It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, March 31, 2023
Cuba helps improve community healthcare in HCM City
Cuba and Ho Chi Minh City are cooperating to improve the quality of community healthcare.
VNA Monday, March 27, 2023
A virtual meeting on community healthcare development between HCM City’s Department of Health and the primary health care board of Cuba’s Ministry of Health held on March 23. (Photo www.sggp.org.vn) Ho Chi Minh City (VNS/VNA) - Cuba and Ho Chi Minh City are cooperating to improve the quality of community healthcare.
The city’s Department of Health last week had a virtual meeting with the primary health care board of the Cuban Ministry of Health.
Attending the meeting, Ailuj Casanova Baroto, head of the primary health care board, said Cuba’s public healthcare system is recognised as one of the most effective systems in the world.
The system is operated by the Ministry of Health to guarantee that all Cuban residents can easily access it.
It focuses on disease prevention and enhancing education of public healthcare.
Community health centres are an important part of the country’s public healthcare system, which have been established in urban and rural areas nationwide.
It estimated that there is one community health centre for 1,000 households.
The community health centres provide healthcare services, such as vaccinations, regular health checks, and care for pregnant women and newborns.
Medical staff at community health centres are trained to diagnose and treat basic illnesses and provide disease preventive measures.
Groups of specialised doctors of hospitals periodically cooperate with community health centres to give medical examinations and treatment to local residents.
Cuba’s public healthcare system also pays attention to studying and developing new healthcare technologies and methods, ensuring the system always provides the best approaches in healthcare to people.
Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the city’s Department of Health, said the Cuban Ministry of Health is willing to support the city in implementing a project of community healthcare development.
Cuba will send two specialised doctors to the city to carry out surveys and come to an agreement with the city’s Department of Health on content that needs to be developed in the coming time.
The ministry expects to welcome the city’s healthcare professionals to visit Cuba to learn about its public healthcare models./.
UK pay on track to trail inflation for 15th month in a row as cost of living crisis bites
BY:JACK BARNETT Regular pay growth is projected to trim to 6.6 per cent over the three months to February, down slightly from the previous period, City analysts reckon the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will say this week (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Wages are on track to trail inflation for the 15th month in a row, underscoring how much pressure the cost of living crisis is piling onto household finances, official figures out on Tuesday are expected to show.
Regular pay growth is projected to trim to 6.6 per cent over the three months to February, down slightly from the previous period, City analysts reckon the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will say this week.
Despite clocking big pay gains – on some measures rising at a record pace – the rate of price increases has eroded workers’ spending power. Economists have projected the cost of living crisis could wipe off around £4,000 from family budgets by the end of next year, which would be among the largest falls in national living standards on record.
Sanjay Raja, senior UK economist at investment bank Deutsche Bank, said pay growth could top their forecasts if December’s quarterly figure is revised up.
He also reckons the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 per cent, “but there are upside risks to our forecast especially with the single month jobless rate pushing to 3.95 per cent”.
Analysts at another investment bank Nomura disagree, arguing that the rate will nudge up to 3.8 per cent, likely driven by people flowing back into the labour market from economic inactivity or firms laying off staff in response to the UK’s economic weakening.
Signs that the jobs market is holding up well amid a sharp rise in interest rates and a demand slowdown could agitate officials at the Bank of England.
They are trying to bring inflation back down to their two per cent target, partly by knocking the jobs market to keep a lid on wage growth via ten straight rate increases.
Inflation expectations numbers out from the Bank on Friday will be closely watched by City traders for clues on whether households and businesses reckon elevated price increases are embedding into the economy.
Nomura also noted that stronger tax receipts and lower than forecast public spending so far this year means Chancellor Jeremy Hunt won’t have to borrow as much money as forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
“It looks like the Debt Management Office (DMO) will have over-funded the current fiscal year (2022-23) to a modest degree, adding to the downward pressure on gilt issuance for 2023-24,” they said.
Hunt is estimated to have around £9bn to spend at Wednesday’s budget.
London Resort Kent ‘UK Disneyland’ racks up £100m worth of debt
Plans for a £3.5billion theme park just over the Thames have been put on hold after the company behind it entered administration, having racked up debts of £100million.
The London Resort Company had plans to build the London Resort on the Swanscombe Peninsula near Dartford as the first park in Europe since the launch of Disneyland Paris in 1992.
However, the land was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest after rare species were discovered there.
A new set of proposals will reportedly be submitted in 2023.
50 rides and attractions were said to be built at the location, including eight huge roller coasters and zones containing medieval castles and an Aztec pyramid, along with a theatre and a nightclub.
