Idaho conservation group sues Forest Service, says logging, burning could harm bull trout

Nicole Blanchard
Tue, December 21, 2021

An Idaho environmental group has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service, claiming the federal agency’s plans in a Boise National Forest logging project could potentially damage habitat and wildlife, including a threatened fish species.

The Idaho Conservation League filed suit on Monday over the Sage Hen restoration project, which was proposed in 2020 and approved in April. The group argues that the Forest Service excluded the public from offering feedback on project specifics and rushed past an in-depth environmental impact study, opting instead for a less-rigorous environmental assessment. ICL called that “a highly unusual move for such a large and transformative project.”

The Sage Hen project includes prescribed burning, commercial logging and road-building, all part of an effort to restore forestland damaged by tussock moths, mistletoe and other invasive pests and weeds. The project covers 68,000 acres surrounding Sage Hen Reservoir, northwest of Smiths Ferry.

When the project began, the Forest Service said logging and burning treatments would be “conditions-based,” meaning the agency would determine the location and extent of those operations when the project was underway. The Forest Service set maximum acreages for each treatment, but the Idaho Conservation League said that gives the agency “a blank check” to fill in without public input or environmental assessments.

“As a result, important details of the project are largely unknown, and the true extent of its adverse environmental impacts are highly uncertain,” ICL wrote in its lawsuit.

The environmental group said it has concerns that logging, burning and road-building may disturb wildlife and native plants, as well as bull trout. ICL argues that the population of bull trout in the Squaw Creek area is isolated and may be decreasing, putting the fish — which are protected as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act — at risk if the project disturbs their watershed.

You asked: Why can’t I harvest bull trout when they’re plentiful in Idaho?

The Idaho Conservation League has asked the U.S. District Court of Idaho to void the approval of the Sage Hen restoration project and order the Forest Service to complete an environmental impact study to determine the effects of its proposed treatments.

It’s not the first time environmental groups have pushed back against the project. The Idaho Conservation League and the Boise Forest Coalition, of which ICL is a member, filed objections to the project in December 2020, claiming the project didn’t disclose necessary details and was not based on an environmental impact study. Wildlands Defense, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection and Native Ecosystems Council filed a lawsuit last month to stop the project, citing concerns similar to the Idaho Conservation League’s.

Randy Fox, West Central Idaho conservation associate for ICL, said in the group’s news release that the Conservation League is not opposed to the project. The group has collaborated with the Forest Service to help develop the project but wants to see more diligence to ensure watersheds and wildlife aren’t harmed by the forest restoration.

“Make no mistake, the Idaho Conservation League wants the Forest Service to succeed,” Fox said. “We have invested years in this project. But we need to correct the course.”

The American Forest Resource Council, a Portland, Oregon-based trade association that represents timber purchasers, reached out to the Idaho Statesman in support of the Sage Hen project. A spokesman for the council, which was also involved in developing the project, said the Forest Service heeded public comments and pared down road construction plans and nearly 2,000 acres of proposed timber harvest.

“At a time when our public land managers are calling for landscape scale treatments to improve the health of our national forests, the Sage Hen project is an example of the work that needs to be done to keep our public lands healthy and accessible for the public,” the association said in a statement.

The Statesman has reached out to the Forest Service for comment.

LEGAL COMPLAINT PDF 
Case 1:21-cv-00504-CWD Document 1 Filed 12/20/21 Page 1 of 40

VOTE BUYING
Federal watchdog: Trump's USDA overpaid corn farmers by $3B

In this July 11, 2018, file photo, a field of corn grows in front of an old windmill in Pacific Junction, Iowa. The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019 and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File )

DAVID PITT
Tue, December 21, 2021


DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019 and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday that international disputes resulting from tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump hurt farmers but that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's county-by-county methodology for computing the extent of damage was flawed, leading to overpayment and inconsistent compensation.

“Though corn yields are higher in the Midwest and West, corn producers received an estimated average of $69 per acre in the South, $61 in the Midwest, $34 in the Northeast, and $29 in the West,” the report said.

GAO also estimated that payments to corn producers were approximately $3 billion more than USDA’s estimate of trade damage to corn, while payments to soybeans, sorghum, and cotton producers were lower than their estimated trade damages.

National Corn Growers Association CEO Jon Doggett said the USDA’s higher compensation for corn farmers in 2019 included items the GAO did not consider in its analysis, including the trade damage value for corn ethanol and a high protein livestock feed byproduct of ethanol production.

“Both 2018 and 2019 were terrible years for farmers who experienced net losses due to decisions in Washington and adverse weather conditions. In fact, farmers suffered a $6.3 billion loss in 2018 alone during that time because of the tariffs.”

The GAO report was requested by the Senate Agriculture Committee chaired by Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

“This report confirms that the Trump USDA picked winners and losers in their trade aid programs and left everyone else behind," Stabenow said in a statement. “Making larger payments to farmers in the South than farmers in the Midwest or elsewhere, regardless of whether those farmers actually experienced a larger loss, undermines our future ability to support farmers when real disasters occur.”

GAO said it audited the UDSA's Market Facilitation Program.

GAO recommended that the USDA Office of the Chief Economist revise its internal review process to ensure transparency of its documentation and that the agency conduct a review to ensure proper baseline methods are used in analysis.

Dr. Seth Meyer, the USDA chief economist, responded to the report in an Oct. 21 letter. He said the USDA analysis was based on a widely accepted trade model and methodology that the USDA’s Office of Inspector General found to be reasonable, and was applied consistently across a range of commodities for the 2018 and 2019 trade mitigation packages.

He said the USDA Office of the Chief Economist did not make the policy decision, and it provided options to policy makers.

“The policy decisions to select between a variety of alternatives that GAO has flagged as problematic were made by senior USDA leaders under the previous administration and not OCE,” he said.

Trump imposed higher tariffs on certain products from China, Europe, Canada and other key trading partners in 2018. China, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Turkey, and India responded with tariffs targeting U.S. products, including agricultural commodities. In 2018 and 2019, many U.S. agricultural exports declined and the Trump administration poured money into support for farmers including the Market Facilitation Program that was the subject of the GAO audit.

Corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean and wheat farmers were paid more than $21.7 billion in 2018 and 2019. Dairy and hog farmers were paid more than $900 million, and specialty crops including tree nuts, cherries, cranberries, ginseng and table grapes were paid $346 million.

Before he lost the November 2020 election, Trump made it clear he was courting farmers' votes with federal aid. In a late October 2020 campaign appearance in Omaha, Nebraska, Trump said he believed farmers were better off getting government payments than relying solely on their farming receipts.

In 2019, one-third of U.S. farm income came from direct government payments and last year it was nearly 40% of their income.

Some farm groups questioned the way the federal money was being distributed to commodity and livestock farmers.

GREAT RUSSIAN CHAUVINISM

Why Putin has such a hard time accepting Ukrainian sovereignty


Jacob Lassin, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Arizona State University 

Emily Channell-Justice, Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, Harvard University

Tue, December 21, 2021

Vladimir Putin at a concert in March 2021 marking the seventh anniversary of its annexation of Crimea. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Image

Ukraine is again looking warily over its eastern border as Russia threatens its territorial integrity.

In recent weeks, a buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border has rattled Western leaders fearful of an incursion similar to, or perhaps even more wide-ranging than, Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Then, on Dec. 17, 2021, Vladimir Putin demanded that no former Soviet states, such as Ukraine, be added to NATO – the Western alliance that Ukraine has long expressed a desire to join – and that NATO cease all military cooperation in Eastern Europe.

Such rhetoric harks back to the Cold War, when global politics revolved around an ideological struggle between a communist Eastern Bloc and a capitalist West. It also serves Russia’s ideological and political goal of asserting its position as a global power.

As scholars of the politics and culture of Ukraine and Russia, we know that underpinning Putin’s goal is Russia’s historical view of Ukraine as a part of its greater empire, which at one time ranged from present-day Poland to the Russian Far East. Understanding this helps explain Putin’s actions, and how he leans into this view of Ukraine to advance his agenda.

The view from Russia

Ukraine today comprises 44 million people and is the second-largest nation by area in Europe.

But for centuries, within the Russian Empire, Ukraine was known as “Malorossiya” or “Little Russia.”

The use of this term strengthened the idea that Ukraine was a junior member of the empire. And it was backed by czarist policies dating from the 18th century that suppressed the use of the Ukrainian language and culture. The intention of these policies was to establish a dominant Russia and later strip Ukraine of an identity as an independent, sovereign nation.

A similar ploy has been used to downplay Ukrainian independence in the 21st century. In 2008 Putin’s then-spokesman, Vladislav Surkov, claimed that “Ukraine is not a state.”

Putin himself recently wrote an article claiming Russians and Ukrainians are “one people – a single whole.” This concept of a single people derives from the history of “Kyivan Rus” – the medieval federation that included parts of modern-day Ukraine and Russia and had as its center present day Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

In recent years, commemorations in Russia of Kyivan Rus’ history have increased in prominence and scale.

In 2016, a 52-foot statue of Prince Vladimir of Kyiv, considered a saintly ruler by Ukrainians and Russians alike, was unveiled in Moscow. The statue caused consternation among Ukrainians. Placing a mammoth depiction of Vladimir in the center of Moscow signaled, to some, Russia’s attempt to own Ukraine’s history.

The fact that it came just two years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region didn’t help.

Ukraine’s Russian citizens

The Donbass and Crimea are both home to large numbers of ethnic Russians and people who primarily speak Russian.

In the years leading up to Russia’s military actions, Putin and his allies often invoked the concept of the “Russian World” or “Russkiy Mir” – the idea that Russian civilization extends to everywhere that ethnic Russians live.

The ideology also asserts that no matter where Russians are in the world, the Russian state has a right and an obligation to protect and defend them.

Ukraine – both in 2014 and with Putin’s seemingly increasingly belligerent stance now – provides the perfect landscape for this concept. And Russia has allegedly been promoting “Russian World” ideology through the arming of pro-Russian separatists in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014.

Viewing Ukraine as a country split between pro-Moscow ethnic Russians and pro-Western Ukrainians, however, is a gross oversimplification.
Ethnic tensions?

Ukraine’s ethnic makeup today – with an especially large minority of Russians living in the east – reflects the country’s absorption into the Soviet Union from 1922.

Ethnic Ukrainians lived across the country before it was incorporated into the Soviet Union. In 1932-33, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin orchestrated a famine that killed some 4 million Ukrainians in the eastern regions. The famine, known as “Holodomor,” made it possible for ethnic Russians to move into the territory of Ukraine.

These new residents drove Stalin’s industrialization campaign. To this day, the Donbass remains the heart of Ukraine’s industrial economy.

When Ukrainians voted for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, all of its 24 “oblasts,” or regions – including Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea – supported independence. The large minority of ethnic Russians – 17.3% of the population at Ukraine’s last census in 2001 – were included as Ukrainian citizens in an independent state. For the most part, they too voted for independence.

For most of the first two decades after independence, ethnic Russians have lived peacefully with Ukrainians and the country’s other ethnic minorities.

But that changed in 2010 when Viktor Yanukovych, a politician from Donetsk, became Ukraine’s president. Though he did not state outright that he preferred a pro-Russian future for Ukraine, many of his policies marked a move away from the pro-European policies of his predecessors and played into Vladimir Putin’s designs on Ukraine.

Ukraine was on track to sign an association agreement with the European Union in 2013. Instead, Yanukovych decided to join an economic union with Russia. This set off mass protests around the country that resulted in Yanukovych’s being ousted. Putin then annexed Crimea on the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians living on that peninsula.

Meanwhile, pro-Russian separatists took over multiple cities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the hope that Russia would have a similar interest in protecting Russians in eastern Ukraine.

A pro-Ukrainian volunteer soldier watches for pro-Russian separatists. Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

But ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine’s east did not automatically support the separatists or want to be part of Russia. Since 2014, some 1.5 million people have left the Donbass to live in other parts of Ukraine. Meanwhile, at least a million people have left for Russia.

