The World Blog by humble servant.

Hounded by the international media and hated in his home city for his close ties to Russia, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder insists that Germany needs Russia’s vast energy supplies to maintain its industrial power. As Germany’s leaders distance themselves from calls to embargo Russian oil and gas imports, the New York Times published an interview on Saturday with Gerhard Schroeder, the country’s former chancellor who oversaw the construction of the first Russia-Germany Nord Stream pipeline and went on to advise multiple Russian energy companies. Schroeder, who remains personally close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has faced scathing criticism at home for his role in fostering Germany’s dependence on Russian gas (although his successor, Angela Merkel, refused to lessen that reliance). His favorite soccer team, Borussia Dortmund, demanded he condemn Putin, his former colleagues in the Social Democratic Party have called for his expulsion, and he relinquished his hono...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Saturday what kind of events might force his country to withdraw from peace negotiations with Moscow. During a press conference held at one of Kiev's metro stations amid the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine, Zelensky was asked how Kiev would respond to potential independence referendums in the territories controlled by Russian forces. The president admitted that it would force him to stop any talks with Moscow. “If our people are destroyed in Mariupol, if a referendum, a pseudo-referendum, is announced in any new pseudo-republics of Ukraine, Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiations process,” Zelensky said. Two days ago, Moscow announced the capture of Mariupol. However, President Vladimir Putin called off the assault on the Azovstal factory, which remains the last holdout of Ukrainian forces, including the fighters of the neo-Nazi Azov regiment, in the strategic port city. Russian troops should “seal the area so that a f...

For many years, I have studied and given much thought to the UN Charter’s prohibition against aggressive war. No one can seriously doubt that the primary purpose of the document – drafted and agreed to on the heels of the horrors of WWII – was and is to prevent war and “to maintain international peace and security,” a phrase repeated throughout. As the Justices at Nuremberg correctly concluded, “To initiate a war of aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” That is, war is the paramount crime because all of the evils we so abhor – genocide, crimes against humanity, etc. – are the terrible fruits of the tree of war. In light of the above, I have spent my entire adult life opposing war and foreign intervention. Of course, as an American, I have had ample occasion to do so given that the US is, as Martin Luther King stated, “the gre...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had a withering comeback for Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates after Gates tried to interest him in “green” philanthropy, accusing the software tycoon of not taking climate change seriously by pointing out that Gates had shorted the stock of Tesla, the US market leader in electric vehicles, for half a billion dollars. The conversation became public on Friday, with Gates apologizing for the short (“Sorry to say I haven’t closed it out”), while urging the SpaceX founder to overlook that fact and “discuss philanthropy possibilities” with him.“Sorry, I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change,” Musk retorted. The billionaire has acknowledged the conversation really happened, but claimed on Twitter that he didn’t know how it had been leaked to the New York Times. However, Musk suggested Gates’ short position on Tesla was “not exactly top secret,” cl...

Russian forces have destroyed a logistics terminal in Odessa that held a large batch of foreign weapons, Moscow said on Saturday amid its ongoing military offensive in Ukraine. However, the city’s authorities claimed that its air defense group destroyed two missiles but that another four hit a military target and residential buildings, leading to victims. It was not immediately clear if the civilian buildings were hit as a result of attempts by Ukrainian forces to strike down the missiles initially aimed at a military target. According to Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, in the afternoon, “high-precision long-range air-launched missiles” hit a logistics terminal located on a military airfield near Odessa, where “a large batch of foreign weapons received from the United States and European countries was stored.” Russia has repeatedly warned NATO against sending arms to Ukraine and stated that it would consider arms convoys to be legitimate military targets. ...

Poland has provided Kiev with $1.6 billion worth of weapons “to defend Ukrainian, Polish and European sovereignty” amid Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Saturday. Writing on Twitter, Muller referred to the announcement made by the country’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki earlier on Saturday. “Poland has provided Ukraine with weapons worth around 7 billion PLN {Polish zloty}… This is over 1.7 billion dollars to defend Ukrainian, Polish and European sovereignty!” Muller said. The government spokesman’s statement seems to be reiterating Morawiecki’s idea that in fighting the “totalitarian Russian regime,” the Ukrainians are defending their neighbors and the whole of Europe. “They are fighting for us, for Europe, for freedom, for peace in Europe and everyone should be aware of this all the time,” Morawiecki said during a press conference in Warsaw. As Ukraine cannot fight Russian forces “without a huge amount of weaponry,” inc...

