ANCIENT GRAINS

Millet based diet can lower risk of type 2 diabetes and help manage blood glucose levels

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL CROPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR THE SEMI-ARID TROPICS (ICRISAT)

 

IMAGE: A FARMER SHOWS DHANSHAKTI, INDIA'S FIRST BIOFORTIFIED PEARL MILLET. view more 

CREDIT: ICRISAT

A new study has shown that eating millets can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and helps manage blood glucose levels in people with diabetes, indicating the potential to design appropriate meals with millets for diabetic and pre-diabetic people as well as for non-diabetic people as a preventive approach.

Drawing on research from 11 countries, the study published in Frontiers in Nutrition shows that diabetic people who consumed millet as part of their daily diet saw their blood glucose levels drop 12-15% (fasting and post-meal), and blood glucose levels went from diabetic to pre-diabetes levels. The HbA1c (blood glucose bound to hemoglobin) levels lowered on average 17% for pre-diabetic individuals, and the levels went from pre-diabetic to normal status. These findings affirm that eating millets can lead to a better glycemic response.

The authors reviewed 80 published studies on humans of which 65 were eligible for a meta-analysis involving about 1,000 human subjects, making this analysis the largest systematic review on the topic to date. “No one knew there were so many scientific studies undertaken on millets’ effect on diabetes and these benefits were often contested. This systematic review of the studies published in scientific journals has proven that millets can keep blood glucose levels in check and reduce the risk of diabetes. It has also shown just how well these smart foods do it,” said Dr. S Anitha, the study’s lead author and a Senior Nutrition Scientist at ICRISAT.

Millets, including sorghum, were consumed as staple cereals in many parts of the world until half a century ago. Investments in a few crops such as rice, wheat and maize, have edged nutritious and climate-smart crops like millets out of the plate.

“Awareness of this ancient grain is just starting to spread globally, and our review shows millets having a promising role in managing and preventing type 2 diabetes. In the largest review and analysis of research into different types of millet compared to other grains such as refined rice, maize and wheat we found that millets outperform their comparison crops with lower GI and lower blood glucose levels in participants,” observed Professor Ian Givens, a co-author of the study and Director at University of Reading’s Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH) in the UK.

According to the International Diabetes Association, diabetes is increasing in all regions of the world. India, China and the USA have the highest numbers of people with diabetes. Africa has the largest forecasted increase of 143% from 2019 to 2045, the Middle East and North Africa 96% and South East Asia 74%. The authors urge the diversification of staples with millets to keep diabetes in check, especially across Asia and Africa.

Strengthening the case for reintroducing millets as staples, the study found that millets have a low average glycemic index (GI) of 52.7, about 36% lower GI than milled rice and refined wheat, and about 14-37 GI points lower compared to maize. All 11 types of millets studied could be defined as either low (<55) or medium (55-69) GI, with the GI as an indicator of how much and how soon a food increases blood sugar level. The review concluded that even after boiling, baking and steaming (most common ways of cooking grains) millets had lower GI than rice, wheat and maize.

“Millets are grown on all inhabited continents, yet they remain a ‘forgotten food’. We hope this will change from 2023, when the world observes the United Nations declared International Year of Millets, and with studies like this that show that millets outperform white rice, maize and wheat,” said Ms. Rosemary Botha, a co-author of the study who was based in Malawi at the time of the study, with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

“The global health crisis of undernutrition and over-nutrition coexisting is a sign that our food systems need fixing. Greater diversity both on-farm and on-plate is the key to transforming food systems. On-farm diversity is a risk mitigating strategy for farmers in the face of climate change while on-plate diversity helps counter lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. Millets are part of the solution to mitigate the challenges associated with malnutrition, human health, natural resource degradation, and climate change. Trans-disciplinary research involving multiple stakeholders is required to create resilient, sustainable and nutritious food systems,” said Dr. Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT.

Professor Paul Inman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) of the University of Reading, stressed that “The rapidly accelerating threats of climate change and global health crises, including obesity and diabetes, require everyone to pull together in action. The partnership between ICRISAT and the University of Reading is doing exactly this, bringing together our world leading expertise in human nutrition with ICRISAT’s long established role as a leader in agricultural research for rural development.”

