European satellite plunges back to Earth in first-of-its-kind assisted re-entry

"This is quite unique, what we are doing here."

STEPHEN CLARK - 7/28/2023

Enlarge / Artist's illustration showing the orbital tracks of the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite.
ESA/ATG medialab30WITH

The European Space Agency deftly guided one of its satellites toward a fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere Friday, demonstrating a new method of post-mission disposal to ensure the spacecraft would not fall into any populated areas.

The Aeolus satellite was relatively modest in size and mass—about 1.1 metric tons with its fuel tank empty—but ESA hailed Friday's "assisted re-entry" as proof that the space agency takes the stewardship of space seriously.


When the Aeolus mission was conceived in the late 1990s, there were no guidelines for European satellites regarding space debris or the safety of their re-entry. Aeolus took nearly 20 years to get to the launch pad, operated in space for five years, and now regulations have changed. Future ESA satellites will need to be capable of a targeted re-entry, where rocket engines steer the spacecraft toward a specific patch of ocean or are designed to burn up from aerodynamic heating.

Because it was designed two decades ago, Aeolus did not have to meet these standards, and the satellite didn't have a propulsion system that could target a pinpoint re-entry. Engineers originally anticipated Aeolus would naturally re-enter the atmosphere after running of fuel. Because it was in a polar orbit, Aeolus could have fallen nearly anywhere. ESA expected about 20 percent of the spacecraft would survive the scorching temperatures of re-entry and make it to Earth's surface.

Officials decided to end Aeolus's science mission measuring winds from space in April when the satellite still had some gas in the tank—enough for a series of thruster firings to steer the satellite toward a re-entry corridor well away from any people.

“This is quite unique, what we are doing here," said Holger Krag, head of ESA's safety office, before Friday's final re-entry maneuvers. "You don’t find examples of this in the history of spaceflight. The re-entry of the Skylab space station in the late ‘70s—that was a bit of a similar type of assisted re-entry by changing the attitude and therefore changing the exposed area (to atmospheric drag)."Advertisement

NASA put Skylab into a tumble in an attempt to better control where the spacecraft fell to Earth, but debris from the 76-metric ton space station was scattered across Western Australia when it re-entered the atmosphere in 1979. NASA's efforts in 1979 had a "far lower level of control than we have here today," Krag said.

“We are doing this with the best standards that we have today," said Simonetta Cheli, ESA's director for Earth observation.

Krag said he hopes ESA becomes a "role model" for other space agencies and commercial companies to commit to tackling the problem of space debris and the dangers of uncontrolled re-entry. ESA is partnering with a Swiss company for a mission in 2026 to demonstrate the removal of a piece of space junk from orbit.
An 'impossible mission'

During its nearly five-year mission, Aeolus flew in a polar orbit at an altitude of about 200 miles (320 kilometers), already lower than the height of the International Space Station and most other satellites. Aeolus was a pioneering Earth science mission that measured wind speeds around the world using a sophisticated on-board laser, and it was so successful that ESA and the European weather satellite agency Eumetsat plan to launch a follow-on mission called Aeolus 2 planned for launch at the end of the decade.

Aeolus was originally designed as a science and technology demonstration mission, but its global wind measurements proved so valuable that the data were incorporated into operational numerical weather forecast models, an eventuality not foreseen before the satellite's launch. The mission was delayed for years until it finally launched on a European Vega rocket in 2018, and challenges with developing the satellite's space-based laser instrument earned it the nickname the "impossible mission."

ESA called it quits on the more than $500 million mission in April, then prepared to bring down the satellite. Aeolus first descended to an altitude of about 174 miles (280 kilometers) with nothing but the effect of aerodynamic drag. Then a sequence of thruster burns began lowering the orbit until a final maneuver Friday brought the altitude of the orbit's perigee, or lowest point, to just 75 miles (120 kilometers).

Nature took care of the rest. The gentle push of drag from the uppermost wisps of Earth's atmosphere would have pulled Aeolus closer to Earth until it broke apart around 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface. ESA's ground team in Germany put the satellite on a trajectory where it was expected to burn up over the Atlantic Ocean.

"Operations are over for Aeolus," tweeted Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director general. "Latest tracking data confirms our final maneuver was successful, and the hard work and dedication of the teams has given Aeolus a great chance for safe re-entry tonight."

STEPHEN CLARK is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the world’s space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet.

ESA’s Aeolus assisted reentry is ‘pushing the limits’ of space tech and safety

written by Bella Richards July 28, 2023

The only satellite to measure the globe’s wind profile from space, Aeolus, has concluded its mission and returned to Earth through a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry on Friday, July 28. The satellite exceeded its mission by two years since its launch in 2018, and with limited propellant left over, ground teams were able to lower the spacecraft to an altitude of 120 kilometers before reentering the Earth’s atmosphere on its own. The US Space Command confirmed the satellite’s reentry occurred around 9:00 PM CEST (19:00 UTC) above Antarctica, exactly where ESA hoped Aeolus would be.

Aeolus is the fifth in the family of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer missions, which focus on observing the interactions between Earth systems, and was built by Airbus Defence and Space. The Aeolus return is part of a broader effort of reducing the already low risk of spacecraft reentry, and to pioneer a safer way of de-orbiting satellites nearing the end of their life.

As the space agency commits to achieving an assisted reentry of a satellite for the first time, ESA’s Aeolus operations director Isabel Rojo sat down with NSF to discuss why this mission is significant, and how accomplishing it will be a difficult feat.

All about Aeolus

While the spacecraft launched in 2018, the overall program was in the works for almost 20 years before flying into space. Aeolus was approved in 1999 and was scheduled to lift off in 2007 but was delayed for over a decade due to continuous technological hurdles.  

However, on Aug. 22, 2018, the $560-million satellite finally launched into space atop a Vega rocket from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana. During its five-year mission, the satellite resided at an altitude of 320 kilometers above the Earth.

