INTER-IMPERIALIST RIVALRIES
Tokyo Protests to Beijing Over East China Sea Construction

May 21, 2022 
Agence France-Presse

This handout released on May 21, 2022, from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs taken on June 2014 shows a platform for gas extraction in disputed waters in the China East Sea.

TOKYO —

Japan has lodged an official protest with China after discovering what it claimed were efforts by Beijing to develop gas fields in disputed waters in the East China Sea.

Tokyo's foreign ministry said Friday it had confirmed that Beijing was building in the area -- where the two countries' exclusive economic zones (EEZ) overlap -- and submitted a complaint to the Chinese Embassy.

Japan "strongly urged an early resumption of negotiations over the implementation" of a 2008 bilateral agreement regarding the development of resources in the East China Sea, it added.

That agreement saw Japan and China agree to jointly develop undersea gas reserves in the disputed area, with a ban on independent drilling by either country.

But negotiations over how to implement the deal were suspended in 2010.

"It's extremely regrettable that the Chinese side is unilaterally proceeding with development in the waters," the ministry said.

"The borders of the economic exclusive zones and the continental shelf are yet to be settled in the East China Sea," it added.

Japan has long insisted the median line between the two nations should mark the limits of their respective EEZs.

But China insists the border should be drawn closer to Japan, taking into account the continental shelf and other features of the ocean.

Tokyo has accused China of positioning 17 suspected drilling rigs close to its de facto maritime border with Japan.

The rigs are on China's side of the border, but Tokyo fears gas on the Japanese side can also be extracted.

The two countries are embroiled in a separate row over disputed islands elsewhere in the East China Sea.

China claims the string of islands -- which Japan refers to as the Senkakus -- as its own, and regularly sends ships and aircraft into the area to test Tokyo's response times.

China also has disputes with several other nations in the South China Sea, which it claims in its entirety.

Sicily judge to weigh trial of migrant rescue NGOs

ByAFP
Published May 21, 2022

The charities are accused of coordinating their actions with smugglers just off Libya - 

Charities running migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean face a pre-trial hearing in Sicily Saturday over alleged collusion with people traffickers after a controversial probe that involved mass wiretapping.

Twenty-one suspects, including crew members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and German NGO Jugend Rettet rescue ships, are accused of “aiding and abetting unauthorised entry into Italy” in 2016 and 2017.

“Our crews rescued over 14,000 people in distress from unseaworthy and overcrowded boats… and are now facing 20 years in prison,” Kathrin Schmidt, who sailed with Jugend Rettet’s ship Iuventa, said ahead of the hearing.

Trapani judge Samuele Corso must rule whether or not to proceed to trial after a five-year investigation mired in controversy for the mass wiretapping of charity workers, lawyers and journalists in what critics say is a politically-motivated bid to stop sea rescues.

Italy has long been on the front line of seaborne migration from Africa to Europe, with a record 180,000 arrivals in 2016, dropping to 120,000 in 2017.

It has registered some 17,000 arrivals so far this year, according to the interior ministry.

Prosecutor Brunella Sardoni told AFP she expected the preliminary hearings process to last “several months, considering the complexity” of a case file with some 30,000 pages and hundreds of CDs.

The charities are accused of coordinating their actions with smugglers just off Libya, returning inflatable dinghies and boats to them to be reused, and picking up people whose lives had not been in danger.

– ‘World’s deadliest’ crossing –

The rescuers say anyone attempting the Central Mediterranean crossing to Europe — the “world’s deadliest” according to the UN — on rickety boats or unseaworthy dinghies is at risk, and should be saved.

At least 12,000 people have drowned on this route since 2014. Many shipwrecks go unrecorded.

The charities also deny ever communicating with smugglers, who are sometimes armed and can be spotted loitering near rescues in the hope of retrieving valuable engines from migrant boats.

Save the Children told AFP it “strongly rejects” the accusations, as did MSF, which slammed a “period of criminalisation of humanitarian aid” it hoped would soon end.

The Iuventa was impounded in 2017 shortly after Jugend Rettet and others refused to sign a new and contentious interior ministry “code of conduct” accord, and as the European Union scaled up surveillance and policing in the Mediterranean.

“Despite the fact that mobile phones and computers were seized and analysed, not a single contact with Libyan smugglers… has been found,” said Nicola Canestrini, lawyer for the Iuventa crew members.

Pre-trial hearings are held behind closed doors, but representatives from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and Amnesty International have requested the judge allow them to sit in for transparency.

ECHR senior legal advisor Allison West has condemned “improper investigative practices” in the investigation, led by a prosecutors’ office more used to exposing Mafia crimes.

– Ex-cop sent allegations –

The probe was launched after ex-policeman Pietro Gallo, working as a security contractor on Save the Children’s Vos Hestia ship, sent allegations against the charities in October 2016 to Italy’s secret services, Canestrini told AFP.

He and a fellow ex-policeman also sent them to the head of the anti-immigration League party, Matteo Salvini, before reporting their suspicions to the police.

Gallo has since said in an interview that he regrets it. Asked if he ever saw any contact between the charities and traffickers, he replied “no, never”.

The damage was done. Police placed an undercover agent on the Vos Hestia in May 2017, who would provide information including elements used to charge the four Iuventa crew members, Canestrini said. Those included alleged hand signals between the crew and smugglers.

Iuventa’s case has been studied by Forensic Architecture, an agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London, which uses advanced reconstruction techniques to investigate police, military and state facts.

It discredited the police theories for all three Iuventa rescues in question

Rights Groups Decry Taliban Shuttering of Human Rights Commission

 
May 21, 2022 

VOA Afghan Service

“I am dismayed at the reported decision of the Taliban to dissolve the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, shown on Feb. 28, 2022 delivering opening remarks in Geneva.

WASHINGTON —

The Taliban’s decision to dissolve Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission is a major setback for the country, say human rights groups and defenders.

Criticism came swiftly after Taliban authorities on Tuesday said the AIHRC and four other “unnecessary” departments had been axed in the face of a $500 million annual budget shortfall.

"Because these departments were not deemed necessary and were not included in the budget, they have been dissolved," Innamullah Samangani, the Taliban government's deputy spokesman, told Reuters.

“Nothing more than that can be expected” from the Taliban, which has a poor human rights record, said Mohammad Naim Nazari, former deputy head of the AIHRC.

“The Taliban do not recognize the rights of women, who constitute half of the population," he told VOA's Pashto Service. "They do not believe in freedom of speech and have imposed restrictions on media. … The Taliban do not recognize the rights of minorities.”

Calling Afghanistan's ruling Taliban “afraid” of human rights groups, Nazari described their style of governance as incompatible with formal humanitarian oversight.

The Taliban, however, defended Tuesday's decision, calling the department closures in keeping with a national budget "based on objective facts" and intended only for departments that had been active and productive.

Samangani, the Taliban spokesperson, also said the departments could be reactivated in the future "if needed."

But human rights advocates aren't optimistic. Many of them view Tuesday's announcement as a tragic reversal after 20 years of key improvements for human rights in the country.

“I am dismayed at the reported decision of the Taliban to dissolve the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in a prepared statement.

Calling it “a massive setback,” Richard Bennett, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, described the commission's role as an independent, domestic mechanism for documenting and monitoring complaints "critical for human rights protection in #Afghanistan.”



Andreas Von Brandt, the EU ambassador for Afghanistan, called the Taliban’s decision “a step in the wrong direction” for national institutions that serve as vital points of connectivity with the outside world.

"Those bridges are being increasingly destroyed,” he tweeted. Their dissolution, he said, “excludes #Afghanistan from universally agreed rights and principles and is also strange for a country which relies heavily on international #foodaid and support.”





Also dissolved was the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), the once high-powered National Security Council, and the commission for overseeing the implementation of the Afghan constitution.

The HCNR was last headed by the country’s one-time second-ranking government official Abdullah Abdullah, and was working to negotiate a peace between the U.S.-backed government of former President Ashraf Ghani and the then-insurgent Taliban.

Dissolving the institutions mean that thousands of professional Afghans have lost their jobs, said Abdul Qadir Zazai, a former member of the Afghan parliament, adding that “these people were trained for their jobs over the last 20 years.”

