Saturday, October 30, 2021

Indian PM Narendra Modi invites Pope for visit

Sat., October 30, 2021


India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Pope Francis to visit his country - a significant turnaround after negotiations for a papal visit to India collapsed in 2017.

The invitation came after Mr Modi shared images of his first private meeting with the Pope at the Vatican.

The Indian prime minister is attending G20 summit of major world economies being held in Rome.

The last pope to visit India was John Paul II in 1999.

Analysts suggest Mr Modi's invitation is significant because of concerns about an increase in discrimination and violence against religious minorities in India, including Christians.

Mr Modi's party, the BJP, has been accused of pursuing a pro-Hindu identity and agenda - something he denies.

In a tweet announcing the invitation, the prime minister said he had "a very warm meeting" with Pope Francis, and "had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him".

An unnamed source told The Hindu newspaper that the pair discussed ways to tackle poverty and climate change, among other topics.

But there is no indication religious freedom was addressed at the meeting.


India rejects scathing US religious freedom report


Muslims fear for their future under Modi

The majority of India's population are Hindu. But there are around 24 million Christians in the country - around 2% of the population.

Pope Francis has frequently signalled his desire to visit India.

In 2016 he said he was "almost sure" that a trip would be arranged for the following year. But despite his visit to neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar, Indian Catholic leaders failed to convince Mr Modi to extend an invitation to the pontiff.
G20: Huge divide between rich and poor countries on climate, vaccines and tax

Issued on: 30/10/2021 - 

Our international affairs correspondent Philip Turle reports live from the Rome G20 summit, where world leaders are debating vaccine equity, a global tax rate and more ambitious climate goals.

Welsh woman's Harry Potter collection earns Guinness World Record

Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A Welsh woman earned a Guinness World Record for her collection of 5,284 pieces of Harry Potter memorabilia.

Tracey Nicol-Lewis, of Mid Glamorgan, told Guinness World Records she started collecting merchandise from J.K. Rowling's book series and the film adaptations in 2002, and her collection now includes special edition books, toys, key chains, illustrations, prop replicas, Lego sets and more.

Nicol-Lewis, whose wedding was Harry Potter themed, said her collection takes up three whole rooms of her house.

The previous record belonged to fellow Wales resident Victoria Maclean, who amassed a collection of 3,686 items.

Scots artist who created terrifying dolls during lockdown inundated with orders from avid collectors

Darkling Manor Dolls have become a huge hit with private collectors and Nadia has never been busier with bespoke orders for Halloween and even surprise wedding and Christmas gifts



By Katy-Rose Meaney
Kirsty Feerick
Journalist
10:44, 29 OCT 2021
(Image: @darklingmanordolls / CATERS NEWS)

A Scottish artist has created hundreds of petrifying dolls which are so popular she is inundated with orders from avid collectors.

Nadia Marcella, from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, has been designing the sinister looking creations for around two years and now has over 2,500 followers online.

Her horror themed collectables sell for up to £60 each and after setting up her unusual business only last year, Nadia has already designed more than 350 chilling one off pieces.

The horror themed collectables sell for up to £60 each
 (Image: @darklingmanordolls / CATERS NEWS)

Darkling Manor Dolls have become a huge hit with private collectors and Nadia has never been busier with bespoke orders for Halloween and even surprise wedding and Christmas gifts.

The 46-year-old full time artist said: "People do buy them for amateur films, theatre props and themed nights, but many just want them to display in their homes."

It isn't just about the shock factor for the talented artist who has been interested in horror for many years.


She said: "I love the reactions people have to the dolls and my work. I am really interested in the psychological reasons why people are scared of the dolls and what they think of them.

Nadia Marcella designs the sinister looking creations 
(Image: @darklingmanordolls / CATERS NEWS)

"I also love creating subtle dolls too. It isn't always about making them look gory, sometimes the more innocent looking baby dolls are the most terrifying."

She added: "I love contrast pieces, so when I do make some particularly gory looking ones, I like to dress them in a sweet outfit to show a real contrast against their features.

"A pink bib or crisp white baby dress works really well."

Nadia names her dolls and likes to use a mix of regal and demonic names and is thrilled her unique work has become popular online.

She created her first pieces through boredom during lockdown and since then her work has been noticed by horror museums around the country and she has recently been commissioned to make dolls for permanent displays.

When transforming the once delicate and innocent looking dolls, Nadia gives them a full body make-over.

