Why a Turkish dictator let himself lose an election

Turkey's second president Ismet Inonu surprised the world by stepping down in 1950. Could Erdogan do the same after the 2023 elections?

Ismet Inonu at the Republican People's Party congress in the late 1930s. - Wikicommons

Nicholas Danforth
@NicholasDanfort
August 6, 2021

Would President Recep Tayyip Erdogan actually allow himself to lose an election? And could pressure from Turkey’s Western allies help ensure that he does? These are two of the most pressing questions confronting Turkish political commentators in the years leading up to Turkey’s 2023 presidential elections. They also mirror the still unanswered questions surrounding the origins of Turkish democracy 71 years ago. Looking back on this history doesn’t offer any certain predictions about the future, but it can help better frame the stark challenge Turkey is facing today.

In 1950, just a decade or so after he inherited uncontested authoritarian rule from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkish President Ismet Inonu beat back opposition within his own government to hold free, multiparty elections. He expected to win. When he didn’t, he dismissed offers from his security services to reverse the result and simply stepped down. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, with fascist dictatorships ruling the Iberian Peninsula and Communist dictatorships ruling Eastern Europe, this act of liberal statesmanship appeared truly remarkable. Indeed, it may have appeared all the more remarkable to those who had experienced the brutality of Inonu’s policies — whether Kurdish villagers who lived through the 1938 Dersim massacre or Istanbul Christians who had been exiled after failing to pay a confiscatory wealth tax in 1942.

Erdogan has always been unrelenting in his criticism of Inonu, calling him both a drunk and a fascist, and drawing attention to the undeniable Hitler mustache he wore for a number of years. For Erdogan, Inonu represents the worst of the Kemalist regime — all its authoritarianism and secularism without the heroic and patriotic aura of Mustafa Kemal himself. Moreover, the personal contrast between the two men is striking. Erdogan is tall, charismatic and proudly provincial; Inonu was short, hard of hearing and seen by many of his European peers as a savvy and sophisticated statesman.

Inonu came to power as a dictator and left as a Democrat. After coming to power as a Democrat, Erdogan is now on the reverse trajectory. The next few years will determine whether Erdogan will ultimately display the best or the worst qualities of the man he hates.

Washington to the rescue?

Neither liberal academics nor Erdogan supporters credit the US government with a great deal of sincerity when it comes to supporting democracy in the Middle East. So it is surprising that so many members of both groups largely agree US pressure was a central factor in Turkey’s democratization. This shared assumption, which can be traced all the way back to the 1950s, reflects widespread amazement at the dramatic and otherwise inexplicable transformation that occurred in Turkey at the outset of the Cold War. It is also a tribute to the enduring hostility Erdogan and many of his followers feel toward Inonu that they are willing to give Washington the benefit of the doubt in order to deny him credit for his most principled achievement.

Turkey’s democratic transition occurred at the outset of its alliance with the United States, at a moment when Ankara was desperately trying to secure membership in NATO as a guarantee against the Soviet Union. Democracy was central to US rhetoric during this period and “free institutions” were specifically cited in Article 2 of NATO. In this idealistic context, seeing a causal relationship between US values and Inonu’s actions made sense. Moreover, Washington was perfectly happy to take its share of the credit. Turkey’s Democratic Party, which came to power in 1950, was also happy to perpetuate the idea that it enjoyed the support of the country’s new superpower ally.

And yet, the closer you look, the harder it is to believe that the United States really deserves credit for Turkey’s turn toward democracy. Declassified State Department records from the period provide little evidence of US policymakers pressuring Ankara to democratize, and ample circumstantial evidence suggesting that Inonu knew he could have had both one-man rule and US support if he had wanted. Which in turn raises the more elusive, and perhaps unanswerable question, of why he ultimately made the decision that put Turkey on its real if tortuous path to democracy.

“A strongman of the right sort”

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman called on Congress to provide aid to Turkey and Greece in order to help both countries resist the threat of Soviet expansion. In his speech, which became the basis of the Truman Doctrine, he described Greece, with several caveats, as an imperfect democracy. Turkey, by contrast, was “an independent and economically sound state” whose future was “important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world.”

Indeed, at the end of World War II, the reigning US attitude toward Inonu was perhaps best characterized by the description of Ataturk in a contemporary guide for US soldiers: “Many accused him of being a dictator. If so, he was a strong man of the right sort.” When the US-Turkish relationship began, this was the status quo US officials assumed would continue indefinitely, and they did not seem unduly perturbed by it. Moreover, when Portugal, under the Salazar dictatorship, became a founding member of NATO in 1948, Inonu had every reason to believe his government was democratic enough for the Western alliance as well.

But even assuming Inonu would have been susceptible to US pressure, Washington never gave him a chance to feel it. Finding evidence of absence is difficult, but US State Department records from 1945 to 1950 have not, so far, divulged any examples of US officials actually trying to convince their Turkish counterparts that free or fair elections were necessary to secure American backing. To the contrary, on one of the few occasions the subject came up, officials of the Republican People's Party (CHP) appeared remarkably confident in their position.

In December 1948, a member of the US military mission discussed with Naci Perkel, head of the Turkish National Security Service, rumors that the United States had abandoned Chiang Kai-shek because of his undemocratic behavior. The American colonel drew Perkel’s attention to “remarks by some of the Turkish opposition members that the United States would realize that Turkey is also not democratic and would take similar action here to withdraw US aid.”

