It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, December 29, 2022
After huge storm, Mississippi capital hit by another water crisis
Wed, December 28, 2022
Tens of thousands of residents in Jackson, the capital of the southern US state of Mississippi, were stuck without running water Wednesday, after frozen pipes burst following a monster winter storm that hit most of the country over the holidays.
It was the third major water crisis in less than two years to befall this city of some 150,000 people, most of whom are African American, prompting political debate over racial disparity in access to vital infrastructure.
Leaks in burst pipes have caused pressure to drop in the city's water system, paralyzing supply in most neighborhoods, local officials said, adding that workers are struggling to locate many of the leaks
A state of emergency has been declared and residents have been urged to consume only boiled water to avoid getting sick.
"We are dealing with the worst-case scenario," Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said during a press conference Tuesday.
"Staff continues to search for large leaks and breaks, but not all could be found to this point," he added. "We are dealing with an old and crumbling system that continues to offer challenge after challenge."
Jackson spent nearly a month without water after a cold spell in early 2021. And this summer, major flooding caused the city's water treatment plant to shut down, leaving residents without access to safe drinking water for some two months.
In November, the Justice Department appointed an administrator to oversee the water system. Earlier this month, Congress allocated $600 million in federal funds to renovate Jackson's infrastructure.
In the meantime, several drinking water distribution sites were opened in the city this week as frustration has grown among local residents.
"I appreciate the help of the city giving us water, but it can only last so long," Michael Broom, 34, told local newspaper The Clarion-Ledger.
Similar problems have been reported in other parts of the southern United States, where infrastructure has not been designed to cope with the extreme temperatures experienced over the Christmas holidays.
The situation was slowly returning to normal on Wednesday in Shreveport, Louisiana and Florence, South Carolina, but some residents of Asheville, North Carolina remained without drinking water.
chp/dax/md/sst
Russian pipeline gas exports to Europe collapse to a post-Soviet low
But sea-borne LNGs sales are up, thanks mostly to Novatek's Yamal LNG plant in the Arctic.
Model of natural gas pipeline and Gazprom logo.(Dado Ruvic / Illustration / Reuters File Photo)
MOSCOW — Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines plummeted to a post-Soviet low in 2022 as its largest customer cut imports due to the conflict in Ukraine and a major pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, Gazprom data and Reuters calculations showed.
The European Union, traditionally Russia’s largest consumer for oil and gas, has for years spoken about cutting its reliance on Russian energy, but Brussels got serious after the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February.
State-controlled Gazprom, citing Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller, a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, said its exports outside of the ex-Soviet Union will reach 100.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) this year.
That is a fall of more than 45 eprcent from 185.1 bcm in 2021 and includes supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, through which Gazprom supplied 10.39 bcm last year.
Russian direct gas exports to Germany, Europe’s largest economy, were halted in September following blasts at the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Sweden and Denmark have both concluded that four leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 were caused by explosions, but have not said who might be responsible. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called the damage an act of sabotage.
Russia accused British navy personnel of being behind the blasts, a claim that London said was false.
Russian gas exports via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline totalled record-high 59.2 bcm last year.
The 100.9 bcm of Russian gas pipeline supplies, which Gazprom defines as exports to “far abroad”, or outside the former-Soviet Union, is one of the lowest since the collapse of the Soviet state in 1991.
One of Gazprom’s previous post-Soviet lows of gas sales to “far abroad” was at 117.4 bcm in 1995, according to Gazprom Export.
Russia, meanwhile has been increasing its sea-borne liquefied natural gas sales, thanks mostly to Novatek-led Yamal LNG plant in the Arctic.
According to the Rosstat government body, Russia’s LNG production rose by almost 10 percent in January – November to 29.7 million tonnes.
And Russia has managed to offset lower gas imports to Europe by higher energy prices at its budget revenues from oil and gas jumped by over a third in the first 10 months of the year.
Gazprom also said that its 2022 gas output is seen at 412.6 bcm, which is down from 514.8 bcm in 2021, when it reached a 13-year high.
Nord Stream 2 pipeline firm gets 6-month
stay of bankruptcy
Pipes at the landfall facilities of the ‘Nord Stream 2’ gas pipline are pictured in Lubmin, northern Germany, on Feb. 15, 2022. A Swiss court has granted a further six-month ‘stay of bankruptcy’ to the operating company never-opened
By Associated Press - Wednesday, December 28, 2022
BERLIN — A Swiss court has granted a six-month “stay of bankruptcy” to the operating company for the never-opened Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was built to bring Russian gas to Germany but put on ice shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
The company’s stay was extended from Jan. 10 through July 10 by a regional court in the Swiss canton (state) of Zug, according to a notice published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce.
