SPACE

James Webb Space Telescope's 'shocking' discovery may hint at hidden exomoon around 'failed star'

Robert Lea
Wed, April 17, 2024 

An illustration of a brown dwarf with a ring of reddish auroral emissions at its north pole.


Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have made the surprising discovery of methane emissions coming from a brown dwarf, or "failed star."

The find suggests that the brown dwarf features aurorae, and might even be orbited by an undiscovered exomoon, researchers said.

The JWST brown dwarf discovery is surprising, because these cold and isolated worlds are not expected to be warm enough for methane to emit infrared light.


The findings came about as a result of a JWST program to investigate 12 brown dwarfs. They suggest that these failed stars can generate aurorae similar to Earth's northern lights and southern lights, as well as those seen over Jupiter and Saturn. The lack of a star near this lonely brown dwarf may mean that the polar lights over it are being generated by a hidden active moon.

Related: James Webb Space Telescope spots hint of mysterious aurora over 'failed star'

The study team investigated the cold brown dwarf CWISEP J193518.59–154620.3 (W1935), located 47 light-years from Earth. While the mass of W1935 is poorly constrained, ranging from 6 to 35 times that of Jupiter, it is known to have a surface temperature of around 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius). That is around the temperature at which you'd bake chocolate chip cookies (failed brownies?).

"Methane gas is expected in giant planets and brown dwarfs, but we usually see it absorbing light, not glowing," Jackie Faherty, team leader and senior education manager at the American Museum of Natural History, said in a statement. "We were confused about what we were seeing at first, but ultimately, that transformed into pure excitement at the discovery."
Why do some stars fail?

Brown dwarfs get their unfortunate nickname "failed stars" because, despite forming directly from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust like a star, they don't have enough mass to trigger the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium at their cores.

This is the process that defines what a main-sequence star is, so brown dwarfs — which have masses greater than the largest planets but smaller than the smallest star — technically "fail" to reach this status.

Faherty and colleagues were looking at several brown dwarfs with JWST when they noticed that W1935 was similar, but with one intriguing difference: It is emitting methane, something never seen around a failed star before.

Modeling W1935 revealed this particular brown dwarf also has a so-called "temperature inversion." That's a phenomenon in which the atmosphere of a planet gets colder at deeper levels. This is something usually seen in planets orbiting stars that heat their atmospheres from the top down, but it wasn't expected for W1935 because the brown dwarf is isolated, and there is no external heat source.

"We were pleasantly shocked when the model clearly predicted a temperature inversion," team member and University of Hertfordshire scientist Ben Burningham said in the statement. "But we also had to figure out where that extra upper atmosphere heat was coming from."

an image of jupiter, showing the planet's colorful bands

To solve this mystery, the team looked closer to home at the solar system's gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. Both of these gas giants have methane emissions, and both have atmospheres that demonstrate temperature inversion.

For Jupiter and Saturn, the cause of methane emissions and temperature inversion is aurorae, leading Faherty and the team to conclude this is what the JWST had detected around W1935. The big question is, what is driving the aurora at W1935?

This is an issue, because solar wind — the stream of charged particles from the sun — is the major driver of aurorae for Jupiter, Saturn and Earth. These charged strike the planets' magnetic fields and travel down field lines, interacting with particles in the atmosphere. This heats the upper layers of the atmosphere and causes the emission of light near the planet's poles. With no host star to blast W1935 with stellar winds, however, this process can't be the major driver of the lonely brown dwarf's aurora.

However, the aurora of Jupiter and Saturn have a secondary minor driver, in the form of charged particles streaming into the gas giants as a result of their active moons spewing material into space. For instance, Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanic body in the solar system, spewing lava dozens of miles into space, while the Saturn moon Enceladus spits geysers into space that contain water vapor and other material that simultaneously freezes and boils when it hits space.

Thus, the aurora of W1935 with no star or stellar winds indicates that the brown dwarf might be orbited by an active moon.

Related: Are they exomoons or not? Scientists debate existence of 1st moons seen beyond our solar system

More evidence will be needed before scientists can confirm the existence of a brown dwarf moon for the first time. Until then, these initial indications offer an insight into just how influential the JWST has been since it started sending its observations of the universe back to Earth in the summer of 2022.

"Every time an astronomer points JWST at an object, there’s a chance of a new mind-blowing discovery," Faherty concluded. "Methane emission was not on my radar when we started this project, but now that we know it can be there and the explanation for it so enticing, I am constantly on the lookout for it. That’s part of how science moves forward."

The team's research was published today (April 17) in the journal Nature.

Plasma Physicist Warns That Elon Musk's Disposable Satellites May Be Damaging the Earth's Magnetic Field

Victor Tangermann
Wed, April 17, 2024 

Left Field

Dead satellites and other debris are constantly burning up as they fall out of Earth's orbit.

Conventional wisdom is destroying all that space junk is good, because it keeps orbit less cluttered. But it may have harmful effects on our planet's magnetic field, as plasma physicist and former Air Force research scientist Sierra Solter — the author of a contentious and yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper — argues in a new essay for The Guardian.

Ventures like Elon Musk's SpaceX are launching thousands of satellites into orbit, and tens of thousands more are soon to follow as interest in the private space industry and space tourism continues to grow.


But having retired satellites burn up in the Earth's atmosphere just might have disastrous effects on our planet, disturbing the plasma that forms a protective shell around it, shielding humanity from harmful radiation.

"After studying the problem for over a year, I have no doubt that the sheer vastness of this pollution is going to disrupt our delicate plasma environment in one way or another," Solter wrote, arguing that big money in "commercial space ventures" could stop us from "discussing this potential crisis."
Strip Show

Companies like SpaceX have long argued that satellites burning up during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere is a harmless process. Solter, however, believes this practice releases huge amounts of metallic ash, more than "an Eiffel Tower's worth" a year, directly into the ionosphere.

This ash, especially particulates of aluminum, could wreak havoc on — or even punch new holes into — the atmosphere's ozone layer, potentially leaving humanity exposed back on the ground.

