Month: March 2024

Detained Congolese Journalist Bujakera Has Been Freed, Lawyer Says

Posted on by SeeAF

KINSHASA, Congo — Stanis Bujakera, a journalist detained since last September in Congo on charges of spreading false information, was released on Tuesday, his lawyer said.

The lawyer, Yana Ndikulu, said Bujakera — who works for international media including Reuters and Jeune Afrique — was released on Tuesday evening from the prison in the capital Kinshasa where he was being held.

“Our client is free,” Ndikulu said.

Bujakera told Reuters the director of the prison had told him he was free to leave shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time.

A court in Kinshasa on Monday had found Bujakera guilty of spreading false information, among other charges.

It sentenced him to six months in prison and fined him 1 million Congolese francs ($364). His legal team said after that ruling that Bujakera would be released on Tuesday because he had already served his sentence.

But the release was unexpectedly suspended after news emerged on Tuesday evening that the state prosecutor in the case had lodged an appeal against the sentence. About three hours later, however, Bujakera’s lawyers said the prosecutor had withdrawn his appeal, paving the way for his release.

Contacted by Reuters after the release, the prosecutor said he could not comment further.

Bujakera was arrested in September on suspicion of spreading false information about the killing of a prominent opposition politician in an article published by Jeune Afrique, the French news magazine has said.

The prosecutor in the case earlier this month had asked the court in Kinshasa to sentence Bujakera to 20 years in prison.

Local and international rights groups including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International had condemned Bujakera’s detention, calling it an attack on press freedom. Reuters had also called for his release.
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American Muslim Groups Plan to Boycott White House Ramadan

Posted on by SeeUS

American Muslim leaders outraged by President Joe Biden’s support of Israel say they will not take part in White House Ramadan and Eid celebrations this year as they demand the administration push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. As White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports, this is not the first time American Muslims’ anger has overshadowed Ramadan at the White House.
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Secretary of Defense: ‘United States Will Not Let Ukraine Fail’

Posted on by SeeEU

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States remains determined to provide Ukraine with the resources to fight Russian aggression, even as the U.S. Congress has failed to pass supplemental aid for Ukraine. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb traveled to Ramstein Air Base in Germany with the secretary.
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China Envoy Meets Hamas Leader as Beijing Steps Into Israel Conflict

Posted on by SeeEA

Tel Aviv, Israel — China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday acknowledged a meeting between its diplomat Wang Kejian and the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Sunday in Qatar to discuss the conflict in Gaza. In a short statement, the ministry said Wang and Haniyeh discussed the conflict but did not elaborate.

The meeting is the first announced to have taken place between the Chinese envoy and Hamas since the militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostage.  

Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, Gaza health officials say. The Israeli military says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters.

The meeting came just days after Wang met separately with officials from Israel and from the Palestinian Authority as part of Beijing’s efforts at diplomacy.  

The Jerusalem Post reports Hamas on Sunday night said Haniyeh told Wang the war must end quickly, the Israel Defense Forces must withdraw from Gaza and an independent Palestinian state needs to be established. Hamas says Wang assured Haniyeh “the Hamas movement is part of the Palestinian national fabric, and China is keen on relations with it.” 

Critics say Beijing’s efforts to mediate will be hampered by its relations with Hamas — which is labeled a terrorist group by Egypt, Israel, Japan, the EU and the United States — and by its failure to condemn the militants’ October 7 attack.

“In light of China’s actions and declarations from October 7, Israel does not consider China a fair or relevant party,” said Galia Lavi, deputy director of the Israel-China Policy Center at the Israel Institute for National Security Studies.

“Beijing’s declarations almost claim that this war was started because of Israel,” Lavi told VOA. “At the same time, China still altogether ignores Hamas’ actions on October 7.”

Lavi argued that despite China’s claims of attempts to foster Israeli-Palestinian ties, it is hampering prospects.

“China’s repeated calls for the so-called right of return are harming any future talks between Israel and the Palestinians and pose a blatant interference in Israel’s internal affairs,” Lavi said.

The call for a Palestinian right of return stipulates allowing reabsorption of approximately 5 million Palestinians, including their descendants, driven from their lands to nearby Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.

“Chinese officials have also made it quite clear that China is standing by terror through their meetings with Hamas leaders. With that state of things, I am not optimistic about China-Israel relations in the future,” Lavi concluded.

