HAITIANS ARE THE GREAT REPLACEMENT

'Silent revolution': Texas' Dan Patrick mirrors language of far-right extremists

James Barragãn, The Texas Tribune
September 18, 2021

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (Screenshot/WFAA)

Denouncing the thousands of Haitian asylum-seekers who are camped out under a South Texas bridge as an "invasion," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick accused Democrats of allowing their entry into the country for political gain.

"[Democrats] are allowing this year probably 2 million [immigrants], that's who we apprehended, maybe another million, into this country," Patrick said on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show. "At least in 18 years even if they all don't become citizens before then and can vote, in 18 years if every one of them has two or three children, you're talking about millions and millions and millions of new voters and they will thank the Democrats and Biden for bringing them here. Who do you think they're going to vote for?"

He said President Joe Biden and Democrats had begun a "silent revolution" to take over the country by winning over the votes of migrants.

"This is trying to take over our country without firing a shot," he added.

Patrick's rhetoric mirrors a far-right theory started in France known as the Great Replacement, which says that elites are replacing white populations with nonwhite populations through mass migration and demographic growth. These writings influenced the worst mass shooting of Hispanics in recent U.S. history in El Paso in 2019. The shooter, who killed 23 people and injured 23 others, ranted about a Hispanic invasion and told police he came to the city to kill Mexicans.

Patrick has repeatedly called the increase of migrants at the border an "invasion" throughout the year.

State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, who leads the House Democratic Caucus said blasted Patrick for his comments.

"These comments are not only vile, they are incendiary and dangerous," Turner said on Twitter. "Leaders have a responsibility to not incite with their words & actions - Patrick fails that test, again."

Patrick, a two-term Republican, was responding on Thursday to the thousands of asylum-seeking migrants — most of them from Haiti — who are waiting under an international bridge in Del Rio. The Caribbean country experienced a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month that destroyed thousands of homes.

State and federal government butted heads on how to handle the migrants' arrival, with Gov. Greg Abbott backpedaling on an order to close the ports of entry after U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the agency had not asked the state to do so. Abbott has blamed the Biden administration for the increase of migrants on the border this year.

Patrick told Ingraham the state received a "call for help" from U.S. Border Patrol, which led Abbott to order the closure of the ports of entry. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the agency had no information on Abbott's decision to close the ports.

"Then we found out that Border Patrol did not have permission from Homeland Security or the president, and so they came out and said 'No, we didn't say we needed any help. We didn't say that,'" Patrick said. "Someone in the administration flip-flopped on the issue, Texas did not take a back step."

Patrick urged Republican-led states to tell the White House they were being "invaded," adding that Democrat-led states did not care.

"This is not authorized by the state of Texas," he said. "It's not welcome by the state of Texas or any other Republican state that I know and they're not invited."

Patrick invoked Article IV of the Constitution, which guarantees states protection from invasion.

"What's a republican form of government? It's defined as a government that focuses on citizens running their government," he said. "We now will have illegals in this country denying citizens the right to run our government. Because our government, our representatives that we elect, can't even stop them from coming."

"This is denying us our government that's run by our citizens with illegals who are here who are going to take our education, our health care, all [of it]," he said. "This is selling out our country."

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/17/texas-dan-patrick-immigrants-democrats-haitians/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org

Biden’s Border Policy Is Trapping LGBTQ Asylum-Seekers In Dangerous Conditions In Mexico

"We're exposed here and very scared of what might happen to us now."

Adolfo FloresBuzzFeed News Reporter
Last updated on September 16, 2021,



Handout / Via Sofía
Isela and Sofía.


When Isela arrived at the US southern border, a man had already injured her spine in an anti-gay attack and she was still reeling from being raped by Mexican police officers. She thought her experiences would be enough to convince US authorities to let her in to claim asylum, but she was wrong.

Instead, Isela, who declined to use her full name out of fear of retribution from Mexican authorities, found there were few pathways for asylum-seekers into the US. Isela and her partner of 13 years, Sofía, requested humanitarian parole, which would allow them to enter the US temporarily.

Their request was denied by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Sept. 1, and the two Honduran women have since been living on the streets of Mexico with no end in sight.

"I don't know why the government is closing its door to immigrants like us, we have proof," Isela told BuzzFeed News. "Just like in our country, there is a lot of homophobia and discrimination in Mexico."


Marco Ugarte / AP
An immigrant woman carrying a child moves away from Mexican National Guard officers blocking the passage of a group of Central Americans near Tapachula in January 2020.

Nearly all pathways for asylum-seekers to seek protection at the US border are currently sealed off, the result of constantly shifting immigration policies and court rulings.

Most asylum-seekers are being blocked by a Trump-era policy the Biden administration has decided to continue. Citing an obscure public health law known as Title 42 to contain the coronavirus, the US immediately expels immigrants at the border, blocking them from accessing the asylum system. Border Patrol agents, however, aren't applying the policy to unaccompanied children and some families. Whether or not Title 42 is used to expel families from the US generally depends on nationality, where immigrants cross, and whether border authorities decide to put them on flights to quickly oust them somewhere else.



Twitter: @adam_wola


Immigrant advocates have condemned the expulsions, saying it sends people back to danger and is more about controlling migration than the coronavirus. A Human Rights First report tracked at least 6,356 kidnappings, sexual assaults, and other violent attacks, such as rape, kidnapping, and assault, against immigrants blocked at official border crossings or expelled to Mexico by the US since President Joe Biden took office.

On Thursday, a federal court ordered the Biden administration to stop using Title 42 to expel immigrant families with children, though Judge Emmet Sullivan put his order on pause for two weeks.

There used to be exemptions to Title 42 expulsions for vulnerable immigrants through a lawsuit filed by the ACLU as well as a separate process by which organizations chosen by the Biden administration identified people, such as LGBTQ immigrants, who should be allowed into the US to seek protection due to heightened risks in Mexico.

