NEW NAKBA

Settlers set sights on Trump support for full control of West Bank

Religious Zionism’s Ohad Tal says activists already working to create ‘irreversible facts’ on ground; NGO official: ‘They’re not saying they’re annexing — they’re just doing it’

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Today,

File: A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah shows the nearby Israeli Shiloh settlement in the background, in the West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

After a record expansion of Israeli settlement activity, some settler advocates in the West Bank are looking to Donald Trump to fulfill a dream of imposing sovereignty over the area seen by Palestinians as the heart of a future state.

The West Bank has been transformed by the rapid growth of Jewish settlements since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned at the head of a far-right nationalist coalition two years ago. During that time, an explosion in settler violence has also led to US sanctions.

In recent weeks, Israeli flags have sprouted on hilltops claimed by some settlers in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, adding to worries among many local Palestinians of greater control of those areas. Some settlers prayed for Trump’s victory before the election.
Promoted: Sheba One Year Later, Dr Liran LevyKeep Watching

“We have high hopes. We’re even buoyant to a certain extent,” said Yisrael Medad, an activist and writer who supports Israel absorbing the West Bank, speaking to Reuters about Trump’s victory in the house he has lived in for more than four decades in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh.

Settlers have celebrated Trump’s nomination of a clutch of officials known for pro-Israel views, among them his intended ambassador, Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has said the West Bank is not under occupation and prefers the term “communities” to “settlements.”
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And over the past month, Israeli government ministers and settler advocates who have cultivated ties with the US Christian right have increasingly pushed the once fringe idea of “restoring sovereignty” over the West Bank — effectively annexation — in public comments. The Netanyahu government has not announced any official decision on the matter. A spokesperson at Netanyahu’s office declined to comment for this story.

Former US president Donald Trump (left) hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Florida, July 26, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

It is by no means certain Trump will give backing to a move that puts at risk Washington’s strategic ambition of a wider deal under the Abraham Accords to normalize Israel’s ties with Saudi Arabia, which, like most countries in the world, rejects Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.

“Trump’s desire for expansion of the Abraham Accords will be a top priority,” said Dennis Ross, a former Middle East negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations, based on his own assessment of Trump’s foreign policy considerations.

“There’s no way the Saudis will think seriously about joining if Israel formally absorbs the West Bank,” he said.

Annexation would bury hopes of a two-state solution that creates an independent Palestine and also complicate efforts to resolve more than a year of war in Gaza that has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon amid Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel.

In his first term, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and ended Washington’s long-held position that the settlements are illegal. But, in 2020, his plan to create a rump of a Palestinian state along existing boundaries derailed efforts by Netanyahu for Israeli sovereignty over the area.

The president-elect has not revealed his plans for the region. Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt did not answer questions about policy, saying only that he would “restore peace through strength around the world.”

Nonetheless, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, one of the most prominent pro-settler ministers in the government, said last week he hoped Israel could absorb the West Bank as early as next year with the support of the Trump administration.

Israel Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella group of West Bank Jewish municipalities, said in an interview that he hoped the Trump administration would “let” Israel’s government move ahead.


Yesha Council chairman Israel Ganz celebrates Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election by launching a new Trump wine label at the Psagot West Bank winery, November 6, 2024. (Courtesy: Psagot)

Ganz led a prayer session for a Trump victory in the ruins of an old Byzantine basilica in Shiloh before the Nov. 5 election.

“We prayed that God will lead to better days for the people of the United States of America and for Israel,” he said. Shiloh has been a popular stop for visiting US politicians, including both Huckabee and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense.

Last week, Huckabee told Arutz Sheva, a news outlet aligned with Smotrich’s Religious Zionism movement, that any decision on annexation would be a matter for the Israeli government. Huckabee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Senior Palestine Liberation Organization official Wasel Abu Yousef said any such action by the Israeli government “will not change the truth that this is Palestinian land.”

Mike Huckabee gestures at a campaign event at the Drexelbrook Catering & Event Center, October 29, 2024, in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Surrounded

Together with the neighboring settlement of Eli, Shiloh sits near the center of the West Bank, an hour from Jerusalem along Route 60, a smooth motorway that contrasts sharply with the potholed roads that connect the area’s Palestinian cities.

Bashar al-Qaryouti, a Palestinian activist from the nearby village of Qaryut, said the expansion of Shiloh and Eli had left Palestinian villages in the central West Bank surrounded.

Al-Qaryouti described an increase in settlers constructing without waiting for formal paperwork from the Israeli government, a trend also noted by Peace Now, an Israeli activist group that tracks settlement issues.

Palestinian demonstrators move away from Israeli tear gas while protesting what tey said were attempts by Israeli settlers from Eli to take control of a water spring in the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus in the West Bank, on June 24, 2022. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

“This is happening on the ground,” Al-Qaryouti told Reuters by phone. “Areas across the center of the West Bank are under the control of settlers now.”

The West Bank, which many in Israel call Judea and Samaria after the old Biblical terms for the area, is a kidney-shaped region about 100 km (60 miles) long and 50 km (30 miles) wide that has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

Most countries consider the area occupied territory and deem the settlements illegal under international law, a position upheld by the UN’s top court in July. Israel argues the area is contested.

