WORLD ROUNDUPWhy India Care So Much about Guyanese Oil | The West Agreed to Pay Climate Reparations | Turkey Approves Finland’s NATO Bid, and more
· Why Does India Care So Much about Guyanese Oil?
The main driver from the Indian side is energy
· Bankers Convicted in Switzerland Over Putin Money Laundering
A close Putin friend helped him secretly deposit millions in a Swiss bank
· In Hungary, ‘Deteriorating Relationship’ Seen Behind Biden’s Democracy Summit Snub
The steady
· Finland’s ‘NATO Option’ Set to Become Reality
Putin’s war in Ukraine is about to add 800 miles to his headaches
· The West Agreed to Pay Climate Reparations. That Was the Easy Part.
At this point, the UN fund is “an empty bucket.” How full could it get?
· Turkey Approves Finland’s NATO Bid, Clearing Path for It to Join Alliance
The decision only applies to Finland, not Sweden
Why Does India Care So Much about Guyanese Oil? (Scott B. MacDonald, National Interest)
Little attention has been given to the burgeoning relationship between India and Guyana, and the potential it holds.
Bankers Convicted in Switzerland Over Putin Money Laundering (DW)
Four bankers were found guilty of failing to exercise due diligence over accounts linked to a prominent friend of the Russian president. All four worked for Gazprombank, the main channel of Russian gas and oil payments.
In Hungary, ‘Deteriorating Relationship’ Seen Behind Biden’s Democracy Summit Snub (Flora Garamvolgyi, RFERL)
Ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy this week, word trickled out that Hungary was the only EU member state without an invite. Again.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his cohorts thus find themselves on the outside looking in on one of the White House’s signature events, conceived as a bulwark to advance democratic principles in the United States and abroad and to counter creeping authoritarianism around the world. Leaders from 121 countries were invited to the mixed virtual and in-person summit in Washington and four other cities across four continents on March 28-30.
The summit comes against a backdrop of nearly 13 years in which detractors say Orban and his ruling Fidesz party have used their supermajority in parliament to consolidate control of Hungarian institutions, neuter independent media and civil society, and, more recently, undermine Western deterrence in the face of Russian aggression.
Finland’s ‘NATO Option’ Set to Become Reality (Emily Schultheis, Foreign Policy)
The Turkish parliament is poised to vote on Thursday to make it official: Nearly 10 months after formally applying for membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland is about to become NATO’s newest member. After months of delays due to concerns from Hungary and Turkey, which ultimately led to Sweden’s membership bid being further delayed, Finland is going it alone. After the vote, and once some more paperwork is done, Finland will formally join the 30-country Western military alliance, ending decades of military neutrality. (Cont.)
