LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Monday, February 21, 2022

How Priti Patel is using gay rights to push through ‘draconian’ Police Bill

The Tories are offering crumbs to some groups in order to ‘divide and conquer’, say campaigners

Nandini Archer
14 January 2022

Priti Patel has been accused of using ‘divide and conquer tactics’ to pass her policing bill |
PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

“I find it very offensive. It’s window dressing. It's purely symbolic.”

Tyler Hatwell, the founder of LGBT Travellers Pride, is describing Priti Patel’s plans to wipe historic convictions for homosexual activity from people’s criminal records.

“I’m not saying that wrongs shouldn’t be righted,” Hatwell adds, “but it feels like an absurd thing to be focusing on that rather than some of the more existential issues facing LGBTQ people today.”

As it happens, several of those existential issues stem from the same law that seeks to overturn historic convictions: Priti Patel’s fiercely opposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, set to go through the final day of its so-called “report stage” in the House of Lords on Monday.

Hatwell calls this a deliberate “divide and conquer” tactic. “The government wants to split off LGBTQ people from any movement against the draconian police bill,” he says.

The bill has been met with fierce backlash since its inception in March 2020, which sparked #KilltheBill protests, riots, petitions and letters across the UK. It is a 300-page plan to increase surveillance and stop-and-search powers, put strict conditions on protests, and threaten Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) rights to roam. For people like Hatwell at the intersection of GRT and LGBTQ communities, as well as queer people of colour, the plans to erase historic convictions for homosexuality (which was legalised for some people in 1967) are worth little.

“The government is trying desperately to hide and rush through its many draconian proposals through the sheer size and breadth of the legislation,” Emmanuelle Andrews, policy and campaigns manager at the human rights organisation Liberty, tells openDemocracy.

Andrews believes the government has had countless opportunities to introduce historic pardons for homosexuality. “Throwing them in now alongside dangerous and oppressive new powers is a cynical ploy to confuse debate around the bill and to make it harder politically for MPs and peers to reject it wholesale,” they say.

“What good does wiping records of homosexual activity do?” Lady Phyll, executive director of UK Black Pride, asks. “These records should not exist in the first place, and homophobia and homophobic violence are on the rise in the UK.”

Lady Phyll has long been outspoken on the government’s failure to truly support the rights of queer people. She turned down an MBE in 2016, pointing out that LGBTQ people continue to be persecuted and killed because of laws put in place by British colonists.

She says LGBTQ rights cannot be talked about without talking about the impact of racism in the UK and says the country has a “piecemeal understanding” about what LGBTQ rights are.

“LGBT Black people and people of colour continue to be excluded from data gathering about what life is like in the UK for LGBT people,” she says. “The government’s Sewell Report discarded evidence put forward by UK Black Pride and other organisations which offered data about the impact of racism on LGBT people.”

The “window dressing” of the police bill is a long-standing government tactic, Lady Phyll explains, citing marriage equality as an example.

“Marriage equality is great,” she says – yet more fundamental issues get sidelined, such as the vulnerability of LGBTQ people in particular to homelessness, racism, food poverty, violence, incarceration and unequal access to healthcare.

“We deserve a government that looks at and treats its LGBTQ citizens as the diverse and deserving citizens it’s elected to serve,” she says.

The government is ‘window dressing’ its ‘draconian’ policing bill, said Lady Phyll | Courtesy of Kaleidoscope Trust

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller rights

Critics say part four of the policing bill effectively criminalises the way of life of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. The bill means that if neighbours of camps complain about any disturbances at all, police will be able to seize vehicles.

“It’s a curtain twitcher’s charter,” says Hatwell, “an extreme sledgehammer to crack a walnut.”

Hatwell says lawmakers are cynically using “antisocial behaviour” at a handful of camps as an excuse to push through this section of the bill. “But the trouble is, those things are already crimes,” he points out. “So all you're really doing is criminalising people who aren’t causing any difficulty.”

Hatwell describes himself as a showman. He puts on funfairs and tells openDemocracy he’s part of the Showman’s Guild – which was launched to combat a Victorian bill that tried to criminalise “movable gladdings”. He describes today’s police bill as similar but worse.

“The bill is basically one big land grab, where there’s no common space any more, and it’s all accounted for and everyone has to be in their place,” he explains.

Gypsy rights activist and journalist Jake Bowers calls the homosexuality pardons in the police bill a “fig leaf”, adding, “Patel herself is a fig leaf of diversity being used to drive through a deeply racist law.

“No one who believes in equality should fall for this. The Tories are deeply playing off different struggles in the hierarchy of inequalities against each other.”

LGBTQ rights and women’s rights have been secured by long and often bitterly contested campaigns of protest and non-violent direct action, he says, highlighting that part three of the bill will criminalise the modern equivalent of the suffragettes, such as the Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter movements.

He says parts three and four of the bill must be thrown out: “These are linked struggles and no one is free until all are free.”

From domestic abuse to football

The government is also looking to buy support from other groups. One amendment to the police bill will treat domestic abuse and sexual offences “as seriously as knife crime” and extend the time limit for reporting domestic violence from six months to two years. Taking pictures of breastfeeding mothers in public will also be illegal.

Patel’s department also wants to impose a ban on online racist abusers from attending football matches for up to ten years.

The government announced last week that the bill would even crack down on ‘hare coursing’ – the niche practice of chasing hares with dogs.

But Lady Phyll tells me these are just examples of the government using progressive values to obscure the bill.

“What good does it do to ban a racist from a football match, if the police are empowered to beat, detain and harm Black people and people of colour without impunity? What good does [it] do when services that would uplift Black people and people of colour in this country, like mental health services, continue to be under- or defunded?”

