How much does Taiwan depend on China?

Beijing's military threats against Taiwan after Nancy Pelosi's visit are unprecedented. For the time being, however, not much will likely change as neither country can do without the other as a trading partner.

Taiwan has so far defied all Chinese attempts to make the self-governing island

 part of the Communist People's Republic

China is flexing its muscles against Taiwan. The leadership in Beijing reacted to the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan with military maneuvers and missile launches.

Now China has imposed sanctions on the self-governing island. Initially only citrus fruits, mackerel fillets and other fish products were affected. Even before Pelosi's visit, Beijing stopped imports from more than a hundred Taiwanese food producers.

In addition, Taiwan can no longer import sand from China that the construction industry depends on. Later, China even imposed sanctions on Pelosi herself. One important industry was left out of the fray: electronics such as microchips or optical components, which China's economy cannot afford to go without. How integrated are the two economies?

Nancy Pelosi's visit has angered not only China but some Taiwanese citizens, too

A powerhouse off China's coast

Taiwan is slightly bigger than the US state of Maryland, or about half the size of Scotland, and has a population of 23 million, which is just over a quarter of Germany's population. And similar to Germany, Taiwan is known around the world for its industrial manufactured goods.

Its highly developed semiconductor industry is as important for Taiwan as the automotive industry is for the German economy. And a comparison with Germany shows how dependent Taiwan is on exports. Around 70% of Taiwan's economic output is attributable to its exports, in Germany it was 47% in 2021.

But, while the 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in China was $12,259, in Taiwan it was almost three times as high, at $33,775, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.

Industrial parks such as the one in Hsinchu are hubs of research and technological know-how

Trading the mass-produced for semiconductors

Overall, China is Taiwan's most important trading partner, followed by the United States. More than 42% of Taiwan's exports go to China, from where Taiwan gets around 22% of its imports. In 2020, goods and services worth $166 billion were exchanged between the two countries.

Taiwan is also among the top investors on the mainland. According to the government in Taipei, between 1991 and the end of May 2021, Taiwanese companies invested around $194 billion in a total of 44,577 Chinese projects. Chipmaker Foxconn's factories are one of the best known examples. The contract manufacturer makes iPhones for Apple, Galaxy smartphones for Samsung and game consoles for Sony in plants throughout China.

And the fact that semiconductors and other IT technology account for more than half of all Taiwan's exports shows how important the country is to the rest of the world, including China.

Taiwan's chipmaking giants such as TSMC still maintain a technological edge over their Chinese rivals

Put simply: China supplies key raw materials such as rare earths and low-end mass-produced electronic components, while Taiwan exports high-end semiconductors and optical components to the mainland to make up for China's lack of know-how.

China's central goal is to achieve the ability to produce high-end chips. Party leaders have repeatedly emphasized this in programs such as "Made in China 2025." So far, however, they have not been able to catch up.

Is an invasion eminent?

Once that goal is reached, though, some experts believe that things could get difficult for Taiwan. Chinese leader Xi Jinping could finally act on reunifying the island with the mainland. China has repeatedly stated its goal of uniting Taiwan with the mainland by the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic in 2049 at the latest, if necessary with force.

But it will probably happen much earlier, Roderich Kiesewetter said. The security expert is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German parliament, the Bundestag, and deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, which is responsible for monitoring the German intelligence agency.

Kiesewetter made his opinion clear in a recent TV interview. "Until now, our parameters were such that we said: If China is able to produce semiconductors with the same precision, speed and quantity — and that probably wouldn't be until 2027 — then an attack is likely," he said. "But there are schools of thought in China that say: Right now, the West is very occupied by the war against Russia and supporting Ukraine."

According to Beijing, the Americans do not have the strength to fight two wars on two fronts. Still Kiesewetter believes China is not ready for an invasion. However, there are warning signs. "We have to prepare for an escalation more quickly, but not in the next few months," he said.

Business is China's first priority

Kishore Mahbubani said it was clear that China would assert its interests in an increasingly ruthless manner in the future. His book "Has China Won?" explores what will happen when China surpasses the US as the world's largest economy.

Mahbubani does not believe that Beijing will use military force to take over Taiwan just yet. The Chinese are much more interested in business than in ideologies. For the decision-makers in Beijing, the risks clearly outweigh the opportunities, the Singaporean political scientist, diplomat and former president of the UN Security Council, emphasized in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Chinese officials don't think in terms of years, Mahbubani said: They think in terms of decades. The Chinese are making sure that they have a bigger economy than the United States — and they will remember everything that happened in the past. "That's when all the real retaliation, the real responses will come," he said. "When China eventually becomes the No. 1 economy in the world."

This article was originally written in German

Germany gets solar power boost amid energy crisis

The war in Ukraine has exposed Germany's overreliance on Russian gas, prompting a search for alternatives. Solar power is one and is already seeing a surge. Is the former solar powerhouse on the cusp of a new solar boom?


Germany is betting heavily on solar power to make the country climate neutral

Europe is in crisis mode. Climate change, increasing demand for energy, the war in Ukraine and Russia's subsequent throttling of oil and gas deliveries have pushed the continent into a new era.

