Tesla Model Y makes it to the Arctic Ocean, the first EV to do so in dead of winter

March 18, 2023 Drive Tesla Staff News 

Credit: Eric Bowling | NNSL

Jonathan Zoes, an aspiring filmmaker, has become the first person to drive an electric vehicle to the Arctic Ocean in -40°C (-40°F) temperatures of an Arctic winter, and he did it in a Tesla Model Y. Zoes documented his journey driving through Canada to Tuktoyaktuk, relying on the help of strangers to plug in the vehicle once charging stations became harder to find.

In an interview with Northern News Services Limited, Zoes stated that finding charging stations was easy in the southern part of his drive. However, as he made his way to Dawson Creek in Northern British Columbia, he had to rely on RV parks to keep his vehicle charged.

The Yukon territory has been constructing fast charging stations at an impressive rate, even surpassing the adoption rate of electric vehicles among locals. Consequently, Zoes found most of the charging stations empty after passing Whitehorse.

Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories | Google Maps

Zoes couldn’t always rely on finding public chargers however. An Indigenous council in Profit River let him use their maintenance building for the night to charge up. To cross the Dempster Highway, which has no gas stations for more than 300 kilometres, he befriended road crews who let him use their garages. In Fort McPherson, he was able to get another charge from LJ’s Contracting. To travel the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktyuk Highway, he improvised a charging station. 

By utilizing the Tesla mobile app Zoes calculates that he managed to save $463 in fuel expenses during his month-long journey to Inuvik. His only expenses were the costs for food and electric charges paid to his hosts. In comparison, covering the same distance with a gasoline-powered car would have set him back $701. Additionally, Zoes enjoyed the benefit of sleeping in the warmth of his car for most of the nights, except for one night spent in Eagle Plains.

Zoes stated that the technology works and will only get better and he hopes his trip helps to inspire others to take a chance on EVs and to push for more charging infrastructure in remote areas.

Study Reveals Falling Satisfaction With Home Charging Experience

Tesla's home charger ranks highest followed by 

GRIZZL-E.

Mar 17, 2023 

By: John Neff

J.D. Power – the unofficial ranking organization of, well, everything – has released a new study that says while 68 percent of electric vehicle owners use a permanently installed Level 2 charger at home, their overall satisfaction with the experience has fallen year over year. These findings come from the 2023 Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Home Charging Study, which rates owner satisfaction with the many L2 chargers on the market in the US.

The study determined that satisfaction with home charging overall fell 12 points this year to 740 on a 1,000-point scale. The culprit? The rising cost of electricity due to inflation. Owners are also reportedly unhappy with home charging speeds, and for some reason J.D. Power doesn't explain, the model year of your EV may make a difference. The company says in its press release, "The 2023 study finds that owners of 2022 and 2023 model EVs are less satisfied with their home charging speed (605 and 597, respectively) than owners of 2021 model EVs (616) and 2020 model EVs (608)," which is surprising considering newer EVs usually have better charging technology, and therefore charging speeds, than older models. 

This year's study measured home charger satisfaction for individual chargers in eight areas:

• Fairness of retail price
• Cord length
• Size of charger
• Ease of winding/storing cable
• Cost of charging
• Charging speed
• Ease of use
• Reliability

The highest rated L2 permanently mounted home charger is Tesla's own official charger, which scored 790 out of 1,000 points. The runner up comes from GRIZZL-E, which scored 757 points, and third place goes to Emporia with 754 points.

J.D. Power partnered with PlugShare to produce this year's study. PlugShare should be familiar to most EV owners, many of whom use the company's app to find available chargers and keep track of their experiences. The study included 13,860 owners of 2017-2023 model year EVs and plug-in hybrids and ran from December 2022 through February 2023.

J.D. Power Studies All The Things:

 Teslas, Kia Niro EV, Ford Mach-E Top J.D. Power Satisfaction Survey

 

 J.D. Power Public Charging Study Ranks Tesla #1 Among Operators

Fortunately, J.D. Power does offer suggestions to increase your satisfaction with home charging if you find yourself down about it.

1. Know your utility provider: It may offer a program for charging vehicles at home that include rebates or incentives, but you have to ask to find out.
2. Schedule your charging: If your EV offers scheduling for charging, you can use it to charge during off-peak hours when electricity is cheaper.
3. Location, location, location: Electricity costs are higher in some parts of the country than others. The study showed owners in New England are least satisfied, while residents in the East South Central region of the country are most satisfied.
4. Upgrade to Level 2: The biggest increase of satisfaction with home charging will come when an owner upgrades from Level 1 to Level 2 charging. Satisfaction with charging speed jumps 373 points when this happens, according to the study.

Long-range EVs have big battery packs that can store a lot of energy, and it's not surprising some new owners are finding keeping their new car charged costs more than they expected. With the helpful tips above, though, an owner should be able to reduce this expense, and nothing can ever completely sour the experience of coming out in the morning every day to a completely charged car. 

Source: J.D. Power

 Clayoquot Sound’s War in the Woods

War for the Woods: behind the scenes of a new CBC documentary based on Narwhal reporting

Nuu-chah-nulth people have famously defended their territory from old-growth logging for decades. Their story of resistance is centred in an episode of CBC’s The Nature of Things

Photo: Luke Skillen / War For The Woods

By Joy SpearChief-Morris

NARWHAL
March 17, 2023 

Nearly thirty years after the famous War in the Woods logging demonstrations on Nuu-chah-nulth homelands, on Vancouver Island, a new documentary looks at what happened and what's changed.

In the spring of 2022, Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood, a reporter for The Narwhal, got an unexpected email. A film production company wanted to know if she’d be willing to work on a documentary based on her reporting on how Clayoquot Sound’s War in the Woods transformed Nuu-chah-nulth homelands.

