Month: February 2022

Western nations have threatened sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine. While leaders have given few details about exactly what measures they plan to take or precisely what Russian actions would trigger sanctions, they have promised to make any new sanctions more punishing than previous efforts. Here is a look at what the United States and European countries might be considering.

Technology

The White House has said it is considering imposing export controls on Russia, which would restrict Russia’s ability to obtain the integrated circuits necessary for a range of technologies including smartphones, televisions, aircraft avionics and machine tools. Such an action could include adding Russia to the most restrictive group of countries under export controls, which includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria. The United States imposed similar technology sanctions during the Cold War to limit Russia’s ability to make technological developments.

Banks

Sanctions already exist against some smaller Russian state-owned banks, imposed after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Western countries could consider toughening the existing sanctions or expanding the list of financial institutions facing curbs, including adding some private Russian banks. Sanctions could also target the state-backed Russian Direct Investment Fund, which invests in leading Russian companies.

Natural gas

The recently completed Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany has been considered for sanctions. The gas line is still awaiting final approval from Germany, and Berlin has come under pressure to deny its approval. Germany has indicated that it might consider not approving Nord Stream 2; however, Europe’s energy dependence on Russia makes it difficult to take this route.

The U.S. and the European Union already have sanctions in place in Russia’s energy sector, including those imposed on the state-owned gas company Gazprom. Future efforts could deepen those sanctions or increase the number of companies affected by them.

SWIFT

One of the toughest actions the United States and the EU could take against Russia is cutting Moscow out of the SWIFT financial system that is used by banks around the world. If such a move were made, Russia could not engage in most international financial transactions, including taking international profits from oil and gas production.

This action was considered but not taken when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Russia said at the time that being cut off from SWIFT would be equivalent to a declaration of war. Since then, Russia has tried to develop its own financial transfer system called SPFS, but that system has struggled to gain traction.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has expressed doubts about kicking Russia out of SWIFT, saying, “The toughest stick won’t always ultimately be the most intelligent sword.”

Dollar

Another possible strong financial measure against Russia would be blocking Russia’s access to the U.S. dollar. Without access to the U.S. banking system, Russian companies would find it difficult to conduct routine transactions and purchases. The United States could impose this sanction alone, without approval from other countries, unlike the SWIFT option. U.S. President Joe Biden has indicated to reporters that the United States is studying this option.

Bonds

The United States has already banned U.S. financial institutions from buying Russian government bonds directly from state institutions. Biden took the action over accusations that Russia interfered in the U.S. election. Further sanctions on Russian bond markets could ban secondary market trading.

Individuals

Governments often target specific individuals for sanctions, imposing travel restrictions and barring them from holding overseas assets. Citing data from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, The Associated Press reports that 735 Russian individuals are still under U.S. sanctions over Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The U.S. and British governments have threatened to sanction Moscow’s elite if Russia invades Ukraine again. Some U.S. lawmakers want the Biden administration to consider sanctioning Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics reported to be the girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The individuals we have identified are in or near the inner circles of the Kremlin and play a role in government decision-making or are at a minimum complicit in the Kremlin’s destabilizing behavior,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in late January.

Putin

Putin himself is also under consideration for targeted sanctions. U.S. lawmakers have proposed sanctions against the Russian president and Biden has said he would consider such measures. Moscow has said any sanctions against Putin would not hurt him personally but would be “politically destructive.”

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

 
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A giant, $500 million yacht reportedly being built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos faces a delivery problem: It may require dismantling a beloved, historic bridge in Rotterdam that is blocking its passage to the sea. 

Reports this week that the Dutch city had agreed to take apart the recently renovated Koningshaven Bridge, known locally as De Hef, sparked anger. On Facebook, locals are proposing to pelt the yacht with rotten eggs when it passes through. 

However, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb told The Associated Press on Friday that while a shipbuilder had requested a temporary dismantling of the bridge this summer, no permit has yet been sought or granted. 

Many Rotterdam residents are still concerned. 

“I think it’s easy to understand why it’s so controversial because this is a very beautiful, recently restored old bridge,” Lizette Touber said. “It really is our heritage. And I think that if the rich can pay for it to be opened, which normally nobody else could do, then you get controversy.” 

First a permit, then a decision

In a written statement, Aboutaleb, who is on a visit to Colombia, said that once a request for a permit was submitted. it would be assessed based on factors including economic impact, environmental nuisance and possible risks to the “monumental structure” of the bridge.  

“When the permit has been applied for, the municipality can make a decision about this, details can be further elaborated and a plan can be made in the event of a positive decision,” the statement said. 

The municipality declined to comment on who owns the yacht in question or identify the shipbuilder. An email sent to Amazon seeking comment went unanswered. A report by Bloomberg in May 2021 said the yacht was being built for Bezos by Oceanco at a cost of “upwards of $500 million.” 