Founded in 2002 to document and report on human rights abuses throughout the country, the AIHRC lost seven of its employees “to violence and terrorism [most directly attributed to the Taliban] since its establishment,” tweeted former AIHRC chairperson Shaharzad Akbar.



The commission halted its activities after the Taliban regained power in 2021, and all its nine commissioners escaped the country fearing Taliban reprisals.

SEE ALSO:
Taliban Uncertainty Prompts Bid for Afghan Rights Body in Exile

Former AIHRC commissioner Shabnam Salihi told VOA that although human rights violations continue to be reported via foreign groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the dissolution of Afghanistan’s only independent rights commission means many more violations are now expected to be overlooked.

“We hear people are tortured and killed. We hear about war crimes. At such a time, there is no organization to watch on the [Taliban] government,” Salihi told VOA.

Although AIHRC was unable to work under the Taliban, “it was an important institution for Afghanistan,” Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch told VOA.

“The Taliban, by abolishing this office, are saying very openly that they don't intend to comply with human rights," she added. "They're not interested in respecting Afghanistan's obligations under international law. And they don't care if people whose rights are violated have nowhere to go for help.”

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 with an iron fist and implemented a harsh version of Islamic rule, including banning women from education and work. After taking over last year, the Taliban assured the world they would be more moderate.

However, they have yet to allow girls to restart secondary school education and have also introduced rules that mandate that women and girls wear veils and require them to have male relatives accompany them in public places.

This story originated in VOA's Pashto Service. Some information is from Reuters.

Police attack "No war – peace right now" demo in Istanbul


Under the slogan "No war - peace right now", a demonstration was staged in Istanbul on Sunday against the Turkish invasion of Southern Kurdistan. Several people were detained on the fringes of the demonstration.

ANF
ISTANBUL
Sunday, 22 May 2022,

In the western Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, hundreds of people took to the streets on Sunday in protest against the invasion of southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). The demonstration was called by an alliance of women's groups and various parties united under the umbrella of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party).

"No war - peace now" was the slogan of the event, which began at the Tünel funicular stop in the central Beyoğlu district and continued along the Istiklal Avenue. Among the participants were especially many activists of the Free Women's Movement (TJA) and the Peace Mothers Initiative, as well as HDP deputies Sezai Temelli and Nejdet İpekyüz, DBP co-chair Keskin Bayındır, ESP leader Şahin Tümüklü and the HDK spokesman Cengiz Çiçek.

Police forces stopped the demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy. "War means death and leads to the impoverishment of entire societies. We call on the public and especially the political leadership in South Kurdistan to stand on the side of peace," Sezai Temelli said in the police encirclement. The crowd responded to attempts by security forces to stop the deputy's speech with slogans. Among other things, they shouted: "The tide will turn - The AKP will be accountable".

The activists demonstrated their solidarity with the Kurdish guerrillas by chanting "Long live the resistance in the Zap" or "Long live the struggle in Avaşîn" and dispersed in groups to several side streets, where the protest continued. Police assaults occurred at several points, and an unknown number of activists were taken into custody. Police detained some other people on İstiklal Avenue as well. Among those taken into custody are ESP Chairman Şahin Tümüklü and lawyer Veysi Eski, who is organized in the Libertarian Lawyers' Association (ÖHD). Meanwhile, the nearby headquarters of the Istanbul provincial association of the HDP is under siege by police.

Cambridge University astrophysicist loses space project role amid Brexit row


Nicholas Walton gives up leadership of €2.8m pan-European research after dispute over Northern Ireland protocol

Walton was to have led a doctoral network related to Esa’s Gaia mission that is mapping nearly 2bn stars in the Milky Way. 

Photograph: Chrispo/Alamy

Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
THE GUARDIAN

Sat 21 May 2022 

A Cambridge University astrophysicist studying the Milky Way and hoping to play a major part in the European Space Agency’s (Esa) next big project has been forced to hand over his coordinating role on the scheme after the row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements put science in the firing line.

Nicholas Walton, a research fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, reluctantly passed his leadership role in the €2.8m pan-European Marie Curie Network research project to a colleague in the Netherlands on Friday.

The European Commission had written notifying him UK scientists cannot hold leadership roles because the UK’s membership of the flagship £80bn Horizon Europe (HE) funding network has not been ratified.
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Walton was to have led a doctoral network related to Esa’s Gaia mission that is mapping nearly 2bn stars in the Milky Way.

He is one just one of a handful of British physicists approved for a HE grant but must now take a passenger seat in his own project.


Brexit row threatens £250m in UK research funding from EU

Carsten Welsch, a physicist at Liverpool University, who has won €2.6m in funding, also from the Marie Curie network, for long term research on a novel plasma generator, is also facing the same dilemma – move to the EU or hand over leadership to an EU institution to secure the research role.

“As the UK’s association to Horizon Europe isn’t completed, we are now at real risk of losing our leadership in this consortium and to be marginalised.

“This is really heartbreaking, given the long and extremely successful track record in scientific collaboration between the UK and EU,” he said.

Both Welsch and Walton say the loss of their roles in the research networks is only part of the picture. With Horizon Europe comes a ringside seat in bigger projects worth billions of euros involving networks of academia and industry.

“The damage is already being done … our influence is eroding,” said Welsch.

Walton’s coordinating role came with the opportunity to be part of the European team defining the science case for the €1bn successor to Gaia, Esa’s Voyage 2050 programme and to train a new cohort of astronomers.

“It is about jobs and the economy and ultimately this makes the UK a wealthier society,” he said.

Last week the EU’s ambassador to the UK, João Vale de Almeida admitted that British science could be a “victim of the political impasse”.

Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society said: “The window for association is closing fast, and we need to ensure that political issues do not get in the way of a sensible solution. We have always been very clear that association is the preferred outcome for protecting decades of collaborative research, and the benefits this has brought to people’s lives across the continent and beyond.”

Welsch is considering his options and said an offer by the UK to step in with alternate funding is “fantastic in principle”.

But he says it is not a replacement.

“While the UK Research and Innovation guarantee fund provides vital financial support and allows UK institutions to contribute as Associated Partners (without EU funding), it means that UK institutions can no longer lead projects, can no longer be in charge of project milestones, and overall it feels as if the UK is losing important leadership.”

Showdown with the ‘Anglosaksy’

by Stefano Caprio

05/21/2022
RUSSIAN WORLD


Russia’s war in Ukraine has brought a slew of accusations, many against the so-called Anglo-Saxons, a view repeated on several occasions by the Kremlin. Notwithstanding cultural juxtapositions, the expression reveals a strategy designed to drive a wedge among Russia’s enemies. Moscow wants to see the ongoing conflict end with a world in which Russia, the Anglosaksy, and Europe are well defined.

Some of the many accusations made since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in a period of long-term stalemate, are against the “Anglo-Saxons”, something often heard in statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who has often railed against the Anglo-Saxon media, which “are at the top of the list of the aggressor countries in the information war”.

Several other Russian politicians and officials are also increasingly using the term “Anglo-Saxon” in a derogatory way. According to the Russians, the Anglo-Saxons are the ones who “feed the hysteria” of international public opinion, as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his spokeswoman Maria Zakharova like to repeat.

In February, shortly before the invasion, the latter lashed out at a journalist who asked her about the deployment of troops on the Ukrainian border. “It is not up to you, who represent the Anglo-Saxon world, to count our weapons and judge how our troops move.”

Zakharova herself in recent days has come to the defence of Julian Assange, whose extradition to the United States has been decided by a British court, speaking of him as “a journalist poisoned by all the power of the Anglo-Saxon repressive machine”. In another statement, Peskov sarcastically referred to “the Anglosaksy [who] do nothing but raise tensions on the European continent”.

The use of the expression goes beyond the rivalry with the United States or “the Americans”, so typical of the Cold War, but underlines the Russian tendency to justify the ongoing conflict with historical-cultural reinterpretations that date back to a very distant past, back to the Middle Ages.

