Somali Americans Rally in Washington, Demand End to Hostility

February 26, 2023
Mohamed Olad Hassan

Somali American demonstrators gather during a rally outside the State Department in Washington, Feb. 24, 2023, to call attention to the clashes in a disputed town in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region.

WASHINGTON —

Somali-American demonstrators from across the United States have called for a cessation of hostility after three weeks of clashes in a disputed town in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region left over 100 people dead and more than 500 wounded.

About 200 Somali Americans from across the United States gathered outside the U.S. State Department Friday to call attention to the violence.

Local militias are fighting to pull three regions – Sool, Sanaag and Cayn -- away from Somaliland in order to rejoin Somalia. Cease-fire calls have so far been ignored.

Some of the demonstrators carrying the Somali flag, banners, and placards were seen chanting anti-war slogans in support of the victims of the fighting in Las Anod, the capital of Sool.

"Down, down with Muse Bihi," protesters chanted, referring to Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi.

They demanded immediate, and unconditional cessation of the fighting in Las Anod.

"It is forbidden to kill the innocents, the children, elders, or women. Somaliland cannot rule by force. We will not allow Muse Bihi to kill innocent people," said one of the protesters, Abdirashid Mohamed Farah.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi, Somalia’s former minister of fisheries and marine resources was among the demonstrators.

He said the people in Las Anod are suffering simply because they want to withdraw from Somaliland and be governed by Somalia to the south.

“We are from 15 states in the U.S and Canada. We are here to tell Somalis and the United States government that we want to express our feelings and show solidarity with the innocent people of Las Anod,” Abdi said.

“We call for the United States to pressure Somaliland to cease the hostility,” he added.

“Our people in Las Anod are dying for the sake of the unity of Somalia, and we are here to show solidarity with them, and thank to all those who supported us and sympathized us in this cause,” said another demonstrator, Fawzia Haji Dirir.



The demonstrators also marched toward Djibouti's Washington embassy, accusing that nation of supporting Somaliland in the fight, but Djiboutian Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh Saturday denied his country’s involvement in the conflict to VOA.

“The accusers have no evidence to prove, and the only Djibouti guns in Somalia are those in the hands of our Hill Walal soldiers,” Dawaleh said, referring to Djibouti soldiers in Somalia who are part of the African Union peacekeeping forces.

The Washington rally came amid ongoing international efforts to end the fighting.

The U.N. and other diplomatic missions in Somalia, including the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu, have called on both sides to end to the hostility and negotiate a resolution of their differences, as has Somalia’s government.

“On February 23, a delegation from the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu led by Chargé d’Affaires Tim Trenkle visited Hargeisa [Somaliland’s capital] to meet with Somaliland government officials, civil society representatives, and youth leaders to discuss security, prosperity, and democracy in the region,” the U.S Embassy in Mogadishu said in a February 23 statement.

“The delegation was received by Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi. The Chargé d’Affaires reiterated the United States and international community’s call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Las Anod and condemned the tragic loss of life and violence,” the statement added.

A Standoff

Somaliland President Muse Bihi announced last week that he would be dispatching clan elders to seek an end to the violence. However, clan elders in the battle-battered town demanded that Somaliland pull out its troops as a precondition for dialogue.

Despite local calls for peace and international efforts, shelling and gunfire continued in Las Anod Saturday, killing at least 20 people, residents and hospital sources told VOA.

Spokesmen for both sides, who spoke to VOA Somali have traded accusations.

Spokesman for the traditional elders in Las Anod Garaad Abdikarim Ali said the Somaliland army launched an attack and bombarded the city with artillery Saturday.

SEE ALSO:
Dozens Killed in Eastern Somaliland Clashes

In response, Somaliland Army spokesman Abdi Dhere said local militias, supported by al-Shabab militants have launched an attack on Somaliland army base.

Doctors and hospitals in Las Anod said this week that 105 people had been killed and 602 injured in the three weeks of fighting.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday the clashes in Las Anod had left at least 150 people dead and over 600 others wounded since February 6.

A VOA reporter in the town said the fighting has escalated this week, as both sides dug trenches to defend their positions, while mortar and tank shells pounded throughout the city.

Somaliland considers the territory as a part of its breakaway region and that giving up could jeopardize its efforts for international recognition of its separation from Mogadishu.

