Burkina Faso's military junta said on Wednesday that a coup attempt had been thwarted the previous day by security and intelligence services, without providing specifics on what had happened.

In a statement it said officers and others had plotted to destabilise the country with "the dark intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging our country in chaos."

It did not identify anyone but said some arrests had been made and searches continued for others. "Investigations will help unmask the instigators of this plot," it said.

The military prosecutor later said four people had been detained and two were on the run. In a statement, it said it had on Wednesday opened an investigation based on "credible allegations about a plot against state security implicating officers."

The junta on Monday suspended French news magazine Jeune Afrique for publishing "untruthful" articles that reported tension and discontent within Burkina Faso's armed forces.

The next day thousands of pro-junta demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Ouagadougou and elsewhere to show their support, citing rumours of a brewing mutiny against the authorities.

The junta came to power after two military coups last year, triggered in part by a worsening insurgency by armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that has destabilised Burkina Faso and its neighbours in West Africa's Sahel region.

Over 50 Burkinabe soldiers and volunteer fighters were killed in clashes with militants in early September - the heaviest losses in months.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian troops surrendering en masse – TASS

Large numbers of Ukrainian troops have surrendered to the Russian military in recent weeks, using a special radio frequency designed for fighters willing to lay down arms, TASS reported on Wednesday. 

The frequency, 149.200 call sign ‘Volga’, was set up by the Russian military during the summer. Thus far, it has been used by more than 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen who were subsequently taken into Russian custody, according to a source with knowledge of the situation cited by TASS. The person added that the radio frequency is active along the entire front line. 

“More than 10,0000 Ukrainian soldiers have chosen life and used the 149.200 ‘Volga’ frequency to surrender. The prisoners are well-fed and are provided with all the necessary medical care,” the source stated.

The process has seemingly accelerated recently as Ukrainian troops have surrendered in groups rather than individually, particularly around Rabotino, according to the TASS source. The village in Zaporozhye Region has become the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in recent weeks.

Rabotino remains one of the major flashpoints of the conflict, with the area repeatedly subjected to attacks during the long-heralded Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in early June. The push has thus far failed to yield any tangible results, while reports have indicated that Ukrainian forces are sustaining heavy personnel and materiel losses in the process. 

According to Moscow’s latest estimates, Kiev has lost more than 17,000 servicemen this month alone. The total number of Ukrainian troops killed since the counteroffensive began has now surpassed 83,000, with over 10,000 pieces of heavy military hardware also destroyed, according to the Russian military.

** Ukraine shells Russia’s Belgorod Region more than 130 times over day

The Ukrainian armed forces fired more than 130 different munitions at Russia’s Belgorod Region over the past 24 hours, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.

"In the Valuisky district, the village of Dolgoye was shelled 20 times. One of the shells flew into the territory of a private house. As a result, a woman was injured - she was taken to the central district hospital with a shrapnel wound in the head, the doctors are providing her with all necessary assistance. Four private houses were damaged in various ways: windows were broken, facades and roofs were cut. In addition, two cars were damaged," Gladkov wrote.

The Ukrainian forces also attacked the village of Dolgoye three times with kamikaze drones, as a result of which one of the infrastructure communication facilities was damaged. Seven artillery shells were fired at Dubrovka, and ten artillery shells were fired at Biryuch.

In the Shebekinsky district, five artillery and two mortar shells were fired at the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, damaging a power line and a water tower, as well as a fence and outbuildings of a private house. The village of Chervona-Dibrovka was shelled from artillery two times. "As a result of shelling, the power line was damaged. It has been restored. In addition, the enemy's quadcopter was shot down. Ten artillery shells were fired at the village of Bolshetroitskoye. <...> Windows, facades, roofs, and fences of four private houses were damaged. Three commercial buildings, a car and a garage were also damaged," the governor said.

The town of Shebekino was also shelled from artillery nine times. A private house was damaged. In the Krasnoyaruzhsky district, one artillery shell was fired on the outskirts of the village of Prilesye, four and three artillery shells were fired on the outskirts of the villages of Terebreno and Vyazovoye, respectively. "The settlement of Zadorozhny was also shelled. No one was injured. As a result of the shelling, the power line was damaged. Now the power line has been restored," Gladkov wrote.

