The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania has sucked the oxygen from the debate on President Joe Biden’s fitness for a second term. The discussion will resurface, but Democrats should forget it. The party is stuck with Biden.

The odds are daunting. It must feel like a difficult marriage heading for a shipwreck. However, with only four months to the election, facing the odds is the only way to overcome them. Expectedly, Biden doubled down on his decision to run after the presidential debate with Trump left the president looking like the victim of a car crash. 

He has tried to redeem himself several times and has snagged on his speeches every time. Yet, despite his frail health, stumbling speeches, and the mocking caricatures in the media, Biden insists he would stay in the race. 

“I know I'm not a young man,” Biden said after the debate with Trump. “I don't walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know — I know how to tell the truth!”

Stuck on him

As doubts about his fitness persist, one truth that he weighs is whether it’s in his party’s best interest to run. With a heavy heart, it’s fair to say that the answer is yes. Democrats are stuck with Biden. However worrying the prospects of a defeat – particularly a defeat to Trump – might seem, Biden’s candidacy still gives the party the best chance to win or rebuild. 

Some think Biden should let Vice President Kamala Harris run. She has received support from members of Congress, especially from her state of California, women organisations, progressive activists, and sections of the Asian American community. 

Her supporters have given reasons, from her relatively younger age to the likelihood that, given her background as a prosecutor and Attorney General, she would pay more attention to issues like criminal justice reform, immigration and healthcare. Others have added that her ethnic nationality would bring diversity to the ticket and energise Latinos, Asians and Blacks, who are increasingly important demographics among voters.

Others, like Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan governors, have also been mentioned as possible Biden replacements, but none would appear as viable as Harris. Yet, for all the promises she offers, there are many reasons Biden, instead of Harris, remains the Democrats’ best card.

Remember Hilary?

Hilary Clinton, former First Lady and Secretary of State, apart from being a senator, a white woman and one of the best-kept secrets of the deep state, could not defeat Trump in 2016 because America was not ready. It was unprepared to discard the bogey of an “evil” Clinton dynasty. It was – and still is – unprepared for a female president. 

Sure, more women are serving in the US Congress today, and voters’ attitudes toward having a female president have slightly improved. But not so fast when a woman of colour is on the ballot.

We never know what might have happened if Hilary challenged Trump again in 2020. But she declined not only because the previous contest had left her with deep emotional scars but because the Democratic party had also come to the inevitable conclusion that in what was supposed to be a post-modern society, gender – and the elephant in the room, race – remained a big issue. 

It’s unlikely that Harris would succeed where Clinton failed, a hint that may also be responsible for Michelle Obama staying out of the race despite her popularity in the opinion polls. 

Harris’ bonafide

Harris’ slim chance against Trump has little to do with her credentials. She was a former Attorney General and senator from California who formed a bipartisan coalition to enact a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure to remove every lead pipe in the US. She has also been on the frontline to reform the healthcare system, especially among the vulnerable, and reduce gun violence, among other things. 

On a typical day, Harris is an asset to the Democratic party and might still be for some time. But this November election is an unusual one. America is deeply divided, and trust in politics is so severely broken that a Wall Street Journal poll indicated that even though this is the first presidential rematch in five decades, nearly 10 per cent of voters are still undecided. 

That shouldn’t be because voters have records to judge the contestants: Trump, the demagogue, cut taxes for the middle class and massively removed regulations, among other things; Biden, on the other hand, has recorded two crucial years of job growth in a long time and managed to keep the economy steady, despite the supply chain disruptions of Covid-19. Inflation has taken a significant toll on families but could have been worse.

The jury is out on voters' feelings, especially where it matters most: their pockets. Although the demographics of the undecided population – less educated, less wealthy, less politically aware and engaged, less interested in politics, but definitely more diverse – should favourHarris, the “silent voters” or “hidden Trump voters” who blindsided pollsters and torpedoed Clinton eight years ago are still alive and well. 

