With U.S. shale oil boom over, can world production climb?

By Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights

December 11, 2022


Prior to the pandemic-induced downturn in world oil production, U.S. oil production growth was responsible for 98 percent of the increase in world production in 2018 (as reported in 2019). Almost all of that growth resulted from rapid increases in shale oil production which accounted for 64 percent of U.S. production (as of 2021).

Fast forward to today when OilPrice.com has declared that “The U.S. Shale Boom Is Officially Over.” The reasons cited mostly have to do with management “discipline” regarding capital expenditure in favor of shareholder payouts and complaints about “anti-oil rhetoric” and “regulatory uncertainty.”

But there might just be another reason for the slowdown in shale oil production in the United States: There isn’t as much accessible and economical shale oil underground as advertised. Earth scientist David Hughes laid out his case for this view in his “Shale Reality Check 2021.” (For a summary of Hughes’ report, see my piece from December 2021 entitled, “U.S. shale oil and gas forecast: Too good to be true?”)

There may be other sources of oil worldwide that will somehow make up for the significantly lower growth in U.S. shale oil production. But no other source seems set to provide the kind of growth U.S. shale oil provided, that is, 73.2 percent of the global increase in oil production from 2008 through 2018.

The world has actually been getting along with less oil for some time now. World oil production proper (crude oil including lease condensate) peaked on a monthly basis in November 2018 at 84.58 million barrels per day (mbpd). In August 2022 production was 81.44 mbpd. That’s after a pandemic-induced shock that saw production fall to 70.28 mbpd in June 2020.

Neither the U.S. shale oil companies nor OPEC seem ready to increase production significantly (assuming that they can). Russia, among the world’s top three producers, is under heavy sanction and may not be able to produce more oil for export anytime soon. (Again, it is not certain that Russia can significantly increase production. Except for the pandemic-induced drop Russia has long been on a production plateau of between 10 and 11 mbpd.)

No doubt some new oil savior will be announced soon whether credible or not. In the meantime, the world economy will be faced with limited oil supplies that do not simply grow to meet our fantasies of what we want. The result will be high prices, that is, higher than has been historically the case. A recession won’t change this dynamic and, in fact, may reinforce it as oil companies are likely to reduce drilling activity when demand for oil slumps. That will make it doubly difficult for those companies to supply growing demand coming out of the next recession.

This is the way things might very well be for a long time if not indefinitely. Many of us who foresaw this day said that we would only see peak world oil production in the rearview mirror. It may take a few more years to determine if November 2018 marked the all-time peak.

Photo: Oil shale mine in Estonia (2019). “Geological fieldworks, underground in the Estonian oilshale mine to study the variable mineralogical and chemical compostion and microsturcture in the different layers of the oil shale profile” by Peeter paaver. via Wikimedia Commons

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oilshale_mine_01.jpg

Teenage leukemia patient in remission after world-first treatment in the UK
CGTN

Great Ormond Street Hospital said 13-year-old Alyssa was the first patient known to have been given base-edited T cells. /Great Ormond Street Hospital

Doctors in the UK have hailed a pioneering treatment for an aggressive form of leukemia, after a teenager became the first patient to be given a new therapy and went into remission.

The 13-year-old girl, Alyssa, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2021.

But her blood cancer did not respond to conventional treatment, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

She was enrolled on a clinical trial of a new treatment at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) using genetically engineered immune cells from a healthy volunteer.

In 28 days, her cancer was in remission, allowing her to receive a second bone marrow transplant to restore her immune system.

Six months on, she is "doing well" back home in Leicester, central England, and receiving follow-up care.

'Quite remarkable' turnaround

"Without this experimental treatment, Alyssa's only option was palliative care," the hospital said in a statement.

Robert Chiesa, a GOSH consultant, said her turnaround had been "quite remarkable", although the results still needed to be monitored and confirmed in the next few months.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common kind of cancer in children and affects cells in the immune system, known as B cells and T cells, which fight and protect against viruses.

GOSH said Alyssa was the first patient known to have been given base-edited T cells, which involves chemically converting single nucleotide bases - letters of the DNA code - which carry instructions for a specific protein.

Researchers at GOSH and University College London helped develop the use of genome-edited T cells to treat B-cell leukemia in 2015.

But to treat some other types of leukemia the team had to overcome the challenge that the T cells, designed to recognize and attack cancerous cells, had ended up killing each other during the manufacturing process.

'Most sophisticated cell engineering'

Multiple additional DNA changes were needed to the base-edited cells to allow them to target cancerous cells without damaging each other.

"This is a great demonstration of how, with expert teams and infrastructure, we can link cutting edge technologies in the lab with real results in the hospital for patients," said GOSH's consultant in Paediatric Immunology Waseem Qasim.

"It's our most sophisticated cell engineering so far and paves the way for other new treatments and ultimately better futures for sick children."

Alyssa said in the statement she was spurred to take part in the trial not just for herself but for other children.

"Hopefully this can prove the research works and they can offer it to more children," the teenager's mother added.

The researchers were presenting their findings this weekend at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Source(s): AFP

Girl leukaemia-free after world-first use of cell engineering therapy

Teenager from Leicester is first to benefit from new treatment at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Alyssa during her treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. PA.

