It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, October 05, 2022
Pete Buttigieg Has Perfect Response To Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Unhinged Complaint
Josephine Harvey
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) recently attacked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for trying to “emasculate the way we drive.” Asked about the remark, he said he could barely make sense of her complaint.
At a Michigan rally Saturday for former President Donald Trump, Greene griped that “Democrats like Pete Buttigieg want to emasculate the way we drive and force all of you to rely on electric vehicles.”
In an appearance Tuesday on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto asked Buttigieg what he thought of the comment.
“I literally don’t even understand what that means,” Buttigieg replied. “My sense of manhood is not connected to whether or not my vehicle is fueled by gasoline or whether it’s fueled by electricity.”
“It was a strange thing to say,” he added. “You know, to be honest, there are other members of Congress that I pay more attention to when I’m thinking about opinions that really matter or ideas that are going to be critical to engage with.”
Greene, who recently made headlines for saying Pride Month “needs to end,” has previously targeted the transportation secretary with bizarre and nonsensical homophobia. In March, she told Trump rally attendees in Georgia that “Pete Buttigieg can take his electric vehicles and his bicycles, and he and his husband can stay out of our girls’ bathrooms.” The following month, she said that “mom and dad have been replaced by Chasten and Pete Buttigieg and their designer babies. Our society is sick.”
She also seems obsessed with traditional definitions of masculinity. In July, she complained that “woke training” in the U.S. military meant that “toxic masculinity is completely not accepted” anymore, when “I would think toxic masculinity would be a No. 1 requirement” to sign up.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
IMPERIALIST SEA WAR Beaten and robbed: Vietnamese fisherman recounts China attacks
Tran Thi Minh Ha and Alice Philipson Tue, October 4, 2022
Vietnamese fisherman Nguyen Van Loc has been attacked by Chinese coast guard vessels so many times, he has lost count.
One summer day in 2020, while sailing through the Paracel Islands -- resource-rich waters in the South China Sea claimed by both Hanoi and Beijing -- his boat was rammed by a Chinese ship repeatedly until it capsized.
Thirteen of his crewmen were left clinging to a fishing basket in the water, desperately awaiting help.
Loc, 43, was beaten over and over, while his boat was stripped of their catch, tools and fishing gear.
Some years before that, two Chinese vessels with large machine guns -- and crew armed with axes -- slammed into Loc's boat and followed them closely as they tried to make their way home.
Now swathes of the disputed sea – where he began fishing as a boy aged 15 -- are no-go zones, while other parts are so overfished that he spends just an hour where he used to pass the whole day.
"We used to get scared," Loc told AFP. "But now this is just our normal life."
Vietnam's ministry of foreign affairs asked Beijing to investigate the incident -- widely reported in Vietnamese media -- at the time, and other fishermen from Ly Son island told AFP of similar experiences of harassment at sea.
Since 2014, 98 Vietnamese boats have been destroyed by Chinese vessels, according to figures from the local fishing association on Ly Son, home to hundreds of fishermen and their families whose livelihoods depend on trips out to sea.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, a waterway of immense strategic importance through which trillions of dollars worth of trade transits every year.
There are rival claims to part of the sea from neighbours including Vietnam, but China has become increasingly aggressive in asserting itself in the area under President Xi Jinping, who is expected to secure a record third consecutive term this month. - Flags shot down -
Close to the water's edge, where a line of women wearing traditional conical hats sorts the day's catch, lies Ly Son's ship repair yard. But it is ill-equipped to handle the hefty damage inflicted on the boats.
Many are forced to sail to the mainland, putting them out of action for days.
Beijing gained control of the Paracel Islands in 1974 after clashes with the South Vietnamese Navy that left 75 Vietnamese troops dead.
Today, Chinese coast guard vessels shoot down the Vietnamese flags that flutter over the cabin of each fishing boat, according to Ly Son's fishing association, and mostly the crew have no choice but to sail away, fearful of the consequences if they stand their ground.
Over the last three decades, 120 fishermen from Ly Son have died due to attacks by Chinese vessels or because boats from China refused to come to their aid during poor weather, the local fishing association said.
"Our vessels are small," said Loc. "If we are chased, then we run."
