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USS Antietam maneuvers in the Philippine Sea, just as the U.S. and Philippines forces announce the reinforcement of a defense pact, which will provide the United States with expanded access to Filipino military bases.
💡 SPOTLIGHT
Russian diamonds are Belgium's best friend — but for how much longer?
Belgium has lobbied hard for the past year to keep Russian diamonds off the list of sanctioned goods. Indeed, there would be a huge impact on the economy of the port city of Antwerp, if Europe finally joins with the U.S. and others in banning sale of so-called "blood diamonds" from Russia. But a 10th package of EU sanctions arriving this month may finally be the end of the road.
Since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has agreed to nine different packages of sanctions against Russia. With the aim to punish Moscow's leadership and to cripple the war economy, European bans and limits have been placed on imports of a range of Russian products from coal, gas and steel to caviar and vodka — were successively banned over the past 11 months.
Still, one notable Russian export is a shining exception to the rule, still imported into Europe as if nothing has changed: diamonds.
Russian state conglomerate Alrosa, which accounts for virtually all of the country's diamond production (95%) and deals with more than one-fourth of total global diamond imports, has been chugging along, business as usual.
But that may be about to change, ahead of an expected 10th package of sanctions slated to be finalized in the coming weeks. During recent negotiations, with 26 of the 27 EU members agreeing on the statement that ALSROA’s diamonds should no longer be imported, the one holdout was not surprisingly Belgium.
The Belgian opposition to the ban is explained by the port city of Antwerp, where 85% of the rough diamonds in the world pass through to get cut, polished, and marketed. There are estimates that 30,000 Belgians work for Alrosa.
Officials say the EU's new package of sanctions against Russia may be announced on Feb. 24 — one exact year after the start of the invasion.
After an exceptional European summit to be held on Feb. 9-10, the EU will have to state what the new sanctions against Russia will be. And we can now expect that the subject of Russian diamonds — which some have dubbed "blood diamonds" — will be catching the world's eye.
Ukrainian activists have consistently accused Belgium of financing Russia’s war. And the Belgian government’s position on the situation has been ambiguous, with the Belgian government arguing that a ban would have a drastic effect on Europe's economy.
But after countries such as Poland and Lithuania insisted that this trade with Russia should cease, momentum has grown to include diamonds in the list of banned products. In response Belgium has proposed a system to the European Commission that it says would allow for the tracing and identification of diamonds of Russian origin.
“The revenue for Russia from diamonds can only stop if the access of Russian diamonds to Western markets is no longer possible..” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told the Brussels-based website Politico.
Belgium says tracking Russian diamonds on the market will allow Europe to penalize the Russian economy without undermining the European diamonds market, Brussels-based daily Le Soirreports. Tom Neys, of the Antwerp World Diamond Center, argues that “an international framework of global transparency” is the wise alternative to a blanket ban.
Yet other Western partners are skeptical. German daily Die Welt argues that tracing “blood diamonds” wouldn’t be a solution — because Russian diamonds couldn’t be polished in Mumbai before being sold in Europe again. Meanwhile, Politico fears that there would be a risk of diverting the goods to other markets where traders are less diligent.
The U.S., which included diamonds in its list of sanctioned goods in April, is convinced that Alrosa has been helping Putin to finance his war, as stated by the United States Department of the Treasury almost a year ago. And, as proclaimed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March, just weeks after the invasion: “peace is worth all the diamonds in the world."
— Renate Mattar / Worldcrunch
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• EU officials visit Kyiv as Russia strikes apartment building: Top European officials led by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials. Meanwhile, the search for survivors continues in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, after a Russian rocket hit an apartment building overnight, killing at least three and injuring 20.
• North Korean threats after U.S. military drills in the region: North Korea said that drills on and around the Korean peninsula by the United States and its allies have reached an "extreme red-line" and threaten to turn the peninsula into a "critical war zone." The Foreign Ministry statement also said Pyongyang was not interested in dialogue as long as Washington pursues hostile policies.
• Israel carries out airstrikes on Gaza: Israel conducted airstrikes on central Gaza on Thursday morning, coming hours after the military intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory. This comes amid heightened tensions and immediately following the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to both Jerusalem and the West Bank to try to defuse the situation.
