Smith refuses to talk about threat to sue CBC days after her deadline passed

Sean Amato
CTV News Edmonton
Updated May 1, 2023 

A spokesperson for the CBC says no lawsuit has been filed against the public broadcaster on behalf of Danielle Smith or the UCP, despite a deadline passing Friday.

The CBC was served with a notice of defamation on April 2, which demanded an apology and retraction by April 28, or "the premier will take such further legal action as may be advised."

The threat surrounded a CBC story headlined "Danielle Smith discussed COVID charges 'almost weekly' with justice officials, according to leaked call."

Smith has said her party would pay for the lawsuit but refused to say anything about the situation during her campaign launch in Calgary Monday morning.

"I think that Albertans are interested in what we're going to be campaigning on to move the province forward and that's what I'll be focused on for the next four weeks," Smith said.

Smith continued to refuse follow-up questions from reporters, a new policy the press gallery has demanded that she drop.

A spokesperson for the UCP also declined to address the lawsuit threat when reached by CTV News Edmonton.

Complete coverage of Alberta Election 2023

The dispute came after the CBC, and other outlets, reported on an 11-minute phone call that Smith had with controversial street pastor Artur Pawlowski, who is facing criminal charges related to a COVID-19 border blockade in Coutts, Alta.

Smith is heard on video offering to make inquiries on Pawlowski's behalf, revealing to him internal government arguments over case direction and telling him that the charges against him are rooted in political bias.

She also said she was reminding prosecutors “almost weekly” about her concerns with pursuing such cases.

The CBC has stood behind its reporting, which Smith has called "misinformation." She has insisted that she only spoke to justice officials and not directly with prosecutors.

Since the notice of defamation, Smith has repeatedly told reporters she can not talk about the case because it's pending legal action.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Monday that she believes Smith was caught "dead to rights" on video attempting to interfere in the administration of justice and speculated that she "panicked" before threatening to sue.

"This was always an effort on their part to try to give her an opportunity to skate away from accountability, from her conduct on this matter," Notley told reporters at her campaign launch.

"The fact that they haven't moved ahead, I would suggest, means, yeah, she said exactly the things and did exactly the things that were reported in the media and that we described as a result of seeing her on video saying the things."

Political scientist Duane Bratt said Smith's refusal to address the lawsuit Monday makes it clear that it was a "just a political stunt."

"What it was designed to do was prevent her from talking about the Pawlowski call. But now she can say there's an ethics investigation, so I can't talk about it. I don't expect her to file a suit against the CBC," he said.

Bratt believes the election is a tossup between the UCP and the NDP and said it's close because many voters simply don't trust Smith or believe what she says.

He pointed to statements Smith made for years prior to becoming premier about more private and out-of-pocket health care, which she now says she won't follow through on.

"Why does she need to have a public health guarantee? Does Rachel Notley have to come out and sign a public health guarantee? No, because when she speaks about health care, people believe her," he said.

"If it wasn't an issue, the UCP is winning this election. The fact that it is an issue is why it is a flip-a-coin scenario."

CTV News Edmonton has reached out to Munaf Mohamed, the lawyer who prepared the notice of defamation, for an update on the case.

Albertans will go to the polls on May 29.

With files from The Canadian Press

RELATED STORIES

Alberta premier offers new version of why she contacted accused before criminal trial

Alberta Premier Smith says UCP paying for possible defamation lawsuit against CBC

'Never appropriate' for politicians to reach out to Crowns: Alberta Justice official

Alberta premier demands retraction, apology over CBC reporting; news outlet says no

SMITH DENIES SHE IS THE SAME WOMAN

Danielle Smith apologizes for 2021 video showing her comparing vaccinated to Nazi followers

Multiple groups condemned Smith's comments, including B'nai Brith Canada, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and the Royal Canadian Legion   OUCH

Author of the article: Jason Herring

Postmedia
Published May 08, 2023 • 

UCP Leader Danielle Smith.

UCP Leader Danielle Smith apologized Monday after a video surfaced in which she compares Albertans vaccinated against COVID-19 with supporters of Nazi Germany.

Appearing on a November 2021 video podcast from Calgary business Integrated Wealth Management, Smith discusses watching the Netflix documentary How to Become a Tyrant, and draws a parallel between the three-quarters of Albertans who had taken the COVID-19 vaccine and supporters of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

“It starts with Hitler in the first episode, and it’s absolutely appalling and shocking how — one academic says, (and) they must have filmed this before COVID — so many people say that they would not have succumbed to the charms of a tyrant, somebody telling them that they have all the answers. And he said, I guarantee you would. And that’s the test here, is we’ve seen it,” Smith said.

“We have 75 per cent of the public who say not only ‘hit me but hit me harder and keep me away from those dirty unvaxxed’.”

Smith adds in the video she chose not to wear a Remembrance Day poppy in protest of pandemic public health measures, saying actions from politicians who impose those measures represent what veterans fought against.

The comments, made by Smith about six months before launching her run for the UCP leadership, began circulating on social media Sunday evening, just more than three weeks from the May 29 Alberta election.

‘No justification’: Smith’s comments condemned

Speaking in Calgary on Monday, NDP Leader Rachel Notley called Smith’s comments “utterly horrifying.”

Notley said the invocation of Nazi Germany in discussing Albertans who rolled up their sleeves for the COVID-19 shot is evidence why Albertans can’t trust Smith’s leadership.

“She’s comparing those Albertans, 75 per cent of them, to the architects of an antisemitic genocide,” Notley said.