Over 3,500 hotel rooms had also been planned alongside two ferry terminals, a waterpark, conference and convention centre and e-sports facility.
It will now enter a financial restructure through a Company Voluntary Administration (CVA).
A spokesman for LRCH told Kent Online: “LRCH has taken the logical and sensible step of launching the CVA proposal.
“We've spoken to many of our creditors who are very happy to support the initiative which would see their debts converted into shares.
“Many millions have been invested into the Swanscombe Peninsula over the last decade and there remains a fantastic opportunity to bring forward exciting proposals.
“This CVA process safeguards everyone's position and provides an opportunity for a financial return to creditors in the long-term.”
LRCH has still confirmed that the theme park is running, with new proposals for the site to be submitted for later this year. All we know as firm behind £3.5bn ‘UK Disneyland' near Essex goes into administration
Matthew Critchell Fri, 31 March 2023
All we know as firm behind £3.5bn ‘UK Disneyland' near Essex goes into administration (Image: London Resort)
Bosses of a £3.5billion major new theme park near Thurrock have racked up debts of £100million.
The London Resort Company has entered administration after reportedly building 50 rides and attractions at the location, including eight huge roller coasters and zones containing medieval castles and an Aztec pyramid, along with a theatre and a nightclub.
The London Resort Company had plans to build the London Resort on the Swanscombe Peninsula near Dartford as the first park in Europe since the launch of Disneyland Paris in 1992.
However, the land was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest after rare species were discovered there.
A new set of proposals will reportedly be submitted in 2023. Over 3,500 hotel rooms had also been planned alongside two ferry terminals, a waterpark, conference and convention centre and e-sports facility.
Echo: It will now enter a financial restructure through a Company Voluntary Administration (CVA).
A spokesman for LRCH told Kent Online: “LRCH has taken the logical and sensible step of launching the CVA proposal.
“We've spoken to many of our creditors who are very happy to support the initiative which would see their debts converted into shares.
“Many millions have been invested into the Swanscombe Peninsula over the last decade and there remains a fantastic opportunity to bring forward exciting proposals.
“This CVA process safeguards everyone's position and provides an opportunity for a financial return to creditors in the long-term.”
LRCH has still confirmed that the theme park is running, with new proposals for the site to be submitted for later this year.
It is hoped the resort - which will be 135 times the size of Wembley stadium - will be one of the UK's largest single site employers, and could contribute up to £50bn to the economy.
In April 2021, Basildon Council, which was consulted on the plans, called for “realism” over what the project will and won’t achieve.
Bosses say they are unsure if the demand is there for such a large theme park.
They have also noted that 10,000 of the proposed 17,300 new jobs created by the attraction would likely be part-time.
Communication as a realm of human enigmatic growth
In March 2023 UMEF Swiss University hosted a special guest Richard Hill, Ph.D. who is a former senior ITU staff member and who is an expert on telecommunications and Internet governance and related matters. Dr Hill holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from Harvard University and a B.S. in Mathematics from M.I.T. He has facilitated numerous complex international negotiations regarding sensitive policy matters, including Internet governance.
As a high representative of ITU he introduced us to the history of systematic communication; as a specialized agency of the United Nations, responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies, ITU was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, making it the first international organization. Prior aim was to manage the first international telegraph networks and ceaselessly foster to connect the world. Over the years, the Union’s mandate has expanded to cover the development of telephony, the radiocommunications, satellites, and most recently, the telecommunications-based information age. Along the way, ITU’s structure and activities have evolved and adapted to meet the needs of this changing mandate.
ITU’s work in radio communications began in 1906 when the first International Radiotelegraph Conference gathered 30 maritime states in Berlin to draw up the first International Radiotelegraph Convention. The Bureau of the International Telegraph Union (ITU) was designated by the Berlin Conference to act as the central administrative organ for a variety of tasks arising from the Convention. In 1927, the International Radiotelegraph Conference in Washington established the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) to study technical and operating questions related to radio communications and to issue recommendations on them. In 1947, at the joint International Telecommunication Conference and International Radio Conference in Atlantic City, the International Frequency Registration Board (IFRB) was created to act as an administrative body to regulate the use of frequencies. In 1992, the Union’s Additional Plenipotentiary Conference in Geneva undertook a reform of ITU to give the Union greater flexibility to adapt to an increasingly complex, interactive, and competitive telecommunications environment.
The 1868 International Telegraph Conference, in Vienna, decided that ITU would operate from its own bureau in Berne, Switzerland. It began with just three members of staff. In 1948, the headquarters of ITU were moved from Berne to Geneva.