Teflon Trump thrives in scandals. Today’s Feeble Joe is not the same Biden who faced Trump four years ago and got away by the skin of his teeth. While he is weaker, frailer and poorer even at sharing his accomplishments in the last four years, his opponent, Trump, has been emboldened by his worst excesses. The race for the US presidency is a match-up between horror and uncertainty. 

Strength in weakness

Yet, Biden’s weaknesses, especially his common touch – not Harris’ strengths – are the Democrats’ most potent weapon against a candidate who would lie, cheat, inflate, incite and routinely invent stories to get by. It’s a hard thing to say, but Biden, with all his frailties, is the medicine for Trump’s demagoguery.

Biden stepping down at this time will further weaken and divide the Democrats, giving them very little time to rally before the election. And if the worst, a Trump victory happens – which I think is improbable – then the party would have the chance to rebuild from its potentially less fragmented ruins.

What’s in it for Africa? Heads or tails, not a lot. Trump made clear that it was America first and last and the rest of the world, especially Africa, was shithole. Some still romanticise the Biden Senate years, when he spoke against apartheid, railed against injustice in the Middle East and pursued global peace through multilateralism.

A new Biden

That was then. The Biden of the last four years has massively funded Ukraine’s senseless war with Russia, a meat grinder if ever there was one, and paid scant attention to Africa. He has also proved utterly ineffective in getting Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the killings in Gaza. 

The election in November is not about Africa. It’s about whether an exceptional country that lost its way in 2016 – with horrific consequences for the rest of the world – is determined to lose it yet again.

** Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

One key trait separates the best CEOs from all others, according to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

While some leaders can get complacent in their lofty roles, a great CEO prioritizes learning, inquisitive conversations and taking genuine interest in other people’s points of view, Dimon, 68, told LinkedIn’s “This is Working” video series last week.

“I think leaders have to get out [from behind their desks],” Dimon said. “They have to get out all the time. They have to be curious, ask a million questions. They’re learning from competitors, they’re learning from clients.”

One of Dimon’s top priorities for himself is meeting with clients and competitors — so he can ask questions and get firsthand accounts about where his company is excelling or doing poorly, he said.

“I always tell a client, ‘When you complain to us, you’re doing us a favor. If we’re torturing you, we’re probably torturing another 10,000 [or] 100,000 people,’” Dimon said. “I think CEOs, any business leader, who can’t get out [or is] too busy, they’re making a huge mistake.”

Dimon isn’t the only CEO who values inquiring minds in the workplace: The trait separates highly successful employees and leaders from their peers, according to Amazon boss Andy Jassy. 

“You have to be ravenous and hungry to find ways to learn,” Jassy said last week in a videopublished by Amazon, about the company’s list of 16 leadership principles. The biggest difference between people with successful careers and those who remain “stagnant” is a constant, humble drive for knowledge and self-improvement, he added.

“For some people, at a certain point, they find it too threatening or too difficult to keep learning,” said Jassy. “The second you think there’s little left for you to learn is the second that you are unwinding as an individual and as a learning professional.”

Curiosity and desire to learn can take you further in your career than your technical skills, LinkedIn vice president and workforce expert Aneesh Raman told CNBC Make It in March. The two traits are especially beneficial for young professionals, helping them stand out in the hiring market and reframe setbacks as learning opportunities, he said.

″[A growth mindset] is the new degree, the way that you’ve been looking for a Harvard degree,” said Raman.

To strengthen your inquisitiveness, try dedicating 20 to 30 minutes each day to learning something new, TedX speaker and organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic wrote in the Harvard Business Review last year. You could research a subject you’ve always been interested in, set up a coffee chat to learn more about a colleague or read a challenging book about an unfamiliar subject. 

Ask yourself questions like, “What area do I want to be an expert in?” and “What topics could I spend all day thinking about?” Chamorro-Premuzic wrote.

Continuing to learn and explore, in both familiar and new areas of interest, helps people avoid “complacency” and build the “heart and grit” they need to advance their careers, said Dimon.

“If you don’t have an accurate assessment of the real world out there, what’s changing, what the ideas are, you will eventually fail,” he said.

