RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Western special forces working in Ukraine – FT

The unofficial presence of Western special forces in Ukraine is a matter of common knowledge, the Financial Times wrote on Tuesday, citing a senior European defense official, speaking anonymously.

The comment came in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s earlier suggestion of potential NATO deployments in Ukraine.

Speaking to the media after a gathering of European leaders in Paris on Monday, Macron said there was “no consensus [at the meeting] to send, in an official manner, troops on the ground, but in terms of dynamics, we cannot exclude anything.” He also promised to stop at nothing to prevent Russia from winning the conflict.

A senior European defense official explained to the Financial Times that Macron’s statement about sending in troops was an attempt to put pressure on Russia.

“Everyone knows there are western special forces in Ukraine – they’ve just not acknowledged it officially.”

Russia has repeatedly reported strikes against what it described as “foreign mercenaries” fighting in Ukraine. Last month, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced it had killed over 60 foreign fighters in a missile strike, of which the majority, according to local sources, were French speakers. The head of the local Ukrainian administration later confirmed that two of the dead and three of the wounded were French “volunteers.” France subsequently denied the presence of any of its soldiers in Ukraine, although the French defense minister admitted that some French nationals were fighting in Kiev’s army as “volunteers.”

British, French and US special force operatives have also been active in the conflict zone, according to a set of classified Pentagon documents leaked last year. Washington did not confirm or deny any information in the leaked files, but launched a probe and stated it would review who would have access to such information.

In late 2022, a British military publication acknowledged that more than 300 Royal Marines were involved in “discreet operations in a hugely sensitive environment and with a high level of political and military risk,” in Ukraine.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stated that as of December, more than 5,800 foreign mercenaries had been killed in the Russia-Ukraine conflict since its onset in February 2022, with most of them coming from Poland, the US and the UK.

The official act of sending NATO troops to fight the Russian army in Ukraine would make a direct clash between the US-led bloc and Moscow “inevitable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's Zelenskiy seeks Balkan arms, support at summit in Albania

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tried to drum up Balkan support for his vision of peace in Ukraine and promoted the idea of joint arms production at a two-day summit of southeastern European countries on Wednesday.

The summit in the Albanian capital Tirana comes as Kyiv is trying to improve its defensive capabilities to beat back Russian forces at a time of faltering U.S. support more than two years into Russia's full-scale invasion.

"We are interested in co-production with you and all our partners," Zelenskiy told top delegations from Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Moldova and Romania in his opening remarks.

"There are about 500 defence companies operating in Ukraine, each of them adds strength but it is not enough to win (against Russian President Vladimir) Putin. We see the problems with the supply of ammunition, which affects the situation on the battlefield."

Zelenskiy proposed organising a Ukrainian-Balkans defence forum in Kyiv or a Balkan capital to nurture arms cooperation, repeating similar initiatives conducted last year with British and U.S. weapons companies.

Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Romania are NATO members, have joined Western sanctions against Russia, and sent arms and equipment to Ukraine. There are significant arms industries in parts of the Balkans, especially Serbia and Croatia, a legacy of former federal Yugoslavia.

Longtime Moscow ally Serbia has not imposed sanctions, and neither Belgrade nor Kyiv recognise the independence of Kosovo, Serbia's former predominantly Albanian southern province which backs Ukraine and is seeking European Union and NATO membership.

Zelenskiy met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and thanked him for his support in the war and pledged to work further on Kyiv's plan to end the conflict.

Vucic said "only constructive dialogue and diplomatic solutions can bring peace" and thanked Ukraine for being one of a handful of countries to refrain from recognising Kosovo.

DISCUSSIONS WITH REGIONAL LEADERS

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskiy said he discussed defence cooperation with Bosnia and with North Macedonia. He also discussed weapons supplies with Bosnia, which is divided into the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat federation.

A joint declaration signed by 10 countries at the summit said their leaders were ready to take part in a Ukrainian-led peace summit in Switzerland this spring to discuss Zelenskiy's vision of peace.

