Monthly Archive 31/08/18

Poland says it lost more than 5 million citizens and over $54 billion dollars (46.6 billion euros) worth of assets under the Nazi German occupation of the country during World War II.

A parliamentary commission announced the numbers as part of the current Polish government’s declared intent to seek damages from Germany.

Poland spent decades under Soviet domination after the war and wasn’t able to seek damages independently. However, Germany is making payments to Polish survivors of Nazi atrocities.

Preliminary calculations done for the commission put the number of Polish citizens killed from 1939 to 1945 at 5.1 million, including 90 percent of Poland’s Jewish population.

Losses in cities were estimated to be worth 53 billion zlotys ($14 billion; 12 billion euros). Additional losses in agriculture and transportation infrastructure also were factored in.
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The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) warns asylum seekers and migrants who came ashore on the Greek islands are living in conditions unfit for human habitation. The agency is urging the Greek government to speed up the  transfer of these individuals to the mainland so they can receive proper care.

According to UNHCR, thousands of asylum seekers and migrants who made the perilous journey across the Aegean Sea are forced to live in squalid, overcrowded centers on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios and Kos.

For example, the agency said more than 7,000 asylum-seekers and migrants on Lesbos are crammed into shelters built to accommodate just 2,000 people, one-quarter of them children.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said these conditions are having a devastating impact on peoples’ well-being.

“We are seeing increasing numbers of people including children presenting with mental health problems,” he said. “… We are seeing rising levels of sexual assaults because there is insufficient security in place and the sanitary facilities as well. On recent missions to the islands, staff have commented that the sanitary facilities are essentially unusable in some cases.”

Yaxley noted an average of 114 people are arriving on the islands every day — more than 70 percent are families from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He said the new arrivals are adding to the congestion and deteriorating conditions.

The UNHCR said Greek authorities must do more to overcome bureaucratic delays that are preventing the speedy transfer of people to the mainland. If no ready solution can be found, it said extraordinary measures should be considered, including the use of emergency accommodations, hotels, and other alternative housing facilities.

However, at the request of the Greek government, the UNHCR said it has “exceptionally agreed to continue its support in transport of asylum-seekers to the mainland in September in order to avoid further delays.”
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Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of Russian-backed separatists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic was killed on Friday in a blast at a cafe in downtown Donetsk. 

The official media arm of the unrecognized republic confirmed Zakharchenko’s death — along with injuries to at least one other rebel government official — in an explosion it labeled a “terrorist attack.”

The assassination, the latest in a series against prominent pro-Russian rebels fighting in east Ukraine, risked reigniting already simmering tensions between Russia and Ukraine over the fate of a region that has emerged as a key flashpoint in the war in the Donbass. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly issued a statement to the Kremlin website expressing condolences over the loss and denouncing the assassination saying it was an attempt to further derail stalled international peace talks aimed at ending a conflict that has killed over 10,000 since it began in 2014. 

“It is the latest proof: those who have chosen the path of terror, violence, (and) fear do not want to seek a peaceful, political solution to the conflict,” said the Russian leader. 

“Instead, they put a dangerous bet on the destabilization of the situation, in order to put the people of Donbass on their knees. And that will never happen,” added Putin.  

A statement by Russia’s Foreign Ministry went further — placing blame for the assassination directly on the Ukrainian government in Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials, in turn, said rebel infighting was to blame for the attack, while not ruling out a possible Kremlin motive. 

“We don’t exclude attempts by Russian special services to rid themselves of a rather odious figure,” said Igor Guskov, the head of the Ukrainian Security Forces, suggesting Zakharchenko may have crossed Russian interests in the region. 

Zakharchenko was a key figure from the beginning of pro-Russian rebels’ push for independence in the Donbass — a movement launched in the wake of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. 

He assumed the leadership post in April of 2014 — taking over the prime minister’s post from Alexander Borodai, a political operator from Moscow whose role in the Donetsk uprising seemed only underscore suspicions of Kremlin involvement, if not direct sponsorship.

“Crimea and the Donbass were part of Ukraine and now they’re both de facto no longer part of the Ukrainian state,” said Borodai, in an interview in Moscow earlier this year.  

“The Donbass … ultimately, it will become part of Russia,” warned Borodai. 

Moscow, however, insists it has no role in the Ukrainian conflict — describing Russian fighters involved in the war as merely passionate “volunteers” eager to defend the rights of Russian speakers following a street revolution that saw the overthrow of a pro-Russian government in Kyiv in February 2014. 

