Sunday, March 28, 2021

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy shows usonce again why he’s got to go

His latest plan to “remake” the Postal Service would result in slower mail, service cuts and higher postage prices.

By CST Editorial Board Mar 28, 2021

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on USPS on Feb. 24, 2021 on Capitol Hill. Graeme Jennings / Getty Images

It’s now been a month since President Joe Biden nominated three candidates to the Postal Service Board of Governors, the first step in dumping Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

It’s unclear when the Senate will vote on those nominees, but the stakes get higher by the day. We saw that again this past week, when DeJoy outlined his 10-year plan to remake — read: finish destroying — the agency he began dismantling for political gain under the previous administration.

Several House Democrats on Friday introduced legislation to keep the worst of DeJoy’s plan in check, prohibiting him from lengthening mail delivery times. That’s not enough.

Biden’s nominees must be put in place so they can send DeJoy packing before DeJoy can cause even more damage. As Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois bluntly said, DeJoy’s plan is “designed to sink the postal service, not save it.”

To save $160 billion over the next 10 years, DeJoy wants to further cut post office hours, lengthen delivery times, raise postage prices and impose other austerity measures.

So that mailbox down the block that was removed last year might never be replaced. For all DeJoy cares, it’s on you to get to the post office, during reduced hours, to mail your mortgage payment, business contract or birthday card. And take your chances that your mail arrives on time, since some 30% of items sent first-class would be delivered in four to five days instead of the current standard of two to three days.

Americans deserve better. DeJoy has done enough damage.

Last December, the rate of on-time delivery of non-local mail plummeted to 38%, down from 92% a year earlier. On-time delivery has since rebounded to about 80%, but that’s still below the USPS standard of 90%-plus.

Service has been especially poor in Chicago, as a USPS inspector general’s recent audit found. More than 62,000 letters and packages from four post offices were delivered late between September 2020 and February of this year.

Let’s not forget that DeJoy is also a near-perfect example of conflict of interest, having once owned a stake worth up to $75 million in a shipping firm that saw its contracts with USPS triple in size when DeJoy took over.

DeJoy doesn’t own those shares anymore. He signed them over to his adult children.

“Get used to me,” DeJoy told a House committee last month.

Whatever reforms USPS needs to become financially solvent and efficient, DeJoy cannot be trusted to make them.

Show him the door.

Captain Nick Sloane, The Salvage Master Who Raised The Costa Concordia, Discusses What It Will Take to Refloat The Ever Given – Interview

gCaptain

Billions of dollars worth of global trade is hanging in the balance as salvage efforts continue to refloat the MV Ever Given in the Suez Canal.

The impact of the event now rests entirely on how long it takes to refloat the ship to restore maritime commerce through the critical chokepoint that offers the shortest route between Asia and Europe.

So what will it take to refloat the 400-meter-long containership?

Well that’s currently the ~~million~~ billion-dollar question. But to get an idea, we reached out to veteran salvage master Captain Nick Sloane for his take on the situation.

If the name rings a bell, it’s because Nick was the person in charge of refloating the Costa Concordia cruise ship in Giglio, Italy, the largest maritime salvage jobs in history.

Nick Sloane is now Director at Resolve Marine Group, one of the world’s leading maritime salvage companies (the appointed salvage company for the Ever Given is SMIT Salvage, a Boskalis company). He agreed and sat down for a Zoom interview with gCaptain’s founder and CEO, John Konrad, and Dr. Sal Mercogliano, a professor of history at North Carolina’s Campbell University and naval historian.

Have a watch below:

For a more in-depth profile on Nick, Vanity Fair did a great piece on him in 2014, at the height of his Costa Concordia fame, which is well-worth the read.

Full Coverage: Ever Given Ground in Suez

*Interview was recorded at approximately 9 a.m. EDT, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Originally published March 27, 2021.

Ever Given Refloating Attempt Postponed to Monday

Stranded ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is seen after it ran aground, in Suez Canal, Egypt March 28, 2021. Suez Canal Authority/Handout via REUTERS

Reuters March 28, 2021

gCaptain Update: The Suez Canal Authority and salvors working to refloat the Ever Given will not attempt to pull the ship free Sunday night as they await the arrival of another high-powered tug, pinning hopes of refloating the vessel on Monday’s high tides.

“SCA has decided to postpone the next refloating attempt until sufficient tug power is in place,” shipping agent Leth Agencies said in its Twitter update on the salvage efforts. “TUG ALP Guard has already arrived. Second, TUG Carlo Magna, will arrive Monday morning. In lieu of the tide table, a likely time for the next attempt is Monday evening.”

The next high tides expected in Suez will occur at 11:42 a.m. Monday and 12:08 a.m. Tuesday local time, with the 12:08 high offering the highest tide of 7.0 feet, an increase of a little over 2 inches from the previous high. In this case, it seems every inch counts. -End

By Yusri Mohamed and Aidan Lewis

ISMAILIA, Egypt March 28 (Reuters) – Suez Canal salvage teams intensified excavation and dredging on Sunday around a massive container ship blocking the busy waterway ahead of attempts to refloat it, with two sources saying work had been complicated by rock under the ship’s bow.

Diggers were working to remove parts of the canal’s bank and expand dredging close to the ship’s bow to a depth of 18 meters (19.7 yards), the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement.

There was no mention of new attempts to release the ship with tugs, though canal officials and sources had said they were hoping to take advantage of high tides on Sunday and Monday to dislodge the vessel.

