INTL Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- January 2022

[Plain Jane]

December's thread:

INTL - Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- December 2021

November's thread: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/europe-politics-economics-military-november-2021.610077/ Regional Conflict in Mediterranean beginning page 76: https://timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/regional-conflict-brewing-in-the-mediterranean.565195/page-76 Main...

www.timebomb2000.com

Russian troops on Ukraine's border beginning page 62:

ALERT - RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE - Consolidated Thread

i just had a short talk with a univ kid friend. they are all talking about how many rifles they would need for an effective résistance movement. i have read estimates that there are 3 million or so illegal weapons in country, he was saying that the kids, from all over Ukraine, think they need...

www.timebomb2000.com

Regional Conflict in Mediterranean beginning page77:

WAR - Regional conflict brewing in the Mediterranean

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1471246145942953988

www.timebomb2000.com

Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1486:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/31/cdc-now-treats-unvaccinated-the-same-as-un-boosted-just-as-desantis-predicted/ CDC Now Treats Unvaccinated The Same As Un-Boosted, Just As DeSantis Predicted BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD DECEMBER 31, 2021 IMAGE CREDITGAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS The CDC is...

www.timebomb2000.com

Germany shuts down half of its 6 remaining nuclear plants

Germany has shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation. It comes a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.

apnews.com

Germany shuts down half of its 6 remaining nuclear plants
By FRANK JORDANSyesterday



1 of 7
Steam rises from the cooling tower of the nuclear power plant of Gundremmingen, Bavaria, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Bavaria's penultimate nuclear reactor will go offline today. (Stefan Puchner/dpa via AP)
BERLIN (AP) — Germany on Friday shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.

The decision to phase out nuclear power and shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy was first taken by the center-left government of Gerhard Schroeder in 2002. His successor, Angela Merkel, reversed her decision to extend the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear plants in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan and set 2022 as the final deadline for shutting them down.

The three reactors now being shuttered were first powered up in the mid-1980s. Together they provided electricity to millions of German households for almost four decades.

One of the plants — Brokdorf, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Hamburg on the Elbe River — became a particular focus of anti-nuclear protests that were fueled by the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe in the Soviet Union.

The other two plants are Grohnde, 40 kilometers south of Hannover, and Gundremmingen, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Munich.

Some in Germany have called for the decision on ending the use of nuclear power to be reconsidered because the power plants already in operation produce relatively little carbon dioxide. Advocates of atomic energy argue that it can help Germany meet its climate targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
China urges US to protect its space station from satellites | AP News

But the German government said this week that decommissioning all nuclear plants next year and then phasing out the use of coal by 2030 won’t affect the country’s energy security or its goal of making Europe’s biggest economy “climate neutral” by 2045.

“By massively increasing renewable energy and accelerating the expansion of the electricity grid we can show that this is possible in Germany,” Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said.

Renewable energy sources delivered almost 46% of the electricity generated in Germany in 2021. Coal accounted for more than 51%, while nuclear power provided over 13%, according to the Fraunhofer Institute.

Several of Germany’s neighbors have already ended nuclear power or announced plans to do so, but others are sticking with the technology. This has prompted concerns of a nuclear rift in Europe, with France planning to build new reactors and Germany opting for natural gas as a “bridge” until enough renewable power is available, and both sides arguing their preferred source of energy be classed as sustainable.

Germany’s remaining three nuclear plants — Emsland, Isar and Neckarwestheim — will be powered down by the end of 2022.

While some jobs will be lost, utility company RWE said more than two-thirds of the 600 workers at its Gundremmingen nuclear power station will continue to be involved in post-shutdown operations through to the 2030s. Germany’s nuclear power companies will receive almost $3 billion for the early shutdown of their plants.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has dismissed suggestions that a new generation of nuclear power plants might prompt Germany to change course yet again.

“Nuclear power plants remain high-risk facilities that produce highly radioactive atomic waste,” she told the Funke media group this week.

A final decision has yet to be taken about where to store the most potent nuclear waste produced in German power plants. Experts say some material will remain dangerously radioactive for 35,000 generations.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of climate news at http://apnews.com/hub/climate

 

[northern watch]

Ukraine nationalists march to honor wartime partisan leader
Hundreds of Ukrainian nationalists held a torchlight march in the capital of Kyiv to mark the birthday of Stepan Bandera, the leader of a rebel militia that fought alongside Nazi soldiers in World War II
By The Associated Press
1 January 2022, 13:48

The Associated Press
Activists of various nationalist parties carry torches during a rally in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. The rally was organized to mark the birth anniversary of Stepan Bandera, founder of a rebel army that fought against the Soviet regime and who was assassinated in Germany in 1959. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

KYIV, Ukraine -- Hundreds of Ukrainian nationalists held a torchlight march in the capital of Kyiv to mark the birthday of Stepan Bandera, the leader of a rebel militia that fought alongside Nazi soldiers in World War II.

The Sunday march came amid persistently high concerns over Russia's massing of troops near the Ukrainian border, which many believe could be a prelude to an invasion. A large sector of eastern Ukraine has been under the control of Russia-backed separatist rebels since 2014.

“Today, when there is a war with the occupier at the front, and the struggle against the ‘fifth column’ continues in the rear, we remember and honor the memory of Stepan Bandera,” said Andriy Tarasenko, leader of the nationalist party Right Sector.

Bandera was the leader of a Ukrainian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s, which included a rebel army that fought alongside the Nazis. Bandera’s supporters claim that they sided with the Nazis against the Soviet army in the belief that Adolf Hitler would grant independence to Ukraine.

Jewish groups associate Bandera’s followers with the massacre of Jews.

Ukraine nationalists march to honor wartime partisan leader - ABC News (go.com)

 

[northern watch]

 

[Plain Jane]

EU plans to class nuclear power and natural gas as green energy sources

The EU is planning to label energy from nuclear power and natural gas as "green" sources for investment despite internal disagreement over whether they truly qualify as sustainable options.

www.france24.com

EU plans to class nuclear power and natural gas as green energy sources
Issued on: 01/01/2022 - 14:57

A tractor works the land on a farm in front of a nuclear power plant in Doel, Belgium, on March 23, 2020. © Virginia Mayo, AP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
1 min
The EU is planning to label energy from nuclear power and natural gas as "green" sources for investment despite internal disagreement over whether they truly qualify as sustainable options.

The proposal, seen by AFP on Saturday, aims to support the 27-nation bloc's shift towards a carbon-neutral future and gild its credentials as a global standard-setter for fighting climate change.

But the fact the European Commission quietly distributed the text to member states late Friday, in the final hours of 2021 after the much-delayed document had been twice promised earlier in the year, highlighted the rocky road to draft it.

If a majority of member states back it, it will become EU law, coming into effect from 2023.
France has led the charge for nuclear power -- its main energy source -- to be included, despite robust opposition from Austria and scepticism from Germany, which is in the process of shutting all its nuclear plants.

Fossil-reliant countries in the EU's east and south have also defended the use of natural gas, at least as a transitional source, even though it still produces significant greenhouse emissions.
"It is necessary to recognise that the fossil gas and nuclear energy sectors can contribute to the decarbonisation of the Union's economy," the commission proposal says.

It added that, for nuclear power, appropriate measures should be put in place for radioactive waste management and disposal.

And for gas, carbon-emission limits should be set to well below those produced by coal-burning plants, it said.
The EU's internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said last month that the European Union needed to be "pragmatic".

He said the bloc will need to double its overall electricity production over the next three decades and that "is simply not possible without nuclear power".
(AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Thousands protest COVID measures in Amsterdam – DW – 01/02/2022

There were some clashes between riot police and protesters, as thousands defied a ban on large gatherings in the Dutch capital.

www.dw.com

Amsterdam: Thousands protest COVID measures despite ban on gatherings
There were some clashes between riot police and protesters, as thousands defied a ban on large gatherings in the Dutch capital.

Watch video01:41
Police clash with demonstrators in Amsterdam
Thousands of people in Amsterdam defied a ban on large gatherings on Sunday as they took to the streets to show their displeasure at restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.

Protesters congregated in the city center before marching toward a park in the Dutch capital where a rally of the populist Forum for Democracy party took place.

Brief clashes
A small group of protesters briefly clashed with riot police as officers made efforts to clear the crowd from Museum Square.

There were reports of at least one person being detained

Most people complied with the call to disperse, given via loudspeaker, from the square in front of the Rijksmuseum.

Before officers moved in, some people near the Van Gogh Museum unfurled a banner that read: "Less repression, more care."

A group of people in white overalls and white masks held up signs, including one that said: "It's not about a virus, it's about control'' on one side and "Freedom" on the other.

One person in attendance held up a "Trump 2024" flag.

At least one protester raised a 'Trump 2024' flag at the protest

Case numbers falling
The Netherlands is currently in a strict lockdown, which is expected to last until at least mid-January.
Despite the rapid spread of the highly contagious omicron variant, coronavirus infection rates in the Netherlands have been gradually decreasing in recent weeks.

The cases have been on the decline since the country reintroduced lockdown measures in November, before tightening them further during the holiday season.

The local government in Amsterdam had banned Sunday's protest, saying police had indications some protesters might be planning "violence."

The municipality later issued an emergency order for people to leave the square. Riot police marched across the grass to clear the area, sending the demonstrators into nearby streets.



Watch video02:21
Netherlands brings in lockdown to combat omicron
jsi/rs (AP, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

Fascinating contrast between the coverage in post 5 and this post. I couldn't bring over all of the tweets for this post.

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Watch: Dutch Police Use Attack Dogs Against Anti-Lockdown Protesters

BY TYLER DURDEN
MONDAY, JAN 03, 2022 - 04:15 AM
Amid the Omicron Covid variant spread, and despite an emerging consensus that this latest variant is not very severe in terms of individual impact and hospitalizations, lockdowns are returning to much of Europe, but so are fierce protests.
Remember, all of this is for your "safety"...


Chaotic and disturbing scenes are coming out of Sunday's large anti-restriction protests near the National Museum in Amsterdam. The protest had been declared illegal by authorities, but a huge crowd showed up anyway, and that's when police in riot gear attempted to disperse thousands.
Among many scenes of people being beaten with police batons, dogs were also unleashed on the demonstrators, including in the above video which shows a man being mauled by a police dog who wouldn't let go of his arm - even as he was prone on the ground at one point. It's unclear if the officers were wanting the dog to release after clearly injuring the man, or if they wanted the animal to continue biting him.
Just before the police unleashed violent tactics on the crowd, the anti-lockdown protesters surrounded the anti-riot force and their vans, presumably there to make mass arrests.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1477613089340207114

View: https://twitter.com/AT5/status/1477613089340207114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1477613089340207114%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwatch-dutch-police-set-dogs-anti-lockdown-protesters

"The Netherlands went into a sudden lockdown on December 19, with the government ordering the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places until at least January 14," CNN writes of the new controversial lockdown. "Public gatherings of more than two people are prohibited under the current set of restrictions."
The protest looked to be at least in the tens of thousands, and possibly bigger:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1477685265833603077

View: https://twitter.com/other_europe/status/1477685265833603077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1477685265833603077%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwatch-dutch-police-set-dogs-anti-lockdown-protesters

Clearly citizens in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe are furious over this climate of the 'never-ending pandemic' and corresponding lockdowns which governments seem to now impose with ease.
Angry crowds go after riot control police in The Netherlands this weekend:

But many are saying "enough!" and it's becoming harder and harder to remove the liberties of the populace in the name of "protecting" people from the virus - a virus which we were told would dissipate once the vaccine is available.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1477610924995485697

View: https://twitter.com/_owenobrien_/status/1477610924995485697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1477610924995485697%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwatch-dutch-police-set-dogs-anti-lockdown-protesters

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1477611222795182081

View: https://twitter.com/Kees71234/status/1477611222795182081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1477611222795182081%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwatch-dutch-police-set-dogs-anti-lockdown-protesters


But instead we still have these scenes of police cracking skulls as people simply stand up for their rights amid authorities' attempts to control all aspects of life in the name of "safety" amid the persisting pandemic.

 

[northern watch]

Turkey's inflation hits a 19-year high of 36%
Official figures show that Turkey's yearly inflation has climbed by the fastest pace in 19 years, jumping to 36.08% in December
By The Associated Press
3 January 2022, 10:00

The Associated Press
A chef serves meals to clients in a local 'lokantasi' or popular restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Turkey's yearly inflation climbed by the fastest pace in 19 years, jumping to 36.08% in December, official data showed on Monday. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey’s yearly inflation climbed by the fastest pace in 19 years, jumping to 36.08% in December, official data showed on Monday.

The Turkish Statistical Institute said the consumer price index increased by 13.58% in December from the previous month, further eroding peoples' purchasing power. The yearly increase in food prices was 43.8%, the data showed.

The yearly inflation rate was the highest since September 2002. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party came to power two months later, in November 2002.

Inflation has been rising in the country while the Turkish lira has been slumping to record lows after the country's central bank — under pressure from Erdogan — cut a key interest rate by 5 percentage points in September.

The weakened lira has made imports, fuel and everyday items more expensive and has left many in the country of some 84 million struggling to buy food and other basic goods. Many have been purchasing foreign currencies and gold to protect their savings.

Last month, Erdogan announced measures to safeguard lira deposits against volatility after the Turkish currency hit an all-time low of 18.36 against the dollar. The lira rebounded following the announcement but has since lost some of those gains. The lira depreciated by around 44% against the dollar last year.

Erdogan insists on lowering borrowing costs to boost growth, even though economists argue that higher interest rates is the way to tame soaring prices.

Also on Monday, Erdogan announced that Turkey’s exports increased by 32.9% in 2021, to reach “a record” $225.4 billion.

Addressing a group of exporters in a televised speech, Erdogan said the figure amounted to a 7.8% narrowing of Turkey’s trade deficit. Turkey would revise its export target for 2022 to $250 billion, he added.

Meanwhile, the independent Inflation Research Group, made up of academics and former government officials, put the yearly inflation rate at a much higher 83%. It said consumer prices rose by 19.35% in December compared with November.

Turkey's inflation hits a 19-year high of 36% - ABC News (go.com)

 

[Plain Jane]

Ukraine tensions: Normandy format talks set for Thursday – DW – 01/03/2022

Local media reports that Russia will host talks with Ukraine, Germany and France this week amid concerns over the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukraine border.

www.dw.com

Ukraine tensions: Normandy format talks set for Thursday
Local media reports that Russia will host talks with Ukraine, Germany and France this week amid concerns over the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukraine border.




The last talks between Ukrane, Germany, France and Russia under the Normandy Format occurred back in 2019 in Paris

Moscow will hold urgent talks with Ukraine, Germany and France this Thursday under the Normandy format, Russian state-run news agency Interfax reported Monday.

The renewed diplomatic effort comes amid heightened tension as Moscow has amassed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's borders, according to US and Ukrainian officials.

The US and allies have warned Russia of high costs of any further incursions into Ukrainian territory beyond the pro-Russian proxy forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine currently.


Watch video08:16
What challenges can the world expect in 2022?
The Normandy format received its name after representatives of all four nations, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France met in Normandy, France on July 6, 2014 for the first time following the eruption of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Who will attend the talks in Moscow Thursday?
Dmitry Kozak, the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, will host the talks, the first to occur under the Normandy format since 2019.

The German government is to send Jens Plötner, a foreign policy advisor to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Plötner will travel to Moscow this week, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
Hebestreit declined to comment on a newspaper's report regarding the possibility of Scholz meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin this month.

Paris will dispatch Emmanuel Bonne, an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron.
It is not yet known who will represent Ukraine.

