Thousands in Tunisia protest against president, demand democratic return


Tunisian protesters wave flags and raise placards as they demonstrate against their president in the capital Tunis, on May 15, 2022. (AFP)


Reuters
Published: 15 May ,2022

Thousands of Tunisians protested on Sunday against President Kais Saied, demanding a return to the normal democratic order and rejecting his replacement of the independent electoral commission with one he named himself.

“The people want democracy” and “Saied has led the country to starvation” were two slogans chanted by the protesters who gathered in central Tunis a week after a smaller demonstration in support of the president.

“It has become clear that the street supports a return to the democratic path,” said Samira Chaouachi, the deputy leader of the dissolved parliament who like Saied’s other opponents accuses him of a coup.

Saied has entrenched his one-man rule since seizing executive power last summer, dismissing parliament, moving to rule by decree and saying he will replace the democratic constitution through a referendum.

Saied denies a coup, saying his intervention was legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of political paralysis and economic stagnation at the hands of a corrupt, self-serving elite who had taken control of government.

Meanwhile, Tunisia’s economy and public finances are in crisis and the government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package amid widespread poverty and hardship.

Saied’s moves have thrust Tunisia into its biggest political crisis since the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy and triggered the ‘Arab Spring,’ threatening the rights and freedoms won 11 years ago.

He has replaced a judicial council that guaranteed judges’ independence as well as the independent electoral commission, casting doubt on the integrity of both the legal process and of elections.

“Our peaceful resistance will continue in the street until we restore our freedom and democracy,” said one of the protesters, Tijani Tizaoui, a private sector employee, who said he had been imprisoned before the revolution for protesting.

The 2014 constitution was the result of months of intense negotiation among a broad array of political parties and civil society bodies including the powerful UGTT labor union, which has more than a million members.

Saied has rejected calls for a similar inclusive dialogue, saying those who opposed his moves should be barred from discussion on Tunisia’s future as he prepares for a referendum on his new constitution.

“Tunisians refuse the unilateral change of the electoral system... Tunisians are here to reject Sai

RETURN OF THE RESISTANCE

Civilians flee fighting in Afghanistan’s Panjshir valley

Members of National Resistance Front observe by a house near Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan in this still image obtained from an undated video handout.

 (File photo: Reuters)

AFP, Kabul
Published: 14 May ,2022

Scores of civilians have fled fighting in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley after an insurgent group launched an offensive against Taliban forces, residents said Saturday.

The Panjshir Valley is famed for being a site of resistance by Afghans against Soviet forces in the 1980s and as a base for rebels opposed to Taliban rule during the group’s first stint in power in the late 1990s.

The National Resistance Front (NRF) were the last to hold out against the Taliban’s takeover of the country last year by retreating to the valley.

Headed by the son of late anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, NRF forces last week announced an offensive against the Taliban - their first since the hardline extremists seized power in August.

Both sides claim to have killed dozens of each other’s fighters in recent days.

“We could only pick up one or two items of clothing,” Lutfullah Bari told AFP, saying he fled with dozens of families.

“Like us... [the families] are now living with their relatives in different areas of Kabul,” he added.

Farid Ahmad, a father-of-10, said he left his district with several other people because of fighting.

Another civilian, Aimal Rahimi, said people “are afraid and escaping to save their lives.”

Taliban commanders in Panjshir however told AFP the fighting had stopped.

“They [NRF fighters] have escaped to the mountains,” said Abdul Hamid Khurasani, head of the Taliban’s elite Badri unit in Panjshir.

“The situation is now normal and peaceful.”

The NRF said their offensive would continue across 12 provinces where their forces had a presence, mostly in the north of Afghanistan.

Massoud, the group’s most revered figure and known as the “Lion of Panjshir,” was assassinated in 2001 by al-Qaeda, two days before the September 11 attacks in the United States.

His son, Ahmad Massoud, has since picked up the mantle against Taliban forces, denouncing the extremist regime as “illegitimate.”

ETHOPIAN WAR OF AGGRESSION

Ethiopian security forces kill ‘a large number' of Oromo rebels: minister

SATURDAY MAY 14 2022

The East African

Ethiopian National Defense Force soldiers walk along a road on December 6, 2021. Security forces in Ethiopia's Oromia regional state have killed a large number of Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) members, minister says. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

The minister said the military campaign is being carried out in the western and eastern parts of Welega, western and eastern Guji, north, east and west of Shoa, as well as in Borona zone bordering Kenya.

An Oromo opposition official, who spoke to The EastAfrican, confirmed that there is an ongoing military operation in parts of Oromia region, adding that many innocent civilians have been casualties.

By TESFA-ALEM TEKLE
More by this Author

Security forces in Ethiopia's Oromia regional state have killed a large number of Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel members, the Government Communication Service announced.

In a statement on Saturday, the Minister of State Communications, Legesse Tulu, said an anti-insurgency operation is underway to eliminate the OLA, which the government declared a terrorist group.

