Biden admits 'very slight' US recession possibility

WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden conceded Tuesday that a "slight" recession was a possibility following a downcast IMF economic forecast, amid rising inflation and uncertainty after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"I don't think there will be a recession," Biden told CNN. "If it is, it'll be a very slight recession. That is, we’ll move down slightly."

Agence France-Presse

After six months of war, what's next for Ukraine?

PARIS — Six months after Russian forces launched what they hoped would be a blitzkrieg invasion of Ukraine, the conflict has turned into a grinding campaign of daily air strikes and battles with no clear endgame in sight.

Much of the country's east and south are under Russia's control, depriving Ukraine of the Black Sea ports vital for the grain exports that are the lifeblood of its economy.

Russia is also suffering under Western sanctions, though few expect President Vladimir Putin to end the slow but steady push deeper into Ukraine anytime soon -- let alone give up the territories already occupied.

How long could it last? 

Both sides have sustained punishing losses of lives and materiel, but neither appears willing to consider a ceasefire.

Ukrainians believe they are in an existential fight to defend a nationhood that Putin dismisses as a historical fallacy.

"In such circumstances, nobody can win," said Konstantin Kalachev, a Moscow-based political analyst. "This 'special military operation' could go on for years."

"Russia is hoping to win by wearing them down... Time is not on Ukraine's side, and its economy could break," he told AFP.

Marie Dumoulin, a director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the vigorous support from Western allies would also make it harder for either side to back down now.

"Each side thinks they can still press a military advantage, so it's unlikely that this is going end soon," she said.

Putin has also framed the conflict as part of Russia's resistance to an expansionist NATO, making any suggestion of "defeat" unacceptable.

He could punish Ukraine's desire for closer EU integration by pushing toward the key port of Odessa, effectively landlocking the country and throttling its exports.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile might seek more tactical successes, like the sinking of the Moskva missile cruiser in April, or possibly even try a counter-offensive to retake some areas.

"That would allow him to remotivate Ukrainian troops and society and justify his requests for more aid from European partners," Dumoulin said.

Can Ukraine continue to resist? 

Military hardware and intelligence data from Europe and the US have allowed Ukrainian forces to slow -- but not stall -- Russian forces in the Donbas and along the Black Sea coast.

But that is also allowing Russia to consolidate its positions, having already built up its military presence on the Crimean peninsula over the past eight years since its annexation by Moscow.

And so far, Zelensky's pleas for more advanced and powerful weapons have been unsuccessful.

"The Ukrainian people are united and support the government so far, but that stability also strongly relies on the idea that the West helps Ukraine in this war," said Dimitri Minic, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris.

The arrival of cold weather will also test Ukrainians' resolve if they face fuel shortages, power or heating cuts, and other hardships, especially if more people are driven from their homes by the fighting.

Dumoulin noted that 40 percent of Ukraine's schools will remain closed when classes resume in September, which could take a heavy psychological toll.

"Much is going to depend on their capacity to endure the winter, especially for those behind the front lines... It's going to be difficult," she said.

Will Russia's economy hold out? 

Despite Moscow's miscalculation of Ukraine's capacity to resist, Russia appears ready to pay the costs of a long war of attrition.

Ukraine's allies sought to strangle Russia's economy by crimping its oil and gas sales, on which it depends, while imposing sanctions that restrict imports and forced many Western companies to quit the country.

But "export receipts, mostly from oil, gas, coal and other commodities, have not only held up but have exceeded expectations," said Chris Weafer, a longtime Russia analyst at the Macro-Advisory consultancy.

Ordinary Russians have already endured sanctions since the Crimea seizure, and the government soon found new sources for industrial components and other materials from Turkey or Asia.

"The economy, industry and people have had eight years to adjust to sanctions so that today, the country and people are better prepared and with greater self-sufficiency, albeit at a basic level," Weafer said.

However, the full effect of sanctions could begin to bite hard in the coming years, as Russia diverts funds from investment to the war effort, and foreign firms remain wary.

"We're going to feel the full effect in around five years," Kalachev said.

What are potential outcomes? 

If the conflict sinks into a quagmire over the winter and into 2023, much will depend on whether the West's support will hold up, especially if voters feel the costs -- not least rising fuel and food prices -- are becoming too high.