The current Hef railway bridge was opened for trains to cross the Maas River in 1927 and taken out of service in 1993 when it was replaced by a tunnel. Public protests spared it from demolition, and it eventually underwent a three-year renovation that ended in 2017. The middle section of the bridge can be raised to allow ships to pass underneath, but apparently not high enough for the new yacht’s tall masts. 

Yeas, nays

Ton Wesselink, chairman of a Rotterdam historical society, feared that a decision to allow one yacht through the bridge could set a precedent for others. 

“The thing we don’t want is that this yacht issue will open the possibility for shipbuilders to use it the same way,” he said in an email to AP. 

But there were voices of support for the proposal. 

“I think it’s fine. Let Bezos pay a high price. It creates work. I only see upsides,” said Rotterdam resident Ria van den Vousten.  

“If it is paid for and everybody makes some money, don’t complain. Don’t talk, but act, as we say in Rotterdam,” she added. 
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Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO, the post-World War II alliance forged between a victorious America and the conflict-battered countries of Western Europe, has often been dubbed a Cold War relic. 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s favorite adjective for NATO on the campaign trial was “obsolete.” Two years ago, French President Emmanuel Macron declared the organization “brain-dead.” NATO was mocked by other critics as an alliance in search of a mission — ridicule fanned by Western alliance officials forever churning out strategic concept papers seeking to define the alliance’s post-Cold War purpose. 

No explanation now seems necessary about NATO’s mission, thanks to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who appears to have handed Western powers the opportunity to revive the Western alliance, according to Ian Bremmer, an American political scientist and founder of the Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm. 

“Putin single-handedly strengthening NATO,” Bremmer tweeted on the announcement that alliance members are placing more forces on standby and reinforcing Eastern European countries with more ships and warplanes in response to Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders in what historians say is the biggest deployment of forces since 1945. 

“So far, the primary geopolitical impact of Russian escalation of the Ukraine conflict has been to strengthen NATO,” he added. If one of Putin’s aims with the military build-up is to weaken the Western military alliance, it appears to be backfiring, Bremmer and others say. 

Transatlantic differences had long dogged NATO.  

“One can trace these differences back to the U.S. decision under President George W. Bush to invade Iraq, continued under President Barack Obama’s ‘nation-building at home’ and ‘pivot to Asia,’ and deepened under President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies,” noted Kurt Volker, a former American envoy to NATO, a year ago in a commentary entitled “Reviving NATO Won’t Be Easy.” 

On Russia, China and defense spending, the “United States and European allies have major, deeply embedded substantive interests and in some cases serious differences. Bridging them indeed requires a better tone. But it will also take Europe to adopt a more global and strategic approach than it has in recent years, or it will disappoint the Biden administration just as much as it did its predecessors,” Volker warned. 

What a difference a crisis makes! Despite disagreements over the tactics employed to deter Putin from any further military incursions into Ukraine — something Russian officials deny is being considered — many long-time NATO-watchers have praised Washington for what they say is a good job in keeping NATO allies united overall in response to Russia’s threats against Ukraine. 

Bremmer suspects this may have surprised the Russian leader.  

“Surely not what Putin expected given U.S. unilateralism in the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle,” he said, a reference to the Biden administration’s decision last year to exit Afghanistan in what some NATO allies considered a badly planned and premature evacuation. 

Like others, he thinks Putin may have reckoned there would be far more NATO divisions than have emerged so far, given not only lingering European frustrations over the Afghan withdrawal but also the retirement of the experienced Angela Merkel from German politics and French President Macron’s unpredictability and advocacy of a European Union-based defense alliance to supersede NATO. 

Benjamin Haddad, senior director of the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council, a research group in New York, told VOA recently, “Putin may think this is the right moment to act, with Germany going through a political transition and with France heading toward an election.” He added, “But I do think that would be a miscalculation.” 

Haddad has maintained since the beginning of the year that Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will “want to show to the Biden administration that Germany can be a good transatlantic partner,” despite serious splits within his governing coalition and his own Social Democrat Party. 

Last month some NATO members identified Germany as the weak link in the alliance, criticizing it for appearing not to share the same sense of urgency about Russian military threats displayed by the United States and neighboring European nations. 

There remain frustrations with Germany over its refusal to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, and to block others from supplying Kyiv with German-made military equipment. And Scholz, who is trying to balance his country’s membership in the Western alliance with its close ties to Russia, is still being criticized for his ambiguity over whether Berlin is prepared in the event of war to cancel the just-completed Nord Stream 2 under-sea pipeline, which will pump natural gas from Russia to Germany. 

But some NATO and EU officials say Scholz is increasingly being forced into line with the U.S. and other NATO countries because of Moscow’s increasingly bellicose language and aggressive behavior. 

