‘Islam is an excuse, the goal is money’: Taliban gunmen stop the music in Afghanistan’s wedding halls — sometimes

There are rules against music, but the rules don’t always to the Taliban, whose enforcers are proving keener on shaking down wedding parties than heeding their dogma.

By Marjan Sadat

Staff Reporter
Sun., June 25, 2023

After weeks of preparation, hundreds of guests had gathered for the party in the wedding hotel. Everyone seemed happy, music was echoing in the separate women’s-only hall and young girls were celebrating with joy and dance.

An hour had passed when the young bride and groom entered, both in white, and the DJ played the famous and traditional song “Ahesta Bero” (“Go Slowly”) but moments later, gunfire was heard. Armed, dishevelled, long-haired men working for the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice walked in and took the DJ’s music equipment away with them.

It happened a month ago in the province of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, a man we’ll call Jabar (not his real name) told the Star. And Afghans say it’s not unusual.

Jabar, the groom’s cousin, said that he was outside the wedding hotel (one of Afghanistan’s special, luxurious halls dedicated to nuptials) when the Taliban’s men arrived. They grabbed the DJ’s gear, tied it to the back of a Ford Ranger pickup — the vehicles given in the thousands by the U.S. to Afghanistan’s previous police and army, and now in Taliban hands — and drove them away.

“It was a really sad moment. I think we are in a prison where our happiness and sadness depends” on the jailer’s decisions, Jabar said in Persian.

The fear that prevailed after the incident turned the happy gathering into a sad one, he continued, adding that people hate this type of Islam, which hits people in the mouth with a gun butt and buries their dreams. A law school graduate, Jabar, 25, asserted that in fact this behaviour has nothing to do with religion.

“Part of this performance of the Taliban is (for) blackmail and obtaining money. Many of them have now realized the joy of wealth and do everything under the name of Islam to earn money.”

The Taliban have banned playing music, dancing and singing since the day they returned to power on August 2021. Yet enforcement varies. In many videos posted on social media Taliban fighters both dance and sing, albeit without musical instruments, and say it is “spiritual” and permitted. And sometimes the regime’s armed representatives permit music in the women’s hall, for a price.

Ramez (not his real name) is in charge of a Kabul wedding hall. He said that the behaviour of the Taliban is not consistent on the issue. According to him, not long ago, they beat and arrested the owner of a wedding hotel because of music in the women’s hall, but lately taking cash instead “for allowing music to play has become common and everyone knows about it. Islam is an excuse, the goal is money.”

Speaking in Persian, he added that even the Taliban have told the hoteliers that there should not be male waiters and camera persons in women’s wedding halls, but so far men are still filling those jobs. Ramez adds that Taliban fighters have stopped cars at city checkpoints and said “give us money, we haven’t been paid for several months.”

“They have started extortion under the name of Islam and the whole world sees and knows this,” Ramez said. He added that the conditions of average people in Afghanistan have deteriorated immensely since the fall of the republic in 2021, and it has predictably also hurt the hotel business.

Ramez said there was a wedding party every night in his hotel pre-Taliban, but after August 2021, due to the imposition of restrictions and the prevailing poverty, wedding parties come only about two nights a week, most of them Taliban fighters who have married educated girls of the capital. There is, he said, no restriction on playing music in their parties.

“A few days ago, the wedding party of a Taliban official which was attended by most of the Taliban officials was held in our hotel and there were no restrictions on playing music or observing hijab. This was his second marriage after August 2021.”

During the restored rule of the Taliban, many officials of this group have married polygamously, taking on second, third and fourth wives. The Star has obtained videos of a DJ playing music in the women’s hall in the Taliban’s own gathering; in the men’s hall, a man is singing live.

Rauf (not his real name) is in charge of a Kabul flower shop that also rents DJ gear to hotels. He said that on several occasions the Taliban has confiscated music equipment from hotels and then sold it back for cash.

“When we go to the Taliban to get our musical equipment, they say with anger and insults that ‘you make people’s women dance and are infidels.’ And then when we pay, they hand over the equipment and it is as if we are no longer infidels,” Rauf told the Star in Persian.

Rauf said that it usually takes 5,000 to 20,000 Afghanis ($80-$300) to get equipment back from the Taliban; once, he even bought curtains and mattresses for a Taliban official’s office. The businessman said “The Islam of the Taliban is not Islam, it is Islamabad” — the capital of Pakistan. The majority of Taliban officials were students of Pakistani madrassas and for 20 years, they led the war against international forces from there.

Farida, 26, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan, got engaged prior to the Taliban’s return but her wedding took place only recently. She had long held on to her dreams and hopes for the big day, but in the end it was decided only to play music for an hour at the women’s hall, lest the regime’s gunmen show up.

Jabar said that these sorts of acts by the Taliban have alienated the people from Islam and destroyed the sense of hope and desire in people’s minds. Farida said that people’s living conditions and outlook have changed a lot from the era of the republic — now everything is associated with fear and terror, even weddings.

“I had many wishes for my wedding party, but it was not fulfilled,” Farida said to Star in Persian.

“I don’t feel good at all in life … The second name of our life is fear and hopelessness.”

Marjan Sadat is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: msadat@thestar.ca

With A Chronic Shortage Of Teachers, Hungary Is Struggling To Replace Them

June 25, 2023 
By Lili Rutai
Adam Kertesz

Tájékoztató a középszintű történelem érettségi vizsgáról a székesfehérvári Teleki Blanka Gimnázium és Általános Iskolában 2022. május 4-én

BUDAPEST -- For high-school teacher Veronika Molnar, it's the last week before the school breaks for the summer holidays in mid-June. It's also her last week at Lovassy Laszlo High School, ranked as the 10th best in Hungary, as she's leaving her job as an English and information-science teacher for good.