Zelenskiy's diplomatic peace initiative envisions a Russian military withdrawal from all of Ukrainian territory, has not involved Russia in talks so far and been dismissed by Moscow as a non-starter.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Zelenskiy held talks and signed an Agreement on friendship and cooperation between Ukraine and Albania, the leaders said.

Zelenskiy told a news conference that every time weapons supplies to Ukraine were delayed, it was a "gift" to Russia's Putin, an apparent allusion to the months-long impasse in the U.S. Congress over providing more assistance for Kyiv.

The other leaders reiterated their support for Kyiv in a joint declaration, saying they were ready "to participate in the post-war recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine in order to enable the Ukrainian people to rebuild their country."

 

RT/Reuters

If you haven’t read Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders, which the Berkshire Hathaway chairman released on Saturday, do yourself a favor.

While you’re at it, read a few of the back issues, too. Within them, you’ll find the source material for many of the pearls of investing wisdom you’ve seen floating next to pictures of Buffett’s face on the internet for years. After all, who wouldn’t want to learn all they could from one of the greatest investors of all time?

In the meantime, here are a few key lessons for investors from this year’s letter.

Ignore market punditry

In the 2024 letter, Buffett imagines his target reader as someone similar to his sister, Bertie — a wise and financially savvy long-term investor in Berkshire. While she has some knowledge of how accounting works, Buffett writes, she wouldn’t pass a CPA exam.

A major asset for Bertie and investors like her: “She is sensible — very sensible — instinctively knowing that pundits should always be ignored,” says Buffett. “After all, if she could reliably predict tomorrow’s winners, would she freely share her valuable insights and thereby increase competitive buying? That would be like finding gold and then handing a map to the neighbors showing its location.”

It’s an astute observation, and one worth remembering the next time a pitch for a hot stock, or cryptocurrency or an NFT comes across your timeline. Or when someone on YouTube tells you their day trading strategy will make you rich. They’re often looking to make money from you, rather than for you.

Next time you get such a pitch, be like Bertie. “Bertie understands the power — for good or bad — of incentives, the weaknesses of humans, the ‘tells’ that can be recognized when observing human behavior,” Buffett writes. “She knows who is ‘selling’ and who can be trusted. In short, she is nobody’s fool.”

Stick with U.S. stocks for the long term

Buffett often recommends that non-professional investors gravitate toward index funds that seek to replicate the performance of the U.S. stock market.

The advantages are twofold. By spreading your portfolio across a wide array of stocks, you vastly decrease the possibility that a large bet on a particular investment could go south and tank your performance.

Plus, if markets remain true to their historical upward trajectory, you should be able to earn a substantial return over time.

“I can’t remember a period since March 11, 1942 — the date of my first stock purchase — that I have not had a majority of my net worth in equities, U.S.-based equities. And so far, so good,” Buffett writes.

When he decided to invest, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen below 100 points. Buffett says he was down about $5 on the first day. But he wasn’t in the red for long.

“Soon, things turned around and now that index hovers around 38,000,” Buffett writes. “America has been a terrific country for investors. All they have needed to do is sit quietly, listening to no one.”

Keep your cool in chaotic markets

The history of American markets has also included dramatic downslides, a phenomenon that has only been amplified in recent years by the speed at which information travels on the internet.

That isn’t changing anytime soon, says Buffett: “Such instant panics won’t happen often, but they will happen.”

In a section called “Our Not-So-Secret-Weapon,” Buffett says that such downturns have historically been buying opportunities for Berkshire to snap up quality stocks at a discount.

As investors, Buffett and his colleagues have been able to respond to panicked markets with “large sums and certainty of performance,” he writes. Perhaps more importantly, they haven’t allowed short-term noise in the market to tempt them to sell their assets at a low value.

