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Feb. 22, 2021- Rockets fired near US embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone as U.S. seeks to extend, strengthen nuclear pact with Iran
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In letter to Biden, PA and Hamas commit to two-state solution on 1967 lines
Is Hamas reconsidering its position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
The Palestinian Authority (PA) sent an official letter to the White House claiming that all factions, including Hamas, were committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The letter was delivered by Hussein Al-Sheikh, the PA’s Head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs, to U.S. President Joe Biden’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr. The provisions listed in the memorandum were all agreed upon during a meeting of the various Palestinian factions in September. The letter also stated that all the factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, were committed to international law standards, that the PLO is the political umbrella and the legitimate sole representative for the Palestinian people and that the results of the Palestinian elections will be respected and that a peaceful transfer of power will take place afterward if it may occur. The memo also asserted the factions’ continued commitment to “popular peaceful resistance” until a Palestinian state is founded.
Feb. 21, 2021
Rockets hit Iraq military airbase hosting US contractors
Rockets fired near US embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone
At least four rockets struck an Iraqi airbase on Saturday night, the Iraqi military said in a statement, while other officials said one person was wounded at the base where a United States defense company services combat aircraft. The wounded individual worked for the US company, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing four officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Saturday’s attack comes after NATO announced it would dramatically scale up its mission in Iraq from 500 personnel to 4,000 to battle the remnants of ISIL (ISIS), Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week. No group immediately claimed the attack on Balad airbase in Salah al-Din province. Meanwhile, At least three rockets were fired at the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad near the US Embassy on Monday, according to reports. One of the missiles landed in the Green Zone but two others fell in residential areas nearby, according to reports. No injuries were immediately reported. It’s the third rocket attack in Iraq in the past couple of weeks targeting US troops, diplomats or contractors.
Feb. 22, 2021
Iran Wants Compensation For $1 Trillion Damage Inflicted On Economy By US Sanctions
Iran could increase uranium enrichment to 60%, supreme leader says
IAEA & Iran Issues joint statement after reaching ‘Temporary Understanding’
Blinken: U.S. seeks to extend, strengthen nuclear pact with Iran
A major crisis was narrowly averted Sunday over Iran’s nuclear facilities and the planned booting of IAEA inspectors from key sites, scheduled according to a prior Iranian parliament decision for Feb.21. Tehran reached a last-minute agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog, now being described as a temporary “technical understanding” to keep the inspections going for another three months. According to the agreement, the IAEA will no longer conduct last-minute “snap inspections” after Tehran argued that it shouldn’t be subject to such after the US tore up the deal under Trump. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said Sunday that “This is not a replacement for what we used to have. This is a temporary solution that allows us to continue to give to the world assurances of what is going on there, in the hope that we can return to a fuller picture,” as cited in CNN. The fact that Iran did not in the end boot the inspectors or block access to sites is a positive sign for the possibility of restored talks with the US about rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal. Last week the Biden administration said it’s ready to sit down for EU-sponsored negotiations, something which Iran initially appeared to rebuff but now is giving signals of readiness to participate in. However, adding to its list of demands – perhaps toward additional leverage – Iran said Sunday it estimates unilateral sanctions by the United States has caused $1 trillion worth of damage to its economy. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Sunday that any follow-up negotiations to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal must include “compensation” for such lasting economic damage. “When we meet, we will raise compensation,” he told state-run PressTV in an interview.
***See ETRM 2/19 Timeline regarding JCPOA
Feb. 22, 2021
Violence engulfs South Sudan as UN warns of looming famine
Ten years after independence, staggering levels of violence have engulfed more than three-quarters of South Sudan, while hunger looms over 60 per cent of the country’s population, UN agencies warn. In a report released Friday, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned that the bloodshed faced by civilians is “the worst recorded” since the country’s civil war began in December 2013. Commission Chair Yasmin Sooka said that although the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement two years ago had “led to a reduction in hostilities at the national level”, the country has seen “a massive escalation in violence” locally. Commissioner Andrew Clapham said the scale of the armed violence and the newer weapons used by local groups suggest either the involvement of state forces or external actors. In the meantime, the World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that 7.24 million South Sudanese are going increasingly hungry due to chronic sporadic violence, extreme weather patterns and the economic impact of COVID-19. More than one million people across South Sudan have been affected by floods sweeping across the eastern and central regions this year, submerging homes, farmlands and livestock.
