Russian propaganda is making inroads

with right-wing Canadians

IT ALREADY HAS WITH THE STALINIST LEFT

Anatoliy Gruzd, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Privacy Preserving Digital Technologies, Toronto Metropolitan University, 

Philip Mai, Co-director and Senior Researcher, Ryerson Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University, 

Felipe Bonow Soares, Postdoctoral Fellow, Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University, 

and Alyssa N. Saiphoo, Postdoctoral research fellow, Social Media Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University

THE CONVERSATION

Sun, July 17, 2022

While attending the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced sanctions against Russia (Stefani Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)

On July 8, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced new sanctions against Russia as a counter to the Kremlin’s disinformation activities aimed at Canada.

Ukraine and the West have long been a target of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaigns. Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has used a variety of information warfare tactics to destabilize the Ukrainian government and undermine the legitimacy of democratic governments around the world.

In recent years, as part of its bid to shape public perception of their action on the world’s stage, Russia has deployed an army of bots, trolls, hackers and other proxies across social media and the internet. These tactics are being used as a part of a concerted effort to curate a more favourable information environment for their agenda in Ukraine and other areas of geopolitical interest.

In the lead up to the 2016 U.S. federal election, the Kremlin used the now infamous “Internet Research Agency” to sow discord online and off-line.

Online warfare tactics

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the Social Media Lab’s Conflict Misinformation Dashboard has tracked over 1,000 false, misleading and unproven claims. Some of these false and misleading claims were spread by Russian government officials and their proxies. For example, in the early months of the war, the Kremlin was actively spreading the unsubstantiated claim that chemical and biological weapons are being covertly developed in Ukraine.

And Canada’s Communications Security Establishment has raised concerns about Russian online state-sponsored disinformation campaigns aimed at distorting Canada’s effort to help Ukraine defend itself.

Read more: Conspiracy theorists are falsely claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is an elaborate hoax

As part of our ongoing research into how misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories spread online, we conducted a survey in May 2022 to examine the extent to which Canadians are exposed to, and might be influenced by, pro-Kremlin propaganda on social media. Among other questions, we asked participants about their social media use, news consumption about the war in Ukraine, political leanings as well as their exposure to and belief in common pro-Kremlin narratives.

The data we collected shows that Canadians are being exposed to pro-Kremlin propaganda. Slightly over half of Canadians (51 per cent) reported encountering at least one persistent, false claim about the Russia-Ukraine war on social media pushed by the Kremlin and pro-Kremlin accounts.

The most prevalent claim, encountered by 35 per cent of Canadians, was “Ukrainian nationalism is a neo-Nazi movement,” a false narrative that has long been debunked by numerous fact-checkers.

However, it is the claim about NATO expansion that gained the most traction with the Canadian public. Specifically, nearly half of Canadians (49 per cent) believed at least to some extent that “since the end of the Cold War, NATO has surrounded Russia with military bases and broken their promise to not offer NATO membership to former U.S.S.R. republics, like Ukraine.”

Pro-Kremlin propaganda

Next, we looked for a connection between political ideology and people’s propensity to believe in pro-Kremlin propaganda. We used the Ideological Consistency Scale developed by the Pew Research Center. The scale is designed to determine one’s political ideology on a scale between -10 (mostly liberal) to +10 (mostly conservative). It is based on 10 questions about social issues, military and homosexuality, which correlate with a traditional left/right political affinity.

Our analysis shows that left-leaning Canadians are consistently less likely to believe in pro-Kremlin propaganda overall, as compared to Canadians who hold mixed or right-leaning views. Conversely, those who hold right-leaning ideologies are more likely to believe in pro-Kremlin propaganda overall, as compared to Canadians who hold mixed or left-leaning views.

Reliance on social media

Another important factor that we found to be associated with belief in pro-Kremlin disinformation was a preferred source for getting news about the Russia-Ukraine war. Particularly concerning is the fact that those who believe in one or more of the pro-Kremlin claims are more likely to rely on social media for news about the war than those who do not believe in any.

For instance, 57 per cent of Canadians who believe the claim that “Ukrainian nationalism is a neo-Nazi movement” reported preferring social media as a source of news about the Russia-Ukraine war. In contrast, only 23 per cent of those who do not believe in this claim favour social media when accessing news on this topic.

This stark difference in social media consumption between those who believe versus those who don’t believe in this and other persistent claims stresses the importance of doubling down on efforts to combat misinformation in online spaces, especially misinformation seeded by foreign adversaries.

The perils of pro-Kremlin propaganda are real, and we should not underestimate its potential to shape public perception in Canada. The aim of an information operation is not necessarily to make everyone believe. It is often sufficient to sow doubt and confusion, as well as to delay or derail consensus amongst one’s adversaries, their allies and bystanders.

Our research provides evidence that the Kremlin’s disinformation is reaching more Canadians than one would expect. Left unchallenged, state-sponsored information operations can stoke tensions and undermine democracy.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Philip Mai, Toronto Metropolitan University; Alyssa N. Saiphoo, Toronto Metropolitan University; Anatoliy Gruzd, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Felipe Bonow Soares, Toronto Metropolitan University.

Read more:

• Putin’s control over Ukraine war news is not total - it’s challenged by online news and risk-taking journalists

• From ‘Vladdy daddy’ to fake TikToks: how to guide your child through Ukraine news online

Anatoliy Gruzd's research is supported in part by funding from the Canada Research Chairs program and the Tri-Council funding agencies.

Alyssa N. Saiphoo, Felipe Bonow Soares, and Philip Mai do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

POOR LYTTON -WILDFIRE REDUX

Firefighters make headway tackling wildfire near Lytton, B.C.

Sun, July 17, 2022

Smoke from the Nohomin Creek wildfire northwest of Lytton, B.C., is shown on Friday. Firefighters said Sunday that cooler conditions overnight helped them tackle the blaze. (CBC - image credit)

Conditions were favourable for firefighters overnight as they continue to tackle a large fire northwest of Lytton, B.C., according to authorities.

