China could flex military muscles to pressure Taiwan post-election
By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee, Reuters•January 13, 2020
Taiwan president wins by landslide in stinging rebuke to China
A landslide victory of almost 8.2 million votes for Taiwanese
By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) - His policies rejected by Taiwan voters in a landslide re-election for President Tsai Ing-wen, Chinese President Xi Jinping will most likely continue to tighten the screws on the island, with state media already floating shows of force.
China took center stage in the campaign after Xi sought in a major speech a year ago to get Taiwan to sign on to the same sort of "one country, two systems" model as Hong Kong.
Tsai immediately rejected the idea. Six months later, Hong Kong erupted in anti-government protests, giving a huge boost to Tsai in her efforts to portray China as an existential threat to Taiwan's democracy and freedoms.
But rather than recognize that its pressure on Taiwan had failed, Beijing's immediate reaction to the election was to double down on "one country, two systems" and say it would not change policy.
"This administration of Xi Jinping, but I would say more broadly the DNA of the Communist Party, does not do well to reflect and recalibrate in a way that signals reconciliation, compromise or what they would frame as weakness," said Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"I thoroughly expect that the conversation right now in Beijing is about turning the screws even more," Blanchette added.
China says Taiwan is its territory. Taiwan says it is an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name.
Options for increasing pressure post-election include many of the actions China was taking before: stepped up military drills around the island or picking off more of Taiwan's 15 remaining diplomatic allies. It could also withdraw from a key trade agreement reached a decade ago.
Widely read Chinese state-backed tabloid the Global Times said in a Monday editorial that military flexing may be the next step.
"We need to plan to crack down on Tsai's new provocative actions, including imposing military pressure," it wrote.
China already sailed its newest aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait twice in the run-up to the election, and during Tsai's first administration regularly flew bomber jets around the island.
Zheng Zhenqing，a Taiwan expert at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University, said China using even more military coercion against Taiwan was "a realistic thing to do".
"For the mainland, 'one country, two systems' is a basic policy of the state. How can it be changed just because of one election on Taiwan?" he said.
CREATING 'POISON'
Since Xi took power in late 2012, he has overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent at home, locking up political rivals in the name of fighting corruption and tightening Communist Party control at every level of society.
Internationally, China has faced opprobrium for locking up Muslims in its far western region of Xinjiang as part of what it calls an anti-radicalisation program.
And in Hong Kong, Beijing has shown no sign of giving into demands for greater democracy there, and continues to face censure from Western countries for how it has dealt with the protests.
This month Beijing replaced its top man in the former British colony with an official known for enforcing party discipline in coal-rich Shanxi, where corruption was once likened to cancer.
Alongside strident calls to use force to take Taiwan, there has been some rare criticism on China's Twitter-like Weibo site of China's Taiwan Affairs Office's failure to win over the island.
"You officials there please step down as soon as possible. From dawn to dusk you slam Taiwan, but the more you do this the more poison you create," wrote one user.
The Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment on whether its head, former Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Liu Jieyi, would be replaced in light of Tsai's huge win.
One diplomatic source, familiar with policy making in China and Taiwan, said it was possible Xi was not being given the true picture of what was happening in Taiwan because officials under him were scared to report bad news.
"In the current atmosphere in Beijing, who wants to be the one to tell the boss that he's on the wrong track?" the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
European leaders issue defiant support for Iran nuclear deal after Trump tells them to drop 'foolish' agreement
tcolson@businessinsider.com (Thomas Colson),Business Insider•January 13, 2020
The new statement highlights the strained relationship between Washington and its Western allies, who have been united in their support for the nuclear deal and have been reluctant to endorse Trump's actions in the Middle East.
In remarkably outspoken comments published Sunday, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace criticized Trump's isolationist foreign policy, saying he would worry "if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world."
He added that the UK was looking at reducing its dependence on the US for defense and was turning to other international allies instead.
"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," he said.
tcolson@businessinsider.com (Thomas Colson),Business Insider•January 13, 2020
Donald Trump Getty
European leaders have issued a statement of support for the Iran nuclear deal despite US President Donald Trump calling for them to walk away from the "foolish" arrangement.
The leaders of the UK, France, and Germany want to salvage the 2015 accord, which is designed to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Trump had asked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to abandon the agreement.
The leaders repeated their "regret and concern" for Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement and impose sanctions on Iran.
The statement came as the UK signaled plans to downgrade its defense alliance with the US.
France, Germany, and the UK have issued a statement of continued support for maintaining the Iran nuclear deal after President Donald Trump called for US allies to walk away from the agreement.
"We, the leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, share fundamental common security interests, along with our European partners," the joint statement said.
"One of them is upholding the nuclear non-proliferation regime, and ensuring that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) plays a key role in this respect."
All three European signatories to the deal want to salvage the 2015 accord, which was designed to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions but has been on the brink of collapse since Trump pulled out the US and imposed sanctions on Iran.
Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in May 2018, citing Iran's support for violent proxies across the Middle East and its ballistic-missile program.
Iran has subsequently breached the terms of the agreement.
In their statement, European leaders call on Iran to "return to full compliance with its commitments under the agreement."
They also expressed "deep concern at the actions taken by Iran in violation of its commitments since July 2019," adding that "these actions must be reversed."
Tensions between Iran and the US escalated dramatically this month when Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Tehran's most influential military commander.
In response, Tehran announced plans to breach new aspects of the accord and on Sunday announced it no longer felt compelled to stick to any limit on the number of centrifuges used in the making of enriched uranium, which could be used for a nuclear weapon.
The US president subsequently said the "time has come" for other signatories to tear up the agreement, calling it "foolish" in a phone call to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week.
UK to reduce dependence on US defense alliance
European leaders have issued a statement of support for the Iran nuclear deal despite US President Donald Trump calling for them to walk away from the "foolish" arrangement.
The leaders of the UK, France, and Germany want to salvage the 2015 accord, which is designed to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Trump had asked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to abandon the agreement.
The leaders repeated their "regret and concern" for Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement and impose sanctions on Iran.
The statement came as the UK signaled plans to downgrade its defense alliance with the US.
France, Germany, and the UK have issued a statement of continued support for maintaining the Iran nuclear deal after President Donald Trump called for US allies to walk away from the agreement.
"We, the leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, share fundamental common security interests, along with our European partners," the joint statement said.
"One of them is upholding the nuclear non-proliferation regime, and ensuring that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) plays a key role in this respect."
All three European signatories to the deal want to salvage the 2015 accord, which was designed to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions but has been on the brink of collapse since Trump pulled out the US and imposed sanctions on Iran.
Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in May 2018, citing Iran's support for violent proxies across the Middle East and its ballistic-missile program.
Iran has subsequently breached the terms of the agreement.
In their statement, European leaders call on Iran to "return to full compliance with its commitments under the agreement."
They also expressed "deep concern at the actions taken by Iran in violation of its commitments since July 2019," adding that "these actions must be reversed."
Tensions between Iran and the US escalated dramatically this month when Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Tehran's most influential military commander.
In response, Tehran announced plans to breach new aspects of the accord and on Sunday announced it no longer felt compelled to stick to any limit on the number of centrifuges used in the making of enriched uranium, which could be used for a nuclear weapon.
The US president subsequently said the "time has come" for other signatories to tear up the agreement, calling it "foolish" in a phone call to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week.
UK to reduce dependence on US defense alliance
Boris Johnson Trump Getty
The new statement highlights the strained relationship between Washington and its Western allies, who have been united in their support for the nuclear deal and have been reluctant to endorse Trump's actions in the Middle East.
In remarkably outspoken comments published Sunday, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace criticized Trump's isolationist foreign policy, saying he would worry "if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world."
He added that the UK was looking at reducing its dependence on the US for defense and was turning to other international allies instead.
"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," he said.
---30---
Trump Debuts a New Claim That Is the Actual Diametric Opposite of Reality
Jack Holmes,Esquire•January 13, 2020
Jack Holmes,Esquire•January 13, 2020
Photo credit: Brittany Greeson - Getty Images
From Esquire
It's not every day that the President of the United States blasts out a truly intergalactic fabrication. Well, it kind of is. Even so, it's worth remarking on whenever El Jefe says something that is not merely spin—not just a massaging of the truth or a distortion of reality—but something approaching the diametric opposite of what actually exists in the world. In this case, it may well be the full antithesis. Because Donald Trump, American president got himself on the Tweet Machine this fine Monday morning in January and rolled out a new brain-collapsing claim about his position on healthcare coverage.
Mini Mike Bloomberg is spending a lot of money on False Advertising. I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare, you have it now, while at the same time winning the fight to rid you of the expensive, unfair and very unpopular Individual Mandate.........and, if Republicans win in court and take back the House of Represenatives [sic], your healthcare, that I have now brought to the best place in many years, will become the best ever, by far. I will always protect your Pre-Existing Conditions, the Dems will not!
This is just unbelievably brazen lying, even by current Presidential Standards. The Trump administration is right now, this second, backing a lawsuit that would completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act. It would strip the guaranteed protection for preexisting conditions that is one of the law's primary achievements and leave nothing in its place. This is real life: people will lose their coverage and go bankrupt if the decision goes that way. Funny enough, the people who want the law struck down have made it clear to the court that this can wait until after the 2020 election—when they might face some repercussions for their actions. 68 percent of respondents in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last year said they wanted to maintain the protections.
From Esquire
It's not every day that the President of the United States blasts out a truly intergalactic fabrication. Well, it kind of is. Even so, it's worth remarking on whenever El Jefe says something that is not merely spin—not just a massaging of the truth or a distortion of reality—but something approaching the diametric opposite of what actually exists in the world. In this case, it may well be the full antithesis. Because Donald Trump, American president got himself on the Tweet Machine this fine Monday morning in January and rolled out a new brain-collapsing claim about his position on healthcare coverage.
Mini Mike Bloomberg is spending a lot of money on False Advertising. I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare, you have it now, while at the same time winning the fight to rid you of the expensive, unfair and very unpopular Individual Mandate.........and, if Republicans win in court and take back the House of Represenatives [sic], your healthcare, that I have now brought to the best place in many years, will become the best ever, by far. I will always protect your Pre-Existing Conditions, the Dems will not!
This is just unbelievably brazen lying, even by current Presidential Standards. The Trump administration is right now, this second, backing a lawsuit that would completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act. It would strip the guaranteed protection for preexisting conditions that is one of the law's primary achievements and leave nothing in its place. This is real life: people will lose their coverage and go bankrupt if the decision goes that way. Funny enough, the people who want the law struck down have made it clear to the court that this can wait until after the 2020 election—when they might face some repercussions for their actions. 68 percent of respondents in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last year said they wanted to maintain the protections.