Molnar, 44, has been a teacher for 20 years, starting her career at the renowned high school in Veszprem, a city of 60,000 people in western Hungary, right after she got her degree. She spent two years on unpaid leave and lived in Dublin, Ireland, where she worked in the hospitality industry. It was then, she said, that she realized just how badly Hungarian teachers were paid, which has been one of the factors in her decision to quit.

Citing low pay, increasing workload, and burnout, Molnar is one of many Hungarian teachers leaving the profession, which has contributed to a nationwide shortage of teachers and led to country-wide strikes and protests. It isn't just that teachers are leaving and not being replaced, however. Across Hungary, very few recent graduates are choosing to enter the pedagogical profession, only making the problem worse.

Veronika Molnar, a teacher at Lovassy Laszlo High School in Veszprem

In recent months, Hungary's Democratic Trade Union of Teachers (PDSZ) has organized civil disobedience events and demonstrations around the country, with both teachers and students taking part, to protest poor working conditions and the education policies of the government of Hungary's longtime right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Experts have warned that the rapidly shrinking pedagogic population could have serious consequences on Hungarian education. According to PDSZ spokeswoman Erzsebet Nagy, in 2022, the education system was short 16,000 teachers, with many more leaving since then.

Many of those missing teachers have not been replaced. Of the 126,000 Hungarians who applied to universities in 2023, less than 3,400 people applied for pedagogical degrees, according to numbers by the education information platform Eduline, with only 1,595 putting teaching as their primary major.

Education researcher Kriszta Ercse told RFE/RL's Hungarian Service that the number of applicants for teaching degrees has halved over the past few years, and the dropout rate from pedagogical university courses is 40-50 percent. Even among those who graduate with teaching degrees, she said, many don't end up taking the exams to obtain the professional qualification, which come after two years of working as a trainee teacher following graduation.

"A few years ago, 2,300 people passed the professional [teaching] exam from 12,000-13,000 applicants [for a pedagogical degree]," she said. In Hungary previously, she said, many people who applied to do teaching degrees didn't want to be teachers in the first place, they just wanted a diploma and then sought employment in another field.

"If we have 1,600 applicants now, you can imagine how many will actually end up in the profession. This situation is simply catastrophic," she said, referring to the number of people applying with teaching as their primary major.

There could also be a significant knowledge deficit in the future, weighted against math and science in schools. Students in Hungary can apply for up to three university majors. They will automatically be admitted to the first major on their list if they earn enough points from their final exams, grades, and extracurricular activities at high school.

Ercse said the shortage of teachers is most notable in the fields of math and natural sciences. Among the less than 3,400 people who applied for pedagogical degrees at university this year, the most popular major was history-English combined, with 119 applications in total. Much fewer students choose the sciences or math.

In the past, Ercse said, teachers had a higher status in public and were more satisfied with their working conditions. That has now changed, with teachers saying they have to deal with a huge increase in workload, overly large class sizes, and regularly having to substitute for teachers of different subjects: for example, a gym teacher teaching chemistry; or a history teacher teaching physics.

"I haven't taken a holiday in 20 years," Molnar said. In addition to teaching at the high school, she has also been working as a sailing coach at nearby Lake Balaton, which she does on weekends and during the summer holidays. Despite having two jobs, she has had money problems, especially after the 2008 financial crisis, when she was one of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians who had taken mortgages in euros or Swiss francs and then found themselves with higher debt payments.

"I ended up in a situation where, after I paid back my loan and settled my bills, I had 5,000 forints ($15) to spend for the entire month," she said. "So, I had to take on extra classes. And I had to ask my parents for financial help, because I didn't even have money for food. With three university degrees, it was embarrassing."

With Hungary's inflation now at around 20 percent, teachers' salaries, which go as low as 312,000 forints ($927) a month before taxes, are now worth even less. The average salary in Hungary is around 500,000 forints a month.

On top of which, a new so-called Status Law, drafted by Orban's government, puts teachers voicing their dissatisfaction into an even more vulnerable position, according to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. While the draft law entails a pay rise, it would also eliminate teachers' status as public employees and increase their workload. Dubbed the Revenge Law by some independent media in Hungary, the law followed the series of demonstrations around the country organized by the PDSZ.

Teachers join a union protest calling for better pay and conditions in the education sector, in Budapest in March 2022.

The teachers' union has repeatedly warned the Religion and Public Education Ministry that if it sticks to the Status Law, Hungary will not be able to produce 140,000 teachers, the number recommended by the EU's Human Resources Development Operational Program Plus, which partly focuses on improving the quality of public education and accounts for 11 percent of all EU funding for Hungary between 2014-2020.

Nagy, the PDSZ spokeswoman, told RFE/RL's Hungarian Service that in 2022 the number of teachers was already below 140,000. According to the PDSZ, if the Status Law comes into effect, a further 5,000 teachers could leave the profession. And in five years' time, a further 25,000 teachers could quit, the union has warned.

The government has said it can alleviate the shortage with retired teachers, by making it possible for them to receive a full salary in addition to their pensions. According to the PDSZ, however, this won't solve the problem. "For several years, the number of university graduates who actually started a teaching career was close to zero. Practically no new people have entered the system, which could lead to the complete extinction of the profession," Nagy said.