SOUTH AFRICA

SAPS special task force unit ranks among world's top 10 SWAT teams

Covert unit performs well at World SWAT challenge, rating tops in Africa

26 February 2023 - 17:34
Gill Gifford

Senior journalist

World top 10 ranking South Africa's Special Task Force Unit has returned from Dubai after competing in the five-day World SWAT Team Challenge, where they placed ninth out of 55 countries.
Image: Supplied

The South African Police Service's special task force unit has been rated among the top ten SWAT teams in the world.

The prestigious ranking was achieved at an annual five-day event in Dubai in which 55 teams from law enforcement agencies around the world competed against each other in brutal challenges.

A SWAT team is a group of elite police marksmen specially trained in weapons and tactics — which include high-risk tasks such as hostage situations, extreme violence and other dangerous tasks that include special skills such as bomb disposal, diving, tracking and sharp shooting.

National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said the challenge assesses the tactical acumen, mental focus and physical endurance of task force members, with the competition designed to promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise and strengthen partnerships to make communities safe.

Mathe said the five days of intense and rigorous challenges took place in the UAE and ended with South Africa’s “taakies” coming in ninth place with 183 points. This was a vast improvement on last year when the unit was placed 13 after picking up 82 points, she said.

The component head responsible for specialised operations and the team’s overall commander, Maj-Gen Nonhlanhla Zulu, who was part of the competing team in Dubai, was proud of the team and their achievement.

“The members’ performance is commendable. In the world we are number nine, but on the African continent we are number one. This is a huge achievement. We beat Kenya and Libya. So yes, we are satisfied with the results, we hope to do better next time. We are happy to be back to continue to deal decisively with serious and violent crime in our country,” Zulu said.

The special task force is a highly specialised unit. Members are chosen through a gruelling selection process and those who make the grade only respond to high-risk incidents, which include hostage-taking cases, search and rescue missions, as well as providing specialised operational support to other units within the SAPS.

 Sunday Times. 

Panic as Mediterranean waters recede following quakes

Egypt's Sinai, Libya, Algeria and Palestine, including the city of Acre and some beaches in the Gaza Strip, have seen new rocks exposed on their beaches with tidal waters moving five to 20 metres, leading to fears that a tsunami will strike.

Mohammed Asad
February 26, 2023 


Social networking sites have been abuzz with fears that the Mediterranean Sea is receding the Middle East by up to 20 metres since the large earthquakes that hit the region earlier this month.

Egypt's Sinai, Libya, Algeria and Palestine, including the city of Acre and some beaches in the Gaza Strip, have seen new rocks exposed on their beaches with tidal waters moving five to 20 metres, leading to fears that a tsunami will strike.

Dr Zeyad Abu Heen, a seismologist and the official in charge of the Department of Disasters and Crises at the Islamic University in Gaza, tells MEMO: "The subject of tsunami waves is not included in the Mediterranean Sea because it is a semi-closed sea and resembles a large lake."

Instead, he says, the only way for such an event to occur in the area is through "a vertical movement which breaks the earth's crust, so a vertical displacement occurs, resulting in the displacement of water and the formation of huge and high waves travelling at a speed of up to 800 kilometres per hour, meaning that they will reach the shores of Palestine within minutes or an hour at most."

Putting people's fear at rest, Abu Heen says the earthquakes that devastated large parts of southern Turkiye and northwestern Syria took place several weeks ago and it has now been more than 24 hours since the subsequent large tremor, so fears of a tsunami are unfounded.

He explained that what is happening along the shore is a natural phenomenon, but people's fears have been heightened following the earthquakes.










READ: Palestinian refugees rescued in Mediterranean Sea

Germany: Food banks turn 30 with no end in sight

Germany's first Tafel food bank opened in Berlin 30 years ago. There, people in need can receive groceries that would otherwise be thrown away. What began as a spontaneous idea has become a nationwide political entity.

Lisa Hänel

The inspiration came from the United States. A member of a Berlin women's group had read an article about volunteers in New York who were distributing discarded groceries to homeless people. "And then we thought, 'OK, we can do that too,'" Sabine Werth told DW. "We wanted to set a place at the table for those who otherwise couldn't afford it."

Together with fellow members of the group, called "Initiativgruppe Berliner Frauen," she founded the first Tafel, as food banks are called in Germany, the name being one of the German words for "table."

That was 30 years ago. The original food bank remains the largest in the country and has since become an independent registered association. And the idea spread rapidly: Today there are 936 Tafel food banks throughout Germany. Depending on how big the food banks are, the organizers go to supermarkets, local food retailers and bakeries several times a week, or even daily, to collect leftover food that is still good to eat, thus saving waste while supporting people suffering poverty.