In the Belgorod district, six artillery shells were fired at the village of Nekhoteyevka, and a drone was downed over the village of Razumnoye. In the Borisovsky district, a drone dropped five explosives on the outskirts of Lozovaya Rudka. In the Volokonovsky district, six mortar shells were fired at the outskirts of Stariy. In the Graivoronsky district, fixed-wing drones were downed in Sankovo and Gorkovsky. "Fourteen mortar shells were fired on the outskirts of the Bairak settlement, ten and three mortar shells on the outskirts of the villages of Bezymeno and Pochaevo, respectively. <...> In addition, the village of Novostroyevka-Vtoraya was shelled from mortars three times. <...> There is damage to a private house: the roof, facade, windows, fence and an outbuilding were hit by shrapnel. Seven mortar shells were fired at the village of Poroz. <...> There was damage to four private homes: windows were blown out, roofs, fences and outbuildings were hit," the governor said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian troops repel Russian attacks on eastern front -officials

Ukrainian troops held off determined attacks on Wednesday by Russian forces trying to regain lost positions on the eastern front, military officials said, while analysts suggested Kyiv's forces were also making progress in the southern theatre.

The Ukrainian military launched its counteroffensive in June intending to recoup ground in the east and in the past two weeks announced the capture of two key villages, Andriivka and Klishchiivka, near the shattered city of Bakhmut.

Its forces are also trying to advance southward to the Sea of Azov to sever a land bridge established by Russia between the annexed Crimean Peninsula and positions it holds in the east.

Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern group of forces, told national television: "We continue to repel intense enemy attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka.

"The enemy is still storming these positions with the hope of recapturing lost positions, but without success."

There had been 544 Russian shelling incidents in the past 24 hours in the area, seven combat clashes and four air attacks, Yevlash said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy referred briefly in a post on the Telegram messaging app to "our advance in the Donetsk sector" in the east, but provided no details.

Ukraine's General Staff reported air strikes on four localities in the area and said 15 towns and villages had come under artillery and mortar attack.

In its account of military activity, Russia's Defence Ministry also reported heavy fighting in the area, saying its forces had beaten back 10 attacks by Ukrainian troops near Klishchiivka and further south, near the village of Nevelske.

Ukrainian officials have spoken of gains in the drive southward, with General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of forces in the south, telling CNN last week of a "breakthrough", while noting that progress was slower than had been hoped.

Zelenskiy and other officials have said the counteroffensive will take time and have dismissed Western critics who said the advance has been too slow and beset by strategic errors.

Tarnavskyi referred to the village of Verbove, which other officials have said Ukrainian forces are poised to seize. Ukrainian forces are targeting several other villages as they progress through Zaporizhzhia region towards the major town of Tokmak.

"There have been three or four days of painstaking hard work by our assault group and commanders conducting tactical tasks in this area which have led to very serious problems for the Russians," military analyst Roman Svitan told NV Radio.

"I would not speak of a breakthrough until we reach Tokmak."

** Ukraine appoints three new deputy defence ministers

Ukrainian government named three new deputy defence ministers on Wednesday, after six incumbents were dismissed following the appointment of a new defence minister this month.

Rustem Umerov became defence minister three weeks ago, saying his priorities include making the ministry the main institution for coordinating Ukrainian defence forces, enhancing the value attached to individual soldiers, developing Ukraine's military industry and fighting corruption.

"Rebooting of the ministry and implementation of qualitative changes that will be felt first by our soldiers," he said on Facebook, announcing the appointments.

The new deputy ministers include Yuriy Dzhyhyr, deputy finance minister in 2018-2020; Natalia Kalmykova, who most recently served as executive director of the Ukrainian Veteran Fund; and Kateryna Chernohorenko, head of Ukraine's "Army of Drones" project.

"The main priority for the new team members - our soldiers, their life, health and dignity," Umerov said. "Our most important task is to ensure respect for the dignity of soldiers in all interactions with the state."

