A personal view of Australian and International Politics
Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison in February 2024. (Reuters: Shamil Zhumatov)
In short:
Five European nations have said jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Russian state.
Mr Navalny died in prison in 2024.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said there was now proof of what she had believed "from the first day".
Five
European nations say Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was
poisoned with a lethal toxin, and are blaming the Russian state for the
attack.
The foreign ministries
of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said that
analysis of samples from Mr Navalny, who died two years ago, "have
conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine."
It is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America.
The
joint statement, released by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Office, said that "only the Russian state had the combined
means, motive and disregard for international law" to carry out the
attack.
The countries said they
were reporting Russia to the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
He was serving a 19-year sentence that he believed to be politically motivated.
Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya previously said tests showed her husband was killed by poisoning. (AP Photo: Ivan Sekretarev)
Mr Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said last year that two independent labs had found that her husband was poisoned shortly before his death.
Ms
Navalnaya has repeatedly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Mr
Navalny's death, something Russian officials have vehemently denied.
Following
the release of the statement, Ms Navalnaya said on social media that
she had been "certain from the first day" that her husband had been
poisoned, "but now there is proof".
Russian authorities said that the politician became ill after a walk and died from natural causes.
Abed Al Ebayat has lived in the West Bank village of Fasayil for close to 20 years. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
In the West Bank village of Fasayil, the smell of rotting dates fills the air.
A
few weeks ago, Israeli settlers dumped an enormous pile of animal feed
on the doorstep of the last remaining Palestinian family to call the
community home.
"Their goal is to make the people leave … but where can we go to?" he asked.
"They harass us with their cows and sheep.
"They also cut the drinking water pipe … and there is nothing we can do."
Settlements are considered illegal under international law but supported by the Israeli government. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Further south in Duyuk al-Tahta, just outside Jericho, the ABC saw several Palestinian homes that had been reduced to rubble.
Activists said a day earlier, dozens of settlers came with heavy machinery and drove 15 families out of their community.
Sarit
Michaeli, from Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, said it was
part of a pattern of behaviour that increasingly involved "immense
amounts of violence".
"This
is a symbolic example of the way that Israeli settlers, totally
supported by the government, are acting towards Palestinians throughout
the entire rural part of the West Bank," she said.
"They're acting as if Palestinians don't really exist in those areas."
Last
week, Israel's security cabinet agreed on a plan that would pave the
way for future settlements, which are considered illegal under
international law.
Currently, Israelis can only purchase West Bank land using registered companies that require transaction permits.
Under the new plan, they will be able to purchase land directly.
Land records will also be declassified, making it easier for potential buyers to identify current owners.
In
a statement announcing the policy, far-right finance minister Bezalel
Smotrich said: "We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian
state".
Economic hardship could force sales
After
the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu's
government barred the entrance to Israel of more than 140,000
Palestinian workers from the West Bank, according to a report by the
Institute of National Security Studies (INSS).
On
the eve of the war, a Palestinian construction worker in Israel could
earn more than double the average daily wage in the West Bank, the
report found.
According the
International Labour Organization, unemployment in the West Bank was
forecast to reach 38.5 per cent by the end of 2025.
The
INSS report said the economic situation was being exacerbated by Israel
withholding some tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority, causing the PA to reduce salaries and lay off workers.
One of these employees is Ibrahim Sider, who left his teaching job in a PA school and has been trying his luck in commerce.
He
said the "unbearable" economic conditions were putting Palestinians in a
desperate position, from which they could be under pressure to sell
land.
Ibrahim Sider says Palestinians are in a "desperate position". (ABC News: MIchael Franchi)
"They have totally exhausted the Palestinian people," Mr Sider said.
"Starved
them, impoverished them, and they will take all the land on a silver
platter without shooting one bullet, unfortunately."
He said as Ramadan approached, people were thinking about how they would feed their families.
"What do you want me to do? Confront a settler, or spend on my children?" Mr Sider said.
Ms Michaeli said she believed Israel's plan was designed to capitalise on the economic hardship of Palestinians.
"I'm sure this is one of their intentions," she said.