In the Buda Cistercian St. Imre High School where he works, Kristof Szatmari, a 26-year-old sports and psychotherapy teacher, knows only about seven teachers out of around 70 working there who graduated in the past five years. In the Budapest high school's 10-person sports faculty, he said, there are only two people under 30 and another three under 40. "Most young people will do something else for that much money," he says.

Teachers protest in Budapest in December 2022.

Buda Cistercian St. Imre is currently ranked 26th out of all high schools in Hungary. Located in a grandiose building in Budapest's 6th district and receiving funds from the Catholic Church, St. Imre is in a relatively good position. As education researcher Ercse pointed out, the shortage of teachers has hit disadvantaged areas of the country the hardest.

Despite the challenges, Szatmari said he likes teaching and will stick to it. "I enjoy dealing with the kids, building communities," he said. All in all, the positives of the job outweigh the negatives, he said.

Szatmari said he is happy with what he earns, although he has to supplement his income with other activities. "Let's just say, I would [already] have enough work in the school, with being a teacher and a class tutor. I would be busy enough, without having to coach kids in volleyball…and direct a sports club," Szatmari said.

Lili Rutai is a freelance journalist based in London and Budapest. She has previously reported for Vice, The Calvert Journal, and Atlatszo.hu about social issues, culture, and politics in Hungary.

Adam Kertesz has been a journalist in Hungary for more than 20 years, working for InfoRadio, Fuggetlen Hiregyong, Kossuth Radio, TV2, and Hir TV.

'Plastic World': Art for the throwaway society

Sabine Oelze
06/25/2023

DW - ARTS

An exhibition in Frankfurt looks into the history of plastic in the arts, from avant-garde and Bauhaus experiments to futuristic space-age and trash works.


Peter Cook's model of an instant city is on show at the Schirn Kunsthalle

Image: Peter Cook/Archigram 1968

Sneakers, dentures, computers — plastic is everywhere. Like a chameleon, it can go undetected, adapt to its surroundings, become invisible. And, of course, it's also used in the arts.

The virtually rotproof material's boom in the arts scene came in the 1960s, but it had already inspired avant-garde movements in Paris decades earlier.

The first sculpture made of plastic was created in 1916 by Russian sculptor Naum Gabo: "Tete No.2" ("Constructed Head No.2") a cubist head made of rhodoid, a cellulose acetate plastic used to make dolls and billiard balls.

'Constructed Head No.2' is the first artwork made from plastic, by Naum Gabo

Image: Ben Birchall/empics/picture alliance

But not all plastics are the same. When Plexiglas, also known as acrylic, came out in the 1930s, new possibilities emerged, including for artists.

Bauhaus and other artistic movements of the era experimented with transparency and reflections.

The artists of the Zero group, including Otto Piene and Heinz Mack, benefited from the possibilities this new plastic offered in the late 1950s, experimenting with plastic films to produce their light sculptures. Any material was fine for his art, said Mack. But when designers also started using plastic for furniture in pop colors, he lost interest.

Is that art, or is it garbage?

Plastic — whether hard or flexible, transparent, opaque, patterned, smooth, delicate or bursting with color — then appeared in various art forms and movements, including in pop art.

John de Andrea's 1978 female plastic nude sculpture "Woman Leaning against the Wall" is so realistic you want to reach out and touch her to confirm it's just a sculpture.

Piene's 'Anemones' used transparent plastic to create something resembling a sea anemone

 Otto Piene estate/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023, © Foto: Peter Moore

The boundaries between art and fashion blurred. Thomas Bayrle, an artist from the German city of Frankfurt, worked with a fashion studio to design plastic coats that were later sold at the Kaufhof department store chain for 25.50 Deutsche Marks (about €12, or $13).

Niki de Saint Phalle, famous for her gigantic "Nanas," also gave in to the pull of plastic. In 1968 she created inflatable balloon Nanas. As beach toys, people could take them along on a vacation.
Plastic critics

French Nouveau Realisme artists such as Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Cesar and Arman, were among the first to create artworks criticizing plastic as a symbol of consumerism and the throwaway society.

Christo & Jeanne Claude created 'Look,' magazines wrapped in plastic and bound with twine, around 1965Image: Sammlung Karin und Uwe Hollweg,Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen

Arman created trash objects called "Poubelles" (Trash cans) in which he squeezed lots of plastic trash into a display case. "As a witness to this society, I have always been intensely concerned with the pseudo-biological cycle of production, consumption and destruction," Arman said in 1973, adding that he was long been troubled by the fact that "one of the most obvious concrete consequences of this cycle is to flood our world with junk and surplus rejects." His words sound downright visionary today.

Arman's colorful hodgepodge of "Poubelles" was intended to contrast with the enthusiastic use of plastic in pop art. For example, US artist Claes Oldenburg created XXL soft sculptures meant to represent everyday objects. He used rigid polyurethane foam, a new material that came onto the market in the 1960s and excited the art world.

Claes Oldenburg's soft sculpture, "Giant Fagends," shows huge cigarette butts

Image: /Mark Lennihan/AP/picture alliance

Painting with plastic

Lynda Benglis, another US sculptor, was on a different path, expanding the boundaries between painting and sculpture by "painting" with latex and pigments. Her sculptural "Pools" have an undulating, organic form that almost seems to be alive because of the flow and movement of the plastic. Benglis also created a series of works in molded polyurethane foam and plasticized paper.

The sculptures of Berlin-based artist Berta Fischer, born in 1973, are all about transparency and lightness. She creates ephemeral installations out of plastic foils, nylon threads or acrylic glass, with brightly colored, reflective or transparent surfaces that appear to be classy and cheap at the same time.

