Ethiopia Recognizes Somaliland in Exchange for Seaport Access

Work underway on the upgraded port of Berbera, Somaliland (DP World)

PUBLISHED JAN 1, 2024 9:45 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The semiautonomous region of Somaliland has signed a long-anticipated port access deal with Ethiopia, angering the national government of Somalia. 

The access deal with Ethiopia is a key piece of Somaliland's plans to develop its maritime economy. Berbera, a seaport located in the territory's far west, is being redeveloped by DP World to accommodate container ships. The deal signed with Ethiopia will ensure access to Berbera, and will "pave the way to realize the aspiration of Ethiopia to secure access to the sea and diversify its access to seaport," according to the Somaliland government. 

In exchange, Ethiopia will become the first nation ever to formally recognize Somaliland as an independent country, separate from Somalia. 

The question of its independence is complex. Somalia and Somaliland have a contentious relationship. The northern province broke away from Somalia in 1991 and has been self-governing in relative peace ever since; it seeks recognition as an independent country, though it has yet to convince any established nation to agree.

Somalia's government contends that Somaliland is an inherent part of Somali territory and cannot be an independent state. Even within Somaliland, there are competing political factions promoting reunification with Somalia, as well as continued independence. 

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo, president of Somalia, said in a statement Monday that the access deal infringed on Somalia's right to control its own borders. "The agreement signed by Ethiopia with Somaliland today is a serious concern for Somalia and the whole of Africa. Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the anchor for regional stability and bilateral cooperation. The Somali government must respond appropriately," said Farmaajo. 

For Ethiopia, the port access deal helps to resolve a major economic and strategic problem. When Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia and closed its borders to the world in the 1990s, the Ethiopian economy was cut off from the sea, and it has been dependent on neighboring Djibouti's seaport ever since (for a price). Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has recently asserted a historical, sovereign right through Eritrean territory to access maritime trade, raising fears of renewed conflict; the deal with Somaliland may relieve some of the pressure behind that demand. 

 

Arctic LNG 2's Investors Get Nervous as American Sanctions Begin to Bite

Arctic LNG 2's first liquefaction train during delivery to the Gydan Peninsula, 2023 (Novatek)

PUBLISHED JAN 1, 2024 6:28 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Novatek's Arctic LNG 2 project is one of the most significant liquefied natural gas export developments in the world, and it promises to be a major source of revenue for the Russian state - but U.S. sanctions appear to be having an effect on its progress. The project is dependent on Western components and foreign investment, and both may be at risk.

In September, the U.S. Department of State blacklisted dozens of Russian companies in connection with the invasion of Ukraine, including some that are critical to Novatek's plans. The list includes Arctic Transshipment, a Russian shipping company that will operate two LNG floating storage units (FSUs) to support the Arctic LNG 2 project. Without the FSUs, the project's export cargoes will have a much harder time getting to market. The U.S. has also sanctioned JSC Energies, Nova Energies and Abu Dhabi-based Green Energy Solutions for providing engineering services and technology for the project.

Arctic LNG 2's first liquefaction train started up last week, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says that it will ship its first commissioning cargoes in the first quarter of 2024. But that may not help the project's mid-term prospects. Kommersant, a leading Russian news outlet, reports that all of the foreign shareholders in the project - TotalEnergies, CNPC, CNOOC, and a JV investment vehicle backed by Mitsui and JOGMEC - have declared a notice of force majeure on their participation in Arctic LNG 2. This means that they will not be receiving their contracted deliveries of LNG from the terminal. Novatek has also reportedly sent notices to buyers that it is declaring force majeure on deliveries. 

The situation could change if political winds shift in Washington: CNPC, CNOOC and Japanese buyers have launched a process to ask for a sanctions exemption for Arctic LNG 2 deliveries. In the meantime, though, there are signs that the investors are restless. Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui, one of the foreign project partners in Arctic LNG 2, has reportedly withdrawn its staff from Russia.

The declaration of force majeure threatens the project's financing arrangements, according to Kommersant. Construction loans require contracted volumes as an underlying guaranteed revenue stream, and it is unclear whether Novatek has already locked down all of its $10 billion in needed loans. Inflation has also increased the project cost by nearly 20 percent, and if outside investors are unwilling to help carry the extra expense, Novatek will have to pick up the cost in another manner.  

Part of the problem is the withdrawal of foreign suppliers and contractors from Russia. Baker Hughes, Saipem, Boskalis, Technip and Linde have all quit, and Novatek has had to attempt to replace these blue-chip oil and gas engineering firms with less well-known alternatives. 

Novatek also faces problems in securing adequate tonnage to carry its exports to market. The firm needs specialized icebreaking LNG carriers to transit the icy waters of the Northern Sea Route, and these vessels exist nowhere else. It has 21 of these high-spec ships on order, but sanctions have delayed their construction. Russian yard Zvezda holds the contract for 15 of them, but has had to delay production by more than a year because of sanctions-induced supply chain problems. The new sanctions on Arctic Transshipment, the FSU operator, exacerbates this problem.