"Probably there will come a point when Putin will count on Western lassitude and will offer some openings... to push Western leaders to pressure Ukraine into ending the conflict on Russia's terms," Dumoulin said.

Barring a disastrous military miscalculation, Ukraine's army is unlikely to collapse outright, and few expect Zelensky will accept any negotiations that do not see Ukraine recover all lost territory, including Crimea.

And if its allies continue to provide aid and weapons, Russia's military advantage could steadily erode.

That could also threaten Putin's public support at home, potentially catalyzing opposition forces ahead of presidential elections set for March 2024.

"What could aggravate tensions between the Kremlin and what remains of civil society... is a declaration of war, martial law, or general mobilization," Minic said.

"This would be difficult to manage in large cities such as Moscow or Saint Petersburg, where the obsessive anti-Western narrative has less of a hold."

Agence France-Presse 

EU plan to cut gas use by 15 percent comes into effect

BRUSSELS - An EU plan to cut gas consumption across the bloc by 15 percent to cope with an energy price crisis spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine comes into effect on Tuesday.

The EU regulation enshrining the plan agreed two weeks ago by the 27-nation bloc was published Monday in the European Union's official administrative gazette, with the stipulation it would take force from Tuesday.

"Considering the imminent danger to the security of gas supply brought about by the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, this regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency," it said.

The aim is for the EU to be able to bolster its reserves of gas in time for what is likely to be a very tough winter. European households and businesses are being squeezed by skyrocketing energy prices and reduced Russian gas that several member states are dependent on.

The regulation said that EU countries "shall use their best efforts" to cut gas consumption by "at least 15 percent" between August this year and March next year, based on how much they used on average over the previous five years.

Some EU countries, though, had carve-outs from strictly following the rule, which was in any case termed a "voluntary demand reduction".

These were countries not fully connected to the European electricity grid or with gas pipelines to other parts of the EU or unable to free up enough pipeline gas to help other member states.

Hungary, which relies on gas piped in directly from Russia, had demanded the exception. 

Germany, the EU's economic powerhouse, took a major share of the 40 percent of EU gas imports that came from Russia last year. 

Should the European Commission see a "severe gas supply shortage" or exceptionally high gas demand emerging, it can ask EU countries to declare an alert for the bloc. That would make gas cuts binding and limit exceptions.

While the EU has not included Russian gas in its sanctions on Moscow for the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has drastically cut supplies anyway in what Brussels seems as an attempt to strongarm Europe.

Agence France-Presse

World Bank to provide additional $12B to address ‘devastating’ global food crisis

The World Bank announced Wednesday an additional $12 billion in funding to mitigate the "devastating effects" of severe growing global food insecurity driven by climate change and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The move, which will bring total available funding for projects over the next 15 months to $30 billion, was unveiled hours before a major United Nations meeting on global food security.

Amid the growing shortages intensified by the war in Ukraine, a key grain producer, the new funding will help boost food and fertilizer production, facilitate greater trade and support vulnerable households and producers, the World Bank said.

"Food price increases are having devastating effects on the poorest and most vulnerable," World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement. 

"It is critical that countries make clear statements now of future output increases in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

WHO says coordinating with UK over monkeypox outbreak

The bank previously announced $18.7 billion in funding for projects linked to "food and nutrition security issues" for Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and South Asia.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and international economic sanctions on Moscow have disrupted supplies of fertilizer, wheat and other commodities from both countries, pushing up prices for food and fuel, especially in developing nations.

And India over the weekend banned wheat exports, which sent prices for the grain soaring.

"Countries should make concerted efforts to increase the supply of energy and fertilizer, help farmers increase plantings and crop yields, and remove policies that block exports and imports, divert food to biofuel, or encourage unnecessary storage," Malpass said.

- Ukraine only 'latest shock' -

Washington welcomed the decision, which is part of a joint action plan by multilateral lenders and regional development banks to address the food crisis.

"The Russian war against Ukraine is the latest global shock that is exacerbating the sharp increase in both acute and chronic food insecurity in recent years driven by conflict, climate change and economic downturns, such as those associated with the Covid-19 pandemic," the Treasury Department said, applauding the institutions for working swiftly to address the issues.

