Hypersonic missiles: the alarming must-have in military tech

Issued on: 05/10/2021

A US unarmed prototype hypersonic missile launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii 

Oscar Sosa US NAVY/AFP



Washington (AFP)

North Korea's test of a hypersonic missile last week sparked new concerns about the race to acquire the alarming technology that is hard to defend against and could unsettle the global nuclear balance.

Russia, which said Monday it had test-launched a hypersonic missile from a submerged submarine for the first time, leads the race, followed by China and the United States, and at least five other countries are working on the technology.

Why do countries want hypersonics?

Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles which can deliver nuclear weapons, can fly more than five times the speed of sound.

But ballistic missiles fly high into space in an arc to reach their target, while a hypersonic flies on a trajectory low in the atmosphere, potentially reaching a target more quickly.

Crucially, a hypersonic missile is maneuverable (like the much slower, often subsonic cruise missile), making it harder to track and defend against.

While countries like the United States have developed systems designed to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles, the ability to track and take down a hypersonic missile remains a question.

Hypersonic missiles can be used to deliver conventional warheads, more rapidly and precisely than other missiles.

But their capacity to deliver nuclear weapons could add to a country's threat, increasing the danger of a nuclear conflict.

Is the hypersonic threat here now?

Russia, China, the United States and now North Korea have all test-launched hypersonic missiles.

France, Germany, Australia, India and Japan are working on hypersonics, and Iran, Israel and South Korea have conducted basic research on the technology, according to a recent report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS).

Russia is the most advanced. Moscow announced Monday that it had fired two Zircon hypersonic missiles from the Severodvinsk nuclear submarine.

The first, while the sub was on the surface, successfully struck a test target in the Barents Sea. The second was launched while the vessel was submerged 40 meters (131 feet) below the surface.

China is also aggressively developing the technology, seeing it as crucial to defend against US gains in hypersonic and other technologies, according to the CRS report.

Both China and Russia have "likely fielded an operational capability" with hypersonic glide vehicles, said the report.

The US Defense Department has an aggressive development program, planning up to 40 tests over the next five years, according to a government report.

The Pentagon tested a scramjet-powered hypersonic last week, calling it "a successful demonstration of the capabilities that will make hypersonic cruise missiles a highly effective tool for our warfighters."

North Korea's test announcement suggested they had much further to go, that the test focused on "maneuverability" and "flight characteristics."

"Based on an assessment of its characteristics such as speed, it is at an initial phase of development and will take a considerable time to be deployed," the South Korean and US militaries said in a statement.

Are hypersonics nuclear game-changers?

Experts say hypersonics do not necessarily upend the global nuclear balance, but instead add a potent new delivery method to the traditional triad of bombers, ground-launched ICBMs, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

A central risk is not knowing whether an adversary's hypersonic missile has a conventional or nuclear warhead.

And, underscoring the attractiveness of hypersonics, the CRS report says that the US missile defense system is inadequate to detect, track and respond in time to hypersonics.

Cameron Tracy, an arms control expert at Stanford University, called hypersonics an "evolutionary" advance.

It's "definitely not a game-changer," he said. "It's an arms race ... In large part, it's to show that any weapon that anyone else can develop, you will have first."

The solution, according to Tracy, is to include hypersonics in nuclear arms control negotiations -- though currently North Korea and China are not part of any pacts.

"The development of these weapons, this hypersonic arms race, is probably not the most stable situation. So it would be good to act as quickly as possible," said Tracy.

© 2021 AFP

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Youth in Iraq protest hub vow to boycott 'rigged' polls

Issued on: 05/10/2021 -

In the southern city of Nasiriyah, simmering public anger is still palpable two years after anti-government protests erupted

 Asaad NIAZI AFP/File

Nasiriyah (Iraq) (AFP)

Iraq will hold early elections Sunday as a concession to a youth-led protest movement, but in Nasiriyah, the city at the heart of the revolt, most young people won't vote.

Ahead of the parliamentary polls, the mood in Nasiriyah and much of Iraq is sombre with little hope the election will bring much-needed change to the war-scarred country.

"Elections in Iraq are rigged," said 21-year-old Anas, echoing a common sentiment among young adults in the impoverished southern city.

"They are corrupted by arms and money, and I can't be made to vote with a gun to my head."

Anas, who declined to give his full name, is an economics graduate but, like 40 percent of Iraqi youths, he is unemployed.

In October 2019, anti-government protests erupted in Baghdad and cities in the mainly Shiite south like Nasiriyah against corruption, unemployment, poor public services and neighbouring Iran's influence over Iraq.

Two years on, the protests have died down across much of the country. But in Nasiriyah, simmering public anger is still palpable.

From time to time, young demonstrators still take to the streets, which are filled with posters of "martyrs" killed in clashes with security forces.

- 'Voice being heard' -

Anas said the protests changed his life and opened his eyes to the problems facing his country.