Read: Ethiopia's Oromo rebel leader predicts victory 'very soon'

Many “members of the militant group have been killed in the operation,” he said, without revealing the exact number of casualties.

The minister said the military campaign is being carried out in the western and eastern parts of Welega, western and eastern Guji, north, east and west of Shoa, as well as in Borona zone bordering Kenya.

An Oromo opposition official, who spoke to The EastAfrican, confirmed that there is an ongoing military operation in parts of Oromia region.

Related

Ethiopia government claims recapture of key towns

Ethiopia's Oromo rebel leader predicts victory 'very soon'

Kenya, Ethiopia sign deal on joint security operation

“The Ethiopian army is carrying out drone strikes to conduct targeted killings in many areas,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“However, several innocent civilians are also victims of the ongoing warfare.”

A few days ago, an Oromo opposition political party, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), said in a statement that a “secret war” was taking place in the Oromia region and many civilians had been killed as a result.

The party called for an independent international inquiry into the alleged “mass killings”.

OFC said the Ethiopian government security forces are conducting a campaign led by the principle of “drying the sea to catch fish.”

“Killing civilians, burning homes, looting and destroying property; imprisoning and torturing, sometimes killing parents on alleged affiliation of their children with OLA, has become commonplace,” reads an OFC statement seen by The EastAfrican.

“More recently, drone and helicopter strikes have been carried out by government forces in connection with this campaign.”

The party added that “indiscriminate airstrikes” carried out in recent days has resulted in the death of more than 30 civilians and caused severe property damages and displacement of a large population.

OFC alleged that more than 280 civilians have been massacred since April 16 under the ongoing joint military operation.

“Failure to protect innocent civilians is tantamount to failure of the System,” the party said, further calling for an independent international inquiry into the alleged mass killings.

The Ethiopian government has denied the allegations and said the campaign was aimed at curbing killings, displacement and destruction of properties caused by OLA.

A new report by UNOCHA said that violence in western Oromia has displaced half a million civilians, with intensified hostilities leading to the closure of hundreds of schools and health facilities,

“In 2022, partners have come under increased security threats, including two shooting incidents, various harassment, temporary detention, and forceful commandeering of their vehicles,” OCHA said.

Ethiopia revokes accreditation of The Economist reporter


SATURDAY MAY 14 2022
The East African


Ethiopia has revoked the press credentials of a foreign journalist who had been working for The Economist.

 PHOTO | FILE | NMG

Summary

The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) said it has cancelled media accreditation of Tom Gardner, citing failure to maintain professional ethics and violations of the country's laws and regulations. It did not gave details of the allegations.

A few weeks ago, EMA had issued a warning letter to the journalist after he posted on his private social media that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and TPLF rebel leader Debre Zion Gebre-Michael had a telephone conversation.

By TESFA-ALEM TEKLE
More by this Author


Ethiopian authorities on Friday revoked the press credentials of a foreign journalist who had been working for The Economist in the Horn of Africa nation.

In a letter issued Friday afternoon and seen by The EastAfrican, the Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) said it has cancelled media accreditation of Tom Gardner, citing failure to maintain professional ethics and violations of the country's laws and regulations. It did not gave details of the allegations.

“As a professional journalist accredited to work in Ethiopia, you know very well that the condition of your permit is dependent on your strict observation of professional ethics and the rules and the regulations of the country,” it said.

“This letter is written to inform you that your accreditation is revoked effective immediately, and you are no longer allowed to work as a journalist in Ethiopia.”

EMA said that prior to the decision, the authority had several discussions with the journalist.

However, the authority alleged that Mr Gardner failed to live to standards of conduct for journalists.

Journalists condemn media crackdown in Ethiopia

Ethiopia government captures Tigrayan city

Ethiopia threatens to revoke licences of four foreign media houses

“Despite our repeated discussions, verbal warnings and written reprimands, you have not shown the willingness to correct your mistaken approach,” the letter said.

It, however, said The Economist is welcome to appoint an “unbiased and independent” journalist to replace Mr Gardner.

A few weeks ago, EMA had issued a warning letter to the journalist after he posted on his private social media that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and TPLF rebel leader Debre Zion Gebre-Michael had a telephone conversation.

Authorities warned him to be careful about his reporting, especially on stories that could affect national interest.

Since the Tigray conflict broke out in November 2020, the Ethiopian government has been criticised for creating a difficult environment for journalists and dissidents.

Journalists have also complained that they have been denied access to war zones where right violations, including massacres, rapes, and other serious crimes, have been reported.

The Ethiopian government led by PM Abiy Ahmed, a 2019 Noble Peace Prize winner, has been criticised by several international right groups for using the state of emergency as a tool to arbitrarily detain several journalists to stifle critical reporting and to silence war zone news coverage.

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) 2021 prison census ranked Ethiopia as sub-Saharan Africa's second-worst jailer of journalists.

“We are very concerned. This development is the latest sign of Ethiopia's deteriorating press freedom environment,” CPJ’s Africa Program Coordinator, Angela Quintal, told The EastAfrican on Friday.