Both those processes no longer exist. In August, the Biden administration halted the exemption process with the ACLU after settlement talks ended. A consortium of humanitarian groups, which were identifying vulnerable immigrants for the government through a separate track, stopped their efforts this summer after realizing there was no end in sight for Title 42.

"Considering the lack of justification of keeping Title 42 in place for health reasons, and the threat of supporting a system that externalizes US asylum in violation of international human rights law, HIAS will discontinue its Title 42 referrals," said Bill Swersey, a spokesperson for the global Jewish nonprofit that helps refugees, in a statement this summer.


Jose Torres / Reuters
Mexican immigration agents detain a member of a caravan of immigrants and asylum-seekers who were hoping to reach Mexico City and obtain paperwork that would allow them to travel the country. Immigrants had grown tired of waiting for the documents in Tapachula.

Advocates said one of the few remaining pathways for asylum-seekers to enter the US is humanitarian parole, which allows people who would otherwise be barred into the country temporarily, but successfully gaining the status is difficult.

Margaret Cargioli, managing attorney for Immigrant Defenders Law Center’s Cross-Border Initiative program in San Diego, said the humanitarian parole process is highly discretionary and it’s not clear exactly why some cases are approved and similar ones are denied.

"It's especially alarming to see these denials now because there's no other recourse for asylum-seekers," Cargioli told BuzzFeed News. "Quite literally, asylum law is dead right now for someone fleeing for their safety."

In a statement, DHS said that on a case-by-case basis, the agency can, and does, allow immigrants who would otherwise be subject to Title 42 to be exempt for humanitarian reasons. DHS said it can’t comment on individual cases due to privacy and security reasons.

Isela and Sofía, who also declined to use her full name out of fear of Mexican authorities, left Honduras in 2018 after they were both sexually assaulted by two police officers. The assaults, Isela said, followed years of discrimination at home for being lesbians.

They made their way to Mexico, landing in Tapachula, a city near the Guatemalan border. Tapachula is a popular crossing point for asylum-seekers that has a reputation as a prison city for immigrants who are unable to get paperwork that would allow them to travel freely through Mexico. Advocates say immigrants are also routinely targeted by criminals and Mexican authorities in the city.

Sofía and Isela were sleeping in a Tapachula park one night when they were detained by Mexican police and placed in their car. The officers then drove the couple to a dark bridge and raped them, Sofía said.

"They said if we said anything we would be dead and thrown in the river," Sofía told BuzzFeed News.

A few months later, Isela, who worked at a general store, was attacked by her employer's drunk son. After he started calling her anti-gay slurs, he pushed her and she fell in a sitting position with her outstretched left hand. The pain to her pelvis and back was unbearable, and an ambulance had to pick her up.

Isela suffered a fractured spine, pelvis, and hand as a result of the attack. Isela said she tried to file a police report against the store owner's son, but authorities refused to document it because the family had paid a bribe.

Doctors told Isela she needed surgery for her pelvis and spine, but the couple was only able to afford the pelvis procedure.

From there, it only got worse. While recovering from her surgery and unable to move, Isela said a social worker with the hospital tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.

"He said he would make me like men," Isela said. "He grabbed my head and I tried to move away even though I could barely move my neck. I yelled for help and that's when he stopped."

Isela and Sofía filed a police report, but authorities refused to give them a copy and Isela started getting threatening text messages, prompting her to check out of the hospital. They suspect Tapachula authorities told the social worker about the report and that he was the one threatening them. In June, Isela and Sofía left Tapachula and made it to the US–Mexico border, but they discovered they couldn't even start the asylum process because of Title 42 expulsions.

Through the help of other immigrants, the couple was able to get in touch with an attorney from Al Otro Lado, a binational legal service provider, who filed a humanitarian parole request, their only hope of leaving Mexico.

"We've suffered so much because we're part of the LGBT community, and we hoped that the US would help us, but instead they closed the door on us," Sofía said. "We're very confused about why we were denied."

The ever-changing immigration policies and court orders are also creating confusion, despair, and vulnerability for people who are already in a precarious situation, Cargioli, the immigration attorney with Immigrant Defenders, said. The confusion, she added, allowed smugglers and the cartel to spread misinformation about the border being open in order to get more business. It's also made it easier for people to scam immigrants into paying to submit asylum applications that can't actually be filed.

"The Biden administration has had ample time to handle and resume processing of asylum-seekers," Cargioli said. "Asylum is legal, it is an essential service, and a legal obligation the United States must abide by."

“Remain In Mexico” Asylum-Seekers Thought There Was Hope Under Biden, But Despair Is Sinking Back In

"One day we were waiting on the call to enter the US, and the next we don't know if we will ever be allowed in."

Adolfo FloresBuzzFeed News Reporter

Hamed AleazizBuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on September 10, 2021, 

Gregory Bull / 
Asylum-seekers wait for news of policy changes at the border in Tijuana, Mexico.

After being forced to wait in dangerous Mexican border towns since 2019, Frank finally got the call he and his wife had been anxiously waiting for; in a few days, a UN official said, they’d receive a second call with a time to arrive and be processed into the US.

But that call never came. And then a few days later, someone on a WhatsApp group of Cuban asylum-seekers shared an article about how the Supreme Court had refused to block a requirement that the US restart a Trump-era program that forced thousands like Frank and his wife to wait in Mexico until a decision on their case was made

"My wife fell to the floor in tears," said the 32-year-old, who declined to use his full name out of fear of government scrutiny. "One day we were waiting on the call to enter the US, and the next we don't know if we will ever be allowed in."

More than 70,000 immigrants and asylum-seekers were sent back to Mexico under what’s officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and unofficially known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, where they have little access to legal aid and live with the constant threat of violence from cartel members. Now, until the Biden White House resolves the recent court action, thousands of immigrants like Frank will be back to square one.

