INTERVIEW: How Africa can push its agenda at COP27 – Egyptian Ambassador

Egypt prepares to host the world for COP27 in November. 

The country's ambassador to Nigeria told PREMIUM TIMES that African leaders need to speak with one voice.

Egypt Ambassador to Nigeria, Ihab Awab

By Chiamaka Okafor and George Ogala
October 5, 2022


As the 27th Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) draws near, African leaders are speaking with perhaps the loudest voice on why Africa’s needs should be prioritised given the unprecedented effects of climate change on the continent in spite of its inconsequential contribution to global carbon emissions.

In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Egypt’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Ihab Awab, outlines the several strategies being put in place by Egypt which will host the COP in November.
Excerpts

PT: COP27 is nicknamed Africa’s COP. What should Africa expect from Egypt, given that it is playing host, in terms of putting Africa’s interest first?

Mr Awab: It is true that the Sharm El-Sheikh Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, otherwise known as COP27, is Africa’s COP.

It is taking place at a very significant juncture of our worlds, of course, with all the challenges facing the world now, economically, recovery efforts from the Covid19 pandemic; the implications of the conflict in Ukraine and also the very clear indications that the world is not doing enough to combat climate change. But at the same time, the whole narrative around climate change has been developed outside Africa, it is time now to use the Sharm El-Sheikh conference to bring Africa’s voice to the forefront of the discussions on what can be done in order to combat the impact of climate change on the future of our continent.

Our continent is basically the least contributor to carbon emission, not more that four per cent, and at the same time it is a continent that is developing, that is growing, a continent that has adopted and took upon itself to implement and achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2030 on sustainable development and the road is very long; the challenges to meet those goals are enormous. Some of them must be prioritised vis-a-vis other commitments in climate change, simply because since we as a continent are not the primary contributor, then we should not be taking up extra commitment on ourselves that might stifle or hinder our development aspirations. So this is basically the main tenet of how Egypt’s incoming presidency of COP27 is thinking about Africa’s stance.

Africa’s voice needs to be very clear that we are all in the same boat and it is essential for there to be joint effort to combat climate change. But at the same time, we have our development aspirations and this is something I believe the Egyptian presidency during its Pre-COP consultations within Africa and with the rest of the world has been very clear about.

The other thing about the Sharm El-Sheikh conference is that we will like to call it the implementation conference. Many of the pledges made in previous conferences regarding support to the developing countries especially in Africa, or how the transition to renewable energy for example should take place without undermining our development/growth aspirations, is yet to materialise. The aspect of financing some of the projects is a key priority for the incoming Egyptian presidency of COP27 and it is something that all African countries agree that COP27 should and must actually come out with practical actions and we at the same time do realise that the moment may be a little challenging because of the cost of the conflict in Ukraine, the incomplete recovery of the global economy after covid19. There are competing priorities for finance all over the world. If we are serious about combating climate change and also equally serious about achieving the SDGs, then this is the conference and this is the kind of discussion that needs to take place in Sharm El Sheikh.

So that is why we believe in the opportunity for Africa to speak with one voice on the issues that matter the most for the future of Africa and for the issues that challenge Afrca in terms of climate and economic development.

PT: You said Africa needs to speak with one voice and Egypt by virtue of being the next COP president, has assumed a leadership position. How is Egypt mobilising and organising other African Heads of State to make sure we are speaking with one voice?

Mr Awab: The consultations at different political levels have been ongoing as well as consultation at the technical level. First of all, Africa has a group of negotiators that have been established a long time ago to participate and represent Africa’s common position at the expert technical level. This group has been mobilised and through that group, we go a step up to the African Council of Ministers of Environment, which is also the higher political level of ministers of environment which is also a very important configuration to discuss what is coming out of the expert level.

President El-Sisi of Egypt has invited other African leaders to a segment of the Sharm El-Sheikh conference called the leaders summit. He has prioritised inviting African leaders to be present at COP27 to the extent possible in big numbers and in order for the concerns of Africa to be voiced not only jointly in one meeting but also in the various bilaterals that are expected to take place around Sharm El-Sheikh.

World leaders will be there and African leaders will be there. And of course there is hope that we synchronise and synergise our messages at that highest political level so that the message does not come only in declarations that we are planning to put together but also in the messages of the various leaders and ministers among themselves and other ministers and leaders all over the world.

So this is how we try to mobilise/formulate the message. There are levels of formulating the messages, putting the priorities and the leaders will be there, hopefully in numbers, to make sure that those messages come across at the highest political level.

PT: At the Africa Adaptability Summit in Rotterdam, we saw that leaders of western countries did not show up at the meeting. How does that impact climate action?


Mr Awab: As I mentioned, we do recognise the challenging moment that the world is living in. Our preparations and close coordination with the outgoing presidency -UK- is focusing on the fact that, despite the fact that there are various challenges, the world cannot afford not to act. We still have a few weeks until COP27, we are receiving indications that world leaders, especially from developed countries and industrial countries, they do recognise that we cannot walk back from the commitments we have made in previous conferences.

Most recently, there was an IPCC report that said the world is in a very serious situation when it comes to emission and there was a lot of doubt on whether we will be able to reach the target of reducing emission and also temperature.

That came as a wake up call to all of us, that while we are experiencing these challenges, there is no turning back. So we do hope and we are confident that world leaders will still show up but not showing up only, which is a sign of commitment itself, but hopefully they are also showing up with readiness to make commitments and pledges for the implementation of previous commitments that were made.

There are diplomatic efforts ongoing to make sure we are able to get the best outcome in these circumstances.

