COMMODITY FETISH
Wayne Gretzky rookie card becomes first to crack $1m milestone

Issued on: 12/12/2020 - 

Hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, shown here addressing fans at the 2020 all-star game, established another record when his rookie card sold for more than $1 million at an online auction 

BRUCE BENNETT GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Los Angeles (AFP)

Wayne Gretzky's rookie trading card became the highest selling hockey card of all time when a mint condition version of his 1979 card fetched US$1.29 million in an online auction on Friday.

The Canadian hockey icon, who retired more than two decades ago, is considered the greatest NHL player of all time and his O-Pee-Chee rookie card became the first hockey card to go for more than $1 million.

"Gretzky is the greatest of all time," Chris Ivy of Heritage Auctions said. "This is his rookie card, and then add onto all that it's O-Pee-Chee, which is the Canadian version, and is highly sought after."

The record-setting card is one of just two to receive a perfect "gem mint" score from appraisers who looked at over 5,000 versions of his rookie card.

The card features a picture of the "Great One" in the uniform of the Edmonton Oilers, who he played with for nine seasons, winning four Stanley Cups.

The card previously sold in 2016 for $465,000 and the auction house had predicted that this time it would garner at least $1 million.

"That this card survived 40-plus years in this perfect condition, the desirability of it for collectors is to have the best of the best, and that's what this is," Ivy said.

O-Pee-Chee is the Canadian version of the US-based Topps Company. Ivy said when it comes to collectible hockey cards O-Pee-Chee is more sought after because of its Canadian connection.

"O-Pee-Chee has always outperformed Topps in hockey simply because they're the Canadian brand," he said. "They're the same cards, essentially, but hockey is the national sport of Canada."

Gretzky retired from the NHL in 1999 with a record 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points.

© 2020 AFP

GREEN CAPITALI$M #WINDTURBINES #SOLAR

Duke Energy Renewables invests in bald eagle research, education in Oklahoma

- Support of Sutton Avian Research Center provides public with livestream video access to bald eagle nesting activity

- Eagles typically build nests in late fall and early winter, with eggs arriving in December, January 

MAKING UP FOR FIFTY YEARS OF ENVIRONMENTAL 

AND HUMAN DAMAGE

NEWS PROVIDED BY Duke Energy

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- During bald eagle nesting season, avian enthusiasts agree the best things come in pairs.

That's especially true this season as Duke Energy Renewables has partnered with Sutton Avian Research Center in Oklahoma on the installation of the center's second eagle nest camera, now livestreaming video at suttoncenter.org.

Duke Energy Renewables provided grants totaling $37,500 to support the Sutton Center's original camera in Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge – the longest consistently running nest camera in the nation – and fund the installation of a second nest camera in rural Bartlesville, just half a mile from the Sutton Center.

The second camera is now live on the Sutton Center website, and an adult eagle and a juvenile eagle have been spotted in the area. In Oklahoma, eagles typically refresh the nest in late fall or early winter, with eggs appearing in December or January.

The Sutton Center is well-known for its avian research and successful bald eagle recovery programs. It is credited with restoring Oklahoma's bald eagle population from zero nesting pairs in the 1980s to more than 200 nesting pairs today.

"People care more when they can connect with the natural world," said Lena Larsson, Ph.D. and the executive director at the Sutton Center. "Duke Energy Renewables' grant supports the Center's mission to find cooperative conservation solutions for birds and the natural world through science and education. Especially now when people are staying inside to avoid the coronavirus, providing a safe window for experiencing nature up close is tremendously important."

Duke Energy Renewables is one of the nation's top renewable energy providers. It is a commercial business unit of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a leader in developing national best practices to reduce bird impacts at wind facilities and from power lines.

"The incredible work of the Sutton Center complements our own efforts to prioritize the conservation of wildlife where our renewable energy projects are located, including Frontier Windpower II in Oklahoma and the eagle protection measures we've implemented there," said Chris Fallon, president of Duke Energy Renewables. "We're proud to be an active participant in the Sutton Center's education efforts as we deliver on our mission to provide safe, clean, renewable energy in a sustainable way."

