The UK is abandoning its alliance with Trump as the United States 'withdraws from its leadership around the world'

The UK threatens to tear up its defence alliance with the US after Trump's Iran crisis triggers a rupture between the two countries.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says that the UK is looking to forge stronger alliances with other international partners which share its priorities.

He says the US risks "[withdrawing] from its leadership" of the world under Trump.
Wallace also reveals Trump threatened to tear up its intelligence-sharing relationship with the UK.

Donald Trump's decision to assassinate Qassem Soleimani has triggered a major rupture between the United States and its historically closest ally in the United Kingdom.

In remarkably outspoken comments, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Sunday that Trump's isolationist foreign policy stance meant the UK was now looking for alternative allies around the world.

"I worry if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world," he told the Sunday Times.

He added: "The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be."

The comments came after Boris Johnson's government distanced itself from the attack last week, with the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab labelling it a "dangerous escalation," which risked a conflict in which "terrorists would be the only winners."


A spokesman for the Prime Minister was also quick to condemn Trump's threats to target Iranian cultural sites as a breach of international law and a potential war crime.

With the Iran crisis ongoing, the UK is now openly threatening to tear up its longstanding defence partnership with the United States.
The US 'withdraws from its leadership' of the world under Trump

Donald Trump and Boris Johnson GettyUK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Sunday Times that the UK was increasingly looking for alternative international allies,

"Over the last year we've had the US pullout from Syria, the statement by Donald Trump on Iraq where he said Nato should take over and do more in the Middle East," Wallace said.

"The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be."


Wallace said the UK would need to reduce its dependence on US military assets.

"We are very dependent on American air cover and American intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets. We need to diversify our assets."

Wallace told the paper that the UK would increasingly need to turn to other allies that more closely share the UK's interests.

"Regardless of what the US does... we are going to have to make decisions that allow us to stand with a range of allies, the Five Eyes [intelligence partnership with America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand] and our European allies where our interests converge," he said.
Trump is threatening to cut intelligence ties with the UK
GettyWallace also revealed that the Trump administration had threatened to cut off its intelligence sharing partnership with the UK, if Johnson's government pursued its plan to allow the Chinese telecoms company Huawei a role in Britain's 5G network.

"They have repeatedly said that. They have been clear about that," he told the paper.

"President Trump, the national security adviser. The defence secretary said it personally to me directly when we met at Nato. It's not a secret. They have been consistent. Those things will be taken into account when the government collectively decides to make a decision on it."

He added: "Friends and enemies that are independent make you choose."

The media is ignoring why Trump’s assassination of Suleimani was such an egregious betrayal
By Joshua Holland January 11, 2020
- Commentary

The mainstream debate over Trump’s order to kill Iranian general Qassim Suleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, has been typically superficial. The primary argument in support of the drone strike is that Suleimani was a bad guy with blood on his hands, which is a juvenile non sequitur. There are any number of military commanders around the world who would fit that description at any given time and, despite his prominence, Suleimani implemented policies rather than formulating them. As Maysam Behravesh wrote at Foreign Affairs, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “is a complex institution with deep roots, making it less than susceptible to ‘leadership decapitation,’” and the killing of Suleimani will only “prompt it to act more ruthlessly and with greater calculation” in the future. Opposition to the assassination has largely centered on the legal questions surrounding Trump’s order, his refusal to notify Congress and the potential for blowback against the United States.

While it’s appropriate and understandable that most analyses have centered on the geopolitical conflict between the US and Iran, there is a tragic irony in the way that Iraq–still traumatized by decades of shock and awe at the hands of Western powers and still struggling to stand up a legitimate, nominally democratic government–has basically been relegated to a backdrop against which tensions between Tehran and Washington play out.

The conversation might be very different if Iraq’s interests, and how the attack may impact its stability and domestic political conflicts, were featured more prominently.

More than a decade ago, in 2007, Raed Jarrar and I reported for AlterNet that the American media were largely ignoring an important story. After years of civil strife between various parliamentary factions, a legislative majority had emerged to demand the withdrawal of US troops from their ostensibly sovereign country. The Bush administration worked with its hand-picked Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki (a previously little-known figure whom they liked in part because of his independence from Iran), to undermine their position, ignoring the constitution that had been adopted after a lengthy and difficult process led by the Bush administration’s occupation government. The international community then ignored Iraqi legislators later that year when a majority of them asked the United Nations not to extend the mandate allowing US troops to remain in the country.

Something similar is playing out today. In the aftermath of the Suleimani assassination, the Iraqi parliament once again passed a resolution demanding the US withdraw troops from the country. It’s worth noting that while there are MPs who support a continuing American military presence in the country for the sake of stability, they voted “present” because Trump’s strike made it politically toxic to vote against the measure.

Following the vote, the current PM, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who resigned last fall but continues to serve in a caretaker role, asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq,” according to the Associated Press, but Pompeo claimed that the effort to expel US troops from their country is an Iranian plot rather than an expression of popular sentiment in Iraq and Trump threatened to levy sanctions on Iraq “like they’ve never seen before” if the Iraqi government follows through. (That threat is especially pernicious given that the last US sanctions regime lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. ) As is consistent with a long pattern, Iraqis are being denied agency by Washington.

On Iraqi PM asking him to start negotiating withdrawal of US troops immediately, Pompeo: “OK, he didn’t quite characterize the conversation correctly.“But…we are happy to continue the conversation with the Iraqis about what the right structure is” while continuing mission. https://t.co/1tyv6FFukV
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 10, 2020

The media is ignoring why Trump’s assassination of Suleimani was such an egregious betrayal

If Iraqis’ perspectives featured into the reporting on Trump’s attack, Americans might come to appreciate how outraged they are that al-Muhandis and other Iraqi nationals were killed in a strike on Iraqi territory. They might understand that Suleimani was in Iraq as a guest of the government on routine business when the strike occurred, and that he was seen as a hero to many Iraqis, who credited him for defeating the feared and almost universally loathed Islamic State.