PT: Are there specific roles other big players in Africa can play at COP27?

Mr Awab: Absolutely. And this is a very good segue to highlight the important role of Nigeria. Nigeria has been very vocal about the tenet of the African position and interest especially in the particular area of just energy transition. There is no development without energy and there is no development without access to energy and it is one of the 17 SDGs.

Egypt Ambassador to Nigeria, Ihab Awab with Premium Times reporter

Nigeria has been very vocal about it; President Buhari is a major champion of how Africa should mobilise itself to maintain its fair share of energy access and how access to energy and combating climate change should not necessarily be two contradictory goals for humanity.

Nigeria plays a major role within Africa, thanks to President Buhari’s very vocal and very clear position but also Vice President Osinbajo who has been very vocal; his writings in major publications, his most recent visit to the US and his presentation in Washington.

He is one of the champions to one of the most important African positions and aspirations which is just energy transition and this is shared widely across Africa and it is very important that countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria and many of the big economies in Africa are able to really mobilise within their respective subregions but also to be able to speak with one and to be very vocal about the priorities of Arica and that is why we work very closely with Nigeria and there is a very good synergy on many of the main priorities before Sharm El Sheikh.

PT: Could you quickly outline some of these priorities aside from just the energy transition which of course is very important. What other priorities are we looking at Africa speaking to with one voice?

Mr Awab: The question of adaptation, how developing countries could adapt to the transition to green economies, green energy, and renewable energy.

This is a very important aspect. We do recognise as Africa that this is a goal that we need to achieve. But at the same time, we know that this is going to cost… the international community has the responsibility to aid Africa in its transition to this kind of energy which is still not very affordable to all the economies. So the technology needs to be available and there is a lot of effort, commitment and political will that needs to be demonstrated by the international community in that particular direction.

It is not only the adaptation of energy, it is how our economies can be transformed into a green economy. It is not a button that you are going to push and you all of a sudden transform social and economic traditions and realities. We are talking about clean cooking in Africa; how are we going to make a transformation to clean energy for the regular household in the villages and small towns of Africa.

These are breaks for the future of the continent, the developing world and the global economy itself. If the majority of the population of the world that lives in the developing world is unable to make that transformation, then our goal towards combating climate change but also towards ending poverty will not be attained. So we are very clear that ending poverty and attaining the goals for preserving our earth and combating climate change should not be in contradiction.

PT: What specific demands should we look out for at the negotiation table at COP27?

Mr Awab: As I mentioned, it is not only government to government that will be solving our problems. The role of the private sector and business to business investment in that transformation is going to be key. If the larger title is financing, and the issue of financing is key because developing countries cannot do it alone and also I need to remind that developing countries are not the largest emitters especially African countries.

We are talking about financing that will have to come from governments, international financial institutions, investment funds, but also private sector and companies that are able to transfer the technologies needed at a cost effective rate. This is the main asks that will be presented at Sharm El-Sheikh that cuts across the various aspects of the agenda of the conference from adaptation to mitigation to compensation to risks and all of the agenda items.

PT: What role can the media play in spotlighting, highlighting and sending out the African message?

Mr Awab: I think there is a very important role for the media. By virtue of the several participations expected at COP27, it is not just about what the government says or agrees to. This is about how all levels of our society is able to achieve together and this is where the media’s role is key; synthesising societies; synthesising business; putting forward the accountability dimension of what we can achieve, whether in Sharm El Sheikh or in the follow conferences. I think this is where the media can be able to highlight the ending poverty, combating climate change and how they should not be in conflict and what that really means for human commitments.

Beyond governments in the developed countries, there are people in those countries who really care about the future of our earth and the more the media is able to present the kind of challenges we are facing in order to be part of our common drive. This is a major role the media can play.

This is the first of the two-part interview. In the second part, the ambassador talks about the 2013 unrest in Egypt, fighting terrorists, trade between Nigeria and Egypt and other matters. Stay with PREMIUM TIMES for the second part.

Chika Igba assisted with transcribing this interview.

Chiamaka Okafor is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

MILITARY OCCUPATION
'Inevitable': Views on US bases shift in Japan's Okinawa

Mathias CENA
Tue, October 4, 2022 


For decades, residents of Japan's Okinawa have strongly opposed the US military bases that dot the region but a subtle shift is under way, driven by Chinese sabre-rattling and economic challenges.

The bases are often seen as a disproportionate burden for Japan's sub-tropical southernmost region.

Okinawa comprises 0.6 percent of the Japanese archipelago's territory but contains 70 percent of the land used for US bases, and over half the 50,000-strong troop presence.

Base-related crime, accidents and pollution are potent irritants for Okinawa's 1.5 million residents.

But with Okinawa now a front line in the burgeoning confrontation between China and regional US allies, the bases are increasingly important for American and Japanese defence strategies.

"Okinawa has been given an excessive burden," said 39-year-old Ryo Matayoshi, a municipal councillor in the Okinawan city of Ginowan.

But "if we think about the security of Japan and of east Asia, the presence of bases on Okinawa is inevitable in a way," he told AFP.

"A lot of people of our generation recognise that reality."

Japan has long been wary of China's growing military, but the stakes have risen as Beijing hardens its rhetoric on Taiwan and riles Tokyo with incursions around disputed islands.

In August, Chinese drills in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan spotlighted the issue, with several missiles landing in waters near Okinawa.

"China's reaction to the Pelosi visit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine... have elevated the threat perception," said Yoichiro Sato, a professor and foreign affairs expert at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.