Food banks in crisis

02:20

Sometimes, large supermarket chains also deliver their excess goods to the food banks in the evenings once or twice a week. The banks are then opened for people who first need to prove their need, for example, with a document from the social welfare office, before they can pick up things like apples, sausage and bread.

"We follow the classic Robin Hood principle. We take from where there is too much and give to where it is needed. But we do it legally," said Werth smilingly.

The food bank now serves a much wider variety of people than just those in the homeless community. It provides welcome relief to many single parents, pensioners needing a top-up and refugees. For such people, it is only when a little money can be shaved off the monthly food budget that other purchases are possible, such as a child's school exercise book or a visit to the movies.

Sabine Werth started working for the food bank 30 years ago

Image: Berliner Tafel e.V.
Poverty in Germany

The umbrella organization for the food banks in Germany estimates that 2 million people visited them last year — a sharp increase, about 50%, compared with the year before. Despite Germany being one of the world's richest countries, 13.8 million people there were affected by or threatened with poverty in 2022. As a rule, poverty in Germany refers to relative rather than absolute poverty. People are not facing immediate starvation or freezing. But even so, poverty in Germany still means a lack of participation in society, children having hungry days without lunch, no holiday travel and inferior education.

The food banks began as a way of saving food and alleviating hardship, but they have now become a gauge of poverty — or, as the chairperson of the national umbrella organization, Jochen Brühl, told DW, "a seismograph for societal situations and developments." He said that when the first Tafel opened in 1993, poverty was not yet a widely discussed topic in German society. According to him, the general tenor was that poverty did not exist in Germany: Whoever wanted to work, worked.

"Fortunately, that sentiment has changed dramatically over the past 30 years," Sabine Werth said. "There is no political party, no parliamentary group, nobody on the political scene who would say that there is no poverty in Germany."

Brühl says that this is partly down to the existence of food banks, with the fact that there is one in almost every city making poverty very tangible.

Sabine Werth is proud that the Berliner Tafel now employs more than 2700 volunteers

Image: Berliner Tafel

'Food is political'

A visit to one of the many food banks in Germany quickly provides a sense of this. In Eitorf, a village near Bonn, Paul Hüsson gives a tour of the food bank he runs with 56 volunteers. With a touch of noticeable pride, he leads the way to the courtyard where goods are distributed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and opens a small warehouse where bags of pasta, packets of flour and tins of vegetables are stacked. It does not take long for Hüsson to become political. He maintains that welfare payments are too low, and says that the €9 ($9.50) monthly public transport ticket, a pilot project that ran throughout Germany from June to August 2022, was a blessing for those with little money.

The food banks often intervene in sociopolitical debates — and that is intentional. "If we are genuinely engaging with these issues, that automatically makes us political," said Brühl. "Not in the sense of being affiliated with any particular political party. But we have influence at a sociopolitical level because we hold up a mirror to society and show what is obviously not working in some places." Or, as Sabine Werth puts it succinctly at the door to the Tafel in Berlin: "'Food is political."

Hüsson explained that he himself had much to learn about how complex poverty is. Currently, half the clients of his food bank are children. "That cuts deep," he said, pointing toward his heart.

Paul Hüsson and his food bank in the small western town of Eitorf support around 580 peopleI

mage: Lisa Hänel/DW

Keeping the state at arm's length

Ever since the food banks formed, there has also been criticism, with some saying they make things too easy for the state and people in need. What becomes clear in conversations with food bank volunteers and leaders, however, is that they expressly do not want to be a part of the government social welfare system.

All of them emphasize that it is wrong for social welfare offices to send people to food banks when they say their monthly allowances are not enough. "We are increasingly slipping into a situation where some are pricing us into our welfare system. But we do not want that, and we are vehemently opposed to it," said Brühl. In Berlin, said Sabine Werth, the food bank does not accept any financial support from the state for that reason, in order to maintain its independence.

The food banks engage in sociopolitical debates — a sticker on the door to the Berliner Tafel reads: 'Food is political'

Image: Berliner Tafel

What does the future hold for food banks?

The past three years have been extremely challenging for the food banks. Inflation, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused considerable strain, with a 50% increase in people in need. Many of the institutions are at their limit, as Brühl notes. But despite this, they keep going, he says.

