EU Preps New Sanctions, Export Bans Against Russia
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today unveiled proposed export bans (European Commission) on goods from the European Union (EU) that Russia could use in its military campaign against Ukraine. Over $11 billion worth of goods would be targeted in the sanctions package, which would be EU countries’ tenth against Russia since it invaded Ukraine. For the first time, the EU would also sanction third-country entities (Politico) found to be assisting Russia’s war effort, including several Iranian firms.
The proposed sanctions would also expand reporting requirements for European banks holding Russian central bank assets, Bloomberg reported. The package will require the approval of all member states. Von der Leyen is seeking to implement the sanctions by February 24, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Analysis
“In Europe, both policymakers and commentators wondered whether a tough anti-Russian response would be sustainable, worrying that Moscow’s dominance as an energy supplier would enable it to blackmail its Western customers,” CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich writes. “All these fears now look overblown.”
“Perhaps the most urgent lesson of [Western] sanctions’ limited effects is what they make us miss: the dire economic position of Ukraine and what the West can do to shore it up. For all the attention lavished on sanctions, they are a sideshow and not the main arena in which Ukraine’s future will be determined,” Cornell University’s Nicholas Mulder writes for the New York Times.
Pacific Rim
Taiwan Enshrines 2050 Net-Zero Emissions Target Into Law
President Tsai Ing-wen signed a law (Nikkei) introducing both the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions deadline and a system in which high-emitting firms will pay carbon fees.
Japan: The defense ministry said three UFOs seen above Japan’s territory between 2019 and 2021 are “strongly suspected” (Kyodo) to have been Chinese surveillance balloons.
South and Central Asia
Indian Airline to Buy 470 Jets in One of World’s Largest-Ever Aviation Deals
Air India’s orders from Airbus and Boeing come as Boeing projects that India will become the world’s third-largest market (FT) for air travel in the next decade. U.S. President Joe Biden said the Boeing purchase, valued at around $34 billion, will support (AP) over one million U.S. jobs.
India: New Delhi plans to propose that Group of Twenty (G20) member nations take significant haircuts on low-income countries’ sovereign debt, Reuters reported. The bloc’s finance ministers are set to gather in Bengaluru next week for the first major meeting of India’s G20 presidency.
Middle East and North Africa
UN Report Identifies Probable New al-Qaeda Chief
A former member of the Egyptian military, Saif al-Adel, is widely believed to be the new chief (WaPo) of al-Qaeda, according to a report by UN experts. Adel is wanted by the United States in connection with the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Iran: Iranian chess star Sara Khadem is living in exile in Spain after Tehran issued a warrant for her arrest because she competed in Kazakhstan last year without a headscarf, the BBC reported.
Sub-Saharan Africa
NGOs Accuse EU Bank of Failing to Probe Suspected Embezzlement at Kenyan Firm
Financial and social justice nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) Counter Balance and The Corner House say the EU’s investment bank refuses to examine documents (FT) that are purported to detail embezzlement and bribery at a Kenyan construction company that received $15 million worth of investments from the bank in 2006 and 2007.
Cameroon: Authorities detected two suspected cases (Reuters) of Marburg virus near the border with Equatorial Guinea, a regional health official said. Equatorial Guinea’s outbreak was reported on Monday.
Europe
Scotland’s First Minister Announces Surprise Resignation
Nicola Sturgeon said it was the “right time” to move on (Politico) from her role as first minister and leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party. She recently clashed with London over reforms to Scotland’s gender self-declaration laws and faced criticism for placing a convicted rapist in a women’s prison after the perpetrator came out as a transgender woman.
Americas
U.S. Authorities Arrest Four More Men in Connection With 2021 Killing of Haitian President
The men detained yesterday (NYT) include the owners of a U.S. security company who prosecutors said were linked to the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
Paraguay/Taiwan: Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez began a visit to Taiwan (CNA) that is intended to shore up ties ahead of Paraguay’s April elections. Opposition candidate Efraín Alegre has vowed to cut off Paraguay’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
United States
Biden Names Fed’s Brainard as Top Economic Advisor
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard is known as (Bloomberg) one of the more dovish voices at the bank. It is not clear who President Joe Biden will nominate to replace her.
