Cuban cooks overcome shortages with ingenuity on Facebook

HAVANA — If you don’t have potato, use malanga root. If you can't find zucchini, replace it with cucumber

© Provided by The Canadian Press 2021-04-06

Can't find the ingredients you want? No problem: Yuliet Colón will help you whip up a dessert using the eggs you ran across, swap pork for the ground chicken in that recipe, even peanuts for beans in your Cuban-style rice.

She's among a number of Cubans who, with more ingenuity than resources, help their compatriots cope with shortages exacerbated by the new coronavirus pandemic with Facebook posts of culinary creations designed around what they're actually likely to find at the market or with government rations.

“I love Master Chef Spain, but where do I get liquid nitrogen in this country?” joked Colón, a 39-year-old mother of two and one of the creators of the Facebook page, ”Recipes from the Heart."

The site, launched in June, how has more than 12,000 members — many of them on an island just becoming accustomed to social media due to recently improved internet access.

The combination of COVID-19, which shut off income from tourism on the island, local economic productivity woes and sharpened U.S. sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump has led to increased scarcities in Cuba, where gross domestic product decreased by 11% in 2020.

Long queues became noticeable last year, and 2021 opened with government economic reforms that effectively raised both prices and pay — though not always at the same rate.

Colón last week visited an agricultural market near her house and, after standing in lines for about 40 minutes, bought the few vegetables she found.

She used them to create something that she called “Cuban-style pisto manchego” which includes onion, peppers, tomato, eggplant and cucumber — winning admiring comments from other group members.

These days, Cuban household staples come and go without warning. When toothpaste appears, deodorant disappears, and when it returns, soap and the toilet paper have vanished. The same is true for rice, beans, milk, cheese, onions, tomato and or garlic. Fruit has not been seen for weeks.

Sometimes potato disappears, prompting Cubans to turn to other tubers popular in the region, yuca or rough-skinned malanga.

The Facebook site has become a home for proposals on how to chicken when it's the only meat available or create artisanal cheeses with others aren't available.

“There are a lot of shortages”, lamented Colón in the small kitchen of her house while she prepared her “pisto manchego," chopping the vegetables and photographing the process before uploading the images.

She added a bit of fresh basil and oregano she took from a small flowerbed that a relative grows at the side of her house.

“What I like the most is making desserts, but now it’s hard to get eggs, milk or flour,” Colón said.

The Facebook page is an internet-era democratization of earlier efforts to help Cubans make due in hard times, notably following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which devastated the economy of its Caribbean ally in the early 1990s. A TV cooking show at that time once offered suggestions for cooking grapefruit rind steaks.

Thanks to arrival of internet access, services to manage food or deliver merchandise have proliferated and relatives abroad can even directly pay telephone bills for those on the island. Cubans can share tips on WhatsApp or Twitter about which stores are stocked with which products.

They've also helped make authorities more accountable in some cases — as when a state factory distributed croquettes that cooks complained seemed to explode when put in oil and authorities responded with explanations in the local press.

Colón relies on the internet to communicate with her mother, whose deposits help pay for web access that keeps her on Facebook.

Colón usually adds a few family anecdotes in her posts.

“The kitchen is my happy place, where I am calmer and I feel better,” she said.

Andrea Rodriguez, The Associated Press

Every Cook Can Govern by C L R James

https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/works/1956/06/every-cook.htm

Every Cook Can Govern A Study of Democracy in Ancient Greece Its Meaning for Today Source: Correspondence, Vol. 2, No. 12.

Myanmar's military is waging war on its citizens. Some say it's time to fight back

From a fenced-off compound close to the Myanmar border in northern Thailand, a rebel leader offers a bleak view of Myanmar's future, as the country is cleaved apart by a military coup.

© Stringer/Reuters Protesters hold homemade pipe air guns during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar April 3, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

By Helen Regan, Kocha Olarn, Mark Phillips and Ivan Watson, CNN 2021-04-06

The possibility of a deepening civil war in Myanmar is "high," Gen. Yawd Serk said from his administrative base in Chiang Mai province.

