Argentina's Kirchner goes on offensive over graft trial

Tue, August 23, 2022 

Argentina Vice-President Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday launched a long and politically charged defense against corruption charges, for which prosecutors have asked that she face 12 years in jail and a lifetime ban from politics.

Kirchner, 69, is accused of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her stronghold in Patagonia.

She said on Tuesday in a live social media broadcast that her political ideology, Peronism, was on trial and that prosecutors had already "written the sentence."

"Nothing, absolutely nothing that they have said was proven," said Kirchner, a lawyer by trade who was president from 2007-15 having succeed her late husband, Nestor.

It was during those three presidential terms that the alleged graft occurred.

"It's not a trial against me, it's a trial of Peronism, of the national and popular governments," she said, brandishing during her one and a half hour speech excerpts from laws, press articles, emails and accounts.

"It is 12 years (of prison time requested), the 12 years of the best government Argentina has had in these last decades."

Kirchner was speaking from her office at the senate, where she is the president and for which she enjoys parliamentary immunity.

Even if convicted -- the verdict is expected at the end of the year -- she would not go to prison, unless her sentence were ratified by the country's supreme court, or she loses her senate seat at the next elections at the end of 2023.

Another dozen people are on trial alongside the vice president and their court statements are due to last weeks.

Kirchner has decided to mount her defense on social media after her request for an extra deposition was refused on Monday.

Several hundred supporters cheered her arrival at the senate on Tuesday, while others did the same as she left her home in an upmarket Buenos Aires neighborhood.

Such is her divisive nature that rival groups of protesters, those for and against her, congregated outside her home on Monday night after public prosecutor Diego Luciani requested she be sentenced to 12 years in jail and barred from politics for life.

Police were forced to intervene as tensions mounted.

Luciani hit out at "an authentic system of institutional corruption" which he said was "probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known."

On Tuesday, fellow South American left-wing former presidents, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, expressed their support for Kirchner.

Winemaker defends selling Hitler-branded bottles of wine, claiming customers merely want to 'remember' history


Joshua Zitser
Sun, August 21, 2022 

Bottles of wine with labels depicting Nazi leader Adolf Hitler sit on a shelf in the cellar of Vini Lunardelli.

Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images

An Italian winemaker has been selling Hitler-themed bottles of wine for more than 25 years.

He told Vice World News that the Hitler labels are not political and are for customers looking to "remember" history.

The Hitler range of wine bottles will be discontinued, the winemaker said, but not until next year.

An Italian winemaker, whose company has been selling bottles of wines with photographs of Adolf Hitler and Nazi slogans for over 25 years, has defended the controversial products in an interview with Vice World News.

The bottles of wine are branded with photographs of the genocidal dictator and Nazi slogans such as "Blut und Ehre" ("Blood and Honor"), "Sieg Heil" ("Hail Victory"), and "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" ("One People, One Realm, One Leader").

Different labels depicting Nazi leader Adolf Hitler rest on boxes in the cellar of Vini Lunardelli.Giuseppe 

Cacace/Getty Images

The products are banned in Germany and Austria due to laws prohibiting the display of Nazy symbols but are sold online, and in more than 50 Italian stores, Vice World News reported.

Recent media coverage in Germany of the bottles sparked outrage. Representatives of Jewish communities have also expressed horror. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, director of global social action at The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, told Vice World News that the products are a "celebration of evil and genocide."

Nonetheless, Andrea Lunardelli of Vini Lunardelli told the media outlet that the products are not "political," adding that there's a lot of demand for them.

Andrea Lunardelli boxes a bottle of Hitler-branded wine in September 2003.

Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images

Lunardelli told Vice World News that the Hitler wines are the "most requested label" in the historical line of products, which features labels honoring dictators like Joseph Stalin and Francisco Franco. There's a lot of demand from customers, many of whom are German, British, French, Scandinavian, and Russian, he told the media outlet.

Lunardelli clarified that he is "absolutely not a Nazi" and suggested that the labels aren't antisemitic, telling Vice World News that the Hitler wine bottles are merely for a market that wants to "remember" history.

"Whoever buys [the Hitler wine] is a collector, or remembers history, or wants nationalism against the current policies of multinationals… not against Jews," he said, per Vice World News.