The study also identified information gaps and highlighted a need for collaborations to have one major diabetes study covering all types of millets and all major ways of processing with consistent testing methodologies. Structured comprehensive information will be highly valuable globally, taking the scientific knowledge in this area to the highest level.

“This study is first in a series of studies that has been worked on for the last four years as a part of the Smart Food initiative led by ICRISAT that will be progressively released in 2021. Included are systematic reviews with meta-analyses of the impacts of millets on: diabetes, anemia and iron requirements, cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases and calcium deficiencies as well as a review on zinc levels. As part of this, ICRISAT and the Institute for Food Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading have formed a strategic partnership to research and promote the Smart Food vision of making our diets healthier, more sustainable on the environment and good for those who produce it,” explained Ms. Joanna Kane-Potaka, a co-author from ICRISAT and Executive Director of the Smart Food initiative.

 

CAPTION

Proso millet rice with turmeric.

CREDIT

Joanna Kane-Potaka

NOTE: This research is also part of a special edition and theme section in the Frontiers journal - Smart Food for Healthy, Sustainable and Resilient Food System.  

About the authors’ organizations/affiliations

ICRISAT: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international agriculture research organization specialized in the drylands across Asia and Africa to ensure food, nutrition and income security, with global headquarters in India. www.icrisat.org. ICRISAT is a CGIAR research center.

IFNH: The Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading in the UK, brings together the university’s world-leading expertise in food, nutrition, agriculture, health and the environment to help deliver better diets and health. https://research.reading.ac.uk/ifnh/

IFPRI: The International Food Policy Research Institute, part of the CGIAR, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. It is headquartered in Washington DC, USA. www.ifpri.org

NIN: The National Institute of Nutrition is India’s premier public research institute for nutrition. Headquartered in Hyderabad, NIN continuously monitors India’s nutritional health and works to manage as well as prevent nutritional problems. www.nin.res.in

Kobe University: One of Japan’s largest and oldest national universities. It is an institute of excellence for the social sciences and promotion of interdisciplinary research and education. www.kobe-u.ac.jp

Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education of Women (deemed to be University) is dedicated to higher education for women and has a specialization in a wide range of Home Science (including food and nutrition), Sciences, Arts, Commerce and Engineering based in India. https://avinuty.ac.in

NTBN: The National Technical Board on Nutrition advises the Government of India. It provides evidence-based, technical and policy recommendations and guidance for matters of nutrition.

CAPTION

Foxtail millet and barley salad.

CREDIT

Joanna Kane-Potaka

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Nutrition

DOI

10.3389/fnut.2021.687428

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Potential of Millets for Managing and Reducing the Risk of Developing Diabetes Mellitus

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jul-2021

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

 

Optimizing phase change material usage could reduce power plant water consumption

Trillions of gallons of water are used annually to prevent power plants from overheating. A Texas A&M research group is looking into alternative methods of cooling steam turbines

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

The food-water-energy nexus dictates that there is a direct link between these three necessities, and stressing one directly impacts the supply of the other two. As the population grows, human demand for energy and food has caused our freshwater reserves to slowly deplete. Power plants are one of the main culprits contributing to this issue, as they use trillions of gallons of fresh water annually to prevent overheating. 

A research group led by Dr. Debjyoti Banerjee, professor in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has shown that specific phase change materials (PCMs) can cool steam turbines used in power plants, averting fresh water usage. Simultaneously, they used machine-learning techniques to enhance the reliability and energy storage capacity of various PCM-based cooling platforms to develop powerful “cold batteries” that dispatch on demand. 

Their publication, “Leveraging Machine Learning (Artificial Neural Networks) for Enhancing Performance and Reliability of Thermal Energy Storage Platforms Utilizing Phase Change Materials,” was published in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers  Journal of Energy Resources Technology. 

Power plants and process industries use fresh water in cooling towers to reduce costs and improve reliability. Water runs through the cooling tower, absorbing the heat and turning into vapor, which is then used to condense the steam from the turbine exhaust. 

With high demands on fresh water, alternate methods like using PCMs that can morph from a solid to a liquid state by absorbing heat energy are gaining more attention for cooling power plants and process industries.

