Israele risponderà a Teheran; Ucraina: "urgente bisogno di nuovi aiuti"🗞️ Rassegna del 16/04/2024

Israele

Israele-Iran:

(CNN) Israel faces a dilemma in its response to Iran’s attack

• The Israeli war cabinet has reviewed military plans for a potential response against Iran, an official said. The cabinet remains determined to act, but it's not clear if a decision has been made. Israel has vowed to "exact a price" after the unprecedented large-scale drone and missile attack. 
• The cabinet is now debating the timing and scope of the response, two Israeli officials told CNN.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now has to weigh his right-wing coalition’s call for a strong reaction against the risk of further international isolation for Israel by widening the war without international support: a direct attack on Iran would set yet another precedent. While Israel is believed to have conducted covert operations in Iran over the years, often targeting individuals or facilities seen as a threat to its security, it has never launched a direct military assault on Iranian territory.

Israele-Gaza:

(Guardian) Babies and children in Gaza begin to starve

• Malnutrition is spreading at record pace among children, according to the World Food Programme. More than 90% of young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are subsisting on two or fewer food groups – mainly bread – with no access to fruit, vegetables, milk or proteins.
• Almost half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is under 18, and the effects of starvation may follow those who survive for the rest of their lives: their brains and bodies, without the nutrients needed for growth, cannot properly develop, leading to health problems such as poor eyesight and learning difficulties later in life.
• Getting assistance to where it is needed most in Gaza, particularly the northern half of the territory, has been made difficult by damaged roads, a lack of fuel, a breakdown of public order and what aid agencies have described as unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles imposed by Israel.
• The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, said Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid may amount to “starvation as a method of war”. The UK’s foreign secretary has questioned Benjamin Netanyahu’s judgment on the level of aid being allowed to enter Gaza, and said that he has had “tough conversations” with Israel on the topic.

Israele-Gerusalemme Est:

(Associated Press) An Israeli court ordered the eviction of a Palestinian family in a contested neighborhood of east Jerusalem.

• The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood has been the focus of a long-running battle between government-backed Israeli settlers and longtime Palestinian residents. The case against the family was launched by Nahalat Shimon Ltd, a Jewish settler organization that for years has been involved in legal efforts to evict Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah.
• The Israeli magistrate court described the case as a simple dispute over real estate, ruling that the extended Diab family was squatting in a property owned by Jews and had no legal rights to it. Palestinians say they have lived in the homes for decades.
• Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and Jordan controlled the area between 1948 and the 1967 war. Nahalat Shimon is trying to seize the property under an Israeli law allowing Jews to reclaim properties that were Jewish before Israel was established in 1948. There is no equivalent right in Israel for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding Israel’s establishment.
• Previous attempts at evictions in Sheikh Jarrah have led to violent clashes and helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021.

Ucraina

(Reuters) Ukraine calls for 'bold' air defence support from allies

• Russian missile and drone attacks have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure since mid-March, prompting Kyiv to issue increasingly desperate calls for air defence help. "We urgently require additional Patriot and other modern air defence systems, weapons and ammunition," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a Black Sea security conference. 
• Western allies have been reluctant to send additional air defences to Kyiv, while Ukraine needs 26 Patriot systems to cover the country's territory in full. Germany has pledged to deliver another system following calls from Kyiv.
• The Ukrainian minister hailed the efficiency of allied support to Israel in repelling Iran's air attack at the weekend, and urged countries to follow that example when it comes to Ukraine.

Russia

(Reuters) Russia restoring oil refining capacity knocked out by drones

• Russia has been able to swiftly repair some of key oil refineries hit by Ukrainian drones, reducing capacity idled by the attacks to about 10% from almost 14% at the end of March. Russia is repairing its refineries fast, despite difficulties in obtaining Western know-how.
• There have been no reports of successful attacks on Russian large refineries since the Taneco plant was hit on April 2. The respite in Ukraine's strikes comes after criticism from the United States, where high fuel prices is high up on the agenda in the run up to presidential election on Nov. 5.
• Replying to Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton on why Joe Biden administration was discouraging Ukrainians from the attacks on Russia's "war-making capabilities", Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services committee last week that the attacks could harm global energy markets.

Europa

UK:

(Politico) Pledges to take Russian money to help Ukraine face a litany of legal and tactical quandaries

• Plenty of bold words have been bandied about since Russia launched its illegal invasion, but two years later, little has been done to seize Russian assets, whether those owned by the oligarchs or, more realistically, those of the central bank.
• The government has never released official figures for the total value of Russian assets held in the U.K., but it’s estimated that £18 billion worth of individual assets have been frozen so far, alongside around £26 billion worth of Russian central bank assets in the U.K. It's a sizeable figure, although dwarfed by the €260 billion of Russian central bank assets in the EU.
• But policy experts stress there are big differences between freezing assets and seizing them: the freezing of assets is viewed as legally proportionate because it is a temporary step (the assets themselves will in theory be returned at some point). Seizing them permanently, on the other hand, could have massive legal ramifications.
• Beyond the legal issues of seizing assets outright, U.K. officials are conscious that frozen Russian assets could be a useful tool in future peace negotiations. Billions of pounds of frozen cash, along with treasured assets like mansions and superyachts, are a pretty good card to play in any such talks.
• Although all jurisdictions are nervous of the potential legal and financial ramifications of taking the money - they fear it could deter investment in the currency or put other countries off depositing funds at the central bank - the City of London’s fears risking its reputation as a leading place to invest, and, a cynic might say, as a hotbed for dirty money.
• In the U.S. there are strong bipartisan calls for assets to be seized, while in the EU the bloc is split (as the majority of assets are held at Euroclear, a securities depository in Belgium, an EU-wide agreement would be needed). The topic will be on the table at June's G7 summit.

