INTL Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- August 2022

[Plain Jane]

July's thread:

INTL - Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- July 2022

June's rhread: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/europe-politics-economics-military-june-2022.620068/ Russia Invades Ukraine thread beginning page755: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/russia-invades-ukraine-consolidated-thread.609888/page-775 Regional Conflict...

www.timebomb2000.com

Russia invades Ukraine thread beginning page 801:

ALERT - RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE - Consolidated Thread

EndGameWW3 @EndGameWW3 Update: Ukrainian Army: Accusing us of targeting the Russian Black Sea Fleet is an explicit provocation and a continuation of the Russian policy of lies. 1:14 AM · Jul 31, 2022·Twitter for iPhone hmm. Doge @IntelDoge Headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet...

www.timebomb2000.com

Conflict in Mediterranean beginning 84:

WAR - Regional conflict brewing in the Mediterranean

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1547833862268469250?cxt=HHwWhICqvc2sgfsqAAAA

www.timebomb2000.com

Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1615:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

Is this not a real heads up? We’re all this young healthy doctors all murdered together in a drive by? Man, this not something I’ve seen before…. :whistle: I have recently seen commercials for the Shingles Shot that I never saw before -and BTW, I’ve been of that age for a few years, so I have...

www.timebomb2000.com

Consolidated Monkeypox thread beginning page 101:

MNKYPOX - Monkeypox - Consolidated Thread.

Monkeypox specifically affects homosexual men and not framing it explicitly as an Acronym-du-Jour public health emergency is negligent/discriminatory Monkeypox is not an A-du-J-specific disease and framing it as such is homophobic/discriminatory The important thing, of course, is that...

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Kosovo closes two border crossings with Serbia – DW – 08/01/2022

Kosovo Police say they shut the Bernjak and Jarinje border crossings due to roadblocks by Serb protesters. The NATO-led KFOR mission described the situation as tense and was prepared to intervene.

www.dw.com

Kosovo closes two border crossings with Serbia amid rising tensions
Kosovo Police say they shut the Bernjak and Jarinje border crossings due to roadblocks by Serb protesters. The NATO-led KFOR mission described the situation as tense and was prepared to intervene.




KFOR said it would "take whatever measures" are needed to ensure security in Kosovo

Kosovo postponed the implementation of new border rules after police had to close two border crossings with Serbia on Sunday due to rising tensions.

The police said they were forced to shut the Bernjak and Jarinje border crossings after demonstrators shot at authorities and blocked roads.

The protesters were angry about a new rule that would have forced all people entering Kosovo with Serbian IDs from Monday to replace them with a temporary document during their stay in the country. A similar rule is applied by Belgrade authorities to Kosovars who visit Serbia.

The government also said ethnic Serbs who have registration plates issued by Serbia would have to change them for Kosovo license plates within two months.

Following tensions on Sunday evening and consultations with EU and US ambassadors, Pristina said it would delay its plan for one month, and start implementation on September 1.
EU foreign policy chief, Joseph Borell, welcomed the decision and urged demonstrators to remove all roadblocks immediately.

Why are the Serbs resisting?
Some 50,000 ethnic Serbs living in the country's north use license plates and documents issued by Serbian authorities.

They do not recognize Kosovo's right to impose rules and regulations.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he situation in Kosovo had never been "more complex" for Serbia and ethnic Serbs.

"The atmosphere has been brought to a boil," Vucic said, warning that "Serbia will win" if Serbs are attacked.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Vucic of igniting "unrest".

"The following hours, days and weeks can be challenging and problematic," Kurti said on Facebook.
The new border rules comes almost a year after Kurti gave up imposing similar rules due to similar protests.

Ethnic Serbs staged daily protests and blocked the traffic at the two border crossings.

NATO ready to intervene
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's independence, and tensions between the two are now at their highest in years.

On Sunday NATO said it was ready to intervene if "stability is jeopardized"

The alliance maintains peace with 3,770 troops on the ground in Kosovo.
It said it would "take whatever measures are necessary to keep a safe and secure environment in Kosovo at all times."

It encouraged the parties to continue talks.

EU-brokered talks between the two countries launched over a decade ago, but have so far failed to achieve normalization of their ties.

Last month Kosovo said it would make an official application to join the European Union at the end of the year.
lo/wd (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

*******

See this thread also:

WAR - Possible Fighting on Serbia / Kosovo border being reported? - 2 Serbians shot in Kosovo on Orthodox Christmas Eve - Post #69

There is a dust up / fighting ongoing at the Serbia / Kosovo border. Time will tell if this is a small dust up or something that leads to something bigger... Looking for more information.

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

London homes under threat as DCs suck up all the power

Barrier to building homes in overcrowded city? An overdrawn electricity grid

www.theregister.com

Homes in London under threat as datacenters pull in all the power
Barrier to building homes in overcrowded city? An overdrawn electricity grid

Dan Robinson Mon 1 Aug 2022 // 10:30 UTC


Comments 47

Housing in London, western Europe's largest city, is famously in short supply, but it seems there is a new barrier to building more homes in England's capital – the electricity grid can't supply enough power and datacenters are being blamed for using up all the capacity.


According to the Financial Times, housing developers in West London were told by the Greater London Authority that it might take more than a decade to build out the capacity of the electricity grid, and there may have to be a moratorium on new housing projects until 2035. Three west London boroughs in particular were named – Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow.


The GLA states in its letter that the grid in that part of London is under acute pressure not just because of the demand for new homes, but because of the number of capacious bit barns that were constructed in the area in recent years.


The upshot of this is that new projects are now being rejected because the electricity network in the locale has hit capacity.

According to the FT, the GLA, the National Grid and local electric suppliers are working on a solution to unblock the development impasse, with options being considered said to include reviewing the needs of customers on a case-by-case basis and incentivizing electricity usage at low-demand times of day.


Datacenter operators have chosen to locate their infrastructure close to the transport links provided by the M4 highway corridor and also because of high-capacity fibre optic cable links that run alongside the major road, heading westwards towards the Atlantic and North America.


Colocation provider Virtus, for example, operates about five separate datacenters not far from London's Heathrow Airport, while Morgan Stanley and Sungard Availability Services also have their own facilities in the area, all merrily sucking up the megawatts.

• Datacenters in Ireland draw more power than all rural homes put together
• Hell, high water, and ice: Facebook's Dublin data center choices
• Meta's plans to build hyperscale DC in Netherlands on hold
• This data center will be Europe's first with hydrogen backup power

The problem is that these bit barns use a lot of electricity, not just to power racks upon racks of servers, but also the rest of the infrastructure, such as the cooling system, to stop everything from overheating, plus the lighting and monitoring systems.


According to Digital Realty (which also has a datacenter at Heathrow Airport), as much as 3 percent of all electricity used in the world goes to powering datacenters, although other sources put this at closer to 1 percent. This amounts to over 416 terawatts, a greater amount than all the electricity used by the entire United Kingdom.


And it isn't just a problem in the UK – earlier this year, it was reported that datacenter power consumption in Ireland is now greater than the energy used by all the rural homes in the country put together.


The situation caused protests in Ireland late last year, with calls for a halt to the ongoing expansion of datacenter capacity in the country, with fears being expressed of blackouts happening because so much of Ireland's energy was being used to power datacenters.


In March, the Dutch Senate voted to make it impossible to implement the zoning plan for land meant to be used for a Meta datacenter until it can be sure the application by Facebook's parent doesn't conflict with public interest.


Protests over datacenters have also been happening elsewhere in the world, notably in Virginia in the US, which is believed to have had as many as 186 bit barns by 2019. Plans to build new datacenter buildings near the Manassas National Battlefield in Prince William County were met with resistance from some in the local community, while others are worried about datacenter developments pushing up land prices.


However, there were also protests in places such as Chandler and Mesa in Arizona over the amount of water as well as energy used by datacenters located there, with some authorities tightening the approvals process to try and discourage new builds. ®

 

[Plain Jane]

1st ship carrying Ukrainian grain leaves the port of Odesa

The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain has set out from the port of Odesa. The departure of the ship laden with corn follows an internationally brokered deal that is expected to finally allow large stores of Ukrainian crops to reach foreign markets and ease a growing hunger crisis.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/russia-u...ey-istanbul-932888f2e144b61accc855bba49c83cc#

1st ship carrying Ukrainian grain leaves the port of Odesa
By SUSIE BLANN and SUZAN FRASERyesterday



1 of 8
The bulk carrier Razoni starts its way from the port in Odesa, Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. According to Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure, the ship under Sierra Leone's flag is carrying 26 thousand tons of Ukrainian corn to Lebanon. The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain set off from the port of Odesa on Monday under an internationally brokered deal and is expected to reach Istanbul on Tuesday, where it will be inspected, before being allowed to proceed. (AP Photo/Michael Shtekel)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain set out Monday from the port of Odesa under an internationally brokered deal to unblock the embattled country’s agricultural exports and ease the growing global food crisis.

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni sounded its horn as it departed with over 26,000 tons of corn destined for Lebanon.

“The first grain ship since Russian aggression has left port,” Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov declared on Twitter.

Russia and Ukraine signed agreements in Istanbul with Turkey and the U.N. on July 22, clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of grain and other agricultural products that have been stuck in Black Sea ports because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than five months ago. The deals also allow Russia to export grain and fertilizer.

As part of the agreements, safe corridors through the mined waters outside Ukraine’s ports were established.


Ukraine and Russia are major global suppliers of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil, with the fertile Black Sea region long known as the breadbasket of Europe. The holdup of shipments because of the war has worsened rising food prices worldwide and threatened hunger and political instability in developing nations.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-japan-asia-middle-east-14350d5bd6d036c68159d02c2db79698
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sounded a cautious note. Calling the shipment “the first positive signal that there is a chance to stop the spread of a food crisis in the world,” he also urged international partners to closely monitor Moscow’s compliance with the deal.
“We cannot have the illusions that Russia will simply refrain from trying to disrupt Ukrainian exports,” Zelenskyy said.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hailed the ship’s departure as “very positive,” saying it would help test the “efficiency of the mechanisms that were agreed to during the talks in Istanbul.”

Under the agreements, ships going in and out of Ukrainian ports will be subject to inspection to make sure that incoming vessels are not carrying weapons and that outgoing ones are bearing only grain, fertilizer or related food items, not any other commodities.

View attachment 1659433438694.png

The Razoni was scheduled to dock early Wednesday in Istanbul, where teams of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. officials were set to board it for inspection.

More ships are expected to leave from Ukraine’s ports through the safe corridors. At Odesa, 16 more vessels, all blocked since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, were waiting their turn, with others to follow, Ukrainian authorities said.

But some shipping companies are not yet rushing to export food across the Black Sea as they assess the danger of mines and the risk of Russian rockets hitting grain warehouses and ports.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who proposed the grain deal in April, said the Razoni was “loaded with two commodities in short supply: corn and hope.”

“Hope for millions of people around the world who depend on the smooth running of Ukraine’s ports to feed their families,” he said.

Lebanon, the corn’s destination, is in the grip of a severe financial crisis. A 2020 explosion at its main port in Beirut shattered its capital city and destroyed grain silos. Lebanon imports mostly wheat from Ukraine but also buys its corn for making cooking oil and animal feed.


Kubrakov said the shipments will also help Ukraine’s war-shattered economy.
“Unlocking ports will provide at least $1 billion in foreign exchange revenue to the economy and an opportunity for the agricultural sector to plan for next year,” he said.

Hearing the ship sound its horn as it left port delighted Olena Vitalievna, an Odesa resident.
“Finally, life begins to move forward and there are some changes in a positive direction,” she said. “In general, the port should live its own life because Odesa is a port city. We live here. We want everything to work for us, everything to bustle.”

The resumption of the grain shipments came as fighting raged elsewhere in Ukraine, with Russia pressing its offensive in the east while Ukraine tries to retake territory in the Russian-occupied south.

Ukraine’s presidential office said at least three civilians were killed and 16 wounded by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko repeated a call for all residents to evacuate, emphasizing the need to remove about 52,000 children still there.


Two civilians were killed and two seriously wounded when Russian forces fired missiles at a bus evacuating people from a village in the southern Kherson region, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration in the city of Kryvyi Rih.

Ukrainian authorities have been calling on civilians in that region, which was overrun by Russian troops early in the war, to evacuate ahead of a planned counteroffensive.
More shelling was reported in Kharkiv in the northeast and Mykolaiv in the south.
Analysts warned that the continuing fighting could still upend the grain deal.

“The departure of the first vessel doesn’t solve the food crisis; it’s just the first step that could also be the last if Russia decides to continue attacks in the south,” said Volodymyr Sidenko, an expert with the Kyiv-based Razumkov Center think tank.
In other developments:

— In Washington, President Joe Biden approved an additional $550 million in military aid to Ukraine, including more ammunition for howitzers and for the new American-supplied multiple rocket launchers that are making a difference on the battlefield. The package brings total U.S. military assistance to Ukraine to approximately $8.7 billion since the start of the Biden administration.

— Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman said he had written to his Russian counterpart suggesting a joint visit to the Olenivka prison, where dozens of Ukrainian POWs were killed in an explosion Friday. Dmitry Lubets said the Russian side indicated it would consider it.

Both sides have blamed each other for the blast at the prison, which is in Russian-controlled territory. Ukrainian officials maintain the explosion was caused by a bomb set off inside the building.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also requested access to the prison, but so far has been turned down.
___
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Russia labels Ukraine's Azov Regiment 'terrorists' – DW – 08/03/2022

Russia's top court has designated one of the most prominent Ukrainian military formations as a terrorist organization, paving the way for terror charges against some captured fighters.

www.dw.com

Russia brands Ukraine's Azov Regiment 'terrorist' group
Russia's top court has designated one of the most prominent Ukrainian military formations as a terrorist organization, paving the way for terror charges against some captured fighters.




Azov soldiers have been on the frontline of Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion
Russia's Supreme Court on Tuesday declared the Ukrainian Azov Regiment a terrorist organization.

Despite its checkered past, the Azov Regiment is hailed in Ukraine as heroes for fighting to defend the country's embattled east against the Russian invasion.

What does the designation mean?
An estimated 1,000 Azov soldiers are being held by Russia and Moscow's allied forces in eastern Ukraine.

Many were captured when the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol was captured in May after a monthslong siege.

They are facing criminal cases as Russia accuses them of killing civilians.
Under stringent anti-terror laws, the captured Azov soldiers could have fewer rights and longer jail terms, up to 20 years.

Separatist leaders of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine said in May that Azov fighters could face the death penalty.

Russia's embassy in London also sparked outrage last week when it posted on Twitter that captive Azov soldiers "deserve a humiliating death."

What is the Azov Regiment?
The Azov Regiment began as a paramilitary unit to fight against pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine in 2014. It was later integrated into Ukraine's national guard.

The regiment initially drew fighters from far-right and ultra-nationalist circles, although its current members reject accusations of extremism.

In 2019, the US Congress came close to designating the regiment as a "terrorist organization" but eventually did not.

Still, for years, Azov has maintained contacts with far-right movements abroad, including in Germany.

Moscow has consistently cited Azov to back its claim that Ukraine is controlled by "neo-Nazis."

In a statement on Tuesday, the Azov Regiment said that Russia was looking for new justifications for war crimes, and called on Washington to designate Russia a terrorist state.

