Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Tuesday, May 02, 2023

2: Russia



My Country Is Reaching Out to People the West Can’t Stand In a frantic few weeks, he made efforts to initiate peace talks on Ukraine, criticized the supremacy of the U.S. dollar, traveled to China and hosted Russia’s foreign minister. ......... In line with the country’s history of multilateralism and sensitive to its needs, Mr. Lula is charting his own course. ........ China, after all, is Brazil’s top trade partner, importing enormous quantities of iron ore, soybeans and, increasingly, meat. For its part, Brazil imports from China, well, pretty much everything — like pesticides, semiconductors and shiny trinkets and gadgets that fill our dollar stores. ........ “and we are interested in building a new geopolitics so that people can change the governance of the world.” ........ “free emerging countries from submission to the traditional financial institutions that intend to govern us,” pointedly criticizing the International Monetary Fund. ......... To many leaders of developing countries, the global financial system — overseen by the I.M.F. and the World Bank and administered in U.S. dollars — serves to squeeze poorer nations, locking them into debt repayment programs and forestalling investment in infrastructure and welfare. .......... At the New Development Bank ceremony, Mr. Lula said he asks himself “every night” why all countries are forced to do their trade backed by the dollar. While that sounds like a recipe for bad sleep, the concern is not in itself unreasonable. ........... Mr. Lula is also drawing on a Brazilian tradition in foreign policy, based on the principles of multilateralism, nonintervention and the peaceful settlement of conflicts. That’s what lies behind his refusal to sell weapons to Ukraine and efforts to convene a “peace club” of neutral nations to mediate talks between Ukraine and Russia. ........... He has accused the United States of “stimulating the war” and the European Union of not talking about peace — and even said that “the two countries decided to go to war,” implying that Ukraine was also to blame for the conflict. In April he suggested that Ukraine could hand over Crimea to end the war. ......... A U.S. official accused Mr. Lula of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda,” and an E.U. spokesman reiterated that Russia was the only one to blame. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, while diplomatic, made clear his unhappiness. ......... Chastened, Mr. Lula soon backed down, underlining that his government “condemns the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.” Even so, he continued to advocate a “negotiated political solution” to the war and reiterated his concern “about the global consequences of this conflict.” .



Ukraine’s Military Says Crimea Blast Was Preparation for Coming Offensive Late Sunday, a day after the Crimea blast, explosions rocked Pavlograd in central Ukraine, and air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine. ........ “the broad, full-scale offensive that everyone expects.” ....... it was crucial to target Russia’s logistical capacity ahead of the counteroffensive ........ A little more than 24 hours later, Russian forces demonstrated their own ability to hit targets well inside opposing territory. ........ Russia has been able to launch deadly strikes far from the front lines, including an aerial assault on Friday that killed more than two dozen people. But it has been unable to break through the Ukrainian defenses in the east ......... Ukraine and Russia have both taken heavy casualties in hard-fought ground campaigns in the Donbas region, particularly around the city of Bakhmut, and the country’s south and east are believed to be the most likely theaters for Ukraine’s coming offensive. But shelling has remained a fixture in the daily lives of civilians from both countries in regions far from the most intense fighting. ........ Russian forces had fired a total of 57 shells on nine communities overnight ....... Evan Gershkovich, an American Wall Street Journal reporter imprisoned in Russia. .......... The State Department this month designated the journalist as “wrongfully detained,” signifying that the U.S. government sees him as the equivalent of a political hostage. ......... the first time that a Western journalist in Russia has been charged with espionage since the end of the Cold War. ........ The area of Bakhmut has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting on the eastern front. .

The West Tried to Isolate Russia. It Didn’t Work. Another 47 countries abstained or missed the vote, including India and China. Many of those “neutral” nations have since provided crucial economic or diplomatic support for Russia. ......... While the West’s core coalition remains remarkably solid, it never convinced the rest of the world to isolate Russia. ......... Instead of cleaving in two, the world has fragmented. A vast middle sees Russia’s invasion as, primarily, a European and American problem. Rather than view it as an existential threat, these countries are largely focused on protecting their own interests amid the economic and geopolitical upheaval caused by the invasion. ......... the sanctions have not been as devastating as the West hoped. A handful of countries have filled the gap, increasing exports to Russia well above prewar levels .......... China and Turkey made up most of the export gap on their own. ........... Chinese passenger vehicles replaced Russia’s past supply from Western manufacturers. China exported more machinery and semiconductors, too. Other goods produced by multinational firms that can no longer be exported directly to Russia are now flowing through post-Soviet states. ........... President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opened up an increased flow of goods to Russia, tearing a hole in the Western dam of sanctions. .......... after initially falling post-invasion, trade levels have rebounded because enough countries remain willing to trade with Russia. .........

even though Russia’s economy isn’t thriving, it’s strong enough to keep the war going