RT/Tass/Reuters

One of the things I have come to detest about Nigeria is how individuals, especially the ones with means, get to use security agencies like they are personal thugs. Once upon a time in Nigeria, when you needed to settle scores without recourse to the law, you hired urchins from a motor park to beat up people. These days, you use the police or the Department of State Services for the same purpose. Both agencies differ in scope and responsibilities, but they fulfil similar functions of punishing people on behalf of those who can afford to summon them. They so cheaply make themselves available to service anti-democratic causes that they leave you no doubt about which master they serve.

Many instances of people using security agencies to abuse others do not make it to the news, but all the ones that do reflect the shameful fact that Nigeria has too many puny-sized gods in high places. The latest example is the case of Chioma Okoli, a Facebook user who shared her thoughts on a brand of tomato paste, Nagiko tomato mix, on social media. She complained that the product contained too much sugar, and suggested it might be harming people. Boom! She was arrested and has since been transferred to the police headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory.

Briefly setting aside the very troublesome fact that someone could be arrested over a review of a product, you must wonder why the company marketing the product, would meet a review of their product with such imperiousness. If they failed at managing a simple situation like responding to a product review tactfully, then we must also worry about the quality control of their production process. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control should probably investigate them because the truth does not need that amount of high-handedness to be defended.

In this age of online marketing and social media networks, businesses contend with subjective consumer tastes in ways they probably could not have imagined decades ago. We live in times when almost everything (and everyone) has become a product, and consuming them warrants feedback. There is no escaping the tyranny of public judgment. Even religious organisations are now regularly dragged to consumer review websites to be reviewed. People will scrutinise based on other people’s momentary feelings, and unfortunately, the most brutal opinion will stay permanently online. Anyone and anything can be hurt by public opinion. Whether or not the intentions were malicious, mischievous, or an expression of the reviewer’s sincere thoughts, we all live with this vulnerability.

For businesses, harsh reviews require having (and maintaining) organisational purpose and deft public relations management. Since Okoli did not tag them in her Facebook post, they could have ignored her. The exchange would have passed like the many million small things people chinwag on social media every minute. Even if they must respond to a reviewer, they could have done so from their official account. All they needed to do was list the contents of their products to counter her assertions that their product had too much sugar and was therefore injurious to public health. By instead responding with police arrest, they have shown that they are the kind of people who will force anything down your throat.

As they have shown themselves, their actions are not isolated. As I stated earlier, there are many instances of this abuse of power happening every single day but they just do not make it to the news. Too many people in Nigeria cultivate networks of access to power to abuse others and thereby assert their self-importance. From politicians to government officials and even at varying middling levels, it is all the same story of disproportionate use of force over what could have been resolved through civil means.

Take another recent example of the Ogun State Local Government Chairman, Wale Adedayo, who petitioned authorities that their state governor, Dapo Abiodun, had hijacked allocations meant for local governments. What he alleged surprised no one. There is a reason the local government in Nigeria is comatose. The wonder is not that one person eventually spoke up, but that other local government chairpersons have been (and are still) quiet about it. In a place where governors are not above accountability, the response would be to disprove the claim. Because it is Nigeria, the DSS arrested Adedayo instead!

It was a turn of events that shows that many things in Nigeria just do not make sense. Why was any of that the business of the DSS? If the governor is defamed by the accusation, he has enough resources to pursue a civil case against his accuser. Now, Adedayo is being tried for making an allegation that he “knew was a false allegation and likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace.” The officers who wrote the charge sheet likely do comedy part-time. The Nigeria police might not be outstanding where it matters, but give it to them when they want to punish you, they know how to strain logic to make spurious charges.

Again, another recent example of the DSS being used for personal scores happened when their official was summoned by an unnamed Nigerian whose tailor did not deliver on their promise. Some things one hears in Nigeria and one’s head bursts. How does anyone consider it appropriate to call a DSS official to harass a tailor in the market? How did the officer too not think it was beneath their professional profile? That is an indication of how unserious that organisation has become.