The Nohomin Creek fire, which started Thursday, has resulted in multiple evacuation orders and burned at least 10 structures, according to the Lytton First Nation.

It continues to burn over 15 square kilometres of hilly land, 1.7 kilometres from the centre of Lytton, the village that was all but destroyed last year in a wildfire. Ninety-five people were receiving evacuation supports as of Saturday.

Firefighters said Sunday that cooler conditions helped them overnight. Dozens of firefighters, including some from the Lytton First Nation, are fighting the blaze with the aid of helicopters and air crews.

"The lower temperatures [and] more moisture in the air really helped to, sort of, dampen fire activity," said Nicole Bonnett, a fire information officer. "We've got the ability to bring in additional resources as we need them. And so we'll be able to ... respond accordingly."

The fire remains "out of control" at this time, a designation that means the fire could continue to grow. It is currently burning an area four times the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park.

Bonnett said crews are attacking the blaze on the north flank, and also trying to stop the spread of the fire to the south, near the Stein Valley.

B.C. Wildfire Service/Twitter

She said B.C. Parks will likely close the Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park for safety reasons on Sunday, and said park users should check the parks website for more information.

While the short-term forecast for the Nohomin Creek fire is encouraging, Bonnett warned that firefighters and residents are not yet out of the woods, with drier weather in the forecast next week.

"The weekend has definitely been pretty stable for us. I think [Monday] it sounds like it should be the same," she said. "Tuesday is when we're expecting to move back into the 30s for temperatures."

Evacuation orders remain in place for portions of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and multiple Lytton First Nation reserves.

Some residents temporarily return

The acting chief of the Lytton First Nation, John Haugen, said about 30 evacuees briefly returned home to salvage food they left behind in freezers when the fire broke out.

Haugen said 97 people from his community and about 40 people from neighbouring areas were forced out of their homes due to the fire.

He said power in the region isn't expected to be restored for at least 10 days. Because a timeline for when people may officially return to their properties has yet to be determined, he said rotting food would create another issue for residents.

Though Haugen said Sunday some of the smoke has diminished, Environment Canada has maintained a special air quality advisory issued for the Fraser Canyon due to the fire

Wildfire near Lytton, B.C., grows to 1,706 hectares, remains "out of control"

Sun, July 17, 2022 

LYTTON, B.C. — A wildfire nearly two kilometres northwest of Lytton, B.C., has grown to 1,706 hectares, British Columbia's Wildfire Service said Sunday.

It said four unit crews, five initial attack crews, 19 Lytton First Nation firefighters, an incident management team and structure protection personnel are actively working to contain the fire that remains classified as "out of control."

The acting chief of the Lytton First Nation said 30 evacuees were able to briefly return home to salvage food they left behind when the wildfire broke out Thursday.

John Haugen said the fire destroyed six residences and triggered evacuation orders that forced a total of 97 people from his community and about 40 people from neighbouring areas out of their homes.

Haugen said electricity in the region isn't expected to be restored for at least 10 days, and because a timeline for when people may officially return to their properties has yet to be determined, rotting food would create another issue for residents.

"The fire has gone by in some areas so they did have brief access. There is no hydro and if they leave items in freezers the potential is to have rotting meat smells permeate their homes," he said Sunday.

Haugen said one house was saved and firefighters have been doing a "good job."

"There's the potential for a thunderstorm today, and that could help or it could push things in a different direction, so people have to be on guard," he said.

Though he says some of the smoke has diminished, Environment Canada has maintained a special air quality advisory it issued Saturday for the Fraser Canyon due to the fire. It said conditions are expected to last 24 to 48 hours, but the bulletin will be updated again Monday.

This comes just over a year after another wildfire burned down most of Lytton and displaced many residents who have yet to return home.

Provincial Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Friday that neither the village of Lytton nor any other communities are in the fire's path.

Officials say the cause of the blaze is unknown but is being investigated.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2022.

— By Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver.

The Canadian Press

A Wildfire In BC Is Officially 'Out Of Control' & People Are Evacuating (PHOTOS)

Morgan Leet - NARCITY- Friday, July 15, 2022

There is an active wildfire near Lytton, B.C. that broke out on July 14 and has now led to multiple evacuation orders being issued. BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) has classified the incident as "Out of Control," and said there is "heavy smoke."


© Provided by Narcity

The BCWS website said this classification means that a wildfire "is continuing to spread and is not responding to suppression efforts."

The Nohomin Creek wildfire is less than two kilometres from the community of Lytton, a village that was devastated by wildfires last year.

On Thursday, Lytton First Nation issued evacuation orders for Nohomeen IR 23, Papyum IRs 27, 27A, Lytton IR 27B, Papyum Graveyard 27C, and Stryen IR 9 (West of Stein River). Anyone in the evacuation areas was told to leave immediately.

They also issued evacuation alerts for Stryen IR 9 and Lytton IR 9A.

Thompson Nicola Regional District has also issued an evacuation order and alert for addresses in the Electoral Area "I" (Blue Sky Country).

BC Wildfire Service updated its website on Friday morning, and said attack crews stayed on site overnight and the "fire size has been updated to 800 hectares."

They added that three unit crews of 20 people have been on site since Friday morning, and helicopters will be used to help during the day.

The cause of the wildfire is currently unknown and is under investigation. BCWS said, "Fire Origin and Cause Specialists have been deployed."

In an update on Thursday, the Director of Fire Centre Operations, Rob Schweitzer said "the events of 2021 and the impacts to the village of Lytton and the Lytton First Nation are forefront" of their minds.

The Lytton Creek wildfire was one of the raging wildfires in the province in 2021.

Nova Scotia proclaims Mi’kmaq as the province’s first language

Sun, July 17, 2022


Legislation to recognize Mi'kmaq as Nova Scotia's first language has been proclaimed by the province and affirmed by Mi'kmaw chiefs.

Mi'kmaq was officially enshrined as the first language during a ceremony in Potlotek First Nation on Sunday.

Grand Chief of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council Norman Sylliboy has said in a statement he's pleased the government is working to ensure the Mi'kmaq language thrives for future generations.

