The Story of Line 3 

BY THEIA CHATELLE 

  JULY 8, 2022

 JULY 8, 2022

Image by Rodion Kutsaev.

When Enbridge Inc. announced on September 29, 2021, its “Line 3 Replacement Project [was] Substantially Completed and Set to be Fully Operational,” Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth, issued a video response from the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota. After years of fighting against Enbridge’s efforts to desecrate Anishinaabe lands, Winona refused to give up the fight. In her words, “They’ve created their jobs. They put in their pipe. They won. They’ve committed a crime. And someone needs to stop them from making a profit off of that crime. Do something for the people. Stop Line 3 and give us a ‘just transition.'”

Line 3 is a project of Enbridge Inc., a multinational corporation headquartered in Alberta, Canada. Enbridge transports 30% of all oil produced in North America and operates 76,546 miles of pipeline across the continent. Last year, Enbridge reported yearly revenue of $39.853B, a 33.53% increase year-over-year. Line 3 is part of Enbridge’s Mainline System and runs 1,097 miles from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. Line 3 transports ‘tar sands oil,’ a variant of oil that the Union of Concerned Scientists denounces as “a mixture of mostly sand, clay, water, and a thick, molasses-like substance called bitumen…[which] on a lifetime basis…produces about 15% more carbon dioxide emissions.” Built in 1960, Line 3 initially transported 760,000 barrels of oil a day. But, as of 2019, it could only transport 390,000, about half the amount. Enbridge Inc. announced its Line 3 Replacement Project on October 24, 2014, by filing a Notice Plan with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). In Enbridge’s words, the Line 3 Replacement Project will “maintain … high safety standards…and restore the historical operating capabilities of Line 3.”

But, the story of Line 3 is not that of “safety standards” and “operating capabilities.” Instead, it is the story of Honor the Earth and the Anishinaabe’s resistance against Line 3. It is the story of ‘manoomin,’ and Turtle Island again being attacked by the “Black Snake.” And it is the story of the MPUC’s failure to honor treaty rights and protect the Earth. Line 3 was not a failure of the State of Minnesota but rather the logical consequence of a settler-colonial political system determined to destroy the Earth and any potential for Native sovereignty. Enbridge knew it would face a fight, as with the Dakota Access Pipeline and Keystone XL. But, this time, it came prepared. It assembled the Northern Lights Taskforce, “brought jobs to Minnesota,” and pursued every legal and illegal option available to nullify resistance to Line 3. Enbridge wielded its power to its advantage, and it won. But, that doesn’t mean that the resistance failed.

Andy Pearson, Midwest Tar Sands Coordinator at MN350, who was also arrested at an MPUC hearing, said, “Although Line 3 is in the ground, the fight against tar sands and pipelines…is something that does continue and will continue. We’re seeing action against Line 5 in Northern Wisconsin, and we’ll see more work to build against the Enbridge Mainline System.” While Line 3 is just a single component of Enbridge’s vast infrastructure holdings across the so-called United States, Enbridge appeared determined to influence every unit of the State of Minnesota to its advantage. Despite resistance by Honor the Earth, StopLine3, MN350, the Giniw Collective, the Sierra Club, and many others, Enbridge was able to use the police, the legislature, and the PUC to neutralize the Anishinaabe people and affiliated water protectors.

Enbridge’s relationship with Minnesota law enforcement is well established. Before beginning construction on Line 3, Enbridge obtained a permit through the MPUC that outlined its financial responsibilities to the State of Minnesota, including Minnesota law enforcement. It states:

“Prior to construction, the Permittee shall establish a Public Safety Escrow Account…Local Government Units (LGU) shall submit in writing an itemized request to the Public Safety Liaison sufficient to recommend to the Commission’s Executive Secretary whether services rendered were additional municipal services uniquely provided as a result of construction of the pipeline during the term of this permit.”

While Enbridge didn’t explicitly approve of nor solicit this inclusion, it’s hard to imagine that they do not approve. The Northern Lights Task Force, a coalition of Police Departments in Northern Minnesota, including the Aitkin Police Department and Palisade Police Department, is also the direct beneficiary of this provision. The Escrow Account functions as a blank check written by Enbridge on behalf of the policing agencies in Northern Minnesota. There are few limitations on what can be included in a reimbursement request. And in documents obtained by The Intercept, one Aitkin Police Department Seargent expressed hope that “the pipeline will give us an extra boost to next year’s budget, which should make it easy for me to propose an upgrade/trade to your rifles rather than a rebuild of our 8 Bushmasters.”

Shanai Matteson, a Cultural & Campaign Organizer at Honor the Earth and lifelong resident of Palisade, Minnesota, was heavily involved in the resistance against Line 3. In one incident, Shanai was charged for, in her words, “conspiring, aiding and abetting trespass on critical public infrastructure” for making “a speech at a rally where I live, also known as the Welcome Water Protectors Camp.” On the 30th Anniversary of the Enbridge Oil Spill in Itasca County, Shanai was charged after officers “kettled and arrested dozens of people taking part in a memory march.” When asked about the relationship between the State of Minnesota and Enbridge, Shanai indicated, “What happened here in Northern Minnesota sets a dangerous precedent…with local law enforcement paid to police the property and profits of a private company.”

According to a Permit Compliance Filing with the MPUC, “$250,000 was deposited on May 8, 2020” into the Escrow Account. But, in total, Enbridge paid $2,171,008.84 to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and millions more to police departments across Northern Minnesota. Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth, said she “was charged by a DNR officer first…so the guys charged with protecting us are the guys arresting us.” On June 15, 2021, Enbridge pierced an aquifer near its Clearbrook Terminal worksite. According to the DNR, as of September 5, 2021, 24.2 million gallons of groundwater had been spilled. As a penalty, the DNR ordered Enbridge to pay 3.32 million dollars. And yet, on September 10, 2021, Enbridge pierced another aquifer near the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation, spilling 220 million gallons of groundwater.

The Department of Natural Resources and the State of Minnesota did nothing to stop Enbridge’s criminal misconduct in Northern Minnesota. But that shouldn’t be a surprise. Enbridge bought off the police and was willing to accept whatever fine the DNR might levy, as long as it meant Line 3 was in the ground. Yet, at the same time, viewing Enbridge’s relationship with the Northern Lights Taskforce, the State of Minnesota, and the Department of Natural Resources through this lens of corruption or malfeasance doesn’t do justice to the nature or extent of the relationship. It is no mistake that the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation had 220 million gallons of water spilled into its Dead Fish Lake, threatening its wild rice harvest. Nor was it a mistake that Winona LaDuke, the ‘guardian ad litem for the Shell River’ appointed by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, was arrested protecting the very river she swore to protect.