Aeolus lifts off from French Guiana atop a Vega rocket. (Credit: ESA)

The main objective of the mission was to “address the lack of global wind profiles in the Global Observing System,” according to ESA.

“Direct global profile measurements of wind fields are lacking, representing one of the largest deficiencies in the observing system and limiting improvements to numerical weather predictions and climate models,” the agency said.

Before Aeolus, the most direct observations of wind were from radiosondes that were launched from stations every day, mostly in the northern hemisphere. “Wind-field information in remote regions, over the oceans, in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere is largely indirect,” ESA continued.

But Aeolus was able to measure wind to an accuracy of just one meter per second in the planetary boundary layer, and two meters per second in the free troposphere. It was also able to determine the average wind velocity over 100-kilometer tracks and measure 100 wind profiles per hour.

The satellite masses 1,360 kilograms and carries one instrument, called the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN). According to ESA, “ALADIN fires short pulses of UV light towards the planet, which bounce off air molecules and other particles as they are blown through the atmosphere. By measuring the shift in frequency of the light that is scattered back to the satellite, Aeolus can determine the speed and direction of the wind in the lowermost 30 kilometers of the atmosphere”.

ALADIN is equipped with two lasers to help observe the Earth’s wind. (Credit: Airbus Defence and Space)

The satellite has been deemed more than a success, after not only exceeding its expected lifetime but providing information almost impossible to measure from Earth. Its data has been used by meteorological organizations across the world to inform enhanced weather predictions. In April 2022, the British Met Office claimed Aeolus’s data improved nearly all the organization’s weather observations.

Aeolus also became a prominent tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline in commercial flights led to fewer measurements of weather forecasts, and Aeolus was able to pick up the slack and provide accurate data on the weather in the weeks ahead.

First-of-its-kind assisted reentry

After completing scientific observations for five years, the teams involved in Aeolus decided to use the remaining propellant for an assisted reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Aeolus was built to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere naturally at the end of its life, but ESA found that it was possible to reduce the already minimal risk to life or infrastructure through assisted reentry.

The task was unique because missions designed years ago didn’t have to adhere to today’s casualty risk regulations, but the satellites that are designed now are required to either completely burn up or undergo a controlled reentry. A controlled reentry wasn’t possible for Aeolus by design, due to its lack of propellant and inadequate propulsion system among other reasons, as it would require ground teams to maneuver the satellite to an altitude of 50 kilometers.

“This first attempt at an assisted reentry sets a new precedent for missions that didn’t fall under such regulations when they were designed, but could be made to retroactively adhere to them,” ESA said.

But the mission would not go without its challenges.

ESA Main Control Room in Germany helping guide Aeolus. (Credit: ESA)

“We’re trying to push the limits of what the spacecraft can do and also what ground can do because the whole concept was built around assisted reentry, which for now was never proven that it can work,” Isabel Rojo told NSF. “So, the difficulties are implementing the maneuvers, and acquiring the spacecraft between such large maneuvers, because if they substantially misperform, it could lead to needing to search for the spacecraft. So, there’s a lot of technical difficulties inherent to the maneuvers themselves because they are quite large”.

To aid the spacecraft in its return, ESA’s Main Control Room in Darmstadt, Germany, was tasked in completing several difficult maneuvers to lower its orbit, and ensuring that they found the way to configure the satellite such that it withstands the difficult conditions of flying at lower altitudes. The first was achieved on Monday, July 24, when Aeolus completed the largest firing of its thrusters, lowering it to an altitude of 250 kilometers. The burn lasted for 37 minutes and 24 seconds – more than three times the size of Aeolus’ routine burns. According to ESA, the burn consumed six kilograms of propellant.

“It was the first time we performed such a large maneuver in this direction,” said Rojo. “It’s pretty much the same kind of maneuver that we’re going to be performing from now on in order to lower the perigee of the satellite. We needed that confidence to make sure that all the systems on board are responding properly to this sort of maneuver.

“That’s why this was a big first, and it’s in such a way that the attitude of the spacecraft is in retrograde… due to the position of the thrusters on the spacecraft body, we need to turn the satellite around to be able to thrust it against the flight direction, which then reduces the speed and gets it lower,” continued Rojo.

The days following were spent preparing for the next maneuver on Thursday, July 27. This one lowered its altitude from 250 kilometers to 230 kilometers. Aeolus completed several more burns throughout the night, and lowered even further to about 160 kilometers in altitude. “Orbiting at 150 [kilometers] is very low indeed. Aeolus was not made for this. The spirit at Mission Control is determined, excited, and a little tired. This week has been a long time coming,” ESA said in an updated blog post.

According to ESA, for a moment it seemed like there was an anomaly with the thrusters, but minutes later the team was able to resume the mission. The agency has not provided further details on the anomaly.

The low altitude of the satellite presented several complexities, such as the tug of the Earth’s atmosphere, and the dynamics of solar weather that could speed things up, or potentially slow them down.

Once Aeolus reached 150 kilometers, a final maneuver guided the satellite towards the “optimal position” for reentry, ESA said. Just after 2:00 PM CEST (12:00 UTC), ground teams sent the final commands to the satellite, before it returned in a matter of hours, seeing 80% of it burn up in reentry. The rest of the satellite fell harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean.

If any issues were to arise, ground teams would have aborted the mission and let Aeolus reenter the Earth’s atmosphere naturally.

Paving a safer future

The ongoing call for a safer space environment sparked ESA’s interest in achieving an assisted satellite reentry. The ability to guide a spacecraft out of orbit reduces the possibility of it becoming space debris and posing a risk to other infrastructure in orbit or on Earth.