Ursula von der Leyen, who is the European Commission president and a former German defense minister, underlined Thursday that Nord Stream 2 would have to be sanctioned if Russia invades. 

“Nord Stream 2 cannot be excluded from the sanctions list, that is very clear,” Von der Leyen said in an interview with the Handelsblatt and Les Echos newspapers. The commission president said the future of the pipeline, which is yet to receive regulatory approval in Berlin or Brussels, would depend “on Russia’s behavior.” 

On the core issues, NATO leaders are of one mind — they have stayed united in rejecting as non-starters the Russian demand that there be no further enlargement of the Western alliance, and they have all flatly refused to roll back the alliance’s military presence in the former Soviet satellite states of Central Europe. 

And they have all warned of severe consequences if the Kremlin decides to mount another attack on Ukraine in a repeat of 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and used armed proxies to seize a large part of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, bordering Russia. 

Russia’s military build-up has also revived talk in Finland and Sweden of joining NATO. 

Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, this year, reiterated his country’s right to join NATO if it decides to, a flat rejection of the Russian demand that NATO admit no new members. In a New Year address, the Finnish leader said, “Finland’s room to maneuver and freedom of choice also include the possibility of military alignment and of applying for NATO membership, should we ourselves so decide.” 

Former American diplomat Daniel Fried, who served as assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs and is a former ambassador to Poland, says while the instincts of European NATO members is one of alarm, he’s not getting the impression that the Europeans will cut and run and give Putin his way.  

“I’m just not getting that sense,” he said. 

“There would be a bigger impact if all NATO countries sent equipment to Ukraine, but it’s not that unusual for some member countries to do some things and others not,” said David Kramer, who was an assistant secretary of State in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. “There have been a number of NATO operations in which not all member states participated,” he added. 

Hans Kundnani, a director at Britain’s Chatham House, said, “It’s not necessarily a problem to have different parts of the coalition, as it were, different heads of government, trying different approaches to Russia. It’s not necessarily a problem if they’re coordinated.” 

 
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The White House dismissed a Friday meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the leaders unveiled a strategic alliance geared against the U.S.  

“What we have control over is our own relationships and the protection of our own values and also looking for ways to work with countries even where we disagree,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during her briefing.  

In the meeting, Xi endorsed Putin’s demands to end NATO expansion and get security guarantees from the West, issues that have led to Russia’s standoff with the United States and its allies over Ukraine. Meanwhile Moscow voiced its support for Beijing’s stance that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.   

The two leaders met at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday afternoon, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, hours before the beginning of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which diplomats from the U.S., Britain and other countries are boycotting over human rights abuses.  

The broadcaster did not provide details of the meeting, but Xi and Putin, both of whom have been criticized by the U.S. for their foreign and domestic policies, issued a joint statement underscoring their displeasure with “interference in the internal affairs” of other countries.  

The joint statement proclaimed a new China-Russia strategic “friendship” that “has no limits” and no “forbidden areas of cooperation.”  

Stacie Goddard, the Mildred Lane Kemper Professor of Political Science who teaches great power rivalries at Wellesley College, says the move is designed to counter Washington’s narrative that Moscow and Beijing are acting aggressively on Ukraine and Taiwan, by claiming that it is the U.S. that is interfering in their spheres of influence.  

“What they’re saying is that the United States is attempting to change the status quo,” Goddard told VOA. “They’re portraying themselves in many ways as standing up to a revisionist and aggressive United States.”   

Goddard added that in the past Beijing has been reluctant to appear to be acting directly in concert with Russia. “This is really a step towards making it clear, they are acting together,” she added.  

Escalating conflict 

China’s expressions of support for Russia comes as Moscow’s dispute with Ukraine threatens to escalate into armed conflict.     

On Thursday, a senior Biden administration official said the U.S. has information indicating that Russia has developed a plan to stage a false Ukrainian military attack on Russian territory and leverage it as a pretext for an attack against Ukraine.    

Fabricating a video of such an attack is one of several options the Kremlin is formulating to give it an excuse to invade Ukraine, the official said.   

“The video will be released to underscore a threat to Russia’s security and to underpin military operations,” said the official, who requested anonymity.   

“This video, if released, could provide Putin the spark he needs to initiate and justify military operations against Ukraine,” the official added.   

The official said the Biden administration is disclosing specifics about Russia’s alleged plans to “dissuade” Russia from carrying out such plans.    

In an interview Thursday with MSNBC, U.S. deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer said, “We don’t know definitively that this is the route they are going to take, but we know that this is an option under consideration.”  

NATO welcomes more US troops  

The Biden administration disclosed the intelligence after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday welcomed U.S. plans to deploy more troops to Europe and said NATO is considering sending additional battle groups to the southeastern part of its alliance amid tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border.    

The U.S. on Wednesday announced plans to dispatching 2,000 more troops to Europe, most of them to Poland, and move 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania to bolster NATO’s eastern flank countries.           

