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)
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Israeli forces detain 13-year-old Palestinian boy for 'filming raid' in West Bank
Israeli forces assaulted and detained 13-year-old Mohammad Shahin Al-Arda from the Palestinian town of Arraba, south of Jenin, for filming the Israeli forces during the incursion into the town, according to local reports.
The New Arab Staff 18 June, 2023 The forces assaulted and detained the boy in the town of Arraba [Getty]
Israeli forces arrested a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the early hours of Sunday, for reportedly filming the forces during an incursion into the town of Arraba, the New Arab's Arabic language site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.
The forces assaulted and detained the boy, identified as Mohammad Shahin Al-Arda, in the town of Arraba, south of Jenin, the report said.
Israeli forces also arrested former Palestinian prisoner Mohammad Areeda Mohammad from his home in Arraba.
In Jenin, clashes broke out between residents and occupation forces following a raid in the village of Faqqua east of the city.
In Nablus, clashes erupted between residents and Israeli forces in the town of Beita, following Israeli raids on residential and commercial areas and inspections of surveillance camera recording devices.
Israeli forces arrested former Palestinian prisoner Ibrahim Mustafa Abed while passing through a checkpoint in Hawara, south of Nablus.
In occupied Jerusalem, Israeli settlers entered the courtyards of al-Aqsa Mosque early on Sunday under the protection of Israeli forces. They carried out provocative tours, and performed rituals and prayers in the mosque's compound.
Spike in ocean heat stuns scientists: Have we breached a climate tipping point?
BY JEFF BERARDELLI - 06/18/23
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Global oceans are so hot right now, scientists all around the world are struggling to explain the phenomenon. Sea surface temperatures in June are so far above record territory it is being deemed almost statistically impossible in a climate without global heating.
This is happening across the huge expanse of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
In the North Atlantic Ocean — which was already way above record levels — temperatures have strikingly shot directly upward over the past two weeks.
A shocking visual shared on Twitter earlier this month is prompting many to ask whether this recent surge is evidence that human-caused heating has propelled the climate past a tipping point.
Luckily, climate scientists say the answer is likely no. Instead, it is much more probable to be a compounding coalescence of various factors – some natural and some human-caused. In other words, a coincidence of natural factors piled on top of the steady trend of human-caused global heating.
Regardless it’s a vivid illustration of the new extremes Earth can reach when conditions are ripe.
Ocean temperatures in any given region are the result of complex interactions between ocean currents, weather, climate oscillations and longer-term climate trends. In the case of this year, there are many factors, but the biggest factor is the change from La Niña to El Niño in the Tropical Pacific Ocean – a natural cycle that has global implications.
For the past three years, Earth has been in a rare prolonged La Niña event. During that time, heat piled up in the tropical Western Pacific Ocean near Indonesia. But this spring, subsurface heat started propagating eastward across the Pacific Ocean and reached the surface. This marked the beginning of the warm phase called El Niño.
With warm water now sitting on the surface of the entire Tropical Pacific Ocean – a particularly wide swath of the ocean basin – Pacific Ocean temperatures have been rising fast.
But the effects of El Niño are not confined to the Pacific Ocean. The ocean-air heat exchange results in changes in the atmospheric steering flow and pressure systems in the Atlantic as well. These changes in weather over the Atlantic Ocean, some related to El Niño, can have significant impacts on surface ocean temperatures.
At the same time, in the high latitudes of Canada and the far North Atlantic, a very blocked jet stream pattern has persisted for weeks. These persistent weather patterns have a significant impact on the underlying sea surface temperatures. Areas where it is sunny and calm tend to warm up and cloudy, windy areas tend to cool.
Canada has been trapped under a heat dome leading to record-setting wildfires and the US eastern seaboard/ western Atlantic has been stuck under the opposite — a cool dip in the jet stream. And over on the other side of the Atlantic, an ocean heat dome has been present near Europe.