But Loc, like many of his fellow fishermen, remains committed to the waters, where his grandfather and father fished before him.
"This fishing ground belonged to our ancestors, we will never give it up."
tmh-aph/pdw/qan
Florida Governor DeSantis defends government inaction as Hurricane Ian death toll surpasses 100
The death toll is mounting in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on the Florida coast as a Category 4 storm last Wednesday, September 28, bringing devastating storm surges to the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area and deadly flooding across the state.
Residents of apartments in Harlem Heights, Fla., clean out clothes and other possessions from their apartments swamped by flood waters from Hurricane Ian, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. [AP Photo/Rebecca Santata]
As of this writing, at least 103 people have been confirmed dead in Florida and five in North Carolina, though the total is expected to be higher as search and rescue teams are still working through the wreckage. Lee County, which includes Cape Coral and Fort Myers, alone accounts for 54 of the deaths, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Monday, up from the county’s previous death toll of 42. Neighboring Charlotte County, where the hurricane made landfall, has the second most recorded deaths at 24. As of now most of the deaths were drownings, according to officials.
Statewide more than 2,300 rescues have been made, and over 1,000 urban search and rescue personnel have checked 79,000 structures, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a press conference on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden is to meet with DeSantis on Wednesday, in order to give the appearance that something is being done for the state and federal governments about the disaster. Contrary to the image they are attempting to create, no substantial assistance is forthcoming. With the total estimated damage standing at between $28 billion and $47 billion, according to an estimate from CoreLogic, no commensurate sum has even been floated let alone formally proposed by the president or the governor. Meanwhile, over $50 billion has been shoveled into fueling a war with Russia by the United States which stands to start a world-ending nuclear war.
The death toll in Lee County is likely in no small part due to the failure to issue timely evacuation orders, with residents being given a mandatory evacuation order on September 27—less than 24 hours before Ian made landfall—despite warnings that they were in the storm’s path made since at least September 23. Over 700 people have been rescued in the county so far according to Marceno.
DeSantis defended the delayed evacuation order on Saturday in Fort Myers, telling reporters that county officials were following the data which showed the storm making landfall in Tampa Bay, which is in Hillsborough County, before shifting south to Lee County. The implication of this is that the government decided that the effect on businesses through the evacuation of two counties outweighed the loss of lives if the storm were to change course.
DeSantis, who is in the running to replace fascistic ex-President Donald Trump as leader of the Republican Party, no doubt is attempting to burnish his credentials as a ruthless defender of the profits of the financial elite. It is much in keeping with the policy of herd immunity pursued by his administration in Florida which has killed over 80,000 people in the state.
The governor has only just now announced the opening of the first Disaster Recovery Center, with DeSantis announcing that other Disaster Recovery centers are being opened by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Much as in previous responses by the political establishment to past storms, such as that of Hurricane Maria in 2017 which killed more than 3,000 in Puerto Rico; Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,800 in New Orleans in 2005, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years which has killed more than 1 million, the policy of the government towards Hurricane Ian was one of malign neglect centered around protecting profits rather than lives.
The DeSantis acolyte Marceno attempted to distract from the death and devastation by focusing on four individuals who the sheriff says are “illegal” immigrants suspected of unspecified burglaries, threatening that suspected looters may be summarily executed: “You might walk in. You’ll be carried out.” His fascistic threats make the priorities of the political establishment apparent: profits over lives. Meanwhile the personal property of the working and poor, and for that matter small businesses, are allowed to be destroyed with little or no aid from the state.
As of Tuesday evening 374,579 customers were still without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. Lee accounted for the most outages at 201,329, a little under half of the customers in the county, while the nearby counties accounted for the vast majority of the rest of the outages. Over half of the customers in both DeSoto and Charlotte counties remain without power. Many in the areas affected by the storms still lack access to fresh drinking water and remain under boil-water notices, according to the Florida Department of Health.
As in other natural disasters, those who will be impacted the most are overwhelmingly the working class and the poor. Those who were unable to afford flood insurance are now left with ruined homes and nowhere to go. In the counties under evacuation orders, less than 20 percent of homes had coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program.
This is under conditions in which workers in Florida are already struggling to pay for housing. There are 2.24 million households in the state—more than a quarter of total households—which have incomes below $50,000 a year and pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent or mortgage, according to the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.
