politicodiary

Ukraine is trying to combat illegal movement of technology into Russia and its areas, something that compromised its response to Russian invasion It has come to notice that despite Cisco having decided to wound up operations in Russia, products ranging in value from less than $100 to tens of thousands of dollars has been secretly shipped into Russia again. A leaked account of 500 such shipments that account for movement into Russia since August. Asked for clarifications from certain media houses which have covered this news earlier, Cisco has said it stands by its decision to wind up systematically its businesses in Russia. But according to a representative of the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, shipments have been detailed in the leaked database. “We were not expecting this type of outcome,” the representative said. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, a host of major U.S. corporations , including Cisco, ended their Russian operations. This could be a ...

Biden in pressure from Democrats and Republicans as they both threaten to dishevel relations with the Kingdom which has already retorted in a strict tone Image courtesy: www.scotfree.com The Saudi Prince is not taking a threat from the US lying down as he has responded telling the White House that any kind of threat of violence will not be taken lightly in the Kingdom. “Anybody that challenges the existence of this country and this kingdom; all of us, we are products of jihad, and martyrdom,” Saudi Prince Saud al-Shaalan, who is married to one of the grandaughter's of the late King Abdulaziz Al Saud, said in a video that was posted to Twitter Saturday. “That's my message to anybody that thinks that it can threaten us.” King Abdulaziz Al Saud founded Saudi Arabia. The arrogance and superiority of everyone is evident in the above statement. The US was sending off a warning message after it felt the Kingdom had sided with Russia in deciding to cut down its oil production qu...

Frequent drillings have triggered earthquakes in the Groningen field area of Netherlands making lives of those staying around difficult and natural gas extraction impossible Europe wants to use its largest gas field to dodge the menace with Russia over supplies, but the bad news is that it can’t. Its hands are currently tied as it finds it tough to explore its big landmass that has enough untapped capacity to replenish the natural gas it is currently running short of. The sad news is that its largest gas reserves that are situated in Netherlands are under threat from tremors and therefore might need to be shut down. In question here are the sprawling  Groningen field , beneath the windmill-dotted marshlands of the Netherlands. They are considered Europe’s largest natural gas reserve. It holds enough fuel to replace what Germany once imported from Russia. Surprisingly, frequent drillings have triggered earthquakes in the area making lives of those staying around ...

The country has probably refrained from using the same neutral stance in the case of Ukraine as it decided to vote for an open ballot India might have probably taken sides after all, when it comes to siding with Russia over the secret ballot at the recent UN General Assembly meeting on a resolution to denounce its annexation of four regions of Ukraine . The world’s second largest democracy has put its foot down and did not side with Moscow. The vote was on a bill put forward by Albania to denounce Russia’s ‘illegal so-called ‘referendums’ and ‘attempted illegal annexation’ of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. India chose for an open recorded ballot as 106 of its other partnering member countries of the U, with just 13 nations really backing Moscow’s crazy idea. Some 39 countries have abstained from voting including Russia and China. Although Security Council votes are binding, permanent members have a veto. While votes at the General Assembly ar...

While North Koreans make for a large population of migrant workers, the pressure to lose their lives working in the war-ravaged Ukraine has left them scared In a surprising revelation, North Korean construction workers are discovering that they are in fact been employed to be sent to Ukraine from Russia. Fearing for their lives, these migrant workers are now running for their lives as none would want to the ongoing war-ravaged country. The ongoing war has led to massive loss of lives and infrastructure, which Russia is on its own volition deciding to rebuild, employing migrant workers from North Korea . The same construction migrants are now running into hiding fearing for their lives. 'After getting the news that the workers would soon be moved to a new construction site in Ukraine, and needed to settle everything by the end of September, many have escaped. It's not only the construction workers, but also management officials escaping,' an unnamed source told the pub...

After mediation from the Saudi Arabia, as many as 10 prisoners of war were finally released from Russian prisons recently. Almost all of them were captured in Ukraine. The exchange between Russia and Ukraine was brokered by Saudi Arabia, that has been gradually moving to create its own position as a powerful Middle Eastern nation in the last few months. “The relevant Saudi authorities received and transferred them from Russia to the kingdom and are facilitating procedures for their safe return to their respective countries,” the ministry said. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the gratitude and appreciation of the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Russian Federation and to Ukraine for their response to the efforts made by the Crown Prince for the release of the PoWs.” Amongst those released also included two of American and five of British  origins. Both leaders from their respective countries have thanked the Kingdom for its successful mediation and release...

North Korea is on the side of Russia and it’s making it evident as it offers support in the form of offering 100,000 troops to help defeat Ukraine. Right now, Ukraine is receiving great support from the rest of the world. But Russia is hell bent to annex it as its own territory and deny Ukraine its sovereignty. Apparently, the North Korean help comes in time when they are confirming they have better counter-battery warfare experience. Most of these are volunteers who have decided to go to Ukraine. The ones’ most disunited are the ones which are coming to Russia’s aid as of now. This includes in some proportion Turkey, Iran and now North Korea. Effective counter-battery warfare has come to be seen at increased importance to the Russian military following the US decision to donate a dozen HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) to Ukraine,  military magazine 1945 reported. A military expert told Insider's Sinéad Baker last month, that the long-range, hig...