"Private
ownership of land has been one of the extremely rare, very meagre
measures Palestinians enjoyed … against Israeli encroachment."
Settlements accelerate
Israel's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to the ABC's request for
comment, but said on social media the decision was about establishing
"equality".
"The Cabinet's
decision corrected a racist distortion based on Jordanian law — a law
that discriminated against Jews, Americans, Europeans, and anyone who is
not Arab regarding real estate purchases in Judea and Samaria," the
statement said.
Shlomo Lecker, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said Palestinians enjoyed no such property ownership rights in Israel.
Shlomo Lecker is an Israeli human rights lawyer. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"What are the rights of Palestinians to buy land in Israel?" he asked.
"They cannot buy land in Israel."
Mr Lecker said the security cabinet's plan represented "one more step" towards Israel's annexation of the West Bank.
According
to Peace Now, an anti-settlement activist group, there were 141 Israeli
settlements in the West Bank in 2023, plus hundreds of smaller
outposts.
According to the Israeli government, at least 69 additional settlements have been approved or recognised since.
Nayef
Ghawanme now lives in a tent after "day and night" harassment from
settlers forced his family to leave their home in Ras Ein Al Auja, in
the Jordan Valley.
"Patience has a limit. It was unbearable," the 50-year-old said.
He said the plan to allow Israelis to purchase West Bank land would further erode hopes of a Palestinian state.
Nayef Ghawanme says his family was being harassed by settlers at their home in Ras Ein Al Auja. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"There will never be a Palestinian state," he said.
"The decisions, [of the Israeli cabinet] … will destroy the project."
"You can't have a Palestinian state and tell the settler to come and buy land from the owner directly.
"All the talk about a state is empty words."
Israel shrugs off criticism
The
UK, European Union and eight Muslim-majority countries, including the
UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have condemned Israel's latest West Bank
plan.
However, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said Israel was "here to stay".
A settler outpost near Duyuk al-Tahta. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"The history of the Jewish people is full of attempts to detach the Jewish people from the land of Israel," he said.
"It did not happen in the past, and it will not happen in the future."
Australia's
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said settlements were
"illegal under international law" and that altering the demographic
composition of Palestine was "unacceptable".
"A
two-state solution remains the only viable path to long-term peace and
security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," the statement said.
Giv'at Ze'ev is a long-established settlement in the West Bank. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
However, Mr Lecker said words alone were unlikely to change the Israeli government's course.
"The state is now ruled by extremist, right-wing parties," he said.
"We
wanted to believe there would be more involvement of foreign states,
including friends of Israel … to put pressure on the state … [to] not
continue with the way [it] acts in the West Bank."
Ms Michaeli said the idea of a two-state solution was evaporating as the world watched on.
"As
long as the international community continues to repeat this mantra of a
two-state solution, while not taking any action that could enable
Palestinian territorial contiguity … we are going to live in a totally
unrealistic fantasy."
Sarit Michaeli is uncertain about what the future holds for the West Bank. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Donald Trump has revoked the determination that underpinned the country's fight against climate change. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)
In short:
The
Trump administration has revoked a formal scientific finding that has
been the central basis for US action to fight climate change.
It
is the same finding that led to the determination that carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.
What's next?
The
repeal will remove the regulatory requirements to measure, report,
certify, and comply with federal greenhouse gas emission standards for
cars.
President
Donald Trump's administration has revoked a formal scientific finding
that has been the central basis for US action to fight climate change.
The
Obama-era "endangerment finding" served as the legal basis for federal
climate regulations, setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
It determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threatened public health and welfare.
Curbs on vehicle emissions have also been axed.
The
moves come after a year of implementing a string of regulatory cuts and
other actions intended to unfetter fossil fuel development and stymie
the rollout of clean energy.
"Under
the process just completed by the EPA, we are officially terminating
the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that
severely damaged the American auto industry and drove up prices for
American consumers,"
Mr Trump said.
The
president announced the repeal alongside EPA administrator Lee Zeldin
and White House budget director Russ Vought, who was a key architect of
the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025.
