Month: June 2024

In Pyongyang, Putin and Kim upgrade relationship, pledge closer ties

Posted on by SeeEU

Seoul, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin received a grandiose reception in Pyongyang on Wednesday, meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and pledging closer cooperation as both countries confront the West. 

Putin and Kim, who also signed a document upgrading ties, participated in a welcoming ceremony in the central Kim Il Sung Square, where buildings were draped in massive Russian and North Korean flags and portraits of the two leaders. 

North Korean residents dressed in red, white, and blue shirts waved bright bouquets of flowers in unison as a brass band played patriotic songs. Putin and Kim also observed a North Korean honor guard before departing for negotiations, which included two hours of one-on-one talks, according to Russian media.

At the outset of the negotiations, Putin thanked North Korea for its “consistent and unwavering support” for Russian policy, including in Ukraine, reported Russia’s Interfax news agency.

Kim expressed his “full support and solidarity” for what he called Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, according to Interfax. The North Korean leader also vowed to “unconditionally support” Russia’s policies, the agency added.

Putin, who is making his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, invited Kim to Moscow, Russian state media reported.

Russia and North Korea have long been close partners, but their cooperation has intensified following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has supplied Russia with thousands of containers of munitions, including ballistic missiles, according to U.S. officials – an allegation denied by Pyongyang and Moscow.

Close, but how close?

According to Interfax, Putin and Kim signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, formally upgrading ties. The treaty text has not been released. Though it is expected to fall short of a formal alliance agreement, Russian officials have said it will likely cover defense cooperation in some sense.

Analysts debate how far North Korea-Russia military cooperation will go. Some say Kim and Putin may find more reasons to continue working together as each country’s relationship with the West deteriorates. But the two men will not restore Soviet-era ties, said Kim Gunn, a South Korean lawmaker who earlier this year stepped down as South Korea’s top nuclear envoy.

“Russia is not the former Soviet Union,” he said. “And Russia is at war in Ukraine – they are pouring all their energy into this war. There’s not so much room for Russia to do anything with North Korea.”

For now, Putin and Kim are presenting a united front, with Putin describing their collaboration on Wednesday as a fight against U.S. hegemony.

An editorial Tuesday in the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s main newspaper, said the “people and military of both countries have the sacred duty, together, to safeguard their country’s sovereignty and dignity and guarantee the peace and security of the region.”

Rachel Minyoung Lee, a North Korea watcher and senior fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Center, said that formulation was unusual for North Korean state media, an aberration that she said sends a “less than comforting message” about future military cooperation.

“The agreement (or a treaty) North Korea and Russia sign during Putin’s visit, if made public, will hopefully bring clarity to this phrase,” she wrote in a blog post on 38 North, a North Korea-focused website.

Sanctions evasion

Tuesday, Putin vowed to work with North Korea to counter sanctions. In a letter published in North Korean state media, Putin said the two countries would develop trade mechanisms “not controlled by the West” and would “jointly oppose illegitimate unilateral restrictions.”

Both countries are subject to a growing number of sanctions imposed by individual countries – Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine and North Korea because of its nuclear weapons program and other illicit activities, such as cybertheft.

North Korea is also subject to a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions, which prohibit a wide range of economic activity with Pyongyang.

Russia – a permanent, veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council – voted for the North Korea sanctions as recently as 2017. But it now opposes the sanctions and has taken steps to complicate their enforcement. 

 Many Russian analysts say Putin is reluctant to completely abandon U.N. sanctions on North Korea. Instead, he may search for what he sees as loopholes that facilitate cooperation even in areas that are subject to U.N. sanctions, such as North Korean laborers earning income abroad.

For instance, North Korean IT specialists could work remotely from their home country without technically receiving income abroad, said Georgy Toloraya, a former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts, which was meant to monitor enforcement of the North Korea sanctions.

Weapons cooperation

Analysts are also watching Putin’s visit for any signs of additional defense cooperation.

A key question among Western analysts is what Putin might offer North Korea in exchange for weapons allegedly used in the Ukraine war.

U.S. officials have expressed concern that Russia may provide North Korea with advanced weapons or other assistance related to its nuclear program.

Such cooperation represents “the greatest threat to U.S. national security since the Korean War,” said Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In a blog post, Cha said it is “highly unlikely that Kim would have feted Putin so lavishly only for the promise of food and fuel,” noting that Pyongyang seeks advanced weapons, including nuclear submarine and intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

“This aspect of the relationship not only destabilizes security on the peninsula and in Asia; it also heightens the direct threat posed by North Korea to the [U.S.] homeland,” he said.
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Fresh Malaysian durians for China after trade deals signed during Li’s visit

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Fresh Malaysian durians will soon make their way to China as the two countries signed a slew of trade and economic deals Wednesday during a visit by Premier Li Qiang to celebrate a half-century of diplomatic relations.

Li held private talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in the government administrative capital of Putrajaya before they met with their delegations. The two leaders witnessed the signing of various pacts, including a new five-year deal for economic and trade cooperation that officials said would bolster links between industries in priority sectors like high-level manufacturing and the digital economy.

The sides also inked a protocol on measures that will allow Malaysia to export to China fresh durian, a spiky tropical fruit with a strong odor and known for its creamy pulp, Anwar’s office said.

Exporting fresh durians to China will open a new market for Malaysia, which began selling durian pulp and paste to China in 2011 and frozen durian whole fruits in 2018. Malaysia’s frozen durian export value to China has surged from 170 million ringgit ($36 million) in 2018 to nearly 1.2 billion ringgit ($255 million) last year, it said.

Li, the first Chinese premier to visit Malaysia since 2015, flew in for a three-day visit late Tuesday from Australia. Li, who was given a red-carpet welcome, said upon his arrival that the two nations’ 50-year anniversary was a new starting point to deepen links and increase exchanges.

“China is advancing Chinese modernization on all fronts through high-quality development. Malaysia, on its part, is promoting national development under the vision of Malaysia MADANI. China is ready to work with Malaysia,” Li said in a statement published by the national Bernama news agency.

Li, China’s No. 2 leader after President Xi Jinping, last week also became the first Chinese premier to visit New Zealand and then Australia in seven years.

Other agreements signed aim to promote investment in the digital economy and green development, combat transnational crime, and boost housing and urban development, higher education, people-to-people exchanges in science and technology, tourism and cultural cooperation, Anwar’s office said.

Trade with China — Malaysia’s No. 1 trading partner since 2009 — made up 17% of Malaysia’s global trade, valued at $98.8 billion last year, Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz was quoted as saying by Bernama last week.

While trade dominated the talks, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hassan has said the prickly issue of territorial claims in the South China Sea was also likely to be raised.

Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan all dispute Beijing’s claims to almost the entire South China Sea. But unlike the publicized clashes between the Philippines and China, Malaysia’s government prefers the diplomatic channel and rarely criticizes Beijing even though Chinese coast guard ships have sailed near Malaysia’s waters. This is partly to protect economic ties between the trade partners.

“That is why we need to further build on this good cooperation we have established since 1974. The good ties we have enjoyed since will allow us to manage and resolve any issue amicably,” Mohamad Hassan was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper ahead of Li’s visit. 

Anwar, who visited China twice last year, has sought to move closer to Beijing even while engaging the U.S. as a key ally. While speaking at a forum in Tokyo in May, Anwar stressed that Beijing is too close, too important and too strategic to ignore.

