Rights advocates cite uptick in Uyghur refugee detentions in Turkey

Washington — Over the past three weeks, Shirali Abdurehim, a 39-year-old Uyghur honey seller in Istanbul, has been detained in an immigration detention center.

Abdurehim, a father of nine children, has lived in Turkey with his wife since 2013 as a refugee after fleeing repression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China. He is one of at least a dozen Uyghurs who have been detained in recent weeks, according to detainees, lawyers and rights advocates.

VOA has also seen at least four posts on the social media site Facebook calling for the release of family members since last weekend.

“Turkish agents came to my residence on July 4 and said there was an allegation against me that I conspired with other foreigners from Uzbekistan to produce and sell counterfeit Turkish passports,” Abdurehim told VOA in a phone interview.

“They were very polite when they took me for interrogation. They first said they would immediately release me after taking a statement,” he said.

Family facing eviction

During the interrogation, Abdurehim says he denied the allegations, claiming that the accusations were fabricated by the Chinese government or Chinese agents in Turkey.

“After that interrogation, they said they couldn’t release me and instead transferred me to an immigration detention center, where I joined six other recently arrested Uyghurs,” he said. “My wife and nine children are desperately waiting for my return. They can’t survive without me, and now they face eviction from the apartment we rent.”

VOA emailed the Turkish Interior Ministry’s Immigration Department for more information regarding the cases of Abdurehim and the other Uyghurs detained in recent weeks. The ministry has yet to respond.

Abdurehim’s wife, who asked that her first name not be published to protect her relatives in Xinjiang, told VOA that the family had been living day-to-day on her husband’s honey sales. “Our landlord demanded six months’ rent in advance, but we can’t afford it. With my husband in indefinite detention, we’re also struggling to put food on the table.”

Turkish flag T-shirt

Abdurehim says his troubles trace to 2010 when Chinese authorities arrested him in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

“I was arrested for months in 2010 for wearing a T-shirt with a Turkish flag,” Abdurehim said. “It was a time when many Uyghurs felt grateful for [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s statement in 2009.”

Unrest had broken out in Urumqi in July of that year amid protests over government inaction following reported killings and injuries of Uyghurs by a Chinese mob in Guangdong province. Initially peaceful, the protests escalated into clashes when Chinese armed police intervened. Subsequently, Uyghurs faced accusations of attacking unarmed Chinese individuals, resulting in arrests, disappearances and detentions.

Erdogan had characterized China’s actions toward Uyghurs as “genocide,” a sentiment that resonated within the Uyghur community.

Fleeing China

After his release, Abdurehim fled the country without a passport. Because of China’s historical restrictions preventing many Uyghurs from obtaining passports legally, he sought assistance from human traffickers in Yunnan province in southwest China.

“In 2012, I journeyed from Yunnan through Vietnam and Thailand, eventually arriving in Malaysia. It was there that my wife, our only child at the time, and I received humanitarian travel documents from the Turkish Embassy, enabling us to relocate to Turkey in 2013,” he recounted.

“For the first time, I felt liberated from government repression in a country I came to cherish deeply, a place I was prepared to sacrifice everything for, including my life.”

After arriving in Turkey, Abdurehim opened a grocery shop in Istanbul. However, in late 2018, he was detained by Turkish authorities on unspecified allegations. He was released in early 2019 without any charges.

“I spent three months in detention due to baseless accusations, which I believe were influenced by Chinese authorities or their agents in Turkey,” Abdurehim recounted.

“Thankfully, Turkish authorities eventually recognized my innocence and released me. However, the ordeal forced me to sell my grocery shop to cover legal expenses and defense fees.”

Refuge in Turkey

Turkey is home to one of the largest Uyghur diaspora communities outside China, with a population estimated at 50,000 to 75,000, according to Uyghur groups there.

Since the 1950s, Turkey has been a refuge for Uyghurs fleeing what they describe as severe repression by the Chinese government, including allegations of genocide, mass arbitrary detention affecting over 1 million people, forced labor, forced sterilization, torture and other abuses.

China denies all those allegations, but in recent years, the U.S. and several Western parliaments have officially labeled China’s recent policies and treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide. The U.N. human rights office has suggested that these actions may constitute crimes against humanity.

Initially denying these accusations, China later referred to the facilities holding Uyghurs as “re-education centers” aimed at countering “extremism, terrorism and separatism.” China continuously describes accusations of Uyghur human rights abuses as “lies fabricated by U.S.-led anti-China forces” to contain China’s development.

China-Turkey ties

Memettohti Atawulla, an Istanbul-based senior project manager at the Washington-based Center for Uyghur Studies, notes that the recent surge in arrests of Uyghurs in Turkey came shortly after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Xinjiang.

During the trip, “Turkey expressed its commitment to cooperate in what China terms as ‘anti-terrorism,’ a label that masks China’s harsh policies targeting Uyghurs,” Atawulla told VOA. “This may be a significant factor contributing to the increased arrests of Uyghurs in Turkey.”

During his visit to Urumqi, Fidan emphasized Turkey’s support for China’s anti-terrorism efforts in a meeting with Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui.

“We support China against armed terrorist groups. We do not approve international initiatives seeking to incite strife in China and to stop China’s economic development,” Fidan said in China. He also urged China to respect Uyghurs and let them “live their values.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request from VOA for comment on whether the recent arrests were related to “anti-terrorism” cooperation between the two countries.

Recent uptick

According to Jevlan Shirmehmet, an Istanbul-based lawyer advocating for Uyghurs, the reasons for the recent arrests extend beyond accusations related to terrorism.

He said it is hard to determine the total number of Uyghurs detained, but he personally knows of at least five detainees and was meeting with one detained Uyghur in a prison in Istanbul when VOA spoke with him.

He added that arrests of Uyghurs are not new, but that there has been a recent uptick.

“This issue of Uyghur detentions in Turkey has persisted over several years, and I have personally seen a variety of cases,” Shirmehmet said.

“One common scenario involves allegations conveyed by China, while another type accuses Uyghurs of espionage for China. Additionally, there are cases related to civil crimes that occur in any community.”

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Ruto falsely accuses Ford Foundation of funding violence in Kenya

There is no evidence that the Ford Foundation has been sponsoring protests, but there is ample evidence that it has sponsored human rights groups, journalists and government officials to address Kenyan issues.

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African female athletes aim for Olympic medals in Paris

nairobi, kenya — The 2024 Olympics begin Friday, with more than 10,000 athletes gathering in Paris dreaming of winning gold, silver or bronze. Among them will be dozens of women from African countries, many of whom have overcome major social and economic challenges to get to Paris.

For the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, said it achieved full gender parity on the field of play at this year’s Olympics.

Female athletes, who once made up only about 2% of Olympic competitors, are now present in the same numbers as men. They accounted for 48% of the athletes at the Olympics in Tokyo three years ago, which was delayed a year because of COVID.

Several dozen African women are among those who will compete. One is Esti Olivier, a member of South Africa’s canoe team. She will compete at the Olympics for the first time after missing the Tokyo Games because of physical and mental health problems.

“It’s about keeping focus now and not being overwhelmed by the enormous atmosphere that the Olympics brings but enjoying small increments and moments every step of the way for me at this stage,” Olivier said. “We still [have] two weeks before we compete and I am sure the closer I get to that, the more the nerves will kick in. But at this stage it is just excitement to get to Paris.”

Canoeing is not a popular sport in Africa. However, canoe teams from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia will represent the continent at the Olympics.

Olivier said training for the sport is tough on women.

“Much of this journey I’ve done by myself and because there are so few females participating in canoe sprints in South Africa,” she said. “I’ve always had to train among men. So, it’s definitely a challenge. The lack of support is a challenge. And just juggling private life with sports, you know, just because we can’t only focus on being an athlete. As a woman, I have to also be a wife.”