........... The weapons have helped Ukraine surprise the world and hold off Russia’s much larger military. At least 40 countries have provided military aid to Ukraine, either by sending offensive weapons or by providing other forms of military aid. .......... North Korea has shipped “a significant number” of artillery shells to Russia ........ Iran has provided Russia with unmanned “kamikaze” drones that Moscow has deployed for attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. .......... other countries, including China, have continued to supply Russia with dual-use goods like microchips that make their way into military equipment. .......... Russia does appear to be facing a shortage of precision weaponry, like cruise missiles, that require high-tech equipment. And Russian soldiers report a lack of night-vision equipment and surveillance drones on the front line. ........... A lot of world leaders don’t particularly like the idea of one country invading another. But many of them aren’t unhappy to see somebody stand up to the United States, either. ........... Throughout Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, many governments with strong official ties to the United States and Europe don’t see the war as a global threat. Instead, they’ve positioned themselves as neutral bystanders or arbiters, preserving as much flexibility as they can. .............. India has continually defied alignment with either side. .............. President Mohammed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin and said he sought to find a diplomatic solution. He also offered up an Abu Dhabi airfield for the Brittney Griner prisoner exchange. ............. Dubai, in particular, has become a hub for Russians — a haven for oligarchs and pro-Kremlin elites where Western sanctions cannot reach. And Saudi Arabia has said it must pursue its own interests, even if that causes friction in its longstanding relationship with the U.S. ............. Nearly half of African countries abstained or were absent from the vote to condemn Russia, suggesting a growing reluctance in many nations to accept an American narrative of right and wrong. ........... when visited by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany last month, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil declined to speak in support of Ukraine, saying, “I think the reason for the war between Russia and Ukraine needs to be clearer.” .......... NATO, described as experiencing "brain death" by President Emmanuel Macron of France in 2019, once again serves the clear purpose of protecting the Western alliance from Russian attack. ......... As the war passes the one-year mark, Russia’s strategy is clear: to wait out the West.
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The Curious Conservative Case Against Defending Ukraine Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis have each expressed their opposition to Western support for Ukraine (though the Florida governor seemed to walk his opposition back); both are keenly attuned to what they think will play well in G.O.P. primaries. .......... Tucker Carlson routinely used his prime-time pedestal to disparage Volodymyr Zelensky, calling the Ukrainian president a “dictator” and comparing his dress style to that of the manager of a strip club. The Buchananite American Conservative is against the war on principle; the Trumpian Federalist is against it as a matter of political opportunism. ........... From Vietnam to Iraq, the antiwar left (both in the United States and abroad) tended to be united by a kind of instinctive pacifism, a belief that war was almost never the right answer. There has also often been a fair amount of anti-Americanism on the left — the Chomskyite view that Washington’s foreign policy is generally a force for neo-imperialism and rapacious capitalism. ........... Some of the more dovish conservative voices on Ukraine, who fear that the war could set off a nuclear conflagration with Moscow, are uber-hawks when it comes to China: They argue that the resources we are pouring into Kyiv should be held in reserve for a looming battle with Beijing over Taiwan. They are also the same people who fault Biden’s shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan for making America seem weak, without appearing to be the least bit concerned about the signal that an American abandonment of Ukraine might also send. .......... Some of the historical revisionists who embrace Putin’s pretext for invasion — that he was provoked by the West into coming to the defense of ethnic Russians who were “stranded” in a “Nazi” Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union — would never accept those arguments in any other context: They’re the people who believe in the absolute inviolability of America’s southern border when it comes to the “invasion” of Latin American immigrants. ........... Much of this incoherence is partly explained via the George Costanza school of modern conservatism: If a Democrat is for it, they’re against it. .......... something darker is also at work. In Putin’s cult of machismo, his suppression of political opposition, his “almost sublime contempt for truth” (Joseph Conrad’s memorable line about Russian officialdom), his opportunistic embrace of religious orthodoxy, his loathing of “decadent” Western culture, his sneering indifference to international law and, above all, his contempt for democratic and liberal principles, he represents a form of politics the Tuckerites glimpsed but never quite got in the presidency of Donald Trump. ............. The hard right’s reverence for the principles of raw strength and unblinking obedience runs deep. ........... what George Orwell wrote in 1942 about the position of Western pacifists vis-à-vis Nazi Germany: “Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help that of the other.” .

Why Do Russians Still Want to Fight? In over a year of combat, nearly 200,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded ......... in a military operation that has proved both incompetent and ill equipped ......... Morale is reportedly low and complaints common. And yet a significant number of Russian men are still keen to fight — more, in fact, than at the war’s outset. What explains the disconnect? ......... About 36 percent of Russian men are content to be conscripted, with the most supportive group being men age 45 or older. ......... For many Russian men and their families, the war may be a horror. But it’s also the last opportunity to fix their lives........ First, there’s the money. The federal base salary for a soldier is about $2,500 a month, with payment of $39,000 for wounding and up to $65,000 in the case of death. Compared with a median monthly salary of $545, this is a handsome reward — even more so for the approximately 15.3 million Russians living below the poverty line. .......... For those coming back from the front, the state promises fast-tracked entry into civil service jobs, health insurance, free public transportation, free university education and free food at school for their children. And for those who were imprisoned and joined the Wagner private military company, the state grants freedom. .......... As one soldier wrote on Telegram in February, the war confers “a sense of belonging to the great male deed, the deed of defending our Motherland.” .......... By allowing men to escape the difficulties of everyday life — with its low pay and routine frustrations — the war offers a restoration of male self-worth. These men, at last, matter. ........... “It doesn’t matter who you are, how you look,” as one soldier put it. In the communal life of conflict, many of the distinctions of civilian life dissolve. War is an equalizer. ........... While some of the urban middle and upper classes have expressed their discontent with the war by emigrating, the poorer sections of Russian society see things differently. Mistrust of the rich, belief that sanctions actually strengthen the economy and disdain for émigrés all attest to a class-based experience of the conflict. By participating in the war, millions of Russians at the bottom of the social ladder can emerge as the country’s true heroes, ready for the ultimate sacrifice. The risk may be grave and the financial reward uncertain. But the chance to rise in esteem and respect makes the effort worthwhile. ........... The longer the war drags on, bringing more casualties, loss and broken promises, the harder it may become to sustain such levels of acceptance. Then again, it may not. Collective emotional turmoil could deepen the feeling that the war must be won, no matter what. In the absence of an alternative vision of the future, Vladimir Putin and his war will continue to hold sway. .



