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Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Are ongoing peaceful, creative and spontaneous protests Sri Lanka's “Arab Spring moment”?

Peaceful and spontaneous protests have intensified across Sri Lanka over the past few weeks since March 31, 2022. The general public, including students, teachers, doctors and other professionals as well as the opposition parties organised separate protests across the country, the highlight of which is the protest at Colombo’s Galle Front. Their only demand is that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa should resign immediately over mainly their mishandling of the economy that had led to the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

To quell the public uprising, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on April 1, 2022, and major social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Viber etc.) were blocked for around 16 hours on April 3.

Leaderless protests

The protests have been observed as spontaneous and leaderless as the usual suspects who organize protests — such as the unions and student groups — were not seen. Some political parties have mentioned that they will not join protests by unknown or anonymous groups.

Ambika Satkunanathan writes at citizen journalism platform Groundviews:

As of April 14, there have been 240 protests of different sizes around the country by different social groups according to Watchdog’s protest tracker. These include protests by fisherfolk in Galle and Ambalantota, carpenters in Moratuwa, private bus drivers in Anuradhapura, health workers of the Kandy, Kegalle and Mullaitivu hospitals, Free Trade Zone workers in Katunayake, and public protests in Akkaraipattu, Balangoda, Bandarawela, Batticaloa, Dambulla, Gampola, Habarana, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kandy, Kelaniya, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matara, Minneriya, Mullaitivu, Nuwara Eliya, Panadura, Ragama, Thihariya, Vavuniya, Walasmulla and Yakkala.

Social media spaces are occupied by people sharing images, slogans, poems, cartoons etc., and hashtags like #GoHomeGota2022 or #GoHomeGota are trending. The #GoHomeGota2022 campaign even has a website. However, some government-sponsored actors have launched a counter-campaign called #WeAreWithGota to engage in a battle of the hashtags.

Meanwhile, on April 1, Social media activist Anuruddha Bandara was arrested for running a Facebook page called “Gota Go Home.” He was released on bail on April 3.

Some protesters are also using innovative tactics, like this, as entrepreneur Farhan tweeted:

Occupy Galle Face

Galle Face, a 12-acre urban park along the coast in the capital Colombo is the most happening place with thousands of anti-government protesters. On April 9, tens of thousands of protesters started to gather in the afternoon defying the order of closure of the premises. The ‘#OccupyGalleFace’ movement has only one demand: they will stay there “until Rajapaksa resigns.” Citizen journalism platform Groundviews posted some images of the protests. The protest site was renamed “Gota-Go-Gama.”

These protests, mainly led by the youth, including students, teachers, doctors and other professionals, are peaceful and innovative. The protesters are wary of politicians, both from the ruling party and the opposition. Dozens of tents have been erected to shelter them from the rain and sun, and more are on stand-by. Professionals such as artists, cricketers and musicians are also joining the protests. Sympathetic supporters are regularly donating water, food and medicines, and mobile toilets were set up.

Some media are comparing these grassroots protests to the Arab Spring movements.

Investigative journalist Zulfick Farzan shared this image:

A police officer who joined the protests was briefly arrested and then granted bail on April 15.

Journalist Charindra Chandrasena said:

As of April 16, the occupy protest has reached its 8th day. According to Professor Hiroshan Hettiarachchi, this Sri Lankan uprising is following its own unique, local model.

Sapumal Bandara from Sri Lanka tweeted:

The protests saw national unity between the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians and between Sinhala and Tamils as they came together for the protest:

According to web administrator Daniel Alexander:

Entrepreneur Raees ul Haq tweeted:

There is even music:

The #OccupyGalleFace protests are also gaining support from elsewhere in the country:

Ambika Satkunanathan at Groundviews debunks the criticism of the Occupy Galle Face movement:

Criticism of Occupy Galle Face has also centred on its methods. That protestors are not taking it seriously, that there is song and music. That “it is like a party”. These comments demonstrate a failure to understand the multi-faceted nature of protests and the fact that protests will always have those who come along for their own purposes. Galle Face turning into “a carnival” has perhaps broken the taboo on protesting, especially the middle-class aversion to and disdain for protesting on the streets.

Seeking a bail-out

The Sri Lankan opposition has rejected Rajapaksa's offer for a unity government and threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against the Rajapaksa government if it fails to solve the public concerns. A new finance minister has been appointed and the rest of the cabinet are expected to be appointed and to be sworn in on April 18, 2022, Monday.

On April 17, 2022, a Sri Lankan delegation headed by the new finance minister Ali Sabry travelled to the USA to discuss with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the bail-out package of USD 4 billion Sri Lanka sought earlier. Meanwhile, several community-driven initiatives have popped up to help Sri Lankans in need.

Written byRezwan

Sri Lankan protesters demand justice for 2019 Easter bombings

Protesters criticise a lack of progress in finding those responsible for the deaths of more than 260 people in bombings three years ago.

A survivor of a 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attack wipes her tears as her father delivers a speech during a protest on the third anniversary of the event, near the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

Published On 18 Apr 2022

Sri Lankans protesting for days near the president’s office have criticised a lack of progress in finding those responsible for the deaths of more than 260 people in Easter Sunday bombings three years ago, piling pressure on the government already embroiled in a deep economic crisis.

The protesters demanded the government uncover what they called the real conspirators behind the attacks on three churches – two Catholic and one Protestant – that included simultaneous suicide bombings during Easter celebrations on April 21, 2019. Three tourist hotels were also targeted, killing 42 foreigners from 14 countries.

On Sunday, hundreds of people lit candles and displayed banners and placards during a silent protest in the capital, Colombo, calling for justice for the victims of the attacks.

The demonstrations were held at Colombo’s main esplanade, where thousands of people have been protesting for eight days to demand the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the worst debt crisis that has caused critical shortages of fuel, food and medicines in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Sri Lankans hold placards demanding justice for the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks outside the president’s office in Colombo [AP Photo]

Protesters including relatives of the victims accused the government of failing to deliver justice for the bombings. They displayed a huge banner that read: “It’s been 3 years, we cry for justice” and placards that read: “Who was behind this attack?”