“Naci’s response,” the colonel reported, “was to laugh and say that since aid is still coming in, the US evidently is convinced that Turkey is democratic.” Perkel then went on to explain that “Turkey could not be democratic until the level of education is much higher, and such a condition is many, many years away.”

When Turkey’s parliamentary elections were scheduled for May 1950, State Department officials and CIA analysts largely expected Inonu to once again use ballot rigging and intimidation at the polls to achieve victory. Tellingly, in private conversations with Inonu about US-Turkish cooperation in the months before the elections, US participants made it clear they expected relations to continue apace.

Nine foxes, no clear answers

So if America did not force Inonu’s hand, what prompted him to take a step that countless dictators have promised but all too few have actually followed through with? And can this tell us anything about the prospects for democratic change in Turkey today?

Ismet Inonu was described as a man with “nine foxes running about inside his head” whose “tails did not even touch.” Perhaps to truly understand his motives it would have been necessary to ask the foxes. But a few observations seem relevant.

As an individual, Inonu earned a reputation for embracing the Kemalist project with greater personal sincerity than many of his fellow revolutionaries. One story involves him listening to classical music records in his tent while on a campaign in order to teach himself to enjoy them. Another involves Ataturk’s companions, who continued to use the Ottoman script in private after the 1928 alphabet reform, hiding their handwritten notes in embarrassment on hearing Inonu approaching. It is possible that, at a personal level, he also took Kemalist rhetoric about democracy more seriously, and was more prepared to make real sacrifices in service of it.

More importantly, Turkey’s democratic change was also facilitated by the considerable political and ideological continuity it belied. Celal Bayar, who replaced Inonu as president, had also served, like Inonu, as Ataturk’s prime minister. (Democratic Party newspapers were happy to remind readers of this by printing pictures of Ataturk and Bayar together on every appropriate occasion.) Adnan Menderes, like the other founders of the Democratic Party, had been a parliamentarian in Inonu’s government during the '40s.

Famously, before giving Bayar and Menderes permission to create a new party, Inonu asked for assurances that they would continue to support his government’s anti-Soviet foreign policy and defend the principle of secularism. And — as minority voters who supported the Democrats seeking respite from the CHP’s heavy-handed nationalism soon discovered — the new government proved eager to preserve some of the most problematic aspects of Kemalist nationalism as well.

Certainly, it must have been easier for Inonu to hand power to a government made up of men who broadly shared his vision for the country and who had served by his side in both war and peace. But again, these factors have seldom been enough to convince other dictators they can comfortably surrender control.

Years later, Inonu was asked by an American social scientist whether he had held elections in response to US pressure. He responded to the effect that, regardless of the reason, it had nevertheless been the right decision. Looking back today, this may be the best verdict possible.

What now?

Could the same thing happen today? The circumstances in Turkey in 2021 are so different as to make comparisons difficult. On the positive side, Erdogan, despite his best efforts, does not enjoy the same degree of consolidated authoritarian power Inonu did. Seven decades of competitive elections have also created powerful public expectations, which even previous military juntas ultimately deferred to. As a result, the choice of whether to honor election results may not be entirely Erdogan’s own, as it was for Inonu.

If it is, though, neither the similarities nor differences with 1950 are particularly encouraging. The United States remains rhetorically committed to democracy. But the limits of this rhetoric were already apparent in the 1950s, and decades of US support for Middle Eastern dictatorships now make it all the more difficult for any leader to believe free elections are a requirement for good ties with Washington. Like Inonu, Erdogan clearly shares a broadly nationalist worldview with many of his political opponents. But his unrelenting efforts to demonize them as traitors and enemies of the nation mean that this is unlikely to play the same positive role that it did during the early Cold War.

In 1950, a man with well-honed authoritarian instincts displayed an unexpected and historically exceptional commitment to democracy. Despite the relatively conducive domestic and international circumstances of the time, this was impossible to predict and remains hard to explain even now. It can only be hoped, in the absence of any compelling historical grounds for optimism, that the man running Turkey today might behave in an equally unexpected way.

MORE FROM NICHOLAS DANFORTH

As Syria’s foreign jihadis eye Afghanistan, new challenges arise for Moscow

The potential that foreign fighters may move from Syria’s Idlib province to Afghanistan could pose major threats to Russia and its Central Asian allies.

A van belonging to members of Syria's top jihadi group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate drives with a banner congratulating the Taliban on their takeover of Afghanistan during a parade through the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on Aug. 20, 2021. - OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Kirill Semenov
@IbnRasibi
August 27, 2021

The situation in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, escalated sharply Thursday after a suicide attack by militants from the local affiliate of the Islamic State killed over 100 Afghan civilians and 13 US troops at a gate to Hamid Karzai International Airport.

US Central Command head Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie said American military leadership is in a state of readiness for new attacks in Kabul by the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) terrorist group. “We’re prepared to continue the mission,” he told reporters at a briefing Thursday. According to him, the United States has shared limited intelligence with the Taliban — who are guarding the airport — about threat assessments and preparations by IS to commit terrorist attacks. “We believe attacks have been thwarted by [the Taliban],” he added.

These attacks demonstrated that after the United States and its allies ceased their anti-terrorist activities in the country due to the rapid advance of the Taliban and their capture of the capital, the security situation began to deteriorate sharply.