Stoltenberg told reporters that while NATO is preparing for the possibility that Russia may take military action, NATO remains ready to engage in “meaningful dialogue” and find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.  

 ”NATO continues to call on Russia to de-escalate. Any further Russian aggression would have severe consequences and carry a heavy price,” he said.     

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that the U.S. deployment is heightening tensions in the region.  

The United States and other Western allies have been preparing economic sanctions to level against Russia in hopes of persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back the more than 100,000 troops Russia has near the border with Ukraine. Russia has denied it plans to invade.     

Stoltenberg said Thursday there has been a “significant movement of Russian military forces into Belarus,” Ukraine’s northern neighbor, where they are taking part in joint military drills that began Thursday instead of later this month as originally planned.   

 ”This is the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War,” Stoltenberg said, referring to what he said were 30,000 troops, fighter jets and missile systems.     

Russia has not disclosed how many troops or the amount of military hardware it has in Belarus.    

Thursday’s exercises, which are expected to continue until February 20, involved live fire, according to images released by the Belarusian defense minister. They also showed fighter jets in the sky and tanks firing and maneuvering.  

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu witnessed the exercises after arriving in Minsk Thursday, and he also met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.   

Russia has demanded that NATO pull back troops and weapons deployed in eastern European member countries, and to make clear that Ukraine cannot join the 30-member military alliance.  

 NATO and Ukraine have rejected those demands, saying countries are free to pick their allies.     

But Stoltenberg said Thursday that NATO is ready to talk to Russia about relations between the two sides, and about risk reduction, increased transparency and arms control.     

EU plans united response   

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday the 27-nation bloc is planning a response to letters Russia sent earlier this week to several EU members about its demand for security guarantees.  

During a visit to Helsinki, von der Leyen told reporters, “We are united in the European Union and therefore it is clear that the response will mirror, will reflect that unity.”  

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday he welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s offer to mediate the crisis and to host peace negotiations. Zelenskiy’s comments came after the two leaders signed a free trade deal and other agreements while meeting in Kyiv.     

Erdogan previously suggested Turkey, a NATO member that also has good relations with Russia, could act as a mediator.   

Erdogan’s visit to Ukraine is the latest in a series of visits to Kyiv by world leaders and diplomats to show support for Ukraine and try to advance a peaceful resolution to the crisis.   

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  

 
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East of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, people in the city of Dnipro are on the doorstep of a possible Russian invasion. Most of the residents are native Russian speakers and identify with Russian culture. Ricardo Marquina traveled to the city to report for VOA on what the tensions have meant for them. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates his story.

Camera: Ricardo Marquina, Pablo Gonzalez
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Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen Friday signed a new law requiring those ages 18 and older to get vaccinated for COVID-19, making the country the first in Europe to introduce a national vaccine mandate.

Under the new law, which takes effect the middle of next month, people who cannot show proof of vaccination will face initial fines of $680, which could increase to more than $4,100.  The Austrian Health Ministry says there are exemptions for pregnant women and people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. 

Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center reports at least 76 percent of Austria’s population is already fully vaccinated.

The measure comes into law as many European nations such as Demark, Sweden and France are relaxing or ending their COVID-19 restrictions altogether. Spain is set to end its outdoor mask-wearing mandate next week.  An indoor mask mandate is expected to remain in effect.  

Meanwhile, in Japan, the Kyodo news agency reports the nation’s daily COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 for the first time late Thursday as the country struggles to contain a sixth wave of infections, driven by the omicron variant of the virus.

The cumulative total of coronavirus cases in Japan had topped 3 million as of Thursday, according to a Kyodo News tally based on local government data. Seriously ill patients climbed by 131 to 1,042 cases from the day before, the health ministry said, the highest since September when the delta variant drove a fifth wave of cases.

Most regions are now under infection control measures to try to blunt the spread of omicron, which has exploded among a population where less than 5% have received vaccine booster shots.

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

 
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Ukraine Thursday saw the countries deepen their defense industry cooperation. The growing ties come in the face of Moscow’s criticism as Russian forces continue to mass on the Ukrainian border.

After signing eight agreements with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared that the defense and aviation industries were the main driving forces behind the country’s strategic partnership.

During Erdogan’s Kyiv visit, a commitment was made to expand the production of Turkish drones in Ukraine and to construct a drone pilot training center and factory.

Moscow has vehemently criticized Ankara’s sale of Turkish drones to Ukraine, which were used in October against Russian-backed rebels in the Donbas region. But Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council, says Turkey is also a big winner because of its deepening relationship with Ukraine.