"Besides, Hitler was a teetotaller, so we can even say that alcohol and Hitler are a nice joke," Lunardelli continued.

The wine will eventually be discontinued, Vice World News reported, but not until the start of 2023. It coincides with when Lunardelli takes over the company from his father, the media outlet said.

He told Vice World News that the product would be discontinued because he was fed up with the controversy surrounding it, and not because he's bowing to pressure.

Read the original article on Insider

US says Ukraine grain exports near pre-war levels

Tue, August 23, 2022


Ukraine is on course to ship nearly as much grain this month as it did before the Russian invasion, in a triumph for international efforts to ease food shortages, a US official said Tuesday.

Ukraine is one of the world's largest exporters of wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil, shipping around five million metric tons of grain each month before the war.

Its exports ground to a trickle after the February 24 invasion, contributing to a spike in global food prices that has hit poor nations especially hard.

"Thanks to intensive international cooperation, Ukraine is on track to export as much as four million metric tons of agricultural products in August," a senior US State Department official told AFP.


Ukraine and Russia in July reached a first wartime agreement through the mediation of Turkey and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with guarantees for ships to sail out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

The State Department official said that the efforts have moved out more than 720,000 tons of grain from the ports through 33 ships over the past several weeks.

More significant so far has been a European initiative to ship Ukrainian grain by river, rail and road routes.

The so-called "Solidarity Lanes" established by the European Union rushed additional vehicles including trucks to the border, addressing hurdles including Ukrainian wagons' incompatibility with European rail gauges.

The European effort is shipping 2.5-3 million tons of produce into the European Union and beyond to international markets each month, the official said.

As part of the agreement negotiated in Istanbul, Russia will also be guaranteed shipment of food and fertilizer without being subject to sanctions.

Guterres recently appealed for "unimpeded access," saying that the world could face dangerous agricultural shortfalls next year unless Russian fertilizer reaches international markets.

The United States says that its sweeping sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war have exempted agricultural products and accuses Moscow of seeking to distract the world from its own responsibility for shortages.

Last week the United States said it was contributing another $68 million to the World Food Programme to buy 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat to address food insecurity.

The UN agency warned on Friday that some 22 million people face starvation in Horn of Africa countries where the rising costs of imported food have exacerbated the effects of climate change.

Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia have suffered the unprecedented failure of four straight rainy seasons.

sct/jh

Angolans prepare to vote in a tight race that could affect pro-Russia ties

NEWS WIRES - Yesterday 

Angolans will vote on Wednesday in a tight race in which the main opposition coalition has its best-ever chance of victory, as millions of youth left out of its oil-fuelled booms are expected to express frustration with nearly five decades of MPLA rule.


Angolans prepare to vote in a tight race that could affect pro-Russia ties

© John Wessels, AFP

The ruling party remains favourite, though the margin is narrow enough for a surprise UNITA victory, which could shift relations with global superpowers—with possibly less friendly ties with Russia.

Since independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola has been run by the formerly Marxist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led since 2017 by President Jaoa Lourenco.

But an Afrobarometer survey in May showed the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)’s opposition coalition, led by Adalberto Costa Junior, increasing its share to 22%, from 13% in 2019.

That’s still seven points behind the MPLA, but nearly half of voters were undecided. Many youths—under 25s make up 60% of the country—are voting for the first time.

In a tense run-up to the vote for both president and parliament, UNITA has urged voters to stay near polling stations after voting to reduce the risk of fraud.

Tweaked vote-counting rules may delay official results by days, analysts say, raising tensions—which some fear may boil over into violence.
Russia ties

A UNITA victory could weaken decades of close ties with Moscow, for whom the MPLA was a cold war proxy during Angola’s 27-year civil war ending in 2002, while UNITA was U.S./CHINA-backed.

UNITA condemned “the invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” Costa Junior said on Twitter. He also travelled to Brussels and Washington to build ties with Western partners before elections.

Russia’s ambassador to Angola, Vladimir Tararov, was quoted in Angolan press in March as praising the country for its neutrality while lambasting UNITA for wanting to show it “stands with the West, the so-called civilised countries”.

