US Air Force Academy grads revolt against superintendent's 'both sides' position on violent extremism

Bob Brigham
April 24, 2021


U.S. Air Force photo by A1C Jonathan Whitely


One dozen graduates of the Air Force Academy wrote an open letter against white supremacy that was published on Saturday in the Air Force Times.

"In late March, the U.S. Air Force Academy held its Department of Defense-mandated extremism stand-down training to examine and to eradicate extremism and white supremacy within the ranks. Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clarke spoke of extreme ideologies on "both sides," rather than confronting the unique flavor of the extremism threat on display Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol," the group, led by Esteban Castellanos, wrote.

"Many USAFA graduates feel the mild response to the insurrection from the academy and its Association of Graduates failed to reflect these values and stands counter to everything they publicly expect of graduates. We are disappointed and feel that leadership has failed our graduates, the members they lead, and ultimately the citizens of this country," they explained. "Simply put, many of our leaders are underreacting to the attack. We need them to state, unequivocally, that the insurrection was wrong, intolerable and against our values and oath of service to the Constitution. They must state publicly and emphatically that those within our ranks who participate in, or are sympathetic to, the organizations that took part in the riot at the Capitol are not welcome in our ranks because they are supporting domestic insurrectionists and terrorists."

The group worried about the number of veterans who participated in the insurrection.

"Approximately one in five of the insurrectionists were veterans, according to criminal charging reports. They included at least one U.A. Air Force Academy graduate. Many more veterans are sympathetic to the insurrection, espouse the lies upon which it was based, or are participants in related causes," they explained. "Air Force Academy class Facebook pages and other social media sources show clear evidence that our officer corps members either do not take the threat seriously or support the underlying insurrectionist groups, many of which hold white supremacist ideologies."

And they wondered if there might be financial motives for failing to call out right-wing extremists.

"Where does the academy and its AOG leadership stand on white supremacy within our ranks? Are they afraid of alienating large donors that may sympathize with the terrorists' cause instead of doing the right thing?" they wondered.
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"The academy's lack of a strong rejection of the insurrection is, in effect, a political stance, one which undermines trust as well as good order and discipline within the ranks and the graduate community. Additionally, many of us, as service members of color and our allies, feel the insurrection was not only an assault on American democracy but on the value of all as equal citizens in this country. We saw our government nearly overthrown after an election victory brought about, in large part, by people of color," they wrote. "This is personal and painful for those who have served because we've fought for our Constitution and for the rights of our fellow citizens. Any more hesitation or equivocation in doing so risks losing the trust of the very Americans we have sworn to defend."

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Many U.S. Air Force Academy graduates feel the mild response to the insurrection from the academy and its Association of Graduates fails to reflect the values central to the academy's mission, the authors of this commentary write. https://trib.al/a7vf6Tx

10:43 AM · Apr 24, 2021·SocialFlow

Death toll in fire at Iraqi COVID-19 hospital surpasses 80

Ibn Khatib hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, April 25, 2021 after the fire. NOTE THE GAS CYLINDERS ARE INTACT!

By Associated Press
Published: Apr. 25, 2021 

|Updated: 8 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — The death toll from a massive fire at a Baghdad hospital for coronavirus patients rose to at least 82 Sunday as anxious families searched for missing relatives and the government suspended key health officials for alleged negligence.

The flames, described by one witness as “volcanoes of fire,” swept through the intensive care unit of the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital, which tends exclusively to COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms. Officials said the blaze, which also injured 110 people, was set off by an exploding oxygen cylinder.

Nurse Maher Ahmed was called to the scene late Saturday to help evacuate patients.

“I could not have imagined it would be a massive blaze like that,” he said. The flames overwhelmed the hospital’s second floor isolation hall within three to four minutes of the oxygen cylinder exploding, he said. “Volcanoes of fire.”

Most of those killed suffered severe burns, he said. Others were overcome by smoke, unwilling to leave behind relatives hooked up to ventilators. Ahmed said the patients could not be moved. “They would have minutes to live without oxygen.”

He said he and others watched helplessly as one patient struggled to breathe amid the smoke.

Widespread negligence on the part of health officials is to blame for the fire, Iraq’s prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, said Sunday. Following a special cabinet meeting to discuss the blaze, the government suspended key officials, including the health minister and the governor of Baghdad province. Other officials, including the hospital director, were dismissed from their posts.

It took firefighters and civil defense teams until early Sunday to put out the flames.

Among the dead were at least 28 patients on ventilators, tweeted Ali al-Bayati, a spokesman of the country’s independent Human Rights Commission, a semi-official body.

Paramedics carried the bodies, many burned beyond recognition, to al-Zafaraniya Hospital, where Ahmed said forensics teams will attempt to identify them by matching DNA samples to relatives.

By midday Sunday, relatives were still searching anxiously for loved ones.