CNBC

The federal government is taking aim at lenders by introducing windfall tax on banks’ foreign currency revaluation gains, hoping to use the proceeds to part-finance its spending plans.

President Bola Tinubu wrote to the Senate, asking it to back a legislation that will tax the bumper income derived by banks last year from the revaluation of their FC-denominated assets after a free fall in the value of the naira caused a surge in the value of such assets when converted into the local currency.

“A proposed amendment to the Finance Act Amendment Bill 2023 is required to impose a one-time windfall tax on the foreign exchange gains realised by banks in their 2023 financial statements,” Tinubu said in a letter to the Senate, read on the floor of the upper parliament on Wednesday by Godswill Akpabio, the senate president.

The tax will help “fund capital infrastructural development, education and healthcare access as well as public welfare initiatives all of which are essential components of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” he added.

The revenue expansion push is coming nearly ten months after a PREMIUM TIMES analysis of Nigeria’s five biggest lenders’ (FBN Holdings, UBA, GTCO, Access Holdings and Zenith Bank) half-year 2023 financials revealed those banks alone earned N1.3 trillion in foreign exchange revaluation gains, 17 times bigger than that of the corresponding period of 2022.

Nigerian banks are profiting from two of the major economic woes plaguing Africa’s most populous country as it faces a record cost of living crisis that has tipped many into poverty.

While a sticky inflation rate has prompted eleven straight interest rate hikes from monetary authorities, enabling banks to charge more for loans, two devaluation rounds executed within the first seven months of Tinubu’s presidency have caused assets held by banks in foreign currencies to balloon to record levels.

Unfortunately, those reforms and policy shifts are pushing many businesses, especially the import-dependent ones to the brink, with some multinationals shutting down their Nigerian operations.

The current move to tax banks’ windfall foreign exchange gains is part of the aggressive plan of the Tinubu’s administration to raise tax revenue’s share of the gross domestic product to 18 per cent from 11 per cent within three years.

Nigeria, which has one of the lowest tax revenues in the world, expects to scale up collection by 57 per cent this year.

“We all know that banks are making huge profits. In fact, that’s why everybody is now willing to set up a bank because of huge amount of money they are getting.

“A bank will declare close to about N500 billion. There is no business you can do in this country where you can get that kind of money,” said Aliero Mohammed, the senator representing Kebbi Central Senatorial District.

Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria forbade banks from using their foreign exchange revaluation gains from dividend payment purpose, stating that such income should be set aside as rainy day savings that would help lenders mitigate future foreign exchange risks.

“There is no such tax known to the laws of this country as we speak… If I have my way, I will say that we step down the second bill which is about taxation of banks, profits of banks. We cannot grow our economy, we cannot run our government by continually taxing our people, whether they are corporate citizens of Nigeria or whether they are individuals,” said Seriake Dickson, who represents Bayelsa West in the Senate.

“Let it not be said that this Senate without the benefit of a public hearing, without the benefit of economic expert, financial experts advising us about the propriety of this legislation, and most importantly also the timing of this legislation,” he added.

Apart from vast foreign exchange gains, the big boom banks are witnessing from interest rate hikes would automatically have been an invitation to windfall tax if it were to be in the West.

Last year, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden joined the league of European markets imposing a windfall tax on banks profiting from rate increment, with an economy like Czech going as high as 60 per cent.

Windfall tax receipts helped Nigeria’s African peer South Africa in 2022 to pay down debt and repair public sector infrastructures. The government hopes it could help cut public debt as a share of GDP to 69 per cent by 2024/2025 from 71.4 per cent in 2022/2023.

PT

The Senate, on Wednesday, announced the removal of Ali Ndume (Borno South) as Chief Whip.

When put to voice vote by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, members of the APC Senate Caucus endorsed Ndume’s removal as Senate Chief Whip during plenary.

Ndume was replaced by Tahir Mungono (Borno North).

This comes amid his recent criticisms of President Bola Tinubu’s government.

In a letter addressed to the Senate Caucus by the national leadership of the ruling party, the APC asked Ndume to resign his membership of the APC and join any opposition party of his choice.