The Public Utilities Commission’s permit for Line 3 includes provision 6.11, titled Tribal Economic Opportunity and Labor Education Plan, which states, “The Plan must include…a discussion of how Minnesota-based tribal members and businesses will be given preference under the committed target.” Additionally, it demands that “The Plan…include: a discussion of a Regional Native American Training Program with the purpose of recruiting and training Native Americans in the region.” Enbridge employed 12,155 workers during its Line 3 Replacement Project, 295 of which identified as Native Americans and residents of Minnesota.

Even the Public Utilities Commission, despite serving as Enbridge’s puppet, recognized the plight of Native communities in Northern Minnesota.

Due to the legacy of displacement, assimilation, and extermination, Anishinaabe communities in Northern Minnesota have the highest poverty rates in the State. I.e., the 36.8% poverty rate on the Red Lake Reservation or the 37.9% poverty rate on the Leech Lake Reservation. If it could have a consciousness, Enbridge would not devote it to Minnesota, and certainly not the Anishinaabe. To Enbridge, the Anishinaabe are a resource and, at times, a nuisance. They are ‘people of the past’ and people to control. The MPUC urges Enbridge to “train” the Anishinaabe. But, here, “train” does not mean support or teach; instead, it means ‘to control.’ For Enbridge, it would be financially expedient to exterminate the last and only obstacle standing in the way of Line 3—the Anishinaabe who have stewarded the land for generations.

And while the Public Utilities Commission forbade “counterinsurgency tactics or misinformation campaigns” in Provision 5.5 titled Public Safety and Security, Enbridge didn’t listen. Documents obtained by the Intercept indicate that Enbridge launched an initiative titled “Opposition Driven Operational Threats,” which systematically documented and categorized Native individuals, tribes, and organizations into color-coded arrangements indicating whether or not they were a threat. In 2021, Enbridge event went so far as to purchase land near the headquarters of Honor the Earth (which they later sold after completing Line 3). While the relationship between Enbridge and the Northern Lights Task Force is well documented, Enbridge’s internally discussed strategy in directing the police against water protectors is less well known. Like a ‘black box,’ we know the result—nearly 900 arrests—but don’t know all of what went into Enbridge’s strategy.

While the battle against Line 3 is over, that does not mean that Honor the Earth or, for that matter, any other individual or organization involved in the fight against Line 3 has given up. Hundreds of water protectors are still facing charges, many of them, in StopLine3’s words, “with trumped-up felonies, with most of the felonies being bogus “theft” charges,” and a new campaign, “Drop the Charges,” has been launched to support those facing jail time upon conviction. But Enbridge hasn’t given up either. The fight against Line 5 is heating up in Michigan as Enbridge attempts to build a tunnel underneath the Straits of Mackinaw despite the opposition of the State of Michigan and the Bad River Tribe. When asked about the battle against Line 5 and why, despite the massive influence of a corporation like Enbridge, it’s still work fighting, Paul DeMain, Board Chair of Honor the Earth and Tribal Member of the Bad River Tribe, had this to say: “You know why? Because Enbridge fears the truth. And that’s what we’re fighting up against.”

Theia Chatelle is an FGLI student at Yale University, studying English. She currently works at A Public Space.

Anti-government protests held in Albania

Thousands of demonstrators gather in capital Tirana to protest price hikes, alleged corruption

Tatjon Cuka and Dzihat Aliju |08.07.2022


TIRANA, Albania

Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of the capital Tirana on Thursday and called on the government to resign over increases in the prices of basic food products and alleged corruption, answering a call by the main opposition Democratic Party.

The demonstrators, who came from various cities, gathered on Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard in front of the prime minister's office.

Members of non-governmental organizations, activists and students took part in the protest, which was held with the slogan "Albania is in danger.”

Former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said in a speech that the future of Albania is at stake.

Berisha noted that some of the demonstrators had traveled thousands of kilometers from the US and Europe to join the Albanian liberation front.

Hundreds of police were deployed in the area as part of security measures during the protest, which lasted for several hours.

In recent months, the country has been seeing sharp increases in the prices of some food products as well as fuel.

Civil society organizations, political party representatives and citizens called on state institutions to intervene in the situation and prevent volatility in prices.

The demonstrators said they will continue their protest in the coming days.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz

HEY HEY USA;

Nearly 90% of Vietnamese population covered with health insurance

HANOI, 8th July, 2022 (VNA/ WAM) -- More than 86.8 million people in Vietnam, or 88.99 percent of the population, had been covered with health insurance by the end of June, according to the Vietnam Social Security (VSS).

Addressing a conference on Friday, VSS Deputy General Director Dao Viet Anh said the health insurance policy has increasingly affirmed its role in society.

By the end of June, more than 17.1 million people had participated in social insurance, equivalent to 33.87 percent of those in the working age and rising 6.16 percent from the same period last year. They include nearly 1.5 million taking part in voluntary social insurance.

Meanwhile, nearly 14 million people, or 27.55 percent of the workforce, had been covered with unemployment insurance, up 5.13 percent year on year, statistics showed.

Anh said giving the top priority to insurance participants' rights and interests, the VSS has actively worked with relevant ministries and sectors to provide maximum support for them to gain insurance benefits.

WAM/Binsal AbdulKader/Lina ibrahim

 Fri 08-07-2022 

How Cuba is Eradicating Child Mortality and Banishing the Diseases of the Poor

BY VIJAY PRASHAD – MANOLO DE LOS SANTOS

 JULY 8, 2022
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Photograph Source: NatalieMaynor – CC BY 2.0

Palpite, Cuba, is just a few miles away from Playa Girón, along the Bay of Pigs, where the United States attempted to overthrow the Cuban Revolution in 1961. Down a modest street in a small building with a Cuban flag and a large picture of Fidel Castro near the front door, Dr. Dayamis Gómez La Rosa sees patients from 8 AM to 5 PM. In fact, that is an inaccurate sentence. Dr. Dayamis, like most primary care doctors in Cuba, lives above the clinic that she runs. “I became a doctor,” she told us as we sat in the clinic’s waiting room, “because I wanted to make the world a better place.” Her father was a bartender, and her mother was a housecleaner, but “thanks to the Revolution,” she says, she is a primary care doctor, and her brother is a dentist. Patients come when they need care, even in the middle of the night.