Lourenco has also opened up to the West since his election in 2017, but in March it abstained from supporting a United Nations resolution which condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“It is highly possible that a UNITA win would mean a distancing of Angola from Russia,” Charles Ray, head of the Africa Programme at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Reuters, but only if it can consolidate power over a pro-Russian military first.

Lourenco has tried to improve relations with Washington, and just before the elections applied to join a trade agreement with the European Union and southern African states, which has been in force since 2016. Talks start in months.

Asked about this shift in stance, Costa Junior told Reuters over the weekend: “The image (Lourenco) built to the outside world is disappearing.”.

Lourenco was “successful in terms of international relations”, but that had not achieved positive consequences for Angolans, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, professor of African Politics at Oxford University, said.

Lourenco has also pledged to continue economic reforms, including privatisation and encouraging the non-oil sector.

(REUTERS)

After '1,000-year' storm in Dallas, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chooses not to mention 'climate change'

Dylan Stableford and Ben Adler

Tue, August 23, 2022

A day after a “1-in-1,000-year” storm dumped up to 15 inches of rain in Dallas, triggering flash floods that submerged vehicles along a highway and left at least one person dead, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday said that the state is prepared to handle “extreme weather.”

But he wouldn’t use the term climate change.

At a press conference alongside Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and other city officials, Abbott was pressed by a reporter about the impact climate change is having on Texas, including record heat, wildfires and historic drought.

“At what point do you ever discuss or have a conversation about climate change?” the reporter asked.

“So we have constant conversations about what we categorize as extreme weather,” Abbott replied. “We are dealing with more extreme weather patterns.”

Abbott noted the period between April through the end of July was the hottest on record in the history of Texas, and said that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the state’s power grid, was able to handle it.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas at a news conference in Dallas on Tuesday. (Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“They were able to deal with a dozen record usage demands with ease,” he said.

“We’re constantly looking at what extreme weather may lead to, whether it be power demand, extreme heat, extreme cold, heavy water or even drought,” the governor added. “We constantly focus on issues related to extreme weather, and we want to be prepared for whatever type of weather may be coming our way.”

"Can you even say climate change?" the reporter asked.

Abbott did not respond.

An abandoned car sits in floodwaters on a highway in Dallas on Monday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Despite the governor’s assertions, ERCOT has not always been ready to handle the extreme weather stemming from climate change.

In February 2021, when extremely cold temperatures arrived in much of Texas, the utility was unable to keep pace with surging demand.

“Nearly 4 million Texas customers — representing more than 11 million people — lost power during the Arctic blast,” as 38 of Texas’ 176 gas processing plants shut down due to weather conditions, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported. Hundreds of Texans died from lack of access to heat or water.

More intense cold spells are, counterintuitively, an effect of climate change. A paper published in the journal Science last year found that climate change is leading to more extreme winter weather in the United States because Arctic warming distorts the jet stream, a band of air flowing west to east, and the polar vortex, a wintertime area of cold air near the North Pole. When the jet stream dips further south than is normal, it brings unusually cold air to places like Texas, scientists say. That’s also why Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina experienced an unusual snow and ice storm, causing blackouts, this January.

Texas is also suffering from more extreme summer heat waves. On one day in July, over a dozen municipalities in Texas set record-high temperatures, some reaching 113 degrees. That event was caused by a “heat dome,” another consequence of jet stream disruption. Essentially, it is the inverse of what happens in the winter: In such cases, the jet stream moves unusually far northward.

Much of the state, like the rest of the West, is in the throes of an epic drought.

A buoy normally used to mark "No Wake" zones sits on dry land on June 18 at Medina Lake near San Antonio, Texas, amid a severe drought. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Reuters)

“Texans across the state are facing water restrictions as the state experiences its worst drought since 2011,” the Texas Tribune reported last Friday. “Almost the entire state of Texas is experiencing a severe level of drought, and only a few corners of the state, such as El Paso, are not ‘abnormally dry’ amid this year’s particularly hot summer.”

Climate change is causing more frequent and severe droughts, because warmer air causes more evaporation and reduces the reserve water held in snowpack.