“Please, two of my relatives are missing. ... I am going to die (without news about them),” posted a young woman on social media after a fruitless search for her family members. “I hope someone can help us find Sadi Abdul Kareem and Samir Abdul Kareem, they were in the ICU.”

Rokya Kareem, 30, was looking frantically for her friend Riyam Rahman, a pharmacist, who was visiting her mother at the hospital. Rahman’s mother, Basima, was admitted to the hospital 45 days ago with complications from COVID-19.

“All we know is they were in the room next to where the fire started,” she said. “Her phone is switched off, and her family has gone to every hospital trying to find them.”

The fire happened as Iraq grapples with a severe second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Daily virus cases now average around 8,000, the highest level since Iraq began recording infection rates early last year. At least 15,200 people have died of coronavirus in Iraq among at least 100,000 confirmed cases.

Years of sanctions and war have crippled the country’s health sector, and the latest infection wave has tested the limits of health facilities. Security concerns also plague the country as frequent rocket attacks continue to target army bases hosting foreign troops and the seat of Iraq’s government.

The deadly fire was only the latest chapter in Iraq’s poor record for public safety.

In March 2019, over 100 people died when a ferry capsized on the Tigris River near the northern city of Mosul. The boat overturned due to overcrowding and high water. A few months later, in September 2019, a fire ripped through Baghdad’s Shorja market, a major commercial area in the city, burning many shops to the ground.

Part of the problem is that laws and regulations governing public safety and health are old, said Yesar al-Maliki, an adviser to the Iraq Energy Institute.

“It has to do with the overall system. There are no detailed regulations and (standard operating procedures) on how to do basic things step by step, especially when handling risky equipment,” said Al-Maliki, who also worked in Iraq’s oil and gas industry.

“There needs to be specialists handling policy, regulation and implementation,” he said. “If there was a standard operating procedure on how to handle oxygen bottles, especially noticing wear and tear ... This wouldn’t have happened.”

The prime minster convened the special cabinet session hours after the flames broke out. In addition to suspending the health minister, Hasan al-Tamimi, and Baghdad’s governor, the cabinet ordered an investigation of the health minister and key hospital officials responsible for overseeing safety measures.

The cabinet also fired the director-general of the Baghdad health department in the al-Rusafa area, where the hospital is located, and the hospital’s director of engineering and maintenance, according to a statement from the Health Ministry and the prime minister’s office.

“Negligence in such matters is not a mistake, but a crime for which all negligent parties must bear responsibility,” al-Kadhimi said Sunday after a meeting.

The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Jeannine Hennis-Plasschaert, expressed “shock and pain” over the fire in a statement and called for stronger protection measures in hospitals.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis, who concluded a historic trip to Iraq last month, remembered those who perished in the blaze. Addressing people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his customary Sunday appearance, Francis mentioned the news of the dead. “Let’s pray for them,’' he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Abdulrahman Zeyad contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

IN MY YOUTH I WORKED AT CHEMCICAL PLANTS LIKE LIQUID AIR, CELENESE, AT LIQUID AIR I FILLED PRESSURE TANKS USED IN BOTH HOSPITALS AS WELL AS RIG SITES, THE LATTER DID AND COULD CONTAIN ACETYLENE!! WE DID A SNIFF TEST TO MAKE SURE THERE WAS NONE IN THE TANK BECAUSE IT COULD CAUSE A VERY DANGEROUS EXPLOSION! WE ONL;Y USED BRASS HAMMERS TO RING THEM TO SEE IF THEY WERE EMPTY. ANY OTHE METAL COULD SPARK!

AN OXYGEN TANK LEAKING WITH SOMEBODY SMOKING NEARBY COULD HAVE ALSO CAUSED A SERIOUS EXPLOSION, AND WHO KNOWS WHAT THE OTHER TANKS BEING USED WERE LEAKING TOO. THE CONTAINERS I HAVE SEE ARE OLD OR USED WHO KNOWS WHAT WAS IN THEM, GREEN TANKS ARE USED FOR OXYGEN IT IS THE INTERNATIONAL COLOUR FOR COMPRESSED GAS. 

Germany, EU, US ready help for India amid deadly COVID wave

India is struggling to contain a surge in coronavirus cases with global record-high infection and death rates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says a "storm has shaken the nation."


India has recorded more than 16.9 million coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic


German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that her government was preparing emergency aid for India as the country grapples with a devastating surge in coronavirus infections.

On Sunday, India recorded a new daily high of 349,691 coronavirus cases and 2,767 deaths — the worst toll since the start of the pandemic.

"To the people of India I want to express my sympathy on the terrible suffering that COVID-19 has again brought over your communities," Merkel said in a message shared on Twitter by her spokesman Steffen Seibert.


"The fight against the pandemic is our common fight. Germany stands in solidarity with India and is urgently preparing a mission of support."

The German Defense Ministry said it's assessing the possibility of providing a mobile oxygen generator and other medical equipment.
EU, US, UK pledge immediate help

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was alarmed by the situation in India.

