IRONY

The USA violates market rule with ban on apps, China denounces

Beijing, Aug 6 (Prensa Latina) China accused the United States today of violating market principles with its plan to ban the use of mobile applications developed here, arguing that they pose a security risk.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the move and denounced that it is rather intended to protect U.S. monopoly in the field of high technology.

He said that Washington does not have elements to proceed with this measure and urged its authorities to create conditions for the normal development of economic and commercial activities of foreign companies.

Wang responded this way after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced yesterday the extension of the program called 'Clean Network' directed against China.

Through this plan, the White House wants to ban mobile applications such as WeChat and Tik Tok because it considers them to be 'an unreliable and significant threat to the personal data of U.S. citizens.'

It also intends to prevent apps made in the United States from being pre-installed or available for download on phones and wireless devices made in China by firms like Huawei.

Pompeo's announcement follows President Donald Trump's pressure on Tik Tok, also over alleged security risks. Earlier this week, the U.S president told Chinese technology company ByteDance to sell its popular platform to Microsoft, or else he would shut it down in mid-September.

Frictions between the world's first and second powers are worsening, and the issue of mobile applications is just one of the ingredients that stir them the most.

In recent weeks, the United States imposed sanctions on Chinese companies for alleged abuses of Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region and charged two Chinese citizens with alleged theft of data from the Covid-19 vaccine and military technology secrets.

In addition to this, Pompeo made a controversial statement on Hong Kong and called on Washington's allied countries to use 'more creative and energetic ways' to pressure the Communist Party of China.

That call is interpreted by local analysts as the prelude to a new Cold War and the resurgence of McCarthyism, which is why they agree that China must remain alert for the possible outbreak of military clashes with the United States in the near future.

sus/aph/mem/ymr

The planet about to reach the dangerous 1.5 degrees of global warming

Brussels, Aug 7 (Prensa Latina) July 2020 was recorded as the third warmest month in Europe, behind this same period in 2016 and 2019, which drives the planet today to the brink of reaching the dangerous 1.5 degrees of global warming, experts warn.

According to data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which depends on the European Commission, July 2020 was 0.49 degrees Celsius (° C) warmer than the 1981-2020 average; the third hottest month in this data logging.

The figures show that, despite this figure, the seventh month of this year was colder by 0.07 ° C than July 2019, and by 0.04 ° C than the same period in 2016.

These anomalies in the average European temperature are generally greater and more variable than the global ones, the study indicates.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service study, the average European temperature for July 2020 was 0.2 ° C above the 1981-2010 average.

However, July 2010 still holds the record, with a temperature 2.1 ° C higher in Europe.

Recent research on climate indicates that global warming is constant and has been accelerating in the last decade. Since 2002, above-average temperatures have been recorded every month, and the planet is now around one degree warmer than in the pre-industrial period (1850-1900).

A study by the World Meteorological Organization indicates that the Earth may reach or exceed 1.5 degrees in one of the next five years.

This analysis, led by the UK Met Office based on 150 computer simulations that take into account natural variations and human influence on climate, warns that as time passes by, there is a greater chance of exceeding that limit.

According to this European institution, there is a 24-percent chance that in one of the next five years that 1.5 threshold be reached.

In addition, if they analyze only the average monthly temperature, the possibility of reaching the top - something that already exceptionally happened in February 2016 due to the great influence of the El Niño phenomenon – will rise to 70 percent.

sus/aph/mem/cdg

On Climate Policy, Biden’s Advisers Reveal More Than His Proposals Do

Several of Biden’s informal advisers and confidants are Obama administration veterans who have embraced fossil fuels and fracking.

Miranda Litwak, Max Moran

August 7 2020, 11:01 a.m.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at the William “Hicks” Anderson Community Center in Wilmington, Del. on July 28, 2020.
Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP

LAST MONTH, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign released a sweeping climate proposal calling for 100 percent clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is working to finalize its 2020 platform. As of now, the platform is more aggressive than the 2016 document, but somehow does not mention fossil fuels in its section on climate change.

While some climate activists raised concerns about the party tiptoeing around the largest driver of climate change, most mainstream media marveled over Biden’s personal climate promises. These include calls to hold fossil fuel companies and polluters accountable, impose limits on existing oil and gas operations, and incorporate climate change into the country’s foreign policy agenda. To hear one former Republican congressman tell it, Biden is calling for “a version of the Sanders Green New Deal,” and has given progressive populists anything they could ever hope for.

But that’s only if you take platforms and campaign promises at face value. Vague platitudes in a speech or campaign proposal aren’t the best indicator of a candidate’s direction, nor of what will actually influence a Joe Biden White House. There is a better gauge: personnel.

Viewed through that lens, environmental activists may have serious reason to worry about the man who could lead the United States for about half of our remaining years to prevent an irreversible climate catastrophe. For all the warranted celebration of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez co-chairing a task force on climate policy, Biden has not yet agreed to follow its recommendations.

