ATHENS: Greece is on a diplomatic push to isolate traditional rival Turkey as tension rises between the two NATO allies over energy exploration and support for opposing factions in war-torn Libya, say analysts.
On Sunday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias embarked on a tour of eastern Libya, Egypt and Cyprus, seeking support against Turkey’s contentious maritime and military deal with the embattled UN-backed government in Tripoli.
Hours later, the Greek prime minister’s office announced that Athens would on January 2 host the signing of EastMed, a huge pipeline project with Cyprus and Israel to ship gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe.
“It’s the first time in 20 years that we’ve seen such (Greek diplomatic) activity,” Sotiris Serbos, an international politics specialist at Democritus University in Thrace, told Athens municipal radio.
Athens was alarmed when in late November Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a security and military cooperation deal with UN-recognized Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj.
Greece took particular exception to the agreement on maritime jurisdiction, which it said ignored the maritime boundaries of Crete. In retaliation, Greece expelled the Libyan ambassador.
Analysts in Greece say Turkey’s recent rapprochement with Libya is aimed at shoring up a rare regional ally in Tripoli’s Government of National Accord (GNA).
But they say Turkey is also trying to avoid being shut out of the gas exploration scramble in the region.
Libya has been mired in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The GNA has suffered military setbacks against eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar.
“Alliances create counter-alliances,” Antonis Klapsis, an assistant professor of diplomacy at the University of Peloponnese, told Greek state TV ERT.
While Greece usually defers to the EU on major diplomatic initiatives, this time it is taking the lead, having forged ties with Egypt and Israel, as well as traditional ally Cyprus.
“We can go at it alone — but we won’t be alone,” Foreign Minister Dendias told Open TV Monday.
Greece, after also securing EU backing on the issue, is now speeding up talks with Egypt on an exclusive economic zone to counter the Turkey-Libya deal.
For Alexis Papachelas, executive editor of liberal daily Kathimerini, this is a “moment of truth” in relations with decades-old rival Turkey.
“The early months of 2020 will be tough for Greek-Turkish relations,” Papachelas wrote in an opinion piece Sunday.
“The moment of truth seems to be upon us as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears determined...to push Ankara’s territorial claims in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean,” he added.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to visit the White House on January 7.
While US diplomats have criticized the Turkey-Libya deal, US President Donald Trump has often toed a different line when it comes to Erdogan.
“It is the sort of situation where you find out who your real friends and allies are,” notes Papachelas.
The EastMed project is designed to make Cyprus, Greece and Israel key links in Europe’s energy supply chain — and thwart Turkey’s effort to bolster its presence in the eastern Mediterranean.
Its backers plan to have the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) pipeline transfer between nine and 12 billion cubic meters a year from offshore gas reserves between Israel and Cyprus to Greece — and from there to Italy and other southeastern European countries.
“It is really important that the countries showed they can react quickly against Turkey’s provocative stance,” Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas told Open TV on Sunday.
Turkey already has ships searching for oil and gas off Cyprus, which has fueled tension with the European Union.
Erdogan, who has called into question decades-old sovereignty treaties with Greece, said Sunday that Turkey “no longer had the luxury” to be silent, or coy on the issue.
“Greece and countries supporting it were for a long time making preparations to ensure Turkey could not take any steps in the sea,” Erdogan said.
“Those who have sovereignty in the Aegean, and prepare projects with their eyes on Turkey’s rights with islands, islets and rocks that do not belong to them should know the space is not empty.”
Greece pushes back at Turkey over energy race, Libya: analysts
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Greece pushes back at Turkey over energy race, Libya: analysts
- The Greek FM embarked on a tour of eastern Libya, Egypt and Cyprus
- He is seeking support against Turkey’s contentious maritime and military deal with the embattled UN-backed government in Tripoli
President Donald Trump appeals his New York hush money conviction
- Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal Wednesday, asking the state’s mid-level appeals court to overturn his conviction
- Trump’s lawyers will have an opportunity to expand on their grievances in subsequent court filings
NEW YORK: President Donald Trump has appealed his hush money conviction, seeking to erase the verdict that made him the first person with a criminal record to win the office.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal Wednesday, asking the state’s mid-level appeals court to overturn his conviction last May on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The case, involving an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 Republican campaign, was the only one of his criminal cases to go to trial.
A notice of appeal starts the appeals process in New York. Trump’s lawyers will have an opportunity to expand on their grievances in subsequent court filings.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, will have a chance to respond in court papers. A message seeking comment was left with the office Wednesday.
Trump hired a new legal team from the firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP to handle the appeal, spearheaded by the firm’s co-chair Robert J. Giuffra Jr.
Giuffra and four other lawyers from his firm stepped in after the president tabbed his two main defense lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, for top positions in his administration’s Justice Department.
“President Donald J. Trump’s appeal is important for the rule of law, New York’s reputation as a global business, financial and legal center, as well as for the presidency and all public officials,” Giuffra said in a statement provided by a Trump spokesperson.
Norwegian mass murderer Breivik loses prison condition case
- “The Court of Appeal considers that the restrictions are sufficiently justified,” the three judges said in their ruling
- They also said that the prison authorities have put in place sufficient measures to compensate for his relative isolation in prison
OSLO: A Norwegian court on Wednesday rejected an appeal brought by right-wing extremist and mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who claims his prison conditions are a violation of human rights.
Breivik, who killed 77 people in July 2011, has regularly complained about his prison conditions, despite them including three private cells, two Guinea pigs, a flat-screen television and a video game console.
