A four-headed mannequin carrying the faces of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was burnt in Caracas on Sunday as part of traditional “burning of Judas” celebrations at Easter.
In Venezuela it is customary on Easter Sunday to burn an effigy that represents Judas, the biblical figure who supposedly betrayed Jesus.
Over the years it has become traditional to give this figure the face of a political leader or a hated person.
In the working class Candelaria neighborhood, the burnt figure was also adorned with the images of Caracas mayor Carmen Melendez and Nestor Reverol, the minister of electric energy, both blamed for the numerous blackouts the city suffers.
“We’re burning betrayal, we’re burning torture, we’re burning the dictatorship and we’re burning war,” said local resident Carlos Julio Rojas as he lit the mannequin, surrounded by around 30 people holding up banners denouncing the authorities .
The mannequin was christened “the children of Vladimir Putin: Maduro, Melendez and Reverol,” added Rojas.
The four of them were condemned to this fate for being “the reflection of the betrayal of Caracas, Venezuela and the world.”
“We see how Vladimir Putin, as well as unleashing a war with thousands of dead is one of the pillars that props up the dictatorship in Venezuela,” said Rojas, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The effigy was burnt in the same streets where anti-government protesters were killed in 2014.
Tensions around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem came amid an uptick in Israel-Palestine violence.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians.
With Ramadan, Passover and Easter taking place at the same time this year, tensions are running particularly high in occupied East Jerusalem.
On Sunday, Israeli police forcibly dispersed Palestinian worshipers who set up barricades to prevent ultra-right-wing Jewish groups from entering the compound.
The Al-Aqsa tensions come amid rising violence between Palestinians and Israelis.
Could the violence escalate? And how should Israeli and Palestinian leaders respond?
Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom
Guests:
Ziad AbuZayyad – Lawyer and political analyst
Nimrod Novik – Former senior policy adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres
Amr Al-Azm – Professor of Middle East history and anthropology, Shawnee State University
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview that aired Sunday said that there is a “possibility” that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use chemical weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” from Ukraine, “We shouldn’t wait for the moment when Russia decides to use nuclear weapons. … We must prepare for that.”
The Ukrainian leader added that “anti-radiation medicine and air raid shelters would be needed” and noted that Russia “can use any weapon, I’m convinced of it.”
He added that Ukraine should “not be afraid” but “be ready.”
“For them, life of the people is nothing,” he said.
He added that “nobody expected there to be a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from the Russian Federation. No one expected there to be a war in 2014. And now that there will be a full-scale invasion and killing of civilians, nobody expected them to invade the areas where there’s no military equipment and just kill and shoot dead a civilian population.”
The US and Ukrainian officials have braced for the possible use of a chemical attack in Ukraine by Russia in the last few weeks.
CIA Director William Burns said Thursday that the US cannot “take lightly” the possibility that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons as it grows more desperate in its military attack on Ukraine.
“Given the potential desperation of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” Burns said Thursday following a speech at Georgia Tech.
Zelensky referenced Burns’s comments and said “when Russian gives information and says, if something goes not according to the plan, they can use chemical weapons and their nuclear potential. And that is why I believe these are dangerous claims of untrustworthy people. And if we believe some of them are already untrustworthy, then they can use nuclear weapons.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Myanmar’s military government has started releasing more than 1,600 prisoners to mark the Southeast Asian nation’s traditional New Year festivities, but no political detainees have been freed despite the country’s ruling general promising to restore peace this year.
Among those imprisoned by the military are opposition party leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is held in the capital Naypyidaw, and her Australian economic policy adviser, Sean Turnell, who is in the notorious Insein Prison facility on the outskirts of Yangon.
Myanmar has been under military rule since February of last year, when the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
At least 13,282 people have been arrested and 1,756 killed by the military since it launched its coup in February 2021, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group.
Relatives wait in front of Yangon’s Insein Prison for the release of prisoners on April 17, 2022 [AFP]
The military takeover has been met with massive resistance, which has since turned into what some United Nations experts have characterized as civil war.
“As part of the celebration of Myanmar’s New Year, to bring joy for the people and address humanitarian concerns,” Lieutenant General Aung Lin Dwe, a state secretary of the military government, said that “1,619 prisoners, including 42 detained foreigners, will be released under the amnesty.”
