#NOTOKYOOLYMPICS
Why are Olympics going on despite public, medical warnings?
By STEPHEN WADE

AP

June 17, 2021

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FILE - In this May 9, 2021, file photo, people who are against the Tokyo 2020 Olympics set to open in July, march to protest around Tokyo's National Stadium during an anti-Olympics demonstration. Public sentiment in Japan has been generally opposed to holding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. This is partly based of fears the coronavirus will spike as almost 100,000 people — athletes and others — enter for both events.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

TOKYO (AP) — Public sentiment in Japan has been generally opposed to holding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, partly based on fears the coronavirus will spike as almost 100,000 people — athletes and others — enter for both events.

The Japanese medical community is largely against it. The government’s main medical adviser Dr. Shigeru Omi has said it’s “abnormal” to hold the Olympics during a pandemic. So far, only 5% of Japanese are fully vaccinated.

The medical journal The Lancet has raised questions about the health risks and criticized the World Health Organization and other health bodies for not taking a clear stand. The New England Journal of Medicine has said the IOC’s decision to proceed “is not informed by the best scientific evidence.”

The second-largest selling newspaper in Japan, the Asahi Shimbun, has called for the Olympics to be canceled. So have other regional newspapers.

Still, they are going ahead. How have the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga been able to bypass strong opposition?

At the core is the Host City Contract that gives the IOC the sole authority to cancel. If Japan cancels, it would have to compensate the IOC. Of course, the IOC is unlikely to sue a host city. So any deal would be worked out behind the scenes.

And there are billions at stake. Japan has officially spent $15.4 billion but government audits suggest it’s twice that much. Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc., a key player in landing the corruption-tainted bid in 2013, has raised more than $3 billion from local sponsors.

Estimates suggest a cancellation could cost the IOC $3 billion-$4 billion in lost broadcast rights income. Broadcast income and sponsors account for 91% of the IOC income, and American network NBCUniversal provides about 40% of the IOC’s total income.

Fans from abroad have been banned already, and a decision on local fans attending Olympic venues should come as early as next week.

Associated Press sought perspectives from inside and outside Japan with the Olympics set to open on July 23.

“It’s a bit like a gambler who already has lost too much. Pulling out of it now will only confirm the huge losses made, but carrying on you can still cling to the hope of winning big and taking it all back. It’s true that public opinion is unlikely to be kind even if Suga decides to cancel at the last minute. He might as well take the chance and hope for the best by going ahead with it. At least there is some chance that he can claim the games to be a success — just by doing it — and saturating the media with pride and glory might help him turn the negative opinion around.”

—Koichi Nakano, political scientist, Sophia University

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“The IOC carries a brand that is powerful. Athletes from around the world coming together to compete in peace is a heart-tugging draw. It takes an entertainment event and infuses it with a certain level of piety and awe. Who is against peace? With this “Olympism” as a goal, it has snagged corporate sponsors willing to pay lots of money. Therefore, the IOC has the leverage to exact contract terms very favorable to it and it certainly has done that in this case. The fact that only the IOC can formally decide to pull the plug on the games — even in the case of unforeseeable health events -- is testament to this.”

—Mark Conrad, lawyer, Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University

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“The host city contract hands over all the power to the IOC. The Olympic industry has had 120-plus years to win hearts and minds around the globe, with obvious success. In the age of the internet, their PR controls the message and protects the brand 24/7. The IOC is also beyond the reach of any oversight agency, including the governments of host countries. It can violate a country’s human rights protections with immunity, including athletes’ right to access domestic courts of law.”

—Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, sociologist, author “The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach”

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“Based on what I am hearing, people within the government have been given their instructions to make the games happen, and that is their singular focus right now — for better or for worse. Their hope is to get through the games with as few missteps as possible. Politicians may well be aware of the risk they are taking but hope that once the games begin the Japanese public will persevere ‘for the good of Japan’ and forget how we got there.”

—Aki Tonami, political scientist, University of Tsukuba

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“The IOC is an elitist club that garners support from other elites and people — and countries — that aspire to joining the elite. From a sports perspective, the IOC represents the custodian of the exclusive medals that athletes in numerous sports aspire to, acts as the chief promoter of the mythology of the healing power of sport, and the organization that most international sports federations and national Olympic committees are reliant on for funding.”

—John Horne, sociologist, Waseda Univeristy, author with Garry Whannel of “Understanding the Olympics”

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“Politically, the opposition is so weak, the government can do pretty much anything it wants. Although a disastrous Olympics would damage the LDP’s credibility, the party likely feels safe because a majority of the public doubts the capability of the opposition to govern. The government may be hoping that once the games start, public opinion will turn. At the very least, producing a distraction, and at most, perhaps a rally round the flag effect.”

—Gill Steel, political scientist, Doshisha University

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“You notice how nobody seems to be in charge. You have all these different entities: the Tokyo organizing committee, the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Prime Minister’s office, the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike, the Japan Sports Agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Suga is asked in the Diet about canceling the games and says it’s not his responsibility. Nobody wants to lose face. You saw the same in the run up to the 1964 Games. In fact, it wasn’t until Feb. 11, 1963 — some 600 days before the opening ceremony — that Japan finally found somebody willing to accept the presidency of the local organizing committee.”

—Robert Whiting, author of several books on Japan including the latest “Tokyo Junkie”

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“A lot of the opposition is shallow and movable, though of course that’s contingent on the Olympics actually working out. There will be a lot of people (broadcasters, etc.) invested in trying to make it look like a good show, so I think they’ll have the winds at their back if there’s not an appreciable spike in COVID deaths or any heat-related tragedies for the athletes.”

—David Leheny, political scientist, Waseda University

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“If it turns out there is a surge in coronavirus patients and it becomes a catastrophe, that’s not the responsibility of the IOC. It’s the Japanese government that will be stuck with the responsibility.”

—Ryu Homma, author, former advertising agency executive

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Associated Press reporter Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Biden must stop methane pipelines to deliver on climate change and environmental justice


Crystal Cavalier and Michael E. Mann  

Mon., June 21, 2021,

Protesters holding a "NO NEW PIPELINES" inflated "pipeline" in Richmond, Va., on April 7, 2015.