"The world has changed. I see people in the cities won't give up. And I see (coup leader) Min Aung Hlaing won't give up. I think there is possibility that civil war might happen."

Yawd Serk is an old hand at confronting military rulers. He is chairman of the ethnic minority political organization Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and founder of its armed wing, the Shan State Army (SSA), which controls large pockets of land in Myanmar's east. His is one of more than two dozen ethnic armed groups that have been fighting against the Myanmar military -- know as the Tatmadaw -- and each other in the country's borderlands for greater rights and autonomy, on and off for 70 years.

Since the military seized power on February 1, deposing the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, many of these rebel groups -- including the RCSS -- have expressed support for non-violent nationwide protests against junta rule, and condemned the indiscriminate brutality and deadly use of force inflicted on Burmese civilians by junta-controlled soldiers and police.

But as security forces continue their deadly campaign, there are signs the country is reaching a turning point where rebel groups could engage in renewed conflict, while some in the protest movement start to push for armed resistance in a bid to defend themselves.

© Royal Thai Army Handout/EPA-EFE/Shutterstcok A handout photo made available by Royal Thai Army shows injured fleeing Karen villagers arriving after crossing at a Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Hong Son province, Thailand, 30 March.

A senior rebel leader and several protesters, whom CNN is not identifying for security reasons, say a small, but growing number of pro-democracy activists are heading into the jungles where they are receiving combat training from ethnic militias.

There are also increasing calls from the urban centers for the ethnic rebel groups to do more to protect people from the military violence.

A protest group formed by some of the myriad ethnic minorities in the country recently called on 16 ethnic armed organizations to "urgently" protect the lives of the people.

© Mark Phillips/CNN Myanmar's Shan State Army Commander, Yawd Serk on March 27 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

And last Tuesday, three rebel groups in the north of the country, which call themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, said if the Myanmar military does not stop killing civilians, "we will join the spring revolution with all the ethnicities for self defense actions."

If the military "continues to shoot and kill people, it means the junta have simply transformed themselves into terrorists," Yawd Serk said. "We won't just sit still, we will find every means to protect the people."

Myanmar's military junta has repeatedly blamed the violence on protesters and said security forces were using "minimum force." Military spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun said during an interview that junta forces cracked down because "the crowd are blocking with sand bags, shooting with handmade guns, throwing with fire, throwing with molotov and the security forces have to use the weapons for the riot."

© Stringer/Getty Images Anti-coup protesters hold improvised weapons during a protest in Yangon on April 3, in Yangon, Myanmar.

He also said the junta "will hold a free and fair election after the state of emergency," which is in place for one year.


Airstrikes and refugees

The Tatmadaw is a highly trained fighting force that ruled the country for more than half a century through brutality and fear, turning Myanmar into a poverty-stricken pariah nation.

Its sustained conflict with ethnic minorities has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and rights groups have long linked soldiers to atrocities and human rights abuses, such as rape, torture and other war crimes. Min Aung Hlaing oversaw the campaign of killing and arson waged against the Rohingya ethnic minority population in the country's west in 2016 and 2017, which prompted a genocide case at the International Court of Justice. Both the NLD-led government at the time and the military denied the charges and have long claimed to be targeting terrorists.

© Mg_Ny@n/AP An anti-coup protester throws a Molotov cocktail to confront police in Yangon, Myanmar on March 28, 2021.

In the cities, elite counter-insurgency troops involved in these atrocities have been deployed and seen armed on the streets alongside other security forces.

Thierry Falise/LightRocket/Getty Images Training for young recruits of the 5th Brigade of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on June 27, 2012.

Since March 27, military fighter jets have screeched over the jungles and mountains of southeastern Karen state, launching airstrikes on villages and schools controlled by Myanmar's oldest rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU), for the first time in 20 years, according to multiple humanitarian groups on the ground.

The Tatmadaw bombs have killed at least six civilians, including children, and sent 12,000 people running from their homes, humanitarian groups said. Some of those villagers fled over Salween River into neighboring Thailand.

