CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

SEC charges window maker View, ex-CFO over accounting fraud

Jonathan Stempel
Mon, July 3, 2023 


(Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged View Inc, the maker of "smart" windows whose tinted panes adjust with the sun, and a former chief financial officer for understating the costs of replacing defective windows, leading to a restatement.

View won't have to pay a fine because it reported the error, took remedial action and cooperated with the SEC. The company, based in Milpitas, California, did not admit or deny wrongdoing.

Former CFO Vidul Prakash, 55, was charged in San Francisco federal court with negligence-based fraud, disclosure and books and records violations between December 2020 and May 2021.

View went public through a $1.6 billion merger in March 2021 with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special-purpose acquisition company.

The case arose from a defective sealing component in View's smart windows, which are often used in office buildings.

According to the SEC, View disclosed $22 million to $25 million of liabilities, largely for manufacturing replacement windows, but should have disclosed $48 million to $53 million of liabilities, incorporating shipping and installation costs.

The SEC said Prakash was told multiple times that View would pay for shipping and installation, but failed to have staff assess whether the costs were probable and could be reasonably estimated, which would require disclosure.

In November 2021, View said it would restate more than two years of financials, and it replaced Prakash as CFO.

View and its lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prakash's lawyer Craig Martin said he was disappointed the SEC decided to sue. "At all times, Vidul acted reasonably, and we look forward to vindicating him in court," Martin said.

View's share price is down nearly 99% since the SPAC merger closed. The shares rose 0.7 cent to 12.8 cents on Monday. View asked shareholders last month to approve a reverse stock split.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Leslie Adler)

US measure would ban products containing mineral mined with child labor in Congo

The Canadian Press
Mon, July 3, 2023 



ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A measure has been introduced in the U.S. House to ban imported products containing minerals critical to electric vehicle batteries but mined through child labor and other abusive conditions in Congo, where China has enormous mining stakes.

The bill targets China, which sponsor Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey says uses forced labor and exploits children to mine cobalt in the impoverished but resource-rich central African country.

Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, a key pillar of President Joe Biden’s climate plans. China controls the majority of the cobalt mines in Congo, strengthening Beijing’s position in the global supply chain for electric vehicles and other products.

“On the backs of trafficked workers and child laborers, the Chinese Communist Party is exploiting the vast cobalt resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo to fuel its economy and global agenda,” Smith’s office said in a statement following the bill's introduction Friday.

The legislation comes amid strained ties between the U.S. and China. Biden referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “dictator ” during a campaign fundraiser last month, leading to outcry from Beijing. That has followed tensions over a Chinese surveillance balloon that the U.S. government shot down, U.S.-led restrictions on China’s access to advanced computer chips, and the status and security of Taiwan.

But the Biden administration is looking to ease those tensions with a visit to China this week from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, following Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s two-day stop in Beijing last month.

China holds a 68% stake in Sicomines, the copper and cobalt joint venture with Congo's state mining firm Gecamines, following a 2008 infrastructure-for-minerals deal, which Congo now is seeking to review over concerns it gets too little benefit from the arrangement.

Congo is also Africa’s top producer of copper, and lithium was recently found there — also key components of EV batteries.

The extraction of the minerals has been linked to child and exploitative labor, environmental abuses and safety risks. In a 2016 report, Amnesty International blamed Chinese firms for child labor in Congo’s cobalt mining and multinational tech firms for failing to address the negative human rights issue in their supply chains.

The U.S. legislation would prohibit importing “goods, wares, articles, or merchandise containing metals or minerals, in particular cobalt and lithium and their derivatives, mined, produced, smelted or processed, wholly or in part, by child labor or forced labor in the DRC,” Smith's office said.

The measure also would require the president to identify and impose sanctions, including visa and transaction prohibitions, on foreign actors who facilitate and exploit child labor in Congo.

In a blow to American production, an Australian mining company that had been set to open the only cobalt mine in the U.S. halted construction on the Idaho project in March, citing falling cobalt prices fueled by competition from China and Congo.

Jervois Global CEO Bryce Crocker said the company expects to complete construction of the mine and commission it when cobalt prices recover.

The U.S. Defense Department has awarded the company $15 million for drilling and a feasibility study of a cobalt refinery in the U.S. Cobalt is considered a critical mineral by the U.S. government due to its use in the military and energy sectors.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Taiwo Adebayo, The Associated Press

If companies want to stop quiet quitting they need to take burnout seriously


Claudine Mangen, RBC Professor in Responsible Organizations and Associate Professor, Concordia University

THE CONVERSATION
Mon, July 3, 2023 

Unless businesses deal with the root causes of employee burnout, they will struggle to retain their workforce.

In 2023, between a quarter and a third of Canadians are feeling burned out. Burnout has not declined compared to last year. A full 36 per cent of employees are more burned out now than last year.

If you aren’t burned out, it may well be because you did some quiet quitting to keep work at bay. Most workplaces haven’t changed their workload or how work is done, although there are a growing number of exceptions.

My research focuses on organizational governance. I study organizations and employees’ experiences of their workplaces. Last summer, I wrote about how employee burnout remained high in Canada and discussed how it could be addressed. I cautioned that often, workplaces hold employees responsible for managing burnout.

