New AI system accurately maps urban green spaces, exposing environmental divides

Team led by NYU’s Rumi Chunara uses satellite imagery and deep learning to reveal stark disparities in Karachi's green spaces, offering cities better tools to track and plan vital cooling spaces

NYU Tandon School of Engineering

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A research team led by Rumi Chunara - an NYU associate professor with appointments in both the Tandon School of Engineering and the School of Global Public Health –  has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) system that uses satellite imagery to track urban green spaces more accurately than prior methods, critical to ensuring healthy cities.

To validate their approach, the researchers tested the system in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city where several team members are based. Karachi proved an ideal test case with its mix of dense urban areas and varying vegetation conditions.

Accepted for publication by the ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies, the team’s analysis exposed a stark environmental divide: some areas enjoy tree-lined streets while many neighborhoods have almost no vegetation at all.

Cities have long struggled to track their green spaces precisely, from parks to individual street trees, with traditional satellite analysis missing up to about 37% of urban vegetation.

As cities face climate change and rapid urbanization, especially in Asia and Africa, accurate measurement has become vital. Green spaces can help reduce urban temperatures, filter air pollution, and provide essential spaces for exercise and mental health. 

But these benefits may be unequally distributed. Low-income areas often lack vegetation, making them hotter and more polluted than tree-lined wealthy neighborhoods. 

The research team developed their solution by enhancing AI segmentation architectures, such as  DeepLabV3+. Using high-resolution satellite imagery from Google Earth, they trained the system by augmenting their training data to include varied versions of green vegetation under different lighting and seasonal conditions - a process they call 'green augmentation.' This technique improved vegetation detection accuracy by 13.4% compared to existing AI methods - a significant advance in the field. 

When measuring how often the system correctly identifies vegetation, it achieved 89.4% accuracy with 90.6% reliability, substantially better than traditional methods which only achieve 63.3% accuracy with 64.0% reliability.

 "Previous methods relied on simple light wavelength measurements," said Chunara, who serves as the Director of the NYU Center for Health Data Science and is a member of NYU Tandon’s Visualization Imaging and Data Analysis Center (VIDA). "Our system learns to recognize more subtle patterns that distinguish trees from grass, even in challenging urban environments. This type of data is necessary for urban planners to identify neighborhoods that lack vegetation so they can develop new green spaces that will deliver the most benefits possible. Without accurate mapping, cities cannot address disparities effectively."

The Karachi analysis found the city averages just 4.17 square meters of green space per person, less than half the World Health Organization's (WHO’s) recommended minimum of 9 square meters per capita. The disparity within neighborhoods is dramatic: while some outlying union councils – Pakistan’s smallest local government body, a total of 173 were included in the study – have more than 80 square meters per person, five union councils have less than 0.1 square meters per capita.

The study revealed that areas with more paved roads – typically a marker of economic development – tend to have more trees and grass. More significantly, in eight different union councils studied, areas with more vegetation showed markedly lower surface temperatures, demonstrating green spaces' role in cooling cities.

Singapore offers a contrast, showing what's possible with deliberate planning. Despite having a similar population density to Karachi, it provides 9.9 square meters of green space per person, exceeding the WHO target.

The researchers have made their methodology public, though applying it to other cities would require retraining the system on local satellite imagery. 

This study adds to Chunara’s body of work developing computational and statistical methods, including data mining and machine learning, to understand social determinants of health and health disparities. Prior studies include using social media posts to map neighborhood-level systemic racism and homophobia and assess their mental health impact, as well as analyzing electronic health records to understand telemedicine access disparities during COVID-19.

In addition to Chunara, the paper’s authors are Miao Zhang, a PhD candidate in NYU Tandon’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering and VIDA; and Hajra Arshad, Manzar Abbas, Hamzah Jehanzeb, Izza Tahir, Javerya Hassan and Zainab Samad from The Aga Khan University's Department of Medicine in Karachi. Samad also holds an appointment in The Aga Khan University’s CITRIC Health Data Science Center.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

---

Journal

ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies

DOI

10.1145/3716370 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Quantifying greenspace with satellite images in Karachi, Pakistan using a new data augmentation paradigm

Article Publication Date

18-Feb-2025

LIBERAL MUSLIMS

Aga Khan, late leader of Ismailis, to be buried in Egypt today

Jamil Nagri 

DAWN

February 9, 2025 

Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan V (C), accompanied by his sons, Prince Irfan and Prince Sinan, looks at the coffin with the remains of his father Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims, during his funeral at the Ismaili community centre in central Lisbon on Feb 8, 2025. — AFP

A coffin of Prince Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, is carried into the hearse from the Ismaili Centre during his funeral in Lisbon, Portugal on Feb 8, 2025. — Reuters/Pedro Nunes


GILGIT: Prince Karim Aga Khan Al Hussaini, the 49th imam of Ismaili Muslims, will be buried in the Egyptian city of Aswan on Sunday.

His funeral at the Ismaili Centre in Lisbon was attended by more than 300 guests, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and former Spanish king Juan Carlos I, leaders of the Ismaili community and other dignitaries on Saturday.

In Gilgit-Baltistan and other parts of Pakistan, thousands of followers of the late spiritual leader gathered at their community centres and Jamaat Khanas to view the funeral ceremony broadcast from Lisbon.

In Gilgit, Hunza and Nagar, shops and businesses remained closed to mourn the death of Prince Karim, who died on Tuesday in Lisbon after nearly seven decades as the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims.



Finance minister, global dignitaries attend funeral in Lisbon

According to a statement by the Ismaili Imamat, the funeral was a closed event attended only by invited guests. The Ismaili community was represented by the 22 National Council presidents from around the world, including Pakistan.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb also represented Pakistan.