Frontier Windpower II
In 2019, Duke Energy Renewables announced the largest wind power project in its fleet – the 350-megawatt (MW) Frontier Windpower II project in Kay County, Okla., which is nearing completion.

Frontier II is an expansion of Frontier Windpower, which has been operational since 2016. The Frontier II project will incorporate IdentiFlight, an advanced technology that quickly detects eagles and slows a turbine to prevent collisions, as part of the company's comprehensive eagle management plan.

Once complete, Frontier I and II will generate a total of 550 MW of wind energy – enough clean energy to power approximately 193,000 homes.

Front-row seat
The Sutton Center's bald eagle cameras provide web users around the globe a front-row seat to the birds' real-time nesting activities; nesting season for Oklahoma bald eagles extends from November to June.

Known to mate for life and live for decades, bald eagles can boast wingspans of up to 8 feet. Bonded pairs often return to the same nesting site year after year, where eagle cams can reveal their unique personalities, courting rituals, egg laying, incubation habits, feeding strategies, and the sometimes heartbreaking survival challenges of eaglets.

Sutton Research Center
The George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center (Sutton Center) is a private, nonprofit organization located near Bartlesville, Okla. It was founded in 1983 with the mission of finding cooperative conservation solutions for birds and the natural world through science and education. The Sutton Center focuses on educating young people and enriching their lives through free, inclusive and accessible education programs that work in concert with our wildlife recovery efforts.

The Sutton Center has become a leader in avian research and conservation and has conducted intensive, conservation-oriented, ecological field research on declining grassland birds, developed and applied techniques for the reintroduction and monitoring of Southern bald eagles, managed the successful captive breeding of endangered species and performed bird surveys across the world. For more information about supporting its mission, visit suttoncenter.org, email info@suttoncenter.org, or follow Sutton Center on Facebook and Instagram.

Duke Energy Foundation
The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars. More information about the Foundation and its Powerful Communities program can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation.

Duke Energy Renewables
Duke Energy Renewables, a nonregulated unit of Duke Energy, operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., with a total electric capacity of 3,000 megawatts. The power is sold to electric utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and commercial and industrial customers. The unit also operates energy storage and microgrid projects. Visit Duke Energy Renewables for more information.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, in addition to Duke Energy Renewables' capacity.

Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2020 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

SOURCE Duke Energy

  

W. M. Keck Observatory and Duke Energy's REC Solar announce completion of major sustainability project in Hawaii

- 133-kW rooftop solar site is world's largest commercial solar system installed at highest altitude

CHARLOTTE, N.C. and MAUNA KEA, Hawaii, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy's REC Solar and W. M. Keck Observatory have completed the world's largest commercial solar system installed at the record-breaking altitude of 13,600 feet.

The rooftop solar project – located near the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii – will reduce Keck Observatory's carbon footprint and lower its cost of energy.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) system is located on the rooftop of Keck Observatory's telescope facility, between the domes of the twin Keck I and Keck II – among the world's largest optical and infrared telescopes. The system will annually produce 259.1 MWh of energy, which will reduce the observatory's electric power needs by about 10-15% and eliminate 183 metric tons of carbon emissions.

"Incorporating renewable energy generators such as solar PV is important to Keck's core values of stewardship and service. It will reduce our reliance on electricity derived mainly from fossil fuels, which underscores our efforts to be good stewards of the planet," says project lead Mark Devenot, infrastructure specialist at Keck Observatory.

Hawaiian Electric approved operation of the PV system on Sept. 30, 2020. The system consists of a 133-kW photovoltaic array and 332 solar panels that are strategically placed on the unique 20,940-square-foot ballasted roof to avoid snow and ice fall from the domes, as well as high winds that occasionally occur a few times a year.

"One of the biggest challenges was attaching the PV array to this type of roof, which has no structural framework to anchor the system," says Devenot.

To address this issue, the solar system was custom engineered for the unique ballasted roof design and to support high winds. The team also had to deal with working at high altitude, which averaged 40% less oxygen than at sea level.

