Sunday, December 31, 2023

News analysis

Sweeping Chinese military purge exposes weakness, could widen

Since Mr Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he has embarked on a wide-ranging anti-corruption crackdown among Communist Party and government officials.

BEIJING - A sweeping purge of Chinese generals has weakened the People’s Liberation Army, exposing deep-rooted corruption that could take more time to fix and slow Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s military modernization drive amid geopolitical tensions, analysts say.

China’s top lawmakers ousted nine senior military officers from the national legislative body on Dec 29, state media reported, a step that typically precedes further punishment for wayward cadres.

Many of these were from the Rocket Force – a key arm of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) overseeing tactical and nuclear missiles.

The purges are a setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has pumped billions into buying and developing equipment as part of his modernising efforts to build a “world-class” military by 2050, with Beijing’s outsized defence budget growing at a faster pace than the economy for some years.

The recent downfall of generals and military equipment suppliers, however, has punctured some of this aura, and raised questions over whether there has been adequate oversight over these massive military investments as China vies with the United States in key areas, including Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Since Mr Xi took power in 2012, he has embarked on a wide-ranging anti-corruption crackdown among Communist Party and government officials, with the PLA being one of its main targets.

The nine PLA generals removed from the legislature hailed from several military divisions; three were former commanders or vice-commanders of the PLA Rocket Force; one a former Air Force chief and one a Navy commander responsible for the South China Sea. Four officers were responsible for equipment.

“It is a clear sign that they are being purged,” said Dr Andrew Scobell, a distinguished fellow for China at the US Institute for Peace.

‘More heads will roll’

Beijing did not explain why the generals were removed. Some analysts say the evidence points towards corruption over equipment procurement by the PLA Rocket Force.

“More heads will roll. The purge that centred around the Rocket Force is not over,” said Associate Professor Alfred Wu from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

General Wei Fenghe, a former defence minister who used to head the Rocket Force, has also vanished.

When asked about his whereabouts, a Defence Ministry spokesman said in August that the military has zero tolerance for corruption.

His successor, General Li Shangfu, was abruptly removed as defence minister in October without explanation after also disappearing for months.

He had previously headed the equipment department. One of his then deputies was removed from Parliament on Dec 29.

On the same day, Admiral Dong Jun, a Chinese former Navy chief, with a South China Sea background, was named General Li’s replacement as defence minister.

Analysts say that while the Chinese military has long been known for corruption, the extent of the latest crackdown and the involvement of the PLA’s Rocket Force is shocking.

‘Act on the lessons of COVID-19’, Guterres says on Epidemic Preparedness Day

Sunday, 31 December 2023,
Press Release: UN News

The world must prepare for the next pandemic and act on lessons learned from COVID-19, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message on Wednesday to mark the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected hundreds of millions of lives, caused millions of deaths and inflicted devastating impacts on humanity.

After three years of unprecedented global efforts, on 5 May the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, stressing however, that it does not mean the disease is no longer a global threat.

“Economic damage inflicted by the pandemic endures. Many healthcare systems are struggling. Millions of children are threatened by disease after missing out on routine childhood vaccinations,” said Mr. Guterres.

Lessons to learn

The UN chief noted that three years after the first COVID-19 vaccines were developed, billions of people remain unprotected - overwhelmingly in developing countries.

“When the next pandemic arrives, we must do better. But we’re not yet ready. We must prepare and act on the lessons of COVID-19,” he urged.

“We must renounce the moral and medical disaster of rich countries hoarding and controlling pandemic healthcare supplies, and ensure everyone has access to diagnostics, treatments and vaccines,” he stressed, adding that WHO’s authority and financing must also be strengthened.

Joint efforts

He said the way forward lies through global cooperation. The world must improve surveillance of viruses, strengthen health systems, and make the promise of Universal Health Coverage a reality.

The Secretary-General said these efforts are making progress. He recalled that the High-level meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, held in September, concluded with a robust political declaration which complements negotiations underway towards a pandemic accord.