Meanwhile, several of Biden’s informal advisers and confidants on energy policy are veterans of the Obama administration’s “all of the above” strategy, which embraced fossil fuel development and technologies like fracking while publicly trumpeting clean energy commitments. These individuals oversaw the BP oil spill and the violent repression of the Dakota Access pipeline protests (a set of tactics which President Donald Trump is now emulating to put down peaceful demonstrators) and then went to work for oil and gas companies or law firms, investment companies, and think tanks funded by the fossil fuel industry. If appointed to key energy and environmental jobs, they could pose an existential threat to even the most ambitious climate plans.

Heather Zichal, deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, center, during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington on May 22, 2012.
Photo: Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP

Heather Zichal

Former Obama climate policy chief Heather Zichal began informally advising the Biden team on climate mere weeks after the former vice president threw his hat into the ring. Zichal served as a liaison between the Obama administration and the energy industry. During her tenure, Zichal worked closely with industry executives to “streamline” federal regulations on fracking, meeting more than 20 times with industry groups and lobbyists in 2012 alone. Leaders in the oil and gas industry have praised her for her efforts to decrease the regulatory burden on their sector.

Immediately after leaving her post in the Obama White House, Zichal joined the fossil fuel industry’s ranks, accepting a lucrative position on the board of Cheniere, one of the largest natural gas companies in the country. While Zichal was still in office, Cheniere was the first company to receive approval from the Obama administration to export fracked gas. The company has since ramped up its exports under this administration, earning praise from Trump.

Zichal also joined the Atlantic Council as a senior fellow, an industry-funded think tank that includes Cheniere as one of its many corporate sponsors. The Atlantic Council’s most recent work includes a report commissioned by Trump’s secretary of energy recommending the administration expand nuclear power, natural gas exports, and oil and gas exploration. Zichal also works as an independent energy consultant, offering up her connections and expertise to fossil fuel companies, including PG&E.

As an adviser, Zichal provides the fossil fuel industry with a direct line to the Biden camp. Zichal has already sought policy advice from Ernest Moniz, board member of Southern Company, and Frank Verrastro, head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Energy and National Security Program, which is funded by Exxon Mobil. Meanwhile, she has shown little patience for climate activists over the years, dismissing their policy platforms as unrealistic and going so far as to equate them to members of the tea party. Zichal did not respond to a request for comment.

Jason Bordoff, Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University and Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy during the 2018 Columbia Global Energy Summit in New York, on April 19, 2018.
Photo: Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Jason Bordoff

Jason Bordoff, who served as a climate adviser to the National Security Council and the Council on Environmental Quality under Obama, is informally advising the Biden campaign on energy and climate issues, providing the industry with yet another path to exert influence on a future administration’s energy policy. Bordoff, like Zichal, has argued in favor of increased natural gas exports and fracking.

Immediately after leaving the administration, Bordoff founded the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, a reputational laundromat. Underwritten by the oil and gas industry, the center produces reports that coincidentally lend support to industry talking points, such as advocating for privatizing Mexico’s energy sector and expanding fracking efforts in China. Bordoff personally authored a report arguing in favor of lifting the ban on crude oil exports in the U.S., a paper that has been widely cited by the oil and gas industry, as well as Republican legislators.

Bordoff’s assumption that the science and data behind climate change is up for debate should shock Democrats and disqualify him from a role in a potential Biden administration.

Huge oil and gas companies, including BP, Cheniere, Exxon, and Chevron, have opened their checkbooks to support CGEP’s research, which Bordoff hopes will “draw out all arguments on both sides” of the environmental “debate.” Bordoff’s assumption that the science and data behind climate change is up for debate should shock Democrats across the spectrum and immediately disqualify him from a role in a potential Biden administration. But even if one accepted Bordoff’s premise that there was a debate about the climate crisis, his financial backers and publications clearly reveal on which side he falls. In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Bordoff stated that he “has focused on the urgency of the climate crisis” and that he and CGEP “follow the facts and evidence wherever they lead, independently, objectively, and in accordance with the highest academic standards.”

Bordoff also serves on the National Petroleum Council, a federal advisory committee made up of oil and gas industry executives that provides advice to the Department of Energy. The NPC has advocated for lifting restrictions on oil and gas exploration in the arctic and developing new gas pipelines at the request of Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Both the Trump administration and the fossil fuel industry use NPC reports to defend their anti-environmental stances. The NPC has gained notoriety for attempting to shield energy company information from the public, including information on how the fossil fuel industry affects climate change. 

Former U.S. Sec. of Energy Ernest Moniz speaks during the National Clean Energy Summit 9.0 on October 13, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Photo: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for National Clean Energy Summit

Ernest Moniz

Obama’s secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, has also joined the Biden team as an “informal adviser.” Moniz was (and remains) a vocal advocate for fracking and natural gas — watch enough of Moniz’s speeches, and you’ll notice that he only ever calls for a “low-carbon future,” not a “zero-carbon future.” Moniz declined to comment.

