Russia’s new war middle class

Hanging out at Patriarch Ponds in central Moscow. Russia’s torrent of military spending and a chronic labour shortage has supercharged the economy and is creating a new middle class across the country, undoing the legendary income inequality between the biggest cities and poorest regions. / bne IntelliNews

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By Ben Aris in Berlin August 23, 2024

The war in Ukraine is creating a new middle class in Russia. Soaring incomes, plenty of jobs for anyone that wants them, and huge amounts of government investment into some of Russia’s poorest regions where most of the defence industry have its factories has done more to undo Russia’s legendary income inequality than all of the government’s programmes over the last three decades of independence.

A report commissioned by Defence Minister Andrei Belousov by the Centre for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF), identified rapid changes to the make-up of Russia’s society over the last two years, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's labour market is experiencing what analysts describe as an unusual trend: living standards are rising across all social groups, albeit unevenly, The Bell, citing the study, reports. Ironically, the war has been good for Russia and sanctions and a showdown with the US have made it stronger.

The findings tally with other studies that highlighted Russia’s poorest regions have been the biggest winners from the war. During the Cold War many of Russia’s defence factories were moved to smaller towns deep in the hinterland for national security reasons. These same towns were the worst victims of the end of the arms race with the Western world in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, and their factories idled and wages stopped. But now floods of state spending have been channelled to Russia's interior and the factories are working three shifts 24/7. Military recruitment has created a chronic labour shortage which has also sent wages spiking.

Despite high inflation that touched 9% in July, nominal wages have been rising even faster, according to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) latest macroeconomic survey leading to record high real disposable incomes up by 9.6% in July – beating the record set in 2013 -- that is fuelling a consumption boom.

Behind the change Putinomics has been stood on its head: for the last two decades the Kremlin has effectively run an austerity budget, curtailing investment, hoarding cash to build up a $600bn war chest and paying down its external debt to a level that is a fraction of that of any other major economy in the world.

CMASF found a significant reduction in poverty, as detailed in bne IntelliNews latest despair index survey, with the share of people living below the poverty line falling from 13.5% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2023 – significantly less than almost all EU countries.

At the same time, the proportion of individuals earning over RUB100,000 ($1,100) per month, the average wage for a Siberian bus driver, has doubled from 5.7% in 2021 to 10% in 2023.

By mid-2024, 4–5% of Russians reported having no financial difficulties at all, allowing them to afford any expenses, including property purchases—a notable increase from just 1–2% in 2017, says CMASF.

Big money in poor regions

Moscow has become a party town since the war started. The area around Patriarchy Prudi, the fashionable square in the heart of the capital, has always been home to some of Moscow’s most exclusive restaurants, and is buzzing at the weekend with bars and artisanal eateries.

Muscovites are enjoying the long summer days, sipping cocktails and strolling by the pond in the warm weather, where the opening scene of Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic novel The Master and Margarita is set.

This correspondent asked a friend, a resident in Moscow, who says he opposes the war in Ukraine, why he doesn’t leave.

“I don’t know where to go if I did,” he replied. “We thought about Berlin, Paris or Amsterdam, but what stops me is we don’t want to take a step down from the quality of life of living in Moscow at the moment.”

Life in Russia’s far-flung regions is very different, but for the poorest segments of the population, the war has become a social elevator. A contract with the Ministry of Defence offers a monthly salary starting at RUB200,000 ($2,200) for ordinary soldiers, along with a one-time payment that can reach nearly RUB2mn, enough to buy a nice car, depending on the region.

Recently the recruitment rate has begun to slow and Bloomberg reports that regional authorities are only filling two thirds of their quotas. So, to boost the numbers, in July Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hefty increase to federal sign-up bonuses of RUB400,000.

By August, the regions followed suit, but once again the bulk of the payments are being made in the very poorest regions, which is also where most of the volunteers come from, a study of rising retail banking deposits showed – banks in the poorest regions were seeing the fastest growth in deposit accounts as soldiers send their pay home.

Desperate to keep the flow of soldiers into Russia’s Donbas meatgrinder steady, 47 Russian regions increased payments for concluding a contract with the Ministry of Defence in August.

Putin raised the federal payment and recommended that regions also pay new contract soldiers at least RUB400,000 each, Important Stories reported.  But many regions pay far more than this. In August the one-time regional payment averaged RUB596, a 3.6-fold increase in less than eight months and up from RUB168,000 at the end of 2023.

And in 15 regions, the combined federal and regional payments have reached a million rubles or more. The highest regional payments are in Moscow (RUB1.9mn) and St Petersburg (RUB1.7mn).

These are huge amounts of money compared to the local average salaries. While incomes in the twin capitals of Moscow and St Petersburg are much higher than the regions, the sign up bonuses are tempting but not spectacular, in the poorer regions the bonuses are life-changing. The regional budget payments are mostly several times higher than the average monthly income of local residents. The biggest difference is in Karachay-Cherkessia, an ethnic republic in the impoverished Caucasus on the border with Georgia where the regional payment is RUB1.6mn, or a whopping 68-times higher than the average income of RUB23,400 ($280) per month.