Wang met Thursday in Jerusalem with Hagai Shagrir, the head of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Asia and Pacific Bureau, and Rachel Feinmesser, the head of the bureau’s Policy Research Center.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed meetings took place but did not elaborate on the details or outcomes.

“On the agenda was an exchange of views on the Israel-Hamas war and regional as well as bilateral issues,” the spokesperson told VOA.

A day earlier, Wang met with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Ramallah.

According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Wang expressed deep concern about the nearly six-month conflict in Gaza and the acute humanitarian situation.

“China will continue to work with the international community to stop the fighting as soon as possible and to make unremitting efforts to promote a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine based on the two-state solution,” Wang was quoted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying.

Following the Ramallah meetings, the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry issued statements expressing al-Maliki’s appreciation for China’s “firm position in supporting the Palestinian people, the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”

Al-Maliki also briefed Wang on “catastrophic conditions” for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

A U.N.-backed report released on Monday warns that the Israeli campaign will imminently drive famine in Gaza.  

In his briefing to China’s envoy, al-Maliki voiced concern about alleged “violence and terrorism” perpetrated by Israeli forces in West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinian communities and an “escalation in settler terrorism” in those communities.

According to the Palestinian Authority, Wang responded by calling for an international peace conference “as soon as possible” to launch a “credible peace process based on international law and internationally legitimate resolutions.”

But analysts say China’s influence in the region is limited.  

Ghassan Khatib, a professor of international studies and political science at Birzeit University in the West Bank, told VOA that China plays an important but limited role for the Palestinian population.

“So although we look to Chinese support because it carries huge political weight internationally, it’s mainly political support — not material.”

Janes Defense correspondent and independent Palestinian strategist Mohammed Najib elaborated: “The Chinese Communist Party is one of the parties in the world most supportive of the Palestinians as a liberation movement.”

He dismissed Wang’s meeting Sunday with Hamas’ Haniyeh, saying, “China also recognizes and deals with the [Palestinian Authority] as the legitimate representative body of the Palestinians and does not deal with Hamas.”
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Are Sanctions Worsening Conditions for North Koreans?

Posted on by SeeEA

washington — International sanctions have contributed to the worsening of human rights in North Korea, according to the nongovernmental group Human Rights Watch, while the U.S. State Department, which supports the sanctions, said the regime is mainly to blame.  

The rights organization said United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea in 2016 and 2017 have “disrupted general cross-border trade” with China and reduced the ability of people to conduct informal market activities to sustain their livelihoods. The government-approved, quasi-private markets have been operating in North Korea since the late 1990s.  

The country’s draconian COVID-19 restrictions instituted in early 2020 aggravated conditions, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report published on March 7. 

The report, “A Sense of Terror Stronger than a Bullet,” said the U.S. should “take active steps to counteract sanctions ‘overcompliance’ by financial institutions and other actors, [which are] blocking legitimate and non-sanctioned transactions and humanitarian operations.”  

In response, a spokesperson for the State Department said, “The government of the DPRK bears ultimate responsibility for the suffering of its people, as it is choosing to divert scarce resources from humanitarian and economic needs towards its unlawful WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic missile program.” The spokesperson used the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

The spokesperson added in an email to VOA’s Korean Service on March 13: “We continue to support international efforts to provide critical humanitarian aid to the DPRK. We hope that the DPRK will soon open its borders to international humanitarian workers, whose aid efforts have been hindered by the DPRK’s border closures.” 

VOA contacted the North Korea mission at the United Nations for responses to the HRW report and the State Department comment but did not receive a reply.  

North Korea has not allowed international aid workers into the country since they left more than three years ago when the regime rolled out pandemic measures. But earlier this year, Pyongyang permitted some foreign countries to reestablish their diplomatic presence in the country.  

History of abuse

North Korea has a long record of systemically violating the human rights of its people including the use of torture, execution without fair trials and arbitrary detention, in addition to the denial of freedom of speech, religion, press and assembly, according to the United Nations.   

Residents obtain their necessities, including food, from informal markets called jangmadang. These emerged after the former Soviet Union fell and no longer provided aid to the country. North Korea’s socialist regime then cut off rations, its economy collapsed, and it entered a great famine.  

Most of the goods sold and bought at the markets are brought in from China, the largest trading partner of North Korea. The HRW report said the sanctions the U.N. Security Council passed in 2016 and 2017 reduced people’s ability to buy “already-limited food, medicines, and necessities” from these markets. 

Beijing enforced the sanctions at the time and instituted “new border restrictions” that impeded trade, according to the report.  

Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said Friday in an email to VOA, “North Korean sanctions do not target the people of North Korea.” 

He said U.N. sanctions were passed to prevent North Korea from developing and proliferating its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and to punish the North Korean elite in charge of those activities by ending their ability to make hard currency from abroad by exporting items the sanctions banned.  

The sweeping sanctions that were passed in 2016 and 2017 banned North Korean exports of seafood, textiles, agricultural products and minerals such as coal and iron.  

The restrictions were put in place in response to North Korea’s fifth and sixth nuclear tests and the launch of ballistic missiles, including Hwasong-14 and -15 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).  

Scarlatoiu said there could be “unintended negative side effects of sanctions possibly affecting the human security of North Koreans,” but it is “impossible” to make that determination without conducting a “fact-finding mission inside the country.”   

Report based on interviews, images

The HRW report says its findings are based on interviews with former North Korean traders, defectors with relatives still in the country, former North Korean government officials, journalists and activists with contacts inside the country and in China.  

The report says it also bases its assessments on satellite images of North Korea’s northern border, heavily fortified since early 2020. 

Marcus Noland, executive vice president and director of studies at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA on Friday via email that sanctions are not the primary problem with North Korea’s economy.

“The government’s self-isolation in response to the pandemic greatly reinforced the underlying problems,” he said.

At the same time, sanctions adversely affected North Korean people’s economic livelihood as some financial institutions are “uninterested” in making relatively small transactions that could expose them to legal risks, added Noland, who has written extensively on the North Korean economy.  
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South Africa Accuses US Congress of Adding it to a New ‘Axis of Evil’ Over Israel Genocide Case

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WASHINGTON — South Africa seeks to limit the damage to its relations with Washington caused by its legal challenge to Israel’s assault on Gaza, a South African official said on Tuesday.

Naledi Pandor, who is South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, is in Washington seeking to sway members of the U.S. Congress from a proposed law that would further strain U.S. ties to Africa’s most vibrant democracy and a major mining, banking and manufacturing hub.

“I think there’s an attempt to take up punitive action against South Africa, this sort of axis of evil notion that’s very much part of the political culture,” Pandor said in response to a question from VOA at South Africa’s embassy in Washington.

In December, South Africa filed an application to institute proceedings against Israel at the United Nations’ top court. Pretoria argues that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “genocidal in character,” and aim to “destroy Palestinians in Gaza.”

In March, South Africa requested further measures from the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of weaponizing starvation by preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the sealed-off exclave.

Israel’s government has denounced the case, and the White House told VOA in January it considers it “meritless.”

The case has since inspired a bipartisan push in the U.S. Congress for legislation mandating a full review of the bilateral relationship with South Africa. The draft bill, filed by Republican Representative John James and Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz, claims that the actions of South Africa’s long-ruling African National Congress “are inconsistent with its publicly stated policy of nonalignment in international affairs.”

“South Africa has been building ties to countries and actors that undermine America’s national security and threaten our way of life through its military and political cooperation with China and Russia and its support of U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas,” James said in a statement when he introduced the bill in February. “We must examine our alliances and disentangle from those who remain willing to work with our adversaries.”

Pandor, who also met with think tanks and spoke publicly while in Washington, said she intended to remind members of Congress of the value of South Africa, on its own and as a gateway to the continent.

“We believe that any action to diminish the relationship would be most unwise,” she said, in response to another question from VOA. “Because these are two key democracies in the regions in which we exist.”

She said she believes the relationship between the United States and South Africa can help to promote peace and democracy on the African continent — and to support the agenda of development in Africa — “because I can’t imagine how initiatives directed at greater trade and development would become operational if the institutional capacity of South Africa is not utilized.”

South Africa is also a major beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which offers duty-free U.S. market access to 32 African nations. Congress must vote on whether to extend the program beyond 2025.

VOA asked Pandor whether the high-stakes diplomatic pushback has been worth it.

“What I do know is if there’s a struggle underway, the longer you take to address the demands of a struggle, the more violent and vicious the struggle becomes,” she replied. “So, the sooner you address peace and negotiations, the greater the opportunity for everybody to enjoy peace and security. This is the lesson of South Africa.”

And VOA asked analyst Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, if South Africa’s case had done anything to stop the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“I don’t think South Africa has reframed this conflict. I don’t think South Africa has really changed the direction at this point,” he said. “But it’s a thread that runs through it — this concern that South Africa has history which makes it especially sensitive to issues of discrimination and genocide. … It certainly added an element to conversation that wasn’t there until South Africa pushed it as aggressively as it did.”