Ahead of Li’s visit, Anwar told Chinese media that Malaysia planned to join the BRICS bloc of developing economies but didn’t give details. The plan was confirmed by Zafrul and Mohamad Hassan on Monday. The bloc’s core members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who seek a fairer world order currently dominated by Western nations. The bloc expanded with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invited to become members this year. Some 40 countries have also expressed interest.

“Joining BRICS doesn’t mean Malaysia will lose its strategic ambiguity between Beijing and Washington. It merely means an additional platform to give it a bigger voice as a middle power,” said James Chin, professor of Asian studies at Australia’s University of Tasmania.

Li is also scheduled to have an audience with King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said Li and Anwar will also attend a groundbreaking ceremony at a construction site for the East Coast Rail Link, which connects Malaysia’s west coast to eastern rural states and is a key part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

The project was suspended in 2018 after Malaysia’s long-ruling coalition was toppled in a historic general election over a massive corruption scandal. It was subsequently revived after the Chinese contractor agreed to cut the construction cost by one-third, and is now due to be completed by the end of 2026.

The two leaders will also attend a dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Both leaders will also meet the business community at a luncheon before Li heads home Thursday.
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Security and trade dominate Australian ministerial talks in Papua New Guinea

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SYDNEY — Senior Australian ministers are in Papua New Guinea to discuss security and development amid China’s growing ambitions in the region.

The ministerial forum comes at a critical time with the Canberra government hoping to maintain its position as a dominant trade and security partner in the Pacific.

Papua New Guinea is boosting trade ties with China and has had negotiations with Beijing over policing cooperation, which has caused alarm in Canberra and Washington, which struck a defense accord with Papua New Guinea last year. 

Australia’s high-level delegation to Papua New Guinea includes Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, Defense Minister Richard Marles, and ministers for cyber security, agriculture and fisheries, trade and international development.

They will join their counterparts for talks Wednesday on economic and security cooperation.

Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Canberra will pursue its own interests, while Beijing will do the same.

“We do not expect China to stop being China. China will continue to assert its interests,” she said. “How we deal with that is to assert ours and we do so both in the bilateral relationship but also in the way we engage in the region and the way we engage with other powers.”

Meg Keen, director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based research organization, told VOA that both Canberra and Washington want to limit Beijing’s influence in Papua New Guinea.

China has already sent police to neighboring Solomon Islands and Kiribati, insisting it has a plan to help Pacific Island countries maintain social order.

Australia has, however, said that Beijing should have “no role” in policing the Pacific Islands, and that the Canberra government will train more local security forces to fill gaps.

Keen said China has strategic ambitions in the Pacific region.

“China is in a competition with Taiwan for recognition and since 2019 it has been able to win the support away from Taiwan of three countries in the region. That is significant. Kiribati is one of those,” Keen said. “So, while these are small countries they have enormous ocean territories. They sit in a very strategic place between the United States, Australia and Asia.”

This week, the Chinese Premier Li Qiang held talks with senior government officials in Australia.

It was a further sign that bilateral relations, which have been strained over various geopolitical and trade disputes, are improving.

However, differences between the two sides remain over human rights, the South China Sea, allegations of cyber espionage and, increasingly, over Beijing’s ambitions in the Pacific, a region Australia has traditionally considered to be its sphere of influence.
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Strict asylum rules, poor treatment of migrants push people north to UK

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AMBLETEUSE, France — The rising tide crept above their waists, soaking the babies they hugged tight. Around a dozen Kurds refused to leave the cold waters of the English Channel in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable: French police had just foiled their latest attempt to reach the United Kingdom by boat.

The men, women and children were trapped again on the last frontier of their journey from Iraq and Iran. They hoped that a rubber dinghy would get them to better lives with housing, schooling and work. Now it disappeared on the horizon, only a few of its passengers aboard.

On the beach of the quiet northern French town of Ambleteuse, police pleaded for the migrants to leave the 10-degree Celsius water, so cold it can kill within minutes. Do it for the children’s sake, they argued.

“The boat is go!” an increasingly irritated officer shouted in French-accented English. “It’s over! It’s over!”

The asylum-seekers finally emerged from the sea defeated, but there was no doubt that they would try to reach the U.K. again. They would not find the haven they needed in France, or elsewhere in the European Union.

Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants were pushing them north. While the U.K. government has been hostile, too, many migrants have family or friends in the U.K. and a perception they will have more opportunities there.

EU rules stipulate that a person must apply for asylum in the first member state they land in. This has overwhelmed countries on the edge of the 27-nation bloc such as Italy, Greece and Spain.

Some migrants don’t even try for new lives in the EU anymore. They are flying to France from as far away as Vietnam to attempt the Channel crossing after failing to get permission to enter the U.K., which has stricter visa requirements.

“No happy here,” said Adam, an Iraqi father of six who was among those caught on the beach in a recent May morning. He refused to provide his last name due to his uncertain legal status in France. He had failed to find schooling and housing for his children in France and had grown frustrated with the asylum office’s lack of answers about his case. He thought things would be better in the U.K., he said.

While the number of people entering the EU without permission is nowhere near as high as during a 2015-2016 refugee crisis, far-right parties across Europe, including in France, have exploited migration to the continent and made big electoral wins in the most recent European Parliamentary elections. Their rhetoric, and the treatment already faced by many people on the French coast and elsewhere in the bloc, clash with the stated principles of solidarity, openness and respect for human dignity that underpin the democratic EU, human rights advocates note.

In recent months, the normally quiet beaches around Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne-Sur-Mer have become the stage of cat-and-mouse games — even violent clashes — between police and smugglers. Police have fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Smugglers have hurled stones.

While boat crossings across the Channel represent only a tiny fraction of migration to the U.K., France agreed last year to hold migrants back in exchange for hundreds of millions of euros. It’s an agreement akin to deals made between the European Union and North African nations in recent years. And while many people have been stopped by police, they are not offered alternative solutions and are bound to try crossing again.

About 10,500 people have reached England in small boats in the first five months of the year, some 37% more than the same time period last year, according to data published by the U.K.’s Home Office.

The heightened border surveillance is increasing risks and ultimately leading to more deaths, closer to shore, said Salomé Bahri, a coordinator with the nongovernmental organization Utopia 56, which helps migrants stranded in France. At least 20 people have died so far this year trying to reach the U.K., according to Utopia 56. That’s nearly as many as died in all of last year, according to statistics published by the International Organization of Migration.

People are rushing to avoid being caught by authorities and there are more fatalities, Bahri said. In late April, five people died, including a 7-year-old girl who was crushed inside a rubber boat after more than 110 people boarded it frantically trying to escape police.
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US acknowledges Northwest dams have devastated the region’s Native tribes

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SEATTLE — The U.S. government on Tuesday acknowledged, for the first time, the harmful role it has played over the past century in building and operating dams in the Pacific Northwest — dams that devastated Native American tribes by inundating their villages and decimating salmon runs while bringing electricity, irrigation and jobs to nearby communities.

In a new report, the Biden administration said those cultural, spiritual and economic detriments continue to pain the tribes, which consider salmon part of their cultural and spiritual identity, as well as a crucial food source.

The government downplayed or accepted the well-known risk to the fish in its drive for industrial development, converting the wealth of the tribes into the wealth of non-Native people, according to the report.

