Blinken arrives in Middle East seeking Gaza ceasefire

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday on another Middle East tour to push for a ceasefire in Gaza but Hamas raised doubts about the mission just hours after he landed by accusing Israel of undermining his efforts.

The Palestinian militant group said it holds Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for "thwarting the mediators' efforts", delaying an agreement and exposing Israeli hostages in Gaza to the same aggression faced by Palestinians.

On his ninth trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday with senior Israeli leaders including Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said.

After Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt.

The talks to strike a deal for a truce and return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an "inflection point", a senior Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv. "We think this is a critical time," the official said.

The mediating countries - Qatar, the United States and Egypt - have so far failed to narrow enough differences to reach an agreement in months of on-off negotiations, and violence continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday.

The Israeli military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to hit Israel from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian militants.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has escalated since the war in Gaza broke out in October last year, an Israeli man died from wounds sustained in an attack, according to a hospital spokesperson.

CLOSING GAPS

The talks towards a ceasefire are set to continue this week in Cairo, following a two-day meeting in Doha last week. Blinken will try to secure a breakthrough after the U.S. put forward bridging proposals that the mediating countries believe would close gaps between the warring parties.

The war erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants rampaged into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Israel says it has killed 17,000 Hamas combatants.

There has been increased urgency to reach a ceasefire deal amid fears of escalation across the wider region. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Israel remained firmly committed to principles established for its security in the May 27 outline proposals, Netanyahu's office said in a statement following a meeting of the cabinet.

"I would like to emphasise: We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give," Netanyahu told the meeting. "There are things we can be flexible on and... things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on."

Netanyahu's office said he still insists Israeli forces remain on a border strip that runs between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor, in order to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza.

It said Netanyahu would continue to work towards advancing a deal that maximizes the number of living hostages released and allows for Israel's war objectives to be achieved, including not allowing Hamas to retain control of Gaza.

Hamas said that optimistic U.S. comments were "deceptive" and accused Netanyahu of making new conditions in an attempt to "blow up" the negotiation.

Disagreements include whether Israeli troops should remain present in Gaza after the fighting ends, notably along the border with Egypt, and over checks on people going into northern Gaza from the south which Israel says is needed to stop armed militants.

Hamas has pushed for a ceasefire deal to end the war, while Israel has not been willing to agree to go beyond a temporary pause in the fighting.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev ‘regime’ poses threat to all of Europe – Moscow

The international community should resolutely respond to reports about alleged plans by Kiev to attack the nuclear power plant in Kursk, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

Earlier, Russian journalists reported on the plot, and the Defense Ministry vowed a swift and harsh response if these plans come to fruition.

The Ukrainian military launched a cross-border incursion into the Russian border region where the plant is located last week.

The facility is 90km from the border, which has become the arena of fierce clashes in recent days.

“We call on the international bodies, the UN and the [International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)] in particular, to immediately condemn the provocative actions prepared by the Kiev regime and to prevent the violation of both nuclear and physical security of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant,” Zakharova said in a statement published by the ministry on Telegram. These actions by the Ukrainian military “could result in a large-scale technogenic catastrophe in Europe,” she warned.

Kiev’s plans do not just pose a “direct threat”to the nuclear power plant’s security but also go against the principles of the IAEA formulated by its head, Rafael Grossi, in 2022, amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the spokeswoman stated.

“The entire international community should understand the threat posed by the neo-Nazi Kiev regime to the European continent,”Zakharova said. She also maintained that any attempts to “intimidate and terrorize entire regions and all of the international community should be resolutely stopped by joint efforts.”

Neither the UN nor the IAEA have responded to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement as of Saturday evening.

Russian military journalist Marat Khairullin reported on Friday, citing sources, that Kiev was plotting a false flag operation involving the detonation of a dirty atomic bomb and targeting the spent nuclear fuel storages of a nuclear power plant. According to reporters, the operation would either be directed against Russia’s Zaporozhye NPP in Energodar or the Kursk NPP.

The Zaporozhye plant is the largest in Europe and is also located close to the front line. Kiev has vehemently denied the allegations.

