A high-ranking Palestinian delegation left the West Bank today, Saturday, for Jordan to participate in a five-way summit to be held tomorrow in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, which includes Israel, according to informed Palestinian sources.
The sources told the German News Agency (dpa) that a Palestinian delegation will hold talks with Jordanian and Egyptian officials today, and that it will participate tomorrow in the Aqaba Summit, which brings together Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the United States of America alongside the Palestinian Authority.
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Fahd Al-Hayyan reveals the reason for his apology for participating in “Tash” • Al-Marsad Newspaper
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Al-Marsad Newspaper: The artist Fahd Al-Hayyan said that he was surprised that only two episodes were allocated to him in the new part of the series “Tash Ma Tash”, which is scheduled to be shown next Ramadan.
And he explained – in a video clip – that he was happy following learning of the return of the series and agreed with the artist Nasser Al-Qasabi to prepare to come up with a distinguished work.
He indicated that he was surprised that there were only two episodes for him, and when he expressed his dissatisfaction with that, he promised to increase the number of episodes and make some adjustments.
He added that despite this, his request has not been answered yet, so I decide to apologize for the work.
The SCO is doing something – Newspaper Kommersant No. 137 (7338) of 07/30/2022
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
A meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries was held on Friday in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. This regional organization dealing with issues of security, economics and humanitarian cooperation continues to expand: Belarus has recently applied for membership in it. For Russia, which is trying to show that it is not at all isolated, strengthening associations with its participation is beneficial.
The main task of the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries was the preparation of the meeting of the Council of Heads of State, which will be held in Samarkand on September 15-16. Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, who is preparing to become a full member of the organization, is also expected to take part in the event. Recall that it all began in 2001 with six states – the “Shanghai Five” formed in 1996 (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia and Tajikistan) and Uzbekistan, which joined it. Today, there are eight countries in the SCO: in 2017, India and Pakistan became members of the organization.
Iran, which has had observer status in the SCO since 2005, applied for full membership in 2008. But until 2015, Tehran might not be accepted into the association due to international sanctions in force once morest it. According to the rules of the SCO, a country under the sanctions of the UN Security Council cannot become a member, and a number of restrictive measures were applied to Iran. The sanctions were lifted in 2015 when Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program. But even this did not open the door to the SCO for him – the Iranian application was blocked by Tajikistan, with which Iran had a conflict. It was only possible to resolve it in 2021, following which Tehran’s application was finally given the green light. Now the Iranian side is going through the formal procedures necessary to join the organization.
In mid-July, Belarus also applied for admission to the SCO, since 2010 it has had observer status with the organization.
Minsk hopes that his request will be considered in an expedited manner. So, apparently, it will be: following the results of the meeting in Tashkent, and. regarding. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, currently chairing the SCO, Vladimir Norov, said that the application of Belarus is now “actively being studied.” “There is a common understanding that the addition of the SCO family will give a significant impetus to multiple interactions in ensuring regional security, the development of trade and investment cooperation, and will contribute to the development of a huge transit potential in the spaces of our organization,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also told reporters: “There is a consensus on Belarus to begin its accession (to the SCO.— “uh”) as a full member”. According to him, “the agenda of the summit in Samarkand appears to be very solid, rich, and it is especially symbolic that a kind of queue is lined up for the Samarkand summit from those wishing to become full members of the SCO or join as observers and dialogue partners.”
Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are expected to receive SCO dialogue partner status in September.
The process of granting such status to Bahrain and the Maldives will be launched. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal claim the status of an observer at the SCO (it is higher than the status of a dialogue partner).
Under President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine was also actively interested in the observer status at the SCO, hoping, among other things, to attract new investments in this way and increase its role as a transit state. Today, however, no one remembers this – neither in Kyiv, nor in the ranks of the SCO itself.
The foreign ministers of the association also preferred (at least in the open part of the meeting) not to develop the theme of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Thus, Vladimir Norov said in general terms that “the era of a fundamental turning point in international relations and global restructuring” is coming, accompanied by “increasing factors of instability and economic uncertainty.”
Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi said that the SCO “is entering its third decade once morest the backdrop of very complex global processes.”
At the same time, he (like other ministers of the member countries of the association) rested on the fact that “the SCO remains a space of stability and development.”
