IMPERIALIST HUBRIS

Greek PM unhappy after UK’s Sunak cancels talks amid Parthenon marbles spat


AFP
November 27, 2023

Part of he Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, at the British Museum in London - Copyright AFP Bryan R. Smith

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his “displeasure” Monday over UK counterpart Rishi Sunak’s last minute cancellation of a bilateral meeting set to discuss their long-running dispute over the Parthenon Marbles.

The two leaders were due to hold talks midday Tuesday in London, where Mitsotakis has been visiting since Sunday, before news of their axing emerged late Monday amid an apparent spat over the so-called Elgin Marbles.

“I would like to express my displeasure at the British Prime Minister’s cancellation of our meeting just a few hours before it was due to take place,” the Greek leader said in a brief statement.

He reportedly declined a UK offer to meet Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead.

A Downing Street spokesperson said “the UK-Greece relationship is hugely important”, citing joint work within NATO and “tackling shared challenges like illegal migration” and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“The deputy prime minister was available to meet with the Greek PM to discuss these important issues,” the spokesperson added, without referencing the marbles issue.

The sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Greece in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin.

Athens maintains the marbles were stolen, which Britain denies, and the issue has been a source of contention between the countries for decades.

Sunak has “no plans” to facilitate their return to Athens, his spokesman said earlier Monday.

“Greece’s position on the issue of the Parthenon friezes is well known. I had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss them with my British counterpart,” Mitsotakis lamented.

“Those who believe in the rightness and validity of their positions are never afraid to confront the arguments,” he added.

According to the Greek news agency ANA, citing sources within the Greek government, the British prime minister was apparently upset by comments made by his Greek counterpart to the BBC on Sunday.

In his comments Sunday, Mitsotakis likened the collection being held at the British Museum to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

Athens had been lobbying London for a deal that would return the sculptures under some kind of loan arrangement, he told the BBC.

A source from Britain’s ruling Conservatives told the broadcaster Monday that “it became impossible for this meeting to go ahead following commentary regarding the Elgin Marbles prior to it”.

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 Good Tuesday morning. This is Rosa Prince.

RISHI LOSES HIS MARBLES: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is at the center of a diplomatic storm this morning after canceling a planned meeting with Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a spat over some cold, dead artworks. Playbook got a sniff of the brewing row when No. 10 reached out to say the planned prime ministerial tête-à-tête would instead feature Deputy PM Oliver Dowden, which seemed … odd, given Mitsotakis had said on telly he was due to meet Sunak. An hour or so later, the Greek PM announced he was cutting short his trip and heading home.

You say Parthenon Sculptures, I say Elgin Marbles: The row was triggered after Mitsotakis appeared on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, where he was outspoken about his distress at many of the sculptures still present in the British Museum. “It’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half and you would have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum,” he lamented, adding “this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon Sculptures.”

All Greek to me: Sunak is said to have been “irritated” by Mitsotakis’ words, so much so that he took the extraordinary step of calling off their talks, due at 12.45 p.m. today, while the Greek leader was halfway through a three-day trip to London. The Beeb’s Chris Mason quoted a “senior Conservative source” saying: “It became impossible for this meeting to go ahead following commentary regarding the Elgin Marbles prior to it.”

Undiplomatic: Rather than accept the switcheroo, Mitsotakis declined to meet Dowden and delivered a stinging rebuke: “I express my annoyance that the British prime minister cancelled our planned meeting just hours before it was due to take place. Anyone who believes in the rightness and justice of his positions is never afraid of confronting arguments.” My colleague Nektaria Stamouli has a write-up. 

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(Ancient) culture wars: The Greek PM was uninvited to tea with Rishi round about the time he was meeting Keir Starmer Monday evening — with the Tories eager to suggest the Labour leader was soft on the marbles. An insider close to the talks told Playbook the issue was “discussed, but wasn’t the focal point of the meeting.” They added that Labour sees the matter as one for the British Museum and the Greeks, not the U.K. government. 

Ouch: A Labour spokesperson said of Sunak’s decision not to meet Mitsotakis: “If the prime minister isn’t able to meet with a European ally with whom Britain has important economic ties, this is further proof he isn’t able to provide the serious economic leadership our country requires.”

But but but: A senior Conservative highlighted recent reports, briefed out over the weekend, that Starmer is “open” to the return of the marbles if an arrangement can be agreed between the museum and the Greeks. They added: “Starmer sold out to secure a meeting. It’s naive on his part and shows how little regard he has for British taxpayers who have looked after these for generations. Starmer is up to his old tricks of just telling the person in front of him what they want to hear.”

Hitting back: Labour said by pulling out of the meeting Sunak had missed an opportunity to discuss illegal immigration with a key European ally. The insider added: “Keir and the Greek PM discussed immigration in their meeting so you’ve got the leader of the opposition as the U.K. voice on all these important issues.”

