Senin, 14 Juni 2021
Former Israel PM Netanyahu sits in wrong chair after loss - BBC News - BBC News
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2021-06-14 14:53:52Z
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Vladimir Putin: 'Where is the proof' Russia is waging a cyber war against the United States? - Sky News
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has denied claims his country is waging a cyber war against the United States.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, the Russian president rebuffed accusations Russian hackers, or the government itself, is using technological warfare against America - as baseless.
He said claims his country was involved in cyber attacks had become "farcical", asking: "Where is the evidence? Where is the proof?"
"We have been accused of all kinds of things: election interference, cyber attacks and so on and so forth. And not once, not one time did they bother to produce any kind of evidence or proof," he said.
Evidence has been put forward by US intelligence services of Russian hackers targeting the federal government and meddling in US elections.
Mr Putin also denied ordering the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Pressed on whether he had any involvement, he said: "Look, such decisions in this country are not made by the president."
Russian intelligence services have been accused of poisoning Mr Navalny, who survived the incident but now remains in a Russian prison.
Asked whether the former opposition leader would make it out of prison alive, Mr Putin said: "He will not be treated any worse than anybody else."
Mr Putin's comments come just two days before he and Joe Biden are due to sit down for talks in Geneva on Wednesday.
The US president will be fresh from his meeting with NATO leaders, who have signalled that Russia remains a security risk to Western allies.
In his interview with NBC, Mr Putin said Russia would be willing to engage with other countries including the US and would value "predictability and stability".
The Russian president has made no secret that he supported Mr Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, who he called "extraordinary" and "talented".
Mr Putin and Mr Biden have had somewhat more rocky relations, with the current US president agreeing when asked whether he thought the Russian president was a killer.
When this was put to Mr Putin, he replied: "Over my tenure, I've gotten used to attacks from all kinds of angles. And none of it surprises me."
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2021-06-14 12:33:45Z
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Nato summit: Nato must face up to China's rise, alliance chief says - BBC News
The head of Nato has urged members to respond to China's rise ahead of a key summit designed to shore up US support for the western military alliance.
Nato leaders are expected to issue a statement branding China a security risk after they meet in Belgium on Monday.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the summit was a "pivotal moment" for the alliance.
It is US President Joe Biden's first Nato meeting since taking office.
Nato is a powerful political and military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. It was established after World War Two in response to the expansion of the Soviet Union.
In recent years, the alliance has come under strain as leaders have debated its purpose and funding.
Tensions grew during the presidency of Donald Trump, who complained about his country's financial contributions to the alliance and questioned US commitment to defend European partners.
But in contrast, his successor Mr Biden has sought to reassert American backing for the 72-year-old alliance.
On Sunday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Nato talks would focus on collective security, including standing up to China and its rapid military rise.
"We're not entering a new Cold War and China is not our adversary, not our enemy," Mr Stoltenberg told reporters at Nato headquarters ahead of the summit.
"But we need to address together, as the alliance, the challenges that the rise of China poses to our security."
Climate change, cyber-security, Russia, and the withdrawal of Nato forces from Afghanistan - the alliance's longest overseas deployment - will also be on the agenda.
Why is Nato focusing on China?
China is one of the world's leading economic and military powers, whose ruling Communist Party has a tight grip on political life and much of society.
Nato has become increasingly concerned about the growing military capabilities of China, which it sees as a threat to the security and democratic values of its members.
In recent years, the alliance has grown wary of China's activities in Africa, where it has set up army bases, and joint military exercises with Russia.
What is Nato?
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, known as Nato, is the world's most powerful regional defence alliance
- It was set up in 1949, after World War Two, to counter the threat of communist expansion
- It was founded on the principle of collective defence between allies
- It originally had 12 members, but now has 30
On Monday, Mr Stoltenberg said China was "coming closer" to Nato in terms of its economic, military and technological capabilities.
That assessment was echoed by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said there is a need to manage the challenges posed by China.
"When it comes to China, I don't think anybody around the table wants to descend into a new Cold War with China," Mr Johnson said on arrival at the Nato summit.
Diplomats told Reuters news agency that the Nato summit's final statement - known as a communique - would not call China an adversary. However, it will refer to China as a "systemic" challenge to the security of Nato members, Reuters reported.
"China will feature in the (Nato) communique in a more robust way than we've ever seen before," said Mr Sullivan, President Biden's top security adviser.
Nato's tough message on China followed criticism of the country by the G7, a group of major economies that met for a summit in England last week.
In a communique G7 leaders scolded China over alleged human rights abuses and demanded a transparent investigation of the origins of Covid-19 in the country.
