HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

Former Spanish king could face trial after UK court rejects sovereign immunity

March 24, 2022

FILE PHOTO: Former Spanish King Juan Carlos attends a bullfighting at the bullring in Aranjuez

MADRID (Reuters) -Former Spanish King Juan Carlos could face trial in Britain in a harassment case brought against him by his former lover after the English High Court ruled on Thursday that he does not have the right to sovereign immunity.

Danish national Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn, who lives in Britain and has testified that she was romantically involved with the former monarch and received financial information and documents from him, alleged multiple acts of harassment between 2012 and 2020.

"If the case goes further, the Defendant will have an opportunity to defend the claims made against him and, ultimately, the Court will hear evidence and make a decision after a trial," the ruling read.

Juan Carlos's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Royal Palace declined to comment. The former king has denied the allegations previously, as the court acknowledged.

"It is right to record, in this judgment, that the Defendant denies what he calls 'unsubstantiated allegations' made against him by the Claimant and any alleged wrongdoing by the Spanish State in the strongest terms," the ruling read.

It was not immediately clear if Sayn-Wittgenstein would seek a trial and if so whether it would be a criminal or civil action.

Spanish and Swiss prosecutors recently dropped a series of investigations into alleged fraud by Juan Carlos, 84, who left Spain for the United Arab Emirates in August 2020 under a cloud of scandal and has lived there since.

The Spanish national prosecutor's office said Juan Carlos's constitutional immunity as a monarch would have protected him even if they could prove wrongdoing in the fraud cases.

The formerly revered Juan Carlos, who was forced to abdicate in 2014 following a series of scandals including his affair with Sayn-Wittgenstein, is now seen as a liability for his son, King Felipe.

Despite the immunity in Spain, British judge Mr Justice Nicklin found there were no grounds for state immunity in the harassment case as it had no relation to governmental or sovereign activity, opening the door to a trial.

The court ruling said no investigation into the harassment claim were carried out.

"Today's judgment demonstrates that this defendant cannot hide behind position, power, or privilege to avoid this claim," Sayn-Wittgenstein's lawyer Robin Rathmell said in a statement.

"This is the first step on the road to justice."

(Reporting by Belén Carreño, Emma Pinedo and Inti Landauro; Writing by Nathan Allen; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

A REPUBLIC

Jamaica PM tells British royals island nation wants to be independent

Kate Chappell and Brian Ellsworth
Wed, March 23, 2022,



KINGSTON (Reuters) -Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate on Wednesday his country wants to be "independent" and address "unresolved" issues, a day after protesters called on the United Kingdom to pay reparations for slavery.

The royal couple arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday as part of a week-long tour of former British Caribbean colonies, but have faced public questioning of the British Empire's legacy.

In a speech later on Wednesday, Prince William did not address calls to remove his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, as head of state.

The royal couple's trip comes after Barbados became a republic nearly four months ago by removing the queen as the sovereign head of state, a move Jamaica has begun to study.

"There are issues here which as you would know are unresolved," Holness said during a photo shoot with William and Kate.

"But Jamaica is as you would see a country that is very proud... and we're moving on. And we intend... to fulfill our true ambition of being an independent, fully developed and prosperous country."

Dozens of people gathered on Tuesday outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional Rastafarian songs and holding banners with the phrase "seh yuh sorry" - a local patois phrase that urged Britain to apologise. [L2N2VP2CB]

In a speech at the governor general's residence attended by Holness and other dignitaries, William also stopped short of apologising for slavery, though he did say he agreed with his father's declaration that "the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history".

William, second-in-line to the British throne, also expressed his "profound sorrow" for the institution of slavery, which he said should never have existed.

Jamaican officials have previously said the government is studying the process of reforming the constitution to become a republic. Experts say the process could take years and would require a referendum.

Jamaica's government said last year it will ask Britain for compensation for forcibly transporting an estimated 600,000 Africans to work on sugarcane and banana plantations that created fortunes for British slave holders.