The Biden administration's recent troubles in ending the Remain in Mexico policy stem from a district judge's order that it be reinstated on Aug. 13. The Supreme Court refused to block the order after the administration appealed, forcing the government to restart it. This week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS Evening News that while he opposed the Trump-era program, he was "obliged" to revive it due to the federal court order.

This summer, Biden fulfilled a campaign promise and formally ended Remain in Mexico. And, as part of a second phase, the US was allowing in people like Frank, who had been ordered deported in absentia after failing to attend his MPP court hearings.

But Christopher Boian, a spokesperson for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said that the organization was waiting for confirmation from the US on how the court ruling will affect people with in absentia orders.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the Department of Homeland Security said that as long as the lower court’s injunction remains in effect, it and its partners will suspend efforts to process immigrants who were previously enrolled in MPP.

DHS added that it was working on a way to accommodate those who were enrolled in MPP under the previous administration, are still outside the US, and have active immigration proceedings.

For immigrants who had been ordered to be deported after not attending their hearings — sometimes because they were a victim of a crime in Mexico — the US went through a labor-intensive process to reopen their cases.

ICE prosecutors were also told in late August in an email that they must suspend “any and all processes” related to winding down the program.

Asylum officers received an email in late August as well, saying the agency was taking steps to reimplement and enforce MPP in good faith. The email also said DHS was working with the State Department and the Mexican government to ensure the “expeditious reimplementation” of the Remain in Mexico program.

But the email from Andrew Davidson, head of asylum at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, also said restarting the program would depend on Mexico and the return of the necessary infrastructure to handle the cases.

Staffers were also told that the agency should “cease all activities” at ports of entry related to processing people who were previously enrolled in MPP.

Jose Luis Gonzalez / Reuters
An immigrant child, an asylum-seeker under the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) program, inside the El Buen Samaritano shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico


Some immigrants missed their court hearings because they were kidnapped or targeted by criminals. From February 2019 to February 2021, Human Rights First counted at least 1,544 public reports of murder, rape, and other attacks committed against people in MPP.

Frank and his wife missed their hearing because of a shootout that occurred outside their apartment in Ciudad Juárez. They were already running late because Frank's wife was sick, but the shooting all but ensured they would miss their appointment.

Life in Mexico isn't easy for immigrants. Not only are asylum-seekers under a constant threat of violence, but neither employers nor rental property owners want them.

Two months ago, a group of men assaulted Frank at a stoplight, stealing the bike he used to get to work. He used to have a job at a US-operated factory in Mexico, where he assembled pieces for heaters. Now he’s a repairperson, but jobs are inconsistent and he barely makes enough for rent and food.

Frank also has a fear of being kidnapped and doesn't leave his apartment unless he has to. All immigrants and asylum-seekers run the risk of being kidnapped, but criminals sometimes target Cubans because their families are more likely to be established in the US and have more money

"Here in Mexico, they call us ATM machines," Frank said. "It hasn't been easy living here, and I'm begging the US to at least let those of us with open cases enter the country. I don't know how much longer we can wait."

Body composting a ‘green’ alternative to burial, cremation
By THOMAS PEIPERT

September 16, 2021


1 of 22

In this Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, photo, Seth Viddal, who co-owns The Natural Funeral, stands behind a nearly completed human body composting vessel in Arvada, Colo. On Sept. 7, Colorado became the second state after Washington to allow human body composting, and Oregon will allow the practice beginning next July. The vessel will be packed with wood chips and straw and will be able to compost a body in six months. About the size of a standard grave, the rectangular insulated wooden box is lined with waterproof roofing material and packed with wood chips and straw. Two large spool wheels on either end allow it to be rolled across the floor, providing the oxygenation, agitation and absorption required for a body to compost. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)


LAFAYETTE, Colo. (AP) — In a suburban Denver warehouse tucked between an auto repair shop and a computer recycling business, Seth Viddal is dealing with life and death.

He and one of his employees have built a “vessel” they hope will usher in a more environmentally friendly era of mortuary science that includes the natural organic reduction of human remains, also known as body composting.

“It’s a natural process where the body is returned to an elemental level over a short period of time,” said Viddal, who likened the practice to backyard composting of food scraps and yard waste. “This is the same process but done with a human body inside of a vessel, and in our case, in a controlled environment.”

On Sept. 7, Colorado became the second state after Washington to allow human body composting. Oregon will allow the practice beginning next July. In Washington, the three businesses licensed to compost human remains have transformed at least 85 bodies since the law took effect in May 2020, and more than 900 people have signed up for the service as natural funerals become more popular.

Viddal, who co-owns The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, lobbied the Colorado Legislature for the option and started building a prototype vessel in an industrial area soon after the bipartisan bill was signed into law.

Based on a design being used in Washington, the insulated wooden box is about 7 feet long (2 meters), 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, lined with waterproof roofing material and packed with wood chips and straw. Two large spool wheels on either end allow it to be rolled across the floor, providing the oxygenation, agitation and absorption required for a body to compost.

Viddal calls the process an “exciting ecological option,” and in death, he also sees life.

“Composting itself is a very living function and it’s performed by living organisms. ... There are billions of microbial, living things in our digestive tracts and just contained in our body. And when our one life ceases, the life of those microbes does not cease,” he said.

After about three months, the vessel is opened and the “soil” is filtered for medical devices like prosthetics, pacemakers or joint replacements. The remaining large bones are then pulverized and returned to the vessel for another three months of composting. Teeth are removed to prevent contamination from mercury in fillings.

The vessel must reach 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 Celsius) for 72 continuous hours to kill any bacteria and pathogens. The high temperature occurs naturally during the breakdown of the body in an enclosed box.

In six months, the body, wood chips and straw will transform into enough soil to fill the bed of a pickup truck. Family members can keep the soil to spread in their yards, but Colorado law forbids selling it and using it commercially to grow food for human consumption and only allows licensed funeral homes and crematories to compost human bodies.