Skilled workers get top pay

The big payouts in poor regions has brought fresh recruits to the army, but for those with “in-demand” skills the pay can be even more attractive; an engineer or technician can typically double their civilian job salary or more.

The Ministry of Defence needs every kind of worker. While a simple private from Dagestan will be sent to the frontline as cannon fodder, a bus driver from Irkutsk or a construction worker can find themselves working on a construction site in Mariupol rebuilding the city that was destroyed during the siege last year. The reconstruction work in the captured and annexed region is all under purview of the Ministry of Defence.

Workers from sectors like IT, engineering, and chemical industries are in even higher demand. Labour shortages are forcing companies to compete for workers, a trend that began during the pandemic and intensified with the onset of the war and the expansion of sanctions. Since the start of the war, more than 500,000 Russians have entered the defence sector, where average salaries have risen by 20–60%.

"In 2023, Russians' incomes grew from various sources, but in the first half of 2024, this growth was primarily driven by wages, which increased by 7.4%, with 7 percentage points attributed to wage growth," the CMASF report says.

 Some experts have cautioned against prematurely classifying "special military operation" participants as part of the middle class.

"One of the essential criteria for being middle class is human capital, which is the main source of income for its members," The Bell noted. “It is difficult to imagine that military personnel and defence industry workers will invest their increased salaries in education or professional development.”

Russia's original post-Soviet middle class emerged in the noughties after the chaos of the Yeltsin-era receded. Putin’s gift to Russia was his fear of social unrest as the salary gap between the private and public sector rapidly widened – and half the population are so-called budzhetniki, or in jobs that are paid for from the budget. So, the Kremlin began to raise public sector salaries by some 10% a year and kept that up for a decade. Russia’s lives have always been rubbish but these pay rises were transformational. The new middle class threw themselves into the plethora of professional jobs that appeared as a result.

That is not happening this time. it appears that most of these war middle class, flush with cash, have just chosen to go shopping or buy a new car. The retail trade turnover in Russia shot up by 8.8% y/y during the first six months of 2024 to RUB25.8 trillion ($299.3bn) in comparable prices, according to Rosstat. The volume of car loans hit an all-time high in July and the automotive sector has completely recovered all the ground lost since the start of the war as Russian car sales this July were higher than in July 2021, the last July with normal pre-war sales.

Will it last? The growth of war-established middle classes may only be a temporary phenomena. The CBR issued a very pessimistic medium-term macroeconomic outlook on August 21 that predicts even stronger growth for this year of up to 4%, after the 3.6% expansion last year, but for the economy to hit a brick wall in 2025. Crushingly high interest rates, the lack of new capacity, curbed military spending and a shortage of technology will start to take their toll as the Keynesianism boost wears off. Consumption growth in particular is expected to come to a standstill as the economy cools and all the forces that have been driving the military spending bump are exhausted.

ICYMI GOOD NEWS

Young humpback whale freed from fishing tackle that had entangled its tail in Sydney Harbor

A young humpback has been freed from fishing tackle that had entangled its tail during an almost 24-hour rescue operation in Sydney Harbor

By ROD MCGUIRK Associated Press
August 22, 2024, 10:06 PM



MELBOURNE, Australia -- A young humpback whale was freed from fishing tackle that had entangled its tail during an almost 24-hour rescue operation in Sydney Harbor.

The juvenile whale immediately began swimming toward the Sydney Heads and the open Pacific Ocean after government wildlife rescuers removed the ropes late Friday morning, Macquarie University whale expert Vanessa Pirotta said.

The distressed whale was first reported by operators of a whale watching cruise ship in the harbor at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

A rescue attempt involving boats, helicopters and drones began Thursday afternoon and resumed at first light Friday.

Pirotta said the whale could have become entangled far earlier than Thursday.

She could tell by the sound of the whale’s breathing that it was “very fatigued” before it was freed.

“Is the whale OK? I hope, I don’t really know. The reality is this animal has been through a huge ordeal,” Pirotta told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“Being entangled in fishing gear is an awful thing, but then having boats and drones in the busiest harbor on Earth, Sydney Harbor — it’s just incredible to see where this has just unfolded,” Pirotta added.

Jessica Fox, an official from the volunteer Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia, said the rescue crew attached buoys to the tangled rope to slow the whale so they could eventually hold it in place while they cut the rope away.

“The whale has been going in circles in Sydney Harbor, making some erratic directional changes,” Fox said in video posted on social media on Friday before the mammal was freed.


“As you can imagine, it’s a very, very difficult task to try and disentangle a whale,” Fox added.

Pirotta said it was not clear why the whale had remained in the harbor rather than swim to the open ocean with its tail entangled. But staying in the harbor made rescuers’ job easier, she said.

A humpback whale is considered a juvenile up to 4 years old. Its gender is unknown.