A specialist tug registered in the Netherlands arrived and would join efforts to refloat the ship on Sunday evening, the ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered preparations for the possible removal of some of the ship’s 18,300 containers, SCA Chairman Osama Rabie told Egypt’s Extra News.

Any operation to lighten the ship’s load would not start before Monday, an SCA source said, as salvage teams try to maneuver the ship free before high tides recede next week.

The 400-meter (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early on Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

At least 369 vessels are waiting to transit the canal, Rabie said, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels.

Shippers affected by the blockage may be offered discounts, Rabie said, adding that he believed investigations would show the canal was not responsible for grounding the Ever Given, one of the world’s biggest container ships.

Rescue workers from the SCA and a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage have been weighing how much tugging power they can use on the ship without risking damage, and whether some cargo will need to be removed by crane in order to re-float it.

Experts have warned that such a process could be complex and lengthy. Rabie said he hoped it would not be necessary, but that Egypt would take up offers of international assistance if it did switch to that strategy.

A ballast tank at the bow of the ship has been damaged, and the vessel will have to be inspected once it is freed, two people familiar with the salvage operation said.

Suction pumps have been deployed to expel water from the tank, SCA sources said, and one of the sources said divers had been working to repair the hole.

SOIL EXPERTS

Dredging has so far shifted at least 27,000 cubic meters of sand and mud from around the ship, the SCA said earlier on Sunday.

However, two SCA sources told Reuters that a mass of rock had been found at the bow of the ship, complicating salvage efforts. That appeared to be confirmed by the focus late on Sunday on digging to remove the lining of the canal around the ship’s front.

Soil experts are on site to advise on recovery efforts and a further dredger was expected to arrive by March 30, BSM said.

From the dredging done so far it was still unclear whether the ship was stuck on soft sand, compact sand or clay, which will determine how easily it may shift free, said one official involved in the salvage operation.

Two new and powerful tugs expected to be in use by Monday could provide a boost. “We believe that is what you are going to need in terms of horse power … to have a decent attempt, a decent chance of trying to float her,” the official said.

The latest efforts come after officials said some progress had been made on Friday and Saturday.

“The rudder was not moving and it is now moving, the propeller is working now, there was no water underneath the bow, and now there is water under it, and yesterday there was a 4-meter deviation in the bow and the stern,” Rabie told Egyptian state TV.

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The current stoppage is costing the canal $14-15 million daily.

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with COVID-19 restrictions.

If the blockage drags on, shippers may decide to reroute their cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.

A note from A.P. Moeller Maersk seen by Reuters said it had so far redirected 15 vessels around the Cape after calculating that the journey would be equal to the current delay of sailing to Suez and queuing.

The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given is freed.

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia, Aidan Lewis, Omar Fahmy, Mahmoud Mourad and Momen Saeed Atallah in Cairo, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alex Richardson, Elaine Hardcastle, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Daniel Wallis)(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021.

Suez Canal: Ever Given moves 30 metres as preparations are made to remove cargo to make it lighter

The 220,000-tonne Ever Given has been wedged across the Egyptian shipping lane since Tuesday

Egypt’s president has ordered preparations are made to remove cargo from the ship (Photo: Maxar Technologies/AP)

By Benjamin Russell
March 28, 2021

The container ship stuck in the Suez Canal has been moved almost 30 metres by workers trying to free the stricken vessel.

The 220,000-tonne Ever Given has been wedged across the Egyptian shipping lane since Tuesday, and experts have warned that freeing the ship could take weeks.

But fresh hope was given to the situation on Sunday when rescue crews reportedly managed to move it by around 30m, according to NBC News foreign correspondent Raf Sanchez.

Around 14 tugs are currently working in the canal, with two further attempts to free the Ever Given expected to take place on Sunday.

A pilot working with the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said he hoped the chance of success would be boosted by spring tides offering deeper water.

Two additional tugs, the Dutch-flagged Alp Guard and the Italian-flagged Carlo Magno, arrived in the Red Sea and were heading to the site to work alongside dredgers as they continue to vacuum up sand from beneath it and remove mud caked to the ship’s side.

The Ever Given has caused a backlog of cargo ships (Photo: Suez Canal Authority via AP)

They have so far shifted 27,000 cubic metres of sand around the ship to reach a depth of 18m, according to the SCA.

Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has also ordered preparations are made to remove cargo from the ship in a bid to make it lighter.

Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, the head of the SCA said he was optimistic about the progress they were making.

He said: “There are positive indicators from yesterday and the day before yesterday.

“The rudder was not moving and it is now moving, the propeller is working now, there was no water underneath the bow, and now there is water under it, and yesterday there was a 4-metre deviation in the bow and the stern.”

He added: “We’re dividing the day into two halves, 12 hours for dredgers and 12 hours for tugs, because not all times are suitable for tugs due to the tide.”

More than 320 ships are waiting to travel through the waterway, either to the Mediterranean or the Red Sea.

A number of backed up ships are known to be carrying livestock, raising concerns about their welfare as time goes on.

Gerit Weidinger, EU coordinator for Animals International, said: “My greatest fear is that animals run out of food and water and they get stuck on the ships because they cannot be unloaded somewhere else for paperwork reasons.”

Read More
Suez canal: Grounded Ever Given cargo ship moves for first time but it is still unknown when it will be free

Many ships en route to the area still have the canal listed as part of their course, however other vessels are opting to navigate the Cape of Good Hope in order to avoid it.

The company that owns the ship, Shoei Kisen, said getting the ship moving was “extremely difficult”, but that there were no injuries or oil spillage caused by it running aground.

Mr Rabei said on Saturday that he hoped the ship would be re-floated “today or tomorrow, depending on the ship’s responsiveness to the tides”.

Discussing the cause of the accident, he added: “An accident this big has several mistakes, several causes, part of it is a technical mistake, which is under investigation.

“There could also be a human error, which is also under investigation.

“There could be a lot of mistakes, but we can’t say what they are now.

“The only mistake we can be sure of now is the wind and the sandstorm. This is not the main one, like I said, but the rest will become clearer in the investigation.”

Beeple and nothingness
The ontology of NFT Art

Issue 95, 25th March 2021

Anthony Cross | Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Texas State University.

Uncovering the ontology of NFTs - the artwork-cryptocurrency crossovers being sold for millions - reveals a profound uncertainty about their nature, and the rights they confer. But beyond this ambiguity, will the vast sums of cash (or cryptocurrency) being thrown at NFTs ruin the whacky and wonderful world of internet folk art? Writing originally for Aesthetics for Birds, Anthony Cross investigates.

It was the Beeple heard round the world: on Thursday, March 11th, Christie’s sold a collage of digital art images for 69 million dollars. Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, is the artist responsible for the work; this makes him the third-highest selling living artist behind Jeff Koons and David Hockney.

Prior to the sale, Beeple had a modest artistic practice, posting original 3D images online daily. Most of these “everydays” are technically competent but nondescript abstracts—the sort of thing that you might use as a desktop background. Recently they’ve grown more referential, including images of a breastfeeding Donald Trump, Tiger King dethroned, and the coronavirus as a scifi movie monster. How, exactly, did Beeple’s work find itself in a Christie’s auction, outselling Lucien Freud and Damien Hirst? The answer has a lot to do with his chosen format for sale: an ‘NFT’, or non-fungible token.

What’s an NFT?

The abbreviation stands for ‘non-fungible token’. NFTs are crypto tokens, just like Bitcoins and other cryptocurrency: Each NFT is a pointer to an address on a publicly verifiable and distributed blockchain. Owning an NFT means that you own the cryptographic key required to demonstrate your ownership; this can be verified by consulting the blockchain, which lists you—or more precisely your digital wallet—as the owner.

The person who holds the NFT is the owner. It’s like possessing a digital deed to the object in question.

Most crypto tokens are fungible - any bitcoin can be exchanged for any other - but NFTs are unique. This means that NFTs can be used as identifiers for unique objects. More importantly, by attaching an NFT to a particular object—like basketball highlights, digital albums or even tweets—sellers can use NFTs to transfer ownership of these objects. The person who holds the NFT is the owner. It’s like possessing a digital deed to the object in question.

NFTs are especially useful for selling digital art. By linking digital art pieces to specific NFTs, artists have created opportunities for the individual ownership and collection of objects that were otherwise replicable, shareable, and ownerless (think of internet memes). Consider the example of Nyancat, a GIF image-turned-meme dating from 2011 featuring an 8-bit cat with a Pop Tart body: this GIF has been circulating throughout the internet for a decade, featuring most prominently in an insanely catchy YouTube video set to music. The creator of the original GIF, Chris Torres, recently sold an NFT linked to a one-of-a-kind version of Nyancat for roughly $600,000.

There are interesting—and difficult—philosophical questions to be considered here. I will pose a few of them in order start a real discussion about NFTs within the philosophy of art.

NFTs and the Ontology of Art

What, exactly, is the ontological status of an NFT in relation to the work linked to it? And how might the issuance of an NFT change or update digital artworks like Nyancat, which are already in existence, and have already been widely shared and copied?

Philosophers of art have long marked a difference between singular artworks like original paintings and those which are multiply instantiable, like novels and photographs. In the latter case, there are many instances of these artworks in circulation, and encountering any of them offers us full acquaintance with the work. Digital artworks seem to fall into the latter category: there are countless instances of Beeple’s everydays circulating around the internet which can be enjoyed simply by loading the image. What are these multiply instantiable artworks? Abstract objects? Types with many individual tokens? Or are they simply the set of all of the existing instances?

VIDEO
Stephen Bayley, Andrew Bowie, and Mel Evans ask how art gets its pricetag.

Depending on our answer to this question, an artist issuing an NFT—say, for Nyancat or an ultra-rare Pepe—might fundamentally change the artwork itself. Consider a more traditional parallel: the limited edition print. When an artist issues a limited run of prints, they are privileging those copies compared to any others in existence. Artists use their authority to designate which instances of their work count as genuine encounters. Karen Gover takes this further, arguing that the licensed prints are somehow included in - and change - what the work fundamentally is.

But this analogy is not perfect: First, with respect to many NFTs, there is no physical object associated with the NFT at all. There is simply a set of digital bits that is identical to any other digital instance of the work. So, it is unclear whether NFT artists designate some instance of the work as licensed or genuine in any meaningful way. Second, it is not clear that digital artists have the relevant authority to determine what is and is not an authentic instance. Take Nyancat again: Torres sold an individual version of Nyancat, but it is not clear that Torres has any authority over Nyancat, the viral internet meme.

Ontologicallly speaking, you do not seem to be getting a special or privileged instance of the work when you buy what’s associated with an NFT. Nor does it seem that issuing an NFT necessarily changes the nature of the work. All of this raises an important question: What exactly is it that you are getting when you buy an NFT?

Getting NFT Right(s)

Dig through the Christie’s condition of sale for Beeple’s work and you’ll find the following:

You acknowledge that ownership of an NFT carries no rights, express or implied, other than property rights for the lot (specifically, digital artwork tokenized by the NFT)….You acknowledge and represent that there is substantial uncertainty as to the characterization of NFTs and other digital assets under applicable law.

NFTs are simply pointers. They are cryptographic tokens that point to a piece of digital art or collectible. A profoundly unsettled issue is what rights come with that pointer. The buyer and seller of an NFT agree on what sale of the pointer means, and what rights it gives over whatever it points to. In this way, NFTs are tools for transferring property rights from buyer to seller. But, for many of the digital artworks being sold via NFTs, it is unclear what these rights are.

When buying a traditional artwork, ownership includes control over its display and performance: where to hang it, who gets to see it, and so on. It is not clear that sale via NFT gives you this sort of control. All of the images in Beeple’s $69 million collage are still freely available on the artist’s website. These are exactly the same digital files that were sold via the NFT. What’s more, they seem to have exactly the same provenance and official authorization. Nor does owning an NFT guarantee any control over their reproduction and display online. This is ownership with none of the benefits.

When buying a traditional artwork, ownership includes control over its display and performance…It is not clear that sale via NFT gives you this sort of control.

At the same time, it is not clear that digital artists have ownership rights to transfer in the first place. While Pepe the Frog’s creator, Matt Furie, has had some legal success in stopping unauthorized uses of Pepe, it is far from certain that Pepe-the-meme is his property. Buying an NFT of Pepe from Furie would give you ownership of that image. But owning a one-off Pepe is not the same as owning the meme itself. Pepe the meme is a collective, participatory artwork that resists ownership. NFTs do not seem capable of giving ownership of the internet art that we care about.

NFTs, Stonks, and Getting Paid

A final and major concern about NFTs is the eye-popping amount of money involved. No doubt, the explosion in the NFT market is largely the result of the huge growth of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The buyer of Beeple’s work was a cryptocurrency whale known as “Metakovan.” He has stated that he is purchasing NFT art and collectables primarily as investments.

On the one hand, this is a potential boon to digital artists looking to get paid. NFTs allow artists to create artificial scarcity, making way for a market for digital art. That said, this market might only reward the most successful artists. Between registration and transaction fees, most artists are unlikely to turn a huge profit in NFT sales. But this is no different from the overheads involved in traditional art sales for which galleries take commission.

More significant, though, is the kind of market that is emerging for NFT sales. Insofar as the market is explicitly viewed as an investment platform, market forces will encourage the development of specific kinds of art. This is already happening in the world of fine art. Sarah Hegenbart has written about the rise of “zombie formalism”, a trend in the art market for slick, abstract art designed to cater to the needs and desires of ultra-rich investors. Artists such as Lucien Smith and Damien Hirst tend towards creating bland, vaguely interesting works whose primary aim, in Hegenbart’s words, is “generating value out of nothing.”

Internet art is a kind of folk art—akin to a massive, collaborative project of generating aesthetic value. It reflects some of our strangest and most wonderful predilections. Most of us make and share memes and images because it’s fun, and because we like to be part of this gigantic, collective project. My worry is that the cash (or cryptocurrency) being thrown at NFTs will commercialize and marketize this culture. Will its content shift away from the wonderful and weird, towards the bland world of Beeple and cryptokitties? It is also possible that digital art will become just another investment platform: the next GME, the next Bitcoin, the next stonks. That, I think, would be a major cultural loss.

Aesthetics for Birds (AFB) is a blog that aims to bring together people working in aesthetics, philosophy of art and the art world, in a way that is accessible to everyone. Exlpore the blog at Aesthetics for Birds and twitter at @ArtfFockTweets for enriching thoughts and perspectives in these areas of philosophy and arts.

Deadliest day since Myanmar military coup as 107 killed with children said to be amongst fatalities

Sunday 28 March 2021

Video report by ITV News Reporter Graham Stothard

A record number of civilians, including children, have been killed in the deadliest day since Myanmar's military coup last month.

An independent researcher in the city of Yangon put the death toll at 107, with the bloodshed having spread over more than two dozen cities and towns.Security forces in the south-east Asian nation have been accused of opening fire on armed civilians, killing dozens of innocent people, including children, in a bloody crackdown on the annual armed forces day

Children are thought to be amongst the 100 killed in Saturday's protests. Credit: AP

Saturday's death toll surpasses estimates for the previous high on March 14, which ranged from 74 to 90 deaths.

As of Friday, the number of protesters killed since the takeover was 328, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which documents deaths and arrests. This figure does not take into account the deaths which took place on Saturday.

It said its tally only includes verified cases, with the actual number of casualties “likely much higher.” It said eight people were killed on Friday.

CCTV footage from the city of Dawei showed security forces opening fire at point-blank range on three men who rode past their pick-up truck on a motorbike.

Security forces were captured on camera shooting at three men on a motorbike at point-blank range. Credit: AP

Footage showed the bike crashing into a gate and two of the men running off under renewed fire from what appeared to be police officers.

The third man could be seen falling on the ground after being hit, then carried onto one of the security vehicles

Police fired at two of the men as they fled. Credit: AP

It was later confirmed the third man survived and was being treated in hospital.

Myanmar security forces met renewed anti-coup protests with unsparing violence on Saturday, firing live rounds into crowds across the country and killing scores of people in more than two dozen towns and cities.

While the military celebrated the annual holiday with a parade in the country’s capital, Naypyitaw, people across Myanmar called for bigger demonstrations.

The protesters refer to the holiday by its original name, Resistance Day, which marks the beginning of a revolt against Japanese occupation in World War 2.

In the small town of Launglone, around 3,000 anti-coup protesters took to the streets with no interference from security forces.

It was a rare peaceful demonstration on a day when police and soldiers brutally suppressed opposition to last month's takeover, firing into crowds and killing dozens across the country.

The head of the military Min Aung Hlaing used the country's Armed Forces Day to try to justify the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on February 1.

Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing Credit: AP

In a televised speech before thousands of soldiers at a massive parade ground at the capital Naypyitaw on Saturday, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing referred to “terrorism which can be harmful to state tranquility and social security,” and called it unacceptable.

In his speech, Min Aung Hlaing accused Ms Suu Kyi’s government of failing to investigate irregularities in the last polls, which her National League for Democracy party won in a landslide.

He said his government would hold “a free and fair election”.

Military personnel participate in a parade on Armed Forces Day Credit: AP

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the regime had hit a “new low” on Saturday.

“Today’s killing of unarmed civilians, including children, marks a new low," Mr Raab said.

“We will work with our international partners to end this senseless violence, hold those responsible to account, and secure a path back to democracy.”

The slaughter has provoked an international outcry, with the British ambassador among the diplomatic missions raising concerns that children are among the dead.

Dan Chugg, the British ambassador in Yangon, said that the “security forces have disgraced themselves by shooting unarmed civilians”.

“At a time of economic crisis, Covid and a worsening humanitarian situation, today’s military parade and extrajudicial killings speak volumes for the priorities of the military junta,” he said.

The European Union’s delegation to Myanmar said on Twitter: “This 76th Myanmar armed forces day will stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonour. The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts.”

State television MRTV on Friday night showed an announcement urging young people to learn a lesson from those killed already about the danger of being shot in the head or back.

Police personnel participate in a parade during the national Armed Forces Day Credit: AP

The warning was taken as a threat because many protesters have been shot in the head, suggesting they were deliberately killed.

The announcement suggested some young people were taking part in protesting as if it was a game, and urged their parents and friends to advise them not to participate.

The junta detained Ms Suu Kyi on the day of the takeover. It continues to hold her on minor criminal charges while investigating allegations of corruption against her that her supporters dismiss as politically motivated.

Myanmar police officers flee to India after claiming they were ordered to shoot protesters

At least four shot dead after Myanmar civilian leader vows ‘revolution’ against junta

CCTV captures Myanmar security forces firing at point-blank range on passing motorcyclists

Myanmar protests continue after more than 100 killed in bloodiest day since coup

Sunday 28 March 2021,

Video report by ITV News Senior Correspondent Paul Davies

Protesters returned to the streets of Myanmar on Sunday to press their demands for a return to democracy, just a day after security forces killed more than 100 people in the bloodiest day since last month’s military coup.

Demonstrations were held in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities, as well as elsewhere. Some protests were again met with police force.

At least 114 people were killed on Saturday as security forces cracked down on protests against the February 1 coup which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, according to the online news service Myanmar Now.

Several children under 16 were reported to be among the dead.

Similar death tolls were issued by other Myanmar media and researchers, far exceeding the previous highest on March 14.

Anti-coup protesters gesture with the three-fingers symbol of resistance during a demonstration in Thaketa township in Yangon Credit: AP

The number of killings since the coup is now more than 420, according to multiple counts.

The coup reversed years of progress towards democracy after five decades of military rule and has again made Myanmar the focus of international scrutiny.

Saturday’s killings by police and soldiers took place throughout the country as Myanmar’s military celebrated the annual Armed Forces Day holiday with a parade in the country’s capital, Naypyitaw.

CCTV captures Myanmar security forces firing at point-blank range on passing motorcyclists

The bloodshed quickly drew international condemnation, both from diplomatic missions within Myanmar and from abroad.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by the killings of civilians, including children.

“The continuing military crackdown is unacceptable and demands a firm, unified & resolute international response,” he wrote on Twitter.

In the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a tweet that his country is “horrified by the bloodshed perpetrated by Burmese security forces, showing that the junta will sacrifice the lives of the people to serve the few”.

The military chiefs of 12 nations issued a joint statement condemning the use of force against unarmed people.

“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting – not harming – the people it serves,” it said.

“We urge the Myanmar armed forces to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions.”

The statement was issued by the defence chiefs of Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Human rights group Amnesty International revived criticism that the international community is not doing enough to end the state violence in Myanmar.

Anti-coup protesters prepare makeshift bows and arrows to confront police in Thaketa township in Yangon Credit: AP

“UN Security Council member states’ continued refusal to meaningfully act against this never-ending horror is contemptible,” said Ming Yu Hah, the organisation’s deputy regional director for campaigns.

The Security Council has condemned the violence but not advocated concerted action against the junta, such as a ban on selling it arms.

China and Russia are both major arms suppliers to Myanmar’s military as well as politically sympathetic, and, as members of the council, would almost certainly veto any such move.

In recent days the junta has portrayed the demonstrators as the ones perpetrating violence for their sporadic use of Molotov cocktails.

On Saturday, some protesters in Yangon were seen carrying bows and arrows.

The junta has said its use of force is justified to stop what it has called rioting.

Repression in Myanmar

BY MEL GURTOV

COUNTERPUNCH

MARCH 26, 2021

Democracy in Myanmar suffered a severe setback on February 1 when the Tatmadaw, the country’s military, seized power. The coup did not come as a complete surprise: the National League for Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi won the general election for the second straight time. Although the military, which until 2012 had ruled Myanmar/Burma for about 50 years, still held the most powerful cabinet seats, it evidently could not tolerate this stinging defeat. It has declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law in large swaths of the country.

The coup was met by an extraordinary outburst of popular protest, reminiscent of the 1988 uprising against military rule that resulted in thousands of deaths. The military’s response to the peaceful protests this time has been horrific: a violent crackdown, including use of torture and kidnapping; attacks on people’s homes and on hospitals that are treating injured protesters; and “disappearing” people, whose relatives are unable to learn their fate. News reports say the body count is over 200 at this writing, but based on reports from my contact in Myanmar, that figure is a considerable understatement. (For example, this contact tells me that in one 3-day period in March, in just one district of Yangon, the capital, there were “242 fatalities, 60 arrested and missing, 27 dead bodies missing,” according to a medical team.)

As for the political opposition, Suu Kyi and many members of the NLD have been detained at some unknown location. The New York Times reports that an unofficial opposition group has formed under the leadership of a speaker in parliament before the coup. The group, calling itself the Committee Representing the Myanmar Parliament, has promised a federal form of government that would give equal rights to Myanmar’s many ethnic groups, some of which remain in active rebellion against the government. (Nothing was said about justice for the Rohingya Muslims.) This change would be in keeping with the country’s history as a community of ethnic groups that happen to be incorporated in a nation-state. As Prof. John Badgley, a noted authority on Burma’s history and politics, observes:

Over 40% of [Myanmar’s] citizens are minorities, whereas all of senior military responsible for enforcing law and order, including political transitions, are steeped in [the majority] Burman culture. Their heritage includes sacred language defined by Pali verses taught by monks devoted to anachronistic beliefs. Their family cultures are shaped by Theravada beliefs unique to Burma. As a consequence most Burmese political transitions have been guided by protection of their sacred order, as defined by Tatmadaw.

Though the UN, the US, and some other countries have urged the military to reverse course, only one country—China—has any real influence over the military’s behavior. But all China has done is urge the military to protect Chinese-run businesses, many of which have been torched, from “terrorism activities.” China has joined in a UN statement of “concern,” but otherwise is perfectly content to see democracy squashed in a neighboring country in which it has significant economic interests. Normalcy to China means a military in control of event.

There is no protection for the protesters, who continue to hold out across the country in the slight hope international intervention will at least bring a halt to the military’s repression. Maybe the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will try to mediate, or international businesses, watching the bottom line take a hit as Myanmar’s economy grinds to a halt, will speak up. The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions on some Tatmadaw officials. But the major US media have been virtually silent on events in Myanmar—a few articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post, for example. The mass demonstrations in Belarus against a dictator got much more attention.

We may ask: Where’s the outrage?

Mel Gurtov is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Perspective, an international affairs quarterly and blogs at In the Human Interest.

Myanmar protesters nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Norwegian academic says campaign should 'inspire other non-violent pro-democracy movements'

PUBLISHED : 26 MAR 2021

Local residents cheer on a convoy of motorcyclists preparing to stage a protest ride in Launglone, Dawei on Friday. (Dawei Watch via Reuters)

OSLO: The civil disobedience movement that has sprung up in Myanmar since the military coup has been nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, a Norwegian academic said on Friday.

Kristian Stokke, a professor of sociology at the University of Oslo, said the movement represents an exemplary peaceful response to the power grab by the army on Feb 1.

“The civil disobedience movement is an important mass mobilisation for democracy in Myanmar that is taking place, so far, with non-violent means,” he told AFP.

“This pro-democracy movement, especially if successful, can also have consequences outside Myanmar and inspire other non-violent pro-democracy movements elsewhere at a time when democracy is under pressure from authoritarian forces.”

According to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring group, 320 people have been killed and nearly 3,000 arrested since the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi — who herself received the prestigious award in 1991.

“What is important and gives a glimmer of hope is that what started as a response to a military coup has become a broader alliance across the many differences, especially ethnic ones, within Burmese society,” Stokke said.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee only accepts nominations submitted before the Jan 31 deadline, so the proposal submitted last week by Stokke and five other academics can only be considered for next year’s prize.

Tens of thousands of people, among them parliamentarians and ministers from all countries, former laureates and certain university professors, are eligible to submit a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The committee itself does not disclose who was considered or even nominated other than announcing the winner, though those who submit a nomination can publish it.

The 2021 peace prize winner will be announced on Oct 8. The World Food Programme (WFP) won last year.

Lonely ‘Tatmadaw Day’ for Myanmar’s Unloved Armed Forces

2021-03-26

This photo taken by and received from an anonymous source via Facebook on shows security forces walking on a street in Taunggyi in Myanmar's Shan state, during a crackdown on protests against the military coup, March 25, 2021
AFP

Myanmar’s ruling military will mark Armed Forces Day Saturday, nearly two months after it overthrew the country’s elected government, with seemingly little to celebrate as foreign diplomats and ethnic armies plan to shun the army ceremony to avoid any appearance of lending legitimacy to the junta.

