RIP

Leonid Kravchuk: 

The man who buried the Soviet Union

Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine, was a Soviet apparatchik who made mistakes — but was nonetheless a stroke of good fortune for his country. DW's Roman Goncharenko looks back on his life.

In every country, there is a number one: the first to become its head of state. In Ukraine, it was Leonid Kravchuk. An apparatchik responsible for ideology and propaganda, he found himself at the helm of the second-largest Soviet republic in the fateful year of 1991 — and became the man who led Ukraine to independence from Moscow. Kravchuk played a key role in the disintegration of the communist empire more than 30 years ago.

He died aged 88, according to Ukrainian officials and media reports on Tuesday.

'A monkey with a grenade'

Ukraine owes its first president a great deal, yet at home, his legacy is seen as controversial. Kravchuk's landmark decision, in the early 1990s, to relinquish the massive nuclear arsenal his country had inherited from the Soviet Union — the third largest in the world at the time — is considered his biggest mistake, especially since the annexation of Crimea and now, in the face of Russia's war in Ukraine. But this is unfair: Newly independent Ukraine was politically and economically weak, and hardly in a position to withstand the pressure from the West and Russia.

In an interview with DW, Kravchuk once described his country as a "monkey with a grenade." The cost and responsibility nuclear weapons entailed were too great for Kyiv to take on, he said, so the nuclear button remained in Moscow. Kravchuk did the right thing. Of course, he should have negotiated better security guarantees, but no one at the time thought that Russia would one day wage war on Ukraine. 

Ukraine's depressing reputation as a champion of corruption and missed opportunities also has its roots in Kravchuk's tenure. The criticism is justified. In particular, the bankruptcy of the Black Sea Shipping Company, which had hundreds of cruise ships stationed in Odesa, is a major blot on his record. But even his association with oligarchs, and his controversial support for pro-Russian forces, after his term in office do not change the fact that, in hindsight, his presidency was a stroke of luck for his country.

Former Ukrainians Presidents Viktor Yushchenko (left), Leonid Kuchma (center) and Leonid Kravchuk (right) at an extraordinary session of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv in January 2014

The communist ideologue who changed sides  

Born in 1934 in a region that was then in Poland before becoming part of western Ukraine, Kravchuk was a farmer's son who climbed the Communist Party career ladder. He became a lecturer in propaganda, and in the final years of the Soviet Union he rose to the highest echelons of power — all the way to the politburo, or central ruling body, of Soviet Ukraine, where he headed the department that oversaw ideology.

In August 1991, the fate of the Soviet Union was sealed with the failure of the coup against its president, Mikhail Gorbachev. Leonid Kravchuk had been chairman of the Ukrainian parliament for just over a year. On August 24, 1991, under his leadership, the parliament voted in favor of Ukrainian independence, and three months later, on December 1, its decision was confirmed by referendum. Kravchuk was elected the first president of Ukraine that same day. About a week later, he, his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin, and the Belarusian parliamentary leader, Stanislav Shushkevich, signed the agreement that announced the dissolution of the USSR.

The power-hungry Yeltsin was clearly the driving force behind this declaration, but if Ukraine had not been involved, history would have taken a different path. Kravchuk was in the right place at the right time. He came across as moderate and statesmanlike, and was a compromise figure that suited both nationalists in western Ukraine and pro-Russian communists in the east.

Leonid Kravchuk died at the age of 88

Peaceful transition of power

Kravchuk steered Ukraine through difficult years. Europe's second-largest country, with a population of around 52 million, was forced to re-learn everything. It had no experience of being an independent state. Its transition from a planned to a market economy, and from party dictatorship to democracy, was a painful one. Millions of Ukrainians found themselves living in poverty. The shopping cart that came to symbolize the deprivations of the period was nicknamed a "kravchuchka."

But Ukraine survived — and Kravchuk should take some of the credit. For all his faults, as president he succeeded in maintaining peace and political stability in the country. This was quite an achievement at a time when most of the other former Soviet republics were riven by civil war.

Nonetheless, public opinion turned against him, and early presidential elections were held in the summer of 1994. Kravchuk lost to his prime minister, Leonid Kuchma. This, too, was a new and important experience: the peaceful transition of power. Many other ex-Soviet republics envied Ukraine for this. It was perhaps Kravchuk's greatest achievement, along with the survival of Ukraine as an independent state — something that was by no means inevitable.

This obituary was originally written in German.

German Foreign Minister Baerbock visits Ukraine

The unannounced trip is the first by a member of the German government since the war there began. Baerbock has said the "worst crimes imaginable'' perpetrated in Bucha would not unpunished.


Baerbock lit a candle in memory of victims in a church in Bucha

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday on the first trip there by a Cabinet member since the Russian invasion on February 24.

Her surprise visit comes as Germany continues to face criticism over its previous policy toward Russia, which has been widely perceived as placing economic interest over human rights concerns, notably in the area of energy exports.

However, Berlin is now giving considerable military support to Ukraine to help it fight off Russia's invasion in a radical break with former restrictions on sending arms to conflict regions.

What is Baerbock doing on her visit?

At the start of Baerbock's trip, she visited the city of Bucha near Kyiv, which has become notorious as the scene of alleged atrocities by Russian troops before they were forced to withdraw at the end of March.

She was accompanied by the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, who has been overseeing the collection of information on allegations of rape, torture and other suspected war crimes by Russian forces.

Baerbock was accompanied by Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova (R.) during her Bucha visit

After hearing accounts of the atrocities, Baerbock said those responsible must be brought to justice.

"We owe this to the victims," she told reporters. "And those victims, as we can feel here so intensely, those victims could have been us," she added.

Baerbock tweeted that "We will collect evidence as an international community. I have pledged Germany's complete support in investigating the war crimes to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova: politically, financially and personnel-wise."

Later, while visiting the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, which has also suffered severe devastation, Baerbock expressed her deep-felt admiration for the courage shown by the Ukrainians in their fight against the invading Russian forces.

"You are a very brave country, and all that we can do is stand at your side," Baerbock said.

"Being the foreign minister of a country during peacetime is easy. But it is a completely different matter being a mayor during a war. You have my greatest respect," she told Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn.

Baerbock witnessed scenes of destruction in Irpin

What has she said at her press conference?

In the afternoon, Baerbock announced the reopening the German Embassy in Kyiv, which has been closed since mid-February.

Speaking at a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, she said the embassy would operate at first with a skeleton staff.

Baerbock also said that Ukraine could become a full member of the European Union but that there could be "no shortcuts." She said she was confident that the country would be granted "clear candidate status" but that there should be "no empty promises" about what happened after that.

The minister also announced that Germany would in future do completely without energy imports from Russia, which she described as an "aggressor."

She said Germany was reducing its dependence on Russia energy "to zero — and that will stay that way forever."

Baerbock also said that training would start in a few days to familiarize Ukrainian soldiers with the self-propelled armored howitzers that Germany is going to deliver to Ukraine in cooperation with the Netherlands.

Kuleba, in his turn, thanked Germany for its support.

