Saturday, May 28, 2022

The Mystery of Why So Many Lifelong Smokers Never Get Lung Cancer May Be Solved

28 May 2022

Smoking cigarettes is the number one risk factor for lung cancer, with tobacco products causing up to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States.

Without a doubt, the safest way to protect yourself against lung cancer is to avoid smoking cigarettes, and yet, at the same time, it's also true that not all lifelong smokers are doomed to develop cancer.

Science Alert publised this article:

In fact, the vast majority don't. Scientists have long wondered why, and a new study adds weight to the idea that genetics has a role to play.

Among people who smoke but never develop lung cancer, researchers found an inherent advantage. The cells that line their lungs appear to be less likely to mutate over time.

The findings suggest that DNA repair genes are more active among some individuals, which can protect against cancers arising, even when cigarettes are regularly smoked.

The study made use of genetic profiles taken from the bronchi of 14 never-smokers and 19 light, moderate, and heavy smokers.

Surface cells collected from the lungs of the participants were sequenced individually to measure mutations in their genomes.

"These lung cells survive for years, even decades, and thus can accumulate mutations with both age and smoking," explains epidemiologist and pulmonologist Simon Spivack from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

"Of all the lung's cell types, these are among the most likely to become cancerous."

According to the authors, the findings "unequivocally demonstrate" that mutations in the human lung increase with natural age, and among smokers, the DNA damage is even more significant.

Tobacco smoke has long been associated with triggering DNA damage in the lung, but the new study found not all smokers are in the same boat.

While the amount that someone smoked was linked to an increase in cell mutation rates, after the equivalent of about 23 years of smoking a pack a day, that risk plateaus.

"The heaviest smokers did not have the highest mutation burden," says Spivack.

"Our data suggest that these individuals may have survived for so long in spite of their heavy smoking because they managed to suppress further mutation accumulation. This leveling off of mutations could stem from these people having very proficient systems for repairing DNA damage or detoxifying cigarette smoke."

The findings could help explain why 80 to 90 percent of lifelong smokers never develop lung cancer. It could also help explain why some people who never smoke at all do develop the tumors.

While toxic tobacco smoke seems to trigger extra cell mutations in the lung, whether these mutations develop into tumors is dependent on how well the body can repair DNA or reduce DNA damage.

Genes concerned with DNA repair can be inherited or acquired, and the silencing of repair genes has been associated with tumor development in previous research.

Genes aren't the only factors influencing a person's cancer risk. Environmental factors like diet can also influence nutrients in the body that impact tumor development.

What makes an individual's body better at repairing DNA is still up for debate and is likely complicated, but the new findings suggest this process is closely tied to lung cancer development.

"We now wish to develop new assays that can measure someone's capacity for DNA repair or detoxification, which could offer a new way to assess one's risk for lung cancer," says geneticist Jan Vijg.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for LUNG CANCER

Algeria: Rights defenders' lives 'very difficult', says Hirak activist

Human rights groups say that Algerian authorities use threats to national security to stifle free speech, including among journalists, and justify arrests.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
29 May, 2022

Algeria in 2021 banned the weekly pro-democracy protests held by the Hirak movement

[RYAD KRAMDI/AFP/Getty-file photo]

Mohamed Benhalima looks as wary and frightened as he is led off a plane at Algiers airport, handcuffed with a security officer's arm wrapped around him.

A team from Algeria's Rapid Intervention Force then puts him in their vehicle and whisks him to an unknown destination.

The video was posted online on 24 March. Three days later, Algerians watched on television as the 32-year-old confessed to involvement with an organisation that authorities have listed as an Islamist terrorist group plotting against the Algerian government.

Once a faithful servant of his homeland as a non-commissioned army officer, Benhalima became a supporter of Algeria's pro-democracy movement, then a deserter who fled to Europe. Spain expelled him after Algeria issued a warrant for his arrest.

The confession scene was made public by Algeria's General Directorate of National Security, in what could be seen as a warning to other soldiers or citizens.

Hundreds of Algerian citizens have been jailed for trying to keep alive the Hirak movement that held weekly pro-democracy protests starting in 2019, leading to the downfall of longtime Algerian dictator President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The marches were banned last year by the nation's army-backed government.

RELATED Algeria says arrested activist died of 'natural causes'

Authorities then expanded their sweep, linking some Hirak supporters to two groups added to Algeria’s terror list last year: Rachad, regarded as Islamist infiltrators whose leaders are in Europe, and MAK, a separatist movement in Kabylie, a Berber homeland.

"For the last two or three years, there have been thousands of legal cases against activists," said well-known lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi.

"Their only error is that they expressed their political opinions on social media… and are fighting for a state of law."

Authorities of the gas-rich North African nation view themselves as guaranteeing the stability of the state.

For human rights groups, Benhalima and others are victims of an unjust, antiquated system of governance that views dissidents, or any critical voices, as criminals.

They say that Algerian authorities use threats to national security to stifle free speech, including among journalists, and justify arrests.

A campaign on social media, with the French-language hashtag #PasUnCrime (not a crime) was launched 19 May by dozens of non-governmental organisations against repression of human rights.

The US State Department's 2021 report on human rights in Algeria cited a long list of problems, including arbitrary arrests and detentions and restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association.

In March, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, asked Algeria to "change direction" to “guarantee the right of its people to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

"To be a human rights activist in Algeria has become very difficult," said Zaki Hannache, a Hirak activist recently temporarily released from prison.

"To be an activist who refuses the system is complicated. It even means sacrifices."

Hannache, best known for keeping track of Hirak-related arrests, was arrested and jailed in February on a string of charges, including defending terrorist acts.

The alleged confession of Benhalima captures the combination of evils that Algeria claims it is up against.

He said that he was under the spell of Rachad and in contact with its London-based leader and his two brothers.