The first material the team examined was bioderived waxy materials (similar to lard): natural products with low carbon footprints that are relatively cheap. Although effective, the researchers showed that waxes (paraffins) could not store as much energy nor deliver the cooling power they originally hypothesized, therefore, not providing enough cooling for extreme climates or providing safety amid extreme weather events. 

This led to testing another PCM called salt hydrates that are also inexpensive and safe for the environment. Salt hydrates pack more punch than waxes and lards, approximately harboring two to three times the amount of energy while melting at faster rates. However, these materials have a known flaw – they take too long to solidify (as they need to be “subcooled”). Without a reliable melting and freezing method, the salt hydrates are ineffective. 

“Think of the process as an electric car battery – you want it to take very little time to recharge, but it needs to run for a long time,” said Banerjee. “The same concept can be applied to PCMs. We need a PCM to recharge (freeze) quickly, yet melt over long durations.” 

To ramp up the reliability and speed up freezing of these PCMs, the researchers turned to machine learning. Using the readings from just three miniature temperature sensors that act like thermometers, they recorded the melting-time history. They then implemented machine learning to predict when and how much of the PCM will melt and when the freezing will start, maximizing both cooling power and capacity. 

“Using this method, we found that if you melt only 90% of the salt hydrate and leave 10% solidified, then the moment you start the cooling cycle, it immediately starts freezing,” said Banerjee. “The beauty of this method is that with a bare-bones apparatus of three sensors and a simple computer program, we have created a system that is cost-effective, reliable and sustainable.”

Currently, other machine-learning algorithms require years of data to achieve this type of accuracy for power plants whereas Banerjee’s new method requires only a few days. The algorithm can tell the operator within one hour (and as much as three hours) before the system will reach the peak percentage for melting with a 5-to-10-minute prediction accuracy. The technique can be retrofitted on any existing cooling unit in any process industry or power plant.

###

The co-authors of this publication are Aditya Chuttar and Ashok Thyagarajan, students in the mechanical engineering department.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Energy Resources Technology

DOI

10.1115/1.4051048

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Leveraging Machine Learning (Artificial Neural Networks) for Enhancing Performance and Reliability of Thermal Energy Storage Platforms Utilizing Phase Change Materials

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-May-2021

 

Understanding past climate change ‘tipping points’ can help us prepare for the future

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Of all the creatures on Earth, humans manipulate their environments the most. But, how far can we push it before something drastic happens?

Scientists are calling for a better understanding of past extreme climate change events in an attempt to anticipate future changes.

Enter geoarchaeologist and anthropologist C. Michael Barton at Arizona State University. The School of Human Evolution and Social Change researcher, along with Foundation Professor Sander van der Leeuw and an international and interdisciplinary team, published their analysis this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. The paper describes past abrupt climate changes, what led up to the “tipping points” for those events, and what followed.

“We've been putting a lot of chemicals into the atmosphere and changing the heat of the atmosphere for a long time, and really intensively for 150 years,” Barton said. “And, things are still chugging along. Temperatures are slowly going up globally, but we haven’t seen a huge, dramatic shift. However, complex systems are potentially vulnerable if you push too much.”

Barton studies Earth’s many systems - specifically the water cycle and landscapes - and how humans alter these systems.

“People tend to look at how far you can push things before suddenly everything changes,” Barton said. “And that's what's considered the tipping point.”

Systems are everywhere

For a complex systems specialist like Barton, almost everything can be viewed as systems or cycles. A tree grows and dies, and the decay returns nutrients to the soil. Water cycles through the Earth in different forms like rain, runoff and evaporation.

Some of Earth’s major systems include the hydrosphere (water), the atmosphere (air) and the cryosphere (ice). All these systems are connected. This research on tipping points looks at the history of these systems to quantify small changes that can lead up to an abrupt, massive change, while also measuring how one abrupt change can trigger abrupt changes in other systems.

The paper explores prior research with sediment cores in the Gulf of Alaska, dust records in North Africa and ice cores from Greenland. All of this pre-historic data gives Earth system modelers and scientists a better idea of what Earth was really like hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Scientists have also been extensively studying Earth’s oceans. This includes the current levels of salt and oxygen, changes in circulation patterns, and influxes of fresh water from melting ice sheets. Current ocean conditions can be compared to historic data gathered from the composition of the ocean floor, to make inferences about past ocean currents.