(Reporting by Kate Chappell in Kingston and Brian Ellsworth in Miami; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

EXPLAINER: Why the South gets more killer tornadoes at night

SETH BORENSTEIN

March 24, 2022, 

Forget “The Wizard of Oz.” Tornadoes are causing far more deaths and destruction east and south of Kansas these days. And they’re often doing it in the dark of night.

Tuesday night’s deadly tornado that struck the New Orleans area is the ideal example of what experts say is the 21st century problem with twisters: Killer tornadoes have shifted a bit out of the vast emptiness of the Great Plains, more into the Southeast where there are more people to hit, poorer populations and more trees to obscure twisters from view.

And if that's not enough, these Southeast twisters are more likely to strike at night when they are more dangerous.

Here’s a closer look at what's behind the shift:

WHY ARE TORNADOES KILLING MORE PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE GREAT PLAINS?

Since 2000, nearly 89% of the 1,653 Americans killed by tornadoes — not counting this week’s victims — lived east of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, according to an Associated Press analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.

Last year, 100 people were killed by tornadoes in Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. One person was killed in Texas.

It’s not so much a meteorology problem but a people one, tornado experts said.

“It’s a function of the human-built environment,” said Victor Gensini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University who specializes in severe storms. “The Mid-South does get a lot of tornadoes, but in the Mid-South we have more things to hit. We have more bull’s eyes on the dartboard. We have more cities. We have more weak frame housing stock. Tornadoes happen more often there at night, which is exactly what we saw last night.”

Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, said traditional 20th century tornadoes, the type that make Oklahoma and Kansas famous, are less deadly because they go for miles without anything in the way. In 1991, he and his wife chased for 66 miles a tornado in Oklahoma that had winds hit 286 mph. It hit two barns; no one but a few cows were hurt.

Put that storm near New Orleans at night and dozens of people would be killed, probably many more. In the Southeast “all it takes is a weather event to occur and you’ll have people in the way,” Brooks said.

DOES CLIMATE CHANGE HAVE A ROLE?

In 2018, Brooks and Gensini published a scientific study showing deadly tornadoes were happening less frequently in the tornado alley of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas and more frequently in “tornado fatality alley, which is the Mid-South,” Gensini said.

What’s likely happening is that the West is getting drier because of human-caused climate change, which makes it harder for the air to become moist and unstable, which is crucial for tornado formation, they said. The Southeast is getting warmer air, which holds more water vapor, which creates that important instability, Gensini said.

Climate models predict this type shift 50 years in the future or so, yet it appears to be happening now, Gensini said.

But Gensini, Brooks and University of Ohio meteorology professor Jana Houser emphasized that they don’t see a climate change signal in Tuesday’s deadly Louisiana tornado.

There’s a La Nina, a natural periodic cooling of parts of the Pacific that shifts global weather patterns, and that usually means more tornadoes in the Southeast because of changes in the jet stream and moisture, they said.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT NIGHT TORNADOES ?

Tuesday’s nighttime tornado illustrated a problem because when twisters hit at night, people can’t see them coming as easily and often don’t react as well, the tornado experts said.

About three-quarters of the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma and other Great Plains states occur between 5 and 9 p.m. so people know when to expect them and its more daylight, Brooks said. But in the Southeast they can hit any time, which means more often at night than in Oklahoma, making them more dangerous.

Another reason they happen more at night in the Southeast is because they happen more in the springtime and there are just fewer daylight hours, Gensini said. Spring storms are juicier and stronger than summer ones so they don’t need the sun’s daytime heat to add that extra kick of energy to spur tornadoes, he said.

WHAT ABOUT THE LANDSCAPE?

The Southeast is also hurt by having more trees, hills and buildings that block people’s views of incoming storms.

When there’s a tornado warning in the Southeast, often people are “out to their front porch and they don’t really see anything, and it just kind of looks like, you know, a dark sky,” Houser said. “They may be less likely to actually heed those warnings than if they are walking out their door and they see a tornado on the horizon, even if it’s far away. So there’s a little bit of geography that plays a role there.”

