Military repairing cracks in the tails of most CH-148 Cyclone helicopters

HALIFAX — The Canadian military has discovered cracks in the tails of 19 of its 23 Cyclone helicopters.

Provided by The Canadian Press

The Royal Canadian Air Force issued an emailed statement Sunday saying cracks had been detected in four helicopters, but that number jumped to 19 later in the day.

The Air Force said the Sikorsky-made aircraft have not been grounded or placed on an operational pause. Engineering experts from the military are working with the company to repair the aircraft, the military said.

"Sikorsky has a plan to address the cracking, with each aircraft requiring a unique approach to repair the affected components," a spokesperson said Sunday in an email.

"The Royal Canadian Air Force expects that the first few aircraft affected by this issue will be repaired within the next few days."

The office of Defence Minister Anita Anand wouldn't comment on the issue and forwarded queries to the military.

Tail cracks were first detected in one of the maritime helicopters during a routine inspection on Nov. 26 at 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron, based in Patricia Bay, B.C.

The entire fleet is overseen by 12 Wing Shearwater, the Air Force base in the Halifax area that is home to 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron, which also flies the CH-148 Cyclone.

The military also confirmed Sunday that two Cyclones did not appear to have any tail defects, and the remaining two in the fleet were receiving longer-term maintenance and will be inspected at a later date.

The "maintenance issue" has had an impact on Operation LENTUS, the military's effort to help those affected by the widespread flooding in British Columbia. The military, however, has deployed other aircraft to fill the gap, as has the province and other emergency response partners.

Canada placed an order for 28 Cyclones in 2004, but the helicopters did not start flying missions until 2018.

Cyclones are typically deployed on board Canadian frigates and used for search and rescue, surveillance and anti-submarine warfare.

On April 29, 2020, a Cyclone carrying six military members crashed off the coast of Greece, killing all aboard.

The crash marked the largest single-day loss of life for Canada's military since it took part in the war in Afghanistan. The crash also cast a spotlight on the Cyclone's long and problem-plagued development.

Defence procurement documents released earlier this year show the $3.1-billion project is "facing financial challenges, increased procurement costs and some financial adjustments," and that officials plan to ask the government for more money to finish it.

Canada's top military procurement official also warned at the time there would be no "quick fix" to the software issue identified as the primary cause of the crash last year. Troy Crosby, assistant deputy minister of materiel at the Department of National Defence, said officials were talking to Sikorsky to find ways to deal with the issue.

Two separate internal reviews by the Canadian Armed Forces found the autopilot on the helicopter — code-named Stalker 22 — took control of the aircraft as the pilot was turning to land on HMCS Fredericton.

A flight-safety review appeared to absolve Sikorsky of any responsibility, saying the type of manoeuvre that Stalker 22's pilot was attempting to perform was not spelled out in the military's documentation.

The commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force , Lt.-Gen. Al Meinzinger, has expressed confidence in the helicopter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2021.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

LIBERAL GOVT PAST & PRESENT

Ombudsman says veterans struggling needlessly as Ottawa ignores her recommendations


Sun., December 5, 2021



OTTAWA — The veterans’ ombud says many ill and injured ex-soldiers and their families are needlessly fighting for access to federal support and services because the government is refusing to act on a growing number of recommendations from her office.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Nishika Jardine noted her office’s mandate is to identify systemic barriers and unfairness in how veterans are treated, and put forward solutions on how those problems can be fixed.

Yet the retired army colonel says the government has acted on a shrinking number of the watchdog’s “well-considered” recommendations in recent years, to the detriment of disabled veterans and their loved ones.

“It’s crystal clear that over the past four years, the government is falling behind in doing the work that’s required to address the inequities that we’ve highlighted,” said Jardine, who took over her current position in November 2020.

The problems identified by the watchdog’s office since 2017 include long wait times for veterans to find out whether they qualify for disability benefits and assistance. Those waits have been especially long for women and francophones injured while in uniform.

Jardine also called attention in June to what she says is the unfair treatment of veterans’ family members, who are unable to access mental-health services unless doing so is part and parcel of the veteran’s own treatment plan.

“When a veteran serves or a military member serves, or even an RCMP member serves, their families also served and there’s an impact on their mental health,” she said. “The mental health of the families, some of those stories are heartbreaking.”

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s office said the government has accepted many of the watchdog’s recommendations, including her request in June that Veterans Affairs fund peer-support programs for victims of military sexual misconduct.

“We have also implemented recommendations which improved mental health supports for veterans and their families, improved compensation for ill and injured veterans, and launched a veteran ID card,” spokesman Cameron McNeill said in an email.

“We will continue to work with the ombud and her office to improve the services and supports we provide to our veterans and their families, including a further reduction in processing times for veterans, which is a top priority that both she and the minister share.”

Jardine, who is the first woman to occupy the position and is transitioning the office's title from ombudsman to ombud, isn’t the first to express frustration about what she sees as the government’s lackadaisical response to the office’s concerns.

Jardine's predecessor Craig Dalton quit in May 2020 after only 18 months in the job.

Yet a report released by Jardine late last month said the past few years have seen that trend grow as fewer and fewer recommendations have been implemented.

The government has implemented only six of 26 still-relevant recommendations made between April 2017 and March 2021.

Those 26 recommendations focused on providing mental-health support to family members as well as more equitable access to financial assistance and compensation for all disabled veterans, and making sure veterans aren’t left waiting months and years for help.

The report said those wait times accounted for 43 per cent of all complaints received by the office, making it the top issue raised by veterans. That is despite the government having hired hundreds of temporary staff to address a backlog of more than 40,000 claims.

(The annual report did not include the government's move to implement peer support for sexual misconduct, which will be covered in next year's iteration.)