The foreign prisoners will be deported from Myanmar after their release, he wrote in a statement.
Myanmar Prisons Department Spokesman Khin Shwe said that those released were mostly drug offenders and petty criminals.
This New Year’s amnesty was a fraction of the one a year ago, when 23,000 people were freed from jails.
Political prisoners held as hostages
Relatives of hundreds of prisoners gathered outside Yangon’s Insein Prison on Sunday after the announcement was made, but many did not know if their loved ones would be released, according to a local reporter.
The mother of a 22-year-old pro-democracy protester arrested eight months ago said she was waiting after her son wrote to her and said he might be released in the amnesty.
Another mother, whose police officer son was arrested for participating in the civil disobedience movement against the military, said she had waited outside the prison several times during previous amnesty periods.
“I have a feeling he will be freed today,” she said.
It was unclear whether the amnesty would include any of the jailed members of the civilian government overthrown in the coup.
Tun Kyi, a senior member of the Political Prisoners Society, said that political coup were held as hostages by Senior leader General Min Aung Hlaing.
It was not surprising if the political prisoners were not released, because the general sees people who oppose his government as criminals and intends to crush them, Tun Kyi said.
“He knows the political prisoners will oppose him again if they were released,” he said.
This year’s holiday celebrations in Myanmar, which are carried out over several days, were muted as opponents of a military rule called for a boycott of government-supported activities.
Myanmar’s military has been carrying out full-scale offensives against militias and ethnic rebel groups in the countryside as well as urban guerrillas active in the cities.
Opponents of the military have established their own parallel shadow government. Its acting president said in his New Year speech that citizen militias and allied armed forces of ethnic minorities now control most of the country’s rural areas.
“I’m happy to report to you on this auspicious Myanmar New Year that our resistance forces and ethnic armed forces are now controlling much of the country, particularly rural areas, as well as positions around several major cities,” Duwa Lashi La, acting president of the self-styled National Unity Government, said Saturday.
It is impossible to confirm claims of control over territory by either side in the conflict in Myanmar.
However, frequent major offensives by the military indicate there are security problems in many areas of the country.
David Beasley, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, on Sunday said “food is being used as a weapon of war” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“We’ve seen food depots that have been blown away, I’ve seen places where there’s nothing in these warehouses but food, and that’s not even in Mariupol. And so there is no question food is being used as a weapon of war in many different ways here,” Beasley told moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin using starvation as a weapon.
Asked if he is confident that the World Food Program can keep food supply lines open, Beasley said “no, I’m not.”
He said the group is unable to reach Mariupol, the city currently under siege by Russia.
“I’m not confident at all. In fact, we’re reaching millions of people, us and all of the partners in the international community here inside Ukraine. But there are places that we can’t reach, like in Mariupol, in other places where Russian forces have besieged the city and are not allowing us the access we need,” he added.
Beasley’s comments come after President Biden last month warned that global food shortages could evolve as a result of the Russian invasion. Global food prices have already hit record levels.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Air attacks by Pakistan on eastern Afghan provinces of Khost and Kunar killed mainly women and children, officials say.
The death toll from Pakistan’s military air raids on targets in the eastern Afghanistan provinces of Khost and Kunar on Saturday has risen to at least 47, officials said.
“Forty-one civilians, mainly women and children, were killed and 22 others were wounded in air strikes by Pakistani forces near the Durand Line in Khost province,” Shabir Ahmad Osmani, director of information and culture in Khost, told AFP on Sunday.
Two other officials confirmed the death toll in Khost, while an Afghan official said on Saturday that six people were killed in Kunar province.
Afghanistan’s largest news channel, TOLO News, showed images of children’s bodies it said were killed in the air attack.
The same channel showed protests by hundreds of residents in Khost condemning Pakistan and shouting anti-Pakistan slogans.
The Pakistani military has not commented on the attacks, but on Sunday the foreign ministry in Islamabad urged the Taliban authorities in Kabul to take “stern actions” against armed fighters launching attacks against Pakistan from Afghan soil.
“Terrorists are using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan,” the statement, which was unusually harsh in its language, said.
Border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen since the Taliban seized power last year, with Islamabad claiming armed groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghan soil.
