DG8 to support journalists and media freedom in Ukraine
March 3, 2022
In an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, March 1st by DG8, a group of international public service media organizations, members strengthened their commitment to supporting Ukrainian public service media and journalists in the country to ensure a free flow of unbiased information.
The DG8 group agreed unanimously to quickly take effective steps to support Ukrainian public service media and other journalists to ensure that the Ukrainian population is provided with unbiased information as the war unfolds. Measures to reach target audiences in Russia will also be strengthened.
The CEOs and key management representatives stressed the importance of reliable information at all times, especially in a situation of war and armed conflict. All of the broadcasters have a Ukrainian language news service or cooperate closely with Ukrainian media organizations.
The DG8 comprises publicly funded international public service media organizations from democratic nations: ABC Australia, CBC/Radio-Canada, France Médias Monde, SRG SSR-Swissinfo, DW, NHK World Japan, BBC World Service and U.S. Agency for Global Media. With more than 1 billion weekly user contacts, the DG8 broadcasters have a significant journalistic impact worldwide. Audiences and users, particularly in repressive countries, rely on trustworthy, fact-based reporting to circumvent censorship, disinformation, hate speech, and propaganda.
In his first State of the Union address, U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday night condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and rallied bipartisan support for the country. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
A delegation of former U.S. defense officials is in Taiwan to meet with senior leaders and signal support for the self-governing island, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights threats to democracies around the world.
The group includes former U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen; former Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan Meghan O’Sullivan; former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy; and former National Security Council senior directors for Asia Mike Green and Evan Medeiros. The group collectively served under former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
“The selection of these five individuals sends an important signal about the bipartisan U.S. commitment to Taiwan and its democracy and demonstrates that the Biden administration’s and the United States’ commitment to Taiwan remains rock solid,” a senior Biden administration official in Washington told VOA on background.
The trip coincides with a separate visit by former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who will arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday to speak at the government-affiliated Prospect Foundation. He will also meet with Vice President Lai Ching-te and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
Michael Mazza, a non-resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, speculated that Mullen may have come with a message for Taiwan’s senior leadership and would return with a response for White House officials.
While Mullen is a former official, someone of his stature carries more diplomatic weight than a normal diplomatic message, Mazza said.
“The selection of Admiral Mullen to lead this delegation may serve multiple purposes. He is, first, well-poised to deliver important messages regarding defense and, second and related, to assess any defense-related issues or concerns that Taiwan’s leaders may raise,” Mazza told VOA by email.
“There is significant concern in Washington right now that the Overall Defense Concept has been abandoned, or at least downgraded, in Taiwan’s defense strategy. It is likewise unclear what, if anything, has replaced the ODC. I’d be surprised if Mullen did not raise these concerns and seek out details about the direction Taiwan’s defense strategy is taking,” he said.
Under President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan has focused on an “asymmetric defense” strategy to make it an unattractive target to China’s Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as a wayward province and has not ruled out an invasion.
This strategy has focused on making it clear to Beijing that the cost of invading Taiwan would be extremely high even though it has superior military power.
While this policy has been advocated by Tsai, there is ongoing concern in Washington that these policies are not being fully carried out by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, an institution that typically skews conservative in its policymaking.
Wen-ti Sung, a cross-strait relations expert at the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University, said that rather than abandoning its Overall Defense Concept, Taiwan is in the midst of discussing how to rebalance and “future-proof Taiwan’s capacity.”
Sung said analysts in Taiwan have questioned whether the island’s current defense strategy is too focused on deterring an amphibious landing by China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Weapons purchases and training have reflected that strategy, he said, but they may not be of much use after 2035 when the PLA completes its modernization campaign.
“They need to spread eggs in more baskets and shift away from single threat-based planning and move towards a more balanced capability-based approach to force building,” Sung said by phone.
“I think discussion and some [white] papers are discussing that kind of rebalancing,” he said. “I don’t think Taiwan is ditching the ODC, but there are new thoughts being given to ODC and more traditional deterrence.”
Last week, Taiwan’s foreign minister told the McCain Institute for International Leadership that the democracy needs continued U.S. support to defend itself from China, which experts say could have the ability to attack Taiwan as early as 2027.
In the meantime, China has scaled up pressure on Taiwan in other ways. In 2021, China sent more than 1,000 flights into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, a swathe of land and sea around the Taiwan Strait monitored by Taiwan’s military, to send the message that the democracy is “doomed,” according to Wu.