Claiming that he has been “treated like an animal,” Breivik has sued the Norwegian state on several occasions in a bid to get improvements to compensate for his relative isolation.
He has argued that this isolation constitutes a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
His case was struck down by a district court in February, after which he appealed.
“The Court of Appeal considers that the restrictions are sufficiently justified by the risk of violence that persists,” the three judges said in their ruling Wednesday.
They also said that the prison authorities have put in place sufficient measures to compensate for his relative isolation in prison.
The court also dismissed Breivik’s appeal for an easing of the filtering of his mail, for which he also invoked the ECHR on the right to correspondence.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a bomb near government offices in Oslo, killing eight people, before gunning down 69 others, mostly teens, at a Labour Party youth wing summer camp on the island of Utoya.
He said he had killed his victims because they embraced multiculturalism.
He was sentenced in 2012 to 21 years in prison, which can be extended as long as he is considered a threat.
More Indians losing hope of improved quality of life under Modi, survey shows
- More than 37% respondents in pre-budget survey said they expect overall quality of life for ordinary people to deteriorate over next year
- Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said inflation had remained unchecked and prices had gone up since Modi became prime minister
NEW DELHI: More Indians are becoming less hopeful about their quality of life as stagnant wages and higher living costs cloud future prospects, a survey showed, in disappointing news for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of this week’s annual budget.
More than 37 percent of respondents in a pre-budget survey said they expect the overall quality of life for ordinary people to deteriorate over the next year, the highest such percentage since 2013, findings released by polling agency C-Voter showed on Wednesday. Modi has been prime minister since 2014.
C-Voter said it polled 5,269 adults across Indian states for this survey. Persistent eye-watering food inflation has squeezed Indian household budgets and crimped spending power, and the world’s fifth-largest economy is expected to post its slowest pace of growth in four years.
Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said inflation had remained unchecked and that prices had gone up since Modi became prime minister, while more than half said the rate of inflation had “adversely” affected their quality of life.
Modi, in the nation’s annual budget this week, is expected to announce measures to shore up faltering economic growth, lift disposable incomes and placate a stretched middle class.
Nearly half of respondents said their personal income had remained the same over the last year while expenses rose, while nearly two-thirds said rising expenses had become difficult to manage, the survey showed.
Despite world-beating economic growth, India’s job market offers insufficient opportunities for its large youthful population to earn regular wages.
In the last budget, India earmarked nearly $24 billion to be spent over five years on various schemes to create jobs but those programs have not yet been implemented as discussions on the details drag on.
German government says criticism of Musk does not mean exit from X
- “It has no repercussions,” said the spokesperson
BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s sharp criticism of Elon Musk’s backing of right-wing parties in the European Union does not influence how the German government uses his social media platform X, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“It has no repercussions. Our statement still holds that we are looking at and weighing up what is happening there case by case,” said the spokesperson in a press conference, adding there was no pre-defined “red line.”
Scholz on Tuesday described Musk’s backing of right-wing parties in the EU as “really disgusting,” saying it was hindering democracy in the bloc.
UN refugee agency taking ‘precautionary measures’ amid US aid freeze
- The UNHCR said it did not yet have “specific information” about how the Trump administration’s decision would impact the agency
- The spokesperson said the precautionary measures being implemented “touch upon travel, workshops, supply procurement and the hiring of new colleagues“
GENEVA: The UN refugee agency said Wednesday that it was taking a string of temporary measures as it faces “funding uncertainty” following a US decision to freeze virtually all foreign aid.
“We have taken note of the decision by the new US administration to pause allocation of funds to foreign assistance programs,” a UNHCR spokesperson told AFP in an email.
“While we are still assessing the impact of the new US administration’s decision, including possible exceptions, we are implementing a series of temporary precautionary measures to mitigate the impact of this funding uncertainty.”
President Donald Trump on returning TO office last week ordered a 90-day pause to review assistance by the United States, the world’s largest foreign aid donor in dollar terms.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed up by freezing virtually all funding, though he specified exemptions for emergency food, as well as military assistance to Israel and Egypt.
In a follow-up memo on Tuesday after an outcry from aid groups, Rubio clarified that other “humanitarian assistance” besides food would also be exempt during the review period.
The UNHCR said it did not yet have “specific information” about how the Trump administration’s decision would impact the agency, which has long counted the United States as by far its biggest donor.
In 2024, the United States contributed $2.05 billion to the UNHCR’s total budget of over $10.6 billion.
The spokesperson said the precautionary measures being implemented “touch upon travel, workshops, supply procurement and the hiring of new colleagues.”
The UNHCR noted that it had “worked closely with the United States for decades.”
“We are looking forward to engaging actively and constructively with the US government as a trusted partner,” the spokesperson said.
“Our focus is to maximize the impact, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency of our operations around the globe, with the aim of saving lives, protecting families fleeing war and persecution, fostering stability in unstable places, advancing self-reliance, and reducing dependency on humanitarian aid.”
UNHCR is not the only UN agency feeling the burn.
The World Health Organization said last week that it was reviewing its priorities after Trump ordered the full withdrawal of the United States, traditionally the agency’s largest donor.
WHO was “freezing recruitment, except in the most critical areas” and was dramatically cutting back on travel expenditures, the organization’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a letter sent to staff on Thursday.
Tedros said the UN health agency hoped the new administration would reconsider its decision, noting that it was open to dialogue on preserving the relationship.