The situation will only grow worse because of the Ukrainian war, experts warn, as Russia and Ukraine alone produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due in New York on Wednesday to chair a UN meeting on global food security.

Vellamvelly Muraleedharan, India's minister of state for external affairs, also is due to participate in the meeting.

Washington's UN ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on Monday urged New Delhi to revoke the ban announced Saturday in the face of falling production caused primarily by an extreme heatwave.

She said Wednesday's session aims to "bring countries together to look at what countries might be able to help fill the gap" in wheat supplies caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But food insecurity had begun to spike even before Moscow invaded its neighbor on February 24.

UN data showed that 193 million people in 53 countries were acutely food insecure last year, meaning they needed urgent assistance to survive.

Agence France-Presse

G7 countries agree new economic sanctions against Russia

The Group of Seven industrialized nations slapped fresh sanctions on Russia Thursday following the "appalling atrocities by Russian armed forces" against civilians in Ukraine.

G7 leaders agreed to ban "new investments in key sectors of the Russian economy, including the energy sector", they said in a statement. 

Bans on the export of certain goods to Russia will be widened, as well as restrictions on goods from Russia, and the screws on Russian banks and state-owned companies will be tightened.

Russia's defense sector will be targeted to "erode the capabilities of the Russian military to wage war".

They also pledged to "elevate our campaign against the elites and their family members who support President Putin in his war effort".

While stopping short of a full embargo on energy imports, the G7 said they will "expedite" plans to slash reliance on Russian fossil fuels. 

Russian coal will be phased out and eventually banned, they said, pledging to also accelerate action to reduce dependency on Russian oil. 

Earlier Thursday, G7 foreign ministers had called on the UN General Assembly to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council over "heinous acts and atrocities" in Ukraine. 

Of the 193 members of the assembly, 93 subsequently voted in favor of suspension while 24 voted against and 58 abstained, suggesting weakening international unity against Russia.

The countries voting against included China, a Moscow ally which has steadfastly abstained from criticizing the invasion.

Agence France-Presse

Nickel soars to record high of $54,880 per ton

LONDON - Nickel soared to a record high of $54,880 per ton as the economic fallout from the Ukraine conflict widened.

Russia, which invaded its neighbor 12 days ago, is a major producer of the metal used to make stainless steel and batteries for electric vehicles, and supply fears saw its price soar an unprecedented 90 percent on the day and shatter its 2008 peak of $48,000 per tonne.

Agence France-Presse

Russia sanctions ripple across world markets, rouble tanks

LONDON - World stocks slid, oil prices jumped and the rouble tanked to fresh record lows on Monday, as the West ramped up sanctions against Russia for its attack on Ukraine that included blocking banks from the SWIFT global payments system.

Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate to 20 percent from 9.5 percent in an emergency move, and authorities told export-focused companies to be ready to sell foreign currency as the rouble slid almost 30 percent to record lows versus the dollar. 

As an economic crisis loomed in Russia, the fallout of tougher sanctions from the West imposed over the weekend rippled out across financial markets.

European stocks slumped 2 percent. European banks most exposed to Russia, including Austria's Raiffeisen Bank, UniCredit and Societe Generale, dropped between 9 and 15 percent, while the wider euro zone banking index fell 7 percent.

US stock futures were deep in negative territory, although MSCI's broad gauge of Asia shares and Japan's Nikkei eked out small gains.

"The trading environment is highly dynamic, and we maintain a defensive stance as things could get a lot worse from here," said Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank.

Oil prices meanwhile surged after Russian President Vladimir Putin put nuclear-armed forces on high alert on Sunday, the fourth day of the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. 

The ramp-up in tensions heightened fears that oil supplies from the world's second-largest producer could be disrupted, sending Brent crude futures up 5 percent to $102.86. US. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up $4.62 or almost 5.0 percent at $96.24 a barrel.

"I am telling clients all we know for certain is that energy prices are going to be higher, and there are going to be some beneficiaries," said John Milroy, Ord Minnett financial advisor in Sydney.

"It's an old cliché, but it's true that uncertainty drives moves in both directions." 

SAFE-HAVENS SHINE

As uncertainty continued to grip markets, investors plumped for the safety of the dollar, Swiss franc and Japanese yen.

