Biden Says Russia Should be Ejected from G20

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Written by northsouth

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Published: 25 March 2022

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BRUSSELS — President Biden said that Russia should be removed from the G20 group of industrialised and developing nations because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, but said that if the member nations do not agree to the measure, then Ukraine should be allowed to participate in the group’s meetings in the future.

“I raised the possibility” of ejecting Russia from the organisation, Mr. Biden said Thursday during a news conference in Brussels as he met with other world leaders.

Such a move would echo the 2014 decision of a smaller group of the world’s largest economies to eject Russia from the G8 to punish it for its invasion and occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

Mr. Biden’s comments came after a day of rare and intense global diplomacy in which the president and the leaders of 30 other nations participated in three back-to-back summits aimed at expressing solidarity in confronting Russia. He met with NATO and the G7 leaders and European Union heads.

The NATO and G7 leaders announced new economic sanctions on Russia, additional aid for European countries dealing with the surge of refugees fleeing the violence in Ukraine, the deployment of more forces to NATO countries in Eastern Europe and grim preparations for the possibility that Russia might use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Mr. Biden and the U.S. allies have moved with unexpected speed and authority over the past four weeks, rallying much of the world against President Vladimir Putin of Russia. But the historic gathering of leaders on Thursday underscored how the United States and its allies have in some ways reached their self-imposed limits.

The sense of stalemate on the battlefield is now also felt in the halls of diplomacy, where taking any dramatic new steps has proved to be difficult. Europeans have said they were not willing to bear the consequences of new sanctions on the Russian energy they depend on. And Mr. Biden has said he was not willing to commit troops to fight against Russia, fearful of provoking a bigger war.

Mr. Biden balked when he was asked whether the actions announced on Thursday would cause Mr. Putin to halt the war when the threat of sanctions did not deter him from invading in the first place.

“I did not say that in fact the sanctions would deter him,” Mr. Biden said. “Sanctions never deter.”

But on Feb. 11, Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, said that “the president believes that sanctions are intended to deter.” Six days later, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said he was at the United Nations “not to start a war, but to prevent one.”

On Thursday, Mr. Biden said that maintaining unity in imposing sanctions for months will eventually convince Mr. Putin to abandon his aggression.

Mr. Biden also said that NATO “would respond” if Russia used chemical weapons in its assault on Ukraine. But he did not say whether the United States has intelligence suggesting that Mr. Putin was planning to use such weapons. And he declined to be specific about the kind of response NATO would employ.

France votes to ban Muslim women from playing sports with headscarves

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Published: 23 January 2022

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PARIS - France moves closer to barring Muslim women from playing sports in a major setback for human rights in the country, writes TRTWorld.

The French Senate has voted to ban conspicuous religious symbols in sports, a move primarily aimed at the country's Muslim women - some of whom may play sports with a headscarf. According to right-wing politicians who voted for the decision, the move targeting the country's Muslim women was taken in the interest of so-called religious neutrality.

"This measure aims to suppress all forms of Muslim subjectivity regarding faith and worship, culture and political expression," says Maria De Cartena, a human rights defender in France. In a rare move, the controversial decision was opposed by Emmanuel Macron's government, which has presided over some of the restrictive clampdowns on Muslims in recent years.

Approved by 160 votes to 143 in the upper house of parliament on Tuesday, the decision is a demonstration that Islamophobia is institutionalised," added De Cartena, speaking to TRT World.

The French government voted against the amendment. France already triggered outrage since an amendment last year to the controversial "separatism bill" that banned girls under the age of 18 from wearing hijab in public spaces.

The bill titled "Strengthening the respect of the principles of the Republic” drew criticism on social media and saw the beginning of the “hands off my hijab” campaign.

The French football federation already bans women from wearing the hijab in official matches, and headscarves are prohibited in schools and government buildings.

Kazakh president: Forces can shoot to kill to quell unrest

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Published: 07 January 2022

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By DASHA LITVINOVA

MOSCOW — Kazakhstan’s president authorized security forces on Friday to shoot to kill those participating in unrest who he called “terrorists,” opening the door for a dramatic escalation in a crackdown on anti-government protests that have turned violent.

The Central Asian nation this week experienced its worst street protests since gaining independence from the Soviet Union three decades ago, and dozens have been killed in the unrest. The demonstrations began over a near-doubling of prices for a type of vehicle fuel but quickly spread across the country, reflecting wider discontent with authoritarian rule.

In a televised address to the nation, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev used harsh rhetoric, referring to those involved in the turmoil as “terrorists,” “bandits” and “militants” — though it is unclear how peaceful protests gathered steam and then descended into violence.

“I have given the order to law enforcement and the army to shoot to kill without warning,” Tokayev said. “Those who don’t surrender will be eliminated.”

He also blasted calls for talks with the protesters made by some countries as “nonsense.” “What negotiations can be held with criminals, murderers?” Tokayev asked.

Amid the growing crackdown, internet service has been severely disrupted and sometimes blocked, and several airports closed, including one in Almaty, the country’s largest city — making it difficult to get information about what’s happening inside the country. Cellphone service have been severely disrupted as well.

Tokayev has also called on a Russia-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, for help, and troops began arriving Thursday.

Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry reported Friday that security forces have killed 26 protesters during the unrest, which escalated sharply on Wednesday. Another 18 were wounded and more than 3,000 people have been detained. A total of 18 law enforcement officers were reported killed, and over 700 injured.

The numbers could not be independently verified, and it was not clear if more people may have died in the melee as the protests turned extremely violent, with people storming government buildings and setting them ablaze.

More skirmishes in Almaty were reported on Friday morning. Russia’s state news agency Tass reported that the building occupied by the Kazakh branch of the Mir broadcaster, funded by several former Soviet states, was on fire.

But the Almaty airport — stormed and seized earlier by the protesters — was back under the control of Kazakh law enforcement and CSTO forces, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Friday. The airport will remain shut until Friday evening, local TV station Khabar 24 reported, citing the airport’s spokespeople.

Tokayev indicated on Friday morning that some measure of calm had been restored, saying “local authorities are in control of the situation.” Still, he added said that “counterterrorist actions” should continue.

Tokayev has vacillated between trying to mollify the protesters — including issuing a 180-day price cap on vehicle fuel and a moratorium on utility rate increases — and promising harsh measures to quell the unrest.

Worries that a broader crackdown could be on the horizon grew after Tokayev called on the CSTO for help. The operation is its first military action, an indication that Kazakhstan’s neighbors, particularly Russia, are concerned that the unrest could spread.

Kazakh officials have insisted that troops from the CSTO alliance, which includes several former Soviet republics, will not be fighting the demonstrators, and instead will take on guarding government institutions. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the foreign troops deployed thus far were at all involved in suppressing the unrest.

In his address to the nation, Tokayev repeated his allegations that “foreign actors” along with “independent media” helped incite the turmoil.

He offered no evidence for those claims, but such rhetoric has often been used by former Soviet nations, most prominently Russia and Belarus, which sought to suppress mass anti-government demonstrations in recent years.

Kazakh media cited foreign ministry officials as saying that a total of 2,500 troops from CSTO nations have arrived to Kazakhstan, and all of them were deployed to Almaty.

In other parts of the country life started to return to normal. In the capital, Nur-Sultan, access to the internet has been partially restored, and train traffic has been resumed across Kazakhstan.

Tokayev said in his address to the nation that he decided to restore internet access in certain regions of the country “for certain time intervals,” without going into details where exactly the internet will be restored, where, or for how long.