indian government source, who requested anonymity, said Yi was expected to meet with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and while the agenda was unclear, discussions over the Ukraine conflict were expected.
India's foreign ministry declined to comment. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at a daily news briefing on Wednesday that he had no information to offer at the moment.
Relations between China and Indian became fraught in June 2020, when 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed during a high-altitude clash in a disputed section of the western Himalayas.
World beginning to recognise Pakistan's long-standing concern about India's nuclear capabilities: NSA
Dawn.com Published March 24, 2022 National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf said on Thursday that the world was "beginning to recognise Pakistan's long-standing concern" about India's nuclear capabilities, expressing the hope that the Islamabad Declaration adopted at the recent Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Islamabad would lead to growing calls for India's accountability.
In a series of tweets, he said participants at the summit "highlighted threats to the regional security" following a missile launch by India inside Pakistan, which the neighbouring country claimed had been "accidental".
Yusuf said he hoped that the Islamabad Declaration would lead to an increase in global calls for New Delhi's accountability and the launch of a transparent and joint investigation into the incident.
A day earlier, foreign dignitaries attending the 48th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad had expressed concern over an Indian missile striking a building in Pakistani territory on March 9 and put their weight behind Islamabad's demand for a joint probe to accurately establish facts.
The incident first came to light after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major Gen Babar Iftikhar shared details on March 10 of what he described as a "high-speed flying object", which was fired from Indian territory.
The DG ISPR had told media persons that the object, which was unarmed and probably a missile, had fallen in the Mian Channu area of Punjab's Khanewal district.
Gen Iftikhar had called the airspace intrusion a "flagrant violation" and demanded an explanation from India.
A day later, New Delhi had confirmed that a missile had been launched across the border into Pakistan, expressing regret over the incident and attributing the "accidental" fire to a "technical malfunction".
Islamabad, however, has maintained that this explanation is "simplistic" and fails to answer multiple questions in relevance to the incident.
While India says an inquiry has been launched into the matter, Pakistan has repeatedly insisted on a joint probe to establish facts surrounding the incident.
In his tweets today, the national security adviser said that foreign ministers at the OIC moot, too, had underscored the "threat to the region's security due to India's recent missile launch into Pakistan".
"Make no mistake, India has become an irresponsible state with nuclear weapons and the world is beginning to recognise Pakistan’s longstanding concern on this count," he said, adding that naturally, countries "reportedly looking to buy Indian missiles and other equipment are having second thoughts".
Yusuf emphasised that the "missile 'misfire' from India must remain an issue of international concern".
"Indian attempts to brush it off cannot mask the gravity of the episode," he said, dubbing the "lack of Indian response to Pakistan's call for joint investigation and lack of Indian information about India's so-called internal inquiry" a "wakeup call" for the international community.
"This reflects the mindset of the [Narendra] Modi regime and the character of the Indian state today," he added.
Yusuf further said that Pakistan would "continue to sensitise international opinion on the dangers of India's nuclear programme and will continue efforts to ensure strategic stability while defeating aggression at all costs".
PAKISTAN IS A SIGNATORY TO THE NUCLEAR NON PROLIFICATION AGREEMENT NEITHER INDIA NOR ISRAEL ARE.
Impoverishing Ukraine: What the US and the EU have been doing to the country for the past 30 years
At last Wednesday’s gathering of US congressmen to hear the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the event by crying out, “Slava Ukraini”—“Glory to Ukraine”—no less than five times. This expression has become popular in Washington, London, and elsewhere as of late, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also bellowing out the cry in a session of the House of Commons and on Twitter.
American President Joe Biden, while not yet tackling the two Ukrainian words, claims at every moment that the more than one billion dollars’ worth of armaments he has poured into Ukraine—enough for every citizen to kill every other multiple times over—is to defend the “freedom” and “dignity” of that nation.
The origins of the term “Slava Ukraini” reveal something about the real relationship of the US and NATO to Ukraine’s working masses of all ethnicities and linguistic groups—Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, etc. As biographer Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe explains in his book about Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, “Slava Ukraini” was part of the salute delivered by members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its military wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which were collectively responsible for the mass murder of tens of thousands of Soviets, Jews and Poles during World War II.
Neither the United States nor the EU nor any of their related institutions care now or have ever cared about the people of Ukraine, much less their liberty. Even as they have been using the country as a cat’s paw in their battle with Russia—as a result of which massive amounts of firepower are making their way into the hands of today’s Ukrainian fascists, and parts of the country are being blown to bits—the US and the EU have been economically strangling the Ukrainian people for decades.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (R) greets Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich (L) at the IMF Headquarters April 12, 2010 in Washington, DC. (International Monetary Fund Photograph/Stephen Jaffe)
As measured by GDP per capita, Ukraine, with its 44.13 million inhabitants, is the poorest or second poorest country in Europe. It competes with Moldova, with about 2.6 million people, for these inauspicious titles.
