It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Each year, the U.S. Military Sealift Command, in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navy, undertakes a grueling, more than 8,000 nautical mile mission to resupply McMurdo Station in Antarctica. The USCG polar icebreaker Polar Star has already arrived in Antarctica and now the cargo operation has begun, but this year the U.S. is using a chartered Dutch heavy lift vessel.
The Polar Star has begun its first ice breaking for Operation Deep Freeze 2026. The USCG vessel is in the Southern Ocean and began on January 7, opening channels through the ice.
The same day, the Dutch-flagged heavy lift vessel Plantijngracht (19,330 dwt) operated by Spliethoff departed Port Hueneme, California, after completing the load out of this year’s cargo. The vessel is underway first to Christchurch, New Zealand, and then will make its way to McMurdo Station.
Well-known maritime industry commentator Sal Mercogliano highlighted the use of the Dutch vessel this year instead of in the past, when U.S.-flagged vessels have been chartered to MSC for the mission. He wrote on X, “The reason for the award to the more costly foreign ship was the potential US recipient of the award was outside the 3000-mile radius of Port Hueneme at the time of award, and the ship would have been 4 days late. But, 25 percent of the cargo to load was going to be a week late, so the U.S.-flagged ship could have loaded and departed at the same time as the foreign ship.”
The Plantijngracht is slightly larger than the U.S. vessels Ocean Giant and Ocean Gladiator (each 17,500 dwt), which made the trip in the past. Both ships have made the trip in the past, although the MSC report only highlights the one ship this year.
During the preparation in Port Hueneme, they report that 302 pieces of cargo were loaded. It consists of containers filled with construction materials, construction equipment, parts for the ongoing barge project at McMurdo Station, as well as dry goods and supplies needed for survival on Antarctica. Further material will be loaded during the stop in Christchurch.
In addition to cargo containers, materials for a 65-ton floating causeway system were loaded. The causeway will replace the ice pier at McMurdo Station. Previously, an ice pier made up of rebar and frozen seawater was used for cargo offloads. Because of the size and weight of the cargo this year, the ice pier is unusable.
After offloading the materials, the cargo ship takes aboard trash and other materials from the station. It also returns any outdated or unused equipment no longer required at the station.
The cargo ships in past years have returned to the United States, typically in March. Polar Star, which will mark 50 years of operation in 2026, typically departs Antarctica by early March after having completed its mission and begins the long trip back to the United States.
Friday, January 16, 2026
Iran's internet shutdown hits 182 hours following massive protests
NetBlocks records that the Iranian internet blackout has surpassed the blackout during the 2019 protests / CC: IRIB
Iran's ongoing internet blackout has exceeded 182 hours of continuous disruption, surpassing the core duration of the 2019 shutdown, according to NetBlocks' monitoring data.
Most Iranian government websites still exist and function over the "National Information Network" or local intranet, but foreign networks, users will only reliably see stubs or gated front pages for a handful of top‑level portals and state media mirrors, with the bulk of .ir government content effectively dark to the outside world at present.
The nationwide connectivity cut commenced on January 8, following twelve days of nationwide protests. Following the government’s internet crackdown, protests continued to swell across major cities, including Astara, Shiraz, Ketar, Isfahan, and the capital of Tehran.
On January 12, Iranian security forces reportedly escalated their crackdown by conducting house-to-house searches to confiscate satellite dishes and Starlink internet equipment, targeting the limited technological resources available to citizens for accessing external communications.
This prolonged blackout showcases the Iranian state's willingness to impose comprehensive digital isolation to suppress domestic unrest, even as it risks further alienating the population and attracting international condemnation.
According to calls attempted by bne IntelliNews on January 14, Iranian residents were entirely unreachable, though several reports indicate one-way calls to foreign telephone numbers remained possible.
Social messaging applications have been completely disabled, while Iranian newspapers face mixed outcomes: some remain entirely disconnected, while others have maintained a limited online presence through government-controlled internet networks.
The US Agency for Global Media has responded by expanding its broadcasting capabilities into Iran through a partnership with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, complementing private sector efforts like Starlink to maintain information flows into the country.
According to reliable sources who recently left Iran, the Iranian government, using Russian scrambling technology imported from Belarus earlier in December have succesfully managed to scramble internet signals via geo-stationary satellites over Iranian cities.
One Iranian website that has managed to stay online is the state-owned Press TV, which, citing the President of Iran’s National Centre for Cyberspace, Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, said the internet blackout will continue for the "time being."
He added that the exact timeline for lifting the restrictions will be announced once authorities have completed their security assessments.
