Scotland’s forests dominated by estates, investors and absentee owners, says report

Jamie Mann

THE FERRET
November 19, 2023

Ownership of Scotland’s forests is becoming increasingly dominated by wealthy estates, investors and absentee owners who live outside Scotland, according to a new study.

The report – shared exclusively with The Ferret ahead of publication next week – says the Scottish Government’s current land reform initiatives have failed to tip the balance of forest ownership away from wealthy individuals and organisations, leaving local residents and organisations unable to compete when land comes on the market.

Inequality of land ownership has increased a decade on from the last study, despite the government’s land reform push. Just 164 people or companies own 75 per cent of Scotland’s forests, analysis of four sample areas across the country suggests, compared to 199 owners in 2012

By far the largest owner in these areas is Gresham House, which the Scottish National Investment Bank pledged to give £50m for new woodland creation and forestry management.

Guernsey-based private investor Julia Hands – who reportedly spent £67m buying nearly 120,000 hectares in Scotland – Austrian wood panel manufacturer Kronospan, Seafield Estate in Moray, and Cawdor Estate near Nairn were also major owners.

The picture is in stark contrast with other European countries, where forests are mostly owned by individual residents, farmers, co-operatives, and municipalities.

Reacting to the report, the Community Woodlands Association and an MSP who campaigns on land issues urged the government to address the imbalance in its upcoming land reform bill, which is due to be introduced before the end of the year,

The Scottish Government said it remained committed to land reform, including improving ownership transparency via its new land register. Communities “have more options than ever before” to own land, including access to government funding and support, and options to take over public forests, it added.

An organisation which represents landowners argued there was already diverse ownership in the “highly regulated” forestry sector, with opportunities for communities to acquire land. The government, which owns around a third of Scotland’s forests, is by far the largest owner, it highlighted.
Forestry ownership concentration ‘remarkable’

The study, Forest Ownership in Scotland 2022 – due to be released on 20 November – was written by the former MSP, land reform campaigner and forester, Andy Wightman, and Jon Hollingdale, former head of the CWA.

The report urges ministers to gather more information about forests via a regular ownership census and use it to inform their policies. The government aims to increase forest cover from around 19 per cent now to 21 per cent by 2032, and reform Scotland’s concentrated land ownership more generally.

The report argues it is “remarkable” that forest ownership has become more concentrated despite the government’s emphasis on land reform.

It highlights problems with the current ownership model, arguing that forests owned by those who do not have a stake in the local area may not consult residents on decisions which affect them, and as a result, fail to deliver on potential.

Due to a lack of ownership transparency, it may also be difficult to track owners down, report authors point out. More diverse ownership could lead to “greater innovation, investment and commitment to local economies” they claim.

Who owns Scotland’s forests?

Show 102550100 entries

Search:

Non-public ownership type of forest (where ownership was identified)
	Extent (ha)	% of ha 2012	% of ha 2022
Investment owners	62,004	42%	44%
Estates	60,123	46%	43%
Forest Industry	7,708	5%	6%
Farms	4,988	4%	4%
Forest Holdings	1,866	1%	1%
Charity	2,828	1%	2%
Community	903	1%	1%
Total	140,420

Showing 1 to 10 of 45 entries

PreviousNext

The average size of land held by forest owners also grew by more than a third. Of the area where ownership was identified, 56 per cent was held by absentee owners – 90 per cent of whom lived outwith Scotland.

There was a small increase in investment owners, and a decrease in estate owners, with the likes of Buccleuch – which owns swathes of southern Scotland – and Rothiemurchus, near Aviemore, having sold off forested land.

Show 102550100 entries

Search:

Top 20 owners in sample area
Owner	Number of ha 2022 (cf 2012)	Number of ha 2012
Gresham House Funds	15,478	0
Kronospan Forestry Ltd.	7,532	5,987
Seafield Estate	6,662	6,793
Julia Caroline Hands	5,401	1,800
Cawdor Estate	5,148	4,454
Vecata A/S	3,086	785
Philip Fleming	2,839	2,622
Buccleuch Estates Ltd.	2,584	1,877
Total:	71,246	51,540

Showing 1 to 10 of 23 entries

PreviousNext

Calls for policy change

The report claimed there was “no regulation or oversight” of the private market at a time when investors are buying up land to plant trees with the aim of generating carbon credits to theoretically offset carbon emissions.

In 2022, The Ferret revealed that Scotland’s richest man, Anders Povlsen, fossil fuel giants, private equity firms and weapons manufacturers were buying carbon credits or developing carbon capture projects that critics say are pushing up land prices and allowing companies to “greenwash” their image.

Earlier this month, we reported that due to its shares in oil giants, Swiss bank, Lombard Odier, will profit from the government’s own tree planting scheme, which critics claim “privatises Scotland’s trees”.

Around a third of Scotland’s forests are owned by Scottish ministers on behalf of the public and managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). But the report argues there has never been a “serious discussion” about public or private forest ownership.

Measures to help democratise forestry ownership could include limiting the size of landholdings, requiring owners to be resident in Scotland, making forested land subject to business rates and giving new tax powers to local councils.

Helping locals and community businesses and organisations to own and manage forests by delegating public forestry land to organisations other than FLS, and turning some public land into small holdings and woodland crofts would also help to reform forestry ownership, the report says.

The average tree cover in European Union countries was around 39 per cent in 2020, and the report claims the rest of Europe’s forestry tends to be better integrated with rural communities.

The contrast between the forestry ownership pattern in Scotland and the rest of the continent is owed to factors such as land reforms across Europe which, for example, gave tenants ownership of land, and abolished both feudal tenure – in which a privileged few had control over land use – and children inheriting land.

The report accused the government of leaving its ambitions to grow Scotland’s forests to the private sector. This has left smaller, would-be forest owners frozen out, with smaller plots sold at far higher prices per hectare than is the case with larger plots, and only big players able to access tax incentives.

