Fracking: disorders in pilot meeting in Puerto Wilches - Santander - Colombia

From the morning of this Monday, February 7, the informative meeting convened by the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) on the Kale pilot of Unconventional Deposits takes place at the Citizen Integration Center, located in the urban area of ​​Puerto Wilches, Santander .

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From Ecopetrol they reported that there are disorders in the place which has prevented the development of the activity.

“The protesters broke into the place and prevented the entry of citizens, attacked the logistics personnel with a stone, affected the transmission equipment and forced their way into the transmission master and the space enabled for sign translation,” they indicated from the oil company

This space was designed to inform about the ‘fracking’ project that is expected to be developed in Puerto Wilches and for which there have been several protests against it.

“Due to alleged sabotage caused by a group of external people who attacked the physical infrastructure of the event, the transmission of the informative meeting for the Kalé Comprehensive Research Pilot Project was dropped. We are trying to solve problems to resume,” says the ANLA on its Twitter account. .

Due to alleged sabotage caused by a group of external people who attacked the physical infrastructure of the event, the transmission of the information meeting for the Kalé Comprehensive Research Pilot Project was dropped. We are trying to solve problems to resume. pic.twitter.com/qVkuSpf7Ix

— ANLA (@ANLA_Col) February 7, 2022

The objective of this space is to have “a two-way mechanism in which communities and authorities formulate their questions regarding the project and the environmental licensing process that is being evaluated by the ANLA,” they say from Ecopetrol.

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And they add that “it is also intended to provide communities with more information on the scope and methodology for participation in the Environmental Public Hearing to be held on February 22.”

For its part, from the community they assure that Ecopetrol’s accusations are false and liars according to which “the demonstrators broke into the place and prevented the citizenry from entering, and attacked the logistics personnel with a stone, affected the transmission equipment and entered the Ecopetrol master’s program by force”.

The community pointed out that “these accusations trigger violent actions, stigmatize and criminalize peaceful protest and the members of the Alliance and the Puerto Wilches organizations.”

BUCARAMANGA

Macron, Putin Meeting on Ukraine Crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron was meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, trying to curb the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the Kremlin said in advance it does not expect any immediate resolution of its stalemate with the West.

At the start of their meeting, Macron told Putin, “This discussion can make a start in the direction in which we need to go, which is towards a de-escalation” to “avoid a war” and “build elements of confidence, stability and visibility for everyone.”

The Kremlin had said ahead of the talks that it did not expect any immediate resolution of its stalemate with the West.

“The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“In recent days there has been nothing new on the topic of security guarantees for Russia,” Peskov said. “Our Western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic.”

Moscow has deployed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia and in its ally, Belarus, with the West fearing that Putin could at any time order an invasion of Moscow’s one-time Soviet republic.

France, the United States and their NATO allies have rejected Moscow’s demand that they rule out possible Ukraine membership in the Western military alliance formed after World War II.

Macron, before leaving Paris, told Le Journal du Dimanche, “We have to be very realistic. We will not obtain unilateral gestures, but it is essential to prevent a deterioration of the situation before building mechanisms and reciprocal gestures of trust.” After meeting with Putin, Macron heads to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House in their first face-to-face talks since Scholz assumed power in Berlin in December.

Their talks will also center on easing tensions in eastern Europe and preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden has ruled out dispatching the U.S. military to fight in Ukraine but now has deployed 3,000 U.S. troops to Romania and Poland on NATO’s eastern edge and sent $500 million in military assistance to the Kyiv government.

Frustrating some NATO allies, Germany declined to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its policy of not sending arms into conflict zones. The Biden-Scholz discussions are also likely to touch on Germany’s reliance on energy supplies from Russia.

The U.S. has declared that if Moscow invades Ukraine, it will not allow natural gas to start flowing through the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

The U.S., among others, has viewed the pipeline as part of the deterrence of a Russian attack on Ukraine, eliminating potential Russian revenue from the pipeline.

Scholz told German broadcaster ARD ahead of his trip to Washington, “We have considered all measures (about the pipeline) and there is nothing that is ruled out.”

The talks Monday in Moscow and Washington come as the U.S. warns a Russian invasion “could happen at any time,” according to U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

“We believe that the Russians have put in place the capabilities to mount a significant military operation into Ukraine, and we have been working hard to prepare a response,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show Sunday.

In a separate interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Sullivan said, “Any day Russia could take action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple weeks,” with U.S. intelligence officials assessing that Moscow has 70% of its strike force in place for an attack.

He said a Russian invasion would come “at an enormous human cost to Ukraine but at a strategic cost to Russia,” with the U.S. prepared to impose swift and severe economic sanctions against Russia to hobble its economy.

“Whatever actions Russia takes next, America is ready,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan, however, said the U.S. is willing to negotiate with Putin over his professed security concerns about the actions of the U.S. and its 29 NATO allies.

“That includes the placement of certain range systems of missiles,” Sullivan said. “It includes transparency around military exercises. It includes greater capacity to have a confidence building and to avoid incidents that could lead to escalation or miscalculation.”

“But what we’re not prepared to negotiate are the fundamental principles of security that include an open door to NATO for countries who can meet the requirements,” Sullivan said in rejecting Putin’s demand that NATO rule out the possibility of Ukrainian membership.

The Western allies say no outside nation has veto power over which countries join the Atlantic alliance.

