Why Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and other major Dems are going all out for a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin



Nicole Gaudiano
Fri, March 24, 2023 




• Stakes are high in an April Supreme Court election in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

• State abortion rights, districts, and even the 2024 general election hang in the balance.

• Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both weighed in on the race

Normally, you wouldn't see high-profile figures like former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighing in on an upcoming state Supreme Court election.

But the stakes couldn't be higher in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the outcome on April 4 could determine the future of state abortion rights, congressional district boundaries and even the results — if challenged — of the 2024 presidential election. And Democrats are pouring money and high-wattage endorsements into the race.

A win by Janet Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge backed by Democrats, would give the bench a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years on a court that only narrowly rejected former President Donald Trump's lawsuits attempting to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

"If you don't want to wait in terror for Wisconsin Supreme Court rulings in the final days and hours before and after the election is called in 2024, you want to win the Supreme Court race right now," Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler told Insider.

Big spending and heated debate in a state race

Campaigns and outside groups have spent $27 million overall in the race, as tallied by WisPolitics. That's nearly double that of the previous record for a state Supreme Court seat.

The race has been heated and personal between Protasiewicz (pronounced  "Pro-tuh-say-witz") and Daniel Kelly, a self-described judicial conservative who previously served on the court and was endorsed by Trump in 2020 in his failed bid to retain the seat.

During their only debate, Protasiewicz called Kelly "a true threat to our democracy," saying he advised state Republican Party officials on a fake electors scheme to overturn the 2020 election results. Kelly said she was "lying" and that his advice was a 30-minute conversation.

In testimony to the House committee probing the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the state's former GOP chairman Andrew Hitt said he had "pretty extensive conversations" about fake electors with Kelly, a "special counsel" brought on to advise on "election law matters," the AP noted.

The candidates are running for a 10-year term spanning the next three presidential election cycles and the 2030 redistricting cycle. Wikler said the results could affect control of the US Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House in 2024. He said the race could even determine if the US has "something even vaguely legitimate as an American democracy at all."

The state Democratic Party is helping fund Protasiewicz's campaign while other Democratic power players are working to drive interest in the race.

"It's going to be close, so don't wait until April 4th. Make a plan to vote today," tweeted Obama.

A pinned tweet by Clinton directs her followers to a fundraising page for Protasiewicz, saying she is the "progressive candidate who believes women should be able to make their own health care decisions."

The Republican Party chairman did not respond to a request for comment.

'We have people knocking on doors in the snow'

Republicans clearly have their eye on Wisconsin's 10 Electoral College votes. They will head to Milwaukee for their first primary debate and their 2024 national convention to formally select the party's presidential nominee.

Wisconsin is a battleground state that elected Biden by less than a percentage point in 2020 and Trump by the same margin in 2016. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson won his 2022 reelection by a percentage point and Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is up for reelection in 2024.

With a Democratic governor, the GOP-controlled legislature can't get new legislation concerning voting rights signed into law. But there's a risk that they could try to accomplish that through the courts, Wikler said.

Last election cycle, the court sided with a conservative legal group in ruling that most ballot drop boxes aren't allowed in the state.

"This is the last key thing to ensure that we have a free and fair election in 2024," he said.

A win by Protasiewicz could also mean that Republican-drawn legislative maps could be revisited, which could lead to at least two house seats moving from the GOP column to "very much in play," he said.

Another matter that could come before the court is a 1849 ban on nearly all abortions except for women who are dying.

Protasiewicz has said she supports abortion rights but would rule based on the law. She sparred with Kelly on the issue during their debate. "I can tell you with 100 percent certainty, that 1849 abortion ban will stay on the books" if Kelly is elected, she said. Kelly, endorsed by anti-abortion groups, said she was lying and had "no idea" what he was thinking.

Wikler said the election is as close as Wisconsin will come to having an actual referendum on abortion. "This really profound basic question will be decided by who wins on April 4," he said.

The state party's organizing push is the biggest it has ever mobilized in a spring election, but none can predict who will turn out, he said.

"We have people knocking on doors in the snow all over Wisconsin," he said.

IN AMERIKA ACCEPTING OTHERS IS CONTROVERSIAL

Wisconsin 1st graders were told they couldn't sing 'Rainbowland' by Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus because it was too controversial. The song is about accepting others.

Katie Balevic
Sat, March 25, 2023 

Dolly Parton (L) and Miley Cyrus perform onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California

.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

A Wisconsin school district said no to 1st-graders singing a song about acceptance at their spring concert.

