Zelenskyy a Washington per vertice NATO - UE blocca adesione Georgia🗞️ Rassegna del 10/07/2024

Israele

(Associated Press) Israeli strike in Syria kills a former bodyguard of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader

• An Israeli strike in Syria Tuesday killed a former personal bodyguard of the Hezbollah leader, an official with the Lebanese militant group said.
• The news came hours after an Israeli drone strike on a car in Syria near the Syria-Lebanon border was reported by a war monitor and by pro-government radio Sham FM. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
• The Britain-based pro-opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two members of Hezbollah in the car were killed in the strike, while a Syrian driver was critically wounded. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or from the Israeli military.
• Hezbollah later identified the militant as Yasser Nemr Qranbish, though they did not disclose the details of his death as they normally do with combatants who aren’t in leadership roles.

(REUTERS) Gazans flee Israeli assault that Hamas warns could threaten ceasefire bid

• Gaza City residents fled under Israeli fire as tanks thrust deeper into the heart of the city on Tuesday, the second day of a stepped-up military offensive that Palestinian militant group Hamas said could jeopardise ceasefire talks. The armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad said its fighters battled Israeli forces in fierce clashes with machine guns, mortar fire and anti-tank missiles on Gaza City's front lines and had killed and wounded Israeli soldiers.
• Israel's military did not comment on casualties but said its soldiers were engaged in close-quarter combat with militants and had taken more than 150 fighters out of action in the last week and destroyed booby-trapped buildings and explosives.
• The fighting has unfolded as senior U.S. officials were in the region to push for a ceasefire after Hamas made concessions last week. But the renewed campaign threatened talks at a crucial time and could bring negotiations "back to square one", Hamas quoted leader Ismail Haniyeh as saying on Monday.
• Israeli tanks pushed deeper into several districts including Shejaia, Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa, where residents have reported some of the most fierce fighting since the start of the war.
• Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the deal must not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until it meets its war objectives, including wiping out Hamas as a threat. A Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts said Israel must make the next move.

Ucraina

(REUTERS) UN assessment suggests Ukraine children's hospital hit by Russian missile

• A lethal strike on a children's hospital in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, was likely caused by a direct hit from a Russian missile, the head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission said on Tuesday, citing its own analysis.
• The strike in broad daylight was part of a series of attacks that killed at least 41 people across Ukraine, including children. The Kremlin said it was Ukrainian anti-missile fire, not Russia, that struck the hospital.
• "Analysis of the video footage and an assessment made at the incident site indicates a high likelihood that the children's hospital suffered a direct hit rather than receiving damage due to an intercepted weapon system," Danielle Bell, head of mission for the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told a press briefing in Geneva via video link from Kyiv.
• She added that her team, who visited the site on Monday, could not make a final determination but that the missile appeared to have been launched by the Russian Federation.

Russia

(New York Times) Russian Court Orders Arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s Widow

• A Russian court on Tuesday ordered the arrest in absentia of Yulia B. Navalnaya, the widow of Aleksei A. Navalny, who was a key figure in the country’s political opposition, accusing her of “participating in an extremist community.”
• The court order against Ms. Navalnaya, who left Russia in 2021, comes five months after her husband died under murky circumstances in a harsh Russian penal colony. He was imprisoned after being convicted of various trumped-up charges when he returned to Russia after a near-fatal attempt to poison him in August 2020.
• Ms. Navalnaya has repeatedly accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of murdering her husband and has vowed to continue his opposition work. She has become an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine, using episodes like a Russian missile hitting a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday to blame Mr. Putin and the Kremlin for the bloodshed.
• The statement from the Basmanny District Court’s press office announcing the arrest order did not spell out the reason for the charges, but it appeared to be linked to her role in helping to run the Navalny opposition organization. Although she avoided any overt political role while her husband was alive, Ms. Navalnaya has long led the advisory board of his Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Russia - India: 

(Associated Press) Putin hosts India’s prime minister to deepen ties, but Ukraine looms over their relationship

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, seeking to deepen the relationship between the two nuclear powers at a time when NATO leaders gathered in Washington and Russia launched deadly missile attacks in Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital.
• “Our relationship is one of a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” Putin told Modi, who made his first trip to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces in 2022.
• Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. Their partnership has become more complicated, however, as Russia has moved closer to China amid international isolation of Moscow over Ukraine. Modi did not attend last week’s summit in Kazakhstan of a security organization founded by Moscow and Beijing.
• After their leaders met, India said its nationals who were “misled” into joining the Russian army will be discharged. New Delhi had raised this issue in March, when its federal investigation agency said it had broken up a network that lured people to Russia under the pretext of giving them jobs, with at least 35 Indians being sent. It said the men were trained in combat roles and deployed to Ukraine against their wishes, with some of them “grievously injured.”
• Modi on Tuesday alluded to the bloodshed while speaking about his meeting with Putin, which included over four hours of talks. “Be it war, a struggle or a terrorist attack, every person who believes in humanity, when there is loss of life, he is pained,” the Indian prime minister said. “When innocent children are killed, when we see innocent children dying, then the heart pains. And that pain is very horrible.”
• Modi said the two leaders shared “our opinions on Ukraine with an open heart and in detail. We respectfully listened to each other.” Modi added that “a solution is not possible on the battlefield. Between bombs, guns and bullets, a solution and peace talks cannot be successful. And we have to adopt the path of peace only through talks.”