There is a similar story of ex-First Lady Aisha Buhari who also sent the police to waylay a young man who had written an unflattering comment about her on then Twitter (nowX). Listening to the police officer who arrested the young man testify in court detailing how they went about it, you realised how entirely petty our leaders can be. Their mean-spiritedness is, unfortunately, serially enabled by security agents who seem unable to define their role within Nigeria’s so-called democracy.

Mubarak Bala, the Kano atheist, is another person suffering because we have a police force that has conditioned its reflexes to attend to the errands of oppressive forces. One man, ironically a lawyer, petitioned the police against Bala and threatened Muslim violence if they did not punish him. That was enough for the police to have him arrested, incarcerated, and eventually imprisoned. Tani Olohun (real name Adegbola Abdulazeez) is languishing in jail for the same reason. Time and space will not permit me to reel out more examples, some of whom are even pastors, who have also used the police to arrest individuals over personal issues. They could have pursued a civil case, but no, they must use force because what is at stake for them is proving themselves as connected to power.

It was bad enough when politicians and regular individuals used the police (or the DSS) to harass regular citizens. Now things have degenerated to the point that even a business operation thinks that is the way to address issues. Gone are the days when customers were always right because buying something with their money gives them the privilege to be right or wrong about their assessment of a product. Writing an unflattering review of a tomato can now get you arrested. The resources expended in taking Okoli to police headquarters would probably fuel the patrol vehicles of their hapless officers currently begging for money from road transport workers as you read this, but they would rather spend it proving a useless point.

Punch

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is sure that artificial intelligence will soon be a “great disruptor” in all of our lives — for both better and worse.

AI will help people make strides in productivity, education, healthcare and even usher in a three-day workweek, Dalio said on Tuesday at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival 2023. On the other hand, it’ll likely “disrupt jobs” and be a cause of “argument” for employees and legislators who support halting or slowing down AI’s evolution, he said.

“All these changes are going to happen in the next five years,” Dalio, the founder of hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, added. “And when I say [that], I don’t mean five years from now. I mean that you’re going to see [changes] next year ... the next year, [even bigger] changes. It’s all going to change very fast.”

Some developments are already in motion. ChatGPT has swiftly exceeded most people’s expectations, passing Wharton MBA exams and allegedly helping someone win the lottery less than a year after its November 2022 launch.

Job disruptions may also be underway: As more than 100,000 actors strike for better wages, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is lobbying to replace some of them with artificial intelligence.

The trend could expand to other industries soon. Forty-nine percent of U.S. CEOs and C-suite executives say their current workforce’s skills won’t be relevant by 2025, according to a survey from online education platform edX published on Tuesday.

In the same survey, executives said they’re already trying to hire AI-savvy employees, with 87% citing that effort as a struggle. That could open up a lane of opportunity for workers, who can learn and use AI skills to make some extra cash.

“There are many online learning opportunities to understand how AI works, which then could help [someone] possibly become an AI tutor, or to do some AI training to pass it on to the next generation,” Susan Gonzales, CEO and founder of nonprofit AIandYou, told CNBC Make It in July. 

Just about everyone, from entrepreneurs and freelancers to full-time office workers, could stand to benefit from learning more about AI, Gonzales said.

Whether you’re excited, curious or flat-out scared, “now would be the time to increase your knowledge,” she added.

CNBC

Several Nigerian businesses that rely on imports have been cut off by their foreign suppliers who are rejecting letters of credit (LC) and refusing to deliver goods without payment as foreign currency shortages worsen in Africa’s biggest economy.

A letter of credit is a mode of payment used for the importation of visible goods. It is a written undertaking given by a bank at the request of its customer, in which the bank obligates itself to pay the exporter up to a stated amount within a prescribed time frame upon presentation of stipulated documents in exchange for goods.

Foreign suppliers are now demanding cash transfers into escrow accounts in place of LCs as faith in the Nigerian banking system wanes owing to the dollar shortage.

“Nigeria is bad credit today,” a banking source familiar with the matter said. “If the central bank can not honour obligations, why take any risk on a bank from Nigeria?”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold what is called forward contracts to several Nigerian businesses with the promise of dollars at an agreed price in future. The banks opened LCs on the back of the forward contracts, which were then used to buy goods from the foreign suppliers.