Despite the progress made by female athletes, many of the challenges that slow women’s progress in sports still persist, including lack of equal pay, discrimination and poor training conditions.

Middle-distance runner Lilian Odira of Kenya, 25, who is competing in the 800 meters, said it was a long journey to get to Paris, but one that was worth the effort.

“Sports opened so many doors for me,” she said. “It’s given me the confidence to be who I am. It’s given me the confidence to speak out against injustices that I might witness at any point in time.

“It’s given me the opportunity to be an absolute role model to young girls wanting to achieve something big in their lives, showing them that even with controversy in difficult times or various roles that you have to put on, it’s still possible to chase your dream. If you really put your mind to it, it’s possible.”

Besides winning a medal, Odira wants to break her personal best time of 1 minute, 59 seconds.

She said she enjoys being an Olympic athlete.

“All over the world, everyone knows you, so I think it is an advantage,” she said. “When it comes to finance and so many things, we know how to tackle and handle it. Healthwise, everybody wants to be healthy. Sports is a nice career.”

Kenya is sending about 20 female athletes to Paris, second only to South Africa, which is sending 24.

African women won 17 medals in Tokyo three years ago and hope to collect even more in France.

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US, Taiwan, China race to improve military drone technology  

washington — This week, as Taiwan was preparing for the start of its Han Kuang military exercises, its air defense system detected a Chinese drone circling the island. This was the sixth time that China had sent a drone to operate around Taiwan since 2023.

Drones like the one that flew around Taiwan, which are tasked with dual-pronged missions of reconnaissance and intimidation, are just a small part of a broader trend that is making headlines from Ukraine to the Middle East to the Taiwan Strait and is changing the face of warfare. 

The increasing role that unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, play and rising concern about a Chinese invasion of democratically ruled Taiwan is pushing Washington, Beijing and Taipei to improve the sophistication, adaptability and cost of drone technology.

‘Hellscape’ strategy

Last August, the Pentagon launched a $1 billion Replicator Initiative to create air, sea and land drones in the “multiple thousands,” according to the Defense Department’s Innovation Unit. The Pentagon aims to build that force of drones by August 2025.

The initiative is part of what U.S. Admiral Samuel Paparo recently described to The Washington Post as a “hellscape” strategy, which aims to counter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan through the deployment of thousands of unmanned drones in the air and sea between the island and China.

“The benefits of unmanned systems are that you get cheap, disposable mass that’s low cost. If a drone gets shot down, the only people that are crying about it are the accountants,” said Zachary Kallenborn, a policy fellow at George Mason University. “You can use them at large amounts of scale and overwhelm your opponents as well as degrade their defensive capabilities.”

The hellscape strategy, he added, aims to use lots of cheap drones to try to hold back China from attacking Taiwan.

Drone manufacturing supremacy

China has its own plans under way and is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial drones. In a news briefing after Paparo’s remarks to the Post, it warned Washington that it was playing with fire. 

“Those who clamor for turning others’ homeland into hell should get ready for burning in hell themselves,” said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese defense ministry.

“The People’s Liberation Army is able to fight and win in thwarting external interference and safeguarding our national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Threats and intimidation never work on us,” Wu said.

China’s effort to expand its use of drones has been bolstered, analysts say, by leader Xi Jinping’s emphasis on technology and modernization in the military, something he highlighted at a top-level party meeting last week.

“China’s military is developing more than 50 types of drones with varying capabilities, amassing a fleet of tens of thousands of drones, potentially 10 times larger than Taiwan and the U.S. combined,” Michael Raska, assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told VOA in an email. “This quantitative edge currently fuels China’s accelerating military modernization, with drones envisioned for everything from pre-conflict intel gathering to swarming attacks.”

Analysts add that China’s commercial drone manufacturing supremacy aids its military in the push for drone development. China’s DJI dominates in production and sale of household drones, accounting for 76% of the worldwide consumer market in 2021.

The scale of production and low price of DJI drones could put China in an advantageous position in a potential drone war, analysts say.

“In Russia and Ukraine, if you have a lot of drones – even if they’re like the commercial off-the-shelf things, DJI drones you can buy at Costco – and you throw hundreds of them at an air defense system, that’s going to create a large problem,” said Major Emilie Stewart, a research analyst at the China Aerospace Studies Institute.

China denies it is seeking to use commercial UAV technology for future conflicts.

“China has always been committed to maintaining global security and regional stability and has always opposed the use of civilian drones for military purposes,” Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA. “We are firmly opposed to the U.S.’s military ties with Taiwan and its effort of arming Taiwan.”

Drone force

With assistance from its American partners, pressure from China and lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan has been pushing to develop its own domestic drone warfare capabilities.

The United States has played a pivotal role in Taiwan’s drone development, and just last week it pledged to sell $360 million of attack drones to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, or TECRO, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington.

“Taiwan will continue to build a credible deterrence and work closely with like-minded partners, including the United States, to preserve peace and stability in the region,” TECRO told VOA when asked about the collaboration between Taipei and Washington. “We have no further information to share at this moment.”

The effort to incorporate drones into its defense is crucial for Taiwan, said Eric Chan, a senior nonresident fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute.

“The biggest immediate effects of the U.S. coming into this mass UAV game is to give Taiwan a bigger advantage to be able to, first, detect their enemy and, second, help them build a backstop to their own capabilities as well,” Chan said.

With the potential for China to consider using drones in an urban conflict environment, Taiwan is recognizing the importance of stepping up its counter-drone defense systems.

“After multiple intrusions of Chinese drones in outlying islands, the Taiwan Ministry of Defense now places great emphasis on anti-drone capabilities,” said Yu-Jiu Wang, chief executive of Tron Future, an anti-drone company working with the Taiwanese military.

The demand is one that Wang said his company is willing and ready to fill.

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California governor issues executive order for removal of homeless encampments

Sacramento, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday to direct state agencies on how to remove homeless encampments, a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces.

Newsom’s order is aimed at the thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways, clutter shopping center parking lots and fill city parks. The order makes clear that the decision to remove the encampments remains in local hands.

The order comes after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this summer allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. The case was the most significant on the issue to come before the high court in decades and comes as cities across the country have wrestled with the politically complicated issue of how to deal with a rising number of people without a permanent place to live and public frustration over related health and safety issues.

Newsom’s administration wrote in support of cities’ argument that previous rulings, including one that barred San Francisco from clearing encampments until more shelter beds were available, have prevented the state from solving a critical problem.

“There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part,” Newsom said in a statement.

While Newsom cannot order local authorities to act, his administration can apply pressure by withholding money for counties and cities.

California is home to roughly one-third of the nation’s population of homeless people, a problem that has dogged Newsom since he took office. Newsom touted that his administration has spent roughly $24 billion aimed at cleaning up streets and housing people but acknowledged the stubbornness of the issue. Newsom’s administration has also come under fire recently after a state audit found that the state didn’t consistently track whether the huge outlay of public money actually improved the situation.

Newsom has worked hard to address the issue. He threw all of his political weight behind a ballot measure earlier this year to allow the state to borrow nearly $6.4 billion to build 4,350 housing units, which passed with a razor-thin margin.

The order comes as Republicans have stepped up their criticisms of California and its homelessness crisis as Vice President Kamala Harris — a former California district attorney, attorney general and senator — launches her presidential campaign. Harris entered the race over the weekend after President Joe Biden’s announced that he would not seek reelection. Newsom himself has presidential ambitions.

The timing of the executive order is “curious,” said California political analyst Brian Sobel, but he doubts Newsom’s move would have much impact on Harris’ campaign.

“Harris’ problem isn’t in California, because California is a done deal,” he said. “Where she needs to do well on issues like this are in swing states.”

Rather, the order is a logical step for Newsom, who called himself the state’s “homeless czar” and made homelessness a signature policy issue the last few years, said Wesley Hussey, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento.

