Ukraine no longer insisting on joining NATO

Mar 9 2022

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for his home country Ukraine.

The issue was one of the reasons Russia was allegedly invading Ukraine, with Zelenskyy even saying that he is open to compromise on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that Putin recognised as independent.

Zelenskyy spoke during an interview on ABC news, saying that he cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after he understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine.

‘The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia’ said Zelenskyy, revealing that he does not want to be president of a country which is begging on its knees.

NATO was created at the start of the Cold War to protect Europe from the Soviet Union. Russia has emphasised that it does not want Ukraine, a neighbouring country, to join the transatlantic alliance as it expanded further east to take in former Soviet bloc countries.

Shortly before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin recognised pro-Russian republics in Eastern Ukraine Donetsk and Lugansk as independent as they have been at war with Kyiv since 2014. Zelenskyy revealed he was open to dialogue about Ukraine considering them independent as well.

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McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pepsi and Coca Cola halt operations in Russia

Mar 9 2022

More companies and business giants have joined the ranks of cutting operations in Russia and this time, it’s Coca Cola, McDonald’s, PepsiCo and Starbucks who have taken the step.

The three companies gave in to public pressure on Tuesday and suspended their operations in Russia after they were subject to boycott calls on social media.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s issued a statement saying that it cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine. It will thus be closing all 850 restaurants in Russia, which employ around 62,000 people, temporarily.

Starbucks, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo also announced similar decisions, with the latter saying that despite halting sales in Russia of the main product, as well as 7Up and Mirinda, it will still offer products like milk and baby food.

Starbucks will be suspending around 130 Kuwaiti conglomerate-run coffee shops in Russia. A Yale University team which keeps a list of companies with Russian presence have said that 290 have so far announced withdrawal from the country.

This is reminiscent of the large scale corporate boycott of Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. The companies will be joining the ranks of Netflix, TikTok, Disney and many others as Putin refuses to back out from the Russian invasion.

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Malta is not dependent on Russian gas says Miriam Dalli

Mar 9 2022

Speaking to Times of Malta, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli insisted that Malta is not dependent on Russian gas for it’s power supply amid fears that the Ukraine invasion could disrupt it.

Speaking to Times of Malta hours before the EU announced plans to cut itself off from Russia, which supplies around 40% of Liquified Natural Gas to the bloc, Dalli said that Malta gets 17% of its power from the European grid through the Malta-Sicily inter-connector.

‘We don’t have any contracts with Russia whatsoever. We are all the time, however, monitoring what’s happening on the market because we understand the EU has a number of agreements when it comes to Russia’ said Dalli.

She went on to say that Malta cannot be solely reliant on the inter-connector due to the soaring prices. 2020 figures for Malta show that the island generated 73.6% of its electricity from power plants, 16.7% from the inter-connector, and 9.7% from renewable sources.

Russia supplies 40% of the EU’s gas needs, but the European Commission on Tuesday announced plans to its dependency on Russia by two-thirds this year. The reliance should be ended by 2030 the European Commissioner revealed.

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Inter beat Liverpool but fail to qualify for Champions League last eight

Mar 8 2022

English side Liverpool have made it to the UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals, after a tricky 2 legs against Italian champions Inter. The final leg of the tie saw Inter surprisingly beat the Scousers in Anfield something which hasn’t happened in over a year.

The narrow 1-0 win wasn’t enough for the Nerrazzuri to win on aggregate, as they had to overturn a 2 goal deficit suffered in the first leg.

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Inter started the match on the right foot, aggressively pressing Liverpool and winning many close range set pieces. Liverpool didn’t start in their best form but gradually improved once the game and half got on. The best chances of the half came from a Hakan Çalhanoğlu free kick that certainly confused the Liverpool defence and keeper and a Joel Matip header that managed to rattle the Inter crossbar. The half ended with both teams challenging each other to find an all important first goal.

The beginning of the second half was all Inter. They looked more confident on the ball and seemed more eager to find the back of the net and that is what exactly happened in the 61st minute, when Lautaro Martinez scored an absolute screamer into the top right of the Liverpool net.

However Inter celebrations where quickly muted, as in the 63rd minute, striker Alexis Sanchez managed to get himself controversially sent off after a risky tackle. The game practically ended after that point as Liverpool managed to control the game, without letting Inter getting a needed second goal.

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