Nord Stream 2 AG, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, is based in Zug. Nord Stream 2’s court-appointed administrator, Transliq AG, sought the extension.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government halted the certification process for the pipeline on Feb. 22, after Russia recognized the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered sent troops into Ukraine two days later, and U.S. President Joe Biden President then directed his administration to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 operating company.
The pipeline project had long drawn resistance from Ukraine and eastern European countries, as well as bipartisan opposition in the United States.
Officials inaugurate an ore processing plant built near the Kashen copper deposit, 26Dec2015.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership announced on Wednesday that mining operations at a local copper and molybdenum deposit will be suspended due to Azerbaijan’s blockade of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
A section of the vital road was blocked on December 12 by a large group of Azerbaijanis protesting against “illegal” mining in Karabakh. They are demanding that Baku be allowed to inspect ore mines in the Armenian-populated territory and assess their environmental impact. The Azerbaijani government has backed their demands.
The authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert have condemned the blockade as a gross violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement that placed the Lachin corridor under the control of Russian peacekeepers.
The blockade, which has led to serious shortages of food, medicines and other basic goods in Karabakh, is continuing despite international pressure exerted on Baku.
In a statement, the Karabakh government insisted that the territory’s sole functioning ore mine run by a private company, Base Metals, has operated in accordance with “the highest international standards.” Nevertheless, it said, it has decided to request an “international ecological examination” of the Kashen deposit to disprove Azerbaijani claims to the contrary.
“Together with the management of the company, a decision was made to temporarily stop the operation of the company's mine until the examination is completed,” added the statement.
The announcement followed reports that Major-General Andrei Volkov, the commander of Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in Karabakh, held fresh talks with Karabakh Armenian leaders.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reportedly discussed the blockade in Saint-Petersburg on Monday when they spoke during an informal summit of the leaders of ex-Soviet states. They reported no concrete understandings afterwards. The Kashen mine is Karabakh’s largest corporate taxpayer and private employer. It had more than 1,400 workers when Base Metals inaugurated its ore processing facilities in December 2015.
Lawmakers Signal Inquiries Into U.S. Government’s Use of Foreign Spyware
The moves come as Congress passed a measure last week to try to rein in the proliferation of the hacking tools.
Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, asked the Drug Enforcement Administration for detailed information on its use of an Israeli spyware tool.
WASHINGTON — Senior lawmakers said they would investigate the government’s purchase and use of powerful spyware made by two Israeli hacking firms, as Congress passed a measure in recent days to try to rein in the proliferation of the hacking tools.
Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter last week to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration asking for detailed information about the agency’s use of Graphite, a spyware tool produced by the Israeli company Paragon.
“Such use could have potential implications for U.S. national security, as well as run contrary to efforts to deter the broad proliferation of powerful surveillance capabilities to autocratic regimes and others who may misuse them,” Mr. Schiff wrote in the letter.
Graphite, like the better-known Israeli hacking tool Pegasus, can penetrate the mobile phones of its targets and extract messages, videos, photos and other content. The New York Times revealed this month that the D.E.A. was using Graphite in its foreign operations. The agency has said it uses the tool legally and only outside the United States, but has not answered questions about whether American citizens can be targeted with the hacking tool.
Mr. Schiff asked Anne Milgram, the D.E.A. administrator, to respond by Jan. 15 to questions submitted in a classified addendum to the drug agency.
By then, Republicans will have taken power in the House and Mr. Schiff will no longer be chairman of the committee. But the committee’s efforts to curtail the spread of foreign spyware have been bipartisan, so the changeover is unlikely to affect its agenda on this issue.
Countries around the world have embraced commercial spyware for the new powers of surveillance it gives them. The Israeli firm NSO held a near monopoly in the industry for nearly a decade — selling Pegasus to Mexico, Saudi Arabia, India and other nations — but new companies peddling other hacking tools have found success as demand has exploded.
A bill Congress passed this month includes provisions that give the director of national intelligence power to prohibit the intelligence community from purchasing foreign spyware, and requires the director of national intelligence to submit to Congress each year a “watch list” identifying foreign spyware firms that present a risk to American intelligence agencies.
Separately, Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is pressing the Federal Bureau of Investigation for information about the bureau’s purchase and testing of NSO’s Pegasus spyware. The Israeli firm’s hacking tools have been used by autocratic and democratic governments to target journalists, dissidents and human rights workers.