 

“I don’t think it’s being motivated by the presidential race as much as it’s definitely something that Newsom cared a lot about,” Hussey said. “If you’re going to put it in a political context of the election, this isn’t going to magically fix the problem.”

Newsom’s decision have garnered praises from local elected officials and business groups, who said they were left with no options to address homeless encampments before the Supreme Court’s ruling. San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently said the city will start an “aggressive” campaign to clear encampments across the city in August. Her office noted that the governor’s order does not affect the city’s operations.

“I applaud Governor Newsom’s emphasis on urgency,” Kathryn Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said in a statement. “He rightfully points out that local government remains at the helm of homeless encampment removals. Cities have an obligation to develop housing and shelter solutions in tandem with support services provided by County government.”

Homeless people and their advocates say the sweeps are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money. They say the answer is more housing, not crackdowns.

Under Newsom’s direction, state agencies — including state parks and the Department of Transportation — would be required to prioritize clearing encampments that pose safety risks, such as those camping along waterways. Officials should give advance notice to vacate, connect homeless people to local services and help store their belongings for at least 60 days. Local cities and counties are urged to adopt similar protocols.

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US official unfazed by Russian-Chinese flyby off coast of Alaska

washington — The appearance of two Russian and two Chinese long-range, strategic bombers in the skies off of coastal Alaska may have been a first, but it did not catch the United States off-guard.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday the appearance of the Russian and Chinese aircraft “was not a surprise” and that at no time did the bombers pose a threat to the United States.

“We have very good surveillance capabilities,” Austin said during a rare news conference at the Pentagon. “We closely monitored these aircraft, tracked the aircraft, intercepted the aircraft, which demonstrates that our forces are at the ready all the time.” 

And if Russia and China fly more similar missions in the future, Austin said he has every confidence that U.S. forces will be prepared.

“We are at the ready. We will always be at the ready,” he said. “If there is a challenge or a threat to the United States of America, your troops will be at the ready and they will do the right thing.”

NORAD tracks aircraft

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) first shared word of the Russian and Chinese military activity late Wednesday.

NORAD said it tracked two Russian TU-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers operating in the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) — a stretch of international airspace where planes must be identified — off the coast of the northwestern state of Alaska.

A statement said U.S. and Canadian fighter jets were sent to intercept the Russian and Chinese planes, and that at no time did the Russian or Chinese pilots enter U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace.

“This Russian and PRC activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen as a threat, and NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence,” it said.

Flight was joint patrol, say Russia and China

Russia and China on Thursday described the flight as a joint patrol over the Chukchi and Bering seas in the north Pacific.

“During the flight, Russian and Chinese crews cooperated in the new area of joint operations during all stages of the air patrol,” the Russian ministry said in a statement, describing the exercise as “part of the implementation of the military cooperation plan for 2024.”

Russian officials said the entire flight lasted five hours and that the bombers were at times escorted by Russian fighter jets, emphasizing that at no time did the bombers violate U.S. or Canadian airspace.

A spokesperson for the Chinese military said the patrol was designed to improve coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries, and said it was the eighth joint air patrol since 2019.

The U.S., however, said the Russian-Chinese air patrol was the first to approach the area around Alaska.

“This is the first time we’ve seen those two countries fly together like that,” Austin told reporters, adding the Russian and Chinese bombers never got closer than about 320 kilometers from the Alaskan coast.

The U.S. defense secretary declined to comment on the timing of the Russian-Chinese air patrol, though he said, “you could probably guess that things like that have probably been planned well in advance.”

Earlier this week, the Pentagon issued its new Arctic defense strategy, which called for increased investment and increased cooperation among the U.S. and its Arctic allies to counter both Russian and Chinese activity.

The U.S. and its NATO allies have also raised concerns about growing cooperation between Russia and China, along with Iran and North Korea, as Moscow has sought support for its war in Ukraine.

U.S. and Western officials have repeatedly accused China of playing a critical role in sustaining Russia’s military by sending Russia raw materials and so-called dual-use components needed to produce advanced weapons and weapons systems.

“There is no time to lose,” a NATO official told VOA earlier this month, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the need to counter the growing defense cooperation.

“This must be a key priority for all our allies, because it is not just about spending more,” the official said. “It is also on getting those capabilities.”

Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.

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UN says Ethiopia landslide death toll could reach 500

Kencho Shacha Gozdi, Ethiopia — The death toll from landslides in a remote region of southern Ethiopia has risen to 257, the United Nations said Thursday and the number could soar up to 500.

Rescuers pressed on with the grim search for bodies and survivors in Kencho Shacha Gozdi, with crowds of distraught people digging through mud, often using just their bare hands and shovels.

Solomon Tsoma told AFP that 13 of his family had died, including his uncle’s seven children his brother’s infants. “We have recovered 12 bodies but haven’t been able to find my sister’s body,” he said.

The U.N. humanitarian agency, OCHA gave the new toll of 257 dead, citing local authorities. “The death toll is expected to rise to up to 500 people,” it added.

OCHA said more than 15,000 people need to be evacuated because of the risk of further landslides, including at least 1,320 children under the age of 5 and 5,293 pregnant women or new mothers.

Aid has begun arriving in the isolated area, including four trucks of supplies from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, it said.

The landslide is the deadliest on record in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation which is often battered by climate-related disasters.

Bodies wrapped in shrouds

Officials said most of the victims were buried when they rushed to help after the first landslide, which followed heavy rains Sunday in the area roughly 480 kilometers (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.

Resident Getachew Geza said he and his son rushed to help after hearing two houses had been buried. “When we got there …a massive mudslide overwhelmed everyone, including my son.”

In one graphic scene shown on social media by the local authority, dozens of men surrounded a pit where human limbs were exposed in the mud.

Other villagers carried bodies on makeshift stretchers while in a nearby tent women wailed as they sat near a row of bodies wrapped in shrouds being prepared for burial.

OCHA said 12 people who sustained injuries had been taken to a local hospital, while at least 125 are displaced. The number of missing is not known.

Guterres ‘deeply saddened’

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres sent his condolences over the disaster, with his spokesman Stephane Dujarric saying he was “deeply saddened.”

“U.N. agencies are dispatching food, nutrition, health and other critical supplies to help people affected by the landslides,” Dujarric said.

Senait Solomon, head of communications for the South Ethiopia regional government, told AFP on Wednesday that the landslide site was sloped and “prone to disasters,” adding that conservation work to protect the area, including tree planting, had been under way at the time of the landslides.

More than 21 million people or about 18 percent of the population rely on humanitarian aid in Ethiopia as a result of conflict, flooding, drought and other natural disasters.

OCHA said this week that that a similar landslide in May in the same area killed more than 50 people.

Seasonal rains in South Ethiopia state between April and early May had caused flooding, mass displacement and damage to livelihoods and infrastructure, it had said in May.

In 2017, at least 113 people died when a mountain of garbage collapsed in a dump in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The deadliest landslide in Africa was in Sierra Leone’s capital in Freetown in August 2017, when 1,141 people perished.

Mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people in February 2010.

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2 years after Ukrainian POW prison attack, survivors and leaked UN analysis point to Russia as culprit

kyiv, ukraine — The former prisoners of war still puzzle over the strange events leading up to the night now seared into their memories, when an explosion ripped through the Russian-controlled Olenivka prison barracks and killed so many comrades two years ago.

Among the survivors: Kyrylo Masalitin, whose months in captivity and long beard age him beyond his 30 years. Arsen Dmytryk, the informal commander of the group of POWs that was shifted without explanation to a room newly stocked with bare bunks. And Mykyta Shastun, who recalled guards laughing as the building burned, acting not at all like men under enemy attack.

“Before my eyes, there were guys who were dying, who were being revived, but it was all in vain,” said Masalitin, who is back on the front line and treated as a father figure by the men he commands.

The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen people with direct knowledge of details of the attack, including survivors, investigators and families of the dead and missing. All described evidence they believe points directly to Russia as the culprit. The AP also obtained an internal United Nations analysis that found the same.

