Tag: allies

DeSantis allies go to war with an unlikely foe: Nikki Haley

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The move suggested a shifting dynamic in the contest: With DeSantis falling further behind Trump in national and early-state surveys, his allied super PAC is trying to ensure that the primary remains a two-way race and that other candidates vying to be the Trump alternative do not gain traction.
“This is the DeSantis team acknowledging that he is closer to the field than he is to President Trump,” said Justin Clark, a Republican strategist who was Trump’s 2020 deputy campaign manager but who isn’t involved in a 2024 presidential campaign.
The pro-DeSantis PAC’s anti-Haley offensive came after the former South Carolina governor took a shot at DeSantis during an interview on Fox News for his heavy-handed approach toward Disney and suggested the theme park relocate several hours north to her home state. Shortly after, Never Back Down began running a digital ad featuring clips of Disney employees touting the company’s promotion of pro-LGBTQ themes, and concluding with a silhouette image of Haley holding hands with Mickey Mouse.
It wasn’t a one-off, but part of a coordinated offensive. The group announced the spot would be included in a “six-figure” digital ad buy in South Carolina, a key early primary state. And it put out several tweets attacking Haley, including one saying she is “embracing woke corporations” and another with a poll asking if she should be nicknamed “Mickey Haley” or “Nikki Mouse.”
“It’s a bad strategy to defend Woke Disney when they decided to defend the sexualization of children,” Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for Never Back Down, said in a statement, when asked about the group’s recent attacks on Haley. ”It’s mind-boggling [that] any Republican would side with a massive corporation that has an unprecedented level of self-governance over protecting children and families, but I guess 2023 is a strange time.”
DeSantis’ allies may have no other choice than to go on the attack. While Trump has been the consistent polling leader, it’s DeSantis who has been taking fire from a number of would-be rivals, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, businessperson Vivek Ramaswamy and Haley.
A pro-Haley super PAC, SFA Fund Inc., (an abbreviation for “Stand For America”) regularly sends out news roundups to reporters highlighting unflattering coverage about DeSantis, something the group doesn’t do for Trump or Haley’s other primary rivals.
“Ron DeSantis’ No Good, Very Bad Week,” read the subject of one such email. “DeSantis’ Disastrous Journey to the Swamp,” read another.

This week, the group created a video mocking DeSantis’ suggestion that he might open a state prison next to Disney World. And after her Fox interview about DeSantis, Haley joked that South Carolina conservatives are “not sanctimonious” about their values — a nod to Trump’s “DeSanctimonious” nickname for the Florida governor.
DeSantis is comfortably in second place in most surveys, trailing Trump but well ahead of the other Republicans in the field. But in recent weeks, he has lost ground, with Trump picking up endorsements from several Republican Congress members in Florida and with some major donors expressing reservations about the Florida governor. Two recent polls of South Carolina GOP voters showed Trump far ahead of the pack and Haley only narrowly behind DeSantis. A survey conducted earlier this month by National Public Affairs, a Republican firm co-founded by Clark, found DeSantis at 21 percent, with Haley at 19 percent. A Winthrop University poll taken several weeks earlier showed similar results, with DeSantis at 20 percent and Haley at 18 percent.
“The fact that Ron DeSantis is attacking her is not surprising,” said Mark Harris, a Republican consultant who is running the pro-Haley super PAC. “It’s a clear indication that he’s losing ground.”
Nachama Soloveichik, a spokesperson for Haley, also took a swipe at DeSantis, contending that as governor Haley would have “avoided wasting taxpayer dollars on tit for tat battles.”
The presence of Haley and others in the race presents a challenge for DeSantis, who must take steps to consolidate the support of voters who are looking for someone other than Trump. Any traction that rival candidates gain could detract from DeSantis’ effort to overtake the former president.
The dynamic bears some similarities to the 2016 primary, when Trump prevailed over a splintered field of Republican rivals. The non-Trump candidates spent months relentlessly attacking one another while largely leaving Trump untouched. It ultimately paved the way for Trump to win the nomination.
Because DeSantis is not yet an announced candidate, it has fallen on Never Back Down to take the lead in promoting him and attacking his prospective rivals. The organization — which has also aired ads attacking Trump — is expected to be among the most well-funded entities in the primary. It has announced that it has already raised $30 million, about two-thirds of which came from Nevada hotel executive Robert Bigelow.
Some Republicans, however, have privately questioned the decision to go after Haley, arguing that in taking on a lower-polling rival, DeSantis appeared weak.
“Attacking candidates with no votes does not have the upside of gaining votes,” said Curt Anderson, a veteran Republican strategist who is not involved in the primary.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 29, 2023
Russia accuses US and its allies of opposing multipolar world in Asia-Pacific region