"Incorporating rooftop solar at Keck Observatory has been a special experience for the REC Solar team due to the project's focus on science, safety and innovation," says Dan Alcombright, managing director, growth implementation at Duke Energy. "Our team remained respectful of land and wind limitations throughout construction and leveraged our local experience and detailed weather data to engineer solar with specialized mechanical attachments that can handle the wind gusts and climate of a Pacific island at high altitude. We're pleased to be able to provide Keck with a viable energy solution that positively impacts both their organization and the environment."

At high altitude, the panels will catch more photons and produce more energy than at sea-level locations. This is because sunlight atop Mauna Kea doesn't have to travel through as much of the Earth's atmosphere where the photons could be absorbed by something else. Having 40% less atmosphere, which is one of the reasons that makes Mauna Kea one of the best places on Earth to conduct astronomy, also makes for efficient solar energy generation.

REC Solar has developed more than 100 commercial and utility-scale solar projects across the Hawaiian Islands, including Keck Observatory's Waimea headquarters in 2013. This new rooftop solar installation at Keck Observatory's telescope facility on Mauna Kea provides a unique research opportunity for the team to gather data on how solar panels operate in a thinner atmosphere with a high UV index and under higher than average winds. The team will continue to monitor and analyze these conditions for future solar installations at high altitudes.

W. M. Keck Observatory

The W. M. Keck Observatory telescopes are among the most scientifically productive on Earth. The two 10-meter optical/infrared telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii feature a suite of advanced instruments including imagers, multi-object spectrographs, high-resolution spectrographs, integral-field spectrometers, and world-leading laser guide star adaptive optics systems. Keck Observatory is a private 501(c) 3 non-profit organization operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the Native Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. For more information, visit: www.keckobservatory.org.

Duke Energy Renewables / REC Solar

REC Solar is a business unit of Duke Energy Renewables, a nonregulated affiliate of Duke Energy (DUK) that operates 3,000 MW of wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S. Based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., with offices in Petaluma, Calif., and Honolulu, Hawaii, REC Solar has installed over 800 solar, energy storage, microgrid, and EV fleet charging sites for commercial, public sector and utility-scale customers. The company provides design, engineering, financing, operations and maintenance services, allowing for a simplified customer experience. Visit Duke Energy Renewables or REC Solar for more information.

Media contact: Jennifer Garber
Media line: 800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

https://www.duke-energy.com/renewable-energy

ICC prosecutor wants full probe into Ukraine

war crimes

Issued on: 12/12/2020 

Maidan activists stand on an armoured vehicle in central Kiev in February 2014

 LOUISA GOULIAMAKI AFP/File

The Hague (AFP)

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Friday that a "broad range" of war crimes were committed in the Ukraine since 2014, as she pushed for a full investigation.

Hague-based ICC prosecutors launched a preliminary probe in 2015 after Kiev gave it the green light to look into alleged crimes committed during the pro-EU Maidan demonstrations, which came to a head in February 2014 when pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovic was ousted.

Ukraine, which is not an ICC member state, later also gave Bensouda permission to broaden her scope and go beyond February 2014 to include the deadly conflict that has since wracked the country's east.

Bensouda said her initial probe had now finished.

"My office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis at this time to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine," Bensouda said.

ICC investigators "furthermore found that these crimes, committed by the different parties to the conflict, were also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my office," she said in a statement.

Bensouda said the next step would be to ask judges at the ICC, set up in 2002 to probe the world's worst crimes, permission to open a full-blown probe.

"Having examined the information available... my office has concluded that the potential cases that would likely arise from an investigation into the situation in Ukraine would be admissible," before the ICC, she said.

- 'Inevitable justice' -

Kiev welcomed the move on Friday, saying the ICC's prosecutors had "announced a historic decision".

"International justice may not be served fast, but it is surely inevitable," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

Thousands have been killed since pro-Russia militias in eastern Ukraine launched a bid for independence in 2014, kicking off a conflict that deepened Russia's estrangement from the West.