“If it works, I think we’d be demonstrating that with a satellite intended for flight at a certain altitude, something can be done if sufficient efforts are in place from the ground to be able to guide it in a more improved track,” Rojo said. “Then, we would be acquiring an awful lot of knowledge on the ground side, and how to best ensure we can compute its orbit and how best to configure and operate the satellite under these difficult conditions”.

Uncontrolled reentries of satellites occur frequently, and even some of the biggest spacecraft – like the 74-tonne Skylab which returned to the Earth’s atmosphere in 1979 – have posed very little threat to populations.

However, the growing number of satellites in orbit has called for greater attention on how spacecraft can continue to safely return to Earth.

An assisted reentry solution would join the many other de-orbiting plans already in motion across the globe. Several companies, such as US-based Momentus, Japan-based Astroscale, and others are developing orbital transfer vehicles (OTV) – or space tugs – that would be able to relocate defunct satellites to custom orbits, or even de-orbit them.

(ESA’s Aeolus spacecraft shooting lasers to observe the Earth’s winds. Credit: ESA)

U.S. Congressman Slams Alito’s “Wrong, Arrogant” Claims, Gives Evidence

by Claude Wooten in Daily Edition | July 29, 2023

Samuel Alito, photo: JoshEllie1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal for the second time in recent months, this time not to defend his own ethics but to argue that Congress has little jurisdiction over the Supreme Court and therefore no business trying to impose ethical standards on its Justices.

[NOTE: Alito is responding to the uproar over the Justice Clarence Thomas revelations and subsequent legislation that advanced in the Senate to impose on the Supreme Court similar ethical standards that all lower courts must already adhere to by law.]

Alito, famously a constitutional originalist, claims that the SCOTUS was not created by Congress but by the Constitution, in which he finds no provision allowing for the imposition of ethics on the Court by Congress.

But if Congress can’t mandate the compliance of Supreme Court Justices, U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) asks, then why do all the SCOTUS Justices already file “congressionally mandated reports” — even if, in the case of Justice Thomas, the accuracy of those reports has been questioned?

Rep. Lieu, who is a lawyer, says it’s simply because Alito’s “extreme and arrogant” argument is “so very wrong.”

For evidence, Lieu points to the congressional mandate specifying the contents of those reports.

Lieu also writes directly to Alito, albeit in the public forum, with another claim about congressional oversight of the Supreme Court, offering evidence proving such oversight is already manifest.

“Dear Justice Alito.” Lieu writes. “You’re on the Supreme Court in part because Congress expanded the Court to 9 Justices. Congress can impeach Justices and can in many cases strip the Court of jurisdiction. Congress has always regulated you and will continue to do so. You are not above the law.”

Longtime Democratic Rep. John Dingell, who helped make the NRA's lobbying arm into a political force, privately sought to repeal the 1994 assault weapons ban that he voted for: report

John L. Dorman
Jul 30, 2023,

John Dingell. AP Photo/Paul Sancya

The late Rep. John Dingell played a major role in the rise of the NRA's lobbying operation in DC.

In the 1970s, Dingell advocated for the NRA, in an era where many Democrats backed the group.

The New York Times examined a trove of documents which outlined Dingell's relationship with the NRA.

The late Democrat Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, an institution in US politics who served in Congress from 1955 to 2015, played a significant role in enacting countless pieces of legislation over the course of generations, with his eye always on the constituents that he represented in his Detroit-area district.

But a trove of documents recently examined by The New York Times also reveals the role that Dingell played in the rise of the National Rife Association's political influence beginning in the 1970s, with the congressman's efforts playing a major role in the development of the organization's lobbying outfit.

"An organization with as many members, and as many potential resources, both financial and influential within its ranks, should not have to go 2d or 3d Class in a fight for survival," Dingell wrote in a 1975 memo obtained by The Times, where he outlined how the NRA could become a force on Capitol Hill. "It should go First Class."

In addition to his congressional work, Dingell for years also served on the board of the NRA, stepping down in 1994 after supporting that year's highly consequential crime bill — which included the landmark assault weapons ban that was overwhelmingly supported by most Democrats and vehemently opposed by Republicans.


Although Dingell voted for the crime bill after intense lobbying from then-President Bill Clinton, the congressman almost immediately sought out ways to repeal the assault weapons provision after the larger bill was signed into law, according to The Times.

In that year's midterm elections, Republicans flipped both houses of Congress fueled in part by intense opposition to gun control in a slew of rural districts anchored in the Midwest and South.

As Dingell's staff pondered a potential repeal push in a 1995 memo, they also realized that "a solid explanation will have to be made to the majority of our voters who favor gun control."

Rep. Debbie Dingell, who succeeded her husband in Congress in 2015, told The Times that the congressman needed police protection for several months after the assault weapons ban went on the books. (The ban expired in September 2004 and has yet to be renewed.)

"We had people scream and yell at us. It was the first time I had seen that real hate," she told the newspaper.

John Dingell continued to have talks with the NRA over gun policy throughout the rest of the career — notably after the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

But according to Debbie Dingell, her late husband's views on the NRA and guns had shifted during his nearly 60-year political career.

"I can't tell you how many nights I heard him talking to people about how the NRA was going too far, how they didn't understand the times," the congresswoman told The Times. "He was a deep believer in the Second Amendment, and at the end he still deeply believed, but he also saw the world was changing."

John Dingell died in February 2019. He was 92 years old.

UNPACKED

Nigel Farage, the ‘disingenuous grifter’

The former politician has conflated two different issues: British banks’ overzealous interpretation of anti-money laundering regulations and Coutts simply not wanting him as a customer.

Nigel Farage is riding the popularity wave that followed his de-banking

 | Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

BY JAMIE DETTMER
JULY 31, 2023 4:00 AM CET
Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe.

Britain’s elite Coutts Bank pinned several labels on Nigel Farage when deciding to drop him as a customer earlier this month — including those of “racist” and “xenophobe.” But it’s really the characterization of him as a “disingenuous grifter” that the former politician has done everything to prove since being de-banked.

