Costa Rican maverick Chaves makes pitch to opposition after presidency win

2022/4/4 
© Reuters


By Diego Oré and Alvaro Murillo

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Economist Rodrigo Chaves extended a hand to the opposition upon winning the Costa Rican presidency on Sunday after a bruising election campaign in which the former World Bank official vowed to break with traditional politics.

Defeating former president Jose Maria Figueres by about 53% to 47% in a run-off vote, according to preliminary results, the bearded 60-year-old Chaves quickly dropped his confrontational campaign rhetoric and said it was time to work together.

"Tonight, let's set aside the party colors that can easily divide us," Chaves, told dozens of cheering supporters in the capital, San Jose, on Sunday night. "I humbly ask you that we unite beneath the blue, white and red of our national flag."

Chaves will take office next month with his Social Democratic Progress Party (PPSD) holding just 10 of the national parliament's 57 seats, while the party of Figueres, who came first in an indecisive first round vote in February, has 19.

At 57%, turnout was the lowest in decades, reflecting apathy among many voters in Costa Rica, where straitened economic times have fueled disenchantment with the political class.

Chaves, whose campaign was buffeted by allegations of sexual harassment stemming from his time at the World Bank, had vowed to use referenda to work around parliament, and also pledged to help the poor by keeping down the price of basic goods.

He has repeatedly denied the harassment allegations. But his policies, combative style and confrontational approach to the media drew comparisons to other anti-establishment leaders in the Americas, including former U.S. president Donald Trump.

A few dozen of Chaves' supporters gathered for a modest but lively watch party at a downtown hotel. Dancing began before the results and the festivities continued after his speech.

Caravans of revelers celebrating Chaves' victory honked their car horns as they passed the hotel where Figueres' supporters had gathered. Inside, the mood was somber and party flags were lowered immediately after Figueres conceded.

ECONOMIC CHALLENGE

In the end, a belief that Chaves could deliver a fresh start for Costa Ricans proved decisive in seeing off the challenge of Figueres, who was president from 1994-1998 and is a scion of one of the most powerful political families in the country.

Adrian Salazar, 57, and his family were among the Chaves supporters celebrating in the streets of central San Jose.

"I voted thinking we weren't going to win, but confident that we need new faces to save the country," said Salazar, attributing the triumph to a "hunger for real change."

Still, in his victory address, Chaves namechecked Figueres' father, three-time president Jose Figueres Ferrer, as he sought to win over opponents to help him govern.

Chaves spent almost three decades at the World Bank, and is not a complete newcomer to politics. He briefly served as finance minister under outgoing president Carlos Alvarado, who is barred by law from seeking immediate re-election.

Chaves sought to underline his economic credentials in his campaign pitch to Costa Ricans, who over the past two decades have seen unemployment steadily creep up, inequality rise and the country slip deeper into debt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2021, the country agreed to $1.78 billion in financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.

In exchange, the government vowed to adopt a raft of fiscal changes and austerity measures to stabilize finances. But the fragmented parliament has so far made little headway on them.

(Reporting by Diego Ore and Alvaro Murillo. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

State Department demands Mali allow 'impartial' investigation after 'large' massacre


The U.S. State Department has demanded that Mali allow an impartial investigation after reports of a large massacre in the town of Mourah last week. Google Maps screenshit


April 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department has demanded that Mali allow an impartial investigation after reports of a large massacre in the country last week.

"We are following the extremely disturbing accounts of large numbers of people killed earlier this week in the village of Mourah in the Mopti region of central Mali. We offer our condolences to the families of all civilians who died," spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa with a population of 20.3 million.,

Price said that the State Department is concerned about reports suggesting the massacre was conducted "unaccountable forces from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group."

"Other reports claim the Malian Armed Forces had targeted elements of known violent extremist groups," Price said.

"These conflicting reports illustrate the urgent need for the Malian transition authorities to give impartial investigators free, unfettered, and safe access to the area where these tragic events unfolded."

Not allowing for a "credible accounting" of the massacre would undermine the legitimacy of the transition government, Price said.

Mali's Armed Forces said in a statement Friday that it had killed 203 militants and arrested 51 others in an operation started March 23 amid an increase in violence in the country.

"This operation follows very precise information which allowed to locate the holding of a meeting between different Katibats in Mourah, stronghold of the terrorists for several years," the statement reads, in reference to armed Muslim militants.

"Large quantities of weapons and ammunition were recovered. The FAMa then carried out systematic cleaning of the entire zoned."

Radio France Internationale, a state-owned news broadcaster in France, reported that civilian and security sources indicated that the military had conducted "indiscriminate violence against the inhabitants."

"According to these sources, the village was surrounded by Malian soldiers and their Russian auxiliaries, deployed in large numbers," RFI reported. "Several sources even claim that the Russian troops deployed on the ground are greater than the Malian soldiers."

ALBERTA ENOCH CREE

The Story Behind the First Native Woman Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model



Ashley Callingbull (Courtesy Photo)BY LEVI RICKERT MARCH 27, 2022


Because our editorial staff is spread over several states, the Native News Online newsroom is actually a virtual newsroom. We meet virtually in editorial huddles to discuss potential articles for publication. We go through news releases we have received and to hear about events happening at tribes in Indian Country, and review and discuss new policies and programs for Native Americans out of Washington, D.C.

As a leading Native American publication read far beyond Indian Country, Native News Online strives to present stories accurately and, most important, with sensitivity.

One recent article we published demonstrates the lengths we go through as a Native American publication. Earlier this month, thirty-two-year old Ashley Callingbull (Enoch Cree Nation), a former Mrs. Universe (2015), was named a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue model finalist. The mere fact that Callingbull—the first Indigenous woman from North America named to the finalist list—was newsworthy and we felt obligated to report on it.

There always is a certain amount of Native pride that comes when anyone is named “first” among our tribal communities.

[RELATED: “It’s About Damn Time”: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Features First Indigenous Model, Ashley Callingbull]

The night before our editorial huddle, I saw postings on social media that both praised and criticized Callingbull on her achievement of becoming a swimsuit model. The consensus of those criticizing her was because of the perceived exploitation associated with a woman exposing her body.

