Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

The insight that he shared is extremely relevant in the context of the ongoing Russian-US talks…

The denazification of Ukraine is one of the explicitly stated goals of Russia’s special operation, but it’s probably the vaguest of them all, perhaps even intentionally so in order to give the Kremlin flexibility. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov just elaborated on it in detail though over the weekend during a Q&A session at this year’s Antalya Diplomacy Forum. The present piece will review what he said before analyzing it in the context of the ongoing Russian-US talks for ending their proxy war in Ukraine.

Lavrov never once said the word “denazification”, but he spent a significant amount of time talking about things that are connected with this goal. The relevant part begins around halfway through his answer to a question about the Kremlin’s working relations with the Trump Administration. At some point he brought up how Trump’s unofficial Envoy to Russia Steve Witkoff recognized the importance of resolving the territorial dimension of this conflict, which prompted Lavrov to issue an interesting clarification.

In his words, “We are not about territories. We are about people who live on these lands, whose ancestors lived there for centuries, who founded cities like Odessa”, which preceded him touching upon how Ukraine has deprived them of their human, linguistic, and religious rights from 2014 onward. He also brought up how Zelensky dehumanized ethnic Russians and recently said how much he hates them. A few words about Ukraine’s glorification of Nazi-era collaborators rounded out the rest of his answer.

His interlocutor then told him how Ukraine won’t accept anything less than a return to its prewar borders, which Lavrov responded to by saying that “It’s not about them accepting. It’s about making 100% certain that the people who have been living there for centuries are not deprived of their inherent rights”. He then accused the EU of covering up for a Nazi regime and ignoring the human rights situation in Ukraine. Lavrov also said that Russia is restoring these same rights in the regions that voted to join it.

Observers should remember that Russia legally regards the entirety of the four disputed regions as having unified with their historical homeland after September 2022’s referenda and that one of the constitutional amendments that were passed in 2020 prohibits ceding any of the country’s territory. As can be intuited from Lavrov’s de facto elaboration of denazification over the weekend, a large part of this goal has to do with restoring the rights of indigenous Russians that were taken from them by Kiev.

From Russia’s legal perspective, it now has direct responsibility for implementing this across all of Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk), Kherson, and Zaporozhye, but it doesn’t yet control the entirety of their territories. That which has already come under its control was achieved via military means while the remainder is being pursued via hybrid military-diplomatic ones of continuing to advance on the ground while holding talks with the US partially centered on ensuring Ukraine’s voluntary withdrawal from here.

Denazification in the rest of rump Ukraine, which is understood in this context mostly as restoring the rights of its indigenous Russian minority, will only be pursued via diplomatic means per what Lavrov clarified with regard to how “We are not about territories” in the sense of Russia’s goals in this conflict. Its only associated one came over half a year into the conflict after September 2022’s referenda led to the constitutional imperative of obtaining control over the entirety of these new regions as explained.

The locals overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in order for it to restore their rights that were taken from them by Kiev, or in other words, to directly implement denazification as it’s now better understood to mean after Lavrov’s latest clarification. The newly interconnected constitutional and humanitarian imperatives of achieving this across all of those regions explains why Russia continues to employ hybrid military-diplomatic means to this end.

It’s in connection with this that Witkoff reportedly advised Trump that the fastest way to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine is to recognize the legitimacy of Russia’s claims over those disputed territories, but Trump’s Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg allegedly pushed back against his proposal. Kellogg is back in the news after his suggestion to divide Ukraine into spheres of influence between Russia and the West upon freezing the Line of Contact and imposing a 15-mile demilitarized zone (DMZ) along both sides.

Lavrov hinted during his Q&A session that these Western peacekeepers would really be deployed to fight Russia, which his colleague Rodion Miroshnik separately lent credence to by warning about how this could lead to “a new level of escalation”. Another argument against Kellogg’s suggestion is that it wouldn’t ensure that the rights of indigenous Russians on Kiev’s side of his proposed DMZ, both within Russian-claimed lands and beyond, are restored. Denazification would therefore remain incomplete.

Lavrov addressed these implications by wondering aloud that “you want to have peacekeepers to keep the same regime which is now headed by Zelensky? You don’t want to ask this regime whether it would be interested in implementing the international commitments including the UN Charter regarding the rights of minorities for national minorities language and religious rights?”, before declaring that “they want to use this force not to keep peace, but to keep and protect the Nazi regime, and this is the key.”