The result of this stubborn configuration is a cooler-than-normal NW Atlantic and a much warmer-than-normal NE Atlantic.
To the south across the Tropical Atlantic, this odd and persistent configuration of atmospheric steering and pressure systems has resulted in record-shattering heat. Sea surface temperatures are so hot across the “main development region” (seen in deep red between Africa and the Caribbean on this map) they have already reached levels expected during peak hurricane season in September.
To be more specific, this excess heat can be explained by some interrelated factors. Atmospheric high pressure over the Subtropical Atlantic is weaker than normal, likely due to a combination of the odd North Atlantic steering discussed above, and also El Niño’s influence, weakening the tropical winds called trade winds.
These trade winds blow across the deep tropical Atlantic from east (Africa) to west (Caribbean). When they are strong the waters cool due to increased upwelling of cooler water from below and also increased evaporation. This season, however, the weaker high pressure and lighter trade winds are helping increase sea surface temperatures.
Weaker trade winds usually also correspond to less Saharan dust coming off of Africa. This year, dust is at a record low. Less dust means cleaner air, allowing more sun to reach and heat the ocean surface.
From the above, we can see the various ways persistent weather patterns can shape ocean temperatures around the globe. But there are a few more underlying reasons for the record warm departures in ocean surface temperature.
The most obvious is greenhouse warming. This did not cause the recent spike, but it is a big reason we are able to so easily achieve record territory nowadays.
In general, the oceans have warmed around 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the early 1900s. This is the elevated baseline/ foundation which everything else is built upon.
If you compare June ocean temperatures in the 1982 El Niño — which eventually became one of the strongest ever — to June 2023 you can easily see the stark difference. This year is far and away much warmer across global oceans. That is mainly due to a trend in human-caused greenhouse warming.
But there’s more. Over the past few decades atmospheric pollution, especially across the North Atlantic, has lessened due to the Clean Air Act. Airborne pollution decreases the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth and helps cool us, masking some of the greenhouse warming. But as pollution has decreased in recent decades the Atlantic ocean temperatures have increased.
One very prominent example of this is very recent. In 2020, cargo ships, which traditionally burned the dirtiest of fuel, were forced to substantially reduce Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions. Now, cargo ships are running much cleaner. The reduction in pollution, which is otherwise good news, means an increase in ocean heating.
In this graph, you can see the dramatic drop in SO2 in the last 2 years. The jury is still out on how much this is contributing to ocean heating.
Lastly, we should address a real wildcard. In January 2022, the underwater Hunga Tonga Volcano erupted in the South Pacific Ocean. The resulting explosion spewed large amounts of water vapor high up into the atmosphere where it still lingers.
So, it is clear from the analysis above that there is not one culprit for the ocean’s uncanny warmth. Instead, it seems like the unfortunate coincidence of various factors, both natural and human. If this logic is correct, then this perturbation is not evidence of humans tripping a climate tipping point, for now.
But as 2023 unfolds, El Niño will continue to intensify in the Pacific, infusing the climate system with even more energy. On top of global heating, this will supercharge global weather patterns yielding extremes modern man has yet to experience.
And as global heating persists in the coming decades, tipping points may very well be breached in the climate system, causing irreversible impacts.
Thousands have protested against Serbia’s president and pledged to ‘radicalize’ gatherings
BY AP - 06/17/23
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters on Saturday staged marches in Belgrade and other Serbian cities against President Aleksandar Vucic, pledging to “radicalize” weeks of peaceful gatherings that have already shaken his populist rule.
The demonstrators in Belgrade blocked the main highway that leads through the capital and chanted slogans for Vucic to resign, something that he has repeatedly rejected over the past seven weeks of protests.
The protest initially erupted in response to two back-to-back mass shootings in early May that left 18 people dead and 20 others wounded, many of them pupils from a Belgrade elementary school.
The protesters have been demanding the resignations of top Serbian security officials and the revoking of broadcasting licenses for pro-government media and tabloids that regularly air violent content and host crime figures and war criminals.