On the issue of breastfeeding, she asks: “What of the Black women who die during childbirth in the UK at rates of four to one [compared] to white women? What of the physical violence women across the UK experience at the hands of the police?”

When the police cracked down violently on women gathering peacefully at a candlelit vigil for Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a police officer, activists started connecting police violence against women to the bill. This was the beginning of the #KilltheBill protests led by the feminist direct action group Sisters Uncut.

“Our feminism cannot be at the expense of other communities. They are chucking all this legislation into one bill precisely to make the oppressive, racist, unpopular parts palatable,” Sisters Uncut tweeted in response to the government’s plan to extend the time limit on domestic violence cases. “It's divide & rule, we can do better!”

And it’s this issue of unity that has run through the protests and movement. At one of the protests last year, a Sisters Uncut spokesperson said Patel was making the same mistake that Margaret Thatcher did with the poll tax, which was ultimately her downfall: “Don’t come for us all at once, you idiot.”

For Lady Phyll too, Patel’s attempt to appease footballers, breastfeeders, domestic violence survivors and some members of the LGBTQ community is simply not enough.

“None of these changes address the structures that allow and empower such disparities,” she said. “These changes do not address the structural racism, misogyny, sexism or homophobia that makes such racism, discrimination and violence the absolute norm in this country.”

Putin may go to war to capture Ukraine. With Belarus, he did it without firing a shot.

Putin once rescued Belarus’s Lukashenko from street protests. Now he could use Belarus to stage an invasion of Ukraine.

Tanks move during the Union Courage-2022 Russia-Belarus military drills at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus on Feb. 19.

(Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/AP)

By Robyn Dixon and Mary Ilyushina

MOSCOW — Belarus announced Sunday that Russian forces would remain in the country after massive military drills ended, in a move that opposition figures said surrendered the country’s independence to Moscow without a shot being fired.

Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said it undermined the country’s security and sovereignty, dragging it into a foreign war as an aggressor.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin announced that joint drills would continue after the end of massive joint military exercises with Russia on Sunday, citing “the aggravation of the situation” in eastern Ukraine.

The announcement runs contrary to earlier pledges from Minsk officials that Russian troops would go home when the drills ended.

Khrenin said the two countries would “fight back” if necessary, in a move analysts said showed that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s foreign and military policies had been effectively captured by Russia.

“It is just a sign that the current government of Belarus, Lukashenko’s government, is increasingly dependent in its foreign and security policy on Russia and it cannot actually pursue its own autonomous decisions,” said Artyom Shraibman, a Belarusian political analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center.

As Western leaders warn that Russia could mount an attack on Ukraine in coming days, Tikhanovskaya, who is recognized by Western leaders as the rightful winner of the flawed 2020 presidential election, said Belarus was “losing its sovereignty” and called for Russian troops to leave immediately.

“The presence of Russian troops on our territory violates our constitution, international law, and endangers the security of every Belarusian and the whole region. Belarus is dragged into someone else’s war and turned into an aggressor country,” she said in a statement Sunday.

Wielding the threat of war, a new, more aggressive Putin steps forward

Lukashenko has been beholden to Russian President Vladimir Putin since Belarus’s disputed 2020 election, when street protests nearly toppled him from power before Putin promised to send in Russian forces to quell unrest if required. Lukashenko launched a massive crackdown, beating and jailing hundreds of opposition figures and activists, and clung on without Putin’s help.

Putin and Lukashenko met Friday to discuss the crisis between Russia and NATO, after Western countries rejected Moscow’s demands for sweeping security guarantees including barring Ukraine and other countries from joining NATO and rolling back alliance forces and materiel from Eastern Europe.

Lukashenko said after Friday’s meeting that he and Putin worked out a joint plan to deter “Western aggression.” The next day, Putin rewarded him with an invitation to attend drills of Russia’s nuclear forces as the Russian leader oversaw multiple launches of hypersonic and cruise missiles.

A Kremlin photo showed the two sitting at a circular white table in the situation center of Russia’s Defense Ministry as Putin launched the drills, co-opting the Belarusian leader as he sent a powerful message to Washington and NATO about his determination to reshape Europe’s security architecture, and his willingness to use military force if necessary.

Putin sees Belarus and Ukraine as Russia’s junior Slavic brothers, part of what he calls the “Russian world.” He is convinced that Ukraine can only succeed if, like Belarus, it joins Russia’s sphere of influence.

As Western officials warn Putin against an invasion to force Ukraine’s capitulation, Putin has dominated Belarus without the need for military force, by leveraging Lukashenko’s political debt. It is not yet clear whether Putin will demand that Belarusian forces participate directly, should he invade Ukraine, but Russia would use Belarusian airfields, transportation and logistics.

“When it comes to war, Putin will simply take it for granted that he has Belarus as an extension of his territory, militarily speaking, so it might be like Belarus is an accomplice, a supporting force, but not participating and attacking Kyiv together with Russian soldiers,” said Shraibman, the analyst.

Even people in separatist Ukraine question ‘evacuation’ crisis brewed by Russian-backed leaders

Even before the exercises began 10 days ago, Western military analysts warned that it could be cover for an attack force to invade Ukraine from the north and potentially encircle the capital Kyiv, part of a large-scale, multi-pronged invasion from the south, east and north.

According to NATO, there are some 30,000 Russian forces in Belarus, as well as substantial military hardware including S-400 missile systems, positioned in the south of the country.

Shraibman said that if Lukashenko ordered his forces to participate in an invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian military officials would obey their orders, but probably reluctantly.

“From my analysis of the public opinion in Belarus, including in law enforcement and the military, there is simply zero appetite for Belarus being dragged into any kind of conflict and let alone the conflict of another country.”