He said there were still issued being discussed between Berlin and Kyiv but that he was sure that solutions could be found to all of them.

Baerbock held talks and a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba

Talks with Zelenskyy

Baerbock's visit coincides with one by Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, who arrived in Ukraine unannounced.

With Hoekstra, she held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday afternoon following those with Kuleba.

"I can't convey how happy I am to be here today in a free Kyiv," Baerbock wrote on Twitter, sharing an image of her shaking Zelenskyy's hand. "The courage required on the side of the Ukrainians to ensure this is moving. My message is clear: Ukraine can count on our support, not just militarily, and not just today. We will be here just the same when this war is over, when Vladimir Putin will have failed in his goals, when Ukraine begins to plan its free future."



Germany and the Netherlands are coordinating closely over providing Ukraine with military assistance.

Ahead of those talks, a spokesman for Hoestra said the minister would "officially" reopen the Dutch Embassy in Kyiv, where some staff returned to work at the end of April.

Baerbock visited Ukraine once before as foreign minister in early February, before Russia's invasion began. Among other things, she toured the front lines in the Donbas region, which has been the scene of fighting between Moscow-backed separatists and government forces since 2014 and is now the focus of Russia's military operations.

Diplomatic tensions

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far declined to say when he intends to make a visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The diplomatic path for him to do so seems to have been cleared following a hiccup in Berlin-Kyiv relations after a perceived snub of Germany's head of state by the Ukrainian government.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had planned to go to Kyiv with leaders from Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania in mid-April. However, he was told not to come at short notice. The refusal was thought to have been linked to Steinmeier's policy of detente towards Russia when he served as German foreign minister.

Scholz said at the time that the situation had become a problem and that it could also prevent him from visiting Ukraine while the issue remained unresolved.

Following a phone call between Steinmeier and Zelenskyy last Thursday described by the Ukrainian president as a "good, constructive, important conversation," however, the spat appeared to be resolved.

According to Steinmeier's office, both he and Scholz have now been invited to Kyiv,

Last week, the Christian Democrat opposition leader Friedrich Merz visited Ukraine, with the trip widely seen as an opportunity to upstage Scholz, who is from the rival Social Democrats (SPD).

tj/msh (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

Sri Lanka president warns of racial tensions amid economic crisis

Sri Lanka's ruling party supporters storm anti-government protest camp in Colombo

By Uditha Jayasinghe and Alasdair Pal
Tue, May 10, 2022, 

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's president urged people on Wednesday to reject what he called attempts to foment racial and religious disharmony, as clashes broke out in many parts of the country over the government's handling of a devastating economic crisis.

Violent street protests killed eight people this week and even the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's elder brother as prime minister and a curfew have failed to douse public anger. The government has ordered troops to shoot at anyone damaging public property or threatening lives.

Sri Lankans have blamed the Rajapaksa dynasty for the economic meltdown that has left the country with only about $50 million in reserves, stalling most imports and leading to massive shortages of fuel, cooking gas, and other essentials.

Protesters set the family's ancestral home in the south on fire earlier in the week.

"This is the time for all Sri Lankans to join hands as one, to overcome the economic, social & political challenges," Rajapaksa said on Twitter.

"I urge all #Srilankans to reject the subversive attempts to push you towards racial & religious disharmony. Promoting moderation, toleration & coexistence is vital."

It was not immediately clear what prompted the president to issue the warning. However, Sri Lanka has a long and bloody history of ethnic tensions.

Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned as prime minister on Monday, were in key government positions when a 26-year civil war ended in 2009 after security forces overcame militants from the minority Tamil community.

Sinhalese Buddhists are the majority in the country of 22 million which also has Muslim, Hindu and Christian minorities.

A police spokesperson said two shooting incidents were reported on Tuesday night, including one in the southern town of Rathgama that wounded four people.

"The situation is now calm," Nalin Thalduwa said.

In Weerakettiya, a southern town that is home to the Rajapaksas, police and military patrolled the streets, with shops and businesses shut due to the curfew.

On Monday, video footage from local media showed the ancestral home of the family ablaze, while multiple attacks on houses and election offices of lawmakers were also reported.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe and Alasdair Pal; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Sri Lanka crisis not over despite PM Mahinda Rajapaksa's exit

There seems no immediate end in sight to the island nation's economic turmoil and escalating anti-government protests amid high public anger toward the president and his influential family.



The prime minister's decision to step down has so far done little to calm public anger

The resignation of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday amid mass anti-government protests and rising public fury marks a watershed moment for a powerful dynasty that dominated the island nation's politics for years.

The move to quit his post came on a day when clashes between government supporters and opponents killed seven people, including a member of parliament from the ruling Sri Lanka People's Front party (SLPP), and injured over 200.

The violence broke out in the capital Colombo on Monday afternoon when over 1,000 supporters of the SLPP broke into an anti-government protest camp outside the office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is Mahinda's younger brother.

Armed with iron bars, clubs and sticks, they attacked the protesters and burnt down the tents used by them. Anti-government protesters then attacked buses carrying government supporters who were leaving the capital after meeting with the prime minister.

Police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse the skirmishers, after having initially done little to hold back the government supporters, Reuters reported.

In the violence, more than 50 houses belonging to SLPP members, including that of former cabinet ministers, have been set on fire across the country and at least 40 vehicles of the ruling party supporters have been destroyed.
Curfew and state of emergency

The prime minister's decision to step down has so far done little to calm public anger.

To bring the situation under control, the government gave emergency powers to its military and police.

The military can detain people for up to 24 hours before handing them to police, while private property can be searched by force, including private vehicles, the government said in a gazette notification on Tuesday.

The president had already declared a state of emergency on Friday — the second time it has been imposed in just over a month.

"Mahinda's resignation is the first step but this should have taken place a long time ago. Now, the president has to step down. People are on the streets because institutions of governance, including law enforcement, are seen as corrupt," Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, a constitutional lawyer, told DW.

"Imposing curfews and a state of emergency simply will not stop that," he added.

Rights groups and foreign diplomats based in Colombo have expressed concern about the potential for human rights abuses after the government granted sweeping powers to security forces.

"The nature of Mahinda Rajapaksa's departure has made things far worse. It is hard to see how his brother, Gotabaya, can hang on in office further given the volatile atmosphere in the country," a foreign envoy in Colombo, who asked not to be identified, told DW.

"There are still discussions about forming a unity government but it has become more difficult with the chain of events and the path has become more complicated," said the diplomat.
A crippling economic crisis and shortages of food, fuel and medicine

Sri Lanka has been facing one of the worst economic crises since it became independent in 1948.

The country of 22 million people is confronting acute shortages of fuel, food and medicine as it struggles to pay for essential imports amid a severe debt and balance of payments crisis.

This has led to skyrocketing inflation and lengthy power blackouts, stoking public discontent with the government dominated by the Rajapaksa family.

In April, Sri Lanka announced it was defaulting on its $51 billion (€48.3 billion) foreign debt.

Former Finance Minister Ali Sabry, who resigned on Monday, along with the rest of Rajapaksa's cabinet, told Reuters that Sri Lanka had as little as $50 million in foreign reserves.