Around 750,000 Palestinians were displaced with the creation of Israel in 1948, according to UN estimates. The West Bank is claimed by Palestinians as the nucleus of a future independent state, along with the Mediterranean enclave of Gaza to the south.

But the spread of Jewish settlements, which have mushroomed across the West Bank since the Oslo interim peace accords 30 years ago, has transformed the area.

Revered as the site of the tabernacle set up by the ancient Israelites after they returned from exile in Egypt and kept there for 300 years, modern Shiloh was established in the 1970s and has the air of a gated community of quiet streets and neat suburban homes. Its population in 2022 was around 5,000 people.

For supporters of Jewish settlements, the historical connection is what gives them the right to be there, whatever international law may say.

“Even if the Byzantines, the Romans, the Mameluks and Ottomans ruled it, it was our land,” said Medad.


New York-born Yisrael Medad, 77, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, talks during an interview at his home, on October 30, 2024. (Sharon Aronowicz / AFP)

As such, settler advocates reject the term “annexation,” which they say suggests taking a foreign territory.

Settlement construction in the West Bank reached record levels in 2023. Since the war started in Gaza last October, a spate of new roads and ground works have changed the appearance of hillsides across the area visibly.

Criticism from the Biden administration has done nothing to stop it.

At the same time, violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has spiraled, including around Shiloh, drawing international condemnation and US and European sanctions, as recently as this week, against individuals deemed to have taken a prominent part.

People check burnt vehicles at the site of a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh, on November 4, 2024. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

Settler leaders including Ganz say violence has no place in their movement. The settler movement has argued that they provide security for the rest of Israel with their presence in areas near Palestinian towns and cities, bearing the brunt of terror attacks they argue would be aimed at the country’s heartland if they were not there.
“Irreversible fact”

A series of steps have been taken to consolidate Israel’s position in the West Bank since Netanyahu’s current government came to power with a coalition agreement stating that “The Jewish people have a natural right to the Land of Israel.”

“We’re changing a lot of things on the ground to make it a fact that Israel is in Judea and Samaria as well,” said MK Ohad Tal, chairman of Smotrich’s parliamentary faction, speaking from his Knesset office, a red Trump MAGA hat on a nearby shelf.

A whole mechanism has been built “to effectively apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, to make it an irreversible fact that Jewish presence is there and to stay.”

Many functions relating to settlements previously handled by the military have been handed to the Settlement Administration, a civilian body answerable directly to Smotrich, who has an additional Defense Ministry portfolio that puts him in charge of West Bank civil affairs.

Illustrative: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset, on September 16, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In 2024, nearly 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) have been declared Israeli state land, a classification that makes it easier to build settlements — the biggest annual growth on record and accounting for half of all areas declared state land in the past three decades, Peace Now said in a report in October.

At least 43 new settler outposts have been established over the past year, compared with an average of under 7 a year since 1996, according to a separate analysis from Peace Now.

An aerial photo taken on February 3, 2023 shows the Givat Harel Israeli outpost, near the settlement of Shiloh, in the West Bank north of Ramallah. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)

The outposts, often satellites of existing settlements on nearby hilltops that allow the original location to expand, have been served with kilometers of new roads and other infrastructure. Often built illegally according to Israeli law, the Yesha Council has said almost 70 were extended government support this year.

“It’s clever because it’s boring looking,” said Ziv Stahl, a director of Yesh Din, another Israeli group that tracks settlements. “They are not legislating now, saying ‘We are annexing the West Bank’ — they are just doing it.”

WAIT, WHAT?!

Philippines VP Sara Duterte threatens to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

By Allen Cone

Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte holds a press conference at her office in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on Oct. 18. Photo by Rolex De3laPena/EPA-EFE

Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday if she is killed, she has contracted an assassin to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez.

The Presidential Security Command referred the "active threat" by the 46-year-old Duterte to the Presidential Security Command.

"Acting on the Vice President's clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her succeeds, the Executive Secretary has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action," according to a statement. "Any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms.

In a statement later Saturday, the PSC said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin implemented tighter security measures.

"Pursuant to the directive of the Executive Secretary, the Presidential Security Command (PSC) has heightened and strengthened its security protocols. We are also closely coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter, and defend against any and all threats to the President and the First Family," the PSC said.

Duterte made the threat in an online news conference Friday, saying "I have talked to someone. I told him that if I am killed, he should kill [Marcos Jr.], Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. No joke. I already left instructions."

Tingog Party-List Rep. Jude Acidre said: "What happened was a meltdown, plain and simple."

Duterte has criticized Romualdez for allegedly ordering a lockdown of the House premises, which she said delayed medical response for her detained chief of staff Zuleika Lopez.

Lopez has been detained since being cited for contempt due to "undue interference" in the House probe into alleged misuse of confidential funds by Duterte. He was initially taken to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center for evaluation.

Duterte had decided to stay at the Batasang Pambansa.

Romualdez is the president's ally and cousin.

Marcos Jr, 67, is the son of Ferdinand Marcos, who was president from 1965 to 1986.

Marcos ran with Duterte as his vice presidential running mate in the May 2022 elections and they won by a landslide.

But the two have had a falling out. She has said Marcos Jr. is unfit for office.

Her father is former President Rodrigo Duterte, who ended his six-year term in 2022. He is not allowed to run for a second term.