Hot takes: Political X was divided, with some saying the government had massively messed up with the mega snub to the Greeks, and others arguing Labour had walked into a trap by appearing shaky over the marbles. A third and vocal group asked whether all of the above is the grandaddy of dead cats designed to distract from stuff the government really doesn’t want to talk about: we’re looking at you, James Cleverly. 

Playbook won’t be falling for that one: The full story of the home secretary’s travails follow.

But first more on the marbles: The Parthenon Project, which is working with both sides to try to find a joint solution that sees the sculpture reunified in Athens, said it was disappointed by the sudden collapse in talks. A spokesperson said: “It’s a shame the British prime minister feels he can’t discuss the subject of the Elgin Marbles with the Greek prime minister, especially given how much both countries stand to gain from a sensible resolution on this matter and the level public support for reunification.”

Look away now, Rishi Sunak: The Times leader column calls for the sculptures to be reunited and displayed “in their natural habitat.”

Want to know more about Mitsotakis? My POLITICO Colleague Anne McElvoy interviewed him for her Power Play podcast last month.

And now read this: Another top colleague, Graham Lanktree, wrote this fabulous POLITICO feature back in May on the knotty geo-diplomacy of countries returning (or not returning) stolen artefacts to their rightful place — focused on the famously cursed Koh-i-Noor diamond which is part of the Crown Jewels.

Rare survey details how Gazans wary of Hamas before Israel attack



Amaney Jamal said that Hamas was seen as "corrupt" and "authoritarian" by many Palestinian survey respondents

 - Copyright AFP Bryan R. Smith

Nicolas REVISE

AFP
November 27, 2023

Many Gazans were hostile to Hamas ahead of the group’s brutal October 7 attack on Israel, with some describing its rule as a second occupation, according to rare polling data analyzed by a US-Palestinian researcher.

The findings are striking against a backdrop of protests and counter-protests triggered by the attack, with the relationship between Hamas and ordinary Gazans often the subject of heated debate.

“We find in our surveys that 67 percent of Palestinians in Gaza had little or no trust in Hamas in that period right before the attacks,” said Amaney Jamal, dean of Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs.

“This is especially important because of the (erroneous) argument that all of Gaza supports Hamas, and therefore all of Gaza should be held accountable for the actions, atrocious actions of Hamas.”

Jamal is one of the driving forces behind the Arab Barometer which conducts surveys and polling in the region, including in Gaza where fieldwork concluded on the eve of the attacks on Israel.

She said that Hamas, which won elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006 and is designated a “terrorist” organization by Washington and the EU, was seen as “corrupt” and “authoritarian” by many respondents.

“Seventy-five percent said in the previous 30 days, they could not afford to feed their households. So again, this is an impoverished society, a society that is basically saying the Hamas-led government has some levels of corruption,” said Jamal.

– ‘Peaceful reconciliation’ –

“When we ask people, who do you blame?… we thought that the number-one culprit was going to be Israel because of the blockade. But most people cited Hamas corruption, more so than they cited the Israel blockade.”

Jamal, 52 and born in California and brought up in her family’s native Ramallah, said there was also a perception that “the Palestinian Authority or the Hamas-led government across time have become more dictatorial — and more authoritarian.”

“For the average Palestinian in the West Bank or in Gaza (they say) ‘we have this (Israeli) occupation and then we have these Palestinian governments that are also authoritarian’. So a common phrase is we used to be occupied by one power, now we’re occupied by two.”

The latest Arab Barometer was undertaken in Gaza, where 399 people were surveyed, and the West Bank, where 790 were polled, from the end of September to October 6. Its findings were published in the journal Foreign Affairs.

“About 60 percent said that they believed they could not express their opinions freely and openly at the eve of the attacks (and) about 72 percent said that they could not protest peacefully against the Hamas-led government,” Jamal said. “There was fear of retaliation or retribution from the government.”

The Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas, which runs Palestinian areas in the West Bank, fared poorly in Jamal’s survey, with only 9 percent of responses favorable.

Despite the majority negative view of Hamas uncovered by Jamal’s research, the report cautions that following the Hamas attack on Israel, perceptions may have changed.

“Israel cut off water, food, fuel, and electricity supplies to Gaza following the October 7 attacks, plunging the territory into a deep humanitarian crisis… the suffering the Palestinians have experienced has likely hardened their attitude,” it said.

Ahead of the attacks on Israel, more than half of respondents favored a two-state solution — a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The remainder opted either for a Palestinian-Israeli confederation or a one-state solution. But one-in-five supported armed resistance before the events of October 7, and the massive Israeli military response that followed.

“(Gazans were) open to a peaceful reconciliation with Israel based on 1967 borders,” Jamal said.

