RIP

Peter Brook, Tony-Winning Theater Director, Dies at 97

Tim Gray
Sun, July 3, 2022

NO REVOLUTION WITHOUT GENERAL COPULATION
Peter Brook, the British-born director who won Tonys and Emmys but is best known for his theater work ranging from Broadway’s “Marat/Sade” and “Irma La Douce” to experimental productions like “The Mahabarata,” has died. He was 97.

Brook’s death was confirmed by his long-time publisher, and later the BBC, on Sunday. He died in Paris, where he has lived since the 1970s. One of Brook’s final works, at 92 years old, was “The Prisoner,” which he wrote and staged in Paris as well as the Edinburgh festival and London’s National Theatre. Just this year, he staged directed “The Tempest Project” with Marie-Hélène Estienne, his long-time collaborator.

His career spanned eight decades and included opera, plays, musicals, as well as film and TV productions. After decades of bringing an unorthodox approach to traditional works from the likes of Shakespeare and Puccini, he moved to Paris, where he became even more daring and experimental: In one piece, audiences watched a French theater troupe perform in a language the actors had invented themselves.

Brook’s most memorable productions include the 1964 “Marat/Sade,” which brought dazzling theatricality to Peter Weiss’ complex play about the Marquis de Sade and the inmates at an asylum. When it transferred to Broadway in 1966, Brook won a Tony, and won a second for his startling “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

That Shakespeare production, which debuted in England in 1970, featured a plain white-box set by Sally Jacobs and few props or set pieces. The actors appeared in factory-worker clothes or colorful baggy suits like from a Chinese circus, and swung on trapezes, spun plates and juggled while performing. The result was theater magic, illuminating Shakespeare’s text by making it seem contemporary, playful and accessible.

In Variety’s Jan. 27, 1971 review, Hobe Morrison hailed Brook as “one of the most daringly creative stage directors in the world” and predicted that it would set a standard for future productions. “Dream” featured such then-unknown actors as Patrick Stewart and Ben Kingsley, who decades later told Variety, “That production changed my life.”

Brook was born in London and educated at Westminster and Magdalen College Oxford. His first job as director was for a 1943 “Dr. Faustus” in London. From 1947 to 1950, he was director of productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Among his productions was Strauss’ “Salome” featuring sets by Salvador Dali. He later directed operas for the Metropolitan Opera and the Aix en Provence Festival.

He worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1950 through 1970, including directing Paul Scofield in “King Lear,” Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in “Titus Andronicus” and John Gielgud in “Measure for Measure.”

In his 1979 memoir “Gielgud: an Actor and His Time,” the thesp wrote, “Peter Brook has become something of a legend now, but in the 1950s at Stratford he was still very young, approachable and jolly….He did everything himself, designed the scenery, found the music, controlled the lighting.” The actor added, “I would do anything he asked me. I trust him entirely for his beautiful taste and marvelous imagination.”

Throughout his career, Brook questioned theatrical conventions and tried to break boundaries whenever possible.

In 1970, Brook and Micheline Rozan founded the International Centre for Theatre Research, a group of multinational actors, artists, dancers and musicians. It then became the International Center for Theatre Creations and established a permanent base, the Bouffes du Nord Theatre.

His theater company became less theatrical and more primal, using myth, legend, music, mime and improvisation. They generally avoided traditional Western theater venues and traveled throughout the Middle East and Africa with their work in the early 1970s. Many pieces were performed both in French and English. Sometimes the actors improvised text, and sometimes they used no text at all.

Aside from many original pieces and works by relatively unknown writers, productions there include “The Iks” by Colin Turnbull (1975); works by Chekhov, Samuel Beckett, Caryl Churchill and Athol Fugard; and adaptations of Mozart and Oliver Sachs.

Brook was influenced by the experimental theater work of Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski and Bertolt Brecht, but he said his greatest influence was Joan Littlewood, whose credits included “Oh, What a Lovely War.”

His experiments were always interesting but not always successful. Reaction was split on his 1985 “Mahabarata,” a two-part, nine-hour retelling of the epic Sanskrit poem that is India’s equivalent of Homer’s works. In a 1987 review when the production toured in the U.S., Variety called it an act of “admirable lunacy,” declaring that there were “two hours of dazzling theatrical brilliance spread out over a nine-hour running time.” The review concluded that in condensing the original, there were few concessions to Western audiences; key aspects of the Eastern mythology were never explained, and the minimalist simplicity and dialog made the tale seem flat and remote.

In 2008, he resigned as artistic director of Bouffes du Nord, handing the reins over to Olivier Mantei and Olivier Poubelle. However, Brook continued to work with them.

In 2014, he was still working hard at age 89. There was a U.S. tour of “The Suit.” He and Estienne, working with musician-composer Franck Krawczyk, adapted Can Themba’s 1950s short story set in a South African Township. The work used four actors and three musicians and everything from songs by Billie Holiday to Schubert and African songs. Also in 2014, Theatre des Bouffes du Nord premiered “The Valley of Astonishment,” the third in a series of plays that he and Estienne spent more than 20 years developing.

Brook’s films were mostly versions of his staged work: “Marat/Sade” (1967), the anti-Vietnam war piece “Tell Me Lies” (1968), “King Lear” (1971) and a 2002 TV version of “Hamlet” starring Adrian Lester. Two notable exceptions were his stark black-and-white adaptation of William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” in 1963, and the intellectual “Meetings With Remarkable Men” (1979).

He won a 1984 Emmy Award for “La tragedie de Carmen” (based on a theater piece) and a 1990 International Emmy for “The Mahabharata” miniseries.

His 1968 book “The Empty Space,” in which he advocated continual exploration and spontaneity in theater work, became a bible of experimental theater, translated into more than 15 languages. His autobiography “Threads of Time” was published in 1998, and he also wrote “The Shifting Point” (1987) and “There Are No Secrets” (1993).

He was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 and Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur (France) in 2013. Brook was also the subject of a 2014 docu, “Peter Brook: The Tightrope,” made by his son Simon and showing Brook at work with actors.

Brooke was married to actor Natasha Parry for 64 years, until her death in 2015. He is survived by his children with Parry, a son and daughter.

Manori Ravindran contributed to this story.

A statement https://twitter.com/NickHernBooks/status/1543535566242955264?s=20&t=09SrYhIeuCKWW6xc2R-1FQ from his publisher confirmed his death on Sunday.

Peter Brook, Paris-based British theatre visionary, dies at 97

British theatre and film director, playwright and actor Peter Brook poses during a photo session at the Bouffes du Nord theatre in Paris on February 27, 2018.

 © Lionel Bonaventure, AFP

Text by:  FRANCE 24
Issued on: 03/07/2022 - 

Peter Brook, who has died aged 97, was among the most influential theatre directors of the 20th century, reinventing the art by paring it back to drama’s most basic and powerful elements.