“The CBN has however not settled the contracts since February 2023 which means there’s a backlog of around $3 billion,” another source familiar with the matter said.

Worried by the growing backlog and with no assurance of when it will be cleared, correspondent banks are pulling the plugs on local Nigerian banks.

A correspondent bank acts as an intermediary or agent, facilitating wire transfers, conducting business transactions, accepting deposits, and gathering documents on behalf of another bank.

Correspondent banks are most likely to be used by domestic banks to execute transactions that either originate or are completed in other countries. Domestic banks generally use correspondent banks to gain access to foreign financial markets and to serve international clients without having to open branches abroad.

Bankers say the CBN’s failure to clear the dollar backlog has put them in a very tight FX liquidity position and has forced them to suspend several transactions including school fees and Personal Travel Allowance applications.

In the meantime, businesses are getting hammered and are turning to the black market to get dollars at a premium of over 20 percent to fund critical imports.

The persistent recourse to the black market is pushing up the cost of business, with severe implications for inflation.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate accelerated to an 18-year high of 25.8 percent in August, according to official data.

The August inflation figure rose for an eighth straight month from July’s 24.08 percent, compounding a cost of living crisis worsened by President Bola Tinubu’s reforms.

The last time Nigerians experienced this level of inflation was in August 2005.

“The inflation data in our view reflects only in part the lifting of the subsidy. Much of the pre-existing pressure came from Nigeria’s monetary policy stance in the months that preceded this outcome, and the continued naira depreciation on the parallel market,” Razia Khan, Standard Chartered managing director and chief economist, Africa and Middle East, said.

The naira pared some losses to trade at 995 per US dollar on the streets on Monday after crashing to a new low of N1,050 last Friday. The official rate opened at N747 per US dollar. The gap, which disappeared in the first two days of the CBN’s reform in June, has reopened due to the scarcity of dollars in the official market.

Liquidity in the official market has collapsed to a daily average of $99.81 million, down from $295.58 million between May and June 2023 and $318.46 million between January and May 2023, according to data compiled by BusinessDay.

“The dollar illiquidity in the official market is why the rate in the black market is soaring and the gap between the official rate has reopened,” said Muda Yusuf, CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise. “That is why the new CBN governor must prioritise clearing the backlog in order to save manufacturers and other businesses.”

The CBN, last June, following Tinubu’s victory at the polls, allowed the naira trade at a market rate by shifting to a willing buyer-willing seller arrangement after eight years of exchange rate controls.

But the CBN is proving that old habits die hard and has started unduly influencing the rates once again, stifling the market and draining the confidence that built in the early days of the reform.

All eyes are now on Yemi Cardoso, the new CBN governor, to see how he deals with the foreign exchange crisis that is threatening the economy.

Businessday

Nigeria’s local currency, the naira, has set a new record, falling to its lowest against the dollar at the parallel market.

Currency traders in Lagos, also known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), quoted the naira at N1,000 to the greenback at the street market.

The traders, on Tuesday, put the buying price of the dollar at N990 and the selling price at N1,000 — leaving a profit margin of N10 .

The figure represents a depreciation of N7 or 0.7 percent from the N993/$ it traded on Monday.

A BDC operator simply known as Atiku, in Ishaga, said he is selling the dollar at N1000; while Shehu, another street trader in Ogba, offered the same rate.

“Dollar is more expensive and scarce. In fact, if you are willing to sell, I will be willing to buy, even if it is at N990/$,” said a BDC operator at the Alade market in Ikeja.

At the official side of the market, the investors’ and exporters’ window (I & E), the local currency depreciated by 4.78 percent to close at N773.25 to the dollar on Monday.

According to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, a total of $64.14 million FX transactions were made at the I&E window.

The last time the naira hit its lowest was on August 10 when it traded at N950.

