Polls show that a large percentage of Israeli citizens have lost faith in the future of their nation

Major General (Reserve) in the Israeli Army, and former ombudsman for the occupation forces, Yitzhak Brick, has sounded an alarm over the growing inefficacy of the country’s army to win a possible war.

Warning that the Israeli occupation forces have turned into an “air force army,” Brick criticized the leadership in Tel Aviv for their “sensitivity” towards human losses on the ground.

“Whoever wants to completely avoid losing on the battlefield, completely loses the deterrence of the army and the ability to win the war. This way of thinking and managing the security echelons will eventually lead to much heavier losses in the war,” the former official said in a column published on 10 May by Channel 12.

Brick went on to add that Israel’s land army and reserve system have been continuously ignored: “We lost the inter-arm combat capability and became a one-dimensional Air Force army that alone could not win a war.”

He goes on to highlight that the occupation forces in general, and the land army in particular, “are not ready for war.”

The warning comes on the heels of a number of polls showing that a large portion of Israeli citizens have lost faith in the future of their nation.

A poll published by the Pnima Movement at the start of the month showed that 40 percent of Israelis were not optimistic about the country’s future. It also showed that 33 percent of Israeli youth are seriously considering emigrating out of the occupied territory.

Meanwhile, at least 75 percent of Israeli Arabs believe Jews have no right to sovereignty in occupied Palestine, according to a survey by Habithonistim–Protectors of Israel published on 9 May.

In an article published in Yedioth Ahronoth on 7 May, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak expressed fears of the imminent demise of Israel before the 80th anniversary of its founding.

“Throughout Jewish history, the Jews did not rule for more than eighty years, except in the two kingdoms of David and the Hasmonean dynasty, and in both periods, their disintegration began in the eighth decade,” Barak said.

Earlier this year, former Air Force chief Amikam Norkin said Israel no longer enjoys superiority and freedom over the skies of Lebanon, highlighting that this reality was apparent to the Israeli military establishment after Hezbollah began manufacturing its own drones.

In the weeks after this statement by the Israeli official, Iran notified Tel Aviv that the army of the Islamic Republic has missiles pointed at all of their nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons sites.

Source: The Cradle

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Speaking at a recent event to celebrate Ethiopian Airlines’ 25th anniversary of serving Zambia, he made an off-the-cuff remark, saying: “We are already at the stage where we are about to bring in two more 737 Boeing aircraft that are going to make Zambia Airways also a major competitor on the regional routes”.

Zambia Airways currently operates one B737-800 and one DHC-8-Q400, both seconded by Ethiopian Airlines, which owns 45% of the airline, while the Zambian government, through the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), has the majority share of 55%.

ch-aviation has reached out to Zambia Airways for more information.

According to the ch-aviation capacities module, the airline’s only present regional route is between Lusaka and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, which it serves daily with the B737-800. It uses the Dash 8-Q400 to serve Livingstone, Ndola International, and Solwezi domestically.

Tayali commended the partnership between the government and Ethiopian Airlines: “We as the government believe that this was indeed a very well crafted partnership with an airline that has strong technical as well as operational capabilities.” He added that Ethiopian Airlines Group continued to provide updated technology, leadership, network expansion, aviation mentoring, and upskilling of Zambian pilots and airline staff.

Source: CH Aviation

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Frankfurt, Paris (14/4 – 40)

Relations between Russia and NATO have reached boiling point due the recent event: the claim that Serbia and Russia want to refight Kosovo; the closure of the border by Finland; and the statement by the President of France, Emanuel Macron, on March, 14. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, in a series of posts on social media, claimed that NATO, the EU, and the US government were targeting Kosovo and Serbia and destroying the relationship. Never mind a coalition with Italy and Russia, this is just another pipedream of Radio Moscow.

In recent days, rumours of an impending Balkan war have become more widespread, but experienced Balkan parties are calling for a cool head to prevail. Radio Moscow plays up the usual rubbish of war drums. “People forget that this alliance does not like to use force, but…,” a NATO Air Command spokesman warned.

According to Lavrov, the Kosovo police have long discredited themselves through systematic punitive measures against the Serb community. “They have tried to push the Serbs out of Kosovo through the deployment of heavily armed special forces in non-Albanian areas. There is an immediate threat of a return to the ethnic cleansing carried out by Kosovo Albanian extremists.”