Nigel Kennedy: Orchestral pop songs are a crime against music

Craig Simpson

THE TELEGRAPH
Sun, 31 December 2023

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra held a concert this month featuring music by acts including Ed Sheeran and Robbie Williams - facebook

Classical orchestras who resort to performing pop hits are committing a “crime against music”, according to Nigel Kennedy.

The violinist has himself dabbled with crossovers into popular music by covering both Jimi Hendrix and The Doors but has grown suspicious by what he says are more recent attempts by instrumentalists to “be groovy”.

He claimed classical ensembles turning their talents to more mainstream records marked a “desperate” effort to attract a broader audience, which he said resulted in a “crime against music”.


The remarks come after numerous Proms concerts included interpretations of pop songs, and amid recent tours focussing on orchestral covers of chart hits.

Kennedy, 67, said of pop crossovers: “I see it as desperation. It’s trying to be groovy and it makes it even less so.

“These orchestras playing Chemical Brothers, to have an orchestra turning it into namby music with no sense of rhythm, I mean, come on.

“It’s just a crime against music. These cats should be sent to Siberia and do it there.”

Pop star Ella Eyre performed at a Late Night Prom in 2015

 - Bridgeman Images/Chris Christodoulou

In 2015, the BBC Proms broke new ground by scheduling an Ibiza Prom, hosted by DJ Pete Tong, which boasted orchestral versions of club tracks by acts including Daft Punk, Faithless and Fatboy Slim.

The idea has proven popular, and the Royal Albert Hall now regularly hosts “Ministry of Sound Classical” events in which an orchestra adapts club tracks.

In its 2023 event, the 50-piece London Concert Orchestra performed electro tunes by the Chemical Brothers.

Crossovers have extended beyond the club scene, and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra has toured “Symphonic Pops” concerts which feature classical renditions of songs by Beyoncé, Adele, and the Spice Girls.

In 2023, Ken Bruce, the former BBC Radio 2 presenter, hosted a series of classical concerts performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra which offered orchestra versions of chart toppers, including tracks by Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Take That, Ed Sheeran, and Tom Jones.

The violinist has himself been seen as a disruptor in classical music - BBC

Alistair Mackie, the Scottish ensemble’s chief executive, said that the orchestra was attempting to “blur some of the lines between our classical core and our film and pop offerings”, as part of a drive to “build our audiences across the divides”.

He explained in April: “The big battle at the moment within the whole orchestral industry is to cross-fertilise these audience sectors.”

However, this cross-fertilisation of classical and pop music has been met with suspicion by Kennedy, despite his own past experimentation and reputation as an anti-establishment figure in classical music.

The musician has said what was experimental in his day is now the reigning orthodoxy, claiming that his pop crossovers were a “rebellion against the status quo” as opposed to “the young cats now being acquiescent” with a new status quo.

Speaking on the BBC’s This Cultural Life, he added that the push for broader audiences had created a divide between populist and elitist wings in the classical music world, saying: “I think it’s been splintered now into the ones who are even more reactionary, they’re in their little ivory tower even more so. They’ve gone up another floor and they’re much more separate from the rest of us.

“And then there’s these other desperate attempts to popularise classical music, as we all call it. Like having Gustav Holst’s Planets played with pictures of Jupiter on it or something.

“I mean how inane is that? What’s great about Gustav Holst is you don’t need pictures to envision it and we can use our own brains and have our own feelings in our private world and relate to the music each one in our own way.”

CANCEL CULTURE REDO

Cerne Abbas Giant’s manhood restored to cheese


Telegraph reporters
Sun, 31 December 2023 

The Oxford Cheese Company confirmed that the giant has been returned to his former glory - BNPS

A cheese company accused of castrating the Cerne Abbas Giant has reinstated the figure’s manhood following a row.

In June, the Oxford Cheese Company was criticised for featuring the giant on its Cerne Abbas Man vintage cheddar – minus the figure’s oversized phallus.

But customers who have recently purchased the Dorset-inspired product have spotted the giant’s manhood once again featured on the cheese’s packaging.


Ivan Kirby, an Oxfordshire resident, purchased the cheese from a shop in Yarnton, near Oxford, after being amused by the change in packaging.

He said that the change was a “victory for common sense”.

He added: “I think it’s splendid that they’ve seen sense and truly made their vintage cheddar full strength.”

At 180ft, the giant is Britain’s largest, and possibly best-known, chalk hill figure.

Various theories abound about the club-wielding giant and his mysteriously large appendage.

Many believe that the carving is an ancient fertility symbol, while others say it depicts the Greco-Roman hero Hercules.

