It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, April 26, 2021
Researchers solve puzzle of origin and formation of specialized body plan in flatfishes
IMAGE: THE METAMORPHOSIS PROCESS OF FLATFISHES view more
CREDIT: IMAGE BY DR. LI YONGXIN
The colonization of the seafloor is one of the most important events in evolutionary history, leading to an explosive radiation and large-scale morphological diversification of marine phyla. Flatfishes are one of the most successful groups of seafloor colonizers and have evolved the most specialized body plan (i.e., flat and asymmetrical) among the teleosts. However, the origin and formation mechanism of the peculiar morphology of flatfishes had long been unclear.
Now, researchers from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of CAS, the Institute of Hydrobiology of CAS, Zhejiang Ocean University and Northwestern Polytechnical University, have unraveled the evolutionary and genetic origins of the specialized body plan of flatfishes through comparative genomic analysis. The study was published in Nature Genetics.
By analyzing ten de novo-assembled genomes and eight already-published genome sequences from teleost species, the researchers found that Pleuronectoidei and Psettodoidei (the only two suborders of Pleuronectiformes) do not form a monophyletic group, indicating that they each descended independently from their percoid ancestors.
Several genes related to visual perception, immune response, hypoxia tolerance and cardiac function were found to have experienced significant alteration in flatfishes, possibly suggesting a similar remodeling of their visual, immune, respiratory and circulatory systems in benthic adaptation to seafloor colonization.
Genes associated with musculature development and lipid accumulation were also found to have experienced marked changes. Experiments on one fat-related gene showed fast lipid oxidization and decreased fat accumulation in flatfish and thus may correlate with the evolutionary origin and development of flatfishes' flat body plan.
Wnt and retinoic acid (RA) signal pathways have been found to play key roles in normal body axis development. The researchers also found that multiple genes from these pathways have undergone remarkable genetic alteration in flatfishes, suggesting they play a role in the evolution of an asymmetric body plan.
To find gene evolution and expression evidence, the researchers studied Paralichthys olivaceus as a representative species. They found that multiple genes in both RA and Wnt signaling pathways exhibited obvious transient expression fluctuations during metamorphosis, which include marked left-right asymmetrical expression beginning with the pre-metamorphic stage, climbing to an asymmetrical climax during the pro-metamorphic and metamorphic climax stage and then recovering to symmetry in the post-metamorphic stage.
The findings of this study substantially clarify the long-standing controversy (i.e., monophyletic origin vs. non-monophyletic origin) over the phylogeny of flatfishes. At the same time, the genes highlighted in this study offer a blueprint for future functional characterization of the molecular mechanisms underlying the unusual body plan of flatfishes.
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Mysterious ocean-floor trails show Arctic sponges on the move
VIDEO: THIS VIDEO SHOWS SPONGE SPICULE TRAILS ON THE SEAFLOOR. view more
CREDIT: AWI OFOBS TEAM, PS101
The aquatic animal known as the sponge is often described as entirely sessile: once they've settled in a spot and matured, they aren't generally thought of as moving around. But, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology on April 26--in which researchers describe mysterious trails of light brown sponge spicules (spike-like support elements in sponges) across the Arctic seafloor--that isn't always so.
"We observed trails of densely interwoven spicules connected directly to the underside or lower flanks of sponge individuals, suggesting these trails are traces of motility of the sponges," the researchers, led by Teresa Morganti of the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology and Autun Purser of the Alfred Wegener Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, write. "This is the first time abundant sponge trails have been observed in situ and attributed to sponge mobility."
It looked as though the sponges had "crawled" into their current positions. In fact, sponges do have a motile larval stage. But most species are thought to become sessile as adults. Sponges, after all, have no muscles or specialized organs for moving around. They can react to external stimulation and move a little by contracting or expanding their bodies. There also has been some evidence of movement in sponges raised in the lab. In some cases, that movement involved remodeling their whole bodies.
Nevertheless, the new findings took the research team by surprise. The discovery was made by studying video captured in 2016 by the research icebreaker Polarstern as it surveyed the submerged peaks of the permanently ice-covered Langseth Ridge.