Apart from the waiting room, the clinic only has three other rooms, all of them small and clean. The 1,970 people in Palpite come to see Dr. Dayamis, who emphasizes that she has in her care several pregnant women and infants. She wants to talk about pregnancy and children because she wants to let me know that over the past three years, not one infant has died in her town or in the municipality. “The last time an infant died,” she said, “was in 2008 when a child was born prematurely and had great difficulty breathing.” When we asked her how she remembered that death with such clarity, she said that for her as a doctor any death is terrible, but the death of a child must be avoided at all costs. “I wish I did not have to experience that,” she said.

Eradicate the Diseases of the Poor

The region of the Zapata Swamp, where the Bay of Pigs is located, before the Revolution, had an infant mortality rate of 59 per 1,000 live births. The population of the area, mostly engaged in subsistence fishing and in the charcoal trade, lived in great poverty. Fidel spent the first Christmas Eve after the Revolution of 1959 with the newly formed cooperative of charcoal producers, listening to them talk about their problems and working with them to find a way to exit the condition of hunger, illiteracy, and ill-health. A large-scale project of transformation had been set into motion a few months before, which drew in hundreds of very poor people into a process to lift themselves up from the wretched conditions that afflicted them. This is the reason why these people rose in large numbers to defend the Revolution against the attack by the United States and its mercenaries in 1961.

To move from 59 infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births to no infant deaths in the matter of a few decades is an extraordinary feat. It was done, Dr. Dayamis says, because the Cuban Revolution pays an enormous attention to the health of the population. Pregnant mothers are given regular care from primary care doctors and gynecologists and their infants are tended by pediatricians—all of it paid from the social wealth of the country. Small towns such as Palpite do not have specialists such as gynecologists and pediatricians, but within a short ride a few miles away, they can access these doctors in Playa Larga.

Walking through the Playa Giron museum earlier that day, the museum’s director Dulce María Limonta del Pozo tells us that the many of the captured mercenaries were returned to the United States in exchange for food and medicines for children; it is telling that this is what the Cuban Revolution demanded. From early into the Revolution, literacy campaigns and vaccination campaigns developed to address the facts of poverty. Now, Dr. Dayamis reports, each child gets between twelve and sixteen vaccinations for such ailments as smallpox and hepatitis.

In Havana’s Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), Dr. Merardo Pujol Ferrer tells us that the country has almost eradicated hepatitis B using a vaccine developed by their Center. That vaccine—Heberbiovac HB—has been administered to 70 million people around the world. “We believe that this vaccine is safe and effective,” he said. “It could help to eradicate hepatitis around the world, particularly in poorer countries.” All the children in her town are vaccinated against hepatitis, Dr. Dayamis says. “The health care system ensures that not one person dies from diarrhea or malnutrition, and not one person dies from diseases of poverty.”

Public Health

What ails the people of Palpite, Dr. Dayamis says, are now the diseases that one sees in richer countries. It is one of the paradoxes of Cuba, which remains a country of limited means—largely because of the U.S. government’s blockade of this island of 11 million people—and yet has transcended the diseases of poverty. The new illnesses that she says are hypertension and cardiovascular diseases as well as prostate and breast cancer. These problems, she points out, must be dealt with by public education, which is why she has a radio show on Radio Victoria de Girón, the local community station, each Thursday, called Education for Health.

If we invest in sports, says Raúl Fornés Valenciano, the vice president of the Institute of Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), then we will have less problems of health. Across the country, INDER focuses on getting the entire population active with a variety of sports and physical exercises. Over 70,000 sports health workers collaborate with the schools and the centers for the elderly to provide opportunities for leisure time to be spent in physical activity. This, along with the public education campaign that Dr. Dayamis told us about, are key mechanisms to prevent chronic diseases from harming the population.

If you take a boat out of the Bay of Pigs and land in other Caribbean countries, you will find yourself in a situation where healthcare is almost nonexistent. In the Dominican Republic, for example, infant mortality isat 34 per 1,000 live births. These countries—unlike Cuba—have not been able to harness the commitment and ingenuity of people such as Dr. Dayamis and Dr. Merardo. In these other countries, children die in conditions where no doctor is present to mourn their loss decades later.

This article was produced by Globetrotter

COMPLETE COCK UP

New Report Condemns Police Response to Uvalde Massacre; Victims ‘Could Have Been Saved'

The report is the latest condemning the delayed police response to the mass shooting that left 19 children and two of their teachers dead

By Paul J. Weber and Jake Bleiberg • Published July 6, 2022 •

What to Know

The report is yet another damning assessment of how police failed to act on opportunities that might have saved lives.

It appears that no officer waiting in the hallway during the shooting ever tested to see if the door to the classroom was locked.

Some of the 21 victims at Robb Elementary School likely “could have been saved” had they received medical attention sooner, the report concludes.

UvaldeReport

---

Original Document (PDF) »

Contributed by Brian Roth (NBC DFW)

A police officer armed with a rifle watched the gunman in the Uvalde elementary school massacre walk toward the campus but did not fire while waiting for permission from a supervisor to shoot, according to a sweeping critique released Wednesday on the tactical response to the May massacre.

Some of the 21 victims at Robb Elementary School, including 19 children, likely “could have been saved” on May 24 had they received medical attention sooner while police waited more than an hour before breaching the fourth-grade classroom, a review by a training center at Texas State University for active shooter situations found.

The report is yet another damning assessment of how police failed to act on opportunities that might have saved lives in what became the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

“A reasonable officer would have considered this an active situation and devised a plan to address the suspect,” read the report published by the university’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training program.

Authors of the 26-page report said their findings were based off video taken from the school, police body cameras, testimony from officers on the scene and statements from investigators. Among their findings:It appeared that no officer waiting in the hallway during the shooting ever tested to see if the door to the classroom was locked. The head of Texas’ state police agency has also faulted officers on the scene for not checking the doors.

The officers had “weapons (including rifles), body armor (which may or may not have been rated to stop rifle rounds), training, and backup. The victims in the classrooms had none of these things.”
When officers finally entered the classroom at 12:50 p.m. — more than an hour after the shooting began — they were no better equipped to confront the gunman than they had been up to that point.
“Effective incident command” never appears to have been established among the multiple law enforcement agencies that responded to the shooting.

