Rich and poor nations clash over patent waivers on lifesaving vaccines

Toni Waterman in Brussels CGTN

Europe 02:38, 05-Feb-2021

The UK has administered more than 10m vaccine doses. /AFP

The world's richest nations have shot down a proposal by India and South Africa to temporarily waive patent protections on potentially lifesaving coronavirus vaccines and treatments.

According to a Geneva trade official, Canada, the UK, Switzerland and Japan voiced their opposition to the waiver during an informal meeting of the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Council on Thursday, saying there was "no concrete indication" that intellectual property (IP) rights have been a barrier to accessing medicines and technologies.

Representatives from the European Union argued that vaccine scarcity could be fixed through a combination of licensing and expanding manufacturing capacity.

Supporters of the proposal stressed that manufacturing capacity in the "Global South" was being underutilized. They called the vaccine shortfall "artificial" and claimed it was part of a scheme to "perpetuate monopoly power using IP," said the trade official.

Several countries, including Egypt, Nigeria, India, and Venezuela, also "harshly criticized" the European Union for introducing curbs on vaccine exports.

"The measure was characterized as serious and alarming and indicative that those countries that continue to oppose most vociferously the IP waiver are indeed the ones that have secretly bought up their way to available production and continue to collude with pharmaceutical companies under the veil of secrecy," said the trade official.

Last year, as global scientists worked around the clock to develop COVID-19 vaccines, officials from the world's richest countries vehemently touted equitable access, many promising to supply hundreds of millions of doses to the world's poorest nations. They also struck multiple bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies – six for the EU – and plowed billions of public money into the companies to accelerate vaccine development and offset risk.

But now the vaccines have arrived, the gulf between the haves and have nots is spreading. According to analysis from The Economist Intelligence Unit, rich nations such as the UK, U.S., Israel, and those in the EU are likely to achieve "widespread vaccination coverage" by late 2021, but the world's poorest countries will not hit that same benchmark until at least 2024.

"We cannot continue to engage in endless discussions, while in the real world millions of lives are lost to the coronavirus pandemic," the South Africa delegate said during the meeting.

On Wednesday, the WHO-led COVAX facility said it hoped to ship 335 million doses to low- and middle-income countries by the end of June.

Robot room service: South African hotel goes hi-tech in COVID-19 era

A hotel in South Africa is using robots to counter some of the challenges of COVID-19.

Micha, Lexi and Ariel are on hand to help guests check in, find out more information about on-site facilities and deliver room service requests, as ordered via the hotel's app.

Osman Baig  04-Feb-2021

Three robots work at the South African hotel. /AFP

Guests can even chat to the robots, whose AI-powered technology is designed to continuously improve their knowledge and interaction skills.

Nikhil Ranchod, the co-founder of CTRL Robotics says: "The chatbot is pretty interesting, because these robots have quite a catchy personality. They sort of help out with the smaller things ... and where staff would usually be running up four floors delivering a meal, delivering two meals ... now we've got the facility where they can control the robots themselves and send it off."


Robots deliver room service at the hotel. /AFP

Hotel Sky in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, had put the technology in place before the pandemic, but is now embracing it as a way to minimize human contact in a country hit hard by COVID-19.

The hotel's general manager, Herman Brits, says the venture also raises morale. "It just creates such a nice vibe and excitement for the staff ... They have the opportunity to be part of this journey, and being the innovators in South Africa of this hospitality trend."

Source(s): AFP

VIDEO Robot room service: South African hotel goes hi-tech in COVID-19 era - CGTN

The Answers Project Podcast: 

Will soldiers become obsolete?

Arij Limam


29:51 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1606030

From the need for a global currency, to what else is out there in the universe, CGTN Europe's brand new podcast tries to find answers to some of the world's most burning ethical, scientific and philosophical questions.

In the first episode of The Answers Project, journalists Stephen Cole and Mhairi Beveridge, with the help of expert guests, discuss the future of warfare and question whether soldiers will ever be replaced by robots on the battlefield. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

It's not a stretch to say the wars of tomorrow will be faster, more high-tech and less human than ever before. But will things like science fiction-esque "slaughter bots" become a reality? Can robots ever handle the multi-faceted role that human soldiers play in conflict, crisis and peacetime?

"This is soldiers effectively being replaced by robots. And it's a topic that lots of people are concerned about," Mhairi Beveridge notes as she introduces the inaugural episode of CGTN Europe's latest podcast The Answers Project.

"If intelligent robots take over the role of soldiers in the future and they're increasingly driven by powerful artificial intelligence (AI), will man or machine be in charge and, more importantly, who should be in charge?" she asks.