This War May Be Heading for a Cease-Fire After a year of brutal fighting, in which thousands of lives have been lost, civilian infrastructure destroyed and untold damage caused, the war has reached a stalemate. Neither side will countenance a negotiated settlement. On the battlefield, battered armies contest small strips of territory, at a terrible cost. The threat of nuclear escalation hangs in the air. .......... in the long history of carnage, one war stands out for its relevance to the current blood bath in Ukraine: the war in Korea from 1950-53, where the South Koreans and their allies, headed by the United States, battled it out against North Korean and Chinese troops, backed by the Soviet Union. There are all sorts of lessons to be gleaned from the conflict. But the most important might be how it ended. ........... the conflict — which claimed as many as three million lives and destroyed entire cities — gradually fizzled out, leading to a cease-fire and a temporary division of the Korean Peninsula that proved more lasting than anyone could have imagined at the time. In the end, a stalemated war proved preferable to the alternatives. ............ The decision to start the war in Korea was made by one man: Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. After initially rebuffing the pleas of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Il-sung, for Soviet permission to invade the South, Stalin changed his mind in January 1950. The reasons were twofold. First, with the impending conclusion of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of alliance, which would be signed in Moscow on Feb. 14, 1950, Stalin knew that he could count on the Chinese to participate in the war if required. ........... Although the two sides fought several battles between 1951 and 1953, the war basically stalled. ......... It was clear by the summer of 1951 that the war was not going anywhere, yet it took two more years — punctuated by a lethal artillery barrage across the line of control and intermittent fighting — before the fighting was brought to an end. ........... the real problem was Stalin’s reluctance to agree to a cease-fire. “I don’t think you need to expedite the war in Korea,” he wrote to Mao in June 1951. “A protracted war, first of all, is allowing the Chinese troops to perfect modern fighting skills on the battlefield and, secondly, is shaking Truman’s regime in America and is undermining the prestige of Anglo-American forces.” ........... The dictator was perfectly happy to let the war continue. The Chinese, the Koreans and the Americans were doing most of the dying, after all. ......... It was only with Stalin’s death in March 1953 that Soviet leaders reconsidered the whole misadventure and prodded their allies toward an agreement. The armistice agreement was duly signed in the little village of Panmunjom on July 27, 1953. It was, crucially, a cease-fire. There was no peace treaty, no negotiated settlement. Technically, the war is still frozen, not finished. ......... The parties most clearly opposed to the idea are those who are fighting it out on the ground: the Russians and the Ukrainians. For Ukraine, repelling an invading force that lays claim to almost one-quarter of its territory, such a position is understandable. ......... if neither side makes significant gains in coming months, the conflict could well be heading for a cease-fire. ........... The conflict will be frozen, a far-from-ideal result. Yet if we have learned anything from the Korean War, it is that a frozen conflict is better than either an outright defeat or an exhausting war of attrition. .



Pope Reveals He’s Working on Secret ‘Mission’ of Peace in Ukraine Francis said he was doing “all that is humanly possible” to help return Ukrainian children taken to Russia and urged Hungary not to slam doors on migrants. ........ Francis said he had privately discussed the situation with both Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and with the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest, Metropolitan Hilarion. ........ “In these meetings we did not just talk about Little Red Riding Hood,” Francis said. “We spoke of all these things. Everyone is interested in the road to peace.” ......... He has compared Russia’s behavior to massacres under Stalin and has consistently supported Ukrainians and called attention to their plight. .......... As the war enters its 15th month, both the Russians and Ukrainians are preparing spring offensives and few believe a negotiated peace is imminent. ........ “I think that peace is always made by opening channels,” said the pope, who on Thursday met with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal of Ukraine, with whom Francis said he had also discussed a “peace formula.” ......... Francis began the last day of this trip with the same theme he stressed when it began on Friday: inclusivity. In remarks in front of Mr. Orban, the European Union leader with the most hard-right and anti-immigrant stance, the pope urged his flock to welcome foreigners and migrants and to “become open doors” that are “never shut in anyone’s face.” .......... Francis celebrated a large, open-air Mass against the backdrop of the spired Parliament building on the banks of the Danube River. Tens of thousands of faithful, many holding Hungarian and Vatican City flags, crammed into the surrounding streets, watching via jumbo screens and listening to Francis through booming speakers. ............ “How sad and painful it is to see closed doors,” the pope said. “The closed doors of our selfishness with regard to others; the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference towards the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close towards those who are foreign or unlike us, towards migrants or the poor.” ......... But Mr. Orban, he said, understands Hungary’s history of Ottoman invasion and that “the situation is the same now: They want to get into Europe through Hungary.” Mr. Baksa added that it was left to Mr. Orban to “save” the European Union. ..........