At the very beginning of the modern era, the Muscovy of Ivan the Terrible presented itself to the world as the new empire and the “Third Rome”, called to save peoples from all demonic dangers. The first Tsar of Moscow looked with interest at Queen Elizabeth of England, the one who laid the grounds for the British Empire beyond the seas.

The “Virgin Queen” (in whose honour the first American colony was named: Virginia) wrote to Ivan IV with admiration after he defeated the Kazan Tatars in 1557, paving the way for the conquest of the whole of Siberia: Asia became the Dalniy Vostok, Russia’s “Far East” with Cossacks pitted the Mongols, long before American cowboys fought the Indians for America’s “Far West”.

Since then, the two empires have opposed each other geographically (to the point of bordering each other) and ideologically; it is no accident that the symbolic letters of Russia’s war are the V of Vostok, and above all Z of Zapad (West) which suggests Za pobedu! (For Victory!).

The origins of this Nordic peoples, the Saxons, are rooted in the dominion they exercised over the British Isles between the 5th and 11th centuries, long before the baptism of Kievan Rus’ in 988 AD. The very term “Anglia” comes from one of these peoples, the Angles, who moved from the lands of present-day Denmark and Germany.

When Peskov and Zakharova take issue with the Anglosaksy, they are not going back to Europe’s Middle Ages, but are referring rather to much more recent issues, using a term that still resonates.

Strictly speaking, the Anglo-Saxon countries refer to those who have English as their national language: United Kingdom, United States, Canada (minus Quebec), Australia and New Zealand.

More than the origins or the language, what unites them most of all and differentiates them from the rest of the world are their political institutions and law, which make them bearers of freedom and democracy in the world, which the Russians intend to fight and defeat at all costs, as they are seen as cause of the loss of identity and sovereignty of all peoples.

One of the traits most criticised by the Russians is, for example, the “principle of precedent”, i.e., whereby a court decision is considered as the source of law, perhaps about the rights of ethnic or ethical minorities, and not the “sacred” laws defined by the constituted power, such as a Penal Code, as is traditionally the case in continental Europe.

The same goes for the flexibility of the system of higher education. Anglo-Saxon universities are mostly private, and not dedicated to mass education, a situation that is seen “as serving powerful castes, not the people”, as Vladimir Putin himself has repeatedly said in the past.

Above all, the Anglo-Saxons have a real devotion to the two-party system and alternation of power, which the Russians view as a way for the Antichrist to rule, based dividing the people.

In England, the Whigs were originally supporters of a parliamentary system, whilst the Tories remained loyal to the authority and power of the crown; from them, we have Labour and Conservatives in England, Democrats and Republicans in the US, Liberals and Conservatives in Canada, and so on.

Such a dialectic has been completely blocked in Russia since the first Putin presidency in 2000, whose system of power is on hierarchy and the stability of the “popular” majority, which requires at least 70-80 per cent of the vote; otherwise, society risks disintegration as was the case under President Yeltsin.

The Anglo-Saxon world also has racial and religious traits, namely White Anglo-Saxon Protestant"(WASP), today strongly questioned by cancel culture. By contrast, Orthodox Russia views itself as the bearer of an “inclusive culture” centred on the assimilation of other peoples, not on their subjugation, as its Western rivals do who today shed crocodile tears to wash their conscience.

If there is one thing the Russians absolutely do not intend to do is lustration (Lyustrátsiya), i.e., engage in historical revisionism about the faults of the past. There has been no criticism in Russia over working for the former Soviet regime; indeed, today’s ruling institutions and officials are throwback to that past, like the country’s Federal Security Service or FSB (Putin’s KGB) or Kirill’s Moscow Patriarchate, and other metropolitan bishops.

Comparison aside between Anglo-Saxon and Russian cultures, which shows not only rivalries but also many influences and imitations, the Anglosaksy cursed by the Kremlin are seen as the standard-bearers of a generic “collective West”, a simplification needed to justify destructive and apocalyptic actions.

The use of such terms by the Russians also reveals a subtle strategy, an attempt to drive a wedge among their enemies, getting the “non-Anglo-Saxon” nations to side with Russia.

On the eve of the Ukraine invasion, during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, the director of the National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardija), Viktor Zolotov, said that "we do not recognise any border with Ukraine; these borders were made by the Americans, who consider themselves the masters of that country and all the others as their vassals”.

Peskov went on to argue that “we Europeans must reflect on the fact that a country that is outside our continent, like the United States, comes to our home to create problems.”

This form of anti-American propaganda always has a great effect within Russia, echoing Stalin’s words in 1941, when he said “Russians were never friends of the Anglosaksy”.

When Russians stand as defenders of “traditional European values”, as in the “manifesto” of director Konstantin Bogomolov, it is always understood as a commitment to defend themselves from “foreign values, like those of the Anglo-Saxons”.

The Russian World is for all peoples, designed to defend Asia, Africa and Latin America from Western colonisation; one of its main purposes is to draw to it Europeans not closely affiliated with the United States or Great Britain, whose Brexit has provided excellent ideological support for Russia’s worldview.

Europe has very close economic ties with Russia, and cannot easily decouple itself, as evidenced by contradictory positions taken by Europeans in the recent debate over ending dependence on Russian gas.

Trade, not only in energy, is much more intense than that between Russia and the United States. Were it not for the war, Europeans would likely preserve these relations as much as possible; and no one is thinking about keeping Russian tourists away or halting forever cultural exchanges, the fate of McDonald’s and cars aside.

Russia and Germany have had special relations for a long period of time, based on exchanges in philosophy and literature. The same can be said for Italian art and music, not to mention France, whose language served as the lingua franca of the aristocracy of St Petersburg during the 18th century.

Russia wants to end the Ukrainian war not only with large territorial gains and control, from the Donbass to the Sea of Azov and Moldova. The goal is a plural world in which Russia, the Anglosaksy, and Europe are well defined, and so other eastern powers like Turkey, China and India, with Russia playing a key role in every international venue.

Paradoxically, the isolation imposed by sanctions is seen as a way to rise above quarrels and purify and sacrifice oneself for all whilst preparing for the future global showdown.

Taoiseach: UK Troubles amnesty proposals are ‘get-out-of-jail’ legislation for ex-paramilitaries


Its ‘unilateral strain’ on other issues also criticised as he meets local parties


Visit: Micheal Martin speaks to media in Belfast yesterday.

 Credit: Brian Lawless/PA

Allan Preston
May 21 2022

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has claimed UK plans to address the legacy of the Troubles amount to “get-out-of-jail” legislation for ex-paramilitaries.

On a visit to Belfast he also hit out at a “unilateral strain” in the UK Government over Northern Ireland issues.

Mr Martin was speaking following meetings with Stormont’s main parties yesterday.

Addressing the plans around legacy, he said: “I think it has united the families of many victims of terrible atrocities against the measures of the British Government.

“It’s a unilateral measure again and I have concerns about the unilateral strain within the current British Government towards aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.

“I don’t think that’s positive and I don’t think it’s helpful.”

He said previous London administrations had taken their role as a co-guarantor of the Agreement more seriously.

“Fundamentally, I’m very much opposed to what the British Government is proposing here in terms of essentially the guts of an amnesty for people who committed terrible crimes irrespective of whether they’re security forces or members of various paramilitary groups who committed terrible crimes.

“For many of those paramilitary groups, this is literally get-out-of-jail legislation from any further investigation.”

Regarding the protocol, Mr Martin said that “legitimate issues” had been raised but he was confident they could be resolved.

With many accusing the DUP of holding the Assembly to ransom, Mr Martin was asked if he supported changing the structures to avoid further crisis.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened… that’s not a satisfactory situation,” he said.

“The people have voted and I think that there’s a huge responsibility on all involved to respond to the vote of the people,” he added.

“I have a passionate belief in the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement which were hard won…. too much work has been put into this to allow the democratic institutions established in the Good Friday Agreement to just (end)”.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: “We have had what I would describe as a useful meeting with the Taoiseach.

“We spelled it out very clearly to him the problems with the protocol, the harm it is doing to Northern Ireland, and that we need a solution. We need decisive action to deal with these problems.”

Speaking before her meeting with Mr Martin, Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill said the DUP was “denying democracy” over its Stormont boycott.