Brook, born in Britain but resident in France for decades, died on Saturday, French newspaper Le Monde reported, citing the director's entourage.

“Peter Brook gave us the most beautiful silences in the theatre, but this last silence is infinitely sad,” Rima Abdul Malak, France's culture minister, wrote on Twitter.

“With him, the stage was stripped back to its most vivid intensity. He bequeathed so much to us,” she added, saying he would remain “forever the soul” of the Bouffes du Nord theatre in Paris where his work was based.

An almost mystical figure often mentioned in the same breath as Konstantin Stanislavsky, the Russian who revolutionised acting, Brook continued to work and challenge audiences well into his 90s.

Best-known for his 1985 masterpiece “The Mahabharata”, a nine-hour version of the Hindu epic, he lived in Paris from the early 1970s, where he set up the International Centre for Theatre Research at the Bouffes du Nord, an old music hall.

A prodigy who made his professional directorial debut at age 17, Brook was a singular talent right from the start.

He mesmerised audiences in London and New York with his era-defining “Marat/Sade” in 1964, which won a Tony award, and wrote “The Empty Space”, one of the most influential texts on theatre ever, three years later.

Its opening lines became a manifesto for a generation of young performers who would forge the fringe and alternative theatre scenes.

“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage,” he wrote.

“A man walks across an empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre...”

For many, Brook’s startling 1970 Royal Shakespeare Company production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in a white-cube gymnasium was a turning point in world theatre.

It inspired actress Helen Mirren to abandon her burgeoning mainstream career to join his nascent experimental company in Paris.

African odyssey

Born in London on March 21, 1925, to a family of Jewish scientists who had emigrated from Latvia, Brook was an acclaimed director in London’s West End by his mid-20s.

Before his 30th birthday he was directing hits on Broadway.

But driven by a passion for experimentation that he picked up from his parents, Brook soon “exhausted the possibilities of conventional theatre”.

His first film, “Lord of the Flies” (1963), an adaptation of the William Golding novel about schoolboys marooned on an island who turn to savagery, was an instant classic.

By the time he took a production of “King Lear” to Paris a few years later, he was developing an interest in working with actors from different cultures.

In 1971 he moved permanently to the French capital, and set off the following year with a band of actors including Mirren and the Japanese legend Yoshi Oida on a 13,600-kilometre (8,500-mile) odyssey across Africa to test his ideas.

Drama critic John Heilpern, who documented their journey in a bestselling book, said Brook believed theatre was about freeing the audience’s imagination.

“Every day they would lay out a carpet in a remote village and would improvise a show using shoes or a box,” he later told the BBC.

“When someone entered the carpet the show began. There was no script or no shared language.”

But the gruelling trip took its toll on Brook’s company, most of whom fell ill with dysentery or tropical diseases.

Mirren later described it as “the most frightening thing I have ever done. There was nothing to hold onto”.

She parted company with Brook soon after.

He “thought that stardom was wicked and tasteless ... I just wanted my name up there”, she told AFP.

‘The best director London does not have’

Brook continued to experiment at the Bouffes du Nord, touring his productions across the globe.

His big landmark after “The Mahabharata” was “L’Homme Qui” in 1993, based on Oliver Sacks’ bestseller about neurological dysfunction, “The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat”.

Brook returned to Britain in triumph in 1997 with Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days” and his wife, the actress Natasha Parry, in the lead.

Critics hailed him as “the best director London does not have”.

After turning 85 in 2010, Brook relinquished leadership of the Bouffes du Nord but continued to direct there.

Eight years later, aged 92, he wrote and staged “The Prisoner” with Marie-Hélène Estienne – one of the two women with whom he shared his life.

The real-life story was based on his own spiritual journey to Afghanistan just before the Soviet invasion to shoot a film called “Meetings with Remarkable Men” in 1978.

It was adapted from a book by mystical philosopher George Gurdjieff, whose sacred dances Brook performed daily for years.

Soft-spoken, cerebral and charismatic, Brook was often seen as something of a Sufi himself.

But Parry’s death in 2015 shook him. “One tries to bargain with fate and say, just bring her back for 30 seconds,” he said.

Yet he never stopped working despite failing eyesight.

“I have a responsibility to be as positive and creative as I can,” he told The Guardian. “To give way to despair is the ultimate cop-out,” he said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

AUSTRALIA
WorkSafe charges St Basil's aged care with workplace safety breaches over 2020 COVID outbreak

By Sian Johnson

The outbreak began with one staff member contracting the virus in July 2020.

(ABC News: Danielle Bonica )

Victoria's workplace regulator has charged a Melbourne aged care facility where 45 residents died of COVID in 2020 with alleged offences relating to staff safety during the outbreak.

Key points:

After a St Basil's staff member caught COVID in July 2020, the virus spread to 94 employees

WorkSafe alleges the facility failed to implement proper use of PPE to help prevent spread

Separate court action relating to a coronial inquest into the COVID cluster remains unresolved


The charges WorkSafe has brought against the St Basil's aged care facility in Fawkner relate to its alleged failure to implement the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) after one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2020.

A subsequent outbreak at the aged care facility, which remains the subject of a coronial inquest, resulted in 94 staff members testing positive for the virus and 45 residents dying of COVID-related complications.

The facility could face fines of up to $1.49 million for each of the offences WorkSafe has alleged occurred under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The regulator alleges that St Basil's failed to require its workers to wear PPE, train them and ensure they were able to competently use the equipment and supervise its use.

Separate Supreme Court action relating to former managers of the facility giving evidence at the coronial inquest remains unresolved.

The WorkSafe charges relating to St Basil's are due to be heard in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on August 1.

The regulator said several other investigations into how the COVID-19 risk was managed at Victorian workplaces remained ongoing.

Analysis: China casts a giant shadow over emerging nations' chase for debt relief

REUTERS

Published: Jul 3, 2022 

From a US$360 million project to expand Zambia's international airport in Lusaka to a US$1.4 billion city port in Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo, China is the missing piece in the puzzle of a number of debt talks underway in developing markets.

As the second-largest economy and the biggest bilateral creditor in the world, China is a dominant lender to many smaller, riskier developing nations. But Beijing has kept a low profile, not only on lending conditions but also on how it renegotiates with borrowers in distress.

That became more evident after the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Many economies buckling under economic strain are seeking debt relief.

Now, the pressure is rising on China to take a more active role in helping strained economies overhaul their debt burdens. Leaders of the Group of Seven rich democracies on Tuesday called on China specifically when urging creditors to help countries.

Poorest countries face US$35 billion in debt-service payments to official and private-sector creditors in 2022, with over 40 percent of the total due to China, according to the World Bank.

But analysts say the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank's premise of fair burden-sharing in debt relief talks could set them on a collision course with China, putting the prospect of comprehensive debt restructurings into question.