“if I consider myself a Christian, I can’t cherry-pick the Christian values I like,” and so he believed that the country needed to be more inclusive to migrants.

.......... On Saturday, Francis greeted some of the 2.5 million refugees who have poured across the Ukrainian border and into Hungary since Russia’s war in Ukraine began in February 2022, though only about 35,000 remain. ........... Then Francis met privately with Metropolitan Hilarion, whose church, critics say, has sought to give religious legitimacy to Mr. Putin’s invasion. ......... In a possible sign of his efforts to reposition himself as a facilitator of peace, he prayed for protection and peace for the “beleaguered Ukrainian people and the Russian people.”
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The Kremlin says it ‘knows nothing about’ a secret peace mission announced by the pope.

Tuesday, April 04, 2023

Democracy For Russia



मधेशमा उपेन्द्र यादव र सीके राउतबीच वर्चस्वको लडाइँ जनमत पार्टीका अध्यक्ष सीके राउत पाँच दिनयता बारामा छन् । बारा क्षेत्र नम्बर २ मा उम्मेदवार बनाउन शिवचन्द्र कुशवाहालाई पार्टी प्रवेश गराएर मधेश झरेका उनी बिहानदेखि साँझसम्म घरदैलोमा व्यस्त हुन्छन् । ....... राउत गढीमाईस्थित पार्टी कार्यालयमै बास बस्छन् । जनमतका प्रवक्ता बीपी साहका अनुसार हरेक दिन बिहान उठेर अगुवा कार्यकर्तालाई अघि लगाउँदै घरदैलो थाल्छन् । कति ठाउँ उनको साथमा उम्मेदवार कुशवाहा हुन्छन्, कतिपय बेला हुन्नन् । ....... दिनभर घरदैलो गरेर राउत साँझ पार्टी कार्यालयमै फर्किन्छन्, जहाँ वडा इन्चार्ज तथा अगुवा कार्यकर्ता गरी १००-१५० का लागि मेसमा खाना पाकेको हुन्छ । राउत पनि त्यही खाना खान्छन् र पार्टी कार्यालयमै सुत्छन् । साह भन्छन्, ‘कुनै आकस्मिक काम प¥यो भने हो, नभए चुनाव सकेर मात्र फर्किनुहुन्छ होला ।’ ......... घरदैलोका क्रममा पनि राउत चर्को भाषण गर्छन् । ....... सीके राउत, उपेन्द्रमाथि निशाना साध्छन्, ‘जहरिला साँप’, ‘बाहिरिया फिरंगी’, ‘भगौडा’ जस्ता उपनाम दिएर आलोचना गर्छन् । ......... ‘म झन्डा उठाएर मूल बाटोबाटै आइरहेको छु । नेपालको नागरिकलाई बाहिरिया भन्न पाइँदैन ।’ ....... १० वैशाखमा हुने उपचुनावमा यादवसँग जनमतका कुशवाहा उम्मेदवार हुन्, प्रतिस्पर्धा भने राउत आफैंले गर्दैछन् । ......... २०४८ सालमा पहिलो पटक नेकपा एमालेको तर्फबाट सुनसरीमा उठेका यादव गिरिजाप्रसाद कोइरालासँग पराजित भएका थिए । २०५१ सालको आम निर्वाचनमा पनि सुनसरीबाटै लडेर पराजित भएका उनी २०६४ सालको पहिलो संविधानसभा निर्वाचनमा मोरङ–५ र सुनसरी–५ क्षेत्रबाट विजयी भएका थिए । ....... ४ मंसिरको चुनावमा एमालेको समर्थनका बाबजुद यादव पराजित भए, दुई गठबन्धनसँग प्रतिस्पर्धा गरेका राउत भारी मतले विजयी भए । ......... जनमतले साना दलहरूको समर्थन जुटाएर छुट्टै उम्मेदवार (ममता झा) खडा ग¥यो । नेताहरूका अनुसार हार्ने निश्चित प्रतिस्पर्धामा जनमतले छुट्टै उम्मेदवारी दिनुको एक मात्र उद्देश्य थियो, उपेन्द्र यादवलाई ललकार्नु । ........ गठबन्धनको बलमा उपचुनाव जित्ने र फेरि संसदमा आउने उपेन्द्रको दाउलाई बुझेका सीके राउतले उपनिर्वाचनको मिति तय नहुँदै उपराष्ट्रपति यादवको निर्वाचन क्षेत्रमा जनमतले उम्मेदवार उठाउने घोषणा गरे । अनि, मंसिरको चुनावमा बारा २ मा दोस्रो भएका माओवादी केन्द्रका शिवचन्द्र कुशवाहालाई पार्टी प्रवेश गराएर उम्मेदवार बनाएका छन् । .......... उपेन्द्र यादवलाई कांग्रेस, माओवादी केन्द्र, एकीकृत समाजवादी र लोसपाको समर्थनका बावजुद राउत आफ्नो लक्ष्यमा डगमगाएका छैनन् । कतिसम्म भने बारा–२ मा जनमतको उम्मेदवारी रोक्ने शर्तमा प्रधानमन्त्री पुष्पकमल दाहाल प्रचण्डले जनमतका अध्यक्ष राउतलाई उपप्रधानमन्त्री तथा उद्योगमन्त्री बन्न प्रस्ताव गरेका थिए । तर राउतले सरकार नै छाडेर चुनावी प्रतिस्पर्धा रोजेका छन् । .......... ‘उनी सत्तामा आउजाउ गरिरहेका दलहरूप्रति मधेशमा रहेको असन्तुष्टि समातेर स्थापित हुन लागिपरेका छन् । ..... महन्थ ठाकुर नेतृत्वको लोसपा निकै कमजोर देखिएको छ ....... उपेन्द्र यादव पनि निरन्तर ओरालो लागेका छन् ...... २००७ सालको राजनीतिक परिवर्तनपछि वेदानन्द झा, २०४७ को बहुदलीय व्यवस्थापछि गजेन्द्रनारायण सिंह र २०६३÷६४ को मधेश आन्दोलनपछि उपेन्द्र यादव उदाएका थिए । ....... अहिले डा. सीके राउत आएका छन् । ........ ‘राजनीति नै गर्ने चाहनाका साथ अमेरिकाबाट फर्किएको बताउँदै नयाँ प्रयोगका विषयहरू त उठाउँछन् तर त्यो नयाँ भनेको के हो र त्यसलाई कसरी हासिल गर्ने भन्ने स्पष्ट पार्न सकेका छैनन्’, उनले भने । ......... कर्णको बुझाइमा महन्थ ठाकुर र उपेन्द्र यादव पछिल्लो पाँच वर्ष काठमाडौंको सत्ता राजनीतिमा लिप्त रहँदा मधेशमा बढेको असन्तुष्टिलाई समाएर जनतामा जान राउतलाई सजिलो छ ।

