Russia warned earlier this week that oil prices could shoot up to over $300 per barrel if the United States and European Union banned imports of crude from Russia….reports Asian Lite News
Russia warned the West on Wednesday that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West’s most sensitive areas.
Russia’s economy has been facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the West imposed crippling sanctions on almost the entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion.
Pic credits Twitter@potus
Russia warned earlier this week that oil prices could shoot up to over $300 per barrel if the United States and European Union banned imports of crude from Russia.
Russia says Europe consumes about 500 million tonnes of oil a year. Russia supplies around 30% of that, or 150 million tonnes, as well as 80 million tonnes of petrochemicals.
Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and the United States and its European and Asian allies have condemned the Russian invasion.
China, the world’s second largest economy, has called for restraint but President Xi Jinping has cautioned that sanctions will slow down the world economy.
“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” said US official…reports Asian Lite News
The Pentagon has rejected Poland’s offer to give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine, in a rare public display of disharmony by NATO allies seeking to boost Ukrainian fighters while avoiding getting caught up in a wider war with Russia.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Poland’s proposal earlier Tuesday to deliver the jets to the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany raised the concerning prospect of jets departing from a US and NATO base to fly into airspace contested with Russia in the Ukraine war.
“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Kirby said in a statement.
“It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it,” he said.
Any decision to provide the MiGs would be a morale booster for Ukraine as Russian attacks on its cities deepen the humanitarian catastrophe. But it also would raise the risks of a wider war.
One senior US diplomat said Poland’s announcement came as a surprise.
“To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us that they plan to get these planes to us,” said US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, who told lawmakers she learned of the proposal as she was driving to testify about the Ukraine crisis before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Ukraine has been pleading for more warplanes and Washington has been looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Ukraine with the Mig29s and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss. Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly the Soviet-era fighter jets.
The Polish Foreign Ministry announced the plan in a statement, which said the jets would be delivered to Ramstein free of charge.
“At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” it said.
The Polish government also appealed to other owners of MIG-29 jets to follow suit.
Former Soviet-bloc NATO members Bulgaria and Slovakia also still have Soviet-made fighter jets in their air forces.
Poland’s decision to publicly float its plan came the day before Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to depart for Warsaw for talks with Polish officials. The disconnect is likely to cast an awkward layer to the talks, which were expected to focus largely on US efforts to help Poland and other eastern European nations that have taken in some 2 million refugees since the war started less than two weeks ago.
The handover of Poland’s 28 Soviet-made MiG-29s would signal Western resolve to do more to deter Russia. Militarily, it would be unlikely to be a game-changer. The number of aircraft is relatively small. The MiG-29s also are inferior to more sophisticated Russian aircraft and could be easy prey for Russian pilots and Russian missiles.
Russia has warned that supporting Ukraine’s air force would be seen in Moscow as participating in the conflict and open up suppliers to possible retaliation.
It would also weaken Poland’s own air force at a time of heightened danger in Eastern Europe.
A transfer of the MiGs to Ukraine is fraught with complications as neither NATO nor the European Union want to be seen as directly involved in the transaction, which will significantly raise already extreme tensions with Russia. The US has no plan to directly transfer the planes to Ukraine.
In order to maintain the pretense that NATO and the EU are not direct participants in the Ukraine conflict, US and Polish officials have been considering a variety of options. One begins with the “donation” of Poland’s MiGs to the United States, as Poland announced on Tuesday.
Under one scenario that has been floated, Poland would deliver the fighter jets to the US base in Germany, where they would be repainted and flown to a non-NATO, non-European Union country. Ukrainian pilots would then come to fly them to Ukraine, under that proposal.
No country has been publicly identified as a transit point, but Kosovo, a non-aligned country that is very friendly with the United States, has been mentioned as one of several nations that might be willing to serve as a middleman.
Poland had been asking for the US to provide it with F-16 fighter jets to replace the MiGs.
F-16 production is backlogged, however, and the next recipient in line for new deliveries is Taiwan, which is facing renewed threats from China and has strong support from both parties in Congress.
In its statement, the Polish government specifically asked for “used” planes, a distinction that would allow the Biden administration to bypass congressional opposition to making Taiwan wait to receive its F-16s.
Earlier Tuesday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said his country would stand by Poland if it handed over the jets, noting that it could face the “direct consequence” of its decision.