Climate change is also partially responsible for the recent spate of overwhelming rains. Since climate change disrupts the water cycle and pushes precipitation to extremes — both to drought and to more intense storms —Texas is the fourth state in recent weeks to experience a rainfall event that would normally only occur once every 1,000 years. Within the last month, southern Illinois received 8 to 12 inches of rain in 12 hours, record-breaking rainfall caused flash flooding in the St. Louis area and parts of eastern Kentucky were flooded after receiving as much as 14 inches of rain.

Academic studies have shown that extreme rainfall and flooding will become more frequent and severe if climate change continues to worsen.

 

TikTok stars boycott Amazon in activism push

Daniel HOFFMAN
Tue, August 23, 2022 


TikTok influencers boasting collectively more than 51 million followers say they won't work with Amazon until the e-commerce colossus delivers key concessions to workers and halts anti-union efforts.

It's the latest example of creators lending their online stage to a cause on the massively growing platform more known for dance crazes and catchy songs.

An advocacy group calling itself Gen-Z for Change said it coordinated the pledge from more than 70 popular TikTok talents to stand in solidarity with Amazon workers through a "People Over Prime Pledge."

The vow references Amazon Prime -- a paid subscription from the online giant that includes benefits like rapid deliveries -- but also the pressure it puts on those working to fill the orders.

"We are calling on Amazon to listen to their workers and make tangible changes to their workplace environment," the group said in a letter, noting that TikTok has more than a billion users.

"Unless changes are made, we will prevent Amazon from monetizing one of the largest social media platforms in the world."

The coalition is pushing for the firm's workers to get a minimum hourly wage of $30, improved medical leave and easing of productivity requirements.

The group is also calling on Amazon, which has long resisted unionization efforts in its US facilities, to stop its opposition.

"We have always known how essential creators are to the Amazon marketing model," Gen-Z for Change director of strategy Elise Joshi told AFP on Monday.

"Creators, especially TikTok creators, are the gateway to young people; we are reclaiming that power," the 20-year-old added.

An Amazon Influencer Program launched five years ago offers creators at TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms ways to make money by recommending products in posts and steering buyers to the e-commerce service.

Some, but not all coalition members -- who began last week refusing to do business with Amazon, including direct sponsorships and use of the e-commerce titan's storefront -- were associated with that partnership initiative.
- 'Comfortable pace' -

The demands sought in this case are those put forth by labor organizers who early this year won a vote to launch the first union shop at one of Amazon's US warehouses.

The second largest employer in the United States behind retail mega-chain Walmart, Amazon has fiercely opposed attempts to unionize workers.

"The health, safety and welfare of our employees is our top priority," Amazon spokesman Paul Flanigan said in response to an AFP inquiry.


"We are committed to giving our employees the resources they need to be successful, creating time for regular breaks and a comfortable pace of work," he added.

Amazon has invested billions of dollars in safety measures, technology and more intended to protect employees, Flanigan said.

Joshi dismissed Amazon's response as "boilerplate" and hoped it would inspire social media influencers to get involved in the campaign.

- TikTok activism -

Gen-Z for Change organizers reasoned that the power to reach tens of millions of young internet users comes with responsibility to advocate for social justice.

"We feel obligated because we have a large platform and a passion for equity," said 19-year-old Connor Hesse, a content specialist at Gen-Z for Change and TikTok creator with some 2.3 million subscribers.

Mobilizing on social media for Amazon employee rights can prompt other companies to improve worker conditions to avoid being targets of similar campaigns, argued Aly, a TikTok creator behind the account usa.mom.in.germany

Gen-Z for Change has aimed pro-labor campaigns at coffee chain Starbucks and Kroger supermarket group.

TikTok users in 2020 took credit for duping former US president Donald Trump into bragging that an election rally in Oklahoma was going to be overflowing because of online ticket requests, only to have him met with a below-capacity audience.

dho-gc/jm/sw

Whistle blows in Germany for world's first hydrogen train fleet

Florian CAZERES
Tue, August 23, 2022 


Germany on Wednesday will inaugurate a railway line powered entirely by hydrogen, a "world first" and a major step forward for green train transport despite nagging supply challenges.

A fleet of 14 trains provided by French industrial giant Alstom to the German state Lower Saxony will replace the diesel locomotives on the 100 kilometres (60 miles) of track connecting the cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude near Hamburg.

"Whatever the time of day, passengers will travel on this route thanks to hydrogen", Stefan Schrank, project manager at Alstom, told AFP, hailing a "world first".


