Volodymyr Zelensky: From comedian to an icon of Jew fraternity

The Jerusalem Post has released a report ‘Top 50 Most Influential Jews of 2022’. Guess who occupies the first position, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

There are not many political leaders who find themselves elevated to icon status, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became one of them in year 2022.

First he was regarded as a curiosity – if someone outside Ukraine thought about him at all – because of having played the role of President of Ukraine in a sitcom before playing the role in real life.

But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February this year thrust him into the spotlight and tested him in a way that few leaders in today’s world have been tested.

With an artist’s keen eye for the importance of optics, Zelensky began exclusively wearing olive green T-shirts. He embarked on a world tour via Zoom to admonish Western governments for insufficiently helping him beat back Russia, customizing the speech to fit each capital’s history and concerns.

His toughness and courage have become legendary and earned him comparisons to Winston Churchill. There’s little evidence that he actually said “I need ammunition, not a ride” when US President Joe Biden offered to evacuate him from Kyiv, but it seemed like something he would say, and that was enough for the quote to go viral.

The embattled leader has changed the world order in a way not seen since the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s, getting almost the entire western world aligned against Russia and its powerful president, Vladimir Putin.

Sweden and Finland have applied to become members of NATO; unprecedented American and European Union sanctions have been imposed on Russia, its top officials and industries; and US weapons, until now not meant for export to Ukraine, have been sent to Kyiv. 

A lot of this is to the credit of Zelensky, who - through a sophisticated use of the media and diplomacy - got the world to take action in a way not seen for decades.

“The nations of the free world, inspired by the example of President Zelensky, are more united, more determined, and more purposeful than at any point in recent memory,” US President Joe Biden wrote in Time Magazine in May.

“With the support of the US and our allies and partners, he has left his mark on history and proved to the world that Ukraine will long endure and its people will ultimately realize the democratic future they have long desired.”

Zelensky’s Jewishness has made for an interesting subplot to the bigger picture. He was born to Jewish parents, and his grandfather’s father and three brothers were murdered in the Holocaust. As a teenager, he was offered a scholarship to study in Israel, which his father forced him to turn down. He later married a non-Jewish woman, and his children were baptized.

The fact that Zelensky was Jewish played no role in his 2019 election campaign, and the candidate himself downplayed it, saying “the fact that I am a Jew is about the 20th question among my characteristics.”

But with his country not only under attack, but under attack while Russian propagandists claimed that they were “de-Nazifying” Ukraine, Zelensky was ready to bring that characteristic to the fore. He and other Ukrainian leaders and representatives asked how his country could possibly be a Nazi state if it is led by a Jewish president.

Zelensky’s speech to the Knesset leaned hard on the theme of World War II and the Holocaust.

“They called it ‘the Final Solution to the Jewish issue.’ You remember that, and I am sure you will never forget,” he said. “Hear how these words are said again in Moscow ‘Final solution,’ but in relation to us, to the ‘Ukrainian issue.’”

The matter of Zelensky’s being Jewish has come up in his own pressure and that of others for Israel to take more action against Russia and in favor of Ukraine: “You can definitely help us protect... the lives of Ukrainian Jews,” he told the Knesset, asking why Israel hasn’t sent Kyiv weapons or imposed sanctions on Russia. “It is up to you, dear brothers and sisters... and you will have to live with this answer.”

For all of Zelensky’s influence on the world today, his Jewish background did not sway Israel to take what its leaders saw as too great a risk in light of the Russian army’s presence in Syria and the tenuous situation of Jews in Russia.

Yet, as he continues to lead Ukraine in the fight against Russia, in a war that has shaken the world’s energy and food markets and awoken Europe from a relatively comfortable and peaceful existence, Zelensky is one of the most influential people in the world today, period – not just the world’s most influential Jew.

 

China urges US to stop plundering Syrian oil

The Chinese government has called on the White House to stop plundering Syrian national resources, while calling on US officials to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“We call on the United States to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, unilaterally lift sanctions, and end the theft of Syria’s national resources,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing.