The report follows testimony last month in which Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the state Senate that the police response was an “abject failure.” He pinned particular blame on Chief Pete Arredondo, saying that as on-scene commander the Uvalde schools police chief made “terrible decisions” and stopped officers from confronting the gunman earlier.

Arredondo has tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he didn’t consider himself the commander in charge of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have his police and campus radios but that he used his cellphone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.

According to the report released Wednesday, Arredondo and another Uvalde police officer spent 13 minutes in the school hallway during the shooting discussing tactical options, whether to use snipers and how to get into the classroom windows.

“They also discussed who has the keys, testing keys, the probability of the door being locked, and if kids and teachers are dying or dead,” the report read.

These Are the 169 People Killed in School Mass Shootings Since Columbine
A mass shooting is defined as resulting in the death of four or more people, not including the perpetrator. Since 1999′s Columbine High School massacre, 169 people have died in 14 events connected to U.S. schools and colleges.

McCraw said police had enough officers and firepower on the scene of the Uvalde school massacre to have stopped the gunman three minutes after he entered the building, and they would have found the door to the classroom where he was holed up unlocked if they had bothered to check it.

A lawyer for Arredondo and a spokeswoman for the Uvalde city police department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Arredondo is on leave from his job with the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and resigned from his position as a city councilor last week.

Public leaders, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, initially praised the police response in Uvalde. Abbott said officers reacted quickly and ran toward the gunfire with “amazing courage” to take out the killer, thereby saving lives. He later said he was misled.

'PERFECT STORM' OF MISTAKES IN UVALDE

Tarleton State Criminology Professor Alex del Carmen consults with police departments about best practices and says he understands the outrage as parents in Uvalde and the public learns more about the events on May 24, 2022.

"I can understand people being frustrated and being angry at this because I would be as well," said del Carmen.

The professor went on to say he's 'shocked' and 'troubled' by the issues outlined in the report.

"What you see here is a perfect storm. What I mean by that is everything that could possibly go wrong that day went wrong from a security and law enforcement perspective."

Using audio analysis, the report says the gunman fired more than 100 rounds in the first three minutes after he walked into the two classrooms. The review makes it clear at least some of the victims could have been saved if police had done more.

Copyright Associated Press

CHRISTIAN TERRORISM

Georgia Guidestones explosion: Officials release video, destroy remaining portion over 'safety concerns'

Georgia Guidestones hit with 'explosive device,' investigators say

By Greg Norman | Fox News

Georgia Guidestones monument explosion caught on video

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has released surveillance footage showing Wednesday's Georgia Guidestones explosion and a car fleeing the scene.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has released surveillance video in the search for those responsible for setting off an explosion at the Georgia Guidestones monument, which they now say has been completely demolished over "safety concerns."

The 19-foot-high granite tourist attraction in Elberton — which the state says is known as "America's Stonehenge" — was damaged early Wednesday after "unknown individuals detonated an explosive device," according to the agency.

"For safety reasons, the structure has been completely demolished," the Georgia Bureau of Investigation later said while releasing the videos which show the blast and a silver car fleeing the scene.

Georgia’s tourism website says the monument "displays a 10-part message espousing the conservation of mankind and future generations in 12 languages."

GEORGIA GUIDESTONES TARGETED WITH ‘EXPLOSIVE DEVICE’, INVESTIGATORS SAY



The remaining standing portion of the Georgia Guidestones monument has been destroyed over "safety concerns," officials say.

"The Guidestones also serve as an astronomical calendar, and every day at noon the sun shines through a narrow hole in the structure and illuminates the day’s date on an engraving," it added.

The attraction gained renewed attention in May when Kandiss Taylor, a Republican candidate for governor, claimed the stones were satanic and included destroying them as part of her platform, according to the Associated Press.

 



Law enforcement officials walk around the damaged Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton, Ga., on Wednesday, July 6. (Rose Scoggins/The Elberton Star via AP)

"God is God all by Himself. He can do ANYTHING He wants to do. That includes striking down Satanic Guidestones," Taylor tweeted Wednesday.



Police tape blocks off the damaged Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton, Ga., on Wednesday, July 6. (Rose Scoggins/The Elberton Star via AP)

As of Thursday, the motive behind the explosion – and who is responsible for the damage – was not immediately clear.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/republican-celebrates-after-explosion.html

Ons Jabeur reacts to making tennis history at Wimbledon

JULY 8, 2022 
by DZEVAD MESIC 



World No. 2 Ons Jabeur reached her maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon and made tennis history in the process. On Thursday, Jabeur overcame 103rd-ranked Tatjana Maria 6-2 3-6 6-1 to become the first Arab or African woman to reach a Grand Slam final.

"The dream kind of started last year when I enjoyed playing here, enjoyed the crowd. I didn't play so many Wimbledons before. Usually it was the first and second round. It's tricky to play on grass. I knew I was playing good on grass because of my game and everything.

But last year, Melanie [Maillard] reminded me, my mental coach, I told her, 'I'm coming back next year for the title,' when I lost in the quarterfinals. I just love everything around here, the atmosphere and everything.

It was my main goal from the beginning of the season, and even from last year. Everything about the energy, I just love being here."

Jabeur overcame Maria to book an Elena Rybakina final

Jabeur got off to a very fast start, breaking Maria twice to easily win the first set.

Maria maybe didn't make a good start to her first Grand Slam semifinal but her level improved in the second set as she earned her first in the fourth game and then held on to her serve the rest of the set to force a decider.

However, losing the second set didn't impact Jabeur, who started the third set with a 5-0 lead before serving out for the match in the seventh game. In the Wimbledon final, Jabeur faces 23rd-ranked Rybakina, who upset Simona Halep in the semifinal.

Jabeur and Rybakina will be going head-to-head for the fourth time when they meet in the Wimbledon final. Jabeur has a positive 2-1 head-to-head record versus Rybakina - Rybakina won their first meeting in 2019, before Jabeur won their second and third meetings last year.

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur makes more history for Arab women at Wimbledon

In the semi-finals, Jabeur will face another newcomer to this stage at a major tournament, Tatjana Maria.


Wednesday 06/07/2022

The Arab Weekly

Ons Jabeur celebrates after winning a point against Marie Bouzkova in a women’s singles quarter-final match on day nine of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, July 5, 2022. (AP)


WIMBLEDON, England –

To the many “firsts” filling Ons Jabeur’s résumé, add a new one: the first Arab woman to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam tournament.