“Some comments demonstrate a set of values that no level of apology can ever make up for.”

In a statement, B’nai Brith Canada condemned Smith’s comments.

“There is no justification for politicians to make contemporaneous comparisons to the Nazi regime. Our leaders must do better,” the Jewish human-rights group wrote.

Canadian Anti-Hate Network chair Bernie Farber also took aim at Smith’s comments, saying her claims “minimize and distort the Holocaust.”

The Royal Canadian Legion condemned Smith’s comments, stating that “the poppy is a symbol of remembrance of those who have served Canada and made the supreme sacrifice in the name of democracy,” adding that it has no role in politics.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Smith acknowledged she opposed vaccine mandates during the pandemic, and called it a “divisive and painful period” for many, including herself

“However, the horrors of the Holocaust are without precedent, and no one should make any modern-day comparisons that minimize the experience of the Holocaust and suffering under Hitler, nor the sacrifice of our veterans,” Smith said, going on to call herself a friend to the Jewish community.

“I apologize for any offensive language used regarding this issue made while on talk radio or podcasts during my previous career.

“I would hope we can all move on to talk about issues that currently matter to Albertans and their families.”

When asked about the 2021 comments during a news conference Monday afternoon, Smith directed reporters back to her statement.

UCP candidate previously disqualified over similar social media posts

This isn’t the first time a UCP figure has come under fire for linking the COVID-19 pandemic with Hitler’s Germany.

Last fall, the UCP’s board disqualified Nadine Wellwood as the party’s candidate in Livingstone-Macleod, with Wellwood saying she was removed over party concerns about her social media posts. Those posts included comparing vaccine passports to policies enacted under the Nazi regime.

Notley said Smith’s comments should be similarly disqualifying, but that voters will decide that on election day.

“Albertans are in a period right now where they get a choice, and my call to Albertans is that they should choose to tell Danielle Smith she does not deserve to be premier,” Notley said.

CONSPIRACY THEORY PROMOTER

Premier Danielle Smith says she distrusts World Economic Forum, Alberta to cut ties

‘I find it distasteful when billionaires brag about how much control they have over political leaders’

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the United Conservative Party AGM in Edmonton, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. Alberta’s new cabinet will be sworn in today at a ceremony at Government House in Edmonton.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken

THIS REPORT IS ONLY SEVEN MONTHS OLD 

AND SHE WAS PREMIER FOR ONE WEEK

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Oct. 25, 2022

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she is cancelling a health consulting agreement involving the World Economic Forum — an agency at the centre of global domination conspiracy theories — because she won’t work with a group that talks about controlling governments.

“I find it distasteful when billionaires brag about how much control they have over political leaders,” Smith said at a news conference Monday after her new cabinet was sworn in.

“That is offensive … the people who should be directing government are the people who vote for them.

“Quite frankly, until that organization stops bragging about how much control they have over political leaders, I have no interest in being involved with them.”

The United Conservative Party premier said she is in lockstep with federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has stated he and his caucus will having nothing to do with the World Economic Forum.

The deal with Alberta Health Services sees the province share ideas with health researchers at Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic under the forum’s umbrella.

The high-profile conference of global political and business leaders has been the focus of conspiracy theories from both sides of the political spectrum.

A decade ago, it was accused by the left-wing of conspiring to cut pensions and slash environmental programs.

It became the focus of attacks from the right during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the it promoted a “great reset,” calling for ideas on how to better organize global society post pandemic.

That started online conspiracy accusations, unproven and debunked, that the forum is fronting a global cabal of string-pullers exploiting the pandemic to dismantle capitalism and introduce damaging socialist systems and social control measures, such as forcing people to take vaccines with tracking chips.

Smith, on a livestream interview Friday, announced the deal was ending but didn’t say why. At a news conference Saturday, she declined to respond to two questions on the forum.

The premier was asked by a reporter Monday if she has concerns about the forum “because you accept the online conspiracy theory that WEF is a front for a global cabal of world leaders bent on using the pandemic to destroy capitalism and install a socialist dysfunctional dystopia.”

Smith declined to answer.

“I think it makes sense to make health decisions based on health experts,” she said.

“The group (WEF) … and the person at the helm of it (Klaus Schwab) — I don’t think he’s a medical doctor. I don’t think he’s a nurse, and I don’t think he’s a paramedic and I don’t think he’s a health professional.

“I am going to be taking advice from our front-line nurses, doctors, paramedics and health professionals to fix the local problems that we have.”

NDP health critic Shannon Phillips said in a statement said Danielle Smith’s “bizarre fixation” on the World Economic Forum does nothing to repair health care, create jobs or lower the cost of living for Alberta families.

“It is troubling for Albertans that Smith is more interested in dangerous conspiracy theories than helping families and businesses,” Phillips said.

Political scientist Lori Williams at Calgary’s Mount Royal University questioned why Smith would end “an agreement that has the potential to provide life-saving, health-improving information that could be of benefit for Albertans simply because you’re suspicious about one of the organizations involved?”

“That’s expertise she ought to respect, certainly critically assess to take advantage of, rather than cutting it off because of some vague suspicions about someone trying to control governments.”

Smith, a former journalist and radio talk show host, has espoused contrarian theories on alternative and mainstream media platforms dating back to 2003, when she questioned in a newspaper column whether smoking is indeed bad for your health.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith pushed for later-debunked treatments such as the livestock dewormer ivermectin.