His last point aligns with what Miroshnik said last week about how Western peacekeepers’ additional goal in Ukraine would be “to take control over [Ukraine’s] political regime militarily while retaining external governance of this land regardless of how negotiations may end.” With his and Lavrov’s words in mind, observers can intuit that denazification also implies regime change in Ukraine due to Russia’s belief that Zelensky won’t ever restore the rights that Kiev took away from indigenous Russians.

In full contravention of their publicly stated values, the Europeans want to indefinitely perpetuate this sordid state of affairs through the plans that some of them have to dispatch troops there under the cover of peacekeepers like Lavrov and Miroshnik explained, which is unacceptable for Russia. Credible fears of being targeted by Russia if they send their forces to Ukraine, the US’ refusal to extend Article 5 defense guarantees to their troops there, and internal divisions within this coalition could hamstring this plan.

So long as Western peacekeepers don’t occupy Ukraine, then Russia’s implied long-term hopes for regime change will remain possible since Zelensky could be democratically replaced during the next elections, but only if they’re truly free and fair, which of course can’t be taken for granted. The formal deployment of foreign forces could help him defraud the election or lead to his patrons replacing him with another like-minded figure whose policies towards indigenous Russians would remain the same.

Either scenario, Zelensky’s (likely) fraudulent re-election or his replacement with a like-minded figure, would greatly impede the maximum implementation of Russia’s denazification goal in this conflict. In that case, Russia would probably double down on military means over diplomatic ones for denazifying the rest of the four disputed regions that remain under Ukrainian control, which would force the US to choose between escalating against Russia or coercing Ukraine into withdrawing from there.

If Trump is serious about reducing the risks of World War III with Russia by miscalculation and speedily “Pivoting (back) to Asia” in order to more muscularly contain China, which first requires resolving the Ukrainian Conflict, then he’ll go with the second option despite the pushback that he’ll receive. His opponents will predictably criticize him for forcing people who didn’t participate in September 2022’s referenda to either accept coming under Russian control or flee into rump Ukraine.

The optics could easily be manipulated to accuse Trump of betraying democratic values and even supporting “ethnic cleansing” if this leads to a mass exodus, but he could compellingly counter by arguing that the greater good of averting World War III and ending the killing justifies this. He might also add that letting the conflict continue could turn populated areas within the Russian-claimed but Ukrainian-controlled lands, like Zaporozhye city with its almost one million residents, into wastelands.

If Trump coerces Ukraine into withdrawing from the disputed territories, then it’s possible that Russia could reciprocate this compromise by limiting its denazification goal to the entirety of its new regions instead of extending it to the rest of rump Ukraine. The odds of this mutual compromise would rise by a lot if Trump also coerces Ukraine into agreeing to a demilitarized “Trans-Dnieper” region controlled by non-Western peacekeepers and Russia gives the US privileged resource investments in return.

What’s most important to know is that the Kremlin’s flexibility on denazification only realistically relates to whether or not it’ll insist on this being implemented in rump Ukraine. Up until now and judging by all public statements on this issue, Russia’s minimum demand in this respect is that the entirety of its new regions be denazified, which can only happen upon obtaining full control of them. If this can’t be achieved by diplomatic means, then military ones will continue being employed, with all that entails.

Trump should therefore take Witkoff’s reported advice seriously by recognizing the legitimacy of Russia’s claims over those disputed regions in order to avoid being placed in the dilemma of having to choose between escalating against Russia or coercing Ukraine into withdrawing from there. Truth be told, the US is already in such a dilemma, it just hasn’t realized it yet. It’s therefore better to peacefully resolve this now than to wait for the media to figure it out and put more pressure on him to escalate against Russia.

In pursuit of this, Russia could limit its denazification goal if the US assists it in achieving this in its new regions, which could set the basis for expanding the range of their mutual compromises in Ukraine by opening the door to discuss the “Trans-Dnieper” and resource dimensions that were proposed. Through these means, Russia and the US could overcome the impasse in their negotiations, thus preventing hardliners on both sides from exploiting this to undermine their talks in furtherance of maximalist goals.