Private sector dominance has also led to tensions with, for example, farmers, who have spoken out against major forestry expansion on productive agricultural land.

Wightman told The Ferret: “For decades, forest policy has been subordinate to the interests of financial capital and large landowners. As a land use it provides an ideal opportunity for land reform since afforestation is often accompanied by a change of land ownership. It is regrettable that forestry policy has never been aligned with land reform policy.

“To do this we need open and transparent information on forest ownership, reform of the taxation arrangements, a presumption in favour of local businesses and communities when it comes to financial support, alignment of forestry expansion with local authority forestry strategies, and a far greater role for local communities in the planning and governance of new forests.”
Calls for ‘drastic action’ on land reform

The report was commissioned by the Forest Policy Group (FPG) think tank – to compensate for the lack of government forestry research – and part-funded by the non-profit Caledonia Centre for Social Development.

Willie McGhee, an FPG member and chair of the Community Woodland Association, said the report “highlights the abysmal balance of forest ownership in Scotland, which is unequal, loaded against communities and is not changing through the government’s land reform policy.”

“Communities are unable to compete against investment houses, industrial forestry and the uber wealthy to buy forest in Scotland,” he added. “The Scottish Government are exacerbating this situation by asking communities to match the currently inflated market prices for state forest land.”

McGhee gave the example of the Carsphairn community on the edge of Galloway Forest Park, which he claimed has a good track record of managing ex-public forest, yet “are being thwarted in gaining access to more state forest land because of unfair land pricing.”

Galloway Forest Park. Photo © Jim Barton (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba MSP accused the government of “overseeing the privatisation of our forests.”

Ministers “must take drastic action, including a much stronger approach to land reform, to prevent the mass privatisation of Scotland’s natural environment if they have any intention of addressing the nature emergency,” she argued.

Villalba launched a bill in June which proposes that a ‘public interest test’ be introduced for landholdings above 500ha to “introduce scrutiny to an otherwise secretive market”. The government wants to apply the rule to landholdings above 3,000ha.

A public interest test is currently loosely defined, but would require would-be owners of large landholdings to demonstrate that their acquisition would have public benefit.

The report says there is limited government legislation and policy designed to diversify forest ownership, and that it is unclear whether the upcoming land reform bill will have any impact.


A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We remain committed to tackling the adverse effects of scale and concentration of land ownership, by continuing to improve transparency of ownership and control of land, and empowering communities in the process.

“Our work to improve transparency of ownership continues at pace through both our Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land as well as our forthcoming Land Reform Bill.

“Communities in Scotland now have more options than ever before to take ownership of land and assets. Support is available from a variety of sources including the Scottish Land Fund and Forestry and Land Scotland’s community asset transfer scheme.”

Scottish Land and Estates, which represents landowners, including forestry and woodland owners and managers, rejected concerns laid out by the report.

“There is a clear diversity of ownership from community bodies to estates to farmers but the Scottish Government remains by far the largest forestry owner with more than 400,000 hectares,” said Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive.

“Forestry plays a key role in the range of activities that are undertaken by estate businesses and for the government to reach its ambitious planting targets, it requires private investment from businesses such as estates.

“The forestry sector is already highly regulated and, as is the case with any landholding, there is ample legislation enabling communities to acquire land that becomes available to purchase.”

Header image © Andrew Tryon (cc-by-sa/2.0)

More like thisRevealed: ‘radical’ vision for Scotland as ‘woodland nation’
New woodland creation falls to lowest level in five years
Scotland’s public forests ‘at risk’ from management shake-up
Forestry and Land Scotland criticised for allowing fox hunts into public forests
Forestry agency delays beaver plan opposed by landowners

Archaeologists unearth ‘missing’ monastery linked to first written Gaelic

The monastery in Aberdeenshire is thought to be where the ancient Book of Deer was first scribed.

STV News  Discovered: The Book of Deer contains the earliest record of Gaelic writing.
PA Media

Archaeologists have discovered the site of a 10th-century monastery linked to the first written record of the Scottish Gaelic language.

The monastery in Aberdeenshire is thought to be where the ancient Book of Deer was first scribed.

A number of monks in Aberdeenshire added Gaelic notes to the manuscript as late as the 12th century, which became the earliest surviving written record of the language.

The site of the “missing” monastery was found under a field next to Deer Abbey in Buchan, which dates to the 13th century.

A new BBC Alba documentary called The Missing Monastery, due to be broadcast on Monday, details how a team of archaeologists found artefacts which pre-dated the abbey and they eventually uncovered rubble thought to be from the monastery.

Gaelic-speaking archaeology graduate Mairead Morgan said: “At the beginning of the 12th century, the earliest evidence of Scottish Gaelic was written in the margins of this Latin gospel book by the monks in a monastery in Aberdeenshire, a region which is not widely regarded as a Gaelic-speaking region today.

“However, not only does this show that Gaelic was spoken in the region, but it is also the earliest evidence that exists of written Scottish Gaelic by a good 200 to 300 years, which easily makes the Book of Deer one of the most important manuscripts in Scotland.”

Lead archaeologist Ali Cameron said: “A lot of the rest of the field had been disturbed but we opened such large trenches in 2022 so that we had the best chance of finding early medieval features.

“We spent weeks excavating later material including stone and other demolition material until we got down to the earliest layers and features two weeks before the end of the dig.

“I then led a team of students and volunteers and we systematically cut sections though all the features, collected finds and samples which are important as they are where the charcoal for dating will be.

“We then waited a few months for the samples to be carefully processed in the University of Aberdeen under the supervision of Dr Gordon Noble and then we had our charcoal.”

She said it took three months to get the results from the laboratory, adding: “When I opened the email I was stunned and had to re-read them several times before I realised what they were telling me”.

Medieval monk's 'unique' seal matrix found near Norwich

18th November 2023

By Katy Prickett

BBC News, Norfolk

Andrew Williams/Norfolk County Council

The 24.6mm (0.9in) gilded silver object was designed to for a detachable handle

A medieval seal matrix discovered by a metal detectorist is "a window into someone's spiritual world just before the Black Death", an expert has said.