Pascale Marthine Tayou's 'L'arbre à palabres' (The Parley Tree) is on show at the Frankfurt exhibition

Image: VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

The "Plastic World" exhibition at Frankfurt's Schirn Kunsthalle museum, which runs until October 1, 2023, presents art ranging from the euphoria of pop culture to the futuristic influence of the space age and the trash works of Nouveau Realisme to contemporary eco-critical works.

The exhibition shows the allure of plastic and its drawbacks, emphasizing how ambivalent the material can be. Plastic is a curse and a blessing; it is indestructible, just like the concept of art itself.

This article was originally written in German.

‘Incomplete revolution’: Tunisia crackdown slammed by critics

Experts and family members of those arrested say the North African country is no more an Arab Spring success story.

Tunisia's President Kais Saied is accused of stifling dissent 

[File: Johanna Geron/Pool via Reuters]

By Edna Mohamed
Published On 25 Jun 2023

London, England – After the Arab Spring protests in the early 2010s, Tunisia experienced a brief spell of democracy.

But that changed in July 2021 when President Kais Saied froze parliament and sacked the government in a dramatic move.

KEEP READING
Tunisia protesters demand release of ‘political prisoners’

Prominent radio journalist Zied el-Heni arrested in Tunisia

Prosecutor blocks release of Tunisian opposition figure

Since then, the North African country has seen an intense crackdown on opposition leaders, critics and activists.

Since February this year, more than 20 people – including opposition politicians, journalists and business figures – have been arrested under various charges such as “plotting against state security” and “terrorism”.

Among those arrested are Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist Ennahdha party, its member Said Ferjani, and prominent radio journalist Zied el-Heni, who many believe penned the term the “Jasmine Revolution”.

While freedom of speech and media were critical gains for Tunisians after the Arab Spring revolution led to the overthrow of then-leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, activists and journalists say those freedoms are threatened under Saied’s rule.

People wave national flags during celebrations marking the sixth anniversary of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution, in Tunis, Tunisia [File: Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters]

Speaking at a forum in London on post-Arab Spring Tunisia on Friday, Maha Azzam, head of the Egyptian revolutionary council, said, “Tunisians and Arabs have known nothing but tyranny for decades except for a short hiatus in the Arab Spring.”

Azzam said what is happening in Tunisia is not unlike other post-revolution countries where vested interests avoid political accountability by a regime of oppression.

“The Arab Spring was round one. It was an intifada if you like. It was an uprising, it was an incomplete revolution, but there will be other cycles like with other revolutions. It was peaceful, and I hope it will remain peaceful,” she said.

Soumaya Ghannouchi, daughter of the jailed Ennahdha chief, said Saied “robbed the Tunisians of the hard-won freedoms”.

“You are hounded by your sick suspicions, your power, greed, your fear. Ghannouchi haunts you,” she said in a message to the Tunisian president. “Try as you may, you will never lock Ghannouchi away. You are the prisoner, not him.”

Soumaya added: “He [Saied] gave them [Tunisians] not only dictatorship but also poverty and state bankruptcy.”

Tunisia’s economic crisis has been worsened by stalled talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of $1.9bn. Without a loan, the country faces a severe payments crisis.

Ennahdha chief Rached Ghannouchi in Tunis

 [File: Hassene Dridi/AP Photo]

Opposition parties say Saied’s action against the opposition leaders is politically motivated as they call for the authorities to release political prisoners.

But Saied alleges those imprisoned were “terrorists, criminals and traitors”, and judges who free them would be endorsing their alleged crimes.

Kaouther Ferjani, daughter of jailed politician Said Ferjani, said when her family asked a judge why her father was in prison, the judge replied, “It was either me or him.”

“My father in prison said we have shifted from the independence of the judiciary to the use and abuse of the judiciary,” she said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Tools of the trade: Broadening the appeal of engineering through sustainability


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
Published June 25, 2023

Originally known as Lloyd Barrage, it was considered an engineering marvel when completed in 1932, capable of discharging 1.4 million cubic metres of water per second - Copyright AFP Asif HASSAN

In a recent poll of engineering academics, the group from across a series of leading U.K. universities were asked what should be done to elevate the status of engineering. When presented with this question, almost two thirds (63 percent) of the respondents felt that engineering should be made more visible in schools.

In particular, the academics considered that parents need to be educated about what an important career choice being a professional engineer can be. This tendency is designed to boost the standing of engineering as a STEM subject.

Engineering is also important for addressing the environmental, technological, economic and social challenges that advanced economies face.

In order to broaden the appeal of engineering, and to connect with the younger generation, current engineers and academics emphasised the importance of climate considerations and other sustainability goals. According to the poll, 61 percent of academics indicated they have recently changed their curricula to place a greater emphasis on sustainability.

Sustainable engineering concerns the process of using resources in a way that does not compromise the environment or deplete the materials for future generations. This includes developing new approaches for designing and operating systems in such a way that the energy and resources that they use are sustainable.

Examples of practices that some engineering firms engage in include carbon reduction and sustainable procurement.

It is important that such solutions are introduced at a rate that does not compromise the natural environment and its ability to be used by future generations to meet their own needs.

Concerns extend through to the water that runs through our taps to the process of removing and breaking down the rubbish thrown into a waste bin.

Furthermore, the majority of professors take the view that a greater focus on what engineering can do to contribute to improving the climate will help to improve overall student satisfaction (this was raised by 54 percent of respondents).

For example, the New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering (NMITE) has within its structure the Centre for Advanced Timber Engineering. This body aims to create a new workforce skilled in the use of sustainable construction materials and techniques, to drive the development of a much more sustainable built environment.