One man posted on Callingbull’s Facebook page: “Being a model is a superficial affair, and when you finally get diversity in a thing like modeling, it is still based on something as shallow.”

Reading the pushback on social media made our staff realize the story we published had to be written with balance and sensitivity. So, our editorial team spent more time than usual discussing how to write the article. Among our editorial huddle that day were two males (including me) and two females.

To my surprise, both females did not have a problem with Callingbull becoming a swimsuit model and were not willing to buy into the exploitation argument.

Valerie Vande Panne, our managing editor, who maintains strong opinions on a wide range of topics on a normal basis, surprised me the most.

“Few things are more degrading to a woman than telling her that she is incapable of making her own choices about her own body or life. It is degrading to judge a woman for choices you don't agree with,” Vande Panne opined to our group.

“Often, people believe when they make judgements about a woman's decisions, about what she wears or what she does for a career, they are ‘trying to help her’ or hope to get her to ‘see how wrong’ she is. This is just as degrading as the aggressors the person thinks they are protecting her from. Degradation is not protection,” Vande Panne continued.

“And, modeling is work. Like athletes, models make it look easy–that’s their job. But it is still work,” she added.

Two days later, we published our article, written by Native News Online senior reporter, Jenna Kunze, who interviewed Callingbull for the article.

The article debunked the notion that modeling is a superficial affair or shallow as the reader commented. At least, not in Ashley Callingbull’s case.

Kunze’s article reminded me of what my mother taught me and my siblings: Beauty is measured beyond the external part of a human; a person’s beauty should be inside as well. The takeaways from the article were: Callingbull is a descendant of residential school survivors and after losing a sister at 14, she decided to heal from her painful loss by becoming a volunteer and a motivational speaker.

“My story, the beginning of it, is a very common story in Indian Country,'' Callingbull told our reporter. “Something that a lot of Indigenous people face is intergenerational trauma, and I share how I overcame that and how I'm still on my healing journey, and what my steps were to become the person that I am. For me, I decided that the cycle (of intergenerational trauma) ends here with me.”

In Indian Country, ending the intergenerational trauma cycle is huge. It is a decision to want to heal and overcome the obstacles that so often confront us so it doesn’t attach the pain down to another generation. When that happens, with one’s self, it adds to the sheer beauty of that person because overcoming is in fact beautiful.

Callingbull was one of 13 finalists chosen for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue of thousands that applied. Among the other models chosen are women who identify as astronauts, criminal justice lawyers, ICU nurses, breast cancer survivors, professional athletes, and more. “This group of women is emblematic of SI Swimsuit’s values and all the finalists inspire action throughout their communities,” the magazine wrote in its announcement.

Our article did get some pushback from some readers, but that is okay. We certainly know we were not out to exploit Callingbull or any other woman for that matter. But, by publishing our article, we were able to tell that story behind the story which is that Ashely Callingbull is a beautiful person inside and out.

GOOD NEWS OUT OF ARIZONA

Indigenous Designers Named Finalists for Prestigious Phoenix Fashion Week Award


Norma Baker Flying Horse (left) of Red Berry Woman and Rita Zebell (right) of House of Mae Noir are two finalists for Designer of the Year at the 2022 Phoenix Fashion Week.

 (Photo collage by Darren Thompson.)

BY DARREN THOMPSON 

 MARCH 31, 2022

For the first time in its history, Phoenix Fashion Week features two Indigenous finalists for the Designer of the Year award: Norma Baker-Flying Horse of Red Berry Woman and Rita Zebell of House of Mae Noir.

Both designers went through a rigorous selection process that took months of preparation, submissions, interviews, and follow-up. The winner will be announced April 16.

“I’m excited, nervous, and feeling the pressure because the previous winner was an Indigenous designer,” Baker-Flying Horse told Native News Online. “I really have to step up my game and my work because although we are both Indigenous designers, we have different styles and it’s important for the organizers to see that.”

For Zebell, being selected as a finalist is an achievement that’s been on her radar for several years.

“It’s been a long time goal, and I am super excited,” Zebell told Native News Online. “I’m very happy to be chosen as one of the finalists for Designer of the Year.”

The two-day fashion event will showcase Spring and Summer 2022 collections with 20 designer runway shows April 15-16. Phoenix Fashion Week is considered the leading fashion industry event in the Southwest.

This year marks Phoenix Fashion Week’s first live event since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Indigenous fashion designer Loren Aragon (Acoma Pueblo), who owns the ACONAV fashion brand, earned the Phoenix Fashion Week Designer of the Year award.

Baker-Flying Horse’s Red Berry Woman brand has established a reputation as a traditional and contemporary fashion line rooted in Native culture. An enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, her designs have graced the red carpet at the Grammy Awards and have been worn by former Mrs. Universe and current Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Ashley Callingbull (Cree). The brand has also been showcased at fashion shows from Paris to the United National Inter-Tribal Youth’s (UNITY) annual conference.

Red Berry Woman by Norma Baker Flying Horse at the 2022 Native Fashion in the City in Denver, Colorado. (Photo courtesy of Pharaoh 171 Photography.)Baker-Flying Horse’s designs incorporate Native American traditional garment styles into contemporary couture garments and ready-to-wear fashion for women and men.

She takes pride in her heritage and craftsmanship and strives to showcase her work as having an educational component.

“One of the things I would like to see my business accomplish is to help break stereotypes that we’re all the same,” Baker-Flying Horse said. “The other is cultural appropriation. I want people to know … what not to appropriate from our traditional cultures.”

House of Mae Noir. (Photo courtesy of Riza Zebell)

The other Indigenous finalist, Zebell, lives in the Phoenix area and is originally from the Navajo Nation. She recalls pursuing fashion after attending her first Phoenix Fashion Week more than seven years ago. She has since attended Phoenix College and earned a degree in fashion design.

Zebell never thought she’d be featured as one of the designers for the prestigious fashion show, let alone for Designer of the Year. However, she recalls putting in the work and participating in Phoenix Fashion Week’s various programs, including its signature Designer Boot Camp.

Zebell predominantly uses leather that is organic, vegan and ethically sourced in her designs. She calls her own style “Pin-up Retro” style, and hopes to soon incorporate her Diné cultural designs into her clothing. This year marks her first full runway show at the Phoenix Fashion Show.

