Globalink | Highest Military Expenditure in World, U.S. Turned It into a Sword

A U.S. military vehicle is seen passing through the Tal Tamr area in the countryside of Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria on Nov. 14, 2019. | Photo: Xinhua file photo

Published 5 March 2021

Which country has the highest military expenditure in the world? Unsurprisingly, it's the U.S.! According to a report issued by an independent Swedish organization, the U.S. spent as much as 732 billion dollars for military purposes in 2019. The real question is, was the money spent in the interest of a better world? Nah... The money has turned people's lives in many parts of the world into nightmares, if not hell.

SEE PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

Food Waste Contributes To Climate Change: UN Report


The report warns that food waste, previously considered a problem of developed countries, now has become a global concern. | Photo: Twitter/ @CromwellPoly

Published 5 March 2021

The report points out that "on a global per capita-level, 121 kilograms of consumer-level food is wasted each year, with 74 kilograms of this happening in households." The study estimates that at least 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to throwing away food, which turns it into a critical environmental issue.

Over 931 million tonnes of food are wasted worldwide, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported on Tuesday.

The report points out that "on a global per capita-level, 121 kilograms of consumer-level food is wasted each year, with 74 kilograms of this happening in households." The study estimates that at least 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to throwing away food, which turns it into a critical environmental issue.





"Food waste is environmentally, economically, and morally scandalous. We must rethink the way we produce and consume," the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said via Twitter.

Moreover, the study highlights that 690 million people suffered hunger in 2019, and three billion people are currently unable to afford a healthy diet. The statistic is expected to worsen amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the report warns that food waste, previously considered a problem of developed countries, has become a global concern. "If we want to get serious about tackling climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, businesses, governments, and citizens around the world have to do their part to reduce food waste," UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said.

DEMOCRAT 

Activists want to save voting rights bill by killing the filibuster


BY CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS AND ADAM BREWSTER
MARCH 5, 2021  / CBS NEWS

With voting rights legislation that passed the House this week marching toward a likely death in the Senate, activists are readying for a fight to save it: they're taking on the bill-slaying filibuster, the Senate rule requiring 60 votes to end debate on a measure. In an evenly split 50-50 Senate, it will always be a struggle to win over 10 senators from the other side.

"Those who won the election, who have the majority are going to be faced with a choice: do they protect voting rights or do they protect the filibuster rule?" said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy & senior adviser at Common Cause. "I don't think saying, 'Oh, but the filibuster,' is going to cut it."

The "For the People Act," known as HR1, is a broad bill that would create automatic, same-day, and online voter registration nationwide. It includes some measures that would require states to overhaul their registration systems. It would expand absentee voting, limit the states' ability to remove people from voter rolls, increase federal funds for election security and reform the redistricting process.

Democrats argue that efforts underway in Republican state legislatures to tighten voting laws in the wake of the 2020 election — along with the looming possibility that the conservative-heavy Supreme Court could weaken a key provision of the Voting Rights Act this summer — make federal legislation imperative.

"The major effort to change state laws to limit access to the ballot needs to be protected by legislation," says Robert Brandon, president of the Fair Elections Center. "Beyond that, there are probably some things the [Biden] administration can do, but it's really the law...that's why legislation like HR1 is so important."

Republicans unanimously oppose the measure, arguing that it amounts to a federal takeover of state-run elections. Opposition to HR1 is one issue uniting the GOP at this point, even as they disagree about how to move forward as a party in the post-Trump era. It was a key topic of conversation at CPAC last week, and moreover, former Vice President Mike Pence, who has taken pains to remain out of the fray, broke his silence by writing an op-ed urging his party to vote against the measure.

On Thursday, Pence cheered Republicans for sticking together in their opposition, tweeting: "Election Integrity is a National Imperative."

The legislation is unlikely to garner support from any Republicans, let alone the 10 needed to override a filibuster. And as other legislative debates have shown, the Democratic majority is fragile. A group of 20 U.S. senators have urged President Biden to take executive action. But even their prescriptions acknowledge that there isn't much he can do to beef up voting laws.