Germany has been trapped in a corner. The country relies heavily on cheap imported natural gas to run its industries, and some power plants also use gas to produce electricity. Finding sufficient substitutes quickly is nearly impossible.

Ideas to prevent a looming power crisis in Germany have ranged from reducing demand to keeping nuclear power plants online past their official closing date at the end of the year. Large wind turbines are doing their part, but many people don't want them in their backyard.

A giant opportunity for the German solar industry

Green activists have long believed renewable energies are the answer to keeping the lights on. But building up these capabilities takes time. Now many experts once again see solar power as a shining light at the end of the tunnel, with some saying a solar boom is in the making.

Before the war in Ukraine put energy security at the forefront, the new German government had already pledged that renewable sources — wind and solar — would make up 80% of electricity production by 2030, instead of 42% today. By 2035, the government has said electricity generation should be carbon neutral.

It's an ambitious plan, but the country seems to be on its way. July was the third month in a row when solar power output soared to a record level, trade publication pv magazine reported. For the month, photovoltaic (PV) systems generated 8.23 ​​terawatt hours of power, around a fifth of net electricity production. They were only behind lignite-fired power plants, which brought in nearly 22% of net production.

Solar panels can come in many different shapes and sizes,

and can be used in many different ways

In 2021, Germany added more than 5 gigawatts of solar power capacity, 10% more than in 2020. That took the total solar power capacity to 59 gigawatts, overtaking installed onshore wind power capacity in Germany, pv magazine said in January. Last year's solar production was about 9% of gross electricity consumption, according to Harry Wirth, who is head of photovoltaic modules and power plant research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg.

"For 2032, the government target is around 250 gigawatts of solar energy. According to their estimates, electricity consumption will increase to 715 terawatt hours by 2030," Wirth told DW. A different study by consultancy McKinsey said this is the lower limit. "So if we assume 730 terawatt hours for 2032, we would be at around 30% photovoltaic electricity in gross electricity consumption," Wirth added.

The energy expert also envisions great potential to install more solar panels without taking up valuable land. Besides adding them on top of parking garages or buildings, photovoltaic parts can be integrated into the exterior of buildings or even on the outside of e-vehicles. This would "not only produce electricity on surfaces already in use, but it would also create synergies in its own application," said Wirth.
Foreign investment in German solar

It's not just researchers who are taking note — big businesses are also stepping in. In July, Portuguese clean energy firm EDP Renovaveis (EDPR) announced it had agreed to take a 70% interest in Germany's Kronos Solar Projects, a solar developer, for €250 million ($254 million).

The Munich-based company has a portfolio of 9.4 gigawatts of solar projects in different stages of development in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, according to the press release announcing the purchase. Germany represents close to 50% of the acquired solar portfolio.

EDPR, which claims to be the fourth-largest renewable energy producer worldwide, said it generated 17.8 terawatt hours of clean energy in the first half of 2022.

Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive of EDPR and its parent EDP, said they have great expectations from Germany in particular as "it is a key market in Europe with reinforced renewable growth targets."

DOUBLE HARVEST: SOLAR PANELS ON FARMS
Harvesting electricity — and berries
Fabian Karthaus is one of the first farmers in Germany to grow raspberries and blueberries under photovoltaic panels. His solar field near the city of Paderborn in northwestern Germany is 0.4 hectares (about 1 acre), but he would like to expand it to 10. He could then generate enough electricity for around 4,000 households — and provide more berries for supermarkets.
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German policy putting on the brakes?

But for many, Germany's solar power growth outlook may seem too rosy.

Germany was once a leader in solar power, enjoying a large share of the world's total solar capacities for many years. A lot of that early success had to do with innovative government support. That support, however, proved too successful for some as a fall in electricity prices hurt the profits of power companies, leading to calls for a change in the rules.

Updated regulations, and changes to the Renewable Energy Sources Act that reduced feed-in tariffs, slowed things down. Feed-in tariffs usually grant long-term grid access and above-market price guarantees in an effort to support fledgling industries.

With less direct financial incentives, the industry was neglected leaving it open for competitors. The pace of solar infrastructure growth has also been hampered by issues of red tape, supply chain backlogs, a lack of skilled technicians and a shortage of storage for electricity produced when it is not needed.

Now the war in Ukraine and Europe's dependency on Russia is refocusing efforts and "will strengthen the determination for an ambitious PV expansion," said Wirth. But the biggest challenge to the region's solar industry remains China.

Public buildings can play a big role, not just because of 

their size but because they're controlled by the government

An overreliance on China

China took an early interest in photovoltaic technology and soon galloped past countries like the US, Japan and Germany thanks to huge state subsidies for manufacturers. Today, it has become the place to go for all things solar.

A new report from the International Energy Agency puts it into numbers. "China has invested over $50 billion in new PV supply capacity — 10 times more than Europe — and created more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs across the solar PV value chain since 2011."

Today, China has over 80% of all solar panel manufacturing capacity and is home to the top-10 suppliers of photovoltaic manufacturing equipment. Such a high concentration has led to some incredible realities, like the fact that "one out of every seven panels produced worldwide is manufactured by a single facility," according to the report.