Since the conflict in Tigray erupted, several Ethiopian journalists and translators working for a range of international media organisation—including to AFP, Nation Media Group, Reuters, the BBC and the Financial Times—have been detained while doing their jobs.

Last year Ethiopian authorities also revoked press accreditation of a New York Times reporter.

Flood of weapons to Ukraine raises fear of arms smuggling

Vague U.S. assurances spark concern about lost military equipment in Ukraine, a longtime hub of arms trafficking


By John Hudson
Yesterday at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Ukrainian soldiers train with U.S.-supplied Javelin missiles. (AP)


President Biden is expected to sign in the coming days a $40 billion security-assistance package that will supercharge the flow of missiles, rockets, artillery and drones to a war-torn Ukraine.

But what remains unclear is Washington’s ability to keep track of the powerful weapons as they enter one of the largest trafficking hubs in Europe.

Ukraine’s illicit arms market has ballooned since Russia’s initial invasion in 2014, buttressed by a surplus of loose weapons and limited controls on their use.

This uncomfortable reality for the United States and its allies comes amid urgent pleas from President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide artillery needed to counter Russian forces in the country’s east and south. The Ukrainian leader’s appeals are credited with uniting House lawmakers behind the latest funding request in a bipartisan 368-to-57 vote on Tuesday. But the unprecedented influx of arms has prompted fears that some equipment could fall into the hands of Western adversaries or reemerge in faraway conflicts — for decades to come.

“It’s just impossible to keep track of not only where they’re all going and who is using them, but how they are being used,” said Rachel Stohl, an arms-control expert and vice president at the Stimson Center.

A State Department spokesman said the United States has conducted thorough vetting of the Ukrainian units it supplies while forcing Kyiv to sign agreements that “do not allow the retransfer of equipment to third parties without prior U.S. government authorization.”

But the means of enforcing such contracts are relatively weak — and made even weaker by Washington’s own mixed history of compliance, as recently as last month.

On the battlefield with Russia, Afghanistan’s loss is Ukraine’s gain

In mid-April, the United States boosted its involvement in the Ukraine conflict by announcing that it would transfer a fleet of Mi-17 helicopters to Ukraine that it originally purchased from Russia about a decade ago. The initial sale of the aircraft required the United States to sign a contract promising not to transfer the helicopters to any third country “without the approval of the Russian Federation,” according to a copy of the certificate posted on the website of Russia’s Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation.

Russia has denounced the transfer, saying it “grossly violates the foundations of international law.”

Arms experts say Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine more than justifies U.S. support, but the violation of weapons contracts chips away at the foundations of counter-proliferation efforts.

“Breaking of those end-use agreements is a serious threat to the underlying, but weak, capacity for countries to control how weapons are used,” said Jeff Abramson, an expert on conventional arms transfers at the Arms Control Association.

A Pentagon spokesman dismissed the criticisms, calling Russian charges a distraction and the transfer “permissible under U.S. law and consistent with our national security priorities.”

“Russia’s claims are a disingenuous attempt to distract attention from Russia’s unprovoked invasion and its history of aggressive actions against Ukraine since 2014,” said Marine Corps Lt. Colonel Anton T. Semelroth.

An Mi-17 helicopter over Afghanistan in 2010. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Vladimir Potapenko/U.S. Air Force)

The job of ensuring U.S. weapons are used for their intended purpose — a joint responsibility of the departments of State and Defense — is made all the more difficult by the sheer volume of arms making their way to Ukraine.

The emergency spending bill awaiting approval in the Senate will cement Ukraine’s status as the world’s single largest recipient of U.S. security assistance, receiving more in 2022 than the United States ever provided to Afghanistan, Iraq or Israel in a single year.

Pentagon will buy Ukraine laser-guided rockets, surveillance drones

It will add to the stocks of weapons the U.S. already committed to Ukraine, including 1,400 Stinger antiaircraft systems, 5,500 antitank missiles, 700 Switchblade drones, 90 long-range Howitzers artillery systems, 7,000 small arms, 50,000,000 rounds of ammunition, and numerous other mines, explosives and laser-guided rocket systems.

Shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, capable of downing commercial airliners, are just one of the weapon systems experts worry could slip into the possession of terrorist groups seeking to carry out mass-casualty events.

U.S. Marines in Twentynine Palms, Calif., test Stinger missiles during a training exercise. (Lance Cpl. Rachel Young/Marine Corps Air Ground Combat C)

The Biden administration’s funding request includes $8.7 billion to replenish U.S. stores of weapons shipped to Ukraine, $6 billion to train and equip Ukrainian forces and $3.9 billion for U.S. forces deployed throughout Europe in response to the security crisis that’s been set off by the war.

Other NATO countries have transferred billions of dollars in arms and military equipment since the start of hostilities.