The Times reported last month that internal F.B.I. documents showed that the bureau’s criminal division in 2021 drew up guidelines for using Pegasus in criminal investigations — before the F.B.I.’s senior leadership decided against using the spyware in operations.
In a letter last week to Christopher Wray, the F.B.I.’s director, Mr. Wyden asked the bureau for information about why it chose not to deploy Pegasus, and whether the bureau’s lawyers made a determination that would preclude the F.B.I. from using Pegasus or similar hacking tools.
“The American people have a right to know the scale of the F.B.I.’s hacking activities and the rules that govern the use of this controversial surveillance technique,” Mr. Wyden wrote.
A government legal brief related to a Times Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the F.B.I. stated that “just because the F.B.I. ultimately decided not to deploy the tool in support of criminal investigations does not mean it would not test, evaluate and potentially deploy other similar tools for gaining access to encrypted communications used by criminals.”
The Biden administration late last year placed NSO and another Israeli hacking firm on a Commerce Department blacklist — prohibiting American companies from doing business with the two firms.
That move, as well as a decision by Israel’s ministry of defense to reduce the number of countries to which companies can potentially sell their hacking tools, has buffeted the Israeli hacking industry, drying up investment in companies amid fears that they, too, could land on the American blacklist. One senior Israeli military official estimates that, soon, only six offensive tech firms will be left standing — down from the 18 firms that had been operating in Israel before the NSO blacklisting.
But now, Israel’s defense ministry appears to be considering easing restrictions on companies to try to keep the industry from collapsing, according to two Israeli military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive decision-making.
When asked whether Israel had made a final decision about the easing of restrictions, a spokesman for the defense ministry said that “the objective is to improve the monitoring of controlled cyber exports and to create more precise instructions for controlled cyber exporters, while reducing the risk of improper use of these systems and providing effective tools to ensure compliance with the purchaser’s license terms.”
The Israeli government requires all hacking firms in the country to obtain an export license to sell spyware tools to foreign governments. Some Israelis have tried to avoid these restrictions by moving their businesses outside Israel.
One of them, the retired Israeli general Tal Dilian, set up businesses in Greece and Cyprus, and his hacking tool — Predator — is at the center of a widening scandal involving allegations of spying by Greek government officials.
Israeli officials have publicly expressed frustration that they are powerless to regulate the business of Israelis operating outside the country. But after recentreports of Mr. Dilian’s growing hacking empire, the Israeli defense ministry convened a meeting to explore if any steps could be taken to better regulate the operations of Mr. Dilian and others who work outside Israel. Among the options explored was whether an investigation could be opened into Mr. Dilian or if other measures could be taken against Israeli hackers who use expertise they gained in the Israeli military to set up foreign companies beyond the government’s reach.
Mark Mazzetti is a Washington investigative correspondent, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is the author of "The Way of the Knife: the C.I.A, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth." @MarkMazzettiNYT
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 29, 2022, Section B, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Lawmakers Signal Inquiries Into the Use of Foreign Spyware by U.S. Agencies.
Jordan's protests could be the second wave of an 'Arab Spring'
Recent protests sweeping the country amid record fuel prices and national debt could signal another revolution, as much of the Middle East faces an unprecedented economic crisis
Jordanian security forces deploy armoured vehicles in the southern city of Maan on 16 December 2022, hours after a senior police officer was shot dead in riots during a strike against rising fuel prices (AFP)
Jordan is witnessing escalating popular protests whose violent turn has ushered in an important, sensitive, and dangerous period in the country's history.
What is happening in Jordan may not be a passing wave of protest, but rather a prelude to a wave of anger that may sweep the region
But what is happening in Jordan cannot be isolated from current conditions and growing tensions in the entire region, signalling what may be a prelude to a second wave of the Arab Spring.
The latest wave of demonstrations in Jordan began with the announcement of truck drivers on strike, in which other public transport workers soon participated, to protest against the rise of fuel prices.
The drivers say the rise in fuel prices has eroded their income, especially since most of them are not salaried employees but rent the vehicles from their original owners. The rise in fuel prices has led to significant financial losses in their earnings as independent contractors.
A 'dangerous' juncture
The protests constitute one of the most dangerous junctures in the history of Jordan, as the southern cities that are witnessing this wave of anger are the same which witnessed the "April Uprising" in 1989.
That forced the late King Hussein bin Talal to "democratise" and hold free, democratic elections in November of that year, which ended with the opposition Muslim Brotherhood party taking control over a third of the parliament. Why Egypt is not too big to fail Khalil al-AnaniRead More »
Southern Jordan itself had witnessed the "Bread Uprising" in 1996, which ended with the government's reversal of its decision to raise the price of bread, a basic commodity for the population.