The situation also poses new challenges for Russia and its Central Asian allies such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. While the Americans were present in Afghanistan, they could provide counterterrorism measures that benefitted Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbors. But after the arrival of the Taliban, a security vacuum may emerge, and the Taliban may face serious difficulties in solving this problem. After the Americans left, Russia hoped that the Taliban would be able to take control of the security situation and destroy terrorist cells in Afghanistan, something Taliban representatives had repeatedly assured the Russians they could do.

However, it should be borne in mind that the main reason for the rapid advance of Taliban forces was not so much the group’s military power as it was the collapse of the government in Kabul, which was unable to fight without external support. Such a quick establishment of power by the Taliban suggests that the group was able to easily take full control of all areas from which government troops fled practically without a fight, and where fighters from other radical groups — including the Islamic State — could now find refuge.

Thus, it remains possible that Afghanistan will once again become a base for international Salafi jihadism. And the reason for this may be not only "gaps" in the activities of the Taliban to exert their power, but also the purposeful position of some groups within the Taliban that have their own views different from the leadership of the movement. For example, this concerns the Taliban’s so-called Peshawar shura, or council, which became a cover for the activities of the shadowy Haqqani Network. The latter is the subgroup of the Taliban most ideologically close to al-Qaeda and has used suicide bombers to attack civilian targets.

Despite statements by the Taliban that Afghanistan will no longer serve as a base for the activities of terrorist groups that threaten other states from its territory, in addition to the Islamic State there are still al-Qaeda militants who may try to start taking advantage of the security vacuum. These could be, for example, international jihadis remaining in the Taliban structures from the so-called 055 Brigade, an organization entirely composed of al-Qaeda militants who committed numerous crimes against peaceful Afghans. The brigade was integrated into the Taliban army between 1995 and 2001.

Anton Mardasov, a nonresident scholar in the Middle East Institute's Syria Program, told Al-Monitor that over the past years the Taliban have actively been in contact with the core of al-Qaeda as well as its rather autonomous branch al-Qaeda on the Indian Subcontinent. According to Mardasov, members of al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent are present in 13 provinces of the country, including Helmand and Kandahar. Al-Qaeda, he noted, has also strengthened its presence in Badakhshan, a province in the east of the country that borders Tajikistan. There are other areas of al-Qaeda presence, including Barmal County in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika where the Haqqani Network dominates, and more generally on the Afghan-Pakistani border where al-Qaeda operates in close cooperation with the Haqqani Network with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

There is also the potential for Afghanistan to see the arrival of radical groups from Syria’s Idlib province. Recently Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the terror group that controls Idlib, began to pursue a policy aimed at eradicating non-Syrian jihadis from its territory. In this regard, it is highly probable that under pressure from HTS, a number of such groups may move to Afghanistan. This could happen both with the approval of some structures within the Taliban and in spite of them.

Such factions capable of transit from Syria to Afghanistan may include, for example, Katibat al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad (not to be confused with the Iraqi group of the same name), consisting of fighters from the Central Asian republics, primarily Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, many of whom came from Russia where they were looking for work. Abu Salah al-Uzbeki (Sirojiddin Mukhtarov), the leader of this group, was arrested by HTS’s security services back in June. Another Uzbek radical Islamist, Abu Rofik al-Tartarstani (Sukhrob Baltabaev), was killed in action by HTS militants.

Thus, the activities of the remaining radicals from Katibat al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad in Idlib are threatened and they could try to infiltrate the territory of Afghanistan.

Imam Bukhari Jamaat is a fairly large Uzbek group fighting in Idlib. Although at the moment the group has no conflict with HTS, nevertheless — based on HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani’s conviction of the need to "cleanse" the region from non-Syrian factions — it is another candidate for transfer to Afghanistan.

In addition, the local branch of the Uyghur Islamic Party of Turkestan, whose cells are also located in Afghanistan, remains active in Idlib. It is possible that under pressure from the HTS, this group may also move to the Afghan regions. The same applies to the Caucasian jihadist groups — Junud al-Sham and Ajnad al-Kavkaz. In particular, Junud al-Sham has already been disbanded by the HTS, and its militants are looking for opportunities to continue their activities directed primarily against Russia in other countries.

Of course, much will depend on Turkey's position on this issue and its readiness to provide a corridor for the transfer of foreign fighters from Syria to Afghanistan. Considering the current level of relations between Ankara and Moscow on the one hand and the Central Asian republics on the other, it’s unlikely Turkey will provide assistance to these groups. But their presence in Idlib and the potential for them to move to the Turkish-controlled zones in Syria also threatens Ankara’s security interests.

The areas where militants from Idlib could potentially move are the Afghan provinces of Badakhshan, Kunar and Nuristan. These regions became known as the Afghan Waziristan and were not completely controlled by either the former Afghan authorities or the Taliban. This is where branches of various radical Salafi groups have found their refuge.

For example, in Badakhshan, fragments of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are still operating — namely, the part of them that refused to be part of the local branch of IS-K. The latter also retains its presence there.

The Tajik radical group Jamaat Ansarullah, which split from the IMU and has carried out terrorist attacks in Tajikistan, is also operating in this region. There are allegations that Ansarullah is closely cooperating with the Taliban, and that it was even given the task of securing part of the Afghan-Tajik border. The Taliban denies these accusations.

In addition, these regions are a refuge for local Salafis with whom the Taliban have quite serious ideological contradictions (the Taliban are Hanafis from the Deobandi school). But it was in the regions of Kunar and Nuristan that the Taliban were forced to allow the activities of Afghan Salafis, some of whom operate under the flags of the Taliban but at the same time have their own goals and objectives. Others, meanwhile, create independent Salafi groups not controlled by the Taliban.