Each week, the Phoenix Fashion Week showcases its designers and their progress on its Instagram account, @phxfashionweek. Each designer is teamed with a team of industry experts that focus on a variety of skills within the industry from marketing to distribution.

Instead of Will Smith and Chris Rock, We Should Discuss Judge Jackson’s Confirmation Hearings



(Photo: CSPAN Screenshot)

BY LEVI RICKERT 

 APRIL 03, 2022

https://nativenewsonline.net/

Opinion.

 Native American cartoonist Ricardo Caté (Santo Domingo Pueblo), creator of the Santa Fe New Mexican’s daily “Without Reservations” comic, posted online a cartoon with the caption: “Slap heard ‘round the world” after actor Will Smith smacked comedian Chris Rock during the Academy Awards television last Sunday night.

The slap spurred countless conversations and social media posts during the past week with most falling into two camps: those who admired Smith for defending his wife after Rock told a joke about her, or others who supported Rock and denounced the slap as an act of violence.

Comedian George Lopez weighed in by likening the situation to a divorce where kids are made to choose between two parents. “I’m staying with my dad and Chris Rock,” Lopez joked to People on Wednesday.

The public was certainly intrigued by the scene that lasted less than a couple of minutes and will have virtually zero impact on their lives. 

Meanwhile, another tussle that played out on TV over the past few weeks seemed to capture just a fraction of the public’s attention, even though the implications of that scuffle may loom large for years. 

I am talking about the televised badgering and gross disrespect shown by GOP senators on Capitol Hill to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is President Joe Biden’s nominee to join the Supreme Court and fill the seat being vacated by retiring Associate Justice Stephen Beyers.

Some GOP senators sought to press Judge Jackson on her record as a district judge in sentencing those guilty of child pornography crimes. They said she was too lenient. An analysis of by the Washington Post of showed that “according to a 2020 U.S. Sentencing Commission report, less than 30 percent of non-production child-porn offenders received a sentence within the guideline range.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spent his time verbally slapping Judge Jackson over critical race theory complete with blow-ups about Antiracist Baby, a children’s book about race. He asked the judge, “Do you agree with this book that is being taught to kids that babies are racist?”

“I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist,” Judge Jackson replied, “or as though they are not valued, or as though they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors — I don’t believe in any of that.”

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), who just last year voted for Judge Jackson’s confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals, asked her, “What faith are you, by the way?” That’s a question that is likely illegal under federal law, but Jackson began to answer, only to be rudely interrupted by Graham.  

Instead of a two-minute slap heard ‘round the world, Judge Jackson had to endure two days of mostly White Republican senators who seemed pleased to bully a Black woman. The whole debacle was appalling to me. The senators’ disrespect speaks volumes about how successful Black and Native American women are treated in today's society.

The silence by Americans speaks volumes about how we simply accept the treatment of women of color.

Some argue President Biden should not have specified he would name a Black woman to the highest court in the land. He did so to fulfill a campaign promise made during a Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina.

Given the imbalance of the U.S. Supreme that has been 95 percent white males throughout the history of the United States, I am proud Biden made that promise and eagerly await for him and future presidents to make the same promise to do so with a Native American—female or male—in the future.

Considering the gross imbalance of shared power throughout, I have always been a supporter of affirmative action when it comes to equality issues.

After 12 hours of testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday night, Judge Jackson was questioned by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) on voting rights and tribal sovereignty. Her response:

“It is established in the law, the Supreme Court has established, that there is a special trust relationship between Indian tribes and the federal government. Indian tribes are, as a general matter, considered to be sovereigns, and the relationship is a sovereign-to-sovereign relationship, but it's one in which the federal government has some responsibilities related to the Indian nations, and it's a very, very important care and trust responsibility that the federal government has in terms of making sure that the tribes are recognized and cared for, in the context of our system.”

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) wrote a letter to U.S. senators this past Monday endorsing her nomination and requesting swift confirmation.

“Based on her qualifications, integrity, and respect she has throughout the legal profession, we believe that Judge Jackson is uniquely qualified to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Our federal courts and especially the highest court in the United States must be more representative of the governments and people they serve. NCAI and NARF support the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and call for her swift confirmation," the letter reads.

The Senate Judiciary is set to vote on whether to advance Judge Jackson’s nomination to the full Senate on Monday, April 4, 2022.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson deserves confirmation.

Temporary Hospital Shutdown Sheds Light on Northern Ontario Physician Shortages

BY KELSEY TURNER 

 MARCH 30, 2022

The Red Lake Margaret Cochenour Memorial Hospital in Northwestern Ontario, in a remote small town about 330 miles (535 km) northwest of Thunder Bay, shut down its emergency department for 24 hours over the weekend of March 26-27 due to a lack of physicians. Residents experiencing medical emergencies had to travel about 130 miles to the nearest open hospital, in Dryden.  

During the closure from 8 a.m. Saturday, March 26, to 8 a.m. Sunday, March 27, four emergency calls were made in the Red Lake area. One caller, whose emergency occurred Sunday morning near the end of the closure, was able to be admitted to Red Lake Margaret Cochenour. The others were transported by land ambulance to Dryden Regional Health Center.

“The consequences – as far as we understand them to be, with limitations of confidentiality – were inconvenient, but not life-threatening,” said Dr. Akila Whiley, the hospital’s chief of staff. “I think we got lucky that day.”

In the future, they might not be so lucky, Whiley said. 

Hospital President and CEO Sue LeBeau thinks more shutdowns will occur, as physician shortages in Northern Ontario are leaving hospitals with limited resources. “If not at our hospital, then I would say definitely in Northwestern Ontario,” she said. “We have a number of sister hospitals who have had close calls, and this remains a concern.”

The 18-bed Red Lake hospital has the capacity to have seven full-time physicians on staff. It currently has less than six, meaning these doctors are constantly on call, LeBeau said. “They’re 24-hour shifts. And we have a number of our physicians who do strings of one-in-two and one-in-three calls for many days in a row. So it’s hard.” Commute times are also a challenge for their physicians who live out of town, she added.

LeBeau and Whiley agree that burnout, especially through the pandemic, has been a large factor in the physician shortages. “People have been asked to work under unique circumstances for a prolonged period, and just can’t really do it anymore,” Whiley said.