Watch video03:31
Biden and Putin discuss Ukraine tensions — DW speaks to Steven Pfifer, Brookings Institution
Germany's further involvement in talks over Ukraine
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Washington this Wednesday where she will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They will discuss the conflict between Russian and Ukraine among other topics of trans-Atlantic interest.

It is Baerbock's first trip to Washington as Germany's top diplomat, though she previously met Blinken at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool, England.

Germany along with its allies have issued various warnings to Russia about the high cost of any further incursions into Ukrainian territory.
ar/rt (dpa, Interfax)

 

[Plain Jane]

Italy sets Jan 24 to start voting for new president

Italy has set Jan. 24 as the start date to begin voting for a new Italian president. The announcement Tuesday by the lower chamber of parliament officially kicks off a campaign that is expected to see Premier Mario Draghi and ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi vie for the prestigious job.

apnews.com

Italy sets Jan 24 to start voting for new president
By NICOLE WINFIELDyesterday

FILE - Former and present Italian Premiers Silvio Berlusconi, left, and Mario Draghi, right, are seen during a press conference at Chigi Palace,in Rome, on Oct. 8, 2008. Italy’s lower chamber of parliament on Tuesday set Jan. 24 as the start date to begin voting for a new Italian president, officially kicking off a campaign that is expected to see Premier Mario Draghi and ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi vie for the prestigious job. The victor, who is chosen by around 1,000 “big electors" among lawmakers and regional representatives, will replace President Sergio Mattarella, whose seven-year term ends Feb. 3. The voting is expected to last several rounds over several days. (AP Photo/Sandro Pace)

ROME (AP) — Italy’s lower chamber of Parliament on Tuesday set Jan. 24 as the start date to begin voting for a new president, officially kicking off a campaign that is expected to see Premier Mario Draghi and ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi vie for the prestigious job.

The victor, who is chosen by around 1,000 “big electors” among lawmakers and regional representatives, will replace President Sergio Mattarella, whose seven-year term ends Feb. 3. The voting is expected to last several rounds over several days.

The Italian presidency has limited powers and is largely ceremonial. But the president plays a key role in resolving political impasses, which aren’t uncommon in Italy. And this election comes before a new season of campaigning before the 2023 parliamentary election.

During Italy’s political crisis last year, Mattarella tapped Draghi to lead a government of national unity to help guide the country through the pandemic and secure European Union funding for Italy’s recovery plan.

At his end-of-year news conference, Draghi said he had accomplished what he set out to do, indicating his availability to move into the presidential Quirinale Palace and allow political parties to resume the process of governing.
https://apnews.com/article/business...-real-estate-5d6d65e740530bd527fba7a3af7c1132
The center-left Democratic Party, which recently has topped polls with around 20% of voters, has voiced strong support for a Draghi presidency, believing that the internationally respected Draghi would send a signal of continued Italian stability and credibility.

The center-right Forza Italia has rallied behind founder Berlusconi, the 85-year-old media mogul and three-time premier, though allied right-wing parties would also benefit if Draghi leaves the premiership early, prompting an early election.

Berlusconi, who faced continuous legal problems during three decades in politics, was acquitted by Italy’s highest court in 2015 of charges he paid for sex with an underage prostitute during infamous “bunga bunga” parties.

To burnish his statesmanlike credentials for the presidency, Berlusconi’s family-owned newspaper this week reprinted a speech he gave to the U.S. Congress in 2006. Il Giornale introduced the text by noting that the job description for the Italian presidency requires “vast international experience and a network of relations.”

For good measure, Berlusconi on Dec. 31 tweeted a photo of him with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the two had had a “long and cordial” call to wish one another Happy New Year and “exchange opinions on the principal themes of international politics.”

Other, more centrist and neutral names have been floated, and on Tuesday, Italian news reports said the 5 Star Movement was instead rallying behind a second Mattarella term. There has been no indication that Mattarella, 80, would accept.

 

[Zagdid]

European gas prices rise with Russian pipeline stuck in reverse

European gas prices rose on Wednesday as gas flowed eastwards for the 16th successive day along a pipeline that usually sends deliveries from Russia to Europe and political tensions remained high.

www.reuters.com

January 5, 20226:13 AM EST Last Updated 5 hours ago By Susanna Twidale
European gas prices rise with Russian pipeline stuck in reverse

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - European gas prices rose on Wednesday as gas flowed eastwards for the 16th successive day along a pipeline that usually sends deliveries from Russia to Europe and political tensions remained high.

The price of wholesale gas on one benchmark contract rose as much as 6% as the reverse flows from Germany to Poland on the Yamal-Europe pipeline continued to cause concerns, a day after European prices soared by more than 30% over concerns about low supplies from Russia as colder weather approaches.

Russian energy exports are also in focus because of a broader standoff between Russia and the West, including over a Russian troop buildup near neighbouring Ukraine, which is trying to forge closer ties with NATO. read more

"There is growing nervousness on the European gas market again... This is chiefly due to faltering pipeline deliveries via Ukraine from Russia" Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht said in a research note.

"The situation on the European gas market also remains fraught in view of the political tensions, especially as higher demand for LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Asia is feared again."

She was referring to an additional factor that is worrying traders -- a warning by Indonesia that its coal supply situation is critical after it announced a ban on exports this month to avoid outages at domestic generators.

Some European Union lawmakers have accused Russia, which supplies around a third of Europe's gas, of using the crisis as leverage.

They say Moscow has restricted gas flows to secure approval to start up the newly built Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will supply gas to Germany.

Russia has denied the allegations, and says the pipeline will boost gas exports and help alleviate high prices in Europe. It has said it is meeting its contractual obligations on gas deliveries.

Moscow also denies U.S. assertions that it is planning an invasion of Ukraine, which it accuses of building up forces in the east of the country.

Europe has been at the heart of an energy crisis since last year, when the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions put huge demands on depleted stocks of natural gas.

LOWER FLOWS

The benchmark Dutch front-month wholesale gas price was up 1.75 euros on Wednesday morning at 91.25 euros per megawatt hour by 1052 GMT, having earlier traded at 95.35 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

The equivalent British front month contract was up 5% at 2.24 pounds per therm.

The flows from Germany towards Poland however were significantly lower than the previous day.

Some traders said this could indicate flows may soon return westwards but there would be a bearish impact on the market once there was definitive data showing a change in direction.

Eastbound volumes fell just below 1.5 million kilowatt hours an hour (kWh/h) on Wednesday morning down from more than 9 million KWh/h on Tuesday, latest Gascade data from the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border showed.

“Yamal flows seem to have had some connection to abnormally colder temperatures within Russia itself in recent months, with deliveries decreasing as temperatures plummet in St Petersburg or Moscow," said ICIS analyst Tom Marsec-Manser.

Capacity nominations for Russian gas flows from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point, another major route, remained low on Wednesday, providing another bullish signal for prices.

The nominations stood at 286,481 megawatt hours (MWh), a touch above the level from the previous day, but still well below levels seen in December, data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed.

 

[Plain Jane]

US imposes sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Dodik
By ERIC TUCKER and DUSAN STOJANOVICyesterday



1 of 2
FILE - Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia Milorad Dodik speaks during a press conference after talks with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar in the capital Sarajevo, Bosnia, Nov. 8, 2021. The Biden administration on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, announced sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, accusing him of “corrupt activities” that threaten to destabilize the region and undermine peace accords. (AP Photo, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced sanctions Wednesday against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, accusing him of “corrupt activities” that threaten to destabilize the region and undermine a U.S.-brokered peace accord from more than 25 years ago.

The Treasury Department also alleged that Dodik has used his leadership position to accumulate wealth through graft and bribery, including by providing government contracts and monopolies to business associates.

The practical impact of the Biden administration’s actions is that any property or interest belonging to Dodik in the United States would now be blocked, though Dodik said he had never done business in the U.S. and did not own property in the country. Also Wednesday, the State Department accused one current and one former senior Bosnia and Herzegovina official of corruption, designations that prevent them from entering the U.S.

“Together, these designations reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH, the rule of law and democratic institutions, and a better future for BiH’s citizens,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, using the abbreviation for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dodik, a member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency that also includes a Bosniak and a Croat official, has for years been advocating the separation of the Bosnian Serb semi-autonomous mini-state from Bosnia and having it become part of neighboring Serbia.

That what would be a breach of the Dayton Accords, the 1995 U.S.-sponsored peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s bloody civil war, which killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless in the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. The agreement established two separate governing entities in Bosnia — one run by Bosnia’s Serbs and the other dominated by the country’s Bosniaks and Croats.

The two entities are linked by joint institutions, and all actions taken at a national level have to be reached by consensus of the three ethnic groups.

With tacit support from Russia and Serbia, Dodik recently intensified his secessionist campaign, pledging to separate from Bosnia’s loose central authority and form a Bosnian Serb army, judiciary and tax system.

Bosniak officials have warned that Dodik’s policies could lead to clashes and called on the U.S. and the EU to crack down against him and his associates.

The United States has already imposed a travel ban and assets freeze on Dodik, and both American and German officials have recently threatened more sanctions in case Bosnian Serbs further weaken Bosnia’s central institutions.

Dodik has repeatedly said he doesn’t care about new sanctions, adding that this would bring Serbs even closer to their “true friends” — Russia and China. He has also denied that withdrawal from the central institutions is contrary to the Dayton peace agreement and would lead to a quick secession or a new war.

Speaking at a news conference, Dodik accused U.S. officials of creating “monstrous lies” about him, denied allegations of corruption and wrongdoing and also minimized the potential impact of the sanctions.

“I have no property in the U.S. so this is all a farce. How could I use the property I don’t have?” Dodik said. “I never owned anything in the U.S., I never had a U.S. bank account nor any business deals there. I don’t intend to travel there even if they were to lift sanctions.”

The chief international representative in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, said in a written statement Wednesday that the new U.S. sanctions against Dodik were “a logical consequence of the destructive and dangerous attitude in reference to his failure to meet the basic requirements of responsible leadership.”

Schmidt added that Dodik “has to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions and should return to reasonable and accountable actions without violating the State Constitution and the rule of law.”

The U.S. also designated a media outlet, Alternativna Televizija d.o.o. Banja Luka, which it said is owned by a company linked to Dodik’s family. The administration says Dodik acquired the organization to advance his own agenda and exerts behind-the-scenes control over its content, including by mandating approval of politically sensitive stories.

The two other officials designated by the State Department are Milan Tegeltija, the former head of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, which appoints, dismisses and oversees the work of all the country’s judges and prosecutors, and Parliamentary Assembly Representative Mirsad Kukic.
___
Stojanovic reported from Belgrade, Serbia. Sabina Niksic in Sarajevo contributed to this report.
___
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP.

 

[Plain Jane]

France takes EU reins with push for more sovereignty

French president Emmanuel Macron and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen paid tribute to a pair of leading European figures Friday as France formally took the reins of the 27-nation bloc for the next six months with big ambitions.

apnews.com

Click to copy
France takes EU reins with push for more sovereignty
By SAMUEL PETREQUINan hour ago



1 of 4
France's President Emmanuel Macron, center right, welcomes European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen before a ceremony to pay tribute to late French politician Simone Veil and diplomat Jean Monnet, at the French Pantheon in Paris, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. French president Emmanuel Macron paid a tribute to a pair of leading European figures Friday as France formally took the reins of the 27-nation bloc for the next six months with big ambitions. (Ludovic Marin, Pool Photo via AP)

PARIS (AP) — French president Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to a pair of leading European figures Friday as France formally took the reins of the 27-nation bloc for the next six months with big ambitions.

Macron was accompanied by the head of the EU’s executive arm, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, at France’s famed Pantheon to honor the memories of Simone Veil and Jean Monnet.

Veil was a Holocaust survivor who repeatedly broke barriers for women in French politics and spearheaded the fight to legalize abortion, while Monnet was a founding father of the European Union.

Both Macron and von der Leyen wore masks during the visit inside the domed building, amid a wave of coronavirus cases that somewhat overshadowed the beginning of the French tenure and caused trouble for the French leader ahead of the arrival in Paris of EU officials.

Macron, who is expected to seek re-election later this year, made headlines earlier this week by using rude language in reference to the country’s minority of unvaccinated people.

In an interview with a newspaper, Macron described his strategy for pressuring vaccine refusers to get coronavirus jabs by using the word “emmerder” — rooted in the French word for “crap” and meaning to rile. His vulgar language dominated news broadcasts and provoked angry reactions from his political rivals.

To move things forward on the continental stage on the vast array of touchy topics he wants to tackle, Macron will need to adopt a more consensual tone with his EU counterparts.

A leitmotiv of the French presidency over the next six months will be the need for greater autonomy for the 27-nation bloc.

Macron has been championing the idea since he took power fiver years ago and will use the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which sets the political agenda of region, to try to put it into practice.

Among the main themes France wants to promote are the introduction of an EU minimum wage, a carbon tax on imported products, and the reform of the EU’s fiscal rules. France also wants to accelerate discussions between member states to find a consensus on the stalled overhaul of the bloc’s asylum system.

Detailing the goals of the French presidency, a senior French government official said the EU needs to be more sovereign to be in a position to make its own choices while defending its ideals of democracy.

“There is a risk for Europeans to simply go out of history,” the official said. “In the sense that we would no longer contribute to writing the history of the world, and others would come and write our own history. There is an existential danger.”

The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the EU commission visit to the French capital city.

 

[northern watch]

Orthodox Christians observe Christmas amid virus concerns
Orthodox Christians in Russia, Serbia and other countries are observing Christmas amid restrictions aimed at dampening the spread of the coronavirus
By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press
7 January 2022, 08:26

The Associated Press
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill delivers the Christmas Mass in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. Parishioners wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus, observed social distancing guidelines as they attended the the Mass. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, in accordance with the Julian calendar. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

MOSCOW -- Orthodox Christians in Russia, Serbia and other countries observed Christmas on Friday amid restrictions aimed at dampening the spread of the coronavirus, but few worshipers appeared concerned as they streamed into churches on Christmas Eve.

The majority of Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, with midnight services especially popular. The churches in Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece mark the Nativity of Jesus on Dec. 25 along with other Christian denominations.

The Russian Orthodox Church, the largest Orthodox congregation, said celebrants needed to wear masks and observe social distancing at Christmas services. At Moscow's huge Christ The Savior Cathedral, church leader Patriarch Kirill and other gold-robed priests chanted prayers and waved smoking containers of incense during a midnight service.

A live broadcast of the service indicated about half of the worshippers in attendance were without masks or had them pulled down to their chins as they watched the pageantry.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, also without a mask, attended a service at the Church of the Image of the Saviour Made Without Hands in Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow.

Russia's daily tally of new COVID-19 cases has dropped by about half in the last month, to about 15,000 on Thursday. But concern is strong that the highly contagious omicron variant may be getting a foothold in the country.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Thursday that officials have detected omicron infections in people who had not traveled outside Russia.

In Serbia's capital, Belgrade, hundreds of worshipers gathered outside St. Sava Temple, the largest Serbian Orthodox church, for the traditional burning of dried oak branches that symbolize the Yule log. The church also scheduled a midnight Christmas Eve liturgy.

No specific anti-virus measures were announced for Serbia's religious ceremonies despite a huge rise in infections apparently fueled by the omicron variant. Serbia on Thursday reported more than 9,000 new daily cases, the most in one day since the start of the pandemic.

Health measures in Serbia include mandatory face mask use indoors and and limits on gatherings, but the rules have not been fully respected. Vaccination passes are required for bars, restaurants and clubs in the evening but not for churches or other indoor venues.

In his Christmas message, Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije singled out medical personnel for their work during the public health crisis and said, “I pray for the sick to get well as soon as possible and for the disease that has attacked the world to pass.”

