politicodiary

The announcement made by Putin last week, shook the world. His  decision of military operation in Ukraine invited condemnations from  across the world. At the same time, on 24 February 2022, close to where Putin made this announcement, the Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was busy enjoying his breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel in Moscow. One may call it lack of political maturity or bad timing, but this has reflected badly on Imran Khas as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. His visit to Moscow at the time when the whole world is looking Russia with disdain is been considered negative. He is also the first Prime Minister to visit Moscow after 1999, after Nawaz Shariff’s visit. It looks like his efforts to carefully build an image has all gone wasted at once. The government of Pakistan has many reasons to believe that the meeting with Putin is to strengthen the relationship between two countries and further develop mutual relationship in diverse fields. Imran Khas is keen to sign

Have we ever thought how the current situation between Russia and Ukraine affects Africa? Africa may pay attention that both Russia and Ukraine play a major role in the global agricultural market. Even one may be unaware, wheat and other grains do exist at the back of heart of geopolitics following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.   Both the countries involved in the war situation have a significant agricultural. Africa has spent US$4 billion on purchase of Agricultural products from Russia in 2020. 96% of imports are for wheat and sunflower. Egypt has the highest imports numbers, almost half, followed by Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya and South Africa. Africa has also purchased agricultural goods worth US$2.9 billion from Ukraine 2020, most of it was wheat, followed by maize and few other products like sunflower oil, barley, and soy beans. European Union produced 14% of global wheat, out of this 10% is produced by Russia and 4% is produced by Ukraine. The wheat produced

Russian invasion is one thing, but the misleading information of fighter jets floating in the social media is another issue all together. All the world braces for impact economically, social media is doing rounds over old images of fighter jets that had been floating over the skyline, showing them off as current images. Both Facebook and Twitter are not proactively taking off such content that might be misleading and creating unrest amongst the general public. In the opening hours of the conflict since day before, several videos claiming to be the Russian air force operating over Ukraine were posted and went viral on social media. One clip, which has subsequently been deleted, shows a fighter jet flying over an urban area. It is accompanied by a caption which implies it was filmed in the current Ukraine conflict. Most of them are from previous conflicts of peaceful military exercises been carried off. Misinformation has been done to show Ukrainian response to a Russian attack m

UK has announced sanctions on three billionaire ‘cronies’ of Russia over the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an announcement against three “very high net wealth” Russians. These are also called as the as “cronies” of President Vladimir Putin. Eight years ago, UK has sanctioned Gennady Timchenko and Boris Rotenberg, now the third Igor Rotenberg, was also hit by sanctions. Bank Rossiya has invested in Ukraine, by opening its branches after 2014, which is annexation of Crimea. 69 years old Gennady Timchenko is a major shareholder in Bank Rossiya. As per a statement by the UK officials, Bank Russia is involved in forging transport links and travel cards that allow the public to travel easily around the Crimean Peninsula. Mr Timchenko is known as the Russia’s richest man. A citizen of Russia, Finland and Armenia, Timchenko has businesses established in Oil and Gas. He has an Electrical Engineering degree from an institute in St Pete

It has taken a month for Tonga to be able to reconnect back to the world. A volcanic eruption pushed the country back into stone age, when they could not use internet services. After a month of struggle, the country has made use of makeshift satellite services as the repairs to the submarine cable. The remote island was hit by an earthquake and tsunami together. The island was hit badly in mid-January. Tongans have struggled with makeshift satellite services as the repairs to the cable were made. The repair ship Reliance took 20 days to replace a 92-kilometre (57-mile) section of the 827 km submarine fiber optic cable that connects Tonga to Fiji and other international networks. The next struggle would be to repair the domestic cable connecting the main island of Tongatapu with outlying islands. These were reportedly worst hit by the Tsunami. This, according to Tonga Cable chief executive James Panuve could take six to nine months. Another challenge is that the island does n