Confessed Pennsylvania governor’s mansion arsonist Cody A. Balmer, who is now being hospitalized for an unspecified reason, told police he was prepared to beat Gov Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer if he encountered him. Meanwhile, new details have emerged that paint Balmer as a quintessential dead-ender with a troubling assault charge on his rap sheet — and a mother who’d tried in vain to get police to lock him up in the days leading up to the arson attack. 

In an appearance at the Dauphin County District Court, Balmer was charged with eight crimes, including attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, reckless endangerment and prowling at night. As he was escorted both to and from the courthouse, Balmer made strange faces for the media throng, crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out. 

While police say they’re still working to determine a specific motive, they say Balmer told them that he “harbored hate” toward Shapiro, confessing that, if he came across Shapiro, he was going to beat him with the small sledgehammer he’d used to break windows and break into the mansion. While Balmer struck on the first night of Passover, police have not yet asserted that he deliberately chose that night because Shapiro is Jewish.

On Monday, police announced that Balmer is hospitalized after some medical event unrelated to his crime. In conflicting reports, AP says Balmer denied having any mental illnesses when addressing the judge, but the New York Post says Balmer told the judge that he had a dangerous mental health issue, and that he’d had bad effects from associated medications, saying they “led him to different types of behaviors.” His mother told various outlets that Balmer has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and had stopped taking his pills. She also said that, in the days before the arson, she’d approached four police departments trying to get him “picked up,” to no avail. “He wasn’t taking his medicine, and that’s all I want to say,” Christie Balmer told AP. 

Balmer had a court appearance already scheduled for this week — for a 2023 assault charge in which he was accused of punching relatives — including his wife — and stepping on the previously-broken leg of his 10-year-old son. His family situation is far from clear: When the judge asked him if he had children, Balmer simply replied “a lot.” Politico says he has at least three. 

The police initially described Balmer as deploying “homemade incendiary devices” in the early Sunday-morning attack. All those syllables might have had some people imagining moderately creative firebombs, but Balmer told police he poured gas from a lawnmower into Heineken beer bottles and then walked about an hour to the mansion. After scaling a 7-foot fence, he smashed the window of a piano room and tossed the first Molotov cocktail inside. Then he smashed his way into the residence, set the dining room ablaze and fled. 

While police were alerted to a breach before the fires were started, they failed to locate Balmer before he did his work, and also failed to find him before he scaled the same fence and escaped. Yesterday, police said he was arrested at an unspecified Harrisburg location a dozen hours after the attack; it’s now been revealed that Balmer turned himself in at state police headquarters after telling his “ex-paramour” what he’d done and asking her to notify the police. 

Balmer, who has described himself on Facebook as a certified master mechanic, told the judge he is unemployed welder with no money and that he’s lived with his parents for a year. Philadelphia’s WPVI reports that Balmer is a former Army Reservist who was a construction equipment repairer (MOS 62B) from 2004 to 2012, though never deploying. The Army Reserve wouldn’t disclose the character of his discharge. 

His lawyer said Balmer had “fallen behind in his mortgage due to several hardship factors, including injuries from an auto accident leading to his inability to work and maintain an income and a separation from his wife.” He’s also been involved in custody battles and just finalized his legal separation from his wife in February. In the previously-described domestic violence incident Balmer told responding officers that he’d taken a bottle of pills to try killing himself. 

After every high-profile attack on an official or mass murder, social media lights up with both left- and right-wingers eager to associate the perpetrator with the “other side.” In this case, Balmer’s own social media profile is muddy, as you might expect from an apparent bipolar schizophrenic. The first authoritative analysis, posted by right-leaning Daily Mail, focused on his anti-Biden comments, but new posts have come to light that seem to indicate a decided leftward tilt:

• In one social media conversation, Balmer claimed he was a “registered Socialist,” but he has no party affiliation associated with his active voter registration. He didn’t vote in 2024, but did vote in 2022. 

• Amid a discussion of high gas prices, he leveled some vague criticism of Donald Trump: “I said the same (expletive) when Trump took office. I don’t play favorites especially since they all suck.”  

• He shared a meme that said “Stop Being Democratic or Republican.” 

• He voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, in the context of the death of Ahmaud Arbery, who was gunned down in Georgia in 2020 after running through a neighborhood and being chased down by residents (whose use of deadly force many conservatives also found wholly unjustified). 

