Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Qatar World Cup chief's shocking admission on deaths of migrant workers

Published on Nov 30, 2022

FIFA World Cup: Qatar World Cup chief said Al-Thawadi was asked about the number of fatalities to migrant workers as a result of the work done in the tournament.

FIFA World Cup: Christian Pulisic scores as USA beat Iran in the FIFA World Cup 2022.(Reuters)

Qatar World Cup chief Hassan Al-Thawadi said that between 400 and 500 migrant workers have died as a result of work done on projects connected to the tournament. The number is a greater figure than Qatari officials cited previously.

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Al-Thawadi was asked about the number of fatalities to migrant workers as a result of the work done in the tournament.

“The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500. I don’t have the exact number, that’s something that’s been discussed. One death is too many, it’s as simple as that," he said.

“I think every year the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites, the ones that we’re responsible for, most definitely," he added.

Earlier, a Qatari government official told CNN there had been three work-related deaths on World Cup stadiums and 37 non-work-related deaths. The figures were reiterated by a spokesperson for Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) as well.

In a statement, the spokesperson said, “Separate quotes regarding figures refer to national statistics covering the period of 2014-2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities.”

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported last year that 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the World Cup in 2010.

World Cup 2022 'catalyst' for change as Qatar says up to 500 workers died

Organising committee chief says one death is a death too many and improvements are being made

Hassan Al Thawadi, chief executive of Qatar's World Cup organising committee, spoke to Piers Morgan about migrant workers. Bloomberg

The National
Nov 29, 2022

Up to 500 migrant workers died during preparations for the World Cup tournament being held in Qatar, the country's World Cup chief said.

"One death is a death too many. Plain and simple," Hassan Al Thawadi, chief executive of Qatar's World Cup organising committee, told British TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored.

Mr Al Thawadi said there had been three work-related deaths and 37 non-work-related deaths at the stadiums.

When asked what the exact number of migrant workers who died in construction for the World Cup in the past 12 years, he said: "The estimate is around 400. Between 400 and 500."

"Every year the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites," Mr Al Thawadi said.

He said German and Swiss trade unions had commended the standards.

"The improvements that happened aren't because of the World Cup, they are improvements we knew we had to do because of our own values."

Mr Al Thawadi said the tournament served as a "catalyst" to speed up the process of improving health and safety and accommodation standards.

Qatar relies heavily on migrant workers, who make up about 95 per cent of its labour force. It has enacted labour reforms in recent years that have been welcomed by the UN and rights groups.

But those groups say exploitation is still widespread and more should be done to protect workers from wage theft and harsh conditions.

Mr Al Thawadi said he was "proud" of the tournament so far and that the first World Cup in the Arab world was producing some exciting stories on and off the pitch.

He said Arab fans were supporting each other.

"For our region, as Qataris, as Arabs, we're extremely proud," he told Piers Morgan.

But Mr Al Thawadi said he felt BBC coverage of the tournament was unfair, including a decision to have commentator Gary Lineker talk about Qatar's human rights record during the opening ceremony.

He said Qatar had invited Lineker to meet him and visit Qatar in February.

Where do India, US stand after 14 years of nuclear deal?

Although Washington has not yet provided reactors since signing Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2008, experts say it benefited New Delhi in many ways

Shuriah Niazi |30.11.2022

NEW DELHI

Though the US has not provided reactors since signing a Civil Nuclear Agreement with India in 2008, analysts believe the deal has benefitted the South Asian nation of around 1.4 billion people in several ways, including opening doors to critical technology to meet the much-needed energy requirements.

The agreement provides nuclear material transfers, nuclear trade, nuclear equipment, components, and related technologies, as well as collaboration in nuclear fuel cycle activities.

The deal signed on Oct. 10 in Washington by India’s then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his US counterpart then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has never been fully implemented, but it benefitted New Delhi greatly in many ways, said Sameer Patil, a Mumbai-based security analyst with a doctorate in nuclear policy decision-making.

India gained from nuclear trade, defense modernization, and civil space development, Patil told Anadolu Agency.

The country's current installed nuclear power capacity is 6,780 MW, with 22 active nuclear power reactors. In addition, the government informed the parliament in March this year that one reactor, KAPP-3 (700 MW), was connected to the grid in Jan. 2021.

Earlier, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) and Westinghouse, a US private firm in energy-related projects, agreed in June 2016 to finish contractual terms for six reactors by June 2017. These reactors were expected to provide India with clean energy, lessen its reliance on fossil resources, and create thousands of employment in the US. However, India has yet to get nuclear reactors.

According to experts, numerous issues contributed to the delay, the most significant of which was the bankruptcy of Westinghouse, which was scheduled to deliver reactors and was subsequently sold off.