The bottom 50 percent of Ukraine’s population gets just 22.6 percent of all the country’s income and 5.7 percent of its wealth. The top 10 percent own nearly 60 percent of Ukraine’s net personal assets, according to the World Inequality Database, a publication put out under the directorship of three of the globe’s leading specialists in inequality—Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. In 2018, Ukrainian households’ average net savings stood at minus $245.
The median household income in Ukraine is around $4,400 a year, about on par with that of Iran, whose economy has been operating under crushing sanctions for years. The average wage in Ukraine is estimated to be just €330 a month, and the state-mandated minimum a worker can be paid is €144. According to the Ukrainian government, an individual ought to be able to survive on less than half that amount, as the subsistence minimum is €64. Retirees who are at the bottom rung of the pension scale take home €50 a month.
The country’s Institute of Sociology reports that the typical Ukrainian family spends 47 percent of its total income on food and another 32 percent on utility bills. In 2016, nearly 60 percent of people were poor according to government standards, including 60 percent of kids. That poverty rate dropped to “only” 37.8 percent in 2019. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization found that in 2020 15.9 percent of Ukrainian children under 5 were malnourished, and in 2019 17.7 percent of women of reproductive age were anemic, a condition caused by lack of iron in the diet. That number has been steadily rising since 2004. Twenty-four percent of the population is obese.
Ukraine population
Between 2014 and 2019, the birthrate fell by 19.4 percent. Ukraine’s mortality rate is extremely high—14.7 per 1,000 people. It is well above that of many countries in Africa, the poorest continent on the globe. Its suicide rate, according to the World Bank, ranks 11th in the world. With deaths outstripping births by more than two to one and hundreds of thousands emigrating annually in search of anything better, the country’s population has shrunk every year since 1993. There are 8 million fewer Ukrainian citizens today than there were 30 years ago.
One could go on. Apart from the super-rich and a narrow layer of middle and upper-middle class people concentrated in the major cities, Ukraine is a sea of deprivation.
This is a direct outcome of economic policies imposed on the country by the very states that today parade around declaring their love for Ukraine. In an immediate sense, the current situation has its roots in the 2014 US-backed coup that brought to power a government in Kiev that immediately signed an association agreement with the EU requiring it to implement severe austerity measures. But it has even deeper roots.
The social and economic disaster in that country can be traced back to the Stalinist bureaucracy’s dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 and the restoration of capitalism in all of the newly independent nation states, which saw their full integration into global financial and trade networks. Through a series of policies collectively known as “shock therapy”—worked out in close collaboration with Western advisers—nationalized property was transferred to private hands. Former Communist Party officials and their children, economic managers and directors of major Soviet factories and sections of industry, as well as criminal elements active in the shadow economy, won out at the expense of the working masses, through a combination of outright theft and bargain basement fire sales of Soviet resources.
Europe Net Average Monthly Salary Adjusted for Living Costs
Out of this wrecking operation, competing factions of big business emerged in Ukraine that were centered in Donetsk in the east and Dnipropetrovsk to its west, with coal mining and processing, energy production and transit, and metallurgy being their main sources of wealth. Banking and media empires emerged, and new sources of profits were soon realized in consumer products and agriculture.
The ranks of Ukraine’s billionaires began to grow from this period forward—Victor Pinchuk ($1.9 billion), Renat Akhmetov ($7.6 billion), Igor Kolomoyskyy ($1.8 billion) Henadiy Boholyubov ($1.1 billion), Petro Poroshenko ($1.6 billion), Vadim Novinsky ($1.4 billion), and on. For decades, Ukrainian politics has been consumed by conflicts, alliances, splits in alliances, and warring among them, which have intersected with the question as to whether the country would be pulled into closer economic relations with Europe, maintain its strong ties with Russia, or somehow manage the two simultaneously. The warfare has unfolded as geopolitical tensions between Washington and Moscow have grown, with Ukraine understood as a key zone of competition.
During the 1990s, even as great sums were being accumulated at one end of the spectrum, Ukraine’s economy was in free-fall. With per capita GDP declining by 8.4 percent between 1993 and 1999, its economy was among the worst of any European country. Inflation was at times completely out of control, reaching an annual high of around 376 percent in 1995, thereby wiping out the savings and spending power of Ukrainian workers early in the process of market restoration.