While completely autonomous gun-wielding robot soldiers are not currently running around battlefields or training, Beveridge says the technology is really not far off, as today robots can programmed to pick up things or follow sensors.

"My son is in the British army at divisional headquarters. They are very, very aware of artificial intelligence," co-presenter Stephen Cole observes.

"They're aware of quantum computing, the capabilities of cyber chemical weapons coding, robotics defense, computer-generated vulnerabilities. They know this is the future of warfare and they are creating entire brigades to deal with this," he adds.

The forensic toolkit helping defeat the pangolin poachers
Jim Drury

VIDEO 10:23

The forensic toolkit helping defeat the pangolin poachers - CGTN


06-Feb-2021

UK scientists are pioneering the transfer of forensic science techniques used in crime investigations to the African and Asian savannahs, in a bid to stop pangolin poaching.

They are the most illegally trafficked mammals in the world, with 2.7 million pangolins poached every year.

The new method involves lifting fingerprints from the scales of the animals using gelatin lifters. It has been pioneered by University of Portsmouth forensic scientists Brian Chappell and Jac Reed.

The technique is universally used by forensic practitioners to lift footwear marks, fingerprints and trace materials from objects in criminal investigations.

The gelatin lifter is easily applied to the scale, removed and scanned using a specialist scanning system. Preliminary trials with the UK's Border Force have shown the method is significantly contributing to the disruption of illegal trafficking of the animal.

The project initially looked at how to apply forensic techniques to assist rangers working with trafficked commodities such as rhino horn and ivory.

Reed realized it could also be used to collect fingerprints and trace evidence from pangolin scales.

"What we've done is repurposed an established technology for use in a different environment," Reed told CGTN Europe. "If you go directly into somewhere like the savanna and you've got a ranger in their truck and they come across a carcass, the first thing they're going to think of is not, 'how can I protect my scene?' It's, 'how quickly can I get in and out of the scene,' because there may be poachers still in the area and that puts them at great peril."



These pangolin scales, seized in Indonesia, would have 

been used for illegal traditional medicine. /Getty Images

Through partners ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and the Wildlife Conservation Society, researchers have collaborated with wildlife crime enforcement and anti-trafficking personnel in Cameroon, Kenya, Benin and India. The technique has been formally recognized and promoted for use by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and Interpol.

"The use of any forensic technique as part of a wildlife crime investigators' toolkit has got to be a good thing. It's low cost and certainly its utility within the particular operating environment is quite considerable," Chappell told CGTN Europe.

All eight pangolin species are protected under national and international laws, with two listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species.

The scaly anteater is traded for its meat, while its scales are used in traditional medicine. Last year, 14 tons of pangolin scales were seized in Singapore alone.


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UK disputes hauliers' claims that exports dropped by 68% post-Brexit

Sunniya Ahmad Pirzada CGTN



UK's Road Haulage Association has urged the government to increase the number of customs agents to help firms navigate the mountains of post-Brexit paperwork. /Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

A UK hauliers' trade body has said that exports from Britain to the European Union (EU) fell by 68 percent last month compared with January 2020.

The trade disruption came after the end of a transition period following Britain's departure from the EU, according to the Road Haulage Association (RHA).

After a survey of its international members, the RHA assessed a significant decrease in the volume of traffic carried on ferries and through the Channel Tunnel and reported its findings to the UK's Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove.

Richard Burnett, the RHA's chief executive, also told the minister how he and his officials had repeatedly warned the government over several months of difficulties and called for measures to ease the problems, but no attention was paid to these.

All through last year, RHA had urged the government to increase the number of customs agents to help firms navigate the extra paperwork, saying the current number of around 10,000 agents is still about a fifth of what is necessary.

Burnett also told The Observer newspaper that about 65 to 75 percent of vehicles arriving from the EU were going back empty.

This was mainly due to a lack of goods, delays on the UK side, and because some UK companies had either temporarily or permanently stopped exporting to the bloc.

UK exports to EU fall 68% since deal as Brexit chaos worsens

Up to 75% of trucks entering the UK from the EU were returning empty, an industry spokesman has said.

Haulage disruption at UK ports caused by Brexit dragged down British exports last month.

SUN, 07 FEB, 2021 - 

COSTAS PITAS

Exports from Britain to the EU fell by 68% in January as trade was disrupted after the end of the transition period following Britain’s departure from the European Union, according to a British trade body representing hauliers.

The British government did not confirm the data and said disruption at the border had been minimal since Britain completed its journey out of the EU’s orbit at the end of 2020 following an agreement on trading arrangements.