"Before, I was a normal person who went to university. I studied or texted my girlfriend," he said.

"But after the October revolution, I felt I had a responsibility to assume, a place to fill within society, and that my voice was being heard."

Ahead of the October 10 parliamentary polls, the mood in Nasiriyah and much of Iraq is sombre with little hope the election will bring change

 Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP

Nearly 600 people died across Iraq and tens of thousands were wounded in violence related to the protests. More activists have been murdered since, kidnapped or intimidated, but there has been no accountability.

Activists have blamed pro-Iran armed groups, part of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition that helped defeat the Islamic State jihadist group.

Aside from insecurity, Iraq is grappling with an economic crisis exacerbated by diminished oil revenues and the coronavirus pandemic, as well as infrastructure dilapidated by decades of conflict and neglect.

Nasiriyah reflects it all: poverty is rampant, there are severe power and water cuts, and investment in infrastructure is sorely lacking.

- 'Awash with weapons' -

The country is emerging from almost two decades of war and insurgency since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

But promises of a new beginning for the oil-rich country have remained elusive, with many blaming corrupt politicians for Iraq's ills.

Haider Jaafar, 23, said that two years ago he thought elections "were the only means to change things".

In Nasiriya, poverty is rampant, there are severe power and water cuts, and investment in infrastructure is sorely lacking 

Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP

Like Anas and other young graduates in Nasiriyah he is now disillusioned.

"How can we hold polls when the country is awash with weapons... when political parties wield a lot of influence and control big money?" he asked.

With so much anger bubbling, candidates hoping to be elected to the 329-seat parliament have kept a low profile in Nasiriyah.

Instead of canvassing the streets of the city of half a million inhabitants, they have taken their campaign to social media.

- After the massacre -

The few who put up campaign posters in Nasiriyah have had them torn down.

"It's difficult for a candidate to campaign in Nasiriyah, especially after October (2019) and the massacres that took place," said Jaafar.

"Some people believe that every candidate is linked to the death of a friend."

Jaafar said that some of the 85 demonstrators killed on a single day in November 2019 in clashes with security forces were friends of his.

"At our age, we should not see friends die, lie in a pool of blood," he said.

Iraqi graduate Haider Jaafar, 23, speaks during an interview at Al-Haboubi Square in the southern city of Nasiriyah

 Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP

The government had vowed to bring those responsible for the deaths to justice "but nothing has happened", said Jafaar.

On a cautiously optimistic note, Muntazer, a medical student, said independent candidates with no links to traditional political parties could make a difference.

"If one or even 10 independents win seats in the election, they could exert pressure (in parliament) and form the nucleus of a real opposition," he said.

© 2021 AFP

Climate change threatens the Everglades, Florida's gem

Issued on: 05/10/2021 

A hovering airboat is seen in Everglades National Park, Florida -- the largest wetland in the United States -- September 30, 2021 

CHANDAN KHANNA AFP


Miami (AFP)

Umberto Gimenez loves alligators. He gives them nicknames such as "Smile" and "Momma Gator" and laughs when he thinks of their antics.

Gimenez, an airboat captain, has found his paradise in Florida's Everglades National Park, a natural gem in the southeastern US state at risk from climate change.

"It's an amazing place and there's only one in the world," he says.

The largest wetland in the United States is under threat, and has become a battleground for one of the most sweeping ecological conservation efforts on Earth.

Gimenez hopes the efforts will help preserve the park.

But time is running short, and global warming is sabotaging a subtropical wilderness that is home to more than 2,000 species of animals and plants.

The primary threat comes from the sea.

The Everglades, like all of south Florida, is almost flat, which makes the ecosystem extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels, one of the biggest consequences of temperature increases.

A alligator lays on grass near a canal in Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021 

CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

The passage of salt water into the freshwater wetlands can have disastrous effects.

The region stores and filters the water that nine million of Florida's population of nearly 21 million depends on.

Once salt penetrates subterranean aquifers, they can be ruined.

In addition, salt water risks destroying the habitat for much of the rare fauna and flora in the area.

Intensifying droughts and reduced rainfall, other consequences of climate change, are also causes for concern.

"As a massive peatland that builds up organic soils over time, this ecosystem has sequestered huge amounts of carbon that are locked in the soils that contribute to the formation of habitats," explains Steve Davis, chief science officer at the Everglades Foundation, a non-governmental organization.

Small fish swim near water vegetation under the water in Everglades National Park, Florida -- which is at risk from rising sea levels due to climate change -- on September 30, 2021

 CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

A lack of fresh water not only ends carbon sequestration, it also causes the release into the air of what was stored in the soil.

A double climate disaster.

- Multi-billion-dollar project -

Gimenez puts on sunglasses, ties a bandanna around his head, and jumps barefoot into his airboat along with Davis.

The boat starts up and speeds through a carpet of green with the water hidden below the vegetation.