After all, a grifter isn’t only a swindler and a con artist but also the operator of a circus sideshow, and since Brexit — when he was front and center — the populist provocateur has struggled to attract a crowd and move his act back to the main stage.

Farage has cast around for a compelling soapbox issue since Britain left the European Union, failing to gain much traction with his various campaigns, including, for a time, migrants crossing the English Channel and his opposition to lockdowns during the pandemic. But nothing took flame. The pandemic came and went, and Britain has somewhat moved on from worrying about immigration — the problem now is that the country doesn’t have enough foreign workers.

Thus, Farage has seemed more and more like a political curiosity; that is, until Coutts — the bank of toffs and kings — handed him an opening by de-banking him, apparently on the grounds that his political values weren’t aligned with theirs. Part of the NatWest Group, which has been marketing itself as a champion of what critics dub “woke capitalism,” the bank is now all about inclusion and climate action — all very un-Farage.

And the nativist political rabble-rouser has been having a field day ever since.

Even for Farage critics, the idea that a bank should dump a customer because of their political views is offensive and chilling. Surely, banks should be blind to such matters when taking on a customer or deciding to end their relationship with one. No one today can much participate in society without a bank account — try living without one. De-banking can essentially mean canceling.

On top of that, banks have a public role and public duties. They may be be privately owned but, nowadays, they’re underpinned by an implicit public underwriting of their business — one that became explicit when they were bailed out during the financial crash. So, from one perspective, banks have become a cross between commercial enterprise and public utility, playing a key role in keeping capitalist economies functioning while retaining a public bailout promise.

And NatWest must be considered a semi-public utility even more than its competitors — the British government is its largest shareholder, owning nearly 40 percent of the banking group. And should public utilities — say an energy company — be allowed to ostracize customers because of their politics? Clearly not.

Understandably, the reputational damage to NatWest and Coutts from this has been huge.

Farage has already secured the scalps of NatWest CEO Alison Rose and Coutts’ CEO Peter Flavel — both forced to quit for mishandling the former Brexit party leader’s ejection. And in Rose’s case, it was even more so for sharing information about Farage’s banking details with the BBC — an egregious breach of client confidentiality.

City turmoil has also followed. NatWest saw a billion-euro share wipeout one day last week, and the government is huffing and puffing, banking watchdogs are — as belatedly as ever — investigating, and the political furor is mounting. The drama isn’t over yet either, as it seems likely that NatWest Chairman Howard Davies will be defenestrated too, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak noticeably failed to offer his support when asked if the chairmen should also quit

.

NatWest CEO Alison Rose was forced to resign for mishandling Farage’s ejection

 | Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images

Farage is, of course, stoking this political uproar with gusto, using his nightly TV show on GB News, ably supported by his fellow star anchors on the populist-oriented channel. And it is here, on screen, that Farage has been utilizing his skills as an expert grifter, driving the narrative that banks are purposely setting out to silence those they disagree with politically en masse, and curtailing free speech by cutting off customers.

Smart political operator that he is, Farage has deftly conflated two very different issues here to boost his sideshow: Coutts simply not wanting him as a customer because of his political toxicity, and British banks’ overzealous interpretation of anti-money laundering and sanctions regulations requiring added scrutiny of politically exposed persons (PEPs) — that is, anyone entrusted with prominent public functions.

The banks in Britain have gone overboard in their handling of PEPs, closing and denying accounts, prying intrusively into personal matters and demanding ever more onerous documentation. Some PEPs fail to supply all the information demanded, balking at the meddlesome and burdensome nature of the inquiries. MPs, their family members and relatives have been ensnared in this, with Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt revealing he was denied an account at the digital bank Monzo last year because, he believes, he’s a PEP.

Thousands of people are believed to have been impacted.

Riding this wave, Farage featured Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle as a guest on his show last week. The MP explained the difficulties he’s faced with banks, and how a charity he joined as a board member found him to be a liability rather than a benefit because of the banking due diligence requirements the organization faced due to its ties with him as a PEP.

Farage also featured high society figure Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, an equine adventurer, broadcaster and businesswoman. Two months ago, NatWest terminated her accounts without warning, upending her life, as Tolstoy is apparently listed as a PEP because of a previous relationship with billionaire Sergei Pugachev — a Russian oligarch nicknamed “Vladimir Putin’s banker,” who broke with the Russian leader around 2010. Tolstoy has challenged her classification as a PEP but has got short shrift from NatWest.

Crucially, however, these cases, and others like them, are utterly different from Farage’s — despite the former politician giving the impression that they’re somehow linked. The banks can cancel anyone — he’s repeatedly said so himself on TV, warning, “You could be next.”

But aside from a handful of individuals who are allegedly seeing their accounts closed, or possibly being denied one on the grounds of their politics, there just hasn’t been any evidence of mass de-banking due to banks’ disapproval of customers’ political views.

And it’s even less likely now, after all the brouhaha over Coutts’ decision to dump Farage just because they didn’t like him.

SPACE JUNK

Mysterious item washed up on Australian beach identified

Allanah Sciberras

 Jul 31 2023

A mysterious item found washed up on a beach near Jurien Bay in Western Australia earlier this month is likely space junk from an Indian rocket.

The acorn-shaped object stunned authorities when it washed ashore at Green Head, about 220 kilometres north of Perth on June 16.

The Australian Space Agency believes the object was most likely debris from an "expended third-stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle".

In a statement, the agency said medium-lift launch vehicle was operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

"The debris remains in storage and the Australian Space Agency is working with ISRO, who will provide further confirmation to determine next steps, including considering obligations under the United Nations space treaties," the agency said.

9NEWS
The object washed up on beach near Green Head, WA earlier this month.