The official APS news agency said Benhalima confirmed "the implication of the terrorist organization Rachad in abject plans targeting the stability of Algeria and its institutions by exploiting misguided youth".

Rachad's website claimed the police video showed the forced confession of a "hostage" in a security services propaganda exercise.

Rachad's true goals are unclear, but it is a key target of Algeria’s crackdown.

In December, Rachad said it had submitted a complaint to a UN special rapporteur over Algeria's "arbitrary classification of the group as a terrorist organisation and asked UN authorities to urge Algeria to cease its "illegal practices".

Spain expelled Benhalima based on national security interests and activities "that may harm Spain’s relations with other countries", according to Amnesty International.

Spain expelled another deserter, Mohamed Abdellah, a dissident gendarme, to Algeria last August. Amnesty International described him as a whistleblower.

Spain has a special interest in remaining on good terms with Algeria, which provides much of its gas needs.

According to the National Committee for Freedom for the Detained, some 300 people are behind bars in Algeria for their political opinions.

Up to 70 were given provisional freedom at the the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but others have since been arrested.

In a case emblematic for Algerian journalists, the man who heads the outspoken Radio M and the online news site Algerie Emergent, Ihsane El-Kadi, risks three years in prison with a five-year ban on working for allegedly attacking national unity, among other things.

He had raised the ire of a former communications minister with a column pleading for the protest movement Hirak not to divide itself over Rachad. The verdict is set for next week.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently launched an ill-defined initiative dubbed "outstretched hands", described as an "internal front" to promote dialogue across all sectors of society.

Army chief Said Chengriha suggested in several speeches that it is also to counter Algeria's perceived enemies.

The initiative precedes the 5 July celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Algerian independence from France, which was won after a bloody seven-year war against the country's then-colonial masters.

"No one can refuse" to take part in this initiative, said Abou El Fadl Baadji, secretary-general of the National Liberation Front, once Algeria’s sole political party.

He was among the officials that Tebboune has recently met with on the subject. People "await with suspense the contents of this initiative… but we’re for this idea, even before knowing the details".

Benhalima awaits a verdict of his appeal of a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted in absentia for invasion of privacy and attacks on state interests, linked to his online posts on the Algerian military, including confidential information on senior officers.

Algerian Dissidents: Victims of Crackdown or Outlaws?
May 28, 2022
Associated Press

Officers of the Algerian Rapid Intervention Force (BRI) patrol outside the palace of justice on Dec. 2, 2019.

PARIS —

Mohamed Benhalima looks wary and frightened as he is led off a plane at Algiers airport, handcuffed with a security officer's arm wrapped around him. A team from Algeria's Rapid Intervention Force then puts him in their vehicle and whisks him to an unknown destination.

The video was posted online March 24. Three days later, Algerians watched on television as the 32-year-old confessed to involvement with an organization that authorities have listed as an Islamist terrorist group plotting against the Algerian government.

Once a faithful servant of his homeland as a noncommissioned army officer, Benhalima became a supporter of Algeria's pro-democracy movement, then a deserter who fled to Europe. Spain expelled him after Algeria issued a warrant for his arrest.

The confession scene was made public by Algeria's General Directorate of National Security, in what could be seen as a warning to other soldiers or citizens.

Hundreds of Algerian citizens have been jailed for trying to keep alive the Hirak movement that held weekly pro-democracy protests starting in 2019, leading to the downfall of longtime Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The marches were banned last year by the nation's army-backed government.

Authorities then expanded their sweep, linking some Hirak supporters to two groups added to Algeria's terror list last year: Rachad, regarded as Islamist infiltrators whose leaders are in Europe, and MAK, a separatist movement in Kabylie, home of the Berbers.

"For the last two or three years, there have been thousands of legal cases against activists," said well-known lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi. "Their only error is that they expressed their political opinions on social media … and are fighting for a state of law."

For authorities of the gas-rich North African nation, guaranteeing the stability of the state is at the heart of their actions. For human rights groups, Benhalima and others are victims of an unjust, antiquated system of governance that views dissidents, or any critical voices, as criminals. They say that Algerian authorities use threats to national security to stifle free speech, including among journalists, and justify arrests.

A campaign on social media, with the hashtag #PasUnCrime (not a crime) was launched May 19 by dozens of non-governmental organizations against repression of human rights.

The U.S. State Department's 2021 report on human rights in Algeria cited a long list of problems, including arbitrary arrests and detentions and restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association. In March, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, asked Algeria to "change direction" to "guarantee the right of its people to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly."

"To be a human rights activist in Algeria has become very difficult," said Zaki Hannache, a Hirak militant recently temporarily released from prison. "To be an activist who refuses the system is complicated. It even means sacrifices."

Hannache, best known for keeping track of Hirak-related arrests, was arrested and jailed in February on a string of charges, including defending terrorist acts.

The alleged confession of Benhalima captures the combination of evils that Algeria claims it is up against. He said that he was under the spell of Rachad and in contact with its London-based leader and his two brothers. The official APS news agency said Benhalima confirmed "the implication of the terrorist organization Rachad in abject plans targeting the stability of Algeria and its institutions by exploiting misguided youth."

Rachad's website claimed the police video showed the forced confession of a "hostage" in a security services propaganda exercise.

Rachad's true goals are unclear, but it is a key target of Algeria's crackdown. In December, Rachad said it had submitted a complaint to a U.N. special rapporteur over Algeria's "arbitrary" classification of the group as a terrorist organization and asked U.N. authorities to urge Algeria to cease its "illegal practices."

Spain expelled Benhalima based on national security interests and activities "that may harm Spain's relations with other countries," according to Amnesty International. Spain expelled another deserter, Mohamed Abdellah, a dissident gendarme, to Algeria last August. Amnesty International described him as a whistleblower.

Spain has a special interest in remaining on good terms with Algeria, which provides much of its gas needs.