Dr. Hill today works in Geneva. He has a long professional background in Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunications. He was Department Head, IT Infrastructure Delivery and Support, at Orange Communications (a GSM operator), responsible for delivering and maintaining the real-time, fail-safe computing infrastructure for the company to support over 300 online agents and related applications such as billing. He was previously the IT Manager at the University of Geneva.
Dr. Richard Hill is currently involved in discussions on the use of and the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including the Internet and its governance at both the national levels (in Switzerland) and the international level.
In this respect we need to rethink, recreate, and readjust our perception on questions and comments as follows:AI and the influence on the humanity as whole is a big question. Context, socio-cultural, economic, and political backgrounds of historical intercorrelations, sounds as a password for enigma decryption. Can we discern progress from growth? (discontinuity, divergence etc.)Whilst each epoch has its defining technology determining economic, social, and political success, in today’s times we witness the omnipotent reality of cyber digital realms. They are full of wonder, puzzle, and unknowingness. What is in the future there for us, not being colonized yet with our meanings? Is there anything left?Consequential, ethical questions are battling the scope of academic and policy debates. Not just carbon, electronic footprint, moral and ethical dilemmas are in the core of our concerns, not just regarding ethics, but also fairness, justice, transparency, and accountability.
This is precisely the reason why historical, philosophical, and cultural contexts are important for the future safety in digital age. The environment in which contemporary challenges of e-communications are ingrained is the heir of history, philosophy, culture, and technology intertwined developments. Latest have burst into digital transformation, triggering new questions on “social contract” and common sese of the world. If the context is altered daily, social landscape is requesting new deal.
This is the reason why we have no other choice than to step back and reflect on the future of humanity.
We need to ask ourselves what defines us as human race?
What defines AI as a tool for progress and a tool for growth?
Where are common ethical algorithms and standards we ought to manage our actions and lives accordingly?
We had a strong debate, referring on above stated and other themes and issues. Since our guest has published articles on these matters, made presentations at academic conferences, submitted papers to intergovernmental organizations, and participated in multi-stakeholder discussions, the exchange of opinions was fruitful and optimistic.
Dr Hill is currently an active domain name arbitrator and an accredited mediator. As an activist, he has experience in using digital tools to affect international negotiations. He was the Western European Rapporteur for EDIFACT[1], responsible for the organization of the EDI standardization efforts in Europe.
Today Mr. Dill is a president of the Association for Proper Internet Governance, member of the JustNet Coalition, and was the vice-chairman, external affairs, of the Swiss chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-CH), a Swiss non-profit organization.
He contributed to the Hewlett-Packard (HP) internal manual on best practices for remote working and remote management. Prior to joining HP, he worked as a Research Statistician for the A.C. Nielsen company in Europe, a large marketing research company, and as a systems designer and consultant for a small software company in Cambridge, Mass. that specialized in applications for managing financial portfolios. Prior to that, Richard worked in software development for M.I.T. and the National Bureau of Economic Research (N.B.E.R).
[1] Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport is an international standard for electronic data interchange developed for the United Nations and approved and published by UNECE, the UN Economic Commission for Europe.
Prof. Lucija Mulej Ph.D is an author, columnist, professor and creator of the non-technological innovations (such as her own method: Connectivity of Intelligences 4 Q )
Philippine provincial governor’s killing spotlights deadly rivalry among political elite
Such attacks are ‘nothing new’, analysts say, citing 2009 massacre of 58 victims ahead of local elections, Marcos Snr’s rise to power on back of political violence
Presence of ‘fat political dynasties’ a major risk factor for murder as power is concentrated among a few influential families at top levels of government, study notes
Raissa Robles 30 Mar, 2023 Philippine Governor Roel Degamo was shot dead on March 4.
Photo: Facebook/Governor Roel Ragay Degamo
The recent murder of a Philippine governor has shone the spotlight on assassinations as the “normal” way for “fat political dynasties” to deal with opponents, throwing a wrench into efforts by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to combat violence in the country, analysts have said.
On March 4, four gunmen entered the home of governor Roel Degamo and opened fire, killing Degamo and eight others. Sixteen people who were there to receive government aid were also injured.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday named Congressman Arnolfo Teves Jnr, Degamo’s political opponent, as one of the masterminds of the murder. However, he has yet to be indicted.
Remulla also said he would look into at least 17 possible cases of political murders in the central Philippine province of Negros Oriental, where Degamo was governor, after his widow Janice accused Teves Jnr of at least 30 previous killings in the province.