Russ Vought (left) and Lee Zeldin (right) announced the ruling alongside Donald Trump.
(Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)
Mr
Trump has said he believes climate change is a "con job", and has
withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement, leaving the world's largest
historic contributor to global warming out of international efforts.
Former
president Barack Obama blasted the move on X, saying without the
endangerment finding, "we'll be less safe, less healthy and less able to
fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even
more money".
'The holy grail'
Mr
Zeldin said the Trump administration pursued the most consequential
climate policy of the past 15 years, something the agency had avoided
during his first term.
"Referred
to by some as the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach, the 2009
Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated," he said.
The
endangerment finding was first adopted by the US in 2009, and led the
EPA to take action under the Clean Air Act of 1963 to curb emissions of
carbon dioxide, methane, and four other heat-trapping air pollutants
from vehicles.
It followed the
Supreme Court's 2007 decision in Massachusetts v EPA, which held that
the agency had authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
The Environmental Defense Fund says the repeal will end up costing Americans more. ( Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)
Its
repeal would remove the regulatory requirements to measure, report,
certify and comply with federal greenhouse gas emission standards for
cars.
The transportation and
power sectors are each responsible for about a quarter of US greenhouse
gas output, according to EPA figures.
The
EPA said the repeal of vehicle emission standards would save US
taxpayers $US1.3 trillion ($1.8 trillion), while the prior
administration said the rules would have net benefits for consumers
through lower fuel costs and other savings.
The
Alliance for Automotive Innovation did not endorse the action but said
"automotive emissions regulations finalised in the previous
administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given
the current marketplace demand for EVs".
The
Environmental Defense Fund said the repeal would end up costing
Americans more, despite EPA's statement that climate regulations have
driven up costs for consumers.
"Administrator
Lee Zeldin has directed EPA to stop protecting the American people from
the pollution that's causing worse storms, floods, and skyrocketing
insurance costs," EDF president Fred Krupp said.
"This action will only lead to more of this pollution, and that will lead to higher costs and real harms for American families."
Under
former president Joe Biden, the EPA aimed to cut passenger-vehicle
fleet-wide tailpipe emissions by nearly 50 per cent by 2032.
This
compares with 2027 projected levels and forecasts that between 35 per
cent and 56 per cent of new vehicles sold between 2030 and 2032 will
need to be electric.
Environmental groups have slammed the proposed repeal as a danger to the climate. (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)
The agency estimated that the rules would deliver net annual benefits of $99 billion through 2055.
Consumers were expected to save an average of $6,000 over the lifetime of new vehicles from reduced fuel and maintenance costs.
The coal industry celebrated the announcement, saying it would help stave off retirements of aging coal-fired power plants.
"Utilities
have announced plans to retire more than 55,000 megawatts of coal-fired
generation over the next five years," America's Power president and CEO
Michelle Bloodworth said.
"Reversing
these retirement decisions could help offset the need to build new,
more expensive electricity sources and prevent the loss of reliability
attributes, such as fuel security, that the coal fleet provides."
Uncertainty unbound
Legal experts said the policy reversal could lead to a surge in lawsuits known as "public nuisance" actions.
"This
may be another classic case where overreach by the Trump administration
comes back to bite it," said Robert Percival, a University of Maryland
environmental law professor.
Environmental groups have slammed the proposed repeal as a danger to the climate.
Future US administrations seeking to regulate greenhouse gas emissions likely would need to reinstate the endangerment finding.
Several
environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) and Earthjustice, have said they will challenge the reversal in
court.
"There'll
be a lawsuit brought almost immediately, and we'll see in them in
court. And we will win," said David Doniger, senior attorney at the
NRDC.
A
stomping victory by the ruling coalition government of Japanese Prime
Minister Sanae Takaichi has opened the way for a major geo-strategic
realignment in the Asia-Pacific region. (Reuters: David Mareuil)
At
a time when so much of the global conversation is about the rapid
decline of democracy, it is striking what a huge impact elections — and
looming elections — are having on world events just now.
Overshadowed
this week, as so often happens these days by news from Washington or
the Middle East, was an election result in Japan with huge ramifications
for the region, and Australia.