According to the National Committee for Freedom for the Detained, some 300 people are behind bars in Algeria for their political opinions. Up to 70 were given provisional freedom at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but others have since been arrested.

In a case emblematic for Algerian journalists, the man who heads the outspoken Radio M and the online news site Algerie Emergent, Ihsane El-Kadi, risks three years in prison with a five-year ban on working for allegedly attacking national unity, among other things. He had raised the ire of a former communications minister with a column pleading for the protest movement Hirak not to divide itself over Rachad. The verdict is set for next week.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently launched an ill-defined initiative dubbed "outstretched hands," described as an "internal front" to promote dialogue across all sectors of society. Army chief Said Chengriha suggested in several speeches that it is also to counter Algeria's perceived enemies. The initiative precedes the July 5 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Algerian independence from France, which was won after a brutal seven-year war.

"No one can refuse" to take part in this initiative, said Abou El Fadl Baadji, secretary-general of the National Liberation Front, once Algeria's sole political party. He was among the officials that Tebboune has recently met with on the subject. People "await with suspense the contents of this initiative ... but we're for this idea, even before knowing the details."

Benhalima awaits a verdict of his appeal of a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted in absentia for invasion of privacy and attacks on state interests, linked to his online posts on the Algerian military, including confidential information on senior officers.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) Declares ‘Full Independence’

Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), at a liturgy in Kyiv, May 8, 2016. | Sergento via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

May 29, 2022

By CNA

A council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) on Friday resolved on its “full self-sufficiency and independence,” distancing the Church from Russian Orthodoxy.
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The decision comes amid the third month of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been prominently supported by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

“The Council adopted relevant amendments and additions to the Statutes on the administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, indicating the full self-sufficiency and independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the Church resolved May 27 in Kyiv.

The council also condemned the Russo-Ukrainian War, gave terms for dialogue with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and broached the possibility of making chrism, which as been considered a sign of autocephaly in the Russian tradition.

“The council condemns the war as a violation of God’s commandment Thou shalt not kill,” it said, and it expressed its “disagreement with the position of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia regarding the war in Ukraine.”

It asked that Russian and Ukrainian authorities continue to negotiate.

Given the difficulties of communication amid the war, diocesan bishop were granted “the right to independently make decisions on certain issues of diocesan life that fall within the competence of the Holy Synod or the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with the subsequent informing of the hierarchy, when the opportunity is restored.”

Considering the flight of millions of Ukrainians amid the war it resolved to support the diaspora, expressing “its deep conviction that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church cannot leave its faithful without spiritual care, must be close to them in their trials, and organize church communities … It’s necessary to further develop the mission abroad among Orthodox Ukrainians in order to preserve their faith, culture, language, and Orthodox identity.”

Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine is split between the UOC-MP and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 2019. Since the Russian invasion, some parishes of the UOC-MP have transferred to the OCU, and some have stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill in the Divine Liturgy.

The council expressed “deep regret over the lack of unity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy,” saying it was “particularly disappointing” that the granting of autocephaly to the OCU “deepened misunderstandings and led to physical confrontation.”

Dialogue could resume, it said, if the OCU stops “the forcible seizures of churches and forced transfers of parishes” of the UOC-MP; “realize that their canonical status … is actually not autocephalous”; and “resolve the issue of the canonicity of the OCU hierarchy, because for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as for most Local Orthodox Churches, it’s quite obvious that in order to recognize the canonicity of the OCU hierarchy, it’s necessary to restore the Apostolic Succession of its bishops.”

The Catholic News Agency (CNA) has been, since 2004, one of the fastest growing Catholic news providers to the English speaking world. The Catholic News Agency takes much of its mission from its sister agency, ACI Prensa, which was founded in Lima, Peru, in 1980 by Fr. Adalbert Marie Mohm (†1986).

GLOW IN THE DARK

Energy Chief Asks Manchin for Domestic Uranium Enrichment Funds

Ari Natter, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- The US Department of Energy is asking Congress for funding to create a domestic source of enriched uranium, calling the country’s reliance on Russian imports a “vulnerability” for both national and economic security.

The letter from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm comes as the Biden administration continues to weigh slapping sanctions on Russia’s state-owned atomic energy company, Rosatom Corp., in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Rosatom is the world’s biggest supplier of nuclear fuel and reactors, while Russia overall supplies more than 50% of global enriched uranium. Meanwhile, US enrichment capacity has waned after being undercut by state-subsidized competition, Granholm said in the letter, which was sent Friday to Senator Joe Manchin, the powerful moderate Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“We should take steps to address this vulnerability and build a stronger domestic nuclear fuel supply for the future,” Granholm wrote in the letter, which asked for more investment to boost domestic manufacturing of low-enriched uranium as well as other forms of uranium needed for some advanced nuclear reactors.

Manchin of West Virginia, a key-swing vote who is playing a central role in Democrats’ efforts to pass Biden’s spending plan, has also endorsed increasing funding for domestic enrichment of the nuclear reactor fuel.

The US only has one remaining commercial enrichment facility, in New Mexico, which is owned by Urenco Ltd., a British, German and Dutch consortium. Bethesda, Maryland-based Centrus Energy Corp. is constructing an enrichment facility in Ohio.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding impacts on global fuel supplies have cast into sharp relief the threat to global energy security from dependence on Russian-supplied fuels,” Granholm wrote.

Unloved since Fukushima, uranium is hot

again for miners

Reuters
Praveen Menon and Sonali Paul
Publishing date: May 20, 2022

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE — Uranium miners are racing to revive projects mothballed after the Fukushima disaster more than a decade ago, spurred by renewed demand for nuclear energy and a leap in yellowcake prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Spot prices for uranium have doubled from lows of $28 per pound last year to $64 in April, sparking the rush on projects set aside after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant

“Things are moving very quickly in our industry, and we’re seeing countries and companies turn to nuclear with an appetite that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in my four decades in this business,” Tim Gitzel, CEO of Canada’s Cameco, which mothballed four of its mines after Fukushima, said on a May 5 earnings call.