The protesters consider that the state-controlled media is responsible for the culture of violence that has been mainstay in Serbia since the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s that left more than 100,000 people dead.
Vucic, a former ultranationalist who took an active role in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, now claims he wants to take Serbia into the European Union. He has said he will never accept the opposition demands. He has branded protest leaders as “hyenas” who want him and his family dead.
One of the protest leaders, Aleksandar Jovanovic, said that the demonstrations will continue, and vowed to further “radicalize” them with the blockade of roads and government buildings throughout Serbia.
“Serbia will stop,” he said. “We have to clean out this poison.”
‘Demonstrative Religiosity’ as Show of Support for Old Elites Re-Emerging in Kazakhstan, Kaznacheyev Says
Staunton, June 14 – Under former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, many in the elites and especially among its younger members engaged in “demonstrative religiosity” to show their loyalty to his regime and as a kind of behavior that would win them advancement, Maksim Kaznacheyev says.
But now, Kaznacheyev says, it is re-emerging not only about the elite in general but also and especially among young Kazakhs who have concluded that such displays will tell the old elites now in opposition to Tokayev that they are with them and ensure promotion for these young people.
“There must not be any illusions” that the ebbing of such practices after the January 2022 events marks the end of the story, he continues. “The Kazakhstan administrative vertical and force bloc are filled with ‘sleeping cells’ which will become active at the command of ‘the old elites.’”
According to Kaznacheyev, “approximately 75 percent” of young Kazakhs view such demonstrative religiosity as a way of defining who they are and who they are not and the best possible way of winning preferment from the old elites who remain opposed to the secular agenda of Tokayev.
As a result, he continues, social and political life in Kazakhstan is likely to become increasingly archaic at an accelerated pace. And that means, he says, that a new attempt at overthrowing the current president by massive demonstrations and ultimately moves toward transforming Kazakhstan into another Taliban-style country.
Back to the streets in Thailand?
June 18, 2023
BANGKOK (ANN/THE STAR) – THAILAND may be heading for troubled times. With the country’s establishment, made up of the military and supporters of the monarchy determined to place hurdles in the path of those elected in the country’s general election a few weeks ago, the battle for control of the future may return to the streets as early as next month when the election commission ratifies the results of the poll held in May.
The Move Forward party led by Pita Limjaroenrat won the most seats, followed closely by the Pheu Thai party of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. These two parties have joined hands with six others to stake claim to governance, but a preliminary finding announced this week by election officers suggests Pita may be disqualified.
The commission’s head announced “there is sufficient information and evidence to warrant further investigation into whether Pita is qualified to run in the election”, an ominous pronouncement since it also suggests that the front-runner for the Prime Minister’s job may be looking at up to 10 years in jail.
The investigation relates to Pita’s holding of shares in a defunct television company, which is barred by Thai election law. The television company ceased operations in 2007, which ought to have made ownership of the shares a moot question, but precedent suggests that trouble may be brewing, not the least because his party’s campaign promise to amend lese majeste laws has caused consternation in the establishment’s ranks.
As it is, constitutional provisions make Pita’s task difficult.
While parties making up the alliance have more than 300 seats in Thailand’s 500-member lower house, this is not enough to elect a Prime Minister. The 250 senators appointed by the military also vote, which means that more than 375 votes are needed to win. Already, many senators have announced they will not support Pita’s candidature.
If Pita gets disqualified, or if the alliance is not allowed to form the government, it will mean a clear repudiation of the people’s will, for they had voted overwhelmingly against parties aligned with the military.
While not all parties forming part of the alliance led by Pita share Move Forward’s disdain for lese majeste laws, all of them are determined to bring about constitutional changes that will significantly reduce the grip the military has on civilian politics.
They have also promised to legalise same-sex marriages and to take steps to dismantle the monopolies and oligopolies that dominate Thai business.
Should they be thwarted, it is more than likely that the people will take to the streets, to press for a return to a functioning democracy, something they have been fighting for ever since the military seized power in a coup in 2014 and then sought to legitimise.