Meanwhile, with Balmer opening up to police about so many aspects of his attack, it’s odd that they’ve shared Balmer’s confessed hatred of Shapiro, but haven’t shared any elaboration on the root of that hatred.  

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer has removed scores of historical artworks from 10 Downing Street and replaced them with objectively awful drawings in the name of ‘diversity’.

The works Starmer ordered pulled down as part of the cultural purge include portraits of William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, William Ewart Gladstone, Margaret Thatcher, Sir Walter Raleigh, and past British monarchs including Elizabeth I.

The leftist leader has replaced paintings of those historical figures with what can only be described as ugly doodles by ‘modern artists’.

British PM Keir Starmer has removed 69 paintings of British royalty, Churchill and Shakespeare inside Downing Street, the official residence of the British PM.

Paintings of notable British historical figures have instead been replaced with ‘woke’ modern art reflecting… pic.twitter.com/sPMf89Uqo9

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 13, 2025

The Daily Mail reports:

Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of being in thrall to ‘the wokerati’ after the full list of the paintings removed from No10 since he moved in was revealed.

Portraits of historic figures such as Elizabeth 1, Mary, Queen of Scots, Sir Walter Raleigh and William Shakespeare were among the 69 works of art ‘deinstalled’ from the Government Art Collection since the election.

The revelation comes after a long Freedom of Information battle with the Tories.

Among their replacements are Altar, a scene from the 2023 Falmouth Reggae Festival in Cornwall by Denzil Forrester.

Other paintings include All Things Being Equal, by the Nigerian abstract artist Nengi Omuku, which ’employs the human body as a medium to convey internal experiences’ by ‘using oil paint on strips of Sanyanan indigenous fabric from pre-colonial Nigeria‘.

Then there is Almond Clasp by the British-Ghanaian Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, who specialises in ‘brooding portraits of Black life’, and Still (III) by Christina Kimeze, who currently has an exhibition ‘inspired by the resurgence of roller skating in Black communities’.

10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister isn’t even open to the British public, so this move by Starmer isn’t even a virtue signalling stunt.

It’s presumably just because he can’t stand to be surrounded by British historical culture.

No one hates England and English people more than Kier Starmer

— Ninety Degrees (@quasiantipodean) April 13, 2025

Indeed, he described the Thatcher portrait as “unsettling” and remarked that he did not want to be stared down upon by a painting.

Outrage as Sir Keir Starmer removes £100,000 portrait of Margaret Thatcher in ‘petty’ move after PM found it ‘unsettling’ https://t.co/TWy9I9KJ0B pic.twitter.com/SBrZwXdEI0

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 29, 2024

“You are not fit to lick her court shoes.”

Cristo slams Keir Starmer for removing a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street, because it made him feel “unsettled.”@cristo_radio | #Talk

— Talk (@TalkTV) August 31, 2024

Just look at what was chosen as a replacement.

Is that crayon?

— Nonna (@ginger1236) April 14, 2025

It looks like an 8 year old did it. 

We’ve replaced historically relevant art with children’s crayon drawings. This sums up our current govt nicely.

— Saskia (@Saskiaaa_____) April 14, 2025

They’re laughing at us.

Maybe they can get some macaroni pictures and popcorn necklaces next.

— Old Soul (@noapologyUSA) April 13, 2025

Part of the Marxist long march through the institutions

— Occam’s Razor (@OccamsHO0U812) April 14, 2025

Other ‘art’ Starmer chose to buy with taxpayer money and display:

Sir Walter Raleigh and Elizabeth I doubtless come and go in Downing Street (unlike portraits of former great PMs), but I’m fascinated by the artworks which Starmer has chosen to hang instead: Portuguese feminist postmodernity, colourless, almost soulless. These reflect (on) him. pic.twitter.com/gYVgfMen46

— Adrian Hilton (@Adrian_Hilton) October 14, 2024

Some of the ‘diverse art’ that leftist British Prime Minister Kier Starmer has replaced scores of historical portraits of British cultural figures with inside 10 Downing St. 🥴 pic.twitter.com/KB1XljxcXT

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) April 14, 2025

Acclaimed artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s ‘Almond Clasp’ now hangs at No.10 Downing Street, the UK Prime Minister’s official residence. The British-Ghanaian artist, known for her evocative portraits of Black life, joins a new wave reshaping the UK Government Art Collection pic.twitter.com/jn9gWRt5Cl

— ghanaspora (@ghanaspora) April 13, 2025

Hands up Brits, who identifies with that one? No?