However, addressing the root causes of burnout requires workplaces to examine the workload and expectations they place on employees. How can workplaces change their approach to burnout? Are they now more concerned with handling the root causes of burnout?
Burnout and quiet quitting

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, burnout includes a variety of symptoms from being emotionally depleted to detachment and cynicism to a sense of low personal accomplishment and depersonalization — the feeling that work does not belong to oneself.

To address burnout businesses should examine how much work their employees have and how they expect them to do it. 

The fact that burnout hasn’t decreased suggests that organizations have not addressed its root causes. Instead, employees have taken matters into their own hands and done some quiet quitting.

Quiet quitting refers to doing what our job requires and nothing more. Gone are the days of overwork and constant availability. According to a 2023 Gallup report, most employees around the world are quiet quitting. Because employees who quiet quit may set better boundaries around their work, quiet quitting enables them to prevent burnout.

Read more: Quiet quitting is a new name for an old method of industrial action

The fact that many employees have resorted to quiet quitting suggests workplaces are not addressing or taking burnout seriously enough.

As a result, work remains the primary source of stress for Canadians. We have too much work, work in organizational cultures that are too toxic and don’t feel supported enough.

Not surprisingly then, a recent survey found one third of Canadians have left a job due to burnout. One in four businesses in Canada have had challenges with employee retention.
How workplaces can address burnout

Employers need to revisit the workload they place on their employees. They should consider how realistic it is for employees to complete their work within the required time frame.

They also need to address their culture and question how it can be toxic, notably concerning how work is done, and how toxicity can be addressed.

By accommodating the needs of their employees, businesses can improve retention and reduce burnout. (Shutterstock)

Finally, organizational leaders need to listen to their employees and set a tone that is supportive, shows empathy and is not merely rhetoric. Words have to be followed by actions to ensure the work environment fits the needs of employees.

Paying employees more isn’t sufficient. Having a good work-life balance is often more important than higher salaries.

There are signs that some workplaces are serious about addressing the root causes of burnout. They are concerned with reducing workload. For instance, they can offer prolonged, or even unlimited, paid leave. They can provide more days off to allow employees to recharge.

A growing number of businesses are also embracing four-day work weeks as a way of boosting employee morale. Other workplaces give their employees the flexibility to work onsite and remotely.

Flexibility is essential for employees who also shoulder care work. Care work in many households is still done by women more than men. Women with young children take time away from their paid work for family responsibilities and miss more than twice as many days at work than men, leaving many mothers drained.

More than one third of working mothers in Canada say it is difficult for them to arrange child care. Mothers are about 20 per cent more likely than fathers to consider leaving their job because they struggle to find child care.

Employees need accommodating and flexible workplaces that understand their needs. Workplaces need to be mindful of that flexibility and should not view employees who seek it as less reliable than those who can work in offices for longer hours.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Claudine Mangen, Concordia University.

Read more:

Employee resilience isn’t the magic bullet solution to adversity that organizations think it is


We’re all exhausted but are you experiencing burnout? Here’s what to look out for

Claudine Mangen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Sharing Our Stories: My grandmother Elizabeth / Akhsótha’ Arísawe


Local Journalism Initiative
Mon, July 3, 2023

We had a hard time continuing in education because the church was in control of the education here, the nuns. They had these special nuns from Boston. Sisters of St. Anne they call them. And they were experts at what they call proselytizing – how to change who you are.

And they were good at it.

They would always humiliate somebody in the class. Call them out and humiliate them somehow.

I would always go back home and tell my grandmother what this nun did. She would tell some of her friends and they would organize and go raise hell at the school.

If you were left handed, then they were going to change you to be right handed. If she caught you, she’d come right there and smack you right on the hand with a ruler, and you were only little.

My grandmother said, “Why are you talking like that?”

I said, “Like what?”

She said, “You’re stuttering. Why are you stuttering?”

“Oh, it’s that stupid nun,” I said. “She’s always smacking my hands. She doesn’t want me to be left handed.”

Well, my grandma went there and raised holy hell with the nun.

She says, “She’s stuttering now because you’re trying to change her from left to right.”

See, she knew how to raise children. She would notice things right off the bat. She was smart, really smart.

*

Ionkwentora’séhahkwe’ ne ísi’ nón: niaiakwatahsónteren’ tsi iakwaterihwaiénstha’ ase’kén nononhsatokénhti thotiniarotáhrhon ne aionterì:waienste’ ne kèn:’en. Iotiia’tatokénhti nen nè:’e. Rononkwè:taien kí:ken ísi’ nikontiia’tò:ten iotiia’tatokénhti, Wáhston nitioné:non. Iotiia’tatokénhti ne St. Anne konwatina’tónhkhwa’. Tánon’ kontiweiente’kó:wa tsi nahò:ten’ ratina’tónhkhwa’ proselytizing – né:ne taiesaté:ni’ tsi nahsia’tò:ten’.

Tánon’ kontiweién:te’.

Tió:konte’ shes enhonwatiia’tahnó:ten’ tánon’ enhonwanatéha’te’ ne ratiksa’shòn:’a.