Despite the conclusion of the internal analysis that found Russia planned and executed the attack, the U.N. stopped short of accusing Russia in public statements.

Of 193 Ukrainians in the barracks, fewer than two dozen made it back home. More than 50 died on the night of July 28, 2022. Around 120 are missing and believed detained somewhere in Russia. Russia accused Ukraine of striking its own men with U.S.-supplied missiles.

There are no active international investigations into the attack and a Ukrainian inquiry is one of tens of thousands of war crimes for investigators there, raising wider questions about whether those who committed crimes in occupied areas can ever face justice.

The U.N. has rejected Russia’s claims that Ukrainian government HIMARS targeted the men, as do the victims who returned in prisoner exchanges, like Masalitin. When the former POWs have time to reflect – rare since many have returned to the fight – they say too many things don’t add up.

In the days following the Olenivka deaths, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres launched an independent mission to investigate. Russia refused to guarantee the mission’s safety and its members never traveled either to occupied territory in the eastern Donetsk region or to Ukrainian-held territory. It dissolved five months later.

But when survivors began to return to Ukraine in exchanges, a U.N. field team that had been in-country since 2014 sought them out.

That team analyzed 70 open-source images, 20 statements by Russian officials along with 16 survivor interviews from Russian television. They conducted in-depth interviews with 55 freed POWs who were in the barracks or elsewhere in Olenivka during the attack. Their conclusion: Russia planned and executed the attack.

The 100-page analysis circulated at the highest levels of the U.N. but was never intended to be published in full. Some of the evidence was incorporated piecemeal into broader U.N. reports on the war, including one that said the missile traveled from east to west. The Russian Federation controls the territory east of where the prisoners were kept. The U.N. never publicly blamed Russia.

Names on a list

The lists of names the Russians drew up in late July 2022 had no explanation, no context. All the men listed were from the Azov unit who became national heroes after holding out for months against an overwhelmingly larger Russian force in the city of Mariupol. The prisoners were told to be ready. No one knew why.

On the morning of July 27, 2022, the group was rounded up and led to an industrial section of the colony, away from the other five POW barracks. They were taken to a cinder-block building with a tin-plate roof and 100 bunks, no mattresses and a hastily dug pit toilet, multiple survivors told AP.

“Everything in the barracks was prepared very quickly,” said Arsen Dmytryk, who outranked the others and became the informal leader. The barbed wire was cheap and flimsy, and there were machine tools inside, indicating that the building was recently a workshop.

The prison director visited to tell them that their old barracks were under renovation, although plenty of other prisoners had remained. Ukrainians who have been since released said there was no renovation.

That first day, the guards dug trenches for themselves, said Shastun. Ukraine’s Security Service told AP that their analysis confirmed the presence of the unusual new trenches.

On July 28, the colony management ordered the guard post moved further away, and for the first time the barrack guards “wore bullet-proof vests and helmets which they had not done before and unlike other colony personnel who rarely wore them,” according to a section of the internal U.N. analysis later incorporated into public reports.

On the night of July 28 around 10:30 p.m., Dmytryk completed his checks, cut the lights, climbed into the top bunk and fell asleep at once. An explosion woke him perhaps 45 minutes later, followed by the sound of a Grad missile launcher. But he’d heard that before and drifted back to sleep.

Ukrainian POWs elsewhere in the colony told the U.N. investigators that the Grad fire muffled sounds of the bigger explosions.

Pleas for help returned with threats

Dmytryk’s memories then turn apocalyptic. His body burned with shrapnel wounds. Fire raged. Men screamed in pain. And he climbed down from his bunk, he checked the pulse of the man below him. He was already dead. He and other witnesses told AP they ran outside through broken walls to beg the guards to send help for the injured.

“They fired into the air, saying, ‘Stay away from the gates, don’t come closer,'” Dmytryk recalled.

If Dmytryk’s memories are a narrative of horror, Shastun’s are more like disjointed film scenes. He recalled the guards just stood there laughing, tossing rags and flashlights at the panicked Ukrainians.

It took hours before POW medics were sent from the other barracks to help, around the same time as Russian forces brought in trucks and told survivors to load them with the most severely wounded.

“We carried them on stretchers, lifted them into the car, unloaded them and then ran back to get the other wounded,” Shastun said. One person died in a comrade’s arms. It was mid-morning when they finished, and the trucks were piled with bloody men.

Dmytryk was among them, his face caked in dried blood. He said men in another truck died before they made it to the hospital in Donetsk. The U.N. said in its public report of March 2023 that slow medical care worsened the death toll.

“They transported us like cattle, not stopping, speeding over bumps and taking sharp turns,” he said.

Also among the wounded was Serhii Alieksieievych, whose wife, Mariia, last caught sight of him in his hospital bed in a video circulating on Russian media, slowly answering questions as he recovered from his injuries.

Survivors isolated from other prisoners

Back at Olenivka, Shastun was one of approximately 70 survivors with lesser injuries who were taken to two 5×5 meter cells as the last of the trucks drove away, to be isolated from the rest of the prison colony. There were wooden pallets for sleeping and a single toilet in each.

The internal U.N. analysis said their isolation was intended to prevent survivors speaking to others in the colony about what happened that night because some prisoners had access to mobile phones and had direct contact with Ukraine. It also left them unaware of the debate raging outside.

According to the analysis, other Ukrainian prisoners were then sent to the bombed barracks and ordered to remove debris and the remaining bodies. Two hours later, that group was sent into a nearby hangar, and some saw men in camouflage bringing boxes of ammunition to the blast site and setting HIMARS fragments on a blue bench nearby.

Russian officials soon arrived, accompanied by Russian journalists whose images of twisted, charred bunk beds, HIMARS fragments and bodies laid out in the sun spread across the world.

The Ukrainians in the nearby hangar said after everyone was gone, the men in camouflage returned everything to the boxes and left.

As the clock ticked down to a U.N. Security Council meeting later that day, Russia and Ukraine blamed each other.

Russia opened an investigation and said Kyiv did it to silence soldiers from confessing to their “crimes” and used their recently acquired American-made HIMARS rockets. Ukraine denied the charge and said Russia was framing Ukraine to discredit the country before its allies.

The international community didn’t know who to believe. That’s when the U.N. announced it would conduct its own investigation, but negotiations to access the site were long and ultimately fruitless. Guterres’ special mission was disbanded on January 5, 2023, having never traveled to Ukraine.

“The members of the mission were of the view that it would be indispensable for them to be able to access all the relevant sites, materials and victims in order to fulfill its task and establish the facts of the incident,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told AP. Without that, the mission “was not in a position to provide any conclusions.”

But the separate Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which had been based in the country since Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, didn’t wait. The team combed through testimonies on Russian television from 16 survivors taken to the hospital, examined public images from the site and analyzed 20 statements made by Russian officials who visited the prison.

The mission informally shared an abridged version of its preliminary analysis with the U.N.’s newly formed Olenivka probe.

Then on September 22, a surprise prisoner swap gave the Human Rights Monitoring Mission its first chance to speak to witnesses and survivors. But from the date of the explosion, it would take eight months for any of that material to emerge publicly, and then only in pieces.

Dujarric did not respond to questions about the internal analysis.

In July 2023, U.N. Human Rights chief Volker Turk publicly stated what the internal report had first said nearly a year before — that HIMARS were not responsible. Three months later, the U.N. devoted a section to Olenivka in its annual report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. Again, cribbing from the internal analysis, the report noted that HIMARS were not responsible, that the fragments shown by Russian officials were not “in situ,” the scene had been contaminated and physical evidence disturbed.

The report concluded that the damage “appeared consistent with a projected ordnance having travelled with an east-to-west trajectory.” It failed to note that Russia controlled the eastern territory.