Sunday, March 05, 2023

5: Russia

तस्बिरमा हेर्नुहोस् लोसपाको होली
प्रचण्ड विरुद्ध मुद्दा : संविधान र व्यवस्था मास्ने षड्यन्त्र
‘केपी ओली छाया प्रधानमन्त्री बन्न थालेपछि गठबन्धन भत्कियो’ संसद् भङ्ग गर्नु जायज भनेपछि उहाँलाई बोक्न सकिएन : गिरिराजमणि पोखरेल
सङ्घीयता, स्वायत्तता र मधेश आन्दोलन मुलुकलाई सङ्घीयतातर्फ डोहोर्याएको श्रेय मधेस आन्दोलनलाई नै जान्छ । मुलुकमा सङ्घीयता र समावेशिता मधेस आन्दोलनकै देन हो । पहिलो पटक मुलुकको मूल कानुनमा सङ्घीयता भन्ने शब्द मात्रै थपिएन, मधेशीको पहिचानसमेत कायम भयो । सरकारी दस्ताबेजहरूमा मधेशी शब्दले स्थान पायो । आन्दोलन चर्किएपछि तत्कालीन प्रधानमन्त्री गिरिजाप्रसाद कोइराला नेतृत्वको सरकारले मधेशी मोर्चासँग सम्झौता गरेको थियो । हुन त २०६४ फागुन १६ गते भएको सम्झौताको पनि १६ वर्ष पुगिसकेको छ तर भएको सहमतिअनुसार अझै माग पूरा भएको छैन । ........ पहिला काठमाडौँमा मन्त्रीले भ्रष्टाचार गरेका खबर सुनिन्थे, अहिले भ्रष्टाचार हाम्रै घरदैलोसम्म पुगेको छ । तीनै तहमा भ्रष्टाचार उस्तै छ । ....... राज्यको चरित्र मधेशप्रति दमनात्मक छ । आन्दोलनलाई सेटलमेन्ट गर्नुको सट्टा झन् उत्तेजित बनाउने काम सरकारबाट भइरहन्छ । अधिकार प्राप्तिका लागि मधेस आन्दोलनको विगुल फुकेर अग्र स्थानमा रहेका युवाहरू अहिले प्रौढ भइसके र उनीहरू ओझेलमा परेका छन् । ....... २००८ सालदेखि २०७९ सालसम्म मधेशी समुदायले लगातार कुनै न कुनै रूपमा सङ्घर्ष गरिरहेका छन् । तर उपलब्धि खासै देखिँदैन । १६औँ वर्ष लागेको अवसरमा एक पटक ती आन्दोलनका निर्मम समीक्षा आवश्यक छ । तत्कालीन आन्दोलानकारीहरू जसलाई अपराधी सरह व्यवहार गरिएको छ । समाजमा त्यस आन्दोलनलाई अपराध क्रिया भनेर स्थापित गराउन खोजिँदै छ । यो गम्भीर प्रश्न हो । ......... हाम्रो देशमा आजसम्म कुनै पनि परिवर्तन सदनबाट भएको छैन । सडकलाई नै बलियो बनाउनुपर्दछ । मधेश क्रान्तिको भूमि हो, बलिदानीको भूमि हो, पात्र बदलेला तर क्रान्तिकारी चेत जीवित रह्नुपर्दछ ।