Uranium prices began to rise in mid-2021 as several countries seeking to limit climate change said they aimed to move back to nuclear power as a source of carbon-free energy.

A quest for secure energy supplies has added to the potential demand.

Unrest in January in Kazakhstan, which produces 45% of primary global uranium output, had already driven prices further when Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine spurred a 50% rally.

Russia accounts for 35% of global supply of enriched uranium.

Prices have retreated since a peak in April, but John Ciampaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management, which runs the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, told Reuters Moscow’s invasion had “shifted the energy markets dramatically.”

“Now the theme is about energy security, energy independence and trying to move away from Russian origin energy supply chains,” he said.

There are about 440 nuclear power plants around the world that require approximately 180 million pounds of uranium every year, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Uranium mines produce about 130 million pounds, a deficit that mining executives predict will widen even if idled capacity by major producers such as Cameco and Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom comes back online.

The supply gap used to be filled by stockpiled material, much of which came from Russia.

Now, miners are dusting off feasibility studies for mothballed mines and reviving projects.

In Australia, uranium producers – including Paladin Energy Ltd which aims to restart its Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia, idled over a decade ago – have raised close to A$400 million ($282.08 million) in share sales over the last six months to fund exploration and resuscitate mines on three continents.

“With all of the additional demand that’s coming from the new nuclear (plants), the thesis is that over a five or 10-year period, that additional demand will just dwarf those volumes coming back to market,” said Regal Funds Management analyst James Hood.

China plans to build 150 new reactors between 2020 and 2035 and Japan also aims to boost nuclear capacity as does South Korea.

In Europe, Britain has committed to build one new nuclear plant every year while France plans to build 14 new reactors and the European Union has proposed counting nuclear plants as a green investment.

EASIER SAID THAN DONE?

Delivering the new reactors, however, will be a challenge as repeated delays and cost-overruns could be exacerbated by the supply chain problems following the pandemic and the additional disruption of the Ukraine war, making demand for uranium hard to predict.

Many environmental campaigners, especially in the West, also remain opposed to nuclear energy because of the waste it generates even though atomic power is emissions-free.

Advocates of nuclear energy say small modular reactors are a solution to the difficulty of bringing on new capacity.

Keith Bowes, managing director of Lotus Resources, which owns the idled Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi, says modular reactors will be a major source of growth from 2028 onwards.

Others say the traditional obstacle of high cost is less of a problem given the sharpened focus on security of supply.

“No longer is price the determinant, it’s now security of supply,” Duncan Craib, managing director at Boss Resources told the Macquarie Australia conference on May 9.

Boss will make a final investment decision soon on developing the Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia, aiming for first production 18 months after any go-ahead.

Sprott’s Ciampaglia said uranium could hit $100 per pound in the long run. Prices peaked around $140 per pound in 2007.

This year’s rally has taken them to levels last seen in 2011 in part as a result of Sprott’s activity in the market with its uranium funds growing from near zero last year to about $4 billion now.

Ciampaglia said Sprott’s buying is in response to investor demand: “The Trust provides investors with a vehicle to express their view on physical uranium.”

Smaller uranium developers also want to get involved, but will need prices of at least $60 a pound to ensure the economic viability of projects, industry watchers said.

Even then there would be risks. The restart of idled capacity from uranium giants could disproportionately hit smaller players while community opposition in some areas remains.

“No mine development or restart of an idled mine is easy or without challenges,” said Guy Keller, manager of Tribeca Investment Partners’ Nuclear Energy Opportunities Fund.

($1 = 1.4180 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Praveen Menon and Sonali Paul; editing by Barbara Lewis)

The West Desperately Needs To Invest In

Uranium Mining

Editor OilPrice.com
Tue, May 24, 2022

The European Union, the United States, and their Asia-Pacific allies have been on a sanction crusade against Russian for three months now. Energy was not the first target of sanction action, but it has risen to the top of the agenda now. And nuclear is no exception.

While sanctions on Russian oil and gas have taken up the most headline space, Russia is a big player in nuclear power as well, which has raised concern about the security of uranium supply—specifically enriched uranium supply.

The World Nuclear Association says Russia supplies over a third of the world's enriched uranium and has the biggest enrichment capacity globally. China comes second in terms of capacity.

According to a fresh report from the Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, however, Russia's share of global uranium enrichment capacity is greater, at 46 percent as of 2018. And that, according to the authors, might become a problem unless countries that have Russian-technology nuclear reactors start preparing now.

The preparations would basically come down to boosting uranium enrichment elsewhere—France, China, the U.S., and Canada have substantial enrichment capacity that they are under-utilizing—and fuel replacement, where possible.

According to the authors of the report, Russian VVER reactors can work with non-Russian fuel, the closest analog being produced by U.S. Westinghouse. A Bulgarian nuclear energy government consultant recently said Russian nuclear fuel is being successfully replaced at the Czech power plant Temelin and Bulgaria's Kozloduy.

Power plant maintenance could be a problem in case sanctions target Russia's nuclear power industry because Russia-made VVER reactors can only be serviced by Rosatom staff. Equipment replacement during repairs has alternatives due to other countries with well-developed nuclear industries, including France and the Czech Republic in Europe.

Yet, according to some, sanctions on Russian nuclear power may not come anytime soon. And this is because although Russia is not among the largest producers of uranium, it is one of the biggest exporters of enriched uranium.

According to a report published recently in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russia exported $13 billion worth of mineral fuels in 2019, including uranium and enriched nuclear fuel. In 2020, Russian uranium represented 16 percent of the uranium that U.S. power plants purchased. In Europe, this percentage was even higher, at 20 percent. The problem is that alternative suppliers are few and far between.

