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Europe
Germany
(13 September 2024) 16:45 'Welcome!' Germany has agreed to open the doors to 250,000 skilled and semi-skilled Kenyan workers in a controlled and targeted labour migration deal. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Kenya's President Ruto signed the deal in Berlin. The agreement will also simplify the repatriation of Kenyans who are in Germany without legal permission. Both governments will support the immigration of skilled workers who have finished vocational training or earned a university degree, as long as their qualifications are recognised by the relevant authorities of the other party. But there are concerns about a brain-drain in Kenya with professionals like doctors and nurses going abroad for jobs, leaving local hospitals with a huge shortage of medical workers. Germany took in more than one million people, mostly fleeing war in countries such as Syria, during the 2015-2016 migrant crisis, and has received 1.2 million Ukrainians since February 2022. (Source: bbc)
Russia
(13 September 2024) 9:04 Putin draws new red line on long-range missiles. This morning’s Kommersant newspaper captured the drama. “ Putin draws his red line.’ President Putin considers that the targeting of internationally recognised Russian territory with Western missile systems would take the conflict to a new level. Speaking in St Petersburg, President Putin sent a clear warning to the West: don’t allow Ukraine to use your long-range missiles to strike Russian territory. Moscow, he said, would view that as the 'direct participation' of Nato countries in the war in Ukraine. “It would substantially change the very essence, the nature of the conflict,' he continued. “This will mean that Nato countries, the USA and European states, are fighting with Russia.' He claimed that, for missile launches into Russia, Ukraine would require data from Western satellites and that only servicemen from Nato member states would be able to ’input flight missions into these missile systems’. In June., at a meeting with the heads of international news agencies, he was asked: how would Russia react if Ukraine was given the opportunity to hit targets on Russian territory with weapons supplied by Europe? “First, we will, of course, improve our air defence systems. We will be destroying their missiles,” President Putin replied. “Second, we believe that if someone is thinking it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to strike our territory and create problems for us, why can’t we supply our weapons of the same class to those regions around the world where they will target sensitive facilities of the countries that are doing this to Russia?' Arming Western adversaries to strike Western targets abroad is something that Moscow has been considering. Earlier this month, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Ryabkov, announced that Russia was set to revise its nuclear doctrine: the document that lays out under what circumstances Moscow may consider using nuclear weapons. He suggested that the decision to revise the doctrine was “connected with the escalation course of [Russia’s] Western adversaries'. Yesterday, Russia withdrew the accreditation of six British diplomats, accusing them of 'subversive activities' and threatening Russia’s security. Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer is in Washington for talks with President Biden. Among the issues the two leaders are expected to discuss is the question of Ukraine and long-range missiles. (Source: bbc)
September 13, 2024 9:30 am CET Early yesterday, Russian forces fired five missiles and 64 drones toward Ukraine’s Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Poltava regions. Ukraine's air force reported shooting down 44 drones but none of the missiles Russian aviators fired from jets early yesterday morning. Over the past 24 hours Russian troops have occupied the village of Lisivka and pushed closer to Pokrovsk, about 10 kilometers distant. Pokrovsk, a city in Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, is a key node for army logistics which is facing intense shelling. The work of the modular filter station, thanks to which Pokrovsk received water, was stopped. Russian forces have increased their push to the south on the towns of Kurakhove and Vuhledar, a Ukrainian stronghold about 80 km from Pokrovsk and have started probing Ukrainian defenses in Kherson region to the south on the Black Sea, trying to capture islands in the Dnipro River in small groups, using boats and jet skis. (Source: politico)
Ukraine