Neil Murphy

Dec 11, 2022

Beta V.1.0 - Powered by automated translation

A 13-year-old girl is free of leukaemia after the world's first use of what scientists have described as the most sophisticated cell engineering to date.

The teenager, called Alyssa, said she felt that volunteering for the experimental new treatment for the disease would help others. “Of course I’m going to do it,” she said.

Scientists said that without the treatment, which came after chemotherapy and an initial bone marrow transplant failed to clear her cancer, her only alternative would have been palliative care.

READ MORE

British doctor sets up national colon cancer screening programme in Mauritius

Speaking about the therapy, Alyssa said: “Once I do it, people will know what they need to do, one way or another, so doing this will help people.”

The teenager, from Leicester, received base-edited T-cells in the first ever use of a base-edited cell therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Pre-manufactured cells from a healthy volunteer donor were edited to enable them to hunt down and kill cancerous T-cells without attacking each other.

T-cells are white blood cells that move around the body, finding and destroying defective cells.

Alyssa, who was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or T-All, in 2021, was given all the conventional treatments including chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant, but the disease returned.

She then became the first patient enrolled on to a new clinical trial, funded by the Medical Research Council, during which she was given universal Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells that had been pre-manufactured from a healthy volunteer donor in May this year.

The researchers described base-editing as chemically converting letters of the DNA code that carry instructions for a specific protein.

The edited Car T-cells can be given to a patient so that they quickly find and destroy T-cells in the body, including cancerous ones, after which the person can have a bone-marrow transplant to restore their depleted immune system.

Twenty-eight days after being given the treatment, Alyssa was in remission, researchers said, and was able to have a second bone marrow transplant.

Alyssa, 13, is free of leukaemia after the pioneering treatment. PA

She is said to be “doing well at home” as she recovers and continues with follow-up monitoring at the hospital.

It is hoped the research, due to be presented for the first time at the American Society of Haematology annual meeting in New Orleans in the US, could lead to new treatments and “ultimately better futures for sick children”.

Scientists aim to recruit up to 10 patients who have T-cell leukaemia and have exhausted all conventional options for the clinical trial into the new treatment.

Medics at Great Ormond Street hope that if it is successful it can be offered to children earlier in their treatment when they are less sick and that it can be used for other types of leukaemia in future.

Potential patients for trials will be referred by NHS specialists.

Prof Waseem Qasim, consultant immunologist at Great Ormond Street, said: “This is a great demonstration of how, with expert teams and infrastructure, we can link cutting-edge technologies in the lab with real results in the hospital for patients. It’s our most sophisticated cell engineering so far and paves the way for other new treatments and ultimately better futures for sick children.

“We have a unique and special environment here that allows us to rapidly scale up new technologies and we’re looking forward to continuing our research and bringing it to the patients who need it most.”

Alyssa’s mother Kiona said the family were “on a strange cloud nine” and that it was “amazing to be home”.

She said: “Hopefully this can prove the research works and they can offer it to more children — all of this needs to have been for something.”

Dr Robert Chiesa, consultant in bone marrow transplant and Car T-cell therapy at the hospital, said: “Since Alyssa got sick with her leukaemia in May last year, she never achieved a complete remission — not with chemotherapy and not after her first bone marrow transplant. Only after she received her CD7 Car-T cell therapy and a second bone marrow transplant has she become leukaemia-free.”

He described the outcome as “quite remarkable” but cautioned that it must be monitored and confirmed over the next few months.

When ‘Spreading the Word’ About Chinese Protests Is Dangerous | NO FACES, PLEASE


VICE News
An entire generation of Chinese people have gone into the streets for the first time; but the world looks very different from how it did during 1989 at Tiananmen Square. Surveillance has made protesting risky - but it’s not just China that is dealing with this problem. …

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

In UK, migrants receive criminal-like treatment with constant surveillance using hi-tech ankle tags

Rights groups call the move dehumanising and an invasion of people’s privacy.

Lin Taylor, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Yesterday ·

Ben Stansall/AFP

After two years being held in a British immigration detention centre, Mimi was so desperate to be released that she agreed to wear an electronic ankle tag. But her sense of freedom was short-lived.

Two months later, she said she attempted suicide because of the stress of being monitored while wearing the tag.

“I couldn’t do anything because I didn’t want to have this tag showing. It was horrific,” said Mimi, asked to be identified by a pseudonym as she awaits a decision on her asylum claim almost a decade later.

“I was already beyond stressed; this was just throwing me over the edge. One day, it all became way too much for me.”

Mimi, who is in her 40s, said she believes her parents came to Britain from the Caribbean after World War Two but she has been unable to prove her nationality and is officially stateless.

“I know nothing about my background. I was abandoned in sexual exploitation and modern slavery from a very young age,” she told Context in a video interview.

Britain has ramped up its use of electronic tags on people detained over their immigration status as it seeks to fulfil a long-standing pledge to cut immigration, one of the drivers behind the country’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Migration hit a record high of 5,04,000 this year, with a surge in international students and arrivals from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. This figure does not include those arriving irregularly on small boats across the English Channel.

