Second recipient to return France’s top award in protest after Macron honours Egypt’s Sisi
The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey over its purchase of a Russian air defence system, in a striking move against a longtime partner that sets the stage for further confrontation between the two nations as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.
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The extraordinary step against a treaty ally comes at a delicate time in relations between Washington and Ankara, which have been at odds for years over Turkey’s acquisition from Russia of the S-400 missile defense system, along with Turkish actions in Syria, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in the eastern Mediterranean.
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The sanctions, which were required under a 2017 U.S. law aimed at pushing back on Russia if the administration deemed there was significant cause, add another element of uncertainty to the relationship as Trump winds down his term. The move is the first time that law, known as CAATSA, has been used to penalize a U.S. ally.
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Prior to Monday, the U.S. had kicked Turkey out of its F-35 stealth fighter development and training program over the S-400 purchase, but had taken no further steps despite persistent warnings from American officials who have long complained that the system is incompatible with NATO equipment and a potential threat to allied security.
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“The United States made clear to Turkey at the highest levels and on numerous occasions that its purchase of the S-400 system would endanger the security of U.S. military technology and personnel and provide substantial funds to Russia’s defense sector, as well as Russian access to the Turkish armed forces and defense industry,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
“Turkey nevertheless decided to move ahead with the procurement and testing of the S-400, despite the availability of alternative, NATO-interoperable systems to meet its defense requirements,” he said in a statement.
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“I urge Turkey to resolve the S-400 problem immediately in coordination with the United States,” he said. “Turkey is a valued ally and an important regional security partner for the United States, and we seek to continue our decades-long history of productive defense-sector cooperation by removing the obstacle of Turkey’s S-400 possession as soon as possible.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement it “condemns and rejects” the U.S. sanctions, saying Washington’s one-sided sanctions were beyond understanding.
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“Turkey will take the necessary steps against this decision, which will inevitably affect our relations in a negative way, and reciprocate in a way and time it sees fit,” the statement said.
The statement repeated Turkey’s claim that the S-400s would not affect NATO systems.
The ministry called on the U.S. to “turn back as soon as possible from this bad mistake,” adding that Ankara was ready for dialogue and diplomacy.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, said the sanctions were evidence of American “arrogance" and would hurt U.S standing internationally.
“It’s yet more evidence of the arrogant attitude (of the U.S.) toward international law, and a manifestation of the illegitimate, unilateral and coercive measures that the U.S. has practiced for many decades now all over the world,” he said during a visit to Bosnia. "Of course, I do not think this does any favors to the United States’ international reputation as a responsible participant in international negotiations, including in military-technical cooperation.”
site-https://unworldoceansday.org/es/user/5756
The sanctions target Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries, the country's military procurement agency, its chief Ismail Demir and three other senior officials. The penalties block any assets the four officials may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar their entry into the U.S. They also include a ban on most export licenses, loans and credits to the agency.
The administration had held off on imposing punitive sanctions outside of the fighter program for months, in part to give Turkish officials time to reconsider deploying it and, some suspect, due to President Donald Trump's personal relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Congress, though, was growing impatient with the delays and had demanded action.
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Turkey tested S-400 in October
Despite the U.S. warnings, Turkey in past months had moved ahead with deployment and testing of the S-400 system, drawing criticism from lawmakers and others who have demanded the sanctions be imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, which mandates penalties for transactions deemed harmful to U.S. interests.
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Coming just weeks before Biden assumes office, the sanctions pose a potential dilemma for the incoming administration, although the president-elect's team has signaled it is opposed to Turkey's use of the S-400 and the disunity within NATO it may cause.
"We very much regret that this has been necessary," said Chris Ford, one of the State Department's most senior arms control officials.
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“Imposing sanctions on a NATO ally is not something we take lightly," said Matthew Palmer, a senior official in the State Department's Bureau of European Affairs.
Last month, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey was prepared to discuss with the U.S. its “anxiety” over the interoperability of the S-400s and the F-35s. The U.S. reacted coolly to the suggestion and Pompeo shortly thereafter pointedly did not meet with any Turkish government officials on a visit to Istanbul.
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Turkey tested the missile defense system in October for the first time, drawing a condemnation from the Pentagon.