She added the Taoiseach had “a very significant role” to play as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.

“At a time where democracy is being denied, at a time where the DUP are continuing to prevent the facilitation of an Executive being formed, an Executive that could start to deliver for the public, I think it is important that he is here to assert his role and to listen to all of the parties.”

Meanwhile, an intervention by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the protocol row was described by Mr Donaldson as “unhelpful”.

Ms Pelosi said the US Congress will not support a free trade agreement with the UK if the Government persists with “deeply concerning plans to unilaterally discard the protocol”.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie described Ms Pelosi’s remarks as “not just deeply regrettable and misinformed... but completely wrong”.

 

Ontario NDP, Liberals would bring in law to fight Islamophobia, other hate if elected

May 21, 2022 - 10:55 AM News Code : 1259283 Source : Toronto StarLink: 

Ontario’s New Democrats and Liberals committed Wednesday to bringing in a law to fight Islamophobia and other forms of hate if elected to form government next month.

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Ontario’s New Democrats and Liberals committed Wednesday to bringing in a law to fight Islamophobia and other forms of hate if elected to form government next month.

Speaking to reporters in Kingston, Ont., NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said addressing racism and hate is a priority for people who have experienced hateful attacks based on their race, faith or any other part of their identities.

She said she is proud of her party’s work with the National Council of Canadian Muslims in bringing forward legislation earlier this year to help address Islamophobia in Ontario (Canadian province). That bill, tabled in February, did not pass before the election campaign began.

“There’s just too much hate out there,” Horwath said. “We have an obligation and a responsibility, leaders do, to take that on and to listen when (a)community says we don’t want to just hear the words. We want you to take action.”

Horwath said it was “extremely disappointing” that the governing Progressive Conservatives did not support the bill.

“It was disrespectful,” she said, promising that her party would re-introduce the legislation.

Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said his party would also pass the anti-Islamophobia legislation if elected on June 2.

“I said from the very beginning that we would move forward with legislation. I’ve already committed to moving as quickly as I can to pass the Our London Family Act,” he said at an unrelated announcement in Toronto on Wednesday.

Photo: Credited Toronto Star

Russia steps up its support for the military government of Mali
21 MAY 2022

Russia continues with its efforts to strengthen its position in the Sahel region of Africa. 

On Friday (20 May), foreign minister Sergei Lavrov received in Moscow his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop with promises of Russian support for the the Malian military government across a range of areas, including defence, security and energy.

 Lavrov speaking at a press conference with Diop accused France of trying to dictate to Mali who they can or cannot communicate with. "This is unacceptable and does not make the French Republic or French manners look good", the Russian foreign minister said.

Mali witnessed a military coup in May 2021, its second in a period of nine months. Both coup efforts were orchestrated by Colonel Assimi Goita, who now serves as the country's transitional president.

Tensions between Goita and the French government resulted in president Emmanuel Macron announcing the withdrawal of all French forces from the country earlier this year. French troops were seen as pivitol in securing Mali against a jihadist insurgency which has claimed many lives, especially in the north of the country.

However, on the same day of the visit of the Malian foreign minister to Moscow, Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, voted to support redeployment of German troops in the West African country. Germany has had a military contingent in Mali for the past nine years, assisting with security operations amid an ongoing jihadi insurgency.

The Bundestag increased German participation in the UN peacekeeping force in Mali (MINUSMA), raising the maximum number of Bundeswehr soldiers to be deployed there from 1,100 to 1,400.

Germany will contribute to the peacekeeping force for another year, with 541 members of parliament voting for the measure and 103 voting against.

At the same time, Germany will draw down its forces deployed in the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM Mali) from a maximum of 600 German soldiers to 300. The vast majority of these troops will be stationed in Mali's neighbor, Niger.

The EU training mission aims to help Mali secure the country from terrorist threats and organized crime. Security forces in Burkina Faso and Mauritania will also be trained as part of Germany's mandate in the region.

A serious point of contention between EU countries and the Malian military authorities is the presence in the country of mercenaries from Russia's notorious Wagner Group, whose role appears to be to protect the Malian coup leaders. Wagner Group forces have been accused of civilian killings.

During a recent visit to Mali in April, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said there will be no co-operation with Russian actors in the country given the Kremlin's recent invasion of Ukraine

Lavrov earlier this month said Wagner Group mercenaries are in Mali on a "commercial basis," and their activities are not connected with the Russian government. But there is hardly anyone left in the world who believes this.

source: commonspace.eu with DW (Cologne) and the press service of the Russian foreign ministry (Moscow)

photo: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference with his counterpart from Mali, Abdoulaye Diop in Moscow on 20 May 2022 (picture courtesy of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow).

Biden risks troubled Americas summit in Los Angeles


By CHRIS MEGERIAN and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press - Friday

WASHINGTON (AP) — While President Joe Biden travels in Asia, his administration is scrambling to salvage next month’s summit focused on Latin America.

The Summit of the Americas, which the United States is hosting for the first time since the inaugural event in 1994, has risked collapsing over concerns about the guest list. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has threatened to boycott if Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua aren’t included. Unlike Washington, which considers the three autocratic governments as pariahs, Mexico’s leftist leader maintains regular ties with them.


Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is decorated by his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz Canel with the Jose Marti order at Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, May 8, 2022.

 (Yamil Lage/Pool Photo via AP)

A hollow summit would undermine efforts by the U.S. to reassert its influence in Latin America when China is making inroads and concerns grow that democracy is backsliding in the region.

Now Biden is considering inviting a Cuban representative to attend the summit as an observer, according to a U.S. official who declined to be identified while speaking about sensitive deliberations. It’s unclear if Cuba would accept the invitation — which would be extended to someone in the foreign ministry, not the foreign minister himself — and whether that would assuage López Obrador’s concerns.


Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel, right, and his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, left, raise their arms during a ceremony to award the Jose Marti order to President Lopez Obrador, at Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, May 8, 2022.

 (Yamil Lage/Pool Photo via AP)

López Obrador reiterated Friday that he “wants everyone to be invited," but indicated that he was hopeful about reaching a resolution, adding that "we have a lot of confidence in President Biden and he respects us.”

Even if López Obrador attends, there could still be a notable absence in Los Angeles: Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who leads Latin America’s most populous country, hasn't said whether he'll attend.

The uncertainty is a sign of chaotic planning for the summit, which is scheduled to take place in a little more than two weeks in Los Angeles. Normally, gatherings for heads of state are organized long in advance, with clear agendas and guest lists.

“There’s no excuse that they didn’t have enough time,” said Ryan Berg, a senior fellow in the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is our chance to set a regional agenda. It’s a great opportunity. And I’m afraid we’re not going to take it.”

The National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment. Ned Price, speaking for the U.S. State Department, said the first wave of invitations was sent out Thursday, but there could be additions. He declined to say who had gotten invitations.

He said speculation about who was attending was “understandable,” noting that Biden will be the first U.S. president to attend the summit since 2015, when President Barack Obama went to Panama.

President Donald Trump skipped the next summit in Peru in 2018, sending Vice President Mike Pence in his place.

“Our agenda is to focus on working together when it comes to the core challenges that face our hemisphere,” Price said, including migration, climate change and the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuba’s participation is often a controversial issue for the summit, which has been held every few years and includes countries from Canada to Chile. The island nation was not invited to the first gathering in Miami, but Obama made headlines by shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro in Panama.

Questions about Biden's approach to Latin America are piling up when his attention has been elsewhere. He's taken a lead in responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, helping to forge an international coalition to punish Moscow with sanctions and arm Kyiv with new weapons.

Biden is also trying to refocus U.S. foreign policy on Asia, where he views the rising power of China as the country's foremost long-term challenge. He's currently on his first trip to the continent as president, visiting South Korea and Japan.

Berg argued that neglecting Latin America could undermine Biden's goals, since China has been trying to make inroads in the region.

“It’s always been difficult for Latin America to get its due," he said. "But we’re pretty close to being in a geopolitical situation where Latin America moves from a strategic asset for us to a strategic liability.”