And as Trita Parsi points out on this week’s podcast, while Suleimani was a brutally efficient commander, he was, contrary to the dominant narrative in the US, a moderating influence on Iraq’s sprawling network of Shia militia groups. Iraq’s loosely organized militias are influenced by Tehran rather than tightly controlled by the Islamic state, and no other member of the Iranian establishment held the same sway with these groups.

Iraqis are now fearful of becoming caught in a crossfire in an escalating conflict between the US and Iran–of Iraqi civilian deaths mounting as the rivals wage a proxy war within their borders. They have reason to be. And many are furious at both the US and Tehran for trampling over their hard-fought sovereignty.

Just 17 years after a US war of choice that was sold to the world on a pack of lies and which led to the death and displacement of millions of Iraqis, it is this reality that most of the discussion here at home simply ignores.

---30---

Blackwater founder Erik Prince pushed Trump allies to assassinate Gen. Suleimani: Mueller documents

January 11, 2020 By Bob Brigham


New details continue to emerge about Donald Trump ordering the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassim Suleimani.

“Erik Prince, the Blackwater-founder-turned-unofficial-2016-Trump-campaign-adviser, advocated to the campaign years ago for the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, according to a recently disclosed memo that reveals some of the earliest thinking circulated within Donald Trump’s team regarding his approach to Iran,” CNN reported Saturday.

Prince is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

“Prince made the pitch in a memo emailed to Steve Bannon, then running the conservative website Breitbart, who forwarded the memo to then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski,” CNN explained. “It’s not clear whether the message reached Trump, but Prince’s outreach on foreign policy later got him audiences with future national security adviser Michael Flynn and Donald Trump Jr.”

Prince referred to the Iranian general as “the Heinrich Himmler of the Iranian State” and said it was a “national disgrace” he was not already dead.

However, the assassination may have been just what Suleimani wanted.

Also on Saturday, The New York Times reported on a meeting Suleimani had with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.

Nasrallah has said he warned Suleimani that his photo was being shown in the news in America, telling him it represented the “media and political preparation for his assassination.”

“But as he recalled, General Suleimani laughed, and said that, in fact, he hoped to die a martyr and asked Mr. Nasrallah to pray that he would,” The Times reported.

---30---

.

Involuntary Celibates are an ‘emerging domestic terrorism threat’: Texas warns of an ‘Incel Rebellion’

THEY ARE NOT CELIBATE THEY MASTURBATE
AND THEY ONLY HAVE THEMSELVES TO BLAME
SO IT'S NOT INVOLUNTARY
CALL EM WHAT THEY ARE WHITE  BOYS WITH 
MALE PRIVILEGE WHO ARE SNOWFLAKES

January 11, 2020 By Bob Brigham

Misogynistic men who identify as part of the “Involuntary Celibate”

 movement are domestic terrorism threats, according to a new report.

The Texas Department of Public Safety included the warning in their 2020, “Texas Domestic Terrorism Threat Assessment” (PDF).

“Although not a new movement, Involuntary Celibates (Incels) are an emerging domestic terrorism threat as current adherents demonstrate marked acts or threats of violence in furtherance of their social grievance,” the report noted. “Once viewed as a criminal threat by many law enforcement authorities, Incels are now seen as a growing domestic terrorism concern due to the ideological nature of recent Incel attacks internationally, nationwide, and in Texas.”

“What begins as a personal grievance due to perceived rejection by women may morph into allegiance to, and attempts to further, an Incel Rebellion. The result has thrust the Incel movement into the realm of domestic terrorism,” the report explained.

“The violence demonstrated by Incels in the past decade, coupled with extremely violent online rhetoric, suggests this particular threat could soon match, or potentially eclipse, the level of lethalness demonstrated by other domestic terrorism types,” the report warned.



“Texas Domestic Terrorism Threat Assessment” by the Texas Department of Public Safety (screengrab)


“Texas Domestic Terrorism Threat Assessment” by the Texas Department of Public Safety (screengrab)

---30---

Iran ‘dispersed’ protesters — and arrested UK envoy Rob Macaire: report

January 11, 2020
By Agence France-Presse


Iran said Saturday it “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 people aboard, in an abrupt about-turn after initially denying Western claims it was struck by a missile.

President Hassan Rouhani said a military probe into the tragedy had found “missiles fired due to human error” brought down the Boeing 737, calling it an “unforgivable mistake”.

At a student protest to pay tribute to the crash victims on Saturday, Iranian authorities briefly detained Britain’s ambassador to Tehran, in what the British government called a violation of international law. He was later released

US President Donald Trump told Iranians that he stands by them and is monitoring the demonstrations


“To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I’ve stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you,” he tweeted.

“There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching,” he added, apparently referring to an Iranian crackdown on street protests that broke out in November.

Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded that Iran provide “full clarity” on the downing of the plane, which Ottawa says had 57 Canadian citizens aboard.




“A full and complete investigation must be conducted,” Trudeau said. “Iran must take full responsibility.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also offered his condolences and ordered the armed forces to address “shortcomings” so that such a disaster does not happen again.

Tehran’s acknowledgement came after officials in Iran denied for days Western claims that the Ukraine International Airlines plane had been struck by a missile in a catastrophic error.

The Kiev-bound jet slammed into a field shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday.

The crash came hours after Tehran launched missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike.


Fears grew of an all-out war between Iran and its arch-enemy the United States, but those concerns have subsided after Trump said Tehran appeared to be standing down after targeting the US bases.

Protesters ‘dispersed’

On Saturday evening, police dispersed students who had converged on Amir Kabir University in Tehran to pay tribute to the victims, after some among the hundreds gathered shouted “destructive” slogans, Fars news agency said.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said UK envoy Rob Macaire had been detained.