"Over 60% of Sri Lanka's workforce are daily wagers, and in rural areas there is unspeakable distress. Given the galloping prices of almost everything, it won't be long before there are full scale food riots," Faraz Shauketaly, a senior journalist, told DW.

The economic crisis has stoked public discontent with the government dominated by Mahinda Rajapaksa (l) and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (r)

The government said it hopes to restructure the country's huge debts and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is seeking further financial assistance from China and India.

Gotabaya refuses to step down

Despite growing public anger and calls for his resignation, President Gotabaya has refused to step down, instead repeatedly calling for a unity government led by him.

But the opposition has so far refused to join such a government.

"For a unity government to function, there must be confidence in the political establishment and independent oversight institutions. Plugging that trust deficit and ensuring the rule of law is the need of the hour. The time for political deal-making is over,” Jayawardena underlined.

Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, an NGO, told DW that there has been a hardening of public sentiment against the government.

"A unity government under President Gotabaya's leadership is a non-starter and it's difficult to envisage it including members of the former Rajapaksa government," he said.

An uncertain, uneasy future

Meanwhile, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has called for the abolishment of the executive presidency, arguing that there should be a separation of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.

Malik Cader, a leading lawyer, shared a similar view.

With Mahinda Rajapaksa resigning, the parliament will now elect a new prime minister and cabinet until next elections are held.

"The new government is expected to bring amendments to abolish the executive presidency," Cader told DW.

Ahilan Kadirgamar, a political analyst at the University of Jaffna, said the protests will likely continue until the president steps down.

"The Rajapaksas have lost all legitimacy to govern and the longer they remain, the more the chances of the country being pushed toward a state of anarchy," Kadirgamar told DW.

"There needs to be a new leadership to pull Sri Lanka out of this crisis. Protests are likely to continue until the president resigns."

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

The rise and fall of a political dynasty that brought Sri Lanka to its knees


Issued on: 10/05/2022

At the height of their power, four brothers from Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa dynasty held the presidency and the prime minister’s office as well as the finance, interior and defence portfolios, among others. But just when the Rajapaksa clan seemed invincible, an economic crisis of their own making led to their undoing. But does that spell the end of South Asia’s most powerful political family?

On August 12, 2020, an extraordinary display of family power was under way at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka, in the central city of Kandy, the political capital of ancient kings in the island nation.

Following a landslide victory in August elections, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa swore in a cabinet that included two of his brothers and two nephews, sharing multiple portfolios among the family.

The Rajapaksas have a tradition of temple swearing-in ceremonies, a symbolism-heavy acknowledgment of the Sinhala Buddhist populism that kept propelling them into power. Over the past few years, as the family’s political fortunes enlarged, the investiture entourage of officials, diplomats and media teams dutifully trekked to sacred temples on historic sites, where yet another Rajapaksa was granted yet another portfolio.

The concentration of power and mismanagement though, have been unholy.

At the inauguration of the new cabinet, the president took on the defence portfolio, contravening a constitutional amendment barring the country’s head of state from holding a cabinet post.

His powerful brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, became Sri Lanka’s new prime minister and was also named head of three ministries: finance, urban development and Buddhist affairs.

The president then swore in his eldest brother, Chamal Rajapaksa, as minister for irrigation, internal security, home affairs and disaster management. Chamal’s son Sashindra was made junior minister for high-tech agriculture. The prime minister’s son Namal became minister of youth and sports.

Barely a year later, Basil Rajapaksa was named finance minister, taking over the important portfolio from his brother, the prime minister.

At the height of their power, the Rajapaksas appeared invincible as they signed mega infrastructure contracts and amassed fortunes while cracking down on minorities and journalists – and successfully evaded accountability in a state where they held all the reins.

For several years, human rights defenders condemned the reprisals, massacres, crackdowns, corruption and cronyism of South Asia’s most powerful political dynasty. Their calls went unheeded by an electorate willing to overlook assaults on liberties and persuaded by the cult of strong leaders preferring action over compromise.

But that was before the island nation descended into its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948. As an acute foreign currency crisis sparked fuel shortages, power cuts and spiraling inflation, the tide finally began to turn against the Rajapaksa clan as Sri Lankans struggled to cope with a disaster of their elected government’s own making.

This week, as peaceful anti-government protests turned violent, symbols of the Rajapaksa family power came under attack in scenes unimaginable two years ago.

On Monday night, crowds stormed the prime minister’s official Temple Trees residence in Colombo, forcing the army to conduct a predawn operation to rescue Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family. The prime minister by then had already submitted his resignation letter to his younger brother, the president, clearing the way for a “new unity government”.

Meanwhile in the southern province of Hambantota, mobs attacked the Rajapaksa Museum in the family’s ancestral village of Medamulana. Two wax statues of the Rajapaksa parents were flattened and mobs trashed the building as well as the ancestral Rajapaksa home nearby.

It was a violent assault on a clan that has held feudal power since colonial times and has used patronage and privilege to rise from local to national power, placing family members in strategic positions along the way.

From rural roots to national power

The Rajapaksas are a rural land-owning family from southern Sri Lanka whose ancestors have represented their native Hambantota on state and regional councils since pre-independence days.

Prominent families have always played an important role in Sri Lankan politics. But the Rajapaksas were not part of the urban political elites in the decades following independence. While families such as the Bandaranaikes – which produced three Sri Lankan prime ministers and one president – dominated the national scene, the Rajapaksas were part of the rural elites in the country’s Sinhalese Buddhist southern heartland.

The current president’s father, D. A. Rajapaksa, was a parliamentarian representing Hambantota district. But it was his second son, Mahinda, who catapulted the clan into national dominance when he rose from opposition leader in parliament to prime minister in 2004.

A year later, Mahinda won the 2005 presidential poll with a narrow margin, aided, according to his opponents, by a call for an election boycott by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), a militant group better known as the Tamil Tigers.

It was Mahinda’s first win in the bloody fight against the Tamil Tigers based in Sri Lanka’s neglected north, home to the country’s Tamil minority.

Brother in arms

As president, Mahinda initiated a pattern of leadership that would serve his family’s political fortunes, earning him the moniker of “clan leader” of the rising Rajapaksas.

The transition from a rules-based order to one of family networks began shortly after the 2005 presidential inauguration when, according to family lore, Mahinda emerged from the investiture room and spotted his younger brother, Gotabaya.

A former army officer, Gotabaya had moved to the US only to return home ahead of the 2005 to work on his brother’s election campaign.

According to biographers, the new president tapped Gotabaya’s shoulder and told his brother – who had left the army as a lieutenant colonel – that he was going to be Sri Lanka’s new defence secretary.

The Rajapaksa’s consolidation with the military had begun. It wasn’t long before Mahinda was ready to unleash a war that would “end” the Tamil Tigers, as he promised his electorate.

Enter the ‘terminator’

By the time Mahinda was elected president, the Tamil Tigers had dropped their demands for an independent state in the north and were asking for greater autonomy under the terms of a Norway-sponsored ceasefire.