The Russian Defense Ministry responded to the reports by saying that any attempts to create a “man-made disaster in the European part of the continent” would be met with “tough military and military-technical countermeasures.”

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia denies report about indirect talks with Ukraine

Russia on Sunday denied a report that Ukraine's attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, saying there had been no talks with Kyiv about civilian infrastructure facilities.

The Washington Post reported on Saturdaythat Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both warring sides.

The Post said the agreement would have amounted to a partial ceasefire but that the talks were derailed due to Ukraine's attack on Russian sovereign territory.

"No one broke anything off because there was nothing to break off," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, said of the Post report.

"There have been no direct or indirect negotiations between Russia and the Kyiv regime on the safety of civilian critical infrastructure facilities."

Ukraine's government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Post reported that Ukraine's presidential office said the summit in Doha had been postponed due to the situation in the Middle East and that it would take place in video conference format on Aug. 22.

Russia and Ukraine have both accused each other of striking civilian infrastructure in the war. Both deny they do so.

Zakharova then quoted President Vladimir Putin who on Aug. 12 questioned what talks there could be with Ukraine after its ground attack on Russia, and what he said were attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure.

"There is nothing to talk about with people who unleash such things," Zakharova said.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a "special military operation" and now holds about 18 percent of the country. Ukraine's cross-border strike into the Kursk region on Aug. 6 was the first military incursion into Russian territory since World War Two.

RT/Reuters

At the beginning of March 2020, Nigeria’s Supreme Court  dismissed an application for the review of its seven-week old decision to judicially install Hope Uzodinma as the Governor of Imo State, citing as its main reason the need to preserve the authority and finality of decisions of the apex court. The court issued what appeared to be a principled defence of the finality of its judgments, declaring somewhat ostentatiously that once it had issued a decision, “it shall remain forever.”

Olukayode Ariwoola, who delivered the judgment of the majority in the review was also a member of the original panel which decided in January 2020 that Uzodinma had won the election despite being the candidate who came fourth in the tally of votes scored among the contestants on the ballot. Few could recall at the time that Ariwoola had previous experience in this kind of improbable judicial alchemy.

Ahead of the 2007 general elections, the then ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) chose Joy Emordi, a lawyer, to fly its flag in the contest to represent Anambra North in the Senate. In the contest for the party ticket, she had defeated Ubanese Alphonsus Igbeke, who had been installed by judicial order after the 2003 elections as the member representing Anambra East/Anambra West in the House of Representatives. After losing the senatorial ticket to Emordi, Igbeke relocated his party loyalty to the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP).

Election day was 28 April 2007 and voting took place in the seven LGAs of Anambra North to determine the person to represent the constituency in the Senate. At the end of the contest, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returned Emordi as the winner. Five of the losing candidates, including Igbeke, lodged petitions to challenge the outcome before the Election Petition Tribunal in Awka, the capital of Anambra State.

On 14 June 2008, the tribunal dismissed the petitions and upheld the return of Emordi. Eight months later, on 10 February 2009, a Court of Appeal panel comprising Victor Omage, Ladan Tsamiya, and Olukayode Ariwoola as Justices of Appeal dismissed the appeal by one of the candidates, Jessie Balonwu, against the decision of the first instance tribunal, holding in particular that there were elections in the seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the constituency.

This was significant because the crux of the appeal by Igbeke in his own appeal was that there were no elections in two of the seven LGAs in the constituency, specifically in Anyamelum and Onitsha South, respectively. At the same time, Igbeke also asked the Court of Appeal to find that Emordi had failed to score the highest number of lawful votes in the election and to, instead declare that he had in fact scored the highest number of lawful votes in the election and return him as the winner.

One year later, on 25 March 2010, the Court of Appeal, this time comprising Amiru Sanusi, Ladan Tsamiya and Olukayode Ariwoola found in favour of Igbeke on all issues and returned him as duly elected. To reach this decision, a panel of the Court of Appeal which included two of the three Justices who decided the earlier case, inexplicably changed their position on the pivotal issue of whether balloting in fact occurred in all the LGAs in the constituency but felt no need to explain how or why.