“It accomplishes the conversion of the body back into a very beneficial substance — soil, earth,” said Viddal, who envisions building more than 50 body composting vessels.

The Natural Funeral charges $7,900 for body composting, compared with $2,200 for flame cremation, and Viddal notes that a traditional burial and service in the Denver area can run well north of $10,000. The company has not yet composted any bodies, but several people have signed up and paid for the service.

AJ Killeen, 40, of Boulder, has already expressed interest in having his body composted when he dies, even though he is relatively young.

After a car accident a couple years ago, a doctor discovered Killeen had a heart condition. That got Killeen thinking about what would happen to his body after he dies, and composting seemed like a natural fit.

“It’s what’s going to happen anyway, right? I mean, we’re all going to turn to dust, basically. So this is just a little more natural,” he said. “They’re going to control the humidity. They’re going to control the soil amendments and hopefully some worms and some mushrooms find a good home in me for a few months. And, you know, at the other end of it, I’ll be just a few bags of dirt.”



Killeen, who manages commercial real estate, said his concern for the environment played a large role in considering the option. Flame cremation burns fossil fuels that can contribute to climate change, and the process also releases toxic, mercury-laden fumes into the atmosphere. Traditional burial takes up space in a cemetery that will use additional resources to keep the plot constantly watered and mowed.

“I always joke that I hope I expire on trash day if that’s just easier for my family,” said Killeen, who composts food scraps and yard waste through the city’s collection program.

Killeen is among a growing number of people considering more natural funeral options, especially since the pandemic began, and he thinks the option will become more accepted once people get over “the ick factor.”

The Colorado Catholic Conference, a group of bishops aimed at molding public policy, opposed the bill, saying body composting “does not promote human dignity.” Some rabbis also are against body composting because they say it violates Jewish religious law. Other opponents are concerned there is not enough research on whether the compost contaminates soil and there is no way to prevent people from using it in home vegetable gardens.

“We don’t know what they’re going to do with it if they take it all home,” said Stacey Kleinman, a board member of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association. They helped craft the legislation, but the group’s stance is neutral.

Even with the opposition, several states are considering the option as Americans become more open to afterlife alternatives.

According to a Choice Mutual Insurance Agency survey of 1,500 Americans this summer, when many were burying loved ones killed by the coronavirus, 21% said the pandemic changed how they want their body disposed of. Traditional burial and cremation remained the front-runners, but 11% said they would opt for burial involving natural decomposition without a casket. Only 4% said they would choose that option in a similar survey conducted in 2020.

Choice Mutual, which specializes in burial insurance, did not specifically ask about body composting, but the survey highlights an increased interest in more natural and environmentally friendly options.

Micah Truman, CEO and founder of Return Home south of Seattle, runs an 11,500-square-foot (1,068-square-meter) facility that includes 74 vessels. So far, his company has composted 16 bodies in what he describes as an “extremely precise scientific operation” that takes only 60 days.

Truman said that because the composting option is so new, “it’s really a matter of changing hearts and minds right now.” But he has been surprised by how many young people are interested, including someone who recently signed up their 8-year-old child.

“Our young people are going to teach us how to die better. It’s been really powerful for us,” Truman said. “I think what’s happened is that the younger generation really genuinely understands that we have to make sure that our Earth can stay whole.”

Emotional Fallon Sherrock and Michael van Gerwen react to historic Nordic Darts Masters final

 A WORKING CLASS SPORT LIKE BOWLING(AND CURLING USED TO BE) DARTS CAN BE PLAYED WHILE DRINKING BEER & SMOKING FAGS/CIGARETTES

Phil HaighSunday 19 Sep 2021 

Michael van Gerwen and Fallon Sherrock created a memorable and historic final in Copenhagen (Picture: Mikal Schlosser/PDC)

Fallon Sherrock admits she was shaking during her historic clash with Michael van Gerwen in the final of the Nordic Darts Masters, threatening to cause a stunning upset at 6-3 ahead, before falling to an 11-7 defeat.

Sherrock became the first woman to reach a televised PDC final after stunning Dimitri van den Bergh with an epic comeback in the semis, beating the Belgian 11-10 after being 7-1, 8-2 and 10-6 behind.

It looked like there was going to be an even bigger upset in the final as the 27-year-old opened up an early lead over the three-time world champion, but the Dutchman showed his class to fight back to a victory.

Sherrock, who also beat Danish player Niels Heinsoe in the first round and received a bye in the quarters due to Gerwyn Price suffering an elbow injury, was hugely proud of how she performed in the invitational event.

‘I was so proud of myself, especially to push Michael as much as I did,’ said Sherrock. ‘It’s Michael van Gerwen, and I was so close to him!

Sherrock still does not have a PDC tour card but can clearly compete with the best (Picture: Mikal Schlosser/PDC)

‘I cannot put into words how I was feeling [at 6-3 up] – I was shaking but I had to stay calm.

‘I’ve taken every opportunity that I can get – showing everyone how I can play and pushing one of the best in the world, I’m so happy.’

Van Gerwen ended a trophy drought which had lasted 293 days, an enormous amount of time for the former world number one, and he was in tears after the memorable victory in Copenhagen.

‘To win this means a lot to me and I’m very proud,’ said an emotional MVG. ”I’ve been through a really tough period, there was so much pressure on my shoulders.

‘I’ve had to wait a long time to win a trophy – for my ability and what I’m capable of, it’s been too long, but that makes it even nicer, and this tournament had everything.

Van Gerwen was in tears after the victory (Picture: Mikal Schlosser/PDC)

‘Fallon played a phenomenal tournament and I think she played one of the best games of her life in the final, and I had to find another gear.’

The 32-year-old offered special praise to Sherrock after the match as well, describing her as a ‘top talent not for ladies’ darts, but for darts.’

‘I am over the moon to have won here in Copenhagen, and the feeling is phenomenal again,’ Van Gerwen tweeted.