Thus, the rise to power of the Taliban leaves more questions not only concerning the plans of the group itself but also its ability to solve tasks entrusted to it by states working to develop ties and contacts with this movement.

MORE FROM KIR

'Cancel culture' show in Warsaw stirs controversy


By AFP
Published August 27, 2021

Swedish artist Dan Park refers to the Holocaust in some of his work - Copyright AFP Aamir QURESHI

Jewish groups have issued an open letter voicing criticism of an exhibition opening in Warsaw on Friday that includes works by the Swedish artist Dan Park, who has been convicted for hate speech.

One of Park’s works on display at the “Political Art” show depicts the Norwegian right-wing extremist killer Anders Behring Breivik as a fashion model for the Lacoste clothing brand.

“We do not agree to support for people who spread hatred, intolerance and hostility,” read the letter signed by, among others, Poland’s chief rabbi Michael Schudrich and Zygmunt Stepinski, director of the POLIN museum of the history of Polish Jews.

The letter said it was “astonishing and sad” that Park should be featured in an exhibition.

“In Poland — a country where as a result of Nazi policy six million citizens were killed — the activities of such creators as Dan Park insults the feelings of all Poles,” it said.

Park has been convicted several times for his provocative words and actions, including in 1996 when he wore a bomber jacket featuring a swastika, bearing the words ‘Heil Hitler’ and ‘SS’ and the skull-and-crossbones Totenkopf symbol.

He told the court he wore it as a provocation, not because he sympathised with Nazism.

Park is popular with far-right movements.

The exhibition at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art is described by organisers as a celebration of free speech and a platform for artists who fall victim to “cancel culture”.

“Artists who contradict these tendencies and advocate unrestrained expression and anti-mainstream ideas often pay the highest price for testing the limits of tolerance and confronting political dogmas,” the museum said.

The museum’s director Piotr Bernatowicz was installed in 2019 by Poland’s populist right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS) — a controversial appointment that drew accusations of the government attempting to coopt cultural institutions into its conservative agenda.

The show, which is funded by the Polish culture ministry, features 28 artists, including Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who in 2007 sparked controversy with his drawing of Muslim Prophet Mohammad.

He has been the target of several attempted assaults, the latest in Copenhagen in February 2015 during a conference dubbed “Art, blasphemy and freedom”.

The exhibition also includes a conceptual art project by Danish artist Kristian von Hornsleth, who paid 340 impoverished villagers in Uganda to legally change their names to “Hornsleth”.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/cancel-culture-show-in-warsaw-stirs-controversy/article#ixzz74o9b8vBC

Experts estimate endangered Galapagos pink iguana population at 211

By AFP
Published August 27, 2021


Handout photo released by the Galapagos National Park of a Galapagos pink iguana at Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island in the Galapagos archipelago, Ecuador - Copyright PARQUE NACIONAL GALAPAGOS/AFP Freddy Jiménez

Scientific experts sent to the Galapagos Islands to count a critically endangered lizard species estimate there to be just 211 pink iguanas left, local authorities said Friday.

Around 30 scientists and Galapagos park rangers took part in the expedition this month on Wolf Volcano, in the north of Isabela Island — the largest on the archipelago.

“In the census, 53 iguanas were located and (temporarily) captured, 94 percent of which live more than 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) above sea level,” said the Galapagos National Parks (PNG) in a statement.

That allowed the experts to “estimate a population of 211 pink iguanas.”

The pink iguanas were first discovered in 1986 and identified as a separate species from the Galapagos land iguana in 2009.

They live exclusively in a 25 square kilometer (9.5 square miles) area on the Wolf Volcano, where the PNG has set up cameras to study the iguanas’ behavior and the threats they face.

Prior to the census, Ecuadoran expert Washington Tapia told AFP that there could be as many as 350 pink iguanas.

So far, “no juveniles have been discovered,” said Tapia, the director of the American Galapagos Conservancy NGO that took part in the expedition.

In quotes released by PNG on Friday, Tapia said “being restricted to one single site makes the species more vulnerable.”

“Urgent action is required to guarantee their preservation.”

The Galapagos Islands are a protected wildlife area and home to unique species of flora and fauna.

They lie 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of Ecuador.

The archipelago was made famous by British geologist and naturalist Charles Darwin’s observations on evolution after visiting the islands.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/experts-estimate-endangered-galapagos-pink-iguana-population-at-211/article#ixzz74o93nZQc

Pandemic pushes new homeless onto Sao Paulo streets

By AFP
Published August 27, 2021


A homeless family in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 2021 

- Copyright AFP John OKUNYOMIH

Rodrigo ALMONACID, Fernando MARRON

When Monica’s landlord suddenly doubled the rent on the room where she lived with her three daughters in Sao Paulo, she says they had little choice but to go live on the streets.

Like a growing number of poor people in Brazil’s economic capital, Monica has fallen on bitter times during the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing her to choose between feeding or housing herself and her girls, ages 12, nine and three.

“If we spend everything on the rent, how are we going to fill our stomachs? People need more than just a roof over their heads, right?” said Monica, 33, who set up an impromptu camp for the family a week ago at Republic Square, in the heart of this sprawling concrete jungle of 12 million people.

She spends her days collecting and selling recyclable materials, earning around 20 to 30 reais (about $4 to $6) a day, before picking her daughters up at school, she said.

Surging unemployment and rising prices, especially for housing, during the pandemic have pushed numerous people like her into the streets.