“One investment rule at Berkshire has not and will not change: Never risk permanent loss of capital,” Buffett writes. “Thanks to the American tailwind and the power of compound interest, the arena in which we operate has been — and will be — rewarding if you make a couple of good decisions during a lifetime and avoid serious mistakes.”

 

CNBC

Nigeria’s central bank took a vital step toward restoring confidence in the battered naira by aggressively raising interest rates and pledging to dig the country out of its present “mess.”

Announcing a much-bigger-than-expected 400 basis point rate increase to 22.75%, Governor Olayemi Cardoso said that the central bank was not responsible for the nation’s woes, but was working hard to put things right.

“We are part of the solution,” he told a media briefing in Abuja, the capital, on Tuesday after the monetary policy committee held its first gathering since July. “We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in.”

Inflation has surged to almost a three-decade high and the currency is in free-fall, fanning a cost-of-living crisis as Nigeria tries to lure international capital while easing foreign exchange controls.

The governor “had to project certainty and resolve in returning the bank to its core mandate of price stability,” said Joachim MacEbong, senior governance analyst at Stears Insights. “He did that today, and the actual measures indicate that he will do all he can from his end to bring prices under control.”

Presiding over his first MPC meeting since taking the job in September, Cardoso said he was on a mission to address the “crisis of confidence” sapping trust in the nation after years of economic stagnation and policy mistakes.

“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better,” he said. “I do believe that the efforts we are making are beginning to bring back confidence.”

The rate increase follows the naira’s second devaluation in six months and efforts by the central bank to clear a backlog of local dollar demand that’s been sapping the Nigerian currency.

Economists see that as a necessary condition to attracting foreign capital back to the West African nation’s economy, which President Bola Tinubu has pledged to reinvigorate since taking office in May.

With price growth at 29.9%, the move brings Nigeria’s inflation-adjusted, real rate of interest closer to positive territory, especially with the prospect for more tightening at hand. The central bank’s next policy meeting will be held March 25-26.

“Investors will see it as very positive. There has been a call for effective monetary tightening,” said Ayodeji Dawodu, director of fixed income for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Banctrust Investment Bank Ltd. in London. “It is a start in interest rate hikes, with the next question being how high it can go from here.”

Following the decision, investors increased bets the naira would strengthen going forward, according to pricing in futures markets.

Tinubu installed the governor as part of a complete makeover of the leadership of the central bank after ousting the previous chief, Godwin Emefiele, who has since been charged with fraud. He denies the allegations and his trial in ongoing.

The central bank is a key tool in Tinubu’s efforts to reform the economy.

Shortly after taking office in May, the president announced the abolition of widely-criticized fuel subsides and the easing of currency controls to boost growth and attract dollar inflows.

His decisions were welcomed by international investors but have caused pain at home with the spiraling cost of living sparking protests.

The Nigerian Labour Congress, the main union for workers in the country, staged demonstrations against increasing hardship and insecurity in Lagos and several other cities on Tuesday.

 

Bloomberg

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has suspended its two-day nationwide protest.

The NLC had declared a two-day nationwide mass protest for February 27 and 28, over the economic hardship confronting millions of Nigerians since the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023.

The NLC and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), had on February 8, given a 14-day ultimatum to the federal government over the rising cost of living in the country.

A late night meeting on Monday between the federal government and NLC was not enough to convince the latter to shelve the nationwide protests.

On Tuesday morning, the protesters began their marches from the Labour House in Abuja and the Ikeja under-bridge in Lagos, while chanting solidarity songs and slogans.

Joe Ajaero, NLC president, and Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, led the Abuja rally.

But in a communique at the end of its national executive council meeting on Tuesday, the NLC said the objectives of the protest were achieved on the first day of the demonstration.

“Consequently, NEC-in-session resolved as follows: to suspend street action for the second day of the Protest having achieved overwhelming success thus attained the key objectives of the 2-day protest on the first day,” the communique reads.