Space lawyer and professor Melissa de Zwart told 9news.com.au last week that the object was a unique discovery.

"It is quite amazing that something this large has washed up," she said.

"It's quite interesting that this has happened."

Although it's pretty rare, space junk has been found scattered across Australia over the past years.

In October last year, rocket fragments linked to SpaceX were discovered in the NSW Snowy Mountains.

Nasa believes there are about 100 million pieces of debris orbiting the earth that are smaller than a millimetre and about 23,000 pieces larger than a softball.

This story was originally published on 9news and is republished with permission.

EU, Philippines agree to resume free trade negotiations

Online News EditorJuly 31, 2023

 

Update 1: Changes headline, updates throughout with trade talks, quotes

Manila, Jul 31 (EFE).- Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday in Manila they’d resume negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two parties after eight years without progress.

“Philippine government experts will work with the European Commission to achieve a bilateral free trade agreement,” Marcos said in a statement at the Malacanang presidential palace with Von der Leyen, after their Monday meeting.

Von der Leyen, the first commission president to visit the Philippines, added that the EU is the Philippines’ fourth largest trading partner and its first foreign investor, for which she expressed the need to take trade relations “to the next level,” since “much more” can be done.

“The teams will work now to create the right conditions to resume negotiations. (A free trade agreement) has enormous potential for both, both in terms of growth and jobs,” the European leader said.

He said “the cost of economic dependence,” indirect reference to China, for which he indicated that an agreement can help “diversify supply chains” and can also contribute to modernize both economies thanks to technological cooperation.

Von Der Leyen met Marcos to begin her two-day official visit to the Philippines. The two entities last held negotiations for a trade agreement in 2015, a year before the presidential term of Rodrigo Duterte, who prioritized economic relations with China.

Bilateral trade between the Philippines and the EU reached EUR 18.4 billion in 2022. EFE

fil-esj/lds

E.U. leader pays rare visit to Philippines after stormy ties with past president

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 31, 2023 

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., center right, walks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center left, during the arrive honors at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines, July 31, 2023.(Pool Photo via AP)

MANILA--European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was holding talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Monday in a sign of improving ties after a stormy period between the EU and his predecessor over human rights.

Von der Leyen arrived in Manila Sunday night for the first such top-level visit in nearly six decades of relations with the Philippines. Her visit is aimed at strengthening diplomatic, trade, security and overall relations, European and Philippine officials said, adding that she came at Marcos’s invitation.

The talks between von der Leyen and her delegation with Filipino officials were also expected to cover the Philippines’ chances of retaining special trade incentives depending on its adherence to international conventions on human and labor rights and good governance.

In February, a group of European parliamentarians said Manila’s chances of retaining those incentives, including slashed tariffs for a wide array of products, would increase if a long-detained opposition leader is freed and the Philippines rejoins the International Criminal Court.

The European Union trade incentives under the so-called Generalized Scheme of Preferences, or GSP Plus, for the Philippines and seven other developing countries are anchored on their adherence to more than two dozen international conventions on human and labor rights, environmental protection and good governance.

The trading incentives, which the Philippines started to enjoy in 2014, would end in December and the government could reapply within a two-year period to retain them, the European lawmakers said then.

But the Philippines came under intense EU criticism during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s six-year term, mainly because of the bloody anti-drugs crackdown he oversaw that left more than 6,000 mostly petty suspects dead. Marcos succeeded Duterte in June last year.

The killings sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2018, but its prosecutor has proceeded to investigate the widespread deaths that occurred in the years when the country was still part of the court based in The Hague.

Duterte then often lashed at the EU’s criticisms of his brutal anti-drugs crackdown with profanity-laced outbursts.

European parliamentarians have also repeatedly demanded the release of opposition leader and former senator Leila de Lima, Duterte’s most vocal critic who was arrested and detained in 2017 on drug charges she said were fabricated by Duterte and his officials to stop her from investigating the killings.

Hannah Neumann, who led the European delegation in a visit to the Philippines in February, told a news conference then that rights conditions under the Marcos administration were “better than it was under Pres. Duterte” in reply to a question. “There are a lot of announcements that could indeed improve things if they’re implemented.”

The delegates then welcomed Marcos’ “commitment to change the focus of the ‘war on drugs’ away from a punitive approach towards prevention and rehabilitation.”

But they said extrajudicial killings have reportedly persisted and underscored the need for all the killings to be investigated and the perpetrators held to account to fight impunity.

Asked if a decision to release de Lima and rejoin the ICC would boost the Philippines’ chances of continuing to enjoy the EU trading incentives, Neumann said that would be “a strong sign in which direction the country wants to move.”

“The European Parliament has been quite clear that whoever wants to have preferential access to the European market needs to uphold social standards, human rights standards, environmental standards,” she said. “This is not going to go away.”

 

South Korean dog meat farmers push back against growing moves to outlaw their industry

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

July 31, 2023 at 14:10 JST

Kim Jong-kil speaks at his dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday June 27, 2023. (AP Photo)

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea--The dogs bark and stare as Kim Jong-kil approaches the rusty cages housing the large, short-haired animals he sells for their meat. Kim opens a door and pets one dog’s neck and chest.

Kim says he’s proud of the dog meat farm that has supported his family for 27 years but is upset over growing attempts by politicians and activists to outlaw the business, which he is turning over to his children.

“It’s more than just feeling bad. I absolutely oppose these moves, and we’ll mobilize all our means to resist it,” Kim, 57, said in an interview at his farm in Pyeongtaek city, just south of Seoul.

Dog meat consumption is a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula and has long been viewed as a source of stamina on hot summer days. It’s neither explicitly banned nor legalized in South Korea, but more and more people want it prohibited. There’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image.

The anti-dog meat campaign recently received a big boost when the country’s first lady expressed her support for a ban and two lawmakers submitted bills to eliminate the dog meat trade.