In July, she told a livestream audience she believes it’s within a person’s control to avoid getting early-stage cancer.

Earlier this month, on her first day as premier, she was criticized for saying those not vaccinated against are the most discriminated group she has seen in her lifetime.

Last week, she apologized for remarks made earlier this year that Ukraine accept neutrality in its war with Russia.

—Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

RELATED: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith apologizes for past comments about invasion of Ukraine

RELATED: “Most discriminated-against group’: Alberta premier pledges to protect unvaccinated

2015 WAS PROVINCIAL ELECTION THE NDP WON

THANKS TO SMITH'S BETRAYL OF WILDROSE PARTY

UCP'S PREDECESOR

Danielle Smith Is Stubbornly Ideological But Just Not That Loyal

Not so long ago, Smith vilified the Progressive  Conservative Party, branding it as tired, washed up, and spiralling out of control. Alberta faced certain disaster if Progressive Conservatives continued their uninterrupted reign. Smith was fervent. Committed. She would burn down the village to save it.

Some may be surprised by Smith's supposed U-turn and decision to abandon her principled and trusted position as leader of the Opposition to join the PC government.

By Brooks DeCillia, Contributor
LSE PhD Candidate, Longtime Journalist

HUFFPOST
Dec 19, 2014 Updated Feb 18, 2015

The day after Alison Redford's Progressive Conservatives pulled off a somewhat surprising election victory in April 2012, I interviewed the other woman who came close to being Alberta's first elected female premier. It's important to point out that in the wake of this week's supernova implosion of the Wildrose Party, Danielle Smith and her upstart gang of like-minded conservative insurgents nearly ended the PC dynasty.

After what can only be described as a crushing electoral defeat, Smith remained thoughtful during my interview with her, providing some solid insight into the most unconventionally compelling Alberta election in decades.

With the camera off, I said my thanks and congratulated Smith for winning her Highwood seat in the Alberta legislature. I debated whether to thank Smith for running an exciting campaign (not wanting to seem overly enthusiastic or partisan). In the end, I did tell her she should be proud of raising the level of political debate in staid Alberta. Smith was typically gracious and seemed genuinely grateful to hear the compliment.

Without a doubt, Smith impressed me during that election as someone with a sense of ideological purpose. She struck me as logical and principled, albeit somewhat needlessly strident, when she defended the free speech of those who doubted the science of climate change and another who hatefully suggested gays would burn in a "lake of fire."

Nevertheless, I remember thinking the "self-styled disciple of Britain's Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher" knows who she is, what she believes -- and is comfortable in her own skin. In the years after the election, Smith held true to her ideological political compass -- and fought her corner well.

Not so long ago, Smith vilified the Alberta PC party, branding it as tired, washed up, and spiralling out of control. Alberta faced certain disaster if the Tories continued their uninterrupted reign. Smith was fervent. Committed. She would burn down the village to save it.

Fast forward to Smith and her new boss, Jim Prentice, walking down the stairs at Government House this week to announce their "unification."

Prentice, of course, shrewdly outflanked Smith and her party in recent months by adopting many popular Wildrose ideals such as balancing the budget, reviewing controversial property rights laws and health care choice.

So now, Smith lauds what she denounced so vehemently. Her massive flip flop, wrote one commentator, "tests the gag reflex." Many of her supporters feel betrayed and want heads to roll, while others in the media have denounced her move as more "naked ambition" from yet another sketchy politician.

I am not surprised by Smith's political expedience. The savvy politician threw her trusted political mentor -- and supposed friend -- Tom Flanagan under the bus when comments he made about child pornography sparked a media firestorm in 2013.

Flanagan, a longtime professor and former principal aide to Prime Stephen Harper, worked tirelessly -- put his "life on hold for two years" -- to help turn Smith and the Wildrose Party into a competitive force in 2012. Smith outsourced disavowing Flanagan to political staffers. She didn't even pick up the phone to ask her former teacher for his side of the story. But did she abandon her ideology?

Polticial scientists and other academics debate -- continuously -- about ideology and its usefulness for understanding politics. Daniel Bell famously dismissed ideology in his influential book "The End of Ideology" in 1960.

There's no doubt grand debates about ideology do not command the public's attention the way they did in the 1930s, for instance. Along with the decline of big ideas, we've witnessed the rise of the celebrity politician who is increasingly judged not what he or she thinks -- but by their likability. As well, political parties have all also grouped around the centre of the political spectrum, making ideological and policy differences less transparent.

Most important, though, ideology is often presented as something other than ideology. Ideas are stripped of their ideological tone. Neoliberalism, in particular, is frequently presented as natural or common sense. Economic principles are often equated to natural laws akin to gravity. Government services, according to this logic, must be efficient and cost-effective because that's the way the world works.

Smith claims she agreed to the hostile takeover of the Wildrose Party because she and Prentice share "aligned values and principles" -- and (this is where ideology becomes important) she wants to unite the right for the tough economic times to come.

Even Preston Manning -- the doyen of western Canadian conservatism -- blessed the defections by nine Wildrose MLAs.

Political stripes are beside the point, argues Manning. It is time to pull together. Read: opposing the impending big cuts to public spending because of dropping oil prices is not acceptable. Good conservatives must unite to persuade the public to lower their expectations. Prentice and his ideological soulmate Smith -- who will no doubt be propelled to cabinet in the days head -- will soon herald the common sense of linking spending on education and health to oil and gas revenues.