US President Joe Biden has announced a “process” is underway to make every vehicle in the country’s massive military “climate friendly,” adding that “we’re spending bill. The president was in Seattle for the holiday, using his speech in Seward Park as an opportunity to tout his green bona fides. But while the Pentagon is in the process of developing a supposedly “zero emissions” plan for non-tactical fleets, due in 2035, there is no project currently underway to convert all of the vehicles of the world’s most expensive military from fossil fuels to electric. Such an overhaul would require any potential theater of war to have extensive charging infrastructure for the fleet of electric vehicles, something that simply isn’t possible in most of the countries where the US has bases. The flammability of current models of electric vehicle batteries would also work against a “climate-friendly” military, making the US vehicles much easier to destroy with a well-aimed shot to the battery. Wh...

arsaw has launched a campaign called ‘Stop Russia now!’ to “remind” European nations about the situation in Ukraine and convince them to introduce tougher sanctions against Moscow, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Saturday. The campaign will feature mobile billboards featuring photos from Ukrainian cities that will be sent to various European locations. Morawiecki has also said he would himself travel to EU capitals to remind Europeans “what is happening in Ukraine.” The campaign, which will also include social media posts, according to the prime minister, “has to contribute decisively to ensuring that Europe is not a Europe of indifference, helplessness, that it is not a Europe of defeat,” he has added. Nations in western and southern Europe are willing to return to “normality” too “soon,” Morawiecki has said, adding that the campaign is aimed at “awakening the conscience” of Europe. Photos placed on the mobile billboards by the Polish authorities juxtapose the ...

Major British supermarket chains have limited how much cooking oil customers can purchase, a move attributable to shortages and subsequent changes in consumption patterns resulting from the conflict in Ukraine. According to the UK food regulator, the former Soviet republic is responsible for a “significant proportion” of UK sunflower oil supply. Tesco, Morrisons and upmarket chain Waitrose all confirmed to the media having introduced a cap on the number of cooking oil bottles a customer can purchase. “To make sure all of our customers can continue to get what they need, we've introduced a temporary buying limit of three items per customer on products from our cooking oil range,” Tesco said in a statement, reassuring customers that there is “a good availability of cooking oils in stores and online.” Waitrose and Morrisons took a similar step but limited each customer to just two items. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Ukraine and Russia combi...

The Western media might be tempted to blame the Malian Army for alleged atrocities after a mass grave was found near a camp of the French forces in central Mali, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, as it called for a thorough probe into the matter. “We support the decision of the Mali authorities to investigate the circumstances of this crime in the most thorough way,” the ministry said, adding that it expects “Paris to effectively contribute to the probes into murders and disappearance of the Malian citizens.” The statement came just days after videos surfaced on social media that supposedly show a mass grave with dozens of bodies being discovered in a military camp once occupied by French forces taking part in Operation Barkhane in Mali and neighboring African nations. The Malian Army (FAMA) confirmed late Friday that they discovered a mass grave near the former French camp in Gossi, central Mali. The French forces left the “advanced operational base” on Tu...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “tempting evil” with his statements about the training of Ukrainian troops abroad amid the conflict with Russia, Polish General Waldemar Skrzypczak, who advises the defense minister, said on Friday. During a visit to India earlier this week, Johnson told journalists that “we are currently training Ukrainians in Poland in the use of anti-aircraft defense, and actually in the UK in the use of armored vehicles.” Skrzypczak, who headed one of the multinational divisions in Iraq in the mid-2000s, told Polish newspaper Fakt that “when we were on missions abroad it was hard to imagine that one of the politicians would talk about our plans or training on television.” By making the comments, Johnson “reveals military secrets” to Russia, the general said. “Training is a military matter and must be kept under wraps. The man should… think before saying such things.” The former commander of Poland’s land forces called the prime minister’s behavior “extremely ...