Sylliboy says preserving the language is very important as it holds the history, teachings and cultural identity of Mi'kmaw people.

The province say the first language act is aimed at ensuring meaningful access to Indigenous language and culture.

The act will take effect on Oct. 1, which is Treaty Day.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2022.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

WOLVES ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
Quebec plan to help caribou won't save the species, biologists and experts warn


Sun, July 17, 2022 

There are currently only 5,252 woodland or mountain caribou left in Quebec, with many herds on the verge of extinction. (Katrina Noel/Radio-Canada - image credit)

Measures proposed by Quebec's government to help protect its dwindling caribou herds won't make a difference in the short term, say biologists, who cite a lack of willpower to create protected areas for the species.

There are currently only 5,252 woodland or mountain caribou left in Quebec. Only seven remain in Val-d'Or. Herds in Charlevoix and the Gaspé — with 16 and 35 caribou, respectively — are also on the verge of extinction.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault had previously sent an ultimatum to the Legault government, requesting all information concerning measures to protect Quebec's caribou and their habitat by April 20.

However, Radio-Canada has learned that the Quebec plan wasn't sent until mid-June and was found lacking by the federal government.

Without a sufficient plan, Guilbeault had threatened to use a decree to impose measures under the Species at Risk Act. The provision has never been used in Canada, and once in effect, can remain in effect for five years.

The federal government would theoretically take over about 35,000 square kilometres, or 2.3 per cent of Quebec's entire territory, to protect the species.

Biologists who have seen Quebec's proposed plan say that move by Ottawa may be necessary, due to an unwillingness to act on the part of the provincial government.

Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks

Plan won't ensure survival: expert

Radio-Canada obtained a copy of the measures proposed by the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) as part of its discussions with Environment Canada.

The nine-page document proposes several measures, including dismantling certain forest roads, developing and maintaining caribou enclosures, controlling predators and monitoring the herds remotely from a distance.

Biology experts who specialize in the caribou told Radio-Canada the lack of new protected areas, which would allow the government to protect the mature forests the caribou call home, was concerning.

"It does not show clearly that we are going to protect so many square metres of woodland, so many square kilometres of forest," said Martin-Hugues St-Laurent, a professor of animal ecology at the Université du Québec à Rimouski.

St-Laurent said protecting forests is "the elephant in the room" and that until there's a real strategy for that, Quebec "isn't tackling the problem head on."

Courtesy of Jean-Simon Bégin

Earlier this year, the Quebec government mandated an independent commission of experts to launch a series of regional public hearings, aiming to form recommendations to "protect caribou habitats and limit the socio-economic impacts of this protection," such as the forestry industry. It is due to give its findings to the government sometime this summer.

Some caribou habitats have been severely damaged by human disturbance, notably by the presence of logging roads and logging operations.

But Quebec's plan is effectively "the status quo, carried out with very little ambition to ensure the survival and recovery of the species," St-Laurent concluded.

Quebec wants to keep jurisdiction

Quebec Premier François Legault has said that Quebec should keep its exclusive provincial jurisdiction over the management of woodland caribou.

But Alain Branchaud, general manager of the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP Quebec), said the provincial government needs to do more to keep the feds from stepping in.

"If the government of Quebec wants to maintain its leadership in caribou protection, it must move forward with the protection of the territory and provide the necessary resources," he said.

When reached by Radio-Canada, the MFFP defended the plan, saying that each point is listed as a short-term solution, while a series of other medium- and long-term measures will be incorporated into the future habitat protection strategy.

The ministry did not comment on why there were no protected areas proposed in the document.

Ontario seeks new electricity generation as demand rises, nuclear plant to be retired


Sun, July 17, 2022 



TORONTO — Ontario's electricity system is searching for more power producers as demand rises and a major nuclear plant nears retirement, a process likely to secure more natural gas generation while the government seeks to end reliance on it.

It means that for at least the next two decades, greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector are set to increase.

But the electricity system operator says Ontario is already using hydro to its max, while solar and wind power rely on the weather, and natural gas generation can provide the reliability and flexibility needed to support green initiatives and an ensuing increase in electricity demand, such as from electric vehicles and electric arc furnaces in steelmaking.

By about 2038, the Independent Electricity System Operator projects the net greenhouse gas emission reductions from electric vehicles will offset electricity sector emissions.

While the IESO has acknowledged that more gas generation will be needed in the near term, Energy Minister Todd Smith has asked itto explore a moratorium on new gas plants.

"We want to get to net zero in the electricity grid," Smith said in an interview.

But he noted that an IESO report last year examining whether natural gas generation could be phased out by 2030 found that it would lead to rotating blackouts and higher electricity bills.

"We have to ensure that we have a reliable system and one that's affordable, and if we have an affordable electricity system, then we're going to see electrification happen in other areas to reduce emissions," he said.

Interim NDP leader Peter Tabuns, also the party's energy critic, said it's hard to reconcile the pursuit of more gas generation at the same time as exploring a moratorium.

"They're stepping on the gas and hitting the brake at the same time," he said.

"I would say that their interest in getting more proposals for gas plants is probably far more an indicator of where they're going than any words about 'Tell us what we can do about reducing gas burning in the future.'"

Rupp Carriveau, director of the Environmental Energy Institute at the University of Windsor, said Ontario should wean itself off natural gas generation, but it's very difficult to do.

"It's incredibly reliable, it's quite efficient, and it until recently had been quite cost-effective," he said.

"But to me it's a little bit disappointing that there isn't more of a focus on pushing more renewables even though they are apples and oranges, for sure."

Renewable energy in Ontario comes with a fair amount of political baggage. Electricity prices became a major source of anger ahead of the 2018 election that saw the Liberals reduced from a majority government to losing official party status.

Bills had roughly doubled over the course of a decade due in part to the Liberals' green energy initiatives, which saw consumers pay above-market rates to power producers who had long-term contracts.

The Progressive Conservatives cancelled 750 of those contracts during their first term, saying the province didn't need the power and the contracts were driving up costs for ratepayers.

Tabuns said those cancellations have made the supply situation worse.