These economies of scale have brought down costs, and the country can make solar components 35% cheaper than in Europe. This gives China outsized power and makes the industry susceptible to supply chain bottlenecks. To diversify the industry and get back some of this market, Europe needs to invest in innovation and make solar growth a top priority.

Germany has several high-tech photovoltaic manufacturers and research institutes. But it only has one manufacturer of solar cells specializing in high-performance heterojunction technology, said Wirth. Yet even though the European photovoltaic industry is fragmented and not what it once was, he is still counting on big demand for solar technology in the foreseeable future.

Edited by: Ashutosh Pandey


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How South Korea is ramping up its weapons exports

South Korea's government and defense manufacturers are keen to increase overseas sales of military gear. Revenues will be plowed back into the development of more advanced weaponry


A K2 tank weighs 54 tons, has a 120 mm auto-loaded main

 gun composite armor and integral missile defense systems.

In the largest military export deal in its history, South Korea last week agreed to sell nearly 1,000 K2 main battle tanks to Poland, along with 648 self-propelled howitzers and 48 FA-50 fighter jets, with the governments in both Seoul and Warsaw expressing hopes for further cooperation in the security sphere.

The agreement was confirmed on July 27 and is worth an estimated 20 trillion won (€15 billion, $15.3 billion), although the exact figure has yet to be agreed as discussions are continuing on production of the tanks and howitzers under license in Poland.

Nevertheless, the first batch of 180 K2 tanks is scheduled to be delivered to the Polish armed forces this year, with analysts pointing out that this will more than compensate for the 240 tanks that Poland has provided to Ukraine to fend off the Russian invasion that started in February.

"We want peace so we must prepare for war. The Polish armed forces should be so strong that an aggressor cannot decide to attack," Mariusz Blaszczak, the Polish deputy prime minister and minister of defense, said at the signing ceremony.

"Due to Poland's support for Ukraine, it was necessary to fill the void in ground and air power," Blaszczak added. "The Korean weapon system was the most suitable considering the technology, price and the time of introduction."

He stressed that the deal is "just the first stage of the two countries' cooperation."
What is driving South Korean defense exports?

South Korea sold weapons worth $7 billion last year, which was a record high for the country, and the figure is expected to hit $10 billion this year.

Exports of military equipment are being driven by both push and pull factors.

The East Asian nation's government and defense manufacturers are keen to increase overseas sales of military gear to earn revenues that can be plowed back into the development of more advanced weaponry and cement their position as one of the world's leading arms manufacturers.

Equally, foreign governments see South Korean military equipment as reliable and as technologically advanced, yet not nearly as expensive as systems developed by other nations like the US.

A FA-50 fighter, for example, is likely to cost around $30 million, significantly cheaper than a US-made F-35, which costs at least $77 million for a basic model.

The full financial details of the agreement with Poland have not been revealed but buying in such bulk is expected to give Warsaw some room to maneuver on the final price.

The deal also includes lucrative licenses to produce the tanks and howitzers in Poland, while Korea Aerospace Industries is hoping to set up maintenance and repair facility in the EU country. It also intends to open a training school for FA-50 pilots, effectively showcasing the aircraft to more potential buyers in Europe.
Record arms deal

Located in a part of the world with numerous and evolving security challenges — not least North Korea, a belligerent neighbor with nuclear weapons and the largest per capita standing army in the world — South Korean developers have earned a solid reputation for the quality of the military equipment they produce.

A K2 "Black Panther" tank weighs 54 tons, has a 120 mm auto-loaded main gun composite armor and integral missile defense systems. It has an off-road top speed of 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour cross and a range of 450 kilometers.

Both Norway and Egypt are also considering purchasing the tanks, which are the mainstay of the South Korean military.

The K9 "Thunder" is a self-propelled howitzer with a gun that can hurl a round up to 40 kilometers and a rate of fire of up to eight shots a minute. Weighing in at 47 tons, it has already been sold to Estonia, Norway, Poland, Turkey, Finland, Australia and India.

The third system that Poland is purchasing is the FA-50 Golden Eagle, a light combat jet jointly developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin of the US.

Although not the most advanced fighter deployed, it can carry out combat missions, reconnaissance and training missions, with a top speed of 1,837 kilometers per hour.
'Exceptional' quality and cost-competitiveness

Blaszczak said the aircraft would replace the Polish air force's fleet of Russian-built Mig fighters, for which it is now impossible to obtain spare parts. He added that the first FA-50 aircraft are due to arrive in the early part of next year.

"The quality and cost-competitiveness of South Korea's defense companies is exceptional and clearly the Polish government recognizes that," said Park Jung-won, a professor of law at South Korea's Dankook University.

"This country has faced so many military challenges for so many years, the equipment that our armed forces use has to be good, so Poland sees it as essentially being field-tested."

And while the government in Seoul certainly sympathizes with the plight of Ukraine, it is unable to directly provide lethal assistance to Kyiv, he said. The next-best thing is to replenish and upgrade the stocks of a neighbor that has come to Ukraine's assistance.