Then King Hussein dismissed the government in order to calm the angry street.
The current protests pose a greater threat to the government than previous unrest, as the crisis has expanded from a labour strike to popular protests and calls for a general strike, to which many in the southern cities quickly responded and closed the doors of their shops and disrupted their work.
As a result, supply chains in Jordan are threatened due to roads being cut off between the port of Aqaba and northern and central cities - including the capital - the most populous region in the country.
It should be noted that the port of Aqaba is located in the far south, and is the only port in the country, and the main outlet for goods entering Jordan.
Jordanian military personnel attend the funeral of a senior police officer killed during protests against rising fuel prices in the southern city of Jerash on 16 December 2022 (AFP)
Highest prices in history
Fuel prices in Jordan have been recorded as the highest in the country's history, and the government justifies this by claiming they are linked to global market rates, which jumped in part due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Jordanians, however, no longer believe these justifications because prices continue to rise without falling, unlike the movement of global oil prices.
In parallel with rising prices and high unemployment rates, the government's public debt is at a record level and the deficit in the trade balance continues to grow
For example, in March 2022, the price of a barrel of oil (Brent) on the world markets was between $100 and $110, and Jordanians were buying a litre of gasoline at a price of 0.74 dinars ($1.04), while in December, after the price of a barrel of oil fell between $75 and $80, Jordanians were buying a litre of gasoline at a price of 0.92 dinars ($1.30).
These figures mean that while world oil prices have fallen by up to 30 percent, the Jordanian government has raised fuel prices for its citizens by about 25 percent.
This has given a wide impression among people in Jordan that the government is making significant financial gains from the hydrocarbon trade, after having subsidised this commodity just a few years ago and providing it to people at less than its real cost in order to protect them from poverty and poor conditions.
Of course, the crisis that Jordan is experiencing is not limited to rising fuel prices, but the kingdom is going through a suffocating economic crisis as a result of the extreme measures taken by authorities to confront the Covid-19 pandemic, which included imposing a comprehensive curfew and forcibly preventing residents from leaving their homes, in addition to imposing travel restrictions and closing airports, borders, as well as many businesses and commercial establishments.
The crisis was also deepened by the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has raised the prices of oil, gas, wheat and grain.
As a result of the general economic crisis, the unemployment rate has risen sharply in Jordan, where it currently stands at 22.6 percent. It continues close to 50 percent among young people in the prime of their working lives, meaning that one out of two young people cannot find a job or a source of income, and unemployment and poverty rates are rising in the southern cities, reaching unprecedented levels, which explains the concentration of protests in those areas.
In parallel with rising prices and high unemployment rates, the government's public debt is at a record level and the deficit in the trade balance continues to grow. As a result, the country has needed more foreign currency to finance its basic needs and has, in turn, imposed higher government taxes to provide the financial revenues needed by the state.
Jordan's public debt currently stands at approximately $47bn, constituting 106 percent of its GDP - the highest level in the country's history, and it is planned that 14 percent of its 2023 budget will go towards covering debt servicing and fulfilling due obligations during the year.
In the first seven months of this year, the deficit in the trade balance increased by 34.1 percent and amounted to $8.32bn.
A regional crisis
There is a crisis in Jordan that has led to the explosion of the current wave of anger, but the most important element is that these same conditions exist in more than one place in the region, especially in Egypt and Tunisia, which are suffering from the same economic crises, and also suffer from high unemployment, poverty, indebtedness and high prices, which means that more than one country in the Arab region is a candidate for new tensions and protests.
Tunisia: Why taxing the informal economy will not boost the country's finances
In Egypt, public debt has tripled over the past ten years, and by March 2022, it had reached $155.7bn - an increase of $23bn in just one year. The Egyptian pound suffered further depreciation, which has led to a "price frenzy" and an increase in poverty rates as people's purchasing power eroded.
Tunisia does not look any better off with the deterioration of its economic data, whether related to unemployment, high costs, rising poverty or public debt, which has increased the state of grumbling and criticism despite the regime's attempt to tighten control and its grip on security.
The bottom line is that what is happening in Jordan may not be a passing wave of protest, but rather a prelude to a wave of anger that may sweep the region.
It may yet expand to a second wave of the "Arab Spring" that began in Tunisia in early 2011, displaying a widespread popular desire in the Arab world for change, and leading to the fall of four Arab regimes.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Mohammad Ayesh is an Arab journalist currently based in London
Turkey arrests pro-Kurdish party co-chair, provincial head on terrorism charges
A Turkish court has ruled for the arrest of the co-chair and the Diyarbakır provincial co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) on charges of “membership in an armed terrorist organization,” Voice of America (VOA) Turkish service reported on Tuesday.
