This summer, one can travel in Germany on public transportation for less than $10 a month. It’s part of a government package to tackle the soaring cost of living by using more public transportation.
Global aid group Oxfam has eviscerated the G7 countries for pledging a pittance to fight the global food crisis
The G7 countries are “leaving millions to starve and cooking the planet,” global aid group Oxfam’s head of inequality policy Max Lawson has declared in a statement issued on Tuesday condemning the mere $4.5 billion the industrialized nations have pledged to fight the worst hunger crisis in decades.
Lawson argued that “at least $28.5 billion more” was needed to “finance food and agriculture investments to end hunger and fill the huge gap in UN humanitarian appeals.” G7 countries have pledged about $14 billion to fight global food insecurity this year, including the amount pledged on Tuesday.
However, it’s not clear how much of that money has actually been distributed to its intended recipients. While the US Congress passed a major weapons and aid package for Ukraine last month that included $5 billion to “fight global hunger,” none of the hunger money had been sent out as of this past weekend, according to Politico.
With even wealthy G7 countries facing economic difficulties in the wake of two years of Covid-19 shutdowns, the Oxfam rep suggested there were other ways they could fight hunger among the world’s most vulnerable. “They could cancel debts of poor nations” or “tax the excess profits of food and energy corporates,” he argued, or “ban biofuels,” which divert crops that could be used for food to producing energy instead.
Most importantly they could have tackled the economic inequality and climate breakdown that is driving this hunger. They failed to do any of this, despite having the power to do so.
Lawson noted that while the world faces its worst hunger crisis “in a generation,” the rich have seen their profits soar at the same time. “Corporate profits have soared during Covid-19 and the number of billionaires has increased more in 24 months than it did in 23 years,” he said, noting that the food industry alone has produced 62 new billionaires and calling the hunger emergency “big business.”
The UN World Food Program begged the G7 nations to “act now or record hunger will continue to rise and millions more will face starvation” last week, declaring that it had a plan – “the most ambitious in WFP’s history” – requiring $22.2 billion to “both save lives and build resilience for 152 million people in 2022.”
It’s not clear where they obtained that figure, as the G7 countries themselves have said that 323 million people are on the brink of starvation because of this year’s dire food crisis, with 950 million expected to go hungry in total in 2022.
While the G7 countries have been reluctant to open their wallets to solve world hunger, tens of billions have been pledged in economic and lethal aid to Ukraine, where the war has interrupted a wheat harvest that typically accounts for a fifth of the world’s “high-grade” wheat and 7% of all wheat. The UN’s food program normally buys half of its grain from the country.
Exacerbating the supply crisis are record droughts around the world, with East Africa particularly affected. One person is estimated to die of hunger every 48 seconds in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where the droughts are the worst in 70 years, according to Oxfam.
The “horrific conflict,” in Ukraine shows no signs of abating, the UN political and peacebuilding chief told the Security Council on Tuesday, pointing out that since her last update on 5 April, “countless Ukrainian civilians” have been killed in indiscriminate attacks, cities and towns levelled, and much of the country’s arable land “horribly disfigured by shelling”.
‘No one should lecture us on our relations with Russia’, Budapest’s envoy to Germany says
Hungary does not want to be lectured on its relations with Moscow and does not plan to impose “radical sanctions” against Russia, the country’s ambassador to Germany Peter Gyorkos said in an interview with Die Welt on Monday.
The diplomat was asked to explain Hungary’s position on the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine and why Budapest continued to go against the EU in many aspects relating to the conflict.
“No one should lecture us on our relations with Russia,” insisted the diplomat, adding that Hungary “knows from its history” that a confrontation with Moscow is something that should be avoided by all possible means.
He noted that Hungary has supported all the EU sanctions imposed on Russia up until the sixth round, which included significant energy restrictions. The ambassador said that Hungary depends on Russian supplies, and that it would take “time and money to reduce dependence,” which is why Budapest has so far refused to support “radical sanctions” and is opposed to an “immediate halt to energy imports.”
Gyorkos also took issue with Kiev’s attempts to pressure Budapest to allow the transfer of weapons from Germany to Ukraine through its territory, stating that “Ukraine’s critical comments are irritating.” He noted that Hungary has “been doing a lot for Ukraine” even if it did not support the movement of weapons.
“Russia has made it clear that arms deliveries will become legitimate military targets,” Gyorkos insisted, pointing out that many Hungarian minorities that live on the Ukrainian side of the border could potentially be put in danger. “We can’t allow that. As simple as that,” said the diplomat.
“Germany is doing a lot for Ukraine. The Germans have already paid a price for this and they will continue to pay for it,” said the diplomat, noting that despite all this, Ukraine continued to respond with “unfair” criticism of Berlin.
“It also bothers me when Ukraine criticizes us. Hungary does a lot for Ukraine,” Gyorkos insisted, noting that Hungary has accepted over 750,000 refugees from Ukraine, many of which have stayed in the country.
Last week, Balazs Orban – a senior adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – insisted that the EU should stop targeting Russia with new sanctions altogether, and instead focus on finding alternative means of achieving peace through negotiations.
The politician, who is not related to the PM, insisted that any further sanctions on Russia would only serve to hurt the EU’s economy without having a significant effect on Moscow.
Earlier this month, the prime minister warned that any potential gas embargo on Russia would “ruin the whole European economy” and has insisted that only a peaceful solution to the conflict could curb inflation and save the economy from further shocks.
