Month: February 2022

US CDC Proposes Revised Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Thursday issued a draft of revised guidelines for prescribing opioid painkillers, urging doctors to be flexible and individualize their use of the drugs to the needs of the patient.  
The CDC’s current guidelines were issued in 2016, largely in response to the over-prescribing of opioids in the United States from 2007 to 2012. The agency reports in 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for the highly addictive painkillers, enough for every person in the country to have their own bottle.

The result was one of the worst drug-abuse epidemics in the U.S., with addiction and deaths related to the drugs skyrocketing. The CDC reports that from 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people in the United States died from overdoses related to opioid pain medication.  

But CDC officials said that while 2016 guidelines helped end the over-prescribing of the drugs, they also may have pushed doctors too far in the other direction.  

Co-author of the new guidelines, acting director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Christopher Jones, said some doctors were too quick to cut off patients taking prescription painkillers and too strict in keeping the drugs from patients who might benefit.

The 229-page draft of the updated guidelines removes some of the suggested limits the original guidelines placed on administering opioids and proposes individualized patient care. It also offers more options for treating the kind of short-term, acute pain that follows surgeries or injuries.

The CDC published the draft of the new guidelines in the U.S. Federal Register, where the public can view and comment on them for the next 60 days. The CDC will consider comments before finalizing the updated guidance.

CDC guidelines are voluntary, though they are widely followed by U.S. healthcare providers.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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Ukraine Remains Defiant in Face of Russian Invasion Threat

Posted on by SeeEU

A senior Ukrainian official says her country will not bow to threats of military action from Russia and is prepared to fight to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva says she does not believe Russia intends to invade her country. Rather, Yevheniia Filipenko says Russia’s main objective is to destabilize Ukraine politically, economically and militarily through the threatened use of force.

Filipenko says Russia’s massive troop and weapons buildup along Ukraine’s border is aimed at achieving that result. She adds the large joint Russia-Belarus military exercise and the naval drills taking place in the Black Sea are part of the same plan.

The Ukrainian envoy says her government’s goal is to discourage Russia from pursuing its aggressive course against Ukraine, Europe, and the European security order. That, she says, will be done through diplomatic means. She adds, however, that her country will not cross certain red lines in negotiating a diplomatic solution to the prevailing threat.

“No concessions on sovereignty, territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders. Second, no direct [dialogue] with Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk. And third, only the people of Ukraine have the right to define [their] foreign policy course,” Filipenko said.

Russia-backed rebels of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have been waging war against the Ukrainian government since 2014. The United Nations estimates more than 13,000 people have been killed in that war of separation, which continues. The two separatist republics are located in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denies planning to invade Ukraine. He has demanded that the West reject the possibility of Ukraine joining the NATO alliance and that Western allies pull back their troops and armaments closest to Russia.

Filipenko says the days when countries tried to impose their decisions on Ukraine are over. She says Ukraine will not bow to threats that will weaken the state and undermine its economic and financial stability. She says Ukraine is stronger, more resilient, and better prepared now to defend itself than it was in 2014. That was when Russia invaded Crimea and annexed the peninsula.

“We have a very strong Ukrainian army, which is very determined to defend Ukraine and not to allow any further military occupation should the Russians make [the] decision to invade, to further invade Ukraine,” she said.

Filipenko says Moscow will pay a very high price if it invades. She says Ukraine’s international partners have designed a comprehensive package of deterrence measures that will have serious economic and political consequences for Russia should it launch an offensive.
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House Panel Probes Trump Presidential Records Found in Florida

Posted on by SeeUS

A House committee is investigating whether former President Donald Trump violated the Presidential Records Act, after boxes of presidential records were discovered at his Florida estate and a news report surfaced of him destroying documents while in office.

Oversight committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said in a statement Thursday that she was “deeply concerned that these records were not provided to the National Archives and Records Administration promptly at the end of the Trump administration and they appear to have been removed from the White House.”

Maloney, D-N.Y., wrote a letter to the archivist, David Ferriero, seeking information on 15 boxes of records the National Archives recovered from Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Presidential Records Act mandates that records made by a sitting president and his staff are preserved in the archives, and an outgoing leader is responsible for turning over documents to the National Archives at the end of the term.

The oversight committee is seeking communications between the National Archives and Trump’s aides about the missing boxes and information on what they may have contained. Maloney is asking for the information by the end of next week.

Records are central to any presidency, but Trump’s in particular have been at the center of an investigation by another House committee that’s investigating the violent January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which sought to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, won by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump, a Republican, tried and failed to withhold White House documents in a dispute that rose to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The former president said in a statement that following “collaborative and respectful discussions,” the National Archives arranged for the transport from Mar-a-Lago “of boxes that contained Presidential Records in compliance with the Presidential Records Act.”

“The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis,” Trump said in the statement, which added that the records will one day become part of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library.

There are also concerns that Trump was destroying records before he left office, and the House oversight panel wrote to the archivist in December 2020, as Trump’s term was winding down, about those concerns.

The Washington Post reported recently that Trump “tore up” data that was both “sensitive and mundane” and that the archivist has referred the matter to the Justice Department to investigate whether Trump violated the Records Act. The Justice Department did not comment. A referral for potential criminal prosecution from a federal agency or from Congress does not mean that the Justice Department is likely to bring charges or that it will even investigate the matter.

The National Archives, in its own statements earlier this week, acknowledged that Trump representatives had been cooperating with it and had located records “that had not been transferred to the National Archives at the end of the Trump administration.” The agency arranged for the documents to be transported to Washington, D.C., and did not travel to Florida.

The archivist’s office said the former president’s representatives are continuing to search for additional records that belong to the archives.

“Whether through the creation of adequate and proper documentation, sound records management practices, the preservation of records, or the timely transfer of them to the National Archives at the end of an Administration, there should be no question as to need for both diligence and vigilance,” Ferriero said. “Records matter.”
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Uganda Rejects UN Court Ruling It Must Compensate DRC for Invasion

Posted on by SeeAF

Uganda has rejected a ruling from the U.N.’s International Court of Justice ordering it to pay war reparations to the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Analysts say Uganda could have avoided the $325 million fine if it had agreed to mediation.

In a statement, Uganda’s minister for foreign affairs described the the ICJ ruling as unfair and wrong.

On Wednesday, the U.N. court ordered that Uganda pay $325 million to the Democratic Republic of Congo as reparations for damages to people, property and resources inflicted during Uganda’s invasion of the DRC’s Ituri province in the late 1990s, during the Second Congo War.

Foreign Affairs Minister Okello Henry Oryem said the judgement singled out Uganda for punishment, ignoring the presence of other countries’ armed forces in Ituri during the period. 

He also denied the Ugandan army committed abuses in Ituri, saying the army is a very disciplined force.

“The judgement of 2005 gave the DRC the burden of proof of the number of people they claimed were killed, the number of properties they claimed were destroyed. By the time this judgement was made yesterday, the DRC had not proved those issues that were raised,” Oryem said.

VOA reached out to the DRC’s information minister for comment on the ruling but the ministry said he did not have time to talk.

The ICJ ruling calls for Uganda to make annual payments of $65 million beginning this September, continuing until 2026. 

But Uganda’s Oryem says paying the money is not really the issue.

“The fact that we might be able to resolve this matter diplomatically which might not require paying any money. And if there’s another possible legal option, it won’t take money,” he said.

The DRC has pursued reparations for the invasion for decades. In 2002, officials from Congo and Uganda met in Gambia trying to negotiate some of the issues.  

The DRC filed its first case with the International Court of Justice in 2005, and the court ordered Uganda to pay 11 billion dollars. 

