The World Blog by humble servant.

British Labour leader Keir Starmer has defended his party’s focus on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s violation of lockdown rules. During a Sunday BBC interview, he argued that Johnson’s own Conservatives are equally sick of their leader. He declared that Johnson's “authority to lead the country is shot through.” The opposition couldn’t just ignore Johnson’s violations, Starmer noted, pointing out: “They have been found to have broken the law – the criminal law at that. No other prime minister in the history of our country has ever been found to have broken the law in office before. And I don’t think we can just pass over it.” Johnson’s own party “don’t really want to defend him because they’re sick of defending the indefensible,” Starmer continued, echoing the words of conservative MP William Wragg, who recently submitted a letter of no confidence in Johnson’s leadership. Starmer also argued that Johnson’s own party was turning on him as some senior conservative MPs, includin...

Former President Donald Trump told British broadcaster Piers Morgan that were he in charge of the US, he’d tell his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that he couldn’t say the word “nuclear” ever again. Amid the conflict in Ukraine, Trump has swung between issuing nuclear threats and calling for negotiations. “Putin uses the ‘N-word’...the nuclear word, all the time,” Trump told Morgan, in a clip from an interview set to air on Monday. "That's a no-no, you're not supposed to do that. He uses it on a daily basis. And everybody's so afraid... And as they're afraid, he uses it more and more. That's why he's doing the kind of things he's doing right now.” Putin has not directly threatened the West with nuclear weapons, but in a speech marking the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February, cautioned that anyone who “tries to stand in our way” will face consequences “such as you have never seen in your entire history.” Before the opera...

Labour leader Keir Starmer has defended his party’s focus on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s violation of lockdown rules. During a Sunday BBC interview, the politician argued Johnson’s own party is equally sick of its leader, declaring the PM’s “authority to lead the country is shot through.” Labour leader Keir Starmer has defended his party’s focus on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s violation of lockdown rules during a Sunday BBC interview. The politician argued Johnson’s own party is equally sick of its leader, declaring the PM’s “authority to lead the country is shot through.” Labour couldn’t just gloss over Johnson’s violations, Starmer noted, pointing out: “They have been found to have broken the law – the criminal law at that. No other prime minister in the history of our country has ever been found to have broken the law in office before. And I don’t think we can just pass over it.” Johnson’s own party “don’t really want to defend him because they’re sick of defending the inde...

Russia’s brand-new RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) will be able to carry several unique Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles designed to penetrate any existing missile defense system, the commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergey Karakayev, told the Russian media on Sunday. Earlier this week, the ballistic missile passed the first test in a series of final trials on its way to adoption by the Russian military. “Development of Avangard has heralded a new era: the era of hypersonic weapons,” the colonel general told Russia’s Rossiya 1 TV channel, adding that the Sarmat can make this weapon even more effective. Sarmat “is much more powerful than the [current] Avangard carrier-rocket,” Karakayev explained, adding that the ballistic missile has been specifically designed to be equipped with the Avangard warheads. The new missile is thus capable of carrying “more” gliders than the UR-100UTTKh ICBM currently in use by the Russian Strategi...

China seeks to build a system capable of effectively monitoring asteroids and potentially altering their course to protect Earth from a possible impact. The deputy head China’s National Space Administration (CNSA), Wu Yanhua, revealed on Sunday that Beijing expects to hit an asteroid as part of an experiment at some point in 2025. What is planned to be set up is a near-Earth asteroid monitoring and defense system that would also be potentially capable of protecting spacecraft as well, Wu told China Central Television during The system, which would include both ground-based and space-based elements, would catalog and analyze asteroids to determine which ones pose a potential threat to Earth or humanity’s activities in space. In particular, the system would involve a computer simulation framework that would model potential asteroid impacts, he explained. The project is still pending approval by the Chinese authorities, the Global Times has reported, adding that it requires “coordina...