"Chinese 'Belt and Road' money is everywhere – so we will see this over and over in sovereign debt restructurings," said Dennis Hranitzky, head of sovereign litigation at law firm Quinn Emanuel.

China’s Belt and Road initiative

According to Beijing, the Belt and Road Initiative unveiled in 2013 is a platform for international cooperation in infrastructure, trade, investment and financing linking China with other parts of Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

China's Foreign Ministry and central bank did not respond to requests for comment.

Zambia and Sri Lanka are test cases on how fast debt talks evolve. Both also need to restructure with overseas bondholders and hammer out IMF programmes.

"China's engagement on debt talks is not in the hands of the IMF nor governments," said Polina Kurdyavko, head of emerging markets at BlueBay Asset Management in London.

"Bringing China to the negotiating table in a timely manner could be the biggest challenge in the upcoming debt restructurings."

Opacity

Chinese lending is mostly extended by state-controlled agencies and policy banks and is often opaque.

A working paper of the National Bureau of Economic Research in the United States found half of the 5,000 loans and grants extended to 152 countries from 1949 to 2017 have not been reported to the IMF or the World Bank, despite China being a member of both multilaterals.

"Opacity is a recurrent problem with some of these Chinese loans," said Matthew Mingey, senior analyst with Rhodium Group, adding that China had stricter confidentiality clauses on its commercial loans.

Data compiled over three years by AidData, a US research lab at the College of William & Mary, found terms of Chinese state-owned banks' loans require borrowers to prioritise them for repayment.

Examinations of 100 Chinese loans with 24 low- and middle-income countries showed - when compared to those of other bilateral, multilateral and commercial creditors - demands for an unusual level of confidentiality, in some cases, "even the fact of the contract's existence", the study led by Georgetown Law professor Anna Gelpern found.

Headquarters of China’s central bank, the Peoples Bank of China, in Beijing

Where China has agreed to ease debt burdens, details are often unclear.

The plethora of Chinese lenders also adds to the complexity, though the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank feature most heavily.

"When it comes time to renegotiate, individual Chinese banks may not necessarily have an idea of what other Chinese banks are doing," said Mingey.

Glacial

Progress has often been slow.

Zambia is seeking relief on US$17 billion of external debt after becoming the first Covid pandemic-era default more than two years ago. Some of the slow progress is due to China's lack of experience with tricky debt restructurings, people familiar with the matter say.

Sri Lanka's talks are moving faster, with the IMF confirming it is on track for a new programme. China's approach, though, is not yet clear.

Meanwhile, some 60 percent of low-income countries are in, or at high risk of, debt distress, according to the IMF.

Seventeen smaller emerging economies have seen premium investors demand to hold their debt soar to levels effectively shutting them out of international markets. That number is higher than during peak-Covid-19 or the 2008 global financial crisis.

In late 2020, the Group of 20 launched a Common Framework to bring creditors such as China and India to the negotiation table along with the IMF, Paris Club and private creditors. Along with Zambia, Chad and Ethiopia have applied to restructure under this new, yet-to-be tested mechanism.

But the framework also "has added a bureaucratic layer to the already complex debt restructuring process" that could discourage other countries from joining, said Patrick Curran, senior economist at Tellimer.

- Reuters

AMERICANIZATION 

Three people killed, three injured in shooting at popular Danish shopping centre

Denmark's Prime Minister has said a shooting rampage at a shopping centre in Copenhagen was a "cruel attack" that left three people dead and three others in a critical condition.

Key points:

Copenhagen's main hospital says it has received a "small group of patients" for treatment

It has called in extra staff, including surgeons and nurses

A policeman said: "We know that there are several dead … [and] several injured"


"It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless," Ms Frederiksen said.

"Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second."

Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen said the three victims were a man in his 40s and "two young people".

It comes after a gunman opened fire inside the busy Field's mall shopping centre in the Danish capital on Sunday, killing and wounding several people.

Copenhagen police, who arrested a 22-year-old Danish man and charged him with manslaughter, said they could not rule out the attack was an "act of terrorism".

People shown fleeing from Field's shopping centre, after Danish police said they received reports of a shooting,(Reuters: Ritzau Scanpix/Claus )

The capital's main hospital, Rigshospitalet, had received a "small group of patients" for treatment, a spokesman said.

It had called in extra staff, including surgeons and nurses, the spokesman added.

Local media published images showing heavily armed police officers at the scene of the attack, as well as people running out of the mall.

Footage published by tabloid Ekstra Bladet showed one person being carried by rescue workers into an ambulance on a stretcher.

'Pure terror'

People react outside Field's shopping centre after police announced there was a shooting.(Reuters: Ritzau Scanpix/Olafur Steinar Gestsson)

Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark.

When the shots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, according to witnesses.

Eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told local news the shooter "seemed very violent and angry".

"He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn't real as I was filming him.

"He seemed very proud of what he was doing."
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

Video captures people fleeing Copenhagen shopping centre gunman.(Reuters)

IT consultant Hans Christian Stoltz, 53, was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at a concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall.

He said what happened was awful.

"It is pure terror," he said.

"You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it's beyond … beyond anything that's possible."

Organisers called off the Harry Styles concert, at the nearby Royal Arena, by order of police.

On Snapchat, Styles wrote: "My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H."

Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR he and his family were in a clothing store at the shopping centre when he heard "three to four bangs. Really loud bangs".

"It sounded like the shots were being fired just next to the store," he said.

Inspector Thomassen said the suspect was an "ethnic Dane", a phrase typically used to mean someone who is white.

Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts and a tank top and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand.

POPULAR WITH MIGRANT COMMUNITY



People leave Field's shopping centre, after Danish police said they received reports of shooting, in Copenhagen, Denmark, July 3, 2022. 

Ritzau Scanpix/Olafur Steinar Gestsson via REUTERS  

MORE PHOTOS Denmark in shock as gunman kills three at Copenhagen shopping mall | Reuters

Shortly after the shooting, the royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France cycling race had been cancelled.

The first three stages of the race were held in Denmark this year, the palace said in a statement.

The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended.

AP/Reuters

 

The official guide to Copenhagen

Copenhagen, København S, Amager, Ørestad
© Fields PR Photo: Fields PR

Field's
Show on map
Directions
View photos
Arne Jacobsens Allé 12, 2300 København S
70 20 85 05
Fields.Info@steenstrom.com
www.fields.dk
Activities, Shopping

Field’s is the largest shopping center in Denmark and is situated just 9 minutes away from the city centre by Metro. More than 140 shops and restaurants are waiting to be explored. Here you will find both Danish and international fashion brands together with interior design, jewelry, and a large supermarket.