Some may be surprised by Smith's supposed U-turn and decision to abandon her principled and trusted position as leader of the Opposition. Can you imagine Margaret -- "The Lady's Not For Turning" -- Thatcher joining forces with her arch political enemies? Smith's political idol was stubbornly ideological. And so is Smith it turns out.

She's just not all that attached to a particular political party or brand. Baroness Thatcher also spoiled to debate her detractors in hopes of convincing voters of her political philosophy or ideology. The question now is if Smith is as skilled as her political hero at convincing Albertans of her world view.

Braid: Smith is not a conservative and shouldn't have been allowed to run by UCP, says veteran activist

Author of the article:

Don Braid • Calgary Herald

Postmedia
Published May 10, 2023

UCP leader Danielle Smith makes a campaign announcement at Braeside Automotive in Calgary on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

 Gavin Young/Postmedia
Article content
Ken Boessenkool says the UCP would have disqualified Danielle Smith long ago if she were only a riding candidate for the party.

The poppy comment, equating vaccinated people with Hitler followers, denying child deaths in residential schools — all that and much more should not have passed muster, according to Boessenkool, a longtime conservative activist.

In fact, at the very beginning of the UCP leadership race last year, he tried to get Smith kicked out.

“I talked to numerous party officials about whether Danielle Smith should be allowed as a candidate, and was rebuffed at every turn,” Boessenkool says.

“My argument then was no different than it is now. I think she represents things that are not conservative. She represents things that will ultimately harm the party. Everything we’ve learned about her since has borne that out.”

Boessenkool’s views carry weight in conservative circles. A founding partner of Meredith Boessenkool Policy Advisors, he has worked for Preston Manning, Ralph Klein, Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day, Ric McIver and Rajan Sawhney.

He ran Sawhney’s leadership campaign last fall. Under his guidance, she was the candidate most fiercely opposed to Smith.

“A Danielle Smith victory today means a Rachel Notley victory tomorrow,” Sawhney said, referring to the NDP leader. Smith’s sovereignty plan was “risky and hotheaded.”

Sawhney has since fallen into line with Smith, like every other UCP member and minister. Sawhney first said she wouldn’t run again, but then was appointed by Smith in Calgary-North West.

Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism, speaks during a press conference at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on April 3. 

PHOTO BY GAVIN YOUNG/POSTMEDIA

Beating the NDP is the priority that temporarily papers over grave private doubts about Smith.

Boessenkool refuses to keep the worries to himself.

“I am very proud of what we did in that campaign,” he says. “I think we ran an honourable campaign. Afterward, Rajan decided politics is a team sport and decided to join the team. I hold no ill will toward Rajan and told her that just last night.”

He also says he likes Smith personally.

“I’ve been friends with Danielle Smith for 20 years. I have been to conventions and had hundreds of conversations with her — many, many gatherings over the years. It’s not like I’m talking about somebody I’ve never met.

“She’s a kind person. I don’t have anything against her personally.

“But I’m friends with Shannon Phillips, too, and I’d never vote for her,” Boessenkool said, referring to the NDP member for Lethbridge-West.

Boessenkool says Smith’s lack of judgment is dangerous for the party. Regarding her entanglement with street pastor Artur Pawlowski, he says, “the very idea that you think you could associate with that guy and not get into trouble is just astonishing to me.”

But his main problem with Smith is that he says she isn’t really a conservative.

Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski speaks to protesters near the Coutts border blockade on February 3, 2022. 

PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK/POSTMEDIA

In an article written recently with U of A professor Jared Wesley, he outlined the case in blistering detail.

“Danielle Smith is not a temperamental conservative. Indeed, she is rarely an ideological conservative. Instead, her politics amount to libertarian-laced populism, directly opposed to the sort of principled, incrementalist politics Albertans have appreciated from conservative governments in the past,” they wrote.

“Danielle Smith shows little understanding or respect for the rules and norms that guide our democracy.

“Not knowing whether Canadian premiers have the pardon or clemency powers of U.S. presidents and governors is unfathomable. Framing the treatment of Alberta by Ottawa as on par with Canada’s treatment of First Nations is unconscionable. Knowingly eroding our democratic institutions is unconservative.

“Her anti-scientific support for health-care quackery places her alone among government leaders in Canada. Her promotion of arguably antisemitic conspiracy theories has raised serious questions about her judgment and the ability of her advisers to provide her with a factual basis to make important decisions.

Other conservatives — including former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk — have been even more fierce in their opposition to Smith.

RECOMMENDED FROM EDITORIAL

Braid: The UCP's quest for public amnesia over Danielle Smith's opinions and positions

Braid: Smith steps up on wildfires, but shuns the poppy and says the military, not doctors, should run the next pandemic

Danielle Smith apologizes for 2021 video showing her comparing vaccinated to Nazi followers

Danielle Smith says Nazi comments made during 'difficult and frustrating time' of COVID-19 pandemic

Danielle Smith says call with Artur Pawlowski was between two party leaders

But Ken Boessenkool is the ultimate insider. Some in Smith’s own government and caucus share his views.

They just wish he’d shut up during the election campaign.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

Twitter: @DonBraid

'Deeply concerning': Smith suggests privatizing major Alberta hospitals in 2021 video

The video, captured before Smith entered the UCP leadership contest, shows Smith outlining how an Alberta government could sell off hospitals to private operators  

LIKE ARMAK OR SODEXO

Author of the article: Jason Herring

Postmedia
Published May 10, 2023 •

UCP Leader Danielle Smith. 