In 1984, Nuu-chah-nulth nations famously turned away logging company MacMillan Bloedel, which planned to clear cut old-growth forests — some of which were more than 1,000 years old. In the decade that followed, there was a series of blockades and protests demanding better logging practices and meaningful consultation with First Nations.

At the time, it was the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Thousands of people travelled to the remote region of Tofino, B.C., with the anti-logging fight peaking in 1993 when more than 800 people were arrested. (In 2021, on-going protests at Fairy Creek, on southwestern Vancouver Island, surpassed the War in the Woods as the largest act of civil disobedience).

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Now, nearly 30 years later, this story is examined in a new episode of the CBC series, The Nature of Things, airing March 17. Produced by Makwa Creative and Antica Productions and narrated by Wood, the film War for the Woods shows how First Nations are voicing their sovereign rights over their territories and finding ways to protect ecologically and culturally important forests.

The documentary was co-directed by Toronto-based filmmakers Sean Stiller, also the director of photography and member of the Williams Lake First Nation of the Secwepemc Nation, and Big Cedar Films’ Geoff Morrison, who co-wrote the film.

Stiller and Morrison sat down with me to discuss the importance of telling the story of old-growth logging from Indigenous perspectives.

Why is this story still important to tell today?

Geoff: At the core of it is the importance of old-growth forests and we look at it [from] two or three different perspectives. The reason we’re hearing so much about old-growth forests in the news is because there is so little growth left, and it’s been scientifically proven that these forests are critical to the planet storing carbon. I think what we tried to do with the film is look at it from another perspective as well. To show that there’s more than just the ecological value, but there’s a cultural value to these forests as well. 

Part of War for the Woods was filmed amongst old-growth forests in Avatar Grove, on Pacheedaht Territory, near Port Renfrew. The film was co-directed by Sean Stiller (left) and Geoff Morisson (centre). Photo: Ken Wu

Sean: To some extent, the impetus for this episode being commissioned is that we are now in the thirtieth anniversary of the Clayoquot Sound protests, which of course we allude to in the beginning of the episode. So there’s a timeliness to that historical event, and then using that as a launching pad for more contemporary conversation. We took an opportunity to talk about things like conservation financing, which particularly among the central Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations has become quite a strong push, in terms of how they move past logging, but in a way that allows the nations to provide economic opportunity to their band members rather than just leaving them empty handed. Our focus was to spend time talking about these solutions, versus simply being on the front lines with largely non-Indigenous people who were opposed to old-growth logging.

This documentary was filmed and produced by and with an Indigenous team. Why is it important to tell these stories through an Indigenous lens?

Sean: We see things from a very different perspective, and I think when you’re working with an Indigenous production company, you don’t have to fight for that perspective, it’s sort of built in. It also works its way in a lot of other aspects of production. There’s a built-in understanding that you take the time you need, you take the care you need to address these things in a good way. Things like really generous honorariums and ensuring medicines are being offered to participants, these are all just givens with an Indigenous production company. Things that historically non-Indigenous companies might have had missteps around. You can assume a certain amount of nuance and sensitivity working with an Indigenous production team.

Geoff: For me, it was a great privilege to be able to work with this team on this project and to be able to have a part in telling a story like this from that perspective. There’s so much that’s spoken about in the film that someone from a settler background like myself, might not naturally understand or maybe gravitate towards.
Stephanie Wood, a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh reporter for The Narwhal, is the narrator and guide through the documentary.

 What was the process of working with Wood throughout the documentary?

Sean: The initial motivation to reach out to Stephanie was that she wrote a retrospective on what was going on in particularly Tla-o-qui-aht territory. The Narwhal themselves were interested at one point in wondering what’s happening now, post the Clayoquot Sound 1993 resistance. She already had spent time building relationships working in that territory. She had also done some work in the Ahousaht First Nation that we visit briefly. So, there was this template, this long-form article she had written — which was really lovely — which laid out a lot of what we wanted to talk to, and she had already met people like Joe Martin and Saya Masso, the natural resources manager. I had a chance to meet with her and then we had subsequent phone chats, she expressed a lot of interest. We felt like it was a really fresh perspective to see things through her eyes. The Nature of Things, because David Suzuki is stepping away from the show, [CBC] was really keen to see a fresh face, to have a different point of view. So, all those things kind of conspired together and it just felt like a really great way to enter this story.

Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood was asked to narrate the film War for the Woods based on her reporting on how Clayoquot Sound’s War in the Woods transformed this region. Photo: Luke Skillen / War For The Woods

Geoff: [The documentary] touches on a lot of the themes that are present in her reporting, and a lot of her individual interests as a reporter. Looking at new models of conservation, like [Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas], guardian programs. There’s a lot that just really seems to naturally align.

Has anything changed since the 1993 Clayoquot Sound protests? Have there been any updates to the logging and clearcut policy in B.C.?

Geoff: I think one of the things the film tries to do is look at it really from the perspective of the Tla-o-qui-aht and the central Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations. Their story was not as loudly remembered as much in the history, but things really did change for them in terms of gaining control of their forests and how those forests would be logged over the coming years. In a broader sense, from my view, I’m not sure much really changed in terms of the debate on clear cutting and old-growth logging, because here we are 30 years later and we’re still fighting to protect what old-growth remains.

Sean: Perhaps what’s changed somewhat among these nations is a much more robust conversation, or maybe confidence, around questions of sovereignty and of really taking charge of stewardship of the territory. The Tla-o-qui-aht, the Ahousaht and the Hesquiaht have all articulated very clear land-use decisions, very ambitious land-use visions for how they want to steward their territories. These days, there are also outside partners who are incentivized to protect these pristine ecosystems, effectively buyout [Indigenous nations’] tree farm licences so that they’re economically incentivized to not log but have other viable economic paths forward. That feels like a very new conversation.

The documentary focuses a lot on anti-logging activism. What can be learned from Indigenous activism for protecting old-growth forests?