Chief Science Officer of the Everglades Foundation Steve Davis collects weeds and algae from Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021 

CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

It feels like floating on grass.

For thousands of years, water accumulated north of the Everglades in the rainy season, shaping the landscape by moving very slowly as it followed the slight slope of the terrain.

In the last century, however, the natural flow was diverted to allow for urban and agricultural growth in south Florida.

In doing so, it altered the ecosystem of the 1.5-million-acre (607,000-hectare) wetlands, weakening it in the face of climate change.

In 2000, Congress approved a project, funded equally by Florida and the federal government, to protect the area, which whs declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1976.

A bird flies holding its kill in Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021 as the largets wetland in the United States faces myriad threats from climate change CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

Its initial cost was $7.8 billion.

The goal was "to store water, to clean it and to flow that water in the most natural way back to the national park," according to Davis.

To achieve this, scientists devised a complex system of canals, dikes, dams, and pumps.

They also designed artificial marshes to filter the water and rid it of nutrients that damage the wetland.

At the same time, sections of road that blocked water flow to the park were raised.

"Everglades restoration is the model for other ecosystem restoration efforts whether it's wetlands like the Pantanal (in South America) or estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay," Davis says.

Chief Science Officer of The Everglades Foundation Steve Davis, collects weeds and algae from Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021 

CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

"We have the same kind of issues here," he adds. "It's about ensuring the proper quantity of clean water moving through the ecosystem."

- Delays -

The effects of rehabilitation are already noticeable. Davis gets off the boat, dips his hands into the clear water and scoops up a dark glob from the bottom.

It is periphyton, a mixture of algae, bacteria and microbes, the presence of which indicates healthy water quality.

Tourist airboat captain Umberto Lazaro Gimenez, hovers over Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021 

CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

Despite making some progress, only one of the 68 major projects in the original 2000 plan has been fully completed.

The delays are mainly due to a lack of federal funding.

According to the Everglades Foundation, between $4 billion and $5 billion have been spent so far on the restoration project, with Florida contributing 70 percent and Washington just 30 percent.

The urgency caused by climate change could, however, give a boost to the conservation plan.

President Joe Biden included $350 million for the Everglades in his fiscal 2022 budget, $100 million more than in 2021.

In April, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of a reservoir west of Palm Beach which will cost $3.4 billion.

Water vegetation is seen growing up over the water in Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021 

CHANDAN KHANNA AFP

The size of the island of Manhattan, it "will store a lot of water that will go south, rehydrate these wetlands, recharge the aquifer and push back against sea level rise," Davis says.

© 2021 AFP

Global warming kills 14 percent of world's corals in a decade

Issued on: 05/10/2021 

A single so-called bleaching event in 1998 caused by warming waters wiped out eight percent of all corals - Great Barrier Reef Marine Park/AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Dynamite fishing and pollution -- but mostly global warming -- wiped out 14 percent of the world's coral reefs from 2009 to 2018, leaving graveyards of bleached skeletons where vibrant ecosystems once thrived, according to the largest ever survey of coral health.

Hardest hit were corals in South Asia and the Pacific, around the Arabian Peninsula, and off the coast of Australia, more than 300 scientists in the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network reported.

"Climate change is the biggest threat to the world's reefs," co-author Paul Hardisty, CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said in a statement.

Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding land surfaces but generating huge, long-lasting marine heatwaves that are pushing many species of corals past their limits of tolerance.

A single so-called bleaching event in 1998 caused by warming waters wiped out eight percent of all corals.

Coral reefs cover only a tiny fraction -- 0.2 percent -- of the ocean floor, but they are home to at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants.

Besides anchoring marine ecosystems, they also provide protein, jobs and protection from storms and shoreline erosion for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

The value of goods and services from coral reefs is about $2.7 trillion per year, including $36 billion in tourism, the report said.

Loss of coral from 2009 to 2018 varied by region, ranging from five percent in East Asia to 95 percent in the eastern tropical Pacific.

- The 'Coral Triangle' -

"Since 2009 we have lost more coral worldwide than all the living coral in Australia," noted UNEP executive director Inger Anderson.

"We can reverse the losses, but we have to act now."

The UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, projects with "high confidence" that global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels will see 70 to 90 percent of all corals disappear.

In a 2C world, less than one percent of global corals would survive.

Earth's average surface temperature has already increased by 1.1C above that benchmark.

The report, titled "Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020", found reasons for cautious optimism.

"Some reefs have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back, which offers some hope for the future recovery of degraded reefs," Hardisty said.

In a 2C world, more than 99 percent of all corals would disappear, according to the IPCC Laurence CHU AFP

East and Southeast Asia's "Coral Triangle" -- which contains nearly 30 percent of the world's coral reefs -- were hit less hard by warming waters over the last decade, and in some cases showed recovery.

This resilience could be due to species unique to the region, potentially offering strategies for boosting coral growth elsewhere, the authors said.