The arrests come after Turkish police last week detained 14 members of the party, including its co-chair Keskin Bayındır, in simultaneous raids on DBP buildings and other locations across 10 provinces, including İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Diyarbakır.
After giving statements to a prosecutor in Diyarbakır, Bayındır and the party’s Diyarbakır provincial co-chair Hayrettin Altun were sent to court for arrest, while the other suspects were released pending trial under judicial supervision.
The pro-Kurdish party officials are accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community.
Lawmakers and officials from the DBP and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – the second largest opposition party in the Turkish Parliament – who were waiting outside the courthouse applauded and shouted slogans against the decision to arrest Bayındır and Altun, VOA said.
HDP parliamentary group deputy chairperson Meral Danış Beştaş then issued a statement to the press, saying the decision was an indication of how the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), were disturbed by the DBP and used the judiciary against the party for their own purposes.
“Never before in the history of Turkey has the judiciary been so trampled on,” Beştaş said, adding that the suspects were asked such “embarrassing” questions as why did they attend the issuance of specific press statements and rallies and give certain interviews.
The arrests took place as Turkey heads to presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023.
A government crackdown on Kurdish parties and politicians in Turkey reached new heights following a coup attempt in the country in July 2016.
Dozens of democratically elected Kurdish mayors were removed from office, while a large number of Kurdish politicians, including the former co-chairs of the HDP, were jailed following the coup attempt.
NOT GOOD NEWS FOR KURDS Turkish, Syrian, Russian Defense Chiefs Hold Surprise Talks
Wednesday, 28 December, 2022 - This handout picture taken and released on December 8, 2022 by the Press office of the Turkish Ministry of National Defense shows Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speaking during a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart at Türkiye's Ministry of National Defense in Ankara. (Press Office of the Ministry of National Defense of Türkiye / AFP)
Asharq Al-Awsat
The Turkish, Syrian and Russian defense ministers have held previously unannounced talks in Moscow, the Turkish and Russian defense ministries said on Wednesday. It was the first ministerial level meeting between rivals Türkiye and Syria since the start of the Syrian conflict 11 years ago.
A Turkish defense ministry statement said the Turkish, Syrian and Russian intelligence chiefs also attended the talks in Moscow which, it said, took place in a “positive atmosphere.”
The discussion focused on “the Syrian crisis, the refugee problem and efforts for a joint struggle against terror organizations present on Syrian territory,” the ministry said.
It added that the sides would continue to hold trilateral meetings.
Russia has long been pressing for a reconciliation between Türkiye and the Syrian government — Moscow’s close ally — which have been standing on opposite sides in Syria’s war.
Türkiye backed opposition factions trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Damascus for its part denounced Türkiye’s hold over stretches of territory in northern Syria which were seized in Turkish military incursions launched since 2016 to drive Kurdish militant groups away from the frontier.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the three ministers discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the refugee issue and to combat extremist groups.
The parties noted “the constructive nature of the dialogue ... and the need to continue it in the interests of further stabilizing the situation” in Syria and the region as a whole, the short statement said. It didn’t provide any other details.
The previously unannounced talks in Moscow follow repeated warnings by Türkiye of a new land incursion into Syria after a deadly bombing in Istanbul last month. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and on the Syria-based People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Both groups denied involvement.
Russia has opposed a new Turkish military offensive.
The efforts toward a Turkish-Syrian reconciliation also comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who faces presidential and parliamentary elections in June — is under intense pressure at home to send Syrian refugees back. Anti-refugee sentiment is rising in Türkiye amid an economic crisis.
[OPINION] Was Turkey really against Assad, or did it just pretend to be?
There is uncertainty about Turkey’s true position on the Syrian civil war and its relationship with Iran due to recent US sanctions imposed on a Turkish national for facilitating the smuggling of Iranian oil by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). While Turkey has appeared to be opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war, it has also provided significant support to Iran, including helping it evade US sanctions through the exchange of billions of dollars’ worth of gold for natural gas and oil. This raises questions about Turkey’s true stance on Assad and whether it has been pretending to be against him.
Erdoğan: We feel like Iran is our second home
There are numerous instances of the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressing support for the Iranian regime, including through ideological affinity, economic assistance, intelligence sharing and political empowerment.