The hospital’s 24-hour shutdown, however, also sheds light on more systemic reasons for the region’s doctor shortages. “There is inequity in funding in how physicians are compensated for working in the north,” LeBeau said. “There’s insufficient consideration for the hardships related to travel. For physicians who want to live here, their partners may not be able to secure the employment that they could in a larger community, for instance.” 

These inequities in accessing emergency services disproportionately affect Northern Ontario’s Indigenous communities, Whiley said. Nearly one in five people in the province’s North West region identify as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, according to a 2017 report by Health Quality Ontario. First Nations and Métis people in Ontario face “significantly greater risk” of disease and illness, as well as less access to primary and specialist care compared to non-Indigenous Ontarians, the report stated.

“We have reserves or communities near to us that are not always adequately resourced in terms of health care,” Whiley said. A lack of resources on reserves means Indigenous patients often come to Red Lake and other hospitals in the region for care, she added. 

Whiley recalled an instance earlier in the week when the hospital’s emergency department was full. All patients in the department at the time identified as Indigenous. “I think you could pretty broadly say that in Northwestern Ontario, any inequities will impinge upon the Indigenous community before any other group,” she said.

Member of provincial Parliament Sol Mamakwa, a Kingfisher Lake First Nation member representing the electoral district of Kiiwetinoong, has recognized the need to prevent emergency-room shutdowns. He is calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to provide staff and resources to northern hospitals to keep their emergency departments open. 

“This government’s lack of funding for specialist supports, lack of fair pay, and lack of support for local medical residency programs have put these hospitals on the knife’s edge,” Mamakwa said in a statement March 28. “We can start to fix this problem — but only with a government that cares about Northern, fly-in, and First Nations communities, and is willing to invest in better health care.” 

To achieve better care among communities in Red Lake and the surrounding areas, inequities must be addressed at their roots, LeBeau said. “Determinants of health matter. So whether they have access to housing or transportation or appropriate support, whether physicians have the opportunity to take the time to learn more about the impacts of colonization, for instance. Those things can’t happen when you’re just barely getting by covering emergency services or primary care.”

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Thunder Bay announced March 15 that it will add 30 spots for undergraduate medical students and 41 for postgraduate residents over the next five years, increasing its capacity by more than half. LeBeau hopes this will help increase the number of physicians in the north.

An Ontario Medical Association report last year said Northern Ontario would need 300 more doctors to end the shortage.

Still, Whiley and LeBeau fear shutdowns like the one March 26 will become more common in the region. 

“This is likely going to happen again if nothing changes. So there needs to be room for innovative models of care, there needs to be room for creativity, and there needs to be some tangible support for physicians,” LeBeau said. “And that very much needs to consider the needs and capabilities, I think, of our Indigenous communities.”

WELL OF COURSE HE DID

Rep. Matt Gaetz Votes Against Capping Insulin Prices, Says People Should Just Lose Weight

The Florida congressman said “the price of insulin increases as waistlines increase.”

STEPHANIE MENCIMER

Senior Reporter

Mother Jones


Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and one of the few obese people he seems to like. 

Megan Varner/Getty Images

On Thursday, the House passed a Democratic-sponsored bill to cap the price of insulin at $35 a month for most Americans, an effort to crack down on price-gouging by drug makers who have raised the price of a lifesaving product used by millions of Americans by almost 500 percent in recent years. Some people now pay more than $1,000 a month for insulin to treat diabetes, even with insurance. Democrats had been seeking a way to rein in drugs prices overall in a broader policy proposal, but it had little chance of passing the Senate. Hoping for bipartisan compromise, they siloed the insulin price control as its own measure. Still, only 12 House Republicans voted in favor of a bill that’s wildly popular with the American public.

Among those voting “no” was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the GOP’s leading troll, who has come up with perhaps one of the most offensive justifications for GOP opposition to the popular bill. In his newsletter Friday, Gaetz told his constituents that he opposed the bill because fat people, not Big Pharma, are responsible for driving up the cost of insulin. He suggested that Type 2 diabetes, which is often linked to obesity, could be cured if only people would workout more and lose weight, at which point they wouldn’t need insulin anymore and the drug costs would fall without government intervention. Gaetz wrote:

While Democrat posturing of H.R. 6833 victimizes insulin payees as people with an uncontrollable disease that are being taken advantage of and need Big Brother to throw them a raft, lifestyle changes en masse would expeditiously lower demand and the subsequent prices of insulin. 90-95% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which “can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, eating healthy food, and being active.” Arbitrary price controls are no substitute for individual weight control. Since 2000, the number of diabetes cases in the U.S. has nearly doubled. The demand for insulin has increased and the requisite price increase has followed suit. In other words, the price of insulin increases as waistlines increase.

More than a quarter of Florida residents are obese, including Gaetz’s favorite Palm Beach resident, former president Donald Trump. And more than 10 percent of the state’s population suffers from diabetes, not all of which is caused by lifestyle factors. Gaetz’s attempt to sympathize with then was probably not very convincing. “While I empathize with all Americans suffering from disease and will continue to fight Big Pharma, I voted against H.R. 6833,” he wrote. “I will not see a reemergence of FDR price controls and join the Democrats in their attempt to pave the Road to Serfdom.”

This isn’t the first time Gaetz has shown real scorn for overweight people. In January, on his podcast “Firebrand,” he decried Twitter’s banning of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for “telling the truth” about the relationship between Covid and obesity. After a segment about his advocacy for medical marijuana, he warned that legal weed was “not an excuse for America to sit home fat and high.” He decried “woke” culture for “cheerleading for the chubbies.”

“I’m not here to fat shame anyone,” he said. “I’d have no room to talk. I know personally how challenging issues of weight can be. I’m frequently way behind in my own goals. But society has now gotten to the point where it’s considered verboten to consider that a daily salad might make you more resilient to all kinds of disease than the vax of the month pushed by Big Pharma. Where’s Michelle Obama when you need her?” He expressed nostalgia for the former First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” campaign and puzzled over how the country had gone from her push for a better diet to the current “obesity-embracing woketopia,” where people are accusing “the Body Mass Index of being a tool of white supremacy.”