- Crime, noise, pollution -

Anti-base opposition is deeply rooted in Okinawa, which was an independent kingdom before Japanese annexation in the 19th century.

Tokyo used it as a buffer to slow US forces during World War II and over a quarter of the population died in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.

US occupation only ended in 1972, under a mutual treaty that left American bases in place.

And persistent flight noise, pollution and crime have kept anti-base sentiment strong, according to 82-year-old politician and peace activist Suzuyo Takazato.

Between 1972 and 2020, Okinawa's government recorded 582 violent crimes involving base residents, and the kidnap and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US soldiers in 1995 drew more than 80,000 protesters.

The treaty governing US forces limits Japanese legal oversight -- a persistent sore point, said Takazato.

"When a helicopter crashed in the Okinawa International University, US soldiers surrounded it and wouldn't allow any inspection," she said.

In recent years, opposition has crystallised around the planned relocation of Futenma air base in Ginowan, sometimes called the world's most dangerous base because of its proximity to homes.

The government wants it shifted north to the less-populated Henoko, but base opponents want it removed altogether.

That is the position of governor Denny Tamaki, a prominent anti-base politician who was recently re-elected.

But at the local level, candidates backed by the pro-base Liberal Democratic Party, Japan's ruling party, are gaining ground, including in the areas where Futenma and Henoko are located.

- 'Economic realities' -

The shift reflects security concerns, but also financial challenges, said councillor Matayoshi.

"More than just focusing on the question of the bases... people are concentrating on economic realities."

Okinawa is Japan's poorest prefecture and its tourist-dependent economy was hit hard by the pandemic.

Polling before Tamaki's re-election found the economy was most voters' top concern, and the share calling the bases their main priority went from 45 percent in 2014 to 32 percent this year.

The bases contributed just six percent to Okinawa's GDP in 2017 but they bring lucrative government subsidies.

Conservatives woo Okinawan voters by telling them the LDP "brings those benefits from the mainland," Sato said.

Politician Takazato points out that "three generations have grown up" with the US presence, which is now so established that some think "they have no choice but to accept it".

But Matayoshi sees real ties being built, thanks to US military outreach and friendships between Okinawans and troops.

"We are becoming good neighbours," he said.

Traditional anti-base sentiment makes it "hard in Okinawa to say publicly that you accept their presence".

But "I think the opposition is gradually fading".

mac/sah/kaf/dva/qan

I SUPPORT DRAFT DOGERS 

Welcoming Russians Who Refuse to Fight

BY DAVID CORTRIGHT

 OCTOBER 5, 2022
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The sudden mass exodus last week of Russian men fleeing military service is a positive development. It is a sign of shifting political momentum in Russian society against the war.

So why have Finland and other European governments barred Russians from entering as tourists, which is the quickest and easiest way to escape the war? Rather than close the doors to those who refuse to fight for Putin, Western states should welcome them and encourage even more Russians to leave.

The scale of the recent exodus is enormous. Nearly 100,000 Russians entered Kazakhstan in the week following Putin’s military call-up, and large numbers entered Turkey and Armenia. More than 50,000 crossed into Finland before the border was closed, double the rate of previous weeks.

The sudden flight of so many reflects deep unease with the war. When combined with evidence of low morale and disaffection among Russian troops in Ukraine, it exposes Putin’s vulnerabilities and creates new opportunities for attempting to undermine the war.

The experience of Russians avoiding war in Ukraine echoes what many of us in the United States faced during the Vietnam War. Hundreds of thousands refused the draft, with tens of thousands fleeing to Canada and Sweden. Others like myself entered the military but spoke out against the war from within. Morale and discipline deteriorated, desertion rates soared, and combat effectiveness eroded. The situation in Russia is not identical, but the rush to escape conscription shows widespread unwillingness to fight.

From the beginning of the conflict Russian forces experienced significant morale and disciplinary problems. News sources have reported incidents of dissension, desertion, and refusal to fight among some units, including members of the elite Russian National Guard. A senior British intelligence official spoke of Russian troops refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment. Radio Free Europe reported a combat refusal in July by 78 soldiers in an Air Assault Brigade near Luhansk. Family members of soldiers have spoken up on social media to ask when the war will end.

In August, paratrooper Pavel Filatyev went public with a 141-page journal describing the ordeal his unit faced during combat in Kherson and Mykolaiv, declaring, “I will not participate in this madness.” He told a reporter:

I am not afraid to fight in war. But I need to feel justice, to understand that what I’m doing is right. And I believe that this is all failing not only because the government has stolen everything, but because we, Russians, don’t feel that what we are doing is right.

Military recruitment offices have come under attack. Newsweek reported in May that a dozen attacks occurred in the early weeks of the war, quoting a senior official of the Russian General Staff that “arson attacks on military registration and enlistment offices have become a constant feature of life in Russia.” Additional fires at recruitment centers and administrative buildings were reported in response to Putin’s recent call-up. An independent Russian media site claimed there were 18 attacks in the days after the mobilization was announced, with a total of 52 incidents since the war began. The Washington Post reported anger and panic among recruits and their families as the mobilization started. Videos on social media showed shouting matches and fighting at some locations.

Given the censorship in Russia and pervasive information campaigns emanating from both sides in the war, it’s impossible to verify all the claims of military unrest and disaffection. What’s undeniable, though, is that Russia’s vaunted army has performed poorly in its campaign to subjugate Ukraine. Low morale and discontent in the ranks have likely contributed to that result.