"The EU is pooling resources to respond rapidly to India's request for assistance," von der Leyen said on Twitter. "We stand in full solidarity with the Indian people!"


The US will "immediately" send supplies of the raw materials needed to make vaccines, as well as therapeutics, tests, ventilators and protective equipment to India, the White House said in a statement on Sunday.

"The United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India," it said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter that the US will "rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India's health care heroes."





India has been calling for a temporary waiver on vaccine patentsto allow more countries to manufacture jabs and accelerate their rollout.

India's longtime rival, Pakistan, has also offered to deliver medical supplies following a recent thaw in relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

"As a gesture of solidarity with the people of India in the wake of the current wave of COVID-19, Pakistan has offered to provide relief support to India including ventilators," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.

Watch video 02:46 WTO resumes discussions on scrapping vaccine patents

The UK, meanwhile, has said it was sending more than 600 pieces of medical equipment to India, including ventilators and oxygen concentrators.

France said it plans to support India with oxygen capacity in the next few days, while Russia has also pledged to assist India by sending medical equipment.
DW's view from New Delhi

DW's New Delhi bureau chief Amrita Cheema described the situation in the Indian capital as "very critical" and said, "time is of the essence."

According to Cheema, the local Delhi government believes the only way to curb infections is to "impose strict measures to prevent people-to-people contact," which it considers "the only weapon to stem the flow."

The Delhi government is urgently in need of 700 tons of liquid oxygen, Cheema told DW, adding that it has appealed to the national government as well as other state governments to send oxygen supplies.

"There is an oxygen emergency here," she said.

The Indian government has deployed military planes and trains to deliver oxygen to New Delhi, and waived customs on the import of oxygen and medical supplies. It has also mobilized its armed forces to send in more oxygen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the government was fighting with all its might.

"Our spirits were high after successfully dealing with the first wave," Modi said in a radio address. "But this storm has shaken the nation."

Modi had declared victory over coronavirus in January.

Critics have slammed his government for allowing for big religious and political gatherings to go ahead, and for failing to plan for the devastating wave the country is now facing.

INDIA HOLDS HINDU FESTIVAL KUMBH MELA DESPITE COVID-19 FEARS
Crowds gather despite pandemic
The Maha Kumbh Mela, which is considered the largest Hindu gathering in the world, is held in a 12-year cycle, across four pilgrimage sites in India. This year, the festival is being held in the holy city of Haridwar. The festival, which is classified as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, is attended by tens of thousands of people under normal circumstances.  PHOTOS 12345678

What is the situation right now?

The 349,691 coronavirus cases reported in India on Sunday mark a new global single-day record.

The country has more than 16.9 million infections in total, behind only the United States.

As well as the country's health care system reaching breaking point, crematoriums and burial grounds have been overwhelmed with dead bodies.

Delhi, the country's hardest-hit city, on Sunday extended its weeklong lockdown as hospitals struggled with a shortage of beds and oxygen supplies.

"We have decided to extend the lockdown by one week ... The havoc of corona[virus] continues and there is no respite. Everyone is in favor of extending the lockdown," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a video statement.

Some 192,311 people have died of the coronavirus in India so far, although experts say the toll is likely a huge undercount.

Suspected cases are typically not included and many deaths have been attributed to underlying conditions.

mvb, dj, fb/mm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)


DW RECOMMENDS


Why are COVID cases surging in India?

New COVID infections in India are reaching record levels, and the health care system is being stretched to breaking point. Health expert Gautam Menon tells DW what went wrong, and when we can expect the surge to end.

The COVID variant from India: What we know so far

The latest variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus, dubbed B.1.617, was first found in India and then in other countries around the world. It is still unclear how dangerous it is.


Date 25.04.2021
Related Subjects India, Coronavirus
Keywords India, Coronavirus
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USED TO BE GOP'S FAVORITE DEMOCRAT

Joe Lieberman is lobbying Republicans to make Washington DC a state

Former Senator Joe Lieberman tapped by Democrats to pitch idea of turning Washington DC into a state to Republican lawmakers.

Ron Kampeas,

 JTA , Apr 25 , 2021 


Joe Lieberman
Official portrait; courtesy of YU


Democrats who hope to make Washington, D.C., a state have tapped Joe Lieberman, known for his cross-party outreach, to make the case to skeptical Republicans.

Forbes reported Wednesday that Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat who is spearheading the bid in the Senate now that it has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, has picked Lieberman to make the sale.

Lieberman, whose last acts in Congress included a D.C. statehood bill in 2012 that went nowhere, told Forbes he “would be glad” to make the case.

A close Republican friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told Forbes that Lieberman was on a mission impossible, saying the bill had “zero chance” among Senate Republicans.

Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate on a major-party ticket when he was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, became an independent in 2006. Two years later he backed the GOP nominee for president, his friend the late Sen. John McCain, although he continued to otherwise caucus with the Democrats. Since leaving the Senate in 2012, Lieberman has led efforts to promote bipartisanship.