This first-ever global agreement aims to enhance collaboration, cooperation, and equity in responding to pandemics of the future, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his end-of-year message published on Tuesday.

The pandemic accord will help to create a safer and healthier world with a universal system of response to disease eruptions, he added.

Mr. Guterres urged countries to build on this momentum by delivering a strong, comprehensive accord, focused on equity.

“Together, let’s act on the lessons of COVID-19, prepare, and build a fairer, healthier world for all,” he said.

Fact Check

'Flawed' Japanese study on Covid vaccine death misleads online

Tommy WANG,

AFP Hong Kong

Published on Saturday 30 December 2023
Copyright © AFP 2017-2023. All rights reserved.

Health experts told AFP results from a study on the relationship between a Covid-19 vaccine and death were "negligible" and the research itself was flawed. However, social media posts misleadingly claimed the paper revealed that "70 percent of Covid-19 vaccine deaths in Japan occurred within ten days of receiving the Pfizer jab". In fact, worldwide vaccine monitoring data has shown no increased risk of death from the shots.

"Around 70 percent of people who died in Japan after receiving a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine lost their lives in the first 10 days following the jab, according to a recent study," reads a post written in simplified Chinese that was shared on X, formerly Twitter, on December 15, 2023.

"The peer-reviewed Japanese study, published in the Cureus journal on Dec. 7, looked at the association between Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination and deaths within 10 days of vaccination," the post continues.

"The risk period was defined as within 10 days of vaccination, with vaccination day being Day 1, and the control period defined as 11 to 180 days after vaccination."

The post includes a screenshot of a report by Epoch Health titled "70 Percent of Deaths from Pfizer Vaccine in Japan Reported Within 10 Days of Jab: Study".

The publication is the health section of The Epoch Times -- backed by the Falun Gong Chinese spiritual movement -- which has previously spread misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on December 21, 2023

Conspiracy site Zerohedge and Natural News, a website that regularly publishes anti-vaccine articles, also shared similar claims. Both have been fact-checked by AFP for spreading misinformation, such as here, here and here.

The misleading claim also circulated in various languages including English, French, Spanish, Korean and Japanese.

However, the Japanese study being shared in the misleading posts is flawed, other researchers told AFP, and its impact is "negligible".

'Negligible' impact

The posts reference a paper published on Cureus.com on December 7, 2023, titled "Analysis of the Association Between BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination and Deaths Within 10 Days After Vaccination Using the Sex Ratio in Japan". It is labelled as peer-reviewed.

The study used data on deaths reported in a "risk period" of 10 days after vaccination with the shot produced by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

While it found reported deaths were concentrated during the risk period for both men and women, it concluded that the numbers were too small to contradict findings by another cohort study in Japan that found no significant increase in all-cause mortality owing to vaccination.

The social media posts misleadingly present the results of this study, said Takahiro Kinoshita, a physician-scientist and a member of Cov-Navi, a Japanese project aiming to provide accurate vaccine information which is now disbanded (archived links here and here).

Kinoshita explained that the number of deaths used in the study could not be taken as a comprehensive source due to Japan having a passive reporting system where clinicians are only required to report adverse events only when they suspected a link to vaccination.

"Clinicians are more likely to report sudden deaths occurring soon after vaccination – within 10 days," he told AFP on December 21, 2023. "Therefore, this study does not suggest that the occurrence of deaths after vaccination is higher in the early period compared to the later period."

He added that the journal was not considered a "highly impactful source" and that the impact of the analysis was "negligible".

'Flaws'

Several infectious diseases experts, who were not involved in the study, told AFP the Japanese paper was flawed.

For example, the study looked at all-cause deaths -- mortality due to any cause including "disease, complication, or hazardous exposure" -- and not vaccine associated deaths, said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia (archived links here and here).

"Most of the deaths [in the study] were related to cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death and illness in the world and occurs at a higher rate in men than women, particularly under the age of 65," MacIntyre said on December 21, 2023.