Feb. 20, 2021
Protesters rally in Algerian capital, marking rebirth of popular Hirak uprising
Despite a heavy police presence, thousands of people have joined protests across the Algerian capital in a resurgence of the Hirak demonstrations that forced the country’s then-president to resign two years ago. Protesters defied warnings from the authorities not to turn out on Monday and took to the streets of Algiers, demanding real political change and the end of military rule across the country. Police blockades were set up in some parts of the city as the streets filled with people in the early afternoon. The Hirak movement started two years ago in Kherrata before spreading to the rest of the country, leading to the resignation of long-serving president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019. Last week, the protests, which halted a year ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic, were reignited in the northern town of Kherrata. On Thursday, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced the dissolution of the lower house of Algeria’s parliament and called for early legislative elections, adding that he would be reshuffling his cabinet in the next 48 hours. Tebboune also pardoned dozens of detainees who were involved in the Hirak movement, largely considered a gesture of appeasement towards the protest movement. Local media reported that 30 prisoners were released on Friday and that a further 40 have been freed since. On Sunday, Tebboune dissolved the National People’s Assembly and carried out a partial reshuffle of his government.
Feb. 22, 2021
Thousands Rally In Armenia To Demand Pashinian’s Resignation
Thousands of protesters have rallied in the Armenian capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over his handling of a six-week war with Azerbaijan last year. Demonstrators gathered on February 20 in Freedom Square in central Yerevan under a heavy police presence shouting, “Armenia without Nikol!” and “Nikol traitor!” Pashinian has refused calls to step down but raised the possibility of holding early parliamentary elections. Pashinian, who swept to power amid nationwide protests in 2018, has come under fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10. The deal ended six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that saw ethnic Armenian forces suffer battlefield defeat. A coalition uniting 16 opposition parties has been holding anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to force Pashinian to hand over power to an interim government.
Feb. 20, 2021
Myanmar coup: Protesters defy military warning in mass strike
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Myanmar in one of the largest demonstrations yet against the country’s military coup. Businesses closed as employees joined a general strike, despite a military statement that said protesters were risking their lives by turning out. The statement prompted fears the protests could turn violent, but they remained peaceful throughout Monday. Demonstrations have been taking place in all of Myanmar’s main cities, with people waving flags and chanting. Tens of thousands of people rallied in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and more than 100 people were reportedly arrested in the city. But the mass strike also prompted action in smaller towns and more rural parts of the country. There were large protests in Mandalay, Myitkyina and the coastal town of Dawei. Myanmar has seen weeks of protest following the coup on 1 February. A statement from the military carried on state-run broadcaster MRTV said that protesters were “now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life”.
Feb. 22, 2021
Yellen Signals Interest in Backing Digital-Dollar
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signaled the Biden administration supports research into the viability of a digital dollar, a shift from the lack of enthusiasm shown for the concept under her predecessor, Steven Mnuchin. “It makes sense for central banks to be looking at” issuing sovereign digital currencies, Yellen said at a virtual conference on Monday hosted by the New York Times. She said a digital version of the dollar could help address hurdles to financial inclusion in the U.S. among low-income households. “Too many Americans don’t have access to easy payments systems and banking accounts, and I think this is something that a digital dollar, a central bank digital currency, could help with,” she said. “It could result in faster, safer and cheaper payments, which I think are important goals.” A number of central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have been conducting research into how digital versions of their own currency would work. Officials generally see both opportunity and risks and many central banks have moved slowly to embrace the idea, while China has proceeded with pilot-program tests of a digital yuan.