Despite a D.C. statehood bill passing the House on party lines this week, and despite the Democrats’ razor-thin majority in the Senate, the statehood push faces daunting prospects. The Senate is split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the deciding 51st vote in case of a tie, but three senators in the Democratic caucus — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Angus King of Maine — are not yet on board.

Additionally, without the backing of 60 senators, Republicans will be able to filibuster the vote.

Republicans say the bill is a bid to add two reliably Democratic senators. Democrats say the bill would enfranchise a city with a population larger than Wyoming or Vermont and that has a black plurality.

D.C. residents vote for president, but do not have voting congressional representation.

The Lessons of the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Saga

There were complaints that the pause would undermine confidence in vaccines. But it would have been more disastrous for the F.D.A. to be seen as ignoring or covering up the issue.

By Amy Davidson Sorkin

NEW YORKER

April 25, 2021

How do public-health authorities convey to the public when

 the benefits outweigh the risks? How do they convey, for that 

matter, when they care about the risks?

Photograph by Marco Bello / Reuters


On Friday night, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended their ten-day pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson covid-19 vaccine, which is, on the whole, excellent news. The J. & J. shot (also referred to as Janssen, for the company subsidiary responsible for it) is highly effective at preventing cases of the disease, and in trials it was completely effective at preventing fatal cases. It is also the only vaccine approved in the United States (or the E.U.) that requires just a single shot, and it can be stored for three months in an ordinary refrigerator. Both of these factors make it well-suited for hard-to-reach or marginalized populations. (It is also effective against the South African variant.) The F.D.A. and the C.D.C. acted just hours after the C.D.C.’s independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or A.C.I.P., voted to reaffirm its recommendation of the vaccine for anyone over the age of eighteen, following a daylong virtual meeting that was live-streamed for the public, in which it scrutinized safety concerns around rare blood clots that mostly seem to occur in women under fifty.

But the A.C.I.P. laid out a task for public-health authorities: to communicate to women eighteen to forty-nine years old that there is a slight risk for them to be aware of, evaluate, and manage. Dr. José Romero, the Arkansas Secretary of Health and the chair of the meeting, said, “I acknowledge, as does everyone else, that these events are rare, but they are serious.” He added, “It’s our responsibility as clinicians to make sure women understand this risk and, when possible, that they have an alternative at the same site where you’re administering the vaccine.” That alternative would be the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccine, neither of which has been associated with the clots, and both of which are highly effective and safe. Romero was speaking at the end of the meeting and summing up what appeared to be the consensus. The vote on recommending continued use was 10–4 in favor—Romero voted yes. There was no dispute that the pause should end and that the vaccine should be made available to everyone over the age of eighteen. There was also no dispute that women should be given a clear statement about the distinct issues. The real disagreement, in the end, was about whether the best way to convey that information was to put it in the recommendation itself in some form, or in the warning label and fact sheet accompanying the vaccine. The fact-sheet party won.
Read The New Yorker’s complete news coverage and analysis of the coronavirus pandemic.

In that sense, the A.C.I.P. meeting provided a glimpse into issues that go beyond the pandemic. Nothing in the world is entirely risk-free—but risks can be managed. (There is a waiting period after covid-19 vaccinations to watch for anaphylactic reactions, for example.) How do public-health authorities convey to the public when the benefits outweigh the risks? How do they convey, for that matter, when they care about the risks? A theme of the meeting was that the nation’s system for tracking reactions to vaccines works, and works extraordinarily well. There was what epidemiologists call a “safety signal”—a few cases, a blip among millions—which was rapidly spotted and addressed. There had been complaints that the pause on the J. & J. vaccine might undermine confidence in vaccines altogether. That is short-sighted; it would have been more disastrous for the F.D.A. to be seen as ignoring or covering up the issue. The message that the F.D.A. is a stickler is not a bad one. But, if there is a single lesson to take away, it is the importance of looking at diverse populations—in terms of gender and age, in this case—in reviewing medical data. The problem that the A.C.I.P. was grappling with was not only how to talk to the public but how to reach women, give them the information they need, and respect their intelligence, autonomy, and choices.


To begin with, how rare are these clots? Since the J. & J. vaccine got its emergency-use approval, just under eight million doses have been administered. Fifteen people in the United States—all women—have experienced what is now being labelled as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or T.T.S. (There was an apparent case of it with a twenty-five-year-old man, but that was during the clinical trials.) At the time of the pause, the number of cases with women was six, but, largely because this side effect can appear a couple of weeks after vaccination, more have been identified since. T.T.S. is basically the presence of an already rare form of clot, in most cases in the brain, along with very low levels of platelets in the blood—a weird, dangerous combination. These are different from more common clots, such as those associated with oral contraceptives (which do not seem to be a risk factor for T.T.S.). Of those fifteen women, three have died; seven remain hospitalized, four in intensive care. The early symptoms to watch for include headache, dizziness, and abdominal pain. Prompt treatment can help.

Doctors who saw the early cases sometimes misunderstood and mistreated what was happening; several women were given heparin, which is normally a go-to treatment for clots but, in this case, makes the situation worse. That is partly why the pause was ordered. In a press conference on Friday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the C.D.C., said that none of the women whose cases have occurred since the pause were given heparin—an indication that the pause was effective in spreading the word. According to Walensky, 1.9 people in a million who get the J. & J. vaccine seem to experience these clots. But among adult women under fifty it is seven in a million. Among women thirty to thirty-nine, it is 11.8 per million.


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People Everywhere Are Reporting Vivid and Strange COVID-19 Dreams

These numbers sound scary, but the coronavirus is scary, too. The C.D.C. ran the numbers, looking at the risk for women under fifty of taking the J. & J. vaccine versus not being vaccinated at all. In that scenario, more women’s lives were saved by taking J. & J. That is important to emphasize, because, for some women, in some circumstances, J. & J. will be the best or the only viable option. (Again, it’s a one-and-done shot.) A woman in a region where covid-19 is rampant might make a different calculation than one in an area where it is mostly contained. When Walensky was asked flat-out, in the press conference, whether women under fifty should take “a different vaccine,” she gave a long and hedged answer that came down to the message that J. & J. should be “certainly an option” for those women.

Although scientists have not yet figured out exactly why these clots are happening, it is notable that Pfizer and Moderna use mRNA as their vaccine-delivery system, whereas J. & J. uses a modified human adenovirus. The AstraZeneca vaccine—which is not yet approved in the United States—has also had issues involving clotting, and uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus. The numbers of these clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe and the U.K. is significantly higher than is the case with J. & J.—about ten and eight for every million people vaccinated, respectively. One reason for the pause was that the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. wanted to see whether J. & J.’s issue was on a similar or even greater scale; it was not. (Last week, the European Medicines Agency also said that J. & J.’s benefits outweigh its risks, and advised warnings for women under fifty; the rollout of the J. & J. vaccine is still in the very early stages in Europe, and so the E.M.A. looked at data about its use in the United States.)

One of the C.D.C. models presented at the meeting—looking at the entire U.S. population and assuming the continued use of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, a moderate rate of coronavirus transmission, and factors such as vaccine hesitancy and logistical challenges in distribution—suggested that resuming the use of J. & J. for everyone over the age of eighteen would lead to twenty-six cases of T.T.S. over a six-month period, but prevent more than fourteen hundred deaths from covid. A resumption that limited its use to people over fifty (some European countries have imposed a similar restriction on the AstraZeneca vaccine) would, the model suggested, result in only two cases of T.T.S., but prevent fewer deaths—about two hundred and fifty.

The A.C.I.P., again, quickly moved away from the idea of a continued pause or a partial restriction. The issue was warnings. The committee had two potential formulations for the recommendation: one simply said that the vaccine was recommended for everyone over the age of eighteen, and the other affirmed that recommendation, but added that “women aged <50 years should be aware of the increased risk of T.T.S., and may choose another covid-19 vaccine (i.e. mRNA vaccines).” There was concern that the latter would sow confusion without entirely laying out the facts. There were also questions about when women would get the warning information—would they first hear about it when they were about to get the shot?—and whether there would be other vaccines available at the site. A committee member wondered if the longer warning might better reflect what she described as two truths: the high value of the vaccine generally, and the slight risk for some women. Still, other members said that they didn’t see much difference between the two recommendations, because younger women would still get a warning directed specifically at them in the fact sheet, which they believed would be effective. They preferred the more concise option, in part because it seemed clearer.

There is something to be said for that approach, and a great deal to be said for the J. & J. vaccine. But the F.D.A. and C.D.C., in accepting the A.C.I.P. recommendations, have to take seriously the mission that they’ve been given to convey this information to women. State authorities, who have been in charge of vaccine distribution, have a job to do, too—for example, in making sure that a lack of access to a range of vaccines doesn’t mean that women’s choices are made for them. Public-health authorities and doctors may, like many members of the public, focus mostly on the headline. But the warning label contains a message for them, too.

U.S. vice president to speak with Mexican president on tree-planting proposal
by Reuters

Saturday, 24 April 2021 

Central Americans work in the "Sowing Life" government program, in Tapachula

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The program aims to create 1.2 million jobs and plant 3 billion additional trees through expansion into southeastern Mexico and Central America

MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will speak with Mexico's president on May 7 about his proposal to expand a tree-planting program to Central America as way to reduce poverty and migration, Mexico's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has suggested the U.S. government offer temporary work visas and eventually citizenship to those who take part in the tree-planting program, called "Sembrando Vida," or "Sowing Life."

Harris' senior advisor and chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, confirmed next month's virtual meeting between the U.S. vice president and Obrador.

"This meeting will deepen the partnership between our countries to achieve the common goals of prosperity, good governance, and addressing the root causes of migration," Sanders said in a statement.