Russian People Turn Passive in the War, Spurring Predictions That the Break-Up of the Federation Is Inevitable Soldiers are told they are all ‘numbers’ who could be easily replaced if they die in battle.
Russian conscripts at St. Petersburg during a send-off event before they head to assigned military units for mandatory one-year military service, May 23, 2023. AP/Dmitri Lovetsky JAMES BROOKE
Western defense officials now estimate that over the last 16 months 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine. This is almost triple the casualties suffered by the Soviet Union during a decade in Afghanistan. Doubts are growing that Russia can sustain this cost. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union had twice the population of today’s Russia.
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This is the second of two parts. Please click here for the first.
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Beyond the elite, the morale of the Russian soldiers and civilians seems low. In interview after interview posted last week by Ukraine’s UA media consortium, Russian POWs say they do not understand why they are in Ukraine and complain of disorganization and poor leadership.
A 27-year-old draftee from the Pacific Coast city of Vladivostok, Dmitry Sologub, tells how his commander visited his unit and told them they were all “numbers” who would easily be replaced after dying in battle.
The saga of a 30-year-old draftee from Western Russia who surrendered last month, Ruslan Anitin, is told in a compelling Wall Street Journal video and written story with the headline: “The Russian Soldier Who Surrendered to a Drone.”
Ukraine’s military brass undoubtedly cherry-picks POWs who talk to the press. Perhaps more ominous for President Putin’s hold on Russia is the passivity of the Russian people.
Last month, two Russian exile groups armed by Ukraine, attacked villages in Russia’s Belgorod region. Although the Russian exiles retreated across the border, cross-border shelling and mortar fire continues.
With several Russian villages heavily damaged, thousands of refugees now clog Belgorod city, the regional capital. City dwellers snicker about “people with black bags,” referring to rural refugees carrying sacks of humanitarian aid.
In February 2022, Russia’s full-bore attack on Ukraine sparked a massive national reaction in Ukraine. Lines of men stretched around city blocks from military recruiting stations. With a spontaneous, all-shoulders-to-the-wheel approach, civil groups sprang up to provide medical care and military intelligence, and to adapt drone technology to military uses.
At Belgorod, no local people “rushed to defend the government” or displayed enthusiasm for the actions of the Russian troops, a Russian exile journalist, Vitaly Ginzburg, writes from Prague on Kasparov.ru. He says cross-border raids highlight how local populations were unprepared and unwilling to help Russian forces or defend their own country.
This passivity is due partly to the fact that Russia’s state-controlled press largely downplays the cross-border raids. TV announcers struggle to explain to viewers that Russian exiles are attacking Russian soldiers and policemen. While an occasional rant slips through on the talk shows, it fails to galvanize a population who increasingly see Ukraine as “Putin’s War.”
Take Crimea, Mr. Putin’s shining war trophy. Mr. Putin’s popularity peaked in the spring of 2014 when he “recovered” Crimea for Russia. Since then, he turned the peninsula into an armed camp, the equivalent of a vast aircraft carrier in the Black Sea. For the Kremlin, loss of Fortress Crimea is unthinkable. Russia’s middle class apparently thinks otherwise.
With Russia’s summer vacation season now underway, sunny Crimea’s beaches are largely empty. Last summer, hotels were booked solid, the head of a tour company, Boris Zelinsky, tells Rata News, a Russian travel business news agency. This season is “catastrophic,” he says.
Children’s summer camps are empty. Seasonal workers refuse to come to the peninsula. Delivery of cargo is difficult after a truck bomb last October blew up the bridge from Russia’s mainland. Preparing to ask the Kremlin for aid, Mr. Zelinsky cited the case of a popular tour taken last summer by as many as 400 tourists. Last month, only one tourist showed interest.