Seven out of 10 consumers in Greece have been forced to cut down on spending on food and other essentials, according to market research data published this week. Nearly half of the respondents said they had reduced their purchases in supermarkets by “a lot” and “enough,” and 25% said they now buy “a little” less, AMNA state news agency reported, citing figures from market research company Netrino. “For the first time we are seeing such a large-scale [shopping] decline in supermarkets. There is a huge decline in consumer purchases for basic necessities, food and household items,” Netrino market analyst Stefanos Komninos told AMNA. ooming for EU – diplomat When it comes to shopping for clothes and footwear, 81% of respondents had reduced their purchases by “a lot” and “enough,” making the situation “dramatic,” Komninos added. Only 15% of Greek households said they had sufficient income to put aside for savings, the research suggests. The figures come as inflation in the Eurozone hit...

China’s biggest state-owned energy companies are reportedly negotiating the opportunity to buy a stake in a major Russian gas export project from Shell after the British oil and gas corporation exited Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. Cnooc, CNPC, and Sinopec Group are in joint talks with Shell over the company’s 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas venture, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as quoted by Bloomberg. The discussions, which are in the early stages, reportedly include the sale of the stake to one or two of the Chinese firms, or to a consortium of all three majors. Shell is also open to negotiations with other potential buyers outside of China, the sources, who asked to remain anonymous, told the media. In March, Shell announced plans to exit its joint ventures with Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom and related entities. The decision follows similar steps announced by French-based Total, the UK’s BP, and Norway’s Equinor ASA. Later, t...

Officials from the US and EU are reportedly discussing measures Brussels can take to effectively curb oil imports from Russia and slash the revenues Moscow receives. The options include a ban, a price cap, and a payment mechanism that would allow revenue generated from crude oil to be withheld from the heavily sanctioned country, according to people familiar with the matter, as quoted by Bloomberg. The talks come as part of the West’s latest sanctions campaign against Russia over the military operation in Ukraine. While the US introduced a total ban on energy from Russia, which was echoed by Canada, Australia, and Japan, EU member states have been split on the matter. EU states fail to agree Russian energy banREAD MORE: EU states fail to agree Russian energy ban The US is reportedly concerned that an outright EU ban on Russian oil could send prices skyrocketing, only boosting Moscow’s revenue. On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed that a full embargo could hurt ...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned that Europe would not be able to survive next winter without Russian gas. Meanwhile, former Russian head of state Dmitry Medvedev is even more categorical: in his view, Europe would be unable to get through a week without Russian gas. Amid Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine, the EU is discussing a new, sixth, package of sanctions against Moscow, which reportedly might include some restrictions on oil and gas imports from Russia. Russian retaliatory measures could also touch on energy supplies to Europe. Commenting on a potential drop in gas supplies, Macron, who is facing the second round of the French presidential election on Sunday, has issued a stark warning. Germany explains why it opposes Russia gas embargoREAD MORE: Germany explains why it opposes Russia gas embargo “We are not going to see the consequences of this in the spring and summer of 2022 (we have replenished the stocks), but next winter everything will change if t...

An attack against a spacecraft could usher in the next global war, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's national space agency Roscosmos, said on Saturday. “One must keep in mind that the destruction of a foreign spacecraft means World War III. It’s a casus belli, and there’s no doubt about that,” Rogozin said, using a Latin term for a formal legal reason to start a war. Rogozin was commenting on Washington’s decision to stop conducting anti-satellite missile tests. Announcing the move on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris called the destruction of satellites during such tests “reckless and irresponsible” because it leaves dangerous space debris. The Roscosmos chief, however, argued that the US is now “pretending to be doves” because it had already conducted all the necessary tests. “This move should, therefore, be strictly viewed as propaganda,” he said. US makes pledge on satellite killersREAD MORE: US makes pledge on satellite killers Rogozin argued that the Boeing X-37, a...