Jardine, who previously told The Canadian Press that she endured the same long and frustrating wait for her own claim, during which time she was unable to access physiotherapy for injuries sustained while in uniform, said the issue remains a major concern for her.

“Everything is dependent on getting that decision on your disability claim so that you can get well, so you can reintegrate into your civilian life and move on to new employment,” she said. “This is a struggle for a lot of veterans and my heart goes out to them and their families.”

The Canadian Press in a series last month outlined some of the challenges facing today's veterans, including the backlog of claims that has left many waiting for federal assistance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2021.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

Dominican Republic expels, mistreats Haitians, activists say

By DÁNICA COTO

LONG READ

1 of 28

A man holds a rooster in a store that sells chickens in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are believed to live in the Dominican Republic, even before many fled Haiti in recent months in the wake of a presidential assassination, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, a severe shortage of fuel and a spike in gang-related violence and kidnappings. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)


DAJABON, Dominican Republic (AP) — Bien-Aimé St. Clair frowned as the stream of older Haitian migrants pushed past him. Accused of living in the Dominican Republic illegally, they knew they had no choice but to go back across the border to Haiti.

But St. Clair, 18, hesitated. He shouted at an immigration agent.

“Boss! Hey! I don’t know anyone there,” he yelled in Spanish, motioning toward Haiti as he stood on the frontier that the two countries share on the island of Hispaniola.

St. Clair was a child when his mother brought him to the Dominican Republic, and though his life has been hard -- his mom died when he was young, his father disappeared, and he was left alone to raise his disabled brother -- it’s the only life he has known.

And now, he was being forced to leave, like more than 31,000 people deported by the Dominican Republic to Haiti this year, more than 12,000 of them in just the past three months -- a huge spike, observers say. As the rest of the world closes its doors to Haitian migrants, the country that shares an island with Haiti also is cracking down in a way that human rights activists say hasn’t been seen in decades.

Men play a game of dominoes in their spare time in the Batey La Lima community, in La Romana, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

_____

This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

____

The increasing mistreatment of the country’s Haitians, they say, coincided with the rise of Luis Abinader, who took office as president in August 2020.

They accuse the government of targeting vulnerable populations, separating children from their parents and racial profiling -- Haiti is overwhelmingly Black, while the majority Dominicans identify as mixed race. Dominican authorities, they say, are not only seeking out Haitians who recently crossed illegally into the Dominican Republic, but also those who have long lived there.

“We’ve never seen this,” said William Charpantier, national coordinator for the nonprofit National Roundtable for Migration and Refugees. “The government is acting like we’re at war.”

Men bathe in the Massacre River on the border between Dominican Republic and Haiti, in Ouanaminthe, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

They’ve arrested Haitians who crossed illegally into the Dominican Republic; Haitians whose Dominican work permits have expired; those born in the DR to Haitian parents but denied citizenship; even, activists say, Black Dominicans born to Dominican parents whom authorities mistake for Haitians.

Haitian officials and activists also say the government is violating laws and agreements by deporting pregnant women, separating children from parents and arresting people between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Meanwhile, activists say hostility against Haitians is spiraling as Abinader unleashed a flurry of anti-Haitian actions.

He suspended a student-visa program for Haitians, prohibited companies from drawing more than 20% of their workforce from migrant workers and ordered Haitian migrants to register their whereabouts.

He announced an audit of some 220,000 people previously awarded immigration status to determine if they still qualify, and he warned that anyone who provides transportation or housing to undocumented migrants will be fined. And he suspended pension payments owed to hundreds of former sugarcane workers -- most of them Haitian.

A Haitian child carries a container filled with water across an improvised soccer field in the Batey La Lima community, in La Romana, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The measures follow Abinader’s announcement in February that his administration would build a multimillion-dollar, 118-mile (190-kilometer) wall along the Haitian border.

The construction has begun. Meanwhile, life has become ever more miserable for Haitians who remain in the Dominican Republic and those, like St. Clair, who have been deported.

The teenager watched as the bus that dropped him off at the border pulled away, empty except for a machete, hammer and other work tools the other migrants were carrying when they were detained.

“Hey!” he yelled.

No response. St. Clair clicked his tongue and sighed.

___

Haiti and the Dominican Republic have long had a wary and difficult relationship, stained by a 1937 massacre in which thousands of Haitians were killed under Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Racism and rejection of Haitians is still palpable, with Dominicans cursing them or making disparaging comments when they see them on the street.

Still, hundreds of thousands of Haitians were believed to live in the Dominican Republic, even before many fled Haiti in recent months in the wake of a presidential assassination, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, a severe shortage of fuel and a spike in gang-related violence and kidnappings.

An aerial view of the Batey La Lima community, an impoverished community surrounded by a massive sugarcane plantation in the southern coastal city of La Romana, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

“We don’t come here to take over the country. We’re trying to survive,” said Gaetjens Thelusma of the nonprofit group We Will Save Haiti.

The government has repeatedly said it treats migrants humanely. Abinader recently told the United Nations that his country had borne the burden of dealing with the ripples of Haiti’s crises on its own, without much help from the rest of the world.

While his country has demonstrated solidarity and collaboration with Haiti and will keep doing so, he said, “I also reiterate that there is not and will never be a Dominican solution to the crisis in Haiti.”

His own ministers have referred darkly to Haitians as invaders: Speaking in favor of the border wall, Dominican Migration Director Enrique García said in October that “we cannot lose our country.”

“What option do you have when you can’t handle your neighbor any longer? Protect your house, your property and your family,” he told D’Agenda, a local TV news program.

And in early November, Jesús Vázquez, Dominican minister of the interior and police, inaugurated the first of several dozen offices where foreigners will be required to register.