‘Huge credit to @fsherrock over the whole tournament she has been phenomenal. She pushed me harder than some tour card holders. She is a top talent not for ladies darts, but for darts.

‘Now it’s time to get home and see my amazing family. Thank you for all the support over the weekend.’

Sherrock also commented on Twitter, writing: ‘OMG what a night…… absolutely buzzing despite not winning – so proud of myself Smiling face with sunglasses. So many emotions I’m speechless.

‘Thank you to EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE. Congrats to @MVG180. I can see why your the best now – thank you Denmark you were amazing.’

Gerwyn Price, who won his first round match but then withdrew before a quarter-final clash with Sherrock due to an elbow problem, suggested on Instagram that his absence allowed Fallon to reach the final and Michael claim the title.

The world champion wrote: ‘I gifted this to Fallon and Michael…it won’t happen every week.’

Gerwyn Price felt Van Gerwen and Sherrock were lucky he had to withdraw (Picture: REX)

As US Prepares to Leave Iraq, Ex-Advisor to Iraqi President Says Kurds Need Reliable Partners

© AP Photo / Jim MacMillan, File
Elizabeth Blade

Washington has a proven track record failing its allies, says a former Kurdish official, whereas such countries as Iran and Russia are known for standing by their partners and fighting for them until the end.

With the pullout from Afghanistan officially over, the US is now looking to meet another deadline and withdraw its forces from Iraq, where they have been stationed since 2003.
Today, there are some 2,500 US troops in Iraq. They help local forces combat remnants of Daesh* and other terrorist groups. After the withdrawal, only few troops will be left, and they are expected to train and advise the Iraqi military.

Kurds Worried

The promise to leave the region has already stirred worries among many Kurds within Iraq, and Hiwa Osman, an Erbil-based political analyst and former advisor to Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish politician who served as the president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, says that the pullout of American forces from the country will not turn it into another Afghanistan, but Iraq will be "fragmented and divided".


"The south will fall into the hands of Iran. In the north, where the Kurds are, there will be a Turkish takeover, whereas in the centre, where most Sunnies reside, there will be a civil war," Osman believes.

Up until recently, the Kurds of Iraq had high expectations of US President Joe Biden, who took office in January.

Unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, who was perceived as someone who used the Kurds in his fight against Daesh and who dumped them years later, Biden has been viewed as a reliable partner, and as a leader who could solve their multiple problems.
And those were in abundance. They included the attempts of Iran and Turkey to bite off some territories from the Kurds, the lack of agreement with Iraq's central government over oil revenues and disputed land and the involvement of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the Iraqi military.

Unreliable Partners

Now, as the policy of the Biden administration is clear, many Kurds feel exposed but Osman says he has not been surprised by the move, given Washington's "poor history" mistreating its allies. "They have always said they would not leave the Kurds. But history taught us they always did".

Such was the case in 1975, when following the Iran-Iraq border treaty, the Kurds were attacked by the then-leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, while the Americans, who initially seemed to have supported the Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, were sitting idly by.
In the 1980s, the Kurds experienced a similar setback when they joined the Iranian revolutionary guards in the Iran-Iraq war. Once the hostilities came to an end, Saddam Hussein became even more ruthless towards the ethnic minority that had cooperated with his enemy. Washington once again preferred not to interfere.

"They have also left the Kurds of Syria," says Osman, referring to the 2019 US withdrawal from the war-torn country and refusal to confront Turkey over its decision to move troops and proxy forces into Kurdish-controlled areas. "They cannot be trusted, and this is the reason, why the Kurds should be looking for alternatives."

Looking for Allies

One such alternative could be Iran, thinks the former advisor. Steps in that direction have already been taken. In 2018, Kurds gave reassurances to the Iranians that they would not allow any Kurdish opposition groups to launch cross-border attacks from Iraqi Kurdistan, something that brought the two sides closer.

And, more recently, eastern Kurdistan made a series of appointments that indicated they were seeking closer ties with the Islamic Republic.

There have also been attempts at rapprochement with Russia. In 2020, Moscow made sure to involve the Kurds in negotiations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated the importance of Iraq's Kurdish Pershmerga forces in their fight against Daesh.

"For the Kurds, it makes perfect sense to align themselves with such countries as Iran and Russia. Those stand by their allies to the last bullet. So if I were a decision maker and I needed to choose between Washington and Moscow, I would most certainly go for the latter", Osman concludes.

*Daesh, also known as ISIS/IS/Islamic State, is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.

Russia's Super 'Gun' Has Brought Destruction from Afghanistan to Ukraine
It fields gigantic 240-millimeter mortars.

by Sebastien Roblin

Here's What You Need to Remember: The M240 mortar can fire a variety of special-purpose rounds for these purposes.

Self-propelled heavy mortar carriers are ubiquitous in modern mechanized armies. Mounted on light armored carriers and placed at the disposal of battalion commanders, such vehicles can deliver heavy and fast-responding indirect bombardments with 120-millimeter shells. When compared to self-propelled howitzers of similar caliber, mortars are lighter and require a smaller logistical train, but have significantly shorter range.

The United States Army mounts 120-millimeter mortars on wheeled Strykers (the M1129) and M113 tracked vehicles (designated the M1064). Russia fields its own 120-millimeter self-propelled vehicles, the 2S9 NONA.

But it also uniquely fields gigantic 240-millimeter mortars on its 2S4 Tyulpan (Tulip) mortar carriers—by far the largest mortar system in use today. And by “use,” I mean in combat.

Why employ such a large mortar with such a relatively short range

A look at history provides a few answers.

First answer: to destroy fortresses and hardened defensive positions. Israeli fortifications on the Golan Heights and Suez Canal, fortified mujahideen caves in Afghanistan, and airports defended by the Ukrainian Army have all been hit by M240 mortars at one point or another.