Major changes have happened before

The authors note past instances of extreme climate events happening so quickly that humans either had difficulties adapting, or were unable to adapt, to the new environment.

For example, about 1,500 years ago, abrupt cooling occurred in Europe, leading to changes in the vegetation. The authors note the cooling may have been caused by a natural phenomenon -- volcanic eruptions. The vegetation and farming changes were so extreme that people experienced famine and societal reorganization. This timing correlates with the transformation of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The authors note how climate events centuries ago triggered drastic changes or even collapse in ancient civilizations due to unforeseen societal vulnerabilities.

One example is the ancient city of Angkor, which was located in present-day Southeast Asia. The people living in Angkor altered the natural water cycle by diverting water to grow crops. As the city grew, the water system in that region became so strained that it passed a tipping point. The system couldn’t handle more intense droughts and floods, and the city of Angkor collapsed.

Many unknowns remain

Arizonans know that the last few years have been drier and hotter than usual. Barton said it’s not yet clear whether we’ve passed a tipping point in the Southwest region.

It’s normal to see slight fluctuations in precipitation and temperature year to year. But recent studies of ancient climate make Barton wonder if the drier weather patterns have become the new normal for our lifetimes.

Barton also noted that researchers still don’t know why some weather systems change. For example, past monsoon rains have shifted without warning and for unknown reasons. This can be catastrophic for human populations, as those who depend on the monsoon experience intense drought, while others do not have the infrastructure to handle the influx of water.

There are still gaps in this field of research. More raw data needs to be collected and quantified, and some existing data lacks the precision and quality needed to create test models and simulate future abrupt changes.

The researchers also call for more analysis on the interactions between environmental systems and human societies during periods of climate change.

Lastly, improvements in Earth system models will help scientists be able to simulate possible abrupt changes humans may see in the near future. Current models are very good at simulating more gradual climate change, but are not yet able to simulate well-documented past abrupt changes.

The authors hope this paper raises awareness of the field, and that more people will understand how analyzing the long-term past could help us in the near future.

For example, one component of tipping points research is identifying early warning signals. These are smaller fluctuations in a system before an abrupt change. The authors say these warning signals exist, but when the entire world is the focus, it can be challenging to trace how small changes in one system can warn of an abrupt change in another.

There is evidence of past warning signals. For example, there were abnormal shifts in the climates of the North Pacific Ocean region and around Greenland before the major melting of Earth’s last ice age.

“All the components can change really, really fast,” Barton said. “The whole system can drop into a different state… How do we know when we're getting too close?”

The authors leave the reader with this final thought: “As humans, we try to anticipate the future. We are now well aware that complex systems, including the coupled social and ecological systems that now dominate our planet, can undergo abrupt changes…. If we cannot model abrupt change in the past, we cannot hope to predict them in the future.”

###

The paper “Past abrupt changes, tipping points and cascading impacts in the Earth system” published July 29 and is co-authored by more than 30 researchers from across the world, including Barton and van der Leeuw.

---

JOURNAL

Nature Geoscience

ARTICLE TITLE

Past abrupt changes, tipping points and cascading impacts in the Earth system

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Jul-2021

 

The price of pests: Australia’s $390 billion invasive species bill

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

 

VIDEO: IN JUST THE LAST 60 YEARS ALONE, DELIBERATELY OR ACCIDENTALLY INTRODUCED INVASIVE SPECIES HAVE COST THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY AUD$389.59 BILLION, A NEW FLINDERS-LED ANALYSIS HAS REVEALED, WITH THAT NUMBER LIKELY TO RISE UNLESS BETTER INVESTMENTS, REPORTING AND COORDINATED INTERVENTIONS ARE INTRODUCED. WHILE FERAL CATS ARE THE SINGLE-MOST COSTLY INDIVIDUAL SPECIES, COSTS ARISING FROM THE MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE PLANTS PROVED THE WORST OF ALL, COSTING US$151.68 BILLION, WITH RYEGRASS (LOLIUM RIGIDUM), PARTHENIUM (PARTHENIUM HYSTEROPHORUS) AND RAGWORT (SENECIO JACOBAEA) THE COSTLIEST CULPRITS. INVASIVE MAMMALS AND INSECTS WERE THE NEXT BIGGEST BURDENS, COSTING THE COUNTRY US$48.63 BILLION AND US$11.95 BILLION RESPECTIVELY, WITH CATS, EUROPEAN RABBITS AND RED IMPORTED FIRE ANTS THE THREE COSTLIEST SPECIES. view more 

CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

In just the last 60 years alone, deliberately or accidentally introduced invasive species have cost the Australian economy AUD$389.59 billion, a new analysis has revealed, with that number likely to rise unless better investments, reporting and coordinated interventions are introduced.

While feral cats are the single-most costly individual species, costs arising from the management of invasive plants proved the worst of all, costing US$151.68 billion, with ryegrass (Lolium rigidum), parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) and ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) the costliest culprits.

Invasive mammals and insects were the next biggest burdens, costing the country US$48.63 billion and US$11.95 billion respectively, with cats, European rabbits and red imported fire ants the three costliest species.

Published in the open-access journal NeoBiota, the study is one of 19 region-specific analyses released today looking at the cost of invasive species around the world.

As part of the research paper’s release, the study’s abstract has been translated into 24 languages including Pitjantjatjara, a language traditionally spoken by the Aṉangu of Central Australia, and one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages in Australia.

Led by Professor Corey Bradshaw from Flinders University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, the research team analysed data from InvaCost, a database developed to provide the most comprehensive and standardised compilation of invasion costs globally, combined with other Australian datasets covering invasive herbivore species, invasive plants, and other disease-causing agents.

The total cost was estimated at US$298.58 billion (AUD$389.59 billion), with over 90 percent of the costs classified as observed — that is, costs that were neither predicted nor extrapolated.

The analysis also looked at how much each state or territory had spent tackling invasive species. Aside from the costs not clearly attributed to a particular region, New South Wales had the highest costs, followed by Western Australia, and Victoria.

“This is the most detailed analysis to date,” says lead researcher Professor Corey Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology at Flinders University.

“Australia has a long history of invasive species, and their impact is far-reaching, not only for our native animals and the environment but across our agricultural and health sectors as well.”

Co-author Dr Andrew Hoskins from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, said it was important to understand the full breadth of the problem, to help prioritise future research and inform policy decisions.

“We captured species not previously detailed in any other nation-wide study of the economic burden of invasives, providing us with the most up-to-date picture of the cost of such species to our country.

“This research shows that invasive species are causing serious and growing harm to our ecological, agricultural, and economic systems,” says Dr Hoskins.

The analysis also considered the estimated costs of five native species groups, as they are often deemed “pest” species due to their overabundance and tendency to damage crops, livestock, or farmland.

Together kangaroos, koalas and wombats only accounted for between 2.4 to 3 percent of the costs – with kangaroos alone almost completely responsible for those costs.

The researchers say as the world becomes more interconnected, invasive species will only continue to increase their range and impacts across the planet.

“As our analysis shows, the large and ever-increasing costs of invasive species to Australia’s economy are substantial and also likely to be underestimated,” says Professor Bradshaw.

“We can reasonably assume that without better investment and coordinated interventions, including animal culls, Australia will continue to lose billions of dollars on invasive species over the coming decades.”

“And we aren’t just losing money, for there are many other types of economically intangible costs arising from invasive species that we have yet to measure adequately across Australia, such as the true extent of ecological damage, loss of cultural values and the erosion of ecosystem services, that is the many human benefits we draw from the environment, such as food and water.”

CAPTION

Top 10 worst invasive species in Australia based on economic costs

CREDIT

Professor Corey Bradshaw, Flinders University

The research was conducted in partnership with South Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) and the University of Adelaide.

International partners included Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt (Germany), University of South Bohemia (Czech Republic), GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel (Germany), University Belfast, (Northern Ireland, UK), Université Paris-Saclay (France), Sorbonne Université (France), Université de Caen Normandie (France) and Université des Antilles (France).

“Detailed assessment of the reported economic costs of invasive species in Australia” will be published in the journal NeoBiota on Friday 30 July 2021 (DOI: 10.3897/neobiota.67.58834).