इमरान खानको घरमा पुग्यो प्रहरी, जुनसुकै बेला पक्राउ पर्न सक्ने
सर्वोच्च अदालतले भन्याे–द्वन्द्वकालका मुद्दा अनन्तकालसम्म अल्झाइराख्न मिल्दैन
८ दलीय गठबन्धनमा दलैपिच्छे उपप्रधानमन्त्री !
महन्थ ठाकुरलाई उपराष्ट्रपति बनाउन लबिङ जनमत पनि दाउमा



This Steak Is Tender, Marbled, Meaty—and 100% Vegan
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The only thing that matters
The Moby Dick theory of big companies
The Pmarca Guide to Startups, part 2: When the VCs say "no"

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

28: Russia

उपेन्द्र यादवले थाले उपनिर्वाचनको तयारी
इमरान खानविरुद्ध गैर जमानती वारेन्ट जारी
च्याउले पनि गर्छन् मानिसले झैँ कुराकानी, दिमागको विकासमा लगाउँछन् पूरा जोड

मन्त्रिपरिषद् पुनर्गठनको तयारीमा प्रधानमन्त्री एमाले बाहिरिएपछि कांग्रेस, जसपा, एकीकृत समाजवादी, लोसपा, नागरिक उन्मुक्ति सरकारमा जाने .......... प्रचण्ड नेतृत्वको सरकारमा हाल माओवादी र जनमत पार्टी मात्रै छन् । कांगेस, एकीकृत समाजवादी, जसपा, लोसपा, नागरिक उन्मुक्ति पार्टी सरकारमा जाने तयारीमा छन् । ........ अब हुने मन्त्रिपरिषद् विस्तारमार्फत जनता समाजवादी पार्टी, नागरिक उन्मुक्ति पार्टी र लोसपा सरकारमा जान तयार देखिएका हुन् । राष्ट्रिय स्वतन्त्र पार्टी भने अझै ‘पर्ख र हेर’को नीतिमा छ । ........ जसपाका नेताका अनुसार आठदलीय गठबन्धनमा जसपालाई तीन मन्त्रालय दिने सहमति भएको छ । ‘यसअघि हाम्रो मूल बटमलाइन नै उपराष्ट्रपति पद र तीन मन्त्रालय पाउनुपर्छ भन्ने थियो,’ ती नेताले भने, ‘तर, त्यसमा सहमति हुन सकेको थिएन । अहिले दुवै मागमा लगभग सहमति भइसकेको छ । त्यसकारण, सरकारमा जाने वातावरण बनेको हो ।’ ....... गणतन्त्र, संघीयता र व्यवस्थाविरोधी दलहरू बाहिरिएका छन् । परिस्थिति फरक बनेको छ । त्यसैले हाम्रो मागको सुनिश्चितता भयो भने हामी सरकारमा जान सक्छौँ ।’ ....... ‘हामी त पहिलेदेखि चुनावअघिको पुरानै गठबन्धन थियौँ,’ उनले भने, ‘यसमा माओवादी फर्कियो, जसपा, जनमत र नागरिक उन्मुक्ति पार्टी थपिए । अब हुने पदीय भागबन्डा र मन्त्रिपरिषद् विस्तार सबैमा हाम्रो हिस्सेदारी रहन्छ ।’ बालुवाटार स्रोतका अनुसार नागरिक उन्मुक्ति र लोसपा दुवै दललाई एक–एक मन्त्रालय दिने तयारी छ । .



A view from Crimea, the Russian-annexed territory Ukraine is hoping to seize back NBC News spoke to residents during a visit this week to the peninsula that could soon be back in the center of the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. ........ “This is our land,” she said Monday. “We will all put on uniforms and will go to the border to defend ourselves.”Her comments echoed those of most people NBC News spoke to in Crimea this week. While the government of President Vladimir Putin has cracked down on free speech everywhere, including in Crimea, the peninsula’s majority Russian-speaking population was considered more pro-Moscow than in other parts of Ukraine when it was annexed. ....... Sevastopol — home to the Black Sea Fleet in Soviet times and the era of the Russian empire — might be the king on Putin’s chess board: The Russian leader may be determined to protect it at any cost, but Kyiv may now fear any peace deal that left Russia’s navy in the port would threaten its coastline for years to come. .......... NBC News traveled to Crimea by train from Moscow, across the Kerch Bridge that was blown up in a strategic and symbolic blow to Putin last fall. It is now fully restored but would likely be targeted again if the fight came to this peninsula. .......... he Kremlin’s stance that Crimea represents a red line......... “All mothers are crying. Both Russian and Ukrainian mothers are crying,” she said. “Why did it even start? Can’t we all live in peace? Can’t we just share this piece of bread in two halves?” .......... Zelenskyy has said the war that started here will end here, a prospect that — for residents of the peninsula and the rest of this war-torn region — may mean that an end to the bloodshed is a long way off. .