School administrators in Wisconsin found the song to be too controversial, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton's "Rainbowland" is the song at the center of the controversy.

Students in a first-grade class in Wisconsin were excited to sing a song about coming together and loving each other by Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus, but school administrators said the song was too controversial.

Preparing for their spring concert, a class of students at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha, Wisconsin — about 20 miles west of Milwaukee — was planning on singing "Rainbowland," a song by Cyrus and Parton about acceptance and love, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sarah Schindler, a school parent, told the Times her daughter was excited about the song, which she had never heard before.

"We love Dolly Parton!" Schindler told the Times.

However, administrators quashed the song.

"We can't sing it anymore," Schindler's daughter told her when she came home from school one day, according to the Times.

Schindler told the Times she reached out to her daughter's teacher, Heyer Elementary's principal, and the superintendent of the School District of Waukesha to ask about why the songs were removed, and she was informed that the songs were removed after they were deemed too controversial.

"Rainbowland" includes the lyrics: "Living in a Rainbowland, The skies are blue and things are grand, Wouldn't it be nice to live in paradise, Where we're free to be exactly who we are, Let's all dig down deep inside, Brush the judgment and fear aside, Make wrong things right, And end the fight, 'Cause I promise ain't nobody gonna win."

In a statement provided to Insider by school district superintendent James Sebert, he said the teacher who suggested the song "Rainbowland" checked with the school principal "to determine if the song would be acceptable to use in a first grade concert." When the principal reviewed the song alongside a district policy about "Controversial Issues in the Classroom," they "determined that the song could be deemed controversial in accordance with the policy," the statement said.

At that point, according to the statement, the song "Rainbow Connection" was selected.

Representatives for Parton and Cyrus could not be reached or did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Saturday.

Melissa Tempel, who teaches Schindler's daughter's class, posted on Twitter about the administration's opinion of the song.

"My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?" Tempel tweeted earlier this month.

In a later tweet, Tempel said that "Rainbow Connection" – another song that had been nixed, Schindler told the Times – had been reinstated "after parents sent emails to admin."

In a comment to Insider, Tempel said the school district had not provided any additional reasoning for removing "Rainbowland" besides its initial communications that it "could be deemed controversial."

Schindler told the Times that the school board had a "conservative flip" in recent years and has since instituted "some policy changes that have been causing some controversy in our community."

"One of those is a controversial topics policy saying that teachers can't have any kind of signage that could be deemed political," Schindler told the Times. "Discussion of pronouns with students was another thing that came up. And teachers aren't allowed to wear rainbows."

The statement from the school district noted that the Board of Education was not involved in the decision and that the "entire matter has been reviewed and the outcomes are fully supported by the Superintendent."

The school district started spring break on March 25, according to its website.

Read the original article on Insider

Read the memo Amazon's HR chief sent rejecting employees' petition against the new return-to-office policy

Fri, March 24, 2023 

Amazon SVP of People Experience and Technology, Beth Galetti,

 rejected an internal petition against the company's new RTO policy.

REUTERS/Al Drago

• Amazon's HR chief formally rejected an internal petition asking Amazon to reverse its return-to-office policy.

• About 30,000 Amazon employees signed the petition pushing back against Amazon's RTO mandate.

• Read the full text of Galetti's message to employees below.

On Wednesday, Amazon's top HR executive, Beth Galetti, sent employees a message officially rejecting an internal petition they had drafted against the company's new return-to-office policy.

The petition, which was shared with CEO Andy Jassy's leadership team last week according to Galetti's note, was signed by roughly 30,000 employees. The petition followed the RTO mandate that Jassy outlined last month, which asks employees to come into the office three times a week beginning in May.

Employees shared messages of disappointment on the company's Slack channel following Galetti's announcement.

"I realize Beth can't respond to every accommodation request, but I don't think this is representative of the vision she describes and the disconnect is painful," one person wrote.

Earlier this week, Amazon also said that it would be laying off an additional 9,000 employees, on top of the 18,000 roles it announced it was cutting in January.

Read the full text of Galetti's message below:

Hello all –

Andy's team shared your note last week, and I wanted to take a moment to follow up directly. First, thank you to everyone who collaborated on this document to thoughtfully bring their concerns forward.