“My entire family is gone. Today, I live a very lonely life. I have no words to explain my agony,” said Shiran Anton, whose wife and only daughter died in the attacks.

“I want to find out who the real culprits were behind this attack and why they did it,” he said, adding he was not satisfied with the investigation.

Officials have charged dozens of people who allegedly received weapons training and participated in indoctrination classes from two local Muslim groups accused of carrying out the attacks.

The groups had allegedly pledged allegiance to the ISIL (ISIS) group. Friction between the country’s former president and former prime minister – who belonged to different political parties – was blamed for the failure to act on the intelligence warnings.

Catholic nuns protest outside Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court in Colombo on November 8, 2021, denouncing alleged attempts by police to arrest a senior priest who pressed for justice for those responsible for the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings

[File: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has also been critical of the investigation into the bombings. Church leaders have repeatedly blamed Rajapaksa’s government for not taking action against former President Maithripala Sirisena and other top officials for failing to prevent the bombings.

Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has said the true conspirators in the attacks could still be at large and questioned the government over allegations that some members of state intelligence knew and had met with at least one attacker.

The attacks shattered the country’s tourism industry – a key source of hard currency – just a year before the pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the economy. Protesters also blame the government’s mismanagement of the country’s debt payments, including taking loans for dubious investments.

The country is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with $25bn in foreign debt over the next five years – nearly $7bn of which is due this year alone – and dwindling foreign reserves.

Talks with the International Monetary Fund are expected this week, and the government had turned to China and India for emergency loans to buy food and fuel.

Much of the anger has been directed at Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who head an influential clan that has been in power for most of the past two decades.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

KEEP READING
Sri Lanka cardinal seeks UN probe into 2019 Easter bombings

Sri Lanka begins trials connected to 2019 Easter Sunday bombings

Sri Lanka indicts ISIL ‘mastermind’ over Easter Sunday bombings

Sri Lanka arrests Muslim leader over 2019 Easter Sunday attacks

The Ponzi Scheme That Broke Lebanon

U.S. Ties to the Country’s Elites Will Test Biden’s Anticorruption Agenda

By Sam Heller

April 18, 2022

Protesting in front of Parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, February 2020

Mohamed Azakir / Reuters

For the last two and a half years, Lebanon’s economy has been in free fall. The country’s currency, the lira, has lost more than 90 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar; GDP has shrunk by nearly 60 percent; and close to 80 percent of Lebanese have slipped below the poverty line, along with practically all of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country.

The crisis, which is among the worst to hit any country in modern history, was precipitated by the collapse of what UN Secretary General António Guterres described as “something similar to a Ponzi scheme”: for years, the country’s central bank used ordinary bank depositors’ money to finance the corrupt and wasteful spending of successive Lebanese governments. Participants in the scheme reaped huge returns—until 2019, when it all came tumbling down. The pyramid scheme may not have been technically illegal, but it nonetheless amounted to corruption on a grand scale: Lebanese elites made a killing, spirited their ill-gotten gains abroad, and left millions of their impoverished countrymen holding the bag.

But the crisis wasn’t just caused by greed and corruption; it has been prolonged by the unwillingness of those who are responsible to change their ways or to assume their fair share of the country’s massive financial losses. International donors are willing to discuss a bailout that could right the economy, but Lebanese leaders have resisted even the most basic reforms that lenders have demanded as a precondition for a rescue package. The country’s political and financial elites have benefited handsomely from the current system, and they stand to lose from any ordered resolution of Lebanon’s national bankruptcy. According to the World Bank, Lebanon is now mired in a “deliberate depression,” one that has been “orchestrated by the country’s elite that has long captured the state and lived off its economic rents.”

Lebanon’s predicament poses a unique challenge for the Biden administration, which hopes to prevent the total collapse of the country and has declared fighting corruption a national security priority. In line with President Joe Biden’s global anticorruption agenda, U.S. officials have pushed Lebanese leaders to rein in corruption and make the reforms that would enable an international bailout. But few in Lebanon take the United States at its word, since Washington has long tolerated corruption among its partners in Lebanon and weaponized anticorruption measures against its enemies.

Even now, American messaging on corruption and reform suffers from a conspicuous—and deadly—omission: U.S. officials have remained largely silent on the grandly corrupt scheme that precipitated Lebanon’s national bankruptcy, and in which key U.S. partners are implicated. When it comes to corruption in Lebanon, the United States has a credibility problem—one that the Biden administration will need to remedy if it wants to be a useful partner in reform. The administration’s approach to Lebanon, where fighting corruption and preventing state collapse necessarily go hand in hand, is a vital test of its commitment to combating corruption globally.

CORRUPTION OF A STATE

Lebanon is governed by an unwieldy sectarian system that divides political representation among 18 officially recognized sects—each with its own political boss and patrimonial fiefdom. By divvying the top government positions among Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians, however, this system has facilitated the capture of state institutions by elites, enabling them to exploit public resources for private gain and to solidify their hold on their sectarian constituencies.

Corruption in Lebanon, however, is not just a matter of political patronage and rotten public contracting. For decades, Lebanon’s largely unproductive economy relied on regular infusions of foreign capital to function. When those inflows slowed because of deepening political disfunction and conflict—including in neighboring Syria—the country’s central bank resorted in 2016 to what it called “financial engineering” to fund government deficits and maintain an artificially high value for the Lebanese lira. In short, the central bank paid Lebanese commercial banks exorbitant interest rates for dollar deposits, and those banks in turn offered their own generous returns to lure more depositors. Everyone involved made a lot of money, even as the country’s financial sector stealthily took on huge systemic risk.