A towed marine camera sled and a hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV) showed that the peaks of the ridge were covered by one of the densest communities of sponges that's ever been seen. The researchers determined that the impressive sponge populations were primarily comprised of large numbers of Geodia parva, G. hentscheli, and Stelletta rhaphidiophora individuals.
They say it's not clear, given the challenging environment, how the area supports such a vast community of sponges. But, even more intriguing were the numerous trails of sponge spicules. Far from a rarity, the researchers saw trails in nearly 70% of seafloor images that contained living sponges.
Those trails were several centimeters in height and up to many meters long. They often connected directly to living sponges. The trails were seen in areas with lots of sponges, as well as in more sparsely populated areas. The researchers report that they also often seemed to be in areas with smaller, juvenile sponges.
The researchers generated 3D models from the images and video to show the way the trails were interwoven with each other. They say that the findings suggest that the moving sponges sometimes change direction. They don't think the movement is simply a matter of gravity. In fact, the images suggest that the sponges frequently traveled uphill. It may be that the sponges move in order to get food, perhaps driven by the scarce Arctic resources.
"These features are all indicative of feeding and population density behavioral trends previously observed in encrusting sponges," the researchers write. "The extremely low primary productivity, sedimentation, and particle advection rates of the Langseth Ridge region overall result in some of the lowest standing stocks of benthic life; so potentially, this Arctic Geodia community relies on particulate and dissolved fractions from the degradation of old organic debris trapped within the spicule mat as additional food sources. We suggest that the mobility indicated here may be related to sponges searching for and feeding directly on the accumulated detrital matter trapped within the sponge spicule mat underlying the living sponges."
It's also possible that the movement has something to do with reproduction or the dispersal of young sponges. To learn more about how fast and why the sponges make these unexpected moves, they say that further time-lapse imagery and other studies are needed.
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This work was supported by DFG Cluster of Excellence "The Ocean in the Earth System" at the University of Bremen from the ERC Adv Grant ABYSS, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the Helmholtz Association, the Max Planck Society, and NASA.
Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
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This figure shows typical sponge spicule trails.
CREDIT
AWI OFOBS team, PS101; Morganti et al./Current B
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This image shows trails left by sponges as they crawl across the seafloor.
CREDIT
AWI OFOBS team, PS101
Surprise in the deep sea
Researchers discover sponge paths on the ocean floor
ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE, HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCH
Sponges: They are considered to be one of the most primitive forms of animal life, because they have neither locomotion organs nor a nervous system. A team around deep-sea scientist Antje Boetius has now discovered that sponges leave trails on the sea floor in the Arctic deep sea. They conclude that the animals might move actively - even if only a few centimetres per year. They are now publishing these unique findings in the journal Current Biology.
The surprise was great when researchers looked at high-resolution images of the sea floor of the Arctic deep sea in detail: Path-like tracks across the sediments ended where sponges were located. These trails were observed to run in all directions, including uphill. "We conclude from this that the sponges might actively move across the sea floor and leave these traces as a result of their movement," reports Dr Teresa Morganti, sponge expert from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. This is particularly exciting because science had previously assumed that most sponges are attached to the seafloor or are passively moved by ocean currents and, usually down slopes.
"There are no strong currents in the Arctic deep sea that could explain the structures found on the sea floor," explains expedition leader Prof. Antje Boetius, who works together with deep-sea biologist Dr Autun Purser from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in the HGF-MPG Joint Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology. The recently published recordings were made during an expedition at 87 °North at the Karasik Seamount about 350 kilometres away from the North Pole with the research icebreaker Polarstern in 2016 with a towed camera system OFOBS (Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System). "With OFOBS we can create 3D models from the deep sea. The seamount's summit was densely populated with sponges. 69 percent of our images showed trails of sponge spicules, many of which led to live animals," reports Autun Purser.
Many questions arise from these observations: Why do the sponges move? How do they orient themselves? Possible reasons for locomotion could be foraging, avoiding unfavourable environmental conditions, or to distribute offspring. Searching for food in particular plays a major role in nutrient-poor ecosystems such as the Arctic deep sea. Sponges have an important function there anyway. As filter feeders they can utilize particle and dissolved organic matter and are intensively involved in nutrient and matter recycling by means of their bacterial symbionts. Sponges also provide arctic fish and shrimp useful structures to use as a habitat. However, the scientists still have to investigate the mechanisms of locomotion.