"The ability for the executive branch to act in a way through executive action is pretty limited," said David Becker, the executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. "If we want to see new policies regarding access to the ballot, election integrity, funding for elections and election security, that will likely have to come through legislation either at the federal level or like we're seeing in the states."

As for what Mr. Biden can do, the Brennan Center for Justice wrote in October 2020 that the president could improve cybersecurity and direct more federal agencies to offer voter registration. Spaulding said that the president could also provide more resources for the Justice Department to enforce the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and other voting rights legislation. He applauded the White House for supporting the bill and said the administration needs to "really use the bully pulpit" to help pass legislation.

South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, the House Democratic Whip and close ally of Biden, told CBS News that while he hasn't spoken with the president recently about issuing an order on voting rights, "I did say to him more than once that Abraham Lincoln freed slaves with an executive order. Harry Truman integrated armed services with an executive order, so Congress never passed a law to integrate the armed services. Never. So I just think that that is something he must keep in mind going forward."

He added, "If Congress refuses to erect the safeguards for voting rights, I just think that executive authority ought to be used to do what can be done."

The fate of HR1 in the Senate is a reminder of the limits of the Democrats' control of the upper chamber. "Democrats are not in charge. You've got these filibuster rules and the filibuster seems to be in charge," Clyburn said. "I don't believe we can afford for racial issues to be filibustered."

Clyburn is hoping the House can pass another piece of voting legislation, The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, around Labor Day. The measure, named for the late congressman and civil rights icon, would restore a key provision in the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013: it required states with a history of discrimination to seek federal approval to change election laws.

"Hopefully, the Senate will not filibuster that. If they do, there is going to be one hell of a price to be paid in next year's elections," Clyburn said.

In his eulogy for Lewis in July, former President Obama proposed abolishing the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, calling it "a Jim Crow relic." But President Biden has been reluctant to support eliminating it. When asked Thursday about getting rid of the Senate rule in order to pass HR1 and other measures, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president's "policy has not changed on that issue" and that he wants to find a path forward to work with both parties.

It's also true that filibuster reform faces its own uphill battle in the Senate within the Democratic caucus. Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Rules Committee which has oversight over federal elections, supports reforming the filibuster to pass HR1. But West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin on Monday said he's not changing his opposition to killing the filibuster. Without his support, Democrats won't be able to muster the simple majority they would need to eliminate it.

"Never!" Manchin told reporters who asked if he'd change his mind if the Senate was holding up Democratic legislation. "Jesus Christ, what don't you understand about 'never'?"

First published on March 5, 2021

 

America's Right To Vote 

LeBron James' More Than a Vote launches campaign defending voting rights

Proposals to restrict voting gain traction in Republican states

Dominion Voting Systems sues MyPillow CEO for $1.3 billion

CHUMP CHANGE 

Texas grid operator made $16 bln price error during winter storm, watchdog says

Kanishka Singh

March 6, 2021
REUTERS

An electrical substation is seen after winter weather caused electricity

 blackouts in Houston, Texas, U.S. February 20, 2021. 

/Go Nakamura//File Photo

Power grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) made a $16 billion pricing error in the week of the winter storm that led to power outages across Texas, Potomac Economics, which monitors the state’s power market, said.

ERCOT kept market prices for power too high for more than a day after widespread outages ended late on Feb. 17, Potomac Economics, the independent market monitor for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees ERCOT, said in a filing.

"In order to comply with the Commission Order, the pricing intervention that raised prices to VOLL (value of lost load) should have ended immediately at that time (late on Feb. 17)," Potomac Economics said.

"However, ERCOT continued to hold prices at VOLL by inflating the Real-Time On-Line Reliability Deployment Price Adder for an additional 32 hours through the morning of February 19," it said, adding the decision resulted in $16 billion in additional costs to ERCOT's markets.

The findings of Potomac Economics were reported first Thursday by Bloomberg and the Texas Tribune.

The Public Utility Commission, the Texas power regulator, on Friday unanimously vetoed a request to cut about $16 billion from state power charges during the final day of the February cold snap, saying even a partial repricing could have unintended effects.

Separately, rating agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded ERCOT by one notch to A1 from Aa3 and revised the grid operator's credit outlook to "negative" on Thursday.