All these factors provoke Russians and Westerners to start thinking about a Russia breakup. Washington-based analyst Janusz Bugajski is touring Europe and America lecturing on his new book“Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture.” Western academics increasingly approach Russia as Eurasia’s last land empire.
A new non-government organization, the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum, advocates for a breakup of the Russian Federation. It calls for the “decolonization, de-occupation, decentralization, de-Putinization, denazification, and de-militarization of Russia.” Gathering in six forums over the last year, these Russian dissidents, separatist leaders, and foreign supporters draw new maps and brainstorm possible outcomes for Yugoslavia-style break up of post-Putin Russia.
“Russia hurtles toward collapse. The issue is not whether Russia will break up, but when and how,” a veteran Canadian journalist, Diane Francis, wrote Thursday. “But the West is not prepared for the possibility of Russia’s disintegration and it must be. This is not preposterous. It is inevitable.”
JAMES BROOKE Mr. Brooke has traveled to about 100 countries reporting for The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Voice of America. He reported from Russia for eight years and from Ukraine for six years, coming home one year ago.
SYRIAN KURDISTAN
Having been affected by ISIS crimes | Residents and activists support Autonomous Administration’s decision to try ISIS prisoners
On Jun 13, 2023
After defeating ISIS in its last stronghold in Al-Baghouz area in Deir Ezzor countryside and eliminating it as a controlling power in Syria, nearly 10,000 ISIS members were arrested, mostly handed themselves to Syrian Democratic Forces. Since then, the Autonomous Administration appealed to nearly 60 international and regional countries to take back their citizens, both persons of families of ISIS members and ISIS prisoners, and launched initiatives to relevant countries and human rights and United Nations-affiliated organisations in order to establish an international tribunal, so that ISIS prisoners would be tried according to unrefuted evidence provided by the Autonomous Administration proving their involvement in crimes against the region’s residents.
Following the failure of all initiatives which have been provided to the international community, the Autonomous Administration decided to refer foreign ISIS prisoners to courts in areas under its control to ensure fair trials in accordance with international and local laws regarding terrorist acts and preserve the rights of plaintiffs and the victims’ families.
The decision of trying ISIS members, who are held in prisons of the Autonomous Administration, was met by considerable reactions by the residents, especially those who have been affected by ISIS crimes, where they welcomed the decision and expressed their support to such steps.
Speaking to SOHR, a civilian known by his initials as S. S. from Al-Hasakah city said, “on March 20, 2015, ISIS detonated booby-trapped car and motorcycle in civilians on the eve of Nowruz in Al-Hasakah city. The two explosions left 52 fatalities, some of whom were my relatives and friends, and over 200 others injured. I was also injured with tens of metal fragments. I support the Autonomous Administration’s decision to try ISIS prisoners and ensure maximum penalties against everyone involved in crimes committed by ISIS which is the source of panic in the area until now. We appeal to the international community to repatriate ISIS prisoners from prisons located inside cities and the families of ISIS members, who are held in camps, such as Al-Hawl camp which is considered as a “ticking bomb.”
Another civilian known as A. S. from Qobour Qarajenah village in Tel Tamr countryside and now living in “Washo Kani” camp, which hosts displaced civilians who have been forced to displace during “Peace Spring” operation, told SOHR, “while I was going to school, as I was a high-school student then, a landmine exploded, and I was severely injured and lost my leg. That landmine had been planted by ISIS which left the village, but its dangerous remnants remain.” The man stressed that all ISIS criminals who killed and humiliated civilians and forced them to displace must be punished.
The journalist and terrorism affairs observer “Abd Al-Halim Suleiman” has told SOHR, “regarding the decision of trying ISIS members held in prisons of the Autonomous Administration was a public demand, and the Autonomous Administration brought the decision to the fore after the end of Al-Baghouz battle, especially since this cause posed a legal dilemma. Those ISIS prisoners hail from over 60 countries, and this affects the region of north and east Syria, since they are held in prisons of the Autonomous Administration. Unfortunately, the international community did not respond to the initiative which had been launched by the Autonomous Administration a few years ago, and it reached no solutions and abandoned the issue of ISIS prisoners. Accordingly, the Autonomous Administration found itself to turn to effective judiciary. Countries whose citizens belong to ISIS and imprisoned in Autonomous Administration’s prisons have to cooperate with the Autonomous Administration to try them and put an end to this dilemma.”