The euro slid 1 percent to $1.1168 and 0.9 percent to 129.08 yen, while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars fell 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Sovereign bonds such as the US. Treasuries and German Bunds -- regarded as among the most safest assets to hold globally -- remained in strong demand.

The 10-year US. Treasury yield was down around 7 basis points to 1.90 percent in London trade, and equivalent German yields were down 6 basis points to 0.16 percent.

Money markets continued to push back rate hike expectations with investors now pricing roughly 30 basis points worth of tightening from the European Central Bank in total this year, down from 35 bps late last week. 

Gold was last up 0.61 percent to around $1,899.

Russia's rouble dived almost 30 percent to a record-low 120 per dollar, but recovered some ground to last trade at just over 100 to the dollar.

MSCI's Russia equity index slid 25 percent, while London and Frankfurt-listed Russian equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) tanked more than 35 percent as investors dumped Russian assets.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in TOKYO; editing by Jason Neely)

-reuters

Facebook, Twitter highlight security steps for users in Ukraine

Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc has set up a special operations center to monitor the conflict in Ukraine, and it launched a feature so users in the country can lock their social media profiles for security, a company official said in Twitter posts on Thursday.

Twitter Inc on Wednesday posted tips on how users can secure their accounts against hacking, make sure their tweets are private and deactivate their accounts. The company tweeted the safety tips in English, Russian and Ukrainian.

Both social media platforms are often used by political activists and researchers to disseminate information during times of crisis. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday also raised concerns about the spread of disinformation about the conflict on social media.

With one click, users in Ukraine can lock their profile to prevent users who are not their friends from downloading or sharing their profile picture, or seeing posts on their timeline, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, said on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Twitter also shared information on how users can deactivate their accounts.

As the conflict in Ukraine escalated on Thursday, social media users took to platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter to post videos of evacuation lines, helicopters in the sky and anti-war protests in Russia.

On short-form video app TikTok, the hashtags "Russia" and "Ukraine" had 37.2 billion and 8.5 billion views, respectively.

-reuters

Trump, allies aim to delegitimize impeachment from the start

WASHINGTON — They’re calling it a circus, a farce and even zany.

President Donald Trump and his Republican allies spent weeks trivializing the House impeachment inquiry ahead of Tuesday’s historic unveiling of formal charges against the president.


Where Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton treated the prospect of impeachment as a serious threat to their presidencies, Trump’s boosters have tried to brush off the whole thing. Believing that acquittal by the GOP-controlled Senate is all but certain, they’re out to convince voters to punish the president’s Democratic accusers — or at least tune out the Washington spectacle.

To that end, they have belittled the impeachment process with mockery, schoolyard taunts and an unyielding insistence that Trump did not a single thing wrong. They have stonewalled, refusing to allow witnesses to testify; protested by declining to send their own lawyers to hearings; and dished out the ultimate Trumpian insult: calling the proceedings boring.

In the process, the president and his allies have largely glossed over the substance of allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, making light of what is likely to be only the third presidential impeachment in the nation’s history.

It’s a strategy borne of Trump’s instincts and informed by the results of polling and focus groups. The president and his allies believe the effort has been effective, especially when it comes to keeping independent voters skeptical of the process. It is also a reflection of the country’s increasingly polarized political environment.

“Why would we legitimize this process that the American people can’t even follow, aren’t digesting,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Monday when asked why the White House had chosen not to participate in the House proceedings. She equated cooperation to “colluding with an illegitimate process.”

She showed her disdain for the effort by accusing Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Democrat-New York, of “playing a game of Inspector Clouseau, Secret Squirrel” by waiting so long to unveil the articles of impeachment that were announced Tuesday.

GOP critics have been going all-out to find new ways to mock what Trump has long called a “witch hunt” and a “sham.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, compared the impeachment hearings to “the cantina bar scene in Star Wars. It’s surreal.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed the “zaniness that’s taking place on Capitol Hill.” And Rep. Devin Nunes, the House intelligence committee’s top Republican, called the House hearings “a show trial, a planned result of three years of political operations and dirty tricks.”

But even if GOP legislators are more than willing to complain and erect parliamentary roadblocks, many lawmakers, particularly the senators who would serve as jurors in an eventual Senate trial, have been less comfortable defending the president’s conduct.