"After the public execution of prisoners of war from the 'Azov' regiment in Olenivka, Russia is looking for new excuses and explanations for its war crimes," the unit said in, referring to last week's explosion that killed over 50 at a site holding Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Both Ukraine and Russia have blamed the other for the blast.
fb/rs (AP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

France To "Reduce Or Halt Nuclear Output" As Heatwave Restricts Ability To Cool Plants

BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, AUG 04, 2022 - 02:45 AM
Forecast models indicate that high temperatures will persist across France in early August. Europe's second-largest economy has endured record-breaking heat this summer that has curbed nuclear power production. We detailed last month, "France Cuts Nuclear Power Generation Amid Record-Breaking Heatwave," and now, more reductions are planned amid an energy crisis.
Bloomberg reported French utility Electricite de France SA (EDF) said nuclear power stations on the Rhone and Garonne rivers will reduce power generation because a persistent heatwave is increasing water temperatures too hot to circulate through condensers and discharge back into waterways.

Under French rules, EDF must reduce or halt nuclear output when river temperatures reach certain thresholds to ensure the water used to cool the plants won't harm the environment when put back into waterways.
Restrictions have been in place at various times during the summer already. The latest warnings include curbs at the St. Alban plant from Saturday, according to a filing. The facility will operate at a minimum of 700 megawatts, compared with a total capacity of about 2,600 megawatts. Reductions are also likely at the Tricastin plant, where two units will maintain at least 400 megawatts. -Bloomberg

France is the continent's largest producer of atomic energy, usually a net exporter of power across EU member states but is now importing electricity since the output this summer will be the lowest in more than three decades. The cause of declining nuclear power output is plants shut for maintenance and or inspection checks.



France's nuclear reactor capacity was around 44% on Monday. Bloomberg data showed that two reactors restarted earlier this week, which boosted nuclear capacity to 49% on Wednesday.

The reductions in nuclear power output have helped push power prices to near record levels in France and neighboring countries, such as the UK and Germany. France's power generation problem comes as Europe faces the worst energy supply crunch in decades. Russia reduced natural gas flows via Nord Stream 1 pipeline to just 20% capacity the other week, causing fear of a prolonged energy crisis through 2023.

 

[Plain Jane]

3 more ships with grain depart Ukraine ports under UN deal

Three more ships carrying thousands of tons of corn have left Ukrainian ports. The movement Friday is the latest sign that a negotiated deal to export grain trapped since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly six months ago is slowly moving forward.

apnews.com

3 more ships with grain depart Ukraine ports under UN deal

3 more ships with grain depart Ukraine ports under UN deal
By ZEYNEP BILGINSOYan hour ago



1 of 6
The cargo ship Razoni crosses the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. The first cargo ship to leave Ukraine since the Russian invasion was anchored at an inspection area in the Black Sea off the coast of Istanbul Wednesday morning, awaiting an inspection, before moving on to Lebanon. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
ISTANBUL (AP) — Three more ships with grain have left Ukrainian ports and are headed to Turkey for inspection, Turkey’s defense ministry said Friday, evidence that a U.N.-backed deal is working to export Ukrainian grain that has been trapped by Russia’s invasion.

The three ships are loaded with over 58,000 tons of corn. Much of the grain that Ukraine exports is used as animal feed, experts say


Ukraine is one of the world’s main breadbaskets and the stocks of grain trapped were exacerbating a sharp rise of food prices and raising fears of a global hunger crisis.
The departure of the ships comes after the first grain shipment since the start of the war left Ukraine earlier this week. It crossed the Black Sea under the breakthrough wartime deal and passed inspection Wednesday in Istanbul and then headed on to Lebanon.

The ships that departed Friday from Ukraine are from among over a dozen bulk carriers and cargo ships that had been loaded with grain and stuck at the ports there since the start of Russia’s invasion in late February.


While tens of thousands of tons of grains are now making their way out with these latest shipments, it’s still a fraction of the 20 million tons of grains which Ukraine says are trapped in the country’s silos and ports, and which must be shipped out in order to make space for this year’s harvest.

Canada to send trainers to UK to teach Ukrainian forces
Around 6 million tons of that trapped grain is wheat, and just half of that is for human consumption, said David Laborde, an expert on agriculture and trade at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C.

Prices of grains peaked in the first weeks after Russia’s invasion, but some have since come down to their pre-war levels. Corn prices are running around 70% above the levels seen at the end of February 2020, before the pandemic, according to Jonathan Haines, senior analyst and data and analytics firm, Gro Intelligence. He said wheat prices are currently 63% above the levels seen at the end of February this year, when the invasion was launched.

The three ships that left Ukrainian ports are the Turkish-flagged Polarnet, carrying 12,000 tons of corn, which left the Chornomorsk port bound for Karasu, Turkey. The Panama-flagged Navi Star left Odesa’s port for Ireland with 33,000 tons of corn. The Maltese-flagged Rojen left Chornomorsk for the United Kingdom carrying over 13,000 tons of corn, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. said the joint coordination center overseeing the deal had authorized the three ships as the operation expands, and also inspected a ship headed for Ukraine.
The Barbados-flagged Fulmar S was inspected in Istanbul and is destined for Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port.

Officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the U.N. make up the Joint Coordination Center that oversees the deal signed in Istanbul last month.

The deal’s aim is to create safe Black Sea shipping corridors to export Ukraine’s desperately needed agricultural products. Checks on ships by inspectors seek to ensure that outbound cargo ships carry only grain, fertilizer or food and not any other commodities, and that inbound ships are not carrying weapons.

The U.N. said that the humanitarian corridor had to be revised after this week’s first shipment “to allow for more efficient passage of ships while maintaining safety.”
___
Aya Batrawy contributed from Dubai.

 

[Melodi]

One of those ships is headed to Ireland - when I took my grain milling class the guest speaker said the public wasn't being told, but Ireland was going to run out of wheat grain around October if something didn't happen. When I saw this headline in the Irish paper this morning I thought, well maybe that will get us through Christmas depending on how much there is.

Ireland grows very little wheat although there is one mill now active in the country (and I have some of their flour and grain) it is kind of a niche market at this point. While I have no issues using my Irish flour for either bread or hardy cakes (it is kind of like American All Purpose flour) it probably wouldn't work for most commercial-factory bread that is used to a certain type of wheat. Specialty bakers, like some of the guys in my class, can use it, but they are not the suppliers that provide the mass-market bread for the supermarkets.

 

[Plain Jane]

Ukraine, Syria top Erdogan-Putin talks in Sochi – DW – 08/05/2022

The Turkish president is hoping to push diplomatic talks on the war in Ukraine during discussions with the Russian leader. Complicating these efforts is Recep Tayyip Erdogan's planned military operation in Syria.

www.dw.com

Ukraine, Syria top high-stakes Erdogan-Putin talks in Russia
The Turkish president is hoping to push diplomatic talks on the war in Ukraine during discussions with the Russian leader. Complicating these efforts is Recep Tayyip Erdogan's planned military operation in Syria.




Erdogan and Putin met at the Russian president's Black Sea residence in Sochi
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for talks in Sochi on Friday.

"Despite the current regional and global challenges, the leaders reaffirmed their common will to further develop Russian-Turkish relations," the Kremlin said in a statement after the talks.
The Turkish and Russian presidents agreed to boost their political and economic — both trade and energy — cooperation.

It is the second time the two have met in the two weeks since Turkey helped broker a deal to resume Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports that had been blocked by Russia's invasion. The agreement also allows Russia to export grain and fertilizer.

Earlier in the day, three ships carrying thousands of tons of corn left Ukrainian ports, following the departure of the first vessel on Monday.

In the statement issued after the talks that lasted four hours, Putin and Erdogan emphasized "the necessity of a complete fulfillment of the package deal reached in Istanbul ... including unhindered export of Russian grain and fertilizers.''

They also noted the "key importance of sincere, frank and trusting ties between Russia and Turkey for regional and global stability.''

Kremlin calls on Turkey not to 'destabilize' Syria
A more contentious issue on the agenda was Turkey's planned incursion into northern Syria to target Kurdish fighters.

The plan, announced by Erdogan in May, has drawn criticism from Russia, Iran and the United States.

Russia remains the dominant foreign military power in Syria, and Iran also plays a part in supporting the authoritarian Syrian government.

Ahead of Friday's meeting, the Kremlin called on Turkey not to "destabilize" Syria.
"Turkey has legitimate concerns for security reasons, which we, of course, take into account," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Following Friday's meeting, Erdogan and Putin agreed to "act jointly and in close coordination with each other in the fight against all terrorist organizations."

"The parties confirmed that they attach great importance to advancing the political process" in Syria, the statement said.

Russia and Turkey target economic cooperation
The Kremlin said the two leaders agreed "to meet the expectations of the opposite side in the spheres of economy and energy."

Turkey, a member of NATO, has criticized Russia's invasion and provided Ukraine with arms, but it has broken with Western allies by not imposing sanctions on Russia

Amid a major economic crisis, with official inflation hitting nearly 80%, Turkey increasingly relies on Russia for trade and tourism.

Turkey depends heavily on Russia and Ukraine for grain.

Russia accounted for 56% of grain imported to Turkey in 2021, at $2.24 billion, while imports from Ukraine amounted to $861 million.

Erdogan and Putin also discussed natural gas imports to Turkey from Russia.
The two leaders also agreed to switch part of the payments for Russian gas to rubles, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters after the talks.
ab, lo/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

In a first, Somalia-based al-Shabab is attacking in Ethiopia

The al-Shabab extremist group has exploited Ethiopia’s internal turmoil to cross the border from neighboring Somalia in unprecedented attacks in recent weeks that a top U.S. military commander has warned could continue.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/africa-ethiopia-somalia-al-shabab-26a2426642f9eebc0b4280a4d749acd7#


Click to copy
In a first, Somalia-based al-Shabab is attacking in Ethiopia
By OMAR FARUKyesterday



1 of 5
FILE - Armed al-Shabab fighters ride on pickup trucks as they prepare to travel into the city, just outside the capital Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 8, 2008. The al-Shabab extremist group has exploited Ethiopia's internal turmoil to cross the border from neighboring Somalia in unprecedented attacks in July 2022 that a top U.S. military commander has warned could continue. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The al-Shabab extremist group has exploited Ethiopia’s internal turmoil to cross the border from neighboring Somalia in unprecedented attacks in recent weeks that a top U.S. military commander has warned could continue.

The deadly incursions into Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country and long seen as an anchor of security in the Horn of Africa, are the latest sign of how deeply the recent war in the northern Tigray region and other ethnic fighting have made the country more vulnerable.

Ethiopia has long resisted such cross-border attacks by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, in part by deploying troops inside Somalia, where the extremist group controls large rural parts of the country’s southern and central regions. But the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and its security forces have struggled with unrest at home especially since the Tigray conflict began in late 2020.


Experts say al-Shabab, also emboldened by instability under Somalia’s previous administration, is seizing the chance to expand its footprint and claim the killing of scores of Ethiopian security forces. But the group is also feeling the pressure of a renewed push by Somalia’s new government and the return of U.S. forces to the country after their withdrawal by former President Donald Trump.

The turn to Ethiopia is a significant strategic shift by al-Shabab, Matt Bryden, a security analyst with the Sahan Foundation think tank, told The Associated Press. The extremist group had never been able to conduct major operations inside Ethiopia.

“The reports of clashes along the Ethiopia-Somalia border are just a fraction of the overall picture,” Bryden said. “We understand that planning for this offensive began more than one year ago, when the Ethiopian government appeared to be on the verge of collapse” as rival Tigray forces pushed toward the capital, Addis Ababa. Those forces later retreated, and both sides are edging toward peace talks.

Al-Shabab has trained several thousand fighters for its Ethiopian “command,” mainly ethnic Somalis and Oromos inside Ethiopia, Bryden asserted. Ethiopia’s federal government has said it fears al-Shabab will link up with the Oromo Liberation Army, which it has designated a terror organization, though other security experts have called that unlikely.

Hundreds of al-Shabab fighters were able to slip into Ethiopia last week alone and their presence has been detected near multiple communities such as El Kari, Jaraati, and Imey, Bryden said. The incursions began in late July.

“There are also credible reports of al-Shabab units deploying in the direction of Moyale,” the main border post between Ethiopia and Kenya, he said.

Somalia’s previous president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, avoided any major confrontation with al-Shabab. But new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said his government will take the offensive against the group’s thousands of fighters, with the backing of returning U.S. forces.

“Al-Shabab therefore faces a much greater military challenge in Somalia than before and has therefore embarked on this Ethiopian campaign in order to preserve some of its forces and establish strategic depth,” Bryden said.


He warned that if al-Shabab establishes a stronghold in southeastern Ethiopia, “the consequences for peace and security in the region could be very serious indeed.” The fighters would be well-positioned to strike deeper into Ethiopia, into Kenya and even as far as Uganda to the west. Al-Shabab has carried out several high-profile deadly attacks inside Kenya over the years.

The outgoing head of the U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Stephen Townsend, last month warned that al-Shabab’s activities inside Ethiopia were not a “one-off” and said the fighters made it as far as 150 kilometers into the country.

Al-Shabab has long regarded Ethiopia an enemy for its long military presence inside Somalia countering the fighters. Via its Radio Andalus media arm, the extremist group has claimed killing at least 187 Ethiopian regional forces and seizing military equipment in its attacks.
Ethiopian officials have expressed alarm. On Tuesday, the country’s Somali regional president, Mustefa Omer, told a regional assembly that more than 600 al-Shabab fighters have been killed.


The region is in a lengthy war with the extremists, not just a one-time clash, he said, and “the Ethiopian federal army is currently involved in the fight against the terrorists ... and we will also work with Somalia.”

He said the goal is to create a security buffer inside Somalia to guard against further incursions. “We should not wait for the enemy to invade,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, the Somali region announced that Ethiopian military officials had arrived in Somalia’s town of Beledweyne to discuss strategies to counter al-Shabab’s incursion. The statement said Ethiopia’s soldiers in the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia will be deployed against the extremists.

Residents of the Somali town of Yeed near the Ethiopian border told the AP they witnessed losses suffered by al-Shabab fighters in an Ethiopian attack last week. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution.

And a resident of Somalia’s Bakool region, Isak Yarow, said Ethiopian military planes have carried out airstrikes in Garasweyne village in an area where Ethiopian and al-Shabab fighters have clashed.

Ethiopia’s military has claimed the killing of three prominent al-Shabab figures including its propaganda chief, but the extremist group has denied it.


While Al-Shabab’s ultimate aims inside Ethiopia are yet to be determined, its new actions signal its “growing ambition, regional capabilities, and opportunism to exploit regional geopolitics, especially as the Abiy Ahmed government struggles to contain the various insurgencies inside Ethiopia,” security analysts Caleb Weiss and Ryan O’Farrell wrote late last month.

Security analyst Ismail Osman, a former deputy of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, told the AP that “President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s immediate priority is to eradicate al-Shabab” and warned that regional tensions could worsen amid this new instability.
___
An Associated Press writer reported from Nairobi, Kenya.