The Alberta NDP is raising alarms over an October 2021 video of UCP Leader Danielle Smith suggesting a path to privatizing the province’s hospitals.

The video, which was captured about six months before Smith entered the UCP leadership contest, shows her outlining how an Alberta government could sell off hospitals to private operators.

She explains the province could have the Alberta Health Quality Council serve as an auditor and determine whether Alberta Health Services should continue to operate hospitals, specifically naming Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Hospital, Rockyview General Hospital and South Health Campus as examples.

“If they can’t meet the terms we want them to, we can do (a request for proposal) and then the Alberta Health Services can give a different contract to a different group of doctors . . . to run all of our hospitals,” Smith said. 

In the video, Smith said she presented her plan to Alberta’s health minister — a position recently assumed by Jason Copping at the time of Smith’s comments — but said the government didn’t act on the suggestions.

“These are extreme views and they are part of a defined pattern of extreme views held by Danielle Smith,” said Kathleen Ganley, the NDP candidate in Calgary-Mountain View.

The South Health Campus in Calgary was one of the hospitals mentioned by Smith. PHOTO BY BRENDAN MILLER/POSTMEDIA

Neither Smith nor NDP Leader Rachel Notley made any public appearances Wednesday.

In a statement, UCP spokesman Dave Prisco said the NDP were “doubling down on their fear and smear tactics” and said Smith has pledged Albertans will never have to pay to see their doctor or access needed medical services under her government.

“The UCP has a plan to improve Alberta’s public health-care system for all Albertans, and that plan is working. The NDP has no plan for anything — just old videos,” Prisco said.

The UCP elsewhere Wednesday touted what they called the largest recruitment of nurses in Alberta’s history, boasting they’ve attracted 1,413 new internationally educated nurses since last month, after the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta eased its requirements for foreign workers.

Smith’s past comments on contracting out hospitals currently run by AHS should spark concerns for Albertans, said Bradley Lafortune, executive director of the Public Interest Alberta advocacy group.

He called on Smith to retract and apologize for those comments.

“Quite frankly, it’s horrifying, and it’s very deeply concerning . . . It’s really, really fundamentally dangerous to play these kinds of privatization games with our health-care system, so I hope that she speaks to it,” Lafortune said.

“It’s really important for Albertans to know what their plans are in advance of the election.”

Voters head to the polls May 29.

More than 71 mn people internally displaced worldwide in 2022

"This perfect storm has undermined years of progress made in reducing global hunger and malnutrition."


Issued on: 11/05/2023 - 

A full 60.9 million new internal displacements were meanwhile reported in 2022 including in Sudan

 © - / AFP/File

Geneva (AFP) – A "perfect storm" of overlapping crises forced tens of millions to flee within their own country last year, sending the number of internally displaced people to a record high, monitors said on Thursday.

An unprecedented 71.1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) were registered in 2022 -- up 20 percent from a year earlier -- amid mass displacement for Russia's war in Ukraine, as well as by the monsoon floods that drenched Pakistan.

A full 60.9 million new internal displacements were meanwhile reported in 2022, with some people forced to flee multiple times during the year, according to a joint report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

That marks an all-time high for new internal displacements, and an increase of 60 percent compared to the some 38 million fresh displacements seen in 2021.

That number is "extremely high", IDMC chief Alexandra Bilak told AFP.

"Much of the increase is caused, of course, by the war in Ukraine, but also by floods in Pakistan, by new and ongoing conflicts across the world, and by a number of sudden and slow onset disasters that we've seen from the Americas all the way to the Pacific."

'Very volatile'

Last year, new internal displacements from conflict surged to 28.3 million -- nearly doubling from a year earlier and three times higher than the annual average over the past decade.

Beyond the 17 million displacements inside Ukraine last year, eight million were forced from their homes by Pakistan's monster floods.

Sub-Saharan Africa saw around 16.5 million displacements -- more than half of them due to conflict, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Ethiopia.

The global internal displacement figures are only expected to grow this year, driven in part by fresh conflicts like the violence ravaging Sudan forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.

More than 700,000 people have already become internally displaced by the fighting that erupted on April 15, while another 150,000 people have fled the country, according to UN numbers.

"Since the start of the... most recent conflict in April, we've already recorded the same number of displacements as we did for the whole year in 2022," Bilak said.

"Clearly, it's a very volatile situation on the ground," she said, pointing out that those being newly displaced by the fighting were joining the ranks of more than three million people already displaced across Sudan.

'Food security crisis'

While internal displacement is a global phenomenon, nearly three quarters of the world's IDPs live in just 10 countries: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.

Many of them remain displaced due to unresolved conflicts that have dragged on for years and continued to force people to flee their homes last year.

And even as conflict-related displacement surged, natural disasters continued to account for most new internal displacement, spurring 32.6 million such movements in 2022 -- up 40 percent from a year earlier.

NRC chief Jan Egeland described the overlapping crises spurring ever more displacement around the world as a "perfect storm".

"Conflict and disasters combined last year to aggravate people's pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, triggering displacement on a scale never seen before," he said in a statement.

"The war in Ukraine also fuelled a global food security crisis that hit the internally displaced hardest," he said.

"This perfect storm has undermined years of progress made in reducing global hunger and malnutrition."