The "completely unique" gilded silver object, found in a field north of Norwich, probably belonged to a monk.

Its inscription "I beseech thee, holy sun of righteousness, be the way" has not been found on any other object, according to historian Helen Geake.

"It's a really sophisticated object with a really good design," she said.

Andrew Williams/Norfolk County Council

In a wax impression, the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child can be seen on the left, while on the right a tonsured monk kneels before her


Dr Geake, Norfolk's find liaison officer, said: "It's completely unique, we don't have anything to compare with this inscription.

"The 'sun of righteousness', appears in the Old Testament, towards the end of a set of prophecies, and became a relatively common way of referring to Jesus Christ in the Middle Ages."

The medieval Latin inscription reads TE: ROGO: IVSTICIE: SOL: PIVS: ESTO: VIE / AVE MA

The 24.6mm (0.9in) seal, which dates to the late 13th or early 14th Century, covering the reigns of Edward I to Edward III, was found in April in a field near Horsham St Faith.

Its detailed design includes a crowned Virgin Mary holding the Christ child and kneeling to her right is a monk looking up at her, identified by his tonsure.

He would have attached the matrix to a handle and used it to stamp an impression on wax to authenticate documents.

Mike Liggins/BBC

Dr Helen Geake believes the seal matrix was owned by a monk as it depicts a "private, little prayer"

Dr Geake said another "unusual" aspect of the find is that it appears to be designed for "a detachable handle, with the matrix rotating either to lock it in position, or to remove it, as if interchangeable die could be used with the same handle".

The die is the part of the matrix which stamps wax.

She believes it must have been owned by a monk and he would have exchanged the die with others, one of which was personal and another to reflect his official role in the monastery.

"It's unique in two different ways - it's interchangeable and it has this little, private prayer," Dr Geake said.

"It's a window into someone's personal, emotional or spiritual world in the years before the Black Death."

The pandemic swept through Europe between 1347 and 1351, with a huge loss of life.

The find is the subject of a coroner's inquest.

Rare Bronze Age find to go on show in Cumberland museum

14 November 2023

A Bronze Age gold arm ring of regional significance and national interest will soon go on show at The Beacon Museum in Whitehaven.

The artefact was discovered in 2019 in West Cumbria by a local detectorist and has been jointly acquired by The Beacon Museum and Tullie and purchased with support from Art Fund, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Cumberland Council and the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.

Although similar items have been found in other parts of the UK, this object is a first for West Cumbria and is thought to originate from 900 - 700 BC.

The acquisition of this stunning artefact is testament to the success of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Treasure process which has allowed this rare object the opportunity to be acquired by our local museums for public benefit.

Between Saturday 18 November and June 2024, the item will take centre place within The Beacon Museum’s Prehistoric and Bronze Age section located at the entrance to the museum’s third floor gallery ‘History of Copeland’.

Councillor Anne Quilter, Cumberland Council’s Executive Member for Vibrant and Healthy Places, said:

“As a new council, we are already seeing the advantages of working together to support culture in Cumberland. The Beacon Museum and Tullie have worked in partnership to ensure this significant find, found in our area, stays here, and will go on show, on a rotational basis, in two of our museums.

“The Cumberland area is lucky to have a wide range of arts and cultural attractions.

“This joint acquisition provides more opportunities for our communities to see this amazing find and discover more about their local heritage.”

The Beacon Museum’s Customer and Visitor Experience Manager, Heather Holmes added:

“The find will significantly enhance The Beacon Museum’s prehistoric and Bronze Age story of our area. The nature of the item, and its role as a showpiece object, will highlight the importance of the museum as a venue for sharing heritage with both the local community and wider tourist market.

“It will support the museum’s existing prehistoric and bronze age collections as it will be the first item made of metal from the period to enter the collection. It’s a must-see exhibit.”

The exhibit will also be showcased at Tullie, Carlisle from July 2024.The item will then be on show on a rotational basis between the two museums.

Tulle’s Head of Collections and Engagement, Anna Smalley said:

“Since the Portable Antiquities Scheme began recording archaeological finds in 1997, only eight other gold objects from the Bronze Age have been recorded in Cumbria. The majority of Bronze Age material recorded originates in the south of Cumbria, making this Northern example really exciting for the local region.”

Tullie holds a number of objects linked to this theme, from Bronze Age gold to rock art and Neolithic tridents which all hint towards a strong trading and migration network between England and Ireland through Cumbria across the Stone Ages and Bronze Age.

The acquisition of this stunning artefact was made possible thanks to support from Art Fund, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Cumberland Council and the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.

Prof Michael Lewis, Head of Portable Antiquities & Treasure, British Museum, said:

“It is wonderful news that The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven, has been able to acquire this important Late Bronze Age gold arm ring for local people to see and enjoy. The British Museum is proud of its role in managing the Portable Antiquities Scheme in England, through which this object was reported Treasure via the local Finds Liaison Officer.”

Leanne Manfredi, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund said:

“The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund supports the purchase of a wide range of material for the permanent collections of non-nationally funded organisations in England and Wales. We are delighted that this Bronze Age gold arm ring of ‘regional significance and of national interest’ has been jointly acquired by The Beacon Museum and Tullie via the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme. It will benefit audiences for years to come.”

Can We Mine Asteroids? Experts Explain Why It’ll Happen Sooner Than You Think

Asteroid mining, once thought to be centuries away, could become a major industry within the decade

Published 11/19/23

Companies like Trans Astra are figuring out how to mine asteroids for precious metals that are becoming increasingly scarce on Earth. Trans Astra

For Joe Sercel, the future of mining isn’t on Earth; it’s in space.