Moniz has a personal stake in the carbon economy: He currently sits on the board of Southern Company, the Atlanta-based natural gas utility, and he’s called its CEO Tom Fanning “an industry leader.” Fanning says he and Moniz are “kind of a tag team.” Moniz, in other words, is business partners with a man who has publicly denied that human activity causes climate change. “Is climate change happening? Certainly. It’s been happening for millennia,” Fanning said on CNBC in 2017.

Southern was among the first companies to sue the Obama administration over its Clean Power Plan, which was a set of regulations aimed at cutting power plant emissions by 30 percent. The Center for American Progress found that the litigants on that suit, including Southern, were responsible for 21 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions in 2013.

Fanning isn’t the only fossil fuel CEO with whom Moniz is close. The former CEO of BP, Lord John Browne, is the chair of the advisory board for Moniz’s energy policy think tank, the Energy Futures Initiative. Moniz also sits alongside Browne on the advisory board of private equity fund Angeleno Group.

Moniz is business partners with a man who has publicly denied that human activity causes climate change.


The Energy Futures Initiative’s signature proposal is the “Green Real Deal,” a centrist alternative to the Green New Deal, which Moniz has suggested is a “demonstrably impractical, short-term, feel-good solution.” Moniz first pitched the Green Real Deal to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the corporate lobbying group that spent decades denying climate change. And the Green Real Deal has a place for natural gas and fracking, both of which he’s defended against what he calls “the climate elite.”

In a debate at the Oxford Union, Moniz claimed that “the climate elite have done much too much moralizing and hectoring about the path for addressing climate change as opposed to working locally, regionally, [and] recognizing regional differences.” He demanded that college students adamant about ending fossil fuel emissions “translate that into a practical program that involves technology, social dynamics, politics, policy, all of the above.”

But Moniz is a former cabinet secretary. He is a Ph.D and multimillionaire, the very definition of an “elite.” If the energy transition thus far has failed to create the “practical program” he wants, that’s a failure of his own policymaking. In the years since that debate, young people created a “practical program” in the Green New Deal, which was propelled into the national spotlight by the youth-led Sunrise Movement. Moniz’s response? To castigate that work through a think tank advised by BP’s former CEO.

Brian Deese, global head of sustainable investing at BlackRock Inc., speaks during the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, California, on Sept. 13, 2018.
Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Brian Deese

Wall Street’s route into Biden’s climate policy may run through Brian Deese, a former senior Obama aide who now works for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. On Friday, E&E News reported that Deese is working with the campaign, following rumors that have swirled throughout the campaign cycle about him receiving a plum job in a potential Biden administration, especially given Biden’s early favor-currying with Deese’s boss at BlackRock, Larry Fink. This has prompted plenty of fretting from climate-watchers. Reached through a spokesperson, Deese did not respond to a request for comment.

Deese, who helped negotiate the Paris Climate Agreement, now runs BlackRock’s sustainable investing division. This does not mean that he pushes BlackRock to use its wealth and influence for environmentally responsible purposes. Instead, his job is to factor the climate apocalypse into the firm’s investment decisions, such as avoiding “operating in extremely climate-exposed regions, like the coastal United States.” As John Patrick Leary wrote of BlackRock in the New Republic, “Managing the investment risk of climate change, in short, does not mean fighting climate change. It means making sure that your investment portfolio earns the highest returns despite climate change or even from climate change.”

BlackRock is the single largest investor in the fossil fuel industry, but it is also the largest investor in renewables: Due to its sheer size, as Deese puts it, “we end up being one of the top owners of every industry.” But he does not appear troubled by the company’s continued oil and gas holdings, declaring, “This is not just about excluding entire industries or entire classes of companies.”

Of course, for millions not to die, the entire fossil fuel industry must cease spewing carbon into the atmosphere (much sooner rather than later, preferably). But Deese’s job is to prevent low returns on financial investments, not extinction. As he told Christiane Amanpour, “We are very focused on these questions of ‘where is public sentiment?’ but to the degree that it will actually affect how long-term value is created.” Translation: The public only matters to the extent that it impacts BlackRock’s money. 

Related
After Climate Forum, Biden Heads to a Fundraiser Co-Hosted by a Fossil Fuel Executive


He had similar aims in the Obama White House: Deese described his White House job to a Bloomberg podcaster as thinking about “how do we create the right conditions for private capital to move into lower-carbon solutions and accelerate the transition to lower-carbon economy?” In other words, his concern was “how do we set up Wall Street to profit from the green economy” — not just “how do we green the economy.”

And then there’s his record on non-climate issues. At a confirmation hearing to become the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in 2013, he told Congress that he’d work toward a “comprehensive deficit reduction agreement” (read: austerity) focused on “entitlement reform and tax reform.” What kind of entitlement reform? “I think it is appropriate to look at means-testing Medicare. I think the president has put a proposal out that I think makes some sense, because as part of these overall reforms, I think we have to ask the questions about whether those who are the most fortunate should be paying a little bit more. It’s still going to be a good deal for them as part of the system.”