Based on nearly two million data points from 12,000 sites spanning 73 countries and 40 years, the report is the sixth such global survey and the first since 2008.

To measure change over time, the researchers contrasted areas covered by healthy live hard coral with areas taken over by algae, a sign of coral distress.

The report was undertaken with support from UNEP and the International Coral Reef Initiative, a partnership of governments and research organisations focused on preserving corals reefs and related ecosystems.

© 2021 AFP

Science seeks ancient plants to save favourite foods

Issued on: 05/10/2021 

To reintroduce genetic plant diversity scientists are looking for the ancient ancestors of domesticated crops 

E. COUTURON IRD/AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

From a bowl of rice to a cup of coffee, experts say the foods we take for granted could become much scarcer unless we can make them resistant to climate change.

For more than 10,000 years humans have been using selective breeding to adapt fruits and vegetables to specific growing conditions that today are changing at an alarming rate.

And the same breeding that has made crops profitable has also made them vulnerable to rising temperatures, drought, heavy rains, new blights or plagues of insects.

"When you select 'for the best' traits (like higher yields), you lose certain types of genes," Benjamin Kilian, project lead for the Crop Wild Relatives Project at Crop Trust, told AFP.

"We lost genetic diversity during domestication history... therefore the potential of the elite crops to further adapt to the future -- to climate change and other challenges -- is limited."

The answer, scientists say, may be to reintroduce that genetic diversity by going back to domesticated crops' wild ancestors.

- Disappearing farmlands -

According to a study published in May, global warming risks shifting nearly a third of agricultural production outside its ideal climate for cultivation.

The International Potato Center predicts a 32-percent drop in harvests of potatoes and sweet potatoes by 2060 due to climate change, while some estimates say coffee growers will lose half of adapted lands before 2050.

Rice, the world's most important staple food crop, contributes massively to global warming by releasing methane as it is cultivated. It is also threatened by rising seas that could put too much salt into the water that floods rice paddies.

Older forms of these crops might have had resistance to salt water or high temperatures coded into their genes -- and to get them back, experts are looking for their ancestors in the wild.

"We're going to need to use as much biodiversity as we can... because it reduces risks, it provides options," says agriculture expert Marleni Ramirez of Biodiversity International.

One potential resource is gene banks, like the Kew Millennium Seed Bank which has nearly 40,000 species of wild plants.

"But not all wild relatives are in the gene banks," says Kilian.

Instead, he says it's up to expert botanists to take undertake a time-consuming search throughout the wild, whose success can sometimes rely on luck.

- Race against time -

Between 2013 and 2018 the Global Crop Diversity Trust gathered more than 4,600 samples from 371 wild cousins of 28 priority crops including wheat, rice, sweet potatoes, bananas and apples.

Botanist Aaron Davis works at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens that partners with Crop Trust.

With his colleagues, he discovered a wild species of coffee in Sierra Leone that is more resistant to climate change than the widely harvested arabica.

And he says they found it just in time.

"If we had gone to Sierra Leone in 10 years, it would probably have been extinct," says Davis.

"Of 124 coffee species, 60 percent are threatened with extinction, including the ones we might use for breeding new resilient coffees."

In a survey of four Central American countries, one in four plants analysed was threatened with extinction, including 70 wild species connected to major cultivated crops like corn and squash.

And the race isn't over once they've been harvested.

Wild plants may not be adapted to large-scale agriculture and creating new varieties can take years or even decades -- perhaps too long to provide an answer to an impending food crisis.

Instead, experts say, we may have to find a way to live without certain staples.

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, while the planet is home to some 50,000 edible plants, just three of them -- rice, maize and wheat -- provide 60 percent of the world's food energy intake.

Their disappearance could leave billions wondering what to eat and millions of farmers looking for a new way to survive.

© 2021 AFP

Severe droughts dry up dreams of Turkish farmers

Issued on: 05/10/2021 -

Severe droughts in Turkey have forced farmers to fill tanks with water 

Adem ALTAN AFP

Akkuzulu (Turkey) (AFP)

Turkish farmer Hava Keles stares inconsolably at withered vines of rotting tomatoes in a field that has been devastated by a series of droughts blamed on climate change.

"My tomatoes, my beans, my peppers are ruined. My watermelons didn't even grow. The cucumbers I planted have shrivelled up on the branches," lamented Keles, 58, standing in an arid Anatolian plot in Akkuzulu, north of Ankara.

Keles is among thousands of farmers across Turkey whose livelihoods have been ravaged as little rain has fallen to nourish their crops for the past two years.

Some experts accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- whose popularity has relied on prosperity driven by fast urban development -- of failing to do enough to address pressing environmental issues in the country.

But Erdogan has promised Turkey would ratify the 2015 Paris Agreement in October before a pivotal UN climate summit next month in Glasgow. Turkey signed the deal in 2016.