There's
also been a landmark parliamentary election result in Bangladesh, after
months of instability, as well as significant recent elections as far
afield as Moldova and Portugal — either overcoming Russian interference
or seeing off threatened incursions by the European far right.
And
a complex web of looming poll battles in the United States, Israel,
Ukraine and the UK, are exerting their influence over current events.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has won a landmark parliamentary election. (Reuters: Mohammad Ponir Hossain)
Japan's stance on Taiwan
The
parliamentary dominance won this week by Japan's first female prime
minister, Sanae Takaichi, raises the spectre of a big shift in the
regional power balance, just as the clock starts ticking closer to the
time many analysts believe China may seek to move on Taiwan.
Takaichi
has suggested, since becoming prime minister last October, that Japan
may get involved if there is a Chinese military blockade of Taiwan.
China has made clear its displeasure. Takaichi has not only not backed
down but framed her election win as popular endorsement of her position.
It
raises fascinating questions about how north Asia — Japan and South
Korea — might now collectively position themselves in the near future,
and what knock on effects that might have more broadly.
Beyond
the spectre of any looming confrontation over Taiwan, Takaichi has also
already begun escalating spending on defence, even broaching the idea
of Japan having nuclear weapons, and she also wants Japan to have a
greater role in global defence exports.
She
is doing this amid the great unravelling — world leaders repositioning
themselves to a world that is not led by the United States — however
hard it may be to ignore the world's biggest superpower.
Just
as there is now uncertainty in the Asia-Pacific about US commitment to
the region, and by contrast a fair bit of certainty in Europe about
where it stands with the US, America's role in the Middle East seems
particularly convoluted.
Netanyahu meets with Trump
This
week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Donald Trump in
the White House. It was a meeting taking place amid a lot of
conflicting time pressures and it was strikingly absent of the usual
pomp and circumstance.
There
was no ceremonial welcome or "gaggle" — that moment when reporters are
briefly allowed into the Oval Office for a picture of two leaders
together and to shout questions.
The Israeli PM said the meeting had been brought forward a week because of planned US-Iran negotiations.
But
it also meant Netanyahu was foregoing any attempt to attend the first
meeting of Trump's Board of Peace in Washington next week.
And
it also meant he would not be attending the annual conference of the
powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — a pro-Israel
lobby group which has reportedly collected an unprecedented amount of
money to invest in this year's US mid-term elections. Netanyahu will
reportedly attend the AIPAC conference virtually instead.
There
was speculation as to whether the strange nature of the meeting
reflected some plotting between the two close powers ahead of a possible
US strike on Iran next week, or — as appeared more possible from public
comments afterwards — a difference between the two leaders about
whether the US should be negotiating with Iran at all.
Either way, it is all important in the context of looming Israeli political developments.
This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Donald Trump in the White House. (AP: Alex Brandon )
An election looms in Israel
A
general election is not due in Israel until October. But there is a
budget crisis in play right now which may bring forward an election to
as early as May.
Ultra-Orthodox
members of Netanyahu's parliamentary Coalition are threatening to block
the national budget unless the government agrees to legislation to
formalise exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox men. The
deadline for the budget stand-off is March 31.
Netanyahu's hold on parliamentary power is weak. Polling numbers do not suggest a clear path to power after the election.
His
culpability in the security breakdown which allowed the massacre of
Israelis on October 7 is being questioned during an inquiry.
The
government's shaky political situation at home can be seen to explain
much of recent events in Israel — from the government's announcement
this week of an aggressive escalation in powers to control the West
Bank, as well as the posturing with Trump.
The
even more aggressive push into the West Bank and expansion of illegal
settlements in the Palestinian territory was seen as a clear attempt to
lock in the government's far right support.
Far-right
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the moves, saying,
"we will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state".
But
Trump has repeatedly made clear he does not support an annexation of
the West Bank and this might explain why the announcement of the new
moves in Israel were notably lacking a firm timeline.
Netanyahu's regional strongman persona suffers if the US does not strike Iran.