Since early August, there have been at least 10 oil thefts by US troops in Syria. Some 800 tankers were used to transport stolen oil to US bases outside of Syria. In the meantime, Syrian people have had to queue for hours to fill up at the gas station.

According to the Asian spokesman, the US government has a duty to investigate robberies committed by intervening military forces, as well as to compensate for the damages caused.

In this sense, the diplomat said, “This is not the first time that the United States military has stolen oil from Syria and they seem to be becoming more and more uncontrollable.”

From this he cited Syria’s Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, which said, “The US military and their backed armed forces exported 82 percent of the barrels of Syrian oil in the first half of 2022.”

For its part, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said last week that around 40 civilian facilities had been destroyed or damaged in fighting by US forces.

In return, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned the serious damage inflicted by US forces and their armed groups in the oil and gas sector since the US intervention in the conflict.

 

Why is west critical of Iranian regime?

It is suspected that the recent protests being staged in Iran are funded from outside. The propagators have two objectives: 1) create unrest in Iran and 2) portray that the present regime of clerics is autocratic.

One completely fails to understand, if rules of a country do not allow certain attire or certain conduct, why should the west support the rebel group/groups?

In my view these rebel groups are created, provided funds and given excessive coverage by the western news agencies, which is often an attempt to create ‘a storm in a teacup.   

The latest round of mass protests in Iran erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman. Allegedly, she died on September16 at the hands of the morality police for violating Iran’s rules on mandatory veiling in public.

According to the Western media, Amini’s tragic death is yet another reminder of how the Islamist rulers in Tehran remain tone-deaf to the demands of the Iranian people. Opposition to mandatory wearing of the veil, or hijab, is one in a long list of public grievances.

It is being portrayed that the conditions that led to Amini’s death were not accidental. It is part and parcel of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s attitude toward any political dissent.

The western media accuses that he continues to believe that violent repression will drive protesters to retreat. But his policy choices are only deepening public anger against the Islamic Republic. Not only is Khamenei inciting the Iranian people against the regime, but his insistence on mandatory hijab-wearing is splitting the Islamic clerical class.

Western media goes to the extent of saying that Khamenei engineered for Ebrahim Raisi to become Iran’s president in sham elections held in June 2021. Once in office, Raisi was supposed to focus on creating jobs, building new housing, and tackling corruption.

None of these promises have been kept. Instead, the Raisi government has allocated additional funds to the country’s security forces to more strictly enforce Iran’s mandatory hijab law. There are reports that Iran is now looking to introduce Chinese-style mass electronic surveillance of the public.

Why focus on enforcing such a highly unpopular policy? In Khamenei’s mind, compromising with the Iranian people in one area will only result in a cascade of demands for change in others, from domestic to foreign policy. That’s why Khamenei, from the top, has given orders to crack down on the anti-hijab movement.

 

Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark index witnesses 2.5%WoW decline

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure during the week ended on September 23, 2022, driven by renewed weakness in the PKR against the USD and concerns regarding the country’s fiscal health.

Participation in the market remained lackluster, with average daily traded volumes averaging 166.1 million shares during the week under review as compared to 183.2 million shares a week ago.

The benchmark index, KSE-100 Index lost 1,059.28 points during the week, depicting a 2.5%WoW decline. The PKR continued to lose value against the US$, depreciating 1.2% during the week.

Furthermore, the SBP conducted the T-Bill auction this week, where the central bank raised PKR1.3 trillion against a target of PKR1.5 trillion. The cut-off yields for the 3-month and 12-month tenors remained largely flat, whereas the yield for 6-month increased by 15bps to 16%.

Other major news inflows during the week were: Saudi Fund for Development confirmed a one-year extension of US$3 billion deposit, 2) Initial estimates pointed towards flood losses to be US$30 billion, 3) IMF announced that it would support Pakistan’s flood relief, reconstruction efforts under the current program, 4) Russia agreed to provide petrol to Pakistan on deferred payments, 5) In July 2022, LSMI output was down by 16.5%MoM, 6) SPI was down by 8.11%WoW, and 7) CAD dropped 42%MoM to US$703 million in August 2022.