In response, China accused the G7 of "lies, rumours and baseless accusations" in a statement through its embassy in the UK.
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2021-06-14 10:39:47Z
CBMiMGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLWV1cm9wZS01NzQ2NjIxMNIBNGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLWV1cm9wZS01NzQ2NjIxMC5hbXA
Israel: Bennett’s win and Netanyahu’s ‘dangerous’ defeat - Al Jazeera English
With a vote in favour of a new coalition led by Naftali Bennett, the Israeli parliament ushered in the end of an era.
After 12 years, Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself in the opposition.
However, questions over the new government’s fragility remain. The same applies to Netanyahu, who is unlikely to merely disappear into irrelevance, even though he will have to balance his aspirations for a return and his legal issues simultaneously.
The margin for error was rather narrow, but the new coalition obtained the required votes. Sixty of the 120 Knesset members voted in favour of the new government (one abstained), led by Bennett from the Yamina party and Yair Lapid from Yesh Atid.
According to the coalition agreement, which includes rotation of the prime minister post, Bennett will remain in office until August 2023 before Lapid succeeds.
The new government consists of eight parties, which range from the left to the far right. In addition, for the first time a Palestinian party, the United Arab List (Hebrew acronym Ra’am), is also a member of a government coalition.
The ideological differences are accordingly enormous in the new government, which primarily came together for one reason, Yaniv Voller, senior lecturer in Politics of the Middle East at the University of Kent, told Al Jazeera.
“The coalition was born for one main purpose – to bring Netanyahu’s rule to an end. Members of the coalition share one thing in common: the belief that Netanyahu has corrupted Israel’s political system,” said Voller.
However, with only one purpose in common, future disagreements appear inevitable. “Otherwise, this is a very loose coalition of different ideologies that at one point are bound to clash with each other,” he added.
‘Healing government’?
This raises the obvious question of how the coalition aims to overcome its ideological differences, particularly considering that Bennett leans further to the right on various issues than his predecessor.
Voller said he believes that on specific issues, progress could nonetheless be made.
“Leaders of the coalition parties have described this as a ‘healing government’, whose main goal is to cure the country of Netanyahu’s divisive policies. At least in the first few months, they will more likely focus on issues that there is less controversy surrounding them – restoring public trust in state institutions; mending relations between the government and the Supreme Court; dealing with the rising crime rates in Arab society; dealing with the post-pandemic economic crisis.”
However, in other areas, the apparent diametrically opposed views could become a critical encumbrance.
“When it comes to the more controversial issues, especially concerning the conflict with the Palestinians, I believe that they will have to reach a de facto understanding. Perhaps greater freedom of voting, assuming that on such issues Likud [party] would have no choice but supporting the coalition’s right-wing,” said Voller, adding that the latter is highly speculative at this stage.
In his speech on Sunday, Bennett confirmed his proclivity for unity in lieu of division as he is acutely aware that compromises from all parties involved are required to be successful.
Addressing the conflict with Hamas and relations with the Palestinian Authority will hence be far from being a priority for now.
“I estimate that at least in its first months, the new government will try to sideline the conflict, to deal with domestic issues and de-escalate tensions within Israel, and to delay the unavoidable clash within the coalition,” said Voller.
He sees two scenarios in particular that could make or break the fragile coalition regarding this topic.
“One scenario is that Bennet, to prove that he is not a puppet of his left-wing partners, will advance a more hardline approach toward the Palestinian question, and particularly the settlement question.”
“A more optimistic scenario is one in which the coalition, to preserve some stability, will simply try to maintain the existing status quo and avoid actions that lead to escalation,” said Voller.
However, a paradigm shift towards lasting peace will remain inconceivable, Voller predicted. “I do not see this government signing a conclusive peace agreement with the Palestinians.”
‘Netanyahu’s ploys’
After 12 years of Netanyahu and four elections in two years, Israelis will now hope for some degree of stability within its government. However, past years have shown that one should not have high expectations, and the new coalition will not change this sentiment, Voller argued.
“The coalition is mainly preoccupied with avoiding going for another round of elections. In the short-term, success would be surviving for at least a year or two, stabilising the economy, and avoiding another round of fighting.”
Considering how the previous coalition ended along with the rotation agreement that was in place between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, sceptics could argue that Bennett, a protegee of Netanyahu, may attempt a similar move to avoid a rotation after two years in office.
However, Voller said that Bennett will not utilise such measures.
“Bennett has striven to portray himself as the opposite to Netanyahu, that is, as an honest politician, technocratic in nature, and committed to clean politics. Therefore, I doubt it that Bennett will resort to adopting Netanyahu’s ploys.”