Gangs, extortion in Bangladesh camps driving Rohingya sea exodus

AFP
November 27, 2023


Rohingya refugees say they fled escalating brutality in the camps in and around Cox's Bazar, which hold more than one million people 

- Copyright AFP ZIKRI MAULANA
Agnes ANYA, Mulyadi

Holding his son’s hand in a temporary shelter in Indonesia, Rohingya Mohamed Ridoi says he made the dangerous 12-day sea journey from massive refugee camps in Bangladesh to escape the pervasive threats of kidnapping, extortion and murder.

The 27-year-old said he was starting a “peaceful life” in a temporary shelter in Indonesia’s western Aceh Province, where more than 1,000 Rohingya people have arrived this month, the largest such influx since 2015.

He and others said they fled escalating brutality in the camps in and around Cox’s Bazar, which hold more than one million people and where gangs regularly abduct and torture residents for ransom.

“One of the groups kidnapped me and demanded 500,000 Bangladeshi taka ($4,551) to buy their guns,” Ridoi, who left with his wife, two children and his brother, told AFP.

“They told me that if I couldn’t give them the money, they would kill me.”

He said he eventually paid 300,000 taka for his release last month and, within weeks, he was on a boat to Indonesia, arriving on November 21.

“We are not safe in Bangladesh. That is why I decided to go to Indonesia to save me and my family’s life,” he said.

Having first fled state-backed persecution in Myanmar — including a 2017 crackdown that is subject to a UN genocide probe — the refugees now find themselves pushed to undertake weeks-long journeys of more than 1,800 kilometres (1,120 miles) on packed, rickety boats.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and says it is not compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, but neighbouring countries have shut their doors, meaning they have almost no other options.

More than half a dozen boats have arrived in Aceh since November 14, and monitors say more are on their way, despite some locals turning arriving boats back to sea and stepping up patrols on the coast.

– Sleepless nights –

Human Rights Watch reported this year that criminal gangs and alleged affiliates of Islamist armed groups were causing fear at night in the Bangladesh refugee camps, which now number more than two dozen.

The Bangladesh defence ministry has identified at least 11 armed groups operating in the camps, but rights groups say Dhaka is not doing enough to protect refugees from the violence.

These gangs, vying for control and involved in activities like drug smuggling and human trafficking, have specifically targeted Rohingya community leaders and activists.

Aisha, 19, arrived in Aceh on the same boat as Ridoi with two children and her husband.

“They asked for money every night, threatening to abduct my husband. I couldn’t sleep at night because of them,” she said via an interpreter.

Bangladesh police say about 60 Rohingya people have been killed in violence in the camps this year.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW, said it appeared the Bangladeshi government “doesn’t care” about the refugees’ fate.

“The bottom line is the Bangladesh government just wants all the Rohingya to go back to Myanmar as soon as possible — even if (it) means subjecting the refugees to conditions of absolute misery in the camps so that they leave.”

Aisha, the young mother, said the fear of the criminals pushed her family to pay 200,000 taka ($1,819) to illegal middlemen for her family’s boat journey to Indonesia, despite the risks.

– Impossible choices –

Aisha said she preferred to “die at sea than in the camp”.

“I looked for a safe place for my children, hoping they could study and get an education,” she said.

Chris Lewa, director of Rohingya rights organisation the Arakan Project, said food shortages were also worsening camp conditions and entire families were now leaving, instead of just groups of young men as seen previously.

“Now the profile is different, now we have many families. Before there was not many,” she said.

“Nowadays we see small children, there are many families making their way. They just want to be away from Bangladesh.”

Aisha and her children now share a windowless room in a shelter in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe with more than a hundred other women and minors, sleeping on mats on the floor without a fan in the tropical heat.

Aisha said that it was still much better than living in fear in the Bangladesh camp.

Ridoi also hoped that his decision to bring his family to Indonesia would bring a better life for his sons.

“I am not qualified to be a doctor or engineer, but I am doing my best to make them one,” he said.

“My children are everything to me.”

Tesla sues Swedish state over strike fallout


By AFP
November 27, 2023


A Tesla electric vehicle. — © AFP/File Patrick T. Fallon

Electric carmaker Tesla on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Swedish state over a strike by postal workers blocking deliveries of license plates for its new cars — and received a first favourable decision the same day.

Tesla is currently facing strikes on multiple fronts in Sweden over its refusal to sign a collective wage agreement for its mechanics.

On November 20, Swedish postal workers joined in and began halting deliveries to Tesla offices and repair shops.

As licence plates for new cars are only delivered by mail in Sweden, the blockade could stop new Teslas hitting the road there, something Tesla CEO Elon Musk branded “insane”.

Musk has long rejected calls to allow the company’s 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.

However, collective agreements with unions are the basis of the Swedish labour market model, covering almost 90 percent of all employees and guaranteeing wages and working conditions.

Tesla has asked the courts to compel the Swedish Transport Agency to make sure plates for vehicles registered with the agency “come into Tesla’s possession”.