To this day, Deese advocates for drastic cuts to government spending and gets paid to do it. He gives paid speeches to corporate trade groups through the APB speaking agency, where his page advertises that he can speak about “how the budget process can actually be used to reform entitlements and the tax code.”

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‘We will not back down’: Canada hits back at US’ aluminum tariff with $3.6 billion in countermeasures

“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” 

7 Aug, 2020
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© REUTERS/Blair Gable

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has announced retaliatory tariffs on $3.6 billion worth of US aluminum, to be put in place in September after industry consultations.

“We will not back down,” Freeland said during the Friday announcement.

The tariffs, which will be in place by September 16, come in response to the US government imposing a ten percent tariff on raw aluminum coming in from Canada. That tariff will be in place on August 16.

President Donald Trump celebrated the tariffs during a trip to Ohio on Thursday where he claimed the country was “taking advantage of us, as usual.”

He went on to say Canada has flooded American markets with exports and “decimated” the American aluminum industry.

ALSO ON RT.COM Canada vows ‘dollar-for-dollar’ retaliation after Trump reimposes 10% tariffs on aluminum

Freeland began preparing countermeasures immediately and called the US tariffs “unfair, unwarranted, and unnecessary.” She blasted President Trump for imposing the tariffs in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when many economies and industries are suffering.

“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” she said. 

“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” said Deputy Prime Minister @cafreeland.

Read more: https://t.co/SZcr8H9Ephpic.twitter.com/81xhcrRt2H— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) August 7, 2020

Ontario Premier Doug Ford — who has supported the US president in the past, including during a trip to DC earlier in the year where he said he hopes November’s election goes “the right way. Literally, the right way” — also blasted Trump for the economic tariffs and said he encouraged Freeland to impose as many tariffs on US goods as she could.

“We buy more goods off the United States than China, Japan, [the] UK combined. Who does this? At times like this, who tries to go after your closest ally? Your closest trading partner? Your number one customer in the entire world? Who would do this? President Trump did this, and I encouraged the deputy prime minister to put retaliatory tariffs on as many goods as possible,” Ford said. 
The US and Canada have gotten into tariff wars before. Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the country in 2018, and Canada responded by imposing tariffs on various US products. 

Trump says he is reimposing the tariffs because Canada has not kept to their “commitment” to not “flood” the country with products and “kill all our aluminum jobs.”

“Several months ago, my administration agreed to lift those tariffs in return for a promise from the Canadian government that its aluminum industry would not flood our country with exports and kill all our aluminum jobs, which is exactly what they’ve done,” Trump said. “Canadian aluminum producers have broken their commitment.”

Canada to retaliate against U.S. aluminum tariffs: Deputy PM Freeland

Posted on August 6, 2020
By Chris Prentice



Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland attends a news conference as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ottawa

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s move on Thursday to reimpose 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminum products, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.

“In response to the American tariffs, Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures,” Freeland said, calling the tariffs “unwarranted and unacceptable.”

Trump announced the punitive measures earlier on Thursday to protect U.S. industry from a “surge” in imports, drawing ire from Ottawa and some U.S. business groups.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Trump reimposes US tariffs on raw Canadian aluminium

Canada promises to retaliate just weeks after regional free trade deal came into effect.
07 Aug 2020


Canada has a natural advantage in primary aluminium production because of its ample supply of hydroelectric power [File: Shannon VanRaes/Bloomberg]

United States President Donald Trump moved to reimpose 10 percent tariffs on some Canadian aluminium products to protect US industry from a "surge" in imports, angering Ottawa and some US business groups.

Canada pledged retaliation as tensions between the close allies rose just weeks after a new continental trade deal between the US, Mexico and Canada came into effect.

During a speech at a Whirlpool Corp washing machine factory in Ohio to tout his "America First" trade agenda, Trump said he signed a proclamation reimposing the "Section 232" national security tariffs. The step was "absolutely necessary to defend our aluminium industry", he said.

Ohio is a critical swing state that Trump won in 2016. Polling shows a tight race with Democrat Joe Biden in the state ahead of this year's November 3 presidential election.

Trump trails the former vice president in national polls and is competing with him for blue-collar, working-class voters. The tariff announcement could be aimed at showing those voters he intends to fight for their jobs and upend trade policy further if he remains in office.

But some prominent business groups criticised the move as counterproductive and unhelpful to US interests.

The US Trade Representative's office said the 10 percent tariffs apply to raw, unalloyed aluminium produced at smelters. The tariffs do not apply to downstream aluminium products.

"Several months ago, my administration agreed to lift those tariffs in return for a promise from the Canadian government that its aluminium industry would not flood our country with exports and kill all our aluminium jobs, which is exactly what they've done," Trump said. "Canadian aluminium producers have broken their commitment."

Canada has a natural advantage in primary aluminium production because of its ample supply of hydroelectric power.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the tariffs would hurt workers and regional economies already hit by the coronavirus pandemic and pledged Ottawa would retaliate as it had done in 2018, when Trump first imposed punitive measures on Canadian steel and aluminium.

"In response to the American tariffs, Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures," Freeland said in a statement.

