G7 seeks unified stance against Russia on Ukraine crisis

A group of the world's largest countries is seeking to form a united front against Russian aggression towards Ukraine, by hosting a meeting of Britain's foreign ministers in Liverpool, northern England.

The world's richest democracies sought on Saturday to form a united front against Russia's aggression towards Ukraine, by hosting Britain's foreign ministers' meeting in Liverpool, northern England.

The G7 meeting, which will be attended by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his counterparts from France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada, comes amid international concern that Russia will invade Ukraine. Russia denies it intends to launch any attack.

The British Foreign Office said in a statement that Secretary Liz Truss and Blinken held a meeting last night before formal discussions and expressed deep concern about the Russian military build-up on Ukraine's borders.

The Foreign Ministry added that any incursion carried out by Russia into Ukrainian territory "would be a strategic mistake and would have dire consequences.

The opening of Rize-Artvin Airport is approaching a floating masterpiece for a tourist destination on the Black Sea

The countdown has begun in Turkey for the opening of Rize-Artvin Airport, which was designed by the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure on an area of ​​1,000 hectares in the first tourist attraction on the Black Sea shore, which is expected to receive its first flight by the end of December.

The construction of the passenger terminal is nearing completion at Rize-Artvin Airport, located in the far north-east of Turkey, near the Georgian border, 34 km from the center of Rize and about 75 km from Artvin, a project that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participated in developing Groundbreaking April 3, 2017.

The airport is the second to be built over the sea in Turkey after the "Ordu-Giresun" airport in the Black Sea region, which Erdogan opened in May 2015 as the first airport over the sea in Turkey.

The new Rize-Artvin airport will revive tourism in the Black Sea region in general and the areas near the cities of Rize and Artvin, which are famous for their scenic natural beauty of high mountains, dense forests, rivers and tea plantations spread on the slopes of the mountains and plateaus, which are a major tourist destination in the Black Sea region, especially For Arab tourists, many of whom bought homes and farms in the area because of their great attachment and admiration for it.

Seaside airport

With the completion of the backfilling of nearly 100 million tons of stones intended for the construction of the airport floor of Rize-Artvin amid the waters of the Black Sea, recent days have witnessed an acceleration in the intensity of the superstructure works at full speed in preparation for the inauguration of the airport in front of the first flight at the end of this year.

Due to the severity of the waves and sea storms that the Black Sea is famous for most of the year, protective barriers were built around Rize-Artvin Airport to repel the waves and prevent their impact on the airport and its working mechanism. and 550 metres.

It is noteworthy that the cost of infrastructure works for Rize-Artvin Airport, which is expected to be used by 3 million passengers annually, amounted to about one billion and 78 million Turkish liras.

Unique design

Because the region is famous for its cultivation and tea industry, the airport entrance card will be in the form of tea leaves, and the control tower is designed in the form of a tea cup, and the design of the passenger building was inspired by the unique Black Sea architecture that relies on stones and fillings that the region is famous for, in addition to many of the special touches of the city Rize, perhaps the most important of which is the Tea Museum, which will be housed in the walls of the building.

The airport, which was built in accordance with international specifications and standards, includes a runway with a length of 3,000 meters and a width of 45 meters, allowing the landing of all types of aircraft, in addition to the airport building on an area of ​​4,500 square meters.

Construction work on the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, and then the process of approving the airport and adding it to the international network will begin.

The Governor of Riza, Kamal Shaiber, stated that the construction and construction work was carried out using very special techniques, and added: “We do not only take stone and soil and fill it in the sea, but we embroider it like a needle under the sea using very special techniques by divers. The stones are placed in places according to their size. At the same time. We used very special materials and techniques that are resistant to weathering, iodine and salt during the construction of the airport's superstructures."

New tourist attraction

The airport will have a capacity of about 3 million passengers annually, and it is expected to provide intensive services to the cities of Rize and Artvin and the areas close to them in particular, the Black Sea region and the country in general, not only in terms of transportation, but also in terms of trade, tourism and culture, in addition to agriculture and industry.

The new Rize-Artvin Airport aims to increase the potential of domestic and international tourism by providing fast, safe and comfortable transportation by air, especially from the cities of Istanbul and Ankara to the highlands and forests located in the unique geography of the cities of Rize and Artvin and the rest of the eastern Black Sea regions.

It reached $531 billion in 2020. How did the arms trade grow despite the economic crises?

Arms sales rose globally during 2020, reaching a record level of $531 billion, despite the global economic downturn due to the consequences of the Corona pandemic. Experts point out that the giant arms companies have leverage and exemptions that enabled them to avoid being affected by the pandemic.

Despite the massive economic recession that the Corona pandemic has caused around the world, following successive closings, collapsing supply chains, and strained consumers, economic observers and analysts have confirmed that one sector has become immune to the virus; It is the arms industry.

This was emphasized by the latest report on the 100 largest arms manufacturers in the world, issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, where arms sales by global companies increased by 1.3% in 2020, achieving a “record level of 531 billion dollars despite the global economy contracting by more than 3%".

The influence of the arms giants

Alexandra Marksteiner, a researcher at the Stockholm Institute, told Deutsche Welle that she was particularly surprised by the data from the first year of the epidemic, as: “Despite the International Monetary Fund estimating a global economic contraction of 3.1%, we have seen an increase in arms sales to these companies. Big Hundred".

The report revealed that the largest profitable companies in the arms industry are based in the United States, with Lockheed Martin alone selling more than $58 billion in weapons systems last year, while China and the United Kingdom came in behind the United States.

A previous report by the same institute published earlier this year showed that many countries in the world have invested more money in purchasing military-grade weapons than ever before, ignoring the severe economic challenges faced by peoples globally as a result of the Corona pandemic.

Marcus Baer, ​​a political expert at the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC), believes that the major arms companies exert a kind of political pressure, as they have influence by "spending millions of dollars annually to pressure politicians and donate to their election campaigns."

Exemptions and Privileges

In the past two decades, Beyer added, "a network of major arms companies made up of lobbyists and donors has provided $285 million in campaign contributions and $2.5 billion in lobbying spending to influence defense policy," referring to a report by Open Secrets. The American non-governmental organization touched on the details of this issue.

The spending is paying off, with Marksteiner explaining that the US Department of Defense has provided targeted support to the arms industry during the pandemic: “For example, make sure that defense company employees are largely exempt from precautionary measures such as staying at home.”

On the other hand, financial transfers to arms companies were facilitated and coordinated in an earlier time and with a schedule that allows them to continue their work, and not to accumulate their products in warehouses, according to the researcher at the Stockholm Institute.

Global competition and diversity

The rapid growth of arms companies in the southern hemisphere is suddenly increasing, as it occupies an increasingly important position in that sector, which has raised the level of competition between global companies in terms of production in terms of quantity and quality.

India, for example, has three companies among the world's top 100 companies in the Stockholm Institute rankings, bringing their total sales to 1.2% on a par with South Korea.

China also ranks high after the inclusion of Chinese companies in the Stockholm Institute's reporting range since 2015, despite many transparency problems. The five Chinese companies on the list benefit from the Chinese military's modernization program, and their shipments now account for 13% of the sales of the world's top 100 companies.

It is noteworthy that 41 American companies came in the list of the 100 largest arms producers in the world, which represents 54% of total arms sales at $285 billion. year 2020.