“There’s been a very big increase in the number of people living on the streets for the first time,” said Kelseny Medeiros Pinho, of the University of Sao Paulo’s human-rights clinic.

“If you lose your job and you don’t have any alternative, the street is your only answer.”

It hasn’t helped, she said, that President Jair Bolsonaro’s government cut emergency Covid-19 assistance to the poor from 600 reais to 150 reais (around $28) this year.

The far-right president and Sao Paulo’s governor both vetoed legislation that would have put a moratorium on evictions during the health crisis.

Across Brazil, at least 14,300 families were evicted from March 2020 to June 2021, and another 85,000 are threatened with eviction, according to the organization Zero Evictions (Despejo Zero).

In Sao Paulo state alone, nearly 4,000 have been evicted, with 34,000 more threatened with eviction, it found.



– ‘A shocking number’ –



Anderson Lopes Miranda of the National Homeless Movement (MNPR) called the situation in Sao Paulo unprecedented in his 30 years living and working with the homeless.

“We used to see mainly elderly people or workers who lost their jobs ending up on the street. Now, you see families, women with children,” he said.

The last official census put Sao Paulo’s homeless population at 24,344 in 2019, 85 percent of them men.

Organizations that work with the homeless say that is an underestimate.

Monica and her daughters share a mattress they are borrowing from a “neighbor” on the square.

He watches over their few belongings while Monica works and the girls attend school.

“I’m trying to live a normal life. Bathe, take the girls to school. But when you wake up, you don’t look very good, you know? And everyone’s looking at you,” she said.

“My biggest fear is getting sick and not being able to take care of my daughters,” she added.

“I dream of getting off the street. I’m not giving up. I’m just working and trying to get through this.”

She says she does not want to go to a homeless shelter, because she is afraid of drugs and violence there.

A few blocks away, Marcio Machado of the Power of God World Church, a Brazilian Evangelical mega-church, oversees the handout of 800 free breakfasts for the poor — double what the church was distributing before the pandemic.

“It’s a terrible situation,” he said.

“A shocking number every day. Men, women, children, entire families living on the street.”

The city has opened 2,393 new shelter beds to deal with the increase, and raised the number of free meals distributed daily from 7,500 to 10,000.

Daniela Rosa Neves, 24, who is seven months pregnant with her second child, watched as her almost-two-year-old son played with a scrap of banana on the street.

They have been homeless for three months.

“I worry about my kids,” she said.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/pandemic-pushes-new-homeless-onto-sao-paulo-streets/article#ixzz74o8EkpSq

Ancient vicuna wool shearing tradition lives on in Peruvian Andes


By AFP
Published August 27, 2021

At daybreak on a freezing cold day high in the Andes, dozens of Peruvian peasants clamber up a mountainside to carry out a centuries-old tradition of shearing the highly-prized wool off vicunas, which are relatives of the llama.

One week each year, the peasants of Totoroma, a village 50 kilometers (30 kilometers) to the southwest of Lake Titicaca, join forces for a process of herding and shearing known locally as the “chaccu”.

They trudge up the mountainside and herd around 500 vicunas back down the slope into a pen made of posts and three-meter high mesh — a necessary precaution to keep the agile members of the camelid family from escaping.

The comuneros — men and women, some even carrying children — wrap up against the cold and wear wide-brimmed hats to protect them from the sun.

This year, they’re also wearing face masks to protect against Covid-19.

“It’s an ancestral activity that has been going on since time immemorial and now we’re helping out as a public state administration,” vet Jaime Figueroa told AFP.

Jesus Pilco Mamani is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfathers.

“I started working as a comunero in 1986,” he told AFP.

The vicuna appears on Peru’s national coat of arms and there are an estimated 200,000 of the Andean camelid in the country.

The annual chaccu helps support families in 290 communities in the Peruvian Andes.

Vicuna wool is highly-prized for its soft qualities and is one of the most expensive in the world.

The vicunas live at least 3,500 meters above sea level so getting their wool — by rounding up and shearing them — is a difficult task.

The communities in the Peruvian Andes produce around 10 tons of vicuna wool a year.

Unlike llamas and alpacas, amongst Andean camelids, vicunas and guanacos have not been domesticated.

Alpaca wool is far more common, while llama wool can be used to make rugs and carpets but is considered too rough for clothing.

Guanaco wool is also highly-prized, although not as soft as vicuna.

Inside the pen, the comuneros hold each brown vicuna down on a blanket on the ground while an expert quickly shears them using a machine powered by a portable generator.

The wool of each vicuna is collected and placed inside individual plastic bags.

Once shorn, the vicuna is immediately released from the pen and runs at top speed back up the mountain.

A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of unprocessed vicuna wool sells for $400 — much more than alpaca wool.

But a single sheared alpaca produces three kilograms of wool, compared to “150 to 180 grams” from the much smaller vicuna, Erick Lleque Quisoe, an official in the regional Puno government, told AFP.

He said that in Totoroma the locals “took off 35-40 kilograms” of wool from the 500 vicunas.

In 2019, Peru made $3 million exporting seven tons of vicuna wool, whereas alpaca exports bring in around $300 million, according to official figures.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/ancient-vicuna-wool-shearing-tradition-lives-on-in-peruvian-andes/article#ixzz74o7QSGsO

Hunt on for monarch butterfly eggs in
the gardens of Canada

By AFP
Published August 27, 2021


Hundreds of Canadian volunteers are taking part in a program to find monarch butterfly eggs, to help researchers determine environmental zones in need of protection -Copyright AFP John OKUNYOMIH


Marion THIBAUT

When Canadian conservation enthusiasts head out to find monarch eggs, it’s always with a magnifying glass and a notebook. They are volunteers taking part in a summer census of the iconic, endangered butterflies.