“Foreigners think South Korea is a cultural powerhouse. But the more K-culture increases its international standing, the bigger shock foreigners experience over our dog meat consumption,” said Han Jeoungae, an opposition lawmaker who submitted legislation to outlaw the dog meat industry last month.

Prospects for passage of an anti-dog meat law are unclear because of protests by farmers, restaurant owners and others involved in the dog meat industry. Surveys suggest that one in three South Koreans opposes such a ban, though most people don’t eat dog meat anymore.

Dogs are also eaten in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, North Korea and some African countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, Congo and Nigeria.

Earlier this month, Indonesian authorities announced the end of dog and cat slaughter at an animal market on the island of Sulawesi following a yearslong campaign by local activists and world celebrities. The Tomohon Extreme Market will become the first such market in Indonesia to go dog and cat meat-free, according to the anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International.

South Korea’s dog meat industry receives more international attention because of its reputation as a wealthy, ultra-modern democracy. It is also the only nation with industrial-scale farms. Most farms in South Korea have more than 500 dogs, according to a dog farmers’ association.

During a recent visit, Kim’s farm, one of the country’s largest with 7,000 dogs, appeared relatively clean but there was a strong stench in some areas. All dogs are kept in elevated cages and are fed with food waste and ground chicken. They are rarely released for exercise and typically are sold for meat one year after they are born.

Kim said two of his children, age 29 and 31, are running the farm with him, and that business has been going pretty well. He said the dogs bred for their meat are different from pets, an idea opposed by activists.

It’s difficult now to find dog meat restaurants in Seoul’s bustling downtown, though many still exit in the countryside.

“I only earn one-third of the money I used to make. Young people don’t come here. Only ailing old people come for lunch,” said Yoon Chu-wol, 77, the owner of a dog meat restaurant in Seoul’s Kyungdong traditional market. “I tell my elderly customers to come and eat my food more frequently before it’s banned.”

Farmers also face growing scrutiny from officials and increasingly negative public opinion. They complain that officials visit them repeatedly in response to complaints filed by activists and citizens over alleged animal abuse and other wrongdoing. Kim said more than 90 such petitions were filed against his farm during a recent four-month span.

Son Won Hak, general secretary of the dog farmers’ association, said many farms have collapsed in recent years because of falling dog meat prices and weaker demand. He thinks that’s a result of activist campaigns and unfair media reports focusing on farms with inferior conditions. Some observers, however, say consumption of dog meat was already declining, with younger people staying away from it.

“Quite honestly, I’d like to quit my job tomorrow. We can’t confidently tell our children that we’re raising dogs,” Son said. “When my friends called me, they said ‘Hey, are you still running a dog meat farm? Isn’t it illegal?’”

The number of farms across South Korea has dropped by half from a few years ago to about 3,000 to 4,000, and about 700,000 to 1 million dogs are slaughtered each year, a decline from several million 10 to 20 years ago, according to the dog farmers’ association. Some activists argue that the farmers’ estimates are an exaggeration meant to show their industry is too big to destroy.

In late 2021, South Korea launched a government-civilian task force to consider outlawing dog meat at the suggestion of then-President Moon Jae-in, a pet lover. The committee, whose members include farmers and animal rights activists, has met more than 20 times but hasn’t reached any agreement, apparently because of disputes over compensation issues.

Agriculture officials refused to disclose the discussions in the closed-door meetings. They said the government wants to end dog meat consumption based on a public consensus.

In April, first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of current President Yoon Suk Yeol, said in a meeting with activists that she hopes for an end to dog meat consumption. Famers responded with rallies and formal complaints against Kim for allegedly hurting their livelihoods.

Han, the lawmaker, said she “highly positively appraises” influential figures speaking out against dog meat consumption.

Han said her bill offers support programs for farmers who agree to close their farms. They would be entitled to money to dismantle their facilities, vocational training, employment assistance and other benefits, she said.

Ju Yeongbong, an official of the farmers’ association, said farmers want to continue for about 20 more years until older people, their main customers, die, allowing the industry to naturally disappear. Observers say most farmers are also in their 60s to 70s.

Borami Seo, a director of the South Korea office of the Humane Society International, said she opposes the continued killing of millions of dogs for such a prolonged period. “Letting this silent cruelty to (dogs) be committed in South Korea doesn’t make sense,” Seo said.

“(Dog meat consumption) is too anachronistic, has elements of cruelty to animals and hinders our national growth,” said Cheon JinKyung, head of Korea Animal Rights Advocates in Seoul.

How Tunisia Became the EU’s Border Guard


Last year, Tunisia overtook Libya as the primary point of departure for refugees seeking entry into Europe. The EU has responded to this by paying the North African nation billions to violently police migrants.

A boat carrying migrants in the Mediterranean Sea after being intercepted by the Tunisian Maritime National Guard and brought back to the shore of the Tunisian city of Sfax, June 23, 2023. (Khaled Nasraoui / picture alliance via Getty Images)


BY JODY RAY
07.29.2023
Jacobin

The European Union has struck a deal with the Tunisian government to quell migration coming to European shores. What has been termed a “strategic partnership” after weeks of talks between the two governments has resulted in $1.12 billion to Tunisia to rescue its fledgling economy and bail out debts to directly deal with a growing migrant crisis.

While the funds are contingent on specific economic reforms, human rights groups have sounded the alarm that the European taxpayer money is funding the collective expulsions of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), most of the migrants are Ivorian, Cameroonian, Malian, Guinean, Chadian, Sudanese, and Senegalese. Between July 2 and 6, HRW estimate that Tunisian security forces expelled between five hundred and seven hundred people, including children and pregnant women.

Tunisia’s geography, situated at the northernmost point of Africa, makes it a prime point of departure for migrants willing to risk the dangerous oversea journey to nearby Sicily. Migrants from neighboring African nations often hand out their entire life savings to people smugglers or human traffickers.