On the other hand, these few suppliers—of uranium—are large enough, it seems, to step in and replace Russian uranium. Swedish Vattenfall, for instance, stopped its purchases of Russian nuclear fuel on February 24. The power company buys its uranium from places like Kazakhstan, Namibia, Canada, and Australia—all major producers, and would only need to process and enrich it somewhere, which could be, for example, China.

In the U.S., some are calling for the buildout of local processing and enrichment capacity in order to reduce the country's dependence on Russian fuel, but it will come at a cost—some $1 billion.

"We need to build out capacity for a Western alternative for the Russian component of the uranium market, including conversion and enrichment capacity," Kathryn Huff, a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in March, as quoted by Bloomberg. "There is no question in my mind that we will continue to focus on uranium as an incredibly important fuel."

And then there is the time issue because the buildout of processing and enrichment capacity is not something you can do in a week, rather like the construction of liquefied natural gas import terminals. These things take years.

"More investment in mining, conversion, and enrichment facilities may be necessary to fully extricate Western nuclear fuel chains from Russian involvement," wrote Paul Dabbar and Matt Bowen, the authors of the Columbia University report. "However, adding sufficient new conversion capacity and enrichment capacity will take years to accomplish."

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Why the “Cool Dictator” of El Salvador Went All-In on Bitcoin

Nayib Bukele’s crypto bet wasn’t visionary. It was desperate.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele attends the first stone laying ceremony of the new National Library, financed by China, in San Salvador, El Salvador February 3, 2022.

Photo: Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Michael Ahn Paarlberg

The first indication from El Salvador’s extremely online president Nayib Bukele that his country’s experiment with Bitcoin was not going well came the second week of May, in typical fashion, on Twitter. But this time it was uncharacteristically subtle: He briefly removed the red laser eyes from his avi.

The laser eyes motif, adopted by many a crypto bro on social media, had marked Bukele as a true believer. It dovetailed well with the 40-year-old’s carefully crafted public image of a hip, young, tech-savvy entrepreneur-president, which extended to his sartorial style of shades, baseball caps, and leather jackets. If this conflicted with his other image – that of an autocrat who has locked up 30,000 people in the past month and a half – his crypto fans seemed not to notice or care. Bukele would alternately identify himself on Twitter as “CEO of El Salvador,” “the world’s coolest president,” and “the coolest dictator in the whole world.”

Bukele had gone all-in on Bitcoin, turning an entire country into a cryptocurrency laboratory. Despite polls showing a clear majority of the public opposing this, the Legislative Assembly, controlled by his allies, passed a law with nearly no debate naming Bitcoin legal tender, alongside the US dollar, which El Salvador adopted in 2001. Advised by Strike CEO Jack Mallers, Bukele’s government rolled out a digital crypto wallet in app form, called Chivo (Salvadoran slang for cool), which came preloaded with $30 of Bitcoin to encourage adoption.

Many who downloaded it found it confusing and buggy, or that their $30 had already been stolen by identity thieves. A study by economists at the University of Chicago, Penn State and Yale found that of those who managed to access it, most cashed out their $30 and didn’t use Chivo again. One of them, Chicago’s Fernando Álvarez, told the tech site Rest of World, “There is no experiment where a currency was introduced with such strong incentives and it still failed.”

As El Salvador’s government found out, the problem with cryptocurrency as legal tender is the aspirational but misleading premise of the word itself. A currency, as economists understand it, must fulfill three functions: It must be a relatively stable store of value, a commonly understood unit of account, and a widely accepted medium of exchange. Bitcoin fulfills none of these. It is, like other cryptocurrencies, a speculative asset masquerading as a currency – or to be more generous, an asset whose speculated value is based in part on the promise of one day becoming a commonly used currency. But until that happens, the popularity of cryptocurrencies rests on in their highly volatile values and the get-rich-quick dreams they conjure, which cuts against the very promise of stability and future everyday use.

The bubble burst last week, as the stablecoin Terra proved to be far less stable than advertised and crashed, precipitating a wider freefall in crypto markets which wiped out $400 billion in market capitalization. Bitcoin influencers, in their usual parlance, exhorted retail investors to “HODL” and sacrifice their losses in order to shore up billionaires’ assets, a transparent pump-and-dump playing out in real time on social media. Even Bukele tweeted “Buy the dip!” – something El Salvador’s Treasury soon did.

Bitcoin banners are seen outside of a small restaurant at El Zonte Beach in Chiltiupan, El Salvador June 8, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Jose Cabezas

For some individuals, the crash was a devastating loss of personal wealth. For a country, the results are devastating on a much larger scale. El Salvador is on the verge of defaulting on its debts, which amount to close to 100% of its gross domestic product. This is exacerbated by the loss of value of the country’s Bitcoin holdings, which Bukele bragged he would trade with public funds on his phone while in the bathroom. As of now, he has personally cost the Treasury about $40 million – an amount equal to its next foreign debt payment, due to bondholders in June. I once joked that Bukele would either be the world’s first head of state to run a multi-level marketing scam, or the first to fall for one. It appears possible he is both.

Although Bitcoin was sold to the Salvadoran public as a cheaper vehicle for remittances and banking for the unbanked, the fact that it never caught on for either purpose was never the main point. Deeply indebted due to decades of fiscal mismanagement, El Salvador’s government depends on foreign capital to operate. But its bonds have fallen to junk status. Bukele has burned bridges with traditional banks, the US Treasury, and the International Monetary Fund – which has put a much needed $1 billion loan to the country on indefinite hold – over corruption. This includes likely embezzlement of COVID relief funds – likely but not proven because Bukele shut down the corruption probe and fired the attorney general investigating it.