Uganda refused and the countries resumed negotiations. However, security analyst Dismas Nkunda who attended the meeting, says Uganda failed to sign.

“They are lucky that the amount has been reduced. They are lucky that they have been given installments. This is a matter of the Ministry of Justice and the attorney general’s office to have dealt with in the beginning. It wouldn’t have come to this,” Nkunda said.

Uganda says it will continue to constructively engage with the DRC on the matter.
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Uganda Considers Jail Time for Those Who Refuse COVID-19 Vaccination

Posted on by SeeAF

Ugandan rights groups are criticizing a proposed law that would punish people who refuse to be vaccinated during an outbreak with up to six months in prison.

Last week, Uganda’s state minister for trade introduced an amendment to the Public Health Act that would impose fines and jail sentences on those who evade measures meant to curb the spread of infectious disease.

The bill does not specifically mention COVID-19, but of course, COVID-19 is the disease the country and the world are dealing with right now.

The bill states that whoever conceals an infectious disease could face fines of $850 or up to one year in jail. 

School administrators who admit students without evidence of vaccination, or a parent who fails to present their child for vaccination, could face up to six months in jail, a fine of about $1,100 or both.

Allana Kembabazi is a health policy analyst with the NGO the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights.  She says the proposed punitive measures would only lead Ugandans to find means of dodging the rules.

“The way they have handled the roll out has been poor. You go to a health centre they tell you, they are out today,” said Kembabazi. “You take your first Pfizer dose, you have to hunt for the second. If they could address the issue with the roll out and really put in place a targeted community outreach campaign, that would be, I think, more effective. Because, when you put all these punitive sanctions, some people will just try and go ahead and forge.”

At the Naguru government hospital, a new mother walked in to get her first COVID-19 shot. She was turned away by health workers who told her she was late for her scheduled vaccination time.

She told VOA she delayed getting the vaccine because when she was pregnant, she was never assured that it was safe for her and her unborn baby.

“I don’t think the vaccine is like 100 percent authentic,” she said. “The normal vaccines we know, like for vaccinating children, they take about five years to manufacture. This is something of maybe a few months for a vaccine to be developed. So, negative.”

Dr. Driwale Alfred, the head of Uganda’s immunization program, tells VOA that those who want to dodge vaccination should know this is a public good and other Ugandans need to be protected from people who make reckless decisions.

He argues that the government has already carried out sufficient awareness of both the disease and the vaccines.   

“There are those who are not going to comply, but they will either make other people fall sick or they will frustrate the containment effort,” said Driwale. “Now, to protect the public and appealing to people’s conscience for responsible decision making. If they fail then that becomes a mischief. A law will now come in to deal with this issue.”

The Ministry of Health continues to urge Ugandans to wear masks, social distance and use hand sanitizer.  However, the ministry argues that in order to save lives using vaccines, any measure that makes people get vaccinated is welcome.  

The bill is before the health committee in parliament, which will carry out public consultations on whether the new amendments are necessary.
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Prince Charles Isolating After Testing Positive for COVID-19

Posted on by SeeEU

LONDON — Britain’s Prince Charles has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating, his office said Thursday.

A message on his official Twitter page said Charles tested positive on Thursday morning and was “deeply disappointed” not to be able to attend a scheduled visit in Winchester, England.

Charles, 73, met dozens of people during a large reception at London’s British Museum on Wednesday evening. He was accompanied by his wife Camilla, and was in close contact with Britain’s Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, among others.

Charles’ office, Clarence House, confirmed that he is triple vaccinated.

It was not immediately clear what his condition was or whether Charles had recently met with his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The queen, 95, marked her Platinum Jubilee on Sunday by expressing her wish for Camilla to be known as Queen Consort when Charles becomes king.

Camilla carried on with her engagements as scheduled on Thursday, visiting a sexual assault referral center in London.

Charles previously contracted the coronavirus in March 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic. Officials said he had mild COVID-19 symptoms then. Charles and Camilla isolated at Queen Elizabeth II’s Balmoral estate in Scotland at the time.

Spain’s King Felipe VI, 54, and Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, 81, also tested positive for the coronavirus this week.
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Blinken in Australia for Security Talks

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday stressed the importance of alliances for tackling global and regional issues ahead of security talks in Australia and reinforced the Biden administration’s commitment to the region. 

“What we know is that the issues that are really having an impact on folks back home, people here in Australia, and around the world – whether it’s climate, whether it’s COVID, whether it’s the impact of emerging technologies – not a single one of these issues can be effectively dealt with by any one of us acting alone,” Blinken told U.S. Mission Australia staff Thursday in Melbourne.  “More than ever before, we need partnerships, we need alliances, we need coalitions of countries willing to put their efforts, their resources, their minds into tackling these problems.”

Blinken earlier participated in a town hall discussion of biomedical issues at the University of Melbourne’s law school. Officials with Moderna and Bristol-Myers Squibb, global pharmaceutical companies, also took part in the roundtable.

Blinken discussed global vaccination targets and the need for a “stronger global health security system” so the world is better prepared the “next time around.”

Earlier this week, Australia said it was reopening its borders to vaccinated international travelers on February 21. The move comes almost two years after borders were closed as part of efforts to control the spread of COVID-19.

Australia’s pandemic border closures were among the strictest in the world.

Blinken said Australia and the United States have been “leaders together” in fighting COVID-19.

He later tweeted that the University of Melbourne “held deep meaning to my late stepfather, Samuel Pisar, who was a proud alumnus.”

On Friday, Blinken will meet with leaders of the Quad countries, the United States, Australia, Japan and India.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, who will host the meeting, said Wednesday the gathering sends a message to China that security in the region remains a priority for the United States.

Payne said the Quad ministers were “voting with their feet in terms of the priority that they accord to issues” important to the Indo-Pacific. Payne said the ministers would also focus on regional coronavirus vaccine distribution, cyber and other technology issues, and addressing disinformation, counterterrorism and climate change.

Blinken’s visit to Australia is his first trip there after an enhanced trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS — Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States — was announced in September. The agreement includes a deal to build nuclear-propelled submarines for Australia as part of enhanced deterrence against China’s military expansion across the Indo-Pacific region.

Part of the discussions during the fourth Quad foreign ministers’ meetings in Melbourne “will relate to the challenges that China poses,” Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told VOA during a Friday phone briefing.

“The Quad is not a military alliance, but it is not lost on China that you have four democracies, all with a strong maritime presence and advanced military capabilities, concerned by the increasingly aggressive approach China takes with its neighbors,” said Charles Edel, the Australia chair of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Blinken is also expected to discuss threats presented by a growing partnership between China and Russia that was on display during Sunday’s meeting in Beijing between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the beginning of the Winter Olympics. The meeting occurred amid Russia’s military buildup along neighboring Ukraine’s borders and China’s increasingly assertive efforts to reunite Taiwan with the mainland.

In Beijing, Chinese officials have expressed wariness over the Quad and AUKUS.

In response Wednesday to a reporter’s question about the Quad members’ meeting, Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Zhao Lijian attacked American democracy while portraying Beijing as a peace seeker.

“With its so-called democracy having collapsed long ago, the U.S. is forcing other countries to accept the standards of the American democracy, drawing lines with democratic values and piecing together cliques. That is a complete betrayal of democracy,” Zhao said.

Zhao added that China “seeks peace and development, promotes cooperation, promotes the construction of an equal, open and inclusive security system in the Asia-Pacific region that does not target third countries.”

“We oppose forming exclusive cliques and setting up groups within groups, as well as creating confrontation between camps,” he said.