Geoff: Something that we observed from speaking to people in this film is the Indigenous approach to conservation is much more rounded. There’s a lot more to it, and I think that is much more based on this historical relationship to the land. Hundreds and thousands of years of stewarding the land is what is informing these decisions about how the land should be stewarded today and I think that’s something that’s really exciting about new models of conservation.

Sean: The Nuu-Chah-Nulth people, as do most other Indigenous nations, have their natural law and have systems of knowledge based on observation over many hundreds of years, and when there’s a resistance to logging it’s not out of some purely emotional connection to the forest, it’s because they understand very well that birds migrate in their territory at a certain time of the year. There are other very sound ecological reasons to restrict certain activities at certain times, or to only focus on certain regions and that comes out of carefully fought for scientific knowledge, in some cases, knowledge that [western] scientists themselves are just arriving at.

Why did you want to make this documentary?

Sean: On a personal level, I seem to be drawn to projects that have at their core some relationship to the natural world and human culture, and where those two overlap. And particularly in an Indigenous context, I just find myself drawn to the importance of the stories, especially today. This for me, is one project, among other projects, that I feel deeply passionate about.

Geoff: It’s a very complicated and important story, and I think the privilege to come at it and look at it from a slightly alternative perspective and really focus on the importance of these trees, not just for their ecological value but also the value to Indigenous culture, I think is really what gives this piece a real heart. I’m hoping that’s the message that the audience leaves with and it was a really wonderful experience to be able to play a part in that.

This interview was edited for length and clarity. You can view the film here.

Joy SpearChief-Morris

GOD SAID I COULD BE A BIGOT

San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer declines to wear Pride jersey over religious beliefs

REUTERS

PUBLISHED YESTERDAY

San Jose Sharks' James Reimer says the team's decision to wear Pride-themed jerseys in support of the LGBTQIA+ community runs counter to his religious beliefs.ADAM HUNGER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer said he will not wear the National Hockey League team’s Pride jersey during warm-ups ahead of their game against the New York Islanders on Saturday because they do not align with his religious beliefs.

The 35-year-old Canadian said the decision was based on his Christian beliefs and added that he has “always strived to treat everyone that I encounter with respect,” and that all members of the LGBTQ+ community should be welcomed in hockey.

“In this specific instance, I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter to my personal convictions which are based on the Bible, the highest authority in my life,” Reimer said in a statement.

Reimer is the second NHL player to refuse to participate in a team’s Pride-themed initiatives following a similar decision by Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov in January.

In addition, both the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild opted against wearing Pride jerseys and using sticks wrapped in rainbow tape during their Pride nights in January.

As part of the Sharks’ Pride Night, the team had specially designed nameplates put on locker stalls while some players will use Pride Tape on their sticks. There will also be Pride-themed corporate partner boards around the rink.

The Sharks said in a separate statement that they are proud to host Pride Night and that it reinforces the team’s commitment to inclusiveness but also said they support Reimer’s decision.

“As we promote these standards, we also acknowledge and accept the rights of individuals to express themselves, including how or whether they choose to express their beliefs, regardless of the cause or topic,” the Sharks said.

“As an organization, we will not waver in our support of the LGBTQIA+ community and continue to encourage others to engage in active allyship.”

Reagan allies ‘colluded with Iran during hostage crisis to sabotage Carter’s re-election’

Story by Josh White • Yesterday 

A Texas politician has claimed that he worked with a senior member of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign to convince Iran to delay releasing its hostages during the crisis of 1979 in a bid to derail Jimmy Carter's re-election bid.


Iranian students took over the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for more than 400 days - AFP© AFP

Ben Barnes, Texas's former lieutenant governor, has claimed in an interview with The New York Times that John Connally Jr – once a governor of the same state and a high-ranking member of Reagan's election team – took him on a secret diplomatic tour of the Middle East as part of a scheme to damage Carter by convincing Iran to hold on to its American hostages until after the election.

Mr Carter was the US president when 52 diplomats and US citizens were taken hostage at the American embassy in Tehran by college students who supported the Iranian revolution.

Despite diplomatic efforts from the White House, the hostages were held for 444 days and the political crisis significantly damaged the Democratic president's attempt to be re-elected. Mr Carter was heavily defeated by his Republican rival in the election of 1980.

The hostages were released minutes after Reagan was sworn in as US president on Jan 20, 1981.



Reagan with wife Nancy at the inauguration parade in 1981. The hostages were released minutes after his speech - EPA© Provided by The Telegraph

According to Mr Barnes, Connally brought him to several Middle Eastern capitals to lobby regional leaders to convince Tehran that they would receive a better deal from Republican nominee Reagan if they kept hold of the hostages until after the election.

Mr Barnes told the newspaper that he was persuaded to come forward with his account by the news last month that Mr Carter is receiving home hospice care.

“History needs to know what happened,” Mr Barnes told the newspaper. “I think it’s so significant and I guess knowing that the end is near for President Carter put it on my mind more and more and more. I just feel like we’ve got to get it down some way.”

According to the newspaper, records at Lyndon Baines Johnson Library show that Connally and Mr Barnes left on a trip from Houston on July 18, 1980 to visit Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel, and returned to the US on Aug 11.

Mr Barnes said he was certain that the reason for the trip was to deliver the message to Iran to hold the hostages until after the election.

He claimed that when the pair met the first of a number of Middle Eastern leaders, Connally told them: “Look, Ronald Reagan’s going to be elected president and you need to get the word to Iran that they’re going to make a better deal with Reagan than they are Carter.”

Mr Barnes added: “He [Connally] said, ‘It would be very smart for you to pass the word to the Iranians to wait until after this general election is over.’ And boy, I tell you, I’m sitting there and I heard it and so now it dawns on me, I realise why we’re there.

“I’ll go to my grave believing that it was the purpose of the trip.”

Mr Barnes does not suggest that Reagan, who won two terms as US president, knew anything about the trip, but Mr Barnes told The New York Times that Connally briefed the chairman of Reagan's campaign, William Casey, when they returned to the US.



