Zionism: Managing Its Demise

by M. Shahid Alam / August 3rd, 2024

It is increasingly becoming clear–even to some Western observers—that the Zionist project has run its course. It had an extraordinary run, but it has now reached the end of its settler-colonial track.

The creation of this exclusionary settler-colonial Jewish state was a historical anomaly, among the greatest blunders of Western civilization in the twentieth century. Despite the deep alliance—between Western Jews and their Western tormentors—that established Israel in the mid-20th century, this Jewish state could not in the long run resist the deep logic of history. A few sober Israelis, too, can read the writing on the wall.

At the same time, no one doubts that Israel is capable of inflicting devastating harm on the Western Islamicate. Some members of Israel’s extremist right-wing government, steeled by messianic delusions, are threatening to invoke the Samson option—b’rerat Shimshon. For sure, Israel could kill several million Iranians and Arabs with its arsenal of neutron bombs. But where would that leave the Jewish state?

Would Netanyahu, Biden, and MBS be flying to a new Iranian capital—since they will have obliterated Tehran—to celebrate their victory over Iran, and then fly to Riyadh to seal an enduring Saudi-Israeli alliance, guaranteed for a thousand years by the USA, after Trump’s victory in this great democracy’s last election. It is likely that the inimitable Thomas Friedman will be rooting for this scenario in his next New York Times op-ed.

In order to prevent Israel from launching its neutron bombs, the Western powers that birthed and nurtured the Zionist project must now take responsibility for their historic blunder, and manage the transition of this abnormal Jewish state to a normal one that accords equal rights to all its inhabitants—Jews and Arabs alike. Western powers have shielded this rogue state for more than 76 years. It is now time to make amends.

Acting resolutely and quickly, the UN Security Council needs to sanction Israel until it ends its long-standing violations of multiple international laws. Simultaneously, the USA, Britain, and Germany will need to shut off their arms pipeline to Israel. If Israel refuses to agree to a permanent ceasefire, then the UNSC may also need to impose an oil embargo on Israel.

If someone—Jew or Penguin—who has read this essay and understands my test of antisemitism, and still insists on accusing me of antisemitism, be aware that this accusations fails this test.¹

I oppose Zionism not because it is led by Jews, but because of what Zionism proposed to do, what it has done, and continues to do to the Palestinians. I have made it clear that I would have opposed exclusionary settler-colonial project even if it were by Penguins, Pelicans or Pakistanis.

Future historians of Zionism will acknowledge that Zionism was a trap set up by British antisemites—in addition to securing control over their oil in the Middle East—to be rid of Europe’s Jewish population. Zionist leaders, overambitious and myopic, sold their Zionist vision with ease to Western Jews once they had ‘recruited’ Britain, the leading imperialist power, to their cause.

It is quite astonishing how a brilliant people who produced perhaps a fourth of the world’s most extraordinary minds—from the mid-19th to mid-20th century—espoused two flawed utopian visions, Communism and Zionism, that might dazzle with their surface brilliance, but were not aligned with the heavenly forces.

The first utopian vision, because of its extreme demands on human nature, collapsed in 1990. This totalitarian socialism also blocked the transition—when the historic window was still open—from the destructive capitalism of the 19th century to humane, democratic socialist alternatives.

The second utopian vision may have run its course, but while the vast Soviet Union—a superpower with the second largest military and a vast nuclear arsenal—collapsed peaceably, without causing any wars, Israel, the embodiment of the Zionist utopia, threatens its neighbors with nuclear apocalypse.

Israeli Jews cannot save Israel from itself, but the Jewish diaspora has a chance—because of its distance from the war psychosis generated by the Jewish Spartan state—to use its influence and organizing powers to try to re-orient the ruling elites in the USA, Canada and Britain towards rescuing Jews in Palestine from the Zionist quagmire. Is this even possible since Zionism has dominated the discourse in the Jewish diaspora too?