Specifically, it is on the many bits of rock, ice and dust that litter the solar system and which scientists collectively call asteroids. These often fragile rocks can look very different to one another — some are more than the size of a skyscraper while others are as small as a car — but many of them have something tantalizing in common: They often contain precious metals, water and other materials that are vital to life as we know it on Earth.

Sercel is the CEO of TransAstra, a company that is actively planning to mine asteroids for their treasures and bring them back to Earth.

In his version of the future, spacecraft not unlike the recent NASA mission to study an asteroid, OSIRIS-REx, will travel to mid-size and small asteroids in the solar system and scoop them up like giant butterflies in nets to bring back to Earth for processing. The resulting trove could contain gold and platinum, iron and palladium, and more. Some have even been estimated to be worth several quintillion dollars. No miners necessary.

“I like to say that the only entity that can land on an asteroid and walk around an asteroid is Bruce Willis,” Sercel told The Messenger in an interview, referencing the 1998 movie Armageddon

And while Armageddon is fiction, mining in space is much closer to reality. In fact, according to many scientists, it is practically an inevitability.

Years, Not Decades

Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer and astrophysicist who has published several papers on the possibilities of mining space, told The Messenger that by some definitions, humanity has already started to mine asteroids.

In late September, the NASA mission OSIRIS-REx dropped off a container of rock it collected from the asteroid Bennu, which was 50 million miles away from Earth. It wasn’t the first mission of its kind: A similar probe, called Hayabusa 2, safely deposited its own asteroid samples on Earth in 2020. Both of these missions are — more or less — a mining expedition.

But in both instances, the several ounces of rock they returned is a tiny fraction of what an active mine on Earth generates in an hour.

That’s a far cry from what an asteroid mining mission would need to collect to be profitable. But McDowell believes that more large-scale operations are likely to take place “within the next couple of decades.”

That kind of prediction is music to Matt Gialich’s ears. Like Sercel, he runs an asteroid mining company called AstroForge. Gialiche said when the company started two years ago, the dominant belief was that space mining was “a century away. Now, we’re less than a decade away.”

In fact, AstroForge was supposed to launch the first private mission to an asteroid this month, but encountered delays with its SpaceX rocket. Still, Gialich is optimistic that his company will begin mining platinum in space sooner rather than later, as well as refining it in space, by the end of the decade.

TransAstra and AstroForge are just two of the private companies that are looking to deep space for their fortunes. In fact, the notion that asteroids will inevitably supply Earth with raw materials has become accepted to the point that researchers have started to work on the legal and tax implications, never mind the rocketry to get there and back.

Will Asteroid Mining Make Money?

Economics are a major hurdle, however. In a recent paper, Ian Lange, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines, examined the startup costs of space mining. Lange and his colleagues were interested in the question after they noticed that because ore on Earth is so degraded at this point, the need to find a new source of metals to feed the demand in technology that depends on these materials is reaching desperation. They envisage a future where humanity will struggle to have enough of the necessary resources to keep up, particularly due to the environmental costs of terrestrial mining.

“The story we're trying to tell a little more is that if you talk to folks (at) any of these mining investment firms, it's really more social, and environmental reasons why we can't mine,” said Lange.

“We're tying our hands behind our back terrestrially because there are some still relatively good deposits, but basically, you know, permitting or [environmental, social and governmental] concerns or biodiversity loss, water quality concerns,” prevent mining.

Meanwhile, going to space has never been more affordable. After decades of government monopoly over space flight, the rise of companies like SpaceX has made the cost of launches drop.

For their paper, Lange and his colleagues tried to work out when space mining might make sense from a monetary and environmental standpoint. While they couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment in time, they still conclude that asteroid mining is an inevitability and that most, if not all, of the metal humanity needs for any reason will both be cheaper to get from space, more profitable and more eco-friendly.

“The general idea is that you will be having, on Earth, resources getting more expensive and outer space getting cheaper,” said Lange. “And you can speed up the path at which outer space gets cheaper through some investment.”

Looking Up

Asteroids near Earth could be just the start. Astronomer McDowell has written a paper in which he argued that Mars’ moon Phobos would make a suitable base for mining missions to the asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter..

Earlier this month, NASA launched a probe destined for the belt, and specifically to Psyche, an object estimated to be made of metal worth a ludicrous $10 quintillion (the GDP of the entire planet, by comparison, is a mere $88 trillion).

While NASA will not bring any pieces of Psyche back to Earth, (as one NASA scientist put it during a recent press conference “We are not going there to mine an asteroid, NASA does not mine asteroids”) AstroForge's Gialich said there are some key differences between what his company aims to accomplish and what research probes set out to do.

“OSIRIS REx was an experiment. We're not a science experiment, to be very clear, we're not doing this for scientific reasons. There's no experimentation here, right? We're bringing this back as a raw resource.”

If this all seems like (very, very rich) pie in the sky, Gialich does note that his mission — and that of his competitors — is still very much rooted in the facts of life here on Earth.

“What matters is that we can do this for a profit. We are a business, and we need to make money and this is a very lucrative endeavor that we're taking on and, if we can pull it off, we're going to be a massive industry.”

Could Musk’s Mars colony be a base for asteroid miners?

BY MARK R. WHITTINGTON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 11/19/23


SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. In a receptive audience full of space buffs, Musk said he envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to Mars, “Battlestar Galactica” style. He calls it the Mars Colonial fleet, and he says it could become reality within a century. Musk’s goal is to establish a full-fledged city on Mars and thereby make humans a multi-planetary species.

 (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz, File)

One of the plotlines for season 4 of the hit TV series “For All Mankind” is an attempt to use a Mars colony as a base to mine the asteroids of the main belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It turns out, that at least one study suggests that Mars would be the perfect jumping-off point for an asteroid mining operation.

The Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics asserts that instead of staging from Earth or Earth orbit, staging from Mars orbit to access the main belt makes a lot more sense because it involves less delta-V. Delta-V is defined as the amount of impulse a rocket must produce to launch from a planet, land on a planet or change direction in space.