She uses a variety of materials including papier-m ch , acrylic, watercolour and chalk paints.

Nadia also uses a lot of recycled materials including wood, string, rope and wire which she finds in the woods near her home.

She said: "I love to recycle, that is a big part of my work. I don't buy new materials, I always look at what I have or what I can find to use."

The artist knows her macabre dolls are not to everyone's taste and she has been the subject of fierce criticism in the past.

Nadia added: "I have had a lot of negative comments. People have called me awful names and questioned my mental health, but I am glad that my art provokes such a strong reaction, good or bad.

"I had a lot of abuse when I was starting out as I would post my dolls for sale through online selling pages but now I have regular returning customers and a big following on social media."

And for every bad comment, Nadia has received just as many orders and has thousands of fans following her business on social media.

Vatican translator's expression on Biden trip contrasted with grim demeanour during Trump visit

 

The Vatican translator for Pope Francis had drastically different facial expressions in the meeting with President Joe Biden on Friday compared to the meeting with former President Donald Trump .

Twitter users enjoyed the side-by-side comparison video of the translator, showing Mr Biden’s meeting with the pope on Friday, and Mr Trump’s meeting with Francis on 24 May 2017.

Former Obama White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri called the comparison “amazing”.

Before they even met, Mr Trump’s relationship with Francis was already fraught. During the 2016 campaign, the pope appeared to criticise Mr Trump and his policy idea of building a wall along the US border with Mexico . The pope said those who want to build walls instead of bridges are “not Christian”.

When slamming the pope’s comments, Mr Trump suggested the Argentinian was a Mexican pawn. When the pair finally met, images of a grumpy-looking pope standing next to the first family went viral and were used for countless jokes.

Professor Shaun Casey at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University told NPR that US presidents meeting the pope is a “modern phenomenon”.

The first meeting took place in 1919 during President Woodrow Wilson’s time in office when he met Pope Benedict XV and the next meeting didn’t take place until 1959 when President Eisenhower met Pope John XXIII.

Mr Biden is only the second Catholic US president, following President John F Kennedy. Mr Biden told Francis on Friday that he’s the “only Irishman you’ve ever met who’s never had a drink”.

Professor Casey told NPR that the Obama and Biden administrations “discovered in Pope Francis a very willing partner to address some of these massive global issues like climate change, like refugees”.

“When you see that political policy overlap, you see a deepening of the ties and deepening of the relationship between the two entities,” he added. “And we are in one of those moments.”

“Biden is actually repairing a fractured diplomatic relationship,” the professor said, adding that the meeting will be “a signal to the Vatican that you have a partner now in the White House”.

Why Iran And Azerbaijan Nearly Went To War And How This Could Lead To Regional Conflagration – Analysis

 Flags of Azerbaijan and Iran.

By 

The US has been absent from the South Caucasus for over a decade, has poor relations with Turkey and is traditionally focused on only Georgia, as during US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin’s October visit to the South Caucasus while ignoring Azerbaijan and Armenia. Meanwhile, the EU works with Georgia and Armenia in the Eastern Partnership, has like the US, poor relations with Turkey and ignores Azerbaijan. 

Both the US and France, representing the EU, have gone AWOL from the Minsk Group established to broker peace in the Azerbaijani region of Karabakh. The US needs to reassert its presence in the South Caucasus to counter the Iranian-Russia alliance. During the September-November 2020 Second Karabakh War it was not Russia that intervened on Armenia’s side, as many expected and Yerevan hoped for, but Iran; Russia and Armenia are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation which brings together six Eurasian states.  Iran’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory was aimed at holding up the westward advance of Azerbaijani forces along the Aras River border or, in the event of this leading to hostilities, to open a second front and thereby reduce military pressure on Armenia. This would have led to a regional conflagration by bringing in Turkey and Pakistan on Azerbaijan’s side and Russia in support of Iran. In retaliation the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs threatened to encourage dissent among Iran’s large Azerbaijani minority who account for between a quarter to a third of its population and supported Baku in the war. 

There should have been no surprise that war had been possible because of the poor state of Iranian-Azerbaijani relations that had deteriorated in the last few months. After all, Iran – the home of the world’s most hard-line theocracy – chose to support a Christian country (Armenia) over a Shiite country (Azerbaijan) throughout the nearly three-decade former’s occupation of 20% of the latter’s territory. As Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, ‘we will never forget that in the early 1990s Iran was dearly important for Armenia.’