The letter was signed by the party’s national chairman, and Secretary, Abdullahi Ganduje, and Ajibola Bashiru.

Daily Trust had reported how some loyalists of Tinubu plotted to get Ndume suspended.

Sources at the National Assembly told Daily Trust that the pro-Tinubu Senators were planning to not just strip Ndume of his position but equally suspend him like Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central).

Ningi, also a ranking senator from the North, was suspended for three months in March this year, for granting an interview to the BBC Hausa in which he alleged that N3.7 trillion in the national budget for the 2024 fiscal year was not tied to any projects or locations.

Ndume had in an interview with newsmen at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja last week said, “Mr. President is not in the picture of what is happening outside the Villa. He has been fenced off and caged. So many of us won’t go through the backdoor to engage him.

“Now they have stopped him from talking and he doesn’t have public affairs managers, except his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, who writes press statements. Nigerians are getting very angry.

“The government is not doing anything about the food scarcity and it needs to do something urgently. We don’t have food reserve. There is unavailability of food. Food crisis is the worst crisis that any nation can encounter. If we add that to security crisis, it will be severe.”

But his submissions triggered series of reactions from the pro-Tinubu camp as Sunday Karimi (Kogi West) and the ruling APC both knocked the Borno lawmaker, describing his statement as derogatory.

Our correspondent gathered from impeccable sources that three of the four senators that plotted Ndume’s suspension and ouster as the Chief Whip are from the South West – Ekiti, Ogun and Lagos, while another Senator from Kogi is also part of the agenda.

It was learnt that Akpabio was in a fix, considering that Ndume was the Director-General of the Stability Group which worked hard to make him President of the Senate in June 2023.

It was, however, hinted that some Northern senators were waiting for the cat to be let out of the bag during plenary before they would take a position.

A source said, “But of course, you know the Northern Senators will rise against another plan to destabilise their caucus, barely a few months after Ningi was suspended.”

However, some stakeholders from the North under the aegis of Concerned Northern Forum (CNF), in a statement on Tuesday signed by Abdulkadir Kura, said, “It is on record that Ndume is a critical stakeholder of the ruling APC, and a close ally of Tinubu. Therefore, if he can take such a bold step in saying the truth about the economic and social reality on the ground, then the Southern Borno Senator need to be celebrated by all and sundry. So we stand by him.

“Ndume has spoken the minds of the average Nigerians who have been under serious economic hardship since the removal of the fuel subsidy and other anti-people policies of the present administration.

“This is not the first time Ndume has criticised or challenged policies of the federal government. He consistently did so during the past administrations of Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. Such criticisms led to positive changes by the listening governments at that time.”

Daily Trust

The removal of Ali Ndume as Senate Chief Whip and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)'s demand for his resignation from the party mark a troubling development in Nigerian politics. This incident, coupled with the earlier suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi for his critical remarks about President Bola Tinubu’s government, suggests a growing intolerance for dissent within both the party and the broader governance framework. Such actions not only undermine democratic principles but also raise serious concerns about the emergence of authoritarianism under Tinubu’s leadership.

Ndume’s removal comes after his outspoken criticism of the government’s handling of key national issues, including the alarming food scarcity and general economic hardship faced by Nigerians. His forthrightness in highlighting these concerns reflects his commitment to representing the interests of the Nigerian people. Ndume’s critique, far from being an act of disloyalty, should be seen as a courageous stand for accountability and transparency—qualities essential to a healthy democracy.

The APC’s call for Ndume’s resignation from the party is a clear message that dissent will not be tolerated. This stance echoes the suspension of Ningi, who was punished for exposing serious budgetary concerns. Both cases point to a disturbing pattern: voices critical of the government, even those within its own ranks, are being systematically silenced.

These developments are particularly alarming given the broader context of increasing repression of the press. Journalists have faced unprecedented abuse and harassment under Tinubu’s administration, creating an environment of fear and self-censorship. When senators and party members, traditionally protected by their status and connections, are subjected to such punitive measures, it sends a chilling signal to ordinary Nigerians. The message is clear: public disagreement with the president and his policies is perilous.