Vivek Mishra, a senior member of the Observer Research Foundation, an independent global think tank based in Delhi, said it is difficult to focus on deliverables when power and ownership shifts occur within the organization itself.

The second point is that nuclear reactors take a long time to build, but Mishra expressed hope that the US would immediately speed up the delivery of nuclear reactors.

“We often forget that private players were central pillars in this deal. For instance, Westinghouse was a very important factor since it committed to providing India with nuclear reactors, but the company went bankrupt.

“With the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the resulting global energy crisis looming large over the world, countries are now focusing again on the need for clean energy, and nuclear energy is certainly one of them,” he said.

“In the context of the current energy crisis and its possible impact on the world order, there is more probability of India and the US expediting the nuclear reactors that have been pending for a long time now,” he asserted.

However, Patil argued that, even though the country did not receive a nuclear reactor, the deal transformed the character of the relationship and helped India increase its exports.

"For example, in 2000, the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) required export control licenses for over 25% of exports to India," he explained, adding that "however, since 2009, the majority of shipments did not require any clearance from the US Department of Commerce, with less than 1% of US exports to India requiring a BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) Export License," he said.

- Import of nuclear fuel

As India lacks significant Uranium reserves and the number of nuclear reactors increased following the agreement, its nuclear power facilities were unable to run at full capacity. As a result, the uranium shortage impacted domestic reactors, negatively impacting their performance.

However, as part of the nuclear deal, India signed uranium import agreements with many countries, including France, Russia, Canada, Australia, and Kazakhstan. Its plants started running more efficiently.

India has become the only country outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to obtain nuclear fuel for its reactors, Mishra said.

"Let us not jump to conclusions by blaming the bilateral relationship; instead, we should be grateful for the bilateral channels that have opened up as a result of the 2008 nuclear deal," he said, adding that “it is now up to the various parties, both public and private, to move this ahead and address the delay."

India has vowed to triple its energy from renewable and clean sources over the next decade, he added.

“To that end, the country is already expanding the percentage share of nuclear energy. Of course, one example is the Kovadda nuclear project in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which is now on a fast track,” he added.

Gender-Based Violence Continues to Impede Progress Towards Gender Equality

November 30, 2022 By Alyssa Kumler

“COVID-19 and the backlash against women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are further diminishing the outlook for gender equality,” states a recent report on the current progress toward gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Yet the new report also zeroes in on another factor that is diminish progress on gender equality: violence. The authors observe that “violence against women remains high, global health, climate and humanitarian crises have further increased risks of violence, especially for the most vulnerable women and girls, and women feel more unsafe than they did before the pandemic.”

So it is fitting that the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV)—a global campaign to raise awareness about and work to eliminate violence against women and girls—is currently underway. The recent report makes clear the connections between GBV and gender inequality, and also calls attention to what still needs to be done to reach the SDGs by 2030 by looking beyond SDG 5 (Gender Equality) to how this concept is essential across each SDG. The report also clearly demonstrates that the global economy is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

The authors of the report also provide evidence on how common violence against women and girls remains. Currently, one in three women or girls experience gender-based violence during their lifetime. The perpetrators of this violence are often close to these women and girls. In the past year, one in every ten women and girls experienced sexual and/or physical violence from an intimate partner. Further, the report states, “one woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family every 11 minutes.” Even with a global increase of laws which prevent and address GBV, the report estimates that at the current rate, it will be another 21 years until these laws exist globally.

COVID-19, forced displacement, and climate change are drivers of both gender-based violence and the recently slowed progress toward gender equality. Displacement exposes women and girls to higher risks of violence, sexual abuse, and trafficking. Additionally, the authors note that “economic shocks from COVID-19 and extreme climate events, such as floods and droughts, have further undercut food security in the region. Women and girls are most impacted by the reduced access to land, education, and financial resources.

Another study published in June by The Lancet focuses on the connections between GBV experienced by women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities and extreme weather events related to climate change. In this systematic review, the authors complied evidence from more than 41 qualitative and quantitative articles on the subject. They found that “most studies showed an increase in one or several GBV forms during or after extreme events, often related to economic instability, food insecurity, mental stress, disrupted infrastructure, increased exposure to men, tradition, and exacerbated gender inequality.”

These two reports are useful for policy makers seeking to understand the widespread impact of GBV and how it is stalling progress on the SDGs. It is also clear that more funding and investment is required toward tracking these goals. Of the 193 UN member states, “only 47 percent of data required to track progress on SDG 5 are currently available, rendering women and girls effectively invisible,” write the authors of the UN report. “Global cooperation and investments in the gender equality agenda, including through increased national funding, are essential to right the course and place SDG 5 back on track.”

The United Nations report also emphasized the remaining work, observing that “moving forward, progress on SDG 5 will remain out of reach unless long-term structural barriers to gender equality, including discriminatory norms, laws and practices, are addressed and dismantled.”