“The government afforded little, if any, consideration to the devastation the dams would bring to Tribal communities, including to their cultures, sacred sites, economies, and homes,” the report said.

It added: “Despite decades of efforts and an enormous amount of funding attempting to mitigate these impacts, salmon stocks remain threatened or endangered and continued operation of the dams perpetuates the myriad adverse effects.”

The Interior Department’s report comes amid a $1 billion effort announced earlier this year to restore the region’s salmon runs before more become extinct — and to better partner with the tribes on the actions necessary to make that happen.

That includes increasing the production and storage of renewable energy to replace hydropower generation that would be lost if four dams on the lower Snake River are ever breached. Tribes, conservationists and even federal scientists say that would be the best hope for recovering the salmon, providing the fish with access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho.

“President Biden recognizes that to confront injustice, we must be honest about history – even when doing so is difficult,” said a statement from White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary. “In the Pacific Northwest, an open and candid conversation about the history and legacy of the federal government’s management of the Columbia River is long overdue.”

Northwest Republicans in Congress and some business and utility groups oppose breaching the dams, saying it would jeopardize an important shipping route for farmers and throw off clean-energy goals. GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who represents eastern Washington, called Tuesday’s report a “sham.”

“This bad faith report is just the latest in a long list of examples that prove the Biden administration’s goal has always been dam breaching,” she said in a written statement.

The document was a requirement of an agreement last year to halt decades of legal fights over the operation of the dams. It lays out how government and private interests in the early 20th century began walling off the tributaries of the Columbia River, the largest in the Northwest, to provide water for irrigation or flood control, compounding the damage that was already being caused to water quality and salmon runs by mining, logging and rapacious non-tribal salmon cannery operations.

The report was accompanied by the announcement of a new task force to coordinate salmon recovery efforts across federal agencies.

Tribal representatives said they were gratified with the administration’s formal, if long-belated, acknowledgment of how the U.S. government ignored their treaty-based fishing rights and their concerns about how the dams would affect their people.

“The salmon themselves have been suffering the consequences since the dams first were put in,” said Shannon Wheeler, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe. “The lack of salmon eventually starts affecting us, but they’re the ones who have been suffering the longest. … It feels like there’s an opportunity to end the suffering.”

Salmon are born in rivers and migrate far downstream to the ocean, where they spend their adult lives before returning to their natal rivers to spawn and die. Dams can disrupt that by cutting off access to upstream habitat and by slowing and warming water to the point that fish die.

The Columbia River Basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world’s greatest salmon-producing river system, with as many as 16 million salmon and steelhead returning every year to spawn.

Now, scientists say, about 2 million salmon and steelhead return to the Columbia and its tributaries each year, about two-thirds of them hatchery raised. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in southeastern Idaho said it once harvested enough salmon for each tribal member to have 700 pounds of fish in a year. Today, the average harvest yields barely 1 pound per tribal member.

Of the 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead that once populated the river system, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Another iconic but endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales, also depend on the salmon.

There has been growing recognition across the U.S. that the harms some dams cause to fish outweigh their usefulness. Dams on the Elwha River in Washington state and the Klamath River along the Oregon-California border have been or are being removed.

The construction of the first dams on the main Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams in the 1930s, provided jobs to a country grappling with the Great Depression, as well as hydropower and navigation.

As early as the late 1930s, tribes were warning that the salmon runs could disappear, with the fish no longer able to access spawning grounds upstream. The tribes — the Yakama Nation, Spokane Tribe, confederated tribes of the Colville and Umatilla reservations, Nez Perce, and others — continued to fight the construction and operation of the dams for generations.

Tom Iverson, regional coordinator for Yakama Nation Fisheries, said that while the report was gratifying, it remains “hopes and promises” until funding for salmon restoration and renewable power projects comes through Congress.

“With these agreements, there is hope,” Iverson said. “We feel like this is a moment in time. If it doesn’t happen now, it will be too late.”
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US soldier sentenced to nearly 4 years in Russia’s penal colony, Russian agencies report

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US approves $360 million arms sale to Taiwan for missiles, drones

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale to Taiwan of drones and missiles for an estimated $360 million, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

The United States is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, to the constant anger of Beijing.

China has been stepping up military pressure against Taiwan, including staging war games around the island last month after the inauguration of Lai Ching-te as president.

The sale “will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,” the Pentagon agency said in separate statements on Tuesday in the U.S.

The sale includes Switchblade 300 anti-personnel and anti-armor loitering munitions and related equipment for an estimated cost of $60.2 million, and ALTIUS 600M-V drones and related equipment for an estimated cost of $300 million, the agency added. Loitering munitions are small guided missiles that can fly around a target area until they are directed to attack.

Taiwan’s defense ministry expressed its thanks, especially for U.S. efforts to increase arms sales to the island. Taiwan has repeatedly complained of delayed deliveries.

“In the face of the Chinese communists’ frequent military operations around Taiwan, these US-agreed-to arms sales items will have the ability to detect and strike in real time, and can respond quickly to enemy threats,” it said in a statement.

Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait require goodwill from China, the ministry added.

“It is hoped that the People’s Liberation Army will stop its oppressive military operations around Taiwan and jointly contribute to regional stability.”
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Putin’s visit puts Vietnam in ‘difficult position’ with ‘no breakthrough,’ experts say

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WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to Vietnam will put the Southeast Asian country in a difficult position and could even be seen as risky for Hanoi, according to three international relations experts who spoke on Monday to VOA. They expected no breakthrough from the visit.

Putin is scheduled to visit Vietnam on Wednesday and Thursday, after his Tuesday-Wednesday trip to North Korea.

Risks for Hanoi

“Hosting Putin in a combined trip that brings him to North Korea is bad optics for Hanoi and will bring some risks. This may make Vietnam less trustful in the eyes of the West, Japan and South Korea. But on the other hand, Hanoi would gain more trust in the eyes of Russia,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

According to Vuving, the link between Putin’s visits to North Korea and Vietnam lies mostly in logistics: It makes more sense for Putin’s schedule to go to these countries in one trip rather than in two separate trips.

“But it also highlights the fact that Vietnam, like North Korea, is a close friend of Russia,” he said.

Nguyen Ngoc Truong, former president of the Center for Strategic Studies and International Development, a government-affiliated think tank in Hanoi, said Vietnam had sent a message telling Russia they did not want Putin to combine the North Korea and Vietnam stops in one trip “because it could cause international misunderstandings.”

But the combined trip will still take place because “in terms of foreign affairs, Vietnam must consider all aspects,” Truong said.

‘Traditional and dearest friend’

Truong pointed out that the Vietnamese leadership is grateful for the assistance Vietnam received in past wars from the former Soviet Union. Therefore, they consider Russia a “traditional and dearest friend.”

“Vietnamese people, especially those who understand geopolitics, cannot turn their backs on their friends because of immediate events. Russians stood shoulder to shoulder with Vietnam through the darkest and happiest moments, including assisting with weapons,” Truong said.

Hoang Viet, a Ho Chi Minh City Law University lecturer and international dispute expert, stressed that Vietnam “does not want to lose its long-standing relationship” with Russia, a major power holding a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Viet noted that Russia has never had any disputes or conflicts with Vietnam.

