Tag Archives: russia
Ukraine points west as US warns Russia against force
Ukraine points west as US warns Russia against force (Reuters) / 24 February 2014 US, Britain warn Russia against military intervention; acting president says European integration a top priority. Ukraine’s new interim president pledged to put the country back on course for European integration now Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich had been ousted, while the United States warned Russia against sending in its forces. Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko (C) meets with US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt (L) and head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski in Kiev. -Reuters As rival neighbours east and west of the former Soviet republic said a power vacuum in Kiev must not lead to the country breaking apart, acting president Oleksander Turchinov said on Sunday that Ukraine’s new leadership wanted relations with Russia on a “new, equal and good-neighbourly footing that recognises and takes into account Ukraine’s European choice”. A day after Yanukovich fled to the Russian-speaking east following dozens of deaths during street protests aimed at toppling him, parliament named new speaker Turchinov as interim head of state. An ally of the ousted leader’s long jailed rival Yulia Tymoshenko, he aims to swear in a government by Tuesday that can provide authority until a presidential election on May 25. With battle-hardened, pro-Western protesters in control of central Kiev and determined to hold their leaders to account, lawmakers rushed through decisions to cement their power, display their rejection of rampant corruption and bring to book officials who ordered police to fire on Independence Square. But whoever takes charge as interim prime minister faces a huge challenge to satisfy popular expectations and will find an economy in deep crisis, even if the EU makes good on new offers of aid that may help make up for loans that Russia has frozen. Scuffles in Russian-speaking Crimea and some eastern cities between supporters of the new, pro-EU order in Kiev and those anxious to stay close to Moscow revived fears of separatism that a week earlier were focused on the west, where Ukrainian nationalists had disowned Yanukovich and proclaimed self-rule. President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, was asked on US television about the possibility of Russia sending troops to Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin had hoped Yanukovich would keep closely allied to Moscow. “That would be a grave mistake,” Rice said. “It’s not in the interests of Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or the United States to see a country split. It’s in nobody’s interest to see violence return and the situation escalate.” Yanukovich’s flight into hiding left Putin’s Ukraine policy in tatters, on a day he had hoped eyes would be on the grand finale to the Sochi Olympics. The Kremlin leader spoke on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose foreign minister had brokered a short-lived truce in Kiev on Friday. They agreed Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” must be maintained, Merkel’s spokesman said in a statement. British Foreign Secretary William Hague was asked if Russia might “send in the tanks” to defend its interests among ethnic Russians in the east and on the Crimea peninsula, where Moscow bases its Black Sea Fleet: “It would really not be in the interests of Russia to do any such thing,” he told the BBC. Earlier this month, a Kremlin aide warned that Moscow could intervene and accused Washington of breaching their 1994 treaty under which Russia removed Soviet nuclear weapons from Ukraine. It is unlikely the United States and its allies in Nato would risk an outright military confrontation with Russia but such rhetoric, laden with echoes of the Cold War, underlines the high stakes in Ukraine, whose 46 million people and sprawling territory are caught in a geopolitical tug of war. EU officials offered financial aid to a new government and to revive a trade deal that Yanukovich spurned under Russian pressure in November, sparking the protests that drove him from office after 82 deaths last week, many from police sniper fire. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will travel to Ukraine on Monday to discuss economic help, the EU said. The United States has also promised help. But budgets are tight in the EU and Washington, and international creditors like the IMF may remain wary of Yanukovich’s opponents, whose years in government before him were no economic success story. However, concern about instability and a popular desire to be seen backing what looks to Western voters like a democratic movement threatened by Russian diktat may loosen purse strings – at least to tide Ukraine over until after the elections. In Russia, where Putin hoped to count on Ukraine as a key element in a union of ex-Soviet states and might also fear the Kiev uprising could inspire his own opponents, the finance minister said the next tranche of a $15-billion loan package agreed in December would not be paid, at least before a new government is formed. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to his office, told US Secretary of State John Kerry the opposition had “seized power” by force by ignoring the EU-brokered truce on Friday that left Yanukovich in office for the time being. Lavrov said that power-sharing agreement should be revived. However, even lawmakers from Yanukovich’s own party voted for his removal on Saturday and issued a statement blaming him and his entourage for the crisis. Business “oligarchs” – rich from control of ex-Soviet assets – also distanced themselves from a man long seen as their representative in the presidency. In a mark of passions dividing Ukrainians along a historic faultline between Russian and Ukrainian cultures, local television in Kerch, in eastern Crimea, showed a crowd hauling down the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag in front of the town hall and hoisting the white, blue and red Russian tricolour. Yanukovich, whose whereabouts remain unclear but who may be in his home city of Donetsk near the Russian border, accused opponents of a Nazi-style coup and said he remained in