Pandor, a veteran member of the long-ruling African National Congress, stressed that Pretoria’s problem is not with the White House. She told VOA she had not sought meetings with President Joe Biden or Secretary of State Antony Blinken during her Washington visit.

“The executive understands [South Africa] far more than Congress,” she said.

When asked what she’d tell Biden, Pandor’s answer was short.

“Cease-fire,” she said. “Now.”
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West African Migrants Find That Struggles Continue After Arriving in New York

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The migrant crisis in New York City, which began nearly two years ago with an influx of Venezuelans and other Latin Americans, has seen a tripling in the number of migrants from West African nations in the past year. Aron Ranen reports from New York City.
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In Nigeria, Student Journalists Act as Public Watchdog

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Student journalists are leading efforts to hold public officials accountable in Nigeria. A media nonprofit is training students to investigate public construction projects and other targets of corruption and report to the community. Timothy Obiezu has the story for VOA.
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Ukrainian Drone Strikes Hit Russia’s Oil Revenues

Posted on by SeeEU

London — A recent series of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes targeting Russian oil refineries has significantly hurt Moscow’s processing capacity, according to analysts.

The strikes, which come as Kyiv and its allies aim to deprive Russia of a main source of revenue for funding its invasion of Ukraine, have reduced Moscow’s overall oil processing capacity by 370,500 barrels per day, or 7% of its total output, according to calculations by Reuters.

The Ryazan oil refinery was set on fire after a drone attack March 13, forcing the shutdown of two damaged primary oil refining units. The plant, which is located south of Moscow, produces around 317,000 barrels per day, or 5.8% of Russia’s total refined crude oil.

Video footage posted online showed a Ukrainian drone flying through a smoke-filled sky above the refinery, before circling and crashing into the plant, causing a loud explosion.

Another drone attack on March 12 targeted the NORSI refinery near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, some 430 kilometers east of Moscow, knocking out half of the plant’s refining capacity, according to sources quoted by Reuters.

Kyiv claims to have targeted at least seven different refineries. Several are in the region bordering Ukraine. 

“Wars take huge amounts of diesel fuel for tanks, for trucks and so forth. And so that region is directly responsible for diesel for the war,” noted Thomas O’Donnell, an energy and geopolitics analyst with the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

The attacks on refineries further to the north of Russia are also aimed at reducing Moscow’s revenue from hydrocarbon exports.

“By hitting refineries up there, what happens is the diesel that they export — they were exporting almost as much diesel before as oil — that’s being destroyed, and they have to shift it to oil if they want to make money on that,” O’Donnell told VOA.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the military’s growing drone capabilities in the wake of last week’s attacks.

“In recent weeks, many have already seen that the Russian war machine has vulnerabilities and that we can exploit these vulnerabilities with our weapons,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on March 16. “What our own drones can do is truly a long-range Ukrainian capability. Ukraine will now always have its own striking force in the sky.”

The Ukrainian strikes combined with the Western price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil could add to the pressure the Kremlin is facing. Buyers who do not adhere to the cap are prevented from using Western services like insurance and shipping. Since November, Western nations have toughened their monitoring of compliance with the measures.

Russia has used a fleet of “shadow” tankers to move its oil around the world, with much of it travelling through the Baltic Sea or the Arctic. That presents an opportunity for Ukraine’s allies, says analyst O’Donnell.

“The tankers themselves are very old and rather sketchy. They could be stopped in the straits, in the territorial waters between Denmark and Sweden, and be inspected, legally,” he told VOA. “And the inspectors could say, ‘this isn’t good enough insurance,’ or ‘these ships aren’t of proper quality to be carrying this oil,’ and make them turn around. That would be a dramatic intervention.”
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Russia’s Election Monitor Calls Presidential Elections ‘Imitation’

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The independent election watchdog group Golos called last week’s Russian balloting an “imitation” of an election. President Vladimir Putin won his reelection bid in a campaign that was never in doubt. Kateryna Besedina has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Artyom Kokhan.
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Ex-Trump Aide Navarro Reports to Prison to Serve Contempt Sentence

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MIAMI, FLORIDA — Peter Navarro, Donald Trump’s former White House trade advisor, reported to a Florida prison on Tuesday to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

Navarro, 74, is the highest-ranking former member of the Trump administration to spend time behind bars for actions stemming from the former Republican president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Navarro was found guilty of two counts of contempt in September for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.