Research shows that defections and loyalty shifts among members of security forces can be crucial to campaigns for political change. When recruits and members of the military are unwilling to cooperate, the power of corrupt authority erodes, and policy begins to change. Putin’s war cannot succeed if recruits avoid service and soldiers refuse to fight.

Western policy can help by encouraging and aiding Russian dissent. Under international law and European Union regulations, those who face punishment for refusing to participate in illegal acts such as Putin’s war qualify for legal status as refugees. The United States and European governments should open their doors and allow tourist visas for potential recruits and soldiers who refuse to serve in Ukraine, making it easier for opponents of the war to apply for asylum and refugee status.

Civil society groups can help by setting up networks of counseling and hospitality in frontline states. Some are doing so already, offering sanctuary and legal and other support services for Russian recruits and soldiers seeking to escape the war.

During the Vietnam era, American antiwar activists created the Pacific Counseling Service and established military counseling centers near U.S. bases in the Philippines, Okinawa, and Japan. This helped conscientious objectors in the ranks and provided vital aid for service members seeking to avoid the war.

Encouraging and supporting those who refuse to participate in unjust missions has been an effective strategy against militarism in the past. It deserves greater attention now as a potential means of countering Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.

This essay first appeared on FPIF.

David Cortright is Director of Policy Studies at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

Australia: Massive Optus data breach highlights lax regulations for telco giants

Oscar Grenfell@Oscar_Grenfell

WSWS.ORG

Over the past fortnight, millions of people have faced a great deal of uncertainty after it was revealed that Optus, one of Australia’s largest telecommunications providers, had been hit by a successful hack.

Ever since it announced the breach, the corporation has engaged in a damage control exercise aimed at minimising its liability. Information about the hack has been drip fed to customers and the population, meaning that much remains unknown about the nature of the hack and the extent of the material that has been compromised.

Screenshot of Optus Facebook page [Photo by Optus]

What is known, however, is highly concerning. On Monday, a week-and-a-half after the breach was reported, Optus revealed that the personal identification details of more than two million customers had been breached. The expired details of another 900,000 people were also hacked.

The night before, Optus had sent text messages and emails to some current and former customers, indicating that they had been impacted by the breach.

The belated character of Optus’s announcements means there is every possibility that the details of all ten million of its customers may be caught up in the hack. That would amount to almost 40 percent of the population.

The information that has been hacked includes passport and driver’s licence details, as well as Medicare and other social security information. Email addresses, full names, dates of birth and even residential statuses are in the data that has been pilfered.

Experts have warned that those affected could be victimised by a range of different type of fraud. At the low end, this could include increased phishing attacks, involving emails and texts containing harmful links aimed at stealing further details. At the high end, some people could be targeted for identity theft, as well as the opening of fraudulent bank and mobile phone accounts.

Already, the details of some 10,000 Optus users have been posted to an online forum. The information of other customers could be being traded on the black market.

The company’s response has prompted widespread anger. Optus customers have complained on social media over the delayed and uninformative communications from the corporation.

Many are unclear about whether they need to engage in the onerous, time-consuming process of changing their drivers’ licence numbers and passport details to protect themselves. Optus has given undertakings to pay the related fees for those who are affected. In a number of states, however, the exact processes by which this will occur, and which customers will be eligible, remain vague.

More broadly, the hack has pointed to the dangerous consequences of for-profit corporations controlling vast swathes of data, and a key social utility, i.e., telecommunications. There is a clear conflict between the privacy interests of ordinary people and the commercial impulses of such companies to retain as much data as possible, while seeking to minimise the costs required to protect it. 

At the same time, ever-greater government surveillance imposes requirements on such corporations to retain information for extended periods, even if it is not needed for the service requirements of customers.

When it reported the breach, Optus claimed that it had been the victim of a “sophisticated” hack. That assertion has been rejected by the federal Labor government, the country’s digital security agencies and independent experts.

The Information Security Media Group (ISMG), an intelligence firm, reported early last week that the hacker had taken the data by accessing an unsecured Application Programming Interface (API)—software that is used to share data between computer programs and devices.

This was later confirmed to ISMG by the hackers. Calling themselves “Optusdata,” they wrote in a message: “No authenticate needed. That is bad access control. All open to internet for any one to use.” In other words, the information was connected to the Internet and was not protected in any way.

Other aspects of the hack have led cybersecurity experts to speculate that “Optusdata” is not a sophisticated hacking organisation. It demanded a payment from Optus of $AU1.5 million in return for the data, an unusually low sum. It later posted messages to an online forum in childish English, apologising for the inconvenience caused by the hack and expressing contrition.

If the data breach had occurred in Europe or the United States, Optus would be liable for government-imposed financial penalties that could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

In Australia, there is no such liability. Under the legislation that governs data protection in the sector, penalties for company violations of general security provisions are capped at $250,000 per infringement. Fines for corporations that breach privacy obligations are capped at $2.2 million.

Prior to the hack, there had been plans for Optus to be floated on the Australian Stock Exchange. Estimates of its valuation had ranged from eight to twelve billion Australian dollars. Optus has an operating revenue of over $7 billion. Singtel, Optus’ parent company, reported a net profit of $1.95 billion in the last financial year.

The extent of the Optus leak has resulted in a substantial degree of publicity, but there is every indication that massive data breaches are occurring frequently, with the corporations involved facing minimal consequences.

The Australian Financial Review reported yesterday that freedom of information requests to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) revealed at least 11 such breaches in the first six months of the year, each of them affecting 10,000 or more customers.