To top this, last month Iran held thefirst ever military exercise on its border with Azerbaijan and hurled incendiary and aggressive rhetoric against Baku. Iran used the cover of the military exercise to leave in place its security forces near the border with Azerbaijan. Russia has similarly used military exercises in Belarus and on its border with Ukraine to leave in place armed forces which provide it with a military posture towards members and aspiring members of NATO.  

So, what is going on? Well, historical baggage and changed contemporary realities are both influential factors. As I have previously analysed, Iran’s chauvinistic attitude towards Azerbaijan is remarkably like Russia’s towards Ukraine. Iran and Russia do not recognise the existence of separate Azerbaijani and Ukrainian peoples and believe them to be part of a larger Iranian or Russian ‘imagined communities.’ 

Such chauvinistic attitudes have serious geopolitical and security consequences. Iran and Russia cannot accept their ‘little brothers’ have sovereignty and do not therefore believe they have a right to decide their geopolitical alliances and foreign policy orientations. Iran is blithely angry at Azerbaijan’s security relationships with Turkey and Israel; Iran’s military exercise, called Fatehan-e Khaybar (Conquerors of Khaybar), was named after a Muslim defeat of Jewish forces in 628CE. Russia uses similar bellicose and threatened language against Ukraine’s military relationships with the US and NATO and its European integration. 

There are also additional factors at work. After all, Azerbaijan’s security relationship with Israel is over a decade old and therefore one must ask why Iranian leaders are only now complaining about ‘Zionists’ in their north-western neighbour? Although Azerbaijan has always strenuously denied these allegations, Iran (like Russia) sees conspiracies lurking everywhere and believes devastating  attacks against its nuclear programme have been undertaken from Azerbaijani territory. Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council Dmitri Medvedev have both penned bellicose articles on Ukraine. Russia Today, the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation television channel, rushed to the defence of Iran. 

Azerbaijan’s modern military arsenal, which played a prominent role in its victory in last year’s 44-day Second Karabakh War, did include Israeli and Turkish military equipment – as well as from other countries. During last year’s war both sides resupplied their allies, Iran to Armenia and Israel and Turkey to Azerbaijan while Iranian intelligence on Azerbaijani troop movements was passed to Armenia

In both cases – Azerbaijan and Ukraine – the reasons for increased Iranian and Russian bellicosity are the same; namely, Tehran and the Kremlin fear the countries they see as part of their larger ‘imagined communities’ have been, or are being, lost. Iran’s brief occupation of Azerbaijani territory, bellicose rhetoric and threatening military posture is in response to the loss of influence in its ‘Near Abroad’ of the South Caucasus. Indeed, ‘On none of Iran’s other borders does Tehran feel so exposed and powerless to shape events’ as it does on its frontier with Azerbaijani. Iran is opposed to a Zangezur Corridor linking Azerbaijan to Nakichevan through the Armenian province of Syunik, describing this as changing the geopolitical configuration and altering international borders in the Southern Caucasus. To overcome Iran’s isolation and counter-balance the Zangezur Corridor, Tehran has offered to open a military base in Armenia’s Syunik province. 

Added to this is the Turkish-Azerbaijani strategic partnership cemented in the June Shusha DeclarationIranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alluding to Turkey and Israel, demanded his country’s crisis in relations with Azerbaijan should be resolved without ‘forces foreign to the region.’ In the same manner that Iran sees the South Caucasus as its ‘backyard,’ Russian leaders have always believed they should have an exclusive sphere of influence over Eurasia. Iran is acutely aware that Nakichevan provides Azerbaijan’s only border with Turkey.

In normal circumstances, the detention of two Iranian truck drivers by Azerbaijani border guards should not have led to a heightened diplomatic and military reaction by Tehran. Countless truck drivers are detained at border crossings each day for customs violations. Iran reacted in the way it did for a number of reasons.  

Azerbaijan has begun to publicise the enormous costs of Armenia’s nearly three-decade long occupation and how Iran assisted and financially gained from the plundering of resources and its exploitation for illegal activities. Forty Iranian companies participated and financially gained from the colonial-style destruction and plundering of infra-structure, buildings, historical artefacts, and forests in the 20% of Azerbaijani territory under Armenian occupation from the early 1990s until last year. In some Azerbaijani regions, such as Fuzuli and Aghdam, practically 100% of the buildings were destroyed. Iran’s incredulity at Azerbaijani complaints is as duplicitous and psychologically unnerving as those made by Russia in response to Ukraine raising past historical crimes committed by the Tsarist Empire and Soviet Union. 