Breaking with EU, Hungary’s leader backs China’s peace proposal for Ukraine war ‘We consider China’s peace plan important, and we support it,’ Prime Minister Viktor Orban says ....... Most European Union leaders have criticised the 12-point proposal, contending that it takes Russia’s side ....... Orban warned that “the whole of Europe is slipping into the war, step by step”. ....... “We need a ceasefire and the start of peace talks; Hungary calls for peace in all international forums; I see that most states support peace and Hungary cannot isolate itself from most of the world. ......... China’s 12-point position paper, released on Friday to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, calls for an immediate ceasefire, opposes the use of sanctions and nuclear weapons, and calls on all parties to stop “fanning the flames” of the war. ......... Orban, who is considered Beijing’s closest ally in Europe, warned that with many other EU member nations now considering sending fighter jets to Ukraine, troops may follow. ........

EU leaders have criticised China’s paper, saying that it takes Russia’s side.

......... “China introduced its ‘position paper’ on a political settlement. It is not really a peace plan and mostly reiterates well-known Chinese positions – some of which we share while important ones are missing,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post on Sunday. ............ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that the bloc would assess the paper, “but it is already clear that the key problem is that it does not really distinguish aggressor from the victim, putting the parties at an equal level”. .......... China’s proposal was also rejected by the United States and Nato. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cautiously welcomed it, reiterating a desire to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. .......... Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the proposal deserves “great attention”, but added that Moscow saw “no preconditions at present” for the conflict to shift tack

and will continue its assault.

.

Sunday, February 19, 2023

19: Russia

सत्ता गठबन्धन टुट्न सक्छ : माधव नेपाल अध्यक्ष नेपालले राष्ट्रिय स्वतन्त्र पार्टी मुलुकका लागि घाँडो नै भएको टिप्पणी गरे । के–के न गरौंला भनेर आएको सो पार्टीमा पनि पदको आशक्ति बाहेक अरु केही पनि नदेखिएको उनले आरोप लगाए ।

एमालेलाई राष्ट्रपति दिने सहमति भएको छैन : जनार्दन शर्मा अहिले गठबन्धन परिवर्तनको सम्भावना छैन संविधानले भनेको समाजवाद कस्तो हो त ? त्यसको ठोस परिभाषा गरेर नेपालको मौलिक समाजवादको मोडल हुन्छ । अहिले विकास निर्माणको काम अगाडि बढिरहेको सन्दर्भमा हाम्रो ब्युरोक्रेसीको पुनः संरचनाको विषय हुन्छ । नागरिकता विधेयकको कुरा हुन्छ । ........ ९९ प्रतिशत मत प्राप्त गरेको छ सरकारले । सङ्ख्याले सरकार राष्ट्रिय सहमतिको बन्यो तर एजेन्डामा राष्ट्रिय सहमति नभएका कारण त्यसअनुसार राष्ट्रिय सहमतिको सरकार होइन कि भन्ने भइरहेको छ । एजेन्डामा पनि राष्ट्रिय सहमति गरियो भने सरकारले त्यो कार्यान्वयन गर्छ । राष्ट्रपति पनि त्यहीअन्तर्गत सहमति गर्ने विषय हो । त्यसो गर्दा देशको विकास र प्रगतिमा जुन समस्या छ, त्यो समस्याको समाधान पनि हुन्छ । सुशासनका लागि, भ्रष्टाचार निवारणका लागि पनि राष्ट्रिय सहमति हुनुपर्यो नि । ...... अहिले पनि राष्ट्रिय सहमतिमा कुनै पनि पार्टीको पात्र पनि त हुनसक्छ नि ? स्वतन्त्र पात्र पनि हुनसक्छ । अहिले पनि नदिने भनेर कहाँ भनेको छ र ? ...... गठबन्धन नै फेरि नयाँ भएर फेरि पुरानो ठाउँमा गइहाल्ने मलाई लाग्दैन । ....... निर्वाचन परिणामको दृष्टिकोणले माओवादी कमजोर भएको अवस्था छँदैछ । माओवादी पार्टीले अगाडि बढाएका मुख्य एजेन्डा संविधानमा स्थापित छन् । ....... माओवादीमा ठूलो सङ्ख्यामा नेताकार्यकर्ताको जमात छ । त्यसलाई उत्साहित गरेर जनताका बीचमा जानेवित्तिकै माओवादी पार्टी सशक्त भएर सुदृढ भएर आउने प्रबल सम्भावना छ । ........ मिल्ने पार्टीहरूसँग एकता, मोर्चा, सहकार्य गर्दै जाने भन्ने सामान्य नीति हो । ...... नेपालका राजनीतिक दलहरूले नेपालको अर्थतन्त्र अब सकियो भनेर पहिल्यै घोषणा गरेका थिए । आज मात्रै होइन डेढ वर्षअगाडि नै देश श्रीलङ्का भयो भनेर घोषणा गरेका थिए । ........ नेपालको अर्थतन्त्रमा आएको यो समस्या हो, सङ्कट होइन । केही समस्या र चुनौती हुन् । ती चुनौती आन्तरिक कारणले भन्दा बढी बाह्य विश्वको अर्थतन्त्र कमजोर हुँदा बढी देखिएको छ ।

