Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Britain seeking more arms against Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy walks after arrival with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at an airport (REUTERS)

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Updated 08 February 2023

Reuters

February 08, 2023 11:35

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Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Britain seeking more arms against Russia

Zelensky to address British parliament on Wednesday
Britain pledges to expand training of Ukrainian troops

Updated 08 February 2023

Reuters

February 08, 2023 11:35

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LONDON: Britain announced an immediate surge of military deliveries to Ukraine to help it fend off an intensifying Russian offensive and pledged to train its pilots as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London on a rare visit abroad.
Zelensky was due to travel onto Brussels on Thursday where the European Union is holding a summit, according to an EU diplomat. London was his first stop on only his second trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 after a visit to the United States in December.
In Britain, he will meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles and address parliament.
“The United Kingdom was one of the first to come to Ukraine’s aid. And today I’m in London to personally thank the British people for their support and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his leadership,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, under a photo of him and Sunak at the airport.
Britain, which has been training Ukrainian troops, said the extra training would ensure Ukrainian pilots were able to fly “sophisticated NATO-standard fighter jets in the future,” adding the move was “part of long-term investment in their military.”
The wording seemed to suggest that Britain had not yet changed its mind on whether to provide Kyiv with the fighter jets it has asked for — something the government has said is not the right approach for now.
Sunak said the visit was a testament “to his country’s courage, determination and fight and ... to the unbreakable friendship between our two countries.”
“I am proud that today we will expand that training from soldiers to marines and fighter jet pilots, ensuring Ukraine has a military able to defend its interests well into the future.”
Zelensky will meet King Charles later on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said. Charles, who has visited several organizations who help Ukrainians in Britain, has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “brutal aggression.”
Britain also set out further sanctions to target those who have helped Russian President Vladimir Putin, including manufacturers of military equipment and eight individuals who helped “maintain wealth and power among Kremlin elites.”
SUNAK PLEDGES MORE SUPPORT
Zelensky, who had close ties with ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, visits Britain at a time when Russia is bringing tens of thousands of recently mobilized troops to the battlefield to try to break through Ukrainian defenses in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies have promised hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles to help Kyiv resist the assault and recapture territory, but have said it will take time to train Ukrainian forces to use them effectively.
Since Johnson resigned last year, Sunak has pledged to continue to support Ukraine, visiting Kyiv in November to tell the Ukrainian leader: “We are with you all the way.”
In London, he is expected to tell Zelensky he will accelerate the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine.
Britain has trained 10,000 Ukrainian troops brought to battle readiness in the last six months and will train a further 20,000 soldiers this year, the government said.
Last week, Ukrainian troops arrived in Britain to learn how to command Challenger 2 tanks and Sunak will offer to provide Ukraine with longer range capabilities, the statement said.
London has so far refused to deliver fighter jets, saying it was not “the right approach” for now. But defense minister Ben Wallace has suggested that stance could change.
Sunak’s spokesman said last week that the quickest a pilot could learn to fly a British fighter jet was 35 months. “We will continue listening to the Ukrainians and consider what is right for the long term,” he said.

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India police seek Sikh leader, arrest separatist supporters

Updated 12 sec ago

AP

March 24, 2023 00:15

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India police seek Sikh leader, arrest separatist supporters

Singh has been on the run since the search for him began on Saturday.

Updated 12 sec ago

AP

March 24, 2023 00:15

New Delhi: Indian police are searching for a separatist leader who has revived calls for an independent Sikh homeland, stirring fears of violence in northwestern Punjab state where there’s a history of bloody insurgency.

Police have accused Amritpal Singh, a 30-year-old preacher, and his aides of creating discord in the state, which is haunted by the memories of an armed insurgency in the 1980s for an independent Sikh state called Khalistan. The insurgency had prompted a controversial military operation by the Indian government that killed thousands of people, according to official estimates.