Lukashenko has floated the idea of hosting Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil several times, including this past week — an example of him offering the Kremlin even more than Putin expected, Shraibman said.

On Saturday, at Putin’s side during the nuclear forces exercises, Lukashenko was showing his loyalty at a critical time for Putin, hoping to win economic support and favors, he added.

Putin claims Ukraine crisis is over Russia’s future, but that rings with Cold War brinkmanship

“Lukashenko does even more than what is demanded from him, for example his initiative about the nukes being stationed in Belarus. He sometimes wants to overperform to show that he is even more of an ally than everybody could expect.

“Until we are in a war situation, while it is still mainly lip service, he can afford to do this. He’s happy to do it.”

Khrenin said the focus of the continued military drills would be the same as the recently completed exercises: “to ensure an adequate response and de-escalation of military preparations of ill-wishers near our common borders.”

Just four days ago, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said: “Not a single [Russian] serviceman, not a single piece of military equipment will remain in Belarus after these exercises.”

The first hint that Russian forces might not leave after the exercises came Saturday, when Belarusian general Alexander Volfovich told journalists that all the tasks of the exercises had been achieved but that “the exercise may continue. When and for how long will be decided by the head of the inspection.”

Russia-Ukraine tensions: What you need to know

The latest

What’s happening in the Ukraine-Russia crisis | Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, Biden says | Ukraine’s Lviv becomes ‘western capital’ as some diplomats leave Kyiv | In Ukraine’s Donbas region, war is an ever-present reality

The geography

Four maps that explain the Russia-Ukraine conflict | Wetlands and radioactive soil: How Ukraine’s geography could influence a Russian invasion

The backstory

Why might Russia want to invade Ukraine? | Six reasons Russia is at odds with Ukraine’s Zelensky | What is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and why is Biden vowing to stop it if Russia invades Ukraine? | Here’s where countries stand on the Russia-Ukraine crisis

Analysis

When it comes to Ukraine, what do Russian citizens actually want? | Why it’s not so easy to slap sanctions on Vladimir Putin | An invasion of Ukraine could drive up global food prices and spark unrest far from the front lines | How joining NATO and the E.U. became Ukraine’s unattainable dream

By Robyn DixonRobyn Dixon is a foreign correspondent on her third stint in Russia, after almost a decade reporting there beginning in the early 1990s. In November 2019 she joined The Washington Post as Moscow bureau chief. Twitter

I spoke to the exiled leader of Belarus’s democratic opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and I asked her if she was worried the extension of planned military drills in Belarus suggested that Russia might use her country as a staging post for an incursion into Ukraine

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M PROPERTY IS THEFT

Rents reach ‘insane’ levels across U.S. with no end in sight

Krystal Guerra, 32, poses Feb. 12 outside her apartment, which she has to leave after her new landlord gave her less than a month’s notice that her rent would go up by 26%, in Miami. Guerra had already been spending nearly 50% of her monthly income on rent before the increase.
(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

BY R.J. RICO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

FEB. 20, 2022

Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher and hardly any storage space.

But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for a few more years as she finished her marketing degree.

That was until a new owner bought the property and told her he was raising the rent from $1,550 to $1,950, a 26% increase that Guerra said meant her rent would account for the majority of her take-home pay from the University of Miami.

“I thought that was insane,” said Guerra, who decided to move out. “Am I supposed to stop paying for everything else I have going on in my life just so I can pay rent? That’s unsustainable.”

Guerra is hardly alone. Rents have exploded across the country, causing many to dig deep into their savings, downsize to subpar units or fall behind on payments and risk eviction now that a federal moratorium has ended.

In the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, median rent rose an astounding 19.3% from December 2020 to December 2021, according to a Realtor.com analysis of properties with two or fewer bedrooms. And nowhere was the jump bigger than in the Miami metro area, where the median rent exploded to $2,850, 49.8% higher than the previous year.

Other cities across Florida — Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville — and the Sun Belt destinations of San Diego, Las Vegas, Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tenn., all saw spikes of more than 25% during that time period.

Rising rents are an increasing driver of high inflation that has become one of the nation’s top economic problems. Labor Department data, which cover existing rents as well as new listings, shows much smaller increases, but these are also picking up. Rental costs rose 0.5% in January from December, the Labor Department said last week. That may seem small, but it was the biggest increase in 20 years, and will likely accelerate.

Economists worry about the effect of rent increases on inflation because the big jumps in new leases feed into the U.S. consumer price index, which is used to measure inflation.

Inflation jumped 7.5% in January from a year earlier, the biggest increase in four decades. While many economists expect that to decrease, rising rents could keep inflation high through the end of the year since housing costs make up one-third of the consumer price index.

Things have gotten so bad in Boston, which has nearly overtaken San Francisco as the nation’s second-most expensive rental market, that one resident went viral for jokingly putting an igloo on the market for $2,700 a month. “Heat/ hot water not included,” Jonathan Berk tweeted.

Experts say many factors are responsible for astronomical rents, including a nationwide housing shortage, extremely low rental vacancies and unrelenting demand as young adults continue to enter the crowded market.

Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, lead author of a recent report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said there was a lot of “pent-up demand” after the initial months of the pandemic, when many young people moved back home with their parents. Starting last year, as the economy opened up and young people moved out, “rents really took off,” she said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, rental vacancy rates during the fourth quarter of 2021 fell to 5.6%, the lowest since 1984.

“Without a lot of rental vacancy that landlords are accustomed to having, that gives them some pricing power because they’re not sitting on empty units that they need to fill,” said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist.

Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale have been at a record low, contributing to ballooning home prices that have caused many higher-income households to remain renters, further upping demand.