In an attempt to reach a balance in the domestic gasoline and diesel markets, the Russian government will now be requiring the country’s oil producers to sell more fuel at exchange auctions. “Oil companies will have to sell more fuel at exchange auctions. The decision is aimed at maintaining a stable situation in the domestic gasoline and diesel market in the conditions of seasonal increase in demand,” reads a statement published on the website of the Russian government. According to the statement, the changes are applicable to gasoline for automobiles and diesel fuel and entail the minimum share of gasoline sales on the stock exchange being raised from the current 11% to 12% of the total production volume, while the share for diesel will be increased from 7.5% to 8.5%. The measure is expected to allow independent gas stations to buy the fuels at market prices. Such an approach is said to reduce the risks of monopoly pricing, since many dominant players in the fuel market have thei...

The top US law enforcement agency has warned of increased cyber attacks on agricultural cooperatives, saying hackers could target large-scale farms and potentially impact the world’s food supply. The FBI’s Cyber Division issued a notice to private industry earlier this week, pointing to a growing number of ransomware attacks on farming co-ops throughout the fall 2021 harvest and the early months of 2022. “Ransomware actors may be more likely to attack agricultural cooperatives during critical planting and harvest seasons, disrupting operations, causing financial loss, and negatively impacting the food supply chain,” it said, adding that such breaches could affect the planting season “by disrupting the supply of seeds and fertilizer.” Ukraine conflict could spark food riots in poor countries – WTOREAD MORE: Ukraine conflict could spark food riots in poor countries – WTO The bureau went on to cite several recent cases, including a month-long period late last year in which six major g...

The United States said on Friday it would respond if China builds a permanent military base in the Solomon Islands, warning such a move would create “significant concerns” after the country signed a security deal with Beijing earlier this month. Following meetings between a high-level US delegation and top local officials, the White House issued a statement outlining what was discussed during the sit-down and issuing a warning over the nation’s growing ties with China. Though the White House said “the United States respects the right of nations to make sovereign decisions in the best interests of their people,” it added that “if steps are taken [by China] to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation… the United States would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly.” This tiny island nation proves that the West only believes in its own ‘spheres of influence’READ MORE: This tiny island nation proves that...

As many as four in 10 people in Britain could fall into fuel poverty when the price cap rises again in October, the heads of the nation’s energy companies have told the UK Parliament, The Guardian reported this week. According to the publication, they have called for more government support for vulnerable households which are facing a “truly horrific” winter. The chief executive of E.ON UK, Michael Lewis, said that between 30% and 40% of Britons could go into fuel poverty from October when the industry regulator is expected to put up the annual limit on tariffs. “We are expecting a severe impact on customers’ ability to pay,” Lewis told members of parliament, adding that he expected customers’ debts to rise by 50%, or £800 million ($1.04 billion). The E.ON chief’s concerns were echoed by ScottishPower CEO Keith Anderson, who said the company had received 8,000 calls from customers concerned about their ability to pay. READ MORE: UK refuses to pay for gas in rubles He said he was “...

Firearms are now the primary cause of death among those aged under 19 in America, according to a report published on Wednesday. Gun-related fatalities spiked by 29.5% among children and adolescents in the US between 2019 and 2020, the paper, published by the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention (IFIP) at the University of New England, has reported. Most of the deaths were homicides, followed by suicides and accidental shootings, the researchers said. Fatalities from firearms have been on the rise in all age groups in the US in recent years, with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicating that there were 45,222 such incidents in 2020. “We knew gun violence had increased but I was surprised by the level of increase for just one year,” Dr. Jason Goldstick, a researcher with IFIP and associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Michigan, told The Guardian. “I can’t remember ever seeing that before.” The new figures mean that firearm-...

Austria cannot afford to ban imports of Russian gas as part of sanctions on Moscow, its Finance Minister Magnus Brunner has said. Many Western states, including members of the EU, have imposed sweeping economic restrictions on Russia in response to its military campaign in Ukraine. Brunner told CNN on Friday that his country supports “all sanctions” on Moscow, but “not the gas embargo.” “Once a sanction hits yourself more than the one targeted by the sanction, I think there’s not much use,” he said. He added that Austrian industries are so dependent on Russian gas that they have “no choice.” Last month, the EU unveiled a plan to phase out its reliance on Russian gas by 2030, but stopped short of an immediate ban on imports. The bloc’s economic powerhouse, Germany, as well as other Central and Eastern European members, remain dependent on Russian energy. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck warned in March that cutting off imports of Russian gas and oil immediately could cause “m...