He told reporters: “The main threat that the Dominican Republic faces nowadays is Haiti, and we are called upon to defend our homeland.”

A woman, who is denied entry into the Dominican Republic, tries to put on her protective face mask as a soldier removes her from a line for not initially wearing the mask, at the border crossing in Dajabon, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

___

Rosemita Doreru was nine months pregnant when she was detained in early November inside a hospital in the capital of Santo Domingo. She was later deported, leaving behind three young children.

“Every day they ask me, ‘When is Mom coming home? When is Mom coming home?’” said her partner, Guens Molière. “They cry almost daily.”

She gave birth in Haiti; Molière remains angry that officials did not let him send her a suitcase with her clothes and items for their newborn before she was deported. And he does not know what will happen next -- he can’t afford the $260 that human smugglers are now charging to illegally cross pregnant women and those with young children into the Dominican Republic.

Doreru is not alone in her misery. On a recent afternoon in Dajabón, authorities deported more than 40 unaccompanied children and dozens of lactating women, said Rolbert Félicien with the nonprofit Institute of Social Wellbeing and Research. If the children’s parents or relatives are not found, they are placed in an orphanage in Haiti.

Dozens of Haitian migrants interviewed in other Dominican cities and towns accused Abinader’s administration of treating them “like dogs.”

People, mostly Haitians, sell and buy goods at a market in the border town of Dajabon, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The treatment is not reserved only for those who entered the country unlawfully; on a bustling market day in the dusty border town of Dajabon, at least one Dominican official used a stun gun on migrants who crossed the border legally to buy and sell goods.

“Deportations exist in every country, but they are mistreating Haitians,” said 25-year-old Sabrina Bierre, a street vendor who sells used clothes and other items in a section of Santo Domingo known as Little Haiti. “They are undocumented, but they’re not animals.”

Earlier this month, 26-year-old Véronique Louis gave birth to a daughter at a hospital in Santo Domingo. She returned days later for further treatment because they botched the cesarean, but medical staff denied her care, according to her husband, Wilner Rafael.

“They said they weren’t treating Blacks, and that Haitians aren’t people,” he said. Louis nodded.

Louis now has an open wound that is a couple of inches wide and winces in pain every time she moves. A Haitian doctor from the community stops by on occasion to treat Louis at their cramped room, tucked inside a maze of dilapidated homes covered in soot.

These days, many Haitian migrants and those of Haitian descent stay home out of fear of the authorities, or leave the house one at a time to avoid abandoning a child if both parents are deported.

On a recent morning at the country’s main migration office, dozens of Haitians clutching folders, papers and passports lined up in hopes of renewing work permits, something many said they’ve done repeatedly to no avail; activists accuse the government of refusing to process the paperwork so they have reason to arrest them.

“Things are bad for us right now,” said Edouard Louis, who came to the Dominican Republic more than 30 years ago to work in sugarcane fields under a bilateral agreement. He now sells locks, chargers and USB cables at a small outdoor market in the outskirts of Santo Domingo, earning just enough to buy eggs and rice for sustenance.

His work permit expired last year, and despite repeated attempts to renew it, he hasn’t received a response from the government. He still carries that permit along with older ones in a weathered black wallet in hopes that if he gets detained, he can prove to authorities that he crossed the border legally.

Those born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian immigrants are in a similar situation. Tens of thousands of them were never awarded citizenship and don’t have the documents needed to work or attend university. The Dominican Republic awards citizenship only to those born to Dominican parents or legal residents as a result of a 2013 court ruling that the Organization of American States said “created a stateless situation never before seen in America.”

The ruling was applied retroactively to those born between 1929 and 2010.

A year later, the government approved another law that offered a path to citizenship if they were born in the Dominican Republic, but a large majority have still not been able to do so, especially those whose parents do not have the required documents.

“I still cry about it,” said 16-year-old Erika Jean, who was born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents and lives in Batey La Lima, an impoverished community surrounded by a massive sugarcane plantation in the southern Dominican coastal city of La Romana.

“I truly have an ugly future,” she said. “I’ve lost all hope of obtaining the documents.”

Luis Batista, a 70-year-old retired sugarcane worker who came to the Dominican Republic in 1972 on a government-sponsored work permit that has since expired, said: “We have absolutely nothing here. No papers. No pension. No medical care,” he said.

A handcuff secures the latch of a prisoner bus transporting undocumented Haitians to be deported to Haiti, in Dajabon, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

In his neighborhood, children fly kites made of plastic bags, make face masks out of discarded cartons, tie a string around a bucket to bounce it on nearby potholes. Some homes are made of corrugated metal, with discarded rice bags stuffed into the holes of rickety wooden doors to keep out pests.

Batista said he is partially blind after spending years in burning sugar cane fields next to his wife, 68-year-old Ramonita Charles, whose father died while working in those fields and received no medical help from the company that employed him.

“They don’t give us a pension. We don’t have a job. We can’t go out on the street,” said Charles, who grew up working in sugarcane fields and is illiterate. She now sells eggs, chips, cookies and other small items out of a tin shack to sustain her four siblings, three children and her mother, a former sugarcane worker who is in her early 90s.

And now, there are the deportations.

“You go out and you don’t know if you’re going to come back home,” she said.

___

The raids, deportations and mistreatment by the government have dissuaded some Haitians from crossing into the Dominican Republic, according to a human smuggler who only gave his first name as Luis Fernando.

He was born in Haiti but has lived in the Dominican Republic for 19 years. He paints and works in construction but also helps migrants cross illegally, paying Dominican officials anywhere from $35 to $90 to look the other way. In mid-November, he placed a group waiting to cross on hold.

“For now, it’s best that they stay over there. Until things cool down,” he said.