In his war on drug, he saw 6,252 people killed by unknown gunmen and police operations.

Duterte, 79, wants to become mayor of Davao City again.

Philippine VP threatens to have country's president assassinated

'I've given my order, If I die, don't stop until you've killed them. And he said yes,' the vice president said

The Associated Press
Jim Gomez
Published Nov 23, 2024

Philippine Vice President-elect Sara Duterte delivers her speech during her oath-taking rites in her hometown in Davao city, southern Philippines, on June 19, 2022. Photo by Manman Dejeto /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday she has contracted an assassin to kill the president, his wife and the House of Representatives speaker if she herself is killed, in a brazen public threat that she warned was not a joke.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin referred the “active threat” against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to an elite presidential guards force “for immediate proper action.” It was not immediately clear what actions would be taken against the vice president.

The Presidential Security Command immediately boosted Marcos’ security and said it considered the vice president’s threat, which was “made so brazenly in public,” a national security issue.

The security force said it was “coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter, and defend against any and all threats to the president and the first family.”

Marcos ran with Duterte as his vice-presidential running mate in the May 2022 elections and both won with landslide victories on a campaign call of national unity.

The two leaders and their camps, however, rapidly had a bitter falling-out over key differences, including in their approaches to China’s aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea. Duterte resigned from the Marcos Cabinet in June as education secretary and head of an anti-insurgency body.

Like her equally outspoken father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president became a vocal critic of Marcos, his wife, Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s ally and cousin, accusing them of corruption, incompetence and politically persecuting the Duterte family and its close supporters.

Her latest tirade was set off by the decision by House members allied with Romualdez and Marcos to detain her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, who was accused of hampering a congressional inquiry into the possible misuse of her budget as vice president and education secretary. Lopez was later transferred to a hospital after falling ill and wept when she heard of a plan to temporarily lock her up in a women’s prison.

In a pre-dawn online news conference, an angry Sara Duterte accused Marcos of incompetence as a president and of being a liar, along with his wife and the House speaker, in expletives-laden remarks.

When asked about concerns over her security, the 46-year-old lawyer suggested there was an unspecified plot to kill her. “Don’t worry about my security because I’ve talked with somebody. I said, if I’m killed, you’ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke,” the vice president said without elaborating, and using the initials that many use to call the president.

“I’ve given my order, If I die, don’t stop until you’ve killed them. And he said yes,” the vice president said.

Under the Philippine penal code, such public remarks may constitute a crime of threatening to inflict a wrong on a person or his family, and is punishable by a jail term and fine.

Amid the political divisions, military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner issued a statement with an assurance that the 160,000-member Armed Forces of the Philippines would remain nonpartisan “with utmost respect for our democratic institutions and civilian authority.”

“We call for calm and resolve,” Brawner said. “We reiterate our need to stand together against those who will try to break our bonds as Filipinos.”

Philippines boosts security after VP's assassination threat against president

By Neil Jerome Morales

November 23, 2024

Philippine Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte speaks during an economic briefing following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's first State of the Nation Address, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 26, 2022. 

REUTERS/Lisa Marie David/File Photo 

Summary
VP says she would have Marcos assassinated if she were killed

Thinking, talking is different from doing it - vice president

Duterte's comments unlikely to affect her political support -political analyst

MANILA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Philippine security agencies stepped up safety protocols on Saturday after Vice President Sara Duterte said she would have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assassinated if she herself were killed.
In a dramatic sign of a widening rift between the two most powerful political families in the Southeast Asian nation, Duterte told an early morning press conference that she had spoken to an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife, and the speaker of the Philippine House, if she were to be killed.

"I have talked to a person. I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM (Marcos), (first lady) Liza Araneta, and (Speaker) Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke," Duterte said in the profanity-laden briefing. "I said, do not stop until you kill them, and then he said yes."
She was responding to an online commenter urging her to stay safe, saying she was in enemy territory as she was at the lower chamber of Congress overnight with her chief of staff. Duterte did not cite any alleged threat against herself.

The Presidential Security Command said it had heightened and strengthened security protocols. "We are also closely coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter and defend against any and all threats to the president and the first family," it said in a statement.

Police Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil said he had ordered an immediate investigation, adding that "any direct or indirect threat to his life must be addressed with the highest level of urgency".

The Presidential Communications Office said any threat to the life of the president must always be taken seriously.

However, Duterte told reporters on Saturday afternoon: "Thinking and talking about it is different from actually doing it," adding there was already a threat to her life. "When that happens, there will be an investigation on my death. The investigation on their deaths will be next."

POLITICAL SUPPORT

Her strong comments probably will not dent her political support, said Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines. "If anything, this type of rhetoric brings her even closer to what her father's supporters liked about him."

The daughter of Marcos' predecessor as president, Duterte resigned from the Marcos cabinet in June while remaining vice president, signalling the collapse of a formidable political alliance that helped her and Marcos, son and namesake of the late authoritarian leader, to secure their 2022 electoral victories by wide margins.

Speaker Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos, has slashed the vice presidential office's budget by nearly two-thirds.

Duterte's outburst is the latest in a series of startling signs of the feud at the top of Philippine politics. In October, she accused Marcos of incompetence and said she had imagined cutting the president's head off.

