German military builds training ground for civil war

Johannes Stern

Beginning next year, German soldiers will be able to undertake house-to-house fighting and preparation for domestic Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) operations “in the most realistic environment” (Defence Ministry), on a mega-property costing more than 140 million euros. “Schnöggersburg”, as the urban environment is dubbed, “presents typical elements of an urban conurbation in order to optimally prepare soldiers for deployments in built-up areas,” said the Bundeswehr in its official invitation to the press.

The Bundeswehr took possession last Thursday of part of this artificial town north of Magdeburg, which will form the “Army Combat Training Centre” (GÜZ). Schnöggersburg is an “urban conurbation” with more than 500 buildings, 300 cabins, sports facilities, bridges, an industrial area, an old town with a marketplace, a government district, a slum and a sacred building. In addition, it includes an airfield, a sewage system, a two-lane highway and a 350-metre-long underground line, the only subway system in Saxony-Anhalt.

“What is being created here is certainly unique,” boasted the parliamentary secretary of state of the Defence Ministry, Markus Grübel, in his welcome speech about the enormous dimensions of the project. “These first parts of the urban conurbation, which today are being handed over to the Combat Training Centre of the Army on schedule, find nothing comparable in the type of construction and size, certainly in Europe.”

Lieutenant-General Frank Leidenberger left no doubt as to what the Bundeswehr is preparing in Schnöggersburg: “The missions of the past have taught us that the environment in which we may have to fight is no longer open space but urban areas.” So it is “only logical and consistent that if parliament sends our soldiers on a mission, we give them appropriate realistic training opportunities.”

What “missions” Leidenberger has in mind is shown by the most recent decisions of the outgoing federal government. After a one-week break, the Bundeswehr resumed training for Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq last week. Recently, the Peshmerga, with their German “instructors”, participated in the bloody battle of Mosul against ISIS, in which thousands of civilians were brutally murdered.

German imperialism is planning similar efforts to enforce its economic and geopolitical interests in Africa and Central Asia. In its last cabinet meeting, the current federal government initiated a short-term extension of the Bundeswehr’s foreign missions in Mali and Afghanistan. In addition, the ministers of the outgoing grand coalition decided to present the temporary extension of the Bundeswehr missions in Syria and Iraq, as well as in Sudan and South Sudan, to the newly elected Bundestag.

In addition to their brutal campaigns around the world, the ruling class is openly preparing to use the military to suppress social protests at home. For example, a document from the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies, titled “What ambitions for European Defence 2020”, sees the task of future military operations, inter alia, as “shielding the global rich from the tensions and problems of the poor.”

“As the proportion of the world population living in misery and frustration will remain massive, the tensions and spillover between their world and that of the rich will continue to grow,” it continues. “Technology is shrinking the world into a global village, but it is a village on the verge of revolution. While we have an increasingly integrated elite community, we also face increasingly explosive tensions from the poorer strata below.”

Since the paper was published in 2009 in English, with a foreword by then-EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Javier Solana, social inequality in Germany and Europe has continued to increase. While an ever-greater part of humanity fights for sheer survival, a small upper class lives in the lap of luxury. On Thursday last week, a study by the Swiss bank UBS and the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) revealed that 117 billionaires live in Germany alone. Worldwide, the number of billionaires rose by 10 percent last year to 1,542 and their total assets by 17 percent to $6 trillion.

With their “lighthouse project Schnöggersdorf” (Leidenberger), the ruling class is preparing for the inevitable coming revolutionary struggles. Already in the spring, the survey ”Generation what?” carried out by the European Broadcasting Union revealed that a new generation of young people is being radicalized, is rejecting the right-wing policies of all established parties and is willing to fight against them. For example, 78 percent of young people in Germany complained that they could observe growing nationalism. More than two-thirds of young people said they were not prepared to fight for Germany in a war. More than half would, however, participate in a “major uprising against those in power.”

Under these conditions, the preparation for civil war against the population is supported by all parties of the ruling class. The governing parties in Saxony-Anhalt, a coalition of the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Greens, have handed over “Schnöggersburg” to the Bundeswehr with great ceremony. The Left Party is not demanding that the training grounds for civil war be closed, but that a “civilian aid corps” may be trained there that can be “deployed in natural or emergency humanitarian disasters. Already last September, the Left Party parliamentary group organized a joint meeting with the former Inspector General of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Harald Kujat, who has long been an advocate of the deployment of the Bundeswehr at home.