“Given the current harsh Western sanctions, Putin’s visit puts Vietnam in a difficult position. But Vietnam still has to maintain its relations because with the Vietnamese way of thinking, they must honor traditional friendship,” Viet observed.

Relationship with U.S.

Just nine months ago, Vietnam welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden, and on that occasion, Hanoi and Washington upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, on par with the relationship that Vietnam had for many years with Russia, China and a few other countries.

Viet noted that while the U.S. views Vietnam as an important player in its Indo-Pacific strategy, Vietnam still largely relies on Russian weapons for its defense strength. Therefore, Vietnam must balance its relations with Russia and the U.S.

“No country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi told Reuters on Monday when asked about the impact of the visit on ties with the United States.

“If he is able to travel freely, it could normalize Russia’s blatant violations of international law,” the spokesperson added, referring to the invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched in February 2022.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Vietnam, Russia and the U.S. are not members of the ICC.

No breakthrough expected

Viet expected that during the visit, Russia and Vietnam would enter into deals on weapons and oil and gas, which he called “traditional deals,” while Hanoi tries “not to violate Western sanctions.” 

Truong expected there would be no special outcomes, saying “It will be just a friendly visit. There will probably not be any breakthroughs between the two countries. Military and defense cooperation in the current situation is unlikely to develop at all.”

Vuving said he thought the top issues likely to be discussed by Vietnam and Russia will be the ways to boost bilateral trade in the face of Western sanctions, cooperation in the energy sector, including oil, gas, solar and nuclear energy, and Vietnam’s purchase of weapons from Russia.

“Issues like payments and direct flights will likely be high on the agenda, as they are critical for restoring bilateral trade,” Vuving said.

He assessed that “Russia will benefit more from the visit.”

Noting that Vietnam will be the farthest destination for Putin since his invasion of Ukraine, Vuving commented that the visit will show that after the invasion, “many friends remain loyal to Moscow. These friends are not only in Russia’s neighborhood, and some are friends to Russia not because they are enemies of the West,” he said.

“But Vietnam also benefits from the visit as it helps to gain more trust from Russia and helps to keep Russia on Vietnam’s side in the South China Sea disputes with China,” he said.

Neutral stance toward war

Vuving added that Vietnam has been trying to maintain a largely neutral stance toward the war in Ukraine. However, the hosting of Putin will carry big risks to this stance.

Viet said despite trying to balance its heart for both Ukraine and Russia, two former Soviet republics that provided colossal help to Vietnam, Hanoi still leans more to one side.

“Russia’s strength is different; Russia is also a great power. In geopolitics, interests are important. Vietnam finds more benefits in Russia than in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, the Vietnamese government still seems more inclined to maintain relations with Russia than with Ukraine,” Viet said.

Truong commented, “Ukrainians may not like this trip, but they are also a people who have gone through many tough and tragic events in their history, and they understand everything very well. As a country living next to a giant neighbor [like Vietnam], they have similar views and similar feelings.”
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Senegal customs seize cocaine shipments worth over $50M

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Dakar, Senegal — Senegalese customs said Tuesday it had intercepted three shipments of cocaine with a total estimated value of more than $50 million in the past five days.

The authorities have made an increasing number of cocaine seizures in recent months from neighboring countries — notably Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mali — which are reputed to be transit zones for drugs produced in Latin America on their way to Europe.

In a statement on Tuesday, the police said they had intercepted a refrigerated truck near the border with Mali.

“The search of the lorry revealed 264 packets of cocaine weighing a total of 306.24 kilograms, carefully concealed in a hiding place inside the ventilation compartment of the fridge,” it said.

The value of the seizure is estimated at $40 million.

The day before, customs officers in the south of the country carried out an operation on a vehicle from “a neighboring country” driven “by an individual from a Sahel country,” according to another statement published on Friday.

Customs officers discovered 95 packets of cocaine worth $14.2 million.

Another seizure on Saturday at Blaise Diagne International Airport, near Dakar, led to the discovery of 18 kilograms of cocaine worth around $2.3 million.

The drugs were in a suitcase that was part of a consignment of unaccompanied luggage “coming from a country bordering Senegal and bound for a European Union country.”

Several seizures of cocaine have been announced by customs in recent months, including a 1-ton haul in mid-April in the east of the country, near the border with Mali, and several others earlier this month.

In November, the army announced the seizure of nearly 3 tons of cocaine from a vessel seized in international waters off the coast of Senegal.
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Hong Kongers’ voices more influential in UK elections

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LONDON — General elections in the United Kingdom will be held on July 4, and thousands of Hong Kongers who are eligible to vote through the British National (Overseas) program, or BNO visa, are expected to make their voices heard.

The program was launched in January 2021 in response to a harsh Chinese security law imposed on Hong Kong seven months earlier. Since then, more than 150,000 Hong Kongers have received visas. The policy allows them to build new lives in the U.K. and gives them the right to vote.

In towns such as Sutton and Wokingham, where many Hong Kongers live, the influence of Hong Kong society is obvious as the election approaches. Candidates seeking to secure their votes are addressing their concerns and needs.

Lucy Demery, a Conservative Party parliamentary candidate for Wokingham, lived in Hong Kong for 17 years and once joined peaceful protests against the strict rule of the Chinese Communist Party.

She told VOA that she wants to make sure that she is “the biggest, strongest advocate for the Hong Kong community here.”

“It’s a priority of mine to make sure that all Hong Kongers in Wokingham feel safe and secure and integrated into the community here. … It’s really a Conservative government that initiated the BNO settlement scheme, which I’m very proud of,” she said.

In Sutton, parliamentary candidates from all parties met with more than 70 BNO Hong Kongers and journalists on Saturday. The event was organized by local community groups Sutton Hong Kongers and Vote for Hong Kong 2024.

The candidates expressed support for integration and providing a safe environment for the Hong Kong people. They also took a firm stance on international issues involving China, emphasizing the importance of human rights and democracy.

Hersh Thaker, a Labour Party candidate for Carshalton and Wallington, said, “This is going to be one of the most remarkable migration stories in British history when you look back at the number of people that have come over from Hong Kong, but actually the contribution that has been made to this country as a result of this has been extraordinary.”

But not all Hong Kongers are eager to participate in the political process.

Richard Choi, Sutton Hong Kongers’ organizer, told VOA, “It’s important for Hong Kongers to feel safe. They are too scared to get involved in politics. They are afraid of speaking out. It’s hard to get feedback from them. Even though their email address, postcode, and data are not required, people still don’t want to get involved. Article 23 [of Hong Kong’s national security law] and the spy incident make it even worse.” 

Last month, the U.K. prosecuted three people under the country’s National Security Act of 2023 for allegedly assisting Hong Kong intelligence agencies to conduct foreign interference activities in the U.K. According to the prosecution, Chung Biu Yuen, the executive manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, was the suspected mastermind of the activities.

Article 23 of Hong Kong’s national security law has also been used against Hong Kongers in the U.K. The Hong Kong passports of activists Simon Cheng and Nathan Law, who are in exile in the U.K., have been revoked, and their families in Hong Kong have been harassed.

Demery said the U.K.’s strengthened national security law is crucial in protecting the safety of Hong Kong people.

“It was also a Conservative government which strengthened our national security laws in the U.K., which allows us now to be cracking down on some transnational oppression from Hong Kong and China on our territory,” she said.