Second answer: to destroy cities. Apartment buildings in Grozny, Beirut and Homs didn’t destroy themselves.

This article will look at both the vehicle and its main weapon.

The thirty-ton 2S4 mates its M240 heavy mortar to a tracked GMZ vehicle chassis used in numerous other self-propelled weapons systems. The crew of nine (four vehicle operators and five gunners) is protected by up to twenty millimeters of armor—adequate protection against small arms and shrapnel.

Though the terrifying barrel of the M240 is pointed forward when the vehicle is on the march, when deployed the mortar’s baseplate is flipped over the back of the vehicle on to the ground so that the tube points upward and away. Each shot makes the entire vehicle ring like a giant bell.

Unlike most mortars, the M240 is a breech-loaded weapon.

It can fire massive 221-pound F864 high explosive projectiles—each 1.5 meters long and comparable in weight to small aerial bombs—at targets over nine kilometers away. With rocket-assisted projectiles, the range can increase up to twenty kilometers. However, the M240’s rate of fire is just one round per minute.

Unlike a shot from a howitzer, mortar rounds plunge downward on a near-vertical trajectory, and are therefore effective for shooting over the walls of fortifications, down into cave mouths, on the far sides of mountains and piercing through the roofs of buildings.

The M240 mortar can fire a variety of special-purpose rounds for these purposes. Concrete-piercing shells are designed to shatter bunkers, while Sayda incendiary projectiles set buildings aflame. A nuclear 3B11 shell also exists. The 2S4 was deployed at high-level nuclear-artillery brigades during the Cold War.

Recently, Syrian towed M240 mortars were identified firing cluster munitions in action for the first time. A rocket-assisted 3O8 Nerpa “cargo shell” which deployed fourteen O10 parachute sub-munitions was identified as having struck a school in session in the suburbs of Damascus.

The 2S4 also can fire the 276-pound Smel’chak (Daredevil) shell, which is guided by a separate laser designator. Detailed accounts of combat in Afghanistan describe using the Smel’chak to drop shells precisely over fortress walls and into fortified cave entrances. Daredevil rounds offer a significant ability to hit point targets after just one or two ranging rounds, though the targeting system requires optimal atmospheric conditions.

The Syrian Army is currently using towed M240 mortars in its sieges of rebel-held cities. Reports on its use in the indiscriminate bombardment of Homs gained extensive media attention in 2012. (Claims that 2S4 vehicles were used appear to be inaccurate.) Previously, the mortars had also gained infamy for killing hundreds in bombardments of Beirut during the 1980s—the shells powerful enough to pierce the roofs of concrete shelters.

Egypt is also believed to retain towed M240s.

Russia maintains just one active battalion of eight 2S4s in service, with over four hundred in reserve. In 2000, Tyulpans played a prominent role in the siege of Grozny in the second Chechen war, systematically “leveling” the city from afar according to one analyst. 127 targets were reported destroyed by Daredevil laser-guided rounds. All together the Russian army claims to have killed 1,500 separatist fighters in Grozny in a siege believed to have killed over sixteen times as many civilians.

Unlike other Russian artillery systems, the 2S4 was not exported within the Warsaw Pact, with the exception of a small number of vehicles briefly serving in the Czech army.

Curiously enough, however, 2S4s were spotted in Ukraine in July 2014 by OSCE drones. It seems that in the Russian army you can take your siege mortars with you when you volunteer abroad! At least four mortars are reported being used in support of Russian separatists.

The Tulips established a reputation for themselves in the sieges of two strongpoints held by Ukrainian Army forces in 2014, the airports of Luhansk and Donetsk. In both cases, their bombardments collapsed airport terminals onto their foundations, forcing defenders to retreat from positions they had held for months. Ukrainian defense minister Valery Gelety even initially claimed in September that the 2S4 had struck Luhansk airport with a tactical nuke. He later maintained that he was referring to the vehicle’s capability of deploying nuclear shells.

My two-part article on the combat employment of the M240 mortar covers additional details on the weapon’s use, ranging from the 1973 Yom Kippur War to the present day.

The 2S4 has no equivalent in Western militaries. This is because its main task—destroying immobile, fortified strongpoints with its powerful shells—is typically performed by airstrikes using precision-guided munitions such as JDAMs. Of course, the advantages of a ground-based system are those of sustained fire over time and ability to operate when air power is unavailable.

Unfortunately, these practical characteristics have also enabled the M240 mortar’s use in prolonged and indiscriminate bombardments of civilian targets.

In the words of journalist Paul Conroy, present at the siege of Homs: “I lay there and listened as salvos of three of these mortars were launched at a time, 18 hours a day, for five days.”

Sébastien Roblin holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This article is being republished due to reader interest.

Image: Reuters.

Taliban are after Bactrian gold treasure. It has an Indian connect

The Bactrian treasure was excavated more than four decades ago from the graves of six wealthy nomads in the Tela Tapa area of Sherberghan district in northern Afghanistan.

The Taliban have said they are tracking and will secure the 2000-year-old Bactrian gold treasure. (Thierry Ollivier/Musée Guimet)

By hindustantimes.com | Written by Meenakshi Ray
PUBLISHED ON SEP 19, 2021

The Taliban have said they have begun efforts to track and locate the 2000-year-old Bactrian treasure, also known as Bactrian Gold. “The issue is under investigation, and we will collect information to know what the reality is. If it has been transferred (out of Afghanistan), it is treason against Afghanistan,” Ahmadullah Wasiq, deputy head of the cultural commission of the Taliban interim cabinet, was quoted as saying by Tolo News. “The government of Afghanistan will take serious actions if this and other ancient items are moved out of the country,” Wasiq said.