Nonetheless, Bennett has other options at his disposal.
“If Bennett senses that the partnership is not working, he will dissolve the government and go for elections. Nevertheless, he will try to avoid this step as much as possible, for the sake of preserving political stability,” said Voller.
‘Seduce possible defectors’
Bennett’s success is Netanyahu’s defeat. No one ruled Israel’s fate longer than the man sometimes described as “King Bibi.”
To the final minutes, Netanyahu tried to prevent the formation of the government by accusing Bennett of election fraud and attempted to pressure Knesset members into defection – without success. In his speech on Sunday, Netanyahu said he was ready to go into the opposition until he could end this “dangerous government”.
He emphasised that he had returned from the opposition once before. However, whether he can facilitate yet another return is far from certain, said Simon Mabon, professor of International Politics at Lancaster University.
“The formation of a new government after such a long period of political and electoral instability suggests that the Israeli public has, on the whole, had enough of Netanyahu’s politics and vision for the future,” Mabon told Al Jazeera.
Nonetheless, Netanyahu’s track record suggests that one must not underestimate his talent to remain omnipresent, either.
“His survival across a tumultuous period in Israeli politics is a testament to his political acumen and a reflection of how popular his right-wing world view continues to be amongst some of the Israeli electorates,” said Mabon.
Netanyahu will hence not be a silent opposition. While his tactics to stop the coalition from taking power failed, he will continue to make attempts at sabotage, Mabon said.
“His quest to bring down the government plays out by trying to disrupt the fragile coalition between unlikely allies. In part, this comes through efforts to seduce possible defectors to the Likud way of thinking.”
One has thus not yet seen the political end of Benjamin Netanyahu. “King Bibi will continue to fight – his quest for power and ego points to that,” said Mabon.
‘Most dangerous potential’
However, with his departure, avoiding legal charges will be more challenging. As Mabon pointed out, the possibility of obtaining immunity from the Knesset and further delaying his corruption trial have now become unfavourable.
“There is precedent for erstwhile political leaders to be imprisoned after leaving office, after all,” said Mabon, referring to Ehud Olmert, who, after having served as Israel’s prime minister, was sentenced to prison for accepting bribes and obstruction of justice.
The trial against Netanyahu has already commenced, yet the court is far from a concluding stage, Amos Hacmun, partner at Tel Aviv-based Heskia-Hacmun Law Firm, told Al Jazeera.
“The trial against Netanyahu is currently in the phase where the prosecution presents its evidence, and its witnesses are subjected to cross-examination by the defence attorneys. The witnesses’ testimonies just started so that there are many more testimonies to collect before it will be concluded and the defence will have its turn to present its witnesses.”
Netanyahu has been indicted on three cases, known as 1000, 2000 and 4000, accusing him of bribery, fraud and breach of trust and involve accepting gifts in return for political favours.
Case 4000, in particular, could be serious for Netanyahu, said Hacmun.
“Being accused in any of those cases is dangerous. However, Case 4000 is probably the one with the most dangerous potential since beyond the criminal behaviour of which Netanyahu is accused, in Case 4000, the amounts involved and the extent of abuse of public resources seems to be by far more than the other cases.”
Whether or not Netanyahu could face jail remains nonetheless unclear at this stage.
“There are tonnes of evidence and endless hours of testimonies that need to be considered before one can deliver a serious opinion as to the expected result of the trial. However, if the trial will end in a conviction, then it would be more realistic to expect a sentence that includes jail time than not,” said Hacmun.
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2021-06-14 08:32:58Z
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South China Sea: Vietnam bolstering naval firepower as tensions continue to surge - Daily Express
It launched a new squadron - the Permanent Maritime Militia Unit - on Wednesday in Kien Giang province, in the Mekong Delta. The squadron is designed "to jointly protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands", according to the nation's Defense Ministry.
The unit has air and sea capabilities, and will conduct patrols while protecting fishermen.
It is the second force created by the Vietnamese military in the last few months, following a 131-strong squadron formed in April.
The latest South China Sea development comes as Filipinos bemoan a perceived encroachment of Beijing fishing vessels in disputed waters.
In March, the Philippines accused 200 Chinese vessels of anchoring at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Islands.
They suspected the vessels were manned by militia.
And, in May, Manila accused China of sending a further 100 ships to the region.
Beijing has denied these allegations, claiming vessels anchored in the reef to escape bad weather and rough seas.
“There is no Chinese maritime militia as alleged,” the Chinese embassy in Manila said in a statement.