The Cable

About 30 percent of shipping companies in Greece have removed Nigeria from their charter party, following complaints over hostile environment and alleged harsh treatment meted out to crew members of vessels caught up in maritime security issues.
Disclosing this during the Maritime and Offshore Awards (OMIS) at the weekend, President of Maritime Security Providers Association of Nigeria (MASPAN), Emmanuel Maiguwa, said Greece, which holds about 70 per cent of global tonnage on vessel operations, has stopped its vessels from coming to Nigeria.
Consequently, Grecian vessels with Nigerian-bound cargoes stop in Togo or any other ports.
Maiguwa said insecurity, hostile environment and other harsh policies have pushed the vessels away from Nigeria to Togo. This, he said, will negatively impact the marine and blue economy sector, especially as Nigeria does not have its own vessels.

He gave instances where drugs were found on a vessel in Nigeria and the crew members were whisked away by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to its detention centre, in violation of immigration regulation.
Maiguwa also gave instances where harbour masters harass crew members of a vessel, compelling them to tender original trading certificate as guarantee for anchorage.
He explained that removing the original trading document of a vessel is against maritime port state regulations, especially when the harbour master is not a port state inspection officer, except he has a court order or has gone through maritime administration.

“Currently about 30 per cent of Greece shipping members have removed Nigeria from their charter party. What that means is that their vessels will not come to Nigeria. If they have to carry Nigerian cargo, the clause and condition is they have to stop in Togo or somewhere else.
“They don’t want to come to Nigeria because we have become so hostile. Insecurity and other policies push the vessels to Togo. In some cases, the owners will begin to consider subrogation and that blows their P&I so high,” he said.

Maiguwa said foreign vessel owners would rather have piracy attacks than witness the hostility in Nigerian environment. He said Nigeria will lose largely.

According to him, when foreign vessels refuse to come into the nation’s water, there will be nobody to do underwater cleaning, inspection survey, chandling services and others that attract shipping trade and job creation.
Maiguwa said with the situation, Nigeria will have to take its coastal and local vessels to Togo to procure services. This, he noted, will constantly put pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange. If the issue is not addressed, he said, Nigeria will end up as a country that only provides feeder shipping services to neighbouring countries.

Responding, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Wasiu Eshilokun Sanni, assured maritime stakeholders of lawmakers’ maximum corporation to ensure the marine and blue economy sector works.
Sanni also gave update on the status of maritime bills at the Senate, saying they are at various stages of reading. He said about two legislations have gone through third reading and have been sent to the President for assent.
“Probably, because of time, about two of them were sent in May 2023, one was sent in March, and the former President was unable to sign it. We will find a way of re-presenting and doing the needful; making sure that all these legislations becomes Acts,” he said.

The OMIS Award is a yearly event that recognises excellence in the maritime industry, in collaboration with Prime Atlantic Safety Services and Hybrid Group, has included a technical summit in this year’s edition.
The conference, which also commemorated the World Maritime Day (WMD) provided a veritable platform for experts, leaders, regulators and relevant stakeholders to brainstorm and proffer lasting solutions to the challenges confronting the nation’s maritime industry.
Chief Executive Officer of The OMIS, Femi Da-Silva, said: “While appreciating the laudable efforts of industry regulators, we believe that convening experts and stakeholders in the maritime industry will foster a collective approach towards tackling the challenges we face, and drive the industry forward.”

The Guardian

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria have declared an indefinite strike, which will begin on October 3, 2023.

NLC president Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo, president of TUC, said this after their separate Emergency National Executive Council (INEC), meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

In a communique read by the two Presidents, the indefinite strike was due to the alleged insensitivity of the government to the sufferings of Nigerians as a result of the removal of petrol subsidy.

Also, the decision to go on the indefinite strike was reached due to the continuous demonstration of unwillingness and complete lack of initiative.

The two unions also urged their state chapters to mobilize for protests across the country.

NLC had earlier embarked on a two-day warning strike, which took place on Tuesday, September 5, and Wednesday, June 6, 2023.

Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong has appealed to the NLC leadership to stop the planned strike.

Lalong assured them that the Federal Government is determined to address the concerns raised.