"The defense sector is very strategic and important to the national economy, so I very much expect to see more of these sorts of deals in the future as this industry can assist economic growth," Park said.
An emerging leader in defense exports?

To date, South Korean aircraft — both fixed-wing and helicopters — have been sold to the Philippines, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Senegal and Peru, while Argentina, Malaysia, Colombia and India have expressed interest in some systems.

Warships and submarines launched at South Korean dockyards have gone on to serve in the navies of Thailand, the Philippines and New Zealand, while tankers have been made for the militaries of Britain and Norway.

The K9 Thunder is South Korea's best-selling military ground vehicle, with units being sold to India, Australia, Egypt and Norway.

A number of other countries are reportedly interested in acquiring the weapons, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Romania and Great Britain. The K2 tank has also been sold to Oman and serves as the basis for Turkey's Altay tank, while Australia is testing a variant of the K21 infantry fighting vehicle, with Canberra looking to buy no fewer than 450 units to replace its aging armored personnel carriers.

It is not the most advanced in the world, but it is competitive on price and comes with good quality.

For middle-ranked powers, which are constantly required to achieve a trade-off between cost and effectiveness, South Korean military equipment is seen as a good choice.

Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, says that selling advanced weapon systems also ties in with South Korea's industrial policy goals.

"This is completely consistent with those long-term, export-led industrial goals, which go all the way back to the 1960s and have seen the similar development and export of automobiles, ships, semiconductors and so on," he underlined.

"South Korean defense companies will definitely be looking to highlight the technological advances that have gone into this equipment and then build on this deal to expand their sales to other countries around the world."

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

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A THEORY IN SEARCH OF EVIDENCE

Dark matter: Why we keep searching for something that may not even exist

Our understanding of the universe keeps improving. But there's a huge invisible force out there called dark matter and we're virtually clueless about it.

Astrophysicists say the James Webb Space Telescope may help them detect,

 if not see, dark matter in the universe

It has never been detected, only speculated. But scientists estimate that up to 85% of the matter in the universe could be made of what's called dark matter.

Scientists cannot define dark matter with any certainty, but that hasn't stopped the search for it. Our largest and newest space-based telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope is on the case.

It was barely moments after the first images taken by the telescope had been released on July 12, 2022, when Kai Noeske said something both mysterious and true.

Noeske, an astronomer at the European Space Observation Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, was pointing to an image of Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies, as they have never been seen before.

Astronomer Kai Noeske looked at the image of Stephan's Quintet and said:

 "There is a lot out there that we do not know [...] One of those things could be dark matter."

And he said: "There is a lot out there that we do not know. And we do not know what we do not know. [But] one of those things could be dark matter." 

An accidental discovery

In the 19th century, Lord Kelvin, a Scottish-Irish physicist, wanted to estimate the mass of our galaxy, the Milkyway, using data on how fast stars moved around the galaxy's core.

But Kelvin found discrepancies or anomalies in the data, things which could not be explained and were attributed to "dark bodies" that we cannot see.

"The galaxy seems to be rotating much faster than it should, based on estimates," explained Tevong You, a theorist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

The Large Hadron Collider is the world's most powerful particle accelerator

The theory is that there is an "invisible matter" responsible for the speed at which our galaxy rotates, said You. And that may be true of other galaxies as well.

Stars have been observed to travel at higher-than-estimated speeds, especially at the edges of galaxies. And that is weird.

Stars should cut loose and 'fly off'

Imagine you attached a stone to a string, and you rotated it at high speed. The stone would cut loose and fly off if it reached a speed higher than a certain threshold — a point at which the string becomes too weak to hold onto the stone, as the stone picks up speed and gains more force.

But astronomers have observed stars that continue to spin around the center of the galaxy, even when the string holding them to the galaxy, as it were, should have ripped, and the stars should have "flown off".

The astronomers' only explanation is that there must be some invisible matter holding the stone in range. Perhaps it's this elusive dark matter?

That remains an unanswered question. And there are many other anomalies, such as the shape of some galaxies, including our Milkyway, that are so far unexplained.

We can't see dark matter but we may see its effects

Scientists say that the reason we are unable to see or detect this invisible matter is that it does not interact with electromagnetic forces — things like visible light, X-ray or radio waves.

They argue that we can, however, observe some of the effects of dark matter through its gravitational force.

But we still want to detect dark matter in its own right. And here's where CERN's Large Hadron Collider comes in. Tevong You and other researchers at CERN think the LHC is our best chance of detecting dark matter.

When particles collide at the LHC, the resulting debris gets caught in detectors

 such as this one. This is a illustrating one of the LHC's detectors.

A decade ago, experiments at the LHC proved the Standard Model of particle physics by detecting the Higgs boson particle — a particle which itself had long proved to be elusive.

The Standard Model is the idea that everything in the universe is made of a few fundamental particles and that those are governed by four fundamental forces — the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force.

Tevong You said that the LHC could help solve the mystery of dark matter. But even now, You suspects that dark matter will be nothing like the particles we know from the Standard Model.

"It has to interact very weakly. It can't interact with light or electromagnetism. It can't interact with the strong force, and it may interact through the weak force that causes radioactivity," said You.