Navarro, a Harvard-educated economist, had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to remain free while appealing his conviction, but Chief Justice John Roberts rejected his last-ditch request on Monday.

Navarro, the architect of the “Green Bay Sweep,” a plot to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election results, will serve his sentence at a minimum-security federal prison in Miami.

He spoke to reporters in a parking lot before turning himself in.

“I am the first senior White House advisor in the history of our republic that has ever been charged with this alleged crime,” Navarro said. “When I walk in that prison today, the justice system, such as it is, will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and executive privilege.”

He claimed to be a victim of “partisan weaponization of our justice system.”

“Every person who has taken me on this road to that prison is a friggin’ Democrat and a Trump hater,” Navarro said, adding that he will “walk proudly in there and do my time.”

“I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the nominee for the Republican presidential campaign,” he said.

Navarro refused to appear for a deposition before the House of Representatives committee that investigated the January 6 attack on Congress and declined to supply documents to the panel.

He was convicted of contempt by a federal jury in Washington after a two-day trial.

Navarro is the second close Trump ally to be convicted of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House committee.

Steve Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was also found guilty of contempt of Congress.

Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison in January but remains free pending an appeal.

Trump was scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

His trial has been put on hold, however, until the Supreme Court hears Trump’s claim that as a former president, he is immune from criminal prosecution.

The Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in the immunity case for April 25.

Trump, 77, was impeached for a second time by the House after the Capitol riot — he was charged with inciting an insurrection — but was acquitted by the Senate.
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Attacks on US Palestinians Put Arab Americans on Edge

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Arab Americans and US Muslims fear bias attacks after Hamas Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza
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Nigerian Troops Rescue 16 Abductees in Kaduna

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Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s military on Tuesday said troops have rescued 16 abductees in northwest Kaduna state after exchanging fire with insurgents who attacked a local community on Sunday night — one of two kidnap attacks in the area over the weekend.

According to a military statement posted on X, troops responded to a tip about the operation Sunday night of nonstate armed groups in the Tantatu community in Kajuru district.

The military said the attackers had taken several hostages before they arrived, exchanged fire with them and saved 16 of the abductees.

According to local media reports, 87 people, including women and children, went missing from the Sunday attack — barely 24 hours after gunmen captured 16 people from their homes in Dogon Noma, another community in Kajuru.

The army said troops are still searching the forests for missing people. The latest string of kidnappings in Nigeria in recent weeks is stoking fears of rising insecurity.

Security analyst Chidi Omeje says worsening economic problems and lack of governance in remote areas are to blame.

“These guys are becoming more audacious because they see the window of opportunity, and they’re just exploiting it,” Omeje said. “It’s very obvious that the response of the security government and security agencies are not effective enough to contain these infractions. But these are just the symptoms. The real issue here is the growing poverty and despondency in the people.”

The deterioration of security in Africa’s largest country comes amid a worsening economic crisis.

Kaduna state has been a hot spot of recent incidents. Just over a week ago, 287 school students were abducted in the state, and days later, another 61 residents were also kidnapped.

The latest incidents prompted authorities last week to order the establishment of a mobile police force base in the state.

But security analyst Kabir Adamu said what is needed the most is a change of strategy.

“There are gaps within the security architecture,” Adamu said. “The farther away you go from the city center, the bigger the gaps. It shows clearly that protection, especially in the rural areas, is almost nonexistent for the dwellers.”

Kaduna is home to many military training institutions and installations.

Omeje said authorities need to revise the deployment of police officers to where they’re needed the most. He said that there are many ungoverned areas while 60% of the nation’s police are devoted to VIP protection.

“Ten percent or so are in administration in the offices, then you’re left with about 30% doing the real policing work,” Omeje said. “We have to be intentional about going back to the normal internal security structure.”

President Bola Tinubu, who is implementing bold economic reforms, vowed last year to address insecurity if he was elected president.

On March 14, 16 soldiers, including high ranking officers, were killed and decapitated in southern Delta state. They were on a mission to quell conflict between two communities in the Bomadi region.

The Nigerian military has launched an investigation.
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Austin: US, Free World ‘Will Not Let Ukraine Fail’ 

Posted on by SeeEU

Ramstein, Germany   — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States remains determined to provide Ukraine with the resources it needs to fight Russian aggression, even as a U.S. Congress has yet to approve new funding for Ukraine.