“People find it incredibly degrading and stigmatising,” said Rudy Schulkind, research and policy manager at Bail for Immigration Detainees, which provides free legal representation to people held in detention across Britain.

“Having to walk down the street and have people notice that they’re wearing a tag, seeing them as a dangerous or violent person, (it’s an) incredibly painful thing to go through.”
Dehumanising

As the numbers of people fleeing war, poverty, climate disasters and other events reach record levels worldwide, states are turning to digital technologies including ankle tags and biometric data to toughen borders and monitor migrants.

Amid an increase in anti-immigration rhetoric in Britain, it became mandatory in 2016 to tag all foreign nationals facing deportation – a move that rights groups say is dehumanising and infringes on people’s privacy.

Electronic tags have traditionally been fitted on individuals involved in the criminal justice system so that the police and courts can monitor their location and compliance with orders and to deter them from absconding.

Under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, people who knowingly arrive in Britain without permission can face up to four years in jail – unfairly criminalising migrants seeking asylum as refugees, rights campaigners say.

“Our government has for the last couple of years just repeated that refugees are illegal immigrants, that they arrive illegally, that they will be treated as criminals,” said Clare Moseley, founder of migrant charity Care4Calais.

“Many of these people are innocent victims of wars and persecution.”
Monitored with tags

In August 2021, the prison service extended the use of global positioning system monitoring to people on immigration bail, which means they have been freed from detention while their application to remain in Britain is assessed.

As a result, the number of migrants being tagged on immigration bail almost doubled between January and September to over 2,100 people – or 16% of all individuals being monitored with tags, the latest government data shows.

“We’re seeing an increased watching of migrant communities,” said Zehrah Hasan, advocacy director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, which campaigns for reform of the immigration system.

“We’re seeing this expansive system that limits people’s freedoms and their right to dignity and respect by either incarcerating them and monitoring them within the detention estate, or monitoring them in their communities.”

Hasan previously worked as an immigration and asylum barrister and said some of her clients felt they had no choice but to be tagged.

“It’s an oppressive kind of system where people are subject to that as a price for their freedom – but it’s not full freedom, really, if they’re still being monitored,” she said.

“People are almost compelled to accept these very stringent and intrusive conditions because of the horrors of immigration detention,” she said, referring to the prison-like centres that nearly 25,000 people pass through each year.

Last year, the Home Office switched from using radio frequency tags, that log when a person is at home, to global positioning system devices which track the wearer’s location constantly.

Adding to their repertoire of tracking systems, the Home Office in May awarded a six-million-pound ($7 million) contract to Buddi, a British tech company selling wearable devices that can record biometric data such as fingerprints.

In emailed comments, the Home Office said only foreign national offenders awaiting deportation would be monitored this way to ensure they do not abscond.

Buddi did not respond to requests for comment.

Lucie Audibert, a legal officer at digital rights group Privacy International, said these tracking devices generate “troves of data” and are a huge intrusion of privacy.

“There’s this massive expansion of surveillance that is creating troves of data. The necessity and proportionality of such an intrusive tracking measure is really the problem here.”
Small boats

With the promise that Brexit would enable Britain to take back control of its borders, the government is under pressure to deal with a surge in migrants making dangerous journeys across the English Channel from France, with dozens drowning en route.

Over 40,000 irregular migrants crossed the English Channel on small boats so far this year, government data shows.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had hoped to deport those arriving illegally to Rwanda. But the first planned deportation flight in June was blocked by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights and is now under judicial review.

In June, the Home Office launched a 12-month pilot scheme to expand electronic tagging to 600 asylum seekers who have arrived via “unnecessary and dangerous routes”, in particular “aimed at deterring arrivals by small boats”.

The Home Office said the scheme will test whether monitoring helps to improve regular contact with migrants to progress their asylum claims.

It will also track the rate of absconding and examine whether tagging helps restore contact or locate asylum seekers for deportation or detention, it said.

A freedom of information request by Brian Dikoff of the campaign group Migrants Organise found that only 3% of people who were released from detention absconded in 2019, and 1% in 2020.

“We think it’s vastly disproportionate,” said Schulkind of Bail for Immigration Detainees.

“They’ve never committed any offences, they’ve never absconded, so it doesn’t seem necessary to tag people. They’re still going to stay in touch and they’re not going to run away because that would jeopardise their asylum claim.”

This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba shot and killed in southern Colombia

Colombia|Attacks

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

11 December 2022



Rescuers secure a bus from falling down a ravine after an accident on the Pan-American Highway, near the city of Pasto, department of Nariño, Colombia, 15, October 2022; Córdoba had recently criticized unfinished public works projects and the poor state of local roads. LEONARDO CASTRO/AFP via Getty Images

Authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba. Local journalists covering corruption in Colombia’s small cities and towns too often face deadly retaliation for their reporting.

This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 30 November 2022.

Colombian authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba, determine if he was targeted for his work, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On Monday, November 28, two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot and killed Córdoba while he was on a reporting trip in the village of El Salado, in the southern Colombian department of Nariño, according to news reports.