USDA efforts to solve the bird flu outbreak in cows are taking center stage in central Iowa

At first glance, it looks like an unassuming Iowa farm

ByMARY CONLON Associated Press 

MIKE STOBBE Associated Press

August 22, 2024, 




AMES, Iowa -- At first glance, it looks like an unassuming farm. Cows are scattered across fenced-in fields. A milking barn sits in the distance with a tractor parked alongside. But the people who work there are not farmers, and other buildings look more like what you’d find at a modern university than in a cow pasture.

Welcome to the National Animal Disease Center, a government research facility in Iowa where 43 scientists work with pigs, cows and other animals, pushing to solve the bird flu outbreak currently spreading through U.S. animals — and develop ways to stop it.

Particularly important is the testing of a cow vaccine designed to stop the continued spread of the virus — thereby, hopefully, reducing the risk that it will someday become a widespread disease in people.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture facility opened in 1961 in Ames, a college town about 45 minutes north of Des Moines. The center is located on a pastoral, 523-acre (212-hectare) site a couple of miles east of Ames' low-slung downtown.

It's a quiet place with a rich history. Through the years, researchers there developed vaccines against various diseases that endanger pigs and cattle, including hog cholera and brucellosis. And work there during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009 — known at the time as “swine flu” — proved the virus was confined to the respiratory tract of pigs and that pork was safe to eat.

The center has the unusual resources and experience to do that kind of work, said Richard Webby, a prominent flu researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

“That’s not a capacity that many places in the U.S. have,” said Webby, who has been collaborating with the Ames facility on the cow vaccine work.

The campus has 93 buildings, including a high-containment laboratory building whose exterior is reminiscent of a modern megachurch but inside features a series of compartmentalized corridors and rooms, some containing infected animals. That’s where scientists work with more dangerous germs, including the H5N1 bird flu. There’s also a building with three floors of offices that houses animal disease researchers as well as a testing center that is a “for animals” version of the CDC labs in Atlanta that identify rare (and sometimes scary) new human infections.

About 660 people work at the campus — roughly a third of them assigned to the animal disease center, which has a $38 million annual budget. They were already busy with a wide range of projects but grew even busier this year after the H5N1 bird flu unexpectedly jumped into U.S. dairy cows.

“It's just amazing how people just dig down and make it work,” said Mark Ackermann, the center's director.


The virus was first identified in 1959 and grew into a widespread and highly lethal menace to migratory birds and domesticated poultry. Meanwhile, the virus evolved, and in the past few years has been detected in a growing number of animals ranging from dogs and cats to sea lions and polar bears.

Despite the spread in different animals, scientists were still surprised this year when infections were suddenly detected in cows — specifically, in the udders and milk of dairy cows. It’s not unusual for bacteria to cause udder infections, but a flu virus?

“Typically we think of influenza as being a respiratory disease,” said Kaitlyn Sarlo Davila, a researcher at the Ames facility.

Much of the research on the disease has been conducted at a USDA poultry research center in Athens, Georgia, but the appearance of the virus in cows pulled the Ames center into the mix.

Amy Baker, a researcher who has won awards for her research on flu in pigs, is now testing a vaccine for cows. Preliminary results are expected soon, she said.


USDA spokesperson Shilo Weir called the work promising but early in development. There is not yet an approved bird flu vaccine being used at U.S. poultry farms, and Weir said that while poultry vaccines are being pursued, any such strategy would be challenging and would not be guaranteed to eliminate the virus.

Baker and other researchers also have been working on studies in which they try to see how the virus spreads between cows. That work is going on in the high-containment building, where scientists and animal caretakers don specialized respirators and other protective equipment.

The research exposed four yearling heifers to a virus-carrying mist and then squirted the virus into the teats and udders of two lactating cows. The first four cows got infected but had few symptoms. The second two got sicker — suffering diminished appetite, a drop in milk production and producing thick, yellowish milk.

The conclusion that the virus mainly spread through exposure to milk containing high levels of the virus — which could then spread through shared milking equipment or other means — was consistent with what health investigators understood to be going on. But it was important to do the work because it has sometimes been difficult to get complete information from dairy farms, Webby said.

“At best we had some good hunches about how the virus was circulating, but we didn't really know,” he added.


USDA scientists are doing additional work, checking the blood of calves that drank raw milk for signs of infection.

A study conducted by the Iowa center and several universities concluded that the virus was likely circulating for months before it was officially reported in Texas in March.

The study also noted a new and very rare combination of genes in the bird flu virus that spilled over into the cows, and researchers are sorting out whether that enabled it to spread to cows, or among cows, said Tavis Anderson, who helped lead the work.

Either way, the researchers in Ames expect to be busy for years.

“Do they (cows) have their own unique influenzas? Can it go from a cow back into wild birds? Can it go from a cow into a human? Cow into a pig?” Anderson added. “Understanding those dynamics I think is the outstanding research question — or one of them.”

___

Stobbe reported from New York.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Azerbaijan’s security service detains researcher-freelance journalist

Detainee reportedly facing treason charge.