And yet, some still insist on making their way to the DR.

Haitians wait to cross the border between Dominican Republic and Haiti in Dajabon, Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

St. Clair, the teenager marooned in Dajabon, looked around as immigration officials who had detained him left and authorities prepared to close the border for the night. Gone was the stream of border crossers, the rumble of trucks and roar of motorcycles carrying plantains, onions and other goods.

Apologetic UNICEF workers had told him they couldn’t help -- he turned 18 in October and was now considered an adult.

St. Clair began walking back toward the Dominican Republic. One concerned immigration official yelled after him, “Where are you going to sleep? You don’t have any money.”

St. Clair didn’t respond. As the sun set, he slipped past authorities, sneaked into the Dominican Republic and disappeared down a quiet street.

CANADA- DEPORTATION GUARD AND HAITIAN DEPORTEES

Haiti - Yves Engler

THE BLACK JACOBINS - libcom.org

1. https://libcom.org/files/charles-forsdick-the-black-jacobins-reader-1.pdf · PDF file

   The Black Jacobins on WFMT Radio (Chicago), 1970 329 Appendix 2. The Revolution in Theory c. l. r. james 353 Appendix 3. Translator’s Foreword by Pierre Naville to the 1949 / 1983 French Editions 367 Biobl gri aphy 383 Conbuttri ors 41 1 ndexI 451. . . It is of the West Indies West Indian. —C. L. R. James What an education it would be—whether as to the God of yesterday or today— were ...

Violence as French far-right TV pundit holds campaign rally

By SYLVIE CORBET

1 of 15

French far right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, waves after his first rally, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 in Villepinte, north of Paris. Far-right former French TV pundit Eric Zemmour is holding his first campaign rally, a few days after he formally declared his candidacy for April's presidential election in a video relaying his anti-migrants, anti Islam views. A first round is to be held on April, 10, 2022 and should no candidate win a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff will be held beteen the top two candidates on April 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)


VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Anti-racism activists were beaten up Sunday as far-right former French TV pundit Eric Zemmour held his first presidential campaign rally near Paris, a few days after he formally declared his candidacy in a video that highlighted his anti-migrant and anti-Islam views.

As his supporters cheered and waved French flags in a northern suburb of the capital, thousands of others took to the streets of Paris to denounce his xenophobic platform.

France is holding its presidential election on April 10, with a runoff if needed on April 24. Zemmour has drawn comparisons in France to former U.S. President Donald Trump because of his rabble-rousing populism and ambitions of making the jump from the small screen to national leadership. The 63-year-old with multiple hate-speech convictions unveiled his campaign’s slogan: “Impossible is not French,” a quote attributed to Napoleon.

“If I win that election, it won’t be one more (political) changeover, but the beginning of the reconquest of the most beautiful country in the world,” Zemmour said.

Supporters at the rally sang France’s national anthem, shouted “Zemmour, president!” and “We will win!” while brandishing the tricolor French flag. AP reporters saw some activists dressed in black with “No to racism” on their sweaters being beaten up by people at the rally and brutally taken out of the room. The scuffles continued outside the room between anti-racism activists and security guards.

“I’m not racist,” Zemmour said. “We are defending our country, our homeland, our ancestral heritage (to) ... transmit our children France as we have known it.”

Reporters from a French television show were booed and insulted by Zemmour’s supporters ahead of his speech, leading them to be briefly escorted outside the room by security guards. They came back soon afterward but Zemmour harshly criticized the media in his speech.




Protesters march during a demonstration against French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 in Paris. French far right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour holds his first campaign rally in Villepinte, north of Paris. A first round is to be held on April, 10, 2022 and should no candidate win a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff will be held between the top two candidates on April 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)


“They are making up polemics about books I wrote 15 years ago, they snoop into my private life, call me all sort of names... My adversaries want my political death, journalists want my social death and jihadists want my death,” he said.

Zemmour wants foreigners to “assimilate” French culture rather than keeping their identities. He wants to ban parents from giving children foreign names and restrict choices to typical French names Zemmour also wants to end nationality being acquired by birth on French soil and to deport foreign criminals and foreign jobseekers who don’t find employment within six months.

“France is back, because the French people stood up. The French people stand up against those who want to make it disappear,” he said.

His campaign rally Sunday, which was initially supposed to be held in a Paris concert hall, was moved to a bigger exhibition center in Villepinte for security reasons due to the protest against him by over 50 groups, including far-left political parties, unions and anti-racist groups. Police had feared clashes with Zemmour’s far-right supporters.

In the Paris neighborhood of Barbes, thousands took to the streets Sunday, marching behind a banner reading “Paris will silence the far-right.”

Pauline Salingue, a spokeswoman for the head of the New Anti-Capitalist Party, said people “shouldn’t be seduced by these so-called anti-system profiles. Zemmour is a multi-millionaire. Zemmour earns tens of thousands of euros per month, so how can he pretend to represent the little people, as he likes to say? It is a very serious scam.”

Zemmour has gained strength on France’s political scene in recent months, starting to siphon off supporters from far-right National Party leader Marine Le Pen, who has long said she would run for the French presidency next year.

His rally came one day after France’s main conservative Republicans party on Saturday picked its presidential candidate. Valérie Pécresse, the head of the Paris region and a former minister from 2007 to 2012, as its presidential candidate.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who defeated Le Pen in the 2017 presidential runoff, is expected to seek a second term but he has yet to declare his candidacy.

Protesters march during a demonstration against French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 in Paris. French far right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour holds his first campaign rally in Villepinte, north of Paris. A first round is to be held on April, 10, 2022 and should no candidate win a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff will be held between the top two candidates on April 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

The far-left leader of the Rebel France party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is seeking the presidency for the third time, also staged a rally on Sunday, gathering several thousand supporters in Paris.