“The time to return to normal conditions will be announced in the future, and authorities must certainly brief us on security considerations,” Aqamiri said, as quoted by the IRNA news agency.
The Iranian government has kept only a few websites online, including the President of Iran's website, Masoud Pezeshkian, and government news websites, including their Arabic and English-language services.
English-language newspapers in Tehran continue to publish content, including the Tehran Times and Iran Daily, both owned by different sections of the Iranian state. However, due to the disconnection from the outside world, according to analytical data seen by IntelliNews, only a handful of readers inside Iran are seeing their content.
Day 19 Of Iran Uprising: PMOI Reveals 50,000 Arrests As Internet Blackout Marks A Full Week – OpEd
The nationwide uprising against the religious dictatorship in Iran has reached its nineteenth day on Thursday, January 15, 2026. Following a bloody eighteenth day, where the Judiciary Chief ordered “speedy” executions and the confirmed death toll surpassed 3,000, the regime has escalated its crackdown to unprecedented levels.
On Thursday, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) revealed shocking statistics regarding the scale of the regime’s repression, while the international community, from the G7 to former European leaders, rallied to support the Iranian people’s right to establish a democratic republic.
Day 19 Roundup: Over 50,000 arrests, drone surveillance, and global calls to blacklist IRGC
On Thursday, January 15, 2026, the nineteenth day of the uprising, the regime’s desperation became evident as arrest numbers soared and high-tech surveillance was deployed against unarmed protesters. Iran has now been in a full week of total internet blackout.
Key highlights from today include:
50,000 Arrests: The PMOI/MEK announced that over 50,000 people have been arrested since the uprising began on December 28, with security forces conducting surprise raids on homes and workplaces.
Former EU Leaders’ Letter: Twelve former European leaders, including former Prime Ministers of Belgium, Greece, and Ireland, signed an open letter urging the EU to recognize the Iranian people’s right to resist tyranny and to blacklist the IRGC.
G7 Condemnation: Foreign Ministers of the G7 nations issued a joint statement strongly opposing the “brutal repression” and warning of additional restrictive measures.
Drones Hunting Civilians: Reports confirm the regime is using military-grade drones to identify, track, and arrest peaceful protesters, treating citizens as “enemy combatants.”
Call for UN Action: Mrs. Maryam Rajavi urged the immediate dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to visit the regime’s prisons, warning that the mullahs recognize no limits in their cruelty.
PMOI confirms 50,000 arrests; Mrs. Rajavi warns of “Khamenei’s desperation”
In a harrowing update on the scale of the state crackdown, the PMOI has confirmed that the number of detainees has exceeded 50,000 between December 28, 2025, and January 14, 2026. This figure is based on detailed investigations across 144 cities and inquiries in 76 others.
The arrests are being carried out through surprise raids on neighborhoods, homes, and workplaces. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), described this mass incarceration as a sign of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s “desperation in the face of the people’s uprising.” She warned that the regime “will stop at no crime” to preserve its rule and called for an urgent international fact-finding mission to inspect the prisons.
The scale of these arrests echoes the 2022 uprising, where the regime’s Judiciary Chief eventually admitted to filing nearly 90,000 cases against protesters.
Former EU leaders to EU Presidency: Recognize right to resist, reject Shah and Mullahs
In a significant diplomatic development, 12 former European leaders—including former Prime Ministers of Belgium, Greece, Ireland, and the Czech Republic—sent an open letter to the leadership of the European Union.
The signatories urged the EU to “recognize the right of the Iranian people to resist tyranny and establish a democratic republic.” Crucially, the letter addressed the regime’s disinformation campaigns, clarifying that the Iranian people reject any return to the Pahlavi dictatorship. They cited the popular chant, “Down with the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Supreme Leader,” as proof that the people seek a future free of all dictatorships. The leaders also called for the immediate blacklisting of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
Regime wages war with drones; G7 and US lawmakers condemn “barbaric tyranny”
Reports have emerged that the regime is treating its own citizens as enemy combatants by deploying military drone technology to identify and track peaceful protesters for arrest. This surveillance tactic highlights the militarization of the crackdown.
Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting. The G7 Foreign Ministers issued a joint statement condemning the “deliberate use of violence” and the killing of protesters. In the United States, lawmakers from both parties expressed solidarity. Senator Ted Cruz stated that “The people of Iran taking out their tyrannical regime would make America much, much safer,” while Senator Dave McCormick praised the courage of Iranians standing up to “barbaric tyranny.”