“However, Nationwide action continues tomorrow with simultaneous Press Conferences across all the states of the federation by the state Councils of the Congress including the National Headquarters.”

The NLC NEC also resolved in its meeting, to “reaffirm and extend the 7-days ultimatum by another 7 days which now expires on the 13th day of March, 2024 within which the Government is expected to implement all the earlier agreement of the 2nd day of October, 2023 and other demands presented in our letter during today’s nationwide protest”.

“To meet and decide on further lines of action if on the expiration of the 14 days Government refuses to comply with the demands as contained in the ultimatum,” the communique reads.

 

The Cable

PRESS STATEMENT

The game the Nigerian Labour Congress is playing with the Masses regarding strike actions is too dangerous and calamitous for the country.

Calling people out, working up their emotions and hyping their game-plan does not portray the Labour and Trade Organizations as serious or reliable or even trustworthy.

What's the essence of doing cat calls without proper homework and without exhausting all negotiations with the government?

The way the Labour Congress is carrying on, a time will come when nobody will heed their call. And worse still, masses may resort to self help and become wild and out-of-control. That will definitely set serious danger and calamity in motion with unpredictable consequences.

Should Nigerians be forced to resort to a Revolution, no force anywhere would be able to contain the fire.

NLC should be careful and stop being a pun or ping pong.

The country is too tense and emotions too brittle to be toyed with at this point in time.

PRESS RELEASE

Hallmark University, Ijebu-Itele, Ogun State will be holding its maiden convocation ceremony on the 29th of February, 2024 at the University main auditorium.

According to the University Registrar, Afolabi Ajayi, "the former Vice-Chancellor of Olabisi Onabajo University, Ago-Iwoye, Professor Wale Olaitan, will be the special guest at the occasion." The Convocation Lecture holds 11am on Wednesday February 28, 2024.

He stated further that: "Graduating students, their parents and guests must be seated by 9.30am at the University Auditorium and must remain seated until the end of the ceremony."

Parts of the programmes marking the occasion include lectures, exhibitions, musical concerts, symposium and cultural display.

All graduating students are expected to collect their Convocation items and Guests Cards from their respective departments.

Hallmark University Ijebu Itele was established in 2015 by the Vivian Fowler Trust Foundation, and it was approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Signed:

Ufot Sunday Imoh

For the PRO

A deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be taking shape. What would it look like?

Israel and Hamas are inching toward a new deal that would free some of the roughly 130 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a weekslong pause in the war, now in its fifth month.

U.S. President Joe Biden says a deal could go into effect as early as Monday, ahead of what is seen as an unofficial deadline — the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, around March 10.

A deal would bring some respite to desperate people in Gaza, who have borne a staggering toll, as well as to the anguished families of Israeli hostages taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Here is a look at the emerging agreement.

OUTLINE OF THE DEAL

According to a senior official from Egypt, a six-week cease-fire would go into effect, and Hamas would agree to free up to 40 hostages — mostly civilian women, at least two children, and older and sick captives. Israel would release at least 300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the official said.

Israel would also allow displaced Palestinians to return to certain areas in northern Gaza, which was the first target of Israel’s ground offensive and suffered widespread destruction, according to the official from Egpyt, which is mediating the deal along with the U.S. and Qatar.

The Egyptian official said aid deliveries would be ramped up during the cease-fire, with 300 to 500 trucks entering the beleaguered territory per day, far more than the daily average number of trucks entering since the start of the war.

The deliveries to areas across Gaza would be facilitated by Israel, whose forces would refrain from attacks on them and on police escorting the aid convoys, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the talks with journalists.

STICKING POINTS

Despite Biden’s optimism, both sides continue to posture ahead of any final agreement even as talks continue in Qatar. Both Israeli and Hamas officials downplayed any sense of progress.

Israel and Hamas have been far apart on their terms for a deal in the past, dragging out negotiations that appeared to have momentum.