Many of those who remain in the territories occupied by separatists are now being offered a fast track to Russian citizenship. This policy allows Putin to increase pro-Russian sentiment in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s strengthening identity

While Putin claims that ethnic Russians living in Ukraine are part of the Russian World, in reality, ethnicity is not a predictor of political affiliation in Ukraine. In other words, being an ethnic Russian or a Russian speaker does not indicate that one sees oneself as part of the Russian World. Rather, across Ukraine, there has been an increase in sentiment of a strong, unified Ukrainian identity since 1991. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Ukrainians support entrance into NATO.

Most Ukrainians see their future as a sovereign country that is part of Europe. But this directly contradicts Putin’s goals of expanding the Russian World. They are conflicting visions that help explain why Ukraine remains a flashpoint.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Jacob Lassin, Arizona State University and Emily Channell-Justice, Harvard University.

We can’t recycle our way out of our plastics crisis. It’s time for a new approach | Opinion

Wynne Armand
Mon, December 20, 2021

Americans have been taught “the 3 R’s” to tackle plastic pollution: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. But recycling has lulled us into believing that single-use items are acceptable. As a result, we now use more plastic than ever — with the United States leading the world by generating more than 40 million tons of plastic waste a year, accumulating in landfills and the ocean.

But plastic results in more than bulk waste. It also contributes to the climate crisis by releasing greenhouse gases throughout its lifespan, from its creation (which uses fossil fuels) to its degradation in the environment, whether recycled or incinerated. A recent report from Beyond Plastics estimates that plastics will outpace coal in emissions by 2030.

For decades, U.S. industries contended with waste by shipping it to China for recycling, which previously imported half of the world’s plastic waste. But since 2018, China has declined to buy almost all plastic. The loss of that major recycling avenue has led to higher fees for many U.S. municipalities to remove and transport waste, leading to the discontinuation of curbside recycling programs for hundreds of communities. Furthermore, much of municipal recycling is rejected because of improper sorting or food contamination. Ultimately, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled.

Even proper recycling is imperfect, requiring a different energy-intensive process for each plastic formulation. And to truly reap the benefits of plastic recycling, manufacturers must make — and consumers choose — products from recycled, instead of virgin, material — neither of which has happened at scale. So while the EPA launches its national recycling plan anew, it will not deliver us from the consequences of plastic use.

It’s time Americans prioritize the other two R’s.

The concept of “reduce” seems anathema to American values, where buying has long been portrayed as patriotic. Such consumerism is embodied in fast fashion; a 2015 study found that, on average, consumers wear a garment just seven times before throwing it away. Instead, inviting a cultural shift to buy less, buy second-hand, or not buy at all, can avoid the production of items that quickly end up in landfills — and their carbon footprint.

The concept of “reuse” has made headway, with eight states now banning single-use plastic bags. But reuse does need careful calculations. For example, a 2011 United Kingdom study found that a cotton bag must be reused 131 times before it matches the environmental footprint of single-use plastic grocery bags.

Despite evolving legislation, we continue to use (and throw away) more plastic than ever. Bottled water is a case in point. In the United States, climbing sales reached 15 billion gallons last year alone. Yet, there is no reason to think that bottled water is safer than tap water, which is actually more regulated (find your water quality data at EPA Consumer Confidence Report). Innovations such as collapsible reusable bottles and apps to locate nearby filling stations give consumers on the go fewer excuses for buying plastic bottled water.

Another challenge is the abundance of plastic packaging. To address this, a handful of retailers have joined the budding zero-waste movement and allow customers to bring their own bulk bags or refillable bottles for items like oils and detergent. At the Good Food Store in Montana, shoppers donate an assortment of containers that the store then sanitizes (consistent with the FDA Food Code) for any customer to reuse for bulk purchases. This program is on hold during the pandemic, but should be a model for mainstream grocery stores and restaurants alike (think take-out).

While we await a circular economy to repurpose products and creative solutions like advanced recycling and better biodegradable technology, we, as consumers, must drive innovation through our selective and collective purchasing power. Unless all of us — from individuals to industry — commit to reducing and reusing, plastic waste will devastate our planet. Recycling alone is not a viable solution.

Wynne Armand, M.D., is a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate director at MGH Center for the Environment and Health. She is also assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The OpEd Project

Armand

The 'Cowboy Cocktail': How Wyoming became one of the world's top tax havens

Debbie Cenziper and Will Fitzgibbon
Mon, December 20, 2021

LONG READ

JACKSON, Wyo. - The honky-tonk bar under neon lights on the town square serves Grand Teton Amber Ale and Yellowstone Lemonade. The Cowboy Coffee Co. offers bison chili, and the Five & Dime General Store sells Stetson hats and souvenirs made from bullets.

In this tourist-friendly Western town, home to four celebrated arches fashioned from elk antlers, lawyers and estate planners draw customers with something far more exclusive.

It's called the "Cowboy Cocktail," and in recent years the coveted financial arrangement has attracted a new set of outsiders to the least populated state in America.

The cocktail and variations of it - consisting of a Wyoming trust and layers of private companies with concealed ownership - allow the world's wealthy to move and spend money in extraordinary secrecy, protected by some of the strongest privacy laws in the country and, in some cases, without even the cursory oversight performed by regulators in other states.

Millionaires and billionaires around the world have taken note. In recent years, families from India to Italy to Venezuela have abandoned international financial centers for law firms in Wyoming's ski resorts and mining towns, helping to turn the state into one of the world's top tax havens.

A dozen international clients who created Wyoming trusts were identified in the Pandora Papers, a trove of more than 11.9 million records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with The Washington Post that expose the movement of wealth around the world. The documents offer a rare look at Wyoming's discreet financial sector and the people who rely on its services.

One was Moscow billionaire Igor Makarov, named under a 2017 law requiring the U.S. Treasury Department to list oligarchs and political figures close to the Russian government. Makarov's company faced questions in the past about controversial transactions with Russia's state-owned gas giant and about possible influence peddling involving the daughter of a U.S. congressman.

The matriarch of Argentina's Baggio family, whose beverage company was accused by local officials of dumping industrial waste and whose son is embroiled in an investigation into money laundering, also moved the management of its wealth to Wyoming.

So did the late Kalil Haché Malkún of the Dominican Republic. The polo player and army officer managed the private estates of reviled Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ordered the deaths of political enemies and thousands of Haitians.

For years, anti-money-laundering experts and law enforcement have warned federal and state lawmakers that suspect money was flowing into U.S. tax havens, eluding taxing authorities, creditors and criminal investigators. In Wyoming, with the support of state lawmakers, the industry charged ahead, promoting a suite of financial arrangements to potential customers around the world.

At the heart of those arrangements are trusts, legal agreements that allow people to stash away money and other assets so they are protected from creditors and incur few or no tax obligations for themselves or their heirs. In exchange for these benefits, trust owners appoint an independent manager - typically a relative, friend or financial adviser - to determine when and how money is invested and spent.

Wyoming is one of a small number of states that allow customers to place a private company - often controlled by family members - at the helm of their trust, ensuring complete control of the assets and an additional layer of financial secrecy.

Some of the companies are unregulated, exempt from periodic examinations and other state scrutiny.

Customers can also establish a second company inside their trusts to hold the assets, such as property and bank accounts, concealing wealth behind yet another corporate layer.

Using this approach - the Cowboy Cocktail - wealthy people can move money into the United States and invest and spend it with a level of anonymity found in few other tax havens.

"Wyoming is advertising itself as the new onshore offshore [financial center] - it's going to get the clientele," said University of Richmond law professor Allison Tait, a trust and estate expert who has studied the state's layered financial instruments, including the cocktail.

"It's like a wrapped gift inside a wrapped gift," she said. "The more wrapping you put on, the harder it is to figure out if there has been tax avoidance or evasion or even financial crime. Very few people know what you're doing, basically."

The Haché family did not respond to requests for comment. Through his attorney, Makarov said the Treasury Department list was copied from a public source and "widely discredited," that he has no personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he has never been charged with criminal wrongdoing. The attorney said Makarov's Wyoming trust was properly disclosed.

A representative for the Baggio family declined to comment. The family has previously said it reported the Wyoming trust to officials in Argentina.

There is no evidence in the Pandora Papers documents that the trusts in Wyoming sheltered criminal proceeds.

In a competitive global market, Wyoming's financial incentives have stood out. One trust company 8,700 miles away in Singapore recommended Wyoming on its website as a go-to tax haven that would "completely shield" clients' names and assets. "Offshore Wyoming, USA," noted another firm, this one in Ukraine's bustling capital, Kyiv.

Trust companies in Wyoming now manage at least $31.5 billion in assets, according to the state.

Time and again, Wyoming lawmakers suggested the industry would bring jobs and other economic benefits to a state that has long depended on special taxes imposed on coal, oil and other natural resources.

"It's friendly for business is the bottom line," said former Republican House member Bunky Loucks, who spent 10 years in the state legislature. "We were hopeful . . . just to be on the cutting edge."

Hoped-for tax revenue, however, did not materialize. The Republican-controlled legislature rebuffed sporadic calls for even a small tax on the profits of companies that create trusts.

Former Republican lawmaker Michael Von Flatern, who unsuccessfully pushed to tax the industry, said lawmakers did not consider all the possible sources of money that could flow into the state.

"We never thought about the oligarchs or the dictator's friends," he said.

- - -

In 1977, lawyers and accountants for an out-of-state oil company helped persuade Wyoming to authorize a financial arrangement found nowhere else in America.

State lawmakers approved the formation of limited liability companies, now widely used across the country to help conceal the identities of owners and protect their assets from creditors.

The idea had failed twice in Alaska, but supporters found a willing home in Wyoming, which in the 1960s skirted bankruptcy and by the '70s was heavily dependent on tax revenue generated by fossil fuels.

"We're sort of at the whim of what happens with market prices worldwide," said Phil Roberts, a history professor at the University of Wyoming. "There was a good deal of consensus in those days that we have to diversify our economy. . . . [Lawmakers] would try every angle."

Over the next three decades, lawmakers modified the groundbreaking law, including changes that made it easier for company owners to obscure their identities. "Wyoming home cooking," industry representatives, lawmakers and legislative advisers called the changes.

Lawmakers also encouraged the growth of the trust industry, adopting more than 100 changes to the state's trust laws by 2011. Around the same time, the Cowboy Cocktail and its variations took off.

"It's not the latest trendy cocktail on the club scene," one trust and estate planner from Georgia noted on his website. "A Cowboy Cocktail is a double-barreled approach to asset protection that may be the best thing since sliced bread."

"ALAKAZAM! Ultimate Cowboy Cocktail!" wrote two attorneys, one from Wyoming and the other from Tennessee, in a presentation about the novel setup to tax planners.

The addition of private trust companies, a critical component of the cocktail, was particularly appealing to customers seeking higher levels of control and privacy.

"Keep it in the family," Frontier Administrative Services in Jackson posted on its website, which noted that it serves dozens of private trust companies.

Wyoming offers two types of private trust companies, both generally recommended for those with trust assets of $100 million or more. One is reported to the state; regulators with the Division of Banking review company operations. Attorneys say that the regulated option can help families avoid unexpected tax bills and other inquiries.

The other option is an unregulated company, allowed under Wyoming law. Unregulated private trust companies operate outside the supervision of the state and provide an even higher degree of secrecy.

Wyoming has seven regulated private trust companies. Officials say they do not know how many unregulated companies exist. A committee of lawmakers in 2018 estimated that lawyers were creating as many as 100 unregulated companies a year.

The financial tools found broad support among state lawmakers, who over nearly two decades backed almost 20 laws to bolster the industry, with few dissenting votes, state records show.

Wyoming is now among the 10 least restrictive, most customer-friendly trust jurisdictions in the world, according to a study last year by Adam Hofri-Winogradow, a law professor and trust expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The study ranked Wyoming ahead of South Dakota, an international tax haven featured in the Pandora Papers investigation published by The Post and the ICIJ in October.

Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware and Nevada were named in October by the European Parliament as hubs of "financial and corporate secrecy."

Citing the Pandora Papers, the group urged the United States to better police the industry and join a coalition of more than 100 countries that automatically share information about the financial transactions of noncitizens.

"For some time now, the U.S. has been the weak link in the international anti-money-laundering regime," said Josh Rudolph, a member of the National Security Council staff in the Obama and Trump administrations. "The European Parliament is absolutely right - we are the enablers."

- - -

The Pandora Papers records, while not comprehensive, reveal a series of Wyoming transactions mostly between 2016 and 2019 as well as the clients behind them. Some moved the management of their wealth from traditional tax havens in Europe and the Caribbean, capitalizing on key ingredients of the Cowboy Cocktail.

Makarov, the Russian billionaire, turned to Wyoming in late 2016, setting up a Wyoming trust and an unregulated private trust company to manage it, Pandora Papers documents show. Makarov put a twist on the cocktail: placing into the trust three companies established in the tight-lipped British Virgin Islands, including one that owned a 13-seat private jet.

"Like a 'Cowboy on the Beach Cocktail' or something," Tait, the Virginia professor, said of the arrangement.

Makarov and the oil-and-gas company he founded, Itera, faced scrutiny in Europe and the United States. In the early 2000s, media reports raised questions about whether the company had improperly received loan guarantees and other aid from Russia's state-controlled gas company, Gazprom. Shortly after, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency suspended a $868,000 grant to Itera.

In 2006, the FBI searched Itera's Florida office in connection with an influence-peddling investigation involving a U.S. congressman. In 2009, Italian media reported that Makarov was investigated for potential ties to Mafia figures and that the investigation was at risk of being closed because of a lack of cooperation by foreign authorities.

In an unclassified report in 2018, the Treasury Department included Makarov on a list of dozens of Russian oligarchs.

Through his lawyer, Makarov said he has no ties to organized crime and called the Italian media report "completely false." The U.S. influence-peddling investigation did not result in arrests or charges against Makarov or anyone associated with the company, said his lawyer, Brian Wolf. Gazprom never provided resources or clients to Itera and together they operated in accordance with Russian law, Wolf said.

Makarov established the trust in Wyoming based on professional advice, the attorney said. "All required disclosures have been made and transparency laws have been followed," he said.

Celia María Agueda Munilla, the 83-year-old matriarch of the Baggio family in Argentina, also set up a trust overseen by an unregulated private trust company in Wyoming. The trust, established in 2018, held a company in the British Virgin Islands with a $7 million account at a bank in Miami, the Pandora Papers show.

Munilla and her late husband founded RPB, one of Argentina's largest producers of boxed fruit juice and wine. Munilla remains a director of the company, according to the family company website.

For years, media reports show, government officials and local residents have accused the company of polluting land and waterways. The company agreed to stop dumping waste in 2016, according to a public statement by local authorities.

Last year, Argentine authorities filed a criminal complaint against a number of businessmen, including one of Munilla's sons, a majority shareholder, accusing them of burning grasslands for economic gain. The Pandora Papers do not list him as a beneficiary of the Wyoming trust.

The Financial Intelligence Unit in Argentina stepped in as a plaintiff in the ongoing case, which it called the "Baggio file," alleging possible money laundering.

A representative for the family previously said that it declared the Wyoming trust and its assets to Argentina's revenue authority. Neither the family nor its company responded to questions about the criminal investigation.

One of the more recent transactions described in the Pandora Papers was made by the late Haché, who once served as estate manager to brutal Dominican Republic dictator Trujillo.

The regime ordered the murders of tens of thousands of Haitians, along with three prominent sisters who had protested Trujillo, according to historical accounts.

The regime is also believed to have abducted a Columbia University graduate student and lecturer in New York City before transporting him to the Dominican Republic in a case described by the U.S. Justice Department as a "political murder." One prominent Trujillo historian suggested the body could have been fed to sharks.

After Trujillo was assassinated in 1961, his son Ramfis took control of the country and rounded up the assassins, most of whom were killed.

Haché allegedly witnessed torture in a notorious Dominican prison but refused to join and fainted, according to two public accounts, one by a foundation that commemorates the men who killed Trujillo and the other by one of the men's sons. Ramfis Trujillo, living in exile, was convicted of murder.

Haché later described himself as a businessman; family interests included an oil and lubricant company, records show. In 2019, Haché, his wife and two daughters set up a Wyoming trust and an unregulated private trust company to own two British Virgin Islands companies with bank accounts in Miami, the Pandora Papers records show.

Haché and his wife died of covid-19 last year. His family did not respond to a request for comment.

In a 2013 interview with a Dominican Republic journalist, Haché described his connection to the Trujillo regime. "How could I be disloyal to a family that distinguished me with all their affection?" he said.

He added that his loyalty was "to the person who distinguished me, not to . . . the dictatorship."

- - -

Current and former state lawmakers said they always intended to build a clean industry that protected the privacy of reputable clients.

"There are countries out there that want to protect the criminals because they believe it's of economic benefit to have bad actors fund their state," said state Sen. Chris Rothfuss, the Democratic minority leader. "We don't have that interest. We will throw them under the bus as quickly as we can."

However, Rothfuss acknowledged that regulators are often kept in the dark by the state's own privacy laws, left dependent on occasional tips or media accounts for information about trust industry clients.

In October, U.S. lawmakers called for the most significant overhaul of anti-money-laundering regulations since 9/11. If approved, the changes would require lawyers and trust companies to investigate their clients and sources of wealth to ensure that suspicious money does not breach the U.S. financial system.

Even with more transparency, Rothfuss said, the state banking division doesn't have enough staff to monitor industry compliance. "We don't necessarily have the resources to be proactive," he said.

The Division of Banking has three employees who examine the state's regulated trust companies. "We are probably slightly overstaffed in this area, but we are anticipating continued growth in this area and want to ensure appropriate resources," said Albert Forkner, the state's banking commissioner.

In a statement, the Wyoming Trust Association said it "supports effective and meaningful regulatory oversight of the trust industry." The association also said the industry would support increases in the fees paid to the state by regulated trust companies.

Von Flatern, the former lawmaker, said in an interview at his home in Gillette that the scant financial contributions by the trust sector over the years have contributed to Wyoming's fragile economy, undercut by the coal industry's years-long decline.

In the eastern Wyoming mining town, a rotary drill, an oversize coal shovel and a 411,580-pound engine are displayed in a local park. Coal mines rumble with the sound of earthmovers. Trains with dozens of cars haul coal through the city, winding past Lula Belle's Cafe, where miners gather for coffee before their shifts start.

"If you come in as a trust company or a banker, you don't pay your way," Von Flatern said. "We didn't gain anything."

- - -

About this story:

Will Fitzgibbon is with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Design and development by Jake Crump and Frank Hulley-Jones.

Brenda Medina and Delphine Reuter at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Mika Velikovskiy at iStories (Russia), Alicia Ortega Hasbún at Noticias SIN (Dominican Republic), Paolo Biondani at L'Espresso (Italy), and Sandra Crucianelli and Mariel Fitz Patrick at Infobae (Argentina) contributed to this report.

The Pandora Papers is an investigation based on more than 11.9 million documents revealing the flows of money, property and other assets concealed in the offshore financial system. The Washington Post and other news organizations exposed the involvement of political leaders, examined the growth of the industry within the United States and demonstrated how secrecy shields assets from governments, creditors and those abused or exploited by the wealthy and powerful. The trove of confidential information, the largest of its kind, was obtained by the ICIJ, which organized the investigation. Read more about this project.

Moisture seen critical for wheat blasted by U.S. Plains dust storm


 A combine harvests wheat in Corn

Mon, December 20, 2021
By Julie Ingwersen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hurricane-force winds that raked the U.S. Plains belt last week appeared to cause varying degrees of damage to a winter wheat crop that was already struggling with dry conditions, Kansas crop observers said.

Young wheat plants were blown right out of the ground on the hardest-hit fields, but remaining wheat may be able to bounce back, especially if the plants' root crowns were protected just below the soil surface. Nonetheless, the crop will need moisture, and near-term forecasts look dry.

"Some acres today no doubt are gone. But there is probably a larger set of acres that have been severely damaged, and the weather we get from here on out will play a role," Lucas Haag, a Kansas State University extension agronomist, said on Friday.

Kansas is the largest producer of hard red winter wheat, the biggest U.S. wheat class, which is milled into flour for bread. With global food prices at a 10-year high, traders are monitoring crop prospects in the United States, which is among the world's top wheat suppliers.

Wednesday's freakish storm brought "Dust Bowl" conditions and gusts of more than 100 mph (161 kph) to parts of Plains, meteorologists said, reminiscent of the U.S. drought years of the 1930s.

Whitened and stripped of leaves, some wheat this week appeared to have been damaged by static electricity from blowing dust, a phenomenon more common in the Dust Bowl years, Haag said.

Farmers should have a better idea of recovery prospects in about 10 days. But the crop's biggest needs are for moisture and possibly fertilizer, both of which are in short supply.

"With the current conditions and forecasts, and with the high fertilizer prices and availability concerns this spring, all components of the needed wheat 'rebound' cocktail (are) in question," Justin Gilpin, chief executive of the Kansas Wheat Commission, wrote in a market note.

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Michael Perry)

What winter solstice rituals tell us about indigenous people

Rosalyn R. LaPier, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, The University of Montana
Tue, December 21, 2021

The Blackfeet always faced their tipis towards the rising sun, including on winter solstice.

  Beinecke Library via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

On the day of winter solstice, many Native American communities will hold religious ceremonies or community events.

The winter solstice is the day of the year when the Northern Hemisphere has the fewest hours of sunlight and the Southern Hemisphere has the most. For indigenous peoples, it has been a time to honor their ancient sun deity. They passed their knowledge down to successive generations through complex stories and ritual practices.

As a scholar of the environmental and Native American religion, I believe, there is much to learn from ancient religious practices.
Ancient architecture

For decades, scholars have studied the astronomical observations that ancient indigenous people made and sought to understand their meaning.

One such place was at Cahokia, near the Mississippi River in what is now Illinois across from St. Louis.

The Cahokia mounds. Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA

In Cahokia, indigenous people built numerous temple pyramids or mounds, similar to the structures built by the Aztecs in Mexico, over a thousand years ago. Among their constructions, what most stands out is an intriguing structure made up of wooden posts arranged in a circle, known today as “Woodhenge.”

To understand the purpose of Woodhenge, scientists watched the sun rise from this structure on winter solstice. What they found was telling: The sun aligned with both Woodhenge and the top of a temple mound – a temple built on top of a pyramid with a flat top – in the distance. They also found that the sun aligns with a different temple mound on summer solstice.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the people of Cahokia venerated the sun as a deity. Scholars believe that ancient indigenous societies observed the solar system carefully and wove that knowledge into their architecture.

Scientists have speculated that the Cahokia held rituals to honor the sun as a giver of life and for the new agricultural year.

Complex understandings

Zuni Pueblo is a contemporary example of indigenous people with an agricultural society in western New Mexico. They grow corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and more. Each year they hold annual harvest festivals and numerous religious ceremonies, including at the winter solstice.

At the time of the winter solstice they hold a multiday celebration, known as the Shalako festival. The days for the celebration are selected by the religious leaders. The Zuni are intensely private, and most events are not for public viewing.

But what is shared with the public is near the end of the ceremony, when six Zuni men dress up and embody the spirit of giant bird deities. These men carry the Zuni prayers for rain “to all the corners of the earth.” The Zuni deities are believed to provide “blessings” and “balance” for the coming seasons and agricultural year.

As religion scholar Tisa Wenger writes, “The Zuni believe their ceremonies are necessary not just for the well-being of the tribe but for "the entire world.”
Winter games

Not all indigenous peoples ritualized the winter solstice with a ceremony. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t find other ways to celebrate.

The Blackfeet tribe in Montana, where I am a member, historically kept a calendar of astronomical events. They marked the time of the winter solstice and the “return” of the sun or “Naatosi” on its annual journey. They also faced their tipis – or portable conical tents – east toward the rising sun.

They rarely held large religious gatherings in the winter. Instead the Blackfeet viewed the time of the winter solstice as a time for games and community dances. As a child, my grandmother enjoyed attending community dances at the time of the winter solstice. She remembered that each community held their own gatherings, with unique drumming, singing and dance styles.

Later, in my own research, I learned that the Blackfeet moved their dances and ceremonies during the early reservation years from times on their religious calendar to times acceptable to the U.S. government. The dances held at the time of the solstice were moved to Christmas Day or to New Year’s Eve.

The solstice. Divad, from Wikimedia Commons

Today, my family still spends the darkest days of winter playing card games and attending the local community dances, much like my grandmother did.

Although some winter solstice traditions have changed over time, they are still a reminder of indigenous peoples understanding of the intricate workings of the solar system. Or as the Zuni Pueblo’s rituals for all peoples of the earth demonstrate – of an ancient understanding of the interconnectedness of the world.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Rosalyn R. LaPier, The University of Montana.

Read more

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BELARUS DOMINATES POTASH MARKET
Lithuania moves towards terminating Belarus potash transportation agreement

An employee checks an above ground store of processed potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine near the city of Berezniki

Tue, December 21, 2021

VILNIUS (Reuters) - A Lithuanian government commission said on Tuesday an agreement signed by the state-run railway in 2018 to transport potash from sanctions-hit Belarus goes against national security interests, opening the door for the government to terminate it.

State-owned potash producer Belaruskali was sanctioned by the United States in August, one year after a crackdown following a disputed presidential election which President Alexander Lukashenko said he won.

The ban on sales of potash took effect on Dec. 8 after a four-month wind-down period, but potash continues to be transported via Lithuania.

The continuation of the deal caused a public outcry in Lithuania, one of Europe's most vocal critics of human rights abuses in Belarus and a U.S. ally, forcing Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte to consider resigning, although she announced last week she would stay in her post.

The head of Lithuanian Railways (LTG), Mantas Bartuska, agreed to step down to "de-escalate" the situation.

The commission has been tasked since 2018 to rule on any agreements made by the country's strategically important enterprises, including the LTG, that are worth at least a tenth of their revenue.

Landlocked Belarus uses Lithuania's Klaipeda port to export potash from Belaruskali, one of the world's largest producers of the crop nutrient, which is Minsk's main foreign currency earner.

Bartuska said earlier that the U.S. sanctions did not affect the transportation contract with Belaruskali, and if LTG terminated it without legal grounds, it could face international arbitration and fines that could bankrupt it.

The commission's ruling on the 2018 agreement and its 2021 amendment now gives the government power to terminate it, stopping the potash transport.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Tech billionaire resigns from Mormon church and donates $600,000 to LGBTQ+ group



Axios

Tue, December 21, 2021

A billionaire from Utah announced he's officially resigning this week from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and pledged to donate $600,000 to an LGBTQ advocacy group, the Salt Lake Tribune first reported.

Why it matters: The letter, dated Dec. 23, is a rare public criticism of the church by a high-profile figure. Tech executive Jeff Green wrote: "I believe the Mormon Church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights."

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.


Driving the news: Green, chair and CEO of The Trade Desk, left more than a decade ago and has since moved to California, but he wrote to President Russell Nelson to say that he wanted to make it official and have his records removed, according to the Tribune, which obtained the letter Monday.

What else he's saying: "While most members are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world," Green wrote.

"The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy," he continued.

Green pledged $600,000 to Equality Utah, with "almost half of the fund will go to a new scholarship program to help LGBTQ+ students in Utah," the billionaire said.

Of note: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2019 said it would allow children of LGBTQ+ parents to be baptized and receive blessings from the church, in a reversal of a 2015 decision.

The church announced then that same-sex marriages would not be considered apostasy. Instead, any "immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way."

Representatives for the church did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Mormon billionaire leaves faith, rebukes LGBTQ rights stance

The Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square is shown on Oct. 5, 2019, in Salt Lake City. A billionaire who is believed to be the wealthiest person originally from Utah has formally renounced his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and rebuked the faith on social issues and LGBTQ rights. Jeff T. Green, who has pledged to donate 90% of his estimated $5 billion advertising-technology wealth, starting with a donation to a LGBTQ-rights group in the state, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)More

Tue, December 21, 2021


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An advertising-technology billionaire has formally resigned his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and rebuked the faith over social issues and LGBTQ rights in an unusual public move.

Jeff T. Green has pledged to donate 90% of his estimated $5 billion fortune, starting with a $600,000 donation to the LGBTQ-rights group Equality Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Green said in a Monday resignation letter to church President Russell M. Nelson that he hasn’t been active in the faith widely known as Mormon for more than a decade but wanted to make his departure official and remove his name from membership records.

“I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights,” he wrote. Eleven family members and a friend formally resigned along with him.

The church didn't immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday, but in recent years has shown a willingness to engage on LGBTQ rights that is unusual for a conservative faith. It maintains its doctrinal opposition to same-sex marriage and intimacy, but the faith didn't block a 2019 ban on so-called conversion therapy in Utah and in November high-ranking leader Dallin Oaks called for a recognition of both religious rights and LGBTQ rights.

Still, the church has taken positions over the years that have been deeply painful for many in the LGBTQ community. Green, for his part, said most church members “are good people trying to do right,” but he also worries about the faith’s transparency around its history and finances.

Green, 44, now lives in Southern California. He is the CEO and chairman of The Trade Desk, an advertising-technology firm he founded in 2009.

He also mentioned concerns about a $100 billion investment portfolio held by the faith. It was the subject of an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower complaint in 2019, from a former employee who charged the church had improperly built it up using member donations that are supposed to go to charitable causes.

Leaders have defended how the church uses and invests member donations, saying most is used for operational and humanitarian needs, but a portion is safeguarded to build a reserve for the future. The faith annually spends about $1 billion on humanitarian and welfare aid, leaders have said.

The church has also come under criticism for conservative social positions. Women do not hold the priesthood in the faith, and Black men could not until the 1970s.

In recent years, though, the faith has worked with the NAACP and donated nearly $10 million for initiatives to help Black Americans. It has also worked with Equality Utah to pass a state LGBTQ nondiscrimination law, with religious exemptions.

Another prominent onetime Latter-day Saint sued the faith this year, accusing it of fraud and seeking to recover millions of dollars in contributions. James Huntsman is a member of one of Utah’s most well-known families and brother of a former governor. The suit was later tossed out

Jeff Green: Tech billionaire leaves Mormon church and blasts it in searing open letter


Jeff Green: Tech billionaire leaves Mormon church and blasts it in searing open letter

Gustaf Kilander
Tue, December 21, 2021, 6:48 PM·4 min read

The richest person from Utah, billionaire and tech CEO Jeff Green, slammed the Mormon church in a letter announcing his official withdrawal from the religious community.

Mr Green, who promised in November to give away at least 90 per cent of his vast wealth, wrote a 90-word letter in which he blasted the organisation for hoarding money and having a poor record on civil rights.

The letter was sent on Monday to the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Russell Nelson, with Mr Green saying that he thinks most members of the church are “good people trying to do right”, but that “the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world”.

“The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy,” Mr Green added. “I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights, and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights.”

Mr Green is a former Mormon missionary and graduated from Brigham Young University, a private school in Provo, Utah founded by Mr Young in 1875 and which is sponsored by the church.

Mr Green’s next major donation will be $600,000 going to Equality Utah, with the billionaire writing in the letter that “almost half of the fund will go to a new scholarship program to help LGBTQ+ students in Utah,” including students who “may need or want to leave” Brigham Young University.

The 44-year-old is the CEO and chairman of The Trade Desk, a tech firm. He’s estimated to be worth $4.9bn.

Mr Green currently lives in Southern California and originally left the church “more than a decade ago—not believing, attending, or practicing”. He said the letter marked his official exit from the church.

“Although I have deep love for many Mormons and gratitude for many things that have come into my life through Mormonism, I have not considered myself a member for many years, and I’d like to make clear to you and others that I am not a member,” Mr Green wrote.

The CEO noted that the church has “more than $100bn in assets” and argued that they should do “more to help the world and its members”.

He added that Mormons are “often poor” but that they still give to the church “expecting the blessings of heaven”.

“Instead, I think the church has exploited its members and their need for hope to build temples, build shopping malls, and cattle ranches… rather than alleviating human suffering in or out of the church,” Mr Green wrote.

Mr Green, who has three children, is leaving the religion alongside 11 members of his family as well as a friend. His sister, Jennifer Gaerte, told The Salt Lake Tribune that she had “that picture-perfect Mormon family” until her husband’s brother died, leading her to go into “into survival mode”. Her husband didn’t attend church while he was grieving his brother, which prompted Ms Gaerte’s family to be shunned, with other children at times throwing rocks at her’s.

Ms Gaerte went to a leader in the church and requested to be released from LDS youth organization the Young Women. The church leader said she would become an inactive member if she was released from the group. “If you won’t release me, I’ll release myself,” she said.

Mr Green’s cousin, Doug Whittemore, said his upbringing had been “wonderful” but that parts of the religion bothered him.

“Something was not clicking for me intuitively,” Mr Whittemore said. “It was pragmatic, but I could never buy into the [religious] concepts, and the teachings were about as far-fetched as you could believe.”

When he chose not to become a missionary, he was shunned by his family. “A lot of them wouldn’t talk to me for years and that still persists to this day.” Mr Whittemore now lives in Dallas, Texas.

Mr Green also said his childhood had been a good one and that his faith had been important to him as he grew up.

“The most positive part of our childhood wasn’t the strong connection we had with our parents but to the community,” he told The Tribune. “I am deeply grateful to that community and its amazing people, including my ancestors who made great sacrifices in the name of God and the community.”

But Mr Green added in his letter that “after today, the only contact I want from the church is a single letter of confirmation to let me know that I am no longer listed as a member”.

Georgians vow mass hunger-strike after reports ex-leader 'tortured'


This latest protest took place on Saakashvili's 54th birthday (AFP/Vano SHLAMOV)

Irakli METREVELI
Tue, December 21, 2021, 11:30 AM·3 min read

Several thousand supporters of Georgia's jailed opposition leader and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili rallied Tuesday vowing a "mass hunger-strike" to secure his release after doctors said he was tortured in custody.

Waving Georgia's five-cross flag and holding banners that read "Free Saakashvili!" protesters marched through the capital Tbilisi before gathering outside parliament for the rally timed to coincide with the politician's 54th birthday.

Saakashvili's arrest exacerbated a political crisis stemming from parliamentary polls last year that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

It also spurred the largest anti-government protests in a decade.

"Today, we are launching a mass hunger-strike that will not end until Mikheil Saakashvili is released from captivity," Nika Melia, the chairman of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), said to applause.

It was not immediately clear how many people intended to participate in the hunger-strike outside the UNM headquarters.

"This is a non-violent protest, a tough move, we have no other choice but to put pressure on the regime so that it loosens its grip on the Georgian state which it has captured," Melia, the leader of the country's main opposition group, said.

In a message to supporters that was read out at the rally by Saakashvili's mother, Giuli Alasania, the former leader called for national unity and peaceful mass protests to pressure authorities to hold snap parliamentary polls.

He said Georgia's "long-time dream and historic aspiration of European integration is under threat".

"We are in vital need of free media, impartial judiciary, fair elections. We need freedom here and now, and for good."

"Changing the current regime is an essential pre-condition for the fulfilment of our Western aspirations," he added referring to the ruling Georgian Dream party founded by the powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.

- 'Back to European path' -

Georgia's richest man who made his fortune in Russia, Ivanishvili is widely believed to be the top decision-maker in the country, despite having no official political role.

One of the demonstrators, 47-year-old architect Giorgi Darsavelidze, told AFP that "Ivanishvili's regime will crumble under popular pressure".

"We will not stop until Saakashvili is free, until Georgia is back to its European path," Darsavelidze added.

On Saturday, an independent council of doctors who examined Saakashvili in custody, said he had developed serious neurological diseases "as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care, and a prolonged hunger-strike".

Saakashvili refused food for 50 days to protest his jailing for abuse of office, a conviction he has denounced as politically motivated.

The flamboyant pro-Western reformer called off his hunger strike after he was placed -- in a critical condition -- in a military hospital in Georgia's eastern city of Gori.

Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 shortly after he secretly returned to Georgia from exile in Ukraine.

Amnesty International has branded Saakashvili's treatment "not just selective justice but apparent political revenge".

The US State Department has urged Georgia's government "to treat Saakashvili fairly and with dignity".

Rights groups have accused the Georgian government of using criminal prosecutions to punish political opponents and critical media.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sparked an uproar recently when he said the government had been forced to arrest Saakashvili because he refused to quit politics.

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