Feed aggregator

Seit dem Ausbruch des Krieges in der Ukraine ist auch die Abhängigkeit von China vermehrt ins Blickfeld geraten. Denn gerade die Energiekrise hat deutlich vor Augen geführt, dass eine Abhängigkeit von russischen Energieträgern leicht nach hinten losgehen kann. 

„Gyümölcsözőknek és nagyon fontosaknak” minősítette Volodimir Zelenszkij ukrán elnök hétfői kijevi tárgyalásait amerikai kollégájával, Joe Bidennel a Sky News brit tévécsatornának adott nyilatkozatában, amelyből a Jevropejszka Pravda hírportál idézett.

„Reméljük, hogy 2023 a győzelem éve lesz” – tette hozzá az ukrán államfő. Hangsúlyozta: továbbra is mindent megtesz azért, hogy a demokratikus világ „megnyerje ezt a történelmi csatát”. Szavai szerint Ukrajna nagyon nehéz időszakon megy keresztül, de „történelmi eredményeket” fog elérni az Egyesült Államok és a világ többi részének segítségével.

„A mai tárgyalások nagyon gyümölcsözők, nagyon fontosak és nagyon határozottak voltak” – mondta, hozzátéve, hogy az eredmény minden bizonnyal hatással lesz a harci cselekmények alakulására.

„Az igazságszolgáltatás helyreállítása szintén fontos. Az agresszornak vállalnia kell a felelősséget az agresszióért, és meg kell térítenie az okozott károkat” – emelte ki Zelenszkij, megköszönve az Egyesült Államok támogatását ennek megvalósításában.

Biden látogatását a CNN-nek értékelve kijelentette: egy évvel az Ukrajna ellen indított háború kezdete után Putyin „hódító háborúja a vereség felé tart”. „Putyin azt gondolta, hogy Ukrajna gyenge, a Nyugat pedig megosztott. Azt hitte, túl tud élni minket. Nem hiszem, hogy most így gondolja” – vélekedett Biden.

Dmitro Kuleba ukrán külügyminiszter kommentárjában kijelentette, hogy az Egyesült Államok és Ukrajna elnöke egyaránt elégedett a látogatással, amely „egyértelmű jelzésnek nevezhető a Kreml számára”. A tárcavezető történelminek minősítette a látogatást, és megjegyezte, hogy ez Ukrajna győzelme.

„Azt mondom: mindkét elnök elégedett a beszélgetéssel. A légkör a lehető legbizalmasabb és legőszintébb volt. Ez a látogatás az ukrán nép és Zelenszkij elnök győzelme. Minden esélylatolgatás ellenére Ukrajna és az egész szabad világ győzelme érdekében történt – hangsúlyozta Kuleba. Hozzátette: egyértelmű jelzés is egyben Moszkvának arra vonatkozóan, hogy „senki sem fél tőle”.

Kuleba tájékoztatott arról, hogy a következő napokban ismét külföldi utakra indul: Brüsszelbe, Hágába és New Yorkba.

Február 21-én Brüsszel ad otthont az első háromoldalú Ukrajna-EU-NATO- találkozónak, amelynek célja a fegyverekkel, a kiképzéssel és a védelmi ipar munkájának növelésével kapcsolatos erőfeszítések összehangolása – emlékeztetett az Ukrajinszka Pravda hírportál. Kuleba közlése szerint Hágában úgyszintén tárgyalásokat terveznek az Ukrajnának szánt fegyverekről, valamint Ukrajna uniós csatlakozásáról.

Biden látogatása alatt Ukrajna egész területén légiriadót rendeltek el, mert egy MiG-31-es vadászrepülőgép a levegőbe emelkedett Fehéroroszországban. A légiriadó másfél órán át tartott – írta az ukrán hírportál.