Córdoba, director of the independent online news outlet Unión Televisión in the town of La Unión, was shot three times, according to those reports, which said that police had ruled out robbery as a motive for the attack because none of the journalist’s belongings had been taken.

“Colombian authorities must immediately open a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba, determine if he was targeted for his reporting, and bring those responsible to justice,” said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Local journalists covering corruption in Colombia’s small cities and towns too often face deadly retaliation for their reporting, and officials must act to ensure they can continue informing their communities safely.”

Córdoba often posted news and commentary about local political corruption and crime on Unión Televisión’s Facebook page and on his personal account, and had recently criticized unfinished public works projects and the poor state of local roads, according to the Bogotá-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP).

FLIP Director Jonathan Bock told CPJ via messaging app that the journalist had received several threats on social media warning that he would “get into trouble” if he continued publishing his stories. Bock said a FLIP team planned to travel to La Unión to gather more information.

On Tuesday, Unión Television posted a video showing Córdoba’s grieving colleagues gathered around his casket that had been placed inside the TV studio.

The Colombian attorney general’s office said on Twitter that a special team of prosecutors was investigating the attack. CPJ called and messaged the La Unión mayor’s office, the local police department, and Unión Televisión for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Why we should boycott the FIFA World cup

On this podcast episode of Europe Talks Back, host Alexander Damiano Ricci talks to Eliot Dickinson, Chief of staff at Bulle Media and huge football fan who is boycotting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as well as to Chiara Jaumann, copywriter at Heimat Berlin, the creative agency who, together with Boycott Qatar 2022 and Laut Gegen Nazis, ideated the Football Blackout for Human Rights campaign.

Published on 11 December 2022 

Alexander Damiano Ricci - Europod (Brussels)
 

Hamzeh Hajjaj | Cartoon Movement


The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been making the headlines for weeks now. Just, not really or only for the rolling ball and iconic football stars on the pitch. From allegations of corruption in the process leading up to the awarding of the competition, to accusations of breaches of human rights in the build up of the stadiums hosting the competition: little has been left uncovered by the press.

For these and many other reasons, a relevant share of staunch football fans across Europe are boycotting the competition. But what does it take to organise a boycott? And how are football fans living this peculiar moment in the history of sports?
More : World cup, Olympics, Asian games. The absurdity of climate-killing global sporting events

On this podcast episode of Europe Talks Back, host Alexander Damiano Ricci talks to Eliot Dickinson, Chief of staff at Bulle Media and huge football fan who is boycotting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as well as to Chiara Jaumann, copywriter at Heimat Berlin, the creative agency who, together with Boycott Qatar 2022 and Laut Gegen Nazis, ideated the Football Blackout for Human Rights campaign.

Gaza authorities discover over 60 Roman era graves


1 of 5

A Palestinian excavation team works in a newly discovered Roman era cemetery in the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022. Hamas authorities in Gaza announced the discovery of over 60 tombs in the ancient burial site. Work crews have been excavating the site since it was discovered last January during preparations for an Egyptian-funded housing project. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas authorities in Gaza on Sunday announced the discovery of over 60 tombs in an ancient burial site dating back to the Roman era.

Work crews have been excavating the site since it was discovered last January during preparations for an Egyptian-funded housing project.

Hiyam al-Bitar, a researcher from the Hamas-run Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, said a total of 63 graves have been identified and that a set of bones and artifacts from one tomb was dated back to the second century.

She said the ministry is working with a team of French experts to learn more about the site. On Sunday, workers sifted through the soil and removed piles of dirt in wheelbarrows.

Although the ancient cemetery is now blocked off from the public, construction on the housing project has continued and the site is surrounded by apartment buildings. Local media reported looting when the site was first discovered, with people using donkey-drawn carts to haul away items like a covered casket and inscribed bricks.

Gaza, a coastal enclave home to more than 2 million people, is known for its rich history stemming from its location on ancient trade routes between Egypt and the Levant. But Israeli occupation, a blockade, conflicts and rapid urban growth in the crowded, narrow territory are among the reasons most of Gaza’s archeological treasures have not been protected.

CHURCH OF THE PHALANGE

Maronite Patriarch calls for ‘internationalizing’ Lebanese cause

Lebanese lawmakers failed for 9th time to elect new president

Naim Berjawi |11.12.2022


BEIRUT, Lebanon

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, on Sunday called for internationalizing the Lebanese cause.

"There is no escape from the internationalization of the Lebanese issue after the failure of internal solutions," he said in his Sunday sermon.

"Those who fail in internal solutions are those who refuse internationalization, and when the internal solution is disrupted and internationalization is rejected, this means that these parties do not want any solution to the Lebanese issue," he added.

The Lebanese patriarch, however, did not name these parties.

On Thursday, Lebanese lawmakers failed for the ninth time to elect a new president to succeed President Michel Aoun, whose term ended on Oct. 31.

"How do the deputies judge themselves when they meet nine times and do not elect a president,” the patriarch asked. “This means that they do not want to elect a president or are not qualified to elect a president.”

Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing a crippling economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst the world has seen in modern times.

The country has also been without a fully functioning government since May, with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his Cabinet having limited powers in their current caretaker status.


* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report

Solidarity with Kurdistan at European Left Congress in Vienna

A congress of the Party of the European Left is taking place in Vienna this weekend. 

HDP MP Feleknas Uca, KNK representative Sinan Önal and Mustafa Dillice and Lorin Şahan from the Kurdish federation FEYKOM are taking part as guests.

ANF
VIENNA
Sunday, 11 Dec 2022, 16:53

The Party of the European Left is holding its 7th Congress in Vienna from 9 to 11 December. 26 member parties and 21 observer parties from many European countries as well as numerous parties and speakers from the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America and Asia are taking part in the three-day congress. Under the slogan "Peace, Bread and Roses", delegates discussed building a peace movement against the Russia-Ukraine-NATO war, the right to life of the oppressed and the working class against neoliberal monopoly, and organising resistance networks against authoritarian regimes and rising racism.

Guests include delegations from Palestine, Western Sahara, Senegal, Chile, Cuba and a Kurdish delegation from the Austrian Federation for Kurdish Democratic Culture (FEYKOM) and the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK). The foreign policy spokesperson of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Feleknas Uca, also takes part in the congress.

In a speech, FEYKOM's foreign affairs spokespersons Mustafa Dillice and Lorin Şahan stressed the importance of the Kurdish freedom movement's experience of democratic confederalism in the Middle East, with a special focus on Rojava, and the need to protect it and show solidarity with it.

HDP MP Feleknas Uca said that the HDP is the leading party of the anti-war struggle in Turkey and continues its democratic resistance against the AKP/MHP government. She called for solidarity with the HDP and explained that her party is under a ban procedure and the decision is expected in the coming months.

On behalf of the KNK, Sinan Önal called for sensitivity towards a possible invasion of north-eastern Syria and stressed the importance of the democratic experience. He stated that the Kurdish question can only be solved peacefully by releasing Abdullah Öcalan and negotiating with him, as was the case between 2013 and 2015. Öcalan is completely isolated in Turkish custody and there has been no sign of life from him since March 2021.

Many speeches at the congress condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish state against the PKK guerrillas, and also addressed the removal of the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations and the revolution in Iran led by women with the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Woman, Life, Freedom).

Maurizio Acerbo from the Communist Party for the Re-foundation of Italy pulled out a PKK flag at the end of his speech and said that the European left parties should work for the removal of the PKK from the "terrorist list" and for the immediate liberation of Abdullah Öcalan, which was applauded for a long time by those present.

The Communist Party of Austria, the Left Party of Finland and the Communist Parties of Italy and France protested against the blackmail of Turkey in connection with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO and called for intensified work by the Left on this issue.

The congress continues today, with new committees and chairpersons being elected at the end.

PKK

Demo in Athens against the isolation of Öcalan


March in Athens protested the aggravated isolation regime imposed on Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan by the Turkish state.


ANF
ATHENS
Sunday, 11 Dec 2022,

Kurdish people are demanding clarity about the situation of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK founder who has been imprisoned on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since 1999. The protests are prompted by the complete silence surrounding the 73-year-old and the demand that the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) ensure contact with him and his fellow prisoners.

Since the Asrin Law Office stated at the end of November that the CPT probably had no personal contact with Öcalan during its last visit to Turkey in September, concern for the life and safety of the Kurdish leader has increased. Kurdish society is demanding clarification about the CPT's visit to Imrali and information about the condition of the prisoners.

The Democratic Kurdish Cultural Center in Athens and Revolutionary Youth Movement (TJŞ) organized a march in the Greek capital Athens on Sunday. The march was attended by Kurds as well as revolutionary organizations from Turkey, anarchist, leftist and socialist groups from Greece.

Activists displayed banners denouncing the isolation regime imposed on the Kurdish leader. The march ended in front of the Kurdish Cultural Center in Athens under the slogans "Bê Serok Jiyan Nabe" [No Life Without the Leader] and "Bijî Berxwedana PKK" [Long Live the PKK Resistance].

The Graphic Truth: The age of Modi

December 11, 2022

Wajahat S. KhanPaige Fusco

 Paige Fusco

India, now the fastest-growing major economy on the planet, is expected to become the world’s third-largest by 2027. But this wasn’t always the case. After independence in 1948, India’s closed markets and notoriously red-taped “License Raj” kept growth and foreign investment at bay until financial reforms were passed in 1991. From thereon, growth has accelerated. Despite a change of hands between the two major parties — the Congress and the BJP — financial and market reforms have continued consistently without any significant rollbacks. Today, PM Narendra Modi continues previously planned policies of privatization and digitization, with an emphasis on export incentives, to keep driving the Indian economy moving forward. The lesson? Consistency is key. We explore the big milestones and hiccups in the last 30 years of Indian economic growth.

A REAL ARTIFICIAL TREE

Christmas tree made of 108,000 plastic bottles lit in Lebanon

 

A 18-metre-high Christmas tree made of discarded plastic bottles has been lit near the Bnachii Lake, Zgharta district, in northern Lebanon.