The offensive came after a KNU brigade seized a military base in Mutraw district. In retaliation, Myanmar military ground troops have now advanced into the rebel territories "from all fronts," the KNU said.

In the country's north, fighting has also increased since the coup between Kachin rebels called the Kachin Independence Army and the military, displacing hundreds of people, according to local media.

Both the KNU and RCSS are signatories of a 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), signed by 10 ethnic armed organizations. The two groups have signaled the attacks mean the uneasy ceasefire deal was now at risk.

"We have long foreseen a military offensive at the end of the dead-end NCA peace process," the KNU said. Its head of foreign affairs, Saw Taw Nee, said the agreement was "paralyzed."

Shan leader Yawd Serk said that since the coup, "all things on the negotiation table just collapsed."

Analysts say the military will be keen to avoid a situation in which it is drawn into conflict with multiple groups at once.

"Ultimately, the priority for the Tatmadaw is always going to be the heartland and maintaining control of the central government," said Matthew Henman, associate director and head of Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. He added that while many of these groups can't compare to the size and firepower of the military, they "could prove to be a real kind of destabilizing force."

Last week, Myanmar's military junta announced on state television a unilateral ceasefire for one month, which appeared to refer to military actions taken against ethnic armed groups, which it called on to "keep the peace." Excluded from the peace, however, are those who "disrupt" government security.


Fleeing protesters in ethnic areas

Fleeing the killings, beatings, arbitrary detentions and midnight raids in cities across the country, a growing number of people are seeking shelter in some of these ethnic areas controlled by rebel insurgents.

Saw Taw Nee said about 2,000 people had fled the junta's crackdowns in towns and cities to KNU territory, among them protesters, striking workers with the Civil Disobedience Movement, ousted government officials, and members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party the National League for Democracy. The KNU said it was providing them with humanitarian assistance such as food and shelter.

"Mostly they involved in the movement and they dare not to stay any longer in their place and they are being sought for arrest," Saw Taw Nee said. "Most are very young people."

Saw Taw Nee said he supports the protesters in cities by giving advice over video platforms on how to survive against the military's guns on the streets.

"We support them not by going into the cities with a big army," he said.

Shan leader Yawd Serk said they are also giving protection to those fleeing the junta.

"If we enter the cities we will inevitably justify the acts of the Burmese junta. We are not entering cities. People who flee, we will take care of them. They are protesting peacefully," he said.


Jungle training camps and calls for armed resistance

Not all protesters are only seeking sanctuary, however. A small percentage are now also heading to the jungles with the intention of learning how to fight back.

At least 570 people have been killed by security forces since the coup, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Among them are 46 children, the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF said. Protesters have tried to defend themselves against the security force's bullets with flimsy homemade shields, plastic hard hats and barricades made of sand bags.

But as the death toll continues to rise, one protest leader in Yangon said the movement is fracturing. Alongside the mass peaceful protests across the country, a small radical fringe is emerging.

The Yangon protest leader, who did not want to be named for his safety, said some demonstrators in the city have made largely unsuccessful attempts to carry out what they call "carwash operations."

"A carwash operation is throwing molotovs at a moving or stationary vehicle. Whether there is army personnel in it or an empty truck," he said. Another was a "cleaning service," which he said refers to arson attacks.

It is unclear how widespread or accepted the two actions are among the protest movement in Yangon, and the protest leader did not point to specific occurrences. While he is against violence, he said, other protest leaders are encouraging this type of operation. And as the situation deteriorates in the cities with increasing deaths, arrests and enforced disappearances, more people, the protester leader said, could be swayed to take action.

"When ordinary civilians like us, office workers like us, start taking arms and get training for six months and start shooting people, I guess civil war would be unavoidable," he said. But increased violence, he added, "won't accomplish our goal" and would only play into the junta's hands.

"Actually that kind of movement would drive us farther away from our goal of getting rid of this dictator," he said, referring to junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 were brutally put down by the military. Thousands were killed -- and the thousands more arrested were given decades-long prison sentences and subjected to torture. Young protesters formed a student army called the All Burma Students' Democratic Front to fight against the junta and trained under some of the rebel groups.