Construction crews are also trying to bounce back from material and labor shortages that at the start of the pandemic made a preexisting shortage of new homes even worse, leaving an estimated shortfall of 5.8 million single-family homes, a 51% leap from the end of 2019, Realtor.com said.

And potentially compounding all of this is the increasing presence of investors.

A record 18.2% of U.S home purchases in the third quarter of 2021 were made by businesses or institutions, according to Redfin, as investors targeted Atlanta; Phoenix; Miami; Charlotte, N.C.; and Jacksonville, Fla. — popular destinations for people relocating from pricier cities.

Hale said the increasing presence of investors is a factor in rent hikes, but only because they have pricing power due to low vacancies. “I don’t think that’s the only driver,” she said.

Most investors aren’t tied down by rent control. Only two states, California and Oregon, have statewide rent control laws, while three others — New York, New Jersey and Maryland — have laws allowing local governments to pass rent control ordinances, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.

And laws in some states like Arizona actually restrict local jurisdictions from limiting what landlords can charge tenants.

In Tucson, the mayor’s office said it has been deluged with calls from residents worried about rent hikes after a California developer recently bought an apartment complex that catered to older people and raised rents by more than 50%, forcing out many on fixed incomes.

The rent on a one-bedroom apartment in the complex went from $579 to $880 a month, an increase legal under Arizona state law.

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema decried the increases during a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing, saying Arizona’s rapidly growing housing costs have been a “major concern” of hers for years.

Nationally, Hale, the Realtor.com economist, expects rents to continue to rise this year, but at a slower pace, thanks to increased construction.

“Improving supply growth should help create more balance in the market,” said Hale, who forecasts rents to rise 7.1% in 2022.

In Miami, Guerra has started packing her belongings ahead of her March move-out date. She spent weeks frantically looking for places within her budget but said she couldn’t find anything that wasn’t “either incredibly small, incredibly broken down or an hour away from work and everyone I know.”

Her plan now is to put her things in storage and move in with her boyfriend, even though the timing isn’t ideal.

“We didn’t want to have the decision of moving in together forced upon us,” Guerra said. “We wanted it to be something we agreed to, but it’s happening before we wanted it to happen.”

Space and defence: protecting Europe and strengthening our capacity to act

20/02/2022 – HR/VP Blog – The current geopolitical context shows how important it is to strengthen EU’s defence policy. More generally, what we classically understand by “defence” is evolving to encompass more and more other domains, such as cyber and outer space. Last week, the European Commission adopted two important “packages” on defence and space policies. They contribute to the on-going work on the Strategic Compass.

Space has become a strategic domain and an essential enabler for most of our daily activities, whether the Internet, telecommunications, or the movement of people, ships, aircraft or vehicles. In addition, it plays a central role in security and defence; for example, the United States created in 2019 a US Space Force. Therefore, we need to guarantee our ability to operate securely and constantly the infrastructures essential to our societies, including against threats in outer space. Last November, Russia deliberately destroyed one of its satellites, an irresponsible act that generated dangerous debris.

“We need to guarantee our ability to operate securely and constantly the infrastructures essential to our societies, including against threats in outer space.”

But space is also an important area of interest for me on a more personal level. From background, I am an aeronautical engineer. One of my first ministerial posts in Spain, as Minister for Telecommunications, led me to launch the first Hispasat satellite in 1992. Since then, I have never ceased to follow closely this sector, which has become essential for our societies.

Europe is a significant space power: its space sector had a turnover of €74 billion in 2019, which represents between 15 and 20 % of the world market, with 48,000 employees working directly in this sector. The EU is increasingly involved, with the best known EU success stories: Galileo for positioning, navigation and timing and Copernicus(link is external), the largest Earth observation system. Under the steering of my colleague Commissioner Breton, the Space Programme has been allocated 13,2 bln EUR in the new Multiannual Financial Framework – the largest ever space budget at EU level. However, we need to do more in the future to keep up the pace, remain a leading space power and enhance our strategic autonomy in that field,.
Space is becoming increasingly congested

We face also a growing problem: space is becoming increasingly congested due to a huge increase in satellites and space debris. Just to give some figures: since the beginning of the space era, in the 1960s, humanity has put in orbit 11,800 satellites of which 4,550 are currently operational. More than 20 000 new satellites are expected to be launched in the next 10 years – and this is just a conservative estimate. On top of that, there are over 128 million pieces of debris smaller than 1 centimetre orbiting Earth, and almost one million between 1 and 10 centimetres. The majority of debris is found at altitudes below 2,000 km, reflecting the space activity that takes place mainly in low earth orbit (Earth observation satellites, telecommunications satellite constellations, most military satellites…). This space debris has an average speed of 7-8 km/s, or 25-29,000 km/h. At these speeds, even if the debris is small, in case of collision, the impact is very destructive because the kinetic energy is the product of the mass of the debris and the square of its speed: a one-centimetre debris has about the same kinetic energy as a car travelling at 130 kilometres per hour…

“Debris threatens our space services. It risks affecting our daily life, our economies and societies, as well as our security and defence.”

This threatens our space infrastructure and space services. It risks affecting our daily life, our economies and societies, as well as our security and defence. Indeed, space is also a strategic enabler for defence capabilities. There is therefore a real need for the EU to contribute to address this global challenge. That is what we have proposed to do, with our Joint communication on Space Traffic Management (STM).

We intend to enhance EU capabilities to detect and catalogue more space objects and avoid collisions. We propose to foster EU-led standards and guidelines, to encourage safe conduct by operators, and to work toward a possible legislative proposal on STM rules. What is particularly important for me is the international dimension: space is a global common good that the international community has to protect and manage. Therefore, we aim for a multilateral STM framework at UN level and we will discuss this issue with the US and other key partners. STM is a civilian effort, yet it will also apply to military satellites. The European Defence Agency will help consolidate military needs in that domain.