ANY GOOD NEWS FOR THE REGION?

The one advantage tornadoes in the Southeast have is that they are easier for meteorologists to forecast the conditions ripe for bad outbreaks much earlier. Tuesday’s severe storm was warned about eight days in advance by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, which is unusual, Brooks said.

White House releases report on Native American voting rights

FELICIA FONSECA

March 24, 2022, 

FILE - People wait to vote in-person at Reed High School in Sparks, Nev., prior to polls closing on Nov. 3, 2020. Elected officials in a northern Nevada county have rejected sweeping election reforms that would have posted sheriff's deputies at polling sites and required most votes to be cast with paper ballots counted by hand. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Local, state and federal officials must do more to ensure Native Americans facing persistent, longstanding and deep-rooted barriers to voting have equal access to ballots, a White House report released Thursday said.

Native Americans and Alaska Natives vote at lower rates than the national average but have been a key constituency in tight races and states with large Native populations. A surge in voter turnout among tribal members in Arizona, for example, helped lead Joe Biden to victory in the state that hadn’t supported a Democrat in a White House contest since 1996.

The Biden administration's report comes a year after he issued an executive order promoting voting rights and establishing a steering committee to look at particular barriers to voting in Indigenous communities. Those include state laws and local practices that disenfranchise Indigenous voters, unequal access to early voting and reliance on a mail system that is unreliable, the report stated.

“For far too long, members of tribal nations and Native communities have faced unnecessary burdens when they attempt to exercise their sacred right to vote,” the White House said.

The administration called on Congress to pass voting rights legislation, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and another focused on Native Americans. But those bills are going nowhere. Republicans wouldn't support them, and Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have been unwilling to override the filibuster to allow the legislation to pass.

In the states, Republican legislatures and governors recently have passed dozens of restrictive laws dealing with voting and elections. They have limited the use of mail voting, which proved hugely popular during the pandemic, implemented strict voter ID requirements, eliminated ballot drop boxes and created several penalties for local election officials who could be accused of violating certain laws.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year in a broader case over Arizona voting regulations to uphold a prohibition on counting ballots cast in the wrong precinct and returning early ballots for another person. Native American voting rights advocates saw it as another notch in a long history of voting discrimination.

Bills that Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed last year to codify the practice of giving voters who didn’t sign mail-in ballots until 7 p.m. on Election Day to do so and that address voter rolls, also complicate voting, tribal leaders said.

Democrats say the new laws are designed to target their voters, although the mail voting restrictions also tend to hurt Republicans.

In the absence of action, the Biden administration is seeking changes at more local levels while maintaining pressure on Congress. The White House pointed to enhanced safeguards for Native American voters in Nevada, Washington and Colorado and suggested other states follow their lead.

The report recommended further recommended that jurisdictions serving Native voters offer language assistance even when they're not legally required to. And the U.S. Postal Service should consider adding routes or boosting personnel in Indian Country, the report said.

The White House highlighted efforts within federal agencies that include the Interior Department working to designate tribal colleges in New Mexico and Kansas as voter registration centers. The Treasury Department will provide voter education through its income tax assistance centers, the White House said.

And the U.S. Department of Justice has more than doubled its voting rights enforcement to ensure election officials are complying with federal law, senior administration officials said. The administration noted, though, that the protections in the Voting Rights Act to prohibit racial discrimination in voting no longer are adequate.

Tribal leaders in Alaska told the steering committee that despite successful litigation to ensure language assistance, the services haven't reached their communities, according to the committee's report. A tribal leader on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana said a county election official did not comply with a directive to provide drop boxes on the reservation until three days before the election, the report states.

Poverty among Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, hostility between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and cultural disrespect also impact voting patterns in Indigenous communities, the administration noted.

The White House report will be translated into six Indigenous languages: Navajo, Ojibwe, Cherokee, Yup'ik, Lakota and Native Hawaiian.

The report builds on the work of other groups, including the Native American Rights Fund that outlined the challenges to voting in Indian Country, deepened by the pandemic: online registration hampered by spotty or no internet service, ballots delivered to rarely-checked post office boxes and turnout curbed by a general reluctance to vote by mail.