Environmental issues had never topped the political agenda in Turkey, but everything changed after a summer of extreme weather events, including forest fires on the Mediterranean coast and devastating floods in the north.

Action cannot come soon enough for indebted farmers like Keles in a country where droughts have spread to more than of the territory.

"My husband says leave the garden. But I can't. I've worked too hard for this. What can I do with it now?" she asks, despite having debts worth thousands of dollars.

This summer, farmers in her neighbourhood were unable to dig deep enough to find groundwater, so they had to fetch it in large tanks pulled by tractors.

- 'Serious events coming' -

Agriculture is a major sector of the Turkish economy, accounting for around six percent of GDP and employing 18 percent of the workforce.

Turkey is self-sufficient in food production and is the world's seventh largest agricultural producer, exporting everything from hazelnuts to tea, olives to figs.

But the country's import of wheat has already risen exponentially in nearly two decades from $150 million to $2.3 billion in 2019, according to the agriculture ministry.

Such figures add to fears Turkey will move from producer to becoming a country reliant on the outside to meet its food needs.

"Turkey has a lot to adapt to, especially in terms of agriculture because serious drought events are coming. What we have seen is nothing," warned Levent Kurnaz, director of Bogazici University's centre for climate change and policy studies in Istanbul.

A fountain in Akkuzulu, Turkey, is left dry by lack of rain

 Adem ALTAN AFP

Drought is forcing some farmers to quit while others opt to grow different crops that demand less water, leaving the consumer out of pocket as food prices rise alongside a weakening Turkish lira.

Food inflation hit 29 percent in August from last year, and in a bid to ease the pain, Erdogan cut import customs duties to zero for basics such as wheat, chickpeas and lentils until the end of the year.

Experts say the government has failed in its water management policies, exacerbating the problem.

Farmers are impacted by significantly reduced water levels in dams across Turkey, which put the water needs of every citizen at risk as well, while lakes are drying up.

"We need to build our cities in a way that allows underground water levels to rise," said Ceyhun Ozcelik, associate professor in the water resources department at Mugla Sitki Kocman University.

"If we don't take the necessary measures, if the urban infrastructure is not enough, then I can say we face difficult days in the years ahead," he added.

- 'Transform lifestyles' -

In the west of the country on the Aegean coast, green olive groves coat the hills in Milas, famous for its olive oil which gained European Union protected status in December. But the fruit is also at risk.

Ismail Atici, Milas agricultural chamber chief, said rain had not fallen at all in 2021.

"If there is still no rain for one, or two more months, the trees will not be able to nourish the fruits," he added.

Farmers' costs are spiralling.

Ferdun Cetinceviz, 41, who tends to some 200 cows and corn fields among the mountains, said he is losing up to 40,000 lira per month ($4,500, 3,900 euros).

Surrounded by dry, flat land and green mountains in the distance, Cetinceviz estimated up to 50 percent of his crop yield including corn was lost this year due to drought.

Experts accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of failing to do enough to address pressing environmental issues in the country 

Adem ALTAN AFP

Farmers in Milas used to grow cotton, but it requires vast quantities of water, so they switched to corn.

"If I can't water my crops which my animals also need, they will be left hungry," Cetinceviz said.

© 2021 AFP


Dry year leaves Syria wheat farmers facing crop failure


Issued on: 05/10/2021 - 

A farmer ploughs a wheat field in the northeastern Kurdish-held city of Qamishli, part of the Syria's breadbasket region of Hasakeh which has been hit hard by low rainfall 

Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

Tal Shaeer (Syria) (AFP)

After Syrian farmer Abdelbaqi Souleiman lost his last wheat crop to a wildfire, he had hoped for a better harvest this summer. But this spring there was hardly any rain.

"Last year the field I planted was burnt to the ground," said the 48-year-old.

"This year there wasn't enough rain, and we didn't harvest any wheat."

As man-made climate change increases the likelihood of drought and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been hit hard by low rainfall this year, especially in its breadbasket Hasakeh province.

In the Kurdish-run northeastern region, dismal wheat harvests have raised alarm about food security in a war-torn country where 60 percent of people already struggle to buy food.

In Hasakeh, humanitarian agencies estimate crop production to have dropped by more than 95 percent compared to last year in large parts of the province.

Souleiman said the lack of downpour, coupled with the high price of fuel for irrigation, seeds and fertiliser, had made growing the rain-fed cereal a near mission impossible.

Aid agencies estimate that crop production has dropped by 95 percent in parts of Hasakeh region, compared to last year raising alarm about food security in war-torn Syria where 60 percent of people already struggle to buy food 

Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

"At this rate, we'll have to stop growing wheat," he said in the village of Tal Shaeer.

"Farmers are going to have to start planting herbs like coriander and cumin because it's cheaper and they sell for more."

- 'Selling our women's gold' -

Outside the town of Qahtaniyah in the same province, Hajji Mohammed, 71, said he and his neighbours had also fallen on rough times.