Other presidential candidates on the left include Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo for the Socialist party and Yannick Jadot, a former Greenpeace activist, for the Greens.

Those attending rallies for Zemmour and Mélenchon were not required to show French COVID-19 health passes, in line with a decision from the Constitutional Council that said the passes should not be used to restrict access to political meetings.

Wearing a mask is mandatory in French public gatherings, yet many Zemmour supporters defied the restriction.

Coronavirus infections have jumped in France over the last few weeks, with daily new cases getting close to 40,000 on average and virus-related hospitalizations and deaths rising again.

_____

Associated Press journalists Boubkar Benzabat and Patrick Hermansen in Paris, Florian Brunet and Philippe Marion in Villepinte contributed to the story.

 

China's research ship Tansuo-1 returns from deep-ocean expedition

Xinhua | Updated: 2021-12-05 

The deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe. [File photo/CCTV]

SANYA -- China's scientific research ship Tansuo-1 returned to a port in the city of Sanya, in South China's Hainan province, on Sunday, after completing its deep-ocean expedition to the Mariana Trench.

The vessel, which carries the deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver), berthed on Sunday morning, according to the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

During the 53-day expedition, which started on Oct 14, the China-built Fendouzhe successfully completed 23 dives, six of which exceeded a depth of 10,000 meters.

Scientific researchers collected several large organisms, in-situ micro-organisms, sediments and rock samples, accumulating valuable data for use in genetic research on the area and understanding its geological structure, according to the institute.

During the voyage, Chinese research teams participating in the expedition jointly launched the Mariana Consensus. The consensus calls for the establishment of a standardized system for deep-sea expeditions to realize the long-term preservation and sharing of deep-ocean scientific samples and data, so as to achieve international cooperation on deep-sea expeditions.

The team also launched the Mariana Trench Environment and Ecology Research Project (MEER) during the expedition. The project aims to invite more researchers from home and abroad to join in the MEER, so as to tackle major scientific issues together, such as the origins of life and environmental adaptation, biodiversity and climate change, among others.

Reservations about robots remain, but abundant benefits seen
By Harvey Morris | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-12-06 

Robot artist 'Ai-Da', described as "the world's first ultra-realistic AI humanoid robot artist" stands at the Great Pyramids of Giza, where she exhibits her sculpture during an international art show, on the outskirt of Cairo, on Oct 23, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

It is hard not to have some sympathy for the Egyptian customs officials who detained a human-like robot who arrived this month to take part in an art exhibition in the shadow of the pyramids.

The would-be visitor, named Ai-Da, has the face, body and eyes of a young woman, although her clunky bionic arms are perhaps the first clue that she is not entirely human.

The officials were particularly concerned about her camera eyes, which she uses to create convincing paintings but which they feared could also be used to operate as a spy.

Over 10 days, the issue was resolved and Ai-Da was released to display her artistic skills at the exhibition.

Despite her lifelike characteristics, Ai-Da is clearly not human. But what happens if advances in artificial intelligence technology render her robotic descendants indistinguishable from us? It's the stuff of many modern nightmares.

"People fear robots, I understand that," said her British creator, Aidan Meller. Moreover, he said the aim of his project was to highlight and warn of the abuse of technological development.

Use of robotics in industry, defense and other sectors is already an established and accepted reality. However, the prospect of the emergence of ever more lifelike and intelligent robots can be profoundly unsettling.

Even the developers of super-robots are aware of the natural fear of the machines one day taking over. Unveiling the prototype of a humanoid robot designed to carry out some of the boring and repetitive tasks currently undertaken by humans, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said this would not pose a threat.

"We're setting it such that it is at a mechanical level, at a physical level, that you can run away from it and most likely overpower it," he told an audience in August, although that "most likely" phrase might have left some of them less than totally reassured.

Musk has predicted that AI will overtake humans by the middle of the current decade. As a self-declared pioneer of so-called ethical AI, Musk has warned against the potential negative impact of the new technology. He once warned that AI might become "an immortal dictator from which we would never escape".

Many people will accept the benefits of current robot technology as an extension of the mechanical age. Machines that harvest crops, assemble products or vacuum floors provide tangible benefits, except perhaps to those low-paid workers whose jobs they are replacing.

In October, an Egyptian engineer revealed that he had developed an AI robot that could extract drinkable water from thin air, while an AI robot being rolled out in the agricultural sector can already distinguish between 50 tomato varieties and will only get better the more it practices.

So far so good. But what of robots that might copy other human characteristics such as empathy? Researchers at Columbia University in New York City say they have developed a robot that displays glimmers of empathy by learning to predict the future behavior of a robot partner.

Robot companions for the sick and elderly are being developed in the health sector to replace the soothing presence of the traditional nurse.

More worrisome, however, is the fact that some nations are developing robot armies, raising the science fiction specter of future robot wars. A developer in the United States has refined so-called robot dogs by arming them with sniper rifles, while the US Army recently staged a mock battle between robot enemies in what was described as a historic first.

At a more benign level, a so-called natural language chat bot, Xiaoice, has just had 139 of its Chinese poems published, although not all its human reviewers were impressed by the results. Aimless and superficial, lacking the inner logic for emotional expression－this was the judgment of poet Yu Jian.

Despite such reservations, there is little doubt that robotics and AI are already delivering significant benefits to humanity, not least in the medical sector, where the new technology has helped to save lives.

Elsewhere, progress in AI promises to relieve humans of the burden of sometimes backbreaking work that might just as well be done by a thinking machine.

That, according to the tech pioneers, will free us up to undertake more rewarding tasks geared toward personal and societal development rather than wasting our days on the boringly routine. With thinking robots determining our big decisions, there might be more time to sit back and relax.