© 2023 AFP

Archbishop of Canterbury: UK migration bill is morally wrong

By SYLVIA HUI

1 of 5

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stands at the entrance of Westminster Abbey The head of the Church of England on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, condemned a British government bill that would dramatically curb migrants’ ability to seek asylum in the U.K., calling the policy “isolationist, morally unacceptable and politically impractical.” (Andrew Milligan/Pool via AP, File)


LONDON (AP) — The head of the Church of England on Wednesday condemned a British government bill that would dramatically curb migrants’ ability to seek asylum in the U.K., calling the policy “isolationist, morally unacceptable and politically impractical.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made a rare intervention in Parliament to oppose the legislation. He told the House of Lords, Parliament’s unelected upper chamber, that the government’s proposal was a “short-term fix” that risked causing great damage to the U.K.’s reputation.

The legislation bars asylum claims by anyone who reaches the U.K. by unauthorized means, and compels officials to detain and then deport refugees and migrants “to their home country or a safe third country,” such as Rwanda. Once deported, they would be banned from ever re-entering the U.K.

Britain’s Conservative government says the measure would deter tens of thousands of people from trying to cross the English Channel in small boats each year in hopes of reaching the U.K. But critics, including the United Nations’ refugee agency, have described the legislation as unethical and unworkable, and some allege it would violate international law.

The bill passed the House of Commons last month. It was on a second reading Wednesday in the House of Lords, where it faces strong opposition. The Lords can amend the legislation but not block it.

Welby, who is also the spiritual head of Anglican churches worldwide and presided over King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday, said international protections for refugees were “not inconvenient obstructions to get ’round by any legislative means necessary.”

He added that it was wrong for the U.K. to leave the responsibility of accommodating refugees up to other countries, often much poorer ones.

“Of course we cannot take everyone and nor should we, but this bill has no sense at all of the long-term and the global nature of the challenge that the world faces,” Welby said. “This nation should lead internationally, not stand apart.”

Britain’s government has urged the House of Lords to back the bill, which it says “is designed to meet the will of the British people.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats” carrying asylum-seekers across the English Channel and made that one of the key focuses of his time in office. His government has argued that the bill will clamp down on criminals who exploit desperate asylum-seekers and prevent migrants from dying during dangerous voyages from northern France in small dinghies.

“There is nothing compassionate about allowing vulnerable people to perish in the Channel,” Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, said. The government will “robustly defend” its migration bill, he added.

While Britain takes in fewer migrants than other European countries such as Germany and Italy, the number of people crossing the busy waterway in search of better lives in the U.K. has increased significantly in recent years.

More than 45,000 people, including many fleeing countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, arrived in Britain in small boats last year, up from 8,500 in 2020.

The government has housed many of those awaiting asylum decisions in hotels, which officials say costs taxpayers millions of pounds (dollars) a day. Authorities have said they plan to place new arrivals in disused military camps and a barge docked on the southern English coast.

Welby has been outspoken about his opposition to the Conservative government’s efforts to curb migration. Last year, he warned against official rhetoric that portrayed migrants as “invaders.” He also called a government plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda “the opposite of the nature of God.”

___

Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Germany's Scholz approves tougher measures to tackle migration

NEWS WIRES
Wed, 10 May 2023 



Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the heads of Germany's 16 states on Wednesday agreed on new measures to tackle soaring migration after crunch talks.

In the first four months of 2023, some 101,981 asylum applications were filed in Germany, an increase of 78 percent from the same period in 2022.

Almost 218,000 applications were filed in Germany last year, the highest number since 2015-16, with the largest number of newcomers hailing from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan, followed by Turkey and Iraq.

In addition, more than a million people arrived from Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion of the country.

In Wednesday's agreement, a modernisation of IT systems is due to help accelerate the processing of asylum applications, which currently takes 26 months on average, potentially speeding up the expulsions of those with unsuccessful bids.

An extension of the maximum detention period for migrants from 10 to 28 days was agreed to make it easier to order and maintain their detention before a possible expulsion.

Germany will also aim to reach "new migrant partnerships" with the countries of origin of the new arrivals, Scholz told a press conference.

Scholz said the agreements would facilitate the arrival of "qualified staff" from the relevant nations in exchange for deals allowing the return of irregular migrants.

The federal government and the regions opted against implementing permanent border checks with neighbouring countries, but refused to rule it out.

Currently, Germany only applies fixed controls to everyone passing through along its border with Austria.

(AFP)

MULTITUDE

rebels-library.org

http://rebels-library.org › files › multitude

PDF

The possibility of democracy on a global scale is emerging today for the vety first time. This book is about that possibility, about what we callthe.

222 pages

File:Hardt Michael Negri Antonio Empire.pdf

Monoskop

https://monoskop.org › File:Hardt_Michael_Negri_An...

Jul 28, 2012 — File:Hardt Michael Negri Antonio Empire.pdf ... Hardt_Michael_Negri_Antonio_Empire.pdf ‎(file size: 1.33 MB, MIME type: application/pdf) ...                        

Egypt starts mediating an end to Israel-Gaza strikes, rockets

Issued on: 11/05/2023 - 

01:33

Smoke and flames rise into the sky after the Israeli military said in a statement that it struck Islamic Jihad targets, in Gaza, May 9, 2023. 

© Mohammed Salem, Reuters

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Israel hit Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza for a second day on Wednesday and Palestinian militants launched hundreds of rockets across the border, setting off sirens as far away as Tel Aviv, while Egypt began efforts to mediate an end to the fighting.

The second round of cross-border fire in a week came after Israel launched strikes on Tuesday against three Islamic Jihad commanders it said had planned attacks against Israelis, following months of escalating violence.

Cairo, which has mediated in previous rounds of fighting, had begun brokering a ceasefire, Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shehab said.