"If all of these conductive materials accumulate into a huge layer of trash, it could trap or deflect all or parts of our magnetic field," Solter argued in the opinion piece. "The Earth is a ball magnet that we’re surrounding with fast-moving metal trash."

"People like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos repeatedly state that space is the key to human longevity," Solter wrote. "But what if it is the opposite? What if the space industry is the means to our pale blue dot’s demise?"

"Until this pollution is studied further, we should all reconsider satellite internet," she concluded.

More on the magnetosphere: Paper Claims Dying SpaceX Satellites Could Weaken Earth's Magnetic Field

Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi's decade in power

KRUTIKA PATHI and SHEIKH SAALIQ
Wed, April 17, 2024 


1 / 16
 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sandalwood paste and vermilion applied on his forehead during the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor, a promenade that connects the Ganges River with the centuries-old temple dedicated to Hindu god Shiva in Varanasi, India, Dec. 13, 2021. Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders.

And no entity has had more influence on his political philosophy and ambitions than a paramilitary, right-wing group founded nearly a century ago and known as the RSS.

“We never imagined that we would get power in such a way,” said Ambalal Koshti, 76, who says he first brought Modi into the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the late 1960s in their home state, Gujarat.

Modi was a teenager. Like other young men — and even boys — who joined, he would learn to march in formation, fight, meditate and protect their Hindu homeland.

A few decades earlier, while Mahatma Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity, the RSS advocated for transforming India — by force, if necessary — into a Hindu nation. (A former RSS worker would fire three bullets into Gandhi’s chest in 1948, killing him months after India gained independence.)

Modi's spiritual and political upbringing from the RSS is the driving force, experts say, in everything he's done as prime minister over the past 10 years, a period that has seen India become a global power and the world’s fifth-largest economy.

At the same time, his rule has seen brazen attacks against minorities — particularly Muslims — from hate speech to lynchings. India's democracy, critics say, is faltering as the press, political opponents and courts face growing threats. And Modi has increasingly blurred the line between religion and state.

At 73, Modi is campaigning for a third term in a general election, which starts Friday. He and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are expected to win. He's challenged by a broad but divided alliance of regional parties.

Supporters and critics agree on one thing: Modi has achieved staying power by making Hindu nationalism acceptable — desirable, even — to a nation of 1.4 billion that for decades prided itself on pluralism and secularism. With that comes an immense vote bank: 80% of Indians are Hindu.

“He is 100% an ideological product of the RSS,"in said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who wrote a Modi biography. "He has delivered their goals.”

UNITING HINDUS

Between deep breaths under the night sky in western India a few weeks ago, a group of boys recited an RSS prayer in Sanskrit: “All Hindus are the children of Mother India ... we have taken a vow to be equals and a promise to save our religion.”

More than 65 years ago, Modi was one of them. Born in 1950 to a lower-caste family, his first exposure to the RSS was through shakhas — local units — that induct boys by combining religious education with self-defense skills and games.

By the 1970s, Modi was a full-time campaigner, canvassing neighborhoods on bicycle to raise RSS support.

“At that time, Hindus were scared to come together,” Koshti said. “We were trying to unite them.”

The RSS — formed in 1925, with the stated intent to strengthen the Hindu community — was hardly mainstream. It was tainted by links to Gandhi’s assassination and accused of stoking hatred against Muslims as periodic riots roiled India.

For the group, Indian civilization is inseparable from Hinduism, while critics say its philosophy is rooted in Hindu supremacy.

Today, the RSS has spawned a network of affiliated groups, from student and farmer unions to nonprofits and vigilante organizations often accused of violence. Their power — and legitimacy — ultimately comes from the BJP, which emerged from the RSS.

“Until Modi, the BJP had never won a majority on their own in India’s Parliament,” said Christophe Jaffrelot, an expert on Modi and the Hindu right. “For the RSS, it is unprecedented.”

SCALING HIS POLITICS

Modi got his first big political break in 2001, becoming chief minister of home state Gujarat. A few months in, anti-Muslim riots ripped through the region, killing at least 1,000 people.

There were suspicions that Modi quietly supported the riots, but he denied the allegations and India's top court absolved him over lack of evidence.

Instead of crushing his political career, the riots boosted it.

Modi doubled down on Hindu nationalism, Jaffrelot said, capitalizing on religious tensions for political gain. Gujarat’s reputation suffered from the riots, so he turned to big businesses to build factories, create jobs and spur development.

“This created a political economy — he built close relations with capitalists who in turn backed him,” Jaffrelot said.

Modi became increasingly authoritarian, Jaffrelot described, consolidating power over police and courts and bypassing the media to connect directly with voters.

The “Gujarat Model,” as Modi coined it, portended what he would do as a prime minister.

“He gave Hindu nationalism a populist flavor," Jaffrelot said. "Modi invented it in Gujarat, and today he has scaled it across the country.”

BIG PLANS

In June, Modi aims not just to win a third time — he’s set a target of receiving two-thirds of the vote. And he’s touted big plans.

“I'm working every moment to make India a developed nation by 2047,” Modi said at a rally. He also wants to abolish poverty and make the economy the world's third-largest.

If Modi wins, he’ll be the second Indian leader, after Jawaharlal Nehru, to retain power for a third term.

With approval ratings over 70%, Modi’s popularity has eclipsed that of his party. Supporters see him as a strongman leader, unafraid to take on India’s enemies, from Pakistan to the liberal elite. He’s backed by the rich, whose wealth has surged under him. For the poor, a slew of free programs, from food to housing, deflect the pain of high unemployment and inflation. Western leaders and companies line up to court him, turning to India as a counterweight against China.

He's meticulously built his reputation. In a nod to his Hinduism, he practices yoga in front of TV crews and the U.N., extols the virtues of a vegetarian diet, and preaches about reclaiming India's glory. He refers to himself in the third person.

P.K. Laheri, a former senior bureaucrat in Gujarat, said Modi “does not risk anything" when it comes to winning — he goes into the election thinking the party won't miss a single seat.

The common thread of Modi's rise, analysts say, is that his most consequential policies are ambitions of the RSS.