power. In a hectic round of voting in parliament, lawmakers rushed in some crowd-pleasing measures against the ousted administration, conscious that those still occupying Independence Square – or the Maidan – remain deeply suspicious of the political class. They stripped Yanukovich of his abandoned country home near Kiev. Its brash opulence, complete with ostrich farm and hot tubs, was put on display within hours and fuelled demands that the rough-hewn former petty criminal from the eastern coalfields be held to account for stealing taxpayer billions. Several officials and ministers were singled out for being removed from office, among them an education minister accused of promoting a Russian view of Ukrainian history. Parliament-appointed security officials announced legal moves against members of the ousted administration and those responsible for police attacks on the Maidan last week. Newly appointed speaker Oleksander Turchinov, now acting president, said a government should be in place by Tuesday. His ally, Tymoshenko, defeated by Yanukovich in a 2010 presidential election and later jailed for corruption, ruled herself out as interim premier. Freed from a prison hospital on Saturday after more than two years in jail, she may want time to recover and build support before running for the presidency. As prime minister following the largely peaceful Orange Revolution of 2004-05, which overturned a first presidential victory by Yanukovich, Tymoshenko disappointed many in Ukraine who had hoped for an end to the corruption and failed economic policies that marked the aftermath of Soviet communism. “In these days the most important thing is to form a functioning government,” said Vitaly Klitschko, a former world boxing champion and also a possible presidential contender. “We have to take very important steps in order to ensure the survival of the economy, which is in a very bad shape,” he told a news conference. He denied there had been a coup. “Parliament is the last legal official institution in Ukraine,” he said. “Nobody knows where the president of Ukraine is. We tried to find him all day yesterday. His location is unknown. He left the country without a president.” For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Carpet and Art Oasis: Weaving their own future
Carpet and Art Oasis: Weaving their own future Sudeshna Sarkar & Ishtiaq Ali Mehkri / 21 January 2014 While Persian carpets enjoy a walkover in the industry, now new dark horses are coming up IT’S THE end of Saturday evening and exhausted festival-goers are leaving in their cars, giving the Carpet and Art Oasis a deserted look. The sprawling pavilion looks like something straight out of Arabian Nights . Everywhere there are carpets, rugs, tapestries and more carpets, in diverse colours and designs, on the floor, the walls, and stacked in little heaps. Then there are some more in intriguing glass-topped caskets that look like coffins at first glance. A tapestry at the Carpet and Art Oasis at Dubai Festival City The people around them speak in hushed whispers as befits either death or some work of great note. Indeed, it’s just that. On display is a priceless Persian carpet that took 14 years for its creation. The $6 million price tag is nothing compared to the immeasurable love, care and artistry that was lavished by three Iranian master weavers to craft a timeless work of art. These creations by the Azimzadeh Carpet company have captured the public imagination but then, Persian carpets have long been known to rule the roost in the industry. Tread with reverence Ishtiaq Ali Mehkri & Sudeshna Sarkar IN THE Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan, the Turkmen carpet is not just a carpet, it’s a way of life. A toddler takes his first tottering steps on the family carpet that is its pride, passed on from generation to generation. Girls store their dowry in carpet bags, and every day, the family prays on the prayer rug. Finally, when a Turkmen essays out on the final journey, the body is lovingly wrapped in a ritual carpet. This integral part of Turkmenistan life is woven from the wool of the delicate Saraja sheep that can be grown only in the bracing climate of Turkmenistan. “The government spent $1 billion to breed the sheep in Europe but they did not survive,” says Arslan Ahmedov, representing the Hatudzha Company. Tukmenhaly, the state-owned corporation, oversees the carpet industry and the export of carpets was allowed by the government only in 2012. Since then, Turkmen carpets have taken part in exhibitions at the Global Village in 2013. “We sold five tonnes,” says Ahmedov. “Of that three tonnes were bought by Russian buyers.” Turkmen carpets, made by women, boast a long antiquity. But because the brand is not as well-established as Persian carpets, Turkmen designs are often wrongly attributed to others. “People ask us, are you from Russia? Or are you from Turkey?” Ahmedov says. The Turkmen President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, is said to take a special interest in the industry and is seeking to promote it. This is the first time that Turkmen carpets straight from Turkmenistan are taking part in the Carpet and Arts Oasis. To mark that, pride of place is given to a tapestry sporting a wonderful likeness of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. “If the breed of Saraja sheep dies out, the art of Turkmenistan carpets will also vanish,” says Ahmedov. “Perhaps then the only place where you will see them will be in the museums.” sudeshna@khalejtimes.com mehkri@khaleejtimes.com Perhaps what is not so known is the emergence of new players with their own unique characteristics. The Fatema bint Mohammed bin Zayed Initiative (FBMI) is one of them. Started three years ago by Shaikha Fatema bint Mohammed bin Zayed, daughter of General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, with Tanweer Investments, an Afghan carpet maker for three generations, FBMI is promoting Afghanistan’s carpet industry, where the weavers are mostly women, and giving it a global footfall. “We provide direct employment to over 4,000 women and the number is rising,” says Walied Jabarkhyl, FBMI’s executive director. “Plus indirect employment to another 20,000 like nomadic wool suppliers and farmers who provide the vegetables for the dyes.” Though