The agreement, it was hoped, would usher in a peace deal that would end a brutal civil war that had killed tens of thousands of people over two decades.

The Rajapaksa brothers instead oversaw a military operation that would defeat the Tamil Tigers, earning the support of Sri Lankans eager to end the civil war. But for the country’s Tamil minority, it unleashed a period of state violence against civilians that drew condemnations from the UN and international human rights groups over the abductions and disappearances of suspected Tamil Tiger supporters as well as “journalists, activists, and others deemed to be political opponents” by “armed men operating in white vans, which became a symbol of political terror”.

Gotabaya was particularly implicated in the infamous 2009 “White Flag Incident” when Tamil Tiger members and their families, after contacting the UN, Red Cross and other Western governments, agreed to surrender to Sri Lankan authorities only to be gunned down by the army.

The Rajapaksa brothers have repeatedly denied responsibility for the disappearances. They also maintain that they did not give the shoot-to-kill order during the “White Flag” surrender.

Falling into the ‘Chinese debt trap’

Gotabaya’s tough on security position boosted his popularity in the 2019 presidential polls just as it helped his politically more experienced brother, Mahinda, win parliamentary elections the next year.

But it was economics, not security, that proved to be the Rajapaksa clan’s undoing.

Horrified by the gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka, Western governments began dropping Sri Lanka from aid disbursement lists. With aid and concessionary borrowing avenues drying up as Sri Lanka upgraded to lower-middle-income status, the government began relying heavily on commercial borrowings to finance the national budget.

The Rajapaksas were also increasing their reliance on Chinese investment. A massive port project in the family’s native Hambantota soon emerged as a textbook example of the “Chinese debt trap”, with Sri Lanka borrowing from Chinese banks to pay for commercially unviable projects at onerous rates.

Chinese investments in a number of unfeasible mega projects, mostly in Hambantota, are the subject of numerous economic reports, with analysts apportioning blame to different parties. But in the real world, there was no doubt that life was getting increasingly difficult for Sri Lankan citizens.

As the country’s sovereign debt ballooned, the Rajapaksas resisted national and international calls for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement and debt restructuring, insisting that Sri Lanka would service its debt.

Meanwhile, Basil Rajapaksa, who was made finance minister in 2020 despite the corruption cases against him, was dubbed “Mr. Ten Percent” as allegations circulated that the family was siphoning off state funds.

His nephew, Chamal Rajapaksa’s son Sashindra, was involved in a disastrous ban on chemical fertiliser imports, which hit the country’s critical agricultural sector.

As the pandemic shut down tourism, Sri Lankans began to despair of their country’s ruling clan.

On May 9, when Rajapaksa supporters attacked peaceful protesters assembled in Colombo, the floodgates of rage against the powerful political dynasty opened.

A day after the deadly violence, Mahinda’s son Namal, who was sports minister before his resignation earlier this year, insisted the family was merely going through a "bad patch".

At 36, Namal is widely seen as the primary Rajapaksa successor, and he has a vested interest in downplaying the troubles the family is facing.

But analysts familiar with Sri Lanka’s culture of dynastic patronage are not yet willing to write off the Rajapaksas as a political force. "The Rajapaksa brand still has support amongst the Sinhalese population," Akhil Bery from the Asia Society Policy Institute told AFP.

"Though much of the blame can be placed on the Rajapaksas now, their successors will inherit the mess, leaving space for the Rajapaksas to remain politically relevant."

ABOLISH 2ND AMENDMENT

US gun deaths soared in 2020 amid pandemic: CDC

The number of gun deaths in the United States soared in 2020 against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said

 (AFP/GEORGE FREY)

Tue, May 10, 2022, 

The number of gun deaths in the United States underwent an "historic" increase in 2020, possibly due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and poverty, according to a report by health authorities published Tuesday.

The US racked up 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent as compared to 2019, and 24,245 gun suicides (up 1.5 percent), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its report.

The CDC deemed both the murders and suicides by firearm "persistent and significant US public health concerns."

The firearm homicide rate stood at 6.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020, the highest for more than 25 years.

The proportion of murders involving guns increased most notably among men, teenagers and young adults, and in African-American and Native American communities, the CDC said.

No region of the United States has been spared, although homicides have risen the most in counties with high poverty rates and large ethnic minority populations.

People also die by suicide more often in poor, non-metropolitan and rural areas.

"One possible explanation is stressors associated with the Covid-19 pandemic that could have played a role" in the rise, said Tom Simons, an expert in violence prevention at the CDC.

"These include changes and disruptions to services and education, social isolation, economic stressors such as job loss, housing instability, and difficulty covering daily expenses," he told reporters.

The report also notes that the risk of violence is linked to "longstanding systemic inequities and structural racism" in the country.



The report cites tensions between the public and law enforcement, noting the wave of protests in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, spikes in weapons purchases, and a rise in the number of cases of domestic violence.

"Firearm deaths are preventable, not inevitable," said Debra Houry, director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, recommending "a comprehensive approach focused on reducing inequity."

She cited the "promising" work of street outreach workers in reducing tensions in high-crime neighborhoods, as well as mediation programs set up in some hospitals to help young people wounded in the streets "break the cycle of violence," and the work of suicide prevention programs.

Houry also noted the need to address underlying economic factors by offering housing aid or tax credits, and ensuring "livable wages" to lift disadvantaged families out of poverty.

Another avenue being explored is the role of improving the environment, with the creation of green spaces or the cleaning-up of waste lots.

"Revitalized vacant lots in communities have been associated with reduced firearm assault, with particular benefits in areas with the highest poverty,” she said.

cyj/jh/sst

Homicide, suicide deaths from guns jumped 35% in 2020, CDC reports


May 10 (UPI) -- The number of homicides involving guns in the United States rose by more than one-third in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 2019, data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

From year to year, a 35% increase in the number of killings involving guns in the United States was reported, the agency said.

As a result, in 2020, the country had its highest gun-related homicide rate in more than 25 years, the CDC said.

Firearms were involved in 79% of all homicides nationally in 2020, up from about 75% in 2019, the agency said in the "Vital Signs" report published Tuesday.

In addition, 53% of all suicide deaths across the country during the first year of the pandemic involved guns, up from just over half in 2019, according to the CDC.

"The tragic and historic increase in firearm homicide and the persistently high rates of firearm suicide underscore the urgent need for action to reduce firearm-related injuries and deaths," CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a press release.

"By addressing factors contributing to homicide and suicide and providing support to communities, we can help stop violence now and in the future," she said.

Minorities, particularly Black Americans and American Indian and Alaska Natives, saw the bulk of the national rise in homicides in 2020, according to a study published Monday by JAMA Internal Medicine.

This was true for homicides involving firearms, as well, the new CDC data revealed.

Among Black Americans, gun-involved killings rose 38% from 2019 to 2020, compared to less than 30% for other racial and ethnic groups, the agency said.

States in the mid-Atlantic region -- Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. -- saw the biggest spike in gun-involved homicides, at 51%, it said.

