Beginning Of Closeness in China-Afghan Relations – OpEd

 May 15, 2022  

By Dr. Rajkumar Singh

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan followed the disintegration of Earlier USSR in early 1990s and on account of its internal dissension, conflict and rivalry China remained in inactive position for a long time. On the other hand, Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan witnessed large-scale chaos, anarchy and instability in the country and Taliban, a terror militia group, taking benefit of the prevailing situation captured the power of the state in the year 1996 which lasted till 2001, but was overthrown by US forces when they began search for world-famous terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The new interim government was formed under the presidentship of Hamid Karzai which opened a new chapter in Afghan-China relations and reestablished a strong bond of closeness as well understanding between them. As a gesture of goodwill, in December 2001 China sent a working team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which attended the Afghan Interim Administration’s foundation ceremony and also dispatched a message of congratulations to the newly appointed president. In the period, with deepening of relations China explored its possibility of increasing businesses and kept itself aloof from politics aa well as security problems of the country. In nutshell, Beijing focused only on commercial purposes and refrained from involving in US-sponsored anti-terror campaign initiated in post-9/11 phase, political reconciliation and economic reconstruction, as it did not want to perform as a subordinate partner in any way of the Western coalition.

However, over the years, the considerations in Kabul changed with Taliban becoming more and more powerful and capturing one territory after another. The Western powers, under the lead role of the United States also felt the futility of continuing the war against the prevailing terror groups. As a result, a consensus emerged among the powers concerned to establish peace in Afghanistan through non-military means and it finally materialised in February 2020 when US agreed on withdrawing from Afghanistan.           

Security motivations of China

Although, Afghanistan remained unstable for last three decades, Beijing began taking interest in Kabul’s affairs since the emergence and expansion of Taliban, a potential terror militia, at the close of the century or roughly from 2001 when the first government of Taliban collapsed due to waging of a decisive war against the terror groups, particularly, Al-Qaeda and its chief Osama bin Laden.

As China is in the neighbourhood of Afghanistan and share about 76- kilometres of border, the developments in Kabul directly posed threat to China province Xinjiang where Uighur Muslim-dominated population reside. China too, for long has been suffering from the terror activities of Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang province and meanwhile, a good number of Uighur Muslims have taken shelter in Pakistan’s Federally administered Area (FATA), and the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

According to an estimate, about eight thousand Uighur Muslim terrorists are living in Afghanistan preparing for terror war against the Beijing. In addition, the terror groups having originated from Xinjiang province and living in Afghanistan have transnational connections with Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), Turkestan Islamic Party TIP). They all want and active enough to establish an Islamic State of East Turkestan in Xinjiang.

Thus, the entire Chinese activities in Afghanistan revolves around its domestic security perceptions and therefore, it has ignored the works of political reconciliation and other reconstruction in the country. In the context, Beijing was ready to train Afghan soldiers on Chinese soil to forfeit the purpose of (ISIS), Al-Qaeda and a host of other terror outfits who wish to infiltrate into Xinjiang province of China through the northeastern border of Afghanistan and get fulfilled their dreams.

Economic interests of China in Afghanistan

In Chinese considerations national security apart, there are two main economic/commercial factors that attracted Beijing most to come close to Afghanistan- a. China’s own trade interests, and b. Afghanistan being a hub of natural resources.

In comparison to the other countries of the region, location of Afghanistan is significant as it opens the commercial as well as vast trade routes and avenues to South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and China. Beijing, being the largest exporter of the region, which has developed most in recent decades and years, naturally, requires immense world markets and sales agents for its economic prosperity and power in the comity of nations.

Its latest trade controversy with the United States of America initiated with assumption of Donald Trump as the President of US (and continued under the Biden administration) has made it difficult for China to trade in Western nations in general, particularly with those the US retains good relations and understanding. The second lucrative cause for Beijing’s temptation in Afghanistan is its natural resources which include from being rare earth elements to copper deposits, iron ore, gold, lithium and more.

Keeping in view the said objectives Beijing has also expanded in Afghanistan under its policy of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a dream of global growth project initiated in 2013 and running in over hundred countries of the world to help/develop undeveloped and undeveloped countries. After three years of its launching, China and Afghanistan, in 2016, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in which they both expressed their joint commitment to promote co-operation under the BRI projects, which will also, in future, integrate Kabul in intercontinental infrastructure and boost its economy. As a result of decades of understanding between the two, especially since 2001, China emerged as a significant trading partner of Afghanistan and it reached 544 US dollar in 2017 and in the year, they also signed a custom-free trade agreement which opened a bright chapter in their economic relations.

Forward movement of China in Afghanistan

Keeping in view the larger interest, the People’s Republic of China, moved gradually to take a bigger role in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and started initiating peacekeeping efforts with the help of Pakistan and Afghanistan through shuttle diplomacy, in addition to joining a regional pool, Quadrilateral Coordination Group since 2015. It also viewed correctly, weakening position of Afghan government in the country and establish a good rapport with Taliban in past recent years to ease its relations with Afghan government and the people as well.

In August 2021 when US withdrew finally and completely, Taliban captured political power in the country and in following days formed a government to rule over the nation. In return of Chinese help and assistance, the ruling Taliban has called China a close friend and assured Beijing to curb militant support given from Afghani soil. At present, it appears a good regional combination of China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and likely to continue in days to come unless something happens unexpectedly.

Dr. Rajkumar Singh

Dr. Rajkumar Singh is a University Professor for the last 20 years and presently Head of the P.G. Department of Political Science, B.N. Mandal University, West Campus, P.G. Centre,Saharsa (Bihar), India. In addition to 17 books published so far there are over 250 articles to his credit out of which above 100 are from 30 foreign countries. His recent published books include Transformation of modern Pak Society-Foundation, Militarisation, Islamisation and Terrorism (Germany, 2017),and New Surroundings of Pak Nuclear Bomb (Mauritius, 2018). He is an authority on Indian Politics and its relations with foreign countries.