Having found in Igbeke’s favour on that point, the panel incredulously proceeded to award the election to him when the only logical order was a re-run in the LGAs where the court claimed that no balloting in fact occurred. The skills required to produce this outcome defied all laws of judicial calisthenics.

Emordi lost in her effort to appeal against this to the Supreme Court and on 25 May 2010 – with a mere one year to spare out of a four-year parliamentary term – Igbeke took the oath as Senator representing Anambra North.

Of the three Justices of Appeal who implausibly sent Ubanese Igbeke to the Senate, Ladan Tsamiya remained on the Court of Appeal where his career ended in ignominy in 2016 on allegations of corruption in another election dispute.

In the month of the fourth anniversary of the senatorial debut of Igbeke secured through their judicial machination, Amiru Sanusi proceeded in May 2015 to the Supreme Court from where he retired in February 2020, the month after they installed Hope Uzodinma as Imo State Governor.

The year after Igbeke’s entry into the Senate, in November 2011, Goodluck Jonathan appointed Ariwoola as a Justice of the Supreme Court. After more than one decade on the court, in June 2022, Ariwoola emerged as Chief Justice after leading an unprecedented mutiny against his predecessor in which 14 Justices accused then Chief Justice, Tanko Muhammad, of ignoring their wellbeing. He was officially born 22 August, 1954.

The tenure of Ariwoola as Chief Justice of Nigeria began “amid ‘all-time low’ judicial trust.” It was not too much to hope that shoring up public trust in the judicial branch should have been a priority in these circumstances. Instead, he seemed to be on a mission to make up for lost opportunities in the material benefits of office. The result was a tenure which denuded public trust in the judiciary rather than rehabilitate it.

As CJN, Ariwoola will be well remembered for the alacrity with which he redressed any previous neglect – real or imagined – of the welfare of his own family and his beloved village, Iseyin, in Oyo State. In two years in the position, he made his son a judge of the Federal High Court; his daughter-in-law a judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory; his brother auditor of the National Judicial Council  (NJC) chaired by himself as Chief Justice; and another reported member of his family a Justice of the Court of Appeal. It was done with a grubbiness that did not pretend to have any regard for the authority of the CJN or respect for the Judicial Code of Conduct, which explicitly prohibits such manifest nepotism with the warning that a judge “who takes advantage of the judicial office for personal gain or for gain by his or her relative or relation abuses power.”

Fittingly, Ariwoola’s tenure as Chief Justice ends in a filigree of clannish patronage. In his last meeting as Chair of the NJC, he handed out judicial sinecures to two sisters; one to the High Court of Kwara State and another to the High Court of Ondo State. The month before, he had installed their brother as a judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. Their dad was a judicial benefactor.

In 2020, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) then chaired by Ariwoola’s predecessor sanctioned a lawyer who had applied for elevation to the rank of SAN by altering Supreme Court judgments to insert his name as counsel in cases in which he had not acted. 21 days to his departure as Chief Justice, Olukayode Ariwoola rushed through new elevations, making this same lawyer a SAN when he was better off being struck off the Roll entirely. When, in one of her first acts as Chief Justice, his successor inaugurates this kind of specimen into the Inner Bar, it will set the seal on unquestionably the most baleful judicial legacy in contemporary Nigeria.

Addressing the opening of the legal year before a special session of the Supreme Court – the last to be presided over by Olukayode Ariwoola as CJN – in November 2023, Ebun Sofunde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) speaking on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN), testified that judicial reputation “is at an all-time low… to a point where it may no longer be redeemable” and ended with the complaint that Supreme Court judgments under him had become “perfunctory.” These words easily sum up what will be remembered as the most lamentable tenure in the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria since the appointment of the first indigenous CJN in 1958.

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A teen who created a soap that could "transform skin cancer treatment" was chosen as the 2024 Kid of the Year by Time magazine and Time for Kids.

Heman Bekele from Annandale, Virginia, is a 15-year-old scientist "who could change how we treat skin cancer," stated Time in its announcement released Thursday.