a major export earner, Afghanistan’s carpet industry suffered due to lack of transport facilities. A landlocked mountainous land, its exports are mostly by road, through neighbouring Pakistan. When there are disturbances, the routes are disrupted, bringing exports to a standstill. Also, Afghan carpets have been bulk-sold with the “made in Pakistan” label, causing the Afghan government to lose revenue. But FBMI belongs to the new generation of entrepreneurs whose tools range from the computer to aircraft. It has strategic alliances with major airlines and the consignments are flown out to the UK, US, Brazil, China and Scandinavia. “Everything is from Afghanistan,” says a proud Jabarkhyl. “The wool comes from Afghan sheep, the designs are done in Afghanistan and the weavers are from Afghanistan.” Women weave FBMI’s carpets. Given Afghanistan’s conservative society, they work from home. The looms are set up in village houses and coordinators monitor the progress of work and collect the finished items. This way, the Taleban threat to women who venture out of their homes does not affect the workers, who can make their living from home. The factory in Kabul produces about 4,000 metres of carpet a month, using wool and silk, and the weavers are paid between $2-5 a day. It is a windfall in a country where people on average live on less than $1 a day. Designers and senior weavers earn more. As FBMI is a social project, it provides workers with vocational training as well as education so that a “weaver does not have to remain a weaver all her life”. It also provides medicare and makes education mandatory for workers’ children. About 7,000 children are currently being educated under the FBMI programme. In areas where water is hard to come by, FBMI constructs wells for its community of workers. In addition, it boasts an extraordinary feat that few carpet businesses can rival. It has set up looms inside the Women’s Prison in Kabul so that women prisoners can also earn money. From their village homes, Afghan women are keeping an eye on the world of sports. Soccer is the current favourite since of all sports it generates the highest business for them. Birth of a tradition THE CARPET and Art Oasis was started 19 years ago by Dubai Customs to complement the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF). The current edition will run at Dubai Festival City till Feb 1. “(It) is one of the most remarkable events regularly scheduled for the Dubai Shopping Festival,” said Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Director General of Dubai Customs. “Dubai Customs is proud to organize the Carpet and Art Oasis that increasingly attracts larger crowds, giving DSF greater splendour as traders, rug lovers and visitors gather in to acquire some of the scarcest and most gorgeous handcrafted carpets.” Jabarkhyl rummages through mounds of carpets to drag out an assortment with some carpets as small as doormats. Each piece is the emblem of some famous football club. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea — you name it, FBMI has it. “There are lots of football fanatics,” Jabarkhyl smiles. “But there is only one place where you can buy this novelty item. From us.” This is the third year that FBMI has been attending the Carpet and Art Oasis. Jabarkhyl says the response has been most encouraging: “It is one of the largest carpet fairs in the Middle East and we are the only representative from Afghanistan,” he says. “FBMI is now known to major floor designers and the footfall has been immense.” Besides the promotion in Dubai, FBMI has something more to cheer this month. Afghan carpets have created a buzz at Hannover’s Domotex 2014, the largest carpet and flooring exhibition in the world. This time, there was an AfghanMade initiative as a tribute to the Afghan carpet industry. Of the hundreds of designs pouring in, six were handcrafted in Afghanistan by FBMI and showcased at Domotex, giving viewers a glimpse of Afghanistan’s rich heritage. FBMI also won the Domotex Carpet Design Award 2014. Like Chinese tea or Indian spices, Afghan carpets are considered to be fit for kings. FBMI’s collection has a carpet designed in 1936 for the then Afghan king Mohammad Nadir Shah by weavers in North Afghanistan. Woven into the royal carpet is a couplet in Dari. It could also be the motto of the Afghan carpet industry: If you decide to work hard to complete a task/Then even thorns will turn into flowers. sudeshna@khalejtimes.com mehkri@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Youth have an important role to play : Shaikh Mohammed
Youth have an important role to play : Shaikh Mohammed (Wam) / 21 January 2014 Mohammed attends graduation of UAE Assessors Programme and Excellence Experts Diploma students Shaikh Mohammed, Shaikh Saif, Shaikh Mansour and Shaikh Abdullah with the graduates at the ceremony in Abu Dhabi. — Wam His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has highlighted the importance of training young Emiratis. He made the remarks while attending the graduation day of 120 graduates of the UAE Assessors Programme and Excellence Experts Diploma. Speaking to the graduates, Shaikh Mohammed said: “Our country needs your efforts to walk towards achieving the national march steadily and confidently and drawing new reality for government action and the establishment of the Future Government; our confidence in you is great as you possess all the components of success. “We are proud to develop governmental work with Emirati hands and we are doing our best to prepare Emirati people and enable them in accordance with the requirements of the next phase of national work to achieve the national vision 2021.” Also present at the ceremony held at the Presidential Palace, were Lt.-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; and Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, and other ministers. The Shaikh Khalifa Government Excellence Programme organised the graduation day of the first batch of Excellence Programmes: Excellence Experts Diploma for Federal Entities and the U.A.E. Assessors Programme for non-federal entities, as part of the programme’s initiatives in spreading the culture of excellence, supporting continuous learning and capacity building. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