"Farming has become a loss-making business," said the agricultural worker of 45 years in the village of Kardeem Haleema.

"If there's no rain this year, most people will move away."

After years of losses, the family had next to no resources left with which to launch into another season.

Syrian farmer Dakhil Mohammed says 'farming has become a loss-making business' and warns his family is already selling their women's gold and furnishings to buy seeds for next year

 Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

"We're trying to sell our women's gold or furnishings so we can buy the seeds," he said.

Before the war erupted in 2011, Syria produced up to 4 million tonnes of wheat a year -- enough to feed its entire population, but harvests have since plunged to record lows, increasing dependence on imports.

The agriculture minister in Damascus said last month the country produced 900,000 tonnes of the grain this year, less than half of the two million tonnes needed.

Salman Barodo, co-president of the economy and agriculture commission with the Kurdish authorities, said this year's harvest had fallen far short of demand for the region's bakeries.

Drought risk worldwide Gal ROMA AFP

"In previous years, we'd reap more than 600,000 tonnes of wheat," he said. It was enough for flour, seeds for the following season, and a little left over in reserve.

"But this year it was just 184,000 to 185,000."

- Harvest 'very low' -

The poor harvest comes as the whole of northeast Syria is already facing a humanitarian disaster this year, aid agencies have warned, as low rainfall has also drastically depleted water levels along the Euphrates river.

This has threatened electricity production and drinking water supplies, and complicated access to the river for irrigation.

In the neighbouring province of Raqa, 42-year-old wheat farmer Ahmed al-Humaidi said he had briefly considered switching to irrigation to save his crop.

Depleted water levels along the Euphrates due to lower rainfalls have also threatened water supplies for irrigation, and grain silos in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh are already running low Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

"We thought of drawing water from the Euphrates... but we were not able to because of the high cost" of equipment and fuel, he said in the village of Salhabiyah.

Mike Robson, the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Syria, said the rainy season ended unusually early in March this year.

High temperatures the following month then prevented the grains from filling out properly.

"We don't yet have the full final numbers for the harvest for this year, but we're expecting it to be very low -- possibly about half the figure for last year," he said.

This would likely mean more price hikes, and more families struggling to feed themselves.

Already, the World Food Programme said in February that a staggering 12.4 million people in Syria -- out of an estimated population of 20 million -- were food insecure.

"We're expecting a further increase," Robson said.

© 2021 AFP

CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Outgoing State Department official says US border policy is illegal and inhumane

A top State Department legal adviser leaving his post told his colleagues in a memo over the weekend that the Biden administration's deportations of Haitians from the US-Mexico border are illegal and inhumane.

© Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images/File

By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent 

Harold Koh, a senior adviser at State, sent the memo taking issue with the administration's decision to continue to use a public health law, known as Title 42 and first used by the Trump administration due to the pandemic, to expel migrants intercepted at the border.

"I believe this Administration's current implementation of the Title 42 authority continues to violate our legal obligation not to expel or return ('refouler') individuals who fear persecution, death, or torture, especially migrants fleeing from Haiti," Koh wrote in the memo, first reported by Politico.

A State Department official confirmed the contents of Koh's six-page memo.

Koh is stepping down from the role he has held since President Joe Biden took office, and he had long planned to leave in October, according to a State Department official. He plans continue working as a contractor for State, the official added.

"Title 42 is a public health authority, not an immigration one, and that authority rests with the CDC," a senior State Department official told CNN, referring to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The CDC has determined that the expulsion of certain individuals under Title 42 is necessary due to the risks of transmission and spread of COVID-19 in congregate settings, such as U.S. Customs and Border Patrol stations, as well as the threat from emerging variants."

The memo from Koh followed a similar memo from another US diplomat last month, who blasted the Biden policy on Haitian migrants as he resigned. US Special Envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote said he didn't want to be associated with what he called an inhumane policy.

Koh, in his memo, noted that the Biden administration had recently extended Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants in the US, in part because of conditions in Haiti. He also said that more humane alternatives exist for the administration to address the migration crisis at the border.

Koh closed his memo by saying he knows many of his colleagues agree with him and that he hopes the administration changes its policy.

"It simply is not worthy of this Administration that I so strongly support," Koh said.

"The United States remains committed to supporting safe, orderly, and humane migration throughout our region," the senior State Department official said. "We continually engage with partners throughout the migratory corridor to emphasize each nation's responsibility for humane migration management, and that each country needs to enforce immigration laws and protect vulnerable populations."

This story has been updated with comments from a senior State Department official.

“Squid Game” Works Because Capitalism Is A Global Scourge

Capitalism is the shared villain in Netflix’s global successes. (Light spoilers ahead.)