The top U.S. diplomat’s weeklong trip includes Fiji as well as Honolulu, Hawaii.
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US Congress Advances Bill to Sanction Those Fueling War in Ethiopia 

Posted on by SeeAF

Legislation has advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives to impose sanctions on Ethiopians committing human rights abuses, blocking food aid delivery, or taking other actions that are worsening the country’s 15-month crisis. It would also sanction those providing training, weapons, or financial support to those involved in the conflict.

The proposed Ethiopian Stabilization, Peace and Democracy Act was voted out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. It can now be voted on by the full U.S. House. A similar bill is being considered in the Senate.

If enacted, the bill would sanction individuals as well as suspend U.S. security and financial assistance to the Ethiopian government until certain human rights conditions are met. It would also require the U.S. to oppose loans by international agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Congressman Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey who co-sponsored the bill, said urgent action is needed.

“The war in Ethiopia has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, and all the combatants, along with their foreign backers, are responsible for horrific abuses of basic human rights,” he said.

“Today, Congress is coming together to say that the conflict must end, and to hold accountable all those responsible for perpetuating it.”

The bill follows September sanctions and the November decision to suspend Ethiopia from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows African countries’ exports duty-free access to the U.S. market.

One of the issues of ongoing concern to Congress is also the mass detention of Tigrayan civilians in several cities across Ethiopia, including the capital, Addis Ababa. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, say ethnic Tigrayans have been targeted since the start of the conflict in November 2020, citing reports of forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests among other human rights violations.

“The mass detention of Tigrayan civilians in unlivable conditions is a human rights violation so outrageous that it demands a forceful U.S. response,” tweeted Congressman Brad Sherman of California, calling for action on what he called an atrocity.

The bill calls on the State Department to determine whether war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide has been perpetrated by any party to the conflict. It also asks State to report on the role of foreign governments including those of China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey in fueling the conflict.

The bill has drawn condemnation from the Ethiopian government and supporters in the global diaspora.

The American-Ethiopian Public Affairs Committee, a nonprofit diaspora organization that has supported the government during this conflict put the blame squarely on the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, which the government has designated a terrorist group, and armed forces in Tigray.

“This bill ignores the millions in Amhara and Afar … who were victims of the TPLF’s attacks,” the AEPAC said in a tweet.

The group further criticized the impact it would have on ordinary Ethiopians. “It will do nothing to repair the lives of those who have been left without loved ones or who have suffered serious injuries.”

Others in the Tigrayan diaspora have, however, supported the bill and previous U.S. sanctions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials, including Omna Tigray, a nonprofit group consisting of Tigrayans residing in the diaspora who see the move as a way to protect the lives of civilians caught in the conflict.

Other analysts point to the effectiveness of earlier sanctions. Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that “the praiseworthy design of the sanctions regime avoids typical pitfalls.” She said that implemented sanctions are meant to give “legal exceptions for humanitarian relief delivery.”

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasized the goal of targeted sanctions is to ensure perpetrators are held to account.

“These sanctions authorities are not directed at the people of Ethiopia or Eritrea,” a White House official said in September during a call with reporters. “The new sanctions program is deliberately calibrated to mitigate any undue harm to those already suffering from this conflict.”

The United Nations has said thousands have been displaced by conflict in the country, and more than 60,000 Ethiopians, mostly from the Tigray region, are seeking refuge in neighboring Sudan. The U.N. estimates that about 9.4 million people in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
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Turkey’s Media Regulator Forces VOA and Others to Obtain Licenses

Posted on by SeeEU

Turkey’s media regulator on Wednesday gave three international broadcasters, including Voice of America’s Turkish Service, short notice to obtain broadcast licenses or have their content blocked.

The order from the Radio and Television Supreme Council, known as RTUK, also affects German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Euronews, the regulator’s opposition board member said.

“A decision was taken with a majority of votes that 72 hours be granted to the websites of amerikaninsesi.com, dw.com/tr, and tr.euronews.com to get licenses,” Ilhan Tasci, a member of RTUK’s board, said in a tweet.

Tasci, who was appointed to the board by the opposition Republican People’s Party, criticized the decision, calling it a further assault on media freedom in Turkey.

Regulation

The decision is based on a regulation that went into effect in August 2019. At that time, several media freedom advocates raised concerns about possible censorship because the regulation granted RTUK the authority to control all online content.

Also, with the regulation, RTUK has been authorized to request broadcast licenses from “media service providers” in order for their radio, TV broadcasting and on-demand audiovisual media services to continue their online presence.

“Media service providers” has been defined broadly in the regulation to include online news outlets and digital streaming platforms such as Netflix.

The broadcast license, which covers 10 years, costs $7,382 (100,000 Turkish liras) for digital streaming platforms and online TV broadcasting.

The regulation allows RTUK to impose fines, suspend broadcasting for three months or cancel broadcast licenses if the licensees do not follow RTUK’s principles.

RTUK has been implementing the regulation among digital streaming platforms. In November 2020, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video received licenses from the regulator, RTUK’s head, Ebubekir Sahin, announced on Twitter.

In December 2021, RTUK ordered Netflix to remove the Spanish movie More the Merrier, saying the movie was “based on a fiction in which homosexuality, incest relationships and swinging are intensely experienced” and included immoral scenes that violated the “spiritual values of the public.”

Censorship concerns

The announcement Wednesday marked the first time RTUK has used its regulatory power over online news outlets.

RTUK’s deputy head, Ibrahim Uslu, confirmed the decision to German news agency dpa over the phone.

Uslu told dpa that RTUK would publish a detailed notice of its decision on its website “within a week to 10 days,” and after that, the broadcasters would have 72 hours to comply.

Uslu dismissed censorship criticisms, saying that the decision “has nothing to do with censorship but is part of technical measures.”

Some media freedom advocates point out that RTUK’s latest decision could force more international public broadcasters to obtain licenses from the regulator if they want to operate in Turkey, just as is happening with VOA.

“These [international public broadcasters] will have to obtain licenses from Turkey, and in this context, they will have to implement the RTUK and court decisions. Otherwise, access to the websites of these organizations may be blocked from Turkey upon the request of RTUK,” Yaman Akdeniz, a cyberlaw professor at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, told VOA.

“So organizations outside of Turkey that broadcast and still provide news more freely in Turkish will also be targeted through RTUK before the 2023 elections,” Akdeniz added.

Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, seconded Akdeniz’s remarks.

“The requirement put before VOA, DW and Euronews is another attempt to control the independent reporting, especially in view of elections set for 2023,” Said told VOA.

The next presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 2023, but the opposition parties have been calling for an early election.

Said emphasized the importance of international public broadcasters’ presence in the Turkish media landscape, pointing to the decline in media freedom in Turkey.

“Many critical journalists now work for international media outlets because they were fired from or left mainstream media outlets in recent years because it became difficult, if not impossible, to work there due to censorship,” Said told VOA.

If VOA, DW and Euronews “will not be able to continue their work in Turkey, these highly qualified professionals will become a victim of new regulations,” Said added.

RTUK’s independence

Several media freedom advocates have long criticized RTUK. Human Rights Watch says the regulator fails to meet standards of impartiality and independence because of its political alignment with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“When we look at the track record of the RTUK, we see that its board is unwilling to warn or fine the pro-government outlets while acting quite harshly towards critical media outlets,” Said told VOA.

RTUK’s nine members are nominated by political parties in proportion to their representation in the parliament. Currently, the AKP and the allied Nationalist Movement Party hold the majority.

RTUK did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment.

In an email to VOA’s Turkish Service in response for a request for comment, a VOA spokesperson said VOA was aware of RTUK’s requirement for an operating license.

