PARIS: In Donald Trump, Europe’s populist leaders think they have found a champion.
For now.
The opening salvoes of Trump’s presidency, most notably his ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations, are being gleefully milked by anti-Muslim lawmaker Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and other populist leaders in Germany, Italy and elsewhere who want to roll back the European Union and stem the influx of migrants and refugees.
Ignoring the anti-Trump protests, the wide criticism and legal challenges that have erupted over the new US president’s ban, populists in Europe argue that Trump is proving that immigration can be stemmed, even stopped. They see a quick and decisive leader — and their latest weapon with which to attack the European governments and institutions they accuse of being soft on immigration.
For Alexander Gauland, deputy leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, Trump is “a path-finder, by proving that with political will you can change polices.”
“It makes it easier for people who want to stop Islamic immigration that Trump says: ‘You can do it,’” Gauland said. “If this policy works, and if Mr. Trump works with these goals, then it could be helpful in the next general election in Germany or the French presidential elections.”
Czech President Milos Zeman’s spokesman, Jiri Ovcacek, calls Trump “a trailblazer.”
“The EU has been discussing the necessity of protecting its external borders for months. However nothing has happened so far. Europe should perceive the steps taken by President Trump as an inspiration,” he said.
With national elections this year in the Netherlands, France and Germany, the rising tide of populism is being watched with growing alarm at EU headquarters in Brussels, which is still reeling from last year’s Brexit vote to take Britain out of the 28-nation bloc. Donald Tusk, the EU president, flagged up the threat of populism in a sobering letter this week to EU governments before they meet Friday to discuss their collective future without the British.
But political analysts aren’t convinced that populists’ enthusiastic welcome of Trump’s ban — “Well done @POTUS it’s the only way to stay safe + free,” Wilders tweeted — will help them as much as they think.
While the ban has pushed immigration back to the top of the global agenda, analysts say that’s no guarantee of more votes for populists at the ballot box. In fact, they say, associating too closely with Trump could backfire on populists if his promised “America first” trade protectionism policies end up hurting European workers — which populists are wooing, as the new US president did in the United States, to gain power.
“In a few weeks, months or years, there could be big differences between leaders of populist parties and Trump,” said Marco Tarchi, a political scientist at the University of Florence in Italy. “Long-term, things could get really complicated.”
In the Netherlands, Wilders was already polling strongly before he started furiously tweeting and praising Trump’s immigration ban.
Koen Vossen, a political scientist at Radboud University in Nijmegen, says Wilders’ core supporters were already convinced, long before Trump took power, by the populist leader’s arguments that Islam poses a grave threat to the Netherlands. But the broad criticisms and problems caused by Trump’s ban could also scare wavering Dutch voters away from Wilders’ Party for Freedom, he said.
“He’s preaching to the converted and also to a few percent — maybe 10 percent — who are still doubting whether they will vote for Wilders,” said Vossen, author of a book on Wilders. “Maybe he will win a few percent extra because of Trump, but he could also lose a few percent.”
In France, National Front leader Marine Le Pen also believes that Brexit and Trump are favorable winds filling the sails of her far-right, anti-immigration party, which is polling strongly ahead of the presidential first-round vote in April.
“The whole world — it’s true of Brexit and it’s true for Mr. Trump — is waking up to what we’ve been saying for years,” Le Pen said.
But, again, strengthening support in France for Le Pen’s nationalist platform predates Trump’s election victory. And workers mulling a shift to Le Pen in France’s rustbelt industrial towns want to protest job losses and ineffective traditional French politics, without necessarily fully espousing the National Front’s anti-Islam and anti-immigration views.
Nonna Mayer, a leading expert on the party at Sciences Po in Paris, said Trump is only “an added bonus” and “a sales argument” for Le Pen, rather than an electoral game-changer.
“If Trump trips up, it will come back at them,” she said. “They know that if it backfires, it will be a problem for them.”
European populists seek “Trump boost” for anti-Islam stances
European populists seek “Trump boost” for anti-Islam stances
Emergency declared as smog in New Delhi hits highest level this year
- New Delhi was the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to IQAir
- PM 2.5 concentration was 138.4 times higher than WHO’s recommended levels
NEW DELHI: New Delhi was in a medical emergency on Monday as toxic smog engulfing the Indian capital reached the highest level this year, prompting authorities to close schools and urge people to stay indoors.
Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.
Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.
“All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said in a press conference, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”
She said farm fires, where stubble left after harvesting rice is burnt to clear fields, were causing the extreme levels of pollution.
“Why is the (central government) not taking action against these states and implementing concrete steps? People are unable to breathe. I am getting calls from people complaining about breathing and respiratory issues,” she said.
“All of North India is paying the price for this, especially children and elderly who are struggling to breathe.”
Authorities in Delhi have directed all schools to move classes online and tightened restrictions on construction activities and vehicle movements.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.
“If they are non-smokers, then they will also inhale at least 30 to 40 cigarettes per day (at these pollution levels). So, you can imagine how bad it is for our health,” he told Arab News.
“PM 2.5 is a very minute particle (that can be inhaled). It is so minute that it can go into our blood vessels also, so it is very harmful and leads to various diseases, particularly for older people and infants who have breathing problems.”
Palawat is expecting the air quality to remain at this level for at least a few more days.
“It will remain in the very poor to serious category in coming days also,” he said.
Palestinian NGO to ask UK court to block F-35 parts to Israel over Gaza war
West Bank-based Al-Haq, which documents alleged rights violations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is taking legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade at London’s High Court.
Israel has been accused of violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza war, with the UN Human Rights Office saying nearly 70 percent of fatalities it has verified were women and children, a report Israel rejected.
Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Al-Haq’s case comes after Britain in September suspended 30 of 350 arms export licenses, though it exempted the indirect export of F-35 parts, citing the impact on the global F-35 program.
Al-Haq argues that decision was unlawful as there is a clear risk F-35s could be used in breach of international humanitarian law.
British government lawyers said in documents for Monday’s hearing that ministers assessed Israel had committed possible breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) in relation to humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees.
Britain also “accepts that there is clear risk that F-35 components might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL,” its lawyer James Eadie said.
Eadie added that Britain had nonetheless decided that F-35 components should still be exported, quoting from advice to defense minister John Healey that suspending F-35 parts “would have a profound impact on international peace and security.”
A full hearing of Al-Haq’s legal challenge is likely to be heard early in 2025.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in attacks on communities in southern Israel that day, and hold dozens of some 250 hostages they took back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Sri Lanka’s left-leaning president swears in new Cabinet after election victory
- Harini Amarasuriya, first woman to head Sri Lankan government, reappointed as PM
- National People’s Power alliance won two-thirds majority in the 225-member parliament
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new left-leaning president swore in on Monday a 22-member Cabinet after his party coalition secured a landslide victory in a snap parliamentary vote last week.
The alliance of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the National People’s Power, secured 159 seats in the 225-member assembly, giving the new leader a mandate to fulfill his campaign promises of sweeping reforms, including to fight poverty and corruption.
The crisis-hit island nation is still struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, after declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on its external debt in 2022.
Dissanayake reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister and lawmaker Vijitha Herath to helm the foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism ministries, while the president himself retained the posts of defense and finance minister.
“This power we gained is accountable. To whom? On one hand, it is accountable to the public, and on the other hand, to the movement,” Dissanayake told the new Cabinet after the swearing-in ceremony, referring to his alliance’s aim to create a people-centered national movement.
“We had a lot of good aims. We worked to gain power for that. We struggled a lot … The huge the victory we achieved, the heavier our responsibility,” he said. “Let’s work together to achieve the results our people deserve.”
When Dissanayake won the presidential vote in September, the NPP coalition only had three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and call for a snap election that took place on Thursday, a year ahead of schedule.
His new, fully-formed Cabinet will govern Sri Lanka after austerity measures imposed by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe — part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund — led to price hikes in food and fuel and caused hardship to millions of Sri Lankans.
During his campaign, Dissanayake said he planned to renegotiate the targets set in the IMF deal to alleviate the burden placed on ordinary people. A team from the fund is in Colombo this week to review the reform program.
More than half of former lawmakers chose not to run for re-election. No contenders were seen from the powerful Rajapaksa family, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya, also a former president, who was ousted in 2022 and largely blamed for the crisis.
Thursday’s election saw the United People’s Power of Sajith Premadasa retain its role from the previous parliament as the largest opposition party, winning 40 seats.