“It is a strong first step in ensuring that Native American voters have equal access to the vote,” the Native American Rights Fund said Thursday.

Despite the challenges, Native American voting rights groups increasingly have mobilized over the years to boost turnout that is about 13% lower than the national average, according to the White House. The states will the largest percentage of Native Americans and Alaska Natives are: Alaska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana.

___

Fonseca covers Indigenous communities on AP's Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FonsecaAP

Tigray rebels commit to ‘cessation of hostilities’ after Ethiopia’s truce announcement

Fri, 25 March 2022


Tigrayan rebels agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” on Friday, a new turning point in the nearly 17-month war in northern Ethiopia following the government's announcement of an indefinite humanitarian truce a day earlier.

The rebels said in a statement sent to AFP early Friday that they were "committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities effective immediately," and urged Ethiopian authorities to hasten delivery of emergency aid into Tigray, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

Since war broke out in November 2020, thousands have died, and many more have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict has expanded from Tigray to the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government declared a surprise truce, saying it hoped the move would ease humanitarian access to Tigray and "pave the way for the resolution of the conflict" in northern Ethiopia.

It called on the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to “desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighbouring regions.”

The rebels in turn urged “the Ethiopian authorities to go beyond empty promises and take concrete steps to facilitate unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray.”

The conflict erupted when Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region's former ruling party, saying the move came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

Fighting has dragged on for over a year, triggering a humanitarian crisis, as accounts have emerged of mass rapes and massacres, with both sides accused of human rights violations.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced in Tigray, according to the UN.

The region has also been subject to what the UN says is a de facto blockade.

The United States has accused Abiy's government of preventing aid from reaching those in need, while the authorities in turn have blamed the rebels for the obstruction.

Nearly 40 percent of the people in Tigray, a region of six million people, face "an extreme lack of food", the UN said in January, with fuel shortages forcing aid workers to deliver medicines and other crucial supplies by foot.

Ceasefire efforts

Western nations have been urging both sides to agree to a ceasefire, with the United States, the European Union, the UK and Canada hailing the truce declaration.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “urges all parties to build on this announcement to advance a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire, including necessary security arrangements.”

“The #EU welcomes the declaration of a humanitarian truce by the Gov of #Ethiopia and the statement on cessation of hostilities by the Tigrayan Authorities”, the EU delegation to Ethiopia said on Twitter.

Diplomats led by Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union's special envoy for the Horn of Africa, have been trying for months to broker peace talks, with little evident progress so far.

The government previously declared a “unilateral ceasefire” in Tigray in June last year, after the TPLF mounted a shock comeback and retook the region from federal forces before expanding into Amhara and Afar.

But fighting intensified in the second half of 2021, with the rebels at one point claiming to be within 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the capital Addis Ababa, before reaching a stalemate.

(AFP)

Australian school students join global climate protest


Australian students took to the streets of Sydney on Friday

 to demand government action against climate change 

(AFP/Muhammad FAROOQ)

Fri, March 25, 2022,

Hundreds of school students rallied outside Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's official Sydney residence Friday kicking off a "global climate strike" demanding action to stop the world heating up.

They waved banners outside Kirribilli House reading "Don't be a fossil fool" and "Scotty coal 4eva" in protest of Morrison's support for coal, a major contributor to emissions of gases that trap the Earth's heat.

The prime minister has promised to back coal mines for as long as they are financially viable, arguing that coal is important to the country's resource-rich economy and necessary to provide affordable power.

The young protesters also marched down Sydney's streets in the latest demonstration organised as part of a global movement originally launched by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg in 2018.

"We are angry at the Morrison government. We're seeing climate disaster after climate disaster with bushfires and floods," said Natasha Abhayawickrama, 17, a protest organizer.

Australia suffered one of its worst bushfire seasons on record in the Black Summer fires of 2019-2020.