"It’s absolutely incredible to think that one day my bar of soap will be able to make a direct impact on somebody else’s life," Bekele told Time. "That’s the reason I started this all in the first place.”

The teen was chosen after he created a soap that could be a "more accessible way to deliver medication to treat skin cancers, including melanoma," the magazine said in a news release.

In 2023, 3M and Discovery Education named Bekele America’s Top Young Scientist when he was just 14 years old after he competed against nine other finalists, USA TODAY previously reported. Bekele also won a $25,000 cash prize.

Honorees include inventor, actor, more

Tim also named five honorees in its 2024 Kid of the Year competition.

Shanya Gill, 13, an inventor from San Jose, California

After a restaurant behind her home burned down, Gill learned that unattended cooking is the number one cause of house fires. She created a device to send an alert to a home's residents if there is a heat source that is unattended with no sign of humans after two minutes and notifies them of a potential fire, Time reported.

Madhvi Chittoor, 12, an advocate from Arvada, Colorado

At 6 years old, Chittoor learned about forever chemicals, or PFAs, which can lead to "negative developmental effects in children, decreased fertility, increased risk of some cancers, reduced immune function, and increased cholesterol levels," stated Time.

She wanted to warn everyone about them. So, in 2021, she and her mom met with Colorado state Sen. Lisa Cutter, an environmental advocate, at a Panera.

Less than a year later, Chittoor testified at the state Capitol after Cutter proposed a bill that would ban intentionally-added PFAs and exchanged emails with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis for months, Time reported.

Then, once the bill passed, Polis gave her the pen he used to sign it into action.

Jordan Sucato, 15, an advocate from Phoenix

Sucato's goal is to protect the pets of people who are unhoused from Phoenix's sweltering heat.

“Their paws can burn and blister in under five minutes,” Sucato told Time. “If it’s 120 degrees temperature-wise, it’s 140 degrees on the concrete.”

In January, Sucato founded Laws for Paws LLC, a nonprofit that raised $7,000 to help protect the pups' vulnerable paws and provided 515 dogs with boots that will protect their delicate paw pads.

The funding supports the teen's partner organization, Dogs Day Out AZ, a nonprofit that distributes protective boots and other resources.

Keivonn Woodard, 11, from Bowie, Maryland

Woodard is an actor who, like the character he played in HBO's The Last of Us, is deaf.

Now at 11, he is an Emmy-nominated actor who wants to continue representing the Deaf community.

“Most people [in TV and film] are hearing, so you just see people talking,” he told Time through an American Sign Language interpreter. “But when I see deaf people, and they’re using sign language, I understand what they’re saying. Showing deaf people playing deaf characters is authentic and extremely important.”

Woodard is set to star in Anslem Richardson’s short film "Fractal" and will appear in "Steal Away," Stephen Ashley Blake’s debut feature.

Dom Pecora, 15, an entrepreneur from Malvern, Pennsylvania

Pecora opened his first storefront in September 2023, three years after his mom helped him open his business, Dom Fixes Bikes, to raise money for a new, expensive mountain bike, per Time.

His business was successful, and he not only got himself his dream bike, but he also got bikes for six other kids, too.

He worked out of his house, then before he moved into the store he's in now, he worked out of a one-car garage that didn't have electricity or a bathroom.

Last December, he set a goal to give away 100 bikes, but surpassed it thanks to sponsorships and donations sent to his nonprofit that helped him give away 121 instead.

“Since the beginning, I always wanted everyone to be able to ride a bike, no matter their financial abilities,” Pecora told Time. "The process, he adds, is simple: “Everyone who applies for a bike will get a bike.”

USA Today

The comparison between petrol prices and wage levels in Nigeria and the United Kingdom starkly highlights the severe economic challenges faced by Nigerians, underscoring the high levels of poverty in the country.

Comparison Overview:

1. United Kingdom:

   - Minimum Wage: £11.44 per hour.

   - Monthly Wage: £1,830.4 (assuming a 40-hour work week as in Nigeria).

   - Petrol Price: £1.43 per litre (approximately N2,931 per litre).

   - Purchasing Power: With the minimum wage, a worker can buy about 1,311 litres of petrol per month.