If that reads like a riddle, you're not alone. Scientists are still trying to work it out themselves.

Measuring dark matter by what's missing

The Large Hadron Collider smashes particles together to create collisions. The collisions produce a debris that gets caught by particle detectors.

It's just the same as if you smashed two apples together, bits would spray in all directions and get caught on the walls and floor. Those bits of apple would still be fruit, but they would have also become somewhat different. Even so, if we then collected all the bits of apple, including the juices, we would theoretically have all the bits to reconstruct those two original apples.

And the same is true of fundamental particles. We smash them up, they split and spray against the LHC detectors, and if we piece them back together, we should be able to account for all the bits that made those original particles.  

But if after all that, we find that there is something missing... especially missing energy or mass, as energy is also known... Well, when it comes to particle physics, scientists tend to think that there would have to be some dark, or invisible, matter — elements that we can't see, but which are very much part of the whole thing.

Andre David is an experimental physicist at CERN who builds particle detectors and says that if there is missing energy after a collision, it is likely that that energy has been transferred to dark matter. 

"The Higgs boson interacts with all the other elements that have mass. And so dark matter must [also] have mass in order to fulfill the effect that we see in the galaxies," said David.

New theories about dark matter

Some scientists argue that if there were invisible forces in the universe, we would have found them already and that, given that we haven't detected those forces, they suggest we should think outside of the Standard Model.

One of those scientists is the physicist Mordehai Milgrom. Milgrom has developed an alternative theory of gravity, one that suggests that gravitational force operates differently at different distances from the core of a galaxy.

While Newton's theory of gravity explains most large-scale movements in the cosmos, Milgrom's Modified Newtonian Dynamics suggests that a force acts differently when it is weak, such as at the edge of a galaxy.

Advocates of the theory say it predicts the rotation of galaxies and the speed of the stars better than Newton's theory.

But we still don't know whether we will ever discover dark matter or prove Milgrom's Modified Newtonian Dynamics. What we do know is that our understanding of the universe is far from complete.

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

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Kenya's disillusioned youth shun election

Ahead of Kenya's general election, politicians have been working hard to win the youth vote. But many young people have stopped believing in politicians' promises and plan to stay away from the ballot.



Many buses park at the entrance of Kirigiti Stadium in Kiambu Town. The matatus, as they're known locally, transport people from surrounding towns to a rally of Raila Odinga, one of the two leading presidential candidates in Kenya's August 9 general election.

Vests, whistles and caps are handed to the crowd before they enter the stadium. Many will also receive money as a "small appreciation" for showing up.

One of the people who traveled here introduces himself as "John." He doesn't want to reveal his real name and risk the possibility of not receiving future handouts.

Raila Odinga has the support of current President Uhuru Kenyatta

"We were brought here today to cheer for Raila to show that he has big numbers. I'm a hustler and I have no money, so I thought it's better to come here instead of staying at home," John said. "At least I'll get something."

He was promised 1,000 Kenyan shillings (€8.25/$8.40) — quite some money in a country where 34% of people live on less than $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank.
Youth unemployment

John said he was frustrated with the current situation. He lost his job because of the pandemic, and he's been struggling to make ends meet ever since.

But he doesn't intend to vote for Odinga. Rather, he's a supporter of his main opponent, William Ruto, currently Kenya's deputy president.

"He assured us that as young people we will get jobs," John said.

Even before the COVID pandemic, around 5 million young Kenyans were out of work, according to the 2020 census.

Many Kenyans accuse lawmakers of greed and ignoring the people who voted for them

The situation for many Kenyans has been worsened by galloping food prices, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, a devastating drought, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and an unemployment crisis. So many are highly motivated to attend political rallies in exchange for cash handouts.

Peter Mwai Kamami, a national youth council delegate for central Kenya's Kiambu County, had asked John to come to Odinga's rally.

Kamami had received money from the campaign to mobilize 1,000 people. But it has been difficult to convince young people who tend to better relate to Ruto, he says.

"Ruto is young, energetic," Kamami said. "His 'hustler' narrative is more conversant with young people, as they're all hustling."

"There are people who survive on merely a dollar a day," Kamami said.

Some see low voter registration as a sign young people 

have lost faith in the electoral system

Youth vote registration plunges

Kamami said the biggest problems were unemployment and the government's failure to involve young people in their projects.

"Public participation is enshrined in our constitution, but we are not practicing it," he said. "The apathy is high."

That is also what the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) found: Only about 40% of registered voters in this election are youth — even though the under-35s account for three-fourths of Kenya's population of about 55 million.

The number has dropped by 5% since the last poll, according to the commission.

While Peter Mwai supports Odinga, he knows that most of the people he brought to cheer for him only care about the money they'll receive afterwards.

Analysts say many young people would not spend one or two hours queueing to vote

Bribing voters

"They don't believe in what they are shouting," Mwai said. "The volume from their voice boxes, depends on the amount of money that will go in their pockets."

Voter bribery is one of the most common electoral offenses, according to the National Crime Research Centre.

Over the past two decades, Kenya has witnessed some of the highest rates of vote buying in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, McGill University.