Tiótkon enskahtén:ti’ tánon’ enkhehró:ri’ nakhsótha’ tsi na’ká:iere’ kí: ioia’tatokénhti.

Enkonwatihró:ri’ ótia’ke nonatshi’ó:kon tánon’ enkontirihwahserón:ni’ tsi ionterihwaienstáhkhwa’ akontinenhskaríha’.

Tóka’ ken sehsenekwá:ti, sok eniesónnien’ aonsahseweientehtáhkhwake’. Tóka’ aiesahá:ra’se’, kwah tho éntien’ tánon’ ionte’nientenhstáhkhwa’ teniesahsnónhse’ke’, tánon’ ken’ ki’k níhsa’.

Aksótha’ wa’ì:ron’, “Oh nontié:ren tho ní:ioht tsi sáhthare’?”

Wa’kì:ron’, “Oh káti’ ní:ioht?”

Tonta’ì:ron’, “Sawén:nis. Oh nontié:ren tsi sawén:nis?”

“Á:, thí:ken tiotónhnho’kte’ ioia’tatokénhti,” wa’kì:ron’. “Tiótkon ne tewakehsnonhsé’ks. Iah té:wehre’ aonsakenekwatíhake’.”

Tho niahà:’en’ nakhsótha’ tánon’ kwah wa’enenhská:ri’ tsi teiotíhthare’ ne ioia’tatokénhti.

Ión:ton, “Iakowén:nis ó:nen ase’kén sate’niéntha’ ahsheiónnien’ aonsaieweientehtáhkhwake’ né:ne iá:we’ tsenekwá:ti.”

Ieweién:te’ se’ ahonwennehià:ron’ ne ratiksa’okòn:’a. Enionttokáhstsi’ tóka’ tiok ní:ioht. Ionttókha’, kwah í:ken tsi ionttókha’.

Story told by: Lorraine Montour, Written by: Simona Rosenfield - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Translation by: Sahawisó:ko’ Arquette, The Eastern Door

MUTUAL AID/SOLIDARITY/DIY

'A life-saving tool': More people carrying naloxone to help strangers on the street

The Canadian Press
Mon, July 3, 2023 



Kym Porter has been carrying a naloxone kit in her purse since her son died of an overdose more than six years ago.

Porter, a retired school teacher in Medicine Hat, Alta., was trained to use both the syringe and nasal versions of the overdose reversal drug, but never ran into an emergency situation until May.

"I saw this fellow lying under a tree and he wasn't moving," Porter said.

She approached the man, looked for any drug paraphernalia, called out to him and shook his shoulders. No response.

Porter dialed first responders and reached for her naloxone kit.

"But for some reason, I don't know why, I hesitated," she said. "I didn't administer it."

Emergency crews arrived and brought back the manwho confirmed to her that he had overdosed.

Naloxone kits are easily available, over-the-counter antidotes that block the effects of opioids such as fentanyl, heroin, morphine or cocaine.

More people are carrying naloxone kits with them on the streets as drug poisoning-related fatalities break records every passing year in Canada.

In Alberta, the latest numbers show April was the deadliest month, with 179 deaths from opioid overdoses.

Caitlin Shane, a drugs policy lawyer with Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver, said she sees people in the community, as well as health professionals on and off the job helping others who may have overdosed on opioids.

"Oftentimes, it's people who just happen to be walking by (and) have naloxone attached to their bag or backpack," she said.

Shane said it is crucial to know the signs of an overdose to ascertain when to administer naloxone.

"That way, you can feel more comfortable doing it."

The signs could be shallow breathing, blue or grey lips or nails, small pupils, the inability to wake up despite calling out or shaking the person, and choking or snoring sounds.

"If you believe someone is overdosing and you're not sure if it's an opioid or stimulant overdose, Health Canada recommends administration (of naloxone)," she said.

"The outcome will most likely be better than not administering it."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says injecting naloxone into a person who may be unconscious for other reasons such as diabetic coma or cardiac arrest would not cause them additional harm.

Shane said the Emergency Medical Aid Act protects people who administer naloxone outside of a health or medical setting, or when the person is not being compensated for their help.

"If you're walking down the sidewalk and you see someone has overdosed and you administer naloxone, and in doing that, you injure the person or cause their death, you will not be legally liable," she explained.

The only exception is if the injury or death is caused by "gross negligence," Shane added.

Candice Chaffey, a nurse at a Toronto-area hospital, was on her way to pick up a takeout pizza when her eyes caught a man lying unconscious on the pavement.

The man was surrounded by bystanders in Brampton, Ont., as they waited for paramedics to arrive.

Chaffey approached the man and began with sternal rubs on the chest to wake him up. She knew it was an overdose.

"I ran home and got back with my naloxone kit within 30 seconds," Chaffey recalled of the evening last summer.

She opened the kit, pulled out the ampoule, pulled it through the syringe and injected naloxone into the man.

"He immediately started to get up and said, 'Why did you poke me?'" she recalled.

The man passed out again so Chaffey repeated the steps with a second dose and helped him get up. But the man wasn't happy with the intrusion.