Fehér Ház: az Egyesült Államok néhány órával az elnök kijevi utazása előtt tájékoztatta Oroszországot

Az Egyesült Államok néhány órával Biden Kijevbe utazása előtt értesítette Oroszországot az amerikai elnök ukrajnai látogatásáról – közölte a washingtoni Fehér Ház Nemzetbiztonsági Tanácsa. Az elnöki hivatal biztonsági testülete közleményében példa nélkülinek nevezte az utazást, tekintettel arra, hogy az Egyesült Államok nem rendelkezik „katonai infrastruktúrával” a háború sújtotta térségben. Jake Sullivan, az elnök nemzetbiztonsági tanácsadója újságírói kérdésre annyit mondott, hogy az Egyesült Államok „konfliktusmegelőzési” szándékból döntött úgy, hogy néhány órával az elnök elutazása előtt tájékoztatja az oroszokat. A tájékoztatás formájáról, módjáról és az esetleges orosz válaszról a fehér házi illetékes nem számolt be.

Medvegyev: Biden biztonsági garanciákat kapott kijevi útja előtt

Biztonsági garanciákat kapott kijevi látogatása előtt Biden – közölte Dmitrij Medvegyev, az orosz biztonsági tanács elnökhelyettese. Medvegyev nem részletezte, hogy pontosan ki adta ezeket a garanciákat Bidennek. Konsztantyin Koszacsov, az orosz parlament felsőházának elnökhelyettese úgy vélekedett, hogy a kijevi úttal, „maximálisan hősies külsőségek között” kezdetét vette Biden újraválasztási kampánya. Több orosz parlementi képviselő úgy vélekedett, hogy a Biden-vizit semmilyen hatást nem gyakorol a „különleges hadművelet” menetére, az elnök legfeljebb az EU-ban és a saját választói körében szerez majd pontokat.

 

The post Orosz agresszió: Zelenszkij reméli, hogy az idei év Ukrajna győzelemének éve lesz appeared first on .

La Grèce, nouvelle terre d'exil pour les Turcs anti-Erdoğan
Depuis le coup d'État manqué, les Turcs investissent dans l'immobilier en Grèce
Investissements chinois en Grèce : Pékin construit sa nouvelle route de la soie
Musique : Cevdet Erek d'Istanbul, ou le son et l'espace autour du davul

/ Courrier des Balkans, Grèce, Economie, Populations, minorités et migrations, Questions européennes

Rohingya IDPs confined to a Sittwe camp in Rakhine State wait for international intervention. More than 1.5 million people are displaced in Myanmar. Credit: Sara Perria/IPS

By Thompson Chau and Guy Dinmore
BANGKOK, Feb 21 2023 (IPS)

Nearly 18 million people – about one-third of Myanmar’s population – need humanitarian aid this year because of civil war and the post-coup economic crisis, according to the latest United Nations estimates.

The numbers needing support continue to rise from the estimated 14 million people needing aid last year. More than 10,000 people were displaced by fighting in southern Kayin State in early January alone, joining more than 1.5 million IDPs across the country.

The UN says it recognises the urgent need to remain in Myanmar and step up humanitarian operations, but it is caught between a hostile military junta imposing restrictions on its activities and a loose network of resistance groups accusing the world body of legitimising an illegal regime.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also facing increasing criticism for his apparent hands-off leadership in the crisis.

“Almost 18 million people – nearly one-third of the Myanmar population – are estimated to be in humanitarian need nationwide in 2023, with conflict continuing to threaten the lives of civilians in many parts of the country,” said Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar.

He told IPS that international and local humanitarian aid organisations are “using a range of approaches” in different areas and had reached over four million people in 2022 despite severe underfunding and what he called “heavy bureaucratic and access constraints”.

Balakrishnan defended the importance of the UN’s engagement with General Min Aung Hlaing’s regime, which has ruthlessly crushed dissent since seizing power two years ago and overthrowing the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Principled engagement with all sides is a must to negotiate access and also to advocate on key protection issues. Advocacy to stop the heavy fighting and airstrikes in populated areas that are threatening the safety of both civilians and aid workers is as important as reaching people in need with humanitarian aid,” he said.

