WORLD BRIEFING: January 24, 2024
Turkish MPs have ratified Sweden's bid to join Nato in a long-delayed vote that represents a big step forward on the Nordic nation's path to membership. Sweden applied to join in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey withheld approval amid a row over what it called Sweden's support to Kurdish separatists. Turkish President Erdogan is expected to sign the legislation within days. It leaves Hungary the sole Nato member yet to ratify Sweden's accession - BBC
A federal judge says Canada’s Liberal government's use of the Emergencies Act in early 2022 to clear convoy protesters from the streets of Ottawa was unreasonable. Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley said the situation created by the protests did not meet that threshold. "I have concluded that the decision to issue the Proclamation does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency and intelligibility – and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration," he said in his decision.
The Uzbek-Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov won a milestone legal victory in a case against Forbes magazine, which claimed that he had “fronted for Putin” in an article that formed the basis for EU sanctions. Forbes magazine failed to substantiate claims it made about Usmanov in an influential 2022 article about Russia’s most sanctions-worthy billionaires and must retract its statements, which have now been prohibited by a ruling of the District Court of Hamburg in Germany on 19th January 2024. A copy of the ruling was obtained by EU Today.
Authorities in Russia are set to implement a new law allowing them to seize money or property from those, including journalists, who have been convicted of spreading “fake news” about, or otherwise discrediting, the military; Max Seddon, the Moscow bureau chief at the Financial Times, described the move as a means to punish critics of the war who have left Russia - CJR
A stunning new poll came out in Israel on Monday and revealed the following: if elections were held today, The Likud party, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the helm, would receive just 16 seats. The Likud party, with Nir Barkat (Former Mayor of Jerusalem/Real Life Batman) at the helm would receive 21 seats. 53% of those polled felt that Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making process is primarily motivated by personal interest. The National Unity party, with Benny Ganz at the helm would receive 37 seats. The National Unity party, with Eisenkot at the helm would receive 39 seats. When asked who is more suited to be Prime Minister, Benny Ganz (48%) won easily, with Eisenkot (45%) coming in second, and Netanyahu (30%) coming in third. The only person Netanyahu could beat in the polls would be Yair Lapid. The parties in Netanyahu’s pre-war coalition would receive 46 seats in the Knesset, compared to the 64 they won in November 2022. And 46% of those polled said Israel should reject the proposed deal which would return the hostages, but also halts the progress of the IDF and releases all of Hamas’ prisoners held by Israel.
Ukraine's migration losses as a result of a full-scale Russian invasion are very large. The longer the war lasts, the fewer refugees will return home - said Oleksandr Gladun, deputy director of the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. "There is a big problem in connection with migration. If 50% return, it will not be bad. Moreover, we predict that after the war there will be opposite migration flows. That is, some women with children will return, and maybe some men will go to the women, there. After the restrictions on entry and exit are lifted," the demographer said. In his opinion, by the beginning of 2037, Ukraine will have a maximum of 30.5 million people living within the borders of 1991 - Espreso