“And so we would protect Poland, we’ll help them with anything that they need,” Wallace said on Sky News.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said any decision about delivering offensive weapons must be made unanimously by NATO members.
“This is why we are able to give all of our fleet of jet fighters to Ramstein, but we are not ready to make any moves on our own because … we are not a party to this war,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he believed the aid that Congress hopes to approve later this week for Ukraine will include loan guarantees to help NATO allies replenish their air forces after giving MiGs to Ukraine.
During the special operation, the Russian Armed Forces “revealed the facts of an emergency cleansing by the Kiev regime of traces of the military biological programme,”..reports Asian Lite News
Russian Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov said that the US is afraid of confirmation of the facts of violation of the convention on the prohibition of biological weapons in Ukraine, RT reported.
Earlier, Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that the US is trying to prevent Russian forces from getting research materials from biological laboratories in Ukraine. This was stated by Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
“Ukraine has facilities for biological research. We are concerned that Russian troops may try to take control of them, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how to prevent any of these research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces,” RIA Novosti quoted her as saying.
“Statements by a representative of the State Department indicate that the US is afraid that the pathogens stored at these facilities will fall into the hands of Russian experts. In this case, the violation by Ukraine and the US of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons will be confirmed,” Antonov said, his words quoted by the embassy, RT reported.
During the special operation, the Russian Armed Forces “revealed the facts of an emergency cleansing by the Kiev regime of traces of the military biological programme,” he said.
“There is information about the destruction of especially dangerous pathogens: the causative agents of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases,” Antonov said.
Russia earlier said that more than 30 laboratories in Lviv, Kharkov and Poltava were working with dangerous infectious agents as part of the US-led military biological programme.
The topic of her discussions will “be what more the UK and the US can do to support Ukraine on security, intelligence and humanitarian issues,”…reports Asian Lite News
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will hold talks in the US on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as members of the Congress.
“The UK, the US and our allies have shown remarkable strength and unity in supporting Ukraine and imposing severe sanctions on Russia. We need to maintain that unity and do more to ensure Pussian President Vladimir Putin fails in Ukraine,” she said in a statement ahead of her trip as reported by the BBC.
“The Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for free democracies.”
The topic of her discussions will “be what more the UK and the US can do to support Ukraine on security, intelligence and humanitarian issues,” her office said.
The move to ban imports from Russia is seen as a support to war-torn Ukraine….reports Asian Lite News
The US on Tuesday banned all oil and gas imports from Russia, President Joe Biden said in a Twitter post.
“Today, I’m announcing that the United States is targeting a main artery of Russia’s economy. We are banning all imports of Russian oil and gas,” he tweeted.
The move to ban imports from Russia is seen as a support to war-torn Ukraine.
In another tweet, Biden said that Americans have rallied to support the people of Ukraine and made it clear that the country will not be part of subsidising Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
“This decision today is not without costs here at home. Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the pump — and this will drive up costs further. So, I will take every step we can to minimise Putin’s price hike here at home,” Biden said.
Separately, the US has already announced a collective release of 60 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserves of the US and its partners. Half of the strategic reserves will come from the US.
“We’re taking steps to ensure a reliable supply of global energy. And we’re going to keep working with every tool at our disposal to protect American families and businesses,” Biden said.
,” India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu
Over the past few years, green growth and combating climate change has emerged as one of the core pillars of the India-US relationship….reports Asian Lite News
The relationship between India and the United States will be an important pillar in realising a greener and sustainable future for the world, according to New Delhi’s top envoy here. India is expected to witness the largest increase in energy demand of any country by 2040. To meet growth in electricity demand over the next 20 years, India will need to add a power system the size of the European Union to what it has now.
“India’s partnership with the United States will be an important pillar in realising a greener and sustainable future for the world,” India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, wrote in an op-ed published by the Newsweek magazine on Monday. “In their national and international efforts to advance climate action, India and the US have been working closely at the bilateral, plurilateral and global levels,” Sandhu wrote.
“In April 2021, India and the US launched the Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership, with two main tracks—the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue,” he said. Through these measures, the two countries seek to mobilise finance and accelerate clean energy deployment, demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies and build capacities, he added.
As India transitions to gas-based fuels, it is now the fifth-largest market for US LNG, he said, adding that through the India-US Low Emissions Gas Task Force, industries of both countries have forged commercial partnerships. “India and the US are exploring collaboration in advanced high-efficiency coal technologies with low-to-zero emissions through carbon capture, utilisation and storage. Research and development cooperation for solar cell manufacturing and storage is in progress,” he said.