Since the start of the year, businesses and hauliers have had to adapt to new trading arrangements, including new systems for companies and officials in Northern Ireland. 

Some businesses have struggled with new customs declarations and health certificates as the coronavirus pandemic also hit firms.

International members at the UK-based Road Haulage Association reported a 68% fall in exports in January, the group said.

“I find it deeply frustrating and annoying that ministers have chosen not to listen to the industry and experts,” said RHA chief executive Richard Burnett.

The UK government said it engages with the sector and does “not recognise the figure provided on exports”. 

“Thanks to the hard work of hauliers and traders to prepare for change, disruption at the border has so far been minimal and freight movements are now close to normal levels, despite the Covid-19 pandemic,” it said in a statement.

Mr Burnett wrote to Britain’s Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove earlier this month, following up on what he said were repeated warnings — over several months — of Brexit-related problems with exports leaving Britain for the EU.

He said there was an urgent need for an increased number of customs agents to help companies with paperwork and red tape. 

There are currently around 10,000 customs agents in the UK — about a fifth of what the RHA deems as the required amount.

Mr Burnett said up to 75% of trucks entering the UK from the EU were returning empty due to there being no goods to bring back on account of hold-ups in the UK.

“Michael Gove is the master of extracting information from you and giving nothing back,” Mr Burnett told The Observer newspaper

Japanese mostly opposed to Tokyo Olympics this summer - poll
2021/2/8  ©Reuters


TOKYO (Reuters) - A majority of Japanese remain opposed to holding the Olympics this summer amid the coronavirus pandemic but the ratio lowered significantly from recent polls, a Yomiuri newspaper poll showed on Monday.

Some 28% of respondents said they want the Olympics to be cancelled and the same ratio of people think they should be held without spectators, the poll showed.

The Yomiuri poll showed a combined 61% wanting the Games to be postponed or cancelled altogether, around 20% points lower than recent opinion polls.

Just 36% of the public are in favour of holding the Tokyo Olympics this summer, of which 28% are calling for no spectators while the remaining 8% back allowing spectators.

The Tokyo Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled to take place this year starting on July 23.

Some 56% expected the coronavirus pandemic to remain unchanged in the summer, while 37% anticipated improvement and 3% saw it getting worse. Some 70% believed the vaccination would help resolve the situation, outweighing those who saw no containment. (This story has been refiled to correct garbled headline)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Holding of Tokyo Games wanted by 36% in Japan poll, while 28% want it cancelled

FEBRUARY 08, 2021

THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Bystanders watch as giant Olympic rings are reinstalled at the waterfront area at Odaiba Marine Park, after they were temporarily taken down in August for maintenance amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan, December 1, 2020.
Reuters

About a third of people want the The Tokyo Games to be held this summer, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun’s recent poll.

Amid the pandemic, 8 per cent of respondents said the Games should be held with spectators, while 28 per cent said they should be held without spectators, totaling 36 per cent of people with a positive attitude toward the Games.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.

Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo organising committee, said on Jan. 28 that the organisers have been simulating a scenario regarding the possibility of holding the Games without crowds.

On the other hand, 33 per cent of poll respondents said the Olympics and Paralympics should be postponed again and 28 per cent want the Games to be cancelled.

When respondents were asked what they thought the infection situation would become by the summer, 56 per cent said it would remain unchanged, 37 per cent said it would improve and 3 per cent said it would worsen.

Of the respondents who thought it would improve, almost 50 per cent are positive about hosting the Games, with 13 per cent wanting the event to be held with spectators and 35 per cent without.

Among respondents who said the situation would not change, 5 per cent want the Games to be held with spectators and 23 per cent without.

Regarding vaccinations, 70 per cent said they believe more vaccinations will help contain the novel coronavirus, far higher than the 20 per cent who did not believe so.

Respondents were also asked if they would like to be vaccinated, and 18 per cent said they want to right away, 65 per cent said they want to but not right away, and 15 per cent said they did not want to.

Among people 70 and over, 24 per cent said they want to get inoculated as soon as possible, the highest percentage among all age bracket

Most employers not adjusting pay despite remote working trend: Survey

FEBRUARY 07, 2021

By CHOO YUN TINGTHE STRAITS TIMES

Only 23 per cent of the 1,500 or so organisations worldwide said they may alter staff compensation based on an employee's location.

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - While working from home has become the new norm amid the pandemic, most employers said they were not considering adjusting pay based on an employee's location, according to a new survey.

It found that only 23 per cent of respondents said they may alter staff compensation while 11 per cent had modified salaries according to location, such as lowering pay if the employee moves to an area with lower living costs.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.