Nor has that been a priority for White House aides, who have been firing off rapid response emails about procedural unfairness but have done little to engage on the substance of the charges.

During the early days of the inquiry there was tension between the West Wing and the president’s outside allies, who felt the White House was doing too little to defend the president against the charges. Trump himself was initially unwilling to bring on new staff or set up a “war room,” concerned that such a move would suggest he felt vulnerable or make him look guilty.

Ultimately, Trump consented to the hiring of former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi and Republican strategist Tony Sayegh, a move that has helped to mollify some outside critics.

There also was a sense of confusion early on, as administration officials and allies struggled to keep up with rapidly unfolding news about Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden. Even some of the president’s closest supporters were unclear about details of his interactions with the president of Ukraine.

With little clarity about what really had happened, Republicans took aim at the process, seeing it as an easy place to start. Once the scope become clearer, officials inside and outside the building began to refine their messaging, based in part on polling and focus group testing.

America First Policies, a nonprofit backing Trump’s policies, for instance, conducted focus groups early in the process that focused specifically on independent voters who might be open to voting for Trump in 2020.

Kelly Sadler, a spokeswoman for the group, said the sessions turned up frustration with Congress over endless investigations and not perusing bread-and-butter issues. Many people, she said, felt the impeachment inquiry was highly partisan — a sentiment reflected in polling data — and felt the whole endeavor was a waste of time and money, especially given the quickly-approaching 2020 election.

The group has targeted its advertising to speak to those frustrations, which are also reflected in messaging from the American Action Network, which is tied to House GOP leadership and has spent millions on anti-impeachment ads.

As Republicans have pushed to delegitimize the House impeachment process, they also are professing great reverence for an expected Senate trial on friendlier turf. Trump sees a Senate trial as a forum where his allies will be able to publicly defend him and turn the tables on Democrats in dramatic Court TV fashion.

“It’s pretty clear the president wants a trial,” said White House spokesman Hogan Gidley. He offered a list of some of the witnesses Trump would like to call, including House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the whistle blower whose complaint sparked the inquiry, as well as Biden and his son, Hunter, who had dealings in Ukraine.


“The president’s eager to get his story out,” Gidley said.

But Republicans in the Senate caution that Trump may not get the show he wants because Senate rules require a majority of senators to approve individual witnesses, and some are weary of creating a spectacle. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that no decisions have been made yet about the length or structure of a Senate trial.

“The Senate has two choices: It could go down the path of calling witnesses and basically having another trial or it could decide — and again 51 members could make that decision — that they have heard enough,” he said.

/atm

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

US Energy chief Perry asked to testify in impeachment probe

WASHINGTON — House investigators have called Energy Secretary Rick Perry to testify in the impeachment inquiry and issued subpoenas late Friday to a top White House lawyer and another administration official to appear.

Perry is the first member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet asked to appear before the House. His testimony is scheduled for Wednesday, according to an official working on the impeachment inquiry. The person was unauthorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes indicated Friday that Perry would not appear for the closed-door hearing but would consider testifying in a public session. Perry has already defied a subpoena from the committees for Ukraine-related documents.

“The Secretary will not partake in a secret star chamber inquisition where agency counsel is forbidden to be present,” Hynes said.

“If the committee is interested in conducting a serious proceeding they are welcome to send for the Secretary’s consideration an invitation to participate in an open hearing where the Department’s counsel can be present and the American people can witness,” she said.

The subpoenas were issued to two White House officials who have already been asked to appear Monday.

One subpoena is for testimony from John Eisenberg, the lead counsel at the National Security Council, according to another person familiar with the situation, who was also unauthorized to discuss it. Eisenberg was instrumental in discussions about how to handle a White House memo recounting the Trump phone call with Ukraine that is central to the impeachment inquiry.

The House impeachment inquiry is turning to Eisenberg as investigators learn more about the concerns other officials at the White House raised with him about the Trump administration’s actions toward Ukraine.

The impeachment inquiry stems from Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy when he asked for a “favor” — to investigate Democrats and a company linked to the family of Joe Biden — as the White House was withholding military aid to the Eastern European ally as it confronts Russian aggression.