2. Nigeria:

   - Minimum Wage: N30,000 per month.

   - Petrol Price: N600 per litre.

   - Purchasing Power: With the minimum wage, a worker can only buy about 50 litres of petrol per month.

Implications for Nigerian Livelihoods:

1. Limited Purchasing Power:

   The disparity in purchasing power is glaring. A minimum wage earner in Nigeria can purchase only 50 litres of petrol per month, compared to 1,311 litres in the UK. This vast difference highlights the severe limitations on the disposable income of Nigerian workers, where a significant portion of their income is consumed by essential goods like fuel. This leaves little room for other necessities such as food, healthcare, education, and housing, contributing to widespread poverty, hardship and hunger.

2. Impact on Daily Life:

   - Transportation Costs:

Petrol is a critical component of transportation costs. The high price relative to income means that transportation becomes unaffordable for many, affecting their ability to commute to work, access markets, and engage in other economic activities. This further entrenches poverty as people are unable to earn a livelihood or expand their economic opportunities.

   - Energy Costs:

In a country with frequent power outages, many households and businesses rely on petrol-powered generators. The high cost of petrol means that even basic electricity needs become prohibitively expensive, affecting the quality of life and business operations.

Economic Implications:

1. Erosion of the Production Base:

   - Increased Production Costs: The high cost of petrol relative to wages significantly raises the cost of production for businesses, particularly in sectors like manufacturing and agriculture that depend heavily on transportation and energy. This reduces competitiveness, discourages investment, and leads to higher prices for goods and services, further exacerbating inflation.

   - Stunted Industrial Growth:

The inability of businesses to absorb these high costs without passing them on to consumers or scaling down operations have led to closures, layoffs, and a reduction in industrial output. This weakens the country's production base, making it more dependent on imports and further straining the economy. An example of this is the new presidential directive to import food - duty and tax free - into the country.

2. Worsening Poverty and Inequality:

   - Limited Economic Mobility:

With such low wages and high costs of essential goods, social mobility becomes extremely difficult. People are trapped in a cycle of poverty with little hope of improvement, as even small economic shocks can push them deeper into poverty.

   - Exacerbation of Inequality:

The gap between the wealthy and the poor widens, as those with access to higher incomes can maintain their standard of living, while the majority struggle to meet basic needs.

Conclusion:

The comparison of petrol prices and wage levels between Nigeria and the UK starkly reveals the harsh economic realities faced by Nigerians. The implications for the livelihood of the average Nigerian are severe, with limited purchasing power leading to a high cost of living, reduced access to basic services, and a deteriorating quality of life. For the economy, the high cost of petrol relative to wages threatens the viability of businesses, weakens the production base, and exacerbates poverty and inequality.

Mabel Segun-Bello, a federal capital territory (FCT) high court judge, says a judicial officer needs the backing of the presidency or the support of a political party to become a judge.

Segun-Bello spoke in Abuja on Saturday at the 2024 clarity conference, with the theme ‘The constellation: Gathering of stars, by stars and for stars’.

The judge, who was the keynote speaker at the event, said she has been guided by perseverance and determination in her career progression.

“You may come from a poverty-stricken background. That is a powerful condition, but you must have the will to rise above it,” Segun-Bello said.

“If I tell you where I come from, two things will happen: you will either think I’m lying or start crying. And remember, I’m not just a state judge; I’m a federal judge.

“To become a federal judge, you need the backing of the presidency or support from a political party. I had neither,” she said.

“This goes to show that principles, when applied universally, can make anything possible.”

Segun-Bello was sworn in as a federal high court judge in 2022, alongside five others.

Ibrahim Muhammad, the then chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), advised the judicial officers to avoid unholy alliances with people of questionable character that could influence them to do things that are offensive to the law.

The Cable

Religion is a huge part of African culture. Perhaps because most African countries are largely underdeveloped, the church has become a place where people go to get answers and help.

However, this has also led to the proliferation of places of worship, most of which, critics argue, are more transactional than spiritual, paying little or no attention to the safety and security of their members.

