Gaza: Ankara rompe con Tel-Aviv; ONU, preoccupazione per Zaporizhzhya 🗞️Rassegna del 10/04/2024

Israele

Israele-Turchia:

(Associated Press) Turkey and Israel announce trade barriers on each other as relations deteriorate over Gaza

• Turkey and Israel announced trade barriers on each other Tuesday as relations deteriorated further amid the war in Gaza.
• Turkey [...] announced that it was restricting exports of 54 types of products to Israel with immediate effect. They include aluminum, steel, construction products, jet fuel and chemical fertilizers. In response, Israel said it was preparing a ban on products from Turkey.
• The announcements came a day after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Israel had barred Turkish military cargo planes from joining an operation to airdrop humanitarian aid to Gaza and vowed to respond with a series of measures against Israel until it declares a cease-fire and allows aid to flow in without interruptions.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, which suffered major setbacks in local elections last month, is faced with intense pressure at home to halt trade with Israel. Critics accuse the government of engaging in double standards by leveling strong accusations against Israel while continuing lucrative commercial relations.
• Turkish exports to Israel amounted to $5.4 billion in 2023, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. Turkey and Israel had normalized ties by appointing ambassadors to their respective countries in 2022, following years of tensions. Since January, Turkish authorities have detained dozens of people, including private detectives, on suspicion of spying for Israel, mostly on Palestinians living in Turkey.

Ucraina

(Reuters) UN nuclear watchdog's board sets emergency meeting after Zaporizhzhia attacks

• The U.N. nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday at the request of both Ukraine and Russia to discuss attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, after the enemies accused each other of drone attacks.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency has said drones struck the Russian-held facility in southern Ukraine on Sunday, hitting one reactor building. It has not ascribed blame but has demanded such attacks stop.
• Russia said on Tuesday that Ukraine had again attacked the plant with drones, for a third day. Kyiv said it had nothing to do with any such attacks, and any incidents were staged by Moscow.
• A Board meeting would be unlikely to bring clarity as to who was behind recent attacks

Russia

(Bloomberg) Russia, China to Work on ‘Double Counteracting’ US-Led Alliance

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday at a press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing [that] Russia and China agreed to start a dialogue on Eurasian security with the aim of “double counteracting” the European-Atlantic alliance led by the US.
• China on Monday said it hasn’t sought to benefit from Russia’s war in Ukraine after the US warned allies that Beijing has stepped up its support for Moscow, including by providing geospatial intelligence, to help it in its invasion of the neighboring ex-Soviet state.
• US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen underscored the urgency of the issue during her visit to China, saying that its banks and exporters should not bolster Russia’s military capacity. She warned “they will face significant consequences if they do.”
• Lavrov also said Russia and China confirmed there is no prospect of holding meetings to settle the conflict with Ukraine when Russia’s positions are ignored, a reference to a planned June peace conference in Switzerland backed by Kyiv. [...]
• Putin and Xi are set to meet at a regional summit in Kazakhstan in June and in October at a leaders’ meeting of the BRICS emerging economies’ bloc, Lavrov said. Putin is also set to visit China in May, Reuters reported last month. [...]

Europa

Svizzera:

(Wall Street Journal) Swiss Women Win Landmark Climate Ruling at European Court of Human Rights

• The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday ruled [16 votes to one in favor] in favor of a group of [>2000] elderly Swiss women who argued that their government isn’t doing enough to fight climate change [under the European Convention on Human Rights], putting them at risk of death from heat waves.
• The ruling sets an important precedent for governments in their bid to protect citizens against the effects of climate change. Lawyers are suggesting it could influence legislation in other European countries.
• Tom Cummins [partner at global law firm Ashurst] said litigation against companies could rise because of the ruling, with claimants alleging companies are acting inconsistently with international human rights standards.
• The ECHR threw out two similar cases, one brought by a group of Portuguese youths against 32 European countries and another by a former French mayor against his national government. In all three cases, the decision from the ECHR is final.