In 2019, his government revoked the special status of disputed Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority region. His government passed a citizenship law excluding Muslim migrants. In January, Modi delivered on a longstanding demand from the RSS — and millions of Hindus — when he opened a temple on the site of a razed mosque.

The BJP has denied enacting discriminatory policies and says its work benefits all Indians.

Last week, the BJP said it would pass a common legal code for all Indians — another RSS desire — to replace religious personal laws. Muslim leaders and others oppose it.

But Modi's politics are appealing to those well beyond right-wing nationalists — the issues have resonated deeply with regular Hindus. Unlike those before him, Modi paints a picture of a rising India as a Hindu one.

Satish Ahlani, a school principal, said he'll vote for Modi. Today, Ahlani said, Gujarat is thriving — as is India.

“Wherever our name hadn’t reached, it is now there,” he said. “Being Hindu is our identity; that is why we want a Hindu country. ... For the progress of the country, Muslims will have to be with us. They should accept this and come along.”

___

Saaliq reported from New Delhi.

Indian polls from Friday to decide future of its democracy

Jawed Naqvi 

Published April 18, 2024 

DAWN

Polling officials carrying EVMs at Sukma, in India’s Chhattisgarh state, embark an aircraft bound for a polling station on Wednesday, ahead of the country’s upcoming general election.—AFP

NEW DELHI: India begins its crucial national elections on Friday amid hopes and fears for its troubled democracy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the most right-wing leader to head the country, is hoping to win a third consecutive term, the first time since Jawaharlal Nehru, while his rejuvenated rivals say he could lose.

Mr Modi says he is confident of getting more than 400 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha, a brute majority of in the 545-seat lower house, a feat achieved only once by Rajiv Gandhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to increase its tally from 303 to 370, the rest coming from other members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It is widely feared that Mr Modi would seek to use the majority to change the constitution to align with his idea of Hindu Rashtra.

Opposition sees an opening for itself in PM’s northern stronghold; Modi says he is confident of getting more than 400 seats in Lok Sabha

Mr Modi’s hitherto fractious rivals comprising regional parties plus the Congress, recently cobbled the India National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. They are pitching for the removal of the NDA from power for its “whimsical policies, narcissistic hegemony, communal avowal as well as violence against the minorities and the fear factor against any dissent”.

Ground reports say there is no Modi wave evident in any part of the country, but these are early days. The biggest chunk of seats will be in the fray on Friday, covering 102 races in 21 states. The remaining six phases of the polls, including the last leg on June 1, will make these the longest elections in memory. Security is cited as the reason, and it would involve the deployment of 3.4 lakh paramilitary forces in rotation.

West Bengal, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to expand from the 18 of 42 seats it won last time, would see polls in all seven phases. A maximum of 92,000 security personnel are likely to be deployed there.

The BJP had just two seats in the state in 2014.

The NDA is banking largely on the so-called Modi magic together with the Ram Mandir and the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Every BJP leader is reinforcing Hindutva, which otherises the Muslims. The BJP’s manifesto is personalised as ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, with the programmes of a decade-long rule listed. The Congress’s promise of ten forms of justice has fresh appeal: “We promise you greater freedom, faster growth, more equitable development and justice for all.”

The rub however is in the numbers. Mr Modi’s 39 per cent votes got him 55 per cent seats in 2019. In so doing, he obviously won by dividing the 61 per cent votes cast for non-BJP parties.

The opposition sees in this a chance, which requires it to unite where it matters. The question is where would Mr Modi find the extra 67 opposition seats while not losing any of his to account for the BJP’s goal of hitting 370 without allies.

The opposition sees an opening for itself in Mr Modi’s northern stronghold. Much has changed since 2019 when he won all seven seats in Delhi, all 10 in Haryana, all 25 in Rajasthan, 25 of 48 in Maharashtra, 27 of 29 in Madhya Pradesh, all 26 in Gujarat, 62 of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, 22 of 40 in Bihar, all five in Uttarakhand and all four in Himachal Pradesh.

That adds up to 213 seats for the BJP from the northern stronghold. Elsewhere, the BJP picked up 25 out of 28 in Karnataka, eight of 21 in Odisha and four from 17 in Telangana. The BJP won two seats from 25 in Andhra Pradesh. It’s saturated in the north and in the absence of a divisive issue clicking, the chances are it could only go down from there.

In Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh the Congress has taken power since the last elections. The BJP might improve its tally in Andhra Pradesh where it has cobbled an alliance with the Telugu Desam. Wild guesses have been made, however. Rahul Gandhi says the Modi alliance could be restricted to 180, nearly a hundred short of a majority.

Shiv Sena’s Uadhav Thackeray on whose strength the BJP won handsomely in Maharashtra feels, not without a tinge of bitterness that the BJP would get just 45 seats. And the Trinamool Congress of West Bengal says it would get twice the number of seats than the BJP in the state, which should worry Mr Modi’s supporters.

After the Muzaffarnagar communal polarisation of 2014 and Pulwama-Balakot nationalist fervour fuelled his campaign in 2019, the Modi souffle has so far failed to rise again.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024

Hepatitis crisis

DAWN
Editorial 

Published April 18, 2024



THE sheer scale of the crisis is staggering. A new WHO report flags Pakistan as the country with the highest number of hepatitis C cases in the world and fifth overall in terms of the prevalence of the hepatitis B and C variants combined. With a total of 12.6m reported cases, of which 8.8m are of the C variant of the viral disease, and potentially millions more that remain undiagnosed, the country clearly has a severe health crisis on its hands. However, despite the fact that nearly 5pc of Pakistan’s population suffers from hepatitis B and C and trends show an increase in prevalence over recent years, the crisis is not being discussed enough, even though these diseases are preventable with a few precautions and treatable in many cases with medical interventions. Instead, the transmission of these viruses continues to increase because proper sterilisation techniques are largely not followed. Reused syringes, transfusion of unscreened blood and inadequate sanitary conditions can become the cause of disease transmission in healthcare settings. Elsewhere, seemingly innocuous items, such as a barber’s inadequately sterilised razor, can become the medium of transmission of the disease.