“The assistance exceeds the peak year of U.S. military assistance to Afghan security forces during that 20-year war,” said William Hartung, an arms control expert at the Quincy Institute think tank. “In that case the U.S. had a major presence in-country that created at least the possibility of tracking where weapons were ending up. By comparison, the U.S. government is flying blind in terms of monitoring weapons supplied to civilian militias and the military in Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s history as a hub for arms trafficking dates to the fall of the Soviet Union, when the Soviet military left behind large amounts of small arms and light weapons in Ukraine without adequate record-keeping and inventory control. According to the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research organization, a portion of the Ukrainian military’s 7.1 million small arms in stock in 1992 “were diverted to conflict areas” underscoring “the risk of leakage to the local black market.”

The problem grew more acute after Russia’s invasion in 2014, which saw combatants looting arms and munition-storage facilities of Ukraine’s Security Service, Interior and Defense ministries. “Irregular fighters on both sides progressively gained access to a wide range of military-grade equipment, including the full spectrum of small arms and light weapons,” according to a report by the Small Arms Survey in 2017. “Officials estimated that at least 300,000 small arms and light weapons were looted or lost between 2013 and 2015,” providing a boon the country’s black market run by Mafia-style groups in Donbas region and other criminal networks.

The U.S. government is well aware of the country’s challenges with weapons proliferation, though it has been vague in describing the precautions it’s taking.

Weeks after Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, a group of interagency officials in the Biden administration met with outside arms-control experts to discuss the risk of small-arms proliferation in the conflict. According to Stohl, who attended one of the meetings, U.S. officials offered assurances about vetting Ukrainian security forces and addressing reports of unauthorized transfer — but scant details on how the vetting or monitoring happens.

“It does not inspire much confidence,” said Stohl.

U.S. Marine Corps M777 towed 155 mm howitzers are staged on a flight line in California before being loaded onto aircraft bound for Europe and transfer to Ukrainian forces (U.S. Marines/Via Reuters)


Other arms experts feel similarly in the dark.

“It is unclear what risk mitigation or monitoring steps the U.S. and other countries have taken, or what guarantees they have obtained, to ensure the protection of civilians through these very large transfers,” said Annie Shiel, a senior adviser at the Center for Civilians in Conflict.

Some of the recommended steps include establishing a special investigator as the U.S. government did in Afghanistan, ensuring any weapons transfers contain strong tracking procedures, adding human rights obligations in the terms of sale and including specifics about what units can be authorized to receive such transfers. (In 2018, Congress banned Ukraine’s Azov battalion, a far-right nationalist group associated with neo-Nazism, from receiving U.S. weapons.)

There are additional concerns among watchdog groups about arms proliferation stemming from Moscow amid reports it has enlisted mercenaries from Libya, Syria and Chechnya, as well as the Wagner Group, a Russian contractor.

During a televised meeting of Russia’s Security Council in March, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East stood ready to fight alongside Russian-backed forces in Eastern Ukraine.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his approval, saying, “We need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone.”

At the same meeting, Shoigu proposed handing over captured U.S. Javelin and Stinger missiles to pro-Russian separatists in Donbas region. “Please do this,” Putin told Shoigu.

The introduction of foreign fighters to a conflict runs the risks of weapons returning to those individuals’ countries of origin when the fighting in Ukraine ends. There are conflicting reports about the presence of foreign fighters there, however, and it’s unclear precisely how many have in fact traveled to Ukraine.

The lack of information has spurred calls for answers from the administration and attention from Congress.

“Some of the weapons being provided in the conflict in Ukraine are likely to be found years, and possibly decades later,” said Abramson. “Congressional leaders should be asking these questions, in classified briefings if needed, and the public should be better informed.”

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Germany accuses Russia of waging 'grain war'

Russia endangering global food security by blocking Ukrainian ports, says German top diplomat after G7 meet

Oliver Towfigh Nia |14.05.2022



BERLIN

Germany on Saturday accused Russia of waging a "grain war," endangering global food security.

Addressing a news conference at the end of the G7 foreign ministers' meeting at the Baltic resort town of Weissenhaus, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Moscow was consciously trying to expand the Ukraine war in the world, particularly in Africa.

Accusing Russia of trying to prevent grain from being exported by blocking ports in Ukraine, she said this was not part of the war's collateral damage.

"We must not be naive," the minister warned, saying Russia is deliberately trying to weaken international unity.

Baerbock said millions of tons of grain are stuck in Ukraine because its seaports are blocked by the Russian military.

The group of leading industrialized nations (G7) is considering alternatives to ship grain from Ukraine to break the Russian blockade in the area, she added.

Following problems with rail transport via Romania due to railways' different track widths, exports via the Baltic ports are being examined, she said, noting that prerequisites would first have to be clarified as to how the ports there could be reached.

The minister pointed out that normally, 5-6 million tons of grain could be shipped from Ukraine by sea per month.

"With a delivery by rail, you get significantly less grain," she said.

But, according to Baerbock, every ton delivered can help a little to get the hunger crisis under control.

So far, a fraction has been exported by rail, mainly via Romania, she said, adding that a bottleneck resulted from Ukraine and Romania having different track widths.