This included the 298 victims -- mainly Dutch -- who died when Malaysia Airlines MH17 was blasted out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

Dutch prosecutors say the missile was fired from territory held by pro-Moscow separatists, who were supplied by Russia.

Moscow however, has vigorously denied any involvement.

It was unclear whether the downing of MH17 would form part of the ICC's investigation, as a Dutch court in March began hearing a case against four suspects, three of them Russian and one Ukrainian.

Kiev's ongoing war with separatists has claimed around 13,000 lives and displaced 1.5 million others.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky agreed last December to a series of measures to relaunch a peace process in Ukraine.

Bensouda's announcement followed her earlier statement in which the Gambian-born prosecutor said she would also ask judges to give her office the go-ahead for a full probe into ongoing violence in Nigeria.

© 2020 AFP

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=UKRAINE

CLINTON'S HUMANITARIAN WAR
End of an era? 

Hague trials rock Kosovo's rebel-led politics

Issued on: 12/12/2020 - 

Former President Hashim Thaci (C) and other rebel chiefs were once feted for liberating Kosovo from Serbia in a 1990s war STRINGER AFP

Pristina (AFP)

After more than a decade at the helm, Kosovo's former guerillas may have finally met their match -- not at home but in The Hague, where they are on trial for war crimes.

It has been a long and hard fall from grace for former president Hashim Thaci and other ex-rebels who were once feted as heroes for liberating Kosovo from Serbia in a late 1990s war, with the help of NATO.

Yet if they were once associated with the joy of that victory, in recent years they have become the face of a political elite accused of corruption and clientelism that has clouded Kosovo's first decade of independence.

"They became so strong and accumulated so much wealth that it was impossible to overthrow them," said Ismet Sojeva, 66, a retired English teacher.

"Only The Hague could help bring them from the sky back down to earth".

Thaci, 52, and four others were summoned last month to the EU-backed court in the Netherlands on charges of murder, torture, persecution and other war crimes allegedly committed during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbia.

For many Kosovars, it's a complicated moment.

Most strongly defend the uprising that paved Kosovo's path to independence in 2008.

Yet the guerilla leaders themselves have long ago lost their shine among a public frustrated with enduring poverty and dysfunction.

"There is nothing they have not done to us people," said the owner of a tea shop in Pristina who declined to give his name.

"They almost destroyed the state."

- An opportunity -

With trials that could last up to eight years, political science professor Belul Beqaj believes the absence of Thaci and his cadres could open a new chapter for Kosovo politics.

Thaci's PDK party came to power in 2007 and stayed there until losing an election late last year.

"It is the beginning of the end of the era of the powerful military-political group that brought Kosovo to this state," Beqaj said.

There is a rare opportunity for a "new generation of politicians" to fill the void, adds Arben Hajrullahu, a professor of political sciences at the University of Pristina.

Yet the ex-rebels won't "leave soon and easily," he noted, with some key figures still in politics and many others holding sway in powerful state institutions.

The fragmented opposition would need to unite around a common cause, said the professor, a goal that has so far proved difficult in Kosovo's tumultuous political scene.

- War heroes -

Known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the ethnic Albanian rebels are deeply embedded in the national narrative, with scores of streets and monuments bearing their names and stories.

They first emerged as a separatist movement in the 1990s in response to growing oppression of the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo, then a Serbian province.

Thaci, a founding member, served as the group's political head, using a satellite phone to communicate with peace-brokering diplomats and foreign reporters.

Other prominent leaders on trial include the KLA's former spy chief Kadri Veseli, spokesman Jakup Krasniqi and chief of operations Rexhep Selimi.

After the KLA's clashes with Serbian troops intensified in 1998, the rag-tag army swelled from a few hundred members to thousands of recruits.

Victory arrived with NATO's intervention the following year, after 13,000 lives had been lost, mostly Kosovo Albanians.

The KLA was officially disbanded but its members continued to hold sway, consolidating their power through a series of attacks on political rivals.

- 'Corrupt payouts' -

Many top commanders like Thaci swapped their fatigues for politics and have circled the halls of power ever since.

Their levers of control were unveiled in 2011, when wiretapped phone conversations between then-PM Thaci and his associates showed a system of settling political appointments based on cronyism.