Photo credit: Tasos Katopodis - Getty Images
This is just the latest tactic employed by the Republican Party to destroy the law after previous legislative attempts failed. At least those attempts went through the motions of replacing the law. But bills like Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy's Repeal and Go Fuck Yourself would have offered states the opportunity to apply for waivers to get certain illnesses and medical conditions exempted from pre-existing condition classification. Considering how many (red) states opted out of the free money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, it's safe to say some would carve out exemptions for the benefit of private insurers. (After all, the reason this is an issue is that private insurance companies consider it bad for business to actually cover stuff, which goes in the cost column on the balance sheet.) All this is to say that not everyone would have kept their preexisting conditions coverage. Trump endorsed that and every other repeal effort.
This is just the latest tactic employed by the Republican Party to destroy the law after previous legislative attempts failed. At least those attempts went through the motions of replacing the law. But bills like Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy's Repeal and Go Fuck Yourself would have offered states the opportunity to apply for waivers to get certain illnesses and medical conditions exempted from pre-existing condition classification. Considering how many (red) states opted out of the free money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, it's safe to say some would carve out exemptions for the benefit of private insurers. (After all, the reason this is an issue is that private insurance companies consider it bad for business to actually cover stuff, which goes in the cost column on the balance sheet.) All this is to say that not everyone would have kept their preexisting conditions coverage. Trump endorsed that and every other repeal effort.
+
Maybe this is a what-did-you-expect moment, considering that soon after this morning's message the president proceeded to retweet a bunch of randos suggesting Democratic Party leadership supports the Iranian Mullahs. This included a meme (?) of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that seemed to use traditional Islamic dress as a slur, and a separate photo depicting horrific violent injury to...someone. Who knows who they are? Could be anyone. After all, no one knows who's behind the account that tweeted it, either, but the President of the United States shared it with his 70 million followers all the same.
Still, the lies matter, and not just because this is yet another volley in the president's unceasing war on the concept of objective reality. The truth, after all, is whatever you can get enough people to believe. But there's also concrete evidence that lying works on this specific issue. As Brian Beutler pointed out on Twitter today, Josh Hawley flagrantly misrepresented his position on the issue during his 2018 Senate race against Democrat Claire McCaskill. Hawley ran ads where he suggested he "support[ed] forcing insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions" at the same time that, as Missouri's attorney general, he'd signed the state onto a lawsuit that would shred the Affordable Care Act—including the protections. That's the same one still winding its way through the courts, and which the Trump administration supports. Hawley won.
Maybe this is a what-did-you-expect moment, considering that soon after this morning's message the president proceeded to retweet a bunch of randos suggesting Democratic Party leadership supports the Iranian Mullahs. This included a meme (?) of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that seemed to use traditional Islamic dress as a slur, and a separate photo depicting horrific violent injury to...someone. Who knows who they are? Could be anyone. After all, no one knows who's behind the account that tweeted it, either, but the President of the United States shared it with his 70 million followers all the same.
Still, the lies matter, and not just because this is yet another volley in the president's unceasing war on the concept of objective reality. The truth, after all, is whatever you can get enough people to believe. But there's also concrete evidence that lying works on this specific issue. As Brian Beutler pointed out on Twitter today, Josh Hawley flagrantly misrepresented his position on the issue during his 2018 Senate race against Democrat Claire McCaskill. Hawley ran ads where he suggested he "support[ed] forcing insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions" at the same time that, as Missouri's attorney general, he'd signed the state onto a lawsuit that would shred the Affordable Care Act—including the protections. That's the same one still winding its way through the courts, and which the Trump administration supports. Hawley won.
Why You'll Never Understand Mezcal Like You Understand Scotch
ONE IS A PSYCHOTROPIC HALLUCINOGEN THE OTHER IS JUST ALCOHOL
There's more to the agave spirit than smoke and worm salt.
JEFF GORDINIERMAY 17, 2018
LAURA MURRAY
In the folklore of my family, there is one night that remains legendary. We had traveled to Cancún, the gabachos-in-big-sombreros Mexican resort city that was built on the concept of a never-ending spring break, to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the proper measure of ridiculousness. I don’t remember much about it, but my siblings do. They remember gazing out at a dance floor in a nightclub after midnight and seeing me, then in my early 20s, writhing around in a manner that was perhaps meant to summon the spirit of Quetzalcoatl, the Mesoamerican deity usually depicted as a feathered serpent. My brother and sister could find me in the crowd because I had managed to climb on top of a giant amplifier, which meant that my euphoric contortions were on full display for everyone in the club.
Beverage director Yana Volfson of New York’s Atla and Cosme.
Laura Murray
This Walpurgisnacht of wild abandon was later attributed to a lone culprit: mezcal. I had downed a lot of cheap mezcal that night, although I had no idea what it was. In those days, American tourists still liked to cling to the myth that the “worm” floating around in the bottle would make them hallucinate. (You can’t blame the locals for perpetuating this prank.) By now, of course, U.S. drinkers have graduated from such callow delusions, and this infinitely complex agave spirit, whether stirred into cocktails or sipped on its own, has been treated with the reverence it deserves for more than a decade. In fact, there are so many compelling bottles on store shelves that it’s hard to keep track, and it’s a telling indicator of popular thirst that George Clooney and his billionaire Casamigos comrades have announced their own plans to move into the mezcal marketplace.
If I’m being honest, though, I still can’t pretend to have a grasp on what mezcal is all about. It’s the sort of spirit that has a habit of eluding anyone who tries to pin it down. Which is why I met up with Yana Volfson, the beverage director at Mexican chef Enrique Olvera’s two outposts in New York, Atla and Cosme, for an afternoon agave tutorial. Joining Volfson at Atla was Jorsand Díaz, the head bartender and self-described “mezcal nerd” at both restaurants. And the first thing the two of them stressed to me was that mezcal mastery is even more slippery than an amateur may realize.
It’s a telling indicator of popular thirst that George Clooney and his billionaire Casamigos comrades have announced their own plans to move into the mezcal marketplace.
“We strive so hard for that idea of consistency,” Volfson said. “There’s really no such thing.” Surrender to flux—from bottle to bottle, day to day, she advised. “Mezcal can taste one way one day and taste different the next day. Just like no two chiles are ever going to taste the same.”
“The more passion that I have, the more questions I have,” Díaz added.
But where to begin, if mezcal qualifies as such a moving target? It helps to start off by forgoing stereotypes. Perhaps you’re prone to bluffing your way through a bar order by asking for something “smoky,” which is like saying “funky” in a natural-wine bar or “hoppy” in a craft brewery. Stop. Smoke is not always the most pronounced element in mezcal, nor must it be viewed as the chief virtue.
Pairings with El Jolgorio and Rey Campero mezcals.
Laura Murray
Instead of pairing mezcal with the clichéd worm salt and wedge of citrus, Volfson and Díaz will, at Atla, entice customers with curveball accompaniments that come across as a revelation. I sampled three bottles. Each bloomed on my palate when hitched to an unexpected nibble. The first was an espadín (from the most commonly used agave plant) that mezcalero Joel Barriga had made for Vago; it was “milky” and “buttery,” Volfson said, and she paired it with chocolate-covered espresso beans. Then she described Rómulo Sánchez Parada’s 2015 madre-cuishe, for Rey Campero, as “stemmy,” green-grassy, eucalyptus-tinged; she had me drink that one with slices of smoked salmon. The third portal, Reynaldo Altamirano’s wild-agave tepeztate, for El Jolgorio, brought out the poetry in Volfson. She paired it with blue cheese, declaring that it would take me “far up into the sky and deep, deep into the ocean, in terms of its flavor.”
Wait. Maybe mezcal can make you hallucinate after all. I suppose the trick is to open your mind first. “Walk through one door,” Volfson told me, “and then I’ll open up another door for you.”
This article appears in the May ’18 issue of Esquire.
Alexi Lubomirski
ONE IS A PSYCHOTROPIC HALLUCINOGEN THE OTHER IS JUST ALCOHOL
There's more to the agave spirit than smoke and worm salt.
JEFF GORDINIERMAY 17, 2018
LAURA MURRAY
In the folklore of my family, there is one night that remains legendary. We had traveled to Cancún, the gabachos-in-big-sombreros Mexican resort city that was built on the concept of a never-ending spring break, to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the proper measure of ridiculousness. I don’t remember much about it, but my siblings do. They remember gazing out at a dance floor in a nightclub after midnight and seeing me, then in my early 20s, writhing around in a manner that was perhaps meant to summon the spirit of Quetzalcoatl, the Mesoamerican deity usually depicted as a feathered serpent. My brother and sister could find me in the crowd because I had managed to climb on top of a giant amplifier, which meant that my euphoric contortions were on full display for everyone in the club.
Beverage director Yana Volfson of New York’s Atla and Cosme.
Laura Murray
This Walpurgisnacht of wild abandon was later attributed to a lone culprit: mezcal. I had downed a lot of cheap mezcal that night, although I had no idea what it was. In those days, American tourists still liked to cling to the myth that the “worm” floating around in the bottle would make them hallucinate. (You can’t blame the locals for perpetuating this prank.) By now, of course, U.S. drinkers have graduated from such callow delusions, and this infinitely complex agave spirit, whether stirred into cocktails or sipped on its own, has been treated with the reverence it deserves for more than a decade. In fact, there are so many compelling bottles on store shelves that it’s hard to keep track, and it’s a telling indicator of popular thirst that George Clooney and his billionaire Casamigos comrades have announced their own plans to move into the mezcal marketplace.
If I’m being honest, though, I still can’t pretend to have a grasp on what mezcal is all about. It’s the sort of spirit that has a habit of eluding anyone who tries to pin it down. Which is why I met up with Yana Volfson, the beverage director at Mexican chef Enrique Olvera’s two outposts in New York, Atla and Cosme, for an afternoon agave tutorial. Joining Volfson at Atla was Jorsand Díaz, the head bartender and self-described “mezcal nerd” at both restaurants. And the first thing the two of them stressed to me was that mezcal mastery is even more slippery than an amateur may realize.
It’s a telling indicator of popular thirst that George Clooney and his billionaire Casamigos comrades have announced their own plans to move into the mezcal marketplace.
“We strive so hard for that idea of consistency,” Volfson said. “There’s really no such thing.” Surrender to flux—from bottle to bottle, day to day, she advised. “Mezcal can taste one way one day and taste different the next day. Just like no two chiles are ever going to taste the same.”
“The more passion that I have, the more questions I have,” Díaz added.