On Wednesday, ERCOT’s board ousted chief executive Bill Magness, as the fallout continued from a blackout that left residents without heat, power or water for days.

The mid-February storm temporarily knocked out up to half the state’s generating plants, triggering outages that killed dozens and pushed power prices to 10 times the normal rate.

Many of ERCOT's directors have resigned in the last week, and the head of the Public Utility Commission resigned on Monday.

Technology

More than 20,000 U.S. Organizations compromised through Microsoft flaw -source

(REUTERS) 3/6/2021 

More than 20,000 U.S. organizations have been compromised through a back door installed via recently patched flaws in Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) email software, a person familiar with the U.S. government’s response said on Friday.

The hacking has already reached more places than all of the tainted code downloaded from SolarWinds Corp (SWI.N), the company at the heart of another massive hacking spree uncovered in December.

The latest hack has left channels for remote access spread among credit unions, town governments and small businesses, according to records from the U.S. investigation.

Tens of thousands of organizations in Asia and Europe are also affected, the records show.

The hacks are continuing despite emergency patches issued by Microsoft on Tuesday.

Microsoft, which had initially said the hacks consisted of "limited and targeted attacks," declined to comment on the scale of the problem on Friday but said it was working with government agencies and security companies to provide help to customers.

It added, "impacted customers should contact our support teams for additional help and resources."

One scan of connected devices showed only 10% of those vulnerable had installed the patches by Friday, though the number was rising.

Because installing the patch does not get rid of the back doors, U.S. officials are racing to figure out how to notify all the victims and guide them in their hunt.

All of those affected appear to run Web versions of email client Outlook and host them on their own machines, instead of relying on cloud providers. That may have spared many of the biggest companies and federal government agencies, the records suggest.

A Microsoft logo is seen on an office building in New York City on July 28, 2015. 

REUTERS/Mike Segar

The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the vulnerabilities found in Microsoft's widely used Exchange servers were "significant," and "could have far-reaching impacts."

"We're concerned that there are a large number of victims," Psaki said.

Microsoft and the person working with the U.S. response blamed the initial wave of attacks on a Chinese government-backed actor. A Chinese government spokesman said the country was not behind the intrusions.

What started as a controlled attack late last year against a few classic espionage targets grew last month to a widespread campaign. Security officials said that implied that unless China had changed tactics, a second group may have become involved.

More attacks are expected from other hackers as the code used to take control of the mail servers spreads.

The hackers have only used the back doors to re-enter and move around the infected networks in a small percentage of cases, probably less than 1 in 10, the person working with the government said.

"A couple hundred guys are exploiting them as fast as they can," stealing data and installing other ways to return later, he said.

The initial avenue of attack was discovered by prominent Taiwanese cyber researcher Cheng-Da Tsai, who said he reported the flaw to Microsoft in January. He said in a blog post that he was investigating whether the information leaked.

He did not respond to requests for further comment.

Hong Kong electoral reforms prevent "dictatorship of the majority", says pro-Beijing lawmaker

NOT THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT
THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PARTY

Yew Lun Tian

March 6, 2021

Beijing's proposal for Hong Kong electoral reforms could prevent "dictatorship of the majority", a pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker said, calling people who want one man one vote "politically immature".

China's rubber-stamp parliament is deliberating plans to overhaul Hong Kong's electoral system to ensure Beijing loyalists are in charge. read more

Hong Kong representatives to China's parliament, in Beijing this week for an annual session, say the changes are necessary and desirable.

DEATH TO BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY!

"Many people in Hong Kong are politically immature," Martin Liao, who sits on both Hong Kong's and China's legislature, told Reuters by phone on Saturday.

"They think 'one man one vote' is the best thing, and they take advice from countries that don't even have 'one man one vote'," he said, referring to how neither the U.S. President nor the British Prime Minister is elected by a popular vote.

The proposed changes, which include expanding the city's Election Committee from 1,200 to 1,500 people, and expanding the city's Legislative Council from 70 to 90 seats, will make Hong Kong's electoral system more "representative", and less prone to "dictatorship of the majority", Liao argued.