The operation of the Russian Embassy in Washington has been effectively blocked by the US, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has said. “The embassy is essentially under a blockade by the US authorities. Bank of America has shut down the accounts of our general consulates in Houston and New York,” Antonov told TV channel Rossiya-1 on Sunday. The diplomat added that the personnel have been receiving threats by phone and mail. “For some time, even the exit from the embassy was being blocked [due] to rather large protests. There were acts of vandalism, paint was thrown [on the building].” Attacks on Russian missions abroad increased after Moscow launched its military campaign against Ukraine in late February. Vehicles were rammed into the gates of Russian embassies in Dublin, Ireland and Bucharest, Romania. Activists defaced mission buildings with paint in countries such as Austria and Latvia. Russia responds to expulsion of diplomats Read more Russia responds to expulsion of diplomats Many ...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared on Sunday that a Chinese military base on the Solomon Islands would be an unacceptable “red line,” without adding how Canberra would retaliate. Morrison’s government and the United States are scrambling to respond to a recently-signed security deal between the islands and Beijing, which they consider an “aggressive” move. “Working together with our partners in New Zealand and of course the United States, I share the same red line that the United States has when it comes to these issues,” Morrison said. “We won’t be having Chinese military naval bases in our region on our doorstep.” A tiny archipelago sitting around 2,000km off the northeastern coast of Australia, the Solomon Islands made international news last week when it signed a security pact with China. With the island nation reeling from violent protests last year, the deal – according to a leaked draft of the agreement – promises Chinese assistance in “maintaining social order”...

Extreme poverty in India, the second-most populous country in the world, is estimated to have declined by 12.3 percentage points between 2011 to 2019, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing a World Bank Policy Research Working Paper. According to the report, the count dropped from 22.5% in 2011 to 10.2% in 2019 and the decline in rural areas was much higher than in urban areas. The paper reportedly followed two approaches to estimating extreme poverty. “Both approaches yield qualitatively similar levels and trends in headcount poverty estimated at the $1.90 line: Poverty is about 12.3 percentage points lower in 2019 than 2011,” it said. The study found that extreme poverty in the country declined to 19.1% from 2011 to 2015. Poverty saw a sharper fall of 9.1 percentage points in the next four years, dropping to 10%. Extreme poverty between 2017 and 2018 saw the fastest drop in over two decades, statistics showed. While rural poverty declined by 4.4 percentage points between ...

Kiev is “disappointed” by the “short-sighted” statements of Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg who suggested that full EU membership might not be the best option for Ukraine. On Saturday, Schallenberg, while admitting that deepening ties with Ukraine is necessary as the EU is exporting the “Western way of life,” said that models other than full EU membership should be considered for Ukraine. He mentioned joining the European Economic Area or an association agreement as among the options. Reacting to these comments, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko released a strong-worded statement on Sunday. “We are disappointed by the remarks of the Austrian Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs about the European future of Ukraine. We consider them to be strategically short-sighted and not in the interests of a united Europe,” Nikolenko said, adding that Schallenberg ignores the positive view of “the vast majority” of the populations of the EU’s founding members to...

A video on social media allegedly shows a member of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion calling for the mass murder of Donbass civilians. The young, Ukrainian-speaking man in a military-style green T-shirt talks about “the clearing of the whole of Donbass” and “cutting their heads off and the heads of their children.” The man has the lower part of his face covered throughout the video, and plays with a switchblade while speaking. He also gives advice on where to go in order to enlist in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and in a volunteer medical battalion. The video was apparently taken from Instagram. However, it is not clear where or when it was recorded. An account under a similar name was deleted. Reports on social media claim the man is a member of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, whose members include fighters with openly far-right and neo-Nazi views. Last month, Ukrainian TV host Fahrudin Sharafman quoted Adolf Eichmann, one of the organizers of the Holocaust, and called on air for the killing of...