In June, the cheesemaker was criticised when the giant appeared minus his genitals - BNPS

Vic Irvine, the head brewer at Cerne Abbas Brewery, previously accused the cheesemakers of “emasculating” the giant.

“I think the cheese manufacturers are terrible rotters for taking our giant and taking his penis off him,” he said earlier this year.

Mr Irvine said that he was pleased to see the giant’s phallus back on the packaging but hit out at the company for using the image without making cheese in the village of Cerne Abbas.

He said: “It’s obviously nice to see our giant restored to his former glory after being emasculated so disrespectfully.

“However the original ‘cheddar’ wasn’t even made in the Somerset parish with the famous gorge and then for the mystery substance to be marketed by a cheesemonger of Oxford smacks of desperation.

“We are proud of our Dorset heritage and we can see the giant from our brewery and more importantly he can see us.

“We love our village and we love our giant.

“We brew beer with barley grown in the Cerne Valley and harvest our own hops that we grow up the side of the brewery in September as we firmly believe that local is best.”

A spokesman for the Oxford Cheese Company confirmed that the giant’s manhood had now been returned to the cover of the cheese.

‘There was a connection right away’: the women’s jail training greyhounds for adoption

RESCUE DOGS RESCUE HUMANS

Benita Kolovos
Mon, 1 January 2024 

Photograph: Penny Stephens/The Guardian

Much like every dog owner, Linda* thinks hers is the best. She says two-year-old Sherre has the “cutest” wide-set brown eyes, “chillest personality” and is “full of affection”.

“She’s very loving and sweet-natured,” Linda gushes, as Sherre nudges her way on to her lap for a cuddle.

But Linda is unlike other dog owners. For one, she is in prison. And Sherre – a retired racing greyhound – is her 14th dog in about 12 months.


The duo will only be together for a short time, as part of a program that prepares Sherre for adoption and Linda for life after incarceration.

“I remember after my first dog left, I was so upset, I didn’t want another,” Linda says. “But then I met the next one and there was a connection right away.

“I just love watching the dogs grow and seeing how much it changes the girls’ time here as well.”

Since 2009, prisoners at Tarrengower, a 78-bed minimum-security facility 130km north of Melbourne for women nearing the end of their sentence, have helped hundreds of greyhounds settle into new lives.

The program began in 2007 at Dhurringile – a minimum-security men’s prison – but it’s at Tarrengower where it has taken off. It’s expected that by April 600 dogs will have “graduated” from the program.

Related: Throw a dog a bean: how to reduce the carbon footprint of your pets

In exchange, the women receive not only companionship but also skills and qualifications that may help them gain employment when their time in custody comes to an end.

Aoife Johnston, the prison’s general manager, says she can literally see the difference it makes.

“You notice the women involved in the program, they walk around with their head held a little bit higher,” she says.

Johnston says the program is by far the most popular at the prison, with a lengthy waitlist.

“They take such pride in this program,” she says. “It’s so positive for them. It gives them the opportunity to develop skills that they wouldn’t always have the opportunity to in custody.

“The responsibility of caring for the dog is huge, because building a trusting relationship for some of these women can be a difficult thing to do. It’s amazing for their confidence.”

Sam White, the programs manager at the prison, says the women apply to be a “full-time caregiver” as they would if they were going for a job outside prison – there are resumes, job interviews and criteria.

“We take a lot of things into consideration to see whether they’d be a good fit for the program – at the top is, of course, a love of animals,” he says. “But we don’t tend to look at what they’re in here for.”

White says every six weeks or so six retired racing greyhounds arrive at the prison, where they are assigned a caregiver who teaches them basic obedience and commands.

“Things like not to jump on people or pull on their lead, to stay calm when they see another animal,” he says.

They also familiarise the dogs with life away from the racetrack – they get them used to stairs, noisy household appliances and sitting on the couch. They also ensure their coats are clean and their delicate skin is protected.

White says the women take their responsibilities incredibly seriously.

“We have a really high adoption rate,” he says. “About 90% of the dogs that come here end up getting a home right away and that’s a credit to these women.”

Victoria’s corrections minister, Enver Erdogan, says many of the women who have been part of the program have received qualifications in animal studies, which has helped them get work when they leave prison, including as dog groomers, with adoption agencies and in veterinary clinics.

“It’s great because it gives them something to put on their resume as they enter the job market,” he says.

He is not the only politician who is a fan. The Animal Justice party MP Georgie Purcell has also spruiked the benefits of the “amazing” program.

“The benefits of relationships with animals are proven to reduce recidivism and provide mental health benefits, as well as translating into real world skills,” Purcell says.

But she has concerns about the involvement of the greyhound racing industry, which funds and runs the scheme.