LORDS OF WAR

SPECIAL REPORT-Dozens of Russian weapons tycoons have faced no Western sanctions

By Chris Kirkham and David Gauthier-Villars

July 1 (Reuters) - As Russia's military continues to pound Ukraine with missiles and other lethal weapons, Western nations have responded in part by targeting Russia's defense industry with sanctions. The latest round came on Tuesday, when the United States issued new sanctions on some arms makers and executives at the heart of what it dubbed Russian President Vladimir Putin's "war machine."

But a Reuters examination of companies, executives and investors underpinning Russia's defense sector shows a sizable number of players have yet to pay a price: Nearly three dozen leaders of Russian weapons firms and at least 14 defense companies have not been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or the United Kingdom. In addition, sanctions on Russia's arms makers and tycoons have been applied inconsistently by these NATO allies, with some governments levying penalties and others not, the Reuters review showed.

Among the weapons moguls who have not been sanctioned by any of those three authorities is Alan Lushnikov, the largest shareholder of Kalashnikov Concern JSC, the original manufacturer of the well-known AK-47 assault rifle. Lushnikov owns a 75% stake in the firm, according to the most recent business records reviewed by Reuters.

The company itself was sanctioned by the United States in 2014, the year Russia invaded and annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The EU and UK leveled their own sanctions against Kalashnikov Concern this year.

The company accounts for 95% of Russia's production of machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and other handheld firearms, and 98% of its handheld military machine guns, according to its website and most recent annual report. Its weapons include the AK-12 assault rifle, an updated version of the AK-47, some of which have been captured from Russian forces by Ukrainian soldiers. The Kalashnikov Concern also produces missiles that can be fired from aircraft or on land.

A former Russian deputy transport minister, Lushnikov once worked for commodities tycoon Gennady Timchenko, a longtime friend of Putin. The United States sanctioned Timchenko in 2014 following Russia’s invasion of Crimea, naming him as a member of the Kremlin’s “inner circle.”

Neither Lushnikov, Timchenko or the Kalashnikov Concern responded to requests for comment.

It’s the same pattern with Almaz-Antey Concern, a Moscow-based defense company specializing in missiles and anti-aircraft systems. The company has been sanctioned by the United States, EU and UK, but CEO Yan Novikov has not been punished.

Almaz-Antey’s website displays the motto “Peaceful Sky is Our Profession.” The company makes Kalibr missiles, which Russia’s Ministry of Defense has credited with destroying Ukrainian military installations. In a statement last month, the ministry said Russia had fired long-range Kalibr missiles at a Ukrainian command post near the village of Shyroka Dacha in eastern Ukraine, killing what the ministry claimed were more than 50 generals and officers of the Ukrainian military.

Reuters was unable to independently verify that claim.

Neither Almaz-Antey nor CEO Novikov responded to requests for comment.

In response to a list of questions submitted by Reuters about Western sanctions aimed at Russia, a Kremlin spokesperson said "the consistency and logic of imposing sanctions, as well as the legality of imposing such restrictions, is a question that should be put directly to the countries that introduced them."

The Reuters findings come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that current Western sanctions against Russia “are not enough” as Russian troops make gains in their assault on Ukraine’s eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Ukrainian military has been outgunned by Russian artillery in places such as the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, which it ceded to Russian forces last week after weeks of intense fighting.

Putin has portrayed his military’s assault on Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing and “denazifying” its democratic neighbor. On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced it would bar Jill Biden and Ashley Biden, the wife and daughter of U.S. President Joe Biden, from entering Russia indefinitely in what it said was a response to “constantly expanding U.S. sanctions against Russian politicians and public figures.”

U.S. National Security advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Russia's action was not surprising because "the Russian capacity for these kinds of cynical moves is basically bottomless."

The Russian invasion has killed thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, but the exact number is unknown. The United Nations human rights office said, as of Monday, that 4,731 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24, including more than 300 children, with another 5,900 civilians injured in the conflict. The agency said most of the casualties were caused by the use of “explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” and that the actual number of dead and wounded was likely far higher.

The West has levied sanctions on a swath of Russia’s economy to punish Moscow, an effort that so far has done little to deter the Russian offensive. Like the bans on other Russian firms, sanctions on weapons companies are meant to hamper their ability to sell to foreign customers. These penalties limit their access to imported components and generally make it more costly and time-consuming to produce weaponry. Levying sanctions on the people behind those firms goes a step further to make the pain personal. It allows Western nations to go after any mansions, yachts and other offshore wealth of those who supply Russia’s military, and it limits where they can travel abroad.

“You’re demonstrating that being a regime collaborator comes with a cost,” said Max Bergmann, a former State Department official during the Obama administration who worked on U.S. arms transfers and safeguarding U.S. military technology. “They feel it very personally. You’re creating a disgruntled class of people that are tied to the Kremlin,” said Bergmann, now director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based national security think tank.

   

Remains of a missile are seen near a rail station, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine April 8, 2022. The writing reads: "Because of children". 

REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
 

Rescuers work at a site of a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released June 28, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS

 

Smoke and fire raises from a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine June 27, 2022, in this screen grab taken from a video. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS

A view of the explosion as a Russian missile strike hits a shopping mall amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a location given as Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine in this still image taken from handout CCTV footage released June 28, 2022. CCTV via Instagram @zelenskiy_official/Handout via REUTERS

A couple wounded in a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike hold hands in a hospital as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Anna Voitenko/File Photo

AMMUNITION MAKERS UNSCATHED

Other companies in Russia’s defense industry identified by Reuters that have not been sanctioned by the United States, EU or UK include the V.A. Degtyarev Plant, a facility 165 miles northeast of Moscow that makes machine guns, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that are sold to the Russian military. Its weapons include the Kalashnikov PKM and PKTM machine guns, as well as Kord rifles and machine guns, some of which are mounted on armored vehicles.

The Degtyarev Plant did not respond to a request for comment.

Also not sanctioned is the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant, south of Moscow, where “world-famous cartridges” for pistols and Kalashnikov assault rifles are produced, according to an archived version of its website. Neither is the Novosibirsk Cartridge Plant, an ammunition manufacturer that calls itself “one of the leading engineering enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Russia.”

Neither ammunition plant responded to requests for comment.

Last month, Reuters sought comments from sanctions officials in the UK, EU and United States regarding the news agency’s findings that they had failed to punish a raft of Russian defense firms and tycoons fueling Putin’s war effort. As part of that process, Reuters provided those Western authorities with a detailed list of more than 20 companies and more than three-dozen people that had escaped sanctions.


The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which levies sanctions for Britain, said it could not comment on future sanctions. It added that London and its allies had levied “the largest and most severe economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced, to help cripple Putin’s war machine.” The European Commission and the U.S. Treasury Department, which handle sanctions for Brussels and Washington respectively, declined to comment on the specifics of Reuters’ findings. Elizabeth Rosenberg, assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes at the Treasury Department, said in a statement that sanctions have “made it harder for Russia to obtain what it needs to procure and produce weapons.”