• U.S. and Philippines expand defense pact: The Philippines will provide the United States with expanded access to its military bases, providing U.S. forces with a greater strategic footing on the southeastern edge of the South China Sea close to self-ruled Taiwan. This new deal will also give the U.S. access to four more locations, allowing the U.S. to rotate troops to a total of nine bases throughout the Philippines.
• Four jailed over deadly jihadist attack in Vienna:Four men have been convicted of being accomplices to murder in a deadly terror attack by a lone jihadist gunman in Austria's capital in November 2020.
• Indian Muslim journalist walks out of jail after 2 years: Indian journalist Siddique Kappan, who spent 28 months in jail without trial, was charged under anti-terror laws for reporting on a gang-rape case. Kappan was initially charged under various sections of the Indian penal code, before being hit by terror and money laundering charges.
• Australia’s new $5 note won’t feature King Charles: King Charles III will not feature on Australia’s new five dollar note. The new design will pay tribute to "the culture and history" of Indigenous Australians. A portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II appears on the current design of the five dollar note.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
“How useful was the mask requirement?,” asks German daily Tagesspiegel, writing that scientists are now questioning whether the face covering actually helped contain the pandemic of COVID-19.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$39.9 billion
British multinational oil and gas giant Shell has recorded unprecedented profits in its 115-year history, reaching $39.9 billion in 2022 — double last year's total after energy prices skyrocketed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Tracking the Asian fishing “armada” that sucks up tons of seafood off Argentina's coast
A brightly-lit flotilla of fishing ships has reappeared in international waters off the southern coast of Argentina as it has annually in recent years for an "industrial harvest" of thousands of tons of fish and shellfish, reports Claudio Andrade in Argentine daily Clarin.
🚢 Recently visible off the coast of southern Argentina, aerial photographs showed the well-lit armada of some 500 vessels, parked 201 miles offshore from Comodoro Rivadavia in the province of Chubut. The fleet had arrived for its vast seasonal haul of sea “products,” confirming its annual return to harvest squid, cod and shellfish on a scale that activists have called an environmental blitzkrieg.
🌊 In principle the ships are fishing just outside Argentina's exclusive Economic Zone, though it's widely known that this kind of apparent "industrial harvest" does not respect the territorial line, entering Argentine waters for one reason or another. The frontier can be as narrow as either side of a big wave, and is rarely able to prevent those that drift into Argentina's national waters.
🐬 For some years now, activists and organizations like Greenpeace have repeatedly denounced industrial-style fishing as exhausting marine resources worldwide and badly affecting regional fauna. Luisina Vueso, coordinator of the Greenpeace oceans campaign, called the fleets "floating freezers" that end up violating protected waters as "trawling is not selective. In this biological corridor there are orcas, whales, elephant seals, sea lions and dolphins. They're all netted."
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📣 VERBATIM
“Serbia doesn't know where its borders are.”
— Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has faced intense pressure from both the U.S and European allies to reach an agreement with Serbia, in the face of increasing tensions in this troubled corner of Southeastern Europe, as Belgrade continues to refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence. In an interview with AFP, Kurti has declared "It is Belgrade that should be under pressure. Serbia is not a normal country. Serbia doesn't know where its borders are".
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
USS Antietam maneuvers in the Philippine Sea, just as the U.S. and Philippines forces announce the reinforcement of a defense pact, which will provide the United States with expanded access to Filipino military bases. — Photo: Ensign William Stricklett.U.S. Navy
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• How Ukraine Keeps Getting The West To Flip On Arms Supplies — FRANCE INTER
• Cilia Flores de Maduro, How Venezuela's First Lady Wields A Corrupt "Flower Shop" Of Power — EL ESPECTADOR
• Gluten-Free In France: Stepping Out Of The Shadows, Heading Upmarket — LES ECHOS
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright, Inès Mermat and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
- Utter Pessimism, What Israelis And Palestinians Share In Common ›
- Gluten-Free In France: Stepping Out Of The Shadows, Heading Upmarket ›
- Worldcrunch Newsletters ›
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