Penalties for vote buying include fines of up to 2 million Kenyan shillings and/or a six-year jail sentence.

Kenyan Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i even told reporters that the banks were running short of 200 shilling notes "because politicians are bribing villagers."
Rallying voters

When Odinga arrived at Kirigiti stadium, there was still a lot of free space, but from the platform the venue looked full.

Odinga looked back into Kenya's history, reminding the crowds of a historic meeting held in this stadium by the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, before he was arrested by colonialists in 1952.

He only mentioned the youth once.

"This (vote) will be for the women and the youth. Kenya has four main challenges — ignorance, disease, poverty and corruption," Odinga told the crowd. "If we manage to nip these in the bud, we will move forward."

William Ruto is currently Kenya's deputy president

Two days later, Odinga's opponent, William Ruto, was touring through Kiambu county, the second-largest region by voter population after Nairobi county.

In the town of Thika, he stopped in the middle of the road and addressed a group of people from his limousine.

It was a smaller crowd — no stadium, no buses — but the people wore caps and vests and carried flags.

Ruto talked about the struggles of the people dealing with high food prices.

"You will be supported by accessing to the government's funds without having to pay interest, without being asked about security because we want to empower everyone's business," he said. "We will start from the bottom and go upwards. Bottom Up!"
'They lie, they give empty promises'

In a cafe in Kiambu town was Naomi Wanjiku Kibe, a 22-year-old electrical engineering student at Kiambu Institute of Science & Technology who sees no point in voting.

"They lie, they give empty promises, they only appear when they are seeking for votes," she told DW.

"After that, you'll never see them again until they come back to lie to you again," she said. "The deputy president says he will now change things that are not going well. If he wanted to do some change, he could have done it."

Not far from the cafe, a group of young men were warming up for a training session on a football pitch. Even though it's cold and humid, they give their all.

Alex Mugo, the chairman of Nyumba Kumi football club, watched them.

Sixty youngsters from the neighborhood train here. Besides that, Mugo raises money for their school fees and pays for sanitary pads for girls and provides food.

"Some can't even feed themselves when I talk of my group here. Most of these youth come to play without having taken breakfast," Mugo said.

Kenya's youth make up 70% of the population — a huge portion of the electorate

'Youth are becoming poorer and disillusioned day by day'

He and his team are hands-on and look for practical solutions to practical problems.

These young people need food, jobs, purpose, he said. That's what they get here. They have learnt to not expect anything from politicians.

"As years go by, the youths are becoming more frustrated with the government because they're always promising too much and nothing has happened," Mugo said.

"These youth are becoming poorer and poorer and disillusioned day by day and now they're having very little trust in these politicians," he said. "We feel a lot let down. I won't lie to you."

Mugo said he was doing the job that the government is supposed to do.

Out of the 19 boys training, only four say they will vote in this election.

Most of them have gone to rallies to receive the cash — like Peter Ngugi Njambi.

"I can't attend a rally if there's nothing on the table, because I need to eat," he said.

"I've attended quite a number of rallies, of almost all parties," he said. "I kept the campaign T-shirts but I don't wear them after the rally. That's what we normally do."

Edited by Keith Walker

GOOD TEAMWORK: HOW RADIO STATIONS IN KENYA ARE IMPLEMENTING GENDER EQUALITY
Gender policies: Men and women on a level playing field
Sky FM and Radio Lake Victoria are the first radio stations in Kenya to commit to offering equal opportunities to men and women in their programming. "If you include both sexes, you get the best content," says Sky FM presenter Irene Olwande (left). "We all benefit from cooperating on a level playing field," says Sky FM newsreader Collins Dudi (center).
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Sex tourism: When conscience takes a vacation

A lot of travelers are looking for sexual adventures — and are willing to pay for them. But many tourist destinations shy away from addressing the issue.

Red light districts are often tourist attractions, like here in Amsterdam

When night falls on the Playa de Palma, Mallorca's most important vacation area, street prostitution comes to life. Women, most of whom come from Nigeria, publicly offer their services just a few hundred meters from the beach. Virtually all thier customers are vacationers. "Tourists are clearly driving up the demand for prostitution on Mallorca," says Rocio Lopez from the aid organization Medicos del Mundo, which aims to strenghten the rights of sex workers on the island. During the summer months, at the high of the tourist season, the number of prostitutes on Mallorca often doubles.

At the Playa de Palma on Mallorca, the topless bars and similar establishments

blatantly solicit customers

Red light districts become a tourist attraction

Experts emphasize that sex tourism is a very diverse phenomenon that exists in virtually every country in the world — it occurs on Mallorca, in the United States, the Dominican Republic and many other places. "Sexual adventures are a real travel motive," says Antje Monshausen of Tourism Watch, a specialist unit of the aid organization Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World). "It's not for nothing that red light districts, such as in Amsterdam, are a tourist attraction." 

Two men pose for a photo in front of a sought-after landmark —

the streets in Amsterdam's Red Light District

In Spain alone, prostitution is a billion-dollar business, with tens of thousands of women working as prostitutes nationwide. No one knows exactly how many, as it is an activity that is not regulated by law. According to the Association for the Prevention, Reintegration and Care of Prostituted Women (APRAMP), nowhere in Europe is prostitution more rampant than in Spain — worldwide, the country ranks third behind Thailand and Puerto Rico. Tourism is likely to play a significant role in this context, as Mallorca shows.