“Turkey does sell drones to Ukraine, that is true, even at the risk of angering [Russian President] Vladimir Putin sometimes,” said Aydintasbas. “But it also gets very significant know-how from the Ukrainian defense industry, particularly on how to make engines. This is one thing Turkey’s very ambitious defense industry lacks, whereas Ukraine was an important production base during Soviet times.”

Ukraine is a world leader in military-engine production, from powering drones to jet engines to missiles, a legacy of the time when Ukraine was part of the former Soviet Union, says Petro Burkovskiy, a senior fellow at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation in Kyiv. Burkovskiy says accessing that expertise has become a center of an international power struggle.

“We have a huge factory, which during Soviet times and after the collapse of the Soviet [Union], supplied engines. The Chinese tried to buy this factory, and this contract was frozen by Ukrainians, and also the United States objected because it would increase the military capabilities of China,” said Burkovskiy. “The same plant is the key partner in this Turkish-Ukrainian venture to develop the drones and supply engines to the drones.”

Turkey also is seeking engine expertise in developing its own fighter jet and jet-powered drones. A prominent Turkish military helicopter deal collapsed recently with Pakistan over restrictions by Washington on the use of American engines. Defense analyst Arda Mevlutoglu says Ankara now sees Ukraine as an essential alternative to traditional western military suppliers.

“Turkey tries to diversify its sources because traditionally, Turkish defense manufacturers have been reliant on the United States and European manufacturers. But mainly due to do political relations and sanctions, Turkey has been facing problems procuring technology and components from western countries,” said Mevlutoglu. “Therefore, these factors make Ukraine a very important alternative compared to European and Unified States manufacturers.”

Turkey’s deepening cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry continues to draw criticism from Russia. For now, though, Ankara appears more than ready to pay that price for access to Ukraine’s expertise.
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Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom, an 11-year National Basketball Association (NBA) veteran, is known for his activism both on and off the court. A devout Muslim, he’s a prominent critic of the government of his native Turkey and the Chinese Communist Party. Turkey revoked his passport in 2017 and jailed his father, who was released in 2020. On Chinese search engines the 6-foot-10-inch basketball player’s name brings up no results since he began opposing Beijing’s alleged mistreatment of the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, in Xinjiang.  China denies the allegations of human rights violations, but Kanter comes up as “player No. 13” in searches for the Celtics scoring table.

VOA Mandarin spoke with the Swiss-born, Turkish-raised NBA player last month in Boston. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: Mr. Freedom, you have a unique last name. What does it mean to you, since it’s your name of choice and not from your parents?

A: I remember my first time coming to America in 2009, I came here to play basketball and go to school at the same time. I remember we were in the locker room and one of my teammates criticized the president of America. And I was very scared for him because I thought that he was going to be thrown in jail.

I even asked him … ‘Hey, you know … aren’t you scared?’ He turned around and laughed and said, ‘This is not Turkey.’ And he tried to explain to me a little bit about what freedom of speech means. I was still very shocked and amazed at the same time, and I researched, and I found out that not every country in the world is like Turkey.

And that’s why I wanted to make that word part of me and carry it everywhere I go. I also want all the young kids out there, NBA fans, sports fans out there, to just research about what freedom means and (that’s) why I chose that last name. 

Q: Recently former NBA star Yao Ming invited you to visit China. You accepted his invitation and invited him to visit labor camps with you. Do you think that Yao Ming will come along,  and will (Chinese President) Xi Jinping give you a visa?

A: I really wanted to go, and I wanted to go see. But I told him, ‘I don’t want propaganda. I don’t want a luxury tour of China. I want to see the real China and show the whole world what’s going on over there.’ I said that if I’m coming to China, let’s go visit (Uyghur) labor camps in Xinjiang, let’s go visit Tibet together. Let’s go visit Hong Kong. And after that, we can fly to Taiwan and see what democracy means.

And obviously, after I posted that video, I was very shocked that he (Yao Ming) blocked me on Instagram. I even put a tweet out and said, ‘That’s what the little kids do.’ I think what I will say to Yao Ming is: ‘Stop being a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party. Stop being a mouthpiece of Communist Party and Xi Jinping, if you want to have a real conversation, you know where I live. Just come here and we can have a conversation.’

Q: When people search Enes Kanter Freedom using Chinese search engines, there’re no results. It’s as if you don’t exist. What is your response to that?

A: Well, I’m actually kind of used to this. You know in Turkey, they ban my Twitter account, they censor all my basketball games in the whole country, and they censor my name because they’re scared. They know that I’m exposing them. And now when I saw that the Chinese government is doing the same thing, it actually gave me extra motivation because I know whatever I’m doing is right. Whatever I’m doing is really scaring them.

Q: Does being outspoken on human rights issues make any difference in your life as an NBA star? Have you faced pressure from (Celtics) management, the league, or the sponsors?