“The Church therefore calls during the pandemic for the respect of reasonable measures and recommendations of governments and other authorities in the states and regions in which our people live, but also reminds everyone to avoid exclusion and for respect of human freedom as the highest and most valuable God’s gift to men,” Porfirije added.

In Kazakhstan, the sizable Orthodox community could not observe Christmas in churches. All religious services were canceled under a nationwide state of emergency imposed after violent clashes between protesters and police in several cities. About 20% of the people in the predominantly Muslim country identify as Orthodox.

———

Associated Press writer Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.

Orthodox Christians observe Christmas amid virus concerns - ABC News (go.com)

 

[Plain Jane]

Ukrainian court freezes ex-president's assets – DW – 01/07/2022

A court in Ukraine has frozen the assets of Petro Poroshenko. The Prosecutor General's Office is investigating the Ukrainian former president on charges of high treason.

www.dw.com

Ukrainian court freezes assets of former President Petro Poroshenko
A court in Ukraine has frozen the assets of Petro Poroshenko. The Prosecutor General's Office is investigating the Ukrainian former president on charges of high treason.




Petro Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine, saw his assets frozen

Ukraine froze the assets of its former President Petro Poroshenko as part of an investigation into whether his purchase of coal in Donbas in 2014 and 2015 financed pro-Russian separatists, the Prosecutor General's Office announced.

Poroshenko has denied financially supporting Russia's proxy forces in Ukraine. His party, European Solidarity, called the decision "illegal, unjust."

In a statement, Poroshenko's party charged: "The government, instead of consolidating Ukrainian society to oppose Putin, is fueling internal confrontation. Thus, it recklessly and irresponsibly weakens the front against Russian aggression."

Moscow denies responsibility for rebel forces in Ukraine despite numerous documented links to Russia.

Ukraine is currently trying to rally the West to its defense as Russia has amassed 100,000 troops on its borders.


Watch video00:25
Baerbock: 'Russian actions come with a clear price tag'
Who is Petro Poroshenko?
In addition to being a former president, Poroshenko is the owner of the Roshen candy company and one of Ukraine's richest men.
He came to power on the heels of the revolution on Maidan in 2014 after the country's Russia-backed leader, Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In 2019, Poroshenko was defeated by his successor, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a landslide.
Zelenskyy promised to tackle corruption and oligarchs.
Poroshenko has not been in Ukraine since December, though he has said he plans to return on January 17.

Poroshenko's allies charge the asset freeze is an act of revenge by Zelenskyy.

On Thursday, before the ruling, Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that he would "return to Kyiv" and appear before a judge "not to defend myself against Zelenskyy, but to defend Ukraine from incompetent leadership."


Previously, Poroshenko was forced to relinquish control of two TV channels when legislation targeting oligarchs came into place in Ukraine in 2021.

Those two channels, Channel 5 and Priamyi kanal, were placed into escrow in November.
In December, prosecutors requested Poroshenko be arrested and bail set at 1 billion hryvnia ($37 million or €32.5 million).




Watch video03:10
Russia-Ukraine crisis: Life on the border
What is Poroshenko accused of?
After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the seizure of the Donbas by pro-Russian forces, Ukraine faced a crisis. Significant coal mines were seized, and the country needed energy.

Authorities in Ukraine allege officials in Poroshenko's administration conspired with Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of the country's pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party, of working with separatists to purchase coal.

Specifically, authorities allege 1.5 billion hryvnia worth of coal was purchased to fuel Ukraine, but they add that it also funded pro-Russian forces in the country's east.

The conflict in the country's east has killed at least 13,000 people.
ar/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

US Rejects Russia's Call To Halt NATO Expansion, Days Before Talks

BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, JAN 08, 2022 - 04:30 PM
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
On Friday, the US and NATO rejected a Russian call for the military alliance to halt its eastward expansion. Amid tensions around Ukraine, Russia submitted a series of security proposals to the US, and chief among the Russian requests is a guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO.

"NATO never promised not to admit new members; it could not and would not," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a virtual meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers.


Image: NATO via Atlantic Council
NATO Secretary-General made similar comments earlier in the day. "We will not compromise on core principles, including the right for every nation to decide its own path, including what kind of security arrangements it wants to be a part of," he said.

US and Russian officials are due to meet in Geneva on January 10th to discuss Ukraine and other issues, and NATO will hold talks with Moscow on January 12th. Blinken accused Russia of making unreasonable demands in an attempt to sabotage diplomacy.

"Certainly part of [Putin’s] playbook is to put out a list of absolutely non-starter demands and then to claim that the other side is not engaging and then use that as somehow justification for aggressive action," Blinken said.

Ukraine has been a prospective NATO member since 2008 and cooperates with the alliance on military exercises. Ukraine’s ascent into NATO was never a concern when Viktor Yanukovych was president from 2010 to 2014. But after he was ousted in a US-backed coup, US and NATO cooperation with Ukraine has increased significantly.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1479579439856070659

View: https://twitter.com/TheWillPorter/status/1479579439856070659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1479579439856070659%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fus-rejects-russias-call-halt-nato-expansion-days-talks

Since the 2014 coup, the US has provided Ukraine with over $2 billion in military aid. US and NATO now regularly patrol the Black Sea, and Western warplanes are constantly flying in the area.

 

[Plain Jane]

Thousands protest COVID curbs across Europe – DW – 01/09/2022

Vaccine skeptics and others angered by COVID curbs have protested in Brussels, Prague and other European cities. Omicron is driving up cases across the EU, with experts warning unvaccinated people are especially at risk.

www.dw.com

Thousands protest COVID curbs in Europe amid omicron surge
Vaccine skeptics and others angered by COVID curbs have protested in Brussels, Prague and other European cities. Omicron is driving up cases across the EU, with experts warning unvaccinated people are especially at risk.




Thousands of people marched in Brussels on Sunday, many not wearing masks

Thousands of people took part in demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions on Sunday in Belgium and the Czech Republic, while cities in Germany and Vienna saw renewed protests on Saturday.

Weekend demonstrations have continued across the European Union as governments move to implement tighter curbs and new rules to encourage COVID jabs and booster shots.

The highly-transmissible omicron variant is driving up cases across the bloc, with infectious disease experts and medical workers warning that a surge in infections — particularly among the unvaccinated — could overwhelm hospitals.

DW breaks down what happened during this weekend's protests:

Belgium
An estimated 5,000 people turned out for a protest in the Belgian capital, Brussels, on Sunday.

Protesters carried banners decrying what they said was a "vaccine dictatorship" and voicing anger over Belgium's COVID pass requirement to enter restaurants, bars and other cultural events.

Dozens of people were detained by police in Brussels, although authorities logged fewer clashes than in previous weekends

The protest on Sunday was smaller and less violent than previous anti-COVID demonstrations in Brussels. Eleven people were detained ahead of the march for carrying fireworks, while another 30 people were arrested at the end of the demonstration after a group threw "projectiles" at police.

Belgium logged a 96% increase in new cases from December 30 to January 5 compared to the previous week, with hospitalizations up 28% over the same period.

Czech Republic
In Prague, thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday against a proposal to make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for certain age groups and professions.

Many in the crowd carried Czech flags while marching through the capital, voicing opposition to COVID vaccines, while others chanted: "Freedom, freedom."

The Czech government is considering a measure that would make it mandatory for people over the age of 60 to get a COVID vaccine, as well as compulsory vaccination for medical staff, medical students, police officers and firefighters.

The Czech government is set to decide in February whether to go ahead with plans for compulsory vaccinations for some

The compulsory vaccination policy was ordered in early December by the government of then-Prime Minister Andrej Babis. His government was later replaced by a new, five-party coalition under Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

The new government is now considering scrapping the mandate for the over-60 age group, but hasn't ruled out compulsory vaccination for certain professions.

Germany
Numerous German cities saw protests against COVID curbs on Saturday, including demonstrations in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Koblenz.

In the northern port city of Hamburg, over 13,000 people took part in the demonstrations, with some voicing anger over a recently passed vaccine mandate for people working in hospitals and nursing homes.

Protests took place in several German cities, including Frankfurt (seen here), Hamburg and Düsseldorf

Many of the protests are organized by people in the so-called Querdenker (Lateral Thinker) scene — a protest movement that emerged during the COVID crisis that largely opposes COVID vaccines and restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.

Several cities in Germany also saw counterprotests as well on Saturday.

In the western city of Minden, some 2,500 people formed a human chain in solidarity with a local politician whose home was targeted by a group of anti-COVID protesters.

In the eastern city of Dresden, over 3,500 people took part in a silent protest against increasingly radicalized and violent anti-COVID and anti-vaccine demonstrations in the region. They also lit candles outside the city's Frauenkirche Church to remember those who have died due to COVID-19.

At counterprotests in Germany, some formed socially-distanced human chains to decry increasing radicalization and violence

Austria
The Austrian capital of Vienna saw another weekend of mass protests against the government's coronavirus restrictions.

On Saturday, some 40,000 people demonstrated against the government's plans to implement a general COVID vaccine mandate.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who tested positive for the virus on Friday, said he intends to follow through on the mandate. It is set to take effect on February 1.

Austria, like many countries in Europe, is battling a surge in infections driven by the omicron variant. The country had managed to slow new infections during a recent lockdown, but the cases have risen rapidly since the strict curbs were lifted.


Watch video01:59
Omicron puts UK hospitals under pressure
rs/wd (AP, AFP, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

Putin gets his way as West scrambles – DW – 01/10/2022

Russia's President Putin is set to bask in the global limelight as a series of high-profile conferences on security in Europe kicks off this week. What could be better for an autocratic ruler, says DW's Bernd Riegert.

www.dw.com

Opinion: Putin gets his way as West scrambles
Russia's President Putin is set to bask in the global limelight as a series of high-profile conferences on security in Europe kicks off this week. What could be better for an autocratic ruler, says DW's Bernd Riegert.




Putin is set to take center stage in a series of conferences this week in Europe

Vladimir Putin must be thrilled as he gears up for a week of high-stakes diplomacy between the Kremlin and Western powers. A series of conferences and summits is planned in Geneva, Brussels, Vienna and Brest, France that all aim to serve the same purpose: keeping the Russian president in a good mood and averting a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The diplomatic flurry kicked off in December with two telephone conversations between the American and Russian presidents.

That was followed by a video conference of NATO foreign ministers on Friday, in which the "Western" position on Russia was hammered out.

United States President Joe Biden has promised to closely consult with the Europeans on this issue, and he has stuck to his word. On Monday, top US representatives are set to hold "strategic talks" with Russians delegates in Geneva.

NATO mulls way forward
On Wednesday, there will be a meeting in Brussels of the NATO-Russia Council, a consultation forum that hasn't met in several years. At the same time, NATO's military chiefs of staff will come together to consider troop reinforcements on the Black Sea or NATO's eastern border.

Bernd Riegert is a correspondent in DW's Brussels bureau

On Thursday, talks will continue in the broader format of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the US as well as Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states.

The European Union, too, is determined not to be left out. EU defense and foreign ministers will meet in the French town of Brest on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. As with all the other planned conferences, the main topic on the agenda will be Russian demands for security guarantees and possible reactions to an escalation by Putin in Ukraine.

EU sidelined on European security
The main takeaway is that the Russian president has managed to get the "West" scrambling, laying bare differing viewpoints in the opposing camp. When it comes to the relationship with Russia, there are clear differences within NATO and the EU, depending on the interests of the member states.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has even complained that the bloc has been left out — he said he wasn't even asked — when it came to security in Europe and in Ukraine.

To date, the Europeans have not managed to agree on exactly which tough sanctions they want to use to threaten Russia. The only thing the EU has decided is that Moscow should have a high price to pay if it escalates its aggression against Ukraine.

The EU's Josep Borrell, who recently visited Ukraine, has said the bloc has been sidelined

Compromise for the Kremlin
The EU is understandably reluctant to target the sector that would really hurt Russia, namely energy supplies. Without oil and gas from Russia, several countries in Europe, including Germany, would be in serious trouble.

Putin will probably not have to reckon with any serious resolutions being taken during this intense week of diplomacy. It's likely that we'll simply see the same warnings that have been issued since 2014, when Russia first deployed its troops on Ukraine's eastern border.

Neither the US nor other NATO states will be deploying their own military to assist Ukraine. And it remains out of the question that NATO will respond favorably to Moscow's demand that NATO categorically deny membership to Ukraine and Georgia.

Western powers will not accept Russian blackmail, and Putin knows that very well. However, Biden has already assured the Kremlin that the accession of Georgia and Ukraine to NATO is not on the agenda for the foreseeable future. After all, this state of limbo has existed since the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest.

Keeping the dialogue going
The West will continue its maneuvering, relying on diplomacy in a bid not to provoke military action by Russia. And Putin will keep the West on its toes with his deliberate provocations.

Putin will keep the conflicts in and around Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Armenia simmering in order to prevent these countries from moving closer to the West. For him, the West, which couldn't even organize its own withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, seems militarily indecisive in the extreme.

Watch video00:25
'Russian actions come with a clear price tag'
For now, Putin won't expand the war against Ukraine, which he started back in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. After all, the unpredictable Russian president has basically achieved what he wants.

The US, NATO and the EU will want to keep talking, counting on the fact that Putin cannot afford a full-blown war on the domestic front and at a time when he is busy consolidating his influence in Kazakhstan.

This upcoming week of intense diplomacy is unlikely to be the last. And that is hugely valuable in itself: People who talk to each other usually don't shoot at each other.
This opinion piece was originally written in German.

 

[Plain Jane]

No Ukraine breakthrough, but NATO and Russia eye more talks

The United States and NATO have rejected key Russian security demands for easing tensions over Ukraine.

apnews.com

NATO, Russia in high-level talks as Ukraine tensions simmer
By LORNE COOK13 minutes ago



1 of 11
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, right, welcomes Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, center, and Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin prior to the NATO-Russia Council at NATO headquarters, in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. Senior NATO and Russian officials are meeting Wednesday to try to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences over the future of Ukraine, amid deep skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin's security proposals for easing tensions are genuine. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Senior NATO and Russian officials were meeting Wednesday to try to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences over the future of Ukraine, amid deep skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security proposals for easing tensions are genuine.

The talks comes during a week of high-stakes diplomacy and a U.S.-led effort to prevent preparations for what Washington believes could be a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow denies it is planning an attack. Still, its history of military action in Ukraine and Georgia worries NATO.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin were stern-faced as they posed for the media before the NATO-Russia Council. There was no public handshake, although the Russian delegation fist-bumped officials from the 30 NATO member countries inside the meeting venue.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led the U.S. team at NATO headquarters in Brussels.


The meeting, the first of its kind in over two years, was due to run for about three hours. The NATO-Russia Council, their chief forum for talks, was set up two decades ago but full meetings paused when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. It has met only sporadically since, the last time in July 2019.

With around 100,000 combat-ready Russian troops backed by tanks, artillery and heavy equipment massed just across Ukraine’s eastern border, Wednesday’s gathering has taken on great significance, yet it still seems destined to fail.

“These are completely unacceptable proposals,” Estonian Defense Minister Kalle Laanet told public broadcaster ERR on the eve of the talks.

Estonia, like its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, relies on U.S. security guarantees provided by its membership in NATO. The three Baltic nations were once ruled by the Soviet Union but are now part of the European Union and NATO.

Putin says Russia’s demands are simple, but key parts of the proposals contained in the documents that Moscow has made public — a draft agreement with NATO countries and the offer of a treaty between Russia and the United States — won’t pass muster at the 30-country military organization.