Gun-involved suicides nationally rose by just under 2% between 2019 and 2020, but increased 15% in people ages 10 to 24 years and 6% in those ages 25 to 44 years, according to the CDC.

Although the gun-involved homicide rate spiked most prominently in large metropolitan areas, the firearm suicide rate actually rose more, by about 3%, in more rural regions nationally, the agency said.

"Firearm deaths are preventable -- not inevitable," Dr. Debra Houry, acting principal deputy director and director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said in a press release.

"Everyone has a role to play in prevention," she said.

COLD WAR 2.0

Pentagon lauds reporting on US military killing civilians


Afghan villagers moving a dead body following an airstrike in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, in September 2019 that allegedly killed 40 civilians at a wedding celebration. 

(AFP/NOOR MOHAMMAD) (NOOR MOHAMMAD)


Tue, May 10, 2022,

The Pentagon congratulated The New York Times Tuesday for winning a Pulitzer Prize for its highly critical expose of civilian deaths in the Afghanistan war, saying the report forced the US military to examine its own behavior.

Last December the newspaper exposed cover-ups of what it called thousands of civilian deaths caused by US forces during the 20-year war, deeply embarrassing the US government.

Citing internal US documents, the report said the US military had advertised its ability to pinpoint targets to avoid civilians, using high-tech surveillance and closely-controlled drones.

But in many cases it misidentified targets, killing innocent villagers and children.

"That coverage was and still is not comfortable, not easy and not simple to address," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

"We knew that we weren't always as transparent about those mistakes as we should have been," he told reporters.

"It made us ask ourselves some new difficult questions of our own, even as it forced us to answer these difficult questions," he said.

"That's what a free press at its very best does. It holds us to account," Kirby said.

The Pulitzer committee that awarded the prize Monday cited the Times for "courageous and relentless reporting that exposed the vast civilian toll of US-led airstrikes" in Afghanistan.

Kirby contrasted the Pentagon's long-delayed admission of the problems with Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"We're not afraid to admit that we take it seriously, and that we want to do better -- unlike Russia, unlike the unmitigated violence and destruction that they're causing on the people of Ukraine, without care, without acknowledgement," he said.

"No investigations, no transparency, no effort to even not cause civilian harm, much less the war crimes that their soldiers are committing on the ground," he said of the Russian forces.

"When you ask us tough questions, we answer them," he said of the US media.

"You're not seeing any of that from the Russian Ministry of Defense," he said.

pmh/dw

Summer heatwave bleaches 91% of Great Barrier Reef: report




Tue, May 10, 2022, 8:03 PM·1 min read

A prolonged summer heatwave in Australia left 91 percent of the Great Barrier Reef's coral damaged by bleaching, according to a new government monitoring report.

It was the first time on record the reef had suffered bleaching during a La Nina weather cycle, when temperatures would normally be expected to be cooler.

The Reef Snapshot report offered new detail on the damage caused by the fourth "mass bleaching" the world's largest coral reef system has experienced since 2016, which was first revealed in March.

"Climate change is escalating, and the Reef is already experiencing the consequences of this," the report warned.


The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which published the report late Tuesday, conducted extensive surveys of the World Heritage-listed reef between September 2021 and March 2022.

It found that after waters began to warm last December, all three major regions of the reef experienced bleaching -- a phenomenon that occurs when coral is stressed and expels brightly coloured algae living in it.

Although bleached corals are still alive, and moderately affected sections of the reef may recover, "severely bleached corals have higher mortality rates", the report said.

Of the 719 reefs surveyed, the report said 654 -- or 91 percent -- showed some level of coral bleaching.

The report was published 10 days before Australia's May 21 federal election, in which climate change policy has emerged as a key issue for voters.

Next month, the United Nations' World Heritage Committee will decide whether to list the reef as "in danger".

When the UN previously threatened to downgrade the reef's World Heritage listing in 2015, Australia created a "Reef 2050" plan and poured billions of dollars into protection.

mmc/djw/cwl

Despite public anger, Lebanon vote set to entrench status quo





Layal Abou Rahal
Tue, May 10, 2022,

Lebanon's elections Sunday won't yield a seismic shift despite widespread discontent with a graft-tainted political class blamed for a painful economic crisis and a deadly disaster, experts say.

Given Lebanon's sectarian-based politics, it will likely "reproduce the political class and give it internal and international legitimacy", said Rima Majed of the American University of Beirut.

"Maybe candidates from the opposition will clinch some seats, but I don't think that there will be a change in the political scene," said Majed, an expert in sectarianism and social movements.

Beirut voter Issam Ayyad, 70, put it more simply: "We will not be able to change."

The small country's political system has long distributed power among its religious communities, entrenching a ruling elite that has treated politics as a family business.

By convention, the Lebanese president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shiite.

In the current parliament, the Shiite Hezbollah party and its allies, including the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, command a majority.

The system has held back the emergence of non-sectarian political parties and civil society representatives.

The elections will be the first since a youth-led protest movement broke out in October 2019 against a political class seen as inept, corrupt and responsible for a litany of woes, from power blackouts to piles of uncollected garbage.

The anger exploded into months of street rallies but lost momentum as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, together with a financial crash that the World Bank has labelled one of the world's worst in modern times.

- 'Game of loyalty' -

Popular fury flared again after a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate that had languished in a Beirut port warehouse for years exploded in August 2020, killing more than 200 people and devastating entire neighbourhoods.

Successive governments have since failed to chart a path out of Lebanon's worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war that has sparked runaway inflation, deepened dire poverty and fuelled a mass exodus.

Where the Lebanese state has failed to provide basic services, traditional political leaders have tended to step in with their decades-old patronage networks -- a trend more alive than ever during the current crisis.

"The elections are not meant to assess the performance of politicians," said Majed. "They are more a game of loyalty to whoever provides... the most basic services."

Public sector jobs have long been among the main handouts, but now fuel and cash assistance also feature high on the list, giving an advantage to established parties over new opposition groups that lack funds and foreign support.

While bolstered by the 2019 protest movement, new independent candidates have also failed to build a coherent front that could energise a dispirited electorate, observers say.

Nearly 44 percent of eligible voters plan to abstain, according to a survey last month of more than 4,600 voters by British charity Oxfam.

- Voter intimidation -

Polling expert Kamal Feghali said many voters had hoped the newcomers would run "with a unified list and programme" but said that instead their competing electoral lists "will scatter the vote".

While independents will likely do slightly better than in 2018, when only one of them won a seat, said Feghali, the winner once more is likely to be Hezbollah, Lebanon's biggest political and military force, and its allies.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, first formed as a resistance force against neighbour Israel, is now often described as a state within a state that is all-powerful in regions under its control.

Its pre-election intimidation tactics are "salient", said Oxfam, warning that such behaviour tells voters "that change might be denied, and in turn might lead to either a reduction in turnout or a distortion in voting behaviour".

In east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, three Shiite candidates were running on an anti-Hezbollah list but withdrew last month, despite the expiry of a legal deadline to do so.