PRIVATIZATION OF WAR

UKRAINE
Mozart Group: The counter to Russia's infamous Wagner Group mercenaries


A former US Special Forces commander has set up the Mozart Group, aiming to pass on his, and other veteran's, frontline experience.

Simon Newton

April 2022 

A former US Special Forces commander has set up a military training centre in Ukraine aimed at passing on his, and other veteran's, frontline experience.

The ex-US commander Colonel Andrew Milburn was the first US Marine to lead a Special Operations Task Force during the war against the so-called Islamic State and is now set on training Ukraine's Special Forces in the military skills they lack.

Colonel Milburn's called his organisation the Mozart Group – a counter to Russia's infamous mercenary firm The Wagner Group.

Funded by donations those joining are paid an undisclosed fee for their expertise.

Colonel Milburn says he has already hired several British Army veterans and the scale and type of warfare happening in Ukraine is different to anything even he has seen.

An estimated 5,000 foreign volunteers have reportedly headed for the Ukrainian war zone to join a loosely organised Ukrainian Foreign Legion.

The ex-US commander says many that have lied about their military experience are now paying the price and emphasised the need for an assessment screening.

He says he was drawn to Ukraine by a desire to do something and even with the reported Russian troop withdrawal from Kyiv, he believes it is only a temporary pause as they consolidate forces in the east.

"The Russians are best in the defence. Yes, they've been inept in the offence but they use reams of mines and they've got no shortage of artillery shells.

"The barrages that they can bring down very quickly have to be seen to be believed."

Three Dead and One Wounded in New Massacre in Colombia



The climate of violence, with massacres and selective assassinations of former combatants and peace signatories has not stopped in Colombia. May. 14, 2022. 

| Photo: @MV_Eng

Published 14 May 2022 
by teleSUR

According to human rights NGOs, it is the 39th massacre so far this year in the midst of an atmosphere of pre-electoral violence that continues unabated.

At least three young people were killed on Friday night in the municipality of Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, and a 16 year-old minor was wounded. Local police sources confirmed a new episode of armed violence in the South American country.

RELATED:
Colombia: 2022 Is Most Violent Pre-electoral Period on Record

According to local media, the police version reports that the victims were hanging out in the park of one of the city's neighborhoods when armed men attacked them at night. The deceased were 18, 19 and 25 years of age.

Also, a 16 year-old minor was wounded in the shooting, who underwent surgery and is in a reserved prognosis.

Although the authorities are investigating whether the multiple homicide was the result of retaliation, the Institute for Development and Peace (Indepaz) recalls that there was already an Early Warning (EW) for the area.

In particular, Indepaz refers that the Ombudsman's Office had issued a TA, number 19/2021, which included the municipalities of El Cerrito, Buga and Palmira and pointed out the deficiencies of the state response in terms of security, especially in comprehensive prevention actions.

The previous March, another massacre took place in a rural area of the same municipality. In this event, three people were killed in a house in the Chambimbal district. A year earlier, in January 2021, the massacre of five young people in a farm caused commotion in Buga and the rest of Valle.

The main hypotheses so far are, the settling of scores and disputes over territorial control due to drug trafficking. However, Indepaz points out that the economy of municipalities like Buga, in which both legal and illegal actors take part, helps to understand, in part, how the armed conflict and criminality have fed the functioning of this economy.

In view of what would be the 39th massacre so far this year, Indepaz recalls that the so-called Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), local drug trafficking structures and the Third Division of the Colombian Army, among other armed groups, are active in the area.

The climate of violence, with massacres and selective assassinations of former combatants and peace signatories has not stopped in Colombia, two weeks before the first round of the presidential elections.

Christian village digs into Crusader past

The residents of Mi'ilya long wondered what archaeological treasures lay beneath a crumbling castle. Now, some are excavating their homes to find out


PUBLISHED : 15 MAY 2022 
NEWSPAPER SECTION: SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT
WRITER: PATRICK  KINGSLEY

Ruins in Mi'ilya, Israel on April 3. photos:  AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

In the middle of Eilia Arraf's home -- between two living rooms, a cactus garden and a makeshift gym -- there are two large pits, each containing the ruins of a church that archaeologists believe was built about 1,600 years ago.

Mr Arraf found large sections of the church's mosaic floors under his house in 2020, as he tried to convert his aunt's bedroom and an olive oil storeroom into a new kitchen. The kitchen project was quickly abandoned. Instead, Mr Arraf turned the central part of his house into an archaeological dig -- and later, a minor tourist attraction.

above A view of Mi'ilya, Israel. AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"We did lose part of our house," said Mr Arraf, 69, an electrical engineer. "But what we have underneath us is something that money can't buy."

In practically any other village in Israel, Mr Arraf's decision to dig up his home would have been unheard of. But in Mi'ilya, a hilltop village of some 3,200 people, mostly Arab Christians, in northern Israel, he is part of an eccentric trend of privately funded archaeological excavations.

Since 2017, four families have begun the process of excavating 10 private homes, searching for Crusader and Byzantine ruins. Hundreds more families in Mi'ilya have funded a village-wide project to restore part of its crumbling Crusader castle.

In the process, the villagers have discovered the largest-known winery from the Crusader era, a Crusader town wall, a Roman cistern and Iron Age cooking equipment -- as well as the Byzantine church underneath Mr Arraf's home.

Eilia Arraf in the nave of a Byzantine church found under his home. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"It was a domino effect," said Rabei Khamisy, an archaeologist from the village who is the driving force behind the project. "In Mi'ilya, excavation became something like a tradition."

For years, the villagers had known they were living atop and among an array of archaeological treasures, but they had never got around to digging up much of it. Parts of the present-day village date from the 12th century, when Frankish Crusaders built a castle there, probably during the rule of Baldwin III, a Christian king of Jerusalem.

Today, Mi'ilya remains one of a handful of Christian-majority villages in Israel. Most of its residents are Greek Catholics whose ancestors began to settle here during Ottoman rule in the mid-18th century.

Many live in homes built among the ruins of the Crusader castle, which became the backdrop to the lives of generations of villagers. But it was never properly excavated or restored.