A new strategic EU space infrastructure

As part of this week’s space package, the Commission has also proposed to launch a new strategic EU space infrastructure in addition to Galileo and Copernicus. This is a major initiative to equip the EU with a European space-based secure connectivity. In concrete terms, it will provide two services: a governmental highly secured communication service, which will ensure ultra-secured –quantum encrypted – communication with multiple defence and civilian users and a high-speed broadband access service, to provide internet access to all, and reduce the digital divide. The main features of the proposal comprise its security-by-design, which is a precondition for high-end security, and defence use.

“The satellites will have a north/south orbit. So, by design, it can offer Africa high-speed internet, everywhere. This infrastructure could be the first major “Global Gateway” initiative.”

The satellites will have a north/south orbit, which means they will cover all of Africa as well as the Artic. So, by design, they can offer Africa high-speed internet, everywhere. This infrastructure could be the first major “Global Gateway” initiative. Overall, the cost of this programme would be around €6 billion, to which the Union would contribute €2,4 billion. The rest of the financing would have to come from member states and from a public-private partnership scheme.

The Commission has also presented this week a communication outlining its contribution to European defence. This is the result of President von der Leyen’s push towards a stronger EU defence, and teamwork with my colleagues Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager and Commissioner Thierry Breton.

It proposes to step up investments in defence research and the development of capabilities, notably through the European Defence Fund (EDF), to facilitate synergies between civilian and defence domains, and to incentivise EU joint procurement of defence capabilities, notably through a value added tax (VAT) waiver and new financing solutions. It also proposes to look further into security and defence aspects of space, in line with the Strategic Compass. Lastly, it outlines the Commission contribution to counter hybrid threats and strengthen the EU’s engagement on cybersecurity and cyber defence.

A new roadmap on critical technologies

This communication is associated with a new Roadmap on critical technologies for security and defense, which aims to boost them through European research, development and innovation in close cooperation with member states and like-minded partners, especially the US and NATO. It also aims at reducing strategic dependencies in critical technologies for security and defence. This initiative links up with the work being carried out by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in defence innovation, including through the proposed EDA Defence Innovation Hub. The agenda developed in this defence package builds up on existing work strands and contributes to further strengthening the Strategic Compass, currently being finalised.

With these two packages and with the Strategic Compass, the European Union – EU institutions and its member states - has a unique opportunity to join efforts to advance on these decisive issues. The geostrategic context in which we live in requires nothing less. The ‘proof of the pudding’, as usual, will be in implementation. After the adoption of the Strategic Compass in one month, it will be time for all of us to walk the talk.

Space and defence: protecting Europe and strengthening our capacity to act - European External Action Service (europa.eu)

China has important ties with both Ukraine and Russia, but how long can it stay silent on crisis?

By Dong Xing

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have declared there are "no limits" to their partnership in standing up to the West.

(AP: Dmitri Lovetsky/Pool)

As the world anxiously watches the Russia-Ukraine crisis unfold, China remains wedged in an awkward position.

Key points:

Beijing is yet to express whether its support lies with Russia or Ukraine

China worries the crisis will affect its policies on Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang

Ukraine has helped China modernise its military and is a major trading partner

Beijing has declared that its partnership with Moscow has "no limits" while still maintaining strong ties with Kyiv.

Under the premiership of Xi Jinping, China has furthered its deep strategic and business partnerships with both countries, leaving it hesitant to pick a side openly.

Not only is China Ukraine's largest trading partner, but Kyiv has also helped Beijing build up its military assets.

Jiang Yuan, a China-Russia relations expert at the Queensland Technology University, said China had no intention to openly express sympathy for Ukraine, while it hasn't fully supported Russia either.

"China cannot directly oppose Russia due to its quasi-alliance with Russia and common pressure from the US," he told the ABC.

There's a third consideration at play too, as experts say China doesn't want to push the EU away by supporting Russia.

As many other countries urge their citizens and embassy staff to leave — some being evacuated even — China has only advised its citizens to remain vigilant.

It has slammed the West for creating an air of tension, yet there is still no strong indication of whether it's Russia or Ukraine that China favours.

So how much is the silence as much about domestic politics as international relations?

And can Beijing continue to have it both ways with two countries in heightened states of military awareness?

Ukraine crisis may shake China's stance on Taiwan, Xinjiang and Tibet

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has criticised China for remaining "chillingly silent" on the crisis, suggesting that Beijing had given Moscow tacit approval for an invasion.

But it is not the first time China has kept quiet on Ukraine's disputes.

In China, self-determination and foreign interference on sovereignty are political taboos, with there being strong opposition to separatism in Tibet and Uyghur-dominated Xinjiang, and Taiwan's increasingly independent self-identity.

In 2014, 97 per cent of voters in Crimea backed a move to leave Ukraine and join Russia.

Western countries tried to scuttle the outcome at the UN, but it was unsuccessful.

Tellingly, while Russia rejected the resolution pushed by the West, China abstained.

Jiang Yuan says the crisis is far too politically sensitive for Beijing to openly support Russia.(Supplied)

According to Mr Jiang, this has more to do with internal politics than external relationships.

"It is simply impossible for China to shore up the recognition of reincorporation of Crimea in the Russian narrative or the recent Ukraine tensions," he said.

Basically, supporting succession abroad might come back to harm the Chinese Communist Party, Mr Jiang explained.

"Crimea is Ukraine's sovereign territory. If it can simply have a referendum to join Russia or become independent, this means Xinjiang, Tibet, and Taiwan can simply do so as well," Mr Jiang said.