“VOA believes any governmental efforts to silence news outlets is a violation of press freedom, a core value of all democratic societies,” Bridget Serchak, the VOA spokesperson, said.

“Should the Turkish government formally block our websites, VOA will make every effort to ensure that its Turkish-speaking audience retains access to a free and open internet using all available methods,” the VOA spokesperson added.

Deutsche Welle did not respond to VOA’s request for comment but did post a story on its website.

“We have learned from the media about a possible decision by the RTUK that could also haveimplications for DW,” a DW spokesperson said. “However, we will be able to make a conclusive analysis and decide how to proceed only once we have received official notification from the authority.”

Euronews said it could not comment on the issue for the time being.

VOA’s Turkish Service has been broadcasting to Turkey since 1948. The service has provided essential news for the Turkish-speaking audience through its website and TV programming.

In 2019, the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), a pro-government think tank in Turkey, published a 202-page report titled “The Offshoots of International Media Organizations in Turkey” and profiled journalists working for Turkish language services of international public broadcasters, including Voice of America. The report alleged that the broadcasters’ coverage of Turkey was one-sided and unfair to the Turkish government.

On Twitter, another opposition member of the RTUK board, Okan Konuralp, called RTUK’s decision an application of SETA’s report.

“However, this move to suppress the international media is also doomed to failure,” he added.

VOA’s Hilmi Hacaloglu and Can Kamiloglu contributed to this report, some information for which came from Reuters.
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Britain’s Johnson Calls for Solidarity Against ‘Russian Aggression’  

Posted on by SeeEU

  Britain on Thursday urged Russia to take a “diplomatic route that avoids conflict and bloodshed” while warning against any Russian moves that undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“Fundamentally, a war in Ukraine would be disastrous for the Russian and Ukrainian people and for European security and together NATO has made it clear that any incursion into Ukraine would have massive consequences and carry severe costs,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said as she met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Western governments have been calling on Russia to take steps to de-escalate the crisis that has come with it massing more than 100,000 troops near the border, deploying warships to the Black Sea and sending more troops and military equipment to Belarus, another Ukrainian neighbor, for military drills that began Thursday.

Ukraine also launched its own military drills Thursday with both set to last until Feb. 20.

Lavrov said Thursday that only “mutually respectful dialogue” can lead to normalized relations.

“Ideological approaches, ultimatums, threats — this is the road to nowhere,” Lavrov said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting Thursday with leaders of Poland and NATO as he urges what his office called “solidarity with NATO allies who bear the brunt of Russian aggression.”

Johnson has ordered 1,000 British troops be ready to respond to a potential humanitarian crisis resulting from a Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“What we need to see is real diplomacy, not coercive diplomacy,” Johnson said in a statement. “As an alliance we must draw lines in the snow and be clear there are principles upon which we will not compromise. That includes the security of every NATO ally and the right of every European democracy to aspire to NATO membership.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday Russia has been taking escalatory steps in recent weeks and the United States hopes that changes.

“I think as we look at the preparation for these military exercises, again, we see this as certainly more of an escalatory and not a de-escalatory action as it relates to those troops and the military exercises,” Psaki said. 

Top Russian commanders arrived in Belarus on Wednesday, set to oversee 30,000 Russian troops as they train with the Belarusian military.

Russia has moved S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and numerous fighter jets into Belarus for the exercises, with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian armed forces’ general staff, in command of the drills. 

 

The training in Belarus is the latest threat to Ukraine, whose capital, Kyiv, is 210 kilometers to the south.

Ukraine’s military exercises involve unmanned aircraft and antitank missiles supplied by Ukraine’s Western allies.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was staging the joint exercises with Belarus to combat “unprecedented security threats.”

Western intelligence experts say they believe Moscow has about 70% of its strike force in place for an attack on its one-time Soviet republic, which that has leaned to the West in recent years and seeks to join NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied he plans to invade Ukraine but demanded that the West reject the possibility of Ukraine joining the 30 countries already in NATO and that the Western allies pull back their troops and armaments closest to Russia.

In response, the West has said Russia has no veto power over who belongs to NATO but that it is willing to negotiate with Moscow over the placement of missiles in eastern Europe and periodic NATO military drills.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Senegal Facility Set to Begin COVID-19 Vaccine Production

Posted on by SeeAF

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed stark vaccine inequities among high- and low-income nations and has underscored Africa’s dependence on outside countries for shots. A new initiative in Senegal, however, hopes to reduce that inequity and make the continent more vaccine self-sufficient. 

 

Senegal administered its first doses to the public in March 2021, months after COVID-19 vaccines had become available in the West.  

 

Since then, supplies repeatedly have run dry in Senegal and other African countries that have relied on the international community for the vaccines. Today, 11% of Africans are fully vaccinated, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with 64% in the U.S, according to the U.S. CDC, and 85% in Britain, according to the U.K.’s government’s coronavirus dashboard.

But scientists are aiming to change that. Last week, scientists in South Africa announced they had successfully made a copy of the Moderna vaccine, and a new initiative at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar is on a similar track. The institute has partnered with BioNTech to build a production facility for its mRNA vaccines.

Left behind 

 

“Africa has been somehow left a little bit behind when it comes to supply of vaccines,” said Amadou Sall, the director of the Pasteur Institute. “The need to make sure that we have control over our supply is something that is critically important in terms of health security. Having a different level of protection in different parts of the world won’t help control and end this pandemic.”  

 

Africa currently imports 99 percent of all its vaccines. The new facility is scheduled to open later this year and produce 300 million COVID doses annually.  

 

The institute hopes to manufacture vaccines not just for the next pandemic, but also for endemic diseases such as measles and polio. Doses would be distributed throughout West Africa and perhaps even the entire continent.  

 

“The whole philosophy that we have here is really to make sure that Africa becomes self-sufficient by building vaccines in Africa for Africa,” Sall said.  

 

Producing vaccines is already a tall task under the best of circumstances, because it requires a great deal of capital and technological prowess. To repeat the process in a low-income country would be a massive accomplishment.  

 

“The standards are indeed getting higher and higher,” said Antoine Diatta, the vaccine quality control manager at the Pasteur Institute. “It requires a level of human resources and skills that are extremely high as well. It’s not always within reach or easily found in Africa because it’s new technology.” 

‘A certain expertise’

 

But the institute already produces yellow fever vaccines. Scientists there have been manufacturing them for decades.  

 

The institute “has a certain expertise in the domain of vaccine development,” said Dr. Ousseynou Badiane, the director of Senegal’s expanded immunization program. “So there’s nothing to prevent them from producing another that’s developed elsewhere.” 

 

Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines has run rampant throughout Africa. If the vaccines were made locally, Badiane said, it could help increase the number of people willing to get the jab. 

 

“There’s a lot of misinformation and rumors, especially surrounding clinical trials,” Badiane said. “If they’re made in Africa by Africans, it could increase the level of trust.”
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Senegal Facility Plans to Start COVID Vaccine Production

Posted on by SeeAF

The COVID pandemic exposed stark vaccine inequities between high- and low-income nations and underscored Africa’s dependence on outside countries for jabs. However, a new initiative in Senegal hopes to reduce that inequity Annika Hammerschlag reports from Dakar, Senegal.
Camera: Annika Hammerschlag
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7 Predominately Black Schools in Washington Receive Bomb Threats

Posted on by SeeUS

Seven predominately Black schools in Washington were evacuated over bomb threats Wednesday and later cleared, including a high school that was threatened a day earlier during a visit by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, authorities said.

The District of Columbia Police Department said four public high schools and three charter schools had received threats.

Washington police later declared Dunbar High School, where Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, was rushed to safety after Tuesday’s bomb threat, and the others “cleared with no hazardous material found.”