It also noted that almost half of the respondents have helped staff meet one-off costs associated with setting up home offices or other ongoing expenses, such as increased mobile phone use.

The poll of 1,500 or so organisations around the world conducted from Dec 7 to 15 found as well that only 32 per cent of employees are expected to return to the office once the pandemic is over.

Singapore Human Resources Institute president Low Peck Kem said that with remote work being more prevalent and as geographical boundaries become less of a concern, organisations should be looking at base salaries to ensure fair pay within the workforce.

"Companies can consider modifying some of its benefits to cater to the changing landscape where employees are expected to work from home for longer duration.

"These benefits can include modifying transport allowances to technology allowances to enable their employees to achieve relatively the same of higher levels of productivity whilst working from home."

Mr Paul Heng, managing director of career consultancy NextCareer Consulting, said the global workforce is facing a new world: "Companies that allow or encourage employees to work remotely or from their homes should continue to support such employees.

"It is an implicit responsibility of employers to provide a safe, comfortable and conducive working environment to employees - so, if the decision is (for employees) to work from home, then this implicit responsibility continues."

Future of work


Ms Jaya Dass, managing director of Singapore and Malaysia at recruitment agency Randstad, noted that some companies have raised concerns about losing their organisation culture given the reduced socialisation and collaborations that come with remote work.

"Whatever the decision is, it is critical that employers take into account the changing (employee) candidate expectations," Ms Dass said.

"It would not be uncommon for candidates to ask if the company allows staff to work remotely during the interview process in the future."


Read Also'Right to disconnect' from work should be considered, says MP Melvin Yong

Ms Low also noted that there are many advantages to remote working and companies will have to figure out what is their right mix between those in the office and those at home, adding that there are savings in office rent and lower carbon footprints in light of remote work and less commuting.

Mr Heng said that employers should stop thinking about what comes after the pandemic ends and focus on dealing with the present: "The reality is not whether (a pandemic) will come again but when."

"Companies that can 'see' around the corner have a better chance of reacting positively when the next big thing happens," he added.

"So, we are looking at a new breed of CEOs who can rise above the ashes and bounce back strongly come what may."

China's top drug regulator grants Sinovac vaccine conditional OK

FEBRUARY 08, 2021

ByWANG XIAOYUCHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

A doctor holds a box of China's Sinovac vaccine, a potential vaccine for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), at the Sao Lucas Hospital of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), in Porto Alegre, Brazil, August 8, 2020.
Reuters

China's top drug regulator granted conditional market approval to a Covid-19 vaccine developed by domestic drugmaker Sinovac Biotech, the second candidate to receive the green light in the country.

Sinovac said in a statement released on Saturday (Feb 6) that it filed for conditional authorisation to the National Medical Products Administration on Wednesday (Feb 3) and obtained the approval on Friday (Feb 5).

The conditional approval is based on interim results from two months' worth of phase-three clinical trials overseas, Sinovac said, adding that the final analysis data is not yet ready and further confirmation of its safety and efficacy is needed.

The administration said on Saturday that it has instructed Sinovac to move ahead with its trials and submit new research results in a timely manner.

Like the experimental vaccine developed by the State-owned Sinopharm－the first product to be approved for public use on Dec 30－the Sinovac vaccine uses inactivated viral particles to trigger an immune response and requires two doses administered at 14 to 28 days apart.

After the initial stages of human trials in China demonstrated adequate safety and effectiveness across all age groups, the company launched phase-three trials in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and Turkey on July 21, enrolling about 25,000 participants.

Sinovac said that in clinical trials in Brazil involving nearly 12,400 health workers, the vaccine was 100 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19-related deaths, severe cases and cases requiring hospitalisation, 83.7 per cent effective for cases showing symptoms and demanding medical treatment, and 50.65 per cent effective for mild cases.

In Turkey, the vaccine had a 91.25 per cent efficacy rate based on interim results from 29 cases, Sinovac said.

"We will actively advance the phase-three clinical trials and clinical research, as well as push ahead with the product's registration and application in other countries and regions," it said.

Read AlsoSinovac says Covid-19 vaccine effective in preventing hospitalisation, death

Sinovac's inactivated vaccine was first approved for emergency use with key groups in China in June, and has gradually gained emergency use approval in an increasing number of countries, including Colombia, Uruguay, Laos as well as in the four countries where the late-stage trials are underway or completed.

Mariangela Simao, assistant-director general for Access to Medicine and Health Products at the World Health Organisation, said during a briefing on Friday that the Sinovac vaccine is one of four vaccines "in very advanced stage "of the organisation's own emergency use evaluation system, known as the Emergency Use Listing.