At this 30-year milestone the food banks are reflecting on their development — from that first site in Berlin to hundreds throughout Germany, along with a sociopolitical advocacy role. But Sabine Werth waves aside the question of her vision for the next three decades. "I never thought in those dimensions," she said. "Thirty years ago, I never thought that we would be where we are now. Food bank work is full of new surprises every day."

Jochen Brühl says he thinks that the Tafel food banks' future is guaranteed. "I believe food banks will reinvent themselves as needed," he says, because they always react to what is happening in society, not the other way around.

Paul Hüsson in Eitorf is focused on practical concerns: He is trying to find new premises, as the current ones are slowly becoming too small. It looks as though food banks will still be needed in 30 years' time, even in affluent Germany.

This article was originally written in German.

Viruses in Cambodian bird flu cases identified as endemic clade
Reuters

Dead ducks are hung at a farm in the outskirts of Phnom Penh 

REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Feb 26 (Reuters) - The viruses that infected two people in Cambodia with H5N1 avian influenza have been identified as an endemic clade of bird flu circulating in the country, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

The cases reported last week had raised concerns they were caused by a new strain of H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b, which emerged in 2020 and has caused record numbers of deaths among wild birds and domestic poultry in recent months.

But work so far suggests this is not the case.

Preliminary genetic sequencing carried out in Cambodia led its health ministry to identify the viruses as H5 clade 2.3.2.1c, which has circulated in Cambodia among birds and poultry for many years and has sporadically caused infections in people, the CDC said in a statement on Saturday.

"Yes, this is an older clade of avian influenza that had been circulating around the region for a number of years and while it has caused human infections in the past, it has not been seen to cause human-to-human transmission. However, that doesn't mean that the threat is any less," said Erik Karlsson, director of the National Influenza Center of Cambodia and acting head of virology at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, which sequenced the virus.

He added that the response needed to be coordinated and swift to prevent any further spread and to limit exposure to any common source.

An investigation into the source and to detect any additional cases is ongoing, the CDC said, adding that so far there had been no indication of person-to-person spread.

Cambodia tested at least 12 people for the H5N1 strain last week, after an 11-year-old girl died from the virus in the first known transmission to humans in the country in nearly a decade.

The victim's father, who was part of a group the girl had been in contact with in a province east of the capital Phnom Penh, tested positive for the virus but did not exhibit any symptoms, Cambodia's Health Minister Mam Bunheng had said in a statement on Friday.

Only the girl's case has been sequenced and the father's case is still being worked on, Karlsson said.

The World Health Organization said it is working with Cambodian authorities following the cases, describing the situation as worrying due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals.


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Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London; editing by Barbara Lewis

Bernie Sanders: Scots should ‘go their own way’ if they want to

The Democrat was asked for his gut feeling on the issue as he appeared on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show

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Bernie Sanders was asked for his thoughts on the constitutional question (Jonathan Brady/PA)

SUN, 26 FEB, 2023 - 
NEIL POORAN, PA SCOTLAND POLITICAL REPORTER

US senator Bernie Sanders has aired his thoughts on the question of Scottish independence, saying “if they want to go their own way, they should be allowed to”.

The Democrat was asked for his gut feeling on the issue as he appeared on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show.

However, the left-wing senator conceded he was “not an expert on UK politics”.

Mr Sanders said: “Look, I’m not an expert on UK politics, I very much appreciate what the people of Scotland have done and what they’re fighting for.

“My initial thought, not being an expert, they want to go their own way, they should be allowed to.”

He then joked: “Don’t tell anybody I said that!”

The SNP said Mr Sanders was recognising Scotland’s right to hold an independence referendum.

MSP Fiona Hyslop said: “Any true democrat can see it is for the people of Scotland, not politicians, to decide their future – so Bernie Sanders’ support for Scots to have a say over their future comes as no surprise.

“The Tories and pro-Brexit Labour are increasingly isolated in their disgraceful denial of democracy – even members and senior figures in their own parties recognise this.

“The right for Scotland to decide its own future is unquestionable and the need for independence has never been so essential – it is the only way to escape the hugely damaging consequences of Westminster control and build a better future for everyone.”

Battlefield Band Anthem for the Common Man Full Album

What recent changes at  the top mean for Vietnam

Don’t expect major shifts in economic or foreign policy.
The key challenge is a nest of structural obstacles at home.