The ceremony was televised live on Ismaili TV and arrangements were made at community centres and Jamaat Khanas for the late leader’s followers to witness the funeral.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, members of the Ismaili community congregated in Gilgit, Hunza, and Ghizer districts to witness the ceremony.

A large number of people witnessed the funeral across GB despite harsh weather.

ALIABAD Bazaar, in Hunza, is closed, on Saturday. Markets remained shut in several parts of Gilgit-Baltistan on the occasion of the funeral of Aga Khan.—Dawn

Condolences

Prince Karim was regarded as a direct descendent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and enjoyed near-divine status as the 49th hereditary imam of Ismaili Muslims. He held British and Portuguese nationalities, as well as honorary Canadian citizenship, a distinction rarely given.

Prince Karim’s burial on Sunday would be a private ceremony, to be followed by a special homage ceremony in Lisbon on Tuesday.

His son and successor, Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini, who was named the 50th hereditary Imam, or spiritual leader, according to his father’s will, would also attend Tuesday’s ceremony.

He will grant an audience to senior leaders of the community, who will pledge their allegiance to him on behalf of Ismailis all over the world.

It is expected that Prince Rahim will ordain an update to the Ismaili constitution and bless the community.

On Saturday, Finance Minister Aurangzeb met Prince Rahim and expressed condolences on behalf of the president, the prime minister and the people of Pakistan, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry.

Finance Minister Aurangzeb meets with Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini after attending the funeral of Prince Karim Aga Khan Al Hussaini in Lisbon, Portugal on February 8. — PID


The minister lauded the services of Prince Karim and the Aga Khan Development Network for the socio-economic well-being of people and honouring cultural heritage.

He called Prince Karim’s demise a “monumental loss” not only for his family, friends and followers but also for the underprivileged and destitute people of the world. He recalled the late leader’s special attachment to Pakistan and its people.

Special prayers were also held for the late leader at Ismaili community centres across Pakistan.

Delegations representing various sects, political parties, social organisations, civil society and officials have been visiting Ismaili Council Centres in Gilgit, Ghizer, and Hunza for condolences.

They paid tribute to the late leader for his contribution to the region’s socio-economic development.

A day of mourning was observed across Pakistan on Saturday over the demise of Prince Karim.

National flags on important government buildings remained at half-mast across the country.

As Aga Khan, Al-Hussaini expanded the work of his grandfather, who created hospitals, housing and banking cooperatives in developing countries.

He invested part of the immense family fortune in the most deprived countries, combining philanthropy with business acumen.

To this end, he founded the Aga Khan Development Network, a gigantic foundation which is thought to have 96,000 employees worldwide and which funds development programmes, mainly in Asia and Africa.

A keen racehorse owner, he continued the family tradition of breeding thoroughbreds in his eight stables in France and Ireland. His horses won many of the most prestigious races.

With input from Agencies

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025

Understanding the Aga Khan, leader of Ismaili Muslims

(RNS) — The Aga Khan IV was often referred to as a philanthropist, but the description ignores the spiritual impetus for his work.

FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual leader to millions of Ismaili Muslims, addresses an audience, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, at the Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Hussein Rashid

RNS
February 7, 2025

(RNS) — On Tuesday (Feb. 4), Shah Karim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, passed away in Lisbon, at age 88. For most Americans, this name has little meaning. People with a particular historical awareness may remember his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III, as one of the founders of the League of Nations and international statesman. But even those who know the lineage of the Aga Khans, a title that goes back to the British Raj in India, don’t understand who Shah Karim was.

Both men were Imams, or spiritual leaders, of a Muslim community known as the Ismailis. This community is a Shi’ah community that believes the Prophet Muhammad named his cousin and son-in-law Ali as the first Imam. This figure of the Imam is designated in the Quran, the revealed word of God, according to Muslims, and is guaranteed by God to guide the community of believers. The Aga Khans are descended from Prophet Muhammad through Imam Ali and his wife Fatima.

Shah Karim, the 49th Imam in the lineage, took his title as Aga Khan in 1954, when he was 20, after the death of his grandfather.

The Aga Khan IV, who headed the Aga Khan Development Network, was often referred to as a philanthropist, a label that he himself called deeply inaccurate. According to broader Shi’ah belief, three interrelated elements are believed to elevate one another: faith, knowledge, and action. To increase in any one area, you must increase in the other areas as well, and together each amplifies the other. Most importantly, faith and knowledge without action is selfish and a denial of God’s blessings.

RELATED: The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims and a philanthropist, dies at 88

In May 2006, in accepting the Tolerance Award from the Evangelical Academy of Tutzing, in Germany, the Aga Khan said, “I am fascinated and somewhat frustrated when representatives of the Western world … try to describe the work of our Aga Khan Development Network … they often describe it either as philanthropy or entrepreneurship.” He attributed the misconception to a false dichotomy made between secular and religious and explained that his work is in fact an expression of this relationship among faith, knowledge and action.

In the speech, he emphasized that he aimed “to improve the quality of worldly life for the concerned communities,” offering two exemplar inspirations. The first is the first verse of the Quran’s fourth chapter, which says “O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from the twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women.” The verse, the Aga Khan said, says that we are all connected, coming from the same origin, and that we are also diverse, and this is a sign of God’s blessings.

The second piece of inspiration he gave was a teaching of Imam Ali, which speaks of ideal virtues, including faith, knowledge and action and the ability to have humility and seek consultation.

The Aga Khan was a historical figure, a man of the world who skied in the Olympics on the Iranian team, received numerous honorary degrees and worked as an international peacemaker. But it is important to understand what drove him to achieve these things. The Tutzing speech is a window into that impetus: He didn’t act out of a wish for worldly acclaim or the disbursement of worldly wealth. Rather, his course in life was an expression of faith and knowledge, an essential part of what it means to be a believer, to be human.