The program aims to create 1.2 million jobs and plant 3 billion additional trees through expansion into southeastern Mexico and Central America, Lopez Obrador said at a White House virtual climate summit last week.

He also said U.S. President Joe Biden "could finance" the program's extension to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a Tweet that he and Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier would participate in the May 7 meeting, which is also slated to touch on cooperation against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden tapped Harris last month to lead diplomatic efforts to cut immigration from Mexico and Central America.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon, additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington; editing by Diane Craft and Marguerita Choy)

SPACE RACE 2.0

China reveals moon station plan with Russia, openness on Space Day

Open-mindedness for intl cooperation emphasized

By 

Deng Xiaoci

 in Nanjing  

APRIL 25/2021 

Photo shows China's first lunar sample at the opening ceremony on the Space Day of China on April 24, 2021. Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

In the latest show of China’s consistent open-mindedness in the space sector, China National Space Administration and its Russian counterpart issued a joint declaration on cooperation in the creation of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), with the two sides emphasizing the facility is open to all international partners interested in cooperation, the CNSA disclosed to the Global Times on Saturday, which marked the Space Day of China 2021.

CNSA deputy head Wu Yanhua said in a statement the agency provided to the Global Times on Saturday that China and Russia will work with other international partners in the cooperation of building the ILRS.

The ILRS will be another major contribution that China and Russia shall make to the promotion of long-term and sustainable development of UN outer space activities, Wu said.

Such a joint declaration also showcased the determination and confidence of China-Russia cooperation in the field of lunar and deeper-space exploration, the CNSA told the Global Times.

The ILRS is a complex set of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in the orbit of the moon with possible involvement with other countries and international organizations and partners, said the joint declaration. 

It is designed to carry out multidisciplinary and multipurpose research activities, including the exploration and use of the moon, lunar observations, fundamental research experiments and technology verification with the possibility of long-term unmanned operation with the prospect of ensuring human presence, per the document.

China and Russia clarified in the joint declaration that ILRS is open to all international partners interested in cooperation in the planning, justification, design, development, implementation and operation of the ILRS, strengthening research exchanges and promoting peaceful exploration and use of outer space for the interests of all humankind. 

To support the ambitious plan of building a moon base, Mou Yu, an official with China’s Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology’s general designing department, disclosed in his speech at a session of the China Space Conference, which started on Saturday as part of the Space Day of China activities, that China is developing a 10-meter-diameter heavy-lift carrier rocket.

Such a rocket would be capable of launching a payload of no less than 50 tons to the lunar orbit, which will strongly support the moon base building, as well as even bigger scale lunar exploration activities, Mou told the Global Times.

Besides the future ILRS, China will also host international experiments on its upcoming space station, as it might be the only one of its kind in orbit after the International Space Station’s retirement. 

As the centerpiece of an ambitious 2021 in space, China is slated to carry out consecutive missions for the construction of a space station which is to become fully operational by around 2022, exactly three decades after China approved the manned space project in 1992. 

The Long March-5B Y2 carrier rocket and Tianhe core cabinet capsule for China’s space station were rolled out to the launch tower in the Wenchang Space Launch Center, South China’s Hainan Province on Friday, with pre-launch checkups underway, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).

China’s space station is set to operate for 10 years, but can be extended to 15 years under proper repair and maintenance, developers have told the Global Times. 

Following the core module’s launch, the cargo spaceship Tianzhou-2 is expected to be sent to space in May if system evaluation goes smoothly. The Shenzhou-12 crewed spacecraft is scheduled for launch in June, sending astronauts to orbit for about three months, during which the regenerative life support system and maintenance will be tested.

China has scheduled 11 launches for space station building in the next two years, including four manned missions and four cargo missions.

China and the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) announced in June 2019 that the first batch of nine international scientific experiments of 17 countries and 23 research bodies would be included in China’s space station.

The first batch of selected space science experiments to fly to China’s space station include Gamma-ray burst polarimetry jointly proposed by Switzerland, Poland, Germany and China and a spectroscopic investigation of nebular gas by India and Russia.

Also on Saturday during the opening ceremony of the Space Day of China 2021, CNSA deputy head Wu Yanhua officially unveiled the name of China’s Mars rover to be Zhurong, the same as that of a fire god in Chinese mythology, drawing a conclusion to the months-long global naming campaign.

Hopefully, by giving such a name to the rover, it will ignite the spark of China's interplanetary exploration and guide humanity deep into the vast and still unknown outer space, according to the CNSA.

CNSA explained that even separately, the two Chinese characters of the name each carries a wonderful message.

“Zhu,” or “blessing” in Chinese, embodies humanity’s best wishes in the pursuit of dreams in the vast universe, while “rong,” meaning “converge,” represents China’s stance and vision of peaceful use of space, enhancing humanity’s wellbeing, and joining forces with partners from home and abroad, now and in the future, so as to make great contributions to the harmonious development of human society.