Prolonged droughts, loss of livestock and similar climatic challenges have pushed many young girls from the continent of Africa into city bounds, fending for themselves through sex trade. A human rights report found out that from the Hwange district in northwestern Zimbabwe itself, many teenage girls have moved to urban areas to escape the effects of climate change. Speak to residents and they agree that this has happened as their fields are just not producing enough to feed people at home. Do these girls send money back home? This isn’t a guarantee either. Many are with friends and have shifted to sex trade post pandemic as there was not work to support their livelihood in the cities either. The city of Hwange is said to be notorious for sex trade, drug trafficking and violence amongst young. Teenage girls can be seen gathering at a spot popularly known as the ‘booster’, where a tall communications tower shoots into the sky. During the day, the area is quiet, with few people a

The EU African Summit has some major targets to achieve. The event is to take place today in Brussels. Everyone is vying for the African pie now; more so as China eyes making this continent also grateful and indebted to it. But plans to organize a more conducive summit have been firming for the last two years between Europe and Africa. There are plans to unveil six initiatives at the Summit, including three investment packages, as part of what EU calls a ‘Prosperous and Sustainable Partnership’.   There is obviously sense of power at play, but not as stark and bad as China’s mind over sovereignty control. In a public statement, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has confirmed that investments will be the ‘heart’ of the summit. Africa should be feeling happy and elated. But it needs to move ahead with caution as well.   The promising Global Gateway is said to be comprised of an investment plan worth more than €150 billion for Africa. France is playing its own games of

President Kais Saied  of Tunisia is out to declare literally a coup as he decided to take judicial matters in his hands. Announcing over on a Sunday morning that he has taken the power of dismissing or appointing judges in his own hands, the city has been rocking with protests against his administration. The city of Tunis, in the capital of Tunisia, was thronging with people as they protested against Saied’s decision to dismiss judges and block their promotion, in addition to the power to propose judicial reform. This move comes a week after Saied already made a move to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council. This was an independent body that was set up in 2016 to guarantee the independence of the judiciary. Saied accused the Supreme Judicial Council of corruption and of acting with vested interests . It has been seen that Saied has been gradually moving towards removing any kind of democratic setup in Tunisia. Saied has accused the judges of taking bribes. The International Commi

  America is going all out to discourage Equatorial Guinea in order the country does not tie up with China to build military base in the country’s Atlantic Coast. Beijing a launchpad in waters is a dangerous deal for all those around the Atlantic; and US isn’t going to let that happen. Earlier on, China had been trying to dock itself in Sri Lanka, an effort that was thwart by India too.   A top American delegation is planning to visit the Central African country next week. The delegation will comprise senior U.S. diplomatic and military personnel that plan to visit the small, according to government officials, and is expected to discuss American counter-piracy assistance and other inducements intended to convince Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to spurn Beijing’s advances. The Sino interference is becoming a matter of concern for everyone. Meanwhile other countries are making their big contributions to thaw the Chinese efforts to expand themselves in Af

The European Union has revealed in a report, the possibility for conflict in the Middle East due to climate change. The report prepared by the European Union Cascades project, reveals some striking findings, stating “Climate Change and Water Report for the Tigris and Euphrates Basin.” As per their findings, the climate change in future will affect the water resources, which in further is expected to create economic and political challenges in the Euphrates-Tigris basin shared by the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Farming and other livelihood is depending on the water, with the expected climatic changes, there will be severe water shortages and water quality problems in future. This in-turn will lead to other issues like food scarcity, poverty, insecurities, and unemployment in rural farming regions, and this will eventually lead to displacement and internal migration at a larger scale than is seen today.” Considering the findings of the report, the expected changes in

Burkina Faso is all happy as a new Chief of Army has taken control of the military coup and promises even more than his predecessor. The new chief of staff of the Burkinabe army, Colonel Major David Kabre, has promised to make the fight against terrorism in West Africa a top priority. The country declared military coup, threatening the PM out of power because of the increasing instances of terrorism and related menace. The 54-year-old, former Sports minister (2014-2016) was appointed on 4 February to replace General Gilbert Ouedraogo, whose departure had been demanded by soldiers during the mutiny of 23 January which led to a coup d'état the next day. It is worth noting that the African Union has already stopped supporting Burkina Faso over its military coup and removed it from the membership as well. In response to the decision, previously, Ouedraogo had said that he would ensure the constitution is put back into practice, only when he felt the governance was in shape. Disgu