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Days after Juneyao Airlines postponed the delivery of a widebody jet from Boeing, Beijing has escalated its trade war response—quietly ordering all Chinese carriers to suspend further Boeing deliveries, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation. The move marks a broadening of non-tariff retaliation amid a deepening tit-for-tar trade war between the U.S. and China. 

Here’s more color from the report:

China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing Co., according to people familiar with the matter.

. . . 

Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from U.S. companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private.

The order came after China unveiled retaliatory tariffs of 125% on American goods this past weekend, the people said.

. . .

The Chinese government is also considering ways to provide assistance to airlines that lease Boeing jets and are facing higher costs, the people said.

. . .

Delivery paperwork and payment on some of these jets may have been completed before the reciprocal tariffs announced by China on April 11 took effect on April 12, and those planes may be allowed to enter China on a case-by-case basis, some of the people said.

Last week, Beijing hiked its effective tariff rate on US goods to 125%, countering President Trump’s 145% tariff rate. 

Beijing also shifted to non-tariff retaliation, limiting Hollywood film imports, slowing rare earth export shipments, and weakening the yuan. 

The Bloomberg report sent Boeing shares down roughly 3.5% in New York trading. The stock is down 10% year-to-date (as of Monday’s close) and hovering near Covid-era lows, still showing no signs of a meaningful recovery.

Let’s not forget that China’s non-tariff countermeasures may also include:

• Export Controls and Quotas

• Currency Devaluation

• Boycotts (State-Inspired)

• Licensing & Certification Hurdles

• Restricting Market Access

• Pressure Big Tech With Cybersecurity & Data Laws

• Limiting Cultural Imports

• Selling U.S. Treasuries

The trade war might be far from over…

Sony, citing inflation and ‘fluctuating exchange rates,’ has hiked the price of the Playstation 5 in several regions – but is shielding US consumers from the decision.

The company said it was a “tough decision” to raise PS5 prices for the first time in three years.

“With a backdrop of a challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates, SIE has made the tough decision to raise the recommended retail price of the PlayStation 5 console in select markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Australia and New Zealand,” the company said in a statement, and confirming to Gamespot that US prices will remain the same.

Analyst Daniel Ahmad suggested that “The knock on effect [of tariffs] in terms of inflation, exchange rates, and macro trends” may cause Sony to raise prices globally.

Everyone is about to find out that the PS5 price won’t just increase because of tariffs. The knock on effect in terms of inflation, exchange rates, and macro trends also impacts global pricing.

Even if one region is impacted, Sony may raise prices everywhere to offset losses. https://t.co/qJDNe3EtfN

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 13, 2025

According to Gamespot, the changes are as follows;

Europe

• PS5 Digital Edition – €50 increase from €450 to €500
• PS5 Standard with disc drive – No price change
• PS5 disc drive – €40 decrease from €120 to €80

UK

• PS5 Digital Edition – £40 increase from £390 to £430
• PS5 Standard with disc drive – No price change

• PS5 disc drive – £30 decrease from £100 to £70

Australia

• PS5 Digital Edition – AUD $70 increase from AUD $680 to AUD $750
• PS5 Standard with disc drive – AUD $30 increase from AUD $800 to AUD $830
• Ps5 disc drive – AUD $35 decrease from AUD $160 AUD $125

New Zealand

• PS5 Digital Edition – NZD $60 increase from NZD $770 to NZD $860
• PS5 Standard with disc drive – NZD $50 increase from NZD $900 to NZD $950
• PS5 disc drive – NZD $30 decrease from NZD $170 NZD $140

Interesting, eh?

The U.S. price stays the same because here, we still have leverage.

This is what economic nationalism looks like in practice.

When America puts its foot down, even Japanese tech giants know not to test the waters.

— Hank™ (@HANKonX) April 15, 2025

lol. They’re making the Europeans pay for trumps tariffs?

— Cunha (@Cunha_D_) April 15, 2025

Europe: paying 10% more to get no girlfriend in higher resolution

— Brunbitty (@brunbitty) April 15, 2025

This is exactly what Nike will do. They’ll increase rest of world pricing to subsidize the US.