Thaci's clan is also accused of using their clout to scupper local investigations of KLA war crimes -- as well as attempts to obstruct the work of the tribunal in The Hague, which was set up in 2015.

"The suspects wield enormous influence over former KLA members and Kosovo in general," Hague prosecutors said in their request for arrest warrants this year.

Officials loyal to Thaci have "presided over corrupt government pay-outs" and job offers to silence potential witnesses, they alleged.

The trials may signal the end of crucial support from the West, which has long propped up Thaci and his allies.

The US has been a particularly robust ally, embracing Thaci at every turn, including when then-Vice President Joe Biden welcomed him to the White House as the "George Washington of Kosovo".

Critics say the West has backed the former rebels to prioritise stability in the region -- at the cost of rotting democratic institutions and a loss of public faith in politics.

Thaci and his men "looked only after settling and feeding themselves," said 22-year-old economy student Albulen Obrazhda, summing up the widespread disillusionment among youth, many of whom are eager to go abroad for better opportunities.

"They left us at the bottom."

© 2020 AFP

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=KOSOVO

Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Thesis on The Kosovo Crisis and the Crisis of Global Capitalism
(originally written May 1999, Bill Clinton set the stage for George W. to invade Afghanistan and Iraq for humanitarian purposes.)
http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/01/war-whats-it-good-for-profit.html

Why are Indian farmers protesting, and what can Modi do?

Issued on: 12/12/2020 -

The farmers protest is potentially the trickiest challenge yet to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's authority Sajjad HUSSAIN AFP/File


New Delhi (AFP)

As an army of resolute Indian farmers keeps up its blockade of New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces potentially the trickiest challenge yet to his authority and reform agenda.

With the protests entering their third week, AFP looks at the background to new farm laws, why they are sparking such opposition and Modi's limited options.

- What is the state of Indian agriculture? -


India's farming sector is vast and troubled.

It provides a livelihood to nearly 70 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people and accounts for around 15 percent of the $2.7-trillion economy.

The "Green Revolution" of the 1970s turned India from a country facing regular food shortages into one with a surplus -- and a major exporter.

But for the past few decades, farm incomes have remained largely stagnant and the sector is in sore need of investment and modernisation.

More than 85 percent of farmers have less than two hectares (five acres) of land. Fewer than one in a hundred farmers own over 10 hectares, according to a 2015-16 agriculture ministry survey.

India hands out an estimated $32 billion in subsidies to farmers annually, according to the finance ministry.

- How are farmers coping? -

Water shortages, floods and increasingly erratic weather caused by climate change, as well as debt, have taken a heavy toll on farmers.

According to a Punjab government report in 2017, the northern state will use up all its groundwater resources by 2039.

More than 300,000 farmers have killed themselves since the 1990s. Nearly 10,300 did so in 2019, according to the latest official figures.

Farmers and their workers are also abandoning agriculture in droves -- 2,000 of them every day according to the last census in 2011.

- What did Modi promise? -

Indian governments have long made big promises to farmers -- a crucial vote bank -- and Modi is no exception, vowing to double their incomes by 2022.

In September, parliament passed three laws that enabled farmers to sell to any buyer they chose, rather than to commission agents at state-controlled markets.

These markets were set up in the 1950s to stop the exploitation of farmers and pay a minimum support price (MSP) for certain produce.

The system has led to farmers sometimes growing crops unsuited to the local climate, such as thirsty rice in Punjab, and can be fertile ground for corruption.

But many farmers see the MSP as a vital safety net, and fear being unable to compete with large farms and being paid low prices by big corporations.

"The laws will harm the farmers and in turn destroy our livelihood," said Sukhwinder Singh, a farm worker who cycled 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the protests.

"Land, cattle and farmers will be enslaved by rich people. This government wants to finish us," he said.

- What can Modi do? -

Modi has drawn fire before -- a disastrous withdrawal of large banknotes in 2016, for example -- but his popularity has held up, winning a landslide re-election in 2019.