 

[Plain Jane]

Role of race contested in killing of Nigerian man in Italy

Two marches have taken place through one of Italy's Adriatic beach towns, both seeking justice in the brutal daylight killing of a Nigerian man at the hands of an Italian stranger.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/africa-i...d-ethnicity-377db6f24679239bea3fdb068255305b#


Click to copy
Role of race contested in killing of Nigerian man in Italy
By COLLEEN BARRYyesterday



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A demonstrators holds up a white rose during a protest to demand justice for Nigerian street vendor Alika Ogorchukwu in Civitanova Marche, Italy, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The brutal killing of Ogorchukwu in broad daylight has sparked a debate in this well-to-do Adriatic beach community over whether the attack by an Italian man with a court-documented history of mental illness was racially motivated. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

CIVITANOVA MARCHE, Italy (AP) — Two marches Saturday in a well-to-do Italian Adriatic beach town both sought justice in the brutal daylight killing of a Nigerian man at the hands of an Italian stranger but were divided by one word: Racism.

One march by Nigerians living in Italy’s Macerata province was led by victim Alika Ogorchukwu’s tearful widow and joined by two of his brothers. Organizers of that march said they did not want the search for justice to be clouded by accusations of racism that they feel cannot be proven.

The second march, along same route an hour later, was led by Black Italians from all over Italy who demanded that Italian authorities reverse themselves and recognize the role that race played in the July 29 killing.

“Not naming racism won’t help us understand how to defeat it. Because racism exists in Italy,″ Selam Tesfaye, a Milan-based immigrant activist, told the second crowd of about 100 people. “If someone in Civitanova wants to explain why this is not racism, we are here.”


A widely circulated video shows the Italian man wrestling Ogorchukwu to the ground and strangling him. One man’s voice can be heard shouting for the attacker to stop, but no onlookers intervened physically, adding a layer of public outrage over their apparent indifference.

Police arrested an Italian suspect, Filippo Ferlazzo, 32, but quickly ruled out a racial motivation for the attack. The finding was confirmed by prosecutors who did not include racial motivation in the charge sheet, according to Ferlazzo’s lawyer, Roberta Bizzarri.
According to police, Ferlazzo first struck Ogorchukwu with a crutch the vendor used after pursuing the Nigerian 200 meters (yards) down a shopping street lined with high-end boutiques. Some accounts said Ogorchukwu had complimented Ferlazzo’s companion while trying to make a sale or ask for spare change. Others said he had touched the companion’s arm.

Townspeople have accepted the official version of events, attributing the Nigerian man’s death to an insistent street-seller unfortunately clashing with a man who has a court-documented history of mental illness.

“This is not a racist city,” newsstand owner Domenico Giordano said. “This is an open city. If you behave well, you are welcomed and even helped.”

People have left flowers and condolences on the sidewalk where Ogorchukwu was killed, in front of a beachwear boutique that was closed for lunch at the time. Store owner Laura Latino said she has received negative comments from as far away as Houston, accusing her of standing by and doing nothing when she wasn’t even there.

’’Be careful about judging a city of 45,000 people,” Latino said, adding that false rumors were “ruining the reputation of the city.”

City officials have expressed concerns that the killing was being politicized ahead of Italy’s early parliamentary election on Sept. 25.

Samuel Kunoun, a Nigerian union activist who organized the march with the victim’s family, said he does not believe the attack was racially motivated. Still, the role of race in the case is so charged that he kept the word “racism” off banners in the march that attracted 200 people, mostly Nigerians.


“We don’t have to mix it with racism. What happened is that someone who is not normal killed our fellow Nigerian,″ Kunoun said. “We want this boy to pay for what he has done, to be in prison for life. That is our justice.”

But a manifesto for the second march, billed as Italy’s first-ever organized by Black Italians, lists the recognition of the role of race in Ogorchukwu’s killing as chief among 11 demands. Some 30 organizations said they would seek to join the prosecution as civil complainants.
Ogorchukwu’s widow, Charity Oriakhi, is reluctant to say the killing was racially motivated.
“It is just someone who is wicked,” Oriakhi told The Associated Press.

She said both she and her husband had always felt welcome in Italy and that he never recounted negative interactions when he was out selling. In fact, she said, he often came home with gifts from Italians for the couple’s 8-year-old son.

The pair met in the Tuscan town of Prato about a decade ago, shortly after Ogorchukwu’s arrival in Italy, and later resettled in the Marche region in an apartment above a marble workshop in the small hillside town of San Severino.


The Nigerian government has condemned Ogorchukwu’s death and its foreign ministry has urged Italian authorities to “bring the perpetrator of the heinous act to book without delay.”
Not all Nigerians in Macerata province are denying a racial element.

“The word racism cannot be minimized because it exists,” said Daniel Amanze, who arrived in Italy from Nigeria as a student 40 years ago. He said he saw racism becoming more “obvious” in recent years as some politicians scapegoat immigrants to cover “for their poor administration.”

Amanze said Ogorchukwu’s killing renewed a sense of fear among Africans living in the Marche region that had started to dissipate following two other racially motivated attacks. One was a 2018 shooting spree by a far-right political activist targeting Africans in Macerata that wounded six. The other was the 2016 death of a Nigerian man, Emmanuel Chidi Nnamdi, who was attacked after defending his wife from racial abuse in the town of Fermo.

Ogorchukwu used a crutch because a car struck him while he was on a bicycle a year ago, leaving him with a limp. The family’s lawyer, Franceso Mantella, said the street vendor continued to hawk wares, from tissues to straw hats, even after an insurance settlement provided a bit more financial security along with Oriakhi’s job cleaning a train station.


The widow said she last saw her husband when he gave her a sandwich at the train station on the day he died. She is haunted by the video and keeps the TV at home off so their son doesn’t see such images.

“I saw the video,” she said, mimicking the attacker’s stranglehold on her husband. “What hurts me most is there are people circled. They do a video. No one to help. I wish someone rescued him. Maybe he would not be dead.”
____
Chinedu Asadu in Lagos, Nigeria and Gianfranco Stara in Civitanova Marche contributed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Shift in war's front seen as grain leaves Ukraine; plant hit

Six more ships carrying agricultural cargo held up by the war in Ukraine have received authorization to leave the country’s Black Sea ports.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/russia-u...rica-turkey-006b45ba50be9a99d22ffc1af9daf405#

Shift in war’s front seen as grain leaves Ukraine; plant hit
By SUSIE BLANNyesterday



1 of 6
A man takes a picture as the Glory bulk carrier makes its way from the port in Odesa, Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. According to Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure, the ship under the Marshall Islands' flag is carrying 66 thousand tons of Ukrainian corn. (AP Photo/Nina Lyashonok)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Six more ships carrying agricultural cargo held up by the war in Ukraine received authorization Sunday to leave the country’s Black Sea coast as analysts warned that Russia was moving troops and equipment in the direction of the southern port cities to stave off a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukraine and Russia also accused each other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The loaded vessels were cleared to depart from Chornomorsk and Odesa, according to the Joint Coordination Center, which oversees an international deal intended to get some 20 million tons of grain out of Ukraine to feed millions going hungry in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.

Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations signed the agreements last month to create a 111-nautical-mile sea corridor that would allow cargo ships to travel safely out of ports that Russia’s military had blockaded and through waters that Ukraine’s military had mined. Implementation of the deal, which is in effect for four months, has proceeded slowly since the first ship embarked on Aug. 1.
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Four of the carriers cleared Sunday to leave Ukraine were transporting more than 219,000 tons of corn. The fifth was carrying more than 6,600 tons of sunflower oil and the sixth 11,000 tons of soya, the Joint Coordination Center said.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-inflation-africa-lebanon-1eafa6d440e9f50aeb051ac6fe605a76
Three other cargo ships that left Friday passed their inspections and received clearance Sunday to pass through Turkey’s Bosporus Strait on the way to their final destinations, the Center said.

However, the vessel that left Ukraine last Monday with great fanfare as the first under the grain exports deal had its scheduled arrival in Lebanon delayed Sunday, according to a Lebanese Cabinet minister and the Ukraine Embassy. The cause of the delay was not immediately clear.

Ukrainian officials were initially skeptical of a grain export deal, citing suspicions that Moscow would try to exploit shipping activity to mass troops offshore or send long-range missiles from the Black Sea, as it has done multiple times during the war.

The agreements call for ships to leave Ukraine under military escort and to undergo inspections to make sure they carry only grain, fertilizer or food and not any other commodities. Inbound cargo vessels are checked to ensure they are not carrying weapons.
In a weekend analysis, Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Russian invasion that started Feb. 24 “is about to enter a new phase” in which the fighting would shift to a roughly 350-kilometer (217-mile) front line extending from near the city of Zaporizhzhia to Russian-occupied Kherson.

That area includes the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station which came under fire late Saturday. Each side accused the other of the attack.

Ukraine’s nuclear power plant operator, Energoatom, said Russian shelling damaged three radiation monitors around the storage facility for spent nuclear fuels and that one worker was injured. Russian news agencies, citing the separatist-run administration of the plant, said Ukrainian forces fired those shells.


Russian forces have occupied the power station for months. Russian soldiers there took shelter in bunkers before Saturday’s attack, according to Energoatom.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, recently warned that the way the plant was being run and the fighting going on around it posed grave health and environmental threats.

For the last four months of the war, Russia has concentrated on capturing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled some territory as self-proclaimed republics for eight years. Russian forces have made gradual headway in the region while launching missile and rocket attacks to curtail the movements of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere.

The Russians “are continuing to accumulate large quantities of military equipment” in a town across the Dnieper River from Russian-held Kherson, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank. Citing local Ukrainian officials, it said the preparations appeared designed to defend logistics routes to the city and establish defensive positions on the river’s left bank.

Kherson came under Russian control early in the war and Ukrainian officials have vowed to retake it. It is just 227 kilometers (141 miles) from Odesa, home to Ukraine’s biggest port, so the conflict escalating there could have repercussions for the international grain deal.


The city of Mykolaiv, a shipbuilding center that Russian forces bombard daily, is even closer to Odesa. The Mykolaiv region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim, said an industrial facility on the regional capital’s outskirts came under fire early Sunday.

Over the past day, five civilians were killed by Russian and separatist firing on cities in the Donetsk region, the part of Donbas still under Ukrainian control, the regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, reported.

He and Ukrainian government officials have repeatedly urged civilians to evacuate.
___
Andrew Wilks contributed reporting from Istanbul.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukrai

 

[Plain Jane]

EU's emergency gas plan comes into force – DW – 08/09/2022

The plan calls on EU countries to reduce their gas consumption amid fears that Russia could stop deliveries. The head of Germany's network regulator has said the plan could put the brakes on rising gas prices.

www.dw.com

EU's emergency gas plan comes into force
The plan calls on EU countries to reduce their gas consumption amid fears that Russia could stop deliveries. The head of Germany's network regulator says that the plan could put the brakes on rising gas prices.




The plan aims to fill gas storage facilities, like this on in Latvia, in preparation for the winter

The European Union's emergency gas plan went into force on Tuesday, with member states being asked to reduce their gas use and work toward filling gas storage ahead of winter.
The plan has been introduced to counter the shortfall of supply that would arise if Russia were to cut off its delivery of gas amid tensions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Gas deliveries from Russia to the EU have already been considerably reduced in moves seen by many as a "weaponization" of energy supplies by Moscow.

What does the plan entail?
EU member states are being asked to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15% between August 1 and March 31 as compared to the average consumption in the same period during the past five years.

Under the plan, which was approved by EU energy ministers in late July, the savings targets could be made mandatory in case of a supply emergency.

However, there are numerous opt-outs for individual countries and industries, and at least 15 EU countries representing at least 65% of the bloc's total population would have to approve for the targets to be made binding.

Spain and Italy are among the countries to have obtained exemptions from the 15% savings target.

The plan aims to save 45 billion cubic meters of gas overall. According to the European Commission, Germany, as a big gas user, will have to account for some 10 billion cubic meters of that amount.


Play Video
1:23 min
Energy crisis: Germany prepares for worst-case scenario
What has Germany's network regulator said?
According to Klaus Müller, the head of the German federal agency responsible for electricity, gas, rail, mail and telecommunications — the Bundesnetzagentur — the plan could put an end to the recent rises in gas prices or even start pushing them back down.

"If all countries in Europe save gas, this can stabilize the price so to speak, maybe even reduce it, and contribute to making sure that there is enough gas supply for us to make it through the autumn and winter," Müller told public service broadcaster ZDF.

Gas prices in Germany have more than doubled since the end of last year, to €0.13 ($0.13) per kilowatt hour, with some suppliers increasing prices even more.

Starting October 1, costs will go up again in Germany, with gas customers asked to pay "solidarity levy" of up to €0.05 per kilowatt hour. The money aims to help gas importers who have been forced to buy more expensive gas elsewhere than Russia.
The emergency plan is initially to be in place for a year.
tj/msh (Reuters, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

In race to win, UK Conservatives accused of ignoring crises

Britain's Conservatives are choosing the country's new prime minister, but the candidates face accusations of ignoring the country’s mounting economic and environmental crises.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/inflatio...environment-7712460710732bbf7867c35dc643609a#

In race to win, UK Conservatives accused of ignoring crises
By JILL LAWLESSan hour ago



1 of 2
Conservative Party leadership candidate Liz Truss smiles during a visit to the Onside Future Youth Zone in London, Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. As Britain swelters through a roasting summer, and braces for a cold financial reckoning in the fall, calls for the Conservative government to act are getting louder.But the Conservatives are busy choosing a new leader, through a prolonged party election whose priorities often seem remote from the country’s growing turmoil. (Dylan Martinez/PA via AP

LONDON (AP) — As Britain swelters through a roasting summer, and braces for a cold financial reckoning in the fall, calls for the Conservative government to act are getting louder.

But the Conservatives are busy choosing a new leader, through a prolonged party election whose priorities often seem remote from the country’s growing turmoil.

Britons’ energy bills have soared — and further hikes are coming — as the war in Ukraine squeezes global oil and gas supplies. The Bank of England is predicting a long, deep recession later this year alongside 13% inflation. Meanwhile, temperatures in Britain hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in July for the first time ever, and millions are facing limits on water use as England’s green and pleasant land dries to a desiccated brown.
There is little sense of crisis among Conservatives as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak crisscross the country wooing the 180,000 party members who will choose a successor to departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Under Britain’s parliamentary system, the winner of the Tory leadership race — to be announced Sept. 5 — will also become prime minister, without the need for a national election.


Conservative members are largely middle-aged or older, mostly middle-class or affluent, and their views don’t always reflect those of the country as a whole.

“I’d like to see some true Conservative policies,” said Helen Galley, a lawyer and local Conservative official attending a candidates’ meeting in the English seaside town of Eastbourne. “Low taxation, smaller state, less regulation, freeing industry and commerce from EU regulations. … Some self-reliance and sense of responsibility for yourself.”

Those priorities are mirrored in the campaign pitches of Truss and Sunak, who say they will tackle the cost-of-living crisis through long-term measures to boost the economy. Truss says she would cut individual and corporate taxes rather than give people “handouts.” Sunak says he’ll tackle inflation before lowering taxes, and will offer unspecified help to people struggling to pay their bills.

Critics say neither candidate is grasping the scale of the crisis. Millions of households face a financial squeeze in October, when a cap on household energy bills tied to wholesale prices is next raised. Consulting firm Cornwall Insight forecasts the average household will then be paying over 3,500 pounds ($4,200) a year for gas and electricity, more than double the amount a year earlier — with a further hike due in the new year.


