The European Union agreed Sunday to step up assistance to Ukraine amid Russia’s intervention with the bloc’s foreign ministers unanimously agreeing to spend hundreds of millions of euros to purchase lethal arms for the country as well as on non-lethal supplies such as fuel.

Speaking at a news conference following an extraordinary meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell delivered remarks on the steps to be taken by the EU amid the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

“We have decided to use our capacities to provide lethal arms, lethal assistance, to the Ukrainian army at a value of €450 million ($502 million) in a support package and €50 million ($56 million) for non-lethal supplies, fuel, (and) protective equipment,” he said.

Borrell said the EU was even going to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, not just ammunition, adding Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was asking for warplanes that the Ukrainian army would be able to operate and some EU member states have these kind of jets.

He further noted that the EU would also expand the peoples and entities that will be subjected to restricted measures which include Russian oligarchs and businessmen as well as political figures playing key roles in Russia’s political system.

“We are afraid that Russia is not going to stop in Ukraine, and the Russian influence can start working in the neighboring countries of Moldova and Georgia and also will have an impact on the western Balkans. So we have to pay a lot of attention to what’s happening there,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine last Thursday, days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine. He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy its neighbor but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.

In response, Western powers have imposed financial sanctions on Moscow, and the EU has decided to fund arms supplies to Ukraine, close its airspace to Russian airlines and ban Russian state media.

At least 368,000 Ukrainians have fled the country since the beginning of the attack, according to the UN Refugee Agency./aa

England will not play any international matches against Russia at any level in the wake of its military intervention in Ukraine, the Football Association said on Sunday. 

"Out of solidarity with Ukraine and to wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities being committed by the Russian leadership, the FA can confirm that we won’t play against Russia in any international fixtures for the foreseeable future," the FA said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic joined Sweden and Poland in their refusal to play in Russia.

FIFA has warned Russia of excluding it from competitions, and ruled that it will be called "Russian Football Union" (RFU) and no national flag or anthem will be used in matches where teams from the RFU participate./aa

FIFA has ordered Russia to play their upcoming matches without their flag or anthem and as the Russian Football Union (RFU), after its military intervention in Ukraine. 

It said no international competition shall be played on the territory of Russia, with “home” matches being played on neutral territory and without spectators.

Several nations including England, Poland and Sweden have announced that they will refuse to play Russia.

FIFA said it will continue its ongoing dialogue with UEFA and other sport organizations to determine any additional measures or sanctions, including a potential exclusion from competitions.

The world football body condemned “the use of force” by Russia, and called for “the urgent restoration of peace" and "constructive dialogue.”/aa

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Berlin on Sunday to protest against the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. 

As part of the motto: “Stop the war. Peace for Ukraine and All Europe,” an alliance of trade unions, churches, environmental protection organizations and peace groups demonstrated against the Russian attack that began on Thursday.

According to police circles at least 100,000 people took part in the rally, while organizers claimed that more than 500,000 attended the demonstration.

Frank Werneke, the chairman of Verdi labor union, said in view of the dramatic situation, the demonstration was a strong sign of solidarity. "This is also important: Putin is not Russia. A new era has begun ... Peace remains the goal. Unions are part of the peace movement," he said.

Werneke added that oligarchs should not be allowed to earn millions as people are killed in Ukraine, stressing respect and solidarity for activists in Russia who demonstrated against the conflict.

Berlin, which earlier pledged 5,000 helmets for Kyiv, made a historic shift on Saturday and now wants to deliver weapons from its military stocks to Ukraine.

It also agreed with other allies to exclude Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT banking communications network.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “special military operation,” days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine. He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy its neighbor, but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine./aa

The UC Santa Barbara MultiCultural Center hosted scholar, activist and Co-Director of the Justice for Muslims Collective Maha Hilal on Feb 8. for a virtual discussion on the ways that the war on terror increased Islamophobia and impacted domestic and international Muslim communities in the past two decades.

The UC Santa Barbara MultiCultural Center hosted scholar, activist and Co-Director of the Justice for Muslims Collective Maha Hilal on Feb 8. for a virtual discussion on the ways that the war on terror increased Islamophobia and impacted domestic and international Muslim communities in the past two decades. 

Hilal referenced her book, “Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience since 9/11,” in which she analyzes institutionalized and internalized Islamophobia. 

“Institutionalized Isamophobia comprises of racial profiling and hyper-surveillance of Muslim communities, whereas internalized Islamophobia is members of the Muslim community feeling compelled to participate in Islamophobic narratives, Hilal said. 

Institutionalized Islamophobia is “a phenomenon whereby hate and fear of Muslims are officially built into state and societal structures in order to pursue power and justify war and repression,” Hilal’s presentation read.  