While Taiwan and the United States do not have formal diplomatic relations, the U.S. is the island’s most important ally and has committed to providing Taipei with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and other follow-up agreements. These have included major weapons sales, which escalated during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump and have continued under current President Joe Biden.
Last August, the Biden administration approved $750 million in weapons sales to Taiwan.
Former and sitting U.S. officials regularly visit Taiwan although the opposite is rare. Visitors last year included former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd and former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, while Alex Azar, then-secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also visited Taiwan in 2020.
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Members of the URC
Its members consider that it may be counterproductive to their current political goals.
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AC
February 22, 2022, 12:22 PM
JM
Jose Antonio Minota Hurtado February 22, 2022, 12:22 PM
In the last few hours, members of Primera Línea URC Cali announced that they will not be part of the march called by the Strike Committee for March 3. They assure that it can interfere with their political objectives.
Through a video published on social networks, members of the First Line released a statement in which they consider the call for a strike to be an “error”, which may be “counterproductive with the projections of our struggle, which we are currently developing in the political contest primarily electoral.
(Also read: Valle INN fund support to 2,109 entrepreneurs for reactivation)
In a second point, they assure that despite the conditions of the current government, they prefer to continue with the strategy of “not worsening the electoral environment with possible scenarios that serve as a pretext for the enemies of our cause to unleash violence and cruelty against the Colombian people.”
That is why they made the decision not to attend the strike call. “We call on citizens to contribute to a calm environment that serves as a context for the next elections,” spokespersons for the Unión de Resistencia Cali conclude.
CALI
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February 22, 2022, 12:22 PM
JM
Jose Antonio Minota Hurtado February 22, 2022, 12:22 PM
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9,365 kilometers away, when the pandemic locked down the world, two women from Choco came together for a social initiative that continues to grow. An alliance so that the families of your department with autistic patients find active communication formulas and can share knowledge in the same specialized care space. Haidy Sánchez Mattsson is a psychologist and lives in Umea, called the city of birches, twelve hours by bus from Stockholm (Sweden). Amparo Palacios Mosquera is a social worker who lives in the El Jardín de Quibdó neighborhood.
(Enter the special: United Colombia, where differences can live)
Haidy Sánchez works at the specialized center Habiliteringscentrum on issues of autism, cognitive disorder or rehabilitation in multiple disabilities. She spent eleven more years at the Elevhansan Institute, in contact with the daily challenges of patient care. She has been in Sweden for two decades where she started a family with a natal doctor, but her parents, her siblings and part of her heart are still in Quibdó, where she was born and raised. On a trip back to the family with a study plan on board, he met Amparo Palacios and an agreement of wills arose for a higher reason.
In 2015, Amparo Palacios, after a long trip between the capital of Chocó and Medellín in search of answers, Yeison, her second son, was finally diagnosed with autism. Without health security or social protection to face her dilemma in the city or in the department, the guide came from Haidy Sánchez. The psychologist was seeking to add a chapter from Chocó to a Sweden-Colombia binational evaluation on the stress that autism generates among families. So they met, exchanged contacts, began to greet each other on WhatsApp. And so, from chat to chat, the union took place.
Currently, Amparo Palacios officiates as the legal representative of the non-profit foundation Fundautismo Chocó, established in the midst of the pandemic to confront the spectrum of autism. And from the other side of the world, closer to the North Pole, Haidy Sánchez works as a relationship worker and coordinator of activities in Colombia. December 19, 2021 was the last day. They have five virtual and two face-to-face in fourteen months. There are already thirty families from Quibdó and Istmina united by a network interested in guidance so that they know what to do. Amparo Palacios knows what that meant to Yeison.
At least 30 families from Quibdó and Istmina have joined the support network.
While Haidy Sánchez tells the story to journalists, manages talks with experts and provides resources for workshops, Amparo Palacios moves with her circle of support in Quibdó. Both would like to reach the borders of San Juan and Atrato because they know that in any of the remote villages of Chocó there are autistic minors who require stimulation and caregivers who need training. Specialized neuropediatric care. But they are low-income families and live in a region where the EPS survive. Occupational or speech therapies are read in books.