Martin Lewis, a consumer champion who runs the popular Money Saving Expert website, has warned that “we are facing a potential national financial cataclysm,” with millions unable to heat their homes this winter.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who led the U.K. during the global financial crisis of 2008, called for Johnson, Truss and Sunak to get together and draw up an emergency budget in preparation for a “financial time bomb” in October.

“It’s not just that they’re asleep at the wheel — there’s nobody at the wheel at the moment,” Brown, a member of the opposition Labour Party, told broadcaster ITV.

Brown’s call was echoed by Tony Danker of business group the Confederation of British Industry, who said “we simply cannot afford a summer of government inactivity while the leadership contest plays out.”

But with Parliament adjourned for its summer recess and Johnson whiling away his last weeks in office, big policies are on hold. The few government announcements in recent weeks have been decidedly modest — one was a plan from a “Chewing Gum Task Force” to get sticky stains off city streets.


Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, said the outgoing leader is barred from making “major fiscal interventions” during the transition period, and any new cost-of-living remedies must be for the next prime minister to decide.

“The Conservative Party -- and therefore the government -- is having a completely different conversation to the public,” said Alan Wager, a research associate at the U.K. in a Changing Europe think-tank. “And it’s quite a serious time to be having this very big disjuncture.”

Anti-poverty and environmental protesters have dogged Truss and Sunak at campaign events — a reminder of the world outside the Conservative bubble. In Eastbourne, several climate activists who had infiltrated the crowd stood to heckle Truss for failing to tackle the climate crisis. They were removed to chants of “Out, out, out” from the Conservative audience.


The environment has scarcely featured in the contest. Both Truss and Sunak say they will keep the government’s target of cutting Britain’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, while offering policies that would make that harder.

Truss supports fracking and renewed North Sea oil and gas extraction and says she will suspend green levies used to fund renewable energy projects. Sunak wants to ban new onshore wind farms, though he supports offshore wind and more nuclear power to cut Britain’s carbon footprint.


Party polls suggest Truss likely has an unassailable lead in the contest. Sunak is regarded with suspicion by some Tories for quitting the scandal-plagued government last month, a move that helped bring Johnson down. The former finance minister has been painted by opponents as a high-taxing, high-spending near-socialist because of the billions he spent to prop up the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Truss styles herself as a disruptor who will “be bold” in slashing taxes and ripping up red tape — a message many Tories are keen to hear.

Party member Robbie Lammas, part of a “Liz for Leader” contingent at the Eastbourne event, said he likes Truss’s “more optimistic view” of the economy.

“It’s good to be bold and good to challenge orthodoxy,” he said.

Another audience member, Wilhelmina Fermore, said she was “on the fence,” but leaning toward supporting Truss because “she’s more engaging and I think that she relates to people on the street.”

Yet what appeals to the Conservative Party does not necessarily appeal to the country. And Chris Curtis, head of political polling at research company Opinium, says the candidates’ economic promises will soon collide with stark reality.

“Liz Truss can believe all she likes that she’s going to be able to solve this thing through tax cuts, but there’s a big chunk of the population that’s about to get hammered,” he said.
“Talking about how you are going to help those people is not the kind of thing that will appeal to Conservative Party members … (but) there is going to have to be a new massive intervention to help people this autumn.”

 

[Melodi]

From Zero Hedge:

Zerohedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Germany's Industrial Heartland Faces Crisis As Rhine River May Become Impassable By Friday

BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, AUG 10, 2022 - 02:37 PM
Water levels on the Rhine River are nearing dangerously low levels, and new forecasts expect Europe's most critical waterway for inland commodity shipments via barges could be impassable by the end of the week.
The river at Kaub, Germany, is 47 centimeters (18.5 inches) on Wednesday and is expected to drop to the critical depth of 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) by Friday, according to the German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration. There is even the possibility water levels could fall as low as 37 centimeters (14.5 inches) during the weekend.
Below 40 centimeters would mean barges at the key transit point in Germany would no longer be able to pass and restrict shipments of energy products and other commodities along Europe's most crucial waterway amid the worst energy shortage in decades.
In the next couple of days, if forecasts are correct, Germany's industrial heartland may risk a repeat of the disruption seen during the river's historical low in 2018. Rhine River becoming impassible would certainly exacerbate Europe's ongoing energy crisis.

The Rhine snakes about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from the Swiss Alps through Europe's largest industrial areas and has already dented cargo shipments for chemicals giant BASF SE, steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG, and utility Uniper SE. Bloomberg lists the most exposed companies to low Rhine River levels:

Uniper warned low water levels have reduced barge coal shipments to a major power plant. The utility said its 510-megawatt Staudinger-5 coal-fired power plant had seen fewer and fewer barge shipments of coal due to dwindling low water levels that could soon result in "irregular operation."
Bloomberg outlines the most transported goods on the waterway. If water levels fall below 40 centimeters, companies must use rail and trucking for transportation.

As much as 10% of Europe's chemical shipments utilize the Rhine River, including feedstocks, fertilizers, intermediates and finished chemical products. The Rhine accounts for about 28% of chemical shipments in Germany, based on our analysis of 2019 and 2020 transport data. The nation is the heart of Europe's chemical industry, accounting for 36% of EU production over the past decade by tonnage.
Industrial gases, many of which move by pipeline or truck, are excluded from this analysis, which includes data from Eurostat, The Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, and Verband der Chemischen Industrie. Key publicly listed producers with facilities along or near the Rhine include BASF, Wacker, EMS-Chemie, DSM, Umicore, Akzo-Nobel and Celanese. -Bloomberg

Top commodities shipped via barge on the river.

Low water levels on the Rhine are set to unleash unwanted and additional supply-chain issues for the EU's largest economy as the persisting energy crisis may spark economic hell by winter.

 

[Plain Jane]

London kids to be offered polio shot after more virus found

British health authorities say they will offer a polio booster dose to London children age 1 to 9 after finding evidence the virus has spread in multiple regions of the city.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/health-london-473e92cf88201d7e7a92e6445498500f#

London kids to be offered polio shot after more virus found
yesterday

FILE - A health worker gives a polio vaccine to a child in Karachi, Pakistan, May 23, 2022. British health authorities on Wednesday, Aug. 10 say they will offer a polio booster dose to children aged 1 to 9 in London, after finding evidence the virus has been spreading in multiple regions of the capital, despite not confirming any cases of the paralytic disease in people. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan, file)

LONDON (AP) — Children ages 1-9 in London were made eligible for booster doses of a polio vaccine Wednesday after British health authorities reported finding evidence the virus has spread in multiple areas of the city but found no cases of the paralytic disease in people.
Britain’s Health Security Agency said it detected viruses derived from the oral polio vaccine in the sewage water of eight London boroughs. The agency’s analysis of the virus samples suggested “transmission has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals.”

The agency said it had not located anyone infected with the virus and that the risk to the wider population was low. The decision to offer young children boosters was a precaution, it said.

“This will ensure a high level of protection from paralysis and help reduce further spread,” the agency said.

The agency said it is also expanding surveillance of sewage water to at least another 25 sites in London and nationally.


Most people across Britain are vaccinated against polio in childhood. According to the World Health Organization, only one in 200 polio infections leads to paralysis; most people don’t show any symptoms.

The Health Security Agency said it was working closely with health authorities at the WHO and in the United States and Israel to investigate any links to polio viruses detected in those two countries.

https://apnews.com/article/health-s...and-politics-cd45b148820f18df5ced3d2f7381d494
Kathleen O’Reilly, a polio expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the polio virus circulating in London was “genetically related” to recent cases identified in the U.S. and Israel.

“Further investigation is needed to fully understand how they are connected, but it does illustrate that this virus has the potential to cause disease,” O’Reilly said in a statement.
Polio is a disease often spread in water that mostly affects children under 5. It has mostly been wiped out from developed countries, but outbreaks remain in Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of Africa.

Initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and muscle stiffness. Among people paralyzed by the disease, death can occur in up to 10% of cases when their breathing muscles become paralyzed.

In rare cases, the live virus contained in the oral polio vaccine used in the global effort to eradicate the disease can mutate into new forms potent enough to trigger new outbreaks. The vaccination booster effort in London will use injected polio vaccines that do not carry that risk.


Experts called the finding of polio spread in London “concerning” and said the virus posed a significant risk to anyone not vaccinated.

“If (polio) continues to spread, it will result in cases of paralysis,” said Nicholas Grassly, a professor of vaccine epidemiology at Imperial College London. “It is therefore of paramount importance that children are up to date with their polio vaccines.”

Grassly said the injectable polio vaccine was less effective against stopping virus transmission than the oral vaccine and that it was possible it might be necessary to reintroduce the oral vaccine to eliminate the virus.

 

[northern watch]

U.S. Air Division Sent to Europe After Kremlin Says Russia, NATO at War
Zoe Strozewski - 8h ago
Newsweek
August 11 2022

AU.S. air assault division is being sent to Europe to help protect NATO's eastern flank in a move that follows a top Kremlin official saying that Russia has been fighting a war with the military alliance on Ukrainian soil.


© Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty ImagesAbove, military personnel of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division take off with Black Hawk helicopters during a demonstration drill at Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase near Constanta, Romania on July 30, 2022.

The deployment of the 101st Airborne Division, which is nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," was announced Thursday by the U.S. Mission to NATO. It said that nearly 2,400 soldiers would be sent to NATO members Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia to "reassure our Allies, and deter our adversaries."

The day before, Sergey Kiriyenko, the first deputy chief of the Russian presidential staff, alleged that the West was conducting a "hot military operation" against Russia in Ukraine.

"We understand very well that on the territory of Ukraine we are not at war with Ukraine and, of course, not with Ukrainians," Russian state-owned news agency Tass quoted him as saying. "The entire NATO bloc is fighting a war against Russia, on the territory of Ukraine and by the Ukrainians' hands."

The ramped-up NATO presence in Europe comes amid fears that Russia's ongoing war could spread beyond Ukraine's borders, potentially sparking a larger confrontation between the 30-member NATO alliance and Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces. While Putin himself has not said that Russia and NATO are at war and no official declarations have been made, he has warned in recent months that any countries that "create a strategic threat to Russia" during the Ukraine offensive can expect "retaliatory strikes."

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested in a Russian state-television interview that with the West providing weapons to Ukraine, "NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy," according to The Wall Street Journal.

On Wednesday, Kiriyenko also accused Ukraine's leaders of allowing the nation and its people to become a proxy of NATO, Tass reported.

"They provided the territory of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine in an attempt to build a fundamental confrontation between the Western community against Russia on that territory," he said. "Of course, NATO will be eagerly fighting, as they themselves do not hesitate to declare, against Russia to the last Ukrainian and without a trace of remorse."

While NATO has not become directly involved in the war, member states have provided the war-torn country with security assistance and weapons, such as the U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which has drawn much media attention recently for its success in aiding the Ukrainian forces.

The U.S. Army describes the Screaming Eagles as an airborne division "recognized for its unmatched Air Assault capability, its ability to execute any combat or contingency mission anywhere in the world."

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin and NATO for comment.

U.S. Air Division Sent to Europe After Kremlin Says Russia, NATO at War (msn.com)

 

[Plain Jane]

Wildfires spread, fish die off amid severe drought in Europe

More than 1,000 firefighters in France are struggling to contain a huge wildfire burning through pine forests.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/wildfire...environment-842e761c3c6fa8104dfa105757c87ea7#


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Wildfires spread, fish die off amid severe drought in Europe
By SYLVIE CORBET and VANESSA GERAyesterday



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A dead chub and other dead fish are swimming in the Oder River near Brieskow-Finkenheerd, eastern Germany, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. Huge numbers of dead fish have washed up along the banks of the Oder River between Germany and Poland. (Frank Hammerschmidt/dpa via AP)

PARIS (AP) — Firefighters from across Europe struggled Thursday to contain a huge wildfire in France that has swept through a large swath of pine forest, while Germans and Poles faced a mass fish die-off in a river flowing between their countries.

Europe is suffering under a severe heat wave and drought that has produced tragic consequences for farmers and ecosystems already under threat from climate change and pollution.

The drought is causing a loss of agricultural products and other food at a time when supply shortages and Russia’s war against Ukraine have caused inflation to spike.

In France, which is enduring its worst drought on record, flames raged through pine forests overnight, illuminating the sky with an intense orange light in the Gironde region, which was already ravaged by flames last month, and in neighboring Landes. More than 68 square kilometers (26 square miles) have burned since Tuesday.


The French wildfires have already forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people and destroyed at least 16 houses.

Along the Oder River, which flows from Czechia north into the Baltic Sea, volunteers have been collecting dead fish that have washed ashore in Poland and Germany.

https://apnews.com/article/inflatio...care-economy-68f2df858de98487e82e236ab31fab7e
Piotr Nieznanski, the conservation policy director at WWF Poland, said it appears that a toxic chemical was released into the water by an industry and the low water levels caused by the drought has made conditions far more dangerous for the fish.

“A tragic event is happening along the Oder River, an international river, and there is no transparent information about what is going on,” he said, calling on government authorities to investigate.

People living along the river have been warned not to swim in the water or even touch it.
Poland’s state water management body said the drought and high temperatures can cause even small amounts of pollution to lead to an ecological disaster but it has not identified the source of the pollution.

In northern Serbia, the dry bed of the Conopljankso reservoir is now littered with dead fish that were unable to survive the drought.

The water level along Germany’s Rhine River was at risk of falling so low that it could become difficult to transport goods — including critical energy items like coal and gasoline.


In Italy, which is experiencing its worst drought in seven decades, the parched Po River has already caused billions of euros in losses to farmers who normally rely on Italy’s longest river to irrigate their fields and rice paddies.

“I am young and I do not remember anything like this, but even the elderly in my village or the other villages around here have never seen anything like this, never ever,” said Antonio Cestari, a 35-year-old farmer in Ficarolo who says he expects to produce only half his usual crops of corn, wheat and soy because his river-fed wells have such low water levels.

The Po runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice. It has dozens of tributary rivers but northern Italy hasn’t seen rainfall for months and this year’s snowfall was down by 70%. The drying up of the Po is also jeopardizing drinking water in Italy’s densely populated and highly industrialized districts.


Over in Portugal, the Serra da Estrela national park was also being ravaged by a wildfire. Some 1,500 firefighters, 476 vehicles and 12 aircraft were deployed to fight it but the wind-driven blaze 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Lisbon was very hard to reach, with inaccessible peaks almost 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) high and deep ravines. The fire has charred 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of woodland.

In Britain, where temperatures hit a record 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in July, the weather office has issued a new warning for “extreme heat” from Thursday through Sunday, with temperatures forecast to reach 36 C (96.8 F).

It has been one of the driest summers on record in southern Britain, and the Met Office weather service said there is an “exceptional risk” of wildfires over the next few days.


London Fire Brigade said its control room had dealt with 340 grass, garbage and open-land fires during the first week of August, eight times the number from last year. Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Smith said “the grass in London is tinderbox dry and the smallest of sparks can start a blaze which could cause devastation.”

In Switzerland, a drought and high temperatures have endangered fish populations and authorities have begun moving fish out of some creeks that were running dry.

In Hausen, in the canton of Zurich, officials caught hundreds of fish, many of them brown trout, in the almost dried-up Heischerbach, Juchbach and Muehlebach creeks this week by anesthetizing them with electric shocks and then immediately placing them in a water tank enriched with oxygen, local media reported. Later, the fish were taken to creeks that still carry enough water.