But where to begin, if mezcal qualifies as such a moving target? It helps to start off by forgoing stereotypes. Perhaps you’re prone to bluffing your way through a bar order by asking for something “smoky,” which is like saying “funky” in a natural-wine bar or “hoppy” in a craft brewery. Stop. Smoke is not always the most pronounced element in mezcal, nor must it be viewed as the chief virtue.
Pairings with El Jolgorio and Rey Campero mezcals.
Laura Murray
Instead of pairing mezcal with the clichéd worm salt and wedge of citrus, Volfson and Díaz will, at Atla, entice customers with curveball accompaniments that come across as a revelation. I sampled three bottles. Each bloomed on my palate when hitched to an unexpected nibble. The first was an espadín (from the most commonly used agave plant) that mezcalero Joel Barriga had made for Vago; it was “milky” and “buttery,” Volfson said, and she paired it with chocolate-covered espresso beans. Then she described Rómulo Sánchez Parada’s 2015 madre-cuishe, for Rey Campero, as “stemmy,” green-grassy, eucalyptus-tinged; she had me drink that one with slices of smoked salmon. The third portal, Reynaldo Altamirano’s wild-agave tepeztate, for El Jolgorio, brought out the poetry in Volfson. She paired it with blue cheese, declaring that it would take me “far up into the sky and deep, deep into the ocean, in terms of its flavor.”
Wait. Maybe mezcal can make you hallucinate after all. I suppose the trick is to open your mind first. “Walk through one door,” Volfson told me, “and then I’ll open up another door for you.”
This article appears in the May ’18 issue of Esquire.
Alexi Lubomirski
Here's Why George Patton Sent American Bombers To Attack A Hawaiian Volcano
Sebastien Roblin,
The National Interest•January 12, 2020
Key point:
Disaster seemed imminent: day by day, a glowing river of molten lava was creeping steadily towards Hilo, Hawaii. The town of 15,000 lay slightly over 30 miles northeast of Mauna Loa, known as the second-largest volcano on the planet.
The over 13,000-foot tall behemoth had erupted on Hawaii island on November 21. By December, Dr. Thomas Jaggar, a local volcanologist and founder of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, estimated that one of the five streams of lava issuing from Mauna Loa was advancing at a mile per minute towards Hilo, threatening to first flood the Wailuku River feeding into it.
At first, Jaggar considered dispatching mule teams laden with explosive to Mauna Loa to collapse the lava tubes feeding the lava streams—but such a project seemed likely to take far too long to avert catastrophe.
Then his colleague Guido Giacometti proposed a faster solution: why not ask the Army Air Corps if it could blast the streams from the air with a little precision bombing?
On December 23, Jaggar contacted the G-2 intelligence staff officer of the Army Hawaiian Division, a young lieutenant colonel by the name of George S. Patton. He signed off on the idea and tapped the 23rd and 72nd Bomber Squadron for the job, both based at Luke Field on Ford/Oahu island.
At the time these units flew large, fabric-covered Keystone B-3A and LB-6 twin-engine biplane bombers. The obsolete aircraft had five-man crews armed with defensive machineguns, and Wright Cyclone engines nestled in the spars between their two sets of wings. Though highly similar, the older LB-6 was distinguished by its twin vertical tail fins compared to the single fin on the B-3A.
Jaggar briefed the pilots on the geological theory behind the raid, and on December 26 the Army Air Force bombers flew the 220-mile long journey from Luke Field in Pearl Harbor to a field in Hilo.
The following morning the aviators were visited by a native Hawaiian named Harry Keliihoomalu who warned them not to attack, lest they displease the Madam Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, and thus by implication the creator of the volcanic Hawaiian archipelago itself.
“Why don’t they leave Pele alone?” Keliihoomlu later told Hilo’s local newspaper. “They shouldn't interfere with the flow. If Pele decides to flow to Hilo, there's nothing that they can do to stop her.”
Pele, also known as She Who Devours the Earth, remains a popular local deity, and many Hawaiian natives believed it wrong to obstruct volcanos, seen as manifestations of her power.
Another citizen quoted in the paper said: “Pele should not be disturbed. This bombing is a folly. It will do more harm than good. If Pele makes up her mind to come to Hilo it is not for man to dissuade her by artificial methods. She cannot be stopped that way.”
Nonetheless, the Army pilots carried out their mission in two waves of five, the rickety open-cockpit aircraft approaching the volcano at an only 4,000 feet high due to their bombloads, and likely below their pokey maximum speed of 115 miles per hour. Jaggar observed the attack through his telescope from a perch neighboring on Mauna Kea, while a geologist named Harold Stearns accompanied the bomber crew for a first-hand view of the operation.
The first wave—two LB-6s and three B-3As—each carried two 300-pound practice bomb with black powder charges to test different approaches. In the following five-ship wave at noon, each aircraft carried two 600-pound Mark 1 bombs with fuses set to detonate a tenth of a second after impact.
You can see the eruption and the unusual bombing raid in archival footage here and here.
Most of the bombs exploded ineffectually to either side of the stream—but five landed on target, their explosions creating craters that rapidly flooded with molten rock and causing lava to fountain hundreds of feet into the air. According to one article, flying volcanic sediment even burned holes in one of the bomber’s fabric-covered wings.
Six days after the raid on December 2, the lava stream abruptly ceased its advance. Jaggar was not shy about according to his bombing scheme credit for this fortuitous outcome.
“The experiment could not have been more successful; the results were exactly as anticipated,” he told the New York Times. He expounded:
This channel was broken up by the bombing and fresh streams poured over the side of the heap…. I have no question that this robbing of the source tunnel slowed down the movement of the front…. The average actual motion of the extreme front … for the five days after the bombing was approximately 1000 feet per day. For the seven days preceding the bombing the rate was one mile per day. How long would the flow have lasted without bombing it?
But Stearns, who witnessed the bombing up close concluded the opposite:
“The tube walls look 25 to 50 feet high and deep in the flow so that I think there would be no chance of breaking the walls. The lava liquid is low. The damming possibility looks effective but the target is too small.” Regarding the flow’s halt on December 2, he later wrote: “I’m sure it’s a coincidence.”
Most geological analysis of the bombing shared Stearn’s conclusion that the bombs simply weren’t powerful to meaningfully affect the lava flow.
Nonetheless, seven years later on May 1 or 2, 1942, the wartime Army Air Force again dispatched bombers to strike an active Mauna Loa, this time targeting her vents. The aircraft (most likely B-18 Bolo light bombers) again missed with most of their bombs and left behind several duds. A later study again judged the raid had been ineffectual. But three days later vents collapsed, likely due to natural causes.
Then from 1975–1976, the Air Force engaged in multiple tests using far more powerful 2,000-pound bombs on volcanic rock, producing 100-foot diameter craters. A detailed 1980 study by J.P. Lockwood and F.A. Torgerson judged that the attacks in 1935 and 1942 were unlikely to have had any affect, but estimated that larger weapons employed with greater precision could be effective. The idea continues to be proposed from time to time as possible solution for dealing with modern eruptions.
However, the idea of using bombers or other technologies to divert lava flows in Hawaii remains objectionable to many Hawaiians, who believe that respecting Pele means accepting her unpredictable bouts of fiery destruction—or risk suffering worse consequences.
Indeed, some hold Pele responsible for a fatal crash at Luke Field two months after the 1935 bombing which killed six aircrew who had participated in the raid.
Despite having possibly incurred the wrath of a goddess, the 23rd Bomber Squadron continues to sport a unit patch depicting bombs falling upon a volcano. In 2015 on the eightieth anniversary of the raid, the squadron dispatched two B-52 for a flyby of Mauna Loa to commemorate their shared history in a unique confrontation between man and nature.
Sébastien Roblin holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This appeared last year.
Image: Wikipedia.
Read the original article.
Sebastien Roblin,
The National Interest•January 12, 2020
Key point:
Disaster seemed imminent: day by day, a glowing river of molten lava was creeping steadily towards Hilo, Hawaii. The town of 15,000 lay slightly over 30 miles northeast of Mauna Loa, known as the second-largest volcano on the planet.
The over 13,000-foot tall behemoth had erupted on Hawaii island on November 21. By December, Dr. Thomas Jaggar, a local volcanologist and founder of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, estimated that one of the five streams of lava issuing from Mauna Loa was advancing at a mile per minute towards Hilo, threatening to first flood the Wailuku River feeding into it.
At first, Jaggar considered dispatching mule teams laden with explosive to Mauna Loa to collapse the lava tubes feeding the lava streams—but such a project seemed likely to take far too long to avert catastrophe.
Then his colleague Guido Giacometti proposed a faster solution: why not ask the Army Air Corps if it could blast the streams from the air with a little precision bombing?
On December 23, Jaggar contacted the G-2 intelligence staff officer of the Army Hawaiian Division, a young lieutenant colonel by the name of George S. Patton. He signed off on the idea and tapped the 23rd and 72nd Bomber Squadron for the job, both based at Luke Field on Ford/Oahu island.
At the time these units flew large, fabric-covered Keystone B-3A and LB-6 twin-engine biplane bombers. The obsolete aircraft had five-man crews armed with defensive machineguns, and Wright Cyclone engines nestled in the spars between their two sets of wings. Though highly similar, the older LB-6 was distinguished by its twin vertical tail fins compared to the single fin on the B-3A.
Jaggar briefed the pilots on the geological theory behind the raid, and on December 26 the Army Air Force bombers flew the 220-mile long journey from Luke Field in Pearl Harbor to a field in Hilo.
The following morning the aviators were visited by a native Hawaiian named Harry Keliihoomalu who warned them not to attack, lest they displease the Madam Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, and thus by implication the creator of the volcanic Hawaiian archipelago itself.
“Why don’t they leave Pele alone?” Keliihoomlu later told Hilo’s local newspaper. “They shouldn't interfere with the flow. If Pele decides to flow to Hilo, there's nothing that they can do to stop her.”
Pele, also known as She Who Devours the Earth, remains a popular local deity, and many Hawaiian natives believed it wrong to obstruct volcanos, seen as manifestations of her power.
Another citizen quoted in the paper said: “Pele should not be disturbed. This bombing is a folly. It will do more harm than good. If Pele makes up her mind to come to Hilo it is not for man to dissuade her by artificial methods. She cannot be stopped that way.”
Nonetheless, the Army pilots carried out their mission in two waves of five, the rickety open-cockpit aircraft approaching the volcano at an only 4,000 feet high due to their bombloads, and likely below their pokey maximum speed of 115 miles per hour. Jaggar observed the attack through his telescope from a perch neighboring on Mauna Kea, while a geologist named Harold Stearns accompanied the bomber crew for a first-hand view of the operation.
