German Central Bank: Boycotting Russian gas will cost the country 180 billion euros

German Central Bank: Boycotting Russian gas will cost the country 180 billion euros

    Saturday, April 23, 2022   No comments

The German Central Bank has indicated that the sudden interruption in supplies to the European Union could reduce economic output by 5 percent this year, according to the British Financial Times.

The central bank has warned that the immediate ban the European Union is considering imposing ban on Russian gas imports will cost Germany 180 billion euros this year.

And the bank added, in its monthly bulletin, yesterday, that this ban will affect the gross domestic product by 5% in 2022, which will lead to higher energy prices, in addition to one of the deepest recessions that the country has experienced in recent decades, according to the British newspaper.

Thus, the central bank's estimates are much more negative than those of academic economists, and it is likely to bring to the fore the fierce debates about the readiness of the economic power of the eurozone in the face of the absence of Russian gas.

This comes at a time when the Ukrainian government, along with European politicians and academics, considers that sales of gas, oil and coal to the West contribute to the stability of the Russian economy, and help "finance the war of President Vladimir Putin." The European Union will ban imports of Russian coal from August, while gas shipments are set to continue.

Last month, a group of nine university economists deemed the fallout of the entire energy ban "manageable," noting that it would affect Germany's gross domestic product by only 0.3 to 3 percent.

However, industry officials warned that the impact would be more severe. In this context, BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller noted that a sudden halt to Russian gas deliveries could destroy "the entire German economy" and could lead to the worst economic crisis since 1945.

For their part, politicians rejected allegations that the economic repercussions of the embargo would be “minor.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described these estimates as “wrong” and “irresponsible,” while Economy Minister Robert Habeck considered that Germany would permanently dispense with Russian gas by 2024.

During the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on the European Union to “be careful” about banning Russian energy imports, warning of the damage such a move could cause to the global economy.

The Bundesbank, which considered its estimates still highly questionable, estimated that industrial consumers could not replace Russian gas with alternative energy sources for three consecutive quarters. As a result, inflation, which reached 7.3 percent, will rise by 1.5 percent this year, exacerbating the risk of inflation, given the association of strong price pressures with weak growth, according to the newspaper.

Turkish FM says some NATO states want Ukrainian war to continue

Turkish FM says some NATO states want Ukrainian war to continue

    Thursday, April 21, 2022   No comments

Some NATO member countries want the Russia-Ukraine war to prolong so Russia gets weaker, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on April 20, stressing that rival states must not see Ukraine as an arena of competition.

 

“After the talks in Istanbul, we did not think that the war would take this long. There are those who want this war to continue,” the minister told broadcaster CNN Türk.

 

“But, following the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, it was the impression that... there are those within the NATO member states that want the war to continue, let the war continue and Russia gets weaker. They don’t care much about the situation in Ukraine,” he added.

 

Çavuşoğlu stressed that Ukraine must not be seen as an arena of competition.

  

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

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Putin announces the "liberation" of Mariupol; Kadyrov's forces shown in house-to-house clearing of the city

Putin announces the "liberation" of Mariupol; Kadyrov's forces shown in house-to-house clearing of the city

    Thursday, April 21, 2022   No comments

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced today that his country's forces succeeded in controlling the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and ordered the besieging of the last Ukrainian fighters, instead of storming the Azovstal industrial site where they are holed up.

"The operation to liberate Mariupol was a successful operation," Vladimir Putin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Putin promised again to guarantee the safety of Ukrainian soldiers who surrender, saying: "I once again propose to all those who did not lay down their arms to do so, provided that the Russian side guarantee their safety and treat them with dignity."

This comes after the Russian "Interfax" news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that the Russian forces had taken control of the city of Mariupol, with the exception of the "Azovestal" factory, where the remaining Ukrainian soldiers were hiding.

Shoigu informed Putin of the control of the city through a report that stated: "The Russian armed forces and the militia of the Donetsk People's Republic managed to liberate Mariupol, while the rest of the nationalists are hiding in the (Azovstal) industrial zone."

 

As a result, Putin ordered not to storm the "Azovestal" plant, stressing on the other hand the need to completely close the area and "prevent even the fly from entering."

 

He continued, "I consider storming the industrial zone unacceptable, and I order to withdraw from it immediately," noting that the health of the Russian soldiers and the preservation of their lives must now be considered, according to the Russian agency.

 

Earlier, the Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced in an audio recording that the Russian forces will, within two days, end the "Ukrainian extremists'" control of Mariupal. 

Kadirov, later, released videos (below) showing his fighters in close contact combat in the city, and the following statement:

My dear BROTHERS - Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Adam Delimkhanov, deputy commander of the police regiment of the FFGKU "UVO VNG of Russia in the Chechen Republic" police colonel Sultan Rashaev "Fighter" and dear NEPHEW Khalid Kadyrov planned an assault on the Azovstal plant yesterday.⠀

Today, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin canceled the assault on the enterprise and instructed to focus on other tasks. The main goal has already been achieved, Bandera and nationalists are blocked in industrial zones and will not go anywhere. Their only way out is to surrender. I hope they are smart enough to do so.