“The United States will not let Ukraine fail. This coalition will not let Ukraine fail, and the free world will not let Ukraine fail,” Austin said at the start of this month’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany.

This is Austin’s first international trip since he was hospitalized on January 1 due to complications from surgery to treat his prostate cancer in late December. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) brings together officials from more than 50 nations to coordinate their Ukraine efforts.

The U.S. has contributed about $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, with allies and partners also committing more than $44 billion in that time frame.

But the U.S. military has run out of congressionally approved funds for replenishing its weapons stockpiles sent to Ukraine, and leadership in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has so far refused to bring new aid for Ukraine up for a vote.

“There isn’t a way that our allies can really combine forces to make up for the lack of U.S. support,” according to a senior defense official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity ahead of the UDCG.

Not only is the U.S. military out of funds for Ukraine, the Defense Department has a funding shortfall from its efforts to provide military support to Ukraine that will grow to least $12 billion by the end of the fiscal year without additional funding from Congress, according to officials. The Pentagon previously acknowledged a funding shortfall of about $10 billion for U.S. military weapons needed to replace those already sent to Ukraine.

In addition to the $10 billion shortage for weapons replenishment, U.S. Army Europe and Africa currently has overspent its budget by about $500 million as it continues to pay for the training of Ukrainians and other Ukraine support mission necessities out of pocket, Col. Martin O’Donnell, the public affairs director for the Army’s forces across those two continents, told VOA.

That shortfall will grow to at least $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year without supplemental funding from Congress, he added.

Ukrainian forces have continued to fight back against Russian forces in the east while inflicting considerable damage to Russian forces in the Black Sea and downing Russian warplanes. However, Moscow— with the help of North Korea and Iran — has drastically ramped up its defense production capacity, forcing Ukraine to retreat from some battles due to ammunition shortages, the senior defense official added.

“Ukraine is heavily outgunned on the battlefield. We’ve received reports of Ukrainian troops rationing or even running out of ammunition on the front lines,” said the official.

Austin on Tuesday thanked members of the group for digging deeper to get vital security assistance to Ukraine, praising the Czech Republic for recently procuring 800,000 artillery shells for Kyiv. He also highlighted Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden for their new contributions.

Last week, the United States announced its first new round of military aid for Ukraine since late December, in what defense officials called an “ad hoc” package made possible through U.S. Army procurement savings.

The military assistance package is valued at up to $300 million and will provide Ukraine with immediate air defense, artillery and anti-tank capabilities, along with more ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers and 155-mm artillery rounds. But officials say it is unclear if there will be future procurement savings to produce another extraordinary package of aid.

“This is not a sustainable solution for Ukraine. We urgently need congressional approval of a national security supplemental,” the senior defense official said.

The emphasis on ammunition and air defense will likely be as strong as ever during this UDCG meeting. Officials say Ukraine’s forces need interceptors for a variety of their air defense systems, which they have been running out of as they try to defend against wave upon wave of attacks from Russia.

Coalition leadership group

To better organize how the UDCG provides Kyiv with military weapons and equipment, the group’s members have formed capability coalitions to identify ways to increase Kyiv’s efficiency and cut costs.

Defense officials say Secretary Austin will convene a meeting of the leads and co-leads of all the capability coalitions for the first time on Tuesday during a special coalition leadership group session.

Air Force capability is co-led by the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands. The armor capability is co-led by Poland and Italy. The artillery capability is co-led by France and the United States. De-mining is co-led by Lithuania and Iceland. Drone capability is co-led by Latvia and the United Kingdom. Information technology is co-led by Estonia and Luxembourg. Integrated air and missile defense capabilities are co-led by Germany and France, and maritime security is co-led by the United Kingdom and Norway.

Critics like Sean McFate, a professor at Syracuse University and author of “The New Rules of War,” told VOA the international community is putting its money into expensive military aid that falls short in modern warfare.

“It’s not conventional warfare that beat back Russia’s blitz. It was Ukrainian guerrilla warfare,” he said. “Ukraine was winning the unconventional fight. But then in fall of 2022, they decided to go conventional against Russia, which was strategically silly.”

McFate added that giving Ukraine more conventional war weapons was, in his view, “the strategic definition of insanity.”

Instead, he said Ukraine and its allies needed to think about unconventional ways where they can leverage their power to defeat Russia, such as guerilla operations and more direct actions deep inside Russia to build on the Russian population’s unfavorable opinions of the war.

“Use your conventional forces to hold the line, but don’t invest them to create an offensive which requires a lot more resources,” McFate told VOA.