The first wave—two LB-6s and three B-3As—each carried two 300-pound practice bomb with black powder charges to test different approaches. In the following five-ship wave at noon, each aircraft carried two 600-pound Mark 1 bombs with fuses set to detonate a tenth of a second after impact.
You can see the eruption and the unusual bombing raid in archival footage here and here.
Most of the bombs exploded ineffectually to either side of the stream—but five landed on target, their explosions creating craters that rapidly flooded with molten rock and causing lava to fountain hundreds of feet into the air. According to one article, flying volcanic sediment even burned holes in one of the bomber’s fabric-covered wings.
Six days after the raid on December 2, the lava stream abruptly ceased its advance. Jaggar was not shy about according to his bombing scheme credit for this fortuitous outcome.
“The experiment could not have been more successful; the results were exactly as anticipated,” he told the New York Times. He expounded:
This channel was broken up by the bombing and fresh streams poured over the side of the heap…. I have no question that this robbing of the source tunnel slowed down the movement of the front…. The average actual motion of the extreme front … for the five days after the bombing was approximately 1000 feet per day. For the seven days preceding the bombing the rate was one mile per day. How long would the flow have lasted without bombing it?
But Stearns, who witnessed the bombing up close concluded the opposite:
“The tube walls look 25 to 50 feet high and deep in the flow so that I think there would be no chance of breaking the walls. The lava liquid is low. The damming possibility looks effective but the target is too small.” Regarding the flow’s halt on December 2, he later wrote: “I’m sure it’s a coincidence.”
Most geological analysis of the bombing shared Stearn’s conclusion that the bombs simply weren’t powerful to meaningfully affect the lava flow.
Nonetheless, seven years later on May 1 or 2, 1942, the wartime Army Air Force again dispatched bombers to strike an active Mauna Loa, this time targeting her vents. The aircraft (most likely B-18 Bolo light bombers) again missed with most of their bombs and left behind several duds. A later study again judged the raid had been ineffectual. But three days later vents collapsed, likely due to natural causes.
Then from 1975–1976, the Air Force engaged in multiple tests using far more powerful 2,000-pound bombs on volcanic rock, producing 100-foot diameter craters. A detailed 1980 study by J.P. Lockwood and F.A. Torgerson judged that the attacks in 1935 and 1942 were unlikely to have had any affect, but estimated that larger weapons employed with greater precision could be effective. The idea continues to be proposed from time to time as possible solution for dealing with modern eruptions.
However, the idea of using bombers or other technologies to divert lava flows in Hawaii remains objectionable to many Hawaiians, who believe that respecting Pele means accepting her unpredictable bouts of fiery destruction—or risk suffering worse consequences.
Indeed, some hold Pele responsible for a fatal crash at Luke Field two months after the 1935 bombing which killed six aircrew who had participated in the raid.
Despite having possibly incurred the wrath of a goddess, the 23rd Bomber Squadron continues to sport a unit patch depicting bombs falling upon a volcano. In 2015 on the eightieth anniversary of the raid, the squadron dispatched two B-52 for a flyby of Mauna Loa to commemorate their shared history in a unique confrontation between man and nature.
Sébastien Roblin holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This appeared last year.
Image: Wikipedia.
.jpg){kind=link}
Read the original article.
Pope Francis repeats support for celibacy after Benedict outburst
POPE BENEDICT AS CARDINAL RATZINGER OF GERMANY, HEAD OF THE INQUISITION, COVERED UP CHILD RAPE BY PRIESTS IN GERMANY LATER IN EUROPE IN GENERAL IN ORDER TO DEFEND THE BANKRUPT IDEOLOGY OF
Trial delayed for French priest accused of abusing 75 boys
NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY, Associated Press•January 13, 2020
France Predator Priest
Former French priest Bernard Preynat, center, arrives at the Lyon court house, central France, Monday Jan.13, 2020. Bernard Preynat, is accused of sexually abusing some 75 Boy Scouts went on trial Monday _ but the proceedings were delayed until Tuesday because of a strike by lawyers. Preynat admitted in the 1990s to abusing boys, but was only removed from the priesthood last year. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
More 1 / 4
LYON, France (AP) — A former French priest accused of sexually abusing around 75 Boy Scouts went on trial Monday, but the proceedings were delayed for at least a day because of a strike by lawyers.
The case is France’s worst clergy abuse drama to reach court so far, and its repercussions reached all the way to the Vatican.
“I have heard the suffering of these people, which I'm guilty of causing. I hope that this trial can unfold as quickly as possible,” Bernard Preynat told the court after the judge announced the trial would be delayed until Tuesday.
Preynat admitted in the 1990s to abusing boys, but was only removed from the priesthood last year. The church defrocked him in July, after French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was convicted of covering up for Preynat’s actions.
Several other church officials were also accused of failing to alert police or prosecutors of his actions, including a senior Vatican official, Cardinal Luis Ladaria. The Vatican shielded Ladaria from trial, invoking his immunity as an official of a sovereign state.
Preynat, now 74, appeared in court Monday in Lyon on charges of sexual assault of 10 minors between 1986 and 1991. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He’s also accused of abusing dozens of others in the 1970s and 1980s, but those alleged incidents happened too long ago to prosecute.
The judge delayed the hearing because of a strike by lawyers angry over President Emmanuel Macron's planned overhaul of the French pension system.
Several of the victims' lawyers appeared in court despite the strike, and seemed confident that the trial would resume quickly. The French government is meeting legal sector representatives Monday for negotiations on the pension reform.
Preynat's trial comes amid new tensions in the Vatican, as retired Pope Benedict XVI insists in a new book on the “necessity" of priestly celibacy just as Pope Francis is weighing whether to ordain married men to address the Catholic priest shortage.
___
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
POPE BENEDICT AS CARDINAL RATZINGER OF GERMANY, HEAD OF THE INQUISITION, COVERED UP CHILD RAPE BY PRIESTS IN GERMANY LATER IN EUROPE IN GENERAL IN ORDER TO DEFEND THE BANKRUPT IDEOLOGY OF
#CELIBACY THAT 'S WHAT ALL THE COVER UP IS ABOUT
Ella IDE, AFP•January 13, 2020
While Pope Francis supports celibacy in the priesthood, he has
Ella IDE, AFP•January 13, 2020
While Pope Francis supports celibacy in the priesthood, he has
mooted the possible of being flexible in remote areas where
there is 'a pastoral necessity' (AFP Photo/Handout)More
Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Monday repeated his support for celibacy after his predecessor pope Benedict XVI urged him not to open the Catholic priesthood up to married men, in a plea that stunned Vatican experts.
"The pope's position on celibacy is well known," the head of the Vatican's press centre, Matteo Bruni, told journalists at the Vatican on Monday, citing Francis on his return from a trip to Panama in January 2019.
"I remember something that Pope Paul VI said: 'I'd rather give my life than change the law on celibacy'," Bruni quoted the pope as having said.
The pope also said "Personally I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. Secondly, I don't think optional celibacy should be allowed. No."
At the time, the pope nevertheless conceded "some possibilities for far flung places", such as Pacific islands or the Amazon where "there is a pastoral necessity".
The ex-pontiff Benedict, who retired in 2013, issued his defence of clerical celibacy in a book written with arch-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, extracts of which were published by France's Le Figaro.
"I cannot keep silent!" Benedict wrote in the book, which follows an extraordinary meeting of bishops from the Amazon at the Vatican last year that recommended the ordination of married men in certain circumstances.
The pope emeritus, 92, and Cardinal Sarah from Guinea weighed in on the controversial question of whether or not to allow "viri probati" -- married "men of proven virtue" -- to join the priesthood.
Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests, and is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.
Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, at first withdrew to a life of quiet contemplation in the Vatican, but has increasingly begun to speak out on key Catholic issues.
Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Monday repeated his support for celibacy after his predecessor pope Benedict XVI urged him not to open the Catholic priesthood up to married men, in a plea that stunned Vatican experts.
"The pope's position on celibacy is well known," the head of the Vatican's press centre, Matteo Bruni, told journalists at the Vatican on Monday, citing Francis on his return from a trip to Panama in January 2019.
"I remember something that Pope Paul VI said: 'I'd rather give my life than change the law on celibacy'," Bruni quoted the pope as having said.
The pope also said "Personally I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. Secondly, I don't think optional celibacy should be allowed. No."
At the time, the pope nevertheless conceded "some possibilities for far flung places", such as Pacific islands or the Amazon where "there is a pastoral necessity".
The ex-pontiff Benedict, who retired in 2013, issued his defence of clerical celibacy in a book written with arch-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, extracts of which were published by France's Le Figaro.
"I cannot keep silent!" Benedict wrote in the book, which follows an extraordinary meeting of bishops from the Amazon at the Vatican last year that recommended the ordination of married men in certain circumstances.
The pope emeritus, 92, and Cardinal Sarah from Guinea weighed in on the controversial question of whether or not to allow "viri probati" -- married "men of proven virtue" -- to join the priesthood.
Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests, and is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.
Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, at first withdrew to a life of quiet contemplation in the Vatican, but has increasingly begun to speak out on key Catholic issues.
---30---
Trial delayed for French priest accused of abusing 75 boys
NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY, Associated Press•January 13, 2020
France Predator Priest
Former French priest Bernard Preynat, center, arrives at the Lyon court house, central France, Monday Jan.13, 2020. Bernard Preynat, is accused of sexually abusing some 75 Boy Scouts went on trial Monday _ but the proceedings were delayed until Tuesday because of a strike by lawyers. Preynat admitted in the 1990s to abusing boys, but was only removed from the priesthood last year. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
More 1 / 4
LYON, France (AP) — A former French priest accused of sexually abusing around 75 Boy Scouts went on trial Monday, but the proceedings were delayed for at least a day because of a strike by lawyers.
The case is France’s worst clergy abuse drama to reach court so far, and its repercussions reached all the way to the Vatican.
“I have heard the suffering of these people, which I'm guilty of causing. I hope that this trial can unfold as quickly as possible,” Bernard Preynat told the court after the judge announced the trial would be delayed until Tuesday.
Preynat admitted in the 1990s to abusing boys, but was only removed from the priesthood last year. The church defrocked him in July, after French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was convicted of covering up for Preynat’s actions.
Several other church officials were also accused of failing to alert police or prosecutors of his actions, including a senior Vatican official, Cardinal Luis Ladaria. The Vatican shielded Ladaria from trial, invoking his immunity as an official of a sovereign state.
Preynat, now 74, appeared in court Monday in Lyon on charges of sexual assault of 10 minors between 1986 and 1991. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He’s also accused of abusing dozens of others in the 1970s and 1980s, but those alleged incidents happened too long ago to prosecute.