Italia:

(il Post) Il governo si lamenta molto degli effetti del Superbonus, ma fa poco per limitarli

• il sottosegretario all’Economia Federico Freni ha comunicato che il totale dei crediti connessi alle agevolazioni fiscali per la ristrutturazione degli immobili privati, dal 15 ottobre 2020 al 4 aprile 2024, è di «circa 219 miliardi», di cui 160,3 miliardi per il Superbonus, e 58,7 miliardi per tutti gli altri bonus.
• Si tratta nel complesso di una cifra enormemente maggiore rispetto a quella inizialmente stimata: nel 2020 la Ragioneria prevedeva che nel loro insieme i vari bonus sarebbero costati al massimo 71 miliardi in tre anni. Nel 2023 i dirigenti tecnici del ministero dell’Economia e il capo della Ragioneria Biagio Mazzotta aggiornarono il conto valutando in 116 miliardi il costo totale dei bonus edilizi.
• Anche per tentare di mitigare questi effetti catastrofici del Superbonus, il ministro dell’Economia Giancarlo Giorgetti ha giustificato la pubblicazione di un Documento di economia e finanza (DEF) molto prudente. Ma ai tanti annunci di provvedimenti per correggere le storture ed eliminare gli abusi in maniera più circostanziata da parte di Meloni e Giorgetti sono seguiti interventi piuttosto parziali.
• L’ambiguità della destra sul Superbonus era evidente già prima della nascita del governo di Meloni: per tutto il 2021 e buona parte del 2022 Draghi e Franco si trovarono a fronteggiare le resistenze e le contrarietà di quasi tutti i partiti, schierati compatti a difesa del Superbonus. Non solo il M5S, ma anche Lega e Forza Italia, che erano parte della maggioranza di governo. Fratelli d’Italia, l’unico partito che stava all’opposizione, contestava le critiche di Draghi al Superbonus.

Svezia:

(Associated Press) The trial of a former Syrian general over alleged role in war crimes starts in Stockholm

• The prosecutor claims the 65-year-old Mohammed Hamo - who was a brigadier general in the Syrian army between January 2012 and July 2012 - has participated in the warfare that “systematically included attacks carried out in violation of the principle of distinction, caution and proportionality,” adding that the attacks were “indiscriminate.”
• “This trial is important because it’s the first time that anyone from the Syrian government or the Syrian army is actually put on trial for the attacks that took place,” said Aida Samani of the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders, a politically and religiously independent human rights organization.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA: 

(Guardian) Tesla is laying off more than 10% of its global workforce, equivalent to at least 14,000 roles, as the electric carmaker reacts to slowing demand and pressure on prices

• The move follows a difficult start to the year for the electric carmaker. Tesla said it had made approximately 387,000 deliveries to customers in the first quarter of 2024, missing market expectations by about 13%. It was its first fall in deliveries in nearly four years.
• The company cited production problems caused by unforeseen factors such as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and an arson attack on its factory in Berlin, but the figures also pointed to a softening in global demand.
• The company is also aiming to shore up its margins – a measure of profit – which have been hit by repeated price cuts, especially in China, where it faces stiff competition from local competitors including BYD, which briefly overtook Tesla as the world’s largest electric vehicle maker in the fourth quarter of 2023, and the new entrant Xiaomi.

Asia e Pacifico

Georgia:

(Meduza) Physical brawl erupts in Georgia’s parliament as lawmakers consider resurrected ‘foreign agents’ bill

• Georgian lawmakers’ discussion of a bill to establish a “foreign agents” registry broke into a physical fight on Monday when Aleko Elisashvili, the leader of an opposition party, punched the parliamentary majority leader on the parliament floor.
• The country’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, first introduced a “foreign agents” bill in March 2023 but dropped the initiative after it sparked widespread protests and criticism from human rights groups and Western countries, who likened it to repressive legislation in Russia. Under the bill, non-government groups and media would have been targeted if they had taken over 20% of funding from abroad.
• The party announced a renewed attempt to create a “foreign agents” registry over a year later, on April 3, 2024. Monday was the first day of the bill’s consideration
• Elisashvili was reportedly met with “cheers and hugs” by protesters outside of the parliament.

Africa

Sudan:

(Associated Press) World paid little attention to Sudan’s war for a year. Now aid groups warn of mass death from hunger

• Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, ever since simmering tensions between its military, headed by Dagalo, and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RFS), headed by Burhan, exploded into street clashes in the capital Khartoum in mid-April 2023. The fighting rapidly spread across the country (in 2021, Burhan and Dagalo were uneasy allies who led a military coup. They toppled an internationally recognized civilian government that was supposed to steer Sudan’s democratic transition after the 2019 military overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir amid a popular uprising. Burhan and Dagalo subsequently fell out in a struggle for power).
• Food production and distribution networks have broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions. At the same time, the conflict has brought widespread reports of atrocities including killings, displacement and rape, particularly in the area of the capital and the western region of Darfur: the situation has been horrific in Darfur where a series of attacks by the RSF and allied militias on the ethnic African Masalit tribe killed between 10,000 and 15,000 people in Geneina, the capital of West Darfur near the Chad border, according to a report by United Nations experts to the Security Council earlier this year.
• But the international community has paid little attention. The U.N. humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, heath care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan, nearly half its population of 51 million. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 5%, according to the humanitarian office.
• The situation in fighting on the ground has been deteriorating. The military and the RSF have carved up Khartoum and trade indiscriminate fire at each other. RSF forces have overrun much of Darfur, while Burhan has moved the government and his headquarters to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.