Critics however worry that the expansion means that Beijing would be able to stack the two bodies with even more pro-establishment members, to gain the numerical superiority needed to influence important decisions such as the election of the city's Chief Executive, leaving Hong Kong voters with less direct say in who they want to lead them.

"If you are not a patriot, it's going to be hard for you to get in," Tam Yiu-chung, the only Hong Kong representative in China's top lawmaking body, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, told Reuters by phone on Saturday.

OTTO RUHLE

The Struggle Against Fascism Begins with the Struggle Against Bolshevism, 1939

From the Bourgeois to the Proletarian Revolution, 1924

The Revolution Is Not A Party Affair, 1920

The following issues have been at the centre of the struggle of Left Communism:

The Role of the Party in the Revolution

In Pannekoek's Party and Class he characterises a party as “an organization that aims to lead and control the working class”; his General Remarks on the Question of Organization look to the future for new forms of organisation suitable for the emancipation of the working class.

Paul Mattick's The Masses and the Vanguard concludes:

“The militants who call themselves the “Vanguard” have today the same weakness that characterizes the masses at present. They still believe that the unions or the one or the other party must direct the class struggle, though with revolutionary methods. But if it be true that decisive struggles are nearing, it is not enough to state that the labour leaders are traitors. It is necessary, especially for today, to formulate a plan for the formation of the class front and the forms of its organizations. To this end the control of parties and unions must be unconditionally fought. This is the crucial point in the struggle for power.”

and his Council Communism proposes Councils (a.k.a. soviets) as a way forward; his 1967 Workers Control expresses the idea from another standpoint.

Bordiga also wrote on these themes: See The System of Communist Representation, Is this the Time to form “Soviets”?, Towards the Establishment of Workers' Councils in Italy, Party and Class (1919-1921).

The issue was also debated at the Second Congress of the Comintern:

• The role of the Communist Party in the proletarian revolution
• Discussion on the role of the Communist Party continued
• Theses on the role of the Communist Party continued
• The Formation of Soviets

Trotsky's Communism and Syndicalism puts the Bolshevik position on the role of the party in the Revolution; Paul Matick's The Mass and the Vanguard makes the opposite case very powerfully.

Myanmar forces fire tear gas, stun grenades on protest as UN envoy calls for action

Protesters cover with makeshift shields during an anti-coup protest in Yangon, Myanmar, March 3, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

Myanmar security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to break up a protest in Yangon on Saturday, just hours after a United Nations special envoy called on the Security Council to take action against the ruling junta for the killings of protesters.

The Southeast Asian country has been plunged in turmoil since the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, with daily protests and strikes that have choked business and paralysed administration.

Sporadic protests were staged across Myanmar on Saturday and local media reported that police fired tear gas shells and stun grenades to break up a protest in the Sanchaung district of Yangon, the country's biggest city. There were no reports of casualties.

More than 50 protesters have been killed since the coup, according to the United Nations - at least 38 on Wednesday alone. Protesters demand the release of Suu Kyi and the respect of November's election, which her party won in landslide, but which the army rejected.

"How much more can we allow the Myanmar military to get away with?" Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener told a closed meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Friday, according to a copy of her remarks reviewed by Reuters.

"It is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of Myanmar firmly, in support of the clear November election results."

A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.

The army says it has been restrained in stopping the protests, but has said it will not allow them to threaten stability.

Several hundred people gathered in Sydney on Saturday to protest against the coup, singing and holding up three fingers, a salute that has come to symbolise solidarity and resistance across Myanmar.

"We would like to urge the Australian government to work closely with the U.S., UK and EU governments and take strong action against these Myanmar military dictators," said protest organiser Thein Moe Win. read more

In Myanmar's southern town of Dawei, protesters chanted "Democracy is our cause" and "The revolution must prevail".

People have taken to Myanmar's streets in their hundreds of thousands at times, vowing to continue action in a country that spent nearly half a century under military rule until democratic reforms in 2011 that were cut short by the coup.

"Political hope has begun to shine. We can't lose the momentum of the revolution," one protest leader, Ei Thinzar Maung, wrote on Facebook. "Those who dare to fight will have victory. We deserve victory."


GRAVE DISTURBED

On Friday night, authorities disturbed the grave of a 19-year-old woman who became an icon of the protest movement after she was shot dead wearing a T-shirt that read "Everything will be OK", a witness and local media said.