“Many young people, who lacked alternatives in the early 1990s, joined gangs and were used as pawns in the process of accumulation by criminals,” observes political economist Yuliya Yurchenko in her 2018 book Ukraine and the Empire of Capital, with warfare between competing business clans producing at times bodies in the streets. A two-and-a-half fold increase in crime between 1988 and 1997 was largely driven by various forms of “theft, robbery, swindling, and extortion” and “bribe taking, counterfeiting, and trading in narcotics,” she notes.
Top 10 percent wealth share Ukraine
During this time, Ukraine received 10 loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in the start of what would be a near-constant process of borrowing from international financial institutions over the course of the 2000s and 2010s. The terms of the loans have centered around a 1994 “Memorandum on Questions of Economic Policy and Strategy” signed by Ukraine and the IMF that, in the words of Yurchenko, “effectively limited Ukraine’s government decision-making power.”
Agreements with other international financial institutions, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, drafted on the principle of cross-conditionality—i.e., creditors set terms that coincide and reinforce one another—established similar limits. The noose around the loan recipients’ neck tightens in multiple directions.
Lenders demanded that the government in Kiev end policies that created obstacles for foreign trade, eliminate price regulations, reduce the state budget deficit, cut subsidies to “unproductive” industries, make manufacturing outlets more competitive by modernizing their plants and laying off workers, privatize more state-owned property, cut budgetary expenditures by targeting social programs and pensions, and impose value-added taxes such that the collection of money from sales would fall more heavily on consumers as opposed to business.
While these processes have accelerated and/or slowed down at times depending on whether the administration in Kiev has been more US- or more Russian-allied, every Ukrainian government has been a partner in implementing the demands of global capital. Having emerged out of the ashes of the great barbeque that was the breakup of the Soviet Union, the ruling class of Ukraine is a comprador class in the most complete sense of the term.
In 1998, for instance, Ukraine’s parliament granted President Leonid Kuchma the authority to impose a 30 percent reduction in government expenditures. This was done because the IMF told the country to do so. “In addition to meeting fiscal and monetary targets, the government must pass legislation on privatisation, tax reform, energy and agricultural sector restructuring, and flushing out its massive ‘shadow economy,’” observed an August 1998 article in the Financial Times.
“The reforms,” writes Yurchenko, “created mutually reinforcing negative effect on the economy by opening up outdated industry for competition with foreign transnational corporations and by reducing financial state support for enterprises and citizenry thus making the latter poorer and the former even less competitive with expected negative aggregate consumption and potential revenue drop.”
Ukraine’s debt continued to balloon over the course of the coming years, increasing from $10 billion in the period from 1997-2002 to $100 billion in 2008-2009, the equivalent of more than 56 percent of the country’s GDP and more than double the total value of all its exports at that time. While it has fluctuated in recent years, it is basically at the same level today as it was a decade ago. As a result, Ukraine has ended up in a constant cycle of indebtedness, careening at times towards default due to broader crises in the world economy, such as the 2008-2009 crash.
In addition to breaking up whatever was left of Soviet-era nationalized property and the social welfare state, austerity measures were aimed at disciplining Ukraine’s oligarchs. While their wealth was accumulated on the basis of the country’s integration into the world market, and thus made possible and sustained by the centers of global capital, investors from the West hesitated to descend directly into the dog-eat-dog world of Ukrainian big business, where bribe-taking, ever-changing economic laws, tax rates that on paper sometimes exceeded profits, and the use of bankruptcy for profiteering were rampant.
“[O]mnipresent lawlessness were damaging for foreign relations, political and trade. Western investors from the USA, the EU and particularly Germany (Ukraine’s strongest EU-isation backers) became ‘disenchanted with the country,’” notes Yurchenko. Still, they salivated at the prospect of getting access to tens of millions of consumers and wage-labor that was cheap and skilled. According to Yurchenko, “In a personal interview with the Corporate Europe Observatory think-tank, the former Secretary General of ERT, Keith Richardson, said that the demise of the USSR was as if they ‘have discovered a new South-East Asia on the [EU] doorstep.’”
Concerned not just about the loss of potential investment opportunities in Ukraine but also the geopolitical future of the country, the United States and Europe responded. First, a whole number of business associations and advisory groups—American Chamber of Commerce (ACC), Centre for US-Ukraine Relations (CUSUR), US-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), the European Business Association (EBA), and the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)—were either created or mobilized for the purposes of, in the words of the EBA, “discussion and resolution of problems facing the private sector in Ukraine.”