With its vaccine in high demand, Sinovac said on Saturday that its second production line has been completed and is expected to open this month, which will double the company's capacity, making it abler to produce over 1 billion doses of vaccine annually.

"We are now scaling up the capacity of filling and packaging to catch up with the pace of producing vaccine fluid," it said.

The U.S. Moves to Rejoin the U.N. Human Rights Council in Another Reversal of Trump's Policies

In this Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, file photo, President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House, in Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

BY MATTHEW LEE / AP
FEBRUARY 7, 2021

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is set to announce this week that it will reengage with the much-maligned U.N. Human Rights Council that former President Donald Trump withdrew from almost three years ago, U.S. officials said Sunday. The decision reverses another Trump-era move away from multilateral organizations and agreements.

U..S. officials say Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a senior U.S. diplomat in Geneva will announce on Monday that Washington will return to the Geneva-based body as an observer with an eye toward seeking election as a full member. The decision is likely to draw criticism from conservative lawmakers and many in the pro-Israel community.

Trump pulled out of the world body’s main human rights agency in 2018 due to its disproportionate focus on Israel, which has received by far the largest number of critical council resolutions against any country, as well as the number of authoritarian countries among its members and because it failed to meet an extensive list of reforms demanded by then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

In addition to the council’s persistent focus on Israel, the Trump administration took issue with the body’s membership, which currently includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all of which have been accused of human rights abuses.

One senior U.S. official said the Biden administration believed the council must still reform but that the best way to promote change is to “engage with it in a principled fashion.” The official said it can be “an important forum for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world” and the U.S. presence intends to “ensure it can live up to that potential.”

That official and three others familiar with the decision were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly ahead of the announcement, and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although the U.S. will have only nonvoting observer status on the council through the end of 2021, the officials said the administration intends to seek one of three full member seats — currently held by Austria, Denmark and Italy — from the “Western Europe and other states group” that come up for election later this year.

The U.N. General Assembly makes the final choice in a vote that generally takes place in October every year to fill vacancies in three-year terms at the 47-member-state council.

U.S. engagement with the council and its predecessor, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, has been something of a political football between Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. While recognizing its shortcomings, Democratic presidents have tended to want a seat at the table while Republicans have recoiled at its criticism of Israel.

Trump’s withdrawal from the UNHRC, however, was one of a number of U.S. retrenchments from the international community during his four years in office. He also walked away from the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran nuclear deal, the World Health Organization, U.N. education and cultural organization, UNESCO, and several arms-control treaties. Trump also threatened to withdraw from the International Postal Union and frequently hinted at pulling out of the World Trade Organization.

Since taking office last month, President Joe Biden has rejoined both the Paris accord and the WHO and has signaled interest in returning to the Iran deal as well as UNESCO.

___

Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

US moves to rejoin UN rights council, in move likely to irk Israel advocates

Secretary of State Blinken expected to announce return to Geneva-based body that Trump administration quit in 2018 while citing ongoing bias against Jerusalem

By AP and TOI STAFF

The Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, home of the
UN Human Rights Council (CC BY-SA Henry Mühlpfordt/Wikpedia)

The Biden administration is set to announce this week that it will reengage with the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council that former US president Donald Trump withdrew from almost three years ago, US officials said Sunday. The decision reverses another Trump-era move away from multilateral organizations and agreements.

US officials say Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a senior US diplomat in Geneva will announce on Monday that Washington will return to the Geneva-based body as an observer with an eye toward seeking election as a full member. The decision is likely to draw criticism from conservative lawmakers and many in the pro-Israel community.

Trump pulled out of the world body’s main human rights agency in 2018 due to its disproportionate focus on Israel, which has received by far the largest number of critical council resolutions against any country, as well as the number of authoritarian countries among its members and because it failed to meet an extensive list of reforms demanded by then-US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

In addition to the council’s persistent focus on Israel, the Trump administration took issue with the body’s membership, which currently includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all of which have been accused of human rights abuses.


A picture taken on June 18, 2018, in Geneva, Switzerland, shows a general view during the opening of the 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. 

(AFP/Alain Grosclaude)

One senior US official said the Biden administration believed the council must still reform but that the best way to promote change is to “engage with it in a principled fashion.” The official said it can be “an important forum for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world” and the US presence intends to “ensure it can live up to that potential.”

That official and three others familiar with the decision were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly ahead of the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although the US will have only nonvoting observer status on the council through the end of 2021, the officials said the administration intends to seek one of three full member seats — currently held by Austria, Denmark and Italy — from the “Western Europe and other states group” that come up for election later this year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the State Department, Feb. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The UN General Assembly makes the final choice in a vote that generally takes place in October every year to fill vacancies in three-year terms at the 47-member-state council.