A person of integrity, the Aga Khan did everything as part of a comprehensive whole. There was not a part that was separate from another part. For his community, he was the living exemplar of what it meant to embody the ethics of religion in its most complete form. His passing is a loss to the community and a reminder that God has promised them continual guidance, in the line of Imams that continues with his son, Prince Rahim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan V.


(Hussein Rashid, Ph.D., is an independent scholar based in New York and an Ismaili Muslim. The views in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)

THE RUBIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html

Omar Khayyam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayyam

PANNIER: Prince Karim Aga Khan IV obituary

A philanthropist, Aga Khan IV was devoted to his people, the Ismailis, many of whom live in remote areas of some of the world’s poorest countries. / AKDNFacebook

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By Bruce Pannier February 7, 2025

Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of some 15 million Ismaili Muslims worldwide, died in Portugal on February 4 aged 88.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) announced the passing of the “49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad” on their website.

The Aga Khan was born into a wealthy family. He lived what most people would call a lavish life, mingling with heads of state and royalty, and devoted much time to his passion of horse-breeding and horse racing.

His horses won the Derby Stakes five times. One of the horses, Shergar, won in 1981 by the widest margin in Derby history, only to be kidnapped two years later. The horse was never found, and no suspects were ever apprehended.

But the Aga Khan was also a philanthropist, and impact investor, who was always devoted to his people, the Ismailis, many of whom live in remote areas of some of the world’s poorest countries.

Aga Khan IV's grandfather, Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III, who died in 1957, chose his successor as a person of the world for the post-World War II times (Credit: AKDN).

For these people in particular, the Aga Khan was not only their spiritual leader, but also the source of better education, the builder of needed infrastructure, and in some cases, their saviour in desperate times.

Matt Reed, the global director of Institutional Partnerships for the Aga Khan Foundation, told bne IntelliNews that the Aga Khan was “a spiritual leader who felt an obligation to humanity to improve the quality of life for all people living in countries where he or his community were present.”

Prince Karim Al-Hussaini was born in Geneva, Switzerland on December 13, 1936. His father was Prince Aly Salomone Khan, while his mother was Joan Yarde-Buller, a British socialite. After the two divorced in 1949, Prince Aly Khan married movie star Rita Hayworth.

As a small child, Prince Karim lived in Kenya, but he moved to Switzerland to attend school. Afterwards, he majored in Islamic history at Harvard University. His grandfather, Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III, died in 1957 having directed that Prince Karim, rather than Karim’s father or uncle, should be the next Aga Khan.

Aga Khan III gave this instruction because he felt it was important that the new Aga Khan was a person of the world in atomic physics and other post-World War II technologies and inventions.

Prince Karim was 20 years-old when he became the Aga Khan. Despite his position, he returned to Harvard with an entourage and completed his studies, graduating in 1959.

Aga Khan IV established the Aga Khan Foundation in 1967 “to address the root causes of poverty and support community institutions to carry out sustainable, locally-driven initiatives that improve the quality of life.”

When Ismaili communities in several African countries were expelled or displaced, along with other South Asians, in the early 1970s, the Aga Khan helped to resettle them in Asia, Europe and North America.

Children in Osh, the Kyrgyz Republic, at an Aga Khan Foundation teacher training class on latest early childhood development pedagogies and techniques (Credit: AKDN).

The Aga Khan’s work expanded over the years. Hundreds of schools, two universities and dozens of hospitals and clinics were built.

He also sponsored thousands of agricultural projects, including research into hybrid crops that can grow at high altitudes, as well as the building of large-scale energy infrastructure. Moreover, he helped with the construction of small hydropower plants that serve remote communities, invested in telecommunications, organised microfinancing, and more.

In 2008, all of these projects were grouped under a common umbrella, and the Aga Khan Development Network was created.

The AKDN now works in more than 30 countries, but one of the most important areas the organisation works in is the Pamir Mountains, where Ismaili communities of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan are found.

There are some 500,000 Ismailis living in Pakistan. The Aga Khans have kept close connections with the country and have been doing philanthropic work in its Ismaili region for more than a century. The father of Aga Khan IV served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations in the late 1950s.

The AKDN started work in Afghanistan and Tajikistan in the 1990s, a time when there was civil war in both countries.

The Aga Khan is credited by many with saving many of the more than 200,000 Ismailis in mountainous, remote Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) of eastern Tajikistan from starvation during the Central Asian country’s 1992-1997 civil war.

In the years after the war, the cash-strapped Tajik government was unable to spend money on GBAO, a region that the government’s civil war opponents used for bases because of its nearly inaccessible terrain.

The AKDN stepped in to assist and helped the government develop educational facilities, businesses and infrastructure in GBAO. It also built several bridges to connect the region to Badakhshan Province in neighbouring Afghanistan, where Ismaili communities are present.

The organisation helped establish the University of Central Asia in the GBAO regional capital Khorog (and later another UCA in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan), providing opportunities for local young people to obtain higher education without leaving GBAO.

Over the course of some 30 years, the Aga Khan spent some $1bn on projects in GBAO.

Condolences over the death of Aga Khan IV were expressed by many world leaders, past and present. King Charles III said he was "deeply saddened" on the passing away of his "personal friend of many years" (Credit: AKDN).

Since it started work in Afghanistan during the mid-1990s, the AKDN has never left the country. Some 200,000 Ismailis live in Afghanistan.

The AKDN is currently working in 26 Afghan provinces, 11 directly and 15 in partnership with other organisations, benefitting some 12mn people. The AKDN has actually expanded its Afghanistan operations in the years since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

The network has proved more than a lifeline to the communities it has assisted. It has helped all of them to improve their living situations and prospects, not only in the Pamir Mountains, but in other parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Reed, of the Aga Khan Foundation, said Aga Khan IV had three principles for the AKDN’s work, namely “Absolute commitment” to working with all the people in the communities where it operates, regardless of faith or background; establishing institutions that would endure long after his death, whether the governments of these countries were weak or strong; and community ownership of all the projects so that everything the AKDN built or helped establish, either belonged to, or was managed by, the communities or local people.