The two families are at odds over issues including foreign policy and former President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs.

In the Philippines, the vice president is elected separately from the president and has no official duties. Many vice presidents have pursued social development activities, while some have been appointed to cabinet posts.

The country is gearing up for mid-term elections in May, seen as a litmus test of Marcos' popularity and a chance for him to consolidate power and groom a successor before his single six-year term ends in 2028.

Past political violence in the Philippines has included the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a senator who staunchly opposed the rule the elder Marcos, as he exited his plane upon arrival home from political exile in 1983.



Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by William Mallard and David Holmes

ITALY

Activists strip off in demo against violence on women

Gesture inspired by Iranian student Ahoo Daryaei's protest

ROME, 23 November 2024, 
ANSA English Desk


Activists with the Non Una di Meno group went topless on Saturday during a Rome march against femicide and violence against women.

The action was inspired by the protest of Iranian student Ahoo Daryaei, who stripped to her underwear at a university in Tehran.

"We are the loud, ferocious shout of all the women who no longer have a voice," chanted the protesters, holding a banner that read "It's my body, I decide".

Non Una di Meno also held a demonstration in Palermo.

99 women killed in Italy so far in 2024

Big increase in foreign victims of femicide says report

ROME, 23 November 2024,
ANSA English Desk


A report by economic and social research institute Eures said Saturday that 99 women were killed in Italy between 1 January and 18 November this year.

It said that over a third of these women, 37%, were over 65 and in most cases they were killed by their spouse or one of their children.

It said foreign femicide victims rose sharply, from 17 last year to 24, meaning they account for almost a quarter of the total (24.2%).

The number of non-Italian femicide perpetrators, however, fell from 23 to 16, a decrease of 30.4%.

NOV 25 

DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Violence against women: French laws struggle to keep up • FRANCE 24 English

Protests in France: "we need men to be part of the fight" against violence towards women

Mass rape trial sparks demonstrations across France


By AFP
November 23, 2024

Thousands turned out in the streets of Paris, with hundreds in other major cities - Copyright AFP STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

Julien DURY, avec les bureaux de l'AFP

Thousands demonstrated in major French cities Saturday against violence targeting women, as campaigners push for the country to learn from a mass rape trial that has shocked the public.

Prosecutors will in the coming week ask the court in the southern city Avignon to sentence 51 men, one who drugged his wife over the course of a decade and dozens of others who accepted his invitations to abuse her at their home.

Out on the street, “the more of us there are, the more visible we are, this is everyone’s business, not just women,” said Peggy Plou, a local elected official from the Indre-et-Loire region in western France who had made the trip to Paris.

Thousands of people marched in the capital alone, mostly women but including some children and men.

And there were hundreds-strong demonstrations in other major cities including Marseille in the south, Lille in the northeast and Rennes in the northwest.

Many demonstrators carried signs with variations on the slogan “shame must switch sides”, popularised by the plaintiff in the Avignon trial, Gisele Pelicot.

She has been celebrated for accepting public hearings in her case rather than a trial behind closed doors, despite their painful content.

“A law about consent must be put in place very quickly. Just because someone doesn’t say something, doesn’t mean that they agree” to sexual contact, said Marie-Claire Abiker, 78, a retired nurse also marching in Paris.

France’s legal definition of rape calls it “any act of sexual penetration… by violence, constraint, threats or surprise” but includes no language about consent — a key demand of women’s rights groups especially since the MeToo movement launched in the late 2010s.

“In 2018, there were basically only women (demonstrating). Today there are, let’s say, 30 percent men. That’s really great news,” said Amy Bah, a member of the NousToutes (all of us women) feminist group protesting in Lille.

“I feel like this is my business too, we each have our role to play, especially men,” said Arnaud Garcette, 38, at the Marseille demonstration in the city’s touristy historic port with his two children.

“We’re at the source of the problem, and at the source of the solutions too,” he added.

The demonstrations called out by more than 400 campaign groups come two days before Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Equality Minister Salima Saa has promised “concrete and effective” measures to coincide with the global day.

burs-jdy/tgb/giv

The EU Cynically Pushes Lithium Mining in Serbia

The European Union loves boasting about its green agenda. But its plans rely on electric vehicles — and a push for lithium mining in Serbia, which would outsource the environmental costs of the green transition to a non-EU country.

By Nina Miholjcic Ivkovic

November 23, 2024

Source: Jacobin


Serbian people opposing the lithium mining.

“We must and will stay the course on the goals set out in the European Green Deal. The climate crisis is accelerating at pace. And there is an equally urgent need to decarbonize and industrialize our economy at the same time.” For European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s green agenda is well on track. However, these moves also face controversy — and concerns over how good for the environment they really are.

While the green technology promoted by European authorities includes more electric vehicles (EVs), in high demand in recent years, the production process is far from the rhetoric of clean and eco-friendly industries. In particular, the global demand for electric batteries and cars has increased the need for lithium — a crucial metal used in batteries to power EVs. The EU’s green transition relies on it, too.

The Jadar project is a significant lithium and boron mining initiative located in Serbia, a non-EU member state. It aims to extract lithium from the Jadar Valley, which is believed to contain one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe. This project has gained considerable political support from the UK, Australia, and the United States as well as the EU. Examining the EU’s support for lithium mining in Serbia reveals that its green-transition agenda is less environmentalist or good for local populations than it may sound.