Iran – like Russia – has never treated Azerbaijan’s or Ukraine’s sovereignty in a serious manner and therefore Tehran was incensed when Baku sought to assert its sovereignty over Karabakh in the wake of its military victory. Despite the return of occupied territory to Azerbaijan, including the return of the 130 km portion of its 700 km border with Iran which had been occupied, Iranian trucks continued to act as though nothing had changed, driving to Karabakh through Armenia and the Lachin corridor. Russian ‘peacekeeping’ forces stationed in the Lachin corridor turned a blind eye to Armenian and Iranian transports to Karabakh.

One aspect of the contraband was narcotics trafficking which ‘has been a long-term problem for the Iranian government’ and goes to finance terrorist organizations and paramilitary groups. ‘All the militias get their earnings from smuggling drugs,’ the Economist reported. Iran, Syria, and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah constitute a narcotics nexus which is used to generate billions of dollars each year as well as aiming to undermine Western and Middle Eastern societies they deem to be enemy states. The ‘Hezbollah-Tehran nexus has become by far the worlds globalized network for criminality and terrorism.’ 

Syria, Iran, and increasingly Lebanon are Narco States. Heroin and hashish is trafficked from Afghanistan while the amphetamine-type stimulant captagon (termed the ‘poor man’s cocaine’) is manufactured in and trafficked by Syria. Syria has become ‘the global epicentre of captagon production, which is now more industrialised, adaptive, and technically sophisticated than ever.’

 Shipments from Syria and Lebanon are undertaken through ‘a network of untouchables – crime families, militia leaders and political figures’ using ‘cross-border cartels.’ Their hauls are rivalling ‘the heyday of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel for scale and efficiency’ and have been confiscated in Romania, Greece, and Italy in Europe and Turkey, Dubai, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Bahrain in the Greater Middle East.

Little wonder Tehran was embittered by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev speech to the CIS Heads of State Council, that is to Russia and most countries leaders in Eurasia,  condemning Iran and Armenia exploiting the occupied 130 km border strip for narcotics smuggling. Although the trade was conducted by both Iran and Armenia only the former reacted with ferocity, presumably because Armenian leaders who had been involved in the dirty and illegal trade were no longer in power. 

The strip occupied by Armenia provided ‘a long, unobstructed, almost transparent border with the uncontrolled occupied part of Azerbaijan, which was under the control of the clan of Karabakh field commanders for decades.’ Narcotics, principally heroin and hashish, flowed from Afghanistan through Iran and the uncontrolled border through Karabakh and Armenia, and eventually reaching Europe. For unfathomable reasons, Iranian smugglers controlled by the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps), ignored the return of the border to Azerbaijani control and continued to send narcotics hidden in trucks. One recently confiscated consignment of 530 kilos of liquid heroin which had been destined for NATO and EU member Latvia was hidden in 105 ten-litre fake food cans. Other recent confiscations included 107 kilos of heroin in a car trunk, and two shipments of 244 and 70 kilos of heroin confiscated by Azerbaijan at the Astara border crossing. 

The closure of this trafficking route led was the principal reason for Iran’s bellicosity and its sudden military exercises on the Azerbaijani border. Although the crisis is defused, Iran’s ressentiment towards being left out of its ‘backyard’ will continue to simmer and occasionally explode into fury. Meanwhile, the business of using narcotic trafficking to finance Iranian terrorist and proxy groups and the Syrian government budget will continue in other geographic locations. With the Iranian-Azerbaijani crossing closed by Baku, narcotics traffickers have turned to countries as far away as Cote d’Ivoire on the west African coast where there is a large Lebanese ex pat community. 

Lebanon, which is under the control of Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, has excellent ports and is well situated for narcotics trafficking routes to Europe. Iran’s war against the West will therefore continue – but no longer through the South Caucasus.

*Taras Kuzio is an Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London and a professor of political science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. His latest book Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War, is due for publication by Routledge in January 2022.

Afghanistan Data Being Concealed By US Government: Watchdog

A State Department spokesperson said the department had requested "some reports be temporarily removed To protect identities of Afghans.

Reuters Updated: October 30, 2021 



Washington:

A US government watchdog on Friday accused the State Department and Pentagon of suppressing information that lawmakers and the public need to understand the collapse of Afghanistan's former government and military and the chaotic US troop pullout.