Another aspect of Islamophobia that Hilal researches in her book is the notion of internalized Islamophobia in which Muslims will “absor[b] dominant narratives and tropes that they — the religion and its followers — are inherently violent and terroristic,” according to the presentation.  

“Internalized oppression, generally, is so important to study when it comes to state violence is because of the fact that individuals within the group that are being targeted embrace negative and problematic tropes about their own group and most problematically can become agents of the state,” Hilal said. 

She began by presenting a video that showed a timeline of events that occurred due to the war on terror — from the Guantanamo Bay prison detainments in 2002 to President Joe Biden launching a drone strike in Syria in 2021. 

She discussed the way that Islamophobia has been constructed in large part by the U.S. government to propogate the idea that Islam is “violent, barbaric, uncivilized and opposed to normative democratic values,” the presentation read. 

“Islamophobia positions Muslims as existing outside of the moral boundaries extended to other communities such that their dehumanization results in consequences ranging from prejudice and discrimination to detention and even death.”

Hilal’s focus on social constructions within the book is one of the ways that she aims to deconstruct the war on terror and the ways that it was used to justify militarism, draconian immigration policies and torture, she said.

“There is a way to stop the violence, and part of it is the United States taking responsibility  for this violence. I should note, however, … that US wars never actually end; they just morph into new wars that preserve the violence of wars past.”

Hilal referenced the United States’ use of constant drone strikes in Syria and President Donald Trump’s travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries that passed in 2017. She compared two quotes from President George Walker Bush and President Barack Obama to demonstrate how Islamophobic language is apparent in American politics across party lines. The former is Bush’s statement on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Today our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature,” Hilal read, quoting Bush’s statement following the 9/11 terrorism attacks.  

Hilal then quoted a speech President Obama delivered about terrorism in September 2014. 

“We can’t erase every trace of evil from the world, and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today. And that’s why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge,” she read.  

Hilal asked the audience to consider both quotes from the perspective of citizens in other countries, some of whom are “constantly facing drone strikes” because of U.S. retaliation.  

“Of course the United States gets to define what evil is and what violence counts as actual violence. The United States has obviously only been concerned with the harm that has befallen on its citizens,” she said. “If you’re someone in another country whose families and communities are constantly facing drone strikes, what would those quotes mean to you?”

“What I really want to impart here is just how powerful narrative is in the course of the war on terror and how it has served to define the state’s interests in the way that those targeted by the state have been almost powerless to confront,” Hilal continued. “If you are the one who gets to construct what terrorism is, what evil is, what violence is, you have the power. “

Hilal concluded the event by emphasizing the need to uplift Muslim communities in the face of Islamophobia and the societal need to move away from politics informed by the war on terror.

“If we are to tackle this project of dismantling the war on terror, it means that we center Islamophobia as a focal point of analysis,” she said. “It means that we understand and uplift the harm and violence that has been directed at Muslims and other marginalized communities, and it means that we consciously deconstruct the narratives and policies that have allowed the war on terror to perpetuate.”/News Daily

The State of Kuwait has called for international cooperation to secure fair distribution of vaccines against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to all states.

Nations, pledged continuing and constructive efforts, in coordination with partners, for contributing to the international response to the pandemic.

"We are convinced that no one is safe from this virus and the discussion today is held two years after outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that has constituted the greatest challenge facing the world since World War II," said ambassador al-Otaibi, addressing a senior-level session held by the UN General Assembly on means of boosting comprehensive immunization against the virus worldwide.

The pandemic has taken some six million lives, infected more than 400 million people throughout the world, inflicted horrific damage and caused massive repercussions in social, economic, health and political sectors. It is still widely spread, claiming many lives and mutating into various clusters such as Delta and Omicron renewing hazards of the virus and adding to pressure on health systems in many states, the Kuwaiti envoy said.

Development of vaccines rapidly renewed hope for stemming its spread in a better manner. However, the mechanism of distributing the vaccines to the states was unjust, widening the gap between advanced and developing countries amid forecast expansion of poverty and longer lasting effects of the pandemic. Ambassador Al-Otaibi called fior coordinated efforts for international response to the pandemic where it might ensure just distribution of the vaccines and pave the way for global immunization. He also urged the international community to shoulder the humanitarian and ethical responsibility and aid the developing nations at this level. At the national level, Kuwait has succeeded in immunizing 85 percent of its population and there has been increasing desire to get the booster jab, he said, also indicating at start of a vaccination campaign for children aged between five and 11. Abroad, Kuwait has made generous financial contributions to agencies tasked with combating the pandemic.

He reaffirmed the necessity of aiding all countries in the fight against the communicable disease and attain the objective set by the World Health Organization; vaccinating 70 percent of the world's people by the middle of 2022. /KUNA