Aga Khan IV has been described in the media as a “socialite” or “playboy,” and that was part of his life. But the work he did for not only his Ismaili communities, but also for the people living with or near these communities, was so often invaluable.

The schools and universities, hospitals, power plants, rural projects, hotels, parks and local financing institutions Aga Khan IV leaves behind will benefit the people of these regions for generations to come.

It is therefore not surprising that among those expressing their condolences on the Aga Khan’s death and praise for his work were Pakistani President Asif Ai Zardari, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and King Charles III.

(Credit: AKDN).

It is a proud legacy, and it now falls to his son, Prince Rahim (pictured above), to carry on the work as Aga Khan V.

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims and a philanthropist, dies at 88

SCION OF THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN HASAN ibn SABAH

Issued on: 05/02/2025 -

The Aga Khan, who became the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims at age 20 as a Harvard undergraduate and poured a material empire built on billions of dollars in tithes into building homes, hospitals and schools in developing countries, died Tuesday. He was 88.

ISMALI MUSLIMS ARE CONSIDERED  HERETICS!

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: My Favorite Muslim

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

 

New Aga Khan takes helm of Ismaili Shi'ite Muslims

A new Aga Khan has taken the helm as the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims following the death of his father aged 88.

Prince Rahim al-Hussaini has been named the new Aga Khan, becoming the spiritual leader of around 15mn Ismaili Muslims worldwide following the death of his father in Lisbon aged 88.

The 53-year-old was appointed in his father's will, unsealed on February 5, as the fifth Aga Khan and 50th imam of the Nizari Ismaili branch of Shia Islam, continuing a 1,300-year dynasty that claims direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Ismailism shares its beginnings with other early Shi’ite Muslim sects that emerged during the succession crisis that spread throughout the early years of Islam. Prior to the collapse of the Pahlavi monarchy in Iran in 1979, the Ismailis held a royal title second only to the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 

Through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Prince Rahim has focused on climate issues and will now oversee a vast portfolio of humanitarian institutions and business interests estimated to be worth between $1bn-$13bn, spanning airlines, real estate and media.

"My expectation would be that there is a continuation of that legacy, because it is ingrained in Islam and it is substantiated in these institutions," said Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith America, who studied Ismaili institutions at Oxford University.

The late Aga Khan, who was given the title "His Highness" by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, built the AKDN into a global force for development. it was particularly active in Asia and Africa through hospitals, schools and universities.

"We have no notion of the accumulation of wealth being evil," he told Vanity Fair in 2012. "The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society."

Prince Rahim, educated at Phillips Academy and Brown University, inherits the leadership of a community known for pluralism and humanitarian work.

The AKDN has invested more than $1bn in Tajikistan alone since 1995, though recent tensions have seen Tajik authorities nationalise some properties amid separatism accusations.

In November, Central Asia specialist Bruce Pannier reported for bne IntelliNews on how the former imam of the Ismaili community served as the chief beneficiary to the Pamiri—but in a grievous blow to the minority, was being cut off from further cooperation by Tajikistan’s Rahmon regime.

"They have really been at the forefront of relief efforts and humanitarianism on behalf not only of Ismailis, but of all the people affected in the communities where they work," said Jonah Steinberg, associate professor at the University of South Carolina.

The succession marks a return to tradition after the late Aga Khan's own unexpected appointment.

In 1957, his grandfather bypassed other heirs to name the then 20-year-old Harvard student as successor, citing the need for youthful leadership in a rapidly changing world.

The late Aga Khan is survived by three sons and a daughter.

EXCHANGE VALUE

Aga Khan emerald fetches record $9 mn in Geneva auction


By AFP
November 12, 2024


A Christie's employee poses with The Aga Khan Emerald - Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI

A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan fetched nearly nine million dollars at auction in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the world’s most expensive green stone.

Sold by Christie’s, the Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewellery made by the fashion house Bulgari, which Richard Burton gave as a wedding gift to fellow actor Elizabeth Taylor, as the most precious emerald.

In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, to whom he was briefly married.

Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.

By chance that was at Christie’s very first such sale in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.

It was bought by jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of the United States’ Harry Winston, nicknamed the “King of Diamonds”.

“Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,” said Christie’s EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett.

“We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.”

Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5 million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned jewellery collection in New York.

Mysterious diamond-laden necklace fetches $4.8 mn in Geneva auction


By AFP
November 13, 2024


The mysterious necklace contained around 300 carats of diamonds

 - Copyright AFP SAUL LOEB

Elodie LE MAOU

A mysterious diamond-laden necklace with possible links to a scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette, sold for $4.8 million at an auction in Geneva Wednesday.

The 18th century jewel containing around 300 carats of diamonds had been estimated to sell at the Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale for $1.8-2.8 million.

But after energetic bidding, the hammer price ticked in at 3.55 million Swiss francs ($4 million), and Sotheby’s listed the final price after taxes and commissions at 4.26 million francs ($4.81 million).

The unidentified buyer, who put in her bid over the phone, was “ecstatic”, Andres White Correal, chairman of the Sotheby’s jewellery department, told AFP.

“She was ready to fight and she did,” he said, adding that it had been “an electric night”.

“There is obviously a niche in the market for historical jewels with fabulous provenances… People are not only buying the object, but they’re buying all the history that is attached to it,” he said.



– ‘Survivor of history’ –



Some of the diamonds in the piece are believed to stem from the jewel at the centre of the “Diamond Necklace Affair” — a scandal in the 1780s that further tarnished the reputation of France’s last queen, Marie Antoinette, and boosted support for the coming French Revolution.