The most the federal government pays out is $40,000 for property damage repairs and another $40,000 for car damage. Suffice it to say $40,000 is far less than what is required to repair a destroyed home, or even to renovate from significant water logging, which can leave debilitating toxic mold that can cause permanent lung damage or even death.
Florida has seen rental prices increase by more than 30 percent over the past two years. The loss in housing stock—through the destruction of houses—means that prices for homes are expected to increase even further.
As a result of the lack of alternatives, many are resorting to staying in the water-logged ruins of their homes or becoming homeless. Robert McClain, 67, a military veteran and retired construction worker, was interviewed by the New York Times in the garage of his water-logged rental home. He said he had few options but to live in his car. “I’m not running to go live in the Hilton, you know what I’m saying?” He concluded, “I’m totally screwed.”
The Asian Voice Red tourism growing in popularity: China Daily contributor The writer says supportive policies are needed to ensure the steady and healthy development of red tourism.
Tourists stand near a Chinese national flag at a tourist site in the
outskirts of Beijing, on Oct 2, 2022.
BEIJING (CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - "Red tourism", a subset of tourism in which people visit locations and memorials of historical significance to the Communist Party of China, has given a much-needed shot in the arm of the domestic tourism industry in summer. And many believe red tourism will bloom further during the National Day Golden Week holiday.
Ticket bookings for red tourism sites in June increased by five times month-on-month on Ctrip, China's leading travel service platform, with local and short trips to red tourism sites being the choice of about 88 per cent of such tourists. And the search for the term "red tourism" on Mafengwo, a Chinese travel service and social-networking platform, increased by 300 per cent during the summer holidays.
Red tourism is not only about the joy of visiting a new place and taking in the wonderful sights. It is also about gaining knowledge about history and being inspired by the stories of the people who contributed to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and worked for the well-being of the Chinese people. By rediscovering history and passing on the stories of the Chinese revolution and its heroes to the next generations, people can uplift their spirit. Red tourism can also be used as a leverage to revitalise rural areas because most of the revolutionary bases and red tourism sites are in the countryside.
By exploiting such sites to raise the incomes of rural residents, the authorities can create a new driving force for integrated rural development. Since red tourism is a labour-intensive sector involving catering, accommodation, entertainment and other related businesses, which creates jobs and helps increase farmers' incomes, it can boost local development.
Ctrip data show that in the first half of 2022, more than 30 per cent of all tourists visited red tourism sites in rural areas, which was 10 per cent more than the previous year. Yet red tourism faces certain developmental problems, mainly because some local government officials have failed to make the best use of red tourism resources for economic development.
In fact, some local departments have adopted a cavalier attitude toward research, restoration and conservation of former revolutionary bases. Disputes over resources, projects and ownership between different departments and jurisdictions are not uncommon either, owing to the lack of unified planning. Superficial descriptions of some historical figures, organisations and past events at different red tourism sites lessen the importance of the sites and leave visitors flabbergasted.
To better develop red tourism, local governments also need to build infrastructure that merges with the surroundings and is coherent with the red tourism sites in rural areas. Improving supporting infrastructure and services including ensuring undisrupted water and electricity supply, and providing smooth transport and telecommunication services will make the red tourism sites in the countryside even more attractive.
While the historical and spiritual value of red tourism should be highlighted with the help of scholars and experts, the management and staff training at tourism sites should be strengthened. For example, tourism officials should conduct on-the-spot investigation and learn from well-run sites to improve their own services.
Red tourism sites also need more professional planning. The tourism authorities, for instance, could consider integrating cross-regional and cross-provincial sites associated with the Long March and the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) to better develop red tourism. They could also consider developing a "red plus tourism model" based on local conditions and by incorporating local characteristics to enrich the experience of tourists.
And while digital technology can be used to offer virtual tours and panoramic displays of red tourism sites to the people and new media platforms can help promote and market derivative products, supportive policies are needed to ensure the steady and healthy development of red tourism.
The writer is deputy director of the international exchanges office at Beijing Language and Culture University. China Daily is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 news media titles.