“The arrest of our ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law,” Raab said in a statement. The US called on Iran to apologise.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the country’s conservatives, said the envoy had been “provoking radical acts” among students. He was released a few hours later and would be summoned again by Iranian officials on Sunday, it said.

State television reported that students shouted “anti-regime” chants, while Fars reported that posters of Soleimani had been torn down.

The aerospace commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accepted full responsibility for Wednesday’s accident.

But Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said the missile operator acted independently, targeting the 737 after mistaking it for a “cruise missile”.

The operator failed to obtain approval from his superiors because of disruptions to a communications system, he said.

“He had 10 seconds to decide. He could have decided to strike or not to strike and under such circumstances, he took the wrong decision.”

Justice, compensation

Iran had been under mounting international pressure to allow a “credible” investigation after video emerged appearing to show the moment the airliner was hit.

In footage that the New York Times said it had verified, a fast-moving object is seen rising into the sky before a bright flash appears. Several seconds later, an explosion is heard.

Iran’s military said it had been at the highest level of alert after American “threats” and that the plane had turned and come close to a “sensitive” military site before it was targeted due to “human error”.

Rouhani said Iran had been on alert for possible US attacks after Soleimani’s “martyrdom”.

The European Union’s air safety agency on Saturday advised airlines to avoid flying over Iran.

“Iran is very much saddened by this catastrophic mistake and I, on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, express my deep condolences to the families of victims of this painful catastrophe,” the president said.

Rouhani added he had ordered “all relevant bodies to take all necessary actions (to ensure) compensation” to the families of those killed

The majority of passengers on Flight PS752 were Iranians and Canadians, including dual nationals, while Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes were also aboard.




Rouhani told his Ukrainian counterpart Saturday that “all the persons involved in this air disaster will be brought to justice,” Ukraine’s presidency said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier on Facebook “we expect Iran… to bring the guilty to the courts.”

This is Iran’s worst civil aviation disaster since 1988 when the US military said it shot down an Iran Air plane over the Gulf by mistake, killing all 290 people on board.

---30---

Malta gets new prime minister amid outrage over journalist murder

Robert Abela will replace Joseph Muscat, who was forced to announce his resignation after mass protests in December.

Abela, left, was chosen as the head of Malta's Labour party, 

replacing scandal-plagued Muscat who is stepping down 

[Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters]

Robert Abela is set to become the new prime minister of Malta after incumbent Joseph Muscat's downfall over the murder of an investigative journalist.

Abela, who is seen as representing continuity, was elected leader of the Labour Party, meaning he will automatically take on the role of prime minister on Sunday.

More:
Daphne Caruana Galizia case: Malta PM Joseph Muscat to resign
Malta PM rejects immunity bid by top suspect in murder probe
Malta businessman detained over journalist murder: Police source

Muscat, 45, announced in December he would quit following widespread anger over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from a probe into the 2017 killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. He is set to resign later on Sunday.

In the run-up to the election, Abela refrained from criticising Muscat.

Malta's Labour Party votes to choose new PM (2:52)

Before the election result, activist groups cast doubt on whether Muscat's successor would bring about real change in the country, which they say has been taken over by "criminals".

Dubbed the "one-woman WikiLeaks", Caruana Galizia exposed corruption at the highest levels. She was killed by a car bomb on October 16, 2017, in an attack that made world headlines.

Less than an hour before her death, she wrote on her blog: "There are crooks everywhere you look. The situation is desperate."

Some 17,500 Labour voters were expected to vote for the party's first mid-term prime minister in history.

Investigative journalist Caruana Galizia was killed after

 her car exploded outside her home in October 2017

 [File: Rene Rossignaud/AP Photo]

Two candidates were vying to take over as Labour leader and prime minister: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Chris Fearne, a 56-year old surgeon, and 42-year-old lawyer Abela.

Fearne had the backing of most cabinet members but Abela had been closing the gap in the polls in the final week of the campaign, the Times of Malta said.
'We need change'

Neither referred to the Galizia killing in the run-up to the election. Both have insisted they represent continuity, highlighting their determination to keep the economy on its stellar trajectory.

"We have the reputation (in Malta) of being pirates. The reason is that a group of criminals have taken over our government," Manuel Delia, a member of the activist group Repubblika, told AFP.

"We need change."

Martina Darmanin, a 24-year old academic, said the reporter's killing had been "a shock", and she had taken part in the regular demonstrations denouncing "the mafia in power".

"As a member of the EU we want and we deserve better than this: good governance, rule of law," she said, adding that she was "fed up of hearing that I'm from a tax haven country".

Protests demanded justice for the murder of journalist 

Caruana Galizia [File: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters]

Repubblika plans to deliver a manifesto to the new prime minister calling for a clean up of politics and the economy, as well as a revamp of the constitution to guarantee a genuine separation of powers.

In an emotional farewell address on Friday, Muscat said he was "sorry" about the killing, the investigation into which he has been accused of hampering.

"I paid the highest price for this case to be solved under my watch," he said.

The opposition Nationalist Party sharply criticised Muscat's "surreal" speech, pointing out that it was Caruana Galiza who had paid that price.

Malta Parliament surrounded by protesters demanding PM's removal (2:55)

'An indelible stain'

Muscat's fall from power followed daily protests led by supporters of the Caruana Galizia family, who accuse him - among other things - of shielding his chief of staff and childhood friend Keith Schembri, who has been implicated in the murder.

The journalist's family had called for Muscat to step down immediately, but support from his party and his own popularity - linked to Malta's booming economy - bought him time until the party election.

Three men are on trial for allegedly detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia, while a fourth - powerful businessman Jorgen Fenech - was charged as an accomplice after being detained as he tried to leave the country on his yacht.

Fenech's arrest in November sparked the resignation of Minister of Tourism Konrad Mizzi, who formerly served as energy minister, and Schembri.