Chaffey said things could get violent. It didn't in this case.

"That is a risk you take," she said.

She warned that people shouldn't put themselves at risk if they are not comfortable approaching a person who is potentially overdosing.

"The best thing to do is just wait for a paramedic to arrive," Chaffey said.

For Porter, the hesitation wasn't coming from safety or legal concerns. Instead, she felt she was "overdramatizing" the situation when she came across an unconscious man.

"I questioned myself," Porter said. "Am I just wanting to do this because I know how to do this? Am I making too big of a deal about this?"

Looking back at the day, Porter said she wouldn't hesitate to administer naloxone if it happens again.

She recalled her 31-year-old son's last interaction with a neighbour before he died of drug poisoning.

"The woman upstairs came down. (My son's) door was open. She saw him lying on the floor, snoring and didn’t realize he was dying," she said.

"She kindly covered him with a blanket, thinking he was asleep."

Porter said if the neighbour knew the signs, her son could have lived.

"I'm not an expert, I'm not a nurse, I'm not wise enough to know how sick a person is," she said.

"But naloxone is a life-saving tool."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Pres

HINDUTVA PARANOIA

Joly concerned for safety of India's diplomats, calls protest poster 'unacceptable'

The Canadian Press
Tue, July 4, 2023 



OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she is concerned about the safety of India's diplomats following what she calls an "unacceptable" poster for an upcoming protest near Toronto.

The protest is planned in memory of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was killed in a shooting in British Columbia in June.

A poster for the protest circulating on social media includes photos of India's top two diplomats in Canada, calls them "killers in Toronto" and suggests it's time to "kill India."

Niijar was a vocal opponent of India and supporter of an independent Sikh state but police say they have found no link to India in their investigation.

Joly says Canada takes the safety of foreign diplomats "very seriously" and is in touch with Indian officials about the poster.

New Delhi has long accused Canada of harbouring extremists who want to carve out a state within India, but Ottawa says that freedom of speech means groups can voice political opinions if they don't use violence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2023.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM IS FASCISM 

SmartICE doing ‘such important work’ with sea ice terminology books


Local Journalism Initiative
Mon, July 3, 2023

Leanne Beaulieu didn’t spend much time on the sea ice when she was young. Her grandparents felt it was too dangerous.

“They were pretty nervous about taking me and my siblings onto the land, because of the unpredictability of the sea ice,” she said from Gjoa Haven, where she lives. “They worried about something happening to us.”

Today, things are different.

Nunavut’s sea ice is a huge part of Beaulieu’s life, thanks to her job as a Sikumik Qaujimajjuti mapping specialist with SmartICE, a community-based enterprise that integrates Inuit knowledge with monitoring technology to provide a range of sea ice-related tools and resources.

On June 13, SmartICE released a book of sea ice terminology, tailored specifically to the community of Gjoa Haven. The hope is that it will make it easier for community members of all ages to communicate about sea ice conditions, which are changing rapidly due to climate change.

The book, which features 61 terms, is printed in Inuktitut and English, and also features photos and graphics.

Beaulieu has already distributed copies around the community

“It’s a good thing to finally have it out there and to hear such nice positive feedback from everyone,” she said.

“So far it’s all just been people saying this is such important work.”

The terminology contained in the Gjoa Haven book was researched and documented in meetings that began in October, 2021, and concluded earlier this year. SmartICE favours group meetings over one-on-on interviews, as it allows participants to correct and verify each other’s information and spelling. The meetings in Gjoa Haven were attended by representatives from the local Hunters and Trappers Association and search and rescue organization, government officials, and community Elders – including Beaulieu’s grandparents.

“My grandparents actually joined the SmartICE committee, so I was learning from them,” she said. “It’s really special. I’m super grateful to get that knowledge from them.”

Gjoa Haven is the second Nunavut community to get a SmartICE terminology book. Pond Inlet was the first.

Pond Inlet’s book, which features just shy of 70 terms, launched in 2022, and has since been distributed across the community, even making it into schools and libraries.

Andrew Arreak, SmartICE’s Regional Operations Lead for Qikiqtaaluk, was a crucial part of that project, and says the books are also about preserving the Inuktitut language.

“The ice terminology being documented, and us knowing it will be around for a while, and knowing that most schools here in the community have copies of our book, it’s a great feeling,” he said.

“In the past, what was taught to us was all verbal. Nothing was ever documented. As Inuit, a part of our culture is being out on the ice. It’s a part of our identity, and not every young man has a father figure who can teach him what conditions or what types of ice are called in our language, in Inuktitut.”

Gjoa Haven will not be the last Nunavut community to receive a sea ice terminology booklet. SmartICE is undertaking similar projects in Arctic Bay, Arviat, Qikiqtarjuaq, and Taloyoak.

“I’m glad other communities are mimicking the booklet in their dialect also,” Arreak said.

SmartICE, which is an acronym for “sea-ice monitoring and real-time information for coastal environments,” was co-created with the government of Labrador’s Nunatsiavut region in response to the dangerous sea ice conditions around Nain in winter of 2010. The organization is also producing a sea ice terminology book for that community.