Even before the crash, El Salvador was a bad bet for foreign lenders. The Bitcoin gambit was in large part an attempt to circumvent the global financial system and appeal directly to the crypto community as a lender of last resort. So the Bukele government hyped ever-more-incredible promises of a Bitcoin City run on geothermal power, and unveiled a crypto-backed sovereign debt instrument called volcano bonds – announced, in true crypto fashion, at a Bitcoin conference event set to AC/DC. The bond was set at $1 billion – coincidentally the same amount of the denied IMF loan – and promised to pay out a 6.5% annual interest rate after a five-year lock-in period. The terms for these fantasy bonds seemed implausible for a country whose real bonds have been downgraded by ratings agencies to ever greater depths. They had no takers, and were never rolled out.

Despite driving the country to financial ruin, Bukele remains enormously popular with voters, enjoying the highest approval rating of any Latin American president. His entrepreneurial image was real – when I was in El Salvador doing research for my doctorate, he was still mayor of San Salvador, and I lived across the street from his Yamaha dealership. But his main business was public relations, and it reflects in his social media presence and the army of social-media trolls he commands to harass his enemies. When he met Donald Trump, they instantly vibed. “President Trump is very nice and cool, and I’m nice and cool too,” he told the press at the time. We both use Twitter a lot, so you know, we’ll get along.”

Bukele has not gotten along nearly as well with the Biden administration, or with Republicans not named Trump. Since being elected president in 2019, he has steadily chipped away at El Salvador’s fragile democracy, hard won after a brutal 12-year civil war. In addition to the attorney general, he purged the Supreme Court along with a third of the country’s judges, replacing them with loyalists who greenlit his re-election, which is prohibited under the Constitution. He has spied on journalists and political rivals using Pegasus spyware. His allies in the Legislative Assembly recently passed a press-censorship law making it illegal to report on news related to gangs—such as news that the government has made a pact with the principal gangs in the country, MS-13 and Barrio 18. This pact is denied by Bukele, who has prosecuted his predecessors for negotiating with gangs as well, but has been confirmed by former government officials and by the U.S. Justice Department and Treasury, which has slapped sanctions on the government officials who facilitated it. This raises an additional possibility for the real purpose of the Bitcoin gambit, which is money-laundering and sanctions evasion – a function other pariah states such as Venezuela have tried, unsuccessfully, to pursue. One of those officials sanctioned for corruption, Bukele’s chief of staff, was also the director of the parent company of the Chivo wallet.

It has belatedly dawned on some of Bukele’s crypto fans that maybe he wasn’t kidding about the cool dictator stuff. A number of investors in El Salvador interviewed in a Politico article, including defenders of the government, asked to remain anonymous, citing the increasingly authoritarian atmosphere and “fears that merely acknowledging issues with the rollout could run afoul of a prohibition on foreigners criticizing the government.” It was, in the end, a moment of clarity that they had built a crypto-libertarian paradise in a police state. This might be entertaining, except for the fact that those who suffer the consequences will be regular Salvadoran citizens who never supported the experiment in the first place.

This piece was originally published on Future Tense, a partnership between Slate magazine, Arizona State University, and New America.

TURKEY

Journalist unions’ joint statement slams bill stipulating prison for online disinformation

By Turkish Minute
- May 28, 2022

Seven Turkish journalist unions criticized a bill on Friday presented to parliament by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that paves the way for sanctions, including a prison sentence of up to three years, for social media posts that are found to have been produced for the purpose of fake news and disinformation.

The Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC), Turkish Journalists Union (TGS), Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) and the International Press Institute’s (IPI) Turkey Committee were among the unions that signed the joint statement released on Friday.

Warning that the bill “may pave the way for one of the most severe censorship and self-censorship mechanisms in the history of the republic,” the unions called on the government to immediately withdraw it.

They added that the bill seemed to have been drafted to increase “the oppression of journalism” rather than “the fight against disinformation.”

The journalists also condemned the ruling AKP for “not feeling the need to consult press organizations in Turkey” during the process of drafting the law.

“It’s a requirement of democracy for politicians of any party to establish dialogue with leading professional organizations and civil society representatives in the relevant field while preparing such regulations that directly concern the right of the society to obtain and receive information. We condemn the violation of this democratic principle,” they said.

The bill aims to add the offense, titled “Publicly Disseminating Misleading Information,” to Turkish Criminal Law No. 5237 as clause A of Article 217, which says, “Anyone who publicly disseminates false information regarding the internal and external security, public order and general health of the country, with the sole motive of creating anxiety, fear or panic among the public, in a way that is suitable for disturbing the public peace, is sentenced to imprisonment from one year to three years.”

The AKP government has been relentless in its crackdown on critical media outlets, particularly after a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

As an overwhelming majority of the country’s mainstream media has come under government control over the last decade, Turks have taken to social media and smaller online news outlets for critical voices and independent news.

Turks are already heavily policed on social media, and many have been charged with insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or his ministers, or criticism related to foreign military incursions and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Main opposition leader slams Erdoğan over remarks claiming ‘no one is hungry’ in Turkey

By Turkish Minute
- May 28, 2022

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for saying “no one is hungry” in Turkey in response to criticism of the country’s economic crisis, during a visit to a family whose power was cut due to unpaid electricity bills, local media reported on Saturday.

“Now, some people come out and say ‘we are hungry.’ Don’t make things up. How is it that you are hungry? There is no one who’s hungry [in Turkey]!” Erdoğan said on Friday in a televised speech.

The president’s remarks come as millions are battling poverty in Turkey, which is currently in the midst of an economic crisis as consumer prices accelerated to an annual rate of 69.97 percent in April, up from 61.14 percent in March, according to official data.

Food and fuel prices have more than doubled in the last few months. An increasing number of Turks have complained on social media about rising electricity bills and falling into debt. Many have said they can’t even afford basic foods such as fruits and vegetables.

The CHP leader on Saturday visited construction worker Mustafa Atalay and his wife Hazal, whose electricity was cut due to unpaid utility bills, accusing Erdoğan of being “out of touch with reality.”