Carter is the oldest living former US president - AP© Provided by The Telegraph

Mr Barnes claimed that Casey, who went on to be director of the CIA under Reagan, wanted to know whether “they were going to hold the hostages”.

“It wasn’t freelancing because Casey was so interested in hearing as soon as we got back to the United States.”

In 1992 and again in 1993, Congress held separate inquiries that investigated alleged collusion between the Reagan campaign and Tehran and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

The timing of the release of the hostages has over the years given rise to conspiracy theories and allegations that Reagan's team conspired with Iran in a bid to prevent the release and stop Mr Carter pulling off an “October surprise” – a news event shortly before a presidential election that could swing the vote in one candidate's favour.

The Reagan administration was accused by some – namely former Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr – of rewarding Tehran by supplying the regime with weapons and releasing Iranian assets held in US banks.

Connally died in 1993. His eldest son, John Connally III, told The New York Times that he remembered his father taking the trip but that he did not know of any communication with Iran.

He said: “No mention was made in any meeting I was in about any message being sent to the Iranians. It doesn’t sound like my dad.”

Casey died in 1987, while Reagan passed away in 2004.

Mr Barnes, a Democrat, was a fundraiser for John Kerry's failed bid for president in 2004 and was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

Sanders Urges Banning Bank CEOs From Fed Boards in Wake of SVB

Kate Davidson and Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg News

Bernie Sanders , Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Bernie Sanders said he plans to introduce a measure that would prevent big-bank executives from serving on the boards of the regional Federal Reserve banks that oversee them. 

“One of the most absurd aspects of the Silicon Valley bank failure is that its CEO was a director of the same body in charge of regulating it: the San Francisco Fed,” the Vermont senator said on Twitter on Saturday. “I’ll be introducing a bill to end this conflict of interest by banning big bank CEOs from serving on Fed boards.”

Greg Becker, Silicon Valley Bank’s former president and chief executive officer, had served as a director on the San Francisco Fed board before the bank failed last week. Lawmakers are scrutinizing why the San Francisco Fed failed to address problems at the lender before its collapse.

The bill “would also prevent Fed employees and board members from owning any stock or investing in any institution the Fed regulates,” said Warren Gunnels, staff director of the Senate Health Committee, which Sanders chairs. It’ll be an updated version of a bill Sanders filed a decade ago, he said. 

The Fed declined to comment on Sanders’s plan. Other senators have also talked about reforming governance of regional banks.

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland and Banking Committee, said this week that the Fed’s structure should be reconsidered given Becker’s role at the San Francisco Fed.

“I think we need to eliminate even the perception of conflict of interest, if you have a bank that’s part of the board whose job it is to supervise banks in a particular region,” Van Hollen said in an interview.

Unlike the Fed board in Washington, which is made up of officials nominated by the US president and confirmed by the Senate, the Fed’s 12 regional banks are run by presidents chosen by private boards of directors. Those directors are made up of business and community leaders, as well as bank executives.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act changed the law to exclude bank executives serving on regional Fed boards — known as Class A directors — from participating in the selection of those bank presidents. The change was meant to prevent banks in the regional Fed districts from selecting the official charged with overseeing their day-to-day operations.

According to Fed policy, regional bank directors aren’t supposed to have involvement in supervisory decisions, enforcement matters or bank applications.

Several executives of large and mid-size banks serve on regional Fed boards, including M&T Corp. CEO Rene Jones, a director at the New York Fed; Citizens Financial Services Inc. CEO Randall Black, who serves on the Philadelphia Fed board; and Ally Financial Inc. Chief Financial Officer Jennifer LaClair, a Richmond Fed director.

Limited Prospects

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, citing the power of the banking lobby, has expressed skepticism that Congress will be able to pass any law cracking down on banks, with the possible exception of clawing back bonuses of executives of failed banks.

He said Thursday he expects the Fed to act to increase capital and liquidity requirements and stiffen stress tests using its existing authority.

Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, a Republican member of the Banking Committee, has called for reviving legislation proposed by former Republican Senator Pat Toomey to make regional Fed presidents presidential appointees and more accountable to Congress.

“Those regional bank presidents need to be under Senate confirmation,” she said. “I’m even willing to look at more aggressive separation between the bank’s supervision role and its role on monetary policy.”

(Updates with committee staff director’s comments in fourth paragraph, adds bank leaders serving on regional Fed board in 11th.)

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Afghan Student in India Wins Gold Medal, Dedicates It to Afghan Women Barred from University

March 19, 2023
Anjana Pasricha

Razia Muradi receiving a gold medal for her accomplishments in a master's course in Public Administration at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in India.

 (Photo courtesy Razia Muradi)

MUMBAI —

When Razia Muradi, a 27-year-old Afghan student, won a gold medal for her performance in a master's program in a college in India, her thoughts flashed back to her homeland, she told VOA this week.

Growing up in Bamiyan province in Afghanistan, the future looked promising. She worked by day and went to night school to complete her bachelor's degree.

“Life was peaceful and normal,” Muradi said.

“Women were free to attend university. Girls were eager to learn. Families were supportive and encouraged their daughters to pursue higher education.”

Two years ago, she came to India on a scholarship for a postgraduate course in public administration. She was among thousands of Afghans who headed to Indian colleges in the last two decades after the Taliban’s overthrow in 2001 following its first stint in power.

Like many of these young students, her goal was to return and use her degree in policymaking to take a job and help Afghanistan modernize.

All that changed abruptly when Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021. Like many women, she was gripped with dread that the country would regress into the dark days an older generation vividly remembered.

That is why it was a moment of great pride but also deep sadness when Muradi went onstage this month to accept the gold medal for achieving the highest grade-point average in her program at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in in the western Gujarat state.