Nevertheless, there are signs that important sections of Jewish diaspora are beginning to see past their own propaganda. Over the last ten months, many Jews, especially young Jews, have been taking a moral stand against Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians that began in 1947, not October 7, 2024. Also, for the first time, the International Court of Justice has spoken if not clearly and loudly. The International Criminal Court too has filed applications for warrants for the arrest of two Israeli leaders, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

The Jewish diaspora can and should mobilize to save Israel’s Jews from the worst instincts of its right-wing Messianic government. For more than 76 years, the Jewish diaspora has mobilized in support of Israeli governments, no matter their crimes against Palestinians. It is time now to mobilize to restrain Israel’s extremist leadership. It may not be too late. There may still be time to to do the right thing.

ENDNOTE:

1 I will explain this test in another essay that I will publish soon.FacebookTwitter

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M. Shahid Alam is Emeritus Professor, Department of Economics, Northeastern University. He is the author of Israeli Exceptionalism (Springer, 2008) and Yardstick of Life (KDP, 2024), a book of poetry. Read other articles by M. Shahid.

Solidarity as a Monolith of Love against Zionist Evil

by Kim Petersen / August 1st, 2024

Jews are not a monolith. There are plenty of Jews who abhor the racism and violence of the Zionist faction of Jewry. Yet, many uninformed people consider Zionism to express the ethos of Jewishness. And it is clear that Israeli Jews are overwhelmingly supportive of Zionism. (See “Israeli Views of the Israel-Hamas War, “Polls Show Broad Support in Israel for Gaza’s Destruction and Starvation,” and for those who may have read Haaretz and the NYT, “Don’t believe Haaretz and the NYT. Israeli society fully supports the Gaza genocide.”)

In this era of internet and instant communication, information on the monstrous crimes of Zionism is available for people who make an effort to be aware. Take that information and apply open-minded skepticism. Ask whether the evidence substantiates the information and its narrative.

Israeli Jews are carrying out genocide against Palestinians (something that has been ongoing for decades). Eliminating a grouping of people from existence is heinous enough, but there is also the horrific matter of what happens to the victims of Zionists before they are killed.

Redacted interviewed Dan Cohen of Uncaptured Media to report a bloodlust where Israelis are torturing and raping Palestinian prisoners, and that Israeli protestors are in the streets claiming Israelis have a right to rape these prisoners.

Cohen is in Israel telling of “the shock and trauma and hate and racism pulsing through the veins of Israeli society ….” This is exemplified by the fact that the Israeli military-run prison with its Palestinian captives:

…is not about gaining intelligence, at all. It is not about finding Israeli captives in Gaza, at all. What happens there [in the prisons] is about the most cruel punishment. It is torture with electric shock, beating, severe beatings, where if you talk to someone you are beaten until your teeth break, until your bones break, if you fall asleep, these kinds of things. People are, as we know, anally raped. Prisoners are killed. There are many who are murdered. They just never come out…. These are just [Palestinian] civilians, cause all their fighters are underground. So they take civilians from the neighborhoods, and just take them there and torture them and kill them, even top doctors. I think it is 39 medical professionals from Gaza have ah, I believe, been killed in there… (5:30 to 7:15)

Non-Zionist Jews, Jews opposed to the crimes of Zionists, must speak out against the evil, otherwise their silence may be criticised as complicity. The non-Zionist Jews are faced with the challenge of how to get their humanist message widely disseminated in opposition to Zionism.

One grouping of Jews that opposes Zionism and supports Palestinian rights is Jewish Voices for Peace. Rebecca Vilkomerson and Rabbi Alissa Wise, two leaders and former staff of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) have written Solidarity Is the Political Version of Love: Lessons from Jewish Anti-Zionist Organizing (Haymarket Books, 14 May 2024), which covers the period from 2010-2020.

Omar Barghouti, Palestinian human rights defender and cofounder of the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for Palestinian rights, wrote the foreword to the book. Barghouti notes the difference of JVP from other progressivist Jewish organizations:

Instead of the typical Jewish American PEP (progressive except on Palestine) culture, JVP has helped a PIP culture—progressive including on Palestine …

In the face of overwhelming Jewish American support for Zionism and Israeli apartheid, JVP has insisted on growing the anti-Zionist movement to dismantle the myth of Israel’s representation of all Jews and, along with it, the complicity of the Jewish Zionist establishment in securing mainstream support in the US for funding, arming, and enabling Israel’s regime of oppression.