Feb. 22, 2021
Bird flu: Russia detects first case of H5N8 bird flu in humans
Russia has reported the first case of a bird flu strain, H5N8, being passed from poultry to humans. Officials said seven workers at a poultry plant in the south of the country had been infected following an outbreak there in December. “All seven people… are now feeling well,” said the head of Russia’s consumer health watchdog, Anna Popova. She said that adequate measures had been quickly taken to stop the spread of infection. There was no sign of transmission between humans, Ms Popova said, adding that the case had been reported to the World Health Organization. Other strains of bird flu occasionally infect humans and have led to deaths – but this is the first report of the H5N8 strain being passed on.
Feb. 21, 2021
A “Biblical” Invasion Of Locusts Threatens To Cause Widespread Famine In The Horn Of Africa
The locusts are back, and they are hungry. Last year, an unprecedented plague of locusts devastated crops in eastern Africa, across the Middle East and throughout much of Asia. Many were hoping that it would just be a one year phenomenon, but now the locusts have returned and one British news source is using the world “biblical” to describe this second wave. At this moment, the Horn of Africa is being hit the hardest, and the UN is warning that this new infestation “threatens the livelihoods of more than 39 million people”… According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the next generation of locusts threatens the livelihoods of more than 39 million people in Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, and Kenya. Over recent months, the pests have been combated on 1.3 million hectares of land in the Horn of Africa. However, in northern and central Kenya, more than 15 districts, including many new areas, have already been severely affected by the second wave of locusts. Around 1.9 million people were already living in a precarious nutrition situation, which could now dramatically worsen. One reporter recently had the opportunity to fly with a pilot that is tracking locust swarms in Kenya, and he was stunned when they came across a “swarm about twice the size of the City of London ready to devour every bit of vegetation in its wake”.
Feb. 21, 2021
Japan Discovers New, More Contagious Strain
Pandemic Used As ‘Pretext’ To Crush Dissent: UN
Sadly, too much good covid news is not acceptable – as it minimizes the leeway politicians have to inject further trillions in stimulus thereby entrenching government cronyism and perpetuating corruption – and so just as it seemed that covid is on its way out Japan confirmed on Friday that a new coronavirus variant had infected nearly 100 people. Reuters reported that Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that 91 infections were documented in the Kanto area of eastern Japan and two other cases were discovered at airports. Of course, the latest and greatest covid strain had be scary enough to be even scarier than whatever prevailing mutant forms are currently out there, and sure enough… “It may be more contagious than conventional strains, and if it continues to spread domestically, it could lead to a rapid rise in cases,” Kato said. The variant has a mutation on the spike protein that could lower the efficacy of vaccines. The National Institute of Infectious Diseases said that the variant appears to have originated overseas, but it is different from other variants circulating in Britain, South Africa and Brazil. Naturally, the scramble for vaccines has to be reset the moment a strain emerges that is immune to the latest technology, which appears to be taking place now, which is why we would not be surprised if just a few months from now the number of covid cases is once again “found” to soar on the back of economies reopening and social distancing easing, which virtually assures an economic slump in the second half of 2021, just in time to greenlight the next giga-stimulus and next round of monthly government handouts from the Biden administration.
Feb. 21, 2021
Record flooding affects more than 100 000 people in Acre, northwestern Brazil
More than 59 000 people flee as Dujuan brings widespread flooding and disruption to Philippines
Extreme monsoon rains submerge parts of Indonesia under 8.8 feet of water
More than 100 000 people have been affected by severe flooding in Acre, northwestern Brazil, after multiple rivers overflowed and reached record levels around Friday, February 19, 2021. Authorities have declared the situation an emergency, saying the state is facing one of its most challenging times in history. In Cruzeiro do Sul, the Jurua River reached record levels of 14.31 m (46.94 feet) on Friday, smashing the previous high of 14.24 m (46.71 feet) set in February 2017. Around 33 000 people have fled their homes in the municipality. In Sena Madureira, the Laco River hit 18.04 m (59.18 feet), well above the flood stage level of 15.2 m (49.8 feet). About 18 000 people have been affected by inundations across the municipality. On Saturday, February 20, around 28 000 people have been affected after the Tarauaca River reached 11.05 m (26.25 feet), which was above the flood stage of 9.5 m (31.2 feet).
Feb. 22, 2021
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