The implications of this trend are dire. In a democracy, the ability to critique and challenge those in power is fundamental. It ensures that leaders remain accountable and responsive to the needs and concerns of the populace. When this capacity is stifled, governance becomes opaque, and the risk of unchecked power and corruption rises exponentially.

It is particularly concerning that these actions are being orchestrated by elements within the Senate, which is meant to serve as a check on executive power. The rubber-stamping of such decisions by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and others within the APC caucus indicates a troubling erosion of legislative independence. The Senate’s role is not to serve as a mere extension of the executive but to provide robust oversight and represent the diverse interests of the Nigerian people.

Moreover, the internal dynamics within the APC reveal a factional struggle that is detrimental to the party’s integrity and the nation’s democratic health. The orchestrated efforts by pro-Tinubu senators to oust Ndume and suspend Ningi suggest a prioritization of loyalty over competence and truth. This not only weakens the party but also undermines public trust in political institutions.

The backlash from concerned stakeholders, particularly from the North, underscores the deep dissatisfaction with these authoritarian tendencies. The Concerned Northern Forum’s support for Ndume highlights a regional pushback against what is perceived as an overreach by the Tinubu administration. Such regional divides could further destabilize the political landscape, exacerbating existing tensions and potentially leading to greater unrest.

In conclusion, the removal of Ndume and the demand for his resignation from the APC, alongside the suspension of Abdul Ningi, are indicative of an alarming shift towards authoritarianism in Tinubu’s Nigeria. These actions not only suppress necessary critique and debate but also threaten the very foundations of Nigerian democracy. It is imperative that Nigerians, from all walks of life, stand against this encroaching authoritarianism and demand a return to the principles of accountability, transparency, and democratic governance. The fate of the nation’s democracy depends on it.

Students of the University of Ibadan, on Wednesday, staged a protest to express their grievances following the schedule of a 10-hour electricity supply on campus and a hike in tuition by the university management.

It was gathered that the students were provoked by the announced 10-hour power supply, incessant tuition fees hikes, and introduction of what they termed “outrageous fees” by the authorities.

The protest started in the late hours of Tuesday and continued on Wednesday with the students carrying placards at the front of the university gate.

Our correspondent learnt that an internal memo addressed to the Chief Engineer (Electrical), by the Director of Works and Maintenance Department, O.A Adetolu, that electricity should be rationed and made available to students for 10 hours daily was issued on Tuesday.“Effective immediately; the Vice Chancellor has approved a 10-hour daily electricity supply on campus as follows: Day time: 8 am – 2 pm; Night time: 10 pm-2 am. Kindly adhere to the approved schedule.”

The Students’ Union President, Aweda Bolaji, in a voice clip obtained by our correspondent, described the recent policies by the management as “not satisfactory” and termed them “an inconsiderate action.”

He said, ”The injustice that has been meted upon us as students of the University of Ibadan is getting too much. The university cannot ration electricity to students in this 21st century. On this basis, if you are a student, join students massively as we demonstrate peacefully against the injustice being meted out by both the miserable government and unconscionable management.”

Bolaji in a statement later also sought the reversal of the new electricity schedule and tuition increment.

“There will be neither lecture nor transportation within the school premises on July 17, 2024. The mass action will continue on July 17 starting from 5 am. The union officials will make available all our resources, including the Aluta Jet and Public Address System, and the Student Union officials must be present to join the mobilisation effort towards this.

 “The school authority in association with maintenance must withdraw the memo on electricity rationing, dated July 16, 2024, and in addition, there must be constant power supply within the school effective immediately.

“There must be a total reversal of all fees and not a reduction. Those who have paid must be refunded.

“The Students’ Union condemns the ongoing victimisation of three students of the University of lbadan; Aduwo Ayodele, Olamide Gbadegesin and Nice Linus, who embarked on a peaceful protest on May 13, 2024, and as such, call for an end to the victimisation,” Bolaji said.