The move stripped the anti-Hezbollah list of essential Shiite representation and was widely seen by local media as a result of pressure by the powerful movement.

lar/ho/dwo/fz/lg

Lebanon: small, multi-religious Mideast country

Lebanese protesters block a highway during a protest in the capital Beirut on November 29, 2021, as the country struggles with a deep economic crisis - 

Anwar AMRO Agence France-Presse

Beirut (AFP)

Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country wracked by political and economic turmoil and the fallout of the decade-old Syrian conflict next door, holds parliamentary elections on May 15.

Here are some key facts about Lebanon.

- Multi-confessional -

The country with the cedar tree flag is one of the smallest in the Middle East, at about 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 square miles).


Its population of around 4.5 million Lebanese is dwarfed by its diaspora, spread across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australia.

Lebanon is considered relatively liberal in a broadly conservative region. Political power is split between 18 recognised religious communities under a confessionalist form of government.

Lebanon is a parliamentary republic, with a 128-member house split between Muslims and Christians.

In line with Lebanon's "national pact" dating back to independence from France in 1943, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shiite.

- Between Israel and Syria -

Lebanon endured a brutal civil war between 1975 and 1990 and was under Syrian domination from the 1990s until troops withdrew in 2005.


Its political institutions have long been paralysed by disagreement between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps.

In March 1978, Israel launched "Operation Litani" in south Lebanon, which it said was to protect the north of its territory from fighters from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It withdrew partially in June that year.

In June 1982, Israeli troops invaded Lebanon and besieged Beirut, forcing the PLO to flee.

In mid-2006, a 34-day war pitted Israel -- whose troops had withdrawn from southern Lebanon in 2000 -- against the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

In 2013, Hezbollah said it was fighting in Syria alongside the troops of President Bashar al-Assad, its involvement dividing the Lebanese political scene even more.

- Shelter for refugees -


Lebanon saw the influx of an estimated 1.5 million refugees following the outbreak of Syria's civil war.

More than three quarters of them live below the poverty line, according to the UN.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees also live in Lebanon, mainly in the country's 12 camps.

- Economic turmoil -

Lebanon is going through a severe economic crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the world's worst since the 1850s.

Lebanese residents have since 2019 suffered draconian banking restrictions on access to money.

Meanwhile, the local currency has plummeted some 90 percent against the dollar on the black market.

Around 80 percent of the population are struggling to escape poverty, the UN says.

For the first time in its history, Lebanon announced in 2020 it was defaulting on its debt payments.

The country lags in development in areas such as water supply, electricity production and waste treatment.

The pain was worsened by the August 2020 Beirut port explosion of ammonium nitrate fertiliser that devastated entire neighbourhoods and killed more than 200 people.

- Ties with France -

France is a traditional ally of Lebanon, with which it has historic, cultural, political and economic links, underpinned by the French language.

The close links go back centuries. In the 16th century after an accord with the Ottoman Empire, the kings of France became the official protectors of the East's Christians.

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, France became in 1920 the mandate power in Lebanon, setting the country's borders with Syria. It granted it independence in 1943.

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/05/lebanon-small-multi-religious-mideast-country#ixzz7Sx0hjjSD

Timeline: Lebanon in economic, political dire straits

11/05/2022

© IBRAHIM AMRO 

Protestors demand better living conditions and the ouster of a cast of politicians who have monopolised power and influence for decades, on October 22, 2019 in Beirut

Lebanon, which holds parliamentary elections on May 15, has been mired in a deep financial, economic and social crisis, aggravated by a political deadlock.

Lebanon’s then prime minister Hassan Diab delivering a statement at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital Beirut, on April 30, 2020

Here is a recap since turmoil broke out in October 2019.

– Protests erupt –

Mass protests follow a government announcement on October 17, 2019 of a planned tax on voice calls made over messaging services such as WhatsApp.

© ANWAR AMRO 

Police and forensic officers work at the scene of the massive explosion at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, on August 5, 2020

In a graft-plagued country with poor public services, many see the tax as the last straw, with demonstrators demanding “the fall of the regime”.

The government of prime minister Saad Hariri scraps the tax the same day.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the presidential palace in Baabda on December 28, 2021

But protests continue over the ensuing weeks, culminating in huge demonstrations calling for the overhaul of a ruling class in place for decades and accused of systematic corruption.

 Lebanon’s former premier Saad Hariri, pictured on July 15, 2021

Hariri’s government resigns in late October.

– First default –

Lebanon, with a $92 billion debt burden equivalent to nearly 170 percent of its gross domestic product, announces in March 2020 that it will default on a payment for the first time in its history.

In April, after three nights of violent clashes, then-prime minister Hassan Diab says Lebanon will seek International Monetary Fund help after the government approves an economic rescue plan.

But talks with the IMF quickly go off the rails.

– Catastrophic blast –

A massive explosion on August 4, 2020 at Beirut port devastates entire neighbourhoods of the capital, kills more than 200 people and injures at least 6,500.

© JOSEPH EID 

$100 traded at around 1.5 million Lebanese pounds on the black market on March 16, 2021 as Lebanon battled its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war

It emerges the huge pile of volatile ammonium nitrate that caused one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded had been left unsecured in a warehouse for six years, further enraging the Lebanese public.

 Lebanon’s capital Beirut, with buildings in darkness during a power outage on October 11, 2021

– Political impasse –

Diab’s government resigns shortly after the blast after just over seven months in office.

© IBRAHIM AMRO

 A Lebanese Shiite fighter takes aim with a Kalashnikov amid clashes in the Tayouneh suburb of Beirut, on October 14, 2021

Diplomat Mustapha Adib is named new premier but bows out after less than a month, and Hariri, who already served as prime minister three times, is named in October.

– One of worst crises –

Amid runaway inflation, authorities announce in February 2021 that bread prices will rise further.

In June, the World Bank says Lebanon’s economic collapse is likely to rank among the world’s worst financial crises since the mid-19th century.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, third from right, with an International Monetary Fund delegation


– New government –

After nine months of political horse-trading, Hariri steps aside on July 15, 2021 saying he is unable to form a government.

Billionaire Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s richest man and already twice prime minister, forms a new government on September 10 after a 13-month vacuum.

– Bloody clashes –

But the new government is shaken by demands from the powerful Hezbollah for the judge investigating the Beirut blast to be removed on grounds of political bias.

Tensions come to a boil on October 14, 2021 when a shootout kills seven people following a rally by Hezbollah and its ally Amal demanding Tarek Bitar’s dismissal.

– Accord with IMF –

On January 24, 2022 the IMF launches talks with Lebanese officials.

Mikati’s government meets for the first time after months of negotiations between rival factions.

On February 11 the IMF calls for fiscal reforms to ensure Lebanon can manage its debt load as well as measures to establish a “credible” currency system.

On April 7, the lender says it has reached a staff-level agreement to provide Lebanon with $3 billion in aid over four years.

Timeline: Lebanon's ordeal - Economic and political crises since civil war


By Reuters Staff

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon is in the throes of a financial crisis widely seen as the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war, encouraging a new wave of emigration from the country.

With hard currency growing ever more scarce, the Lebanese pound has lost some 80% of its value, depositors have been shut out of their savings and unemployment are poverty are soaring.