“I dedicate this achievement to all the women who do not have the opportunity that I have to study,” she told VOA. “And at some point in time, girls like me want to return this chance in some way to them. This medal is an affirmation that women can accomplish anything.”

Muradi said she sees herself as representing the women of Afghanistan deprived of education.

Razia Muradi at a summer camp in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

 (Photo courtesy Razia Muradi)

In December, the Taliban banned women from attending university, dealing a second blow to female education – the group had earlier barred girls from secondary schools, depriving millions from studying beyond the sixth grade.

In the year and a half since the group swept into power, women have been removed from many jobs, must wear the full veil, and are not allowed to travel without a male relative or visit parks and gyms as the hard-line Islamists roll back women's rights and freedoms.

For Afghan women like Muradi, all hopes that the Taliban would live up to their initial promises of a more liberal rule have been crushed.

“I feel broken from inside. Everything that happened in the 1990s is being repeated. The hope with which I came to India is destroyed,” Muradi said.

“I cannot see any bright future for myself. I don’t know whether I will be able to go back and meet my family. I struggle with these thoughts all the time.”

With her country in turmoil, studying for her master’s was not easy. She worried about her family, but she said she worked to stay calm as there was little she could do except honor her luck in being among the Afghan women still pursuing an education.

“I had to manage my stress. Every time I thought about Afghanistan, I told myself that it is my responsibility to take advantage of this opportunity that other girls in my country can no longer avail. So, I must focus on my studies and build my capacity if I want to bring change in the future,” she said.

Muradi is now working on her Ph.D. in public administration from the same college, supported by a scholarship from the Indian government’s Indian Council of Cultural Relations, and she has a message for the Taliban.

“I think the Taliban need to rethink about depriving women of education. If they want to rule, they cannot ignore the women. Women will protest, at some point they will stand and ask for their rights. Otherwise, half the country’s population will be useless,” she said.

Thousands in Belgrade protest against Western-backed Serbia-Kosovo deal

Protesters shout slogans and hold signs during a demonstration against a Western-backed deal on normalizing ties between Kosovo and Serbia in Belgrade, Mar. 17, 2023. 

[Djordje Kojadinovic/Reuters]

Newsroom18.03.2023 • 

Several thousand people gathered in Belgrade to protest against a Western-backed deal to normalize ties between Kosovo and Serbia, which they view as recognition of Kosovo independence.

Serbia’s constitution considers Kosovo an integral part of its territory, even though it declared independence in 2008 with US and European Union backing. Bilateral ties need to be mended for Serbia and Kosovo to achieve their strategic goal of joining the EU.

Protesters held Serbian flags and banners reading “Kosovo is not for sale,” “Serbia, not European Union,” and “No to capitulation.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is due to meet Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and EU officials on Saturday in Ohrid, North Macedonia, to discuss implementation of the deal on normalizing ties both parties agreed to last month.

“I think the deal implies that we recognize Kosovo, which is not acceptable,” said Bogdan, a 26-year-old student protestor who declined to give his last name, in an interview.

Protesters in front of Saint Sava Church in Belgrade walked to the presidency building.

“This is just the start of the protest,” said Milos Jovanovic, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, which was one of the protest organizers.

“It [the deal] is definitely a recognition [of Kosovo], whether you say it explicitly or whether it is implied indirectly it is still recognition and it is not acceptable.”

In 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] bombed Serbia in response to the expulsion of majority Albanians by Serb forces in Kosovo. 

[Reuters]

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for KOSOVO 

SERBIAN NATIONALISTS

Florida drag queen says DeSantis-backed anti-LGBTQ laws are 'exactly what we were taught about in schools about how the Nazis rose to power'

Chris Panella
Mar 17, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images


A Florida drag queen compared legislation targeting LGBTQ issues backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to Nazis.

Other drag queens and local politicians called the administration's efforts "fascism."

The state recently moved to revoke the liquor license of a hotel that hosted a drag show.

Florida drag queens compared recent moves by state Republican lawmakers targeting their performances — including Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration's efforts to revoke the liquor license of a hotel that hosted a drag show — to Nazis in the 1930s.

"It's fascism, it's complete and total, unregulated, fascism. and they're just doing whatever they want and it's so dangerous and so scary," drag performer Mr Ms Adrien — who asked to go by their stage name — told Insider.

DeSantis' administration moved to pull the Hyatt Regency Miami's liquor license after one of its partner facilities hosted a drag queen Christmas show where some children were in attendance.

In a previous statement to Insider, DeSantis' press secretary Bryan Griffin told Insider that the governor "stands up for the innocence of children in the classroom and throughout Florida."

But advocates like Equality Florida say the incident is an example of the DeSantis administration "selectively weaponizing state agencies" to target drag performers and venues that are not harmful for children.

And Chris Caputo, a city commissioner in Wilton Manors, Florida who has spoken in support of LGBTQ issues, said the current situation reminds him of "Nazi Germany."

"This governor and the current Republican administration are succeeding by marginalizing groups and tearing them off."

Florida doesn't feel like home, one drag queen said

Adrien, who was born and raised in South Florida, is now an Orlando-based drag queen and said recent anti-LGBTQ political shifts make the state feel like it's no longer home.

Specifically, Adrien said ongoing narratives about drag shows and minors, like the complaint against the Hyatt Regency Miami on Tuesday, are "trying to paint a picture that just isn't real ... It's a fake narrative."

They also cited recent and proposed legislation — including an education bill dubbed by critics as "Don't Say Gay" that limits how topics like gender are discussed in classrooms — as examples of what they called dangerous power grabs.

"It's exactly what we were taught about in schools about how the Nazis rose to power," Adrien said. "Textbook, bullet point for bullet point."

DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the criticism.

A drag photoshoot of Mr Ms Adrien. 

Mr Ms Adrien

Adrien said that while they've faced hate and harassment before, there are newer concerns about people attending drag shows undercover to take pictures and videos that, out of context or falsely edited, could be used against queens.

The environment in the state is increasingly hostile, they said.