Tesla also asked the court to impose a fine of one million kronor ($96,000) if the Swedish Transport Agency fails to comply.

There was some good news for Tesla late Monday when the transport agency said it had received a “provisional” court ruling requiring it to agree, within seven days, to Tesla collecting its number plates directly from the plate manufacturer.

“Our plate manufacturer has announced that it is prepared to supply the plates directly to Tesla, provided that the Swedish Transport Agency agrees,” added the public agency in a message to AFP, adding that it was assessing the consequences of this court ruling.

The agency told AFP last week that it was only able to deliver the plates via postal carrier Postnord, as it was bound to use it under a contract that applies to all government agencies.

In a separate suit, Tesla wants the courts to compel Postnord, which is owned by the Swedish and Danish states, to hand over all deliveries addressed to Tesla.

Some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities across Sweden walked off the job on October 27, according to trade union IF Metall.

The strike has since expanded to include other repair shops that service Tesla. Dock workers have also stopped unloading Tesla cars at Swedish ports.

In addition to IF Metall, nine other unions have announced “sympathy measures”.

PAKISTAN
CLIMATE BYTE: From GB to Sindh, rapidly melting glaciers pose serious risks

Jamil Nagri 

Published November 28, 2023 

How is climate change impacting GB’s ecosystem?

Pakistan is ranked among the top ten countries most affected by climate change in the last two decades. In the last 50 years, the annual mean temperature has increased by roughly 0.5 degrees Celsius, and it is expected to rise by 3°C to 5°C by the end of this century.

It is estimated that there are around 7,000 glaciers in Pakistan, most of which are located in GB. Some of the largest glaciers, including the Siachen, Baltoro, Biafo and Shisper glaciers in GB, are retreating at a rapid rate due to rising temperatures, causing GLOFs.

Climate change is negatively affecting GB’s ecosystem as shifts in sowing and harvesting seasons are being witnessed. Due to unpredictable rainfall, rising temperatures and insect attacks, crop productivity and forage availability have decreased.

The biodiversity loss has resulted in shrinking habitats for species, pushing them on the brink of extinction — for example, snow leopards.

As world leaders gather in the UAE in the run-up to the COP28 summit, Dawn is speaking to experts to answer some pressing, everyday questions that are on people’s minds about climate change and related issues.

How does GLOF pose a threat to GB?

The frequency and likelihood of GLOFs have increased in the last decade. The whole region has been identified as either at a high or very high risk with respect to the GLOF hazard.

These glaciers are shrinking by approximately one per cent per year, creating more than 3,000 glacial lakes.

WWF Pakistan Director (North) Haider Raza

The melting of glaciers in GB affects not only locals, but also the population living downstream. These glaciers feed the Indus River. While their rapid melting is increasing the water flow in the short term, in the long term it is likely to cause water shortages as river flows would decrease due to depleting glaciers. This will damage the agriculture sector and threaten food security.


Today, Haider Raza — the regional head of WWF Pakistan — explains the phenomenon of glacial lake outburst floods, GB’s vulnerability to climate disaster, and how nature-based solutions could mitigate climate threats.

How can these impacts be mitigated?

There is a need to implement robust and sustainable climate change adaptation strategies. Climate literacy should be increased among GB residents, and they should be encouraged to adopt sustainable practices and participate in conservation activities.

Promote nature-based solutions in developmental projects to increase the resilience of the local community along with integrated water resources management for sustainable water consumption.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2023

Big Tech lobbying is derailing the EU AI Act

BRAM VRANKEN 24th November 2023

Behind closed doors, the companies have fiercely lobbied the European Union to leave advanced artificial-intelligence systems unregulated.

Diaries cleared: the Google chief executive, Sundar Pichai (left), meeting the European commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, last May—two other commissioners made themselves available to him that day

 (Lukasz Kobus / European Commission)

As artificial-intelligence models are increasingly applied across society, it is becoming clear that these systems carry risks and can harm fundamental rights. Yet Big Tech—driving the AI revolution—is lobbying to stop regulation that could defend the public.

These social impacts are neither hypothetical nor confined to the future. For example, from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to Australia, biased algorithms have falsely accused thousands of people of defrauding social-security benefits, with disastrous effects on their lives and livelihoods. In the Netherlands this affected tens of thousands, mostly from low-income households and/or a migrant background, driving victims into debt, homelessness and mental ill-health due to the extreme stress they experienced.
Structural biases

Over the last year, discussion has increasingly focused on the most advanced AI systems, known as ‘foundation models’, such as ChatGPT. These can be used for a wide range of purposes. The systems are often complex and behave in ways that can surprise even their own developers. Foundation models are trained on societal data and if the data carry structural biases—from racism to able-ism and more—these risk being baked into the systems.