The judge delayed the hearing because of a strike by lawyers angry over President Emmanuel Macron's planned overhaul of the French pension system.
Several of the victims' lawyers appeared in court despite the strike, and seemed confident that the trial would resume quickly. The French government is meeting legal sector representatives Monday for negotiations on the pension reform.
Preynat's trial comes amid new tensions in the Vatican, as retired Pope Benedict XVI insists in a new book on the “necessity" of priestly celibacy just as Pope Francis is weighing whether to ordain married men to address the Catholic priest shortage.
___
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
SOLEIMANI ASSASSINATION
'Clerics get lost!': Iran protests rage on for a third day
Crowds in Iran call on leadership to quit after Tehran admitted it mistakenly shot down plane with 176 people on board.
'Clerics get lost!': Iran protests rage on for a third day
Crowds in Iran call on leadership to quit after Tehran admitted it mistakenly shot down plane with 176 people on board.
Recent weeks marked the most serious escalation between
the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution
[File: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]
Protesters denouncing Iran's clerical rulers took to the streets and riot police deployed to face them in a third day of demonstrations after authorities acknowledged shooting down a passenger plane by accident.
Demonstrations, some apparently met by a violent crackdown, were the latest twist in one of the most serious escalations between the United States and Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution swept the US-backed shah from power.
Video from inside Iran showed students on Monday chanting slogans including "Clerics get lost!" outside universities in the city of Isfahan and in Tehran, where riot police were filmed taking positions on the streets.
More:
US believes Iran accidentally shot down Ukraine plane: Reports
'No survivors': Ukrainian jet crashes in Iran with 176 on board
'Disastrous mistake': Iran admits it shot down Iranian plane
Images from the previous two days of protests showed wounded people being carried and pools of blood on the ground. Gunshots could be heard, although the police denied opening fire.
Video sent to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran and later verified by The Associated Press showed a crowd of demonstrators near Azadi, or Freedom, Square fleeing as a tear gas canister landed among them.
People coughed and sputtered while trying to escape the fumes, with one woman calling out in Farsi: "They fired tear gas at people! Azadi Square. Death to the dictator!"
Another video showed a woman being carried away in the aftermath as a blood trail was seen on the ground. Those around her cried out that she has been shot by live ammunition in the leg.
Canada grieves for the dead after Iran aircraft tragedy
"Oh my God, she's bleeding nonstop!" one person shouted. Another shouted: "Bandage it!"
A full picture of protests inside Iran is difficult to obtain because of restrictions on independent media. But videos uploaded to the internet showed scores, possibly hundreds, of protesters on Monday at sites in the capital and Isfahan, a major city to the south.
'Don't kill'
US President Donald Trump, who raised the stakes last week by ordering the killing in a drone strike of Iran's most powerful military commander, tweeted to Iran's leaders: "Don't kill your protesters."
Tehran acknowledged shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner by mistake last Wednesday, killing all 176 aboard, hours after it fired at US targets in Iraq to retaliate for the killing on January 3 of General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
Iranian public anger, rumbling for days as Iran repeatedly denied it was to blame for the plane crash, erupted into protests on Saturday when the military admitted its role.
'Show restraint'
State-affiliated media has reported protests in Tehran and other cities but has provided few details.
"Police treated people who had gathered with patience and tolerance," Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi said in a statement on state media.
"At protests, police absolutely did not shoot because the capital's police officers have been given orders to show restraint."
Tehran's showdown with Washington has come at a precarious time for the authorities in Iran and the proxy forces they support to wield influence across the Middle East. Sanctions imposed by Trump have hammered the Iranian economy.
Iran's authorities killed hundreds of protesters in November in what appears to have been the bloodiest crackdown on anti-government unrest since 1979. In Iraq and Lebanon, governments supported by Iran-backed armed groups have faced mass protests.
Adding to international pressure on Tehran, five nations, including Canada, Britain and Ukraine, whose citizens died when the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 was shot down, meet in London on Thursday to discuss possible legal action, Ukraine's foreign minister said.
Online protests
Javad Kashi, a professor of politics at Tehran Allameh University, wrote online that people should be allowed to express their anger in public protests. "Buckled under the pressure of humiliation and being ignored, people poured into the streets with so much anger," he wrote. "Let them cry as much as they want."
There has also been a cultural outpouring of grief and anger from Iran's creative community.
Some Iranian artists, including famed director Masoud Kimiai, withdrew from an upcoming international film festival. Two state TV hosts resigned in protest over the false reporting about the cause of the plane crash.
Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran's most famous actresses, posted a picture of a black square on Instagram with the caption: "We are not citizens. We are hostages. Millions of hostages."
Saeed Maroof, the captain of Iran's national volleyball team, also wrote on Instagram: "I wish I could be hopeful that this was the last scene of the show of deceit and lack of wisdom of these incompetents but I still know it is not."
He said despite the qualification of Iran's national team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after years of efforts, "there is no energy left in our sad and desperate souls to celebrate".
Escalation
Iran's government spokesman dismissed Trump's comments, saying Iranians were suffering because of his actions and they would remember he ordered the killing of Soleimani.
Trump precipitated the escalation with Iran in 2018 by pulling out of a deal between Tehran and world powers under which sanctions were eased in return for Iran curbing its nuclear programme. The US president said he wants a more stringent pact.
Iran has repeatedly said it will not negotiate as long as US sanctions are in place. It denies seeking nuclear arms.
The recent flare-up began in December when rockets fired at US bases in Iraq killed a US contractor. Washington blamed a pro-Iran militia and launched air strikes that killed at least 25 members of the armed group. After its members and supporters surrounded the US embassy in Baghdad for two days, Trump ordered the strike on Soleimani.
Iran retaliated on Wednesday by firing missiles at Iraqi bases where US troops were stationed, but did not kill any Americans.
The Ukrainian plane, on its way to Kyiv, was shot down shortly afterwards. Most of those killed were Iranians. Dozens were Canadians, many dual nationals who travelled to Iran to visit relatives over the holidays.
After days of denying responsibility, commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps issued profuse apologies. Iran's president called it a "disastrous mistake".
A top commander said he told authorities on the day of the crash the airliner had been shot down, raising questions about why Iran initially denied it.
Protesters denouncing Iran's clerical rulers took to the streets and riot police deployed to face them in a third day of demonstrations after authorities acknowledged shooting down a passenger plane by accident.
Demonstrations, some apparently met by a violent crackdown, were the latest twist in one of the most serious escalations between the United States and Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution swept the US-backed shah from power.
Video from inside Iran showed students on Monday chanting slogans including "Clerics get lost!" outside universities in the city of Isfahan and in Tehran, where riot police were filmed taking positions on the streets.
More:
US believes Iran accidentally shot down Ukraine plane: Reports
'No survivors': Ukrainian jet crashes in Iran with 176 on board
'Disastrous mistake': Iran admits it shot down Iranian plane
Images from the previous two days of protests showed wounded people being carried and pools of blood on the ground. Gunshots could be heard, although the police denied opening fire.
Video sent to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran and later verified by The Associated Press showed a crowd of demonstrators near Azadi, or Freedom, Square fleeing as a tear gas canister landed among them.
People coughed and sputtered while trying to escape the fumes, with one woman calling out in Farsi: "They fired tear gas at people! Azadi Square. Death to the dictator!"
Another video showed a woman being carried away in the aftermath as a blood trail was seen on the ground. Those around her cried out that she has been shot by live ammunition in the leg.
Canada grieves for the dead after Iran aircraft tragedy
"Oh my God, she's bleeding nonstop!" one person shouted. Another shouted: "Bandage it!"
A full picture of protests inside Iran is difficult to obtain because of restrictions on independent media. But videos uploaded to the internet showed scores, possibly hundreds, of protesters on Monday at sites in the capital and Isfahan, a major city to the south.
'Don't kill'
US President Donald Trump, who raised the stakes last week by ordering the killing in a drone strike of Iran's most powerful military commander, tweeted to Iran's leaders: "Don't kill your protesters."
Tehran acknowledged shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner by mistake last Wednesday, killing all 176 aboard, hours after it fired at US targets in Iraq to retaliate for the killing on January 3 of General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
Iranian public anger, rumbling for days as Iran repeatedly denied it was to blame for the plane crash, erupted into protests on Saturday when the military admitted its role.
'Show restraint'
State-affiliated media has reported protests in Tehran and other cities but has provided few details.
"Police treated people who had gathered with patience and tolerance," Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi said in a statement on state media.
"At protests, police absolutely did not shoot because the capital's police officers have been given orders to show restraint."
Tehran's showdown with Washington has come at a precarious time for the authorities in Iran and the proxy forces they support to wield influence across the Middle East. Sanctions imposed by Trump have hammered the Iranian economy.
Iran's authorities killed hundreds of protesters in November in what appears to have been the bloodiest crackdown on anti-government unrest since 1979. In Iraq and Lebanon, governments supported by Iran-backed armed groups have faced mass protests.
Adding to international pressure on Tehran, five nations, including Canada, Britain and Ukraine, whose citizens died when the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 was shot down, meet in London on Thursday to discuss possible legal action, Ukraine's foreign minister said.
Online protests
Javad Kashi, a professor of politics at Tehran Allameh University, wrote online that people should be allowed to express their anger in public protests. "Buckled under the pressure of humiliation and being ignored, people poured into the streets with so much anger," he wrote. "Let them cry as much as they want."
There has also been a cultural outpouring of grief and anger from Iran's creative community.
Some Iranian artists, including famed director Masoud Kimiai, withdrew from an upcoming international film festival. Two state TV hosts resigned in protest over the false reporting about the cause of the plane crash.
Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran's most famous actresses, posted a picture of a black square on Instagram with the caption: "We are not citizens. We are hostages. Millions of hostages."
Saeed Maroof, the captain of Iran's national volleyball team, also wrote on Instagram: "I wish I could be hopeful that this was the last scene of the show of deceit and lack of wisdom of these incompetents but I still know it is not."
He said despite the qualification of Iran's national team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after years of efforts, "there is no energy left in our sad and desperate souls to celebrate".
Escalation
Iran's government spokesman dismissed Trump's comments, saying Iranians were suffering because of his actions and they would remember he ordered the killing of Soleimani.
Trump precipitated the escalation with Iran in 2018 by pulling out of a deal between Tehran and world powers under which sanctions were eased in return for Iran curbing its nuclear programme. The US president said he wants a more stringent pact.
Iran has repeatedly said it will not negotiate as long as US sanctions are in place. It denies seeking nuclear arms.