One witness said the body of Kyal Sin, widely known as Angel, was removed on Friday, examined and returned, before the tomb was re-sealed in Myanmar's second city of Mandalay. The independent Mizzima news service also reported the event.

A military spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment. Reuters was unable to contact police for comment. read more

The killing of protesters has drawn international outrage.

"Use of violence against the people of Myanmar must stop now," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a tweet, calling for the release of Suu Kyi and other detainees and for the restoration of democracy.

The United States and some other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on the junta and the independent U.N. human rights investigator on Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, has called for a global arms embargo and targeted economic sanctions.

The army took power over allegations of fraud in last year's election which had been dismissed by the electoral commission. It has promised to hold a new election at an unspecified date.

That plan is rejected by protesters and by a group representing lawmakers elected at the last election that has begun to issue statements in the name of a rival civilian administration.

On Friday, it listed four demands - the end of the junta, the release of the detainees, democracy and the abolition of the 2008 constitution which left significant political representation and control in the hands of the military.

A civil disobedience campaign of strikes running parallel with the protests has been supported by many government workers including a trickle of policemen.

Authorities in Myanmar have asked India to return eight policemen who sought refuge across the border to avoid taking orders from the junta, an official in northeast India said on Saturday.

India's foreign ministry responded to a request for comment by referring to a statement given at a media briefing on Friday which said the ministry was still "ascertaining the facts." read more




Myanmar protesters string up women's clothes for protection

Protesters in Myanmar have taken to stringing up women's clothing on lines across the streets to slow down police and soldiers because walking beneath them is traditionally considered bad luck for men.

The wraparound cloths, known as longyi, are hung on washing lines. Sometimes women's underwear is used too.

"The reason why we hang the longyis across the streets is that we have the traditional belief that if we pass underneath a longyi, we might lose our luck," said one 20-year-old protester who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals.

"The younger generation nowadays doesn't believe it anymore, but the soldiers still do, and it's their weakness. So, we might gain more time to run if they come towards us in case of emergency."

Videos on social media have shown police taking down the lines of clothes before crossing them. Traditionally walking beneath items used to cover women's private parts is not only bad luck, but emasculating for men.

Reuters was unable to contact police for comment.

For more than one month, protesters have demonstrated across Myanmar against the Feb. 1 military coup and the arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of others. More than 50 protesters have been killed by security forces.

The lines of clothing do not stop police using teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. Some protesters have also been killed by live bullets. The army has said it has responded to the protests with restraint.

The army seized power alleging fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi's party. The electoral commission had dismissed its allegations.

U.S. Senate backs bill to clamp down on China-funded Confucius Institutes

BIG IN CANADA TOO, INTEGRATED INTO EDMONTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, UNIV OF ALBERTA, AND IN OTHER PROVINCES

By Reuters Staff

FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing, China January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill to tighten controls on Chinese-funded cultural centers on university campuses known as Confucius Institutes, the latest in a series of efforts to crack down on the centers lawmakers accuse of being propaganda tools.

The measure passed the Senate by unanimous consent - without a rollcall vote - on Thursday. There was no immediate word on Friday on when it might be taken up in the House of Representatives

The measure would cut back on federal funding for any college or university with a Confucius Institute on its campus, unless the institute ensured that the college or university had full authority over it, including what grants it makes and who works there.

To become law, the measure must pass the House and be signed by President Joe Biden.

U.S. officials have been pushing to close Confucius Institutes for some time. Former Republican Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in September he hoped all of them would be shut down by the end of 2020.

William Burns, nominated by Biden, a Democrat, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said last week that if he were a U.S. college or university president, he would recommend shutting down Confucius Institutes.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Berkrot

JESUIT Pope Francis, Sistani Hold Milestone Interfaith Meeting in Najaf

ONLY A JESUIT COULD DO THIS

Saturday, 6 March, 2021 -



Asharq Al-Awsat

Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani met with Pope Francis in a historic meeting in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Saturday.

The meeting, on the second day of the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, marked a landmark moment in modern religious history, AFP reported.