Aug 22, 2024

(Photo: Bahruz Samadov/Facebook)

An Azerbaijani researcher and freelance journalist, Bahruz Samadov, has reportedly been detained in Baku on suspicion of engaging in anti-state activities.

Samadov, a contributor to a variety of media outlets including Eurasianet, was last heard from in the late afternoon of August 21. Friends and relatives say that he was taken into custody by representatives of Azerbaijan’s security service. RFE/RL reported that a public defender phoned Samadov’s grandmother in Baku, informing her that her grandson “is being accused of treason.”

Rights activists have linked Samadov’s detention to an ongoing crackdown carried out by the Azerbaijani government to silence opposition politicians and independent journalists.

“We’re concerned about the detention of Bahruz Samadov whom the Azerbaijani authorities have accused of treason,” Gulnoza Said, the Europe and Central Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement given to Eurasianet.

“The critical reports and penetrating analysis that Samadov has been known for does not equate treason, and the authorities must either produce evidence of their allegations, or let Samadov free,” Said continued. “Azerbaijan has cracked down on independent media in recent months and has currently a record high number of journalists in detention for doing their job.”

Samadov is a doctoral student at CharlesUniversity in Prague. He has also been a frequent analyst for a wide variety of print and broadcast outlets, offering unvarnished analysis on current affairs, including the conduct of Azerbaijan’s campaign to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh. No Azerbaijani government agency has as of late August 22 confirmed that Samadov is in custody, and, if so, what the reason for his detention is.

“News of Bahruz Samadov’s arrest is alarming, given the deepening suppression of independent voices in Azerbaijan,” said Eurasianet’s board chair, Jeffrey Trimble. “Azerbaijani authorities should substantiate in a transparent and timely manner their reason for taking Bahruz into custody, or let him go free. We will be closely monitoring his case.”

EU condemns Azerbaijan crackdown after peace activist charged with ‘treason’

Bahruz Samadov was detained just months before the South Caucasus country hosts critical U.N. climate talks.

"We reiterate our call on Azerbaijan to release all those detained for exercising their fundamental rights." Peter Stano said.| Tofik Babayev/AFP via Getty Images

August 23, 2024 
By Gabriel Gavin

The EU has called on Azerbaijan to respect the rights of a prominent scholar jailed after publicly criticizing the government, amid a wave of arrests that has seen journalists and academics put behind bars.

Speaking to POLITICO, Peter Stano, the EU's foreign affairs spokesperson, said Brussels was "following with concern" the case of Bahruz Samadov, "a young scholar advocating for peace in the South Caucasus" and a doctoral student at Charles University in Prague.

Azerbaijan maintains close relations with the EU and in 2022 signed a deal to step up exports of natural gas to help the bloc reduce its dependence on Russia. Later this year, it will host the COP29 U.N. climate talks, which it has said it wants to make a "COP of peace."

Samadov was detained earlier this week and appeared Friday before a court in Baku to be charged with "treason." If convicted, he could face life in prison, and has reportedly stated he intends to begin a hunger strike after being handed four months of pre-trial detention.

"His case adds to the worrying and growing number of detentions of independent journalists, human rights defenders and civil society representatives since late last year," said Stano.

"We reiterate our call on Azerbaijan to release all those detained for exercising their fundamental rights. We also call on Azerbaijan to ensure transparency and due process, as well as dignified and safe conditions for all those detained, including their full access to health and independent legal services," he added.

According to Samadov's family, he was arrested when security services raided their home on Wednesday. The 28-year-old had been critical of Azerbaijan's authoritarian government and sought to build bridges with activists in neighboring Armenia, with which Baku fought a war in 2020.

Freedom House has warned Azerbaijan lacks an independent judiciary, which "is evident in the many trumped-up or otherwise flawed cases brought against opposition figures, activists, and critical journalists." Dozens of civil society figures have faced disputed charges in recent months.

Kazakhstan to Lukashenko: mind your own business

Astana rejects Belarussian leader’s criticism over Russia-Ukraine war stance.

Almaz Kumenov Aug 23, 2024

Lukashenko, Putin and Tokayev (front, from left) at an EAEU event in Kazakhstan in May 2024. (Photo: akorda.kz)

Belarus’ dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko, recently called out Kazakhstan for not being sufficiently supportive of Russia’s efforts to militarily bludgeon Ukraine into submission. Kazakh officials did not take kindly to such criticism.

Lukashenko took a not-so-veiled swipe at Kazakhstan’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war during an interview broadcast on Russian television on August 15, casting Astana as a pacifist observer. He also hinted that Kazakhstan was insufficiently grateful for the political support that Moscow has provided in the past and may provide in the future. Russian forces helped quell upheaval in early 2022 in Kazakhstan, a bout of violence now commonly referred to as the January events.

“The time is not far off when you will come to Russia and ask for support and help. There is no one else to ask,” Lukashenko said in the interview, making an apparent reference to Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry summoned the Belarusian ambassador to explain Lukashenko’s unwelcome intervention. During the August 21 meeting in Astana, Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu reminded the Belarusian ambassador, Pavel Utyupin, that Kazakhstan pursues “a peaceful foreign policy based on the principles of the UN and international law,” the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reported.

