IAEA and FAO Send Seeds to International Space Station to Develop Crops Able to Adapt to Climate Change on Earth
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched seeds into space today as they intensify their joint efforts to develop new crops able to adapt to the ravages of climate change here on Earth.
The seeds from the IAEA and FAO agriculture and biotechnology laboratories are travelling to the International Space Station just as leaders meet at the UN Climate Change Conference COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh to discuss pressing environmental challenges, including the significant impact of the climate crisis on the world’s agrifood production systems.
“Nuclear science once again is showing us its extraordinary capability to tackle climate change,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. “I am hopeful this experiment will bring about breakthroughs: results that we share freely with scientists and new crops that help farmers adapt to climate change and boost food supplies.”
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said: “Millions of vulnerable smallholder food producers across the planet urgently require resilient, high-quality seeds adapted to increasingly challenging growing conditions. Innovative science like space breeding of improved crop varieties can help pave the road to a brighter future of better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.”
Seeds of Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used in genetic experiments due to its unique features, and Sorghum, a nutrient-packed grain used for food for humans, animal feed and ethanol, will be exposed inside and outside of the International Space Station for approximately three months to conditions prevailing in space, primarily microgravity, a complex mixture of cosmic radiation and extreme low temperatures.
Upon their return, scientists at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture will grow and screen them for useful traits to better understand space-induced mutations of plant seeds — a technique known as space mutagenesis — and identify new varieties able to adapt to changing terrestrial conditions associated with climate change.
According to the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, the stability of the world’s food supply will decrease in the future, severely affecting its most vulnerable people. The new crop varieties from space could help farmers and decision makers, who need to make substantial changes and investments in adapting to a changing climate, to sustain production and food quality.
The ongoing experiment is based on almost 60 years of experience of the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre in inducing mutations in plants and thereby speeding up their breeding with the help of radiation to develop new agricultural crop varieties. So far, more than 3 400 mutant varieties of more than 210 plant species that were developed using induced genetic variation and mutation breeding — including numerous food crops, ornamentals and trees — have officially been released for commercial use in 70 countries.
This experiment will be the first time the IAEA and FAO conduct genomic and biological analyses of seeds exposed to space mutagenesis. At the International Space Station, the seeds will be exposed to unique conditions that cannot be reproduced in a laboratory on Earth. One goal of the experiment is also to compare such seeds with the ones exposed to radiation in laboratory conditions to study DNA and growth effects.
This project will be part of the IAEA and FAO portfolio of climate change projects aimed at helping countries adapt to new climate realities, including food and water shortages and biodiversity losses, through nuclear science and technology. At COP27, the IAEA and the FAO will organize an event on 15 November from 13 to 14 pm to highlight how joint energy, food and water resource planning and management can contribute to climate-resilient development. More information about the event is available here. Among others, the IAEA will also organize an event discussing the approaches and scientific advances that help countries adapt to climate change. A list of all COP27 events is available here.
This week, the two organizations also agreed to intensify their collaborations in food and agriculture using nuclear science and technology. Directors General Grossi and Qu Dongyu signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 31 October to increase innovative research and development to help countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. New work envisaged include other key areas such as the ocean, the environment, water resources and nutrition.
Saturday, November 05, 2022
Africa: Anti-Microbial Resistance Strategies Need Urgent Attention to Prevent Unnecessary Deaths in Africa
3 NOVEMBER 2022
Inter Press Service
3 NOVEMBER 2022
Inter Press Service
By Francis Kokutse
Accra — African countries must find a way of fighting Anti-Microbial Resistance in the healthcare system to avoid unnecessary deaths.
A few months ago, the President of the Ghana Public Health Association, Amofah George, narrated how he saw a patient die after failing to respond to all the available antibiotics used for managing her septicemic condition, blood poisoning, especially caused by bacteria or their toxins. He attributed the situation to antibiotic resistance, or Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) which he said has become a growing pandemic.
The problem is simple: Africa's healthcare system does not routinely rely on laboratories to produce tests for treatment. AMR programme manager of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Edwin Shumba, told IPS, "Ghana, like other countries on the continent, rely on a few medical laboratories to conduct bacteriology testing as part of the routine clinical services."
"This means that doctors are flying blind when prescribing a treatment to their patients, and public health experts do not have an insight of what is ongoing in terms of AMR, at hospital and national level," Shumba said.
"The growing threat of AMR has implications for patient care: the antibiotics that used to work will not be able to cure the infections caused by resistant bacteria anymore. This means more that infections might take longer to cure, might be more severe (mortality, morbidity), and will cost more to the society."
Worried by the increasing cases of AMR, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) has spearheaded a study, and data from 14 sub-Saharan countries show that only five out of the 15 antibiotic-resistant pathogens - a bacterium, virus, or other microorganisms that can cause disease -designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a priority are being consistently tested, and that all five demonstrated high resistance.
Across the 14 countries, clinical and treatment data are not being linked to laboratory results, making it hard to understand what's driving AMR. Out of almost 187,000 samples tested for AMR, around 88% had no information on patients' clinical profile, including diagnosis/origin of infection, presence of indwelling devices (such as urinary catheters, feeding tubes, and wound drains) often associated with development of healthcare-associated infection, comorbidities, or antimicrobial usage. The remaining 12% had incomplete information.
The multi-year, multi-country study was carried out by the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial use Partnership (MAAP), a consortium spearheaded by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), with partners including the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the One Health Trust, the West African Health Organization (WAHO), the East, Central, and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC), Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases, and Disasters, and IQVIA. It provides stark insights into the under-reported depth of the AMR crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to address the emergency.
MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016 to 2019 from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, and Cameroon. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.
The researchers found that most African laboratories are not ready for AMR testing. Only 1.3% of the 50,000 medical laboratories forming the laboratory networks of the 14 participating countries conduct bacteriology testing. And of those, only a fraction can handle the scientific processes needed to evaluate AMR. Researchers also found that in eight of the 14 countries, more than half of the population is out of reach of any bacteriology laboratory.
The study results provide insights into the AMR burden and antimicrobial consumption in the 14 countries where most available AMR data is based only on statistical modeling. The effort by MAAP is the first of its kind to systematically collect, process, and evaluate large quantities of AMR and antimicrobial consumption (AMC) data in Africa.
The WHO has repeatedly stated that AMR is a global health priority--and is, in fact, one of the leading public health threats of the 21st century. A recent study estimated that, in 2019, nearly 1.3 million deaths globally were attributed to antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections. Africa was found to have the highest mortality rate from AMR infections in the world, with 24 deaths per 100,000 attributable to AMR.
ASLM's director of science and new initiatives, Pascale Ondoa, said, "Africa is struggling to fight drug-resistant pathogens, just like the rest of the world, but our struggle is compounded by the fact that we don't have an accurate picture of how antimicrobial resistance is impacting our citizens and health systems."
The research also found that only four drugs comprised more than two-thirds (67%) of all the antibiotics used in healthcare settings. Stronger medicines to treat more resistant infections (such as severe pneumonia, sepsis, and complicated intra-abdominal infections) were unavailable, suggesting limited access to some groups of antibiotics.
ASLM's chief executive Nqobile Ndlovu said, "Across Africa, even where data on antimicrobial resistance is collected, it is not always accessible, often recorded by hand, and rarely consolidated or shared with policymakers; as a result, health experts are flying blind and cannot develop and deploy policies that would limit or curtail antimicrobial resistance."
"The disconnect between patient data and antimicrobial resistance results, coupled with the extreme antimicrobial resistance burden, makes it incredibly difficult to provide accurate guidelines for patient care and wider public health policies," said Dr Yewande Alimi, Africa CDC AMR programme coordinator. "Hence, collecting and connecting laboratory, pharmacy, and clinical data will be essential to provide a baseline and a reference for public health actions."
"Collectively, the data highlights a dual problem of limited access to antibiotics and irrational use of those that are available," said IQVIA's head of Public Health (Africa and Middle East) and Real-World Evidence (Middle East), Deepak Batra.
"As a result, people don't get the right treatment for severe infections, and irrational use of antibiotics drives antimicrobial resistance for existing available treatment options. Routine monitoring of antimicrobial consumption could help monitor the limited access and irrational use," he added.
Based on the findings, MAAP calls for a drastic increase in the quality and quantity of AMR and AMC data being collected across the continent, along with revised AMR control strategies and research priorities.
For Shumba, Ghana, like the rest of Africa, can fight AMR by including critical interventions in revised versions of the national AMR Action plans, essential medicine Lists, laboratory strategies, and standard treatment guidelines.
"This heavy toll on the health systems poses a major threat to progress made in health and in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage, the African Union's Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals," he added.
Shumba said the AMR coordinating committee of Ghana could assist other policymakers in using the evidence gathered by the MAAP project to refine their strategies for AMR containment. In addition, they can plan to increase the number and capacity of medical laboratories to conduct bacteriology testing in the country.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Read the original article on IPS.
Accra — African countries must find a way of fighting Anti-Microbial Resistance in the healthcare system to avoid unnecessary deaths.
A few months ago, the President of the Ghana Public Health Association, Amofah George, narrated how he saw a patient die after failing to respond to all the available antibiotics used for managing her septicemic condition, blood poisoning, especially caused by bacteria or their toxins. He attributed the situation to antibiotic resistance, or Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) which he said has become a growing pandemic.
The problem is simple: Africa's healthcare system does not routinely rely on laboratories to produce tests for treatment. AMR programme manager of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Edwin Shumba, told IPS, "Ghana, like other countries on the continent, rely on a few medical laboratories to conduct bacteriology testing as part of the routine clinical services."
"This means that doctors are flying blind when prescribing a treatment to their patients, and public health experts do not have an insight of what is ongoing in terms of AMR, at hospital and national level," Shumba said.
"The growing threat of AMR has implications for patient care: the antibiotics that used to work will not be able to cure the infections caused by resistant bacteria anymore. This means more that infections might take longer to cure, might be more severe (mortality, morbidity), and will cost more to the society."
Worried by the increasing cases of AMR, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) has spearheaded a study, and data from 14 sub-Saharan countries show that only five out of the 15 antibiotic-resistant pathogens - a bacterium, virus, or other microorganisms that can cause disease -designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a priority are being consistently tested, and that all five demonstrated high resistance.
Across the 14 countries, clinical and treatment data are not being linked to laboratory results, making it hard to understand what's driving AMR. Out of almost 187,000 samples tested for AMR, around 88% had no information on patients' clinical profile, including diagnosis/origin of infection, presence of indwelling devices (such as urinary catheters, feeding tubes, and wound drains) often associated with development of healthcare-associated infection, comorbidities, or antimicrobial usage. The remaining 12% had incomplete information.
