Today we'll be discussing some of the biggest stories, including protests by Dutch farmers and Steve Bannon agreeing to testify, as well as the Dutch pharma protest, but first Kazakhstan annoys Russia.
Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan continue to deteriorate in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Last week, the president of Kazakhstan said that the resource-rich country was ready to use its oil and gas potential to help stabilize European and world markets. A few days later, a Russian court ordered an export terminal on the Russian coast that sends Kazakh oil to Europe to halt shipments for a month, citing potential safety and environmental concerns. Kazakhstan's president has since ordered the government to explore other potential oil export routes, such as a pipeline across the Caspian Sea, which could bypass Russia while taking oil to Europe. Over the weekend, he also withdrew Kazakhstan from the interstate monetary committee of the Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States.
Moving to the Netherlands, where huge protests have swept the country as the Dutch government presses ahead with new environmental plans. Under the government's plans, farmers are set to be required to use less fertilizer and reduce livestock numbers in a bid to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia over the next decade. Something is likely to hurt revenue and potentially force some farms to close. Farmers have blocked a number of roads, notably roads surrounding supermarket warehouses. The protests, in some instances, have turned violent, with Dutch police firing on farmers in the province of Friesland last week. The police stressed that they were responding to a threatening situation with farmers driving tractors into offices and their vehicles and that shots hit a tractor but no individuals. In any case, the Dutch government's internal investigator has already said that it would look into events given the discharge of weapons.
Months of protest and unrest in Sri Lanka appeared to come to a head over the weekend as protesters stormed the presidential palace and set the prime minister's residence on fire. Sri Lanka has been experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence, with soaring inflation and dire shortages of fuel, food, medicine, and more. As a result, the Rajapaksa political dynasty and the current government have been at the center of protesters' anger. The president's palace remains occupied by protesters, who say they will remain there until both the president and prime minister have resigned. On Saturday, the prime minister announced he was willing to resign. President Rajapaksa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, has also confirmed his intention to resign this week. The speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament has said that a new cross-party government will need to be formed.
To former president Donald Trump's dismay, an investigation into the events of the January 6th insurrection is ongoing in the US House. As part of this, representatives have sought to provide evidence. In particular, the committee has wanted to speak to Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist. He had refused, claiming executive privilege, which basically means he doesn't have to say anything in order to protect white house communications. 's doubtful that Bannon's executive privilege extends to the time of the insurrection, as he was no longer working for Trump at the time. However, Bannon has now agreed to testify about something that his former boss is seemingly happy about. According to the AP, Trump has waived executive privilege for you, allowing you to testify truthfully and fairly in response to the requests of the unelected committee of political thugs and hacks.
While Boris Johnson may be leaving Number 10 Downing Street very soon, he's not yet clear of the ongoing saga of scandals. This weekend, a recording emerged of a phone call between Boris Johnson and a woman he had an affair with. The recording is from 2017, when the woman claims that about a decade earlier, Johnson had tried to get her a job in City Hall when he was mayor. This was rejected by one of Johnson's deputies because the pair seemed inappropriately close. She has since claimed that this was an abusive power, something she wanted to discuss in person with Johnson in 2017. Johnson didn't do this and instead called her when she complained to Johnson about this. Johnson became very frustrated and said, "I've been incredibly Fcking busy. I tried to meet you the other day. Jesus fcking a**hole told me I wanted to meet you." "These stories are only newsworthy while he is in office," Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen said. "The sooner Boris is gone, the sooner the country and the party will move forward."