“It cannot be used as a scapegoat for the greyhound racing industry’s overbreeding crisis,” Purcell says.

She has called for the program to continue with the involvement of community rescue groups instead.

According to Greyhound Victoria’s 2022-23 annual report, 2,688 retired greyhounds were rehome in the financial year, the majority (1,606) by community groups.

Related: Loyal, cute and $50,000: we would do anything for our pets. But what if we can’t afford it?

It was the fifth year in a row that community groups found more new homes for racing dogs than the industry’s official adoption program. Greyhound Victoria said cost-of-living pressures had played a role “in reduced community demand for pets”.

Despite increased pressure to find homes for retired race dogs, the latest GRV report shows breeding rates are steady, with 4,000 Victorian-bred pups registered to race in 2022-23. Some 382 racing greyhounds were euthanised during the same period, a slight decrease on the previous financial year.

As for Linda, she hopes to continue working in the program until her time at Tarrengower comes to an end. Some days, she says, it’s the only thing that motivates her to get out of bed.

“My last dog, she was just a doofus. She’d get in her water bowl and just splash around. You can’t help but watch her and laugh,” she says.

“Even if I was having a really bad day, knowing that I get to go and see her and spend time with her, it makes you think life’s not so bad.”

* Name has been changed

‘Fashion can change Africa’: the pioneering designers chasing a world of opportunity


Gabriella Opara in Lagos and Caroline Kimeu in Nairobi

The Guardian
Mon, 1 January 2024

Composite: This Is Us/Alphadi

At a small fashion studio in Lagos, the designers and tailors are busy cutting clean lines through the swathes of fabric. “Cotton T-shirts were the first item we produced,” says designer Oroma Cookey-Gam, co-founder of This is Us, which makes contemporary Nigerian designs, from oversized shirts to jumpsuits and kaftans, using locally produced cotton.

To source the cotton, Cookey-Gam makes a monthly trip to Funtua textile mill, a factory in Katsina in the north, which is one of the few mills fully operational in the country. She then makes the three-hour journey to the Kofar Mata dye pit in Kano, the oldest pit in Nigeria, where the cloth is hand-dyed for up to eight hours into shades of indigo.

Cookey-Gam used to import cotton from Morocco and Turkey but in 2016 embarked on a year-long search to source materials in her home country. While two-thirds of African countries produce cotton, with some of the continent’s largest producers in west Africa, more than 81% of it is exported out of sub-Saharan countries, leaving little to be used locally. A recent Unesco report warned that exports were restricting the growth of the region’s textile and fashion industries, harming its economic opportunities.


“Africa is exporting something which could really create a huge industry and enormous number of jobs,” says Ernesto Ottone, Unesco’s assistant director-general for culture.

Nigeria’s textile industry, like others in Africa, took off in the 60s and 70s but declined as secondhand and foreign-made clothes poured into African markets following a wave of trade liberalisation policies. Now, businesses like This is Us face huge challenges in trying to source materials.

Ginneries – where the seeds from cotton are removed – in Nigeria deal with bulk orders so are less interested in selling to fashion startups, says Cookey-Gam. “When we first went to the mill, they didn’t take us seriously. They said they can’t work with fashion because the orders are not big enough,” she says, explaining how she partnered up with other brands to make bulk orders.



Designers are not understood by the investors and policymakers who can make African fashion take off

Alphadi, fashion designer

Global interest in African-made goods has grown in recent years, spurred on by modern depictions of the continent in culture, such as the Black Panther films, and the explosion of Afrobeats. Prominent black figures including Beyoncé, Naomi Campbell and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie have promoted creations by designers from the region and its diaspora.

Contemporary takes on African fabrics and structures in fashion have been embraced by younger people. Designer Sébastien Bazemo from Burkina Faso has helped bring the colourful fabric Kôkô Dunda back into style. And there are now more than 30 fashion weeks across the continent every year.

“It’s a season of ownership,” says entrepreneur Omoyemi Akerele who runs Lagos’s annual fashion week. “Before now, [the African fashion industry] pandered a bit to the Eurocentric gaze but in the last couple of years, creators and designers are doubling down to communicate and re-emphasise who they are in a way that’s true to themselves and the communities they represent.”

“Made in Africa” movements have prospered in recent years, especially among the continent’s growing middle class, but African creatives say their designs remain inaccessible to many on the continent due to the high costs of production and importing of basic textiles, which affects overall pricing. Clothes from This is Us cost from about 50,000 to 150,000 Nigerian naira (£50 to £150), and its main clients are Nigerian creatives and Africans in the diaspora.

Renowned Nigerien designer Alphadi (Sidahmed Seidnaly) supports calls for African governments to limit imports of textiles and ramp up production of more than just cotton. While the visibility of the continent’s fashion has grown, policy and investor support for the sector remains wanting, he says.