But
the US president has moved from last month threatening an imminent
strike from his vast Armada to rejecting immediate action and instead
pushing for negotiations.
This gives Netanyahu all the more reason to push the West Bank expansion to shore up his credentials.
His
closeness to Trump is also seen as a political plus so it is also worth
noting that this week the US president was invited to come to Israel on
the nation's Independence Day in late April — potentially only a month
from polling day — to personally receive the Israel Prize. He is the
first foreign leader and the first non-Israeli citizen or resident to
receive the prize.
All in all,
pundits in Israel see the signs increasingly pointing to an early poll,
and to the government taking actions to maximise its position ahead of
that election.
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said elections would only occur once
there were security guarantees and a ceasefire with Russia in place. (AP Photo: Danylo Antoniuk)
Meanwhile in Ukraine
The
spectre of elections even arose in Ukraine this week, with reports that
preparations for elections — not held since war broke out — had been
underway for some time under pressure from the United States.
President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy hosed down that idea, saying elections would only
occur once there were security guarantees and a ceasefire with Russia in
place.
It could well be that
the US mid-terms end up being the decisive ones for Ukraine's future,
given the perception in Washington that Trump wants to see an end to the
war he said would end within 24 hours of him returning to the White
House, before Americans go to the polls in November.
Elections are even tempering the fallout from the Epstein files.
The
crisis surrounding the future of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer over
his appointment of disgraced Epstein associate Peter Mandelson has been
diffused for now. That's partly because, well, there really isn't a good
alternative and partly because of elections. First up there's a
by-election in a couple of weeks' time. And then in May, there are
significant votes for local councils and national parliaments in
Scotland and Wales.
So amid all
the warfare — military and political — and the trashing of institutions
abroad in the world, it seems the raw allure of bums on seats still
remains a force to be reckoned with.
The flash flooding in Alice Springs left multiple people stranded and in need of rescue. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Overnight, dangerous thunderstorms poured almost 100 millimetresof rain on the usually bone-dry Todd River in Alice Springs, in the space of just three hours.
The waters rose rapidly, leaving multiple people stranded in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Three
people resorted to standing on top of a car as the river swelled, while
one woman clung to a tree for hours and waited to be rescued after she
was swept off a bridge.
While
the floodwaters are now slowly receding, they are still flowing, and
emergency services are warning residents they are still dangerous and
could contain strong currents.
From
cars submerged to trees ripped out of the ground and floodwaters
tearing through roads, these are the scenes from the flash flooding in
Alice Springs.
Emergency service workers were on stand-by during the rescue of a woman who was trapped up a tree for multiple hours. (ABC News: Ryan Liddle)
Paramedics helping a woman rescued from the floodwaters. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Footage
from Thursday morning showing the flooded Todd River flowing alongside
the Stuart Highway, near the Palm Circuit turn-off. (Supplied/ABC News)
Several vehicle were caught up in the flooding, including this car. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Roads were cut off by waves of fast-running water, leaving people stuck on either side of the Todd River. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
River levels rose dramatically overnight in the Red Centre. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Many cars, like this one, had to be abandoned as the floodwaters swept across roads. (ABC News, Xavier Martin)
The flooded Todd River tore through Alice Springs, ripping trees out of the ground in its wake. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
While
emergency services warned people of the dangers of floodwaters, some
took to the banks of the Todd River looking for excitement. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
For some Alice Springs locals, seeing the Todd River flow is a novelty, as its banks are usually red dirt. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Debris from the Todd River has already washed up on footpaths, but the full scale of the damage is yet to be seen. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Strong currents tore out trees along the banks of the usually bone-dry Todd River. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
North of Alice Springs, the Marshall River flooded the Plenty Highway. (Supplied: Bradd Thexton)
The flooding on the Plenty Highway made the usually dry terrain impossible to cross safely. (Supplied: Bradd Thexton)
Vehicles
parked at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort were impacted by the
flooding overnight, which left mud throughout the car park. (ABC News: Emma Haskin)
The Todd River flowing rapidly on Thursday morning, in a dramatic change for the usually dry river bed. (ABC News)