The Guardian

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

US lawmakers propose major cut to Ukraine aid

The US Senate has reached a provisional deal on a spending bill needed to avert a federal budget crisis, with lawmakers agreeing to slash nearly $20 billion in proposed aid for Ukraine following push-back by some Republicans.

The upper chamber ended debate on the budget legislation on Tuesday night, garnering the support needed to advance to a final vote, officials from both parties said.

“All through the weekend – night and day – Senate Democrats and Republicans worked in good faith to reach an agreement on a continuing resolution that will keep the government funded and avert a shutdown,”Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The stop-gap bill will reportedly allocate $6.2 billion for assistance to Ukraine, a significant drop from the nearly $25 billion originally sought by Democrats. While a large number of Republicans appear to have accepted the more modest aid package, some GOP members have vowed to oppose any measure that includes funding for Kiev.

“It’s bad policy to bankrupt our own country to send money to Ukraine,”libertarian-leaning Senator Rand Paul said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “I will not consent to easy passage of any spending bill that includes funding for Ukraine. Those in charge of this bill need to either take it out or will have to fight me every step of the way.”

In another missive, Paul mocked leaders in both parties, sharing a photo of Schumer and his GOP counterpart Mitch McConnell with the caption: “The look on their faces when they learned Ukrainian government workers would be paid during a shutdown, but not American government workers. Priceless? No, pathetic.”

However, while the Senate appears close to an agreement on the budget measure despite Paul’s opposition, the bill must be reconciled with a separate version advancing through the House. Lawmakers in both chambers have until September 30 to produce final legislation for President Joe Biden to sign, risking a shutdown otherwise.

It remains to be seen whether House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will accept the Senate’s alterations to the spending bill, given that congressional Republicans are seeking deeper budget cuts and have opposed Ukraine aid more vocally. Earlier on Tuesday, the House leader said he would not speak in “hypotheticals” regarding the Senate bill, but suggested his party would look to boost border funding in their own version.

Though senior White House officials previously warned that a federal shutdown would hamper US military aid to Kiev, the Pentagon itself has appeared to contradict those claims.

** NATO will cause a conflict worse than WWII – ex-Russian president

The West is pushing the world closer to a global conflict unseen since World War II, by supplying ever heavier weapons to Ukraine and celebrating Nazism, former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, warned in a Telegram post on Tuesday.

Medvedev, who is currently the Deputy Chair of the Russian Security Council, was reacting to the reported arrival of US-made M1 Abrams battle tanks in Ukraine and a scandal that saw the Canadian parliament, alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, give a standing ovation to a former member of the Waffen SS.

The former Russian president decried the scandal, which had already sparked outrage in Poland, Russia and in the Jewish community, labelling it “fraternization… with Nazis.”

“It looks like Russia is being left with little choice other than a direct conflict with NATO,” he reasoned, while highlighting reports that Washington has promised longer-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Kiev.

Medvedev claimed that NATO has “turned into an openly fascist bloc similar to Hitler’s Axis, only bigger,” adding that Russia is still ready to face-off against it if needed. Such a conflict would lead to devastating consequences for humanity, he warned.

“The result would be much heavier losses for humanity than in 1945,” he warned.

The former president took a hardline position on Russia’s relations with the West amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev. In September, he suggested suspending diplomatic relations with the EU after the bloc backed banning Russian nationals from bringing personal cars and smartphones onto its territory, citing potential sanctions violation.

He has previously blasted Kiev’s Western backers as a “pro-Nazi” coalition and repeatedly warned about a potential direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. Moscow also warned on multiple occasions that continued Western arms supplies to Ukraine leads to the ever-deeper involvement of the NATO members into the ongoing conflict and risks spiralling into a full-blown war between Russia and the US-led bloc.

** More than 325,000 contractors join Russian army in 2023 — Medvedev

More than 325,000 contractors have joined the Russian army this year, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting on manning the armed forces.

"We continue to work on supplementing the armed forces with contract servicemen and control combat and morale-bolstering activities," he said.

