BRUSSELS: NATO leaders plan to pledge next week to keep pouring arms and ammunition into Ukraine at current levels for at least another year, hoping to reassure the war-ravaged country of their ongoing support and show Russian President Vladimir Putin that they will not walk away.
US President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet in Washington for a three-day summit beginning Tuesday to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary as Russian troops press their advantage along Ukraine’s eastern front in the third year of the war.
Speaking to reporters Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO’s 32 member countries have been spending around 40 billion euros ($43 billion) each year on military equipment for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 and that this should be “a minimum baseline” going forward.
“I expect allies will decide at the summit to sustain this level within the next year,” Stoltenberg said. He said the amount would be shared among nations based on their economic growth and that the leaders will review the figure when they meet again in 2025.
NATO is desperate to do more for Ukraine but is struggling to find new ways. Already, NATO allies provide 99 percent of the military support it gets. Soon, the alliance will manage equipment deliveries. But two red lines remain: no NATO membership until the war is over, and no NATO boots on the ground there.
At their last summit, NATO leaders agreed to fast-track Ukraine’s membership process — although the country is unlikely to join for many years — and set up a high-level body for emergency consultations. Several countries promised more military equipment.
A year on, they want to put on a fresh display of unity and resolve, even as uncertainty over elections roils many of the organization’s biggest members. The possible return of Donald Trump, who undermined trust among the allies while he was the US president, is a particular concern.
But governments in France and Germany also were weakened in elections this year. Italy is led by a prime minister whose party has neo-fascist roots, while an anti-immigrant party heads a shaky coalition in the Netherlands and Spain’s Cabinet relies on small parties to rule. The UK will have a new leader.
Whoever might be in power though, it’s become clear that there’s not a lot more that NATO can do.
Lately, Stoltenberg has insisted on a long-term commitment to Ukraine. Major funding delays, notably due to political wrangling in the US Congress, have left the country’s armed forces, in his words, “to defend themselves with one hand tied on the back.”
He had hoped the allies would agree to spend at least 40 billion euros annually on weapons in a “major, multi-year” program. It does not mean an increase in support, though. The figure roughly equals what they have already spent each year since the war began.
One new initiative the leaders are likely to endorse is a mission to get the right military equipment into Ukraine and streamline training for its armed forces. In their haste to help, Western backers have inundated Ukraine with all kinds of weapons and materiel.
In the early chaos of war, anything was welcome, but the deliveries have become unmanageable — a multitude of different kinds of vehicles or defense systems that require distinct maintenance plans and dedicated supply chains to keep them running.
Offers of training programs outside Ukraine have also been abundant, indeed so prolific and different that its armed forces struggle to prioritize which troops to send, to what NATO country, and for how long.
“We’ve let a thousand flowers bloom,” conceded a senior US State Department official, but added that with a new mission, probably based in Wiesbaden, Germany, and under the likely leadership of a US general, “NATO can come in and say: We’ve got it.”
The official requested anonymity to discuss plans that had not been finalized.
Sending military equipment via this new mission would also prevent rogue governments or leaders from meddling with joint deliveries. NATO officials say the mission would complement the US-led effort to drum up arms, the so-called Ramstein group.
The US will announce new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities, according to a senior Biden administration official.
The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, declined to detail the air defense capabilities that would be sent. But the administration signaled last month that the US will rush delivery of air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations.
The official said members of the NATO-Ukraine Council would meet Thursday at the summit. Later that day, Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will host an event with leaders from nearly two dozen other nations who have negotiated and signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
A conundrum for NATO leaders is how to frame Ukraine’s membership prospects without letting it join. Many allies refuse to allow Ukraine in while fighting continues, concerned about being dragged into a wider war with Russia. Hungary opposes Ukraine’s membership altogether.
In the run-up to the summit, NATO envoys have been weighing the use of words such as “irreversible” to describe Ukraine’s path to membership as they tweak language that has shifted constantly since they promised in 2008 that the country would join one day.
It’s unclear how this will be accepted in Kyiv. At their last meeting, the leaders were noncommittal about timing, saying only that they would be “in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”
Zelensky described it as “unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.” He complained that “vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.”
In recent weeks, Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have been briefed on developments to avoid a repeat of the criticism. Stoltenberg said he and Zelensky agreed earlier this month that the new steps the leaders will take “constitute a bridge to NATO membership and a very strong package for Ukraine at the summit.”
Membership would protect Ukraine against a giant neighbor that annexed its Crimean Peninsula a decade ago and more recently seized vast swaths of land in the east and south. Before then, Kyiv must reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption.