More than 20,000 artefacts

The Bactrian treasure was excavated in 1978-79 from the graves of six wealthy nomads—dating from the first century BC to the first century AD— in the Tela Tapa or Hill of Gold area of Sherberghan district in northern Afghanistan. The graves of the Saka tribesmen from Central Asia, perhaps, or the Yuezhi from northwest China, had more than 20,000 artefacts including gold cupids, dolphins, gods and dragons encrusted with semiprecious stones such as turquoise, carnelian, and lapis lazuli. They also contained golden rings, coins, weapons, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, weapons, and crowns.

Also read | Taliban to track, secure 2000-year-old Bactrian gold treasure: Report

Viktor Sarianidi, the Moscow archaeologist who led the joint Soviet-Afghan team that uncovered the graves, compared the impact of the find to the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. "The gold of Bactria shook the world of archaeology. Nowhere in antiquity have so many different objects from so many different cultures—Chinese-inspired boot buckles, Roman coins, daggers in a Siberian style—been found together in situ,” Sarianidi has written, according to the Smithsonian Magazine.

“The 2,000-year-old artifacts found with them exhibit a rare blend of aesthetic influences (from Persian to classical Greek) and the great number of precious objects found surprised the archaeologists, in particular the intricate golden crown found in the sixth tomb,” it added. Smithsonian Magazine said in 2009 that for example the diadem, “a five-inch-tall crown of hammered gold leaf, conveniently folds for travel, and a thumb-size gold figure of a mountain sheep is delicately incised with curving horns and flaring nostrils”.

Kushan Empire, Buddha

Sarianidi believed that the treasure had been assembled by Yuezhi nobles from China, who arrived in the Bactria region around the second century BC and later established the Kushan Empire in India. Other scholars say the hoard was interred by Scythians from modern-day Iran. “The contesting theories reveal the variety of influences that make up this huge collection of objects. Other items include a Roman coin with the head of the emperor Tiberius, a silver mirror with Chinese engravings, rings with Greek text, and a coin with Buddhist imagery,” National Geographic magazine said in 2016.

Sarianidi and his workers found a skull and skeleton surrounded by gold jewellery and ornaments during the course of the excavation. They were the remains of a woman, 25 to 30 years old, whom Sarianidi called a nomadic princess. “He subsequently found and excavated five additional graves, all simple trenches containing lidless wooden coffins holding the remains of once ornately attired bodies,” according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Sarianidi's team uncovered in the grave of a chieftain—the only man found at the site—turquoise-studded daggers and sheaths and a braided gold belt with raised medallions that bear the image riding on a panther. Some say the image is that Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, and others speculate it's the Bactrian goddess Nana seated on a lion. An Indian medallion was also found near the chieftain's rib cage by the excavators. Véronique Schiltz, a French archaeologist with the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, has said it bears one of the earliest representations of Buddha.

The remains of a woman in her 30s were found in a nearby grave and she was wearing signet rings with images of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and a pair of matching jewelled pendants with gold figures grasping S-shaped dragons. Another grave, that of a teenage girl, contained thin gold shoe soles along with a Roman coin minted in the early first century AD in Gallic Lugdunum—present-day Lyon, France.

Dead in the water: Northwest Passage will replace Suez as world’s transport route

This satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies shows a close up overview of the MV Ever Given container ship and tugboats in the Suez Canal on March 29, 2021. (AFP)

Rami Rayess

AL-ARABYA
Published: 14 September ,2021

Since the mega-sized container ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal earlier this year - creating a global logistical nightmare in the process - debate covering future solutions to tackle similar crises is ongoing.

As globalization’s pace quickens unabated trade deals that contain strict transportation times and costs are par the course.
The Suez Canal has monopolized international trade routing since 1869. The Panama Canal also conquered an important chunk of global shipping and trade when it was inaugurated in 1914.

Alternative routes are essential.

The Northwest Passage is one clear solution, and navigating successfully this body of gradually melting water found around northern Canada is getting closer. It will eventually replace the Suez Canal as the world’s favored shipping route to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Environmental cynics may claim that the opening up of the Northwest Passage as the sea ice melts is one benefit of global warming. Regardless of the moral rights and wrongs of this view, they are correct.

There’s a great deal of romance for seafarers looking at the Northwest Passage. Always seeking quick routes, and facing the challenge of finding them, over the centuries sailing through the Northwest Passage, following the Northeast channel and tacking around the Horn of Africa were the toughest routes for the earliest modern maritimers.

The mission of 1845 when HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set out from England under the command of Sir John Franklin to find the Northwest Passage is the stuff of legend. Much of Europe had tried attempting this, but had always failed.

Both vessels were last seen to the east of the entrance of the Passage, but from there the crew and ships disappeared never to be seen again.

The shipping route no longer offers the challenge of navigating it, and in the process, some might say has lost the mystery and intrigue from centuries ago.

With expectations that the ice will melt totally in the Arctic by 2050, the route will become fully navigable for mega container ships.

Right now the impediments facing all countries considering using the Northwest Passage include: the need for advanced ships and technology; high insurance costs, and the fees involved with using icebreaker escort vessels.

With expectations that Arctic sea ice will melt totally by 2050, the Northwest Passage will become fully navigable for mega container ships. (Reuters)

A positive for Egypt are the benefits it can capitalize on from geopolitical differences between the major international players that will clash over the Northwest Passage.

There are many issues facing the countries attempting to lay claim to it.

These include legal questions about international access to the waterway. Is it a passage or a strait? This question appears innocuous and irrelevant, but in maritime law the answer will determine which nation can do what. If it’s a strait, then countries across the globe can access it without ramifications. At the moment Canada lays claim, but this has yet to be tested in court.

China, although in no way has direct access to the channel from its borders, is eyeing it as a future avenue to transport its billions of dollars-worth of goods it moves around the world each year.

In 2016 the country’s maritime authority published a guide tracking ice conditions through the channel. It also included nautical charts. An ice-free passage would be ideal for China and the other grand trade tycoons at the international level.

For journeys between Europe and Asia, travelling Northwest is two or three weeks faster than passing through the Suez.