The murder and probe, Malta Today wrote on Saturday, "cast an indelible stain on Muscat and his administration".

INSIDE STORY
Will Maltese PM's pledge to resign stem anger over corruption?

SOURCE: AFP NEWS AGENCY

'We're pro-Scotland': Independence supporters march in Glasgow

Demonstrators brave the weather in Glasgow, calling for a second referendum on Scotland's independence.

by Alasdair Soussi

Voters rejected a 'once in a lifetime' independence bid in 

2014, but supporters say Brexit changes everything 

[Russell Cheyne/Reuters]

MORE ON SCOTLANDWeek after Johnson's win, Sturgeon calls on PM to allow indyrefSNP victory puts Scottish independence back in the spotlight

Glasgow, Scotland - Tens of thousands of pro-independence supporters rallied on the streets of Glasgow on Saturday despite torrential rain and high winds, calling for a second referendum on Scotland's independence from the United Kingdom.

Organisers estimated almost 80,000 took part in the march as strong gusts swept through Glasgow.

Some carried Saltires - Scotland's national flag - while flags of Palestine, England and the Spanish region of Catalonia were also seen in the passionate crowd that had come from all over Scotland to take part.

More: Sturgeon calls on PM to allow second Scottish independence referendum

SNP victory puts Scottish independence back in the spotlight

Is Scottish independence still possible?

Banners messages including "We're not anti-English, we're pro-Scottish" while homage was paid to the pro-Catalan independence movement in Spain.

A small group of counter-protesters held a demonstration nearby, waving British flags in support of the UK.

The pro-independence march was organised by All Under One Banner (AUOB) - a Scottish independence pressure group established in 2014 just one month after voters in Scotland rejected independence by 55-45 percent in the UK constituent nation's first sovereignty referendum.

"We don't usually do winter events," Gary Kelly, lead named organiser of AUOB, told Al Jazeera.

"We called this one due to exceptional political circumstances," he said, referring to last month's UK-wide general election that saw Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson secure a majority in Parliament and the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) take 48 out of 59 Scottish seats.

Support for Scottish independence has hovered between

 40 and 50 percent in recent months [Russell Cheyne/Reuters]

But despite the SNP's success - and its continued dominance of the devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh where it has been the governing party since its maiden victory in 2007 - Kelly lamented the UK government's refusal to sanction another independence vote.
Fluctuating support

Speaking before the march, one protester told Al Jazeera that with local and national press still overwhelmingly supporting Scotland's place within the union, such peaceful acts of defiance against the UK were the only way to make public displays of support for an independent Scotland.

"Given the way the media works, and given the propaganda machine you're up against, the only way that you can sometimes show the visible support that there is for Scottish independence is through the very traditional and very old fashioned one of having these large demonstrations," argued Willey Maley, a professor at the University of Glasgow.

Many pro-independence campaigners told Al Jazeera they preferred watching coverage on foreign channels.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's SNP won 48 out of 49 

Scottish seats in December's UK-wide general election

 [Neil Hanna/Reuters]

Support for Scottish independence has fluctuated between the 45 to 50 percent mark, according to opinion polls.

Campaigners hope that the UK's forthcoming departure from the European Union will push support beyond the 50 percent needed to secure independence. In the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership, Scotland - along with Northern Ireland - voted overwhelmingly to remain in the bloc, contrary to England and Wales.
A second referendum?

Non-party political, the AUOB has organised many marches recently across much of Scotland - including Edinburgh and the Scottish borders, with more planned this year - and has become a "hugely significant" part of the Scottish independence movement, according to political commentator and author Gerry Hassan.

"These are people putting these together off their own bat," said Hassan. "What it tells you is that ongoing story of political power and authority shifting in Scotland."

Passing through some of Glasgow's iconic streets, including Kelvinway and Jamaica Street, the demonstrators battled the weather over some three miles, ending the march at the Glasgow Green park in the city's east.

A rally was supposed to take place there but was cancelled due to the weather.

Independence supporters were met with a smaller

pro-union demonstration [Russell Cheyne/Reuters]

While a planned second referendum on independence this year is being pursued by SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, it remains to be seen whether she can get the UK Parliament to agree to another poll, let alone persuade a majority of voters in Scotland to vote for statehood.

Referring to the different nationalities in Scotland who have pledged support for independence, Kelly was proud of the turnout on Saturday.

"This is what Scotland is totally all about - being inclusive," said the AUOB organiser.

"If you want to come to Scotland and live in Scotland, you're classed as Scottish. You're not a foreigner."


SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

THE MOST VULNERABLE WORKERS
Asian workers caught in a bind as Middle East tensions soar

Filipinos in Iraq question Duterte's evacuation plan while Indonesians in Mecca say they have not heard from Jakarta.

by Ted Regencia

There are as many as two million Filipinos working across 

the Middle East region [File: Rolex Dela Pena/EPA]

It was early on Wednesday when the music at a bar near the United States consulate in Erbil abruptly stopped.

"They suddenly shut down all the ... establishments still open at that time, and ordered us all to leave immediately," recalled Mark, a Filipino migrant worker who asked to be identified only by his first name for safety concerns.

A commotion ensued, with people running towards every direction, Mark said. Meanwhile, at a military facility nearby, alarms rang out to warn of an impending attack.

Iran on Wednesday launched missiles at bases in Iraq hosting US troops in retaliation for the assassination last week of its top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, near Baghdad's international airport. Washington said Tehran fired 16 short-range ballistic missiles, with at least 11 striking Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar province and one hitting a facility in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

As he hurried back to his apartment, about five minutes drive from the facility, Mark's immediate thought was how he and other Filipino workers could escape the violence.

He immediately bundled his backpack and alerted other Filipinos to get ready. Then he realised, they had nowhere to go.