At an ideological level, the Iranian Islamist Revolution has been seen as an inspiration for many political Islamists, including Erdoğan, who subscribes to a Sunni version of political Islam. The Turkish president once said, “We feel like Iran is our second home.”
The Erdoğan government has also had a close economic relationship with Iran, providing billions of dollars’ worth of gold to Iran in exchange for natural gas and oil between 2012 and 2013 in an effort to help Iranevade US sanctions.
More recently, the US Treasury has revealed that Sıtkı Ayan, who has close business ties to Erdoğan’s son and other relatives, has continued to assist Iran in evading sanctions.
There have also been secret connections uncovered between Turkey and Iran, including through a 2011-2014 investigation into the Selam-Tevhid terrorist organization, the Turkish branch of the Quds Force, a unit of Iran’s IRGC focused on unconventional warfare and military intelligence.
Despite these allegations, Erdoğan has attempted to cover them up, calling them conspiracies.
On a political level İbrahim Kalın, the spokesman and chief advisor to Erdoğan, has stated that Turkey does not feel threatened by the increasing influence of Iran in the Middle East and even takes Iran’s interests into account, indicating that the two countries’ policies are aligned. How did Erdoğan transform the opposition in Syria?
It must be taken into account that these are the years when Erdoğan’s Turkey began to build opposition to Assad in Syria. Given the fact that Turkey was secretly supporting Syrian ally Iran and thus indirectly supporting Syria, was Turkey really fighting against him? Did Turkey effectively organize opposition to Assad? No, it did not.
In fact, Turkey has actually hindered the formation of a moderate, legitimate opposition by preventing former Syrian military officers from organizing. For example, Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) handed over their leader, Hussein al-Harmoush, who was in a refugee camp in southern Turkey, to the Syrian regime. He and his colleagues wanted to fight against Assad. Instead, Turkey supported extremist groups such as the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.
Some opposition groups, such as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, are independent of Turkey, but they, too, are extremists and are labeled as terrorists by Turkey. Due to the extremely radical ideology of these groups, even the US and other Western countries have come to prefer Assad to them.
The jihadist groups under Turkish control are now more focused on furthering Turkey’s priorities than opposing Assad. In recent statements, Erdoğan has indicated that Turkey’s primary concern is not defeating Assad but rather achieving a political solution.
The Syrian National Army (SNA), which is made up of opposition rebels and is controlled by Turkey, is also no longer actively fighting against Assad. Instead, Turkey primarily used the SNA and its own military in offensives against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), another opposition group mainly composed of Kurds, as part of the 2016 Operation Euphrates Shield.
Both Syria and Turkey’s other ally, Iran, are reportedly in agreement on preventing the establishment of separatist Kurdish entities in Syria.
In my opinion, since the Syrian regime, supported by Russia and Iran, does not dare to decisively attack the Kurds, with whom the US is allied against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), they use Turkey to force them to give up their unilateral autonomy since Ankara has the pretext of terrorist threat and benefits from the shield provided by its NATO membership.
One can disagree with the above argument and claim that Turkey has serious reasons for letting the Syrian opposition fight with the Kurds and not with Assad. One of the main reasons could be that the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES) could be an example for the Kurds in Turkey, and they could also want autonomy and to merge with the Kurdish state in Syria. However, the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has existed for several decades and did not inspire such autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds. Erdoğan even invited its leader, Massoud Barzani, to the celebration of the peace process between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkey in southeastern Turkey in 2013. If there was an example that could encourage Kurds in Turkey to declare autonomy, it would be the KRG, not AANES.
Another argument could be that the SDF has ties to the outlawed PKK, which has fought Turkey for more than 40 years. Sharing the same ideology is not a sufficient reason to attack the SDF. Is the SDF terrorizing Turkey? There is not enough evidence to claim that. Turkey had recently blamed the SDF for a bombing in İstanbul in November, but no solid evidence was presented to prove the SDF’s responsibility. Be that as it may, if the real reason for the attacks on the Kurds in Syria is terrorism, then Turkey should find the terrorists and neutralize them. Are shelling and airstrikes on Kurdish-populated towns – which is what Turkey is doing in northern Syria right now — a reasonable and legal way to fight terrorism? Or is it more for ethnic cleansing to force the Kurdish population to leave their hometowns, settle Arabs there instead and put those towns under the control of the Syrian regime?
On the ground, it is obvious that Turkey’s primary objective in Syria is to fight the Kurds, not Assad. The Turkish army, accompanied by opposition rebels, is attacking the Kurds and forcing them to abandon their settlements, which ultimately allows Assad to take control of Kurdish-inhabited towns with indirect help from Turkey.