Their numbers are increasing. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, the Tunisian government stopped seventeen thousand migrants from departing in boats, as floating bodies — which increased by more than three thousand from the previous year — continued to wash ashore daily in the port city of Sfax. So far this year, over seventy-five thousand migrants have reached Italy, more than double the numbers from 2022. Tunisia has overtaken Libya as the primary hub for departure.

This development has direct political consequences. Throughout Europe, single-issue parties around immigration reduction are on the rise, and other nationalist movements are using the crisis to make the case for closed borders. While immigration as a concern has always fueled fringe-right elements in European politics, this particular crisis alone has led to the collapse of the Dutch government and the rise of the Alternative for Germany.

And while international headlines concentrate on the European political fallout or the structure of the $1.12 billion heading to Tunis, fewer provide context on how the government in Tunisia has managed the crisis so far. The developments provide a stark reminder that politicians continue to see the plight of migrants from Africa to Europe as a primarily domestic problem, not an issue stemming from global inequality and war.

The EU has long pressured Tunisia to do something about the migrant issue. During a public meeting in Tunis with German interior minister Nancy Faeser and her French counterpart Gérald Darmanin, Tunisian president Kais Saied said, “Tunisia will never accept to be the guardian of any other country’s borders and will not accept the settlement of migrants on its soil.”

This stated policy has seen Tunisian authorities remove hundreds of migrants to a desolate area along the border with Libya, following a wave of xenophobia and violent attacks against foreigners, some not even migrants, following the president’s statement.

Even the establishment press has admitted that Saied is using this migration issue as “a scapegoat to distract attention from his creeping authoritarianism and the country’s economic problems.”

“Not only is it unconscionable to abuse people and abandon them in the desert, but collective expulsions violate international law,” said Lauren Seibert, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at HRW. Since de facto policies around forced expulsion have been underway, the International Organization for Migration in Libya said that it has been able to provide some emergency medical assistance to people.

The Red Crescent has since rescued hundreds of migrants from the desert, two hundred of whom reported wanting to return to their origin countries. The rest have asked to be taken to Europe.

Interviews conducted by HRW found that migrants had been forcibly arrested “by police, national guard, or military in and near Sfax, a port city southeast of the capital, Tunis.” They were then transported “300 kilometers to Ben Guerdane, then to the Libya border, where they were effectively trapped in what they described as a buffer zone from which they could neither enter Libya nor return to Tunisia.”

Amnesty International has also come out against the billion-dollar payoff from the EU to Tunisia, stating that the EU is now “complicit” in abuses against asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. As noted in a statement from Eve Geddie, advocacy director at Amnesty’s European Institutions Office:

This ill-judged agreement, signed despite mounting evidence of serious human rights abuses by [Tunisian] authorities, will result in a dangerous expansion of already failed migration policies and signals EU acceptance of increasingly repressive behaviour by Tunisia’s president and government.

Coming against a backdrop of escalating violence and abuses against sub-Saharan African migrants by Tunisian authorities, the decision shows no lessons have been learned from previous similar agreements. This makes the European Union complicit in the suffering that will inevitably result.

Camille Le Coz, associate director of the Brussels-based Migration Policy Institute, told the New York Times, “The deal shows that once again, Europe is ready to turn a blind eye to its values to provide a short-term fix to a migration problem.”

“What’s missing is a reference to protection concerns and the human rights abuses against migrants.”



CONTRIBUTORS

Jody Ray is a writer and journalist based in New Orleans. He is the creator of Exit Strategy, a project that seeks to discover the world through political conflict, culture, and cuisine.




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How Deportation Became the Core of Europe’s Migration PolicyDAIVA REPEČKAIT

SRI LANKAN REFUGEES

Refugee To Illegal Migrant: The Journey Of Sri Lankan Tamils To India

Unlike other refugee communities in India, Sri Lankan Tamils have a unique claim that they are not technically refugees, but they have to be considered as repatriates.

Road to Nowhere: The Minnur refugee camp in Ambur district, Tamil Nadu Photo: Shahina K K

Latest Issue

The pungent odour of a burning tire, the jarring echoes of gun shots and the grim sight of a partially-charred corpse lying in the middle of an empty street—70-year-old Theresa, exiled from Sri Lanka, is engulfed by a vivid array of emotions while recollecting memories of her homeland. Theresa, who fled to India in 1990 along with her family and now living in a rehabilitation camp in Minnur, Tamil Nadu, talks about her life—from the blissfully ignorant childhood to the disquieted adolescence and unsettled youth eclipsed by ethnic conflicts and civil war in Sri Lanka.

Theresa and her husband Samuel belong to Vavuniya district located in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. They joined hundreds of Sri Lankan Tamils who fled the country following the civil war (1983 to 2009). Theresa, her husband and her two sons were accommodated in a refugee camp—which was later rephrased as a rehabilitation camp—in Minnur village in Ambur, the district bordering Karnataka. But the couple did not bring their only daughter, the youngest of all, who was left with other family members who remained in Sri Lanka. The trauma of war and the hardships of life in exile had taken a heavy toll on Samuel’s health; he passed away eight months after their arrival in India. Theresa’s sons, Jebaneson and Antony Raja, fled to Australia in 2013—illegal migration was the only way as both did not have citizenship of any country. That was the last time Theresa could see her children.

According to the Chennai-based Rehabilitation Commissionerate, the department responsible for the wellbeing of the Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu, there are 58,357 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in 106 camps in 29 districts across Tamil Nadu as of May 1, 2023; 10,269 are children below the age of 11. According to human rights activists working for the refugees, there are an equal number of people living outside the camps. They estimate that Tamil Nadu is home to more than one lakh Sri Lankan refugees living across the state—registered and unregistered.