The recent flare-up began in December when rockets fired at US bases in Iraq killed a US contractor. Washington blamed a pro-Iran militia and launched air strikes that killed at least 25 members of the armed group. After its members and supporters surrounded the US embassy in Baghdad for two days, Trump ordered the strike on Soleimani.
Iran retaliated on Wednesday by firing missiles at Iraqi bases where US troops were stationed, but did not kill any Americans.
The Ukrainian plane, on its way to Kyiv, was shot down shortly afterwards. Most of those killed were Iranians. Dozens were Canadians, many dual nationals who travelled to Iran to visit relatives over the holidays.
After days of denying responsibility, commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps issued profuse apologies. Iran's president called it a "disastrous mistake".
A top commander said he told authorities on the day of the crash the airliner had been shot down, raising questions about why Iran initially denied it.
Iran protesters chant: ‘Death to the liars’
Philippine volcano spews lava, ash for 3rd day, 30,000 flee
Joeal Calupitan and Jim GomezThe Associated Press
Published Monday, January 13, 2020
TAGAYTAY, PHILIPPINES -- A volcano near the Philippine capital spewed lava, ash and steam and trembled constantly Tuesday on the third day of an eruption that could portend a much bigger and dangerous eruption, officials warned as tens of thousands of people fled ash-blanketed villages in the danger zone.
The continuing restiveness of the Taal volcano after it rumbled to life Sunday indicates magma may still be rising to the crater, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. It raised the alert level to 4, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible in hours to days. Level 5, the highest, means such an eruption is underway.
The volcano was spurting fountains of red-hot lava 500 metres (1,640 feet) into the sky with dark-gray plumes of ash-laden steam that reached 2 kilometres (more than 1 mile) high. The massive volcanic column at times flashed with streaks of lightning.
IN PICTURES
Volcanic ash covers parts of the Philippines
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Lava gushes from Philippine volcano as ash spreads to Manila
More than 200 earthquakes have been detected in and around Taal, 81 of which were felt with varying intensities. "Such intense seismic activity probably signifies continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity," the volcanology institute said.
The picturesque volcano in the middle of a lake in Batangas province south of Manila rumbled to life Sunday in a powerful explosion that blasted a 15-kilometre (9-mile) column of ash, steam and pebbles into the sky. Clouds of volcanic ash blowing over Manila, 65 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, closed the country's main airport Sunday and part of Monday until the ashfall eased.
The government's disaster-response agency counted more than 30,400 evacuees in Batangas and nearby Cavite provinces. Officials expected the number to swell.
Government work was suspended and schools closed in a wide swath of towns and cities, including Manila, because of the health risks from the ash. The eruption has not directly caused deaths or major damage. The death of a driver in a crash on an ash-covered road was linked to slippery conditions.
The small island where the 1,020-foot (311-meter) volcano lies has long been designated a "permanent danger zone," though fishing villages have long existed there. Those villages were all evacuated, though volcanology officials have called for a total evacuation of endangered communities within a 14-kilometre (8.7-mile) radius of Taal.
Taal's last disastrous eruption, in 1965, killed hundreds of people. It is the second-most restive of about two dozen active volcanoes in the Philippines, which lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where most of the world's seismic activity occurs.
A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.
------
Gomez reported from Manila. Associated Press journalists Kiko Rosario in Manila and Aaron Favila in Tagaytay contributed to this report.
TAGAYTAY, PHILIPPINES -- A volcano near the Philippine capital spewed lava, ash and steam and trembled constantly Tuesday on the third day of an eruption that could portend a much bigger and dangerous eruption, officials warned as tens of thousands of people fled ash-blanketed villages in the danger zone.
The continuing restiveness of the Taal volcano after it rumbled to life Sunday indicates magma may still be rising to the crater, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. It raised the alert level to 4, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible in hours to days. Level 5, the highest, means such an eruption is underway.
The volcano was spurting fountains of red-hot lava 500 metres (1,640 feet) into the sky with dark-gray plumes of ash-laden steam that reached 2 kilometres (more than 1 mile) high. The massive volcanic column at times flashed with streaks of lightning.
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More than 200 earthquakes have been detected in and around Taal, 81 of which were felt with varying intensities. "Such intense seismic activity probably signifies continuous magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity," the volcanology institute said.
The picturesque volcano in the middle of a lake in Batangas province south of Manila rumbled to life Sunday in a powerful explosion that blasted a 15-kilometre (9-mile) column of ash, steam and pebbles into the sky. Clouds of volcanic ash blowing over Manila, 65 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, closed the country's main airport Sunday and part of Monday until the ashfall eased.
The government's disaster-response agency counted more than 30,400 evacuees in Batangas and nearby Cavite provinces. Officials expected the number to swell.
Government work was suspended and schools closed in a wide swath of towns and cities, including Manila, because of the health risks from the ash. The eruption has not directly caused deaths or major damage. The death of a driver in a crash on an ash-covered road was linked to slippery conditions.
The small island where the 1,020-foot (311-meter) volcano lies has long been designated a "permanent danger zone," though fishing villages have long existed there. Those villages were all evacuated, though volcanology officials have called for a total evacuation of endangered communities within a 14-kilometre (8.7-mile) radius of Taal.
Taal's last disastrous eruption, in 1965, killed hundreds of people. It is the second-most restive of about two dozen active volcanoes in the Philippines, which lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where most of the world's seismic activity occurs.
A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.
------
Gomez reported from Manila. Associated Press journalists Kiko Rosario in Manila and Aaron Favila in Tagaytay contributed to this report.
Maple Leaf Foods boss attack on Trump pits ethics against shareholder value:
As stock falls, the 'shareholder primacy' rule argues McCain should have stayed mum
Don Pittis · CBC News · Posted: Jan 14, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a statement on Iran's missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Maple Leaf Michael McCain traces the cause of the latest dispute, that led to the airline missile strike, back to the U.S. withdrawal from the international nuclear pact with Iran. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
So when should a company CEO take a stance?
According to the business principle of shareholder primacy, there is an argument that Sunday's Twitter attack on U.S. President Donald Trump by the CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, Michael McCain, was dead wrong.
A lot of the debate over McCain's outspoken tweets revolves around the detail of what he said and where he assigned blame, a subject exhaustively addressed in the hashtag #BoycottMapleLeafFoods trending on Twitter Monday.
While the Canadian food company boss did not mention Trump by name, reference in his series of tweets to "a narcissist in Washington" seemed like a dead giveaway to most people. According to the Twitter response, even Trump fans recognized the description.
Blame Trump
Essentially the case McCain made in his angry attack was that by pulling out of the multi-country agreement that had forced Iran to stop its nuclear program, Trump had intentionally reopened a geopolitical wound the world had found a route to heal.
But McCain didn't stop there. The company boss drew a straight line from Trump's action in tossing out the international "path to contain" a "dangerous" Iran, to the latest round of tit-for-tat violence that led to the killing of a plane load of innocents, including the family of a Maple Leaf Foods employee.
Even more contentious was his implication that the latest U.S. attack on Iran was politically motivated, intended by the Trump administration to divert attention away from his "political woes," including a growing wave of evidence that Trump had colluded with Russia against the interests of the United States.
Shares tumble
While many, especially die-hard Trump supporters, will disagree with McCain's depiction of how events have unfolded, it is by no means crazy talk. The same contention has been widely reported in news stories and commentary easily found in various credible media outlets.
Maple Leaf Foods CEO takes aim at U.S. government over downing of PS752 by Iran How the U.S. got to the brink of war with IranBut quite apart from the CEO's political analysis of events, the question from the business point of view is whether, as the boss of a company owned by shareholders, he should have spoken out at all. The question was especially relevant as the share price fell on Monday, closing down about one per cent on the day.
As outlined by the conservative economist Milton Friedman in his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, the principle of shareholder primacy insists that "corporations have no higher purpose than maximizing profits for their shareholders."
According to that point of view, the purpose of a company is not to make the world a better place. At least not on purpose. The job of the capitalist is to do anything legal to make money, and as the representatives of those shareholders, corporate bosses have the same duty.
A sign for the Maple Leaf food processing plant in Toronto. Milton Friedman argues the purpose of a company is not to make the world a better place, but to make money. (Mark Blinch/REUTERS)But with the growing power and influence of global corporations and the powerlessness of governments to step in and solve problems like gross inequality and climate change, the shareholder primacy principle seems to be slipping.
Just last summer a powerful group of 200 corporate stars, including Apple's Tim Cook, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon and Mary Barra of General Motors, announced they were withdrawing from that shareholder-only point of view.
Instead, the influential Business Roundtable announced the responsibility of member companies would also include "generating good jobs, a strong and sustainable economy, innovation, a healthy environment and economic opportunity for all."
CEO activism trend
As the Harvard Business Review has reported in the past, it's a trend that has been growing for about five years. Companies often align with the interests of their employees and customers and against government. When companies objected to state laws forcing workers to use washrooms that matched the gender on their birth certificates, North Carolina lost billions in new investment says the review.
Harking back to an earlier form of capitalism, sometimes scorned as paternalistic, these corporate leaders have expressed the view that they have a much wider form of accountability — to employees, to society, and in the case of climate change, to the entire planet.
To truly gigantic corporations that have more clout than many governments, the concept has a certain self-serving rationale. As a company becomes bigger and bigger, its interests begin to merge with the population as a whole.
ANALYSIS U.S. corporate leaders swing left to fix 'frayed' American dream: Don Pittis
ANALYSIS Stephen Poloz gets racier as his farewell tour progresses: Don PittisAs many in the tech world have noted, there is no point in having a wonderful product if the masses of consumers are too poor to buy it. And, while some companies profit from instability, history shows that war, revolution and displaced populations have often been bad for corporations.
In the current example, with this series of tweets, McCain showed Maple Leaf Foods workers that he was willing to stake his own and the company's reputation in support of one of their fellow employees. Although it appears McCain's comments were motivated by sincere grief and anger, not a cynical plot to increase productivity, it is well documented that workers who feel loyalty to their bosses help to build stronger businesses.
And as to the Boycott Maple Leaf Foods campaign, in a politically divided world, so far McCain's tweets also seem to be attracting many outspoken supporters who promise to buy more of the company's products.
Certainly McCain is not alone in expressing public alarm about the direction Trump is taking the United States and the world. Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said something similar last week. Many U.S. business leaders, including Bloomberg's Michael Bloomberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, have not hurt their respective businesses by opposing the U.S. president.
Between motivated employees knowing McCain has their backs and the many buyers of Maple Leaf Foods products who are glad the company executive has taken what he saw as a moral stance in an immoral world, it is very possible shareholders will benefit in the longer term.