The third-seeded Tunisian improved on last year’s quarter-final run at Wimbledon by going one better on Tuesday at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. She beat Marie Bouzkova 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Centre Court.

“It means a lot,” said the 27-year-old Jabeur, who is ranked No. 2 in the world.

“I was hoping that I could get to this stage for a long time already … I was talking a little bit to (former Moroccan player) Hicham Arazi and he told me, ‘Arabs always lose in the quarter-finals and we are sick of it. Please break this.’ I was, like, I’ll try, my friend.”

She tried and it is true, she did it.

In the semi-finals, Jabeur will face another newcomer to this stage at a major tournament,Tatjana Maria.

The 34-year-old German, who twice took breaks from tennis to have a child, became the oldest first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist in the Open era in her 35th appearance at such a tournament. She defeated 22-year-old Jule Niemeier 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 on No. 1 Court.

Jabeur and Maria are good friends.

“I’m really happy for her that she’s getting what she deserves. I know she struggled a lot,” Jabeur said. “It’s not easy coming back after having two babies. It’s going to be a great match between us, a lot of respect, for sure.”

Jabeur has been setting record after record for Arab players in recent years. She became the first Arab woman to reach the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam tournament in 2020 at the Australian Open.

In 2021, she was the first Arab player to break into the top ten of the men’s or women’s rankings, then became the first Arab to win a WTA title and topped it off with her record run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

This year, things have been going even better for Jabeur on the grass at the All England Club. She won her first four matches in straight sets and was rarely troubled in any of them.

That changed against Bouzkova, a 23-year-Czech who had never before been to the third round at a major tournament. Bouzkova’s strong start, however, did not last into the second set.

“She gets all the balls and doesn’t make, to win a point, easy for me,” Jabeur said. “I’m glad I stepped in with my game. I was more aggressive in the second set, and especially tactically I was playing some angles that she didn’t like much.”

Maria also lost the first set before recovering to win the next two. The victory made her only the sixth woman to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals after turning 34 years old.

The previous five women, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Venus Williams and Serena Williams, won a combined 30 titles at the All England Club in their careers.

“To be in a list of such great players, it’s amazing,” said Maria, who had only ever reached the third round at a major once before, at Wimbledon in 2015. “I mean, to have my name in the same spot, yeah, I still cannot believe it, really.”

Maria is making her tenth appearance at the All England Club, her participation was twice interrupted to have children. Her first daughter was born in 2013 and the second came in 2021.

Tennis, despite this incredible run at Wimbledon, has taken a back seat to family ever since the kids came along.

“I think for me, that’s the most important in my life, to be a mom of my two kids. Nothing will change this,” Maria said.

“I’m in the semi-final of Wimbledon, it’s crazy, but I’m still a mom. After this I will go out over there and I will see my kids and I will do the same thing what I do every single day.”

Maria was ranked outside the top 250 as recently as March, but she has worked her way back to No. 103.

She returned from her second maternity leave about a year ago and lost in the first round of the US Open. At the majors this year, she lost in the first round at both the Australian Open and the French Open.

“I always believed that I have something inside, I mean, that I can do this,” Maria said. “I always believed in this, but to be now here in this spot … one year ago I gave birth to my second daughter. If somebody would tell me one year later you are in a semi-final of Wimbledon, that’s crazy.”

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M IS THERE ANY OTHER KIND

Theranos COO Ramesh Balwani found guilty of multimillion-dollar fraud in US

Federal jury in San Jose on Thursday found the Pakistan-born guilty of two counts of conspiracy and ten counts of wire fraud


Theranos's Chief Operating Officer Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani

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Our Bureau, PTI | New York | Published 08.07.22, 10:54 AM

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Blood testing company Theranos's Chief Operating Officer Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani has been found guilty by a federal jury in the US on all counts he was charged with related to a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme at the company founded by his former girlfriend Elizabeth Holmes, once touted as Silicon Valley's rising star.

The federal jury in San Jose on Thursday found Pakistan-born Balwani, 57, guilty of two counts of conspiracy and ten counts of wire fraud through a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors and patients in connection with the operations of Theranos, United States Attorney Stephanie Hinds and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan said in a statement.

The jury reached the verdict on Thursday after a trial that began in March this year before United States District Judge Edward J Davila and concluded just over 6 months after a jury found Holmes guilty of one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud in related proceedings.

Six months after the guilty verdicts in the Elizabeth Holmes trial, this jury has concluded that Holmes's business partner, Ramesh Balwani, also bears responsibility for defrauding investors in Theranos. The jury concluded that Balwani also perpetrated fraud on unsuspecting patients, Hinds said.

Balwani remains free on bond pending further hearings. Judge Davila scheduled Balwani's sentencing hearing for November 15, 2022 when he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and a fine of USD 250,000, plus restitution, for each count of conspiracy and each count of wire fraud.

He was employed from September 2009 to July 2016 at the Palo Alto-based blood-testing company founded by Holmes, 38, in 2003.

While employed with Theranos, Balwani worked for the company in several capacities, including as a member of the company's board of directors, as its president, and as its chief operating officer.

At trial, the government submitted evidence that while at Theranos, Balwani conspired to commit wire fraud against investors between 2010 and 2015, conspired to commit wire fraud between 2013 and 2016 against patients who paid for Theranos' blood testing services, and that he committed wire fraud against investors and patients.

The statement said that on conspiracy charges, the government submitted evidence regarding Balwani's claims that Theranos developed a revolutionary and proprietary analyser that the defendants referred to by various names, including the TSPU, Edison, or minilab.

Balwani and Holmes claimed the analyser was able to perform a full range of clinical tests using small blood samples drawn from a finger stick. They also represented that the analyser could produce results that were more accurate and reliable than those yielded by conventional methods all at a faster speed than previously possible.

At trial, the government demonstrated that Holmes and Balwani knew that many of their representations about the analyser were false, but nevertheless conspired to convince potential investors and patients that the claims were true.

Holmes, Balwani and others knew that the analyser had accuracy and reliability problems, performed a limited number of tests, was slower than some competing devices, and, in some respects, could not compete with existing, more conventional machines.

Similarly, on substantive fraud charges, the evidence demonstrated Balwani used advertisements and solicitations to encourage and induce patients to use Theranos's blood testing laboratory services, even though he knew Theranos was not capable of consistently producing accurate and reliable results for certain blood tests.

The statement added that evidence showed that Balwani represented to investors that Theranos would generate over USD 100 million in revenues and break even in 2014 and that Theranos expected to generate approximately USD 1 billion in revenues in 2015.