INTER-IMPERIALIST RIVALRY Taiwan vows to protect its firms' interests at U.S.-led 'Chip 4' group
Illustration picture of semiconductor chips on a circuit board
Tue, October 4, 2022
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan will use the new U.S.-led "Chip 4" group to safeguard the interests of Taiwanese companies and to ensure supply chain resilience, a deputy minister said on Wednesday, though he added that the group had no agenda yet.
A preliminary meeting of the group took place last week with representatives from Taiwan, the United States, South Korea and Japan attending.
A global semiconductor shortage has thrust chip powerhouse Taiwan into the spotlight and made supply chain management a bigger priority for governments around the world.
Taiwan Deputy Economy Minister Chen Chern-chyi told reporters in Taipei that chipmaking required collaboration to ensure a "very resilient supply chain".
"We will use that platform to strive to safeguard our companies' interest," he said, but added that the group not started formal meetings.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has said that the island is committed to ensuring its partners have reliable supplies of semiconductors and has urged allies to boost collaboration amid intensified threats from China.
Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan's government rejects China's sovereignty claims.
The "Chip 4" group's Asian members are home to the world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix, and key Japanese suppliers of semiconductor materials and equipment.
The establishment of the group also comes on the heels of a new U.S. law passed in August that includes $52 billion in subsidies for companies that make chips or conduct chip research in the United States, as Washington looks to lessen U.S. reliance on Asia for semiconductors.
Asked about the United States wanting to reduce its reliance on manufacturing in Taiwan, Chen said Taiwan's chip industry has a well integrated supply chain and a very good workforce.
"From the government's perspective we think Taiwan's advantage and Taiwan's edge in developing the most advanced manufacturing technology will always be here in Taiwan."
But the government is happy to see Taiwanese chip firms investing in like-minded countries, he added.
"We think that will only deepen and strengthen our relations."
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Can President Biden save democracy one US factory job at a time?
Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century.
President Joe Biden attends a March 9, 2022, event at the White House to support legislation that would encourage domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains for computer chips.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is working to create a manufacturing revival — even helping to put factory jobs in Republican territory under the belief it can restore faith in U.S. democracy.
The latest development came Tuesday, when chipmaker Micron announced an investment of up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a plant in upstate New York that could create 9,000 factory jobs. It's a commitment made in a GOP congressional district that Biden and the company credited to the recently enacted $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.
“Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said in a statement. “Together, we are building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, where we lower costs for our families and make it right here in America.”
Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century. His goal is to keep opening new factories in states such as Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina and Georgia — where Democrats' footholds are shaky at best. Administration officials say they want to spread the prosperity across the entire country, rather than let it cluster in centers of extreme wealth, in a bid to renew the middle class and a sense of pride in the country itself. Courthouse News’ podcast Sidebar tackles the stories you need to know from the legal world. Join our hosts as they take you in and out of courtrooms in the U.S. and beyond.
The push comes at a precarious moment for the global economy. High inflation in the U.S. has hurt Biden’s popularity and prompted recession concerns. Much of Europe faces a possible downturn due to the jump in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the International Monetary Fund just downgraded growth in China. The world economy is defined by uncertainty just as Biden has called for investments in clean energy and technology that could take years to pay off.
The president is hopeful that whatever good manufacturing can do for the U.S. economy also turns out to yield political benefits for himself and other Democrats in 2022 and beyond. He told Democratic donors on Friday that the manufacturing and technology investments mean “we have an opportunity” to strengthen the U.S. if Democratic governors and lawmakers are elected this year.
Going into the midterm elections, Biden is telling voters that a factory renaissance has already started because of him. The administration sees its infrastructure spending, computer chip investments and clean-energy incentives as helping domestic manufacturing in unprecedented ways.
Recent academic studies suggest that decades of layoffs due to offshoring contributed to the rise of Republican Donald Trump, with his opposition to immigration and global trade. But many of the authors of the studies doubt that Biden can make these demographic trends disappear through the promise of jobs for skilled workers.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California would like to see the president make a national tour of factory openings, so that his policies could stick better in voters' minds. Khanna recently attended the groundbreaking of a $20 billion Intel plant in Ohio and laid out his belief that factory job losses helped cause today's political schisms.