"This is impossible for China to accept because these are core interests of the Chinese government and also concern legitimacy of the Communist Party."
Ukraine is China's military technology provider

As a former Soviet Union state, Ukraine inherited much of the military technology and equipment China desired.

So it started buying what it wanted from Ukraine, the most significant of which was China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

The unfinished aircraft carrier became China's in 1998 and helped modernise its military infrastructure.

"The Chinese Navy was thereby able to leapfrog an estimated 15 years of research and development to achieve aircraft carrier capabilities in 2013 when the Liaoning entered active service," Mr Jiang said.

Ukraine has helped Beijing build up its military assets and reach capabilities on par with US equipment and technologies. (Reuters)

Since then, several of China's large warships, including the country's second aircraft carrier, the Shandong, have used propulsion systems with redeveloped Ukrainian gas turbines.

Ukrainian engineering has also helped boost China's fighter jet fleets.

Ukraine was responsible for aiding in the development of China's J-11 jets, which are considered an equivalent of America's F-15 fighters.

'China doesn't want to push the EU towards the US'

Experts say China doesn't want to push the EU or Germany further towards the US.

(AP: Olivier Hoslet)

The full scale of the arms trade between China and Ukraine is unknown, but since 2020 China has been the eastern European country's top trading partner.

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China also sees Ukraine as a key entry point for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) objectives, its ambitious global infrastructure development strategy.

China's Ministry of Commerce has said Ukraine could be used to explore investment opportunities in the EU as it has a free trade agreement with the EU while being a participant in the BRI.

Experts have also pointed to China's need to maintain a workable relationship with the EU, especially Germany, during increasingly intense US-China competition.

"China doesn't want to push the EU or Germany towards the US further," Mr Jiang said.

Dr Guan says China will eventually need to weigh Ukraine and Russia.(Supplied)

Dr Jade Guan, a lecturer in strategy studies at Deakin University, said China was seeking to further its negotiations with the EU over the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI).

The CAI, designed to open China's domestic market, will give enormous advantages to European companies.

Under the agreement, China promises to no longer force foreign companies to share sensitive know-how.

However, the deal was suspended after the EU and China both imposed sanctions on each other's officials and institutions over claims of Uyghur "genocide".

"Germany and France are leading the negotiation of the CAI with China, and France will have its election soon," Dr Guan said.

While "it would be wise for Beijing not to support Russia openly," Dr Guan added that eventually China will need to weigh Ukraine and Russia.

"Both countries are strategic partners for China, but which one is more important in terms of economy, energy and diplomacy?"

ISRAEL

Minimum wage to rise 700 shekels

(USD $219.27)- over 5 years

(USD $43.80 PER YEAR)

Meretz, Labor vote against proposal that sees minimum wage erode in real terms. "With a booming economy, there is no excuse."

Israel National News
20.02.22

Tamar ZandbergNoam Revkin Fenton/Flash90

On Sunday, the government approved amendments to legislation related to business and wage levels, according to which the minimum wage will rise from its current rate of NIS 5,300 per month to NIS 6,000 per month, but only over a period of five years. During the current year, the minimum wage will rise by just 100 shekels and will only reach the target of NIS 6,000 in December, 2025.

Channel 13 reported that the government also agreed that employees who have worked up to five years in their place of employment will be granted an additional vacation day per year. Another amendment concerns the Working Hours and Rest Act, adjusting the calculation of overtime in order to create more flexible conditions for employers and a better work-vacation balance for employees.

Commenting on the amendments, Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) said, "This 'increase' of the minimum wage is actually an erosion [given that it is not adjusted to compensate for inflation]. A better offer must be made, because those who earn minimum wage need every single shekel."

Labor party leader and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, voiced similar sentiments. "The policies of this government, headed by Prime Minister Bennett and Finance Minister Liberman, have brought us many financial achievements. Despite the coronavirus, we have succeeded in building a mighty economy along with growth and assistance programs that no other government has ever achieved. And precisely because of this, the government cannot permit itself to harm the minimum wage of so many employees in the weaker strata of society, as this current plan would do."

Last November, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, together with Prof. Amir Yaron, head of the Bank of Israel, along with Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David, presented an economic plan at a press conference which included gradually raising the minimum wage to NIS 6,000.

SYRIA

Sweida: Intellectuals support rally demanding better living conditions, democracy

Activists and intellectuals from Sweida issued a statement in support of the new peaceful popular rally taking place in the southern Syrian city for three weeks to demand better living conditions and democracy.

The statement pointed out that the peaceful movement has restored the Syrian revolution to its first course of demanding a democratic state, the state of citizenship and law, and demanding the implementation of UN resolutions, especially Resolution 2254, and turning the page on the regime of corruption and tyranny.

“The UNSC Resolution 2254 was unanimously adopted on 18 December 2015. It was described as the roadmap for Syria's political transition.”

More than 300 protesters took to the streets of Sweida early February to demand better living conditions and democracy in a rare protest inside regime-held areas, a war monitor said.

The protest came after authorities cut off 600,000 families from its subsidies program, staging their biggest rally yet.

The rally went ahead despite a heavy deployment of security forces, who sealed off main roads.

Activists loyal to the Syrian regime launched a media campaign accusing the peaceful Sweida movement of being associated with Israel. This campaign coincided with security forces in Sweden and a large movement of Iranian militias towards the borders of the southern province.

The statement called for an international trial of the Assad regime with all its symbols and tools as a genocide regime that committed crimes against humanity, documented by many international organizations when using chemical weapons against civilian neighborhoods, and the systematic killing under torture of tens of thousands of detainees.

The statement, a copy of which Zaman al-Wasl received, added that the Assad regime committed crimes of high treason against the homeland and its citizens because of its betrayal of the national trust and betrayal of the oath and the country’s constitution by directing the Syrian army’s weapons to the civilians of Syria.