Authorities have not indicated a connection to race in the spate of bomb threats, and police said Tuesday’s incident did not appear targeted at Emhoff, who was visiting Dunbar for a Black History Month event.

But the incidents have further raised fears among Black communities already rattled by a series of bomb threats made last week to at least a dozen historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, nationwide.

“Americans have a right to be safe at work, in houses of worship and at school,” Harris said in a statement. “We must stand up against any threat of violence in our communities.”

No explosives were found at any of the HBCUs, but the threats are being investigated by the FBI. Washington police say they are investigating this week’s threats to Dunbar, considered the first high school for Black Americans in the United States, and the other schools.

“These are troublesome incidents that we take very seriously,” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said, adding the school system “will continue to offer support to our school communities while the (police) investigations are ongoing.”  
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Study Finds Anxiety, Depression Prevalent Among Somali Health Workers

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Health care workers in Somalia suffer from high rates of anxiety, depression and stress because of their work with COVID-19 cases, a new study finds.

The study was presented at a health research conference in the Somali town of Garowe last week. Initial findings recorded a high prevalence of anxiety in the workforce at 69.3%, 46.5% for depression and 15.2% for stress.

The study used the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS), widely used in scientific circles to measure the three emotional states. Researchers interviewed 186 health care workers in three hospitals in Mogadishu between May and August 2021.

Dr. Abdirazak Yusuf Ahmed, the study’s lead author and director of the De Martino Hospital, the main COVID-19 medical facility in Mogadishu, said several factors played a role in the prevalence of these traumatic experiences in the health care workforce.

“The first one is that this disease is associated with deaths,” Ahmed said. “They (workers) were afraid they could take the virus to their homes and pass on to their loved ones.”

He also mentioned low motivation among the COVID-19 workers.

Doctors working in Somalia are not surprised that the multiplier effects from COVID-19 contributed to the workers’ ill health.

Since March 16, 2020, when the first case was detected, Somalia has recorded 1,340 COVID-19 deaths and 26,203 positive cases, at a fatality rate of 5.1%. But independent studies and press reports argued that COVID-19 deaths in Somalia have been enormously undercounted. Somalia has administered more than 1.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so far, with only 5.6% of the population fully vaccinated.

The discovery of personal health challenges among frontline workers comes at a time when the country lacks enough health care workforce to provide services.

Last week’s conference, which was attended by federal and regional health officials, local doctors and international health workers, including representatives from the World Health Organization, recognized the severity of the lack of health care workers.

A statement issued at the end of the conference stated that the low workforce density in the country stands at 5.4 doctors, nurses, and midwives per 10,000 population. WHO recommends a ratio of 44.5 per 10,000.

The statement further said that according to WHO’s health workforce guidelines, there is a gap of 55,000 skilled health professionals in the country.

It said the gap affects all components of the health system, ranging from service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing and leadership, policy and governance.

This shortage is attributed to the migration of health workers from Somalia because of war and crisis, according to Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO’s Somalia representative.

“This shortage means that the country doesn’t have adequate health workers who are required to run and manage primary health centers or hospitals,” he said. “So, services are below optimal or of poor quality as the services are provided by lay health workers.”

Good news for child mortality

The conference predicted progress in reducing child mortality and maternal mortality in Somalia in coming years.

With investment and implementation of basic health services, the maternal mortality ratio is expected to decline to 332 deaths per 100,000 live births by the year 2030, signifying a 50% reduction from the present level, the statement said.

Similarly, the mortality rates for neonatal, infant and children younger than 5 are expected to decline from 122, 77 and 38 per 1,000 live births in 2020 to 63, 42 and 20 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively, by the year 2030.

Child mortality in Somalia is believed to be the highest in the world, according to a report published by Amnesty International in August 2021, with an estimated 15% of people having access to medical care in rural areas.

This report originated in VOA Somali service’s “Investigative Dossier” program.  
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What Are the Minsk Accords?

Posted on by SeeEU

The so-called Minsk accords of 2014 and 2015 attempted to end the war in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine between Ukraine and Russian-speaking separatists in the disputed areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

In 2014, representatives of Ukraine and Russian separatists agreed to a 12-part cease-fire deal in the Belarus capital of Minsk. The deal included a prisoner exchange, humanitarian assistance and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the disputed area.

But the agreement quickly broke down after both sides violated the terms.

The two sides tried again in 2015, this time with representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

In the second deal, a 13-part agreement was signed, which called for an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons, OSCE monitoring, amnesty for those involved in fighting, hostage and prisoner exchanges, full control of Ukraine’s state border, withdrawal of foreign troops, reestablishment of economic and social ties, and elections in the disputed areas, among other provisions. It also offers regions where pro-Russian separatists hold sway a measure of autonomy that could impact central government decision-making.

Leaders from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine were present and issued a statement in support of the deal. It was also endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

But most of the provisions were not implemented because Russia insisted it was not involved in the conflict and therefore could not withdraw forces because it did not have any deployed there, according to Reuters. Russia insisted that any agreements be made between Ukraine and the disputed regions. Ukraine refused a dialogue with the separatists.

Still, according to CNN, most of the worst fighting stopped, and the OSCE patrols the area reporting cease-fire violations.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters. 

 

 

 

 

 
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UK Readies 1,000 Troops for Humanitarian Support Over Ukraine Tensions

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Britain ordered 1,000 troops to be on a state of readiness to provide support in the event of a humanitarian crisis caused by any Russian aggression, ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the leaders of NATO and Poland on Thursday. 

Johnson will go to Brussels and Warsaw to stress the need to hold firm on NATO’s principles and discuss ways that Britain can provide military support while Russia amasses its troops near Ukraine’s border. 

Johnson’s trip is one among a wave of international diplomatic efforts. French President Emmanuel Macron met Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is due to have in-person meetings with U.S. allies and partners at the Munich Security Conference next week. 

Britain’s foreign secretary and defense secretary are also due in Moscow this week for talks with their counterparts. 

“The U.K. remains unwavering in our commitment to European security,” Johnson said in a statement. “As an alliance, we must draw lines in the snow and be clear there are principles upon which we will not compromise.” 

Britain said on Monday that it would send a further 350 troops to Poland, after it sent 100 troops last year to help with a migrant crisis at its border with Belarus. 

Johnson’s office repeated on Wednesday that any further military incursion of Ukraine by Russia would likely create the mass forced displacement of people on Europe’s border, affecting countries like Poland and Lithuania. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. 

Johnson’s office said the prime minister would also discuss with NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg the U.K.’s offer to bolster the alliance’s defenses, including a doubling of troops in Estonia, more RAF jets in southern Europe, and the sailing of both the Trent patrol vessel and a Type 45 destroyer to the Eastern Mediterranean.  
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Mexican President Calls for ‘Pause’ in Diplomatic Relations With Spain 

Posted on by SeeEU

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called Wednesday for “pausing” diplomatic relations with Spain, not breaking them, as he escalated his criticism of Mexico’s former colonial power, which he says has exploited Mexico. 

Lopez Obrador made the comments at a regular news briefing during which he requested a “breather” in official ties, stating “the relationship is not good” currently.

The Mexican president has been consistent in his assertion that Spanish authorities and corporations have been exploiting the North American country, particularly in the energy sector. 

“They were like the owners of Mexico,” Lopez Obrador said to the media as he took to task the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.  

 

“They plundered us,” Lopez Obrador said, targeting the role of Spanish investment in the country. “Perhaps when the government changes, relations will be restored, and I wish that when I’m no longer here they wouldn’t be what they were before.” 