Sri Lanka People’s Front, the party loyal to the Rajapaksa family, secured only three seats in the new parliament.
UN climate chief to nations at COP29: ‘cut the theatrics’
- As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance deal for poorer countries that will determine the success or failure of COP29
Baku: The UN’s climate chief on Monday told countries at the deadlocked COP29 summit to “cut the theatrics,” as pressure mounts on G20 leaders to deliver a breakthrough.
As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance deal for poorer countries that will determine the success or failure of COP29.
UN climate boss Simon Stiell said that “bluffing, brinkmanship and premeditated playbooks burn up precious time and run down the goodwill needed.”
“Let’s cut the theatrics and get down to business,” he told delegates assembled in a cavernous football stadium in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.
COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev, a former oil executive turned ecology minister, urged countries to “refocus and pick up the pace.”
Government ministers at the negotiating table have until Friday to break the impasse over how to raise $1 trillion a year for developing countries to cope with global warming.
With the clock ticking, pressure is mounting on G20 leaders to throw their weight behind the stalled process in Baku when they meet in Brazil for their annual summit on Monday and Tuesday.
“A successful outcome at COP29 is still within reach, but it will require leadership and compromise, namely from the G20 countries,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, where he is attending the G20 summit of the world’s biggest economies.
Difference between life and death
“The spotlight is naturally on the G20. They account for 80 percent of global emissions,” Guterres said, calling on the group to “lead by example.”
In a sign that a solution could emerge from Rio, the head of the Brazilian delegation to COP29, Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, left Baku to prepare for the G20.
Besides the finance impasse, a fight is also brewing at COP29 over whether countries should recommit to last year’s landmark pledge to move the world away from fossil fuels.
The main task at COP29 is negotiating a new deal to provide developing countries enough money to cut emissions and build resilience against worsening climate shocks.
Rei Josiah Echano, disaster chief in the typhoon-hit Philippines province of Northern Samar, called for talks to be “radically fast-tracked” to help those in dire need.
Developing countries excluding China will need $1 trillion a year in outside assistance by the end of the decade, according to independent economists commissioned by the United Nations.
Stiell said it was “easy to become slightly anaesthetised” by the numbers.
“But let’s never allow ourselves to forget: these figures are the difference between safety and life-wrecking disasters for billions of people,” he said.
“It certainly keeps me up at night.”
Hosts criticised
Climate-vulnerable nations want developed nations to commit at COP29 to substantially raising their existing pledge of $100 billion a year.
But donors say they cannot raise the money alone and the private sector must also be involved.
The United States and European Union also want wealthy emerging economies not obligated to pay climate finance — most notably China — to share the burden.
The EU is the biggest contributor to international climate finance but faces political and budget pressure, and could be left exposed should the United States refuse to pay up under Donald Trump.
The conference opened in the shadow of Trump’s re-election in the United States, and efforts to shore up support for the global climate fight took another knock when Argentina’s delegation withdrew from the summit.
A meeting between Chinese and European officials was seen as a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy first week.
Militants kill five Nigerian troops in raid on base
- Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province storm military base
- Militant groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate
KANO, Nigeria: Attackers from a Daesh-affiliated militant group killed five Nigerian soldiers and wounded 10 more in a raid on a military base near the Niger border, two officers said Monday.
Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the base in Kareto village, Borno state in a dawn attack Saturday and triggered a gunbattle, the military officers said.
Northern Nigeria has been plagued by a bloody Islamist insurgency since 2009, and security cooperation on the border has broken down since the July 2023 military coup in Niger.
“We lost five soldiers in the battle with 10 other injured,” one senior military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“Four of our men are still missing and search and rescue is under way to locate them,” he added.
The gunmen captured four trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns and burnt five other vehicles, including a mine-resistant military truck, according to a second officer who gave the same toll.
In a statement issued Sunday, ISWAP claimed to have “killed and wounded” more than 20 troops in a suicide car bomb attack during the raid, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors online militant activity.
The group claimed to have torched the base and burnt 14 vehicles.
Kareto, 153 kilometers (95 miles) north of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, houses the Nigerian army’s 149 Battalion, which is deployed to fight ISWAP and its rival fellow militant group Boko Haram.
The base has been repeatedly targeted by both groups.
Militant groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million more.