Ankara says it was forced to buy the Russian system because the U.S. refused to sell it American-made Patriot missiles. The Turkish government has also pointed to what it considers a double standard, as NATO member Greece uses Russian-made missiles.
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Solar eclipse plunges parts of Chile, Argentina into darkness for two minutes
A solar eclipse that lasted around two minutes plunged southern Chile and Argentina into darkness on Monday.
Heavy rain had threatened to prevent thousands of star gazers in Chile from seeing the eclipse but at the last moment the clouds parted just enough for the phenomenon to be partially visible.
"It was beautiful, unique. The truth is that no-one held much hope of seeing it due to the weather and clouds, but it was unique because it cleared up just in time. It was a miracle," an emotional Matias Tordecilla, 18, told AFP from the town of Pucon on the shores of Lake Villarrica.
"It's something that you don't just see with your eyes but also feel with your heart," added Tordecilla, who traveled 10 hours with his family to see the eclipse.
In Argentine Patagonia, several families and foreigners had set up camp between the towns of Villa El Chocon and Piedra del Aguila hoping to see the eclipse.
While there was no rain there, strong winds had threatened to impact visibility of the second total eclipse for Chile in the last 18 months.
This one struck at 1:00 pm (1600 GMT) as thousands of tourists and residents gathered, hoping the clouds would disappear in time.
"It made my skin crawl," said Pucon resident Cinthia Vega.
Despite restrictions on movement imposed by authorities to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, almost 300,000 tourists had arrived in the Araucania region around 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the capital Santiago.
Dozens of amateur and professional scientists set up telescopes on the slopes of the Villarrica volcano -- one of the most active in Chile -- to observe the phenomenon when the moon passes between the sun and Earth.
The eclipse was due to be visible along a 90-kilometer wide corridor from the Pacific coast in Chile across the Andes mountain range and into Argentina.
In July 2019, some 300,000 people turned out in the Atacama desert in Chile's north, home to several observatories, to see the previous eclipse.
Chilean authorities had been worried that the eclipse would attract large gatherings of people.
There have been more than 570,000 coronavirus cases amongst the 18 million population with almost 16,000 confirmed deaths.
Strict controls were announced for the areas where the total eclipse would be visible, with free movement banned both the day before and after.
Eclipse significant for indigenous community
This event was eagerly anticipated amongst Chile's Mapuche indigenous community, the largest such group in the country's south.
In Mapuche culture, an eclipse signifies the temporary death of the sun during a battle between the star and an evil force known as "Wekufu."
Indigenous people used to worship the sun "like a God," astronomer Jose Maza told AFP last week.
According to indigenous expert Juan Nanculef, the people would light bonfires and launch "stones and arrows into the air" to help the sun in its battle against the Wekufu.
Nanculef actually performed a ritual as the eclipse began to ask nature to bring an end to the rains and make it visible.
"Previously it was 100 percent effective," he said.
This time it seems to have worked just well enough to give people a glimpse of the eclipse.
Two prominent Italians announced Monday they were returning their Legion of Honour awards – France's highest – in protest at Paris’s decision to give the award to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Both recipients cited the 2016 killing of an Italian student in Cairo to explain their decisions.
Corrado Augias, a long-time journalist for Italy’s la Repubblica daily newspaper and one-time member of the European Parliament, returned his medal to the French Embassy in Rome on Monday. Giovanna Melandri, a former culture minister and the president of Rome's MAXXI contemporary art museum, announced she would follow suit.
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Both cited Egypt’s role in the 2016 kidnapping, torture and killing of an Italian doctoral research student in Cairo, as well as the Sisi regime's other human rights violations.
Speaking to reporters outside the embassy, Augias accused Sisi of being "objectively complicit, as head of state, in the criminal behaviour committed by his men”.
French President Emmanuel Macron last week gave Sisi the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour during a state visit to Paris, sparking outrage among activists who say France should do more to raise concerns about human rights in Egypt.
"On this occasion President Al-Sisi, who at the very least has an ambiguous position, could have been received with all the state honours ... but without this further recognition," Augias told reporters.
Melandri said in a Facebook post on Monday that she too would return the honour she received in 2003, saying it was sad but necessary.
“I hope that this gesture can help open a frank and friendly confrontation in our two countries on which values should be that we want to defend, strengthen and continue to ‘honor' in a democratic Europe and a globalized world," she wrote.