The multi-year, multi-country study was carried out by the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial use Partnership (MAAP), a consortium spearheaded by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), with partners including the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the One Health Trust, the West African Health Organization (WAHO), the East, Central, and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC), Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases, and Disasters, and IQVIA. It provides stark insights into the under-reported depth of the AMR crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to address the emergency.
MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016 to 2019 from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, and Cameroon. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.
The researchers found that most African laboratories are not ready for AMR testing. Only 1.3% of the 50,000 medical laboratories forming the laboratory networks of the 14 participating countries conduct bacteriology testing. And of those, only a fraction can handle the scientific processes needed to evaluate AMR. Researchers also found that in eight of the 14 countries, more than half of the population is out of reach of any bacteriology laboratory.
The study results provide insights into the AMR burden and antimicrobial consumption in the 14 countries where most available AMR data is based only on statistical modeling. The effort by MAAP is the first of its kind to systematically collect, process, and evaluate large quantities of AMR and antimicrobial consumption (AMC) data in Africa.
The WHO has repeatedly stated that AMR is a global health priority--and is, in fact, one of the leading public health threats of the 21st century. A recent study estimated that, in 2019, nearly 1.3 million deaths globally were attributed to antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections. Africa was found to have the highest mortality rate from AMR infections in the world, with 24 deaths per 100,000 attributable to AMR.
ASLM's director of science and new initiatives, Pascale Ondoa, said, "Africa is struggling to fight drug-resistant pathogens, just like the rest of the world, but our struggle is compounded by the fact that we don't have an accurate picture of how antimicrobial resistance is impacting our citizens and health systems."
The research also found that only four drugs comprised more than two-thirds (67%) of all the antibiotics used in healthcare settings. Stronger medicines to treat more resistant infections (such as severe pneumonia, sepsis, and complicated intra-abdominal infections) were unavailable, suggesting limited access to some groups of antibiotics.
ASLM's chief executive Nqobile Ndlovu said, "Across Africa, even where data on antimicrobial resistance is collected, it is not always accessible, often recorded by hand, and rarely consolidated or shared with policymakers; as a result, health experts are flying blind and cannot develop and deploy policies that would limit or curtail antimicrobial resistance."
"The disconnect between patient data and antimicrobial resistance results, coupled with the extreme antimicrobial resistance burden, makes it incredibly difficult to provide accurate guidelines for patient care and wider public health policies," said Dr Yewande Alimi, Africa CDC AMR programme coordinator. "Hence, collecting and connecting laboratory, pharmacy, and clinical data will be essential to provide a baseline and a reference for public health actions."
"Collectively, the data highlights a dual problem of limited access to antibiotics and irrational use of those that are available," said IQVIA's head of Public Health (Africa and Middle East) and Real-World Evidence (Middle East), Deepak Batra.
"As a result, people don't get the right treatment for severe infections, and irrational use of antibiotics drives antimicrobial resistance for existing available treatment options. Routine monitoring of antimicrobial consumption could help monitor the limited access and irrational use," he added.
Based on the findings, MAAP calls for a drastic increase in the quality and quantity of AMR and AMC data being collected across the continent, along with revised AMR control strategies and research priorities.
For Shumba, Ghana, like the rest of Africa, can fight AMR by including critical interventions in revised versions of the national AMR Action plans, essential medicine Lists, laboratory strategies, and standard treatment guidelines.
"This heavy toll on the health systems poses a major threat to progress made in health and in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage, the African Union's Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals," he added.
Shumba said the AMR coordinating committee of Ghana could assist other policymakers in using the evidence gathered by the MAAP project to refine their strategies for AMR containment. In addition, they can plan to increase the number and capacity of medical laboratories to conduct bacteriology testing in the country.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Read the original article on IPS.
Iran…Harbingers of Change
Friday, 4 November, 2022 -
Mustafa Fahs
The protests that have been ongoing in Iran for the past two months are not expected to lead to radical changes to the nature of the Iranian regime in the short or even medium term. However, the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, which have turned into a social movement, have begun imposing their demands for what the society and state should look like. Most alarmingly for the regime, it is not limited to a particular age group or nationality- it has become a generalized movement, the likes of which have not been seen in Iran since 1979.
A tweet by Iraqi researcher Hayder al-Khoie last Tuesday, which was quoted by the Washington Post, attests to the fact that a civil, political, and cultural revolt is emerging in Iranian society. “Just landed in Tehran. It doesn’t feel or look like a revolution is underway, but there have been massive sociopolitical changes: women now casually walk in public with no headscarves. Morality police likely to be defanged, at least temporarily, and maybe gone for good.” His tweet shows that what began two months ago in Tehran is more than a protest movement but has not become a popular insurrection. Rather, it is a civil disobedience movement, both above and below the surface.
Iranian women are refusing to take orders, and so mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters have mutinied with them. That means extended families, neighbors, friends, and colleagues have also joined it, forming what resembles an ideological civil disobedience movement worrying and waning the regime. More dangerous is that a week after the joint security campaign of the Baseej, IRGC, and the apparatuses of the ministry of interior was launched, during which it cordoned off universities and established security offices inside them to contain the students rebelling against the regime’s laws, it has yet to quash their movement. Meanwhile, the streets and cities of Iran remain tense, meaning that the back and forth between protesters and the regime might go on for long enough to threaten the regime’s stability.
Indeed, the standoff between the regime and protesters entered a critical stage on Saturday, but the clampdown has yet to achieve its objectives. It has not deterred Iranian women from openly disobeying the regime’s laws and removing their headscarves in the streets, nor has it pushed the oppressed minorities in Iran, like the Kurds, Arabs, and the Balochis, to retreat and stop protesting and striking. It has not reduced the scale of Azerbaijani participation either. With a deep and influential presence in state institutions, the Azerbaijanis, with their consistent involvement in the protests, have crystalized a regional mutiny against the central government in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the deployment of security forces throughout the neighborhoods of major cities like Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tabriz has reduced the number of protesters, failing to end the protests.
For this reason, we could see the regime not only escalate its crackdown on protesters but also adopt a different approach this time if the protests persist. The regime could try to deflect the crisis abroad, and if it does, this would expose that it is facing a deep, fundamental internal crisis. Since last month, the regime has been accusing foreign actors of being behind the chaos. However, since last week, it has been pushing the idea of punishing the actors, meaning it could retreat to the front if repression fails.
Talk of a border crisis around the Azerbaijani region of Naqshjahan, the assaults on northern Iraq, and the threatening neighboring countries with punishment, are little more than attempts to deflect its crisis abroad- come what may.
And so, as Iranians rebel, the regime is trying to squash their movement by pushing the crisis outside the country’s borders. Meanwhile, countries near and far and undergoing major changes. Projected election results and the new alliances taking shape around the world are not looking good for Iran. They could leave several hostile powers intervening against Iran if it were to attack its neighbors, especially since such a step would affirm that what we are seeing in Iran is a harbinger for civil disobedience that could potentially be a prelude to change.
Friday, 4 November, 2022 -
Mustafa Fahs
The protests that have been ongoing in Iran for the past two months are not expected to lead to radical changes to the nature of the Iranian regime in the short or even medium term. However, the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, which have turned into a social movement, have begun imposing their demands for what the society and state should look like. Most alarmingly for the regime, it is not limited to a particular age group or nationality- it has become a generalized movement, the likes of which have not been seen in Iran since 1979.
A tweet by Iraqi researcher Hayder al-Khoie last Tuesday, which was quoted by the Washington Post, attests to the fact that a civil, political, and cultural revolt is emerging in Iranian society. “Just landed in Tehran. It doesn’t feel or look like a revolution is underway, but there have been massive sociopolitical changes: women now casually walk in public with no headscarves. Morality police likely to be defanged, at least temporarily, and maybe gone for good.” His tweet shows that what began two months ago in Tehran is more than a protest movement but has not become a popular insurrection. Rather, it is a civil disobedience movement, both above and below the surface.
Iranian women are refusing to take orders, and so mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters have mutinied with them. That means extended families, neighbors, friends, and colleagues have also joined it, forming what resembles an ideological civil disobedience movement worrying and waning the regime. More dangerous is that a week after the joint security campaign of the Baseej, IRGC, and the apparatuses of the ministry of interior was launched, during which it cordoned off universities and established security offices inside them to contain the students rebelling against the regime’s laws, it has yet to quash their movement. Meanwhile, the streets and cities of Iran remain tense, meaning that the back and forth between protesters and the regime might go on for long enough to threaten the regime’s stability.
Indeed, the standoff between the regime and protesters entered a critical stage on Saturday, but the clampdown has yet to achieve its objectives. It has not deterred Iranian women from openly disobeying the regime’s laws and removing their headscarves in the streets, nor has it pushed the oppressed minorities in Iran, like the Kurds, Arabs, and the Balochis, to retreat and stop protesting and striking. It has not reduced the scale of Azerbaijani participation either. With a deep and influential presence in state institutions, the Azerbaijanis, with their consistent involvement in the protests, have crystalized a regional mutiny against the central government in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the deployment of security forces throughout the neighborhoods of major cities like Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tabriz has reduced the number of protesters, failing to end the protests.
For this reason, we could see the regime not only escalate its crackdown on protesters but also adopt a different approach this time if the protests persist. The regime could try to deflect the crisis abroad, and if it does, this would expose that it is facing a deep, fundamental internal crisis. Since last month, the regime has been accusing foreign actors of being behind the chaos. However, since last week, it has been pushing the idea of punishing the actors, meaning it could retreat to the front if repression fails.
Talk of a border crisis around the Azerbaijani region of Naqshjahan, the assaults on northern Iraq, and the threatening neighboring countries with punishment, are little more than attempts to deflect its crisis abroad- come what may.
And so, as Iranians rebel, the regime is trying to squash their movement by pushing the crisis outside the country’s borders. Meanwhile, countries near and far and undergoing major changes. Projected election results and the new alliances taking shape around the world are not looking good for Iran. They could leave several hostile powers intervening against Iran if it were to attack its neighbors, especially since such a step would affirm that what we are seeing in Iran is a harbinger for civil disobedience that could potentially be a prelude to change.
Our Future Artificial Intelligence Overlords Need a Resistance Movement
Saturday, 5 November, 2022
Parmy Olson
Artificial intelligence has been moving so fast that even the scientists are finding it hard to keep up. In the past year, machine learning algorithms have started to generate rudimentary movies and stunning fake photographs. They’re even writing code. In the future, we’ll probably look back on 2022 as the year AI shifted from processing information to creating content as well as many humans.
But what if we also look back on it as the year AI took a step towards the destruction of the human species? As hyperbolic and ridiculous as that sounds, public figures from Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, and going right back to Alan Turing, have expressed concerns about the fate of humans in a world where machines surpass them in intelligence, with Musk saying AI was becoming more dangerous than nuclear warheads.