The authors of the Lancet report also affirmed the connection between GBV, climate change, and gender equality and its significance, and note that “failing to address GBV in the context of extreme events might undermine efforts towards gender equality and sustainable interventions.”

Read more:Refugee communities are especially impacted by gender-based violence during COVID-19

Local, women-led leadership can be effective in reducing gender-based violence when these groups are including in programming

Changing institutional priorities in humanitarian responses is necessary to reduce gender-based violence

Sources: The Lancet: Planetary Health, United Nations, UN Women, World Health Organization

Photo Credit: A husband and wife in the Democratic Republic of Congo hold signs up in opposition to sexual and gender-based violence, courtesy of Flickr user USAID in Africa.

Africa: Gender Inequalities Hampering Global Efforts to End AIDS

UNAIDS
World AIDS Day, December 1, 2022.

29 NOVEMBER 2022
UN News Service

Inequalities will prevent the world from meeting agreed global targets on AIDS, but a "feminist route map" can get countries back on track, the UN agency leading the fight against the disease said in a report published on Tuesday.

The study shows how gender inequalities and harmful gender norms are blocking the end of the AIDS pandemic, with rising new infections and continuing deaths in many parts of the planet.

Last year, 650 000 people died from AIDS and 1.5 million acquired HIV, the virus that causes the disease.

The way out

"The world will not be able defeat AIDS while reinforcing patriarchy," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, who called for addressing the intersecting inequalities that women face.

"The only effective route map to ending AIDS, achieving the sustainable development goals and ensuring health, rights and shared prosperity, is a feminist route map," she said.

"Women's rights organizations and movements are already on the frontlines doing this bold work. Leaders need to support them and learn from them."

'Dangerous Inequalities' affect women

In areas of high HIV burden, women subjected to intimate partner violence face up to a 50 per cent higher chance of acquiring the virus, according to the Dangerous Inequalities report.

During the period from 2015 to 2021, only 41 per cent of married women aged 15-24 in 33 countries could make their own decisions on sexual health.

The effects of gender inequalities on women's HIV risks are especially pronounced in sub- Saharan Africa, where women accounted for 63 per cent of new HIV infections in 2021.

Furthermore, adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years in the region are three times more likely to acquire HIV than their male counterparts.

A question of power

The driving factor is power, UNAIDS said, citing a study that showed how girls' vulnerability to HIV infection is reduced by up to 50 per cent if they are allowed to stay in school and complete secondary education.

"When this is reinforced with a package of empowerment support, girls' risks are reduced even further," the agency said.

"Leaders need to ensure all girls are in school, are protected from violence which is often normalized including through underage marriages, and have economic pathways that guarantee them a hopeful future."

Meanwhile, "harmful masculinities" are discouraging men from seeking care. Only 70 per cent of men living with HIV were accessing treatment in 2021, compared to 80 per cent of women.

"Increasing gender-transformative programming in many parts of the world is key to halting the pandemic," said the report.

Young lives at risk

Inequalities in access to treatment between adults and children is also holding up AIDS response but closing the gap will save lives.

Although over three-quarters of adults living with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy, just over half of children are receiving this lifesaving medicine.

Last year, children accounted for only four per cent of people living with HIV, but 15 per cent of all AIDS-related deaths.

Discrimination, stigmatization and criminalization of key populations are also costing lives, UNAIDS added.

New analysis shows no significant decline in new infections among gay men and other men who have sex with men, both in the western and central Africa region, and in the eastern and southern region of the continent.

"Facing an infectious virus, failure to make progress on key populations undermines the entire AIDS response and helps explain slowing progress," the agency warned.

Progress is possible

The report also reveals that progress against inequalities is possible.

For example, even though surveys often highlight lower service coverage among key populations, three counties in Kenya have achieved higher HIV treatment coverage among female sex workers than among women overall.

Countries know what to do to end inequalities, said Ms. Byanyima.

She listed actions that include ensuring all girls are in school, tackling gender-based violence, and supporting women's organizations.

"Promote healthy masculinities--to take the place of the harmful behaviours which exacerbate risks for everyone. Ensure services for children living with HIV reach them and meet their needs, closing the treatment gap so that we end AIDS in children for good," she continued.

"Decriminalize people in same-sex relationships, sex workers, and people who use drugs, and invest in community-led services that enable their inclusion -- this will help break down barriers to services and care for millions of people."

Equalizing benefits everyone

The report further shows that donor funding is helping to spur increased funding by governments. However, new investments to address inequalities are urgently needed, particularly at a time when many richer countries are cutting back aid for global health.

Stepping up support is critical to getting the AIDS response back on track.