From late 2019, there were months of protests against a citizenship law imposed by Modi's Hindu-nationalist BJP government that was seen as discriminatory to Muslims.

But the BJP, with its clout in traditional and social media, was able to depict the demonstrators as "anti-nationals" before Covid-19 eventually snuffed out the protests.

Modi, 70, has tried to brush off the current agitation as being stoked by an opportunistic opposition "misleading" the farmers.

Some in his party have upped the ante by branding the protesters -- many of whom are Sikhs -- as "hooligans, Sikh separatists and anti-nationals".

But with the farmers, it is different.

They enjoy widespread support among Indians and ignoring them clashes with Modi's self-styled image as a champion of the poor.

In rural areas, where 70 percent of Indians live, there is already a growing perception that Modi is cosy with big business and billionaire industrialists such as Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest person.

"There are many things which are outdated in the agriculture sector. But reforms cannot be pushed like this," Arati Jerath, a political analyst, told AFP.

"This is so far the biggest challenge to the government... It will have to find a way to walk back and save face at the same time."

© 2020 AFP 

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=INDIA+FARMERS

Reporters

Beirut port blast: Lebanon's army to the rescue

By: Zeina ANTONIOS|Charbel ABBOUD|Linda TAMIM|Ghassan SEBAALY

17 min

August 4, 2020 is a date that will be remembered forever in Lebanon. Twin blasts struck the port of Beirut as some 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate went up in smoke. More than 200 people were killed, thousands were injured and entire neighbourhoods were disfigured. As locals sprang into action, the Lebanese army was on the frontline to prevent looting and secure the scene. Our Beirut correspondent Zeina Antonios followed some of these soldiers as they faced what may turn out to be the biggest challenge of their careers.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LEBANON+PORT+BLAST

France debates human rights at home while still selling weapons to oppressive regimes

Issued on: 11/12/2020 

Technicians work on French made Rafale jet fighter at the workshops of Dassault-Aviation in Merignac near Bordeaux on October 8, 2019. © Georges Gobet, AFP

Text by:Monique El-Faizy

As the French President Emmanuel Macron faces accusations that he is moving to curtail the civic rights in his country and reduce transparency, the recent state visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi underscored France’s longstanding willingness to turn a blind eye to systemic oppression in the countries it sells weapons to.

When Sisi came to France for a state visit this week, less than a month after prominent human rights workers in Egypt were arrested and slapped with terrorism-related charges following a meeting with French and other European diplomats, Human Rights Watch called for arms sales to Egypt to stop and activists were looking to French President Emmanuel Macron to make a strong statement.

They had, perhaps, reason to be hopeful. After the November arrests, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing its “deep concern” about developments in the Arab nation. “France maintains a frank, exacting dialogue with Egypt on human rights issues, including individual cases,” the statement said.

In the end, not only were activists disappointed by Macron’s reception of Sisi, they were outraged by it. Far from taking a firm line on abuses and demanding that Egypt do better if it hoped to continue receiving military aid, Macron went out of his way to disassociate the purchase of arms with the respect of human rights.

“I will not condition matters of defence and economic cooperation on these disagreements [over human rights],” Macron said in a press conference. "It is more effective to have a policy of demanding dialogue than a boycott that would only reduce the effectiveness of one of our partners in the fight against terrorism."

“The whole way he framed the human rights debate in the press conference was horrific,” said Timothy Kaldas, Nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. “Arresting human rights workers and oppressing Egyptians is not fighting terrorism. Quite the contrary.”

A double standard

Macron’s stance was particularly salient given that his own government has been under fire over a proposed security law that critics charge would limit civic liberties in France. At the same time that he has defended France’s commitment to freedom of speech in the wake of the killing of a teacher who showed his class caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. Macron called the teacher, Samuel Paty, a “quiet hero” dedicated to preserving French values.

Macron’s position with Sisi this week was notably softer than the one he took in January 2019, when he told his Egyptian counterpart that security could not be considered separately from human rights, noting that oppression jeopardises stability rather than enhance it.