A report on the Pearls and Irritations website cited a 2019 report by the OAIC, also obtained under freedom of information laws. It stated that “overall, the response system [to data breaches] is either non-existent or performing poorly from a citizen’s perspective.” The report “observed significant deficiencies in response standards, formal reporting channels of Government, and meaningful protection for consumers.”

While successive governments have presided over a lax regulatory framework, they have increased requirements for corporations to retain data, in line with a broader surveillance regime.

Australian legislation, bolstered in 2015, requires companies to retain all data they acquire, through the life of a contract and for two years afterward. Justified on the basis of combating terrorism and serious crime, the draconian data retention framework is part of a broader onslaught on democratic rights, with intelligence and other government agencies granted ever-expanding powers to spy on the private information and communications of citizens. The real target is mounting social and political opposition within the working class.

The Labor government has demagogically condemned Optus and adopted a pose of frustration with its response, but Labor, no less than the Liberal-National Coalition, is responsible for both the lax regulatory framework that imposes virtually no penalties for such breaches, and the intrusive data retention requirements.

Prominent legal firms are floating the possibility of class actions, which, given the number of customers affected, could be among the largest in history. Government officials are also flagging possible, as yet unspecified, regulatory changes.

Whatever these outcomes, however, the Optus saga highlights the incompatibility between the needs and interests of ordinary people in a complex modern society, and the domination of critical infrastructure by vast corporations whose only motive is to maximize profits and shareholder returns. It is another reason to place telecommunications, along with the banks and big business, under public ownership and the democratic control of the working class, as part of a broader socialist transformation of society.

Pete Buttigieg Has Perfect Response To Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Unhinged Complaint

Josephine Harvey

Tue, October 4, 2022 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) recently attacked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for trying to “emasculate the way we drive.” Asked about the remark, he said he could barely make sense of her complaint.

At a Michigan rally Saturday for former President Donald Trump, Greene griped that “Democrats like Pete Buttigieg want to emasculate the way we drive and force all of you to rely on electric vehicles.”

In an appearance Tuesday on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto asked Buttigieg what he thought of the comment.

“I literally don’t even understand what that means,” Buttigieg replied. “My sense of manhood is not connected to whether or not my vehicle is fueled by gasoline or whether it’s fueled by electricity.”

“It was a strange thing to say,” he added. “You know, to be honest, there are other members of Congress that I pay more attention to when I’m thinking about opinions that really matter or ideas that are going to be critical to engage with.”

Greene, who recently made headlines for saying Pride Month “needs to end,” has previously targeted the transportation secretary with bizarre and nonsensical homophobia. In March, she told Trump rally attendees in Georgia that “Pete Buttigieg can take his electric vehicles and his bicycles, and he and his husband can stay out of our girls’ bathrooms.” The following month, she said that “mom and dad have been replaced by Chasten and Pete Buttigieg and their designer babies. Our society is sick.”

She also seems obsessed with traditional definitions of masculinity. In July, she complained that “woke training” in the U.S. military meant that “toxic masculinity is completely not accepted” anymore, when “I would think toxic masculinity would be a No. 1 requirement” to sign up.

Greene’s disturbing history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has been catalogued by the GLAAD Accountability Project.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

IMPERIALIST SEA WAR
Beaten and robbed: Vietnamese fisherman recounts China attacks

Tran Thi Minh Ha and Alice Philipson
Tue, October 4, 2022 

Vietnamese fisherman Nguyen Van Loc has been attacked by Chinese coast guard vessels so many times, he has lost count.

One summer day in 2020, while sailing through the Paracel Islands -- resource-rich waters in the South China Sea claimed by both Hanoi and Beijing -- his boat was rammed by a Chinese ship repeatedly until it capsized.

Thirteen of his crewmen were left clinging to a fishing basket in the water, desperately awaiting help.

Loc, 43, was beaten over and over, while his boat was stripped of their catch, tools and fishing gear.

Some years before that, two Chinese vessels with large machine guns -- and crew armed with axes -- slammed into Loc's boat and followed them closely as they tried to make their way home.


Now swathes of the disputed sea – where he began fishing as a boy aged 15 -- are no-go zones, while other parts are so overfished that he spends just an hour where he used to pass the whole day.

"We used to get scared," Loc told AFP. "But now this is just our normal life."

Vietnam's ministry of foreign affairs asked Beijing to investigate the incident -- widely reported in Vietnamese media -- at the time, and other fishermen from Ly Son island told AFP of similar experiences of harassment at sea.

Since 2014, 98 Vietnamese boats have been destroyed by Chinese vessels, according to figures from the local fishing association on Ly Son, home to hundreds of fishermen and their families whose livelihoods depend on trips out to sea.

Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, a waterway of immense strategic importance through which trillions of dollars worth of trade transits every year.

There are rival claims to part of the sea from neighbours including Vietnam, but China has become increasingly aggressive in asserting itself in the area under President Xi Jinping, who is expected to secure a record third consecutive term this month.
- Flags shot down -

Close to the water's edge, where a line of women wearing traditional conical hats sorts the day's catch, lies Ly Son's ship repair yard. But it is ill-equipped to handle the hefty damage inflicted on the boats.

Many are forced to sail to the mainland, putting them out of action for days.

Beijing gained control of the Paracel Islands in 1974 after clashes with the South Vietnamese Navy that left 75 Vietnamese troops dead.

Today, Chinese coast guard vessels shoot down the Vietnamese flags that flutter over the cabin of each fishing boat, according to Ly Son's fishing association, and mostly the crew have no choice but to sail away, fearful of the consequences if they stand their ground.