“The difficulty of being an African designer is not being understood by investors, buyers and policymakers, who can make African fashion take off,” he says, citing big European names in fashion. “People bet on them, and that can be the difference between making it or not in this industry.”

Despite being one of the continent’s fashion pioneers, the designer, who runs his business in Niamey, Niger’s capital, and in Ivory Coast and Morocco, says he has had to invest a lot of his own money to stay in business.

African fashion investors say that investments in individual designers are common but do not address structural issues that financiers and policymakers must deal with for the industry to flourish, such as local production capacity. Without such measures, they say, investments may lead only to short-lived success rather than sustainable businesses that can be scaled up.

Roberta Annan, founder of the Impact Fund For African Creatives (IFFAC), a body that invests in creative businesses across Africa, says: “[We need to] look at building the infrastructure and giving the capacity for designers to thrive – for them to access different textiles locally.”

IFFAC supports sustainable fashion businesses with grants and investments of up to £1.7m to build the sector. It recently bought a factory in Ghana that was previously government-owned to increase local textile manufacturing capacity. Designers say measures of this kind can be transformative.

Related: Dressing Dakar: a fashion city from artisan tailoring to haute couture

“African fashion is still very young, and we need [various] elements to make things at high quality,” says Cookey-Gam. “Fashion employs a lot of people and is a tool we can harness to make a difference in people’s lives. It can change the continent.”

Ron DeSantis keeps talking about blowing up the Bahamas
Kenneth Niemeyer
Updated Mon, 1 January 2024



The Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis at a campaign event in Rochester, New Hampshire.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Ron DeSantis keeps saying the US would "flatten" the Bahamas if it attacked Fort Lauderdale.


DeSantis' comments on the campaign trail were making a comparison to the Israel-Hamas war.


The US Embassy in Nassau said the US had a "strong mutual security relationship" with the Bahamas.

Ron DeSantis keeps saying it would be easy to blow up the Bahamas, prompting the US Embassy in Nassau to clarify that his comments do not reflect official policy.

DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, took a campaign trip to New Hampshire on Saturday, where he has trailed in the polls behind Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, and former President Donald Trump, WMUR, a local ABC affiliate, reported.

The Florida governor once again said during the stop that the US would "flatten" the Bahamas if anyone were to ever fire missiles from there into his state — not that there is any indication anyone would do that — Florida Politics reported.

"If someone was firing missiles from the Bahamas into, like, Fort Lauderdale, we would never accept that," DeSantis said during a speech to supporters, according to Florida Politics. "We would flatten. Anything that happened, it would be done like literally within 12 hours, it would be done."

DeSantis' office did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider on Sunday.

He has made this claim a talking point in several of his campaign stops since early November, comparing the war between Israel and Hamas to his hypothetical situation, The Miami Times reported.

On November 13, the US Embassy in Nassau told The Nassau Guardian that it "regrets" if DeSantis' comments portrayed "anything other than a close alliance" between the Bahamas and the US.

"The Bahamas and the United States enjoy an enduring and unique partnership," the embassy said in a statement.

"The USS Leyte Gulf, a US Navy cruiser currently in the Nassau Harbour, illustrates our strong mutual security relationship," the statement added. "We have been allies and friends for 50 years and are looking forward to the next 50."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Sinn Fein Leader McDonald urges Varadkar to ensure Ireland joins legal action against Israel

Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
Sat, 30 December 2023 

The leader of Ireland’s main opposition party has said the country should join South Africa’s legal proceedings against Israel over its military offensive in Gaza.

South Africa launched a case at the United Nations’ top court on Friday, accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks.

South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleges that “acts and omissions by Israel… are genocidal in character” as they are committed with the intent “to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

It also asks the Hague-based court to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza. A hearing into that request is likely in the coming days or weeks.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said Israel “must be held to account” and that Irish premier Leo Varadkar “needs to act now”.

“In initiating proceedings at the International Court of Justice, South Africa has shown the leadership and solidarity that is needed from right across the international community to end Israel’s bombardment of Gaza,” Ms McDonald said.

“What is happening in Gaza is an absolute catastrophe. In full view of the world, over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, another 10,000 are missing, while two million people have been displaced.

“This is a devastation of unimaginable proportions that simply cannot be allowed to continue.

“There must be a ceasefire, there must be sanctions, and Israel must be held to account.

“The Taoiseach needs to act now on behalf of the Irish people.

“I am calling on Leo Varadkar to commit to joining South Africa in their ICJ proceedings against Israel concerning violations under the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in Gaza.

“Only by such actions, and by world leaders exhausting every possible avenue available, will Israel end its bombardment of Gaza, their massacre of civilians and children, and their mass displacement of an entire population.

“World leaders must speak with one voice, and ensure that Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government are held responsible for their reprehensible actions at the ICJ.”