  A Russian crude oil provider Rosneft is holding back its hand to shake with two eager Indian buyers, sources have confirmed. As Kremlin entered into the so called ‘special military operations’ in the Ukraine, defying all Western warnings, it has been severely hit by sanctions and the world isn’t buying crude from this world’s largest seller. Now India seems to be facing empty barrels as Russia is retracting from selling it more crude. Drawn to the discounts offered, three Indian state refiners – Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum – opened negotiations with Rosneft earlier this year for six-month supply deals. Apart from IOC, the other two are not being entertained. The reasons being given are that Russia is not interested in levying any kind of rebate or concession on its crude as it has found various other means to get it out in the world on better pricing. India largely buys Russian Urals crude, but the most recent IOC deal includes an option...

There is a manpower crunch in the Ukraine war and Russia is desperate for more heads to join the war that that has shaken up the Western world. The new tactic to recruit is to by offering signing bonus four times as big as a monthly salary and attracting young people to join the army. It’s a three-month contract that most have to sign up to get a huge joining bonus. Advertisements everywhere are offering positions in the army as Russia is short of army recruits.  A recruiter for the military in Chechnya too has also offered a first-month salary of 300,000 rubles ($5,200). As of end of March, 1300 and more soldiers had lost their lives in the war. Ukraine has also lost a lot of lives. Many who have a conscience have quit the war already. These are more of Russian military that Ukrainians. No one is happy with the way there has been loss of lives in large numbers. Looking the way the war has consumed so many lives, Vladimir Lisin, a Russian billionaire, told employees at stee...

  In a recent incident, Boeing has decided to remove 141 planes from its order backlog. The geopolitical situation including the restrictions on sales due to the current situation in Russia and sanctions like those imposed on Russia for its war against Ukraine. The big question in front of Boeing management is whether they will ever be able to sell those planes, stalled due to sanctions. Their current order backlog is 4200 planes. As per the U.S. accounting rules, Boeing regularly can add or remove orders from the backlog, this happens only when a order is cancelled or the buyer's financial problems put the deal in jeopardy. As per a statement by company representatives, the reason for cancellations now is geopolitical. About two third of the 130 Boeing 737s that it removed from the backlog resulted from geopolitical reasons, including sanctions. At present 85 deals out of 90 are affected due to sanctions. Without revealing the final customer’s name, the spokesperson shared...

Photo for representation purpose only There is going to be a new war of raw materials that might reinvent the Electric vehicle dynamics worldwide. The precious material here in controversy in Nickel. With a surge in the EV market, there is more need of batteries that make use of this metal. Not found in large quantities, it takes painstaking effort to mine in from the Earth’s crust. As of now, America has small amounts to spare. In 2020, Tesla's Elon Musk begged miners to “please mine more nickel” and offered a “giant contract” to anyone who could do it sustainably. The problem is acute. Nickel is a key component of electric-vehicle batteries. Thanks to surging EV demand, geopolitics and a lack of new supplies, the high-grade nickel necessary for making electric-vehicle batteries is becoming scarce. As of latest statistics, Australia and Indonesia are tied for the highest nickel reserves in the world, each coming in at 21 million MT. While Australia is only the  fifth larges...

  It is stunning but true- social media is becoming a tool to chronologize events. The human atrocities that have been committed in Ukraine will now be preserved through war records assembled from social media sources. Social media companies have therefore been asked to preserve war footages, notes, clips and posts. This includes Meta, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube that have received notices from American politicians asking them to preserve content that could be used to prosecute war criminals. America is not letting Russia get away with murder. War crimes have been committed and there is no easy way to prove this but for evidence to be gathered and crime proven. Letters are said to have been sent by four senior Democrats who chair powerful committees in the House of Representatives relating to oversight, foreign affairs and national security. Not essentially legally binding, the pressure to take Russia to task remains high on agenda. One of the letter states, that gathering su...

The Asian country which had not taken sides till now, is finally doing so. Japan has now said that it intends to phase the country out of using Russian oil, in a bid to join hands with the G7 nations in their fight against Russia’s war with Ukraine. The humanitarian crises have not been taken very well by anyone in the West. Literally every nation has protested against the humanitarian disaster created by Kremlin in Ukraine and its various cities. The devastation is horrid. On the weekend, leaders from the G-7 countries met online and announced their commitment to ban or phase out Russian oil imports in their latest effort to pressure Moscow into ending its aggression on Ukraine. “It’s an extremely difficult decision for a country that mostly relies on energy imports, including oil,” the Japanese PM Fumio Kishida told reporters the next day. Adding on to his conversation, he said, “G-7 unity is most important right now.”  Kishida said it will be a gradual and slow process of ...