In the NBC interview, Sullivan said Biden “has rallied our allies. He’s reinforced and reassured our partners on the eastern flank. He’s provided material support to the Ukrainians, and he’s offered the Russians a diplomatic path if that’s what they choose instead, but either way, we are ready, our allies are ready and we’re trying to help the Ukrainian people get ready as well.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.

Tedros asks for more collaboration on covid origin in meeting with Chinese premier | World

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, conveyed to the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, the “need” for a “stronger collaboration” to determine the origins of covid-19, and that it is “based on science and evidence”.

In a message published last night through his official Twitter profile, Tedros thanked Li for his support to “strengthen the WHO” and indicated that he had talked with him about reinforcing global vaccination campaigns, to ensure that 70% of the global population receives the serum against the coronavirus.

White House Dismissive of Putin–Xi Meeting

The White House dismissed a Friday meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin where the two leaders unveiled a strategic alliance aimed at countering the United States. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.  

Iran Hosts Crucial Meeting Involving Afghan Rivals

ISLAMABAD — 

Afghanistan’s Taliban confirmed Monday their senior delegates met in neighboring Iran with self-exiled key Afghan opposition leaders to urge them to end resistance to the Islamist group’s nascent rule and assure them of security if they return home.

Taliban Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi led his team in the meeting with Ahmad Massoud, who heads what is known as the National Resistance Front (NRF), and Ismail Khan, a former Afghan minister and provincial governor.

Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi, while sharing details of the first known direct interaction between the rival sides in Tehran, said that Muttaqi renewed Taliban assurances that it is striving to ensure a “secure future” for all Afghans to leave “no reason for any resistance.”

Muttaqi himself confirmed the meeting in video remarks Taliban officials later released at the conclusion of his two-day bilateral meetings with Iranian officials.

“Yes, we met with Commander Ismail Khan and Ahmad Massoud in Iran, as well as other Afghans there,” Muttaqi said.

“We assured all of them that they can come back to live freely and safely in Afghanistan. We (the Taliban) don’t intend to cause any security or other problems for anyone,” the chief Taliban diplomat asserted.

FILE – Ahmad Massoud (C), son of the late Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud and leader of the National Resistance Front, arrives to attend and address a gathering at the tomb of his late father, in Panjshir province, Afghanistan, July 5, 2021.

Neither Massoud nor Khan, both ethnic Tajiks, could immediately be reached for comment. The Taliban are largely ethnic Pashtuns, the majority group in Afghanistan.

The Taliban are under pressure from neighboring countries and the global community at large to promote national political reconciliation and form an inclusive government that respects human rights of all Afghans before the world considers granting legitimacy to the rule in Kabul.

The Islamist group seized power in Afghanistan from the Western-backed government in mid-August after the remaining U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew from the country after almost 20 years. The NRF opposed the power shift and violent clashes have since taken place between the two sides in and around the resistance’s stronghold of Panjshir, north of Kabul.

Analyst Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official, welcomed the Iran-hosted talks. “We need Afghanistan’s internal tensions to be solved through talks,” he said.

“The second and most important part will be for (the) Taliban to open the door for political participation to non-Taliban (groups) at decision-making levels. That will ensure long-term stability in Afghanistan,” Farhadi added.

Some analysts remain skeptical about Taliban security assurances, citing an increasing crackdown on the rights of Afghan women and government critics as well as reports of revenge killings of former officials despite a blanket amnesty the group announced after taking control of the country.

“I don’t think they (opponents) will trust any Taliban guarantees. The Taliban have a long history of saying one thing and doing another,” Jonathan Schroden, who directs the Countering Threats and Challenges Program at the U.S.-based non-profit CNA Corporation, told VOA.

FILE – Former Afghan Cabinet minister and regional governor Ismail Khan speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Herat province, western Afghanistan, Feb. 20, 2019.

“Their actions since taking control of the government—including targeting former members of the ANDSF (acronym for ex-Afghan government forces) in the face of their announced general amnesty and now detaining prominent critics of the regime—are further evidence against a conclusion that they should be trusted,” Schroden said.

U.S. officials confirmed in November that the NRF had registered with the Department of Justice to carry out political lobbying in the United States. A State Department spokesperson at the time, however, explained the decision was made by the registrant. The spokesperson said it did not require any further action or approval by the Justice Department or any other U.S. government entity.

The Taliban reject criticism of their policies and maintain that their government represents all Afghans. Taliban leaders have also repeatedly ruled out the possibility of including in the Cabinet any Afghan political figures who had served in U.S.-installed governments over the past 20 years.

No country has recognized the new Kabul government. The Islamist group’s return to power led the United States and other Western nations to immediately suspend most non-humanitarian funding for the aid-dependent country and freeze around $9.5 billion worth of Afghan foreign cash reserves.

The punitive measures and long-running international sanctions on Taliban leaders have brought the national economy to the brink of collapse, worsening the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan stemming from years of wars, natural disasters and poverty.

Foreign governments have since been scrambling to work out how to engage the Taliban to scale up humanitarian aid and help in preventing an economic meltdown in the country while avoiding formally recognizing the new government.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday the Taliban visit over the weekend did not constitute Iran’s official recognition of the new Kabul government.

Iranian media, however, quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as criticizing Washington over the frozen cash reserves and demanding they be released to help in improving economic and humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan.