Ukrainians protest on streets of Russian-occupied city of Kherson

Russian forces took control of Kherson, in the south of Ukraine close to the Black Sea coast, more than a week ago

People protest in Kherson. Picture: Artem Ivanov/PA

SUN, 13 MAR, 2022 - 20:04

LOTTIE KILRAINE AND ALISTAIR MASON, PA

Protesters in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson have taken to the streets in support of president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Artem Ivanov, 42, said Russian soldiers shot bullets into the air as people congregated in the city centre at midday on Sunday.

“There were a lot of people, around 5,000, although I can’t say exactly because it was too difficult to calculate,” the teacher said.

“The people held Ukrainian flags and posters with the words ‘Russian soldiers go back home’ and ‘we support President Zelenskyy’.

“The Russian soldiers were shooting at the air but the Kherson people did not stop and just continued protesting.”

Russian forces took control of Kherson, in the south of Ukraine close to the Black Sea coast, more than a week ago.

Artem Ivanov (left) and his wife Olena Ivanova (middle) and their three children (Artem Ivanov/PA)

According to Mr Ivanov, no-one was hurt during Sunday’s protest, but Russian soldiers began shooting into the air in a bid to disperse them.

“People were so angry and a lot of the Russian soldiers were blocking the street and trying to stop the meeting,” he said.

“The people living in Kherson are not supporting the Russian Federation and the soldiers, we want to be part of Ukraine.”

Mr Ivanov said he gave his wife Olena Ivanova and their three children the option to leave the city as the conflict in Ukraine worsened, but the family chose to stay together.

“At the beginning (of the occupation) when there was shooting by Russian soldiers it was very scary here inside the city,” he said.

“Even around 300 metres outside of our building it was destroyed by the shooting, all in front of my own eyes.

Artem Ivanov said that the Russian soldiers occupying the city have little support from the local people (Artem Ivanov/PA)

“Every day my wife goes out and photographs what is happening to the city.

“It has been very scary and demotivating thinking about how I am going to be able to protect my family.”

Mr Ivanov said that the Russian soldiers occupying the city have had little support from the local people and appear to be “confused”.

“I saw in their eyes that they’re confused and you can tell they don’t really know anything about what’s going on,” he said.

“They seem like they are demotivated and are very confused, but I just don’t know.

“The Russian government is lying to its soldiers and saying they will make friends here, but nobody supports them.

“They have been told to attack the civilians and some of them don’t like to do it. I’m not defending them but I can see what is happening.”

Exclusive-Ukraine has started using Clearview AI’s facial recognition during war

By Paresh Dave and Jeffrey Dastin 

© Reuters/VALENTYN OGIRENKO FILE PHOTO: Members of the Territorial Defence Force stand guard at a check point in central Kyiv

(Reuters) - Ukraine's defense ministry on Saturday began using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology, the company's chief executive told Reuters, after the U.S. startup offered to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation and identify the dead.

Ukraine is receiving free access to Clearview AI’s powerful search engine for faces, letting authorities potentially vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses, added Lee Wolosky, an adviser to Clearview and former diplomat under U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The plans started forming after Russia invaded Ukraine and Clearview Chief Executive Hoan Ton-That sent a letter to Kyiv offering assistance, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

Clearview said it had not offered the technology to Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation."

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense did not reply to requests for comment. Previously, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation said it was considering offers from U.S.-based artificial intelligence companies like Clearview. Many Western businesses have pledged to help Ukraine, providing internet hardware, cybersecurity tools and other support.

The Clearview founder said his startup had more than 2 billion images from the Russian social media service VKontakte at its disposal, out of a database of over 10 billion photos total.

That database can help Ukraine identify the dead more easily than trying to match fingerprints and works even if there is facial damage, Ton-That wrote. Research for the U.S. Department of Energy found decomposition reduced the technology’s effectiveness while a paper from a 2021 conference showed promising results.

Ton-That's letter also said Clearview's technology could be used to reunite refugees separated from their families, identify Russian operatives and help the government debunk false social media posts related to the war.

The exact purpose for which Ukraine's defense ministry is using the technology is unclear, Ton-That said. Other parts of Ukraine's government are expected to deploy Clearview in the coming days, he and Wolosky said.

The VKontakte images make Clearview's dataset more comprehensive than that of PimEyes, a publicly available image search engine that people have used to identify individuals in war photos, Wolosky said. VKontakte did not immediately respond to a request for comment; U.S. social media company Facebook, now Meta Platforms Inc, had demanded Clearview stop taking its data.

At least one critic says facial recognition could misidentify people at checkpoints and in battle. A mismatch could lead to civilian deaths, just like unfair arrests have arisen from police use, said Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project in New York.

“We’re going to see well-intentioned technology backfiring and harming the very people it’s supposed to help,” he said.

Ton-That said Clearview should never be wielded as the sole source of identification and that he would not want the technology to be used in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which created legal standards for humanitarian treatment during war.

Like other users, those in Ukraine are receiving training and have to input a case number and reason for a search before queries, he said.

Clearview, which primarily sells to U.S. law enforcement, is fighting lawsuits in the United States accusing it of violating privacy rights by taking images from the web. Clearview contends its data gathering is similar to how Google search works. Still, several countries including the United Kingdom and Australia have deemed its practices illegal.

Cahn described identifying the deceased as probably the least dangerous way to deploy the technology in war, but he said that “once you introduce these systems and the associated databases to a war zone, you have no control over how it will be used and misused.”

(Reporting by Paresh Dave Oakland, Calif. and Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif.; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Kenneth Li and Lisa Shumaker)

OPINION
Japan's banks suddenly hold huge leverage over China's economy

Accessing dollars outside the U.S. is not as easy as it sounds

Andrew Hunt and Ben Ashby

March 14, 2022

As Russia is discovering, the ability to access currency reserves depends on the goodwill of G-7 nations. © Reuters

As Russia is painfully discovering, the world's financial system is controlled by the Group of Seven economies. With the U.S. Federal Reserve starting to tighten monetary policy as the financial contagion from the Ukraine crisis also starts to spread, dollar liquidity in Asia is likely to become tighter.

Here the vital but little understood function of Japan's megabanks in financing Asia's economy will be a critical factor in ensuring that dollars continue to flow freely in the region.

Despite the growth of China's banking system, much of it remains domestically focused. China's banks also lack the creditworthiness and international connections that Japan's financial institutions enjoy.

With the financing of much of Asia's trade and the flows in and out of its various financial centers still heavily dependent on Japan, Japan's bankers, squeezed between an overheating U.S. and an increasingly troubled China, have a difficult balancing act to perform.

Since the 1990s, Japan's big banks have had a very large and growing deposit base but limited domestic demand for credit, forcing them to look overseas for profits in international capital markets, which are dominated by dollars.

To grow overseas, Japanese banks needed vast amounts of dollars. Fortunately, there was a solution in the Eurodollar market, and this is where things get more complicated.

Simply put, Eurodollars refer to the market for dollars outside of the U.S., which operate quite differently to America's onshore dollar market. Almost a synthetic version of the real thing, Eurodollars can and often do behave differently at times of stress.

The reason is, as Russia is learning to its cost, that most national currencies like dollars and related assets, such as U.S. Treasury bonds, never actually leave the U.S. Even China's vast holdings of more than $1 trillion of U.S. Treasurys ultimately exist as electronic ledger entries in the U.S. financial system and can be frozen at the press of a button.

Using dollars outside America requires a complicated system of interbank loans, where what is used and traded are claims on dollars that remain in the U.S. system rather than actual, let alone physical, dollars themselves.

The first step of this chain often starts in London. Bankers in Tokyo will pledge yen as security for loans and receive Eurodollars in return, enabling them to make loans or buy assets in dollars. In turn, Japanese banks will usually demand some sort of security or collateral for these loans. This can vary from U.S. securities to real estate to the commodities that underlie trade finance.

Because borrowing in Eurodollars is more expensive than borrowing onshore in America, Japanese banks must find higher-yielding returns to offset this cost. This naturally forces them toward higher-risk lending. A good example of this is the failure of Archegos Capital Management, a family office that managed the personal assets of South Korean-born U.S. investor Bill Hwang, which caused outsized losses for Japanese banks.

Another cost relates to complexity and with it, most importantly, fragility. At every stage, there are moving parts such as the value of the collateral backing the loans or the creditworthiness of the banks involved. If all parts of this chain remain stable, then all is well. But sudden changes can cause things to quickly fall apart and dollar liquidity to evaporate. Witness the problems China Construction Bank is having finding dollars to pay for a nickel financing.

What is happening to the Russian financial system now is an even more extreme form of this. Russia's banks, domestic assets and overseas holdings have been largely removed from the system. Without access to hard currency, Russia will be unable to pay for a range of critical imports ranging from medical supplies to aircraft parts.

An information board displays dollar to ruble exchange rates in St. Petersburg on Mar. 8: Russia will be unable to pay for a range of critical imports. © Sipa/AP

There are several less extreme examples of this over the past decade, most recently during the early stages of the COVID crisis in 2020 when Japan's banks suddenly found themselves needing to borrow around $230 billion dollars as funding markets dried up and clients needed emergency loans.

Fortunately, if markets get tough, Japan does have an insurance policy: as a close ally of the U.S., the Bank of Japan can borrow dollars directly from the Federal Reserve to provide a temporary overdraft to its banks.

This is an advantage not available to the People's Bank of China or even the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which must rely on a finite amount of U.S. currency reserves. Again, as Russia is discovering, the ability to access these reserves depends on the goodwill of G-7 nations.

With the Fed now worried about inflation, likely to lead to a tightening of global liquidity, Japanese banks must now make some tough decisions over what to do with the more than $5 trillion worth of overseas claims they have amassed.

Do they cut back on risk and reduce their Eurodollar borrowing, charge a higher interest rate to borrowers, or become more selective in their lending? Our guess is that they will do a mixture of all three.

With $166 billion of direct exposure to mainland China and Hong Kong, and with huge problems beginning to surface in Chinese real estate, this sector will be a prime candidate for risk reduction. It will be a difficult balancing act and, if Tokyo's bankers do not pull it off, it may add to China's own problems at an already difficult time.

One of the lessons we can take from the tragic Ukraine crisis is that, until China's financial system matures, Asia's most important bankers remain in Tokyo

Andrew Hunt is CEO of Hunt Economics. Ben Ashby is a former JPMorgan managing director.

How wild pigs are threatening Canada’s ecosystems and economy

Millions of wild pigs are eating and destroying their way through Canada and the United States, causing billions in crop and ecological damage every year. Another concern is their ability to spread disease. As Candace Daniel reports for The New Reality, if feral hogs make domestic pigs sick – it could hurt the $24 billion pork industry and the Canadian economy.

Enoch Cree model becomes 1st Indigenous woman in Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition

By Emily Mertz Global News
Updated March 11, 2022


Ashley Callingbull has been selected to model in this year’s Sports Illustrated magazine swimsuit edition — the first Indigenous woman to be featured.

READ MORE: Alberta-born Cree model becomes face of Nike campaign: ‘Breaking some glass ceilings’

“I got the call at 6 a.m. I was still in bed. I couldn’t believe it,” Callingbull said in an interview with Global News from the Dominican Republic Thursday night. “I thought I was actually dreaming… I just started crying.

“And then finding out I’m the first Plains Cree First Nations woman — wow. It’s just still so surreal to me. I’m still in shock. I’m just so proud.

“It’s breaking a lot of barriers but it’s also opening a door for other Indigenous women to follow so that they’re comfortable in this space and they feel that they can shine here,” she said.

“Being the first is great but knowing that I’m not the last is the most important thing for me.”

View image in full screen

Ashley Callingbull, from Enoch Cree Nation, will become the first Indigenous woman to be in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Courtesy: Ashley Callingbull

The model and advocate, who is from Enoch Cree Nation, just west of Edmonton, is also the only Canadian in this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

“It’s really exciting and I hope Canada is there for me to vote and support me,” she said, explaining the cover model will be chosen through a vote.

“I want to represent my people and I want to represent my country,” Callingbull said

In her meetings with the magazine, Callingbull said Sports Illustrated was looking for more than models for this edition.

“They’re looking for women who are not just diverse, but that have these powerful platforms and do so much work on their own. It’s not just modeling; it’s about how you can use your voice, how you can amplify other women’s voices and what good you can bring to the world.”

Callingbull shared her upbringing included domestic violence and poverty. That inspired her to help women and children escaping abuse and she’s partnered with WIN House on several projects. She also works with at-risk youth in the foster system.

Being featured as a proud, independent Indigenous woman in such a well-known magazine is a way to highlight a population that often is ignored or silenced, Callingbull said.

“Indigenous women, we’re always considered a target,” she said. “People see us ‘less than’ and now… everyone knows what Sports Illustrated is… I’m in this position where I can use my voice (to) create change.

“It’s so crazy to think where I came from. I was this really insecure Native girl that didn’t even dare to dream because there was no one out there chasing the same dream. Now I’m signing contracts that say ‘Sports Illustrated’ on the top of it. I just can’t even comprehend it yet.

“It makes me so excited because who else is going to be doing this after me… There’s going to be more individuals chasing these dreams.”

View image in full screen

Ashley Callingbull, from Enoch Cree Nation, will become the first Indigenous woman to be in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Courtesy: Ashley Callingbull

Lisa Weber, president of the Institution for Advancement of Aboriginal Women, said Callingbull serves as a great role model. She’s setting goals and pursuing them and sharing that journey, Weber explained.

“It sends a very strong message and moves the bar forward in terms of breaking commonly what have been myths and stereotypes of Indigenous women.

“It really speaks to her confidence,” Weber added. “She’s a very talented young lady and this is an opportunity to really influence society’s perception of Indigenous women and their skills, abilities and talents.”

READ MORE: First Nations woman from Alberta crowned Mrs. Universe 2015

She stressed the importance of changing the status quo and challenging stereotypes.

“All of us, in our own ways, can take steps to address such barriers in society and I think this step by Ashley certainly contributes to that goal,” Weber said.

“It’s very significant for other Indigenous women and girls to see you set a goal, pursue it, and then anything is possible.

“We are making great strides in all kinds of fields and professions and I think it’s past time to accurately portray that.”

READ MORE: Canada is asking families of murdered, missing Indigenous women to wait for action plan. Why?

Callingbull started modeling in Edmonton when she was 18. Her first gig was Western Canada Fashion Week.

“I got encouraged to keep pushing myself and I thought it was really important to put myself out of my comfort zone to see what I’m made of. Now I’m fearless and I’m thriving and I’m manifesting my dreams.”

She said she’s proud of her background and wants to share it with everyone.

“It feels amazing to be representing my band — Enoch Cree Nation — representing Alberta and then representing Canada… It’s a really big deal. I feel really honoured.”

View image in full screen

Ashley Callingbull, from Enoch Cree Nation, will become the first Indigenous woman to be in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Courtesy: Ashley Callingbull

And, while being the first carries a weight, Callingbull feels the pressure is worth it. Representation matters, she says.

“I’ve had to be really strong, but once I’m walking through these spaces, I just want other Indigenous people to feel comfortable. I don’t want them to go through the same barriers and the same things — people telling them they don’t belong, they don’t belong here — the racism.

“Me, just standing here strong, as an Indigenous woman in a space where no one has been before, it’s monumental.”

Callingbull said the Sports Illustrated opportunity is “life-changing.”

“From that little girl I was before, I would have never even dared to dream that this was possible. To know that this moment is here now, it gives me the chance to let other little girls know that yes, the dream is possible. It can happen.

“When they see my face, they’ll feel represented and they’ll feel beautiful and be proud of their skin colour and their background and it’s something to never be ashamed of.”

Back in the USSR – surprises in the Russia-Ukraine conflict

It’d be funny, if it wasn’t so deadly serious.

A Soviet poster from the Second World War exhorts soldiers to “Fight bravely, sons of Suvorov and Chapayev”, 1941 (Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

TIM HARCOURT

THE INTERPRETER
Published 4 Mar 2022

My grandfather Kopel Harkowitz was born in Lismore, NSW which is experiencing the worst floods in more than a century. In 1880, when the last big wet hit the Northern Rivers, his father, (my great grandfather) Israel Harkowitz, was proprietor of the Lismore General Store and fortunately also had a paddle steamer, The Wandering Jew, run by his brother-in-law Daniel Berger.

Israel had come from Romania (Transylvania) to New South Wales, and his forebears from Kharkov, Ukraine (or Kharkiv, or Harkov hence the surname “Harkowitz”) now surrounded by Russian troops, just as Lismore is surrounded by water. It’s been a tragic week.

When surveying the world’s troubles in his century, my grandfather used to say, “wouldn’t the world be in a better place if it was run by a Jewish comedian?” Well, it seems in the Russia-Ukraine crisis, my grandfather may have got his wish.

The extraordinary courage and leadership of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian of Jewish background, has taken the world by surprise and he has won the admiration of the public and even some world-weary experienced politicians and pundits. His courage to stay in the capital Kyiv, with his cabinet under siege by Putin’s forces, was a real game-changer for the people of Ukraine and the world’s view of the conflict. In a crisis, you find out who the real leaders are.

As well as the Zelensky phenomenon – he having once played a history teacher-turned-accidental president on television – the Russia-Ukraine crisis has also brought about many surprises.

First, Putin’s aggression has united Europe rather than divided it. The United Kingdom and Poland called for support from the European Union and like-minded nations, then, after some reluctance, Germany joined the fray. Trade sanctions, investment sanctions and even military aid (from the EU itself). After years of complaints about the EU being too clumsy and bureaucratic, support for Ukraine has been swift and decisive with speeches from the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen exhibiting some much needed moral clarity, with Ukraine EU membership now on the cards. Even Switzerland, a non-EU member, who stayed neutral in the Second World War and did a lucrative business with Nazi Germany, has joined the party and taken strong action with full EU-style sanctions against Russia and Russian oligarchs trying to hide their fortunes in Swiss bank accounts.

Even the Central Bank, running out of reserves, had to force Russian companies to sell roubles back to them.

Second, Putin’s aggression has prompted swift action in the international financial system. And by swift I am referring to SWIFT – the Belgian-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which is a secure platform for financial institutions to exchange information about global monetary transactions. It’s a very important global information system that facilitates international trade, so locking Russia out causes major disruption to Russian exporters and importers trying to facilitate business with the rest of the world.

As well as SWIFT, the sanctions have frozen Russian assets abroad, putting pressure on the Russian rouble and causing hikes in interest rates. The economic sanctions bit as soon as business opened in Vladivostok as no one in the world will want to buy roubles, even the Central Bank of Russia. Even the Central Bank, running out of reserves, had to force Russian companies to sell roubles back to them, which really felt like we were back in the USSR in terms of economic management.

Sanctions on Russia’s access to the SWIFT banking system and the freezing of Russian assets abroad have put pressure on the Russian rouble and caused hikes in interest rates (Vardan Papikyan/Unsplash)

Third, the crisis has smashed the old “Don’t mix sport and politics” adage.

Despite some hesitation in the world of sport, in soccer (association football), St Petersburg has lost the Champions League Final, which it was going to host; UEFA and FIFA have banned Russia from participating in tournaments; and Russian gas giant Gazprom has been banned as a sponsor of events such as the Champions League. Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin, has handed over the club to its charitable foundation in a pre-emptive mood and has “offered” to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, but he will now have to face the inevitable and divest himself of the club.

In an unprecedented move, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating and stripped Russian President Vladimir Putin of his Olympic order. Similar moves are afoot to ban Russian tennis players from the international circuit and Russian racing car drivers from the Grand Prix events. Russia had already lost hosting the 2022 Formula 1 Grand Prix in Sochi.

Sport was the one area where Russia was still a superpower as it was back in the glory days of the USSR. After all, it hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 at great expense and the 2018 FIFA World Cup after winning the bid in dubious circumstances. Putting sports sanctions on Russia is the final blow to its former Soviet-like superpower status.

Images of rapeseed fields on blue skies (the colours of the Ukranian flag) have been populating social media in the past week (Olga Subach/Unsplash)


Fourth, rather than leading a new global bloc against the West, the Russians have found themselves friendless. By contrast, Ukraine pretty much has the rest of the world, whether it be the official statements of governments and the EU and UN, and the public taking to social media to support Ukraine in any way they can. Even Elon Musk offered extra satellite internet terminals to Ukraine to help them in the war of information against Russia.

The question remains, what about China and India?

India’s strong military arms ties to Russia (and its old links to the USSR) didn’t help. But Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s express pace trip to Moscow (showing the quickness of delivery seen in his Test Cricket days) could have been a good opportunity for India to change tack and back Ukraine.

Putin’s early troubles may not only save Ukraine, they may also prevent a return of Donald Trump in the United States and also save Taiwan too.

China’s also been hedging on this one, especially seeing the Ukraine fightback and the tough global sanctions on Russia. If Putin had invaded Ukraine with ease, and had the West done nothing to help, they may have acted on Taiwan.

Putin’s early troubles may not only save Ukraine, they may also prevent a return of Donald Trump in the United States and also save Taiwan too. That’s quite the trifecta.

So my grandfather’s wish of the world being saved by a Jewish comedian turned courageous president was indeed a surprise. But there’s been a story going around that the press interviewed Mrs Zelensky, the Ukraine President’s mother. And it goes like this:

Press: Mrs Zelensky, the whole world admires your son Volodymyr for his bravery and leadership. You must be very proud.

Mrs Zelensky: My other son is a doctor.

The first millennial left-wing president, Chile’s Gabriel Boric

A pragmatic proponent of “radical democracy”, Boric ties to international change with careful statements at home.


Chilean President Gabriel Boric holds a press conference with the international press at La Moneda Presidential Palace in Santiago (Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images)

ANTONIO CASTILLO

Published 15 Mar 2022  
The Americas   Follow @ACReporter

Last Friday, on 11 March, the world’s first millennial president was sworn in – Gabriel Boric. A leftist of 36 years of age, he will govern Chile until 2026. He is the youngest president and received the highest vote in Chile’s history. Boric was also one of the first left-wing leaders to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At Friday’s stiff oath-taking ceremony, Boric didn’t wear a tie. He never wears ties. He only owns one – an Australian aboriginal made tie, a gift from singer and activist Joan Baez. Environmental themes are displayed in Boric’s four visible tattoos – they were inspired by the landscape of his birthplace, Punta Arenas – the world’s most southern region.

The presidential sash Boric wore on his inauguration was made by sawists of Chile’s Textile Revolutionary Union. The women had met Boric in the streets of Santiago during the 2019 social explosion – a transformative citizens’ uprising where women played a central role.

Women became the most significant factor in Boric’s presidential triumph last December. Now women are key figures in his government – a “feminist government,” as has been described. With 14 out of 24 female-led ministries, women are heading some of the most influential portfolios.

Izkia Siches became the first minister of the Interior and Public Security in the country’s history. She is Boric’s chief of staff. In a massive statement to Chile’s armed force, Boric appointed Maya Fernández Allende as the Minister of Defence. Fernández Allende is the granddaughter of former President Salvador Allende, the democratically elected Socialist president overthrown by a military coup in 1973.

Boric, centre, as president elect in January, presentating his government cabinet at the Natural History Museum in Santiago (Javier Torres/AFP via Getty Images)

Boric nominated Camila Vallejo as Minister General Secretariat of Government. Vallejo, the charismatic member of the Communist Party, is a close political ally and confidant of the new Chilean president. In 2012, I bumped into Vallejo on one of the main thoroughfares of downtown Santiago. It was 16 May, during the students’ movements of 2011–12. Next to Vallejo was a then dishevelled and bushy Gabriel Boric. He was the president of the powerful Student’s Federation of Chile.

Boric’s fellow student travellers were on the streets too – Karol Cariola, now a congresswoman and Giorgio Jackson, today Boric’s Secretary-General. The four young student leaders marched under a banner of “Free and quality education”.

Boric is the face of the new Latin America left. He has criticised electoral fraud in Nicaragua and human rights abuses in Venezuela. His criticism has not pleased the ears of authoritarian left-wing leaders such as Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. He described Boric as part of the region’s “cowardly left”.

Boric’s programmatic platform resembles the ones proposed by US congresswoman and activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Brazilian President “Lula” da Silva – advocating for a compassionate role for the state towards its citizens.

Ideologically, he sympathises with the themes of “radical democracy” developed by the post-Marxist theorists Argentina’s Ernesto Laclau and Belgium’s Chantal Mouffe. Boric maintains a long-standing and close political relationship with the Spanish left – with the leaders of Podemos. He has personal ties to Pablo Iglesias and Íñigo Errejón.

He is pragmatic. Boric knows that Chile needs economic stability. He appointed Mario Marcel, a social democrat, to the Minister of Finance. Martel is a symbol of fiscal responsibility. His appointment brought relief in the markets and from the country’s conservative financial sector.

Boric’s programmatic platform resembles the ones proposed by US congresswoman and activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Brazilian President “Lula” da Silva, and José “Pepe” Mujica – the former left-wing Uruguayan president. They advocate for a compassionate role for the state towards its citizens.

During the 1973–1989 military dictatorship, Chile became the experimental laboratory of neoliberalism, an economic system that transformed Chile into one of the world’s most unequal countries. Under Boric, Chilean neoliberalism is gasping its last breath. “If Chile were the cradle of neoliberalism in Latin America, it would also be its grave,” he said during the electoral campaign.

Fundamentally, Boric’s ideological and programmatic platform pursues the achievement of a socialist, democratic, libertarian and feminist society. Boric advocates a welfare model similar to the European one. He pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy. He has proposed an ambitious tax reform to collect up to 5% of GDP in four years and replace the current private pension scheme left in place by the military dictatorship of Pinochet.

Boric is the first Chilean president who is not part of the two traditional centre blocs that have led Chile since the return to democracy in 1990. He belongs to the “generation without fear” – the ones who learned about the dictatorship from their parents, books or school.

Boric is an avid reader of poetry, fiction, essays and Camus. His Twitter account paraphrases Camus’ Chronicles: “Doubt must follow conviction like a shadow.” And it is because of his doubts, conviction, and pragmatism; Boric won’t rush to make the significant and numerous changes Chileans are demanding. The changes will be “slow,” he said in his presidential first speech on 11 March, “because we want to go far”.

Sustainable catch: navigating global fisheries crime

For a problem as wide as the ocean, many factors compound the challenge of protecting fish stocks.


The reporting standards of the catch is a challenge (WorldFish/Flickr)

ADAM GRAYCAR

THE INTERPRETER
Published 14 Mar 2022 

A fish consumed in Australia could be caught near Palau, by a Thai vessel with a Cambodian crew, shipped to a packing plant in Vietnam and sold to a distributor in Taiwan before reaching the Australian market.

The global scope of fisheries management makes it a contested area of international relations – a domain in which soft power, criminality and corruption all intersect. It is also a vital interest to Australia’s region, with the 2017 Department of Foreign Affaris and Trade Foreign Policy White Paper noting the importance of healthy and abundantly stocked oceans suitable for fisheries and tourism.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in conjunction with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is currently working on a legislative guide on combatting crimes in the fisheries sector. This is significant because not only has the annual global per capita fish consumption increased from 9.9 kilograms to 20.3 kilograms since the 1960s, the FAO estimates around 58 per cent of fish stocks globally are already decimated due to unsustainable practices, illegal fishing, pollution and habitat loss – further threatened by climate change. It is estimated that 26 million tonnes of fish are illegally caught each year amounting to approximately 15 per cent of globally caught fish valued at up to US$23.5 billion annually.

A challenging debate surrounds where to draw the boundary around crime. The UN draft legislative guide focuses on maritime zones and jurisdiction, costal states and flag states, port states, schedules of protected fish, areas designated for protection, offences, prosecution, sentencing, fines and penalties. These are all important, but only part of the story.

There are many domains that shape fisheries crime. There are environmental and sustainability issues, consistent with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. There is a human rights dimension as the industry has had many examples of trafficking and slavery. There is an economic and community development domain in that sector provides direct incomes for about 60 million people and for another 750 million indirectly. There is a health and nutrition domain given that fish are a significant part of the diet of billions of people. All of this is against a backdrop of an International relations domain in which spheres of influence, soft power and International alliances bounce off each other while the fish have no idea of where national jurisdictions end. All of these must be taken into account when dealing with means of protecting fish stocks.

However, identifying a starting point is difficult.

There is a fisheries value chain which includes the licensing and flagging of fishing vessels, the catch process which involves protected areas, and equipment and personnel for the catch. The reporting standards of the catch is a further challenge – data is not good and misreporting of sources, volumes, and species can have significant economic impacts. Landing the catch in friendly ports and transporting it is an important step before the sale of fish. Accounting for the sale affects taxation and can grease money laundering.

The fish have no idea of where national jurisdictions end.

Each of these steps is open to criminal exploitation. The UN is trying to deal with the criminality involved, but this cannot be done in isolation from the domain factors and the value chain factors. The criminality is aided by corruption, but illegality and corruption are different animals.

Corruption here involves officials condoning the criminality. When politicians corruptly make laws or regulations about the issuing of licences, setting of catch levels, the equipment which is permissible, and access zones for fishing, the playing field is not level. Activity that takes place can be justified by the transgressor saying they were obeying the rules. This is a different story to the activities of the officials who implement the laws who take bribes as they monitor the catches and the access as well as inspecting vessels and catches.

So on the one hand there is corruption in making the law, on the other corruption in implementing the law. Internal techniques can usually deal with the latter, but cross national issues come into play when dealing with the former.

There are many domains that shape fisheries crime (WorldFish/Flickr)

There are many treaties and conventions that are already in place and these can be used, but most are not fisheries specific. There is the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In addition there are several fisheries related agreements, but these are not universal, nor are they binding.

There are several ways forward in this complex area. Civil society has a role to play alongside government in promoting better documentation and data, and calling out breaches of transparency, accountability and traceability. Development aid can support civil society and media to gather information on incidences of corruption and promote awareness of anti-corrupt behaviour.

There is also a diplomacy approach and a law enforcement approach. There are
commitments to effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, in order to restore fish stocks and to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and undocumented fishing and refrain from introducing new subsidies.

When dealing with criminality the politics and international sensitivities are every bit as difficult as the law enforcement.

Ukraine war triggers debate on Japan’s nuclear option

In a new and volatile strategic environment, a decades-old commitment on non-proliferation is up for discussion.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has rejected the idea of hosting US nuclear weapons facilities (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Getty Images)

PURNENDRA JAIN
THE INTERPRETER
Published 14 Mar 2022  

In the wake of the Ukraine conflict, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister and now head of the largest faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has suggested that Japan consider hosting US nuclear weapons facilities on Japanese soil, similar to some European nations, such as Germany, which have nuclear sharing arrangements with the United States.

Abe’s suggestion was made in the context of Ukraine having renounced nuclear weapons in 1994, leaving itself vulnerable today. The announcement also comes on top of deepening concerns about China’s growing military assertiveness around Japan’s maritime space and beyond, and the dangerous situation on the Korean peninsula with threats from the nuclear-capable rocket-launching North Korea.

Debates over whether Japan should host nuclear weapons or even go fully nuclear are not new. In the mid-1970s, a book-length study by John Endicott considered the nuclear option. In the early 2000s, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe (both of whom later served as prime minister) again raised this prospect. It was quickly put to rest by Japan’s security analysts. Discussion has since continued among political and scholarly communities as to whether Japan should go nuclear, opt for a nuclear sharing arrangement with the United States by hosting nuclear weapons, or maintain its current non-nuclear weapons status.

Some smaller conservative opposition parties want to include nuclear options in policy discussions while considering Japan’s strategic objectives.

This latest eruption though is in a different context. This time, chairman of the General Council of the LDP Tatsuo Fukuda, who like his father Yasuo Fukuda before him holds an influential ruling party post and is touted as a future prime minister, has suggested that “we must not shy away from any debate whatsoever”. Last year’s LDP party presidential candidate and current LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi also favours a debate. Some smaller conservative opposition parties want to include nuclear options in policy discussions while considering Japan’s strategic objectives. The main opposition parties have, however, strongly resisted any such prospects, arguing in favour of Japan’s non-nuclear status.

Abe’s suggestion was promptly and solidly rejected by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as by the leader of the Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling LDP. Even Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s younger brother, adopted into the Kishi family, also dismissed the idea of hosting nuclear weapons on Japanese shores. Kishi may have expressed this view in order to align with his boss, Prime Minister Kishida, rather than reflecting his true thinking on the matter, given his political pedigree

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There is significant public opposition to raising Japan’s defence spending to two per cent of GDP 

(Alan Wilson/Flickr)

Kishida quickly confirmed that Japan firmly adheres to the three non-nuclear principles adopted in 1967, to not possess, produce or permit the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan’s territory. These principles remain sacrosanct, even though Japan has made substantial departures in defence and security matters in the past decade.

Abe’s comments can be understood in this context, which emanates from a rapidly evolving strategic environment, regionally as well as globally. As prime minister, Abe had introduced several policy initiatives that were unthinkable in previous decades, such as removing bans on defence-related exports, allowing Japan to work with allies and partners in collective self-defence, establishing Japan’s first National Security Council (NSC), and issuing the first-ever National Security Strategy (NSS).

Not only has the Kishida government announced an intended update to the NSS, first issued in 2013, it has also promised to revise the National Defence Program Guidelines and Mid-Term Defence Program issued in 2013 and 2018. All these updates and revisions are undertaken in view of a rapid transformation in the strategic environment.

The long-time self-imposed constraints on Japan’s defence spending, keeping it to less than one per cent of GDP, are also likely to be breached soon.

The Kishida government is likely to go even further and consider acquiring strike capabilities to ensure Japan’s territorial integrity and the safety of its people as well as protect US military assets in Japan, including some 50,000 US defence personnel.

The long-time self-imposed constraints on Japan’s defence spending, keeping it to less than one per cent of GDP, are also likely to be breached soon. The LDP under Kishida’s leadership has promoted for the first time the idea of spending two per cent of GDP in its policy documents just before the last general election in October 2021. Although such a change seems unlikely any time soon due to Japan’s poor fiscal health and significant public opposition, defence spending will definitely increase, as it has over the past decade.

Japan, along with Germany, has often been recognised as an example of a “civilian state”. Germany currently hosts US nuclear weapons facilities and, in view of the Ukraine conflict, has announced a significant increase to its defence budget. Calls are now being made to urge Japan to follow suit.

The postwar US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security has ensured that Japan has lived happily under US extended deterrence, including the nuclear umbrella. This arrangement is unlikely to change, barring an existential threat to Japan’s territory and sovereignty. But what seemed to be taboo in terms of Japan’s strategic policy – that is, breaching one per cent of GDP on defence spending and developing strike capabilities – is now being discussed seriously. No policy in international relations is eternal, it must change as a nation’s interests change.

Kadyrov Reportedly Travels To Ukraine, Where Chechen Paramilitaries Are Fighting

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (file photo)

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has reportedly traveled to Ukraine, where members of his feared militia force are believed to be fighting alongside regular Russian forces.

The TV channel controlled by Kadryov’s administration in Chechnya posted a video to the Telegram messaging app on March 13 saying Kadyrov was in Ukraine, though it did not give his exact whereabouts or say when the video was taken.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the claim. Kadyrov himself has not yet confirmed on his personal social media accounts that he is in Ukraine. However, it is known that units of the Chechen National Guard were sent to the country.

In the video, Kadyrov is shown meeting with soldiers as they describe their actions. A flag with the image of Kadyrov’s father, Akhmad, can be seen in the background.

Kadyrov speaks only briefly in the video, as a soldier explains how a unit took control of an orphanage 7 kilometers from Kyiv.

“The strategy that you suggested to us turned out to be 100 percent correct,” the soldier says.

The video is captioned: "Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov together with fighters participating in a special military operation in Ukraine."

The presence of Chechen fighters in Ukraine has been widely reported, with videos and photographs documenting their presence.

Some videos have been taken by Chechen units as they either prepared to depart for Ukraine, or as they were moving within Ukraine, and reposted to Kadyrov’s personal Telegram channel.

Chechen paramilitary units are widely considered to be a formidable fighting force, having been deployed, ostensibly with government authorization, to eastern Ukraine in the past, as well as to places like Syria.

For his part, Kadyrov runs Chechnya as his own fiefdom, having been authorized by Russian officials to take control of the region in the late 2000s after his father was assassinated in a bomb blast.

Large-scale fighting in Chechnya ended years ago, and the capital, Grozny, which was devastated by Russian forces in the 2000s, has been rebuilt, with gleaming skyscrapers and landscaped boulevards.

But Kadyrov’s forces have been linked to widespread rights abuses, kidnappings, and collective punishment. Kadyrov has also overseen a brutal purge that has targeted gay men.