Authorities have deployed thousands of paramilitary soldiers to the state and suspended mobile internet services in some areas to prevent unrest, Sukhchain Singh Gill, the inspector general of police for Punjab, said Wednesday. He said police have so far arrested 154 supporters of Singh and seized 10 guns and ammunition.

Singh has been on the run since the search for him began on Saturday.

Singh, who has said he supports the Khalistan movement, captured national attention in February when hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station in Punjab with swords and guns to demand the release of a jailed aide.

Very little is known about Singh, who for years drove a truck in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. He emerged in 2022 in Punjab and began leading marches calling for protecting rights of Sikhs who account for about 1.7 percent of India’s population.

His speeches have become increasingly popular among supporters of the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India. Officials see it and affiliated groups as a national security threat. Even though the movement has waned over the years, it still has some support in Punjab and beyond — including in countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, which are home to a sizable Sikh diaspora.

On Sunday, supporters of the movement pulled down the Indian flag at the country’s high commission in London and smashed the building’s window in a show of anger against the move to arrest Singh. India’s Foreign Ministry denounced the incident and summoned the UK’s deputy high commissioner in New Delhi to protest what it called the breach
of security at the embassy in London.

On Wednesday, police removed temporary security barricades outside the British High Commission in New Delhi, news agency Press Trust of India reported. There was no immediate comment from the police or the government whether it was in retaliation to the incident in London.

The supporters of the Khalistan movement also vandalized the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on Monday.

Singh claims to draw inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh militant leader accused by the Indian government of leading an armed insurgency for Khalistan. Bhindranwale and his supporters were killed in 1984 when the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion.

Singh also heads Waris Punjab De, or Punjab’s Heirs, an organization that was part of a massive campaign to mobilize farmers against controversial agriculture reforms being pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The legislation triggered a year of protests that began in 2020, as farmers — most of them Sikhs from Punjab state — camped on the outskirts of New Delhi through a harsh winter and devastating coronavirus surge. The protests ended after Modi’s government withdrew the legislation in November 2021.

Waris Punjab De was founded by Deep Sidhu, an Indian actor who died in 2022 in a traffic accident.

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Topics: India Khalistan

Eager young Albanians risk everything for new future in UK

Updated 29 min 42 sec ago

AP

March 23, 2023 20:00

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Eager young Albanians risk everything for new future in UK

UK interior minister Suella Braverman has described the arrivals as an ‘invasion on our southern coast’ — words that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blasted as a ‘crazy narrative’
Britain is attractive to Albanians because it has a better economy and higher-paying jobs than neighboring countries such as Greece or Italy