As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding — or in this case the prepared meats — will be in the eating.
Follow Don on Twitter @don_pittis
IRAN UPDATES 1/14/2020
Iran announces arrests over downing of plane
The Associated PressPublished Tuesday, January 14, 2020
A rally in solidarity with Iranian protests takes place in Mel Lastman Square in Toronto on Monday January 13, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Iran's judiciary said Tuesday that arrests have been made for the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 people on board just after takeoff from Tehran last week.
The announcement came amid an upswell of anger and protests by Iranians in recent days over the downing of the jetliner last Wednesday and apparent attempts by senior officials in Iran to coverup the cause of the crash.
Iran, which initially dismissed allegations that a missile had brought down the plane, acknowledged only on Saturday -- three days after and in the face of mounting evidence -- that its Revolutionary Guard had shot down the plane by mistake.
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Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili was quoted by Iranian state media saying that "extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested." He did not say how many individuals had been detained or name them.
Iran's president on Tuesday also called for a special court to be set up to probe the incident.
"The judiciary should form a special court with a ranking judge and dozens of experts," President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech televised in Iran. "This is not an ordinary case. The entire the world will be watching this court."
Rouhani called the incident "a painful and unforgivable" mistake and promised that his administration would pursue the case "by all means."
"The responsibility falls on more than just one person," he said, adding that those found culpable "should be punished."
"There are others, too, and I want that this issue is expressed honestly," he said, without elaborating.
Rouhani called the government's admission that Iranian forces shot down the plane the "first good step".
The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians -- including many Iranians with dual citizenship -- and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. There were several children among the passengers, including an infant.
Iran shot down the plane when it was bracing for possible U.S. retaliation for a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq. No one was hurt in that attack, which was carried out to avenge the stunning killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard's aerospace division, said over the weekend his unit accepts full responsibility for the shootdown. He said when he learned about the downing of the plane, "I wished I was dead."
The incident raised questions about why Iran did not shut down its international airport or airspace the day it was bracing for U.S. military retaliation.
The shootdown and the lack of transparency around it has reignited anger in Iran at the country's leadership. Online videos appeared to show security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protests in the streets.
Also Tuesday, Iran's judiciary said that 30 people had been detained in the protests, and that some were released, without elaborating further.
Iranian authorities briefly arrested British Ambassador Rob Macaire on Saturday evening. He's said he went to a candlelight vigil to pay his respects for the victims of the Ukrainian plane shootdown and left as soon as the chanting began and it turned into a protest.
Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador on Sunday to protest what it said was his presence at an illegal protest. Britain, in turn, summoned Iran's ambassador on Monday "to convey our strong objections" over the weekend arrest.
Canada investigates reports that Iran is harassing families trying to repatriate remains of crash victims
Identification, repatriation process for PS752 crash probe could take months, says Ukraine's ambassador
Kathleen Harris · CBC News · Posted: Jan 13, 2020
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Canada's victims of Flight PS752
Repatriating Canadian air crash victims will be hampered by a lack of diplomatic ties with Iran, experts say
'All Canadians are mourning': Trudeau attends Alberta vigil for victims of Flight PS752
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Maple Leaf Foods CEO takes aim at U.S. government over downing of PS752 by Iran
Families of PS752 victims could go after Ukraine airline or Iran in bid for compensation
Rouhani says Iran must 'punish' all responsible for air disaster
AFP•January 14, 2020
Iran denied Western claims that the airliner had been downed by a missile for days before acknowledging that version was correct and now faces huge international pressure to ensure the rest of its investigation is transparent (AFP Photo/-)More
Tehran (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that everyone responsible for the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner last week must be punished.
"For our people it is very important in this incident that anyone who was at fault or negligent at any level" face justice, he said in a televised speech.
"Anyone who should be punished must be punished," said Rouhani.
"The judiciary must form a special court with high-ranking judge and dozens of experts... The whole world will be watching."
The Ukraine International Airlines plane was brought down by a missile shortly after takeoff from Tehran last Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.
Iran for days denied Western claims based on US intelligence that the airliner had been downed by a missile before acknowledging that version was correct on Saturday.
It has come under mounting international pressure to ensure its investigation into the tragedy is full and transparent.
The authorities' handling of the air disaster and has also angered people in Iran.
Videos posted on social networks on Monday purported to show people taking to the streets for a third consecutive day, with demonstrators apparently shouting slogans against the Islamic republic.
The Associated PressPublished Tuesday, January 14, 2020
A rally in solidarity with Iranian protests takes place in Mel Lastman Square in Toronto on Monday January 13, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Iran's judiciary said Tuesday that arrests have been made for the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 people on board just after takeoff from Tehran last week.
The announcement came amid an upswell of anger and protests by Iranians in recent days over the downing of the jetliner last Wednesday and apparent attempts by senior officials in Iran to coverup the cause of the crash.
Iran, which initially dismissed allegations that a missile had brought down the plane, acknowledged only on Saturday -- three days after and in the face of mounting evidence -- that its Revolutionary Guard had shot down the plane by mistake.
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Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili was quoted by Iranian state media saying that "extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested." He did not say how many individuals had been detained or name them.
Iran's president on Tuesday also called for a special court to be set up to probe the incident.
"The judiciary should form a special court with a ranking judge and dozens of experts," President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech televised in Iran. "This is not an ordinary case. The entire the world will be watching this court."
Rouhani called the incident "a painful and unforgivable" mistake and promised that his administration would pursue the case "by all means."
"The responsibility falls on more than just one person," he said, adding that those found culpable "should be punished."
"There are others, too, and I want that this issue is expressed honestly," he said, without elaborating.
Rouhani called the government's admission that Iranian forces shot down the plane the "first good step".
The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians -- including many Iranians with dual citizenship -- and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. There were several children among the passengers, including an infant.
Iran shot down the plane when it was bracing for possible U.S. retaliation for a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq. No one was hurt in that attack, which was carried out to avenge the stunning killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard's aerospace division, said over the weekend his unit accepts full responsibility for the shootdown. He said when he learned about the downing of the plane, "I wished I was dead."
The incident raised questions about why Iran did not shut down its international airport or airspace the day it was bracing for U.S. military retaliation.
The shootdown and the lack of transparency around it has reignited anger in Iran at the country's leadership. Online videos appeared to show security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protests in the streets.
Also Tuesday, Iran's judiciary said that 30 people had been detained in the protests, and that some were released, without elaborating further.
Iranian authorities briefly arrested British Ambassador Rob Macaire on Saturday evening. He's said he went to a candlelight vigil to pay his respects for the victims of the Ukrainian plane shootdown and left as soon as the chanting began and it turned into a protest.
Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador on Sunday to protest what it said was his presence at an illegal protest. Britain, in turn, summoned Iran's ambassador on Monday "to convey our strong objections" over the weekend arrest.
---30---
Canada investigates reports that Iran is harassing families trying to repatriate remains of crash victims
Identification, repatriation process for PS752 crash probe could take months, says Ukraine's ambassador
Kathleen Harris · CBC News · Posted: Jan 13, 2020
People gather for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukraine plane crash at the gate of Amri Kabir University in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020.
(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada is looking into "disturbing" allegations that Iran is harassing family members of PS752 airline crash victims who are desperately trying to bring home their loved ones' remains.
Responding to a video posted on Twitter of a woman pleading for Canada's help in bringing home the body of her son, Champagne tweeted back that the government is looking into the matter. The video was posted by an Iranian journalist/activist who said Iranian authorities are telling families of crash victims not to speak to journalists.
Champagne's office confirmed the minister is looking into allegations that families are being harassed.
Iranian leaders said Saturday that Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down the Boeing 737-800 using surface-to-air missiles, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board. Of those passengers, 138 were destined for Canada, but it's not known how many were permanent residents or were travelling on visitor or student visas.
Champagne confirmed Friday that 57 of the victims were Canadian citizens.
Canada's victims of Flight PS752
Repatriating Canadian air crash victims will be hampered by a lack of diplomatic ties with Iran, experts say
'All Canadians are mourning': Trudeau attends Alberta vigil for victims of Flight PS752
The process to identify the remains will require DNA or dental records. Canadian officials, most likely including the RCMP, will assist in the operation on the ground.
Little is known at this point about how the repatriation process will play out. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, something that's been an issue in past consular cases; a government official said it's too early to say what impact that factor could have in this case.
Repatriation a 'complicated procedure'
Ukraine's ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko said the identification and repatriation process will be "quite a complicated procedure" — because of the technical nature of DNA collection and comparison and the legal complications arising from the fact that many of the victims held dual citizenship.
'Whole Canadian heart' there for Iranian community at public memorial
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He said families could have to wait some time before their loved ones' remains are returned to Canada.
"It's a very difficult thing to speculate because it might be days and weeks, but it also might be months," he told CBC's Robyn Bresnahan, host of Ottawa Morning, in an interview Monday.
"It is a legal issue because we need to make sure Iran gives all the necessary permits to do this, and obviously it is up to the families to decide what should be done to the remains."
Champagne said today the Standing Rapid Deployment Team (SRDT) — a group of staffers from Global Affairs Canada trained and ready to deploy in response to overseas emergencies — and a team from the Transportation Safety Board will be in place in Tehran by tonight. Two members of the SRDT will provide support from Ankara in Turkey, while other experts may be dispatched as needed, the minister said on Twitter.
Canada's victims of Flight PS752
Champagne also has scheduled an in-person meeting of the International Coordination and Response Group at Canada House in London, U.K. for Thursday. The Canada-led group, which includes participants from Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and the U.K., was struck to ensure transparency and accountability in the wake of the crash.
Lawyers have told CBC that family members of those killed on Flight PS752 likely are entitled to monetary compensation through civil action, the International Court of Justice or international diplomacy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that he expects Iran to take full responsibility for the downing of the jetliner and indicated that he would press Iran to provide compensation on behalf of those killed.
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada is looking into "disturbing" allegations that Iran is harassing family members of PS752 airline crash victims who are desperately trying to bring home their loved ones' remains.
Responding to a video posted on Twitter of a woman pleading for Canada's help in bringing home the body of her son, Champagne tweeted back that the government is looking into the matter. The video was posted by an Iranian journalist/activist who said Iranian authorities are telling families of crash victims not to speak to journalists.
Champagne's office confirmed the minister is looking into allegations that families are being harassed.
Iranian leaders said Saturday that Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down the Boeing 737-800 using surface-to-air missiles, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board. Of those passengers, 138 were destined for Canada, but it's not known how many were permanent residents or were travelling on visitor or student visas.
Champagne confirmed Friday that 57 of the victims were Canadian citizens.