Now, some activists are following a similar path.

One protester CNN spoke to, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said he had been receiving training at a jungle camp for the past three weeks.

It is unclear precisely how many people were at the camp, but the activist said those training alongside him were "very ordinary people" who felt they had no other choice. They were now learning how to use guns and build bombs, the activist said.

"They (the security forces) just shoot us. We don't have anything. We just walk on street with nothing in our hand and then they shoot us," he said. "It should be weapon and weapon, it should not be non-violence and then weapon. It became no choice for us."

The senior rebel leader, whom CNN is not naming for security reasons, confirmed a few dozen protesters were receiving military training in his territory.

"They have learned just like how we trained our soldiers," the rebel leader said. "They said they have nothing to lose, they have to finish this military dictatorship otherwise there is no future for Myanmar."

Back in Chiang Mai province, Shan leader Yawd Serk held his cards close to his chest about what role his rebel group will have if the military violence continues, but said they will support the protesters -- including training them.

"When they flee from trouble, we will take care of them. But if they want to have training, we will train them," he said. But he added, "We have to separate peaceful protest. If we end up sending protesters with weapons it would just justify the killing of Burmese military."

After more than 70 years of conflict, Myanmar is awash with weapons that can be bought on the black market, though there's no evidence that they're being stockpiled in the cities.

The military junta announced in state controlled media Friday citizens who have fled to the ethnic areas or overseas would be allowed to return.

"The State Administration Council will arrange their returns from evaded areas to various regions of Myanmar," the military said. However, the invitation exempts "persons who committed any kinds of crime," a vague directive that could be applied to anyone.


What comes next

Meanwhile, a group of ousted lawmakers with the ruling NLD are spearheading calls to form a federal army that includes the ethnic armed groups. They have also revealed plans to form a transitional government to counter the military junta themselves.

The group, called the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) appears to have widespread support among the leaderless movement, and released last week an interim government roadmap that, among other things, calls for escalating the country's civil disobedience movement.

"The CRPH is going to form a government in the very near future. And the government will have its own army. We have been talking to ethnic armed groups and we have the right to defend ourselves. The people have the right to defend ourselves," said Htin Lin Aung, the CRPH's representative of international relations based in Maryland, US.

But uniting the disparate rebel groups against the Tatmadaw is unlikely and several rebel leaders say such a movement is a long way off becoming a reality. While many have formed alliances, there are deep rooted differences and continued inter-fighting between others. There is also a strong distrust among ethnic minority people that any Bamar majority governance group, like the CRPH, would be serious about incorporating the ethnic wishes of federalism and self-determination from the start.

The KNU's Saw Taw Nee said it was important first to build a federal democratic union, in which all ethnic groups are represented, then a federal army could follow.

"Its very difficult to have an army like this now. Mainly because we have different opinions, different backgrounds, among ethnic groups," he said. "The main thing is to build trust between ethnic people."

The RCSS's Yawd Serk said it was "not the right time to talk about our military capacity." But he did say "we have been in war for decades, we know what we need and how much we need. And we have already prepared for that."

Russia says Myanmar sanctions could lead to civil war, but EU plans more

(Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday the West risked triggering civil war in Myanmar by imposing sanctions on the military junta that has seized power in a coup, but France said the European Union will step up restrictions on the generals.

The Kremlin’s show of support was a boost to the junta that overthrew Aun San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government on Feb. 1. But it still faces a sustained campaign of pro-democracy demonstrations and civil disobedience across the country, and condemnation and more sanctions from the West.

In Myanmar’s main city Yangon on Tuesday, protesters sprayed red paint on roads, symbolising the blood shed in a crackdown by the security forces.

“The blood has not dried,” said one message in red.

About 570 people, including dozens of children, have been shot dead by troops and police in almost daily unrest since the coup, and security forces have arrested close to 3,500 people, advocacy group the Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said.