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Original publication:
Teresa M. Morganti, Autun Purser, Hans Tore Rapp, Christopher R. German, Michael V. Jakuba, Laura Hehemann, Jonas Blendl, Beate M. Slaby, Antje Boetius: In situ observation of sponge trails suggests common sponge locomotion in the deep central Arctic. Current Biology (2021); DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.014
Genome sequencing delivers hope and warning for the survival of the Sumatran rhinoceros
IMAGE: PHOTO OF KERTAM, A YOUNG MALE SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS FROM BORNEO WHOSE GENOME WAS SEQUENCED FOR THIS STUDY. view more
CREDIT: SCUBA ZOO
A study led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm shows that the last remaining populations of the Sumatran rhinoceros display surprisingly low levels of inbreeding. The researchers sequenced the genomes from 21 modern and historical rhinoceros' specimens, which enabled them to investigate the genetic health in rhinos living today as well as a population that recently became extinct. These findings are published today in the journal Nature Communications.
With less than 100 individuals remaining, the Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the most endangered mammal species in the world. Recent reports of health issues and low fecundity have raised fears that the remaining populations are suffering from inbreeding problems. However, very little has been known about the genetic status of these enigmatic rhinos.
To investigate whether the Sumatran rhinoceros is threatened by genetic factors, the researchers sequenced the genomes from 16 individuals representing the present-day populations on Borneo and Sumatra and the recently extinct population on the Malaysian Peninsula. This enabled them to estimate inbreeding levels, genetic variation, and the frequency of potentially harmful mutations in the populations. Moreover, by also sequencing the genomes from five historical samples, the researchers could investigate the genetic consequences of the severe population decline of the past 100 years.
"To our surprise, we found relatively low inbreeding levels and high genetic diversity in the present-day populations on Borneo and Sumatra", says Johanna von Seth, PhD student at the Centre for Palaeogenetics and co-lead author on the paper.
The researchers think that the comparatively low inbreeding levels in the present-day rhinos is due to the decline in population size having happened very recently. This means that inbreeding hasn't yet caught up with the current small population size. This is good news for the conservation management of the remaining populations, since it implies that there is still time to preserve the species' genetic diversity. However, the researchers also found that there are many potentially harmful mutations hidden in the genomes of these individuals, which could spell bad news for the future.
"Unless the populations start increasing in size, there is a high risk that inbreeding levels will start rising, and consequently that genetic diseases will become more common", cautions Nicolas Dussex, postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics who also co-led the study.
The research team's findings from the recently extinct population on the Malaysian Peninsula serve as a stark warning of what might soon happen to the remaining populations in Borneo and Sumatra. A comparison of historical and modern genomes showed that the Malaysian Peninsula population experienced a rapid increase in inbreeding levels before it went extinct. Moreover, the researchers observed changes in the frequency of potentially harmful mutations that are consistent with inbreeding depression, a phenomenon where closely related parents produce offspring that suffer from genetic disease. These results imply that the two remaining populations could suffer a similar fate if their inbreeding levels start to increase.
"The Sumatran rhino is by no means out of the woods. But at least our findings provide a path forward, where we might still be able to rescue a large part of the species' genetic diversity", says Love Dalén, professor of evolutionary genetics at the Centre for Palaeogenetics.
In order to minimize the risk of extinction, the researchers say that it is imperative that the population size increases. They also suggest that actions can be taken to enable the exchange of genes between Borneo and Sumatra, for example by translocating individuals or using artificial insemination. A comparison of genomes from these two islands provided no evidence that such genetic exchange could lead to an introduction of genes that are less well adapted to the local environment. The researchers also point out that genome sequencing could be used as a tool to identify particular individuals with low amounts of potentially harmful mutations, and that such individuals would be especially well-suited for this type of genetic exchange.