Financial engineering wasn’t just a high-risk move to prop up Lebanon’s government and currency. It was also the latest version of a decades-old compact between government and financial elites in which public resources feed the country’s oversized banking sector. Lebanon’s political class is deeply enmeshed with its financial elites. In the most prominent example, Saad Hariri, son of former prime minister and business tycoon Rafik Hariri who served as prime minister himself from 2009 to 2011 and from 2016 to 2020, is the main shareholder in one of the country’s largest banks. It may not have been illegal for Lebanese officials to benefit from the central bank’s ruinous policies, but it was certainly corrupt.

Lebanese elites made a killing and left millions of their impoverished countrymen holding the bag.

And it all fell apart in October 2019, when already struggling Lebanese banks reacted to massive antigovernment protests by shutting their doors and denying depositors access to their accounts. This apparent attempt to preempt a bank run sparked a fatal crisis of confidence in the country’s banking sector, rendering Lebanon’s private banks, central bank, and state all suddenly insolvent. Total losses to the country’s financial sector are estimated in the tens of billions of U.S. dollars. The arrival of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 compounded the country’s economic misery, as did a catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut in August of that year, which killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars of damage.

Foreign donors have conditioned the massive bailout needed to stabilize Lebanon’s economy on an agreement between Lebanon and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would require fiscal discipline and reform. Yet Lebanon’s leaders—and their allies in the banking sector—have not cooperated. Instead, they have resisted any resolution of the country’s national bankruptcy that would disadvantage bank shareholders or top depositors. They also have yet to carry out basic measures—including approving a plan to restructure Lebanon’s external debt and unifying the country’s multiple exchange rates—that the IMF has required as preconditions for a bailout. In the meantime, private banks have allowed elites to move their money out of the country while restricting ordinary depositors’ access to their accounts, meaning that the heaviest burden from Lebanon’s economic losses has fallen on those least able to bear it.

TAKE A STAND

Ever since Biden unveiled a new strategy for fighting corruption last year, U.S. officials have placed greater emphasis on tackling the problem in Lebanon. U.S. Treasury Department officials have urged Lebanese leaders and bankers to step up due diligence efforts and improve transparency and accountability. In October 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on two politically connected Lebanese businessmen and one member of Parliament for illicit enrichment and undermining the rule of law. And in December, Dorothy Shea, the U.S. ambassador in Beirut, presented a Lebanese investigative journalist with an anticorruption award, using the occasion to emphasize Washington’s newfound commitment to battling corruption.

None of this is especially convincing, however, given that the United States is seen as close to some of the Lebanese officials most responsible for the current crisis. Central bank governor Riad Salameh, in particular, has long worked with the United States to counter Hezbollah financing. In addition to bearing responsibility for the central bank’s policy of financial engineering and the country’s economic collapse, Salameh faces serious allegations of self-dealing and illicit enrichment. Yet until recently, many in Lebanon regarded him as untouchable because of his relationship with Washington, and not without reason. In May 2020, Shea gave a television interview in which she defended Salameh, saying that the United States “has worked very closely with him over the years” and that “he enjoys great confidence in the international financial community.” That interview came at a pivotal moment in Lebanese politics, just as Lebanese news outlets reported that Salameh, along with the country’s banking lobby and many of its allies in Parliament, was opposing a Lebanese government financial recovery plan that was supposed to serve as the basis for negotiations with the IMF and that would have disadvantaged financial sector interests. Salameh and his allies won out, talks with the IMF collapsed, and Lebanon’s economic crisis has dragged on for two more years.

But the problem is not just that the United States has looked away from corruption in the past, it’s that it has also allowed anticorruption efforts to be politicized in a way that undermined their credibility. In 2020, for instance, the Trump administration used the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction the leading Maronite Christian politician Gebran Bassil, ostensibly for corruption but really because he is an ally of Hezbollah. David Schenker, who served as assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs from 2019 to 2021, admitted as much after leaving office. “We leveled a series of sanctions against Hezbollah and its Lebanese allies,” he said, “including, importantly, non-Shia, culminating in the Global Magnitsky designation of Gebran Bassil for corruption.” The Biden administration’s October 2021 anticorruption sanctions could likewise be plausibly construed as targeting Hezbollah allies, given the individuals targeted.

The U.S. needs to prioritize Lebanon’s economy over preserving relationships with the leaders who tanked it.

If the Biden administration wants Lebanon’s leaders to take its concerns about corruption seriously, it needs to shed the United States’ reputation for tolerating corruption among friendly elites and dispel the impression that anticorruption measures such as sanctions are really tools to curtail Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon.

To that end, Washington will have to stress the necessity of reform to its Lebanese interlocutors, coordinating closely with allies such as France. U.S. officials should push Lebanon’s leaders to meet the IMF’s preconditions for assistance, including by taking steps to restructure the financial sector, consolidate its failing banks, and audit the central bank—measures that Lebanese elites have sought to obstruct. In addition, the United States should insist that any economic recovery plan must protect small depositors and provide social support for the country’s most vulnerable.

But really fighting corruption in Lebanon will require more than just condemning corruption in rhetorical terms and advocating for specific reforms. It will require Washington to break publicly with financial elites such as Salameh who bear responsibility for the country’s collapse. This is vital because the domestic political fight over who should be blamed for the crisis and who should bear its costs is still ongoing. Lebanon’s central bank and commercial banks deny responsibility for the country’s current predicament. They have argued that they should be made whole at the Lebanese public’s expense. In this internal debate, elites seeking to stymie reform draw strength from their ties with the United States—which is why they have consistently sought to portray interactions with U.S. officials as affirmation from Washington. The United States should not be seen as siding with the same elites who are resisting necessary reforms.

In addition to calling out Lebanese officials for their role in the current crisis, the Biden administration can signal its seriousness about fighting corruption by imposing new sanctions on corrupt Lebanese figures across the sectarian and political spectrum. It should follow up its October 2021 anticorruption sanctions by targeting additional politicians, bankers, and media figures implicated in public corruption, including individuals associated with traditionally U.S.-friendly parties.