A care desert that led Haidy Sánchez and Amparo Palacios to convince themselves that, with no help in sight, they had to look for her. And in each case, first the fire of blood ties vibrates. For Haidy Sánchez, her brother Alexander, economist, health manager, and her Santa Sofía de Asís Foundation, which covers more than missing. Amparo Palacios also mentions her brother Carlos Palacios, a sports instructor, who risks it so that those attending the workshops return. Therapist Tatiana Carrillo provides an assessment from Cartagena. Speech therapist from Barranquilla, Nitza Guzmán adds a talk.
Haidy Sánchez sends weekly letters to public and private institutions, both national and international, asking them to look at Chocó and the minimum it requires to shield its special population. Amparo Palacios keeps the network active and with her sister-in-law Mónica Minotta and her accountant Ruth Yadira Palacios, they support the daily life of Fundautismo Chocó, which abounds in volunteers. The bet is to get a seat. A meeting point to receive professionals and train families, until no one has to go necessarily to Medellín or Bogotá to seek a diagnosis or therapy.
More than the website or the digital network, the challenge now is for Fundautismo Chocó to execute its plans
It is not a quixotic nor does it constitute a clamor. The severe behavioral dilemmas of autistic people, their limitations in communication, the vague strategies of parents to deal with the issue, or the weariness involved in treating them in terms of emotional fatigue and depression, summarize what the challenge of these women means. Especially in Chocó, where everything is missing. But Haidy Sánchez and Amparo Palacios are not alone. From Barranquilla, the president of Fundautismo in that city, Mariolis Rojas, has been generous in advice. The same as the educational psychologist Nairobis González and the Paidos corporation, which remains attentive from Ibagué.
There are hands that add up, but the reality is harsh. With luck, families with autistic minors will have to wait for the EPS to send them to other cities. There is no characterization of the problem or an instructive minimum for households. In contrast, says Haidy Sánchez, “in Sweden all patients with mental retardation, down syndrome or cognitive disorders have comprehensive health treatment, guaranteed by the State, throughout life.” For this reason, together with their allies and Fundautismo Chocó, they cling to the conviction that we must continue knocking on doors until one opens.
Haidy Sánchez leads support network for autism in Chocó
On the family side, Haidy Sánchez and Amparo Palacios know that, within their limitations, the social inclusion secretaries do what they can, as does the Colombian Autism League. That’s why they weave their own network and care little if the State has the department at the bottom of the line. They they only expect permanent medical and psychological guidance and therapies for their children. The ideal is to provide quality of life in the face of neurobiological complexity. “More than the website or the digital network, the challenge now is for Fundautismo Chocó to be able to execute its plans,” highlights Haidy Sánchez.
“My son is 14 years old and I have him at home since I was looking for places in many facilities in Quibdó and they did not accept him anywhere.” “At school they no longer received the boy because he behaves aggressively. He is sleepy sometimes and the doctors haven’t told me why he eats things from the garbage.” They are messages that they receive daily and demonstrate the precariousness of Chocó in caring for its special population. A mother says that the teacher was changed for political reasons and that now her child no longer eats. Another says that no matter what condition you have, your child has rights.
Haidy Sánchez and Amparo Palacios try to answer the concerns, while expanding their database to other municipalities of Quibdó. They know that, in addition to the health, economic and educational shortcomings of the majority of Chocó families, in homes with autistic patients everything is more difficult. Scientific studies show that parents or primary caregivers of children or adolescents with autism have high levels of stress. Also for them they trust that Quibdó has a specialized center for common support to patients and protectors.
The ex-president Andres Pastrana Arango (1998-2002), in a visit he made to Santa Marta, in addition to promoting David Barguil’s candidacy for the presidential election, he spoke of the candidate, Gustavo Petro, of whom he said that he does not have and will not have sufficient electoral strength to reach to rule the country.
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Pastrana assured in a meeting with unions and businessmen that the current leader of the left in Colombia should not be a concern, because although he leads the polls, he does not have a significant representation of voters.
His favorability has never gone above 30 or 28 percent, so where is the remaining 70 or 72 percent?
“His favorability has never exceeded 30 or 28 percent, so where is the remaining 70 or 72 percent? That is where the greatest vote intention is concentrated, which will be the one that will put the next president,” said the representative. of conservatism.
Andrés Pastrana expressed that he is convinced that Petro already reached its ceiling which is precisely what the left in Colombia has historically shown.