Here are Lebanon’s main previous post-war upheavals.

2005

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri is killed on Feb. 14 when a massive bomb exploded as his motorcade travelled through Beirut; 21 others also died.

A combination of subsequent mass demonstrations and international pressure force Syria to withdraw troops from Lebanon. Lebanese Shi’ite allies of Damascus stage their own big rallies in support of Syria.

Lebanon enters a new era free of Syrian domination. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group and close ally of Damascus, enters government for the first time.

2006

In July, Hezbollah crosses the border into Israel, kidnaps two Israeli soldiers and kills others, sparking a five-week war. At least 1,200 people in Lebanon and 158 Israelis are killed.

After the war, tensions in Lebanon simmer over Hezbollah’s powerful arsenal. In November, Hezbollah and its allies quit the cabinet led by Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and organise street protests against it.

2007

Hezbollah and its allies maintain a sit-in protest against the Siniora government for the entire year. Their stated demand is veto power in the government.

In May, fighting erupts at a Palestinian camp in northern Lebanon between the Lebanese army and Sunni Islamist militants of the Fatah al-Islam group. Thousands of Palestinian refugees are forced to flee the Nahr al-Bared camp. In September, Lebanese troops seize control of the camp after more than three months of fighting that kills more than 300 people.

2008

May 6, 2008 - Siniora’s cabinet accuses Hezbollah of running a private telecoms network and installing spy cameras at Beirut airport. The cabinet vows legal action against the network.

May 7 - Hezbollah said the move against its telecoms network was a declaration of war by the government. After a brief conflict Hezbollah takes control of mainly Muslim west Beirut.

May 21 - After mediation, rival leaders sign a deal in Qatar to end 18 months of political conflict. Parliament elects Michel Suleiman, the army chief, as president.
2011

In January, Saad al-Hariri’s first government is toppled when Hezbollah and its allies quit because of tensions over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The tribunal later indicts four senior members of Hezbollah for the murder of Rafik al-Hariri. Hezbollah denies any role in the assassination. Its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said the authorities would not be able to find the indicted men.

A fifth Hezbollah member is indicted in 2013

2012

Hezbollah fighters deploy into Syria, secretly at first, to aid Syrian government forces facing a mostly Sunni rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad. The group plays a major role in beating back the rebellion.

2015

A crisis about waste erupts when authorities close the main landfill site near Beirut, having arranged no alternative. Large protests broke out as rotting waste filled streets and demonstrators chanted “You stink!” at the government. It became a glaring symbol of the failures of a sectarian power system unable to meet basic needs like electricity and water.

2017

Saad al-Hariri’s ties with Saudi Arabia, which is furious at Hezbollah’s expanding role in Lebanon, hit a nadir in November 2017 when it was widely acknowledged Riyadh had forced him to resign and held him in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia and Hariri publicly deny this version of events, though France’s Emmanuel Macron confirmed that Hariri was being held in Saudi Arabia.

2019

Amid a stagnant economy and slowing capital inflows, the government is under pressure to curb a massive budget deficit.

Proposals to cut the state wage and pension bill meet stiff opposition. The government vows to enact long-delayed reforms but fails to make progress that might unlock foreign support.

Oct. 17 - A government move to tax internet calls ignites big protests against the ruling elite. Lebanese of all sects take part, accusing leaders of corruption and economic mismanagement.

Hariri quits on Oct. 29, against the wishes of Hezbollah. Lebanon is left rudderless as the crisis deepens. A hard- currency liquidity crunch leads banks to impose tight curbs on cash withdrawals and transfers abroad.

2020

After two months of talks to form a new, Hariri-led coalition government hit a dead end, Hezbollah and its allies back Hassan Diab, a little-known academic and former education minister, for the post of prime minister.

March 7 - Diab announces Lebanon cannot repay a maturing bond and calls for negotiations to restructure its debt.

May 1 - Beirut signs a formal request for IMF assistance after approving a plan setting out vast losses in the financial system. The banking association rejects the plan, saying its proposals for restructuring the banking sector would further destroy confidence in Lebanon.

July - IMF talks are put on hold pending agreement on the Lebanese side over the scale of financial loses. The Lebanese pound touches lows close to 10,000 to the dollar. The rate was 1,500 in October.


Writing by Tom Perry and William Maclean; editing by Ed Osmond

Ukraine war revives France-Spain MidCat gas pipeline project



Valentin BONTEMPS
Tue, May 10, 2022,

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Madrid has revived calls to build a huge gas pipeline between Spain and France dubbed MidCat that would boost Europe's energy independence from Russia.

What is MidCat?

Initially launched in 2003, the 190-kilometre (120-mile) Midi-Catalonia (MidCat) pipeline would pump gas across the Pyrenees from Hostalric just north of Barcelona to Barbaira in southern France.

Its aim was to transport gas from Algeria through Spain to the rest of the European Union. There are currently only two small gas pipelines linking Spain and France.

But following several years of work, the project was abandoned in 2019 after energy regulators from both countries rejected it amid questions over its environmental impact and profitability.

Why restart it?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the EU has vowed to end its dependence on gas from Russia, which currently supplies nearly 40 percent of the bloc's gas needs.

A 750-kilometre deepwater pipeline called Medgaz already links gas-rich Algeria with southern Spain.

A second underwater pipeline, called GME links Spain to Algeria via Morocco but Algiers in November shut supply through it due to a diplomatic conflict with Rabat.

Spain also has six terminals for regasifying and storing liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported by sea, the largest network in Europe.

Gas which arrives in Spain by sea and pipeline from Algeria could then be sent on to the rest of Europe though MidCat.

The MidCat pipeline is "crucial" to reduce the EU's reliance on fossil fuels and "end the Kremlin's blackmail", EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday in Barcelona in a reference to Russia's threats to halt its gas supplies to the bloc.

What are the obstacles?

The MidCat pipeline faces several hurdles, starting with its huge price tag estimated in 2018 at 440 million euros ($460 million). It would also take three to four years to complete.

"MidCat cannot be approached as a short-term solution," France's ambassador to Spain, Jean-Michel Casa, said during an interview with Barcelona-based daily newspaper La Vanguadia in March.

In addition, there is a lack of connections between France and Germany, the country which is most interested in finding alternatives to Russian gas.

It would be "much simpler to bring gas directly by boat to Germany," said Thierry Bros, an energy expert at the Science Po university in Paris.

"This would of course require building gas terminals in Germany" but their cost would not be higher than building MidCat, he told AFP.

What support?

Despite the debate over its usefulness, MidCat enjoys significant support, especially in Spain where the authorities are pushing for Brussels to declare the project to be of "community interest".

France has so far been more reserved but according to Madrid this position is changing.

There is a new "perception of the risks and opportunities" that MidCat brings, Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said, adding Paris "has understood" that Midcat "must" be built.

There are also questions over the financing for the project.

Madrid argues Brussels should foot the bill, not Spanish taxpayers, because the project would benefit the entire EU.

But the European commission has not yet committed to funding it.