Established in 1999, the European Business Association provides a forum in which members can discuss and find solutions to common problems affecting business in Ukraine. Initially supported by the European Commission, the initiative has grown to one of the largest and most influential business communities in the country. Currently the EBA brings together about 970 European, Ukrainian and multinational companies. It has regional branches in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odessa.
These institutions were staffed with representatives from major Western corporations and Ukraine’s business elite, with many sitting on more than one board. By 2010, 105 of the world’s top 500 transnational corporations were active in them. They sought out, or even established, lobbying groups and advisory councils active in Ukraine’s government.
These include such bodies as the Investors Council under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Working Group of Justice (co-chaired by the European Business Association) under the Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice, the Working Group on Tax and Customs Policy (also co-chaired by the EBA) under the country’s Ministry of Finance, the Foreign Investment Advisory Council of Ukraine (FIAC) under the president of Ukraine, and the Public Councils that are within different ministries and state committees.
Over time, the lobbying groups and advisory councils, according to Yurchenko, collectively got their hands into all of the following areas of Ukrainian governance; the “reduction of state control over economic activity and marketisation alike”; the “simplification of import and export procedures, harmonisation of regulations with the EU in IT and electronics sector, revoking of medication advertising ban, creation of State Land Cadastre in preparation for land privatisation, simplification of market entry for pharmaceutical and insurance companies from the EU”; and “market reform; fiscal and tax policy; banking and non-banking financial institutions and capital market.”
Furthermore, being housed in government agencies, these groups did not just make suggestions as to how Ukraine ought to transform its economy, they were involved in the drafting of law and strategy documents laying out state policy. In short, there is not even one degree of separation between Ukrainian governance and Western corporations, financial interests, and state power.
Between 2006 and 2013 alone, Yurchenko found upwards of 50 instances of “successful lobbying” by just the European Business Association—in other words, the EBA’s suggested policies became Ukrainian law. The Americans have also had their direct means of leverage. The Centre for International Private Enterprise, one of the many lobbying organizations active in Kiev, “serves as a bridge agency between the US Congress and Ukraine’s authorities by proxy of ACC (American Chamber of Congress). The Centre is run by the Chamber but is in fact one of the four programs of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) that is funded by the US Congress,” notes the scholar.
As Western political and business interests have increasingly been integrated into the Ukrainian state, the IMF, other foreign lenders, and the EU have used the ongoing crisis in the country’s economy to pile on the pressure. They have regularly held back on releasing loans or signing trade agreements because Kiev has not privatized and cut enough. When, in order to get the promised money, the government has pushed through the required measures, the outcome for the population have been devastating.
An April 2009 article in the New York Times devoted to Ukraine’s failure, yet again, to meet the requirements of foreign lenders, noted that while there had been tens of thousands of jobs axed in the country’s industrial towns in the east, bankers viewed it as still not enough.
In Donetsk, “unemployment has officially almost doubled, to 67,500, in the past two months, and the authorities suspect that up to one-third of the 1.2 million registered workers are toiling for a small fraction of their nominal salary,” wrote the newspaper, adding, “In Makeevka, with 400,000 residents, just outside Donetsk, the Kirov factory laid off nearly all its workers in December and January. Now, an average of four people vie for every job. In nearby towns, that ratio soars to 70 or 80 people for every available job, officials say.”
But, citing the comments of a bank analyst in Kiev, the Times observed that still more was expected. Another steel producer in Donetsk, the analyst said, “could easily cut 20,000 to 25,000 people and keep the same output.”
Ruined Factory in Konstantinovka in Donetsk Oblast July 2008 (Creative Commons)
As part of the process of making Ukraine’s economy “more competitive,” the IMF and the EU have demanded the raising of the retirement age, the ending of fuel subsidies that enable households to afford to heat their homes and cook their meals, and the selling-off of the country’s highly profitable timber and agricultural lands. The latter in particular has been long sought, as Ukraine has 25 percent of the world’s “black earth,” some of the most naturally fertile soil in the world.
All of this and more have now been achieved. A 2017 study of Ukraine’s garment industry published in the Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Europe, noted that the Kiev government has introduced the following measures in response to the demands of the international financial institutions and EU representatives over the last several years. It has:
Frozen the legal minimum wage and stopped adjusting it to the cost of living
Reduced social welfare payments and pensions by ending cost of living indexing
Changed the labor code to restrict union access to workplaces, make the disclosure of “commercial secrets” grounds for dismissal, require unionized workers to agree to overtime, end limits on the number of overtime hours workers must accept, permit factories to monitor workers using cameras and other technologies, and end the requirement that unions agree to a layoff
Increased utility charges dramatically
Placed a moratorium on inspections, including labor inspections, in small businesses (This resulted in the growth of wage arrears from 1.3 million hryvnia in 2015 to 1.9 million in September 2016.)