"What world leaders need to do is crystal clear," said Ms Byanyima. "In one word: Equalize. Equalize access to rights, equalize access to services, equalize access to the best science and medicine. Equalizing will not only help the marginalised. It will help everyone."

Read the original article on UN News.

Africa:

Innovative Solutions for Ending Female Genital Mutilation in Africa

Win Seed Funding and Support From UNFPA FGM Innovation Hacklab

UNFPA
FGM Hacklab winners Mack Marangu of Enlightened Generation International, from Kenya, and Glory Mlagwa of Ennovate Ventures, from Tanzania, were awarded $30,000 in seed funding.

29 NOVEMBER 2022
UNFPA East and Southern Africa (Johannesburg)

PRESS RELEASE

Nairobi, Kenya — Two ground-breaking innovative solutions for ending female genital mutilation (FGM) on the continent are the winners of UNFPA's FGM Innovation Hacklab.

The FGM Innovation HackLab Initiative, supports Africa's young people and youth organizations in developing innovative solutions to end FGM. The initiative was organized by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP) and the global UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.

The winners, Mack Marangu of Enlightened Generation International, Kenya, and Glory Mlagwa of Ennovate Ventures, Tanzania, were each awarded $30,000 in seed funding. This will support the growth of their solutions, aimed at accelerating progress towards zero FGM in Africa. The winners will also receive incubation support coordinated by AfriLabs.

Mack Marangu's innovation is a mobile application built to track school attendance by girls most at risk of undergoing FGM. "In areas where the practice is prevalent, school absence is one of the signs that indicates a girl is about to undergo FGM," said Mr. Marangu. "We are looking forward to scaling the innovation to reach more communities in Kenya with the tools, to gather real-time data that can inform action to end FGM."

The winning solution from Tanzania's Glory Mlagwa is a platform to disseminate community health information on FGM through media, visual arts and community outreach sessions. "We owe it to every girl in Tanzania to help reach zero FGM by 2030, and we have to work together as a community to achieve this," she said.

The winners were selected from a pool of six finalists drawn from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Nigeria and Guinea.

"I am inspired by the innovative ideas presented by the young people from across Africa. Each of them presents an opportunity to ensure that no girl falls into the statistics of women who have undergone FGM," said Kenya's Anti-FGM Chief Executive Officer, Bernadette Loloju.

The UNFPA FGM Innovation Hacklab provides a platform for young people to share innovative ideas and solutions to fast track the ending of FGM across Africa. This year, the hacklab engaged more than 100 innovation incubation/accelerator hubs across Africa, and more than 300 innovators working on achieving bodily autonomy, especially innovative solutions to end FGM. More than 300 innovators and hubs engaged on the application platform, and 31 submissions were received.

Launched in 2021, the hacklab has identified more than 100 innovative solutions, disbursed over $150,000 in seed funds and provided comprehensive business incubation support to scaleable and viable solutions across the continent. In all, more than 1 million young people have been reached with information about FGM innovation as a result.

"The African continent has the youngest population in the world. UNFPA is committed to creating opportunities for this generation to work and innovate toward the sustainable development goals," said UNFPA Kenya Deputy Representative, Dr. Abiodun Oyeyipo.

About UNFPA

UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education.

UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation

The UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation is the largest global programme to accelerate the abandonment of this harmful traditional practice and thereby advance the rights, health and well-being of women and girls. The programme has catalysed a global movement to eliminate FGM and has shown an unparalleled ability to effect change at the regional, subregional, national and community levels.

Israeli Troops Kill Several Palestinians during Clashes in West Bank

Israeli troops shot dead several Palestinians, among them two brothers, during clashes in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank Tuesday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a press statement that a 22-year-old Palestinian named Jawad Al-Rimawi, and Zafer, his 21-year-old brother, were killed after they were shot by Israeli soldiers near the village of Kafr Ein northwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The two brothers were critically wounded first and were taken to the Salfit Hospital, the statement said. They then succumbed to their wounds.

Another Palestinian man fell victim to Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Israeli regime forces shot dead the man in an alleged car ramming near Ramallah.

The killings came only a few hours after Israeli troops shot dead another Palestinian, named Mufeed Mohammad Ikhlil, during confrontations in Beit Ummar town, located eleven kilometers northwest of al-Khalil.

The 44-year-old was shot in the head and died as Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing Palestinians engaged in skirmishes.

Nine others were shot by live bullets as well. One was hit in the chest while the rest were struck in the upper and lower parts of their bodies. They were taken to nearby hospitals, and are said to be in stable condition.

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has strongly denounced the deaths of the three Palestinians on Tuesday, including the two brothers, during Israeli military raids across the West Bank, stating that the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes will be met with an upsurge in retaliatory attacks and acts of resistance.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the Gaza-based group, said the occupying Israeli regime is desperately seeking to suffocate the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian nation to recover their land and enjoy freedom by means of killings and assassinations.