Four years of President Donald Trump have cost America dearly. We lost our global leadership on addressing climate change and saw the struggle for environmental justice thwarted here at home. President Joe Biden has defined both of these objectives as cornerstones of his legacy, but a huge interstate methane gas pipeline now being rammed through the Appalachian Mountains threatens to undermine the progress his administration has promised.

The 42-inch diameter Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would run 303 miles from West Virginia to Virginia, and it is one of the biggest U.S. gas pipelines in process. The pipeline's climate impact is estimated to be equivalent to about 23 typical coal plants, or more than 19 million passenger vehicles. That does not include a proposed 74-mile extension of the pipeline into North Carolina.

Methane gas is a climate change double whammy. It's a fossil fuel and, when burned for energy, releases the planet-warming greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But methane itself is a very potent greenhouse gas, and when some of it inevitably escapes into the atmosphere during hydraulic fracturing, we get further warming.


Pipelines affect disadvantaged people

Yet these harmful pipeline projects continue. Two other major interstate methane gas pipelines, the PennEast and the Pacific Connector, are being challenged, while more than a dozen are waiting for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – each another nail in America's climate coffin.

A recent national analysis found that the vast network of existing transmission pipelines are disproportionately concentrated where people experience high levels of "social vulnerability," a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention index of race, socioeconomic status, age, type of housing, language spoken and other factors.

It should come as no surprise that the big energy corporations behind the MVP who are willing to profit at the price of hurricanes, wildfires, floods and droughts are equally willing to trample local people. They even seem willing to trample the dead.

The MVP pipeline and its extension roughly follow the Native American Great Trading Path through Virginia and North Carolina, and tribal representatives are concerned the projects would desecrate sacred sites. Construction of the MVP mainline has already impacted sites on the traditional homeland of the Monacan Indian Nation (federally recognized in 2018), and Occaneechi, Saponi and Tutelo tribes, including a burial mound near Roanoke, Virginia, dating back several thousand years.

In West Virginia in 2019.

Despite requests by tribes for consultation with the FERC to ensure cultural resources were protected, they were largely ignored. The developer, describing the burial mound as a rock "push pile," has clear-cut the woodlands within yards of the site. Last month, FERC reached out to the Monacan Indian Nation to start consultation.

Follow the facts: On COVID-19 and climate change, denialism is deadly

Then there are the lower-income and elderly rural residents along the MVP route, too often disenfranchised when confronted with these kinds of projects. Almost half of the 17 affected counties in West Virginia and Virginia have poverty rates higher than the respective state average, and 14 of the counties have more elderly than average.

Two of the MVP's three West Virginia compressor stations – significant sources of air pollution – are in counties where 1 in 5 people live below the poverty line, counties "considered environmental justice communities," according to FERC.

Colonizer mentality on display

The MVP has also been an unmitigated disaster for water quality. Regulators in the two states have cited the developer for more than 350 clean water violations, amounting to more than $2 million in fines.

Now, the company is seeking permission from federal agencies to bore under or trench through hundreds more streams, rivers and wetlands, threatening countless water resources. In one case, the developer wants to drill under the Greenbrier River in West Virginia, a huge effort that would use 1 million gallons of water and take months, putting at risk the drinking water for a local public service district.

Require disclosure: Corporate America needs to level with investors on climate change

The MVP, announced in 2014, is still roughly only half-built, more than three years behind its original schedule and almost 100% over budget. It's one of the last-ditch efforts of the fossil fuel industry to squeeze out every penny in profit before it goes the way of the dinosaurs. It's also a clear example of the colonizer mentality of industry special interests, who have done unimaginable harm and put the planet in a climate crisis.

We fervently hope the Biden administration intends to make genuine progress on the paired crises of climate change and environmental justice. The MVP, for starters, has no place in that vision for America.

Crystal Cavalier of North Carolina is a member of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Tribe and is working on her doctoral dissertation, "Missing Murdered Indigenous Women in Frontline Natural Gas Pipeline Communities." Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) is director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center and author of "The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden and climate: Methane pipelines are a test for the president

Tucker Carlson Outed As Secret Source: Reportedly Dished On Trump, Fox News

New York Times says the Fox News host’s willingness to gossip to reporters is an “open secret” in Washington.

By Ed Mazza

Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, who routinely rails against the mainstream media, is reportedly a secret and frequent source for reporters in the very organizations he attacks, according to The New York Times.

“Mr. Carlson, a proud traitor to the elite political class, spends his time when he’s not denouncing the liberal media trading gossip with them,” wrote media columnist Ben Smith. “He’s the go-to guy for sometimes-unflattering stories about Donald J. Trump and for coverage of the internal politics of Fox News (not to mention stories about Mr. Carlson himself).”

Carlson’s willingness to dish is an “open secret” in Washington, according to Smith.

Smith said he trades messages with Carlson himself, and said 16 other journalists from outlets other than the Times had all said Carlson has been a source, with three calling him a “great source.”

Read the full report here, which includes a pretty unforgettable piece of art.



Carlson’s rhetoric has turned increasingly extremist, airing conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection, the coronavirus pandemic and vaccination. He’s also railed against immigrants, and both he and his guests have aired white nationalist talking points.

How the FBI became the target of a conspiracy theory about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Caitlin Dickson
·Reporter

Sun., June 20, 2021

A theory embraced recently by conservative media personalities and politicians who support former President Donald Trump, which alleges that the violence that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was somehow orchestrated by the FBI, appears to have originated with an article on a right-wing website run by a fired Trump White House official.

On Tuesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson told his roughly three million viewers that it appeared “the FBI was organizing the riots of Jan. 6.” Though Carlson provided no evidence for this inflammatory allegation, his claim was quickly picked up and repeated as fact by a number of other conservative pundits and Republican lawmakers.

Over the course of two days, outraged calls for the truth about the FBI’s supposed involvement in the Capitol riots ricocheted across social media, making their way to FBI headquarters and even into the Congressional record.

The FBI false-flag narrative did not originate with Tucker Carlson, however, but with an article published Monday by Revolver News, a right-wing website run by former Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie. Beattie, who was fired from the White House in 2018 for attending a conference alongside white supremacists, was later appointed by Trump on his way out of office to a government commission that preserves Holocaust-related sites in Europe.