Over the last three years, we have been continually assessing the strengths and shortcomings of different working models, listening to public health guidance on safety standards to bring employees back, and considering what's most compatible for our unique culture. As mentioned in Andy's update, the guiding principle used in our decision making was to prioritize what would enable us to make our customers' lives better and easier every day, and relentlessly invent to do so. Given the large size of our workforce and our wide range of businesses and customers, we recognize this transition may take time, but we are confident it will result in long-term benefits to increasing our ability to deliver for our customers, bolstering our culture, and growing and developing employees.

I also want to make it absolutely clear that our commitment to DEI, the safety and well-being of our employees, and sustainability remains unchanged. Moreover, our companywide Anti-Harassment Policy makes clear that we will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. Resources and HR business partners are available to employees who feel they have been subject to discrimination in the workplace. We also have the People Accessibility & Disability Experience team that is available to assist employees with disabilities. Further information on health and safety standards, commuter benefits, accommodations, and other concerns can be found in this FAQ.

Thank you again for raising your concerns as it's important to me and the rest of leadership team that employee voices are heard. 

Beth

 

Kremlin: important to identify object found next to Nord Stream pipeline


Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reaching surface of the Baltic sea in the area shows disturbance of well over one kilometre diameter near Bornholm

Reuters
Fri, March 24, 2023 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Friday said it was important to identify an object discovered next to one of the Nord Stream pipelines, and said the ongoing investigation into blasts that struck the pipelines last September must be conducted with full transparency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters it was a positive sign that Denmark had invited the Russian-controlled operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to help salvage an unidentified object found close to the Baltic Sea pipelines.

"It's certainly positive news when the owner of the pipeline is invited to take part in very important phases of the investigation," Peskov said.

Last week, Danish authorities said a tubular object, protruding around 40 cm (16 inches) from the seabed and 10 cm in diameter, had been found during an inspection of the last remaining intact Nord Stream pipeline by its operator, Nord Stream 2 AG.

"It is critically important to determine what kind of object it is, whether it is related to this terrorist act - apparently it is - and to continue this investigation. And this investigation must be transparent," Peskov added.

Three of the four pipelines of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas links were hit in a still-unexplained explosion last September.

Russia has, without evidence, blamed Britain and the United States for the blasts, while European investigators have not said who they believe was responsible.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Jason Neely)

Denmark asks Russia to help recover mystery object near gas pipeline

CBSNews
Fri, March 24, 2023 

Copenhagen — Denmark has invited the Russian-controlled operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to help recover a mystery object that was spotted near the pipeline, six months after sections were sabotaged. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who revealed the discovery of the object earlier this month, said experts believe that it could be a signal antenna to activate an explosive in that part of the pipeline.

German, Swedish and Danish authorities are investigating the undersea explosions that sparked four leaks on the two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine

.
An image released on March 23, 2023 by the Danish Energy Agency shows an unknown object on the seafloor next to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, near the location of a sabotage attack in September of the previous year. / Credit: Danish Energy Agency

The Danish energy agency released a photo late Thursday of the cylindrical object standing near the Nord Stream 2 pipeline at the bottom of the sea.

The agency said it is "possible" that the object is a maritime smoke buoy, 16 inches tall and four inches wide, and that it "does not pose an immediate safety risk."

"With a view to further clarifying the nature of the object, Danish authorities have decided to salvage the object with assistance from the Danish Defense," it said in a statement.

The agency added that it was still waiting for a response from the pipeline's owner before starting the recovery operation.

Russian energy giant Gazprom holds a majority stake in the twin pipelines, with the rest owned by German, Dutch and French companies.

In November last year, prosecutor leading Sweden's preliminary investigation said traces of explosives had been found at site where the two natural gas pipelines were damaged by what he called an act of "gross sabotage."

"Analysis carried out shows traces of explosives on several of the foreign objects that were found" at the site, prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in a statement at the time. The Swedish prosecution authority said the investigation was "very complex and comprehensive," and that further scrutiny would determine whether anyone could be charged "with suspicion of crime."

German prosecutors said earlier this month that, in January, investigators searched a ship suspected of having transported explosives used in the blasts.

Confirmation of the searches came after the New York Times reported that U.S. officials had seen new intelligence indicating that a "pro-Ukrainian group" was responsible for the sabotage. The Ukrainian government denied involvement in the action, while the Kremlin rejected the Times report as a "diversion."

Congress sat back and let trucks become heavier, taller, and deadlier. Now pedestrian fatalities are at a 40-year high.