Because of the scale and amounts of memory, data and hardware required, foundation models are primarily developed by the technology giants, such as Google and Microsoft. These near-monopolies in AI are reinforced through billion-dollar partnerships with ‘start-ups’, such as between Amazon and Anthropic or Microsoft and OpenAI. Tech giants have invested a massive $16.2 billion in OpenAI and Anthropic in the last year. As the AI Now Institute has written, ‘There is no AI without Big Tech.’

Alarmingly, these same firms have recently fired or trimmed down their ethics teams. In some cases these had called out some of the dangers of the systems they were developing.

Because of these risks, in the spring the European Parliament moved to impose certain obligations on companies developing foundation models—basically a duty of due diligence. Companies should show they had done everything they could to mitigate any risks to fundamental rights, check the quality of the data used to train these AI systems against any biases and lower their environmental impact: enormous amounts of electricity and water are used by the data centres.

Massive firepower

While publicly the tech companies have called on lawmakers to regulate AI, in private they have fiercely resisted any form of regulation of foundation models. And research by Corporate Europe Observatory shows they have used their massive lobbying firepower to do so.

So far this year, 66 per cent of meetings on AI involving members of the European Parliament have been with corporate interests—up from 56 per cent over the period 2019-22. From the moment the parliament made clear its intention to regulate foundation models, Big Tech quickly turned its attention to the European Commission and EU member states. This year, fully 86 per cent of meetings on AI of high-level commission officials officials have been with the industry.

Chief executives of Google, OpenAI and Microsoft have all shuttled to Europe to meet policy-makers at the highest level, including commission members and heads of state. Google’s Sundar Pichai even managed to have meetings with three commissioners in just one day.

Unexpected support

Big Tech also received support from an unexpected corner. The European AI start-ups Mistral AI and Aleph Alpha have upped the pressure on their respective national governments, France and Germany.

Mistral AI opened a lobbying office in Brussels over the summer with the former French secretary of state for digital transition, Cédric O—who is known to have the ear of the French president, Emmanuel Macron—in charge of EU relations. O has played a key role in pushing the French government to oppose regulating foundation models in the name of innovation. Along with René Obermann, chair of the aerospace and defence giant Airbus, and Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, founding partner of the tech venture fund La Famiglia, O was one of the initiators of an open letter signed by 150 European companies claiming that the AI Act ‘would jeopardise Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty’.

This lobbying offensive continued after the summer. In October, French, German and Italian officials met representatives from the tech industry to discuss industrial co-operation on AI. After the summit, the German economy minister, Robert Habeck, sounded like a tech spokesperson: ‘We need an innovation-friendly regulation on AI, including general purpose AI.’ Habeck stressed the risk-based approach of the AI Act, a Big Tech talking point to avoid regulating the development of foundation models.
Public interest

The opposition from these member states has severely derailed the the ‘trilogue’ negotiators among the EU institutions. But even when agreement is reached much will remain to be decided—by the commission in implementing acts and by the standard-setting bodies which will steer how precisely the AI Act will be effected. This leaves future avenues for Big Tech to influence the process.

In the run-up to the European elections in June and after a term of unprecedented digital rule-making, the question arises whether Big Tech has become too big to regulate. From surveillance advertising to unaccountable AI systems, with its huge lobbying capacity and privileged access to power, Big Tech has all too often succeeded in preventing regulation which could have reined in its toxic business model.

Just as Big Tobacco was eventually excluded from lobbying public-health officials after years of dirty lobbying tactics, it is time to restrict Big Tech companies from lobbying the EU in their interests—when the public interest is at hazard.




Bram Vranken is a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a Brussels-based lobby watchdog.

 

FOUNDATION FOR EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Transforming capitalism in the age of AI

Will the EU once again accept Big Tech's power as a fait accompli while belatedly trying to mitigate risks, or can it chart a different course?

Join our conference on the EU approach to the digital transition. On Wednesday, December 6th, FEPS and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Competence Centre on the Future of Work are co-organising an evening of high-level debates on the digital future of Europe. There will be keynotes by the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit; Evgeny Morozov, founder of The Syllabus; and Phoebe V Moore, globally recognised expert on digitalisation and the workplace. The event will be moderated by John Thornhill, innovation editor at the Financial Times.

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Vladimir Putin’s killer patriotism

NINA L KHRUSHCHEVA 

SOCIAL EUROPE

28th November 2023

Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a backlash against the Kremlin and Putin is fearful of a repeat.

Cold war revisited: same old enemy (US moneyed interests), even older hero (‘traditional’ Russia) (Nina Khrushcheva)

In 2014, the former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist from the liberal publication Novaya Gazeta. Now, just nine years into his sentence, Khadzhikurbanov has been pardoned, after spending six months fighting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. As far as the Russian president is concerned, this makes Khadzhikurbanov a patriot.