Freeland - in overall charge of relations with the United States - will formally respond to the tariffs at 11am (15:00 GMT) on Friday, her office said in a statement.

In 2018, Canada slapped tariffs on 16.6 billion Canadian dollars ($12.4bn) worth of US goods ranging from bourbon to ketchup. Trump lifted the sanctions in 2019.
'Depression time'

Trump peppered his remarks with criticism of Biden and predicted "depression time" if the Democrat won - plus higher taxes and more regulations.

"To be a strong nation, America must be a manufacturing nation and not be led by a bunch of fools. That means protecting our national industrial base," Trump said.

Trump has sparred with close US allies over trade throughout his presidency.

The US Chamber of Commerce called the move "a step in the wrong direction" that would raise costs on companies and consumers.

The Aluminum Association, which says it represents companies that produce 70 percent of the aluminium and aluminium products shipped in North America, said the move undermined the new US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement at a time when year-to-date domestic demand was already down nearly 25 percent.

Michael Bless, chief executive of Century Aluminum, which is one of the few remaining US primary aluminium smelting companies and which lobbied for the tariffs, said the move "helps to secure continued domestic production of this vital strategic material".


SOURCE: REUTERS NEWS

PROVINCIAL POLITICS

‘Hit them where it hurts’: Here’s how Doug Ford wants you to fight back against Donald Trump’s aluminum tariffs

By Rob FergusonQueen's Park Bureau

Fri., Aug. 7, 2020

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A naked sunbather has been pictured chasing a boar that stole his laptop

BERLIN OVERRUN WITH BOARS AND BARE BUTTS
GERMANY HAS A LONG HISTORY OF PUBLIC NUDISM 

Biden prevented Israeli 'occupation' from appearing in Democratic platform

Democratic presidential nominee reportedly prevented a move to mention Israeli “occupation” in the Democratic Party’s platform.

THIS IS THE BIDEN STORY THE REST IS FLUFF

Elad Benari , 07/08/20 03:10

Joe Biden
Reuters

Former US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden prevented a move to mention Israeli “occupation” in the Democratic Party’s platform, Foreign Policy reported on Thursday.

In early July, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other influential progressives were convinced that they had secured a critical concession from Biden’s campaign by having the platform assert that Palestinian Arabs had a right to live free of foreign “occupation,” a scarcely veiled reference to Israel.

But days before a draft platform was released on July 15, the presumptive Democratic nominee personally weighed in, according to three sources familiar with the discussion, ordering his advisors not to include any reference to Israeli “occupation.”

The decision, according to these sources, followed heavy last-minute lobbying by pro-Israel advocacy groups. Biden aides subsequently phoned progressive leaders and urged them to drop their demand to declare Israel an occupying power, arguing that the inclusion of the phrase threatened to undermine unity within the Democratic Party.

“The question of whether to allow the text to refer to ‘occupation’ or use the phrase ‘end the occupation’ was taken to the vice president and he said ‘no,’” Jason Isaacson, the chief policy and political affairs officer at the American Jewish Committee, told Foreign Policy. “This is not an issue on which the party can bend because it would be contrary to the position of Joe Biden.”

The retreat reflected the reluctance of the former vice president to reverse decades of staunch support for Israel, even as Biden and his party are expressing growing support for reestablishing diplomatic ties with the Palestinians and reinforcing the need to pay greater heed to Palestinian rights.It also marked something of a victory for the party’s establishment, which has sought to preserve close relations with Israel.

The draft 2020 platform, which was released in late July, includes language that opposes an Israeli move to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and supports the rights of Palestinian Arabs.

FALSE EQUIVALENCY

The draft document states, “Democrats oppose any unilateral steps by either side—

including annexation—that undermine prospects for two states. Democrats will continue to stand against incitement and terror. We oppose settlement expansion. We believe that while Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.”

Democrats have been vocal in their opposition to Israel’s plan to apply sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria, a move which could have been carried out on July 1, in accordance with the coalition agreement signed between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Recently, four House Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, wrote to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on the United States to cut assistance to Israel should it proceed to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

Previously, a group of Democratic Senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), issued a statement in which they expressed their opposition to the sovereignty move.

The senators noted that direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians are “the only path for a durable peace.” They warned that annexation “could undermine regional stability and broader US national security interests in the region.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a prominent Democrat, recently proposed legislation that would ban US assistance to Israel from being used to apply sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.

LONG LIVE THE BOURGEOIS DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION!

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya: The teacher challenging Lukashenko — Europe's last dictator

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a teacher, is the greatest challenge yet to the reign of Alexander Lukashenko, who vies for a sixth term as Belarus' president. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has had a staggering and unprecedented rise.