On Tuesday, in conjunction with a meeting of leaders of the G7 nations in the German Alps, the Treasury Department released a new round of defense-related sanctions that included eight of the weapons firms and two of the executives on the list provided earlier by Reuters.

One of those newly sanctioned executives, Vladimir Artyakov, has played key roles in Russia’s weapons industry for decades, and serves as the No. 2 executive at Rostec, a military-industrial giant with hundreds of subsidiaries employing more than half a million people, according to its website and annual reports. Artyakov is also the chairman of at least five Russian weapons firms, among them Russian Helicopters JSC, which builds several lines of military helicopters including the Ka-52 "Alligator," some of which have been shot down and documented in Ukraine.

He has not been sanctioned by the EU or UK.

Artyakov and Russian Helicopters did not respond to requests for comment.

Rostec has been sanctioned by Washington since 2014. On Tuesday the United States targeted the company again, levying sanctions on more than 40 Rostec subsidiaries and affiliates. Among those hit was Avtomatika Concern, a company linked to cyber warfare. It was on the list of Russian defense firms that Reuters had submitted to the Treasury Department last month seeking an explanation as to why the companies had not been sanctioned.

Rostec and Avtomatika Concern did not respond to requests for comment.

Other firms on Reuters’ list that were sanctioned just this week by the Treasury Department include PJSC Tupolev, a maker of fighter jets such as the Tu-22M3 bomber. The Ukrainian military said Tu-22M3 bombers were responsible for a missile strike at a crowded shopping center in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday, which killed at least 18 people and injured about 60.

PJSC Tupolev and another firm on Reuters’ list, JSC VNII Signal, have not been sanctioned by the EU or UK. JSC VNII Signal is a producer of mechanical and navigational systems that power Russian military tanks and some of the country’s most advanced missile systems.

PJSC Tupolev and JSC VNII Signal did not respond to requests for comment.

TOP BRASS UNTOUCHED

Executives at a host of Russian weapons firms, meanwhile, have largely escaped sanctions from Western authorities.

Nearly three months after a Tochka-U ballistic missile hit a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on April 8, Russian weapons executives linked to the company that makes those missiles have yet to pay a price. The strike killed more than 50 people, including children, and injured more than 100 others.

The Russian firm JSC Research and Production Corporation Konstruktorskoye Byuro Mashynostroyeniya, known as KBM, has been the primary manufacturer of Tochka-U missiles, according to a U.S. Army database of worldwide military equipment. Neither Washington, Brussels or London have sanctioned Sergey Pitikov, KBM’s chief executive.

The three Western allies have likewise spared Alexander Denisov, the CEO of NPO High Precision Systems, KBM’s parent company. High Precision Systems oversees production of a wide range of missiles, artillery, grenade launchers and machine guns used by Russian troops and outfitted on military helicopters, aircraft, tanks and warships.

Sanctions on Russia’s arms companies and tycoons have been applied inconsistently by the Western allies. The United States and EU have sanctioned High Precision Systems, for example, while the UK has not. The United States has sanctioned KBM, but the EU and UK have not.

High Precision Systems, Pitikov and Denisov did not respond to requests for comment. KBM confirmed that Pitikov is its chief executive, but did not respond to additional questions submitted by Reuters.

Europe and the United States have failed to coordinate sanctions even on makers of banned weapons.

Since the outset of Russia’s invasion in late February, Western governments and human rights groups have decried its use of cluster munitions: small bombs delivered by missiles or rockets, which scatter and explode over an area as large as a city block. A 2008 international treaty bans their use or production under any circumstances because of the devastating effects on civilians.

Russia used a Uragan – which translates to “Hurricane” – rocket launcher system to fire cluster bombs in Kharkiv on March 24, killing eight civilians and injuring 15 others, according to the U.N. human rights office and Ukrainian officials.

The Uragan is made by JSC Scientific and Production Association Splav, a Russian firm whose systems have been sold abroad to countries including India. The company has been sanctioned by the United States, but not by the UK or EU. Its CEO, Alexander Smirnov, has escaped sanctions altogether.

Splav and Smirnov did not respond to requests for comment.

It’s much the same for Splav’s parent company, NPK Techmash. The United States and the EU have sanctioned the firm, but the UK has not. Techmash CEO Alexander Kochkin has not been targeted by American or European authorities.

Techmash and Kochkin did not respond to requests for comment.

In a June 10 statement, the European Commission said there is an effort to align sanctions lists “as much as legally possible” among allies to achieve “the maximum cumulative effect of the sanctions with all our like-minded partners.” In cases where the lists do not align, the Commission statement said, people and companies not currently on the EU’s sanctions list could be added later if there is sufficient evidence.

"Nothing is off the table," the statement said.

 

Russian President Putin aims a Chukavin sniper rifle SVCh-308 at Patriot military theme park outside Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd L) listens to Yan Novikov, chief executive of Russian missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey, during a visit to the new 70th Victory Anniversary plant producing missile systems, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Yan Novikov, chief executive of Russian missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey

WESTERN CONNECTIONS

One of the highest-profile Russian firms to escape Western sanctions is VSMPO-Avisma Corp, which is the world’s largest titanium supplier and 25% owned by Rostec. It supplies Russia’s defense industry, but also counts major Western aerospace companies among its clients.

Based in Verkhnyaya Salda, in central Russia, VSMPO-Avisma has subsidiaries with facilities in the United States, Switzerland and the UK, as well as sales and distribution staff in the United States, Europe and Asia, according to its website and annual reports. That’s no doubt a factor that has allowed the company to escape punishment, according to three sanctions and Russian defense experts who spoke with Reuters.

VSMPO-Avisma’s vice chairman and majority shareholder, Russian billionaire Mikhail Shelkov, ranked by Forbes this year as Russia’s 59th-richest person, likewise has not been sanctioned.

According to past press releases, VSMPO-Avisma has long-term contracts to supply titanium to United Aircraft Corp, a Rostec subsidiary that oversees production of Russian fighter jets such as the Su-34 that have been shot down in Ukraine. United Aircraft has been sanctioned by the United States, EU and UK.

VSMPO-Avisma also sells to Europe’s Airbus, and it supplied U.S. aerospace behemoth Boeing Co up until March, when the Arlington, Virginia-based company said it stopped purchasing titanium from Russia. Boeing had announced just months earlier, in November 2021, that VSMPO-Avisma would be its largest titanium supplier “for current and future Boeing commercial airplanes.”

VSMPO-Avisma and shareholder Shelkov declined to comment. Boeing said in a statement that it has worked since 2014 to diversify its sources of titanium around the world, and that its current inventory and sources "provide sufficient supply for airplane production."