After chatting with the family, Kılıçdaroğlu spoke to reporters, saying those who claimed there was no one hungry in Turkey should come and see the Atalays.

“This isn’t a pleasant situation. … The mother can’t take good care of the children due to health problems. They’re also having food and electricity problems. … This drama … isn’t unique to Van. … Such dramas exist everywhere [in Turkey]. No one can accept such a situation in 21st century Turkey,” the CHP leader said.

Addressing Erdoğan, Kılıçdaroğlu added: “There is no hunger in the [presidential] palace, I know this very well. … If you want to face the reality of Turkey, then come, sit down with these people, have a look at their houses, talk to them, hold their children in your arms, [and] listen to their problems. You are sitting [in the palace], disconnected from life [and] reality.”

Over the past several years Turkey has been suffering from a deteriorating economy, with high inflation and unemployment as well as a poor human rights record. Erdoğan is criticized for mishandling the economy, emptying the state’s coffers and establishing one-man rule in the country where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges.

Turkey’s financial troubles have increased since the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a sudden surge in the number of suicides and closed businesses. A high cost of living has become the new normal in the country, where recent increases in food and utility prices are pushing up inflation, further crippling the purchasing power of citizens.

Animal rights activists 'sprayed with manure' during protest at beef industry event

Police have been on the scene since 5am working to bring the demonstration to an end after one person was left needing hospital treatment.

By Rachel Russell, news reporter
Saturday 28 May

Members of the Animal Justice Project sprayed coloured smoke flares as they stood on the roof of Darlington Farmers Auction Mart.

Pic: Animal Justice Project/PA.

Animal rights activists have been "sprayed with manure" after being confronted by angry farmers during a protest at Britain's largest beef industry event.

The incident took place outside Darlington Farmers Auction Mart (DFAM) in County Durham earlier today as demonstrations resulted in one protester being taken to hospital.

Photos showed mask-clad activists from the Animal Justice Project (AJP) standing on the roof of the building holding banners and spraying coloured smoke flares.

A spokesperson for the group said campaigners were left "covered in excrement" after one event attendee allegedly used a sprayer to blast manure at them.

They said another activist was injured after farmers allegedly ploughed towards a group of protesters in a JCB digger.

The AJP said its protest was "peaceful" and "silent" and aimed to highlight "farmed animal suffering and environmental safety concerns".

Image:Pic: Animal Justice Project/PA

But an AJP spokesperson added: "We've been sprayed with cow poo by one farmer using a machine.

"It has been a peaceful protest and a silent protest and we are overwhelmed and outnumbered by hundreds of angry farmers.

"It's really violent and there was one farmer who went along and sprayed everyone's clothes. Shouting, swearing, spraying us with manure, ripped the banners down. It's absurd."

The National Beef Association (NBA) described the event as a celebration of the best of British beef which attracts at least 5,000 guests every year.

The group said the farming event "glorifies the exploitation and killing of animals" which is "fundamentally wrong and unjust".

Police have been on the scene since 5am working to bring the demonstration to an end, however activists said they intend to stay indefinitely.

'This is intimidation' (ROFLMAO)

Mark Dent, chair of DFAM, said earlier he believed the protesters were the source of "intimidation".

He said: "We respect people's right to protest, but the way they go about it doesn't help their cause.

"There is no respect for people's property or livelihood. I'm afraid then you lose your moral high ground... It's a tin roof and they're jumping up and down on it, and it's bending.

"They've got their faces covered. It's intimidation (and) threatening behaviour. I'm all for people protesting what they believe in, but it's the way they go about it - the face coverings, the intimidation."

He added: "If you have a pair of eyes you will see how important agriculture is around the world at the moment. Food is top of the agenda."

A spokesperson for the NBA claimed there was a "wonderful atmosphere" at the event and did not comment further on the protest.

Durham Police said: "Our officers are working to bring the protest to a safe end and to minimise the impact on the wider community."

Revealed: Afghan journalists facing death threats and beatings, despite UK pledge to save them

Group who worked with UK media to sue government over failure to relocate them to Britain

UK forces at work at Kabul airport during the chaotic evacuation last August. Photograph: Reuters

Michael Savage

Policy Editor

Sat 28 May 2022

A group of Afghan journalists who worked closely with the UK media for years have revealed how they face beatings, death threats and months in hiding, and accuse the government of reneging on a pledge to bring them to Britain.

Having fought in vain for clearance to come to the UK since the return of Taliban rule last summer, the eight journalists are now taking legal action against the government. They have applied for a judicial review after waiting months for their applications to relocate to the UK to be processed. They report only receiving standard response emails from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) programme.

Members of the group told the Observer they had worked with British media, reporting on operations against the Taliban, programmes to rebuild Afghanistan’s infrastructure, the rights of women and the fight against the drugs trade. They said that since the Taliban’s takeover, they had received warnings that they were being targeted.

In the chaos of last summer’s evacuation from Kabul, the government announced that it was issuing special visa waivers for Afghan journalists who had worked with UK media, and their families. The then foreign secretary Dominic Raab said at the time: “We must protect those brave Afghan journalists who have worked so courageously to shine a light on what is really going on in Afghanistan.” The government also said relocation cases could be expedited if there was an “imminent threat to life”.

One of the group, Abas*, worked with the UK media over many years, and had hoped to come to the UK months ago. But nine months after the Taliban stormed back to power, he remains trapped and at serious risk.

Having faced attempted kidnap and shootings, he now regularly moves location and lives separately from his family for their safety.

With tears rolling down his face, he told how he sees his wife and children only every few weeks, to get fresh clothes and money. “I’m in a kind of trauma,” he told the Observer. “There is a group of us that the UK government must help. I haven’t had a single night without concern at home with my family.”