Although ISIS has been eliminated as a controlling power in Syria, its affiliated cells are active and numerous in areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration and carry out frequent attacks that target combatants and civilians, including armed attacks, assassinations, explosions and ambushes, as well as attacks on SDF military posts.
‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Nathan Chasing Horse hit with more sexual assault charges amid ‘cult’ allegations
2023/06/15
Nathan Chasing Horse at his arraignment at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on March 1, 2023, where he pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped two women.
- Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS
Authorities in Alberta, Canada, are pursuing Nathan Chasing Horse, a former actor known for his role in the movie “Dances With Wolves.”
Chasing Horse faces nine new charges, which include sexual exploitation, sexual assault and unlawfully removing a child from Canada who is under the age of 16, CBC reported.
An investigation into the crimes spanned several years, according to Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service, with one of the offenses dating to 2005.
According to court documents, Chasing Horse had been the leader of a cult-like group known as The Circle, and allegedly exploited his position to take underage wives and manipulate Indigenous families.
Lawyers representing the actor, who portrayed a young Sioux named Smiles a Lo, in Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning film from 1990, have argued that his accusers wanted to have sex with him.
The woman said she ultimately returned to Canada because she was being physically and emotionally abused, according to the documents.
Three arrested in Austria for potential attack on gay pride parade
2023/06/18
People take part in the opening of the 27th "Rainbow Parade" at City Hall Square.
Eva Manhart/APA/dpa
A potential plot to attack Vienna's annual gay pride parade on Saturday was foiled and three suspects were arrested, an Austrian security service said on Sunday.
Three young men - aged 14, 17 and 20 - were accused by the head of the Directorate General for Public Security of being Islamic State sympathizers.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner said the suspects had taken predatory steps to attack the "Rainbow Parade" in the Austrian capital but there was never any threat to the public because the trio had been under long-term and constant surveillance by law enforcement.
The arrests were made before the parade kicked off.
Extensive evidence was secured during house searches on Saturday. According to Haijawi-Pirchner, sabres, an axe, gas pistols, throwing stars and knives were found.
Saturday's parade was the culmination of a week of events to celebrate the LGBTQ community and demand equal rights. More than 300,000 people were in attendance.
People take part in the opening of the 27th "Rainbow Parade" at City Hall Square.
People celebrate LGBTQ rights at the annual pride parade in Vienna on Saturday.
| REUTERS
AFP-JIJI Jun 18, 2023
VIENNA – Austrian police have arrested three youngsters, including a 14-year-old, for allegedly planning an attack at Vienna’s pride parade, which drew hundreds of thousands of people, officials said Sunday.
The men BOYS aged 14, 17 and 20 and suspected of being Islamic State sympathizers were held ahead of the parade, according to domestic intelligence agency (DSN) chief Omar Haijawi-Pirchner.
He told reporters that there was “never any threat” to those who participated in the Pride Parade in central Vienna on Saturday.
“They sympathized with the Islamic State online and shared extremist content. In this context, the suspects focused on the Pride Parade as a potential target for an attack,” the interior ministry said in a press release.
During raids on two premises on Saturday, authorities discovered weapons and other evidence against the three Austrians with Bosnian and Chechen roots.
One of them was already previously known to police. They had planned to use “knives or vehicles” in the attack, police told reporters.
Some 300,000 took part in the parade for LGBTQ rights.
In November 2020, a convicted Islamic State group sympathizer went on a shooting rampage in downtown Vienna, killing four and wounding 23 others before police shot him dead.
It marked the Alpine nation’s first deadly jihadi attack.