Unione Europea:

(POLITICO) EU pushes to curb China’s green tech market lead

• On Tuesday, competition chief Margrethe Vestager will, under the EU’s new Foreign Subsidies Regulation, launch an investigation into China’s fast-growing and increasingly dominant wind turbine sector, as exclusively reported by POLITICO’s China Watcher.
• For EU officials, there are indications that certain wind manufacturers and other companies active in the EU internal market could have benefited from foreign subsidies which handed them an unfair advantage over their competitors. [...] China also hit back prior to Vestager’s speech, calling the anti-subsidy probes “economic coercion” [...]
• The EU is keen to avoid a mistake it made over the past decade, when China’s solar panel-makers all but killed their European competitors.
• In a speech in Princeton, previewed by Brussels Playbook, Vestager is expected to float the idea of making broader use of so-called trustworthiness assessments. Those criteria [...] should include cybersecurity, data security, labor rights and environmental footprint.

Germania:

(Reuters) Germany denies accusation of aiding a genocide in Gaza at World Court

• Germany denied accusations on Tuesday that it was aiding genocide in Gaza by selling Israel arms in a suit to the top U.N. court by Nicaragua reflecting mounting legal action in support of Palestinians.
• Germany has been one of Israel's staunchest allies since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants and retaliatory offensive. It is one of its biggest military suppliers, sending 326.5 million euros ($353.70 million) in equipment and weapons in 2023, according to Economy Ministry data.
• But Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, legal adviser for the German Foreign Ministry, told the International Court of Justice, or World Court, that Nicaragua's case was rushed, based on flimsy evidence and should be thrown out for lack of jurisdiction.
• Von Uslar-Gleichen said Israel's security was a priority for Germany given the history of the Nazi decimation of Jews. "Germany has learned from its past, a past that includes the responsibility for one of the most horrific crimes in human history, the Shoah," she said, using the Hebrew word.

Irlanda:

(Al Jazeera) Simon Harris becomes Ireland’s youngest-ever prime minister

• Ireland’s parliament has elected Simon Harris as the country’s new and youngest-ever prime minister, to succeed Leo Varadkar following his surprising resignation last month.
• On Tuesday, parliament members erupted in cheers as Harris’s nomination was confirmed 88-69, after securing support from some independent lawmakers, as well as his coalition partners Fianna Fail and Green Party.
• The 37-year-old former health and higher education minister, best known for helping steer Ireland’s initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was elected unopposed as the new leader of the centre-right Fine Gael party last month, days after Varadkar’s shock exit.
• Pledging to re-energise and “reset” his party, Harris told a weekend conference of its members that he plans to steer it back towards “core values” like promoting business, farming, and law and order.

Islanda:

(Reuters) Iceland picks Bjarni Benediktsson as next prime minister

• Bjarni Benediktsson said on Tuesday he will become the country's next prime minister, replacing Katrin Jakobsdottir who last week announced she would resign and run for president.
• Benediktsson, head of the pro-business, right-wing Independence Party, now serves as foreign minister in a broad three-party coalition and was previously prime minister in a short-lived government from January to November of 2017.
• He takes the helm at a time of uncertainty in Iceland after recent volcanic eruptions triggered the indefinite evacuation of thousands of people, adding to pressures on an economy already facing high inflation and soaring interest rates.
• The head of the centre-right Progressive Party, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson [...] will become finance minister. [...] The next parliamentary elections will be held in 2025 unless the government decides to call a snap election before then.

Politica internazionale

Asia e Pacifico

Cina:

(Associated Press) One of China’s top leaders will lead a delegation to North Korea this week

• A top Chinese leader will lead a delegation to North Korea this week, both countries announced Tuesday, in what would be the highest-level meeting between the two countries since the pandemic began.
• Zhao Leji, who is chairman of the National People’s Congress and considered the No. 3 official in the ruling Communist Party, will visit North Korea from Thursday to Saturday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
• No details were released on what was described as a goodwill visit, except that the delegation would attend the opening ceremony for the “China-North Korea Friendship Year.”
• China, North Korea’s biggest source of aid, is believed to have long shipped clandestine assistance to help keep afloat its impoverished socialist ally, which it views as a bulwark against U.S. influence on the Korean Peninsula. “China is key to North Korea’s economy. There is a limit that Russia can do for North Korea economically. [...] To make its economy grow in the long term, North Korea needs investments and markets. China is the only country that can provide those to North Korea.” said Park Won Gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University. [...]