NATO would have to agree to halt all membership plans, not just with Ukraine, and scale down its presence in countries like Estonia close to Russia’s borders. In exchange, Russia would pledge to limit its war games, as well as end aircraft buzzing incidents and other low-level hostilities.

Endorsing such an agreement would require NATO to reject a key part of its founding treaty. Under Article 10 of the 1949 Washington Treaty, the organization can invite in any willing European country that can contribute to security in the North Atlantic area and fulfill the obligations of membership.

“It has become crystal clear that not a single ally inside the NATO alliance is willing to budge or negotiate anything as it relates to NATO’s open door policy,” Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said Tuesday. “I cannot imagine any scenario where that is up for discussion.”

Maksim Samorukov, a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, says the lack of any real Russian concessions in Putin’s draft agreement probably means that “Russia is ready to tolerate a failure of these negotiations.”

The idea, Samorukov said, is to “demonstrate to the West that we are serious, we mean business. That Russia is really ready to take drastic steps to impose these concessions” on the U.S.-led military organization.

Still, NATO can’t afford to ignore Russia’s offer. Some members fear that Putin may be seeking a pretext to launch an invasion — like the failure of the West to engage — and any talks that would ease tensions over border forces, missile deployments or war games would be welcome.
For the Kremlin, though, time is of the essence.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that this week’s talks have, so far, provided little reason for optimism. He said the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting, and one at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday, could determine whether it makes sense to continue talking.
___
Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, and Jari Tanner in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Bulgarians Storm Parliament To Protest COVID "Green" Pass

BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, JAN 13, 2022 - 02:45 AM
The latest example of public unrest triggered by new government-imposed restrictions unfolded Wednesday in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, as thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building to demand that the government walk back new COVID-related restrictions.

During the demonstration, protesters reportedly tried to storm the the Bulgarian parliament building. They insisted that lawmakers abandon a "mandatory" health pass. Protesters, many of whom traveled via bus for the rally, pushed back a police cordon around Parliament until they reached the front doors of the building.


Footage of the rally circulated on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1481347814034714628

View: https://twitter.com/florzinhaapime1/status/1481347814034714628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1481347814034714628%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fcovid-19%2Fbulgarians-storm-parliament-protest-covid-green-pass

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1481343108562534405

View: https://twitter.com/aginnt/status/1481343108562534405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1481343108562534405%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fcovid-19%2Fbulgarians-storm-parliament-protest-covid-green-pass


The crowd stopped just short of breaking in before demanding that lawmakers come outside to hear their demands while waving national flags (as well as flags of the ultra-nationalist Revival party

"I do not approve of the green certificates. I do not approve that the children are being stopped from attending classes. I do not see the logic of these things,” 39-year old engineer Asparuh Mitov told Reuters at the start of the rally.

Bulgarians have to wear masks indoors and on public transport and show a health pass, given to people who are vaccinated, recovered or who have tested negative for the virus, to get into restaurants, cafes and shopping malls and gyms. The pass is similar to the "green" pass being used in nearby Italy.
As the least vaccinated country in the EU, Bulgaria reported a record number of new infections on Wednesday, a surge that scientists said was partly due to omicron. The country reported more than 7K new confirmed cases over the 24 hours to Wednesday.


Source: Worldometer
Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who took office last month and pledged to increase the rate vaccinations, told a local TV channel that he regretted he could not meet with the protesters, but was ready to do so on Friday, when he will be finished quarantining after a recent COVID exposure. Petkov, President Rumen Radev and senior ministers went into self-isolation after a participant at a security meeting they attended on Monday tested positive for the coronavirus.

Footage of the rally circulated on Twitter:


The crowd stopped just short of breaking in before demanding that lawmakers come outside to hear their demands while waving national flags (as well as flags of the ultra-nationalist Revival party

"I do not approve of the green certificates. I do not approve that the children are being stopped from attending classes. I do not see the logic of these things,” 39-year old engineer Asparuh Mitov told Reuters at the start of the rally.

Bulgarians have to wear masks indoors and on public transport and show a health pass, given to people who are vaccinated, recovered or who have tested negative for the virus, to get into restaurants, cafes and shopping malls and gyms. The pass is similar to the "green" pass being used in nearby Italy.
As the least vaccinated country in the EU, Bulgaria reported a record number of new infections on Wednesday, a surge that scientists said was partly due to omicron. The country reported more than 7K new confirmed cases over the 24 hours to Wednesday.


Source: Worldometer
Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who took office last month and pledged to increase the rate vaccinations, told a local TV channel that he regretted he could not meet with the protesters, but was ready to do so on Friday, when he will be finished quarantining after a recent COVID exposure. Petkov, President Rumen Radev and senior ministers went into self-isolation after a participant at a security meeting they attended on Monday tested positive for the coronavirus.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

"We Failed": Danish Newspaper Apologizes For Publishing Official COVID Narratives Without Questioning Them

BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, JAN 12, 2022 - 11:20 PM
In August, Germany's top newspaper, Bild, apologized for the outlet's fear-driven Covid coverage - with special message to children, who were told "that they were going to murder their grandma."

Now, a newspaper in Denmark has publicly apologized for reporting government narratives surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic without questioning them.
Ms Tech | CDC, Unsplash

"We failed," reads the article's headline from tabloid Ekstra Bladet, which goes on to admit that "For ALMOST two years, we - the press and the population - have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities' daily coronavirus figures. "(translated).

Read the rest below:
WE HAVE STARED at the oscillations of the number pendulum when it came to infected, hospitalized and died with corona. And we have been given the significance of the pendulum's smallest movements laid out by experts, politicians and authorities, who have constantly warned us about the dormant corona monster under our beds. A monster just waiting for us to fall asleep so it can strike in the gloom and darkness of the night.

THE CONSTANT mental alertness has worn out tremendously on all of us. That is why we - the press - must also take stock of our own efforts. And we have failed.

WE HAVE NOT been vigilant enough at the garden gate when the authorities were required to answer what it actually meant that people are hospitalized with corona and not because of corona. Because it makes a difference. A big difference. Exactly, the official hospitalization numbers have been shown to be 27 percent higher than the actual figure for how many there are in the hospital, simply because they have corona. We only know that now.

OF COURSE, it is first and foremost the authorities who are responsible for informing the population correctly, accurately and honestly. The figures for how many are sick and died of corona should, for obvious reasons, have been published long ago, so we got the clearest picture of the monster under the bed.

IN ALL, the messages of the authorities and politicians to the people in this historic crisis leave much to be desired. And therefore they lie as they have ridden when parts of the population lose confidence in them.

ANOTHER example: The vaccines are consistently referred to as our 'superweapon'. And our hospitals are called 'superhospitals'. Nevertheless, these super-hospitals are apparently maximally pressured, even though almost the entire population is armed with a super-weapon. Even children have been vaccinated on a huge scale, which has not been done in our neighboring countries.

IN OTHER WORDS, there is something here that does not deserve the term 'super'. Whether it's the vaccines, the hospitals, or a mixture of it all, is every man's bid. But at least the authorities' communication to the population in no way deserves the term 'super'. On the contrary.
* * *
Will other news outlets have the journalistic integrity to follow suit? Perhaps CNN's ratings wouldn't be down 90% from last year in the key 25-to-54 demographic if they simply owned up to their complicity in breathlessly spewing government propaganda.


See this thread also:

CORONA - WHO Joins EU and Changes Direction — Suddenly Warns Against Taking Continued COVID Booster Shots

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/frightening-joins-eu-changes-direction-suddenly-warns-taking-continued-covid-booster-shots/ FRIGHTENING: WHO Joins EU and Changes Direction — Suddenly Warns Against Taking Continued COVID Booster Shots By Jim Hoft Published January 12, 2022 at 9:52am...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

UKs embattled Prince Andrew loses honorary military titles
By DANICA KIRKA and SYLVIA HUIyesterday



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FILE - Britain's Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, attends a memorial ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation from German occupation in Bruges, Belgium, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019. Buckingham Palace says that Prince Andrew’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to Queen Elizabeth II with her “approval and agreement.” The palace statement issued on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022 came after more than 150 navy and army veterans wrote to the queen asking her to strip Andrew of all his military ranks and titles amid continued legal trouble for the prince, who is embroiled in a sex assault lawsuit in the U.S. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)
LONDON (AP) — Prince Andrew has been stripped of his honorary military roles as the growing furor over allegations that he sexually abused a teenage girl trafficked by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein threatened to taint the House of Windsor.

Buckingham Palace said late Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had also agreed that Andrew, 61, will give up his honorary leadership of various charities, known as royal patronages.

He will also no longer use the title “his royal highness″ in official settings, British media said.
The decision is an effort to insulate the monarchy from the fallout from potentially years of sordid headlines as Andrew vows to fight a lawsuit filed by an American woman, Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was forced to have sex with the prince when she was 17. A New York judge on Wednesday rejected Andrew’s effort to have the suit dismissed, increasing the chances that he will have to testify in the case if it goes to trial.

“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” the palace said, using the prince’s formal title. “The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”

The move came after more than 150 veterans and serving members of the armed forces asked the queen to strip her second son of his military titles, saying he had failed to live up to the “very highest standards of probity, honesty and honourable conduct” that are expected of British officers.

“We understand that he is your son, but we write to you in your capacity as head of state and as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force,” they wrote in a letter released by Republic, a pressure group that campaigns for an end to the monarchy.

“These steps could have been taken at any time in the past eleven years. Please do not leave it any longer.”

Andrew served in the Royal Navy for two decades, including as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War. The honorary military roles he lost included several overseas ones, such as his title as colonel-in-chief of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment.

Andrew denies Giuffre’s allegations and has said he can’t recall ever meeting her.

He has spent years combatting concerns about his links with Epstein, the U.S. financier who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges, and Epstein’s longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of related charges last month.

The prince stepped away from royal duties in November 2019 after a disastrous BBC interview in which he tried to justify his association with the pair and failed to show empathy for Epstein’s victims. But he managed to cling to his military titles and patronages until Wednesday’s ruling made Andrew’s position untenable.

Giuffre sued Andrew in August, alleging that Epstein and Maxwell coerced her into sexual encounters with the prince in 2001. Giuffre said she was sexually abused by Andrew at Maxwell’s London home, at Epstein’s New York mansion and his estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected Andrew’s request to dismiss the lawsuit before trial. Lawyers for the prince had argued the terms of a 2009 settlement between Giuffre and Epstein barred her from suing anyone else associated with the case.

Kaplan stressed that he wasn’t ruling on the truth of the allegations against Andrew.
Britain’s Press Association quoted a person close to Andrew as saying his team was “unsurprised by the ruling.”

“However, it was not a judgement on the merits of Ms. Giuffre’s allegations,” the person said. “This is a marathon not a sprint and the duke will continue to defend himself against these claims.”

But that is likely to have repercussions for other members of the royal family and the institution of the monarchy at a time when Elizabeth is preparing for a nationwide celebration to mark 70 years on the throne.

If the case goes to trial, Andrew will likely be required to give a sworn statement, and may have to testify in court about his relationships with Epstein, Maxwell and Giuffre. That could expose him to embarrassing questions that would undermine the authority of the royal family, said Mark Stephens, an expert on international law at Howard Kennedy in London.

“Up until now, it’s been Prince Andrew alone that has carried the water on this,″ Stephens said.

“But now the issue is that he can make it much worse for the royal family when he has to get into the detail of what he was alleged to have done with a 17-year-old girl, which the public, whether it was lawful or not, are going to think was morally reprehensible.”

The decision Thursday increases the chances Andrew will do whatever he can to settle, Stephens said.

”If he’s not successful in his appeal, he’s going to have to settle because of realpolitik,” Stephens said.

******

See this thread also:

INTL - Queen Strips Prince Andrew of All Military Titles and Patronages

www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/01/13/queen-strips-prince-andrew-of-all-military-titles-and-patronages/ Queen Strips Prince Andrew of All Military Titles and Patronages Simon Kent3-3 minutes 1/13/2022 Buckingham Palace announced Thursday that Queen Elizabeth has stripped her son Prince Andrew...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Italy's center-right backs Berlusconi for president – DW – 01/14/2022

A coalition of right-wing parties is rallying behind the controversial figure, media mogul and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to become Italy's next head of state.

www.dw.com

Italy: Center-right parties want Silvio Berlusconi as president
A coalition of right-wing parties is rallying behind the controversial figure, media mogul and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to become Italy's next head of state.




Silvio Berlusconi, 85, is vying for the prestigious job of Italian head of state

Italian center-right parties on Friday confirmed their support for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to become president.

Italy's new head of state, who will replace the outgoing Sergio Mattarella, will be chosen by 1,000 lawmakers who will begin voting on January 24.

"The leaders of the coalition have agreed that Silvio Berlusconi is the right person to hold this high office at these difficult times," heads of Italy's center-right parties said in a joint statement after a meeting at Berlusconi's villa in Rome.

On Thursday, rightist League party leader Matteo Salvini said the center-right coalition "is firm and unanimous in its support for Berlusconi."

In addition to the League, the center-right coalition includes the far-right Brothers of Italy and Berlusconi's own Forza Italia party.

Neither of the two main blocs in the Italian parliament, the anti-system 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party (PD), has a majority to ram through a candidate for president.

Although the position is largely ceremonial in Italy, the president plays a key role in resolving political impasses, which aren't uncommon in the southern European country.

'Who is Silvio Berlusconi?'
A full-page ad published Thursday in the daily Il Giornale, a newspaper Berlusconi owns, asked: "Who is Silvio Berlusconi?" and "Who else but him?"

Featuring a decades-old photo of the former prime minister, the ad listed 22 characteristics and alleged accomplishments

The ad, officially attributed to a circle of party activists over age 65, went on to describe him as "a good and generous person." It ended with him described as a "hero of liberty" who entered politics in 1994 to save Italy from an "authoritarian regime."

But, given his scandal-filled career, few political analysts see Berlusconi as a serious contender.

The 85-year-old media mogul served as Italy's prime minister in three governments: 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. During three decades in politics, Berlusconi faced continuous legal problems, including legal action over the infamous "bunga bunga" sex parties.

Berlusconi is seen as a divisive figure in Italian politics

Who else could be Italy's next president?
The center-left Democratic Party expressed strong support for a presidential bid from Prime Minister Mario Draghi .

Draghi said at his end-of-the-year news conference that he had accomplished what he set out to do, indicating his availability to move into the presidential Quirinale Palace.

Under Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief, Italy's economy turned a corner. He has led a remarkably united government, comprised of almost all of Italy's political parties.

He is seen as a political figure who can send a signal of continued Italian stability and credibility.

Draghi was tapped to lead a government of national unity last year

The populist 5-Star Movement, which has the largest number of parliamentarians, strongly opposes Berlusconi.

"Today it is necessary to put aside party affiliation, all the political forces must converge on a figure who can represent Italians and the country," said 5-Star Vice President Mario Turco.

Although allied right-wing parties support Berlusconi, they would also benefit if Draghi left the premiership early as it would trigger an early election.

But Salvini earlier admitted that without Draghi as prime minister, it would be hard to keep afloat the broad national unity coalition.
fb/sms (Reuters, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Davos is this week.

COVID, China, climate: Online Davos event tackles big themes

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other heavyweights to go virtual for the second year in a row.

apnews.com

COVID, China, climate: Online Davos event tackles big themes
By JAMEY KEATENyesterday



1 of 2
File---File picture taken Jan.24, 2022 shows a police security guard on the roof of a hotel ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber,file)

GENEVA (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other heavyweights to go virtual for the second year in a row, but organizers still hope to catapult the world into thinking about the future with a scaled-down online version this week.