  

China signs the security agreement with the Solomon Islands, drawing criticism from the US and Australia

China signs the security agreement with the Solomon Islands, drawing criticism from the US and Australia

    Tuesday, April 19, 2022   No comments

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday, that Beijing and the Solomon Islands signed a joint security cooperation agreement.

The official Chinese CGTN network quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin as saying that "officials from China and the Solomon Islands signed a framework agreement for bilateral security cooperation."

"The security cooperation framework signed by China and Solomon Islands does not target any third party, and does not conflict with the existing bilateral or multilateral security cooperation mechanisms of the Solomon Islands," the Chinese newspaper, Global Times, quoted the Chinese foreign minister as saying.

On the other hand, the United States expressed its concern over China's conclusion of a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, to which a delegation of senior American diplomats went, in an effort to "thwart Beijing's expansion" in this strategic region.

"Despite the statements of the Solomon Islands government, the broad nature of the security agreement leaves the door open for the People's Republic of China to deploy military forces in the Solomon Islands," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

In turn, Australia asked the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavarre, not to sign the security agreement with China.

Two days ago, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed that "Australia will continue to cooperate with the Solomon Islands on security issues."

The Chinese government respended to US criticism by asking: "Why does the US bother to visit an island country where its embassy has been shut down for 29 years? To care about the country's development status or try to achieve other purposes?" 

The timing and the rhetoric signal that China is using current events to emphacize Western states' double standard by connecting the issues of the Solomon Islands, Taiwan, and Ukraine. The Chinese leaders seem unconvinced of the need to speak against Russia's war in Ukraine because of the utility of Putin's justification of his operation in Ukraine to China's security concerns related to US and EU support to Taiwan and US and Australia's objection to an agreement with the Solomon Islands: If Ukraine has the right to join NATO,  Solomon Islands, too, should have the right to enter into security agreement with China.

Wall Street Journal: Saudi Arabia pushed the Yemeni president to step down, and he was detained at his home in Riyadh and his contacts were restricted

Wall Street Journal: Saudi Arabia pushed the Yemeni president to step down, and he was detained at his home in Riyadh and his contacts were restricted

    Monday, April 18, 2022   No comments

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Saudi Arabia pushed Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to step down earlier this month and that officials detained him at his Riyadh home and restricted his communications.

Hadi announced his resignation on April 7 and handed over his powers to a new leadership council as Yemen entered into a truce seen as a rare glimmer of hope in the conflict that has riven the poorest countries on the Arabian Peninsula.

The newspaper quoted unnamed Saudi and Yemeni officials as saying that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave Hadi a written decree delegating his powers to the council, which consists of eight representatives from different Yemeni groups.

According to these sources, some Saudi officials threatened to publish what they said was evidence of Hadi's corruption as part of their efforts to persuade him to step down, the newspaper wrote.

A Saudi official told the newspaper that Hadi has been detained since leaving his post inside his home in Riyadh and has been denied access to any phones.

This reported action, if true, is the second instance of Saudi rulers placing heads of government of foreign countries under limited access and forcing them to take specific action.
In 2017, Lebanese prime minister, Sa`d Hariri was detained and forced to resign; his release was later secured by France, and upon returning to Lebanon, he resended his resignation. 

Chechen Special Purpose Police Regiment in Ukraine

Chechen Special Purpose Police Regiment in Ukraine

    Friday, April 15, 2022   No comments

Chechen Special Purpose Police Regiment, an elite unit named after Akhmad-Khadzhi Kadyrov, a Chechen revolutionary who served as chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War, are shown here in action in southeast Ukraine. Akhmad Kadyrov's son, Ramzan Kadyrov, who is now the President of the Chechen Republic, is believed to be overseeing the deployment of these fighters in person. 

 

Tehran in response to an American report on human rights: Washington is the biggest violator of human rights

Tehran in response to an American report on human rights: Washington is the biggest violator of human rights

    Thursday, April 14, 2022   No comments

On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh responded to what was stated in the annual report of the US State Department on Iran.

In its annual report on the human rights situation in the world, the US State Department accused Iran of "committing widespread violations of human rights."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "It is clear that the US administration, which is addicted to lies, cannot be expected to clarify the existing facts and facts. Therefore, the biased, political and intrusive nature of this report is clear and consistent for all and for the Iranian people."

Khatibzadeh pointed out that the US administration, "with its history full of wars, coups, assaults, assassinations, kidnappings, economic blockades, and killing of innocents around the world, has been a major violator of human rights, and therefore it is not worthy in any way to talk about lofty concepts such as human rights."

He added that the United States "shed crocodile tears for the Iranian people, while its crimes against Iran, including downing a passenger plane and inciting its tails at home to assassinate the people and officials over the past decades, will remain forever alive in the minds of the Iranian people."

The spokesman described the US administration's allegations as "duplicity" and "aimed at achieving its illegitimate political goals," saying that "the US president's direct issuance of orders to assassinate Major General Qassem Soleimani, in a cowardly manner, well revealed the terrorist nature of the United States."