Exploiting dependency 

"There's less social control, people drink alcohol, they let their hair down when they are on holiday," says Monshausen. After all, that's what many people want on vacation: to get away from the constraints of everyday life, to be free of conventions for a bit. "Especially in tourism, we are seeing a strong economic disparity between travelers and the local population. Exploiting the resulting dependency relationships is unethical," according to Monshausen.

Thailand is considered a major sex tourism destination, with popular spots including

 the red light district Soi Cowboy in Bangkok

This dependency become apparent when Mallorca police recently went after human traffickers controlling street prostitution on the Playa de Palma. They had brought the women into the country under a false pretext, and then forced them into prostitution to pay off debts amounting to tens of thousands of euros.  According to Medicos del Mundo, about 95% of all prostitutes in Spain are immigrants who do not have a residence permit — and thus cannot take up any regular work. "That these women choose prostitution of their own free will is a myth," says Rocio Lopez. "Because for that to happen, they would have to have a choice."

Children are at greater risk 

Sex tourism is a particularly big problem when it involves the exploitation of minors, as happens in many countries around the world.  According to Josephine Hamann of the children's charity ECPAT, this is by no means just about pedophile offenders. "There is also a very, very large proportion of travelers without that inclination who become opportunistic offenders when they are enjoying a degree of anonymity abroad," she says. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Hamann expects the problem to worsen. The economic situation in many families has deteriorated drastically in recent years, she says. And the pressure to generate an income is growing, she says. "Children are increasingly at risk as a result," she says.

Re-enacted scene used as a campaign photo by the aid organization ECPAT

 to raise awareness of sexual exploitation of children

In the tourism industry itself, awareness of the issue is now heightened. "But sexual exploitation is still an issue that many people don't want to address," says Hamann. "If it also involves minors, many would rather not deal with it at all." Antje Monshausen of Tourism Watch also sees a great need to make up for lost ground in this area. "Hardly any country, hardly any tourist destination wants to tackle the issue head-on," she says. No one wants to run the risk of being stigmatized as a sex tourism destination.

Hefty fines loom 

On Mallorca, too, prostitution is rarely discussed. Yet topless bars and other such establishments on the Playa de Palma aggressively and openly solicit customers. The police limit themselves to occasionally monitoring prostitutes working on the street promenade. "There is still a lot of work to be done to raise awareness," says Rocio Lopez of Medicos del Mundo. "Especially in relation to the vacationers." Soon, however, something fundamental could change. The Spanish central government is planning to tighten criminal law, so that in the future anyone who uses the services of prostitutes will have to expect a hefty fine.

This article was originally written in German.

Germany's SPD decides to keep Gerhard Schröder, despite Putin ties

Germany's left-leaning SPD party has decided not to expel former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, saying that his close ties with Vladimir Putin and Russia's energy companies did not amount to a violation of the party rules.


Schröder is a friend of Putin and has said there should be a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine

Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) decided not to expel former chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Monday.

Schröder has been under fire for his close ties to the Kremlin and the Russian energy sector since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February.

A party arbitration committee noted that any disciplinary action must be prompted by a violation of the SPD's "statutes, principles, or rules" which would then allow the committee to decide whether such a violation has caused serious damage to the party.

In their statement, the committee said it would be "incompatible with an SPD membership" to call for a war of aggression or to justify an invasion. However, according to the party arbiters, Schröder has not done so.

"Rather, on the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, [Schröder] declared that Russia's security interests did not justify the use of military means," they said.

While it would have been "desirable and appropriate" for Schröder to take a clearer stance, the committee found that his statement was not too far removed from the SPD's political program.

The decision can be appealed within two weeks.

How was the decision made?

Schröder's fate within the party — of which current Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also a member — was decided by an arbitration committee in the northern city of Hanover.

The committee had been mulling the decision for several weeks after it received 17 motions for Schröder's expulsion from different regional organizations of the party.

Schröder did not personally appear at the hearings and did not send a lawyer.
Why has Schröder come in for criticism?

The 78-year-old, who was German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, chairs the board of the Nord Stream pipeline company.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to huge public pressure for the former chancellor to sever his lucrative ties with Russia's energy giants.

In 2017, he was named chairman of the supervisory board for the Russian state oil company Rosneft — a position Schröder finally gave up in May bowing to pressure at home. He also rejected a nomination to the board of Russian energy company Gazprom.

While Schröder has said Russia has made a mistake with its war in Ukraine, he has refused to condemn his close friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The German parliament in May stripped Schröder of his office and staff in Berlin, usually a provision made for former chancellors.

Last week, Schröder called for negotiations with Putin, saying: "The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated settlement."

