France – (AFP)
The director of French military intelligence, General Eric Fido, has been relieved of his post over what was considered negligence in the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to what AFP has learned from military and other sources familiar with the file.
A military source confirmed that the Director of Military Intelligence (DRM) will leave his post immediately, confirming information provided by the “Lupinion” website.
The website quoted a source in the Ministry of the Armed Forces as saying that the motive for this dismissal was “insufficient briefings” and “poor mastery of the files.”
A military source contacted by AFP said that military intelligence had been within the army’s command line since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The source added that Military Intelligence “conducts military inquiries regarding operations and not regarding intentions,” explaining that its reports concluded that Russia has sufficient means for war once morest Ukraine, “what happened proved that it was right.”
According to another military source contacted by Agence France-Presse, who asked not to be named, the news of the dismissal of the senior officer spread within the army a few days ago, but there was talk of granting him another position, which did not happen in the end.
For his part, a source close to the file confirmed that “we cannot attribute this change to the Ukrainian situation only, it is also a matter of reorganizing the apparatus.”
General Fido was appointed to the position last summer from the Special Operations Command, but his appointment caused an uproar within the military community because some considered that it was done as part of a process of rotating positions between generals.
In early March, Army Chief of Staff General Thierry Borcard admitted to Le Monde newspaper that there were differences of analysis between the French and the Americans on the question of a possible war in Ukraine.
He declared at the time that “the Americans said that the Russians would attack, they were right, on the contrary, our services believed that the war on Ukraine would be very costly and that the Russians had other options” to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In fact, the Americans obtained highly reliable intelligence regarding Russian preparations and, several weeks before the war began, decided to deploy part of it in an effort to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In this regard, Alexandre Papimonuel, a specialist in intelligence affairs at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, explained that “American intelligence used intelligence information as a means of pressure, and this represents the return of intelligence as a pillar of political communication.”
He added, “France is doing the same thing. It says internally, within the (intelligence) community and to the rest of the world, that it has failed.”
However, Papemanuel considered that it is not possible to blame only the Military Intelligence, which suffers in particular from insufficient resources and a problem in its image and in the organization of its services.
The researcher concluded that “the warning is directed to the (intelligence) community as a whole, they must be effective and aware of all threats.”
Tag:
Ukraine crisis
Ukraine warns of a new radioactive danger due to the situation at “Chernobyl”
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Kyiv – Archyde.com
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Irina Vereshchuk, accused Russia of “irresponsible” actions around the occupied Chernobyl power plant, which might send radiation across much of Europe, and urged the United Nations to dispatch a risk assessment mission.
Vereshchuk said Russian forces were working to “militarize” the exclusion zone around the plant, which witnessed the world’s worst civilian nuclear accident in 1986.
She added that the Russian forces are transporting large quantities of old weapons, which have not been subject to good maintenance, which may cause damage to the containment vessel that was built around the destroyed fourth reactor of the station to prevent the spread of radioactive materials in the environment.
Russian forces prevent firefighters from controlling a large number of fires in the area.
“In the context of nuclear safety, the irresponsible and unprofessional behavior of Russian soldiers poses a very serious threat not only to Ukraine, but to hundreds of millions of Europeans,” Vereshchuk said on her Telegram account.
“Therefore, we call on the UN Security Council to take immediate measures to make the restricted area around Chernobyl free of weapons, as well as to send a special mission to prevent any recurrence of the Chernobyl accident as a result of the actions of the Russian occupation forces,” she added.
She explained that any damage to the containment vessel, which was built with European funding, “will inevitably lead to the emission of a large amount of radioactive dust and pollution into the atmosphere, not only in Ukraine but also in other European countries.”
She said Russia was “ignoring these risks” by continuing to move weapons in areas close to the station.
A fire and explosion in 1986 in the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl plant caused a radioactive leak, and its reach as far as Britain and Spain, and thousands of deaths were linked to the effects of the accident and the radiation from the reactor.
All of the plant’s reactors are now out of service.
Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl plant in the early days of the invasion last month, and for a time prevented technicians responsible for maintenance work from leaving or on duty with others.
Biden’s “slip of the tongue” on Putin confuses Washington’s efforts and surprises allies
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Washington: (AFP)
US President Joe Biden’s statement that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power” echoed around the world, prompting his administration to quickly clarify it, avoiding confusing Washington’s efforts to mobilize a united front on the conflict in Ukraine.
Biden’s statement, which came in a speech in Warsaw at the conclusion of a three-day European diplomatic tour, was described by a Republican senator as a “terrible slip of the tongue.” A prominent analyst considered that it might prolong the war.
French President Emmanuel Macron also warned that such phrases might “escalate” the conflict that Washington and its NATO allies seek to contain, and undermine Western efforts to help the stricken Ukrainians.
close rows
The statement came at the conclusion of a firm speech, Saturday, in which Biden ended a tour of Europe aimed at closing ranks in the face of the Russian military operation.
His impromptu words, “For God’s sake, this man can’t stay in power,” surprised even his advisers for their apparent deviation from US policy in dealing with the conflict thus far. The White House did not delay in intervening, and made clear minutes following the speech that Biden had not called for “regime change” in Russia.