Supporters of President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally on Jan. 6. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

It’s unclear whether anyone other than Beattie writes for Revolver, as no bylines appear to be on the site’s original posts, including this week’s “exclusive” suggesting the FBI was behind the Capitol riots.

The route from an obscure right-wing website to a major network program illustrates how quickly misinformation, or distorted information, can become part of a national discussion, despite an absence of evidence. This isn’t the first conspiracy theory or misinformed talking point to follow the Revolver-to-Fox News pipeline, either. Last September, for example, Beattie appeared on Carlson’s show to promote a similarly convoluted theory, first outlined on Revolver, charging that Democratic operatives and government insiders were plotting a “color revolution” to overthrow Trump in the 2020 election, which conservative commentators quickly echoed.

Similarly, Beattie’s FBI allegation was rapidly picked up by some Republican members of Congress.

“We need names and answers about the FBI operatives, who were involved in organizing and carrying out the Jan 6th Capitol riot,” tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, the freshman congresswoman from Georgia who has a history of promoting conspiratorial beliefs, including those associated with QAnon. Greene’s call to action was echoed by other outspoken Trump allies, like Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who cited Carlson’s Fox News segment and the Revolver article on the floor of the House of Representatives, entering both into the Congressional record.

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, of Florida announced on Twitter that he’d sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray formally requesting that he “fully disclose the role and involvement of FBI operatives during the January 6th Capitol riot.” The FBI confirmed in an email to Yahoo News that it had received the letter from Gaetz but declined to provide any additional comment.

On Thursday night, Carlson doubled down on his claims before his primetime Fox News audience.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via Reuters)

The Revolver article is based mostly on hypotheticals, deriving a potentially “sinister” significance from the numerous references to “unindicted co-conspirators” in several of the indictments against alleged members of far-right extremist and paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and Proud Boys, who are accused of planning the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Based on the information contained in these charging documents, the article claims, without evidence, there to be a “disturbing possibility” that these anonymous co-conspirators were working as undercover federal agents or confidential informants.

"The government knows who they are, but the government has not charged them," Carlson said Tuesday, summarizing the Revolver article’s core implication. "Why is that? You know why. They were almost certainly working for the FBI.”

Bennett Gershman, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and a professor at Pace University law school in New York, called that conclusion “patently ridiculous.”

Gershman did not dispute that the FBI may have sought to infiltrate some of these extremist groups with undercover agents or informants prior to Jan. 6.

“That’s something that’s done all the time,” he said. But, Gershman emphasized, “it’s one thing to infiltrate in order to get evidence of crime. It’s another thing to instigate and provoke.”

Some of the Proud Boys' top brass do have a history of cooperating with the FBI. In January, Reuters reported that Enrique Tarrio, a prominent leader of the group who did not enter the Capitol building on Jan. 6, worked repeatedly as an undercover informant for federal and local law enforcement for several years. And in March, Joseph Biggs, another Proud Boys leader who has been charged with conspiracy in relation to the insurrection, sought to avoid jail time by claiming in a court filing that he, too, had been in regular contact with federal and local law enforcement about the group’s activities starting in 2018. (Biggs was temporarily released before being ordered back to jail in April pending trial.)

Gershman, who previously specialized in criminal defense litigation in private practice, said it’s very common for the defense to make complaints of entrapment or government instigation in cases involving undercover agents or informants. In some cases, he acknowledged, those complaints are valid.

“There are situations where, in the past, agents have provoked and instigated crimes,” Gershman said, adding, however, that it’s highly unlikely that the unindicted co-conspirators referenced in the indictments stemming from the Capitol riots were working for the FBI prior to Jan. 6. What is possible and much more likely, he said, is that they played a key role in the attack, and may have very well been genuine accomplices of the people facing criminal charges.

“Usually, the unindicted co-conspirators are really involved in the unlawful activity,” making them particularly valuable to the government, he said. These individuals have likely evaded their own indictments by agreeing to cooperate with investigators in the aftermath of Jan. 6., and may have provided crucial evidence used to file criminal charges against their accomplices, or prosecutors may be planning to call them to testify as witnesses in a trial, according to Gershman.

The Justice Department’s internal manual states, “In the absence of some significant justification, it is generally not appropriate for a United States Attorney to identify” unindicted co-conspirators in court filings.

The FBI appears to be the latest scapegoat to emerge in the ongoing effort by Trump's allies to reframe the narrative around Jan. 6 and deflect responsibility for the violence that occurred at the Capitol away from him and his supporters. After an unsuccessful initial campaign to point the finger at left-wing agitators and antifa, a number of Republican lawmakers have continued to try to rewrite history, insisting that the actions of the violent mob that stormed the Capitol, forcing them and their colleagues to barricade in offices and take cover under desks, did not amount to a violent insurrection but rather a mostly “peaceful protest,” similar to a “normal tourist visit.”

Such efforts to downplay the severity of what happened on Jan. 6 have been used by some Republicans as a shield against further scrutiny, like the kind that would come from an independent investigation by a 9/11-style commission. Last month, Republicans blocked attempts to establish a commission to look at the Jan. 6 riot.

'We are not relics of the past': Canada needs more than just National Indigenous Peoples Day to achieve true reconciliation

Farah Khan
Sun., June 20, 2021



June 21, 2021 — Today, we mark National Indigenous Peoples Day, honouring the very positive and profound impact of Indigenous communities and culture in Canada. With a heavy heart, we pay tribute to the countless Indigenous lives lost through Canada’s residential school system, to missing and murdered Indigenous women and men, and to the resilience required to survive the traumas of colonization on identity, land and culture.

Today, we have altered the Yahoo logo on our Homepage to commemorate Canada's Indigenous roots with a medicine wheel, an emblem of North American Indigenous cultural values, traditions and spirituality. The medicine wheel's four quadrants are a symbol of wholeness, connectedness and strength. It reminds us that we must reckon with the past in order to achieve true reconciliation. — Yahoo Canada Editors
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Get to know what National Indigenous Peoples Day means to individuals with Indigenous heritage in Canada and what they hope to see for true reconciliation:

Wab Kinew

Wab Kinew is the Leader of the Manitoba NDP. He is also a bestselling author, award-winning musician, and former journalist.

