France couldn't prevent fire at Notre Dame cathedral in 2019 but accuses Brasilia of burning Amazon forests, says Economy Minister Paulo Guedes in his criticism of Paris.

Brazil's economy minister has renewed a spat with France over deforestation in the Amazon, telling the European nation that it is becoming "irrelevant" and risks being told where to stick its criticism.

"We had a minister visiting from France one time. 'You're burning the forest,' he said. I told him, 'You're burning Notre Dame,'" Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Wednesday in a speech to the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants in Brasilia.

Notre Dame, the medieval Catholic cathedral, caught fire in April 2019. 

"I mean, what an idiotic accusation. Notre Dame sits on one city block, and you couldn't stop it from catching fire. We have an area bigger than Europe and you're criticising us," he said, in video recordings of the event that went viral online.

"You better start treating us right or we're going to tell you to go f*** yourselves."

Guedes, an ultra-liberal economist who trained at the University of Chicago, said Brazilian trade with France had been dwarfed by that with China –– $7 billion versus $120 billion.

"You're becoming irrelevant to us," he said, insisting it was time for France to sign off on a proposed free-trade deal between the European Union and South American bloc Mercosur.

Bolsonaro-Macron heated words

The deal has stalled over European concerns that agricultural production in Brazil, the world's top exporter of beef and soy, is destroying the world's biggest rainforest.

Since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, the average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased by 75 percent from the previous decade.

Bolsonaro, who is up for re-election in October, exchanged heated words over the Amazon fires with Macron on social media in 2019.

It escalated into Bolsonaro sharing a supporter's Facebook post of side-by-side pictures of the two presidents' wives, with the caption: "Now you understand why Macron is persecuting Bolsonaro?"

Guedes jumped into that fray, too, calling Brigitte Macron "truly ugly."

Source: AFP

The Russian military operation against Ukraine, starting on February 24, led to significant repercussions that extended beyond the region and reached countries far from the heart of the crisis.

Although Turkey hosted peace talks in order to maintain neutrality since the beginning of the crisis, factors such as the deep differences between the two countries and the entry of the western side into the crisis line negatively affected these talks and caused the continuation of the protracted war.

Professor Hilal Al Ware, former Special Rapporteur of the United Nations, member of the World Committee on Food Security, and Dr. Pinar Akpinar, Director of the Labor Research Program at Turkey’s Sabanci University, analyze the role of Turkish mediation and its success in preventing the exacerbation of the global food crisis.

The spread of the Corona virus around the world and the war of Ukraine and Russia has caused a problem in global exports of grain and increased wheat prices two or three times since January 2022.

This situation has led to a state of panic all over the world, especially in countries like Egypt and Lebanon, where wheat consumption is highly dependent on imports besides African countries that lack food security and depend on foreign aid.

Before the Russian-Ukrainian war, other reasons, most notably climate change, drought and economic fluctuations, combined to lead to a hunger crisis that reached more serious dimensions with the impact of the epidemic.

The war in Ukraine caused a significant increase in the prices of wheat and the prices of other products, most notably barley, oats, corn, sunflower and fertilizers.

Bad luck was on the side of countries with low incomes or foreign dependency in the field of food, as they became the countries most affected by this crisis.

It is estimated that Ukraine’s agricultural production will fall seriously next year due to the ongoing war and the inability of farmers to work in the upcoming sowing and harvesting seasons in the context of the conflict.

In addition, Russia is a very important producer of fertilizers and raw materials, but the sanctions imposed on this country are causing the prices of many crops from animal feed to palm oil to rise all over the world.

This situation prompted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to declare that the world has already entered a food crisis caused by the aforementioned developments.

Guterres also warned world leaders that the world’s food crisis will extend to the finance and energy sectors and will turn into a “storm that haunts the entire world.”

In recent months, the United Nations hosted extraordinary meetings on this issue, in which it addressed the impact of food shortages, the fear of exacerbating famine crises, and the role of the Group of Seven, the Group of Twenty, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in dealing with these crises.

The United Nations also called on world leaders for action, coordination and solidarity, and called on developed countries to assist developing countries in these difficult times, lift export restrictions, abandon policies that will negatively affect global food trade, increase social assistance for vulnerable groups, diversify agriculture and support domestic production.

During the Russian war on Ukraine, the importance of the Black Sea in the global food trade became clear. This war also reminded that Turkey is a major country in the Black Sea basin, and that its straits (Bosphorus – Dardanelles) still maintain its geopolitical importance.

The world realized the importance of the Black Sea and the Turkish straits in the global grain trade for the first time in history when the Ottoman Empire entered World War I in 1914 and closed the Dardanelles Strait, and at that time, Russian grain exports to Europe had to stop.