However, in truth, Theranos resorted to using conventional machines bought from third parties to perform much of Theranos's blood testing and Balwani knew the company would generate only negligible or modest revenues in 2014 and 2015.

The trial evidence included numerous misrepresentations made by Balwani to potential investors about Theranos's financial condition and its future prospects.

The evidence showed that Balwani represented to investors that Theranos would dramatically increase the number of Wellness Centers within Walgreens stores even though Theranos's retail Walgreens rollout had stalled because of several issues.

In July 2020, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Balwani with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and ten counts of wire fraud.

Like Holmes, Balwani was charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud against investors in Theranos during the period 2010 to 2015, conspiring to commit wire fraud against patients who paid for Theranos' blood testing services during the period 2013 to 2016, and ten counts of wire fraud.

Six of the wire fraud counts involved fraud against investors in Theranos while the remaining four involved wire fraud against patients who paid for Theranos' blood testing services and advertising purchased by Theranos to attract those patients. At Thursday's verdicts, Balwani was found guilty on all counts.

In a separate trial, a separate jury convicted Holmes on January 3, 2022, of the investor-related conspiracy count and three counts of wire fraud.

That jury acquitted Holmes of the patient-related conspiracy wire fraud count and three additional wire fraud counts; in addition, one count of wire fraud relating to a Theranos patient was dismissed during Holmes's trial.

The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict in her trial with respect to three investor fraud-related counts. Judge Davila scheduled Holmes's sentencing for September 26, 2022.

Ragan said the jury has determined that the fraud at Theranos reached the level of a "criminal conspiracy".

The FBI has spent years investigating this investment fraud scheme Lies, deceit, and criminal actions cannot replace innovation and success, FBI Special Agent in Charge Ragan said.

United States | Zygote rights

A push to recognise the rights of the unborn is growing in America

The movement risks inflicting grievous harm on pregnant women

Jul 7th 2022 | WASHINGTON, DC
THE ECONOMIST

What happens when America’s extreme anti-abortion activism meets its litigiousness? Fetuses get their own lawyers. In recent years some judges in conservative states have appointed legal representation for fetuses in abortion disputes (generally, when a minor wants to terminate a pregnancy). The arrangement has some glaring holes. Lawyers cannot meet or talk to their client or, supposing a fetus had wishes, guess at them. Yet with the recent overturning of Roe v Wade—the ruling that had enshrined access to abortion as a constitutional right—the push for legal recognition of the “personhood” of fetuses is set to grow.

Many anti-abortionists believe that life begins at conception. Proponents of “fetal personhood” go a step further, arguing that the 14th Amendment of America’s constitution gives “equal protection of the laws” to all, including a fertilised egg (despite the fact that as many as half of all zygotes do not implant and become pregnancies). Increasingly, anti-abortion legislation is adopting the language of fetal personhood.

THE REST IS BEHIND PAYWALL I THOUGHT THIS WAS ENOUGH TO GET THE POINT ACROSS 

A push to recognise the rights of the unborn is growing in America | The Economist

The science and politics behind abortion

Following the justices’ decision, starting from  sixth week of pregnancy and in some cases even from the moment of conception, abortions became illegal in at least nine US states.

By NOAM LEVIATAN/DAVIDSON INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE

 JERUSALEM POST
Published: JULY 7, 2022 

United States Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision
(photo credit: REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy)

US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on June 24, reversing the 1973 ruling that a woman’s choice to undergo an induced abortion is a constitutional right.

Following the justices’ decision, starting from the sixth week of pregnancy and in some cases even from the moment of conception, abortions became illegal in at least nine US states. The immediate consequence of this dramatic ruling is the forced cancellation of planned and scheduled abortions.

In the coming weeks, additional US states are expected to limit the rights of women* to terminate a pregnancy.

The 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling stated that a ban on abortions is unconstitutional, infringing on a pregnant woman’s right to privacy as well as on her right to choose for herself whether or not to undergo an abortion. Nearly immediately from the moment of the ruling, conservative activists started working on finding a way to overturn it.

Already in 1985, Samuel Alito, a Catholic conservative, and today a Supreme Court Justice, suggested a strategy for the slow erosion of Roe v. Wade, up to the point of reversal of the ruling. This week, with the help of the three conservative justices appointed by former US President Donald Trump, they succeeded.



Some states already had pre-existing so-called 'trigger laws', aimed at banning abortions, which were not valid due to the Roe v. Wade ruling. However, the overturning of the ruling activated these immediately. Some of these laws, such as the ones present in Alabama and Missouri, ban pregnancy termination from the moment of conception.

Others – such as in the case of Ohio, Georgia and South Carolina – allow women the choice of abortion as long as 'heartbeats' are not detectable in the fetus. This implies that, with the excepton of cases of incest or rape, these laws prohibit abortion from about the sixth week of pregnancy (counted as the sixth week from the first day of the last menstrual cycle).

At first glance, these laws seem less limiting than those in Alabama and Missouri, but since most women are not even aware of being pregnant during the sixth week, the 'heartbeat law' represents a de facto ban on abortions.


Finger On The Pulse

The legislators of the 'heartbeat law', and even those of the draconian laws enacted in Alabama, Missouri and in other states, claim that these laws are based on the most advanced medical science and on the forefront of human rights.

They claim that science has determined that 'unborn children'' are human beings in every aspect, and that these laws only protect their rights. In addition to these pseudo-scientific claims, the laws include different attempts to appeal to emotions.

From the use of the words 'children' and 'heartbeats' to allude to a living human heart, to (in the case of Alabama) comparison of these laws to the US Constitutional Amendments that abolished slavery and granted women the right to vote, as well as to the comparison of abortions to mass murders such as the ones that took place during the Holocaust or in the Soviet Gulags.

What do the fetus and its heart really look like during the sixth week of pregnancy? The age of the fetus is calculated from the moment of conception (or more precisely from the day of ovulation), which occurs about two weeks after the first day of the last menstrual cycle, and therefore at this stage the fetus would only be four weeks old.

At this stage, the fetus looks like a tiny tadpole, attached to a yolk sac, about 4 millimeters in size. It does not yet have a brain, it does not resemble a human being, and it lacks the vital systems and organs that could allow it to be defined as a 'child', but a pulse can indeed sometimes be detected, even though it does not yet originate from a real heart at this developmental stage.