READ MORE: Macron ally fact-checked on French TV after Brexit 'catastrophe' claim
Last week, the head of the Philippine armed forces visited one of the country’s controlled islands, angering Chinese officials.
Cirilito Sobejana, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), commended soldiers for protecting the island's residents and “guarding the country's territories” in the region.
Today, foreign ministers of Southeast Asia and China agreed to hold a meeting in which they would discuss restraint in the South China Sea and avoid actions that could escalate tensions.
The meeting follows a suspected “incursion” by 16 Chinese aircraft into Malaysian airspace.
The aircraft were reportedly spotted within 60 nautical miles off Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo.
Malaysian authorities described the incident as a “serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety”.
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2021-06-14 06:32:41Z
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Ukraine ready to take action against Gazprom over central Asian gas - Financial Times
Ukraine is prepared to take legal action against Gazprom to unblock natural gas supplies from central Asia, a move that could ensure it has sufficient domestic supply and transit revenues even if Russia’s nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline comes on stream this year.
Gazprom controls the flow of gas through its pipelines into Ukraine from central Asia. It has blocked these flows for 15 years and if it does not approve them, the head of Ukraine’s state gas company says he is ready to appeal to the EU’s competition authorities and take the Russian energy giant to international arbitration.
“It will be a game changer because as we all understand there is a huge potential basically to transport central Asian gas through Ukraine to Europe,” Yuriy Vitrenko, chief executive of Naftogaz Ukraine, told the Financial Times.
“We are talking about tens of billions of cubic metres . . . central Asian gas alone can fill the whole Ukrainian gas transit system,” he added.
Naftogaz is preparing formal requests to secure gas from the region and obtain permission to transport it through Gazprom’s pipelines, a process that Vitrenko said could take months.
“If they [Gazprom] say no, then the next step would be a complaint [to the European Commission] and arbitration,” added Vitrenko, pointing to a process that could take years.
Kyiv could appeal to Brussels to apply EU competition law because it affects supply of gas to EU markets.
As a senior executive at Naftogaz, Vitrenko led efforts that secured two multi-billion-dollar international arbitration awards against Gazprom in 2017 and 2018 over prices and transit agreements. Vitrenko was last year pushed out of the company by then chief executive Andriy Kobolyev, an erstwhile ally.
In a controversial decision this April, Ukraine’s government — citing the company’s unexpected financial loses and falling gas production — bypassed Naftogaz’s supervisory board in replacing Kobolyev with Vitrenko. The move was sharply criticised by the US and other western backers as a violation of corporate governance.
Vitrenko spoke by telephone from Washington, where he led a Ukrainian delegation in last-ditch effort to convince the Biden administration to cancel its recent waiver on some US sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
“It’s our view that the game is far from being over,” he said. “We are telling [US officials] that it’s a national security issue for Ukraine, for Europe, and for the US,” he added.
Stretching from Russia across the Baltic Sea to Germany, the pipeline bypasses Ukraine, which stands to lose some $2bn in annual transit revenues. That is about half Ukraine’s annual defence spending at a time when it is still at war with Russian-backed separatists and Russian forces in the Donbas region, in the country’s far-east.
Officials from Germany and the US have urged Russia to maintain enough gas transit through Ukraine to keep the country’s pipeline profitable and operational. A 2019 transit agreement with Gazprom lasts until 2024.
Vitrenko stressed that even if Nord Stream 2 were stopped, Kyiv would still push Gazprom to carry less expensive central Asian gas — mostly from Turkmenistan — for Ukraine’s domestic needs and transit to Europe.
Gazprom declined to comment.
Ukraine halted direct gas purchases from Gazprom after Russia’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014, importing fuel instead from European markets, much of which is of Russian origin.
Vitrenko said he would also seek to work out an agreement with Gazprom that would allow European buyers to acquire their gas on the Ukrainian-Russian border instead of taking over the shipments after it is transported across Ukrainian territory. Such a move could entice traders to stockpile gas purchased at lower summer prices in the country’s vast underground storage facilities for export during peak winter demand.
“We will have a vibrant hub inside Ukraine, because we would have central Asian gas, we would have gas from other producers in Russia other then Gazprom,” Vitrenko added.
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2021-06-14 04:00:23Z
CAIiEEcXlPnnIn1kGgkLd3KncY4qFwgEKg8IACoHCAow-4fWBzD4z0gwwtp6
Minggu, 13 Juni 2021
What Putin really wants from Biden - BBC News
The Geneva summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden on 16 June will not be a friendly encounter.