Global solidarity: Lawmakers from US to New Zealand stand with the uprising
As the regime attempts to hide its crimes behind a digital blackout, political figures from across the globe are breaking the silence, offering unwavering support to the Iranian people and condemning the mullahs’ brutality.
In New Zealand, Foreign Minister Winston Peters expressed that his government is “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression.” He condemned the killing of protesters and emphasized that Iranians have a fundamental right to peaceful protest and access to information. Peters also issued a stern warning to New Zealanders currently in Iran to “leave now.”
In the United States, support for the uprising remains bipartisan and vocal:
Senator Deb Fischer took to the Senate floor to reaffirm her solidarity with the Iranian people against the regime’s “flagrant economic mismanagement and brutal treatment.”
Rep. Nancy Mace highlighted the lethal nature of the crackdown, stating, “Thousands of Iranians murdered the last few days. Praying for their safe keeping tonight.”
Rep. Laura Friedman declared her stance with the protesters, noting they are simply asking for “freedom for themselves and future generations.”
Rep. Lois Frankel emphasized that the “suppression of fundamental rights anywhere threatens democracy everywhere,” pledging support for the students, women, and workers fighting the “murderous regime.”
Congressman Jim Himes praised the “enormous courage” of the people taking to the streets to fight for self-determination after years of tyranny.
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi called for “forceful diplomacy and coordinated international pressure” to support those fighting for change, rejecting the regime’s response of mass killings.
Mahmoud Hakamian
Mahmoud Hakamian writes for The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalgh (MEK)
Iran's regime crushing protests in bloody crackdown
20 hours ago20 hours ago Protesters are putting their lives on the line in Iran as the state mounts a coordinated and brutal response to the unrest. As the death toll grows, hopes of outside help seem faint.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Iran, although exact numbers are impossible to verify
Image: Khoshiran/Middle East Images/picture alliance
The field in front of Tehran's Kahrizak Forensic Institute seems to be loaded with dead bodies. Amid widespread protests and a communications blackout, images of the site are only available in videos physically smuggled out of Iran or uploaded to the Internet via Starlink satellites.
"I would guess there are thousands dead, at any case," an eyewitness who recently visited Iran told DW.
The man described going to Kahrizak with a friend to identify and retrieve his friend's wife's body.
"On the previous evening, you could hear automatic gunfire in the part of the city I was visiting. My friend and his wife were at a protest. The wife was shot," he told DW.
It is impossible to know how many people have been killed in the Iranian protests, which started over two weeks ago. The internet has been down for days, and any communication with the outside world is severely limited.
An Iranian official told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that some 2,000 people were dead. However, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organization reported a death toll of at least 3,379 people on Wednesday. Activists believe that the actual number of protesters killed across Iran is much higher.
The Iranian authorities also detained over 10,000 people in the latest wave of protests. Government critics are worried that many of the detainees could be put on show trials and sentenced to death.
Meanwhile, pro-regime media in Iran regularly label the protesters as "terrorists" and foreign agents. This week, Iranian Justice Minister Amin Hossein Rahimi referred to people arrested between January 8 and 11 as "criminals." Iranian authorities don't rely only on the police to suppress the protests. The Basij — a volunteer paramilitary faction controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — was established specifically to deal with street protests. The IRGC itself is directly controlled by the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with the main goal of protecting the Islamic Revolution and its achievements.
Basij militants attend religious indoctrination programs to ensure their commitment to the idea of morality preached by the regime. They have a reputation for being especially loyal to the political system and also provide Iran's hardliners with a stable voter base.
"We have tried everything to achieve change in this system," religious scholar and journalist Mohammad Javad Akbarin told DW. Akbarin, who now lives in France, previously worked for 15 pro-reform papers in Iran and was arrested multiple times when he still lived in his home country.
He does not see any possibility of reforming the Iranian regime. Together with Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and four other prominent government critics, he has demanded a US intervention in Iran.
"The protesters are stuck behind closed doors and under a digital blackout, without a realistic way of escaping this situation," he said. "As soon as the internet comes back online, we will see horrible images."
The fact that protesters are willing to defy massive repression and still take to the streets shows the depth of popular discontent. At the same time, Iran's power structure is not showing visible cracks and fast, wide-reaching changes appear unlikely.
On Wednesday January 14, Donald Trump announced that "the killing in Iran is stopping, it's stopped." Trump cited "very important sources on the other side" and said there was "no plan for executions."
The comments came only a day after Trump urged Iranians to "keep protesting" and take over Iranian institutions, assuring them that "help is on its way."