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New Delhi: The US and its allies have severely eroded the global security architecture in a bid to maintain global dominance, Russian Defence Minister Gen Sergei Shoigu said on Friday amid Moscow’s increasingly frosty relations with Washington over the Ukraine conflict.
In his address at a conclave of defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Delhi, Shoigu also said that Western powers are actively opposing the formation of a multipolar world in the Asia-Pacific region.
“As has been noted, today’s meeting takes place against the background of a highly volatile international environment,” he said.

“Fundamental, dynamic, and irreversible changes are taking place as the new multipolar world takes shape. This is actively opposed by the collective West. In a bid to maintain global dominance, the US and its allies have severely eroded the global security architecture,” he alleged.
Russia and the US have been at loggerheads over the Ukraine conflict with both sides making allegations and counter-allegations against each other.
On the sidelines of the SCO defence ministers’ meeting, Shoigu also met his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu.
“We have always stressed the importance of building equal and indivisible security, of preserving the central role of the UN, of upholding its charter and its purposes and principles aimed at maintaining peace and stability,” the Russian defence minister said.
“We believe it is important to strengthen the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as one of the pillars of the new multipolar international system, a model of inter-state relations based on equality and mutual respect,” he said.

“It is necessary to maintain close coordination within the SCO and to hold regular consultations on common security issues, both in multilateral and bilateral ways,” he added.
India hosted the meeting in its capacity as chair of the grouping.
The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.
The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 28, 2023
Georgia DA: Any charges against Trump and allies will be announced this summer

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District Attorney Fani Willis told the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to prepare for “heightened security” in the event that her announcement provokes “a significant public reaction.” | Brynn Anderson/AP Photo
Atlanta-area District Attorney Fani Willis will announce this summer whether or not former President Donald Trump and his allies will be charged with crimes in relation to the investigation into their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Willis said Monday, according to The Associated Press. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to report on the announcement.
Willis told the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to prepare for “heightened security” in the event that her announcement provokes “a significant public reaction.” She said she would announce charging decisions, including possible criminal indictments of Trump and his allies, between July 11 and Sept. 1.
“Please accept this correspondence as notice to allow you sufficient time to prepare the Sheriff’s Office and coordinate with local, state and federal agencies to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public,” Willis wrote in the hand-delivered letter addressed to Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 25, 2023
‘The problem child’: FBI’s Hill allies warn it is fueling surveillance angst

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At least, not enough for Congress to re-up the program without changes, according to some of the intelligence community’s biggest allies.
“The FBI is absolutely the problem child in FISA and 702. The abuses are abhorrent. Director [Christopher] Wray is not a compelling advocate for FISA or 702, because he’s not been a compelling advocate for reform,” House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said in an interview.
Turner added that while Wray had “attempted and advanced” some reforms, the FBI director’s effort was “disconnected” from congressional oversight.

Congressional skepticism over the FBI played out publicly when Director Christopher Wray testified before both the House and Senate Intelligence committees, fielding warnings from both sides of the aisle.
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Tom Williams/Pool via AP
Another lawmaker, who also supports extending the program with reforms, put it more bluntly: “I don’t think the FBI, the DOJ, has the credibility with the Republican side any longer to make an argument.”
Back in 2020, then-Attorney General Bill Barr was deeply involved in making the pitch to Republicans during a fight on an unrelated surveillance provision. Yet the lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak frankly, warned Attorney General Merrick Garland against trying to play a similar role this time: “Bill Barr among Republicans is very different than Merrick Garland.”
In the meantime, negotiators are already signaling that they will likely miss the Dec. 31 deadline to re-up the warrantless surveillance program. There’s no chance Congress would agree to a long-term extension as is, but lawmakers are quietly making backup plans to avoid a lapse.
Congress’ tensions with the FBI are multi-faceted, encompassing both Section 702 and the broader surveillance law it’s housed under, known as FISA. That’s in addition to the political tensions that have further frayed the relationship between some House Republicans and law enforcement agencies like the FBI and DOJ.
When it comes to 702 specifically, lawmakers don’t believe the FBI stays within the guardrails of a highly shrouded surveillance program, pointing to a bulk of reported abuses. And it’s gotten personal, too: An FBI analyst used the program to improperly search for a U.S. lawmaker’s name about three years ago, reportedly over fears that he was being targeted by a foreign government.

Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) recently disclosed he believed he was the one who was the subject of the search. Now, LaHood is leading the House Intelligence Committee’s 702 talks.
But even more pervasive among Republicans, both in and outside of the Capitol, is a general distrust of the FBI fueled in part by the bureau’s clashes with Trump. House Republicans are conducting a sweeping probe into claims of politicization of the Justice Department and the bureau, which fringes of the conference have backed Trump’s calls to “defund.”
The skepticism over the FBI played out publicly when Wray testified before both the House and Senate Intelligence committees, fielding warnings from both sides of the aisle.
He responded to those red flags by touting recent improvements to the surveillance program, pointing to a 93 percent decrease between 2021 and 2022 in the number of FBI searches for U.S. persons — a statistic critics have argued belies how large the number was to begin with. He also noted the creation of an Office of Internal Audit that he said is focused specifically on FISA.
Administration officials are also expanding their scope as they try to make the case for 702 reauthorization, arguing that it is critical on everything from countering cyberattacks and China to tracking Russia’s moves in Ukraine.
The Justice Department has also been offering lawmakers briefings to walk them through the compliance changes they have made in recent years. Those changes include new internal guardrails, like requiring additional layers of review before certain searches can take place, as well as new mandatory training, according to a DOJ memo released earlier this year.
“We clearly have work to do, and we are eager to do it with this committee, to show that we can be worthy stewards of these important authorities,” Wray told House lawmakers.
He’ll be back soon, too. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said he expects both Wray and Garland to appear before his panel for routine oversight hearings.
The FBI declined to comment for this article.
Data and talking points are unlikely to tamp down tensions; House Republicans say there’s little the FBI or DOJ could say to regain the conference’s favor. Rather, an appearance before Jordan’s panel, which is stocked with surveillance skeptics, is likely to showcase why the bureau shouldn’t be making the direct pitch about extending the program.
“When Jim Jordan is out there talking about cutting the funding for the FBI, you know, and there’s … intense skepticism about the FBI, I’m not sure that the right first step for my Republican colleagues is to spend a lot of time with the leadership of the FBI,” Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in an interview.
And the House GOP has another relevant appearance coming up on their docket: DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz will testify before a Judiciary subpanel on Thursday, an appearance first reported by POLITICO, as the committee launches its formal work on 702. He’s all but guaranteed to face questions about his previous findings of widespread errors within warrant applications made to the shadowy FISA surveillance court.
It’s left the Biden administration with a tricky question: If the FBI or DOJ can’t be called upon to make the case, who can?

“When Jim Jordan is out there talking about cutting the funding for the FBI, … I’m not sure that the right first step for my Republican colleagues is to spend a lot of time with the leadership of the FBI,” Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, says.
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Pete Marovich/Getty Images
Turner pointed to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director Bill Burns as two people who are having to “overcome” some of the frustrations with the FBI. Jordan, meanwhile, asked who in the administration he could work with on 702 reauthorization, only pointed to Turner.
Indeed, it seems unavoidable that the Intel chair and other lawmakers who are committed to renewing the program in some form will have to lead the sales pitch.
That rough sledding doesn’t even factor in negotiations with a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House. And supporters are likely to have to contend with a coalition of libertarian-minded Republicans and privacy-minded Democrats in both chambers who are likely to want to go further if not let the program sunset altogether.
“At this point, we’re pulling together all of our partners that are necessary to find a clear path for reauthorization that also satisfies the real need for reform and … people’s perception that reform and reauthorization cannot be separated,” Turner said.
But he acknowledged that renewing Section 702 in some form is “certainly going to be difficult to accomplish” by year’s end.
One option lawmakers have mulled is passing a short-term extension of the program, giving Congress more time to craft a deal on a longer reauthorization with changes. But questions remain about the viability of such a move and what supporters might trade in exchange for more time.
Himes, who is working closely with Turner, also floated Washington’s favorite back-up plan — a discharge petition, which would allow Republicans to work with Democrats to force a vote — in case GOP detractors make it otherwise impossible to bring to the floor.
“Because this authority is so important, I do think we need, you know, a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C,” Himes said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 24, 2023
Washington’s Angriest Progressive Is Winning Over Conservatives – and Baffling Old Allies