The South African case is the first such challenge made at the court over the current war and Israel swiftly rejected the filing “with disgust”.

South Africa can bring the case under the Genocide Convention because both it and Israel are signatories to the convention.

Netanyahu Remains Dependent on Far-Right Allies, Analysts Say


Isabel Kershner

 the New York Times
Updated Mon, 1 January 2024 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday Dec. 31, 2023. 

(Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)

JERUSALEM — The popularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is plummeting in Israel, according to recent surveys, and deep political divisions that had been set aside after the Hamas assault of Oct. 7 are resurfacing in the country.

But Netanyahu made it clear this weekend that he would not resign after the war in the Gaza Strip ends. Some analysts say he is determined to ensure his political survival and that of his governing coalition, Israel’s most right-wing and religiously conservative ever.

Just over a year after his latest government was sworn in, Netanyahu remains dependent on far-right allies to keep his government in power. Some analysts argue that placating those allies is at least as important to Netanyahu, who has served longer than any other Israeli prime minister, as prosecuting the war against Hamas.

Asked during a televised news conference Saturday night if he would resign after the fighting ends, Netanyahu replied that he had no intention of doing so. “The only thing I intend to be rid of is Hamas,” he said.

The governing coalition holds a fragile majority, with 64 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Days after Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and abducted another 240 people, some of Netanyahu’s centrist rivals joined him to form a broader emergency government and bolster his small war Cabinet. But they did not sign on to any coalition agreements, and they say they will leave the government when they see fit.

“Netanyahu is the prime minister of two separate governments — the war government, which is a wider and more unifying one; and the other, his narrow political coalition of 64 lawmakers,” said Reuven Hazan, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“The second one has priority over the first one,” Hazan added.

Netanyahu has refused to accept any personal responsibility for failures leading to the assault of Oct. 7, saying the tough questions should wait until after the war. The longer the war goes on, many analysts say, the longer he can avoid a political reckoning.

Analysts say that to keep his far-right allies from leaving the coalition, Netanyahu has delayed any serious domestic discussion or diplomatic effort around “the day after” — the issue of who will administer Gaza when the war ends, a main point of contention between Israel and the United States, its chief ally.

Deep political divisions that were largely muted after Oct. 7 are also resurfacing, including over contentious government plans for a judicial overhaul that set off months of mass protests in Israel before the war.

“Israel is drowning once again in the political abyss that threatened to sink it until Oct. 7,” Yoav Limor, a veteran defense analyst, wrote this weekend in Israel Hayom, a right-leaning newspaper.

“Pushing off talking about ‘the day after’ the war in Gaza is particularly infuriating,” Limor added. “The meaning of that decision is that ensuring the integrity of this country and its future are less important than ensuring the integrity of this coalition and its future.”

Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have threatened to bolt and bring down his government on several occasions. They oppose any role in postwar Gaza for the Palestinian Authority, which nominally controls parts of the occupied West Bank, and they reject any progress toward a permanent solution to the conflict based on the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the vision laid out by the Biden administration.

Netanyahu has spoken out against any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza in its current form and made a vague reference Saturday night to the need for some kind of “local administration” in postwar Gaza.

In a measure of the extremes within his governing coalition, several of its members publicly advocated for reestablishing Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, from which Israel withdrew in 2005. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, of the far-right Religious Zionism party, told Army Radio on Sunday that if most Palestinians living in Gaza were to leave, “the whole conversation about the day after would be different.”

“They want to go,” he said of the Palestinians, asserting that he was not supporting a forced transfer but a “migration” that Israel should encourage.

Nearly 85% of Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians have fled their homes since Israel’s offensive began, according to the United Nations, and many have expressed fears of being pushed out of the enclave, raising the specter of another mass exile. About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes during the hostilities surrounding the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, and many ended up in Gaza.

Rebuffing international pressure to stop the fighting in Gaza, where more than 20,000 people have been killed, according to health officials there, Netanyahu pledged on Saturday to continue the war until “absolute victory.”

c.2023 The New York Times Company

In rare apology, Israeli minister says she 'sinned' for her role in reforms that tore country apart

Associated Press
Sun, 31 December 2023 

Palestinians inspect the damage of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes on Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

JERUSALEM (AP) — A former member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet offered a rare public apology Sunday for contributing to the internal strife in Israel that preceded the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip.

The mea culpa by Galit Distel Atbaryan, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's Likud Party, was one of the first times a Likud member has accepted responsibility for the polarized atmosphere ahead of the attack, which triggered a devastating war that has continued for nearly three months.

Distel Atbaryan appeared to accept the argument that the internal divisions created perceptions of weakness that encouraged Hamas to attack.

“I’m here sitting and telling you, the democratic, secular public: I sinned against you, I caused pain for you, I caused you to fear for your lives here, and I am sorry for this,” she told Channel 13 TV.