US engagement with the council and its predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission, has been something of a political football between Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. While recognizing its shortcomings, Democratic presidents have tended to want a seat at the table while Republicans have recoiled at its criticism of Israel.

Trump’s withdrawal from the UNHRC, however, was one of a number of US retrenchments from the international community during his four years in office. He also walked away from the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran nuclear deal, the World Health Organization, UN education and cultural organization, UNESCO, and several arms-control treaties. Trump also threatened to withdraw from the International Postal Union and frequently hinted at pulling out of the World Trade Organization.


President Joe Biden speaks about the economy in the State Dining Room of the White House, in Washington, on February 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Since taking office last month, US President Joe Biden has rejoined both the Paris accord and the WHO and has signaled interest in returning to the Iran deal as well as UNESCO.

When Trump quit the UNHRC, Israel praised the move as a “courageous decision against the hypocrisy and the lies” of the international body.

“Instead of dealing with regimes that systematically violate human rights, the UNHRC obsessively focuses on Israel, the one genuine democracy in the Middle East,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time.

A permanent element of the council’s agenda is Item 7 (“the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”), which since its adoption in 2007 has singled out Israel for perpetual censure, a measure that no other country faces at the UN body.

NRA laid the groundwork for deadly Capitol riot for years, say gun control advocates

Militia groups, QAnon, Capitol rioters and anti-lockdown protesters are all linked by toxic NRA ideology

By IGOR DERYSH
JANUARY 30, 2021

Wayne LaPierre | Capitol Riot on January 6th, 2021 

(Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

The deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6 brought together a wide variety of right-wing militia groups and fringe conspiracy theorists, officially united by former President Donald Trump's false narrative that the 2020 election had been stolen. But the ideology that connected these groups in the first place was cultivated for decades by the National Rifle Association, gun violence prevention groups say.

"The violence that we saw at the Capitol, the firepower that they brought with them, may not have been part of the NRA's call. But they're responsible for getting us to this moment," said Nick Suplina, managing director for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. "They should not be allowed to distance themselves from the Frankenstein monster that they've created. This is the NRA's handiwork. Years of conspiracy peddling, fear-mongering that the government is going to come take your guns and your freedom, and the call upon Americans to do something about it, to take action, that's what we saw on Jan. 6. That base of militia groups and white supremacist groups and other extremists has been listening to the NRA's talking points for years, and we saw it play out."

A new report from Everytown detailing findings in police documents shows that officers seized more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition and arrested nine people on weapons charges.

"Quite honestly, that is a likely undercount given the fact that Capitol Police were unable to stop and search everyone," Suplina said. Capitol Police detained only 14 people during the riot, leaving federal investigators to scour social media and hundreds of thousands of tips to identify possible suspects. More than 150 people have been charged since.

"I knew they had guns — we had been seizing guns all day," D.C. police officer Daniel Hodges told the Washington Post. "And the only reason I could think of that they weren't shooting us was they were waiting for us to shoot first. And if it became a firefight between a couple hundred officers and a couple thousand demonstrators, we would have lost."

Police later discovered some rioters had their own arsenals at home as well.

"Many of the people at the Capitol were armed," Suplina said. "There was enough ammunition seized at the Capitol to shoot every member of the House and Senate five times."

The NRA's rhetoric has long been tied to violent groups. Many mass killers have echoed the words of NRA chief Wayne LaPierre in their "manifestos." In the 1990s, LaPierre repeatedly railed against the "abuses" of the federal government following the standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, calling for people to "take whatever measures necessary, including force, to abolish oppressive government."
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In 1995, LaPierre referred to federal agents as "jack-booted government thugs" and warned supporters that it was no longer "unthinkable for federal agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black stormtrooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens."

Days later, Timothy McVeigh, a former NRA member, bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City that housed an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) office, killing at least 168 people.

Numerous NRA board members have also been linked to militia groups.

"At that moment in 1995, the NRA could have said, 'Oh boy, we've overdone it. We've oversold this. We're changing our rhetoric,'" Suplina said. "But they kept it up and intensified it for another two decades, right up until the days before the insurrection at the Capitol."