The problem is that if the likes of Ai-Da take over our art and Xiaoice delivers our poetry, and robots take responsibility for the care of our ailing relatives, what exactly will there be left for us to do?

Harvey Morris is a senior media consultant for China Daily UK.

President Xi stresses developing religions in Chinese context
By MO JINGXI | CHINA DAILY/XINHUA | Updated: 2021-12-06

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses a national conference on work related to religious affairs in Beijing, capital of China. The conference was held from Friday to Saturday. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping has stressed the importance of enhancing the religious sector's recognition of the motherland, the Chinese nation and culture, the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The measures will help develop religions in the Chinese context, Xi said.

He urged education on nationalism, collectivism, socialism and an improved understanding of history in the religious sector to guide the adaptation of religions to socialist society.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while addressing a two-day national conference on work related to religious affairs, which concluded on Saturday in Beijing.

Stressing the importance of religious affairs in the work of the Party and the State, he highlighted the need to uphold and develop a religious theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, work in line with the Party's basic policy on religious affairs, and uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation.

He also asked for efforts to rally religious people around the Party and government, foster positive and healthy relations among religions, support religious groups in strengthening self-education, and improve the management of religious work under the rule of law.

Xi said that religious activities must be carried out within the scope stipulated by laws and regulations, and should not impair the well-being of citizens, offend public order and good morals or interfere with educational, judicial and administrative affairs as well as social life.

He emphasized training of a team of Party and government officials familiar with the Marxist view on religion and religious affairs, and competent enough to engage in work related to religious people.

In his speech, Xi emphasized the full and faithful implementation of the Party's policy on freedom of religious beliefs, respecting people's religious beliefs and managing religious affairs in accordance with the law.

Religious and nonreligious people share common fundamental interests, both politically and economically, he said.

Xi also urged that the necessary support and assistance be provided to religious groups, which serve as the bridge for the Party and government to unite and contact religious figures and believers.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core has paid high attention to religion in China. Xi has made a series of instructions on religious work at important meetings and during his work inspections.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Marx Myths and Legends. Cyril Smith
Karl Marx and Religion

Source: “Karl Marx and Religion” was written for “Marx Myths and Legends” by Cyril Smith in March 2005, and rights remain with the author, as per Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Licence 2.0.

It is vital to understand the meaning of Marx to grasp his ideas in relation to his development. In this connection, his conception of religion is one of the most important aspects of his notions.

As early as 1842, he wrote:

I desired there to be less trifling with the label ‘atheism’ (which reminds one of children, assuring everyone who is ready to listen to them that they are not afraid of the bogy man), and that instead the content of philosophy should be brought to the people. (Letter to Ruge, November 24, 1842.)

It was quite easy to deal with religion by just being against it, but that was not good enough. ‘Everybody knows’ that Marx wrote about religion being the opium of the people, so we shall look at the entire passage from which this comes.

The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is indeed the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man, state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is therefore indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions.

It is the opium of the people.

(Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction.)

'Magic mushroom' drug psilocybin edges toward mainstream therapy

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Psilocybin, or "magic mushrooms," is now legal for mental health treatment in Oregon, a result of a ballot initiative.

 File Photo by Shots Studio/Shutterstock.

Tony Head was depressed and fearing death from stage 4 prostate cancer when, as part of a supervised scientific trial, he took a large dose of the psychedelic agent in "magic mushrooms," psilocybin.

Head donned a mask and headphones to shut out the world around him, and had an experience that changed the course of his life.

"At some point in that time I felt like a higher power or something -- I didn't see anything, I didn't see any type of image -- I felt like something connected and touched me and as soon as it did, I just started crying," Head, an award-nominated actor who lives in New York City, said in an interview with HealthDay Now.

He said the one-time therapy helped relieve much of the anxiety surrounding his prognosis.

RELATED Study finds 'magic mushroom' hallucinogen as good as antidepressants

"I think it taught me how to live better and not worry about dying," he added.

"I was blown away by what had just happened. It's an unimaginable experience, at least it was for me," Head added. "It's something that can't be explained, but I can tell you it is probably one of the most important things that ever happened to me."

Psychedelic therapy focused on psilocybin has garnered much new interest lately as a potential treatment against anxiety, depression and other mental ills.

RELATED Tiffany Haddish on taking mushrooms: 'Everybody looked like Phylicia Rashad'

In fact, the drug is now legal for mental health treatment in Oregon, a result of a ballot initiative. The recent release of Hulu's miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers has also focused fresh attention to the concept of microdosing psilocybin as a means of therapy.

Long history

It's a field that foundered in the 1960s as psychedelic drugs became associated with the left-wing counterculture, explained Dr. Charles Grob, a professor of clinical psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences with the UCLA School of Medicine.

RELATED Oregon votes to legalize psychedelic mushrooms in therapy settings

However, prior to that, psychedelics like psilocybin had shown "great promise" in mental health research, Grob told HealthDay Now.

"In the '50s and '60s, there was a period of time when psychedelics were really considered the cutting edge of psychiatric research, and there was tremendous enthusiasm," Grob said. "There were reports of patient populations who did not respond well to conventional treatments that did very well."

Even Hollywood leading man Cary Grant turned to psychedelics during that early period. The actor took LSD as many as 100 times under the care of a Beverly Hills doctor, according to the documentary Becoming Cary Grant.

"After weeks of treatment came a day when I saw the light," Grant said in the film. "When I broke through, I felt an immeasurably beneficial cleansing of so many needless fears and guilts. I lost all the tension that I'd been crippling myself with."

Now, a new generation of researchers are exploring the possibilities of these drugs to help people in crisis.