"The full picture of what happened in August - and all the warning signs that could have predicted the outcome - will only be revealed if the information that the departments of Defense and State have already restricted from public release is made available," said John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR).

A State Department spokesperson said the department had requested "some reports be temporarily removed to redact identifying information from public records and protect the identities of Afghans and Afghan partner organizations" due to security concerns about the evacuation effort.

"The identifying information are the only details intended to be shielded," the spokesperson said, adding that SIGAR has the authority to restore the reports.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Addressing reporters, Mr Sopko said that after the Taliban seized Kabul, the State Department asked him to temporarily suspend online access to certain reports he issued to ensure the safety of US-affiliated Afghans.

The department "was never able to describe any specific threats to individuals that were supposedly contained in our reports," said Mr Sopko, who added he "reluctantly" barred access to the documents.

The State Department, he continued, recently sought redactions of some 2,400 items remaining on SIGAR's website.

Some requests were "bizarre," such as excising former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's name from reports, Mr Sopko said.

After a review, his agency found only four items meriting redaction, and left the remainder accessible.

Noting that Congress tasked him with investigating the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and military, he said the Pentagon has since 2015 barred from public release a range of data purportedly at the former Ghani government's request.

Most of that information, including casualty data and unit strengths, was "all you needed to know to determine whether the Afghan security forces were a real fighting force or a house of cards," he said.

Biden, Europeans take up Iran nuclear program in Rome talks
Josh Boak and Zeke Miller

The Associated PressStaff
 Saturday, October 30, 2021 9

U.S. President Joe Biden, left, speaks with French President Emmanuel Macron during a meeting at La Villa Bonaparte in Rome, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

ROME -- As Iran's nuclear program makes troubling advances, President Joe Biden is set to huddle Saturday with European allies to talk through strategy as they press for a diplomatic resolution -- and to plan for the possibility Iran declines to return to the negotiating table.

The meeting with the leaders of Germany, France, and Britain -- known as the E3 -- comes at a pivotal time, as Iran continues to enrich uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. Biden is trying to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and bring Iran back into compliance with the pact that would have kept the Islamic republic at least one year away from the potential to field a nuclear weapon.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the meeting with Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Emmanuel Macron, and Britain's Boris Johnson would feature the leaders "all singing from the same song sheet on this issue."

He called it a "study in contrast with the previous administration since Iran was one of the areas of most profound divergence between the previous administration and the Europeans."

The UN's atomic watchdog has said Iran is increasingly in violation of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal and the U.S. has participated indirectly in talks aimed at bringing both Washington and Tehran back into compliance. Those Vienna talks have been on hiatus since June, when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took power.

Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union remain part of the deal.

The meeting will take place while the leaders are in Rome for the Group of 20 summit, the first stop on Biden's five-day foreign trip. He's also going to a UN climate conference in Scotland.

Biden was welcomed to the summit site by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and joined his counterparts for the customary "family photo,' before he attended the opening plenary session on the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery.

Saturday's meeting follows days after Ali Bagheri, Iran's deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator for the talks, tweeted that Iran has agreed to restart negotiations by the end of November and a date for a resumption of talks "would be announced in the course of the next week."

Sullivan said Thursday that the U.S. was still trying to determine whether Iran was serious about the negotiations.

"It's not entirely clear to me yet whether the Iranians are prepared to return to talks," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew to Rome for the Group of 20 summit. "We have heard positive signals that they are, but I think we have to wait and see when and whether they actually show up at the negotiating table."

Sullivan said the group would be sending "clear messages" to Iran that the window for negotiation "is not unlimited."

"We, of course, retain all other options to be able to deal with this program as necessary," he said.

Saturday's meeting comes days after American officials blamed Iran for a drone attack on a remote U.S. outpost in Syria. Officials said Monday the U.S. believes that Iran resourced and encouraged the attack, but that the drones were not launched from Iran.

No deaths or injuries were reported as a result of the attack.

In retaliation, the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday announced new penalties against two senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and two affiliated companies for supplying lethal drones and related material to insurgent groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Ethiopia.

At the summit, Biden was expected to push for progress toward his goal of establishing a global 15 per cent corporate minimum tax, even as his domestic effort to raise the business rate to that figure was stuck in limbo in Washington.

He also was expected to discuss measures to ease a global energy supply crunch that has led to rising prices, imperilling the global economic recovery. On Sunday, Biden planned to host an event on strengthening supply chains around the world as factories and ports have struggled to deliver goods in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.