After all, humans don’t treat less-intelligent species particularly well, so who’s to say that computers, trained ubiquitously on data that reflects all the facets of human behavior, won’t “place their goals ahead of ours” as legendary computer scientist Marvin Minsky once warned.
Refreshingly, there’s some good news. More scientists are seeking to make deep learning systems more transparent and measurable. That momentum mustn’t stop. As these programs become ever more influential in financial markets, social media and supply chains, technology firms will need to start prioritizing AI safety over capability.
Last year, across the world’s major AI labs, roughly 100 full-time researchers were focused on building safe systems, according to the 2021 State of AI report produced annually by London venture capital investors Ian Hogarth and Nathan Benaich. Their report for this year found there are still only about 300 researchers working full-time on AI safety.
“It’s a very low number,” Hogarth said during a Twitter Spaces discussion with me this week on the future threat of AI. “Not only are very few people working on making these systems aligned, but it’s also kind of a Wild West.”
Hogarth was referring to how in the past year a flurry of AI tools and research has been produced by open-source groups, who say super-intelligent machines shouldn’t be controlled and built in secret by a few large companies, but created out in the open. In August 2021, for instance, the community-driven organization EleutherAI developed a public version of a powerful tool that could write realistic comments and essays on nearly any subject, called GPT-Neo. The original tool, called GPT-3, was developed by OpenAI, a company co-founded by Musk and largely funded by Microsoft Corp. that offers limited access to its powerful systems.
Then this year, several months after OpenAI impressed the AI community with a revolutionary image-generating system called DALL-E 2, an open-sourced firm called Stable Diffusion released its own version of the tool to the public, for free.
One of the benefits of open source software is that by being out in the open, a greater number of people are constantly probing it for inefficiencies. That’s why Linux has historically been one of the most secure operating systems available to the public.
But throwing powerful AI systems out into the open also raises the risk that they’ll be misused. If AI is as potentially damaging as a virus or nuclear contamination, then perhaps it makes sense to centralize its development. After all, viruses are scrutinized in bio-safety labs and uranium is enriched in carefully constrained environments. Research into viruses and nuclear power are overseen by regulation, though, and with governments trailing the rapid pace of AI, there are still no clear guidelines for its development.
“We’ve almost got the worst of both worlds,” says Hogarth. AI risks misuse by being built out in the open, but no one is overseeing what’s happening when it’s created behind closed doors either.
For now at least, it’s encouraging to see the spotlight growing on AI alignment, a growing field that refers to designing AI systems that are “aligned” with human goals. Leading AI companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s DeepMind and OpenAI have multiple teams working on AI alignment, and many researchers from those firms have gone on to launch their own startups, some of which are focused on making AI safe. These include San Francisco-based Anthropic, whose founding team left OpenAI and raised $580 million from investors earlier this year, and London-based Conjecture, which was recently backed by the founders of Github Inc., Stripe Inc. and FTX Trading Ltd.
Conjecture is operating under the assumption that AI will reach parity with human intelligence in the next five years, and that its current trajectory spells catastrophe for the human species.
But when I asked Conjecture Chief Executive Officer Connor Leahy why AI might want to hurt humans in the first place, he answered matter-of-factly. “Imagine humans want to flood a valley to build a hydroelectric dam, and there is an anthill in the valley,” he said. “This won’t stop the humans from their construction, and the anthill will promptly get flooded. At no point did any humans even think about harming the ants. They just wanted more energy, and this was the most efficient way to achieve that goal. Analogously, autonomous AI’s will need more energy, faster communication, and more intelligence to achieve their goals.”
Leahy says that to prevent that dark future, the world needs a “portfolio of bets,” including scrutinizing deep learning algorithms to better understand how they make decisions, and trying to endow AI with more human-like reasoning.
Even if Leahy’s fears seem overblown, it’s clear that AI is not on a path that’s entirely aligned with human interests. Just look at some of the recent efforts to build chatbots. Microsoft abandoned its 2016 bot Tay which learned from interacting with Twitter users, after it posted racist and sexually charged messages within hours of being released. In August of this year, Meta Platforms Inc. released a chatbot that claimed Donald Trump was still president, having been trained on public text on the Internet.
No one knows if AI will wreak havoc on financial markets or torpedo the food supply chain one day. But it could pit human beings against one another through social media, something that’s arguably already happening. The powerful AI systems recommending posts to people on Twitter Inc. and Facebook are aimed at juicing our engagement, which inevitably means serving up content that provokes outrage or misinformation. When it comes to “AI alignment,” changing those incentives would be a good place to start.
Saturday, 5 November, 2022
Parmy Olson
Artificial intelligence has been moving so fast that even the scientists are finding it hard to keep up. In the past year, machine learning algorithms have started to generate rudimentary movies and stunning fake photographs. They’re even writing code. In the future, we’ll probably look back on 2022 as the year AI shifted from processing information to creating content as well as many humans.
But what if we also look back on it as the year AI took a step towards the destruction of the human species? As hyperbolic and ridiculous as that sounds, public figures from Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, and going right back to Alan Turing, have expressed concerns about the fate of humans in a world where machines surpass them in intelligence, with Musk saying AI was becoming more dangerous than nuclear warheads.
After all, humans don’t treat less-intelligent species particularly well, so who’s to say that computers, trained ubiquitously on data that reflects all the facets of human behavior, won’t “place their goals ahead of ours” as legendary computer scientist Marvin Minsky once warned.
Refreshingly, there’s some good news. More scientists are seeking to make deep learning systems more transparent and measurable. That momentum mustn’t stop. As these programs become ever more influential in financial markets, social media and supply chains, technology firms will need to start prioritizing AI safety over capability.
Last year, across the world’s major AI labs, roughly 100 full-time researchers were focused on building safe systems, according to the 2021 State of AI report produced annually by London venture capital investors Ian Hogarth and Nathan Benaich. Their report for this year found there are still only about 300 researchers working full-time on AI safety.
“It’s a very low number,” Hogarth said during a Twitter Spaces discussion with me this week on the future threat of AI. “Not only are very few people working on making these systems aligned, but it’s also kind of a Wild West.”
Hogarth was referring to how in the past year a flurry of AI tools and research has been produced by open-source groups, who say super-intelligent machines shouldn’t be controlled and built in secret by a few large companies, but created out in the open. In August 2021, for instance, the community-driven organization EleutherAI developed a public version of a powerful tool that could write realistic comments and essays on nearly any subject, called GPT-Neo. The original tool, called GPT-3, was developed by OpenAI, a company co-founded by Musk and largely funded by Microsoft Corp. that offers limited access to its powerful systems.
Then this year, several months after OpenAI impressed the AI community with a revolutionary image-generating system called DALL-E 2, an open-sourced firm called Stable Diffusion released its own version of the tool to the public, for free.
One of the benefits of open source software is that by being out in the open, a greater number of people are constantly probing it for inefficiencies. That’s why Linux has historically been one of the most secure operating systems available to the public.
But throwing powerful AI systems out into the open also raises the risk that they’ll be misused. If AI is as potentially damaging as a virus or nuclear contamination, then perhaps it makes sense to centralize its development. After all, viruses are scrutinized in bio-safety labs and uranium is enriched in carefully constrained environments. Research into viruses and nuclear power are overseen by regulation, though, and with governments trailing the rapid pace of AI, there are still no clear guidelines for its development.
“We’ve almost got the worst of both worlds,” says Hogarth. AI risks misuse by being built out in the open, but no one is overseeing what’s happening when it’s created behind closed doors either.
For now at least, it’s encouraging to see the spotlight growing on AI alignment, a growing field that refers to designing AI systems that are “aligned” with human goals. Leading AI companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s DeepMind and OpenAI have multiple teams working on AI alignment, and many researchers from those firms have gone on to launch their own startups, some of which are focused on making AI safe. These include San Francisco-based Anthropic, whose founding team left OpenAI and raised $580 million from investors earlier this year, and London-based Conjecture, which was recently backed by the founders of Github Inc., Stripe Inc. and FTX Trading Ltd.
Conjecture is operating under the assumption that AI will reach parity with human intelligence in the next five years, and that its current trajectory spells catastrophe for the human species.
But when I asked Conjecture Chief Executive Officer Connor Leahy why AI might want to hurt humans in the first place, he answered matter-of-factly. “Imagine humans want to flood a valley to build a hydroelectric dam, and there is an anthill in the valley,” he said. “This won’t stop the humans from their construction, and the anthill will promptly get flooded. At no point did any humans even think about harming the ants. They just wanted more energy, and this was the most efficient way to achieve that goal. Analogously, autonomous AI’s will need more energy, faster communication, and more intelligence to achieve their goals.”
Leahy says that to prevent that dark future, the world needs a “portfolio of bets,” including scrutinizing deep learning algorithms to better understand how they make decisions, and trying to endow AI with more human-like reasoning.
Even if Leahy’s fears seem overblown, it’s clear that AI is not on a path that’s entirely aligned with human interests. Just look at some of the recent efforts to build chatbots. Microsoft abandoned its 2016 bot Tay which learned from interacting with Twitter users, after it posted racist and sexually charged messages within hours of being released. In August of this year, Meta Platforms Inc. released a chatbot that claimed Donald Trump was still president, having been trained on public text on the Internet.
No one knows if AI will wreak havoc on financial markets or torpedo the food supply chain one day. But it could pit human beings against one another through social media, something that’s arguably already happening. The powerful AI systems recommending posts to people on Twitter Inc. and Facebook are aimed at juicing our engagement, which inevitably means serving up content that provokes outrage or misinformation. When it comes to “AI alignment,” changing those incentives would be a good place to start.
The Robber Barons Had Nothing on Elon Musk
Saturday, 5 November, 2022 -
David Nasaw
Elon Musk is now the proud owner of Twitter. The danger here is not that we have a rogue billionaire in our midst — that has happened before, and it will happen again — but that this one will be in control of what he has rightly referred to as our “digital town square.”
Musk is the face of 21st-century tech-based, extreme capitalism, just as the robber barons, who built our railroads, and Andrew Carnegie, who supplied those railroads and the builders of modern American cities with steel, embodied the exuberant and expansive industrial capitalism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Musk has exploited the opportunities emerging in a rapidly disintegrating regulatory state apparatus and acquired a small army of investors and a fleet of lobbyists, lawyers and fanboys (known as Musketeers). He has sought to position himself as a tech genius who can break the rules, exploit and excise those who work for him, ridicule those who stand in his way and do as he wishes with his wealth because it benefits humanity. He’ll rescue the planet with his electric cars and save Ukraine with his satellite systems — but he must be freed of government interference to do these good deeds.