The top performing sectors were: Tobacco, and Synthetic & Rayon, while the least favorite were: Close-End Mutual Fund and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies.

Top performing stocks were: PAKT, IBFL, UNITY, TRG and NESTLE, while laggards were: TGL, HGFA, CEPB, KEL and PPL.

Foreign investors emerged the major buyers with net buy of US$5.1 million, followed by Individuals (US$1.5 million). As against this, Insurance Companies were the biggest sellers with US$3.3 million, followed by Mutual Funds (US$2.4 million).

Going forward, the easing off in international commodity prices, particularly oil is expected to be a welcomed development as the pressures on the external account start to recede.

On the flip side, the strength in the US$ following the 75bps policy rate increase in the US is expected to put pressure on the exchange rate, which could murk sentiment.

Investors will be looking towards any policy action in the upcoming Monetary Policy, scheduled for October 10, 2022.

However, the economic slowdown—an intended outcome of the SBP’s contractionary policies—and effects of floods across the country could adversely affect sentiment going forward. Investors are to stay cautious, while building new positions in the market.

Container spot rates plunge 58% since January

According to Seatrade Maritime News, container spot rates have fallen by 10% for the fourth week running as increasingly looks like the sector could be in for a hard landing.

The bell weather Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) has lost another 10.4% over the last week to be recorded at 2072.04 some 240.61 points lower than week earlier.

The SCFI is now 59% lower than it was in January this year when it stood at all time high of 5,051 points.

It was a similar picture for the Drewry World Container Index (WCI) which reported a 10%WoW decline on Thursday to $4,471.99 per feu. It the 30th week in a row that the WCI has fallen and the index is now 57% lower than the same period last year.

According to Drewry spot rates on Shanghai – Los Angeles fell 11% or $473 to US$3,779 per feu last week, while rates on Shanghai – Rotterdam dropped by 10% to US$ 6,027 per feu.

Rates are expected to continue falling and Drewry said it expects the index to decrease in over the next few weeks.

As Seatrade Maritime News reported earlier lines have responded by aggressively pulling capacity from major trades ahead of the Golden Week in China, but still rates continue to fall. According to Xeneta capacity on the trade between Asia and the US West Coast is 13% lower than it was in the same period in 2021 – the equivalent of 21 ships of 8,000 teu – the average vessel size on the trade.

“And still, the spot rates are falling… which is bound to impact on the long-term contracted agreements in the near-to-mid-term. Are we beginning to see a wakeup call for carriers after such a prolonged period of growth?” said Peter Sand, Xeneta’s Chief Analyst.

Container line profits could come under pressure in the coming months as their customers look to renegotiate long term contracts fixed at the market’s peak.

Supply chain software company Shifl said there had been a recent acceleration in the drop in spot rates and carriers are attempting to renegotiate long term contracts secured when rates were higher.

High longterm contract rates are expected to support container line earnings well into next year, stretching the financial benefits to lines of the congestion-backed peak in rates last year.

Both Hapag-Lloyd and Yang Ming said shippers have asked to renegotiate deals, the former saying it is standing firm and the latter open to hearing customers’ requests.

 “With the increasing pressure from shippers, shipping lines may not have a choice but to accede to customer demands as contract holders are known to simply shift their volumes to the spot market,” said Shabsie Levy, CEO and Founder of Shifl.

The pressure on lines and shippers alike comes from a steep drop in spot rates. Shifl’s forwarded-driven rate index Shifex recorded its lowest rate for two years on the Shanghai-LA route; at US$3,500 per feu, the rate is down 80% on-year.

On the China-New York route, rates have held up slightly better but are still down 59% on-year at US$7,950 per feu compare to a high of US$19,600 in September 2021.