The gathering, an online alternative to the event typically held in the Swiss ski town of Davos, will feature speeches by the leaders of countries including China, India, Israel, Japan and Germany as well as panel discussions with business, government and philanthropy figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert who will talk about COVID-19, and Bill Gates and John Kerry, who are expected to discuss climate change.

Organizers still hope their plans for a larger in-person gathering can go ahead this summer. Until then, here are five things to watch at next week’s online event:

CHINA LOOMS LARGE
President Xi Jinping, who hasn’t left China since the coronavirus emerged in early 2020, will be beamed in — just like last year — as perhaps the top headliner of the event.
https://apnews.com/article/technolo...rbia-traffic-6433ebe74793d8520dfa2962d8420ea1
He traditionally uses appearances at international gatherings like Davos to appeal for cooperation to fight climate change and the coronavirus and lambast what Beijing sees as U.S. efforts to hold back China’s rise and dominate global governance.

In a speech Monday, Xi could well again tout changes that Beijing says are opening the state-dominated economy and reject complaints that it wants to detach from international trade. His comments reflect the ruling Communist Party’s desire for global influence to match China’s status as the second-largest economy.

Keep an eye out for any mention of self-ruled Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory and has threatened to attack, and claims to the South and East China Seas or parts of the Himalayas, which have kindled tension with its neighbors.

MODI’S MOOD
One of those neighbors with tense ties to China is India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also takes the virtual floor Monday.

During the 8-year-old tenure of Modi, the star of the Hindu nationalist BJP party, India has seen an upswing in attacks against the Muslim minority. India’s political parties are gearing up for state elections, just two months after Modi’s government made a rare retreat on an agricultural reform bill that drew huge protests from farmers.

The campaign has drawn crowds of tens of thousands, even as the omicron variant, like elsewhere, has driven a surge in COVID-19 cases.

HOPING FOR A POST-COVID WORLD
It’s impossible for the Davos crowd to overlook the health crisis that has upended its plans for the last two years.

The pandemic gets a top billing on Monday, with Fauci and the CEO of vaccine maker Moderna joining a panel discussion that addresses what’s next for COVID-19, which has taken several big turns as the omicron variant sweeps the globe.

On Tuesday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is certain to promote his often-repeated call for greater vaccine equity at a panel on the subject. Many developing countries remain far behind their rich counterparts when it comes to access to vaccines. WHO says greater vaccine equity can help prevent the emergence of worrisome, highly transmissible variants like omicron.

TECH ON TAP
Climate change and energy — along with a regional look at Latin America — get top billing Wednesday, with a speech by the Saudi energy minister and a look at how the world transitions from its dependence on fossil fuels. Kerry, the special envoy for climate under U.S. President Joe Biden, joins Davos stalwart Gates — recent author of “How to Avert a Climate Disaster” — on a panel on climate innovation.

TECHNOLOGY, TRADE AND THE ECONOMY
True to its name, the economic forum never strays far from the world of business activity. The week rounds out with discussions on issues like capitalism for a sustainable future, trade at a time of strained global supply chains, and how government actions are needed to produce sustainable and equitable recovery after the pandemic.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gets the last word Friday with a talk at the virtual forum, where she has an opportunity to promote President Joe Biden’s plans to reengage globally to prevent new environmental catastrophes. Amid the pandemic and rapidly rising inflation, the former Federal Reserve chair also could touch on financial recovery efforts, the administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure law and her support for a global corporate minimum tax agreed to by more than 130 countries.
___
AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Ex-leader Poroshenko returns to Ukraine to face charges

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has returned to Ukraine to face court on treason charges he believes are politically motivated.

apnews.com

Ex-leader Poroshenko returns to Ukraine to appear in court
By YURAS KARMANAU25 minutes ago



1 of 8
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gestures while speaking to his supporters upon his arrival at Zhuliany International Airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. Poroshenko has returned to Ukraine to face court on treason charges he believes are politically motivated. At the Kyiv airport, where he arrived on a flight from Warsaw on Monday morning, Poroshenko was greeted by several thousand supporters. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday returned to Ukraine to face court on treason charges he believes are politically motivated.

At the Kyiv airport, where he arrived on a flight from Warsaw on Monday morning, Poroshenko was greeted by several thousand cheering supporters. Some carried banners reading “We need democracy,” and “Stop repressions.”

From the airport, Poroshenko headed straight to court, which will rule on whether to remand him in custody pending investigation and trial.

A prosecutor has alleged that Poroshenko, owner of the Roshen confectionery empire and one of Ukraine’s richest businessmen, was involved in the sale of large amounts of coal that helped finance Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014-15.

Poroshenko’s assets have been frozen as part of its investigation into the allegations of high treason. The former leader of Ukraine faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.


Poroshenko insists that he is innocent. He accuses his successor, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of seeking to discredit him politically to distract from Ukraine’s widespread problems, including economic woes and rising deaths from COVID-19.

The charges are the latest in a string of accusations leveled against Poroshenko since he was defeated by Zelenskyy in 2019. The allegations have generated concerns of undemocratic score-settling in Ukraine and also alarmed Ukraine’s allies. They come as Russia has built up troops along the Ukraine border and the United States has voiced concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be planning an invasion of Ukraine.

Poroshenko was defeated by voters following a corruption scandal and a mixed record on reforms, but he emerged with strong patriotic credentials for his work in rebuilding the Ukrainian army as it fought Russian-backed insurgent fighters in the east.

Zelenskyy says he is waging a fight against oligarchs that is aimed at reducing their influence in Ukraine’s political and economic life.

Poroshenko has been outside of Ukraine for weeks, meeting with leaders in Brussels, Berlin and other European capitals.

Outside the Kyiv airport on Monday, the ex-president greeted a large crowd of his supporters and delivered an elaborate speech, urging them to follow him to the courthouse. He called the charges against him “a challenge to all of us.”

“(The authorities) are setting us back 10 years. We’re here not to defend Poroshenko, we’re here to join forces and defend Ukraine,” Poroshenko said. “United Ukraine is strong, and a strong Ukraine is capable of pushing back (against) Putin.”

His supporters also viewed charges against him as politically motivated. “It is a revenge of the authorities and an attempt by Zelenskyy to eliminate his biggest rival in Ukraine’s politics,” Anton Ivashchenko, 42, told The Associated Press at the airport. “Persecution of Poroshenko sows animosity and discord among those who push for ... Ukraine’s closer ties with the West.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Djokovic lands in Serbia as questions arise over French Open

Novak Djokovic has returned home after being thwarted from defending his Australian Open title only to face a new predicament: He could be barred from the French Open this year, too, if he’s still not vaccinated against COVID-19.

apnews.com

Djokovic lands in Serbia as questions arise over French Open
By DARKO BANDIC and DUSAN STOJANOVICyesterday



1 of 12
Novak Djokovic prepares to take his seat on a plane to Belgrade, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. Djokovic was deported from Australia on Sunday after losing a bid to stay in the country to defend his Australian Open title despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19.(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Novak Djokovic returned home Monday after being thwarted from defending his Australian Open title only to face a new predicament: He could be barred from the French Open this year, too, if he’s still not vaccinated against COVID-19.

A plane carrying the No. 1-ranked player touched down in his native Serbia, closing at least the first chapter in a dizzying drama that has resonance in the world of elite sports, Australia’s pandemic politics and the polarized debate over the coronavirus shots.

A handful of fans waving the Serbian flag greeted him at Belgrade’s airport. Djokovic has an almost iconic status in Serbia, and many there felt he was poorly treated by Australia.

But his troubles may not be over yet: He could be barred from the French Open this year, under a new law intended to exclude the unvaccinated from stadiums and other public places. Much could change between now and the start of the Grand Slam tournament in late May, but that raised the specter that the recent saga in Australia would be not just a blip but an ongoing challenge for the athlete, who is increasingly being held up as a hero by the anti-vaccine movement.

A member of the French Parliament, Christophe Castaner, said that the new law will apply to anyone who wants to play in the French Open — a reversal of earlier plans to create a “bubble” around the tournament.

“To do your job, to come for pleasure or leisure, to practice a sport, it will be necessary to present a vaccine. This will be valid for people who live in France but also for foreigners who come to our country for vacation or for a major sports competition,” Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu told BFM television on Monday.

But some details of the law are still being hashed out — including how it will deal with people who have recently recovered from COVID-19, as Djokovic says he has. The question is how recent the infection has to be to qualify for an exemption to vaccination rules.

Djokovic is also the defending champion at Wimbledon, which begins in late June. But so far, England has allowed exemptions from various coronavirus regulations for visiting athletes, if they remain at their accommodation when not competing or training. The U.S. Tennis Association, which runs the U.S. Open, has said it will follow government rules on vaccination status.

It’s also not clear when Djokovic could head back to Australia. Deportation can lead to a three-year ban on returning to the country, although that can be waived, depending on the circumstances.

For now, a warm welcome awaits Djokovic, who has overwhelming support in his native Serbia where his closest family lives. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accused the Australian government of “harassing” the top-ranked tennis star and urged him to return home.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-one-year-07788eba2c1eb84de0edf3dbe3f2d412
“God bless you Novak,” read one of the banners held by the fans at the airport as he was whisked through the passport control and customs and then driven by his brother Djordje to his apartment in Belgrade.
The official Tanjug news agency reported that Djokovic’s mother, Dijana, said her son will remain in Belgrade in the coming days and won’t make statements for the media.

Djokovic’s Australian saga began when he was granted an exemption to strict vaccination rules by two medical panels and the tournament organizer in order to play in the Australian Open based on documents he supplied showing he had recently had COVID-19. He received a visa to enter the country through an automated process. But upon arrival, border officials said the exemption was not valid and moved to deport him.

The initial news that the star had been granted the exemption sparked anger in Australia, where strict lockdowns in cities and curbs on international travel have been employed to try to control the spread of the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

More than 95% of all Top 100 men and women tennis players in their tours’ respective rankings are vaccinated. At least two other men — American Tennys Sandgren and Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert — skipped the Australian Open due to vaccine requirements.

In the end, Australian authorities revoked Djokovic’s visa, saying his presence could stir up anti-vaccine sentiment and that kicking him out was necessary to keep Australians safe. He was deported Sunday, a day before the tournament got underway in Melbourne.

Djokovic has won nine titles there previously. He had hoped this year to secure his 21st Grand Slam singles trophy, breaking the record he shares with rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most in the history of men’s tennis. Federer is not playing while recovering from injury, but Nadal is competing.

As the legal battle played out in Australia, Djokovic acknowledged that he had attended an interview in Belgrade in December with journalists from L’Equipe newspaper after testing positive for the coronavirus. He later described this “an error” of judgment.

Asked if Djokovic would face any penalties for flouting his isolation while being infected when he returns to Serbia, Serbian officials said he would not because the country is not in a state of emergency.

Djokovic is a national hero in Serbia, whose president had called the court hearing in Australia “a farce with a lot of lies.”

“Novak, welcome home, you know that we all support you here,” said Snezana Jankovic, a Belgrade resident. “They can take away your visa, but they cannot take away your Serbian pride.”
___
Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.

 

[Melodi]

They are making a political example of this guy because he refuses to be vaccinated - it "helps" that like a lot of high-end professionals he has an ego the size of a small planet so people react strongly to him (both in positive and negative ways).

Australia made no bones about the fact that his "danger" was not in the fact he wasn't vaccinated as he was proven to be COVID-free by testing him out the wingy. The excuse for deporting him was that pretty much that his anti-vaccine "stance" might make him a "rallying point" for "the anti-vax movement."

Under Australian law, one minister can choose to deport someone even if the courts have said that can stay and that minister choose that option after the courts said he could stay.

I have no horse in the race, I do not watch sports and yeah I find the guy a bit annoying - but it was obvious what was going on here. Australia didn't even pretend that they were not making an example of him.

This is likely to be followed by France, Spain, and his sponsors unless he "repents" and "asks forgiveness" by getting vaccinated.

Ever notice how more and more a lot of "news" stories about so and so refusing to be vaccinated and then they died, sound like some of the tracks put out by certain Church groups? There's a reason that Bubble Puff has done a great job in imitating that.

 

[Plain Jane]

US, allies pledge unity on Russia; to do what isn't as clear

President Joe Biden has rallied European allies to pledge as one that they will take tough measures against Russia if it rolls troops into Ukraine.

apnews.com

US, allies pledge unity on Russia; to do what isn’t as clear
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and LORNE COOK2 hours ago

FILE - President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrive to meet at the 'Villa la Grange', June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland. While Biden has assured Russian President Vladimir Putin of economic consequences “like none he’s ever seen” if Russia invades Ukraine, some major European allies have demonstrated less overt enthusiasm for huge economic penalties. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has rallied European allies to pledge as one that they will take tough measures against Russia if it rolls troops into Ukraine. But when it comes to what exactly the United States and Europe are willing to do, the allies don’t look as ringingly united.

Militarily, for example, the United States, Turkey and Britain have stood out for supplying or agreeing to supply anti-tank missiles, armed drones, naval warships and other weapons, along with money to help Ukraine build its defenses. But key ally Germany appears averse to any such direct military aid — so much so that a British military flight taking weapons to Ukraine on Monday flew around German airspace rather than taking the most direct route through it.

While Biden has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of economic consequences “like none he’s ever seen” if Russia invades Ukraine, some major European allies have demonstrated less enthusiasm for huge economic penalties, which could damage some European economies, or put in jeopardy the Russian natural gas Europeans need to stay warm this winter.

During weeks of intense diplomacy, Russian leaders have dismissed the allies’ pledge of a united stand against Russia. In reality, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov protested, it’s the U.S. calling the shots, the Europeans falling in line.

And if talk of unity and the promises of repercussions is making Putin think twice, he’s not showing it.

Russia has sent some 100,000 troops toward the Ukrainian border, and U.S. officials said Tuesday they believed Russia was capable of launching an attack. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was making a hastily planned trip to Ukraine and Germany ahead of talks with Lavrov in Geneva on Friday.

European Union leaders see Russia as trying to sow discord among the 27-nation EU, the United States and NATO. By last week, they were congratulating themselves on avoiding that trap.

“The United States didn’t play their game,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. “Russia wanted to divide us. They failed.”

At least in words, the lining up of Europeans behind U.S. leadership has been a foreign policy success for the Biden administration after it led global allies in a withdrawal from Afghanistan with damaging results.

U.S. work nailing down European commitments against Russia if it invades will continue, said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who traveled with Republican and Democratic senators to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders last weekend.

“Right now there seems to be slightly greater interest coming from the United States on implementing tough multilateral sanctions than from Europe,” Murphy told reporters Monday. That’s “somewhat stunning to me, given the territorial integrity of Europe, not the United States, is at stake.”

In October and November, France, Germany and some others in the EU questioned U.S. warnings that Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine could signal an imminent invasion. France and Germany initially opposed activating NATO’s crisis response planning system. They relented, and it was activated Nov. 30.

U.S. allies now seem determined to prove they’re in lock-step with Biden. Publicly, there’s virtually no dissent from the pledges of tough action.

A Russian invasion of Ukraine would likely trigger the immediate bolstering of defenses of NATO members close to Russia’s borders, like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. NATO already has about 5,000 troops and equipment deployed in those countries. The presence of NATO members along Russia’s borders already is one of Putin’s central complaints against the West.

Countries in southeast Europe — Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, in particular — are also being sounded out about their willingness to potentially host a NATO battle group of around 1,000 troops and equipment in the Black Sea region.

“There is a number of nations that are interested then in hosting those forces,” Admiral Rob Bauer, the head of NATO’s military committee, said last week.

Since it’s not a member of NATO, Ukraine can expect no military help from the alliance as an organization if Russia invades.

Among the European Union and individual European governments, the rhetoric matches that from the White House and Americans: Russia would incur enormous costs of an economic and political nature if Putin sent his forces across the border into Ukraine.