— Truth Magnate (@TruthMagnate) April 15, 2025

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

In yet another incredulous case, the British justice system has decided in its infinite wisdom that a Somali criminal will be allowed to stay in the UK because returning him to his home country would cause him too much “stress”.

Yes, really.

The Telegraph reports that a judge in the upper immigration tribunal ruled that the asylum seeker would suffer “stress” if deported to his homeland, which would worsen his mental health, thereby breaching article three of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects against persecution and inhumane treatment.

A Somali criminal seeking asylum in the UK has avoided deportation after a judge ruled that returning him to his home country would cause him too much “stress”https://t.co/WbGKmbQ8Ab

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 11, 2025

The unnamed man, jailed for unspecified crimes, is a schizophrenic who hears voices, and has also been dependent on alcohol for almost twenty years, according to the report, another factor which led to him being allowed to stay in the country since arriving way back in 1999.

The Home Office has argued that the man, who has been granted anonymity, would be able to get medications he needs in his home country, but the judge still ruled against them.

The man is described as having a “high level of vulnerability” and “complex needs” with “the severity of his mental health problems closely linked to his stress levels and use of alcohol,” according to the tribunal.

Lawyers assigned to the guy argued that he has “no real prospect” of returning to Mogadishu and making a living and that any financial support he would receive would be “limited”, and that he has a “history of being financially exploited”.

The Home Office has a program to offer financial support to foreign criminals being deported through the Facilitated Return Scheme. In other words, the government even offered to pay for the guy’s rehabilitation in Somalia.

“Evidence from doctors suggested the man could “become well” if he abstained from alcohol and complied with his medication,” the report notes.

Yet, Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge Ian Jarvis said “I conclude that the weight of the evidence before the Tribunal indicates that the [man] will very quickly become noncompliant with his medication.. without the 24/7 support and monitoring which he currently receives in the United Kingdom.”

The judge upheld the appeal and ruled that the man’s mental health would “seriously deteriorate” if he were returned to Somalia.

Commenters on the report were not impressed by the judge’s decision:

The report further notes that its another in a long list of convicted foreign criminals attempting and in many cases succeeding in halting their deportations by claiming breaches of their human rights.

There are currently a record 41,987 outstanding immigration appeals, largely on human rights grounds.

As we highlighted last month, a convicted pedophile has escaped deportation from the UK to his native country of Pakistan after a judge ruled that he would face “inhuman or degrading treatment” there for being an alcoholic.

This case follows similar incidents, including one just last month where another Pakistani pedo was permitted to remain in the UK with a judge ruling that deportation would be “unduly harsh” owing to the fact that his family in Pakistan took a “dim view” of his crimes.

Conservative MP Sir Alec Shelbrooke urged that “The Government needs to stop dangerous criminals being allowed to stay in this country.”

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Via  Eurasianet.org,

• The World Bank is facing a formal complaint regarding its financing of the Rogun Dam project in Tajikistan, with allegations of inadequate assessment of environmental and socio-economic risks.

• Environmental organizations and concerned citizens argue that the Rogun Dam poses a significant threat to regional stability and water resources, particularly the Amu Darya River.

• Calls have been made for an immediate halt to the dam’s construction and a suspension of funding until a comprehensive and transparent investigation is conducted.

The World Bank is under fire over allegations of impropriety in financing the Rogun Dam project in Tajikistan. Specifically, bank officials are facing accusations that they failed to comply with procedures to account for potential environmental and socio-economic harms associated with the project.

A statement issued April 8 by the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, an independent investigative body, announced the registration of a formal Request for Inspection, in effect a complaint, concerning the bank’s involvement in the Rogun hydropower project (HPP). Bank officials now have three weeks to respond to the allegations raised in the complaint. At that point, the Inspection Panel will decide whether or not to conduct a formal investigation.

The complaint was initiated in February by two concerned citizens in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with the assistance of a Kazakhstan-based environmental organization, Rivers without Boundaries.

“The Rogun HPP project in its current, unfinished form poses a colossal threat to environmental stability and the well-being of millions of people in Central Asia,” said a statement issued by Rivers without Boundaries. 