Among those detained are Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most popular politician, and members of her National League for Democracy, which trounced military-backed candidates in a November election.

However, Russia said on Tuesday that sanctions against the authorities were futile and extremely dangerous.

“In fact, such a line contributes to pitting the sides against each other and, ultimately, pushes the people of Myanmar towards a full-scale civil conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Russia is a major arms supplier to Myanmar and its deputy defence minister met coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyitaw last month, drawing criticism from rights activists who accused Moscow of legitimising the junta.

The European Union was preparing to impose collective sanctions on the Myanmar military targeting its business interests, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Paris.

“We are going to add economic sanctions at the level of the 27 (EU countries)...against the economic entities linked to the army so that they (sanctions) can be applied very quickly,” Le Drian told lawmakers.

Indonesia says UK backs ASEAN push for Myanmar crisis resolution

The EU last month imposed sanctions on a number of figures linked to the coup and the subsequent repression, while the United States has also taken measures against individuals and military-run businesses, which cover a wide span of Myanmar’s economic life.

A protest scheduled for Wednesday has called for the burning of Chinese-made goods. Many protesters are opposed to China, a major investor in Myanmar, because it is seen as supporting the junta.

NEXT GENERATION

Anger has swept Myanmar in the past two months over the coup that brought an abrupt end to a brief era of democratic and economic reform and international integration that followed the military’s oppressive 1962-2011 rule.

Suu Kyi and her party had pledged to change the constitution to reduce the military’s political clout.

The junta says it acted because the November election was fraudulent - an assertion dismissed by the election commission and international observers - and says it will hold a new election.

Western countries have backed the protesters’ calls for Suu Kyi and her government to be reinstated.

The ability to organise protests has been hampered by the military’s restriction of broadband wireless internet and mobile data services that had been the main channel for spreading word of what was happening in the country.

Those able to access social media on Tuesday shared pictures of striking workers marching for a second day in the city of Mandalay, some wearing gas masks and giving the three-finger salute that has become a symbol of resistance to army rule.

Authorities have issued arrest warrants for dozens of celebrities, models and influencers, and on Tuesday a popular comedian was arrested in Yangon, the Mizzima news site reported.

Villagers attend a protest against the military coup, in Launglon township, Myanmar April 4, 2021 in this picture obtained from social media. Dawei Watch/via REUTERS

Sithu Aung Myint, a prominent journalist, was on the wanted list. Writing on Facebook, he said he was proud to be considered a threat.

“When the coup council who have been committing crimes announces you as a lawbreaker together with the whole country, you will be more than happy because you are recognised as a hero in this revolution,” he wrote.

“Your next generation will be proud of you.”


Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Editing by Philippa Fletcher

Healing horses help people deal with trauma during pandemic

CBC/Radio-Canada 2021-04-06

© Natalie Axten Chantel White is a certified equine gestalt coach and has been helping people deal with past trauma for eight years.

The pandemic has left many struggling with their mental health and to deal with it some are turning to an unusual therapy.

Chantel White, a certified equine gestalt coach, helps people focus on healing from past trauma, especially abuse and sexual abuse, with help from horses.

"Horses are very intuitive beings," White told CBC's Edmonton AM on Monday.

"They're very, very aware of what's happening around them and are very aware of what's happening within people so they pick up a lot on incongruence."

Even when people tell themselves they are fine, when in reality they are not, a horse would pick up on it and help them deal with it, she said.

Her clients don't ride the horses, rather they interact with the animal through sessions. At her practice, Equine Reflection, in east Edmonton, she runs individual and groups sessions.

One of the group sessions involves a three-day intensive program where people work together to heal in the presence of horses.

"Groups are really helpful because people can really resonate with what's happened to another person," she said.

She said she saw an increase in the number of people reaching out for help in the middle of the pandemic, especially around September, October and November.

"They are just really feeling the effects of not having any support, especially even being out with their traditional community and friends" she said.

White's programs are designed for women and teens to help them deal with past assault or sexual assault.

Her horses pick up on feelings and help her clients through them, she said.