Eisenberg was among the White House lawyers privy to a discussion about moving the memo of Trump’s phone call into a highly restricted computer system normally reserved for documents about covert action. The White House eventually released a rough transcript of the call amid a government whistleblower’s complaint about it.

In testimony behind closed doors this week, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert, told investigators he twice brought his concerns to the NSC’s lead counsel , presumably Eisenberg, about the call and related administration actions toward the country.


Another White House official who testified before the impeachment investigators, Tim Morrison, the Russia expert at NSC, said he, too, contacted the NSC legal office about the call, not because of any concerns it was illegal but because he was worried about how a potential leak to the public would “play out in Washington’s polarized environment.”

The other subpoena is to Brian McCormack, who works on energy policy at the Office of Management and Budget. McCormack is Perry’s former chief of staff.

Trump has blocked White House officials from testifying in the impeachment probe, which he views as illegitimate.

But an ever-growing list of current and former administration staffers has been appearing behind closed doors in the impeachment hearings.

Investigators also want to hear Wednesday from David Hale, an undersecretary at the State Department who has been mentioned in previous testimony.

Mostly, the witnesses are corroborating the core of the investigation: that Trump wanted Zelenskiy for the investigation of Democrats and the company linked to Biden’s son Hunter, while administration withheld military aid.

Democrats see the actions as a quid pro quo, trading government policy and funding for a political favor. Trump said he did nothing wrong.

Perry, who led a U.S. delegation to Ukraine for Zelenskiy’s inauguration in May, has emphatically denied hearing anyone, during his frequent meetings with Ukrainian officials, mention the Bidens or the Ukraine company that employed Hunter Biden.

Perry told the AP in Dubai last weekend that he considered the way lawmakers were pursuing impeachment improper and indicated he did not plan to testify.

The House voted this week to affirm the impeachment process and formalize the procedures ahead.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Boxing champ turns opposition leader in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine  — Towering over his fellow protest leaders, Vitali Klitschko , the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, has emerged as Ukraine’s most popular opposition figure and has ambitions to become its next president.

Thanks to his sports-hero status and reputation as a pro-Western politician untainted by Ukraine’s frequent corruption scandals, the 6-foot 7-inch Klitschko has surpassed jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in opinion polls.

As massive anti-government protests continue to grip Ukraine, the 42-year-old boxer-turned-politician is urging his countrymen to continue their fight to turn this ex-Soviet republic into a genuine Western democracy.

“This is not a revolution. It is a peaceful protest that demands justice,” Klitschko told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. “The people are not defending political interests. They are defending the idea of living in a civilized country.”

Dubbed Dr. Ironfist for his prowess in the boxing ring, Klitschko has scored 45 victories in 47 fights, 41 of them with knockouts. He has successfully defended his title 11 times, most recently in September 2012, and plans to have one more bout before he retires. He still spends several hours a day training.

Now Klitschko must prove that he has as much stamina in the political arena.

Despite earning a doctorate in sports science, Klitschko has had to fight a stereotype of being intellectually unfit to run this economically troubled nation of 46 million.

Having been raised — like many Ukrainians — in a Russian-speaking family, Klitschko only recently learned Ukrainian and sometimes struggles to find the right word. Still, he appeals to many Ukrainians with his air of sincerity and his image as a handsome tough guy ready to defend his compatriots.

“He is a national hero and comes across as being decent,” said Andreas Umland, assistant professor of European studies at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

Klitschko was one of only a few opposition politicians who tried to stop several hundred
radical protesters from storming President Viktor Yanukovych’s office during a demonstration Sunday that drew hundreds of thousands to the streets of the capital, Kiev.

As the boxer called for peace, the jubilant crowd chanted his name. Beside him stood his wife, Natalia, an attractive brunette and former model who recently launched a singing career. The couple has three children.

The angry protests were sparked by the president’s abrupt decision last month to ditch a political and economic treaty with the 28-nation European Union in favor of closer economic ties with Russia, which had threatened Ukraine with trade consequences if the country signed the EU deal.

On Wednesday, his party joined two other opposition parties in blockading the Ukrainian parliament as part of a nationwide strike.

The demonstrations in Kiev were galvanized when Yanukovych’s government sent in riot police with truncheons to break up a small, peaceful rally in the middle of the night, injuring dozens.