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“BOOM!!!!,” tweeted Stoller. That made Buttigieg, in American Economic Liberties Project parlance, a Democrat with “the courage to learn.”
Needling Democrats, though, is perhaps less of a challenge for Stoller with the left than his biggest project at the moment: helping the anti-monopoly cause get traction on the right, too.
That some elements on the right are going through a rethinking of the party’s relationship vis-à-vis corporate America — part of what figures like GOP Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and J.D. Vance (Ohio) have taken to calling “The Realignment” — has created an opportunity for Stoller. One thread of that thinking: That conservatism has to figure out how to embrace a kind of post-Trump populism that uses political power to build a capitalism that, as Rubio puts it, “promotes the common good, as opposed to one that prioritizes Wall Street and Beijing.”
Stoller is particularly interested in the Ohio senator. “You saw J.D. Vance with that rail safety bill?” he says. The Hillbilly Elegy author has argued that as a “bicoastal elite” has looked the other way, a withering of antitrust enforcement has contributed to the sort of tragedies like February’s train derailment in the community of East Palestine and has co-sponsored a bill with home-state Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown to impose new rules on railroad operations.
Stoller, who tends to see the world in terms of markets, is something of a natural emissary to the right side of the aisle. “He speaks Republican fluently,” says one senior Biden administration official admiringly. The official asked to be anonymous because they did not want to be seen discussing internal administration thinking.
For his part, Stoller has been actively building bridges with an up-and-coming generation of Republicans. He writes for the American Compass, an organization launched in 2020 by Oren Cass, a former Mitt Romney campaign official who says of Stoller, “We both look at the Chicago School” — a branch of antitrust thinking which, broadly speaking, argues that companies should be left to grow as big as they like as long as they keep prices low — “and say, ‘That is just a totally insane way to try to understand capitalism.’”

Sen. J.D. Vance (bottom) co-sponsored a rail safety bill in the wake of a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February (top). Stoller sees this as a potential example of a shift in the GOP’s relationship with corporate America, what some are calling “The Realignment.”
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Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo; Francis Chung/POLITICO
And on a weekday evening in mid-March, Stoller co-hosted with a counterpart from the Federalist Society a happy hour at the Capitol Hill pub Kelly’s Irish Times — picked for its populist bona fides — pitching it in the invitation to contacts on the left as a chance to meet other people “who are interested in populist approaches to competition policy.” Wrote Stoller, “Come, you’ll have fun and have a very different kind of conversation.” Some 30 to 40 people did turn out, drinking beers, eating chicken tenders, and if all goes well for Stoller, laying the groundwork for the next generation of anti-concentration believers on both the right and left.
“Republicans believe different things than we do. That’s just the reality,” Stoller says. “And you can try to do politics and work on where you overlap, or you can choose to say, ‘I’m going to not try to get cancer patients the drugs they need for a reasonable price.’”

But building an anti-monopoly movement on the right will likely be a decades-long project, if it’s possible at all. The massive difficulty of the task helps explain why Stoller has worked hard to hang on to an alliance of sorts with one powerful Republican already among, as a policy lead with a mid-sized technology company put it to me enthusiastically, Washington’s “antitrust-pilled.”
“[Stoller] speaks fluent Republican.”
Senior Biden administration official
Stoller first took notice of Hawley in 2017, when the then-37-year-old Missouri attorney general became the first AG in the United States to bring an antitrust case against Google.
Stoller then picked up a copy of Preacher of Righteousness, a biography of the trust-busting Republican Teddy Roosevelt that Hawley had begun writing as an undergrad history student at Stanford. “I thought, this book shows he really understands the formation of corporate America,” Stoller says now.
When Hawley ran for Senate and won the following year, he didn’t shy away from his belief in the necessity of breaking up the country’s biggest companies, situating his support for the cause, at times, in the idea that “religious conservatives” like himself have struck a bum deal in hitching themselves to a free-market philosophy. Stoller and Hawley’s shop began talking.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 21, 2023
Under pressure: Austin seeks to soothe Ukraine, European allies after intel leak