Even his own colleagues are not immune from Gaetz’s obesity scorn. He once took a potshot at Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who has openly discussed his struggle with obesity and went through weight-loss surgery in August, suggesting that Nadler should be put in charge of the “congressional weight loss program.”

While Gaetz may claim to empathize with people struggling with weight issues, he clearly doesn’t think he’s one of them. In August, he declared that he didn’t “fit in” with other members of Congress because most of them are old, obese people.

 

CULTURE WORKERS UNITE IN CLIMATE FIGHT

LES TRAVAILLEURS DE LA CULTURE S’UNISSENT 

DANS LA LUTTE POUR LE CLIMAT

It’s Time to Harness the Arts and Cultural Sector in Our Fight Against Climate Change

It’s also time we revisited our cultural policy framework in Canada.

April 3, 2022 by QUOI Media Group 


By Anthony Garoufalis-Auger

The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, announced he will soon be holding a national summit on the recovery of the arts and culture sector. Among the topics of discussion will be the critical role for the cultural sector in the fight against climate change.

That’s good news.

Arts and culture are usually absent from discussions about climate and environmental policy. Currently, the federal government’s Net Zero Advisory Group includes no representation from the social sciences or cultural sector. Neither do the climate mitigation models used in Canada to help guide government policy include culture and broad behavioral change in their parameters.

The assumption is that culture won’t change enough to challenge our obsession with unsustainable economic growth and that future technological developments will – fingers crossed – save the day.

The environmental challenges we are facing call for nothing less than having to rapidly transform our society to bring human activity within planetary limits to ensure the long-term viability of all species. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, the world needs to reduce planet heating pollution by at least 7.6 per cent per year, every year this decade, to limit global heating.

So, what role might the arts and cultural sector play in facing the climate and ecological emergency?

There’s a growing recognition that our planetary emergency can’t be addressed through an incremental approach. Calls for a WW2-scale economic and social mobilization have been growing in the United States, Canada, and Europe, thanks to groups like Sunrise Movement, World War Zero, Extinction Rebellion, and thought leaders like Joseph Stiglitz and Seth Klein.

We know that economic mobilization will require supply-side policies, like rapidly phasing out fossil fuels, transforming our food systems, and restructuring our built infrastructure accordingly. But alone, these won’t be sufficient. Without a parallel social mobilization – through the use of culture and information – the rapid adoption of lifestyle and behavioral changes at the population level needed will likely not materialize.

Multiple initiatives are now emerging around creating a larger role for arts and cultural institutions that both implement greening practices and imagine how culture can help shape the ecological values and norms needed to shift us from hyper-consumerism to environmental stewardship.

This is the mission of the newly formed Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency (SCALE) organization, which will be launching publicly in the coming months. In partnership with the Climate Emergency Unit, SCALE is attempting to catalyze the sector around addressing our planetary emergency.

SCALE was founded on the belief the arts and cultural community in Canada is uniquely placed to help with the emergency mobilization required. The organization recognizes the power of storytelling to help us embrace new perspectives and create a sustainable vision of the society we aim to build.

It’s through arts and culture we can win hearts and minds to engage citizens in rigorous, sustained individual and collective action and gain support needed for success of supply-side policies. SCALE is working to outline what exactly a green and just recovery for the sector would look like in the lead up to the summit.

It’s also time we revisited our cultural policy framework in Canada.

Canada’s cultural framework, infrastructure, and funding programs need to create an enabling environment for the sector to participate fully in such a mobilization. Many of the programs and institutions under Canadian Heritage date back more than 20 years and weren’t conceived with 21st century challenges in mind. It’s time we embraced the power of this sector to help meet our international climate and environmental obligations.

We urgently need to reflect on the essential role arts and culture have in addressing our planetary emergency and enabling a green recovery. The summit will be a welcome opportunity for artists and cultural workers to raise their voice about the emergency and imagine a stronger role for their sector in reauthoring our global discourse towards a sustainable pathway forward.

Anthony Garoufalis-Auger is an organizer with the Climate Emergency Unit. He is a founder and coordinating circle member of the Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency (SCALE). He lives in Montreal.

—

This post was previously published on quoimedia.com and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

INDIA

Sweatshops behind Sarojini: Masterjis and women who run Delhi’s ‘pocket-friendly’ fashion

There's a reason Delhiites can live up to their forever dressed-up, decked-up reputation. And it's hidden in the gullies of Ashok Bazaar and Tank road.

SHUBHANGI MISRA
4 April, 2022 

Crowded Lajpat Nagar market. | Photo Credit: Manisha Mondal


New Delhi: Calls of “100 rupaye, 100 rupaye, sab kuch 100 rupaye,”, “Madam jeans for 300 only!”, “Madam, A1 chappals for you, 150 only”, “Aapka dhyan kidhar hai? Sasta kapda idhar hai”, echo in the flea markets of Delhi — Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar to Janpath and Karol Bagh. In the background, like white noise, is the chatter of young and old, students and professionals, rich and not-so-rich alike. But no one hears the silent stitching machines hidden away behind the crammed establishments. Everyone is out to fill their wardrobes with pocket-friendly, trendy clothes. No one asks why the shopkeepers offer their wares at dirt cheap prices. No one notices the labour.

While tailors, the ‘masterjis’ of the world, who run the show from behind the curtain are mostly men, they’re accompanied by women who help in cutting, sewing, packing and finishing the product. For this, they’re paid a paltry sum of Rs 1.50 per cloth. Three women ThePrint spoke to said they make about Rs 500 a day, which means they cut about 300 clothes working for 12 hours on average. The load increases during festival time.

Studies across the world have shown that relentless work in sweatshops are detrimental to workers’ health, and leads to breathing difficulties because of long exposure to garment dust. Apart from that, there is also the question of back and joint pain.

Shop in Lajpat Nagar market. | Photo Credit: Manisha Mondal

Satwant Singh, president of Tank Road wholesale traders’ association, explains that migrant labourers from Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, come to the area in search of employment. The labour, he says, is relatively cheap, which helps in keeping the prices of clothes on the lower spectrum.

Everyone in Delhi has theories for the low price of clothes in the flea markets— ranging from second-hand clothes to export surplus. But it’s the jam-packed wholesale markets with sweatshops inside them, perfectly hidden in the narrow gullies of the capital, that ensure Delhiites can live up to their forever dressed-up, decked-up reputation.

