Ultimatum israeliano su Rafah. L’Iran continua ad arricchire uranio 🗞️ Rassegna del 20/02/2024

Israele

(Reuters) US proposes UN Security Council oppose Rafah assault, back temporary Gaza ceasefire

• Washington has been averse to the word ceasefire in any U.N. action on the Israel-Hamas war, but the U.S. draft text echoes language that President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• The U.S. draft text "determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries."
• The draft U.S. resolution says such a move "would have serious implications for regional peace and security, and therefore underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances."

(Al Jazeera) Israeli settler attack Burqa and Huwara in occupied West Bank

• Israeli settlers have attacked a house in Burqa, near Nablus, torching it and a car belonging to the same family, residents have told Al Jazeera.
• In addition to the attack in Burqa, settlers also assaulted the Suleiman family in Huwara, throwing stones at their house and breaking windows as the children slept, Alaa Suleiman, their father, told Al Jazeera. Suleiman said that dozens of masked settlers attacked his home and damaged at least 10 vehicles in a garage he owned – his only source of income.

(Wall Street Journal) Israel Sets Deadline for Rafah Ground Offensive Within Weeks

• Israel gave Hamas a Ramadan deadline to return the hostages held in Gaza or face a ground offensive in Rafah, the first timeline it has provided for looming operations in the city that have become a source of tension with the U.S.
• The Biden administration has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against conducting an operation without a credible plan to ensure the safety of civilians in Rafah, which had a prewar population of 300,000. 
• The Ramadan deadline may be part of efforts by Israel to increase pressure on Hamas to reach a hostage deal, analysts said.

Ucraina

(Reuters) Ukrainian businesses fear new mobilisation law could paralyse economy

• Lawmakers are due to discuss the bill to tighten rules on mobilization in a second and final reading this month. Two years since Russia's full-scale invasion began, the issue is highly sensitive for the army, business community and wider public
• Ukrainian authorities acted to tighten the rules on drafting civilians into the army late last year as the fighting in the war showed no sign of letting up and it was clear that a much smaller pool of volunteer fighters was available.
• The Ukrainian Business Council, which brings together more than 100 associations, said in a statement that some criticism had been heeded, but it urged the removal of other proposals that could hurt businesses already operating in "survival" mode

Russia

(Reuters) Yulia Navalnaya, Russia's steely new opposition politician out to avenge husband's death

• In a video released three days after his death and less than a month before Russia's next presidential election, the 47-year-old mother-of-two alternated between rage and grief as she signalled she would try to help lead a shell-shocked opposition
• In a sign that some forces see Navalnaya as a possible threat, several pro-Kremlin social media accounts have begun to try to undermine her by publishing what allies say is falsified information about her life
• Discorso integrale (in russo) qui

(Meduza) "We are not dealing with this matter" - Kremlin on handing over Navalny's body to relatives.

• The question of handing over Alexei Navalny's body to his relatives is not within the Kremlin's competence. This was announced at a press briefing by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov
• When asked by journalists whether the Kremlin is interested in conducting a thorough investigation into the opposition leader's death, the president's press secretary said: "Actions are being taken as provided for in accordance with Russian legislation."
• Peskov said. "In conditions where there is no information, to make such, well, let's say, blatantly rude statements, we consider absolutely unacceptable; it is not becoming of statesmen, from whose mouths we have heard such statements."