Madison Hall
Fri, March 24, 2023

iStock; Robyn Phelps/Insider

American trucks are becoming taller, heavier, and more dangerous to pedestrians.

As trucks get bigger and bigger, so do the blind zones in the front and to the side of the cars.

Experts and one member of Congress have suggested requiring vehicles to possess pedestrian-detecting technology.

Canadian civil engineering technologist Myles Russell put his pen to paper and spent over 100 hours calculating the sightlines of various vehicles.

He didn't expect to find that an M1 Abrams battle tank had better a sightline than some everyday trucks.

And while vehicles are increasingly becoming equipped with sensors and cameras to limit the damage they cause, Russell said that mistakes and errors can happen. And when they do, lives will be on the line.

"Physics doesn't care about cameras, sensors, ABS, and other tech. Tech fails, and when it does it'll be pedestrians, children, cyclists, and those in smaller, more sensible cars that will pay," said Russell.

The modern American truck has become heavier, taller, and more dangerous for the rest of us. And at the same time, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, pedestrians are getting killed by vehicles at the highest rate in 40 years, growing from 4,109 deaths in 2009 to 7,485 in 2021.

In an M1 Abrams tank, Russell calculated, the top of a child's head wouldn't be visible until they were just over 4 feet in front of the vehicle. In multiple trucks, however, that distance rose to more than 7 feet.

In a statement from Ford, a leading truck manufacturer, a representative from the company said "safety is a top priority" and that each of its F-150 trucks contains automatic emergency braking, detection devices, and a myriad of other safety features.

You can change lots of laws, but Newton's Second Law of Motion isn't one of them

As pedestrian deaths have risen, so has the average curb weight of the American truck. In 1991, the average curb weight of an American truck was 3,417 pounds, according to data from Edmunds. Thirty years later, in 2021, the average has risen to a staggering 5,124 pounds.

There's still room to grow — manufacturers can build passenger vehicles that weigh up to 10,000 pounds until they face a slew of additional regulations by the Department of Transportation.

Some manufacturers are already testing the limit. One of the heaviest passenger trucks on the market, the 2022 GMC Hummer EV Pickup, has a curb weight of just over 9,000 pounds.

Isaac Newton's Second Law of Motion holds that force is equal to mass times acceleration, meaning that the more massive an object is, the greater the amount of force it takes to accelerate and decelerate the object.

Michael Brooks, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, alluded to that simple law of physics in a conversation with Insider when he noted "there's a kind of an inextricable link between the weight of vehicles and the forces in a crash."

He further pointed to a study by University of California, Berkeley researchers Michael Anderson and Maximilian Auffhammer that found, when it comes to multi-vehicle collisions, a "1,000-pound increase in striking vehicle weight raises the probability of a fatality in the struck vehicle by 47%."

As trucks have gotten taller and taller, Brooks noted, so has the point of impact when they collide with pedestrians, with much of the force going to the person's torso or head.

"So the injuries are much more traumatic in the case of larger, heavier vehicles," Brooks said.

Heavier trucks also make for bigger blind zones

A 2022 study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that trucks and SUVs "were more likely to be involved in crashes where vehicles were turning at or near intersections, and in crashes where pedestrians were standing, walking, or running on or near the edge of a travel lane at nonintersection locations."

Jessica B. Cicchino, one of the study's authors and the vice president for research at the IIHS, told Insider that there are multiple elements that could be affecting this, including the size of a vehicle's A-pillar, which she said could also obstruct drivers' view.

The A-pillar of a vehicle, which must become wider as trucks become heavier.

The A, B, and C-pillars in vehicles must be strong enough to hold up the roof of the car without collapsing in the event of a rollover, meaning the pillars have had to become stronger as trucks have gotten increasingly heavier.

To make the pillars stronger, manufacturers have made them increasingly wider and larger, which in turn has created additional blind spots for drivers.

Modern trucks have also proven to be dangerous even when moving at slow speeds due to their large blind zones. Due to the shape of the hood, a modern truck's blind zone can extend to more than a dozen feet out in front of the vehicle.

The spacious blind zones have led to an increase in "frontovers," according to Amber Rollins, the director of Kids and Car Safety. A frontover is a traffic collision where a driver slowly runs over a victim in their front blind spot.

Tracking frontovers has proven to be a difficult task for government agencies.

Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Steven S. Cliff wrote in a 2022 letter to Sen. Richard Blumenthal that there's tremendous difficulty in accurately collecting data on frontover collisions. "Among the State crash reports NHTSA receives, there are no data fields dedicated to identifying frontovers," he wrote.

According to NHTSA data, there were 240 estimated nonoccupant deaths by forward-moving vehicles in the United States in 2016. In 2020, that had more than doubled to 526 deaths.

Frontover deaths, according to NHTSA, make up a subset of these nonoccupant deaths.

More precise data regarding frontover collisions appear to be on the horizon.

A spokesperson for NHTSA told Insider the agency "is exploring the addition of two new non-traffic crash data elements related to backovers and frontovers for every non-traffic crash in the upcoming data collection year."

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal during a hearing on September 21, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

Ken Cedeno-Pool/Getty Images

Proposed solutions have failed to garner support on Capitol Hill

In late 2022, following investigative reports from NBC4 Washington, Sen. Richard Blumenthal introduced the STOP Frontovers Act which would require new vehicles to possess technology that could detect pedestrians directly in front of the vehicle as well as requiring NHTSA to officially develop a definition for a frontover.

The legislation was never brought to a vote, but Blumenthal told Insider he had plans to reintroduce the act this session of Congress.

"Frontovers are tragically killing and injuring children, demanding Congressional action," Blumenthal told Insider in a statement. "My STOP Frontovers Act requires all car manufacturers to install technology like cameras or sensors to help detect small kids or pets in front of the car and calls on NHTSA to improve data collection and reporting of these incidents. I will be reintroducing this measure and pushing for its swift passage to put an end to frontovers — preventing more families from suffering this horrific heartbreak."

Blumenthal's office didn't introduce the original bill until November 2022, just before the midterm elections, when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate. It will be much more difficult for Blumenthal to pass the legislation this congressional session, where control of Congress is split.

One other possible solution to prevent pedestrian deaths, suggested by Brooks, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, would be to regulate and require new vehicles to include pedestrian automatic emergency braking systems.

NHTSA is currently developing safety standards for the technology, and results from tests involving automatic emergency braking systems in vehicles have been promising.

Cicchino, the vice president for research at the IIHS, told Insider that vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking systems saw a 27% reduction in pedestrian crashes compared with vehicles of the same model that didn't have the technology.

Automatic emergency braking systems, however, do come with some flaws. Cicchino noted the technology doesn't work as well in the dark or when vehicles are turning.

Russell, the civil engineering technologist, said that even with these safety features added, trucks are still inherently dangerous due to their size, shape, and weight.

"We know 'light trucks' and SUVs are dangerous," Russell said. "It's irrefutable evidence based on loads of evidence. We know EVs are heavier. We know these machines are rarely used for their intended purposes, but we continue to let vehicle companies put profit over human health. It's a race to the biggest machine driven by the biggest assholes, and it's society that will pay for that arrogance."

Staring down a possible indictment, Trump holds a rally in Waco. A Texas newspaper said the choice isn't a dog whistle but an 'air horn' to far-right groups.

Sarah Al-Arshani
Sat, March 25, 2023 

Demonstrators gather outside of Manhattan Criminal Court as a grand jury is expected to vote this week on whether to indict former US President Donald Trump on March 21, 2023 in New York City.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Thirty years ago, federal agents seized the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.


Trump's scheduled rally in Waco falls in the middle of the anniversary of the months-long standoff.


The Houston Chronicle's editorial board said the choice and timing was deliberate.

A Texas newspaper called former President Donald Trump's choice to host a rally in the city of Waco ahead of a possible indictment as a "blaring air horn" for far-right groups.

"When Donald Trump flies into Waco on Saturday evening for the first major campaign event of his 2024 reelection quest, dog ears won't be the only ones twitching. Trump doesn't do subtle; dog-whistle messages are not his style. The more apt metaphor is the blaring air horn of a Mack 18-wheeler barreling down I10," The Houston Chronicle's Editorial Board wrote in a piece published Friday.

The New York Times reported that Trump's visit to Waco falls on the 30-year anniversary of the Branch Davidian siege. The months-long standoff, also known as the Waco massacre, between federal agents and members of the doomsday Branch Davidian sect resulted in the deaths of over 80 people.