No leaders are publicly discussing the precise nature of possible sanctions, saying it would be a mistake to show their hand. The EU has a track record of slapping sanctions on Russia in unison with the U.S., the U.K, Canada and other allies.

The most talked-about actions include banning Russia from the SWIFT banking system that handles the flow of money around the world and imposing sanctions on Putin’s family, his military and political circles and Russian banks.

The British government has lined up firmly behind the tough U.S. line on Ukraine. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week to back “wide-ranging economic sanctions” should Russia invade, Johnson’s office said.

But there are questions about how much economic pain Britain is willing to inflict on London’s financial district and property market, which are hubs for Russian money. U.K. banks and financial authorities have long been accused of turning a blind eye to ill-gotten gains.

After France emerged as one of the initial skeptics of the U.S. warnings over Russia’s troop buildup, the government minister for European affairs, Clément Beaune, recently said France is ready to support sanctions against Russia if needed. He did not elaborate.

Germany, the largest economy in Europe, holds one of the greatest pieces of economic leverage over Russia — a newly built pipeline, Nord Stream 2, that would deliver Russian natural gas directly to Germany and beyond.

Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said Monday that her country “will do everything to guarantee the security of Ukraine.”

“Any further escalation would carry a high price for the Russian regime — economic, political and strategic,” she said. “And we’re very serious about this.”

But Germany’s government has given mixed signals, and no definitive public word, on whether it would keep the pipeline offline if Russia sends troops into Ukraine. That’s left Blinken to give assurances in Germany’s stead, saying “it would be difficult to see” gas flowing if Russia invades.
___
Lorne Cook reported from Brussels. Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jill Lawless in London, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, contributed to this

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

England Ends All COVID Passports, Mask Mandates, Work Restrictions

BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, JAN 19, 2022 - 12:45 PM
By Lily Zhou of the Epoch Times
Restrictions including COVID-19 passes, mask mandates, and work-from-home requirements will be removed in England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday. Johnson also suggested that self-isolation rules may also be thrown out at the end of March as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic becomes endemic.

Effective immediately, the UK government is no longer asking people to work from home.

The COVID pass mandate for nightclubs and large events won’t be renewed when it expires on Jan. 26. And from Thursday, indoor mask-wearing will no longer be compulsory anywhere in England.

The requirement for secondary school pupils to wear masks during class and in communal areas will also be removed from the Department for Education’s national guidance.
Roaring cheers from lawmakers could be heard in the House of Commons following Johnson’s announcements on masks.

People who test positive for COVID-19 and their unvaccinated contacts are still required to self-isolate, but Johnson said he “very much expect not to renew” the rule when the relevant regulations expire on March 24.

“As COVID becomes endemic, we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance, urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others,” the prime minister said.

Asked to remove testing rules for vaccinated UK-bound travellers, Johnson said the government is reviewing the testing arrangements on travel and that an announcement can be expected in the coming days.

But he refused to reconsider the vaccination mandate for frontline health care workers, insisting “the evidence is clear that health care professionals should get vaccinated.”

Johnson told MPs that the Cabinet decided to remove its so-called “Plan B” measures on Wednesday morning as data suggest the Omicron wave has peaked nationally, and he attributed stabilising hospital admission numbers to “the extraordinary booster campaign” and the public’s compliance to the restriction measures.

The removal of the “Plan B” measures against the CCP virus came as the prime minister battles increasing pressure calling for him to resign over alleged lockdown-breaching parties in Number 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, during the pandemic.
It also came after Number 10 received a petition on Monday signed by more than 200,000 people, calling for an end to vaccine passports and similar COVID certifications.

A separate petition calling on the reversal of vaccine mandates for health care workers, which was also delivered to Number 10 on Monday, received about 160,000 signatures.
Governments in Scotland and Wales have also announced the removal of Omicron curbs, but mandatory indoor mask-wearing and COVID passes will remain in place.

 

[Plain Jane]

Why Germany refuses weapons deliveries to Ukraine – DW – 01/19/2022

Germany has declined to join allies such as the US and UK in shipping weapons to Ukraine. The country faces an unpredictable buildup of Russian troops on its borders — and there is precedent for armed aggression.

www.dw.com

Why Germany refuses weapons deliveries to Ukraine
Germany has declined to join allies such as the US and UK in shipping weapons to Ukraine. The country faces an unpredictable buildup of Russian troops on its borders — and there is precedent for armed aggression.




Foreign Minister Baerbock says weapons exports to Ukraine aren't a good idea right now

It hasn't taken long to put the new German government's talk of a bolder and more values-based foreign policy to the test. After just six weeks in power, it finds itself confronted by Russia's military moves against Ukraine, which fears another attack from its bigger and more powerful neighbor.

Germany and its allies are struggling to agree on a response to Russia's unclear intentions. German policymakers, including within the three-party coalition government, are also debating among themselves.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the Social Democrats (SPD), said Russia would pay a "high price" in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, Scholz reiterated that silence on the issue of Ukraine was not an option. His foreign minister, the Greens' Annalena Baerbock, has made similar expressions of solidarity with Ukraine but rejected its latest request for weapons deliveries.

"We are prepared to have a serious dialogue with Russia to defuse the highly dangerous situation right now because diplomacy is the only viable way," Baerbock told reporters on Monday during a visit to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.


Watch video02:59
Ukrainian reservists prepare for possible Russian invasion
Symbolic or strategic
Both the United States and the United Kingdom have announced arms deliveries, mostly handguns, ammunition and anti-tank weapons. A group of US senators visiting Ukraine earlier this week promised more weapons would be on the way.

German government officials have expressed concern that such deliveries could push tensions higher and make negotiations more difficult.

In their coalition agreement, the center-left SPD, the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) agreed on a restrictive arms export policy that does not allow any weapons deliveries to crisis regions.

Baerbock said her government's decision on weapons had a historical dimension — a reference to Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War.

"The idea that Germany delivers weapons that could then be used to kill Russians is very difficult to stomach for many Germans," Marcel Dirsus, a nonresident fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK), told DW


Watch video02:01
German FM accuses Russia of destabilizing Europe
Germany remains one of the world's top arms producers and exporters, with sales increasing 21% from 2016 to 2020, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its largest customers were South Korea, Algeria, and Egypt.

Ukraine is also a buyer. In 2020 and through the first half of 2021, Germany approved 97 exports totaling 5.2 million euros ($5.8 million), according to government reporting. These were mostly sidearms, diving equipment, and communications devices.

Ukrainian officials want to go bigger, most recently asking for warships and air defense systems. While Germany often cites its own belligerent history as grounds for sidestepping the military question, Ukraine is leaning into it.

"This responsibility should apply to the Ukrainian people, who lost at least 8 million lives during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine," Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, told the DPA news agency.

Though weapons would be a strong show of support, Dirsus doubts that they would change Ukraine's prospects against a bigger and better-equipped foe.

"The Russian government would be more impressed by the threat of heavy economic consequences than 2,000 anti-tank weapons," he said.



Watch video02:02
Life on the front line in Ukraine's Donbass region
Defensive weapons
Talk of weapons and military intervention can be politically dangerous in Germany. The Greens' Robert Habeck found that out last year when he supported sending "defensive" weapons to Ukraine. The current vice-chancellor and economics minister was widely criticized at the time and later claimed he meant demining equipment.

What makes a weapon "defensive" can be in the eye of the beholder, and at least some members of the governing parties have begun to express interest in defining what that is. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the FDP chair of the defense committee and an opponent of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, told the Bild tabloid that the current stance should be "reconsidered."

Critics argue that, in wars and conflicts, arms developed for defensive purposes, such as anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, have also been used offensively. What seems to be decisive here is not the original design idea for a weapon, but the will of the user for the respective application.

Germany's previous government, led by the Christian Democrats (CDU), made a vague commitment to the United States to punish Russia for any aggression. Now in opposition, some CDU members are criticizing the new government for "hiding behind" its restrictive arms control policy.

"We cannot reject Ukraine's request for defensive weapons that could fend off a possible Russian attack," Henning Otte, who sits on the Bundestag's defense committee, told Bild.

Norbert Röttgen, the CDU's parliamentary foreign policy spokesman, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday that "nothing must be taken off the table," but acknowledged that military force was not standing behind diplomatic efforts.

"We will not fight militarily, but, short of military tools, we will be ready to apply any tool we are able to have control of," he said.

Gas deliveries as a weapon?
When it came to power, the SPD-led government made big promises to boost the country's role on the world stage, especially in defense and security matters. With a particular nudge from the Greens side of the coalition, the new government has pledged to take human rights and democratic values more into account when setting relations with countries like China and Russia, which have been long viewed through a largely economic lens.

Most recently, Scholz appeared to indicate that the Kremlin's aggression would also have consequences for the already-completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is ready to pump more Russian gas to Germany once the German regulatory body gives the go-ahead.

"Everything is up for discussion if it comes to a military intervention against Ukraine," Scholz told reporters on Tuesday.

So far the SPD has largely upheld the previous government's position that the pipeline is a commercial project that needs to be protected from political turmoil. However, the Greens and FDP have long opposed the project.
Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

 

[Plain Jane]

Ex-Pope Benedict XVI failed to act in abuse cases — report – DW – 01/20/2022

With the Catholic Church in Germany, and around the world, facing charges of protecting abusive priests, former Pope Benedict XVI failed to take action against clerics accused of abuse, a Munich Church report has said.

www.dw.com

Ex-Pope Benedict XVI failed to act in child abuse cases — report
With the Catholic Church in Germany, and around the world, facing charges of protecting abusive priests, former Pope Benedict XVI failed to take action against clerics accused of abuse, a Munich Church report has said.




Pope Benedict (left) was born in Bavaria, Germany

A child abuse report released in Germany on Thursday found that former Pope Benedict XVI failed to act in four cases of mistreatment.

Benedict has denied the report, with a spokesperson expressing "shock and shame" at the findings.

What does the report say?
According to law firm Westphal Spilker Wastl (WSW), which conducted the investigation, Benedict failed to prevent abuse of minors during his tenure as archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982.

"In a total of four cases, we reached a consensus there was a failure to act," said attorney Martin Pusch, who presented the WSW report.

Two cases involve priests who were legally charged with child abuse and were allowed to continue their work in the church as pastors.

The church also took no official disciplinary action against the clergymen, and it appears that no care was given to their victims.

Watch video02:39
Sexual Abuse: Benedict under pressure
Another case revolved around notorious child abuser Peter H., who was transferred from Essen in western Germany to the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 1980, while Benedict, Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger at the time, led the archdiocese.

Current Munich Archbishop Reinhard Marx has also been accused of failing to intervene in two cases of abuse.

The WSW report found at least 497 cases of abuse at the Archdiocese of Munich between the years 1945 and 2019. The mistreatment mostly involved young males.

The Vatican on Thursday expressed "shame and remorse" in response to the abuse revelations in the report.

Catholic Church faces multiple child abuse scandals
The report is the latest child abuse scandal to impact the Catholic Church. Earlier this week, the 94-year-old former pope denied he knew about allegations of sex abuse at the Mexico-based Legionaries of Christ Catholic religious order.

Legionaries of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, who died in 2008, has been accused of abusing dozens of minors.

The Legionaries of Christ sex abuse scandal has tarnished the legacy of Pope John Paul II, who led the church from 1978 until his death in 2005. John Paul II praised Maciel and touted the work of the Legionaries of Christ during his tenure as pope.

Former Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of failing to take action in four child abuse cases in Germany. A new report found that the former head of the Catholic Church covered up clerical sexual abuse between 1977 and 1982, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, archbishop of Munich and Freising.

'A shaking moment' for the Catholic Church
Matthias Katsch, head of the organization Eckiger Tisch (Square Table), which represents people affected by sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, told DW the report's findings represented "a shaking moment for the whole church."

"I think it was a shaking moment for the whole church, not only the church in Bavaria and in Germany, because the worldwide abuse scandal, which has evolved in the last 30 years or so, has finally reached the head of the pyramid with the pope, the former Pope Benedict."
Katsch said Benedict "was caught with a lie."

"He knew about the perpetrator, about Peter H., and he, personally, is responsible," Katsch said of Benedict.

Katsch also said the Catholic Church was not getting better at dealing with sexual abuse allegations.

"There is no reason to believe that anything in the fundamentals has changed since 2010," he said. "But we believe they have become better in [the] training of lay people and protection programs for children. But in terms of dealing with the victims and not protecting the perpetrators, it's still the same old system. So the major changes are needed in the future."
fb, wd/sms (AFP, Reuters, KNA)

 

[Plain Jane]

Austria Takes a Step Toward Mandatory National Vaccines for All Adults 18 and Over - The Last Refuge

History rhymes, with Austria as the center of where the worst of bad things originate. Earlier today the lower house of Parliament voted 137 to 33 passing a law mandating COVID vaccinations for all adults 18 and older. VIENNA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Austria’s lower house of parliament passed a bill...

theconservativetreehouse.com

Austria Takes a Step Toward Mandatory National Vaccines for All Adults 18 and Over
January 20, 2022 | Sundance | 140 Comments
History rhymes, with Austria as the center of where the worst of bad things originate.

Earlier today the lower house of Parliament voted 137 to 33 passing a law mandating COVID vaccinations for all adults 18 and older.

VIENNA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Austria’s lower house of parliament passed a bill on Thursday making COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for adults as of Feb. 1, bringing Austria closer to introducing the first such sweeping coronavirus vaccine mandate in the European Union.

Faced with a stubbornly high number of vaccine holdouts and a surge in infections, the government said in November it was planning the mandate. Since then, it has raised the age as of which the mandate will apply, to 18 from 14.

The bill must now pass the upper house and be signed by President Alexander Van der Bellen, steps which will be largely formalities.

Roughly 72% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. After a fourth national lockdown ended last month, the extremely contagious Omicron variant has pushed infections to record levels but the government wants to avoid another lockdown.

[…] The bill imposes fines of up to 600 euros ($680) on holdouts once checks begin on March 15. Those who challenge that initial fine unsuccessfully face a maximum fine of 3,600 euros. (read more)

Don’t forget this little proactive plan…

.
(AUSTRIA) […] Linz now wants to hire people to hunt vaccine refusers, as reported by “heute”. They should check whether those who do not get vaccinated really pay for it. Because if you do not get vaccinated, you will be asked to pay. Up to 3600 euros, the equivalent of a good 3740 francs.

The vaccination inspectors receive a salary of at least 2774 euros, the equivalent of around 2880 francs. The salary is paid out 14 times a year.

The job includes, among other things, the preparation of penalty orders as well as the processing of objections. In the job profile, a completed Matura is required. In addition, the hunters should be resilient and willing to work. Specifically: ready to work more overtime!

Only Austrian citizens are employed for the Arbreit. And, of course, applicants must either be vaccinated or recovered. (read more)

Why does this stuff always start in Austria?

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Czech Republic Abolishes Plan To Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines

BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, JAN 21, 2022 - 05:00 AM
Authored by Isabel van Brugen via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The new Czech government on Wednesday threw out the previous administration’s plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for over-60s and people in key professions.




Under the former government, older adults, health care workers, firefighters, police officers and medical students would have been required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, effective March.

But Prime Minister Petr Fiala scrapped his predecessor Andrej Babis’s decree, which was issued in early December. He told reporters Wednesday that his new center-right government did not see the need for mandatory vaccination.

“We’ve agreed that vaccination against COVID-19 won’t be mandatory,” Fiala said. ”This does not change our stance on vaccination. It is still undoubtedly the best way to fight COVID-19 … however, we do not want to deepen fissures in society.”