Such a characterization of the organizational space can, of course, be given only with a stretch. At the beginning of the year, Kazakhstan itself was swept by a wave of riots, for the sake of suppressing which a contingent of forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) had to be temporarily brought into the country. In July, the Uzbek authorities had to deal with the protesters. Skirmishes occur every now and then on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan due to disagreements in the definition of territorial boundaries. India has a very tense relationship with Pakistan and a difficult one with China. And all of this is taking place once morest the backdrop of an ever-troubling Afghanistan that borders the five current SCO members and Iran.
Russia, however, has good relations with all members of the association. Its strengthening and expansion plays into its hands in conditions of tough confrontation with Western structures. It is not for nothing that the Russian Foreign Ministry provided a photo of Sergey Lavrov with colleagues from seven SCO member countries and representatives of the secretariat of the organization with a commentary, the essence of which boils down to the fact that with such a density of contacts, it is clearly not necessary to talk regarding Russia’s isolation.
Elena Chernenko
Sweden and Finland swim into an alliance – Mir – Kommersant
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
The NATO multinational force on Sunday began exercises Baltops 2022 in the Baltic Sea. They are attended by 14 member countries of the alliance, as well as Sweden and Finland, which have applied for NATO membership. The maneuvers, which started on the Swedish coast, are taking place ahead of a NATO summit scheduled for late June, at which Sweden and Finland might be admitted to the alliance – but only if Turkey withdraws its objections to this.
The multinational NATO exercise in northern Europe, which has been held since 1971 under the name Baltops, will last until June 17 and this year will be the largest in its more than 50-year history. In addition to the 14 member countries of the alliance – the United States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Turkey – Sweden and Finland will take part in them, which on May 18 submitted official applications for membership. in NATO.
The area of maneuvers covers the central and southern parts of the Baltic Sea, as well as coastal ranges in Germany, Sweden, Poland and the Baltic countries. The Baltops 2022 exercises will involve 7,000 military personnel, as well as regarding a hundred aircraft and helicopters and 45 warships.
The purpose of this year’s exercises is to demonstrate NATO’s readiness to control the Baltic Sea and move large military forces to any place in the Baltic region in a short time.
The start of the Baltops 2022 exercises was given in Stockholm and, in addition to celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Swedish Navy, pursued another goal, which was outlined by Mark Milli, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CNS) of the US Armed Forces, who arrived in the country. At a press conference aboard the American landing ship USS Kearsarge, which docked in Stockholm, General Milli called for considering Baltops 2022 in the context of the admission process for the two Scandinavian states that began in May.
“This is the first time a ship of this size has passed through the Stockholm archipelago. This year is different, given the context. It is important for NATO countries to show solidarity with Sweden and Finland following applying to the alliance,” said Mark Milley. “Sweden may not have the largest army, but it is very high-level, including a high-class air force, modern technical equipment, a strong navy and well-trained ground forces,” said Mark Milley, expressing his conviction that the future the membership of Sweden and Finland will significantly strengthen NATO’s position in the Baltic Sea region.
According to the US 6th Operational Fleet, there are currently three American warships in the Baltic Sea.
In addition to the large landing craft Kearsarge carrying elements of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion, the amphibious transport dock Gunston Hall and the guided missile destroyer Gravely also arrived.
“What we are seeing in Stockholm today sends an important message regarding security in our part of the world. It is important that several countries are represented here, we are in a difficult situation, which makes our cooperation even more important,” Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said at a joint press conference with General Milli in Stockholm. “Call it a new cold war or a new iron curtain, but we need to be aware of what is happening around us right now. This is why democracies must stick together,” he added.
It is noteworthy that the day before his visit to Stockholm, Mark Milli visited Helsinki, where he met with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen and Commander of the country’s armed forces Timo Kivinen. “The parties discussed European security issues in the light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as a strong and strong security partnership between the United States and Finland,” said KNS spokesman David Butler. “The Chairman of the Council of Ministers underscored the strong support for Finland’s bid for NATO membership,” said David Butler.
Meanwhile, three weeks before the NATO summit in Madrid, scheduled for June 28-30, the question of whether it will take a decisive step to admit Sweden and Finland into the alliance remains open due to Turkish objections. Recently, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a number of representatives of the country’s top leadership made several new statements indicating that an agreement with Ankara is not yet in sight.
Sergey Strokan