Punch

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the average retail price of a litre of petrol increased to N750.17 in June — up from the N545.83 recorded in the same month last year.

This signifies a 37.44 percent year-on-year increase, the NBS said in its report, tagged, ‘Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch (June 2024)’, released on Wednesday.

“Likewise, comparing the average price value with the previous month (.i.e. May 2024), the average retail price decreased by 2.53% from N769.62,” the report reads.

On the state profile analysis, NBS said Benue had the highest average retail price for petrol at N854.55. Jigawa and Rivers came next with N847 and N810, respectively.

“On the other side, Lagos, Kwara, and Ogun States had the lowest average retail prices for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), at N626.94, N650.00, and N670.63 respectively,” NBS said.

“Lastly, on the Zonal profile, the South-South Zone had the highest average retail price of N794.64, while the South-West Zone had the lowest price of N696.42.”

On July 5, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said the evacuation of petrol to border states reduced by seven million litres in two months.

Kyari said the evacuation of petrol dropped from 32 million litres per day to about 25 million litres amid customs’ anti-smuggling operations.

Petrol queues recently resurfaced in parts of Lagos and Abuja due to a scarcity of the commodity. The NNPC attributed the shortage to the disruption of ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of petrol between mother vessels and daughter vessels.

This, the national oil firm, said was due to recent thunderstorms and the consequential flooding of trucking routes which constrained the movement of petrol to Abuja from coastal corridors.

The Cable

TotalEnergies has sold its minority share in a major Nigerian onshore oil joint venture to Mauritius-based Chappal Energies for $860 million, the French energy group said on Wednesday.

CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in February that TotalEnergies was looking to exit its 10% stake in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), which has struggled with hundreds of oil spills as a result of theft, sabotage and operational issues that led to costly repairs and high-profile lawsuits.

Chappal Energies focuses on investments in deep value and distressed brownfield upstream assets in the Niger Delta region.

The sale includes an interest in 15 licences producing mostly oil, with production netting Total 14,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day in 2023, the company said.

Three additional licences produce mostly gas and currently account for 40% of TotalEnergies' Nigeria LNG gas supply.

Total said it has sold the participation stake in the gas licences to Chappal, but the share of production will stay in Total's portfolio, as well as access to the associated infrastructure and pipelines to supply the Nigeria LNG plant with gas.

"This divestment...allows us to focus our onshore Nigeria presence solely on the integrated gas value chain and is designed to ensure the continuity of feed gas supply to Nigeria LNG in the future," said Nicolas Terraz, president exploration & production, at TotalEnergies.

The transaction is expected to close by year-end, subject to regulatory approvals.

Shell also agreed earlier this year to sell its 30% stake in SPDC to a consortium of five mostly local companies for up to $2.4 billion.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) holds 55% of the joint venture, while Italy's Eni has 5%.

Exxon Mobil, Eni and Norway's Equinor have all sold assets in Nigeria in recent years to focus on newer, more profitable operations elsewhere.

TotalEnergies, which produced a total of 219,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2023 in Nigeria, remains a major operator of offshore fields in the West African country.

Reuters

US military ends Gaza floating pier mission to bring aid to Palestinians by sea

The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that its mission to install and operate a temporary, floating pier off the coast of Gaza was complete, formally ending an extraordinary but troubled effort to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The pier, announced by President Joe Biden during a televised address to Congress in March, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 U.S. forces to execute. Aid began flowing via the pier to Gaza in May, an operation aimed at helping avert famine after months of war between Israel and Hamas.

But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the U.S. military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for about 20 days.

"The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete. So there's no more need to use the pier," Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told a news briefing.

Cooper said efforts to distribute aid to Gaza arriving by sea would now shift to the established port of Ashdod in Israel. At least 5 million pounds of aid, which are either in Cyprus or on ships, will be going to Ashdod in the coming days, he said.

"Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner," Cooper said, adding that nearly 20 million pounds of aid was delivered to Gaza.

The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel's punishing war on Hamas.