The meeting lasted 50 minutes, with Sistani's office putting out a statement shortly afterwards thanking Francis, 84, for visiting the holy city of Najaf.

Sistani, 90, "affirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with their full constitutional rights," it said.

His office also published an image of the two.

It took months of careful negotiations between Najaf and the Vatican to secure the one-on-one meeting.

"We feel proud of what this visit represents and we thank those who made it possible," said Mohamed Ali Bahr al-Ulum, a senior cleric in Najaf.

Sistani is followed by most of the world's 200 million Shiites -- a minority among Muslims but the majority in Iraq -- and is a national figure for Iraqis.

In 2019, he stood with Iraqi protesters demanding better public services and rejecting external interference in Iraq's domestic affairs.

"Ali Sistani is a religious leader with a high moral authority," said Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and a specialist in Islamic studies.

"The Najaf school has great prestige and is more secular than the more religious Qom school," Ayuso said.

"Najaf places more weight on social affairs," he added.

\
Earlier, Pope Francis met with President Barham Salih – who had extended the official invitation to the pontiff in 2019.

During his meeting with the Iraqi president, the Pope addressed a number of sensitive issues in Iraq.

“May the weapons be silenced (...). May there be an end to acts of violence and extremism,” he stressed, hoping for dialogue to prevail to give the country peace and development.

Following his visit to the grand ayatollah, the Pope will head to the desert site of the ancient city of Ur -- believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, common patriarch of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths -- where he will host an interfaith service, with many of Iraq's other religious minorities in attendance.

Pope, top Iraq Shiite cleric hold historic, symbolic meeting 

IN ANCIENT PAGAN 

SUMERIAN CAPITOL CITY OF UR

BY NICOLE WINFIELD AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARCH 06, 2021 

Pope Francis leaves the Sayidat al-Nejat (Our Lady of Salvation) Cathedral, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 5, 2021. Pope Francis has honored victims of one of Iraq's most brutal massacres of Christians by Islamic militants. He is making a visit to Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation Cathedral, where he has prayed and spoke with priests, seminarians and religious sisters. In 2010, al-Qaida-linked militants gunned down worshippers at the church in an attack that left 58 people dead. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) 


PLAINS OF UR, IRAQ

Pope Francis and Iraq's top Shiite cleric delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence Saturday, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority during an historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said religious authorities have a role in protecting Iraq’s Christians, and that Christians should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis. The Vatican said Francis thanked al-Sistani for having “raised his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted” during some of the most violent times in Iraq’s recent history.

Al-Sistani, 90, is one of the most senior clerics in Shiite Islam and his rare but powerful political interventions have helped shape present-day Iraq. He is a deeply revered figure in Shiite-majority Iraq and his opinions on religious and other matters are sought by Shiites worldwide.

The historic meeting in al-Sistani’s humble home was months in the making, with every detail painstakingly discussed and negotiated between the ayatollah’s office and the Vatican.

Early Saturday, the 84-year-old pontiff, travelling in a bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz, pulled up along Najaf’s narrow and column-lined Rasool Street, which culminates at the golden-domed Imam Ali Shrine, one of the most revered sites in Shiite Islam. He then walked the few meters (yards) to al-Sistani’s modest home, which the cleric has rented for decades.

A group of Iraqis wearing traditional clothes welcomed him outside. As a masked Francis entered the doorway, a few white doves were released in a sign of peace. He emerged just under an hour later, still limping from an apparent flare-up of sciatica nerve pain that makes walking difficult.

The “very positive” meeting lasted a total of 40 minutes, said a religious official in Najaf, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media.

The official said al-Sistani, who normally remains seated for visitors, stood to greet Francis at the door of his room — a rare honor. Al-Sistani and Francis sat close to one another, without masks. Al-Sistani, who rarely appears in public — even on television — wore black robes and a black turban, in simple contrast to Francis’ all-white cassock.

The official said there was some concern about the fact that the pope had met with so many people the day before. Francis has received the coronavirus vaccine but al-Sistani has not.

The pope removed his shoes before entering al-Sistani's room. Al-Sistani spoke for most of meeting. Francis was served tea and a plastic bottle of water, but only drank the latter. Francis paused before leaving al-Sistani’s room to have a last look, the official said.