In the most diplomatic of terms, Nurleu effectively told the Belarus to butt-out, hinting that Lukashenko had committed a diplomatic sin by airing criticism publicly and not behind closed doors. Belarus and Kazakhstan are ostensibly allies via shared membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

“Our country is firmly convinced that all disagreements between states should be resolved by political and diplomatic means,” the Foreign Ministry statement cited Nurleu as saying. “In the current geopolitical conditions, the country’s foreign policy course developed by the Head of State has proven its effectiveness.”

To hammer home the point that Lukashenko was out of line, the Kazakh minister “called on the Belarusian side to objectively assess Astana’s position on the ongoing processes.”

With an eye on securing its own northern regions, Kazakhstan has expressed its commitment to the principles of the inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine since the start of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022. Officially, Astana also complies with sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, although there have been multiple reports of sanctions-busting activities.

Kazakhstan has long pursued a multi-vectored foreign policy, striving to balance the interests and influence of major powers, including Russia, China, the United States and European Union.

In June of that year, at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly, with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sitting next to him, declared that his country does not recognize the independence of the eastern regions of Ukraine, the Russia-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. A month later, Tokayev, during a telephone conversation with the head of the European Council Charles Michel, assured him of Kazakhstan’s readiness to provide support in solving energy problems in European countries, which have significantly reduced oil and gas imports from Russia.

Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist.

Wordpress.comcirsova.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/short-reviews-and-then-there-were-none-eric-frank-russell/

Short Reviews – …And Then There Were None, Eric Frank Russell

Aug 5, 2015 ... ... Frank Russell's short story is the final piece of what would eventually become ... MYOB!” (Spoilers: the punchline of the joke is Mind Your Own ...

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Jun 20, 2024 ... This must surely be ...And then there were none by Eric Frank Russell. This was first published as a novella in Astounding in 1951, ...

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Sep 2, 2020 ... In an amusing and clever fable reflecting the peaceful non-violent philosophy and live-and-let-live spirit championed by Thoreau, Gandhi and ...

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TURKIYE'S IMPERIALIST WAR ON KURDISTAN
2 Women Journalists Killed In Turkish Airstrike In Northern Iraq: Local Officials

The journalists, Hero Baha'uddin and Golestan Tara, worked for a local Kurdish media company, according to local media outlet Roj News and an official in Sulaimaniyah province who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly.

Associated Press
Updated on: 23 August 2024

Local media reported that six other journalists were injured “with varying degrees of severity". Photo: AP/File

Two female journalists were killed in a Turkish airstrike that hit their car in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, local officials and media said on Friday.

The journalists, Hero Baha'uddin and Golestan Tara, worked for a local Kurdish media company, according to local media outlet Roj News and an official in Sulaimaniyah province who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly.

Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the regional government in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, condemned the strike.

“They were two women journalists, not members of an armed force to be a threat to the security and stability of any country or region,” he said in a statement.

Roj News reported that six other journalists were injured “with varying degrees of severity".

An earlier statement by the Kurdish region's counter-terrorism service based in Irbil said a strike near the village of Teperash had targeted a car carrying members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s and is banned there and in Iraq.

It said the strike had killed a PKK official along with a guard and their driver.

It was not immediately clear if the two accounts were referencing the same strike and whether there were one or two cars hit.

There was no immediate statement from Turkish officials. Earlier Friday the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that its forces had “neutralized” 16 PKK members in other parts of northern Iraq.

“We will continue unpredictable, unconventional, rapid and continuous operations to destroy terrorism at its source,” the statement said.

The PKK has maintained bases in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. In recent months, Turkiye has built up its troops in northern Iraq and has threatened an offensive to clear PKK forces from the border area.

Turkiye often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the PKK. Baghdad has complained that the strikes are a breach of its sovereignty, but has also taken a tougher stance against the PKK in recent months.

As Gaza-Inspired Boycotts Continue, New Brands Are Emerging to Fill the Void

Members of the local Palestinian diaspora hold a banner that reads "Boycott McDonald's" on Dec. 26, 2023, in Alberta, Canada.

Artur Widak—NurPhoto /Getty Images

By Yasmeen Serhan

TIME
August 23, 2024 

The bright red, 250-milliliter tin certainly looks like a can of Coke. That is, if Coca-Cola decided to swap “Coca” for “Gaza” in its name and emblazoned its classic design with a Palestinian flag, complete with Arabic calligraphy and a red keffiyeh on top. It even tastes pretty similar too, albeit more akin to the candy cola bottles than the classic soft drink itself.

But Gaza Cola doesn’t aspire to be Coke. Rather, it hopes to become an alternative for those who have since turned away from the iconic brand.