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Austin’s other challenge will be assuring allies that the Defense Department is doing more to safeguard classified materials, particularly those related to foreign partners. He must also relay to his counterparts that those measures will not hamper their own access to the Pentagon’s plans for Ukraine, or other international cooperation.
Law enforcement last week arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in connection with the Justice Department investigation into the online leaks. Teixeira, an IT specialist, allegedly took photos of the classified materials and shared them to a private chatroom on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers.
Speaking to reporters at Sweden’s Muskö Naval Base on Wednesday after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Austin declined to provide details about the investigation. Asked whether a 21-year-old should have access to the nation’s top secrets, Austin noted that “the vast majority of our military is young.”
“It’s not exceptional that young people are doing important things in our military. That’s really not the issue,” Austin said, noting that Teixeira is a “computer specialist” who worked in an intelligence unit and held a top secret clearance. Part of his responsibility was “maintaining the network” that the unit operates on, Austin said.
“The issue is how you responsibly execute or carry out your duties and how you protect the information,” Austin said. “All of us have a requirement to do that, and supervisors have a requirement to make sure that that’s being done.”
So far, DoD officials say they are not overly concerned that the leak will hurt relationships abroad, or Austin’s ability to rally Western partners to donate weapons to Ukraine.
While Austin’s role as leader of the year-old Ukraine Defense Contact Group is already a challenging one, there are no signs that job has gotten any harder in the last few weeks, said one senior DoD official, who was granted anonymity to speak about the discussions ahead of the trip.
“He remains determined. He remains very focused on what needs to get done,” the DoD official said. “We all in the secretary’s team continue to be highly motivated, very confident. We know how to do this. We’ve been doing this for a year.”

The Pentagon is also not seeing any wavering from allies after the leak, the official said.
“All the signs we are seeing from allies and partners is absolute firmness and determination to keep doing it. The fact that we are meeting again … is itself a sign of that commitment,” the official said.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said the leak was not on the agenda during his Wednesday meeting with Austin. He also said he is not concerned about the leak potentially affecting Stockholm’s access to intelligence.
“We have good intelligence cooperation between Sweden and the United States, as we have a strong defense and security cooperation, and we rest assured of U.S. commitment to taking this seriously,” Jonson said during the joint press conference. “We have [been] reassured on the bilateral basis, and feel completely sure of the U.S. commitment on handling the situation.”
Since news of the leak emerged, the Pentagon has clamped down on access to classified information by narrowing distribution lists and reviewing how the information is shared and with whom. DoD is also reexamining how it vets service members, including whether background checks for those seeking security clearances need to be strengthened, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Monday.
Teixeira’s unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing, has been ordered to halt its intelligence mission as the Air Force’s inspector general conducts an investigation, the service said Tuesday. All units will also have to conduct a “security-focused standdown” in the next 30 days.
Those steps could prompt worries from allies who fear they will be shut out of important conversations. Investigators have already examined whether Teixeira interacted with anyone from a foreign government or entity before allegedly posting classified material online, POLITICO reported.
Top Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with both the leak itself and the Pentagon’s downbeat assessment of Ukraine’s chances on the battlefield. U.S. intelligence assessed that Ukraine would see only modest gains from a planned spring counteroffensive, The Washington Post reported.
“The same people who said Kyiv would fall in three days are now leaking harmful and equally ridiculous information ahead of an offensive critically important for the entire free world,” a person in regular contact with senior officials in Kyiv told POLITICO.
Yet this is not the first time DoD has expressed reservations about Ukraine’s capabilities: Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley, who will also be leading the meeting at Ramstein alongside Austin, said last fall that he did not think Kyiv could expel Russian forces from all of Ukraine.
Austin is scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, on Friday ahead of the larger group meeting.
In an outward sign of the Pentagon’s continuing support for Ukraine, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced another $325 million in additional military aid for Ukraine, the 36th drawdown of equipment from U.S. stocks since the conflict began and the first since the leak came to light.
The package, which primarily includes munitions, missiles and anti-armor capabilities, is focused on boosting Ukraine’s weapons stocks ahead of a widely anticipated spring offensive.
Also on Wednesday, Kyiv received two Patriot missile defense systems, one from the U.S. and one as part of a combined effort from Germany and the Netherlands, which will be used to defend against Russian air and missile attacks.
European security officials, on the other hand, are less disturbed by the leaks and what they contain.
“I can’t detect any change in mood,” said one senior European diplomat, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal alliance dynamics.
The U.S., the diplomat said, “has informed allies about the leak and about their efforts to clarify what happened. Within the alliance and in the Ramstein format, work continues with the aim of keeping up the support to Ukraine.”
A second senior European diplomat also said they did not see a shift as a result of the leaks.
“In any case no classified NATO documents were leaked,” this person said, adding that it’s “not a big concern in the house.”
While some officials do say the leaks are an issue, they also argue that risks for intelligence-sharing already exist within the large Ramstein group format and the U.S. leak doesn’t change the bigger picture.
“The leaks have a negative impact, but they will not affect that much of the information sharing with the U.S., nor the plans to continue the support for Ukraine,” said a third senior European diplomat. Friday’s Ramstein meeting, the diplomat said, “will go along just fine.”
There is a strong focus now, officials say, on addressing industrial production challenges.
Resolve is “not diminished in any way,” said the first senior European diplomat. The alliance’s national armaments directors “will work even harder on ramping up defense industry capacity and on getting the right signals to industry,” the diplomat said.
There is, they added, “a very palpable sense of urgency.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 20, 2023
Ukraine’s bumper grain exports rile allies in eastern EU