For more than two centuries, American moguls like Musk have transformed our economy and our daily lives (and enriched themselves) by playing a winning game with governments. They sought and received from those governments enormous subsidies and protection, while demanding that they be left alone to conduct their business as they pleased. The railroad robber barons built their fortunes on government-supplied land on which they laid their tracks and then collected government subsidies for every mile of it.
Carnegie and the steel barons elected Republican lawmakers and presidents committed to protecting their companies’ profits by levying high tariffs on foreign competitors. Musk’s companies, and his fortune, were built with billions of dollars’ worth of subsidies for his electric-car company, Tesla, and billions more in NASA contracts to ferry American astronauts into space, launch satellites and provide high-speed internet services tethered to his fleet of some 3,000 satellites.
What makes Musk particularly powerful and potentially more dangerous than the industrial-era moguls is his ability to promote his businesses and political notions with a tweet. The effect of such instant communications is enhanced by his firm understanding of media and market dynamics in this era of meme stocks, day trading, instant communications, misinformation and disinformation.
Carnegie kept his companies private because he did not want to be beholden to outside investors, influence and market conditions. Musk has done the opposite. His wealth is based not on factories he has built, products he sells or real estate he has acquired, but on the billions of dollars of shares he owns in Tesla, SpaceX, cryptocurrency companies and Twitter.
In August 2018, he tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Musk’s “misleading tweets” caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by over 6 percent and slapped him with a securities fraud charge. He then agreed to step down as Tesla’s chairman and to pay a $20 million penalty. Tesla paid another $20 million.
The Kennedy family patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, was always adept at manipulating stock prices, but as the first chairman of the S.E.C., he feared that capitalism would never recover from the Great Depression if manipulators and fraudsters were free to do as they pleased. Under Kennedy, the commission outlawed many of the practices that he had exploited to make his fortune, including short selling on insider information.
Musk has no such fears and no such scruples. As The Economist noted in April, Musk “promotes the idea that the normal rules of investment do not apply. He paints stewards of fair play — regulators and boards — as pettifogging enemies of progress.” He refers to S.E.C. officials as “those bastards.”
The likely consequences of Musk’s Twitter ownership will be political as well as economic disruption. By declaring that he intends to allow Donald Trump back on the site, he has signaled his opposition to policing it for political disinformation and misinformation. He has identified himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has repeated several times that he opposes and will limit censorship and will likely loosen content moderation rules.
It is not unreasonable to expect that a Musk-owned and controlled Twitter will, in the name of free speech, allow disinformation and misinformation to be tweeted ad infinitum so long as it discredits his political opponents and celebrates and enriches himself and his allies.
Musk is correct that “free speech” must be honored and protected. But is it not time that we, as a people and a nation, engage in a wide-ranging, inclusive public debate on when and how free speech creates “a clear and present danger” — as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a century ago — and whether we need government to find a way, through law or regulation or persuasion, to prevent this from happening?
Elon Musk is a product of his — and our — times. Rather than debate or deride his influence, we must recognize that he is not the self-made genius businessman he plays in the media. Instead, his success was prompted and paid for by taxpayer money and abetted by government officials who have allowed him and other billionaire businessmen to exercise more and more control over our economy and our politics.
Saturday, 5 November, 2022 -
David Nasaw
Elon Musk is now the proud owner of Twitter. The danger here is not that we have a rogue billionaire in our midst — that has happened before, and it will happen again — but that this one will be in control of what he has rightly referred to as our “digital town square.”
Musk is the face of 21st-century tech-based, extreme capitalism, just as the robber barons, who built our railroads, and Andrew Carnegie, who supplied those railroads and the builders of modern American cities with steel, embodied the exuberant and expansive industrial capitalism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Musk has exploited the opportunities emerging in a rapidly disintegrating regulatory state apparatus and acquired a small army of investors and a fleet of lobbyists, lawyers and fanboys (known as Musketeers). He has sought to position himself as a tech genius who can break the rules, exploit and excise those who work for him, ridicule those who stand in his way and do as he wishes with his wealth because it benefits humanity. He’ll rescue the planet with his electric cars and save Ukraine with his satellite systems — but he must be freed of government interference to do these good deeds.
For more than two centuries, American moguls like Musk have transformed our economy and our daily lives (and enriched themselves) by playing a winning game with governments. They sought and received from those governments enormous subsidies and protection, while demanding that they be left alone to conduct their business as they pleased. The railroad robber barons built their fortunes on government-supplied land on which they laid their tracks and then collected government subsidies for every mile of it.
Carnegie and the steel barons elected Republican lawmakers and presidents committed to protecting their companies’ profits by levying high tariffs on foreign competitors. Musk’s companies, and his fortune, were built with billions of dollars’ worth of subsidies for his electric-car company, Tesla, and billions more in NASA contracts to ferry American astronauts into space, launch satellites and provide high-speed internet services tethered to his fleet of some 3,000 satellites.
What makes Musk particularly powerful and potentially more dangerous than the industrial-era moguls is his ability to promote his businesses and political notions with a tweet. The effect of such instant communications is enhanced by his firm understanding of media and market dynamics in this era of meme stocks, day trading, instant communications, misinformation and disinformation.
Carnegie kept his companies private because he did not want to be beholden to outside investors, influence and market conditions. Musk has done the opposite. His wealth is based not on factories he has built, products he sells or real estate he has acquired, but on the billions of dollars of shares he owns in Tesla, SpaceX, cryptocurrency companies and Twitter.
In August 2018, he tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Musk’s “misleading tweets” caused Tesla’s stock price to jump by over 6 percent and slapped him with a securities fraud charge. He then agreed to step down as Tesla’s chairman and to pay a $20 million penalty. Tesla paid another $20 million.
The Kennedy family patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, was always adept at manipulating stock prices, but as the first chairman of the S.E.C., he feared that capitalism would never recover from the Great Depression if manipulators and fraudsters were free to do as they pleased. Under Kennedy, the commission outlawed many of the practices that he had exploited to make his fortune, including short selling on insider information.
Musk has no such fears and no such scruples. As The Economist noted in April, Musk “promotes the idea that the normal rules of investment do not apply. He paints stewards of fair play — regulators and boards — as pettifogging enemies of progress.” He refers to S.E.C. officials as “those bastards.”
The likely consequences of Musk’s Twitter ownership will be political as well as economic disruption. By declaring that he intends to allow Donald Trump back on the site, he has signaled his opposition to policing it for political disinformation and misinformation. He has identified himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has repeated several times that he opposes and will limit censorship and will likely loosen content moderation rules.
It is not unreasonable to expect that a Musk-owned and controlled Twitter will, in the name of free speech, allow disinformation and misinformation to be tweeted ad infinitum so long as it discredits his political opponents and celebrates and enriches himself and his allies.
Musk is correct that “free speech” must be honored and protected. But is it not time that we, as a people and a nation, engage in a wide-ranging, inclusive public debate on when and how free speech creates “a clear and present danger” — as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a century ago — and whether we need government to find a way, through law or regulation or persuasion, to prevent this from happening?
Elon Musk is a product of his — and our — times. Rather than debate or deride his influence, we must recognize that he is not the self-made genius businessman he plays in the media. Instead, his success was prompted and paid for by taxpayer money and abetted by government officials who have allowed him and other billionaire businessmen to exercise more and more control over our economy and our politics.
Why Your First Electric Car Might Be Chinese
Saturday, 5 November, 2022 -
Anjani Trivedi
Tesla Inc. would have delivered more cars in the most recent quarter but for a shortage of boats. It’s having problems finding vessel capacity out of Shanghai. No wonder: China recently overtook Germany as the world’s second-largest auto exporter.
China’s auto exports rose over 50% in the first nine months of this year, shipping out over 2 million vehicles. This isn’t just western automakers using China as an export hub; homegrown brands are also finding their footing on the world stage. And demand is being led by Europe, the birthplace of the automobile, where a supply-chain crunch, energy crisis and war in Ukraine continue to hamstring manufacturers.
The threat is about more than price. Chinese-built autos are of far superior quality to those it tried to foist on European consumers over a decade and a half ago. Europe’s automakers are already losing market share in China due to a lack of competitive electric vehicles, and they risk doing so at home too, where Chinese carmakers already account for 5% of the EV market.
European politicians mustn’t be naïve but they should be wary of wielding a big stick: Harsh new trade barriers on China would raise the cost of electric vehicles while lessening pressure on European automakers to boost their competitiveness.
China’s automakers are making inroads after spending years preparing to meet growing demand for electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. Automakers globally are partnering with Chinese battery makers to power their EV fleets.
Thanks in part to government largesse and an industrial policy that favored domestic producers, Chinese EV brands dominate their rapidly growing local market, where they are looking to cut prices, which will further boost adoption.
They’ve also pulled ahead in the software and infotainment features Chinese consumers demand. With the exception of Tesla, western automakers have often failed to keep up.
The opportunity for China is clear: Brand loyalty has yet to become firmly established in electric vehicles and current battery-powered models are often very expensive. Western automakers have deliberately neglected the budget end of the European market, believing that high prices, not high sales volumes, will deliver superior profit margins.
Chinese companies are now capitalizing on their economies of scale to ship competitively priced cars to Europe. The scale of China’s ambitions was on full display at the Paris Motor Show in October where brands such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-backed BYD Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. touted several technically impressive models.
However, there’s still a lot of work to better establish Chinese brands, dealer networks and service centers. Deals like the one BYD struck in October with German rental-car company Sixt SE to buy around 100,000 EVs, will help build consumer awareness.
Not surprisingly, Chinese-acquired western brands such as MG and Polestar have been the most successful. (MG is owned by SAIC Motor Corp. while Polestar is financially backed by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.).
China’s advance presents a thorny problem for European politicians, who are under pressure to ensure a level playing field. Currently, car imports into China face a 15% tariff compared to 10% when going into the European Union.
Stellantis NV Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares wants Europe to raise tariffs on imported Chinese models. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron says purchase incentives should be contingent on local production, as they now are in the US following the Inflation Reduction Act. Germany, whose car industry has far more to lose if China retaliates, has so far been more reticent. German auto executives are part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s delegation of business leaders visiting China this week.
Europe is already worried about deindustrialization due to its sky-high energy costs. There’s growing political concern too about the continent’s business dependence on China — a valuable trade partner but increasingly viewed as a strategic rival. The fate of industries like solar panels — where German consumers effectively subsidized the rise of Chinese manufacturers and domestic producers went bust — show the dangers of complacency.