CAPTION

The worst three invasive species for each sate based on economic costs

CREDIT

Professor Corey Bradshaw, Flinders University

---

JOURNAL

NeoBiota

DOI

10.3897/neobiota.67.58834)

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Detailed assessment of the reported economic costs of invasive species in Australia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Jul-2021

Disclaimer: AAA

 

Study explains lax oversight in Facebook ads during 2016 election

Facebook advertising during the 2016 political campaign demonstrated a systematic bias toward ad buyers, researchers found.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

 

IMAGE: ADAM POPE, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

University of Arkansas English professor Adam Pope and his colleague at San Jose State University examined lax oversight of advertising on Facebook during the 2016 political campaign and found a systematic bias toward ad buyers, specifically a Russian internet troll farm that sought to sow discord within the U.S. political system.

In “Rubles and Rhetoric: Corporate Kairos and Social Media’s Crisis of Common Sense,” published in Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society, Pope and Sara West, assistant professor at San Jose State University, argue that social media ethics must be a central component of technical and professional writers' training.

Facebook and other social media platforms create advertising algorithms that are capable of targeting specific audiences in minute detail, but, as Pope and West found, the popular platform simply chose not to use that power to screen ads that violated federal and state laws. Instead, due to a systematic bias toward companies purchasing advertisements, Facebook failed to identify and prevent abuse of political advertising on the platform. The authors said the behavior demonstrated a corporate culture designed to leverage user data to serve paying customers in message placement rather than users.

“The Facebook platform can be understood as operating primarily to provide timely and targeted placement of advertisements for commercial clients,” Pope said. “We framed this phenomenon as corporate ‘Kairos,’ a term that simply means the ability of paying customers to precisely time and target their posts and content to audiences who will be favorably inclined to their message.”

The researchers found that rights of users connecting and communicating on Facebook were deemed less valuable than the so-called corporate-Kairos’ paid targeting. In other words, the marketing-first culture at Facebook — created primarily by an automated system — enabled bad actors with virtually no checks on their posting powers, even in extreme circumstances.

The extreme circumstance in this case was the 2016 presidential campaign, during which Facebook accepted rubles from a Russian troll farm, known as the Internet Research Agency, to place political advertisements on the platform. A troll farm is a group of individuals who try to influence political opinions and decisions on the internet. The use of foreign currency by a foreign nation to influence a U.S. election is prohibited by the Federal Election Commission.

The advertisements were focused on divisive political topics: LGBTQ+ rights, guns, the legal status of undocumented immigrants and others. The goal of these ads was to sow seeds of discord within the American political system, stoke racial and cultural tensions and even infiltrate political movements, such as Black Lives Matter.

“Understanding how these systems work and the ethical landscape of these platforms is essential as we train the next generation of technical and professional writers to operate in these spaces for their employers,” Pope said. “When these systems exist in a regulatory vacuum with questionably ethical automation, it behooves us as educators to critically engage our students and future working professionals on the risks and strategies of working with social media.”

###

---

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Rubles and Rhetoric: Corporate Kairos and Social Media’s Crisis of Common Sense

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Jun-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS and E

What links organised crime with the radical right?

There are serious gaps in our knowledge about how violent extremists get their hands on weapons and money


Michael Colborne
16 July 2021, 8.10am

Far right supporters commemorate the death of Benito Mussolini on 2 May 2021 |
Piero Cruciatti/Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Italy was plagued by a spate of violence and deadly terrorist attacks – the so-called “Years of Lead” (anni di piombo).

While the violence came from both the radical left and radical right, neo-fascist militant groups like New Order (Ordine Nuovo), National Vanguard (Avanguardia nazionale) and the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei (Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari; NAR) made particularly brutal use of violence and terror against their enemies. Right-wing violence culminated in the 1980 Bologna massacre, a terrorist bombing by NAR members at the city’s train station that took the lives of 85 people.

Groups like NAR had help from Italy’s criminal underworld. NAR had links with the Banda della Magliana, a Rome-based criminal outfit, and the two would be involved in protection rackets, arms trafficking and murder together. In the 1970s, the ‘Ndrangheta, a huge organised crime syndicate with its roots in southern Italy, allegedly had links with both New Order and National Vanguard.