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Ukraine’s farmers played an iconic role in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion, towing away abandoned enemy tanks with their tractors.
Now, though, their prodigious grain output is causing some of Ukraine’s staunchest allies to waver, as disrupted shipments are redirected onto neighboring markets.
The most striking is Poland, which has played a leading role so far in supporting Ukraine, acting as the main transit hub for Western weaponry and sending plenty of its own. But grain shipments in the other direction have irked Polish farmers who are being undercut — just months before a national election where the rural vote will be crucial.

Diplomats are floundering. After a planned Friday meeting between the Polish and Ukrainian agriculture ministers was postponed, the Polish government on Saturday announced a ban on imports of farm products from Ukraine. Hungary late Saturday said it would do the same.
Ukraine is among the world’s top exporters of wheat and other grains, which are ordinarily shipped to markets as distant as Egypt and Pakistan. Russia’s invasion last year disrupted the main Black Sea export route, and a United Nations-brokered deal to lift the blockade has been only partially effective. In consequence, Ukrainian produce has been diverted to bordering EU countries: Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
At first, those governments supported EU plans to shift the surplus grain. But instead of transiting seamlessly onto global markets, the supply glut has depressed prices in Europe. Farmers have risen up in protest, and Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk was forced out earlier this month.
Now, governments’ focus has shifted to restricting Ukrainian imports to protect their own markets. After hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Warsaw in early April, Polish President Andrzej Duda said resolving the import glut was “a matter of introducing additional restrictions.”
The following day, Poland suspended imports of Ukrainian grain, saying the idea had come from Kyiv. On Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, after an emergency cabinet meeting, said the import ban would cover grain and certain other farm products and would include products intended for other countries. A few hours later, the Hungarian government announced similar measures. Both countries said the bans would last until the end of June.
The European Commission is seeking further information on the import restrictions from Warsaw and Budapest “to be able to assess the measures,” according to a statement on Sunday. “Trade policy is of EU exclusive competence and, therefore, unilateral actions are not acceptable,” it said.
While the EU’s free-trade agreement with Ukraine prevents governments from introducing tariffs, they still have plenty of tools available to disrupt shipments.
Neighboring countries and nearby Bulgaria have stepped up sanitary checks on Ukrainian grain, arguing they are doing so to protect the health of their own citizens. They have also requested financial support from Brussels and have already received more than €50 million from the EU’s agricultural crisis reserve, with more money on the way.
Restrictions could do further harm to Ukraine’s battered economy, and by extension its war effort. The economy has shrunk by 29.1 percent since the invasion, according to statistics released this month, and agricultural exports are an important source of revenue.
Cracks in the alliance
The trade tensions sit at odds with these countries’ political position on Ukraine, which — with the exception of Hungary — has been strongly supportive. Poland has taken in millions of Ukrainian refugees, while weapons and ammunition flow in the opposite direction; Romania has helped transport millions of tons of Ukrainian corn and wheat.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Poland’s Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki | Omar Marques/Getty Images
Some Western European governments, which had to be goaded by Poland and others into sending heavy weaponry to Kyiv, are quick to point out the change in direction.
“Curious to see that some of these countries are [always] asking for more on sanctions, more on ammunition, etc. But when it affects them, they turn to Brussels begging for financial support,” said one diplomat from a Western country, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Some EU countries also oppose the import restrictions for economic reasons. For instance, Spain and the Netherlands are some of the biggest recipients of Ukrainian grain, which they use to supply their livestock industries.
Politically, though, the Central and Eastern European governments have limited room for maneuver. Poland and Slovakia are both heading into general elections later this year. Bulgaria has had a caretaker government since last year. Romania’s agriculture minister has faced calls to resign, including from a compatriot former EU agriculture commissioner.
And farmers are a strong constituency. Poland’s right-wing Law & Justice (PiS) party won the last general election in 2019 thanks in large part to rural voters. The Ukrainian grain issue has already cost a Polish agriculture minister his job; the government as a whole will have to tread carefully to avoid the same fate.
This article has been updated.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
U.S. in crisis mode with allies after Ukraine intel leak