Denim mill in Greensboro, North Carolina closes after 112 years

Keisha Gibbs

International Textiles Group (ITG) has announced it is closing Cone Denim’s White Oak Mill in Greensboro, North Carolina, resulting in job losses for 200 employees. The White Oak Mill opened in 1905 and has been manufacturing selvage denim since the 1940s.

Selvage denim is tightly woven denim created using shuttle looms. The denim produced is finished with a tightly woven band that prevents fraying, raveling or curling. The White Oak Mill Cone Denim plant used American Draper X3 looms from the 1940s and 17 oz. Denim fabric, which many clothing companies consider a great medium for jeans.

As a response to many textile mills moving overseas, Cone Denim began marketing their selvage denim as a high-quality and unique, made-in-America product. To meet the increasing demand for the rising trend of small-batch selvage jeans, which are marketed to wealthy customers and can range in price from $90 to $200, Cone Denim had to increase their production by 25 percent in 2013.

The company retrieved its underutilized looms from storage and even acquired additional Draper X3 looms from closed mills. In January 2016, Ken Kunberger, president and CEO of ITG, told Triad Business Journal, the high demand could be attributed to “our Made-in-America platform. … It’s settled into a nice pocket of what we consider a sustainable business to very niche-type customers. The demand is much bigger than we have capacity to produce.”

This success was short lived, however, and on December 31, 2017 the factory will cease all operations.

Spokeswoman for ITG, Delores Sides, told Triad Business Journal, a decrease in orders for selvage denim is the main reason for closure. “An increase in our customers that are sourcing for fabric needs outside the US has significantly reduced the order volume within the facility.”

North Carolina is the center of the textile industry in the United States, employing over 42,000 in approximately 700 textile facilities. To lure industry, North Carolina boasts of the lowest corporate tax rate in the US—3 percent—and the second-lowest unionization rate. Regardless, these measures have done little to nothing to prevent industries from leaving. According to Federal Reserve Economic Data, North Carolina employment in the textile sector has fallen more than 82 percent since the mid-1990s.

The fate of the White Oak Mill exposes the fraud of the Trump administration’s “America First” pretensions of rebuilding the domestic industrial economy.

International Textiles Industry was formed when W.L. Ross & Co. acquired the assets of Burlington Industries and Cone Mills Manufacturing in 2003 and 2004, respectively. W.L. Ross & Co. is owned by current US Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire Ross is known as the “bankruptcy king” and made his fortune by acquiring struggling companies, gutting pensions and wages, eliminating jobs, and then flipping the businesses for a profit. Ross offloaded ITG in late 2016 to Platinum Equity for $99 million.

Platinum Equity has a record of being just as ruthless to workers as W.L. Ross & Co. Since 1995, Platinum has flipped 155 of the 185 acquisitions it has made. Platinum Equity made a name for itself in the financial crisis of 2008 by acquiring 14 companies in the first 11 months of 2009.

The Southeastern United States has a rich history in textiles and became the center of the industry in the United States after the Civil War, when many companies moved their operations to the South to take advantage of cheap labor and the close proximity to cotton crops.

Business boomed for the textile industry during World War I, when many mills raked in huge profits from military contracts. Mills supplied soldiers with uniforms, tents and other necessary textile goods.

After the war ended, mills continued to produce at the same rate, but with less demand. Profits plummeted and many workers were laid off. The workers remaining were required to work more looms for less money. Workers began referring to this period as the “stretch-out.”

Small strikes during the stretch-out resulted in little success. The stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression only worsened working conditions. There were hundreds of small strikes during this time, but most were isolated and unsuccessful. Most notable was the Loray Mill strike of 1929 in Gastonia, North Carolina. During the dispute, striker Ella Mae Wiggins was murdered by a group of armed men who forced the pickup truck carrying her and three other men to pull over. Wiggins and the other passengers were headed to a union meeting. The Loray Mill strike collapsed soon after her murder.

In 1934, the Great Depression, the stretch-out, and increasingly horrible working conditions had taken its toll on most textile workers in the south. Workers had put their faith in president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) to address the horrendous working conditions in the textile industry. Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration (NRA), however, was a toothless agency unable to enforce even the most minimal regulations of the NIRA.