MacIntyre also noted that people who were prioritised for vaccination against Covid-19 in early 2021 -- the study period -- were older or had multiple chronic conditions, putting them at higher risk of dying regardless of their vaccination status.

Chunhuei Chi, professor and director of the Center for Global Health at Oregon State University in the United States, told AFP that the study omits a critical figure -- the total number of people vaccinated with the Pfizer shot in Japan -- which makes the study easy to misrepresent (archived link).

"The author acknowledged several limitations, including not considering the effects of vaccination after 11 days, and sex bias in reporting deaths, that limited the strengths of the evidence and conclusion," Chi said on December 21, 2023.

William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in the United States, pointed out the study had a "major flaw" as it had no control group (archived link).

"A rigorous study would have compared the vaccinated population with a comparable unvaccinated population similar in age and sex distribution with a similar distribution of underlying chronic illnesses," Schaffner told AFP on the same day.

This methodological bias was typical of most studies claiming higher mortality after vaccines, said Siddharth Sridhar, clinical assistant professor at the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong (archived link).

"Better quality cohort studies invariably find no increase in all-cause mortality after vaccination," he said on December 22, 2023.

Both Kinoshita and MacIntyre pointed out that hundreds of studies across the world on vaccine safety found no increase in the risk of all-cause death.

The World Health Organisation states that the Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and estimates that in 2021 alone the jabs helped saved 14.4 million lives worldwide (archived link).

AFP has debunked hundreds of other false and misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines here.

Tommy WANG

Ethiopia: Prioritize victims amidst legacy of rights abuses, UN office urges

Sunday, 31 December 2023
Press Release: UN News

The UN human rights office on Thursday urged the Ethiopian Government to ensure that ongoing efforts addressing a legacy of rights abuses, rooted in years of violence and ethnic unrest, prioritize the rights and needs of victims and their families.

A joint report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission emphasized the need to implement all components of transitional justice equally. These include criminal accountability, truth-seeking, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence, involving effective remedies for victims, legal reforms, and reconciliation.

One of the recommendations stemming from the November 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, signed between the Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, is the establishment of transitional justice policies. This agreement marked the end of the bloody conflict in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions.

In 2018, Ethiopia witnessed a surge in human rights violations, marked by killings, torture, and ethnic- and faith-based violence. The situation escalated with the eruption of an armed conflict in the Tigray region in November 2020, claiming thousands of lives and displacing millions.

Ongoing ethnic-based violence in various regions further intensified the crisis, prompting a nationwide state of emergency in August 2023 due to escalating tensions in the Amhara region.

Victim-centred approach critical

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, welcomed Ethiopia’s steps to develop a national transitional justice policy aligned with the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

“It is crucial for such efforts to be holistic and consistent with international human rights norms and standards, placing victims and affected populations, especially women and girls, at the centre,” he added.

Key recommendations

The report sets out findings of 15 community consultations held from July 2022 to March 2023 with hundreds of participants, including victims and their families, in Afar, Amhara, Harari, Oromia, Somali and Tigray regions, and in the Dire Dawa city administration.

It sets out 31 recommendations, including on the design and implementation of the transitional justice process, justice and accountability, truth seeking and recommendations, and guarantees of non-repetition.

“By amplifying the experiences and voices of directly affected populations across Ethiopia, it is important that this report properly informs ongoing discussions on the development of a legitimate, holistic, genuine, and inclusive policy on transitional justice,” Mr. Türk added.

States’ obligations

The UN rights chief also stressed that States have a duty to investigate and prosecute gross human rights violations and abuses and serious violations of international humanitarian law, including those which amount to crimes under international law.

“Those who have been subjected to violations or abuses are entitled to justice, including adequate, comprehensive, prompt, and effective reparations,” he said.

Chris Christie Now Supports Gay Marriage, Because 'Even the Church Is Changing'

By Eric Mack | Saturday, 30 December 2023

Count Chris Christie out on keeping to conservative Catholic teachings.