"There's just no two ways about it," he said.

The energy minister said while Ontario is looking at a supply gap "for a short period of time until we get those nuclear reactors back on the grid," cancelling the green energy contracts was the right thing to do

"Those projects were going to continue to make the system unreliable and expensive," Smith said.

"They weren't going to fill the reliable affordable electricity gap that we're experiencing. We've seen that unfortunately, with renewables, they're not able to fill the gap on a reliable basis. So we would continue to have to back up with other forms of generation to balance the need."

The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station – which accounted for 14 per cent of electricity generation last year – is set to start a phased shutdown in 2024.

Other nuclear units are undergoing refurbishment this decade, with several out of service at a time in overlapping schedules. The IESO says it's confident it can fill the nuclear gap with the procurement it's undertaking.

But even as those units come back online, the IESO projects a growing supply gap of electricity, as broader electrification takes off, particularly in the transportation sector.

Demand from growth in electric vehicles and electrifying public transportation is expected to rise much more quickly starting in about 2035. Around then, the projected gap between needed and available electricity is expected to hit 5,000 megawatts – enough to power five million homes – during the summer, even if all current power producers renew their contracts.

A spokesperson for the IESO said the current procurement process will address Ontario's resource needs into the next decade, and the operator is looking at adding more in order to keep the grid reliable over the long term.

It is looking to include more non-emitting resources to the generation portfolio, including small modular nuclear reactors and storage capacity, as well as new energy efficiency programs.

Smith asked the IESO to provide recommendations this month on new conservation initiatives. It is also set to report back to him in November on the potential gas moratorium as well as a plan to get to zero emissions in the electricity sector.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2022.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press

'Climate change affects everyone': Europe battles wildfires in intense heat


Wildfire rages as Spain experiences its second heatwave of the year

Wildfires in southwestern France

Low tide on river Thames in London

Sun, July 17, 2022
By Guillermo Martinez

JERTE, Spain (Reuters) -Authorities across southern Europe battled on Sunday to control huge wildfires in countries including Spain, Greece and France, with hundreds of deaths blamed on soaring temperatures that scientists say are consistent with climate change.

In Spain, helicopters dropped water on the flames as heat above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and often mountainous terrain made the job harder for firefighters.

Shocked residents watching thick plumes of smoke rising above the central western Jerte valley said the heat was making their previously green and cool home more like Spain's semi-arid south.

"Climate change affects everyone," said resident Miguel Angel Tamayo.

A study published in June in the journal 'Environmental Research: Climate' concluded it was highly probable that climate change was making heatwaves worse.

More than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to the nearly week-long heatwave in Portugal and Spain so far. Temperatures in Spain have reached as high as 45.7C (114F).

Spain's weather agency issued temperature warnings for Sunday, with highs of 42 Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) forecast in Aragon, Navarra and La Rioja, in the north. It said the heatwave would end on Monday, but warned temperatures would remain "abnormally high".

Fires were raging in several other regions including Castille and Leon in central Spain and Galicia in the north on Sunday afternoon. Firefighters stabilised a blaze in Mijas, in Malaga province, and said evacuated people could return home.

British pensioners William and Ellen McCurdy had fled for safety with other evacuees in a local sport centre from their home on Saturday as the fire approached.

"It was very fast .... I didn’t take it too seriously. I thought they had it under control and I was quite surprised when it seemed to be moving in our direction," William, 68, told Reuters.

In France, wildfires have now spread over 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) in the southwestern region of Gironde, and more than 14,000 people have been evacuated, regional authorities said on Sunday afternoon.

More than 1,200 firefighters were trying to control the blazes, the authorities said in a statement.

France issued red alerts, the highest possible, for several regions, with residents urged "to be extremely vigilant".

In Italy, where smaller fires have blazed in recent days, forecasters expect temperatures above 40C in several regions in coming days.

Similar temperatures were recorded in Portugal on Sunday and are forecast in Britain on Monday and Tuesday, in what would top its previous official record of 38.7C (102F) set in Cambridge in 2019.

Britain's national weather forecaster issued its first red "extreme heat" warning for parts of England. Rail passengers were advised to only travel if absolutely necessary and to expect widespread delays and cancellations.

DROUGHT IN PORTUGAL

Around 1,000 firefighters tried to control 13 forest and rural fires in the centre and north of Portugal, the largest being near the northern city of Chaves.

Portugal's Health Ministry said late on Saturday that in the last seven days 659 people died due to the heatwave, most of them elderly. It said the weekly peak of 440 deaths was on Thursday, when temperatures exceeded 40C (104F) in several regions and 47C (117F) at a meteorological station in the district of Vizeu in the centre of the country.

By Saturday, there were 360 heat-related deaths in Spain, according to figures from the Carlos III Health Institute.

Portugal was grappling with extreme drought even before the recent heatwave, according to data from the national meteorological institute. Some 96% of the mainland was already suffering severe or extreme drought at the end of June.

Emergency and Civil Protection Authority Commander Andre Fernandes urged people to take care not to ignite new fires in such bone-dry conditions.

In Greece the fire brigade said on Saturday 71 blazes had broken out within a 24-hour period.

Wildfires in southwestern France



A wildfire continues in Alhaurin de la Torre


A view of trees burning amid a wildfire near Landiras




Wildfires continue in Alhaurin el Grande

(Reporting by Guillermo Martinez, Layli Foroudi, Sergio Goncalves, Jessica Jones, Renee Maltezou, Jon Nazca and Mariano ValladolidWriting by Raissa Kasolowsky, Frances Kerry and Frank Jack DanielEditing by Mark Potter, Philippa Fletcher and Gareth Jones)

Extreme heat wave: Wildfire flames reach the beach in Spain and France
17 Jul, 2022 


This photo provided by the fire brigade of the Gironde region (SDIS 33) shows a wildfire near Landiras, southwestern France. Photo / AP
AP

Firefighters battled wildfires raging out of control in Spain and France, including one whose flames reached two popular Atlantic beaches on Sunday, as Europe wilted under an unusually extreme heat wave.