Once, Abas was shot at while sitting in a garden. On another occasion, a car pulled up and men with covered faces got out and began to beat him. “They beat me around the head – my body was full of blood,” he said. “I don’t know how they didn’t drag me in the car – I think others helped me.”

He has also had messages threatening him for having worked with foreign media. “They said, ‘we already have a decree to kill you’. I think I’m on the target list of those people and maybe one day they will find me.”

“Unfortunately, we already are under very serious threats. We don’t want to wait until 2024 to get out. I have no sleep. Day by day, my sleep is reducing. Nowadays, it’s two hours, three hours – nothing else. Another journalist in the group, Bidar*, said he has effectively become a refugee as a result of his connections with overseas media. Family members have been attacked. He too believes he is on a Taliban hitlist.

“The Taliban and other extremists are openly talking against those who are affiliated to the UK media,” he said. “They say we are spies. The Taliban have sent me warnings. That’s why I tried many times to convince UK officials to help me relocate. The UK government promised that those who were affiliated with the UK media would be eligible. What happened that they forgot us and don’t hear our voices?”

The legal action comes just days after the foreign affairs select committee described Britain’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer as a “disaster”. At the time of the withdrawal, the Observer revealed that many pleas for help to the government went unread, including cases highlighted by senior MPs.

Erin Alcock, the Leigh Day lawyer representing the group, said: “A promise was made in August that Afghan journalists who worked for British media organisations, facing imminent threat, would be relocated to the UK. Not only has that promise not yet been fulfilled, but nine months on, our clients have had no indication of when they will even receive a response.”

It is understood that government officials have been unable to identify formal applications from some of the group. A spokesperson said: “We cannot comment on individual Arap applications … However, since the scheme began, we have relocated over 9,200 applicants and their dependents to the UK. This scheme remains open and … we are progressing applications as quickly as possible.”

*Names have been changed.

Norway and Finland have similar levels of gun ownership, as US but far less gun crime

As the independent non-profit US organisation the Children's Defense Fund has pointed out, gun violence is now the leading cause of US children's deaths

Representational image.

File picture

Peter Squires | Brighton | Published 28.05.22

In the wake of the most recent US mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 pupils and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old armed with an assault rifle, a comparison considering how the US compares with other countries on children's deaths caused by guns is compelling.

As the independent non-profit US organisation the Children's Defense Fund has pointed out, gun violence is now the leading cause of US children's deaths.

It reported that there are nine fatal shootings of children per day, that's one killing every two hours and thirty six minutes.

A minority of these killings involve school or mass shootings, the majority are killings of individual children and link to routine crime and gang violence, and overwhelmingly result in the deaths of African-American and minority children.

The US stands as an extreme outlier among high income countries. The number of children killed by guns is 36.5 times higher in the US, compared to many other high income countries including Austria, Australia, Sweden, England and Wales, according to analysis recently published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

In recent years international research has also proven conclusively that greater levels of gun ownership are closely associated with higher rates of gun violence.

An audit by the Democrat-leaning policy and research organisation the Centre for American Progress of all 50 US states found a close correlation between the states with the toughest gun laws and states with the lowest gun crime rates.

Meanwhile, international research has compared national gun laws, rates of firearm ownership and gun violence rates.

Interestingly, European societies that come close to US rates of gun ownership, in terms of gun owners per 100 people, (but with hunting rifles and shotguns rather than handguns), such as Finland and Norway, are among the safest societies internationally with regards to gun violence.

Researchers talk about civilised and de-civilising gun cultures, cultures where gun ownership is associated with traditional values of respect and responsibility, and others where gun availability largely empowers the criminally minded and unstable, adding to the violence and chaos.

High levels of social cohesion, low crime rates and internationally high levels of trust and confidence in police and social institutions do appear to reduce levels of gun homicide.

The flipside to this finding, however, is that high gun ownership in countries including Finland, Sweden and Switzerland do have significantly higher rates of suicide using guns.

The UK and Japan, with some of the toughest gun laws in the world, always record the lowest rates of gun homicide, chiefly by virtue of the their virtual prohibition of handguns, the criminal weapon of choice.

By contrast, the death tolls in recent US mass shootings have been very much exacerbated by perpetrators using assault rifles, with their larger magazines and rapid fire capabilities.

Society as a factor

As a result of the new international focus in gun control research (there was a time when the only academic research on firearms took place in the US, and a large part of it funded, directly and indirectly, by the influential US lobbying group National Rifle Association) wider questions came under the spotlight.

Researchers started to focus less upon the gun as an independent variable and instead began to address contexts and the different cultures of gun use.

They also began to acknowledge, as criminologists have always known, that introducing new laws seldom changes anything on its own offenders break laws.

Gun researchers now focus increasingly upon wider gun control regimes which have a big part to play in increasing or reducing levels of gun violence.

These regimes include policing and criminal justice systems, systems of political accountability, welfare safety nets, comprehensive education provision and cultures of trust and confidence.

And as the diagram above suggests, although the US is seen as the most exceptional gun culture among affluent democratic nations, in terms of death rates it is dwarfed by many other poorer and more conflicted societies, such as South Africa, Jamaica and Honduras.

Attempts in the US to confront shootings, but without restricting gun ownership in recent years include scaling up surveillance especially in schools where pupils, parents and teachers form part of a network keeping a watching eye on colleagues and pupils.

They look for signs of trouble and are able to sound the alarm.

More ambitiously, the Violence Project has sought to compile evidence profiles, learning from what we already know about rampage killers and trying to predict where their behaviour, social media engagements and utterances might ring alarm bells.

However, the evidence is now indisputable that more guns in a given country translates directly into more gun violence.

It is significant that the immediate reaction to the Ulvade school massacre has tended to focus on narrow questions of school security and an apparent delay in police intervention, rather than the many underlying factors which make the US such a comparatively dangerous place for children.

The Conversation

Peter Squires,

Professor of Criminology & Public Policy,

University of Brighton

PTI