A maritime trip from Shanghai to Rotterdam is a little under 20,000 km passing through the Suez Canal. Taking the Northwest Passage route cuts the distance to 16,000 km, and by decreasing the travel time and costs in this scale will increase profits substantially.

Egypt generates revenues of around 13 million euros ($15 million) daily from the Suez Canal totaling 4.8 billion euros ($5.7 billion) annually. According to an estimate by Lloyd’s more than eight billion euros worth of goods pass through the canal each day.

For the next couple of decades, the Suez Canal will remain an indispensable waterway that serves international trade and a passage that connects different parts of the world.

Of course, many benefits from using the Suez Canal will remain, particularly involving multiple drop-off port routes, but the mega containers will use the Northwest Passage soon enough.

So, for now the Suez Canal has a stay of execution, but it’s only a matter of time before the Northwest Passage makes the the water channel surplus to the requirements of global trade, and Egypt must ready itself for that day.

SPOON!
Israel recaptures last two Palestinians who escaped from high-security prison


35-year-old Ayham Kamamji and 26-year-old Munadel Infeiat. (Screengrab)

AFP, Jerusalem
Published: 19 September ,2021:

The Israeli army has recaptured the last two Palestinians involved in a spectacular jail break earlier this month, it announced Sunday.

At the beginning of September, six Palestinian inmates escaped Gilboa prison in Israel’s north, through a tunnel dug under a sink in a cell, reportedly using tools including a spoon.

Israel launched a massive manhunt, deploying drones, road checkpoints and pouring troops into the occupied West Bank.

Authorities had already arrested four of the six, and in a tweet on Sunday the Israel Defense Forces said the last two had surrendered “after being surrounded by security forces that acted precisely based on accurate intelligence.”

The men, 35-year-old Ayham Kamamji and 26-year-old Munadel Infeiat, are both members of the extremist group Islamic Jihad.

Israeli police look at a tunnel which Palestinian prisoners used to escape a high-security jail. (Twitter)

They were arrested in a joint operation with counterterrorism forces in Jenin, in the West Bank, the army said in a short statement to the press, adding that they were “currently being interrogated.”

Originally from Kafr Dan, near Jenin, Kamamji was arrested in 2006 and jailed for life for the kidnap and murder of a young Israeli settler, Eliahu Asheri.

Islamic Jihad said Kamamji suffered abdominal and intestinal illness in jail and was subject to “medical negligence” by prison authorities.

Infeiat, arrested last year, had been jailed multiple times previously for his role in the armed group, and was awaiting sentencing at the time of the escape.

The other four men recaptured last week included Mahmoud Abdullah Ardah, the alleged mastermind of the escape, and Zakaria Zubeidi, a former militant leader of the Fatah movement.

  

Palestinians have a new symbol of resistance — the spoon

Artists from around the region honour Palestinian prisoners who used spoons to dig their way to freedom from an Israeli maximum security prison.

Kuwaiti artist Maitham Abdal works on a sculpture named "Spoon of Freedom" in his workshop in his home in Kuwait City on September 13, 2021. (AFP)

The humble spoon has taken its place alongside traditional flags and banners as a Palestinian resistance symbol, after prisoners were said to have carried out one of Israel's most spectacular jail breaks with the utensil.

When six Palestinians escaped through a tunnel on September 6 from the high security Gilboa prison, social networks shared images of a tunnel at the foot of a sink, and a hole dug outside.

A hashtag, "the miraculous spoon", suggested how the Hollywood-style feat might have occurred.

But whether or not the utensil had really been involved or its role was cooked up was at first unclear.

Then on Wednesday a lawyer for one of the fugitives who has since been recaptured told AFP that his client, Mahmud Abdullah Ardah, said he had used spoons, plates and even the handle of a kettle to dig the tunnel from his cell.

He began scraping his way out from the northern Israeli institution in December, the lawyer, Roslan Mahajana, said.

Ardah was one of four fugitives later arrested after the army poured troops into the occupied West Bank as part of a massive manhunt.

All six were accused of plotting or carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Two men remain on the loose following the extremely rare escape. Israel has begun an inquiry into lapses that led to the embarrassing incident, which Palestinians see as a "victory".

"With determination, vigilance... and cunning, and with a spoon, it was possible to dig a tunnel through which the Palestinians escaped and the enemy was imprisoned," writer Sari Orabi said on the Arabi 21 website.

READ MORE: What the Galboa prison break symbolises for Palestinians

Palestinian cartoonist Mohammed Sabaaneh says the escape has served up "black humour" and exposed Israel's security system to ridicule.

He has made several drawings featuring the utensil, including one titled "The Tunnel of Freedom".


A history made

The issue has also stirred admiration outside the Palestinian territories, where spoons have been carried in demonstrations supporting prisoners detained by Israel.

In Kuwait, the artist Maitham Abdal sculpted a giant hand firmly clasping a spoon — the "spoon of freedom", as he calls it.

Similarly inspired, Amman-based graphic designer Raed al-Qatnani symbolically depicted six silhouettes taking a bridge to freedom, represented by a spoon.


For him, it also evokes the numerous hunger strikes undertaken by Palestinian prisoners to protest their incarceration.

In Tulkarem, a city in the West Bank occupied since 1967 by Israel, the escape brought back memories for Ghassan Mahdawi. He and another prisoner escaped from an Israeli prison in 1996 through a tunnel dug using not kitchen implements but nails.

He had been arrested for belonging to an armed group during the first Palestinian intifada, which lasted until the early 1990s.

"There's nothing prisoners can't do... and there is always a flaw" in the system, said Mahdawi, who was rearrested and then released after a total of 19 years in custody.

In his view, the most recent escapees may have used tools other than spoons, obtained inside the prison, to carry out what every prisoner dreams of but few accomplish.

"To escape from an Israeli prison is something each inmate thinks about," Mahdawi said.

To have done it with a spoon, he added, is something that "will go down in history".