Head, 69, took his psilocybin trip as part of a research effort at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, after doctors had told him he probably had three to five years to live. Head has appeared in the HBO dramas The Wire and The Deuce and had a small role in the 2019 movie Joker.

His psilocybin experience lasted for about seven hours, and during it he felt as though he had come into contact with a "higher power" existing in a place beyond death.

"The biggest thing I got out of this was it taught me how not to fear dying. I don't fear death. I don't want to suffer for years like that, but I don't fear death at all," Head said. "I think wherever death is or leads to, it's going to be a good place.

"I think it taught me how to live better and not worry about dying," he added.

Head says he also got everything he needed from psilocybin during his single high-dose trip.

"I have no wish to do it again. I don't need to do it again," he said.

Recalibrating the mind

Just how do psychedelics work their magic on the brain? According to Grob, psilocybin and its pharmaceutical cousins "profoundly alter our state of consciousness" by acting on certain receptors in the brain.

"We also know the circuitry of the brain is briefly modified and in a sense, goes offline and creates more of a resting state," Grob said. "It's almost as if the brain for a period of time goes offline and then recalibrates in an enhanced state.

"It's an alteration of what's called the default mode network, where regions of the brain that normally are very much in communication basically briefly disconnect and create a greater sense of calm and less internal chatter, and perhaps more opportunity to perceive beyond what is normally within our field of awareness," Grob continued.

Research from the 1950s and '60s, as well as more recent studies, have shown psilocybin's promise in helping people like Head who are suffering an existential crisis, Grob said.

Psychedelics have also shown potential in people dealing with alcoholism and addiction, he added.

"Investigators observed dating back to the '50s that individuals with one powerful experience of a psychedelic, with one powerful altered state, appeared to have lost their craving and are able to establish and maintain sobriety," Grob said.

When use turns to abuse

The drug's promise does need to be weighed against its potential for abuse, however, Grob said.

"Going back to the '60s, there's no lack of examples of individuals who misused and abused the drug and got themselves into some serious situations which no one would want to replicate," Grob said. "There are inherent risks when this drug is ingested in uncontrolled settings, without proper facilitation by an experienced psychotherapist who is trained in administering this model."

Grob also noted that psilocybin and other psychedelics still require more research to fully understand their risks and benefits, given that academic study into the drugs fizzled out after the 1960s.

"We have today the opportunity to take a fresh look at these compounds, utilizing optimal conditions," Grob said. "We have the support of many high-level officials within academia. The regulatory agencies are far more receptive."

For example, there needs to be rigorously controlled studies to test the potential benefits of microdosing, the psychedelic treatment highlighted by Nine Perfect Strangers, Grob said.

"It's still more in the realm of conjecture, and the positive reports we're hearing are essentially anecdotal case reports," Grob said. "These individuals do report on occasion a very remarkable transformation, remarkable therapeutic outcome, but we really don't know for sure whether this is a real phenomenon or a placebo effect."

More study needed

Psilocybin has garnered more interest in modern research and therapy than LSD because it has a few advantages over the more powerful psychedelic, Grob said.

A psilocybin trip tends to be much shorter than with LSD, although it can extend to as long as six or seven hours. The trip also tends to be easier to guide, more visionary, and less likely to create anxiety or paranoia in the patient, Grob said.

People running these studies will need to seriously consider the patient's mindset and expectations and place them in a positive, carefully controlled setting, Grob said.

"You take all those factors into account, there's a good likelihood you can guide someone through this altered terrain in a safe manner and allow them to have the kind of experience that might endow them with the kind of insight and the kind of positive transformative experience that leads to therapeutic change," Grob said.

Head said that he can definitely see the potential of psilocybin to help treat people with addiction and other mental health issues, if it's used in a supervised way.

"This drug opens a door to put you in another place that you wouldn't normally be able to get to in your brain," Head said. "It has that kind of effect on you."

More information

Johns Hopkins Medicine has more about its psychedelics research program.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Report details US' 'alienated' democracy

By ZHAO JIA | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-12-06 

A woman wears a US flag in her hat as with the Lincoln Memorial in the background, 

during a ceremony at the World War II Memorial on Veterans Day in Washington,

 on Nov 11, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

American style gravely ill with money politics, elite rule, dysfunctional system

The Foreign Ministry released a report on democracy in the United States on Sunday, exposing the deficiencies and abuse of democracy in the country as well as the harm of its exporting such democracy.

The report, titled "The State of Democracy in the United States", based on facts and expert opinions, said it is hoped the US will improve its system and practices of democracy and change its way of interacting with other countries.

Democracy in the US has been "alienated and degenerated" over the years and has increasingly deviated from the essence of democracy and its original design, the report said.

The self-styled American democracy is now gravely ill with money politics, elite rule, political polarization and a dysfunctional system, it said.

That US democracy has gone wrong is reflected in the country's practices and events, including the Capitol riot on Jan 6, its entrenched racism and tragic mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, "American-style democracy can hardly uphold public order and ethics, nor advance public wellbeing to the fullest", the report said.

The US, despite the structural flaws and the problematic practice of its democratic system, has attempted to model other countries after its own image and export its brand of democracy.

Such entirely undemocratic attempts are at odds with the core values and tenets of democracy, the report said.

Beijing has urged Washington on many occasions to get to work in earnest to ensure its people's democratic rights and improve its system of democracy as well as undertake more international responsibilities and provide more public goods to the world.

"It would be totally undemocratic to measure the diverse political systems in the world with a single yardstick or examine different political civilizations from a single perspective," said the report.

Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies' Department of American Studies, said the report reveals that the US is by no means an exemplary model of democracy.

