Colpita raffineria a Volgograd, aviazione civile russa perde pezzi 🗞️ Rassegna del 05/02/2024

Israele

(Reuters) Canada to sanction West Bank settlers and Hamas leaders

• Canada will impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who incite violence in the West Bank and introduce new sanctions on Hamas leaders, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Sunday, after the United States took similar action last week
• In the 18 months before Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the West Bank had already seen its highest levels of unrest in decades. Confrontations there have risen sharply since Israeli forces launched their retaliatory offensive on Gaza

(Wall Street Journal) A U.N. Agency Is Accused of Links to Hamas. The Clues Were There All Along.

• The Western-funded group providing lifesaving aid in Gaza has long struggled to defend its neutrality from militants

• Western donors are questioning whether the agency has become irrevocably radicalized. The U.S. is among 18 countries that have suspended funding, including most of Unrwa’s largest givers
• Six Unrwa employees were allegedly among the thousands of Palestinians and Hamas militants who entered Israel on Oct. 7, in an assault that killed the most Jewish people since the Holocaust and sparked a war that threatens the region

(Bloomberg) Israel-Hamas Hostage Release Deal Remains Elusive, Sullivan Says

• People familiar with the diplomacy said last week that the negotiations are advancing on a deal that those involved believe could be a major step to ending four months of war
• Spy chiefs and top officials from Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel agreed on a framework in Paris last weekend. Qatar then presented Hamas with a proposal for a 45-day pause and the release of some Palestinian prisoners in exchange for all the women, children and elderly Israeli hostages, according to one official
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is departing on another trip to the region on Sunday. He will pursue diplomatic efforts on a deal for a pause in the fighting that will allow increased delivery into Gaza and the release of all remaining hostages, the State Department said in a statement Friday

Ucraina

(Guardian) ‘They told me we’re all Russians’: fears grow over ‘re-education’ of Ukrainian children

• [...] nearly 20,000 children documented by Ukrainian authorities as having been taken from Ukraine to Russia over the past two years. The authorities believe the real number is probably 10 times that, while Russian officials have even boasted of moving 700,000 Ukrainian children to Russia
• “Russia is actively erasing their Ukrainian identity and inflicting unbelievable emotional and psychological damage,” said Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, at a conference devoted to raising awareness of the issue in Riga on Thursday. “What makes it even worse is that Russia proudly exhibits its actions,” he said
• Russia has used different methods to bring Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, often citing security concerns and a need to remove children from dangerous areas of conflict. In some cases, Russian authorities moved entire orphanages or children’s homes to Russian-controlled areas. In other cases, children were separated from their parents, taken to Russia and given new names

Russia

(Reuters) Volgograd oil refinery hit in Ukraine drone attack: source

• Local authorities in Russia said earlier that a fire had been extinguished at the Volgograd refinery following a drone attack. Oil producer Lukoil (LKOH.MM), which owns the refinery, later said the plant was working as normal
• The Volgograd refinery is the latest in a series of facilities to be targeted by drones. Kyiv sees such infrastructure as important for the Kremlin's war effort
• The distance between the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border and the southern Russian city of Volgograd is more than 600km

(Wall Street Journal) Midair Fires and Malfunctions Surge on Russia’s Planes as Sanctions Bite

• Some 74 safety incidents were logged among local operators in Russia last year, up from 36 in 2022, according to Jacdec, a German aviation database that tracks safety incidents across all aircraft with 19 seats or more
• “The sanctions imposed on Russian airlines have significantly impeded the maintenance of aircraft airworthiness and their technical condition,” said Oleksandr Laneckij, chief executive of Lithuania-based aviation consulting firm Friendly Avia Support. “The accumulating challenges are posing safety concerns.”
• Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Moscow has introduced new laws that allow Russian companies to perform heavy maintenance on their aircraft, manufacture their own components and cannibalize parked aircraft for replacement parts. Regular maintenance intervals have also been prolonged or deferred

(Deutsche Welle) Russia: Police detain journalists at Moscow anti-war protest

• A group of wives of Russian soldiers organized a protest calling for their husbands' return from the front in Ukraine. More than two dozen people, mostly journalists, were arrested at the rally
• The demonstration was organized by a group called The Way Home, which urged "wives, mothers, sisters and children" of reservists from across Russia to come to Moscow to "demonstrate (their) unity.
• Protesters on Saturday marked 500 days since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "partial mobilization" of up to 300,000 reservists, after the army suffered battlefield setbacks in Ukraine.