Israel wants all female soldiers included in the first phase of hostage releases, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing talks. Hamas views all soldiers as more significant bargaining chips and is likely to press back on this demand. The Egyptian official said the female soldiers were at this point being held off until after the first release.

The Egyptian official said the sides also are discussing how many Palestinians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza and whether to limit their return to women and men over 50.

Talks are also pinning down which areas of Gaza that Israel would withdraw troops from, the Egyptian official said, adding that Israel wants Hamas to refrain from using those it left as staging grounds for attacks. It also wants Hamas to stop firing rockets at southern Israel. Hamas has so far rejected both demands, the official said.

The emerging deal leaves a door open for Israel to operate in the southern border town of Rafah once it expires. More than half of Gaza’s population has fled to the southern city on the Egyptian border. Israel wants to destroy what it says are the few Hamas battalions left standing there.

WHAT REMAINS TO BE NEGOTIATED?

During the temporary cease-fire, both sides would negotiate toward an extension of the deal that the Egyptian official said would include the release of all the female soldiers in exchange for a higher number of imprisoned Palestinians, including those serving long sentences for deadly attacks.

After the female soldiers, Israel will seek to free male soldiers for whom Hamas will likely demand a high price. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to agree to a deal at any cost. But the families of the hostages, whose plight has deeply shaken Israelis, are likely to ramp up pressure if others are freed.

The U.S. hopes the new deal will be a launching pad for implementing its vision for a postwar Gaza that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. It wants Gaza to be governed by a revamped Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On Monday, it took a first step that could usher in U.S.-backed reforms by disbanding the self-rule government.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

NATO allies reject Emmanuel Macron idea of troops to Ukraine

Several Nato countries, including the US, Germany and the UK, have ruled out deploying ground troops to Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said "nothing should be excluded".

Mr Macron said there was "no consensus" on sending Western soldiers to Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has warned of direct conflict if Nato troops deploy there.

Russian forces have recently made gains in Ukraine and Kyiv has urgently appealed for more weapons.

Macron told a news conference on Monday evening: "We should not exclude that there might be a need for security that then justifies some elements of deployment.

"But I've told you very clearly what France maintains as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by."

The French leader was speaking in Paris, which is hosting a crisis meeting in support of Ukraine, attended by heads of European states, as well as the US and Canada.

A full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin is now in its third year, with no signs that the biggest war in Europe since World War Two could end soon.

Mr Macron's comments prompted responses from other European and Nato member countries.

US President Joe Biden believes the "path to victory" is providing military aid "so Ukrainian troops have the weapons and ammunition they need to defend themselves", a White House statement said.

"President Biden has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine," it added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there had been no change to the agreed position that no European country or Nato member state would send troops to Ukraine.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said the country had no plans for a large-scale military deployment to Ukraine, beyond the small number of personnel already training Ukrainian forces.

The office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy's "support does not include the presence of troops from European or Nato states on Ukrainian territory".

Peskov, on behalf of the Kremlin, called Macron's suggestion "a very important new element" adding it was absolutely not in the interests of Nato members.

"In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability [of direct conflict]," he said.

Earlier, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg denied considering whether troops would be sent to Ukraine, although he insisted the alliance would continue to support Ukraine, which is not a Nato member.

That position has been echoed by a number of Nato member states including Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russia has an abundance of artillery and is a far bigger military force than Ukraine, whose troops are critically dependent on modern weapons being provided by Western allies, particularly the US.

But the approval of a much needed $95bn (£75bn; €69bn) US aid package - including $60bn for Ukraine - has been facing an uphill battle in the US House of Representatives.

The US is by far the largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine and had committed €42.2bn (£36bn; $45bn) as of 15 January, Kiel Institute data showed.

Germany ranks second with commitments of €17.7bn in the same time period, followed by the UK which provided €9.1bn of military aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who took part in Monday's meeting in Paris by video link, said that "everything we do together to defend against Russian aggression adds real security to our nations for decades to come".