Updated 29 min 42 sec ago

AP

March 23, 2023 20:00

BAJRAM CURRI, Albania: Monika Mulaj’s son was in his second year of college in Albania, studying to become a mechanical engineer, when he resolved to make a daring change: He told his parents he would leave his lifelong home for a new future in Britain.
“We had tried to fulfil all his requests, for books and clothing, food and a bit of entertaining. But he was still dissatisfied,” said Mulaj, a high school teacher in the northeastern town of Bajram Curri, which is in one of the country’s poorest regions.
Five years later, her now 25-year-old son is working two jobs in Britain and hardly thinks of returning to his homeland. “Albania is in regress,” he complains to his mother.
His path has been shared in recent years by thousands of young Albanians who have crossed the English Channel in small boats or inflatable dinghies to seek work in the UK. Their odyssey reflects the country’s anemic economy and a younger generation’s longing for fresh opportunities.
In 2018, only 300 people reached Britain by crossing the channel in small boats. The number rose to 45,000 in 2022, in part because of arrivals from Albania, a country in southern Europe that is negotiating for membership in the European Union.
Other migrants were from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Unlike many countries that fuel migration, Albania is considered safe by UK officials.
Britain is attractive to Albanians because it has a better economy and higher-paying jobs than neighboring countries such as Greece or Italy. Many Albanians also have family ties in the UK. Birmingham, for instance, has a large immigrant population from the Albanian town of Kukes, on the border with Kosovo.
The deputy mayor of Bajram Curri, Abedin Kernaja, said young people leave because of low wages and the difficulty of building “a comfortable family life.” His two sons are in the UK
Xhemile Tafaj, who owns a restaurant on a scenic plateau outside town, said “young people have no money to follow school, no job to work, no revenue at all.”
In such an environment, “only old men have remained and soon there will be empty houses,” Tafaj said.
Northeastern Albania is known for its natural Alpine beauty and green sloping landscape. The region is also famous for chestnuts, blueberries, blackberries and medicinal plants, as well as wool carpets and other handmade goods.
But those products offer scant job opportunities. The only jobs are at town halls, schools and hospitals, plus a few more at cafes and restaurants.
Petrit Lleshi, who owns a motel in Kukes, has struggled to find waiters for two years.
“I would not blame a 25-year-old leaving because of the low salaries here,” Lleshi said. “What our country offers is not enough to build a proper life.”
Few migrants seek a visa. They generally pay smugglers 5,000 to 20,000 euros ($5,300 to $21,200) for the dangerous, illegal crossing.
Many migrants undertake the trip with the expectation of a secure job, only to find after arriving in the UK that they must work in cannabis-growing houses for up to two years to pay back the trafficking money, according to reports by Albanian news outlets.
The steady stream of migrants has provoked clashes between British and Albanian leaders in recent months.
UK interior minister Suella Braverman has described the arrivals as an “invasion on our southern coast” — words that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama blasted as a “crazy narrative” and an attempt to cover up for the UK’s failed border policies.
Albania also publicly protested what it called a “verbal lynching” by another UK official who made comments about Albanian immigrants. Rama accused the new UK Cabinet of scapegoating Albanians because it “has gone down a blind alley with its new policy resulting from Brexit.”
Rama was is in London Thursday for talks on immigration with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and accused UK officials of “singling out” Albanians for political purposes. “It has been a very, very disgraceful moment for British politics,” he told the BBC.
Sunak’s spokesman has said the UK welcomes and values Albanian migrants who come to the country legally, but that large numbers making illegal boat journeys to the UK are straining the asylum system.
In a statement after the meeting, Sunak and Rama welcomed progress to date following a taskforce action on organized crime and new UK guidance designating Albania a safe country, with around 800 migrants returning to Albania since December.
They also decided to create a joint team to assess Albania’s prison capacity until the end of April “with a view to returning all eligible Albanian nationals in the UK prison system.”
Rama has argued that easing visa requirements would help reduce the number of people arriving illegally.
In response to the spike in migration, some agencies are investing in programs that aim to offer opportunities to both countries — jobs for eager Albanians and a supply of remote workers for businesses in the UK
Elias Mazloum of Albania’s Social Development Investment group said that immigration is “a cancer.”
“We are offering chemotherapy after a lot of morphine used so far only has delayed immigration,” he said.
Under his project, 10 companies in Ireland will employ 10 young Albanians to work remotely in an apprenticeship paying 500 euros ($530) per month in the first year. Participants get a certificate from Ireland’s Digital Marketing Institute and then are hired remotely for 1,000 euros ($1,060) per month.
The vision is for the project to help establish a remote-work ecosystem in the region.
“Albania, and in particular the northeast region, has the advantage of working from a blank canvas” to attract digital nomads and encourage its young people to stay, said Declan Droney, a business trainer and consultant in Galway, in the west of Ireland.
A British project in Kukes supports small and midsize businesses in tourism and agriculture and will open a school teaching different professions.
The Albanian government has also offered incentives. Young couples who launch a small business will be exempt from taxes for up to three years, and couples who return from the UK will receive 5,000 euros ($5,300).
Mazloum’s organization has negotiated with Vodafone Albania to offer free high-speed Internet to remote workers.
“The eyes cannot get enough from the beauty of this place — the food, the fresh air. This added to very hospitable people, ambitious youth who like to work hard,” Mazloum said. “Imagine if you give a little hope to the people here, what they could make this place.”