While the death of Degamo sparked a public outcry for justice, such political assassinations were “nothing new”, said Ramon Casiple, co-founder of political risk analyst firm Novo Trends PH.
“This happened in Ampatuan, this happened in the past,” he said, referring to the 2009 massacre in the southern Philippine town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province, when 58 victims on their way to file a certificate of candidacy on behalf of a politician challenging the Ampatuan clan were kidnapped and later killed.
It took 10 years for a Philippine court to sentence two senior members of the Ampatuan clan to life terms without parole, and 43 others including police officers to up to 40 years in jail.
But these convictions – the first time political warlords in the Philippines were held accountable for such killings – had not discouraged similar attacks “because that’s normal in our politics”, Casiple said. A boy lights a candle during a vigil to commemorate the second anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, near the Malacanang palace in Manila on November 23, 2011. Photo: AFP
The Ateneo School of Government in Manila found the presence of “fat political dynasties” – where two or more members of the same clan occupy elected posts – as a major risk factor for murder.
Ronald Mendoza, who led a 2022 study on political violence in the country from 2004 to 2018 when he was Ateneo dean, said it showed there was “strong evidence that political power concentration [proxied by the presence of fat political dynasties] leads to weaker governance … The resulting environment is thus associated with higher risk for political violence”.
Authorities have attributed the motive for Degamo’s death to the removal of Teves Jnr’s younger brother Pryde Henry as the governor of Negros Oriental in October last year, with the Commission on Elections proclaiming Degamo as the real winner of the 2022 gubernatorial race.
Teves Jnr, who is still abroad, has refused to return home, saying he fears for his life. In a Facebook video on March 21, the 51-year-old lawmaker claimed the order to “frame him” was hatched right inside the Philippine presidential palace, although he said the president was not involved.
Janice Degamo, the wife of Philippine governor Roel Degamo, cries for justice during his funeral in Siaton, Negros Oriental, on March 16, 2023. Photo: AFP
Marcos Jnr dismissed his claims and urged him to return to face the allegations, otherwise “the government would be left with no choice and move without any discussions with him”.
Carlos Conde, senior researcher for the Asia division of New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Marcos Jnr’s response to the Degamo killing needed to be “calibrated” as the Teves family “are not inconsequential people” in Philippine politics.
Casiple also warned there could be more violence as “the string of events have not fully played out”.
Government archives show the Teves family’s political dynasty dates back to 1946 when Arnolfo’s Jnr’s uncle Lorenzo became congressman. Lorenzo would later become a staunch political ally of Marcos Jnr’s father when the latter ruled as a dictator.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. Photo: AFP
“Whatever fallout [this assassination would have] will depend entirely on how the Marcos administration handles this, but I’m afraid it’s just going to be one of those instances of political violence that we see all too often,” Conde said.
“If anything, though, I think this distorts the image that Marcos Jnr has been trying to present to the public and the international community – that he is a different president, that the Philippines is working to try to get past its sordid and violent history in the past six or so years.”
Conde pointed to the 1935 assassination of Julio Nalundasan as an example of how Ferdinand Marcos Snr – the current president’s father – rose to power in the 1960s on the back of political violence.
Nalundasan was killed by a sniper the day after winning the congressional race over Mariano Marcos, Ferdinand Snr’s father.
The fatal bullet was traced to a gun missing at that time from the state university’s armoury. The gun had been assigned to the young Ferdinand Snr, who was a member of the school’s shooting team.
“Political violence like this, indeed, is the chicken that has come home to roost for Marcos Jnr,” Conde said. “It may seem ironic but what it is is more than irony – it is history repeating itself over and over again. That’s just how political violence is in the Philippines.”
A 2019 study by Ateneo found that by that year, members or leaders of political dynasties comprised 80 per cent of governors, 67 per cent of vice-governors, 66 per cent of congressmen and 54 per cent of mayors.
This was evident even in the top levels of the Philippine government, with Marcos Jnr, his vice-president Sara Duterte and five other cabinet members all heads or members of political clans. Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte is among a number of government officials who are part of political dynasties in the country. Photo: EPA-EFE
Justice chief Remulla, who is probing the previous alleged murders by Teves Jnr, is himself the scion of an influential political family. Remulla’s late father Juanito was a close political ally of Marcos Snr as governor of Cavite province, southwest of Manila. The justice secretary’s son Crispin is a congressman while his younger brother, Juanito “Jonvic” Jnr, is the Cavite governor.
A 1998 study by political scientist John Sidel showed the province gained a reputation as “Murder, Inc” in the 1990s.
“Violence, intimidation, and fraud have consistently played a decisive role in elections in Cavite, and politicians in the province have been frequently involved in assassinations and in lucrative illegal rackets,” Sidel had concluded.