"This chapter might be over in President Biden’s mind, but the national embarrassment that this project has caused is not. The only miracle is that this doomed-from-the-start operation did not cost any American lives," Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

Cooper said he expected the pier, which was authorized to be used until the end of July, to cost less than the $230 million the Pentagon had expected it to cost.

Cooper said the United States had so far delivered more than 1 million pounds of aid through Ashdod and he was confident more could be delivered through that port.

"We look forward to millions more pounds of aid going through that pathway," he said.

While the pier brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling area on Gaza's shore, the 1,200-foot-long (370-metre-long) floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.

The pier has not been used since June, when it was moved to Ashdod port because of rough seas. It was unclear if the U.S. military had started dismantling the pier at Ashdod before its expected return to United States.

The U.N. World Food Programme paused operations at the pier in June because of security concerns, causing aid to pile up on the Gaza shore.

The United Nations has long said maritime deliveries were no substitute for land access. It said land routes needed to remain the focus of aid operations in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor last month said there is a high risk of famine.

Aid officials say about 600 trucks of humanitarian and commercial supplies are needed in Gaza daily to meet the needs of the population.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine faces twin challenges of fighting Russia and shifting political sands in the US

After almost 30 months of war with Russia, Ukraine’s difficulties on the battlefield are mounting even as its vital support from the United States is increasingly at the mercy of changing political winds.

A six-month delay in military assistance from the U.S., the biggest single contributor to Ukraine, opened the door for the Kremlin’s forces to push on the front line. Ukrainian troops are now fighting to check the slow but gradual gains by Russia’s bigger and better-equipped army.

“The next two or three months are going to be probably the hardest this year for Ukraine,” military analyst Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment said in a recent podcast.

Lurking in the background is another nagging worry for Ukraine: how long will Western political and military support critical for its fight last?

On Monday, former President Donald Trump chose Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate for the Republican ticket in November’s U.S. election, and Vance wants the United States to attend to its own problems — not necessarily a war thousands of miles away on a different continent, even though he has said Putin was wrong to invade.

That view dovetails with Trump’s own stance. Trump has claimed that if elected, he would end the conflict before Inauguration Day in January. He has declined to say how.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — whose country holds the European Union’s rotating presidency — recently infuriated other EU leaders by holding rogue meetings with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Europe’s biggest war since World War II has already cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including thousands of civilians. There is no sign of it ending any time soon.

And Putin wants to draw out the war in the hope of sapping Western willingness to send billions more dollars to Kyiv.

Here’s a look at Ukraine’s major challenges:

The battlefield

Russia holds 18% of Ukrainian territory, after defensive forces pushed it out of half of the area it seized following its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank, said in May. In 2014, Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea.

Russia hasn’t accomplished a major battlefield victory since taking the eastern stronghold of Avdiivka in February. But its forces are now pushing in border regions: Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, Donetsk in the east and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

To buy time, Ukraine has employed an elastic defense strategy by ceding some territory to wear down Russian troops until Western supplies reach brigades. But, analysts warn, Russia will undoubtedly win a lengthy war of attrition, unless Ukraine can strike using an element of surprise.

Russia claimed Sunday its forces had taken control of the Donetsk village of Urozhaine, but Ukrainian officials said there was still fighting there. Moscow’s army is aiming to take the nearby strategic hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, which could allow it to drive deeper into Donetsk.

Ukraine’s forces are largely holding back the Russian push around northeastern Kharkiv city, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank. The Kremlin’s troops have been trying to get within artillery range of the city and create a buffer zone in the region to prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks.

Meanwhile, Russia is firing missiles into rear areas, hitting civilian infrastructure. Last week it conducted a massive aerial attack that killed 31 civilians and struck Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kyiv.

The power grid

Crippling Ukraine’s electricity supply has been a key goal of Russia’s relentless long-range missile and drone attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the bombardment has destroyed 80% of Ukraine’s thermal power and one-third of its hydroelectric power.

A hard winter likely lies ahead for Ukraine, analysts say.

Ukraine is such a large country that massive air defenses would be needed to protect it all. The country needs 25 Patriot air defense systems to fully defend its airspace, Zelenskyy said Monday.