Also Read: Delhi’s bespoke shoemakers are carving out a market niche with focus on fit, quality

Ashok Bazaar and Tank road — their oral histories

Welcome to Ashok Bazar in East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar where live wires hang just six feet above the ground, drains are clogged up, and hoards of people brisk-walk along gullies with shops on either side in the simmering heat when the mercury hits 40 degrees Celsius daily. About 11 kilometres from here is the Tank Road Market in Karol Bagh, which offers a similar experience.

These are two of the biggest garment manufacturing hubs in the capital — Ashok Bazar with 15,000 shops and 5,000 small cloth manufacturing factories and Tank Road Market with 4,000 shops and factories.

Traders and manufacturers sit together, working in tandem, making thousands of suits, kurtis, jeans, pants, socks, and underwear from 8 am to long after nightfall. Association heads of both markets say their daily turnover runs into crores of rupees. According to association owners, Gandhi Nagar has a reported daily turnover of Rs 400 crore, Tank Road Market has a Rs 500 crore monthly turnover.

Delhi’s markets have a significant clientele. “Sarojini shopkeepers have their agents stationed here, and we also have representatives in the market reading what kind of products women desire. Saket, INA, Karol Bagh… all of NCR buys clothes from us,” says KK Bali, president of Association of Readymade garments dealers, Ashok Bazaar.

A salesman in Lajpat Nagar market. | Photo Credit: Manisha Mondal

Representatives of textile mills from Ahmedabad, Mumbai (Greater Mumbai area), Surat, and even Bhilwara in Rajasthan have been stationed in the market, Bali says, so getting the required cloth is also smooth.

The 71-year-old Bali is also a treasure trove of the oral history of the market. He says that till 1972, Gandhi Nagar was a residential locality, when some cloth shops started cropping up, and a weekly cloth market started in ‘yamuna paar’. Shopkeepers, back then, used to source clothes from Sadar Bazaar and Azaad market and eventually diversified to importing clothes from Ludhiana and Kolkata.

The market picked up in the early ’80s, when political and social turmoil in Punjab forced hosiery traders and manufacturers out of Ludhiana, who came to Ashok Bazaar and set up shops. From there, Ashok Bazaar turned into Asia’s largest wholesale readymade garments hub. Currently, 3 to 4 lakh people are employed there.

Tank Road wholesale traders association president Satwant Singh said the market exclusively dealt in ‘export surplus’ before 1989. “If you go further back in history, this market was an international hub for fake hair and wigs,” he says. In the early ’90s, the market started evolving into a jeans manufacturing hub. “Jeans used to be too expensive for a common man to own. Inflation-adjusted, they didn’t cost any less than Rs 4,000. Our traders understood this problem and imported two machines to make jeans here at an affordable rate. They brought down the cost from Rs 4,000 to just 300. From there this market picked up and became a garment manufacturing hub,” he says

Why prices are low

Apart from cheap labour, ‘illegally’ sourced export surplus from Bangladesh and second-hand clothes also ensure prices are under the Rs 500 range.

Tank Road also has a lot of traders dealing in export surplus material. From Zara to Jack and Jones to Levis and Nike to Adidas — you name the brand and it’s there in the market. Traders get Bangladesh’s surplus clothes from Kolkata. However, they may not always take the legal route. “Most of the export surplus clothes come into the country from Bangladesh or China, but most of these links have been illegally established,” Bali said.

A picture of Palika Bazar gate. | Photo Credit: Suraj Singh Bisht

Second-hand clothes make up a minuscule percentage of the clothes traded. “Clothes are sent for washing and dying in Faridabad, Panipat… from here they come refurbished, ready to be used by Delhi’s women,” said a trader who didn’t wish to be named.

Also Read: Research shows intermediaries’ role is misunderstood. Local market realities more at play
Demand for redevelopment

The old markets started in residential areas today are swollen to the brim. The overcrowded, narrow gullies are not just a hazardous set-up but also hinder businesses.

“Businessmen from around the world come to Ashok Bazaar, but we don’t even have a multi-level car parking where visitors can park their cars. There are long traffic jams every day. A lot of pollution and loss to our business occurs because of this,” Bali said.

Picture of a crowded Sarojini Nagar market. | Photo Credit: Suraj Singh Bisht

“The municipal corporation does nothing. For 5,000 shops here there are only three toilets. The association has had to maintain them. We’ve stationed staff there for daily cleaning,” complained Singh.

Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia recently proposed a plan to redevelop the city’s markets. Wholesale market associations are hopeful that Sisodia will turn his gaze at them too and redevelop areas the way Chandni Chowk has been.

Clogged drains, narrow lanes, wires hanging loose, electricity towers in the middle of the road, long traffic jams and lack of transport are some of the things that need addressing. But Sisodia’s Rs 100 crore set aside for redevelopment has been termed too little. The government might have to loosen its purse strings a bit and be more liberal.

(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)

Australia gives US hypersonics a much-needed boost

Australian firm Hypersonix says it can 3-D print a hypersonic engine in a mere three weeks

By GABRIEL HONRADA

APRIL 4, 2022

Concept art of the DART AE UAV. 

Photo: University of Southern Queensland

As the US struggles to field its own hypersonic weapons, Hypersonix, a small Australian civilian company, might provide the much-needed hypersonic engine technology to help the US to develop the weapons.

The Hypersonix scramjet engine was introduced to senior US officials last month and appears to have several advantages over more complex US systems. Notably, the company claims it can 3D-print a hypersonic engine in three weeks.

Hypersonix’s engine can be 3D-printed using special alloys characterized by resistance to corrosion, oxidation, high pressure and high temperature. In addition, more exotic coatings are planned to be used for exposed hypersonic vehicle flight control surfaces, which endure extreme temperatures during hypersonic flight.

However, Hypersonix managing director David Waterhouse said the necessary high-temperature-resistant composites are not readily available in Australia and there is an urgency to develop and produce them in-country.

Last month Hypersonix, together with the University of Southern Queensland, LSM Advanced Composites and Romar Engineering, was awarded a A$2.9 million (US$2.2 million) grant from the Australian government to develop the DART CMP airframe, a reusable hypersonic UAV that can travel up to speeds of Mach 12, powered by the SPARTAN hydrogen engine.