“We are not in a new country. Here the thoughts have not changed with respect to the left and that will be reflected in the polls, “said the former president.
He added that although understand the threat what the businessmen see in this candidacy, does not agree with the pessimism and fear that has been generated in the environment by a non-existent triumph of Gustavo Petro.
Pastrana also warned that the left, despite the fact that it is the one that always uses denouncing alleged fraud as a strategy, would be the ones seeking to seize power through “non-transparent actions.”
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About drinking water in Santa Marta
That he say what agreement he has or intends to reach with them, because it is an initiative that really worries
“They put their candidates to win in the polls in recent months, and then say that they stole the elections,” he argued.
He also indicated that Gustavo Petro should explain to the country what his proposal to create a policy of submission to drug traffickers.
“Let him say what agreement he has or intends to reach with them, because it is an initiative that really worries about the damage that it would leave a country so affected by drug trafficking,” he said.
On the other hand, the conservative leader regretted that Santa Marta continues to suffer from a shortage of drinking water.
In this regard, he pointed out that “there has been a lack of interest on the part of the rulers, since since 2002, when I was President, I left the route structured for this city to solve this historic problem.”
Finally, Pastrana was positive about the strengthening of David Barguil’s candidacy in the Caribbean and referred to him as a great ally of the region to work on current issues that will contribute to generating development and quality of life.
Roger Urieles For THE WEATHER Santa Marta @rogeruv
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Facing increasing pressure from China, Lithuania has been gaining support this week in a standoff that began over trade and was elevated when the small Baltic nation became the first European Union member to allow Taiwan to use its name on a de facto embassy.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis met on Wednesday and agreed to step up cooperation on challenges rising from China’s pressure on both countries. Landsbergis traveled to Canberra to open Vilnius’ first embassy in Australia.
Payne said it’s important for like-minded countries to work together to maintain an international rules-based order. “We are sending the strongest possible message about our rejection of coercion and our rejection of authoritarianism,” she said.
That meeting came after Britain announced on Monday that it would be joining an EU case against China over Beijing’s trade curbs on Lithuania. The EU launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization late last month, accusing China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania.
“We support our allies, Lithuania & the EU, in standing against China’s use of coercive trading practices,” Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britain’s international trade secretary, said on Twitter.
The dispute began early in 2021, when Lithuania’s talks with China about export permits for feed, nonanimal products and edible offal began faltering, according to The Baltic Times. By August, Beijing had stopped approving new permits for Lithuanian food exports to China and halted direct freight train service to Lithuania.
On November 18, Lithuanian authorities allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in its capital under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Taipei,” the term preferred by Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of its territory.
Since then, China has recalled its ambassador from Vilnius while ordering Lithuania’s ambassador to leave Beijing, and it has implemented an embargo against Lithuania, boycotting all its exports as well as any EU products that use Lithuanian-made components.
By December 9, China was “sending messages to multinationals that if they use parts and supplies from Lithuania, they will no longer be allowed to sell to the Chinese market or get supplies there,” according to Mantas Adomenas, Lithuania’s vice minister for foreign affairs.
‘Wake-up call’
Jonathan Hackenbroich, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Task Force for Strengthening Europe Against Economic Coercion, called China’s move “a wake-up call.”
“Imagine China has disputes with Lithuania, and then it starts telling German, French and Swedish companies to stop trading with Lithuania. Then you could easily imagine if China had a dispute with Taiwan or another country, it could also start telling German, French or Swedish companies to stop trading with that country,” Hackenbroich told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview. “Now Beijing has done it once. You can’t exclude the possibility that it will happen in the future.”
The European Commission in December proposed legislation to create an EU anti-coercion instrument, with the goal of strengthening the protection of its members against economic coercion. It’s the first legal framework allowing EU members to act against economic coercion by nonmember states.
“You will have the full power of the EU market in response to grave acts of economic coercion,” Hackenbroich said.
At a daily press briefing Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China was adhering to WTO rules in its dealings with Lithuania.
“The ins and outs of the fraught China-Lithuania relations are very clear,” he said. “China has responded properly in defense of its legitimate rights and interests and international justice, which is completely legitimate and lawful. China always follows WTO rules.
“The so-called ‘coercion’ of China against Lithuania is purely made out of thin air,” Zhao said. He added that Lithuania “should stop confounding right with wrong and maliciously hyping things up, let alone trying to rope other countries in to gang up on China.”