'Those safe spaces will go away'

Jason DeShazo is president of Rose Dynasty Foundation Inc. and performs as drag queen Momma Ashley Rose.

Rose Dynasty Foundation is a non-profit "whose mission is to provide a safe and family-friendly atmosphere for all people no matter their gender, race, sexual orientation, and/or religion," according to the website.

Their drag brunches, as documented by NBC News, have welcomed children and families.

But after DeSantis' move to revoke liquor licenses at the Hyatt Regency and two other locations, drag performers like DeShazo's group and Adrien could face difficulty finding work.

DeShazo called the efforts "a witch hunt" and fears the legislation and efforts to limit drag could prevent LGBTQ kids from finding communities to support them.

"This could very well change the way our whole organization is ran, if we can even function as an organization," DeShazo said. "Those safe spaces will go away."

Rose Dynasty Foundation Inc. holding performance art drag event. Amy Drefke/Jason DeShazo

According to both DeShazo and Adrien, the economic effects of Florida's rhetoric is already being felt: venues are concerned about their performances' content, shows have been canceled, and queens have dropped out of events out because of fears of public backlash.

Adrien said it's hitting drag queen's wallets.

"They want us to be broke and they want everyone to be afraid of us," they said.

A huge multi-colored flag flies over Ocean Drive as people participate in the Pride Parade, during the Miami Beach Pride Festival, in Lummus Park, South Beach, Florida on September 19, 2021. GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images

Despite concerns, advocates are still protesting.

Caputo is currently helping organize "March in Heels," a "protest to address Florida HB 1011 and other anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Florida," according to the event's Facebook page.

HB 1011 would restrict what types of flags government buildings can fly, preventing the display of LGBTQ+ flags, pride flags, and other flags not specified in the bill.

And both drag queens say they'll still perform. DeShazo said he made a promise to families and children that he would fight against legislation and restrictions. Adrien said they do drag out of love and won't give up on it.

"I don't think it's in my nature to give up," they said. "Because giving up, to me, would be rolling over dead."

BEST DAMN MACHINEGUN EVER
Russia-Ukraine war: Ancient 19th-century machine gun keeps Vladimir Putin’s troops at bay

SO SAID MY FATHER IN LAW

Daily Telegraph UK
By: Dominic Nicholls , Joe Barnes and Verity Bowman
17 Mar, 2023 


A Maxim machine gun at a Ukrainian firing point. Photo / BBC screengrab

Ukrainian troops are using a machine gun first deployed in the 19th century as they fight back “human waves” of Russian troops on the front lines of Bakhmut.

Soldiers in bunkers are firing Maxim machine guns, more usually associated with the colonial era and World War I, amid shortages of modern weaponry.

The Maxim has “120 years of history killing Russians”, a soldier manning a firing position told the BBC, adding: “It’s a weapon from the first World War being used in the third World War.”

The Maxim, a recoil-operated machine gun, was invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It is credited as being the first fully automatic machine gun in the world.

Firing at a rate of 600 rounds per minute, it has to be water-cooled, adding considerable weight. It is, however, able to sustain its rate of fire far longer than air-cooled guns.

Vladislav, 27, told the Telegraph: “I have seen Maxim machine guns in stationary positions many times. Despite their age, it is a rather formidable weapon - the main thing is not to forget to add some water.

“The only drawback is its weight, but it shows itself stoically in constant firing. The Maxim is a fairly effective weapon in capable hands. It needs care so that it does not wedge, and works as smoothly as a clock.”

On Friday, the British Defence Intelligence department of the Ministry of Defence said that in recent days, Russian troops and fighters with the Wagner mercenary group have obtained footholds west of the Bakhmutka River in the centre of Bakhmut.

In recent weeks, the river has marked the front line as Russian and Ukrainian forces clash over the Donbas city, with Ukrainian forces continuing to defend its west.

Russian sources say the fighting in Bakhmut has reached an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city, close to the final supply route for Ukrainian troops.

“Wagner fighters are pushing the enemy simultaneously in the northern and southern parts of the city,” Rybar, an authoritative Russian military blogger, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Street battles are taking place in the industrial zone and near the industrial college.”

The industrial college sits close to the highway between Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar, considered the last Ukrainian-held road in and out of the besieged city.

If Russian forces seize control of the road, the remaining Ukrainian troops inside Bakhmut could become encircled and cut off from crucial supplies or an escape route. The Telegraph could not immediately verify the claims.

More broadly across the front line, Russian attacks have slowed to their lowest levels for weeks, likely to be because of shortages of ammunition, manpower and equipment.

On Wednesday, Colonel Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the south of the country around Kherson, said daily Russian ground attacks had decreased from around 100 to around 30. In the Bakhmut region, Ukraine estimates that for every soldier it loses, the Russians have seven killed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met top military advisers this week and decided to continue supporting the defence of the city, despite the high casualty rate.

Kyiv is seeking to buy time to build up a “combined arms” force of tanks, infantry and other military capabilities so as to be better able to conduct a counter-offensive once the ground dries out.

Nazar, 29, a soldier in the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, told the Telegraph: “I am still fighting where I was weeks ago. There are dead and wounded, and everything is as usual. Nothing changes. They attack, we defend ourselves. We are trapped in swamps, shelling, death.

“The fact is that everywhere, everything is according to the book - there are no such heroic feats as there were before. We are on the defensive while people are dying.”

Ukraine's troops fight off 'massive' Russian attacks in Bakhmut with World War I-era machine guns and sniper traps

John Haltiwanger
Mar 17, 2023

A Maxim machine gun in position near Kharkiv, Ukraine. 

Mykhaylo Palinchak

Ukraine has used a WWI-era machine gun on the front line to mow down the enemy.
"It only works when there is a massive attack going on," a Ukrainian soldier told BBC News.

The brutal fighting in Ukraine, filled with trenches and heavy casualties, has frequently been compared to WWI.