Over the last three decades, 120 fishermen from Ly Son have died due to attacks by Chinese vessels or because boats from China refused to come to their aid during poor weather, the local fishing association said.

"Our vessels are small," said Loc. "If we are chased, then we run."

But Loc, like many of his fellow fishermen, remains committed to the waters, where his grandfather and father fished before him.

"This fishing ground belonged to our ancestors, we will never give it up."

tmh-aph/pdw/qan

 

Florida Governor DeSantis defends government inaction as Hurricane Ian death toll surpasses 100

Chase Lawrence

 WSWS.ORG

The death toll is mounting in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on the Florida coast as a Category 4 storm last Wednesday, September 28, bringing devastating storm surges to the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area and deadly flooding across the state.

Residents of apartments in Harlem Heights, Fla., clean out clothes and other possessions from their apartments swamped by flood waters from Hurricane Ian, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. [AP Photo/Rebecca Santata]

As of this writing, at least 103 people have been confirmed dead in Florida and five in North Carolina, though the total is expected to be higher as search and rescue teams are still working through the wreckage. Lee County, which includes Cape Coral and Fort Myers, alone accounts for 54 of the deaths, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Monday, up from the county’s previous death toll of 42. Neighboring Charlotte County, where the hurricane made landfall, has the second most recorded deaths at 24. As of now most of the deaths were drownings, according to officials.

Statewide more than 2,300 rescues have been made, and over 1,000 urban search and rescue personnel have checked 79,000 structures, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a press conference on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden is to meet with DeSantis on Wednesday, in order to give the appearance that something is being done for the state and federal governments about the disaster. Contrary to the image they are attempting to create, no substantial assistance is forthcoming. With the total estimated damage standing at between $28 billion and $47 billion, according to an estimate from CoreLogic, no commensurate sum has even been floated let alone formally proposed by the president or the governor. Meanwhile, over $50 billion has been shoveled into fueling a war with Russia by the United States which stands to start a world-ending nuclear war.

The death toll in Lee County is likely in no small part due to the failure to issue timely evacuation orders, with residents being given a mandatory evacuation order on September 27—less than 24 hours before Ian made landfall—despite warnings that they were in the storm’s path made since at least September 23. Over 700 people have been rescued in the county so far according to Marceno.

DeSantis defended the delayed evacuation order on Saturday in Fort Myers, telling reporters that county officials were following the data which showed the storm making landfall in Tampa Bay, which is in Hillsborough County, before shifting south to Lee County. The implication of this is that the government decided that the effect on businesses through the evacuation of two counties outweighed the loss of lives if the storm were to change course.

DeSantis, who is in the running to replace fascistic ex-President Donald Trump as leader of the Republican Party, no doubt is attempting to burnish his credentials as a ruthless defender of the profits of the financial elite. It is much in keeping with the policy of herd immunity pursued by his administration in Florida which has killed over 80,000 people in the state.

The governor has only just now announced the opening of the first Disaster Recovery Center, with DeSantis announcing that other Disaster Recovery centers are being opened by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Much as in previous responses by the political establishment to past storms, such as that of Hurricane Maria in 2017 which killed more than 3,000 in Puerto Rico; Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,800 in New Orleans in 2005, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years which has killed more than 1 million, the policy of the government towards Hurricane Ian was one of malign neglect centered around protecting profits rather than lives.

The DeSantis acolyte Marceno attempted to distract from the death and devastation by focusing on four individuals who the sheriff says are “illegal” immigrants suspected of unspecified burglaries, threatening that suspected looters may be summarily executed: “You might walk in. You’ll be carried out.” His fascistic threats make the priorities of the political establishment apparent: profits over lives. Meanwhile the personal property of the working and poor, and for that matter small businesses, are allowed to be destroyed with little or no aid from the state.

As of Tuesday evening 374,579 customers were still without power in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us. Lee accounted for the most outages at 201,329, a little under half of the customers in the county, while the nearby counties accounted for the vast majority of the rest of the outages. Over half of the customers in both DeSoto and Charlotte counties remain without power. Many in the areas affected by the storms still lack access to fresh drinking water and remain under boil-water notices, according to the Florida Department of Health.

As in other natural disasters, those who will be impacted the most are overwhelmingly the working class and the poor. Those who were unable to afford flood insurance are now left with ruined homes and nowhere to go. In the counties under evacuation orders, less than 20 percent of homes had coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program.

This is under conditions in which workers in Florida are already struggling to pay for housing. There are 2.24 million households in the state—more than a quarter of total households—which have incomes below $50,000 a year and pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent or mortgage, according to the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.

The most the federal government pays out is $40,000 for property damage repairs and another $40,000 for car damage. Suffice it to say $40,000 is far less than what is required to repair a destroyed home, or even to renovate from significant water logging, which can leave debilitating toxic mold that can cause permanent lung damage or even death.

Florida has seen rental prices increase by more than 30 percent over the past two years. The loss in housing stock—through the destruction of houses—means that prices for homes are expected to increase even further.

As a result of the lack of alternatives, many are resorting to staying in the water-logged ruins of their homes or becoming homeless. Robert McClain, 67, a military veteran and retired construction worker, was interviewed by the New York Times in the garage of his water-logged rental home. He said he had few options but to live in his car. “I’m not running to go live in the Hilton, you know what I’m saying?” He concluded, “I’m totally screwed.”

The Asian Voice
Red tourism growing in popularity: China Daily contributor
The writer says supportive policies are needed to ensure the steady and healthy development of red tourism.