Optimism on anti-coercion measure
Matas Maldeikis, a member of the Lithuanian Parliament, told VOA Mandarin that France, which holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to June this year, has promised to accelerate adoption of the anti-coercion instrument.
“Unfortunately, as we have to negotiate between the 27 very different countries, it takes time to come to decisions. Good news is many understand the necessity of such an instrument and the importance of unity within the EU,” he told VOA in an email.
Andrius Kubilius, a member of the European Parliament and former prime minister of Lithuania, told CNN in January that he didn’t expect bigger EU countries to take it upon themselves to stand up to China. But, he added, “maybe from Lithuania it will spread to others, and in time, Europe will stand united against a country that doesn’t meet our standards.”
“China needs to learn lessons, because until now, they have been allowed to behave in a way that doesn’t adhere to our values and rules, simply because they were so wealthy,” he told CNN.
Kubilius told VOA in an email that EU members could adopt several actions to help counter economic coercion, including taking a “unified stance,” settling disputes in the WTO and providing EU financial support for businesses that suffer losses.
Visiting NATO headquarters Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that Europe is facing its biggest security crisis in decades and pledged more military deployments in eastern Europe, in response to Russia’s troop buildup on the border with Ukraine.
“The stakes are very high, and this is a very dangerous moment. And at stake are the rules that protect every nation, every nation big and small,” Johnson said after talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Britain is strengthening its deployments in Estonia and Poland and is considering further deployments in southeastern Europe in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Several NATO members have sent troop reinforcements to allies on NATO’s eastern flank. Many observers say Moscow’s actions have brought the alliance closer together.
Stoltenberg welcomed Britain’s commitment.
“The U.K. is playing a leading role, delivering both militarily and diplomatically,” he said. “Renewed Russian aggression will lead to more NATO presence, not less.”
US carrier strike group
Warships and fighter jets from 28 NATO members conducted exercises off the Italian coast earlier this month. It was the first time since the end of the Cold War that a U.S. Navy carrier strike group was placed under NATO command.
The United States has deployed an additional 3,000 troops to Poland and Romania.
“The focus of this particular mission … is to reinforce the NATO alliance, to build that trust and confidence, to reassure our allies and to strengthen the eastern flank of the NATO alliance,” Colonel Joe Ewers of the U.S. Army 2nd Cavalry Regiment said Wednesday.
France is preparing to send troops to Romania, while Germany — criticized in the past for failing to take a harder line on Russia — is boosting its troop deployment in Lithuania by 350 personnel, in addition to the 500 soldiers already there.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht called Germany’s participation an important signal for NATO allies.
“We can be relied on, and we are showing that with this strengthening of the battle group,” she told reporters on Monday.
NATO united
In 2017, then-U.S. President Donald Trump described NATO as “obsolete” because, he said, it “wasn’t taking care of terror.” In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron called the alliance “brain dead,” citing a perceived waning commitment by its main guarantor, the United States.
Now, Russia’s actions have served to unify NATO, according to analyst Jonathan Eyal, associate director at the Royal United Services Institute.
“The Russians were demanding not merely an acceptance of a division of Europe into new spheres of influence, but a rollback on all the security arrangements put in place on the continent since the early 1990s at the end of the Cold War. And that was simply so outrageous, so extreme in its scope that quite frankly, it left very little opportunity for countries to disagree that a rejection and a flat-out rejection of such demands was the only approach.”
Eyal added that the role of the United States has been crucial in recent months.
“It’s astounding the amount of meetings, the amount of visits, the amount of effort that the (U.S.) administration put into ensuring that the consensus was kept,” he said.
Public support
Opinion polls show an increase in public support for NATO both in existing member states and in non-NATO allies, including Sweden and Finland. While neither is expected to join the alliance any time soon, both countries have voiced alarm at the Russian troop buildup.
“Nobody wants this to escalate any further. We all want Russia to de-escalate the situation. We want to find peaceful ways out of the situation,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told reporters after meeting European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week.
Putin’s miscalculation?
Russia’s amassing of more than 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border was a miscalculation, Eyal said.
“If Russia was thinking of dividing Europe, what they’ve done over the past few months achieved precisely the opposite,” he said.
But Russia believes it has achieved the objective of keeping Ukraine and Georgia out of the alliance, said Alex Titov, a Russia analyst at Queen’s University Belfast.