The philosophy extends to the Timber Engineering classrooms. The positioning of the building was designed in a way that it considers the local environment and the structure is orientated to minimise heat gain whilst maximising natural light.

Op-Ed: OceanGate — Reckless or not? Underwater community fury is all about safety


By Paul Wallis

DIGITAL JOURNAL
Published June 24, 2023

This undated image courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions, shows their Titan submersible launching from a platform – 

Copyright OceanGate Expeditions/AFP Handout

Many people have been highly critical of the loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible. The sheer level of criticism has genuinely surprised some media commentators. This is particularly the case with a rather lengthy range of technical criticisms.

Why the huge fuss? The answer is in who’s doing the criticizing. The underwater community includes divers, submariners, underwater industry technicians, and researchers. The ever-expanding underwater vehicles market is also part of this mix. These people have skin in the game, and they’re not at all happy.

There are a lot of pretty uncompromising reasons for the fury. We’ll leave out unproven allegations, unhelpful media beat-ups, and innuendo. The core reasons are all about basic underwater safety.

The US Coast Guard said the Titan submersible appears to have suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ on a dive to the Titanic –

 Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Nathan Howard

Titan was already subject to some serious backroom technical criticism about safety before it entered the water. There are a lot of allegations, but the bottom line is that Titan did implode. It was operating very close to maximum depth according to its specifications. OceanGate is ultimately responsible for the failure of the submersible.

Titan was obviously at some point at a depth at which it simply couldn’t take the pressure. Nobody knows how or why. There might have been a system malfunction. That’s what’s got the experts so angry. The submersible shouldn’t have been anywhere near crush depth.

You see this in underwater movies all the time. The heroes get away with going below crush depth, or you don’t have a movie. It has been done in real life by navy submarines, very occasionally. It’s very much the exception to the rule, and a lot of subs didn’t survive.

The journey to reach the wreck of the Titanic in a tiny submersible is cold and dark, but spectacular, says one of the handful of people who has done it. — © AFP

In real life, your chances of survival at crush depth are pretty much zero. Crush depth is crush depth. This depth is calculated during the building of submersibles. The numbers tell the story. These numbers are always right.

… This is why nobody at all bought or is buying the “all right on the night” scenario with Titan. It’s too glaring and too dangerous a mistake to make.

That’s what’s generating the genuine fury of the criticism. The whole underwater sector is furious on many levels:The avoidable loss of life in the face of expert warnings.
OceanGate’s responses to those warnings and allegedly blasé risk management.
The effect on the industry’s all-important reputation of safety.

The allegations of recklessness are truly damning. Never mind “trial by media”. What’s needed are facts. An inquiry will be held, just like it was in the case of the Titanic itself. Future lives will depend on getting the facts straight.

Prigozhin’s Rising Cut Russian Supply Lines to Ukraine, Ensuring Kyiv can Win the War if It Acts Quickly, Inozemtsev Says

Ukrainian commander on possible Wagner attack from Belarus: ‘Nothing but suicide’

Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks with servicemen during withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut. (Reuters)

Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English
Published: 25 June ,2023

Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine warned on Sunday that should Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin try to lead his Wagner forces in an attack on Ukraine from Belarus, it would be “nothing but suicide.”

Commander Serhii Naiev said that Ukraine’s northern border – shared with Belarus – remained “stable and under control,” according to the Ukrainian military’s Telegram account.

He added: “Our troops continue to build up defense equipment. All services, from intelligence to engineering troops, are operating in enhanced mode. Currently, there is no increase in equipment or manpower of the enemy. The state border is under reliable protection 24/7.”

He stressed that should a cross-border attack be launched from the Belarusian side; the Ukrainian forces were armed and ready to counter any such attack.

“If this happens and the enemy tries to cross the state border, it will be nothing but suicide for them. Our soldiers are ready to give a decent response to anyone who dares to cross the state border with weapons in hand.

Former British Army chief of general staff General Richard Dannatt had earlier said in an interview with Sky News that Prigozhin’s presence in Belarus was a “matter of some concern,” as it was quite possible that Russia may use Wagner forces to try and take the Ukrainian capital again.

Russian forces stationed for Moscow's defense pulled back on Sunday when the Wagner mercenaries, led by Prigozhin, ceased their approach towards the capital. Prior to this, the mercenaries had seemingly seized the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a center that oversees Ukraine operations, and advanced towards Moscow with little resistance, successfully downing several helicopters and a military plane.

A surprising development occurred when a deal was brokered for Prigozhin's move to Belarus, leading to the dropping of charges against him for instigating an armed uprising, as stated by Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. As a result of this agreement, Prigozhin ordered his troops to return to their bases.

Prigozhin’s Rising Cut Russian Supply Lines to Ukraine, Ensuring Kyiv can Win the War if It Acts Quickly, Inozemtsev Says

            Staunton, June 25 – In a single day, Prigozhin and his Wagner PMC sliced through the supply lines of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine, putting that army at risk of rapid defeat if as is likely the Ukrainian side recognizes what has happened in the last 24 hours and attacks Russian forces at strategic locations, Vladislav Inozemtsev says.

            Because of what Prigozhin and company did, the Moscow economist and political commentator says, the war in Ukraine “is over.” The Russian forces will now lose it very quickly; and therefore what is happening is very good for Ukraine (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/06/24/putin-konchilsia).