Khadzhikurbanov is far from the only violent criminal to earn a pardon in Russia by joining Putin’s army in Ukraine. It is a practice inspired by none other than Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane explosion two months after his Wagner Group mercenaries staged an aborted rebellion in June.
Crucial ally

Despite his inglorious end, Prigozhin was long a crucial ally of Putin. His cv included running a troll farm to create Russian propaganda stories and deploying his Wagner fighters in African countries, in part to gain access to resources such as gold and uranium, often in exchange for protecting the lives and interests of local leaders. Wagner soldiers were also needed in the Ukraine war, fighting some of its bloodiest battles, such as the months-long struggle for Bakhmut.

Before hitching his fortunes to Putin, Prigozhin was a convicted criminal who spent nine years in prison for robbery and assault in the 1980s. No wonder he recruited criminals for the Wagner Group—a practice that has now been adopted by the Russian defence ministry. Though the official number of convict-soldiers is unknown, we know that more than 5,000 criminals were pardoned last March, after finishing their contracts to fight for Wagner. According to Prigozhin, some 40,000 prisoners were involved in the battle for Bakhmut.

Though these pardoned fighters remain in the military, some do manage to return home from the front—at least two dozen, according to some unofficial sources. Often, they have committed truly horrific acts. One pardoned fighter killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder; another stabbed his ex-wife in the stomach ten times. One ‘patriot’ filmed himself beating his friend to death, as if it were a joke.

But after just a few months at the front, their sins are forgiven and they are free to sin again. Some have reportedly carried out new violent crimes, including rape and murder, upon their retu

Even Putin loyalists are not fully on board with the Kremlin’s effort to make heroes out of criminals. Last year, the governor of Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, clashed with Prigozhin after a local club refused to host a Wagner fighter’s funeral. ‘If he were a real soldier, fine, but he was just a former prisoner,’ the club insisted.
Two Russias

Pardoning violent convicts might not be a particularly desirable way to get more soldiers on to the battlefield, but for Putin the alternative would be even worse. Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a significant backlash and Putin is fearful of a repeat. He also knows that there are two Russias—and that if the Kremlin keeps sending convicts, both will get something that they want.

The first Russia, comprising those living in Russia’s two biggest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, can pretend there is no war at all. Visit a bookstore such as Respublika in Moscow and you will find American and British bestsellers and works by Russian authors who have fled the regime, such as Boris Akunin and Dmitry Bykov. Head to a cinema on Nevsky Prospect in Saint Petersburg and you can watch the American blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer, without seeing any sign that the authorities banned the films for ‘not upholding traditional Russian values’.

People in this Russia are well aware of the tenuousness of their reality. When I asked a young couple watching Oppenheimer what traditional Russian values are, they replied that no one really knows. But they also recognised the limits of their power to change their reality, before acknowledging that the cinema might soon be closed for ‘dissidence’.

Then there is the other Russia, the one you find in small towns and villages scattered across the country’s massive territory. Here, the Ukraine war is a source of patriotic pride and anyone who risks their lives for victory deserves to be honored.

On a recent trip to Siberia’s Omsk region, a couple beamed as they told me about their soldier son: ‘He fought for his country,’ the mother gushed. ‘He has a medal, and with the money he earned, he took us on vacation to Crimea.’ They did not mention that, prior to becoming a ‘hero’, he had been in and out of prison for most of his life.

For them, it probably does not matter. In Russia, the Kremlin has made clear, one can ‘atone with blood’. The money also helps. In the Omsk region, young men—not prisoners—receive 195,000 rubles (€2,000) just for enlisting. If they die, their families receive the equivalent of tens of thousands of euro in compensation. If they return, they can buy houses, cars and more. Either way, the economic boost is substantial.

Russia’s duality is nothing new. The state symbol is a double-headed eagle. Rarely, however, have the two Russias stood in such stark contrast to each other. While Moscow and Saint Petersburg mourn their isolation from the rest of the world, the provinces embrace Putin’s message of animosity toward anything ‘not Russian’.

The longer the war rages, the more deeply this sentiment will take hold outside Russia’s biggest cities. If the outside world is against us, insist the provinces, we will protect our great nation from those who want to diminish it. But no one in the outside world can diminish Russia more gravely than the growing number of Putin’s pardoned patriots.




Nina L Khrushcheva   is professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and co-author of In Putin’s Footsteps: Searching for the Soul of an Empire Across Russia’s Eleven Time Zones (St Martin's Press).

 

Failed Wheel Bearing Caused Kentucky Train Derailment but Didn’t Trigger Alarms Beforehand, CSX Says

By The Associated Press

November 27, 2023US News

Emergency responders work at the scene of a derailment of a CSX train north of Livingston, Ky., on Nov. 22, 2023. (WTVQ via AP Photo)

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—A failed wheel bearing on a train car caused a derailment that sparked a chemical fire and forced residents of a small town in Kentucky out of their homes for just over a day, including most of Thanksgiving, according to CSX railroad.