Some of the members of the Capitol mob, including Richard Barnett, the man who posed in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, have been identified as gun activists, the Everytown report said, citing charging documents and social media posts. William Calhoun, who threatened a "war" over the election, proudly wore an NRA hat in his Twitter profile photo and organized at least one gun-rights rally following the election. Joe Biggs, a Proud Boys leader who led a group of rioters at the Capitol, has been repeatedly mentioned as a member on the NRA website. Len Guthrie, another man charged with illegally entering the Capitol, described himself as a "lifetime NRA member" and shared the "insurrectionist theory of the Second Amendment" on his Facebook page, according to the report.

The NRA did not comment on the riot until generally condemning "all unlawful acts" in a social media statement nine days later.

"The NRA has publicly condemned the tragedy that occurred at the U.S. Capitol. It is disappointing but not surprising that Everytown now seeks to exploit that event and the tragic loss of life to attack law-abiding gun owners," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said in a statement to Salon.

He added: "Everytown's assault on the Second Amendment is being firmly rejected by the American people. The recent rise in lawful gun ownership is a referendum on Everytown, Michael Bloomberg, and all who seek to dismantle constitutional freedom."​
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But gun violence prevention groups say the NRA can't run from its past.

"For years, we've been watching the NRA take this very extreme position about gun rights and being willing to say things like, 'Obama's not only going to take your guns away,'" said Robyn Thomas, executive director of the Giffords Law Center. "They have overtly said, 'Government agents are going to break down your door and take your guns away and haul you off to prison.'

"They've actually pivoted in the last couple of years, very aggressively, to saying, 'What you need to fear is the government. The government is the enemy and your guns are the only thing protecting you from a government that you can't trust.' That's been NRA messaging." The Capitol siege, Thomas argued, was the "logical end" of that process.

While the NRA seized on Obama's attempts to implement gun control measures in the wake of numerous school shootings — especially the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were killed — Trump and his allies echoed the group's rhetoric for years, including in the moments leading up to the attack on the Capitol.

"So much of the rhetoric and the kinds of speeches that we heard from Trump and [Rudy] Giuliani and other people on that stage, leading to the march from the Ellipse and the White House to the Capitol, is absolutely consistent and fueled by NRA rhetoric," said Kris Brown, president of the gun violence prevention group Brady. That rhetoric, said Brown, "is all about this notion that the gun is the essential tool to take down a tyrannical government."

In an effort to sell more guns, the NRA has "painted a picture of a dystopic universe" akin to "Mad Max: Thunderdome," Brown said.

Speeches delivered at the rally that preceded the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Brown added, were loaded with NRA talking points. "If you add guns, extremism, misinformation and white supremacy together," she said, "the natural conclusion of that, the alchemy of those things, makes Jan. 6 and Liberate Michigan and [the protests in] many other state capitals not a notable event but an inevitable event."

Though the groups that came together at the Capitol have espoused a wide range of grievances, gun rights are at the heart of their ideologies.

"The militia groups that were there, some of the far right-wing white supremacist groups that were there, the flags saying, 'Come and take it.' All of this is part of the vocabulary that the NRA has been pushing for years," Suplina said. "The NRA has adopted and really fueled the insurrectionist theory of the Second Amendment, this notion that your right to bear arms is actually about taking up arms against a government that you believe is violating the Constitution or your rights. And what we've seen is just how dangerous that is. Because who's the arbiter of that decision? The answer is, a mob at the Capitol that has been fed lies about elections or gun confiscation taking up arms because they think it's their right to do that. And that's why guns are relevant. They were there, and they are the reason that people showed up there."

Discussions of an armed revolt started long before Trump called his followers to Washington in an effort to stop Congress from making President Joe Biden's election official. An analysis commissioned by Giffords found 17 million mentions of guns and related terms in reaction to election-related events in the months leading up to the vote. These discussions often focused on coming to the polls armed, defending the election and preparing for violence surrounding the results.

Thomas said she wasn't surprised to see how much overlap there was between the different groups who discussed guns because "those connections have been intentionally drawn by groups like the NRA."

"One of the things that's really interesting to us is the way it all fits together," she said. "This idea that they're being pitched: 'You need to be afraid of your guns being taken away. You need to be afraid of the governments and how they're going to strip away your rights.' And the idea that you as an individual, or as a part of these groups, have an individual responsibility. They frame it in terms of fighting tyranny, but really what they're doing is pushing people to fight legitimate government on an individual basis, using guns as a tool."

The number of mentions of guns was "astounding" and is likely an undercount given how many of these groups operate in private on the internet, according to the report.

"When you couple it with the threats and with the aggressive extremism, it's a huge risk," Thomas said, adding that there may never have been "a more dangerous moment than we're in right now."

While militias have echoed NRA rhetoric for years, newer online-based fringe groups like QAnon and the Boogaloo Bois have adopted a similar ideology.