“M1A1 Abram tanks and F-16 fighter jets … will win tactical victories on the battlefield, but we all know that you can win every battle, yet lose the war, because wars are won on the strategic level, not at the tactical level of warfare,” he said.
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Austin: ‘United States Will Not Let Ukraine Fail’ 

Posted on by SeeUS

Ramstein, Germany   — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States remains determined to provide Ukraine with the resources it needs to fight Russian aggression, even as a U.S. Congress has yet to approve new funding for Ukraine.

“The United States will not let Ukraine fail. This coalition will not let Ukraine fail, and the free world will not let Ukraine fail,” Austin said at the start of this month’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany.

This is Austin’s first international trip since he was hospitalized on January 1 due to complications from surgery to treat his prostate cancer in late December. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) brings together officials from more than 50 nations to coordinate their Ukraine efforts.

The U.S. has contributed about $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, with allies and partners also committing more than $44 billion in that time frame.

But the U.S. military has run out of congressionally approved funds for replenishing its weapons stockpiles sent to Ukraine, and leadership in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has so far refused to bring new aid for Ukraine up for a vote.

“There isn’t a way that our allies can really combine forces to make up for the lack of U.S. support,” according to a senior defense official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity ahead of the UDCG.

Not only is the U.S. military out of funds for Ukraine, the Defense Department has a funding shortfall from its efforts to provide military support to Ukraine that will grow to least $12 billion by the end of the fiscal year without additional funding from Congress, according to officials. The Pentagon previously acknowledged a funding shortfall of about $10 billion for U.S. military weapons needed to replace those already sent to Ukraine.

In addition to the $10 billion shortage for weapons replenishment, U.S. Army Europe and Africa currently has overspent its budget by about $500 million as it continues to pay for the training of Ukrainians and other Ukraine support mission necessities out of pocket, Col. Martin O’Donnell, the public affairs director for the Army’s forces across those two continents, told VOA.

That shortfall will grow to at least $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year without supplemental funding from Congress, he added.

Ukrainian forces have continued to fight back against Russian forces in the east while inflicting considerable damage to Russian forces in the Black Sea and downing Russian warplanes. However, Moscow— with the help of North Korea and Iran — has drastically ramped up its defense production capacity, forcing Ukraine to retreat from some battles due to ammunition shortages, the senior defense official added.

“Ukraine is heavily outgunned on the battlefield. We’ve received reports of Ukrainian troops rationing or even running out of ammunition on the front lines,” said the official.

Austin on Tuesday thanked members of the group for digging deeper to get vital security assistance to Ukraine, praising the Czech Republic for recently procuring 800,000 artillery shells for Kyiv. He also highlighted Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden for their new contributions.

Last week, the United States announced its first new round of military aid for Ukraine since late December, in what defense officials called an “ad hoc” package made possible through U.S. Army procurement savings.

The military assistance package is valued at up to $300 million and will provide Ukraine with immediate air defense, artillery and anti-tank capabilities, along with more ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers and 155-mm artillery rounds. But officials say it is unclear if there will be future procurement savings to produce another extraordinary package of aid.

“This is not a sustainable solution for Ukraine. We urgently need congressional approval of a national security supplemental,” the senior defense official said.

The emphasis on ammunition and air defense will likely be as strong as ever during this UDCG meeting. Officials say Ukraine’s forces need interceptors for a variety of their air defense systems, which they have been running out of as they try to defend against wave upon wave of attacks from Russia.

Coalition leadership group

To better organize how the UDCG provides Kyiv with military weapons and equipment, the group’s members have formed capability coalitions to identify ways to increase Kyiv’s efficiency and cut costs.

Defense officials say Secretary Austin will convene a meeting of the leads and co-leads of all the capability coalitions for the first time on Tuesday during a special coalition leadership group session.

Air Force capability is co-led by the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands. The armor capability is co-led by Poland and Italy. The artillery capability is co-led by France and the United States. De-mining is co-led by Lithuania and Iceland. Drone capability is co-led by Latvia and the United Kingdom. Information technology is co-led by Estonia and Luxembourg. Integrated air and missile defense capabilities are co-led by Germany and France, and maritime security is co-led by the United Kingdom and Norway.

Critics like Sean McFate, a professor at Syracuse University and author of “The New Rules of War,” told VOA the international community is putting its money into expensive military aid that falls short in modern warfare.