While western automakers overcame competitive challenge from Japanese and Korean producers in the past, the threat is bigger this time because EVs are a new technology and China is years ahead in batteries and associated supply chains. The European Union reached a deal last week to ban sales of combustion-engine cars from 2035; so the continent’s manufacturers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.It’s reasonable to prod Chinese manufacturers to set up local production as Beijing did with western carmakers. That might help Europe become more competitive and create manufacturing jobs here. Similar compromises have happened before. (Chinese battery makers are already building factories in Europe.)
Choking off Chinese auto imports may be politically popular, but European consumers will end up paying through higher prices and inferior products. Ultimately, Europe can choose protectionism or affordability. But regrettably it can’t have both.
Saturday, 5 November, 2022 -
Anjani Trivedi
Tesla Inc. would have delivered more cars in the most recent quarter but for a shortage of boats. It’s having problems finding vessel capacity out of Shanghai. No wonder: China recently overtook Germany as the world’s second-largest auto exporter.
China’s auto exports rose over 50% in the first nine months of this year, shipping out over 2 million vehicles. This isn’t just western automakers using China as an export hub; homegrown brands are also finding their footing on the world stage. And demand is being led by Europe, the birthplace of the automobile, where a supply-chain crunch, energy crisis and war in Ukraine continue to hamstring manufacturers.
The threat is about more than price. Chinese-built autos are of far superior quality to those it tried to foist on European consumers over a decade and a half ago. Europe’s automakers are already losing market share in China due to a lack of competitive electric vehicles, and they risk doing so at home too, where Chinese carmakers already account for 5% of the EV market.
European politicians mustn’t be naïve but they should be wary of wielding a big stick: Harsh new trade barriers on China would raise the cost of electric vehicles while lessening pressure on European automakers to boost their competitiveness.
China’s automakers are making inroads after spending years preparing to meet growing demand for electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. Automakers globally are partnering with Chinese battery makers to power their EV fleets.
Thanks in part to government largesse and an industrial policy that favored domestic producers, Chinese EV brands dominate their rapidly growing local market, where they are looking to cut prices, which will further boost adoption.
They’ve also pulled ahead in the software and infotainment features Chinese consumers demand. With the exception of Tesla, western automakers have often failed to keep up.
The opportunity for China is clear: Brand loyalty has yet to become firmly established in electric vehicles and current battery-powered models are often very expensive. Western automakers have deliberately neglected the budget end of the European market, believing that high prices, not high sales volumes, will deliver superior profit margins.
Chinese companies are now capitalizing on their economies of scale to ship competitively priced cars to Europe. The scale of China’s ambitions was on full display at the Paris Motor Show in October where brands such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-backed BYD Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. touted several technically impressive models.
However, there’s still a lot of work to better establish Chinese brands, dealer networks and service centers. Deals like the one BYD struck in October with German rental-car company Sixt SE to buy around 100,000 EVs, will help build consumer awareness.
Not surprisingly, Chinese-acquired western brands such as MG and Polestar have been the most successful. (MG is owned by SAIC Motor Corp. while Polestar is financially backed by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.).
China’s advance presents a thorny problem for European politicians, who are under pressure to ensure a level playing field. Currently, car imports into China face a 15% tariff compared to 10% when going into the European Union.
Stellantis NV Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares wants Europe to raise tariffs on imported Chinese models. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron says purchase incentives should be contingent on local production, as they now are in the US following the Inflation Reduction Act. Germany, whose car industry has far more to lose if China retaliates, has so far been more reticent. German auto executives are part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s delegation of business leaders visiting China this week.
Europe is already worried about deindustrialization due to its sky-high energy costs. There’s growing political concern too about the continent’s business dependence on China — a valuable trade partner but increasingly viewed as a strategic rival. The fate of industries like solar panels — where German consumers effectively subsidized the rise of Chinese manufacturers and domestic producers went bust — show the dangers of complacency.
While western automakers overcame competitive challenge from Japanese and Korean producers in the past, the threat is bigger this time because EVs are a new technology and China is years ahead in batteries and associated supply chains. The European Union reached a deal last week to ban sales of combustion-engine cars from 2035; so the continent’s manufacturers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.It’s reasonable to prod Chinese manufacturers to set up local production as Beijing did with western carmakers. That might help Europe become more competitive and create manufacturing jobs here. Similar compromises have happened before. (Chinese battery makers are already building factories in Europe.)
Choking off Chinese auto imports may be politically popular, but European consumers will end up paying through higher prices and inferior products. Ultimately, Europe can choose protectionism or affordability. But regrettably it can’t have both.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
The Irish court should not ignore the decisions of Russian courts in shareholders’ dispute on world’s largest ammonia producer
on November 3, 2022
By Newsroom
The Irish court should not ignore the decisions of Russian courts in shareholders’ dispute on world’s largest ammonia producer
on November 3, 2022
By Newsroom
At the centre of all the litigation are Sergei Makhlai and Belarusian-born, Russia-based oligarch Dmitry Mazepin (above), owner of UCCU, who was put on an EU sanctions list after the outbreak of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Photograph: Mikhail Metzel\Tass
Michael Collins SC, a lawyer defending the interests of minority shareholders of JSC “Togliattiazot” (ToAZ, Russian ammonia producer) in a dispute in Ireland, said that the Irish High Court should respect the decisions of Russian judges, held that ToAZ had evaded Russian taxation. There are no reasons why Ireland should not respect the decisions of competent jurisdiction in Russia which found that Sergei Makhlai, a billionaire and former chairman of Russian ammonia producer Togliattiazot, had engaged in a “massive fraud” on ToAZ along with three others, Michael Collins SC told the court.
The major owners of ToAZ who are litigating conspiracy-to-defraud allegations in Ireland, are asking the Irish High Court to ignore numerous hearings and judgments of competent Russian courts, a judge has been told.
Seven Russian courts involving 37 different judges held that ToAZ had illegally used schemes to evade taxes between 2009 and 2013 by selling ammonia – used in making fertiliser – at a very low value to a Swiss company that sold it on at market price, pocketing profit that should have gone to ToAZ, he said.
Michael Collins was making submissions on behalf of a minority ToAZ shareholder, United Chemical Company Uralchem (UCCU), which saw hundreds of millions of dollars being “siphoned off” and defrauded from the company that led to court proceedings in Russia.
Mr Collins said UCCU’s actions in Russia were similar to “shareholder oppression” proceedings in this country where a minority shareholder tries to safeguard its position.
At the center of the case are Sergei Makhlai and Belarusian-born Russian-based oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, owner of UCCU, who was put on an EU sanctions list after the outbreak of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Mr Makhlai, along with his father Vladimir, also a former ToAZ chairman, were found guilty in Russia in 2019 of siphoning off some $1.4 billion (€1.39 billion) from ToAZ through related-party transactions using Swiss firm Nitrochem Distribution AG which is controlled by the Makhlais’ Swiss partner Andreas Zivy. The Makhlais were sentenced to 8½ and nine years’ imprisonment but had fled the country before sentencing.
The Irish case, which began in 2016, mainly involves foreign-registered companies and individuals. However, it includes Dublin-registered firm Eurotoaz Ltd. Mr Mazepin, UCCU and a number of other individuals and companies, including Eurotoaz, are being sued in the High Court’s commercial division by four Caribbean-registered companies – Trafalgar Developments, Instantania Holdings, Kamara, and Bairiki Inc. It was claimed they were all part of a conspiracy to defraud the plaintiffs, through illegal and corrupt actions, of their 70 per cent interest in Russian firm Togliattiazot (ToAZ), a rival ammonia producing company to Mr Mazepin’s UCCU.
The Caribbean firms have also applied to find UCCU in contempt of an undertaking it gave to the High Court not to enforce a June 2019 $1.2 billion Russian court judgment against the ToAZ plaintiff companies, including the sale of ToAZ shares, pending the outcome of the main Irish proceedings.
The Caribbean firms claim there was a prolonged and deliberate breach of the undertaking by UCCU by taking steps to bankrupt Mr Makhlai in Russia and this led to the sale of the ToAZ shares which the plaintiffs say they own.
The UCCU respondents denied the claims and said that a bankruptcy action did not breach the undertakings. Mr Collins said there had to be a fundamental respect for legal proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. The bankruptcy of Mr Makhlai, who is not one of the plaintiffs in the Irish case, was separate from the $1.2 billion judgment case, counsel said. The judgment was directed towards the Caribbean companies’ assets and did not extend to the Makhlai bankruptcy process.
There could therefore have been no breach of the defendants’ undertaking not to enforce the Russian judgment, he said.
Counsel said this was “an entirely Russian dispute” between the owners of Russian companies in the context of what had been a massive fraud. The only reason Ireland had been “sucked into it” was because a Dublin-registered company had a shareholding in it and it was “painted as a broad conspiracy” between UCCU and the other defendants.
Togliattiazot, the world’s largest producer of ammonia, is located in southwest Russia. Before the war in Ukraine, ToAz exported 2 million tons a year with a turnover of about $2.4 billion. A 2,400-km pipeline used to transport ammonia from ToAZ to the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa was shut down eight months ago causing a shortage on the global market of nitrogen fertilizers, since ammonia is a key element for their production.
Michael Collins SC, a lawyer defending the interests of minority shareholders of JSC “Togliattiazot” (ToAZ, Russian ammonia producer) in a dispute in Ireland, said that the Irish High Court should respect the decisions of Russian judges, held that ToAZ had evaded Russian taxation. There are no reasons why Ireland should not respect the decisions of competent jurisdiction in Russia which found that Sergei Makhlai, a billionaire and former chairman of Russian ammonia producer Togliattiazot, had engaged in a “massive fraud” on ToAZ along with three others, Michael Collins SC told the court.
The major owners of ToAZ who are litigating conspiracy-to-defraud allegations in Ireland, are asking the Irish High Court to ignore numerous hearings and judgments of competent Russian courts, a judge has been told.
Seven Russian courts involving 37 different judges held that ToAZ had illegally used schemes to evade taxes between 2009 and 2013 by selling ammonia – used in making fertiliser – at a very low value to a Swiss company that sold it on at market price, pocketing profit that should have gone to ToAZ, he said.
Michael Collins was making submissions on behalf of a minority ToAZ shareholder, United Chemical Company Uralchem (UCCU), which saw hundreds of millions of dollars being “siphoned off” and defrauded from the company that led to court proceedings in Russia.
Mr Collins said UCCU’s actions in Russia were similar to “shareholder oppression” proceedings in this country where a minority shareholder tries to safeguard its position.
At the center of the case are Sergei Makhlai and Belarusian-born Russian-based oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, owner of UCCU, who was put on an EU sanctions list after the outbreak of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Mr Makhlai, along with his father Vladimir, also a former ToAZ chairman, were found guilty in Russia in 2019 of siphoning off some $1.4 billion (€1.39 billion) from ToAZ through related-party transactions using Swiss firm Nitrochem Distribution AG which is controlled by the Makhlais’ Swiss partner Andreas Zivy. The Makhlais were sentenced to 8½ and nine years’ imprisonment but had fled the country before sentencing.