So far, there have been no fire-related deaths in France or Spain, but authorities in Madrid have blamed soaring temperatures for hundreds of deaths. And two huge blazes, which have consumed pine forests for six days in southwestern France, have forced the evacuation of some 16,200 people.
The Met office has issued its first-ever "red warning" of extreme heat for Monday and Tuesday, when temperatures in southern England may reach 40 C (104 F) for the first time. Photo / AP

In dramatic images posted online, a wall of black smoke could be seen rolling toward the Atlantic on a stretch of Bordeaux's coast that is prized by surfers from around the world. Flames raced across trees abutting a broad sandy beach, as planes flew low to suck up water from the ocean. Elsewhere, smoke blanketed the skyline above a mass of singed trees in images shared by French firefighters.

Read 

MoreWildfires scorch parts of Portugal, Spain and France ...
Fireplane pilot dies in Portugal, wildfires rage in ...
Spain, Germany battle wildfires amid unusual heat wave ...
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In Spain, firefighters supported by military brigades tried to stamp out over 30 fires consuming forests spread across the country. Spain's National Defense Department said that "the majority" of its fire-fighting aircraft have been deployed to reach the blazes, many of which are in rugged, hilly terrain that is difficult for ground crews to access.

Fire season has hit parts of Europe earlier than usual this year after a dry, hot spring that the European Union has attributed to climate change. Some countries are also experiencing extended droughts, while many are sweltering in heat waves.

A man prepares to enter in the water during a heatwave in Anse, outside Lyon, central France. Photo / AP

In Spain's second heat wave of the summer, many areas have repeatedly seen peaks of 43C. According to Spain's Carlos III Institute, which records temperature-related fatalities daily, 360 deaths were attributed to high temperatures from July 10 to 15. That was compared with 27 temperature-related deaths the previous six days.

Almost all of Spain was under alert for high temperatures for another day Sunday, while there were heat wave warnings for about half of France, where scorching temperatures were expected to climb higher on Monday. The French government has stepped up efforts to protect people in nursing homes, the homeless and other vulnerable populations after a vicious heat wave and poor planning led to nearly 15,000 deaths in 2003, especially among the elderly.

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Firefighters are struggling to contain wildfires in France and Spain as Europe wilts under an unusually extreme heat wave that authorities link to a rise in excess mortality. Photo / AP

The fire in La Teste-de-Buch has forced more than 10,000 people to flee at a time when many typically flock to the nearby Atlantic coast area for vacation. French authorities have closed several spots to the public along that coast because of the fire, including La Lagune and Petit Nice beaches that the fire reached on Sunday, and Europe's tallest sand dune, the Dune du Pilat.

The Gironde regional government said Sunday afternoon that "the situation remains very unfavourable" due to gusting winds that helped fan more flare-ups overnight.

People relax on a pleasure boat on the lake in the Retiro park in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, July 16, 2022. Photo / AP

A second fire near the town of Landiras has forced authorities to evacuate 4100 people this week. Authorities said that one flank has been brought under control by the dumping of white sand along a 2km stretch. Another flank, however, remains unchecked.

People who were forced to flee shared worries about their abandoned homes with local media, and local officials organised special trips for some to fetch pets they had left behind in the rush to get to safety.

Overall, more than 100sq km have burned in the two fires.

Emergency officials warned that high temperatures and winds Sunday and Monday would complicate efforts to stop the fires from spreading further.

"We have to stay very prudent and very humble, because the day will be very hot. We have no favourable weather window," regional fire official Eric Florensan said Sunday on radio France-Bleu.

Some of the most worrisome blazes in Spain are concentrated in the western regions of Extremadura and Castilla y León. Images of plumes of dark smoke rising above wooded hills that have been baked under the sun have become common in several scarcely populated rural areas.

Drought conditions in the Iberian Peninsula have made it particularly susceptible to wildfires. Since last October, Spain has accumulated 25 per cent less rainfall than is considered normal — and some areas have received as much as 75 per cent less than normal, the National Security Department said.

A woman enjoys the water with her son during a heatwave in Anse, outside Lyon, central France. Photo / AP

While some fires have been caused by lightning strikes and others the result of human negligence, a blaze that broke out in a nature reserve in Extremadura called La Garganta de los Infiernos, or "The Throat of Hell", was suspected to be the result of arson, regional authorities said.

Firefighters have been unable to stop the advance of a fire that broke out near the city of Cáceres that is threatening the Monfragüe National Park and has kept 200 people from returning to their homes. Another fire in southern Spain near the city of Malaga has forced the evacuation of a further 2500 people.


The office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that he will travel to Extremadura to visit some of the hardest-hit areas on Monday.

Hungary, Croatia and the Greek island of Crete have also fought wildfires this week, as have Morocco and California. Italy is in the midst of an early summer heat wave, coupled with the worst drought in its north in 70 years — conditions linked to a recent disaster, when a huge chunk of the Marmolada glacier broke loose, killing several hikers.

Scorching temperatures have even reached northern Europe. An annual four-day walking event in the Dutch city of Nijmegen announced Sunday that it would cancel the first day, scheduled for Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to peak at around 39C).
This photo provided by the fire brigade of the Gironde region (SDIS 33) shows firefighters working against a wildfire near Landiras, southwestern France. Photo / AP

Britain's weather agency has issued its first-ever "red warning" of extreme heat for Monday and Tuesday, when temperatures in southern England may reach 40C for the first time.

College of Paramedics chief executive Tracy Nicholls warned Sunday that the "ferocious heat" could "ultimately, end in people's deaths".

- AP

SAS and pilots to resume negotiations on Monday after 14 days of strike -NRK


Sun, July 17, 2022 

FILE PHOTO: SAS pilots go on strike after talks break down


STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ailing Scandinavian airline SAS and striking pilot unions will resume negotiations on Monday, public broadcaster NRK said, after failing to reach new collective agreements over the weekend.

Most SAS pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway walked out on July 4 after talks over conditions related to the carrier's rescue plan collapsed. The parties returned to the negotiating table in the Swedish capital last Wednesday.