Khatibzadeh pointed out that the US administration "turned a blind eye to the blatant and systematic violations of human rights within its country and at its allies," noting that "everyone has repeatedly witnessed how racial discrimination against minorities and Black Americans occurs systematically and widely in America, which in turn led to protests by Black people and by the people of that country."

He stressed that "the excessive violence of the police and the killing of Black people in front of the eyes of citizens exposes the approach of the US administration against human rights."

  

Irked by Kyiv cancellation of German President's Visit to Ukraine, Olaf Scholz says he won't visit Ukraine Soon

Irked by Kyiv cancellation of German President's Visit to Ukraine, Olaf Scholz says he won't visit Ukraine Soon

    Thursday, April 14, 2022   No comments

German Federal President Fran-Walter Steinmeier's visit to Kyiv was cancelled by Ukraine, which has irritated the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his surprise, Wednesday, at the Ukrainian government's sudden cancellation of the scheduled visit of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Kyiv.

In an interview with German RBB radio, Schulz described Kyiv's decision to cancel Steinmeier's visit as "confusing," noting that the German president was looking forward to visiting Ukraine and "it would have been good if they had received him there."

The German newspaper "Bild" had previously quoted sources in the Ukrainian government saying that Kyiv canceled Steinmeier's visit scheduled for yesterday because of his previous role in developing his country's relations with Russia.

The German chancellor indicated that "he himself does not intend to visit Ukraine in the near future," stressing that "he visited Kyiv shortly before the start of the Russian military operation in the territory of this country and since the outbreak of the conflict has been in constant contact with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky by phone."

For his part, Vice-President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Kubiki, expressed his opposition to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Ukraine after it refused to receive the country's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"I cannot imagine that the chancellor of the government supported by the FDP will go to a country that has declared the president of our country persona non grata," the DPA news agency quoted Kubiki, who is also vice-chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany, as saying.

 

Also on Wednesday, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov announced that more than 1,000 soldiers of the Ukrainian Marine Corps have surrendered to Russian forces in Mariupol.

"More than 1,000 soldiers of the Ukrainian marines surrendered in Mariupol, among them hundreds of wounded," Kadyrov said, adding that this was the "right choice."

The Chechen president, whose forces are fighting along Russian troops in Ukraine, said that there are about 200 wounded inside the Azovstal factory, and that they "cannot get medical help now", calling on the remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender.

Arrest of opposition figures in Russia and Ukraine get different coverage in Western media

Arrest of opposition figures in Russia and Ukraine get different coverage in Western media

    Wednesday, April 13, 2022   No comments

 Arrest of opposition figures in Russia and Ukraine get different coverage in Western media. Here is a sample.

News report 1:

Russian authorities on Monday arrested Vladimir Kara-Murza — a prominent Kremlin critic who has written columns for The Washington Post protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine and violations of human rights.

Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home in Moscow, the same day CNN published an interview in which he called Vladimir Putin’s government “a regime of murderers” and predicted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the Russian president’s downfall.

Source: Washington Post

News report 2: 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday on Telegram that Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and oligarch, had been detained in a "special operation."

Zelensky posted a photo of a handcuffed and disheveled-looking Medvedchuk wearing fatigues, with the caption, "A special operation was carried out thanks to the SBU [the Security Service of Ukraine]. Well done! Details later."

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Medvedchuk had faced allegations of treason in Ukraine and had been under house arrest. His whereabouts had been unknown in the weeks following the invasion. Some observers speculated that Medvedchuk or one of his allies might be the Kremlin's preference to lead a puppet government in Ukraine if the Feb. 24 invasion succeeded in toppling Zelensky. 

 Source: CNN

Qatar, Iran sign aviation agreements; discuss the feasability of tunnel linking the two coutnries

Qatar, Iran sign aviation agreements; discuss the feasability of tunnel linking the two coutnries

    Tuesday, April 12, 2022   No comments

April 12: Qatar and Iran have signed a bilateral agreement for operations to link Doha Flight Information Region (which was established in accordance with ICAO resolution) with the FIR in Iran.

An agreement to increase the number of flights between Qatar and Iran was also signed, in the presence of Minister of Transport HE Jassim bin Saif bin Ahmed Al Sulaiti and Iran’s Minister of Road and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi.

Besides, the meeting looked into all issues that would remove obstacles in a way that supports the promotion and facilitation of transport and trade between the ports of the two countries.

They also reviewed private investment opportunities in ports, in the presence of Al Sulaiti, and Iran’s Minister of Road and Urban Development.

Tehran and Doha to study the feasibility of the longest tunnel in the world

Iran is planning feasibility studies for what would be the longest tunnel in the world. If built, it would physically connect Iran to Qatar across the Persian Gulf.

The project would link the Iranian port of Bandar-e Deyr to an unspecified location in Qatar. The underwater tunnel would run for 190 km, with both road and railway sections, although the former is more difficult. Earlier this year, President Raisi visited Doha, his first visit to an Arab country, to sign four cooperation agreements, from energy to transport.  

     Possible location of the proposed tunnel linking Iran  and Qatar: