Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice

by Issam AHMED

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

A photo taken on December 6, 2021 shows high-tide flooding and debris covering the road

 to the airport in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro.

Rising waters are slowly but surely swallowing Carnie Reimers's backyard in the Marshall Islands, pushing her toward an agonizing choice: stay in the only home she's ever known or leave and face the prospect of becoming a climate refugee.

"It's not a comfortable topic to talk about," the 22-year-old activist tells AFP, explaining the emotional toll this looming reality has on the wider community, who are grappling with similar threats.

"We're deeply rooted in our country, and we don't want to be displaced or forced to live somewhere else—it would be hard to preserve our culture."

Climate change is dramatically reshaping life in Pacific Island nations, leaving them ever more vulnerable to storm surges, saltwater contamination, ruined crops, and relentless coastal erosion.

"Every day it's a constant battle," says Grace Malie, a 25-year-old from Tuvalu, the tiny archipelago facing the grim prospect of becoming the first nation to be rendered unlivable by global warming.

Speaking to AFP from the Climate Mobility Summit, held on the sidelines of the United Nations annual meeting, Malie recalls how her community was forced to ration just a few buckets of water among large extended families during a drought two years ago.

The freshwater "lenses" beneath Tuvalu's atolls, once tapped through wells, were contaminated by rising seas years ago, leaving the nation's 11,000 residents reliant on rainwater. Even their crops now grow in boxes rather than in the salt-poisoned ground.

This past February, storm waters surged from the lagoon on Tuvalu's main island, Funafuti, flooding roads and seeping into homes.

It wasn't even a tropical cyclone, says Malie—just a regular storm—but with higher sea levels now, any storm has the potential to wreak havoc.

'Matter of survival '

Since the start of the 20th century, global mean sea levels have risen faster than at any time in the last 3,000 years, a direct result of land ice melt and seawater expansion from planetary heating, experts say.

According to NASA's latest projections, Pacific Island nations will experience at least 15 centimeters of sea level rise in the next 30 years.

"It's the difference between flooding a few times a year, or none a year, to 30 times a year, 60 times a year, or every other day," Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, who directs ocean physics programs for NASA's Earth Science Division, told AFP.

Even King Tides—extra high tides caused by new or full moons—now cause mayhem in the Marshall Islands, according to Reimers, flooding schools and blocking access to the airport.

While some Marshallese have already emigrated, forming a sizable diaspora in some places, such as the US state of Arkansas, Reimers says they only truly feel at home when they return to the islands, reconnecting with their people.

There's even talk of relocating the capital, Majuro, where Reimers lives with her family. The young activist sees a future for herself shaping these crucial discussions.

Tuvalu's situation might be even more precarious. By 2050—just 26 years from now—more than half of the capital's land area will be regularly flooded, a figure set to rise to 95 percent by 2100, according to official estimates.

"For us, it's a matter of survival," Prime Minister Feleti Teo, who is helping lead diplomatic efforts to preserve the sovereignty of low-lying island nations even as they risk being submerged.

Last year, Teo signed a landmark treaty with Australia, paving the way for more Tuvaluans to obtain permanent residency there when the agreement takes effect.

Malie knows of several families who have already relocated to New Zealand and Australia, but for others, the idea of leaving is still "very taboo."

Her grandparents, for instance, have vowed to remain on the islands as long as possible—a sentiment she shares.

"We don't want to think of the worst, because if we do, it will diminish our hopes."

© 2024 AFP

NASA analysis shows irreversible sea level rise for Pacific islands

Neo-Nazi Telegram users panic amid arrest of alleged online extremist leaders

A.C. Thompson, ProPublica

James Bandler, ProPublica

Brandon Roberts, Propublica
September 26, 2024 


Photo by Andras Vas on Unsplash

The recent crackdown on the social media platform Telegram has triggered waves of panic among the neo-Nazis who have made the app their headquarters for posting hate and planning violence.

“Shut It Down,” one person posted in a white supremacist chat on Tuesday, hours after Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced he would begin sharing some users’ identifying information with law enforcement.

With over 900 million users around the globe, Telegram has been both revered and reviled for its hands-off approach to moderating posted content. The platform made headlines this summer when French authorities arrested Durov, seeking to hold him responsible for illegal activity that has been conducted or facilitated on the platform — including organized drug trafficking, child pornography and fraud.

Durov has called the charges “misguided.” But he acknowledged that criminals have abused the platform and promised in a Telegram post to “significantly improve things in this regard.” Durov’s announcement marked a considerable policy shift: He said Telegram will now share the IP addresses and phone numbers of users who violate the platform’s rules with authorities “in response to valid legal requests.”

This was the second time in weeks that extremists had called on their brethren to abandon Telegram. The first flurry of panic followed indictments by the Justice Department of two alleged leaders of the Terrorgram Collective, a group of white supremacists accused of inciting others on the platform to commit racist killings.

“EVERYONE LEAVE CHAT,” posted the administrator of a group chat allied with the Terrorgram Collective the day the indictments were announced.

An analysis by ProPublica and FRONTLINE, however, shows that despite the wave of early panic, users didn’t initially leave the platform. Instead there was a surge in activity on Terrorgram-aligned channels and chats, as allies of the group tried to rally support for their comrades in custody, railed against the government’s actions and sought to oust users they believed to be federal agents.

Federal prosecutors in the U.S. have charged Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison, two alleged leaders of the Terrorgram Collective, with a slew of felonies including soliciting the murder of government officials on Telegram.

Humber has pleaded not guilty. She made a brief appearance in federal court in Sacramento, California, on Sept. 13, during which she was denied bail. Humber, shackled and clad in orange-and-white jail garb, said nothing. Allison, who has not yet entered a plea, was arrested in Idaho but will face trial in California.

Attorneys for Humber and Allison did not respond to separate requests for comment.

The two are alleged Accelerationists, a subset of white supremacists intent on accelerating the collapse of today’s liberal democracies and replacing them with all-white ethno-states, according to the indictment.

Through a constellation of linked Telegram channels, the collective distributes books, audio recordings, videos, posters and calendars celebrating white supremacist mass murderers, such as Brenton Tarrant, who in early 2019 stormed two mosques in New Zealand and shot to death 51 Muslim worshippers.

The group explicitly aims to inspire similar attacks, offering would-be terrorists tips and tools for carrying out spectacular acts of violence and sabotage. A now-defunct channel allegedly run by Humber, for example, featured instructions on how to make a vast array of potent explosives. After their arrests, channels allegedly run by Humber and Allison went silent.

But within days of the indictments, an anonymous Telegram user had set up a new channel “dedicated to updates about their situation.”

“I understand that some people may not like these two, however, their arrests and possible prosecution affects all of us,” the user wrote. The criminal case, they argued, “shows us that Telegram is under attack globally.”

The channel referred to Humber and Allison by their alleged Telegram usernames, Ryder_Returns and Btc.

A long-running neo-Nazi channel with more than 13,000 subscribers posted a lengthy screed. “We are very sad to hear of the egregious overreach of government powers with these arrests,” stated the poster, who used coded language to suggest that white supremacists should forcefully overthrow the U.S. government.

One group closely aligned with the Terrorgram Collective warned like-minded followers that federal agents could be lurking. In a post, it said that it had been in contact with Humber since her arrest, and that she gave them information about an undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated the Accelerationist scene.

“If this person is in your chats, remove them,” said one post, referring to the supposed agent. “Don’t threaten them. Don’t say anything to them. Just remove them from contacts and chats.”

Matthew Kriner, managing director of the Accelerationism Research Consortium, said the Terrorgram Collective had already been badly weakened by a string of arrests in the U.S., Europe and Canada over the past two years. “Overall, the arrests of Humber and Allison are likely the final blow to the Terrorgram Collective,” Kriner said.

In the U.S., federal agents this year have arrested at least two individuals who were allegedly inspired by the group. The first was Alexander Lightner, a 26-year-old construction worker who was apprehended in January during a raid on his Florida home. In a series of Telegram posts, Lightner said he planned to commit a racially or ethnically motivated mass killing, according to prosecutors. Court records show that agents found a manual produced by the Terrorgram Collective and a copy of “Mein Kampf” in Lightner’s home.

Lightner has pleaded not guilty to charges of making online threats and possessing an illegal handgun silencer. His attorney declined to comment.

This summer, prosecutors charged Andrew Takhistov of New Jersey with soliciting an individual to destroy a power plant. Takhistov allegedly shared a PDF copy of a different Terrorgram publication with an undercover agent. The 261-page manual includes detailed instructions for building explosives and encourages readers to destabilize society through murder and industrial sabotage. Takhistov has not yet entered a plea. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Durov’s August arrest also sent a spasm of fear through the extremist scene. “It’s over,” one user of a white supremacist chat group declared.

“Does this mean I have to Nuke my Telegram account?” asked another member of the group. “I just got on.”

Their concerns grew when Telegram removed language from its FAQ page stating that the company would not comply with law enforcement requests regarding users in private Telegram chats.

Alarmed, Accelerationists on Telegram discussed the feasibility of finding another online sanctuary. Some considered the messaging service Signal, but others warned it was likely controlled by U.S. intelligence agencies. One post suggested users migrate to more obscure encrypted messaging apps like Briar and Session.

In extremist circles, there was more discussion about fleeing Telegram after Durov’s announcement this week. “Time is running out on this sinking ship,” wrote one user. “So we’re ditching Telegram?” asked another.

“Every time we have a success against one of them, they learn, they adapt, they modify,” said Don Robinson, who as an FBI agent conducted infiltration operations against white supremacists. “Extremists can simply pick up and move to a new platform once they are de-platformed for content abuses. This leaves law enforcement and intelligence agencies playing an endless game of Whac-a-Mole to identify where the next threat may be coming from.”

New ghost shark species with unusually long nose discovered in deep seas off New Zealand

Eva Corlett in Wellington
Tue 24 September 2024 


The new species of ghost shark was discovered in the Chathams Rise, roughly 750km east of New Zealand’s coast. Photograph: NIWA

A new species of ghost shark, with an unusually long nose and a whip-like tail, has been discovered in the inky depths of New Zealand waters.

Scientists at New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospherics (Niwa) initially believed the creature was part of an existing species found around the world, but further investigation revealed it was new, genetically distinct, species.

The newly described Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish is only found in New Zealand and Australian waters.

Related: Rare smelly penguin wins New Zealand bird of the year contest

Ghost sharks – also known as chimaeras and spookfish - are a group of cartilaginous fish closely related to sharks and rays. They have smooth skin, beak-like teeth and feed off crustaceans such as shrimp and molluscs. They are sometimes referred to as the ocean’s butterflies for the way they glide through the water with their large pectoral fins.

The mysterious fish are typically found at great ocean depths – up to 2,600 metres - and little is known about their biology or the threats they face.

“Ghost sharks are incredibly under-studied, there is a lot we don’t know about them,” said Dr Brit Finucci, a fisheries scientist at Niwa who helped discover the new species.

“Chimaeras are quite cryptic in nature – they can be hard to find in the deep ocean … and they generally don’t get the same attention sharks do, when it comes to research.”

The new ghost shark was found in the Chathams Rise, roughly 750km east of New Zealand’s coast. It is distinctive for its very elongated snout that can make up half of its entire body length and has likely evolved to aid its hunt for prey. The chocolate-brown fish can grow up to a metre long, has large milky-coloured eyes and a serrated dorsal fin to deter predators.

Roughly 55 species of ghost shark have been discovered globally, with about 12 of those found in New Zealand and South Pacific waters.

Scientists suspected it was a new species based off of its morphology – how it looks – but further genetic research was needed to confirm the theory. Discovering that it was indeed a distinct species was an exciting moment for Finucci.

“It’s really neat to be able to contribute to science,” she said. “Understanding the animal itself can feed into further research and whether they need conservation management.”

In a touching homage to her grandmother, Finucci gave the ghost shark the scientific name Harriotta avia: Harriotta being her grandmother’s name, and avia meaning grandmother in Latin.

“I also liked the idea that … sharks and ghost sharks are the old, ancient, relatives of fish, and I was naming the animal after an ancient relative of mine.”

Singapore Airlines Still Trying To Spin Flight 321 Turbulence To Lowball Payouts

Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 4:07 pm
Press Release: Carter Capner Law

A leading Australian law firm representing passengers on Singapore Airlines Flight 321, which encountered severe turbulence on May 21 while flying between London and Singapore, has accused the airline of attempting to settle claims against the airline “on the cheap” to the serious detriment of injured passengers.

Director of Carter Capner Law Peter Carter says while inviting passengers to apply for advance payments to cover medical expenses, they are then making an offer that requires them to sign a final release.

“We have seen this happen even with respect to our own clients,” he said, explaining that “the true compensation to which passengers are entitled can only be formulated by reference to their permanent impairment that is then projected over their lifetime.

“Spinal surgeons, neurologists and other medical specialists require patients wait until at least 12 months post-injury before they are prepared to attempt that assessment.”

He said the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program agreed with the law firm’s investigation that the pilots likely knowingly flew through the top of a thunderstorm or in too close proximity to one as it passed over an area notorious for thunderstorm activity in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone.

“Other planes took evasive action and changed direction, yet Flight SQ321 headed directly to the area.”

Mr Carter said his firm assembled a team of experts that included two senior airline captains to provide technical advice, and recruited aviation legal experts in the UK, US and New Zealand as co-counsel to help negotiate the resolution of their SQ321 clients’ claims.

Seven figure compensation

“Passengers need to know this was not a freak accident and they are therefore entitled to substantial compensation, not just the expense payments the airline has so far offered.

“We are convinced the true facts will show there was crew responsibility for the accident and that the airline’s compensation liability to passengers is therefore unlimited.

“Many passengers will be entitled to seven figure compensation.”

He said some passengers believe the airline is there to act in their best interests but “unfortunately that is very far from the truth.”

“The insurers who are calling the shots are the same people I have built a career on fighting, to ensure injured passengers get their full entitlement. Their interest is to minimise payouts.”

Carter Capner Law is Australia’s foremost aviation accident compensation law firm and has represented passengers in many major air accidents including QF72 off Western Australia in 2008; QF32 in Singapore in 2010, MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, and LATAM Airlines over New Zealand in 2024.

Peter Carter bio:

Peter Carter is one of the most experienced lawyers in the Australasian region in the fields of aviation, tourism and travel compensation. He is a former national president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, and was previously a director of the Civil Justice Foundation of Australia. Peter has also held the roles of Queensland president of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and governor on the board of the American Association for Justice. He is a member of the Lawyer-Pilot Bar Association (USA) and holds a single engine private pilot’s licence with a command instrument rating.

US Ports Are Threatened With Strikes in Election-Season Jolt

By Laura CurtisSeptember 23, 2024 at 6:30AM EDT

McCown Container Results Observe

(Bloomberg) -- Just as US policymakers shift focus from curbing inflation to shoring up the job market, the economy faces a jolt that threatens the kind of supply-chain disruption and consumer discontent rife during the pandemic.

This time, the shock looms just weeks before a knife-edged election.

Some 45,000 dockworkers at every major eastern and Gulf coast port are threatening to strike Oct. 1. With talks at a stalemate since June, industry officials now believe a strike is inevitable, and ocean carriers and port operators have started sending out customer advisories and making contingency plans.

The trade gateways involved handle more than half of all goods shipped in containers to and from the US. A weeklong strike could cost the economy as much as $7.5 billion, according to one estimate. Millions of boxes of specialized cargo like bananas, plywood and autos could be hit, though energy terminals wouldn’t be affected.

If a strike does proceed, the flow of consumer goods, components for factories and certain vehicles would seize up, disrupting auto supply chains and other manufacturing networks in election battleground states. Refrigerated fruit imports and fresh meat exports would face spoilage and diversions, leading to shortages and higher prices.


The ripple effects would spread globally as port congestion bogs down shipping capacity and drives up freight rates, analysts warn.

The two sides remain far apart. The union is demanding a near-80% raise over six years, arguing workers deserve a share of profits won by foreign-owned container carriers during the pandemic. Reluctant to set such a precedent — and with some reserves in the bank — companies could wait it out longer than usual.

“A sleeping giant is ready to roar on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, if a new Master Contract Agreement is not in place,” Harold Daggett, the tough-talking leader of the International Longshoremen’s Association, said in a Sept. 17 statement.

Terminal operators and ocean carriers, represented by the United States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, said in August their offer contains an “industry leading” wage increase — closer to the 32% won by West Coast dockworkers last summer.

But there’s another, even more intractable issue at stake. Daggett is demanding more restrictive language on automation, alleging certain companies are using technology in violation of the current contract.

Automation Fight

USMX’s offer preserves language on technology that’s in the current contract, which its members view as a concession against a global backdrop where automation is widely used at the world’s largest facilities, including in China, the Netherlands and UAE.

In a statement Monday, the USMX said despite additional attempts they have been unable to schedule a meeting with the union. The group said it’s heard from federal agencies, and would be open to working with federal mediators if the union were willing.

“We want to bargain and avoid a strike, but time is running out if the ILA is unwilling to return to the table,” the USMX said.

With just over a week before the deadline, the deadlock risks turning into a game of chicken that threatens an economy that’s weathering a sharp slowdown in job growth with lingering inflation concerns.

It would also test the White House’s willingness to get involved in the final month of a campaign geared toward winning union votes. Retailers, trade groups and House lawmakers are calling on the administration to help with negotiations — and intervene should a strike occur.


The union has warned the White House against getting involved. It has withheld endorsing a presidential candidate, though, according to Daggett, former President Donald Trump, “promised to support the ILA in its opposition to automated terminals” during a Mar-a-Lago meeting last fall. Neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris has drawn public attention to the strike threat.

Auto Industry

Jason Miller, an expert on supply chains at Michigan State University, assessed the goods most reliant on the affected ports, and found auto parts would be particularly hard hit. That could put carmakers in swing states like Michigan and Georgia in a bind.

Stellantis NV, which is facing its own strike threat, has an inventory buildup thanks to slow sales, though supply-chain issues could still hamper production of particular models. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Foreign automakers would also be affected, Miller says. South Korean parts imports enter primarily through the East and Gulf Coasts, feeding Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. plants in Alabama, Georgia and, to a lesser extent, Michigan.

BMW AG, the top US auto exporter, ships about 60% of its production out of South Carolina. The German company also imports all of the engines and transmissions it uses in US-made gas-powered vehicles, plus some high-end models.

A Bananageddon?

The impact on everyday staples would appear soonest in items that cannot be stockpiled. Americans consume more bananas per capita than any other fresh fruit, and, according to Miller, two-thirds of them are unloaded at East and Gulf Coast ports.

As a key distribution hub for Dole Fresh Fruit Co. and Chiquita Fresh North America, Port Wilmington in Delaware is the nation’s No. 1 gateway for bananas and an entryway for a range of other fruit — grapes from Chile, clementines from Morocco, pears from Argentina and kiwifruit from New Zealand.

They’d spoil if left on the docks too long, or face higher costs given the delays and extra refrigeration needs.

“Any fruit that arrives after Oct. 1 will be condemned to the trash can” if dockworkers walk out, said produce importer Peter Kopke, Sr. “And all of the people who have invested in that business will lose a fortune.”

Kopke’s imports — mainly citrus and grapes at the moment — mostly enter through Wilmington and Philadelphia, ending up at stores like those of Walmart Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Target Corp. nationwide. For consumers, the price of fruit would go up within a week or two and “many small firms, privately owned, may be forced out of business,” he said.

Gabriela D’Arrigo, a marketing executive at produce distributor D’Arrigo New York, said if imports stopped “we would go out of the West Coast/LA, and then truck it” if needed — showcasing the kind of disruptions a strike would entail.

The union is set to meet Tuesday to discuss details on how certain goods would be treated during a strike, including whether some shipments would continue to be unloaded, according to an ILA spokesperson, who declined to comment on whether bananas or other fresh fruit are at risk.

Chilled beef and pork exports are also particularly vulnerable.

President’s Powers

“The protein supply chain cannot be stopped: the calves, hogs keep growing,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. “The frozen products can be stored, in cold storage facilities, but those will be quickly filled to capacity.”

President Joe Biden could ultimately invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which would force workers back to work during a “cooling off period” — though that could jeopardize union support for Harris heading into election day.

The Biden-Harris administration has never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and isn’t considering doing so now, a White House official said last week.

As for the broader economic impact, the backlog from a weeklong strike would take at least four weeks to clear and impose a $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion hit, according to Grace Zwemmer at Oxford Economics. She expects that the drag would be made up once the strike is resolved and ports process any backlogs.

But by then the election will be over.

--With assistance from Cailley LaPara, Chester Dawson and Gabrielle Coppola.

(Updates with statement from employer group in second paragraph after ‘Automation Fight’ subheadline.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Family of murdered Sri Lanka editor seek justice from new president

Published: 23 Sep 2024 - 


Photo used for a demonstration purpose. A woman with a Sri Lankan national flag stands at the Galle fort while watching the play of the fourth day of first Test cricket match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at the Galle International Cricket Stadium in Galle on September 22, 2024. Photo by IDREES MOHAMMED / AFP.

AFP

Colombo: The family of murdered Sri Lanka journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge appealed on Monday to the island's new president to reopen an investigation into the internationally-condemned assassination.

The anti-establishment editor was murdered as he drove to work in January 2009 by attackers later identified by police as members of a military intelligence unit linked to the once-powerful Rajapaksa family.

Saturday's election of the country's first leftist president, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, had given the family "a renewed sense of hope" of justice, Wickrematunge's daughter Ahimsa said.

"We are hopeful that this leadership will bring a fresh perspective into finally addressing the atrocities that have taken place in Sri Lanka's recent human rights history," she said in a statement.

Wickrematunge had accused then defence ministry secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa of taking kickbacks in arms procurements, including the purchase of second-hand MiG jet fighters from Ukraine.

His family held Rajapaksa, who was at the time a US national, responsible for the killing and filed action in a California court, but it was put on hold after he acquired immunity when he became president in November 2019.

Rajapaksa was forced out of office in July 2022 after mobs stormed his residence following months of shortages of food and other essentials.

His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, did not reopen investigations into any of the Rajapaksa-era killings, including those of over a dozen journalists and media workers.

Wickrematunge, a prominent critic of the then administration, was stabbed days before he was due to testify in a corruption case involving Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The killing shone a light on human rights violations in Sri Lanka under president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya's elder brother.

Wickrematunge case has been seen as emblematic of the island's culture of impunity for rights violations and has been taken up repeatedly by the UN rights body and others.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of giving orders to a shadowy military outfit allegedly involved in murdering journalists and political dissidents during Sri Lanka's long-running civil war, an allegation he denies.

Indonesia, NZ deny Papua rebel claim ‘bribe’ paid for pilot release

I BELIEVE THE BRIBE WAS PAID


By AFP

September 23, 2024

New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens with Edison Gwijangge, a local Papuan politician, after his release - Copyright AFP/File Munir UZ ZAMAN

Jakarta and Wellington denied Monday a claim by rebels in Indonesia’s restive region of Papua that a New Zealand pilot was freed from captivity over the weekend after they received payment from a local leader.

Phillip Mehrtens, 38, was released on Saturday by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) insurgent group after 19 months in captivity.

Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the group, said the Indonesian government gave money to the acting chief of the Papuan district where Mehrtens was freed, accusing him of then paying the rebels, without providing evidence.

“The Indonesian military and police gave bribe money to Edison Gwijangge and his team,” he said in a statement to AFP on Monday, referring to the acting head of Nduga regency.

The funds then landed with the rebels “through a family system”, said Sambom.

“The TPNPB… handed over the pilot to Edison. Then Edison… handed over the pilot to the Indonesian military and police.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters quickly rubbished any suggestion that Wellington was involved in payment for Mehrtens’ release, saying it was diplomacy that secured his freedom.

“I think this is a disgrace, frankly, that it’s even suggested that a bribe was paid –- we don’t pay ransoms, we don’t pay bribes,” Peters told Radio New Zealand on Monday.

“All the work that’s done by these people of all sorts, including officials, working as hard as they can and as cautiously as they can — not to make a mistake or be offensive and for things to fail — has now been trammelled by the allegation of a bribe.”

The spokesman for the joint Indonesian task force of police and military that collected Mehrtens said no money was given directly to the rebels.

“There was no request for money or any conditions from Egianus Kogoya for the pilot’s release,” said Bayu Suseno, referring to the rival rebel leader accused of taking the payment.

The rebels had said foreign nationals were targets because their governments had ties with Indonesia, from which they are seeking independence.

During his captivity in the Papuan countryside, the New Zealander made sporadic appearances on video to address his family and his government.

His appearance changed drastically over time but he appeared in good physical condition after his release and arrival in capital Jakarta on Saturday night.

Haul of secret intelligence material may be trapped on tech tycoon's sunken superyacht


By CNN

 Sep 23, 2024

Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the $US40 million ($58m) superyacht that sank off Sicily last month, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, sources said.

Italian prosecutors who have opened up a criminal probe into multiple charges of manslaughter and negligent shipwreck think the 56-metre yacht, the Bayesian, may contain highly sensitive data tied to a number of Western intelligence services, four sources familiar with the investigation and salvage operation said.

Lynch was associated with British, American and other intelligence services through his various companies, including the cyber security company he founded, Darktrace.

British tech magnate Mike Lynch was linked to western intelligence services through his businesses. (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke, File)

That company was sold to Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo in April. Lynch, whose wife's company Revtom Limited owned the vessel, was also an adviser to British prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May on science, technology and cyber security during their tenures, according to British government and public Darktrace records.

The sunken vessel, lying on the seabed at a depth of some 50m, is thought to have watertight safes containing two super-encrypted hard drives that hold highly classified information, including passcodes and other sensitive data, an official involved in the salvage plans, who asked not to be named, told CNN. Specialist divers with remote cameras have searched the boat extensively.

Initially, local law enforcement feared that would-be thieves might try to reach the wreckage to find expensive jewellery and other objects of value still onboard the yacht, according to divers with the fire brigade who spoke with CNN.

Now they are concerned that the wreckage, expected to be raised in the coming weeks as part of the criminal investigation into the tragedy, will also be of interest to foreign governments, including Russia and China. They have requested that the yacht be guarded closely, both above water and with underwater surveillance.

"A formal request has been accepted and implemented for additional security of the wreckage until it can be raised," an official with the Sicilian civil protection authority who is assisting with the criminal investigation confirmed to CNN.

Specialist divers at the site of the Bayesian wreck off Sicily. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource" (cnn)

Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, British banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and the yacht's onboard chef Recaldo Thomas died when the ship sank in a violent storm in the early hours of the morning.

Preliminary results from autopsies suggest that the Bloomer and Morvillo couples died of suffocation or "dry drowning" when the oxygen in an air bubble in a sleeping cabin ran out. Autopsy results for Lynch and his daughter were less clear.

The chef, whose body was found outside the vessel, died by drowning, the coroner said. Toxicology reports on the dead have not yet been released, but none had suffered any physical injuries when the boat went down.

Lynch's wife Angela Bacares and 14 others survived, including the captain James Cutfield, who, along with a deckhand and the yacht's engine room manager, is under investigation for multiple manslaughter and causing a negligent shipwreck. They have all been allowed to leave Italy.

Some of the 15 survivors, of whom nine were crew members and six were passengers, including a one-year-old girl, reportedly told prosecutors that Lynch "did not trust cloud services" and always kept data drives in a secure compartment of the yacht wherever he sailed, a source with the prosecutor's office told CNN.



James Cutfield, the New Zealand captain of the superyacht that sank in a storm off Italy last month. (Supplied)

None of the crew or passengers who survived the incident were tested for drugs or alcohol because they were in a "state of shock," authorities said during a news conference following the recovery of the bodies.

Morvillo represented Lynch when he was acquitted in a criminal fraud case in the US in June tied to the takeover by Hewlett Packard of his software company Autonomy, and survivors told investigators that the cruise was a celebration of that acquittal, according to the assistant prosecutor, Raffaele Cammarano.

Though Lynch was acquitted of any criminal wrongdoing in the US, Hewlett Packard has indicated it will not drop its bid to collect a $7 billion civil payout from Lynch's estate, awarded by a British court in 2022.

In what appears to be a tragic coincidence, Lynch's business partner Stephen Chamberlain — who was his co-defendant in the US fraud case and the former chief operating officer of Darktrace — died on August 19, the same day the Bayesian sank, after being hit by a car while out jogging two days earlier.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office told CNN that Cutfield told them Lynch had learned of Chamberlain's serious condition and had planned to cut the cruise short to return to the UK to see his business partner, who had been on life support.

The 56-metre British-flagged Bayesian sank off Sicily within 16 minutes of a storm hitting. (Perini Navi)

The Bayesian sank a few hours before Chamberlain died in the hospital, his lawyer said. Lynch would not have known of his partner's death, and Chamberlain was in a coma so would not have known about the shipwreck, Chamberlain's legal counsel said.

Local prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said no personal effects, including computers, jewellery or Lynch's hard drives had been recovered from the vessel. However, the onboard hard drives and surveillance cameras tied to the yacht's navigation system have been brought to investigators to determine if there is any usable data that might indicate how the yacht sank within 16 minutes of the storm hitting.

The vessel did not have a traditional black box or voyage data recorder to record navigation data or audio on the bridge.

After divers complete surveys of the wreck this week, they will make suggestions for how to best raise the 473-tonne vessel without spilling any of the 18,000 litres of oil and fuel still onboard, and how to make sure any sensitive data does not fall into the wrong hands.
The costs of raising the ship will fall to its owner, Lynch's widow, as is mandated by Italian maritime law.

 

Pacific nations gear up for a fight over shipping emissions at critical UN meetingShare on TwitterShare on Facebook

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By Harry Pearl, BenarNews

A cargo ship sails through the Panama Canal, in Panama City, 13 June 2024. Photo: AP

Pacific nations are preparing for a pivotal week of negotiations in London on how to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in the global shipping industry.

Countries will gather later this month to lay out specific plans to slash shipping emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 and reach net-zero "by or around" 2050.

The International Maritime Organisation, the UN body that oversees global shipping, set the target in July last year, but deciding on exactly how to get there will be fiercely debated at the latest round of talks known as MEPC 82.

The 6PAC+ Alliance, led by Pacific Island nations with the backing of some Caribbean states, is arguing for a mandatory levy on all ships starting at US$150 per tonne of emissions.

The bloc says it is the best method for a fair transition from fossil fuels for all countries, while ensuring that small island developing states are adequately compensated for climate impacts that disproportionately affect them.

"The revenues are to help transition the sector but also to help communities that continue to face the impacts of climate change build their resilience and through adaptation and mitigation," Albon Ishoda, the Marshall Islands special envoy for maritime decarbonisation, said at a webinar on Wednesday night.

Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and the environment, said Pacific Island nations would go into the talks knowing the science was on their side.

"We have to be there lobbying for the highest ambition because we cannot afford not to be there. Our nations and our people are at stake and we are fighting for that," he said at the event organised by the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport.

Albon Ishoda, left, the Marshall Islands special envoy for maritime decarbonisation, and Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and the environment, at the IMO headquarters in London. 4 July 2024 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony

Shipping, which carries more than 80 percent of world trade, accounts for about 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions - a level comparable to that of major industrial nations.

Under the 6PAC+ submission to the IMO, the levy would be paired with a simple global fuel standard, limiting the amount of emissions from marine fuels with increasing stringency over time. Ships that are non-compliant will pay a penalty, while those that overperform will be rewarded with limited subsidies.

Most revenues raised by the levy would be spent on climate action in low-income and small island states.

'Beacon of hope'

The IMO, which takes decisions by consensus, is responsible for reducing emissions in the shipping industry, rather than individual countries, because it was not covered in the Paris climate agreement.

While most nations support some version of a fuel standard, agreeing on economic measures to incentivize decarbonization are far more contentious.

Countries such as China, Russia and several from Latin America say an emissions levy will act as a handbrake on trade and damage economic growth.

The BRICS group of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - plus Norway are advocating for a more complex market-based trading scheme, where ships that comply with a fuel standard will be provided with credits that can be bought and sold.

Australia - one of the world's largest exporters of coal - New Zealand and the Cook Islands, which has a fast growing ship registry, have also pushed back against a levy.

Regenvanu said it was frustrating that the 6PAC+ proposal had not received full support from across the region.

"With Australia it's not surprising, they generally don't align with the Pacific states on climate change ambition. New Zealand recently with the new government is tending not to align that much anymore," he said, adding more discussions were needed with the Cook Islands.

Research, including modeling commissioned by the IMO, shows decarbonising the shipping sector will have a cost for all countries, but without a fair policy in place, the negative economic impact will be felt most keenly by lower income nations and small island states.

Pacific nations, which have some of the largest maritime territories in the world, are heavily reliant on fossil-fuel powered shipping to sustain their import-dependent economies. Some like the Marshall Islands draw huge revenues from their shipping registries.

However, faced with increasing vulnerability to rising sea levels and extreme weather events, they have emerged as the leading voice on climate action within the IMO over the past decade.

Ishoda said Pacific nations lacked the financial resources of larger countries to lobby for support, but they would bring a human face to negotiations.

"We need to continue to be the beacon of hope," he said. "We have to understand that we bring the moral argument to a space where everything is abstract."

-This article was first published by BenarNews.

PROTECTING THE HARDRIVES 

Guards protect secrets on sunken billionaire's yacht, report

Italian authorities ask for diver patrols and underwater surveillance to secure superyacht that sank in August killing seven including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch who had ties to intelligence agencies,


Italian authorities bolstered security around the site of the Bayesian yacht which drowned in Sicily’s waters last month amid fears foreign governments would seek to recover confidential documents stored inside the sunken boat’s waterproof safes, CNN said adding that divers were hired to patrol the area for the coming weeks, until the safes can be recovered within a few weeks.

The superyacht capsized and sank at 5 AM Sicily time, on August 19, with 22 people aboard. Shortly after the yacht anchored near Porticello harbor, it was hit by severe weather and eyewitnesses reported it vanished beneath the waves within minutes. Some 15 people managed to escape the yacht and were later found on a lifeboat but seven others perished.


 
Italian rescue divers near location of drowned yacht
(Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

By the end of that week, the bodies of all seven were recovered including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, 59, whose wife owned the yacht. The group had been on a pleasure cruise to celebrate Lynch’s acquittal in a recent U.S. fraud trial.

Most of the passengers on board had stood by Lynch and supported him during his legal battles, including family members, friends and representatives from his defense team at the Clifford Chance law firm. Lawyer Chris Morvillo, who died in the disaster along with his wife, led Lynch’s defense team.

Experts in the maritime industry expressed great surprise at the yacht’s sinking and said it was very rare for luxury yachts of that size to capsize and sink due to weather events. Some have added that a yacht like the Bayesian, built by the prestigious Italian yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm.

An investigation has been launched against the yacht’s New Zealand captain James Cutfield and two of his crew members, who may face charges of manslaughter and causing the disaster through negligence.

The case has taken a new turn, focusing on Lynch, who was at the center of the pleasure cruise and perished in the disaster, considered one of the most famous tech entrepreneurs in the UK. He founded the country’s largest software company, Autonomy, based on groundbreaking research he conducted at Cambridge University and sold it to HP in 2011 for $11 billion. Just a year later, HP claimed that Lynch had inflated the company’s value and that it was worth only $8.8 billion.


Mike Lynch
(Photo: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls)

Lynch was indicted in the U.S. and spent most of the last decade fighting legal battles and defending his name until he was extradited to the U.S.. last year. He denied the charges against him and was acquitted.

After his acquittal, Lynch expressed his happiness and blamed HP for sabotaging the merger between the companies. Now, sources in the Italian prosecution say it's highly likely that Lynch kept extremely sensitive material inside the Bayesian, related to several Western intelligence agencies.

Lynch had connections with the intelligence services of the UK, the U.S. and several other countries via various companies he owned including the Darktrace cybersecurity firm that he had founded. He also served as a science, technology and cybersecurity advisor to former UK prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.

According to sources who spoke with CNN, the yacht likely had two waterproof safes that contained two highly encrypted hard drives. These drives likely held classified information, including passwords.

An Italian prosecution source said some survivors told prosecutors that Lynch didn't trust cloud services, so he made sure to keep physical hard drives in a secure compartment onboard whenever he sailed on the yacht.


Rescue teams in Sicily
(Photo: REUTERS / Guglielmo Mangiapane)

CNN reported that Italian law enforcement authorities initially feared thieves might try to reach the wreck to steal jewelry and other valuables still on board. However, that fear has now shifted to concerns that foreign governments, including Russia and China, might covertly send divers to retrieve the sensitive information.

According to CNN, relevant officials have requested that the yacht be guarded both above the water and via underwater surveillance.
A civil protection authority source in Sicily confirmed to CNN that " A formal request has been accepted and implemented for additional security of the wreckage until it can be raised.”
The Bayesian was 56 meters (184 feet) long and according to its manufacturer, its 75-meter (246-foot) mast was the tallest aluminum mast in the world. The yacht could accommodate 12 guests in six suites and had a crew of 10 people. Over the years, it received numerous design awards. The weekly charter cost for the yacht was €195,000 ($215,000).

Power at the US Empire’s (Not OK) Corral

By Kim Scipes

September 19, 2024

Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.

U.S. Pacific Fleet - 210719-N-NJ919-1153. Flickr.

Today, Americans are getting an education in reality that generally cannot be bought, although it might not quite seem that way. We are seeing Israel committing genocide as it is happening, in real time, and not only is our country failing to stop this, but the US government is collaborating, not only enabling it by not stopping Israel, but by supplying the weapons! And politically protecting Israel’s despicable behavior. At the same time, we are supplying almost unlimited weaponry to Ukraine in it’s so-called “noble” fight against the terrible Russians, weaponry that could easily lead to World War III, which will probably be a nuclear war. At the same time, the US media is cheering on the Ukrainians while mostly being silent against Israel’s genocide. US university “leaders” are doing everything they can to keep either situation from being properly understood, including eliminating the concept of “free speech” from campuses, the very essence of learning (as they’ve been telling us for years). And with a presidential campaign in full bore—the one time that some of these contradictions get pushed to the fore—nary a real discussion of what’s going on. As folks would say: WTF?

And I can easily imagine for those of you who are seeing some of these “contradictions,” they make no sense: how can we (or anyone) understand what’s going on? On a personal level, am I going crazy???

No, I’ll vehemently assert you are NOT going crazy! But it is not understandable because you have not been given the tools and concepts to understand a situation like this.

First of all, you’ve been consciously lied to by US society’s “leaders.” Consistently and pretty consciously. You have been told there is something in the world called the “West,” and that the West has all of these wonderful values that they’ve spent years in teaching—in this case, cramming down your throat—such as “truth,” “beauty,” “justice,” etc., and that these are values by which we should judge the rest of the world’s actions.

But let’s think about this. Is the term “The West” a realistic term or does it cover something else? I’m going to argue that it covers something up: imperialism.

What is imperialism? I’ve never heard of that! Or if I have, I’ve only heard it in regard to British imperialism in the late 1800s; I’ve never heard it used in regard to the United States….

Basically, the term “imperialism” is one that explains the concept of differential power between nation-states; recognizes that all nations do not have equal power; and establishes those that have more power have tried to dominate those with less. (NOTE: this holds true on differences in all kinds of things, such as spiritual power: not all countries are equal. However, in reality and for sake of this article, we are limiting the discussion to political-economic power, which also includes military, cultural, and diplomatic power, all which undergird today’s relations between political communities in the world today.)

We can see this quite clearly IF we even question what we’ve been taught ad nauseum: not all nation-states have equal political-economic power. In fact, there are two groups of countries in the world today. The first group, individually and together, has dominated the members of the second group, especially over the past 500 or so years; since roughly 1492, although the groundwork began being laid earlier. This powerful group, what I’ll call “imperial” countries, have dominated the weaker, second group of countries over this time period. Interestingly, these imperial countries have overwhelmingly come from Western Europe and their “settler” colonies—countries such as the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and, after 1948, Israel—as well as Japan. (These are the countries, upon examination, that are conveniently labeled “The West,” although that term has been superseded sometimes with “developed” or “industrial” or “modernized” country descriptions. Note that none of these terms explains the process by which these countries “developed” their political-economic power and a qualitative higher standard of living for their peoples over the weaker countries, and that they are each hidden behind euphemisms to help ensure your confusion.)

The second group, the less powerful group, can generally be referred to as “formerly colonized” peoples or countries; they each experienced colonization by at least one stronger country—the Philippines was colonized by both Spain and the United States!—but have subsequently garnered at least their political independence from their former colonial master—either through armed struggle or being “granted” their independence because of no longer bringing sufficient benefits to the colonizer—although are less likely to have achieved their economic independence.

Consider this: as of 1915—the beginning of World War I—every country in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East had been colonized (subjugated) by at least one of the dominant countries. There were only three exceptions that I know of: Iran (formerly known as Persia), Ethiopia, and Thailand (Siam).

What does it mean to say they were “colonized”? Basically, they were conquered by the imperial country; and yes, the indigenous lands in North America were taken as colonies of Great Britain, although mostly through outside settlement instead of naked military conquest, although that option was always at hand by colonial governments.

Colonization means domination (or as much of complete control as possible) of the indigenous people by the colonizer, who then steals (or forces them to give up) their natural resources (such as lumber, land for growing food, etc.) and/or raw materials (minerals such as gold, silver, diamonds, platinum, etc.), which are taken to or at least made available to the colonizing country to aid in its subsequent development. In some cases—the US is perhaps the foremost example—some of the people colonized were stolen from their original land and were taken to another country to aid in the latter’s development.

Understand, I am painting with a broad brush here. The actual practices of colonialism differed; Spanish colonialism differed from Dutch, which differed from the English, etc. But colonial practices differed even by the same colonizer: the English treated India differently from their colonies in North America, which were treated differently from Ghana….

These policies—domination by external forces—were joined by actions of colonial settlers, foreign nationals from the colonizing countries who had migrated or had been transported to the colonized countries. These settlers organized themselves from within the colonies to dominate indigenous peoples and to seek their own independence from the colonizer, thus enabling the settlers to dominate ultimately the indigenous themselves. The role of British imperialism is especially important here, with settlers coming to dominate the indigenous in what is today known as the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and, after 1948, Israel.

But these colonizing practices can be generally referred to as “imperialism” because they each involved a stronger people dominating a weaker people, and that while military power was threatened in every case, it was not always utilized to gain control; other tactics, such as the use of “divide and conquer” techniques were sometimes sufficient to dominate. In each case, however, they each involved stealing natural resources, raw materials, and sometimes people from the colonized country and exploiting them inside the colonized country itself and/or sending them to the colonizing country for its subsequent development. Further, the colonizing countries’ forces did not care about the deleterious impact of their action—death, destruction, social devastation (including health), etc.—on the colonized country or people.

Thus, imperialism, is arguably the dominant form of international relations over the past 500 or so years.

The 1917 Russian Revolution was the first successful effort to throw off rule by the Russian elite who had subordinated the country to France and other outside investors. Despite whatever weaknesses and problems that developed (including invasion by British, French, and US forces right after the successful revolution)—and there were many—this, and a number of revolutions that have followed, has inspired people around the world to resist foreign domination.

The two world wars were basically fought to see which imperial countries would dominate the world; forget any claptrap about “democracy” or “freedom” or “liberation,” etc., although these concepts were later used in the fights for decolonization and independence against the imperial powers after each.

The United States—Canada was basically an economic subordinate—was the only imperial country to emerge generally unscathed from World War II. Besides its awesome military power—including having dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan—it was the most economically powerful country in the world; by the early 1950s, it produced more value in goods and services than all of the other countries in the world combined.

The other “victor” to emerge from the war was the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union suffered approximately 27 million dead and suffered untold misery and social devastation from the Nazi invasion, but it was this country that defeated the Nazis, NOT the United States and “the West.” (Without trying to denigrate anyone’s personal loss, the US suffered about 400,000 dead in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters of the war combined, mostly military men, while the Soviets suffered about 27,000,000 dead in Europe alone, men, women and children.)

Instead of working with the Soviets after the war to ensure that fascism never raised its ugly head again, the US under Harry Truman decided it wanted to dominate the world, and this included trying to resubjugate the Soviets. Since 1945, this has been the overwhelming purpose of the United States government: to dominate the other countries of the world.

We in the US have generally not been told this: we’ve been told that the Soviets wanted to subjugate us! But this ignores the actual history of the post-World War II period, where the Soviets actively worked to join with the US to develop a peaceful world at least until about mid-1947 when they realized that, despite any rhetoric, the US sought to resubjugate the USSR. It was only then—after a couple of years of actual Soviet engagement was repudiated—that the Soviets understood and became belligerent themselves against the US.

[The Soviets, just like the US and the UK, were not saints; they had their own interests, and they sought to achieve them. The same of the US and UK. But the Soviets were willing to work with the US and the UK for about the first two years after the war, and only then began to prioritize their immediate national interests, as they defined them, after their collaborative efforts were repudiated by the US and UK.]

The period between 1947-1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, was known as the “Cold War,” where nuclear war between the US and USSR was averted while proxies of both sides fought, at least in part, to advance their patrons’ interests.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the US was the dominant, most powerful country in the history of the world. Through economic and political domination—not territorial acquisition, ala the Romans—the US enhanced the empire that had been building since at least 1945. But throughout this entire post-World War II period, the US never spoke of its “empire”; it only spoke of bringing truth, justice, and the American way to the world, lying to both Americans as well as to the rest of the world. Especially since 1945, the US has acted to dominate the rest of the world, along with the other “Western” imperial countries as junior “surrogates.”

The point I’m trying to make here is that the way the US has consistently tried to portray itself in the post 1945 period, especially to its own people——as benign, democratic, seeking justice for all, etc.—has overwhelmingly been a lie; its purpose has been to dominate the world. If you doubt me, ask the Vietnamese, Iraqis, and Afghanis! Or in countries where dictatorships were established and supported by the US: can we mention, at least, Brazil (beginning in 1964), Chile (1973), Congo (1964), Guatemala (1954), Indonesia (1965), Iran (1953), the Philippines (1972), South Korea (1948), and Taiwan (1949)?

We can see this today in two cases and the interplay between them: Ukraine and Israel.

The US has cried big duck tears about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but this has been a sham. The Russians, under Vladamir Putin, had shown no territorial aspirations prior to 2015 according to the US Ambassador to Russia, but somehow that’s gotten lost in “Western” accounts. What happened in 2015? A democratically elected government in Ukraine was ultimately overthrown by pro-European forces, and with the direct support of the United States, after they accepted a Russian loan instead of a European one. The “revolutionary” government killed something like 10-15,000 Russian speaking citizens in the eastern part of Ukraine, utilizing fascist-led forces, some that harken back to the Nazis. But it was the efforts by the new Ukraine to join NATO, the US-dominated military alliance that threatened Russia, that led to the Russian invasion after multiple warnings not to do so, and after “Western” sabotage of peace efforts. This despite the George H.W. Bush—the old man’s—Administration’s verbal promise not to move NATO one step further to the east in exchange for the Soviets not sending the tanks in to suppress Eastern European independence movements in the late 1980s-early 1990s. (This is not to excuse the Russian invasion, but merely to explain it; something the US media in general does not do, preferring condemnation.)

The Russian invasion came after numerous warnings against Ukraine joining NATO; Ukraine was seen as an “essential” part of Russian defense from the West. (Think how the US would have responded had Mexico or Canada invited Russian forces to base in their countries, much less to engage in offensive operations against the US!)

But, because the US is always benign, its motives are always “pure,” and everybody trusts the US—even in the face of reality—it usually gets its way. But the fact is that the US says that Ukraine can defend itself in the face of outside aggression.

Then consider the case of Israel. Basically, after the Nazis had exterminated somewhere around six million Jews during World War II, in order to compensate the Jewish people for Christian oppression, the imperial powers of the UK and US decided to compensate the Jewish people with Muslim land! Why didn’t they give them parts of London, New York, or Berlin, parts of Christendom???

The story was that these poor, mistreated Jews had to be compensated with their traditional homeland. But, not surprisingly, it’s more complicated.

One part of the Jewish people adopted the political—not religious—goal of establishing a “Jewish” homeland to provide protection for Jews, arguably the single most persecuted people in the history of the world; other parts of the Jewish people rejected this project, known as Zionism, and chose to stand with labor movements, arguing their interests could be better served in alliance with workers. Then the Zionists then did something very interesting; they appropriated the interests of Jewish people as a whole as their own, arguing that the Zionists represented all Jewish people. Accordingly, seeking to establish a “Jewish” state when, in reality, it should have been known as a Zionist state.

Originally, the Zionists sought to establish their Jewish state in Uganda, but the Ugandans refused this “privilege.” Then, the Zionists decided to go to Argentina, where that project was rejected as well. Then, citing “historical precedent,” they sought to go to Palestine. With the support of the British—the imperial masters of the area—they were allowed to settle in Palestine. When the Palestinians ultimately protested, eventually the Zionist influx was limited, where upon the Zionists created terrorist groups and fought the British. Using the Holocaust to justify Zionist expansionism, the US and the British (as well as the Soviets) agreed to establish the State of Israel in 1947.

This establishment of Israel in 1948 came with the Nakba, where approximately 750,000 Palestinians were forced off their land and/or killed; the Zionists appropriated almost everything created in over a thousand years of Palestinian settlement. Again, this was a Zionist political project acting supposedly as a Jewish religious project, where social justice is at the heart of its practice. But Zionism is based on colonialism and racism, which it has always been. And that has continued over the past 75 years since Zionist independence.

Over the years, the Zionist project of Israel has been based on subjugation and oppression of Palestinians. And its one unwavering supporter throughout has been the United States of America.

And now, in response to Hamas’ attack of October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 Israelis, both from Hamas and the panicked response of the IDF (Israeli “Defense” Force), the Israelis have killed somewhere between 40,000-186,000 Palestinians. They have tried to destroy basically all forms of Palestinian society and knowledge in Gaza in one of the most one-sided “wars” in human history. Lately, the Israelis have projected their “jihad” against Palestinians on the West Bank; still with the support of the US.

And the US has not only accepted it, but they have collaborated by supplying extensive numbers of weapons and providing unlimited political support to Israel.

—

So, how do progressives understand the contrast? How does we understand support for the Ukrainians from “outside” invasion, when we don’t support the Palestinian’s on-going resistance to outside Zionist forces?

First of all, this difference should not be attributed to incoherent “inconsistency”; there is no inconsistency. Any inconsistency is due to accepting US rationales for both accounts, looking at each one separately.

What you are actually seeing is US consistency, however, even though most Americans have not been given the tools to understand such. The consistency is US dominative power, as it continues to defend if not expand the US Empire: the US Empire neither seeks nor expects social justice in the world; it seeks, expects, and demands subservience to the Empire and its masters. And I don’t care who says otherwise; it is all about power, baby, no matter the lack of consistency, unequally applied “morality,” or any other rationalization: it is about Empire.

And until Americans understand the US Empire, and the need to dismember it from inside our social order, we will flounder in our struggle for social justice. (See my previous article, “What’s Our Left Strategy Going Forward in the US?” Z Network, August 25, on-line at https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-our-left-strategy-going-forward-in-the-us/, for further elaboration.)

Yet, there is another reason to tackle the Empire: our political leaders are stealing our US resources—and especially our tax dollars—and utilizing them for their world-domination project. Which is more important: taking care of Americans, or dominating the world? The US government has spent approximately $18.3 trillion in the last 40 years, between 1981 (when Reagan became president) and 2021 (the end of the Trump Administration, before the Russians invaded Ukraine in February 2022). That’s $18.3 trillion, under both political parties, that could not be spent on health care, education, improving the infrastructure, mitigating the climate crisis, etc., as it was feeding the war machine and its world-domination project. (The actual amount is even higher, approximately $1 trillion a year for costs of previous wars, veterans’ benefits, and nuclear weapons, the latter whose costs are subsumed under the Energy Department’s budget.)

In short, whether to end the Empire’s world-domination project and/or end this theft of our resources from the US public, our goal needs to end the US Empire. Until we strategically align our organizing projects accordingly, we shall only flounder and cry helplessly.




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Kim Scipes
Kim Scipes, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Purdue University Northwest in Westville, Indiana. He is one of the founders of LEPAIO, the Labor Education Project on the AFL-CIO International Operations (https://aflcio-int.education). . A former Sergeant in the USMC, he “turned around” on active duty, and has been a political and labor activist for over 50 years. He has published four books and over 250 articles in the US and in 11 different countries. His writings, many with direct links to the original article, can be found on- line at https://www.pnw.edu/faculty/kim-scipes-ph-d/publications/; his latest book is Building Global Labor Solidarity: Lessons from the Philippines, South Africa, Northwestern Europe, and the United States (Lexington Books, 2021, 2022 paperback). Kim can be reached at kscipes@pnw.edu.