"With its mounting internal problems, the US still points fingers at others and pushes for what it calls 'democratic transition', plunging many regions and countries into turmoil, conflict and disaster, which shows its hypocrisy," Su said.

Su cited the Capitol riot as saying that even Washington's allies and partners have spotted the malaise of US-style democracy.

Diao Daming, an associate professor of US studies at Renmin University of China, said the report exposes US democratic chaos in an objective and comprehensive manner and plays a positive role in helping the world understand its state of democracy.

"China's intention is not to contend with the US for the definition of democracy, nor does it fight for the so-called position of 'beacon of democracy'," he said.

Diao said the report, which is rich with facts and tight logic and represents various views, including those of US experts, also reflects the universal concerns of the international community about US-style democracy.

As for the "Summit for Democracy" to be held by the US, he said it had nothing to do with democracy and was a move by the US to engage in group politics and try to achieve a hegemonic agenda in the name of democracy.

US-style democracy 'only awakened during voting'

By CAO YIN | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-12-06

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Chongqing's Shapingba district 

on Friday. 

Voters in the district reelected deputies to grassroots people's congresses. 

[Photo provided to China Daily]

With wide participation and strong oversight, China's democracy is more extensive, more genuine and more effective than the United States' version, senior Chinese officials said while introducing a white paper over the weekend.

The State Council Information Office issued the white paper "China: Democracy That Works" on Saturday, noting that there is more than one path to democracy and there are many ways to achieve it.

When asked which style of democracy is better, Chinese or US, Tian Peiyan, deputy head of Policy Research Office with the Communist Party of China Central Committee, answered that its "practice is the most convincing" argument.

He said under the US democratic system, politicians are agents of interest groups, rather than representing the interests of the majority of voters and the country.

"Those politicians can randomly make promises for the sake of elections, but they seldom fulfill the promises after being elected," Tian said. "Superficially, they accept voters' supervision, but when they're elected, the voters have no option but to wait for the next election.

"It's a democracy that is only awakened during voting but becomes dormant after voting, and it's also a democracy where voters listen to dazzling slogans only during the election but have no say after the election," he said, adding that such democracy is not a real democracy.

China's democracy, however, is a whole-process people's democracy under the CPC's leadership, he said.

Party members and officials at all levels must accept the process and supervision by the CPC and the people while performing their duties to ensure the power granted by the people is always used for serving the people's interest.

"Any violation of Party disciplines and laws must be punished, no matter how senior the violator is or how high his or her social status is. No one is an exception," Tian said.

Tian emphasized that deputies to people's congresses, China's legislative bodies, are from the people and elected by the people. Therefore, they represent the people, serve the people and should be responsible for the people, he said.

"The deputies have always kept close contact with the public, listening to people's requests, striving to solve their problems and receiving their supervision in all areas," he added. "Deputies who don't perform their duties or violate disciplines or laws can be disqualified or removed from office."

Guo Zhenhua, deputy secretary-general of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the country's top legislature, pointed out the behavior of US politicians before and after elections changed due to the lack of a supervisory mechanism after they take office.

"But in China, both the Constitution and the Electoral Law stipulate that deputies to the NPC and local people's congresses must be supervised by voters and the original electoral units," he said. "Voters or original electoral units have the right to recall elected representatives."

Since the 13th NPC was established in 2018, a total of 10 NPC deputies have been dismissed, he said.

Xu Lin, director of the State Council Information Office, said the US' so-called "Summit for Democracy", due to be held Thursday and Friday, is actually intended to contain and suppress countries that have social systems and development models different to the US'.

He said in a widely diverse world, democracy comes in many forms, adding that China has always been receptive to any type of democracy and given respect to efforts to explore and pursue different models.

According to the white paper, China did not duplicate Western models of democracy, but created its own, and its original aspiration was to ensure the people's status as masters of the country.

It says China built and developed whole-process people's democracy in line with its national conditions, noting it involves complete institutional procedures and covers various fields.

Whole-process people's democracy is a combination of electoral democracy and consultative democracy, and is applied through a combination of elections, consultations, decision-making, management and oversight, it says, adding it has been fully tested through wide participation

China's democracy guarantees all people's right to happy life, experts say

Xinhua | Updated: 2021-12-05 

A staff member registers itinerary of people on a vehicle at an 

expressway entry in Harbin city,

 Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Dec 3, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- China's State Council Information Office on Saturday released a white paper titled "China: Democracy That Works," which expounded on the values, history, institutional frameworks, practices, and achievements of China's democracy.

China's democracy, according to experts and observers from multiple countries, has guaranteed all people's right to a happy life and promoted the country's rapid development.

"The Chinese democratic system mainly focuses on whether the people have the right to govern their country, whether the people's needs are met, and whether the people have a sense of fulfillment and happiness," Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, told Xinhua.

"That's why it gains the great support of the Chinese people from all walks of life," he pointed out.

Hamed Vafaei, director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Tehran, said that there is no standard democracy in the world, and that people in each country should find their own development and democratic model.

The Chinese people, Vafaei noted, have chosen their own path, and China's development in various fields, as well as achievements in poverty reduction, have all demonstrated the high quality of China's democracy.

Bambang Suryono, chairman of Asia Innovation Study Center, an Indonesian think tank, said that a good democracy is one that has been built according to actual conditions of the country and that also works for the benefit of the people.

China's democracy has made remarkable achievements in poverty reduction, health care, education, and other areas, Suryono continued, while calling it a democracy that serves its people.

Mehmet Enes Beser, director of the Bosphorus Center for Asian Studies in Turkey, stressed that China has always put people's lives first during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting that China's democracy has been put into practice well.

Some Western countries, by contrast, failed to take active and timely actions when the pandemic broke out, showing that "democracy" was only an empty campaign slogan for them, Beser added.