Despite an earlier request for guidance, Philippine embassy officials in Baghdad have failed to provide them with information such as where to assemble in case of an evacuation order, Mark said.

The assassination of Iran's Quds Force commander Qassem 

Soleimani in Baghdad has triggered fears of a wider conflict

 in the Middle East region [Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office via AP]

The assassination of Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory missile strikes have created many unintended consequences, including the prospect of mass evacuation of millions of migrant workers in the Middle East.

The Philippines and Indonesia are among the leading exporters of human labour in Southeast Asia, deploying tens of thousands of migrant workers to the Middle East every year.

There are an estimated 1.2-2 million Filipino workers in the Middle East, almost half of whom are in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, there are as many as 1.2 million Indonesians in the region, with most working in the kingdom, according to the Jakarta labour advocacy group, Migrant Care.

Order to evacuate

Amid the escalation in tensions and insecurity across the region, Manila and Jakarta are scrambling to figure out how to safely bring their citizens home.

Interviews conducted by Al Jazeera with several migrant workers based in different Middle Eastern countries paint a picture of evacuation plans in disarray, or virtually non-existent.

On Thursday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte created a taskforce to coordinate the government's evacuation plan. A day earlier, he had ordered a mandatory evacuation of all Filipino workers in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, only to be contradicted by his own labour secretary, who on Thursday said the order only covers Iraq.

There are an estimated 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon; some 6,000 in Iraq; and another 1,600 in Iran.

In an earlier exchange on social media, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin had assured Al Jazeera that a repatriation plan was in place.

Duterte's special representative to the Middle East, Roy Cimatu, a former general, was dispatched to Baghdad on Thursday to lead the evacuation there.

As of Wednesday, there were already 1,592 Filipinos, out of 6,000, who signed up for immediate repatriation, Cimatu said, adding that gradual evacuation had already started right after Soleimani's killing.

In a video posted online, Vice Consul Jomar Sadie, officer in charge at the Philippine embassy in Baghdad, also said that Filipinos in Iraq, including those in its Kurdish region, "are assured that the Philippine government is prepared to repatriate" them.
Failed contingency plan

Mark, the Filipino migrant worker who witnessed the chaos in Erbil, however, said embassy officials in Baghdad "failed to provide [a] basic contingency plan" for them.

"They know that there are a lot of us working here. But they did not bother to provide any information as to where we can assemble for pick up, or if they have transportation available," Mark said.

Every year, the Philippines deploys tens of the thousands 

of Filipino workers in the Middle East [File: Rolex dela Pena/EPA]

"I called the other Filipinos in Erbil, and they also told me that they don't know where to go."

Rolando Antisoda, another Filipino working in Erbil, was also critical of Philippine government officials, expressing frustration at the lack of "quick response" from embassy officials.

"Even a simple phone call, it takes them forever to answer."

In an interview with ABS-CBN television network, Sunshine, a Filipino manicurist who works in Baghdad, said she "does not trust" embassy officials there to help them.

She said she and 60 other Filipino employees were prevented by their company to evacuate until they pay $8,000 each to their employer.

Al Jazeera contacted Vice Consul Jomar Sadie for his response, but he did not pick up the call. Al Jazeera managed to contact the embassy's Administrative Officer Jerome F Friaz, but he declined to comment and directed all queries to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.

Philippines to end Syria peacekeeping mission (2:49)

Another Filipino diplomat, not assigned in the Middle East, insisted to Al Jazeera in a private message that there is always a contingency plan, but officials are careful in releasing information to avoid "panic" and "paranoia" among the affected Filipinos.

At the Philippine embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, which was included in Duterte's original order of mandatory evacuation, more than 1,000 Filipinos, mostly women and some with children, showed up on Thursday to sign up for free repatriation. But it is unclear if they will be evacuated after it was announced that the alert level in Lebanon was downgraded.

Eljean Ello, a domestic worker in Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that she and her fellow workers never received word from embassy officials and that they only heard about Duterte's announcement from the news.

Filipinos in Iran also told Al Jazeera that while they received an alert from the embassy, there was no mention of an evacuation.

'We are safe here'

Meanwhile, Indonesian migrant worker Rajis Khana, who lives in Mecca, told Al Jazeera he had never heard from the Indonesian consulate about the latest escalation in the region but said he was confident that the tension would not affect Saudi Arabia.

"Mecca is safe because it's the holy city. Also, it's far from Iraq," he said.

Rajis, who has been working as a driver in the Gulf for 12 years, said other migrant workers shared the same sentiment.

In 2015, Jakarta banned the deployment of women workers to 21 Middle Eastern countries. By 2018, the country announced that it was poised to lift the ban. Deployment of male workers, meanwhile, has been going on for decades.

Most of the 1.2 million Indonesians migrant workers in

 the Middle East are employed in Saudi Arabia [File: Mast Irham/EPA]

Wahyu Susilo, executive director of Migrant Care, warned that if the conflict escalates, Indonesian President Joko Widodo might be forced to also order the evacuation of the more than 1.2 million workers in the Middle East.

So far, the Indonesian government has not ordered an evacuation.

Wahyu said there are as many as 10,000 Indonesian migrants working in Iraq, and most of them are "undocumented".

Migrant Care urged the Indonesian government to immediately register the workers, and possibly establish a crisis centre to handle a possible influx.

"If it's too ambitious to fly them back, the best thing that Indonesia can do is to open a crisis centre," Wahyu said.

Al Jazeera has reached out to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizsyah, but he has not responded to the request at the time of publication.

Indonesian dies in Saudi residency protest (1:43)

In Tehran, the Indonesian embassy issued a letter urging its citizens to take precautions.

"Avoid places which are crowded or prone to conflict as well as places suspected to be targets. Only bring necessary items and prioritise your and your family's safety in the event of an evacuation," the embassy said in a statement posted on the foreign ministry's website.

In a separate statement published on the Antara News website, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said it is prepared to evacuate Indonesian citizens in Iran.