The Silicon Valley congressman reasons that too many Americans have lost faith in a government that seemed indifferent to their own well-being, leading them to embrace hucksters and authoritarians who thrive by exploiting and widening divisions in society.
“How do you get rid of people’s jobs and expect them to believe in democracy?” Khanna asks.
Factory jobs have risen during Biden's tenure to the most since 2008 at 12.85 million, yet the task of steadying the country's middle class and its democratic institutions is far from complete. The industrial Midwest has yet to recover the factory jobs shed in the pandemic, let alone decades of layoffs in which the economic challenges evolved into political tensions.
Labor Department data show that Ohio is still 10,000 factory jobs shy of its pre-pandemic level and 350,000 jobs below its total in 2000. The numbers are similarly bad in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — three states that were key to Biden's 2020 victory and could help decide control of Congress in November's elections.
The White House says Biden eschews thinking about Americans solely as consumers interested only in the cheapest prices and thus promoting outsourcing. Instead, his speeches are woven with talk about people as workers and the identity that working gives them.
What Biden can show with this year's factory groundbreakings is progress, even if the total number of manufacturing jobs is unlikely to return to the 1979 peak of 19.55 million. Intel's computer chip plant being built in New Albany, Ohio, would add 3,000 jobs. Hyundai would add 8,100 jobs with its electric vehicle plant in Georgia. Wolfspeed, with plans to produce silicon carbide wafers in North Carolina, would add 1,800 jobs.
Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the gains in factory jobs reflect five years of effort, starting with the 2017 tax cuts by Trump and including Biden's investments in infrastructure and computer chips as well as efforts to return jobs to the U.S. after global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic.
“There's a commitment by government at all levels to do more here and a desire by manufacturers to do more here,” Timmons said.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu applauded the president's plans for spreading factory work across the country. It's too soon to tell if the administration is succeeding, he said, but Biden is challenging what was once conventional wisdom among economists that little could be done to expand factory work in the U.S.
“I believe the president is right,” said Acemoglu, the co-author of the book “Why Nations Fail.” “'Good jobs,' which pay decent wages, have job stability, offer career-addressing opportunities, and endow a sense of accomplishment and dignity, are important for the middle class and social cohesion."
New academic research released in September suggests that the offshoring of factory jobs led white men to feel like victims and gave way to the rise of grievance politics that helped fuel Trump's ascendancy among Republican voters. That movement in turn spawned election denialism and political violence that Biden has repeatedly said is "a dagger to the throat of our democracy."
The research covering 3,500 U.S. citizens finds that factory job losses due to automation are less controversial among voters than the offshoring, which triggered a “self-victimization bias" for whites who were more likely to “view offshoring as leading to greater total harm to the American economy, and to the U.S. position in the world.”
One of the study's authors, Leonardo Baccini of McGill University, still expects factory job totals to shrink, though a decline primarily due to automation would be less harmful to Democratic candidates. He still anticipates factory job losses over the long term as advanced economies focus more on productive services to sustain growth.
“From an economic standpoint, the decline of U.S. manufacturing is inevitable and it is actually a good thing,” Baccini said. “Any attempt to stop this structural transformation with protectionism and government subsidies is likely to backfire."
J. Lawrence Broz, a political scientist at the University of California San Diego, co-wrote a 2019 research paper that found populist support was strongest in communities that endured long-term economic and social decline, a contrast to the superstar cities where technology, finance and a highly educated workforce were magnets for wealth.
“It is unlikely that recent efforts to re-shore manufacturing jobs will produce the intended effects, either economically or politically,” Broz said. “The new factories won’t employ large numbers of less-skilled workers, leaving white industrial workers just as angry as they are now.”
That means the underlying test of Biden's agenda might be whether enough workers can be educated to meet the needs of a manufacturing sector with higher standards than during the heights of its dominance in the 20th century.
__
By JOSH BOAK Associated Press
Tories Say Bank of Canada Deserves ‘Ruthless Scrutiny’
Stephen Wicary Tue, October 4, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s main opposition Conservatives are ratcheting up pressure on the nation’s central bank, although the party’s new leader has put aside his previous call for the governor’s dismissal.
Pierre Poilievre, who was overwhelmingly elected by fellow Tories last month to challenge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has blamed the Bank of Canada for financing the Liberal government’s record-setting pandemic budget deficits.