In a wider perspective, the study highlights the potential of modern-day genome sequencing technology in guiding conservation efforts for endangered species across the globe. The study was supported by the National Genomics Infrastructure at SciLifeLab in Sweden, and was a collaboration between researchers from several different countries that included geneticists as well as experts on conservation management and reproductive biology.
The Centre for Palaeogenetics is a joint research centre funded by Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
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Photo of Kertam, a young male Sumatran rhinoceros from Borneo whose genome was sequenced for this study.
CREDIT
Scuba Zoo
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Photo of Kertam, a young male Sumatran rhinoceros from Borneo whose genome was sequenced for this study.
CREDIT
Scuba Zoo
NEWS RELEASE
Fossils of "giant cloud rats" discovered in Philippine caves
Fluffy rodents twice the size of a gray squirrel survived for tens of thousands of years, and then abruptly disappeared a few thousand years ago--perhaps driven to extinction by humans
Rats, by and large, aren't terribly popular animals. But while you don't want an infestation of common black rats living in your house, their distant cousins in the Philippines are downright cuddly. These "giant cloud rats" live in the treetops of misty mountain forests, and they fill an ecological role occupied by squirrels in the US. And, it turns out, we have new evidence that they've been living in the Philippines for a long time--scientists have discovered the fossils of three new species of giant cloud rats that lived alongside ancient humans.
"Our previous studies have demonstrated that the Philippines has the greatest concentration of unique species of mammals of any country, most of which are small animals, less than half a pound, that live in the tropical forest," Larry Heaney, the Neguanee Curator of Mammals at Chicago's Field Museum and an author of a study in the Journal of Mammalogy describing the new species. "These recently extinct fossil species not only show that biodiversity was even greater in the very recent past, but that the two that became extinct just a few thousand years ago were giants among rodents, both weighing more than two pounds. Their abrupt disappearance just a few thousand years ago leaves us to wonder if they were big enough that it might have been worthwhile to hunt and eat them."
"We have had evidence of extinct large mammals on the Philippine island of Luzon for a long time, but there has been virtually no information about fossils of smaller-sized mammals. The reason is probably that research had focused on open-air sites where the large fossil mammal faunas were known to have been preserved, rather than the careful sieving of cave deposits that preserve a broader size-range of vertebrates including the teeth and bones of rodents," says Janine Ochoa, an Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the University of the Philippines - Diliman and the study's lead author.
At the outset of the study, Ochoa was examining the fossil assemblages from caves in the Callao limestone formation, where a couple of years ago, scientists discovered the remains of an ancient species of humans, Homo luzonensis. "We were looking at the fossil assemblages associated with that hominin, and we found teeth and fragments of bone that ended up belonging to these new species of cloud rats," says Ochoa.
The fossil fragments discovered by the excavation team in Callao Cave aren't the only traces of the cloud rats, though--they were able to add to them some other fossils in the collections of the National Museum of the Philippines. "Some of these fossils were actually excavated decades ago, in the 1970s and 1980s, and they were in the museum, waiting for someone to have time to do a detailed study. When we began to analyze the fossil material, we were expecting fossil records for known living species. To our surprise, we found that we were dealing with not just one but three buot, or giant cloud rat species that were previously unknown," said Marian Reyes, a zooarcheologist at the National Museum of the Philippines, one of the study's authors.
The researchers didn't have a ton of material to work with, though--just fifty or so fragments. "Normally, when we're looking at fossil assemblages, we're dealing with thousands and thousands of fragments before you find something rare and really nice," says Ochoa. "It's crazy that in these fifty fragments, we found three new species that haven't been recorded before."
The fragments that the researchers found were mostly teeth, which are covered in a hard enamel substance that makes them hardier than bone. From just a few dozen teeth and bits of bone, though, the researchers were able to put together a picture of what these animals were like in life, thanks to, in Heaney's words, "days and days and days staring through a microscope"
By comparing the fossils to the 18 living species of giant cloud rats, the researchers have a decent idea of what these three new fossil species would have looked like.
"The bigger ones would have looked almost like a woodchuck with a squirrel tail," says Heaney. "Cloud rats eat plants, and they've got great big pot bellies that allow them to ferment the plants that they eat, kind of like cows. They have big fluffy or furry tails. They're really quite cute."