Instead of putting the finishing touches on the schedule for the Summit of the Americas, administration officials have been racing to ensure it doesn't devolve into an embarrassment.

Chris Dodd, a former U.S. senator from Connecticut chosen by Biden as a special adviser for the summit, spent two hours on Zoom with López Obrador this week.

There's also been a steady drip of announcements adjusting U.S. policies toward the region.

For example, the U.S. is moving to ease some economic sanctions on Venezuela.

In addition, administration officials said they would loosen restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba and allow Cuban immigrants to send more money back to people on the island.

The discussion about Cuba's potential participation in Los Angeles reflects a difficult diplomatic and political balancing act.

Biden faces pressure to invite Cuba from his counterparts in the region. In addition to López Obrador, Bolivia’s President Luis Arce has threatened to skip the summit.

But Biden risks domestic backlash if Cuba is included, and not just from Republicans. Sen. Robert Menendez, a Cuban American Democrat from New Jersey who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is an outspoken critic of the Cuban government.

___

Associated Press writer María Verza contributed from Mexico City, and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington.

Statue of fossil-hunting pioneer Mary Anning to be unveiled in Dorset

A nine-year-old pointed out what was missing in Lyme Regis. Her long campaign has now borne fruit

Kate Winslet as Mary Anning in the film treatment of her life, Ammonite 

Photograph: See-saw Films\bbc Films/Allstar

Esther Addley
Sat 21 May 2022

It all began with a curious nine-year-old and a question that she asked her mother. Where in their hometown of Lyme Regis was the statue of Mary Anning, the pioneering Victorian fossil hunter who, she had recently discovered, had lived and worked there?

There wasn’t one, Anya Pearson was forced to tell her indignant daughter. Anning’s lifetime of discoveries – including finding the first ichthyosaur skeleton at the age of just 12 – may have profoundly shaped the emerging science of palaeontology, but in her own Dorset town and farther afield, she had been largely forgotten.

The schoolgirl, Evie Swire, is now 15, and on Saturday she and Pearson will see that injustice finally righted, with the unveiling of a striking new statue of Anning, raised and funded thanks to a campaign they started as a direct result of Evie’s question.

Having overcome planning and Covid delays, been forced twice to find a new site and crowdfunded more than £150,000 through their Mary Anning Rocks campaign, the pair describe the moment as particularly sweet.

“I knew that one day it was going to happen, but obviously now that it’s finally here I’m very happy and very proud about it,” says Evie. Anning, she thinks, “would be very pleased that she was finally getting the recognition that she deserves”.

Anning was born in 1799 into a family that scratched its living, literally, from the coast around the emerging resort of Lyme Regis, digging fossils from the dangerously crumbling cliffs and selling them to collectors and museums. As well as the ichthyosaur, her finds include the first complete plesiosaur skeleton and the first pterosaur found in Britain.

But she was much more than a bone hunter, says the anthropologist and broadcaster Alice Roberts, a supporter of the statue campaign since the beginning.

“She wasn’t just a fossil collector, and this is really important. She understood what she was looking for, she engaged with the science of the time, although obviously [as a working-class woman] she couldn’t be a member of any of the learned societies of the time.”

While Anning certainly wasn’t given full credit for her expertise, notes Roberts, “it’s not as if she wasn’t well known in her time. Even though, in the 19th century and earlier, there were absolutely fewer women than men involved in science and writing about science, there were still plenty – and there are plenty we’ve forgotten.”

The design for the statue of Mary Anning. 

Photograph: Mary Anning Statue Campaign/PA

That tide is beginning to turn, she feels, and for Mary Anning, that is certainly the case. In the past few years Anning has been added to the primary curriculum, and had a suite of rooms named after her at London’s Natural History Museum, where many of her finds are now kept. Ammonite, a film about her life starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, was released in 2020.

“Kids now grow up knowing who she is; it’s just part of their educational DNA, so that’s brilliant,” says Pearson. “She is in really safe hands with the next generation.”

And it is not just Anning. “What is really lovely as well about the campaign is that it has shown us that there is a lot of love out there for historically forgotten women,” says Pearson. Others have been inspired to campaign to raise their own statues, with at least eight other projects currently under way under an umbrella group called VISIBLEwomenUK. “This is the end result of what happens when you put a load of women in a room together. We get shit done!”

For Roberts, who will unveil the statue, accompanied by her own 12-year-old daughter, “It’s so important for our girls to see these people and hear these stories. It’s important for our boys to hear those stories to and realise that, you know, the history of science is not exclusively male.”

AND NOW FOR A WORD FROM
Hezbollah Chief: Palestinians No Longer Wait for Arab Regimes to Come to Their Rescue

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Secretary-General of the Hezbollah resistance movement announced the Palestinian people will no longer wait for Arab regimes to come to their help as they have chosen the path of resistance against the occupying Israeli regime.

Arab regimes are unable to protect their own nations, let alone defend the Palestinian cause, Seyed Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks on Friday, presstv reported.

The Hezbollah chief was commemorating the 6th anniversary of the martyrdom of Sayyed Mustafa Badr Al-Deen, a military leader of Hezbollah and an advisor to Nasrallah himself.

He stated Badr Al-Deen used to fight against the “global arrogance” led by the United States and the Israeli regime.

Badr Al-Deen’s generation did not wait for any Arab, Islamic, or international decisions to start their resistance, he stated.

According to Nasrallah, the Palestinian people too will no longer wait for Arab regimes, the Arab League, or the United Nations to come to their help in the fight against the Israeli occupation.

He added the Nakba Day, when the Israeli regime was created, was not only a catastrophe for Palestine but for all the Arab nations in the region, adding that the Arab world failed to defend Palestine even when it was strong and united.

Nakba Day, held each year on May 15, marks the dispossession and expulsion of Palestinians from their ancestral land prior to the creation of the Israeli regime in 1948.

During that year, eighty-five percent of the Palestinian people were forcibly displaced from their homeland and over 500 villages were destroyed in order to establish the Israeli regime.

Despite the pain and suffering inflicted by Israel upon the Palestinian people since the regime’s formation, some Arab countries began in 2020 to normalize their relations with Tel Aviv, in moves deemed by Palestinians as a betrayal of their cause.

Elsewhere in his Friday remarks, Nasrallah said what protects Lebanon is its people and their resistance.

“Let no one have the illusion that the Arab world can protect Lebanon,” he added.

He noted the Lebanese resistance movement will continue the struggle relentlessly and it will never give up its arms.

“The resistance has contributed to protecting Lebanon’s domestic security, especially in the dismantling of Israeli spy networks,” he continued.

The Hezbollah chief stated that the impending challenge in Lebanon is the economic and social crisis, as well as the bread, medicine, and electricity crises, “not the weapons of the resistance".

On the recent Lebanese parliamentary elections, Nasrallah said the elections are over and now is the time for cooperation to resolve the country’s problems.

“Let the parliamentary blocs head to parliament to continue the building of the state and the approval of laws and we might agree with you,” he added.

In remarks late on Wednesday, Nasrallah said the large turnout and the outcome of the election conveyed a message of people’s adherence and commitment to the resistance, noting that the resistance achieved “great victory” in the election.

He also added there was no single bloc in the parliament that could claim the majority in elections.

The advantage of not having a single party or group owning the majority in the parliament, he asserted, makes everyone equally responsible.

RENT INCREASES=INFLATION

Rents are soaring across the US – in some cities as much as 30% in just one year

Renters are cutting back on other essentials, falling behind on payments and facing eviction

Krystal Guerra, 32, was given less than a month's notice that her rent would go up by 26%, in the Coral Way neighborhood of Miami. She had already been paying half her income for rent.

 Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Michael Sainato

Sat 21 May 2022 

Andrew Amuso, a single father of a seven-year-old child in Phoenix, Arizona, has lived in the same apartment for eight years.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, his rent was about $900 a month. Last year, it was increased by $276 a month to $1,176 a month, and he has received a lease renewal this year with another large increase, to $1,585.65 a month.

“It’s greed, pure, unadulterated greed. If you saw my place, you would be shocked that I’m going to be paying over $1,500 a month,” said Amos. “When I asked why they’re raising the rent, they said it’s because they can. And they’re right. They can. Because in Arizona there’s no laws protecting renters.”