In addition to the books it has distributed, SmartICE has also produced maps and informational posters, and even designed an interactive online game called Safe Travels, which aims to teach traditional Inuit ice safety knowledge and terminology to young children.

Tom Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News

In NATO’s new north, fresh chances to contain Moscow

Anne Kauranen and Johan Ahlander
Mon, July 3, 2023 




By Anne Kauranen and Johan Ahlander

TORNIO, Finland/KARLSKRONA, Sweden (Reuters) - High above a railway bridge spanning a foaming river just outside the Arctic Circle, Finnish construction workers hammer away at a project that will smooth the connections from NATO's Atlantic coastline in Norway to its new border with Russia.

"We will be removing some 1,200 of these one by one," says site manager Mika Hakkarainen, holding up a rivet.

Until February 2022, the 37-million euro ($41 million) electrification of this short stretch of rail – the only rail link between Sweden and Finland – simply promised locals a chance to catch a night train down to the bright lights of Stockholm.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, that changed.

Now Finland is part of NATO, and Sweden hopes to join soon.

As the alliance reshapes its strategy in response to Russia's campaign, access to these new territories and their infrastructure opens ways for allies to watch and contain Moscow, and an unprecedented chance to treat the whole of northwest Europe as one bloc, nearly two dozen diplomats and military and security experts told Reuters.

"PUT RUSSIA AT RISK"

The Finnish rail improvements around Tornio on the Swedish border are one example. Due for completion next year, they will make it easier for allies to send reinforcements and equipment from across the Atlantic to Kemijarvi, an hour's drive from the Russian border and seven hours from Russia's nuclear bastion and military bases near Murmansk in the Kola peninsula.

Among forces based there, Russia's Northern Fleet includes 27 submarines, more than 40 warships, around 80 fighter planes and stocks of nuclear warheads and missiles, data collected by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) shows.

In a military conflict with NATO, the Fleet's main task would be to secure control of the Barents Sea and stop ships bringing reinforcements from North America to Europe through the waters between Greenland, Iceland and the UK.

That's something Finland can help NATO resist.

"It's all about containing those kinds of capabilities from the north," retired U.S. Major General Gordon B. Davis Jr. told Reuters.

Besides opening its territory, Helsinki is buying the right assets, particularly fighter jets, "to add value to (the) northeastern defence and, frankly, in a conflict put Russia at risk," he said.

Sweden's contribution will, by 2028, include a new generation of submarines in the Baltic Sea that Fredrik Linden, Commander of Sweden's First Submarine Flotilla, says will make a big difference in protecting vulnerable seabed infrastructure and preserving access – currently major security headaches, as the September 2022 destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines showed.

"With five submarines we can close the Baltic Sea," Linden told Reuters. "We will cover the parts that are interesting with our sensors and with our weapons."

Analysts say the change is not before time. Russia has been actively developing its military and hybrid capabilities in the Arctic against the West, partly under the cover of international environmental and economic cooperation, the FIIA's Deputy Director Samu Paukkunen told Reuters. Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Paukkunen's institute estimates Western armed forces are militarily about 10 years behind Russia in the Arctic.

Even with the losses that Russia has sustained in Ukraine, the naval component of the Northern Fleet and the strategic bombers remain intact, Paukkunen said.

NATO-member Denmark phased out its submarine fleet in 2004, part of a move to scale back its military capabilities after the end of the Cold War, and it has yet to decide on future investments. Norway is also ordering four new submarines, with delivery of the first due in 2029.

"It seems to me that we have some catching up to do, because we haven't done it properly for the last 25 years," said Sebastian Bruns, a senior researcher into maritime security at Kiel University's Institute for Security Policy.

"A WHOLE PIECE"

Both developments show how the expanded alliance will reshape Europe's security map. The region from the Baltic in the south to the high north may become almost an integrated operating area for NATO.

"For NATO it's quite important to have now the whole northern part, to see it as a whole piece," Lieutenant Colonel Michael Maus from NATO's Allied Command Transformation told Reuters. He chaired the working group which led Finland's military integration into NATO.

"With (existing) NATO nations Norway and Denmark, now we have a whole bloc. And thinking about potential defence plans, it's for us a huge step forward, to consider it as a whole area now."

This became clear in May, when Finland hosted its first Arctic military exercise as a NATO member at one of Europe's largest artillery training grounds 25 km above the Arctic Circle.

The nearby town of Rovaniemi, known to tourists as the home of Santa Claus, is also the base of Finland's Arctic air force and would serve as a military hub for the region in case of a conflict. Finland is investing some 150 million euros to renew the base to be able to host half a new fleet of 64 F-35 fighter jets, due to arrive from 2026.

For the May manoeuvres, nearly 1,000 allied forces from the United States, Britain, Norway and Sweden filled the sparse motorways as they joined some 6,500 Finnish troops and 1,000 vehicles.

Captain Kurt Rossi, Field Artillery Officer of the U.S. Army, led a battery bringing in an M270 multiple rocket launcher.

It was first shipped from Germany across the Baltic Sea, then trucked nearly 900 km to the north.