Europa

Regno Unito:

(New York Times) Northern Ireland Has a Sinn Fein Leader. It’s a Landmark Moment.

• The idea of a first minister who supports closer ties to the Republic of Ireland — let alone one from Sinn Fein, a party with historic ties to the Irish Republican Army — was once unthinkable. On Saturday, it became reality.
• Sinn Fein was shaped by the decades-long, bloody struggle of Irish nationalists in the territory who dreamed of reuniting with the Republic of Ireland and undoing the 1921 partition that has kept Northern Ireland under British rule
• But the story of Sinn Fein’s transformation — from a fringe party that was once the I.R.A.’s political wing, to a political force that won the most seats in Northern Ireland’s 2022 elections — is also the story of a changing political landscape and the results of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended the decades-long sectarian conflict known as the Troubles

Germania:

(Deutsche Welle) Germany: Tens of thousands in Berlin protest far right

• Protests against the far right have continued this weekend. The marches have been sparked by reports on an alleged plan by extremists, including AfD politicians, to force millions of immigrants to "remigrate."
• Several other protests against the far right also took place across Germany on Saturday, where about 30,000 people gathered in Freiburg, about 25,000 in Augsburg, about 10,000 in Krefeld, according to police information
• Chancellor Scholz voiced his support for the protests across Germany in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling them a "strong signal for democracy and our constitution."

Politica internazionale

America Latina

El Salvador:

(New York Times) What You Need to Know About El Salvador’s Election

• Nayib Bukele is set to easily win a second term on Sunday, riding enormous support for his crackdown on gangs, even if the price has been restricting civil liberties
• Legal scholars say Mr. Bukele, 42, is violating a constitutional ban by seeking a second consecutive term, but most Salvadorans don’t seem to care. Surveys show that voters overwhelmingly support Mr. Bukele’s candidacy and will likely cement his party’s supermajority in the legislature on Sunday, extending the leader’s unimpeded control over every lever of government for years
• Mr. Bukele’s main selling point has been the nearly two-year state of emergency his government imposed after the gangs that had long dominated the streets went on a killing spree in March 2022. The authorities have arrested roughly 75,000 people since then, with no due process, and put key constitutional rights on hold indefinitely

Medio Oriente

(Reuters) US intends further strikes on Iran-backed groups, national security adviser says

• The United States and Britain unleashed attacks against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen, a day after the U.S. military hit Tehran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.
• "We intend to take additional strikes, and additional action, to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked, when our people are killed," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC’s "Meet the Press" program
• Hezbollah has fired at Israeli targets at the Lebanese-Israeli border, Iraqi militias have fired on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis have fired on shipping in the Red Sea and at Israel itself

Yemen:

(Bloomberg) Houthi Rebels Vow New Attacks After Latest US, UK-Led Strike

• The US and its allies targeted Houthi sites at 13 locations in Yemen, part of an effort to end the militant group’s attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. It was the biggest barrage since initial attacks on Jan. 11, also carried out jointly by the US and UK
• Ali Al-Kahoum, a member of the Houthi political council, said there was now an “open war” and that the Houthis have the military capability to strike back
• The US and Britain are “fueling chaos, disorder, insecurity and instability,” Nasser Kanani, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement. Grant Shapps, UK defense minister, said in a statement that the RAF/US strikes remain a “proportionate and targeted” response to “unacceptable” attacks on commercial and military vessels