Andrew Amuso of Phoenix, Arizona, faced large rent increases in the past two years. Photograph: Andrew Amuso

Despite the significant rent hikes he has received over the past two years, his apartment has remained unchanged. His roof has been leaking for two years whenever it rains and the property management company he rents from has ignored his constant requests to repair the problem.

“I’ve had to cut back on groceries, I can’t do extracurricular activities, and I don’t have a car right now. When my rent increased last year, I had a high car payment and had to give the car back and was hit with a garnishment,” added Amos.

The last of the pandemic rental assistance relief is running out in many states as rent prices have soared across the US, forcing many renters to relocate, take on greater financial burdens to pay rent, or face eviction if they are unable to pay.

The median monthly asking rent in the US increased 17% to $1,940 in March 2022 compared with one year ago, according to an analysis by RedFin. Several metro areas have experienced rent hikes of more than 30%, with more than 20% of renters in many of these areas behind on rent payments.

Shanti Singh, legislative director of the California-based non-profit Tenants Together, explained that rent prices were soaring around the US due a variety of factors, including inflation, some metro area rental prices bouncing back after lulls in the beginning of the pandemic, a widespread lack of affordable housing around the US. She said there were also political factors, as the US moves on as though the Covid-19 pandemic is over, even though millions of renters are still experiencing its economic impacts.

“We need rent control. There’s no justifiable reason for any landlord to increase the rent on a tenant that dramatically except for profit,” said Singh.

She argued that rental relief assistance was inadequate to fully address the scale of the economic burdens of renters around the US, and was issued to landlords without conditions, with many landlords still evicting tenants or using rent hikes as a tactic to do so throughout the pandemic.

“We really didn’t do a great job as a country in taking responsibility and caring about renters, we were just like – landlords, get your money back, no strings attached, and it’s almost like we care even less now. We just expect every renter to have completely recovered,” Singh said.

Angela VanDusen of Auburn, Washington, received a $400 rent increase this year on an apartment she has lived in for five years, raising her rent from $1,295 a month to $1,695 a month. She noted the apartment had not been renovated at all and frequently needed repairs, and she often had to ask several times before they are fixed.

“I’m currently working while my fiance is unemployed dealing with health issues, but now needs to find work as soon as possible so we can prepare for the increase,” said VanDusen. “We had exhausted our savings over the past few months to keep up, and this increase will make it fairly impossible to build that back up in the near future.”

According to data analyzed from the US Census Bureau’s household pulse survey, 13.4% of renters in the US are at least one month behind on their rent and more than 5.5 million renters have expressed they are not confident in their ability to pay next month’s rent. Between 1985 and 2020, median US rental prices increased 149%, compared with an overall median income increase of just 35% in the same period.

Black and Hispanic renters have been disproportionately affected, with 19.9% of Black renters in the US and 15.5% of Hispanic renters reporting they are behind on their rent payments. Many who are in arrears have either applied for rental assistance and were denied or are still awaiting a response, or have received some assistance, but are still behind on rent.

Dawn Kearney, a grandmother raising two grandchildren on her own in Las Vegas, Nevada, received a lease renewal this year with a $400 rent increase on a house she has lived in for the past nine years.

“This definitely puts a financial strain on us as a family. We have no choice but to pay it,” said Kearney, whose rent is now $1,695 a month. “It’s obvious if I don’t pay it, they will get somebody else in here to pay for it and the cost of moving and trying to find another place is just astronomical right now.”

One Las Vegas resident reported a rent increase of $6,400 a month, from $1,495 a month. In recent weeks, several individuals have made viral videos on TikTok reporting large rent hikes and the impacts of having to either move back in with parents or take on the financial burden of greater rent.

As rental prices are soaring, evictions of tenants have begun to return to pre-pandemic levels in many US cities. In response, several cities have enacted programs to provide legal counsel for renters facing eviction and several cities are pushing for rent control measures and expanding tenant rights.

More than a thousand protesters gathered at New York’s capitol building to support the passage of Good Cause anti-eviction legislation. 

Photograph: Karla Ann Cote/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Rent control measures exist in Washington DC, New York, New Jersey, California and Maryland, while proposals to add or expand rent control measures have been introduced in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Washington and Massachusetts.

In New York, housing advocates are pushing for a Good Cause anti-eviction bill that would also grant tenants legal rights to fight unreasonable rent increases, as rent hikes can often be used as a tactic to evict tenants. The bill has received a surge of support in response to the dramatic rent increases tenants are experiencing around New York.

“It’s a combination of a housing shortage and real price gouging that are leading to a dramatic housing crisis for tenants and it’s impacting tenants on a variety of income levels,” said Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator with the tenants group Housing Justice For All. “In many cases, their rent increases are not justified by any increase in costs, but in fact, justified by gentrification or changing neighborhood conditions that basically is a landlord wanting to cash in.”

RENT INCREASES ARE INFLATION
Britain's Cost-of-Living Crisis Petrifies Tenants

Saturday, 21 May, 2022 - 
Marcus Ashworth

The UK cost-of-living crisis is becoming increasingly apparent to people, in the growing gap between the wages they earn and what they spend on groceries and fuel bills. But it is also squeezing the most vulnerable in another less visible but no less fundamental part of life — rent. Happily, there are signs both renters and landlords are finding solutions to work round the crunch without the need for ham-fisted government intervention.

Britain’s private rental market is on fire amid surging accommodation costs and limited availability. According to property portal Rightmove Plc, the demand for leased homes versus the available supply is at its "most competitive ever.” In London, where rents had plummeted the most during the pandemic exodus to the country, the average monthly outlay for a dwelling is up 14% during the past year to more than 2,200 pounds ($2,700). A quarterly survey released Tuesday by Zoopla Ltd., another property portal, shows a similar picture, with London rents up 15.7% annually. Housing costs in the rest of the country, excluding London, are rising at a record pace of 11%, according to Rightmove, with a ratio of more than three times the number of willing renters to properties listed. It's a jungle out there.

The sharp rise in rents is not entirely a supply story. As the government is making it much harder to expel undesirable tenants, the advantage to landlords of knowing who is residing in their properties has risen, especially if leaseholders are paying on time and looking after the place. Better to stick with an existing relationship and to have the security of an agreed lease for an extended period, particularly if matched with a fixed-rate buy-to-let mortgage. Hence 63% of landlords in the Rightmove survey haven't increased rental charges, and the balance who have are largely just readjusting after a period of reduced levies during the pandemic recession.

Tenants are also implicitly recognizing the reality of the situation. They are either choosing to stay put, or are involuntarily excluded from getting on the home-ownership ladder due to a combination of soaring house prices and a tightening mortgage market. Either way, the average length of tenancy has increased. Only a fifth of agreements end within a year, with nearly two-thirds extending to more than two years — the obvious consequence of hopes and dreams being placed on ice.

There is a further manifestation of the pressure tenants are under. With energy prices rising astronomically there has been a 36% rise in the number of inquiries for all energy bills to be included in rental agreements, taking the pressure off individuals to battle with a series of rising costs by lumping them all into one housing payment. This requires some serious negotiations with landlords if they are to take on all of the unknowable risks of rising utility bills. Still, there is a price for everything, particularly peace of mind when it comes to budgeting. So in a less-than-ideal situation, most tenants and landlords are muddling through, working around rather than being helped by government action.

Nevertheless, with rents rising so quickly, there is always the risk of misdirected official intervention. Calls for rent controls will only grow louder. The issue is that the most commonly proposed form of price control is for annual rent increases to be capped. As the Rightmove survey demonstrates, however, regular rent increases are by no means the norm, even in the face of rising mortgage costs for landlords. Attempting to mandate a ceiling on annual increases might simply make regular rent increases more commonplace, unintentionally further squeezing loyal tenants. The last thing the private rental market needs is well-intentioned but misfiring government action: The example of Berlin, where capped rents have proved to be an unalloyed disaster, is worth bearing in mind.