Ukrainian forces have used Maxim machine guns, a weapon often associated with World War I, to mow down frontal assaults by Russian troops in the battle for Bakhmut.

"It only works when there is a massive attack going on," a Ukrainian soldier identified as Borys, 48, recently told BBC News of the Maxim gun. "Then it really works."

"We use it every week," Borys added.

Ukrainian forces have found the Maxim M1910 — was first introduced in 1910 (the initial version of the gun emerged in the 1880s) and employed by the Imperial Russian Army during World War I — useful in the fight against the Russians. Ukraine's troops have modified the guns with modern add-ons such as optics and suppressors, according to reporting from Task and Purpose.

Hiram Maxim, a key inventor of portable machine guns in the 19th Century, used the recoil force of a bullet to eject its cartridge and feed the next round in from an ammunition belt.

The fighting in Ukraine has repeatedly garnered parallels to World War I, with both sides locked in a brutal war of attrition featuring trenches, relentless artillery barrages, and heavy casualties. In this environment, even some of the weapons of that era have come in handy as Ukrainian troops face human wave attacks on the front line — tactics common to World War I.

Ukraine has also apparently utilized a type of World War I-era sniper decoy, employing dummies meant to fool enemy snipers.

But while the fight in Ukraine might have similarities to World War I, the modern weaponry and surveillance also prevalent on the battlefield — particularly drones — have made it all the more deadly by giving troops few places to hide.

The Ukraine war has essentially become "World War I with 21st century ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance]," Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Insider in January.

Ownership and serfdom

Vladislav Inozemtsev on the political passivity of super-rich Russians

Читать на русском
By Vladislav Inozemtsev

10 March 2023

Photo: Scanpix

About fifteen years ago, when President Putin’s geopolitical plans were still at the incubation stage, developments in the Russian market economy were bringing almost unthinkable profits to the ‘shock workers of capitalist labour’. Forbes 2008 ranking of dollar billionaires included 87 Russians (out of the total of 1,125 people), with four of them in the Top 20 of the global ‘table of ranks’. The acquired property—as Western liberals claimed—was expressed through freedom. The press was full of reports about the chateaus, planes, yachts and works of art those billionaires bought, and their the unbridled revelry in Courchevel or parties in London. The ‘New Russians’ were also the youngest cohort of the global business elite: their average age was 46. However, Russia, which ‘has risen from its knees’, tossed its former idols in the mud after a fairly short time: today, the wealthiest Russian comes 87th in the global ranking, and the combined wealth of the 20 wealthiest Russians falls substantially behind the wealth held by Elon Musk alone. However, most importantly, ownership of property has brought serfdom rather than freedom to all the super-rich Russians: they mistakenly considered themselves to be part of the global jet set. Nowadays, in the eyes of the West, they are citizens of a criminal country and accomplices of its fascist leader, which is why they are losing foreign assets en masse and are forced to move back to Russia.

The war in Ukraine and sanctions against the wealthiest Russians have resulted in huge financial losses (according to some estimates, the value of their assets has shrunk by even USD 54bn, while the amount of frozen assets and seized property in foreign jurisdictions stands at USD 30−35bn). (In this context, we can mention, in particular, the loss of such expensive items as the USD 440 million Sailing Yacht A and the $ 300 million Amadea owned by A. Melnichenko and S. Kerimov respectively). More importantly, however, the property that still remains in their hands has acquired a new status.

It should be noted that Russian business has understood the consequences of Putin’s war quickly and correctly. As leading Russian businessmen were respectfully listening to the President in the Kremlin on the evening of 24 February, their private jets were warming their engines up in the Vnukovo‑3 airport. However, the swift exodus was short-lived (according to various sources, almost half of the Forbes Club members left Russia in the first 48 hours after the start of hostilities against Ukraine ): in the months that followed, at least 70 Russian billionaires (including all members of the ill-fated meeting between the President and leading members of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs) found themselves under EU, US and UK sanctions and some, such as A. Rotenberg, K. Malofeev, A. Miller and A. Akimov, have been on the ‘stop lists’ since 2014−2016. And even though the inclusion on the sanctions lists did not lead to deportation (some Russians are still living in the jurisdictions that put them on those lists, e.g. M. Fridman in the UK), major businessmen quickly realised that their assets in the West did not represent the majority of their wealth, and, on the other hand, very rarely generated steady income. This is why, starting from April and May 2022, the ‘relocated people’, faced with an uninspiring perspective of ‘gulping the dust’ in European courts, have been returning to Russia to sort out their business and to keep competitors out of budgetary streams and public procurement deals.

As a result, one year after the outbreak of war, we can state that Putin has ‘nationalised the elites’ more successfully in the past twelve months than in the preceding eleven years. We can identify three ‘groups of comrades’ by their location and behaviour and cannot but conclude that Russian business has proved to be a no less solid foundation for the regime than, for example, the security forces, with loyalty being based on the ‘feeding hand’ in both cases.

The main (and by far the largest) group comprises those who quickly ‘realised’ the malignancy of their fascination with Europe. If we take the 2021 Forbes list as a reference point, we will see that around 40−50 of the top 100 people are staying within Russia nowadays. They continue to ‘work constructively’ in the country, although many of them have left their posts as managers or board members of their companies since their formal participation in asset management makes the business of their respective companies very difficult (this factor can be ignored only by openly criminalised businesses, such as A. Tkachev’s Agrokomplex; the latter does not even shy away from seizing land in the occupied regions of Ukraine). Some of these entrepreneurs hastily got rid of a significant proportion of their assets by transferring them to their children (like R. Abramovich) or wives (like V. Mordashov, head of Severstal, and D. Melnichenko, head of EuroChem), or by announcing ‘retirement’ (as A. Usmanov did, to observers’ surprise). However, one can confidently assert that Russia’s business elites have been radically ‘nationalised’ now: the share of their assets located in the Russian Federation has gone up, increasing their dependence on the country’s authorities. Many people, with V. Potanin being the leader here, have been actively involved in buying up the assets of foreign companies that have left Russia, while arguing how wretched the confiscation was. Most businessmen, meanwhile, are passively watching the developments, meekly pay the rising taxes, visibly participating in import-substitution programmes and working in all sorts of commissions to support economic sustainability in wartime. Now, the South has become an alternative to the West: wealthy Russians are buying up property in United Arab Emirates, Israel and Turkey, but no longer set their sights on foreign countries as a primary place of residence (even the long-time resident of Switzerland and newly minted UAE citizen D. Melnichenko has recently returned to Moscow).