The auction house said the necklace, composed of three rows of diamonds finished with a diamond tassel at each end, had emerged “miraculously intact” from a private Asian collection to make its first public appearance in 50 years.

“This spectacular antique jewel is an incredible survivor of history,” it said in a statement prior to the sale.

Describing the massive Georgian-era piece as “rare and highly important”, Sotheby’s said it had likely been created in the decade preceding the French Revolution.

“The jewel has passed from families to families. We can start at the early 20th century when it was part of the collection of the Marquesses of Anglesey,” White Correal said.

Members of this aristocratic family are believed to have worn the necklace twice in public: once at the 1937 coronation of King George VI and once at his daughter Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.

– ‘Spectacular’ –

Beyond that, little is known of the necklace, including who designed it and for whom it was commissioned, although the auction house believes that such an impressive antique jewel could only have been created for a royal family.

Sotheby’s said it was likely that some of the diamonds featured in the piece came from the famous necklace from the scandal that engulfed Marie Antoinette just a few years before she was guillotined.

That scandal involved a hard-up noblewoman named Jeanne de la Motte who pretended to be a confidante of the queen, and managed to acquire a lavish diamond-studded necklace in her name, against a promise of a later payment.

While the queen was later found to be blameless in the affair, the scandal still deepened the perception of her careless extravagance, adding to the anger that would unleash the revolution.

Sotheby’s said the diamonds in the necklace sold Wednesday were likely sourced from “the legendary Golconda mines in India” — considered to produce the purest and most dazzling diamonds.

“The fortunate buyer has walked away with a spectacular piece of history,” Tobias Kormind, head of Europe’s largest online diamond jeweller 77 Diamonds, said in a statement.

“With exceptional quality diamonds from the legendary, now extinct Indian Golconda mines, the history of a possible link to Marie Antoinette along with the fact that it was worn to two coronations, all make this 18th Century necklace truly special.”

Outsourcing matters

Parvez Rahim 

Published September 14, 2024 

AN entrepreneur investing in establishing a manufacturing unit or setting up a business will aspire to get maximum returns in terms of profit from his initiative. Depending upon the magnitude of investment, he will have no control over the cost of plant equipment and raw materials, which will depend upon market rates.

However, he will make every effort to keep his administrative or fixed costs as low as possible. This includes the payment of monthly salary and benefits to employees. Here, he would explore all options to curtail the cost without compromising on the quality of his product or business interests.

He will decide about the areas where people with higher education will be required and those who will provide support services. In the former case, he will try to get the best people available and offer them an attractive salary and benefits. He may outsource the support services at competitive rates. This practice is prevalent the world over.

In Pakistan, the practice of engaging third-party contractors has been common since the inception of industry. The motive has been to cut costs and increase efficiency. Initially, there was a huge difference in cost for the same work done by the company’s own employees or those of contractors. The salary and benefits of own employees of lower cadres keep increasing due to the collective labour agreements reached with the union.

The contractors would not ensure compliance with the laws and make their workers available to interested employers at a low cost. This difference in cost has narrowed down over the years as now progressive employers force contractors to ensure compliance with all laws, especially relating to the welfar

Progressive employers force contractors to ensure compliance with all laws.

In addition to contracting out of services to a service provider, there are two other types of outsourcing carried out by companies: toll manufacturing and offshoring.

Toll manufacturing or tolling is outsourcing all the production or part of it to a third-party where the principal company provides all the raw materials or semi-finished products to the former. The work of the third-party company is to process the products or raw materials to the required specification.

Offshoring is a practice of relocating business processes or work functions to another country to save on costs and increase efficiency. A company may choose to outsource certain tasks or entire processes to low-cost countries, where labour may be cheaper or more skilled.

To facilitate its booming industry to compete in the international market, India promulgated the Contract Labour (Regulation) Act, 1970. Under this Act, the contractors must get themselves registered with the government. Besides, they must also ensure compliance with the labour statutes to secure the welfare and health of workers and avoid legal issues.

In Pakistan, half-hearted attempts were made in the 1990s to introduce a similar law, but the effort did not materialise. However, in the beginning of the current century, the federal government and Punjab and Sindh, respectively, have promulgated ordinances regulating the outsourcing of security services by security companies.

These ordinances require the security companies to get themselves registered with the government. Unfortunately, there are no provisions in the three ordinances guaranteeing the payment of minimum wages to the security guards and compliance with laws on daily working hours and the weekly rest days. As a result, most of the companies to whom their services are let out violate the laws to the detriment of security guards.

The Punjab Priv­a­­te Security Com­p­a­nies (Regulation and Control) Ordinance, 2002, is the only statute which provides for the group life insurance of guards for a paltry amount of Rs200,000 and mandatory registration with the social security institution. The responsibility to ensure compliance with the laws rests both with the service providers as well as the companies to whom those services are provided.

Besides, the core jobs in which workers employed through contractors work under the direct supervision and control of the principal employer and along with the latter’s own workers, cannot be outsourced. In this context, there are two landmark judgments of the Supreme Court dated May 16, 2013, and Dec 8, 2017, respectively.

In 2013, the management of Fauji Fertiliser plant at Mirpur Mathelo was directed by then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to regularise the services of 112 workers. In 2017, the management of Pakistan State Oil had to regularise the services of 210 workers on the direction of then chief justice Saqib Nisar, at its head office in Karachi.

The writer is a consultant in human resources at the Aga Khan University Hospital and Vital Pakistan Trust.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2024

Negotiating with AI

Farid Panjwani 

Published September 14, 2024

LAST December, I observed a child watching a fire made by watchmen in our street to keep warm. The dance of the flames fascinated her but the heat she felt stopped her from going too close, which was a safe response.