But Biden’s comments hours earlier, describing him to Putin as a “butcher”, sparked outrage in Moscow, caused astonishment in the allied countries, and made his advisors on high alert to quell criticism. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken joined officials who vehemently denied that Biden had called for Putin’s ouster. What Biden meant, Blinken said, was that “Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression once morest Ukraine or anyone else.” “The choice of who is the president of Russia is up to the Russians,” he added.
human response
Washington assigned its ambassador to NATO, Julian Smith, to confirm the same message, declaring on television networks that “the United States does not have a policy of regime change in Russia. a dot on the line”. She told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that Biden’s comments were “a principled human response to the stories he heard” during a visit to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
But Macron, who has spoken several times with Putin since the war began, warned the West not to “escalate words and actions” or risk hampering vital humanitarian efforts, including hopes of evacuating those stranded in the stricken city of Mariupol.
Republican Senator Jim Risch stressed that Biden’s statements contradict his administration’s efforts to stop the escalation of the conflict. “Nothing can lead to an escalation more than a call for regime change,” Rich told CNN.
horrific slip
Biden has been known for decades for his many slips of the tongue, and newspapers have previously raced to make lists of “the 10 most important slips of the tongue ever.” Rich considered that the president had once once more shot himself in the foot. While stressing that Biden gave a “good speech”, Risch noted that he had committed a “horrible slip of the tongue at the end.” And he continued, “I hope they commit him to the text of the written letter.”
But not everyone saw the statement as an unspoken threat, or even as a slip of the tongue. And the former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, considered on Twitter that Biden’s words should be read differently.
“Biden expressed what billions of people around the world believe, and millions inside Russia as well, and he didn’t say the United States should remove him from power, there is a difference,” he said, but experts in the United States and abroad have harshly criticized Biden. US diplomat Richard Haass, who heads the Council on Foreign Relations, estimated that the White House guest “made the difficult situation more difficult and the dangerous situation more dangerous.”
“Putin will see this as confirmation of what he has believed all along,” Haas added on Twitter. Equally austere, François Heisburg, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it was best for US leaders not to “let their mouths loose.”
Global markets ignore Ukraine in a week renewing interest bets
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Global markets made good gains over the past week, and ended Friday’s trading in the green, as investors were closely following the negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and Thursday and Friday witnessed a series of high-level meetings between world leaders and international bodies.
NATO committed additional forces along its eastern flank, the United Kingdom and the United States imposed more sanctions on Russian elites and officials, and the United States announced billions more in aid to Ukraine.
It comes as markets struggled with another volatile week, with a hawkish pivot from the US Federal Reserve, raising bets that monetary policy will be tightened aggressively in a bid to rein in hyperinflation.
US stocks
On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose slightly at the close, Friday, with financial stocks rising following the benchmark Treasury yield jumped to its highest level in nearly three years while shares of technology companies and other big growth companies declined.
The three major indices posted gains for the second week in a row. The Dow Jones rose 0.3%. The Standard & Poor’s rose by 1.8%, and the Nasdaq rose by 2%.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is now up regarding 3.9% in March, erasing losses incurred due to the war in Ukraine late last month.
The recovery came over the past week, even as the war in Ukraine dragged on and interest rates soared, with the Federal Reserve set to raise rates several times this year.
Investors are assessing the Fed’s firmness as it tightens policy following Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that the central bank needed to move “quickly” to combat high inflation and raised the prospect of a 50 basis point rate hike in May. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose above 2.5 percent.
At Friday’s close, Standard & Poor’s rose 0.53% to 4543.94 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.15% to 14173.22 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.40 points, or 0.44%, to 3,4861.34 points.
While jobless claims in the United States fell by more than analysts’ expectations to a 43-year low, in a strong sign of the continued recovery from the “Corona” pandemic, despite the repercussions of the invasion of Ukraine on the global economy, Kristalina Georgieva, Director of the International Monetary Fund, said, during the week, that expectations The new fund, which is expected to be issued next April, will show that the Ukraine war has slowed global economic growth.
European stocks
European markets closed slightly higher on Friday, as investors continued to monitor the war in Ukraine and assess the outlook for global monetary policy.
The European Stoxx 600 Index closed up by only 0.12%, following reversing its previous losses, but incurring 0.2% weekly losses. Oil and gas shares rose 1.2%, while banking shares fell 0.4%.
In terms of individual stock price movement, Sweden’s Trailburg rose more than 23% to lead the European premiere following Yokohama Rubber announced that it would buy its tire business for $2.18 billion.
Russian stocks
Russian stocks suffered a rough ride, Thursday, as they returned to limited trading following a month of halting trading due to the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. Volatility continued on Friday, and the MOEX Russia index fell sharply, erasing most of the previous session’s gains.
Japan shares
The Japanese Nikkei index rose for the ninth consecutive session Friday, in the longest streak of consecutive gains since September 2019; Investors repurchased cheap stocks even following the recent rally prompted traders to take profits.
The Nikkei index changed its direction, rising 0.14% to 28149.84 points, as the index climbed 4.93% this week.
The broader Topix index settled at 1981.47 points, but recorded a weekly gain of 3.78%.
said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui DS. Asset Management “Investors have absorbed the impact of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war while US interest rate increases have already been taken into account.”
And Tokyo Electron, a chip equipment manufacturer, gained 0.63%.
Shionoji Corp.’s stock jumped 4.49% following the pharmaceutical company signed an agreement with the Japanese government to provide it with an oral treatment for COVID-19 that the company is currently developing.
On the other hand, the shares of SoftBank Group for Technology Investment and KDDI Phone Company declined by 0.25% and 1.85%, respectively.
(agencies)