International
Zelensky blames Russia as world vows response to food shortages
AFP | by Leon Bruneau and Amelie Bottollier-Depois
Global leaders called Tuesday for urgent efforts to address global food insecurity amid fears of disastrous harvests next year, as Ukraine’s president blamed Russia for the crisis and sought the world’s “toughest reaction” against Moscow.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, ministers from the European Union, United States, African Union and Spain met on food shortages which are seen as a key factor in conflicts and instability.
Appearing by video link was Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, who directly accused Moscow of willingly triggering a food crisis.
“Any state that provokes famine, that tries to make access to food a privilege, that tries to make the protection of nations from famine dependent on… the mercy of some dictator — such a state must get the toughest reaction from the world,” Zelensky said.
He blamed Russian blockades and other “immoral actions” for slashing exports from Ukraine, a major agricultural producer.
“Russia must bear responsibility for this,” he said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Russian President Vladimir Putin, with his February invasion of Ukraine, “is trying to blackmail the international community with food.”
“There is no peace with hunger and we cannot combat hunger without peace,” Sanchez said.
The Group of Seven major industrial powers at a June summit in Germany promised $5 billion to fight food insecurity but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there was still “great urgency.”
“The Russian war of aggression has caused and accelerated a multidimensional global crisis. Countries in the Global South with prior vulnerabilities have been hit hardest,” Scholz said.
President Joe Biden will address the General Assembly on Wednesday and announce new US aid, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
In his own address Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will finance shipments of Ukrainian wheat to Somalia which is facing risk of famine.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain producers and the Russian invasion sent global prices soaring.
Russia has cast blame on Western sanctions, an assertion denounced by Washington which says it is not targeting agricultural or humanitarian goods.
Turkey and the United Nations in July brokered a deal between Russia and Ukraine to allow ships with grain to sail through the blockaded Black Sea.
Putin has recently criticized the deal, pointing to shipments that have headed to Europe. US officials say some of the grain is then processed and sent to poorer countries.
“Despite some of the misinformation that continues to come from Moscow, that grain and other food products are getting where they need to go to the countries most in need, predominantly in the Global South,” Blinken said.
“It’s also helped lower food prices around the world. So it needs to keep going, it needs to be renewed. That is urgent.”
Long-term fears
Concerns are also mounting on the long-term impacts. A recent report by the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, a non-governmental US group, found that around 15 percent of Ukraine grain stocks have been lost since the invasion began.
And experts warn that disruptions in fertilizer shipments could seriously impede future harvests worldwide.
“It’s very clear that the current food supply disruption and the war in Ukraine is having an impact on the next harvest,” said Alvaro Lario, incoming president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
“There’s one or two harvests per year, and already we’re seeing that it’s going to be devastating for next year,” he told AFP, warning that the impact could be “much worse” than Covid.
He called for longer-term action, which would entail billions of dollars of investment, to ensure stability of food supply chains and adapt to a warming climate.
“We know the solutions and we have the institutions to make that happen. What is currently lacking is the political will, in terms of the investment,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said recently that the world had enough food in 2022 but that the problem was distribution.
If the situation does not stabilize this year, in 2023 “we risk to have a real lack of food,” he said.
International
Biden to attend Trump’s inauguration in January
US President Joe Biden will attend the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump in January, the White House announced on Monday, despite the fact that the Republican did not attend Biden’s inauguration four years ago.
“The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whoever won the election. He and the First Lady will keep that promise and attend,” said spokesperson Andrew Bates to reporters traveling with Biden on Air Force One.
“He sees it as an important demonstration of commitment to our democratic values and to honoring the will of the people, while we continue to ensure a smooth and effective transition,” Bates added.
Despite describing Trump as a threat to democracy during the election campaign, Biden seeks to facilitate a peaceful transfer of power to the Republican that Trump denied him.
Biden invited the president-elect to the White House just days after the November 5 election, in which Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
The 82-year-old Democrat dropped out of the presidential race for a second term in July and supported Harris after her disastrous performance in a televised debate led Democrats to question her fitness for the office due to concerns over her health and mental agility.
International
Mexico’s Sheinbaum warns Trump: Tariffs won’t stop migration or drug consumption
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum warned Donald Trump on Tuesday that new tariffs will not stop irregular migration or drug consumption in the United States, following the elected president’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican imports.
“President Trump, it is not with threats or tariffs that the migratory phenomenon or drug consumption in the United States will be stopped,” said the left-wing president while reading a letter she plans to send to the elected president. She also proposed initiating a dialogue.
International
Iran’s Khamenei calls ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu insufficient
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes as “insufficient” and stated that the prime minister deserves a “death sentence.”
The court, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s military leader Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In his first speech since the court issued the arrest orders, Khamenei called the arrest warrant against Netanyahu “insufficient.” He further stated, “These criminal leaders must be sentenced to death,” referring to Netanyahu and Gallant, while addressing a group of Basij volunteers, an Islamist militia that can act as a replacement for security forces.
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