This has also stirred conflict in Serbia itself. In early 2022, the government had to revoke Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto’s license following widespread protests. But this summer, it reversed its decision, sparking new mass protests. Hundreds of protesters rallied in the western Serbian town of Loznica, waving national flags and banners with slogans like “You Shall Not Dig” and “Back Away From Jadar.” In Belgrade, thousands marched through the city center, chanting “Rio Tinto get out of Serbia” and “You won’t dig.”
Environmental Concerns

From an environmentalist standpoint, the EU’s push for lithium mining in Serbia — expressed in official visits and public support for private initiatives — has been perceived as an attempt to “greenwash” its energy policies. It is promoting EVs while ignoring the environmental costs and social impacts of the mining practices on which they rely. The EU also seeks to secure a stable supply of lithium to reduce dependency on non-European suppliers, especially China. Although the Jadar mining project would satisfy almost all of the EU’s demand for lithium, it has also raised concerns among environmentalists who argue that such mining activities could pollute surrounding areas of farmland, forests, and water sources.

Many people in the areas most concerned believe that the planned mining would severely affect their livelihoods and even trigger their displacement. However, the EU’s response to these concerns has been a flat refusal to take them seriously, with an official stance claiming that the raw materials partnerships between the EU and Serbia allow for “socially and environmentally responsible mining.” It seems that member states prioritize resource extraction and their own “green” interests over concerns about the environment or what it means for people locally.

Many high-ranking EU officials have praised the project in Serbia but remained relatively silent regarding lithium extraction in EU member states that are themselves rich in lithium resources. For instance, the largest European reserves are found in Germany and the Czech Republic, ahead of Serbia. European Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič is an admirer of the mining project, suggesting that Serbia could become the first European country with “the whole value chain,” ranging from lithium mining to EV production. German chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that with the Jadar project, Europe will secure its sovereignty and independence in the supply of raw materials in a changing world. Commission president von der Leyen’s visit to Serbia in late October only confirmed the EU’s support for the lithium mining project. She praised the government’s actions “to enable Serbia to become a leader in the batteries and electric vehicle industries.”

One reason the mining project could be approved more quickly in Serbia than in countries that are EU member states is that the latter have stricter green policies that require more time and legal scrutiny for the approval of mining projects. Serbia thus offers a kind of loophole, cynically used by the EU in a push for mining initiatives outside of its own legal and bureaucratic framework.
Politics

Currently, the EU is almost completely dependent on imports for not only lithium but also other raw materials that are pivotal for its green transition. In 2023, the European Commission proposed the Critical Raw Materials Act, setting targets that by 2030, European mines and recycling centers should produce 10 percent and 25 percent, respectively, of the raw materials necessary for the EU’s green industries. The EU has been actively seeking ways to become greener and less dependent on imports of non-European raw materials.

In the case of lithium, the EU needs suppliers other than China, which remains the largest lithium exporter to Europe and the world’s leading producer of EVs. China’s production of more affordable EVs poses a threat to the German economy, which is largely reliant on the automobile industry. Moreover, Germany plans to build fifteen million EVs by 2030, in accordance with the EU’s climate change commitments.

For its green agenda, the EU urgently needs European lithium suppliers. Serbia, while a non-member state and a candidate country in a protracted accession process, seems like a perfect opportunity for the EU to circumvent its strict green policies and reduce its dependence on China’s lithium exports. The Serbian government, led by President Aleksandar Vučić’s autocratic ruling party, has embraced this opportunity to gain short-term economic and political advantages. It views the mining project as political leverage in its relations with the EU.
Resource Colony

Even though both EU officials and the Serbian government emphasize the economic benefits of the Jadar project, especially for Serbia, such advocacy has a darker side.

While officials praise the project as crucial for economic development, job creation, and boosting local businesses, its real agenda is more focused on profit maximization for foreign investors. Lithium mining in Serbia is primarily operated by foreign companies, such as Rio Tinto, and the profits generated from the project are likely to flow back to the company’s home country, limiting any long-term economic benefit for Serbia. There is a justified concern that Serbia might become a “resource colony,” meeting the demands of wealthier nations focused on green technologies.

In July, the Serbian government restored Rio Tinto’s license to extract the valuable mineral in the Jadar Valley, shortly after the Constitutional Court ruled that a previous government had acted improperly in halting the project following the protests. President Vučić continues to openly support the project and the company, using government-controlled news channels to broadcast this message in numerous public appearances.

The planned mine is situated in predominantly agricultural areas and near abundant river courses. Even beyond concerns that mining operations might pollute soil and water, locals are threatened with displacement from their land by potential state seizure, acting on behalf of corporate interests if the owners refuse to sell up. If the mine becomes operational, there is worry that the long-term economic development from local agricultural productivity, particularly in such a clean and fertile environment, could be replaced by temporary benefits for only a minority of Serbians.

It might seem exaggerated to predict a “Mad Max” scenario marked by extreme societal collapse, resource conflicts, and lawlessness. But certain elements of such a situation could become a reality in Serbia, depending on how key players — governments, corporations, and local communities — address the problems that mining could bring.