  Russia decided to take its trade partner to task, as it cut off gas supply to Bulgaria and Poland. Apparently, both countries had decided not to pay Russia for its supply via Turkey in rubles. Russia has refused to accept payment in any other currency. Tensions have been brewing since countries went up and arms against Russia over the war in Ukraine and incessant human rights violations. In response to the threat, the Polish Climate Minister, Anna Moskwa has said, “Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security — we have been effectively independent of Russia for years,” tweeted Anna Moskwa. “There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes,” she added. Bulgaria has never faltered in its payments. But Russia has used this as a sheer ‘blackmailing’ tactic to get its way through those nations that have been ‘unfriendly’ with Russia. Now, both countries feel they can handle the shortfall; but this can go on only for a short while. There is Fin...

  A pro-Russian politician fugitive Viktor Medvedchuk, who is deemed to be the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the country, has been captured by Ukrainian forces. The media themselves are now admitting of skewed and manipulative news doing rounds. New agencies are however claiming that this 67-year-old business tycoon, apparently was residing in Ukraine and is considered one of the richest. His arrest comes over his alleged connections and probably of espionage against Ukraine. If reports are to be believed, Medvedchuk counts Putin among his personal friends and says the Kremlin leader is godfather to his youngest daughter Darya.  Undated and unlocated images of Medvedchuk were released by Ukraine's security service SBU that purportedly show the business tycoon in handcuffs and wearing a Ukrainian military uniform.  The lawmaker that is considered Russia friendly, was captured through setting off a trap for him. Once in custody, his arrest was de...

A secret blanket policy of seizing phones of those entering Britain through the English Channel has been exposed in the judicial courts recently. Home Secretary Priti Patel, has been pulled up for explanation as to why this is being done, an act that can be seen as a human riot’s violation. In a particular incident, three such individuals were caught on the channel. Out of them, one who was a victim of human trafficking and had escaped through this clandestine method reported the same to the courts, also disclosing how this method was used to extract data off her phone as well. All three complaint of the inability to contact their families back home. Their lawyers also claimed that thousands of others arriving to the UK in small boats had their phones confiscated, and hundreds of others had their data cloned. Phone of these three were confiscated between April and September of 2020.  They were also given no access to emergency contacts or other numbers of their phones. Ms. Pa...

NATO has made it clear to China that there is just no need to support Russia in its war with Ukraine. This has been suggested by the head of the Western military alliance, adding that the 30 member nations has plans to discuss Beijing's role in the war Moscow is waging on its neighbour. The discussion has happened in Brussels.   As world leaders meet today in Brussels, the G7, NATO and European Union participants are expected to approve major increases in its forces in Eastern Europe at an emergency move as Ukrainian President seeks support. This has been confirmed by NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. It is also confirmed that as of now, four new battlegroups will be sent to Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. US President Joe Biden is already in Brussels for the special NATO summit today. It is now been said that indeed Russia is responsible for carrying out war crimes in Ukraine. Ahead of the summits, Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky has warned Western leader...

As war wages on and people try and look for shelter, Ukraine is getting drone support from America, that were apparently used in Afghanistan too. There are 100 armed drones being sent to meet the onslaught that has seen merciless attacks on a theatre and school where civilians were taking refuge.     The decision comes after America refused to declare area over Ukraine as a no flight zone, that would pit it directly against Russia and participant to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Over the weekend, the US said it was in discussions with Poland about a potential deal in which Poland would supply Ukraine with MiG-29 fighter jets that Ukraine has requested, and the US would then provide Poland with American F-16s.   If a Russian attack extends into one of the bordering NATO countries, it could trigger Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty, which is the principle that an attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on all members. If Article 5 is i...

The effect of war between Russia and Ukraine has affected the Russian oil prices to a large extend. This effect can be seen in Asia and Europe, the countries where Russia exports the oil, as well as other countries like USA. We cant look at American gas prices in isolation; it is important to understand the global supply chain for oil as well.  Oil prices are dependent a lot on the global requirements as the global commodity market is interconnected. Therefore, disturbances in one part of the world affects the overall price scenario. Currently, Russia exports the largest volumes of oil globally. The export of Russia in December 2021 was 8 million oil barrels and oil products, out of this there were 5 million crude oil barrels. Out of these, the export to USA was meagre 90,000 barrels in December 2021, therefore the over-all supply to USA is substantially low. As the nature of business, the oil prices are controlled by the global commodity market. Due to lower supply,...

  He spent a decade in prison but once was the richest businessman in Russia. Having spent a decade in prison, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was charged with fraud and tax evasion for which he served a long jail sentence. As the former CEO of the Russian oil giant Yukos, he temporarily became Russia's richest man in 2003 with a reported net worth of  $15 billion . In 2001, he founded Open Russia, a diplomacy initiative that was later shut down by Russian authorities. He served a sentence from 2005 for nine years. In 2013, he was actually pardoned by Vladimir Putin himself. Khodorkovsky has now predicted that the Ukrainian war is technically going to reduce Putin’s era of leadership. One wonders why would he speak against the person who pardoned him in the first place? But the fact of the matter was revealed in a 2010 Reuters report where Khodorkovsky said that his imprisonment was actually politically motivated. Putin's former prime minister testified that the Kremlin ordered Khodo...