जनमत परित्याग गरी राष्ट्रिय स्वराज पार्टीमा प्रवेश हुने होडबाजी
राष्ट्रपतिका लागि महन्थ ठाकुरलाई राष्ट्रिय सहमतिको साझा उम्मेद्वार बनाइनुपर्छ एमालेका अध्यक्ष ओली, कांग्रेस सभापति शेरबहादुर देउवा र प्रधानमन्त्री प्रचण्ड सबै मिलेर महन्थ ठाकुरलाई एउटा साझा उम्मेद्वारको रुपमा अगाडि सानुपर्छ ...... राष्ट्रपति भनेको गरिमामय सम्मानार्थ पद हो । त्यसैले एउटा त्यस्तो नेता जसले आठ वर्षभन्दा बढी जेलनेलको इतिहास, त्यो बेलामा डबल मास्टर्स एलएलबी गरेको एउटा बौद्धिक व्यक्तित्व, अनुशासित जीवनशैली बाँचेको पात्र खोज्नुप¥यो भने उहाँजस्तो उपयुक्त पात्र त देखिँदैन । साझा पात्र खोज्नुप¥यो भने मधेश, पहाड, हिमाल सबैको मन छुने, एउटा इमान्दार व्यक्तिको रुपमा उहाँको भूमिका हुनसक्छ । उहाँले त्यो अभिभावकत्व सफलताका साथ निर्वाह गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ । यसले राष्ट्रिय/अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय जगत्मा पनि राम्रो सन्देश जान्छ । छिमेकी तथा अन्य मित्रराष्ट्रहरुसँग पनि उहाँको बडो सन्तुलित सम्बन्ध छ । त्यसैले, सबै दलहरु मिलेर उहाँलाई साझा पात्रको रुपमा अगाडि बढाइनुपर्छ ।

मधेश मात्र होइन, देशको नेतृत्व डा.सीके राउतको हातमा जानुपर्छ यदि जनमत पार्टी सरकारमा जाने मतादेश पाएको छैन भने ३२ सिटे पार्टी पनि सरकारको नेतृत्व गर्ने भन्ने मतादेश पनि होइन । यसपालिको चुनावबाट जनताले सबैलाई मिलेर सरकार चलाउने आदेश दिएको हो । मधेश प्रदेशकै कुरा गर्ने हो भने जनमत पार्टीले कृषि मन्त्रालयबाट किसानका लागि निःशुल्क कृषि मिटर दिने पहल गरिरहेको छ । मधेश प्रदेशमा रहेका अन्य पार्टीका मन्त्रीहरुको कुनै गतिविधि देखिएको छैन । जुन मुद्दा उठाएर जनमत पार्टीले यस्तो मत पायो, ती मागहरुमध्ये सबभन्दा प्रमुख किसानका मुद्दाहरु नै थियो । तदनुरुप नै जनमत पार्टीले संघमा खानेपानी मन्त्रालय पाएको छ । ....... जनसरोकारसँग जोडिएको खानेपानी मन्त्रालय पनि भएकोले जनमत पार्टीले स्वीकार ग¥यो । अहिले द्रूतगतिमा हाम्रा मन्त्री अब्दुल खानजीले एकदमै राम्रो काम गरिरहनुभएको छ । ........ डा.जयकान्त राउत जनमत पार्टीको स्थापनाकालदेखि नै लाग्नुभएको छ । उहाँ एउटा विज्ञ पनि हुनुहुन्छ र नास्टमा धेरै वर्ष काम गरिसक्नुभएको छ । यो देशमा ठूलो योगदान पु¥याएको व्यक्तिको रुपमा पनि हुनुहुन्छ । उहाँमा विज्ञता छ भने कसैको दाई वा भाई हुँदैमा कुनै पदमा जानु हुँदैन भन्ने कुरा छैन । ........ मधेश प्रदेशलाई एउटा मोडेलको रुपमा प्रस्तुत गर्न जनमत पार्टीसँग मार्गचित्र छ । हामीले जनजीविकासँग जोडिएका मुद्दाहरु उठाएर मधेश प्रदेशमा लोकप्रिय मत पाएका छौं । ठूला–ठूला गठबन्धनका बाबजुद पनि मधेश प्रदेशका जनताले जनमतलाई लोकप्रिय मत दिएको हो । त्यसै कारण जनमतले नेतृत्व गर्न पाउनुपर्ने दाबी गरेको थियो । सिट संख्याको हिसावले जुन किसिमको भद्र सहमति भएको छ, त्यो पालना गर्दै हामी सरकारमा सहभागी भएका छौं । जनमतले पाएको मन्त्रालयबाट जनताको पक्षमा उत्कृष्ट काम गरेर देखाउन लागेका छौं ।

'अहिले जितेर आउने नयाँ दल पुराना जस्तै भए' [भिडियो] अध्यक्षमा समीक्षा बाँस्कोटा र महासचिवमा रन्जु दर्शना सर्वसम्मत रुपमा चयन भए ......... २०७४ मा उदायो, राम्रो मत पायो, वाग्मती प्रदेशमा पाँचौं दल बन्यौं । २ लाख १२ हजार मत पाइयो, समानुपातिकतर्फ ३ जनाले सांसद जित्नुभयो । तर छोटो समयमै पार्टीभित्र फुट देखियो र विभाजन भयो । .