"The council always said, 'We'll do the castle; we'll work on the castle,'" said Mr Khamisy, who grew up in the castle's shadow. "But nothing ever happened."

The turning point came in early 2017 when part of the castle wall began to collapse, endangering passersby.

A specialist in Crusader-era archaeology, Mr Khamisy, 45, had only recently started a new research post at a nearby university and had little time for a new project. But he realised it was now or never to preserve the fortress, and felt it was a matter of hometown honour.

Rabei Khamisy, an archaeologist from Mi'ilya, Israel, who is the driving force behind the local excavations. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"I'm going to restore the castle," he remembered thinking. "If I don't do it, I will leave the village. I can't live here."

So began the first of several restoration and excavation projects in Mi'ilya.

Mr Khamisy encouraged the village council to call a meeting, at which he asked families to each donate the equivalent of the cost of two cigarette packets. The villagers answered the call, giving roughly US$60,000, (2 million baht) and the council pitched in $30,000.

The Israel Antiquities Authority quickly supplied the relevant permits.

Several weeks later, the most dangerous stretch of the wall had been shored up.

Historically, residents of villages like Mi'ilya had been wary of notifying the antiquities authority if they found any hidden relics, which, though often kept in the custody of the homeowner, legally become state property. Residents feared that the government might take over their property or demand time-consuming excavations if a particularly noteworthy ruin was discovered.

For Palestinian citizens of Israel, as some Mi'ilya residents define themselves, the fear was particularly sharp, several villagers said, because the government had requisitioned Arab-owned land across Israel in the decades after the founding of the state.

But the wall restoration project gave the villagers greater trust in the authorities -- not least because Mr Khamisy was the main intermediary between the village and the government.

"He's a son of the village," said Salma Assaf, a former accountant who owns several properties in and around the castle ruins. "He broke the wall between us and the antiquities authorities."

Soon, the village clergy allowed the excavation of the village church, where Mr Khamisy said Iron Age pottery was dug up.

But the most dramatic discovery was lurking underneath Ms Assaf's own property next door.

Ms Assaf was in the middle of turning her family's Ottoman-era house into a restaurant. As the builders worked in its cellar, they discovered an ancient stone structure.

Galvanised by Mr Khamisy's recent project, Ms Assaf invited him over to examine it. The archaeologist quickly realised it was a previously unknown section of the Crusader town -- perhaps part of a medieval wine press.

left The northern wall of a Crusader castle in Mi'ilya. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

Excited, Mr Khamisy called the antiquities authority, asking for permission to dig deeper. A permit was granted unusually quickly, within days.

Armed with trowels, shovels and pickaxes, Mr Khamisy and the Assaf family set about excavating the cellar themselves.

After digging for two weeks, Mr Khamisy suddenly started shouting and jumping. About two yards under the floor, he had found the first signs of a Crusader-era drainage system.

Ms Assaf's building, experts later concluded, was standing above the largest-known wine press in the Crusader era -- a revelation that drew the attention of a major Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.

"It was the most wonderful time of my life," Ms Assaf remembered.

Energized by the discovery, Ms Assaf began buying up other properties around the castle, excavating them with Mr Khamisy's help, and then restoring them. They uncovered a Crusader waterworks and a Roman-era cistern that the Crusaders appeared to have used as their own; neither were seismic discoveries, but they helped archaeologists deepen their understanding of Crusader life in the 12th century, when European Christians consolidated their efforts to colonise the region by force.

The glass floor in Salma Assaf's restaurant in Mi'ilya, Israel, under which lies a Crusader-era wine press. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"The finds themselves are important for a Crusader historian, or an archaeologist like myself," said Adrian Boas, a professor of medieval archaeology at the University of Haifa. "They're adding information to what we know about the Crusader period."

But perhaps more significantly, they have helped make villagers more "aware of the importance of the past and their connection to the place they live in," Prof Boas said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Pharmaceutical industry hit hard by Sri Lanka’s economic crisis

Sri Lanka's economic crisis is causing a shortage of medicine in the country.

Akshaya Nath 

Colombo

May 15, 2022

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is affecting the pharmaceutical industry and the country is facing a shortage of essential medicines. Local pharmacies have run out of medicine with patients leaving empty-handed.

A doctor at the Sri Lanka medical association, Ishan, said, “All kinds of medicines - general medicines and those that are specific to a certain health condition - are in shortage due to the economic crisis. A list is continually circulated by the authorised organisations to give a picture of the missing medicines and also to seek assistance for others.”

A local pharmacist said, “Many over-the-counter medicines like paracetamol and antibiotics are not available. Heart medicines and anaesthetic medicines are unavailable because of which surgeries have been temporarily stopped in many places.” Another pharmacist added, “The economic crisis has also led to the increase in prices of medicines. We have observed people travelling long distances to get medicine. Sometimes, they don’t buy the medicine they need because of the price. It is a terrible situation.”

ALSO WATCH | Sri Lanka on the boil: Who is accountable?

Last week, a two-year-old child fell sick and the family could not arrange medicine for her. Her mother said they had to travel very far just for general medicine.

According to Dr Ishan, the next step forward is for other countries to provide help. He said, “India has given a helping hand and we are thankful for it. But we will need more assistance when it comes to medicine.”

Since January, the Indian government has given US $ 3.5 billion in aid to the island nation. Earlier, external affairs minister S Jaishankar had also said that India will also assist Sri Lanka with its medicine shortage problem.

Why Sri Lanka’s new PM isn’t the change the country needs

Opposition see incremental change as putting “old wine in a new bottle.”

By Ellen Ioanes May 14, 2022

United National Party (UNP) leader and the new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (L) greets President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) after the swearing in ceremony. Wickremesinghe fills the role for a sixth time. 

Sri Lanka President Media Division / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Sri Lanka’s president has appointed a new prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, a familiar face in the role, as the country’s economic crisis balloons into a full-blown political disaster and violent conflagration between security forces, supporters of the current president, and protesters demanding radical political and economic change.