LOVE POWER PEACE/VICTORY


Svetlana Tikhanovskaya does not describe herself as a politician. Indeed, she says she just wants her family back and to be able to cook for them. Yet, for now, she is running for election, and observers consider the 37-year-old stay-at-home parent, a teacher and interpreter by profession, perhaps the greatest challenge yet to the reign of President Alexander Lukashenko, who is seeking a sixth term on Sunday.
Tikhanovskaya ended up in this position almost by chance. It was initially her husband, the 41-year-old video blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, who wanted to challenge the president. However, he was arrested before the election campaign even kicked off and charged with taking part in an unauthorized demonstration at the beginning of the year.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya eyes an end to Lukashenko's grip on power

Read more: Anti-government protesters rally ahead of Belarus vote

When Tikhanovsky was formally disqualified, Tikhanovskaya decided to run instead. And, surprisingly, she was able to collect the 100,000 required signatures and made the ballot. After her husband was released, he ran her campaign for a few days before being arrested again. He is currently in detention and accused of violence against the police. His supporters say that he was provoked.
Read more: Tikhanovskaya challenges Lukashenko's power in Belarus vote

Tikhanovskaya (center) at a campaign rally in Minsk

An inauspicious start

Tikhanovskaya, who is from a small southwestern town, studied foreign languages before going on to work as a translator in Gomel, the second-biggest city in Belarus. This is where she met her husband, with whom she has two children. She stopped working to look after her family. Though she says she was never interested in politics, she says that she learned a lot about her country and its inhabitants traveling with her husband. He had to travel a lot for a video blog that he launched on YouTube at the beginning of 2019.

Read more: Belarus blocks Lukashenko's rival Babariko from presidential vote

It's the first time that such an outsider has taken part in the authoritarian country's electoral process. It's almost as if an amateur runner were suddenly in a position to win the Olympics. However, in this case, Tikhanovskaya could be excluded at any time. So far, however, she is still in the race and the preparations have gone so well that she is considered one of the favorites. Her election campaign team was boosted by support from two political heavyweights: the former banker Viktor Babariko and the former diplomat Valery Tsepkalo, who were also barred from running.

Tens of thousands of people have turned up to Tikhanovskaya's rallies — breaking records in a country where people have long been discouraged from taking part in politics and tend to be either dispassionate or scared. Tikhanovskaya's election program is rudimentary, but she has a few clear goals: Belarusian independence and the release of all political prisoners, including her husband. If she wins, she has pledged to hold free elections within six months later so that currently barred opposition candidates can run and she can return to raising her family.
Read more: Lukashenko accuses Russian mercenaries, critics of plotting attack

Tens of thousands of supporters have flocked to rallies for Tikhanovskaya

An unusual approach

It is clear that Tikhanovskaya is an unusual candidate with an unusual approach to the task at hand. At the beginning she came across as unsure, but honest and this went down well. The more used to her role she became, the more her self-confidence grew. She was not afraid of saying that she did not have all the answers and admitted that she was no expert regarding foreign policy or economic reform.

Tikhanovskaya has avoided controversial subjects, but she has not allowed the president to bully her with his frequent attacks. When he said that someone who had not served in the army could not be head of state, she responded with the suggestion that only mothers should be allowed to run. Though she refuses to be intimidated, she did send her children abroad after an anonymous threat.

The campaign is a sign that Belarus is changing. Tikhanovskaya success has come as a surprise to many in a country that has been under the president's control for 26 years. People want to see a new face at the top — and it almost doesn't matter whose.

Read more: Lukashenko is playing games to keep his grip on power

At the moment, however, it looks like Lukashenko still has the advantage. Once again, there will be no independent election observers. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has not been invited.


Belarus elections: Lukashenko's authoritarian grip faces test

Alexander Lukashenko is seeing his dominance challenged in an election campaign that has held several surprises. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's campaign has given the opposition in Belarus a clear female profile




It has been a long time since a presidential election in Belarus promised to be as exciting as the vote scheduled for Sunday. Initially, the election looked as if it would be a routine victory for the authoritarian incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet republic on the European Union's eastern border since 1994.

The 65-year-old former director of a large Soviet agricultural enterprise, Lukashenko is the longest-serving president in Europe. EU media refer to him as "Europe's last dictator."

The 2020 election campaign has not turned out the way Lukashenko likely expected. In just a matter of weeks, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old teacher and interpreter and the wife of the imprisoned blogger and activist Sergei Tikhanovsky, has become a symbolic figure for Lukashenko's opponents. When her husband, whom Amnesty International describes as a "prisoner of conscience," was not permitted to run in the election, Tikhanovskaya entered the race — and tens of thousands of people attended her rallies. "I'm tired of being silent," she said at a rally in the capital, Minsk, at the end of July.

Read more: Lukashenko is playing games to keep his grip on power

An emerging opposition

Unlike in neighboring Ukraine, people in Belarus were long thought of as politically passive by international observers, partly thanks to Lukashenko's relatively successful economic policies, which benefited from close ties with Russia. In the past years, however, there have been repeated disputes with Moscow over energy shipments.

Now, people's willingness to protest seems to have increased. Voters stood in long lines to give their signatures in support of opposition candidates, as required under Belarusian election law, and they took to the streets in nationwide protests when candidates were arrested.