            “The Russian army now fighting in Ukraine requires a huge logistical system,” Inozemtsev continues. And the main routes of this supply chain were “destroyed in one day” by Prigozhin who disrupted those lines over more than 1000 kilometers. “I think that the Ukrainians cannot fail to take advantage of this situation.”

            The Ukrainians need to act very quickly as Moscow may seek to recover what it has lost, but the Prigozhin rising showed how pathetic the Russian system has become under Putin and the incompetent people he has put in charge of the military. And perhaps worse for Putin is the fact that everyone can see that he can’t control the situation.

            As the latest Russian anecdote puts it, in 2021, Russia had the second strongest army in the world. By 2022, it had the second strongest one in Ukraine; and now in 2023, the Russian army is the second strongest one in Russia itself.” Russians are laughing about this, and that laughter is about Putin.

Op-Ed: Wagner deal — A  charade?

By Paul Wallis

DIGITAL JOURNAL
Published June 24, 2023

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has said his troops had taken control of Russia’s main military command centre for Ukraine operations as well as an airbase in the city - Copyright AFP STRINGER

There is never anything simple or straightforward about Russian history or politics. The furious “march on Moscow” and the rhetoric of the last 48 hours have vanished in a strange deal conducted out of thin air. Prigozhin goes to Belarus and Wagner returns to the camps.

That suddenly solves everything.

How does it solve anything? Prigozhin spent the last two days complaining about a Russian attack on his troops which killed “huge numbers” of Wagner mercenaries. That could well have been staged. There are plenty of spare body parts around in the region.

Prigozhin was furious, at least in public. He said they wanted to disband Wagner. He’s been verbally attacking the Russian Ministry of Defense for months. His troops took Rostov in a few hours. They have now returned to field camps, locations unspecified.

Putin responded in kind to the “mutiny” and accused Prigozhin of treason. The FSB called for Prigozhin’s arrest. That was rather odd because if anyone was going to arrest him, it would have had to be them. It seemed things were about to come to a head. An actual civil war seemed quite likely.

…Then Guest Contestant Lukashenko steps in and all is well? How? Prigozhin says he agreed to this deal to prevent bloodshed. It’s a bit like a hyena asking for a salad. The Wagner Group is famous for causing bloodshed, not preventing it.

This video grab taken from handout footage posted on June 24, 2023, on the Telegram channel @razgruzka_vagnera shows Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin (C) walking in the city of Rostov-on-Don – Copyright TELEGRAM / @razgruzka_vagnera/AFP Handout

Belarus just happens to be the conveniently located theme park that is taking delivery of Russian nuclear missiles. It’s slated to become part of Russia again at some point. Belarussian fighters are fighting the Russians in Ukraine. Russian troops were also sent to Belarus recently.

Which leads to a pretty obvious question – What’s really happening in Russia?

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces have entered the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don after vowing to topple the top military brass 

– Copyright AFP/File INTI OCON

A few pointers:

Putin was almost at actual war with his one and only successful military commander.

Putin’s own position is not secure, according to observers. He has to establish control and his own credibility. For the period of the “mutiny” he was just issuing statements, not conducting countermeasures. This is very much out of character, and nothing like his public image.

Nobody got assassinated, which is also most unusual.

Wagner forces have left Ukraine just as the Ukrainian counteroffensive begins.
The Wagner troops are severely worn and torn after months of heavy fighting.
The Russian army is on full defensive.

The Russian campaign in Ukraine has failed disastrously and is getting worse. They need to get out.

Wagner troops were able to move around with ease behind Russian lines with no opposition worth reporting.

Wagner “took” Rostov, a fairly sizeable city, with ease and trundled to within 200km of Moscow without any opposition at all.

Lukashenko doesn’t have the clout to turn on a light switch in Russia.

Russia publicized the “mutiny” on state broadcasts and social media. It’s not often any Russian government admits to any problems. Why the sudden PR campaign for Prigozhin?

All this played out in 48 hours.

How believable is any of this? A charade is one description.

A few more peculiar issues:Putin could have used the “mutiny” or something like it as an excuse to redeploy a lot of troops back to Russia and rebuild internal security without actually admitting defeat. He’s not doing that.

A few weeks ago, anti-Putin forces took areas around Belgorod and forced a Russian military response. That’s now a non-topic in the news. This just emphasizes the inherent instability in Russia before the Wagner mutiny.

Wagner can be seen to be defused as a risk with any supposed deal, whether any of this is real or not.

Prigozhin must have got something out of this deal, but what?

Belarus is progressively filling up with Russian troops, probably meaning backup for the projected Russian annexation or “reunification” as they call it.

Wagner can back up any Russian moves in Belarus or a new front against Ukraine to take the pressure off the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

There are many other major players in Russia. Who else is involved? Kremlin factions?

 The organized crime groups which control a lot of oil and black market assets? These people don’t play charades. They don’t like anything that disrupts business, either.
The much-disaffected, utterly humiliated and demoralized Russian army may not back Putin.

It just can’t be this simple. This complex pantomime indicates a lot of internal forces in play. Everything is still up in the air. Russia is falling to bits. The only question now is in what way it falls to bits.

Op-Ed: The grim future of entertainment – Neuroforecasting sales by focus groups

By Paul Wallis
Published June 25, 2023

Queen guitarist Brian May lights up the Platinum Party outside Buckingham Palace. 

— © AFP/File

Yes, a focus group could dictate your entertainment. New research has achieved a 97% accuracy in predicting what people like in music. This isn’t the same thing as playlists predicated on your past history. This is a result of machine learning processing neurological and physical responses.

This is neuroforecasting, or somewhat less elegantly, total bonehead behaviorism a la mode. Psychology for plodders. The absolute nadir of insight into humanity.