Airbus did not answer specific questions about its relationship with VSMPO-Avisma. But in an emailed statement it said potential sanctions on Russian titanium “would massively damage the entire aerospace industry in Europe” while doing little to harm Russia because those sales are but a small portion of that nation's overall exports.

In 2020, foreign sales accounted for about two-thirds of VSMPO-Avisma’s $1.25 billion in revenue, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

That puts Western officials in a tough spot, said Richard Connolly, director of Eastern Advisory Group, a UK consultancy that advises governments and businesses on the Russian economy and its defense industry. Slapping sanctions on VSMPO-Avisma would curtail its lucrative export trade, but it would also force major players in global aviation to switch suppliers or risk sanctions themselves.

“That’s the classic sanctions conundrum: If you want to hurt somebody, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Connolly said.

(Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Marla Dickerson and Vanessa O'Connell.)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Israel says it will test bullet that killed reporter, Palestinians disagree

By Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta -

APalestinian girl poses for a picture at the scene where Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead during an Israeli raid, in Jenin

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -Israel said on Sunday it would test a bullet that killed a Palestinian-American journalist to determine whether one of its soldiers shot her and said a U.S. observer would be present.

The Palestinians, who on Saturday handed over the bullet to a U.S. security coordinator, said they had been assured that Israel would not take part in the ballistics.

Washington has yet to comment. The United States has a holiday weekend to mark July 4.

The death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11 during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, and feuding between the sides as to the circumstances, have overshadowed a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden due this month.

A Palestinian men look at a bullet mark on a tree at the scene where Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead during an Israeli raid, in Jenin

Palestinians say the Israeli military deliberately killed Abu Akleh. Israel denies this, saying she may have been hit by errant army fire or by a bullet from one of the Palestinian gunmen who were clashing with its forces at the scene.


A Palestinian girl takes pictures at the scene where Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead during an Israeli raid, in Jenin

In a separate incident, a 17-year-old Palestinian died in hospital after being shot late on Saturday by Israeli soldiers in clash in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The Israeli army said a suspect had thrown a firebomb at soldiers, who in response opened fire.

"The (ballistic) test will not be American. The test will be an Israeli test, with an American presence throughout," said Israeli military spokesman Brigadier-General Ran Kochav.

"In the coming days or hours it will be become clear whether it was even us who killed her, accidentally, or whether it was the Palestinian gunmen," he told Army Radio. "If we killed her, we will take responsibility and feel regret for what happened."

Akram al-Khatib, general prosecutor for the Palestinian Authority, said the test would take place at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

"We got guarantees from the American coordinator that the examination will be conducted by them and that the Israeli side will not take part," Al-Khatib told Voice of Palestine radio, adding that he expected the bullet to be returned on Sunday.

A U.S. embassy spokesperson said: "We don't have anything new at this time."

Biden is expected to hold separate meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on his July 13-16 trip to the Middle East. The Abu Akleh case will be a diplomatic and domestic test for new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

"It will take a few days to conduct a ballistic test, with several experts, to ensure that there is an unequivocal assessment," Israeli Deputy Internal Security Minister Yoav Segalovitz told Army Radio.

Israel has said the person who fired the bullet could only be determined by matching it to a gun in a forensic laboratory. Such testing usually requires finding markings on the bullet left by the unique barrel rifling of the gun it was fired from.

The Israeli military previously said one soldier could have been in a position to fire the fatal shot, suggesting it might only consider that soldier's rifle.

Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Edmund Blair and Raissa Kasolowsky

PHOTOS Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFT

 

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Shireen Abu Akleh 

Russian scientist dies after being pulled from cancer bed and jailed for ‘treason’

Zaina Alibhai - METRO UK

A Russian scientist who was suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer has died shortly after being arrested for high treason.

Dmitry Kolker, 54, was dragged from his hospital bed in Novosibirsk, Siberia, and flown to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

He passed away within two days, and his family believe his death was partly down to his mistreatment at the hands of Federal Security Service (FSB) officers.

‘He died yesterday. Tomorrow we will lodge a complaint over his detention,’ lawyer Alexander Fedulov said.

Kolker, a doctor of physics and maths, was the head of the quantum optical technologies lab at the Novosibirsk State University.

He was regarded as a world expert on lasers, leading to the accusation that he had colluded with the Chinese security service – a charge he and his family denied.

The scientist had travelled to China on a lecturing trip, his son said, but had been accompanied by an FSB agent at all times.


© Provided by MetroThe laser expert with his daughter Alina Mironova (Picture: Alina Mironova/east2west news)


© Provided by MetroKolker was unplugged from his hospital bed and transported to Moscow (Picture:Twitter)

Kolker, who had stage four cancer, was too weak for chemotherapy when he was detained.

The FSB claims it had medical authorisation to unplug him from his hospital bed and transport him to prison.

A number of Russian scientists have been accused of passing on state secrets and charged with treason in recent years.

The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Following Kolker’s arrest, a second scientist was detained in the same Siberian city but it wasn’t immediately clear if the two cases were linked.

Antoly Maslov, a chief scientist at an institute of theoretical and applied mechanics, was also transferred to Lefortovo prison.

He was accused of sharing hypersonic state secrets to a foreign power, believed to be China.

Russian laser scientist dies 2 days after arrest: ‘He loved his country’

Dmitry Kolker had stage four pancreatic cancer and had been receiving treatment in hospital

 (Picture: Alina Mironova/east2west news)

By Mark Trevelyan Reuters
Posted July 3, 2022 

A Russian scientist who was arrested in Siberia last week on suspicion of state treason and flown to Moscow despite suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer has died, lawyers and a family member said on Sunday.

Physicist Dmitry Kolker, 54, had been taken from his hospital bed, where he was being fed through a tube, and bundled onto a flight of more than four hours to Moscow, where the lawyers said he was taken to Lefortovo prison and later died in a nearby hospital.

His cousin Anton Dianov told Reuters from the United States that the accusation against the laser specialist – that he had betrayed state secrets to China – was preposterous.

“He was a scientist, he loved his country, he was working in his country despite many invitations from leading universities and labs to go work abroad. He wanted to work in Russia, he wanted to teach students there,” he said.

“These charges are absolutely ridiculous and extremely cruel and unusual to be levied on such a sick man. They knew that he was on his deathbed and they chose to arrest him.”

The family and lawyers said Kolker was detained, and his house searched, by the FSB security service. They said the treason charges – which carry a sentence of up to 20 years – were based on lectures Kolker had delivered in China, even though the content had been approved by the FSB.

Reuters did not receive a reply to an emailed request for comment from the FSB.
2:31‘I needed to do whatever I could do’: Canadian man fighting on Ukraine’s front lines‘I needed to do whatever I could do’: Canadian man fighting on Ukraine’s front lines

Lawyer Alexander Fedulov told Reuters he had attempted to contact the authorities on behalf of Kolker but been turned away from the FSB investigative department and from the prison.