** Ukraine withdraws from two villages near Avdiivka

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it had withdrawn from two more villages near the eastern town of Avdiivka which was captured earlier this month by Russian forces, losing more territory as support from its Western allies runs short.

A senior commander said troops had consolidated new defensive positions west of Avdiivka, whose capture was the biggest Russian battlefield gain in nine months.

Ukrainian military spokesperson Dmytro Lykhoviy said troops had pulled back from Sieverne and Stepove, a day after Kyiv announced it had abandoned the village of Lastochkyne.

"Our forces withdrew from the small villages of Sievierne and Stepove... Heavy battles for Sievierne went on yesterday in the evening and night," Lykhoviy said, adding that Russia had taken significant losses in that fight.

Ukraine was pulling back to positions level with the rest of the eastern front line, to terrain more suitable for defence, Lykhoviy said.

Sieverne and Stepove had a total population of fewer than 100 people before the invasion.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had captured Sieverne, two years and three days since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation".

The ministry said its troops had "occupied more advantageous lines and positions" and struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment near three other settlements.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield claims of either side.

Avdiivka had withstood unrelenting Russian barrages since mid-October. The capture of the town, where virtually no buildings remained intact, was the biggest Russian gain since it took the equally devastated town of Bakhmut further northeast last May.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Avdiivka's capture as an "absolute success" and pledged to press on with the drive to secure control over all of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which he claimed to have annexed in October 2022.

One Ukrainian commander, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, said on Telegram: "In the Avdiivka sector, the line of defence in the areas of Tonenke, Orlivka and Berdychi has been stabilised."

Russian forces had failed in their attempts to advance in two areas further south, including the hotly contested Ukrainian-held village of Robotyne, the senior general added.

Ukraine's effort to hold Avdiivka, which lies only about 10 km (6 miles) from the key Russian-held city of Donetsk, forced it to defend an awkward salient that protruded into Russian-occupied areas.

Its loss comes as Ukraine faces shortages of artillery rounds and other supplies as promised Western support has not arrived and a U.S. aid package is held up by Republicans in Congress.

U.S. President Joe Biden and top Democrats met with senior Republicans in Congress on Tuesday to press again for the release of some $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.

A White House statement issued after a meeting said Biden "discussed how Ukraine has lost ground on the battlefield in recent weeks and is being forced to ration ammunition and supplies due to congressional inaction."

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kremlin reacts to Macron’s remarks on NATO troops in Ukraine

A direct conflict between Russia and NATO will likely become inevitable if member states of the US-led military bloc send troops to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He was speaking after French President Emmanuel Macron, whose government hosted a high-profile meeting of Ukraine backers on Monday, said EU members “will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning” – including deploying forces on the ground to support Kiev.

Several governments have since ruled out sending troops to the front line.

Opponents of the proposal have arrived at a “sober assessment of the potential risks” of deploying NATO forces in Ukraine, Peskov told the media on Tuesday. That would be “absolutely against the interests of those nations” and their people, he warned.

Asked about the probability of a direct conflict with NATO if Western troops are sent to Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesman said, “in this case, we have to talk not about the probability, but rather the inevitability.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out against the idea. Participants of the meeting in Paris came to an agreement against it, he told a news conference on Tuesday.

At a joint press conference in Prague on Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, ruled out sending their citizens to fight in Ukraine. Senior officials in Hungary and Slovakia issued similar statements.

Macron said Western leaders could end up changing their minds in the future, similarly to how they did with military assistance – which in some cases initially involved items such as helmets to eventually donating lethal weaponry including tanks and fighter jets.

While there was no consensus over the proposal, the participants agreed to create a coalition to supply medium and long-range missiles to Kiev, the French president said.

Moscow considers the Ukraine conflict to be a US-orchestrated proxy war against Russia, and has repeatedly warned that by supplying increasingly sophisticated weapons to Kiev, NATO members are drawing closer to a direct confrontation.