“The applicants argue that the decision to finance the construction of the Rogun HPP was made by the World Bank’s Board of Directors despite an incomplete and outdated Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), which does not adequately reflect the transboundary risks and cumulative impacts of the project on vulnerable ecosystems and people in the Amu Darya River basin.”

The complaint characterized the Rogun project, which currently has a price tag exceeding $8 billion, as among the “most expensive and time-consuming false solutions” to address electricity shortages in Tajikistan and reduce carbon emissions. A study published by Rivers without Boundaries in late 2024 alleged that Rogun is a white elephant in the making, and is likely to be outmoded as an efficient and profitable generator of electricity before it becomes fully operational.

The World Bank approved a $350 million grant in December to be used to help complete the dam’s first phase of construction. 

If built to its present specifications, Rogun would be the world’s tallest dam, capable of producing 3,600 megawatts of power per year. Bank officials have described the project as a “transformative clean energy project that will improve domestic and regional welfare and contribute to the decarbonization of regional power grids in Central Asia.”

Initial due diligence conducted by the Inspection Panel found that the complaint was “not frivolous, absurd, or anonymous.”

The complaint alleges that World Bank officials relied on faulty and outdated data to evaluate the environmental impact of the dam’s operation. It goes on to assert the reservoir needed to generate electricity would reduce the flow of the already-stressed Amu Darya River by at least 25 percent, causing a “progressive catastrophe” adversely impacting the lives of up to 10 million people living downstream.

Perhaps the harshest allegation leveled against the World Bank’s approval process is that “the Project’s safeguard documents were not disclosed to impacted persons and communities in Tajikistan and in the riparian countries [Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan] and that meaningful consultations were not held,” according to the Inspection Panel statement.

Even before the Inspection Panel makes a determination on whether to proceed with a full investigation, environmental activists are seeking an immediate halt to Rogun’s construction. 

The Rivers without Borders statement “calls on the World Bank and other financial institutions involved in the Rogun HPP construction project in Tajikistan to suspend funding until a comprehensive, independent and transparent investigation of all issues raised in the request is conducted, and adequate measures are developed to prevent and mitigate the negative consequences of the project.”

Authored by Ted Snider via The Libertarian Institute,

If Chinese soldiers are fighting in the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, that is not the big story. The big story is the effect the claim could have on the possibility of peace.

Ukraine has not yet even proven the months old claim of the presence of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia on Russian soil. Now they are making the much more provocative claim that Chinese soldiers are fighting for Russia on Ukrainian soil.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on April 9 that the Ukrainian armed forces had captured two Chinese soldiers fighting in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. He then said that Ukrainian intelligence has uncovered 155 Chinese citizens who are “fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine” and that they “believe that there are many more of them.”

Independent journalists and organizations have not had access to the two prisoners in order to verify the truth of the claim. Ukraine has provided a video and documents listing names and passport documents. Media outlets have seen them, but CNN and The Independent both say that they have not been independently verified.

There are tens and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese living in Russia. And even if the captured soldiers are from China, that does not mean they were sent by China. They could have enlisted on their own as mercenaries, a possibility that two former U.S. intelligence officers “with knowledge of the issue” now say U.S. intelligence believes to be the case.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the claim that many Chinese citizens are fighting in the Russian army “totally unfounded,” and said that “the Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones, avoid getting involved in any form of armed conflict, and especially refrain from participating in any party’s military operations.”

Zelensky, though, has made the provocative claim that the Chinese government is allowing its citizens to fight in Ukraine. Asked whether China had a policy of sending soldiers to Ukraine, Zelensky answered, “I don’t have an answer to this question yet. The Security Service of Ukraine will work on it… We are not saying that someone gave any command, we do not have such information.” However, he added that “[o]fficial Beijing knows about this” and did not prevent it.

Zelensky then escalated the claim, saying, “The Chinese issue is serious” and calling on “the U.S. and the rest of the world for a response.”

It is that threat to the peace process and not the possible presence of Chinese soldiers that is serious and significant. Mercenaries from many countries have been welcomed by both Ukraine and Russia since the beginning of the war. Al Jazeera reports that, not only Chinese, but Nepalese and Indians have fought for Russia. They also report that Colombians, Sri Lankans, Indians and Americans have fought for Ukraine. At least nine Canadians have been killed in Ukraine, and more are known to have fought there.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed in March 2024 that 1,005 Canadian mercenaries have fought in Ukraine. They also claim that 2,960 have come from Poland, 1,113 from the United States, 356 from France and others from the United Kingdom and Romania. Ukraine says their international legion comprises around 20,000 fighters from fifty countries.