In layperson’s terms, it is easier and cheaper to travel to a main belt asteroid and back staging from Mars orbit than it is to go to one from Earth and back again.

The study states that a base or a settlement on Mars, including a station in orbit, would make an asteroid mining operation much easier. Many other questions will have to be answered before a Mars-based asteroid mining operation can be developed so that it makes economic sense. For example, having mined resources from an asteroid and brought them back to Mars orbit, how does one ship them to Earth, where they can be of use? How much would a Mars base or settlement aimed at asteroid mining cost to set up?

Those questions could be settled by SpaceX’s Elon Musk. For a long time, Musk has dreamed of setting up a Mars settlement, even going so far as to wish that he might die on the Red Planet “just not on impact.” His reasons tend toward the mystical, about “expanding consciousness” beyond Earth.

Musk is currently engaged in the first practical task needed before humans settle on Mars: developing the most powerful rocket ship ever built, the Starship, at SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The Starship will have other applications, from taking astronauts back to the lunar surface to launching huge payloads into low Earth orbit and elsewhere. But Mars is the ultimate destination in Musk’s mind.

Musk has been quite ingenious in finding ways to monetarize his space dreams. His Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket ships have reduced the cost of space launches by orders of magnitude, attracting numerous customers from the public and private sectors. Musk’s space communications system, Starlink, recently hit break-even cash flow, according to Forbes, well on its way to profitability.

As a bonus, the Starship that Musk is developing to take settlers and the material they need to survive to Mars can also serve as the basis of an asteroid mining transportation infrastructure. Thus, the Mars settlement that Musk wants to build can have a practical, profit-making basis.

Imagine, perhaps as soon as two or so decades hence, a Starship rocket takes off from Mars orbit and brings a cargo of mining robots to a likely asteroid. Psyche, the so-called “golden asteroid,” worth by some estimates in the quintillions, would be a prime target. The robots would mine minerals and store them in the Starship’s hold. The rocket would return to Mars orbit with its rich cargo. The Mars settlement would use some of the minerals. Most would be sent to Earth on board a Starship for export. The first interplanetary trade route will have been established.

As technological civilization grows in size and complexity, the need for raw materials will only increase. The amount of such resources is limited on Earth and extracting them has an environmental cost. The resources available in the asteroid belt are abundant and mining them does not affect the Earth’s environment.

In times past, space exploration has been regarded as either a nice-to-have but not essential program or a needless diversion of resources from earthly needs. Elon Musk has been criticized by politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his dreams of developing Mars, demanding that the SpaceX CEO and other billionaires pay their fair share of taxes.

However, if there is one thing that the new age of commercial space has taught us, it is that there is money to be made beyond the Earth. A Mars settlement as a base for asteroid miners would be the ultimate example of that truth.

Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled “Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?“ as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond,” and, most recently, “Why is America Going Back to the Moon?“ He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, among other venues.

Opinion
A new nuclear arms race is here. How to slow it down.


By the Editorial Board|
November 19, 2023

Visitors look at a scale model of the casing of the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever tested, at the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow last month. (Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)


The world is entering a dangerous nuclear arms race unlike anything since the first atomic bomb, but it does not have to end in catastrophe. Treaties controlling nuclear arms — verifiable and binding, to limit or reduce stockpiles and prevent miscalculation or error — can lead to more stability. They will require a political willpower from leaders of the United States, Russia and China that does not exist today.

The new factor is China, which aspires to roughly match the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia over the next decade or so. If the first arms race led to two-way bargaining — often with the strategic maneuvering of chess — the new one will be three-way and excruciatingly difficult. The concept of cocked-pistols deterrence — maintaining a credible nuclear threat to keep others from attacking — will be even more unpredictable and scary than during the Cold War.

Why does it matter? Nuclear weapons can destroy societies; as we’ve noted before, nuclear fire is more powerful by a factor of 10 million to 100 million than chemical fire in conventional explosives. While a nuclear weapon has not been used in combat since World War II, there have been significant risks: At least Eight nuclear-armed nations have carried out 2,056 nuclear weapons tests underground and in the air, as well as dozens of false alarms and close calls. The danger of misunderstanding or miscalculation grows when nuclear weapons are kept on launch-ready alert, as they are by the United States and Russia today. Moreover, Russia has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons during its war against Ukraine, showing how, even when nuclear weapons are not used, they can play an outsize role in coercion and conflict.

Guest opinion: How Oppenheimer and other 1945 leaders saw the future — and what really happened

The new arms race is already underway. The congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States recently concluded, “China is pursuing a nuclear force build-up on a scale and pace unseen since the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race that ended in the late 1980s.” China, which a few years ago had about 200 nuclear warheads, now is believed to have more than 500 and to be aiming for more than 1,000 by 2030, compared to the 1,550 deployed warheads of the United States and Russia.

China has also created a nascent land-sea-air triad of strategic weapons-delivery vehicles, like the United States and Russia have done; is expected to keep land-based missiles on a higher state of readiness; and is investing in antisatellite weapons, hypersonic glide vehicles and orbital bombing. China’s efforts “dwarf previous attempts in both scale and complexity,” the Pentagon said in its latest annual survey of China’s military power.

Russia, while straining under the weight of its war in Ukraine, is experimenting with a nuclear-powered cruise missile that could fly thousands of miles. The United States, too, is now well into a strategic-weapons modernization cycle, with new bombers, missiles and submarines on the horizon. The posture commission noted that the United States now extends its nuclear deterrence umbrella over more than 30 formal allies, which represent one-third of the world’s economy — and maintaining these alliances, and credible deterrence, will be key in an era of confrontation with authoritarian Russia and China.

There’s not much to slow down a new arms race. Previous arms control treaties have lapsed or been weakened, except for New START, and it is questionable whether a successor can be negotiated when it expires in 2026. As the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board recently pointed out, the deep uncertainty about China’s intentions and timeline scrambles any attempt to reach numerical agreement with Russia. This is just a glimpse of the three-way headaches.