The country has also recently emerged from a two-week rain and flooding disaster that killed more than 20 people as it engulfed a string of east coast towns and swept cars from the roads.

"We know that it's fossil fuels that are exacerbating these floods and these climate disasters," said Abhayawickrama, warning that young voters would vote in favour of climate action in the next federal elections, expected to be held in May.

Another protester, 13-year-old Ella O'Dwyer-Oshlack, said she had been affected by the east coast floods.

"I was really angry that I lost pretty much everything and couldn't do anything about it," she said.

"I'm afraid for the future and I'm afraid that things like this could happen again. And then my future and my kids' future will not look very good at all."

djw/al/cwl

Great Barrier Reef: Australia confirms new mass bleaching event

Fri, March 25, 2022, 

Bleaching occurs when stressed corals expel colour-giving algae

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is being devastated by another mass bleaching event, officials have confirmed.

It is the fourth time in six years that such severe and widespread damage - caused by warm sea temperatures - has been detected.

Only two mass bleaching events had ever been recorded until 2016.

Scientists say urgent action on climate change is needed if the world's largest reef system is to survive.

There are particular concerns that this bleaching event has occurred in the same year as a La Niña weather phenomenon. Typically in Australia, a La Niña brings cooler temperatures.

Scientists are now fearful of the damage that could be caused by the next El Niño.

The declaration was made by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority which has been conducting aerial surveys.

Recently it warned that water temperatures in parts of the reef had been up to 4C above the March average.

Stretching over 2,300km (1,400 miles) off Australia's north-east coast, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world.

Bleaching occurs when under-stress corals expel the algae living within them that gives them colour and life. They can recover but only if conditions allow it.

Why is the Great Barrier Reef in trouble?

"Weather patterns over the next couple of weeks continue to remain critical in determining the overall extent and severity of coral bleaching across the marine park," the reef authority said.

Last year, Australia controversially lobbied to exclude the reef from a Unesco list of World Heritage Sites that are "in danger".

It has recently pledged money towards reef-protection measures, but critics said these did not address the dominant threat of climate change.

A climate laggard among rich nations, Australia is often criticised for its strong support of fossil fuel industries.

Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres singled out Australia as a global "holdout" on stronger efforts to cut emissions by 2030.

Two UN scientists are currently in Queensland on a reef-monitoring mission.

The Australian Conservation Foundation said it was "truly heart-breaking" to have another mass bleaching confirmed.

"These repeated bleaching events have hit the tourism industry hard and are a blow to everyone who loves this incredible natural wonder, which is home to a vast array of sea creatures," it said in a statement.

The first mass bleaching event was seen in 1998. It was again observed in 2002, 2016, 2017 and 2020.

Fleeing Putin, Russians resettle in pro-Kremlin Serbia


Miodrag SOVILJ
Fri, 25 March 2022,


The Russians by and large resettling in Serbia have sought to flee from the catastrophic fallout at home sparked by Putin's invasion of Ukraine 


For centuries, Serbia and Russia have been united by deep fraternal links thanks to their Slavic and Orthodox heritage. And while Serbians have welcomed Russians with open arms, it is not without contradictions 

In the weeks following the invasion of Ukraine, Serbia has become a haven for many Russians hoping to escape abroad, with the country providing one of the few regular flights routes into Europe following mass bans across the continent 

Two Russians who have elected to make a new life in Serbia take pictures of a mural depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Belgrade

 (AFP/Vladimir Zivojinovic)

As free speech was curtailed, her friends imprisoned and the Russian economy tanked in the days after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Marina packed her bags and fled Moscow.

But more than a thousand miles away in her new home in Serbia, the 41-year-old former travel agent has found herself unable to escape the long arm of Russian propaganda in Belgrade where the Kremlin's war enjoys broad support.

"Some locals tell me they support Russia when they learn I am from Russia. They say it to express their support, but it turns out this support extends to supporting Putin and his actions and the war," Marina told AFP, who asked to withhold her surname.