As an example, White was in discussion with a client who could not speak about their trauma when one of her horses came over, picked up a cushion from a nearby chair, threw it on the ground and repeatedly struck it with its shoulder.

When White made her client face what the horse was doing, the client began crying, recalling how they had been raped.

White has been offering therapy for eight years, although her relationship with horses goes past that.

"I was one of those people that just was born loving horses. I always enjoyed being around them — got into training them and showing them — that it felt like there was something more for me," she said.

There is something about horses that have always made her feel better, White said.

"People say that all the time. They just instantly feel better when they're around them."

PUTIN'S JUDAS GOAT
Russian prosecutors move to liquidate Navalny’s ‘extremist’ movement

Andrew Roth in Moscow 3 days ago


The Moscow prosecutor’s office has announced that it will seek to designate Alexander Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and his regional political headquarters as “extremist groups”, moving to effectively liquidate the jailed opposition leader’s political organisation in Russia.

It is the most sweeping assault yet on supporters of Navalny, and comes after his two-and-a-half-year sentence on embezzlement charges and the arrest of his top aides on various charges following large protests in January and February.

In a statement released on Friday evening, the law enforcement body said it was seeking the designation usually reserved for violent organisations such as al-Qaida or Aum Shinrikyo, because it believed Navalny’s organisations were “creating conditions for changing the foundations of the constitutional order, including through the scenario of a ‘coloured revolution’”.

© Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images 

The decision effectively severs Navalny from his supporters in the regions and his financial donors.

Coloured revolutions were pro-democracy uprisings in former Soviet republics in the mid-2000s now seen in Russia as western-backed coups. Navalny’s organisations have strongly criticised Vladimir Putin and his government, but have not called for any kind of armed rebellion to overthrow the Kremlin.

The decision effectively severs Navalny from his supporters in the regions and even from his financial donors, many of whom could be liable for financing an extremist group if they continued to provide funds.

“They’ve decided to steamroll the Anti-Corruption Foundation and the headquarters,” wrote the head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Ivan Zhdanov. “We won’t surrender.”

The prosecutor’s office said that it had applied for a court ruling to recognise both organisations as extremist, which, if granted and upheld on appeal, would allow the government to fine and imprison members of the pro-Navalny groups.

On Friday, a former camera operator for Navalny was sentenced to two years in prison on extremism charges for writing two strongly worded tweets that said top Kremlin officials “didn’t deserve to live”. The tweets came after a regional journalist lit herself on fire in an act of protest and died.

In the statement, the prosecutor’s office also claimed that Navalny’s organisation was acting in place of international organisations in Russia whose activities had been deemed “undesirable”. The statement effectively calls Navalny’s movement a front for western interests.

Navalny’s political movement has evolved over the last decade from a lone gadfly blogger with a LiveJournal to a guerrilla newsroom, an opposition research centre and a campaign strategy headquarters seeking to unseat the United Russia party by channelling votes to its most likely opponents.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation has angered Russia’s elites by publishing investigations into their expensive watches, yachting trips, lovers’ trysts, inflated procurements and other aspects of the government corruption that Navalny says has characterised the Putin era.

Related: Putin residence has cryo chamber and stables, Navalny team alleges

On Friday, it published its latest investigation into a lavish residence allegedly used by Putin, which is reportedly fitted out with a luxury spa complex with cryo chambers and a float pool, and which it claimed was rented from a close ally of Putin’s using taxpayers’ money.

The continuing investigations have proven that Navalny can be dangerous to the Kremlin even while he remains on hunger strike in a Russian prison. He was arrested upon returning to the country in January following treatment for a poisoning attempt on his life that he, in a joint investigation with Bellingcat, traced back to the Russian FSB.

US looking into reports of Ethiopian military executing unarmed men after CNN investigation

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN 

 2021-04-06

The US State Department said Monday it was looking into reports of extrajudicial executions committed by the Ethiopian army following a CNN investigation.

© Tigrai Media House Footage obtained by CNN shows soldiers rounding up dozens of young men on a clifftop and checking if they're armed.