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Meanwhile, officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kyiv questioned Washington about how the information ended up online, who was responsible for the leak and what the U.S. was doing to ensure the information was removed from social media. They also questioned whether the Biden administration was taking steps to limit the distribution of future intelligence. As of Monday morning, U.S. officials had told allies the administration was investigating and that they were still trying to understand the full scope of the leak, the European officials said.
Ukraine has long worried about information it shares with the U.S. spilling out into the open. “This case showed that the Ukrainians have been absolutely right about that,” said one of the European officials, who like others was granted anonymity to speak about the sensitive leak. “Americans now owe the Ukrainians. They have to apologize and compensate.”
The saga has left the U.S. relationship with its allies in a state of crisis, raising questions about how Washington will correct what officials worldwide view as one of the largest public breaches of U.S. intelligence since WikiLeaks dumped millions of sensitive documents online from 2006 to 2021.
The distress over the leak is particularly problematic because the majority of the documents focus on the war in Ukraine — an effort the U.S. has repeatedly said hinges on collaboration among allies in NATO, Europe and elsewhere.
“The manner of the leak and the contents are very unusual,” said a former U.S. intelligence analyst who focused on Russia. “I can’t remember a time when there was this volume of a leak and this broad of a subject matter of authentic information that was just put on social media rather than say, the Snowden files, that went through a group of journalists first.”
The Pentagon, CIA, ODNI, and FBI declined to comment.
More than 100 U.S. intelligence documents were posted on Discord, a secure messaging app, as early as March 2 and contained sensitive, classified information about the war in Ukraine, Russian military activity, China and the Middle East. The photographed papers, which appeared to have been folded over and then smoothed out, contained top secret information, including from the Central Intelligence Agency.
POLITICO’s review of the documents shows some that appear to have been assembled into a briefing packet by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as J2, with summaries of global matters pulled from various U.S. intelligence systems. Some of the documents contain markings in the corners that correspond with specific wires with information that appear to be compiled in summary form — a practice often used by individuals inside the government to prepare briefing packets, the former U.S. intelligence analyst said.

It’s still unclear the extent to which the documents have been altered — and by whom. The documents posted in March do not appear to show any glaring alterations, but when some of those were reposted on Discord in April, at least one paper appears to have been altered to show significantly inflated Ukrainian death tolls.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement Sunday that the administration has assembled an interagency team “focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on U.S. national security and on our allies and partners.” She confirmed that U.S. officials had engaged with “allies and partners” across the globe, adding that the department was still assessing the “validity” of the documents posted to social media.
It’s unclear who from the Biden administration is involved in that interagency effort. The senior U.S. official said only the highest levels of government were in discussions about how to manage the leak. Even those senior officials who work on Ukraine and Russia policy and on portfolios that pertain to countries mentioned in the documents did not know as of Sunday how the administration would respond.
“I have no idea what the plan is,” another senior U.S. official said. “I’d like to know myself how we’re going to handle.”
Meanwhile, in Kyiv where military leaders are busy preparing for a spring counteroffensive, senior officials blamed Russia for the leak and characterized it as a disinformation campaign.
“It is very important to remember that in recent decades, the most successful operations of the Russian special services have been carried out in Photoshop,” Andriy Yusov, the representative of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Main Directorate, said on Friday — adding that a preliminary analysis of the documents showed “distorted figures” on losses suffered by both Russia and Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian lawmaker said the leak was “not seen as a big issue here.”
But elsewhere in Ukraine in the senior national security ranks, officials were angered by the leak, according to one of the European officials. While the documents are dated and likely have no immediate impact on the country’s battlefield operations, the publishing of the information was viewed internally as an embarrassment and potential long-term security problem for Ukraine’s military commanders.
It’s unclear the extent to which the U.S. will alter its intelligence sharing on the Ukraine war in the days and weeks ahead.
The U.S. has made it a habit of sharing intelligence with Ukraine and European allies since 2022. In the months leading up to the war, the U.S. intelligence community shared information with allies to build a coalition of support for Kyiv and to prepare targeted sanctions on Russian government entities and businesses. Senior U.S. officials have heralded that strategy as a major success — one that allowed the U.S., its allies in Europe and in Kyiv to better prepare for the eventual Russian assault.
Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 10, 2023
Congress won’t raise Savarkar issue due to MVA allies’ differing views: Prithviraj

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Mumbai: Veteran Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has said that his party has agreed not to raise the issue of V D Savarkar since the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners hold different views on the late Hindutva ideologue.
He made the statement in an interview to PTI days after former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray gave a warning to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a public meeting last month, saying that the “insult” of Savarkar will not be tolerated. In his speech, Thackeray said he considered Savarkar as his “idol” and hence Gandhi should refrain from insulting him.
Gandhi has often accused Savarkar of “apologising” to the British to get out of jail, and has routinely shot back at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demands for an apology by claiming he was a Gandhi and not Savarkar to seek mercy.