Hydrogen trains have become a promising way to decarbonise the rail sector and replace diesel, which still powers 20 percent of journeys in Germany.

Billed as a "zero emission" mode of transport, the trains mix hydrogen on board with oxygen present in the ambient air, thanks to a fuel cell installed in the roof. This produces the electricity needed to pull the train.
- Run for its money -

Designed in the southern French town of Tarbes and assembled in Salzgitter in central Germany, Alstom's trains -- called Coradia iLint -- are trailblazers in the sector.

The project drew investment of "several tens of millions of euros" and created jobs for up to 80 employees in the two countries, according to Alstom.

Commercial trials have been carried out since 2018 on the line with two hydrogen trains but now the entire fleet is adopting the ground-breaking technology.

The French group has inked four contracts for several dozen trains between Germany, France and Italy, with no sign of demand waning.

In Germany alone "between 2,500 and 3,000 diesel trains could be replaced by hydrogen models", Schrank estimates.

"By 2035, around 15 to 20 percent of the regional European market could run on hydrogen," Alexandre Charpentier, rail expert at consultancy Roland Berger, told AFP.

Hydrogen trains are particularly attractive on short regional lines where the cost of a transition to electric outstrips the profitability of the route.

Currently, around one out of two regional trains in Europe runs on diesel.

But Alstom's competitors are ready to give it a run for its money. German behemoth Siemens unveiled a prototype hydrogen train with national rail company Deutsche Bahn in May, with a view to a roll-out in 2024.

But, despite the attractive prospects, "there are real barriers" to a big expansion with hydrogen, Charpentier said.

For starters, trains are not the only means of transport hungry for the fuel.

The entire sector, whether it be road vehicles or aircraft, not to mention heavy industry such as steel and chemicals, are eyeing hydrogen to slash CO2 emissions.
- Colossal investment -

Although Germany announced in 2020 an ambitious seven-billion-euro (-dollar) plan to become a leader in hydrogen technologies within a decade, the infrastructure is still lacking in Europe's top economy.

It is a problem seen across the continent, where colossal investment would be needed for a real shift to hydrogen.

"For this reason, we do not foresee a 100-percent replacement of diesel trains with hydrogen," Charpentier said.

Furthermore, hydrogen is not necessarily carbon-free: only "green hydrogen", produced using renewable energy, is considered sustainable by experts.

Other, more common manufacturing methods exist, but they emit greenhouse gases because they are made from fossil fuels.

The Lower Saxony line will in the beginning have to use a hydrogen by-product of certain industries such as the chemical sector.

The French research institute IFP specialising in energy issues says that hydrogen is currently "95 percent derived from the transformation of fossil fuels, almost half of which come from natural gas".


Europe's enduring reliance on gas from Russia amid massive tensions over the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine poses major challenges for the development of hydrogen in rail transport.

"Political leaders will have to decide which sector to prioritise when determining what the production of hydrogen will or won't go to," Charpentier said.

Germany will also have to import massively to meet its needs.

Partnerships have recently been signed with India and Morocco, and an agreement to import hydrogen from Canada was on the agenda this week during a visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

fcz-dlc/hmn/rl

 

An overview of NASA's Artemis 1 mission to the Moon

by Lucie AUBOURG

NASA's Artemis 1 Moon rocket is rolled out to Launch Pad Complex 39B at Kennedy Space

 Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NASA's Artemis 1 mission, scheduled to take off on Monday, is a 42-day voyage beyond the far side of the Moon and back.

The meticulously choreographed uncrewed flight should yield spectacular images as well as valuable scientific data.

Blastoff

The giant Space Launch System rocket will make its maiden flight from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Its four RS-25 engines, with two white boosters on either side, will produce 8.8 million pounds (39 meganewtons) of thrust—15 percent more than the Apollo program's Saturn V rocket.

After two minutes, the thrusters will fall back into the Atlantic Ocean.

After eight minutes, the core stage, orange in color, will fall away in turn, leaving the Orion crew capsule attached to the interim cryogenic propulsion stage.

This stage will circle the Earth once, put Orion on course for the Moon, and drop away around 90 minutes after takeoff.