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on the UN and its members to coordinate a response and prevent further bloodshed. This call also included an appeal to the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iran to the International Criminal Court.
The US has called an emergency session of the Security Council on Thursday to discuss the deadly unrest in Iran. But any resolution or decision condemning Tehran is likely to be vetoed by China and Russia.
"We have seen this in similar cases, including Syria and Bashar Assad, despite hundreds of thousands of deaths," says lawyer Payam Akhavan.
The international law expert served as an adviser to the prosecutors working for international courts dealing with war crimes in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
"Under such circumstances, the focus should be on systematically gathering evidence and documents for future trials," he told DW. "The actual legal process can realistically only happen in a future democratic Iran."
The deadly repression meted out against protesters makes the prospects of democracy taking hold in Iran seem faint. But if Iran's recent history is anything to go by, brutally suppressing one uprising is not an effective way of averting the next one.
This article was originally written in German.
How Iran jammed Starlink (and how Iranians are trying to get around it) After shutting down the internet, the Iranian government is now attempting to jam the Starlink satellite service made free to Iranians by the company. Iranians are now seeking ways to circumvent this latest wave of censorship.
Iranian authorities cut the public's access to the internet and telephone communications on January 8. The networks were later partially reinstated, but with severe restrictions. The Iranian regime has been facing a series of protests since late December. In an attempt to crush the movement, the Iranian government also tried to break the last international communication link available to Iranians: Starlink.
Starlink, which provides internet access through a constellation of satellites, was thought to be out of the Iranian authorities' reach for censorship. However, in recent days, Starlink has been subject to a jamming campaign that has seriously impaired its use. Can you get around this GPS jam?
GPS interference was observed in Tehran and surrounding regions on January 8, the day that the internet more widely was cut across Iran, according to the monitoring site gpsjam.org. Though we don’t know with certainty why this jamming occurred, it did partially affect Starlink’s service.
A Starlink terminal usually needs GPS in order to establish a geographic location so as to communicate with the network’s satellites.
"[Starlink uses] the GPS position of the terminals to point their antennas towards the satellites," the people behind the X account @giammaiot2, a group of telecommunications researchers, told our team.
"Jamming GPS signals was the classic way to jam Starlink," Kave Salamatian, a professor at the University of Savoie in France, who specialises in the geopolitics of the internet, told our team. "But a Starlink update, which was added after Russia jammed signals in Ukraine and in the Black Sea, [now] enables users to bypass a GPS signal by relying on Starlink’s own satellites to identify a location using triangulation.”
This solution, which enables users to get around GPS interference, does have some limits, says Radim Badsi, CEO of the French company Ground Space, which specialises in satellite constellation surveillance. This can make Starlink users less mobile: “Starlink’s alternate [to establishing locations using GPS] constantly sweeps the sky to try to find a satellite that is passing by.”
But in this mode, the civilian version of a Starlink terminal can’t be used on the move, Badsi says.
‘Active interference’
The worsening of the Starlink connection observed in Iran in recent days has resulted in a data "packet loss of 30 to 80 percent", according to Victoria Samson, the Chief Director of Space Security and Stability at the Secure World Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. Savoie professor Kave Salamatian says that this loss likely comes from a more sophisticated form of jamming, an “active interference”.
Active interference involves saturating a satellite’s transmission channel. If you send “noise” or a fake signal to a satellite for long enough, then it is possible to disconnect its associated terminals.
"In theory, this could render the satellite unusable [for the terminal]. So you can just jam, one after another, all of the visible [Starlink] satellites," says Badsi.
But it is “technically quite difficult to jam Starlink’s main channel because the Starlink network is made up of multiple moving satellites”, says Oleg Kutkov, a Ukrainian engineer who is an expert in the Starlink network. He says, “directing a powerful noise beam directly to the satellite in the sky requires multiple large-dish antennas constantly tracking satellites. Russians tried this approach [in Ukraine], but the jammers were destroyed because it's hard to hide them.”
In an attempt to cut off access to the Starlink network, the Iranian government’s jammers are not only targeting Starlink satellites but also GPS navigation signals
Technology that could be home-grown or imported from Russia
So how were Iranian authorities able to set up this level of interference?
The specialists who spoke to our team had a number of theories.
Iran does have in its arsenal Russian military jammers like the Murmansk-BN, which is able to interfere with GPS signals.
The experts behind the account @giammaiot2 think that the Cobra-V8, an Iranian electronic warfare system which is similar to the Russian-made 1RL257E Krasukha-4, might have been used to jam the transmission frequencies from Starlink terminals.
