UNITED STATES — ANTISEMITISM BLIND SPOTS: It's been a week of surprising examples of how to deal, or not deal, with antisemitism. A week ago, who would have imagined Whoopi Goldberg making blatantly false claims about the Holocaust (that it was "not about race"), leading to her suspension — for two weeks — from "The View, " a popular ABC television program. Now it's time to ponder the merits — or otherwise — of an Amnesty International report laying out the case that Israel now enforces an Apartheid-type system "of domination" upon Palestinians in the Palestinian territories it occupies. The U.S. State Department "vehemently" objects to the report, though it regularly uses other Amnesty International reports as a reference point to make the case for decrying rights abuses by other governments, from China to Ethiopia to Cuba to Burma. The sensitive question: Does Israel now get a free pass on scrutiny because it is a democracy and a U.S. ally? Watch this exchange between AP journalist Matt Lee and State Department spokesperson Ned Price. The counter-perspective: "The gist of the report is the outrageous accusation that Israel, the lone democracy in the Middle East, practices apartheid," said David Harris , CEO of the American Jewish Committee, who pointed out that Israel's "fragile governing coalition" is "entirely dependent on an Arab political party." In June, the United Arab List became part of the Israeli government, reflecting a role for Israeli citizens of Arab descent. AUSTRIA — CONSERVATIVES MIRED IN ANOTHER SCANDAL: Just weeks after former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was forced off the political stage following the publication of explosive text messages that triggered probes into official corruption, another cache of revealing chats has thrown the country's conservative-led government back into crisis mode. POLITICO's Matthew Karnitschnig reports that the communications pull back the veil on how conservative party gatekeepers have filled posts throughout the civil service, from judgeships to police academy staff, based on political loyalties rather than on merit as the law requires. Unfortunately for Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who stepped down as interior minister to take charge of the government last month, both his wife and his former ministry are central to the story. EU—AFRICA: GREEN INVESTMENT PACKAGE IN THE WORKS: The EU and the African Union are hoping to announce an investment package in support of the two continents' "common ambition for 2030," according to a draft joint statement seen by POLITICO, ahead of a Feb. 17 summit. The dollar amount of the package is not yet specified, and the French officials currently running the European Council are still struggling to win over European capitals to sign up to the plan . The package will be part of the EU's recently announced Global Gateway strategy, meant as an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative. The green areas of investment listed include ways to decarbonize Africa's energy sector and climate adaptation as well as efforts to protect biodiversity and support sustainable agriculture. WEST AFRICA — ANOTHER COUP ATTEMPT, THIS TIME GUINEA-BISSAU: The BBC reports that six people were killed by heavy gunfire near Guinea-Bissau's presidential palace, where a cabinet meeting was being held, Reuters reported Tuesday. President Umaro Cissoko Embaló said the attackers tried to kill him and his entire cabinet at the government palace, but failed to break into the meeting. The attempted coup was West Africa's second in a week ( after Burkina Faso ) and the sixth during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States said it " condemns the coup attempt and holds the military responsible for the physical integrity of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and members of his government." CANADA — CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP VOTE TODAY: Opposition Leader Erin O'Toole is fighting for his job today at the party ballot box, after 35 out of 119 MPs from his Conservative Party signed a letter requesting a leadership review. More in Ottawa Playbook. UKRAINE CORNER PUTIN FINALLY SPEAKS: Standing alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the Biden administration of "pulling [Russia] into some armed conflict and then forcing their allies in Europe to enact those harsh sanctions against us." He said that "Russian concerns were basically ignored. We didn't see an adequate response to our key concerns: non-expanse of NATO, the refusal to deploy [an] offensive weapon next to the Russian borders and bringing back the military infrastructure of the alliance to the status quo of 1997, when the Russia-NATO treaty was signed," Putin said about the Biden administration's written responses to his concerns about Ukraine and broader European security. RUSSIA'S NEIGHBORS ARE HAVING NONE OF IT — INTERVIEW: Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told Global Insider, "I can see clearly what Putin does," referring to his tactics of demanding things that never belonged to him. "They have asked that NATO goes back to its 1997 borders. Well, this is outrageous. It means that half of the members in NATO shouldn't be in NATO," Kallas said. Full interview with Kallas here. "They use this old Soviet-type of negotiation tactics," Kallas said. "First, demand the maximum, demand something that has never belonged to you. Then second, present ultimatums. And third: [They] do not give one inch in the negotiations, because there will always be people in the West who will negotiate and give you something that you didn't have before." Stop running to Moscow: "There's a difference between dialogue and negotiation," Kallas said, saying that streaming into Russia to meet Putin risks sending the wrong message, and undermining the NATO unity that "has been a negative surprise to Russia," so far, she said. Instead, she favors keeping Putin at the table and working on, for example, increasing transparency around military exercises on both sides. On Russia's moves in Belarus: "I think their goal is to expand physically," she said. On Estonia's future: "We like to compare ourselves to Finland and Sweden." Making sanctions work: For Kallas, the key to sanctions success is two-fold: eliminating loopholes, which she said were a major problem across five rounds of Belarus sanctions packages, and having "strategic patience" around the likelihood that even well-targeted sanctions bring costs to both sides and may take years to bear fruit. "No country in the world wants to be isolated," she said. "Hello, Berlin? It's Tallinn calling": Kallas confirmed that Estonia had asked Germany for clearance to transfer to Ukraine some artillery, old Howitzers, over which Germany retains authority. "We haven't received any official reply" from Berlin, Kallas said. U.K. USES RUSSIA DETERRENCE TO MARK OUT DIFFERENCES WITH EU: London is embracing active deterrence against Moscow as a show of post-Brexit strength, deepening its security differences with the EU and distracting from Boris Johnson's party scandal. BY THE NUMBERS — COVID VACCINE DONATIONS Top recipients of U.S. vaccines The U.S. government said Wednesday it has shipped more than 400 million donated vaccine doses to other countries. The leading recipients are all from Asia: Pakistan (42.6 million)
Bangladesh (38.4 million)
Philippines (24.7 million)
Indonesia (23.7 million) Top recipients of Chinese vaccines Cambodia (11 million)
Myanmar (11 million)
Laos (8.5 million)
Nepal (8 million) Where China has sold its vaccines. Top recipients of EU vaccines Nearly all of the 118 million EU-donated doses went to:
Africa (54.8 million)
Asia (47 million) Europe's biggest Covid vaccine export sales destinations are: Japan, U.K., Turkey and the U.S., which each received more than 100 million EU-made vaccine doses. h/t Michael Kugelman TECH — META'S REAL WORLD CURRENCY SHUTDOWNS: If a currency shuts down on Earth, does it also die in the metaverse? Diem, which sprung to life as Libra in 2019, before attracting the concern of dozens of regulators, has been closed and its assets sold for $182 million, BBC reported.
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