China’s romanticism in naming space missions Infographic: Xu Zihe/GT

Day of celebration

Having achieved numerous milestones in the space sector in 2020 and ahead of the upcoming landing of its first Mars probe as well as the launch missions for China’s space station construction, China kick-started Space Day annual celebrations in Nanjing, capital East China’s Jiangsu Province.

Themed "Voyaging into space, pursuing dreams," this year’s Space Day of China provides a window not only for the Chinese public, but also the world to get a better understanding of China’s aerospace progress.

The Global Times found Saturday that envoys and representatives from a dozen countries and international organizations, such as Russia, the US, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), participated in the opening ceremony for the Space Day of China 2021.

“I am proud of participating in such a Chinese event,” a representative from Bangladesh told the Global Times, as he browsed what he called a “marvelous exhibition” featuring lunar samples retrieved by the Chang’e-5 robotic lunar probe in 2020.

Aside from moon samples, the parachute and return capsule of the robotic lunar probe were also displayed in the exhibition, which, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), is the first display of its kind to be held outside Beijing.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Director Simonetta Di Pippo, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos Director Dmitry Rogozin, and officials with Pakistan’s space agency Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission also sent congratulations to the Space Day of China on Saturday via video link.

“I am really impressed with all the achievements and progress China is making in space. It is extraordinary and incredible. It is really amazing for everyone here to see how China has progressed throughout the years in space,” Aisha Jagirani, director general with the Department of External Relations and Legal Affairs under the APSCO, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Aisha said what impressed her the most at the event was “the history of development of Chinese rockets; how China in a short span of time has developed space technology, explored the moon and Mars also… That is really amazing and encouraging.”

China designated April 24 as Space Day in 2016 to mark the anniversary of the country's first satellite launch, Dongfanghong-1 in 1970.

Photo shows China's first lunar sample at the opening ceremony on the Space Day of China on April 24, 2021. Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

Fruitful 2020 on display
China has achieved multiple milestones in space in the past year.

The Long March-5B carrier rocket, a shorter version of Long March-5, the strongest member of the Long March launch vehicle family, made its successful maiden flight in May 2020, successfully sending a new-generation manned spaceship into space.

The Chang’e-5 lunar probe concluded an epic Earth-Moon round trip, and managed to carry some 2 kilograms of lunar samples back to Earth on December 17, 2020, making China the third country in the world to achieve such a feat, and the first in more than four decades.

The success of the Chang’e-5 lunar mission also involved several breakthroughs in China’s space technology, including the first-ever sample collection on the lunar surface, a complex takeoff from the rough lunar terrain, and most challenging of all, the rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, which are all believed to build a solid foundation for future manned lunar missions. 

Also, in 2020, China launched the country’s first independent Mars probe mission, Tianwen-1, and the craft reached Mars’ orbit in February this year. China’s Tianwen-1 will deploy a lander and a rover bundled together for landing at Utopia Planitia in mid or late May.

China in August 2020 launched the full global service of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System – or BDS – China’s largest space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, alongside the US' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

The world hijacked by Washington’s selfishness: Global Times editorial
By Global Times
Published: Apr 25, 2021


Illustration: Chen Xia/GTNow the whole world is talking about how selfish the US is regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The most developed country in the world that talks about human rights the most refuses to export vaccines to other countries that are severely hit by the pandemic. Washington is determined to let its citizens get vaccinated first before it shares vaccines with others.

More than a quarter of Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus now, while about 40 percent of people in the US have received at least one shot. Not everyone wants to get vaccinated, so it is predicted that there will be a surplus of vaccines in the country after mid-May. At the same time, many developing countries are suffering vaccine shortage. In Namibia, an African country with a population of 2.5 million, only 128 people have received two doses of a vaccine until now.

The ugly "America First" doctrine on vaccines was fully revealed by the coronavirus outbreak in India. A humanitarian disaster has developed in the country. However, India's call for Washington to ease curbs on the export of vaccine raw materials was rejected. US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday that the priority of the country is "ensuring the distribution of a safe and effective vaccine to millions of Americans, to all Americans who are able to take advantage of it." Washington also turned down calls from India, South Africa and others to waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines.

To date, the US has made almost no actual contribution to the global fight against the pandemic. As the most developed country in the world, it did a poor job in the epidemic fight, failing to contribute any positive experiences to other countries. The country imported a huge amount of supplies such as masks and ventilators that were in short supply in the world last year. Washington undermined global cooperation against the virus by attacking the World Health Organization for quite a long time. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is Washington's most important product to fight against the pandemic. But until now it has been used primarily to protect Americans and a limited number of US allies.

"America First" is a very crude principle. It has become a practical guide to bipartisan actions in the US. The former administration of Donald Trump had both said and acted according to this principle. Although the Biden administration hasn't talked about it, it is in fact also acting in line with the principle.

Transmitted to the political center through each American constituency, the US' selfishness has formed a kind of "rightfulness" under American democracy. Meanwhile, Washington is keen to promote its idea of "human rights" to the world. It acts like it has compassion for all humanity, and surprisingly, it does not feel awkward about it at all.