Wickremesinghe returns to office after five previous stints as the country’s prime minister; he’s replacing former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who, along with his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, have overseen the country’s economic collapse. Mahinda resigned last week amid increasingly violent protests, during which nine people were killed and more than three hundred injured, according to Reuters.

As Vox’s Natasha Ishak explained in April, Sri Lanka’s economy is in shambles largely due to the country’s default on about $50 billion worth of foreign loans, for the first time in its history as an independent nation. The past three years have seen successive hits to Sri Lanka’s foreign tourism sector — a series of church bombings in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — which previously brought in about $4.4 billion annually and was a leading economic driver. Those crises, exacerbated by the Rajapaksa’s financial mismanagement, have led to a critical lack of goods including milk, fuel, food, and medicine, and extended power power cuts — leading, in turn, to widespread protests and spiraling into political chaos.

The Rajapaksas are a political dynasty in Sri Lanka, and their reach in the government has been significant; in addition to Mahinda and Gotabaya, their brother served until April 4 as the finance minister. Gotabaya, the president, fired his younger brother, Basil, and replaced other cabinet officials at the time, but protesters and politicians alike weren’t impressed; Udaya Gammanpila, head of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya party, wrote on Twitter that the switch-up was reminiscent of “old wine in a new bottle,” according to Reuters.

Of course, Sri Lanka’s economic problems didn’t start with the current Rajapaksa government, as the International Crisis Group’s Alan Keenan explained in an April piece:

“Sri Lanka’s economic disaster has deep roots: the country has long lived beyond its means — borrowing too much and taxing too little — and produced below its potential. But the Rajapaksa administration’s gross negligence on economic matters since it came to power in November 2019 has significantly aggravated the island’s chronic problems.”

However, the dynasty has been a big part of the problem since Mahinda was first elected president in 2005, as a 2018 piece from the New York Times describes. Over the past decade, the country took out a number of loans, including about $5 billion from China. Through its so-called Belt and Road initiative, China has invested in a number of infrastructure projects in more than 100 countries around the world; ostensibly, such projects would both create jobs and in Sri Lanka’s case, provide a port on a bustling trade route. However, as Ishak pointed out in her piece, the Hambantota port project was eventually turned over to China as collateral when the Sri Lankan government was unable to pay back or renegotiate the loans — or successfully complete the project, due, at least in part, to rampant corrup

Gotabaya was elected president in 2019, and the Rajapaksa dynasty was again in charge; that meant more ambitious infrastructure projects, despite increasing foreign debt and dwindling foreign currency reserves to import essential goods, due to the lack of foreign income from tourism and other sectors. Gotabaya also slashed taxes when he came to power, inhibiting the government’s ability to purchase foreign currency reserves. On top of it all, a 2021 ban on imported chemical fertilizers, which was intended to save those foreign currency reserves decimated the agricultural sector.

What has resulted, Keenan writes, is “Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in nearly 75 years of independence.” The protests, he wrote in April, “have now morphed into a nationwide uprising,” despite the Rajapaksa government’s “reputation for political repression.” Protesters even forced Mahinda to flee his estate, Temple Trees, and tender his resignation on Monday after they attempted to breach the compound.

Who is Ranil Wickremesinghe?

After halfhearted attempts to form a new government in April and amid increasing threats to his rule, Gotabaya appointed Wickremesinghe to take over his brother’s office; he was sworn in on Thursday and first served as prime minister in 1993, under President DB Wijetunga.

Wickremesinghe is the product of families long active in civil service and the political class, stretching back even before independence, as Al Jazeera reports. Trained as a lawyer, Wickremesinghe is now the head of Sri Lanka’s United National Party, and has held several government posts, including deputy foreign minister and minister of industries. In that post, Wickremesinghe brought in foreign investors — perhaps a crucial selling point for his present appointment, as his relationships with India and Western countries could help in negotiating Sri Lanka out of its current economic turmoil.

However, as the BBC points out, Wickremesinghe has never served a complete term as prime minister, and is perceived as being quite close to the Rajapaksa clan despite being in the opposition party — even, some critics say, protecting them when they lost power in 2015. Furthermore, Wickremesinghe was in office during the 2019 Easter bombings — and claimed he was “out of the loop” in regards to warnings about the attacks, which killed at least 250.

How can Sri Lanka get out of this crisis?

In the face of compounded economic crises, violent protests, and entrenched government corruption, the future of the Sri Lankan government is murky at best. As of right now, protesters are demanding that the remaining Rajapaksa family members — including Gotabaya, the president, whose office entrance protesters have been occupying for the past month — be removed from government. Many also see Wickremesinghe’s appointment as a slap in the face and emblematic of Gotabaya’s longstanding refusal to admit to his government’s role in the crisis.

According to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, the executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives, a think tank based in Colombo, Wickremesinghe has a massive task ahead of him if he is to steer the country out of its present crisis.

“Mr. Wickremesinghe has to focus on both the political and economic dimensions of our crisis of governance,” he told Vox via email. “Neglect of the political dimensions will undermine the economic.”

Chief among the issues that Wickremesinghe needs to address is securing assistance from the International Monetary Fund to purchase basic goods, Saravanamuttu said. The IMF can issue Rapid Financing Instruments, or RFI, to countries in need of immediate assistance due to natural disaster or other forces outside of its control, but Sri Lanka’s circumstances don’t fall under the typical remit of an RFI. Finance Minister Ali Sabry, who replaced Basil Rajapaksa, formally requested assistance from the IMF in April, and has been working with the IMF to attempt to broker some sort of agreement; however, as he said in an address to Parliament earlier in May, any agreement will be based on the restructuring of the nation’s debt and would take six months to put in motion.

But the economic and political crises are so deeply intertwined that, Saravanamuttu said, solving one wouldn’t ease the other; both issues have to be addressed for Sri Lanka to recover. “[Wickremesinghe] has to ensure that we get the bridging finance and the agreement with the IMF as well as clip the powers of the executive presidency and set a date for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and for the office of the executive presidency to be abolished,” he said. Wickremesinghe is, according to the Associated Press, meeting with diplomats from Japan, the US, the European Union, Germany, China, and India to float the idea of an aid consortium to help bail the country out quickly, but the political dimensions have yet to be substantially addressed.