"We are now going home after 37 hours to get some sleep," Henrik Thyregod, head of the Danish pilots' union, said as he left the Stockholm venue where negotiations are held, NRK reported.

Norwegian pilot union representative Roger Klokset had said earlier on Sunday that the parties may have come closer to a deal overnight.

"Maybe. But I don't know whether there will be an agreement yet," he said.

SAS, the main owners of which are Sweden and Denmark, had been struggling to compete with low-cost competition for years before the pandemic slammed the industry. It needs to attract new investors and secure bridge financing, saying that it must first slash costs to achieve those objectives.

Pilots employed in the 75-year-old carrier's SAS Scandinavia subsidiary last week said they would agree to limited wage cuts and less favourable terms, but SAS said the concessions offered were not enough for it to carry out a rescue plan announced in February.

Unions also demand that pilots axed during the pandemic are rehired at SAS Scandinavia rather than having to compete with external applicants for jobs on less attractive terms at recently created SAS Link and Ireland-based SAS Connect.

On Saturday a mediator said the parties had made progress, but significant issues had yet to be resolved.

The airline said on Thursday that the strike had caused 2,550 flight cancellations, affecting 270,000 passengers and costing it between $94 million and $123 million. The Swedish government has said it will provide no more cash.

For Sunday, 164 SAS flights, or 62% of those scheduled, were cancelled, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware. Pilots at SAS Link and SAS Connect are not on strike.

(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm, Anna Ringstrom and Johan Ahlander,; Editing by David Goodman and Frank Jack Daniel)

Contract workers who thought they were in Canada legally ordered to leave

WHAT ABOUT THE TEMP AGENCY THAT BROUGHT THEM IN ILLEGALLY


CBC
Sat, July 16, 2022 

The Banff Springs Hotel is one of the hotels where workers were employed. 

(Dave Rae/CBC - image credit)

More than a hundred foreign workers employed through a third-party agency are out of a job and at least some of them have been ordered to leave the country after the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) found they were working in the country without the proper documentation.

CBSA officers were in Lake Louise July 12 as part of an ongoing Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Criminal Code of Canada investigation of hospitality workers in Lake Louise, Jasper and Banff, Alta.

Some of the contract employees who say they worked for a temp agency called One Team have agreed to speak. CBC News has agreed to withhold their names because of the ongoing investigation they are involved in.

One couple in their 20s, say they travelled to Toronto from Mexico at the end of May, came as tourists. Online, they found a Toronto-based Facebook group that focused on connecting Mexicans in the city.

That's where they saw the opportunity with One Team to work — and stay in Canada for the summer — on a simple social media post with a phone number.

They met another pair of freshly-recruited employees, also from Mexico, the company paid for flights to Alberta, and they arrived in Lake Louise — ultimately moving into employee housing together and working at the Lake Louise Inn.

Attempts by phone and email were made to get in touch with One Team, but no replies were received by the time of publication.

'It's a shame what's happening to them'

"One of the dishwashers came in crying, saying they were getting sent home," said Marcel Patenaude who is a cook at the Lake Louise Inn. "Like I said, super nice people, hard workers. It's a shame what's happening to them."

Patenaude said later in the day more workers came to eat, upset and taken by surprise.

Other workers had similar stories, telling CBC News they travelled to Canada as visitors and then found a work opportunity, which they saw as a way to explore the country for longer.

But on July 12, the employees were surprised when they were taken for one-on-one interviews, first with police officers who had a translator with them, and then with CBSA.

"We were so scared at that point," one of the workers said.

Through the translator, they learned that One Team was being investigated and that they did not have the proper documentation work in Canada.

"I thought that everything was legal and that I don't disrespect the laws of Canada."

The workers who spoke to CBC News guess there are at least 20 other Lake Louise Inn contract employees who have been ordered to leave the country.

Passports confiscated

They also said authorities have confiscated their passports, and IDs for the time being.

A manager at the Lake Louise Inn was reached Thursday for comment, but in an emailed statement suggested RCMP would be best suited to provide any further information.

RCMP stated the investigation is in the hands of CBSA and could not offer comment further.

Workers at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which operates the Chateau Lake Louise, Banff Springs, and Jasper Park Lodge are also being investigated and the company says it is cooperating with the investigation.

According to Anastasia Martin-Stilwell, a spokesperson with Fairmont Canada's Western Mountain Region, CBSA interviewed 32 contract employees who worked in housekeeping, stewarding, culinary, and residence divisions.

"It was determined that a total of 31 individuals unknowingly had improper employment documentation including work permits and appropriate visa," wrote Martin-Stilwell in an emailed statement. "The contract workers were employed, and paid, by a third-party staffing provider, One Team. Hotels use third-party staffing agencies to assist with challenges related to labour shortages."

Banff & Lake Louise Tourism/Paul Zizka Photography

Martin-Stilwell wrote Chateau Lake Louise did their due diligence of One Team's operations. According to the statement, the contracted company told Fairmont it would be responsible for guaranteeing all documentation that the workers were hired properly with the ability to legally work in Canada.

Across three Fairmont Chateau hotels in Alberta, Chateau Lake Louise, Banff Springs, and Jasper Park Lodge, Martin-Stillwell said they found a total of 105 One Team contract workers.

Fairmont has not clarified if all of those workers were employed without the correct documentation.

"After consultation with CBSA, the RCMP, and internal legal counsel, we no longer have contracts with One Team, resulting in the immediate end to any contracted shifts given to the workers," Martin-Stilwell said.

Finding a way home

At the Lake Louise Inn, workers are still staying in accommodations until they travel to Calgary. A number of the workers were concerned about finding the money to make the trip.

At the Fairmont, Martin-Stilwell wrote they are giving affected employees accommodations and food for 10 days, they will also offer free transportation to Calgary, or Edmonton.

"We recognize this is an incredibly challenging time for all those involved," wrote Martin-Stilwell. "We have learned that we are not legally allowed to provide financial compensation to the One Team contract workers."

The full scale of this investigation hasn't been made public by CBSA.