Meanwhile, President Macron said that Europe must be ready for war if it wants peace. He called President Putin would not stop at Ukraine if he succeeded in defeating Kyiv forces in the conflict that has been going on for two years.

President Macron sparked controversy last month after saying he could not link the possibility of ground troops to Ukraine in the future. Many state leaders avoided this, while several other leaders, especially in the Eastern European region, supported the statement. “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be destroyed,” Macron said in a television interview.

However, President Putin stated that anything is possible in the modern world. “I have said and it is clear to everyone that this (possible direct conflict with NATO) would be one more step towards a full-scale third world war. I think almost no one is interested in this increasing chaos.” 

He added that French troops would perform secondary functions, training military personnel in Ukraine, explaining how to use heavy equipment, and performing several other similar functions. “Today, it is not much different from what was done by the mercenaries and later armed military personnel of the NATO countries present there,” President Putin said in speech after winning the election. 

Meanwhile, President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia’s relations with NATO had reached the level of direct confrontation. “The relationship has now descended to the level of direct confrontation. NATO not only continues to escalate but is also directly involved in the conflict around Ukraine. NATO continues its advance towards our borders,” he said.

Even so, President Putin is open to dialogue with NATO. According to Peskov, President Putin often holds international dialogue with countries that show interest in developing relations with Russia, “President Putin is open to dialogue to solve complex global and regional problems.”

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Batuke Imenda, the Secretary General of the United Party for National Development (UPND), extended his appreciation to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its efforts in bolstering relations with Zambia’s ruling party.

Imenda stated that the UPND seeks to learn from the CCP due to its extensive experience and status as one of the largest political parties globally. He further conveyed gratitude to the CCP for organizing cultural exchange visits, providing UPND members with opportunities to immerse themselves in Chinese culture and political history during recent visits to China.

These sentiments were expressed during a meeting between Imenda and Li Mingxiang, the Chinese Deputy Minister in the International Department of the CCP Central Committee, held at the UPND Secretariat in Lusaka.

Collins Maoma, the acting National Chairman of the UPND, also spoke at the meeting, expressing appreciation to China for its assistance in restructuring Zambia’s debt.

In response, Li emphasized that his visit aimed to strengthen relations with the UPND, particularly following President Hakainde Hichilema’s visit to China in 2023. He expressed satisfaction with the consensus reached between the two parties to enhance engagement.

Li reiterated the CCP’s commitment to utilizing various avenues of cooperation, including cultural exchange visits, to foster stronger ties between the two political entities.

The meeting underscored the ongoing efforts to enhance bilateral relations between Zambia and China, with both parties expressing mutual interest in furthering cooperation across multiple fronts.

Source: Lusakatimes

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Where is Kariba Dam and what purposes does it serve?

The 280 kilometre-long, human-made Lake Kariba is part of the Kariba Dam, which was built between 1955 and 1959 in the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam provides hydroelectric power to the Kariba north power station on the Zambian side and Kariba south power station on the Zimbabwean side. These provide most of the electricity for the two nations.

The remote Kariba Dam, about five hours’ drive from Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare, and a three hour drive from Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, also supports fisheries, conservation, tourism and recreation. Over 100,000 people live in Kariba town and the Nyaminyami and Binga rural districts. It is also a religious site and locals believe it shelters their ancestors and Nyaminyami, the river god.

Water levels have been falling. What are the causes?

Since the early 2010s, the El Nino weather pattern has induced droughts and heatwaves in the Zambezi region, causing a drop in the water levels at Lake Kariba. EL Nino is an unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that brings hotter temperatures and much lower rainfall to southern Africa for five months at a time.

By April 8, 2024, the Zambezi River Authority, which owns and manages Lake Kariba, announced that water in the lake had dropped to just 13.52 per cent of its capacity. Water levels in the lake fluctuate according to the rainfall — this time last year, the lake was 21.94 per cent full, but levels dropped as low as 12 per cent in 2015.

What are the four biggest effects on local communities?