The Irish case, which began in 2016, mainly involves foreign-registered companies and individuals. However, it includes Dublin-registered firm Eurotoaz Ltd. Mr Mazepin, UCCU and a number of other individuals and companies, including Eurotoaz, are being sued in the High Court’s commercial division by four Caribbean-registered companies – Trafalgar Developments, Instantania Holdings, Kamara, and Bairiki Inc. It was claimed they were all part of a conspiracy to defraud the plaintiffs, through illegal and corrupt actions, of their 70 per cent interest in Russian firm Togliattiazot (ToAZ), a rival ammonia producing company to Mr Mazepin’s UCCU.
The Caribbean firms have also applied to find UCCU in contempt of an undertaking it gave to the High Court not to enforce a June 2019 $1.2 billion Russian court judgment against the ToAZ plaintiff companies, including the sale of ToAZ shares, pending the outcome of the main Irish proceedings.
The Caribbean firms claim there was a prolonged and deliberate breach of the undertaking by UCCU by taking steps to bankrupt Mr Makhlai in Russia and this led to the sale of the ToAZ shares which the plaintiffs say they own.
The UCCU respondents denied the claims and said that a bankruptcy action did not breach the undertakings. Mr Collins said there had to be a fundamental respect for legal proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. The bankruptcy of Mr Makhlai, who is not one of the plaintiffs in the Irish case, was separate from the $1.2 billion judgment case, counsel said. The judgment was directed towards the Caribbean companies’ assets and did not extend to the Makhlai bankruptcy process.
There could therefore have been no breach of the defendants’ undertaking not to enforce the Russian judgment, he said.
Counsel said this was “an entirely Russian dispute” between the owners of Russian companies in the context of what had been a massive fraud. The only reason Ireland had been “sucked into it” was because a Dublin-registered company had a shareholding in it and it was “painted as a broad conspiracy” between UCCU and the other defendants.
Togliattiazot, the world’s largest producer of ammonia, is located in southwest Russia. Before the war in Ukraine, ToAz exported 2 million tons a year with a turnover of about $2.4 billion. A 2,400-km pipeline used to transport ammonia from ToAZ to the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa was shut down eight months ago causing a shortage on the global market of nitrogen fertilizers, since ammonia is a key element for their production.
Religious diplomacy
on November 5, 2022
By H.E. Datu Matthew Pajares Yngson
0 Comments
With the pandemic still hanging over our heads and a looming global recession, there’s a simple question before us: Will the world move forward–or fall back?
If we want freedom to spread, open societies to grow, trade to increase, and economic growth to advance, we must all see these as interconnected. They transcend day-to-day politics and grow instead from older, deeper sources, particularly religion. Not the kind imposed from above, but the kind that grows through and across societies and cultures. For those who understand the value of that kind of faith, what has happened in Bali, Indonesia must be engaged.
There is a remarkable convergence of religious wisdom and perspective in Indonesia this week; all the world needs to pay attention, especially the parts that might have looked down on the so-called Global South. Recent weeks have seen contentious elections and surprising volatility even in the most stable countries. In Sweden, a nationalist party has surged to the forefront. In the United Kingdom, three Prime Ministers in a matter of months.
Beyond and behind these surprising headlines is a gathering global turbulence.
The institutions that inspired free trade, open borders and remarkable economic growth are deteriorating. We have several choices before us.
We can do nothing, but that would hardly provide us much hope for the future. We would only face greater headwinds and worse outcomes. We can replace those institutions, but there are few if any convincing or compelling ideas about what those substitutes would be. Or we can work to critically examine our institutions, see where their foundations are weakening, and seek out thoughtful ways to replenish and renew them.
In Bali, the R20 is launching to pursue that path of replenishment and renewal. Launching through and alongside the Group of 20 or G20, that body’s Religion Forum (“R20” for short) will mobilize faith leaders to ensure that religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of peace, progress and prosperity in the 21st century. Among the R20’s goals is “infusing geopolitical and economic power structures with moral and spiritual values.”
One of the world’s senior Islamic scholars, Dr. Abdul Karim Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, announced on day one of the R20: “Major global challenges today are not merely political or economic … They are moral. And navigating the world out of these crises requires moral leadership. This year, the world’s religious leaders are for the first time part of the G20. It is time we acknowledge that religion must be part of the solution for global crises.”
This is exactly what the G20 needs; even many of its most stable countries are stumbling. Like the United States, some lack shared unifying practices–a monarchy is one example–and so their polarization becomes ever more severe. Could thoughtful, compassionate, and genuine religious traditions, developed over generations to become meaningful pillars of diverse societies, be the answer?
As a member of the nobility of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu, a 600-year-old historical thalassocracy, I have dedicated many years working with traditional Islamic monarchies in Southeast Asia and have a unique viewpoint on why the R20 matters. Considering I was born in the Roman Catholic faith, this might be a rare perspective of course, since many in the West–the historic core of the developed world–know comparatively little about Islam or Southeast Asia.
Let alone Islam in Southeast Asia.
Which is why launching the R20 in Indonesia is massively meaningful. Not only is Indonesia the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, but it is also of course a G20 economy, a secular democracy, and home to the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a unique organization that represents some 100 million moderate Muslims–a huge portion of Indonesia’s population. Its General Chairman, Mr. Yahya Staquf, is a compelling Muslim thinker and scholar, who has challenged critical misinterpretations of Islam.
In my purview, the NU is a major reason why Indonesia has remained a secular democracy.
To begin this conference in such a dynamic society is incredibly heartening; not only does the Forum gain from the experience of one of the world’s largest Muslim bodies, but that body (the NU) is also closely partnering with the previously mentioned Muslim World League, the world’s largest Islamic non-governmental organization, to build the R20. A wise pairing: NU promotes a pluralistic approach to Islam, with roots in Southeast Asia going back many centuries. That makes the Muslim World League a natural partner and amplifier.
Behind its Secretary-General, Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, the Muslim World League has become a remarkable force for moderation, inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue, and global religious consciousness. The NU and the MWL reach huge numbers of Muslims, the world’s fastest-growing faith community, much of which lives outside the G20. If the principles of an open world order are to survive and expand, they will need to find ways to engage audiences beyond their borders.
To convince them that their values and many of the original sources of the G20’s dynamism are not at odds. That is something NU, the Muslim World League, and the R20 can well do.
To say nothing of their wider reach. In that spirit, in fact, the Muslim World League announced at the R20 “a new humanitarian fund for the victims of war everywhere.” Not only is the fund not directed only to Muslims, but it also reaches beyond Muslim-majority countries more broadly. Dr. Al-Issa emphasized that Ukraine would be a primary area of the fund’s focus. That is sure to encourage other faith leaders in attendance that the R20 is not just an exercise in lofty rhetoric, but active, on-the-ground engagement.
His Holiness Pope Francis has already addressed the R20; he is joined in his participation by other leaders of the Catholic Church, the world’s largest single faith denomination, as well as senior representatives of the Protestant World Evangelical Alliance, representing 600 million believers in over 140 countries. That is not to mention clergy from Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, as well as other Christian and Muslim traditions. In that spirit, the next G20 (and R20) will take place in India, followed by Brazil; the world’s largest Hindu and Catholic countries, respectively.
India is a place where more conversations about religion, the state and freedom need to happen urgently. About 84% of the world’s population say religion is important, if not very important to them—the future of the world’s freedom and flourishing requires a thoughtful engagement with the thoughtfully religious. Without religious freedom, there cannot be economic freedom. Without economic freedom, we are unlikely to see meaningful, sustainable, long-term human flourishing. And in that aspect, Dr. Al-Issa is right, religion must be part of that process.
H.E. Datu Matthew Pajares Yngson
Datu Matthew Pajares Yngson, a commercial diplomat and cultural ambassador, is the Representative Councillor of the Caribbean ASEAN Council, and Diplomatic Affairs Envoy of the Eastern Caribbean-Southeast Asia Chamber. He is also the Royal Ambassador of The 35th Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo and was bestowed the princely title of "Rajah of Tambulian Island" for his humanitarian work in supporting the Tausug people of the Sulu Archipelago. Rajah Matthew holds a Masters Degree in International Relations and Cultural Diplomacy and is the only Filipino-Dominican alumnus of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences.
on November 5, 2022
By H.E. Datu Matthew Pajares Yngson
0 Comments
With the pandemic still hanging over our heads and a looming global recession, there’s a simple question before us: Will the world move forward–or fall back?
If we want freedom to spread, open societies to grow, trade to increase, and economic growth to advance, we must all see these as interconnected. They transcend day-to-day politics and grow instead from older, deeper sources, particularly religion. Not the kind imposed from above, but the kind that grows through and across societies and cultures. For those who understand the value of that kind of faith, what has happened in Bali, Indonesia must be engaged.
There is a remarkable convergence of religious wisdom and perspective in Indonesia this week; all the world needs to pay attention, especially the parts that might have looked down on the so-called Global South. Recent weeks have seen contentious elections and surprising volatility even in the most stable countries. In Sweden, a nationalist party has surged to the forefront. In the United Kingdom, three Prime Ministers in a matter of months.
Beyond and behind these surprising headlines is a gathering global turbulence.
The institutions that inspired free trade, open borders and remarkable economic growth are deteriorating. We have several choices before us.
We can do nothing, but that would hardly provide us much hope for the future. We would only face greater headwinds and worse outcomes. We can replace those institutions, but there are few if any convincing or compelling ideas about what those substitutes would be. Or we can work to critically examine our institutions, see where their foundations are weakening, and seek out thoughtful ways to replenish and renew them.
In Bali, the R20 is launching to pursue that path of replenishment and renewal. Launching through and alongside the Group of 20 or G20, that body’s Religion Forum (“R20” for short) will mobilize faith leaders to ensure that religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of peace, progress and prosperity in the 21st century. Among the R20’s goals is “infusing geopolitical and economic power structures with moral and spiritual values.”
One of the world’s senior Islamic scholars, Dr. Abdul Karim Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, announced on day one of the R20: “Major global challenges today are not merely political or economic … They are moral. And navigating the world out of these crises requires moral leadership. This year, the world’s religious leaders are for the first time part of the G20. It is time we acknowledge that religion must be part of the solution for global crises.”
This is exactly what the G20 needs; even many of its most stable countries are stumbling. Like the United States, some lack shared unifying practices–a monarchy is one example–and so their polarization becomes ever more severe. Could thoughtful, compassionate, and genuine religious traditions, developed over generations to become meaningful pillars of diverse societies, be the answer?