Fading hopes for justice

A Ukrainian investigation is ongoing, according to Taras Semkiv of the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s war crimes unit. The challenge is to identify the weapon used, in hopes that could lead to who ordered the attack. Semkiv said it’s been narrowed to three possibilities — artillery, planted explosives or a grenade launcher.

The Olenivka director is named as a suspect in “conspiracy for the ill-treatment of POWs” but the investigation leaves open the probability that more people were involved. At the war crimes unit headquarters of the Ukraine Security Service, known as the SBU, meters-long charts line the walls, illustrating the hierarchy of Russian officials responsible for various sections of the front line.

Semkiv said no international investigators have requested information from the General Prosecutor’s Office since the deaths at Olenivka, including the disbanded U.N. fact-finding mission. He said initial optimism about the mission faded as soon as it became clear that they would not investigate at all if there was no access to the prison.

“Technology is advancing rapidly, and there are ways to assess the situation without the direct presence of an investigator or prosecutor at the scene,” he said.

Relatives of those missing from the bombed barracks say they’re now alone in their search for answers.

First there was hope “that the world would not turn its back on us,” said Mariia Alieksieievych, the wife of the soldier seen recovering in the Donetsk hospital video. Her letters to her husband are shots in the dark – she hands them to the Red Cross, but as far as she knows there’s never been access to the prisoners. She said Ukraine’s government gives them no help or news about whether the men could be included in any future exchanges and has ignored requests for a day of remembrance for the Olenivka victims.

Her fading hopes for an international investigation have been replaced by determination.

She and other relatives want the International Criminal Court to take up the case, but she’s realistic enough to know that’s a distant possibility.

Her goal in the meantime: “To save the lives of our defenders, to bring them home. Because in Russian captivity, death is not an isolated case.”

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North Korean charged in ransomware attacks on US hospitals

Kansas City, Kansas — A man who officials say worked for one of North Korea’s military intelligence agencies has been indicted for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to hack American health care providers, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

A grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, indicted Rim Jong Hyok, who is accused of laundering ransom money and using the money to fund additional cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world. The hack on American hospitals on other health care providers disrupted the treatment of patients, officials said.

“While North Korea uses these types of cybercrimes to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the impact of these wanton acts have a direct impact on the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Hyok.

Justice Department officials said an attack on a Kansas hospital, which they did not identify, happened in May 2021 when hackers encrypted the medical center’s files and servers. The hospital paid about $100,000 in Bitcoin to get its data back.

The department said it recovered that ransom as well as a payment from a Colorado health care provider affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.

The Justice Department has brought multiple criminal cases related to North Korean hacking in recent years, often alleging a profit-driven motive that differentiates the activity from that of hackers in Russia and China.

In 2021, for instance, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of global hacks, including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio, and in the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies.

Investigators said Hyok has been a member of the Andariel Unit of the North Korean government’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, a military intelligence agency. Hyok allegedly conspired to use ransomware software to conduct cyberespionage hacks against American hospitals and other government and technology entities in South Korea, and China.

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Cambodia’s media sees $7 million boost

Phnom Penh — A $7 million grant to bolster independent media in Cambodia is being welcomed by the country’s journalists.  

The United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, in July announced a grant designed to help “strengthen and expand the diversity of trustworthy news” in Cambodia.  

Details of the funding emerged as the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, known as CamboJA, released its quarterly assessment of conditions for media.  

CamboJA found that media are still subject to legal and physical harassment, and that some journalists were brought in for questioning by authorities.  

Between April and June, the association documented one physical assault and at least six cases of legal harassment, including journalists being questioned on accusations of incitement and defamation. The Ministry of Information also revoked licenses for two media outlets that it said had violated professionalism and ethics.  

Nop Vy, who is executive director of CamboJA, told VOA Khmer the association has identified two key concerns: laws used against reporters, including so-called citizen journalists who publish via social media; and a limited understanding of media ethics  

among journalists new to the field. 

“They still have little understanding of the journalism profession, the use of words, the use of certain behaviors, and some of the activities that, in turn, can affect some privacy rights and human rights,” he said.  

Nop Vy said that lack of understanding has contributed to the growing number of lawsuits against journalists. 

The head of CamboJA added that because of legal pressures, Cambodia is seeing a decline in independent journalists. That trend could in turn lead to a decline in the quality of information available to audiences, he said. 

Against that backdrop, CamboJA and the country’s media widely welcome the new five-year USAID grant, which is designed to ensure audiences have access to independent news and to assist in “bolstering” local media.  

“The purpose of this activity is to strengthen and expand the diversity of trustworthy news and information sources available to Cambodians so that they can be better equipped to participate in civic life,” USAID said, as it invited groups to apply.   

A USAID spokesperson told VOA Khmer via email that the agency has supported Cambodia’s independent media in the past and will continue to do so through the grant. 

The spokesperson highlighted the importance of a strong media sector with diverse, independent information sources for democratic development. 

Nop Vy, who says his organization intends to apply for a grant, said the funding will benefit Cambodia’s journalists. 

“It may help to enhance press freedom and strengthen independent media. Having the right support helps protect journalists working in the field,” Nop Vy said. 

He said that journalists are pivotal to a democratic society and that the U.S. could contribute to reviving and reinforcing the democratic process in Cambodia. 

Hang Samphors, head of Cambodian Female Journalists, or CFJ, said the assistance is important in advancing independent media in Cambodia, where the sector is small and operating space limited. 

“With adequate budget for program implementation, independent media can effectively disseminate information and programs to reach our people, enabling informed decisions and contributing significantly to our country’s economic development,” Samphors said.  

She said she hopes the aid will help more female journalists.  

Tep Asnarith, spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Information, emphasized the necessity for genuine stakeholder participation and adherence to professional standards in developing Cambodia’s media sector. 

“We are actively engaged in promoting journalistic values and fostering media sector growth,” Tep Asnarith told VOA.   

Cambodia ranks 151 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment.  

This story originated in VOA’s Khmer service. 

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Greece signs deal to buy 20 US-made F-35 jets in major military overhaul

Athens — Greece formally approved an offer to buy 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the United States as part of a major defense overhaul, government officials said Thursday.

“The letter of acceptance for the F-35s has been signed and sent to the United States,” Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said while visiting a military air base near Athens.

The purchase, he said, would create “a powerful deterrent presence in our region.”

Delivery of the fifth-generation jet made by Lockheed Martin is expected to start in 2028, while Greece maintains the option to purchase 20 additional F-35 jets as part of an $8.6 billion deal.

The purchase of the first 20 jets along with additional support will cost some $3.5 billion, Greek officials said.

Greece is overhauling its military in a decade-long program following a protracted financial crisis and continued tension with neighbor and NATO ally Turkey, mostly over a volatile sea boundary dispute. 

Turkey was dropped from the F-35 program five years ago over its decision to buy Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system, a move seen in the United States as a compromise to NATO security. 

In Athens, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis described the current military modernization campaign as the most significant in “many decades.” 

“We will continue to implement this major program, equipping our country and armoring its defenses,” Marinakis said.

Athens has been seeking an advantage in the air since Turkey’s exclusion from F-35 purchases and has also acquired advanced French-made Rafale fighter jets. Deliveries to the Greek air force began in 2021, starting with jets previously used by France’s military that will be supplemented by new aircraft built by French defense contractor Dassault Aviation. 

Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the F-35 program, described the aircraft as being ideal to “strengthen Greece’s sovereignty and operational capability with allies.” “It is our honor to continue (our) relationship as Greece becomes the 19th nation to join the F-35 program,” she said. 

The U.S. State Department in January approved the sale that could eventually total 40 F-35 aircraft, along with 42 engines as well as services and equipment including secure communications devices, electronic warfare systems, training, logistics, and maintenance support. 