Trump, earlier this month, claimed he would be arrested by the Manhattan DA investigating a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Although no indictment has been announced, Trump has continued to rally his supporters and make allusions to violence. Late Thursday, the former president warned that an indictment could result in 'potential death & destruction'

On Thursday morning, he called Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg a "Soros backed animal" — referring to a common anti-Semitic trope. Trump also mocked calls for his supporters to remain peaceful.

Trump supporters like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida as well as conservative pundits like Dan Bongino have spoken out in support of Trump.

The Chronicle said Trump's visit and timing were "deliberate," and called Waco "a shrine for the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers and other anti-government extremists and conspiracists."

A headstone was made at the site of the siege that reads: "On February 28, 1993, a Church and its members known as Branch Davidians came under attack by ATF and FBI agents. For 51 days the Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, stood proudly."

That site is visited by extremist groups, and conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones have funded the construction of a new chapel, the Chronicle said in its editorial. The paper also noted that while there is no connection between the conspiracy theorists of today and the Branch Davidians, those right-wing groups find meaning in Trump's visit to Waco and said Americans should be concerned.

"They have heard him castigate the FBI and the "deep state," particularly after agents searched for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. How they'll respond to his remarks, particularly if he shows up as the first former president in American history to face criminal charges, has law enforcement in Waco and beyond taking every precaution. What he says will likely set the tone for the presidential campaign to come. Every American should be concerned," The Chronicle wrote.

Iraq halts KURDS northern crude exports after winning arbitration case against Turkey


Sat, March 25, 2023 

*

Turkey tells Iraq it will respect ruling

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Turkey ordered to pay Iraq around $1.5 billion

*

Iraq to hold talks to ensure oil exports through Ceyhan

*

International Chamber of Commerce ruled in favour of Iraq

By Ahmed Rasheed and Rowena Edwards

March 25 (Reuters) - Iraq halted crude exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and northern Kirkuk fields on Saturday, an oil official told Reuters, after the country won a longstanding arbitration case against Turkey.

The decision to stop shipments of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude relates to a case from 2014, when Baghdad claimed that Turkey violated a joint agreement by allowing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export oil through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
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Baghdad deems KRG exports via Turkish Ceyhan port as illegal.

The International Chamber of Commerce ruled in favour of Iraq on Thursday, Iraq's oil ministry confirmed on Saturday.

Turkey has informed Iraq that it will respect the arbitration ruling, a source said.

Turkish shipping officials told Iraqi employees at the Ceyhan oil export hub that no ship will be allowed to load Kurdish crude without the approval of the Iraqi government, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Turkey subsequently halted the pumping of Iraqi crude from the pipeline that leads to Ceyhan, a separate document seen by Reuters showed.

On Saturday, Iraq stopped pumping oil through its side of the pipeline which runs from its northern Kirkuk oil fields, an official told Reuters.

Iraq had been pumping 370,000 bpd of KRG crude and 75,000 bpd of federal crude through the pipeline, according to a source familiar with its operations.

"A delegation from the oil ministry will travel to Turkey soon to meet energy officials to agree on new mechanism to export Iraq's northern crude oil in line with the arbitration ruling," a second oil ministry official said.

Iraq will discuss with the relevant authorities ways to ensure the continuation of oil exports through Ceyhan and state-owned SOMO's obligations with oil companies, Iraq's oil ministry said in a statement.

The KRG's ministry of natural resources said the "arbitration ruling in favour of Iraq against Turkey will not impede the relations with Baghdad's government and dialogue to continue."

A KRG delegation is to visit Baghdad on Sunday to discuss energy issues, the Prime Minister of Iraq's Kurdistan region Masrour Barzani said in a tweet.

The ruling, in which Turkey has been ordered to pay Iraq around $1.5 billion before interest, covers 2014-2018, according to a source familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with the media.

A second arbitration case, which the source expects to take around two years, will cover the period from 2018 onwards.

Turkish government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

PRODUCTION RISK

The final hearing on the arbitration case was held in Paris in July 2022, but it took months for the arbitrators, the secretariat of the arbitration court and the International Chamber of Commerce to approve the verdict, the source familiar with the process said.

The impact on the KRG's oil production depends heavily on the duration of the Iraqi Turkish Pipeline (ITP) closure, sources said, adding this would cause significant uncertainty to oil firms operating in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI).

A cessation of exports through the pipeline would trigger a collapse of the KRI economy, according to a letter last year to U.S. representatives from Dallas-based HKN Energy, which operates in the region.