Pakistan must take inspiration from Egypt. Over the last decade or so, Egypt has been able to slash hepatitis C prevalence from over 10pc of its population to about 0.38pc. The WHO director general has ascribed its success to utilising “modern tools and political commitment at the highest level to use those tools to prevent infections and save lives”. It is worth pointing out that, in previous years, Egypt used to rank ahead of Pakistan in terms of hepatitis B and C prevalence. However, starting in 2014, the country launched a national campaign offering free testing and treatment for hepatitis C. It tested more than 60m people and treated more than 4m, of which 99pc were cured with locally manufactured antiviral treatments. Its enviable progress was made possible thanks to the rigorous implementation of improved patient safety practices and the implementation of universal injection and blood safety procedures. This is precisely the approach Pakistan needs to adopt. The country has already demonstrated its capabilities in handling national-level health emergencies during the Covid-19 outbreak. Health authorities must now treat endemic hepatitis B and C with the same level of urgency and eliminate these painful and potentially deadly diseases with the same urgency.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024

A precarious thaw

Rafia Zakaria 

DAWN

Published April 17, 2024 Updated a day ago

THE last few years have been the warmest ever recorded in the Arctic Circle. This means that a large portion of the ice cap is melting, and with it permafrost — a layer of soil that has remained frozen for at least two years and often for centuries, even millennia.

Pakistan is nowhere near the Arctic Circle but the high number of glaciers in the north of the country have also been melting at an alarming rate. Here too, permafrost which contains organic matter that is thousands of years old is thawing. Scientists have likened the phenomenon to the melting of an ancient freezer which reveals contents that have not been seen for thousands of years since the Ice Age.

In Siberia, the thawing permafrost is unearthing (among other things) bones of an animal known as the woolly mammoth. The last woolly mammoth perished more than 4,000 years ago but the bones of this species are now being found in several parts of northern Siberia where large portions of permafrost are thawing.

For all the treasures that it contains, permafrost poses a threat to humankind and Earth’s climate. As it defrosts, its organic matter is consumed by soil microbes that begin to break it down. In the process, they produce large amounts of carbon, which are released into the atmosphere. In some parts of Siberia, this carbon release is in the form of methane. Methane is not only bad for the environment, its build-up can also cause explosions, which is what has happened in parts of Siberia, where enormous craters have been created as a result.

Already, new lakes created by thawing permafrost are producing tons of methane and carbon dioxide. According to some estimates, lakes created by glacial melt or thawing permafrost constitute some 30 per cent of these water bodies worldwide. This has implications not only for the natural environment, but also built surroundings, as infrastructure such as roads in villages in areas of permafrost are adversely affected. According to scientists, the rapid thaw over the past few years has been dramatic and is going to change the landscape in unimaginable ways as huge amounts of ice melt unearths layers of soil that froze thousands of years ago.


Scientists have likened permafrost thaw to the melting of an ancient freezer which reveals contents that have not been seen since the Ice Age.

In Siberia, a scientist named Sergey Zimov has come up with an unusual solution. Zimov predicted the unearthing of permafrost and the problems it would pose decades ago. Zimov, who lives in Siberia, says that one way to tackle the problem is to recreate the landscape as it existed prior to the last Ice Age. His hypothesis is that the transformation from tundra to grassland will change the ratio of energy emission and energy absorption, which is what is needed to tackle thawing permafrost.

To do this, an area named Pleistocene Park has been created to study the climatic effects on the ecosystem when the landscape is changed to a “northern subarctic steppe grassland ecosystem”. One of the things that is being done to enable this is to repopulate the area with large herbivores like deer and also predators that would have been part of the ecosystem.

At this point, an interesting and ethically complex question has begun to present itself. One of the largest herbivores that adapted to the cold climate was the woolly mammoth, which had thick fur that enabled its survival. The last woolly mammoth died some 4,000 years ago, because of a mix of climatic factors and overhunting by human beings. Is it time to bring back animals like the woolly mammoth?

Advances in cloning science have already been successful (remember Dolly the sheep who was cloned from DNA?). Genome science means that the genetic sequence of woolly mammoths has already been mapped, owing to the large amounts of fossils that are being uncovered from all the melting. One theory suggests that a cloned embryo of a woolly mammoth could be implanted inside a female Asian elephant, who could carry it to term. Scientists admit that the animal that would be produced would not exactly be a woolly mammoth, but a very close relative — something between an elephant and a woolly mammoth. They believe that a large herbivore could help change the ratio of carbon emission and absorption that would otherwise be likely to cause a climate catastrophe.

This idea of ‘resurrecting’ animals and plants that have gone extinct is called ‘de-extinction’. It directly raises the question of when and to what extent human beings should be interfering in ‘recreating’ animals and plants that existed thousands of years ago. Scientific knowledge, despite its increasing prescience and accuracy, is still based on limited information. Will it ever be possible to foresee all the consequences of bringing back something that no longer exists, whose DNA we can extract from the organic matter that is being uncovered at a rapid rate? Beyond the unassessed dangers are questions of whether it is at all ethical to ‘create’ animals that will not have large communities or an existence beyond experiments.

Countries, including Pakistan, where there is permafrost that is thawing as global warming continues, should be engaged in these scientific conversations. While various task forces around the issue of climate change have been created by the government to discuss at international summits like COP, there is an urgent need to create others that are looking particularly at the issue of permafrost and its threat to the environment in terms of carbon emissions. It is true that this phenomenon needs greater study and research in the country.

Nevertheless, Pakistan must arm itself with knowledge around the subject and develop a strategy around it. There is increasing concern about climate change in the country, and no aspect of it must be left out.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.
rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2024

The risk of escalation

Zahid Hussain 

DAWN

Published April 17, 2024

AN eerie calm prevails after Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on Israel. Tehran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israeli territory in retaliation for the killing of its senior military commanders in an air raid on its consulate in Damascus earlier this month. It was a calibrated operation designed to send a strong message against any aggression by the Zionist state.

Although no serious damage was done, the sheer spectacle of missiles raining down on Israeli territory has tested arguably the strongest military power in the region. It is not over yet. An expected revenge strike by Tel Aviv has put the region on edge. The call for restraint by Israel’s Western allies and the international community at large is not likely to deter the hard-liner Zionist regime which is seeking to widen the conflict.