In May, the 42-year-old firebrand said that if elected prime minister he would fire Governor Tiff Macklem for helping to drive inflation to a multi-decade high.
Poilievre hasn’t called for Macklem’s dismissal since assuming the Conservative leadership. But his procedural chief in the legislature released a 10-minute video Tuesday making clear the central bank was still in the political cross hairs.
The Bank of Canada “literally controls the value of the money that you work so hard to earn, and its policies determine the interest rates that you pay on all the debt that you carry,” Opposition House Leader Andrew Scheer said. “Because of that, the bank should be subject to ruthless scrutiny and dispassionate analysis.”
Scheer has proposed legislation that would revoke the central bank’s exemption from scrutiny by the nation’s auditor general. Macklem is scheduled to deliver a speech and hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon, and traders are betting that he will deliver another oversized policy rate hike later this month.
Poilievre and Trudeau aren’t likely to square off in an election until 2025 thanks to a power-sharing deal the prime minister struck with the left-leaning New Democratic Party. But were the Conservatives to win power, Macklem would likely be in an unworkable bind given the open attacks from the Tories.
(Adds details about next election. An earlier version corrected the quote to say “subject” to ruthless scrutiny)
Editorial Notes Football tragedy unacceptable: Dawn The paper says aggressive policing only leads to disaster, as shown by the Indonesian tragedy.
A police officer fires tear gas during a riot after a football match at Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java province, Indonesia, on Oct 2, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD (DAWN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Sports arouses the rawest of human emotions.
Football is no exception - in fact, the passions on display at football matches are unique. But any loss of human life at a match is unacceptable, and the deaths of at least 125 fans, including 32 minors, in a stadium crush in Indonesia on Saturday (Oct 1), after police fired tear gas, is heart-wrenching.
It bears reflecting that one of the deadliest events even wasn't the result of riots between two sets of fans. Arema, a club from East Javan city of Malang, had barred visiting fans of Persebaya from the game, but after losing to their rivals for the first time in 23 years, some of the fans stormed the pitch in protest.
It sparked a chain of unfortunate events which saw police fire tear gas, leading to those in the stands rushing to the exits, some of which had been closed, and losing their lives in the ensuing chaos. Indonesia may have ordered a thorough investigation but the damage has been done.
The global football body FIFA prohibits the use of tear gas for crowd control inside stadiums. Yet, a day after the incident, tear gas was used to control fans in France during a match between Toulouse and Montpellier. Tear gas was also used outside Stade de France in Paris ahead of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in May, where investigations showed that the fans weren't to blame.
It prompted questions about French policing for the Olympics in 2024. Similar questions are also being raised about Indonesia's credentials as a host for top sporting events. Indonesia is set to host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup next year and is also in the running to replace China as hosts for the Asia Cup.
For FIFA, a test of crowd control will come later this year at the World Cup in Qatar when 1.2m fans will descend upon the Gulf state for the month-long football festival. The Indonesian tragedy shows that aggressive policing only leads to disaster.
South Korean reprisal launch blows up after North's missile success
AP 4 Oct, 2022
An Army Tactical Missile System missile is fired during a joint military drill between US and South Korea at an undisclosed location in South Korea. Photo / AP
A malfunctioning South Korean ballistic missile blew up as it ploughed into the ground during a live-fire drill with the United States that was a reprisal for North Korea's successful launch a day earlier of a weapon that flew over Japan and has the range to strike the US territory of Guam.
The explosion and subsequent fire panicked and confused residents of the coastal city of Gangneung, who were already uneasy over the increasingly provocative weapons tests by rival North Korea.
Their concern that it could be a North Korean attack only grew as the military and government officials provided no explanation about the explosion for hours.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said no injuries have been reported from the explosion, which involved a short-range Hyumoo-2 missile that crashed inside an air force base on the outskirts of the city. It said the crash didn't affect any civilian facilities.
During the same drill, the US military launched four of its own missiles that are part of the Army Tactical Missile System and South Korea fired another Hyumoo-2 successfully. The homegrown missile is key to South Korea's pre-emptive and retaliatory strike strategies against the North and is a version of a Russian-designed Iskander missile, which is also possessed by the North.