The statement concluded by stressing that the pain of the sons of the great Syria, from its north to its south and from its west to its east, is one and their destiny is one, calling on the Arab brothers and the countries of the free world with its leaders and peoples to help the free Syrians implement the relevant international resolutions, foremost of which is Resolution 2254, and market war criminals from the regime. Assad and his clique to international courts and the application of justice.

Earlier this month, the government excluded a large number of people from its subsidies program, in a country where 90 percent of the population is poor.

Those who were cut off lost access to lower-priced food and oil, a move that triggered rare protests and criticism from within government-held areas of Syria.

Smaller protests over similar issues were held in Sweida in 2020.

But the Druze, who made up less than three percent of Syria’s pre-war population, largely kept out of the country’s conflict.

Sweida has been mostly spared by the fighting in the decade-old war, and only faced sporadic jihadist attacks which were repelled.

Syria has grappled with an economic crisis compounded by Western sanctions, the Covid-19 pandemic and a rapid devaluation of the local currency.

Syria’s conflict began in March 2011 and has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. (With AFP)

Bill to help veterans suffering from toxic burn pit exposure takes key step forward in Congress

By Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav, CNN
Sun February 20, 2022

A soldier in the Afghan National Army walks past a burn pit
at a command outpost recently handed over to the ANA
from the United States Army in March 2013 in
Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

(CNN)The Senate took a significant step in recent days to help former military service members suffering from toxic burn pit exposure by passing a bill to expand access to health care for post-9/11 combat veterans.

It's not yet clear though when burn pit legislation might get to the President's desk to be signed into law, and advocates say more still needs to be done for veterans to address the issue of toxic exposure.

Burn pits were used to incinerate and burn waste, hazardous material, and chemical compounds at military sites throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. A 2020 member survey by the advocacy organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found that 86 percent of respondents were exposed to burn pits or other toxins.

The bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday would expand the window of eligibility for health care for post-9/11 combat veterans from five to 10 years after discharge from military service, and provide a one-year open enrollment period for any post-9/11 combat veterans who are outside that ten-year window.

Among other provisions, the bill would also require the Department of Veterans Affairs to implement clinical screenings for veterans to look for potential exposure to toxic substances and symptoms commonly associated with exposure.

The Senate bill had bipartisan backing and was introduced by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and the top Republican on the panel, Jerry Moran of Kansas.

The bill is the first part of a three-step, bipartisan approach the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee is undertaking in an effort to address the issue of toxic exposure for veterans. The committee is currently working on the second phase of the effort with a goal of having it ready for Senate floor action in the coming months.

On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat who chairs the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, has introduced a bill with bipartisan support called the Honoring our PACT Act that aims to improve health care and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances.

Surviving combat only to die at home: Retired Staff Sgt. Wesley Black is picking out his coffin at 35 years old

Among a range of provisions, the House bill would put in place "a presumption of service connection for 23 respiratory illnesses and cancers related to burn pits and airborne hazards exposure," according to a fact sheet from the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Since the House bill is not identical to the legislation passed by Senate, it is not yet clear what lawmakers will do to get a measure to the President's desk and the bills may need to be reconciled at some point in the future.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi highlighted the House bill as an "important initiative" in a letter to House Democrats in January detailing the upcoming legislative agenda for the chamber.

After the Senate passed its bill this week, some advocates were quick to say more needs to be done.

Jeremy Butler, CEO of the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told CNN's Brianna Keilar this week, "The bill that just passed through the Senate basically does about a third of what we were asking for and unfortunately, that's because health care is expensive, benefits are expensive. But when you are sick and dying from rare cancers, that's what you need."

"This is a small first step," he said. "It moves the ball legislatively down the line, but it doesn't get to where we need as veteran's groups."

Tester and Moran celebrated the Senate bill's passage this week as one step closer to ensuring veterans get the benefits they need and deserve.

"This is a big bill, an important bill and it does right by our veterans in this country," said Tester ahead of the bill's passage on the Senate floor.

Jon Stewart says Congress is abandoning veterans who inhaled toxic burn pit fumes

Moran added that he's heard from numerous veterans in his state and across the country who are sick or dying from the effects of toxic exposure caused by burn pits.

"Addressing the needs of veterans exposed to burn pits cannot wait. This legislation can be life-saving for those exposed or suffering," he said in a speech on the Senate floor.
"When our men and women in uniform go into harm's way on our behalf, we owe it to them to take care of them when they come home for whatever injuries are incurred during their service," he said.

Comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart, who has been a longtime advocate for 9/11 first responders and victims, has been a high-profile figure in the effort to get help for veterans who have been exposed to burn pits.

"The bottom line is our country exposed our own veterans to poison for years, and we knew about it, and we did not act with urgency and appropriateness," said Stewart last month at a virtual roundtable with the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. "And therefore, we've lost men and women who served this country. They've died out of our inaction."

CNN's Paul LeBlanc and Allen Kim contributed to this report.

Mystery of flight MH370: New theory leads to 'horrifying' conclusion

20 Feb, 2022
By Benedict Brook

A noted aviation expert has said he has found the likely location of the doomed aeroplane MH370.

If he's right it would solve the eight-year-old mystery of the whereabouts of the aircraft and its 239 passengers and crew, all of whom are presumed to have perished.

The findings have also reinforced a "horrifying" theory — said the senior officer in charge of the initial search — of the missing plane's final hours.

But the authorities are yet to be persuaded to tackle a new search mission.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, several hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, bound for Beijing, China.

The plane headed northeast towards China but not long after takeoff it abruptly changed direction in the Gulf of Thailand and headed back across the Malaysian peninsula. It then plotted a course southwest into the remote depths of the Indian Ocean.