As of now, Gotabaya has expressed no intention to resign his post and retains the broad executive powers instituted under his rule in October 2020; this includes the power to make an array of important appointments and to dissolve the parliament any time after the halfway point of its five-year term. Although Gotabaya has floated the idea of curtailing those powers and on Wednesday reiterated his intention to do so in a speech to the nation, that has yet to move forward. As of Saturday, he retains his office and appointed four new cabinet ministers, all belonging to his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, in a bid for stability until a new cabinet can be formed. A strict nationwide curfew, imposed on Monday, continues, as do orders for security services to shoot on site anyone deemed to be participating in acts of vandalism or arson.

But protesters, both in the streets and online, are still demanding Gotabaya’s resignation, which Saravanamuttu said is crucial for the country’s future.

“The demands of the people are for the president to go and failure to address this will be to the detriment of the country.”

Kurdish politician leaves German left-wing party over Russia policy

She is not the first Die Linke member to leave the party over its pro-Russian policies.

 Wladimir van Wilgenburg 

 10 Hours

German Kurdish politician Helin Evrim Sommer (Photo: Stella von Saldern/Deutscher Bundestag)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The German Kurdish politician and former MP Helin Evrim Sommer has left Die Linke (The Left) party in protest over its pro-Russian politics.

Sommer was a German parliament member for the Linke (between 2017-2021) and lost her seat in the elections in September.

Germany's influential newsweekly Der Spiegel reported that, in a resignation letter, Sommer accused the party of "Soviet nostalgia" and always blaming the West for Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

"Significant parts of the party publicly reproduce the narrative of the Putin regime and have often enough unilaterally supported the interests of the Kremlin. And even today, parts of the party still give NATO either primary or partial responsibility for Putin's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, which is beyond reality," she wrote.

On Twitter, she described the left-wing MP Sevim Dagdelen from Die Linke (who is also Kurdish) as the "greatest Putinist of all time."

Furthermore, Sommer was also irritated by her former party's lack of support for Syrian Kurds, as Der Spiegel and Der Tagesspiegel reported in early May.

Instead, the party supported Russia and the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.

"As a German politician of Kurdish origin, I am also extremely disappointed with how the LINKE has dealt with the Kurdish question in Syria," she wrote in her resignation letter, which she shared with Kurdistan 24.

"Instead of showing solidarity with the Kurds' struggle for freedom in Rojava, parts of the party prefer to support Bashar al-Assad's Syrian terror regime, which has been waging war against its own people for more than 10 years," she added.

"Such positions are intolerable for me."

Sommer is not the first Die Linke member to leave the party over its pro-Russian policies.

She was born in 1971 as the daughter of a teacher in Varto in southeast Turkey (northern Kurdistan). She studied history and is a state-approved translator.

During her time as MP, she supported Kurds in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan and repeatedly asked the German government questions about its policies on Kurds.

In 2019, she stated that the "German federal government needs to recognize and support the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) as a stabilizing ally."

Read More: German Left Party congratulates Kurdistan Region on new government

"The Federal Government [in Germany] must finally recognize the Kurds as a stabilizing actor in the region and treat them accordingly," she added.

In 2020, she also criticized Turkish-backed groups for repeatedly cutting off the water to Kurdish-controlled Syria's northeast.

SOUTH  AFRICA

Sibanye-Stillwater strike | Miner says workers' demands unaffordable

'Sibanye-Stillwater CEO pockets R300m pay packet, but staff get next to nothing'

News, Business

2022-05-02 
Source
eNCA

Sibanye-Stillwater strike | Miner says workers' demands unaffordable

The company says it’s been trying to negotiate with unions for about 10 months now and many adjustments have been made.

Workers are demanding a R1,000 increase but the employer is only willing to offer R850.Sibanye-Stillwater's James 

Wellsted said:"It’s been about a 10-month long process, it's been an extended engagement.

"At the end of last year [2021] before the December break we actually paid back-pay on the current offer that we had on the table at that time to employees so that they would go home, at least with something, for the December break to share with their families. At that point, it was R450.

CEO's R300m pay packet a new flashpoint in Sibanye strike

WATCH: Ramaphosa whisked away in Workers' Day rally

Absolute CRAP. Yet the ceo made R300 million Sibanye said it is a waste to give workers that 1000 they must stop playing an give workers what they need not even want because of high prices of living

CEO's R300m pay packet a new flashpoint in Sibanye strikeSibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman's R300m pay package in 2021 is expected to complicate wage negotiations with workers whose strike is now in its second month. 300 million, thats South Africa for you. MayDay CyrilRamaphosa I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real... Eusebius I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real...

'Sibanye-Stillwater CEO pockets R300m pay packet, but staff get next to nothing'Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman's R300m pay package in 2021 is expected to complicate wage negotiations with workers whose strike is now in its second month. That's typical in this country. Anc government allows this....

WATCH: Ramaphosa whisked away in Workers' Day rallyWATCH: Ramaphosa whisked away in Workers' Day rally President Cyril Ramaphosa had to be whisked away at a Workers' Day rally after striking Sibanye Stillwater mine workers disrupted his address.