Kwon Seong-dong, a ruling party lawmaker representing Gangneung, wrote on Facebook that a "weapons system operated by our blood-like taxpayer money ended up threatening our own people" and called for the military to thoroughly investigate the missile failure.
He also criticised the military for not issuing a notice about the failure while maintaining a media embargo on the joint drills.
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"It was an irresponsible response," Kwon wrote. "They don't even have an official press release yet.
South Korea's military acknowledged the missile malfunction hours after internet users raised the alarm about the blast and posted social media videos showing an orange ball of flames emerging from an area they described as near the air force base. It said it was investigating what caused the "abnormal flight" of the missile.
Officials at Gangneung's fire department and city hall said emergency workers were dispatched to the air force base and a nearby army base in response to calls about a possible explosion but were sent back by military officials.
A South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter jet fires 2 JDAM bombs into an island target in South Korea. Photo / AP
The US and South Korean militaries are conducting joint exercises to show their ability to deter a North Korean attack on the South. In addition to missile launches, they involved bombing runs by F-15 strike jets using precision munitions.
North Korea's successful launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile hours before the drills was the country's most provocative weapons demonstration since 2017 and was its fifth round of weapons tests in 10 days.
That missile has a range capable of striking Guam, which is home to one of the largest military facilities maintained by the US in Asia. North Korea in 2017 also tested missiles capable of hitting the continental United States.
North Korea has fired nearly 40 ballistic missiles over about 20 different launch events this year, exploiting Russia's war on Ukraine and the resulting deep divide in the UN Security Council to accelerate its arms development without risking further sanctions.
Its aim is to develop a fully-fledged nuclear arsenal capable of threatening the US mainland and its allies while gaining recognition as a nuclear state and wresting concessions from those countries.
The US, Britain, France, Albania, Norway and Ireland called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the latest North Korean launch. Diplomats said it is likely to be held Thursday, but it's not certain whether it will be open or closed.
Bangkok urged to work from home or leave early as flooding wreaks havoc
Authorities aid residents on Oct. 3, 2022, in Bangkok’s Bang Na area during flash floods.
With even more rain expected to soak Bangkok this week, city authorities yesterday urged residents to consider working from home for the next few days to avoid difficulty commuting.
Deputy Gov. Tavida Kamolvej expressed concern about heavy downpours forecast to hit the city today through Friday and therefore encouraged people to work remotely. Those who need to work on site were advised to leave their workplaces earlier than usual.
Tavida said City Hall is closely monitoring water levels in the Chao Phraya River, which is expected to rise around 1.70 meters to 2 meters above sea level. Rainfall over most of the metropolitan area and highs of 30C to 31C are forecast for the next week before the rain eases slightly mid-month.
The authorities have piled sandbags to deter flooding in vulnerable areas such as Bang Khen, Lak Si, and Don Mueang.
Bangkok’s unusually wet year and chronic flooding have posed the first major test of newly elected governor Chadchart Sittipunt, who has admitted that he and his team were inadequately prepared to resolve the city’s flooding problems. Apart from severe climate change, Chadchart said that his administration has struggled with a lack of personnel and tools to deal with the situation.
Heavy rain and flash floods late Monday afternoon turned several parts of Bangkok into swamps and paralyzed traffic across town, leaving motorists stranded for hours. The Monday evening rush hours saw overcrowding and significant waits at skytrain stations such as BTS Asok and BTS Mo Chit.
Meanwhile, several national parks have been temporarily shut in recent days due to flash floods. They include the Ob Khan National Park in Chiang Mai and Khuean Srinagarindra National Park in Kanchanaburi.
On Wednesday morning, Varawut Silpa-archa, minister of natural resources and the environment, instructed park chiefs to closely monitor flooding at forest parks and national parks. They may consider closing to protect visitors.
Tourists are also strongly encouraged to check information about weather and their destinations before visiting.
The Khuean Srinagarindra National Park in Kanchanaburi province has been temporarily closed to tourists due to flash floods. Photo: Khuean Srinagarindra National Park
The Ob Khan National Park in Chiang Mai province has been temporarily closed to tourists due to flash floods. Photo: Ob Khan National Park
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