Then this road was reopened with special agreements with the Ottoman Empire, and this historical situation was repeated with the Russian-Ukrainian war, where Turkey proposed opening a passage for grain in the Black Sea to prevent the risk of famine in the Middle East, North Africa and the Great Sahara.

The first agreement regulating the movement of grain in the Black Sea was signed with Turkish mediation and the participation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, followed by the establishment of a coordination center in the same city on July 26.

The aforementioned agreement enabled the defense ministers of Russia and Ukraine to sit at one table away from the atmosphere of war, and also achieved an important diplomatic victory for Turkey in this global crisis.

Although Russia bombed the port of Odessa the day before the signing of the agreement, the reality showed the extent to which the parties needed this corridor and the importance of Turkish efforts to reduce tensions to ensure the cessation of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

In the past, Turkey was able to create a foothold and regional influence in countries that were characterized by difficult circumstances, such as Somalia and Afghanistan.

Ankara, as a responsible and impartial actor, has also developed its diplomatic activities and humanitarian assistance while providing military support to Ukraine by providing Kyiv with armed Bayraktar drones.

In this sense, we see that the capabilities that distinguished Turkish diplomacy in using the elements of soft power in a more balanced way compared to the approach followed by many countries, relying on the elements of hard power and security solutions.

Turkey’s foreign successes, including the signing of the grain corridor agreement, have given Turkey more visibility on the international scene and a more active role in global diplomacy.

With the opening of the grain corridor Ukraine will be able to transport its grain products to importing countries, earn more foreign exchange and export about 20 million tons of products (grain) that have been kept in warehouses since the beginning of the war.

The agreement also allows Russia to open the door to getting rid of the economic blockade imposed by Western countries on it.

Although the implementation of the agreement began with the departure of a ship loaded with corn from the Ukrainian port of Odessa for Lebanon, starting from

Turkey generated $136.5 billion in technology product exports during the first 7 months of this year.

According to data from the Statistics Authority and the Ministry of Commerce, the sector’s exports during the first 7 months of this year achieved a growth of 19.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

Turkey’s revenues from exports of high, medium and low-tech products had reached $212 billion and 809 million by the end of last year, a growth of 33 percent compared to 2020.

During the first seven months of this year, export revenues of high-tech products reached $3.8 billion.

In conjunction with the increase in Turkey’s exports of technological products, its imports of the same sector’s products decreased by 6.3 percent.

The US is wooing Asian tech economies to join a mega semiconductor supply chain, which excludes China.

When Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker, landed at an American military base in South Korea on August 3, many experts expected she’d receive a red carpet reception. Instead, she got, what one headline said, snubbed. 

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol didn’t interrupt his staycation – he was relaxing at his home in Seoul. His foreign minister didn't come to meet the US lawmaker either. 

Pelosi was on a whirlwind tour of Asia. Her controversial trip to Taiwan at a time of heightened tensions with China resulted in angry protests from Beijing.

Even though Yoon spoke to Pelosi over the phone a day later, many saw the posture of South Korean leadership as an attempt to pacify China. 

Seoul’s ability to balance relationships with its key military ally – the US – and main trading partner – China – is being put to the test over the question of its joining the ‘Chip 4’ alliance. 

Here’s what you need to know about the alliance. 

The big 4

From iPhones and Playstation gaming consoles to Dell laptops and Tesla electric cars – modern electronics depend on semiconductors (chips) to manage their complex functions. 

A shortage of chips during the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the production of multiple products and initiated a debate in the US on its dependence on chip imports. 

US President Joe Biden recently signed the Chips and Science Act, which sets aside tens of billions of dollars to encourage companies to set up manufacturing and design facilities in the US. 

The US, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan meet most of the world’s semiconductor demand. They sit on most of the capacity to design, produce and test tiny chip components. 

Taiwan’s TSMC is the largest contract chip maker, counting Apple and Nvidia as its customers. 

Taiwan, a tiny island, relies on US diplomatic and economic support to push back against China. 

Beijing sees Taiwan as essential part of its territory, a claim much of the world accepts. Only a handful of small nations see Taiwan as a sovereign state. Even the US adheres to the One China policy and hasn’t recognised Taiwan as an independent country. 

Starting in early August, China’s military carried out live-fire drills around Taiwan that included the use of its sophisticated jets and naval ships. 

The idea behind the alliance

The US accuses China of stealing intellectual property from American and western companies such as the technology behind turbines for windmills. 