Mysterium tremendum et fascinans (mysteries that we simultaneously admire and fear); theologian-philosopher Rudolf Otto coined this phrase to describe the human response to the incomprehensibility of extraordinary phenomena that people encounter. This triggered the thought of artificial intelligence, an invention unlike anything humans have created. From carrying out complex medical diagnoses to engaging in poetic conversations, AI is fascinating. But there is another side to it as well, a power that can have hugely undesirable consequences for people and the environment.

Technologies require negotiation. A well-negotiated car — serviced and well-driven — serves superbly for years. Mishandled, it gives trouble and becomes a burden. When technologies have a collective social use and impact, this negotiation involves wider material, legal and social factors for the realisation of its full potential. Continuing with the example of the car, these broader factors include, among other things, suitable roads, traffic regulations, an effective licensing system and considerate behaviour by drivers. In short, a technology’s potential — will it serve the few or the majority? — is fated in an ecosystem.

As it happens, the world today, the ecosystem in which AI is born, is not enviable. It is rather hugely worrisome: a closely interconnected world yet one where many people display a propensity to hate those defined as the ‘other’ through polarising ideologies; an unprecedented scientific knowledge of the physical world, yet a fragile relationship with nature; and, an unparalleled technological promise with serious threat to freedom and privacy. Hope and despair, like shadow and sunshine, are interlocked by these paradoxes.

At the heart of these conditions is the escalating concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands. In 2022, 1.2 per cent of the richest people controlled 47.8pc of global wealth. This skewed distribution of wealth, an outcome of the neoliberal mode of economics, has political, social and psychological consequences as it creates inequities in access to resources and opportunities. In such an ecosystem, the power of AI is likely to exacerbate inequities and their consequences.


The world today — the ecosystem in which artificial intelligence is born — is not enviable.

What harm can this do? Sometimes AI is compared to the Industrial Revolution. The association goes only so far. That revolution, though catastrophic for unskilled physical labour, still left, in fact increased, the need for skilled manual work as well as intellectual labour. But now, the combination of AI and robotics can displace these forms of work and labour. The allure of profit makes this possibility attractive. This makes the threat of a completely unemployed life for hundreds of millions a real possibility. With humanoid teachers and nurses, even the belief that jobs that require a soft, human touch are safe seems untenable.


AI’s advocates often respond by foreseeing an age of leisure with universal income and unlimited time for swimming, playing, singing, fishing etc. This pious hope, or a false promise to justify the march of AI, forgets that barring a few, most of us enjoy leisure only after spending time on what is called work. The sweetest tooth will be repelled if forced to eat sweets as a staple meal.

Moreover, given what we now know of the neural plasticity, without the challenges of work and our growing dependency on AI for answers, how would the mind change? Would it become less agile, curious and intelligent whilst AI, on the other hand, with greater training becomes more intelligent? Finally, there is the question of its effect on the democratic model of governance. We work, pay taxes, and get a share in the government. We become citizens. Money received through largesse would mean no taxes and hence may result in no say in governance.

Even if we set aside the danger of mass unemployment, without rebalancing the power structures, the biggest uses of AI are likely to be in warfare, surveillance and marketing, with crumbs falling to education, health and other social goods. It is not a surprise that some of those who pioneered this technology, for example Geoffrey Hinton, formerly at Google, are now worried about the impact of AI.

Enter the importance of negotiation with AI. Without it, the path forward is slippery. How do we negotiate with AI? Critical education, at the individual level, and sound global and national regulations, at the collective levels, are the best negotiating tools we have.

Critical here means developing capacities to understand the structures of power and knowledge that lie beneath the surface and that shape life chances and access to opportunities and resources. The humanities are considered best suited for such capacities. They need to be an integral part of higher education with an aim to develop and sustain an interest in inner life, fellow beings, social organisation and the moral consequences of actions.

Such an education can help us realise that technologies do not stand outside of a society, from where they can be called upon to rescue it. Rather, they are embedded within a society whose contours must be reimagined if the technology is to become a force for good for the majority.

Equally important is to bring a range of global and national regulations that create a fine balance between creativity and social responsibility. These would include: an AI governance framework; accountability and safety protocols; data protection and privacy policies; equitable learning access; proscription on certain uses of AI, such as in warfare and for clandestine surveillance; public democratic oversight; transparency of algorithms; job protection, environmental impact regulations; and monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. This is far easier said than done. Hardly any of this exists currently.

Negotiations are possible under certain conditions and within a certain period. After that, it can be too late. Now is the time to negotiate.

The writer is a professor and dean, Institute for Educational Development, Aga Khan University.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2024

Ukraine’s ban targeting Russian-linked faith groups raises religious freedom concerns

Even some supporters of Ukraine see the ban as an overstep in the name of national security, a violation of religious freedom and a potential risk to continued foreign

 military aid.

An aerial photo shows the thousand-year-old Monastery of Caves, also known as Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the holiest site of Eastern Orthodox Christians, taken through morning fog during a sunrise in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

August 21, 2024
By David I. Klein

(RNS) — On Tuesday (Aug. 20), the Ukrainian Parliament passed a long-anticipated bill that will ban the activities of churches deemed to be affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church or supporting the Russian invasion.

The legislation, expected to be signed into law soon by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, explicitly bans religious institutions subordinate to leaders based in Russia and is seen even by some supporters of Ukraine as an overstep in the name of national security, a violation of religious freedom and a potential risk to continued foreign military aid.

The clear target of the law is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with its historical ties to Moscow. The church declared itself independent of the Moscow Patriarchate three months after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 but many still suspect at least some of the church leadership has loyalties to Russia.

“The government in Kyiv wants to see the conduits of Russian influence in Ukrainian society totally minimized,” said Andreja Bogdanovski, an author, scholar and analyst of Orthodox Christianity.