Taking a harder line on corruption will inevitably damage some longstanding U.S. relationships with Lebanese politicians and financial elites. But these figures have little choice but to cooperate with Washington on U.S. priorities such as countering terrorism financing and excluding Hezbollah from international banking networks, given that the United States can effectively shut noncompliant banks out of the global financial system. And in any case, the United States needs to prioritize rescuing Lebanon’s economy over preserving relationships with the leaders who tanked it. That requires promoting painful reforms at the expense of Lebanese elites, including those seen as friendly toward the United States.

Lebanon is a major test of the Biden administration’s anticorruption agenda. What the United States does there won’t just affect the odds of a rescue package that could prevent the Lebanese state from failing; it will also demonstrate to corrupt regimes around the world that Washington is serious about fighting corruption. To do that, however, the Biden administration will have to show Lebanese leaders that it will no longer tolerate the kind of grand corruption that cratered Lebanon’s economy. Failing that, Biden’s anticorruption rhetoric will be just words.

JAPAN

“Maid cafes are just the beginning”: Maid robot creator reveals his master plan [Interview]
2022-04-13 Wed

Source: A_say (@A_says_) - image used with permission

Ever since Rosie in The Jetsons, the concept of the maid robot has become synonymous with a fictionalized version of the near future. In Japanese manga, anime and games, maid robots have taken on a more humanoid appearance. Multi in the light novel To Heart, Mahoro in Mahoromatic, Cyberdoll May in Hand Maid May are a few who come to mind.

But what if you could have a maid robot in real life? This is the question and current passion fueling the creative efforts of Japanese robot hobbyist A_say, who runs the MaSiRo Project, which stands for: "Maid Apprentice Substantializing Ideal Robot." MaSiRo (pronounced "mashiro") is also the name of the project's first maid robot.

According to his website, he dreams of a world where each household would have its own maid robot. However, as it would be very difficult to develop a maid robot that could actually move around and perform tasks in an entirely new and unknown place, he wants to set up a limited environment where maid robots can fully operate. The first testing ground will be a maid cafe, currently scheduled to open in Fall 2022.

Some of our readers may recall our article on the MaSiRo Project in 2019. Since then, MaSiRo has evolved and two twin sisters, CiRo (pronounced "chiro") and CiYa (pronouonced "chiya") were "born."

This video, featuring English subtitles, traces MaSiRo's development from her origins to her current state of development. A video focused on her sisters will follow. (Please note that the video shows images of MaSiRo's mechanical workings. If you would prefer not to see that, don't watch the video):

You can also get a sense of how close the MaSiRo Project is to fulfilling their goal of opening the cafe in this video:

Interview with A_Say

Interest in the MaSiRo Project has picked up recently. On March 13th, 2022, it was featured on TV Asahi's 発進！ミライクリエイター Hasshin Mirai Kurieitā (Advance! Future Creators). Moreover, in the past week or so, MaSiRo and her sisters have gone viral, appearing in English-language social media, featured by anime YouTubers, and earning them new fans as well as ... non-fans.

We had a chance to interview A_Say to find out what he thinks about the sudden international attention his project has received, what has changed since the last time we introduced the MaSiRo project in grape Japan, and what his plans are for the future.

Q: We first wrote about the MaSiRo Project in May 2019. What features have been improved or added since then?

A: The most significant advance is that MaSiRo has evolved from a robot that just follows you around holding your hand to a robot that can properly serve food and drinks. In 2019, her right arm was unmovable and dedicated to holding hands, while her left arm was slightly movable and could gesture a bit. Now, MaSiRo can not only follow you around holding your hand, but she can also hold and carry objects with both arms.

Another major and ongoing advance is that MaSiRo has gained the ability to move autonomously at her own discretion. This is one of the most important functions required for work in a maid café. With this, she has taken a step forward in her evolution to a maid robot that can properly bring you coffee, for example.

The other important development is that MaSiRo's younger sisters CiRo and CiYa were born. At first, we planned to have only CiRo, but the crowdfunding campaign went so well that CiYa was born as well. In the future, we plan to enhance the cooperation between MaSiRo, CiRo, and CiYa. Although it has become more difficult (due to the pandemic), we plan to have them play an active role in various ways, such as taking them to events and in rural locations as well.

Reproduced with permission from A_say (@A_says_)

Q: Your crowdfunding campaign achieved over 300% of the goal. Did you expect it to be that successful?

A: I thought we would be able to achieve 100%. However, I didn't expect to exceed the stretch goal of 230%, so I really didn't think we would have not just one younger sister for MaSiRo but two.

Q: Many online commenters pointed out that CiRo and CiYa's ears look like persocoms in Chobits. Were you influenced by persocoms? Were there other specific anime or manga that inspired your design?

A: Everyone mentions Chobits when they see CiRo and CiYa. Actually, I wasn't aware of it at all when I designed it, but when I finished it and people began saying that, I thought "Indeed!" Since the Chobits anime was one of my favorites, it's quite possible that I was strongly influenced by it somewhere in my unconscious.

I wasn't aiming for a specific character, but rather to embody the concept of "robot girls" that often appear in anime. Yumemi Hoshino from Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet, Multi from the visual novel To Heart, Tama from Gintama, and so on, they were all references for the concept of robot ears which influenced the final design.

MaSiRo is both my daughter and everyone's waifu.MaSiRo project leader A_say

Q: The MaSiRo project has recently gone viral on social media in English, Spanish and other non-Japanese languages. The next few questions address this viral activity and the nature of the comments it has produced.

To begin with, some of the positive comments on social media and on your YouTube channel include "They look so adorable", "I want a robot maid waifu at home," and "Take my money!" Please let us know what you think.

A: I am honestly happy to hear positive feedback. I understand that there are people in the world who don't like anime and that this robot isn't for everyone, so I'm happy to think that there are fellow otaku in the world who accept a robot like MaSiRo.

In the context of the otaku term "my waifu," MaSiRo is both my daughter and everyone's waifu. I hope that more and more people will recognize her as their waifu and that she will continue to be loved by otaku wherever they may be.