Elamin Abdelmahmoud BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on October 1, 2021, 

Netflix



At this point, we are deep in the Squid Game hype cycle, and for good reason: the Korean drama is not only the top show on Netflix in 90 countries, but this week Ted Sarandos, the streaming platform’s CEO, hypothesized that “it might be our biggest show ever.” That’s nuts. It’s difficult enough for new shows to break through the noise with so much TV content, but Squid Game’s success is an astonishing feat for a show that was released on the platform less than two weeks ago, to little fanfare. More shocking still: It boasts no Hollywood megastars and it’s not based on any existing intellectual property that comes with a preloaded fanbase. And yet it’s a megahit, with 95% of its audience outside Korea. The internet is awash in Squid Game memes, games, and TikTok challenges. In two short weeks, it has become a bonafide phenomenon.


If the success of Squid Game is a surprise, it’s not exactly without precedent. For one, the popularity of K-dramas has grown by 200% among Netflix subscribers in just the last two years. But zoom out more, and the picture becomes clearer. Earlier this week, Netflix released some of its viewing data. Out of its top ten most viewed series, two of them are also not in English and boast no Hollywood megastars: the French Lupin sits in second place while the Spanish-language hit Money Heist occupies the sixth position.

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The dizzying success of Squid Game and the triumph of other non-English shows may finally kill the unfounded idea that North American viewers — the largest share of Netflix’s audience — are not interested in watching foreign shows. That is significant by itself. But these shows also share a common throughline: They all deal with inequality, capture the despair of poverty, and dissect class anxiety. Regardless of the country or language, capitalism is the shared villain in Netflix’s global successes. It’s a villain viewers everywhere can identify.


Youngkyu Park
Lee Jung-jae in Squid Game

In case you’re among the eight people who have yet to watch Squid Game, the premise is simple: Hundreds of people living with oppressive debt are approached to take part in a series of games — all variations of childhood favorites like Red Light, Green Light, but with, uh, deadly modifications — with the promise of a cash prize that might change their lives. It’s like if the playground games you played as a kid suddenly turned into the Hunger Games.

Squid Game is effective at pulling you in. By the middle of the first episode, viewers are plunged into a world that’s as repulsive as it is gripping, complete with masked villains and hapless antiheroes who do not know what’s in store for them. The “game” sequences are breathtaking — in creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s hands, a game as familiar as tug of war is transformed into an exhilarating, high-stakes contest.

Regardless of the country or language, capitalism is the shared villain in Netflix’s global successes. It’s a villain viewers everywhere can identify.


At the center of it all is Seong Gi-hun, a chauffeur addicted to gambling and self-sabotage, played brilliantly by Lee Jung-jae. In Lee’s performance, we see all the big and small humiliations of capitalism: the feeling of your worth being tethered to your productivity; the magical thinking that once you’re rich, you’ll be a different person; the embarrassments we are willing to endure to afford what we think we deserve. As we become invested in Gi-hun, we watch him as he lets us down over and over again. He steals from his mother and forgets his daughter’s birthday. When he is handed a financial lifeline, he gambles it away.

The first episode sets up the tension by slowly luring you into its shocking climax, when players discover the true cost of playing. No matter how much you read about it, you will not be ready for the rules of the game. But Squid Game is at its most effective in the second episode, where the contestants briefly find themselves back in their regular lives. Here, the show cycles through the horrors they all exist in: the pickpocket desperate to secure enough money to rescue her little brother; the business graduate who can’t confront the ways he has let down his mother; the young migrant worker who cannot provide for his wife and his newborn. And in the case of Gi-hun, the reality that his debt has not only driven his daughter away, but also put him in a position where he is unable to help his sick mother.

Through the course of the episode — aptly entitled “Hell” — we learn of the various chokeholds these characters are in, which are cruel enough that they might even prefer to go back to wagering with their lives. Their debts — and circumstances — are treated with tenderness and compassion. These are desperate people, willing to do anything to get out of their own personal hells. Their desperation may be familiar to viewers in Korea, where household debts are snowballing, but it is universal, too: in the US, Americans have more debt than ever before. In Canada, household debts are at worrying levels.

Beyond the indignities of working only to keep your head above water, debt has devastating health consequences like depression and anxiety. Forty percent of Americans would struggle to handle an unexpected $400 expense because of debt. Meanwhile, even though inequality was already high, the pandemic made it even worse. Hell, that cuts both ways, and inequality made the pandemic worse, too. That growing wealth gap is not an accidental outcome of capitalism — it is rather predictable. The games are made up, the pot of money is fictional, and Squid Game is a drama, but its honest exploration of the weight of debt and inequality could not be more timely. Squid Game fully understands the crushing consequences of being in debt, and it’s easy for viewers to see themselves in it. “We are simply here to give you a chance,” the masked villains say, and you understand their meaning to be more sinister than that.