National Indigenous Peoples Day is a time to reflect on the important contributions Indigenous peoples have made in shaping our country and the places we live. This year, with the heartbreaking news from Tk'emlups te Secwepemc, it is also a time to commemorate the children lost to Residential Schools and recommit to the work of reconciliation. I would like governments, businesses, public institutions and Canadians to commit to the implementation of the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the Calls to Justice of the National Inquiry, including searching all the sites of former Residential Schools for other unmarked burials.Wab Kinew, NDP leader in Manitoba

Riley Yesno

Riley Yesno is a queer Anishinaabe writer, researcher, and public speaker from Eabametoong First Nation.


For me, days of recognition mostly provide an opportunity to take stock of the brilliance of our communities. The joy, pleasure, and transformative futures we are always building. I center our love. For true reconciliation I would like to see Canada stop pretending like they don’t know what they need to do to fix the harm we face. There are dozens of reports with hundreds of recommendations showing the way forward— we just need the will to pursue it. #LANDBACK.

Elmer St. Pierre

Elmer St. Pierre is The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Chief.

CAP IS A RIGHT WING  FIRST NATIONS NGO ORGANIZED BY THE CONSEVATIVES AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE AFN.



National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day for our communities across the country to celebrate, and we do so in many different ways. I celebrate by attending pow wow’s with my family and community. We drum, sing, dance, enjoy traditional food and visiting crafters. What Canada can improve: The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples full and equitable participation in the implementation process of Bill C-15, Canada’s Act to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The federal government needs to act on the CAP-Daniels v. Canada Supreme Court decision to ensure the rights, interests and needs of CAP’s communities are met. The greatest opportunity for change in the history of Métis and Non-Status Indians is right in front of us, and we can’t miss it.

Sol Mamakwa

Sol Mamakwa is an MPP for the NDP representing Kiiwetinoong.

National Indigenous Peoples Day is a time of love, joy and reflection. We love our families and communities and if we have a day to celebrate each other - that’s beautiful. But I believe we are more than just a day or month marked on the calendar. Our existence is our resistance to ongoing colonial oppression and continued injustices. I have no doubt we shall rise above and shine. I know this because we are all STILL here, we are reclaiming and with each generation, we get stronger. There can be no Reconciliation in this country without truth. Canada is still listening and learning the truth. And that starts by honouring our treaties. The treaties that built this country are the laws of the land but Canada has continually ignored them, carrying on as if they meant nothing. But they mean everything. Canada constantly breaks its own laws and treats us like we are second class citizens. We are not. We will not rest until Canada honours the treaties.

Chanin Lee

Chanin Lee is an actress from Toronto.


The month feels like a time to especially celebrate my culture and who I am. I remember my roots and my ancestors before me. Personally, I think it gives visibility for non-Natives to have a chance to learn about Indigenous history, and that we’re still here and flourishing against everything we’ve been through. Everyday is Indigenous Peoples Day for me and still being here as a proud mixed Anishnaabe woman feels like a triumph. I think the only way for true reconciliation would be “land back” since that's far fetched, at the least, we need to allow Indigenous people to be the stewards of the land and to be supported and aided by the government and rest of population. I'd like to see non-Indigenous people learning a non-biased history of our peoples. I’d like to see more Indigenous people being given access to land-based traditions and teachings. I’d like to see clean water on all reserves. I’d like to see an understanding from non-Indigenous people of the effects of residential schools, the '60s scoop and how many if not all of our people are dealing with intergenerational trauma.

Chanin Lee, Toronto actress

Wade Grant

Wade Grant is an advocate for reconciliation and a member of a Musqueam Indian Band.

National Indigenous Day was recognized in this country as a moment for people like myself and my children to be seen. It was a day to actually lift up communities that were left behind, communities that were ignored, communities that were discriminated against, the first peoples of this country that did so much to build up this country, prior to Confederation and since Confederation, to finally be recognized that we are still here. We are not relics of the past. True reconciliation needs to happen at a grassroots level where people can have conversations, coffee table talk, family get togethers, and bringing groups together.

Wade Grant, advocate for reconciliation, member of a Musqueam Indian Band

Join an activity across Canada using this interactive map to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Consider donating to Indigenous communities across Canada to support the journey to reconciliation.

AP Interview: Former president says US failed in Afghanistan

Sun., June 20, 2021


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s former president said Sunday the United States came to his country to fight extremism and bring stability to his war-tortured nation and is leaving nearly 20 years later having failed at both.

In an interview with The Associated Press just weeks before the last U.S. and NATO troops leave Afghanistan, ending their ‘forever war,’ Hamid Karzai said extremism is at its “highest point” and the departing troops are leaving behind a disaster.

“The international community came here 20 years ago with this clear objective of fighting extremism and bringing stability ... but extremism is at the highest point today. So they have failed,” he said.

Their legacy is a war-ravaged nation in “total disgrace and disaster."

“We recognize as Afghans all our failures, but what about the bigger forces and powers who came here for exactly that purpose? Where are they leaving us now?" he asked and answered: "In total disgrace and disaster.”

Still, Karzai, who had a conflicted relationship with the United States during his 13-year rule, wanted the troops to leave, saying Afghans were united behind an overwhelming desire for peace and needed now to take responsibility for their future.

“We will be better off without their military presence,” he said. “I think we should defend our own country and look after our own lives. ... Their presence (has given us) what we have now. ... We don’t want to continue with this misery and indignity that we are facing. It is better for Afghanistan that they leave.”

Karzai's rule followed the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition that launched its invasion to hunt down and destroy the al-Qaida network and its leader, Osama bin Laden, blamed for the 9/11 attacks on America.

During Karzai's rule, women re-emerged, girls again attended school, a vibrant, young civil society emerged, new high-rises went up in the capital Kabul and roads and infrastructure were built. But his rule was also characterized by allegations of widespread corruption, a flourishing drug trade and in the final years relentless quarrels with Washington that continue even until today.

“The (US/NATO military) campaign was not against extremism or terrorism, the campaign was more against Afghan villages and hopes; putting Afghan people in prisons, creating prisons in our own country ... and bombing all villages. That was very wrong.”