The former opponent of same-sex marriage is accepting activist Pope Francis' approval of blessing same-sex couples as a sign "even the church is changing" on the issue.

"Pope Francis is now allowing blessings of same-sex couples; even the Church is changing," Christie said at an Epping, New Hampshire, town hall this week.

Conservative Catholics note the pope permitting same-sex blessings is not a change of Catholic doctrine, but Christie has historically been a more progressive Republican, including espousing moderate views as an ABC News political analyst.

Christie said he has had to change his position on same-sex marriage to get with the new generation's ideology.

"It already has changed," Christie told a young woman who asked about his past support for marriage as being between a man and a woman. "I think this is generational."

"What I know is society has changed and what people are accepting in our country now is different than when I was growing up, certainly than when I was your age," he continued. "And you know I don't have any objection to it any longer.

"In the end, I think I've been convinced."

Christie says he was wrong about same-sex marriage as a governor and if was just a matter of time to turn, along with the help of Pope Francis' recent document saying a same-sex couple can be blessed.

"And so you know for me, it's still, it was a process I had to go through to change the way I've been raised both from a family perspective and what my mother and father taught me and felt and also from a religious perspective and I'm a Catholic and what my Church taught me to believe."

Christie has vowed to veto a bill when he was running for New Jersey governor in 2009.

The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published Dec. 18 wrote "blessings are among the most widespread and evolving sacramentals" and it was acceptable for Catholic leaders to give "blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex."

Still, the declaration notes the church teaches marriage is between a man and a woman and that has not changed, and the blessings should "never" come in a civil union ceremony "and not even in connection with them," the Catholic News Agency reported.Notably, Catholics are not backing the pope's move like Christie has been quick to.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Vatican's doctrinal office's former leader, said the blessing of a gay union would be committing a "sacrilegious and blasphemous act against the Creator's plan and against Christ's death for us."

"Blessing a reality that is contrary to creation is not only impossible, it is blasphemy," Müller said, according to CNA.

Eric Mack | editorial.mack@newsmax.com

Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.

Related Stories:

Tunisian opposition movement urges release of political detainees

Ennahda has condemned the arrest of Ziad Al-Hani and called it an unjustified attack on freedom of expression.

Supporters of Tunisia's Salvation Front opposition coalition carry banners and flags during a protest against Tunisia's President Kais Saied, marking two years since Saied began amassing power, amidst a heatwave in Tunis, Tunisia July 25, 2023.

/ Photo: Reuters

Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement has urged authorities to release all political detainees.

It followed the arrest of journalist Ziad Al-Hani, against the backdrop of his statements on a radio program where he criticised Commerce Minister Kalthoum Ben Rejeb.

Ennahda Movement expressed solidarity with Al-Hani in a statement “after the Public Prosecutor at the Tunisian Court of First Instance sentenced him to be detained after he expressed his opinion on the behaviour of some administrative departments and commented on the performance of government officials.”

The group condemned the arrest and deemed it "unjustified," and said "freedom of the press and expression should not be compromised."

The Movement demanded "the release of Al-Hani and all other political detainees.”

Ennahda denounced “the authorities” efforts to silence free and oppositional voices, including journalists, bloggers and influencers.”

Security authorities arrested Al-Hani on Thursday on charges of “insulting the Minister of Commerce,” according to the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate.

Political crisis

On a program on private IFM radio, Al-Hani criticized Rejeb for the “bureaucracy that obstructs development projects,” and demanded she step down.

Authorities have arrested more than 20 prominent political figures in 2023.

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that aggravated the country's economic conditions since President Kais Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament in 2021.

While Saied insists that his measures were m eant to "save" the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.

SOURCE: AA

"America and Zionist entity"... Black history full of criminality

[31/December/2023]

SANA'A December 31. 2023 (Saba)-Whoever follows the history of the accursed America, the “Great Satan,” and its protégé, the cancer in the heart of the Arab and Islamic nation in the Middle East, called “Israel,” will find that their history is one and their record is one, a dark, black record full of criminality in the past, present, and also the future.