Vietnam’s parliament, the National Assembly, at its autumn session in Hanoi, 20 October 2022 

(Nhac Nguyen/AFP via Getty Images)

LE HONG HIEP
Published 27 Feb 2023 Vietnam


Within the span of the last few weeks, a series of major high-level personnel changes have taken place inside the Vietnamese government. On 5 January, deputy prime ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam were dismissed and replaced by Tran Hong Ha and Tran Luu Quang. Not a fortnight later, Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned, becoming the first Vietnamese president to do so. Currently, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan is serving as Acting President until the election of a new person to the job, which is expected to take place this week.

Officially, Phuc, Minh and Dam were held accountable for major corruption scandals that happened under their watch during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the reshuffle has sparked concerns among investors and caused some Vietnam watchers to question the nation’s long-held assertion of political stability, which has been a key factor helping Vietnam attract foreign investment over the years.
In terms of foreign policy, the departure of Western-trained deputy prime ministers Minh and Dam should not be interpreted as Vietnam moving closer to China.

However, there are strong grounds to believe that these personnel changes will not disrupt political stability in Vietnam, nor will they cause policy changes that would limit Vietnam’s investment potential. After all, this is not a change of the ruling party but to senior leadership positions in the government. As Vietnam is a one-party state, its key policies are controlled by the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and made collectively by its Politburo and Central Committee. There are no indications that these personnel changes foreshadow any forthcoming shifts in the CPV’s governance policies and exercise of power.

In terms of foreign policy, the departure of Western-trained deputy prime ministers Minh and Dam should not be interpreted as Vietnam moving closer to China. Rather, Vietnam has no choice but to continue its foreign policy of “diversification and multilateralisation”, striving to maintain a delicate balance between China and the United States and its allies. This is not only to help Vietnam avoid being entangled in the intensifying US–China strategic rivalry, but also because both the United States and China, as Vietnam’s largest export and import market respectively, are equally important economic partners that play vital roles in helping the CPV fulfill its primary domestic mission of providing economic growth

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The delayed implementation of large public infrastructure projects in Vietnam is worrying, especially in the context of the country’s ongoing credit crunch and falling export orders

 (Maika Elan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

That economic growth remains essential to the CPV’s performance-based legitimacy – a kind of social contract under which the Party’s monopoly of power will not be challenged as long as it can deliver socio-economic development and help improve the people’s livelihood. The party and its officials must therefore continue to promote reforms to drive growth, including expanding exports and attracting more investment.

But investors and Vietnam’s partners will rightly ask whether the personnel changes will deliver visible improvements in the country’s governance, as well as the implementation of socio-economic development projects. In recent years, Vietnam’s intense anti-corruption campaign has made government officials especially cautious, causing delays to many public-funded and private investment projects. Officials have been unwilling to sign off on key decisions, especially where land price determination is involved, which in turn has frustrated investors and constrained Vietnam’s economic growth. The delayed disbursement of large public infrastructure projects is particularly worrying, especially in the context of Vietnam’s ongoing credit crunch and falling export orders. Against this backdrop, the injection of new funds through infrastructure projects is essential to the country’s economic outlook.
With the anti-corruption campaign striving to clean up the political system, the Party leadership may now prioritise personal integrity and political loyalty over professional merits and performance.

There is a hope that the new leaders, with fewer legacy issues and a stronger mandate to deliver on economic performance, can help gradually address this challenge.

But three other factors may stand in the way.

First, with the anti-corruption campaign striving to clean up the political system, the Party leadership may now prioritise personal integrity and political loyalty over professional merits and performance. If this is the case, the incoming leaders may be safe political choices but not the most effective in promoting economic growth. If such a trend takes hold, Vietnam’s long-term economic prospects may be adversely impacted.

Second, structural constraints remain in place. Low salaries for public servants and state employees in Vietnam have a demoralising effect, and can fuel problems including corruption or a brain drain of skills in public institutions. Even the best-intentioned leaders will not be able to fulfill their mission without effective personnel at their disposal.

Third, a lack of transparency, entrenched corruption, and the overlapping and inefficient decision-making mechanisms among government agencies, which are often labelled as “system errors” in the Vietnamese context, also hinder progress. As such, many leaders must battle through the bureaucratic maze to make decisions and accomplish tasks. Some officials are even forced to “break the fence” to get things done, which can result in potential legal repercussions for them and their agencies.