Distel Atbaryan added that she was taking responsibility for her role in the massive protests and civil discord that erupted after Netanyahu’s right-wing government attempted to implement a far-reaching overhaul of the judicial system. The crisis sparked mass protests, alarmed business leaders and former security chiefs, and drew concern from the United States and other close allies.

“I was one of those people that caused the state to be weakened, that harmed people,” she said. “I created a split, I created a rift, and I created tension. And this tension brought weakness. And this weakness, in many ways, brought massacre.”

Distel Atbaryan, who served as public diplomacy minister, was one of Netanyahu's strongest supporters and drew attention for her harsh criticism of his opponents.

But days after the Oct. 7 attack, she resigned when it was clear that other government ministries were handling her responsibilities.

Distel Atbaryan said the office was a “waste of public funds” during wartime. She has remained as a member of parliament in the Likud.

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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Strawberry Case Study: What If Farmers Had to Pay for Water?


Coral Davenport

The New York Times
Sat, 30 December 2023 

Soren Bjorn, a senior executive at Driscoll’s, the berry giant, at a greenhouse in Watsonville, Calif. on Dec. 22, 2023. 

(Nathan Weyland/The New York Times)

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — The strawberry, blackberry and raspberry fields of the Pajaro Valley stretch for 10 miles along the coast of California’s Monterey Bay, jeweled with fruit from April through early December. The valley’s 30,000 acres of farmland are also ruffled with emerald lettuces, Brussels sprouts and varieties of kale, bringing in roughly $1 billion in revenue to the region each year.

All that abundance doesn’t come cheap.

While American farmers elsewhere have watered their crops by freely pumping the groundwater beneath their land, growers in Pajaro must pay hefty fees for irrigation water — making it one of the most expensive places to grow food in the country, if not the world. The cost: up to $400 per acre-foot, a standard measurement equal to water covering 1 acre, 1 foot deep. The fees bring in $12 million a year, which is used to recycle, restore and conserve the region’s groundwater.


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The Pajaro Valley’s unusual system — essentially a tax on water — was born of a berry-growing disaster some 40 years ago that forced farmers to act. Today, as the nation faces a spreading crisis of dwindling groundwater, stemming from a combination of climate change, agricultural overpumping and other issues, some experts say the Pajaro Valley is a case study in how to save the vital resource.

“What they are doing is cutting-edge,” said Felicia Marcus, a former chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board and now a fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program. While a few other regions have imposed fees on groundwater for farming, Pajaro Valley has been one of the most aggressive and effective. “They are way ahead of the curve,” she said.

Experts from as far away as China and Egypt are traveling to the valley to study the system. But replicating it elsewhere could face major challenges. For one thing, “people don’t like taxes,” said Nicholas Brozovic, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska. “There’s nothing mysterious about that.”

New research on the program revealed a direct connection between paying for the groundwater and conserving it: A 20% increase in the price of groundwater has resulted in a 20% decrease in the extraction of groundwater.

One reason experts see Pajaro as a model: Despite the high price of water, agriculture in the region is thriving. It is the headquarters of major brands, including Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry supplier, and Martinelli’s, which grows most of the apples for its sparkling cider in the Pajaro Valley.

Soren Bjorn, a senior executive at Driscoll’s who in January will become the CEO, said in an interview that he “absolutely” sees the region as a model of water pricing that could be replicated in water-stressed regions from Texas to Portugal. “Water can’t be free anywhere, because you can’t run a sustainable water supply without pricing it,” he said. “That would apply to the globe.”

Yet if the Pajaro Valley experiment were to be replicated across the country, it could trigger changes across the economy that affect both farmers and shoppers, resulting in higher prices at the grocery store while forcing farmers to abandon low-cost commodity crops that are needed for animal feed and other purposes, such as textiles.

While corporate growers of premium products like berries, which are shipped to the shelves of major chains like Whole Foods, Safeway and Trader Joe’s, can absorb the price of Pajaro’s water, there is no way farmers of commodity crops like cotton, alfalfa and soybeans can make the economics work, said David Sanford, the agricultural commissioner of Santa Cruz County, which includes the Pajaro Valley.

In the years since the price on water was imposed, growers of those crops either shifted to high-priced berries and lettuces or simply left the region for cheaper pastures.

“There’s a big public policy argument for pricing groundwater,” said Louis Preonas, an agricultural economist at the University of Maryland. But if you were to try something like this across the country, he added, “it would mean farmers would shift away from growing crops like corn or leave agriculture altogether. Any way you cut it, it would likely raise food prices. But the alternative is running out of water.”

A New York Times investigation this year found that many of the aquifers that supply 90% of the nation’s drinking water systems are being severely depleted by a combination of climate change and overpumping by farmers, industrial users, cities and others.