Q: Among the negative comments, some people said MaSiRo was scary and alluded to scenarios often portrayed in dystopian science fiction in which robots evolve to dominate and harm humans. You recently developed a wireless emergency stop switch. Why?

A: First of all, I would like to reassure everyone that things won't turn out like dystopian science fiction, at least not for quite a few years. As a developer, it would be nice to see robot intelligence develop to the point where they could theoretically dominate humanity, but I personally have no intention of bringing that about. The emergency stop button, in a nutshell, is to stop MaSiRo from operating out of control.

Robots are precision machines, so there is no way that they could all run amok due to a programming error or mechanical malfunction. If something goes wrong, it's simply dangerous for a robot to keep moving around and the motor could even break. That's why all industrial robots in the world are equipped with an emergency stop switch. So, this switch I developed isn't some kind of failsafe mechanism to stop robots from taking over the world. It's about the same as the brake pedal in your car.

Q: Some of the negative comments revealed a certain discomfort with the fact that the robots are small and "look like children." Please let us know what you think of this.

A: Honda's Asimo, for example, stands at 120 cm (just under 4 feet). This is said to be the height at which he can stand and work with a seated human. The taller a robot gets, the higher its center of gravity becomes, which increases the risk of it falling over, and also makes transporting it more difficult. Furthermore, since robots are unknown to many people, they can easily cause fear, and a tall robot can be quite intimidating. On the other hand, the smaller a robot is, the more difficult it becomes to accommodate motors and other mechanical devices.

While a small, childlike appearance can also be "cute," it's not always the best choice for a robot. Just as important or perhaps even more important for me is conveying the idea that a moderately small robot is ideally functional.

Q: You mentioned that your robots are smaller than a human adult to increase their transportability. Is there a possibility that this problem will be solved in the long run and you will work on a human-sized robot?

A: As I mentioned above, there is currently no merit for me in intentionally making a robot the size of a human adult. However, since MaSiRo is more highly functional than her sisters CiRo and CiYa, she features a growing number of mechanical parts. To accommodate them, she has grown 5 cm taller than when she was just born. In the end, it's a matter of beautility: the task that each robot needs to accomplish naturally determines its size.

The "Maid Robot Cafe" is a means to an end. Our goal is to make anime-like beings manifest in reality as if they were alive.MaSiRo project leader A_say

Q: Maid robot functions such as reacting to head patting and offering their knees for customers to rest their heads on go beyond the job description of most staff now working in Japanese maid cafes. What is your intention in implementing these functions?

A: First of all, the "Maid Robot Cafe" is a means to an end. Our goal is to make anime-like beings manifest in reality as if they were alive. When we exhibited MaSiRo and her sisters at an exhibition, both men and women wanted to pat their heads, partly because of their short stature. So then, which is more "lifelike," having no sensor and not responding, or having a sensor that detects touch and responds?

We are not making robotic systems with a maid robot café as the ultimate goal. We want to open a maid robot café as a place where anime-like beings can manifest in our world as "living creatures" using robot technology, a place where they can work and have an active role.

Reproduced with permission from A_say (@A_says_)

I agree that the knee pillow function is not a useful feature for a maid café, but this is a byproduct, so to speak. For a robot to pick up an object on the floor, it absolutely must lower its knees until they touch the floor. Being able to kneel is also necessary to make the robot as compact as possible during transportation. However, to protect the chest part and its sensitive circuits during transportation, we mounted cushions on the knees. So, the robot has padded knees to perform its task, and the result was a structure that can also be used as a knee pillow.

Q: MaSiRo, CiRo, and CiYa cannot speak at present, but do you plan to add a speaking function in the future?

A: They will not speak for a while yet. Even with today's technology, it's easy to generate speech, but once a robot speaks, people will think, "This robot can talk!" and talk to them in an attempt to have a conversation. However, with the current state of technology, having a natural conversation is not yet possible. And when they realize that they can't have a converastion, people can get disappointed and harbor negative feelings.

Therefore, until a time in the future when conversational AI has greatly developed, MaSiRo and her sisters will remain silent. However, although they don't speak yet, they'll be able to easily listen to what people say. We are currently developing a voice-recognition system to that end.

Q: You've said that the maid robot cafe is scheduled to open this fall. Are you on schedule?

A: We're mostly on schedule, and we're working hard. This will be the first experimental store, and we're planning on operating it for a limited time with a limited number of visitors.

The maid robot café ... (is) just the beginning.MaSiRo project leader A_say

Q: In the comments on social media and on your YouTube channel, some people have expressed interest in buying your maid robots. On your crowdfunding page, which ended last September, you said that "the next step in this crowdfunding process was to investigate whether selling or renting would be possible." Since then, has your investigation yielded an answer?

A: At the moment, we are not at that stage yet. They malfunction frequently, so we're continually redesigning them. Also, since we aren't a company, we can't sell or rent them yet, or even provide support when they break down. Therefore, our priority is being able to smoothly operate the maid robot café this fall, and that's our starting line, it's just the beginning.

Q: In a near future when maid robots work in maid cafes, how do you see the relationship between maid robots and maid humans? Will they be friends working together, rivals, or something else?

A: I don't believe that maid robots will be considered the equals of humans in the immediate future. Rather, I see their relationship as being similar to that of humans and cats. They can somehow communicate their intentions even if they don't talk. For example, in stores with cats, cat-loving customers can be soothed by just being near them. Some customers dote on them, some customers hate them.

However, cats can't replace humans, and humans can't replace cats. They are just "that kind of creature" that's different from humans. If it's a cat's job to be petted by humans, it's a maid robot's job to serve humans in cafes. In summary, I think we can consider maid robots "partners who have charms that humans don't have."

Q: Is the MaSiRo project ending with a single maid robot cafe, or is there a larger plan?