Sandhu wrote that the US financial institutions have announced credit guarantees for India’s small and medium enterprise (SME) sector to deploy rooftop solar capacity. “The two countries have also launched the India-US Hydrogen Task Force looking at issues ranging from sustainable production of hydrogen to its safe deployment. Use of artificial intelligence models in integrating renewable energy and stabilising power grids offers yet another avenue for cooperation,” he wrote.
Over the past few years, green growth and combating climate change has emerged as one of the core pillars of the India-US relationship.
India has set for itself ambitious clean and renewable energy goals. In terms of installed capacity, India is the 4th largest in renewable energy; 4th largest in wind power; and 5th largest in solar power.It has taken lead at international level in the crusade against climate change through its contribution in setting up the International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
During his tenure here, Sandhu has made it one of the five pillars of India US engagement. Among the top few he has held meetings on this issue, including CEOs of First Solar, Vinmar international and Exxonmobil India. He has held separate meetings with top officials of the Biden administration including Under Secretary of Energy Geraldine Richmond; Under Secretary of State for Energy Jose Fernandez; and Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, Some Congress members with whom clean energy was a key point of discussion during his meeting include Scott Peters, Ted Deutch, Pramila Jayapal, Ted Lieu, Andy Kim, and Grace Meng.
Kirby also announced that the new deployments are being positioned to support US forces already in Europe in response to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine….reports Asian Lite News
The United States announced on Monday that over 500 US troops would be deployed in Europe to reinforce NATO’s flank including Poland, Romania, Germany and Greece.
Speaking at a press conference, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby assured that the US army will not be sent to conflict-ridden Ukraine.
Kirby also announced that the new deployments are being positioned to support US forces already in Europe in response to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
The new deployments include KC-135 refuelling aircraft from Fairfield Air Force Base in Washington, to Greece, along with 150 personnel for refuelling support.
Additionally, an air support operations centre made up of 40 troops from Fort Stewart, Georgia, are deploying to Poland and Romania.
And 300 US personnel are being deployed to Germany to make up a modular ammunition ordnance company from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and a support maintenance company out of Fort Stewart, according to American broadcast CNN.
On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Kirby said that Russia doesn’t have full control over the country.
He stated that Russia is fighting outside of Kharkiv and still attempting to encircle the city of Chernihiv in the north. He even said that Russia has only captured the small cities. Citing Ukraine’s bravery, Kirby said, “Russia will face resistance from the north” and also mentioned that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the bravest person and the greatest leader.
Kirby also said that they believe that Russia is recruiting fighters from different countries, especially Syria. “We do have indications that corroborate that story that in fact they are trying to enlist and recruit foreign fighters, which we find noteworthy that with more than 150,000 troops, a stalled military advance inside Ukraine, particularly in the north, that Putin has found it necessary to try to recruit foreign fighters for this war of his,” Kirby said when asked upon the story first reported by the Wall Street Journal was true.
While addressing the media, Kirby also said that the US and other countries are trying every bit to help Ukraine to “stand in the war.” Kirby also assured that Ukraine is using the equipment that was sent to them by the US. (ANI)
“Flight tests are part of North Korea’s effort to expand the number and type of missile systems capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the entire United States,” said report.reports Asian Lite News
The United States Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) on Monday warned that North Korea’s missile launches could be the groundwork for a return to intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear bomb tests this year.
DNI, in its annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, also reported that North Korea’s main nuclear reactor facility at Yongbyon appears to be in full swing, potentially creating additional fuel for nuclear weapons.
It said North Korea’s continued development of ICBMs, intermediate-range ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles showed the country’s intention to bolster its nuclear delivery capability, according to a Reuters report.
“In January, North Korea began laying the groundwork for an increase in tensions that could include ICBM or possibly a nuclear test this year – actions that Pyongyang has not taken since 2017,” Reuters quoted the report.
“Flight tests are part of North Korea’s effort to expand the number and type of missile systems capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the entire United States,” it added.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Tuesday called on North Korea to abide by agreements it has made with the international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula amid reports that Pyongyang is continuing activities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
On Monday, Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the agency’s monitoring team has spotted indications of activity at the 5-megawatt reactor at the complex north of Pyongyang, calling the move “deeply regrettable”, reports Yonhap News Agency.