Russia has accused the US of planning to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Ukraine in order to frame Moscow. The US is preparing “a provocation aimed at accusing the Russian armed forces of using chemical, biological, or tactical nuclear weapons,” Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force, said on Saturday. According to Kirillov, the supposed plans include “three scenarios.” The most probable scenario, he said, is a false-flag attack on civilians, or “an act of sabotage on Ukrainians sites, which were involved in the development of the components of weapons of mass destruction.” Kirillov claimed that the potential targets are the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Station, which has been controlled by Russia since early March, and the site of a former chemical plant in Kamenskoye in eastern Ukraine. RBC Ukraina media outlet reported last year that the plant in Kamenskoye was used for uranium enrichment in Soviet ti...

Norway announced on Thursday that the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, lost $74 billion (- 4.9%) during the first quarter of the year due to the market turmoil caused by geopolitical tensions in Ukraine. According to the country’s central bank, which operates the $1.3 trillion fund, the world’s largest single shareholder lost 5.2% on stocks and 4.8% on fixed income. “The first quarter has been characterized by geopolitical turbulence, which has also affected the markets,” the deputy head of the fund, Trond Grande, said in a statement, as quoted by Bloomberg. In February, Norway decided to drop Russian assets from the fund in response to Moscow’s launch of a military operation in Ukraine. However, it ran into problems with actually implementing the decision after Moscow barred foreigners from executing trades on its stock markets. Norway’s trillion dollar fund isn’t ditching oil after allREAD MORE: Norway’s trillion dollar fund isn’t ditching oil after all Accor...

nly lead to an uncontrollable escalation of hostilities and prolong the suffering of the people caught up in the fighting, a group of German politicians and public figures have warned Chancellor Olaf Scholz in an open letter. By providing arms to Kiev, Germany and other NATO nations “have de facto made themselves a war party,” the letter published by the Berliner Zeitung on Friday, has said. The co-authors of the letter, which include the ex-vice president of the Bundestag, Antje Vollmer, and a former UN assistant secretary general, Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck, have said that Ukraine has “become the battlefield for the conflict between NATO and Russia over the security order in Europe,” which is now waged “at the expense of the Ukrainian people.” If the conflict is not stopped quickly, it will end up in “another big war” similar to Word War I, the letter warns, adding that this time nuclear weapons might be used, bringing “widespread devastation and the end of human civilization.”...

Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Saturday that it will look into media reports that sabotage experts from the British Army’s special forces have been deployed in western Ukraine. “This data is going to be checked thoroughly,” especially considering the fact that Special Air Service (SAS) forces have established themselves as “experts in organizing mass protests, assassinations of political figures as well as preparing terrorist attacks,” the agency said in a statement. This comes after a security source told RIA Novosti earlier in the day that at least two groups of British servicemen had arrived at a Ukrainian Air Force base in the town of Brody in the Lviv region. They traveled all the way from “the city of Hereford in the UK, where SAS headquarters is located,” the source said. Each group allegedly consists of between 8 to 10 officers, specializing in sabotage, guerrilla warfare, and the recruitment of agents to work in hostile territory. SAS experts are considered to be ...

Indonesia’s ban on exports of palm oil, the world’s most consumed edible oil, is set to severely exacerbate the already-squeezed supply of cooking oil across the globe. The world’s biggest producer of palm oil will effectively ban exports of the good starting April 28, according to Indonesian President Joko Widodo. The halting of shipments of the cooking oil and its raw material is expected to help tame soaring domestic prices. “I will monitor and evaluate the implementation of this policy so availability of cooking oil in the domestic market becomes abundant and affordable,” Widodo said. Indonesia accounts for more than a third of global vegetable-oil exports, with China and India among its top buyers. The country’s supply of edible oil to the world is “impossible to replace,” according to Carlos Mera, the head of agricultural commodity markets research at Rabobank, as quoted by Bloomberg. “It’s definitely a big blow,” the analyst said. The ban comes amid a raft of crop protect...