Canada's victims of Flight PS752
Repatriating Canadian air crash victims will be hampered by a lack of diplomatic ties with Iran, experts say
'All Canadians are mourning': Trudeau attends Alberta vigil for victims of Flight PS752
The process to identify the remains will require DNA or dental records. Canadian officials, most likely including the RCMP, will assist in the operation on the ground.
Little is known at this point about how the repatriation process will play out. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, something that's been an issue in past consular cases; a government official said it's too early to say what impact that factor could have in this case.
Repatriation a 'complicated procedure'
Ukraine's ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko said the identification and repatriation process will be "quite a complicated procedure" — because of the technical nature of DNA collection and comparison and the legal complications arising from the fact that many of the victims held dual citizenship.
'Whole Canadian heart' there for Iranian community at public memorial
Maple Leaf Foods CEO takes aim at U.S. government over downing of PS752 by Iran
He said families could have to wait some time before their loved ones' remains are returned to Canada.
"It's a very difficult thing to speculate because it might be days and weeks, but it also might be months," he told CBC's Robyn Bresnahan, host of Ottawa Morning, in an interview Monday.
"It is a legal issue because we need to make sure Iran gives all the necessary permits to do this, and obviously it is up to the families to decide what should be done to the remains."
Champagne said today the Standing Rapid Deployment Team (SRDT) — a group of staffers from Global Affairs Canada trained and ready to deploy in response to overseas emergencies — and a team from the Transportation Safety Board will be in place in Tehran by tonight. Two members of the SRDT will provide support from Ankara in Turkey, while other experts may be dispatched as needed, the minister said on Twitter.
Canada's victims of Flight PS752
Champagne also has scheduled an in-person meeting of the International Coordination and Response Group at Canada House in London, U.K. for Thursday. The Canada-led group, which includes participants from Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and the U.K., was struck to ensure transparency and accountability in the wake of the crash.
Lawyers have told CBC that family members of those killed on Flight PS752 likely are entitled to monetary compensation through civil action, the International Court of Justice or international diplomacy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that he expects Iran to take full responsibility for the downing of the jetliner and indicated that he would press Iran to provide compensation on behalf of those killed.
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Canada's victims of Flight PS752
Repatriating Canadian air crash victims will be hampered by a lack of diplomatic ties with Iran, experts say
'All Canadians are mourning': Trudeau attends Alberta vigil for victims of Flight PS752
'Whole Canadian heart' there for Iranian community at public memorial
Maple Leaf Foods CEO takes aim at U.S. government over downing of PS752 by Iran
Families of PS752 victims could go after Ukraine airline or Iran in bid for compensation
Rouhani says Iran must 'punish' all responsible for air disaster
AFP•January 14, 2020
Iran denied Western claims that the airliner had been downed by a missile for days before acknowledging that version was correct and now faces huge international pressure to ensure the rest of its investigation is transparent (AFP Photo/-)More
Tehran (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that everyone responsible for the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner last week must be punished.
"For our people it is very important in this incident that anyone who was at fault or negligent at any level" face justice, he said in a televised speech.
"Anyone who should be punished must be punished," said Rouhani.
"The judiciary must form a special court with high-ranking judge and dozens of experts... The whole world will be watching."
The Ukraine International Airlines plane was brought down by a missile shortly after takeoff from Tehran last Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.
Iran for days denied Western claims based on US intelligence that the airliner had been downed by a missile before acknowledging that version was correct on Saturday.
It has come under mounting international pressure to ensure its investigation into the tragedy is full and transparent.
The authorities' handling of the air disaster and has also angered people in Iran.
Videos posted on social networks on Monday purported to show people taking to the streets for a third consecutive day, with demonstrators apparently shouting slogans against the Islamic republic.
---30---
‘We are not alone’: Confirmation of alien life ‘imminent and inevitable’
Scientists are on the verge of confirming we are not alone in the universe, with two probes being sent to a mystery moon near Earth.
Jamie Seidel news.com.au JANUARY 12, 2020
NASA's under-ice robot may be used in a future space mission to look for signs of extraterrestrial life.
In just a few short years, we may know if we’re not alone.
Two probes are being sent to a mysterious moon bursting with the ingredients of life. And expectations are high we’ll find it.
Once it was thought life could not exist without the sun’s warming rays.
We were wrong.
The equation for life (as we know it) is surprisingly simple: soluble water, an energy source, and organic compounds.
Jupiter’s moon Europa appears to have all three.
That’s why we’re going there.
In August, NASA confirmed it would build a space probe – the Europa Clipper – to investigate this glistening gem of a world early in the 2030s. It followed the announcement in April by the European Space Agency to put the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) in place by 2029.
It’s a gamble.
But the odds of finding life is surprisingly high.
“Discovery now seems inevitable and possibly imminent,” says University of Melbourne researcher Cathal O’COnnell.
And finding living creatures – even microbes – outside Earth may have huge social, religious and scientific implications.
Perhaps it is time to prepare.
It may not be far off at all.
“It seems inevitable other life is out there, especially considering that life appeared on Earth so soon after the planet was formed,” O’Connell says. “And the definition of ‘habitable’ has proven to be a rather flexible concept too.”
SECOND GENESIS
“A discovery, if it came, could turn the world of biology upside down,” O’Connell says.
“Bacteria, fungus, cacti and cockroaches are all our cousins and we all share the same basic molecular machinery: DNA that makes RNA, and RNA that makes protein.
“A second sample of life, though, might represent a ‘second genesis’ – totally unrelated to us.”
Biologists would be able to examine what parts of the machinery of life are fundamental. And they’d discover how much is the result of evolutionary accidents.
The JUICE probe launching to investigate Europa's mysterious surface. Picture: ESASource:Supplied
“A second independent ‘tree of life’ would mean that the rapid appearance of life on Earth was no fluke; life must abound in the universe.
“It would greatly increase the chances that, somewhere among those billions of habitable planets in our galaxy, there could be something we could talk to.”
In some ways, however, discovering similarities would be even more radical.
It would mean the idea of panspermia – that formulas for life are seeded between worlds and even stars through comets and meteorites – has merit.
“As Mars was probably habitable before Earth, it is possible life originated there before hitchhiking on a space rock to here. Perhaps we’re all Martians.”
Either way, Europa will hold the key.
“The ancient question ‘Are we alone?’ has graduated from being a philosophical musing to a testable hypothesis. We should be prepared for an answer.”
The bright material is likely pure water ice, where life is highly likely to reside. Picture: NASA/JPL/DLR Source:Supplied
SALT OF THE EARTH
Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa is a jewel of our solar system.
It’s shiny and bright. That’s because it’s encased in a shell of water ice.
But when the Voyager 1 space probe flashed past in 1979, Europa’s beauty proved more than skin deeper. It had shapely canyons, troughs and ridges. And there were very, very few craters.
Did this mean liquid water regularly welled up from beneath, remoulding and refreshing the surface?
Irregularities in Europa's surface suggest the discovery of life could be 'imminent'. Picture: Supplied Source:Supplied
It wasn’t until the 1990s that the full extent of Europa’s enigma was revealed. The Galileo probe found strong evidence there were oceans twice as big as Earth’s beneath the ice. And that water seemed salty.
What’s so significant about salt water?
It’s a sure sign of active geological processes. The water must be interacting with rocks. It’s leeching nutrients and minerals out of the moon’s solid core.
“It may well be normal table salt (sodium chloride) – just like on Earth, says Lancaster University researcher Chris Arridge.
“This has important implications for the potential existence of life in Europa’s hidden depths.”
In fact, it makes Europa a potential microbial Garden of Eden.
FIRE BENEATH THE ICE
We have some idea what to expect.
Europa’s slightly off-kilter orbit causes Jupiter’s gravity to fluctuate. The moon’s core is constantly being squeezed and released, generating friction – and a molten core.
We’ve seen how hydrothermal vents enrich the depths of our own planet’s deepest, darkest seas. They support thriving communities of microbes converting the mineral-laden fluids into energy.
And the ingredients for life aren’t exactly rare.
“Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and so on are among the most abundant elements in the universe,” Arridge says. “Complex organic chemistry is surprisingly common.”
Unexpectedly common, in fact.
This composite image of the Jupiter-facing hemisphere of Europa was obtained on Nov. 25, 1999 by two instruments on-board NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Picture: NASA/JPL Source:Supplied
This shouldn’t be surprising: Some 6500 light years away is a massive floating cloud of alcohol.
That’s a bit further than the average drive-through. But, interstellar comets such as 2I/Borisov and Oumuamua may have done something just like that.
Does Europa have enough? Or the right mix?
That’s what the Clipper and JUICE are being sent to find out.
And the odds are good.
In 2017, sea ice researchers from the University of Tasmania calculated that some microbes they had found in the Antarctic already had what it takes to thrive in Europa’s oceans.
So why wouldn’t something evolve there also?
SPIES IN THE SKY
Both the Europa Clipper and JUICE probes will carry a variety of sensors to peer beneath the ice.
They will measure the minute fluctuations in the moon’s gravity. These are caused by changes in the density of whatever is beneath – such as a mountain range, or a mineral deposit.
Both also carry ground-penetrating radars.
These are expected to be highly effective: the colder ice gets, the more transparent to radar it becomes.
Europa’s surface at the height of day is a frosty -170C.
Planetary scientists expect the ice to be somewhere between 15 and 25km thick. But it may be much thinner in some places.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured fuzzy indications of plumes of water may be erupting from Europa’s South Pole. The evidence isn’t as strong as that for another ice moon, Saturn’s Enceladus. But it’s promising.
If so, deep fractures must be obvious in the icy crust – pointing to shallow lakes of liquid water.
This is a core component of the space probes’ mission: to scout the ideal location for a potential lander mission. It would have to drill through the surface to see what lurks beneath.
DEEP DIVE
The Europa Clipper and JUICE probes are well suited to finding the telltale traces of life. But they can’t get up close and personal.
Planetary scientists around the world have been advocating for decades that a second mission must be prepared.
One that will touch down on Europa’s icy surface. And dig deeper.
It’s no easy task.
Europa has only a thin atmosphere. So parachutes won’t work. Any lander must use heavy rocket motors to land. There’s also the intense, relentless radiation from nearby Jupiter.
All this must be overcome before the granite-hard ice can be tackled.
Drills won’t cut it.
So scientists are exploring the potential of lasers – or even an unshielded nuclear reactor – to melt its way through.
“One way or another, we will get there,” says University of Birmingham space sciences researcher Gareth Dorrian.
“The final challenge might then be ensuring that the spacecraft or submarine, having finally reached the ocean, doesn’t get eaten by something swimming around in the deep!”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel
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