In April, when President Joe Biden announced the final withdrawal of the remaining 2,500-3,500 troops, he said America was leaving having achieved its goals. Al-Qaida had been greatly diminished and bin Laden was dead. America no longer needed boots on the ground to fight the terrorist threats that might emanate from Afghanistan, he said.

Still, the U.S.'s attempts to bring about a political end to the decades of war have been elusive. It signed a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 to withdraw its troops in exchange for a Taliban promise to denounce terrorist groups and keep Afghanistan from again being a staging arena for attacks on America.

There is little evidence the Taliban are fulfilling their part of the bargain. The United Nations claims the Taliban and al-Qaida are still linked. The architect of the U.S. deal and current U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad says some progress has been made but without offering any details.

Karzai has had harsh words and uncompromising criticism of U.S. war tactics over the past two decades in Afghanistan. Yet he has become a linchpin of sorts in a joint effort being launched by the United States and Britain to get a quarrelsome Afghan leadership in Kabul united enough to talk peace with the Taliban. The insurgent group has shown little interest in negotiating and instead has stepped up its assaults on government positions.

The Taliban have made considerable strides since the May 1 start of the U.S. and NATO withdrawal. They have overrun dozens of districts, often negotiating their surrender from Afghan national security forces.

But in many instances the fighting has been intense. Just last week a brutal assault by the Taliban in northern Faryab province killed 22 of Afghanistan's elite commandos, led by a local hero Col. Sohrab Azimi, who was also killed and widely mourned.

“The desire of the Afghan people, overwhelmingly, all over the country is for peace,” said Karzai, who despite being out of power since 2014 has lost little of his political influence and is most often at the center of the country's political machinations.

Diplomats, Western officials, generals, tribal elders and politicians on all ends of Afghanistan's political spectrum regularly beat a path to Karzai's door in the heart of the Afghan capital.

As the final military withdrawal is already more than 50% complete, the need for a political settlement or even a visible path to an eventual settlement would seem to be taking on greater urgency even as Afghans by the thousands are seeking an exit. They say they are frustrated by relentless corruption, marauding criminal gangs — some linked to the powerful warlords in Kabul —and worsening insecurity. Few see a future that is not violent.

Karzai had a message for both sides in the conflict: “The two Afghan sides, none of them should be fighting." While accusing both Pakistan, where the Taliban leadership is headquartered, and the United States of stoking the fighting, Karzai said it is up to Afghans to end decades of war.

To Pakistan's military and civilian leadership, Karzai said Afghanistan wants “a civilized relationship... if Pakistan adopts an attitude away from the use of extremism against Afghanistan, this relationship can grow into a beautiful relationship, into a very fruitful relationship for both sides.”

To the warring sides in Afghanistan, Karzai said: “I’m very emphatic and clear about this, both sides should think of the lives of the Afghan people and the property... fighting is destruction.”

"The only answer is Afghans getting together. ... We must recognize that this is our country and we must stop killing each other.”

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Follow Kathy Gannon on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@kathygannon

Kathy Gannon, The Associated Press

SRI LANKAN ECO DISASTER



Sri Lanka Ship Fire

This photo provided by Sri Lankan Navy shows the sinking MV X-Press Pearl off Colombo port, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 17, 2021. The container ship carrying chemicals sank off Sri Lanka’s capital on Thursday nearly a month after catching fire, raising concerns about a possible environmental disaster. The ship's operator said the wreck of the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl "is now wholly sitting on the seabed at a depth of 21 meters (70 feet).” (Sri Lanka Navy via AP)


BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI

Sat, June 19, 2021


LOMBCOO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The U.N. representative in Sri Lanka said the sinking of a container ship that caught fire while transporting chemicals off the capital Colombo has caused “a significant damage to the planet” by releasing hazardous substances into the ecosystem.

The Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl sank off on Thursday a month after catching fire, raising concerns about a possible environmental disaster.

The U.N. said it was coordinating international efforts and helping Sri Lanka in assessing the damage, recovery efforts and preventing such disasters in the future.

“An environmental emergency of this nature causes significant damage to the planet by the release of hazardous substances into the ecosystem,” U.N. Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer-Hamdy said in a statement late Saturday. "This in turn threatens lives and livelihoods of the population in the coastal areas.”

A U.N. team of oil spill and chemical experts— provided by the European Union— has been sent to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has already submitted an interim claim of $40 million to X-Press Feeders to cover part of the cost of fighting the fire, which broke out on May 20 when the vessel was anchored about 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) northwest of Colombo and waiting to enter the port.

The Sri Lankan navy believes the blaze was caused by its chemical cargo, which included 25 tons of nitric acid and other chemicals, most of which were destroyed in the fire. But debris including burned fiberglass and tons of plastic pellets have already polluted nearby beaches.

A ship manifest seen by The Associated Press said the ship carrying just under 1,500 containers, with 81 of those described as “dangerous” goods.

The main concern has been about 300 tons of bunker oil used as fuel for the ship. But officials have been saying it could have burned off in the fire.

Both Sri Lankan authorities and the ship’s operator, X-Press Feeders, have said so far there is no sign of an oil spill.

UPDATED

The US could be facing its worst drought in 1,200 years, and summer hasn't even reached its peak yet.

Cheryl Teh
Mon, June 21, 2021

A thermometer display shows a temperature of 130 degrees at the Furnace Creek Visitor's Center at Death Valley National Park on June 17 in Furnace Creek, California. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images


California is bone-dry after a heat-wave hit the state, with water levels dipping to all-time lows.


Experts say climate change is responsible for what may become the worst drought the US has seen in 1,200 years.


In the meantime, the West and South West continues to sizzle - and summer has yet to hit its peak.


Residents on the West Coast are in for a miserable, sizzling summer filled with prolonged drought and record-breaking temperatures, say experts.

A scientist the Guardian spoke to even warned that the US could experience one of the worst droughts in its modern history.

"This current drought is potentially on track to become the worst that we've seen in at least 1,200 years. And the reason is linked directly to human-caused climate change," Kathleen Johnson, associate professor of Earth system science at the University of California in Irvine, told the Guardian.