The accident happened Wednesday afternoon just north of Livingston. A spokesman for the railroad said Monday that crews were able to restore the tracks over the weekend and trains resumed running through the area before midday Sunday. All 16 railcars involved in the derailment have been removed from the site, and crews removed the spilled chemical and 2,500 tons of impacted soil and replaced it with clean material, CSX said.

The CSX train derailed around 2:30 p.m. near the remote town with about 200 people in Rockcastle County. Residents were encouraged to evacuate just a day before the Thanksgiving holiday before being cleared to return to their homes late Thursday afternoon.

Two of the 16 cars that derailed carried molten sulfur, which caught fire after the cars were breached. No other hazardous materials were released. A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration said the investigation is ongoing and the agency doesn’t typically release any preliminary findings.

State officials monitored the air after the derailment for traces of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, but there had been no detection of those substances at the derailment site or the nearby town of Livingston since Thursday morning. The fire was extinguished at the site just after noon on Thursday, and officials said that it was safe for residents to return home. The railroad’s Bryan Tucker said no sulfur dioxide had been detected in the area since the fire was put out.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, sulfur dioxide can cause respiratory problems, depending on the concentration and length of exposure.

Mr. Tucker said the bearing that failed didn’t get hot enough to trigger an alarm from the last one of the railroad’s trackside detectors that the train passed, so the crew didn’t get any warning before the derailment. A wheel bearing has to be at least 170 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature to trigger an alarm.

The train traveled about 21 miles after the last detector and was two miles away from the next one along the tracks. Across all of CSX’s networks in the eastern United States, those detectors are an average of 14.9 miles apart, but on less-traveled tracks that don’t include passenger traffic the detectors can be farther apart. Mr. Tucker said that was the case here.

Emergency responders work at the scene of a derailment of a CSX train north of Livingston, Ky., on Nov. 22, 2023. (WTVQ via AP Photo)

Those trackside detectors that railroads rely on to help spot defects before they can cause derailments received a lot of attention earlier this year after an overheating wheel bearing caused a fiery derailment on a different railroad in eastern Ohio in February. In that Norfolk Southern derailment, the crew did get a warning but it didn’t come soon enough for them to be able to stop the train before it derailed in East Palestine.

That derailment and several others since put the spotlight on railroad safety nationwide, but the reforms proposed afterward have largely stalled in Congress, and regulators have also made little progress.

CSX said it was thankful to Rockcastle County authorities who helped respond to the incident and to community members and local businesses that helped affected residents and assisted the company in serving Thanksgiving dinners for the community.

“CSX apologizes for the inconvenience this incident caused the local community and is appreciative for everyone’s patience throughout the recovery effort,” the railroad said in a statement.

CSX worked with two local restaurants to provide a Thanksgiving meal at a local church around midday Thursday and delivered holiday meals to the people working at a middle school shelter for residents. The railroad also provided any necessary supplies from a Dollar Tree store in the area free of cost.

Mr. Tucker said that about 400 households, which each likely include several people, have applied for reimbursement so far from the railroad for costs related to the derailment.

By Rebecca Reynolds and Josh Funk

 NZ

No doubt now that anti-Māori sentiment powered the election result

OPINION: Policies be damned. The coalition deal shows the power of anti-Māori sentiment in deciding the election.

Joel Maxwell, Nov 28 2023

Christopher Luxon announces new government

The incoming prime minister, alongside ACT leader David Seymour and NZ First leader Winston Peters, has unveiled the coalition agreement between the three political parties.

It’s quite a to-do list. In the coming months and years, the Government will have its hands full allowing the removal of already-established Māori wards in councils; deleting the already-established Māori health authority; purging ministries of primarily Māori names and communication; throwing Three Waters out with the co-governance bathwater; throwing co-governance out of public services; rewiring legislation to shake out unworthy Treaty principles; dumping the entire 2022 Ngāi Tahu regional council law; scrutinising initiatives to increase Māori doctors.

All while laying the groundwork for a monumental battle over ACT’s potential Treaty principles referendum.

It is future-averse. It is petty to a fault. It is demoralisingly, agonisingly, indisputably anti-Māori.

I was even more shocked to see this Government will repeal legislation crafted to stop new generations from ever smoking. I used to think this was a non-partisan goal. Something any side might consider worthwhile, with cigarettes killing up to half their victims.

Thankfully, the new coalition arrived just in time to stop our woke youth from evading tobacco.

ROBERT KITCHIN/THE POST
The gravitas of the coalition announcement evaporates as Winston Peters takes the mic.

According to ASH surveys, the smoking rate in 2022 for Year 10 students was at an all-time low of 1.1%! (Down from 15.2% in 2000.)


Now the changes will likely cost thousands of lives (Māori hit hardest), add more than a billion dollars to our nation’s health bill in the coming decades. A new generation will be addicted.