Christianity is the dominant religion in Rwanda. The main denominations in Rwanda are Catholicism and Protestantism, with about 45 per cent of the population identifying as Catholic and 35 per cent as Protestant.

Recently, the Rwandan government led by President Paul Kagame did the unthinkable. The government clamped down on over 5,600 churches, including 100 cave churches. And the reason? The failure to comply with safety and health regulations, such as poor soundproofing, and the transactional nature of many places of worship.

Rwandan media outlet The News Times said the move is part of a two-week nationwide operation by Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), which began on 29 July.

The majority of the affected faith-based organisations, according to RGB Chief Executive Usta Kaitesi, lacked basic infrastructure and proper hygiene and safety standards, while several others were operating illegally.

“This is an ongoing nationwide operation for those churches that remain non-compliant with the law. As RGB we are not deterred by any effort in the pursuit of having proper standards of places of worship. The idea is that people should understand that these are not healthy ways of worship.

PT

Israel kills two Hamas militants in West Bank air strike

Israel said it killed two senior Hamas militants in an airstrike on their car in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, claiming they were involved in the killing of an Israeli.

A joint statement from the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Defense Forces identified the militants as Ahmed Abu Ara and Rafet Dawasi, both from the West Bank's northern district around Jenin.

In a statement, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades military wing said it was mourning the deaths of two fighters in an Israeli air strike on their vehicle in Jenin.

The Israeli statement said the two militants were involved in planning a shooting attack last week in the West Bank's Jordan Valley where an Israeli man, Yonatan Deutsch, was killed.

Israeli authorities said then that Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a main road in the occupied West Bank on Aug. 11, killing one and wounding another.

Later that day, the al-Qassam Brigades said its West Bank-based fighters killed an Israeli soldier at point-blank range near the settlement of Mehola in the Jordan Valley and "returned to their bases safely."

Hamas said the operation came in retaliation for Israel's strike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City which the civil defence service said had killed at least 90 people.

Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas broke out in October, with more Israeli raids, Jewish settler violence and Palestinian street attacks.

In a move condemned by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, Israeli settlers killed at least one Palestinian on Thursday in an attack on a village near the West Bank city of Qalqilya.

The latest West Bank violence comes as a new round of talks in Doha aimed at ending 10 months of fighting in Gaza are due to resume next week.

The Gaza war and escalating West Bank violence threaten to spill into a wider regional conflict involving Iran and its proxies in the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian attack ruined ‘secret’ peace talks – WaPo

The Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region has derailed secretive Qatar-mediated talks between Moscow and Kiev that could have paved the way for a “partial ceasefire,”the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing sources.

An unnamed diplomat told the paper that both sides intended to send delegations to Doha to negotiate a landmark deal that would halt mutually devastating strikes on energy infrastructure. However, when Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale attack on Russian territory last week, the planned talks were thrown into doubt, the article said.

According to one WaPo source, Russian officials postponed the meeting, describing the attack on Kursk Region as “an escalation.” An unnamed diplomat claimed, however, that Russia “didn’t call off the talks, they said give us time.”

Talks to end the infrastructure strikes have been going on for the past two months, the paper reported, adding that only minor details of the agreement needed to be worked out before the summit. Some of those involved in the discussions even reportedly hoped they could pave the way for a broader agreement to end the conflict.

Senior officials in Kiev, however, were more skeptical about the negotiations, estimating their chance of success at 20% or less, the Washington Post said. After Russia decided to take time-out, the Ukrainian delegation reportedly wanted to go to Doha regardless, but Qatar refused, seeing no point in such a format of talks.

The Post noted that Ukrainian officials are increasingly worried about whether the country will be able to survive winter if Russia continues to pound its energy infrastructure. Kiev estimated in May that as much as 50% of Ukraine’s energy capacity had been knocked out.

”We have one chance to get through this winter, and that’s if the Russians won’t launch any new attacks on the grid,” a Washington Post source said.

However, a Russian academic suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be in the mood to make any deals with Kiev after the Kursk incursion. The Russian leader said that any peace talks with Ukraine are impossible as long as it conducts “indiscriminate strikes on civilians… or tries to threaten nuclear energy facilities.”