He stressed that the blood of martyrs will fuel the Palestinian nation’s ongoing popular uprising against the Israeli occupation.

Israeli forces have recently been conducting overnight raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.

Since the start of 2022, Israeli troops have killed more than 200 Palestinians, including more than 50 children, in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds as well as the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in the occupied West Bank this year is the highest in 16 years.

Local and international rights groups have condemned Israel’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.

13-year-old Palestinian martyred by Zionist forces in Negev

TEHRAN, Nov. 30 (MNA) – Palestinian sources on Wednesday evening announced that a Palestinian child was martyred after sustaining severe injuries from a shot by the Zionist regime's forces.

The Palestinian child had been wounded when the Israeli regime police shot him on November 1, 2022.

The news comes as atrocities by the Zionists have increased against the Palestinian citizens in the Occupied West Bank and al-Quds.

5 Palestinians were martyred by the Zionist forces just yesterday.

CRYPTO PONZI SCHEME

Singapore's Temasek holds internal review of $275 mln FTX-related loss

Reuters
Publishing date: Nov 30, 2022 •

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Wednesday that Temasek Holdings has initiated an internal review of its investment in the now-bankrupt FTX crypto exchange, which resulted in a write-down of $275 million.

Wong, who is also finance minister, said the loss did not mean state investor Temasek’s governance system was not working and “no amount of due diligence and monitoring can eliminate the risks altogether.”

But Singapore’s leader-in-waiting told parliament the loss was “disappointing” and had caused reputational damage to Temasek.

“The fact that other leading global institutional investors like BlackRock and Sequoia Capital also invested in FTX does not mitigate this,” said Wong.

After pumping about $275 million into FTX, Temasek decided to write down the investment following the spectacular collapse of the exchange.

The review will be conducted by an independent internal team reporting directly to the board and will not involve those who made the investment, Wong said.

Temasek has said its cost of investment in FTX was 0.09% of its net portfolio value of S$403 billion ($293.97 billion) as of March 31, 2022, and it currently had no direct exposure in cryptocurrencies.

Explaining its actions, Temasek said it had conducted “extensive due diligence” on FTX from February to October 2021 and its audited financial statement then “showed it to be profitable.”

Wong told lawmakers the individual loss did not impact returns to Singapore’s reserves, which are tied to long-term returns.

FTX’s other backers such as SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital have also marked down their investment to zero after FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States this month week in the highest-profile crypto blowup to date. ($1 = 1.3709 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Chen Lin and Xinghui Kok; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Ed Davies)

Canadian federal police investigating widespread China interference

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with China's President Xi Jinping at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, November 16, 2022. (Reuters)

AFP, Ottawa
Published: 30 November ,2022:

Canadian federal police are investigating widespread interference by China in Canadian affairs, including its “democratic processes,” the nation’s top cop has said in a letter to a parliamentary committee but without detailing the allegations.

The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is looking into possible foreign interference in Canadian elections.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

The letter obtained by AFP on Tuesday was sent to the committee by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Brenda Lucki.

In it she says there was “no evidence at the time” of interference in the 2019 federal election following reports that Beijing had funded a “clandestine network” of candidates.

But, she added, “the RCMP can confirm that it currently does have investigations into broader foreign actor interference activities.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons that Canada’s “intelligence services have highlighted many times that interference in Canadian affairs by foreign powers is an ongoing thing.”

However, “Canadians can be reassured that the integrity of our elections was not compromised,” he added.

At the G20 summit earlier this month, Trudeau raised allegations of Chinese meddling with President Xi Jinping but got an on-camera dressing down by Xi after their discussions were leaked to the media.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino declined to comment on specific RCMP probes, but added: “We take allegations of foreign interference very seriously.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Wednesday described the accusations as “groundless.”

“China never interferes in other countries’ internal affairs and opposes any country interfering in other countries’ internal affairs. The so-called Chinese interference in the Canadian election is purely fictitious and sheer nonsense,” Zhao told a regular press briefing.

On Monday, a Chinese electric battery researcher facing charges of industrial espionage was granted bail.

Yuesheng Wang, 35, allegedly used his position at public utility Hydro Quebec to conduct research for a Chinese university and filed patents “in association with this foreign actor,” using proprietary information.

The RCMP has also said it is looking into China's use of illegal police stations in Toronto to carry out policing operations on foreign soil – which Beijing has denied as “completely false.”

And it is investigating the possible transfer of intellectual property to China by two scientists at Canada’s top-security infectious-disease laboratory in Winnipeg.

Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, have reportedly relocated to China after they were fired in January 2021 from the National Microbiology Laboratory.