More seriously, it is not just mercenaries who have arrived in Ukraine. A leaked March 2023 Defense Department document reveals the presence of 97 NATO special forces in Ukraine. A recent New York Times article reports that more than three dozen military advisers were sent to Kiev and that CIA officers were in Kharkiv and “command posts closer to the fighting.” The British prime minister’s office has confirmed that the United Kingdom has boots on the ground in Ukraine. The presence of French forces has also been revealed, and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed that “NATO soldiers are already present in Ukraine.”

Unless the Chinese government has a policy of sending troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, which would be serious, since it could draw China into the war, it is not the alleged presence of Chinese soldiers that is dangerous. At a time when peace talks are at a fragile beginning, and US President Donald Trump is insisting on both sides showing they are serious about peace, it is the provocative statements coming out of Kiev that are potentially serious.

“Russia’s involvement of China, along with other countries, whether directly or indirectly, in this war in Europe is a clear signal that Putin intends to do anything but end the war,” Zelensky said. “This definitely requires a response. A response from the United States, Europe, and all those around the world who want peace.” The suggestion that Putin is not serious about negotiating undermines US-led negotiations.

The first two captured Chinese citizens. Today, investigators from the Security Service of Ukraine spoke with them. We are working to establish all the facts regarding the involvement of these and other Chinese citizens being part of the Russian occupation army. Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/PkBpBjI2Qm

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 9, 2025

The statements are also ill timed and hazardous. The United States and China are engaged in a trade war. It is a volatile time to provide Washington with a cause for turning up its anger against China. Zelensky intends the presence of Chinese soldiers to evoke an American response. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. is “aware of those reports” and that “It’s disturbing with the Chinese soldiers having been captured,” though the White House has not confirmed the claim. National Security Spokesman Brian Hughes said that “if the Chinese government is allowing their citizens to fight on behalf of the Russia government, this would be a concerning escalation and the U.S. will consider options moving forward.”

Beyond challenging the peace process, the comments coming out of Kiev are provocative to China, questioning its credibility and its lack of involvement in the war. Equally importantly, it challenges any potential role of China both in the negotiations before the end of the war and in security arrangements after the end of the war: both potentially important roles for China.

Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, said that “Chinese citizens fighting as part of Russia’s invasion army in Ukraine puts into question” not only “China’s declared stance for peace” but even that it “undermines Beijing’s credibility as a responsible permanent member of the UN Security Council.”

If the two captured soldiers turn out to be from China, and if they turn out to be mercenaries fighting without the approval of China, then their presence in Ukraine is not the big story. If the claims being made about them and about China resonate in the White House, then the effect of the claims could make difficult peace talks even more difficult. And that is what the potential big story would turn out to be.

Eight billion people in the world generate a lot of municipal garbage. By 2050, the World Bank estimates humans will generate 3.4 billion tonnes of global waste.

That’s enough to line up garbage trucks from the Earth to the Moon and back – several times over.

But, as Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu details below, nearly half of all that garbage is from an unexpected source. We breakdown all the components of solid waste from World Bank data, which uses estimates for 2016 and 2050.

What Fills the World’s Trash Bins

Food and green waste accounts for a majority of the world’s garbage (44% of the total).

Paper and cardboard (17%) and plastic (12%) are the next two major categories of waste.

There’s a positive correlation between income and waste generation. High-income countries account for only 16% of the world’s population but more than one-third of the waste generated.

However, it’s the middle- and low-income countries that will lead to more waste generation by 2050, particularly in Asia and Africa.

Why is this?

As the World Bank explains, waste generation scales up as income levels rise.

For high-income countries, per capita waste generation is already peaking, and is expected to grow 19% by 2050.

On the other hand, low- and middle-income countries (where per capita waste is much lower but where incomes are rising quickly) could see their waste generation grow by 40%.

According to the World Bank, global waste is growing at more than twice the rate of the population.

Want to get more perspective on staggering food waste? Check out: How Much Food is Wasted per Person by creator MadeVisual.