Despite all the harm caused by the extreme weather, Swiss authorities see one morbid upside: they believe there’s hope of finding some people who went missing in the mountains in the last few years because their bodies are being released as glaciers melt.
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In the Swiss canton of Valais, melting glaciers have recently revealed parts of a crashed airplane and, at separate locations, at least two skeletons. The bodies have not yet been identified, news website 20Minuten reported Thursday.

Spanish state television showed dozens of trucks heading to France having to turn around and stay in Spain because wildfires had forced authorities to close some border crossings. TVE reported that truckers, many carrying perishable goods, were looking for ways to cross the border because the parking areas around the Irun crossing were full.

France this week is in its fourth heat wave of the year as it faces what the government describes as the country’s worst drought on record. Temperatures were expected to reach 40 C (104 F) on Thursday.
___
Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Jill Lawless in London, Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Andrea Rosa in Ficarolo, Italy and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed reporting.
___
Follow all AP stories on climate change at Climate and environment.

 

[Plain Jane]

Moscow refuses to give up Ukraine nuclear plant – DW – 08/12/2022

Moscow will not give the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant back to Ukraine despite a G7 demand, Russian officials have said. Kyiv has urged the UN and the Red Cross to visit Russian POW camps. Follow DW for the latest.

www.dw.com

Russia-Ukraine updates: Moscow rejects demand to hand over Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Moscow will not give the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant back to Ukraine despite a G7 demand, Russian officials have said. Kyiv has urged the UN and the Red Cross to visit Russian POW camps. Follow DW for the latest.




The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six power units. It is the largest nuclear power complex in Europe

Leading Russian politicians are rejecting the G7's demand that Moscow hand control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since March, back to Ukraine.

"No, and no again," Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, answered when asked about the possible handover, according to the Russian Interfax news agency. To ensure the safety of the nuclear power plant, he said, complete control over the facility is necessary.

Kosachev's sentiment was echoed by the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, who accused Ukraine of "nuclear terrorism."

"And all the statements of support by the G7 foreign ministers are nothing but sponsorship of nuclear terrorism," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Ukraine has accused Russia of firing at Ukrainian towns from the site in the knowledge that Ukrainian forces could not risk returning fire. It says Moscow has shelled the area itself while blaming Ukraine. Russia says it is Ukraine that has shelled the plant. The security situation around the facility, which has been occupied by Russian troops since March, has deteriorated in recent days, with fresh shelling reported at the site on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the German government has expressed concern about the ongoing fighting in the area around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Berlin had "no findings of its own" that could confirm any of the conflicting accounts coming from Kyiv or Moscow, but Berlin was calling "on all sides to stop this highly dangerous shelling."

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, also supported calls for demilitarization of the area starting with the full withdrawal of Russian forces and urged IAEA to visit. "Zaporizhzhia facility must not be used as part of any military operation," he wrote on Twitter.

US relations at risk if Russia branded terror sponsor, Moscow says
Bilateral diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States would be badly damaged, or even broken off, if the latter brands Moscow a state sponsor of terrorism, Russian news agency TASS cited a top official as saying.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s Alexander Darchiyev, who heads the North American department, said that if the US Senate succeeded in passing a law to single out Moscow, it would be taken as Washington crossing the point of no return.

Meanwhile, the US said it was concerned over reports that British, Swedish, and Croatian nationals were being charged by "illegitimate authorities in eastern Ukraine".

"Russia and its proxies have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law, including the rights & protections afforded to prisoners of war," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.

Pentagon says US weapons not used to attack Crimea airbase
The US Defense Department said on Friday that American-supplied weapons were not used to attack a Russian airbase in Crimea. The US also did not know the cause of the devastating explosions at the site, the Pentagon said.

No one has officially claimed responsibility, and Russia has called the incident an accident, but analysts say satellite photos and ground videos suggest an attack.

"We haven't provided anything that allows or that would enable them [Ukrainians] to strike into Crimea," a senior US defense official told reporters.

The official specifically said it could not have been a US precision-guided, medium-range tactical missile, known as ATACMS, which Kyiv has requested and which can be launched by US-supplied HIMARS systems already in Ukraine.

"It was not ATACMS, because we have not given them [Ukrainians] ATACMS," the defense official said.

Russian economy shrinks as sanctions bite
Russia's economy contracted by four percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the country's statistics agency said Friday.

In the period from April to June, gross domestic product "amounted to 96% of the level attained in the same period of 2021, preliminary estimates show," Rosstat said in a statement.

It was the first full quarterly growth data to be published since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in late February and western countries slapped stinging economic sanctions on Russia in response.

After Russia's GDP expanded by 3.5% year-on-year in the first three months of 2022, the country is now facing a long period of recession.

Western sanctions have targeted Russia's energy and banking sectors in particular.

EU presidency mulls visa ban for all Russians
The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said Friday that a blanket ban on visas for all Russian travelers could be the bloc's next step directed at Moscow.

"The flat halting of Russian visas by all EU member states could be another very effective sanction," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said.

He said he would propose the idea at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Prague at the end of August.

The growing calls to stop granting Russian tourists Schengen Area visas have struck a sore spot in Moscow, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Friday, a day after her government tightened rules on Russian visitors.

The strong reaction from Russia's elite shows that it is an effective sanctions tool, Kallas told Estonian radio.

Any damage to Zaporizhzhia plant would cause widespread disaster — scientist
Dr. Alex Rosen, member of IPPNW Deutschland (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), told DW that he is "afraid and very concerned" about the dangerous situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since March.

According to Rosen, any damage to the plant, be it from sabotage, cyberattacks, shelling or accidents, would cause a really widespread disaster depending on the direction and the strength of the wind.

"This is a big danger because one side could inadvertently or actually on purpose use this kill switch," Rosen said.

He added that a meltdown at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "would make large parts of the country uninhabitable for decades, if not centuries."

Ukraine calls for UN, Red Cross to send representatives to Russian POW camps
Ukraine's security agencies issued a joint statement on Friday calling for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send representatives to locations where Russia is holding Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).

The appeal follows earlier allegations by Kyiv that Moscow's forces have tortured and executed prisoners, including by staging an explosion in a Ukrainian POW camp in Olenivka. Moscow claims Ukraine shelled the facility, killing more than 50 POWs.

First UN ship for Ukrainian grain to dock Friday
The first UN-chartered vessel set to transport grain from Ukraine under a deal to relieve a global food crisis should dock in Ukraine on Friday, the United Nations said. Several non-UN-chartered vessels have already transported food from Ukraine.

According to UN's World Food Program (WFP), The MV Brave Commander, which left Istanbul on Wednesday, is due to arrive in Yuzhne, east of Odessa on the Black Sea coast.

It will collect Ukrainian wheat grain purchased by the WFP, the agency's spokesman Tomson Phiri said.

"This is obviously the first shipment of humanitarian food assistance under the Black Sea Grain Initiative," he said.

UK: Crimea blasts degrade Russia's Black Sea air fleet
Blasts this week at the Russian-operated Saky military airfield in Crimea have degraded Russia's Black Sea aviation fleet, Britain said Friday in its regular intelligence briefing.

Eight Russian fighter jets were damaged or destroyed, according to reports.

While the damaged jets make up only a fraction of the overall aviation fleet, Britain said Black Sea capability would be affected, since Saky is used as a primary operational base.

The UK Defence Ministry said the airfield probably remained operational, but its dispersal area had suffered serious damage.

More on the war in Ukraine
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a demilitarized zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to ensure the safety of the area.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has sued the German parliament, the Bundestag, for taking away some of his state privileges in May. The Bundestag had closed Schröder's publicly funded office and reallocated his staff after his refusal to condemn Russian leader Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine.

dh/dj (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Driver walkout halts trains as UK summer strike wave spreads

Thousands of U.K. train drivers have walked off the job in a 24-hour strike over jobs, pay and conditions, scuppering services across much of the country.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/uk-train-driver-walkouts-24fb25eecfe3a34fe8a064909657bc2b#

Driver walkout halts trains as UK summer strike wave spreads
By JILL LAWLESSyesterday



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Aslef, Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen members are pictured on a picket line at Willesden Junction station as members of the drivers union at nine train operators walk out for 24 hours over pay, in London, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. Thousands of U.K. train drivers walked off the job Saturday in a strike over jobs, pay and conditions, scuppering services across much of the country. It's the latest in a spreading series of strikes by British workers seeking substantial raises to offset soaring prices for food and fuel. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of U.K. train drivers walked off the job Saturday in a strike over jobs, pay and conditions, scuppering services across much of the country. The action was the latest in a spreading series of strikes by British workers seeking substantial raises to offset soaring prices for food and fuel.

The 24-hour strike by members of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen halted trains on major routes, including the main lines between London and Scotland and commuter services around the capital.

Weekend workers, soccer fans heading for games and families seeking seaside solace from a heat wave were among those forced to change their plans.

This has been a summer of travel disruption in Britain. Thousands of railway cleaners, signalers, maintenance workers staged a series of one-day strikes in June and July. More strikes are scheduled next week on nationwide trains and on London’s bus and subway network.
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The disputes center on pay, working conditions and job security as Britain’s railways struggle to adapt to travel and commuting habits changed — perhaps forever — by the coronavirus pandemic.

https://apnews.com/article/ukrainia...to-medicines-61972ea9c856f321cd1b87eb9ada1be1
There were almost 1 billion train journeys in the U.K. in the year to March, compared to 1.7 billion in the 12 months before the pandemic, and rail companies are looking to cut costs and staffing after two years in which emergency government funding kept them afloat.

Unions accuse Britain’s Conservative government of preventing train companies — which are privately owned but heavily regulated — from making a better offer.

“We find ourselves in a position where we are saying ‘That won’t be enough,’ they say ‘It’s down to the government,’ we talk to the government and they say ‘You have got to talk to the employers,’ and then we end up with a situation where it goes round and round in circles,” said Mick Whelan, general secretary of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.

The Department for Transport said claims of government meddling were “entirely false.”
More public- and private-sector unions are planning strikes as Britain faces its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. Postal workers, lawyers, British Telecom staff, dock workers and garbage collectors have all announced walkouts for later this month.



U.K. inflation has hit a 40-year high of 9.4%, and the Bank of England says it could rise to 13% amid a recession later this year. The average U.K. household fuel bill has risen more than 50% so far in 2022 as the war in Ukraine squeezes global oil and natural gas supplies. Another increase is due in October, when the average bill is forecast to hit 3,500 pounds ($4,300) a year.

Adding to the travel chaos, air travelers in many countries are facing delays and disruption as airports struggle to cope with staff shortages and skyrocketing demand for flights after two pandemic-hit years.

 

[Plain Jane]

French Conservatives Slam Push By Macron's Deputy To Legalize Voting For All Foreigners In Municipal Elections | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

French Conservatives Slam Push By Macron's Deputy To Legalize Voting For All Foreigners In Municipal Elections​

BY TYLER DURDEN
MONDAY, AUG 15, 2022 - 03:30 AM
By John Cody of Remix News
A deputy for Emmanuel Macron has put forward a radical constitutional bill aiming to grant voting rights to all foreigners in French municipal elections, with the move earning harsh criticism from conservatives who warn the entire country’s future faces dire consequences if such a bill passes.
Sacha Houlie, founder of Youth With Macron movement, arrives at the Elysee Palace for Emmanuel Macron's inauguration as French President, Sunday, May 14, 2017, in Paris

Currently, only foreigners residing in France from the European Union have the right to vote in these types of elections. However, Sacha Houlié, an MP in the French city of Vienne for Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party — which was recently rebranded from La République En Marche! (LaREM) — says foreigners should not only be able to vote but also run for elected office.

“This recognition is long overdue. However, we owe it to those who have often and for a long time participated in the dynamism of our society,” said Houlié, who also denounced what he said is the “discrimination between two categories of foreigners.”


Politicians from the conservative and right-wing political groups are heaping criticism on the proposed change to the country’s voting laws.

“I will oppose this project with all my might,” warns Eric Ciotti, a deputy from Nice for Les Republicans and candidate for the presidency of his party.

Marine Le Pen’s party was also quick to slam the bill.

“While (Interior Minister) Gérald Darmanin agitated the media over the (failed) expulsion of an Islamist, the Macronists quietly tabled a bill for the right to vote for foreigners, that is to say the final seizure from the French of their country. They will find the RN on their way!” wrote Jordan Bardella, the president of National Rally (RN).


The move to allow non-EU foreigners to vote in French elections has long been advocated by the left, including former President Hollande. Left-wing parties, which almost uniformly promote mass immigration across the West, have long seen replacement immigration as a means towards securing permanent electoral majorities. For example, data from the last election shows that 85 percent of Muslims ended up voting for Macron, showcasing why his party may be so interested in converting more foreigners into a stronger voting bloc. This strategy from the left seeks to offer as many voting access opportunities to foreigners, including non-citizens. Laws, such as the one advocated by politicians in Macron’s party, have been seen in cities like New York. However, a judge there recently ruled that the law was illegal.

There are signs that Macron himself is not necessarily onboard with the idea, at least not yet, with his own interior minister coming out against it.

“The minister of the interior is firmly opposed to this measure,” said an official working for Minister Gérald Darmanin.

Even if the text were to be adopted by the National Assembly and the Senate as it currently reads, the journey to becoming law would still be long because the proposed constitutional law would still have to be adopted by a national referendum.

 

[Zagdid]

Belarus finds new rail routes to export goods amidst sanctions

Belarusian Railways says it has developed a total of 40 new export routes to more than 20 countries, now that sanctions have cut off its traditional routes to the global market. The Transport and Communications Ministry of Belarus reported these figures, as quoted by the government-owned media...

www.railfreight.com

Belarus finds new rail routes to export goods amidst sanctions​

Published on 15-08-2022 at 13:00

Belarusian Railways says it has developed a total of 40 new export routes to more than 20 countries, now that sanctions have cut off its traditional routes to the global market. The Transport and Communications Ministry of Belarus reported these figures, as quoted by the government-owned media site BelTA.

“In the new realities, Belarusian Railways, together with cargo owners and logistics companies from Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and China, developed a total of 40 new transport and logistics routes to deliver Belarusian products to more than 20 countries,” the ministry statement reads.

Shift to rail​

The ministry noted that since February 2022, the ports in the Baltic countries have been unavailable for Belarus because of the sanctions. In addition, it is impossible for Belarus to use the ports of Ukraine.

Instead, Belarusian transport is now making use of the railway network to other markets, such as East Asia. According to the Belarusian ministry, Belarusian Railways provides sufficient rolling stock to facilitate the export demand.

More to the east​

According to the ministry, from January through July 2022, there was an increase in the volume of traffic to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia (including Russian ports), and Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, the number of container trains from Belarus to China rose five times.

 

[Plain Jane]

Ukraine: First humanitarian grain ship leaves port for Africa | DW | 16.08.2022

The first humanitarian cargo of food from Ukraine since Russia's invasion has set off from Ukraine. Meanwhile, the location of the first commercial ship to leave carrying grain is unknown.

www.dw.com

Ukraine: First humanitarian grain ship leaves port for Africa​

The first humanitarian cargo of food from Ukraine since Russia's invasion has set off from Ukraine. Meanwhile, the location of the first commercial ship to leave carrying grain is unknown.




The ship has been chartered by the United Nations to deliver food bound for Ethiopia
A UN-chartered grain ship left Ukraine on Tuesday, with the food eventually bound for Ethiopia.