After long refusing to even discuss nuclear arms limits, China sent an arms control official to Washington for talks on Nov. 6. This is a crack in the door, and the United States ought to make a concerted effort to enlarge it. The path to progress may be baby steps, at first, emphasizing risk reduction and transparency. Rose Gottemoeller, who was chief U.S. negotiator with Russia for New START, has suggested the United States could begin by seeking talks with both China and Russia on limiting intermediate-range missiles, since the Chinese have equality of capability with both the United States and Russia and thus might be interested in mutual restraint.

Diplomacy halted a nuclear arms race in the 1980s, largely because two political leaders, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, had the vision to do so. Right now, such will power is in short supply. But it would be wise to look for modest opportunities to prepare for treaties later on. An unbridled arms race will be costly, risky and even more mind-bending than three-way negotiations to stop it.


The Post’s View | About the Editorial Board

Editorials represent the views of The Post as an institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial Board, based in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.

Members of the Editorial Board: Opinion Editor David Shipley, Deputy Opinion Editor Charles Lane and Deputy Opinion Editor Stephen Stromberg, as well as writers Mary Duenwald, Christine Emba, Shadi Hamid, David E. Hoffman, James Hohmann, Heather Long, Mili Mitra, Eduardo Porter, Keith B. Richburg and Molly Roberts.

Former Mossad Chief Tells CNN There’s No Such Thing as ‘Non-Combatant Population in the Gaza Strip’ Because ‘All of the Gazans Voted For Hamas’

Charlie Nash

Nov 19th, 2023,

Rami Igra, a former division chief for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, told CNN on Friday that there was no such thing as a “noncombatant population in the Gaza Strip” because “all of the Gazans voted for Hamas” and “most of the population in the Gaza strip are Hamas.”

During an appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Igra told host Anderson Cooper:

As you will have seen in the last couple of weeks, the fighting is very surgical. It is slow. It is very methodical. We are trying not to reach any of the non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip. And I think that there is no way that we can eradicate the Hamas without dealing with most of its forces that have been— that have fled to the south. Now, again, one little note, “the non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip” is really a non-existent term because all of the Gazans voted for the Hamas, and as we have seen on the 7th of October, most of the population in the Gaza Strip are Hamas.

Igra concluded, “Nonetheless, we are treating them as non-combatants, we are treating them as regular civilians, and they are spared from the fighting.

Cooper did not push back on Igra’s remarks or to question him further, instead opting to move on to the next question.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s Gaza bombing campaign and war on Hamas since October 7, with nearly 5,000 of the victims reported to be children.

U$A

What the history of campus hate speech codes teaches us about fighting antisemitism

BY GLENN C. ALTSCHULER & DAVID WIPPMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS - 11/19/23 

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Students participate in a protest in support of Palestine and for free speech at Columbia University campus on November 14, 2023 in New York City.

The war between Israel and Hamas has divided college campuses and unleashed a wave of anger at leaders in higher education for failing to denounce terrorism and suppress antisemitism.

A raft of incidents have left Jewish students feeling unsafe, including online threats to attack Jewish students at Cornell, pro-Palestinian students pounding on the doors of the library at Cooper Union with Jewish students inside, a Jewish student injured at Tulane while confronting a protester burning an Israeli flag, and statements by student organizations at Harvard and faculty members at Yale, Columbia, Cornell and elsewhere appearing to endorse or excuse Hamas’s brutal October 7 terrorist attacks.

Confronted with escalating demands for action, college and university presidents have issued statements condemning antisemitism and Islamophobia and launched antisemitism task forces. In the heat of the moment, however, many critics are demanding that administrators sanction students and fire faculty who use hateful rhetoric in criticizing Israel or supporters of Israel.

We have been down this road before, and it does not end well. Under First Amendment principles, which govern public institutions and have been adopted by most private colleges and universities, speech is protected unless it constitutes a true threat, incitement to imminent unlawful action, or harassment. In the 1990s, over 300 colleges and universities adopted codes intended to restrict hate speech. Recognizing that hate speech cannot be restricted without censoring ideas or punishing people for their political views, courts almost always found these codes unconstitutional.

Because there is not, and almost certainly cannot be, a consensus definition of hate speech, college codes were vague and overbroad, chilling expression well beyond racist or bigoted sentiments. In many cases, the codes were used against those they were intended to protect.

At the University of Michigan, for example, in the year and a half its hate speech code was in effect, there were 20 cases in which white students charged Black students with racist speech. The only student subjected to a full disciplinary hearing was a Black student charged with homophobic and sexist expression. Almost inevitably, hate speech codes were enforced in ways that favored those in authority and disempowered “marginalized individuals and groups.” Moreover, 40 years of experience demonstrate that hate speech codes are “ineffective” at best, and, at worst, may actually increase levels of intolerance.

The urge to ban hate speech is understandable. As the American Association of University Professors noted in 1994, the “fears, tensions, and conflicts spawned by slurs and insults create an environment inimical to learning.” Hate speech is an insult to the dignity of those subjected to it and undermines their sense of physical and emotional security. But, as the AAUP recognized, these concerns, weighty as they are, cannot justify limits on the freedom of expression that is “the very precondition of the academic enterprise itself.”

The passions generated by the war between Israel and Hamas have prompted many, even some who had been staunch defenders of free speech, to blur the line between conduct that may be prohibited and speech that should be protected.

Government officials have threatened to defund institutions failing to take action against students who blame Israel for Hamas’s terrorist attacks. Some of the nation’s top law firms warned law schools they would not hire their students unless they learned “to engage in the free exchange of ideas … in a manner that affirms the values we all hold dear.” At the University of Pennsylvania, major donors are demanding the resignation of the president, in part because she did not cancel or condemn forcefully enough a faculty-organized Palestinian literary festival that included speakers with a history of antisemitic remarks. In an open letter to Harvard University, Mitt Romney and other prominent alumni demanded that leaders prohibit “hatred” as well as threats and violence.