Lopez Obrador has proposed changes to Mexico’s energy market that have drawn criticism. In his defense, he said his proposal would end abuses that have benefited a few. He cited as examples power company Iberdrola and oil firm Repsol as Spanish companies that benefited from past Mexican governments. 

The Mexican president’s comments regarding Spain surprised Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares. 

“I’d like to make clear that Spain’s government has done nothing that could justify any declaration of this kind,” he said Wednesday, according to Reuters. “What’s clear from business ties between our countries is that far from pausing, investment flows have only been rising for years.” 

 

Lopez Obrador’s ire toward the Spanish rose early in his administration. He had been in office a little more than a month when, in early 2019, he sent a letter to the king of Spain and Pope Francis asking them to apologize for the exploitation committed in the 500 years since Spain’s conquest of Mexico. The Spanish government rejected the request.   

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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China Suspected of Cyberattacks Targeting US Organizations

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Media giant News Corp is investigating a cyberattack that has accessed the email and documents of some of its employees and journalists.

On Friday, New York-based News Corp, whose entities include The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, sent an internal email to staff, stating that it had been the target of “persistent nation-state attack activity.”

“On January 20th, News Corp discovered attack activity on a system used by several of our business units,” David Kline, News Corp chief technology officer, wrote in the email.

News Corp said that as soon as it discovered the attack, it notified law enforcement and launched an investigation with the help of Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm.

The cyberattack affected a “limited number of business email accounts and documents” from News Corp headquarters as well as its News Technology Services, Dow Jones, News UK and New York Post businesses.

“Our preliminary analysis indicates that foreign government involvement may be associated with this activity, and that some data was taken,” Kline wrote. “We will not tolerate attacks on our journalism, nor will we be deterred from our reporting.”

“Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests,” Dave Wong, Mandiant vice president and incident responder, said in an email to VOA.

Wong’s suspicion echoed that of human rights groups, which have also faced an increase in cyberattacks thought to originate from a “foreign government” they also believe is China.

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., told VOA in an email Friday that rather than making allegations based on speculations, he hoped there could be “a professional, responsible and evidence-based approach” to identifying cyberattacks.

“China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity and has long been a main victim of cyberthefts and attacks,” Liu said. “China firmly opposes and combats cyberattacks and cybertheft in all forms.”

Rights groups targeted

Cyberattacks might be used to intimidate those who are critical of the Chinese government, according to Peter Irwin, senior program officer for advocacy and communications at Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) in Washington.

“They might want journalists to think twice before they continue to do critical work uncovering issues in the country,” Irwin told VOA, adding that his organization had also seen a major spike in cyberattacks believed to be from China in recent weeks, targeting its website and staff email.

Uyghur rights groups such as UHRP have been calling for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics on social media, using the hashtag #GenocideGames and citing allegations of human rights abuses of Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups in Xinjiang, where China has been accused of arbitrarily detaining more than 1 million people in internment camps.

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that pro-China accounts had flooded Twitter messages with the #GenocideGames hashtag. Hashtag flooding is the act of hijacking a hashtag on social media platforms to dilute or change its meaning.

In early December, the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, citing China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”

Beijing denies accusations of mass detention and says that all ethnic groups in Xinjiang “live in together in harmony” and experience “healthy and balanced development.”

Tahir Imin, a Uyghur activist and founder of the Washington-based Uyghur Times, says his news organization has long been the target of cyberattacks he believes are coming from China.

Volexity, a Washington-based cybersecurity firm, stated in a September 2019 blog post that “cyberspace has become a battleground for the Uyghur people. The level of surveillance occurring in China against Uyghurs extends well beyond their borders and has fully entered the digital realm.”

“Recently, especially starting from January 10, 2022, we have seen more cyberattacks by unknown hackers aimed at the main index of English and Chinese websites of Uyghur Times,” Imin told VOA, adding that his organization’s email server had also been the target of similar attacks.

 

FBI assessment

In a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that in the U.S., Beijing had unleashed “a massive, sophisticated hacking program that is bigger than those of every other major nation combined.”

“They’re not just hacking on a huge scale but causing indiscriminate damage to get to what they want,” Wray said. “Like in the recent Microsoft Exchange hack, which compromised the networks of more than 10,000 American companies in a single campaign alone.”

According to Salih Hudayar, president and founder of the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, a Washington-based Uyghur independence advocacy group, his group’s website has seen a “severe increase” in cyberattacks in recent weeks, especially since the beginning of the Beijing Winter Games.

“It seems, on average, in the past 24 hours (per hour), we had over 15 million attacks against our website,” Hudayar told VOA, adding that most of the attacks were originating from Singapore.

He said he believed Singapore was being used “to mask the true location” of the origin of the attacks. “We definitely think China is behind this attack,” Hudayar said.
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Aid to Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan a ‘Moral Hazard,’ US Lawmakers Say

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Six months after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, lawmakers have few good options for sending aid to prop up the struggling Afghan economy without enabling the Taliban. 

In the almost 20 years the U.S. was involved in Afghanistan, the country depended on foreign aid for more than half its economy. But the U.S. froze most of the country’s $9.4 billion in currency reserves last August to isolate the Taliban after they took control.

“There is frankly moral hazard in putting billions into Afghanistan right now,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said in a congressional hearing Wednesday. “We can do our best to route it around the Taliban, but there is no doubt that the partial effect of aid is to save the Taliban from itself. That is deeply distasteful.”

The United Nations issued an appeal to the international community last month for its largest-ever aid ask, saying $4.4 billion was needed as “a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe looms.” According to estimates by the World Food Program, only 2% of Afghans will have enough to eat this winter. 

“Six months ago, Afghanistan was a poor country, a very poor country,” David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, told lawmakers. “Today, Afghanistan is a starving country, not just a poor country. The reason — I’m very sorry to report — the proximate cause of this starvation crisis is the international economic policy, which has been adopted since August and which has cut off financial flows not just to the public sector but in the private sector, in Afghanistan, as well.”

Miliband testified that his staff could confirm media reports that Afghans are selling organs to buy enough to eat amid a fall in currency prices that has dropped the value by at least one-quarter. 

Top lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee acknowledged that the Afghan people are suffering because of the United States’ concerns about enabling the Taliban’s repressive policies. But many warned of the dangers of sending aid.

“We of course must continue to be vigilant in our efforts to deny the Taliban any resources — financial or otherwise — they can use to conduct further acts of terror,” said Republican Senator Todd Young. “The worst-case scenario involved would be if humanitarian aid were diverted from legitimate recipients towards the Taliban and (their) partners and terror.”

The heads of nongovernmental organizations acknowledged the difficulty of easing some U.S. sanctions based on negotiations with the Taliban.

“The (U.S.) Treasury cannot feasibly list every permitted sector in the Afghan economy. Instead, U.S. officials must forbid what is not allowed — for example, arms trafficking,” said Graeme Smith, a consultant with the International Crisis Group.

“Unfortunately, many of these steps require cooperation with the Taliban. That is hard, and it is distasteful, especially as the Taliban continue to flout human rights standards. Months of talks between the Taliban and Western officials have not resulted in much progress when the impasse is partly the Taliban’s fault. They have resisted reasonable demands such as allowing education for girls of all ages. However, the U.S. is also pushing unrealistic goals, such as an inclusive government.”

Smith and Miliband told lawmakers the U.S. could take several steps to ease the humanitarian crisis, including releasing $1.2 billion in the World Bank-managed Afghan Reconstruction Fund to directly pay the salaries of Afghans, clarifying the application of U.S. sanctions in the private sector of Afghanistan’s economy, and releasing private assets while keeping Afghan government assets frozen.