Any direct Israeli military action against Iranian installations is bound to widen the conflagration, with serious ramifications for the Middle East and beyond. The risk of tensions escalating into a full-blown military confrontation between the two major regional powers is extremely high, with far-right Israeli groups calling for a swift and forceful retaliation to the Iranian response.

Can the US and its other Western allies restrain the right-wing Israeli government that is already engaged in a genocidal war in Gaza with the weapons supplied by the same powers? It does not seem to be happening with their continuing defence of Israel’s bellicosity. While swiftly condemning the Iranian response, those countries have completely ignored Israel’s killing of Iranian military commanders.


Any direct Israeli military action against Iranian installations is bound to widen the conflagration.

It was Israel’s act of war that triggered the Iranian response. The situation appears to be getting out control with the vicious cycle of retaliatory actions. Apparently, it was part of the plan of the Zionist regime to pull Tehran into the conflict triggered by its brutal military action in Gaza that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The ongoing massacre in the occupied territory is in its seventh month and has evoked a strong public reaction across the world, increasing Israel’s isolation.

The recent incident of Israel’s fatal bombing of a convoy carrying foreign relief workers, as well as the onset of famine in the war-ravaged occupied Strip, has pushed even Tel Aviv’s staunchest allies to call for a temporary ceasefire. But all that has gone unheeded by the Benjamin Netanyahu government.

Israel has also rejected the UN Security Council resolution for a cessation of hostilities. Instead, Tel Aviv has tried to extend its war to Iran and the surrounding countries. It has repeatedly bombed Syria and Lebanon. The unprovoked bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, in clear violation of international law, was apparently meant to divert the attention of the world from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The silence of the US and some other Western countries over the raid on the Iranian consulate has only provided impunity to the Zionist state. The mantra of Israel’s ‘right to self defence’ has given Tel Aviv a licence to not only continue with its genocidal war in Gaza but to also take military action across its borders. The hypocrisy of the US and some other Western countries has been fully exposed. During the debate in the emergency session of the UN Security Council, they blamed only Iran’s retaliatory strike for raising tensions in the region.

It was apparent that Iran did not want to escalate the situation that would have run the risk of the US getting militarily involved in the conflict. Tehran had informed the Biden administration and the regional countries about the impending retaliatory missile strike on Israel and the limited objective. That gave the US and its allies, as well as Israel, time to take measures to mitigate the impact.

Subsequently, over 90 per cent of the drones and missiles were intercepted before they could hit the targets. Iran’s prime minister declared that his country was acting in “self-defence” and that it “targeted Israeli bases used to carry out the consulate strike”. The prior notice appeared to be a deliberate move by the Iranian leadership to minimise the risks. The strategy seemed to have worked, with the unanimous call by the international community for restraint.

Iran has, however, made it clear that any further Israeli misadventure would be met with a more forceful military response. “We now categorically declare that the smallest action against Iranian interests will certainly be met with a severe, widespread and painful response,” warned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

While it is evident that none among its allies would like the conflict to spread, Israel still insists on revenge. Its military chief Herzi Halevi has said that Iran’s attack “will be met with a response”, despite mounting calls for restraint from international leaders.

Israel’s belligerent stance has worsened the predicament of the Biden administration, which now appears increasingly worried by Israel’s reckless approach. While reiterating his administration’s commitment to providing “ironclad” support to Israel, US President Joe Biden also said that Washington will not get involved in any direct military action against Iran. There is growing pressure on Israeli leaders not only from the US but also from other allies for de-escalation. But the German foreign minister went a step further, appearing to question Israel’s right to strike back. “The right to self-defence means fending off an attack; retaliation is not a category in international law,” she said. The statement is significant as Germany is the second largest supplier of arms to Israel after the US.

Moreover, the country is also facing charges of “facilitating the commission of genocide” in Gaza, in coordination with Israel at the International Court of Justice. Growing public opinion at home against the Gaza war seems to have forced Western nations to take a step back from lending unqualified support to the Zionist state. But the statements by Israeli leaders that they would not only go ahead with a high-risk revenge strike against Iran but also intensify their war in Gaza has rendered the situation extremely combustible. It is hard to rein in a rogue nation.

The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
X: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2024

Between colonialism and extremism, Pakistan continues to exist in the shadows

Pakistan seems to be split into a minority of two extremes — the liberals and the conservative — whose voices are the loudest. In the meantime, no one knows what the vast majority of Pakistan wants, because no one is listening.

Sabahat Quadri 

Published April 17, 2024 

I have a long-time acquaintance who moved to Pakistan from Malaysia when he was almost an adult. For the sake of his privacy, let’s call him Junaid. He is a globe-trotting critic — the kind of acquaintance you can’t shake off, no matter how hard you try. He swapped the palm-fringed shores of Malaysia for the bustling streets of Pakistan, bringing along more than just his luggage; he brought his opinions too, and boy, does he love to share them.

Having also lived a few years in Saudi Arabia, he’s now busy comparing us to a country that could buy and sell us as a side project, and still telling us how terrible this country is. From bashing Pakistan to praising the latest country he’s set foot in, Junaid’s commentary is as consistent as the sunrise.

Fast forward to our latest encounter right after the elections — Junaid, unable to cast his own vote because he couldn’t get himself a CNIC from Nadra for unknown reasons — found joy in ridiculing those who did. He laughed about how ‘stupid’ PTI supporters were for thinking that voting was going to change the country.

Now, this is an obnoxious man, so I take his comments with a pinch of salt. But he’s not alone in his disdain. A journalist in Islamabad, alongside a Twitter columnist, joined the chorus, labelling PTI supporters as everything from ‘uninformed’ and ‘ignorant’ to ‘over-zealous ideologues’ and ‘fanatics’.

But Pakistan isn’t just a battleground for political debates. It’s a free-for-all where everyone is itching to tell you how to live, how to pray, and even how to think. There’s a Junaid in every corner, ready to school you on the “correct” way to practice Islam or why your political views are outdated, leaving no room for alternative voices — not in politics, not in religion, and not even in culture.

Pakistan seems to be split into a minority of two extremes — the liberals and the religious — whose voices are the loudest. In the meantime, no one knows what the vast majority of Pakistan wants, because no one is listening. Most of us are stuck in the middle, drowned out by the roar of extremism on both ends, silently wondering: “What about us?”
Unaffected by global events

In the global spotlight, there’s a dialogue we’re missing out on. While Israel ramps up its genocidal assault on Palestine (because let’s not forget the escalating violence by the Israelis in the West Bank, despite our focus on Gaza), a new cognisance about colonialism has taken hold.

In their efforts to bring their cause to light, Palestinian voices in the diaspora are leading the charge, exposing colonialism for the ugly truth that it is. Through decades of patient campaigning and organising, Palestinian civil society has raised an awareness across the Global South of the devastation colonialism wrought, its lasting scars and its modern-day manifestations.

In Pakistan, we have also recognised this, but we seem unable to emerge from that looming shadow. Our leaders are both deeply embedded in the neo-colonial capitalist structures and snake pits of the Global North — more concerned with their own pockets than their country. Their collective visions of Pakistan’s future are borrowed from the Middle East or the West, while our intellectual class remains fixated on India. Our leaders completely abrogate any responsibility while the majority of Pakistanis are left to fend for themselves, trapped in poverty, illiteracy, and injustice.

Small sections of civil society are helping to alleviate some of these issues, but unless they can scale up at a phenomenal rate, there is little chance that they’ll do more than apply band-aids to the seething wounds inflicted upon us. Meanwhile, if there is some semblance of organisation within society, some spark of engagement and participatory citizenship — however you may dislike how they participate — we are quick to shut it down with contempt, derision, and indifference.

This is the same contempt a feudal feels for his serfs. The same contempt I’ve seen middle-class women hold for their domestic staff. The same contempt a school owner in a Katchi Abadi in Karachi has for his students (“Why give them parathas when all they’re used to are rotis?”). This isn’t just a lack of empathy; it’s a legacy of colonialism ingrained in our society. It’s the language of the British Raj internalised, absorbed, and well-padded with expensive foreign educations in neo-colonial USA or through Saudi Arabia’s deliberate attempt to spread Salafism.
Divide et Impera

Just as we continue to battle the quest for ‘fair skin’ — our deep-seated gora complex — and the drive to bury our native languages in favour of English, we should recognise that we’ve inherited this attitude of contempt from our oppressors.

After the 1857 War of Independence (which is still referred to in the UK as the Mutiny), Lord Elphinstone wrote:

“I have long considered the subject, and I am convinced that the exact converse of this policy of assimilation is our only safe military policy in India. Divide et impera (divide and rule) was the old Roman motto, and it should be ours. The safety of the great iron steamers, which are adding so much to our military power, and which are probably destined to add still more to our commercial superiority, is greatly increased by building them in compartments. I would ensure the safety of our Indian Empire by constructing our native army on the same principle; for this purpose I would avail myself of those divisions of language and race we find ready to hand.”

Similarly, Brigadier John Coke, an officer in the North West Frontier (before it became a province of Pakistan), said:

“Our endeavour should be to uphold in full force the (fortunate for us) separation which exists between the different religions and races, and not to endeavour to amalgamate them. Divide et impera should be the principle of Indian Government.” [sic]

Years earlier, Lord Macaulay had already started the process of breaking down the subcontinent’s existing education system. Having received an extensive grant for investing in education for the ‘natives’, he was hesitant to invest in existing materials which were all in either Persian, Urdu (which he called Arabic), or Sanskrit.

He lobbied strongly to replace all oriental literature with English books, because he “never found one among them (orientalists) who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is, indeed, fully admitted by those members of the committee who support the oriental plan of education.”

Lord Macaulay relished the idea of educating the Indian into “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.”

The British wanted us divided. They also considered us unable to progress on our own without their superior intellect and help. The US feels no differently. Nor does Saudi Arabia. Both countries have continued to colonise us and divide us.

Where once we longed to be British, we now long to be American or Arab (the rich Arabs, that is. No one here yearns to be a Yemeni). We educate our children in US universities. We internalise their language and their ideologies. These children return to their home countries to bring enlightenment to us. They bring back with them not solutions to the daily struggles of a family of 10 who can’t save for their futures, but principles of capitalism, secularism, liberalism, and rationalism that only serve to crush any last vestiges of identity the population is still clinging on to.

Meanwhile, those coming from the Middle East bring with them the outward trappings of Salafism and a complete disdain for Sufism, our music, our poetry, our rituals and customs, disregarding them all as either ‘innovations’ in Islam or superstitions learned from Hindus.

And this is possibly the logic (and I can find no other logic for it) behind the division of Pakistan into two non-contiguous land masses.

A small example of this attitude is the hugely popular Coke Studio. Leaving aside the irony of a programme sponsored by a global corporation that abets apartheid in Palestine and represents the worst aspects of capitalism, the programme itself is instrumental in reminding our middle classes of the great Sufi legacy we can and should remember, revere, and tap into.

However, as one former colleague of mine put it, it’s too ‘populist’ for him. Suggesting music from Coke Studio at my previous place of work (with a select few, all of whom were educated abroad and belong to the upper crust of society) will return a turned up nose and much mocking. Salafists, on the other hand, simply dismiss music as ‘unIslamic’, and have the same reaction to the popularity of the programme.

In all cases, these segments of society view each other and the vast majority of their fellow citizens (who don’t agree with them) with complete and utter contempt.
Break open the compartments

Britain’s iron steamers left a long time ago. Whatever veneer of civilisation the Global North had has been well and truly stripped since this latest war on Gaza, along with it any notion that Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, could be the spiritual leader of the Ummah.

The United States’ own domestic affairs are in a deep divide. Evidence of the corruption of their leadership, judiciary, media, and political system is visible for the whole world to see. Its social poles keep moving further and further apart. If we must learn from empire, perhaps this is what we should be looking at: what not to do with our own societies.

It’s time we stopped scoffing at each other’s views.