Earlier this year, a Vienna court sentenced two alleged accomplices of the gunman to life in prison, while two others received prison terms of 19 and 20 years.
Swiss referendum set to back global minimum corporate tax, climate goals
Sunday, 18 Jun 2023
ZURICH, June 18 — Swiss voters looked set to approve proposals to introduce a global minimum tax on businesses and a climate law that aims to cut fossil fuel use and reach zero emissions by 2050, projections by public broadcaster SRF showed today.
The projections, based on counted votes, showed 88 per cent of those who voted in today’s national referendum backed raising the country’s business tax to the 15 per cent global minimum rate from current average minimum of 11 per cent, while 55 per cent supported the climate law.
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The results of the vote were expected later today.
In 2021, Switzerland joined almost 140 countries that signed up to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) deal to set a minimum tax rate for big companies, a move aimed at limiting the practice of shifting profits to low tax countries.
Even with the increase Switzerland will still have one of the lowest corporate tax levels in the world, and the proposal, estimated to bring 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($RM12.9 billion) per year in additional revenue, has been backed by business groups, most political parties, and the general public.
The climate law, brought back in a modified form after it was rejected in 2021 as too costly, has stirred up more debate with those campaigning against it gaining traction in recent weeks.
Proponents say the law is the minimum the wealthy country needs to do to prove its commitment to fighting climate change while opponents from the right wing People’s Party say it will jeopardise energy security.
The projections from today’s referendum also suggested voter approval for an extension of some provisions of the country’s emergency Covid-19 law, required under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, where legislation is put to the public vote.
Switzerland is home to the offices and headquarters of around 2,000 foreign companies, including Google as well as 200 Swiss multinationals, such as Nestle. While all would be affected, business groups have welcomed the greater degree of certainty that the new tax would bring, even if Switzerland lost some of its low-tax allure.
“No other country is going to have lower taxes either. We want the additional tax revenue to stay in the country, and be used to improve its attractiveness for businesses,” said Christian Frey, from Economiesuisse, a lobby group. — Reuters
Switzerland votes for new climate change law
Projections show 58.3% of voters in favour of legislation to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil and gas
Chunks of ice float in a lake in front of the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland. AP
Swiss voters have voted to pass a new climate change law on Sunday which, if passed, would see the country reduce its reliance on imported oil and gas.
Projections by the GFS Bern Institute and released by public broadcaster SRF showed that 58.3 per cent of voters approved the passing of the bill. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points, according to SRF.
“The supporters have reason to rejoice,” Urs Bieri of the GFS Bern Institute told SRF.
“But by no means everyone is in favour of the law. The argument with the costs has brought many ‘no’ votes.”
Recent opinion polls had shown widespread support for the “Federal Act on Climate Protection Targets, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security”, as the Swiss witness the impact of global warming on the country's rapidly melting glaciers.
In the run-up to Sunday's vote, a survey showed despite 63 per cent being prepared to vote in favour of the bill, there was nervousness over the ability of country to quickly replace imported energy with home-grown, green alternatives.
Switzerland imports 75 per cent of its energy. All of its oil and gas comes from abroad.
Climate activists had lobbied for a total block on oil and gas imports by 2050, but the government subsequently opted not to have an outright ban in the final bill.
Instead, the new law will pledge 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion) over a decade to kick-start the replacement of gas or oil heating systems with greener alternatives.
An electoral poster urging Swiss people to vote in favour of the bill in Lausanne. AFP
Opposition from the Right
The right-wing SVP party said the law would create supply problems and send household electricity bills soaring.
SVP leader Marco Chiesa said the bill would effectively be a “electricity-wasting law” driving up energy costs by 400 billion Swiss francs, and have “no impact” on the global climate
.
The Fiescher Glacier in Switzerland. AP Meanwhile, environmentalists welcomed the triumph of the “yes” vote.
“This victory means that at last the goal of achieving net-zero emissions will be anchored in law. That gives better security for planning ahead and allows our country to take the path towards an exit from fossil fuels,” said Georg Klingler, an expert on climate and energy at Greenpeace Switzerland.