When the fetus is three weeks old, during the fifth week of pregnancy, the organ that will eventually become the fetal heart resembles an enlarged vessel, a cluster of cells that contract, enabling the flow of liquid through the fetus.

During the sixth week of pregnancy, this vessel folds and begins to divide into compartments and sometimes the contractions can be detected by an ultrasound scan.

The heart continues to develop quickly and by the ninth week of pregnancy, it is already divided into four compartments and beats well.

Detection of a normal pulse is a sign of a normal pregnancy and is associated with a decrease in the risk of miscarriage. However, natural miscarriages during the first weeks of pregnancy are not uncommon and by the seventh to eighth week it is not always possible to distinguish between a natural miscarriage and heavy menstrual bleeding.

At this developmental stage a fetus has no independent existence outside of the uterus, and if aborted, either naturally or by induction, it does not continue to develop.

Fetuses born during the 20th week of pregnancy or beforehand have no chance of survival. Survival rates remain close to zero between weeks 21 to 23.

At 24 weeks of pregnancy, the survival rates of a prematurely born fetus are between 40-70 percent, especially if the preterm fetus weighs 500 grams or more and if the prenatal and neonatal intensive care unit is well-equipped and has skilled staff.

The stage of pregnancy from week 24 onwards is termed the age of fetal viability, since a premature fetus born during this stage has a reasonable chance of survival.

In 1992, in the ruling of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe v. Wade and was even more lenient, ruling in favor of the right of abortion until the stage of fetal viability.

States could impose a ban on abortions after the age of fetal viability, in order to protect the fetus’s potential life, as long as the mother’s life and health were not in danger.

For this reason, laws aimed at banning abortion before the stage of fetal viability, such as during the sixth week of pregnancy, were eventually dismissed in the courts.

Quite a few states found other ways of making it as difficult as possible for women to get an abortion, without officially banning it – such as using different means of shutting down clinics in which pregnancy terminations were carried out.

Now, this ruling has been overturned as well, along with Roe v. Wade, and states are free to ban abortions at any stage.

The wording of these abortion banning laws and the publications related to them, mention heartbeats and other signs of life in an attempt to make people consider the tiny tadpole, which lacks an independent existence, as a whole living being, and possibly to cause confusion between the stage of the presence of a heartbeat and the moment at which the fetus reaches the age of viability.

Suffering is An Ineradicable Part of Life

Part of the appeal to emotions in the anti-abortion laws sometimes includes claims that the ban on abortions is designed to prevent pain inflicted on the fetus. In light of this claim, states such as Nebraska, ban abortions from the 22 week of pregnancy, at least for the time being.

In North Carolina, the same argument was used in an attempt to ban abortions from week 20 of pregnancy, but abortions are now banned there only from the age of viability.

The pain argument is mentioned even in laws banning abortions from the sixth week of pregnancy, although it is not used to justify the ban. According to legislators, science has determined that by week 20 of pregnancy a fetus can sense pain, despite the fact that the scientific consensus is that it cannot feel pain before week 26.

In order to feel pain, a fetus has to undergo a few developmental stages: pain requires the presence of pain receptors, a neural connection between these sensory receptors to the spinal cord and brain, and appropriate structures in the brain able to identify pain and generate a pain sensation.

According to an extensive review by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), pain receptors begin to appear on the skin only from the tenth week of pregnancy, and in the internal organs only starting from the 13th week of pregnancy.

These continue to develop and mature during the next six to eight weeks. However, at this stage, they are unable to communicate the received signals to the brain. Only from the 18th week of pregnancy do the pain receptors connect to the spinal cord.

At this stage, the fetus already reacts to touch – if its hand is accidentally pricked, or even touched, for example during amniocentesis, a withdrawal reflex will be activated and the hand will be quickly pulled back away from the needle.

This movement is involuntary since it is mediated by the spinal cord and does not involve the brain, similarly to the knee-jerk reflex that generates a sudden kicking movement of the lower leg in response to a sharp tap of the patellar tendon, found beneath the kneecap.

The withdrawal reflex is not necessarily pain-related and it also occurs in babies following a light touch, implying that its existence does not indicate the existence of a pain sensation. For the occurrence of a pain sensation, the appropriate “equipment” is required to be present in the brain.

The required brain structures are the cortex, located on the surface of the cerebrum, and three main regions within it: the insula, a region of the cerebral cortex related to emotions and sensation; the primary somatosensory cortex, responsible for the processing of somatic sensations such as touch and pain, and more; and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), responsible for the processing of stimuli.

In addition, these regions require the presence of working and functional neural connections to other parts of the brain. These connections begin to appear and function starting from the 24th week of pregnancy and continue to develop in the weeks that follow.

It is not at all certain that a fetus can sense pain before these connections complete their development (around week 29), but there is certainly no reason to think it can sense pain before week 24, when the minimal systems required for pain sensation have not yet developed in the brain

Grief and Regret?

While most abortion banning laws do not mention this, many anti-abortion proponents claim that an induced abortion also poses a threat to the mother’s mental health.

They claim that most women will regret having undergone an abortion and that they are at an increased risk of developing depression. However, this claim is not supported by evidence.

One study that followed the rate of regret among about 670 women who chose to undergo an abortion, across thirty abortion clinics in the US, found that 95 percent of women did not regret their decision even three years later, despite the fact that 53 percent of the women defined the decision to abort as a difficult one.

In addition, the intensity of women’s emotions concerning the abortion subsided over time. According to the study, the stigma and the negative campaigns are driven by various anti-abortion organizations that caused stress to women who were undecided on whether or not to undergo an abortion.

However, eventually, the vast majority of women do not regret having undergone an abortion and are at peace with their decision.

In a previous study by the same research group, which included 960 women, including the aforementioned 670 women, the researchers followed women for five years following their abortion, as well as women who sought an abortion but were denied the request and were forced to carry the baby to term.

Women who were denied an abortion reported more symptoms of anxiety and lower self-esteem one week after seeking treatment at a clinic, compared to the other women.

However, over time these feelings improved and after a few years, no differences in the psychological well-being were found between the women who have given birth and those who had undergone an abortion.

In addition, no differences in the level of depression were found between the two groups and no evidence indicated that undergoing an abortion or not undergoing an abortion was mentally detrimental for the women.

In contrast, additional studies carried out by this research group found that women who were denied an abortion were at a greater risk of living in poverty, with no money for basic commodities such as food or fuel.