“The government, in close coordination with related countries and agencies, such as the US and the IAEA, is continuing the monitoring of North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities,” a Unification Ministry official told reporters here on Tuesday.
The official declined to comment further on “intelligence matters”, but added there hasn’t been any major activities worthy of attention.
“(We) urge North Korea to respect the spirits of agreements it has signed with the international community and South Korea (to push for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula).”
According to the IAEA, the North appears to be building an annex to a centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon, though its purpose has yet to be determined.
The move comes as the government officials have raised concerns about Russia’s use of cryptocurrency to evade the impact of crushing sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine…reports Asian Lite News
President Joe Biden is expected to an executive order this week in a bid to regulate how digital currency is traded.
According to reports, the executive order will direct the Justice Department, Treasury and other agencies to study the legal and economic ramifications of creating a US central bank digital currency, media reported.
The move comes as the government officials have raised concerns about Russia’s use of cryptocurrency to evade the impact of crushing sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Two people familiar with the process told Associated Press that the executive order on cryptocurrency was expected to be issued this week and it had been in the works long before the war.
The sanctions have sent the ruble to historic lows and have closed the country’s stock market, it was reported.
As Russia intensified its battle to take control of Ukraine, Bitcoin last week soared to $44,000, pushing the total cryptocurrency market cap to cross $2 trillion.
With the recent gains, Bitcoin now has a higher market cap than the rapidly-declining Russian currency ruble.
Bitcoin has a market cap of approximately $835 billion while the ruble has a market cap of around $626 billion.
The crypto market was last at $2 trillion in August 2021.
In the last week since the Russia-Ukraine war started, Bitcoin has jumped nearly 14 per cent and ethereum 12 per cent, according to CoinGecko data.
Terra’s LUNA token had a stratospheric rise, climbing nearly 70 per cent during the last week, and is now trading at approximately $94.
Solana’s SOL and other layer 1 tokens like Avalanche’s AVAX and Polkadot’s DOT also responded well, reports CoinDesk.
Similar to volatility, Bitcoin’s trading volume across major exchanges reached the highest level since the December 5 price crash, according to CoinDesk data.
Earlier, the global crypto market lost nearly 10 per cent of its value as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday. Over $200 billion worth of its global market value was wiped out.
The most-hit cryptocurrencies were Ethereum, Cardano, Avalanche, and Polkadot, along with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
Some traders, however, expected the price bounce to be short-lived amid geopolitical uncertainty.
Over the last one week, Cruz, who represents the State of Texas in the United States Senate, has said that the bilateral relationship between India and the United States has deteriorated under the Biden Administration….reports Asian Lite News
Any sanctions on India under the punitive Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for buying S-400 missile from Russia would be “extraordinarily foolhardy”, a top Republican Senator has told the Biden Administration.
“There are reports that the Biden administration is contemplating imposing CAATSA sanctions against India, the largest democracy on Earth, a decision that I think would be extraordinarily foolhardy,” Senator Ted Cruz said during a hearing on pending nominations by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Over the last one week, Cruz, who represents the State of Texas in the United States Senate, has said that the bilateral relationship between India and the United States has deteriorated under the Biden Administration.
“India is a critical ally across a number of areas, and the US-India alliance has broadened and deepened in recent years. But under the Biden administration, it’s gone backwards,” Cruz said.
Biden-Modi
“India is not the only country to have voted against us, and against condemning Russia,” he said observing India’s abstention in the United Nations General Assembly vote condemning Putin’s aggression.
“The United Arab Emirates also abstained in yesterday’s vote. The UAE is a close ally of the United States, and during the Trump administration, was a critical player in the Abraham Accords that fundamentally transformed the entire Middle East, and brought Israelis and Arabs together under American leadership,” he said.
At a different hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Cruz said that in the past year under the Biden administration Relations with India have worsened significantly.
This was manifested among other things in their latest abstention at the United Nations, he told Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu.
“I will acknowledge that India and the United States have not voted the same at the United Nations over this past week. I assure you that we continue to have an important dialogue with India at the highest levels to try to narrow that gap and to help India to see the importance that we place on a coordinated message to Moscow,” Lu said.
Over the weekend Cruz tweeted that the Biden administration is very, very slowly discovering that alienating allies and boosting enemies is not a great way to conduct foreign policy.
“All it took were several generational global catastrophes and wars abroad, and 1970s inflation and gas prices at home.”