Raissa Robles has written for the SCMP since 1996. A freelance journalist specialising in politics, international relations, business and Muslim rebellion, she has contributed to Reuters, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Daily Mail, Times of London, Radio Netherlands and Asiaweek. She runs the award-winning investigative and opinion blog, raissarobles.com. Her book, Marcos Martial Law: Never Again, a brief history of the dictatorship won the 2017 National Book Awards for Non-Fiction. Her Twitter handle is @raissawriter.
LeVar Burton: ‘Star Trek has always been ahead of the curve’
ABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke with father-daughter duo LeVar and Mica Burton about their roles on "Star Trek: Picard," the power of diversity and the "Reading Rainbow" host's feelings on book bans.
Open letter: fashion brands support a Fur Free Europe
Fashion brands jointly call on the Commission to support the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe and introduce a ban on fur farming and the import of farmed fur products.
Dear Stella Kyriakides, commissioner for health and food safety,
As fashion continues to move towards ever more sustainable models, animal welfare concerns have become more important across the industry. To this end, the inherent animal welfare failings involved in the production of fur for fashion deserve particular consideration.
The main species reared for fur are essentially wild animals. Millions of mink, foxes and raccoon dogs are kept in wire-mesh battery cages and killed solely or mainly for their fur every year in the EU. Over recent decades, this practice has been condemned by scientists, animal protection organizations and European citizens. Likewise, this is no different for the fashion industry, which is pursuing ever-greater sustainability goals and, no less important, animal-friendly alternatives. This clearly reflects the fact that our customers, European citizens, have increasingly demanded fashion products without the use of animal fur.
Thanks to dialogue undertaken with relevant stakeholders and based on the latest scientific evidence, we have realized how unsustainable and unethical the supply of fur from specially farmed animals is. With better knowledge about the practice of fur farming, we also understand that certification schemes provided by the fur industry do not address the major welfare issues for fur-farmed animals, since the species-specific needs of fur animals cannot be met on fur farms.
Certification schemes provided by the fur industry do not address the major welfare issues for fur-farmed animals, since the species-specific needs of fur animals cannot be met on fur farms.
Via: Shutterstock
As fashion companies, we are strongly committed to ensuring that our business model adheres to the Sustainable Development Goals particularly, regarding materials of animal origin, goals 12, 13, 14 and 15. Looking at our sustainability reports, it is possible to see how, in their ‘materiality analysis’, the topic of ‘animal treatment’ is increasingly becoming a ‘material’ topic. In other words, animal welfare is a priority both for consumers (and other external stakeholders) and for the companies themselves. This approach is leading to the clothing industry exploring the development of alternative materials to animal fur. In fact, we note that the entire production chain is now oriented towards the definitive disappearance of fur in fashion. Using technological innovations in textile materials, we can satisfy a market demand for fur-free products that results from a respect for animals and the environment that is increasingly rooted in the social values of Europe.
To date, it is estimated that 69 percent of the most-renowned luxury brands have already moved beyond fur by adopting fur-free policies. Recently, during the Milan and Paris fashion weeks we have once again demonstrated how it is possible to produce fashion collections even for high-end markets without resorting to the use of animal fur. Beyond excluding animal fur from our collections and stores, fashion magazines are increasingly adopting fur-free editorial standards for content and advertisements. With this forward-moving approach to fashion, we hope that fur will soon be something deemed totally unacceptable across the fashion industry.
Despite the huge impact of fur-free policies, we believe that implementing regulatory measures would bring immense added value to achieve the ethical and sustainability goals targeted by ourselves and intergovernmental organizations. To date, 19 member countries have implemented legislation restricting or prohibiting fur farming, while other countries (such as Israel, the state of California and many cities across the United States), have introduced bans on the trade of animal fur. Additionally, 1,701,892 million European citizens have signed the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe, showing extraordinary support for a future Europe where fur has no place.
1,701,892 million European citizens have signed the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe, showing extraordinary support for a future Europe where fur has no place.