Aid workers accuse the junta of further restricting aid operations and blocking urgently needed aid from reaching millions of people. The regime admitted this month it cannot effectively administer about one-third of Myanmar’s townships. But it is able to choke access to some areas controlled by resistance groups and ethnic armed organisations that have been fighting the military for decades.

The junta is seeking to impose its authority with a new law making registration compulsory for national and international non-governmental organizations and associations and introducing criminal penalties for non-registered entities with up to five years of imprisonment.

“Civic space has been decimated in the country already due to the military’s actions, particularly its systematic harassment, arrest, and prosecution of anyone who opposed their coup,” said James Rodehaver, chief of the UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia (OHCHR) Myanmar Team. “These new rules could greatly diminish what operational space is left for civic organisations to deliver essential goods and services to a population that is struggling to survive.”

Muslim Rohingya IDPs wait for aid to be unloaded in Pawktaw camp in Rakhine State, an hour by boat from the main city of Sittwe. Credit: Sara Perria/IPS

Many of the more than one million refugees outside Myanmar also need help. Most are stateless Rohingya Muslims forced out of Rakhine State into Bangladesh in waves of ethnic cleansing before the 2021 coup, with many held in border camps.

The UN’s reputation was already battered before the coup over its handling of the long-festering Rohingya crisis in which it was accused by aid workers and activists of being too accommodating with the Myanmar military. And it has come under further fire since.

In a joint letter last September, more than 600 Burmese civil society organisations said they “condemn in the strongest terms the recent public signing of new agreements and presenting of letters of appointment to the illegitimate Myanmar military junta by UN agencies, funds, programmes and other entities working inside Myanmar.”

“We call on you and all UN entities to immediately cease all forms of cooperation and engagement that lends legitimacy to the illegal, murderous junta,” said the letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General. The signatories argued that letters of appointment and agreements should be presented to what they regard as the legitimate government of Myanmar – the parallel National Unity Government established by ousted lawmakers – and “ethnic revolutionary organisations.”

A Myanmar researcher specialising in civil society and international assistance highlighted the role of Burmese CSOs in delivering aid. “Local CSOs comprehend the complexity of specific local needs in the current crisis as the communities they serve struggle with security concerns and essential public services, including healthcare and education,” said the researcher, who goes by the name Kyaw Swar for fear of security reprisals.

He said that donors and foreign organisations had adopted risk aversion arrangements post-coup, referring to UN and INGO’s costs for capacity-building components and disproportionate country-office operations. “Local CSOs have fewer operations, and risk management options [and] have no choice but to channel international aid to their respective communities.”

UN officials reject the notion that they are legitimising the regime and insist that only by operating in the junta-controlled heartland and also through cross-border assistance can aid be delivered to a substantial part of the population in desperate need.

“The UN finds itself in an almost existential bind. It can’t engage with an oppressive regime without being seen to condone its actions,” commented Charles Petrie, former UN Assistant Secretary-General and former UN chief in Myanmar.

“Somehow, the UN’s senior leadership needs to convince all that engaging in a dialogue with a pariah regime is not the same as supporting it and that it should be judged on the outcome of the discussions rather than being condemned for the simple fact of engaging,” he said.

“But being able to do so successfully implies that it has the level of credibility that right now it still needs to rebuild,” he added.

Questions have also been raised about the apparent lack of hands-on leadership on the part of Guterres. The UN Secretary-General seems to have made little personal intervention beyond routine statements, such as the latest marking the second anniversary of the coup in which he condemned “all forms of violence” and said he “continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and to support their democratic aspirations for an inclusive, peaceful and just society and the protection of all communities, including the Rohingya.”

Since the coup and despite the unfolding humanitarian crisis, Guterres is seen as having taken a back seat and delegating to two successive special envoys. This stands in contrast to his predecessor Ban Ki-moon who actively intervened during the Cyclone Nargis disaster in 2008, personally meeting then-junta leader General Than Shwe and negotiating the opening of Myanmar to aid workers.

Petrie suggested Guterres should take a page out of Ban’s book and provide much more active leadership on Myanmar and be “more openly engaged and supportive of the work done by his special envoy.”