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Topics: United Kingdom (UK) Albania migrants Edi Rama

Pentagon: Budget readies US for possible China confrontation

Updated 23 March 2023

AP

March 23, 2023 18:50

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Pentagon: Budget readies US for possible China confrontation

‘This is a strategy-driven budget,’ US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
The testimony comes on the heels of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow

Updated 23 March 2023

AP

March 23, 2023 18:50

WASHINGTON: The US military must be ready for possible confrontation with China, the Pentagon’s leaders said Thursday, pushing Congress to approve the Defense Department’s proposed $842 billion budget, which would modernize the force in Asia and around the world.
“This is a strategy-driven budget — and one driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in testimony before the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense.
Pointing to increases in new technology, such as hypersonics, Austin said the budget proposes to spend more than $9 billion, a 40 percent increase over last year, to build up military capabilities in the Pacific and defend allies.
The testimony comes on the heels of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, which added to concerns that China will step up its support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and increasingly threaten the West.
China’s actions, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “are moving it down the path toward confrontation and potential conflict with its neighbors and possibly the United States.” He said deterring and preparing for war “is extraordinarily expensive, but it’s not as expensive as fighting a war. And this budget prevents war and prepares us to fight it if necessary.”
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, pressed the defense leaders on Xi’s meeting with Putin and its impact on US competition with China, which he called “the elephant in the room.” The US, he said, is “at a crucial moment here.”
The growing alliance between China and Russia, two nuclear powers, and Xi’s overtures to Putin during the Ukraine war are “troubling,” Austin said.
He added that the US had not yet seen China provide arms to Russia, but if it does, “it would prolong the conflict and certainly broaden the conflict potentially not only in the region but globally.”
Milley, who will retire later this year, said the Defense Department must continue to modernize its forces to ensure they will be ready to fight if needed. “It is incumbent upon us to make sure we remain No. 1 at all times” to be able to deter China, he said.
Two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan eroded the military’s equipment and troop readiness, so the US has been working to replace weapons systems and give troops time to reset. It’s paid off, Milley told Congress.
“Our operational readiness rates are higher now than they have been in many, many years,” Milley said. More than 60 percent of the active force is at the highest states of readiness right now and could deploy to combat in less than 30 days, while 10 percent could deploy within 96 hours, he said.
Milley cautioned that those gains would be lost if Congress can’t pass a budget on time, because it will immediately affect training.
Members of the panel, including Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., also made it clear that while they support the ongoing US assistance to Ukraine, “the days of blank checks are over.” And they questioned the administration’s ultimate goal there.
Milley said the intent is to make sure that Ukraine remains a free and independent country with its territory intact, maintaining global security and the world order that has existing since World War II.
“If that goes out the window,” he said, “we’ll be doubling our defense budgets at that point, because that will introduce not an era of great power competition, that will begin an era of great power conflict. And that will be extraordinarily dangerous for the whole world.”
The hearing was likely one of Milley’s last in front of Congress. His four-year term as chairman — capping a 43-year military career — ends in October. While many members took the opportunity to thank him for those years of service, it was also an opportunity to press him on one of the darkest moments of his chairmanship — the loss of 13 service members to a suicide bomber at Abbey Gate during the chaotic American evacuation from Afghanistan.
Questions remain about the bombing, and Republicans have criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to completely withdraw from Afghanistan in August 2021. During an intense two-week evacuation, which took place as Kabul fell to the Taliban, US forces got more than 120,000 personnel out of the country, but paid a large price in the lives of US service members and Afghans. The withdrawal also left behind many Afghans who worked with and supported US troops during the war, and efforts to get them out continue.
“I can think of no greater tragedy than what happened at Abbey Gate. And I have yet to fully reconcile myself to that entire affair,” Milley told the panel members. He called the end state, which left the Taliban in control of the country, a strategic failure.
But that “did not happen in the last 19 days or even the last 19 months. That was a 20-year war,” Milley said. “There were decisions made all along the way which culminated in what the outcome was. And there’s many many lessons to be learned.”