NATO leaders will vow to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, but membership is off the table
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NATO leaders will vow to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, but membership is off the table
- Leaders hope to reassure Ukraine of their ongoing support and show Russia that they will not walk away
- Fears raised over decline in support for Ukraine as Russia-leaning politicians gain ground in their respective countries
UN: Taliban’s morality police contributing to a climate of fear among Afghans
- Taliban set up a ministry for the ‘propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’ after seizing power in 2021
- Ministry’s role expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction
The Taliban set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021.
Since then, the ministry has enforced decrees issued by the Taliban leadership that have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, like dress codes, segregated education and employment, and having a male guardian when they travel.
“The punishments attached to non-compliance with instructions and decrees are often arbitrary, severe and disproportionate,” said the report from the UN Mission in Afghanistan. “Sweeping bans with a discriminatory effect on women have been introduced. Human rights violations, as well as the unpredictability of enforcement measures, contribute to a climate of fear and intimidation among segments of the population.”
The mission said it documented at least 1,033 instances between August 2021 and March 2024 where ministry employees applied force during the implementation of orders, resulting in the violation of a person’s liberty, and physical and mental integrity.
“This includes the use of threats, arbitrary arrests and detentions, excessive use of force by de facto law enforcement officials and ill-treatment.” These instances mostly affected men, who were punished for allegedly violating Taliban orders or because their female relatives had breached them, according to the report.
It said the ministry’s role was expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction.
“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of UNAMA’s Human Rights Service.
The ministry rejected the UN report, calling its findings false and contradictory.
“Decrees and relevant legal documents are issued to reform society and should have their implementation ensured,” the ministry said.
The mission’s report comes a week after a Taliban delegation traveled to Qatar to attend a UN-sponsored meeting on increasing engagement with Afghanistan amid the country’s economic challenges and humanitarian crises.
That meeting sparked anger from rights groups and activists because it excluded Afghan women and civil society.
Six dead in Tokyo as Japan swelters in heatwave
TOKYO: Six people have died of heatstroke in Tokyo as Japan swelters under a rare rainy season heatwave, prompting authorities to issue a flurry of health warnings.
Over the weekend, the central Shizuoka region became the first in Japan to see the mercury reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) this year, far surpassing the 35-degree threshold classified by weather officials as “extremely hot.”
Such severe heat in the middle of Japan’s rainy season is “rather rare,” caused in part by a strong South Pacific high-pressure system, a weather agency official told AFP.
Temperatures also hit record highs near 40 degrees Celsius on Monday at observation posts in Tokyo and in the southern Wakayama region, according to local media.
The past few days have seen authorities issue heatstroke alerts in much of the country, urging residents to avoid exercising outside and to use air conditioning.
The capital logged three deaths linked to heatstroke on Saturday and three more on Monday, when the mercury hovered around 35 degrees Celsius at midday, according to the city’s medical examination office.
“Without the AC on, I find it difficult to survive,” Tokyo resident Sumiko Yamamoto, 75, told AFP, adding she feels “it’s gotten drastically hotter” since last year.
“Through the advice given on TV, I try to stay hydrated as much as possible. Because I’m old, I’m being careful not to collapse,” she said.
Heatstroke is particularly deadly in Japan, which has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco.
Yamamoto’s age puts her in the demographic flagged by health experts as particularly vulnerable to heatstroke, along with infants and those living alone or who are too poor to afford air conditioning.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine on Monday warned of the rising death toll from heat exhaustion nationwide, which grew from just a few hundred per year two decades ago to around 1,500 in 2022.
The sheer number of fatalities suggests that heatstroke now poses a danger on par with that of “a major natural disaster,” the group said, warning against non-essential outings.
Tokyo business executive Mikio Nakahara, 67, says the difference between Tokyo 50 years ago and now is stark.
“Tokyo wasn’t as hot as it is now,” he told AFP.
But these days, “I try to work remotely as much as possible so I don’t have to go outside.”
With ever-hotter summers becoming the norm around the world, tourists like Ainhoa Sanchez, 29, aren’t too surprised by Tokyo’s temperatures.
“So the plan is going sightseeing a little bit. Drinking a lot of liquids. Maybe when we get too hot, we can get into a shop, look around, chill a bit and then go back to the street,” she told AFP.
No oil, no food: Damaged pipeline piles misery on South Sudan
- The damaged pipeline was crucial for transporting South Sudan’s crude oil abroad, with petroleum exports traditionally accounting for about 90 percent of the impoverished country’s GDP
JUBA: At 75, Galiche Buwa has lived through civil wars, famine and natural disasters, but the South Sudanese widowed mother of four always managed to get by, thanks to her grocery business.
Now, however, even that standby is on shaky ground, as the oil-dependent nation’s economy reels from revenue losses following the rupture of a key pipeline in its war-torn neighbor Sudan in February.
The damaged pipeline was crucial for transporting South Sudan’s crude oil abroad, with petroleum exports traditionally accounting for about 90 percent of the impoverished country’s GDP.