PM Christopher Luxon says smokefree initiatives would – I kid you not – drive up crime. So, his solution to ram raids is more cancer?

It is an extraordinary coup de tobacco. But this is what we wanted, I guess: selling out our kids and grandkids’ future for a bizarre Māori-culture ban, a bad-kupu witch hunt in the public services.

As for Winston Peters (unlike ACT, the NZ First deal specifically mentions dumping the smokefree generation ban) well, at 78, he can just say to hell with the future. The future is for losers.

DAVID UNWIN/STUFF
The new Government is sworn in at Government House.

Peters, I suspect, doesn’t hate journalists because they’re holding him to account. He just hates everyone below the age of 65.

But unlike NZ First, National can’t afford to be all about the past.

You can sense the party dissipating, pinched between its coalition partners, two burger buns, no filling.

Not only did National get its throat cut in negotiations, but worse, it had its ideas stolen, repurposed, enhanced, by the populists, the culture warriors, the hard right-wingers.

National, or as I call it, Not-Labour, only exists as voting muscle memory exercised by a group too lazy, as yet, to tick a different right-leaning box. Why dilute that delicious umami of the dark side when voters can have the real thing elsewhere? No party survives in the airless centre.

Joel Maxwell: Christopher Luxon’s solution to ram raids is cancer?

I guess National has roads. You won’t be able to buy a taco with your tax savings without hitting a road, boulevard or cul-de sac of national significance.

Don't get me wrong, I love the new roads in the lower North Island that National got built. But that was under Steven Joyce, and in another era when they thought inflation no longer existed.

For now, National is lucky. Both ACT and NZ First have the qualities of a virus: powerful in their own way, but uniquely constrained. Just as the virus cannot exist outside its host, neither party in their current form can survive outside their leaders. Without Peters and David Seymour, they would be husks. (Both leaders, I suspect, would be husks without their parties too. But that’s psychology, not biology.)

Luxon is already being eaten alive by his new mates. Any hoped-for gravitas in the coalition announcement evaporated as a delighted Peters – grinning into his mic – opened fire on journalists.

What’s bad for Māori is bad for National. It strengthens its opponents on every side. Unfortunately, what’s good for Māori ain’t a great National vote winner either.

The party came unmoored from the good old days of John Key. I don’t know where we all go from here.

Joel Maxwell is a senior writer with Stuff’s Pou Tiaki team.

Elephant herd tramples car after baby struck along Malaysian highway

By Heather Chen, CNN
Tue November 28, 2023

A herd of six endanger wild elephants trampled a car at KM 55 of Malaysia's East-West Highway on Sunday November 26, 2023.Royal Malaysia Police

CNN —

A herd of wild elephants in Malaysia trampled on a car traveling along a major highway after it struck a baby in their group, local authorities said Monday.

The car, a white Perodua Axia, was being driven by a 48-year-old man, along with his wife and son, 23, according to a statement issued by police in Gerik, in the Malay Peninsula.

The family of three were driving on a major highway from the island of Penang to the northeastern coastal state of Terengganu at around 7.35 p.m. local time on Sunday, when it crashed into the elephant calf.


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It had been drizzling and foggy at that time, Gerik Police added, and the car was “negotiating a left bend on the highway” when it hit the baby elephant.

“The car slammed into the young elephant that was walking on the road with the herd,” said Zulkifli Mahmood, Chief Superintendent at Gerik District Police. The calf fell to the ground upon impact, he added.

“Seeing this, the other (five) elephants rushed towards the car and started trampling it.”

The herd then left the area after the calf “got back up,” Mahmood said.

Gerik Police did not specify if the three family members had been inside the car during the incident but no deaths or serious injuries were reported in the police statement.

Photos provided showed extensive damage to the front and sides of the white vehicle, with its side doors caved in. All windows were also smashed.

Authorities did not provide further updates about the condition of the elephant baby.

An elephant in Borneo.Sylvain CORDIER/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images/File
Elephant-human encounters

As a result of Malaysia’s rapid development of highways, wild elephants across the peninsula have lost large amounts of forest cover, forcing many to venture out to roads to find food, conservationists say.

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In the latest accident, Gerik police warned drivers to exercise more caution on highways as herds of elephants regularly roam the area.

Signs warning drivers of elephant crossings are also put up along many highways, particularly in the country’s north but accidents have still occured.

In 2017, a baby elephant was discovered dead on the side of a highway, apparently killed by a car believed to have been speeding, elephant conservation group Management and Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME) said at the time.

Other elephant encounters are also reported on several highways.

In May 2022, a lone adult elephant was spotted walking along a highway also in the Gerik area. Videos shared on social media showed the elephant ambling past bewildered drivers.

In 2020, a distressed adult elephant trampled on a car that had been traveling on the same highway as the latest incident. The elephant was believed to have panicked after several vehicles started honking at it, local authorities said at the time.