And some colleges and universities have complied. Brandeis University, for example, recently warned that it would cut ties to student organizations and professional associations supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, because it “aims to dismantle the Jewish state.” Brandeis also derecognized its campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine because “SJP openly supports Hamas … and its call for the violent elimination of Israel and the Jewish people.” Emory University placed a faculty member on administrative leave pending an investigation into antisemitic comments made on a private social media account. NYU launched an investigation of a student who blamed Israel for the October 7 Hamas attacks.

We share the disgust so many feel at seeing rallies or statements condoning terrorism, promoting antisemitism or calling for violence against Jews or the destruction of Israel. Most of the rhetoric at issue, however, does not meet the very high standards for true threat, incitement to imminent violence or harassment.

So, what should colleges and universities do?

First and foremost, college and universities must ensure student safety, which may include increasing the police presence on campus and regulating, in a content-neutral way, where and when protests may be held. Disciplinary processes, including criminal prosecution where appropriate, should be used aggressively against speech that crosses the line into true threats, incitement or harassment.

Colleges and university leaders should educate their students about the harms of hate speech and condemn it when it appears. They should encourage students and faculty to join them in denouncing speech that violates community norms and supporting a campus culture in which all members of the community are treated with respect.

Colleges and universities should ensure that efforts to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of religious intolerance are an integral part of campus diversity, equity and inclusion programs, starting with orientation.

When hate speech surfaces on campus, college and university leaders should offer assistance to the individuals most affected, which might include meeting with students and student organizations, offering counseling and attending vigils and other events to show support.

The temptation to suppress speech is always strongest in moments of crisis. But that is when the need to protect speech is greatest, when, in the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, we must ensure “not free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought that we hate.”

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. David Wippman is President of Hamilton College.

 

Advancing Indigenous Economic and Trade Priorities

BY CHUCK HOSKIN JR 

 

NOVEMBER 19, 2023

Guest Opinion. As the largest Indigenous nation in the United States with more than 460,000 citizens, Cherokees can be found all across the globe. Cherokee Nation Businesses has global reach, too, with trading partners and business operations on six continents. At the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in California, I spoke about the unique role that Cherokee Nation and other Indigenous peoples play in the global economy.

I was honored to speak at this international gathering with a specific focus on Indigenous communities. At the summit, I was able to meet with world leaders and advocate for improving Indigenous participation in global economic growth. It also provided an opportunity to engage with Indigenous leaders from APEC member countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada for cultural exchange and learning best practices from one another.

Together, we are dispelling myths, such as the perception that Indigenous communities are stewards of the environment and nothing more. While conservation is crucial and Native peoples have a wealth of knowledge on sustainability, the world must recognize our capacity to advance wealth-building for our citizens, health care access, educational options, expanded connectivity, cultural preservation, and more.

Cherokees have always creatively pursued economic partnerships, from our first trade treaties signed with Europeans in the 1600s to our modern international business operations with an economic impact topping $3 billion. We do all this while maintaining a steadfast commitment to our sovereignty, self-determination, and cultural traditions.

We have great potential to do even more and to invest those profits back into our reservation in northeast Oklahoma. Within the Cherokee Nation Reservation are important free trade zones (FTZs) tied to the Port of Catoosa and Port of Muskogee, where our region exchanges goods with the entire world.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr.

However, navigating international trade is made more difficult by uncertainty around what rights are reserved for Indigenous peoples. Native communities, including the Cherokee Nation, have struggled with a legacy of underinvestment and a lack of clarity for how we fit within international legal frameworks. Too often, Indigenous voices are left out of the intricate negotiations of international trade agreements. At the APEC Summit, we made recommendations for more inclusive trade policies that integrate Indigenous perspectives and needs.

The summit was a great opportunity to make progress on these issues. As we continue to strengthen our government-to-government relationship with the United States and call on the federal government to meet its trust and treaty obligations, Cherokee Nation is stepping into a greater role on the international stage.

Inspired by the Cherokee historical journey from simple bartering to modern international commerce, we are lifting up the economic hopes of Indigenous peoples everywhere.

Chuck Hoskin, Jr. is the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

(Photo/Courtesy of the Cherokee Nation)

Behind the daring mission to stop Hitler getting his hands on a nuclear bomb


Sam Corbishley

Saturday 18 Nov 2023 

A new documentary – Hardangerfolk, premiering today at Cumbria’s Kendal Mountain Festival – delves inside Operation Gunnerside 

(Picture: Scotia Film)

In February 1943, a team of saboteurs set off on a top secret mission to destroy a Nazi plant in occupied Norway – and Hitler’s hopes of getting his hands on an atomic weapon.

As well as the equipment and explosives needed to carry out their task, each member also carried a suicide capsule knowing capture by the Germans would see them tortured and put to death.

That was the grim fate which befell a squad of British counterparts, whose attempt at the same quest only months earlier ended in disaster.

A new documentary – Hardangerfolk, premiering today at Cumbria’s Kendal Mountain Festival – delves inside Operation Gunnerside in a way no other retelling has ever managed.

Focusing on an honorary expedition that marked the 80th anniversary earlier this year, the film features never-before-told stories of the daring raid and original footage of those involved.

Director Gregor D Sinclair joined former SAS and US commandos to retrace the team’s footsteps across the treacherous Norwegian terrain and shed new light on the mission.

‘It was a pivotal moment of the war,’ he said. ‘Many consider it to be one of the most successful and heroic acts of sabotage of the entire conflict.’

When the Nazis conquered Norway in 1940, they seized control of Europe’s only plant capable of developing deuterium oxide – also known as ‘heavy water’ – in Vemork, 100 miles west of Oslo.

‘Heavy water’ looks, feels and tastes exactly like ordinary water but is much denser, making it an effective neutron moderator in nuclear reactions.