This is the Cobra-V8 Iranian electronic warfare system. Source: X
The Starlink interference may also have been created using civilian technology that is not necessarily foreign.
"The simplest explanation is that they did it internally. The Iranians have the skills to jam Starlink. All the more so because the interference we are currently seeing in Iran is different to what we saw in the war in Ukraine,” says Salamatian. "Iran has very good universities that are specialised in telecom like Imam Hossein University, which is the university for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as Sharif University.”
‘Cat-and-mouse dynamic’
How exactly is this jamming impacting Starlink service in Iran?
Speaking to our team on condition of anonymity, a representative for Nasnet, the largest Starlink community in Iran, described a partial degradation of service:
“It is important to note first that disruptions to this service are not a new phenomenon. Similar issues were observed in Tehran approximately one month prior to the outbreak of the war between Iran and Israel in June 2025. Following that period, service remained stable until the past few days.
[...] What users are experiencing is better described as intermittent and non-persistent interference rather than a complete service outage. Connectivity remains available; however, at its peak, packet loss reached approximately 35 percent, resulting in frequent short disconnections and a noticeable degradation in user experience. Despite these conditions, the service has remained usable.
Based on our field assessments, these disruptions are geographically limited to Tehran. Starlink service in other parts of Iran has remained unaffected and continues to operate normally.”
The NasNet representative said Starlink users were able to temporarily bypass the jamming, thanks in part to the technical support provided by Starlink:
“A [Starlink] software update released on the second day of the disruptions [Editor’s note: on January 10] significantly reduced packet loss to approximately 10 percent. That said, network conditions remain unstable, with periodic fluctuations and occasional deterioration. This reflects an ongoing ‘cat-and-mouse’ dynamic in which both sides continuously adjust their technical approaches.”
On January 10, 2026, the X account @joinNASNET reported a significant improvement in Starlink service following a software update. Source: X
Thanks to this update of the firmware (the software powering Starlink terminals), Salamatian explains that "Starlink now has the ability, if a satellite is being jammed, to transfer the signal to another satellite. This allows internet traffic to be rerouted from a jammed satellite to another satellite. By doing so, they have successfully mitigated the impact of the jamming. Signal loss previously reached 70 percent due to jamming; it has now been reduced to 30 percent."
However, the Starlink network is no silver bullet for bypassing the regime’s orchestrated blackouts. According to Amir Rashidi, an Iranian digital rights expert, there are only 50,000 Starlink terminals in Iran, serving only a tiny fraction of the country’s 90 million inhabitants.
While US designs on Greenland are entirely deliberate, withdrawal of influence in Antarctica appears to be accidental. Could Donald Trump live to regret it?
As Donald Trump fights for control of arctic Greenland, is he losing at the other end of the world and leaving it open for rivals like China?
While US designs on Greenland are entirely deliberate, withdrawal of influence in Antarctica appears to be accidental.
Proposed cuts to climate-related research - which covers much of what is done in the rapidly melting Antarctic - are "catastrophic", according to Prof Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado and veteran of US Antarctic research.
Image:America has long been one of the most dominant players in the region. Pic: PA
In Antarctica, cuts to science have wider implications because research is how nations have long maintained their influence in the continent.
The 1959 Antarctic treaty prohibits military or commercial activities on the frozen continent.
Prior to that, the UK along with Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand and Norway had territorial claims on parts of the continent.
Chile's president visited the South Pole in January last year. Pic: Presidential Palace/Reuters
Those claims are "in abeyance" - effectively suspended - under the treaty, but any nation can do scientific research.
Those with interests in the region, maintain their presence via scientists, research stations and the hardware like icebreakers and aircraft needed to support them.
The UK is no exception.
Its research bases at Rothera on the West Antarctic Peninsula and Halley VI further east, are located at the boundaries of its wedge-shaped claim to the continent extending from the coast to the South Pole.
It makes no secret of the fact the scientific presence serves two purposes. "The Antarctic treaty says that Antarctica is a continent for peace and science," said Prof Dame Jane Francis, director of the British Antarctic Survey.
"We are contributing to the treaty by doing world-class science, but also by having a UK presence in Antarctica."
The British Halley research station. Pic: BAS
Sir David Attenborough is the UK's muscle when it comes to Antarctic geopolitics - well, the £200m research icebreaker named after him that serves as floating laboratory and re-supply vessel for British bases on the continent is.
America has long been one of the most dominant players on a continent one and half times larger than the contiguous US.
Its South Pole Station is one of the largest and best-funded on the continent.
A base that's strategically located where all other territorial claims to Antarctica converge: at the pole.