Cosatu says heckling of ANC's Ramaphosa at May Day rally was unfortunateRamaphosa was booed and told to leave a Cosatu May Day rally on Sunday by disgruntled Sibanye Stillwater gold operations employees. Lol when commies are at each other's throat Time for Jnions to be dismantled. God is the only true vindicator and can change the hearts of people Wasn't cupcake instrumental in creating cosatu. How things have changed. From workers hero to bring chased like a rabid dog. His days are numbered

Angry mineworkers force Ramaphosa forced to abandon Workers' Day addressThe workers have been on strike for three months in support of their demand for a R1000 increase I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real... Are we on the path we designed in 1994 or in a different route. Need to do checks ✔ and balances Bitcoin is something worth talking about, I decided to give it a try when i witnessed how it lifted my friend to his financial hierarchy. I invest $1500 worth of bitcoin and now with the current increase in bitcoin price I got $17,200 just in a week with the help of ScottMark56

Angry mineworkers force Ramaphosa to abandon Workers’ Day addressThe workers have been on strike for three months in support of their demand for a R1000 increase I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real... Phansi ngo CR Phansi. Bitcoin is something worth talking about, I decided to give it a try when i witnessed how it lifted my friend to his financial hierarchy. I invest $1500 worth of bitcoin and now with the current increase in bitcoin price I got $17,200 just in a week with the help of ScottMark56

READ: Workers are demanding a R1,000 increase but the employer is only willing to offer R850. Sibanye-Stillwater's James Wellsted said:"It’s been about a 10-month long process, it's been an extended engagement. WATCH | Ramaphosa leaves May Day event "At the end of last year [2021] before the December break we actually paid back-pay on the current offer that we had on the table at that time to employees so that they would go home, at least with something, for the December break to share with their families. At that point, it was R450. "We’ve subsequently moved our offer a number of times. On 4 February we offered R700 on the basic increase and R100 live-out allowance and then we recently on 19 April again adjusted that to an R800 basic increase and R50 live-out allowance. That contrasts with the union's R1,000 demand on basic and R100 live-out allowance. That’s quite a bit higher than where we are." Source

News 02 May 2022, Monday News

FBI aimed to use Pegasus spyware for 

operations with Israel's approval, 

report reveals

May 14, 2022 

The website of Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office on July 21, 2021 

[MARIO GOLDMAN/AFP via Getty Images]

May 14, 2022 

The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had intended to use Israel's infamous Pegasus spyware for its ongoing operations, a report by The New York Times has revealed.

According to the report, the FBI reportedly wrote to the Israeli government back in 2018 of its intention to use Pegasus to collect phone data of those it had already been monitoring and investigating. The agency told the Israeli Defence Ministry that its purchase of the spyware was "for the collection of data from mobile devices for the prevention and investigation of crimes and terrorism, in compliance with privacy and national security laws."

The Pegasus spyware – developed and owned by the Israeli NSO Group – was made infamous over the past few years due to its hacking scandals, particularly in July last year when the University of Toronto's internet watchdog Citizen Lab exposed its client governments' misuse of the spyware through the hacking of around 50,000 phones and devices belonging to journalists, human rights activists, and political critics worldwide.

Phones and devices infected with Pegasus spyware become fully compromised, with the users' data, pictures, messages, and location being made accessible to the governments and agencies targeting them. Even the cameras and microphones on their devices can be activated without the users' knowledge. The infection of the devices can be achieved through the user clicking or opening a message or link, or even without any interaction at all through the latest 'zero-click' malware.

READ: From Pegasus to Blue Wolf: how Israel's 'security' experiment in Palestine went global

Since the FBI's acquisition of the Pegasus spyware was revealed and confirmed earlier this this year, the agency has insisted that it only purchased it for "product testing and evaluation", particularly in order to assess how rivals of Washington would use it if they acquired it. This latest revelation of the FBI's intention to put the spyware to use in its operations, however, contradicts that claim.

A spokesperson for the bureau, Cathy L. Milhoan, told The New York Times that "The FBI purchased a license to explore potential future legal use of the NSO product and potential security concerns the product poses…As part of this process, the FBI met the requirements of the Israeli Export Control Agency. After testing and evaluation, the FBI chose not to use the product operationally in any investigation".

Despite the bureau's purchase, testing, and intention to use the spyware, the US government sanctioned its developer the NSO Group and placed it on a trade blacklist. A month later, however, it was reported that the Pegasus spyware would be shut down and sold to the US, with the product apparently only to be used for cyber defence.

Rogues And Spyware: Pegasus Strikes In Spain – OpEd

 May 15, 2022  

By Binoy Kampmark

Weapons, lacking sentience and moral orientation, are there to be used by all.  Once out, these creations can never be rebottled.  Effective spyware, that most malicious of surveillance tools, is one such creation, available to entities and governments of all stripes.  The targets are standard: dissidents, journalists, legislators, activists, even the odd jurist.

Pegasus spyware, the fiendishly effective creation of Israel’s unscrupulous NSO Group, has become something of a regular in the news cycles on cyber security.  Created in 2010, it was the brainchild of three engineers who had cut their teeth working for the cyber outfit Unit 8200 of the Israeli Defence Forces: Niv Carmi, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie. 

NSO found itself at the vanguard of an Israeli charm offensive, regularly hosting officials from Mossad at its headquarters in Herzliya in the company of delegations from African and Arab countries.  Cyber capabilities would be one way of getting into their good books.

The record of the company was such as to pique the interest of the US Department of Commerce, which announced last November that it would be adding NSO Group and another Israeli cyber company Candiru (now renamed Saito Tech) to its entity list “based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers.”   

In July 2021, the Pegasus Project, an initiative of 17 media organisations and civil society groups, revealed that 50,000 phone numbers of interest to a number of governments had appeared on a list of hackable targets.  All had been targets of Pegasus.  

The government clients of the NSO Group are extensive, spanning the authoritarian and liberal democratic spectrum.  Most notoriously, Pegasus has found its way into the surveillance armoury of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which allegedly monitored calls made by the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a fellow dissident, Omar Abdulaziz.  In October 2018, Khashoggi, on orders of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was butchered on the grounds of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a hit squad. NSO subsequently became the subject of a legal suit, with lawyers for Abdulaziz arguing that the hacking of his phone “contributed in a significant manner to the decision to murder Mr Khashoggi.”  

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Defence Minister Margarita Robles, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and 18 Catalan separatists are the latest high-profile targets to feature in the Pegasus canon.  Sánchez’s phone was hacked twice in May 2021, with officials claiming that there was at least one data leak.  This was the result of, according to the government, an “illicit and external” operation, conducted by bodies with no state authorisation.