Bobby Dean, the Liberal Democrats candidate for Carshalton and Wallington, trained democracy activists in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He expressed concerns about China’s threat to the Hong Kong community in the U.K. and called on the government to take a tough stance.

“In the West, for too long, [we] have been too lenient and too concerned about how bad state actors like Russia and China might react to the language and rhetoric that we use, and so, we really soften that,” he said. “China and Russia are looking at the hard calculation, not the tone of what we say.”   

During the event, some Hong Kongers expressed their concerns about higher tuition fees for those who haven’t lived in the U.K. for three years. One BNO passport holder said, “People misunderstand that Hong Kong people are rich. But many of us cannot afford £50,000 [$63,000] a year in tuition fees for our children because we are still classified as internationals.”

Tom Drummond, the Conservative Party candidate for Sutton and Cheam, said he would help solve the problem of expensive tuition fees.

“We need to rebuild trust. We are all standing to make your lives better. I will be your voice in Westminster instead of your voice in Sutton. But I think it’s important to realize that we’re standing, all of us. And whoever’s elected, I’ve got no doubt, they’re going into it for the right reasons,” he said.

Luke Taylor, the Liberal Democrats candidate for Sutton and Cheam, said, “I think I would give you the reassurance that as Liberal Democrats, we have a history of standing on, as a party, the right side of controversial issues. We are not afraid to be contrary to the established view.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Ukraine war transforms roles of women in the workplace

Posted on by SeeEU

The war in Ukraine is bringing what promises to be lasting changes in the role of women in the workplace. Lesia Bakalets traveled to Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region to hear from women training to drive tractors, a job that until recently was the exclusive realm of men. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets.
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US: Gaza cease-fire can bring Israel-Hezbollah conflicts to an end

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — A cease-fire in Gaza can bring the conflicts along the Israel-Lebanon border to an end, senior U.S. officials said amid worries of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters based in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the United States is continuing to review one shipment of bombs for Israel over concerns about their use in the densely populated area of Rafah.

Diplomatic solution

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that officials are seeking a diplomatic way to end the battles along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon so civilians can safely return to their homes.

“Hezbollah has tied the actions that it’s committing against Israel to Gaza,” Blinken told reporters during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “If we get that cease-fire [in Gaza], I think that will make it more likely that we can find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in the north.”

In Beirut, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein urged a de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hochstein said earlier on Tuesday that a cease-fire in Gaza “could also bring the conflict across the Blue Line to an end.” He was referring to the demarcation line dividing Lebanon from Israel.

Last week, Iran-backed Hezbollah escalated hostilities on Lebanon’s southern border by launching rockets and weaponized drones at nine Israeli military sites. This was the largest attack by Hezbollah since October, when the group began exchanging fire with Israel in parallel with the Gaza war.

U.S. weapons shipments to Israel

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Blinken has “assured” him that the Biden administration is “working day and night to remove these bottlenecks” on U.S. supplies of weapons and ammunition to Israel.

The U.S. paused military shipments to Israel in May, including 1,800 907-kilogram (2,000-pound) bombs and 1,700 226-kilogram (500-pound) bombs, because of concerns over Israel’s plan to expand a military operation in Rafah, a densely populated city in southern Gaza, which the United States does not support.

Blinken told reporters the U.S. is still pausing a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel.

At the State Department, Blinken said the U.S. continues to “review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2,000-pound bombs” due to concerns about their use in Rafah.

“But everything else is moving as it normally would move” to make sure Israel “has what it needs to defend itself against this multiplicity of challenges,” noted Blinken.

Meanwhile, Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer are in Washington this week for discussions following the visit of U.S. special envoy Hochstein to Israel and Beirut.

Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that a temporary pier built to deliver aid into the Gaza Strip is expected to be operational again this week. The U.S. military had disconnected the floating pier last week and moved it to the port of Ashdod in Israel because of bad weather.

VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this story.
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Sudan, UAE envoys clash at UN

Posted on by SeeAF

United Nations — The representatives of Sudan and the United Arab Emirates clashed Tuesday at the U.N. Security Council over Khartoum’s accusations that Abu Dhabi is providing arms and other support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, fueling a brutal war in Sudan.  

“The UAE must stay away from Sudan!” Sudan’s ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, told the council. “That is the first requirement that will allow for stability in Sudan. It must stop its support.” 

Mohamed accused the UAE of assisting RSF forces through militias in Chad, southern Libya and central Africa, adding that Sudan has submitted copies of a half dozen UAE passports found on the battlefield in Khartoum to the council to back up their claims of Emirati interference. He also said, without providing evidence, that wounded RSF fighters are being airlifted to Dubai for medical treatment. 

Emirati Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab, who was seated beside his Sudanese counterpart at the 15-nation council’s horseshoe-shaped table, during the meeting on the situation in Sudan, called the allegations “ludicrous.” 

“We see this as a shameful abuse by one of the warring parties of Sudan of this Council — using this platform to spread false allegations against the UAE to distract from the grave violations that are happening on the ground,” the Emirati ambassador said. 

The UAE has repeatedly denied sending arms to the RSF, but Tuesday was the first time their envoy had responded in person to the accusations at a council meeting. 

A report by a U.N. panel of experts earlier this year said there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the paramilitary group. 

Sudan’s envoy asked the council to act. 

“I ask your esteemed council to speak bravely and to take the last required step, which is to openly mention and condemn the UAE so that it would stop this war,” Ambassador Mohamed said. 

The United States has expressed concern about regional and international interference in Sudan. 

“We must also continue calling on external actors to stop fueling and prolonging this conflict, and enabling these atrocities, by sending weapons to Sudan,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at Tuesday’s meeting. 

On Friday, she told reporters on a conference call to announce an additional $315 million in humanitarian support for Sudan, that there is no military solution to the conflict. She criticized countries that are supporting the rival generals with arms and ammunition and said she had spoken with the UAE about Sudan’s allegations. She also noted that Russia and Iran are providing support to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). 

“We have been very, very clear with those actors, that they should cease their support for this war,” she said Friday of all external actors. “It is only exacerbating and prolonging the conflict, and it is making the situation more dire for the people of Sudan.” 

Battle for El Fasher 

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in the North Darfur capital of El Fasher remains dire. The RSF has surrounded the city, burning and looting communities in its vicinity. They have advanced on the city, where an SAF infantry division is outnumbered and surrounded. 

“The Sudanese Armed Forces will defend El Fasher to the last soldier,” Ambassador Mohamed told reporters after the meeting. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says El Fasher is presently the epicenter of Sudan’s humanitarian nightmare. 

“Amid unrelenting violence and suffering, the lives of 800,000 people — of women, children, men, the elderly and people with disabilities — these lives hang in the balance,” Edem Wosornu, OCHA’s director of Operations and Advocacy, told the council. 

Without immediate decisive action, she said, the international community risks bearing witness to a repeat of the well-documented atrocities perpetrated in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, when the city fell to RSF troops last year. 

Human rights groups say thousands of people, mostly ethnic Masalit and members of other non-Arab communities, were massacred by the RSF, even after the city fell to the paramilitary. 

Today’s RSF has elements of the Arab Janjaweed fighters who carried out the genocide against African Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur in the early 2000s. 

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution demanding the RSF halt its siege and de-escalate the fight for El Fasher and that both sides allow aid in. The resolution has so far been ignored. 

RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has been locked in an armed power struggle with SAF General Abdel-Fattah Burhan for the past 14 months. The fighting has spread from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, leaving millions displaced and in dire need of food, shelter and medical care.
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Zimbabwean opposition leader, youths appear in court after 2 nights in jail

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HARARE, ZIMBABWE — A Zimbabwean opposition leader and nearly 100 youths who spent two nights in jail for allegedly holding an unsanctioned meeting appeared in court in Harare on Tuesday, where they complained of police assaults. 

After their arrest Sunday, members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, or Triple C, arrived in court in apparent pain — some limping, and one with a broken leg — under heavy police guard.  

That did not stop one man from shouting to waiting reporters. 

“Are you hearing me?” he said. “The women were asked to kneel down and crawl to a waiting police truck by this government. Button sticks, claps hit us. One of the ladies had her room invaded. Why? She just had a bra on. Please record that. These people are cruel.”  

Police officers accompanying the opposition members refused to comment. 

Tinashe Chinopfukutwa, a lawyer representing Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told reporters that his clients had been abused upon arrest. 

“The charges which have been preferred against them are of participating in a gathering with [the] intent to promote public violence, bigotry and breaches of peace,” Chinopfukutwa said. “They have also preferred an alternative charge of disorderly conduct in [a] public place. They were assaulted by the police at the time of their arrest. Some of them were forced into jumping into a dirty swimming pool, while putting on their clothes. They were then forced to crawl to a police vehicle which was parked several meters away. We are going to lay those complaints before the court.”  

Chinopfukutwa said the police initially arrested about 100 opposition activists, together with their leader, Jameson Timba, but some were released for unspecified reasons. 

Agency Gumbo, a lawyer and a member of parliament with Triple C, said party members had been arrested at Timba’s home Sunday while commemorating International Day of the African Child.   

He said the arrests were meant to quell opposition’s activities, which started during the era of the late President Robert Mugabe’s nearly 40 years in power. 

“What this entails is that the regime is hell-bent on stopping voices of dissent, the regime is hell-bent on stopping the opposition,” Gumbo said. “It’s as if the opposition is now a banned organization. It’s as if the Triple C and the entire opposition forces are banned in this country.” 

VOA repeatedly contacted Zimbabwe’s information minister, Jenfan Muswere, for comment but did not receive a response.  

However, on Monday he said that no one in the country was above the law, and anyone who commits an offense would meet the wrath of the law. 

Meanwhile, the 79 still detained were placed in custody until Wednesday, when they are expected to challenge their arrests. They are arguing that they were detained for more than the 48 hours allowed by the constitution before they were brought to court on Tuesday.
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The oligarch, Russia and the West: The battle for Georgia’s future

Posted on by SeeEU

Tbilisi, Georgia — On top of a steep hill overlooking Tbilisi, tucked behind the city’s ancient fortress, sits a sprawling, futuristic $50 million mansion that locals call “the glass palace.” A shark tank, private zoo and helipad lie within the heavily guarded compound. Its owner, Bidzina Ivanishvili, reportedly calls it his “James Bond” house.

Ivanishvili is Georgia’s richest citizen by far. The 68-year-old multibillionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party was rarely seen in public for much of the last decade — but he is now pulling the strings of Georgian politics, according to Eka Gigauri, head of the anti-corruption group Transparency International in Georgia.

“Ivanishvili is the real ruler of this country,” Gigauri said. “He owns one-third of Georgian GDP, and he made his fortune in Russia in the late ’90s. He still has the interests in Russia through his offshore companies — and not only him but his family members as well. …

“Is it possible to expect, or is it realistic to expect, from such an individual that he will do everything for Georgia to become the EU and NATO member? I don’t think so,” Gigauri told VOA.

Ivanishvili, for his part, has rarely spoken in public since a brief term as prime minister in 2012-13 apart from a speech in late April in which he defended a controversial “foreign agent” law as needed to prevent foreign intelligence agencies from undermining the government through the financing of nongovernmental organizations.

West vs Russia

Analysts say Georgia is torn between a future aligned with the West or with Russia.

Protests erupted in March this year after the government introduced the “foreign agent” law, which requires any organization receiving more than 20% of its funding from foreign sources to register as a foreign agent. It closely resembles similar legislation in Russia which has forced many nongovernmental and media organizations to close or move abroad.

The protests against the legislation in Georgia have evolved into anti-government demonstrations, as the country prepares for crucial elections in October.

Ghia Nodia, a political analyst at Georgia’s Ilia State University, said, “With this so-called Russian law or foreign agent law, [Georgian Dream] effectively turned its back on Europe, even though they don’t admit to it openly.”

EU aspirations

The Georgian government insists it still wants to join the European Union by 2030, although the bloc has warned that the foreign agent law could derail that process. The EU granted official candidate status to Georgia last year, hoping to set it on the path to democratic reform and Western integration. But the West misread Georgia’s billionaire puppet master, Nodia said.

“The Georgian state has been captured by a specific person — Bidzina Ivanishvili — who is very secretive, whose agenda was not clear for people,” Nodia said. “Some people, including in the West, had illusions that he was maybe a little bit of a strange guy, but ultimately he is also committed to values and norms of Western democracy.

“But they were proved wrong and skeptics were proved right, unfortunately. And it appears that he never had any real kind of commitment to democratic norms,” Nodia told VOA.

 

Protests

The streets of Tbilisi have become a canvas for anti-government graffiti. Alongside EU, U.S., Georgian and NATO colors, protesters have daubed the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag — a show of solidarity as Kyiv tries to resist Russian occupation and domination. One slogan reads “Georgia is Ukraine; Ukraine is Georgia.”

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine forced Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream party into the limelight, said Nodia.

The invasion “somehow put him on the spot that he had to take sides more clearly. He didn’t want to. But eventually he moved more in the Russian direction, even though Georgian Dream tries to hide it, not to say it openly. Ivanishvili made a strategic decision that Russia is winning this war, so we should stay with the winner, or prospective winner, as he saw it,” Nodia said.

Stoking fear

At a government-organized rally in April aimed at countering the opposition demonstrations, Ivanishvili said a Western “global party of war” was meddling in Georgia, citing a host of conspiracy theories about the role of nongovernmental organizations in the country. His party accuses the West of trying to persuade Georgia to open a new conflict against Russia, without providing any evidence.

The propaganda is part a well-rehearsed autocratic playbook, said Aka Zarkua of the Governance Monitoring Center in Tbilisi, a nongovernmental organization that tracks government spending and communications.

“The main propaganda line right now is that if we [Georgian Dream] are out of power, war with Russia is inevitable. So that is one of the biggest things. And as a country which experienced Russian aggression three or four times in the last 30 years, and a population traumatized by this experience, it is working,” Zarkua said.

“They are trying to portray the West and Western countries — especially the United States and European Union — as some kind of enemy of Georgian traditional interests and family values,” Zarkua said.

The government denies stoking public fear. Fridon Injia, an MP with the European Socialists party who voted for the foreign agent law, told VOA the government is seeking to carve its own independent future.

“The main goal of the Georgian government now is to maintain peace, because we have seen what the war has done to other countries. So, it’s our main goal to maintain peace and for the Georgian government to avoid any kind of provocation that could spark a military conflict,” Injia said.

 

Western mistakes

Since regaining independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia has received financial and political support from the West. In addition to its EU aspirations, Georgia is a close partner of NATO, and the alliance decided in 2008 that the country would become a future member, although no timeline has been agreed upon.