Alarm bells sounded among the Allies when Norwegian resistance fighters tipped off the British that the Germans had ordered production of heavy water at the plant to be ramped up – a sure sign they were hoping to build an atomic bomb.

The Vemork plant was compared to a Bond villain’s lair 

(Picture: Scotia Film)

The team had to navigate hundreds of miles of snow-covered terrain

 (Picture: Scotia Film)

Several carried explosives among their kit

 (Picture: Scotia Film)

Plans immediately got underway to decommission the facility for good and prevent the Nazis creating any for themselves.

It could not be bombed due to the immense risks to civilians living in the nearby town of Rjukan, as well as the fact their target was buried deep in the bowels of the huge fortress.

Instead, Operations Grouse and Freshman were launched in the autumn and winter of 1942, overseen by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) – Britain’s wartime intelligence gathering and sabotage unit, otherwise referred to as the ‘ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’.

The first phase, Grouse, comprised an advanced force of SOE-trained Norwegians being parachuted in, with the second, Freshman, commencing once they had taken up their positions.

That was meant to see two teams of British engineers airlifted in by military glider to strike the plant. However, tragedy struck when each of the gliders crashed before they could land.

The Gestapo reached the survivors before their counterparts on the Grouse team could and each was executed.

What appeared to be a near impossible mission now became even harder when the Nazis – now wise to the plot – reinforced security with floodlights, mines, razor wire and more armed guards.

But the Allies had one last ace in the pack. A mole inside the plant had managed to smuggle out and send them vital intel, including the exact location of the heavy water stores and how to reach it.

Director Gregor D Sinclair (Picture: Scotia Film)

In preparation for the mission, the Gunnerside team headed to the Scottish Highlands for gruelling training in guerrilla warfare and extreme survival tactics under the British Forces.

They were parachuted in on February 16 and after meeting up with the Grouse team on the ground, made their way to Vemork 11 days later.

Sinclair filmed the international team of military veterans and Norwegian wilderness experts as they followed the original 373-mile route through the barren, blizzard-ravaged wilderness of the Hardangervidda – Europe’s highest plateau – in Norway’s southern Telemark region.

‘We wanted to pay homage to the heroism and skill of these incredible resistance fighters, who risked everything to prevent a catastrophic nuclear war,’ he said.

‘At a time when war and oppression are once again gripping Europe, this inspirational story is more relevant than it has ever been.’


To make matters worse, the team faced 60mph gales and temperatures which regularly plummeted below -30C.

The crew ‘wanted to pay homage to the heroism and skill of these incredible resistance fighters’ 

(Picture: Scotia Film)

Sinclair filmed the international team of military veterans and Norwegian wilderness experts as they followed the original 373-mile route 

(Picture: Scotia Film)

‘It was coldest winter the saboteurs had ever encountered,’ Sinclair said. ‘What they must have gone through just to survive – let alone complete such a daring mission – almost defies description.’

Matt Smith, a former SAS communicator and founder of SOE Expeditions, which organised the trip, said: ‘It was an incredible experience.

‘To be able to walk in these heroes’ footsteps was a great honour. They stopped Hitler developing an atomic bomb, saving thousands of lives in the process.

‘They accomplished extraordinary feats of endurance and stamina, which, ultimately, stopped Germany from producing nuclear weaponry.

‘By recreating this story, we wanted to give the audience a real taste of what these soldiers had to endure to achieve their goal and ensure the memory of these man lives on for many years to come.

‘It was an immense challenge to take on, but it is something that will stay with me forever.’

The saboteurs – dubbed the Heroes of Telemark – skied across the vast ice plateaus, were forced to eat moss to survive and stayed in old hunting lodges during the 11-day trek before evading German troops, landmines and floodlights to reach their target.

‘I have never in my life seen a building as imposing and terrifying as the plant at Vemork,’ Sinclair said.

‘It truly looks like the base of a villain from a Bond film.’

The mission is regarded as ‘a pivotal moment in the war’ 

(Picture: Scotia Film)

The saboteurs – dubbed the Heroes of Telemark – skied across the vast ice plateaus (Picture: Scotia Film)

When the Gunnerside team finally reached the plant, they descended a 1,500ft gorge, crossed an icy river before following a railway line leading straight into the site.


Using the highly-detailed maps smuggled out by their inside man, the commandos slipped inside the plant and planted their explosives on the electrolysis chambers without encountering a single guard.

The fuses had originally been set for two minutes, but one of the team took the risky decision to shorten them to a mere 30 seconds so they would be able to see whether they’d been successful.

Fortunately they were, and the sheer scale of the plant muffled the blast to such an extent that the team was able to escape undetected.

Before fleeing, they left a British Tommy submachine gun behind in a bid to spare the locals from any Nazi reprisal attacks.

The Germans dispatched 3,000 troops to catch the saboteurs, but their efforts proved fruitless.

With hindsight we now know the Nazis were never close to developing a nuclear bomb in time to influence the outcome of the war – but the fear they could was only too real at the time.

So much so that plans were later put in place to blow up a ferry carrying a leftover consignment of ‘heavy water’ back to Germany, killing a number of civilians on board.

Rather than focusing on the military aspects, Sinclair said he wanted to examine the human elements of the Gunnerside team’s ordeal.

‘This documentary looks more closely at the thoughts and feelings of the team – their changing emotional state, and what kept them mentally motivated to continue,’ he said.

‘It examines the role of growing up in the mountains had on their skills and experience, and what physically one must go through to navigate in this landscape.’

Despite the odds being heavily stacked against them, they all escaped unharmed. Not a single shot was fired.

‘The story of the attack – and the Norwegian Resistance generally – shows how fragile a thing liberty is, and how communities of ordinary people must be ready to stand their ground and never succumb to occupation,’ Sinclair went on.

‘As a pacifist and passionate environmentalist, there was something wonderfully poetic about the story of 11 people from the mountains of rural Norway triumphing over the military-industrial machine using only their courage and their survival skills – all without firing a single shot in anger.’