Ironically enough, Robles herself had defended the targeting of the 18 Catalan separatists, claiming that the surveillance was conducted with court approval.  “In this country,” she insisted at a press conference, “no-one is investigated for their political ideals.”

The backdrop of the entire scandal is even more sinister, with Citizen Lab revealing last month that over 60 Catalan legislators, jurists, Members of the European Parliament, journalists and family members were targeted by the Pegasus spyware between 2015 and 2020.  (Citizen Lab found that 63 individuals had been targeted or infected with Pegasus, with four others being the victims of the Candiru spyware.)  Confirmed targets include Elisenda Paluzie and Sònia Urpí Garcia, who both work for the Assemblea Nacional Catalana, an organisation that campaigns for the independence of Catalonia.  

The phone of Catalan journalist Meritxell Bonet was also hacked in June 2019 during the final days of a Supreme Court case against her husband Jordi Cuixart.  Cuixart, former president of the Catalan association Òmnium Cultural, was charged and sentenced on grounds of sedition.

The investigation by Citizen Lab did not conclusively attribute “the operations to a specific entity, but strong circumstantial evidence suggests a nexus with Spanish authorities.”  Amnesty International Technology and Human Rights researcher Likhita Banerji put the case simply. “The Spanish government needs to come clean over whether or not it is a customer of NSO Group.  It must also conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware against the Catalans identified in this investigation.” 

Heads were bound to roll, and the main casualty in this affair was the first woman to head Spain’s CNI intelligence agency, Paz Esteban.  Esteban’s defence of the Catalan hackings proved identical to that of Robles: they had been done with judicial and legal approval.  But she needed a scalp for an increasingly embarrassing situation and had no desire to have her reasons parroted back to her.  “You speak of dismissal,” she stated tersely, “I speak of substitution.”  

While the implications for the Spanish government are distinctly smelly, one should not forget who the Victor Frankenstein here is.  NSO has had a few scrapes in Israel itself.  It survived a lawsuit by Amnesty International in 2020 to review its security export license.  But there is little danger of that company losing the support of Israel’s Ministry of Defence.  In Israel, cybersecurity continues to be the poster child of technological prowess, lucrative, opaque and distinctly unaccountable to parliamentarians and the courts.

Binoy Kampmark

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College,

Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.

Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

UK ‘refuses’ Libya request to return ‘stolen’ Roman Artefacts


Leptis Magna on the Libyan coast was once among the Roman Empire’s most beautiful cities. Several pieces from its ruins were taken to the UK by a British diplomat in the early 19th century. The Libyan government says its heritage was stolen and is asking the Crown Estate to return the items. AFP

May 11, 2022

Lawyers for the Crown Estate of Queen Elizabeth II have reportedly turned down the request to return ‘stolen’ artefacts from the ancient Roman settlement of Leptis Magna in president-day Libya, despite a campaign of a British-Libyan lawyer.

The UK has allegedly refused a request to hand over artefacts ‘stolen’ from Libya more than 200 years ago, according to media reports on Sunday.

A London-based lawyer, Mohamed ben Shaban, submitted an official request last month to the Crown Estate of Queen Elizabeth II, asking for columns from the ancient Roman settlement of Leptis Magna in Libya to be returned, Al-Wasat reported.

The columns were ‘stolen’ in 1816 from the Augustus Temple in Leptis Magna, whose ruins are located with present-day Khoms, 130 kilometres south of the capital Tripoli, on the Mediterranean coast.

British imperial officers Hanmer Warrington and William Henry Smyth transferred the ruins to the UK and the blocks are currently located in Windsor Great Park.

The Crown Estate maintains that the stonework was gifted, but ben Shaban said there is “no proof” that Warrington legally acquired the ruins while on his diplomatic mission.

Lawyers for the Crown Estate replied: “Our client has informed us that the columns will not be returned to Libya.”

Ben Shaaban had reportedly made several attempts to have the columns returned to Libya, beginning in October 2021, and sought mediation through the UN’s heritage body UNESCO.

The lawyer, who is the first-ever British-Libyan dual national to qualify as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, expressed his disappointment with the responses that he called “insulting”.

“Besides polite emails saying ‘we will get back to you’, I received nothing substantive for months. I think they’re hoping we’ll get over it,” he told the UAE daily The National.

“Morally, there is no question in our view that this heritage was stolen from the people and should be returned to them,” he added.

The British weren’t the only ones to obtain artefacts from Leptis Magna – the French King Louis XIV reportedly took away 600 columns, which he used in the palaces of Versailles and Paris in the 7th Century.

Warrington allegedly persuaded the local Ottoman governor to let him help himself to the relics of Leptis Magna on behalf of the British Crown.

The columns were initially placed in the British Museum, and were later erected in 1828 in Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park by then-King George IV’s architect.

The columns, which are made from various types of material, including granite and marble, are officially listed as Grade II property of the Crown Estate, according to The National.

***

BACKGROUND

The lawyer on a mission to return Libya’s ‘stolen’ Roman heritage

By Layla Maghribi

How Queen Elizabeth could face legal action in an effort to repatriate 2,000-year-old ruins from Leptis Magna

“Our client has asked us to inform you that the columns will not be returned to Libya.” That was the terse response from lawyers acting for the Crown Estate of Queen Elizabeth II to a lawyer battling to reclaim artefacts from the Roman settlement of Leptis Magna for his homeland.

Acting for Libya, London-based Mohamed Shaban has submitted a formal request for the return of the ancient ruins from a wooded glade in Windsor Great Park that features, screened away from public view, a collonaded section that was spirited out of North Africa in 1816.

But if finality in the matter was the intended aim, the Crown Estate’s curt reply has only spurred on the British-Libyan lawyer leading efforts to reclaim the 2,000-year-old Roman relics taken from Libya by the UK.

After attempts at an amicable restitution were “repeatedly dismissed”, Mr Shaban told The National he had moved to seek mediation through the UN’s heritage body, Unesco.

Mr Shaban said he sent letters to the Crown Estate in October 2021 requesting the repatriation of historic stoneworks that in the 19th century were taken by a British diplomat from the ancient site of Leptis Magna near Tripoli.