“While in July, there was a relatively steady decline in spot rates, the pace has definitely picked up as a milieu of factors continue to soften the market for containerized goods between China and the rest of the world.

Tightening monetary policy, a shift in consumer spending, bloated inventories in the US, and growing geopolitical tensions between the US and China continue to play a role in the movement of rates,” said Levy.

“With the latest dramatic slump in rates, the market is closer than ever to the pre-pandemic rate levels, especially to the largest entry ports in the USA - Los Angeles and Long Beach,” said Levy.

Shifl also noted a drop in transit times on Asia-US routes as congestion—one of the factors that supported high freight rates over the past two years—begins to clear.

Transit times on the main China - LA/ Long Beach route fell by 25% in August to 24 days, levels last seen in July 2021 and moving closer to pre-pandemic levels of 16 days.

That reduction is partly fuelled by a movement of cargoes from the West to East coast, however, and China-New York transit times edged up from 46 to 50 days in August.

“The ripple effect of the shift in cargoes from West Coast to East Coast is taking its biggest toll now in New York with an overflow of empties and shortage of chassis. We expect this to improve soon as lower volume forecasts will ease the pressure off the system,” said Levy.

 

 

 

Saudi Arabia-United States-France call for forming a capable Lebanese government

Saudi Arabia, United States and France called for the formation of a government capable of implementing the structural and economic reforms urgently needed to address Lebanon’s political and economic crises, specifically those reforms needed to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

Representatives from the United States, France, and Saudi Arabia met on Wednesday to discuss Lebanon on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"Our three countries expressed their continuing support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and stability. As Lebanon’s Parliament prepares to elect a new President, we stress the importance of timely elections in compliance with the constitution," the statement issued after the meeting read.

"It is critical to elect a President who can unite the Lebanese people and work with regional and international actors to overcome the current crisis.

"We are willing to work jointly with Lebanon to support the implementation of these fundamental reform measures, which are critical to the country’s future prosperity, stability, and security."

They acknowledged the critical role the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces – as the legitimate defenders of Lebanon’s sovereignty and internal stability – continue to play in protecting the Lebanese people at a time of unprecedented crisis.

The three countries affirmed the need for the Lebanese government to implement the provisions of UN Security Council resolutions 1559, 1701, 1680, 2650 and other relevant international resolutions, including those issued by the Arab League, and commit to the Taif Agreement, which enables the preservation of national unity and civil peace in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister backs two state solution

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called on Thursday for a two-state solution to decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reasserted that Israel would do "whatever it takes" to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

His mention of a two-state solution, the first by an Israeli leader in years at the United Nations General Assembly, echoed US President Joe Biden's support in Israel in August for the long-dormant proposal.

"An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for Israel's economy and for the future of our children," Lapid said.

He added any agreement would be conditioned on a peaceful Palestinian state that would not threaten Israel.

Lapid spoke less than six weeks before a November 01, 2022 election that could return to power the right-wing former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longstanding opponent of the two-state solution.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza - areas that Palestinians seek for an independent state - in a 1967 Middle East war. US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

In his speech, Lapid again denounced Iran and voiced Israel's determination to prevent its longtime foe from gaining a nuclear weapon.

"The only way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is to put a credible military threat on the table," he said. "We have capabilities and we are not afraid to use them."

Widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear weapons, Israel regards Iran as an existential threat. Tehran denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Efforts to reach a two-state Israeli-Palestinian deal have long been stalled.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israel has entrenched its control of the occupied Palestinian territories through its military rule over millions of Palestinians and persistent settlement construction.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters that Lapid's words "mean nothing."

"Whoever wants a two-state solution must implement it on the ground," he said, by respecting previously reached agreements, stopping settlement expansion and recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides called Lapid's speech "courageous" for supporting the two-state solution.

Lapid praised efforts by Middle Eastern countries to normalize relations and cooperate with Israel. He urged Muslim countries, from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia, to make peace with it.