As Solidarity Is the Political Version of Love relates, JVP has grown and morphed over time from the “first mass Jewish civil disobedience in the Rotunda of the US Congress” to later “large-scale protests at a level none of us can remember.” (p 2) “JVP grew larger as it shifted to the left and altered the public narrative about Palestinian liberation while creating a space for Judaism beyond Zionism.” (p 2-3) JVP did not declare itself anti-Zionist until early in 2019; however, it was noted that the proportion of anti-Zionist members and staff has grown over time. (p 13)

When Haymarket Books shared the e-galley, I was informed that the authors are available for interviews. With that in mind, seven days ago I sent some questions.

The first question was based on Vilkomerson and Wise’s definition of solidarity: “as when people outside a specific community dedicate themselves to supporting the rights and aspirations of that community, taking direction on what actions to take from the community itself.” (9) Since solidarity is the leitmotif for the book, why is it that JVP identifies as Jewish voices rather than, for example, Human Voices for Peace? The name seems to set limits on solidarizing with non-Jews within its organization?

However, there is something of a work around in the book: “What did it mean to be a member if you weren’t Jewish? … So, we relied on people self-identifying as members and didn’t spend time gatekeeping peoples’ Jewishness.” (p 55) “We believe movement building is the only way to realize the world all people deserve.” (p 80)

I also asked about the propriety of donating to JVP as opposed to donating to Palestinian movements.

The Zionist NGO Monitor complains that “JVP’s funding sources are not transparent.” NGO Monitor further criticizes JVP, saying that the JVP “regards the organized Jewish community as its ‘enemy’ and ‘opponent,’ …. The strategy, as stated by JVP’s executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson, is to create ‘a wedge’ within the American Jewish community to generate the impression of polarization over Israel.” For those who are opposed to Zionist oppression of Palestinians such criticism ought to be considered as a badge of honor by the JVP.

Moreover, JVP criticizes

Israel’s ongoing apartheid policies of administrative detention—holding Palestinians without charge or trial—left Palestinians stranded in prison indefinitely. At the same time, home demolitions are a daily occurrence, with more than nine thousand structures destroyed since 2009.1 In addition to the daily indignities faced by Palestinians at checkpoints, Jewish-only settlements proliferated in the West Bank, siphoning water, developing a network of Jewish-only roads connecting the settlements to Israel, and bringing into Palestinian communities thousands of armed settler vigilantes, who regularly harassed and violently attacked Palestinians, vandalizing their property with the blessing of the Israeli army, felling ancient olive trees, and shooting at Palestinians that need to cross Jewish-only roads to reach their farms or graze their flocks. In Gaza, the situation became even more dire for Palestinians after Jewish settlers were removed in 2005, when Israel turned Gaza into an open-air prison, maintaining an illegal siege by controlling what goes in and out by air, land, and sea. (p 6)

Sounds good, sounds progressivist.

I wondered about the JVP stance on two-state vs one-state. The authors wrote, “… as a group of people in the US it was not JVP’s place to determine the number of states at all, but instead to do what we could to support a liberatory future.” (p 14)

That’s fine. But what about whether Palestine should be recognized as a state, something Israel is vehemently opposed to? An online search reveals that JVP often refers to the “state of Palestine.” This earned JVP further scorn from the NGO Monitor.

JVP takes many progressivist positions.