The weeks since the Feb. 1 coup that deposed Aung San Suu Kyi and her newly elected government have shocked the world with daily images of blood flowing in the streets of major cities and soldiers firing weapons indiscriminately. More than 300 civilians have been killed, and 50 journalists are among thousands arrested.

On the eve of the ceremony, the junta broadcast on state-run MRTV News a warning that protesters should learn that they “can be in danger of getting shot in the head and back.”

Adding to the bad look this year for Tatmadaw Day--commemorating the March 27, 1945 start of a rebellion by the Burma National Army that helped defeat the occupying Imperial Japanese Army—is the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of that army’s founder, is under house arrest, and not for the first time.

“This is a day of suffering and mourning for the Burmese people, who have paid for the Tatmadaw’s arrogance and greed with their lives, time and time again,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“The tragedy of Myanmar’s modern history can be largely laid at the door of successive military strongmen who have inflicted rights abuses, looted the economy, and divided the country in a perpetual civil war that shows no sign of ending,” he said.

Myanmar endured harsh military rule from 1962 to 2011, last month’s coup is the second time the Tatmadaw nullified the results of an election swept by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. The first time, in 1990, the junta held Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years between 1989 and 2010.

Sources in diplomatic circles told RFA that most Western countries are unlikely to send their military attachés to the ceremony Saturday.

“U.S. defense attachés received an invitation to attend the Armed Forces Day ceremony in Naypyidaw this year. But the U.S. embassy will not attend,” said Aryani Manring, a U.S. embassy spokesperson in Yangon.

“The United States is one of the many countries that strongly condemn the coup and military’s subsequent actions, including unlawful detention and widespread violence against the peaceful demonstrators. So we will not be attending,” Manring added.

Myanmar soldiers march in formation during a military parade to mark the 73rd Armed Forces Day, in Naypyidaw, March 27, 2018. Credit: AFP

‘Acutely felt and widely noticed’

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has confirmed Tokyo will not send any delegates, including a military attaché, to the Armed Forces Day ceremony.

RFA received no reply by Friday to questions about attendance plans sent to the embassies of China, Russia and India. Beijing and Moscow have shielded the junta from criticism at the United Nations.

“I expect the majority will boycott,” said John Blaxland, a former Australian defense attaché to Myanmar and Thailand, who has attended March 27 ceremonies in the past.

“This parade has always featured defense attaches and diplomats being given prime vantage points from which to watch. Their absence will be acutely felt and widely noticed,” he said.

But Blaxland added that “it appears the Tatmadaw, and Min Aung Hlaing in particular, have hardened to the entreaties of foreign counterparts. It seems their approval or implicit support matters less now than simply holding onto power.”

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has since 2019 been sanctioned by the U.S. and faced the threat of referral to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and for genocide for his role in a 2017 army campaign that killed thousands of Rohingya and drove more 740,000 of the Muslim ethnic minority into Bangladesh.

The junta has shrugged off international criticism throughout the nearly two months since the coup, implicitly reminding critics that it is no stranger to pariah status.

Posters featuring military chief General Min Aung Hlaing are placed on the road during a demonstration in Yangon against the military coup, March 9, 2021. Credit AFP

Ethnic armies to skip parade

Bangkok-based military analyst Anthony Davis told RFA that Myanmar’s junta “is ultimately not that concerned by international opinion.”

With widespread rejection of the coup persisting despite brutal repression, “in the domestic conflict inside Myanmar it will certainly exploit to the full anything and everything that appears to reflect international recognition of its legitimacy.” he added.

One of the sharpest snubs ahead of Saturday came from inside the country, when the Karen National Union, an ethnic armed group that had been part of a six-year-old peace process with the military and previous governments, tweeted that it “will only attend ceremonies that reflect dignity, humanity, justice, and freedom for all.”

Other ethnic armed groups who are part of a 2016 ceasefire agreement with the military confirmed they would shun the ceremony, which they usually attend.

Still other ethnic armies, some embroiled in conflicts with the Myanmar military that dare back to the then Burma’s independence from Britain in 1948, have supported the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement and offered haven to activists and workers fleeing arrest or violence from military authorities.

In a sign that Western countries are not going to stop at criticizing the junta, the U.S. and Britain on Thursday levelled economic sanctions on two Myanmar military holding companies, a move Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “the most significant action to date to impose costs on the military regime.”

U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it had designated the Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC), for sanctions including asset freezes and curbs on doing business with U.S. entities.

“By designating MEC and MEHL, Treasury is targeting the Burmese military’s control of significant segments of the Burmese economy, which is a vital financial lifeline for the military junta,” said OFAC Director Andrea Gacki.

This photo taken and received from an anonymous source via Facebook shows protesters carrying signs during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, March 26, 2021. Credit: AFP

Oil and gas revenues

Pressure is building from within Myanmar as well as from the human rights community is to cut off oil and gas revenues to the junta, exports worth about $1 billion a year that flow directly to the junta since the military takeover.

“This is the single largest source of revenue flowing into the hands of this criminal enterprise. So I think it's critical that we that we cut it off,” Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday.

“United States can apply these sanctions in such a way, using the Treasury Department's licensing power to make sure that the gas continues to flow, but that the revenue stream from the oil and gas to the junta stops,” he said.

“That's what we want. That could happen. And more importantly that's what the people of Myanmar are demanding, including the elected leaders of Myanmar,” Andrews told the panel.