Nevertheless, some businessmen, even the richest ones, have chosen to leave the country while preserving Russian assets, keeping quiet about the events in their homeland and, most importantly, keeping the public information of their whereabouts at a minimum. Among them is, for example, M. Prokhorov, who departed for an unknown destination after the start of the war, probably managed to obtain an Israeli passport, following which news of him has practically dried up. That said, it is important to note that this former presidential candidate remains Russia’s richest citizen, not subject to any sanctions, and his beautiful yacht, the Palladium, has lately been sailing various between ports on the west coast of Central America. A similar tactic has been applied by many less significant businessmen who have not been put on the European or US sanctions lists and now prefer to spend most of their time abroad, in complete loyalty to the Russian authorities. At the same time, this group of businessmen is constantly at risk of sanctions, as Ukraine has included all Russians from Forbes list into its lists, including not only M. Prokhorov, but also R. Abramovich, who participated in the negotiations with Russia, seizing and confiscating the assets of many businessmen who have not faced any claims from Western countries. For example, the construction materials production facilities have been built from scratch in recent years by the Russian LSR group, controlled by A. Molchanov. Kyiv, on the other hand, constantly urges the West to use the sanctions lists compiled by Ukraine, which are more extensive than any other lists at the moment.

Finally, the third group, very small at that, includes entrepreneurs who have decided not to return to Russia, even though they own large businesses in the country. Among them, not surprisingly, are the owners of Alfa Group, M. Fridman and P. Aven. Several years ago, Forbes called Alfa to be the most ‘internationalised’ Russian financial group, based on the extremely high share of foreign assets in the total wealth of its beneficiaries. For various reasons, some people are quite openly living outside Russia, among them O. Tinkoff, the founder and former owner of Tinkoff Bank, G. Volozh, a major shareholder in Yandex, and A. Mamut, owner of a diversified asset portfolio (we can also add A. Usmanov, who has now settled in Tashkent). Some businessmen, including Yu. Milner and N. Storonsky, have even renounced their Russian citizenship. Many of these businessmen are under Western sanctions, and they are all striving to challenge sanctions decisions and have been involved in ongoing litigation with the European authorities, attempting to prove their non-involvement in Russian aggression (which the Kremlin is unlikely to be enthusiastic about). Notably, even though many oligarchs have returned to Russia, more than 60 people are suing the European authorities over the personal sanctions that have been imposed on them, and, according to European lawyers, many of these lawsuits are not hopeless.

According to rough estimates, entrepreneurs who accounted for less than 10% of the assets cumulatively controlled by Russian billionaires when the war started in Ukraine, have physically left Russia for the long term over the course of 2022. This is because in a country not based on the rule of law, property becomes the foundation of serfdom rather than freedom: having spent years building business empires, people become hostages to them, and are prepared to go to great lengths to preserve what they have accumulated. The Kremlin is now brilliantly using this lever to defeat even the most unshakable tenets of economic liberalism in its policies. Moreover, the sanctions policy pursued by Western countries cannot be neglected as it has helped to ‘squeeze out’ the oligarchs back into Russia, and their assets have been massively re-registered from foreign jurisdictions to their homeland. The sanctions, based on how they were imposed, have helped to consolidate Russian business around the Kremlin and particularly punish those who, for many years, have sought to conform to Western standards of business transparency while they have not affected the ‘autochthonous’ Russian thugs who are also in substantial contradiction with the basic tenets of the Western legal system. The rule of law is based on the assumption that the law must have universal validity, which is why sanctions against individual countries, industries and/or export and import positions are fully acceptable, while restrictive measures against specific individuals cannot be imposed except by court decision, with all the elements of adversarial prosecution and defence (in contrast, sanction measures are introduced by the executive branch of power, i.e. not even by parliaments). In other words, I would venture to say that two voluntaristic systems have collided, oddly enough, in the field of personal sanctions against Russian entrepreneurs and the conflict resulted in the ‘repatriation’ of businesses into their original environment.

The last question that often comes up when assessing the fates of the Russian business elites is whether they might try to regain their long lost political power in Russia (after all, everyone remembers how entrepreneurs often rules to the Kremlin in the ‘turbulent 1990s’). I would say that despite demonstrating full loyalty to Vladimir Putin, large Russian businesses will never forgive him the ordeal that they had to undergo in recent years. Huge efforts undertaken to ensure integration into the international business environment turned out to be in vain. The hopes that Russian assets could be protected by staying in Western jurisdictions have been dashed. At the moment, none of the big businessmen is ready to condemn Putin’s policy actively (it is noteworthy that O. Deripaska, M. Fridman and D. Melnichenko have criticised the war during its first weeks, while only O. Tinkov has spoken out against the aggression more consistently). However, if the regime turns out to be unstable, it is doubtful whether business will be able to consolidate against the security forces (siloviki) and the turbo-patriots, and provide genuine support for politicians who are more tolerant of the outside world (whether Alexei Navalny or others). In other words, the business world could give a push to the pendulum which has been moving Russia between isolationism and openness to the world for almost two centuries by swinging it towards a new collaboration with the West. And, obviously, this will not happen tomorrow.

By Vladislav Inozemtsev
Director, Centre for Post-Industrial Studies (Moscow).