With the blessing of the NRA, mill workers were required to work even more hours with less pay. The United Textile Workers (UTW) union threatened a strike. However, mill owners were familiar with the empty threats of the UTW. When the NRA promised to give the UTW a seat on their board, the UTW called off the strike. Local workers, on the other hand, had lost all faith in the NRA and on September 3, mill workers began walking out.

On September 3, Gastonia mill workers began their strike while celebrating their city’s first Labor Day parade and traveled to nearby mills to encourage others to join the strike. Striking mill workers traveling by trucks, dubbed “flying squadrons,” drove from mill to mill calling for workers to walk out. Word of mouth traveled quickly, and within a week, over 400,000 textile workers were on strike, despite never receiving the sanction of the UTW. This effectively shut down the textile industry.

Not wanting to be left behind by the momentum of an independent strike, the UTW drew up a list of demands for the industry as a whole: a 30-hour week, minimum wages ranging from $13.00 to $30.00 a week, elimination of the stretch-out, union recognition, and reinstatement of workers fired for their union activities.

However, strikers received very little support from local governments and unions. Churches were unsympathetic to the struggles of the strikers. After a short time, workers found themselves without food and resources. The UTW officially called off the strike on September 22 and workers returned to the mills without receiving any of their demands. Ironically, the unions held victory parades for the end of the strike.

Labeled as “foreign agitators” and “reds,” thousands of strikers were blacklisted. Abandoned by the unions and President Roosevelt’s promise of reform, the 1934 strikers found themselves unemployed and unable to find a job. Those involved in the 1934 strike, and who were not blacklisted, did not speak of the strike and gave up hope of ever receiving better working conditions.

After World War II, textile companies began moving their US mills overseas to reap higher profits by taking advantage of lower wages. Many overseas factories began using more modern projectile looms to create their fabric, thereby further increasing profits for clothing companies.

Today, what few textiles mills are left in the US are increasingly using automated machines. This, according to the National Cotton Council of America, makes the United States the most productive in the world. But automation in a for-profit economy also means fewer jobs. The White Oak Mill Cone Denim plant was able to avoid updating their looms with automated machines by taking advantage of the nostalgia and nationalism associated with cotton grown in the United States being woven on antique looms.

Time and time again, workers have put their faith in trade unions and politicians promising to “bring back jobs to America” or improve working conditions, only to be met with betrayal. No amount of “made-in-America” or “America first” demagoguery will prevent the ruling class from unfettered profitmaking.

Textile workers—whether in the American South or in Bangladesh, Egypt, Vietnam or Guatemala—face the same fundamental enemy: the anarchy of capitalist production, which scours the globe for the cheapest sources of raw materials and human labor. Only an independent movement of the international working class, unified in a fight against the systemic source of their exploitation, can reorganize industry to meet human need.

Whitefish Energy profits in Puerto Rico from Trump administration connection

Rafael Azul

The Puerto Rican catastrophe, in its fifth week, has become a mixture of disinformation, inefficiency, and profound tragedy.

Last week it was announced that 900 bodies were cremated of people who died after Hurricane María swept through the island, without any forensic investigation to determine if their deaths were due to the storm. Doctors and nurses continue to report shortages of essential medications and electrical power that in hundreds of cases result in preventable deaths. The young, the infirm, and the elderly continue to be at risk.

The social devastation is compounded by brazen corporate profiteering. The $300 million no-bid contract between Whitefish Energy and the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (PREPA, or in Spanish AEE), the Puerto Rican government utility, exposes both the greed and corruption characteristic of natural disasters under capitalism, where human life takes a back seat to profit.

It was initially reported that Whitefish, a small Montana-based company, had not asked for any money up front and that it had been vetted by FEMA (the US Federal Emergency Management Authority). This agency initially indicated it would reimburse the cost of hiring Whitefish, a company with only two employees and absurdly limited experience.

The lack of transparency surrounding the Whitefish contract feeds the suspicion that the company took advantage of the political connections of Joe Colonetta, a big donor to the Trump presidential campaign and to the Republican Party. Colonetta heads HBC Investments, a Dallas-based firm that is the financial backer of Whitefish, while Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski has a friendship with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

As these connections have come to light, top Puerto Rican government officials have tried to wash their hands of the deal. Governor Ricardo Rosselló has belatedly called for the contract to be cancelled, as has San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz. FEMA has withdrawn its support as well.