Europa

Austria:

(REUTERS) Austria appoints commission to try to ditch Russian gas contract

• Austria's energy minister has appointed a commission of experts to examine whether Austria can scrap a gas-supply contract between OMV and Gazprom to reduce its dependence on Russia, she said on Tuesday.
• Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, which is the junior partner in a conservative-led coalition, said in February she wanted to end the contract that runs until 2040.
• Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservatives have said they agree Austria needs to move away from Russian gas. Ahead of a parliamentary election due on Sept. 29, however, the two sides of the coalition increasingly have been at odds. In May, the latest month for which data is available, 90% of net gas imports came from Russia.
• Gewessler said OMV had agreed to grant members of the commission access to the contract, the terms of which are a closely-guarded secret.
• The commission's initial findings are due to be presented "by autumn" before a final report by the end of this year, Gewessler's ministry said in a statement without specifying whether that could be before the September elections.

Georgia: 

(REUTERS) Russian spy service accuses US of plotting 'regime change' in Georgia

• Russia's foreign spy agency accused the United States on Tuesday of plotting "regime change" in Georgia after the South Caucasus country holds a parliamentary election on Oct. 26.
• Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) provided no evidence for its assertion, but an SVR statement containing the allegation was a sign of warming relations between Moscow and its traditionally pro-Western neighbour. "Washington is determined to achieve regime change in Georgia following the results of the upcoming parliamentary elections," the SVR said in the statement.
• Georgia's governing Georgian Dream party did not comment, but officials have repeatedly accused Western countries of backing Georgian opposition groups to try to drag the country into a confrontation with Russia.
• After gaining independence from Moscow in 1991, Georgia had been one of the most pro-Western of the Soviet Union's successor states until a sharp downturn in relations with Western countries this year.
• Georgia approved a law on "foreign agents" in June despite street protests and Western condemnation, and Tbilisi has drawn closer to Moscow, refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.
• Russian officials have repeatedly praised what they have called Georgia's "moderate" position on the conflict in Ukraine. Public opinion in Georgia remains strongly pro-Kyiv.

(Associated Press) EU halts Georgia’s accession to the bloc, freezes financial aid over much-criticized law

• Georgia’s accession to the European Union has been halted, and some of the bloc’s financial support to the South Caucasus country has been frozen after the Georgian authorities adopted a new law that critics feared would curb democratic freedoms, the EU Ambassador in Georgia said Tuesday.
• According to Pawel Herczynski, EU leaders made the decision to halt the process during the last summit of the European Council, and it came in the wake of the Georgian authorities adopting the law on “foreign influence” despite weeks of protests.
• In addition, a total of 30 million euros ($32.5 million) in financial support, earmarked for Georgia’s Defense Ministry in 2024, has been frozen, Herczynski said at a news conference.
• At a summit on June 27, EU leaders warned Georgia that its path toward membership would be blocked unless the “foreign influence” law was repealed. In a separate development, the United States earlier this month “indefinitely postponed” military drills in Georgia — a move the U.S. Department of Defense said came as part of a “comprehensive review” of the relations between Washington and Tbilisi.
• Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili, who has long been at odds with the country’s government, on Tuesday called the moves by the EU and the U.S. “very difficult messages from two of our closest friends” that “are worth listening to.”
• “Although this is a response to the stupid and hostile policies of the ruling party towards them, at the same time it is a warning to society: our partners tell us that ‘the choice is yours’ between Georgia with a secure European future and Georgia moving toward the Russian orbit,” Zourabichvili said.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA:

(POLITICO) Poll finds Biden damaged by debate; with Harris and Clinton best positioned to win

• A top Democratic pollster has a new survey showing President Joe Biden still in contention against Donald Trump, but at further risk of losing the election — with other leading Democrats now surging ahead.
• The national poll, conducted and commissioned by the firm Bendixen & Amandi after Biden’s politically disastrous debate and shared exclusively with POLITICO, found Biden trailing Trump, 42 percent to 43 percent.
• Of the 86 percent of likely voters who watched all or part of the debate, just 29 percent said Biden has the mental capacity and physical stamina to serve another four-year term, compared with 61 percent who said he does not. Only 33 percent said he should continue as the Democratic nominee, versus 52 percent who believe he should not. And just half of Democrats said Biden should be the party’s nominee or is mentally and physically fit to serve out another term.
• Vice President Kamala Harris is now running ahead of Trump, 42 percent to 41 percent, the survey found. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 nominee who is not being seriously discussed as a candidate by voters anxious about Biden’s chances, is slightly ahead of Harris. Clinton leads Trump 43 percent to 41 percent.