Spain also wants the pipeline to be compatible with the transport of green hydrogen, in the hopes this will boost its appeal to Brussels which has made financing renewable energy projects a priority.

vab/mg/ds/rl

The 1997 chess game that thrust AI into the spotlight

AI has come a long way since Deep Blue's chess victory in 1997, with the technology used in everything from financial analysis to weather forecasting

 (AFP/Patrick T. FALLON)

Cedric SIMON, Laurent BARTHELEMY and Joseph BOYLE
Tue, May 10, 2022, 

With his hand pushed firmly into his cheek and his eyes fixed on the table, Garry Kasparov shot a final dark glance at the chessboard before storming out of the room: the king of chess had just been beaten by a computer.

May 11, 1997 was a watershed for the relationship between man and machine, when the artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer Deep Blue finally achieved what developers had been promising for decades.

It was an "incredible" moment, AI expert Philippe Rolet told AFP, even if the enduring technological impact was not so huge.

"Deep Blue's victory made people realise that machines could be as strong as humans, even on their territory," he said.

Developers at IBM, the US firm that made Deep Blue, were ecstatic with the victory but quickly refocused on the wider significance.

"This is not about man versus machine. This is really about how we, humans, use technology to solve difficult problems," said Deep Blue team chief Chung-Jen Tan after the match, listing possible benefits from financial analysis to weather forecasting.

Even Chung would have struggled to comprehend how central AI has now become -- finding applications in almost every field of human existence.

"AI has exploded over the last 10 years or so," UCLA computer science professor Richard Korf told AFP.

"We're now doing things that used to be impossible."

- 'One man cracked' -

After his defeat, Kasparov, who is still widely regarded as the greatest chess player of all time, was furious.

He hinted there had been unfair practices, denied he had really lost and concluded that nothing at all had been proved about the power of computers.

He explained that the match could be seen as "one man, the best player in the world, (who) has cracked under pressure".

The computer was beatable, he argued, because it had too many weak points.

Nowadays, the best computers will always beat even the strongest human chess players.

AI-powered machines have mastered every game going and now have much bigger worlds to conquer.

Korf cites notable advances in facial recognition that have helped make self-driving cars a reality.

Yann LeCun, head of AI research at Meta/Facebook, told AFP there had been "absolutely incredible progress" in recent years.

LeCun, one of the founding fathers of modern AI, lists among the achievements of today's computers an ability "to translate any language into any language in a set of 200 languages" or "to have a single neural network that understands 100 languages".

It is a far cry from 1997, when Facebook didn't even exist.

- Machines 'not the danger' -

Experts agree that the Kasparov match was important as a symbol but left little in the way of a technical legacy.

"There was nothing revolutionary in the design of Deep Blue," said Korf, describing it as an evolution of methods that had been around since the 1950s.

"It was also a piece of dedicated hardware designed just to play chess."

Facebook, Google and other tech firms have pushed AI in all sorts of other directions.

They have fuelled increasingly powerful AI machines with unimaginable amounts of data from their users, serving up remorselessly targeted content and advertising and forging trillion-dollar companies in the process.

AI technology now helps to decide anything from the temperature of a room to the price of vehicle insurance.

Devices from vacuum cleaners to doorbells come with arrays of sensors to furnish AI systems with data to better target consumers.

While critics bemoan a loss of privacy, enthusiasts believe AI products just make everyone's lives easier.

Despite his painful history with machines, Kasparov is largely unfazed by AI's increasingly dominant position.

"There is simply no evidence that machines are threatening us," he told AFP last year.

"The real danger comes not from killer robots but from people -- because people still have a monopoly on evil."

cds-lby/jxb/ach

ILLEGAL ZIONIST OCCUPATION
After Israel ruling, West Bank families fear evictions 'at any time'







Gareth BROWNE
Tue, May 10, 2022, 

The threat of losing his West Bank land has loomed over Ali Mohammed Jabbareen for more than two decades, but he now fears an Israeli court decision may finally force him to go.

Jabbareen, 60, lives in the Palestinian village of Jinba, part of the Masafer Yatta area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that has been at the centre of a protracted legal battle.

In the early 1980s, the army declared the 3,000 hectare (7,400 acre) area a restricted military area -- calling it "Firing Zone 918".

The army said it was uninhabited, and that anyone claiming to live there was doing so illegally.

The roughly 1,000 Palestinians who live there say Masafer Yatta was their people's home long before Israeli soldiers set foot in the West Bank.


Israel's top court ruled against the Palestinians last week, saying they had "failed to prove" their claim to permanent residence before its declaration as a military training zone.

The European Union condemned the decision on Tuesday, saying "the establishment of a firing zone cannot be considered an 'imperative military reason' to transfer the population under occupation".

The ruling made no specific mention of evictions, which are usually followed by demolitions such as one carried out Tuesday at Silwan in annexed east Jerusalem.

But Jabbareen fears they could be carried out with little notice.

"We have no information about the demolitions," he told AFP as he gazed through the open door of his one-room house at an Israeli military patrol stirring up dust on the unpaved road nearby.

Army units with clearance to destroy his home, "could come at any time", he said.

- 'No other place to go' -

Masafer Yatta residents insist they lived in the area even as control of the West Bank changed hands -- from the British mandate period through Jordanian rule from 1948 to 1967, the year the Israeli occupation began.

The isolated community is in the West Bank's "Area C" -- which is under full Israeli control -- and is more than an hour's drive from the nearest paved road.

Few of the homes are connected to a water supply system or power grid.

Jabbareen built his house into a rocky outcrop in the heart of his farmland. It is currently home to 12 people, who scratch out a living raising sheep and growing vegetables.

"This is my land and they want to expel me from it," he said.

Some residents of Masafer Yatta were first kicked out in 1999.

The following year, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) helped some of the families challenge their expulsion in court.

They secured a temporary reprieve that remained in force pending the high court's final decision last week.

Roni Pelli of the ACRI said the verdict was "inherently flawed".

"The villages in Masafar Yatta are the homes of the petitioners, and they have no other home."

She insisted expelling them was "illegal," and backed a long-standing allegation made by Israeli critics that the army uses the military zone designation as a pretext to grab West Bank land.

The Israeli human rights group Akevot, which specialises in state and military archival research, has obtained a document from 1981 in which then agriculture minister and future prime minister Ariel Sharon proposed to set up the firing zone.

Sharon, in the document, says the military zone declaration will ultimately make it easier to expel the Palestinian residents.

- 'We are the opposite' -

It was not immediately clear if the residents have any further legal recourse to ward off evictions.

Inside Jabbareen's house, where blankets are piled high against a wall, he gestured to a nearby Jewish settlement and reflected on what he termed grossly unequal treatment in the West Bank.

Some 475,000 settlers now live in the West Bank in communities considered illegal under international law, alongside some 2.7 million Palestinians.

They are frequently granted permission to build permanent structures with proper electrical connections, while many Palestinians are denied building permits and live under the threat of eviction, he said.

"They build with concrete," he said of the settlers.

"They are provided with electricity and water. The army is guarding them, but we are just the opposite."

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