Current members of the F-35 program, either as participants or through military sales, are: the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Israel, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Poland, Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

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US figure skaters set to get team gold medals at Paris Olympics after ruling in 2022 doping case

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YouTube star sets Domino installation world record

YouTube star Lily Hevesh has been mesmerizing viewers with domino creations for 15 years. Last weekend, at the National Building Museum in Washington, she completed her most ambitious project yet: she brought down an installation of 100,000 dominoes and set a world record. Maxim Adams reports. Camera: Dmitry Shakhov, Artem Kohan.

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China seeks to boost influence by playing peacemaker

Taipei, Taiwan — China hosted a series of high-profile diplomatic meetings this week aimed at projecting an image as a global peacemaker in two major global crises, the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the southern city of Guangzhou, his first trip to China since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In Beijing, China hosted a meeting that resulted in the signing of an agreement among 14 Palestinian factions to form a national unity government.

Analysts say the developments, while significant, were largely symbolic. 

“These diplomatic efforts are in line with the Global Security Initiative that Beijing is trying to put out to make itself look like a global peacemaker, but the international community needs to see some substantive progress [from China,]” Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, told VOA by phone. 

China dubbed the agreements between representatives from 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, as the “Beijing Declaration.” On Tuesday, Wang Yi said that while reconciliation is an internal affair of Palestinian factions, it could not be achieved “without the support of the international community.”

He also laid out China’s three-step approach to help end the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, including promoting a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire, upholding the principle of “the Palestinians governing Palestine,” and promoting Palestine to become a full member of the United Nations as well as implementing the two-state solution.

The United States has made its own concerted attempts to achieve an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, laying out conditions intended to lead to the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas in return for a permanent ceasefire and the pullout of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Although Wang tried to use the meeting in Beijing to cast China as a potential mediator in ending the Middle East conflict, Israel quickly denounced the declaration. The United States voiced its objection to Hamas’ involvement in the post-war governance of Gaza, noting it has designated the group as a terrorist organization.

Some experts say that without the support of the U.S. and other countries, China’s efforts to facilitate peace talks in the Middle East could all be in vain. 

“Despite China’s intention to be a peacemaker and mediator, without the support of the United States and other countries, China won’t be able to achieve much,” said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University. 

Despite pushback from Israel and the U.S., Chong in Singapore said Beijing’s outreach to Palestinians could boost its standing in the Muslim world. 

“Beijing wants to seem like it is supporting the Palestinian cause, which has broad sympathy among Muslims and this dovetails with investment and efforts to advance Saudi-Iranian reconciliation,” he told VOA. 

Last year, China brokered a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia that paved the way for the two Middle East rivals to restore diplomatic ties and reactivate a security cooperation agreement.

In his view, China’s efforts stand as a “contrast” to what some observers see as destructive U.S. actions, from Washington’s support for Israel to the U.S. experiences with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. 

“Beijing is trying hard to look constructive and supportive to causes that many Muslims and Arab states care about,” Chong noted. 

A window of opportunity in Ukraine war

China’s hosting of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba this week was also an important diplomatic milestone for Beijing, which has faced persistent criticism over its support for Russia. Beijing has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

During a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday, which lasted more than three hours, Kuleba said “a just peace” in Ukraine is in China’s strategic interests and that Beijing’s role as “a global force for peace” is important.

He also said Kyiv is ready to negotiate when Russia is ready to do so in good faith, adding that Ukraine hasn’t sensed any sign of readiness from the Russians. 

In response, Wang Yi said China remains committed to a political settlement of the “Ukraine crisis” and reiterated four principles put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as the six understandings proposed by China and Brazil in May to help find a solution to end the Ukraine war.

Zhu, the China foreign policy scholar at Bucknell University, said a potential victory by former president Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election could mean reduced support for Ukraine from Washington, making it “imperative” for Kyiv to reach out to China. 

“If Trump wins the U.S. election, Ukraine will basically be left to itself, so getting support and help from China is critical for Ukraine moving forward,” he told VOA in a written response. 

Building blocks for an alternative world order

Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in Brussels, said China’s diplomatic efforts are part of the “building blocks” to help establish an alternative world order led by China. 

“China sees an opportunity to weaken the United States’ global position through its diplomatic efforts this week, and countries in the Global South are an important audience [for its messaging,]” she told VOA by phone. 

Zhu said as the U.S. becomes more preoccupied with November’s presidential election, there may be more opportunities for China to present itself as an alternative leader in global affairs. 

“The messier the U.S. elections are and the more isolationist the U.S. becomes, the more opportunities China will have to fill in the gap and play a leadership role in international affairs,” he told VOA. 

However, if China hopes to become a more important international player through these diplomatic efforts, Chong said Beijing needs to follow up on the more declaratory agreements by rolling out some concrete steps. 

“I suppose China has ambitions to become a more important player [internationally,] but those ambitions haven’t been matched by developments on the ground yet,” he said.

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Mourners gather in Vietnam for leader’s funeral

Hanoi, Vietnam — Thousands of black-clad mourners including top Vietnamese officials gathered Thursday in Hanoi for the funeral of Communist party leader Nguyen Phu Trong as two days of national mourning began.

The 80-year-old, who died at a military hospital in the capital Hanoi last week “due to old age and serious illness,” was the most powerful leader the country had seen in decades.

Trong, who had led the party since 2011, was the first leader to have held three consecutive mandates in the role, after the liberalization of the country’s economy in 1986.

He was known for a high-profile anti-corruption drive that swept through the party, police, armed forces and business, which analysts say has been linked to political infighting.

Alongside bouquets of yellow flowers and burning incense, Trong’s flag-draped coffin was laid beneath a large portrait of the leader and dozens of his medals at the National Funeral House in central Hanoi.

Wearing black and white headbands, Trong’s family greeted the mourners, having requested no customary cash envelopes or flowers be given at the funeral.

All flags across the country flew at half mast, while entertainment and sporting events have been suspended during the mourning period.

Smaller remembrance ceremonies also started Thursday morning for Trong in the southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City and in his village in Dong Anh district on the outskirts of Hanoi.

“The general secretary’s death is an irreparable loss for the party, the state, the people and his family,” said politburo member Luong Cuong as the funeral started.

Tributes from abroad

The country’s top party officials led tributes, including President To Lam, who was handed the reins of power a day before Trong’s death was announced.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Cuba’s parliamentary speaker Esteban Lazo Hernandez were among the foreign officials to pay their respects.

Trong was praised earlier by US President Joe Biden as “a champion of deep ties” between Vietnam and Washington, while Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the Vietnamese leader as a “true friend of Russia.”

Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, said that under Trong’s watch, “Vietnam managed to maintain a balanced foreign policy with all the major powers.”

“And thanks to this, Vietnam managed to achieve significant economic development and now is on the way to become an upper-middle income economy by 2030,” he told AFP.

Trong’s poor health had fueled widespread speculation that he would not be able to stay in power until the 2026 party congress. Details of his illness have never been made public.

He enjoyed remarkable longevity in office, during a mandate that rights groups say has coincided with increasing authoritarianism.

“I admired Trong… He spent his whole life and career working for the Communist Party and the people of Vietnam,” said Tran Van Thuong, a Hanoi resident.

Trong will be buried at Mai Dich cemetery, the final resting place for many senior leaders in Vietnam, at 3 p.m. Friday.

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Some US states purge Chinese companies from investments amid tensions with China

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — As state treasurer, Vivek Malek pushed Missouri’s main retirement system to pull its investments from Chinese companies, making Missouri among the first nationally to do so. Now Malek is touting the Chinese divestment as he seeks reelection in an August 6 Republican primary against challengers who also are denouncing financial connections to China.

The Missouri treasurer’s race highlights a new facet of opposition to China, which has been cast as a top threat to the U.S. by many candidates seeking election this year. Indiana and Florida also have restricted their public pension funds from investing in certain Chinese companies. Similar legislation targeting public investments in foreign adversaries was vetoed in Arizona and proposed in Illinois and Oklahoma.

China ranks as the world’s second-largest economy behind the U.S.