"We are ready, so everything is completed," she said. There are 400 Indonesians living in Iran, while there are 800 officially residing in Iraq. It is unclear why the evacuation order only covers Iran.

As for Rolando Antisoda, one of the Filipinos working in Erbil, he told Al Jazeera that he will likely defy Duterte's mandatory evacuation order.

"It is better for us to face threats of incoming missiles than let our families back home go hungry. If we go home, how are we going to feed them?"

With additional reporting by Febriana Firdaus in Indonesia

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

UPDATED

Taiwan's Tsai wins landslide in stinging result for China
BY JEROME TAYLOR, AMBER WANG (AFP)

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen won a landslide election victory on Saturday as voters delivered a stunning rebuke of Beijing's campaign to isolate the self-ruled island and handed its first female leader a second term.

Tsai, 63, was greeted by thousands of jubilant flag-waving supporters outside her party headquarters, hailing a result which looks set to infuriate China.

"Today we have defended our democracy and freedom, tomorrow let us stand united to overcome all challenges and difficulties," she told the cheering crowd.

Official results showed Tsai secured 57 percent of the popular vote with a record-breaking 8.2 million ballots, 1.3 million more than her 2016 victory.

Tsai Ing-wen supporters celebrate her victory and chant 

slogans in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong 

Kong outside the Democratic Progressive Party's 

headquarters in Taipei   Chris STOWERS, AFP

Her main rival Han Kuo-yu, from the China-friendly Kuomintang, racked up 39 percent and conceded defeat.

The result is a blow for Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory and has made no secret of wanting to see Tsai turfed out.

Over the last four years it ramped up economic, military and diplomatic pressure on the self-ruled island, hoping it would scare voters into supporting Tsai's opposition.

Turnout in the poll was 75 percent, a jump of nearly 

10 percent from Tsai's first election victory four years ago
Chris STOWERS, AFP

But the strong arm tactics backfired and voters flocked to her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), fuelled in part by China's hardline response to months of huge and violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

The result was welcomed by the United States, Taiwan's primary military ally, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saluting Tsai's "commitment to maintaining cross-Strait stability in the face of unrelenting pressure".

- 'No threats' -

Tsai pitched herself as a defender of liberal democratic values against the increasingly authoritarian shadow cast by China under President Xi Jinping.

Taiwan
Janis LATVELS, AFP

Beijing has vowed to one day retake the island, by force if necessary. It loathes Tsai because she refuses to acknowledge the idea that Taiwan is part of "one China".

Her campaign frequently invoked Hong Kong's protests as a warning of what might lie ahead should China one day take control of Taiwan.

During her victory speech Tsai said she was committed to dialogue with China's leaders and wanted peace.

But she called on Beijing to halt its sabre rattling towards Taiwan and respect the idea that only the island's 23 million inhabitants can decide its future.

"Today I want to once again remind the Beijing authorities that peace, parity, democracy and dialogue are the keys to stability," Tsai said.

"I want the Beijing authorities to know that democratic Taiwan and our democratically elected government will never concede to threats".

But China is also Taiwan's largest trade partner, leaving the island in a precariously dependent relationship.

After Tsai's speech, Chinese state media carried a short statment from the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office saying Beijing "opposed any form of Taiwanese independence splittist attempts".

Tsai said she was committed to dialogue with China's leaders

 and wanted peace  Sam Yeh, AFP

Han, the 62-year-old mayor of the southern city of Kaohsiung, favoured much warmer ties with China -- saying it would boost Taiwan's fortunes -- and accused the current administration of needlessly antagonising Beijing.

But his campaign struggled to gain momentum or escape the perception that he was too cosy with Taiwan's giant neighbour.

Turnout in the poll was 75 percent, a jump of nearly 10 percent from Tsai's first presidential election victory four years ago.

Official results showed the DPP managed to retain its majority in the island's unicameral parliament with 61 out of 113 seats, while the KMT took 38 seats.

- Carrot or stick? -

Tsai's victory is the second major electoral setback for Beijing in recent weeks.

In November, Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp scored a landslide win over pro-Beijing parties in district elections as the city convulses with months of anti-government protests.

Taiwanese voters have watched recent pro-democracy 

unrest in Hong Kong closely  Sam Yeh, AFP

"Tsai's landslide victory is like a slap in the face to Beijing as Taiwanese voters say no to its intimidation," Hung Chin-fu, a political analyst at Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University, told AFP.

Joshua Eisenman, a foreign affairs expert the University of Notre Dame, said all eyes will be watching China's response.

"Will the hardline position towards Tsai... be continued or will Beijing adopt a more 'soft sell' approach that is more carrot and less stick?" he said.

Taiwanese voters have watched events in Hong Kong closely because the financial hub is run on Beijing's "one country, two systems" model.

China has suggested the same model could one day be applied to Taiwan if the island ever came to be controlled by Beijing.

But an increasing number of Taiwanese voters are spooked by that proposal.

"I don't want Taiwan's democracy to turn into how Hong Kong is now," Dennis Wu, a doctor, told AFP as he cast a vote for Tsai in the capital Taipei.

---30----

Tsai faces choppy China waters after Taiwan election landslide

Emphatic victory underlines growing sense of identity on island that China has vowed to take back by force if necessary.

by Violet Law 4 hours ago

Tsai Ing-wen was returned for a second term with a 

landslide in a repudiation of mainland China 

[How Hwee Young/EPA]

Taipei, Taiwan - Electoral politics in Taiwan have long reverberated across the narrow body of water that is perhaps one of the world's greatest political and ideological divides.

On Saturday, Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected as Taiwan's president with 57 percent of the vote, an all-time high. Nearly three in four of the 19-million-strong electorate cast a ballot.

Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) managed to hold on to its majority in the 113-seat legislature as well, giving Tsai free rein to push on with her agenda in her final four-year term beginning May 20.