September 13, 2024 at 11:19 The International Monetary Fund said on September 10 it had reached an agreement with Ukraine on an aid programme review that could open the door to $1.1 billion for the country. The deal would see creditors - including BlackRock, Pimco and other major institutional investors - write billions off the nominal value of their holdings, and agree to a new payment schedule ’on terms more beneficial to Kyiv”. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager headquartered in New York, provides advice to the Ukrainian government on its Ukraine Development Fund (UDF), which aims ’to attract investment to help rebuild the war-battered country. A false claim about BlackRock surfaced online in August, quickly spreading across Facebook, X and Telegram and in languages such as Russian, English, Serbian and French, racking up thousands of shares: US investment firm BlackRock representatives 'have already bought 47 percent of Ukraine's land' and requested on a recent visit to Kyiv that 'this land not be used for burials and that the bodies be cremated or disposed of in other ways,' a simplified Chinese X post shared on August 3, 2024. Ukraine is one of the world's major grain producers thanks to its fertile "black" soil. Foreigners are not permitted to buy agricultural land in Ukraine and can only buy non-agricultural land if they meet certain legal conditions, according to the Land Code of Ukraine. "According to our research over large land leases in Ukraine presented in our report; 'War and Theft, the Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land', BlackRock doesn't own any land in Ukraine', Mousseau, policy director at the US-based Oakland Institute think tank - which has published reports on agricultral land reform in Ukraine – said on August 22. Agricultural land privatisation began in Ukraine in 2021, Mousseau said, potentially providing indirect exposure to land assets, but no single investor could reach 47 percent of the country's total land mass in this way. BlackRock does hold other Ukrainian assets, he confirmed. 'Ukraine has been forced by creditors to undertake an ongoing drastic structural adjustment program aiming at privatise all sectors of its economy.' 'BlackRock owns part of Ukraine's debt through Eurobonds, which gives the company leverage over the country,' Mousseau added. (Source: factcheck.afp)
North America
United States
Friday, September 13, 2024 5:17 AM / 4:11 AM Trump's running mate, Vance, has suggested how their administration might seek to end Russia's war in Ukraine, should they win the White House. Vance said potential peace talks with Trump could involve a "heavily fortified" demilitarized zone at the countries' borders. 'I think what this looks like is Trump sits down, he says to the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Europeans: You guys need to figure out. What does a peaceful settlement look like? And what it probably looks like is the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine, that becomes like a demilitarized zone,' he told the Shawn Ryan Show podcast in an episode released Wednesday. Russian President Putin's Russia has taken military control of about 20 percent of Ukraine since 2014 when it annexed Crimea. The prospect of peace talks has been raised several times, without success, since February 2022. Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, has claimed on multiple occasions that he would have ended the war in Ukraine "in 24 hours" if he won the 2020 presidential election. He has also said repeatedly that if reelected, he would swiftly bring an end to the war in Ukraine by speaking with Putin. Vance didn't specify exactly where he thinks the demilitarized zone should be, but said it would be "heavily fortified so the Russians don't invade again.' "Ukraine remains its independent sovereignty, Russia gets the guarantee of neutrality from Ukraine - it doesn't join NATO, it doesn't join some of these allied institutions. That is what the deal is ultimately going to look something like," he said. Vance said he believes Trump will be able to "come to a deal very quickly" because "they're scared of him in Russia, they're worried about him in Europe because they know he actually means what he says." "The Russians, the Ukrainians, the Europeans are all saying, we can't fight this war forever. But why the hell are you fighting it for another day if all of them are trying to find a way to solve it? The answer is, you're not going to solve the war but you can at least bring the thing to a stop," he continued. "The answer is, Biden is asleep at the wheel, Harris doesn't know what the hell she's doing, and so, their policy is throw money at this problem, hope the Ukrainians are able to achieve a military victory that even the Ukrainians are saying 'we can't achieve,'" Vance added. Reuters reported in May, citing four anonymous Russian sources familiar with the matter, that Putin was ready to "freeze" the war in Ukraine on current front lines. "Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire - to freeze the war," a senior Russian source who has worked with Putin told the publication. The Kremlin has previously specified a few conditions that are non-negotiable for Russia, including that Ukraine must accept the September 2022 annexation of four of its regions -Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - following referendums called by Putin that were deemed illegal by the international community. Ukraine has said that any peace deal must invalidate the September 2022 annexations of its territory, and that Crimea must once again be considered part of Ukraine. The U.S. presidential election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 5. (Source: miamiherald / Newsweek)