RIP
Tropical Australian frog now extinct


By Xinhua News Agency
December 12, 2022


DESPERATE EFFORT Photo taken on Feb. 5, 2022, shows a corroboree frog to be released into the wild in New South Wales, Australia. A project dubbed 'Saving our Species' has seen 100 corroboree frogs reintroduced into the wild in the Australian state of New South Wales, in an effort to reinvigorate their dwindling population. A frog species that was once found across two-thirds of Australia's wet tropics has been declared extinct. The latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list, the leading global assessment of extinction risk, downgraded the mountain mist frog from critically endangered to extinct.

 XINHUA PHOTO

CANBERRA: 

A frog species that was once found across two-thirds of Australia's wet tropics has been declared extinct.The latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, the leading global assessment of extinction risk, downgraded the mountain mist frog from critically endangered to extinct.Endemic to Australia and mostly found at high altitudes in wet tropics, the frog has not been sighted since April 1990.The IUCN attributed its extinction to the chytrid fungus, which has destroyed amphibian species around the world, but noted that a reduction in its habitat due to climate change could have also been a factor."We know what's causing this crisis: habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change," Jess Abrahams from the Australian Conservation Foundation told the Australian Associated Press."We need swift action from the federal government if we are to turn around the twin climate and extinction crises," added Abrahams.The frog was one of the 26 Australian species to have its status changed on the IUCN red list, among which 23 were orchids, taking the total number of native orchids on the list to 51.The list was released to coincide with the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) currently underway in Canada.Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will fly to Montreal as the country's representative at the conference later in December.On Thursday she announced a major overhaul of Australia's environmental protection laws, including establishing an independent environmental protection agency.The changes, which will be legislated in 2023, are a response to a report which found current laws ineffective and not fit for purpose.

Oath Keepers Leaders Were Found Guilty, but the Threat of Antigovernment Extremism Remains
By Sam Jackson Sunday, December 11, 2022

Far-right extremists mass at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Photo credit: Brett Davis via Flickr; CC BY_NC 2.0.

Editor’s Note: With Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy, the group he founded is at a crossroads. The University of Albany’s Sam Jackson, author of a recent book on the group, explains how the conviction is creating disarray in the group’s ranks but notes that other so-called Patriot movements might benefit and that the overall cause will remain strong.

Daniel Byman

***

The verdict is in. After weeks of evidence and three days of deliberation, a jury has found Stewart Rhodes guilty of seditious conspiracy in the first of several trials for members and affiliates of Oath Keepers involved in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. Prosecutors didn’t get a clean sweep of all the charges for the five defendants in this case, but every defendant was found guilty of at least one felony charge.

From the Oath Keepers’ founding, it has walked along the edge of violence. Since its first public event on April 19, 2009, the group has consistently asserted that the U.S. government has gone rogue, become increasingly tyrannical, violated the rights of Americans, and even been complicit with international actors seeking to destroy the country. As I’ve written in my book, the group’s leaders regularly urged those they considered to be patriotic Americans to prepare to fight back against the government—and to get their friends and neighbors involved in those preparations, even if that required a bit of misdirection, for example, by drawing parallels between the organization’s Community Preparedness Teams program and FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Teams program. At the same time, the group has engaged in “strategic ambiguity,” keeping much of the discussion of tyranny, violation of rights, and proper responses to tyrannical government abstract (and thus legal) and letting individuals fill in the blanks, deciding for themselves when their rights are being violated and whether violence is a justified response.

The group has also used historical analogies to think about violence. Oath Keepers frequently point to moments of conflict and crisis in U.S. history that (supposedly) illustrate government gone bad and the successful resistance to that government mounted by patriotic citizens. Primarily, this means talking about the American Revolution, the founders, and the “long train of abuses” that those founders argued justified a violent response to the British government. Oath Keepers leaders have said, time and again, that contemporary America faces the same kind of situation experienced by the residents of the British colonies of North America in the late 18th century, and that contemporary Americans can follow the model provided by those who fought against the British and won America’s independence in order to defeat America’s domestic enemies now.

The Oath Keepers organization has experienced infighting and fractures in recent years, even since before Jan. 6. Some state groups with “Oath Keepers” in their name have stated that they have no affiliation with the national organization, though this merits skepticism given the surge of bad publicity for the organization. Some of these groups claim they are unaffiliated, while others say that they were formerly affiliated. Without direct evidence, it seems unlikely that truly independent organizations with no ties to this prominent national group would use the “Oath Keepers” name. But even before the insurrection, there were periodic public statements from former Oath Keepers that Rhodes was a poor leader whom they couldn’t work with anymore.

As right-wing extremism has received more public attention in the past few years, much of the focus has been on discrete groups like Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. But all of these extremist groups are embedded in larger movements and networks. Many individuals in this ideological space support groups without becoming formal members. For example, the Oath Keepers claim around 40,000 dues-paying members (and watchdog estimates suggest that the real number is perhaps 10 percent of that), but before the group’s primary Facebook page was removed in August 2020 for violating community guidelines, the page had more than 500,000 followers. The group has also tapped into other movements to build support: For example, Rhodes spent time in 2009 speaking at Tea Party events, even leading a crowd in Knoxville, Tennessee, in an oath-swearing ceremony. As the organization faces challenges and bad publicity related to the Jan. 6 convictions and other ongoing cases, these unaffiliated supporters might rethink their support—or at least their public support—for the group.