“Russia made it very clear, I think abundantly clear, that that is a really big (red) line. As Putin said several times, membership of NATO (for Ukraine and Georgia) would basically mean war with Russia for all NATO countries.”
Despite Moscow’s denials, many Western leaders still believe Russia is planning to invade Ukraine. Rather than highlighting NATO’s divisions, many observers say that threat has galvanized the alliance.
Jhon Jairo Guerrero, a humble worker from Sotará, Cauca, and who was photographed on February 3 taking his daughter to school by bicycle on a street in Popayán, received help from the community.
Jhon Jairo and Aylin, his daughter, received two new bicycles, one for him and one for the girl. The donation was made by the Bike Planet store.
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The man, who works as a butler on a farm in the north of the capital of Cauca, left work that day around 6 in the morning to drop off his little girl at the Carlos Simmons school, where she studies.
In order to transport it, the father of the family adapted a plastic chair on the grill.
Thus, he manages to take the girl to her educational institution, every day, in a journey that lasts between 25 and 30 minutes. Her wish is to get her daughter forward, despite the adversities.
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Aylin Esperanza Guerrero, meanwhile, is a six-year-old girl who is in second grade. Her dream is to be a veterinary doctor.
Many users began to make a Vaki to buy a motorcycle for Jhon Jairo and thus transport their little girl more comfortably.
Ukrainian communities in some large California cities are taking to the streets in peaceful demonstrations to express support for their homeland as Russia seems to be preparing to invade Ukraine. Khrystyna Shevchenko has this report from California.
The U.S. military is stepping up support to the United Arab Emirates after a series of missile and drone attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. U.S. General Frank McKenzie, head of the U.S. Central Command overseeing American forces in the Middle East, has been in the UAE to bolster defenses. Analysts say the attacks on the Gulf nation could hurt its reputation as a stable business and tourist hub with tough security.
Speaking from the United Arab Emirates, U.S. General Frank McKenzie said battlefield setbacks in Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels may have prompted recent attacks on the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, where a military base also hosts U.S. troops. The seven-year Yemen war has pit Houthis against government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and an Arab coalition, including the UAE. The conflict, viewed as a proxy war involving Iran, has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
U.S. and United Nations officials have documented Iran smuggling high-end weapons to the Houthis. “Medium range ballistic missiles that were fired from Yemen and entered UAE were not invented, built, designed in Yemen,” McKenzie said. So, I think we certainly see the Iranian connection to this.”
FILE – U.S. Army troops work near a Patriot missile battery at Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 5, 2021.
Giuseppe Dentice heads the Middle East desk at Rome’s Center for International Studies. He told VOA that the Houthis are using the attacks to leverage their demands.
“It’s a strong and symbolic sign that shows how no one in the Gulf is safe and the Houthis have the ability to hit all these countries in the area. Maybe the main risk is the growing internationalization of the conflict with a widening front of new players; for instance, Israel that is interested to support Abu Dhabi to confront Iran in any scenario of this crisis. These attacks aim to weaken the security of the commercial, tourism, (and) financial hub in the Gulf,” he said.
Dr. Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at the School of Security at King’s College in London, agrees that the Houthi attacks pose a menace to the UAE’s standing as the key commercial and tourism hub in the Gulf and could hurt its safe reputation for finance and security.
“This is a major reputational damage to the idea of the UAE being one of the safest and more secure countries in the world,” Krieg told The New Arab online publication. “The fact that air defenses were unable to protect very critical infrastructure is definitely something the UAE will now have to consider,” he said.
Until recently, the UAE had been immune from such outright missile and drone attacks that the Houthis have rained down on neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The Pentagon says advanced F-22 fighter jets are being sent to the UAE and a guided missile destroyer, the USS Cole, will aid its navy to surveil Gulf waters for shipments of contraband. U.S. President Joe Biden says Washington is considering re-designating the Houthis as an international terrorist organization, a label which was rescinded last February. The UAE has called for the designation to be restored.
All the autonomous communities, except the Basque Country, which has abstained, have endorsed the end of the mandatory nature of the mask outdoors from next Thursday. The exception is in mass events, including sports.
The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias (c), chairs the meeting of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System held this Monday at the Ministry of Health. EFE/ Ministry of Health
The Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, made up of the Ministry of Health and the counselors of the autonomous communities, met this morning to give the green light for the end of the mask on the street, although it will continue to be recommended to use it if there are crowds.