Low water levels in Lake Kariba have had a huge impact on the people in the area. The key areas of concern are:

• Survival. Many people survive directly off the lake, by catching and selling fish. The drought reduces fish spawning areas, which means that fishers who live near Lake Kariba catch very few fish during times of drought. My research has found that during times of drought in Kariba, crocodiles take fish from the fishers’ nets and destroy the nets. In retaliation, fishers attack crocodiles with spears and logs, exposing themselves to crocodile attacks.
• Human-wildlife conflict. The area is already a hotspot for human-wildlife conflict. A drop in the water levels results in increased competition over water resources between people and wild animals, resulting in human-wildlife conflict. Animals that normally drink water from far-away river estuaries start approaching the parts of the lake populated by humans. Clashes between elephants, buffalo, baboons, lions and humans increase as they have to share reduced waterscapes.
• Poaching. There’s also an increase in poaching as impala, kudu, waterbuck and duiker move closer to human settlements to seek water and people seek more sources of food and income due to the economic downturn caused by the drought.
• Tourism. Numbers drop off. Game drives along the lake to the estuaries, which have unique flora and fauna and allow tourists a closer view of wild animals and birds, come to a standstill during times of drought. Tourist fishing in the estuaries dries up. The opening of the floodgates at the dam walls, which were a drawcard for tourism, stops as the water levels are too low for this.
• Long walks to collect water. Water level reductions burden women and children from surrounding fishing camps and villages who fetch water for home use from the lake. In my research, residents of the area say that water levels have dropped so much that fishing camps are now up to 2km further away from the lake than they were before the drought. Women and children from fishing camps have even been injured and killed by wild animals as they fetch water in the lake.
• Trade is disrupted. Cross border traders based in Kariba who do business between Zimbabwe and Zambia are also affected. Kariba traders often cross the border to sell fish in Zambia, but with low catches this is no longer possible. Also, most traders depended on income from fishing to purchase goods from Zambia for resale in Zimbabwe.

What can the government do to help?

Proactive measures are required to minimise harm to lives and livelihoods. Over the long term, droughts could become more severe and the Kariba Dam could stop producing as much power. The Lake Kariba region is a very hot and windy region that can support both onshore and offshore wind turbines and solar parks. The government must plan for this, so that local communities can have sustainable electricity with renewable energy projects that support alternative livelihoods.

The national parks authorities in both Zimbabwe and Zambia also need to put in robust measures for decreasing the number of human-wildlife conflicts. This can be done by identifying areas of high animal activity at the lake and directing humans away from this. Communities are also unaware of the relationship between a drop in water levels and human-wildlife conflict, and more awareness should be created about this.

The water governing authorities in the Zambezi area should also draw on local knowledge and practices in times of drought. For example, the authorities could promote the rainmaking ceremonies by local traditional groups of the Tonga, Shangwe and Korekore. These groups have lived in the area for centuries and believe that water drops are a result of angry ancestral and water spirits, including Nyaminyami, the river god. The governing authorities may want to fund more of such ceremonies as local communities lack funds to enact the ceremonies.

Source: Down To Earth

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Sri Lanka has told hundreds of thousands of Russians and some Ukrainians staying in the country to escape the war that they must leave in the next two weeks, immigration officers said.

The immigration controller issued a notice to the tourism ministry asking Russian and Ukrainian people staying on extended tourist visas to leave Sri Lanka within two weeks from 23 February.

Just over 288,000 Russians and nearly 20,000 Ukrainians have traveled to Sri Lanka in the last two years since the war began, according to official data.

Commissioner-General of Immigration said the “government is not granting further visa extensions” as the “flight situation has now normalised”.

However, the office of president Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered an investigation of the notice to the tourism ministry in an apparent bid to prevent diplomatic tensions.

The president’s office said that the notice had been issued without prior cabinet approval and the government had not officially decided to revoke the visa extensions, reported the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror.

The exact number of visitors who extended their stay beyond the typical 30-day tourist visa duration remains unclear.

However, concerns have been raised over thousands of Russians and a smaller number of Ukrainians staying in the country for an extended period of time and even setting up their own restaurants and nightclubs.

Tourism minister Harin Fernando told Daily Mirror that the ministry has been receiving complaints of some Russian tourists running unregistered and illegal businesses in the southern part of the country.

Raids were conducted by the authorities following discussions with the Immigration Department, he said.

It comes amid a furious social media backlash over Russian-run businesses with a “whites only” policy that strictly bars locals. These businesses include bars, restaurants, water sports and vehicle hiring services.