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Olaf Scholz (SPD) since 2021
Olaf Scholz, took over as German chancellor, after having served as finance minister and vice chancellor for three years. The conservative and soft-spoken Social Democrats displays stoicism and unwavering self-confidence. The former mayor of Hamburg looks back on a decades-long political career, which included a number of upsets, none of which have been able to throw him off course.
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He also urged Berlin to reconsider its position on the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is ready to pump gas but had its operation blocked by the German government.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was "disgusting" for former European leaders to work for Russia, in an apparent reference to Schröder's comments.

"It is simply disgusting when former leaders of powerful states with European values work for Russia, which is fighting against these values," Zelenskyy said in the video address, without referring to Schröder directly.

rc/msh,nm (dpa, AFP)

Dr. Oz's 'mountain of a conflict of interest' exposed in new report
Raw Story -
By Tom Boggioni

© provided by RawStory(G Holland / Shutterstock.com)

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Sam Brodey, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is currently trailing in the polls in his bid to replace Sen. Pat Toomey (R) representing Pennsylvania, is being called out by medical ethics experts for plugging health supplements to his loyal fan base without divulging he has a massive financial stake in the companies.

That information was discovered in the financial disclosure paperwork he filed as part of his Senate bid as a Republican after winning his primary battle with the endorsement of Donald Trump.

Case in point, as Brodey wrote, Oz, in a promotional video for Walmart, plugged a supplement called TruBiotics, telling the audience, "You may not realize that a quality probiotic is a proven immunity booster," before adding, "Two probiotic strains can strengthen your digestive and immune health. These two complementary strains can be found in TruBiotics.”

What he didn't tell his fans was the fact that, as Brodey wrote, "Oz was a member of the board of directors of the brand’s parent company, PanTheryx. He holds a stake in the business worth as much as $1 million."

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RELATED: Republicans reportedly freaking out about Dr. Oz's performance in Pennsylvania Senate race

The report notes this was not a one-off for the conservative TV doctor, with the Beast report adding even more dubious claims Oz made which also happened to put money in his pocket.

"In several other instances, Oz’s platforms boosted PanTheryx products without disclosing Oz’s personal financial relationship to the company. In 2018, for example, videos ran on the Dr. Oz Show website that were sponsored by DiaResQ, another PanTheryx supplement. None of the PanTheryx products Oz plugged were approved by the Food and Drug Administration; one study found DiaResQ was 'no better than a placebo,'" the report states.

Asked for comment, medical ethics expert Arthur Caplan, of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said what Oz is doing represents a "mountain of a conflict of interest.”

“It’s one thing to say, ‘I have commercials on my show that advertise products and I’m going to flag that.’ It’s very different to say, ‘Take this, and I’m not going to tell you, I own it. You simply cannot do what he’s disclosing he did,” he said before conceding, "It’s not illegal, but certainly, ethically, it’s completely dubious.”

The Beast report adds, "The American Medical Association’s code of ethics discourages physicians from selling or being paid to endorse any health products beyond medication. If they choose to do so, the AMA says physicians have an ethical obligation to disclose 'the nature of their financial interest in the sale of the product(s),' among other things."

LONG READ
You can read more here.

Sen. Bernie Sanders sitting on the Senate steps leads to comparisons to a classic US civics cartoon
tmitchell@insider.com (Taiyler Simone Mitchell) - Yesterday 10:26 p.m.


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), whose amendment was defeated 1-99, sits in the shade on the steps of the Senate as the Senate proceeds through a series of amendment votes, also called "vote-a-rama, on the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. 

Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders was captured in a photo sitting on the steps outside of Capitol Hill.

The photo caught the eyes of internet users who compared him to a cartoon in an educational song.
Seated Sanders has been the face of a meme at least once before.

Senator Bernie Sanders has become a meme once more.

Known affectionately by some as Uncle Bernie, the 80-year-old senator was captured by Los Angeles Times photojournalist Kent Nishimura sitting on the steps outside the US Capitol during a 15-hour Sunday "vote-a-rama" to pass the Inflation Reduction Act — a $740 billion climate, healthcare, and tax package.

New York City photographer Clayton Cubitt posted an apropos comparison of the photo with an image from a Schoolhouse Rock song called "I'm Just a Bill."

The song, written by Dave Frishberg and performed by Jack Sheldon, has become an educational staple since its release in 1976 —teaching children about the process a bill undergoes before it's turned into law by way of a catchy tune.

Related video: Watch Sanders criticize climate and health care bill on Senate floor
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"I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill," the song begins. "And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill," the song continues, showing the seemingly exhausted animated paper roll sitting on the steps as Sanders did on Sunday.

 
The photo comes after another meme of Sanders sitting in a chair at President Biden's inauguration in January 2021 made its rounds on the internet featuring the Senator photoshopped into a variety of situations.


Former presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) sits in the bleachers on Capitol Hill before Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. 

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

 
When interviewed afterward by Seth Meyers on his late-night TV show, Sanders explained that he was simply "just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention to what was going on."

"Sen. Sanders has a very well-defined brand and image," Brendan Smialowski, the photojournalist who snapped the photo viral Sanders-mitten photo, told CNBC in 2021. "He is who he is and he's comfortable in that and it's very much part of his politics."

"It was a nice slice of life," Smialowski said. "It's just Bernie being Bernie."