A: The Maid Robot Cafe is just a waypoint. As I said earlier, I want to manifest entities from the world of anime into our real world as if they were "living things." Leaving aside the philosophical implications of what "living" means, I define it here as "being needed by humans in their environment and having an active role" and interacting with these humans so that they think "they seem to be alive."

A café is "a place where robots are needed by humans in their environment and have an active role," and this definition can be extended to other places besides cafés in the future. Creating "technology that makes people think something is alive" is a continual process. No matter how much we perfect it, we'll never be able to finish it.

I know many people will feel uncomfortable with the first version. However, I think it would be fun to see a future in which people will really think that beings from the world of anime have manifested as "living beings" in the real world and people would accept them as such. Just in the same way that ads for anime shows and goods are lined up in the streets of Japan and recognized as "those kinds of ads," this would be a world in which anime-like robots would be integrated into society as "those kinds of beings."

With a successful crowdfunding project completed in September 2021 and a grant from the INNO-vation Program sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, A_Say and his team are hard at work preparing for this fall. Now, with additional international attention, perhaps his progress will be accelerated.

If you'd like to support the MaSiRo Project or find out more about it, see the following links:
MaSiRo Project official website (English)
Call for supporters and collaborators
MaSiRo Project YouTube Channel
Tipping: How you can contribute
Pixiv Fanbox
Booth (online shop) for MaSiRo Project goods
A_Say Twitter account

If you live in Japan or will be visiting in late summer and would like to see MaSiRo, CiRo and CiYa in person, they will be making their next appearance at the 59th "F-Con" Nihon SF Taikai (convention) to be held on August 27th and 28th.

TRANSCRIPT | Get Russia Out of Ukraine or Risk Return to ‘Age of Wars’

In our podcast, Andrii Gurenko, Ukrainian international relations expert, says the behavior of democratic countries towards Russia will be crucial.

on April 18, 2022
By Arielle Busetto

Andrii Gurenko (Photo by JAPAN Forward)

First of two parts

International relations expert Andrii Gurenko joined the JAPAN Forward team for its first podcast in Japanese on Twitter Spaces on March 11. Gurenko, who is from Ukraine, shared his insights on the background of Russia’s invasion, causes of the war, and what can Japan and the international community do going forward.

Yasuo Naito, editor in chief of JAPAN Forward, hosted the discussion. Previously the Moscow Bureau Chief for The Sankei Shimbun, Naito is an experienced foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow among other places on the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and much more.

In this first installment, Naito’s questions and Mr. Gurenko’s comments focus on the causes of the conflict and the role of the international community.

Excerpts of the English translation follow.

The war in Ukraine does not appear to be going well for Russia. Why do you think that is?

I don’t know if one can call this a miscalculation, but I think that the military plan was not based on the real situation and was naive, overly optimistic. In reality, the military campaign is dragging on. In other words, they didn’t predict such opposition. They thought that the resistance would fall just as easily as it had in Crimea.

I think also another difference is the motivation of Ukrainian soldiers. In that sense perhaps we can talk of miscalculation. The motivation of soldiers is linked to the reason for fighting. For Ukrainians this is clear: there was an invasion, and they need to protect their homeland. It’s a clear and simple reason. And when one fights for this reason, then one fights to the death.

But Russia is in a different position. They are the invaders and they don’t really have a reason. Putin has tried to put an excuse to justify the invasion, such as the fact that killings were taking place in Ukraine, and they are fighting Nazism. But they are senseless reasons, and many people know that these explanations are lies. Therefore, some portion of the Russian soldiers have a very low motivation to fight. Because they understand that they are invaders, and invaders tend to have lower motivation to begin with.

As far as equipment goes, Russia has an advantage. But their conviction [to win] is completely different, and that is having an impact on how the war is going, more than many people expected.

In addition, the weapons sent by the West, especially anti-tank and hypersonic missiles, are proving very effective in this war.

Service members of pro-Russian troops ride on armored vehicles in Ukraine-Russia conflict near the city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 15, 2022. REUTERS/Chingis Kondarov

Why do you think that Russia invaded Ukraine?

There is an ideological reason. He (Russian President Vladimir Putin) really believes that Russians and Ukranians are the same people. And therefore, in his reasoning, it’s obvious that the same people should be in the same country.

It might sound crazy, but Putin is a crazy person. He thought that even though people might not welcome the Russian army, at the very least they would not resist.

From his perspective, this invasion is just a way of reinstating territory that was in the past part of the mother country, and Russia is just taking back territory where other Russians live. This vision of course has nothing to do with reality, because he lives in an illusion.

The other reason is the trauma from the fall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Putin himself has said multiple times that the breaking up of the USSR is the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.

He thinks that this territory was wrongly taken from Russia. Therefore, following this logic, obviously one needs to reinstate it. The idea is therefore not that Russia is an empire invading other countries, but that it is just recovering a territory that was already theirs.

Often commentators talk about how Russia has everything to lose from this invasion, and nothing to gain. And that is definitely true. But Putin thinks that this is the correct thing to do. Therefore, that’s why he is doing it.

Why is Putin doing this?

The reason why this is happening in the first place is that the longer a dictator is in power, the more the dictator’s thinking becomes progressively less grounded in reality. Putin has already been a dictator for 22 years. He has unrivaled authority.

If someone has absolute power, there are no opposing opinions. For example, Putin has people working under him that every day report to him. But they are afraid of saying things that might upset him, and hide that information.

Therefore, the information he is seeing is information that he likes, that he agrees with. In this way he falls at risk of acquiring a skewed version of reality.

It’s probable that he received reports saying that if Russia invaded Ukraine, the worst that could happen is that people would not resist. The more people under a dictator are afraid of speaking the truth, the more information gets divorced from reality. This is something that happens with all dictators, and in that sense Putin is no exception.

A person wears a crown of sunflowers in a rally against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outside City Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Feb. 27, 2022.

(Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

So the next question is, why now?