"It's all lodged in the same rhetoric and the same theory," Suplina said. "There's a deep conspiracy to rob you of what you care about most, and the only response is a violent reckoning. That is the QAnon 'Storm.' That is the Boogaloo call for inciting a civil war. And the fact is, again, that the NRA's language is not seen as hysterical by many of the people who hear it. They are hearing it as a call to action. We see it in QAnon. We see it in the Boogaloo boys. We see it in the militia groups."

The Giffords analysis found a lot of overlap between QAnon and other groups on the topic of guns.

Many of these groups accept "absurd premises with regard to what's happening in our government," Thomas said, but also a "secondary piece, which is that it's your responsibility to help trigger this overthrow." Thomas said. "It imparts this sense of distrust, to the point of requiring you to help with this civil war, or revolution in the case of the Boogaloo Bois or the Proud Boys. I think QAnon has a lot of those same messages. That you, individually and in connection with this group, whatever that group is, have to get involved in helping spur this revolution."

Though the NRA spread its talking points through magazines and other media for years, its foray into NRATV marked a turning point in its rhetoric. Hosts on the network repeatedly stoked anger and fear as a way to draw viewers.

"You don't need to look much further than that to see that the NRA has helped build this framework of conspiracy backed by extreme acts of violence, and brought it into mainstream discourse," Suplina said. "NRATV for years was talking this talk. I think they need to be held accountable by being named as a cause of this. We honestly are not going to fully deal with this problem until we recognize the role of the NRA."

The NRA cut ties with NRATV in 2019, calling it "racist," amid a legal dispute with the group's longtime PR firm Ackerman McQueen, which operated the network. The NRA has since filed for bankruptcy in New York, where state Attorney General Letitia James has sued to dissolve the group over allegations of illegal self-dealing. The group has claimed that it is financially solid and intends to move to Texas to set up shop there. That, however, could backfire in bankruptcy court.

"If you are a solvent entity, bankruptcy court can't be used to shed yourself of litigation you just don't like," Brown said. "We are very eager to make sure that the interests of the American public are represented here, because the American public cares, as taxpaying individuals, how nonprofits are run in this country. And what's clear from the allegations in Tish James' complaint is that the NRA has not been run as an organization that is consistent with the law. They think they're above the law. They think they're untouchable."

Gun violence prevention groups have also called for lawmakers to step up in response to the Capitol riot and the growing threat from violent extremists. The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday warned of a "heightened threat" of violence from groups potentially emboldened by the Capitol attack.

Thomas said Giffords is pushing to expand extreme risk protective orders, which are typically used to remove guns from people dangerous to themselves or others, for example, to "disarm an extremist who we have evidence is making specific threats or coordinating an attack, pending a hearing." The group also believes that hate crime laws should be expanded so they could be used for "removing guns or at least preventing violence or similar types of acts."

But many of these reforms are no different than the ones violence prevention groups have demanded for years with limited success.

"There's things that have to happen. For one, guns don't have a place in our democratic discourse," Suplina said. "There should not be guns at Capitol buildings or grounds or at protests or at polling stations. Both Congress and state legislatures should take those issues up immediately, and many are.

"But more broadly, the problem of armed extremism can't be dealt with without dealing with the gun laws that had been kept weak by the armed extremists," he added. "Background checks have a lot of good uses, but one of them is to stop prohibited people from obtaining firearms. We know that some of the folks arrested at the Capitol were former felons and would not be allowed to legally own guns. We know that ghost guns which completely cut the background check system — or any check at all — out of the process are quickly becoming the guns of choice for militia groups and white supremacist groups because they're untraceable, you can make them at home, and there's no paper trail."

Brown argued that leadership on the gun issue has to start at the top and expressed disappointment that President Joe Biden did not discuss the link to guns when discussing the risk posed to the country by white supremacy and extremism in his inaugural address.

"If you want to reduce the peril of those kinds of extremist groups to democracy and to the free and fair election process, to racial justice and all of those things, you have to also say how you're going to tackle the issue of guns," she said. "You can't tackle those issues without also addressing the role of guns. We want the administration to say that."

Brown said strengthening gun laws was critical to democracy: "I want to be free to share my views in a public square without being intimidated by someone who's standing next to me with a semiautomatic weapon."

"That weapon speaks to me. That weapon chills my voice, it chills my First Amendment right," she said. "In that sense, it matters to our democracy. If we want the ability of everyday Americans to exercise their voice in the public square, and that includes voices who think guns should be everywhere, then guns can't be part of that equation. That chills our ability to have a conversation about what needs to happen, and that's the essence of our democracy."