** Moscow updates estimate of Kiev’s military losses

Kiev has lost over 444,000 troops in two years of hostilities against Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated on Tuesday.

His remarks come days after Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that his country's forces recorded some 31,000 fatalities in the two years of fighting. Western media have pointed out that the latest figure from Kiev is even significantly lower than a US estimate released in the summer of last year.

Shoigu said the high attrition rate on the Ukrainian side was evidence “that the US strategy to contain Russia at the cost of Ukrainian lives and passive economic and military support of the Kiev regime has no way forward.”Speaking at a ministerial meeting, Shoigu said the average daily cost of the conflict for the Ukrainian army was more than 800 troops and 120 pieces of weaponry. He did not break down casualties into killed and wounded soldiers.

While making his claim on Sunday, Zelensky contrasted his 31,000 figure with Russian estimates, which he branded as lies. He declined to say how many Ukrainian soldiers were injured, explaining that revealing that information would benefit Moscow’s military planning.

The New York Times noted that Zelensky's claim “differed sharply” from estimates by US officials last August. At the time sources said some 70,000 Ukrainians had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 had been wounded in action.

A number resembling that cited by Zelensky was mentioned last week in a statement by the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, which marked the second anniversary of the hostilities. The mission in Ukraine claimed to have verified 30,457 civilian casualties since the conflict escalated in February 2022.

”Every Ukrainian citizen, and every military service member in particular, realizes that Zelensky is lying,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of the claim on social media.

She suggested that the president may have downplayed the loss of Ukrainian lives in order to secure more foreign funding. Ukrainians “are not humans for Zelensky, but units, on which he can get more Western money,” she claimed.

 

BBC/Reuters/RT

Prepare your company to absorb shocks and turn them into opportunities during 2024’s predicted mix of rapid disruption and cautious optimism.

As 2024 unfolds, we all know that the only constant is change. Yet, time and again, we see companies that are unable to manage change fail in the marketplace. According to a recent report, “more organizations are failing when it comes to business outcomes during times of change” than ever before.

Adding to this challenge is the continuous and rapid acceleration of change in our world. In 2023, we saw major shifts that will affect businesses for decades to come. Companies continue to reconcile and reimagine remote and hybrid working models, deal with ongoing economic uncertainty, and face the fallout from a never-ending string of catchy, but disruptive workplace phenomena, from the Great Resignation to quiet quitting to the Great Rethink. And then there’s generative AI—a deeply disruptive change agent whose full impact we’re just beginning to conceptualize.

To survive in this environment, every organization in business today needs to do more than prepare for the possibility of change. They need to create structures and mindsets that can continuously absorb shocks and turn them into opportunities. These companies will not only manage through change, but be the standout examples that can thrive and grow in 2024’s predicted mix of rapid disruption and cautious optimism.

It’s not enough to have an organization aligned around what is, but to develop a culture that imagines what could be. To do so, start by asking these two fundamental questions.

Is your business model designed for the age of change?

Old business models were not structured to operate at the speed of the digital age. Even systems that were in place to manage change were built around a single, rare, one-off event. We haven’t evolved our organizational models to meet the speed, scope and number of changes that companies now face on a daily basis.

The speed and reach of customer feedback is a good example of this. Gone are the days of customer feedback slowly traveling up the command chain. Today, customer feedback is instant and impactful. Customers now have the power and tools to immediately report about their experience and broadcast it to the world, whether that experience was good or bad. The onus is now on businesses to have the appropriate communications structures and cultures in place to empower frontline employees to make brand-aligned decisions, rather than wait for headquarters to react.

Is your growth plan too rigid for rapid response?

More and more, companies are faced with the opportunity (or necessity) to make quick decisions based on fluctuating circumstances. These decisions can have significant impact on business strategy as well as performance, and more risk-averse leaders may chafe against too much change, too quickly. But while sticking to a core strategy is obviously important, neglecting opportunities for growth could be lethal. To make room for change, company structures must be flexible enough to support both a stable core business and the real-time opportunities that arise.