The projection came just as California's rivers and reservoirs dried up and the state recorded historically low water levels.

In particular, if water levels in Lake Oroville, California's second-largest reservoir, continue to dwindle, it could have devastating impacts on the state's power supply. This is because the lake generates energy by flowing through the Edward Hyatt Power Plant. Low water levels may force this power plant to close, leaving around 800,000 homes without energy when wildfire season swings around, per CNN.

The heatwave hitting California prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a statewide emergency last week. Newsom called on the state's residents to conserve energy, saying that the heat "has and will continue to put significant demand and strain on California's energy grid."

Energy troubles amid the heatwave are also hitting Texas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said many power plants in the state went offline last week, just months after a major outage left Texans without heat during in the middle of winter.

The Washington Post reported on June 18 that more than 40 million Americans saw triple-digit temperatures where they live in the prior week. Temperature records were also broken in Salt Lake City last Tuesday when the weather services measured a high of 107 degrees, smashing the area's 147-year record for temperatures in June.

What makes the US's weather troubles worse is that summer hasn't even peaked.

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information's archive of temperatures across the US from 1981 to 2010, the amount of sun's rays reaching Earth tends to peak on the summer solstice on June 21. However, the US tends to see warm temperatures increasing into July. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the summer of 2020 was one of the hottest ever seen in the US, with August, in particular, being especially "dry and destructive."

Read the original article on Insider

Extreme 2021 fire season expected across much of western North America


Mario Picazo
Sun, June 20, 2021

Extreme 2021 fire season expected across much of western North America

Embedded content: https://players.brightcove.net/1942203455001/B1CSR9sVf_default/index.html?videoId=6259754536001

As summer 2021 rolls in, the potential for wildfires in many areas of western North America increases. Drought in the region has been on the rise for months, and at this point, more than a third of the area extending from the southwest United States into southern Canada is in a severe to extreme situation.

grapes california fire damage (Bloomberg Creative. 

Fire damaged grapes hang on the vines in a vineyard in California, USA. 

(Bloomberg Creative. Bloomberg Creative Photos. Getty Images)

With tinder-like conditions already present in many drought affected areas, experts warn that when intense heat waves and strong dry winds join this vulnerable scenario, wildfires will be very easy to spark and could quickly become extremely dangerous.

Wildfire experts Daniel Swain and Mike Flannigan weigh in on what this wildfire season could shape up to be, and the main ingredients that could potentially make this a season to remember. Watch the video above to hear what they have to say.

Thumbnail credit: Ashley Cooper. The Image Bank. Getty Images

West's drought has no end in sight: 'If we do nothing, it’s going to be really bad'


Joel Shannon and Christal Hayes, USA TODAY
Sun, June 20, 2021

Spring rainstorms weren’t enough to fill Utah’s reservoirs or rejuvenate the soil, so Gov. Spencer J. Cox took his plea to Twitter: Fix your leaky faucets, stop taking long showers, get rid of the lawn – and pray for rain.

The crisis isn’t unique to Utah. About 40% of the country is experiencing drought conditions, according to U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought has been a consistent problem in the Southwest for about two decades, and it’s increasingly creating an existential question: Does the West have enough water to go around?

Huge reservoirs are drying up as drought threatens farms and fuels wildfires. Cox, a Republican, warned the drought puts crops, livestock, wildlife, the state’s food supply and “really, our way of life” at risk.


It's all happening at a pace that is surprising and alarming experts. Some worry that without major water conservation, the West could be on track for unprecedented water shortages.

States and local governments are ramping up rules aimed at cutting back water usage, and most of the initial burden is expected to hit farmers, who are responsible for the vast amount of water use. But individuals are also seeing water restrictions affect them – especially if they have a lawn to water.

Even so, conservation may not be enough to fix the problem, Cox feared. “We need some divine intervention.”

Scientists and advocates suggest another solution: The West needs to drastically cut its water usage, and that means more than taking shorter showers.

Watch: Oregon wildfires a cautionary tale in worsening drought
Rain alone unlikely to fix the drought problem

Droughts can be short-term, but the one facing the West probably isn’t. The problem appears to be too big, the trend too strong to be reversed by drenching rains or a few above average years of precipitation.

“I don’t see a going back to a pre-drought time any time soon,” Veva Deheza, executive director of the National Integrated Drought Information System, told USA TODAY.

A spring 2020 study warned that the West is exiting an unusually wet time in its history and heading straight into an unusually dry time that could last years, decades or centuries.

Scientists see that trend playing out year after year.

“The anticipation is always that, eventually, rain will come. And so we’re stretching out the water that we do have,” said Nancy Selover, who recently retired as Arizona’s state climatologist.

She compared the water supply issues in the West with that of survivors on a desert island. “You have to say: How long do you think it’ll be until somebody rescues us? How much does everyone get when you simply don’t know when the rain will come?”

Typically, states use massive reservoirs to store extra water from years with above-average precipitation so it can be used during drier times. It’s a complex system involving more than just rain water: melted snow from mountainous regions is among one of the biggest concerns.

But these are not normal times.

Scientists describe the past two decades as a drought worsened by climate change, population growth and increased agricultural needs, and the say the Colorado River Basin is undergoing “aridification” that will complicate water management for generations to come. That’s especially troubling for the seven states that rely on the Colorado River for water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Drought is a concern across the country, Deheza said. They're occasional in the East and sometimes extreme in the Midwest. But in the West, particularly in the Southwest, they've recently been nearly pervasive.

Droughts in wetter climates can put a short-term strain on water systems that can spiral into a crisis. A 2016 drought in Georgia led to concerns about taps running dry.

But in the already dry Southwest, the slow-moving crisis is just as severe but will take much longer to turn around – especially amid concerns the climate is becoming more desert-like.

“It’s getting harder and harder to recover from these low … years,” John Berggren, a water policy analyst with Western Resource Advocates, told USA TODAY. Berggren said reservoir levels are dropping without any good years to help replenish them.

Drought has ripple effects, Berggren said. Just one of them: Dry soil can suck up moisture before it reaches reservoirs, making it hard to fill them back up, even during an unusually wet year.

And Deheza said warming temperatures cause more water to evaporate, also complicating efforts to build up reserves.