HMS Protector (top) and RRS Sir David Attenborough are Britain's main polar ships. Pic: MOD/BAS
But this year, as a result of Mr Trump's cuts and a decision not to renew the lease for its only Antarctic icebreaker, the US has no dedicated ship and far fewer scientists in Antarctica.
It's left America in the unusual position of having to lease an icebreaker owned by Ukraine to help maintain its operations this year.
A situation that hasn't gone unnoticed.
"There is a change in the leadership and the balance of power, if you like," said Prof Francis.
It presents a potential opportunity for the UK to forge new research partnerships.
But others too.
China has been rapidly expanding its presence in Antarctica.
China's Antarctic research agency, CHINARE, now has five bases on the continent and opened a new year-round facility last year. Beijing recently announced another is in the works.
In 2024, it commissioned a new icebreaking ship which, along with its predecessor, are both working around Antarctica this year.
Russia's Putin and China's Xi are keen to maintain and expand their influence in the North and South poles. Pic: Reuters
Like other signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, China conducts research, sometimes in partnership with other states.
There have been signs China, as well as Russia, may have interests in the region outside the scope of the treaty.
China has resisted efforts to increase protection for fisheries in the Southern Ocean.
In 2020, Russia announced the discovery of what it claims was the world's largest oil reserve on the seabed close to Antarctica.
Xuelong 2 (Snow Dragon 2) was China's first domestically built polar icebreaker - it was launched in 2018. Pic: Reuters/Stringer
Moscow insisted the survey work required to find it was scientific in nature and has, so far, made no moves towards exploiting it.
"Countries that have signed the Antarctic Treaty, are there to do scientific research," said Prof Scambos.
"But they have an eye on…any sort of future for Antarctica. Be it to maintain the treaty or to rethink the treaty in terms of exploitation."
No country has made formal moves to withdraw or modify the treaty.
Unlike the Arctic, it's distance from most of the world's major powers make it less important geopolitically.
While China is rapidly expanding its polar fleet with new icebreakers, the US recently had to lease a Ukrainian one. Pic: Reuters
Its inaccessibility, not to mention year-round sea ice and six months of darkness, also explains why its natural resources have been largely ignored.
But like the Arctic, it is warming and its ice sheets melting.
And with the Trump administration threatening to ignore territorial conventions when it comes to places like Greenland, who's to say how long the Antarctica will remain unspoilt?
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Opinion
GMB Union: It’s time to tackle inequality within UK Parliament’s workforce. That’s why we’ve launched the One Parliament, One Employer campaign
'In October 2025, the GMB MPs’ and Peers’ Staff Branch launched a report, exposing vast pay inequalities in Parliament'
By Holly Williamson, Office Manager and GMB MPs’ and Lords’ Staff Branch Equalities Officer and Philip Hutchinson, Senior Parliamentary Researcher and GMB MPs’ and Lords’ Staff Branch Youth Officer
In October 2025, the GMB MPs’ and Peers’ Staff Branch launched a report, exposing vast pay inequalities in Parliament. The report showed that women earn £1,000 less than men, non-white staff £2,000 less than white staff, and disabled staff £600 less than non-disabled staff. Moreover, these inequalities also compound, with a non-white woman, for example, earning £6,000 less than white men.
This report demonstrated what many of us already knew: that the systems and structures that exist in Parliament reinforce inequality, and with women, non-white, disabled, non-straight and trans staff all suffering as a result. We hoped this report would be a wake-up call that would cause MPs to ask deep and searching questions about how to end these systemic inequalities.
At the heart of these inequalities lies a power imbalance between MPs and their staff. Politics relies on networks and building a good relationship with the MP you work for can help to advance a staffer’s own political career.
However, this power imbalance is grossly exacerbated by the fact that, instead of being employed by Parliament, staff are employed directly by individual MPs. This creates a system rife for abuse, where staff who raise complaints risk professional isolation, career damage, and loss of access to vital networks of support and advice.
Most constituents would be shocked if they discovered that in electing an MP, they are also appointing someone to run a quasi-mini business, responsible for hundreds of thousands of pounds of staff expenditure, and for managing small teams of staff who often have to work in stressful and toxic environments.
Although this situation is bad for all staff, it particularly impacts women, those from minority groups and younger staff, who are groups that already tend to experience higher levels of bullying and exploitation in the workplace.
However, it does not need to be this way. In many established democracies, such as in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the European Parliament, staff are employed directly by Parliament rather than by individual MPs. In these countries, Parliament manages contracts, conditions and complaints while MPs continue to choose their team and direct their day-to-day work.