Israel was examining Egypt's proposals, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told public broadcaster Kan.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks that Islamic Jihad had sustained a serious blow, but cautioned: "The campaign is not over yet."

The Israeli military said it hit more than 130 targets, including rocket-launching sites, as blasts sounded across the Palestinian enclave.

A late-night bombing of a building in the southern Gaza area of Khan Younis killed the head of Islamic Jihad's rocket launching force, identified as Ali Ghali, and two other militants, the Israeli military and Islamic Jihad said.

Minutes after Wednesday's air-strikes began, sirens sounded in Israel - mostly among border communities but soon also in and around the commercial capital Tel Aviv, 60 km (37 miles) northof Gaza.

More than 400 rockets were fired, Netanyahu said, a quarter of which fell short in Gaza.

The joint command of Gaza's militant groups, which includes Islamic Jihad and the enclave's Hamas rulers, claimed responsibility for the salvoes.

However Israeli military officials said they had seen no signs that Hamas, which is believed to have hundreds of rockets in its arsenal, had fired any missiles itself.

They said Israeli strikes were directed only at targets linked to the smaller Islamic Jihad group, an Iranian-backed militant organization based in Gaza which has been increasingly active in the occupied West Bank for the past year.

White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan emphasised the need for de-escalation during a call on Wednesday with the head of Israel's National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, the White House said.

"Sullivan ... noted continued regional efforts to broker a ceasefire, and emphasized the need to deescalate tensions and prevent further loss of life," according to a White House readout.

CHILDREN AMONG FATALITIES

In total, 24 Palestinians, including at least five women and five children, as well as three senior Islamic Jihad commanders and four gunmen have been killed since fighting began, Palestinian health officials said.

Among the fatalities on Wednesday was a 10-year-old girl, although the circumstances of her death were unclear.

The militant groups said the rocket salvoes were a retaliation for the Israeli strikes, which it described as "a savage and treacherous bombardment of civilian houses that led to several innocent martyrs."

Multiple trails could be seen ascending over Gaza as rockets were launched. Mid-air explosions signalled interceptions by Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system and there were no reports of casualties in Israel.

Last week, Islamic Jihad fired more than 100 rockets across the border and Israeli jets hit targets in Gaza in an hours-long exchange following the death of an Islamic Jihad hunger striker in Israeli custody.

Even before Wednesday's rocket barrage began, as many as 30% of residents of Israeli border communities had been evacuated as a precaution, municipal head Gadi Yarkoni told Kan radio.

In Gaza, businesses and schools remained closed, Israel kept its two commercial and people crossings with Gaza closed.

The move would stop the entry of goods, fuel and humanitarian aid as well as patients who receive treatment in hospitals in the West Bank and Israel.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen who the military said had opened fire on them in the West Bank. Islamic Jihad claimed the men as members.

(REUTERS)

GRIFTER Republicans claim Biden family earned millions from shady overseas deals


Wed, 10 May 2023 

© Kevin Lamarque, Reuters


Republicans charged Wednesday that President Joe Biden's family has earned more than $10 million from shady business deals crafted while he was vice president.

With Biden ramping up his bid for a second term as president in the 2024 election, the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee alleged that the family took in $1 million tied to a business deal with a Romanian tycoon when the then vice-president oversaw relations with the country in 2014-2015.

The deal was allegedly done by Rob Walker, a business partner of Biden's son Hunter.

In a detailed report, committee Republicans said Walker began receiving money from Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu shortly after Biden welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House in September 2015.

A Cyprus company allegedly owned by Popoviciu, Bladon Enterprises, paid a private company owned by Walker over $3 million from November 2015 to May 2017.

They said the pattern matches that of an already well-reported business deal Hunter Biden and Walker had with an energy company in China.

Five takeaways from Trump’s CNN town hall

BY NIALL STANAGE -

THE HILL

 05/10/23 

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association Convention in Indianapolis, on April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The biggest event so far in the 2024 election cycle took place in New Hampshire Wednesday evening.

Former President Trump participated in a town hall event hosted by CNN, with Kaitlan Collins serving as moderator.


The fact that the event was happening at all had drawn some criticism beforehand — mostly, but not exclusively, from liberals and the left.

On the other hand, a ratings bonanza was forecast by many media-watchers.

After all the hype, here are the main takeaways.

A disaster for CNN

Trump did not so much win the event as CNN lost it — catastrophically.

Not all of the blame can be placed on Collins, though there were clearly moments when she could have pushed back faster or more strongly.

A far bigger problem was a decision, presumably taken by producers, to have a live audience “made up of Republicans and undeclared voters who tend to take part in New Hampshire’s Republican primary,” as Collins put it in her introductory remarks.

What that meant was an audience loudly supportive of Trump at every turn — and plainly disdainful of Collins.

Around halfway through the event, Trump’s description of Collins as “a nasty person” drew whoops of delight.

Not a single tough question was asked of Trump by any audience member.

Perhaps most strikingly of all, Trump’s denial of ever having met, much less abused, E. Jean Carroll, received raucous approval — despite a nine-person jury having found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll only the previous day.

Offering his own spin on Carroll’s story, Trump wondered “What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you are playing hanky panky in a dressing room, OK?”

Many in the audience laughed.

Media figures, as well as politicians on the left, reacted with horror.

“I can’t believe this is being allowed on @CNN,” tweeted Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor whose allegations of sexual harassment sparked the downfall of that network’s one-time supremo, Roger Ailes. “This is promulgating the cult leadership of Trump — and people are laughing at sexual assault.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted, “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.”