While the Kremlin has repeatedly called the Kyiv revolution a “fascist junta,” it has slowly distanced itself from rebels’ calls to formally recognize the republic amid a raft of western sanctions issued over Russia’s actions in the region.
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Police in the Dutch capital shot and wounded a suspect Friday following a stabbing at Amsterdam’s busy central railway station.

Amsterdam police said in a series of tweets that two people were injured in the stabbing and the suspect was then shot by officers. All three people were taken to a hospital.

Police said that two platforms were closed to train traffic, but the station wasn’t evacuated.

The motive for the stabbing wasn’t immediately clear. Further details weren’t available.

Central Station is a busy entry and exit point for visitors to the Dutch capital, with regular trains linking it to the city’s Schiphol Airport. Friday is one of the busiest days of the week, with many tourists arriving for the weekend.

 
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Russia said Thursday that it was holding up release of a report by U.N. experts who said North Korea is violating U.N. sanctions by not stopping its nuclear and missile programs and by engineering “a massive increase in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters after a closed Security Council meeting on the report that he was blocking its release “because we disagree on certain elements of the report.”

He said Russia also asked for an investigation into regular leaks of reports on North Korea to the media. The Associated Press and other news organizations reported the panel’s latest findings in early August.

Nebenzia didn’t disclose Russia’s concerns, but diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations were private, said a key objection was the panel’s mention of Russian ships being involved in illegal ship-to-ship transfers.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce, the current Security Council president, said there would be informal consultations Friday to determine what Russia’s objections are in hopes of finalizing and releasing the report.

“I need to stress that this panel of experts report is independent,” she said. “It’s an interesting question as to whether you should be objecting to an independent report. But, as I say, the council hopes we can resolve this.”

Pierce said the Security Council had been “very strong” on enforcing sanctions against North Korea, “and getting this report out and implemented is the next stage in enforcing the sanctions.”

The experts’ report said sanctions against North Korea were also being violated by transfers of coal at sea and by the flouting of an arms embargo and financial restrictions.

North Korea also attempted to sell small arms, light weapons and other military equipment via foreign intermediaries, including Syrian arms traffickers in the case of Houthi Shiite rebels in Yemen as well as Libya and Sudan, the report said. And North Korea has continued military cooperation with Syria, in breach of U.N. sanctions.
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Iran has remained within the main restrictions on its nuclear activities imposed by a 2015 deal with major powers, a confidential report by the U.N. atomic watchdog indicated Thursday.

In its second quarterly report since President Donald Trump announced in May that the United States would quit the accord and reimpose sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had stayed within the caps on uranium enrichment levels, enriched uranium stocks and other items.

In its last report in May, the IAEA had said Iran could do more to cooperate with inspectors and thereby “enhance confidence”, but stopped short of saying the Islamic Republic had given it cause for concern. Thursday’s report to member states seen by Reuters contained similar language.

It said the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog was able to carry out all so-called complementary access inspections needed to verify Iran’s compliance with the deal.

“Timely and proactive cooperation by Iran in providing such access facilitates implementation of the Additional Protocol and enhances confidence,” said the report, which was distributed to IAEA member states.

“The production rate [of enriched uranium] is constant. There is no change whatsoever,” a senior diplomat added.

With the United States reimposing its sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the nuclear deal, many diplomats and analysts now doubt that the accord will survive despite European Union efforts to counter some of the effects of Trump’s move.

Sticking to the nuclear accord is not the only way forward for Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday. “Being the party to still honor the deal in deeds & not just words is not Iran’s only option,” he said on Twitter.

​EU action urged

Speaking after the IAEA report was sent to the agency’s member states, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the deal was still holding, despite the U.S. withdrawal.

He urged his fellow ministers, who met in Vienna on Thursday to discuss EU policy on Iran, to do more to protect Tehran from U.S. sanctions, calling for “permanent financial mechanisms that allow Iran to continue to trade.”

The EU implemented a law this month to shield European companies from the impact of U.S. sanctions on Tehran and has approved aid for the Iranian private sector, although large European companies are pulling out of Iran.

Adhering to the deal should bring Iran economic benefits, Zarif said. “If preserving [the accord] is the goal, then there is no escape from mustering the courage to comply with commitment to normalize Iran’s economic relations instead of making extraneous demands,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the ability of EU countries to save the agreement and said Tehran might abandon it.

Khamenei told President Hassan Rouhani not to rely too much on European support as he came under increased pressure at home over his handling of the economy in the face of U.S. sanctions, with key ministers under attack by parliament.