In a bid to boost tourism and recover from its worst economic crisis since 2022, Sri Lanka began granting 30-days visas on arrival and extensions for up to six months.

In April 2022, the nation defaulted on its $46bn (£36 bn) foreign debt. The economic crisis triggered violent street protests for several months and ultimately culminated in the resignation of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three months later.

Source: Independent

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All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday (31 March).

All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.

In July Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 from 27. The new legislation came into effect on 1 January 2024.

Compulsory military service has long been a sensitive issue in Russia, where many men go to great lengths to avoid being handed conscription papers during the twice-yearly call-up periods.

Conscripts cannot legally be deployed to fight outside Russia and were exempted from a limited mobilisation in 2022 that gathered at least 300,000 men with previous military training to fight in Ukraine – although some conscripts were sent to the front in error.

In September Putin signed an order calling up 130,000 people for the autumn campaign and last spring Russia planned to conscript 147,000.

Russian attacks

Russian shelling killed at least three people in different regions of eastern Ukraine on the front of the more than two-year-old war against Russia, local officials said, and two more in Lviv region, far from the front lines.

In the centre of the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russia’s intensifying assaults on energy and other infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said a strike targeted civilian infrastructure in the evening.

Regional news outlets said aerial bombs had been dropped on different areas of the region. No injuries were reported.

Earlier on Sunday, heavy shelling killed a man in the town of Borova, southeast of Kharkiv, local prosecutors said.

Police in Donetsk region, in Ukraine’s southeast, said Russian shelling hit 14 towns and villages, with two dead reported in Krasnohorivka, west of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk.

Russian forces captured the city of Avdiivka in Donetsk region last month and have since made small gains, but the situation along the 1,000-km front has changed little for months.

Attacks on infrastructure have extended well beyond the front line and Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozitskyi said two bodies were pulled from rubble after on such strike by cruise missiles. Rescue work continued through the day at the site.

Over the border in Russia’s Belgorod Region, a frequent target of Ukrainian shelling, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a woman was killed when a border village came umder attack.

Reuters could not independently confirm accounts of military action from either side.

Source

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The U.S. military should reassess its force posture in Europe and reduce its reliance on revolving door-style unit rotations, a major think tank’s analysts concluded in a Monday report.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ transnational threat team based their study on official documents, open-source materials and interviews with subject-matter experts.

The report’s authors recommend that the Army abandon the rotational armor brigade deployment model that “eats up … the Army’s force structure and long-term readiness.” Currently, two armor brigades are deployed to Europe. Instead, the report said, the service should permanently station an Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland to replace one rotational unit and eliminate the remaining rotation altogether.

An Army Times investigation found that tank brigades and enlisted tank crew members were at higher risk of suicide than other soldiers in recent years, due in part to a decade of high operational tempo fueled by such non-combat deployments. The service once had armor brigades in Europe, but they were removed in the early 2010s.

Currently, the Army maintains a large presence of rotational forces in Europe. V Corps’ forward headquarters in Poznan, Poland oversees the three temporarily deployed brigade combat teams, which includes one light infantry brigade in addition to the two armor brigades. Other rotational forces include division headquarters, a combat aviation brigade, fires assets and sustainment units.

But the short-tour model has consequences, the report’s authors argued. They cost more money in the long-term compared to permanent bases, and they are less integrated into the continent’s culture and defense network. The deployment-based model negatively impacts soldiers, too — the authors said evidence suggests they “separate military personnel from their families,” causing “low morale” that can spawn “discipline issues and increased divorce rates.”

Army spokesperson Col. Roger Cabiness II told Army Times, however, that “forward basing of an ABCT is not a simple task.” Doing so would require diplomatic and legislative approvals both at home and abroad.

Despite efforts to reduce their operational tempo, the Army’s armor units continue to deploy at a high rate to fulfill the Europe requirements. The 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team cased its colors Monday, signifying its departure for an eight- or nine-month Europe rotation. The Iron Brigade’s new mission is beginning roughly 16 months after returning to Fort Carson, Colorado from another Europe deployment that wrapped in December 2022.

The report’s authors also recommended that the Air Force station an additional F-16 squadron in Germany; increase anti-submarine warfare capability and air defense forces; bolster stockpiles of prepositioned equipment and ammunition; and continue modernization, cyber, space and security cooperation efforts.