These are just a few examples of how the relationship between organised crime and the international radical right – particularly the most extreme and violent fringes of the radical right – is nothing new.

In fact, the trend continues to this day.

Earlier this year, German police arrested members of a neo-Nazi criminal network allegedly involved in money laundering as well as drugs and arms trafficking. Greece’s Golden Dawn was ruled a “criminal organisation” by a Greek court in October 2020, with its members involved in everything from money laundering to murder. In December 2020, Spanish police arrested radical right extremists allegedly involved in arms and drug smuggling, while in 2019 Italian police arrested a number of individuals who planned on forming a neo-Nazi party, including a leading ‘Ndrangheta member.

In countries with weak rule of law, the tentacles of organised crime can weave their way into the fabric of the state

Why would the radical right, particularly its most extreme elements, get involved with organised crime? There are, of course, a number of reasons, one of which involves something I’ve mentioned several times already: arms trafficking.

Market forces

Radical right extremists who want to arm themselves can’t easily do so through any legitimate means. Even in countries with lax gun laws like the US, radical right extremists generally can’t just buy up military-grade weapons and hardware without garnering unwanted attention from the authorities.

With a huge market for smuggled weapons around the world – sources for these weapons include places like the former Yugoslavia and Ukraine – and the involvement of a number of organised crime groups in this smuggling, it’s no surprise that radical right extremists would find themselves part of the game. It’s also no surprise, then, that in the wake of radical right terror attacks in recent years, authorities appear to be paying increasing attention.

Another reason for radical right involvement with organised crime is financing. How radical right groups get their money and their funding is, as has been noted by journalists covering the radical right (myself included), an issue that itself requires much more attention.

Not all radical right extremists require some significant form of financing, nefarious or otherwise; it doesn’t necessarily cost much money to write, draw and post hateful propaganda on Telegram for instance. But for radical right extremists with ambition, the costs can add up. For example, well-designed websites with professional-grade video, replete with flashy logos and almost-corporate branding, aren’t things one can buy up with a few pennies lying around.

In countries with weak rule of law, the tentacles of organised crime can weave their way into the fabric of the state. The phenomenon of state capture – a form of corruption where private actors, from politicians and businesspeople to criminals, influence a state’s decision-making processes to their own advantage – has been documented in places like Serbia, Turkey and other countries.

When radical right extremists join the game and themselves become part of the phenomenon of state capture – something seen in Ukraine, for example, where much of the radical right is alleged to have the patronage of the country’s powerful interior ministry – they give themselves a means of being protected from prosecution, an opportunity to act with greater impunity and, above all, a pathway to increase their status and influence.

We don’t know nearly as much about the relationships between organised crime and the radical right as we should

In short: if having friends in high places can protect you and help you profit as a radical right extremist, even when those friends aren’t on the right side of the law, why wouldn’t you take advantage?

The gaps in our knowledge

We still don’t know nearly enough about the connection between organised crime and the radical right. We know reasons, actual and potential, for why this connection has existed in the past right up to the present day. We know in detail about circumstances in specific countries and contexts (for example in Greece with Golden Dawn), but we don’t know enough about how the phenomenon works across borders and different social and political contexts.

Part of this, I’d argue, is our fault as journalists, researchers and academics who study the radical right. With our respective beats too often compartmentalised and specialised, matters related to organised crime remain too much on the other side of a fence for us. As a journalist who focuses on the radical right, my colleagues who investigate organised crime do seem sometimes to be investigating another world. But that needs to change.

Despite prominent headlines, we don’t know nearly as much about the relationships between organised crime and the radical right as we should. It’s critical that academics, researchers and journalists who focus on the radical right pay much more attention to the phenomenon.

None of this means we all need to try and become instant experts on the subject – I know I’m not about to become a wizard at tracking international cash flows, for example. It does mean, however, that we need to become better at collaborating and crossing our own borders, so to speak, when it comes to better understanding the radical right.