JVP acknowledges overwhelming Jewish communal support for Israel but sees its role as “just one prong in a multifaceted movement, led by Palestinians in the US and Palestine.” (p 16)

JVP questions its own Jewish composition: “Ashkenazi Jews colluded with and assimilated into whiteness, Jewish voices (whether Ashkenazi or not) were routinely privileged above Palestinian voices” (p 40) and its hierarchical structure. (p 61)

JVP recognizes “the weaponization of antisemitism, specifically in connection with anti-Zionism,” (p 99) and sees solidarity as the key to overcoming the Zionism that Palestinians endure drives them into isolation from violent domination. (p 102) “JVP, from the very start, has been guided by the exact opposite principle, that writ large we live in an interdependent world, that we all deserve safety, and that the way to gain safety is through solidarity.” (p 103)

Paradoxically, solidarity in a worthy cause might require splittism. Vilkomerson and Wise write, “Decoupling Jews from Israel and Jewishness from Zionism are therefore essential to the struggle against real antisemitism, toward realizing Jewish safety, and, of course, for Palestinian liberation.” (p 108)

The authors see solidarity as an expression of love:

Whatever your version of solidarity, may you practice it as an expression of love. A love that manifests as raging at the world as it is, and at the same time developing smart, intentional plans to realize the world as it should be. (p 215)

The ways in which Israel’s assault on Palestinians in Gaza exceeds the horror of nearly all wars in recent memory are too long to list: more children killed, more journalists killed, more bombs dropped, more homes destroyed, more internally displaced people, more targeting of hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and refugee camps. That’s because it’s simply not a war – it’s a genocide. (p 218)

The genocide of 186,000 Palestinians (likeliest a depressingly higher number in the three-and-a-half weeks since the Lancet article was published), requires an utmost expression of love through solidarity with the entirety of humanity. This comes through clearly and forthrightly in Solidarity Is the Political Version of Love.

There are few (or none) sizeable groupings of people who form a monolith. JVP is one Jewish grouping that deviates from Zionist Jews by upholding morality in solidarity with a shared humanity.

Israel is not alone in its evil. It is backed by governments in the West. The US is a staunch supporter of Zionism, funding it, arming it, and providing media and diplomatic cover for Israel. It points to the sine qua non of a monolith of humans united by love for fellow humans. This guiding principle would elevate humanity to the stratosphere.Facebook

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Kim Petersen is an independent writer. He can be emailed at: kimohp at gmail.com. Read other articles by Kim.

The Folly of Atomic Power

by Ron Jacobs

 August 2, 2024
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Image by Nicolas Hippert.

This past June, a couple of my sisters and I drove from California to Minnesota. One of the states we traveled through was Idaho. We gassed up in a town called Atomic City, which advertised itself as the first city in the United States to have nuclear-powered electricity. This town is inside what grounds of the Idaho National Laboratory, an 890 square mile research site run by the Department of Energy together with various commercial and military interests. Its website currently touts its scientific expertise and its mission devoted to carbon-free nuclear energy, alternative energy and military security. There are currently over 6000 employees working at the various sites of the laboratory, which includes over fifty nuclear reactors and has an annual budget of $1.6 billion dollars. The laboratory and its web page provide a perfect example of how the business of nuclear energy as described by author M. V. Ramana in his brilliant new book Nuclear is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change actually works.

Indeed, the laboratory’s work is a physical and very real representation of the triple threat Ramana describes in the text: the development of nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, and, almost as an afterthought, alternative energy sources like solar and wind. Ramana, who holds the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and is a Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, is a longtime opponent of the nuclear power industry and the government that collaborate and support it. His scientific background provides a solid rebuke to those in the industry and those who shill for it who repeat the same half-truths and lies whenever nuclear energy is brought up. In addition, this book is a convincing response supported by solid science (and a bit of political economy) to those who want the public to believe that nuclear power is a reasonable and affordable alternative to fossil fuels and the global climate crisis.

Chapter by chapter, Ramana addresses the health risks, the economics of, and the unbreakable link between nuclear power and the nuclear war industry. Instead of talking in terms of possibility, he focuses on the existing circumstances. To those who would try and sell the public a new nuclear plant by suggesting that the possibility of a nuclear accident at the plant is infinitesimal, Ramana writes:

“Theoretical predictions of stupefyingly low accident probabilities do not square with the empirical evidence of severe accidents at nuclear reactors.”(26)

In other words, believe what you see, not what the industry says. In another chapter, Ramana questions the method by which the private power utilities socialize the costs while privatizing the profits. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this phenomenon is the contracts and laws that force utility companies to pay for plants that never go online (and, in some cases, are never even built.) I recall this occurring when I lived in North Carolina. South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) lobbied for and received the go-ahead to build two nuclear reactors. As costs mounted, the company asked the Public Utilities Commission to allow the firm to charge customers for the costs associated with building the plants. To make a long story short, customers are still paying for the plants, and the plants were never built. Ramana provides a detailed account of this story in a chapter he titles “Private Profits, Social Costs: Industry Strategies” as a perfect example of how the industry works.