A: I remember the first time I put my ‘Free Tibet’ shoes on my feet. There were two gentlemen from the NBA and they came to me on the bench right before the game, and told me that ‘We are begging you take those shoes off.’ And I asked, ‘Am I breaking any rules?’ They said no. Then I told them, ‘Go tell your boss, whoever it is, (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver, the Celtics owner, and whoever you’re talking to, I’m not taking my shoes off. I don’t care if I get banned or if I get fined.’  And they said OK.

That game was right before my citizenship test, and I was getting ready for it. There are 27 amendments, and my First Amendment (right) is freedom of speech. I didn’t want them to take that away from me.

Q:  Being a basketball player and an activist at the same time, does it get a little bit overwhelming sometimes?

A: It could get overwhelming, yes. But at the end of the day knowing that you’re doing this for innocent people will always give you extra hope and motivation. Everyone thinks I’m a basketball player. Yes, I am a basketball player, but I think what I’m doing is bigger than basketball.

I want to make this very clear: I don’t do politics. Some people say that: stay away from politics, focus on basketball.  But there’s a big difference between politics and human rights.

I never said vote for this guy, don’t vote for this guy. I always say we need to free political prisoners, we need to have human rights, we need to have freedom of speech, we need to bring awareness to countries like Taiwan or Ukraine. So I feel like this is bigger than basketball.  

 
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A senior U.S. delegation visited Lithuania this week in a show of support for the Baltic state in its growing dispute with China involving Taiwan.

Beijing effectively blocked imports of Lithuanian goods last month after Taiwan was allowed to open a representative office in the capital, Vilnius. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory. The dispute has rapidly escalated into a trade tussle between the West and Beijing.

Jose W. Fernandez, undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, met Lithuanian government ministers in a visit described by the U.S. State Department as showing “continuing strong support for Lithuania in the face of political pressure and economic coercion from the People’s Republic of China.” The two sides discussed the implementation of a $600 million agreement on boosting trade.

Lithuania welcomed the intervention. “We permanently feel U.S. strong political and practical support in our dispute with China over its systemic violations of international trade rules,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

Taiwan

The dispute began in 2020 when Lithuania’s new government pledged to support what it called “freedom fighters” in Taiwan and criticized Beijing’s human rights record in Hong Kong and Tibet.

In May 2021, Lithuanian lawmakers approved a resolution that described China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority as “genocide.” China has rejected such accusations.

In November of last year, Taiwan officially opened the representative office in Vilnius. Its director, Eric Huang, said the goal was the “strengthening of [the] bilateral relationship comprehensively between Taiwan and Lithuania.”

Lithuania said the opening did not affect its policy toward China or imply any official recognition of Taiwan as independent from Beijing. The move, however, stoked fury in Beijing.

“From the perspective of Beijing, it’s crossing a line, a real red line on how they approach Taiwan. And this is what led later to Beijing downgrading its embassy in Lithuania,” Grzegorz Stec of the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies said in a recent interview with VOA.

Import blockade

In December, China effectively blocked Lithuanian imports by delisting it as a country of origin, meaning goods can’t clear Chinese customs, while pressing multinational businesses to sever ties with the Baltic country.

“And that works not only in some cases for goods that are produced in Lithuania but also goods that include in their supply chain components produced in Lithuania. Also, the European exports that have been transited through Lithuanian ports, they have also been affected,” Stec said.

EU challenge

The European Union accuses China of threatening the integrity of its single market and has launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization.

“We are stepping forward to defend the EU’s rights,” EU Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters January 27.

“Since December 1, Chinese customs are banning Lithuanian imports from the Chinese market. … Chinese companies are canceling orders from Lithuania. China is also cutting its exports to Lithuania. Moreover, China is putting pressure on international companies to abandon the use of Lithuanian components in their production,” Dombrovskis said.

It likely will take years for the WTO challenge to be resolved. In the meantime, the EU is working on legal instruments to counter coercive practices.

“This could include really targeting or restricting access for companies from a specific country from the single market. Right now, we don’t really have a clear instrument for doing that,” Stec told VOA.

Lithuanian lifeline

The Taiwan government has offered Lithuania a $1 billion credit program and a separate $200 million fund to boost trade. Lithuania has donated hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan.

The United States has also stepped in to make up the shortfall caused by China’s blockade. The U.S. Export-Import Bank signed a $600 million export credit agreement with Lithuania, focusing on manufacturing, business services and renewable energy.

But it’s not just about money, Stec said. “Symbolic involvement [by the U.S.] of course supports Lithuania by showing that it’s not isolated in its moves. At the same time, it also makes it harder to unravel the situation because it once again puts it in the spotlight.”

U.S. officials also held talks in Brussels on joint measures to tackle economic coercion.

‘Betrayal’

China, meanwhile, accuses Lithuania of “betrayal.”