I think that Putin thought that he had no other option available to get hold of Ukraine. The reason for this is because already in 2014 he invaded Crimea, there was the word “Nova Rossia” (New Russia). At that time he tried to put pressure on the population not with the army, but through armed groups. That didn’t go well, and the Ukrainians resisted.

Then, between August 2014 and February 2015, Russia defeated the Ukrainian army twice. Because Ukraine had seen defeat twice, Russia thought that, with some military pressure, it would definitely give up [its independence]. But that didn’t happen.

Since then, [Russia] has tried different tactics: there were terrorist attacks in Ukraine, assasinations, and economic pressure intended to make Ukraine give up. But that also didn’t work.

What do you see that changed?

In 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the presidential election in Ukraine, and he was of the party whose platform was that the war needed to be stopped. But looking at his affiliation, Russia thought that they would make Ukraine give up.

And Russia did put pressure, but on specific things to do with independence and sovereignty, Ukraine did not give in.

Following that, in 2021, Joe Biden won the presidential election in the US. Biden was known to be anti-war. And because he hates war, Russia thought that if it did start a war, Biden wouldn’t do anything. However, it was not so simple, and Biden in reality did not want to allow Ukraine simply to fall under the Russian sphere of influence.

Therefore, if you look at it as a whole, [Russia] tried to do a variety of things, but nothing went according to plan. From Putin’s perspective, I think that he decided that the only thing left to try was to directly attack Ukraine.

In addition, he probably thought that if he waited any longer, Ukraine would increase its military capability. Therefore, he could have seen it as a preventative measure to avoid greater problems in the future.

Some people are already afraid that this will turn into a second Afghanistan, where Russia invaded and then retreated two decades later. What scenarios are realistic?

There are some scenarios which are conceivable.

The first scenario is one of guerrilla warfare. In this case, there will be losses on the Ukrainian side, but also on the Russian side. And they will not be like Afghanistan. There will be many more deaths.

There is the scenario where Russia increases its military pressure, and Ukraine is forced to give up. But even in this case, there might be a temporary victory, it doesn’t mean the situation will not develop into guerrilla warfare. The situation is not just going to calm down.

There is also the possibility that the current government is left in place, but [as Russia wins] it has to negotiate and give up a lot of information, even without being a puppet government.

FAMOUS RUSSIAN ZAMBONI DRIVER

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a concert marking the eighth anniversary of the referendum on the state status of Crimea and Sevastopol and its reunification with Russia. March 18, 2022. (Ramil Sitdikov/Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

On the other hand, the situation could just stay like it is now, in a stalemate for months or even years, and the Russian army doesn’t progress any further.

One optimistic view is that this stalemate continues, and early on, due to financial sanctions, Russia financially collapses. And then the money to conduct this war runs out. The control of territory becomes impossible, and therefore they (the Russians) have no choice but to retreat.

Right now, it’s impossible to see which scenario is going to be more likely, but the international community needs to work hard in order to make sure that this last scenario is the one that plays out.

What happens is ultimately up to the international community, I think.

What do you think the world will look like in the future?

I think that everything will depend on how the democratic countries behave, I think if these countries come together and impose measures on Russia ー which don’t need to be military, they can be economic measures ー to make Russia give up this war. That way the international order is preserved, and even those countries that are thinking about a possible invasion, might rethink their strategy.

If, however, there is no way of stopping the invasion, this will lead to a breakdown of the international world order.

Because countries that are pondering invading other areas, such as China, for example, their path is cleared for an easier invasion. If invasion has already succeeded once, and the international community didn’t do very much, then I think that wars will increase.

In addition, if it becomes clear that even in the case of invasion nothing happens, those countries that may previously have feared invasion and didn’t do anything, might later decide to strengthen their army and hastily invade other countries.

More countries might decide they want to acquire nuclear weapons.

If this happens, in turn, the whole concept of nuclear non-proliferation might become impossible to actualize as more countries acquire nuclear weapons.

In this case, not all countries will be able to manage the weapons properly. And the world will become a more unsafe place in the future. It could lead to chaos.

I therefore think that this war is a crucial crossroad ー to decide whether the world order will be preserved and the era of peace will continue, or whether this will be the catalyst for the return of a period of total war, like the 19th century, with empires fighting one another.

This is why the behavior of democratic countries is so important.

600 Kansas City-area construction workers near second week on strike for major wage increases

George Gallanis
WSWS.ORG

Last Tuesday, nearly 600 Kansas City-area construction workers went on strike to demand substantial wage increases after rejecting a contract proposal from the Builders Association, a construction trade association.

According to the International Union of Painter and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Local 2012, striking workers again overwhelmingly voted to reject an “interim agreement” on Friday. In addition to painters, the IUPAT includes tradespersons who work on glazing, drywall and flooring.

Striking Kansas City trades workers (IUPAT District Council #3)

Workers would have received a raise of just 1 percent under the Builders Association’s first proposal, according to local press reports. With consumer prices having risen 8.5 percent in the 12 months ending in March, such a raise would in fact have meant a 7.5 percent cut in workers’ real income.

Speaking to ABC affiliate KMBC News, Renee Adams, a striking painter, said, “We’re not even getting a cost-of-living wage. It’s a slap in the face to us. We feel disrespected.”

As inflation eats away at the pay of workers across the world, the strike in Kansas City has emerged as part of a growing movement of the working class internationally for improved living conditions. Protests and demonstrations in Sri Lanka, Peru, Indonesia, Pakistan and elsewhere have exploded recently as workers fight against unbearable living costs.

Throughout the pandemic, construction workers have continued to work even as COVID-19 has ripped across communities and work sites. Construction workers in Texas were found to be five times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID, according to an October 2020 study in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. In Colorado, construction accounted for the most COVID deaths of any industrial sector as of mid-2021, state Department of Health data showed.

The stark contrast between being dubbed “essential” workers and the insulting pay increases on offer has fueled anger among the strikers, as it has among other sections of workers who have struck over the last year, including teachers, John Deere workers, nurses, health care workers and others.