While China and Russia lend military and other support to the junta, much of the rest of the diplomatic world has taken a step back from the Myanmar crisis, leaning instead on ASEAN to assume the lead.

But the 10-member bloc has been ineffective so far. It has coordinated an unprecedented shunning of the junta’s leadership in regional meetings, but neighbouring countries – with their own blemished democratic records – are unwilling to penalise the regime. The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) has been charged to respond to the humanitarian crisis, but with no success.

Laetitia van den Assum, the former Dutch ambassador to Myanmar and Thailand, said the aid response would have been more effective if ASEAN had set up a partnership between AHA and experienced UN and other organisations.

“That, in fact, is what happened in the aftermath of Nargis, when under the strong leadership of Dr Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN and UN worked in tandem. It took time to put the effort together, but ultimately it took off,” van den Assum told IPS.

As with the UN leadership, Lim Jock Hoi, a Bruneian government official who was ASEAN chief until December, was barely noticed on the issue of Myanmar, in stark contrast to Pitsuwan, who helped persuade Than Shwe to accept humanitarian assistance in 2008 when Cyclone Nargis killed over 100,000 people.

“UN agencies like OCHA, WFP and UNICEF, as well as many dedicated INGOs, continue to provide assistance, more often than not under difficult circumstances, and with countless Myanmar civil society organisations playing critical roles,” Van den Assum observed.

“But until now, the SAC [the junta’s State Administration Council] has stood in the way of more effective aid,” she added. “What is missing is an overall agreement between Myanmar and ASEAN about such assistance, how to expand it and how to guarantee that all those in need are served. ASEAN and AHA have not been able to deliver on this.”

Observers point out that AHA is set up to respond to natural disasters and has no experience in intervening with aid in conflict situations.

“That had already become clear in 2018 when AHA was tasked to make recommendations for ASEAN assistance to northern Rakhine state after the enforced deportation of more than 750,000 Rohingya. The initiative died a slow death,” Van den Assum said.

“AHA was not to blame. Rather, ASEAN politicians had taken a decision without first considering whether it was the most advisable approach,” the veteran diplomat said.

No breakthrough is in sight. The junta has extended a state of emergency for another six months, admitting that it lacks control over many areas for the new elections it says it wants to stage but which have already been widely denounced by the resistance as a sham.

“Heavy fighting, including airstrikes, tight security, access restrictions, and threats against aid workers have continued unabated, particularly in the Southeast, endangering lives and hampering humanitarian operations,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in its latest update.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Myanmar and ASEAN: Time is not on the Side of Democracy
• A New Political Reality in Myanmar: A People No Longer Willing to Accept Military Rule

Séismes en Turquie : « ce sont les pauvres et les réfugiés qui souffrent le plus »
Séisme : la diaspora kurde de France achemine de l'aide, la Turquie freine
Turquie : le régime Erdoğan fait pression sur les médias kurdes
Grèce, Serbie, Turquie : journaliste, encore et toujours un métier à risques

/ Médias, Turquie, Courrier des Balkans, Société, Politique intérieure, Séisme

Marco Kohler zeigt eine starke Saison im Europacup. Nun wird er dafür belohnt. Der Grund? Neben starken Leistungen die kuriose Absage von zwei Rennen.

Deux ministres iraniens et 30 autres personnes ont été sanctionnés lundi (20 février) par l'Union européenne pour la répression des manifestations en Iran, dénoncée par plusieurs milliers de personnes lors d'un rassemblement d'opposants à Bruxelles.

Written by Gisela Grieger.

Since Russia launched its unprovoked war against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the United States (US) has worked in lockstep with allies and partners, notably the European Union, its Member States and other G7 countries, towards a strong collective response. This has included several packages of economic sanctions against Russia aimed at severing the country from technologies and financial sources that fuel its war, and directly targeting the persons and entities involved. The US in cooperation with the EU has garnered support from a large majority of the international community to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a violation of the United Nations (UN) Charter, and has worked towards isolating Russia in multilateral fora, including within the G20, in defence of the US-led, rules-based international order. Moreover, the US has been at the forefront of multilateral actions to tackle the multiple adverse implications of Russia’s war of aggression both for Ukraine and the whole world, including food and energy insecurity.