For many of the nation’s farming regions, the day of reckoning with the loss of groundwater is fast approaching. In the Pajaro Valley, it came 40 years ago.

With its loamy, sandy soil and cool nighttime breezes, the Monterey coast is an ideal climate for strawberries. But in the 1980s, disaster struck. Growers overpumped the coastal groundwater, allowing saltwater from the Pacific Ocean to seep in below their fields, up through the roots of the berry crop.

“You could see the yellow leaves, the discoloration, the stunted growth,” recalled Dick Peixoto, whose family has farmed here since 1920.

Faced with an economic disaster, Peixoto and other growers formed a local water agency with two goals: preserve the groundwater and prevent the state from taking control.

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, still locally run today, got to work. Its first project was installing meters to measure how much groundwater growers were using. In 1993, it started charging farmers a modest fee of $30 per acre-foot to cover the cost of managing and reading the meters.

The water agency hired hydrologists and other consultants, who concluded that the aquifer was severely overdrawn and could be lost entirely to saltwater. In response, the agency built a $6 million project to capture and divert excess rainwater from a creek near the ocean and pump it into a storage basin, where it percolates into underground wells and is eventually used for irrigation.

Next came a $20 million water recycling plant, which cleans approximately 5 million gallons of sewage each day and sends it through a network of purple pipes to farm fields. The purple signals that the water inside is recycled.

Now the agency is building an $80 million system to capture and store more rainwater to be used for irrigation. Some of the cost of the agency’s projects has been covered by federal grants and loans, with the rest from the groundwater pricing system, said Brian Lockwood, who has been the general manager of the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency for 18 years.

“These projects are millions of dollars, and without this source of revenue, they could never come to be,” he said.

As the ambitions of the water agency increased, so did the price of the water. It is scheduled to reach $500 per acre-foot by 2025.

In the early years, farmers chafed under the rate increases. “The pricing was really difficult, when the water used to be, you know, free,” said Thomas Broz, who has farmed about 75 acres in Pajaro since 1996.

Eventually, a group of growers challenged the water agency in court and were able to drive down the prices for a few years, and even forced the agency to refund about $12 million to farmers between 2008 and 2011.

But then, from 2012 to 2017, California was struck by its worst drought in recorded history, parching farmland and devastating the rural economy. Growers across the state, particularly in the Central Valley, reached a deal with the state to sharply restrict their water use and fallow their fields.

In the Pajaro Valley, water became more expensive, but at least it was still flowing. To save money, many Pajaro farmers invested in precision irrigation technology to distribute carefully measured water exactly where it was needed. Gone were the days of sprinklers that drenched fields indiscriminately.

In the midst of the drought, the then-governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed a law requiring every part of the state to devise a plan to conserve groundwater. Miles Reiter, the outgoing CEO of Driscoll’s, spoke in support of the law.

Suddenly, Pajaro was a model.

“Now we’re seen as these pioneers who showed the way,” Lockwood said. “We get calls from all over the state. ‘How did you get this going?’” He partly credits local control of the resources, saying, “This is better than the county or the state coming and taking control. And by now, this is something that’s solid. It’s been tried. It’s survived lawsuits.”

The last time the agency raised rates, in 2021, there was almost no resistance from growers, said Amy Newell, who chairs the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency Board of Directors.

Broz, who paid $20,000 last year for water, said he has come around to accepting the system.

“The farmer has very little flexibility to build in the cost of water, so it means we have to price it into our product. It means we basically can’t be as competitive,” said Broz, who grows lettuces, berries, apples and other vegetables. “But the pricing has allowed us to put in place the kind of measures that will help us have a sustainable system for the long term, if we want to keep the resource.”

In the central California valley’s Westlands water district, where many farmers fought the groundwater management law, the board of directors will soon vote on a plan that would allow growers to pay for credits to use groundwater above a certain allocation. They could buy and sell the credits, starting at about $200 a credit. A handful of other water districts in California are implementing similar measures.

Many farmers worry about the beginning of such a trend.

“The concern is that any kind of pricing scheme or market-based mechanism that tries to manage or distribute this resource is likely to privilege a certain kind of producer — a multinational corporation — at the expense of small-scale independent farmers,” said Jordan Treakle, program coordinator for the National Family Farm Coalition.

And in some parts of the country, pricing groundwater could spell an end to current crops altogether. For example, some experts said that could be the case for producers of Texas cotton, a commodity crop that relies almost entirely on groundwater from the depleting Ogallala aquifer.

Bjorn of Driscoll’s said Americans should be ready to face just that outcome.

“We can’t get away with producing something for which the resources do not exist,” he said. “We would be fooling ourselves to keep growing low-value crops in places in the desert.

“Overcoming the hump of the politics is the hardest part,” Bjorn said. “After that, it’s just managing the resource.”

c.2023 The New York Times Company