*Ahmet Yılmaz has a master’s degree in international security strategies. He is using a pseudonym out of security concerns.
Nigerian Muslim cleric sentenced to death for blasphemy
A litigant (in a blue caftan) sits inside a Sharia court as he awaits the arrival of the judge, Bauchi, northern Nigeria
AMINU ABUBAKAR/AFP via Getty Images
Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara was charged with four counts of defamation against Prophet Muhammed by an upper Sharia Court in the state of Kano.
This statement was originally published on mediarightsagenda.org on 16 December 2022.
On December 15, 2022, an upper Sharia Court in Kano convicted an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara of blasphemy by defaming the personality of Prophet Muhammad while preaching at his mosques at Filin Mushe, Gwale LGA and Jamiurrasul, Sharada, Kumbotso LGA, both in Kano State.
He has been sentenced to death by hanging.
Presiding Sharia judge, Ibrahim Sarki Yola, held that the prosecution has discharged the burden of proof against Abduljabbar and maintained that the cleric failed to defend himself when he was given the opportunity. The judge said: “The court gave him enough time to show the authentic sources of his narrations but failed to prove his assertions,”
According to the prosecution, Sheikh Kabara committed the offence, contrary to section 382 and 375 of Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law, 2000.
The alleged blasphemous statement was made and recorded at his mosques and circulated on social media platforms, especially Ashabul Kahfi social media pages.
Delivering the judgement, the trial judge upheld that section 382 (B) of Kano State Sharia Penal Code, 2000 provides that “any person whosoever found using any expression by means of words, gesture abusing the Holy Prophet Muhammad shall be convicted to death.”
He therefore ruled: “I Ibrahim Sarki Yola, Upper Sharia Court Judge, City Number One, I found you Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara committing an act contrary to section 283 (B) of Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law, 2000, I therefore sentence you to death by hanging,”
“I similarly order the total closure of your mosques located at Filin Mushe Gwale LGA and Jamiurrasul located at Sharada.”
Justice Yola similarly banned the use of the cleric’s sermons in all radio stations, saying, “I order for the confiscation of all his 189 books he tendered during the trial before the court and [that they] be transferred to Kano state library.”
The cleric was convicted after a 16-month trial in connection with four counts of a charge of defamation of character against the prophet, while commenting on the Prophet Muhammad’s Marriage in Hadith Number 1,365 and 1,428, during his preaching.
The court gave him 30 days to appeal the judgment or forfeit his right to appeal.
Immigration advocacy groups lambast decision to keep Title 42, say policy is based on 'worst xenophobic impulses' An aerial view of US flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the US-Mexico border 22 December 2022 in El Paso, Texas (AFP)
The US Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the lifting of Title 42, an immigration policy that allows the government to expel migrants who crossed the border into the country, saying the policy will remain in effect until legal challenges are sorted out.
In a 5-4 decision on Tuesday, Supreme Court justices halted a district court's ruling that would have lifted the measure, adding that it would hear arguments in the case in February.
Title 42 was enacted in March 2020, the month that the World Health Organization labelled the spread of Covid-19 a pandemic, and the restrictions were deemed a public health measure in order to curb the spread of the virus.
However, more than two years later the measure is still in place and the administration of US President Joe Biden has continued to use it to expel people crossing into the US.
Biden said the overturning of the policy is "overdue", but added that, because of the Supreme Court's decision, "in the meantime, we have to enforce it".
A judge for the District Court of the District of Columbia ruled last month that the policy did little to advance public health and instead did much to endanger immigrants, and then set a 21 December deadline for terminating the measure.
However, a group of 19 Republican majority states then appealed, which led it to come to the Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court has allowed Title 42 to remain in place temporarily while the case is ongoing, and we continue to challenge this horrific policy that has caused so much harm to asylum seekers and cannot plausibly be justified any longer as a public health measure," Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union leading the challenge against Title 42, said in a statement. 'Worst xenophobic impulses'
Immigration advocates warned that the continuation of the expulsion policy would have untold harm to the people trying to enter through the US southern border.
"The majority of the Justices have now, effectively, sanctioned the perpetuation of refoulement and will be responsible for what the lower court called 'irreparable harm' that befalls asylum seekers expelled under Title 42," said Yael Schacher, Refugees International Director for the Americas and Europe.
Earlier this month, CNN reported that US border authorities in the Rio Grande Valley were encountering up to 1,200 people at the border daily. While most of the people trying to cross into the US are coming from South America, there are also people coming from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
In June, the first Muslim refugee shelter was set up in Tijuana, Mexico, near the US border. It holds up to 150 people and can house them for up to three months.