In the weeks following the invasion, Serbia has become a haven for many Russians hoping to escape abroad, with the country providing one of the few regular flight routes into Europe following mass bans across the continent.

For centuries, Serbia and Russia have been united by deep fraternal links thanks to their Slavic and Orthodox heritage. And while Serbians have welcomed Russians with open arms, it is not without contradictions.

The Russians by and large resettling in Serbia have sought to flee from the catastrophic fallout at home sparked by Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Serbia, however, has remained an outlier in Europe where large swaths of its population continue to back Putin's self-described war against the West in Ukraine.

Much of the support for Putin is rooted in the collective hatred of NATO, with memories of the alliance's bombing of the country in the 1990s still fresh in the minds of many in Serbia.

- Rage and despair -

In Belgrade, hundreds of demonstrators hailing Putin and condemning NATO have taken to the streets, as the government has wafted between condemning the war at the United Nations while refusing to sanction Moscow at home.

The catch-22 has led to occasional confrontation, according to Marina, who said conversations with Serbia supporters of Putin oftens sparks feelings ranging from rage, despair, and shame.

"It turns out that this person is bombarded with Russian propaganda and actually believes that pictures of destroyed cities and dead people in Ukraine are fakes," says Marina.

"And this mindset is so strong I don't believe I can do something so I give up and quit the conversation."

There is no official tally of the number of Russians who have decamped to Serbia -- they can stay visa free for 30 days -- but a Telegram group for new arrivals already numbers in the hundreds.

Among the conversation topics on the group includes advice on how to handle the unwanted affection from Serbians backing Putin.

IT specialist Iakov Borevich said he chose Belgrade due to the "closeness of culture" with Russia and the "mentality" but has grappled with some of the pro-Kremlin sentiments on the street, including a mural of Putin near his new apartment that says "Brother" in Cyrillic.

But Borevich said he also remains somewhat sympathetic to the outpouring of emotion in Serbia that has also entangled many of his fellow Russians who often conflate patriotism with supporting Putin.

"Perhaps, for the population of the country, for Serbia, the face of the country is the leader, and this manifests as positive feelings towards Russia," says Borevich.

- 'Not a patriot' -

For many, leaving Russia was a difficult decision -- one that was made in a matter of hours while packing a few belongings and leaving behind friends and loved ones.

"My dad told me I was not a patriot anymore... and that I have to stay and contribute to the economy," says Kirill, a 31-year-old civil engineer, who recently relocated to Belgrade.

"But I completely understood that if I stayed, all the taxes I'd pay would be a straight contribution to the war."

Even still, he remains unsure if he will stay in Serbia or return home to St Petersburg.

Others fear they will never go back amid Putin's ongoing crackdown on dissent as a new iron curtain closes off Russia from much of the world.

"As soon as I came here, I felt a great weight lifted off my shoulders," said Marina.

"Now I am horrified to see what is happening in Russia."

mbs-ds/cdw

Martyr or killer? Corsican nationalist's death inflames island

People waved Corsican flags and held candles as the hearse carrying Colonna's coffin arrived ahead of his burial Friday 

Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA AFP


Issued on: 25/03/2022 

Ajaccio (France) (AFP) – A jailed Corsican nationalist whose death in prison has turned him into a martyr for some is to be buried on Friday amid unease in Paris about fierce public support for the convicted killer.

Yvan Colonna, a former goat herder on the French Mediterranean island, was announced dead on Monday after being strangled and attacked in prison on March 2.

The 61-year-old was serving a life sentence after his conviction of assassinating a senior French official in 1998, but he is seen as a hero by some for his role in the violent struggle for Corsican independence.

"We want to show to the French state that there is a Corsican people," local musician and pro-independence activist Jean Mattei, 72, told AFP on Wednesday night during a vigil for Colonna attended by thousands.

"When you touch one of us, we're all there, whatever our divisions," he said.

Colonna will be buried Friday in his family fiefdom of Cargese on the rugged western coast of what is known as the Island of Beauty due to its mountains and pristine coastline.