Turkey would need to source more crude from Iran and Russia to make up for the loss of northern Iraqi oil, the letter said.

Analysts have warned that companies could withdraw from the region unless the environment improved.

Foreign oil firms, including HKN Energy and Gulf Keystone, have linked their investment plans this year to the reliability of KRG payments, which face months of delays.

 (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Rowena Edwards in London, and Daren Butler in Istanbul; editing by Jason Neely, Mike Harrison and Clelia Oziel)

WATER IS LIFE

NASA has its first detailed map of water on the Moon


NASA has its first detailed map of water on the Moon

Scott Sutherland
Sat, March 25, 2023 

On one of its final flights, a unique NASA telescope just provided a key discovery that may secure the future of lunar and space exploration.

In February 2022, astronomers used NASA's now-retired SOFIA telescope — the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy — to scan an immense region near the south pole of the Moon. Based on the images collected, they produced a new map that covers over 230,000 square kilometres of the lunar surface, revealing an abundance of water trapped on the shady sides of mountains and in the shadowed parts of craters.

SOFIA-Moon-water-map-NASA-GSFC-SVS-ErnieWright

This image shows roughly half of the SOFIA map of water near the lunar south pole. Darker shades of blue indicate the greatest amount of water, while shades of brown note regions with less water. Credit: NASA/GSFC SVS/Ernie Wright


"When looking at the water data, we can actually see crater rims, we see the individual mountains, and we can even see differences between the day and night sides of the mountains, thanks to the higher concentration of water in these places, Bill Reach, director of the SOFIA Science Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, said in a NASA press release.

Reach is the lead author of a new study based on SOFIA's observations, published in mid-March.

The idea that there's water trapped in the perpetually shadowed regions of the Moon is not a new one. Previous studies have revealed hints of what was there, by detecting the presence of hydrogen and oxygen. However, there was no way at that time to determine if we were seeing actual water (H2O) or some other chemical combination of the two elements (such as the less-useful OH 'hydroxyl' molecule).

Observations by SOFIA back in 2020 confirmed the presence of actual water. These new observations reveal exactly where it is, and how much of it is there.

sofia-over-sierra

The SOFIA telescope flies on board this jetliner, to get above the thick tropospheric air to take infrared images of objects in space. Credit: NASA

According to NASA, this is only the first of several lunar water maps that will come from these SOFIA observations. More are on the way, as the team focused on several future lunar mission landing sites.

"With this map of SOFIA data, and others to come, we are looking at how water is concentrated under different lunar environmental conditions," said Casey Honniball, a visiting scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who is working on the upcoming VIPER mission to the Moon. "This map will provide valuable information for the Artemis program on potential prospecting areas but also provides regional context for future science missions, like VIPER."

VIRER is NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, a robot that is expected to land at the lunar south pole sometime in 2024. Its target will be Mons Mouton, a mountain located in a region that will be detailed in one of the upcoming maps from SOFIA.

Following VIRER, Artemis III is expected to launch in 2025, with the intention to land astronauts near the Moon's south pole. This will be the first crewed mission to touch down on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972. If the water discovered by SOFIA and investigated by VIPER is found to be a resource that we can easily extract, Artemis III could quickly become the start of a sustained human presence on the Moon.
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'Stuck in a swamp': Saudi Arabia seeks exit from Yemen war


Hashem Osseiran
Sat, March 25, 2023 


Eight years after launching its military campaign in Yemen, Saudi Arabia wants to extricate itself from the conflict, despite slim hopes of lasting peace, to focus on ambitious projects at home.

The oil-rich monarchy gave a signal this month by announcing plans to resume ties with Iran, which backs Yemen's Huthi rebels against the Saudi-supported government in a proxy war.

But as Saudi Arabia instigates sweeping social and economic changes as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "Vision 2030" reform, it "is seeking to shift its approach in Yemen from a military strategy to a soft security and political one", said Ahmed Nagi, from the International Crisis Group.

Since the Saudi-led military intervention began on March 26, 2015, the kingdom has pounded its impoverished neighbour with air strikes in a conflict that has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed through direct and indirect causes, with 4.5 million people internally displaced and more than two-thirds of the population living below the poverty line, according to UN estimates.

Nagi said that "military operations, such as air strikes" are now likely to cease, adding that the priority now is a "diplomatic solution".

The Saudi-led intervention, which marks its eighth anniversary on Sunday, came after the Huthis took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014.