Better still, this could be applied to all forms of entertainment. Formulaic crud can be monetized using this method. You just mass—produce mainstream, and you’re a market-savvy genius. It’s exactly like media sales pitches. They bought it before, so they’ll buy it again.

What future bliss awaits? Trundle furiously to your playlist and be enriched by its utter predictability, perhaps? Another somewhat self-serving description of this invasive, senseless approach to human experience could be “guaranteed stagnation of the arts”.

I think the word is “Meh”. That overworked word may also be an overstatement in this case. This has been going on for years. We already have plenty of that stuff in ponderous patches, recycled raps, and hip-hopeless dreck in the streaming charts. The difference is this is proven by neuroscience.

I guess it boils down to whatever cookie-cutter crap choices you have. Some more schmaltzy garbage? Or some hard rock schmaltzy garbage? There can be no real choices if that’s how you decide what to market.

There’s an irony rattling around here. The most successful musical acts and songs in history are all unique. They’re one-offs. So if neuroforecasting can predict a playlist, or a pre-market sample, it can’t predict artists. It can generate a shopping list – to be fair, most people can’t – but not trends or emerging art forms.

There are places this tech simply can’t access. Meaning that mindblowing unforgettable performances can’t even be on the map for prediction. That song that stays with you forever isn’t registerable on this basis.

Anyway – What’s the point of predicting after the fact? Of course, all this is to be used to predict sales. We’ll leave out the bit about sub-sectored transient demographics and social environments. What you like as a tween isn’t going to be what you like 5 or 10 years later.

This tech has all the hallmarks of yet another media psychology tyranny-bureaucracy in progress. It’s a good fit for all those little inclusions in a personal profile that seem to pop up in your personal information at the wrong times. It could also be used for mapping “neurodivergence”, that terrible crime against statistics.

For a rather banal example – You like whatever type of music or art, therefore you’re neurodivergent, you unspeakable brute, you. You have been known to like jazz. Therefore you’re not the person we need for a busboy or executive sycophant, so there.

I’m looking forward to neuroforecasting being applied to comedy. People obviously like references to bodily functions, non-existent sex, and slapstick. Let’s do thousands of hours of that instead of anything else. Makes you wonder how Fox News will survive, doesn’t it?

Neuroforecasting in this form is a target at point blank range. The target is unmissable. Is that good enough?

A law that bans sex toys as obscene and morally harmful is being challenged by women in Zimbabwe

A woman in Zimbabwe says she and other women are “tired of oppression” and is challenging a law that bans sex toys and threatens those found in possession of them with jail sentences

By FARAI MUTSAKA - Associated Press


HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Sitabile Dewa was content with her sex life when she was married, but after her divorce, she found her prospects for erotic pleasure rather bleak.

In socially conservative Zimbabwe, divorced women and single mothers are often cast as undesirable partners for men, and in her frustration Dewa decided she wanted to use sex toys.

The problem is sex toys are against the law in Zimbabwe.

“I should not be deprived of self-exploration and indulgence in self-gratification,” said Dewa, 35.

Part of Zimbabwe's "censorship and entertainments control" law makes the importation or possession of sex toys illegal as they are deemed “indecent” or “obscene” and harmful to public morals. Owning sex toys can put a woman in prison.

Dewa said the law is “archaic” and is challenging part of it in court on the basis that it is repressive and infringes on her freedom. She filed court papers in March suing the Zimbabwe government and seeking to have parts of the law repealed. The court is considering her case.

Her bold, open references to masturbation and women's sexuality are bound to make many Zimbabweans uncomfortable.

But her crusade is significant, say women's rights campaigners, as part of a broader challenge to the nation's patriarchal outlook, where women's choices on a range of other issues that affect them and their bodies — including contraception, marriage and even what they wear — are scrutinized and often limited.

Dewa is a women's rights activist herself, and says she applied her own life experience in her stand against the ban on sex toys.

Proof that the law is actively enforced came last year when two women were arrested over sex toys.

One of them was running an online business selling sex aids to women and offering advice on their use. She spent two weeks in detention and was sentenced to six years in jail or 640 hours of unpaid community work.

The thing that appears to rile authorities the most on the sex toy issue is the sidelining of men, said Debra Mwase, a programs manager with Katswe Sistahood, a Zimbabwean group lobbying for women's rights. Sexually liberated women frighten the men who dominate Zimbabwe’s political, social and cultural spaces, she said.

“Sex is not really seen as a thing for women," Mwase said. "Sex is for men to enjoy. For women, it is still framed as essential only for childbearing."

“Sex without a man becomes a threat," she added.

Dewa boils it down to this: “These laws would have been repealed a long time ago if the majority of users were men," she said.

Also significant is Zimbabwe's history. While untangling the effects colonialism might have had on women's rights in sub-Saharan Africa today, multiple studies have shown that African women were far more sexually expressive before European laws, culture and religion were imposed.

Prominent Ugandan academic Sylvia Ramale wrote in the introduction to a book she edited titled “African Sexualities” that pre-colonial African women were “relatively unrestrained” when it came to their sexuality. For one thing, they wore revealing clothing, Ramale said.

But colonialism and the foreign religion it carried with it “stressed the impurity and inherent sin associated with women's bodies,” she said.

Mwase quips at what she sees as a great irony now in Zimbabwe, which has been independent and free of the oppression of white minority rule for 43 years and yet retains laws like the one that deals with sex toys, which is a carryover from colonial times.