These broader movements and ideological networks provide different options for individuals who are looking to join up with others who share their beliefs about the threats faced by themselves and the nation. For example, consider the Three Percenters, another sub-movement within the broader antigovernment militia movement. There is little ideological difference between Oath Keepers and “Threepers”: The decision to join an Oath Keepers chapter rather than a Threeper group might come down to which one has more members that a person knows or which one has more convenient meetings. Now, to the extent that the guilty verdicts make the Oath Keepers brand toxic to other antigovernment extremists, members and supporters might choose to reorient around a Threeper group or another entity in this movement.

All of this complexity makes it difficult to forecast what effects these initial guilty verdicts will have on the Oath Keepers, its members, and its supporters. Some will likely denounce the verdict as political persecution, perhaps even arguing that it is further evidence of the tyranny that the group has been talking about since its founding. More pragmatically, though, it is unclear who will now lead the group’s day-to-day operations, assuming that it doesn’t collapse and that Rhodes will face substantial prison time. After Rhodes was arrested, Kellye SoRelle, the general counsel for the organization, announced that she would be the group’s interim president, but when Rhodes was denied bail, she stated that she wouldn’t continue in that interim role but didn’t indicate who would take her place. SoRelle was later arrested on charges related to the insurrection and its aftermath.

Others in the movement might see this as Rhodes and other defendants getting what has been coming to them. As seen with the Oath Keepers chapters that denounced the insurrection, some in this ideological space think that the events at the U.S. Capitol were foolish and disastrous, even if they do not necessarily disagree with the ideas that motivated that attack on democracy. For example, the leader of the former North Carolina chapter of the group described the insurrection as “an ugly stain on our nation’s history” but defended the “innocent people that were there to hear the speeches.” The Oath Keepers’ central leadership also took this position previously: During the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was organized by other antigovernment extremists, the group repeatedly said that it disagreed with those actions, primarily for tactical reasons, but did not contest the underlying idea that motivated the occupation—that the federal government was acting illegitimately. Those who have this reaction to the guilty verdict might continue their activity and retain their ideological proclivities with little change.

For individuals who might be amenable to antigovernment extremism but aren’t current supporters of this form of extremism, this conviction could have larger ramifications. Aside from the prison time Rhodes and the other defendants now face, being found guilty of seditious conspiracy could make it harder for the group to persuade a broad American public audience with a compelling message of patriotism and pro-constitutionalism: Now, that message will have to compete with the message that the group engaged in sedition. It’s difficult to know how significant this will be, though, given the numerous other actors in this space who don’t have the stigma of sedition attached to them.

It will take time to understand the full consequences of these convictions. Though the Department of Justice was able to obtain convictions against these individuals who so brazenly attacked American democracy, it is far too early to declare victory against those who directly participated in the insurrection, much less the broader set of Americans who invoke patriotism and wrap themselves in the flag to justify violence against the government. The effort against false patriotism did not start with this prosecution, nor will it end with it.

Sam Jackson is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security at the University at Albany. His research focuses on antigovernment extremism in the United States, conspiracy theories, extremism online, and contentious activity on the internet more broadly. He is the author of “Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group” (Columbia University Press, 2020).

Israel begins ‘surprise’ military exercise near Lebanon border

13,000 soldiers take part in exercise, army says

Zain Khalil |11.12.2022


JERUSALEM

The Israeli army launched a surprise military exercise on Sunday near border with Lebanon to “enhance readiness” on the country’s northern border, according to the military

In a tweet, the army said the exercise, code-named “Warm Winter 2”, began in a surprise format and will continue until Tuesday.

“About 8,000 soldiers in regular service and about 5,000 reservists, recruited by special orders, from the various IDF (army) units will take part in the exercise,” the army said.

The army said the exercise aims “to strengthen the readiness of the end units in the IDF (army) and the supporting logistical system, for explosive events and various scenarios on the northern front,” it added.

The army said the military exercise was planned in advance as part of the 2022 training program.

According to the Maariv newspaper, the exercise comes amid reports about Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanon aboard civilian planes.

On Thursday, the Lebanese authorities denied reports about the transfer of weapons by Iran to Lebanese group Hezbollah via Rafiq Hariri airport in Beirut.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report

PERHAPS A FINAL SOLUTION

Far-right MP says Israel 'too merciful' to Palestinians

Zvika Fogel says 'the concept of proportionality must cease to exist'

Fogel served as a brigadier general for the Israeli army reserves before becoming a member of the Jewish Power political party (social media)

By MEE staff
Published date: 11 December 2022 

A far-right Israeli MP whose party will be a major player in the new government has expressed his desire to end any form of proportionality when dealing with Palestinians.

In an interview with the UK's Channel 4 News that aired on Friday, Zvika Fogel said Israel had been "too merciful" towards the Palestinians.

"Anyone who wants to harm me, I will harm him back. And as far as I'm concerned, the concept of proportionality must cease to exist," said Fogel.

"So I will tell you something that is very unpleasant to say. If it is one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry."

When asked by the presenter if this policy was racist, Fogel said: "We are too merciful. It's time for us to stop being so. It has nothing to do with racism."