USA (Summit Nato):

(The Washington Post) NATO vows lasting support for Ukraine, but won’t promise membership

• NATO leaders will unveil new steps to train and arm Ukraine at an alliance summit this week but will stop short of concrete advances toward its membership in the Western bloc, underscoring questions about how Kyiv can prevail in its grinding war against Russia.
• Russia has managed to defy a barrage of Western sanctions imposed following President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion, instead surging troops and military production in its quest to cement control over vast swaths of Ukraine.
• National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the gathering would highlight how NATO, with its two new members, Finland and Sweden, had risen to the challenge of rebuffing the Kremlin’s assault on international norms.
• Against the backdrop of Ukraine’s struggle to sustain its military effort — along with European anxiety about the potential for upheaval under a second Trump presidency and a rise in far-right parties in some alliance members — NATO leaders are expected to announce a package of modest deliverables for Ukraine.
• They include shifting from U.S. to NATO control elements of the effort to arm and train Ukraine, and other measures officials are depicting as a “bridge” to Ukraine’s future accession to the alliance. More direct action to admit Ukraine, such as setting a timeline for entry, remains a contentious subject among NATO members, some of whom fear absorbing a country mired in conflict with a nuclear superpower.
• Officials were still racing to finalize the summit’s communiqué on Monday, the eve of the summit. The latest proposal would offer Ukraine an “irreversible” path toward NATO membership, but it would also include extensive language about the need for Kyiv to make anti-corruption and good governance reforms before it can join, nine officials familiar with the conversations said, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.

(Associated Press) Ukraine opens DC weapons office and Europe bolsters defense spending as November US election looms

• NATO has signed a nearly $700 million contract to have member countries produce more Stinger missiles, one of many steps the alliance is pressing at its summit in Washington to get each country to boost its own weapons production capabilities.
• Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the contract Tuesday at a Chamber of Commerce industry day focused on increasing NATO member countries’ defense manufacturing capabilities to deter future attacks.
• Ukraine, a partner that relies on military aid from the NATO members, is opening a small office in Washington to strengthen its ties to the U.S. defense industry. Regardless of whether President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump wins the U.S. election, the alliance and Ukraine want to be in a better position to provide more of their own defense needs.
• The Stinger is a portable surface-to-air defense system that can be carried and fired by troops or mounted to a vehicle and used as short-range defense against aircraft. The Raytheon-produced system was one of the first weapons the U.S. shipped to Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion.
• The NATO summit is occurring against a backdrop of uncertainty: U.S. political divisions delayed weapons for Ukraine for months and the upcoming presidential election is raising concern that U.S. backing — with weapons and troops — in case of threats against member countries may not always be guaranteed.

(Associated Press) To counter China, NATO and its Asian partners are moving closer under US leadership

• In the third year of the war in Ukraine, NATO is set to deepen relations with its four Indo-Pacific partners, which, although not part of the military alliance, are gaining prominence as Russia and China forge closer ties to counter the United States and the two Koreas support opposing sides of the conflict in Europe.
• The leaders of New Zealand, Japan and South Korea for the third year in a row will attend the NATO summit, which starts Tuesday in Washington, D.C., while Australia will send its deputy prime minister. China will be following the summit closely, worried by the alliance’s growing interest beyond Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
• “Increasingly, partners in Europe see challenges halfway around the world in Asia as being relevant to them, just as partners in Asia see challenges halfway around the world in Europe as being relevant to them,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week at the Brookings Institution.
• Countries with shared security concerns are strengthening ties as competition escalates between the United States and China. Washington is trying to curb Beijing’s ambition to challenge the U.S.-led world order, which the Chinese government dismisses as a Cold War mentality aimed at containing China’s inevitable rise.
• On Monday, Beijing responded angrily to unconfirmed reports that NATO and its four Indo-Pacific partners are expected to release a document laying out their relationship and ability to respond jointly to threats from cyberattacks and disinformation.
• Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, accused NATO of “breaching its boundary, expanding its mandate, reaching beyond its defense zone and stoking confrontation.”

Asia e Pacifico

Cina: 

(REUTERS) Nornickel in talks with China Copper to move smelting plant to China, sources say

• Nornickel (GMKN.MM), opens new tab is in talks with China Copper to form a joint venture that would allow the Russian mining giant to move its entire copper smelting base to China, four sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
• If the move goes ahead, it would mark Russia's first uprooting of a domestic plant since the U.S. and Britain banned metal exchanges from accepting new aluminium, copper and nickel produced by Russia. It also means Nornickel's copper will be produced within the country where it is most consumed.
• Nornickel said in April it planned to close its Arctic facility and build a new plant in China with an unnamed partner. Executives at China Copper, owned by the world's largest aluminium producer Chinalco (601600.SS), opens new tab, flew to Moscow in June to discuss a possible joint venture, one of the sources said, adding that details of the structure and investment are still under discussion.
• The new facility will have capacity to produce 450,000 tonnes of copper annually, two of the sources said, amounting to around 2% of global mined supplies estimated at around 22 million metric tons this year.
• Its relocation plan came shortly after the London Metal Exchange, the world's largest and oldest metals forum, announced new restrictions on its product sales in April. Nornickel (GMKN.MM), opens new tab and its metal are not under U.S. or European sanctions, but many western consumers will no longer buy metal of Russian origin since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.