Massive events, including sporting events, when standing or when the interpersonal distance of 1.5 meters cannot be kept if seated are excepted.
This measure will be definitively approved tomorrow by the Council of Ministers so that, after the publication of the decree law in the Official State Gazette on Wednesday, it enters into force next Thursday.
The mask in the street became mandatory again when the sixth wave rose strongly with the arrival of omicron and just as the Christmas holidays began. On Christmas Eve the mask returned to the outside, although many people continued to use it.
Several people with masks walk down the street. EFE/Brais Lorenzo
Capacity increases at sporting events
In this same meeting, the Interterritorial Council has increased the capacity in sporting events, which goes from 75% to 85% in open venues and from 50% to 75% if they are closed; These figures will be reviewed before the end of February when, some of the sources consulted point out, the entire public can resume.
Some communities, such as Madrid and Andalusia, have abstained on this point because they rejected that there were still capacity limitations.
On the other hand, at this morning’s meeting, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has informed the directors of the last advances digital covid certificate within the European Commission.
In this way, the Ministry of Health has reported that a proposal to modify the regulation has been published so that these certificates can be issued to people who participate in clinical trials of vaccines against covid (as is the case of the Spanish Hipra) and that the documents can be accepted by other member states so as not to apply restrictions to free movement.
In this sense, Spain has proposed the issuance of digital recovery certificates based on antigen tests and not only on PCR tests as up to now, although these advances, says Health, must follow their regulatory course to be consolidated.
Anthony Shiu was born in San Francisco. His father’s parents are from China. Several generations may separate him from China, but the 60-year-old transit mechanic spends his free time as an activist against anti-Asian hate crimes and helping to run a lion dance troupe. Lion dances are a facet of traditional Chinese culture.
In that spirit, he backs Beijing as the 2022 Winter Olympics host city despite a litany of Sino-U.S. political issues that culminated last month in Washington’s decision to boycott the Games diplomatically. He plans to watch the world sporting event on TV if time allows.
“To me, Beijing is just a hosting country, and the committee said, ‘We’re going to hold it here,’ so where they hold it is not important to me,” Shiu told VOA during an interview in Portsmouth Square park at the core of San Francisco’s historic Chinatown.
Shiu’s ideas about the Beijing Winter Olympics reflect those of many fellow Chinese Americans: China has the right to hold the Olympics despite Western condemnations of the country over human rights problems. Still, there’s a faction that would prefer Beijing not host the Games.
“It’s a sport,” said 38-year-old Vincent Fung, a Chinese American operator of the Buddha Exquisite Corp. paper goods store in Chinatown. “People should respect (that), it doesn’t matter what race. That’s what the Olympics stands for. So, if you’re boycotting things, that defeats the purpose of having the game. That’s my view on it.”
Chinese American Sherwin Won, 69, a retired university clinical lab scientist from San Francisco, skis and plans to watch the Olympics. He even hopes to visit Beijing someday, post-COVID-19. “The team members have nothing to do with China,” Won said of participating foreign athletes. “It’s their sports.”
Human rights groups gather to call for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, in Taipei, Jan. 26, 2022.
Tension over Taiwan, Hong Kong, Uyghurs
Supporters of diplomatic boycotts in multiple Western countries have called out Beijing over perceived strong-arm tactics toward Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Critics, including politicians in the U.S., EU and human rights organizations, also find fault with China for its treatment of the largely Muslim Uyghur population in the Chinese Xinjiang region, including sending more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic minorities to internment camps.
China has denied these accusations, saying the camps are vocational training centers to help alleviate poverty and fight extremism.
In the United States, White House press secretary Jen Psaki last month said the administration would avoid sending officials to the Games — the diplomatic boycott — due to “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, “The United States should stop politicizing sports, and stop disrupting and undermining the Beijing Winter Olympics, lest it should affect bilateral dialogue and cooperation in important areas and international and regional issues,” according to Chinese state media Xinhua.
Hot and cold Sino-U.S. history
Sino-U.S. ties blossomed in the 1970s after then-U.S. President Richard Nixon’s historic meeting with Communist leader Mao Zedong. The same decade saw a wave of immigration from southern China to American cities such as San Francisco, mostly to earn money and join relatives who were already in the country.
About 5 million Chinese Americans live in the United States today, census data show.