In recent years, the CPV has implemented various measures to address these challenges. These include streamlining the bureaucracy to free up financial resources to increase salaries for public servants, and enacting policies to motivate government officials to take initiatives to spur economic growth while protecting them from any negative consequences of mistakes, provided that they are not involved in corrupt practices. Some institutional reforms have also been introduced to improve decision-making mechanisms. Such measures have had only limited success.

Whether the new leaders can bring about positive changes will depend on the CPV’s ability to resolve the structural problems that are constraining both the Party’s governance and the economy’s performance. Rather than focusing on the personnel changes themselves, investors and Vietnam watchers should be looking at how the country is addressing these structural constraints.

A product of the Lowy Institute Indo-Pacific Development Centre, with funding support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Casinos and consulting? Pandemic spurs tribes to diversify

By SUSAN HAIGH

 Slot machines at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel, owned and operated by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, are seen in Battle Creek, Mich., Aug. 5, 2019. The casino shut down in the early months of COVID-19 pandemic, but the financial impact was blunted in part by the tribe's non-gambling businesses, including a firm involved in drone development for the federal government that was deemed "essential." (Nick Buckley/Battle Creek Enquirer via AP, File)

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) — When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut for three months in 2020, its owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, had to reckon with decades of relying heavily on gambling as the tribe’s main source of revenue.

“The fact that the casino revenues went from millions to zero overnight just fully reiterated the need for diverse revenue streams,” said Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler.

The 1,000-member tribe has since expanded its efforts to get into the federal government contracting business, making it one of several tribal nations to look beyond the casino business more seriously after the coronavirus crisis. Tribal leaders and tribal business experts say the global pandemic has been the latest and clearest sign that tribal governments with casinos can’t depend solely on slot machines and poker rooms to support future generations.

In Michigan, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, or Gun Lake Tribe, recently announced a 25-year plan to develop hundreds of acres near its casino into a corridor with housing, retail, manufacturing and a new 15-story hotel. A non-gambling entity owned by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, also in Michigan, is now selling “NativeWahl” burger franchises to other tribes after forming a 2021 partnership with Wahlburgers, the national burger chain created by the celebrity brothers Paul, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg.

Some tribes, with and without casinos, have gotten involved in a wide range of non-gambling businesses, such as trucking, construction, consulting, health care, real estate, cannabis and marketing over the past decade or longer while others have been branching out more recently.

“While enterprise diversification can come with costs, its necessity became clear during the early phases of the pandemic, when tribally owned casinos were shut down to mitigate COVID-19 transmission and gaming-dependent tribes were left with little incoming revenue,” according to a new report from the Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

The report found that many tribes are increasingly doing business with the federal government, especially the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Mashantucket Pequots’ non-gambling entity, Command Holdings, last year made its largest acquisition to date: WWC Global, a Florida-based management consulting firm that predominantly works with federal agencies, including the defense and state departments. WWC announced in December that it had been awarded a $37.5 million contract supporting the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

WWC Global CEO Jon Panamaroff applauded the Mashantucket Pequots’ casino and hospitality business but noted that it can be subject to the “ups and downs of the market,” making it important to branch out economically. A member of the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska, he credited the Mashantucket Pequots’ tribal leaders with doubling down on diversification efforts during the pandemic instead of “shying away and trying to hunker down.”

Butler said the tribe hopes non-gambling revenues, including from a planned family resort with a 91,000-square-foot (8,450-square-meter) water park that’s expected to open in 2025, will eventually comprise 50% to 80% of the Mashantucket Pequots’ portfolio, providing “stability and certainty” when another challenging event undoubtedly will happen.

“You think about the financial crisis in ’08 and now COVID. And so, something’s going to happen again,” Butler said. “We’ve learned from past mistakes, and we want to be ready for it in the future.”

Even before the pandemic hit, some tribal casinos were already facing competitive pressures from the advent of other gambling options, including legalized online wagering on sports and casino games in some states. At the same time, traditional patrons of brick-and-mortar casinos are getting older.

“Tribal economies are at an inflection point because gaming markets are maturing across the U.S.,” said Dawson Her Many Horses, head of Native American banking for Wells Fargo and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. “As casino revenues flatten, tribes will be looking for new business opportunities in other industries.”

Terri Fitzpatrick, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s chief real estate and global attraction officer, has noted “tremendous growth” in non-gambling-related tribal businesses over the last decade in Michigan. Most tribes within the state now engage in some form of economic development other than casinos.