It’s time we stopped dismissing the other for their desi accents or local brand of shoes.

It’s time we turned inwards in contemplation; remember that we are all, from all parts of the country, human beings whose diversity gives us strength rather than dividing us.

It’s time we moved beyond the circles of school and family that keep widening the rift between the silent majority and the vocal few.

Start by actually speaking to the people (which is something that none of the reigning political parties do either) and finding out what they really want, rather than assuming you know what is best for them. Start by listening with the respect we learned from our elders, not the crude superiority of the white man towards the brown native.



The author is a graphic designer, web designer, and writer, currently managing the secondary educational product at Knowledge Platform, where she writes engaging educational content for K-12 English language and development courses on pedagogy.

Did cloud seeding cause powerful Gulf storm?

Reuters 

Published April 18, 2024 

DUBAI: A storm hit the United Arab Emirates and Oman this week bringing record rainfall that flooded highways, inundated houses, grid-locked traffic and trapped people in their homes.

At least 20 people were reported to have died in the deluge in Oman while another person was said to have died in floods in the UAE that closed government offices and schools for days.

The storm had initially hit Oman on Sunday before it pounded the UAE on Tuesday, knocking out power and causing huge disruptions to flights as runways were turned into rivers.

In the UAE, a record 254 millimetres (10 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Al Ain, a city bordering Oman. It was the largest ever in a 24-hour period since records started in 1949.

Experts say global warming leading to ‘extraordinarily’ warm water in seas around Dubai

Cloud seeding?

Rainfall is rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, that is typically known for its dry desert climate. Summer air temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius.

But the UAE and Oman also lack drainage systems to cope with heavy rains and submerged roads are not uncommon during rainfall.

Following Tuesday’s events, questions were raised whether cloud seeding, a process that the UAE frequently conducts, could have caused the heavy rains.

Cloud seeding is a process in which chemicals are implanted into clouds to increase rainfall in an environment where water scarcity is a concern.

The UAE, located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation.

But the UAE’s meteorology agency told Reuters there were no such operations before the storm.

Climate change

The huge rainfall was instead likely due to a normal weather system that was exacerbated by climate change, experts say.

A low pressure system in the upper atmosphere, coupled with low pressure at the surface had acted like a pressure ‘squeeze’ on the air, according to Esraa Alnaqbi, a senior forecaster at the UAE government’s National Centre of Meteorology.

That squeeze, intensified by the contrast between warmer temperatures at ground level and colder temperatures higher up, created the conditions for the powerful thunderstorm, she said.

The “abnormal phenomenon” was not unexpected in April as when the season changes the pressure changes rapidly, she said, adding that climate change also likely contributed to the storm.

Climate scientists say that rising global temperatures, caused by human-led climate change, is leading to more extreme weather events around the world, including intense rainfall.

“Rainfall from thunderstorms, like the ones seen in UAE in recent days, sees a particular strong increase with warming. This is because convection, which is the strong updraft in thunderstorms, strengthens in a warmer world,” said Dim Coumou, a professor in climate extremes at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

‘Can’t create clouds from nothing’

Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London, said rainfall was becoming much heavier around the world as the climate warms because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. It was misleading to talk about cloud seeding as the cause of the heavy rainfall, she said.

“Cloud seeding cant create clouds from nothing. It encourages water that is already in the sky to condense faster and drop water in certain places. So first, you need moisture. Without it, there’d be no clouds,” she said.

Global warming has resulted in “extraordinarily” warm water in the seas around Dubai, where there is also very warm air above, said Mark Howden, Director at the Australian National University’s Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions.

“This increases both potential evaporation rates and the capacity of the atmosphere to hold that water, allowing bigger dumps of rainfall such as what we have just seen in Dubai.” Gabi Hegerl, a climatologist at Edinburgh University, said that extreme rainfall, like in the UAE and Oman, was likely to get worse in many places due to the effects of climate change.

When conditions are perfect for really heavy rain, there’s more moisture in the air, so it rains harder. This extra moisture is because the air is warmer, which is because of human-caused climate change, she said.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024

Motaz Azaiza is representing ‘the voice of Gaza’ with his Time’s most influential people list inclusion

The Palestinian journalist extensively documented the impact of the fighting, Israeli aggression and wide-scale destruction of Gaza for over 100 days.

Images Staff
18 Apr, 2024


Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2024 by Time magazine for acting as the “world’s eyes and ears” during the ongoing Israeli military offensive that has decimated the Gaza Strip.

The list has highlighted the influential people under six categories: leaders, pioneers, artists, icons, innovators and titans.

The photographer took to his Instagram account to emphasise that the honour was not about him but about “what Motaz represents”.

“He represents the voice of Gaza people who got killed, murdered, bombed and displaced by [the] Israeli occupation,” he wrote, sharing a picture of himself posted by Time magazine.






Azaiza also highlighted how he was dubbed “the Palestinian photographer”, stating that he was blessed to share his country’s name wherever he went and whatever he achieved.

“For those who don’t recognise Palestine as a state, or for those who claims that it’s their land. Palestine gonna be free one day from Zionists and occupation.”






“Everyone does his part, and my part is not done yet,” the photojournalist said.

At least 97 journalists and media workers, the majority being Palestinian at 92, have been killed since Israel began its attacks on the Gaza Strip, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.

“Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli ground assault, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages and extensive power outages,” the CPJ notes.

Amid all this, Azaiza extensively documented the impact of the fighting, Israeli aggression and wide-scale destruction of Gaza for over 100 days.

The freelance photographer, who was forced onto the frontlines by the horrors of the conflict as most foreign reporters were denied access to Gaza, gained global attention when he recorded himself wearing a press vest and helmet to report on the conditions during the fighting in Israel.

His coverage often took the form of raw, unfiltered videos about injured children or people crushed under rubble in the aftermath of Israeli aggression.

Azaiza’s Instagram account was a transition of how a city went from lights and joy to death, grief and loss.

He evacuated Gaza in January and is now in Doha, Qatar.

Time said that “for 108 days, Motaz Azaiza acted as the world’s eyes and ears in his native Gaza. Armed with a camera and a flak jacket marked ‘press’, the 25-year-old Palestinian photographer spent nearly four months documenting life under Israeli bombardment.”