The Lebanese-flagged cargo ship Brave Commander left Ukraine headed for the port of Djibouti carrying some 23,000 metric tons of wheat aboard, Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said.

The slump in grain exports from Ukraine since the start of the war has driven up global food prices, sparking fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.

What's special about the latest shipment?​

While numerous ships have now left Ukraine carrying agricultural products, the Brave Commander is the first chartered by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
Seventeen ships have left Ukrainian ports loaded with some 475,000 tons of agricultural products since the first vessel departed at the beginning of August. However, the previous shipments were all commercial.

The Brave Commander cargo — which left from Pivdennyi Seaport in the city of Yuzhne — is the first shipment of its kind as part of a program to help countries facing famine.
The Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry, which is in charge of shipments, said the grain was destined for consumers in Ethiopia — one of five countries that the UN considers most at risk from famine.

"The ministry and the United Nations are working on ways to increase food supplies for the socially vulnerable sections of the African population," the ministry said in a statement.

At the end of July, the United Nations and Turkey had brokered agreements between Kyiv and Moscow to allow Ukraine to resume exporting grain through its Black Sea ports.

Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov said on Tuesday that the country would be able to export 3 million tons of grain from its ports in September. He said that, afterward, it may be able to export as much as 4 million tons monthly.

He said the ministry had received applications for 30 ships to come to Ukraine in the next two weeks to export grain.

Whereabouts of first cargo unclear​

The Ukrainian embassy in Beirut says there is now no information about the location and destination of the first grain ship to leave Ukraine under the deal.

According to the embassy, the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni has had its cargo resold several times.

The Razoni, which left Odesa on August 1, was initially heading for Lebanon with 26,000 metric tons of corn for chicken feed.

However, the corn's buyer in Lebanon refused to accept the cargo, since it was delivered much later than had been agreed.

The Razoni last transmitted its tracker location four days ago, off the coast of southern Turkey.

It's not clear if the Razoni had its tracker off because it was heading for a destination in Syria. Kyiv has accused Damascus, a strong ally of Russia under Western sanctions, of importing grain stolen from Ukraine.

 

[Zagdid]

Russia is looking into its own gold standard after LBMA ban

www.kitco.com

Russia is looking into its own gold standard after LBMA ban​

Anna Golubova Wednesday August 17, 2022 12:45

(Kitco News) Russia is proposing its own international standard for precious metals after getting banned by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). And it could have a fixed price in national currencies.

The country’s Finance Ministry said it is “critical” to create the new Moscow World Standard (MWS) to “normalize the functioning of the precious metals industry” and have an alternative to the LBMA.
“The basis of this new structure will be a new, specialized international precious metals brokerage headquartered in Moscow, which will rely on the MWS,” the Finance Ministry said in a letter quoted by Russian media.

Russia is also proposing to fix prices of precious metals in the national currencies of key member countries or via a new monetary unit — such as the new BRICS currency proposed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The price-fixing committee would include central banks and other large banks from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Member states of the EEU are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.

The idea would be to make membership attractive to big gold players like China, India, Venezuela, Peru, and other South American countries.

According to the letter published by the Finance Ministry, the creation of such an organization would quickly destroy the monopoly of the LBMA and ensure the stable development of the precious metals industry in Russia and around the world.

It was also clarified that the proposal for the new standard did not originate from the Finance Ministry but was received from market participants.

According to the Finance Ministry, Russia was the second highest gold producer by volume in 2021, with gold output rising by 9% to 343 tons. Russia is also one of the three largest producers of platinum, palladium and rhodium. The precious metals industry in Russia accounts for around $25 billion a year.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the LBMA suspended its accreditation of Russian precious metals refiners, barring them from selling new products in London. The suspension was made official on March 7.

The Finance Ministry said that the action paralyzed Russia’s precious metals activities and was a critical negative factor.
This contradicts what many analysts have dubbed a largely symbolic move by the LBMA.

 

[Zagdid]

Northern Fleet kicks off large Barents-Arctic naval exercise

Surface warships, submarines and aviation are involved in waters from the Kola Peninsula to Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. One shooting area overlaps into Norwegian exclusive economic zone north of the Varanger fjord. More than 10 warships and submarines are at sea, including “Pyotr Velikye”

www.rcinet.ca

Northern Fleet kicks off large Barents-Arctic naval exercise​

Thomas Nilsen, The Independent Barents Observer
Posted: Friday, August 19, 2022 at 11:10

Surface warships, submarines and aviation are involved in waters from the Kola Peninsula to Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. One shooting area overlaps into Norwegian exclusive economic zone north of the Varanger fjord.

More than 10 warships and submarines are at sea, including “Pyotr Velikye”, the Northern Fleet’s large nuclear-powered battle cruiser, the press service in Severomorsk informs.

The naval vessels are supported by the air force and coast air defense units.

Exercise scenario, according to the navy headquarters, is deterring an enemy attack on Russia from the Barents Sea, as well as repelling attacks on the country’s Arctic islands.

Last week, a group of warships set out for the annual Arctic voyage. Those ships, including the destroyer “Admiral Levchenko” and the amphibious assault vessel “Aleksandr Otrakovsky” are currently far north in the Barents Sea, close to the shores of Franz Josef Land.

Ensuring access and control over the Northern Sea Route

Russia has over the last decade rearmed its Arctic archipelagos with new runways for heavy military planes and fighter jets and established missile defense systems aimed at ensuring access and control over the Northern Sea Route. Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya are both strategically important for protection of the bastion defense of the Barents Sea region, including the nuclear arsenal and second-strike capabilities.

Navigation maps and warnings to civilian air traffic show that live shooting will take place during the coming week across the Barents Sea. North of the Varanger fjord, one of the NOTAMs (Notice to Air Missions) stretches across the maritime delimitation line and into Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The warning, active for August 19 and 20, does not specify what weapons will be used. Previously, Russia’s Northern Fleet has exercised off the coast of Norway with both artillery and rockets, as well as launching a cruise missile. The missile, of the hypersonic Tsirkon type, was tested from waters near Norway’s Bear Island in the western Barents Sea during a bastion defense exercise held a few days prior to Russia’s large-scale military attack on Ukraine in February.

There are currently six areas in the Barents Sea closed off for military live shootings. The largest, occupying waters from the Varanger fjord to the Kildin Bank in the south to about 74 ° North, is active from August 21 to 26.

“It is planned to carry out a number of firings with naval missiles, artillery and anti-submarine weapons at surface, underwater and air targets in the Barents Sea,” the Northern Fleet informs.

Open eyes

NATO countries, like the UK, Norway and US, are keeping open eyes monitoring the ongoing large Russian exercise.

Earlier this week, both US and UK electronic reconnaissance aircraft have been on missions along the coast of the Kola Peninsula. On Monday, a MiG-31 was scrambled to meet the British plane, an incident Moscow said violated Russian airspace. London denied any border violations and said the Russian MiG-31 “conducted an unsafe close pass”.

Spokesperson with Norway’s Joint Headquarters, Marius Vågenes Villanger, confirms to the Barents Observer that one of the current activated warning areas for live shootings is located outside the coast of Norway. This, however, is outside the 12 nautical miles territorial boundaries north of Varanger.

“Any nation has the right to conduct exercises and training in international waters and air space,” Villanger says.

“We are aware of the announced warning areas outside the coast. Both Norwegian and allied forces are keeping close eyes on all activities near our territories,” the spokesperson notes.

It is not immediately clear from open sources what weapons are to be used in the easternmost warning areas along the coast of Novaya Zemlya. That warnings cover both huge distances at sea, as well as coastal warnings (PRIP) closer to shore, as announced via the Port Administration for Northwestern Russia in Murmansk.

These are waters near the Pankovo test site on Novaya Zemlya where testings of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile previously has taken place. A British warship is currently staying just outside the warning areas. Civilian tracking portals do not name the ship, but it is likely the “HMS Enterprise”, a hydrographic oceanographic survey vessel.

 

[jward]

American NATO troops deployed at check points in Kosovo​

Al Arabiya English

---

American NATO troops were deployed at main roads in the northern part of Kosovo Friday as tensions increased following the collapse of political talks between Serbian and Kosovo leaders in Brussels.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovan Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Thursday failed to reach an agreement on longstanding border and mutual recognition issues that have spiked tensions in the Balkans and added to Europe’s instability during the war in Ukraine.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, announced after the meeting, “today, there is no agreement.”
He said Kurti and Vucic did consent to more discussions in the coming days to hasten the process of normalizing ties between their countries, which were at war in 1998-99.
American patrols were stationed along the main road leading from Serbia into Kosovo, towards the divided town of Mitrovica.

Many locals fear that failure of these political talks that were aimed to resolve 20 years of deadlock between Serbia and Kosovo, could potentially lead into some form of local conflict between Kosovans, Serbs and Albanians.
Kosovo is a former province of Serbia, which has refused to recognize the country’s 2008 declaration of independence.
A NATO-led intervention in 1999 ended a war between Serbian forces and separatists in Kosovo and stopped Belgrade’s bloody crackdown against majority Kosovo Albanians.
The EU has overseen years of talks to normalize their ties, saying that’s one of the main preconditions for Kosovo and Serbia’s eventual membership into the 27-nation bloc.
Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo soared late last month when Kurti’s government declared that Serbian identity documents and vehicle license plates would no longer be valid in Kosovo’s territory.
Serbia has been implementing the same measures for Kosovo citizens crossing into Serbia for the past 10 years, saying if it recognized the Kosovo registration plates and documents it would mean it recognizes Kosovo as an independent country.

Minority Serbs, who live mostly in northern Kosovo, reacted with anger to the proposed change, putting up roadblocks, sounding air raid sirens and firing guns into the air and in the direction of Kosovo police officers.
No one was injured.
Under apparent pressure from the West, Kurti postponed the implementation of the measure for a month, to September 1, when more trouble is expected if a compromise is not reached by then.
In a video clip posted on Instagram, Vucic said he will address his nation on Friday.
Along with Serbia, its allies Russia and China don’t recognize Kosovo’s independence, which is supported by the United States and most other Western states.
There are fears in the West that Russia could encourage Serbia into an armed intervention in northern Kosovo that would further destabilize the Balkans and shift at least some attention from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Read more: NATO says ready to intervene if stability between Serbia and Kosovo is at riskhttps://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/08/19/American-NATO-troops-deployed-at-check-points-in-Kosovo

 

[Zagdid]

Serbian Artillery Firepower Considerably Increased | Joint Forces News

Serbian artillery firepower considerably increased thanks to domestic defence industry modernisation of 128 mm M-17 Oganj rocket launchers.

www.joint-forces.com

SERBIAN ARTILLERY FIREPOWER CONSIDERABLY INCREASED​

22 Aug 2022

Serbian artillery units’ firepower considerably increased thanks to domestic defence industry modernisation of 128mm M-17 Oganj rocket launchers.​

~

News Release, Belgrade, 18 August 2022: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Nebojša Stefanović PhD, has pointed out that the firepower of the Serbian Armed Forces’ artillery units, and consequently their ability to carry out rapid and efficient operations, has been significantly increased thanks to the equipment produced by the domestic defence industry that they have been provided with.

According to him, members of the 1st Army Brigade are currently undergoing routine training in the combat use of digitised 128mm M-17 ‘Oganj‘ rocket launchers at the training grounds of Boško Palkovljević Pinki barracks in Sremska Mitrovica.

“Our personnel continue to train in order to improve their skills in using this modernised artillery system and be able to provide fire support to other Army units. However, I am particularly pleased that soldiers, who have been performing their voluntary military service since March this year, are undergoing their specialised training alongside them,” said Minister Stefanović.

Crews are currently being taught a diverse tactical training content at the barracks in Mitrovica, including gun emplacement, target acquisition, calculation of initial firing data, fire adjustment, and preparation for the execution of training activities in the field and artillery live firing.

“Since it was provided with these modernised Oganj systems, the 1st Army Brigade has become one of the best equipped units of our artillery and beyond. Namely, compared to the basic variant of this weapon, the time to prepare the digitised Oganj for action has been reduced from 15 to about three minutes, and its maximum range with the newly developed rockets is 40km instead of the original 22.5km,” said the Minister of Defence. He also noted that the 2nd Army Brigade’s artillery units are currently being equipped with modernised 122 mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers and armoured command post personnel carriers.

 

[Plain Jane]

Migrants crossing the English Channel hit new 24-hour record | DW | 23.08.2022

The British Defense Ministry has said nearly 1,300 people were detected crossing from France in small boats in a day. Nearly 23,000 people have made the crossing this year alone.

www.dw.com

Migrants crossing the English Channel hit new 24-hour record​

The British Defense Ministry has said nearly 1,300 people were detected crossing from France in small boats in a day. Nearly 23,000 people have made the crossing this year alone.


British authorities have recorded a new daily record of migrants crossing from France to the United Kingdom. According to the UK Defense Ministry some 1,295 people were detected on Monday, toppling the previous 24-hour record of 1,185 on November 11, 2021.

"The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable," Reuters news agency cited a government spokesperson as saying. "Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they risk the lives of vulnerable people, who are being exploited by ruthless criminal gangs."

According to the Defense Ministry, during the course of this year there have been 22,670 crossings. At the same point last year, there had been 12,500 people intercepted while making the journey.

UK migrant challenge​

The British government is at odds with how to handle the issue. This has led to frayed relations with France, whom London accuses of not doing enough to stop crossings.

The UK and Rwanda made headlines on April 14 when they announced that migrants arriving in the UK irregularly would be sent some 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) away to Rwanda. There, Rwandan authorities would be in charge of processing their asylum claims, and if successful, they would be allowed to stay in the African country. The move has been widely criticized by human rights organizations.

The first flight to Kigali with around 130 asylum-seekers was due to lift off in June, but it was grounded due to legal challenges.

According to the British government, the idea would deter individuals from attempting risky crossings of the English Channel and will put human-smuggling organizations out of business.

The government has also said that the measures are necessary due to the costs involved in processing asylum claims and also accommodating those being processed. Human rights groups have strongly rejected both of these claims.

A crossings with potentially deadly consequences​

The English Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. The currents on the water are strong, which makes the seemingly short voyage rather dangerous.

Last November, 27 migrants were found dead in the dangerous stretch of water in what's considered to be the worst-ever disaster involving migrants in the English Channel.

In 2019, 39 migrants from Vietnam died inside a refrigerated truck while crossing from Belgium to the UK via ferry.



Play Video
1:57 min

Dozens drown after migrant boat sinks​

kb/jcg (Reuters, AFP)

 

[Zagdid]

Turkey says Greece harassed its jets during NATO mission

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish officials have summoned the Greek military attaché and lodged a complaint with NATO after Greek jets allegedly harassed Turkish F-16s during a NATO mission

abcnews.go.com

Turkey says Greece harassed its jets during NATO mission​

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish officials have summoned the Greek military attaché and lodged a complaint with NATO after Greek jets allegedly harassed Turkish F-16s during a NATO mission

By The Associated Press
August 23, 2022, 12:15 PM

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey summoned the Greek military attaché and lodged a complaint with NATO after Greek fighter jets allegedly harassed Turkish fighter jets that were conducting an “important mission” for the military alliance, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Tuesday.

The Anadolu Agency said F-16s belonging to Greece harassed Turkish pilots flying the same model by putting Turkey's aircraft under a radar lock during the NATO mission over the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey “gave the necessary response” and forced the planes to leave the area, Anadolu said, without elaborating.