A CNN report published on Thursday found that Ethiopian soldiers had executed unarmed men in the country's war-torn Tigray region.


The investigation, carried out with Amnesty International, verified footage of soldiers killing a group of at least 11 men before disposing of their bodies near the Tigrayan town of Mahibere Dego. A BBC investigation, also published Thursday, corroborated the same massacre.

Asked about the reports that Ethiopian forces were responsible for the massacre, State Department spokesman Ned Price said: "We are gravely concerned by reported human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. We strongly condemn the killings, the forced removals, the sexual assaults, the other human rights abuses that multiple organizations have reported."

"We are, of course, looking into these reports. We have taken close note of them and we'll continue to pay close attention," Price added.

Ethiopia is facing a raft of intense scrutiny over human rights violations that may amount to war crimes in Tigray. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed since November, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a major military operation against the region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), sending in national troops and militia fighters from Ethiopia's Amhara region.

CNN has previously compiled extensive eyewitness testimony that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea had crossed into Tigray during the conflict and had perpetrated massacres, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and other abuses.

Price said the US had taken note of the announcement by the Ethiopian foreign ministry last month that Eritrean forces have begun to leave the country.

"The immediate and complete withdrawal of Eritrean troops from Tigray will be an important step forward in de-escalating the conflict and restoring peace and regional stability," he said. He did not comment on whether the US has confirmed the withdrawal has started.

"We are encouraged by the prime minister's announcement that the government of the State of Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces from Ethiopia," Price added. Last month, Eritrea's embassy of the UK and Ireland denied allegations of wrongdoing by Eritrean soldiers and denied they were in Ethiopia.

Abiy's office dismissed the evidence from CNN's report, saying Friday that "social media posts and claims cannot be taken as evidence."

"The Ethiopian government has indicated its open will for independent investigations to be undertaken in the Tigray region," the statement added.

EU ‘reflecting’ on conflict of interest rules after BlackRock controversy

Jasper Jolly 

THE GUARDIAN

4/19/2021

The EU is considering introducing new conflict of interest rules after it was criticised for hiring BlackRock, a major manager of oil company and financial shares, to work on new environmental rules for banks.© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

The European ombudsman found in November found that the European commission, the EU’s executive arm, had not properly considered conflicts of interest when awarding the contract to BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor.

The ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, also said the commission should strengthen its conflict of interest rules.

Related: EU 'did not properly consider conflicts of interest' over BlackRock contract

The commission said it was “reflecting on possible clarifications relevant to the procedure to follow when a professional conflicting interest may be at stake in a procurement procedure”, according to its response to the ombudsman, published on Monday

.

© Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters BlackRock holds shares in oil companies and banks worth billions of dollars.

It said it would include updates to its financial regulation on conflicts of interest in a public consultation.

The campaign group Urgewald raised concerns about BlackRock’s alleged conflict of interest, first reported by the Guardian in April 2020. While BlackRock has taken steps in recent years to tighten its policies on the active allocation of money, its role as the world’s biggest provider of passive investments means it holds shares worth billions of dollars in oil companies and banks.

Katrin Ganswindt, a finance campaigner at Urgewald, said: “It is good that the EU commission is considering providing clearer guidelines on possible conflict of interest. This should be a given.

“In the case of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels, it is unfortunately already too late. The fact that the asset manager is also a leading shareholder in the banks for which it is advising environmental social and governance regulation, shows how we would have needed these guidelines before BlackRock was awarded the tender.”

Rasmus Andresen, an MEP with the Greens/European Free Alliance group, said he welcomed the commission’s response, but added “everything depends on the details and the implementation of this revision”. Andresen was among a group of MEPs who wrote to the commission with concerns over the contract.

“The only question of importance is if the financial regulation at the end will prevent BlackRock and others from getting a leading advising role on policy they have a financial interest in,” Andresen told the Guardian. “The commission should come up with a concrete proposal and formulate the revision in close cooperation with the European parliament as budgetary authority.”