Opponents of a vaccine mandate had staged several protests in Prague and elsewhere in the country.

So far, 62.9 percent of Czechs are considered fully vaccinated, below the European Union average, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Almost 3.4 million people in the nation of 10.5 million also have received a booster shot.

Fiala said about 90 percent of people who would have been covered by the mandate have already received vaccines.

The new government’s decision came as the Czech Republic is facing a surge in COVID-19 infections largely fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

The seven-day infection rate was 950 new cases per 100,000 residents on Tuesday compared to 799 a day earlier.

Despite the record numbers, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals dropped to 1,635 on Tuesday with 252 needing intensive care.

Researchers and health experts are hopeful that the Omicron variant, while highly transmissible, is less severe, and poses milder symptoms in infected people, compared with other strains such as the Delta variant.

Elsewhere, in Austria residents are set to be fined if they flout a COVID-19 vaccine mandate the country is aiming to introduce in February for all residents aged 14 and over.

Last month, Austria’s health minister announced that those who flout the vaccine mandate will face fines of up to 3,600 euros (around $4,000).

And in Greece, a vaccination mandate has been imposed on all over-60s. Those who refuse to be vaccinated will be fined by the government, health minister Thanos Plevris said. Fines start this month at 50 euros ($57), followed by a monthly fine of 100 euros ($114).
Plevris said the penalties would be collected through the tax office and used to fund state hospitals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

French politicians worry about surge in pre-election violence

French ruling party lawmaker Pascal Bois was at home asleep a few days after Christmas when firefighters banged on his front door to tell him his garage was in flames.

www.france24.com

French politicians worry about surge in pre-election violence
Issued on: 21/01/2022 - 16:08

Paris (AFP) – French ruling party lawmaker Pascal Bois was at home asleep a few days after Christmas when firefighters banged on his front door to tell him his garage was in flames.

Startled by the noise in the early hours of the morning, Bois stumbled out of bed and went to inspect the damage, seeing the outside structure consumed by fire with his electric vehicle inside.

"I realised very quickly that it was a deliberate act," said the married father of two, who had been on alert after receiving a bullet in the post in November.

"There's a moment of shock, of course, but I got over it fairly quickly and did my best to keep calm."

As well as the fire, graffiti had been daubed on the outside wall of his home in Chambly, 35 kilometres (21 miles) from Paris, saying: "No to the pass" and "It's going to explode".

The attack came as parliament was debating legislation to create a mandatory "vaccine pass" that meant only people jabbed against Covid-19 could enter bars and restaurants.

Bois, along with other members of parliament from President Emmanuel Macron's Republic on the Move party, was in favour.

With France less than three months from the first round of presidential elections, to be followed by parliamentary polls in June, concern is growing about an increase in attacks against elected figures, particularly ruling party lawmakers.

Explanations range from the radicalisation of the anti-vax movement and a long-term trend of declining faith in the French democratic system to Macron's policies and personality.

- Increased protection -
Since the attack on Bois' home and a separate assault on an overseas island lawmaker who was pelted with seaweed on his doorstep, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has ordered greater police protection for parliamentarians.

Protesters block a government building on the the French island of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon where a local lawmaker was pelted with seaweed in January Jean-Christophe LESPAGNOL AFP

In addition to the physical attacks, anonymous death threats in writing or over social media have exploded in numbers.

In the first 11 months of 2021, a total of 1,186 elected figures including 162 lawmakers lodged complaints for threats made against them, a rise of 47 percent compared with 2020, interior ministry figures show.

"Unfortunately over the last few years, there has been an increase in offences against elected figures," Darmanin told RTL radio, adding that anti-vaxxers were lately responsible for "huge numbers of complaints about threats".

A recent survey showed that, for a significant minority of French people, such offences were justified.

In a poll published by the Jean-Jaures Foundation think-tank in November, more than one in ten people said they approved of "violent behaviour towards lawmakers and their staff, at their offices or homes".

A total of 40 percent of people thought that the directly elected lower house of parliament was of "little use" or "no use at all" -- a huge increase from a comparable study in 1985 that showed only 13 percent felt this way.

Last Tuesday, all the heads of the main political parties in parliament entered together along with the speaker Richard Ferrand in a rare show of unity to denounce what they called "the rise in hatred."

"When it comes to representatives of the people being assaulted on the basis of their opinions or their votes, it is the heart of democracy that is attacked," they wrote in a public letter.

'Yellow Vest' movement
Isabelle Sommier, a specialist in political violence at Paris' Sorbonne University, says attacks against elected figures have increased significantly since the election of Macron in 2017.

Some parliamentarians have had their office windows smashed, others have been victims of arson. In certain cases, they have arrived at work to find that protesters have bricked up their doors overnight.

Attacks on homes, like the one experienced by Pascal Bois on the morning of December 30, are still rare.

"We're seeing an increase in the phenomenon in terms of absolute numbers but above all in the level of violence," said Sommier, who co-authored the book "Political Violence in France" earlier this year.

"Over the last few months and weeks, it's been accelerating."

Part of the explanation can be found in the so-called "Yellow Vest" anti-government movement, composed mostly of protesters from rural areas and small towns, whose often violent demonstrations shook the country from 2018.

The anti-vax movement appears to overlap with the "Yellow Vests" in many respects, geographically and socio-economically, Sommier notes.

Sommier said that Macron had radicalised this fringe of the French population through his pro-business policies, as well as his highly centralised way of governing, and his abrasive personal style.

The 44-year-old leader, who was slapped in the face during an impromptu walkabout in southeast France in June, declared earlier this month that he wanted to "piss off" the unvaccinated.

Sommier emphasised that France is less violent than in the volatile post-war period that saw major social unrest, as well as several assassination attempts on former president Charles de Gaulle.

But after the murder of two lawmakers across the Channel in Britain since 2016, many French elected figures are feeling jittery.

"I'm a bit more watchful of things around me," Bois told AFP.

"And I keep a look out to make sure I'm not being followed in my car. All of us have become used to doing the same thing."

 

[Plain Jane]

British Conservatives set to go for top job if Johnson falls

LONDON (AP) — Revelations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff partied while Britain was in a coronavirus lockdown have provoked public outrage and led some members of his Conservative Party to consider ousting their leader.

apnews.com

British Conservatives set to go for top job if Johnson falls
By SYLVIA HUItoday



1 of 5
FILE - Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak holds up the traditional ministerial red dispatch box as he leaves for the House of Commons to deliver the Budget in London, Oct. 27, 2021. Revelations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff partied while Britain was in a coronavirus lockdown have provoked public outrage and led some members of his Conservative Party to consider ousting their leader. If they manage to push Johnson out — or if he resigns — the party would hold a leadership contest to choose his replacement. Sunak, 41, is widely regarded as the brightest rising star in the party, the best known of the contenders to the public — and the bookies’ favorite to succeed Johnson. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

LONDON (AP) — Revelations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff partied while Britain was in a coronavirus lockdown have provoked public outrage and led some members of his Conservative Party to consider ousting their leader.

If they manage to push Johnson out — or if he resigns — the party would hold a leadership contest to choose his replacement.

Here’s a look at who could rise if Johnson falls:

RISHI SUNAK, TREASURY CHIEF
Sunak, 41, is widely regarded as the brightest rising star in the party, the best known of the contenders to the public — and the bookies’ favorite to succeed Johnson.
Sunak was thrust into the spotlight when he became treasury chief in early 2020, tasked with the unenviable job of steering the British economy through its worst economic slump on record due to the pandemic.

Sunak has dished out billions of pounds in emergency spending to help businesses and workers, and his pandemic policies have generally been seen in a positive light.https://apnews.com/article/winter-o...kyo-olympics-af9d4456d60f2331f9762028a411ee4e
A big “Star Wars” fan, Sunak nurtures his personal brand with a slick Instagram account. Opinion polls have suggested that he is one of the most popular Conservative ministers among voters, though his elite education and past work for the investment bank Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund means some see him as out of touch with ordinary people.
He would be Britain’s first prime minister who is not white. Born to Indian parents who immigrated to the U.K. from East Africa, Sunak attended the exclusive Winchester College private school, studied at Oxford University, and is married to Akshata Murthy, daughter of an Indian billionaire.
___
LIZ TRUSS, FOREIGN SECRETARY
Truss, 46, took on the high-profile job of foreign secretary in September after serving as trade minister and has been gaining momentum as a contender since.
As well as serving as Britain’s chief diplomat, she is the U.K.’s new lead negotiator with the European Union to deal with lingering issues following Britain’s exit from the bloc.
Once a campaigner for remaining in the EU, Truss has become a fervent champion for Brexit. Her prior role as international trade secretary saw her signing post-Brexit trade deals around the world and channeling Johnson’s ambitions for “Global Britain.”
Truss is popular with many Conservatives, who see in the free-market-loving politician echoes of the party’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Her supporters have coined the slogan “In Liz We Truss.”
She is less well known to the general public. “When you ask about Liz Truss, 50% of voters say ‘Liz who?’” said Chris Curtis, a pollster at Opinium Research.
___
SAJID JAVID, HEALTH SECRETARY
Javid, 52, has been health secretary since June, leading Britain’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before that he served as treasury chief, but resigned in early 2020 after clashing with Johnson over the prime minister’s order to fire his team of advisers.
The fact Johnson brought him back to the government to handle the coronavirus response reflects his reputation as a competent and safe pair of hands.
The son of Pakistani immigrants, Javid has billed himself as a common-man alternative to his private school-educated rivals — although he had a lucrative career in investment banking before entering politics.
As with Sunak, he’d make history if he were to win.
___
MICHAEL GOVE, LEVELLING UP SECRETARY
Gove, a party heavyweight, has held many key Cabinet posts and is currently in charge of delivering on the government’s promise to “level up” Britain, that is, address inequality by increasing opportunities in deprived areas.
Gove, 54, played a key role in the campaign to take Britain out of the EU and is widely respected in the party, but not completely trusted. In the 2016 Conservative leadership campaign, he backed Johnson for leader before deciding he would rather run himself — a betrayal that many Conservatives have not forgotten.
To the public, he may be best known for being filmed dancing to techno music at a nightclub in Aberdeen, Scotland, in August, in a clip that drew a lot of chuckles when it went viral on social media.
___
JEREMY HUNT, FORMER CABINET MINISTER
Hunt, a former health secretary and foreign secretary, ran against Johnson in the 2019 leadership race, billing himself as the more sensible, serious candidate. He lost heavily, and was dumped from the Cabinet when Johnson took over.
In a recent interview, the 55-year-old was quoted as saying that his ambition to lead the country has not “completely vanished.”
He has remained a lawmaker, and kept himself in the public eye by grilling ministers and experts as head of the Health and Social Care Select Committee in Parliament.
As a critic of the government’s response to the pandemic, he may appeal to those seeking a change from Johnson — though some look on him unfavorably for implementing unpopular policies when he was health secretary.

 

[Plain Jane]

Italy: Silvio Berlusconi drops presidential bid – DW – 01/23/2022

The former prime minister insisted that he had enough support but that he would not seek the job. Another major candidate, current Prime Minister Mario Draghi, has sidestepped questions on whether he will run.

www.dw.com

Italy: Silvio Berlusconi drops presidential bid
The former prime minister insisted that he had enough support but that he would not seek the job. Another major candidate, current Prime Minister Mario Draghi, has sidestepped questions on whether he will run.




Berlusconi said he had enough support, a claim doubted by analysts and coalition partner Matteo Salvini

Italy's Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dropped plans to run in Italy's presidential race on Saturday.

Italy's president, a largely ceremonial role, is elected by the members of the two chambers of parliament as well as representatives of country's regions and autonomous provinces.

The outgoing Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, is a political independent who was elected in 2015.

'I will serve my country in another manner'
Berlusconi's statement was read out by a representative at a virtual meeting of three of Italy's right-wing parties.

"I have decided to follow another path on the way to national responsibility and request that everyone abstain from putting forward my name to be president of the republic," the statement said.

"I will serve my country in another manner."

Silvio Berlusconi served three terms as prime minister and was infamous for scandals related to his 'bunga bunga' sex parties

Berlusconi insists he had enough support
The nationalist Fratelli d'Italia (FdI, Brothers of Italy) and League parties had pledged their support to Berlusconi. However, the votes of those two parties and Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia party are not enough to ram through a candidate for president.

Berlusconi said that he had enough support, but that he did not want to seek the job. Instead, he called for another candidate to be proposed by Forza Italia, the League and FdI.

However, analysts have doubted that Berlusconi had already shored up the necessary support.
Matteo Salvini, the leader of the nationalist League party, praised Berlusconi's "generous" decision, which he said enabled them to propose candidates "without any more vetoes from the left."

A two-thirds majority is required in the first three rounds of voting, meaning it is unlikely a winner will emerge early on. The fourth round requires a simple majority.

PM Mario Draghi a major candidate
The current prime minister, Mario Draghi, is seen as a major candidate for the presidency.

Because he cannot hold both positions, negotiations have been ongoing for weeks about how to proceed with his government. Draghi has for months sidestepped questions on whether he would run for the presidency.

Draghi's unity government is tasked with enacting structural reforms in exchange for an EU recovery fund of nearly €200 billion ($227 billion)

Berlusconi and other party leaders have called for Draghi to remain in the post of prime minister, arguing that the current government should complete its mandate and enact structural reforms in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Breaking from this position, FdI president Giorgia Meloni has called for a fresh general election following the presidential race.

Draghi formed a unity government of parties from across Italy's political spectrum. FdI is one of the few groups that did not support Draghi and is currently the largest party in opposition.
Italy's next general election is due in 2023.
sdi/fb (AP, AFP, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

Armenian president resigns over lack of powers – DW – 01/23/2022

Armen Sarkissian, who held the largely symbolic role since 2018, expressed his dissatisfaction over decisions related to the conflict with Azerbaijan.

www.dw.com

Armenian president resigns, citing lack of powers
Armen Sarkissian, who held the largely symbolic role since 2018, expressed his dissatisfaction over decisions related to the conflict with Azerbaijan.




Armenian President Sarkissian has resigned, citing his lack of powers

Armen Sarkissian announced Sunday that he was stepping down as president of Armenia, citing his inability to influence policy during times of crisis.

Armenia has been embroiled in a political crisis that erupted in the wake of a war with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over Nagorno-Karabakh for six weeks, after which a peace deal was brokered by Russia in November 2020

Why did Sarkissian resign?
Sarkissian disagreed with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over his decision to remove the chief of general staff in the wake of the war with Azerbaijan and amid protests.

Pashinyan removed Armenia's chief of general staff in March of 2021, claiming that the military was planning a coup.

Pashinyan has been under pressure since the peace deal that ended the war with Azerbaijan, with regular street protests demanding he step down over the terms of the agreement.


Watch video01:54
Armenian snap elections: PM Nikol Pashinyan holds office
Under the 2020 deal brokered by Russia, Azerbaijan regained territory it had lost during a war in the early 1990s.

At the time the peace deal was being negotiated, Sarkissian criticized the fact that he had not been included in the deliberations.

Street protests have erupted in Armenia's capital Yerevan over the terms of the peace deal with Azerbaijan

'The president does not have the necessary tools'
"This is not an emotionally-driven decision and it comes from a specific logic," Sarkissian said in a statement on the website of the president of Armenia.

"The president does not have the necessary tools to influence the important processes of foreign and domestic policy in difficult times for the people and the country."

The post of president is largely ceremonial in Armenia, and executive power is held primarily by the prime minister. Armenia became a parliamentary republic after a 2015 referendum that significantly limited presidential powers.

"We live in a unique reality, a reality where the President cannot influence matters of war or peace," Sarkissian said in his statement, adding that the president did not have the power to veto laws.