News of the attack against him by an Islamic extremist sparked several nights of rioting in early March and led the government to make a surprise offer of talks about increased autonomy for the island.
Tributes

An estimated 4,000 people lined the streets on Wednesday evening after his body arrived by plane at the island's capital of Ajaccio, many burning flares and flying the black-and-white Corsica flag.

Marches, candle-lit vigils and a decision to lower flags on the regional council building and at Ajaccio airport this week underlined public affection for Colonna while causing deep unease on the French mainland.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the decision to lower flags was "an error and inappropriate" in an interview on Wednesday night.

Colonna was tried and convicted three times for murdering top French official Claude Erignac by shooting him at point-blank range in the head in 1998 as he headed to a theatre performance with his wife.

Although he maintained his innocence, Colonna went on the run before being arrested four years later when police tracked him down to a remote mountainous area in the south of the island.

"The death in the way it happened, in prison, for Yvan Colonna was an offence," Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure told RTL radio on Thursday.

"But to make him into a hero, to give the impression that he is a model for the young generations, is a scandal," he said.

The killing of Colonna and the subsequent riots have given a boost to the Corsican cause, however, with Macron's government agreeing to talks about greater political freedoms for the island.

The leader of Corsica's pro-autonomy regional council, Gilles Simeoni, welcomed the proposals as "important words that open up prospects, but they ought now to be extended and firmed up."

burs-adp/js/yad

Corsican nationalist Colonna dies after attack in jail: France

A symbol of Corsica’s tensions with mainland France dies weeks after falling into a coma following an attack in prison.

Colonna was serving a life sentence at a prison in the southern French city of Arles [French Interior Ministry handout via Reuters]

Published On 22 Mar 202222 Mar 2022

Yvan Colonna, a jailed Corsican nationalist who became a symbol of the Mediterranean island’s tensions with mainland France, has died after falling into a coma following an attack by a fellow inmate, according to the French government.

Corsica has a history of separatist violence and the government is set to keep a close eye on any signs of it, just weeks before France’s presidential election.

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Violent protests rocked the island after Colonna was strangled by another prisoner in early March.

“The dramatic circumstances in which he was killed are clearly very shocking,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said in an interview with Europe 1 radio on Tuesday. “It’s necessary now to call for calm and for dialogue.”

Mourners peacefully gathered in two Corsican towns to pay respects to Colonna on Monday evening, local media reported.

Demonstrators hold a banner as they take part in a protest on March 13 [File: Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP]

Colonna was serving a life sentence at a prison in the southern French city of Arles for the 1998 murder of Claude Erignac, who as prefect of Corsica embodied the power of the French state on the island.

Corsican protesters clashed with police after the attack on Colonna, prompting an emergency visit by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin who said Paris could discuss autonomy for the island.

Roger Antech, editor-in-chief of newspaper Corse Matin, told FranceInfo radio that he felt the situation would calm down out of respect for Colonna’s family until his burial, but that there was “no guarantee as to what happens afterwards”.

French prosecutors launched a “terrorism” investigation after the attack on Colonna.

“All light must be shed on the sequence of events that led to this unacceptable situation,” Attal said.

TOY SOLDIERS & CONSCRIPTS
Ukraine war: why are so many Russian generals being killed?

THE CONVERSATION
Published: March 22, 2022

Yet another Russian general, Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev, is reported to have been killed by Ukrainian forces in a conflict that is less than a month old. Mordvichev’s death was announced on Ukraine social media on March 20 2022, but has yet to be confirmed by the Kremlin. His death, if confirmed, will bring the number of Russian generals killed by the Ukrainian armed forces since the war began to five.

The role of an army general is to command and supervise strategy rather than conduct tactical actions on the ground. As a result, casualties at this rank have tended to be low. Comparing this figure of five reported dead in less than a month with the total number of US generals killed between 1965 and 1975 in Vietnam – just 12 – you have to ask why so many Russian generals are dying.