Ben Gvir, Smotrich and the end of the peace process

Read More »

Fogel is a member of Itamar Ben Gvir's far-right ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party. Ben-Gvir, an openly racist Jewish supremacist, is set to become public security minister following government-formation negotiations with incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Jewish Power leader was previously convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.

Religious Zionism, an alliance of far-right parties including Jewish Power, came third in November's elections. Fogel is unlikely to be given a ministerial post, but his faction will nonetheless have an important say in the government's direction.

Israel's allies in the West and Gulf, as well as the Israeli military establishment, have reportedly expressed concern over Netanyahu's incoming far-right coalition partners.

On Thursday, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, an organisation representing over 2,300 rabbis and cantors in North America, warned: "Israel's new government is a stark display of rising fascism and racism."

"Netanyahu's coalition government gives power to violent, right-wing extremists who seek to incite political violence and who will put lives at risk… from the top down. Netanyahu and his new coalition endanger both Israelis and Palestinians," Jacobs said.

This year, 217 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including 52 in the Gaza Strip and 165 in the West Bank, making it one of the deadliest years on record for Palestinians since 2005.

Meanwhile, 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed by Palestinians in the same period, the highest number since 2008.

Fogel previously headed the regional council in the Galilee village of Tuba-Zangariyye, a role he exited in 2011 after a wave of violence and vandalism.

He also served as a brigadier general in the Israeli army reserves and headed its southern command before spending nearly a decade running the southern command's fire control unit.

COMMODITY FETISH

Pants Recovered From Shipwreck Sell for $114,000 at Auction

The pants and other artifacts auctioned were salvaged from the S.S. Central America, a ship that sank in 1857.

The pants on the right were recovered from a trunk that was aboard the S.S. Central America, which sank in 1857.Credit...Jason Bean/The Reno Gazette-Journal, via Associated Press

By Amanda Holpuch
Dec. 11, 2022

A pair of work pants that sold for $114,000 at an auction this month after being pulled from an 1857 shipwreck could be an early version of Levi Strauss jeans, auction officials said, though a historian for the company said that was “speculation.”

The Holabird Western Americana Collections auction on Dec. 3 showcased 270 items recovered from the S.S. Central America, which had been traveling from Panama to New York in September 1857 when it sank in a hurricane with 425 people aboard.

The wreck was discovered in 1988 off the coast of South Carolina, and the rights to its treasures, which included thousands of pounds of California gold, have since become the subject of a decades-long legal battle.

The pants were found in a trunk belonging to John Dement, a veteran of the Mexican-American War from Oregon. Mr. Dement was a buyer for his family’s mercantile shop, and, during business trips to buy goods, survived many stormy ship journeys, including the sinking of the S.S. Central America, according to the auction catalog.

Mr. Dement’s trunk was recovered in 1991, and the items inside, which included socks, night shirts and paperback books, were salvageable because the trunk had little to no oxygen inside.

The trunk’s condition prevented its contents from exhibiting the bacterial degradation and biological consumption seen in items that were more exposed on the shipwreck, Robert Evans, the chief scientist and historian of the S.S. Central America project, said in the auction catalog.

Inside the trunk, scientists also found the work pants, which are made of a thick unknown material and covered in black and brown stains. It was not clear who made the winning bid for the pants.

Holabird Western Americana Collections said the work pants could be affiliated with Levi Strauss because he was a major seller of dry goods during the Gold Rush and lost treasure in the shipwreck. The unlabeled pants have a five-button pattern on the fly, and the buttons are “nearly identical size and manufactured style,” further convincing the sellers that the pants could be made by, or for, Strauss, the auction catalog said.

Mr. Strauss and his associate, Jacob Davis, patented the first modern bluejeans in 1873, 16 years after the S.S. Central America sank.

Tracey Panek, a historian and director of the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives, said in an email that linking the pants to Mr. Strauss was speculative.

Ms. Panek, who inspected the pants and other artifacts from the wreckage in person, said that while she was excited by the discovery, she saw nothing that would link the pants to Mr. Strauss.

“From the white color, lack of suspender buttons, five fly buttons instead of four, and the unusual fly design with extra side buttonholes, to the non-denim fabric that is a much lighter weight than cloth used by LS & Co. for its earliest riveted clothing, the Dement trunk pants are not typical of the miner’s work pants in our archives,” Ms. Panek said.

No matter the origin of the pants, at the time of the shipwreck, they would not have come close to the value of other loot on the S.S. Central America.

Passengers boarded the ship with gold coins and nuggets, which had been collected in the gold mining towns of Northern California during the Gold Rush. California’s business center at the time was in San Francisco, where passengers boarded the S.S. Sonora before transferring to the ill-fated S.S. Central America in Panama.

More than a century after the ship went down, the treasure hunter Thomas G. Thompson found the wreck. He was later accused of not providing proceeds from the haul to the 161 people who invested in his search.

Some of the investors sued Mr. Thompson in 2012, and he was ordered to appear in court and disclose the location of gold recovered from the shipwreck. He fled and became a fugitive until U.S. marshals arrested him in 2015 at a hotel in Florida. He has been in federal prison since 2015.