For most observers, both in Taiwan and abroad, the outcome was just as predicted, and the US secretary of state hailed the election as proof that Taiwan "is a force for good".

Across the strait, however, Beijing took it as a punch to the stomach.

State news media blamed "anti-China political forces" for Tsai's re-election, calling her victory a threat to the "peaceful development of cross-strait relations".

Ever since the Nationalists lost the civil war to the Communists in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan as the Republic of China, Beijing has regarded the island as a renegade province that would eventually return to the fold.
'Dried mango'

Over the years, the China-friendly Nationalists have come to be seen more as partners by the Communist rulers on the mainland, while the homegrown DPP has become a pro-independence foe.

China's President Xi Jinping put pressure on Tsai from the

 time she was elected in 2016 and in a New Year's address

 in 2019 unveiled a 'one country, two systems' approach

 for reunification that worried people in Taiwan, especially 

when protests in Hong Kong started in June 

[File: Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via Reuters]

Soon after Tsai was first elected in 2016 - even though she maintained the status quo had not changed -China began putting the squeeze on Taiwan. Mainland Chinese tourists were barred from travelling across the strait, and its diplomatic allies pressured to switch allegiance from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China. Tsai called it "dollar diplomacy".

Barely a year ago in a New Year's address to the Taiwanese, China's President Xi Jinping unveiled his plan to introduce the "one country, two systems" concept for the island, modelled on the framework under which British colonial Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

Xi's proclamation helped change the electoral dynamics - and put the focus on Taiwan's survival. "Dried mango", a homophonic wordplay which belied the heaviness of "the fear of losing one's nation" soon caught on, especially among young voters.

Taiwan election seen as referendum on China influence (2:12)

And then, in June, protests broke out in Hong Kong, shaking many people in Taiwan.

"It's very real, as Beijing's design for Taiwan is very clear," Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based veteran China watcher, observing the elections in Taipei, told Al Jazeera.

"Yet, Tsai persuasively used Hong Kong in her campaign, telling her voters Taiwan's democracy is what the Hong Kong protesters are fighting for."
'Safeguard Taiwan'

Even if Beijing harboured any hope, this election represented the resolute renunciation of "one country, two systems," even by Tsai's main rival Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party.

Campaigning on his common-man appeal with a touch of Trump, Han damaged his image early on by appearing to close to Communist Chinese officials and later by supporting Hong Kong's crackdown on protesters.

But he soon made an about-face: "One country, two systems" in Taiwan would be possible only "over my dead body".

Han lost big, even in his base in the southern industrial city of Kaohsiung, where he was elected mayor in late 2018.

Supporters of Han Kuo-yu, candidate for the China-friendly

 Nationalist Party. Han eventually distanced himself from

 China during the campaign [Ng Han Guan/AP Photo]

THE IRONY HERE IS THAT HE WAS SEEN AS AN AGENT OF CHINA DESPITE 

LEADING THE KUOMINTANG WHICH FOUNDED TAIWAN AGAINST COMMUNIST

CHINA WHEN THEY LOST THE CIVIL WAR AGAINST THE CCP THEY RAN AWAY TO

FORMOSA NOW CALLED TAIWAN.

Elections began in Taiwan only in 1996, and dictatorship remains etched in most voters' living memories with martial law under the Nationalists ending only in 1987.

The loosening of the Nationalists' grip has given way to a flowering of a vibrant, anything-goes political culture with nearly 300 parties - from granddads to YouTubers. Nearly 20 parties contested this election.

Electioneering is characteristically bombastic and rambunctious. Candidates staged "momentum building" rallies to fire up crowds.


Chinese government upholds one-China principle and opposes "#Taiwan independence". Global community's shared consensus on one-China principle won't change: Chinese FM https://t.co/snI0nMydRC https://t.co/7mAykqiEv7— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 12, 2020

At Tsai's rally on the eve of election day, millions of supporters swarmed the boulevard outside the Presidential Hall Plaza, chanting "cold garlic" (a near homophone of "get elected").

But in the sea of lime green flags (the party's colour), a few black banners stood out.

"Hope the lessons Hong Kongers learned through blood and tears tell your conscience to safeguard Taiwan," read one.

As the crowds teemed, cries of solidarity rang out: "Taiwan, Add Oil! Hong Kong, Add Oil!"
Balancing act

The Taiwanese have followed the half-year of protests in Hong Kong with intense interest.

"The recent chaos in Hong Kong was a clear reaffirmation to the Taiwanese that unification on Beijing's terms - and it will always be on Beijing's terms - would come with undeniable costs to its political freedoms," J Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.

"The Taiwanese do not need Hong Kong to know that, but developments there have certainly underscored the effects of subsuming one's sovereignty into central rule in Beijing."

Tsai's supporters made no secret of their opposition to China 
[Ritchie B Tongo/EPA]

Political pundits differ as to what extent Tsai benefitted from Hong Kong's ongoing strife in reversing her party's fortunes after a stinging defeat in the 2018 local elections. But all agreed Hong Kong has emerged as the new challenge in cross-strait relations.

At least hundreds, if not thousands, of Hong Kong protesters have sought refuge on the island, where a network of support has sprung up mostly on the strength of civil society. Tsai has repeatedly said she will not push refugee legislation to help handle the exodus.

But with her re-election, the pressure on her administration is expected to mount, not least because there appears to be little chance that Beijing will back down over Hong Kong.

If Tsai does not act, she risks losing her base.

"This will hurt the reputation of the DPP and the youth vote," said Lev Nachman, a political science PhD candidate at the University of California Irvine specialising in social movements in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

But if she does do something to help the Hong Kong exiles, she risks fanning Chinese anger.

"If Beijing began to regard Taiwan as a springboard from which Hong Kong activists seek to 'destabilise' the [city] or China proper, Beijing could, in turn, decide to retaliate against Taiwan, a turn of events which would undermine Taiwan's national security," said Cole.