"As this is an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," read a statement from Rebecca Purdy, a CBSA spokesperson.

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/federal-officials-detain-dozens-of.html

Has the big business plot to overthrow the Democrats been revealed?

Thom Hartmann
July 15, 2022

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) addresses the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. (mark reinstein/Shutterstock.com)

“[T]he monopoly which our manufacturers have obtained against us … like an overgrown standing army, has become formidable to the government, and upon many occasions intimidate the legislature.”
— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

There’s lots of speculation about what may be causing today’s terrible inflation to continue to rise. Is it rebound demand from Covid? Too much “quantitative easing” stimulus from the Fed? Chinese botched-Covid supply chain issues? Saudi Arabia withholding oil from world markets? Russia’s terrorist campaign against Ukraine?

Obviously, all are contributing factors. But the price of oil is now below $95 and our economy is on the verge of recession, both major factors that should be cutting inflation. Yet inflation continues, nonetheless, to rise here in the US (9.1% this month) while, Bloomberg reported yesterday, the EU is down to 7.1% inflation and predicting 4% for next year.

How is it possible that the rest of the world is recovering from the Covid/Oil/War inflation bump, but things are getting worse here in the USA?

The one variable nobody seems to be positing — but I’m going to go there — is that it’s political, at least in part.

That is, inflation that started out as a demand/supply-chain rebound from the end of Covid is continuing to rise in America as part of an intentional effort to damage Democratic prospects in this Fall’s election and heading into 2024.

Lest you think I’ve gone totally paranoid, please read on.

Inflation always hurts the party in power. Both Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter were one-term presidents largely because of inflation, and the 20% inflation after World War II nearly got Harry Truman thrown out of the White House.

When the economy sucks, enough voters swing to “the other guy” to change the nation’s political power dynamics, pretty much regardless of who the other guy is.

As the headline in today’s New York Times reads: “Democrats Face Deepening Peril as Republicans Seize on Inflation Fears.”

Not only does every politician in America know how this political danger works, but so also does the leader of every major corporation. And there’s the rub.

So how did we get here?

Prices in America used to be regulated by something called competition.

If one company raises prices above a reasonable level, another company will offer products at a lower price and take away their customers. As long as there are multiple companies in every market sector, and new businesses can easily enter the marketplace to compete with larger companies that have gotten lazy or greedy, competition regulates prices very efficiently.

What blows this up is when companies get large enough that they can use their size and market dominance to keep competitors out of the marketplace.

John D Rockefeller, for example, used to buy up all the available railroad contracts for shipping oil to prevent smaller competitors from getting their product to market. Once they were in trouble financially, he’d give them “an offer they couldn’t refuse” and buy them out, making his large company even larger.

Andrew Carnegie did this with steel and JP Morgan did it with banking; there were trusts and monopolies in fields as disparate as manufacturing matches, refining and selling sugar, and building railroad cars.

By the late 19th century the situation had become so intolerable that Congress put into place the first anti-trust laws.

Before the Reagan Revolution, those anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws — dating all the way back to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 — were largely enforced and kept big corporations in check.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was created in 1915 by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, specifically to break up concentrated business trusts and monopolies, using the Justice Department as its prosecutorial arm. It came into being against a backdrop of public outrage over giant corporations screwing consumers and owning captive politicians.

As President Teddy Roosevelt, the great trust buster, said a decade earlier, “There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains.” Indeed, it took a decade to create the agency that Roosevelt had proposed, as I detail in The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream.

Probably the FTC’s most well-known effort was breaking up the telephone behemoth AT&T, an action started during the Nixon administration that, when completed in 1982, produced an explosion of competitive activity that dropped phone call costs, increased availability, and spurred the creation of hundreds of new companies in the telecom arena.

Even the Supreme Court, back in the day, agreed that giant corporations dominating markets was bad for the economy and our political system.

In the 1962 antitrust case of Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, for example, the Supreme Court agreed with the FTC and blocked the merger of Brown and G. R. Kinney, two shoe manufacturers, because the combination of the two would have captured about 5% of the US shoe market. For comparison, Nike today has 19% of the US shoe market.

All of that anti-trust activity came to an end in 1982 when President Reagan appointed William C. Miller III, his former executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief, to take over the FTC. Miller was the first pro-corporate leader in the nation’s history to corrupt the agency that was supposed to regulate corporate misbehavior.

That year (as it had been since the 1930s) most of this nation’s business activity was centered in the cash registers of our small- and medium-sized companies. The total value of America’s largest corporations — those listed on stock exchanges — was equal to just 39.4% of the entire nation’s economic activity or GDP in 1981.

Miller, however, declined to continue enforcing our anti-trust laws and in 1983 Reagan instructed the DOJ to, essentially, stop prosecuting companies that were violating those laws through mergers and acquisitions, and to only go after the most egregious and flagrant acts of corporate collusion and price-fixing.

As a result, large companies became behemoths, and pretty much every industry in America is today dominated by a small handful of companies that carefully monitor each other to function, essentially, as cartels. When United raises ticket prices by $50, for example, American does the same three hours later.

Which is why today the total value of America’s exchange-listed corporations is 194.9% of GDP, elbowing out most small- and medium-sized companies.

As Jonathan Tepper pointed out in The Myth of Capitalism, fully 90% of the beer that Americans drink is controlled by two companies. Air travel is mostly controlled by four companies, and over half of the nation’s banking is done by five banks.

In multiple states there are only one or two health insurance companies, high-speed internet is in a near-monopoly state virtually everywhere in America (75% of us can “choose” only one company), and three companies control around three-quarters of the entire pesticide and seed markets.

The vast majority of radio and TV stations in the country are owned by a small handful of companies, and the internet is dominated by Google and Facebook.

This has handed enormous power to the CEOs and senior managers of America’s largest companies, all of them multi-multi-millionaires and many billionaires.

These are not people who want to pay more in taxes. Nor do they want unions or to have their industries regulated in any meaningful way; they’d like things to stay the way they’ve been since the Reagan Revolution.