Xi vs Trudeau: How China is Rewriting History with the Colonial West

by Ramzy Baroud / November 29th, 2022

Though brief, the exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on November 16 has become a social media sensation. Xi, assertive if not domineering, lectured the visibly apprehensive Trudeau about the etiquette of diplomacy. This exchange can be considered another watershed moment in China’s relationship with the West.

“If there was sincerity on your part,” the Chinese President told Trudeau, “then we shall conduct our discussion with an attitude of mutual respect, otherwise there might be unpredictable consequences.”

At the end of the awkward conversation, Xi was the first to walk away, leaving Trudeau uncomfortably making his way out of the room.

For the significance of this moment to be truly appreciated, it has to be viewed through a historical prism.

When western colonial powers began the process of exploiting China in earnest – early to mid-19th century – the total size of the Chinese economy was estimated to be one-third of the world’s entire economic output. In 1949, when Chinese nationalists managed to win their independence following hundreds of years of colonialism, political meddling and economic exploitation, China’s total GDP merely accounted for 4 percent of the world’s total economy.

In the period between the first Opium War in 1839 and China’s independence, over a hundred years later, tens of millions of Chinese perished as a result of direct wars, subsequent rebellions and famines. The so-called Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) was one of the many desperate attempts by the Chinese people to reclaim a degree of independence and assert nominal sovereignty over their land. The outcome, however, was devastating, as the rebels, along with the Chinese military, were crushed by the mostly Western alliance, which involved the United States, Austria-Hungary, Britain, France and others.

The death toll was catastrophic, with moderate estimations putting it at over 100,000. And subsequently, once more, China was forced to toe the line as it has done in the two Opium Wars and many other occasions in the past.

China’s independence in 1949 did not automatically signal the return of China to its past grandeur as a global, or even an Asian power. The process of rebuilding was long, costly and sometimes even devastating: Trials and errors, internal conflicts, cultural revolutions, periods of ‘great leaps forward’ but sometimes, also great stagnation.

Seven decades later, China is back at the center of global affairs. Good news for some. Terrible news for others.

The 2022 US National Security Strategy document released on October 22, describes China as “the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it.”

The US position is not at all surprising, because the West continues to define its relationship with Beijing based on a colonial inheritance, a legacy that spans hundreds of years.

For the West, the re-rise of China is problematic, not because of its human rights record but because of its growing share of the global economy which, in 2021, accounted for 18.56%. This economic power, coupled with growing military prowess, practically means that Beijing will soon be able to dictate political outcomes in its growing sphere of influence in the Pacific region, and also worldwide.

The irony in all of this is that, once upon a time, it was China, along with most of Asia and the Global South that were divided into spheres of influence. Seeing Beijing creating its own equivalence to the West’s geopolitical dominance must be quite unsettling for Western governments.

For many years, Western powers have used the pretense of China’s human rights record to provide a moral foundation for meddling. Purporting to defend human rights and champion democracy have historically been convenient Western tools that provided a nominal ethical foundation for interventions. Indeed, in the Chinese context, the Eight-Nations Alliance, which crushed the Boxer Rebellion, was predicated on similar principles.

The charade continues until this day, with the defense of Taiwan and the rights of the Uyghurs and other minorities being placed on top of the US and Western agendas respectively.

Of course, human rights have very little to do with the US-Western attitude towards China. As much as ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy’ were hardly the motivator behind the US-Western invasion of Iraq in 2003. The difference between Iraq, an isolated and weakened Arab country at the height of American military dominance in the Middle East, and China today is massive. The latter represents the backbone of the global economy. Its military power and growing geopolitical import will prove difficult – if at all possible – to curtail.

In fact, language emanating from Washington indicates that the US is taking the first steps in acknowledging China’s inevitable rise as a global competitor. Prior to his meeting with President Xi in Indonesia on November 15, Biden had finally, although subtly, acknowledged the uncontested new reality when he said that “We’re going to compete vigorously but I’m not looking for conflict. I’m looking to manage this competition responsibly.”

Xi’s attitude towards Trudeau at the G20 summit may be read as another episode of China’s so-called ‘Wolf Diplomacy’. However, the dramatic event – the words, the body language and the subtle nuances – indicate that China does not only see itself as deserving of global importance and respect, but also as a superpower.

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Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons (Clarity Press). Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs, Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). Read other articles by Ramzy, or visit Ramzy's website.

Hey CIJA! Conflating Jews with Israel is racist

by Yves Engler / November 29th, 2022

Charges of “antisemitism” have been degraded to the point where they often sound like a 6-year-old telling other kids not to play with Johnnie because he has cooties.