The UK-qualified lawyer, who is representing the state of Libya, said he had been disappointed with the responses he received from the legal team acting for Queen Elizabeth – on whose land the ruins currently reside – in the six months since he first made contact.

“Besides polite emails saying ‘we will get back to you’, I received nothing substantive for months. I think they’re hoping we’ll get over it,” said Mr Shaban, who told The National he took on the case after repeatedly hearing complaints about it from members of the community.

“Having a part of our heritage in the crown’s estate has definitely touched a nerve with Libyans,” he said.

“Morally, there is no question in our view that this heritage was stolen from the people and should be returned to them.”

How Libya’s ancient ruins ended up in England

Named after the Roman city on the shores of the Mediterranean from where they came, the Leptis Magna ruins are a Unesco world heritage site.

Under the rule of Emperor Septimius Severus, who lavished Leptis with wealth during the second century AD, the city became the third most important city in Africa, rivalling Carthage and Alexandria.

Over the centuries, the city became a quarry for local people, and later a site of colonial plunder for the British and French, whose King Louis XIV took about 600 columns from Leptis Magna to use in his palaces at Versailles and Paris.

Barbary Coast turmoil

In 1816, after apparently being captivated by the sight of the Roman ruins, the British Consul General of Tripoli, Hanmer Warrington, decided to take some of the ancient stonework to England.

That was also the year that parts of the Parthenon in Greece were removed and shipped off to the UK by another British diplomat, Thomas Bruce, also known as the Seventh Earl of Elgin.

Athens has long been pushing for the return of the so-called Elgin Marbles, claiming they were taken, not given as a gift, and amount to stolen spoils of colonialism.

Perhaps inspired by the Earl of Elgin’s antiquities grab, Warrington persuaded the local Ottoman governor to let him help himself to the relics of Leptis Magna on behalf of the British crown.

The stonework treasures included 22 granite columns, 15 marble columns, 10 capitals, 25 pedestals, seven loose slabs, 10 pieces of cornice, five inscribed slabs and various fragments of figure sculpture and grey limestone.

Initially, the stones were deposited with the British Museum, but in 1828 they were erected by King George IV’s architect, Sir Jeffry Wyatville, at Virginia Water in Windsor Great Park.

Supplanted into an artificially constructed Temple of Augustus, the columns are now a Grade II listed property of the Crown Estate.

The Temple of Augustus at Virginia Water, Surrey, in 1894. The Crown Estate maintains that the stoneworks were a gift from the Bashaw of Tripoli to the Prince Regent. Getty Images

Libya versus the Queen? ‘Nothing is off the table’

The Crown Estate claims that the stones in its possession were a gift. Libya, however, says there is no proof that Warrington legally acquired the ruins while on his diplomatic mission in North Africa, and that he simply stole them.

“We invited Windsor to provide evidence of the columns’ legal provenance but have been repeatedly ignored,” Mr Shaban told The National.

“Their most recent response has been a curt two-line letter saying they will not be returning the columns to Libya … it is rather insulting and a desperately inadequate response.”

The London-based solicitor has been involved in repatriating looted artefacts from Libya before.

After a 2,000-year-old funerary statue of the Greek goddess Persephone was stolen from the ancient city of Cyrene in Libya in 2011 and taken to the UK, Mr Shaban represented the North African country during the legal case to return the artefact.

An artefact returned by Italy to Libya, known as the ‘Head Domitilla’, left, and right, a statue of the goddess Persephone. AP Photo

The arbitration expert also successfully negotiated the return to Libya of a Roman statue of Princess Donatella Flavia – also stolen from Libya duri

Mr Shaban says Libya is aggrieved by the Crown Estate’s lack of meaningful engagement with him on the Leptis Magna columns and told The National their attitude highlighted a certain “arrogance” and “hypocrisy”.

“This is a very imperial and arrogant way of doing things. We are told that British values are ‘to do the right thing’, but the right thing is to return what rightfully belongs to the Libyan people.

“I don’t think they’ve covered themselves in glory,” Mr Shaban said of the queen’s lawyers.

A spokesperson for the Crown Estate said the Leptis Magna columns “remain on public display and are an important and valued feature of the Virginia Water landscape. They continue to be enjoyed by the millions of visitors to Windsor Great Park each year”.

Mr Shaban replied: “They seem to be using that as an excuse not to return the artefacts. This is of course nonsensical, rather comical and even insulting. Using their logic, we can take some stones from Hadrian’s Wall, plonk them in another country and refuse to return them because ‘millions of tourists are enjoying’ them.”

The National was unable to visit the columns in person because they have been closed to the public for maintenance work for several months.

Hanmer Warrington was the British Consul General at Tripoli on the Barbary Coast for 32 years. His private villa near Tripoli, depicted here, was completed in 1820. In 1816, after apparently being impressed with the site of Leptis Magna, Warrington decided to take some of the ancient city’s stonework to the UK as a gift to the royal family.

The UK is a signatory to several international treaties on the protection of cultural property, although they were all signed “long after these columns were taken”, Mr Shaban said.

Nevertheless, he hopes a growing recognition among institutions of their role in the colonial-era plunder of cultural heritage may encourage Queen Elizabeth to follow suit.

Among the recent restitutions are: Benin bronzes to Nigeria from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cambridge; locks of hair from Abyssinian Emperor Tewodros II to Ethiopia from the National Army Museum; and royal regalia to Myanmar by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

But the British Museum – one of the largest hoarders of cultural artefacts from around the world – continues to resist calls for the return of looted objects in its possession, most famously, the Parthenon Elgin Marbles.

After years of acrimonious dispute, a Unesco committee recently recommended that the UK government reconsider its position on the Parthenon Marbles and enter into talks with Greece.

While Mr Shaban hoped for an “amicable route” to repatriation of the Leptis Magna columns, his experience so far dealing with the Crown Estate has left him less confident of that becoming reality.

“We have shown great respect so far, and we have perhaps not had the respect that we deserve. For us, now, nothing is off the table.”