Ahead of the vote, Zelenskyy said the law would “guarantee that there will be no manipulation of the Ukrainian Church from Moscow.”

“This draft law must work and must add to Ukraine the unity of the cathedral, our real spiritual unity,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Historically, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been the largest faith group in Ukraine, but the country’s Orthodox Christians found themselves split in 2019, when a newer religious body, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was recognized as canonical and fully independent of Moscow under the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The OCU, which now represents the majority of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, formed in part from parishes resisting Russian control during Ukraine’s independence movements at the beginning and end of the 20th century. In the wake of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and support of separatist militias in the Donbas region, the OCU was bolstered by Ukrainian clergymen who felt that Ukrainian Orthodox Christians needed a religious body divorced from Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill, who has long been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has justified Russia’s aggression in spiritual terms.

The law, once signed, would equip the Ukrainian government to set up a commission to investigate religious institutions across the country. The commission would then have nine months to provide a list of those deemed subordinate to Russian institutions.

Ukraine’s largest organization of religious bodies, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which represents Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, endorsed the draft law in an Aug. 17 statement, praising the effort “to make it impossible for such organizations to operate in our country.”

Those that sever their ties to Russia during that period will be allowed to continue to function. What constitutes a tie and an appropriate level of separation have not yet been specified. These details are what in part delayed the legislation’s approval for more than a year and a half after Zelenskyy first endorsed its draft.

Iryna Herashchenko, the first deputy chairwoman of the Ukrainian Parliament, hailed the bill’s passing as a “historic vote.”

Parliament “has passed a bill banning the aggressor country’s branch in Ukraine. 265 MPs voted FOR! This is a matter of national security, not religion,” she announced on X.

Despite the broad support inside Ukraine, the bill has been strongly criticized by some Orthodox leaders, including those from populaces that support Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Bulgaria’s newly elected Patriarch Daniil sent a letter of support to Metropolitan Onufriy, the primate of the UOC. The Bulgarian church does not recognize the OCU as canonical, but the church and government have expressed support for Ukraine in the war.

“You have resisted and continue, with God’s help, to resist all attempts to create disunity, preserving the unity, integrity, and canonicity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Patriarch Daniill wrote.

A Ukrainian serviceman of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade lights candles during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 4, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Onufriy also received letters of support from the heads of the Antiochian and Georgian Orthodox churches. Both jurisdictions have issued statements shy of condemning Patriarch Kirill’s role in Russian aggression.

But the bill has also been blasted on religious freedom grounds by many observers and is expected to be challenged as Ukraine moves closer to joining the European Union.
RELATED: Ukrainian Orthodox churches purge vestiges of Russian influence

“It’s very hard diplomatically to reconcile this law with Ukraine’s European ambitions,” said Samuel Noble, a scholar of Orthodox Christianity at Aga Khan University in London. “This is the kind of thing that will wind up being brought to Strasbourg, that is, the European Court of Human Rights.”

“It’s not normally the kind of thing that one does in a country aspiring to join the European Union. On the other hand, Ukraine is not in a normal situation,” he added.

Smilen Markov, a Bulgarian scholar of Orthodox Christianity, put it more bluntly: “The Ukrainian state is violating religious freedom. It declares a religious community pro-Russian, which is legally problematic, divisive and ruinous.”

Regina Elsner, the chair of Eastern churches and ecumenism at the University of Muenster’s Ecumenical Institute, posted on Twitter that the legislation’s approval is “deeply disturbing.”

“This law opens a door to serious violations of religious freedom and new fragmentation within Ukraine,” she said. “The amendments of the last months did not improve anything. Hate and violence against UOC believers get public approval. Sad.”

Since the outbreak of full-scale war, Ukraine has jailed more than 100 UOC priests over charges of espionage and anti-Ukrainian speech, including posting opinions on social media and speaking from the pulpit.

The Russian Orthodox Church in particular has sought to use such religious freedom concerns to garner sympathy for the UOC and cast doubt on Western aid to Ukraine, which has been crucial for the Ukrainian defense.

“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being subjected to reprisals for its refusal to join the organization of schismatics and self-ordained peoples, created as a political project aimed at destroying the common spiritual heritage of Russian and Ukrainian peoples,” said Vladimir Lagoida, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, on Telegram. “There is no doubt that the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will sooner or later receive a fair assessment, just as the godless regimes of the past received it, destroying the human right to faith and to belong to their Church.”

Patriarch Kirill, right, meets with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi at the Patriarchal Residence in Danilov Monastery, in Moscow, Russia, June 29, 2023. (Photo by Moscow Patriarchate)

The UOC has ceased to commemorate Patriarch Kirill in prayers and has said it is not bound by the decisions of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“In Orthodox Church logic, that’s effectively a declaration of independence,” Noble said. “Even from the Russians’ perspective, officially on paper, the UOC is autonomous in all things, except for Onufriy’s seat on the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, which he has more or less disowned.”

Still, many Ukrainians remain deeply suspicious of the UOC. In 2021, 18% of religious Ukrainians identified as members of the UOC, but months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, that dropped to just 4%, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. The same poll found OCU membership increased from 34% to 54%. In addition, hundreds of Orthodox congregations have switched allegiance from the UOC to the OCU, according to church records, but few monks, traditionally seen as sources of authority in the church, have followed.

“Of course, it is true that the hierarchy of the UOC is partly pro-Russian,” Markov noted. “The allegations about ties with Moscow are often factually correct.

“However, these perpetrations are personal and they should be proved case by case,” he added. “They cannot be blamed on a religious community of millions of Ukrainians.”

Opinion

Ukraine’s ban targeting Moscow-linked Orthodox Church risks US aid

Zelenskyy is about to test not only Ukraine’s carefully constructed global image but also its own path toward liberal democracy.