So why has Georgia strayed from its path to Western integration?

“If we’re talking about Western mistakes, the biggest mistake was the overall assumption about the threat of Russia and tyranny — that it was a headache, but not a fundamental threat,” said Giga Bokeria, chairperson of the European Georgia party and the secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia from November 2010 to November 2013.

“Even after the 2008 invasion in Georgia, even after the 2014 invasion in Ukraine, there was no shift in understanding that this is a fundamental battle, and that resetting the relationship [with Russia] was only empowering the heirs of the evil empire of the Soviet Union,” Bokeria said.

“So, it’s a lack of focus, lack of attention, and overall, a misunderstanding that what’s going on in Georgia is part of this bigger confrontation with Russia. But now I think … that after this full-scale invasion in Ukraine we now see an overall turn to a sober understanding of the challenge,” Bokeria told VOA.

Backlash

The Geogian  government was taken by surprise at the strength of the backlash to the foreign agent law, which has politicized younger generations, said analyst Ghia Nodia.

“Some people say that now we are actually more optimistic than we were in February or March before this law was introduced. Because this law and protest woke up the Georgian people. We are kind of facing a precipice,” he said.

While there is optimism that the October election could bring a change of geopolitical direction in Georgia, it’s clear that the government — and its billionaire master Ivanishvili — won’t relinquish power without a fight.
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Journalist finally recognized for work combating Russian disinformation

Posted on by SeeUS

Washington    — The U.S. Embassy in Finland this month presented journalist Jessikka Aro with the Ambassador Hickey Woman of Courage Award. 

The honor — tailored specifically for Aro — comes five years after the U.S. State Department rescinded its courage award because of critical comments the Finnish journalist made about then-President Donald Trump.  

The embassy presented its award in recognition of Aro’s commitment to exposing and combating Russian disinformation campaigns at great personal cost. For a decade, she has been at the forefront of investigating Russian information warfare and pro-Kremlin troll farms. 

“I still can’t believe that I actually got [the award],” Aro told VOA from Finland’s capital, Helsinki. “I felt utterly supported. I felt utterly appreciated. I felt really honored.” 

In 2019, U.S. officials informed Aro that she would receive that year’s International Women of Courage Award. A few weeks later, she was told there had been a mistake and she would not receive the prestigious honor. Back then, Aro reported for Finland’s public service broadcaster YLE. 

At the time, officials publicly denied that Aro’s social media posts about Trump were the reason. But a 2020 report by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General found that officials revoked the award over Aro’s comments.  

The report cited a post on Twitter, now X, in which Aro wrote that “Trump constantly labels journalists as ‘enemy’ and ‘fake news.’” She then cited an article about a Trump supporter who threatened to shoot reporters for The Boston Globe for being what Trump described as “enemies of the people” and “fake news.” 

Throughout his presidency, Trump regularly referred to the media as the “enemy” of the American people. The Trump presidential campaign did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

In 2020, the Washington-based International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) awarded Aro its own Courage in Journalism Award. The organization also advocated for an investigation into why the State Department backtracked on its award. 

The new award from the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki comes at a meaningful time for Aro. This year marks a decade since she began facing severe online harassment — including death threats — over her coverage of Russian information warfare. The harassment, which mainly comes from Russian and Finnish actors, is ongoing, she said.  

“My work is being attacked, myself smeared. Some of my sources are smeared,” said Aro, who is now the communications director for the Finnish trade union Tehy. “They are spreading these seeds of mistrust against my person and my work.”  

Trolls also attacked her after the State Department rescinded its award, sparking “a massive wave” of harassment, she said.  

Such attacks are consistent with the broader trend of disproportionate online harassment against female journalists, according to Elisa Lees Munoz, executive director of the IWMF. Online attacks against female journalists are often sexualized and can include rape threats and insults about the reporter’s appearance, Munoz said.  

“It leads to symptoms that are very similar to PTSD, and that even though these attacks are happening virtually, they have very serious, real-life impacts,” she said.  

In a 2022 survey by the International Center for Journalists and UNESCO, nearly three-quarters of respondents identifying as women said they had experienced online violence. 

When Aro first began to face online harassment in 2014, “it actually fueled my will to investigate Russian trolls,” she said. “Even nowadays, on a daily basis, I think of it as proof that I’m doing a great job.” 

Aro admits the harassment has also taken a toll. But she says she’ll never let it get in the way of her work. 

“Investigating Russian information hybrid warfare is a true calling for me,” she said.  

Although it’s five years late, Aro says she feels vindicated. The investigative journalist is currently working on her third book about Russian information warfare, which she expects to be published in 2026. 
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Russian involvement in China’s moon exploration divides space research camps

Posted on by SeeEU

Washington — China aims to mark a new milestone in space exploration next week when its Chang’e-6 probe is expected to return to Earth from the far side of the moon with rock and soil samples.

Scientists involved in the project say the probe is likely to bring back a “treasure trove” of material that will shed light on the differences between the front and back of Earth’s satellite.

James Head is an American planetary scientist and professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University.  He has 15 years of experience in cooperating with the Chinese scientific community and participated in the research for the Chang’e-6 lunar landing.

He told VOA in a video interview that the samples brought back by Chang’e-6 from the far side of the moon will be “a treasure chest of fragments of materials, all of which are going to tell us something about why the moon is different on the near side and the far side. It’s just amazing.”

“It’s going to be an international treasure trove of information for space planetary scientists,” he added.

The strength of China’s space science and technology, demonstrated by the Chang’e series of lunar exploration projects, has also attracted the participation of other countries.

The European Space Agency, France, Italy, and Pakistan responded to the “Chang’e-6 Mission International Payload Cooperation Opportunity Announcement” released by the China National Space Administration in 2019.

They were selected to carry out exploration on the lunar surface and lunar orbit.

Head said, “Not every country has the ability to launch rockets to the moon. So, if you can use your capability, then that’s a big deal for international relationships for the countries — essentially the way they’re perceived in the world.”

The mission, which comes 55 years after the U.S. first sent humans to the moon, has attracted the attention and participation of European and American scientists.  However, it also comes at a time when geopolitical tensions are pulling Russia and China closer together to counter Western democracies.  Analysts worry that our lunar exploration and space research are quickly being divided into two camps as well.

As China makes significant progress in its lunar program, it is also actively courting other countries to form a parallel alliance with the U.S.-led lunar exploration program.

China and Russia have been planning to cooperate in building the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) since 2021. On June 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law approving the cooperation agreement signed by Russia and China last year on the joint construction of the ILRS.

Countries currently participating in the ILRS initiative also include Venezuela, Pakistan, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Nicaragua and a university in the United Arab Emirates.

Namrata Goswami, lecturer in space policy and international relations at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, told VOA, “They’re (China is) actually changing the narrative to tell nations that want to collaborate with them, that their station is like a strategic high ground, and nations that actually collaborate with China will benefit from this particular focus, which is space resource utilization, and they have stated that officially now.”

The Chinese government has said it adheres to the peaceful use of space, but Western analysts have questioned China’s motives for developing the moon.

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA in an email, “China tends to have a more mercantilist view of the moon that aligns with its authoritarian form of government, which is in stark contrast to the open, transparent, and free market approach of the United States and its partners.”