"We haven't been this close (to Russia) and been able to train up in Finland before," Rossi said.

If there was a conflict with Russia in the Baltic Sea area – where Russia has significant military capabilities at St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad – the shipping lane NATO used for that exercise would be vulnerable. Finland relies heavily on maritime freight for all its supplies – customs data shows almost 96% of its foreign trade is carried across the Baltic.

The east-west railway link across the high north will open up an alternative, which could prove crucial.

"I think the Russians can quite easily interrupt the cargo transportation by sea so basically this northern route is the only accessible route after that," said Tuomo Lamberg, manager for cross border operations at Sweco, the Swedish company designing the electrification.

"NOTHING BEATS THEM"

But that risk, too, may recede when Sweden joins NATO.

Down beneath the Baltic Sea waterline, the submarine commander Linden shows a reporter the captain's quarters of the Gotland, one of four submarines currently in Sweden's fleet, which will bring NATO's total in the Baltic countries to 12 by 2028.

The Kiel institute expects Russia to add one to three submarines in the coming years, to bring its Baltic submarine total to four, along with its fleet of around six modern warships. Its capabilities at Kaliningrad also include medium-range ballistic missiles.

"This can be the loneliest place in the world," says Linden, who captained the vessel for many years. On a typical mission, which lasts two to three weeks, there is no communication with headquarters, he said.

The Gotlands, like Germany's modern Type 212 submarines, will be among NATO's most advanced non-nuclear submarines and can stay out of port for significantly longer than most other conventional models, the researcher Bruns said.

"I would say, without a doubt, that the Gotland-class and the German Type 212 are the most capable non-nuclear submarines in the world," said Bruns.

"There is nothing that beats them, quite literally. In terms of how quiet they are, the engines they use, they are particularly quiet and very maneuverable."

In submarine warfare, Linden said, the primary question is where the adversary is. A careless crew member dropping a wrench or slamming a cupboard door can lead to detection.

"We talk quietly on board," Linden said. "You shouldn't believe ... films where orders are shouted."

The Gotland is based at Karlskrona, about 350 km across the Baltic from Kaliningrad. With an average of 1,500 vessels per day trafficking the Baltic according to the Commission on Security and Cooperation In Europe, it is one of the world's busiest seaways – and there is really only one way out, the Kattegatt Sea between Denmark and Sweden.

The shallow and crowded seaway can only be accessed through three narrow straits that submarines can't pass through without being detected.

LISTENING POWERS

If any of the straits were to be closed, the sea freight traffic to Sweden and Finland would be hit hard and the Baltic states completely cut off. But with Sweden in the alliance, that becomes more preventable, because Sweden's submarines will add to NATO's listening powers.

Linden says the Gotland's crew can sometimes hear Russia's vessels. The range of sound travel varies partly depending on the seasons. In winter, he said, you can hear as far as the island of Oeland – just a bit further than the distance between London and Birmingham in the UK.

"You can lie outside Stockholm and hear the chain rattling on Oeland's northern buoy," Linden said. "In the summer you can hear maybe 3,000 meters."

By 2028, once Sweden takes delivery of a new design of vessel, this capacity will increase. The new design, known as A26, will allow submarine crews to deploy remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), combat divers or autonomous systems of some sort without putting the submarine or crew at risk, Bruns said.

"Depending on the mission it could be an ROV that safeguards a pipeline or data cable, it could be combat divers that go ashore in the cover of darkness, it could be almost anything."

That capacity will increase Sweden's scope to control comings and goings through the Baltic.

"If you count all the forces, with Germany in the lead and Sweden and Finland coming on board, all those have really shifted the balance in the Baltic Sea quite significantly," said Nick Childs, Senior Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"It would make it very difficult for the Russian Baltic Sea fleet to operate in a free way," he said. "But it could ... still pose challenges for NATO."

(Anne Kauranen reported from Tornio, Johan Ahlander from Karlskrona; additional reporting from Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen and Sabine Siebold in Brussels; Edited by Sara Ledwith)

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/07/opinion-russia-has-permanently-lost.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/06/us-nuclear-sub-visits-faroe-islands.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/06/trudeau-off-to-iceland-to-meet-leaders.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/06/cruising-to-nome-first-u.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/06/building-safer-north-climate-security.html

Drag queens are out, proud and loud in a string of coal towns, from a bingo hall to blue-collar bars

The Canadian Press
Mon, July 3, 2023 


SHAMOKIN, Pa. (AP) — Deep in Pennsylvania coal country, the Daniels drag family is up to some sort of exuberance almost every weekend.

They're hosting sold-out bingo fundraisers at the Nescopeck Township Volunteer Fire Co.'s social hall, packed with people of all ages howling with laughter and singing along. Or they're lighting up local blue-collar bars and restaurants with Mimosas & Heels Drag Brunches for bridal parties, members of the military, families and friends.

Or they're reading in gardens to children dressed in their Sunday best — Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” is a favorite book for performers and kids alike.

In a string of towns running along a coal seam, the sparkle of small-town drag queens and kings colors a way of life rooted in soot, family and a conservative understanding of the world.