Leaders of the nationalist opposition parties, who have fought Lukashenko without success for years, were unable to agree on a candidate. Some of them have been arrested.

One of the new social phenomena associated with this election is the involvement of the urban middle class, which had tended to steer clear of public political statements. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why two representatives of the ruling elite announced that they, too, wanted to run for president: Viktor Babariko, the longtime head of Belgazprombank — a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom — and Valery Tsepkalo, a former diplomat and the founder of Belarus Hi-Tech Park.

Tikhanovskaya has become a symbol of the opposition in Belarus

The willingness of these two men to challenge Lukashenko was one of this campaign's biggest surprises. They did not get far and were not admitted as candidates on procedural grounds. Babariko was accused of economic crimes and arrested and remains in custody, and Tsepkalo left for Russia with his family.

The fact that Babariko and Tsepkalo's campaigns, led by young women, joined Tikhanovskaya's has given the opposition in Belarus a clear female profile. Women have been showing up for rallies to put an end to Lukashenko's presidency. Two of the five candidates on Sunday's ballot are women.

With no independent polling, it is hard to say how much of a challenge Tikhanovskaya will pose for Lukashenko. State media claim that Lukashenko has the support of about 70% of Belarusians. Some opposition politicians and media report that the president's approval rating is, in fact, in the single-digit range.

The coronavirus campaign

Many of the approximately 9.5 million Belarusians have been angry about how the state has dealt with the pandemic. As the novel coronavirus spread in Belarus, Lukashenko ignored it.

The president recommended vodka and sauna visits as protective measures. Lukashenko refused to impose a lockdown.

At the end of July, Lukashenko admitted that he had contracted COVID-19. The president's opponents, who had taken the problem seriously from early on, had worn masks and kept their distance. .

Belarus opposition hosts largest rally in a decade

Where is Russia?

In previous presidential elections in Belarus, there was a geopolitical division of roles: Lukashenko advocated closer ties to Russia, while the opposition urged better relations with the European Union. That division is not as pronounced ahead of the current election. Relations with Russia have been tense for months — partly because Lukashenko himself has balked at a still closer integration between the countries.


Lukashenko's strained ties with Putin have raised questions over his ability to hold onto power

The president has accused Russia of interfering in past election campaigns and supporting opposition candidates. Just days before Sunday's election, news of the arrest of 33 Russians accused by Belarusian authorities of being "mercenaries" with a private Russian combat squad caused a stir. Belarus accuses them of plotting mass unrest, which Russia has denied.

Read more: Journalists under pressure in Belarus as Lukashenko runs for presidency

It is unlikely that Lukashenko will lose the election — but it no longer seems impossible. The head of state has never shied away from holding on to power by force. Protests after the 2010 presidential election were brutally suppressed and opposition leaders arrested.

Back then, the United States and EU reacted with sanctions that were left in place until just a few years ago. Now history may repeat itself. Some observers fear the emergence of a police state.

The future of Belarus will become apparent after Sunday's election whether and how much he has changed in that regard.

What's behind Israel's growing protests?

Israelis have been taking to the streets in increasing numbers for weeks, protesting against the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The country is at a crucial juncture.



Last Saturday, a rally in Jerusalem drew more than 10,000 protesters, with thousands more protesting elsewhere in the country, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation.

This was just the latest in a series of weekly demonstrations which have rocked Israel for months, drawing a growing number of people who are angry with the government's handling of a second wave of COVID-19 infections and the economic impact of the pandemic.

Political dissatisfaction is at the heart of these protests.

"To put it in two words, the main goal is 'Bibi – resign,' says 59-year-old Tali Etzion from Tel Aviv, who's been participating in anti-government demonstrations since the country's 2011 social protests, which saw hundreds of thousands in the streets demanding economic justice and an end to corruption.

"In more than two words, we all believe, each one from their own angle, that Netanyahu is the wrong person to lead a country — in so-called normal times and even more so in times like these," Etzion explains, referring to the management of the coronavirus crisis.

Read more: Israel's anti-government protests deepen Netanyahu's problems

Tali Etzion says Israelis are increasingly fed up with Netanyahu's failed policies

"The gap between citizens whose lives have been so badly damaged and people who claim to be leaders but pad themselves to no end is unbearable," says Ofer Shelley, 50, a pianist and concert producer from Jerusalem, whose livelihood as a musician has been severely affected by the government's "complete detachment from the people," as he calls it.

"None of our leaders stand up and say 'I see your suffering, I see the distress.' They don't even bother talking to the people protesting. Not once."

No central organization 

DIY THIS IS WHAT ANARCHY LOOKS LIKE
Both Netanyahu and ministers from his right-wing Likud party have labeled the demonstrations as "Leftist protests," and called their participants "anarchists." This view is shared by some in the Israeli public, but many — including the protesters themselves — beg to differ.

"Netanyahu denies the nature of the demonstrations, their scope and even the identity of their participants," says Efrat Safran, 57, a longtime protester and a trained lawyer from the central city of Ramat Hasharon, who's also a member of a protest group called "Mothers Against Police Violence," meant to serve as a buffer between protesters and police.