“The issue between China and Lithuania is a bilateral issue between China and Lithuania, not between China and Europe. We urge Lithuania to correct its mistakes immediately, and not act as a pawn of Taiwan independence separatist and anti-China forces. We also remind the EU to distinguish right from wrong and be alert to Lithuania’s attempts to hijack China-EU relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters January 27.
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A U.S. delegation visited Lithuania this week to show support for the Baltic state in its growing dispute with China over Taiwan. Beijing has blocked imports of Lithuanian goods, and as Henry Ridgwell reports, it has escalated into a trade tussle.

Producer: Mary Cieslak. Camera: Henry Ridgwell.
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With tensions between Russia and Ukraine ratcheting up, some former diplomats and Kremlin watchers are debating the effectiveness of any sanctions imposed on Moscow should it invade its neighbor to the west.  

Britain’s former ambassador to Russia, Tony Brenton, has long doubted the efficacy of sanctions, saying they “don’t work on Russia.”  

Brenton has argued “Russia just becomes even more obdurate.” And some critics of sanctions say Russia has been readying itself to withstand more Western penalties — from cutting back using dollars to boosting foreign currency reserves and trimming budgets. Russia has a current account surplus of seven percent of GDP and $638 billion in foreign reserves. 

Russian business has also become adept at import substitution and its major banks are well-funded, they say. 

Others think sanctions can work if they are sufficiently ruthless, adding that the Kremlin needs to be left in no doubt how biting they will be this time around. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders hope that by raising the price of war for Russia, President Vladimir Putin will be deterred, and they have maintained a steady drumbeat of warnings in recent weeks, saying a further Russian invasion of Ukraine will trigger the harshest economic sanctions ever seen. 

New sanctions would also target Russian companies and oligarchs close to the Russian president, Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned this week. 

“The individuals we have identified are in or near the inner circles of the Kremlin and play a role in government decision making or are at a minimum, complicit in the Kremlin’s destabilizing behavior,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington. 

Russian officials have been dismissive of the warnings. “It’s not often you see or hear such direct threats to attack business,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a news conference this week in the Russian capital. 

And Peskov promised a significant response that would hurt Western businesses if Russia is sanctioned again. “An attack by a given country on Russian business implies retaliatory measures, and these measures will be formulated based on our interests, if necessary,” he added. 

The diplomatic exchanges over sanctions come amid escalating tensions over Russia’s troop buildup on the border with Ukraine. Russia’s troop presence marks the biggest military buildup Europe has seen since the end of the Cold War. 

The United States accuses Russia of preparing an invasion, which Moscow has repeatedly denied, accusing Western powers of causing alarm. 

There has long been a debate about the effectiveness of sanctions, including among some who were in Biden’s inner foreign policy circle before joining the administration. 

Victoria Nuland, now a top official at the State Department, questioned more than a year ago whether sanctions actually work and argued their use against Moscow needed to be rethought. In Foreign Affairs magazine, she wrote, “U.S. and allied sanctions, although initially painful, have grown leaky or impotent with overuse and no longer impress the Kremlin.” 

U.S. officials last year said Biden intended to review the sanctions already imposed on Russia. Some officials say the aim is to readjust the sanctions to increase their immediate impact, as part of an effort to fashion a more rounded and consistent Western strategy toward Russia — one that aligns military, economic, energy, diplomatic and communications policies. Whether an actual review ever took place or whether events overtook a review is not clear. 

Kremlin officials have long downplayed the impact of the Western sanctions that began to be imposed in retaliation for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, apparently hoping to persuade Western governments to abandon them on the grounds that they don’t work. 

Aside from sanctions for the Crimea annexation and seizure of part of Ukraine’s Donbass region, Western governments have implemented penalties in response to malicious cyber activities they blame on the Kremlin. Sanctions also have been imposed for alleged human rights abuses and for the March 2018 nerve agent poisoning in Britain of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter. 

Some sanctions have been broad economic ones. Others have targeted individuals. 

Part of Moscow’s line has been that sanctions are hurting Western countries more than Russia, a position often echoed and amplified by business interests in the West. While the Kremlin has downplayed the significance of the penalties, it also has railed against them and maintained that they should be lifted, saying they amount to “interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.” 

That may suggest sanctions have been more troublesome for Russia than the Kremlin is willing to admit, according to David Kramer, a former assistant secretary of state in the administration of President George W. Bush. “If you look at all the efforts and time and energy the Kremlin has spent on trying to get sanctions lifted, then that would indicate that the Russians feel they have had an impact,” he told VOA recently. 

Kramer suspects Russia might have been tempted to encroach further into Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 had the West not imposed sanctions. This time round, though, he’s worried that the sanctions being contemplated won’t in the end be tough enough. 