The implications have been far-reaching, with inflation soaring as the value of the South Sudanese pound relative to the US dollar plunges on the black market, from 2,100 in March to 3,100 today.
The official rate slipped from around 1,100 in February to nearly 1,550 this month.
“Since the 1970s up to now I am still here, but these days we are suffering. Things are tough,” Buwa said as she glumly tended to her stall at the Konyo-Konyo market in the capital Juba.
“We are unable to buy stock, things are expensive... and prices keep rising every day,” she said, compelling her to purchase supplies on credit.
As wholesale costs shoot up, retail prices follow — a mug of maize sold by Buwa was worth 800 South Sudanese pounds in March, compared to 2,000 today, she said.
Teddy Aweye, a 28-year-old mother of two, said she was struggling to put food on the table, forcing her family to eat just one meal a day.
“You go to the market today, you get a price, and tomorrow you go back and you get a different price... I had to return home without buying anything,” Aweye told AFP.
“Life is really very difficult.”
It is a common refrain across Juba’s biggest market, where several traders told AFP they were racking up losses every day.
Abdulwahab Okwaki, a 61-year-old butcher, said his business was in crisis.
“A customer who used to (buy) one kilo is now taking half a kilo, and the one taking half a kilo now takes a quarter... and the one who was taking a quarter is not coming anymore,” he said.
The father of eight often loses money when he is unable to sell meat before it goes bad.
Many of his fellow butchers have simply quit, unable to make ends meet, he said.
Higher-end businesses have also taken a hit.
Harriet Gune, a 27-year-old entrepreneur, said her fashion boutique was losing customers.
“The more you increase prices for the items in the shop, the more you scare away clients,” she told AFP.
A pair of jeans that used to cost 25,000 South Sudanese pounds in March now sells for 35,000, she said, adding that she needed to raise prices “to be able to get enough money to order new stock.”
Even government officials are feeling the pinch.
In May, Finance Minister Awow Daniel Chuang told parliament that the government would struggle to pay salaries to lawmakers, military, police, civil servants and other officials because of a shortfall in revenues.
He said the country was losing about 70 percent of its oil revenues because of the pipeline rupture, which has affected exports of Nile blend crude and Dar blend crude.
“The production is only from Blocks 12, 14, and 58, which means there is only around 30 to 35 percent of the oil that is flowing,” he said.
South Sudan was in crisis even before the pipeline shutdown sent shock waves through its economy, with fears that long-anticipated elections, currently scheduled for December, will be delayed.
In addition to rampant corruption draining its coffers — with the ruling elite routinely accused of plunder — the country is very vulnerable to currency shocks, because it imports nearly everything, including agricultural produce.
The fighting in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023 has only exacerbated the situation, analysts say.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, forced millions to flee — including over 700,000 to South Sudan — and pushed Sudan to the brink of famine.
Economist and government adviser Abraham Maliet Mamer told AFP that South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011, needed to plan ahead to secure its future.
“Our country is suffering. We have less money, we have fewer services, and our security is a problem,” he said, urging the government to build refineries and pipelines through other nations.
“Sudan will never be the same again. Until we develop alternatives... we will be having issues,” he warned.
‘This poor, miserable life’: new Myanmar clashes turn town to rubble
- Kyaukme resident Kyaw Paing told AFP his home was damaged by a huge blast after he saw a military plane fly overhead
KYAUKME: Residents of Kyaukme in northern Myanmar are counting their dead and picking through rubble following fresh fighting that shredded a Beijing-brokered ceasefire between the junta and an alliance of armed ethnic groups.
Last week fighters from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) took control of the town of 30,000 — on the main trade route to China — in the latest setback for the military as it battles opponents across the country.
But air and artillery strikes, as well as rocket attacks, have gutted parts of the northern Shan State town, leaving buildings without roofs or windows, and residents desperate to flee.
Burned-out cars stood in front of one shattered four-story building, its corrugated roofing strewn about the streets.
TNLA soldiers in combat fatigues stood guard outside the police station, while others carried out patrols and checked vehicles.
Kyaukme resident Kyaw Paing told AFP his home was damaged by a huge blast after he saw a military plane fly overhead.
“Pieces of body — head, hands and legs — were scattered on my roof when the bomb hit some houses nearby,” he said.
“Seven people were killed here, and there was huge damage.
“I don’t want to live this poor, miserable life in the war... I feel so sad.”
Myanmar’s borderlands are home to myriad armed ethnic groups who have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 for autonomy and control of lucrative resources.
Some have given shelter and training to opponents of the military’s 2021 coup that ousted the government of Aung San Suu Kyi and plunged the country into turmoil.
In January, China brokered a ceasefire between the military and the “Three Brotherhood Alliance,” made up of the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the TNLA.