China has even proposed establishing an Earth-Moon space economic zone and has drawn up a roadmap for it with an annual “total output value of more than US$10 trillion” by around 2050.

Harrison said, “China’s main partner for its lunar research base is Russia, and they have managed to attract a handful of other nations to join them, most of which have no significant space capabilities or financial resources to contribute.”

In contrast, NASA and the U.S. State Department jointly launched the Artemis Accords in 2020, reaching a multilateral arrangement with more than 30 countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy, stipulating the principles of civil exploration and cooperation among the contracting parties in outer space.

Neither China nor Russia have joined the agreement initiated by the U.S. Dmitry Rogozin, former head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, even said that the Artemis Accords were “illegal” and not in compliance with international law.

“You do see a very clear strategic alignment structure forming, also very long-term clear ambitions as to what each coalition is hoping to do,” said Goswami.

Experts say the lunar exploration race of China and Russia versus the U.S. is about more than just resource extraction.

Harrison said, “This is really about setting precedent for how space commerce will be conducted and establishing norms of behavior for activities on the moon. A key component of this race is building international partnerships with shared values and a shared understanding of how the lunar economy should work for the benefit of all. In this respect, China has fallen behind the United States and the free world.”

For the European Space Agency, the Chang’e-6 may be their last lunar exploration experiment in cooperation with China, according to an interview posted on the website SpaceNews.

“For the moment there are no decisions to continue the cooperation on the Chang’e-7 or -8,” Karl Bergquist, ESA’s international relations administrator, he told SpaceNews.

China plans its next lunar probes in the Chang’e series around 2026 and from 2028.

Bergquist also told SpaceNews the ESA will not be involved in the China-led ILRS.

“ESA will not cooperate on ILRS as this is a Sino-Russian initiative and space cooperation with Russia is at present under embargo,” he said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the European Union, together with the U.S., has imposed embargoes and sanctions on several Russian industries, including a technical embargo on the Russian space industry. The European Space Agency has also terminated its planned lunar exploration project with Russia.

Meanwhile, China has stepped-up its space cooperation with Russia, including allowing Moscow Power Engineering Institute to open a branch at its newest spaceport on southern Hainan Island.

Europe and China’s space technology cooperation will continue at least until the Chang’e-6 probe lands back on Earth. The ESA is offering ground support for the return flight from its Maspalomas space station in Gran Canaria island in Spain.

The probe is scheduled to land at a site in Inner Mongolia around June 25.  
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More than 200 arrested in Kenya protests over proposed tax hikes in finance bill

Posted on by SeeAF

NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 200 protesters have been arrested in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in ongoing protests against proposed tax hikes in a finance bill that is due to be tabled in parliament. 

Civil society groups said that demonstrations and a planned sit-down outside parliament buildings will continue despite the arrest of 210 protesters. 

Nairobi Police Commander Adamson Bungei on Tuesday said that no group had been granted permission to protest in the capital. The right to peaceful protests is guaranteed in the Kenyan Constitution, but organizers are required to notify the police beforehand. Police generally give a go-ahead unless there are security concerns. 

Police hurled tear gas canisters at hundreds of demonstrators on Tuesday, forcing businesses to temporarily close because of fears over looting. 

A lawyer, Wanjohi Gachie, said that he was protesting on behalf of all Kenyans who would be potentially burdened by the tax hikes. 

“I’m requesting the police not to arrest or beat us, because we are fighting for their rights as well,” he said. 

Some major tax proposals in the bill were dropped after a Tuesday morning meeting between ruling party lawmakers and President William Ruto. 

The chairperson of the finance committee, Kuria Kimani, said the proposal to introduce a 16% value-added tax on bread had been dropped. 

Other levies that had prompted debate and have been amended include a proposed 2.5% motor vehicle annual tax that was to be placed on insurance. 

A proposed tax on goods that degrade the environment will also be amended to apply only to imported goods to encourage local manufacturing. 

Rights group Amnesty Kenya said that its staff members observing the protests were arrested. 

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all arrested protesters and observers,” the group said. 

Kenya Law Society President Faith Odhiambo said that police used tear gas on lawyers at a Nairobi police station as they sought to see their clients. 

Ruto last month defended the proposed taxes, saying the country must be financially self-sustaining. 

“The whole principle is that you must live within your means,” he said. “I persuaded and I made a case to the people of Kenya that we must begin to enhance our revenue.” 

Opposition leader Raila Odinga urged legislators to scrutinize the bill and vote to remove clauses that would burden the poor. 

“It is worse than the one of 2023, an investment killer and a huge millstone around the necks of millions of poor Kenyans who must have hoped that the tears they shed over taxes last year would see the government lessen the tax burden in 2024,” he said in a statement in early June.

Opposition figure Kalonzo Musyoka said that weekly protests would resume if the finance bill is approved as proposed. 

Legislators are due to debate the bill starting Wednesday with a vote scheduled for Monday. 

Last year’s finance law introduced a 1.5% housing tax on gross income for salaried individuals, despite concerns that it would further burden Kenyans already struggling under a high cost of living. The law also doubled VAT on petroleum products from 8% to 16%.
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Haitian police meet Kenyan commanders ahead of deployment

Posted on by SeeAF

NAIROBI, Kenya — A team of Haitian police commanders on Tuesday met Kenya’s inspector general of police ahead of a planned deployment to the violence-hit Caribbean country expected to take place by the end of June.

Kenya is set to lead a United Nations-backed multinational peacekeeping mission with officers drawn from several countries to combat gang violence in Haiti that has left thousands of people dead and forced more than 360,000 others to flee their homes.

“We are counting on your support,” Haitian police official Joachim Prohete told Kenya’s Inspector Japhet Koome in a meeting in Nairobi, as police clashed with anti-taxation protesters in the streets. 

“We are ready and committed to come over and assist whenever needed,” Koome told the Haitian delegation in return.

The Haitian police also met commanders of the 1,000 Kenyan officers who will be deployed as part of the multinational peacekeeping mission.

Kenya will also host Haitian police for training, and the delegation in Nairobi on Tuesday visited the barracks where drills will take place, Kenyan police said.

President William Ruto last week said Kenya will honor its commitment to restore peace in the Caribbean nation. U.S. President Joe Biden during Ruto’s state visit in May expressed deep appreciation for Kenya’s planned deployment.

The deployment that was set to take place in May was postponed to allow completion of bases from which the officers will operate and the procurement of key equipment, including vehicles.

Haiti has endured poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades. International intervention in Haiti has a complicated history. A U.N.-approved stabilization mission to Haiti that started in June 2004 was marred by a sexual abuse scandal and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people. The mission ended in October 2017.
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Russia’s Fulbright scholars risk severe repercussions if they return home

Posted on by SeeUS

In March 2024, the Russian government branded the Institute of International Education, which grants Fulbright scholarships, as an “undesirable” organization, banning it from operating in the country and making association with it potentially illegal. Now, Russian Fulbright scholars who are currently abroad could face repercussions when they return home. Maxim Adams has the story.
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Immigrant gay couple finds acceptance in US LGBTQ+ community

Posted on by SeeUS

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month in the United States. In Los Angeles, celebrations include a festival and parade that are among the world’s largest LGBTQ+ events. VOA’s Genia Dulot talked to an immigrant couple about their lives in the United States and their struggle for acceptance back home.
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