The surge of people at the US-Mexico border has also created a crisis in itself, with rights groups reporting increased violence there.
"Every day that the expulsion policy remains intact, vulnerable individuals are left in legal limbo and exposed to grave dangers," said Melissa Crow, director of litigation at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.
"Human rights investigators have documented over 13,000 violent attacks against people expelled to Mexico under the Biden administration, a figure that represents just the tip of the iceberg."
Diana Kearney, senior legal advisor at Oxfam America, said the court's decision was "not based on our laws but rather on our country’s worst xenophobic impulses".
"This cruel ruling ignores our nation’s legal obligations to respect fundamental human rights, and exposes some of the world’s most vulnerable people to incredible violence."
PRISON NATION U$A
Evil eye – modern surveillance
“For thousands of years, the look known as “the evil eye” is said to have afflicted people worldwide. Rooted in numerous ancient civilizations – including those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece – and the Old Testament, it’s been believed that with a covetous gaze, a person can curse a fellow human being, their children, or even their property with misfortune, illness, or death.”
by Josef Cadwell
“They were killers and marauders masquerading as artisans of progress.” – Malidoma Patrice Somé
In prison, much like in our over-policed communities and neighborhoods, you find yourself subject to constant surveillance and random, yet regular, physical intrusion upon your person and privacy. Stop and Frisk is the rule of law in here, and out there. Non-consensual touching and searching of the human body – usually a Black or Brown body – is the most common law enforcement encounter in our country.
Remember, even where stop and frisk is not explicitly involved, the “Terry Stop” involved a request for identification and a pat-down search of the body and clothes of the person, has been ruled legal upon the barest of articulated suspicion by law enforcement agents. In prison, the warrantless search of your room might be parallel, in frequency and intrusiveness, by the pretext stops and warrantless searches of vehicles and their occupants in the community. In prisons, like our communities, cameras are ubiquitous. The panopticon is highly functional and effective.
In the neighborhood devices we think of as neutral safety devices, such as traffic lights, are often deployed against us as tools (weapons) of observation, data collection and surveillance. Whether you reside in prison or an over-policed neighborhood, the agents of law enforcement are not there to keep you safe. Despite being nearly omnipresent and perniciously invasive, the police will not be there to protect you. Law enforcement agents will not be there for your safety – not in prison and not on the streets. When you need help they will not be there. When you call for help, response times will be slow and the skill and proportionality of that response will barely be appropriate.
This is the reality of policing in prison and in the over-policed communities and neighborhoods from which most of us inmates come. In prison you are likely to be shot with a taser while defending yourself in a fist fight, while if you are stabbed you are likely to be locked in a shower, examined by a corrections officer and accused of malingering when you demand immediate medical attention. It is unlikely you will be rushed to the hospital or receive immediate medical attention of any kind, unless your injuries are so obviously severe that a young child can make the correct diagnosis. In fact, in this prison as often as not, those who are rushed to the hospital are in fact already deceased.
Law enforcement agents will not be there for your safety – not in prison and not on the streets.
Corrections officers, like police on the streets, are ill-equipped, poorly trained, unprepared and not of the mind to properly respond to the majority of calls for help, medical emergencies, mental health emergencies and drug overdoses and reactions. And if you are the victim of violence or crime in these communities law enforcement is rarely your ally. They are only there to momentarily make a show of force and perhaps punish whoever is available. The retribution towards the offender may land upon a guilty party, but surely this will not break the cycle of violence, imprisonment and over policing, that chokehold which is killing us, whether we resist or comply.
Poem: A threat to institutional security
“I stand before you, accused of stringing letters together” – Nganang
Words strung together
Become dangerous contraband
Police. Protest. Killing. We. Us. Should
In this place of programmatic deprivation
Ideas are more dangerous
More dangerous than tasers and electrified fences
More dangerous than gun tower snipers
(Apparently a thinking feeling human is scary)
(I saw George Floyd murdered slowly on TV)
We should protest police killing us.
I wrote, not thinking this idea in my journal
Was very radical or compelling
Cell shakedown, writings examined
“Yard sergeant to Dublin unit, routine”
Red Dot, laser beam sight activated
Three officers encircle
“Cuff up”
I’m escorted to segregation
The prison inside the prison
My words strung together: dangerous contraband
My offense: Inciting a riot
Teach me how to string words together
That might inspire Humanity
That might become a love
More powerful than fear
Send our brother some love and light: Josef Cadwell, 339620, 9625 Pierce Rd, Freeland, MI 48623.