In his chapter on the links between nuclear power and the nuclear war industry, the author is equally scathing. When discussing the claim made by some environmentalists who support nuclear power that the nuclear power industry and the nuclear war industry are two different things, Ramana is clear: any separation is simply an illusion. In fact, he argues that one reason governments are so willing to support the nuclear power industry is because it produces the essential element plutonium for nuclear weapons as a supposed by-product. In fact, it appears more likely that plutonium is not a mere by-product but one of the primary reasons for the ongoing governmental support for the industry.

Nuclear is Not the Solution discusses the nuclear industry in a frank and honest manner. There are no questionable claims about nuclear energy or fantastic excuses made for the industry’s mistakes and its questionable premises. The text details the industry’s lies, mistakes and cover-ups, reminding the reader that they should focus on the historical and empirical facts, not fanciful advertising and promises. He describes an industry rife with corruption and hungry for profits. Although his primary focus is on the industry in the United States, Ramana does not spare other nuclear powers from his reasoned and well-informed exposé. Those who think nuclear energy should be the future would do well to read his book. It should convince one the opposite is more likely the truth.

Ron Jacobs is the author of Daydream Sunset: Sixties Counterculture in the Seventies published by CounterPunch Books. He has a new book, titled Nowhere Land: Journeys Through a Broken Nation coming out in Spring 2024.   He lives in Vermont. He can be reached at: ronj1955@gmail.com

Nigerian police teargas protesters, arrest hundreds

Days of widespread demonstrations in Africa's most populous nation have left at least 13 people dead, Amnesty International says.

YOUTH REVOLT!

41% OF THE GLOBAL POP. IS UNDER 30!

Nigerians have been protesting government policies that are causing inflation and hunger

Sunday Alamba/AP/picture alliance

Nigerian police said they had arrested nearly 700 people in days of nationwide protests against the high cost of living.

On Saturday, police said they fired rubber bullets and teargas at protesters in the capital city, Abuja.

Amnesty International said 50 journalists were among the 681 people arrested over the three days of demonstrations.

Demonstrations to continue

The people who have been arrested are being accused by the police of "armed robbery, arson, mischief," and damaging property.

Amnesty has accused police of using live ammunition

Image: Sunday Alamba/AP/picture alliance

Damilare Adenola, leader of the Take It Back group organizing protests in Abuja, told the AFP news agency that police fired on protesters on Saturday, who "were gathered peacefully."

"We are going to continue with the demonstrations," he added.

They demand that the government reduce fuel prices and address Nigeria's most severe economic crisis, with inflation reaching a 28-year high of 34%.

Police blamed for violent crackdown

Amnesty International said security forces had killed 13 protesters since Thursday, blaming them for using live rounds.

Police denied this, saying seven people have so far died during the protests but that security forces killed none of them.

Police have sought to confine protesters to the outskirts of major cities to avoid disruptions to business and traffic.

Nigeria cost-of-living protests turn violent  03:07

In particular, they deployed more forces to Kano State where some protesters attempted to break into a police station near the neighborhoods of Kurna and Rijiyar Lemo.

In the commercial hub of Lagos, more than 1,000 protesters held a peaceful demonstration against President Bola Tinubu's reforms, including the removal of a popular petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the currency, which sent inflation soaring.

(lo/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)

SPACE

Meteorite that exploded over Germany 4.5 billion years old

DW

Fragments of the Ribbeck meteorite are roughly 4.5 billion years old and smell a little like rotten eggs, scientists say in a new journal paper. They theorize that snow and thawing exposure explains the unpleasant aroma.