"From January 1 September 26 this year, more than 325,000 men have been enlisted," Medvedev pointed out.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin reported that 1,000-1,500 were coming every day to sign contracts with the Russian Armed Forces. He pointed out that by mid-September 300,000 had signed military enlistment contracts.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian Black Sea commander Sokolov shown on video call after Ukraine said it killed him

Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was shown on Russian state television on Tuesday attending a defence leaders' meeting remotely, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him.

In video and photographs released by the defence ministry, Sokolov was shown as one of several fleet commanders on video apparently joining an in-person meeting of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other army chiefs, although not speaking. It was not clear when the video was filmed.

Ukraine's special forces said on Monday that Sokolov had been killed along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.

In response to the Russian video, the Ukraine special forces said on Telegram: "Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive, our units are clarifying the information."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had declined to comment on the Ukrainian claim, referring reporters to the ministry.

In the video, Shoigu said more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in September and that more than 2,700 weapons, including seven American Bradley fighting vehicles, had been destroyed.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield claims.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire front line," Shoigu said, adding that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had so far produced no results.

"The United States and its allies continue to arm the armed forces of Ukraine, and the Kyiv regime throws untrained soldiers to the slaughter in senseless assaults," Shoigu said.

Kyiv's counteroffensive has yet to seize much territory from Russian forces, which control about 17.5% of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory.

According to a Sept. 19 scorecard by the Belfer Center at Harvard's Kennedy School, Russia has gained 35 sq miles (91 sq km) from Ukraine in the past month while Ukrainian forces have taken 16 sq miles (41 sq km) from Russian forces.

** Polish experts confirm missile that hit grain facility was Ukrainian - media

Polish experts have confirmed that the missile that killed two people at a grain facility in southern Poland in November was fired by Ukraine, Rzeczpospolita daily reported, citing sources.

The explosion of the missile in NATO-member Poland fuelled fears that the war in Ukraine could spiral into a wider conflict by triggering the alliance's mutual defence clause, but at the time Warsaw and NATO said that they believed that it was a Ukrainian stray, easing worries about escalation.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation told Rzeczpospolita that Poland had established that the missile that landed in the village of Przewodow was an S 300 5-W-55 air-defence missile fired from Ukrainian territory.

"This rocket has a range of 75 km to 90 km," the newspaper cited a source as saying. "At that time, the Russian positions were in a place from which no Russian missile could reach Przewodow."

Ukraine has denied that one of its missiles had landed in Poland.

Rzeczpospolita reported that the Ukrainian side has not made any material available to Polish investigators.

It quoted Lukasz Lapczynski, spokesman for the Polish prosecutor's office, as saying the prosecutor had received the experts' opinion but was not disclosing its content as it was confidential.

Lapczynski could not immediately be reached for comment and the prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to an emailed request.

RT/Tass/Reuters

Liz Truss is back in the news, but a small state is out of fashion – or at least with the punters. The new British social attitudes survey finds that seven in 10 of us think it’s definitely government’s job to control prices, up from three in 10 in 2006. Only 30% wanted public spending increased in 2009; now that’s 55%.

This has libertarians turning in their Tufton Street graves. But they should relax. Partly that’s because the surge in support for big government shouldn’t be a surprise and may be temporary. The survey was carried out in autumn 2022, when people faced unpayable energy bills without government support. And it followed a pandemic posing health and economic challenges individuals couldn’t hope to address alone.

But it’s also because sensible state support doesn’t actually turn people into dependent zombies. Confident assertions that furlough caused the recent rise in labour market inactivity are garbage: those furloughed were no more likely to exit the labour market than others.

Indeed the state being there for us when we need it is a big part of what binds a country together – as deference has declined, it’s central to modern patriotism. Recent research examining Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal proves the point. This was a huge expansion of the state, doubling federal spending and providing work at a time of 25% unemployment. Rather than sapping Americans’ energy, the research shows those people who received federal help stepped up when Uncle Sam called in the Second World War: they volunteered to fight in greater numbers, bought more war bonds and won more awards for heroism.

So remember, there’s nothing patriotic about leaving people to sink or swim.

Torsten Bell is chief executive of the Resolution Foundation. Read more at resolutionfoundation.org

The Guardian, UK