Recently federal NDP executive member Ryan Painter quote-tweeted me saying “Don’t listen to anything Yves Engler says. He’s Canada’s leading antisemite and doesn’t want anything more than to spread Jew hatred.” The Senior Director at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) Nico Slobinsky, American Jewish Committee Campus Board Member Nati Pressmann and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Policy Director Jaime Kirzner-Roberts all liked the tweet from the chair of the Greater Victoria School Board.

The reason for the vitriol? Two months ago, I embarrassed Painter on Twitter after he slammed Jagmeet Singh for taking action on Palestine. In “Curious case of NDP exec attacking party leader on Palestine” I also detailed Painter’s bizarre shift from referring to Israel as an apartheid state to disparaging those, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who point out the obvious institutional oppression of Palestinians.

Painter’s smear was a response to my challenging Noah Tepperman for criticizing Toronto Star columnist Shree Paradkar after she wrote critically about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s anti-Palestinian definition of antisemitism. In response to Paradkar posting “Why the definition of antisemitism has become such a polarizing issue”, Tepperman wrote, “As a progressive I’m constantly shocked by the near-total acceptance of antisemitism in progressive dialogue, and the lack of self-awareness that enables it. In the face of rising violent and non-violent antisemitism, your argument amounts to little more than ‘all lives matter’.”

In response I wrote, “Progressives don’t sit on the board of explicitly racist groups as you do Noah. The Jewish National Fund operates a form of legalized racism Canadian courts outlawed 7 decades ago but you are ok with it so long as it’s Jews that benefit. Your anti Palestinian racism is disgusting.” Among the highest profile anti-Palestinian activists in the NDP, Tepperman has long sat on the board of the Windsor branch of the JNF, which excludes non-Jews from its vast landholdings in Israel.

Imagine calling yourself progressive and sitting on the board of an organization practicing a form of overt, legalistic, racism? And then having the chutzpah to complain about discrimination!

In the latest instance of the apartheid lobby claiming discrimination, CIJA attacked socialist Ontario MPP Joel Harden for “spreading what can only be called antisemitism and misinformation about Israel.” While there was nothing anti-Jewish in the interview between Harden and Peter Larson of Canada Talks Israel/Palestine, the Ontario NDP pressured him to apologize. To no one’s surprise CIJA and other Israel lobby groups immediately upped the ante by demanding Harden be expelled from the party’s caucus.

While the media and a disturbing number of ‘progressives’ blindly follow the apartheid lobby, CIJA’s double standards are flagrant. The well-staffed and financed group twisted a 30-minute long, nuanced, discussion into suggesting Harden blamed all Jews for Israel’s violence. While claiming a leftist had done a very bad thing by conflating Jews with Israel — even though Harden did not actually do that — CIJA regularly conflates Jews with Israel.

In fact, their name was partly chosen to blur that distinction. A decade ago, the Tanenbaums, Schwartz/Reisman and other wealthy hard-line apartheid promoters created CIJA to replace the Canadian Jewish Congress and Canada Israel Committee. They removed Canada from the name but left Israel in it.

As CIJA bemoaned Harden’s purported conflation of Jews with Israel CIJA associate director of partnerships Sheba Birhanu forcefully equated Jews and Zionism in “Jewish voices aren’t heard when we call out hate”. In Tuesday’s Globe and Mail she wrote “to deny Israel is to deny Jewish identity. Most Canadian Jews have an attachment to Israel. They are Zionists. Those who deny this component of Jewish identity exclude Jews from spaces that purport to seek justice. In rejecting Zionists, they reject Canadian Jews.”

In a bitter irony, there’s a correlation between Jewish activists who conflate Jews with Israel and those who cry antisemitism when someone associated with Palestine solidarity does so. A particularly striking example is disgraced former Green party adviser Noah Zatsman. He complained bitterly about Harden’s purported “trope” while repeatedly tweeting “All JEWS are Zionists”. He even does so in the same short message. In a tweet attacking Avi Lewis for defending Harden, Zatsman complained, “This is so disturbing. Has his Twitter been hacked? Avi Lewis begging you to please stop being this outlier for no reason in the face of a terrible antisemitic trope. ALL Jews are zionists.” The cognitive dissonance is remarkable.

The antisemitism charge is not simply a way to enable Palestinian oppression and protect a war-mongering settler colonial outpost, it’s a cudgel for the establishment to destroy the political forces that offer a glimmer of hope for overcoming the existential crises befalling humanity. The attack on Harden, an eco-socialist ‘movement’ politician, highlights that.

In Britain left-wing Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was demonized as a supporter of dictators, terrorist sympathizer, anti-English, etc., but the anti-Jewish slander stuck since Corbyn and some supporters bent to the defamation. That’s precisely what Harden and the Ontario NDP has just done. If leftists don’t come out swinging on these cynical smears the attacks will continue to destroy movements that offer the prospect of a better future.