The pope arrived later in the ancient city of Ur for an interfaith meeting aimed at urging Iraq’s Muslims, Christians and other believers to put aside historic animosities and work together for peace and unity. Ur is the traditional birthplace of Abraham, the biblical patriarch revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews.

“From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters," Francis said. “Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: they are betrayals of religion.”

Religious leaders stood to greet him. While Francis wore a mask, few of the leaders on the tented stage did. The meeting was held in the shadow of Ur’s magnificent ziggurat, the 6,000-year-old archaeological complex near the modern city of Nasiriyah.

The Vatican said Iraqi Jews were invited to the event but did not attend, without providing further details. Iraq's ancient Jewish community was decimated in the 20th century by violence and mass emigration fueled by the Arab-Israeli conflict, and only a handful remain.

The Vatican said the historic visit to al-Sistani was a chance for Francis to emphasize the need for collaboration and friendship between different religious communities.

In a statement issued by his office after the meeting, al-Sistani affirmed that Christians should “live like all Iraqis, in security and peace and with full constitutional rights." He pointed out the "role that the religious authority plays in protecting them, and others who have also suffered injustice and harm in the events of past years.”

Al-Sistani wished Francis and the followers of the Catholic Church happiness, and thanked him for taking the trouble to visit him in Najaf, the statement said.

For Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority, a show of solidarity from al-Sistani could help secure their place in Iraq after years of displacement — and, they hope, ease intimidation from Shiite militiamen against their community.

Iraqis cheered the meeting of two respected faith leaders.

”We welcome the pope’s visit to Iraq and especially to the holy city of Najaf and his meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani,” said Najaf resident Haidar Al-Ilyawi. “It is an historic visit and hope it will be good for Iraq and the Iraqi people.”

Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday and met with senior government officials on the first-ever papal visit to the country. It is also his first international trip since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and his meeting Saturday marked the first time a pope had met a grand ayatollah.

On the few occasions where he has made his opinion known, the notoriously reclusive al-Sistani has shifted the course of Iraq's modern history.

In the years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion he repeatedly preached calm and restraint as the Shiite majority came under attack by al-Qaida and other Sunni extremists. The country was nevertheless plunged into years of sectarian violence.

His 2014 fatwa, or religious edict, calling on able-bodied men to join the security forces in fighting the Islamic State group swelled the ranks of Shiite militias, many closely tied to Iran. In 2019, as anti-government demonstrations gripped the country, his sermon lead to the resignation of then-prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Iraqis have welcomed the visit and the international attention it has given the country as it struggles to recover from decades of war and unrest. Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group in 2017 but still sees sporadic attacks.

It has also seen recent rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias against U.S. military and diplomatic facilities, followed by U.S. airstrikes on militia targets in Iraq and neighboring Syria. The violence is linked to the standoff between the U.S. and Iran following the Trump administration's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord and its imposition of crippling sanctions on Iran. President Joe Biden has said he wants to revive the deal.

Francis’ visit to Najaf and nearby Ur traverses provinces that have seen recent instability. In Nasiriyah, where the Plains of Ur is located, protest violence left at least five dead last month. Most were killed when Iraqi security forces used live ammunition to disperse crowds.

Protest violence was also seen in Najaf last year, but abated as the mass anti-government movement that engulfed Iraq gradually petered out

6 of 26
The Pope caravan arrives to meet Shiite Muslim leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday to urge the country's dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his first-ever papal visit. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) ANMAR KHALIL AP

Pope Francis, right, meets with Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021. The closed-door meeting was expected to touch on issues plaguing Iraq's Christian minority. Al-Sistani is a deeply revered figure in Shiite-majority Iraq and and his opinions on religious matters are sought by Shiites worldwide. (AP Photo/Vatican Media) VATICAN MEDIA AP

An aerial photo shows the 6,000-year-old archaeological site of Ur amid preparations for Pope Francis' visit near Nasiriyah, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday to urge the country's dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his first-ever papal visit. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jourani) NABIL AL-JOURANI AP

Pope Francis, center, listens during an interreligious meeting near the archaeological site of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Pope Francis and Iraq's top Shiite cleric delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence Saturday, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority during an historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jourani) NABIL AL-JOURANI AP

Spy warrant shortcomings stretch back almost a decade, newly released audit shows

A Federal Court of Canada ruling  said CSIS had failed to disclose its reliance on information that was likely collected illegally in support of warrants to probe extremism.