Squid Game deals with these themes explicitly, but it is hardly the only Netflix property to dive into the horrors of capitalism. In Lupin, Assane Diop, the noble thief, is struggling to pay the bills and is forced to rely on loan sharks in order to pull off an elaborate heist. We see Tokyo, the protagonist of Money Heist, begin from a place of desperation too as she is left shattered after a botched robbery before she’s taken in by the mysterious Professor. Even the Spanish-language hit Elite takes on class anxiety, as three lower-income students begin life at a wealthy school and struggle to fit in with their new classmates. In all of these shows, the poverty and precariousness of the protagonists are the entry points for viewers, the vectors of relatability. We cheer for them because we understand that they are up against the same forces as the rest of us.

All of these shows are thrilling and well paced, with impeccable writing. But more to the point, the fact that it is these shows that Netflix viewers have gravitated to suggests a universal center of gravity. No matter the language or location, capitalism makes us all desperate. ●


Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a curation editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Toronto
Contact Elamin Abdelmahmoud at elamin.abdelmahmoud@buzzfeed.com.
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Woman finds 4-carat diamond in U.S. state park — and she gets to keep it

Sometimes it's worth it to take a little detour.

© Arkansas State Parks/Instagram 

The 4.38-carat diamond found in Crater of Diamonds state park in Arkansas.

That's exactly what a California woman did when she and her husband went on a trip to Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas — and it definitely paid off.

Noreen Wredberg, of Granite Bay, Calif., was visiting the park with her husband, Michael, when she decided to swing by Crater of Diamonds State Park, which was close by.

"I first saw the park featured on a TV show several years ago," Wredberg said to the Parks Department. "When I realized we weren't too far away, I knew we had to come!"

Read more: Shine bright: Botswana unveils ‘third-largest’ diamond ever found

The Arkansas state park contains the only public diamond field in the country, and visitors are allowed to keep whatever gems they find. This allure of finding a literal diamond in the rough was too strong for Wredberg, who insisted on going hunting for the valuable stones.

After about an hour of searching on Sept. 23, Wredberg stumbled upon a big, shiny gem: a yellow diamond that weighed in at 4.38 carats.

It turns out that the couple went to the park under the best possible conditions: it had rained a few days earlier, which often brings the stones up from the dirt below.

"The soil had dried a little, and the sun was out when Mrs. Wredberg visited two days later," said park interpreter Waymon Cox in a press release. "She was in just the right place to see her diamond sparkle in the morning sunlight."

"I didn't know it was a diamond then, but it was clean and shiny, so I picked it up!" said Wredberg of her jellybean-sized gem.

She took it to the park's Diamond Discovery Center — where all people who find a stone go to verify their discoveries — and it was confirmed that Wredberg's rock was a diamond. As of this writing, she's unsure what she's going to do with it.

Read more: 706-carat diamond found in Sierra Leone is one of the world’s biggest

In terms of estimated value, a four-carat raw diamond is worth between $7,500 and $69,000, depending on clarity, cut and colour. Wredberg's specific diamond does not yet have a certified value.

According to the park, it's the largest diamond found there in the past year. (An Arkansas man found a 9.07-carat diamond relatively recently, in September 2020.)

More than 33,100 diamonds have been found by park visitors since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972.

Notable diamonds found at the crater include a 40.23-carat known as "Uncle Sam," the largest diamond ever unearthed in the U.S., the 16.37-carat "Amarillo Starlight," the 15.33-carat "Star of Arkansas" and the 8.52-carat "Esperanza," according to the park's website.

TOOK HIM LONG ENOUGH

Yang says he has left Democratic Party

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang announced his departure from the Democratic Party today, describing the experience as "strangely emotional."

© Getty Images Yang says he has left Democratic Party

Yang announced in a statement on his website that he was opting to change his registration to become an independent voter.

"Breaking up with the Democratic Party feels like the right thing to do because I believe I can have a greater impact this way," Yang said.

Yang also acknowledged his experiences with thousands of Democrats during his previous presidential and mayoral bids.

"At first, many didn't know what to make of the odd Asian candidate talking about giving everyone money. But over time I established deep relationships with some of the local leaders who have worked in party politics for years," he said of the experience.

Yang added that he was "confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing."

"Now that I'm not a member of one party or another, I feel like I can be even more honest about both the system and the people in it," he said.

Prior to his announcement today, Yang had been a Democrat since 1995.

"It was a no-brainer for me. I went to a college that was very liberal. I lived in New York City. Everyone around me was a Democrat," he said of his initial voter registration decision.

Yang's upcoming book, "Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy," is scheduled for release on Tuesday. In previously released excerpts of the book, Yang said that his presidential campaign "messed with my head."

Today, Yang tweeted that his "political homelessness" would be short-lived.

His book also announced Yang's plans for his new third party, which would be called "The Forward Party." Yang said this party would be governed by principles like "fact-based governance" and "human-centered capitalism" in addition to promoting "universal basic income," an idea that garnered support and attention for Yang during his presidential bid.