Activists are calling for more protests across the nation of 54 million people Saturday despite the shooting warnings issued Friday night.

Earlier in the day, police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the southern coastal city of Myeik, killing six, while photos on social media showed police and soldiers shooting at protesters from the inside of an ambulance they had commandeered.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an NGO based in Thailand, reported that at least 328 people have been killed in the crackdown as of Friday, while an RFA tally has counted 270.

“Only with the final deconstruction of the Tatmadaw and the prosecution of its commanders in international courts of law will the Burmese people be free of this continuous nightmare of military misrule,” said Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

OPINION

Myanmar's national disgrace is the Tatmadaw

PUBLISHED : 27 MAR 2021
NEWSPAPER SECTION: OPED
WRITER: MARK ADAMS

Today is a national holiday in Myanmar called Armed Forces Day. It is intended to honour that country's military and, as such, it is a fitting time to reflect on what exactly is worth celebrating.

Known within the country as the Tatmadaw, it justified its Feb 1 coup by reverting to painfully well-trodden messaging. The generals argued their forceful political intervention, ousting an elected government at gunpoint, was necessary to protect the country from destabilising democratic processes. Alleging corruption in recent elections, the generals disregarded the observations of both domestic and international election observers that despite some issues the election certainly produced legitimate, free and fair results.

In the weeks since the coup, the country has increasingly descended into widespread public protests, mass desertions of the civil service, and the collapse of the economy. In response the junta has instructed security forces, the police and military, to steadily respond through beatings, terrorisation and outright mass murder. As the violence escalated, Singapore's foreign minister aptly declared the junta's actions against peaceful protesters a "national disgrace".

The wider truth is ever more evident: the Tatmadaw is and has been Myanmar's national disgrace for over 60 years. The military long justified its role in Myanmar's politics, economics and society because of the "disunity" and prospects for "disintegration" among its diverse peoples. This self-fulfilling prophecy has been sustained more by the Tatmadaw than any other actor. Many ethnically and religiously diverse countries are developed and stable.

More than any other stakeholder, the Tatmadaw deserves responsibility for the country's ethnic divides, civil war, political repression and impoverishment. For decades the Tatmadaw has applied barbaric counter-insurgency methods that target civilian populations with violence and deprivation. It used extreme violence to crush the 1988 uprising as well as 2007's "Saffron Revolution". The Tatmadaw is now capping off its decrepit history of division and violence by the genocide of Rohingya in 2017 and savagely trying to repress a country near universally erupting against it in revolt.

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As Myanmar's people brace for what comes next, the only national cause remaining for Myanmar is overcoming its tortured history of military dictatorship. The unfolding resistance to Min Aung Hlaing's junta is an opportunity to rectify the mistakes of independence and the decades since. Independence was done in unfortunate haste and incomplete through the assassination of its founding father Aung San and the failure to see through compromises ensuring equity and equality via federalism. Ever since 1948 Myanmar has had a fractured political settlement. The bane of its existence has been a military that has long designated itself the country's keeper, manipulating its politics and diversity for its own benefit.

The current circumstances necessitate that Myanmar's people unite and fight for a future freed from the Tatmadaw in its current form. In important ways, the current period is potentially more significant to nation- and state-building than either the coups of 1962 and 1988, and in some ways even more so than independence. It is a historic opportunity to redo things for the better. Myanmar's people suffered under military rule for over five decades. The last decade was a heavily conditioned attempt at power sharing between the military and an elected civilian government. In the end, the military could not abide by the rules of the game that they themselves established in writing the country's 2008 constitution. Myanmar's people deserve to be free of military rule once and for all.

The question now facing Myanmar's people is how the junta can be defeated. For this there is a necessary but painful point to be made: pleas for international assistance will not be answered in any meaningful way. Most obviously because there will be no response to directly prevent violence by the junta's security forces. There will be no UN peacekeepers or US air raids targeting the Tatmadaw. The only countries that will undertake significant measures -- the support of weaponry, financing and political cover -- are those willing to benefit the junta. Russia and China's support is evident for the junta. The hard truth is that should the junta win and suppress the protesters, the world will simply re-engage with whatever government the junta forms.

Regardless, the reality is that Myanmar's people don't need international saviours for the junta to fail. Myanmar's people have the heart and bravery to do what is needed for themselves. That has become increasingly clear since Feb 1. There is now a historic moment building to rectify the mistakes of the past through solidarity and commitment to a shared future free of the military. The country's political settlement can be rebuilt on sincere notions of equality and equity manifest in the form of a democratic federal union. Uniting in the common cause of deposing the curse that is Myanmar's national disgrace of a military once and for all is necessary for the country to finally rectify the sins and mistakes of its earliest years.

The Tatmadaw's perpetual claims of superiority, patriotism and national duty, framed around twisted notions about the rule of law and need for stability, only ever served to justify repression, division, violence and theft. Myanmar's people deserve to be free of tyrannical military rule once and for all. Only Myanmar's people can decide the appropriate means necessary to achieve it. If disillusionment sets in, some groups will simply stop protesting, others will retreat into their mountainous citadels, while others will be left in the junta's prisons. Unity must come from the solidarity of persevering against a common national enemy, the Tatmadaw, and fundamentally relying on nobody else in what is a fight for a future worth having.

Mark Adams is a researcher focused on Southeast Asian politics and economics. An earlier version of this article appeared in Oxford Tea Circles.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Repression in Myanmar

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