If lithium mining causes significant disruption, disputes over land use and water rights could easily arise. Furthermore, serious ecological damage from mining could create shortages of essential resources like clean water and fertile land, potentially triggering mass migration and social unrest. Given the authoritarian tendencies of the Serbian government, any upheaval resulting from resource scarcity is likely to be met with a severe governmental crackdown, perpetuating a cycle of violence and disorder.

The EU’s officials have exhibited a striking level of hypocrisy regarding lithium mining in Serbia. The EU has created what has been called a green paradox surrounding EVs and the lithium extraction on which their production relies. If the EU claims to be a beacon of democracy and fairness, these are exactly the values it is now trampling on in Serbia.

COP29

At U.N. climate talks, ‘sewage beer’ from Singapore highlights water scarcity and innovations


Nick Chow, part of the Singapore Pavilion team, poses with a NEWBrew beer made with treated wastewater, during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
(Peter Dejong / Associated Press)

By Peter Prengaman

Nov. 23, 2024 

BAKU, Azerbaijan — In the sprawling pavilion section of the United Nations climate talks, where countries, nonprofits and tech companies use big, flashy signs to get the attention of the thousands of people walking through, small aqua and purple beverage cans sit conspicuously on a counter at the Singapore display.

Those who approach learn that the cans are beer — a brand call NEWBrew — are free for anybody who asks. But there is something not everybody who cracks one open finds out right away, if at all: The beer is made with treated wastewater.

“I didn’t know. I was really surprised,” said Ignace Urchil Lokouako Mbouamboua, an international relations student from Congo, who recently sipped one while taking a break from the conference.

“I can even suggest that they make more and more of this kind of beer,” added Mbouamboua with a smile, sharing that it was his third day in a row he stopped for a can.

NEWBrew is made in Singapore with NEWater, the name of treated wastewater that’s part of a national campaign to conserve every drop in one of the world’s most water-starved places.

The drink, which some attendees jokingly call “sewage beer,” is one of many examples of climate- and environment-related innovations on display during this year’s climate talks, COP29, which has been taking place in Azerbaijan. Highlighting the use of treated wastewater underscores one of the world’s most pressing problems as climate change accelerates: providing drinking water to a growing population.


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For years, Singapore has been a leader in water management and innovations. The city-state island of 6 million people in Southeast Asia, one of the most densely populated countries, has no natural water sources. In addition to water imports from Malaysia, the other pillars of its national strategy are catchment, desalination and recycling. Authorities have said they need to ramp up all water sources, as demand is expected to double by 2065.

While drinking treated wastewater is a novelty for many at the climate conference, for Singaporeans it’s nothing new. National campaigns — including water conservation pleas and showing the wastewater recycling process — go back decades. In 2002, then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong was famously photographed drinking a bottle of NEWater after a tennis match, done to normalize its use.

Ong Tze-Ch’in, chief executive of the Public Utilities Board, Singapore’s national water agency, said NEWBrew was developed by a local brewery in 2018. The idea was to showcase treated wastewater at the country’s biennial International Water Week. The beer was next produced in 2022, 2023, then again this year.


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“It’s part of the acceptance of the use of recycled water, which in general is a difficult topic,” said Ong. “We did many things to drive it.”

And is he happy with how it turned out?

“I chose this flavor,” said Ong, adding that he was part of the group that worked with the brewery for this year’s version, a “modern pilsner.”

“You know, beer is always very subjective,” he added with a laugh.

After attending a panel on water management at the Singapore pavilion, Peter Rummel, director of infrastructure policy advancement at Bentley Systems, which creates infrastructure engineering software, stepped up to the counter and got a beer. Rummel told onlookers he was in a good position to judge beer, as he hailed from Munich, Germany, home to the Oktoberfest beer festival.

“It’s fresh, light, cool. It has a nice flavor,” said Rummel, while looking at the can.

Wee-Tuck Tan, managing director of the local brewery, the Brewerkz Group, said they have made about 5,000 liters, or roughly 15,000 cans, for each edition of NEWBrew. He said they use the same process as with other beers, and the cost is also similar, about 7 Singaporean dollars (around $5 U.S.) per can when bought in a supermarket.

Wee-Tuck said he believes the beer has shifted how some in Singapore view NEWater.

“They think it tastes funny. When put into a beer, it changes the mindset,” he said. “Most people can’t tell the difference.”

As problems with water scarcity grow, there is increasing embrace of the use of treated wastewater, said Saroj Kumar Jha, the World Bank Group’s global water department director, who participated in the water management panel in the Singapore pavilion. Traveling to more than 50 countries in the last two years, he said leaders have frequently told him it’s important not to use the term “wastewater,” and instead call it “used water.”

After the panel concluded, Jha and the other panelists opened NEWBrews and toasted.

“It’s really good,” said Jha. “It’s the fourth time I’ve had it.”

“This year,” he added with a laugh. “Not today.”

Prengaman writes for the Associated Press.

Sugar is terrible for our health – and the environment

By phasing out the crop, we could spare land that could be rewilded and stock up on carbon – while eliminating a huge health hazard.

Paul Behrens, The Conversation & Alon Shepon, The Conversation

Sajjad Hussain/AFP

Sugar addiction is on the rise. Globally, sugar intake has quadrupled over the last 60 years, and it now makes up around 8% of all our calories.