The newly recorded fossil species came from Callao Cave, where Homo luzonensis was discovered in 2019, and several adjacent smaller caves in Penablanca, Cagayan Province. Some specimens of all three of the new fossil rodents occurred in the same deep layer in the cave where Homo luzonensis was found, which has been dated at about 67,000 years ago. One of the new fossil rodents is known from only two specimens from that ancient layer, but the other two are represented by specimens from that early date all the way up to about 2000 years ago or later, which means that they were resilient and persistent for at least 60,000 years. "Our records demonstrate that these giant rodents were able to survive the profound climatic changes from the Ice Age to current humid tropics that have impacted the earth over tens of millennia. The question is what might have caused their final extinction?" adds Philip Piper, a coauthor based at the Australian National University.
Two of these giant rodents apparently disappeared about two thousand years ago, or soon after. "That seems significant, because that is roughly the same time that pottery and Neolithic stone tools first appear in the archeological record, and when dogs, domestic pigs, and probably monkeys were introduced to the Philippines, probably from Borneo. While we can't say for certain based on our current information, this implies that humans likely played some role in their extinction," says Armand Mijares, Professor in the Archaeological Studies Program at the University of the Philippines - Diliman, who headed the excavations of Callao Cave.
"Our discoveries suggest that future studies that look specifically for fossils of small mammals may be very productive, and may tell us a great deal about how environmental changes and human activities have impacted the really exceptionally distinctive biodiversity of the Philippines," according to Ochoa. And such studies may also tell us a lot specifically about the impact of human activities, perhaps specifically including over-hunting, on biodiversity, notes Heaney. "This is something we need to understand if we are going to be effective in preventing extinction in the future."
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Photograph of some of the cloud rat fossils.
CREDIT
Lauren Nassef, Field Museum
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Callou Cave site where the fossils were found.
CREDIT
Patricia Cabrera
THEY MUST CHEW WATSON OR THEIR TEET WILL GGROWTH THROLUGH THEIR BRAINS
Pain patients and healthcare providerswant CDC opioid guideline revoked
Survey finds 9 out of 10 patients believe their pain levels and quality of life have grown worse under 2016 CDC guideline
The CDC's opioid prescribing guideline has failed to reduce addiction and overdoses, significantly worsened the quality of pain care in the United States and should be revoked, according to a large new survey of patients and healthcare providers by Pain News Network, an independent, non-profit news organization.
Nearly 4,200 patients and providers participated in the online survey, which was conducted as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prepares to update and possibly expand its 2016 guideline, which discourages doctors from prescribing opioid pain medication.
Most survey respondents - nearly 75% -- believe the guideline should be withdrawn or revoked. Less than one in four (23%) believe changes can be made to make its recommendations more effective.
Although voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians, the guideline has become the standard of care for pain management in the U.S., with many doctors, insurers, pharmacies and regulators adopting its recommendations as policy. The goal of the guideline was to "improve the safety and effectiveness of pain treatment" and reduce the risk of opioid addiction and overdose.
But survey respondents overwhelmingly believe the CDC has failed to achieve its goals. Nearly 97% said the guideline has not improved the quality of pain care, and 92% believe it has not reduced opioid addiction and overdoses.
Opioid prescriptions were declining before the CDC guideline was released and now stand at their lowest level in 20 years. Most overdoses in the U.S. involve illicit fentanyl and other street drugs, not prescription opioids, yet many patients have been cut off from opioids or had their doses reduced.
"They have done immeasurable damage to chronic intractable pain patients all across America. There have been suicides, people have lost their jobs and their entire quality of life because of them," one patient said.
"In 40 years as a pain specialist, I have never seen patients with pain so mistreated, abandoned and unable to access pain treatment as a direct result of the CDC guidelines," a doctor wrote.
"Due to inadequate pain control many chronic pain patients, including myself, attempted suicide to get relief of intolerable pain. I wish I had succeeded," another patient wrote.