Historians have written in their writings that the accursed America was established on the ruins of the Native Americans, as there was no such thing as the “United States of America.” North America witnessed violent conflicts, in which the British played a major role, as they ceded vast areas of Indian lands to the states. The United States of America, and at the expense of those they trusted.

Historians report that America had two wars at that time, a war against British rule and a war against the Native Americans, which was called the “American Revolutionary War.”

The two countries competed for lands east of the Mississippi, and the Native Americans were deceived by Britain. The conflicts ended in wars in which the Native Americans lost their lands, and the state of America was established.

According to an educational article published by the Library of Congress entitled (The Destruction of Native American Civilizations), the total number of Native Americans is 900,000 people.

Between America and the Zionist enemy entity, “Israel,” there is a parallel methodology, as the latter was established on the Arab land of Palestine since the British and French mandate over the Arab world.

The Palestinian people were displaced from their land in the Palestinian Nakba in 1948 AD, and wars began in the Levant to prevent this entity from expanding, and its number did not exceed 806 thousand people when the usurping entity was established in 1948 AD.

Since then and until now, within the battle of “Al-Aqsa Flood,” this enemy has continued its crimes, by bombing civilians and killing children, as it did in the massacre of the National Baptist Hospital and the Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian Ministry of Health estimated that 40 percent of The victims of this Zionist aggression are children.

In front of the whole world, and in the presence of representatives of humanitarian organizations and the international community,, for over 75 years, this usurping entity has been able to suppress its ability to intervene to provide relief to oppressed peoples.

This usurping entity, along with the accursed America and the Zionist West, is trying to impose its criminal and terrorist policies through this bastard entity.

But the greatest truth confirms that the Palestinian people, with their valiant resistance, were able, despite the terrible cost they incurred, to restrain this enemy and reveal its mask to the entire world.

The record of America and "Israel" is full of crimes, wars, and killings that modern history has never witnessed. Moreover, America does not recognize anything in the world, which for it is not worth anything to it, neither international agreements, nor international organizations, nor criminal courts. Nor human rights organizations.

America, as al-Sayeed Khomeini said, is the “Great Satan,” and indeed it is so. After the wars it launched against many countries in this world, the most recent of which were in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen as well, there is something worrying that this country is continuing in its crimes and wants to control the entire world without Her confession.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the nuclear attack launched by America against the Japanese Empire at the end of World War II in August 1945, represented the height of absurdity, when America insisted on bombing the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki using atomic bombs, resulting in more than 220,000 victims.

America's practices did not stop at World War II, as the practices of the "civilized democratic" world were multiplied by bloody politics.

At dawn on February 13, 1991, American planes bombed the Al-Amriya shelter in Baghdad, which contained 408 people, including 52 children under the age of five, 12 infants, 261 women and other elderly people, turning it into rubble.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 witnessed several terrible transgressions, of which Fallujah was one of its victims, and the images of Abu Ghraib prison and the atrocities committed against detainees remained an open wound.

The crimes and massacres of the Zionist enemy entity go back decades, as the usurping entity committed many crimes against civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

M.M

resource : SABA

PAKISTAN

SMOKERS’ CORNER: HEROES, VILLAINS AND FOOLS

Nadeem F. Paracha

DAWN

Published December 31, 2023

Illustration by Abro

The former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan often referred to his opponents as ‘Mir Jafar’ and ‘Mir Sadiq.’ In Pakistan, these two names are often synonymous with acts of treachery. Mir Sadiq and Mir Jafar were 18th century figures who allegedly betrayed the kings of Mysore and Bengal.

The two Mirs aided the British in overthrowing their respective sultans. Their ‘betrayal’ and characters were mythologised as subjects of vilification by the poet Muhammad Iqbal — even though, at least Sultan Siraj ud-Daulah, who was betrayed by Mir Jafar, was an unpopular sovereign infamous for his cruelty and opium addiction.