The last time Ukraine and Russia held peace talks was in Istanbul in the spring of 2022. While the negotiations initially made progress, they later collapsed, with Moscow blaming the interference of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who allegedly advised Kiev to keep fighting. Johnson has denied the allegation.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia says Ukraine used Western rockets to destroy bridge in Kursk region

Russia's foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely U.S.-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.

"For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said late on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

"As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed."

There was no indication of how many volunteers were killed in Friday's attack.

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Kyiv's forces had advanced between 1 and 3 kilometres (0.6 to 1.9 miles) in some areas in the Kursk region on Friday, 11 days since beginning an incursion into the western Russian territory.

Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometres (440 square miles) in the region since Aug. 6.

Russia's defence ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said on Saturday that Russian forces repelled several Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region, but did not report recapturing any territory.

It said Ukrainian forces had unsuccessfully attempted to advance towards the villages of Kauchuk and Alekseyevskiy which lie roughly halfway between the Ukrainian border and the Kursk nuclear power plant.

In a separate statement, the ministry accused Ukraine of planning to attack the plant in a false flag operation.

Reuters could not independently verify either side's battlefield accounts.

Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine's first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv's "terrorist invasion" would not change the course of the war.

The U.S. HIMARS rockets provided to Ukraine have a range of up to about 80km (50 miles).

The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of U.S. weaponry, officials in Washington said.

RT/Reuters

The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration likes to psychologically anesthetize Nigerians who are grieving from the hurt of its economic policies (petrol price spike, electricity tariff hike, devaluation of the naira, etc.) by saying Nigerians are only undergoing transitory pains in the service of a forthcoming permanent prosperity.

I have repeatedly called this an intentional lie. I have done so from the benefit of my knowledge of the outcomes of such policies in other countries, including in Nigeria from 1986 to 1993 when Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida implemented a Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) as dictated by the World Bank and the IMF, which is similar to Tinubu’s “reforms.”

I have also made recurrent references in the past to countries that have made progress precisely because they defied the economic template Tinubu is implementing now. I highlight the case of Malaysia in the late 1990s to support my point.

But let’s start with SAP in Nigeria. In 1986, self-described military president, Babangida, was persuaded by the IMF and the World Bank to “restructure and diversify” Nigeria’s economy.

The restructuring and diversification led to the removal of subsidies on petrol (all past regimes called petrol price spikes “subsidy removal”), devaluation of the naira (now it’s known by the fancy term “floating of the naira”), deregulation (that is, allowing market forces to regulate the economy while the government takes the back seat), privatization (i.e., selling off of Nigeria’s national patrimony to a few moneybags), etc.

The immediate aftereffect of this IMF-endorsed “restructuring” (Tinubu calls his “reform”) of the economy was a never-before-seen inflationary conflagration, which eroded the purchasing power of the average Nigerian. It produced widespread hardship similar to what Nigerians are going through at this moment.

Petrol price spike and privatization led to job losses and a deepening of the unemployment crisis. Reduction in government spending, particularly on social services, led to declines in healthcare and education quality. Poverty rates also increased as a direct consequence of the removal of subsidies for fuel and basic services.

I distinctly remember all the rhetorical maneuvers that officials of the IBB regime used to fray nerves, and they are awfully similar to what honchos of the Tinubu regime now use: it will get worse before it gets better, there is light at the end of the tunnel, there is no gain without pain, Nigeria simply can’t afford to fund subsidies, our economy would collapse if we don’t restructure the economy, the current system is unsustainable, we’ll all smile and appreciate the wisdom of this temporary sacrifice when the gains start coming, etc.

By 1993 when IBB left power, Nigeria became firmly secured in the economic toilet. Manufacturing collapsed, social unrest rose, and brain drain (which is now called “japa”) started and blossomed, and hopelessness was democratized.

Someone very close to IBB who nonetheless opposed his IMF-backed economic “restructuring” told me he asked one of IBB’s IMF/World Bank-appointed finance ministers a few years ago what happened to the “gains” they promised would replace the “pains” people underwent between 1986 and 1993?