"African societies still vigorously enforce values and laws long ditched by those who brought them here. It is in Europe where women now freely wear less clothing and are sexually liberal, just like we were doing more than a century ago,” she said.

Dewa's campaign for access to sex toys falls into the bigger picture in Zimbabwe of women being “tired of oppression," and is clearly forward-thinking, she said. But there has recently been evidence of a throwback to the past that might also be welcome.

Some parts of a pre-colonial southern African tradition known as "Chinamwari" are being revived, in which young women gather for sex education sessions overseen by older women from their families or community.

Advice on anything from foreplay to sexual positions to sexual and reproductive health is handed out, giving Chinamwari a risqué reputation but also the potential to empower young women.

In modern-day Zimbabwe, Chinamwari meetings are advertised on the internet. But they also now come with guarantees of secrecy, largely because of the prevailing attitudes toward sex and backlash from some men uncomfortable with the thought of women being too good at it.

More Associated Press Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Controversy raised over sex toy ban in Zimbabwe

By NKOSANA DLAMINI |

 chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2023-02-08 

A  Zimbabwean feminist group, Women's Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence, has taken the government to court to challenge a ban on the importation of sex toys in a move that has reignited debate on the morality of people using synthetic products to derive sexual satisfaction.

Zimbabwe criminalizes the importation of goods regarded as indecent according to the law.

But WALPE executive director Sitabile Dewa says the law is "archaic and infringes on women's rights to sexual pleasure" and is an ill-advised attempt by authorities to police the bedroom.

"We cannot have two women in 2022 alone ending the year with criminal records for just choosing to pleasure themselves differently," she said.

She was referring to the arrest and conviction of university lecturer Shirley Chapunza, who was recently jailed for six months with the option of paying a fine after being accused of importing sex toys from Germany.

Popular Twitter user Ayanda Muponda was also ordered to perform 640 hours of unpaid work after she was convicted of trading and advertising her sex toys on various social media platforms.

Sex toys — also called adult toys or "marital aids" — are often described as objects people use to pleasure themselves during sex or masturbation.

In its court challenge, WALPE has enlisted the services of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, a prominent group of experienced attorneys.

"This is a public litigation case challenging women's rights to health; it is a case of sexual reproductive health justice," Dewa said.

"We are appealing to the courts to review section 47 (1) of the Customs and Excise act which has been overtaken by modernity. The clause is also vague in terms of possession. If they are manufactured locally, does it mean women are allowed to use them?"

Outside the courts, the move has generated a lot of debate among Zimbabweans, with some men arguing the energy shown by women in asserting their rights to sex toys is an indirect insult to their bedroom credentials.

"The rising demand for sex toys is a vote of no confidence in the current generation of men," said Jacob Rukweza, a politician and social commentator, via social media.

Some argue sex is an interactive process and toys are an unnecessary element.

Political activist Brian Tembo said the litigation filed by the NGO was much ado about nothing and an attention-seeking stunt, arguing women have more serious issues that need to be tackled as opposed to "chasing after dildos".

Some Zimbabweans argue the right to sex toys is an elite preoccupation in a largely conservative society which views artificial forms of sexual pleasure as taboo.

Defending her organization's action, the WALPE director insists Zimbabwean men's views are driven by chauvinistic tendencies she claims erroneously granted them false rights over women's bodies.

"Men must not feel insecure, as there is no way the toys can replace them. Sex toys are legal in South Africa; why have we not seen men being replaced there?" Dewa said.

The argument over sex toys has in years past come in for heated debate in Zimbabwe's parliament, with some supporting lifting the ban. Zimbabwe licensed its first premium sex toy shop in 2020 in the capital Harare.

Third attack on Sikh community in Pakistan: Shopkeeper shot dead in Peshawar

Yudhvir Rana / Jun 25, 2023

Manmohan Singh was shot dead in Peshawar.

AMRITSAR: Tragedy struck the Sikh community in Pakistan as Manmohan Singh, a Pakistani Sikh shopkeeper, was shot and killed by unidentified motorcyclists in the city of Peshawar on Saturday evening. This is the third such incidence in Pakistan this year.

The 29-year old victim operated a cosmetic shop near Rasheed Garhi Chowk, a mere five-minute distance from Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh.

Peshawar-based religious and social activist Baba Ji Gurpal Singh said that Manmohan was attacked by assailants while he was returning home on an autorickshaw. The assailants, riding a motorcycle, targeted him with bullets to his heart and head, resulting in his immediate demise at the scene.

The incident occurred just two days after another Sikh shopkeeper, Tarlok Singh, a Hakim (traditional healthcare professional) narrowly escaped a similar attack. “The three assailants shot five rounds but Tarlok hid under the counter and survived the attack,” Gurpal said.


Tarlok Singh survived a similar attack on Friday.

While terrorist organisation Daesh had claimed responsibility for the attack on Tarlok, Gurpal said that no organisation has claimed responsibility behind Manmohan's killing. He also questioned why the peaceful Sikh community was being targeted by terrorist organisations.

Peshawar’s Sikh community made an earnest appeal to the international Sikh community, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), seeking assistance for their safety and security. Gurpal said that these incidents had ignited deep concerns regarding the safety and security of the Peshawar Sikh community.

Gurpal said that out of the approximately 7,000 Sikh population in Peshawar, a significant number had chosen to migrate to other cities within Pakistan such as Nankana Sahib and Lahore.

“This migration itself reflects the growing concerns for the safety and well-being of the Sikh community in Peshawar, prompting some individuals to seek refuge in other areas of the country” he said.

The last rites of Manmohan Singh would be performed on Sunday, he added.