“The result of the vote shows that the citizens of our country are committed to the aim of limiting global warming to 1.5°C in order to preserve as much as possible our glaciers, our water reserves, our agriculture and our prosperity.
“I am very relieved to see that the lies disseminated by the opposite camp during the campaign did not sow the seed of doubt in people,” he added.
Back in April, the World Meteorological Organisation said the economic impact of Switzerland's melting Alpine glaciers would have a serious impact on the country's economy – from loss of tourism and the potential for natural disasters such as landslides, to the possible lowering of river levels that supply hydroelectric power plants.
Swiss glaciers lost 6 per cent of their volume last year, a figure that rang alarm bells for scientists who said a 2 per cent loss due to melting would have been considered extreme.
Between 2001 and 2022, Switzerland's glaciers lost around a third of their volume.
Switzerland holds referendum on net-zero climate law
The government plans a 75% emission cut by 2050 but the right-wing Swiss People's Party warned the plan will cause energy prices to rise
Deutsche Welle Published 18.06.23
An ad for the climate protection law referendum calls on voters to "Upset Putin with your voice"
Deutsche Welle
Swiss voters took part in referenda Sunday on a new climate protection law and higher corporate taxes, with polls indicating that both measures will pass.
Parliament already passed the climate law, which aims to make Switzerland climate neutral by 2050 and reduce the impact on the country's iconic glaciers, which are melting away at an alarming rate.
But the right-wing conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) has refused to back it, arguing that cutting climate-damaging emissions by 75% by 2050, compared to 1990, would cause energy prices to explode.
SVP leader Marco Chiesa last month criticized the "utopian" vision behind the bill, maintaining it would drive up energy costs by 400 billion Swiss francs (€447 billion, €4.08 billion) while having basically "no impact" on the global climate.
The SVP collected sufficient signatures to force the referendum vote under Switzerland's system of direct democracy.
Alpine glaciers melting fast
Backers of the plan argue that Switzerland will be hard-hit by climate change and is already seeing the effects of rising temperatures in the Alps.
Swiss glaciers experienced record melting last year, losing more than 6% of their volume and alarming scientists who say a loss of 2% would once have been considered extreme.
Opinion polls indicate strong support for the proposed law, the most recent by pollster gfs.bern put public backing at 63%.
Subsidies for renewable heating systems
The Swiss government is keen to promote the departure from fossil fuel use in heating with financial incentives.
Companies will also be supported to help them convert to climate-friendly technologies.
Over a period of 10 years, 3.2 billion Swiss francs are available for this purpose.
Switzerland still imports about three quarters of its energy and the need to transition has been made more urgent by unstable supplies from Russia due to the Ukraine war.
In an attempt to bring down that share, the government is planning to allow companies to build large solar panel parks in the Alps, along with more wind turbines.
Climate activists had initially wanted to push for a total ban on all oil and gas consumption in Switzerland by 2050.
But the government balked at the so-called Glacier Initiative, drawing up a counter-proposal that scrapped the idea of a ban but included other elements.
Meteorologists have warned that climate change to exacerbate natural disasters in the Alps and hurt tourism revenues.
Corporate taxes to rise in line with rest of world
In the case of corporate taxes, the issue is the implementation of a decision by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to require international companies with sales of at least $750 million to be taxed at a rate of at least 15%.
Many of Switzerland's 26 cantons have imposed some of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world, in what they often said was needed to attract businesses in the face of high wages and location costs.
The government estimates that revenues from the supplementary tax would amount to between 1.0 and 2.5 billion Swiss francs in the first year alone.
Basel and Zug, where large pharmaceutical and trading groups are based, would benefit most from higher tax revenues. The latest opinion poll indicated that 73% of voters backed the plan.
Polling stations were due to remain open until 12 p.m. local time (1000 GMT), with most voters casting their ballot in advance.