Other survey findings:
59% of patients were taken off opioids or tapered to a lower dose against their wishes
42% had trouble getting an opioid prescription filled at a pharmacy
36% were unable to find a doctor to treat their pain
29% were abandoned or discharged by a doctor
27% had a doctor who stopped prescribing opioids
35% have considered or attempted suicide due to poorly treat pain
10% have obtained prescription opioids from family, friends or the black market
9% have used illegal drugs for pain relief
"This is the fourth survey we've done on the CDC guideline. Each year the findings grow more disturbing, with patients desperate for pain relief or simply giving up on life," said Pat Anson, founder and editor of Pain News Network. "Nine out of ten patients say their pain levels and quality of life have grown worse since the guideline came out. Many of their stories are heartbreaking. Pain patients are the unrecognized victims of the opioid crisis and are being blamed for something they did not cause."
The CDC is currently in the process of updating and possibly expanding the guideline to include recommendations for treating short-term acute pain, migraine and other pain conditions such as fibromyalgia and low back pain. A draft version of the updated guideline is not expected until late this year.
(The survey was conducted online and through social media from March 15 to April 17. A total of 4,185 people in the United States participated, including 3,926 who identified themselves as chronic, acute or intractable pain patients; 92 doctors or healthcare providers; and 167 people who said they were a caretaker, spouse, loved one or friend of a patient. To see the full survey results, click here.)
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Russian prosecutors order Navalny group to suspend activities
Russian prosecutors on Monday ordered jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and its regional network to suspend all activities, pending a court ruling on whether to label it an extremist group.
A Moscow court on Monday began a preliminary hearing into designating FBK and its regional offices as "extremist" after prosecutors requested they be added to a list of "terrorist and extremist" organisations run by Russia's Anti-Terrorism Committee.
"The activities of Navalny's offices and FBK were immediately suspended," FBK's director Ivan Zhdanov wrote on Twitter on Monday, attaching screenshots of a prosecutor's decision.
The Moscow City Court confirmed that the activities of the group's regional network were suspended, but clarified that prosecutors had the power to make the decision and that a final court ruling on designating the group as extremist was still due.
A positive court ruling would give authorities the legal power to hand down jail terms to activists and freeze the groups' bank accounts, essentially forcing them to stop campaigning for Russia's highest-profile opposition figure.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, Navalny's office in Moscow said the group will already "no longer be able to work" as usual.
"It would be too dangerous for our employees and for our supporters," it said.
The team promised that it will continue to fight against corruption, the ruling United Russia party and President Vladimir Putin "in a personal capacity".
"It will not be easy to fight, but we will win absolutely, because there are many of us and we are strong," the group added.
Prosecutors on Friday said they had requested the extremism label for FBK and its regional offices because they are "engaged in creating conditions for the destabilisation of the social and socio-political situation."
Prosecutors also accused the organisations of creating conditions for "changing the foundations of the constitutional order" and called their activities "undesirable". Russia's list of extremist organisations currently consists of 33 including the Islamic State (IS) group, al Qaeda and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The groups are banned from operating in Russia and participating in their activities can result in lengthy prison terms.
Navalny, Russia's best known opposition politician, is serving two-and-a-half years in a penal colony on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Biden’s Armenian Genocide Declaration Is a Message to Turkey
If Turkey wants to be treated as an ally, it has to start acting like one.
THE BULWARK Armenians march from the Turkish Ambassador's Residence to the Turkish Embassy on the 106th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide during a protest in Washington, DC on April 24, 2021. - President Joe Biden's recognition of the Armenian genocide was met Saturday by tempered satisfaction from the nation's US diaspora, with some saying the words need to result in more pressure against Turkey. Marchers gathered in Los Angeles, home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the world, to mark the day with Armenian flags and calls for accountability. (Photo by Samuel Corum / AFP) (Photo by SAMUEL CORUM/AFP via Getty Images)
Over the weekend, President Biden recognized the World War I-era Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, the precursor to modern Turkey. Previous administrations had avoided the topic because Turkey is a treaty ally of the United States as a member of NATO. Biden’s recognition signals a new era of U.S.-Turkey relations.
Though recognizing the genocide is a formal declaration with only symbolic value, Turkish nationalists have long fought against it (including through government-funded online trolls), while Armenians have fought for international acknowledgement of the crimes perpetrated against them. While most of the world’s advanced democracies have recognized the genocide, the United States was slow to join them because of Turkey’s value as an ally. Armenia, a former Soviet republic, has enjoyed closer relations with Russian than the free world since independence.