The truce ended an offensive launched last October by the alliance that seized a swath of territory in Shan state — including lucrative trade crossings to China — dealing the biggest blow to the junta since it seized power.
Other towns along the highway that runs from China’s Yunnan province to Myanmar’s second city of Mandalay have also been rocked by the fighting.
On Thursday TNLA fighters attacked Lashio, around 85 kilometers (50 miles) from Kyaukme, and home to the military’s northeastern command.
One Lashio resident who did not want to be named told AFP she heard artillery firing and airstrikes on Monday morning, but that the town had since been quiet, with some shops open.
A worker at Lashio’s bus station said there were long lines of vehicles queuing to leave, but traffic was slow because of damage to the road outside the town.
Local rescue workers say dozens of civilians have been killed in the latest clashes.
AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment, but the military has said some civilians were killed in shelling by the alliance.
Amid the new fighting, top general Soe Win traveled to China to discuss security cooperation in the border regions, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.
China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say Beijing also maintains ties with Myanmar’s armed ethnic groups holding territory near its border.
Ties between the junta and Beijing frayed in 2023 over the junta’s failure to crack down on online scam compounds in Myanmar’s borderlands targeting Chinese citizens.
Analysts suggest Beijing gave tacit approval to the October “Three Brotherhood” offensive, which the alliance said was launched partly to root out the scam compounds.
The threat of further military air strikes had caused many residents of Kyaukme to try to flee, although fuel is scarce and food prices are soaring.
“We don’t have extra money,” said Naung Naung, another resident.
“We have faced many difficulties — not only our family, but the whole town.
“All residents are very worried about how long this war will go on.”
Defiant Joe Biden throws down gauntlet to Democrats
- President dares Democratic critics to either challenge him at next month’s party convention in Chicago or back him against Donald Trump in November’s vote
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden insisted again Monday he would not quit the US election race, as the White House denied he had Parkinson’s disease following a disastrous debate performance.
The 81-year-old dared Democratic critics to either challenge him at next month’s party convention in Chicago or back him against Donald Trump in November’s vote.
The president lashed out in both a letter to Congress and a rare call to a television program, at the start of a critical week that includes a NATO summit in Washington where he will face fresh scrutiny.
“I am firmly committed to staying in the race,” Biden wrote in the letter.
“It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party and defeat Donald Trump,” he said. “It’s time for it to end.”
The embattled president followed up by phoning into MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” television program to say he was “getting so frustrated by the elites” in the party.
“Any of these guys that don’t think I should run — run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention,” he added.
Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet since the debate but he did speak out Monday on Fox News to say he thinks Biden will resist the pressure and stay in the race.
“He’s got an ego and he doesn’t want to quit,” Trump said in an interview with Sean Hannity.
But even as he doubled down, the pressure mounted on the oldest president in US history.
Congressman Adam Smith, the senior Democrat on the US House Armed Services Committee, became the sixth Democratic lawmaker to publicly say Biden should step aside.
“I think it’s become clear he’s not the best person to carry the Democratic message,” he told CNN.
Other senior Democrats voiced support for Biden, however.
“I made clear that day after the debate publicly that I support President Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket. My position has not changed,” House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN.
Biden’s blitz was a clear attempt to lay to rest the spiraling concerns over his health following the June 27 debate against Republican Trump, whom he trails in the polls.
During the debate, Biden repeatedly lost his train of thought, stared blankly and spoke at times incoherently and with a raspy voice. Biden has blamed jetlag and a cold.
The White House has also felt the pressure, with tense exchanges at a press briefing on Monday.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called for “respect” while journalists challenged her refusal to confirm reports that a Parkinson’s specialist visited the White House eight times.
The visits by Kevin Cannard, a neurologist from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where Biden receives his medicals, were recorded in publicly available visitor logs.
“Has the President been treated for Parkinson’s? No. Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No, he’s not. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No,” Jean-Pierre said.
On Monday night the White House went so far as to release a letter from Biden’s personal doctor, Kevin O’Connor, insisting that the president had not seen a neurologist outside his three annual medicals.
The White House also denied reports that NATO allies attending this week’s 75th-anniversary summit in Washington had shown concerns about Biden.
“We’re not picking up any signs of that from our allies at all,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
But NATO leaders have been seeking reassurance in any case amid polls forecasting a November victory for Trump.
The former president has long criticized the defense alliance, voiced admiration for Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, and insisted he could bring about a quick end to the war in Ukraine.
The NATO summit begins on Tuesday, the same day that Democrats, returning to Capitol Hill from a brief recess, hold a caucus meeting where Biden’s fate will be discussed.
The Democrat lags behind Trump in most polls even though his rival was recently convicted of a felony in a porn star hush money case.