Since Israel launched its retaliatory bombardment of Gaza in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, in a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and rendered much of the Strip uninhabitable, more than a dozen multinational firms perceived to be supportive of Israel have been subject to grassroots consumer boycotts. Among these are the Coca-Cola Company (which operates a factory in the Israeli-occupied West Bank), McDonald’s (whose franchisee has given free and discounted meals to Israeli soldiers and rescue forces in the aftermath of Oct. 7), and Starbucks (which sued its Starbucks Workers United union for trademark infringement over a since-deleted social media post that expressed support for Palestinians).The boycotts are having a demonstrable impact, resulting in declining sales, layoffs, and untold reputational damage. But they’ve also given way to new and existing brands, several of which have stepped into the void that big multinational corporations have left behind.



Gaza Cola, which entered the U.K. market this month, is one such alternative. Palestine Drinks, a Sweden-based brand that launched in March and supplies the E.U., the U.K., and South Africa, is another. Mohamed Kiswani, the communications director of Safad Food, the Palestinian-owned parent company of Palestine Drinks, tells TIME that the demand for the soda has been overwhelming. “We had no idea that it would be this popular,” he says, noting that the brand has sold roughly 16 million cans in the last five months, the proceeds of which go towards projects supporting Palestinian civil society in the West Bank and Gaza.

Kiswani says that the goal of this initiative, perhaps paradoxically, isn’t about soda at all. “We are not selling drinks,” he says. “We are selling the brand ‘Palestine,’ to get people to talk more about the genocide that is happening.” (In a landmark decision in January, the International Court of Justice determined in an interim judgment that there is a plausible risk of Israel committing genocide in Gaza. A definitive ruling, however, could be years away.)

While these boycotts are international, they’re particularly pronounced on the Arab street. In Jordan, for example, McDonald’s and Starbucks locations—which only a year ago might have been heaving with customers—can be found virtually empty. While products such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi (which has also been snubbed over its acquisition of SodaStream, an Israel-based drinks manufacturer) can still be found on the shelves of Middle Eastern supermarkets, they’re often displayed alongside signs urging customers to boycott the product. Many of the region’s cafes and restaurants have largely eschewed these brands in favor of local alternatives such as Jordan’s Matrix Cola and Saudi Arabia’s Kinza, lest they face boycotts themselves.

International boycott campaigns against Israel are hardly new. Indeed, the Palestinian-led grassroots movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions has been putting pressure on Israeli and international companies believed to be complicit in violating Palestinian rights since 2005. Nor is the emergence of new brands seeking to capitalize on such boycotts. During the Second Intifada, a deadly Palestinian uprising in the early aughts that grew out of the collapse of the Oslo peace process, brands such as “Mecca Cola” and “Qibla Cola” emerged as Coke alternatives. While the former marketed itself as part of a wider boycott of American goods over Washington’s support for Israel, the latter billed itself as an ethical alternative for Muslims who “are increasingly questioning the role some major multinationals play in our societies.”

Consumer boycotts have typically followed most all Gaza wars, including those in 2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2021. But unlike previous wars, which lasted days and weeks at a time, the current one is in its 11th month, with no apparent end in sight.

“This boycott campaign seems to be on a completely different scale to anything I’ve seen before,” says Will Todman, a Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has spent time in Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, and Qatar since Oct. 7. “That’s partly because this war is on a far greater, more awful scale than anything we have seen before as well.”

Some of the affected companies have tried to defend themselves, though not always to great effect. An attempt by Coca-Cola’s Bangladeshi franchisee backfired after it rolled out an ad campaign reassuring customers that it is not an Israeli brand. “Even Palestine has a Coke factory,” the ad, which has since been removed from all platforms, reportedly said. The factory in question is an Israeli-owned Coca-Cola franchisee that operates in Atarot, an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem that is considered illegal under international law. Meanwhile, the McDonald’s Corporation, which is headquartered in Chicago, has sought to distance itself from the actions of its Israeli franchisee, telling TIME in February that they “were made independently without McDonald’s consent or approval.” The burger chain has subsequently said that it will buy back all of its Israel-based restaurants following a deal with its Israeli franchisee, Alonyal. (Coca-Cola and McDonald's did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.)

“BDS has shown complicit companies that the price they must pay for being implicated in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians is steep and will get even steeper still,” Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the BDS movement, tells TIME, noting that the movement’s effectiveness has been a boon for local alternatives, particularly in the Middle East. “These trends indicate that the boycott impact on these brands will most likely be long term.”

Whether these boycotts do have a long-term impact on consumer behavior remains to be seen. While they have given many of those aggrieved by the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza a sense of agency, previous iterations haven’t necessarily resulted in the kind of changed consumer habits that activists may be hoping for. Kiswani, who recalls the boycotts that emerged during earlier Gaza wars, says they all followed the same pattern. “There was a strong boycott for a couple of months, and then it ended.”

But he’s confident that this boycott won’t end like the rest of them. “This time, we can see the boycott is hundreds and hundreds of times bigger,” Kiswani says. “This time is different, because it’s never been like this.”