It is very likely that the targeting of Russian senior ground commanders forms part of a wider Ukrainian strategy to disrupt their enemies’ command-and-control network. The Ukrainian forces are aware of the leadership approach that has been adopted by the Russian armed forces since 2001, much of which is based on international analysis conducted by the US and Nato agencies. Its rigid hierarchical system, overseen by an autocratic leader in Vladimir Putin, condemns junior ranks to a chain of perpetual fear, with little allocated for independent thinking or decision-making.

Putin manages the military in much the same way as he does the wider Russian state, choosing loyalty to him above professional competence. This is no more clearly illustrated than the choice of Sergei Shoigu as Russian defence minister in 2012. Lacking any military experience or understanding, Shoigu was chosen as he posed little political threat to Putin or established military tradition. He has been criticised by many for failing to introduce major reforms after the Georgian campaign in 2008, which highlighted key failings in the Russian military in carrying out combat operations.

Corruption in the Russian military

Corruption is endemic within all aspects of Russian life – and this includes the military. A recent report, published as part of the London-based International Government Defence Integrity Index, identified that the Russian military had a corruption risk of high “owing to extremely limited external oversight of the policies, budgets, activities and acquisitions of defence institutions”. The report also highlighted a lack of transparency on procurement and the issuing of defence contracts, with a rating of only 36 out of 100 in this category. Loyalty to Putin may have landed senior leaders a place in the inner circle, but this has been at the expense of the personnel they serve.

The public procurement sector often carries with it opportunities for corrupt practices, and this is no different in the Russian state. A report issued by the Risk and Compliance Portal (2021), which examines corrupt practices within states, claims that: “Bribes, kickbacks and other irregular payments are often exchanged to obtain public contracts. Companies report favouritism in decisions of government officials, and public funds are frequently diverted due to corruption.”

The report also states that military contracts were more likely to receive approval based not on the quality or standard of the bid, but rather on the company’s personal relationships with state officials and loyalty to the Kremlin.

Corruption in Russia’s armed forces may have damaged its effectiveness as a fighting unit. 

EPA/Yuri Kochetov

Military reforms over the past decade have failed to enforce a clear agenda of development and instead have allowed many of their military units to become low grade and poorly trained. A recent US Defence intelligence assessment suggested that Russian forces had sold much of the best equipment during the early months of their deployment to the Ukraine border in 2021, due to poor pay and conditions.

On average, Russian professional soldiers of junior ranks earn US$480 (£360) a month, whereas their equivalents in the Ukrainian army are receiving three times that figure. The division between pay, working conditions and morale could play a big role in determining the outcome of this conflict.

Sitting targets

It is true that senior commanders have always been exposed to becoming targets on the battlefield, with the Red Army using this to devastating effect in the ruins of Stalingrad in 1942, in which Soviet snipers targeted both junior and senior ranks. However, what differs between this conflict and those fought in the past is the proximity to the front line in which Russian generals appear to be operating.

The lack of confidence that they have in their lines of communication and the standards of ground commanders – the result of chronic levels of corruption – is providing clear opportunities for the Ukrainian military to strike at the few competent military leaders.

At Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht officer commanding, General Friedrich Paulus, was at least 15 miles away from the city during the battle. This ensured that he and his staff maintained a wider strategic view, placing confidence in his junior ranks rather than exposing himself or his command team to tactical-level decision-making.

Ukraine has several well-equipped combat units who would be capable of carrying out specialist missions, so it would seem that any opportunity might be taken to target the leadership through assassination, designed to disrupt the lines of communication, cause confusion, and slow the Russian advance further.

It is also hugely symbolic and provides a clear example to the Russian rank and file that their enemies can target senior leadership with ease, demonstrating a failure of the system to protect their senior staff. It is a clear symbol of a weak and incompetent communication system that is forcing generals to move from strategic to tactical decision making.

This causes mistrust in the effectiveness of chains of command, with doubt spreading much faster than conviction. Meanwhile, the slower the advance becomes, the more time the Ukrainian command has to prepare their centres of population for the advancing enemy forces.

Author

Jonathan Jackson
Senior Teaching Fellow in Professional Policing and Security 

School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University