“It’s a double standard,” said Rim-Sarah Alouane, a Researcher in Public Law, University Toulouse Capitole. “We are in the middle of this hypocrisy about how we are supposed to be the country of the enlightenment, of human rights – we are supposed to have basically created human rights – and yet we have no problem making deals with the devil and closing our eyes to what should be the most important thing: the protection of the human.”

Kaldas agreed: “[Macron] will be adamant about how much France cherishes its values in one context and then be completely unwilling to prioritise those values in his relations with authoritarians.”

Marcon has shown himself similarly willing to ignore abuses in other parts of the region as well. When several European countries, including Germany, called for the suspension of arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Macron dismissed those concerns as “demagoguery”, saying the weapons had nothing to do with the murder. “I understand the connection with what’s happening in Yemen, but there is no link with Mister Khashoggi,” he said.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition that has been engaged in a war in Yemen that has had devastating effects on the humanitarian situation there. “The only reason [Macron] cites Yemen is to dismiss the other argument, but then he continues to provide the arms that fuel the war in Yemen,” Kaldas said.

Key to sovereignty

France has a vested interest in batting away the issue of rights abuses. Arms sales are big business for the country, which is third in global military exports, coming behind the United States and Russia. The defence sector in France employs 200,000 people, roughly 13 percent of the total industrial workforce, according to a report by the country's parliament.

France is one of the few countries in the world capable of independently producing advanced military systems, and arms sales are key to the survival of the defence sector.

“It’s important for France to maintain its own arms industry,” both to be a significant player on the world stage and to be self-sufficient, said Pieter D. Wezeman, Senior Researcher in the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “To be able to do that, you need to have export clients, because otherwise you won’t be able to afford it.”

As Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly put it in 2018: “Arms exports are the business model of our sovereignty.”

And the industry is growing. Arms sales can vary widely from year to year, so researchers look at extended periods of time. Comparing the years 2015-2019 with 2010-2014, French arms exports grew 72 percent, representing 7.9 percent of the global arms market. Over the past decade, the Middle East has accounted for roughly 48 percent of French exports, said Guy Anderson, Associate Director of the Industry and Markets division at Jane's, publisher of Jane's Defence Weekly.

“France has been very prolific in providing weapons to a wide range of people,” Wezeman said.

France has been known to ignore arms embargos as well. In his autobiography “No Room for Small Dreams,” the late Israeli politician Shimon Perez said that France secretly sold weapons to Israel back in the 1950s, when few nations would. And it was the French who gave Israel its nuclear capacities, Perez wrote.

The illicit arms sales have continued. The French found ways to supply weapons to the apartheid regime in South Africa despite restrictions on such exports and press reports said that military material found in Libya in 2019 indicated that France had violated the arms embargo there.

“France is one of the least scrupulous arms sellers on earth,” said Kaldas. “Even the US is a little more restrictive about their arms sales.”

SEE  PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

 

The human cost of Armenia's defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh

Issued on: 11/12/2020 

By: Romeo LANGLOIS, Wassim Cornet,Mohamed FARHAT

Last month, a Russian-brokered ceasefire brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict left thousands dead and forced tens of thousands more to flee their homes. In the aftermath of the war, some in Armenia are still searching for family members who are yet to be accounted for. FRANCE 24's Roméo Langlois and Mohamed Farhat report

Programme prepared by Patrick Lovett and Wassim Cornet

  

AstraZeneca to use Russian COVID-19 vaccine component in clinical trials


Vials of Russia's "Sputnik V" COVID-19 vaccine are seen at the Nikolai Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, Russia, on August 6. File Photo by RDIF/EPA-EFE

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Drugmaker AstraZeneca will use a component of Russia's "Sputnik V" COVID-19 vaccine in clinical trials for its vaccine, officials said Friday.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Gamaleya Institute, makers of the Sputnik V vaccine, said AstraZeneca has accepted their offer of a human adenoviral vector -- a common cold virus -- for use in trials for its experimental AZD1222 vaccine.

AstraZeneca, which is developing AZD1222 in partnership with Oxford University, will begin using Sputnik V's human adenoviral vector type Ad26 in clinical trials by the end of the year, according to RFID CEO Kirill Dmitriev.