Baerbock warned there would be no perfect solution as long as Russia's bombing of Ukraine continues, with 25 million tons of grain lying in Ukrainian ports.

"This is the grain the world needs so badly," she went on to say.

"It is not just about preventing a famine in a few months. The effects of the blockade are already being felt. Even without the war in Ukraine, there are incredible problems in providing food for everyone and people are already starving to death.

"That's why it's so important that we act together," she emphasized.

Calls grow for Russia to free up Ukrainian ports for grain exports


By Claire Parker
Yesterday 


Russia stepped up missile attacks on Odessa this week, raising fresh concerns about the security of the port. A port in Odessa is seen in March. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations appealed to Russia to free up sea export routes for Ukrainian grain and agricultural products critical to feeding the world, as food prices rise and the World Food Program warns of “catastrophic” consequences if Ukrainian ports remain blocked.

“We must not be naive. Russia has now expanded the war against Ukraine to many states as a war of grain,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a news conference Saturday after the G-7 meetings. “It is not collateral damage, it is an instrument in a hybrid war that is intended to weaken cohesion against Russia’s war.”

Baerbock, who hosted the three-day gathering of top diplomats in Weissenhaus, Germany, said the group was searching for alternative routes to transport grain out of Ukraine as the threat of a global hunger crisis mounts.

Up to 50 million people will face hunger in the coming months unless Ukrainian grain is released, Baerbock said, according to the Associated Press. About 28 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukrainian ports blockaded by Russian forces.

As the conflict in Ukraine grinds on, some countries have looked to India as an alternative grain source. But after making moves to expand its agricultural export industry, India on Friday banned wheat exports, citing its own food security concerns.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it has all but captured the port city of Mariupol, where Russian forces have surrounded the last remaining Ukrainian fighters holed up in the Azovstal steel plant.

Russia has also taken control of the Kherson region on the Black Sea and fired missiles at the major port city of Odessa, which remains under Ukrainian control. Ukraine closed its ports in late February amid the fighting, and Russian warships and floating mines have prevented them from reopening.

Ukraine’s wheat harvest, which feeds the world, can’t leave the country

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that such a halt to port operations had likely not been seen in Ukraine since World War II. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Friday that Ukraine was willing to take part in talks with Russia to unblock grain supplies but that his government had received “no positive feedback” from officials in Moscow, the AP reported.



David Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Program, spoke with U.S. lawmakers and Biden administration officials in Washington this week to emphasize the urgency of reopening the ports and addressing the global food crisis.

Ukraine grows enough food to feed 400 million people annually, and 30 percent of the world’s supply of wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Food Program.

“The ports are critical to food security globally,” Beasley told The Washington Post. “It will be catastrophic if we don’t have those ports opened up and moving food supplies around the world.”

On an average working day, some 3,000 train carloads of grain arrive at Ukrainian ports, where they are stored in silos and, in peacetime, shipped across the Black Sea and through the Bosporus and then around the world, Beasley said. With exports blocked, the silos are full — meaning there is no place to store grain from the next harvest, due to take place in July and August.

The impact of the blockage will be felt in both rich and poor countries, Beasley said, and it is already affecting market volatility. The war has driven prices of wheat, cooking oil and other commodities to record highs, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected global wheat supplies would fall next crop year.

Flatbread at a bakery in Cairo. Egypt gets between 75 and 85 percent of its wheat supply from Ukraine and Russia, according to U.N. statistics. (Nariman El-Mofty/AP)

Countries in the Middle East and Africa are especially reliant on Ukrainian grain. Egypt gets between 75 and 85 percent of its wheat supply from Ukraine and Russia, according to U.N. statistics. More than 60 percent of wheat imported by Lebanon comes from Ukraine. Somalia and Benin depend on Russia and Ukraine for all of their imported wheat.

The U.N. has warned that food insecurity could exacerbate existing conflicts and economic crises in these regions.

Tunisia among countries seeing major economic consequences from war in Ukraine

Operational costs for the World Food Program to assist the same number of people have increased by more than $70 million per month due in part to rising food prices, Beasley said. The program, which provides food aid to 125 million people on any given day, will have to further scale back rations. In Yemen, which has experienced an acute hunger crisis for years, the program has already halved the food rations of 8 million people.

“We’re running out of money, pricing is killing us, we’re billions short and we’re now having to decide which children eat, which children don’t eat, which children live, which children die. It’s not right,” Beasley said.

The World Food Program, which buys half of its wheat from Ukraine, has asked Congress for $5 billion in additional international food assistance. An emergency funding package for Ukraine that contains that aid passed the House on Tuesday night but a vote in the Senate was pushed to next week.

Russia stepped up missile attacks on Odessa this week, raising fresh concerns about the security of the port. In a statement on Saturday, G-7 foreign ministers called on Russia to “cease immediately its attacks on key transport infrastructure in Ukraine, including ports.”

Beasley, who visited Odessa this month as the city came under attack, said it was encouraging that Russian attacks have not targeted actual port infrastructure there so far.