"I hope that eventually the constitutional changes will be implemented and the next president and presidential administration will be able to operate in a more balanced environment."

The outgoing president was elected in 2018, having previously served as Armenia's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Sarkissian also held the post of prime minister in 1996-1997.
sdi/fb (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

US Orders Families Of Diplomats To "Immediately" Leave Ukraine As Biden Weighs Deploying Thousands Of Troops To Eastern Europe

BY TYLER DURDEN
SUNDAY, JAN 23, 2022 - 07:55 PM
On Friday we said, half-jokingly, that it feels like a false-flaggy weekend...

... and while so far luckily World War III fighting has not erupted (even if the German head of the navy lost his job for telling the truth), moments ago the US has once again done everything in its power to further inflame tensions when it ordered family members of US government workers at the US embassy in Kyiv to leave Ukraine “due to the continued threat of Russian military action,” the State Department said Sunday.

Sunday.




“There are reports Russia is planning significant military action against Ukraine,” the State Department said in the advisory. “The security conditions, particularly along Ukraine’s borders, in Russia-occupied Crimea, and in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine, are unpredictable and can deteriorate with little notice.”

The advisory also urged U.S. citizens in Ukraine to consider leaving the country now using commercial or other private travel options, while a travel advisory elevated Ukraine to "Level 4: Do Not Travel":



The decision represents a further turn of the screw in a standoff between Russia and the U.S. and its alllies over President Vladimir Putin’s military buildup along the border with Ukraine. Meanwhile, the NYT reported that Joe Biden is contemplating deploying troops to Eastern Europe and the Baltics in the clearest attempt yet to escalate tensions to an all out war just to deflect attention from his catastrophic presidency.

Biden is also considering deploying warships and aircraft to NATO allies. According tot he Times, Biden is weighing sending 1,000 to 5,000 troops to Eastern European countries and could increase that number tenfold if necessary.

According to Bloomberg, "the moves mark an escalation of tension, which the U.S. has sought to diffuse" and we wonder what AI algo editorialized that particular piece of trash propaganda.


The latest escalations come after Blinken spoke earlier on Sunday during the TV media circuit, rejecting pressure to immediately escalate sanctions on Russia for its military buildup, saying it would limit western options in the future. He said the U.S. has focused with its European allies on building up the threat of “massive consequences” for Russia to dissuade Putin from sending forces into Ukraine and on leaving the door open to diplomacy.

“The purpose of those sanctions is to deter Russian aggression and so if they’re triggered now, you lose the deterrent effect,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He said the U.S. is tracking a U.K. warning that Russia is plotting to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine as part of the Kremlin’s playbook for encroaching on its neighbor.

“We’ve been concerned and have been warning about exactly these kinds of tactics for weeks,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

What we are more concerned about is just who is so earnestly pushing the US into World War III, because it certainly is not the senile president who barely has any idea where he is half the time, and whose puppet strings are controlled by dozens of special interest groups.

Unfortunately we doubt anyone in the media will inquire into whose actions are pushing the US to the brink of all out war, with potentially tens of millions dead, until it is too late. We are, however, certain that the deflationary impact of another world war should delay any rate hikes from the Fed sending futures limit up.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Germany Roiled By "Political Earthquake": Navy Chief Resigns After Saying "Putin Deserves Respect", Warning China Is "Not A Nice Country"

BY TYLER DURDEN
SUNDAY, JAN 23, 2022 - 10:35 AM
Just as the covid narrative is slowly disintegrating even as its MSM propaganda powers "cancel" anyone who dares to speak out against the lies - so the "Russia is about to invade Ukraine" plotline just suffered a major blow after the chief of Germany's navy, vice-admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach , said on Friday that Crimea “will never come back”, and that what Putin “really wants is respect...and it is easy to give him the respect he really demands - and probably deserves."

And sure enough, just one day later, on Saturday evening, he resigned from his post for having the temerity to speak out against conventional wisdom.


"I have asked Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht to relieve me from my duties with immediate effect," Schoenbach said in a statement cited by the Reuters news agency.
"The minister has accepted my request," he added.

Speaking at an event organized by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses on Friday, the vice-admiral redpilled the shocked audience when he dismissed as “nonsense” the notion that Russia was “interested in having a small and tiny strip of Ukraine soil and integrating it into their country.”

“Does Russia really want a small and tiny strip of Ukraine soil to integrate into their country? No, this is nonsense. Putin is probably putting pressure because can do it and he splits EU opinion."

Schönbach went on to claim that what President Putin really wanted was the West to “respect” Russia, adding "giving some respect is low cost, even no cost. If I was asked, it is easy to give him the respect he really demands and probably also deserves."

Addressing the issue of Crimea, the German Navy commander opined that the “peninsula is gone” and “will never come back — this is a fact.”

On Ukraine’s possible admission into NATO, Schönbach said, “Ukraine of course cannot meet the requirements because it’s occupied in the Donbas region by the Russian Army or by what they call as militias.” In this context, he also said the Crimea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia, is “gone” and is “not coming back”.

Then in an even greater transgression of conventional pro-China etiquette, the German had the temerity to point out the elephant in the room when he slammed China which is "not that nice country we probably thought" and added that that "Russia is an old country, Russia is an important country. Even we India, Germany, need Russia. We need Russia against China…” This, he said, is “easy” and “keeps Russia away from China” because China needs resources of Russia and they [Russia] are willing to give them because the sanctions sometimes do go the “wrong way”.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484597182775062529

View: https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1484597182775062529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1484597182775062529%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fgermany-roiled-political-earthquake-navy-chief-resigns-after-saying-putin-deserves-respect

Describing China as a growing “hegemonic power” which is using its money and power to put pressure on the international order, Schönbach said China has behaved as an enemy to some and has a “hidden agenda” in dealings with countries.

Giving an example of Chinese attempts to steal technology, the German Navy Chief spoke of Kuka robotics, a German company which was taken over by a “private” Chinese company and the “whole technology was gone” and “China is not paying back”.

In the context of this and other developments, he recalled German politicians’ view of China and said they believe that, “China is not that nice a country we probably thought of.”
Schönbach’s comments, which he insists were made in a private capacity, stirred up a diplomatic scandal, with Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoning the German ambassador to the country, Anka Feldhusen, on Saturday. Kiev described his remarks as “unacceptable.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484970586371768325

View: https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1484970586371768325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1484970586371768325%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fgermany-roiled-political-earthquake-navy-chief-resigns-after-saying-putin-deserves-respect

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry also called on Germany to reject Schönbach's comments regarding Crimea, saying they undermine the efforts to counter Russian aggression.

"Ukraine is grateful to Germany for the support it has already provided since 2014, as well as for the diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. But Germany's current statements are disappointing and run counter to that support and effort," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

"The German partners must stop undermining unity with such words and actions and encouraging (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to launch a new attack on Ukraine," Kuleba added.

Kyiv also highlighted its "deep disappointment" at the German government's position "on the failure to provide defense weapons to Ukraine." The lack of weapons support is another point of contention between the two countries. On Friday, reports emerged about Germany blocking Estonia from sending its German-made weapons to Ukraine.

And while it is unclear if the establishment was more shocked by his comments about Putin, Russia and Ukraine or his brutal honesty about China, what followed has been no less than a "political earthquake" with the country's defense ministry immediately distancing itself from the controversial statements, and its spokesperson saying that characterizing the vice-admiral’s comments as not reflecting “in any way the position” of the ministry, both “in terms of the content and choice of words.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484991354329759744

View: https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1484991354329759744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1484991354329759744%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fgermany-roiled-political-earthquake-navy-chief-resigns-after-saying-putin-deserves-respect

The local media also went ballistic, and the biggest woke German tabloid Bild, asked Schönbach to step down. "Treten Sie zurück, Herr Vize-Admiral!", says the paper.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484974580326629376

View: https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1484974580326629376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1484974580326629376%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fgermany-roiled-political-earthquake-navy-chief-resigns-after-saying-putin-deserves-respect

In a bid to diffuse the situation, the (now former) Navy commander took to Twitter earlier on Saturday, saying that he “should not have done it that way,” and describing his remarks as a “clear mistake.”
"My defense policy remarks during a talk session at a think tank in India reflected my personal opinion in that moment. They in no way reflect the official position of the defense ministry," he wrote.

But several hours later, his name and photo disappeared from the official Navy chief’s Twitter handle and its bio was changed to “currently vacant”.

Moscow, which views any NATO expansion into Ukraine as an existential threat to its national security, has consistently rebutted claims made by Western media and senior officials, according to which Russia is allegedly planning to invade its neighbor any day now. The Kremlin has called the idea “fake news,” while raising issue with the fact that some Western nations are sending weapons to Ukraine. Last month, Russia sent proposals to the US and NATO for treaties with security guarantees, but so far negotiations were unsuccessful in finding terms for an agreement.

Meanwhile, so-called "progressive, liberal" powers in the west are actively pushing for "kinetic" intervention, one which could quickly spiral out of control and escalate into a global war.

******
More tweets at the link.

 

[Plain Jane]

German caution on arms to Ukraine rooted in history, energy

Germany’s refusal to join other NATO members in providing weapons to Ukraine has annoyed some allies and raised questions about Berlin’s resolve in standing up to Russia.

apnews.com

German caution on arms to Ukraine rooted in history, energy

German caution on arms to Ukraine rooted in history, energy
By FRANK JORDANS2 hours ago



1 of 4
FILE - Ukrainian soldiers walks at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Katerinivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec 7, 2021. Germany's refusal to join other NATO members in supplying Ukraine with weapons has frustrated allies and prompted some to question Berlin's resolve in standing up to Russia. (AP Photo/Andriy Dubchak)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s refusal to join other NATO members in providing weapons to Ukraine has annoyed some allies and raised questions about Berlin’s resolve in standing up to Russia.
The issue rose to the fore over the weekend following a report that Berlin had gone so far as to block Estonia from supplying old German howitzers to Kyiv to help defend itself against Russian troops massing near the Ukrainian the border.

Germany’s stance on arms supplies does “not correspond to the level of our relations and the current security situation,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

Speaking to reporters Monday in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denied a decision had been made on the howitzers and insisted that his country stands with its NATO and European Union allies in opposing any Russian incursion into Ukraine.

“Should this situation occur, we will jointly act,” he told reporters. “There would be a high price.”

Still, while Germany would continue to provide help to Ukraine, there would be one exception, he said: “We don’t provide any lethal weapons.”

That stance, criticized in Kyiv and — less loudly — in Washington and London, has caused consternation among some in Germany who worry that their country may not be considered a reliable partner.

“How many in Berlin are actually aware how our seemingly confused Ukraine policy harms not just (Germany) but the entire EU?” asked Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany’s former ambassador to the United States and now head of the annual Munich Security Conference.

Experts say Germany’s position is partly rooted in its inglorious history of aggression during the 20th century.

“There’s the obvious legacy of Germany’s own militarization in Europe during two world wars that has led many German leaders to view any military response as the last resort,” said Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

That attitude could backfire, she said. “The current government does not seem to grasp that sending defensive weapons to Ukraine might actually deter further Russian aggression.”

And while Germany has pointed to its restrictive position on arms exports to conflict zones in the past, analysts say the rule has not been consistently applied.

“There have always been borderline cases here, such as the Kosovo war or support for the Kurds against IS in Syria,” said Sabine Fischer, a senior Russia expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

The debate over German weapons was unfolding days after the head of the German navy resigned following criticism at home and abroad for comments he made on Ukraine and Russia. Speaking at an event Friday in India, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach said it was important to have Russia on the same side against China and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved “respect.”

With Scholz’s Social Democrats steeped in the legacy of Cold War rapprochement pursued by his predecessor Willy Brandt, and the Greens rooted in a tradition of pacifism, two out of Germany’s three governing parties would balk at the idea of supplying arms to a non-NATO country in a conflict with Russia. But letting Estonia pass on the old Soviet-designed 122-mm D-30 howitzers to Ukraine might be an acceptable compromise.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made clear that, qualms about exporting arms to Ukraine aside, Berlin takes a dim view of Russia’s behavior.

“In recent weeks, more than 100,000 Russian troops with tanks and guns have gathered near Ukraine for no understandable reason. And it’s hard not to see that as a threat,” she said during a recent visit to Moscow.

Speaking alongside her Russian counterpart — whom she referred to as “dear colleague” — Baerbock acknowledged the “suffering and destruction that we Germans brought upon the peoples of the Soviet Union” during the Nazi era, but warned that Germany was willing to consider tough steps if Russia acts against Ukraine.

This includes calling into question the future of the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline meant to bring much-needed natural gas from Russia to Germany.

Such a move against its biggest energy supplier would come at a high price for Germany, too.
With plans to switch off its last three nuclear power plants this year and phase out the use of coal by 2030, Germany’s reliance on gas will increase in the short term until enough renewable energy comes online, said Georg Zachmann, a senior fellow at the Bruegel economic think tank in Brussels.

Yet German officials believe that being a large customer of Russian gas can give it leverage, as Moscow won’t want to harm its reputation as a reliable supplier of gas, painstakingly built up over decades.

Speaking Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Baerbock said the German government’s priority is to deescalate the situation over Ukraine, dampening allies’ calls for military support to Kyiv and swift new sanctions against Moscow.

“Berlin will have to deal with the criticism that is now coming from Ukraine, other European countries and Washington,” Fischer said. “At the same time, Germany remains an important player in the negotiations surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and, I predict, will continue to support sanctions and other measures in the future.”
___
Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

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Police Launch 'Partygate' Probe As No. 10 Insists Report On Illicit Gatherings Will Arrive In Days

BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, JAN 25, 2022 - 09:30 AM
Following the revelation of yet another 'illegal' party at 10 Downing Street (this time, a truncated lockdown-busting birthday celebration for the PM attended by his wife and interior decorator, along with the usual office staff), London's Metropolitan Police have decided to insert themselves into the biggest scandal to rock British politics in years.

According to the New York Times, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick confirmed on Tuesday that the police are investigating "a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two years in relation to potential breaches of COVID regulations" although she declined to give further details. In response to the news, PM Boris Johnson told reporters that no details from the police investigation will be included in the report produced by the Sue Gray investigation.




Other officials said earlier on Tuesday that they expect the results of the Gray investigation, which is being led by a longtime civil servant Sue Gray (deemed a figure of public trust), to be released during the coming days. BoJo has repeatedly exhorted his fellow MPs to withhold their judgment until the release of the Gray report, which many expect will be scathing, given Gray's reputation as somebody who doesn't really pull punches. A spokesman for the PM later said that at least some of the details from the report would be made available in the coming days.

Before the Metropolitan Police disclosed the existence of the investigation, some had speculated that the involvement of the police could delay the Gray report potentially by a week, or even weeks. This could create serious problems for BoJo in his quest to "Save Big Dog" by putting the issue behind him.

As the NYT explains, "[p]olice officers who guard the Downing Street complex are in a particularly good position to monitor the comings and goings of staff members." But the notion that the police involvement would truly spell trouble for the PM probably still seems remote to many.

At this point, an unknown number of Conservative lawmakers have submitted confidential letters demanding a vote of confidence in the prime minister. If the number of letters exceeds 54 - a fate that unfortunately befell Johnson's predecessor, the previous Conservative PM Theresa May - BoJo would face a potentially crippling vote of confidence.

We noted earlier that public anger surrounding what the Brits are calling "Partygate" (it has involved nearly a dozen parties) seems to have reached a fever pitch. BoJo's Wikipedia article has been repeatedly altered as a result to change his job title to "Chief Party Planner".

That's bad news for a formerly PM, although it hasn't stopped him from finally rolling back the last of England's "Plan B" COVID restrictions.