As a member of the nobility of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu, a 600-year-old historical thalassocracy, I have dedicated many years working with traditional Islamic monarchies in Southeast Asia and have a unique viewpoint on why the R20 matters. Considering I was born in the Roman Catholic faith, this might be a rare perspective of course, since many in the West–the historic core of the developed world–know comparatively little about Islam or Southeast Asia.
Let alone Islam in Southeast Asia.
Which is why launching the R20 in Indonesia is massively meaningful. Not only is Indonesia the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, but it is also of course a G20 economy, a secular democracy, and home to the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a unique organization that represents some 100 million moderate Muslims–a huge portion of Indonesia’s population. Its General Chairman, Mr. Yahya Staquf, is a compelling Muslim thinker and scholar, who has challenged critical misinterpretations of Islam.
In my purview, the NU is a major reason why Indonesia has remained a secular democracy.
To begin this conference in such a dynamic society is incredibly heartening; not only does the Forum gain from the experience of one of the world’s largest Muslim bodies, but that body (the NU) is also closely partnering with the previously mentioned Muslim World League, the world’s largest Islamic non-governmental organization, to build the R20. A wise pairing: NU promotes a pluralistic approach to Islam, with roots in Southeast Asia going back many centuries. That makes the Muslim World League a natural partner and amplifier.
Behind its Secretary-General, Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, the Muslim World League has become a remarkable force for moderation, inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue, and global religious consciousness. The NU and the MWL reach huge numbers of Muslims, the world’s fastest-growing faith community, much of which lives outside the G20. If the principles of an open world order are to survive and expand, they will need to find ways to engage audiences beyond their borders.
To convince them that their values and many of the original sources of the G20’s dynamism are not at odds. That is something NU, the Muslim World League, and the R20 can well do.
To say nothing of their wider reach. In that spirit, in fact, the Muslim World League announced at the R20 “a new humanitarian fund for the victims of war everywhere.” Not only is the fund not directed only to Muslims, but it also reaches beyond Muslim-majority countries more broadly. Dr. Al-Issa emphasized that Ukraine would be a primary area of the fund’s focus. That is sure to encourage other faith leaders in attendance that the R20 is not just an exercise in lofty rhetoric, but active, on-the-ground engagement.
His Holiness Pope Francis has already addressed the R20; he is joined in his participation by other leaders of the Catholic Church, the world’s largest single faith denomination, as well as senior representatives of the Protestant World Evangelical Alliance, representing 600 million believers in over 140 countries. That is not to mention clergy from Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, as well as other Christian and Muslim traditions. In that spirit, the next G20 (and R20) will take place in India, followed by Brazil; the world’s largest Hindu and Catholic countries, respectively.
India is a place where more conversations about religion, the state and freedom need to happen urgently. About 84% of the world’s population say religion is important, if not very important to them—the future of the world’s freedom and flourishing requires a thoughtful engagement with the thoughtfully religious. Without religious freedom, there cannot be economic freedom. Without economic freedom, we are unlikely to see meaningful, sustainable, long-term human flourishing. And in that aspect, Dr. Al-Issa is right, religion must be part of that process.
H.E. Datu Matthew Pajares Yngson
Datu Matthew Pajares Yngson, a commercial diplomat and cultural ambassador, is the Representative Councillor of the Caribbean ASEAN Council, and Diplomatic Affairs Envoy of the Eastern Caribbean-Southeast Asia Chamber. He is also the Royal Ambassador of The 35th Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo and was bestowed the princely title of "Rajah of Tambulian Island" for his humanitarian work in supporting the Tausug people of the Sulu Archipelago. Rajah Matthew holds a Masters Degree in International Relations and Cultural Diplomacy and is the only Filipino-Dominican alumnus of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences.
COP27: Host resort town gives Egypt tight grip over protests
By Associated Press
November 5, 2022
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Workers walk past signage promoting this year’s United Nations global summit on climate change, known as COP27, adorns Peace Road, in Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. As this year’s United Nations climate summit approaches, Egypt’s government is touting its efforts to make Sharm el-Sheikh a more eco-friendly tourist destination. (AP Photo/Thomas Hartwell)
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — With turquoise seawaters and rich coral reefs, Egypt’s resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh is a picturesque location for this year’s United Nations global summit on climate change, known as COP27.
But behind postcard-perfect appearances, it’s a tightly controlled fortress on the Red Sea. Climate activists say the restrictions will discourage protests that have been a way for the public to raise their voices at past summits.
Many working in tourism have been sent home; those who stayed need special security cards. Vacationers have been turned back at security checkpoints surrounding the town. Hotel rates have increased tenfold, pricing out many. Local workers are prevented from speaking freely with visitors.
In a country where protests are virtually banned, the government has set up a specific venue for climate protests — except no one is quite sure where it is. Notifications are required 36 hours in advance.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. In past statements, officials have pledged to allow protest and participation from activists.
As COP27 approaches, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government has touted its efforts to make Sharm el-Sheikh a more eco-friendly city, with new solar panels and electric vehicles.
“From the beginning, there was a big question mark on the choice of Egypt as a host country,” said one Egyptian activist, who was detained for over two years without trial during the government’s crackdown on dissent. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing he could be re-arrested. “They know that the choice of Sharm means there would be no protests.”
The scene is likely to be a sharp contrast to COP26 last year in Glasgow, Scotland, where some 100,000 people marched through the streets in one rally and protesters massed frequently in public squares, parks and bridges.
On Friday, a group of activists took part in a small protest calling for climate action on the African continent at a roundabout in front of the conference venue in Sharm el-Sheikh. A line of police stood by.
A group of U.N.-appointed experts has expressed concern that the environment in Egypt will not be conducive to full and open participation.
Since 2013, el-Sissi, a U.S. ally with deep economic ties to European countries, has overseen a massive crackdown, jailing thousands of Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the 2011 popular uprising. Many others have fled the country. A prominent rights activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, escalated his hunger strike this week, refusing also water.
Outside the Sinai Peninsula, where Sharm el-Sheikh is located, rights groups say more than 100 people have been detained the past two weeks in Cairo and other cities as security forces stepped up their presence in main squares after rumors of planned protests on Nov. 11. COP27 starts on Sunday and is expected to last through Nov. 18.
The government has repeatedly said its security measures are vital to maintaining stability in a nation of more than 104 million people after a decade of turmoil that started with the Arab Spring and was followed by years of deadly Islamic militant attacks.
For decades, Sharm el-Sheikh has been the government’s favorite spot for conferences and high-level summits precisely because it is so easy to control. The 1996 Mideast peace summit attended by then-President Bill Clinton was held there.
Isolated in the desert near the Sinai’s southern tip, Sharm — as it’s often referred to — is a six-hour drive from the capital, Cairo. Vehicles must pass through a closely guarded tunnel under the Suez Canal, then numerous checkpoints along the highway, enabling authorities to turn back those considered undesirable.
A concrete and razor-wire barrier surrounds parts of Sharm. One entrance is set into a several-story-high concrete wall, painted with a gigantic peace sign — a reference to the “City of Peace,” a nickname authorities have tried to make stick to Sharm. Large boulevards in the desert link walled resorts, with few public spaces for people to gather.
Hussein Baoumi, Amnesty International’s researcher for Egypt and Libya, called it a “dystopic city.”
“There is so much surveillance, so much control over who enters and who leaves the city, which is again an attempt to control who gets to speak to the international community,” he said.
Hotel workers say security is particularly tight for COP27 — all must obtain security clearance and since Tuesday, they have been barred from leaving their places of work or housing. Some decided to return to their hometowns until the conference ends.
“We are accustomed to restrictions, but this time it is very harsh and there were no exceptions,” said a waiter at a four-star hotel.
Security has always been high in Sharm because to the north, across the length of the peninsula, Egypt’s military has been battling a decade-old insurgency led by a local branch of the Islamic State group. In 2015, a Russian MetroJet plane crashed soon after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people onboard, an attack claimed by IS.
Sinai has twice been occupied by neighboring Israel: first during the Suez Crisis in 1956, which also involved France and Britain, and later in the 1967 Middle East war. It was returned to Egypt in 1982 as part of the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
Since then, government-licensed development has helped resorts along Sinai’s southern coast become a top beach and scuba-diving destination.
The COP27 conference is taking place at Sharm’s large convention center. As in past COPs, only official U.N.-accredited delegates can enter the venue, known as the Blue Zone, which during the gathering is considered U.N. territory and subject to international law.
Another venue, the Green Zone, is for businesses, youth and civil society to hold events on the sidelines of the summit. It remains unclear where protests are meant to happen. A government COP27 website says that besides the 36-hour notification for protests inside the venue, a 48-hour notice via email is required for protests outside it.
From the few photos of the Green Zone in pro-government press, it appears to be on a section of highway or a parking area with cafeterias set up. Maj. Gen. Khaled Fouda, the provincial governor, called the site “very chic and clean” in comments to local TV last month.
“Protests are allowed, but smashing and insulting are not allowed,” he said.
The government has dispatched 500 taxis to transport COP27 attendants, Fouda said — all with cameras connected to a “security observatory” meant to monitor the drivers’ behavior.
None of this bodes well for activism, climate protest leaders say.
Greta Thunberg, a youth leader of the protest movement, has said she would not attend. “The space for civil society this year is extremely limited,” she said at a recent London event. “It will be very difficult for activists to make their voice heard.”
Cost is another factor. The recently released Egyptian activist said that many can’t afford to travel, with the cost of a plane ticket from Cairo out of reach for many amid double-digit domestic inflation.
Cristine Majeni, a youth environment volunteer from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, scraped together thousands of dollars required for her 10-day trip, after struggling through the accreditation process.
“It’s crucial for us to be given an opportunity to take part,” she said.
By Associated Press
November 5, 2022
.jpg)
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — With turquoise seawaters and rich coral reefs, Egypt’s resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh is a picturesque location for this year’s United Nations global summit on climate change, known as COP27.
But behind postcard-perfect appearances, it’s a tightly controlled fortress on the Red Sea. Climate activists say the restrictions will discourage protests that have been a way for the public to raise their voices at past summits.
Many working in tourism have been sent home; those who stayed need special security cards. Vacationers have been turned back at security checkpoints surrounding the town. Hotel rates have increased tenfold, pricing out many. Local workers are prevented from speaking freely with visitors.
In a country where protests are virtually banned, the government has set up a specific venue for climate protests — except no one is quite sure where it is. Notifications are required 36 hours in advance.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. In past statements, officials have pledged to allow protest and participation from activists.
As COP27 approaches, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government has touted its efforts to make Sharm el-Sheikh a more eco-friendly city, with new solar panels and electric vehicles.