‘Repatriates, Not Refugees’

Unlike other refugee communities in India, Sri Lankan Tamils have a unique claim that they are not technically refugees, but they have to be considered as repatriates. In the early 19th century, the forefathers of the present generation of Sri Lankan Tamils were moved to the island nation by the British to work in the tea estates. According to V Support, an organisation working for the rights of Sri Lankan repatriates, the Tamil people in Sri Lanka suffered racial discrimination and were denied citizenship when Sri Lanka got independence in 1948. The two pacts signed between India and Sri Lanka in 1964 and 1974 gave them the assurance that the Indian-origin Tamils would be given citizenship in both the countries—around 50 per cent of them in India and the rest in Sri Lanka. However, this promise was never fulfilled as the civil war broke out in 1983. All the piecemeal activities came to a halt and there was a huge influx of Sri Lankan Tamils to India since then.

“We believed we were refugees, but since the BJP came into power, we came to know that we are illegal migrants,” says Saravanan Nataraja, a refugee in Minnur camp. According to an affidavit submitted by the Central Government in the Supreme Court in 2019 (Ulaganathan vs Govt of India), Sri Lankan Tamils living in India are illegal migrants. Though the Tamil Nadu state government maintains the stand that they are not against the idea of granting citizenship, this decision rests with the Union government. “The status of a refugee would at least bring you some love and empathy, but being identified as an illegal migrant would always portray you as a potential offender,” says Saravanan.

Tamil Nadu Is Home To More Than One Lakh Sri Lankan Refugees Living Across The State—Registered And Unregistered.

What makes these people deprived of even the status of a refugee? India is not a signatory to international protocols regarding the welfare of refugees. India has chosen not to sign either the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, both of which have garnered an extensive number of signatories, totalling 140 countries, constituting an overwhelming majority. “Technically speaking, anyone living in India with no valid documents is an illegal migrant, not a refugee, because India has not recognised the refugee status,” says Kulaintha Swamy, an activist working for the rights of the Sri Lankan Tamils in India. Ironically, Sri Lankan Tamils living in various camps in India are eligible for documents such as Aadhaar card and driving licence. They are granted ration cards too. “Still they call us illegal migrants,” says Saravanan.

When it comes to Sri Lankan Tamils, even the celebrated Citizenship Amendment Act did not come to their rescue. “Why Sri Lanka was excluded from the purview of this Act?” asks Antony Arul Raj, another activist in Tamil Nadu. “If the Act was brought to provide asylum for people who are persecuted in neighbouring countries, there is no reason to eschew the Sri Lankan Tamils,” he says.

Repatriation is Impractical

A majority of Sri Lankan Tamils that Outlook spoke to expressed a strong reluctance to return to Sri Lanka. Given the option, they would prefer to remain in India and obtain Indian citizenship. Udayakumar, a resident of Minnur camp, explains, “Sri Lanka is a completely unfamiliar world to our children. The younger generation hasn’t even set foot in Sri Lanka and lacks any understanding of what it’s like there.”

“Over the past 40 years, more than 50,000 children have been born in India,” says Romeo Roy Alfred, a lawyer. “For them, Sri Lanka is simply a foreign country. Even for the older generation, who migrated to India, their roots are firmly planted here, as they are descendants of those who moved to Sri Lanka to work in the tea estates. They consider themselves as people of Indian origin.”
The Current Financial Crisis In Sri Lanka Has Only Worsened The Situation As Even Those Who Wanted To Go Back Are Having Second Thoughts.

Romeo reveals that those who have been repatriated to Sri Lanka advice people not to make the same “mistake”. Granting citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka has become entangled in legal complications and bureaucratic red tape. Moreover, racial discrimination persists even though the civil war has ended. The current financial crisis in Sri Lanka has only worsened the situation as even those who wanted to go back are having second thoughts.

Bleak Future

“A person with no citizenship is not eligible to apply for a government job; our children cannot appear for the common entrance examinations like NEET. The young generation disillusioned and they easily fall into the hands of drug peddlers,” says Saravanan.

Most Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu have been historically sympathetic towards the Sri Lankan Tamils. There are initiatives to offer housing and financial assistance to registered Sri Lankan refugees who reside in camps. Under these initiatives, the head of the family receives Rs 1,000, the wife receives Rs 750, and each additional family member receives Rs 500 per month. This provides significant relief for the Sri Lankan Tamils who are living in dire conditions in the camps. However, there are no specific programmes targeting the education of children, apart from the general initiatives available to all residents of Tamil Nadu. The government is yet to address the pressing issues of rampant unemployment, alarmingly high suicide rates, and the prevalence of drug abuse.

Difficult Lives: (Clockwise from top) Saravanan, who is an inmate of Minnur camp, lives with his family in a rented house; an informal school at the camp; Theresa, a Sri Lankan Tamil, now stays in the camp

Photo: Shahina K K

What’s worse, the inmates of the camps must inform revenue officials if they plan to be away for more than 24 hours. Saravanan explains, “In the past, the conditions were stricter. We had to sign in the morning and evening every day in front of the village officer. Now, this rule has been relaxed.” Anyone visiting the camp, including journalists, is closely monitored by the Q Branch of the police in Tamil Nadu. In essence, the Sri Lankan Tamils, many of whom have Indian origins, live at the mercy of the State. They reside in a partially closed, partially open prison, lacking the same dignity as fellow human beings who were born and raised in India.

“We don’t belong here,” says Saravanan. “At the back of our minds, we always carry the burden of this thought. Therefore, we live like cowards. Even if I witness an accident, someone being lynched, or a clash between groups, I restrain myself and keep my distance, which goes against my conscience. But if I intervene and something goes wrong, I would be the easiest target because I belong to no country.”

(Edited by S S Jeevan)

(This appeared in the print as 'We Belong To No Country')

Shahina K K in Ambur, Tamil Nadu