Between 2018 and 2022, U.S. public pension and university endowments invested about $146 billion in China, according to an analysis by Future Union, a nonprofit pro-democracy group led by venture capitalist Andrew King. The report said more than four-fifths of U.S. states have at least one public pension fund investing in China and Hong Kong.

“Frankly, there should be shame — more shame than there is — for continuing to have those investments at this point in time,” said King, who asserts that China has used intellectual property from U.S. companies to make similar products that undercut market prices.

“You’re talking a considerable amount of money that frankly is competing against the U.S. technology and innovation ecosystem,” King said.

But some investment officials and economists have raised concerns that the emerging patchwork of state divestment policies could weaken investment returns for retirees.

“Most of these policies are unwise and would make U.S. citizens poorer,” said Ben Powell, an economics professor who is executive director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University.

The National Association of State Retirement Administrators opposes state-mandated divestments, saying such orders should come only from the federal government against specific companies based on U.S. security or humanitarian interests.

The U.S. Treasury Department recently proposed a rule prohibiting American investors from funding artificial intelligence systems in China that could have military uses, such as weapons targeting. In May, President Joe Biden blocked a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining firm from owning land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, calling it a “national security risk.”

Yet this isn’t the first time that states have blacklisted particular investments. Numerous states, cities and universities divested from South Africa because of apartheid before the U.S. Congress eventually took action. Some states also have divested from tobacco companies because of health concerns.

Most recently, some states announced a divestment from Russia because of its war against Ukraine. But that has been difficult to carry out for some public pension fund administrators.

The quest to halt investments in Chinese companies comes as a growing number of states also have targeted Chinese ownership of U.S. land. Two dozen states now have laws restricting foreign ownership of agricultural land, according to the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas. Some laws apply more broadly, such as one facing a legal challenge in Florida that bars Chinese citizens from buying property within 16 kilometers of military installations and critical infrastructure.

State pension divestment policies are “part of a broader march toward more confrontation between China and the United States,” said Clark Packard, a research fellow for trade policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. But “it makes it more challenging for the federal government to manage the overall relationship if we’ve got to deal with a scattershot policy at the state level.”

Indiana last year became the first to enact a law requiring the state’s public pension system to gradually divest from certain Chinese companies. As of March 31, 2023, the system had about $1.2 billion invested in Chinese entities with $486 million subject to the divestment requirement. A year later, its investment exposure in China had fallen to $314 million with just $700,000 still subject to divestment, the Indiana Public Retirement System said.

Missouri State Treasurer Malek tried last November to get fellow trustees of the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System to divest from Chinese companies. After defeat, he tried again in December and won approval for a plan requiring divestment over a 12-month period. Officials at the retirement system did not respond to repeated questions from The Associated Press about the status of that divestment.

In recent weeks, Malek has highlighted the Chinese divestment in campaign ads, asserting that fentanyl from China “is drugging our kids” and vowing: “As long as I’m treasurer, they won’t get money from us. Not one penny.”

Two of Malek’s main challengers in the Republican primary — state Rep. Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig — also support divestment from China.

Koenig said China is becoming less stable and “a more risky place to have money invested.”

“In China, the line between public and private is much more blurry than it is in America,” Smith said. “So I don’t think we can fully know that if we are investing in Chinese companies that we are not also aiding an enemy of the United States.” 

A law signed earlier this year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requires a state board overseeing the retirement system to develop a plan by September 1 to divest from companies owned by China. The oversight board had announced in March 2022 that it would stop making new Chinese investments. As of May, it still had about $277 million invested in Chinese-owned entities, including banks, energy firms and alcohol companies, according to an analysis by Florida legislative staff.

Florida law already prohibits investment in certain companies tied to Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, or those engaged in an economic boycott against Israel.

In April, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have required divestment from companies in countries determined by the federal government to be foreign adversaries. That list includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.

Hobbs said in a letter to lawmakers that the measure “would be detrimental to the economic growth Arizona is experiencing as well as the State’s investment portfolio.” 

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Former Trump NSC official explains his vision for ending war in Ukraine

WASHINGTON — Retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, who was chief of staff on former President Donald Trump’s national security council, spoke with VOA about his vision for ending the war in Ukraine.

Kellogg says he is not a formal adviser to the former president and has not presented his plan to Trump, but it is one of the options that he could consider if he is elected in November.

Kellogg also served as the national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence in the Trump administration. He now co-chairs the Center on American Security at America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group.

The Ukraine strategy was published back in May by AFPI as part of their An America First Approach to U.S. National Security, edited by Fred Fleitz, who also served as chief of staff at the National Security Council during Trump’s presidency and co-wrote with Kellogg the chapter on the Russia-Ukraine war.

It suggests that the U.S. should begin a formal policy “to seek a cease-fire and negotiated settlement of the Ukraine conflict.” The U.S. would continue to arm Ukraine to deter Russia from attacking during or after a deal is reached, but under the condition that Kyiv agrees to enter into peace talks with Russia.

To persuade Russia to participate in the negotiations, the U.S. and other NATO partners would delay Ukraine’s membership in the alliance for an extended period in exchange for a “comprehensive and verifiable deal with security guarantees.”

They write that Ukraine will not be asked to give up its ambition to regain all land seized by Russia, but Kyiv should agree to use diplomatic means only and realize that it might take a long time to regain all the territories. The strategy proposes to use the partial lifting of sanctions on Russia to encourage the Kremlin to take steps toward peace and establish levies on Russian energy imports to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.

The interview with Kellogg, recorded on July 18 at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Can you tell a little bit about the plan? I think it’s the most detailed paper coming publicly from Republican and Republican-affiliated groups.

Retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg: We’ve said very clearly in our paper that Ukraine has fought valiantly. They are very well led. We think the Russians did clearly an unwarranted invasion of a sovereign state and this must be addressed. President Trump, to his credit, said in the very first debate when he was asked by one of the commentators, Dana Bash, do the Russians basically get to keep the territories? He said no, not at all. He said not once, he did it twice.

So, there’s a negotiation, you are going to figure out what your starting points are going to be. You want to make sure that Ukrainians are not put at the position when they’re operating from weaknesses, but from strength. So, the question is how do you do that? And how you put all the pieces and parts in place? Nobody is ever saying that: “Oh, we just have to make Ukrainians to give up land and give it to Russia.” Look when you look at your losses, the losses in Ukraine alone, depending on who you talk to, you’re talking between 100,000 and 130,000 deaths. That’s enormous because when I look at [Russia’s losses] they have had three times that. The United States of America lost 60,000 in the Vietnam war. That was a 20-year war we went away from. The Russians, then the Soviets, lost 15,000 in Afghanistan and walked away from it.

If the Ukrainians say no and the Russians say no, then they can do it in a different way. But I think you started to ask yourself questions is this what’s best for Ukraine as a nation? I don’t care about Russia. I care about Ukraine.

Let’s say a year and a half ago the Russians turn their heels and if the West had provided the equipment that [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy asked for, then you probably could have finished the job. You could have gotten into the Sea of Azov through Kherson, splitting them in half, and that is what you wanted to do. So, I blame this administration and the West to a degree for not supporting Ukraine when they should have.

VOA: The Biden administration is saying that they want to put Ukraine in the position of strength before it can negotiate with Russia. You are suggesting pretty much the same, right?

Kellogg: No, that’s a false statement. Have the United States given Ukraine a support of F-16s? No. Did we provide long-range fires early for the Ukrainians to shoot in Russians? No. Did we provide permission for them to shoot deep into Russia? No. Did the United States provide them the armored capabilities they needed? We gave 31 tanks. Thirty-one tanks is not even a battalion in the United States army. So, they talk about it, but it didn’t really happen.

VOA: Ukrainian officials might be cautious about entering into the negotiations with Russians because it might send a signal to their partners that they don’t need military aid anymore.