“From the beginning, there was a big question mark on the choice of Egypt as a host country,” said one Egyptian activist, who was detained for over two years without trial during the government’s crackdown on dissent. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing he could be re-arrested. “They know that the choice of Sharm means there would be no protests.”
The scene is likely to be a sharp contrast to COP26 last year in Glasgow, Scotland, where some 100,000 people marched through the streets in one rally and protesters massed frequently in public squares, parks and bridges.
On Friday, a group of activists took part in a small protest calling for climate action on the African continent at a roundabout in front of the conference venue in Sharm el-Sheikh. A line of police stood by.
A group of U.N.-appointed experts has expressed concern that the environment in Egypt will not be conducive to full and open participation.
Since 2013, el-Sissi, a U.S. ally with deep economic ties to European countries, has overseen a massive crackdown, jailing thousands of Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the 2011 popular uprising. Many others have fled the country. A prominent rights activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, escalated his hunger strike this week, refusing also water.
Outside the Sinai Peninsula, where Sharm el-Sheikh is located, rights groups say more than 100 people have been detained the past two weeks in Cairo and other cities as security forces stepped up their presence in main squares after rumors of planned protests on Nov. 11. COP27 starts on Sunday and is expected to last through Nov. 18.
The government has repeatedly said its security measures are vital to maintaining stability in a nation of more than 104 million people after a decade of turmoil that started with the Arab Spring and was followed by years of deadly Islamic militant attacks.
For decades, Sharm el-Sheikh has been the government’s favorite spot for conferences and high-level summits precisely because it is so easy to control. The 1996 Mideast peace summit attended by then-President Bill Clinton was held there.
Isolated in the desert near the Sinai’s southern tip, Sharm — as it’s often referred to — is a six-hour drive from the capital, Cairo. Vehicles must pass through a closely guarded tunnel under the Suez Canal, then numerous checkpoints along the highway, enabling authorities to turn back those considered undesirable.
A concrete and razor-wire barrier surrounds parts of Sharm. One entrance is set into a several-story-high concrete wall, painted with a gigantic peace sign — a reference to the “City of Peace,” a nickname authorities have tried to make stick to Sharm. Large boulevards in the desert link walled resorts, with few public spaces for people to gather.
Hussein Baoumi, Amnesty International’s researcher for Egypt and Libya, called it a “dystopic city.”
“There is so much surveillance, so much control over who enters and who leaves the city, which is again an attempt to control who gets to speak to the international community,” he said.
Hotel workers say security is particularly tight for COP27 — all must obtain security clearance and since Tuesday, they have been barred from leaving their places of work or housing. Some decided to return to their hometowns until the conference ends.
“We are accustomed to restrictions, but this time it is very harsh and there were no exceptions,” said a waiter at a four-star hotel.
Security has always been high in Sharm because to the north, across the length of the peninsula, Egypt’s military has been battling a decade-old insurgency led by a local branch of the Islamic State group. In 2015, a Russian MetroJet plane crashed soon after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people onboard, an attack claimed by IS.
Sinai has twice been occupied by neighboring Israel: first during the Suez Crisis in 1956, which also involved France and Britain, and later in the 1967 Middle East war. It was returned to Egypt in 1982 as part of the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
Since then, government-licensed development has helped resorts along Sinai’s southern coast become a top beach and scuba-diving destination.
The COP27 conference is taking place at Sharm’s large convention center. As in past COPs, only official U.N.-accredited delegates can enter the venue, known as the Blue Zone, which during the gathering is considered U.N. territory and subject to international law.
Another venue, the Green Zone, is for businesses, youth and civil society to hold events on the sidelines of the summit. It remains unclear where protests are meant to happen. A government COP27 website says that besides the 36-hour notification for protests inside the venue, a 48-hour notice via email is required for protests outside it.
From the few photos of the Green Zone in pro-government press, it appears to be on a section of highway or a parking area with cafeterias set up. Maj. Gen. Khaled Fouda, the provincial governor, called the site “very chic and clean” in comments to local TV last month.
“Protests are allowed, but smashing and insulting are not allowed,” he said.
The government has dispatched 500 taxis to transport COP27 attendants, Fouda said — all with cameras connected to a “security observatory” meant to monitor the drivers’ behavior.
None of this bodes well for activism, climate protest leaders say.
Greta Thunberg, a youth leader of the protest movement, has said she would not attend. “The space for civil society this year is extremely limited,” she said at a recent London event. “It will be very difficult for activists to make their voice heard.”
Cost is another factor. The recently released Egyptian activist said that many can’t afford to travel, with the cost of a plane ticket from Cairo out of reach for many amid double-digit domestic inflation.
Cristine Majeni, a youth environment volunteer from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, scraped together thousands of dollars required for her 10-day trip, after struggling through the accreditation process.
“It’s crucial for us to be given an opportunity to take part,” she said.
Kenya Airways flights disrupted due to pilot strike
Issued on: 05/11/2022 -
Nairobi (AFP) – Kenya Airways flights were disrupted Saturday as a strike by its pilots demanding better working conditions grounded over a dozen planes, affecting thousands of passengers, the country's transport minister said.
The airline, part owned by the government and Air France-KLM, is one of the biggest in Africa, connecting multiple countries to Europe and Asia, but it is facing turbulent times, including years of losses.
The Kenya Airlines Pilots Association (KALPA) said that no Kenya Airways flight flown by its members had departed Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport starting from 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday.
"The strike is fully in force," KALPA union secretary general Murithi Nyagah said in a statement released on Saturday.
The pilots announced the strike in defiance of a court order against the industrial action and have given no indication of how long it will last.
Kenya's newly appointed Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told reporters at the airport on Saturday that the strike was unwarranted and "akin to economic sabotage".
He said around 10,000 passengers had been affected by the strike, which had led to the grounding of 15 planes.
"I am not saying their concerns are not valid," he said, but added that their actions were drastic as he appealed to the "goodwill of the pilots to terminate the strike."
Frustrated passengers described huge queues at the airport, with many travellers only learning about their cancelled flights when they showed up to check in.
"We have been told nothing," American tourist Jill Lee told AFP as she waited in line to figure out her next course of action after her flight to Dar es Salaam was cancelled at the last minute.
The 65-year-old had booked a safari in Tanzania but said she had no idea where she would spend the night after her connecting flight from Nairobi was cancelled.
"Many people here have nowhere to go. It's pretty horrible."
'Soften its stance'
Kenya Airways on Saturday reported high call volumes at its service centre due to the "ongoing unlawful industrial action", urging customers to only contact the airline if they were travelling in the next 48 hours.
The pilots, who have had a particularly fraught relationship with management, are pressing for the reinstatement of contributions to a provident fund.
They also want back payment of all salaries stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic.
KALPA representatives said Friday that a series of meetings with airline management had failed to resolve grievances.
"Kenya Airways management's actions have left us with no other option," Nyagah said, adding that a 14-day notice on the industrial action had ended without a solution.
"We had hoped that the management of the airline would soften its stance and engage in negotiation on the issues raised."
On Monday, the airline won a court injunction stopping the strike, but an official at KALPA, which has 400 members, told AFP the pilots "were acting within the provisions of the law" and that they were yet to be served with a court order.
The carrier warned earlier this week that the strike would jeopardise its recovery, estimating losses at $2.5 million per day if the pilots went ahead with their plans.
The airline was founded in 1977 following the demise of East African Airways and flies more than four million passengers to 42 destinations annually.
But its slogan "The Pride of Africa" rings hollow as it operates thanks to state bailouts following years of losses.
Like other carriers around the world, Kenya Airways saw its revenue nosedive after the pandemic grounded planes worldwide because of stringent travel restrictions, devastating the aerospace and tourism industries.
© 2022 AFP
Issued on: 05/11/2022 -
Kenya Airways is one of the biggest airlines in Africa, connecting multiple countries to Europe and Asia
SIMON MAINA AFP/File
Nairobi (AFP) – Kenya Airways flights were disrupted Saturday as a strike by its pilots demanding better working conditions grounded over a dozen planes, affecting thousands of passengers, the country's transport minister said.
The airline, part owned by the government and Air France-KLM, is one of the biggest in Africa, connecting multiple countries to Europe and Asia, but it is facing turbulent times, including years of losses.
The Kenya Airlines Pilots Association (KALPA) said that no Kenya Airways flight flown by its members had departed Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport starting from 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday.
"The strike is fully in force," KALPA union secretary general Murithi Nyagah said in a statement released on Saturday.
The pilots announced the strike in defiance of a court order against the industrial action and have given no indication of how long it will last.
Kenya's newly appointed Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told reporters at the airport on Saturday that the strike was unwarranted and "akin to economic sabotage".
He said around 10,000 passengers had been affected by the strike, which had led to the grounding of 15 planes.
"I am not saying their concerns are not valid," he said, but added that their actions were drastic as he appealed to the "goodwill of the pilots to terminate the strike."
Frustrated passengers described huge queues at the airport, with many travellers only learning about their cancelled flights when they showed up to check in.
"We have been told nothing," American tourist Jill Lee told AFP as she waited in line to figure out her next course of action after her flight to Dar es Salaam was cancelled at the last minute.
The 65-year-old had booked a safari in Tanzania but said she had no idea where she would spend the night after her connecting flight from Nairobi was cancelled.
"Many people here have nowhere to go. It's pretty horrible."
'Soften its stance'
Kenya Airways on Saturday reported high call volumes at its service centre due to the "ongoing unlawful industrial action", urging customers to only contact the airline if they were travelling in the next 48 hours.
The pilots, who have had a particularly fraught relationship with management, are pressing for the reinstatement of contributions to a provident fund.
They also want back payment of all salaries stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic.
KALPA representatives said Friday that a series of meetings with airline management had failed to resolve grievances.
"Kenya Airways management's actions have left us with no other option," Nyagah said, adding that a 14-day notice on the industrial action had ended without a solution.
"We had hoped that the management of the airline would soften its stance and engage in negotiation on the issues raised."
On Monday, the airline won a court injunction stopping the strike, but an official at KALPA, which has 400 members, told AFP the pilots "were acting within the provisions of the law" and that they were yet to be served with a court order.
The carrier warned earlier this week that the strike would jeopardise its recovery, estimating losses at $2.5 million per day if the pilots went ahead with their plans.
The airline was founded in 1977 following the demise of East African Airways and flies more than four million passengers to 42 destinations annually.
But its slogan "The Pride of Africa" rings hollow as it operates thanks to state bailouts following years of losses.
Like other carriers around the world, Kenya Airways saw its revenue nosedive after the pandemic grounded planes worldwide because of stringent travel restrictions, devastating the aerospace and tourism industries.
© 2022 AFP
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