It's thought to have crashed 2000km off the coast of Western Australia.

The search for MH370 covered 120,000 square kilometres. But to no avail.

A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion drops stores to HMAS Toowoomba, during a search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Photo / LSIS James Whittle, File

British aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey has conducted a painstaking examination of the anomalies in radio signals from that fateful night. He has said that's enabled him to zero in on a new crash zone.

"In my view, there's no reason why we shouldn't be planning for a new search," Godfrey told Australia's Channel 9 on Sunday.

The breakthrough discovery claim came after an analysis using Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR) technology – this is effectively an invisible radio wave similar to trip-wires that record anything disturbing or passing through the waves.

However, experts have expressed serious doubts as to whether historical WSPR data can be used to track MH370

Godfrey told the 60 Minutes programme that 160 signals were disturbed over the Indian Ocean that night, disturbances likely caused by an aeroplane.

Zaharie Ahmad Shah, pilot of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, passing through airport security at Kuala Lumpur airport. Photo / Supplied, File

Only one other aircraft was anywhere near MH370 over the ocean and Godfrey said that plane was at least an hour away.

That meant the disturbances were most likely caused by the Malaysian jet allowing its flight to be tracked as well as its probable final resting place.

He has said he can narrow a search area down to just 300sq km, which could be looked at in just a few weeks. That includes some areas already searched and others that were never looked at during the initial rescue effort.

"With this very difficult terrain it is possible to miss wreckage," he said.

"When you're going through 120,000 square kilometres you get one chance, one pass of each point. With 300 square kilometres, you can have several passes and from different angles, so it's possible."

Godfrey told 60 Minutes that his research has uncovered another aspect of the flight and its captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

Far from heading in a straight line into the Indian Ocean, Godfrey has claimed MH370 did a number of 360-degree turns over the sea – almost like holding patterns before an aircraft lands at a busy airport. That would mean the "ghost flight" theory – that the plane was on autopilot and the passengers and crew were incapacitated – may not be accurate.

British aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey. Video screengrab / Sunrise, File

"This is strange to me. When you're in the remotest part of the Indian Ocean trying to lose an aircraft why would you enter a holding pattern for 20 minutes?

"(The captain) may have been communicating with the Malaysian government, he may have been checking whether he was being followed, he may have simply wanted time to make up his mind," said Godfrey.

If correct, the curious course of the Boeing 777 over the Indian Ocean gives credence to the theory that the captain deliberately flew the plane into oblivion.

Peter Foley was the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's (ATSB) director of operations for the MH370 search.

Asked on the programme by 60 Minutes' reporter Sarah Abo if the most likely scenario was that the captain was behind a mass murder incident, Foley said "Yes, by a wide margin. It's horrifying".

Nevertheless, Foley said some of Godfrey's conclusions needed more scrutiny.

"There's certainly merit in exploring new avenues.

"I think the jury is still out on Richard's work, but let's hope he is onto something."

The ATSB described Godfrey as "credible" but has not launched a new investigation.

"The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has not had a formal involvement in any search for the missing aircraft MH370 since the conclusion of the first underwater search in 2017, has not recommenced a search for the aircraft, and notes that any decision to conduct further searches would be a matter for the Government of Malaysia," ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a statement.

A fast response craft tows Able Seaman Clearance Diver Michael Arnold as he searches for debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. Photo / Lieutenant Ryan Davis, File

"The ATSB is aware of the work of Mr Richard Godfrey and acknowledges that he is a credible expert on the subject of MH370, but the ATSB does not have the technical expertise to, and has not been requested to, review his 'MH370 Flight Path' paper and workings.

"As such the ATSB cannot offer an assessment of the validity of Mr Godfrey's work using WSPR data.

"The ATSB does acknowledge that Mr Godfrey's work recommends a search zone for MH370, a significant portion of which covers an area searched during the ATSB-led underwater search.

"When the ATSB was made aware that Mr Godfrey's zone incorporates an area of ocean surveyed during the ATSB-led search, out of due diligence the ATSB requested Geoscience Australia review the data it held from the search to re-validate that no items of interest were detected in that area."

"The ATSB expects that review to be finalised in coming weeks, the results from which will be made public on the ATSB's website.

"The ATSB acknowledges the importance of locating the aircraft to provide answers and closure to the families of those who lost loved ones.

"The ATSB remains an interested observer in all efforts to find the missing aircraft."

Mitchell reiterated that any decision to conduct further searches for MH370 would be a matter for the Government of Malaysia and that the ATSB was not aware of any requests to the Australian Government from Malaysia to support a new search for the missing aircraft.

Godfrey's insights have led a grieving wife who lost her husband in the MH370 crash to now believe the incident was murder, not a mechanical failure.

The remains of Danica Weeks' husband, New Zealander Paul Weeks, have never been found.

Former Christchurch man Paul Weeks, who was on Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

Photo / Supplied, File

Weeks told Sky News that after years of thinking the plane went down because of mechanical failure she now believes it was murder.

"I was so staunch about saying it wasn't the pilot," she said.

"But now I have to throw all of that out after nearly eight years [since the disappearance] and three years of searching [for the plane, by the authorities].

"I never believed it was the pilot. Unfortunately, Richard Godfrey has said that he believes with this point that the pilot was in control. And look, it makes sense that we've searched for a ghost plane, haven't found it. So maybe we have to step forward and … search on that basis now."

Godfrey said a new search would only take a few million dollars.

"I'm sure this mystery will be solved and hopefully it will be solved later this year."

MY THEORY IS JUST AS HORRIFYING

WATERSPOUT

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Monday, February 21, 2022

Putin’s influence means Lukashenko has “lost his independence in decision making,” says Belarus opposition leader

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