Since the Taliban takeover, Islamabad has led the way in pressing the world to engage with the religiously driven Afghan government.
It is not clear, however, whether Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be as supportive of the Afghan Taliban as was his predecessor, Imran Khan, a cricket star turned conservative Islamist leader, who was removed from power last weekend in a politically tumultuous no -confidence vote.
The Taliban deny harboring Pakistani armed fighters, but are also infuriated by a fence Islamabad is erecting along the two countries’ 2,700km (1,680-mile) shared border.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, the first European Union leader to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in person since the start of the war in Ukraine, said the Russian leader agreed to participate in an investigation into war crimes claims against the Russian military.
Last week, Nehammer traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin after he had met with Ukrainian government officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“He told me that he will cooperate with some international investigation on one hand, and on the other hand, he told me that he doesn’t trust the Western world,” Nehammer told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd on Sunday, adding that “it was not a friendly conversation.”
After images of dead civilians lining the streets of the Ukrainian city of Bucha were made public, numerous governments called for an investigation into alleged war crimes by the Russian military. Russia has denied committing any war crimes and has even accused the Ukrainian government of staging the images.
“I think international justice, the United Nations, an international investigation is necessary. So it was a tough discussion between each other, but I tried to convince him that for example the former Yugoslavian Wars showed us that international investigation is useful to prosecute the war criminals,” Nehammer added.
Todd noted that Nehammer apparently left his meeting with Putin somewhat pessismistic and asked him what led to that.
“We all can see that there is the preparation of a massive battle in the Donbas region. The Ukrainian side is prepared for that, the Russians prepare for that, and we will see many losses of human lives there. And so this is the reason why I’m pessimistic,” said Nehammer.
However, Nehammer noted that both Zelensky and Putin mentioned the ongoing peace talks taking place in Istanbul and said there was still “a little chance there for peace.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The once-quiet strategizing and networking by a handful of prospective contenders for the next GOP presidential nomination has grown louder in recent weeks, as would-be hopefuls like former Vice President Mike Pence, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo begin to more aggressively flex their political muscles.
None are openly running for the White House just yet, but Republican observers and strategists say that their intentions are becoming clearer by the day. Still, there’s a long way to go before the 2024 nominating contest begins in earnest, and any potential contender still faces a key hurdle: former President Trump, who is himself considering another run for office.
“The invisible primary is real,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. “I think the anticipation is that [President] Biden might not run again or if he does, he’ll be really vulnerable. There are a lot of people who are very excited to run in 2024 and are doing everything they can now to be ready. The starting gun goes off after the midterms.”
“Once we get past November, it’s all about running for president,” Conant added.
Even before the midterm elections, however, there are signs that the 2024 campaign is intensifying. Pence has ramped up his public schedule, traveling to Ukraine last month amid the Russian invasion. And just this week, the former vice president delivered a speech at the University of Virginia, where he teased a potential run for the White House.
“I’ll keep you posted,” he told students when asked whether he would seek the presidency in 2024.
Pence is far from the only prospective candidate indicating interest in a potential White House campaign. Haley is slated to return to Iowa this summer to attend the Dubuque Regional Reception hosted by the state GOP, putting her back in the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus state.
Pompeo, meanwhile, is set to release a new book this fall detailing his tenure in the Trump administration. He also recently suggested in an interview with Fox News that his future political ambitions — including a possible presidential run — aren’t contingent on what Trump ultimately decides to do in 2024.
“The Pompeos have always used the simple fact of, do you believe this is the moment where you think you can best serve America — this is the place you can have the most impact,” he said. “That’s going to be how we make our decision at the end. It’s the right way to think about someone who puts themselves forward to the people of the United States to run for office, whether it’s president or back in home-state Kansas.”
For would-be candidates like Pence, Haley and Pompeo — all three of whom are former Trump administration officials — the apparent early moves may be born at least somewhat out of necessity, one Republican strategist and presidential campaign veteran said. None of the three are currently serving in the public office, making it more difficult to stay in the spotlight as they plot their political futures.
“There are the former Trump officials who are working very hard to stay relevant without office, so you see them writing books, traveling, going on Fox News as much as they can, because they have to work harder to position themselves for a potential run ,” the strategist said.
