World
Putin rages against West in speech decried as absurd propaganda
![Putin rages against West in speech decried as absurd propaganda Putin rages against West in speech decried as absurd propaganda](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AP23052379519985.jpg?resize=1920,1440)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a combative state-of-the nation speech, blaming the West for the struggle in Ukraine forward of the primary anniversary of the invasion he ordered.
Putin spoke on Tuesday in entrance of a crowd of 1,400 individuals in Moscow, addressing members of each homes of parliament, navy commanders and troopers whereas video screens have been additionally put up in massive cities throughout the nation.
In addition to warning the West of a world confrontation, Putin sought to justify the invasion, saying it had been compelled on Russia and he understood the ache of the households of those that had fallen in battle.
He additionally mentioned Russia would droop participation within the New START treaty, the final main pillar of post-Chilly Battle nuclear arms management between Moscow and Washington, which limits their strategic nuclear arsenals.
Putin mentioned Russia wanted to be prepared to check nuclear weapons if america strikes to take action itself.
Nearly instantly, international powers reminiscent of NATO urged Moscow towards withdrawing.
The New START treaty, which was signed in Prague in 2010, caps the variety of strategic nuclear warheads that the US and Russia might deploy and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to ship them.
Russia has the most important stockpile of nuclear weapons on the planet with shut to six,000 warheads, in line with consultants. Collectively, Russia and the US maintain about 90 % of the world’s nuclear warheads – sufficient to destroy the planet many instances over.
In 2021, New START was prolonged for 5 extra years after US President Joe Biden took workplace.
Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Brussels, says arms negotiation has been tougher lately attributable to tensions between Moscow and the West.
“NATO allies say that Russia wasn’t actually complying with New START anyway,” he mentioned. “However it’s fascinating that Putin has determined to droop participation on this treaty, … and I believe in all probability that’s for worldwide consumption at this stage.
“I believe there was a component of this speech that was aimed on the worldwide group as a result of though Europe appears to be very a lot on the identical web page with the US by way of assist for Ukraine, past Europe … with regards to the difficulty of when ought to the struggle cease and when ought to there be negotiations, many imagine a ceasefire ought to come quickly, if not now.
“That’s the distinction that Putin was probably making an attempt to take advantage of in his speech.”
In his wide-ranging and offended speech, Putin additionally condemned same-sex marriage and forged the federal government in Kyiv as taking the Ukrainian individuals “hostage” for failing to handle their wants.
“I want to repeat, they began the struggle, and we used drive to be able to cease it,” Putin mentioned, insisting that Moscow had tried to settle the battle in japanese Ukraine’s Donbas area, which had been simmering since early 2014, by peaceable means however was finally compelled to take motion.
“We have been doing every little thing attainable to unravel this drawback peacefully, negotiating a peaceable approach out of this tough battle, however behind our backs, a really totally different state of affairs was being ready,” the Russian chief mentioned.
The West and aspiring NATO and European Union member Ukraine strongly reject that narrative and say NATO’s enlargement eastwards after the Chilly Battle isn’t any justification for what they are saying is an imperial-style land seize doomed to failure.
“The individuals of Ukraine have turn into the hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords, who’ve successfully occupied this nation within the political, navy and financial sense,” Putin mentioned. “They intend to rework an area battle right into a part of worldwide confrontation. That is precisely how we perceive all of it, and we are going to react accordingly as a result of on this case we’re speaking in regards to the existence of our nation.”
Putin claims Russia is locked in an existential battle with the West, which, he says, needs to carve up Russia and steal its huge pure sources.
“The Western elite doesn’t conceal their aim, which is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” the president mentioned. “It means to complete us ceaselessly.”
The 70-year-old Kremlin chief mentioned Russia would by no means yield to Western makes an attempt to divide its society, including {that a} majority of Russians assist the struggle.
Polling by the Levada Centre signifies round 75 % of Russians again Russian actions in Ukraine whereas 19 % don’t and 6 % have no idea. Three-quarters of Russians count on their nation to be victorious.
However many diplomats and analysts doubt the figures.
Marwan Kabalan, a tutorial and author, informed Al Jazeera that Putin’s speech was geared toward appeasing Russians as a result of Moscow has not achieved its navy targets in Ukraine.
“He underestimated the ability of Ukraine’s navy” and Western assist, in addition to the “will of Europeans” to free themselves of Russian vitality provides, Kabalan mentioned.
“He can not inform the individuals of Russia any excellent news about this,” he mentioned. “This particular operation as he calls it has been occurring now for nearly a 12 months and the aims haven’t been achieved.
Russian forces have suffered three main battlefield reversals for the reason that struggle started however nonetheless management round one-fifth of Ukraine.
In the meantime, a rivalry inside components of Russia’s navy elite appears to be growing with Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, a personal navy drive, criticising Russian navy officers for depriving his fighters of munitions.
Reactions to Putin’s speech
A number one official within the US denounced the claims in Putin’s speech.
“No one is attacking Russia,” White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan informed reporters. “There’s a sort of absurdity within the notion that Russia was beneath some type of navy menace from Ukraine or anybody else.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, mentioned Putin’s speech demonstrated his “irrelevance and confusion”.
“He careworn that RF [the Russian Federation] is in ‘taiga impasse’, has no promising options and gained’t have any. As a result of in all places there are ‘Nazis, Martians and conspiracy theories’,” Podolyak tweeted.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni referred to as the speech “propaganda” and mentioned she had hoped for one thing extra constructive.