Secondly, as the historian Mubarak Ali has rightly pointed out, the two Mirs were not ‘betrayers’ of nations because there were no nation-states in the region in the 18th century. The two men, in fact, betrayed their kings — an act not uncommon in the ‘palace politics’ of the time.

The reason Iqbal poetised the fading memory of the ‘treachery’ of Jafar and Sadiq a century later was to create villains that could be vilified by a Muslim community that, in the 20th century, was attempting to turn itself into a nation. There were many within this community who were unwilling to unite on the nationalist platform. So it is likely that, to Iqbal, these were the Mir Sadiqs and Mir Jafars of the community who were to be vilified. Vilification, too, can work as a political act and have purpose.

Most societies create ‘heroes’ as a source of inspiration and pit them against ‘villains’ that must be vanquished and demonised

In 1962, the American sociologist Orrin E. Klapp wrote that, in times of rapid change and instability, society produces three archetypes: the hero, the villain and the fool. Out of these, two can’t exist without each other: the hero and the villain. These stereotypes emerge as socially constructed protagonists and antagonists to contextualise complexities in a simplified manner during translational and unstable periods of time.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, an economic collapse and the resultant political instability and polarisation in Germany saw various social forces create villains to vilify and blame. Then the same forces created a hero who was to vanquish the vilified. The villains were Jewish people, communists and social democrats. The hero was Adolph Hitler, a once-obscure former German soldier who rose to power as a ‘conquering hero.’

According to Klapp, archetypes can help societies mitigate the effects of instability, even though, and as in the case of Hitler, the hero can end up creating even more disruption. What about the fool? What is he needed for? Klapp wrote that the fool is created for amusement and is someone to ridicule — perhaps by a society suffering from a collective lack of self-esteem. It thus shapes a ‘fool’ so that the social forces that created him may feel intellectually superior.

Clever propaganda is used to create these archetypes, but they are essentially society’s handiworks. A mediocre man can be turned into a conquering hero, a not-so-villainous person or community can be shaped into becoming villains, and an intelligent figure reshaped as a fool. But all of this can reverse itself if the need arises and society is faced with a new set of crises and conditions.

The former US president Jimmy Carter was often praised for elevating his status from being an obscure peanut farmer to becoming a president, ready to diligently police human rights abuses at home and abroad. However, after he disastrously failed to get American hostages released from Islamist radicals in Iran, he suddenly found himself being taunted as a weakling and a harebrained man.

Ronald Reagan, across his two terms as US president, was often framed by his opponents as a ‘buffoon’ whose government was being run by a cabal of ‘neo-conservatives’ who were widening the gap between the rich and the poor and undermining American secularism. However, when the Soviet Union crashed in 1991, even some of Reagan’s most left-leaning critics began to hail him as a ‘genius’ who ‘defeated’ the Soviet empire. A constructed ‘fool’ had been transformed into becoming an equally constructed ‘hero’.

Then there’s the curious case of Imran Khan. During his political career starting from 1996, he has been labelled a fool, a hero and a villain. He wasn’t taken very seriously till 2010. To most, he was a babbling fool. During a tense period when Pakistan was facing a deadly insurgency by Islamist militants, another politician, Nawaz Sharif, was vilifying his counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, as a villain, and Imran Khan as a fool.

Society was searching for someone to blame, and Sharif offered them Zardari. Large sections of the society (outside Sindh) did begin to frame Zardari as a villain but, within these sections, there were also many who weren’t willing to see Sharif as a hero. There was also the possibility of the military establishment being viewed as a villain, as the security situation continued to deteriorate.

But the establishment secured itself from receiving this label by ‘choosing’ Khan to fulfil society’s need to create a hero and vilify a villain. With the establishment’s support, mainstream media’s aid and help from the judiciary, Khan suddenly evolved from being a fool to a hero out to vanquish villains, which now also included Sharif.

Till his election as prime minister in 2018, certain prominent sections of society continued to shape Khan as a hero. But heroes are burdened with high expectations, most of which they cannot fulfil. Khan’s regime was a disaster, enough for the establishment to stop supporting him. He fell to a no confidence vote in the parliament.