In the last few years, successive US administrations have imposed restrictions on the know-how of sophisticated products to China, which aims to move up the technology supply chain instead of being seen as the world's contract manufacturer. 

What raised the alarm in Washington was China’s rapid capture of the market for 5G network. Shenzhen-based Huawei owns most of the 5G patents and faces a concerted US effort to block its expansion. 

Experts say China has forced foreign companies to share patented information with local joint-venture partners. 

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) prohibits rules that require forced technology transfers as a trade-off for granting access to the market.

Western companies desperate to sell their goods in the fastest-growing market for everything from electric cars to solar panels often chose to stay silent.

China’s President Xi Jinping has vowed to focus on tech development and help manufacturers move up the technology supply chain.  

The so-called 'Chip 4' alliance aims to enhance cooperation between the members on design and production of sophisticated semiconductors. 

It’s likely the US, which is home to global tech leaders such as Intel and Google, will convince Taiwan and Japan to join its semiconductor supply chain as leaders meet to kickstart the initiative later this month. But courting South Korea is another story. 

Will South Korea join the alliance?

President Yoon has tried to play down the concerns, saying Seoul will do what’s in the national interest. His government has informed the US that it will participate in the preliminary meeting but hasn't given an all out support to the idea. 

“The government is closely examining the issue from the perspective of the national interest. Relevant government agencies will study and discuss the issue in a way to preserve national interests. People don’t have to worry about it too greatly,” Yoon said.

China is the biggest market for South Korean semiconductor makers Samsung and SK Hynix. 

Out of South Korea’s memory chip exports of $69 billion in 2021, around 40 percent of that went to China. Add Hong Kong to the export figure and the percentage rises to 60 percent. 

Korean companies rely on Chinese firms for important materials used in chip making. 

Samsung’s only overseas memory chip facility is based in Xi’an and accounts for around 40 percent of Galaxy phone makers' NAND flash output. 

“Like it or not, China is a massive market, and abandoning it isn’t an option. We need to keep cooperating economically [with China] where possible and making progress on that,” SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won told a press conference.

SK Hynix, which has plants in Wuxi, Chongqing and Dalian, has been struggling to equip its facilities with advance machines such as extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment after the US blocked its export to China. 

Source: TRT World

Twin explosions in the Central-North region of the landlocked African country leave 15 soldiers dead and one wounded, army says.

At least 15 soldiers have been killed in northern Burkina Faso when a transport vehicle drove over a hidden explosive device. The first explosion killed several troops before a second explosion killed those who rushed to their aid.

The incident occurred on a rural road in the Bam province of the country's Central-North region, where soldiers and civilians are routinely targeted by insurgents, the army said on Tuesday. 

"While rescue and security operations were being organised, a second device was obviously activated remotely, causing numerous casualties," the army statement said.

No group has taken responsibility for the attack, but investigations are currently under way to determine the perpetrators, the statement said.

Groups linked to Al Qaeda and Daesh have been active in the region since at least 2015.

Recent attacks 

Militants based in neighbouring Mali began mounting cross-border raids on Burkina Faso and neighbouring Niger in 2015.

In Burkina Faso, violence blamed on militants affiliated with Al Qaeda and Daesh has killed thousands of people and forced 1.9 million more to flee their homes.

On Monday, a suspected militant attack killed six civilians and four security auxiliaries in the northern province of Yatenga, a security source said.

Another alleged militant operation took the lives of four soldiers and nine auxiliaries on Thursday in the Bourzanga district, the army said, also in the north of the country.

Burkina Faso's ruling junta took power in a January coup that ousted former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, amid widespread anger over the government's failure to quell the insurgency.

Today more than 40 percent of the country remains outside the government's control, according to official figures.

Source: AFP

Azad Yandi, codenamed Soro Amed, is among seven terrorists neutralised in an operation by the Turkish forces in Iraq’s Gara region.

Turkish intelligence forces have "neutralised" a so-called senior member of the PKK terror group in northern Iraq, security sources said.

Azad Yandi, codenamed Soro Amed, was among seven terrorists neutralised in an operation by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Iraq’s Gara region, said the sources on Tuesday, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Yandi was said to be in charge of logistics for the terror group in Gara, the sources added.

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq and plot terror attacks in Türkiye, across the border.

Meanwhile, the Turkish military neutralised seven YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria as they attempted to attack and infiltrate Türkiye’s southeastern border through the Mardin province, the National Defense Ministry said.

Additionally, seven more PKK/YPG terrorists were targeted by Turkish soldiers in the Operation Peace Spring and Operation Euphrates Shield zones in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, the ministry stated.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralise" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered, or were killed or captured.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, UK and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

Source: AA