Banning Russian natural gas imports is “currently impossible” for Austria, the country’s energy minister, Leonore Gewessler, told the press over the weekend. “Austria is 80% dependent on Russian gas. As painful as it is, a gas embargo is currently not possible for us, just as it is for some other countries. The essence of sanctions is to let us last longer than [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, and we cannot do that without gas,” the official told Die Presse am Sonntag. Earlier this month, the EU announced it intends to stop gas supplies from Russia by 2027. The decision was triggered by Russia’s introduction of a new ruble-based payment mechanism for its gas deliveries amid sanctions placed on Moscow in response to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which is highly criticized in the EU and other Western states. Austria also triggered “an early emergency” mechanism to manage gas supplies, aiming to cut reliance on Russian deliveries. However, according to Gewessler, it is unl...

witzerland has allegedly thwarted German plans to re-export Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, the local media reported on Sunday, citing the nation’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). The Alpine nation cited its neutral status and legislation forbidding arms deliveries to conflict zones. Germany’s Dusseldorf-based Rheinmetall automotive and arms manufacturer, which builds Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for the German Army, uses ammunition produced in Switzerland, according to the German media. This fact has apparently emerged as a stumbling block to Berlin’s latest plans to supply ammunition to Ukraine. “Seco received two requests from Germany to pass ammunition [it] previously received from Switzerland on to Ukraine,” the secretariat confirmed to the Swiss paper Sonntags Zeitung on Sunday. Both requests “have been rejected with a reference to Swiss neutrality and bounding rejection criteria of the legislation on military equipment,” the Swiss authorities adde...

The current crisis in Ukraine, in which Russia has recognized the rebel republics in the Donbass, looks unusual, but this is not a new story for the post-Soviet space. Something similar to the events happening in the Donbass today took place in 1992, and the enclave that then arose still exists. The unrecognized territory, formally part of Moldova, was formed as a result of a short war, which was simultaneously absurd and cruel. That war contains many parallels with the current conflict – including even the personal stories of many of its participants. The collapse of the Soviet Union was accompanied by a series of armed conflicts. Some have gone down in history as examples of insane, unbridled violence, comparable only to conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. However, a strange little war in the Transdniester region stands out among them. This is a barely discernible area on the map, stretching north to south along the Dniester River on the border of Ukraine and Moldova, about ...

Americans have a lower-than-ever opinion of Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a poll published Friday by the Trafalgar Group. Just 28% of respondents approve of her performance, while 57% of those polled said they ‘strongly disapprove’ of Harris is handling the job. President Joe Biden is languishing at the low end of the approval scale as well, with fully half the population revealing they ‘strongly disapprove’ of his performance. Poll responses were notable for the intensity of their disdain toward the two politicians. Just 5.4% merely ‘disapprove’ of Biden, while almost 10 times that registered their disapproval ‘strongly’. Similarly, just 5.5% of respondents ‘disapprove’ of Harris – a 10th of the number who strongly disapprove. Fewer than two in five respondents approve of Biden’s performance, with 20.2% reporting they ‘strongly approve’. Harris’ numbers were even more dismal, with just 28.5% approving, 14.8% of those strongly. Not even the party faithful could save ...

Sanctions will not help to achieve peace and foster dialogue, over the conflict in Ukraine, Argentinian Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero told the Telam news agency on Saturday, adding that his country will not join those placing restrictions on Russia. “What Argentina seeks and proposes is a return to dialogue,” the diplomat said in Rome, where he met with his Italian counterpart, Luigi Di Maio. Cafiero also said that Buenos Aires does not even have a regulatory framework for unilateral sanctions, and instead has a law that prevents these types of actions by the government. His government addresses the challenge that the world faces today “with a call for peace,” he added. We honestly do not believe that imposing sanctions or blockades will be productive for peace, dialogue, and diplomatic negotiations. Speaking about the role of sanctions in the Latin American region, Cafiero said that “what this type of action … has generated is greater inequality and greater setbacks from a so...

The UK government is weighing the feasibility of opening a new coal mine to reduce dependence on Russian energy, according to a report by the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, citing sources in the Conservative Party. According to the sources of the publication, Michael Gove, the UK’s housing and regional development minister, is inclined to approve the construction of a new coal mine in the city of Whitehaven, Cumbria in the northwest of England. The project was originally presented several years back and greenlighted in October 2020, but six months later, the UK Cabinet of Ministers stalled certification and launched a new review of the project amid protests by environmentalists. However, against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine and the sweeping restrictions placed on Moscow, which include scrapping Russian coal imports by the end of the year, the UK authorities could end up approving the project despite previous objections, The Telegraph writes. Gove is expected to reach a dec...