BlackRock declined to comment. It has previously said its bid for the banking rules work was accepted because the commission found it offered the best quality for the lowest price

ROARING TWENTIES SPECULATION REDUX

The NFT bubble might be bursting already

By Paul R. La Monica,

 CNN Business 2021-04-05

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are all the rage. But their popularity may have already peaked. Prices of NFTs, the digital certificates that have taken the art and collectibles world by storm this year, have plunged about 70% from their high point in February

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The average price for an NFT on April 5 was about $1,256 -- down from more than $4.000 in late February, according to market research site NonFungible.com. Data from The Block, another crypto research firm, shows a similarly large decline for both prices and NFT sales as well.

NFTs have been an investing and pop culture mania for the past few weeks, leading some to wonder if the frenzy is a market bubble fueled by the wealthy and younger traders flush with stimulus money.

A JPEG file by the digital artist Beeple recently sold for $69 million at Christie's. NFTs have helped boost the price of sports trading cards. Rock group Kings of Leon released their most recent album as an NFT.

There was even a recent "Saturday Night Live" skit about NFTs. And several CNN Business staffers have also wrote about how they've dabbled in the NFT market with the purchase of cartoon cats.

The NFT craze has helped boost the value of ethereum, the cryptocurrency whose blockchain network is used for a large number of NFT transactions. Ethereum prices are up more than 180% so far this year, a surge that exceeds the spike in bitcoin's price.

Shares of collectibles companies, such as figurine maker Funko and Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment (which owns an NFL themed village in Canton, Ohio) have also soared thanks to partnerships to develop non-fungible tokens. Funko announced last week that it was buying a majority stake in TokenWave, LLC, the developer of the TokenHead app and website that tracks NFTs. Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment inked a partnership late last month with marketing firm Dolphin Entertainment to develop football NFTs,

Proponents of NFTs point out that each token is unique and can't be replicated, which creates a scarcity value that is good for both the artists that make them as well as collectors.

Funko CEO Brian Mariotti noted that in the release about the TokenWave deal, saying that the investment in NFTs marries the digital and physical collectibles business.

"The NFT world is all about content," Mariotti said.

That may be true, but the sharp, sudden rise in the value of NFTs and more recent pullback is reminding some of other similar historic market bubbles, such as tulip mania in the 1600s, the dot com/tech crash of 2000 and bank stocks and housing prices in 2008.

NFTs may be here to stay, but they just may not be worth the staggering sums of money that some people have shelled out for them in the past few weeks.

Even Beeple, aka Michael Joseph Winkelmann, joked with CNN's Julia Chatterley in March that he might be the biggest winner of what could turn out to be an NFT bubble.

BEFORE QANON

Picard season 2 to feature return of notorious Star Trek villain Q

Watch your six, Picard: Q is staging his return.

© CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images John De Lancie as Q on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.'

Paramount+ revealed Monday that John de Lancie will appear in season two of Star Trek: Picard as Q, a significant adversary to Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). The news was announced at Monday's First Contact Day virtual session, which included a surprise appearance by de Lancie himself.

A teaser of the new season was also shared during the panels (which will be available to view on-demand on Paramount+'s YouTube Channel and on Paramount+). In it, Stewart voices Jean-Luc Picard as the camera moves through his palatial French chateau before focusing on a Queen of Hearts card that's lying on a table. The card then burns up – leaving behind the letter Q.

"Time offers so many opportunities, but never second chances," says Picard. Then, Q can be heard saying, "The trial never ends." Watch the teaser below.

For those who aren't familiar with Q, the villainous character first appeared in Star Trek: Next Generation, followed by Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Lower Decks. Q can alter reality, among other dastardly deeds.

© Provided by Entertainment Weekly CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images John de Lancie, left, and Patrick Stewart on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.'

Other actors set to join season two of Picard are Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Jeri Ryan, Orla Brady, and Brent Spiner. Production on season 2 has already begun, with a premiere set for 2022 on Paramount+.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
2021-04-05

JOE WALSH AND HIS GANG

 

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