For these reasons we, the undersigned fashion brands, deem appropriate an intervention by the European Commission aimed at rebalancing the internal market through an EU-wide ban on fur farming and through the introduction of an EU-wide ban on trade of any type of products derived from fur farming worldwide. ba&sh Breuninger Closed Elisabetta Franchi Hugo Boss Hervis Klingel Marc Cain Marc O’Polo Miniconf (Sarabanda, i DO, Dodipetto) O bag Otto Group OVS Save the Duck Tchibo Marina Salamon (entrepreneur) A.S. Watson Benelux Alabama Muse Anu Rieberg Design Studio Astri Grupp Compassion 4 Fashion OÜ Ellos Group Green Laces GUILD KJA KittleMood Leeda Ots Mammu Couture Mia&Leela/Bless This Mess MK Ambitsia Nelly.com Otrium Ræburn Skall Studio Tanel Veenre Tiina Talumees Stuudio TopVintage TUUB
In addition to the signatory companies, it should be remembered that globally more than 1,500 other companies have signed-up to the Fur Free Retailer Program that recognizes and supports retailers who have committed to a no-fur policy. The Fur Free Retailer program is the world’s leading program to connect fur-free companies to consumers seeking ethical goods and recognizes the ISO 26000 Guidelines of Corporate Social Responsibility.
EU based fur-free corporates (brands, retailers and department stores):Adidas Adolfo Dominguez Armani Bestseller (Jack and Jones, Vero Moda, Name It, LMTD, Only) C&A Diesel Dolce&Gabbana Esprit Farfetch Ferragamo Furla GEOX Givenchy H&M Herno Kering Group (Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni) KiK La Rinascente Inditex group (Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho) Jean Paul Gaultier Mango Moncler Mytheresa (mytheresa.com) Prada Group (Prada, Miu Miu, Church’s, Car Shoe) s.Oliver Versace Valentino YNAP group (yoox.com, net-a-porter.com, mrporter.com, theoutnet.com) Zalando (zalando.com) Zegna
ISLAMOPHOBIC
India, Israel hold back on parts of Biden's democracy summit declaration Scores of global democratic leaders gather for US President Biden's virtual summit but struggle to unite behind principles.
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a virtual Summit for Democracy, which he is hosting from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden has announced new funding to bolster democracies around the world at a meeting, although dozens of countries were holding back on a summit declaration laying out commitments to democratic principles.
Amid criticism his administration has made little progress in advancing human rights and democracy in its foreign policy, Biden on Wednesday announced a planned $690 million in funding to help fight corruption, support free and fair elections and advance technologies that support democratic governments.
"We're turning the tide here. As we often say, we're at an inflection point in history here, when the decisions we make today are going to affect the course of our world for the next several decades for certain," Biden said addressing the largely virtual Summit for Democracy, the second such event organised by the White House.
Although leaders of 120 nations were invited, a summit declaration — which included backing basic tenets of democracy like free and fair elections and calling out Russia for its invasion of Ukraine — was initially endorsed by only 73 countries.
Twelve of those dissociated themselves from parts of the text, including India, Israel and the Philippines, which all opted out of a part backing accountability for human rights abusers and acknowledging the importance of the International Criminal Court.
"To meet the rising challenges to democracy worldwide, we commit to strengthen democratic institutions and processes and build resilience," the declaration said.
A senior administration official said the declaration remained open and additional countries could still endorse it.
Biden announced over $400 million for similar programmes in 2021 when he last held such an event.
Rights advocates say there is little evidence the countries joining the summit have made progress on improving their democracies, and that there is no formal mechanism to hold participants to the modest commitments made at an earlier meeting.
More recently, a move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government to weaken the power of Israel's judiciary; Mexico's move to gut its election oversight body; and India's decision to disqualify a top opposition political leader have all cast a pall over Biden's repeated claims that democracies have become stronger.
Netanyahu, one of 85 world leaders who addressed the summit, voiced confidence that a political compromise could be reached on the judicial reforms, which he argued could be reconciled with civil liberties even as his opponents have accused him of seeking to curb judicial independence.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, courted by the United States as a bulwark against China, also extolled the virtues of democracy days after the opposition chief was expelled from parliament over a conviction for defaming the right-wing leader.
Modi called India the "mother of democracy" — a title more frequently taken by Greece — as he pointed to the ancient Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata's call for leaders to exercise power through consultation.
"Democracy is not just a structure; it is also a spirit," said Modi, whose government is also accused of a growing clampdown on media.
Close US partners who failed to make the cut include Bangladesh, Singapore and Thailand.
China — identified by Washington as the sole long-term adversary to the US-led liberal international order — and Russia both described the summit as hypocritical.
China said the summit "hypes up confrontation" and will "stoke division in the name of democracy."
The US hosted the last summit on its own. This time, it recruited four co-hosts — Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia — after ambassadors from China and Russia criticised the first summit and accused Biden of causing a global divide with a Cold War mentality.
Still, some countries would rather not get between Washington and Beijing, an increasingly important economic and military player.
Pakistan announced, as it did in 2021, that it had received an invitation but would skip the summit.
Xu Xueyuan, the charge d'affaires of China's embassy in Washington, on Wednesday called the summit "at odds with the spirit of democracy."
"The US draws an ideological line between countries, and through its narrative of 'democracy versus authoritarianism,' it has formed factions and caused divisions in the international community," she said.
On February 4, the UK Guardian ran an article about the Trevelyan family, members of the British aristocracy. One might have expected the story to highlight the family's stately homes, political connections, or philanthropic work; instead, it focused on a family trip to Grenada — but this was no Caribbean getaway. Their journey had a far greater purpose: to make a public apology for their ancestors’ role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Back in 2016, as family member John Dower did some research into the Trevelyan history, he perused University College London's slavery database and discovered several entries denoting the combined ownership of over 1,000 enslaved Africans spread over six sugar plantations on the island. He was shocked, saying, “It had been expunged from the family history.”
Dower told the wider family circle, including his cousin Laura Trevelyan, a BBC reporter, about what he had found. In late January, they agreed to sign a letter of apology. When The Guardian published the story, 42 members of the family had already signed; by now, there are probably more, and they went a step further, by collectively committing to pay reparations to the people of Grenada.
It is a step that very few have had the courage or conviction to do. In August 2019, history was made when a reparations agreement was signed between The University of the West Indies and the University of Glasgow, the first such contract since people enslaved by the British were fully emancipated in 1838.
In 1835, the British government paid the Trevelyan family a lump sum of UK £26,898 (US $33,206), as compensation from for the abolition of slavery one year prior, quite a hefty settlement at the time. In contrast, the enslaved who were “freed” received nothing and were even made to continue labouring with no pay for years under an “apprenticeship” programme after the emancipation declaration.
By February 27, 2023, the Trevelyans had launched a UK £100,000 fund in Grenada. Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission who was instrumental in achieving the reparations agreement with the University of Glasgow, was on hand for the signing of the agreement, while Nicole Phillip-Dowe, vice-chair of the Grenada National Reparations Commission, commended the Trevelyans, noting, “It takes a leap of faith for a family to say, ‘my forefathers did something horribly wrong and I think we should take some responsibility for it’ […] I hope it will be followed by others.”
Many others are now coming out of the woodwork. On March 28, Scott Trust, the owner of The Guardian, revealed that the newspaper's founders had links to the slave trade. He apologised and committed to undertaking a decade-long programme of restorative justice that would invest UK £10 million (US $12.3 million) with the descendant communities of Guardian founder John Edward Taylor and his business partners.
In the wake of this latest development, and buoyed by the Trevelyans’ actions as well as Laura Trevelyan's use of her journalistic skills to bring as much attention as possible to the issue, United Nations (UN) experts are now adding their voices to the call for the British government and royal family to finally move in the direction of restorative justice.
Both the British politicians and the royal family have been reluctant to address the issue of slavery reparations. In October 2015, during then British prime minister David Cameron's visit to Jamaica, he infamously refused to discuss the issue, instead telling his hosts to “get over slavery.” Adding insult to injury was his offer to spend UK £25 million (approximately US $38 million) to build a new prison on the island, ostensibly to accommodate all the law-breaking Jamaican deportees.
More recently, in March 2022, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge embarked upon a Caribbean tour in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee, they were met with protests from Jamaica to Belize. However, while Prince William acknowledged that “slavery was abhorrent and should never have happened,” he stopped short of issuing an apology.
Yet, as Trevelyan realised after spending some time in Grenada, the effects of slavery and colonialism still linger, affecting the people of the region in a myriad of ways, including via economics, systemic corruption, violence, public health, education, and issues of identity.
The family has been pressuring the British government and royal family to apologise and make amends for its involvement in and profiteering from the slave trade. Other colonisers, most recently the Dutch, have begun to make moves in this regard.
In mid-March, Laura Trevelyan announced that she had resigned from her post at the BBC to campaign full-time for reparative justice in the Caribbean. She plans to work with sympathetic politicians like Labour MP Clive Lewis, who has called for the UK to negotiate slavery reparations with Caribbean leaders.
From Trinidad and Tobago, writer Ira Mathur tweeted one of the most hopeful takeaways:
According to The Guardian, King Charles's goddaughter Fiona Compton, London-based artist and daughter of former St. Lucian prime minister John Compton, said he had spoken to her about ways in which the issue could be “better highlighted and acknowledged.” Compton is the powerhouse behind Know Your Caribbean which strives to educate people about the region. This often involves correcting perceptions about its misrepresented history and facilitating new and more inclusive discussions around various topics.