This sounds like sugar’s keeping us fed, but added sugars are actually empty calories – they are bereft of any nutrients like vitamins or fibres. The result is massive health costs, with sugars linked to obesity around the world. Some estimates suggest that half the global population could be obese by 2035.

A limited 20% reduction in sugar is estimated to save US$10.3 billion (£8.1 billion) of health costs in the US alone. Yet, sugar’s impacts go far beyond just health and money.

There are also many environmental problems from growing the sugar, like habitat and biodiversity loss and water pollution from fertilisers and mills. But overall, sugar hasn’t received a lot of attention from the scientific community despite being the largest cultivated crop by mass on the planet.

In a recent article, we evaluated sugar’s environmental impacts and explored avenues for reducing sugar in the diet to recommended levels either through reducing production or using the saved sugar in environmentally beneficial ways.

By phasing out sugar, we could spare land that could be rewilded and stock up on carbon. This is especially important in biodiverse tropical regions where sugar production is concentrated such as Brazil and India. But a different, more politically palatable option might be redirecting sugar away from diets to other environmentally-beneficial uses such as bioplastics or biofuels.

Our study shows that the biggest opportunity is using sugar to feed microbes that make protein. Using saved sugar for this microbial protein could produce enough plant-based, protein-rich food products to regularly feed 521 million people. And if this replaced animal protein it could also have huge emission and water benefits.

We estimate that if this protein replaced chicken, it could reduce emissions by almost 250 million tonnes, and we’d see even bigger savings for replacing beef (for reference, the UK’s national fossil fuel emissions are around 300 million tonnes). Given sugar has a far lower climate impact than meat, this makes a lot of sense.

Another alternative is to use the redirected sugar to produce bioplastics, which would replace around 20% of the total market for polyethelyne, one of the most common forms of plastic and used to produce anything from packaging to pipes. Or to produce biofuels, producing around 198 million barrels of ethanol for transportation.

Brazil already produces around 85% of the world’s ethanol and they produce it from sugar, but instead of having to grow more sugar for ethanol we could redirect the sugar from diets instead. This estimation is based on a world where we reduce dietary sugar to the maximum in dietary recommendations (5% of daily calories). The benefits would be even larger if we reduced sugar consumption even further.

Supply chain challenges

This sounds like a big win-win: cut sugar to reduce obesity and help the environment. But these changes present a huge challenge in a sugar supply chain spanning more than 100 countries and the millions of people that depend on sugar’s income.

National policies like sugar taxes are vital, but having international coordination is also important in such a sprawling supply chain. Sustainable agriculture is being discussed at the UN’s climate summit, Cop29, in Azerbaijan this week. Sustainable sugar production should factor into these global talks given the many environmental problems and opportunities from changing the way we grow and consume sugar.

We also suggest that groups of countries could come together in sugar transition partnerships between producers and consumers that encourage a diversion of sugar away from peoples’ diets to more beneficial uses. This could be coordinated by the World Health Organization which has called for a reduction in sugar consumption. Some of the money to fund these efforts could even come from part of the health savings in national budgets.

We can’t hope to transition the way we produce and eat sugar overnight. But by exploring other uses of sugar, we can highlight what environmental benefits we are missing out on and help policymakers map a resource-efficient path forward to the industry while improving public health.

Paul Behrens is British Academy Global Professor, Future of Food, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.

Alon Shepon is Principal Investigator, Department of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University.

This article was first published on The Conversation.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SUGAR

NORTHERN IRELAND

School kitchen staff pay unacceptable - principal

Robbie Meredith & Amy Murray
BBC News NI

Some primary schools have been facing a shortage of school kitchen staff


Some school kitchen staff are on a "frankly unacceptable" salary despite a recent pay deal.

That is according to the head of a Lisburn primary school, writing in a letter to the Education Authority (EA).

Andrew Burns, from Riverdale Primary, told the EA that his kitchen supervisor had a "pay downgrade".

The EA, which employs the staff in school kitchens and canteens, said that "transformation work" agreed with trade unions was aimed at resolving the issue.

Pay scales for school support workers like bus drivers, classroom assistants and canteen staff were recently changed after a review into pay and job grading.

But as part of that review school kitchen supervisors - known as unit catering supervisors - are on the same pay grade as cooks.

The supervisors have a range of extra duties that cooks are not expected to undertake, including organising menus and food orders, and managing staff.

Some primary schools in County Down have been without hot dinners recently due to a shortage of school kitchen staff.

Andrew Burns
Andrew Burns, head of Riverdale Primary in Lisburn, wrote a letter to the Education Authority in support of kitchen staff

Mr Burns told BBC News NI that Riverdale's canteen supervisor not only made "sure the kids are getting a healthy and nutritious meal but also made it an interesting and fun place to go".

"It just seems to be over the years, she's in earlier than she should be, she's working longer than she should be," he said.

"When they're going above and beyond to then basically what seems like a downgrade in pay, the worry is that you're going to have people either burnt out or people deciding they're not going to stay on."

Mr Burns added while it was good that pay agreements had been reached for all non-teaching staff he was concerned the "extra responsibilities" of canteen or unit supervisors had not been rewarded.

In his letter to the EA, he asked that "this decision be reviewed with urgency".