The project aims to produce a complete UAV airframe including composite aeroshell and aerodynamic control surfaces, flight avionics and a hydrogen fuel system.

This January, Hypersonix and US-based firm Kratos signed an agreement to launch the DART AE, a multi-mission, hypersonic vehicle powered by a hydrogen-fueled scramjet engine.

Kratos’ booster system will accelerate the DART AE to Mach 5 for vehicle release. Following ignition of the scramjet, the hypersonic vehicle will fly autonomously along a programmed flight path to a predetermined landing location.


It is designed to operate between Mach 5 and 12, with a publicly disclosable range of 500 kilometers, using a mechanically simpler hydrogen system for engine thrust, giving it variable speed control and a huge range.

The Delta-Velos Orbiter which contains the SPARTAN (ScramJet Powered Accelerator for Reusable Technology AdvaNcement) launching a 3rd stage booster.

 Credit – Hypersonix

Its scramjet engine takes in atmospheric oxygen, which reduces weight up to 60% compared to rockets. Also, the development of new high-temperature composite materials in the project enables the DART AE to be completely reusable.

Hypersonix has also finished several hypersonic shock tunnel tests at the University of Southern Queensland and has done extensive modeling on its DART AE hypersonic vehicle, with the first test launch expected next year.

Hypersonix co-founder Dave Waterhouse said the advantage of this engine design is that it has fixed geometry and employs no moving parts, which are potential points of failure, in contrast to more complex US designs.

He added that since the engine can be turned on and off in flight, the DART AE can effectively “skip off the atmosphere,” in a manner like stones skipping off water. As a result, the system can cover huge distances using only small amounts of fuel.

While Hypersonix has claimed its technology is for green access to space as it produces no CO2 emissions, the technology obviously has military applications.

Hypersonix’s technology has the potential to bolster flagging US hypersonic research efforts, which have been marred by a string of test failures and challenges, such as supply chain constraints, acquisition barriers, budget instability and access to test facilities.

Other factors that contribute to US difficulties include poor design, fabrication, management and test planning as well as pre-flight testing deficiencies and a lack of rigorous government oversight.

As a result, the US has yet to field a usable hypersonic weapon, in contrast to its near-peer adversaries China and Russia. Hypersonic weapons have been in service with the Chinese military since 2019, with the DF-17 hypersonic missile being one of the first operational systems fielded.

Russia became the first country to use hypersonic weapons in anger when it used its Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic weapon against a Ukrainian ammunition depot.

This technology sharing between the US and Australia may be done under the Quad Alliance, adding a practical, concrete aspect to an otherwise dialogue-based framework.

This cooperation in hypersonic weapons development follows a trend of emerging high-tech cooperation between the two countries, most notably with Australia’s plan to operate nuclear submarines which would require leasing a Virginia-class boat from the US for training purposes, and the recent induction into service of the US-designed Loyal Wingman drone to complement its upcoming F-35 fighter jets.

Russia launching hypersonic missiles heralds a new era of warfare—high speed, more lethal

As the global weapons race heats up, hypersonic technology is going to become a reality sooner than later in India too.

ABHISHEK SAXENA
3 April, 2022 

Russia claims to have deployed hypersonic missiles in Ukraine | Representational image of a missile | 

Last week, the Russian defence ministry claimed that its military launched Kh-47M2 Kinzhal “hypersonic missiles” to destroy an ammunition warehouse in western Ukraine. On 21 March, US President Joe Biden confirmed the Russian claim. This is the first-ever instance of hypersonic weapons used in combat, marking the beginning of a new era of warfare.
What are hypersonic weapons?

The term ‘hypersonic weapons’ is usually used to refer to objects flying at speeds surpassing five Mach or five times the speed of sound. Most ballistic missiles travel at hypersonic speeds and execute terminal manoeuvres in their atmospheric re-entry phase. If we go by the standard of speed, most ballistic missiles would fit the classification of hypersonic weapons.

Hypersonic weapons are not just about speed but also manoeuvrability and low-altitude flying. Hypersonic flight, by definition, is an atmospheric flight. It is defined by the sustained flight of an aerodynamic vehicle at an altitude of around 20 km to 60 km within the earth’s atmosphere. In atmospheric conditions, an object flying at hypersonic speed experiences aerodynamic and thermal forces unencountered at lower speeds. For example, cruise missiles fly in atmospheric conditions at a much lower altitude than most hypersonic weapons. Still, they are not exposed to hypersonic flight conditions such as overheating, laminar flow disruption, ionisation of surrounding gases, and plasma formation. Moreover, since the speed of sound depends on the density and temperature of surrounding gases, hypersonic flight doesn’t make sense for the objects flying in space with minimal particle density.

Why all ballistic missiles can’t be hypersonic weapons?

Ballistic missiles reaching hypersonic speeds during mid-course and terminal phase cannot be characterised as hypersonic weapons for two reasons: First, ballistic missiles in their mid-course trajectory travel in space and thus don’t come across aero-thermal complications associated with hypersonic flight. Second, while ballistic missiles in their terminal phase might run into momentary hypersonic flight (lasting only for tens of seconds), hypersonic vehicles must survive that environment for many minutes. Thus, hypersonic flight is not just about encountering aero-thermal forces but sustaining across them for a period lasting in minutes.

In addition to sustained low-altitude flying, the ability to manoeuvre defines hypersonic weapons. Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons have an unpredictable midcourse/glide phase flight and carry out manoeuvres in the terminal phase. Even though ballistic missiles with manoeuvring warheads can execute terminal manoeuvres, they have a reasonably predictable (parabolic) midcourse trajectory and thus are not characterised as hypersonic weapons.

Thus, hypersonic weapons can be defined as aerodynamic vehicles capable of sustained low-altitude flight at hypersonic speed and can execute manoeuvres throughout their trajectory.

What are the types of hypersonic weapons?