Fragments fell to the ground in the Havelland region of the state of Brandenburg that surrounds the German capital

Image: Pablo Castagnola

Fragments of a meteorite that blazed across the skies near Berlin in January are about 4.5 billion years old, scientists wrote in an article published in the Meteoritics & Planetary Science journal.

Named after the site of its discovery, researchers led by the Institute of Planetology at the University of Münster also found the Ribbeck meteorite belongs to the scarce class of aubrites.

They are so rare that only 11 other aubrite falls have been recorded, while 76 finds are listed in the meteorite database.

Ancient calling card from space

Scientists have examined the Ribbeck meteorite fragments closely, and they estimate that Ribbeck's parent body is approximately 4.5 billion years old.

It likely originated from the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter.



Curiously, the meteorite fragments emitted an intense smell of hydrogen sulfide, reminiscent of rotten eggs.

This odor results from chemical reactions between the mineral phases and moisture — likely caused by snow and thaw — altering the rock's mineralogy.

Meteorite treasure hunt

Ribbeck, initially named asteroid 2024 BX1, burned up on January 21 this year over Germany.

The first piece of the meteorite was only found days later.



"When searching for meteorites, you usually look for black rocks. However, due to their mineralogy and composition, the Ribbeck fragments did not have a consistently dark fusion crust," Addi Bischoff, one of the authors of the paper, explained.

"This is probably why numerous fragments were missed in the first days of the search, until this peculiarity was recognized," he said.

Scientists and collectors gathered 202 fragments weighing 1.8 kilograms in total.

lo/msh (dpa, epd)

These 17th-century drawings of the sun by Kepler add fire to solar cycle mystery

News

By Elizabeth Howell 

Kepler's sun drawings are the oldest sunspot records with known dates.

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The earliest datable sunspot drawings based on Johannes Kepler's solar observations with camera obscura in May 1607. Kepler accompanied the drawings with descriptions in Latin of the sunspots he was observing. (Image credit: Public Domain)

"Half-forgotten" sunspot drawings by Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler are showing us more about how the sun's cycle of activities work.

Kepler (1571-1630), who was born in what we now call Germany, is best known in astronomy for formulating the laws of planetary motion. His diverse interests, however, included looking at the sun. Drawings he made of a sunspot group in 1607, a new study reveals, show the "tail-end of the solar cycle" with instrumentation before the telescope was more widely available in the early 17th century.

"The group's findings … offer a key to resolving the controversy on the duration of solar cycles at the beginning of the 17th century," Japan's Nagoya University wrote in a statement.

Known as the Maunder Minimum, this period (between 1645 and 1715) was said to be an era of fewer sunspots than usual, which in turn led to colder periods on Earth than the norm of the day.

RELATED: 'A wonderful spectacle': Photographer snaps rare solar eruption as 'magnetic noose' strangles the sun's south pole

Sunspots are cooler regions on the surface of the sun that can spawn eruptive disturbances, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. (Image credit: NASA/SDO)

Since Kepler lacked the telescope, he instead examined the sun using camera obscura. That method used a "small hole in a wall to project the sun's image onto a sheet of paper," the statement noted. Kepler at first thought he was witnessing a transit of Mercury across the sun, but later clarified it was a sunspot group.

"This is the oldest sunspot sketch ever made with an instrumental observation and a projection," lead author Hisashi Hayakawa, an assistant professor and solar scientist at Nagoya, said in a statement. He added the significance of Kepler's solar drawings was overlooked, over the eras: "It has only been discussed in the context of the history of science and had not been used for quantitative analyses for the solar cycles."

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Key to the researchers' analysis was tracking how sunspots move across a solar cycle: "Their occurrence, frequency, and latitudinal distributions appear in cycles that affect solar radiation and space weather," the statement noted. As such, they worked to narrow down what latitude Kepler's sunspots were observed at.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, oil on panel, anon., 1610. (Image credit: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The researchers say their analysis of Kepler's drawings revealed four major things.

First, the sunspot group was at a lower latitude than previously believed (after taking into account the solar position angle from his location); related to that, future findings in the telescope showed sunspots at higher latitudes, suggesting "a typical transition" between cycles.