"No single body or person is organizing this," she says. "The protests have grown organically and include people from across the political spectrum," including what she refers to as "disillusioned" Netanyahu voters.

And indeed, in a now-viral tweet, a protester called Arnon Grossman, a self-declared Likud voter, is seen explaining on video why he'd been attending the anti-government rallies, while other Likud supporters are holding a sign which reads "Bibi, also Likud voters are against dictatorship."

Grossman told Israeli blogger Or-ly Barlev that he has been voting Likud for years, but "as long as Netanyahu is leading it" he would no longer do so. "I would expect a leader to treat people with compassion in such difficult times," he explained. "To be honest, I feel guilty. It's because of people like me that he's in his position now."

Judging by the various signs spotted in the protests — especially those in Balfour street in Jerusalem, the official residence of the Israeli prime minister — the discontent is widespread.

"For some, it's the economic situation, for others it could be the decaying democracy or the endless corruption scandals," Safran says. "There is room for everyone, but one message is clear: Bibi, go home."

Where are the young ones?


Safran says until Netanyahu steps down democracy in Israel is at risk

For years, longtime protesters couldn't understand why the younger generation wasn't joining them. After all, "we've already built our homes and careers, but what about them? It's their future," says Safran.

"My children, who are in their twenties, were born into a Bibi-reality. They don't know anything else and they didn't believe anything could be different," says Etzion.

But three election rounds in the span of one year, mounting corruption scandals involving Netanyahu, rising unemployment in the shadow of a global pandemic, and finally, the arrest of a former army general-turned protester, all seem to be changing young Israelis' previous apathy.

One such young protester is Amir Gertmann, a 22-year-old student from Jerusalem, who attends the Balfour demonstrations regularly. "I have no real hope for these protests. I don't see Netanyahu resigning or his coalition partners distancing themselves from him," he says.

"And yet it's important to me to come, mainly because I can't accept an attempt to crack down on a legitimate demonstration against the government a mere five-minute walk from my home without trying to oppose it."

One step from a dictatorship

Many young Israelis like Gertmann have little chance of entering the workforce after finishing their studies. If you ask Shy Engelberg, a 36-year-old protester who works in hi-tech, it's no surprise that these young people are now leading the protests.

"Netanyahu has caused only harm to Israel. He lies, sows hatred and uses dark methods, learning from people like Trump, Putin and Erdogan," he says. "I wouldn't want my children to grow up in a country where their vote has no meaning. Eventually, people feel that democracy is slipping through their fingers."

Although the protests have largely been peaceful, in some cases they have ended with clashes between demonstrators and police. In others, small gangs of Netanyahu supporters and individuals affiliated with far-right groups or groups of football ultras have assaulted the anti-government demonstrators.

At a recent Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also slammed the media for "inflaming" the protests and for misrepresenting incidents of violence. "There has never been such a distorted mobilization — I wanted to say Soviet-style but it has already reached North Korean terms — of the media in favor of the protests," he said.

Etzion maintains that for Netanyahu it's all about political survival, "and if he needs to turn Israel into a dictatorship in the process — so be it."

It's left the country at a crucial juncture, says Safran. "It's impossible to even start talking about left or right here when in a moment, for the first time in 72 years, we might no longer be a democracy. No reconciliation will start until he steps down, and the danger to democracy will not go away. Soon, there will be no country left."

Police arrest 44 over eviction of left-wing Berlin bar

The "Syndikat" bar, has become a center of a major anti-gentrification campaign. Demonstrators set fires and posted barricades in front of the bar to stop bailiffs from entering on Friday morning. 


German police arrested 44 demonstrators who were protesting the eviction of a left-wing bar in Berlin that has become a center of an anti-gentrification campaign.

Hundreds of officers faced off on Friday against the demonstrators, who erected barricades and set several fires in front of the establishment in a bid to stop bailiffs from entering the Syndikat bar in the capital's Neukölln district.

Read more: Last orders for Berlin bar at center of capital's rent wars

Neukölln, the neighborhood where Syndikat is located, was initially a working-class neighborhood, but rents have been on the rise due to an influx of professionals and international students, who often pay higher rent prices than locals. 

The 35-year-old bar has become a symbol in recent years for activists who say that rents in Berlin are becoming unaffordable. Neighbors living next to the bar stood on balconies banging on pots and pans in solidarity, and Friday's protests remained largely peaceful. 

Read more:Berlin-Neukölln: Low income and migrant families in coronavirus lockdown

A rally against the eviction last Saturday turned violent, with police and protesters clashing as demonstrators played loud music, set off fireworks, threw stones at officers and chanted "Berlin hates police."

According to a police statement, six officers were injured in the standoff.

Berlin's state government recently ordered a five-year rent freeze on 1.5 million apartments, while campaigners have been calling on the state to buy properties owned by wealthy landlords. 

The bar is operated by a collective, but the property that the bar is located in belongs to a company linked to London-based real estate Mark Pears. 
lc/rc (AP, dpa)