Europa

Regno Unito:

(Reuters) UK nears agreement on cooperation with EU border force

• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government will announce in the coming days an agreement for cooperation with the European Union's border protection agency, Frontex, in a further sign of thawing post-Brexit relations
• While Britain has reached bilateral agreements – including a recent deal with Turkey to disrupt people-smuggling gangs and tackle illegal migration – it no longer has returns agreements with the EU since it left the bloc
• Sunak has made stopping the arrival of small boats carrying asylum seekers from France one of his five top priorities, and hopes a fall in arrivals might help his Conservative Party, trailing in opinion polls, pull off an unexpected win at the next general election later this year

Paesi Bassi:

(Reuters) Dutch nationalist Wilders lashes out against Ukrainian refugees

• Wilders opposes continuing military aid to Ukraine, arguing that the Netherlands needs to keep its weapons to defend itself. The position is one of several issues dividing his far right Freedom Party (PVV) from potential coalition partners
• Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said this weekend that Dutch support for Ukraine was guaranteed for the long term, as Wilders would not be able to find any coalition partner willing to support his aim of cutting it
• "Ukrainians are coming to the Netherlands in droves, not because of the war, but for free housing, free care and our jobs," Wilders said in a post on X. "Once again, we are Europe's fool."

Ungheria:

(Guardian) China offers to deepen security ties with Hungary

• Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, met China’s minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong, on Friday. In comments published by China’s official Xinhua news agency over the weekend, Wang said he was hoping to “deepen cooperation in areas including counter-terrorism, combating transnational crimes, security and law enforcement capacity building under the belt and road initiative”.
• In a statement about Friday’s meeting with Wang, a spokesperson for Orbán said the prime minister had declared that “respect is increasingly missing from international diplomacy, but it has always remained between Hungary and China”.
• However, in a speech in Hungary on Saturday, Orbán signalled a shift, announcing that “we are on course to ratify Sweden’s accession to Nato at the beginning of parliament’s spring session”.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

Stati Uniti:

(Reuters) Biden willing to meet with Republican US House speaker over Ukraine aid

• The Senate in a bipartisan vote earlier this month passed a $95 billion aid package that includes funds for Ukraine, but Johnson so far has declined even to bring it up for a vote on the floor of the House, which Republicans control by a narrow 219-212 margin. He has been demanding a meeting with Biden
• Congress is not due back in Washington until Feb. 28, when it will face an urgent deadline to avert a partial government shutdown that would begin March 1 absent action by lawmakers. Some lawmakers have been discussing alternate bills or paths to bypass Johnson's objections, but those alternates all carry their own uncertainties
• Biden also said the United States is considering more sanctions to impose on Russia for Navalny's death. "We already have sanctions, but we are considering additional sanctions, yes," he said.

(Reuters) Trump breaks silence on Navalny, casts no blame on Putin

• Donald Trump, who drew criticism as U.S. president for his praise of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, on Monday made his first public comment on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a social media post that cast no blame but alluded to his own legal woes.
• It was not clear what similarities Trump was trying to draw with Russia's most prominent opposition leader. Navalny, 47, fought for years against what he called vast corruption in Putin's Russia, ruled by "crooks and thieves."
• The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Medio Oriente

Iran: 

(Reuters) Exclusive: IAEA chief says Iran's nuclear enrichment activity remains high

• Iran continues to enrich uranium well beyond the needs for commercial nuclear use despite U.N. pressure to stop it, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday, adding he wanted to visit Tehran next month for the first time in a year to end the "drifting apart"
• Enrichment to 60% brings uranium close to weapons grade, and is not necessary for commercial use in nuclear power production. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but no other state has enriched to that level without producing them
• The IAEA warned at the end of 2023 that Tehran already had enough material to make three nuclear bombs if it enriches the material now at 60% to beyond 60%

Turchia:

(Reuters) Exclusive: Turkish-Russian trade hit by fresh US sanctions threat

• The U.S. executive order in December did not explicitly target energy but it has complicated some Turkish payments for Russian crude as well as Russian payments for a broader range of Turkish exports, the sources said
• similar payment problems to those now faced by Turkey have already disrupted Russian oil supplies to India and complicated those to the United Arab Emirates and China, according to oil traders
• Though Ankara has said the sanctions will not be circumvented on Turkish soil, Washington ramped up pressure last year to halt the transit of dual-use goods that Russia could use on the battlefield, and has warned that Turkish banks and companies could be hit by secondary U.S. sanctions.