The One Parliament, One Employer campaign, launched by the GMB MPs’ and Peers’ Staff Branch, is therefore calling for the UK Parliament to follow these examples and make Parliament the legal employer for all MPs’ staff. Rather than just addressing the symptoms, this campaign seeks to remove one of the main systemic issues driving inequality.
Having Parliament as the single employer for all MPs would also drive greater levels of transparency. According to UK legislation, only employers with 250 or more staff must report their gender pay gap. Given that each MP currently acts as a separate employer, there is no requirement for Parliament to report on the gender pay gap between MPs’ staff, even though all large businesses, charities and institutions are required to do so.
The proposed Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will also require all large employers to report ethnicity and disability pay gaps. Yet, the existing structures mean that once again, these requirements will not apply to MPs’ staff.
A problem cannot be solved unless it is first identified, and the existing system meant that until recently, the scale of inequality in Parliament was unknown. When we sent a Freedom of Information request to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), asking for data on pay, we were told that they did not have available information about ethnicity, gender and disability, with only data on age and sex available. As a result, we had to collect the relevant data by surveying staff members ourselves.
At the heart of this problem is that Parliament does not live up to the values it legislates for others. As long as Parliament maintains inequality within its own workforce, it will also be blind to inequalities that exist within society more widely.
These inequalities and power imbalances also mean that MPs lose out on talented and capable staffers, as experienced workers leave Parliament rather than remain in an unsafe and unequal system. The British Parliament is known for its constant and fast turnover of staff, meaning that it continually bleeds experience and institutional knowledge.
As a union branch with over 1,500 members working for MPs, we also see a concerning number of cases that stem from the current system. This high caseload would make any other employer ashamed and makes clear that this problem can only be fixed by changing the existing employment model.
The One Parliament, One Employer campaign provides MPs with a chance to create a modern and professional workplace, fit for the 21st century. Our democracy has always evolved in order to adjust to new challenges and to address existing problems.
Through the One Parliament, One Employer campaign, we have the chance to create a more equal Parliament and, ultimately, therefore, a more equal country. It is a campaign that now requires MPs’ full support.
Fire, Farage and his first anniversary in post: LabourList interviews FBU General Secretary Steve Wright
Daniel Green14th January, 2026
The headquarters of the Fire Brigades Union has a poignant reminder of the job’s cost, with the names of fallen firefighters lining the walls of the building’s staircase. This cost is felt more acutely for general secretary Steve Wright and the union more widely following the addition of two extra names to that long list, commemorating the deaths of Jennie Logan and Martyn Sadler in a fire in Oxfordshire last May.
As he marks a year as FBU general secretary, Wright sees his number one job as not just fighting for better pay and conditions for his members, but also making firefighting safer.
That mission is incredibly close to home for Wright – his father died of cancer after a long career in the fire service and his son, Ben, marks two years as a firefighter this month.
“He gets a decent pay rise courtesy of the FBU,” Wright notes.
“We’re on the front foot, taking an industrial fight to the bosses, which I think was long overdue. The cuts we have faced in the fire service over the past 14 years under a Conservative government were to dangerous levels – and we’ve seen the effects of that. We’re seeing slower response times, we’ve seen firefighters – our members – killed last year, and we’re seeing fire deaths going up.
“We’re taking the fight to employers and to the government on all those issues, and this is what we are going to press ahead with this year.”
‘More unions should be affiliated to Labour’
Wright’s first year as general secretary has also involved building relationships with the party and with ministers, with Lucy Powell credited for being useful in forging closer relations with trade unions.
“We’re working closely with Hollie Ridley and Labour head office to do some more work and, as part of TULO, I get the opportunity to speak to and question Keir Starmer or one of his ministers, which is good fun. It’s useful to do that. I think they should hear the truth on the floor, and I can talk from years as a public servant extensively about how public services in this country have been downgraded.”
Wright’s work to reset the FBU’s relationship with Labour has come amid calls from some in the union to pursue the road of disaffiliation – a path being actively considered by Unite and also by Unison’s incoming general secretary Andrea Egan.
However, Wright argues trade unions should stay within Labour and be active in trying to change the direction of the party.
“I certainly see elements of the Labour Party that would not want the FBU or any union part of the party, and I think it’s down to general secretaries to make the case for being there.
“Whilst we are affiliated, I do believe that we get opportunities – I get opportunities as a general secretary of an affiliated union to speak out on wider issues.
“I think it would be advantageous if more of the TUC-affiliated unions were affiliated to Labour. There’s only 11 of us – we would have far greater strength if there were more sector-only unions, like ourselves and ASLEF.”