Russia, also a major grain producer and the world’s leading wheat exporter, stands to gain from continuing to disrupt Ukraine’s exports. The G-7 ministers pledged Saturday that sanctions against Russia would not “target essential exports of food and agricultural inputs to developing countries.”

The G-7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The countries also promised to ramp up their contributions to the World Food Program and other relief organizations.

Ukraine has also accused Russia of intentionally attacking Ukrainian grain facilities and stealing grain from occupied regions for export. A State Department spokesperson confirmed to The Post that Russian attacks had damaged at least six grain storage facilities in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Beasley said he is “calling every friend I know that has any influence with Russia” to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow the resumption of grain shipments from Ukraine.

The G-7 ministers said Saturday they were seeking other options to get Ukrainian grain to countries in need, including the establishment of “agricultural solidarity lanes.” The European Commission laid out a plan on Thursday to create such transport corridors, which would ease ground shipments of Ukrainian grain to Europe.

Trucks and trains can only carry a fraction of the grain that typically ships out of Ukraine’s ports, Beasley said. And Russia continues to attack train lines and transportation infrastructure across Ukraine. But Baerbock said Saturday that “every ton we can get out will help a bit to get to grips with this hunger crisis,” the Financial Times reported.

“In the situation we’re in, every week counts,” Baerbock said.

Victoria Bisset and John Hudson contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON POST

Buffalo shooter's manifesto shows folly of 'lone wolf' theory when there is an 'apparatus of hate': analysis

Bob Brigham
May 14, 2022

Screengrab.

The existence of a racist manifesto reportedly posted online by an 18-year-old white male before killed ten people in a mass shooting rampage in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York shows the limits of a "lone wolf" theory explaining how people are radicalized, a CNN homeland security analyst explained on Saturday.

Juliette Kayyem was interviewed about a 106-page manifesto pushing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory that was reportedly written by the suspect whose rampage is being investigated as a hate crime.

CNN's Pamela Brown inteviewed Kayyem after the network's Brian Stelter reported the online video company Twitch confirmed the suspect live-streamed the shooting.

"There's two issues going on. So you can say that someone acted alone and that's what we tend to think of as lone wolf, that it's not five people or ten people or orchestrated attack. But the idea of a lone wolf, I think, I've been saying for a couple of years should be put to rest, because in every single up with of these cases, you're seeing an apparatus that essentially supported their hate," she explained.

"Now that might not have been an apparatus that told them to do this on that date, but these are people who are getting radicalized by an ecosystem of hate. this is what the FBI has been documenting for over a decade, it's what we mean in government when we violent extremism," she explained. "Lone wolf makes sound like they woke up one day and just decided to kill a bunch of Black people. That just doesn't happen."

"The reason why the manifesto is relevant is it will show where did that apparatus and the hate come from," she explained. "Lone wolf excuses an apparatus of hate that exists in this country and is the number one terror threat in this country right now."

That apparatus was in full display in 2021 when Fox News personality Tucker Carlson pushed the same "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory. When the Anti-Defamation League called on the network to fire the host, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) called the ADL "a racist organization" and claimed Carlson "is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America."

Watch:
Lone Wolf www.youtube.com

  

Buffalo shooting came 8 months after NY newspaper warned of congresswoman's racist conspiracy theory

Bob Brigham
May 14, 2022

Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) smiles after House Republicans voted for her as their conference chairperson at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on May 14, 2021

.( Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Saturday's mass shooting in New York occurred less than eight months after a local newspaper scolded a Republican congresswoman for pushing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.

"A white 18-year-old wearing military gear and live-streaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday in what authorities described as 'racially motived violent extremism.' The gunman wore body armor and military-style clothing during the attack on mostly Black shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Market," the Times Union reported Saturday.

The suspect was identified by the newspaper as Payton Gendron, of Conklin, New York.

Prior to the shooting, the white 18-year-old reportedly posted a 106-page manifesto citing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory as motivation.

In September of 2021, the newspaper's editorial board wrote about the conspiracy theory.

"Back in 2017, white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Va., carrying torches and chanting, 'You will not replace us' and 'Jews will not replace us.' Decent Americans recoiled at the undeniable echo of Nazi Germany," began the editorial, which was illustrated with a photo of the notorious Charlottesville tiki torch march.

"That rhetoric has been resonating ever since in the right wing, repackaged lately in what’s known as 'replacement theory,' espoused by conservative media figures like Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. And it has seeped into the mainstream political discourse in the Capital Region, where Rep. Elise Stefanik has adapted this despicable tactic for campaign ads," the editorial board wrote.

Stefanik, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, is the third-ranking Republican in Congress.

"Ms. Stefanik isn’t so brazen as to use the slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump. And she doesn’t quite attack immigrants directly; instead, she alleges that Democrats are looking to grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants in order to gain a permanent liberal majority, or, as she calls it, a 'permanent election insurrection.' Quite a choice of words, of course, considering that the country is still suffering the aftershocks of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington by supporters of Mr. Trump who tried to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election," the newspaper wrote.