An aerial view of the Monastery of the Caves, also known as Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the holiest sites of Eastern Orthodox Christians, in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 13, 2020.

 (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

August 21, 2024
By Katherine Kelaidis

(RNS) — On Tuesday (Aug. 20), the Ukrainian Parliament passed long-threatened legislation meant to ban the country’s Moscow-linked Orthodox Church and any faith groups supporting Russia’s invasion. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the bill a “duty” to “guarantee Ukrainian spiritual independence” and is expected to sign it into law soon, launching state intervention into a largely ecclesiastical battle.

In doing so, Zelenskyy is risking Ukraine’s access to Western military aid, especially crucial U.S. aid. Signing the law will give ammunition to the worst slurs of anti-Ukrainian forces in American political life.

The Russian Orthodox Church traces its origins to ninth-century Kyiv, now Ukraine’s capital. The majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, divided between two church bodies: a newer church formed with Ukrainian nationalism and an older church tied to Moscow. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was formed by churches that broke from Russian control during Ukraine’s independence. The jurisdiction was granted autocephaly or independence in 2019 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, called “first among equals” among Eastern Orthodox leaders. The recognition dented centuries of Moscow’s religious dominance in Ukraine as parishes switched loyalties, and its legitimacy has been fiercely rejected by Russia’s Patriarch Kirill and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, sparking a deep conflict within global Orthodoxy.

RELATED: Ukrainian Orthodox churches purge vestiges of Russian influence

While the UOC declared itself independent from Moscow three months after Russia’s 2022 invasion, many believe the church remains canonically tied to the Russian Orthodox Church and still harbors loyalty to Russia. Ukraine has prosecuted more than 100 UOC clerics, with charges ranging from anti-Ukrainian speech to espionage.

Charging priests with spying might seem like a groundless attack on members of an unpopular religious group, but the Russian Orthodox Church has a history of weaponizing itself as soft power for the state. There is also evidence that the Russian Orthodox Church is frequently used as an outpost for Russian intelligence efforts. This has led Estonia to pass similar legislation against the church.

The problem is that Ukraine’s legislation skirts the line between addressing a legitimate national security interest and suppressing a religious minority merely for having the taint of the “foreign.” Anyone concerned with freedom of conscience and belief can find legitimate reasons to condemn criminal charges over opinions expressed on social media or from the pulpit, which has been the case of many UOC clerics jailed since the invasion.
RELATED: Ukraine’s Parliament approves ban on Moscow-linked religious groups

Ukraine’s Parliament passed the legislation with a wide margin despite the potential ramifications. The country’s defense efforts rely primarily on the large amounts of military aid it has received from Western nations, mostly from the U.S. In gathering this aid, Ukraine has leaned heavily into a self-image as a newly liberalized democracy, a bulwark against Russian aggression and authoritarianism. It is as a liberal, pluralist democracy that Ukraine has sought not-yet-granted membership in NATO and the European Union.

That this self-narrativizing on the international stage has not been entirely persuasive is never more evident than in how contentious the continuation of American aid to Ukraine remains. Republicans are largely opposed or indifferent to the Ukrainian cause. The Republican nominee for vice president, JD Vance, has even declared he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine.

Many on the American right do not see Ukraine as a democracy, dedicated to safeguarding liberty at home and abroad, but instead see Ukraine as an authoritarian state in its own right. Before leaving Fox News, right-wing provocateur Tucker Carlson said Zelenskyy was not interested in “freedom or democracy.” Cato Institute fellow Ted Galen Carpenter has called Ukraine a “false democracy.” U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has applauded Russia for “protecting Christianity” and described it approvingly in comparison with “secular Ukraine.”

Greene’s comments point to a larger point in the American anti-Ukraine view, built on a belief in Russia’s self-promotion as a protector of Christianity and traditional values. Russian President Vladmir Putin recently advanced the Kremlin’s narrative by simplifying the immigration process to attract foreigners who share Russia’s “traditional values.”

The result of these dueling self-descriptions of Slavic nations is that Russia and Ukraine have become proxies for each side of a divided America. Just as American progressives are perhaps too quick to attribute to Ukraine the pluralism and social progressivism they strive for in the U.S., American conservatives and traditionalists are quick to believe Russia — and in some cases specifically the Russian Orthodox Church — is a bastion of the same traditionalism they hope to defend in America. For them, it makes sense that Russia was forced to go to war with Ukraine to defend it against “pride parades.” They fear (however irrationally) they might be forced into the same war in America.

For these people, Ukrainian efforts to suppress the Moscow-linked UOC are seen as evidence for their belief not only that Ukraine is an anti-democratic, anti-Christian, anti-family state, but moreover that Americans who support Ukraine are these things as well. This is particularly true as Americans are notoriously bad at separating their own internal battles from those abroad. “Religious freedom” is a dog whistle among many American traditionalists. A Ukrainian attack on “religious freedom” will most certainly lose all nuance in their translation of it into the American political landscape.

The truth is that Ukraine finds itself in a nearly impossible situation with respect to the UOC. On paper, at least, the UOC is an independent and fully Ukrainian church. It is also the church of many ordinary Ukrainians, who for whatever reasons (including language, habit, canonical and traditional loyalties) remain part of the besieged jurisdiction. At the same time, nearly everyone knows that the UOC’s independence is shallow at best, perhaps merely window dressing, and that while the UOC has supported Ukrainian soldiers and refugees, at least some UOC clerics are involved in efforts to undermine the Ukrainian cause and promote Russian ideology.

Zelenskyy is about to test not only Ukraine’s carefully constructed global image but also its own path toward liberal democracy. Ukraine’s future remains even more unclear as a result.

(Katie Kelaidis is a research fellow at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, England.)