Could such a combination of factors — enhanced advocacy for reparative justice, a new sovereign on the British throne who appeared quite supportive of Barbados's decision to become a republic and may well be open to new ways of considering reparations, the continued, tireless efforts of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, and now pressure from one of the world's most respected media houses and the UN — finally herald in a new era for formerly colonised states? The Trevelyan family, like millions of Caribbean citizens, can only do what they can, and then wait and see.
Kyiv says Big Oil should pay to rebuild Ukraine’s shattered infrastructure Energy minister also warns the war risks dragging on forever unless the West closes sanctions loopholes on the Kremlin’s hydrocarbon revenues. Bohorodychne residents cross the Siversky Donets
BRUSSELS — Major international energy companies that raked in bumper profits because of price spikes over the course of the war should pour some of that cash into rebuilding Ukraine's shattered power infrastructure, Kyiv's Energy Minister German Galushchenko told POLITICO.
In a wide-ranging interview, Galushchenko also argued the West needed to close sanctions loopholes on Russian energy sales to prevent an "endless war" in Ukraine, and said Kyiv could provide alternative nuclear fuel so some EU countries could wean themselves off their dependence on Russian supplies.
"A lot of energy companies get enormous windfall profits due to the war. So we estimated this at more than $200 billion," Galushchenko said on a visit to Brussels. "They get this money because we are fighting, because of the war."
"I think it would be fair to share this money with Ukraine. I mean, to help us to restore, to rebuild the energy sector," he added.
The $200 billion figure given by Galushchenko has been widely cited as the profits of five top companies — BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total and Shell — in 2022. The Kyiv School of Economics estimates the damage to Ukrainian infrastructure at close to $140 billion.
The minister noted that a Lithuanian company, Ignitis Group, is already looking to hand over some 10 percent of its profits to help reconstruction in Ukraine and said bigger companies should follow suit.
Galushchenko also warned that Moscow would be able to wage a perpetual war in Ukraine for as long as the Kremlin is able to rake in cash from selling fossil fuels. Despite sanctions against Russian oil imports imposed by the EU and a price cap set by the G7 club of rich democracies, he warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin was still finding ways to beat international embargoes.
"If on one side you're trying to restrict them and on the other you're giving them opportunities, you'll allow them to make endless war," he complained, arguing the Kremlin was using its energy export earnings "not to help Russian people to live better" but "to produce weapons" and keep the war going.
"This money costs Ukrainian lives," he said.
Russia boasts that it has diverted its oil supplies to friendly countries such as China and India, but there are signs that restrictions from big Western markets are biting hard.
Calculations by Bloomberg on March 3 suggested that tax revenues from oil almost halved in February from a year ago, while gas revenue dropped 42 percent from a year earlier given reduced sales to Europe. The EU's ban on Russian oil has been a key factor is torpedoing the price of Urals crude.
Keen to keep up that pressure, Galushchenko protested that some oil was still seeping under the cordon.
Ukraines Energy Minister German Galushchenko
Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
"It's important not to help Russia to escape sanctions," he said, arguing that "sanctions are efficient only if you have no way to escape and we see the Russians are trying to escape — in some cases, they find a way."
His warning comes amid recent reports that Moscow's hydrocarbons may be reaching EU countries via Azerbaijan and Turkey. Allegations are also growing that Russian oil has been discreetly sold at prices far exceeding the $60 cap imposed by the G7 in December.
The EU's plan to make the bloc independent from Moscow's fossil fuels before 2030, called RePowerEU, includes encouraging member countries to jointly purchase natural gas, and the Ukrainian minister said his country also wanted in on that program.
While the EU has slashed its oil and gas imports from Russia, the bloc still has 18 Russian-designed VVER reactors — located in Finland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic — for which no alternative fuel supply exists so far.
Rather than continuing to rely on Russia, they could soon buy their supplies off Kyiv, he said. Ukraine is in the process of making specially-tailored replacement nuclear fuel along with Westinghouse of the U.S. that could be ready by "the beginning of next year."
A destroyed bridge over the Murom river near Russkiye Tishki
| Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images
He also called on the European Commission to set an EU-wide target for eliminating countries' reliance on Russian nuclear technology, while reiterating Ukraine's call to bring sanctions against Moscow's state-run atomic giant Rosatom for its role in overseeing the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. So far, the EU has refrained from hitting Russia's nuclear industry with sanctions.
"They are participating in the capture and illegal operation of [this] nuclear station," Galushchenko said.
Regular pay growth is projected to trim to 6.6 per cent over the three months to February, down slightly from the previous period, City analysts reckon the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will say this week (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