Anadolu said Turkey’s defense ministry notified NATO officials about the alleged harassment and summoned the Greek military official in Ankara, accusing Greece of endangering a NATO mission.

There was no immediate comment from Greece.

Although both NATO members, Turkey and Greece have decades-old disputes over an array of issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean Sea and disputes over the airspace there. The disputes have brought them to the brink of war three times in the last half-century.

Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic zones, leading to a naval standoff.

Turkey has accused Greece of violating international agreements by militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea. Athens says it needs to defend the islands — many of which lie close to Turkey’s coast — against a potential attack from Turkey’s large fleet of military landing craft.

 

[Melodi]

Guess which party is likely to find itself "out of government" both in Germany and in Ireland before this is over - note in both places they are small parties that are part of a larger group of parties that needed extra votes to "form a government." So for the moment, the Green Party has a lot of power in both places as they hold their "partners" hostage because if they walk away, an emergency election will be held. But don't for a moment think that "most people" vote for the Green Party in either place because they don't.

Green Party Official Tells Germans To Use Washcloths Instead Of Taking Showers | ZeroHedge

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

www.zerohedge.com

Green Party Official Tells Germans To Use Washcloths Instead Of Taking Showers
Tyler Durden's Photo
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, AUG 24, 2022 - 07:00 AM
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

A top Green Party official has caused controversy by suggesting Germans use washcloths instead of taking showers, as well as buying expensive eco-heating systems that are unaffordable for the average person.



The comments were made by Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann in response to the energy crisis, which will be exacerbated this winter as a result of gas shortages caused by the war in Ukraine.

“Even the washcloth is a useful invention,” the Green politician told Südwest-Presse.

Bragging about his own eco-credentials, Kretschmann boasted, “I have an electric car, I have a huge photovoltaic system on the roof.”

The pellet heating system Kretschmann uses in his home costs anything up to €21,000 euros and beyond, a figure completely unrealistic for Germans already struggling to pay their energy bills.

Remix News explained the actual environmental cost of Kretschmann’s so-called solution.

“Wired magazine reports that these devices rely primarily on wood pellets sourced from forests in the southeastern United States. They are then shipped halfway around the world to individuals like Kretschmann despite many scientists arguing that these pellets are just as polluting as coal.”

“Although they come from a renewable resource, forests are cut down across the U.S. to make this resource, and according to Greenpeace, the practice destroys biodiversity and ruins entire ecosystems. Scientists estimate it takes between 44 to over 100 years for these forests to grow back, and for those worried about climate change, they say this destruction of natural forests will cost the planet immeasurably.”

The reaction to Kretschmann’s advice probably wasn’t what the green politician anticipated, with the hashtag #Waschlappen hashtag (German for “washcloth”) trending on Twitter.


“Our country faces an energy crisis that threatens the prosperity of millions of people! And what is the answer of the green father Kretschmann? Don’t shower every day: ‘The #Waschlappen is also a useful invention.’ What kind of people actually govern Germany?” asked Gerhard Papke, the president of the German-Hungarian Society.

As we previously highlighted, Germany could be facing blackouts and the collapse of the power grid this winter after citizens began panic buying electric heaters over fears gas supplies could be cut off.

Supplies of firewood and heating stoves are also being exhausted, while cities across Germany are planning to use sports arenas and exhibition halls as ‘warm up spaces’ this winter to help freezing citizens who are unable to afford skyrocketing energy costs.

Germans have also been told to take fewer showers, wear more layers of clothing and avoid washing their clothes and driving their cars as often.

As we reported last week, the interior minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Herbert Reul (CDU), outrageously suggested Germans who may be planning to protest against energy blackouts were “enemies of the state” and “extremists” who want to overthrow the government.

Other observers are predicting riots in response to energy shortages that will make anti-lockdown unrest look like a “children’s birthday party.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Almost two-thirds of Europe is affected by drought — EU | DW | 23.08.2022

According to the European Commission, the current drought could be the worst "for at least 500 years." Large swaths of the continent are now in a state of drought alert or drought warning.

www.dw.com

Almost two-thirds of Europe is affected by drought — EU​

According to the European Commission, the current drought could be the worst "for at least 500 years." Large swaths of the continent are now in a state of drought alert or drought warning.



Due to the drought, sunflower yields in Europe in 2022 are expected to be 12% below the average of the previous five years

Nearly two-thirds of Europe is threatened by drought, according to a report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's science and knowledge service.
The drought may be the worst "for at least 500 years," European Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke said on Tuesday.

"This is of course only a first assessment, and we need to confirm this with final data at the end of the season," Bahrke said, referring to the report, which was published on Monday.

Details of the EU report on drought​

According to the report, 47% of Europe is under warning conditions, with a clear deficit of soil moisture. A further 17% is in a state of alert, in which vegetation is affected.
Scarce rain and successive heat waves that began in May have affected river discharges and water levels.

"The severe drought affecting many regions of Europe since the beginning of the year has been further expanding and worsening as of early August," the report found.

What are the consequences of the drought in Europe?​

The dry conditions have already affected inland waterway transport, power generation and yields of certain crops in Europe.

Low water levels have forced shippers to reduce their loads on waterways such as the Rhine. Reduced water volumes have also adversely affected the energy sector for both hydropower generation and cooling systems of other power plants.

Summer crops have suffered, with 2022 yields for grain maize set to be 16% lower than the average of the previous five years and soybean and sunflowers yields set to fall by 15% and 12%, respectively.

"Soil moisture and vegetation stress are both severely affected," the report found, listing over a dozen countries where drought hazard has been increasing, including Germany, France and Britain. "The rest of Europe, already affected by drought, maintains stable severely dry conditions," according to the report.

Asit Biswas, visiting professor at the University of Glasgow, told DW said that the water crisis is a "crisis of management."

"We have plenty of water for everything we want," Biswas said, adding that management over the last several decades has been unsustainable.

"We have really poor management all over the world, and we're blaming it on water scarcity," he said. He argued that even with climate change and prolonged droughts and floods, better management would allow humanity to weather the crisis.

"There are some places now [where] they're losing 60% of water" due to faulty infrastructure, Biswas said.

Biswas argued that lawmakers "only get interested when there is a prolonged drought or a prolonged flood." "The moment the flood disappears, water disappears from the agenda."

Conditions will not improve in coming months​

Regions where conditions are deteriorating the most are those that were already affected by drought in spring 2022 — including northern Italy, southeastern France, and some areas of Hungary and Romania — according to the report.

Researchers forecast that conditions in the western Euro-Mediterranean region are likely to be warmer and drier than normal through November.

Britain will also need to continue to manage water resources carefully over the coming weeks and months to meet its needs following the driest summer for 50 years, the National Drought Group announced on Tuesday.

According to the group, which is made up of government officials, water companies and environmental organizations, there is enough water for all essential household and business needs. Ten of the Environment Agency's 14 areas in England are now in drought status.

dh/rt (dpa, Reuters)

 

[northern watch]

Poles, Czechs vow to protect Slovak airspace as MiGs retired​

Poland and Czechia have signed an agreement to protect Slovak airspace as Slovakia gives up its old Soviet-made MiG-29 jets
By The Associated Press
August 27, 2022, 3:00 PM

From right, Defense Ministers of Poland Mariusz Blaszczak, of Slovakia Jaroslav Nad and of Czech Republic Jana Cernochova answer questions to media after signing an air policing treaty at an airshow in Malacky, Slovak...Show more
The Associated Press

MALACKY, Slovakia -- Poland and Czechia signed an agreement Saturday to protect Slovak airspace as Slovakia gives up its old Soviet-made MiG-29 jets.

The vow of protection by NATO allies comes as Russia's war against Ukraine enters its seventh month. It is to last until Slovakia receives new F-16s from the United States, something expected to happen in 2024.

Under the agreement, Poland and Czechia are providing the necessary forces to quickly react in case of violations of Slovakia’s airspace. Slovakia has a border with Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February.

The agreement was signed at a Slovak airbase by defense ministers Jana Cernochova of Czechia, Mariusz Blaszczak of Poland and Jaroslav Nad of Slovakia.

“In the immediate proximity of our region where we live came a war, and all of us who are standing here today either have experience with fascism or communism, and we really value the freedom that we gained after 1989,” Cernochova said at a news conference alongside her Slovak and Polish counterparts.

Blaszczak said under the agreement, a pair of Polish F-16 fighter jets would begin patrolling Slovakia's air space starting Sept. 1. He called the effort a way for the neighbors to “deter a possible aggressor.”

Slovakia has a fleet of 11 MiG-29 jets, and last month Nad said Slovakia may consider donating them to Ukraine under certain conditions.

Asked by a reporter Saturday about whether the jets might go to Ukraine, Nad said Slovakia was in talks with Ukraine and its European Union allies about how best to help. But he said he could not say what that help might look like yet.

Since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, Ukraine has urged Western allies to provide it with warplanes to challenge Russia’s air superiority.

Poland, Czechia and Slovakia belong to a region that was under Moscow's control during the decades of the Cold War. Many people here worry that if Russia isn't stopped in Ukraine, Moscow's renewed imperial ambitions could target them too.

Poles, Czechs vow to protect Slovak airspace as MiGs retired

Poland and Czechia have signed an agreement to protect Slovak airspace as Slovakia gives up its old Soviet-made MiG-29 jets

abcnews.go.com

 

[Zagdid]

The EU wants to humiliate Poland and Hungary

Brussels is using its financial muscle to punish rebellious member states.

www.spiked-online.com

The EU wants to humiliate Poland and Hungary​

Brussels is using its financial muscle to punish rebellious member states.

ATTILA DEMKO 29th August 2022​

The gravest danger for Poland today lurks not in Moscow, but in Berlin and Brussels. This is the incendiary warning from Adam Glapiński, the chief of Poland’s central bank. Earlier this month, he accused Germany of wanting to recapture ‘in some form’ territories lost in 1945 and of planning ‘the subjugation of this entire belt of countries between Germany and Russia’. According to Glapiński, it would do this by creating a European federal state, led from Berlin.

Though Glapiński’s inflammatory remarks were intended for a domestic Polish audience, they are a clear sign that tensions between Poland and the European Commission are deeper than ever.

It’s a similar story with the EU and Hungary. Indeed, the EU is withholding promised funding, intended for the post-pandemic economic recovery, from both Poland and Hungary. Both stand accused by Brussels of violating the ‘rule of law’.

Poland and Hungary see their battles with the EU through different lenses. For many Poles, the EU is simply an extension of Germany. They view European Commision president Ursula von der Leyen – ally of former German chancellor Angela Merkel – as the executor of Germany’s will. Hungarians, on the other hand, tend to view the Brussels bureaucracy itself as the problem. In the Hungarian view, von der Leyen’s EU is forcing its own brand of woke ideology on member states, more or less independently of Berlin.

Whichever view is closer to the truth, one thing is clear: the conflict is far more complex than the EU’s accusations imply. Ostensibly, the EU is concerned about democratic backsliding, interference in the independence of the judiciary and corruption. The EU cites these reasons for not paying out packages of grants and loans worth €35 billion to Poland and €17 billion to Hungary.

But many of the EU’s claims just don’t add up. It is highly debatable whether Hungary is any more corrupt than, say, Italy, Bulgaria, Slovakia or Romania – all of which received their recovery funds without a hitch. Budapest has even pledged to change its public-procurement procedures and has introduced new anti-corruption measures to try to satisfy the EU’s demands. Yet the EU has not budged.

As for Poland, in May its parliament approved judicial reforms that were expected to unlock the EU funds. Indeed, at the time, the European Commission gave Poland assurances that these reforms would be enough. But, earlier this month, new ‘milestones’ for Poland to reach appeared seemingly out of the blue.

The Polish government blames Germany and von der Leyen for this. It has accused Berlin of stealing Polish money. There is now a growing sense in Warsaw that the Commission is deliberately trying to humiliate the Polish government ahead of the upcoming elections, in order to hamper the
ruling Law and Justice Party’s efforts to win another term.

Budapest also feels that the EU keeps moving the goalposts. Though the government remains optimistic, many in Hungary believe that no matter what Budapest does, it will lose some or all of the funds earmarked for its post-pandemic recovery effort.

Essentially, Hungary and Poland can see that they are being punished not for corruption or democratic backsliding – but for straying from the EU line on the future of the European Union, on wokeism and on migration. Every divergence from the current European mainstream is treated by Brussels as a cultural crime.

What this struggle is really about is independence and national sovereignty. The question it raises is this: will the EU be ruled by its member states or by the unelected bureaucracy of Brussels?

It is hard to predict who will win. What is clear is that Brussels not only wants to make Poland and Hungary comply, but also to humiliate them. It wants to force Budapest and Warsaw to toe the line. And it wants to put a stop to their dissent while their increasingly successful economies are still vulnerable to EU blackmail. Should the Commission succeed, it would serve as a warning to other small EU countries – to stay in line, or else.

The situation is precarious. The deadline for the EU to reach agreements with Poland and Hungary over the Covid recovery funds is officially just four months away. In truth, if there is no breakthrough by October, the likelihood of a deal is very small. In that case, Poland and Hungary would certainly retaliate with any means at their disposal. For the EU to get itself embroiled in such a row, in the middle of the biggest geopolitical crisis of the century, will hurt it deeply. Poland is even threatening to rethink its relationship to the EU entirely.

Whether a sensible compromise on the recovery funds can be reached remains to be seen. One thing is for sure: there are deep ideological fault lines dividing the EU and Central Europe. This row is not going away any time soon.

 

[northern watch]

Europe's Twilight: Christianity Declines, Islam Rises​

by Giulio Meotti
Gatestone Institute.org
August 28, 2022 at 5:30 am

• Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics [in France] are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50.
• In an essay on L'Incorrect Frédéric Saint Clair, political scientist and analyst, explains that "the milestone of 10,000 mosques, at the current rate, will be reached around 2100". Will we have 10,000 full mosques and 10,000 practically empty churches?
• "[A] mosque is erected every fortnight in France, while a Christian building is being destroyed at the same rate." — Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatory of Religious Heritage in Paris; Catholic News Agency, May 4, 2021.
• "During my first trips to the Middle East, in the early 1980s, I did not see veiled women and gradually the veil spread everywhere. It is the sign of the re-Islamization of Muslim societies and, in this sense, it takes on a political and geopolitical dimension. It is part of a conquest strategy. France is in a state of self-dhimmitude.... a legal and political status applicable to non-Muslim citizens in a state governed by Islam according to a prescription of the Koran (9:29). [Dhimmis] do not enjoy equal citizenship with the 'true believers,' who are Muslims." — Annie Laurent, essayist and scholar author of several books on Islam, Boulevard Voltaire, May 19, 2022.
• "...France, due to a colonial complex and a sense of guilt, anticipates a legal and political situation that is not (yet) imposed on it but which could be a day in which Islam it will be a majority and therefore able to govern our country.... [T]he situation is really worrying. Before it becomes dramatic, it is urgent to put an end to the concessions we are multiplying to Islamism by hiding behind our values. Because by doing so we erase our own civilization". — Annie Laurent, Boulevard Voltaire, May 19, 2022.
• Christianity in Germany "seems stable, but in reality it is on the verge of collapse. Pastors and bishops, but also many actively involved lay people, see landscapes in bloom where in reality there is nothing but the desert ". — Markus Günther, essayist, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 29, 2014.
• "Muslims, the winners of demographic change," headlined Die Welt. "US researchers predict that for the first time in history there will be more Muslims than Christians. Societies change. Even Germany's".
• In Trier, Germany, where Karl Marx was born, the diocese announced an unprecedented cut in the number of parishes which, in the next few years, will be reduced from 900 to 35.
• L'Echo, the main Belgian economic newspaper, says: "Brussels was at the forefront of secularization before confronting an active Muslim minority. The first religion in Brussels today is Islam".... Belgian anthropologist Olivier Servais confirmed a Muslim presence in Brussels at 33.5 percent, predicting a majority in 2030.