But easing those restrictions could be a tough political argument to U.S. lawmakers weighing the cost of the U.S. effort to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan in trillions of dollars and thousands of lives lost.  

Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen said Wednesday, “We need to provide humanitarian assistance to ensure that the people of Afghanistan, the families in Afghanistan, are not starving. And I understand that that means to some extent, we’ve got to thread the needle. But I really reject the premise that we should enshrine with the Taliban their restrictive relationships with their citizens.”

The Biden administration pledged last month to donate an additional $308 million in humanitarian aid to address the crisis. 
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Meet Samuel Ikpefan, Nigeria’s Cross-Country Skier at Winter Olympics

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Nigeria is making its debut in cross-country skiing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. 

Samuel Ikpefan is representing Africa’s most populous nation, though he holds French citizenship as well.   

On Monday, Ikpefan took to Instagram in a green headscarf with the flag of Nigeria in green and white on the front, saying “I am looking forward to giving the best of myself.” 

“With the food or the music, I have always been immersed in the Nigerian culture,” the 29-year-old told the official Olympics website.  

The former French youth sprint champion, who grew up in Annemasse in the French Alps, said skiing for Nigeria helps him make a stronger connection to his father’s country. 

He said he hopes to motivate younger Nigerians to become skiers, adding that his Olympic journey will peak in 2026 when the Winter Games are held in Italy, in Milano and Cortina. 

“For Milano Cortina 2026, I was appointed captain of a team composed of three young skiers that are from Nigeria but live in other countries. [My role] is to explain to them the process and to help them on their Olympic journey,” he said. 

In January 2021, Ikpefan took part in his first World Cup in Sweden’s Falun. 

Nigeria made headlines in Pyeongchang in 2018 when its athletes competed in skeleton and bobsled. 

 
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Libyan Lawmakers Set to Choose New Prime Minister

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Libya’s parliament is set to vote on a new prime minister on Thursday, but incumbent Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah has rejected the balloting, saying Libyans should not have another period with an interim government.  

“I will not allow new transitional periods. We will not retreat from our role in government that we pledged to the people until elections are achieved,” al-Dbeibah said in a speech Tuesday.  

The planned vote, if held, will have just two of the seven declared candidates getting formal approval to be on the ballot.  

“Only two candidates submitted their papers in full, namely Fathi Bashagha, and Khaled al-Bibas. Five others submitted their papers incomplete,” said Aqila Saleh, speaker of the House of Representatives in the eastern city of Tobruk. 

Al-Dbeibah was appointed in February 2021 through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, a body created in 2020 to help Libya regain its democratic functions.  

The plan was for elections this past December, but instead parliament postponed it and moved on to vote for a new prime minister in what amounted to another transitional period.    

The planned parliament vote is most likely to face disapproval by the High Council of State (HCS) in Tripoli, which says legislators first need to reach consensus on the road map toward stability and democracy.

“This political arrangement is not worth anything and is a leap in the air,” said HCS President Khalid al-Mishri during a news conference Sunday in Tripoli. “We approved the parliament’s demand to change the government, but it is necessary to determine the constitutional path for the elections first.”

Another hurdle is dealing with Libya’s militias, which are divided over the status of Dbeibah. Last week, clashes erupted among rival militias in Tripoli in the wake of parliament’s attempts to oust the prime minister.

Some 33 loyalist militia leaders in Tripoli and Misrata, the most powerful military bloc in western Libya, have opposed the east-based parliament’s decision.

“A new prime minister can only take over if he has at least the acceptance or even better the support of the major Misrata militias and of some of the more important militias from the capital Tripoli,” said Wolfgang Pusztai, former military attaché in Libya.

Since incumbent Prime Minister Dbeibah and candidate Fathi Bashagha are both from Misrata, it’s unclear which side militias will take.

Who is likely to be Libya’s next prime minister?

Bashagha has the likely advantage if voting takes place Thursday as scheduled. Unlike al-Bibas, who is currently a Libyan diplomat in Morocco, Bashagha has served as interior minister and was previously a presidential candidate.

He gained greater political renown after becoming the de facto strategic leader of the defense of Tripoli when General Khalifa Haftar attempted to take over the capital.

He also met with Haftar seeking a compromise during the preparation of the now-postponed elections in December 2021.

“If the majority of the militias… I would even call them kingmakers… decide or agree that Bashagha takes over, this will be the case,” Pusztai said.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Ukrainian Americans in California Rally to Support Their Homeland

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Ukrainian communities in some large California cities are taking to the streets in peaceful demonstrations to express support for their homeland as Russia seems to be preparing to invade Ukraine. Khrystyna Shevchenko has this report from California.
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Backlash to Macron’s Ukraine Proposals Builds

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French President Emmanuel Macron is pursuing a poisoned peace plan, say critics in Europe, who fear the outcome of his talks this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin could be to strengthen Moscow’s hand in the crisis over Ukraine. 

 

A backlash is building to Macron’s visits this week to Moscow and Kyiv among fellow European leaders. They worry the French leader strayed from an agreed script and that his mooting of new security guarantees for Russia risks encouraging Putin in what they see as a Kremlin effort to reestablish a Russian sphere of influence over neighboring European nations. 

The details of the five hours of face-to-face discussions the French leader held with Putin Monday have not been made known publicly, but Macron has hinted at shifts in NATO’s position — including Ukraine shelving its hopes of joining the Western alliance — that alarm the leaders of some member states. They worry Macron risks encouraging Russian brinkmanship and warmongering and is handing the Russian leader too many opportunities for maneuver and chances to split NATO. 

 

Macron flew between Russia and Ukraine on a mission to calm tensions and find a diplomatic solution to avert war at a time of growing Western concern that Russia is planning to invade its neighbor, along whose borders it has deployed an estimated 140,000 troops, according to Ukrainian authorities. 

 

The Kremlin denies it has any intention to invade, saying talk of war is alarmist. French officials say Macron has coordinated fully with France’s allies, kept to an agreed script, and is taking on the role of the friendly cop, leaving it to U.S. President Joe Biden to be the tough cop with Putin.

The canvassing to reporters before and after Macron’s talks with Putin by French officials of the idea of Ukraine remaining a neutral country is causing unease especially in the capitals of eastern Europe and the Baltic States. French officials have raised to reporters the possibility of the “Finlandization” of Ukraine.  

Finland chose in 1947 not to become a NATO member and signed a treaty with Russia that included limiting the size of its army and other constraints restricting national sovereignty. Ironically, the current and growing crisis over Ukraine has prompted Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, to float the idea of his country joining NATO. 

 

Ingrida Šimonytė, Lithuania’s prime minister, has been publicly skeptical about the French president’s diplomatic mission to Moscow and is wary of offering concessions to Russia. She warned this week, “Neutrality helps the oppressor and never the victim.”  

 

Macron’s advocacy for the implementation of the Minsk peace protocol of 2015 is also causing unease, especially in Kyiv. Ukraine’s president notably refrained Tuesday from re-committing fully to the agreement, which outlined a final settlement in the country’s eastern Donbass region, parts of which have been under Russian occupation since April 2014, and where an estimated 32,000 Russian troops are currently stationed.   

 

Speaking at a joint press conference in Kyiv Tuesday with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Macron announced the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine had committed to honoring the Minsk accords. “We now have the possibility of advancing negotiations,” Macron said.  

Zelenskiy did not directly mention the Minsk agreement, which is highly unpopular in Ukraine, saying instead he hoped a scheduled meeting of German, French, Ukrainian and Russian officials in Berlin later this week might pave the way to revive the stalled peace process. 