- Rebranding project -

A UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect last April brought a sharp reduction in hostilities. Even though the truce expired in October, fighting has largely remained on hold.

Even before the truce, Saudi Arabia and the Huthis were engaging in back-channel negotiations, including talks in neutral neighbour Oman.

Riyadh's top priority is securing border areas and stopping the drone and missile attacks that have targeted its all-important oil facilities, analysts say.

"Saudi is currently negotiating with the Huthis to establish understandings that would enable it to secure its borderlands while maintaining influence" in areas controlled by Yemen's government, Nagi said.

"This new approach could enable Saudi to remain the key actor in Yemen's domestic politics, to ensure that no security threats can affect the kingdom in case conflict continues at the local level," Nagi added.

The Saudi-led intervention's stated aim was to protect civilians from Huthi attacks, restore the government and stop Yemen becoming a safe haven for Iranian-backed forces.

Eight years in, the rebels control swathes of the country and command an impressive arsenal of weapons that they have used to attack Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, another coalition member.

For Riyadh, the fallout jeopardises a rebranding project that aims to turn the conservative country into a hub for tourism and investment.

Saudi Arabia, relatively closed off for decades, is building a $500 billion futuristic new city, NEOM, and a swathe of holiday resorts and attractions.

"There is a huge focus in Saudi now on development, tourism, mega-projects," said an analyst following the negotiations between Riyadh and Huthi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

For Riyadh, there is concern that "anything involving conflict" will harm investment and stability, the analyst added.

- 'Wash their hands' -

The unofficial talks with the Huthis are now maturing into a potential "understanding" that could pave the way for a slimmer Saudi military role ahead of a UN-sponsored inter-Yemeni dialogue, the analyst said.

"They want to go from some form of Saudi-Huthi understanding to being able to hand it over to a wider UN process," he said.

The Saudis "want to wash their hands of the situation," and avoid responsibility for any future flare-ups, he added.

A Saudi official, also speaking anonymously, said the country "will not tolerate any threat to our security", noting it shares a long border with Yemen.

"Iran can and should play a major part in promoting this -- and we hope it will," the official said, confirming negotiations with the Huthis aimed to revive UN-facilitated peace talks.

"We did see some progress of course, and we want to build on that progress to achieve lasting peace to open up for a political solution," the official said.

Many analysts are pessimistic that Riyadh's plans for a downsized military role will bring peace to Yemen, which remains deeply fractured along religious, regional and political lines.

Saudi Arabia, nonetheless, has "decided to leave Yemen whatever the price is", said an Arab diplomat in Riyadh. "They are... stuck in a swamp that is very costly on all levels."

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Russia faces shrinking middle class, rising inequality, study finds


Pedestrians walk across Nevsky Avenue in central Saint Petersburg

Reuters
Fri, March 24, 2023 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's middle class will shrink as social inequality grows over coming years, an economic study conducted by Russian experts suggested, as sanctions against Moscow and limited growth potential scupper development prospects.

The study, published this week, presents four possible scenarios for how Russians' living standards will change between now and 2030 from experts from the Social Policy Institute at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, one of Russia's leading educational establishments.

The study, based on a 2022 survey of experts from economic institutions, businesses and public organisations, states that only a combination of global economic growth and an easing of sanctions on Russia, imposed by the West because of what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, can improve real incomes and reduce poverty.

The middle class is set to suffer in any event, even if sanctions pressure is reduced, the study finds.

Russia's economy proved unexpectedly resilient in the face of tough Western sanctions last year, but a return to pre-conflict levels of prosperity may be far off as more government spending is directed towards the military.

The study's most optimistic scenario sees real incomes exceeding 2021 levels by around 2% in 2030 and poverty dropping below 10% from 11.8% in 2022. In that scenario, the size of the middle class would still drop to 14%-31% by 2030 from current estimates of 20%-50%.

"Thus, even in the most favourable development of events, one can expect the deterioration of the middle class and of the population's social and psychological well-being," the study's authors write.

The worsening scenarios eventually see real incomes declining up to 2030 and poverty approaching 20%.

"On the one hand, there will be an increase in the concentration of wealth and a further breakaway at the 'top', and on the other hand, a contraction of inequality below through the convergence of the middle (or formerly middle) strata with the poor," the authors say.

Growing inequality in all four scenarios could lead to increased social tensions, the study finds. All four scenarios expect more and more security officials to drop into the middle class.

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Nick Macfie)