Senegal Soccer team has created a history by winning the Africa world cup of Nations 2022, on February 6, Sunday. The final match was between Senegal and Egypt at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaoundé.   The Senegal team has won over Egypt, the 7 times champion to win the Africa World Cup. The Senegal team won by 4-2 in the penalty shootout at the Olembé stadium of Yaoundé. After the 4 th minute, the Egyptian goal keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal, saved a goal. However, this didn’t dampen the Senegalese players. Despite a 57% ball possession Senegalese faced a phenomenal Egyptian goalkeeper coined ‘the great dam’ after the country’s largest structure in Aswan. There was no goal be the end of the second half, and the squads returned to pitch. Later also, no goal was done, despite extra-time and stoppage time. Eventually, the tie breaker was the penalty shoot-out. Again, two misses from the penalty spot, made Senegal win from Egypt. This was the first time Senegal won the Africa World cup

The president of Guinea- Bissau said that the situation in region is under control. He said the tense situation was restored on Friday. Gunman has launched an assault on a government place. The attack was condemned by the UN and the west African bloc ECOWAS, calling it called an "attempted coup". Remarks from President Umaro Sissoco Embalo came few hours after heavy gunfire was heard for several hours in the capital. The attack was conducted at the government palace while an official meeting was in progress. The attackers surrounded the government palace and used Ak-47 rifles to conduct the attack on the government building. The assault continued for about 3 hours with heavy gun shots and many members of the security forces were killed during the attack. Many deaths were reported later. It is believed that President Embalo and Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam were believed to have gone to attend a cabinet meeting, there. Later, Embalo said, this is an attack on democracy, but

India now seems to be in a position of handing off loans as it helps Sri Lanka in its darkest hour (literally). With reeling power cuts and shortage of oil, the country has been troubled over scarce electricity. The island has now secured a $500 million loan from India to save its sinking economy. Indeed, the island is looking cash strapped.   No wonder, this has left their thermal power generators dry, with the country finding it difficult to keep the lights on, disrupting transport networks as well. Even traders are seen running desperately low on foreign currency to fund imports. The country still uses fossil fuels to fire its thermal power plants. There have been frequent breakdowns at a huge coal power plant too. Blame it on lack of coal supply as well. So, the unannounced electricity power cuts and understandable. Even cooking gas and kerosene is not easily available to households. Officials said a formal agreement was being signed after two weeks of talks, in addition to a

The top American intel officer Avril Haines has warned the possible deficiency in the nation’s classification procedures, saying that this could possibly create a national security threat. He further added that the current system classifies so much information, that it puts the national security as risk. The reason – time taken to process the information. "It is my view that deficiencies in the current classification system undermine our national security, as well as critical democratic objectives, by impeding our ability to share information in a timely manner, be that sharing with our intelligence partners, our oversight bodies, or, when appropriate, with the general public," she writes in a letter dated Jan. 5 and sent to Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan. As per the statement by Avril, the current classification system slows down the intelligence community’s capacity to help the senior policy maker’s decision making and also reduces the basic trust of the ci

The foreign minister of Mali, Mr. Abdoulaye Diop shared that the tension between Paris and Bamako were due to the fact that the Malian junta had "touched" France's interests by ruling out elections in February. His comments are an indicator of France’s support to push another set of ruler to govern Mali. Earlier also, he had blamed France in his remarks, for supporting the coup. Additionally, in another video Mr Diop has said that there are instances in past, where France has claimed to have defended democracy in other countries. As per his comments France does this by appointing the “head of State” who would carry out the coups. In another incident on Monday, the ruling government of Mali summoned the French Ambassador Joel Meyer and said he had 72 hours to leave the country, according to a Malian government statement announced on state television. The army gained control over Bamako in August 2020 and thereafter the relations between France and Mali have been stra