 

“We have a common view with President Macron on threats and challenges to the security of Ukraine, of the whole of Europe, of the world in general,” Zelenskiy said. “I do not really trust words, I believe that every politician can be transparent by taking concrete steps,” he added. 

 

Trust about Russia’s intentions is in short supply in Ukraine, and the Minsk accords, agreed to by Kyiv at a time it was losing the war in the east and had little option but to sign, is seen as a means for the Kremlin to restrict the country’s sovereign rights and dominate its neighbor. 

The agreement was meant to bring fighting to a halt in the Donbass and proposed that the two “breakaway republics” in the region be reintegrated into Ukraine but retain considerable powers of self-government. Moscow, Kyiv, and Western governments have all said they believe in the deal, but it has never been implemented and fighting has continued in eastern Ukraine, where more than 14,000 people have been killed since 2014. 

 

Selling the Minsk deal now to Ukrainians would prove an uphill struggle, says former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin. There would be considerable public resistance, and debate over the accord would exacerbate political divisions in Ukraine, which the Kremlin would seek to worsen. Ukrainian politicians have long argued the Minsk accords amount to a capitulation and would undermine Ukraine by giving the Donbass considerable scope to weaken the capacity of Kyiv to enact policies. It would also force constitutional changes.  

 

Kyiv and Moscow also interpret the agreement differently; Moscow believes it would give pro-Russia Donbass a veto over Ukraine’s foreign policy. Ukraine’s current foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, last week ruled out the Donbass being given any special status.  

Author and University of Oxford academic Timothy Garton Ash, a noted authority on central Europe, has been critical of the deal since its signing. Ash says it amounts to a “major concession from Kyiv to Moscow, as it largely gives Moscow what it wants, which is autonomy for the Kremlin’s so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic — the Russian-controlled areas of eastern Donbass in Ukraine — and a veto in effect on Ukraine’s geopolitical orientation.” 

 

Bruno Maçães, a Portuguese politician and former European affairs minister, says the Minsk agreement isn’t a solution. “It was dispiriting to watch how Macron insisted on the Minsk protocol as a solution to the crisis. A solution it cannot be since Putin’s desire to impose Minsk on Ukraine is what created the crisis in the first place.” 

In a commentary, he warned, “Yet President Zelenskiy might not be able to shake off the pressure. Ukraine is highly dependent on financial and military support from the West. If leaders such as Macron or Biden decide to exert all their influence to force the Ukrainian president’s hand, can he stand firm? We will soon find out.”  

The Élysée Palace says the Macron trip has provided breathing space and will help the West, Ukraine and Russia find a way to resolve differences by diplomatic negotiations. 

Asked whether Macron’s shuttle diplomacy was useful or getting in the way of NATO, Anders Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister and onetime NATO secretary general, told British broadcaster Sky News, “I think all kinds of dialogue is positive, but I don’t think we should be naive.  

“We should realize that appeasement with dictators does not lead to peace, it leads to war and conflict, and that’s exactly the case with President Putin. After his meeting with President Putin, Macron declared that Putin had promised no escalation of the military conflict, but immediately after, the Kremlin denied that Putin had made that pledge. So it shows that you shouldn’t be naive.” 

 
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American Shiffrin Shaken by ‘Letdown’ of 2 Exits in 2 Olympic Races

Posted on by SeeUS

The first question posed to Mikaela Shiffrin as she met with reporters after her second consecutive quick exit from an Alpine skiing race at the Beijing Games was short, simple and to the point: What happened?

The complicated, thought-out, talked-out answers that followed entailed little analysis of her actual performance on skis — which lasted all of five seconds before things went awry in Wednesday’s first run of the two-leg slalom, about half as long as the American stayed on course in Monday’s first run of the two-leg giant slalom — and, in the end, boiled down to this: Shiffrin herself was not exactly sure what brought her to this point or where she goes from here.

“I’ve never been in this position before,” the two-time Olympic gold medalist said, tears dampening her cheeks, “and I don’t know how to handle it.”

What the shaken Shiffrin was certain of: “It feels like a really big letdown.”

The 26-year-old from Colorado, who won the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games and the giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeonchgang Games, was the seventh racer out of the starting hut Wednesday on a course set by her coach, Mike Day.

She began losing her balance and teetering out of control just four seconds and four gates in, swerving too far as she veered to her right. The neon yellow handle of her right ski pole scraped along the snow as she ended up way wide of the fifth gate.

Shiffrin went over to the side of the course, clicked out of her skis and plopped herself down on the ground, shaking her head, then resting it on her arms atop her bent knees. That will be the lasting image of this day — back in the U.S., NBC’s coverage lingered on that shot of Shiffrin, drawing anger on social media from some viewers — and, perhaps, of these Olympics for someone who arrived in China as one of the biggest stars of any Winter Games sport.

“GS and slalom, those were my biggest focuses,” she said. “So it really feels like a lot of work for nothing.”

Other racers said the top was not particularly slippery or difficult. Indeed, reigning slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria — who took the silver behind Wednesday’s gold medalist Petra Vlhova of Slovakia — called it “a really easy course.”

Vlhova, Shiffrin’s top World Cup rival this season, soared from eighth place after the opening run to the victory with a combined time of 1 minute, 44.98 seconds. She claimed Slovakia’s first Olympic Alpine medal ever.

In the closest Shiffrin came to offering an explanation for what went awry, she said was trying to attack too much.

“I was pushing,” she said, “and maybe it was past my limit.”

Shiffrin arrived with plans to enter all five individual races at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center, and another gold would make her only the second woman to win at least one from Alpine at three Olympics in a row.

So far, though, Shiffrin is 0 for 2.

It is not stunning that she hasn’t won a medal, let alone a gold this week. As Shiffrin so often reminds everyone, anything can happen on any given day. What is truly surprising is that she has been so off her game, so immediately, in each of her two trips along the course known as the Ice River.

“It’s really sad. It’s never fun to go out,” said Swedish skier Anna Swenn Larsson, 11th in the first run. “I know the feeling.”

Shiffrin’s next opportunity to compete could come Friday in the super-G, although she made it sound as if she might consider skipping that one, saying: “It would be a pleasure to ski. But I also have some teammates who are really fast, and we have the athletes who can fill the spaces. So if I’m going to ski out on the fifth gate, like, what’s the point?”

She never has competed in a super-G at an Olympics but did win it at the 2019 world championships.

What also is noteworthy about all of this is that Shiffrin is known for being so consistently sound on the slopes, like a metronome that never misses a beat. She might be slower than other athletes on a given day, sure — no one is perfect — but what she so rarely does is flub a maneuver in such a manner as to not even make it all the way down the hill. The “Did Not Finish” on Monday was her first in a giant slalom since Jan. 23, 2018.

Her 47 career World Cup wins in the slalom are more than anyone else has won in any single event.

“My entire career has taught me to trust in my skiing if it’s good skiing and that’s all that I have to rely on. … Of course the pressure is high, but that didn’t feel like the biggest issue today,” she said. “So it’s not the end of the world, and it’s so stupid to care this much, but I feel that I have to question a lot now.”

Shiffrin has shared much about her innermost thoughts over the past several months, via social media and traditional media. She discussed the ways in which she empathized when athletes at the Tokyo Olympics such as gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Caeleb Dressel shared their feelings about pressure and expectations.

And Shiffrin has been open about the difficult task of carrying on after the accidental death of her father, Jeff, in February 2020.

“Right now, I would really like to call him, so that doesn’t make it easier,” Shiffrin said Monday, pausing between words, her voice shaking.

Then, with a laugh, she continued: “And he would probably tell me to just get over it. But he’s not here to say that. So on top of everything else, I’m pretty angry at him, too.”
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