"The decision by AstraZeneca to carry out clinical trials using one of two vectors of Sputnik V in order to increase its own vaccine's efficacy is an important step towards uniting efforts in the fight against the pandemic," he said in a statement.

"We are determined to develop this partnership in the future and to start joint production after the new vaccine demonstrates its efficacy in the course of clinical trials. We hope that other vaccine producers will follow our example."

AstraZeneca confirmed the collaboration.

"Being able to combine different COVID-19 vaccines may be helpful to improved protection and/or to improve vaccine accessibility," company officials told CNBC.

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"This is why it is important to explore different vaccine combinations to help make immunization programs more flexible, by allowing physicians greater choice at the time of administering vaccines."

RFID -- Russia's sovereign wealth fund -- has claimed the Sputnik V vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, according to preliminary clinical results.

It is unique for vaccines under development to use two different adenoviral vectors in the first and second doses to avoid immunity to the first vector.

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The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, meanwhile, prevents infection in 62% of people who receive two full doses, and in 90% of those given a half dose followed by a full dose, according to interim data published last week.

Friday's announcement follows a recommendation Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's vaccines committee to give emergency use authorization in the United States for a vaccine developed jointly by Pfizer and BioNTech.

The move, a key milestone in distributing a vaccine in the United States, is expected to be upheld by the FDA on Friday or Saturday. That would be the final approval for Americans to begin receiving the vaccine, which has proven about 95% effective.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already received approval in Britain and Canada. Inoculations began in Britain early this week.

Trump finalizes rules restricting asylum protections

A group asylum seekers from Venezuela sit in the cold and wait to cross the US border from Reynosa, Mexico, on January 26, 2019. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo


Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The Trump administration on Thursday finalized sweeping amendments to immigration rules that critics fear will "devastate" the country's asylum system.

The 419-page document set to be published on Friday by the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice greatly tightens standards by which immigration judges are allowed to grant asylum.

Immigration advocacy group American Immigration Council said Thursday the regulation "guts the U.S. asylum system by making it nearly impossible for most applicants to successfully claim humanitarian protection in the United States."

Among the slew of changes include ordering judges to deny asylum to those who have spent at least 14 days in any country that permits refugee applications, traveled through more than one country prior to arriving in the United States, been in the United States for more than a year before filing an application and failing to pay taxes on time.

The amended rule also orders judges to consider unlawful entrance into the United States as a "significant adverse factor" for anyone above the age of 18.

Concerning those seeking asylum by claiming their lives are under threat, the rule amends the definition of "persecution" to mean "severe harm of an immediate and menacing nature made by an identified entity or person."

The document also states it is raising the standard of proof for those seeking humanitarian assistance claiming "credible fear of persecution" and "credible fear of torture."
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"For generations, the United States has been a beacon of hope for those in need of protection. This new rule breaks that tradition," Beth Werlin, executive director of the American Immigration Council, said in a statement. "By choosing to move forward with this regulation, the administration is making clear that deterrence through cruelty is the point until the bitter end."

Jennifer Minear, the president of American Immigration Lawyers Association, chastised the administration for failing to address border security and asylum processing humanely.

"This rule eviscerates a needed lifeline to those fleeing danger and reiterates a common false narrative promoted by the Trump administration: that border security can only be attained through the gutting of the asylum," she said.

The amended rule was first published for comment in June and is set to go into effect Jan. 11, days before the Biden administration is to take over leadership of the country.

Immigration has been a constant issue for President Donald Trump who campaigned in 2016 on cracking down on undocumented immigrants entering the United States.

In February of last year, Trump declared a National Emergency in order to shift billions of dollars to build physical barriers along the souther border.

The Justice Department argued in a statement Thursday that the changes "streamline and enhance procedures" that will enable to federal government "to more effectively separate baseless claims from meritorious ones."

"This will better ensure groundless claims do not delay or divert resources from deserving claims, and in particular, will better ensure the security of our nation's borders by facilitating the efficient review of claims in a manner consistent with the law and the integrity of our immigration system," it said.