Their credit rating was lower and they were at a greater risk of being unemployed, bankrupt, or evicted from their home. This, despite the fact that both groups – women who terminated their pregnancies and women who were forced to carry them to term – started from a more or less similar socioeconomic situation.

In addition, the risk of childbirth is generally much greater than the risk of terminating a pregnancy. Indeed, two out of the women who participated in the study and were denied an abortion died during childbirth, while none died as a result of a legal abortion.

A similar study carried out in Finland by a different research group has reached similar conclusions. In the study, the researchers analyzed data from over one thousand women under the age of 18 who became pregnant and either had an abortion or have given birth, and found no difference in the mental health of the women in the long term.

In contrast, the study found that women who had undergone an abortion were more likely to have a higher level of education and to be better off financially by the age of 25, compared to those who have given birth. The results of this study do not necessarily indicate that an abortion improves women’s education and salary, but it is possible that the chances of these women improved due to the fact that they did not need to support a child.

An abortion is an unpleasant experience and usually not an easy decision to undertake, but women who choose to terminate their pregnancies are not at an increased risk of suffering from grief, regret or mental problems. Campaigns and claims by anti-abortion proponents make the decision to abort even more difficult and stressful than it already is in the first place.

The argument that a fetus already has a heart by week six of pregnancy is more or less true, and by week nine it is correct, but this is not related to the ability of the fetus to exist independently, which is determined by the age of fetal viability.

In addition, according to the scientific evidence, a fetus is unable to sense pain before the 24th week of pregnancy, while all abortions are in fact carried out long before this, with the exception of pregnancy terminations that are carried out for medical reasons - due to life-threatening conditions for the mother or medical problems in the fetus.

* The words ‘woman’ or ‘women’ also refer to any person who may become pregnant.

This article is based on a publication that first appeared in the blog “Noam’s Ark – Biological Thoughts”. The publication is courtesy of Noam Levitan and all rights are reserved to him.

Countries must face the International Court of Justice over Yazidi genocide


Dr Leyla Ferman and Aarif Abraham

The images of the Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar in Aug 2014, surrounded by fighters of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), facing death by thirst in the searing desert heat or through capture, remains indelibly imprinted in all our minds.

So do the harrowing accounts of Yazidi women being subject to repeated sexual violence, girls as young as eight being forced into sexual servitude and sold as chattels, and young Yazidi boys captured and indoctrinated to kill their kith and kin.

The Yazidis are one of humanities’ oldest communities and their religion is the oldest surviving monotheistic tradition. As these horrific events unfolded, in lands remote and distant from Britain, many of us took it for granted that, firstly, such a community – a pre-cursor to Judaism, Christianity and Islam – could still exist. Secondly, that this apparent “genocide” had a long and slow genesis rooted in state failures from the corridors of power in Westminster to the deserts of Iraq.

And those were the allegations from which the Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC), an ad hoc group of five leading human rights NGOs, began their investigations two years ago into 13 states allegedly responsible for what happened to the Yazidis at the hands of ISIS. What did they find and why ought the British government be concerned

A precedent must be set to signal the real-world consequences of committing genocide

The YJC found that genocide is exactly what happened to the Yazidis: killings, serious bodily mental harm, conditions of life calculated destroy, measures intended to restrict births, and transfer of children from the Yazidi group to ISIS. All with the intent by the ISIS perpetrators to destroy the Yazidis. They confirmed not only that genocide occurred, as contemporaneously assessed by the United Nations from 2014 onwards, but that it remains ongoing today with continuing inaction from Iraq or Syria to protect the fraction of those who returned to their homeland (50-100k out of 600k in Iraq and less than a 1000 out of 20,000 approximately in Syria) and repeated attacks on Yazidis by Turkish armed forces or affiliated militia.

As critical is the YJC’s findings that Iraq, Syria and Turkey failed to prevent the genocide, failed to prosecute individual perpetrators of genocide (not a single prosecution for genocide has been brought) and failed to give proper effect in their domestic law to the provisions of the Genocide Convention. In respect of one state, Turkey – a Nato member – they found that state officials were complicit with ISIS perpetrators through, inter alia; allowing the free flow of fighters across the border, weapons transfers, training support, trade in Yazidi women and girls and materiel support to ISIS.

States are required, under the Genocide Convention, to deploy “all means reasonably available” to prevent genocide the instant they know of the “serious risk” of genocide. The YJC Yazidis were at serious risk from at least April 2013 – more than a year before the harrowing events on Sinjar Mountain. Yet these states did precisely nothing.

The consequence of a failure to honour duties to protect, prevent and punish, means that a third state, such as Britain or another ratifying State to the Convention, could bring failing states before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and hold them accountable.

The UK government has long held, erroneously, that it cannot make a determination of genocide until a competent international court has ruled on the matter. For this reason, it has never recognised the Yazidi genocide. It is now open to the UK government, with others, to seize the initiative and take one or more of these states before the ICJ. There are, of course, realpolitik considerations of taking Turkey (a not so reliable NATO ally) or Iraq (an avowed partner) to the ICJ – but Syria, where the genesis of ISIS began and a State which helped create the conditions for the ongoing Yazidi genocide (with cover from Russia from 2015), is an obvious starting point for action.

The UK has a historical connection to this region and a real interest in the international rules-based order in world where might is increasingly solely right. An ICJ case would finally recognise genocide of the Yazidis recognised and hold responsible states accountable – only a single successful prosecution for genocide of a low-level individual has occurred in Germany Frankfurt last year. Thousands of ISIS fighters languish in prisons in Iraq, Syria and Turkey. An ICJ case would also, critically, assist survivors of the genocide by requiring a state to ensure remedial actions, reparations, commitments for non-repetition, prosecution of alleged perpetrators, actions for damages, and provisional measures asking for cessation of all continuing harm. A future precedent can and must be set to signal the real-world consequences of committing genocide.

Governments around the world should not only call what is happening to the Yazidis by its proper name: genocide. That is long overdue. But governments also ought to start to meaningfully engage and give effect to their international legal obligations - using all international diplomatic, economic, and political means and all international fora to consider state responsibility seriously - for that is possibly the sole and certainly the most salient route to ending the scourge of genocide. For the Yazidis it would mean the world and for the world it is a litmus test of our humanity.

Dr Leyla Ferman is the Director of Women for Justice and co-founder of Yazidi Justice Committee. Aarif Abraham is a barrister specialising in public international law and international criminal law.

NOTE THE VARIETY OF SPELLINGS

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YAZIDI 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YEZIDI 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YEZEDI