The US has provided significant military, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its EU neighbours, while steering clear of engaging in direct confrontation with Russia. In January 2023, the US decided to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks, but no fighter jets. By 20 November 2022, the US had provided a total of almost US$48 billion in assistance to Ukraine. In December 2022, the 117th US Congress (2021‑2022) passed government spending legislation that appropriates an additional US$45 billion for Ukraine. By then, Congress had already appropriated a total of US$68 billion in support for Ukraine in three different packages. However, modifications to Congressional appropriations for Ukraine cannot be excluded, owing to the ongoing controversy over raising the US federal debt ceiling. Moreover, the December 2022 government spending legislation authorises for the first time US Department of Justice transfers of assets forfeited by Russian oligarchs to assist Ukraine. Recent polls consistently show a solid majority (65 %) of US respondents support US assistance to Ukraine. However, there is a significant partisan gap in the degree of support, with 47 % of Republicans stating the US spends too much, while only 10 % of Democrats say so.

This briefing complements an earlier ‘At a glance’ note by Matthew Parry and Marcin Szczepański.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Russia’s war against Ukraine: US support‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

The fossil fuel industry is failing to tackle methane emissions despite its pledges to uncover and fix leaking infrastructure, according to a report by the International Energy Agency released on Tuesday (21 February).

Nach einem Treffen mit US-Außenminister Antony Blinken, bei dem der mögliche Verkauf amerikanischer F16-Flugzeuge an die Türkei besprochen wurde, hat sich der türkische Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan offener gezeigt, was die Ratifizierung des schwedischen NATO-Beitrittsantrags angeht.

Les producteurs d'hydrocarbures n'en font pas assez, malgré la spectaculaire hausse de leurs revenus, pour réduire leurs rejets de méthane, qui restent « obstinément élevés », estime l'Agence internationale de l'énergie (AIE), dans un rapport publié mardi.

In den 80er und 90er-Jahren prägte der Amerikaner Greg Foster eine Ära in der Leichtathletik mit. Im Alter von 64 Jahren verliert er den Kampf gegen eine seltene Krankheit.

Die EU sollte aus Sicht des niederländischen Außenministers Wopke Hoekstra eine Einrichtung schaffen, die zentral von Brüssel aus gegen die massenhafte Umgehung der EU-Sanktionen gegen Russland vorgeht.

Aurora Ramazzotti (26) zeigt in einem Video, wie gross ihr Babybauch geworden ist. Dazu schreibt sie: «Wenn meine Füsse Augen hätten». Auf den Clip reagiert auch Bald-Grosi Michelle Hunziker.

China bedroht aus Sicht des Direktors des tschechischen Sicherheitsinformationsdienstes, Michal Koudelkadie, die Sicherheit und Stabilität Europas, darunter auch im medizinischen Bereich.

Les cotations commerciales d’ouverture du dinar algérien à la Banque d’Algérie du 20 au 22 février 2023 indiquent que la monnaie européenne unique s’échange contre […]

L’article Banque et marché informel : taux de change du dinar ce 21 février est apparu en premier sur .

Aujourd’hui dans L’Expresso : du pétrole russe en Albanie, une réforme du marché européen de l'électricité au crible des énergéticiens français et la taxation des GAFA au point mort.

European Union countries failed to adopt conclusions on climate diplomacy that had been planned for Monday (20 February), owing to a deepening spat over the role of nuclear energy in the green transition, EU officials said.

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about Slovenia pushing for an international treaty to cooperate on prosecuting war crimes in Ukraine, Czech intelligence services warning about the Chinese threat, and so much more.

Laut dem Politologen Louis Perron habe der Besuch des amerikanischen Präsidenten in der Ukraine nichts mit einem Wahlkampf in den USA zu tun. Die US-Präsidentschaftswahlen finden erst im November 2024 statt. Ausserdem hätten US-Bürger ganz andere Probleme.