Hypersonic missiles are typically characterised as rocket-boosted hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) and hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM). HGVs are aerodynamic vehicles propelled by rockets into space. Shortly after launch, they carry out a pull-up to attain equilibrium gliding and rely on the aerodynamic lift to travel unpowered over long distances in the atmosphere, reducing surface radar detection range. In proximity to its target, the weapon exits the gliding trajectory, carries out terminal manoeuvres using internal boosters, and impacts the target. HGVs have an unpredictable gliding trajectory than ballistic missiles, which follow a predictable parabolic trajectory. In a way, HGVs combine the speed of ballistic missiles and manoeuvrability and low altitude flying of cruise missiles.

HCMs are nothing but hypersonic versions of traditional cruise missiles. Both of them are powered throughout their trajectory and thus are capable of executing manoeuvres during the flight. While the cruise missiles are propelled through the turbofan or ramjet engine, hypersonic cruise missiles are powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet or scramjet engine. Scramjets are superior ramjet engines. While the airflow in a ramjet engine remains subsonic, airflow through a scramjet engine is supersonic. Thus, scramjet-powered cruise missiles are faster (hypersonic) than ramjet-powered missiles (supersonic).

While the bifurcation between HGV and HCM might be helpful, it oversimplifies the possibilities of hypersonic missile design. Future hypersonic weapons might combine the attributes of glide vehicles and cruise missiles. For example, scramjet engines can be integrated with glide vehicles, enhancing their range, manoeuvrability, and speed. Many such possibilities cannot be captured by HGV/HCM dichotomy.

What are the strategic implications of hypersonic weapons?

There is an ongoing debate over the implications of hypersonic missiles on strategic ability. One set of observers argues that the speed, low-altitude flight, and the ability of hypersonic weapons to evade missile defence systems has upset the great power strategic stability by violating the key nuclear deterrence principle of mutual assured vulnerability. Their argument can be summarised in four parts.

First, the ability of hypersonic weapons to evade missile defence systems might incentivise an aggressor to launch a pre-emptive offensive strike, forcing the defender to move towards a high-alert launch on warning (LOW) posture, increasing the risk of miscalculation and nuclear escalation.

Second, the extreme speeds of hypersonic weapons accelerate the timeline of response available to national leaders, increasing the risk of crisis escalation and worsening strategic stability.

Third, hypersonic weapons bring in warhead and destination ambiguity. Hypersonic missiles can be tipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads. In the heat of the moment, a conventionally tipped missile might be misperceived as nuclear-tipped and responded in kind, inadvertently leading to nuclear warfare. Also, given the unpredictable trajectory of hypersonic weapons, the defender can never be ascertained of the target under attack. Expecting the worst, the defender might assume that its strategic assets and command and control are under attack and launch before the adversary sabotages them.

Fourth, hypersonic weapons have unlocked an offence-defence spiral risking arms race and strategic instability. The three major players of the hypersonic race, the US, China and Russia, have developed or are on the verge of achieving hypersonic capabilities. At the same time, they are looking for countermeasures to address emerging hypersonic threats.

The second school of thought argues that hypersonic weapons are not a stand-alone but an evolutionary development against the Ballistic Missile Defenses (BMD). The US development of BMDs threatened the retaliatory capability of its adversaries, violating the critical nuclear deterrence principle of assured vulnerability. The ability of hypersonic missiles to overcome existing and prospective missile defence systems re-establish the mutually assured vulnerability, strengthening strategic stability.

Also read: Russia may be firing hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, but there’s some hot air in the hype

Hypersonic programmes in Russia, China, the US, and India

In the March 2018 Presidential address to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a new generation of ‘invincible’ nuclear weapons, including the hypersonic glide vehicle ‘Avangard’ and hypersonic aircraft missile system ‘Kinzhal’. In February 2019, among other weapons, Putin revealed a hypersonic cruise missile, ‘Tsirkon’, capable of launching from both underwater and surface platforms. Russia is deploying the Avangard glide vehicle—installed on SS-19 Mod 4 boosters—at the rate of two per year. The first two missiles went on combat duty in December 2019, and another two in December 2020. The regiment received the last two missiles in December 2021, achieving the full strength of six missiles. By the end of 2027, Russia is expected to deploy another regiment of Avangard. MiG-31K fighter jets armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were deployed on experimental combat duty in December 2017. Recently, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu announced that a “separate aviation regiment has been created and equipped with the MIG-31K interceptors armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.” In 2021, Russia carried out an array of test launches of the Tsirkon missile from the surface and underwater positions. Tsirkon will likely enter service with the Russian navy in surface and underwater roles in 2022 and 2025, respectively.

China displayed the dual-capable DF-17 medium-range ballistic missile carrying DF-ZF HGVs at the 70th National Day parade in October 2019. According to unconfirmed reports, China might have started deploying the DF-17 missiles in the late 2020s. According to a Congressional Research Service report, DF-41 ICBM could also be modified to carry hypersonic gliders. In addition to DF-ZF HGV, China is progressing on a hypersonic cruise missile, ‘Starry Sky 2’. In October 2021, Financial Times revealed that China conducted two hypersonic tests in July and August. The missile test carried out in July reportedly circumnavigated the globe before hitting its target, demonstrating China’s ability to incorporate a glide vehicle into a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS).

United States is developing hypersonic weapons under multiple programmes overseen by US Navy, Army, Air Force, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is developing a wedge-shaped ground-launched tactical boost-glide (TBG) system. Under its Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) programme, US Navy is leading the development of a common glide vehicle for use across services. Under the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon programme, the US Army would pair the common glide vehicle with the Navy booster system. The US Air Force (USAF) is building upon DARPA’s TBG technology to develop AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), an air-launched hypersonic glide vehicle. The Air Force recently launched a programme to develop Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile. US hypersonic programmes are in various research, development, and flight-testing stages. Last year, USAF conducted three flight tests of the ARRW weapon and experienced failures in all three. Despite the setbacks, USAF hopes to achieve the early operational capability of ARRW in late 2022.

Hypersonic weapons are going to become a reality sooner than later in India. On 7 September 2020, DRDO successfully flight-tested Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV), showcasing the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology. In addition to the indigenous HSTDV, India is working in collaboration with Russia on BrahMos-II, a Mach 7 HCM based on the Russian Tsirkon missile.

In addition to the above countries, several other countries such as Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan are also developing hypersonic weapons technology.

Abhishek Saxena is a Research Associate at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi. He Tweets @Abhisaxena3690 Views are personal.

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