Speaking on the strike, Frank Carpenter, Business Manager of IUPAT Local 2012, told KMBC News, “You can’t just sit back and take it all the time. You’ve got to actually do something about it. This is the most peaceful way to do it.”

However, the IUPAT’s actions indicate that the union is seeking to isolate the strike and end it as soon as possible. On Sunday evening, IUPAT District Council 3 announced on its Facebook page that it would be ordering a “stand-down” Monday after supposed progress in negotiations, writing, “Contract Negotiations Committee is meeting Monday afternoon with management. Your pressure campaign is working. We are going to order a stand-down tomorrow. There will be NO STRIKE ACTIONS.”

Instead of seeking to mobilize the thousands of other construction workers in the Kansas City metro region behind the strike, the IUPAT has been appealing to federal mediators as supposedly “neutral” arbiters, while trotting out Democratic Party politicians, such as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, as “friends of labor.”

But the Democrats, no less than their Republican counterparts, are representatives of big business. Just last month, Mayor Lucas touted a data center to be opened in the coming years by Meta, Facebook’s parent company. Meta will receive up to $1.8 billion in tax write-offs for the facility.

Speaking to reporters, Lucas made clear that the tax incentives were just an initial down payment, saying, “To our friends at Meta and anybody else in the business community watching: our help doesn’t stop now. We were happy to vote in all the approvals. … But the state of Missouri, the City of Kansas City—we’re still here to work with you along the way.”

The IUPAT is part of the AFL-CIO, an institution deeply integrated into the Democratic Party. The AFL-CIO, through its affiliated unions, has actively sought to prevent workers from winning substantial wage increases amid historic inflation. Just last month, the United Steelworkers forced through a national agreement past the opposition of oil and petrochemical workers, with USW President Tom Conway boasting that it was a “responsible contract” that does not add to “inflationary pressures.”

In the construction industry, the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Union (NWCU) rammed through a concessions agreement in Washington last October with inadequate wage increases, despite widespread opposition among carpenters. The workers had previously voted down four tentative agreements brought back by the NWCU. After the union felt compelled to authorize a strike, it did everything it could to limit its impact, calling out just 2,000 of 12,000 carpenters.

To win their demands for major improvements to wages and working conditions, striking construction workers must take the struggle into their own hands, through the formation of rank-and-file strike committees. Such committees will be able to democratically formulate demands based on the needs of all workers and provide a means to connect with workers throughout the region—including Ford and General Motors autoworkers—and more broadly in a struggle for higher wages and safe working conditions.

USA: Wasting taxpayers’ money on Iron Dumb

April 18, 2022 - 10:14 AM News Code : 1248986 Source : Tehran TimesLink:

How many times have we heard the sentence “the U.S. government is on the verge of shutdown?” Tons of times, we dare say From the 2008 economic crisis in Obama’s tenure –which was entirely George W. Bush’s fault!- to a wobbling Joe Biden who shakes hands with air after his speeches.

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Teetering on its feet like a drunk man due to the unprecedented inflation rate, why does the U.S. want to fund Israeli defense program?

How many times have we heard the sentence “the U.S. government is on the verge of shutdown?” Tons of times, we dare say From the 2008 economic crisis in Obama’s tenure –which was entirely George W. Bush’s fault!- to a wobbling Joe Biden who shakes hands with air after his speeches.

The annual inflation rate in the United States increased to 8.5 percent in March 2022, the highest since December 1981, up from 7.9 percent in February and exceeding market expectations of 8.4 percent. As a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, energy costs jumped by 32%, with gasoline (48%) and fuel oil (70.1%) rising the most. In addition, food prices increased 8.8 percent, the largest since May 1981. Inflation also increased for housing (5 percent compared. 4.7 percent in February) and new automobiles (12.5% vs. 12.4%), but decreased for used cars and trucks (35.3 percent vs 41.2 percent).

The young generation of the United States are struggling with the highest inflation rate they have ever witnessed, yet, the United States continues to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on funding the Israeli regime’s military programs.

U.S. funding Israeli defense programs is not new to the people of the United States, but this time, with an unstable president in office, and a group of nitwits in Congress, things are getting much more convoluted.

The Tehran Times has learned that the U.S. Congress will be approving a $500 million bill to further invest in Israel’s Missile Defense Program.

According to Tehran Times’ well-informed sources, the 500-million-dollar aid will be spent in two phases. Phase one will be the procurement of various system components for Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow Weapon, and phase two will be the Research and Development, Testing, and Evaluation. A good 300 million dollars is allocated to this part alone.

Over the past decade, the U.S. Congress has allocated 2 billion dollars to the development of Israel’s defense program. The taxpayers’ money that could have made their life all the more easier. However, earlier this year, the Congress decided to go down the drain and approved an additional $1 billion to replenish Iron Dome after the May Gaza war.

American politicians are on the false belief that the U.S.-Israeli military cooperation is a critical investment that can provide security and stability in the West Asian region. The belief is widely misled from the reality, for two main reasons. One, with the heavy – and we mean truly “heavy”- investments of the U.S. in Israeli military program so far, the so-called Iron Dome has turned into an Iron Dumb, full of holes! Hamas has been able to penetrate into the defense system so many times that it is barely a defense system anymore.

Two, splashing money like this on garbage like Iron Dome will increase discontent among the American public opinion, already teetering with the worst economic situation in their lives.

According to a CNBC report, quoting Bankrate, conducted in December 2021, 26% of the Americans believe their financial situation will get worse in 2022 and 42% believe it will stay about the same.

Inflation is cited as the most significant impediment to improving financial situations by 70% of those who expect their financial status to worsen, and by 44% of those who feel their financial situation will remain the same.

According to the CNBC + Acorns Invest in You study, sponsored by Momentive, if price pressure remains, more than half of respondents say they will cut back on dining out expenditure and may consider further reductions. The study of roughly 4,000 adults was conducted online on March 23-24.

Extend your helping hand to your people, not your fake friends!