The editorial board wrote that Stefanik knew what she was doing was wrong.

"The Harvard-educated Ms. Stefanik surely knows the sordid history and context of this. The idea of stoking racial, ethnic, and religious tribalism among voters dates back to this country’s earliest days. At various times, politicians have warned that Catholics, Jews, or Muslims were out to change the “culture,” or that Irish, Italian, Asian or eastern European immigrants would take the jobs — to 'replace' white, Protestant Americans," the editorial board explained. "If there’s anything that needs replacing in this country — and in the Republican party — it’s the hateful rhetoric that Ms. Stefanik and far too many of her colleagues so shamelessly spew."

Stefanik did not mention racism in her statement on the shooting, but did mention National Police Week.

Stefanik is not the only Republican member of Congress with history on the issue.

Also in September of 2021, after the Anti-Defamation League called on the network to fire Tucker Carlson for pushing the racist conspiracy theory, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) declared the ADL "a racist organization" and claimed Carlson "is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America."

OMG A CATHOLIC IS POTUS

Roger Stone elaborates on the 'satanic portal' he claims is visible above the White House

Bob Brigham
May 15, 2022

Roger Stone is due to appear in court in Florida on Friday.

 (AFP/File / SAUL LOEB)

Notorious GOP dirty trickster and longtime Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone believes there is a portal to hell that is visible above the White House.

In April, Right Wing Watch reported, "“Elijah Streams” is a daily program produced by the Elijah List, a website with a mission to “'ind and publish the most credible prophetic words possible.' Generally, the content produced by both the website and the livestream program consists of wild conspiracy theories, often about how God is supposedly working to save the United States through modern-day 'prophets' and former President Donald Trump."

Stone appeared on the program to discuss Satin's entryway.

"Stone asserted that a friend had sent him photos showing a 'satanic portal' appearing over the White House after President Joe Biden took office, and so he reached out to conspiracy theorist and 'prophet' Robin Bullock to arrange an appearance on 'Elijah Streams' so he could share the startling news and photos," the site reported.

In the video clip, Stone says he is not joking about there being a satanic portal over the White House.

"I just thought I was a political warrior. But this is no longer a war in the political realm, and I do know how it comes out because I know how the Bible comes out. I don’t know exactly what the plan is, but I do know that closing this portal is crucial to victory. I want others to talk about it. I want others to see it. … This is not some practical joke. This isn’t some conspiracy theory. I’m absolutely convinced that this is demonic," Stone said. "It is a satanic portal. It is access to this Earth by those who are evil, and only by closing it will we be successful in saving this nation under God.”

In a Friday evening speech in South Carolina, Stone returned to the topic and demanded the satanic portal be closed by prayer.

“Yes, ladies and gentleman, there is a satanic portal above the White House, you can see it day and night," he claimed. "It exists, it is real, and it must be closed, and it will be closed by prayer."

Activists push Louis DeJoy to hand over secret documents

Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
May 14, 2022

Post Office Trucks (Shutterstock)

A pair of green groups on Thursday appealed the U.S. Postal Service's rejection of a Freedom of Information Act request seeking to uncover details about the mail agency's contract to purchase more than 160,000 new delivery trucks, 90% of which are expected to be gas-powered.

"As the USPS forges ahead with its ill-conceived and controversial decision to pollute communities across the nation instead of electrifying their delivery trucks, we demand to see the details surrounding the agency's decision," said Elena Saxonhouse, managing attorney with the Sierra Club, which joined Elders Climate Action in filing the administrative appeal.

"As USPS proceeds to implement the Oshkosh contract, it should not keep the proposal leading to that contract secret."

The groups are specifically pressing the Postal Service to release the proposal that Oshkosh Defense, a Wisconsin-based company, submitted before it won the lucrative 10-year deal to manufacture the new mail vehicles.

"The USPS must be more transparent about the Oshkosh proposal and contract," Saxonhouse said.

Spearheaded by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the Postal Service's decision to replace its aging and increasingly hazardous delivery fleet with mostly gas-powered trucks sparked outrage and pushback from climate organizations, Democratic lawmakers, and the Biden administration.

Last month, green groups joined forces with 16 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit that aims to halt the Postal Service's agreement with Oshkosh, contending that the environmental impact analysis underpinning the deal is so shoddy that it violates the National Environmental Policy Act.

With their filing on Thursday, Sierra Club and Elders Climate Action alleged that the USPS is "improperly withholding records" related to the Oshkosh contract, which is worth billions of dollars.

"As USPS proceeds to implement the Oshkosh contract over the objections of the White House and many others," the filing states, "it should not keep the proposal leading to that contract secret."

Sierra Club and Elders Climate Action filed their initial FOIA request for records surrounding the agreement more than a year ago.

"The Postal Service's pass to pollute is reprehensible, and the public outcry around it should be evidence enough," Katherine García, director of Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign, said in a statement Thursday. "The significance of the harm done to climate and public health by introducing a new fleet of gas-powered trucks for decades to come can't be overstated."