‘Labour have crossed many red lines at the moment’
Is there a red line that would lead to Wright considering disaffiliation?
“My personal point of view is they’ve crossed many red lines at the moment – but my position is to get the best thing for firefighters and FBU members, and I think we’re best placed to do that at the moment with a Labour government.
“We’ve backed the Labour government, we backed the party – and we still do, but our members do want to see some change.
“I think the red line of our members would be job losses, fire station closures and a reduction in our numbers.”
Starmer should be prepared to stand aside, says Wright
The last year has seen increasing questions about Keir Starmer’s future as Prime Minister, but Wright is cautious about a return to the revolving door of leaders from the Conservatives’ years in office.
“There is some argument to be made for keeping people in position for a period of time to make change.”
However, Wright’s caution came with an important caveat: “I think if it gets to the point where the door keeps opening wider and wider for Nigel Farage – which it feels like it is at the moment – and Keir Starmer becomes unable to beat him in the polls, then I think he should step aside.”
Wright said that May would be “a big turning point for that” and suggested that Starmer would “probably” stand down if those circumstances came to pass: “I think actually he will put the country first.”
‘God knows what it would be like with Reform running the country’
Wright warned of the spectre of a potential Farage-led government and the dangers such a prospect would bring.
“We’ve had experience of it already. Their flagship council is Kent County Council – the council is responsible for the fire service there, and it fell apart at the end of the last year.
“That was having knock-on effects and repercussions for the fire service in Kent, not being able to make decisions.
“It was absolute chaos with them in charge, so God knows what it would be like if they were running the country.”
He also highlighted Richard Tice’s proposal to attack public sector pensions: “We went on strike, I went on strike, in 2014/15 over our pensions when we faced that attack and our members would stand up for our pensions like we did before.
“Nigel Farage is no friend of working people.”
So concerned is Wright about the rise of the far-right that the FBU joined the Together Alliance of over 80 civil society organisations and unions to challenge their influence – with the union even hosting the group’s first in-person meeting at their headquarters.
“I was there on September 13 at the opposition to the Unite the Kingdom rally and that was frightening. We took members there and what we saw on the streets was quite frightening. I hope that the Together Alliance can make sure there is a big showing in this country of decent people to fight back against them.”
‘Firefighters look at Christmas differently’
Steve Wright with his son Ben
Speaking to Wright shortly after the Christmas holidays, he reflected that the festive season is often different for firefighters and their families.
“The calls we attend, the shifts we work, do not stop at Christmas. I’ve worked many a Christmas Day and Boxing Day away from my family, and I also remember my dad not being there on Christmas, having to wait to open your presents until dad got home from work.
“My son was off this Christmas, but last Christmas worked it.
“I think they look at [the holidays] differently, because things don’t stop for them and it’s also a historically busy period for us as well.”
Wright’s plans for the year ahead
What does Wright hope to achieve in the year ahead?
“We are going to take this industrial fight on, and if that means strike action, that’s where we’ll take it.
“I want to make headway in progress on presumptive legislation, so we are having the first-ever health and safety standalone summit in April to push that ahead.”
One other area Wright wants to work on this year is on ensuring the FBU remains as a sector-only union.
“We’ve seen lots of unions in the past be sucked up by the likes of Unite and Unison. I’m sure they do a great job, but I think our power and strength comes from our elected officials having worked in fire stations and in control rooms and I want to make sure that the longevity of that continues. I’m not saying that’s a threat, but it’s something to be mindful of.”
‘Biden hung around too long – we can’t make the same mistake again’
As we concluded our conversation, Wright’s New Year’s message to the Prime Minister was a clear one.
“It would be not to fall into the trap that the Democratic Party did under Joe Biden. I think he hung around and stayed too long and that allowed the monster that is Donald Trump to come to power in Washington, and I think we can’t make the same mistake again.
“I’d like to think that when the time comes, I want to see another Labour government. I want to see it more progressive, I want to see it more transformative – and I think there are better placed people to do that in the years ahead.”
Does Wright have a person in mind? “I don’t think there is a specific candidate at the moment, but I think someone who is going to be bold. I think with three and a half years away from the election, people want to see change.
“The way you beat Reform is not by out-Reforming Reform. I think that tactic is being tried, and it’s certainly not cutting through with our members or with decent people in society.
“The way you beat them is you start turning things around, so they start seeing meaningful change, they start seeing investment in their communities, they start seeing investment in their public services, they see cuts stopping in the fire service.”