It takes intricate planning to ensure dry years won’t damage most people’s day-to-day lives. But with growing uncertainty about the changing climate of the Southwest, it’s getting harder to make those plans, Deheza said.

Lake Mead is seen in the distance behind mostly dead plants in an area of dry, cracked earth that used to be underwater near Boulder Beach on June 12.
Drought concerns growing at an alarming pace

The largest reservoir in the country made headlines in early June when it dipped to a record low, a rapid decline that outpaced projections from just a few months ago.

Lake Mead then stood at just 36% of full capacity, and the spiral shows no sign of letting up. That's a troubling statistic for the Hoover Dam, where low water levels have reduced energy capacity by 25%. Typically, the dam powers enough electricity to serve more than 1 million people a year across Nevada, Arizona and California.

A similar situation is playing out in Northern California’s Lake Oroville, where one hydroelectric power plant will probably have to shut down for the first time ever because of the abnormally low water levels.

“Things are starting to plummet pretty drastically,” Berggren said.

Doing nothing to reduce water usage could lead to an unimaginable future for the West, Berggren said: “If we do nothing, it’s going to be really bad.”

A high-water mark or "bathtub ring" is visible on the shoreline of Lake Mead at Hoover Dam.

June 6: Hoover Dam, a symbol of the modern West, faces an epic water shortage

He described a world where rivers run dry, dust overruns the landscape, some taps stop flowing and millions of people flee in search of water.

But that hypothetical isn’t imminent, and much can be done to prevent it, Berggren said.

Many experts note that while conditions are worsening and only exacerbated by climate change, the West has always been dry and has experienced prolonged periods of droughts.

Jay Lund, a professor at the University of California, Davis who heads its Center for Watershed Sciences, described prolonged periods of precipitation and dry periods over centuries, sometimes lasting decades.

“We’ve always had a lot of trouble with droughts. Always,” Lund said. “The difference here is now the temperatures are higher. Now we have more people. Now we have more agriculture. Now we need more water and have an increased demand.”

And just a small adjustment, such as temperatures becoming just a few degrees warmer, can start a ripple effect on everything from water levels, food prices, water consumption and wildfires.
Water conservation hits farms, lawns first

Water conservation won’t bring back the rain, but experts say it’s a needed step to help prevent widespread water shortages.

Contingency plans for how to divide up water among states as shortages hit have already been made, and cutbacks are expected in the coming year.

Agriculture – which uses about 90% of ground and surface water in some Western states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture – is likely to be the first to endure shortages.

There are short and long-term changes farmers can make, all of them challenging. Upcoming water shortages may be temporary, but farmers may have to rethink their approach to low-value crops like hay and alfalfa – especially in areas where a lot of water is needed to grow them. Some farmers might even elect to leave the region, something that also could have ramifications on the interconnected agriculture community and prices in grocery stores.

Watch: Water woes at America’s largest reservoir

Selover noted that more farmers are fallowing their fields, letting land rest and go unplanted for a period of time, when water is in short supply. But for some, such as those growing pecans or walnuts, one year without watering an orchard means trees die and won’t be able to produce again for up to a decade.

“If you have one year that you don't provide water to the trees, they die, and next year's water isn't going to bring them back. So now you've lost everything,” she said. “A lot of those trees take five, seven, 10 years of growing before they produce the first nut.”

The choices aren’t easy.

“They’ll either have to plant different crops that don’t use as much water or they’ll just have to fallow their fields,” Selover said.

Berggren said conservation will require changes in the landscapes that surround homes and cities. In many cases, water-guzzling plants and grasses should be replaced with more drought-tolerant native landscapes that look great and are better suited to the climate.

Cutting back on water is something parts of California are already familiar with, even if puts only a small dent in overall water use. In June in Redding, California, City Manager Barry Tippin said the city may again use "water police" to enforce conservation rules if the drought worsens.

In the past, the workers left door hangers that spelled out water use cutback rules and explained strategies to use less water.

People who watered lawns on days they shouldn't have or otherwise broke conservation rules could expect a visit from the "water police."

Meanwhile, Nevada has moved to outlaw “non-functional turf” in the Las Vegas area – decorative grass that guzzles water and isn’t used by anyone.

In Iowa, Des Moines Water Works has asked central Iowa residents to cut lawn watering by 25%.

But experts know conservation has its limits: “Let’s face it, if these conditions continue to persist and get worse, conservation practices only get you so far,” Deheza said.

Drought-plagued regions may need to make major structural changes in how communities and industry use water. She said history tells us both do a “fantastic job of adapting” when needed. And the Southwest has plenty to learn from communities in Africa and the Middle East that have long lived in deserts.

But it's increasingly clear simply waiting for the water to come back won't end the crisis.

“You can never fix this problem,” Lund said. “There is no solution. It’s like fixing the problem with hurricanes on the East Coast. You don’t. You live with it and learn how to manage it.”

Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; Michele Chandler, Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight; Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register; Ian James, Arizona Republic; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US drought prompts water restrictions – and there's no end in sight

JUNE 21 

CANADA'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

The Métis Nation Applauds the Passage of An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples


OTTAWA, ON, June 18, 2021 /CNW/ - The Métis Nation applauds the Senate's passage at 3rd reading on June 16th of Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Act). The Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent next week. Canada is taking a historic step towards reconciliation.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (CNW Group/Métis National Council)

Today is an important day for the Métis Nation and for all Canadians. The UN Declaration affirms the right of self-determination of the Métis Nation, First Nations and Inuit. It sets out the minimum standards for our survival, dignity and well-being. The Act establishes a framework to implement the UN Declaration in Canadian law in consultation and collaboration with Indigenous peoples.

Métis National Council Vice President and National Spokesperson David Chartrand states, "This legislation is the foundation for a renewed relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples. The Métis Nation has been a strong supporter of implementation legislation. We have worked tirelessly to bring this day to fruition. We would like to thank Prime Minister Trudeau for keeping his promise to bring this legislation forward and Minister Lametti for overseeing its advancement through Parliament. This is a real accomplishment. We eagerly await Royal Assent."