As segments of society began reframing him as a villain, other segments changed the nature of his ‘heroism’. They now turned him into a David fighting Goliath in the shape of the establishment. This segment wants to continue perceiving him as a hero. But there is also a section of the society to whom he had remained a fool. This exemplifies the deeply polarised nature of Pakistani society today.

According to the American psychologist Scott T. Allison, the creation of heroes is a healthy practice that aids societies because they provide benefits that span many dimensions of human wellbeing. However, those who hold this view often forget that heroes cannot exist without villains, who too are socially constructed.

So, indeed, heroes can work as inspirations, but with the simultaneous creation of ‘villains’ for them to vanquish and demonise, this process and tendency can strengthen existing divides, biases and tensions in societies.

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 31st, 2023

Military’s Grip on Pakistani Politics Remained Strong in 2023

December 31, 2023

VOA
Sarah Zaman

Top Pakistani politicians saw their fortunes take a turn in 2023. As Pakistan heads to much-delayed polls in February amid an environment of repression, observers note the military remains a strong factor in the country's political landscape. VOA’s Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman reports from Islamabad. VOA footage by Wajid Asad.

In democracy’s crosshairs

Editorial

DAWN

Published December 31, 2023

IT is usually assumed that spying on citizens is a feature of authoritarian regimes. But if one were to ask American whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the answer would be a resounding no. Democracies are in trouble and the assorted freedoms they once promised are crumbling. The media bears the brunt of the betrayal, a fair share of which comes from perennially fragile South Asian democracies. But it is in India that democracy is sliding on the steepest of slippery slopes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in particular, has put Indian and foreign media alike in the crosshairs of his Hindu nationalist project. The raid on the BBC’s offices following its well-chronicled documentary on the Gujarat pogroms was symbolic of the times. Journalists are being harassed and jailed, opposition leaders getting expelled and suspended en masse from parliament.

It was of a piece with the rot when in October, Apple warned independent Indian journalists and opposition politicians that government hackers may have tried to break into their iPhones. Mr Modi’s officials promptly acted the next day, but against Apple, questioning whether the Silicon Valley company’s internal threat algorithms were not faulty. An investigation was announced into the security of Apple devices, instead. Many of the more than 20 people who received Apple’s recent warnings have been publicly critical of Mr Modi or his long-time ally, Gautam Adani, an Indian energy and infrastructure tycoon. Of the journalists who received notifications, Anand Mangnale and Ravi Nair belonged to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global alliance of independent, investigative newsrooms. A day after the OCCRP emailed Mr Adani seeking comment for a proposed story on alleged stock manipulation, a forensic analysis of Mr Mangnale’s phone by Amnesty International, and shared with The Washington Post, found the Israeli spyware Pegasus planted in it. Is it a coincidence that Mr Adani runs Israel’s Haifa port, and Mr Modi supports Israel’s war in Gaza? Where do freedoms stand a chance?

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2023

Decarbonising cement industry

Muhammad Fahim Khokhar

DAWN

Published December 31, 2023

WHAT often slips through the cracks of environmental discussions is the staggering carbon footprint of the cement industry, responsible for a considerable seven per cent of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions. This environmental burden places the industry in a unique position, necessitating a collective, international effort to usher in a sustainable era. If the cement industry were considered a nation, it would rank as the third-largest global emitter of carbon dioxide, trailing only the United States and China. The industry’s expansion, notably propelled by China, underscores the imperative for a united international effort to mitigate its environmental consequences

In Pakistan, a nation always looking for an economic breakthrough, the cement industry can play a pivotal role in its search for growth. With an annual production capacity approaching 73 million metric tons, this sector could become a cornerstone of Pakistan’s economic recovery and development. Yet, this journey will not be without its complexities. The cement industry, in fact, faces two simultaneous but seemingly divergent challenges: Pakistan’s per capita cement consumption, at 182 kilogrammes, is lower than its regional counterparts, indicating untapped market potential. On the flip side, the cement industry’s heavy reliance on coal, accounting for 66pc of its energy consumption, exposes it to the fluctuations of global coal prices and diverges from the worldwide trend towards the use of sustainable energy sources. If, however, local demand for cement is encouraged to increase, it is bound to have deleterious impacts on the environment and the climate.