Tourists stand near a Chinese national flag at a tourist site in the 

outskirts of Beijing, on Oct 2, 2022. 

BEIJING (CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - "Red tourism", a subset of tourism in which people visit locations and memorials of historical significance to the Communist Party of China, has given a much-needed shot in the arm of the domestic tourism industry in summer. And many believe red tourism will bloom further during the National Day Golden Week holiday.

Ticket bookings for red tourism sites in June increased by five times month-on-month on Ctrip, China's leading travel service platform, with local and short trips to red tourism sites being the choice of about 88 per cent of such tourists. And the search for the term "red tourism" on Mafengwo, a Chinese travel service and social-networking platform, increased by 300 per cent during the summer holidays.

Red tourism is not only about the joy of visiting a new place and taking in the wonderful sights. It is also about gaining knowledge about history and being inspired by the stories of the people who contributed to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and worked for the well-being of the Chinese people. By rediscovering history and passing on the stories of the Chinese revolution and its heroes to the next generations, people can uplift their spirit. Red tourism can also be used as a leverage to revitalise rural areas because most of the revolutionary bases and red tourism sites are in the countryside.

By exploiting such sites to raise the incomes of rural residents, the authorities can create a new driving force for integrated rural development. Since red tourism is a labour-intensive sector involving catering, accommodation, entertainment and other related businesses, which creates jobs and helps increase farmers' incomes, it can boost local development.

Ctrip data show that in the first half of 2022, more than 30 per cent of all tourists visited red tourism sites in rural areas, which was 10 per cent more than the previous year. Yet red tourism faces certain developmental problems, mainly because some local government officials have failed to make the best use of red tourism resources for economic development.

In fact, some local departments have adopted a cavalier attitude toward research, restoration and conservation of former revolutionary bases. Disputes over resources, projects and ownership between different departments and jurisdictions are not uncommon either, owing to the lack of unified planning. Superficial descriptions of some historical figures, organisations and past events at different red tourism sites lessen the importance of the sites and leave visitors flabbergasted.

To better develop red tourism, local governments also need to build infrastructure that merges with the surroundings and is coherent with the red tourism sites in rural areas. Improving supporting infrastructure and services including ensuring undisrupted water and electricity supply, and providing smooth transport and telecommunication services will make the red tourism sites in the countryside even more attractive.

While the historical and spiritual value of red tourism should be highlighted with the help of scholars and experts, the management and staff training at tourism sites should be strengthened. For example, tourism officials should conduct on-the-spot investigation and learn from well-run sites to improve their own services.

Red tourism sites also need more professional planning. The tourism authorities, for instance, could consider integrating cross-regional and cross-provincial sites associated with the Long March and the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) to better develop red tourism. They could also consider developing a "red plus tourism model" based on local conditions and by incorporating local characteristics to enrich the experience of tourists.

And while digital technology can be used to offer virtual tours and panoramic displays of red tourism sites to the people and new media platforms can help promote and market derivative products, supportive policies are needed to ensure the steady and healthy development of red tourism.

The writer is deputy director of the international exchanges office at Beijing Language and Culture University. China Daily is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 news media titles.

INTER-IMPERIALIST RIVALRY
Taiwan vows to protect its firms' interests at U.S.-led 'Chip 4' group


Illustration picture of semiconductor chips on a circuit board

Tue, October 4, 2022 

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan will use the new U.S.-led "Chip 4" group to safeguard the interests of Taiwanese companies and to ensure supply chain resilience, a deputy minister said on Wednesday, though he added that the group had no agenda yet.

A preliminary meeting of the group took place last week with representatives from Taiwan, the United States, South Korea and Japan attending.

A global semiconductor shortage has thrust chip powerhouse Taiwan into the spotlight and made supply chain management a bigger priority for governments around the world.

Taiwan Deputy Economy Minister Chen Chern-chyi told reporters in Taipei that chipmaking required collaboration to ensure a "very resilient supply chain".

"We will use that platform to strive to safeguard our companies' interest," he said, but added that the group not started formal meetings.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has said that the island is committed to ensuring its partners have reliable supplies of semiconductors and has urged allies to boost collaboration amid intensified threats from China.

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan's government rejects China's sovereignty claims.

The "Chip 4" group's Asian members are home to the world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix, and key Japanese suppliers of semiconductor materials and equipment.

The establishment of the group also comes on the heels of a new U.S. law passed in August that includes $52 billion in subsidies for companies that make chips or conduct chip research in the United States, as Washington looks to lessen U.S. reliance on Asia for semiconductors.

Asked about the United States wanting to reduce its reliance on manufacturing in Taiwan, Chen said Taiwan's chip industry has a well integrated supply chain and a very good workforce.

"From the government's perspective we think Taiwan's advantage and Taiwan's edge in developing the most advanced manufacturing technology will always be here in Taiwan."

But the government is happy to see Taiwanese chip firms investing in like-minded countries, he added.

"We think that will only deepen and strengthen our relations."

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

Can President Biden save democracy one US factory job at a time?


Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / October 5, 2022

President Joe Biden attends a March 9, 2022, event at the White House to support legislation that would encourage domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains for computer chips. 

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is working to create a manufacturing revival — even helping to put factory jobs in Republican territory under the belief it can restore faith in U.S. democracy.

The latest development came Tuesday, when chipmaker Micron announced an investment of up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a plant in upstate New York that could create 9,000 factory jobs. It's a commitment made in a GOP congressional district that Biden and the company credited to the recently enacted $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

“Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said in a statement. “Together, we are building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, where we lower costs for our families and make it right here in America.”

Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century. His goal is to keep opening new factories in states such as Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina and Georgia — where Democrats' footholds are shaky at best. Administration officials say they want to spread the prosperity across the entire country, rather than let it cluster in centers of extreme wealth, in a bid to renew the middle class and a sense of pride in the country itself.
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The push comes at a precarious moment for the global economy. High inflation in the U.S. has hurt Biden’s popularity and prompted recession concerns. Much of Europe faces a possible downturn due to the jump in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the International Monetary Fund just downgraded growth in China. The world economy is defined by uncertainty just as Biden has called for investments in clean energy and technology that could take years to pay off.

The president is hopeful that whatever good manufacturing can do for the U.S. economy also turns out to yield political benefits for himself and other Democrats in 2022 and beyond. He told Democratic donors on Friday that the manufacturing and technology investments mean “we have an opportunity” to strengthen the U.S. if Democratic governors and lawmakers are elected this year.

Going into the midterm elections, Biden is telling voters that a factory renaissance has already started because of him. The administration sees its infrastructure spending, computer chip investments and clean-energy incentives as helping domestic manufacturing in unprecedented ways.

Recent academic studies suggest that decades of layoffs due to offshoring contributed to the rise of Republican Donald Trump, with his opposition to immigration and global trade. But many of the authors of the studies doubt that Biden can make these demographic trends disappear through the promise of jobs for skilled workers.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California would like to see the president make a national tour of factory openings, so that his policies could stick better in voters' minds. Khanna recently attended the groundbreaking of a $20 billion Intel plant in Ohio and laid out his belief that factory job losses helped cause today's political schisms.

The Silicon Valley congressman reasons that too many Americans have lost faith in a government that seemed indifferent to their own well-being, leading them to embrace hucksters and authoritarians who thrive by exploiting and widening divisions in society.

“How do you get rid of people’s jobs and expect them to believe in democracy?” Khanna asks.

Factory jobs have risen during Biden's tenure to the most since 2008 at 12.85 million, yet the task of steadying the country's middle class and its democratic institutions is far from complete. The industrial Midwest has yet to recover the factory jobs shed in the pandemic, let alone decades of layoffs in which the economic challenges evolved into political tensions.

Labor Department data show that Ohio is still 10,000 factory jobs shy of its pre-pandemic level and 350,000 jobs below its total in 2000. The numbers are similarly bad in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — three states that were key to Biden's 2020 victory and could help decide control of Congress in November's elections.

The White House says Biden eschews thinking about Americans solely as consumers interested only in the cheapest prices and thus promoting outsourcing. Instead, his speeches are woven with talk about people as workers and the identity that working gives them.

What Biden can show with this year's factory groundbreakings is progress, even if the total number of manufacturing jobs is unlikely to return to the 1979 peak of 19.55 million. Intel's computer chip plant being built in New Albany, Ohio, would add 3,000 jobs. Hyundai would add 8,100 jobs with its electric vehicle plant in Georgia. Wolfspeed, with plans to produce silicon carbide wafers in North Carolina, would add 1,800 jobs.

Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the gains in factory jobs reflect five years of effort, starting with the 2017 tax cuts by Trump and including Biden's investments in infrastructure and computer chips as well as efforts to return jobs to the U.S. after global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic.

“There's a commitment by government at all levels to do more here and a desire by manufacturers to do more here,” Timmons said.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu applauded the president's plans for spreading factory work across the country. It's too soon to tell if the administration is succeeding, he said, but Biden is challenging what was once conventional wisdom among economists that little could be done to expand factory work in the U.S.

“I believe the president is right,” said Acemoglu, the co-author of the book “Why Nations Fail.” “'Good jobs,' which pay decent wages, have job stability, offer career-addressing opportunities, and endow a sense of accomplishment and dignity, are important for the middle class and social cohesion."

New academic research released in September suggests that the offshoring of factory jobs led white men to feel like victims and gave way to the rise of grievance politics that helped fuel Trump's ascendancy among Republican voters. That movement in turn spawned election denialism and political violence that Biden has repeatedly said is "a dagger to the throat of our democracy."

The research covering 3,500 U.S. citizens finds that factory job losses due to automation are less controversial among voters than the offshoring, which triggered a “self-victimization bias" for whites who were more likely to “view offshoring as leading to greater total harm to the American economy, and to the U.S. position in the world.”

One of the study's authors, Leonardo Baccini of McGill University, still expects factory job totals to shrink, though a decline primarily due to automation would be less harmful to Democratic candidates. He still anticipates factory job losses over the long term as advanced economies focus more on productive services to sustain growth.

“From an economic standpoint, the decline of U.S. manufacturing is inevitable and it is actually a good thing,” Baccini said. “Any attempt to stop this structural transformation with protectionism and government subsidies is likely to backfire."

J. Lawrence Broz, a political scientist at the University of California San Diego, co-wrote a 2019 research paper that found populist support was strongest in communities that endured long-term economic and social decline, a contrast to the superstar cities where technology, finance and a highly educated workforce were magnets for wealth.

“It is unlikely that recent efforts to re-shore manufacturing jobs will produce the intended effects, either economically or politically,” Broz said. “The new factories won’t employ large numbers of less-skilled workers, leaving white industrial workers just as angry as they are now.”

That means the underlying test of Biden's agenda might be whether enough workers can be educated to meet the needs of a manufacturing sector with higher standards than during the heights of its dominance in the 20th century.

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By JOSH BOAK Associated Press