But, as wise NDP executive member Ryan Painter once said, “don’t listen to anything Yves Engler says. He’s Canada’s leading antisemite.”Facebook

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Yves Engler is the author of 12 books. His latest book is Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People's History of the Canadian Military . Read other articles by Yves.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Zionism is Anti-Semitism

What does the ‘end of the Christian era’ mean for the Church of England?

Latest census reveals England and Wales now minority Christian countries for first time

THE WEEK STAFF
30 NOV 2022

Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Less than half of people in England and Wales describe themselves as Christian for the first time, the 2021 census has revealed.

‘Pray to stay’: Church of England facing questions over asylum seeker conversions

What is the church’s role in politics?

Is the Vatican facing a cash crisis?

The proportion of those identifying as Christian when asked “what is your religion” fell to 46.2% last year, down from 59.3% in 2011 when the last census was conducted, a drop of 5.5 million people.

The number of people saying they had no religion rising to 37.2%, which means there are now nearly as many people who do not believe in a higher power as Christians in England and Wales.

The figures make grim reading for the Church of England, which was already facing record low church attendances and an ageing congregation, with many now saying it faces an existential threat to its centuries-old place at the heart of British society.
What did the papers say?

“It may feel like a pivotal moment,” said BBC religion editor Aleem Maqbool, “but for years social surveys have shown a rapid rise in those who define themselves as having no religion.” Now that figure is 46.2%, or 27.5 million people.

The Guardian reported that humanists and secularists have “seized on the figures as proof of the need for reform of religion’s role in a society which has bishops of the established Church of England voting on laws and compulsory Christian worship in all schools that are not of a designated religious character.

“One of the most striking things about these census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself,” the chief executive of Humanists UK, Andrew Copson, told the paper. “No state in Europe has such a religious set-up as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population.”

Professor Alec Ryrie, of the University of Durham’s theology and religion department, told the inews site that “there’s every reason to think the fall in 2031 will be even sharper”, as the traditional English identity had been “rapidly softening since the 1960s”. “It may be that Christianity will no longer be a dominant or a default identity, but a religion of outsiders and of the marginalised,” he said.

But in a striking sign that a decline in religiosity is not universal, census data revealed that every major religion, except Christianity, increased in followers over the latest ten-year period, with more than 1.2 million more people identifying as Muslim in England and Wales in 2021 than in 2011.

“As with ethnicity, patterns of family size and immigration are seen as contributory factors”, said Maqbool.

What next?

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said the latest census result “throws down a challenge to us not only to trust that God will build his kingdom on Earth but also to play our part in making Christ known.

“We have left behind the era when many people almost automatically identified as Christian but other surveys consistently show how the same people still seek spiritual truth and wisdom and a set of values to live by”.

But speaking to Fox News, Gavin Ashenden, a former Church of England priest who served as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II from 2008 until he resigned in 2017, said the Church of England’s attempt to remain cultural relevant was rapidly losing it followers.

Ashenden, who is now a Roman Catholic, said he believed Anglicans and Protestants generally have experienced a “huge crisis in confidence” since losing their faith in the authority of the Bible, which he claimed has been replaced with political correctness.

“Political correctness arrived just at the point when the Protestants were losing maximum confidence, so they grabbed fairness, equality, inclusion,” he said. “This became for them a safety harness for all their utopian longing, which in a generation before, they would have put into heaven and hell.”

Modernising proposals are being fought against tooth and nail by congregations and clergy across the UK, with vicar Angela Tilby in the Church Times claiming the mass closure of rural churches “will change the landscape of England for ever.

“In small country communities, it could extinguish any remaining trust in the Church of England” she warned. “The institution seems hollowed out, defensive and diminished,” said the New European, and “although it strives to remain relevant in today’s society…it is these days pretty marginal to most people’s lives”.

Some point to the success of initiatives such as the Alpha Course, which attract a much younger demographic than traditionally attend church, as a model the wider Church of England could follow, while Cottrell has claimed that Christianity continues to play a major role in secular society, especially during the current cost-of-living crisis, when “people right across the country, some in desperate need, will be turning to their local church, not only for spiritual hope but practical help”.

This is ultimately a functionalist view of religion, “that a shared faith serves the needs of a society”, said Sumit Paul-Choudhury for BBC Future.

“Under this argument, any religion that does endure has to offer its adherents tangible benefits”, he said. The alternative “we take for granted” but are “also oddly blind to”, he added, is that “religions are born, grow and die”.

In the 1960s, when asked whether he thought the church would survive, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey replied “Well, you know, that is not certain. Not certain, not certain at all. It might easily, quite easily, just fall away.

“All Christian denominations are in long-term decline, but the established church particularly so,” concluded the New European. “On current projections, Ramsey’s prediction may even come true within 40 years.”