Bloomberg Economics estimates that the cost-of-living crisis will add on average 2,370 pounds per year to UK consumers’ household bills. As ever, the effects on the most vulnerable — who are less likely to own their dwellings — will be worse, keeping them in leased accommodation and making home ownership even more elusive.

So for the time being, there's no place like home as far as sitting tenants are concerned, and that suits their landlords just fine too. In terms of the government's leveling-up strategy, though, it undermines aspirations to rebalance the economic playing field: In the current economic environment, no one is going anywhere fast.

Bloomberg

Black social worker Tasered by City of London police treated like ‘wild animal’


Edwin Afriyie, 36, is suing the force after suffering a head injury and suicidal thoughts following the incident

Edwin Afriyie believes he was singled out because he was a black man driving a Mercedes coupe. 

Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Emily Dugan

The Guardian
Sat 21 May 2022 

A black social worker who was Tasered and knocked unconscious during a roadside stop says police treated him like a “wild animal.”

Edwin Afriyie, 36, is suing City of London police after suffering a head injury and suicidal thoughts following the incident.

He was driving three friends back from a party in east London when he was pulled over by police in the City.

During discussions with officers he was Tasered and fell backwards, hitting his head on a stone window ledge.

Afriyie spent much of his working life trying to improve trust between young black Londoners and the police. Yet he believes he was singled out because he was a black man driving a Mercedes coupe.


Met police officer charged with GBH after man paralysed by Taser

“I was always a big supporter of trying to bring the police and the community together. I tried to push that so hard over my career.

“But who am I to do that now? I’ve seen for myself that no matter how much you try there’s still racism in the police.”

Officers told Afriyie they had pulled him over because they believed he was speeding but he denied this, pointing out the road had speed bumps.

They breathalysed him but the machine kept registering an inconclusive result. As the designated driver that night, Afriyie said he had not been drinking, but with no result, he was told he was going to be arrested.

He was asked to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed but did not, saying that he had been told to stop blowing into the device.

Body-worn video evidence is expected to show that his arms were folded and he was speaking to his friend when a Taser was discharged into his chest.

A civil case over the incident, which took place on King William Street on 7 April 2018 is due to be heard in London’s high court at the end of June.

It will argue that officers used unlawful force that amounted to misfeasance in public office. City of London police deny any liability.

The case comes as Priti Patel announced this week that volunteer special constables will be authorised to carry Tasers if they complete training.

Afriyie, who lives in Hayes, west London, said: “I’d done nothing for them to treat me like this and make me feel like a wild animal that’s escaped the jungle. If I was white I would not have experienced this in my life.

“I had done step by step everything that they had asked me to. I just felt violated.”

Police shouted warnings about a Taser but Afriyie said this did not register in the chaos when he was surrounded by five officers.

Reports from medical experts say he briefly lost consciousness and suffered a minor traumatic brain injury.

He was handcuffed while incapacitated on the pavement and escorted by ambulance to the Royal London hospital. His handcuffs were only removed after it was requested by medical staff.

“The police are here to protect and serve but I felt that I was a victim of a gang attack and the gang in question was the police,” Afriyie said.

Police records of the incident to justify the use of potentially lethal force contradict the video evidence, according to Afriyie’s lawyer.

In written accounts of the incident, one officer claimed Afriyie “reached for his pocket,” while others said he adopted a “fighting stance,” became “physically” aggressive and showed “aggressive resistance”.

Yet his lawyer Kevin Donoghue said body worn footage to be reviewed in court will show that none of this happened. He said that while Afriyie was vocally protesting, he presented no threat to officers and that there was no justification for Tasering him.

Donoghue said: “This was an overt abuse of power. The officers too readily considered using the most lethal force available to them too quickly.

“My client’s strength and threat level was pre-judged due to his ethnicity. Sadly, it is a common experience of black men in London.”

A psychiatric report says he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after the incident.

He was off work for more than three months afterwards and had suicidal thoughts. In the aftermath, he describes severe headaches, “extreme” photosensitivity and dizziness.

He was charged with failure to provide a sample for analysis. But when the prosecution was ordered by magistrates to provide body-worn camera footage it dropped the case.

Ian Younger, Deputy Director of Professional Standards at the City of London police, said the force was aware of the civil claim and that “it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

‘Any number of rights could be next’ if Roe v Wade goes, says Buttigieg

US transportation secretary says supreme court’s ruling could determine future generations’ freedoms

Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/The Guardian

Kate Connolly in Berlin

Sat 21 May 2022

Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary and the first openly gay member of a US administration, has expressed his worry that the expected overturning by the supreme court of the 1973 landmark decision which made abortion legal, may be the start of a s nis eries of eliminations of other groundbreaking rights and protections.

Earlier this month a leaked document showed that five conservatives on the nine-justice supreme court had voted to reverse their predecessors’ ruling in Roe v Wade nearly 50 years ago. The provisional ruling could lead to abortion being outlawed in more than half of US states unless it is changed substantially before becoming final.

Buttigieg said he was “very concerned” about the developments.

“It’s been 50 years since we first had this framework – my entire lifetime. So if something as essential as a woman’s right to decide about her healthcare is up for reversal, then any number of other rights and protections could be next,” he told the Guardian.

Buttigieg has been married since 2018, after coming out in 2015, the year same-sex marriage was first legalised in the US. He also served in the military under the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.

He was mocked by some on the right last year when he took paternity leave after he and his husband became parents to twins.

“The fundamental question before us, is, did we who live in the 2020s live to see the high-water mark of rights and freedoms in this country, or will we in fact restore our pattern of each generation enjoying more and not less rights and freedoms than the last?’ he said.

A pro-choice campaigner protests outside the home of US Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh.

 Photograph: Bonnie Cash/Getty Images

“That question will be settled largely at the supreme court in this decade.”

Buttigieg has spoken out about the new Florida law which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels, dubbed by critics the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

“Bottom line, it’s hurting kids,” he said. “I think about what life might be like for our kids when they start school. If they were in a place like Florida, it might stop them from mentioning they had a great time over the weekend with their dads.”

His husband, Chasten, said on Twitter it would “kill kids” and make the state “a harder place for LGBTQ kids to survive in”.

Ahead of his appointment as transportation secretary, Buttigieg recalled how as a 17-year-old in Indiana he had watched on television as President Clinton nominated James Hormel as US ambassador to Luxembourg in 1998, only for some Senate Republicans to unsuccessfully oppose his nomination because he was gay.

“I learned something about some of the limits that exist in this country when it comes to who is allowed to belong,” he said in a speech. “But just as important, I saw how those limits could be challenged.”

DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY 19.05.2022 | Slavoj Žižek

Heroes of the Apocalypse

The war in Ukraine has made it clear that we can’t go on with business as usual. This is our wakeup call to change for the better

Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov. Painted in 1887.

Toward the end of April 2022, barely two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the world became aware of a deep change in what the war means for the future. Gone is the dream of a quick resolution. The war has already been strangely ‘normalised,’ accepted as a process that will continue indefinitely. Fear of a sudden, dramatic escalation will haunt our daily lives. Authorities in Sweden and elsewhere are apparently advising the public to stock up on provisions to endure wartime conditions.

This shift in outlook is reflected on both sides of the conflict. In Russia, talk of a global conflict is growing louder. As the head of RT, Margarita Simonyan, put it: ‘Either we lose in Ukraine, or a third world war begins. Personally, I think the scenario of a third world war is more realistic.’

Such paranoia is supported by crazed conspiracy theories about a united liberal-totalitarian Nazi-Jewish plot to destroy Russia. Upon being asked how Russia can claim to be ‘denazifying’ Ukraine when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is himself Jewish, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied: ‘I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. [That Zelensky is Jewish] means absolutely nothing. Wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews.’

On the other side, especially in Germany, a new version of pacifism is taking shape. If we look past all the lofty rhetoric and focus on what Germany is actually doing, the message is clear: ‘Given our economic interests and the danger of being pulled into a military conflict, we must not support Ukraine too much, even if that means allowing it to be swallowed by Russia.’ Germany fears crossing a line beyond which Russia will become truly angry. But only Vladimir Putin decides where that line lies on any given day. Playing on Western pacifists’ fear is a major part of his strategy.