Kellogg: You have to give more arms to them because you can’t trust the Russians. You just have to do it, and the question is, do you do this before Europe tires, Americans tire, Ukrainians tire? Two and a half years — that’s a long war and the destruction is enormous. Sometimes you have to look at what we call in America the long game. And that is security guarantees, financial support and military support. We have to bring that to the American people, you know, President Biden has only talked to American people one time. You got to talk to them a lot. President Biden has only talked to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin one time. When I was with President Trump, he was talking to him 17 different times. It doesn’t mean he likes him. But you have to talk to your adversary.

VOA: Why would Russians want to negotiate?

Kellogg: You need to give them reasons to negotiate. You can give an extreme reason and say, OK, you’ve got to get back all the land from Ukraine. Maybe, short-term you tell Ukraine, we’re not going to support you coming to NATO, but we give you a bilateral security agreement.

VOA: The U.S. and Ukraine have just signed a security agreement.

Kellogg: That was not a defense agreement. A defense agreement should be ratified by the Senate. What you have to do is to come up with a peace agreement like we’ve done with Korea, we did years ago with Taiwan.

VOA: But what is the contingency plan if Russia doesn’t abide by the agreement.

Kellogg: That is part of negotiation. That’s where both sides draw the red lines. That’s where both sides make the determination: this is what we’re going to do or not do.

VOA: Ukraine already tried that signing the Minsk agreements with Russia.

Kellogg: Minsk agreements worked very well, didn’t they? They’re lousy. They didn’t do anything because nobody trusted anybody, and nobody worked together. You had Minsk 1, failed; Minsk 2, failed. Budapest memorandum, failed. So, you have to have some kind of degree of confidence and security.

VOA: One of the reasons why the negotiations in Istanbul broke down was that Russians demanded Ukraine’s demilitarization, a smaller army.

Kellogg: Yes. And this is an unacceptable demand. And you don’t walk into negotiating with unacceptable demands. But you have to have an ability, we call it an interlocutor. An interlocutor is somebody who can sit down and actually negotiate with both parties. It can be Trump, President Trump believes he can do it, but you also have to look at who else is out there. President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey, do you think he could do it? No, he’s not going to do it. [Chancellor Olaf] Scholz from Germany, you think he will do it? No, he is not going to do it. [President Emmanuel] Macron from France, he tried but hasn’t done it. Well, now they had a change in government in Britain. So that’s gone away. You know, I don’t know maybe [Klaus] Iohannis, [the president] of Romania. Maybe he could do it, but you have to have somebody that both sides could talk to.

President Trump is talking to both parties. And President Biden is not. Now the option is quite clear: If Ukraine doesn’t want to negotiate, fine, but then accept the fact that you can have enormous losses in your cities and accept the fact that you will have your children killed, accept the fact that you don’t have 130,000 dead, you will have 230,000–250,000. Demographically, what does that do to the country?

You have to accept the fact that maybe the threat will remain on Kyiv, you have to accept the fact that Kharkiv will have more damage or do you want to say this is time maybe we take a pause and figure out how to push the Russians out of there so that they don’t get territorial gain. And how do you have a long-term peace agreement?

Let’s use NATO as an example. NATO has already said they’re not going to support Ukraine going into NATO until the war is over. That’s the reality and that’s where you need somebody to stand as a negotiator and say no, this is where we want to go.

The size of this war is not appreciated in the West. That is the largest war in Europe since World War II, it is between the two largest countries in Europe. The losses have been horrific.

It is too great of a country, and I’ve been there. I have been to Izyum, I’ve been to Kharkiv and I’ve seen what Russians did to it. There’s no love for Russians. There’s a support for sovereignty. Figure out a way does not mean we say give up land.

VOA: The other reason why the negotiations in Istanbul broke down is because it became known what happened in Bucha. It means that if Ukraine allows Russia to continue occupying any of its lands, it condemns the people who live there. …

Kellogg: Who is saying to give up land?

VOA: Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance alluded to that.

Kellogg: J.D. Vance was just nominated as the vice president last night. Until that, he was just a senator, one of 100. Yeah, you can say a lot of things in the Senate. When you speak for an administration, things change. 

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Biden speaks, with hope and wistfulness, of decision to leave race

washington — After three days of silence over his stunning decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, U.S. President Joe Biden took to prime time television Tuesday to give Americans, and the world, an explanation in a speech that was at times hopeful, at times determined, and at times wistful. 

Biden spoke of his five decades in public office, touted his presidential record of domestic and political achievements – but then called for energetic new leadership to face tomorrow’s challenges.

 

“I revere this office,” said Biden, his hands resting on the glossy, hulking Resolute Desk, the gold-brocade drapes of the Oval Office framing his sloping shoulders. “But I love my country more.”

“Nothing – nothing – can come in the way of saving our democracy,” he said. “That includes personal ambition. So, I decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices. Fresh voices. Yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”

Biden also thanked Vice President Kamala Harris, who has taken to the campaign trail with his endorsement and enough delegate pledges to net the nomination. He described her as “experienced,” “tough,” and “capable” but added: “the choice is up to you.”

He did not name-check his Republican opponent in the race. But analysts say Biden’s stark warnings all point to one man. 

“He talked about polarization,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of communication and journalism at Texas A&M University. “He talked about violence and political violence. Those are all things that harken back to Donald Trump and his presidency. He talked about the threats facing the nation when he first took office, January 2021. And so that was certainly about Donald Trump. But yeah, this wasn’t a place for him to talk about Donald Trump. It wasn’t a place for him to give a campaign speech.”

Biden’s job now, he said, will focus on domestic challenges like civil rights and voter freedom, gun safety reforms, the quest to end cancer and Supreme Court reform. He also cited the various challenges the U.S. faces abroad, with wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine and China becoming more emboldened in the Indo-Pacific. 

It’s those foreign fires, analysts say, that are likely to concern voters who were already worried about Biden’s future. 

“That’s really the concern I think people will have, which is: How does a lame duck president deal with foreign policy crises?” said Thomas Schwartz, a history professor at Vanderbilt University.

That question may be answered as soon as Thursday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House in what administration officials told reporters Wednesday is an attempt to stitch up the first phase of a longer cease-fire deal that will end the brutal nine-month conflict in Gaza.  

In a sign that foreign leaders may be hedging their bets in this electric American election cycle, the Israeli leader is also holding two other meetings while in the U.S., with Harris and Trump. 

But for the final act of this presidency, Joe Biden remains the protagonist on America’s biggest stage. The ending, analysts say, is a classic.  

“What has stopped Joe Biden is the thing that has stopped every human being since the beginning of time, and that is, we age,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at the policy and research firm Third Way. “And it got to the point where I feel he could do the job, but he couldn’t convince the American people that he could do the job.”

 

But this could also be a triumphant moment for the 81-year-old president, who was widely thanked by Democrats for making the decision to step aside. 

”In some ways,” Kessler said, “he’s like an athlete that is going to make the Hall of Fame and is retiring and gets the cheers from the crowds, finally, for a long, 50-year, tremendous career.”

Biden clearly understood that this address would be a dramatic peak. So, he used his final words to break the fourth wall, with a message as old as America:

“The great thing about America,” he said, “is here, kings and dictators do not rule, the people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands.”

Kim Lewis contributed from Washington.

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In Algeria, Putin’s ally misleads about size of Russian economy, downplays sanctions

In the internationally accepted economic ranking by nominal GDP, the U.S. remains the world’s leading economy, while Russia ranks 11th. Volodin referred to Russia’s ranking by the purchasing power parity, or PPP, not the actual size and strength of the economy.

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Kenyan entrepreneur enables the paralyzed to commute with ease

A Kenyan entrepreneur is helping people in wheelchairs get around in a country that is hard for people with disabilities to navigate. Through his company, Ace Mobility, users can hail cars and drivers equipped to accommodate disabled passengers. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.

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