Brayden King, an expert on the impact of boycotts at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, tells TIME that while most boycott campaigns don’t have a major impact on consumer behavior in the long term, those that do are able to leverage public accountability in its favor. “People hold each other accountable,” he says—a task that is made a lot easier when it concerns goods that are typically enjoyed in social settings, such as food and drink. But another marker of an effective boycott is one that is able to incur sustained reputational damage on a brand. While most boycotts tend to fade after the 90-day mark, according to King, the Gaza-inspired boycotts have long surpassed that, in large part because the war has, too.

“The intensity of the outrage that many in the world feel about this is quite severe, and it doesn’t seem to have dissipated at all, partly because the travesty continues,” King says. “And as long as that continues, there’s going to be outrage and associated behaviors. … And I expect that, therefore, the reputational damage for the brands associated with this is going to be that much greater.”

The longer the stigma around these brands lasts, the more time it gives consumers to develop new habits—ones that may not necessarily end when the war does. “A year is a long time that people may have started to develop a taste for buying other products, and that habit is not going to just go away because a ceasefire comes around.”

Mpox outbreak widens as different strains reach Côte d'Ivoire, Thailand

Côte d'Ivoire has reported cases of mpox Clade 2 for the first time since the start of the multi-country outbreak in 2022, while Thailand has confirmed Asia’s first known case of a new, deadlier strain of mpox in a patient who had travelled to the country from Africa.

A health worker attends to a mpox patient at a treatment centre in Munigi, eastern Congo, on 19 August 2024. © AP - Moses Sawasawa

By: RFI
23/08/2024 - 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that cases of mpox Clade 2 have been reported in Côte d'Ivoire.

According to national health officials, at least 28 cases of mpox and one death have been recorded in the West African country.

"The National Public Hygiene Institute [INHP] recorded 28 confirmed cases, including one death across the country as of Tuesday," said INHP doctor Daouda Coulibaly.

He added that monitoring for mpox had been strengthened.

"We have to break the chains of transmission, identify the contacts of cases, isolate them and monitor them."

Cases rise in Central Africa

The number of mpox cases continues to increase in Central Africa, notably in the Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

According to RFI's correspondent in CAR, Rolf Steve Domia-Leu, nearly 100 suspected cases of monkeypox have been detected throughout the country over the past four weeks.

The main areas affected by the disease so far are Mbomou in the east, Kemo in the centre, Lobaye in the south-east and the capital, Bangui.

The disease is nonetheless under control, according to Valentin Nebanga, head of the health promotion department at the Ministry of Public Health.

"We have recorded 92 suspected cases, not only in Bangui, but in some provincial towns as well," he said.

"Of the 92 suspected cases, samples were taken and nine cases came back positive," he added.

"The positive patients were all hospitalised in dedicated treatment centres at the Bangui General Hospital, and the good news is that the nine patients have all been declared cured and have already been discharged from the hospital."

France to donate 100,000 mpox vaccines as it prepares for outbreak at home
New strain reaches Asia

Meanwhile Thailand on Thursday confirmed Asia's first known case of a new, deadlier strain of mpox, Clade 1b, in a patient who had travelled to the kingdom from Africa.

The patient landed in Bangkok on 14 August and was sent to hospital with mpox symptoms.

The Department of Disease Control said laboratory tests on the 66-year-old European confirmed he was infected with mpox Clade 1b.

"We have monitored 43 people who have been in close contact with the patient and so far they have shown no symptoms, but we must continue monitoring for a total of 21 days," the department said in a statement, adding that the WHO would be informed of the development.

Anyone travelling to Thailand from 42 "risk countries" must register and undergo testing on arrival, the department said.

Dangerous variant

The WHO declared a global public health emergency over the new variant of mpox in mid-August, urging pharmaceutical companies and governments to work on increasing the current production of vaccines.

Mpox cases and deaths are surging in Africa, where outbreaks have been reported in the DRC, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and other countries since July.

More than 18,700 mpox cases detected in Africa since January

Cases were also reported in Sweden and Pakistan last week.

The disease is caused by a virus transmitted by infected animals and passed from human to human through close physical contact. It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

Mpox has been known for decades, but the new strain known as Clade 1b is deadlier and more transmissible. It has driven the recent surge in cases.

Clade 1b causes death in about 3.6 percent of cases, with children more at risk, according to the WHO.

(with newswires)

Yunus government's biggest challenge: Youth unemployment (and migration):

by Sumon Corraya
8/23/2024
BANGLADESH

To date there are 2.59 million people without employment in the country, with a particular incidence in the younger segments of the population. The figure of those who expatriate to complete their studies or better professional opportunities continues to grow. The local church's commitment to education, starting with technical institutes.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - The world of work and the unemployment-related emergency, also certified by the numbers, are among the priorities facing the interim government led by 84-year-old laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took over from Sheikh Hasina who was exiled to India after weeks of protests, and deaths, among students.

According to the Labor Force Survey, published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (Bbs), as of today there are 2.59 million people without employment in the country, up from 2.47 million at the end of last year, and particularly critical in the younger segments of the population.