Ocasio-Cortez added, “The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”

CNN shouldn’t create programming to please Ocasio-Cortez, of course — any more than it should mold coverage to please Trump.

But the network has serious questions to answer about an event that spiraled so abjectly — and set up one of its own rising stars for a humiliating failure.

Trump was strikingly evasive on abortion

Collins did have some sliver of success when she pressed Trump on his position on abortion.

She was not able to wring from him a specific answer on whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if he were to win back the presidency in 2024. Yet, the vagueness and evasiveness of his response was revealing.

Trump proclaimed that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Roe v. Wade last June was “a great victory.” His rationale was an unusual one.

The former president contended that the decision “was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with.”

The explanation that followed was not clear, but Trump appeared to be arguing that, with the erstwhile constitutional guarantee of a right to abortion gone, it was easier to make deals between liberals and conservatives on certain limits to abortion.

Trying to distance himself from the most rigid anti-abortion positions in his party — positions that have fared badly at the polls in recent months — he added, “I happen to believe in the exceptions” to outright bans.

Still, Trump several times avoided Collins’s question on whether he would sign a federal ban.

Trump on the debt ceiling: ‘You’re gonna have to do a default’

The former president encouraged his party colleagues on Capitol Hill to hold to a hard line in the ongoing talks about the debt ceiling — even if it came at the price of the kind of U.S. default that virtually all credible economists say would be disastrous.

Trump vigorously backed the position put forward by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) among others — that the debt ceiling should only be raised if President Biden and the Democrats accede to steep spending cuts.

The White House has declined to countenance that idea. Democrats often note that Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling three times during Trump’s one term, even as he added more than $7 trillion to the national debt.

Trump insisted Republicans in Congress should stand firm.

“I say to the Republicans out there — congressmen, senators — if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re gonna have to do a default,” he said.

He predicted that the Democrats would “absolutely cave” in the face of such a strong position.

But, he suggested, even if they did not and the U.S. went into default for the first time in its history, “it’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors.”
Election lies and downplaying Jan. 6

Perhaps the most predictable part of Wednesday’s event came with Trump’s standard lines about the 2020 election, and his minimization of what took place on Jan. 6, 2021.

In both cases, Collins tried to push back, but a combination of the Trump-backing crowd and his brash demeanor contributed to her getting steamrollered.

Trump said that 2020 was “a rigged election.”

It was not.

He also said that the protesters on Jan. 6 2021 “were there with love in their heart.”

Around 140 police officers were injured on Jan. 6, when a crowd ransacked the Capitol while seeking to overturn a legitimate presidential election and thwart the peaceful transfer of power.

Trump soon afterward became the first American president in history to be twice impeached. The second impeachment was for inciting the Jan. 6 riot.

A big night for Trump spells trouble for his GOP rivals

CNN may well have delivered Trump his biggest boost yet in his quest for the 2024 GOP nomination — an ironic twist for a news network to which the former president almost always used to append the term “Fake News.”

All of the traits that Trump’s hardcore supporters admire were on full display on Wednesday — the belligerence, the swatting-aside of criticism and the mocking of opponents and adversaries.

He never came close to being trapped in any politically awkward spot — save perhaps when declining to answer whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion.

GOP lawmaker takes shot at Kaitlan Collins while on CNN panel after Trump town hall 

Trump snaps at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: ‘You’re a nasty person’

Above all, CNN got humiliated at his hands — a sweet victory for conservatives who detest the network.

The event plainly reinforced Trump’s position as the dominant player in the GOP field.

That is very bad news for the rivals who are already trailing in his wake.

Biden trolls Trump over CNN town hall

BY JARED GANS - THE HILL - 05/10/23 

President Biden trolled former President Trump on Wednesday over a contentious appearance at a CNN town hall on Wednesday, with Biden asking for supporters to donate to his reelection campaign if they don’t want “four more years of that.”

“It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you don’t, pitch in to our campaign,” Biden tweeted. 

His campaign later sent an email seeking to fundraise with the subject line, “So, that happened.”

“If you missed Trump’s CNN town hall, you’re better off for it. But the choice is clear: It’s four more years of Trump or four more years of Biden,” the email states.

Biden’s tweet came after more than an hour of sometimes-intense exchanges between Trump and CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins over a range of topics, including his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election. 

Ocasio-Cortez on Trump town hall: ‘CNN should be ashamed of themselves’

BY JULIA SHAPERO THE HILL - 05/10/23

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed CNN over its decision to hold a town hall with former President Trump on Wednesday night.

“CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”

Trump doubled down on his unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was “rigged,” suggested those that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had “love in their heart,” and called author E. Jean Carroll a “whack job” at Wednesday’s town hall.

The former president’s comments come just one day after a jury found that he sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by denying the allegations. Carroll had accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store. 

“This falls squarely on CNN,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen. Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm’s way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence.”

In an appearance on MSNBC after the town hall, the congresswoman said Trump’s attacks on Carroll were “a continued demonstration” of the sacrifices that survivors of sexual abuse make to “come forward and challenge power.”

“What we also saw tonight was the consequence of doing that,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “They sacrifice their anonymity, they sacrifice their safety, and they sacrifice all of this because we continue to live in a society where an overwhelming amount of structures allow this abuse to happen and find it permissible.”

“I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision,” she added of the town hall. “I don’t think that I would be doing my job if I did not say that.”