None of the agencies connected to this scandal—FEMA, the Puerto Rican government and Whitefish Energy—have presented a credible explanation of how this entire process took place. Who was it that approached the Puerto Rican government or the Power Authority? How was Whitefish’s initial offer handled, and by whom? Under what circumstances was it decided to award the contract to Whitefish? Why did AEE decide not to activate the mutual aid agreements that exist nationwide between public utilities, particularly given a standing offer by the New York State Power Authority to send in crews and equipment?

The San Juan daily El Nuevo Día examined a document released by the Puerto Rico’s government house, titled “Emergency Purchases and Contracts Process Hurricane María” (exhibit 3807), originally elaborated by Ramon Caldas, AEE’s procurement division chief, who signed the Whitefish contract on September 27.

The Caldas report contains a table that compares the cost to AEE of thirteen categories of skilled labor from the different US firms that responded to an AEE request (PowerSecure, Cobra Energy, Southern Electric, State Electric and B&B), with little variation between them.

While the labor costs for the initial Whitefish contract of September 27 were in line with those reported on the Caldas table, an amended contract signed on October 17 raised the labor costs far above the original contract.

El Nuevo Día provides two examples: for a maintenance person, the amended contract is about $10.54 more per hour than what is in the Caldas table. In the case of “grounds men,” the hourly difference is $19.24. In addition Whitefish added charges for equipment and for housing and feeding each worker. There are additional charges per hour in the case of the contract workers that Whitefish utilizes.

Whitefish was selected on an emergency basis, following the issuance of executive order 2018-53 by governor Ricardo Rosselló, in anticipation of the hurricane. That order exempts government agencies from following the established transparent procedures for bidding in its purchases during the emergency.

Accordingly, Whitefish was hired on a no-bid basis, following “a careful evaluation of RFIs [requests for information] to each of thirteen companies contacted by AEE,” in the words of the report. This included a requirement that the selected company be required to mobilize 800 crews “immediately,” following the passage of the devastating storm. As of last week Whitefish had only 300 employees in its assigned region, with plans to have 1,000 in place in the near future.

Whitefish has been given the task of rebuilding the devastated transmission lines that link the southern part of the island, where the bulk of the generators are located, with the northern part, the region with the greatest demand. The contract is for one year. As it now stands, its cost to the AEE and to Puerto Rico is estimated at between $250 and $320 million in the first three months. It has been pointed out that this is by far the most expensive contract that AEE has signed.

The Whitefish contract, containing the now infamous clause (article 59-1) that it could not be questioned by any US or Puerto Rican government or financial agency, was signed on September 27 and amended on October 7.

Clearly the bidding process raises many questions. It is not clear what role Zinke or Trump administration officials played in the amended October 7 contract, for instance.

Puerto Rico comptroller Yasmín Valdivieso, whose auditors have been investigating fuel purchases by the Puerto Rico Power Authority said that her office will also investigate whether the Whitefish contract represents conflicts of interests, corruption and cronyism.

Also last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in his second visit to San Juan since Hurricane María, declared the willingness of the New York State Power Authority to send work crews into the island and wondered out loud how it was that the AEE refused to activate mutual aid agreements with mainland public utilities, and instead turned to Whitefish.

Adding his voice to this chorus, Senator Bernie Sanders who arrived Friday afternoon to San Juan in a “fact-finding mission,” condemned the Whitefish contract, declaring himself “indignant” at a press conference with Mayor Cruz after a tour of la Playita, one of the worst-hit areas in San Juan.

The Whitefish contract also attracted congressional attention in Washington. Democratic Senators Maria Cantwell (Washington state) and Ron Wyden (Oregon) have sent a letter calling for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate this contract.

None of the Democrats has put forward any serious proposal for the type of massive federal aid that is needed to rebuild the shattered infrastructure of the island. Congress gave bipartisan approval this week to a hurricane emergency spending bill that offered a pathetic $4.9 billion in loans to Puerto Rico, for a disaster whose total cost is now likely to approach $100 billion.

Madrid moves to assert direct control over Catalonia

Alejandro López

Over the weekend, the Spanish government moved to assert direct rule over Catalonia. This followed Madrid’s announcement on Friday that it would apply Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution to seize Catalonia, dissolve its parliament and hold new elections. With Catalan nationalist officials in Barcelona announcing plans to defy Madrid after declaring independence on Friday, a crackdown by the Spanish security forces in Catalonia is looming.