“Running for president — unless you come to the race with fame or fortune, you have to spend a lot of time building an organization to sustain a run.”
Other prospective White House hopefuls who are current officeholders aren’t facing the same kind of pressure, said Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), for instance, can use his own 2022 reelection bid as a cover while leaning on the power of his office to stake out key political positions and grow his reputation.
“DeSantis is in a perfect position,” Naughton said. “He can do policy things, he can make pronouncements and dismiss any national talk because he’s running for reelection. He gets a free pass through November.”
There’s also Trump himself, who has repeatedly hinted at a 2024 comeback bid and has ramped up his own public schedule with a series of campaign-style rallies in key battleground states like Georgia and North Carolina and, later this month, Ohio. He has also begun sending signals to would-be challengers in the next GOP presidential primary, telling The Washington Post in a recent interview that, should he run for president again, other prospective candidates should stay back.
“If I ran, I can’t imagine they’d want to run,” Trump said. “Some out of loyalty would have had a hard time running. I think that most of those people… [are] there because of me.”
For the field of potential Republican presidential hopefuls, the possibility of another Trump campaign puts them in a difficult position. Brazenly laying the groundwork for White House campaigns could open them up to criticism from the former president, who remains the most influential and popular Republican in the country.
While some would-be candidates, including Haley, have said that they would support Trump as the next Republican nominee should he run again, others, like Pompeo and Pence, have made no such commitment, putting them at risk of drawing the former president’s ire before the 2024 nominating contest begins in earnest.
One Republican strategist with deep experience in presidential primaries acknowledged that some prospective candidates appear to be more brazenly positioning themselves ahead of 2024, but added that they would be wise to tread lightly in their approach.
“I suspect that some people are going to enter the race but have to be very careful about giving him some space until he decides,” the strategist said, referring to Trump. “I think they’re probably betting that what he does won’t matter as much here in another year or two. But for now, he’s still Donald Trump. He’s got a lot of power.”
On the other hand, Conant, the strategist and former Rubio adviser, said that anyone interested in running for the White House doesn’t have the luxury of time, given the logistical and political hurdles of building out a presidential campaign.
“Every candidate is, on the macro level, trying to raise their profile, distinguish themselves on some key issues. And then at the micro level, start building a team, making friends, winning over donors,” Conant said. “I think a lot of it is already happening.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Several hours after the surrender deadline, there was no sign of compliance by the last standing Ukrainian fighters in the strategic port city.
A Russian ultimatum for the last remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender has expired, as Moscow seems poised for a major strategic victory in the southeastern port city.
The Russian Armed Forces issued an ultimatum on Saturday, urging their opponents to lay down their arms by 6am Moscow time (03:00 GMT) on Sunday and to evacuate before 1pm.
Several hours after the deadline passed on Sunday, there was no sign of compliance by Ukrainian fighters holed up in the smouldering Azovstal steelworks, one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical plants.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Sunday that the remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol are still fighting and continue to defy the Russian demand that they surrender.
“The city still has not fallen,” Shmyhal told ABC’s This Week programme.
It is not known how many soldiers are in the steelworks. Satellite images have shown smoke and fire coming from the area, which is riddled with tunnels underneath.
Russia claims to have brought Mariupol, Ukraine’s main Sea of Azov port, under its control.
Petro Andryushchenko, an assistant to the city’s mayor, said Russians were giving passes to hundreds of civilians for permission to move around central parts of the city.
If confirmed, Mariupol would be Russia’s biggest capture since it launched its invasion nearly two months ago, enabling Moscow to connect territory it in Donbas with the Crimea holds region it annexed in 2014.
No humanitarian corridors
The urban area of Mariupol has seen some of the fiercest fighting and worst civilian suffering, with bodies littering destroyed streets and thousands hunkered down in atrocious conditions underground.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said humanitarian corridors allowing civilians to flee would not open on Sunday after failing to agree terms with Russian forces.
“As of this morning, April 17, we have not been able to agree with the occupiers on a ceasefire on the evacuation routes. That is why, unfortunately, we are not opening humanitarian corridors today,” she wrote in a statement on social media.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that “the situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible. Just inhuman.”
“Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there,” he added.