The Act was co-developed in 2020 by the Métis National Council, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Government of Canada. It mandates the development of an action plan within two years to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration, in partnership with the Métis Nation, Inuit and First Nations. We will work on a nation-to-nation, government-to-government basis with our First Nations, Inuit, and Government of Canada partners to design and implement a distinctions-based action plan that upholds the inherent rights of the Métis Nation and strengthens our citizens, communities and governments.

Métis National Council President Clément Chartier reflects that, "This is the culmination of decades of hard work and advocacy by Indigenous leaders, within Canada and globally. The recent heart-breaking discovery of the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School reminds us that the deadly effects of colonialism remain with us to this day. We will work urgently to create an action plan that overturns these harmful legacies and creates a future where our human rights as Indigenous peoples are honoured and respected. We owe this to our future generations and to all Canadians."

The MNC represents the Métis Nation in Canada at the national and international levels. The Métis Nation's homeland includes the 3 Prairie Provinces and extends into the contiguous parts of British Columbia, Ontario, the Northwest Territories and the United States. There are approximately 400,000 Métis Nation citizens in Canada, roughly a quarter of all Aboriginal peoples in the country.

SOURCE Métis National Council

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/18/c4607.html

AP Interview: UN aid chief: Tackle root causes of suffering

CAPITALI$M & IMPERIALISM

RADICAL; TO GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM 

K MARX


FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2017, file photo, Mark Lowcock, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator, addresses his statement, during the Pledging Conference for the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Lowcock, who steps down Friday, June 18, 2021 after four years, said in an interview with The Associated Press that unfortunately the world has been dealing with symptoms, including people displaced by fighting and natural disasters or at risk of famine, which is now stalking Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and Yemen. 

(Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)



Mark Lowcock
EDITH M. LEDERER
Thu, June 17, 2021

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The outgoing U.N. humanitarian chief warned that “the explosion” in needs for humanitarian assistance in recent years will keep getting worse until major powers tackle the root causes of hunger and desperation -- conflicts, extremism, climate change, poor governance, corruption and violence, to name a few.

Mark Lowcock, who steps down Friday after four years, said in an interview with The Associated Press that unfortunately the world has been dealing with symptoms, including people displaced by fighting and natural disasters or at risk of famine, which is now stalking Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and Yemen.

In a very divided world, where the geopolitical system has failed to manage conflicts very well, he said, there has been a “failure of the leading powers" to tackle the causes.


“If the world wants to see less humanitarian suffering, you have to deal with the causes of that suffering,” Lowcock said. “If you tackle the causes, you can make progress, you can improve people’s lives.”

During his lifetime, the 58-year-old British economist said the world moved from having more than half the global population living in “the most extreme poverty” to less than 10% in that dire situation before the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

The people and countries left out of that economic progress are “the ones enmeshed in humanitarian suffering,” he said.

Lowcock was highly critical of the world’s rich countries, and especially the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, for “not acting much more aggressively and generously and protecting the poorest countries coming out of the pandemic,” not only with vaccines but supporting their economies, which “have taken the biggest hit in relative terms” and are “under huge strain.”

Rich countries pumped trillions of dollars into their economies to protect their citizens and their nations, and “that’s the right thing to do,” he said.

“But it would also have been a smart thing as well as a kind and generous thing to have spent a little bit of that money protecting the very poorest countries,” Lowcock said in the virtual interview on Wednesday.

It is also in the self-interest of wealthier nations, he said, because the problems that can brew in fragile countries — becoming havens for terrorism, places where climate change is hardest to tackle, sites where new diseases emerge and old diseases like Ebola reemerge — “come back to bite you if you don’t invest enough to contain the problems.”

Lowcock called for a much bigger effort to help poorer countries out of the pandemic.

Rather than just announcing it was donating vaccines, he said, the G-7 should have made clear that what they were doing was “a small down payment,” and that they would work with the larger Group of 20 major economies to do a lot more.

The G-7 leaders promised 1 billion doses for vaccine-hungry countries, far short of the 11 billion doses the World Health Organization said is needed to inoculate at least 70% of the world’s population and truly end the pandemic.

Lowcock said the G-7 announcement -- including 500 million doses from the United States and 100 million each from Britain and Canada -- is basically enough vaccine to reach about 10% of the people who need it in low- and middle-income countries.

He said the G-7 didn’t announce money to get the vaccine from the manufacturer into the syringes of health workers who can immunize people, stressing that there are “huge costs in the delivery system.” Some of the very poorest countries that got a little bit of vaccine but had no delivery systems gave some back, he said.

The G-7 should have made “a much more rounded, longer term commitment” to finance vaccine requirements, he said, and it should be challenging the G-20 “to step up and meet part of the share of the costs as well.”

By comparison, he recalled that in the much smaller financial crisis of 2007-2008, “the leading countries in the G-20 instructed the international financial institutions to provide a lot of assistance to the most vulnerable countries, and they bankrolled that.”

For the last 15 months, Lowcock said, he has been pressing the G-7 and the G-20 to provide a lot more economic help to the poorest countries.

“That has not happened through this crisis,” he said. “If more resources don’t come, then the pandemic is going to last a lot longer than it would otherwise do, and that will ultimately harm the rich countries as well as adding to the misery and suffering of the poorer countries.”

Lowcock called his last four years as the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs “challenging,” especially because “the causes of humanitarian suffering have been growing.”

He said the U.N. and the broader humanitarian community, whose “true grit” he has come to admire, have been able “to stave off the worst outcomes in these big disasters, essentially because we have raised quite a lot of money.”

In his first year, the U.N. raised $14 billion for its global humanitarian appeals, Lowcock said, and four years later “we raised $20 billion, so roughly a 40% increase over the period.”

But he said he worries that funding for humanitarian aid is voluntary, and there’s far too much reliance on a small number of countries. As a prime example, he said, 70% of the $20 billion raised last year came from the U.S., Germany, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Historically, the system for humanitarian relief has been “far too reactive,” Lowcock said. “It’s waited for the problem to get almost overwhelming before doing something about it, and we’ve tried to act much earlier when we knew a problem was coming, and much faster.”

He said an earlier and faster response to a humanitarian crisis is cheaper, and “it’s also more humane.”

“We reach 100 million people a year,” Lowcock said. “We certainly saved millions of lives.”