Le Drian, whose country signed the Iran deal along with Britain, Germany, China, Russia and the United States under then-President Barack Obama, said Tehran should be ready to negotiate on its future nuclear plans, its ballistic missile arsenal and its role in wars in Syria and Yemen.

Those issues were not covered by the 2015 deal, and Trump has cited this as a major reason for pulling Washington out of it.

Le Drian said Iran, which says its missiles are only for defense, was arming regional allies with rockets and allowing “ballistic proliferation,” adding: “Iran needs to avoid the temptation to be the [regional] hegemon.”

Iran has ruled out negotiations on its ballistic missiles and broader Middle Eastern role.
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The Trump administration told Russia on Thursday to stop what it said was harassment of international shipping vessels in the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait aimed at trying to weaken Ukraine’s economy.

“Russia’s actions to impede maritime transit are further examples of its ongoing campaign to undermine and destabilize Ukraine, as well as its disregard for international norms,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. 

The U.S. accused Russia of delaying commercial ships since April and stopping at least 16 commercial ships from reaching Ukranian ports.

Relations between Russia and Ukraine have deteriorated since Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region and provoked conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko observed Ukraine’s Independence Day last week by announcing that his country had “cut all ties with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.”

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to the U.S. request. 
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The U.N. refugee agency reports it is scaling up its operation in Yemen to meet the urgent protection needs of thousands of Yemenis displaced by fighting in the strategic port city of Hodeidah. 

More than 300,000 people have fled their homes since the Saudi-led coalition began its military offensive in June to capture the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah.

So far, U.N. and international pressure has prevented an all-out attack on the port itself, a situation that most agree would be calamitous. About 80 percent of all food and humanitarian aid is imported through this Red Sea port. Were it to be knocked out, the U.N. fears this could trigger a famine throughout the country.

The conflict has escalated significantly over the past three months. The U.N. refugee agency reports this is increasing the dangers for civilians trying to leave conflict areas. UNHCR spokesman, William Spindler, said some people are particularly vulnerable and in need of urgent protection.

“Most prominent among them are the specific needs of children who may be separated from their families, and of women, who may be at risk of sexual harassment and violence either during flight or when living in overcrowded settings,” Spindler said.

“Another common concern is the loss of livelihoods, exacerbated by a decline in purchasing power due to increasing food prices, and the decline in value of the Yemeni currency, the riyal,” Spindler added.  

Spindler said UNHCR and partners have identified more than 70,000 of the most vulnerable displaced people throughout the country. He says they are being provided with a wide-range of assistance, including multipurpose cash, rental subsidies and referrals to specialized services, such as psychological counseling and legal assistance.

 
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Spain, known for having one of the most tolerant immigration policies in Europe and accepting boatloads of migrants when no other EU nation would, was expected to open its doors even wider under its new socialist government. But that policy now appears to be going in reverse.

In a country that has shunned anti-immigration currents prevalent in much of Europe, the mass expulsion of 166 Sub-Saharan Africans who forced their way through barbed wire fences last month and attacked guards along the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta’s border with Morocco, has become an embarrassment for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, officials and analysts say.

“Humanitarianism is not permissiveness” said Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska before a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday .”Orderly, secure and legal immigration is possible, but not violent migration that threatens our country and its security forces.”

More than 600 migrants stormed across six-meter-high fences onto Spanish territory on July 26, hurling acid and feces, and firing home made flame throwers at border guards.Several members of Spain’s Civil Guard police force were seriously injured in the struggle, triggering calls from their top commanders for an immediate crackdown.

Spain has generally enforced a policy granting asylum to migrants who reach Spanish soil by sea or through land borders around Ceuta and Melilla, enclaves that are surrounded by Morocco.

The asylum seekers are generally housed at temporary shelters while NGOs process their applications for EU free circulation passes.

Many come with plans to continue on to northern Europe where wages and benefits are better, causing other EU governments to complain about Spain’s relatively open border policies. French President Emmanuel Macron recently ordered the deportation of large numbers of African migrants who crossed into his country from Spain.

Within days of the Ceuta border assault, Spanish police rounded up 166 migrants from a shelter in Ceuta and drove them back across the border to Morocco, invoking a special extradition agreement negotiated between the two governments 25 years ago and which had rarely been implemented before.

The expulsions generated a political crisis for the new, untested prime minister Pedro Sanchez. The hard left United We Can party coalition, known in Spanish as “Unidos Podemos,” as well as Basque and Catalan nationalists on whose parliamentary support Sanchez’ minority government depends, accused him of violating human rights and of breaking his promises of a more compassionate policy.