"I feel that their jobs are undervalued and that they should be recognised for the hard work that they do," he wrote.

'We're not asking for a lot'


One unit supervisor told BBC News NI the new pay review made her feel "very much underappreciated".

She said while she did not want to diminish the work of cooks, unit supervisors have more responsibilities in the kitchen.

"We feel there was no consultation with us regarding the changes," she said.

"We got to vote but there was no response from unions on our feelings."

Another unit supervisor said she had seen "many changes" in her job over the years.

"Added paper work, a lot of it with very little clear training, staff shortages, not being able to depend on orders arriving, maintenance not being carried out, the list goes on," she explained.

"We put our all into the job and continue to feed the children.

"We're not asking for a lot, only that we are fairly paid and recognised for what we do."
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One school kitchen supervisor told BBC News NI the pay review left them feeling underappreciated

A spokesperson for the EA said the pay and grading review "significantly reformed the EA pay structures, resulting in an uplift in pay for our support staff".

"This has been widely welcomed by our staff and will go a long way to tackling the recruitment and retention issues we are facing across many of our services."

However, the EA said some pay scales had been merged.

"It was recognised as part of the pay and grading discussions with trade unions that this would have an impact on some staffing structures within our catering service," the spokesperson continued.

"It was therefore agreed with trade unions, as part of the pay and grading negotiations that service transformation work would be undertaken in parallel to the pay scales being amended.

"This would resolve this issue."

UK

Vigil to be held for women killed by men

 Nov 25 

Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women,

Alex McIntyre
BBC News, West Midlands

Coventry City Council
A display of shoes will be the focal point of the vigil, with each pair representing a victim

A vigil paying tribute to women who have been killed by men is set to be held in Coventry.

People will gather at the tribute on Smithford Way on Saturday, which will feature a display of shoes.

Each pair will represent a woman in the UK who has lost her life as a result of male violence in the last year and their names will be read out every hour.

The event has been organised by a group of women in Coventry and Warwickshire as part of the Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which takes place two days later.

Tracey Cownden, one of the organisers, said the annual vigil began in November 2021 to remember women “whose lives have been so cruelly cut short in the previous year”.

“We feel we owe it to the victims to repeat the event every year and provide more information about where any woman experiencing abuse can go to seek help,” she added.

“This year is particularly significant, as the new government has made reducing male violence against women and girls a key manifesto commitment.”

There will also be MPs, councillors, charities and service providers giving short speeches throughout the day.

The event will take place from 09:00 to 17:00 GMT.

UK
'I fear I could die sleeping rough in the big freeze'

Jade Taylorson
BBC News, Manchester
BBC
Christopher Edge, 56, said he fears for his life in freezing temperatures


Rough sleepers in Manchester city centre have said support from the council is not reaching everyone, as they struggle to stay warm in the recent big freeze.

The homeless charity Don't Walk Past said it spoke to 27 rough sleepers overnight on Tuesday and 22 on Wednesday when temperatures fell as low as -5C.

Manchester City Council said it is stepping up its efforts to offer homeless people a warm space indoors.

But Christopher Edge, who has been sleeping outside a Greggs store on St Mary’s Gate, said he is yet to see anyone from the council on the streets offering help or guidance.

“I’ve put myself here in a position where I can’t be missed, but because I’m at the bottom end of the town trying to stay away from what goes on at the top end – all the drugs – it’s like I’ve just been forgotten about. It’s disgusting," he said.

Mr Edge said his "summer-style" sleeping bag was nowhere near warm enough

Mr Edge told BBC Radio Manchester: “I’ve got a sleeping bag there but it’s not fit for purpose. It’s like a paper bag. I’m scared to go to sleep because I fear that I won’t wake up in the morning and there’s a lot of other homeless feeling the same way.”

The 56-year-old from Manchester said there needs to be more support.

“I’ve been out here two years and I’ve not felt temperatures like this in a long time. People are going to die in doorways and that’s the reality of it. It’s sad,” he added.

'Heartbreaking'

Ronny English, the founder of Don’t Walk Past, said he did see two council workers overnight on one occasion, but feels they are not working fast enough.

“We’ve had three nights of freezing temperatures. Why are we still finding rough sleepers on the streets?," he said.

Mr English said at least a dozen homeless people told him they had not been offered help by the council.

He continued: “We’ve been doing this for seven years and we’ve seen some terrible things, but when you go over to someone in these temperatures and they can’t speak because of the cold, it's heartbreaking.

"Last night there was an ex-soldier, 60-years-old, and like others, he was terrified of going to sleep.”

Don't Walk Past volunteers have been working overnight in freezing conditions

Mayor Andy Burnham said 600 people were supported by his A Bed Every Night scheme on Tuesday night, which was set up in 2018 to help people sleeping rough in Greater Manchester.

He insisted his colleagues were out there.

“Can we always get everyone who needs it, in it? Well no, because the numbers just keep increasing," he said.

“There is a street engagement team and they are very familiar with the people who are out there needing support. They know the places where people are likely to go.

“The idea that we’re remote from this, well it’s just not the case. We are completely on top of these issues.”

BBC Radio Manchester has given Mr Edge’s details to Mr Burnham’s team after the mayor said he would help find him accommodation in the next few days if he could be located.