“They took away people’s hope to implement reforms, to change the situation in the country,” Klitschko told the AP, speaking inside the parliament building. “They stole our hope.”

Klitschko made his first foray into politics during the country’s 2004 Orange Revolution, the mass protests that led to the annulment of Yanukovych’s fraud-tainted presidential win and ushered in a pro-Western government. Fresh from a victory in the ring in the United States, Klitschko flew to Kiev and appeared in the heart of those protests wearing an orange scarf, the symbol of the revolution.

Next to him stood his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, now 37, another heavyweight world boxing champion who is engaged to the American actress Hayden Panettiere, star of the TV series “Nashville.”

After two failed attempts to be elected mayor of Kiev, Klitschko entered national politics last year when his pro-Western Udar party — Punch in English — finished a strong third in the parliamentary election, running on a reform and anti-corruption platform. He was able to capitalize on popular anger with Yanukovych, who quickly undid many of the democratic victories of the Orange Revolution, and with voters’ disillusionment with the Orange leaders, now in opposition, including Tymoshenko.

A year before the 2012 election, Tymoshenko was jailed for abuse of office, charges the West considers politically motivated. Klitschko has joined other opposition leaders in campaigning for the release of Tymoshenko, long Yanukovych’s biggest political rival.

Klitschko was born in 1971 in Kyrgyzstan, then part of the Soviet Union, to a school teacher mother and a father whose job as an army pilot took the family to remote military bases across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

He embraced Western values while training in Germany and the United States for matches, he says, and wants to bring that mindset home to Ukraine.

“Those people who are in politics (now) do not make it their goal to change the country,” Klitschko said. “They are simply plundering the country.”

Unlike many Ukrainian politicians — including Tymoshenko — who are accused of making their fortunes in shady business deals in the tumultuous post-Soviet era, Klitschko’s millions come from a transparent source — the boxing ring.

An opinion poll in September predicted he would get 15.5 percent of the vote in the first round of a presidential election, compared to Tymoshenko’s 13.2 percent. Yanukovych would get 19 percent, but he would lose to Klitschko in a run-off, according to the Razumkov Center survey of 2,010 respondents. It had a margin of error of two percentage points.

Klitschko’s political star has only risen since then.

In October, he announced he would run for the presidency in early 2015, even though parliament, dominated by Yanukovych’s allies, passed a law that sought to bar Klitschko from running on the grounds that he spent several years in Germany and paid taxes there.

Klitschko was appalled, calling Ukrainian politics a dirty business, unlike anything he has seen in boxing.

“It’s impossible to compare them because in boxing there are rules. In Ukrainian politics, the rules are absent,” Klitschko said.

Klitschko has kept his two careers separate — never joining other Ukrainian lawmakers in the frequent brawls that have marred parliament.

“Physical force plays no role in politics. The power of thought is much stronger,” Klitschko said.

How good are Ukrainian lawmakers at throwing punches, anyway?

“If you judge this from the standpoint of (my) profession, they don’t have any talent,” he said.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Elton John urges Ukraine to stop attacks on gays

KIEV — Elton John used an AIDS charity concert in Kiev on Saturday to make an emotional appeal to Ukraine to stop what he called persecution of gays.

The 65-year-old singer broke off during a two-hour performance, part of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament co-hosted by Ukraine, to speak about reports of physical attacks on members of the former Soviet republic's gay community.

John, a regular visitor to the country, drew cheers from thousands of Ukrainians watching his performance on huge street screens when he described Ukraine as "my second home".

"Recently I read about violence against gay people in Ukraine. Beating up gay people is wrong. This for me does not symbolize Ukraine," he said.

"I plead with you: Stop the violence against gay people."

Ahead of the European soccer championship which began on June 8 and ends on Sunday with the final in Kiev, a gay pride march in the Ukrainian capital was called off and one of its leaders was beaten by assailants.

Last Saturday, another leading Ukrainian gay rights activist said he had received hospital treatment after being beaten in Kiev by a group of assailants, who screamed homophobic insults at him.

John, who entered a civil partnership with David Furnish in 2005, regularly champions respect for gay and lesbian rights. — Reuters

article source: gmanetwork.com