Hence the choice of many boys, and girls, to seek professional opportunities -- or pursue college careers -- abroad in the face of lack of employment prospects, poor quality of life and limited career opportunities.

Over the past decade, the number of students traveling abroad from the Asian country for higher education has more than doubled, reflecting a growing trend of brain drain that further exacerbates the domestic crisis.

According to a recently released UNESCO report, as many as 52,799 students left Bangladesh in 2023 to pursue careers on books at an institution abroad.

This is far higher than the 24,112 in 2013 and 16,609 in 2008, highlighting an increasing trend of young people seeking opportunities outside their home borders. And again, 49,151 students left Bangladesh in 2022, again up from 44,338 the previous year.

The UN body's report, titled “Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students,” identifies the United States as the top destination, with 8,524 students accepted in the past year. Other popular destinations include the United Kingdom (6,586 students), Canada (5,835), Malaysia (5,714) and Germany (5,046). Australia, Japan, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have also attracted thousands of Bangladeshi students.

Desperate to escape a difficult job market, many risk their lives to migrate to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean. While some succeed, others risk death or imprisonment in foreign countries.

Despite these dangers, the desire to migrate remains strong. Bangladesh ranks sixth globally in terms of diaspora population and seventh in terms of expatriate income. The Middle East, primarily Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Oman, has become the top destination.

Government statistics show that more than two million young people enter the labor market each year, but only 1.2/1.3 million manage to obtain employment within the country. Of these, 85 percent find jobs in the informal wage-based market, leaving only 300 thousand new jobs in more stable sectors.

This serious imbalance between supply and demand is fueling the continuing exodus of young people, who increasingly look across borders for a better future. In the current critical situation, Catholic Church in Bangladesh is actively contributing to the creation of job opportunities by focusing on technical education and vocational training in the appropriate institutes.

Caritas Bangladesh, the Brothers of the Holy Cross, and PIME priests run about 40 vocational institutes, providing young people with training opportunities.

Holy Cross Brother John Jogesh Karmaker, director of Bottomley Homes Orphanage and Technical School, recognizes the challenges young people face in finding decent work. This frustration drives many to seek risky and often dangerous opportunities abroad, particularly in Europe and the Middle East.

Many sell land or take on significant debt to finance migration, only to find themselves living in harsh conditions and earning derisory wages. He stresses the importance of prioritizing vocational education.

“There are not many students in our technical schools,” he tells AsiaNews, ”but those who receive training are easily able to find a job or start their own business.

Ironically, while many Bangladeshi youths seek jobs abroad, the country attracts many foreign workers, especially from India, Sri Lanka, and China, in key sectors such as garments and textiles.

More than 100,000 foreign workers are officially employed, although the real number may be far higher due to the abuse of tourist visas. This also points to the need for better labor market management and policies to create more domestic job opportunities for young people.

Nestle shares fall after CEO’s surprise departure

August 23, 2024


Paris (AFP) – Nestle shares fell on Friday after the surprise departure of chief executive Mark Schneider, which followed slowing sales growth and bad headlines at the Swiss food group.

The company announced after markets closed Thursday that Schneider would step down on September 1 after almost eight years in charge and be replaced by Nestle’s Latin America Chief Laurent Freixe.

Nestle shares fell more than three percent in early deals on the Swiss stock exchange but pared down those losses later in the morning for a 1.5 per cent drop.

In a conference call with investors on Friday, chairman Paul Bulcke acknowledged that the decision “may come as a surprise for many of you” but that it was “time… for a change” at the company.

He added that “different qualities” were needed.

Nestle, whose brands range from Nespresso coffee capsules to Purina dog food and Haagen-Dazs ice cream, lowered its sales growth outlook for 2024 last month as it slowed its price increases in the first half of the year.

The global packaged-food giant and its rivals had logged high sales growth in the past three years as they raised prices to make up for higher costs due to soaring inflation.

The company has also faced controversy in recent years, with Swiss NGO Public Eye accusing Nestle of selling baby food with high levels of added sugar in low-income countries but not in wealthier nations.

Nestle has countered that it had “no double standard” and applied the same nutrition and health principles everywhere.

It has also scrambled to ease any concerns over its Perrier brand after France’s food safety watchdog recommended stricter monitoring of sites where Nestle extracts mineral water following the discovery of traces of “faecal” contamination.

The company has since said it has stepped up monitoring of the sites, and Schneider has said the group’s water was safe to drink.

Schneider’s departure “does not come as a major surprise given that both Nestle’s operational and share price performances have proved disappointing over the past two and a half years”, Swiss bank UBS said in a note.

“Furthermore, the company suffered through an unusually high number of negative headlines,” it said.

Freixe, a Frenchman who joined Nestle in 1986, told investors on Friday that his “big focus” will be on sales growth and “market share gains”.

“It all starts with strengthening trust in Nestle,” he added.

Schneider, a German-American who took over in January 2017, said that “it has been an honour and a privilege to serve Nestle and leaving is not a decision I’ve taken lightly”.