Decreased employers’ mandatory social insurance contributions, thereby ensuring there is less money for social services and pensions
Cut the number of public sector employees
Canceled family payments for childbirth, childcare and schools.
Closed hundreds of hospitals
Stripped higher education and cultural institutions of funding
As the authors of this study note, all of this is extremely unpopular with ordinary people. Polls have found that 70 percent of citizens are upset about the growth of inequality, 58 percent about job loss, and 54 percent about “interference of western countries in the governance of Ukraine.”
But this continues unabated. The ongoing assault on Ukraine’s healthcare system has been particularly severe. Due to demands from the IMF and the terms of Ukraine’s EU Association Agreement, the country has been implementing healthcare reforms. On the grounds of increasing “efficiency,” it stopped paying medical institutions on the basis of their number of beds and instead on how many patients they treat. This has resulted in the layoff of an estimated 50,000 doctors and the shuttering of 332 hospitals, with rural areas being especially hard hit and left, for all intents and purposes, without medical services.
According to the Ministry of Health, as of 2020 half of Ukraine’s remaining 2,200 hospitals were underfunded. An article that same year in the online press Current Time reported that the director of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Rehabilitation Hospital went on a hunger strike in late April of that year in protest. “That month, the National Health Service slashed the facility’s monthly financing by more than five times, she told Current Time: from 2 million hryvnia, or about $75,224, to 237,000 hryvnia or $8,914.”
All of this left, in the words of Ukrainian President Zelensky in 2020, Ukraine “medically naked” when it came time to combat the coronavirus. COVID-19 has infected over 5 million Ukrainians and killed 112,000. After Zelensky’s pleading with the United States to send vaccines to help, in the summer of 2021 the Biden administration finally dispatched 2 million doses, enough to cover less than 4 percent of the country’s population.
Burial of Deceased Covid-19 patient in Chernivtsi Ukraine 2020 (Creative Commons)
Between just 2008 and 2019, Ukraine shed over 1.4 million industrial jobs, according to the data analysis firm CIEC. When measured in constant US dollars, World Bank data shows that the country’s GDP has now declined by 56 percent compared to what it was when it was still a Soviet republic in 1989.
According to President Zelensky, Ukraine is “paying off billions of U.S. dollars annually to international organizations.” And still, as of that year Ukraine had $40 billion of “non-performing loans”—i.e., debt it could not pay. In 2022, on top of the interest on its IMF loan, the country was supposed to pony up another $35 million to cover IMF “surcharges” in February and $29 million in March.
This disaster has been achieved not simply through the domination of Ukraine’s economy by foreign capital, but through direct American and European political interference. Over the last 15 years, the country has experienced two so-called “revolutions”—one in 2004 and one in 2014. In both cases, Washington and Brussels were directly involved, backing forces in the country that were committed to drawing the country out of Russia’s orbit and shoring up its relation with the West. They had no problem with neo-Nazi street fighters doing the dirty work necessary to secure their preferred outcome.
In the latest exercise in “popular democracy,” Ukraine’s 2014 “Revolution of Dignity,” US State Department official Victoria Nuland was caught on tape speaking to America’s ambassador to Ukraine with instructions as to what the composition of the new government in Kiev would be. Washington’s choice, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was installed as prime minister and immediately signed a deal paving the groundwork for Ukraine’s eventual ascension to the EU, resulting in the implementation of all of the policies listed above.
These historical facts are dismissed in the Western media as nothing but “Russian disinformation.” The Kremlin has its own reasons, which have nothing to do with concern over the well-being and freedom of Ukrainians, for drawing attention to the dirty role played by Washington and Brussels in Ukraine’s “revolutions.” But the use of these facts by the Putin government to promote Russian nationalism and justify its criminal invasion of Ukraine does not make the facts themselves untrue.
Ukrainian economic and political sovereignty, the democratic and social rights of its population, have been systematically and grossly violated for thirty years by the US and its NATO allies. No one in Washington, Brussels, or elsewhere has ever lost a minute’s sleep over the death of a Ukrainian man, woman, or child from poverty, ill health, job loss, or COVID.
Rather, they have orchestrated, welcomed, and profited off of Ukraine’s social misery. For them, ordinary Ukrainians are now little more than war materiel to be expended in the battle with Russia, whose working class they are also now strangling to death with economic sanctions, despite years of decrying their repression under the evil dictator, Vladimir Putin.