"A civilization is everything that gathers around a religion," said André Malraux. And when one religion declines, another takes its place. Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics in France are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50. Pictured: Fire consumes Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, on April 15, 2019. (Photo by Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images)

French writer André Malraux said it: "A civilization is everything that gathers around a religion". And when one religion declines, another takes its place.

Sarcelles, Saint-Denis, Mulhouse, Nantes, Chambéry, Strasbourg, La Rochelle... The impressive images of stadiums full of Muslim faithful, who arrived from all over France for the feast of Eid Al Kabir, seventy days after the end of Ramadan. In Saint-Denis, the city where the kings of France rest; in Nantes, the city of the Dukes of Brittany; in Strasbourg, the city of the cathedral and seat of the European Parliament, in Mulhouse, in the heart of Alsace.

"In forty years, France has become the Western European nation where the population of Muslim origin is the most important," wrote Vatican Radio. "It is not difficult to hypothesize that we are now close to Islam overtaking Catholicism." What if the overtaking has already taken place?

"France is no longer a Catholic country", writes Frederic Lenoir, editor of the magazine Le Monde des Religions. Le Figaro wondered if Islam can already be considered "the first religion in France." We are in the country where up to 5,000 churches are at risk of demolition by 2030, Le Figaro noted last month. Five thousand churches are at risk of disappearing within eight years, in a country lacking the political, religious and cultural will to keep alive a millennial heritage that represents France's deepest soul. Perhaps the imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris understood what was evolving when he suggested using abandoned churches as mosques.

German writer Martin Mosebach observed that the "the loss of religion destabilizes a country". When a society no longer knows how to give itself a reason to exist, others find one and the void left by Christianity is soon filled. Even an atheist like Richard Dawkins acknowledged that "the sound of the [church] bells is better than the song of the [mosque] muezzin".

Islam is taking over Europe's post-Christian ruins. It is estimated that today in France, for each practicing Muslim, there are three practicing Catholics. But if you dig deeper into this analysis, that relationship is about to be reversed.

Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50.
Hakim El Karoui, President Emmanuel Macron's advisor on Islam and a researcher at the Montaigne Institute, states that Islam is now the most practiced religion in France. "There are more practicing Muslims, between 2.5 and 3 million, than practicing Catholics, 1.65 million".

The same applies to the construction of new religious sites. Today, in France, there are 2,400 mosques, compared to 1,500 in 2003: "This is the most visible sign of the rapid growth of Islam in France," notes the weekly Valeurs Actuelles.
In an essay on L'Incorrect Frédéric Saint Clair, political scientist and analyst, explains that "the milestone of 10,000 mosques, at the current rate, will be reached around 2100". Will we have 10,000 full mosques and 10,000 practically empty churches?

Not only has the Catholic Church built merely 20 new churches in France in the past decade, according to research conducted by La Croix. Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatory of Religious Heritage in Paris, the most important organization that monitors the state of places of worship in the country, revealed:

"Although Catholic monuments are still ahead, one mosque is erected every 15 days in France, while one Christian building is destroyed at the same pace... It creates a tipping point on the territory that should be taken into account."

Annie Laurent, essayist and scholar author of several books on Islam, and whom Pope Benedict XVI wanted as an expert for the synod on the Middle East, recently said in an interview published in Boulevard Voltaire:

"Despite the repeated assurances of firmness of the state towards Islamism and its rejection of every separatism, the opposite is happening: the advance of Muslim culture in different forms. A progress that seems to find no more limits and obstacles. There is the cowardice of public authorities who give in to electoral calculations or clients, and also the complacency of a part of our elites whose militancy is steeped in progressive ideology...
"During my first trips to the Middle East, in the early 1980s, I did not see veiled women and gradually the veil spread everywhere. It is the sign of the re-Islamization of Muslim societies and, in this sense, it takes on a political and geopolitical dimension. It is part of a conquest strategy...
"France is in a state of self-dhimmitude. What is dhimmitude? It is a legal and political status applicable to non-Muslim citizens in a state governed by Islam according to a prescription of the Koran (9:29). [Dhimmis] do not enjoy equal citizenship with the 'true believers,' who are Muslims. The dhimmi can maintain his religious identity but must undergo a series of discriminatory measures that can affect all aspects of life, public, social and private. Not all Muslim states apply all of these provisions today, but they are in force in some countries. However that may be, the principle remains as it is based on a 'divine' order.
"Muslims translate 'dhimmitude' with protection, which tends to reassure us, but the most appropriate translation is 'protection-submission': in exchange for the freedoms of worship or other freedoms more or less granted to them, they may be subject to special provisions, including Sharia, with the aim of making them aware of their inferiority.
"If I speak of self-dhimmitude, it is to express the idea that France, due to a colonial complex and a sense of guilt, anticipates a legal and political situation that is not (yet) imposed on it but which could be a day in which Islam it will be a majority and therefore able to govern our country. It should also be noted that Islam lives off the weakness of the societies in which it settles".

How far will we go? "I don't know, but the situation is really worrying," concludes Laurent.

"Before it becomes dramatic, it is urgent to put an end to the concessions we are multiplying to Islamism by hiding behind our values. Because by doing so we erase our own civilization".

Part 1 of 6

 

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Part 2 of 6

Just two months ago, we had seen the same scenes for the end of Ramadan. Six thousand of the faithful celebrated at the Delaune Stadium in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. "Allahu Akbar" resounded from the loudspeakers placed in the four corners of the stadium. The same scenes could be seen in dozens of other stadiums throughout France, and in small and medium-sized cities: in Garges; in Montpellier (10,000 of the faithful in prayer); in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, 5,000 gathered in prayer at the stadium. The celebration also took place in Gennevilliers.

You can see the same advance of de-Christianization and the growth of Islam, with different intensities, everywhere in Europe.

In a dramatic article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, essayist Markus Günther explains that Christianity in Germany "seems stable, but in reality it is on the verge of collapse. Pastors and bishops, but also many actively involved lay people, see landscapes in bloom where in reality there is nothing but the desert".

"We are turning our backs on our culture" writes Volkert Resing in the latest issue of the magazine Cicero, speaking of the end of Christianity in Germany.

"In 2021, an average of 390 children were baptized every day in Germany. Ten years ago there were 800 baptisms a day. Last year, 359,338 people left the Catholic Church and 280,000 people left the Protestant Church. In both cases it is a new record. Last year 21.6 million people belonged to the Catholic Church and 19.7 million were Protestants. The number of Christians in Germany who are members of one of the two largest churches fell below the 50 percent mark for the first time. The fall of the Christian West? And who cares".

"For the first time in centuries," according to the German magazine Stern, "most of the people in Germany are no longer in the two great churches. A projection assumes that in 2060 only 30 percent will be Catholic or Protestant". For that date, all Christian denominations will have lost half of their current members. And if in 1950 one in two Catholics participated in Sunday services, notes the largest German weekly Die Zeit, today only one in ten people who say they are Christians participate in religious services.

"The importance of Islam in Germany will increase and that of Christianity will decrease, explains Detlef Pollack, professor of sociology of religion at Münster University and the country's foremost expert on religious trends, in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

"In 2022, for the first time, less than half of the Germans will belong to one of the great churches. There is a liquefaction. Muslim communities in Germany are undoubtedly vital compared to most Christian communities. By contrast Islam is a highly dynamic religion that aims at visibility".

 

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Part 3 of 6

For some time now, German public schools have been offering classes on Islam.

A Dresdner Bank study in 2007 predicted that "half of the churches in the country will close" and another that half of all Christians in the country will disappear. Within thirty years, according to the Pew Forum, there will be 17 million Muslims in Germany, compared to 22 million Christians between Catholics and Protestants, many of whom are only nominal (already today one-third of all Catholics are thinking of leaving the church) . The Muslim faithful settled in Germany will equal the total number of Catholics and Protestants.

This is a trend across the West. "Muslims, the winners of demographic change," headlined Die Welt. "US researchers predict that for the first time in history there will be more Muslims than Christians. Societies change. Even Germany's".
Between 1996 and 2016, Germany lost more than 3,000 parishes, down from 13,329 to 10,280. In Trier, Germany, where Karl Marx was born, the diocese announced an unprecedented cut in the number of parishes which, in the next few years, will be reduced from 900 to 35. Compared to their Christian counterparts, Islamic places of worship are growing; in the last 40 years, they went from non-existent to between 2,600 and 2,700. We realize how our world has changed only at the end of an epochal transformation.

Practically every day in the German press there are articles like this in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:

"Generations of believers got married in the Kreuzkirche in the Lamboy area of Hanau, they had their children baptized and there they mourned the dead. But the days when the rows of chairs were occupied even during the classic Sunday functions are long gone. The upcoming sale is a bitter new experience for Hanau. The culprit is the continuing decline in membership. This is due to demographic change and the numerous Muslim residents no longer provide a basis for a Christian community".

538 abandoned churches and 49 newly built: this is the sad balance of Catholic churches in Germany in the last 20 years.
In Bonn, 270 churches will be abandoned, some of which can already be purchased on the diocesan online service.

"The Ruhr diocese wants to keep only 84 churches and 160 will have to be used for a new purpose... Mainz and Hildesheim want to halve their churches. Aachen has started a process of reducing buildings by 30 percent. The archdiocese of Berlin has also decided to reduce the number of churches by a quarter".

From the diocese of Münster this month:

"87 churches have been deconsecrated. In various locations, churches are used as retirement and nursing homes for the elderly. Two churches in Marl alone are used as urn burial places. Apartments are being built in the St. Mariä Himmelfahrt church in Greven. Similar projects already exist, for instance, in Dülmen, Gescher and Herten-Bertlich. The former church of Sant'Elisabetta now serves as a sports hall".

In the entire archdiocese of Munich, the hometown of former Pope Benedict XVI, there are today just 37 seminarians in the various stages of formation compared to about 1.7 million Catholics. By comparison, the American diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska currently has 49 seminarians for about 100,000 Catholics.

 

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Part 4 of 6

You can see the same disintegration happening in Spain. "Spain is the third country with the greatest abandonment of Christianity in Europe," reported Spain's major newspaper, El Pais. Cardinal Juan José Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, has sent to all parishes a message announcing the suppression of 160 parishes in Barcelona, so that each can make its own contribution before the plan is implemented. A headline in El Mundo reads: "Barcelona closes parishes due to the loss of faithful... The archbishopric will leave only 48 of the 208".

In 2015, there were 1,334 mosques in Spain -- 21% of the total number of all places of worship in the country. During a six months period in 2018, 46 new mosques were built, bringing the number to 1,632 mosques for that year. Mosque numbers are growing at a rate of 20 percent each year. In 2004, there were 139 mosques in Catalonia and in 2020 there were 284, or 104% more, according to the Catalonia Department of Justice.

In Andalusia the number of mosques in one decade increased from 27 to 201; in Valencia, from 15 to 201 and in Madrid, from 40 to 116. Demography is the engine of cultural change. "By 2030," according to El Pais, "the Muslim population in Spain will increase by 82 percent".

 

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Part 5 of 6

The same situation exists in Austria. According to Die Welt:

"In Austria, the Catholic faith is in decline, Islam is on the rise. There will be far fewer Catholics in the future, while the number of Muslims and non-denominational people will increase significantly, experts predict. In 2046, one in five Austrians will profess Islam. In Vienna, Islam will be the strongest religion: in 30 years, one in three Viennese will be Muslim. The percentage of Catholics will be only 42 percent in the country, dropping to 22 percent in Vienna". In 1971, Catholics represented 78.6% of the population of Vienna; in 2001, just over half; in 2011, 41.3% and in thirty years Catholics will be only one third of the total."

If the churches are empty, 3,000 people gather for Friday prayers in Floridsdorf, the first mosque in Vienna. The mosque was officially erected in 1979 in the presence of the then President Rudolf Kirchschläger, Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Cardinal Franz König. Today the muezzin can call to prayer three times a day.

Christianity is no longer the first religion; Islam has taken its place. This shift should be grounds for discussion, not to say of concern -- certainly not of cheerful indifference.

 

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Part 6 of 6

L'Echo, the main Belgian economic newspaper, says: "Brussels was at the forefront of secularization before confronting an active Muslim minority. The first religion in Brussels today is Islam".

The monthly Causeur reminds us that Le Vif-L'Express (the main French-language newspaper) published a provocative front page entitled "Muslim Brussels in 2030". Belgian anthropologist Olivier Servais confirmed a Muslim presence in Brussels at 33.5 percent, predicting a majority in 2030.

In Saint-Chamond, a French town of 35,000, the town hall recently ordered the disposal of the main church of the city, Notre-Dame, built in the 19th century. Closed for worship since 2004, deprived of the crosses that proudly towered over its spiers, this church, in view of its transformation into a cultural project, has just been condemned to deconsecration. Meanwhile, last week, near what remains of Notre-Dame, the muezzin called over the loudspeakers for the Muslim faithful to come to prayers.

Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.

Europe's Twilight: Christianity Declines, Islam Rises

Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics [in France] are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50. In an

www.gatestoneinstitute.org

 

[jward]

Tens of thousands protest in Prague against Czech government, EU and NATO​

PRAGUE, Sept 3 (Reuters) - An estimated 70,000 people protested in Prague against the Czech government on Saturday, calling on the ruling coalition to do more to control soaring energy prices and voicing opposition to the European Union and NATO.

Organisers of the demonstration from a number of far-right and fringe political groups including the Communist party, said the central European nation should be neutral militarily and ensure direct contracts with gas suppliers, including Russia.


Police estimates put the number of protesters at around 70,000 by mid-afternoon.

"The aim of our demonstration is to demand change, mainly in solving the issue of energy prices, especially electricity and gas, which will destroy our economy this autumn," event co-organizer Jiri Havel told iDNES.cz news website.

The protest at Wenceslas Square in the city centre was held a day after the government survived a no-confidence vote amid opposition claims of inaction against inflation and energy prices. read more


The vote showed how Europe's energy crisis is fuelling political instability as soaring power prices stoke inflation, already at levels unseen in three decades.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who leads the centre-right, five-party coalition, told CTK news service on Saturday that the protesters did not have the country's best interests at heart.

"The protest on Wenceslas Square was called by forces that are pro-Russian, are close to extreme positions and are against the interests of the Czech Republic," he said.

Tens of thousands protest in Prague against Czech government, EU and NATO

An estimated 70,000 people protested in Prague against the Czech government on Saturday, calling on the ruling coalition to do more to control soaring energy prices and voicing opposition to the European Union and NATO.

www.reuters.com

 

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WATCH: Protests against the government erupted in Prague, the Czech's capital. The protest is called "Czech Republic in First Place." Protesters spoke out against rising gasoline prices, power outages, health-care costs, and military neutrality.

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