One thing is certain in Tsai's second term: The newfound solidarity between Hong Kong and Taiwan will mean rougher waves in already choppy political waters.

THE LISTENING POST
Taiwan's push against 'red media'

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

THE GIG ECONOMY FUTURE IS DOOR TO DOOR SALES ONLINE

As a social historian of cleaning, labour, home economy, material culture, I find predictions of the future of work of great interest. The earliest push to create a postmodern culture of self employed public workers, that is the nineties push to privatize government, pushed by liberals like Al Gore an Jean Chretien, and right wingers like Ralph Klein and Murray Rothbard at two extremes.

In 1999 the American right wing libertarian mag Reason published one of those end of the decade, end of the century, end of the millenia speculative issues of what would America of the free market look like in he 21st Century, our century. 

It would be full of entrepreneurs peddling goods to each other, the ultimate service economy. While our products of consumption would be outsourced, contracted out, privatized, globalized produced in developing countries introducing taylorist mass production to create a world proletariat in the poor world to service the rich world while we serviced each other.

We in the cleaning industry know this Gig Economy because we have always had private janitor companies vs. in house cleaners such as those that work  in Oxford Dev. buildings, govt buildings, hospitals, schools, institutional cleaners in other word unionized, public sector workers.

There is an irony in all this that we as canaries in the social labour coal mine saw and experienced all the worst of this neoliberal ideology throughout the eighties, nineties and until today. When services are cut to the bone it is cleaning services. If a service is to be contracted out, outsourced or privatized its easy to do because there are lots of janitor companies we can tell by the regularity of the bankruptcies that occur in our industry.

So what is this entrepreneurial (self employed/contractor not protected by labour law because taxi drivers and door to door salesmen are deemed that historically) service economy, the so called GiG Economy, really the future or just the middle class ideal 

that is over 100 years old.

This is the future of the GiG Economy and us in it: we sell to each other what we buy from abroad, we service each other as door to door sales people online in the internet world

but this really is not new it is the American Ideal of 1906 when the Fuller Brush company began.

It was everything about the future of capitalism it was branding, so famous that it made the career of Red Skelton when he made the movie Fuller Brush Man in 1948. It was about the ideal of Norman Vincent Peale and his protestant exhortation to everyman to be a salesman, not a blue collar worker, but a consumer product promoter, in other words 

because domestic life was centered around the nuclear family of those workers, the Fuller Brush man came to your door just like Amazon today, with all the cleaning products the 

housewife, aka the household engineer, would need to fight disease. And that was how it was originally sold as a public health aids. He had his list of products, you checked off what you needed and a week later he delivered it. Multi Level marketing begins with Fuller Co. and then Watkins, and some others not as successful or well known. The companies continue until the Seventies when the expansion of large scale box stores and malls created community spaces where one could buy all ones need, and put them in  the car. Door 

Door culture was killed by the car and the mall. But they adapted, but without going bankrupt. 

The model however remains functioning today whether it is Uber fighting laws recognizing drivers as workers entitled to those minimal protections not given the white collar self employed contractor, or Google and Amazon fighting unionization of their workers. The state recognized the Fuller Brush man in law stating that door to door salesmen were Norman Vincent Peale's self made men and not regulated by employment law. This is the case for all contract workers in the GiG Economy.

HERE IS A FORMER FULLER BRUSH MAN, 

NORMAN VINCENT PEALE'S PROTESTANT

 SELF MADE MAN.

TODAY YOU FIND THESE PRODUCTS 

AT ANY LARGE BOX STORE BUT THEY
WERE CRUCIAL TO THE DEVELOPMENT

OF DOMESTIC CULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA

THIS THEN IS THE MAN OF THE FUTURE 

THE SELF MADE MAN, THE WHITE COLLAR

SELF EMPLOYED LIBERTARIAN IDEAL 

OF THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS 

OR AS LEFT WING PLAYWRIGHT

 JOHN STEINBECK WOULD SAY 

JOHN STEINBECK 

FILM: WHITE HEAT 1949

PETRO NOIR 

Starring: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien
White Heat (1949) Official Trailer - James Cagney Movie
Cody Jarrett is the sadistic leader of a ruthless gang of thieves. Afflicted by terrible headaches and fiercely devoted to his 'Ma,' Cody is a volatile, violent, and eccentric leader. Cody's top henchman wants to lead the gang and attempts to have an 'accident' happen to Cody, while he is running the gang from in jail. But Cody is saved by an undercover cop, who thereby befriends him and infiltrates the gang. Finally, the stage is set for Cody's ultimate betrayal and downfall, during a big heist at a chemical plant.




James Cagney, in this famous scene, bursts out when he comes to know that his mother has died. Also note that this was an improvised take by Cagney of which the director and the extras in the scene were not aware. Hence their reaction is genuine.


Read all about the scene from here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/j...

THE ULTIMATE NIHILIST ENDING 

Made it ma, top of the world!

THIS IS THE MUCH DISPUTED QUOTE LIKE  "YOU DIRTY RAT " (HE NEVER SAID IT)
EVERYBODY HEARS IT DIFFERENTLY SO WRITERS WRITE IT DIFFERENTLY 
WHITE HEAT FULL MOVIE
Top of the world, Ma! Oscar-winner James Cagney ("The Public Enemy," "Yankee Doodle Dandy") explodes on the screen as a demented gangster whose intricate plan to rob an oil refinery is thwarted by a government infiltrator. Co-starring Oscar-winner Edmond O'Brien ("Julius Caesar") and Virginia Mayo ("The Best Years of Our Lives"). Recently selected by the prestigious American Film Institute as one of the 400 greatest American films of all time, who also added Cody Jarrett to its' list of 50 Greatest Villains. MPAA Rating: NOTRATED (c) 1949 A Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.