Here two very old traditions mingle — and mostly happily, it seems, in contrast to the fierce political winds ripping at drag performances and the broader rights of LGBTQ+ people in red states from Utah and Texas to Tennessee and Florida.

One tradition is the view of family as mom, dad and kids, plain and simple.

The other, back to before Shakespearian times, is drag, a loud, proud and seismically flamboyant artistic expression of gender fluidity. Not plain, not simple, but also bedrock, rising above ground only in culturally adventurous cities.

Yet the Daniels drag family is firmly woven in the fabric of the larger community in this area, where voters went solidly for Donald Trump, a Republican, in the last election. Their trouble is more apt to come from politicians who are increasingly passing laws restricting what they can do.

Alexus Daniels, the matriarch, was the child of a coal miner and a textile worker who was “born with a female spirit." She works at the local hospital as an MRI aide tech.

Jacob Kelley, who performs as drag queen Trixy Valentine, is an LGBTQ+ activist and educator with a master's in human sexuality.

Harpy Daniels, Trixy's twin, is a U.S. Navy sailor who’s had three deployments on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Soon that seaman, Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Kelley, who just reenlisted, moves from a base in Norfolk, Virginia, to one in Spain, with plans to pack a wig “and maybe one or two cute outfits but nothing over the top” for Harpy-style shore leave.

Apart from the twins, the drag performers in this circle are family by choice, not genes. Theirs is an oasis of belonging.

“I never had a person like me growing up,” Trixy said, “and now I get to be that for everyone else.

“There was a curse being a queer person in a rural town — the curse is that we’ll move ... because there’s no one like us here, there’s no one that can understand us.

“And drag now can be a place or a thing to show people like you that you don’t have to go to the cities. It’s here in your backyard.”

The Associated Press followed the Daniels family for more than a year. Among them:

Alexus Daniels, drag queen

Daniels’ first memory is of her great-grandmother’s jewelry box. With Cyndi Lauper and the Pointer Sisters blasting, she would wrap herself in knitted blankets to lip-sync and dance for her family. “I had no idea that it was drag or gay,” she says. “I was just having a day!”

Alexus hit high school and upped her Halloween game. She soon entered her first drag performance in the small Pennsylvania coal town of Weishample.

“I still was not out at this point,” Alexus says. “I wasn’t even sure if I was gay. I knew I was attracted to boys and loved all things feminine! I kept this side of me to myself and my best friends growing up, who really didn’t see anything strange about it.”

Trixy Valentine, aka Jacob Kelley

In their teens, Joshua was the first to turn to drag. Jacob started about six months later, in a white Marilyn Monroe dress at an amateur pageant in 2014.

Trixy’s drag style is eclectic, but whether silly or fierce, there’s glitter: “I just want to shine when the light hits me."

“I came out as non-binary a few years ago because I started learning, like, what do I love so much about drag?" Kelley says. "It’s that femininity, that so-simple touch.”

“I’m not a man,” Kelley says. “I never will see myself as a man. And I don’t see myself as a woman, either. But I see myself as beyond that.”

In March, the Daniels drag family hosted bingo at the Nescopeck fire hall, packed with more than 300 people in a fund-raiser for a nearby theater.

A small group of protesters could be watched on social media from the bingo hall, holding signs and praying the rosary across from the theater. Trixy addressed the bingo crowd.

“There’s hundreds of us in this room and only nine of them on that street," Trixy said. “So all I have to say is I don’t care what you believe in. But do not force it down my throat and tell me I shouldn’t be here because you think I’m wrong.

“The Lord gave birth to me, too."

Trixy was in a long blue wig and Morgan Wells catsuit with an overskirt, a raised fist in the colors of the Pride flag on the chest.

“Alright, let’s call some numbers!” Trixy said. “Let’s play some bingo!” The crowd cheered.

Harpy Daniels, aka Joshua Kelley, U.S. Navy petty officer first class, drag queen

Until 2011, the armed forces applied the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which accepted LGBTQ+ people only if they stayed mum about their sexual orientation.

But after Kelley enlisted in 2016, he encountered the opposite — call it “ask and tell.” A commander asked what pronoun they prefer. Joshua, relieved by the acceptance implied by the question, told him any pronoun will do.

Now, the sailor is a social media sensation who was named a “digital ambassador” by the Navy, doing outreach to the LGBTQ+ community and others who have been marginalized: “I’m very proud to wear this uniform.”

Kitty DeVil, aka Emily Poliniak, drag queen

Kitty, a trans woman, describes her drag style as “punk and a lot of storytelling.” Her inspiration: Adore Delano, a 2014 finalist on “RuPaul’s Drag Race."

“She was what I wanted to be — this badass punker chick looking gorgeous without sacrificing her style,” Kitty says.

Kitty says her performances are high-energy fun but also “a lighthouse."

“Because even in our LGBTQ community, there are outcasts and people who don’t feel like they’re like anybody else," Kitty says. "So I wanted to make a beacon for all those people who feel weird and feel different and can’t really find their place in society.”

Xander Valentine, aka Gwen Bobbie, drag king

More than a decade after she was transfixed by seeing her first drag show, Xander was invited by Trixy to join the drag family.

