Serbia: Wagner mercenaries recruiting for Russia
A Wagner mercenaries Serbian-language video showing Serb volunteers training to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine has outraged Serbia's president Vucic. He said, ‘Why do you, Wagner, call Serbians when you know it is against our rules?’ So far, Serbia has prioritised Russian friendship over ambitions to join the EU, but now Belgrade lawyers and anti-war groups have filed criminal complaints against Russia’s ambassador and Serbia's state security and information agency for recruiting Serbians for Wagner. Vucic said, ‘Serbia’s path is towards the West, not towards invading Ukraine. Serbia consistently voted in favour of resolutions at the UN, condemning Russian hostility.’ That stance does not impress MEPs because Serbia refuses to impose sanctions on Russia. MEPs have called for ending Serbia membership negotiations until they agree to sanctions and forego cheap Gazprom gas from Russia.
Ukraine: Corruption crackdown
There have been Ukrainian anti-corruption reforms before, but stakes are higher now that Kyiv is receiving billions of dollars of financial aid from Western allies. Officials are warned through official and unofficial channels: focus on the war, help victims, reduce bureaucracy and stop doing dubious business. Some have not listened. Several senior officials have resigned as Zelensky begins a shake-up of government personnel. A top adviser, four deputy ministers and five regional governors left their posts on 24th January in the broad anti-corruption drive. There are bribery claims worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and officials living lavishly. Zelensky is responding to ‘key public demands’ that justice must apply to everyone and state officials cannot leave Ukraine unless on authorised business. Ukraine is historically corrupt. In 2021 Ukraine ranked 122 out of 180 corrupt countries.
Niger: Migration
Niger is an important transit area from West and Central Africa, Libya, Algeria and Europe. All must face the desert before reaching their destination. Between January and May 2022, Algeria sent 14,196 migrants like Cécé, back to Niger. Cécé, a tiler from Guinea, has just returned from Algeria where he could never leave the dangerous construction site where he was sporadically underpaid. It was not worth staying, so he returned home to the same job he had left. A roundtrip tracing political geographies, imagined borders, expulsions, deportations, targeted removals and defeats. The feeling of shame for what has been invested in terms of time, money, energy, dreams and regret is mixed with the bitter relief of still being alive. These are times in which the seas, deserts and especially the use of borders are nothing but sophisticated systems of point elimination.
The Americas: Religion
The influence of the Church is waning and waxing in north and south America. The religious forms once dominant (Catholicism, mainline Protestantism) see a marked decline in their influence. Secularism, the growing presence of other world religions and the increasing personalisation of spirituality all gravitate against classical Christian orthodoxy. Evangelicals and charismatics continue to grow - but not as fast as they once did. Pray for Christians to come to a personal faith in Christ, not striving to earn entrance to heaven by works, ceremonies and pilgrimages. Prosperity theology can turn God into a heavenly sugar-daddy who exists to bless us rather than a loving Father who wants engagement in every area of our lives. It syncretises the Gospel with materialism and stunts the growth of the Christian with a focus on things of this world. Maturity is needed in the churches. Sanctification and maturity are often lacking. Churches that grow spectacularly often decline in the same manner.