Source: Army Times

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Berlin (2/3 – 62.50).           

Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais says the €100 billion committed by the government last year is insufficient. Meanwhile, an association representing soldiers says the Bundeswehr turnaround needs to speed up.

Germany would have to spend more money on its armed forces if it wants it fully equipped, army chief Lieutenant General Alfons Mais said on Sunday.

He told the German news agency, dpa, the €100 billion ($107 billion) to speed up the modernization of the armed forces promised by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after Russia invaded Ukraine was not enough. 

Mais, caused a stir last year when he criticized what he described as years of neglect in the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr,  “the army that I have the duty to lead, is more or less bare,” he said at the time. 

Mais said one year on he was trying to refrain from using the term “bare.”

“I see a great deal of pressure to move forward with the replenishments at the greatest possible speed,” he said.

But in addition to replacing equipment that has been given to Ukraine, a “material increase towards full equipment” was important, Mais stressed. “However, the special fund alone will not be enough to achieve this,” he warned. 

German military not changing fast enough, soldiers say

His sentiments were echoed in a separate interview the head of the independent Armed Forces Association (DBwV), Colonel Andre Wüstner, did with Bild am Sonntag.

He told the mass-market weekly paper there has been “no noticeable improvement” for soldiers since Scholz made the announcement last year.

“More speed is needed, whether in terms of material, personnel or infrastructure, a real turnaround that can be felt in the troops is needed during this parliamentary period … otherwise the ‘turning point’ is over,” Wüstner said.

Wüstner added the German military, or Bundeswehr, is carrying out its assigned missions, “but that is nothing compared to what we will have to contribute to NATO in the future.”

He warned that none of the military hardware supplied to Ukraine had been replaced and that means the operational readiness of parts of the military, such as it artillery, “continues to decline.”

Germany committed to ramping up military spending

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year Scholz announced a “turning point” that would trigger weapons shipments to a nation at war and a massive increase in Germany’s military spending.

Bundeswehr officers have complained for many years that Germany has been neglecting its ability to defend its country and its NATO alliance partners.

Since announcing the €100 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr, about €30 billion has been committed to contracts for specific projects, Defense Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz said Wednesday.

Opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union, whcih held power for 16 years before the Scholz government, complained during a parliamentary debate earlier this month that “large parts of the so-called ‘turning point’ that you described here on February 27 last year so far are happening largely on paper in Germany.”

Merz said it was unacceptable that “practically no orders” had yet been placed, particularly for ammunition.

Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, has, however, vowed to speed up arms procurement and ramp up ammunition supplies.

Scholz, in a speech to the Munich Security Conference last weekend, also again promised to push Germany’s defense spending up to 2% of GDP “permanently.”

But his defense minister wants to go even further, “We will reach the 2% target, but we will also make every effort to go beyond that,” Pistorius told the same conference. lo/sms (AP, AFP, dpa)

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The businesses sanctioned are Alkhaleej Bank and Al-Fakher Advanced Works, controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and Zadna International, controlled by the Sudanese army, according to a US Treasury Department statement.

War broke out last April between the two forces, resulting in the devastation of wide swaths of the country, the killing of thousands of civilians, warnings of famine and the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.

The RSF are accused by the US of participating in an ethnic cleansing campaign in West Darfur, along with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The army, which has carried out a widespread airstrike campaign, is also accused of war crimes by the US.

“The conflict in Sudan continues, in part, due to key individuals and entities that help fund the continuation of the violence,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

Alkhaleej Bank is “an essential part of the RSF’s efforts to finance its operations” that received $50 million from the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) just before the war broke out, the Treasury Department said.

Holding company Alfakher was used to manage the RSF’s lucrative gold exports, its main source of financing to buy weapons.

Meanwhile, Zadna International was described as a “top revenue-earner” for the Sudanese army. The US Treasury Department said it continued to provide funding and was used for money-laundering.

The sanctions were imposed under a US executive order authorising sanctions on individuals who are destabilising Sudan and undermining the country’s democratic transition, the Treasury Department said.

Since the war began, the US has sanctioned the deputy head of the RSF, other major businesses owned by both sides, and other entities.

Source: The East African

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