He reported him as saying the gains didn’t materialize because the “restructuring” wasn’t implemented faithfully. Meanwhile, thousands of people died, and millions of people were destabilized because of this “restructuring.” I can bet that Tinubu and his defenders would give the same excuse when they dig Nigeria deeper into the depths of despair at the end of their “reforms.”

In a 1995 report titled “Structural Adjustment and the Spreading Crisis In Latin America,” we see the same scenario repeated throughout the developing countries of South and Central America. Everywhere subsidies were removed, currency devalued, and so-called market forces given a free reign, the result is always the same: devastation, poverty, hopelessness, death of the middle class, etc.

 The report instructively noted: “Mexico is one of many cases worldwide where adjustment and the free market have not only failed to alleviate poverty, but have further polarized the country and led to disaster, economic and social. World Bank and IMF officials continued to say -- right up to the current crisis -- that adjustment's attack on poverty would take time, but, after more than a dozen years of adjustment in Mexico, things have never been worse than they are today, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. There must be a point at which these institutions acknowledge that their strategy has failed and needs to be abandoned, and that a new, more democratically determined approach to the country's development has to be taken.”

But it’s not inevitable that governments in developing countries should follow the IMF/World Bank’s ruinous prescriptions. Many countries with leaders who have guts and who care for the welfare of their people resist these institutions. And it often turns out that the only countries that are witnessing inclusive growth and development are countries that have chosen to depart from the hell-paved path created by the IMF and the World Bank.

For example, in 1997, when Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea faced economic headwinds and turned to the IMF and the World Bank for financial bailout, they were offered help with the usual conditionalities attached: budget cuts, subsidy removal, currency devaluation, etc.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed rejected the conditions. He said they would choke off economic growth, bankrupt companies, and cause massive unemployment in his country.  So, he went counter to the counsel of the IMF. Instead of budget cuts, he increased government spending. Instead of currency devaluation, he defended the ringgit, Malaysia’s currency, by fixing it to the US dollar. Malaysia recovered from the economic crisis faster than its IMF-obedient neighbors.

During "A Meeting of Minds" dialogue organized by Forbes magazine in 2009, the magazine’s chief executive officer and editor-in-chief, Steve Forbes, asked Mahathir how and why he bucked the IMF and did better than countries that slavishly obeyed it.

 “Fortunately, I am not a financier,” he said. “I know very little about economics, so I do things which are not quite off props. When people tell me that the right way to handle a crisis like that is to obey the IMF and the World Bank, I thought otherwise. I examined their prescriptions, and I found that those prescriptions would actually make matters worse, so I didn’t see why I should be following them.”

I am glad Mahathir attributed his success in standing up to the IMF to his not being a financier and knowing “very little about economics.” It’s as if he was talking about Nigeria’s gaggle of slavish, brain-dead, self-impressed, IMF-controlled know-things who pass themselves off as "economic experts” and who have popularized the aggravating idiocy that subsidies are bad and must be removed because they are supposedly bad for the economy and don’t benefit the poor.

 Now we know the truth. We need more people who “know very little about economics” and a lot about commonsense to make economic decisions for Nigeria.

The questions people with lots of common sense and very little knowledge of “economics” should ask are, what does it profit a national economy if a government increases the cost of production for manufacturing companies through sharp spikes in the cost of petrol and electricity?

What benefits does a country derive from a policy that causes mass pauperization, which ensures that everyday citizens can’t afford the basic things of life, not to talk of discretionary spending?  Recession kicks in when people have no money to spend.

How does a country get light at the end of the tunnel when its policies trigger inflation and a once-in-a-generation cost-of-living crisis because it devalued its currency under the instruction of far-flung economic institutions notorious for instigating mass misery in developing countries and that are concerned more for “their loans, not on growth,” as Mahathir once put it? How can a country surrender its economic sovereignty to a foreign entity and tell its citizens to expect a bumper harvest in an undefined future?

The only benefit of the ongoing “economic reforms,” according to Tinubu and his officials, is that it is bringing in more money for the government. And what does the government do with the money? Fritter it away in frivolities while people starve and die.