To turn the tides of rapid change in your favor, build resilience and values-driven agility into your business structure so your team can thrive in any environment. Here are three design principles to help you make the strategic shift:

1) Follow an 80/20 rule to maintain stability and flexibility. Plan 80% of your operations around your core business to focus resources on maintaining your bread-and-butter offerings. Save 20% of your operations’ resources for exploring new opportunities and responding to the unexpected.

2) Maintain a diverse talent mix. The profile of teams suited to optimize the core business may be different from the profile of the team that assesses and tests new opportunities. Always maintain a mix of talent to create a well-rounded team that covers both.

3) Stay true to your values. Companies that lead with and live by their values can create a consistent environment during times of change. Your values become the bedrock that allows employees to make decisions and take risks without the weight of heavier oversight. The greater capacity your organization has for employees to participate in problem-solving, the greater your organization’s resilience to micro and macro change.

The rate of change is so fast today that it may feel impossible to keep up. But there are a few key factors that can spell the difference between success and failure. Building values, flexibility, and resilience into your company culture and operations and engaging diverse teams can help you not only weather the storms of change, but begin to thrive in new and unexpected ways.

Elaine Mak is chief people and performance officer at Valimail.

 

Fast Company

Standard Chartered Plc had a wild 2023 with Nigeria’s volatile currency as the African nation struggled with foreign-exchange rules to attract investment from overseas and boost the supply of dollars.

The London-based lender, in its corporate filings last week, said it made almost $120 million in a single day on June 1, in anticipation of new policies including an impending naira devaluation.

By November, its position whipsawed as it made around $40 million only to lose more than $20 million later after the government announced a crackdown on the black market, where the US dollar at one point commanded a premium of as much as 60% over the official rate.

The gap, which has now narrowed, resulted from too little capital inflows and a severe dollar scarcity that’s plagued the continent’s most-populous country despite currency reforms and a sharp devaluation. As of Monday, the dollar fetched 1,540.40 naira, compared with roughly 1,590 on the street, where most residents source their forex needs.

The naira slumped 49% last year against the dollar, making it the third-worst performer among 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The wide spread between the rates have also discouraged investments from abroad.

Standard Chartered’s one-day currency gains on June 1 came after Nigeria’s newly elected President Bola Tinubu took office in late May and immediately proposed to unify the exchange rates and let the naira trade more freely.

“After announcement of planned potential economic reforms in Nigeria, there were sharp movements in the offshore naira FX market in anticipation of Naira devaluation,” StanChart said.

But those gains were put at risk in November when Nigeria announced that it would be introducing new foreign-exchange rules, including a crackdown on the black market in a bid to narrow the spread. The plan was for the currency to reach a “fair price” by the end of 2023.

After the government’s announcement on Oct. 30 that it planned to target an exchange rate of 750 naira per dollar, “the onshore spot market became more volatile on low volumes,” StanChart said.

In a matter of days, the bank recorded a profit of about $40 million followed immediately by a loss in excess of $20 million, according to the corporate filings that accompanied the lender’s full-year earnings on Feb. 23.

The gains and losses came after the Nigerian authorities took steps to clear a backlog of matured foreign-currency forward contracts with some banks that they said had hampered dollar inflows. The announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Nov. 2 that it cleared the matured foreign-currency contracts for some lenders had prompted some speculators to offer their dollars for sale.

“Standard Chartered operates in over 50 markets that are periodically subject to currency movements that breach value at risk thresholds in line with the pillar 3 disclosure,” a representative for the bank said.

Despite the currency volatility in Nigeria, StanChart’s Africa and Middle East region last year posted its highest annual pretax profit since 2015, with earnings climbing 66% to $1.3 billion, as higher income and a net release in credit provisions offset an increase in expenses.

 

Bloomberg