For a start, Russia recently included the US on its official list of "unfriendly states".
Both sides describe relations as at rock bottom and neither currently has an ambassador in-country; senior Russian officials are under American sanctions for everything from annexing Ukraine's Crimea to alleged election meddling, and two former US marines are now in Russian prisons - one serving 16 years accused of espionage.
On top of all that, there's the moment in March when Joe Biden agreed with an interviewer that Vladimir Putin was "a killer".
And yet, the two men are set to meet as presidents for the first time, and some in Russia see that as an achievement in itself.
It's a status thing
"The summit is important in terms of symbolism; it puts Russia in the same league as the US, and for Putin symbolism is not unimportant," says Andrei Kortunov, director of the RIAC think-tank in Moscow.
The meeting comes early in Mr Biden's time in the White House, on his first foreign trip and at his request - all bonus points for the Kremlin. It's also a full summit - not a brief encounter appended to some other event.
And despite a packed agenda, including meetings at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Monday, there's particular interest in Joe Biden's final stop on his European trip, his one-on-one on Wednesday with Vladimir Putin.
"Putin definitely wants to be equal to the US president. He wants to be respected on his terms," political analyst Lilia Shevtsova agrees. "Putin wants to demonstrate macho muscle and to be a member of the club."
History and hopes
The choice of Geneva as a setting harks back to a Cold War encounter in 1985: the first summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. But there's little prospect that this week's event will match that either for personal rapport or political thaw.
Today's White House says its aim is a "stable" and "predictable" relationship with Russia. But keeping people guessing - and wary - has been Vladimir Putin's way ever since his "little green men" entered Crimea in 2014 and the peninsula was annexed from Ukraine.
It was the start of this slide in Russia-US relations.
"A more feasible goal would be to test where each other's 'red lines' lie," Ms Shevtsova suggests, as well as "an understanding that dialogue is the way back from the abyss".
'If they're not talking, then Russia will become more unpredictable," she argues.
Can they deliver?
This weekend, Vladimir Putin told state TV there were "issues where we can work together" with the US, starting with new nuclear arms control talks, discussing regional conflicts including Syria and Libya, and climate change.
"If we can create mechanisms for working on those issues, then I think we can say the summit was not in vain," Mr Putin argued.
Some in Russia suggest a truce in the "diplomatic wars" may also be possible: the US has expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down two compounds in recent years; now US missions in Russia are to be barred from employing locals, meaning dramatic cuts in services including visas.
Moscow might allow its ambassador back to Washington as a minimum move.
The US will also raise the fate of its prisoners in Russia, including Paul Whelan who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of espionage, which he has always denied.
Russia recently renewed its push for a prisoner-swap - but its terms have so far been impossible for the US to meet, and a unilateral gesture of generosity by Mr Putin seems unlikely.
Hostile West
Russia's president has gone out of his way lately to underline his view of the West as hostile.
At this month's Economic Forum in St Petersburg, he claimed again that the US wants to "contain" Russia's development.
A few days earlier, he had threatened to "knock out the teeth" of any foreign aggressor who wants to "bite" Russia, insisting that the world needs to wake-up to the country's restored status and strength.
"Clearly he believes the US is an adversary that doesn't wish Russia well, and I don't think this vision will change," Mr Kortunov says.
Even so, he argues that Russia may be looking to lower the temperature a notch or two.
Cooling down
"As a rational politician, Putin would like to reduce the costs and risks associated with this adversarial relationship," Mr Kortunov believes.
That includes economic sanctions: the latest round restricted the government's capacity to raise funds and new steps could be further reaching, adding more strain to the economy in a key election year.
"The Russian public has no appetite for foreign policy 'victories' now as a substitute for addressing burning social and economic problems at home," Mr Kortunov says. "Whatever Putin might want, I don't think he can gain anything [domestically] by escalating."
Unavoidable lecture
What Vladimir Putin doesn't want, but is braced for, is a lecture on human rights - including the case of Alexei Navalny, Russia's opposition politician first poisoned and now in prison.
Navalny's political offices and anti-corruption organisation have just been banned as "extremist" by a Moscow court, a ruling that could easily have been delayed until after the summit.
Instead, the timing seems meant to send a message: that Vladimir Putin will continue to crush dissent and that is none of America's business.
"Biden will do his song - his prelude about Navalny and human rights; then Putin will do his song - that the US is the same," Ms Shevtsova predicts, dryly.
"But the fact this meeting is taking place means that after the human rights 'hors d'oeuvre', they'll move on to the main dish. And that is: let's do something to lower the tension."
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2021-06-14 01:40:51Z
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