But President Joe Biden has been working with Senator Bernie Sanders (Chair of the powerful Budget Committee) to create a whole plethora of progressive legislation that would raise corporate and billionaire taxes and increase corporate regulation. Not to mention Democrats’ advocacy of those hated unions.

And this fall, if all goes well, Democrats might even expand their control of the House and Senate in the wake of mass shootings and the Supreme Court’s Dobbs abortion ruling, meaning even more aggressive promotion of unions, regulation, and tax increases could be on the horizon.

Compounding corporate fury, this morning Reuters carried this headline: “DoJ expected to file antitrust lawsuit against Google in weeks.”

Is there any doubt in your mind that most of these titans of industry don’t want monopoly breakups, unions, regulation, and higher taxes? Every president since Reagan, Democratic and Republican, has gone along with this neoliberal deregulation, anti-union, and low-tax scheme.

Big business doesn’t want the Reaganomics gravy train to stop and, so far, they’ve been able to buy enough politicians to keep it that way. Until this unholy alliance of Biden and Sanders.

So, is it really possible that our largest corporations and their leaders are ripping us all off and jacking up inflation on an ongoing basis just to stick it to the Democrats and hand the GOP the reins of power in 2022 and 2024?

If political power was the only thing they got out of it, the answer is “possibly.”

But when you realize that they also get massively larger profits at the same time, and billions of that will flow down to CEO compensation, that twofer raises it to “probably.”

Big business trying to overthrow progressive Democratic leadership of this country is not a new thing.

In the summer of 1933, a group of America’s most powerful industrialists pulled together $300 million ($6.8 billion in today’s dollars) to hire retired Marine General Smedley Butler to lead an army of 500,000 rightwing WWI veterans to capture or kill President Franklin Roosevelt and turn the White House over to a “good Republican.”

As Gillian Brockwell wrote last year for The Washington Post of the “Businessman’s Plot”:

“Its members included J.P. Morgan Jr., Irénée du Pont and the CEOs of General Motors, Birds Eye and General Foods, among others. Together they held near $40 billion in assets, Denton said — about $778 billion today.

“Had Butler been a different sort of person and gone along with the plot, Denton thinks it would have been successful. Instead, in the fall of 1934, he went to J. Edgar Hoover, head of what would become the FBI.”

The republic was saved and businessmen went back to just doing business until the 1980s, when they found their savior in Ronald Reagan. Which brings us to today.

Simply raising prices (and profits) is a hell of a lot less dangerous way to turn Democrats out of office than paying a retired general to kidnap a president. And the risks are negligible, particularly when their wholly-owned Republicans in the Senate will block any efforts to break up their companies or impose windfall profits taxes.

And those giant corporations are raking in the profits. As Barrons reported last month in an article titled Exxon May Be Making ‘More Than God’:
“Exxon Mobil (Ticker: XOM) is expected to generate about $41 billion of net income in 2022, up from $23 billion last year.”

Similarly, Tom Perkins reports for The Guardian:

“The analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings for 100 US corporations found net profits up by a median of 49%, and in one case by as much as 111,000%. Those increases came as companies saddled customers with higher prices and all but ten executed massive stock buyback programs or bumped dividends to enrich investors. …

“The Guardian’s findings are in line with recent US commerce department data that shows corporate profits rose 35% during the last year and are at their highest level since 1950.”

The Guardian’s analysis found:
“Chevron’s 240% profit spike was part of ‘the best two quarters the company has ever seen’… Steel Dynamics profits increased 809% … Fertilizer giant Nutrien’s profits shot up by about $1.2bn … [and] Nike’s 53% profit increase driven by higher prices was only ‘partially offset’ by supply chain and inflationary cost increases.”

The article concludes that much of the explosion in corporate profits is made possible by market consolidation: giant companies no longer subject to the pressures of inflation.

I’d add that there’s a big reward down the road for all those CEOs if they can help America dump the pesky Democrats who want to tax those windfall profits and replace them with Republicans who are again demanding more tax cuts for the morbidly rich.

Last Tuesday, Nobel Prize-winning economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote a particularly fascinating op-ed wondering out loud why the economic data for the United States doesn’t make sense any more. If the economy is in trouble, so should be American companies; if the economy is doing well, so should the American consumers.

But the companies are doing great while consumers are getting screwed.

“Let’s talk about the numbers, and how they don’t add up,” Krugman noted.

He then laid out the numbers, showing that while inflation is raging, wages are actually declining, among other paradoxes.
“Are you confused?” Krugman writes. “You should be. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I can’t remember any period when economic numbers were telling such different stories.”

Former Labor Secretary and economist Robert Reich writes at his brilliant Substack newsletter this week, after noting the global issues also contributing to American inflation:

“Big corporations continue to jack up prices, using inflation as a cover. Big Oil is the worst culprit. Gas prices are up about 60 percent from the year before. They contributed almost half the rise in inflation in June, although pump prices have dropped a bit since then. Big Oil is scoring record profits and using them to reward investors by buying back shares of stock. Shell is expecting profits to nearly triple, adding $1 billion to the bottom line. BP reports its largest quarterly profit in a decade.”

And nobody has ever, ever, ever accused the management of any of the big oil companies of wanting more Democrats running the show in Washington DC.

In an earlier post, Reich notes how some of America’s largest companies are enthusiastically funding some of America’s most seditious politicians.
“To state the question in historical terms,” he summarizes, “how different is their behavior from the wealthy European industrialists who quietly backed the fascists in the 1920s and 1930s? These billionaire and corporate funders are as complicit as are the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in threatening American democracy.”

Indeed. And if they can kick American consumers in the shins hard enough to get them to “vote out the bums” currently running Washington DC — the Democrats — while adding an epic pile of cash to their money bins, all the better.

Hard to believe? Immoral? Remember, these are companies that continue to fund Republicans associated with Trump’s attempt to end our democracy. And if we still had competition in the American economic landscape, even imagining a scenario like I’ve laid out would be impossible.

Time will tell if my analysis is accurate, a paranoid fantasy, or (most likely) a bit of both. But it’s certainly worth Democrats in Congress calling a hearing to check it out.