3/6/2021

OTTAWA — A newly released audit report shows that difficulties with the judicial warrant process at Canada's spy agency — an issue that made headlines last summer — stretch back at least nine years.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Internal reviewers found several of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's preparatory steps for the execution of warrant powers needed strengthening.

Among the shortcomings were insufficient training of personnel and a lack of quality-control measures.

In underscoring the importance of the process, the report notes warrants are authorizations issued by a federal judge that enable CSIS to legally undertake actions, including surveilling people electronically, that would otherwise be illegal.

"Failure to properly apply or interpret a warrant at the time of its execution exposes the Service to the risk of its employees committing unlawful actions, and in certain situations, criminal offences," the report says.

"The investigative powers outlined in warrants must be exercised rigorously, consistently and effectively."

Potential misuse of these powers could result in serious ethical, legal or reputational consequences that might compromise the intelligence service's integrity, the report adds.

The Canadian Press requested the 2012 audit under the Access to Information Act shortly after its completion, but CSIS withheld much of the content.

The news agency filed a complaint through the federal information commissioner's office in July 2013, beginning a process that led to disclosure of a substantial portion of the document more than seven years later.

CSIS operates with a high degree of secrecy and is therefore supposed to follow the proper protocols and legal framework, particularly concerning warrants, said Tim McSorley, national coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, which includes dozens of civil society organizations.

"Seeing a report like this, it just raises a concern ... to what degree they're really following that framework with the most rigour possible."

CSIS can apply to the Federal Court for a warrant when intrusive collection techniques are needed because other methods have failed or are unlikely to succeed.

Once a judge approves a warrant but before it is executed, a step known as the invocation process takes place. It involves a request from CSIS personnel to use one or more of the authorized powers and a review of the facts underpinning the warrant to ensure appropriate measures are employed against the correct people.

However, the reviewers found CSIS policy did not "clearly define or document the objectives or requirements of the invocation process."

"When roles and responsibilities are not documented, they may not be fully understood by those involved. As a result, elements of the process may not be performed, or be performed by people who do not have sufficient knowledge or expertise to do so."

Overall, the report found the invocation process "needs to be strengthened" through a clear definition of objectives, requirements and roles, and better monitoring, training and development of quality-control procedures.

In response, CSIS management spelled out a series of planned improvements for the auditors.

But concerns have persisted about the spy service's warrant procedures.

A Federal Court of Canada ruling released in July said CSIS had failed to disclose its reliance on information that was likely collected illegally in support of warrants to probe extremism.

Justice Patrick Gleeson found CSIS violated its duty of candour to the court, part of a long-standing and troubling pattern.

"The circumstances raise fundamental questions relating to respect for the rule of law, the oversight of security intelligence activities and the actions of individual decision-makers," he wrote.

Gleeson called for an in-depth look at interactions between CSIS and the federal Justice Department to fully identify systemic, governance and cultural shortcomings and failures.

The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, the key watchdog over CSIS, is examining the issues.

Another review, completed early last year by former deputy minister of justice Morris Rosenberg, called for improvements, including better training and clarification of roles, but stressed they would not succeed unless the "cultural issues around warrants" were addressed.

CSIS spokesman John Townsend said the intelligence service continuously works to improve training and updates its policies and procedures accordingly, informed by audits, reviews and best practices.

The Rosenberg review prompted CSIS to launch an effort last year to further the service's ability to meet its duty of candour to the court, resulting in a plan that was finalized in January, Townsend said.

"The plan includes specific action items directed at ensuring the warrant process is more responsive to operational needs, documenting the full intelligence picture to facilitate duty of candour and ensuring CSIS meets expectations set by the Federal Court," he said.

"In addition to training on CSIS's duty of candour already provided under the auspices of the project, additional training on a variety of operational issues including warrant acquisition will be developed by the project team and offered to employees."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press