The pandemic, Fitzpatrick said, really highlighted the importance of such a strategy, given the financial impact of COVID-19 on tribal schools, health care centers, assistance for older adults, day care programs and other services.

“It wasn’t about a loss of revenue,” she said. “It was a loss of, ‘What we can do for our community and in our community.’”

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi in Michigan saw its successful casino shut down in the early months of the pandemic. But the financial blow was blunted in part by the tribe’s non-gambling businesses, including a firm that’s involved in drone development for the federal government and was deemed “essential.”

The tribe’s economic development entity, Waséyabek Development Company LLC, now has mapped out a plan to generate at least one-third of the revenue needed to support the tribe from activities other than gambling by 2040, its president and CEO, Deidra Mitchell, said.

That doesn’t mean tribes are giving up on gambling. Some are even expanding it. The gambling and hospitality entity owned by the Mohegan Tribe in eastern Connecticut announced this month it is partnering with a New York developer to try and secure a New York City gambling license and build a proposed entertainment district in Manhattan’s East Side. Meanwhile, the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma is part of another consortium that wants to build a casino and entertainment complex on New York’s Coney Island.

The National Indian Gaming Association reported in August that $39 billion in gross gambling revenue was generated in fiscal year 2021, the most in tribal gambling history. That figure, which accounts for 243 tribes across 29 states, increased 40% over the previous year.

Patrick Davison, vice president of Native American gaming and finance at PNC Bank, said he’s been working with tribal officials who still want to build casinos but also want to avoid overbuilding. He said the pandemic was “a real eye-opener for tribes” as officials consider their tribes’ futures in the gambling business.

“There’s a lot more thought being put into it,” he said.

Zelensky: Return Crimea and peace will be restored

9:01 am, February 26, 2023
Source: Volodymyr Zelensky

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky published a Telegram post marking the anniversary of a rally that took place at the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol in 2014, where pro-Ukrainian activists opposed Crimea separating from Ukraine.

“Russian aggression started with Crimea nine years ago. Once we return Crimea, we will restore peace. This is our land. Our people. Our history. We will return the Ukrainian flag to every corner of Ukraine. Qırım serbest olacaq [Crimean Tatar: Crimea will be free]!” he wrote.




On February 26, 2014, pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian groups clashed outside of the Crimean parliament building. The latter group was led by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, the representative body of the indigenous people of Crimea. Around 30 people were injured in the clashes, and two were killed. Less than a month later, Russia annexed Crimea, and Russian authorities began persecuting Crimean Tatars.

A number of Ukrainian and Western military experts believe that Ukraine will succeed in liberating Crimea in 2023.

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3 days ago

Will Lebanon be classified as failed state?

News Bulletin Reports
2023-02-26 | 


Lebanon is at the intersection of two roads; the first and second are possible, according to the latest study prepared by Garbis Iradian, chief economist for the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region at the Institute of International Finance in Washington.
In light of the country's political stalemate, the lack of reforms, and the absence of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Lebanon will be classified as a "failed state," similar to Somalia.

No new projects, investments, or financial inflows will be made. The economy will continue to shrink rather than expand.

Additionally, according to the study, the size of the economy is expected to decline from about $18 billion in 2022 to $13 billion in 2023, almost a third of what it was in 2019.

However, an optimistic scenario can still happen.

Support for the country will begin if a president is elected and a capable reformist government is formed that carries out the IMF requirements.

What would the results be?

The economy will regain confidence, new projects and investments will be launched, and foreign currency will enter the country through an IMF loan or the international community.

Accordingly, the economy will grow to $24.1 billion this year, reaching levels close to before the crisis (about $50 billion by 2025).

What about the fluctuating exchange rate?

In the pessimistic scenario, the chaos with the diversity of exchange rates will remain. And the exchange rate of the US dollar in the black market will hit a record high reaching more than 110,000 Lebanese pounds by the end of this year, accompanied by a new wave of inflation.

Moreover, the reserves of Bank du Liban will drop to around $6 billion due to the country's ongoing lack of USD.

While in the optimistic scenario, the currency rate in the black market will improve to reach LBP 40,000 or less by the end of 2023. At the same time, BDL reserves will also increase.

In addition, due to reforms and investments, the Lebanese will witness a significant improvement in public services, including power, water, infrastructure, transportation, and others.

Consequently, a large number of Lebanese expatriates will think about returning.

Yet, the decision today remains in the hands of the officials.