“I am worried that there is not complete agreement on the range of sanctions,” he told VOA. “It’s difficult to get agreement among 27 EU member states, and that’s why, while U.S.-EU unity is preferable, it’s sometimes necessary for the U.S., possibly with the UK and Canada, to go ahead on its own rather than settle for the lowest common denominator,” he said. 

“U.S. sanctions are extraterritorial in nature and can have significant impact, especially if we target their banking and energy sectors, as well as Putin and the circle immediately around him, as proposed in recent congressional legislation,” he added.   

Some Kremlin watchers question whether targeting high-profile individuals, from oligarchs to government officials, has much of an effect aside from symbolism, arguing sanctioned individuals are compensated by the Kremlin for their losses and are not going to lobby Putin to modify or alter his policies as their status and wealth depend on their loyalty to him. 

They say sanctions need to be broad-based and impact key companies in Russia’s important energy, defense and financial sectors. Edward Fishman, a former member of the U.S. secretary of state’s policy planning staff, has long maintained the penalties imposed on Putin’s Russia in the past were watered down because U.S. allies were reluctant to suffer blowback economic costs and wanted to reduce harm to ordinary Russians. 

“To change Putin’s behavior, you need to ratchet up sanctions on companies in the energy, defense and financial sectors — that would more likely force the Kremlin to shift its calculus,” he told VOA recently. “The scale of sanctions has to be much greater to prompt a change in behavior.”   
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Moscow Closes German Broadcaster’s Russian Operations in Retaliatory Move

MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Russia said Thursday it is shutting down the operations of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in Moscow and stripping its staff of their accreditation in a retaliatory move after Berlin banned Russian broadcaster RT DE.

Moscow said it would stop the German channel being broadcast in Russia and start proceedings that would see it declared a “foreign agent,” a designation that carries a negative Soviet-era connotation.

The Russian foreign ministry said it also would bar entry to Russia for German officials involved in the move to ban RT DE.

State-funded Deutsche Welle said it formally protested the move and would take legal action. “We are being made a pawn here in a way that media only have to experience in autocracies,” Deutsche Welle Director Peter Limbourg said in a statement.

Hendrik Wuest, premier of North Rhine-Westfalia state where Deutsche Welle is headquartered, called Russia’s action “a massive and deliberate attack on the freedom of press, which we strongly condemn.”

The row comes amid wider tensions with the West over Ukraine that are an early test of political relations between Berlin and Moscow after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took office in December.

The Kremlin said earlier on Thursday that a trip by Scholz to Moscow was on the agenda, but that a date was not yet confirmed.

German journalist association DJV called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to immediately lift the ban on Deutsche Welle.

“There is no justification for this drastic censorship measure,” said DJV chair Frank Ueberall in a statement, calling the move “cheap tit for tat.”

Ueberall also called on the German government to protest the Russian move clearly and in a way that cannot be ignored.

Germany’s MABB media watchdog and Commission for Licensing and Supervision (ZAK) of media institutions said this week that RT DE could not broadcast in Germany using a Serbian license, a decision that angered Russia.

In a statement on its website detailing its retaliatory measures, Russia’s foreign ministry described the German move as “unfriendly.”

The announcement comes amid a crackdown on media outlets that Russia considers “foreign agents.” It uses the term to designate foreign-funded organizations it says are engaged in political activity.

 
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The World Health Organization’s European region director says that while COVID-19 cases on the continent continue to rise, he sees a plausible endgame for the pandemic in Europe in coming months.

Speaking during his weekly virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, WHO Europe Region Director Hans Kluge told reporters the region recorded 12 million cases in the past week, the highest weekly case incidence since the start of the pandemic, largely driven by the omicron variant.

But Kluge said, while hospitalizations continue to rise – mainly in countries with lower vaccination rates — they have not risen as fast as the rate of new infection, and admissions to intensive care units have not increased significantly. Meanwhile, deaths from COVID-19 have remained steady.

Kluge said the pandemic is far from over, but, for the first time, he sees what he called an opportunity to take control of transmission of disease because of the presence of three factors: an ample supply of vaccine plus immunity derived from a large number of people having had COVID-19; the favorable change of the seasons as the region moves out of winter; and the now-established lower severity of the omicron variant.

The WHO regional director said those factors present the possibility of “a long period of tranquility” and a much higher level of population defense against any resurgence in transmission, even with the more virulent omicron variant.

Kluge called it “a cease-fire that could bring us enduring peace,” but only if nations continue vaccinating and boosting, focusing on the most vulnerable populations, and people continue “self-protecting behavior,” such as masking and social distancing, though he added, “with lower governmental oversight to limit unnecessary socio-economic impacts.”

More nations in Europe are scaling back or removing government-imposed COVID-19-related restrictions.

Kluge said officials need to intensify surveillance to detect new variants. He said new strains are inevitable, but he believes it is possible to respond to them without the disruptive measures that were needed early in the pandemic.

Some information in this report came from the Associated Press.
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