July and August are the best months, when the monarch is visible in Canada at all stages of its development: eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult butterfly.

It is also the reproduction period for the generation which will take off in a few weeks for a 4,000 kilometer (2,500 mile) journey to Mexico.

But it’s complicated research. “The monarch lays one egg per leaf. There are insects which can lay a dozen eggs all together while the monarch lays one. So we are looking for something very small,” explains Jacques Kirouac, who is among the hundreds of people who take part in the citizen science program Mission Monarch.

The eggs of these creatures known for their striking orange and black colors are off-white or yellow and about the size of a pinhead, with ridges that run from the tip to the base.

The species’s dire situation led to the creation five years ago of this program set up by the Montreal Insectarium to document monarch breeding grounds. The data is used by researchers, in particular to determine zones in need of protection. There are similar programs in the United States.

Monarchs of the eastern side of the continent are in a difficult situation: their population has decreased by more than 80 percent in two decades. Western monarchs — which hibernate in California — are even worse off: fewer than 2,000 were reported in the last census by Western Monarch Count, down 99.9 percent since the 1980s.

More generally, the disappearance of insects — less spectacular and less striking for the public than that of large mammals — is just as worrying, say the scientists.

They are essential to ecosystems and economies because they pollinate plants, recycle nutrients and serve as staple food for other animals.

– ‘Not enough data’ –

“It’s a beautiful butterfly. It would be a real loss to lose it,” says Renald Saint-Onge, also a volunteer for Mission Monarch.

This 73-year-old former carpenter and ornithologist feels driven to “save this butterfly.” So he decided to let grow at his home as many milkweed plants as possible. Often considered a weed, this perennial plant is the only one on which the monarch butterfly lays. But we find it less and less.

“The natural fields where we had milkweed and nectar-bearing plants are increasingly rare,” says Alessandro Dieni, coordinator of the Mission Monarch program. And the plants are “of lower quality because we have fields with monocultures everywhere” and an intensive use of pesticides in the country that killed them off.

Logging has also devastated forests in Mexico where the monarchs spend the winter.

Faced with the catastrophic decline of this insect, the Canadian government has decided to get involved in helping the monarch by seeking to protect its breeding grounds. “However, there was not enough data in Canada to know where to go to protect the monarch,” says Dieni.

The decline of insects, which represent two-thirds of all terrestrial species, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, and accelerated in the years 1950-60 to reach alarming proportions over the last 20 years.

“Thanks to the censuses, we can now do more precise research,” explains Marian MacNair of McGill University.

“This allows us to better determine the routes taken, the conditions that the monarch particularly like,” adds the biologist who expresses amazement over this small, emblematic butterfly’s ability to fly thousands of kilometers.

The monarch butterfly makes a good study for scientists because often “we have great difficulty in observing the evolution” of populations of insects. But the monarch’s territory is rather small and therefore it is easy to do calculations and observations and document “the extent of the disaster,” explains MacNair.
Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-science/hunt-on-for-monarch-butterfly-eggs-in-the-gardens-of-canada/article#ixzz74o5s2vVX

Digital dissent: Hong Kongers race to
archive democracy movement


By AFP

Published August 27, 2021

Hong Kong's pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was forced to cease operations in June. — © AFP

Su Xinqi

Hong Kong activists are working in the shadows to preserve digital backups of their democracy movement as the physical symbols of their resistance, including an opposition newspaper and a museum, are purged from the city’s streets.

In the end, it was food safety inspectors that finished Hong Kong’s museum to those killed in the Tiananmen Square protests — the only memorial of its kind within China to victims of the 1989 crackdown.

Its exhibitions documented Beijing’s decision to use tanks to quell democracy protests in the Chinese capital and Hong Kong’s three-decade history of holding annual candlelight vigils for those killed.

But officials from the city’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department visited in early June and declared the venue — which had operated on and off for years — did not have the correct license.

With the city’s Tiananmen vigils already effectively banned by authorities since last year, the move came as little surprise to many.

Which is why dissident Chinese author Chang Ping, a former student leader back in 1989, spent the past year leading a group of anonymous activists to create an online version of the museum.

“We hope to save the spirit of 30 years’ candlelight commemoration in Hong Kong, which was an unparalleled act of resistance in human history,” Chang told AFP by phone from his home in Germany.

– ‘We needed to race the clock’ –

The online museum project is just one of many where cyberspace has become a place to preserve remnants of a city that is being remoulded in authoritarian China’s own image after huge democracy protests two years ago.

The Hong Kong Alliance, which ran the museum and organised the annual Tiananmen vigils, knew they might not survive, especially after China imposed a security law last year that criminalised much dissent.

Most of the group’s leaders have since been arrested and the coalition is on the verge of disbanding — but not before it fundraised HK$1.6 million ($215,000) to build a virtual Noah’s Ark for their movement.

Other projects had far less lead time to prepare.

Chris Wong, a software developer who asked to use a pseudonym, scrambled to mobilise coders earlier this year to preserve what they could of the city’s outspoken pro-democracy Apple Daily tabloid.

Its millionaire owner Jimmy Lai was already in jail and facing national security charges over campaigning for sanctions against China.