The latitude change suggests the sunspot group was at the end of one solar cycle instead of the beginning of another, based on the latitude of the sunspots, which formulated the third finding.

Finally, Kepler's observations may show the transition zone between solar cycles, which the study pegged between 1607 and 1610.

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While some researchers previously theorized the Maunder Minimum arose from irregular solar cycles different than the typical 11 years, Kepler's records showed "a regular duration" for the solar cycle he observed in 1607, the study added.

But the finding is not without controversy: tree ring cycles from previous studies have suggested normal solar cycles in some work, and abnormal solar cycles in others.

Hayakawa urged further examinations on the matter. "It is extremely important to check these [tree rings] reconstructions with independent – preferably observational – records," he said.

The new study was published in The Astrophysical Journal on July 25.

Originally posted on Space.com.

IAF’s Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla picked as ‘Prime Astronaut’ for Indo-US Mission to Space Station

Indian Air Force Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla has been selected as the prime astronaut for the upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced.

A joint statement signed between India and the US during the official state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 envisioned a joint ISRO-NASA effort to the ISS.

Towards the goal of mounting a joint ISRO-NASA effort, the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) of ISRO has entered into a Space Flight Agreement (SFA) with NASA-identified service provider Axiom Space Inc, USA for its upcoming Axiom-4 mission to the ISS, the Indian space agency said on Friday.

A National Mission Assignment Board has recommended two Gaganyatris as prime and backup Mission Pilot for this mission. These include Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (Prime) and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair (Backup).

“The assigned crewmembers will be finally approved to fly to the International Space Station by the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP),” ISRO statement read.

The recommended Gaganyatris will commence their training for the mission from the first week of August, ISRO said.

During the mission, the Gaganyatri will undertake selected scientific research and technology demonstration experiments on board the ISS as well as engage in space outreach activities. The experiences gained during this mission will be beneficial for the Indian Human Space Program and it will also strengthen human space flight cooperation between ISRO and NASA.

Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.

In February this year, PM Modi announced the names of the four chosen Indian Air Force pilots; Group Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla who would be part of India’s first human space flight programme. It is slated to be launched in 2024-25.

The four astronauts were trained at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had reviewed the progress of the Gaganyaan mission and bestowed ‘astronaut wings’ to the astronaut-designates at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first human space flight program for which extensive preparations are underway at various ISRO centres.

“India’s success in the space sector is sowing the seeds of scientific temperament in the country’s young generation,” PM Modi said in his address at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

The pre-requisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space, Life Support System to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew.

Various precursor missions are planned for demonstrating the Technology Preparedness Levels before carrying out the actual Human Space Flight mission. These demonstrator missions include Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT) and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. Safety and reliability of all systems will be proven in unmanned missions preceding manned mission.

LVM3 rocket – The well proven and reliable heavy lift launcher of ISRO, is identified as the launch vehicle for Gaganyaan mission.
Human safety is of paramount importance in Gaganyaan mission. In order to ensure the same, various new technologies comprising of Engineering systems and Human centric systems are being developed and realised.

In 2023, in a stellar display of prowess, India soared to new heights with the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the South Pole of the Moon and the successful launch of Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission.

These milestones not only secured India’s standing in the global space economy but also fueled the engines for the private space sector in India.

Among other feats India now aims for setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ by 2035, and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.

(ANI)

THE 'OTHER' RIGHT WING

Berlin: Thousands march in COVID-19 pandemic skeptic protest

SCIENCE SKEPTICS & DENIERS

Richard Connor

DW

TODAY

Thousands marched in Berlin to reprise demonstrations questioning government-imposed measures at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also voiced opposition to Germany's push to rebuild its military.

Protesters also voiced opposition against the German government's push to rebuild the country's military

.Image: Carsten Koall/dpa/picture alliance

Several thousand people on Saturday joined a street demonstration and rally in Berlin organized by Germany's "Lateral Thinking" protest movement.

The protest faction, best known for staging demonstrations against COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, was calling for a reassessment of government measures and "consequences for those responsible."