Replying to a query on the issue, Chavan said the Congress has agreed not to raise the issue of Savarkar as there were divergent views on him among the MVA allies. The MVA comprises the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
“Let the people decide about the truth of the freedom struggle. There is nothing to be apologetic about. We agreed to disagree and agreed not to raise the issue since our partners hold different views on Savarkar,” the former chief minister said.
On being asked if the Savarkar issue had been put to rest by the Congress after it was given on platter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chavan said his party did not provide any issue on platter to the saffron party.
The BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which are currently in power in Maharashtra, on Sunday started taking out Savarkar Gaurav Yatras in each district of the state to honour Savarkar’s contribution to the country and to counter Rahul Gandhi’s criticism against him.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 6, 2023
An American Diplomat’s Web3 Warning: The U.S. Is Already Losing Smart Technology Allies It Needs

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Meanwhile, the Chinese fintech company AliPay is using its private blockchain to push aggressively into Pakistan and the Philippines, where U.S. rivals PayPal or Coinbase have no operations.
Late last summer, the People’s Bank of China partnered with the central banks of Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand to facilitate 160 cross-border payments totaling over $12 million in value on the “mBridge Ledger,” a blockchain system that uses China’s own central bank digital currency for cross border payment.
The dollar’s influence on the digital future is at stake. Just as the dollar has projected U.S. economic power in the analog world, digital assets pegged to the dollar, called stablecoins, project the dollar into the digital economy.
But if, say, an Indonesian natural resource exporter can only get paid on China’s own closed network and cannot be paid in U.S.-dollar-denominated digital assets such as dollar-backed stablecoins, the U.S. financial system will suffer.
Just as capitalist and communist trade blocs squared off in the 20th century, companies wishing to export their goods to select markets will soon have to navigate competing trade blockchains. They’ll have to choose between permissionless — or interoperable — systems built on open blockchains versus firewalled, permissioned closed systems like those preferred by China. Given that China is becoming the largest trading partner for most of the world, many nations will be tempted to opt into its system. If U.S. regulators continue to antagonize open blockchain systems, economic participants will continue to view them as legally risky, making China’s closed alternative that much more appealing by comparison.
So far, the U.S. has not risen to the challenge.
The September release of the White House’s framework for digital asset development was a step in the right direction, but it was not enough. While the framework calls for U.S. agencies to “message U.S. values related to digital assets” in international forums, it otherwise remains vague on foreign policy.
At best, the United States merely endorses a nebulous paper-based exercise called the “G20 Roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments.” In reality, this amounts to innovation theater. The word “Web3” does not appear anywhere in the latest joint statement from State Department-organized U.S.-Japan “Internet Economy Dialogue.” On the economic policy side, the U.S. posture on digital assets is skewed to benefit domestically oriented financial sector incumbents at the expense of promising innovations. Risk-averse lawyers hold too much sway in the policy debate at the expense of technologists and informed foreign policy hands. Viewed from abroad, the signals from American policymakers suggest that the United States has turned anti-innovation. While digital assets pose real risks, those risks are currently being overemphasized while potential benefits get overlooked. The result is erratic “regulation by enforcement” and onerous tax policies that drive away commerce.
Take “staking.” Staking is a process by which the owners of blockchain tokens temporarily give up control of the tokens as part of a process called “proof-of-stake” that some blockchains use to ensure network reliability. To compensate people who pledge their tokens for staking, these networks provide stakers with fees paid in tokens, something vaguely akin to interest paid on a bond. Because staking requires some technical skill, investors often make use of services that stake the tokens on their behalf.

One benefit of staking is that it serves as a substitute for the energy-intensive “mining” process employed by Bitcoin. But, because nothing quite like staking has existed before, its exact regulatory status remains unresolved.
In February, the Security and Exchange Commission charged the U.S crypto exchange Kraken, saying it had failed to treat its staking service as an investment contract. As a result, the country’s second-largest crypto exchange has stopped offering this service to customers. This means that American investors have lost an important avenue for participating in, and benefitting from the governance of global blockchain networks.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 4, 2023