But in early June police used the national security law to freeze the paper’s assets and within little more than a week it collapsed.

“We needed to race the clock,” Wong recalled after Apple Daily announced the printing of its final edition and the removal of its online presence for later that month.

Wong went to LIHKG — a Reddit-like forum that was instrumental in coordinating Hong Kong’s 2019 democracy protests — and found tech-savvy volunteers willing to scrape the tabloid’s website.

They harvested over two million pages and archived them on the searchable website collection.news by writing around 10,000 lines of code, Wong said.

“Being the more tech-savvy guys, we feel we have more obligation to help preserve the history of Hong Kong,” Wong told AFP.

“But everyone can and needs to play a part in sharing the past with your friends, your next generation.”

– ‘Proud to play a part’

Similar digital backups have been created for reporting by RTHK, the city’s public broadcaster. Over the last six months, it has been overhauled to be more like China’s state media.

Critical journalists have lost their jobs and current affairs programmes have been axed while much of its social media content, including many reports critical of authorities, have disappeared.

An activist, using the pseudonym “Freeman”, said their group had harvested 14 terabytes of video reports from both RTHK and Apple Daily for a planned online backup.

Such digital activism is not without risks.

In recent weeks Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing media have suggested moves to preserve online records of the Tiananmen Museum and annual vigils are illegal under the national security law.

Police action usually follows such editorials.

Days after the Apple Daily back-up site launched it was hit by a distributed denial of service, a type of cyber-attack where a website is deliberately flooded with hits by a network of computers to try and bring it offline.

But Chang Ping says he and other digital activists remain unbowed.

“If building a museum is a crime, then the whole history of human civilisation is illegal,” he said. “I am proud to be part of it.”

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/social-media/digital-dissent-hong-kongers-race-to-archive-democracy-movement/article#ixzz74o4NlGht

AI is ‘An Idea’

THE BLOGS
Devsena Mishra
AUG 28, 2021, 

Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them.

When was the last time we heard a logical definition of AI? Perhaps, it was in 1956, at Dartmouth Conference, when the first time the idea was presented as: “any computer program that does something that we would normally think of as intelligent in humans.” From Arthur Samuel’s first board game-playing program in 1950 to AlphaGo’s win over Lee Sedol in 2016, efforts of building intelligence in the computer program turned out to be a little harder than what was anticipated.

“The Age of AI: And our Human Future,” is the upcoming book of Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher and this is not the first time that a book with such a title is coming to the market. From the last decade, every single published work on AI sounds similar to sci-fi movie/novel promotion, and they often tend to start with the same plot too (i.e. some AlphaXYZ defeated an Asian mind).

From an article “How the Enlightenment Ends” (published in 2018) in which Kissinger has argued how human society is unprepared for the rise of Artificial Intelligence, to his upcoming book it took him only a year (and two partners- Eric Schmidt and Daniel) to declare that AI will destabilize everything and it is the humanity that needs to adapt to this revolution!

The race for AI is on. In the last 3-4 years alone, over 30 countries have released their national plans/strategy for AI. And if that’s not enough, almost every major political leader and head of the state have also commented on AI and its implications on the Future.

But there is an interesting catch here. AI has been introduced as the ‘Artificial Intelligence,’ which is built upon the Big Data, which is controlled by the Big Tech club, so everyone else (other than Big Tech club) who is discussing, producing, or consuming AI, will remain a follower. And this few decades of unique mileage that a few US Tech giants have got is the only certainty about the future.

It’s a known fact that the computer, internet, and cyber, the foundational blocks of big data and AI, have been invented as some outcome of military and intelligence R&D projects.

Let’s assume a scenario, what if the world would have taken AI in its true sense i.e. as another technological advancement. Then this technology would have contributed more effectively to human life and economic progress than now. But that’s not the goal of this invention.

For the creators/propagators of AI, the definition in their mind is not Artificial Intelligence they see AI as ‘An Idea.’ An idea through which they think they can influence and control more effectively, and forever.

And at the same time, this idea has a desire to project itself as some Alien Intelligence (another definition for AI they probably have in their mind).

The propaganda for AI starts from the simple Google search and Wikipedia definition and from there it goes to Tech talks, opinion pieces, interviews/discussions, etc. distributed across all forms of media. Observing their language from an outside view often gives this impression as if something is coming from Mars, which has to come (like an asteroid about to hit the earth), and which is irreversible and uncontrollable by the human (species of this planet)!

The basic idea of AI is based on learning, which is an endless endeavor in itself! So it is certain that neither the pace nor the outcomes can be the possible motivational factor behind the uncertain journey of teaching computers playing board games, with a hope of developing tactics in them that are appropriate to solve general human problems. Now the question comes then what’s the real source of inspiration for such decades’ long investment and labor? The answer can be searched in Dr. Kai Fu Lee’s book “AI Superpowers, China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order.”

AI is the product of Silicon Valley and now there are two Silicon Valley at the front seat of global AI efforts, one in the USA (the original one) and another in China (Zhongguancun). It is not a coincidence that the Chinese AI revolution – the Cloner’s success, is largely driven by former big tech executives like Dr. Kai Fu Lee (chairman of Sinovation Ventures), who has worked with three big tech players- Microsoft, Google, and Apple before investing/incubating Chinese startups. Dr. Kai writes in his famous book ‘AI Superpowers’ that “China and the United States have already jumped out to an enormous lead over all other countries in artificial intelligence, setting the stage for a new kind of bipolar world order.” This year, when social media giants shut the voice of ex-US President Donald Trump, the biggest brand ambassador of the ‘America First’ approach, that move raised some questions on the values they represent. The new generation of the valley appears quite globalist in their approach and they coined and popularized many global ideas in the last few years. But this was not the case before.