However, a large contingent also protested against the German government's push to rebuild the country's military.

How the protests unfolded

The demonstration moved along the German capital's famous Kurfürstendamm shopping street toward Berlin-Tiergarten.

There, a stage had been set up for a "freedom, peace, joy" rally organized by the movement's initiator Michael Ballweg.

Many participants in the march protested against the policies of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left-led coalition government.

Some carried placards for the fringe political party The Basis, which is seen as aligned with the Lateral Thinking movement.

Among the statements on display was "Peace-ready, not war-ready," a reference to the statement by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius that Germany must be prepared for conflict with Russia by 2029.

According to the Berlin police in the late afternoon, the demonstration and rally had been peaceful and without incident, there were no arrests.

However, there were several violations of the requirement not to display posters referring to the magazine "Compact," which Germany's domestic intelligence service had classified as right-wing extremist and which was subsequently banned.

Around 9,000 people took part in the protest in the German capital  DOUBLE THAT

Carsten Koall/dpa/picture alliance

A preliminary estimate by police put the crowd at the demonstration at around 9,000 people.

Berlin police deployed 500 officers to monitor both the demonstration and several planned counter-demonstrations.

What is the Lateral Thinking movement?

The movement began in Stuttgart and eventually spread across Germany during the coronavirus pandemic.

Supporters repeatedly protested against lockdown measures and vaccine requirements as measures to contain the virus.

An estimated 20,000 people joined a demonstration against the coronavirus measures in Berlin in August 2020, although organizers claimed that the actual crowd was much larger.

Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in 2021 said it would keep parts of the anti-coronavirus lockdown movement under observation.

While the protests became smaller after that, incidents of violence became more frequent. There was increasing concern that the rallies were being used as a platform for far-right and extremist views.

Protesters were noted to have increasingly embraced conspiracy theories, most notably those floated by the QAnon movement which originated in the United States.

This article was written using material from the DPA news agency.

Edited by: Sean Sinico

China hit by second bridge collapse in a month

Flooding and landslides struck a village and caused the collapse of a highway bridge in southwestern Sichuan province. At least two people were killed and around a dozen are missing.

The collapsed tunnel bridge was located along an expressway linking Kangding and Ya'an

Image: picture alliance/Xinhua News Agency

At least two people died and around 12 others are missing after flooding and mudslides destroyed homes and caused a highway bridge to collapse in China's southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV spoke of "local mountain torrents and landslides," that swept away part of Ridi village in Kangding, in Sichuan's western highlands.

The area sits at the foothills of the Himalayas and has a large Tibetan population.

The local government said the bridge that collapsed linked two tunnels and was located along an expressway linking Kangding and Ya'an.
Several cars plunged to ground

At least three vehicles, carrying six people, had plunged off the road, officials said.

State media video footage showed damaged cars lying in a valley near several homes. The valley was also filled with large rocks.

The local government wrote on social media that one person was rescued and five are missing.

Stretches of two highways in the area were closed to traffic, the government said in a further statement.
Death toll rises from earlier bridge collapse

This summer, China has witnessed several natural disasters, including another highway bridge collapse in the northern Shaanxi province last month.

The tragedy was triggered by flash floods, which saw the bridge give way, plunging 25 vehicles into a river.

On Friday, state media said the death toll from the Shaanxi collapse had increased from 12 to 38, with 24 people still missing.

Thirty people died in Zixing, a city in Hunan province after Typhoon Gaemi lashed the region with record rains in late July.

Typhoon Gaemi slams China after wreaking havoc on Taiwan 02:17

In May, a highway in southern China collapsed after days of rain, leaving 48 dead after their vehicles plunged into a forested slope.
Economic cost reaches 100 billion yuan

Sichuan and Hunan provinces in southern China have suffered the most damage from storms and floods over the past decade, costing the local economy more than 100 billion yuan ($14 billion, €12.82 billion) each, according to some estimates.

China is the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gasses that scientists say drive climate change.

Scientists have warned that the country faces many risks from the increasing global temperatures, including rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather, including heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods.

mm/rmt (AFP, Reuters)