Ammunition

New deliveries of ammunition to Ukraine are trickling to units along the line of contact, shrinking Kyiv’s heavy disadvantage in artillery shells and allowing it to start stabilizing the front line.

But it will take time for Kyiv’s army to fully replenish its depleted stocks. Ukraine won’t be able to assemble a counteroffensive until late this year at the earliest, military analysts estimate.

Russia, meanwhile, is spending record amounts of money on defense to finance its grinding war of attrition.

Fortifications

Russia’s go-to tactic is to smash towns and villages to pieces, rendering them unlivable and denying Ukrainians defensive cover. Powerful glide bombs flatten buildings. Then the Russian infantry moves in.

Ukraine was late to build defensive lines but its fortifications have improved in recent months, according to analyst reports.

The Russian army has made creeping progress at eastern and southern points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line but has not recently made any significant breakthrough and its advances have been costly, Ukrainian officials say.

Expanded military conscription

Ukraine in April adopted an expanded military conscription law that aimed to replenish its depleted and exhausted forces.

Zelenskyy said Monday the drive is going well, though the country doesn’t have enough training grounds for the new troops. Also, 14 brigades haven’t yet received their promised Western weapons.

Weaponry

NATO countries have taken steps this month to ensure that Ukraine keeps receiving long-term security aid and military training.

Alliance leaders attending a summit in Washington last week signed a dealto send more Stinger missiles, a portable surface-to-air defense system.

Ukraine is also preparing to receive the first F-16 warplanes donated by European countries.

Even so, Zelenskyy is frustrated. He says Ukraine cannot win the war unless the U.S. scraps its limits on the use of its weapons to attack military targets on Russian soil.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian troops wipe out Ukrainian missile/artillery armament depot over past day

Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian missile/artillery armament depot over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"Operational/tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces destroyed a missile/artillery armament depot," the ministry said in a statement.

During the last 24-hour period, Russian troops struck Ukrainian manpower and military hardware in 136 areas, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup North strikes three Ukrainian army brigades over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicted casualties on three Ukrainian army brigades over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup North units inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 57th motorized infantry, 107th and 113th territorial defense brigades in areas near the settlements of Volchansk, Veterinarnoye and Krugloye in the Kharkov Region. They repulsed a counterattack by a formation of the Ukrainian army’s 92nd assault brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 170 personnel, two pickup trucks, a US-made 155mm M198 howitzer, a 152mm Akatsiya motorized artillery system, two 152mm D-20 howitzers, a Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station and two Anklav electronic warfare systems, it specified.

In addition, Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot, the ministry said.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts 650 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup West improved its frontline positions and inflicted roughly 650 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

Russia’s Battlegroup West units "inflicted casualties on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 44th, 115th and 116th mechanized and 1st National Guard brigades in areas near the settlements of Sinkovka and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region, Stelmakhovka and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic. In addition, they repulsed a counterattack by an assault group of the 110th territorial defense brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 650 personnel, a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier and 12 motor vehicles. In addition, Russian troops destroyed three ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it specified.

In counterbattery fire, Russian troops destroyed a Croatian-made RAK-SA-12 multiple launch rocket system, a Polish-manufactured 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery gun, a US-made 155mm M777 howitzer, a 122mm D-30 howitzer and an Anklav electronic warfare station, the ministry said.

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts 610 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted roughly 610 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed two enemy ammunition depots in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup South units inflicted damage in active operations on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd mechanized and 5th assault brigades in areas near the settlements of Konstantinovka and Krasnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Ukrainian army lost as many as 610 personnel, three armored combat vehicles and two motor vehicles," the ministry said.

In counterbattery fire, Russian forces destroyed a Polish-manufactured 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, a British-made 155mm Braveheart self-propelled artillery gun, two 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery systems, two British-made 155mm FH70 howitzers, two 152mm D-20 howitzers, two 152mm Msta-B howitzers and two 122mm D-30 howitzers, it specified.

In addition, Russian troops destroyed two ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

AP/Tass