Some Background

Silicon Valley, which is branded as the ultimate destination of entrepreneurship and the highly successful ‘garage startups’ that it produced in the last few decades, is the product of the ‘America First’ approach itself.

Frederick Emmons Terman, the leader of Allied radio-jamming efforts in World War II, is credited to be called the father of the Silicon Valley. It was Terman’s vision to lease out the university’s land to high tech startups to build the Stanford Industrial Park, which is now called the Stanford Research Park and the ‘Engine’ of Silicon Valley, which is home to over 150 high tech startups, including HP, VMware, Tesla, Steve Jobs’ NeXT computer, and Facebook, etc., which are leading the global AI bandwagon.

Similarly, the ideas of ‘venture capital’ and venture capitalist were coined to encourage the private sector investments in businesses by returning soldiers of World War II.

And this was not the first such experiment! There is a long history of the American scientist fraternity, their businesses, and defense and intelligence communities working together with the ‘America First’ approach, from the creation of atomic bombs to satellites to the famous moon landing efforts. So when in the Regan Defense Forum 2019, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon had said: “If big tech is going to turn their backs on the Department of Defense, this country is in trouble. That just can’t happen.” He simply echoed the spirit of his seniors!

AI as Animal Intelligence

Defining AI as Artificial Intelligence is misleading in many ways. ‘Learning from experience’ the core idea behind the AI advancement, represents only a tiny aspect of magnificent human intelligence. In fact, by that logic, AI should have been defined as ‘Animal Intelligence,’ as this trait is more common and relevant for animals, not humans (unless you don’t see the things from a Darwinian perspective). The human mind and intelligence drive through self-consciousness, wisdom, and creativity, and none of these could be programmed in machines.

There is an unwritten rule in driving that says as long as the ‘speed’ is in your control, you are driving it- the moment it goes out of control the speed drives you. Something similar has happened with the AI efforts.

The aspects of uncertainty and abnormality that AI propagators often highlight, demonstrates nothing but an inherent element of ignorance toward humanity, nature, and its creations, rooted in the culture of some parts of the world.

An Indian Perspective

Technology brings efficiency and speed, and in that context, even a basic calculator can be called smarter than average human intelligence but that does not make human intelligence an irrelevant idea.

The ultimate goal of technology is ‘success’ but that success is for whom? Human is at the core of all technological invention. Technology must help, not disregard the human being, and this is a basic requirement that cannot be violated at any cost!

In that light, AI or any other tech product can be an assistant of the Human workers, an efficient assistant, not his competitor.

In Bharat, there are several historical and ancient accounts that specify the objectives of the human research (Anusandhan) and invention (Avishkar), with clear distinctions between the constructive (Sur) and destructive inventions (Asura Invention, another AI).

With this ancient wisdom and clarity in thought, Bharat can show a direction to the world in developing a global system that can better protect the values of human life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Devsena Mishra promotes advanced technologies, startup ecosystems and Indian government’s business and technology related initiatives like Digital India, Make in India and Startup India etc. through her portals, articles, videos, and books.

Energy Infrastructure Near Hurricane Ida

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Energy Disruptions Map

Hurricane Ida is approaching the U.S. Gulf Coast region — home to key U.S. energy infrastructure — and is expected to make landfall on August 29. Hurricane Ida could affect local energy supply and demand, especially for transportation fuels and electricity. Our Energy Disruptions Map shows storm-related geographic data (also referred to as map layers) from the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service and map layers for energy-related infrastructure such as high-voltage transmission lines, power plants, and petroleum bulk terminals.

We also publish key production, consumption, and operational status information. We collect and publish hourly electric load data for each of the 68 balancing authorities in the Lower 48 states in the U.S. Hourly Electric Grid Monitor. The effects of storms on electric load may become apparent in the data as long as balancing authorities can transmit information to us. For example, in September 2017, widespread outages following the landfall of Hurricane Irma resulted in electricity demand in Florida falling to 64% lower than typical levels for that time of year.

Our Nuclear Outages status page maintains the daily status of each of the nation’s 57 nuclear power plants, based on status reports to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Louisiana has two nuclear power plants: Waterford Unit 3, located near New Orleans, and the River Bend nuclear power plant, located farther inland. Both facilities were operating at full capacity as of August 27.

We collect and publish transportation fuels data regionally at the Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) level. The Gulf Coast is a key region for U.S. petroleum infrastructure because it contains more than half of the U.S. petroleum refining capacity.


Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, East Coast and Gulf Coast Transportation Fuels Markets

Typically, demand for transportation fuels increases rapidly in the days before the arrival of a hurricane in the affected areas as consumers purchase fuel to prepare for evacuation. This rapid, unexpected increase in demand puts pressure on local inventories because the rest of the supply chain has not had time to respond. Louisiana has declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Ida’s landfall.

Our Weekly Petroleum Status Report provides the most recent weekly estimates of regional petroleum markets. As of the week ending August 14, the Gulf Coast region had 84.9 million barrels of motor gasoline, or about 6% lower than last year in mid-August.

Principal contributors: Kristen Tsai, Elesia Fasching

Featured image from U.S. Energy Information Administration, Energy Disruptions Map

Originally published on TODAY IN ENERGY.