The world cannot allow the US to abuse the right to define international justice. Washington has refused to share vaccines with developing countries proportionally. The world should jointly condemn it, making Washington bend its head, like a rat scurrying across the street with everybody chasing it. However, till today, the US is still arrogantly claiming it is a global moral leader. It even accuses China and Russia's efforts to share vaccines of being "vaccine diplomacy." The US has totally called white black and black white.

The US has misled and hijacked various countries' national security concept. This is where its arrogance comes from. The world is in an era of peaceful development, but US elites have successfully fanned many countries' anxieties over geosecurity, as the US is the one who has the most abundant resources to play the geopolitical game. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest security shock that countries have encountered in recent years, but many countries have deeply fallen into the geopolitical myth and been hijacked by Washington. Therefore, they indulged Washington's misdeeds.

India in fact has become a victim of the US tricks. India already had an economic slump before the outbreak of the pandemic. India's relations with China have been manipulated by the US so severely that even its vaccine assistance provided to other countries took China as a target. However, now India has suddenly become the epicenter of the global pandemic. It is caught in a predicament where it is unable to deal with the situation by itself, receives no support from the US, while it is too embarrassed to accept China's help.

In short, the US has caused harm to the whole world in recent years. Despite being a self-proclaimed world leader, it failed to act as a responsible power in terms of economy, security and the anti-pandemic fight. However, Washington has managed to keep the "moral high ground" and issue orders. It is fair to say that it is the world, including countries like India, that has indulged it. We are suffering a tragedy caused by ourselves.


Lack of international cooperation glaring in India’s epidemic ballooning: Global Times editorial

By Global Times
Published: Apr 24, 2021




A man rides a bicycle on an empty bridge during a weekend lockdown imposed by the government as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 epidemic in Allahabad, India, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

India's COVID-19 epidemic situation is clearly out of control. India on Saturday reported a new single-day high of some 346,000 COVID-19 cases and as many as 2,624 deaths in the past 24 hours. The Indian medical system has, in fact, collapsed. Many hospitals lack oxygen for critically ill patients, and different states and hospitals have said they would "rob" for oxygen. The New Delhi High Court angrily asked the Modi administration to "beg, borrow, steal or import" oxygen to save people's lives.

The Indian government is accused of underestimating the aggressiveness of the coronavirus variant. India not only allowed some large-scale religious activities to be held earlier this year but also did not emphasize basic prevention and control measures such as wearing masks, leading to the recent outbreak of the epidemic. It took less than two months for India's daily COVID-19 infections to jump from about 10,000 to over 300,000. There has never been such a spread rate anywhere in the world, even during the peak of the US' outbreak.

Currently, Western countries have canceled almost all diplomatic personnel exchanges with India, and are quickly moving to suspend flights from India. The US, the UK and some other Western countries have expressed their intention to support India's COVID-19 fight, but have not taken actions yet. The US is still restricting the export of vaccine raw materials that India urgently needs.

India's public health system is weak, so is the Indian society's grassroots organizational capability. Relying on India's own strength to deal with the current situation will very likely worsen this humanitarian disaster. Many infected Indian people have died without being treated. It is very necessary for the international society to cooperate with India to alleviate the epidemic situation. It is all parties' joint responsibility to promote such cooperation together.

China on Thursday has expressed its willingness to provide necessary support and assistance for India to control the epidemic. China-India relations have worsened due to their border disputes. It is a test of whether the two countries can put disputes aside and actively reach urgent cooperation on the COVID-19 fight.

We believe there may be some Indian people who hold a grudge about accepting China's aid. But now, people's lives are at stake, and there is no time for further hesitation. In fact, there are also some Chinese people who oppose proactively offering help to India. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement on Thursday is more representative of China's mainstream attitude.

Developed countries such as the US and the UK have dominated the international public opinion's focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and have shaped the Western world's moral view. Western public opinion has not shown the same concern about India's epidemic situation as it did to that of Europe and the US. Or maybe it is because India's population is too large, and they believe it is not realistic for the West to "save India."

This pandemic shows that the West's getting closer to India is more in a geopolitical sense. There is actually a gap of people's livelihoods and public interests between them. Their closeness to each other is fragile and superficial.

China and India feel more empathy for each other. In terms of fundamental interests, including development and improvement of people's livelihood, the two countries should have been partners in the same camp. But it is a pity that the significance of border disputes is amplified, concealing the true bond of China-India relations and blurring the two countries' huge common interests.

What should be the essence of a country's foreign relations? What is national security comprised of and what are the priorities? These are worth thinking about. At present, geopolitics continues to hold an overwhelming position in international relations, which is not in line with the actual challenges faced by the world today. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the seriousness of this problem. Human society needs the ability to seek truth from facts and get out of this dilemma.

Can China and India take an active exploratory step in this direction together? People will have to wait and see..

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