Xander has an energetic, family-friendly side as well as a sexy, sultry side. Confusing people about gender is intentional, a barrier-breaker.

“I try to create a consistent theme of masculinity in my performances," Xander says. "Although I paint my face, wear wigs and adorn myself with rhinestones, I usually perform to songs sung by men and tailor my costumes more toward suits and ties.

“My personal goal as a king is to have the audience question my off-stage gender identity."

Why? It's to convey the message, Xander says, that "it's OK to not immediately know how a person identifies or who they are attracted to, and still be kind to them.

"It’s OK to accept someone as different, even if you don’t fully understand it.”

___

Woodward reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed to this report from Washington.

Carolyn Kaster And Calvin Woodward, The Associated Press

RACIST MEDICINE U$A

Maternal deaths in the US more than doubled over two decades. Black mothers died at the highest rate

The Canadian Press
Mon, July 3, 2023 



Maternal deaths across the U.S. more than doubled over the course of two decades, and the tragedy unfolded unequally.

Black mothers died at the nation’s highest rates, while the largest increases in deaths were found in American Indian and Native Alaskan mothers. And some states — and racial or ethnic groups within them – fared worse than others.

The findings were laid out in a new study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers looked at maternal deaths between 1999 and 2019 — but not the pandemic spike — for every state and five racial and ethnic groups.

“It’s a call to action to all of us to understand the root causes — to understand that some of it is about health care and access to health care, but a lot of it is about structural racism and the policies and procedures and things that we have in place that may keep people from being healthy,” said Dr. Allison Bryant, one of the study's authors and a senior medical director for health equity at Mass General Brigham.

Among wealthy nations, the U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality, which is defined as a death during pregnancy or up to a year afterward. Common causes include excessive bleeding, infection, heart disease, suicide and drug overdose.

Bryant and her colleagues at Mass General Brigham and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington started with national vital statistics data on deaths and live births. They then used a modeling process to estimate maternal mortality out of every 100,000 live births.

Overall, they found rampant, widening disparities. The study showed high rates of maternal mortality aren't confined to the South but also extend to regions like the Midwest and states such as Wyoming and Montana, which had high rates for multiple racial and ethnic groups in 2019.

Researchers also found dramatic jumps when they compared maternal mortality in the first decade of the study to the second, and identified the five states with the largest increases between those decades. Those increases exceeded:

— 162% for American Indian and Alaska Native mothers in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Rhode Island and Wisconsin;

— 135% for white mothers in Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee;

— 105% for Hispanic mothers in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Tennessee;

— 93% for Black mothers in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey and Texas;

— 83% for Asian and Pacific Islander mothers in Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and Missouri.

“I hate to say it, but I was not surprised by the findings. We’ve certainly seen enough anecdotal evidence in a single state or a group of states to suggest that maternal mortality is rising,” said Dr. Karen Joynt Maddox, a health services and policy researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who wasn’t involved in the study. “It’s certainly alarming, and just more evidence we have got to figure out what’s going on and try to find ways to do something about this.”

Maddox pointed to how, compared with other wealthy nations, the U.S. underinvests in things like social services, primary care and mental health. She also said Missouri hasn't funded public health adequately and, during the years of the study, hadn't expanded Medicaid. They've since expanded Medicaid — and lawmakers passed a bill giving new mothers a full year of Medicaid health coverage. Last week, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed budget bills that included $4.4 million for a maternal mortality prevention plan.

In neighboring Arkansas, Black women are twice as likely to have pregnancy-associated deaths as white women, according to a 2021 state report.

Dr. William Greenfield, the medical director for family health at the Arkansas Department of Health, said the disparity is significant and has “persisted over time,” and that it's hard to pinpoint exactly why there was an increase in the state's maternal mortality rate for Black mothers.

Rates among Black women have long been the worst in the nation, and the problem affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. For example, U.S. Olympic champion sprinter Tori Bowie, 32, died from complications of childbirth in May.

The pandemic likely exacerbated all of the demographic and geographic trends, Bryant said, and “that’s absolutely an area for future study.” According to preliminary federal data, maternal mortality fell in 2022 after rising to a six-decade high in 2021 — a spike experts attributed mainly to COVID-19. Officials said the final 2022 rate is on track to get close to the pre-pandemic level, which was still the highest in decades.

Bryant said it’s crucial to understand more about these disparities to help focus on community-based solutions and understand what resources are needed to tackle the problem.

Arkansas already is using telemedicine and is working on several other ways to increase access to care, said Greenfield, who is also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock and was not involved in the study.

The state also has a “perinatal quality collaborative,” a network to help health care providers understand best practices for things like reducing cesarean sections, managing complications with hypertensive disorders and curbing injuries or severe complications related to childbirth.

“Most of the deaths we reviewed and other places have reviewed … were preventable,” Greenfield said.

___

AP Public Health Collaborations Editor Erica Hunzinger contributed to this report

——

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

Laura Ungar, The Associated Press

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/07/us-infant-mortality-declined-but-low.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/07/ua-black-and-native-women-had-highest.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/07/us-maternal-deaths-doubled-in-last-20.html