It said that his photographs offered a glimpse into Gaza that “few in the international press … could rival”, adding that he did so at “great risk”.

The magazine said that since his evacuation, Azaiza had moved to raising awareness of the crisis and calling for international intervention.

“What is happening in Gaza is not content for you,” he was quoted as saying by the magazine. “We are not telling you what is happening … for your likes or views or shares. No, we are waiting for you to act. We need to stop this war.”

Azaiza was nominated by Yasmeen Serhan, a journalist and a Time magazine staff writer. Other prominent names on the list include singer Dua Lipa, animator Hayao Miyazaki, footballer Patrick Mahomes, Formula One driver Max Verstappen and Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

WORLD:  ‘OUR DRUG TRAFFICKER’

Jorge Heine 

Published April 14, 2024

THE CONVERSATION

When Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted by a federal jury in Manhattan in early March 2024, it marked a spectacular fall from grace: from being courted in the US as a friendly head of state, to facing the rest of his life behind bars, convicted of cocaine importation and weapons offences.

“Juan Orlando Hernández abused his position as president of Honduras to operate the country as a narco-state, where violent drug traffickers were allowed with virtual impunity,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland following the jury conviction.

Anne Milgram, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), added: “When the leader of Honduras and the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel work hand-in-hand to send deadly drugs into the United States, both deserve to be accountable.”

The conviction was a victory for the Justice Department and the DEA. During Hernández’s two terms in office, from 2014 to 2022, he and his acolytes transported more than 400 tonnes of cocaine into the United States, according to US prosecutors. The former head of state now faces a mandatory sentence of up to 40 years in prison; sentencing is scheduled for June 26.

The amazing story of the man who created the first narco-state of the 21st century, and how the United States helped him every step of the way — until now

But there’s more to this story.

As I explore in the book 21st Century Democracy Promotion in the Americas: Standing Up for the Polity, written in collaboration with the Open University’s Britta Weiffen, Honduras is a tragic example of what happens when a country becomes a narco-state.

While its people suffer the consequences — the World Bank reports that about half the country currently lives under poverty — its leaders grow rich through the drugs trade.

Furthermore, the way Hernández came to power and maintained that position for so long could provide “Exhibit A” in any indictment of US policy toward Central America — and Latin America more generally — over the past few decades.

GROWING TIES WITH CARTELS

Up to Hernández’s arrest in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, and extradition to the United States in January 2022, his biggest enabler had been none other than the US government itself.

Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden all backed Hernández and allowed him to inflict enormous harm to Honduras and to the US in the process.

How so? To answer this question, some background is needed.

On June 28, 2009, a classic military coup took place in Honduras. In the wee hours of the morning, while still in his pyjamas, President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya was unceremoniously escorted by armed soldiers from his home and flown to a neighbouring country.

The coup leaders alleged that, by calling for a referendum on reforming the Honduran constitution, the government was moving toward removing the one-term presidential term limit enshrined in the country’s charter and opening the door to authoritarianism.

Initially, then-President Barack Obama protested the coup and took measures against those responsible — the right-wing opponents of Zelaya. But the administration eventually relented and allowed the coup leaders to prevail, largely due to pressure from Republicans, who saw Zelaya as being too close to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, whose leftist agenda was deemed by the GOP [Republican Party] as a threat to US interests.

The coup-makers simply ran the clock against the upcoming election date and installed their own candidate in the presidency, Porfirio Lobo of the National Party, whose son Fabio was also later convicted of cocaine trafficking.

WASHINGTON LOOKS THE OTHER WAY

Lobo laid the foundations of Honduras as the new century’s first narco-state, allowing drug cartels to infiltrate the highest echelons of government and the security apparatus, as the cocaine trade became an increasingly central plank of the country’s economy.

All the while, the US pumped tens of millions of dollars into building up Honduras’ police and military, despite widespread allegations of their being engaged in corruption, complicit in the drugs trade and engaged in human rights abuses.

The dollars continued to flow when Lobo was succeeded in 2013 by his buddy and fellow National Party member, Juan Orlando Hernández.

In 2017, Hernández — an ardent supporter of the 2009 coup — ran for a second term after the Supreme Court of Honduras pronounced this to be perfectly legal.

Many Hondurans believe Hernández stole the November 2017 elections. The vote count was suspended in the middle of the night as Hernández was running behind and, when the polls opened in the morning, he miraculously emerged as a winner.

Despite widespread allegations of election fraud, the US quickly recognised the result, congratulating Hernández on his win. Emboldened by his success, Hernández continued to build up Honduras as the new century’s first narco-state of the Americas.

In 2018, the president’s brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, a former member of the Honduran parliament, was arrested in the US for his association with the Cartel de Sinaloa, the Mexican drug cartel.

This entity valued his services so much that they named a particular strain of cocaine after him, stamping the bags as “TH”. Tony Hernández was convicted on four charges in 2019, sentenced to 30 years in prison, and has been in a US federal prison ever since.

President Hernández denied any association with the cartel, but the evidence pointed to the contrary. As reported in The Economist, in a New York City trial, one accused drug trafficker alleged that Hernández took bribes for “helping cocaine reach the United States.”

Another witness testified that the president had taken two bribes in 2013, before being elected; a former cartel leader testified that the president had been paid $250,000 to protect him from being arrested.

‘COMPLICIT OR GULLIBLE’

Given Hernández’s history in Honduras, the repeated claims of US government officials, that they simply didn’t know of his crimes, ring hollow.

Honduras became a narco-state in part because US policymakers looked the other way as it did so. They embraced Hernández because he was ideologically more palatable and subservient to Washington’s wishes, compared to his rival, Zelaya. But as the trial verdict in Manhattan makes clear, it was a decision with disastrous consequences.

As one State Department official put it, “Today’s verdict makes all of us who collaborated with [Hernández] look either complicit or gullible.”

The latter may be the more charitable assessment. But the truth is more uncomfortable.

The writer is Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University in the USA.

Republished from The Conversation

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 14th, 2024