Sanchez began his term in May with a decision to allow the migrant ship Aquarius to dock at Spanish ports after it was denied entry by Italy’s recently elected right wing government.He had also pledged to remove rolls of razor-sharp concertina wire attached to the border fences as requested by various human rights organizations.

Quoting the International Organization for Migration, conservative opposition leader Pablo Casado said immigration to Spain had tripled since the new government took office in June. He said authorities were taking emergency measures to strengthen border defenses that had been previously rejected by the socialists.

Spain’s daily newspaper El Mundo reported that angry calls from chiefs of the militarized Guardia Civil who threatened to resign if drastic measures were not taken to counter the attack on border units, forced the government’s hand.

A retired Civil Guard general who acts as a top advisor to the interior ministry, speaking anonymously, told VOA the gendarme forces were already strained in southern Spain.

“We have to start removing some these people and prevent too many more from getting here,” he said.

While last month’s forced entry at Ceuta was the most dramatic and violent experienced until now, it was not the first and could initiate a trend of even more serious future attacks, according to security analysts.

Grande-Marlaska said the group that broke through the fence displayed a high degree of organization. The interior minister said they used cutting tools, improvised weapons and coordinated tactics by which shock units held back police to open holes through which hundreds of others slipped through the fence.

Police arrested 10 more immigrants on Wednesday and authorities accused of them of leading the attacks against the Guardia Civil. Officials said the group’s ringleader is of Togolese origin and had experience in his country’s armed forces, including some paramilitary training.
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The United States cannot guarantee that it will provide India a waiver from sanctions if it purchases major weapon and defense systems from Russia, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday, ahead of a high-level dialogue between Washington and New Delhi.

The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, under which any country engaged with its defense and intelligence sectors could face secondary U.S. sanctions.

However, a new defense bill gives the president the authority to grant waivers in case of national security interests.

Randall Schriver, the Pentagon’s top Asia official, said there was an “impression that we are going to completely protect the India relationship, insulate India from any fallout from this legislation no matter what they do.” 

Media reports from the region have suggested that India would get a waiver.

“I would say that is a bit misleading. We would still have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems (from Russia),” Schriver said at a think tank event.

“I can’t sit here and tell you that they would be exempt, that we would use that waiver, that will be the decision of the president if he is faced with a major new platform and capability that India has acquired from Russia,” he added.

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has publicly been a strong proponent of granting India waivers.

The United States is concerned about India’s planned purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, Schriver said. Russia has said it expects to sign a deal with India later this year on the sale.

On Tuesday, Mattis said the United States was also concerned about Turkey’s purchase of the Russian missile defense system, which cannot be integrated into NATO. Schriver said the United States was willing to talk to India about potential alternatives.

Senior U.S. officials are expected to go to India next week for high level talks, agreed upon by U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. 

The meeting was originally planned for April but was postponed after Trump fired Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Washington put off the meeting for a second time in June.

 
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Germany announced a new agency on Wednesday to fund research on cybersecurity and to end its reliance on digital technologies from the United States, China and other countries.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters that Germany needed new tools to become a top player in cybersecurity and shore up European security and independence.

“It is our joint goal for Germany to take a leading role in cybersecurity on an international level,” Seehofer told a news conference with Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. “We have to acknowledge we’re lagging behind, and when one is lagging, one needs completely new approaches.”

The agency is a joint interior and defense ministry project.

Germany, like many other countries, faces a daily barrage of cyberattacks on its government and industry computer networks.

However, the opposition Greens criticized the project. “This agency wouldn’t increase our information technology security, but further endanger it,” said Greens lawmaker Konstantin von Notz.

The agency’s work on offensive capabilities would undermine Germany’s diplomatic efforts to limit the use of cyberweapons internationally, he said. “As a state based on the rule of law, we can only lose a cyberpolitics arms race with states like China, North Korea or Russia,” he added, calling for “scarce resources” to be focused on hardening vulnerable systems.

Germany and other European countries also worry about their dependence on U.S. technologies. This follows revelations in 2012 by U.S. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden of a massive spying network, as well as the U.S. Patriot Act which gave the U.S. government broad powers to compel companies to provide data.

“As a federal government we cannot stand idly by when the use of sensitive technology with high security relevance are controlled by other governments. We must secure and expand such key technologies of our digital infrastructure,” Seehofer said.
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