He said he would file a legal complaint on Monday over the circumstances of Kolker’s detention.

On Saturday, state news agency TASS said Russia had detained a second scientist in Novosibirsk on suspicion of state treason. It was not clear if the two cases were connected.

A number of Russian scientists have been arrested and charged with treason in recent years for allegedly passing sensitive material to foreigners. Critics of the Kremlin say the arrests often stem from unfounded paranoia.

Dianov, the cousin, said Kolker was also a highly accomplished concert pianist and organist who performed in both Russia and Europe.

“To me, somebody who was producing such beautiful things could not have done what they accuse him of. And that’s for ever how I’m going to remember him,” he said, fighting back tears. “That’s who Dima is to me and the rest of the family.”

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Alexandra Hudson)

NOT SO GREEN

Biden offshore drilling proposal would allow up to 11 sales

NOR WILL IT LOWER GASOLINE PRICES

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY and MATTHEW BROWN

July 1, 2022

This Oct. 27, 2011, file photo, shows the Perdido oil platform located about 200 miles south of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico. The Biden administration is proposing up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Alaska over the next five years. The announcement on Friday, July 1, 2022, said fewer lease sales or even zero could occur, with a final decision not due for months. (AP Photo/Jon Fahey, File)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday proposed up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one off the Alaska coast over the next five years — going against the Democrat’s climate promises but scaling back a Trump-era plan that called for dozens of offshore drilling opportunities including in undeveloped areas.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said fewer than 11 lease sales — or even no lease sales at all — could occur, with a final decision not due for months. New drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts would be blocked, after being considered under Trump.

“President Biden and I have made clear our commitment to transition to a clean energy economy. Today, we put forward an opportunity for the American people to ... provide input on the future of offshore oil and gas leasing,″ said Haaland, whose agency oversees drilling on federal lands and waters.

The proposal brought immediate backlash from both environmentalists — who accused Biden of betraying the climate cause — and oil industry officials and allies, who said it would do little to help counter high energy prices. Gasoline prices averaged $4.84 a gallon on Friday, a strain on commuters and a political albatross for Biden’s fellow Democrats going into the midterm elections. That has left the White House scrambling for solutions, including Biden’s call last week for suspension of the 18.4 cents a gallon federal gas tax.

The Interior Department had suspended lease sales in late January because of climate concerns but was forced to resume them by a U.S. district judge in Louisiana.

The Biden administration cited conflicting court rulings about that decision when it canceled the last scheduled lease sales in the Gulf and Alaska during the previous offshore leasing cycle. That prior five-year cycle, a program adopted under former President Barack Obama, expired on Thursday.

There will be a months-long gap before a new plan can be put in place. The oil industry and its allies say the delay could cause problems in planning new drilling and potentially lead to decreased oil production.

There’s unlikely to be an offshore lease sale until well into next year, said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s top lobbying group.

And, he said, administration officials “went out of their way to say” there might not be any lease sales at all.

“It’s very important for the administration to send a signal to the global oil markets that the United States is serious about increasing supply ... for the long term,” he said, repeating a longtime claim by industry officials and Republicans that ties uncertainty over oil supply to high prices.

Biden in recent weeks has criticized oil producers and refiners for maximizing profits and making “more money than God,” rather than increasing production in response to higher prices as the economy recovers from the pandemic and feels the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The leasing announcement was a bitter disappointment to environmentalists and some Democrats who rallied around then-candidate Biden when he promised to end new drilling in federal lands and waters.

The proposal comes a day after the administration held its first onshore lease sales, drawing $22 million in an auction that gives energy companies drilling rights on about 110 square miles (285 square kilometers) in seven western states. The sales came despite the administration’s own findings that burning oil and gas from the parcels could cause billions of dollars in potential future climate damages.

- A man wears a face mark as he fishes near docked oil drilling platforms, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Port Aransas, Texas. The Biden administration is proposing up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Alaska over the next five years. The announcement on Friday, July 1, 2022, said fewer lease sales or even zero could occur, with a final decision not due for months. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

“Our public lands and waters are already responsible for nearly a quarter of the country’s carbon pollution each year. Adding any new lease sales to that equation while the climate crisis is unfolding all around us is nonsensical,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona.

Cynthia Sartou, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Healthy Gulf, called the lease-sale plan “a huge loss for Gulf residents, American energy policy and the global climate.”

Moderate Democrat Joe Manchin, who chairs the Senate energy committee, welcomed the proposal as a chance “to get our leasing program back on track.”

“While Americans everywhere are suffering from record high gas prices and disruptions in the global oil market caused by (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin’s senseless war in Ukraine, the Department of the Interior hasn’t held any successful offshore lease sales since November 2020,” the West Virginia lawmaker said.

Under the Trump administration, Interior officials had proposed 47 sales, including 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, 19 in Alaska and nine off the Atlantic coast that were later withdrawn. Trump lost the 2020 election before the proposal was finalized.

The current format of holding Gulf-wide sales was put in place under Obama because of dwindling interest in offshore leases. Prior to that there had been decades of regional sales.

Friday’s announcement opens a 90-day public comment period, then a final plan must be submitted 60 days before it goes into effect.

The government held an offshore lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico in November that brought $192 million in bids. A court canceled that sale before the leases were issued.

Haaland has said previously that the industry is “set” with the amount of drilling permits stockpiled and at its disposal. She testified during a House hearing in April that the industry has about 9,000 permits that have been approved but are not being used.

Oil production has increased as the economy recovers from the coronavirus slowdown, but it’s still below pre-pandemic levels. Energy companies have been reluctant to ramp up production further, citing a shortage of workers and restraints from investors wary that today’s high prices won’t last.

Major oil companies reported surging profits in the first quarter and sent tens of billions of dollars in dividends to shareholders.

Athan Manuel of the Sierra Club said delaying offshore sales until next year “is an important step toward protecting communities and climate, and we urge the administration to finalize a plan that commits to no new offshore drilling leases, period.”

__

Brown reported from Billings, Mont. Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this story.

INTERSECTIONALITY
Black Jewish leader works to boost community, inclusiveness

By DEEPA BHARATH

Nate Looney poses in front of a painting at the BAR Center at the Beach Thursday, June 16, 2022, in the Venice section of Los Angeles. Looney is a Black man who grew up in Los Angeles, a descendant of enslaved people from generations ago. He's also an observant, kippah-wearing Jew. 

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nate Looney is a Black man who grew up in Los Angeles, a descendant of enslaved people from generations ago. He’s also an observant, kippah-wearing Jew.

But he doesn’t always feel welcome in Jewish spaces — his skin color sometimes elicits questioning glances, suspicions and hurtful assumptions. Once, he walked into a synagogue dressed for Shabbat services in slacks and a buttoned-down shirt and was told to go to the kitchen.

