UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the resolution: “The people of Ukraine urgently need peace. And people all over the world are demanding it.” Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensia, has announced that Russia will not change course in Ukraine, which only Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria appreciate.
After China signaled abstention, countries like Serbia, Armenia, Cuba or Nicaragua chose not to vote or abstained, like India and Iran.
The resolution is not binding under international law, but it pillories Vladimir Putin’s system. From a legal point of view, the investigations now starting by the International Criminal Court in The Hague are more relevant: 39 member countries asked for an investigation into suspected war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
The second vote has nothing to do with imperial delusions, but with an eco-disaster. In Nairobi, the UN Environment Assembly initiated concrete negotiations for a global plastic agreement by the end of 2024 at the latest. The delegations unanimously called for the start of a committee to negotiate the details.
A day that will go down in the “history books”, said Norwegian Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke spoke of a “historic result” – full of hope that the wave of plastic waste could be conquered. According to new findings, 70 percent of the 460 million tons of plastic produced ends up in the garbage. Only ten percent are recycled.
“You have to heat up with something!” Vladimir Putin commented at a congress eleven years ago on the German position that nuclear and coal were seen as an environmental disaster.
Of course, Russia’s autocrat meant its own oil and gas, which Europe now wants to get away from for good reasons – and this creates supply bottlenecks. In his distress, Economics Minister Robert Habeck had natural gas bought for 1.5 billion euros and released 434,000 tons of the national oil reserve almost at the same time.
The Green politician relies on liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the USA, Qatar and other nations, which is sometimes obtained with great environmental pollution. In the fight against the gas gap, four new LNG port terminals are to be built in Brunsbüttel, Stade and Wilhelmshaven (two projects). Leo Tolstoy contributes the wisdom of the day: “Before one speaks of the happiness of satisfied needs, one should decide which needs constitute happiness.”
The current war report states that the Ukrainian city of Cherson (300,000 inhabitants) fell to Putin’s army. It is currently moving towards Kyiv in a huge convoy of military vehicles. Putin does not seem to have an “exit strategy”.
He is planning a vassal state that listens to him and that is to be led by Viktor Yanukovych as president – the Moscow-loving muddlehead of history who the people chased out after the Maidan revolt in 2014. The 71-year-old and his government previously rejected an association agreement with the EU in November 2013.
French President Emmanuel Macron does not want to do without diplomacy in the conflict with Russia. In a TV speech last night, he spoke about his decision “to stay in touch with President Putin as long as I can and as long as it is necessary”.
Macron made it clear that the Russian head of state instigated the war in Ukraine, and that this war arose “from a spirit of revenge, driven by a revisionist reading of European history”.
The president believes that the bombing of Kyiv will also influence the French election campaign, although he has left it open whether he will run again for the election of the head of state. The deadline for applicants is tomorrow, Friday.
(Photo: imago images/Le Pictorium)
So far, he has followed the many flight routes of Tesla boss Elon Musk via Twitter. Now, 19-year-old Florida resident Jack Sweeney has a new target to track: Russian oligarchs.
Sweeney’s @RUOligarchJets and @Putinjet profiles already have close to 300,000 followers. The billionaires from Putin’s circle shouldn’t be nearly as displeased as the international confiscation of their status symbols.
According to a report by “Forbes”, Alisher Usmanow’s super yacht “Dilbar” has been confiscated in Hamburg. She was in the Blohm + Voss shipyard for conversion. Two helipads, a helicopter, sauna, fitness room, twelve suites and a giant swimming pool are part of the equipment of this property, which is valued at 540 million euros.
To prevent something like this from happening to him, Roman Abramovich, a football-loving oligarch, is trying to get rid of his “trophy assets” on the fly: a villa with 15 rooms, a penthouse and the top club FC Chelsea. The Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who lives in the USA, is interested in the heavily indebted club.
CreditSuisse can’t get out of the negative headlines. After the recent revelations (“Suisse Secrets”) about some shady transactions with and for 30,000 customers, the “Financial Times” is now describing an exciting case. After that, the major Swiss bank asked hedge funds and other investors to destroy documents on yachts, jets, real estate and financial assets of their wealthiest clients.
She referred to inside information leaking to the media about a deal with hedge funds to offload $2 billion in credit risk. Apparently it was about obligations of Russian oligarchs (Oleg Deripaska, the Rotenberg brothers), against which the USA had long considered sanctions. The group of investors involved said that such a request for the destruction of shares had never been seen before.
Conclusion: The scandalous bank from Zurich’s Paradeplatz apparently prefers to solve some problems with a shredder.
(Photo: imago images/sepp spiegl)
And then there is Telekom boss Timotheus Höttges, who wants to reorganize the European world of telecommunications companies with a few decent acquisitions – in his favor, of course. Unfortunately, there are also sorting problems on our own supervisory board. The manager Marcelo Claure, once a representative of the second largest shareholder Softbank and Höttges’ preferred candidate, who has been scheduled for the committee, is out of the race. There were two arguments about this personality.
On the one hand, Claure had to go to Softbank at the end of January after salary demands in the billions, on the other hand, Vice President of the Supervisory Board and Verdi man Frank Sauerland spoke out publicly against the personnel. One thing is certain: the federal government, the major shareholder (share: 30.4 percent), has delegated another woman to the supervisory body, the FDP politician Katja Hessel.
Erich Kästner is a nice accompaniment for such intrigues: “The desire for power does not originate in strength, but in weakness.”
Have a productive day, stay strong.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
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