A man walks past installations of Bing Dwen Dwen,left, and Shuey Rhon Rhon, mascots of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Games, along a street in Beijing on Jan. 28, 2022.
Relations have slipped since 2017 over trade friction, consular spats and technology transfer issues. The two superpowers have jousted too over the autonomy of Taiwan, with Beijing calling it a Chinese territory and Washington offering to defend it, and crackdowns against antigovernment protesters in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.
Some Chinese Americans often feel distant from human rights causes, and as ethnic Han people — China’s vast racial majority — are not “sympathetic to the Uyghurs,” said Yun Sun, co-director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center in Washington.
“Second, the boycott apparently makes bilateral relations more difficult, and it is even harder for Chinese Americans to travel back to China,” Sun added.
Sporting concerns
Justine Chen, 38, a Nashville, Tennessee-based communications director of Taiwanese American ancestry, says Beijing qualifies more as a showroom for the government than as an elite venue for athletes.
“I don’t think they should have won the bid in the first place. Not just because of their human rights record but because I don’t think they provide the best experience for athletes nor spectators,” she said. “It’s all a big show so the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) can pretend it has its affairs together when it really doesn’t.”
Chen attended the Beijing Summer Games of 2008 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Sydney offered better venues, she said.
“I think as a minority in America that has seen a huge amount of hate and violence over the past two years against people who look like me, I wish I could have more pride in an Asian country hosting such a large event that’s supposed to unify people of all kinds, including those participating in the Paralympics,” Chen said.
Human rights concerns
Many people of Asian ancestry in Southern California oppose China’s acts in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, said Ken Wu, Taiwanese American vice president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs Los Angeles chapter. His Washington, D.C.-based group lobbies Congress for pro-Taiwan legislation.
They support diplomatic boycotts but also a guarantee that athletes can attend the Beijing Olympics as a reward for their practice, he said.
“Right now, I think the whole advocacy community and the whole human rights community are kind of agreeing on that’s the direction we should go,” Wu said. “We should continue to pressure the states to exercise the diplomatic boycott and also hopefully we can get the businesses not to sponsor, but let’s put our support behind our athletes.”
While Chinese Americans differ on their views of China as the host city of the Winter Olympics, they all stand behind the athletes who have worked to qualify for a spot in what has become a contentious world competition.
At the Summit of Pacific alliance an action plan is approved, within a period of six months, to promote greater participation of companies led by women in production chains, in such a way as to favor their insertion in intra- and extra-regional trade, with special emphasis on rural women’s entrepreneurship.
This is one of the two proposals within the Alliance that are being discussed today at the Summit, which is being held at the Bahía Málaga Naval Base, in Buenaventura.
According to the vice president and chancellor, Martha Lucia RamirezThe economic empowerment of women is sought.
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This proposal was even discussed prior to the Summit, in the framework of the meeting of the Council of Ministers of this mechanism, made up of the foreign ministers and trade ministers of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
We arrive at Bahía Málaga, Valle del Cauca, where we will carry out the XVI #SummitPacificAlliance, an opportunity to continue strengthening the ties of integration and multilateralism in the region, on issues such as trade, culture, tourism, technology and the environment. pic.twitter.com/ItxUtUj5IA
The second proposal aims to carry out, in those same six months, a diagnosis of public policies at the economic level with a gender approach to identify strategic elements that increase and improve the participation of women, facing a economic growth sustainable and equitable.
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“With the endorsement of the Foreign Ministers and Trade Ministers, this proposal will become a mandate of the Pacific Alliance, which will be in charge of the Gender Technical Group,” said Ramírez.
The senior official highlighted that on December 11, 2020, within the framework of the XV Summit of the Pacific Alliance, held in Chile, the leaders of Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru signed the ‘Declaration of the Pacific Alliance on Equality of Gender’, together with the roadmap for the autonomy and economic empowerment of women of this regional integration mechanism.
With this, it seeks to guide the work of the Pacific Alliance in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies and initiatives, to promote the economic and social development of women in the member countries.
The group was founded in 2011 by Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.
In this meeting in Buenaventura, Colombia will transfer to Mexico the pro tempore Presidency of the integration group, exercised in the last year by President Iván Duque.
In this zone of the Colombian Pacific, the Presidential Declaration for the Strengthening of Creative Industries will be signed and the Business Council of the Pacific Alliance will meet.