Trajectory

All that remains is Orion, which will fly astronauts in the future and is powered by a service module built by the European Space Agency.

It will take several days to reach the Moon, flying around 60 miles (100 kilometers) at closest approach.

"It's going to be spectacular. We'll be holding our breath," said mission flight director Rick LaBrode.

Graphic on NASA's Artemis program to establish a mini-space station orbiting the Moon 

before landing on the surface in 2024.

The capsule will fire its engines to get to a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, a distance record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans.

"Distant" relates to high altitude, while "retrograde" refers to the fact Orion will go around the Moon the opposite direction to the Moon's orbit around the Earth.

DRO is a stable orbit because objects are balanced between the gravitational pulls of two large masses.

After passing by the Moon to take advantage of its gravitational assistance, Orion will begin the return journey.

Journey home

The mission's primary objective is to test the capsule's heat shield, the largest ever built, 16 feet (five meters) in diameter.

On its return to the Earth's atmosphere, it will have to withstand a speed of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

Slowed by a series of parachutes until it is traveling at less than 20 miles per hour, Orion will splashdown off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific.

Divers will attach cables to tow it in a few hours to a US Navy ship.

The crew

The capsule will carry a mannequin called "Moonikin Campos," named after a legendary NASA engineer who saved Apollo 13, in the commander's seat, wearing the agency's brand new uniform.

Campos will be equipped with sensors to record acceleration and vibrations, and will also be accompanied by two other dummies: Helga and Zohar, who are made of materials designed to mimic bones and organs.

One will wear a radiation vest while the other won't, to test the impacts of the radiation in deep space.

Temporary work spaces are set up near the Vehicle Assembly Building ahead of the 

Artemis 1 moon rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

What will we see?

Several on-board cameras will make it possible to follow the entire journey from multiple angles, including from the point of view of a passenger in the capsule.

Cameras at the end of the solar panels will take selfies of the craft with the Moon and Earth in the background.

CubeSats

Life will imitate art with a technology demonstration called Callisto, inspired by the Starship Enterprise's talking computer.

It is an improved version of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, which will be requested from the control center to adjust the light in the capsule, or to read flight data.

The idea is to make life easier for astronauts in the future.

In addition, a payload of 10 CubeSats, shoebox-sized microsatellites, will be deployed by the rocket's upper stage.

They have numerous goals: studying an asteroid, examining the effect of radiation on living organisms, searching for water on the Moon.

These projects, carried out independently by international companies or researchers, take advantage of the rare opportunity of a launch into deep space.

NASA's new Moon rocket to launch as soon as August 29

© 2022 AFP

For Russian re-enactors, battle with West is more than history

Romain COLAS
Wed, August 24, 2022 


Surrounded by dozens of men in chainmail and helmets playing dead in a field, an impersonator of mediaeval Russian prince Alexander Nevsky raises his sword and roars.

"This land is Russian, always has been, and always will be!"

It was on this spot near Lake Peipus on Russia's border with Estonia that eight centuries ago Nevsky repelled a force of Teutonic Knights who wanted to convert Russia to Catholicism.

Known as the Battle of the Ice because it was fought largely on the frozen lake, the clash in April 1242 is celebrated as a great victory against efforts to turn Russia away from Eastern Orthodox Christianity.


For the hundreds of history enthusiasts re-enacting the battle on a recent August day, that victory is especially resonant today, as Russian forces wage an offensive in Ukraine framed by the Kremlin as part of an enduring conflict with the West.
- ADVERTISEMENT -


"We are fighting against Europe just like our ancestors did," says Oleg Yakontov, a 56-year-old retired paratrooper, holding a sword and shield as sweat drips off his face.

Historical re-enactments are a popular pastime in Russia, whether of mediaeval battles, Napoleonic-era clashes or the fierce fighting of World War II.
- Historic parallels -

Drawing parallels with that history -- and with President Vladimir Putin as a kind of successor to figures like Nevsky -- is part of the messaging put forward by the Kremlin and Russian state media in support of Moscow's campaign in Ukraine.

"To me, Nevsky symbolises the defence of the Motherland and victory," says 23-year-old Vladislav Vasilyev, still out of breath after taking part in the re-enactment.