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Topics: US Pentagon US military China

UK: Man charged over 2 fire attacks on people near mosques

Updated 23 March 2023

AP

March 23, 2023 22:04

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UK: Man charged over 2 fire attacks on people near mosques

The West Midlands Police force said Mohammed Abbkr was charged over attacks in London and Birmingham
Abbkr, a resident of Birmingham who is originally from Sudan, appeared in court in the city on Thursday

Updated 23 March 2023

AP

March 23, 2023 22:04

LONDON: British police have charged a 28-year-old man with two counts of attempted murder after men were set on fire near mosques.
The West Midlands Police force said Mohammed Abbkr was charged over attacks in London and Birmingham, central England.
Abbkr, a resident of Birmingham who is originally from Sudan, appeared in court in the city on Thursday. He wasn’t asked to enter a plea and was ordered detained until his next hearing on April 20.
Abbkr is alleged to have sprayed a substance on two men and set it alight in separate incidents — one near an Islamic center in the Ealing area of west London on Feb. 27 and another near a mosque in Birmingham on Monday.
The Birmingham victim, 70-year-old Mohammed Rayaz, remains in a hospital with severe injuries. Hashi Odowa, 82, who was attacked in Ealing, suffered severe burns to his face and arms.
Counterterrorism officers supported the investigations, but police said officers were “keeping an open mind as to any potential motivation.”

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Topics: British Police attempted murder mosque Birmingham

Chronicle of a Ukrainian woman’s journey from administration to military training

Updated 23 min 50 sec ago

AMMAR ABD RABBO

March 23, 2023 21:14

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Chronicle of a Ukrainian woman’s journey from administration to military training

When the war began, Natalia Sensova faced a tough choice: To leave the country or defend her home and children
Dedication to protecting her country has made Sentsova a role model for many other Ukrainian women

Updated 23 min 50 sec ago

AMMAR ABD RABBO

March 23, 2023 21:14

KYIV, Ukraine: Natalia Sentsova, a mother, wife and grandmother from Ukraine, lived a relatively ordinary life before the sudden escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war on Feb. 22, 2022.

She was just an employee of the Ukraine administration with a keen interest in guns. But everything changed when Russian bombing targeted her neighborhood in the capital, Kyiv. Like many other Ukrainians, she faced a difficult choice: To leave the country or stay and defend her home and children.

Initially, Senstova left for another city but felt that she had to return and protect her loved ones. She learned about the existence of a center for training civilians on weapons and combat since the tumultuous events of 2014 at Maidan Square in Kyiv.

Natalia Sintsova, with her grandson. (Supplied)

However, since spring of last year, she has been closely linked to the Military Training Center, where she completed her training and helped train others who wished to obtain the same skills.

Sentova’s decision to become a part of the military training center surprised and astonished her relatives and friends. Soon, she started training her children on the basics of using weapons and first aid.

Many of her friends followed her lead, and they, in turn, completed the military exercise. Natalia’s dedication to protecting her country has made her a role model for many women who aspire to defend their homes and children.

Sentsova’s story exemplifies the bravery and strength of Ukrainian women who have had to defend their homes and families. (AN photo by Ammar Abd Rabbo)

These days, she spends most of her days at the military training center and has developed a passion for using guns. Before the war, she was interested in guns, but since the war, the gun has become as basic as a toothbrush. She has no qualms about killing if necessary to protect her family and Ukraine. She says she will not go to the front lines, but will not hesitate to kill enemy soldiers if the need arises.

Sentsova’s story exemplifies the bravery and strength of Ukrainian women who have had to defend their homes and families. Natalia has not let the war change her feminine nature and approach. Despite the ongoing conflict and uncertainty about the future, Senstova says she remains committed to defending her country and preserving its independence.

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