The need for ‘heroic’ acts

Obviously, everyone wants to prevent the outbreak of a new world war. But there are times when appearing too cautious will only encourage an aggressor. Bullies by nature always count on their victims not to fight back. To prevent a wider war – to establish any kind of deterrence – we, too, must draw clear lines.

While we previously expressed fears that Ukraine would be quickly crushed, our real fear was exactly the opposite: that the invasion would lead to a war with no end in sight.

So far, the West has done the opposite. When Putin was still only preparing to launch his ‘special operation’ in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said his administration would have to wait and see if the Kremlin would pursue a ‘minor incursion’ or a full occupation. The implication, of course, was that a ‘minor’ act of aggression would be tolerable.

The recent shift in outlook reveals a deep, dark truth about the Western position. While we previously expressed fears that Ukraine would be quickly crushed, our real fear was exactly the opposite: that the invasion would lead to a war with no end in sight. It would have been much more convenient if Ukraine had fallen immediately, allowing us to express outrage, mourn the loss, and then return to business as usual. What should have been good news – a smaller country unexpectedly and heroically resisting a large power’s brutal aggression – has become a source of shame, a problem we don’t quite know what to do with.

Europe’s pacifist left warns against any re-embrace of the heroic-military spirit that consumed earlier generations. The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas even suggests that Ukraine is guilty of moral blackmail vis-à-vis Europe. There is something deeply melancholic in his position. As Habermas well knows, post-war Europe was able to renounce militarism only because it was safely beneath the US nuclear umbrella. But the return of war to the continent suggests that this period may be over and that unconditional pacifism would require deeper and deeper moral compromises. Unfortunately, ‘heroic’ acts will be needed again, and not only to resist and deter aggression, but also to cope with problems such as ecological catastrophes and hunger.
The fear of change

In French, the gap between what we officially fear and what we really fear is nicely rendered by the so-called ne explétif, a ‘no’ that carries no meaning on its own because it is used only for reasons of syntax or pronunciation. It mostly occurs in subjunctive subordinate clauses following verbs with negative connotation (to fear, to avoid, to doubt); its function is to emphasize the negative aspect of what came before it, as in: ‘Elle doute qu’il ne vienne.’ (‘She doubts he’s /not/ coming’), or ‘Je te fais confiance à moins que tu ne me mentes.’ (‘I trust you unless you /don’t/ lie to me’).

Jacques Lacan used the ne explétif to explain the difference between a wish and a desire. When I say, ‘I am afraid the storm will /not/ come,’ my conscious wish is that it will not come, but my true desire is inscribed onto the added ‘no’: I am afraid the storm will not come, because I am secretly fascinated by its violence.

To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, we will have avoided going down in history as the first society that didn’t save itself because doing so wasn’t cost effective.

Something like the ne explétif also applies to European fears regarding the cessation of Russian gas deliveries. ‘We are afraid that the interruption of the gas supply will cause an economic catastrophe,’ we say. But what if our stated fear is fake? What if we are really afraid that an interruption of the gas supply would not cause a catastrophe? As Eric Santner of the University of Chicago recently put it to me, what would it mean if we could quickly adapt? Ending Russian gas imports would not inaugurate the end of capitalism, but ‘it would nonetheless force a real shift in the ‘European’ way of life,’ a shift that would be most welcome irrespective of Russia.

To read the ne explétif literally, acting upon the ‘no’ is perhaps the most genuine political act of freedom today. Consider the claim, propagated by the Kremlin, that stopping Russian gas would be tantamount to economic suicide. Given what must be done to put our societies on a more sustainable path, would that not be liberating? To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, we will have avoided going down in history as the first society that didn’t save itself because doing so wasn’t cost effective.
How Europe can win the ideological war

The Western media are full of reporting on the billions of dollars that have been sent to Ukraine; yet Russia is still receiving tens of billions of dollars for the gas it delivers to Europe. What Europe refuses to consider is that it could exert an extraordinarily powerful form of non-military pressure on Russia while also doing much for the planet. Moreover, to renounce Russian gas would allow for a different kind of globalization – a sorely needed alternative to both the Western liberal-capitalist variety and the Russian-Chinese authoritarian brand.

Russia does not only want to dismantle Europe. It is also presenting itself as an ally of the developing world against Western neo-colonialism. Russian propaganda ably exploits many developing and middle-income countries’ bitter memories of Western abuses. Was the bombing of Iraq not worse than the bombing of Kyiv? Was Mosul not flattened as ruthlessly as Mariupol? Of course, while the Kremlin presents Russia as an agent of decolonization, it lavishes military support on local dictators in Syria, the Central African Republic, and elsewhere.

Anything short of radical change will fail, turning the EU into a fortress surrounded by enemies that are determined to penetrate and destroy it.

The activities of the Kremlin’s mercenary organization, the Wagner Group, which is deployed on behalf of authoritarian regimes around the world, offer a glimpse of what Russian-style globalization would look like. As Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Putin crony behind the group, recently said to a Western journalist: ‘You are a dying Western civilization that considers Russians, Malians, Central Africans, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and many other peoples and countries to be Third World scum. You are a pathetic endangered bunch of perverts, and there are many of us, billions of us. And victory will be ours!’ When Ukraine proudly declares that it defends Europe, Russia responds that it will defend all of Europe’s past and present victims.

We should not underestimate the effectiveness of this propaganda. In Serbia, the latest opinion polls show that, for the first time, a majority of voters now oppose accession to the European Union. If Europe wants to win the new ideological war, it will have to alter its model of liberal-capitalist globalization. Anything short of radical change will fail, turning the EU into a fortress surrounded by enemies that are determined to penetrate and destroy it.

I am well aware of the implications of boycotting Russian gas. It would entail what I have repeatedly referred to as ‘war communism.’ Our entire economies would have to be reorganized, as in the case of a full-blown war or similarly large-scale disaster. This is not as far away as it may seem. Cooking oil is already being informally rationed by shops in the United Kingdom because of the war. If Europe renounces Russian gas, survival will demand similar interventions. Russia is counting on Europe’s inability to do anything ‘heroic.’

True, such changes would heighten the risk of corruption and provide opportunities for the military-industrial complex to grab extra profits. But these risks must be weighed against the larger stakes, which go well beyond the war in Ukraine.

The Five Horsemen

The world is dealing with multiple, simultaneous crises that evoke the four horsemen of the apocalypse: plague, war, hunger, and death. These riders cannot simply be dismissed as figures of evil. As Trevor Hancock, the first leader of the Green Party of Canada, has noted, they are ‘remarkably close to what we might call the four horsemen of ecology, which regulate population size in nature.’ In ecological terms, the ‘four riders’ play a positive role by preventing overpopulation. But when it comes to humans, this regulatory function hasn’t worked: ‘The human population has more than tripled in the past 70 years, from 2.5 bn in 1950 to 7.8 bn today. So what happened … Why are we not controlled? Is there a fifth horseman that will cause our populations to crash at some point, as lemmings do?’

‘So, although of course an asteroid strike or super-volcano eruption could wipe us out, the greatest threat to the human population, the ‘fifth horseman’ if you like, is us.’

Until recently, Hancock observes, humanity was able to hold the four riders in check with medicine, science, and technology. But now the ‘massive and rapid global ecological changes we have triggered’ are moving beyond our control. ‘So, although of course an asteroid strike or super-volcano eruption could wipe us out, the greatest threat to the human population, the ‘fifth horseman’ if you like, is us.’

Whether we will be destroyed or saved is up to us. Yet while global awareness of these threats is growing, it has not translated into meaningful action, so the four riders are galloping faster and faster. After the plague of Covid19 and the return of large-scale war, hunger crises are now looming. All have or will result in mass death, as will the increasingly severe natural disasters wrought by climate change and biodiversity loss.

We should, of course, resist the temptation to glorify war as an authentic experience to lift us out of our complacent consumerist hedonism. The alternative is not simply to muddle through. Rather, it is to mobilize in ways that will benefit us long after the war is over. Given the dangers we face, military passion is a cowardly escape from reality. But so, too, is comfortable, non-heroic complacency.

© Project Syndicate