Several hundred people gathered for the mock battle near the lake, called Lake Chud in Russian. They feasted on grilled meat and listened to live rock music as the combatants pummelled each other on the field.

The event culminated in horseback combat demonstrations a few metres away from a large metal sculpture of Nevsky that was inaugurated in September 2021 by Putin and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

"Alexander Nevsky's personality was truly grandiose," Putin said at the time, praising him as a "talented commander" and "skilful diplomat".

Part of the modern-day appeal of Nevsky for the Kremlin was his alliance with the great power of the time, the Mongol Empire and its Golden Horde, which had destroyed and seized many of Russia's lands.

For some in Russia, Nevsky's acceptance of Mongol dominion helped preserve the country's religious traditions and Eurasian character in the face of Western expansionism.

"His main achievement is this civilisational choice," says Igor Fomyn, a bearded 52-year-old Orthodox priest in a black cassock who came to watch the spectacle.

"By making this choice, he put spirituality, his people, and his Motherland before comfort," the priest says.

- Hero of landmark film -

Nevsky has been used in the past to stir up patriotic fervour, most famously in Sergei Eisenstein's landmark propaganda film "Alexander Nevsky" in 1938.

Made at a time of strained ties between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, the film portrayed Nevsky as a heroic figure battling Teutonic domination.

It features an epic recreation of the battle at Lake Peipus with the heavily armoured crusaders crashing through the ice and drowning -- a scene many historians regard as of dubious authenticity.

The film was pulled from cinemas when the USSR and Germany signed a non-aggression pact in 1939, then allowed back onto screens when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

Nevsky remains a cherished historical figure for many in Russia, and some here have little doubt about who would be his modern counterpart.

"Our president is continuing his work, of course," says Oleg Davydov, a 52-year-old engineer, in attendance at the re-enactment.

"It's all about this country's defence, its strength, its security."

rco/brw/mm/rox-jj

 

COUP LEADER

Thailand court suspends PM Prayuth Chan-ocha pending term limit review

Reuters
Bangkok Updated: Aug 24, 2022,


Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha delivers the policy statement of the council of ministers to the parliament at the parliament in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Photograph:( Reuters )


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The petition was filed by the main opposition party, which argued that Prayuth's time spent as head of a military junta after he staged a coup when he was army chief in 2014 should count towards his constitutionally stipulated eight-year term.

Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha from official duties on Wednesday, after deciding to hear a petition to review his legally mandated eight-year term limit.

The petition was filed by the main opposition party, which argued that Prayuth's time spent as head of a military junta after he staged a coup when he was army chief in 2014 should count towards his constitutionally stipulated eight-year term.

Though Prayuth could be restored to his position when the court makes its ruling, his surprise suspension threw Thai politics into confusion.

Prayuth will have 15 days to respond, the court told media in a statement, adding that a panel of judges ruled five to four in favour of his suspension, starting from Wednesday.

ALSO READ | Europe facing worst drought in almost 500 years, new report claims

"The court has considered the petition and related documents and sees that the facts from the petition are cause for questioning as demanded," it said.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan is expected to take over as interim leader, another deputy prime minister, Wissanu Krea-ngam, told reporters on Monday.

It was not clear when the court would deliver a final ruling on the petition.

Prayuth ruled as head of a military council after he overthrow an elected government in 2014, and became a civilian prime minister in 2019, following an election held under a military-drafted constitution.

In its request for review, the main opposition party has argued that Prayuth should leave office this month because his time as junta chief should count towards his term.

Nearly two-thirds of Thais also want Prayuth out of office by this month, a recent poll showed.

But some supporters argue his term started in 2017, when a new constitution took effect, or after the 2019 election, meaning that he should be allowed to stay in power until 2025 or 2027, if elected.

The controversy is the latest in a country that suffered intermittent political turmoil for nearly two decades, including two coups and violent protests, stemming broadly from opposition to military involvement in politics and demands for greater representation as political awareness grows.

Pro-democracy activists have campaigned against Prayuth and his government, arguing that the 2019 election was not legitimate.

But student-led demonstrations petered out over the past couple of years, with the imposition of COVID-19 bans on gatherings. Activists gathered in Bangkok on Tuesday calling on the court to suspend Prayuth.

Thailand's next general election is due by May next year