“It’s not conventional warfare that beat back Russia’s blitz. It was Ukrainian guerrilla warfare,” he said. “Ukraine was winning the unconventional fight. But then in fall of 2022, they decided to go conventional against Russia, which was strategically silly.”

McFate added that giving Ukraine more conventional war weapons was, in his view, “the strategic definition of insanity.”

Instead, he said Ukraine and its allies needed to think about unconventional ways where they can leverage their power to defeat Russia, such as guerilla operations and more direct actions deep inside Russia to build on the Russian population’s unfavorable opinions of the war.

“Use your conventional forces to hold the line, but don’t invest them to create an offensive which requires a lot more resources,” McFate told VOA.

“M1A1 Abram tanks and F-16 fighter jets … will win tactical victories on the battlefield, but we all know that you can win every battle, yet lose the war, because wars are won on the strategic level, not at the tactical level of warfare,” he said.
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Top US Congressional Leaders Say Spending Deal Reached

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — The top Republican and Democrat in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday said they had reached a deal to keep the government funded through the rest of the fiscal year that began in October, setting off a race to pass it before a weekend shutdown deadline. 

The last sticking point was funding for the Department of Homeland Security, as a surge in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has become a major issue in the election rematch between Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump. 

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed the agreement in a pair of statements on Tuesday morning. 

The actual legislative text of the agreement, which must be finalized before lawmakers can vote on it, is still being completed. Current House rules require that lawmakers have three days to consider legislation before bringing it to the floor. 

The package was expected to cover about three-quarters of discretionary government spending, due to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the fiscal year ending September 30. It contains funding for functions that include the U.S. military, transportation, housing and food safety. 

But more fights lie ahead as the nation’s $34.5 trillion national debt continues to grow. Biden and House Republicans earlier this month laid out proposed budgets for the next fiscal year, which begins in October, that offered sharply contrasting priorities. 

Johnson so far has also refused to bring up for a vote a $95 billion foreign security aid package that includes money that advocates say is urgently needed for Ukraine in its war against Russia.  

The measure has been approved by the Senate with bipartisan support and is thought to have significant backing in the House if members were given a chance to vote.  

Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been fighting since early last year on funding levels amid a push by hardline House Republicans to cut more spending than had been agreed to in a bipartisan deal enacted into law last June. 
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Researchers Detail Decline in Australia’s Environmental Health in 2023

Posted on by SeeEA

SYDNEY — An annual university report said although Australia’s environmental scorecard deteriorated in 2023, the nation fared better than many other countries.

While 2023 was the hottest year on record globally, for Australia it was the eighth hottest year because of wet and relatively mild conditions.

The research is carried out each year by the Australia National University,  or ANU, and is contained in the Australian Environment 2023 Report.

Researchers use scientific information to give Australia a score out of 10. In 2023, it was 7.5, down from 8.7 the previous year.

The decline was mostly due to reduced rainfall compared to 2022.  They stress that the report card is not a reflection of the Canberra government’s policies, but a general assessment of the health of the environment.

Information about the weather data is used alongside satellite data on threatened species, biodiversity and water flows to calculate the annual score.

Australia’s biodiversity took a significant hit last year, according to the study. It states that a record 130 species were added to the Threatened Species List, compared with the average of 29 species added annually.

The university survey details how Australia’s population grew “rapidly” last year by 3.5%, its fastest growth in decades.

The study revealed that Australians are the world’s 10th worst greenhouse gas emitters per person, just after Saudi Arabia.

Professor Albert Van Dijk from the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment told VOA the country’s greenhouse gas emissions increased for the first time in five years – mainly because domestic air travel picked up after COVID.

“While our emissions per person are very slowly going down – a lot more slowly than in most, you know, industrialized countries, but they are going down slowly – but our population is growing so fast,” he said. “It is growing faster than our emissions are going down.  So, you know, we are not achieving the emissions reductions as a country that we need to achieve.”

Overall, the annual ANU report states that Australia is the world’s 15th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, contributing 1% of global emissions.

Van Dijk believes as a wealthy nation, Australia should be doing more to combat the impact of climate change.

“If you look at the uptake of electric vehicles, if you look at the use of renewables, we are still a laggard internationally,” he said. “We have got the 10th highest emissions per person globally; three times the global average, two times the average Chinese person.”

He said countries like the United Kingdom are doing more to reduce the emission per person.

“Australia needs to really step up its game. I think we should be very worried about the state of the environment globally, and especially about climate change.”

Australia’s government has for the first time legislated a target to cut carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

 
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