“The last thing you want to happen when you go to a synagogue to attend a service,” Looney said, “is to be treated like you don’t belong.”

Now Looney is in a position to do something about that, after being named to the new role of director of community, safety and belonging for the Jewish Equity Diversity and Inclusion team at the Jewish Federations of North America, or JFNA, in April. He believes he can channel his painful personal experiences into healing divisions and changing perceptions, and help make a trip to the synagogue a spiritual rather than a scarring encounter for Jews of color.

In this new role, Looney has been tackling the delicate task of producing guidelines on how to be more welcoming of Jews of color, even as synagogues and community centers strengthen security in the wake of recent attacks including mass shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway, California. The concern is that such boosted security increases the likelihood of racial profiling incidents affecting congregants of color.

It’s a relatively small but growing demographic. A Pew Center survey in 2021 showed just 8% of U.S. Jews identify as Hispanic, Black or Asian, but that nearly doubled to 15% among respondents aged 18 to 29. The poll also found that 17% reported living in a nonwhite or multiracial household.

Looney, 37, has led a life that has taken several turns. He served in the military police as part of the Louisiana National Guard and spent nine months overseas training Iraqi police forces. He has worked in real estate and has even done urban farming, selling microgreens in local markets.

His spiritual journey began at 13 when a friend asked Looney, whose father was Baptist and mother was Episcopalian, about his own religion. Despite his family’s Christian faith, Looney said he never felt connected to it.

“I was obstinate that (Christianity) wasn’t for me,” he said. “When I think about African enslavement in America and how religion was something that was forced, I believed that the religion I was practicing was not true to who my ancestors were.”

Looney embraced Judaism while still a teen because he viewed it as a faith that gives believers permission to ask difficult, uncomfortable questions, though he didn’t formally convert until age 26.

It was after the police killing of George Floyd and the racial reckoning of summer 2020 that Looney began working with organizations to raise awareness about Jews of color. It was also during that time that JFNA launched its diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.

Looney said Jews of color are often subjected to questions about their Jewish origins. Even when well intentioned, those queries can be painful because they cast doubt on their identity right away and imply they don’t belong, he said.

Add to that the increased security at synagogues, and there’s even greater potential for people to feel othered or unwelcome.

“How do you strike a balance? You don’t want to exclude anyone, and yet you want to be discerning of who is coming in the door,” Looney said. “Cultural competency is important. Just the fact that someone who is Black is walking in shouldn’t raise alarms.”

He knows from personal experience. The morning of the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018, Looney was unaware it had taken place because he was not using his phone in observance of Shabbat. When he entered a synagogue, he got more questions and “experienced deeper scrutiny” from security guards, and it was painful.

“If that were my first time entering that community,” he said, “I would’ve never come back.”

The guidelines he is working on will be shared with Jewish federations across North America and, Looney hopes, implemented at the local level by synagogues and community centers. Just two months into his job, he says they are a work in progress but will continue to evolve over time.

One goal is to inculcate in security guards a deeper understanding of the diversity of the Jewish community, he said: “We’re starting to have these types of conversations and that’s a great beginning.”

Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, who founded the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative and serves as JFNA’s public affairs advisor, said Looney’s professional experience as a military policeman and his lived experience as a Jewish person of color make him uniquely qualified to boost inclusivity while being cognizant of the sensitive relationship between law enforcement and people of color.

“Security and belonging don’t have to be mutually exclusive,” said Rothstein, who is the son of a white father and a Black mother and has seen his darker-skinned relatives being treated differently in synagogues. “Nate is helping us bring an equity lens to make sure all our institutions are safe and secure while creating a culture of belonging for all Jews and our loved ones.”

Sabrina Sojourner, an African American Jewish chaplain at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington who met Looney at a leadership seminar five years ago, said people of color are “profiled consciously and unconsciously by white people” and Looney’s role at the JFNA is crucial to help transform assumptions about “who is the threat and who is not.”

“If you look at attacks against Jewish people and synagogues, they are not perpetrated by people of color,” Sojourner said. “Nate’s work is so important because it tells me JFNA gets that if the most vulnerable people in our communities are not safe, our communities are not safe.”

Looney said another challenge is that antisemitism and racism tend to be compartmentalized.

“It’s a tough job to make people understand that many of us have multiple identities and fit into both categories and that we are all fighting against white supremacy,” he said.

Placing Jews of color in decision-making roles in Jewish spaces can help forge solidarity and bring the realization that “marginalized communities are stronger when they come together,” he added.

Rothstein believes Looney will make a big difference because “he is also a healer.” As an example, he cited a virtual JFNA event commemorating Martin Luther King Day in 2021 when Looney recited a prayer and sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn written by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900 and often referred to as the “Black national anthem.”

“Those three minutes felt like three hours and they felt like three seconds,” Rothstein said. “It’s how Nate holds himself. He is so accessible to people because of his heart. That comes through the life he has lived.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Long-missing Alexander Hamilton letter put on public display

This image filed May 15, 2019 in federal court as part of a forfeiture complaint by the U.S. attorney's office in Boston, shows a 1780 letter from Alexander Hamilton to the Marquis de Lafayette, that was stolen from the Massachusetts Archives decades ago. The letter, which was returned to the state, will be put on public display at the Commonwealth Museum on July 4, 2022 for the first time since it was returned after a lengthy court battle.

 (U.S. Attorney's Office via AP, File)

BOSTON (AP) — A letter written by Alexander Hamilton in 1780 and believed stolen decades ago from the Massachusetts state archives is going back on display — though not exactly in the room where it happened.

The founding father’s letter will be the featured piece at the Commonwealth Museum’s annual July Fourth exhibit, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office says. It’s the first time the public is getting a chance to see it since it was returned to the state after a lengthy court battle.

It will be featured alongside Massachusetts’ original copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury who’s been getting renewed attention in recent years because of the hit Broadway musical that bears his name, wrote the letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who served as a general in the Continental Army.

Dated July 21, 1780, it details an imminent British threat to French forces in Rhode Island.

“We have just received advice from New York through different channels that the enemy are making an embarkation with which they menace the French fleet and army,” Hamilton wrote. “Fifty transports are said to have gone up the Sound to take in troops and proceed directly to Rhode Island.”

It’s signed “Yr. Most Obedt, A. Hamilton, Aide de Camp.”

The letter was forwarded by Massachusetts Gen. William Heath to state leaders, along with a request for troops to support French allies, Galvin’s office said.

The letter was believed to have been stolen during World War II by a state archives worker, then sold privately.

It resurfaced several years ago when an auctioneer in Virginia received it from a family that wanted to sell it. The auction house determined it had been stolen and contacted the FBI. A federal appeals court ruled in October that it belonged to the state.

The Commonwealth Museum is open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Monday.