Speaking to the Ukrayinska Pravda news portal on Saturday, Zelenskyy said “our soldiers are blocked, the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis…, the guys are defending themselves.”
Russia said Ukraine had lost more than 4,000 soldiers in Mariupol as of Saturday. But Kyiv says its total troop losses nationwide so far in the war are less than that, between 2,500 and 3,000. Neither side’s figures could be verified.
Russia’s refocusing on eastern provinces
The Russian military has refocused its ground offensive on the eastern Donbas region after failing to overcome Ukrainian resistance in the north. It maintained long-distance strikes elsewhere, including the capital Kyiv.
On Sunday, Ukrainian police in Donetsk said that over the past 24 hours, Russian forces opened fire from tanks, multiple missile launchers and heavy artillery on 13 settlements under Ukrainian control, killing two civilians.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, there were more reports on Sunday of sporadic Russian attacks around major population centres.
Local media reported an explosion in the capital Kyiv, though deputy mayor Mykola Povoroznyk said air defense systems had thwarted Russian attacks. The mayor of Brovary city, close to Kyiv, said a missile attack had damaged infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Zelensky’s fiery April 5 speech to the United Nations Security Council may be the best “the emperor has no clothes!” characterization of the UN’s total impotence in resolving global crises. Some excerpts are well worth reflection:
“So where is the security that the Security Council must guarantee? There is no security. .. So where is the peace that the United Nations was created to guarantee? It is obvious that the key institution of the world, which must ensure the coercion of any aggressors to peace, simply cannot work effectively.”
Nagy
Zelensky’s volcanic frustration is understandable: his country has been attacked without provocation by a permanent member of the Security Council – the very organ created to assure global security – and the best the UN can do is issue toothless resolutions. Even kicking Russia off the UN Human Rights Council was an empty gesture – as there are members left who are as egregious human rights violators as Russia.
But the funding goes on. Beyond the UN’s massive operating budget of some $50 billion – of which the US, the largest contributor, pays 22% or about $10 billion – there is also a “Peacekeeping” budget of $6.37 billion, of which the US pays about $1.65 billion. This funds the current 12 UN peacekeeping operations around the world, many of which have been ongoing for decades but few of which – if any – offer much hope for success in the forseeable future. (“Success” meaning a return to any semblance of stability in the country or region involved.) While there have been some successes out of the 70 some peacekeeping missions since the UN’s inception, those have been overshadowed by monumental failures such as the genocide in Rwanda.
Zelensky goes on to state the obvious: “I would like to remind you of the first article of the first chapter of the UN Charter. What is the purpose of our organization? To maintain peace. Now, the UN Charter is being violated literally from the first article. And if so, what is the point of all other articles? The UN system must be reformed immediately so that the right of veto is not a right to kill. So that there is a fair representation of all regions of the world in the Security Council.”
This is truth to truth – the fragmentation of the Security Council, with the vast divides between the permanent members (P5), who each wield an absolute veto power, means that there is virtually no chance of any possible UN enforcement of global security. And, if anything, the current disunity on the council will only get worse. With Russia intent oning the current world order, China on establishing a new world disruptive order, and France and the UK no longer have global powers,– only the US is left as the protector of the global system established by the winners of World War II. If the UN was created today, the Security Council would look completely different: in recent years a number of major regional powers have voiced logical reasons for inclusion (ie, the EU, India, Brazil, and South Africa, among others.)
What the Ukraine war is showing so clearly is that we are at a crossroads. The world can either keep the current UN security system at great cost – both in money and human suffering – with its paralysis in the face of global crises, or undertake serious reform. And despite my eternal optimism about most things, I just don’t see today’s world coming together on such a divisive topic. But failing that, as the Ukrainian president so well concludes: “If your current format is unalterable and there is simply no way out, then the only option would be to dissolve yourself altogether.” Amen!
Ambassador Tibor Nagy was most recently Assistant Secretary of State for Africa after serving as Texas Tech’s Vice Provost for International Affairs and a 30-year career as a US Diplomat.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tibor Nagy perhaps the United Nations has outlived its usefulness
![Relatives wait in front of the Insein Prison for the release of prisoners in Yangon on April 17, 2022 [AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Myanmar.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514)