This is beginning to change. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been the head of the Turkish government for 20 years. Once a secular and “imperfect democracy,” Turkey is now an Islamist autocracy. Erdoğan’s government has been increasingly cozying up with U.S. adversaries such as Iran and the Taliban. It even supported the Islamic State on its border with Syria, as much for ideological affinity as battlefield advantage, while targeting the United States’s Kurdish allies there. Turkey is warming its tepid relations with Russia, a historical adversary. In 2020, Turkey completed the purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-air missile system, which could potentially expose U.S. military secrets to Russia, over strenuous American objections. Consequently, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey and kicked it out of the F-35 fighter program.
The Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations all tried to repair the relationship, and all failed because Erdoğan is simply not interested. He holds the United States in contempt, which became most visible (and, for America, most humiliating) when, in 2017, his bodyguards attacked and beat up peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C., as the Turkish strongman was about to meet Trump—and got away with it. It symbolized U.S.-Turkey relations: Turkey does what it wants, the U.S. suffered what it thought it must.
By formally recognizing the Armenian genocide, the Biden administration seems to be rebalancing the relationship, which shouldn’t be a surprise. In 2018, Biden’s current assistant for national security affairs, Jake Sullivan, co-authored an op-ed with the former American ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, arguing that the United States should stop treating Turkey as an unconditional ally. Rather, the authors wrote, the relations should become more “transactional.”
Most commentators portray the Middle East and the Caucasus as a set of coalitions—a pro-U.S. coalition, a Russian coalition, an Islamic Republic coalition, etc. In reality, the region is a circular firing squad. The United States’s efforts to remake the Middle East as it remade Europe and much of East Asia after World War II have failed. Now, Iran, Turkey, and Russia are all trying to restore their lost empires, while other states are pushing back. With the United States’s self-imposeddiminishing influence in the region, this is going to get worse. And so will America’s relationship with Turkey.
Going forward, as the Biden administration considers what it wants to do with Turkey, it needs to keep in mind that relations with Turkey have disproportionate ramifications for our interests in Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. Turkey remains an important country to U.S. interests. It is a member of NATO with access to information we cannot afford for Putin to have. But we also cannot afford to keep ignoring Turkey’s actions against U.S. interests.
Turkey has been strengthening ties with the Taliban, and, this week, Erdoğan is scheduled to meet with a top Taliban leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. It has helped Iran to evade sanctions. It has attacked U.S. allies in Syria. It has jeopardized NATO. It has committed war crimes against civilians. And yet the United States has treated it like any other unconditional ally.
The previous administrations weren’t stupid, but they were risk-averse and cautious. A transactional relationship with Turkey requires a strong will and a tolerance for risks. A more transactional relationship is a big risk—but worth taking.
As long as Erdoğan remains in power, relations will get worse. If Turkey were behaving resoponsibly, whether or not to recognize the Aremnian genocide would remain a more nuanced and diffuclt question. But as long as relations are bound to get worse, we might as well acknowledge what actually happened.
Shay Khatiri Shay Khatiri is a graduate student of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He grew up in Iran and left the country in 2011. He is currently seeking political asylum in the United States. Follow him @ShayKhatiri.
INDIA NEWSHow Biden admin changed stance on supply of vaccine raw materials to IndiaThe United States had in February invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives the power to control the distribution of products, to curb the export of raw materials critical for vaccine production.(Representational photo)
The announcement by Joe Biden comes close on the heels of the United States agreeing to provide India with raw materials needed for producing the Covishield vaccine and supply equipment such as ventilators and oxygen generation gear to support the country’s response to a massive surge in Covid-19 cases.
US President Joe Biden on Monday took to Twitter to say that his administration is determined for India to tide over the crisis of coronavirus as the country has been witnessing more than 300,000 daily cases of infection for the fifth straight day. His administration has assured India to supply raw materials required by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) to ramp up the production of Covishield vaccines.
Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need,” Biden posted from the official Twitter handle of the POTUS.