"We will use all lawful means necessary to stop this short-sighted decision," García vowed.

The House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), is also pushing the Postal Service to furnish more information about its vehicle purchase, which could have major implications for President Joe Biden's effort to electrify the federal fleet.

In a letter to DeJoy dated Wednesday, Maloney voiced concern that "the Postal Service relied on flawed assumptions to justify the purchase of gas-powered trucks while underestimating the cost savings and environmental benefits from electric vehicles."

Demanding more transparency from the agency, Maloney requested that the Postal Service turn over "all documents and communications, including all analyses, related to the determination of a planned 90/10 split of gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles."

Earlier this week, the oversight panel approved legislation that would toss out the Postal Service's environmental impact review of the new vehicle agreement and force the agency to conduct a new assessment.

"The Oversight Committee strongly supports the purchase of electric vehicles for the Postal Service's fleet, which will position the Postal Service as an environmental leader," Maloney wrote in her letter Wednesday. "An all-electric Postal Service fleet would reduce costs, increase reliability, and improve the Postal Service's ability to efficiently deliver mail and packages."

"Electrifying the next generation of Postal Service vehicles," the New York Democrat added, "is also essential to achieving the nation's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change."

Laboratory mice are usually distressed and overweight, calling into question research findings
The Conversation
May 13, 2022

Mice (AFP Inti Ocon)

Over 120 million laboratory rats and mice are used worldwide each year. Many are used to study distressing conditions like cancer, arthritis and chronic pain, and nearly all spend their lives in small, empty box-like cages: a kind of permanent lockdown.

Our new analysis shows that this restrictive, artificial housing causes rats and mice to be chronically stressed, changing their biology. This raises worrying questions about their welfare — and about how well they represent typical human patients.

We identified this impact of housing by extracting data from over 200 studies that investigated the effects of cage design on health outcomes known to be stress-sensitive in humans, such as mortality rates and the severity of illnesses like cardiovascular disease, cancer and stroke.

The importance of housing

The studies we synthesized all compared conventional “shoeboxes” — the small, barren cages typical in labs — with better-resourced housing containing running wheels, nest boxes, additional space or other items that allow natural behaviours like digging, climbing, exploring and hiding. Across the board, the animals in conventional cages became sicker than ones in better-resourced housing. For example, if given cancer, they developed larger tumours.

Conventionally housed animals were also at greater risk of dying, their average lifespans reduced by about nine per cent. Scientists have known for decades that rats and mice want more comfort, exercise and stimulation than is normally provided, and that conventional cages therefore induce abnormal behaviour and anxiety.

But this is the first evidence that they also cause chronic distress severe enough to compromise animals’ health.


When mice are contained in stimulating environments, they are healthier.
(Aileen MacLellan), Author provided

Stressed-out findings

Our study – like many others before us — also found evidence of methodological problems and poor reporting of experimental details. For example, the rodents used were male-biased, with few studies using female animals.

Furthermore, despite investigating housing effects, two-thirds of the studies in our analysis did not fully describe animals’ living conditions. Our findings support many previous suggestions that rats and mice living in barren cages that lack stimulation may not be suitable models, for several reasons. Research animals are typically male, as well as often overweight, sometimes chronically cold and cognitively impaired.

We suspect that the reliance on “CRAMPED” animals — cold, rotund, abnormal, male-biased, enclosed and distressed — could help explain the current low success rates of biomedical research. There are already examples of research studies generating quite different conclusions depending on how their animals are held, and we now aim to assess the extent to which this occurs.

That housing is critical for rodent biology, yet often poorly described in papers, could also help explain the “replicability crisis”: that at least 50 per cent of preclinical research results cannot be replicated when other scientists re-run a study.


Housing is critical for the well-being of laboratory mice.
(Understanding Animal Research/Wikimedia Commons)

Canadian policies

Only one to two per cent of the world’s research animals live in Canada, so why should Canadians care? For one, because this still means 1.5 million to two million animals are being unintentionally stressed: something that anyone who cares about animals will find concerning. But if animal housing does indeed change research conclusions, then that has financial implications too. Canada spends about $4 billion a year on health research. Following U.S. estimates, if half of that is animal-based, of which only 50 per cent is reproducible, then Canada may be spending around $1 billion a year on non-replicable animal studies.

And even when studies are replicable, well under five per cent of them yield usable medical benefits for humans. This is a huge contrast with the Canadian public’s expectation that approximately 60 per cent of animal work leads to new human drugs.

Canadian standards require that mice be provided with nesting materials that can keep them warm, but is it time to improve them further?

The “shoeboxes” that rats and mice currently live in should stop being ignored as if a neutral backdrop, and instead be seen as a determinant of health: one we can modify, improve and study. Doing so would allow us to better model the diverse social determinants of human health, and improve animal well-being at the same time.

Georgia Mason, Professor, Integrative Biology, University of Guelph and Jessica Cait, Doctoral student, Integrative Biology, University of Guelph

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.