“Part of my coronary heart hoped for some totally different phrases, for a step forward. It was propaganda,” Meloni mentioned throughout a go to to the Ukrainian metropolis of Irpin.
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World
Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble
![Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169317905.jpg)
Germany’s right wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to win its first election since the party was formed in 2013, as anti-mass immigration sentiment sends voters to the polls.
Exit polls on Sunday showed AfD securing a winning 33.5% share of the vote in Thuringia and 31.5% in Saxony. Meanwhile, the center-left Social Democratic Party – to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz belongs – brought in less than 8% of the vote in both states, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The election follows a wider trend of success for conservative groups across Europe in recent months. French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron’s government narrowly quashed a conservative takeover of the French parliament earlier this year.
Analysts say the ultimate impact that AfD and other party politicians can have will be determined by how willing centrists are to work with them.
GERMAN RIGHT WING CANDIDATE STABBED IN LATEST ATTACK AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
DRESDEN, GERMANY – AUGUST 29: A skinhead supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party waves a German flag while taunting leftist, anti-fascist protesters following the final AfD Saxony election rally prior to state elections on August 29, 2024, in Dresden, Germany. The AfD is currently leading in polls in both Saxony and Thuringia ahead of state elections scheduled for Sunday in both states. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“The center-right will decide to what extent an AfD win would be a turning point: So far, they have been relatively consistent in excluding cooperation — more so than in other Western European countries,” Manès Weisskircher, a political scientist at the Dresden University of Technology, told the Journal.
The German elections this weekend come just days after a Syrian immigrant killed three people in a stabbing spree in Solingen, Germany. ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack shortly after.
![Emergency services and police at a stabbing scene in Germany Friday](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/Stabbing-scene-Germany.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Emergency services and police are deployed near the scene where three people were killed and injured in an attack at a festival in Solingen, western Germany, the German dpa news agency reported, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Gianni Gattus/dpa via AP)
Federal prosecutors in Germany identified the suspect as Issa Al H., omitting his family name because of German privacy laws.
GERMAN TERROR ATTACK SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS A SYRIAN REFUGEE, CHANCELLOR VOWS TO IMPLEMENT STRICT IMMIGRATION
ISIS said the attacker targeted Christians “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified security sources, said that the suspect had moved to Germany late in 2022, and sought asylum.
![Scholz gives speech in Berlin](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/GettyImages-2156486483-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing a surge in right-wing sentiment across Germany. (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
Similar attacks by Muslim migrants across Europe have spurred anti-immigration sentiment. Even the left-leaning Scholz called for strengthening immigration laws and ramping up deportations in the wake of the attack.
“We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Scholz said while visiting the sight where the stabbing happened.
“This was terrorism, terrorism against us all,” he said.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report
World
Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023
![Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023 Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/69/58/16/1200x675_cmsv2_e50ff906-3ebe-5eb2-bccc-66f739cec99e-8695816.jpg)
Continued delays are jeopardising the EU’s €724bn post-Covid recovery fund, warns a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
Three years after creating a huge fund to stimulate post-pandemic recovery, EU member states have used under a third of the €724bn in grants and loans, EU auditors said in a report published today (2 September).
By the end of 2023, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden had not received any post-Covid money at all, the EU Court of Auditors said.
Almost all member states have experienced delays in submitting payment requests, whether due to political turmoil, uncertainty over the rules, or national administrative capacity, the report said.
The Netherlands and Hungary did not sign operational agreements, the first step required to access EU funds, while Sweden did not submit a payment application, it added – while others such as the Netherlands were held back by protracted coalition negotiations.
“For the Recovery and Resilience Plan you really need political consensus and support and that the government stands behind the plan, and the Netherlands was waiting for that stability,” Ivana Maletić, senior auditor at the Luxembourg-based EU agency, told Euronews in an interview.
In the more complex case of Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s government has to meet 27 milestones intended to fight corruption and safeguard judicial independence, which he hasn’t yet done.
The other four countries — Belgium, Finland, Ireland and Poland — submitted payment requests later than others, so they were still being assessed by the European Commission, which directly manages and implements the fund, at the end of 2023.
One quarter not completed on time
Unlike cohesion funds, the normal vehicle for EU regional spending, post-pandemic financial support is tied to progress on meeting commitments, and member states are behind schedule in meeting these targets and absorbing funds.
“Timely absorption of the RRF is essential: it helps to avoid bottlenecks in carrying out the measures towards the end of the Facility’s lifespan, and reduces the risk of inefficient and erroneous spending,” said Maletić, who led the audit.
Halfway through the six-year implementation plan for the post-pandemic funds, 24% of the planned reforms and investments have not been completed on time — meaning that a significant number of the trickiest promises have yet to be fulfilled, the ECA found.
With the RRF due to expire in August 2026 and no extension expected, EU auditors are recommending the Commission provide further support to strengthen how similar funds are designed in future.
“It can happen that for some actions, member states receive substantial amounts of funds without finalising them at all because it will not be possible to finalise them within the given time,” a senior auditor told a press conference on Monday (2 September) — though Brussels then doesn’t have the power to claw back money.
The EU executive however rejected auditors’ recommendations to stop funding incomplete actions and recover transfers.
“The Commission does not consider that payments based on progress is a risk and has no legal basis to recover funds already disbursed in relation to milestones and targets already and still fulfilled,” said its response.
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