The pressing need to reduce this industry’s carbon footprint and a pivot towards its simultaneous growth and sustainability is, therefore, self-evident. This shift is not just an environmental imperative; it is also necessary to enhance the industry’s resilience and global competitiveness. By reforming the energy usage practices of cement plants, not only will it reduce its environmentally toxic emissions, it will also be able to keep its energy costs lower. This, in turn, will help it expand domestic consumption of cement without endangering the environment and compete with other cement manufacturers in the international market.

Reducing the coal in cement production stands out as a promising strategy to achieve these goals. The incorporation of agricultural residues, such as rice husk, wheat straw, corn stover and rice paddy, holds the potential to replace 20pc to 35pc of coal being used in cement kilns. This transition, particularly with rice husk and paddy, can capitalise on the abundant biomass output of agriculture in both Punjab and Sindh, meeting substantial fuel requirements of the cement industry and reducing its costs per ton of cement produced. Beyond this economic advantage, this shift aligns with the industry’s financial interests by decreasing its vulnerability to global coal price volatility and helps it improve its environmental standards by reducing air pollution through a controlled burning of rice paddy. This practical step towards a more sustainable future for the cement sector will also resonate with global efforts to combat climate change.

Reducing the coal in cement production stands out as a promising strategy.

Delving into the intricacies of cement production, however, makes it evident that our focus must extend beyond the reduction of coal usage by addressing the second most significant contributor to the industry’s emissions — electricity. These emissions, though they are indirect as they emanate from grid stations, account for its considerable environmental impact. A strategic pivot towards electricity-efficient technologies, thus, emerges as a critical solution, ushering in an era of advanced machinery and processes that promise to significantly cut down on these indirect emissions.

Over and above these technological upgrades, the integration of waste heat recovery systems and the widespread adoption of solar panels could also serve as proactive measures to combat the environmental challenge. By capturing and repurposing waste heat and embracing solar energy, the cement industry will not only reduce its dependence on conventional electricity sources but it will also substantially trim its overall environmental footprint. This integrated approach, on the one hand, follows global sustainable practices; on the other hand, it fortifies the cement industry’s resilience by diversifying its energy sources, ensuring an environmentally conscious and economically robust future for it.

Lastly, since the transportation of materials contributes significantly to the industry’s carbon footprint, it can make use of the CO2 Arrestor technology, a ground-breaking solution devised by the National University of Science and Technology. This solution presents a transformative approach by actively sequestering CO2 (carbon dioxide) from vehicle emissions during transportation, thus mitigating the environmental impact associated with the movement of raw materials used by cement-producing plants. The implementation of CO2 Arrestor and other similar technologies not only aligns with the industry’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions, this will also help it mark a notable advancement towards circular economy and sustainable practices. By strategically incorporating such technological solutions, the cement industry can not only address its direct emissions, it can also reinforce its resilience against the broader challenges posed by its value chain emissions.

The government, too, can contribute significantly to this shift by offering preferential energy tariffs to plants that adopt alternative fuels. The government can also introduce robust carbon-pricing mechanisms to act as an incentive to accelerate the transition towards environmentally conscious energy usage.

The success of this shift, however, hinges upon collaborative efforts of all the cement industry stakeholders. Industry-government partnerships, informed by technology road-mapping and task forces, can align their strategies and pool resources. Funding support, whether through budgetary allocations, tax relief, or international aid, should be directed specifically towards sustainability initiatives and technology upgrades, ensuring a more inclusive and economically viable transition for both large corporations and smaller players.

The writer is a professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, SCEE-NUST, Islamabad. His area of expertise is climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2023

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