#TAXTHECHURCH

Winnipeg Catholic priest accuses residential school survivors of lying about abuse for money

ASSHOLES LIKE THIS SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF ABUSE BY PRIESTS

Jenn Allen

© St. Emile Parish/Facebook Father Rheal Forest delivers a sermon at St. Emile Roman Catholic Church in Winnipeg on July 10, one of several in which he made unfounded accusations about residential school survivors.

A Catholic priest has been banned by a Winnipeg archdiocese from speaking publicly after accusing residential school survivors of lying about sexual abuse to get more money from court settlements, of spreading falsehoods about residential schools, and joking about shooting those writing graffiti on churches, among other comments.

The statements were made over weeks of services at St. Emile Roman Catholic Church, and were included in videos on its Facebook page.

During a July 10 mass Father Rhéal Forest — who was temporarily placed at St. Emile while the parish's regular pastor, Father Gerry Sembrano, was on vacation — said residential school survivors lied about being sexually abused so they would receive more money during the settlement process with the federal government.

"If they wanted extra money, from the money that was given to them, they had to lie sometimes — lie that they were abused sexually and, oop, another $50,000," Forest said.

"It's kind of hard if you're poor not to lie," he continued, adding that all of the Indigenous people who he knew during his 22 years working up north liked residential schools.

Forest acknowledged that a few had bad treatment, but said some of that was due not to nuns and priests but rather night watchmen.

In its 2015 report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said there have been "over 40 successful convictions of former residential school staff members who sexually or physically abused students." As of Jan. 31 of that year, it said 37,951 claims for injuries resulting from physical and sexual abuse at residential schools had been received.

In another mass, Forest described passing by another local church that had been vandalized with the words "Save the children," a phrase used by Indigenous people and allies in reference to residential schools.

Forest said he'd like to scare off vandals with a shotgun blast and shoot them if they didn't run away.

"As I'm passing by, thoughts of anger. If I had a shotgun at night and I'd see them, I'd go, 'Boom!' just to scare them and if they don't run away, I'll shoot them," Forest said in the July 18 sermon, laughing.

He then quickly backtracked, saying: "But this would not help, it's bad to do that, I'd go have a chat with them." He went on to blame the media for making the vandals believe the Catholic Church killed residential school children.

CBC News has requested an interview with Forest. The Archdiocese of St. Boniface says it is considering the request.

 

© Tyson Koschik/CBC The Archdiocese of St. Boniface has apologized for Forest's comments, videos of which were removed from St. Emile's Facebook page.

The archdiocese was made aware of the comments on Monday, after CBC Manitoba flagged the videos. St. Emile regularly livestreams its services.

Daniel Bahuaud, a spokesperson for the archdiocese and Archbishop Albert LeGatt, said the videos involving Forest have since been removed and apologized for the comments. The archdiocese has also barred Forest from preaching and teaching publicly.

LeGatt and the archdiocese "completely disavow" Forest's comments, Bahuaud said in an email.

"We very much regret the pain they may have caused to many people, not least of course Indigenous people and, more specifically, survivors of the Residential School system."

In an interview Bahuaud said any further punishment for Forest would be decided by LeGatt.
'Disgusting views'

Kyle Mason — an Indigenous leader, activist and former Christian minister — said he was surprised "anybody within [the Catholic Church] can be so out of touch and so outdated, and have these really disgusting views going on within themselves."

Mason went on to say if the church "is really concerned about reconciliation here in Canada, they would be enthusiastically trying to make sure that all their priests and all their staff are well aware and that there would be no room for these kinds of comments."

Mason said he is glad to hear Forest is not allowed to preach publicly anymore, or take part in church educational activities. He said he would like to see Forest learn more about what really happened at residential schools before he is allowed to resume his public duties.

"I would strongly encourage [the church] to use this as a teaching moment for them to make sure that anybody — priests, nuns, staff, whatever it is, whatever their leaders are within their ranks — are well-informed on residential schools, Sixties Scoop and all the other ways that we are seeing the impact of these atrocities within our society," he said.

When asked what impact Forest's words would have on reconciliation, Mason was hopeful.

"In my opinion, reconciliation can't be stopped. It can be slow sometimes, but it cannot be stopped."

Do you have information about unmarked graves, children who never came home or residential school staff and operations? Email your tips to CBC's new Indigenous-led team investigating residential schools: WhereAreThey@cbc.ca.