A government notice was issued officially deposing Catalan regional Premier Carles Puigdemont and his deputy Oriol Junqueras, along with all 12 members of the Catalan cabinet. In their place, Spain’s deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, will become the unelected head of Catalonia. Spain’s ministries will seek to seize control of their Catalan counterparts.

In a move to secure control of the Catalan police, Madrid sacked the director general of the Catalan police, Pere Soler. Soon after, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido ordered the removal of the chief of the regional Mossos d’Esquadra police, Josep Lluís Trapero, who is considered too close to the separatists. Trapero is also being prosecuted on sedition charges for having allowed the October 1 Catalan independence referendum to go ahead. Trapero issued a statement saying he would comply with his removal.

Madrid is also purging hundreds of Catalan civil servants. Since Friday, the Catalan delegations in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Austria, Italy, Portugal and Denmark have been sacked. Hundreds more are expected to be fired this week.

The Popular Party (PP) government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is threatening all 200,000 Catalan civil servants with sacking if they oppose its attempt to seize control of the region. Rajoy has announced plans to discipline workers “without recourse to previous mechanisms regarding disciplinary measures.”

On Sunday, there was a mass protest of 300,000 in the streets of Barcelona in defense of Spanish unity. The rally was called by the antisecessionist right-wing group Societat Civil Catalana and supported by the pro-Article 155 parties: Citizens, the PP and the Socialist Party in Catalonia. Another pro-unity protest this month drew similar numbers. It included forces from working-class districts in the suburbs of Barcelona hostile to secession.

Thousands also demonstrated in neighboring Valencia against fascism and the attacks on October 9, when a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the Catalans was assaulted by fascists.

The Spanish trade unions, while hostile to mobilizing the working class against the threat of a crackdown, are warning the political establishment of broad opposition among workers to Madrid’s threat of military intervention in Catalonia.

Marc Casanova of the IAC trade union said that “we will not recognize the violation of the Catalan institutions’ self-government… our union will not recognize the legitimacy of these authorities.” The spokesperson of the teachers union USTEC, Ramon Font, said that many teachers would not comply if Madrid attempted to change the Catalan education system.

Resistance is also expected from the firemen, who have opposed Madrid’s police measures since the October 1 referendum, when many, dressed in their uniforms, intervened to protect the ballots. One fireman told AFP, “If [pro-independence protesters] block a road and they [the Spanish authorities] ask us to unblock it, maybe we will not respond.”

On the judicial front, Madrid is preparing repression against the Catalan separatist movement on a scale not seen since the 1939-1978 fascist dictatorship set up by General Francisco Franco. Today, the Attorney General’s Office is expected to charge Puigdemont, members of the Catalan government and the parliamentary committee that authorized the vote on independence, including parliamentary spokesperson Carme Forcadell, with rebellion, a crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Other charges will include disobedience, prevarication and embezzlement.

The office is charging “all of those who have participated in the events”—a term vague enough to allow the prosecution of thousands of people and anyone who opposes Article 155. The Attorney General’s Office also said that it would charge not only those directly responsible, but also all “cooperators.”

Amid a looming threat of dictatorship in Spain, with the European Union backing Madrid, the only force that can offer a progressive solution to the crisis is the working class. The critical question is the mobilization of the working class, in Catalonia and the rest of Spain and across Europe, on the basis of a socialist and internationalist perspective against the threat of police and military repression by Madrid.

Any struggle requires determined opposition to the Catalan bourgeois nationalists as well as the political establishment in Madrid. The Catalan nationalist parties are bitterly hostile to a political intervention in the crisis by the working class.

The Catalan secessionists are ruling out any serious opposition to Madrid’s plans for a crackdown. Having for years run pro-austerity regimes in Barcelona, they are deeply hostile to any appeal to opposition in the working class. Instead, in a three-minute video issued on Saturday, Puigdemont called for “democratic opposition” to Madrid’s intervention. “We must do so resisting repression and threats, without ever abandoning, at any time, civic and peaceful conduct,” he declared.

The following day, the vice-premier and leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, wrote a piece in the pro-secessionist daily El Punt Avui saying, “We cannot recognize the coup d’état against Catalunya, nor the antidemocratic decisions that are being adopted by the PP, remote-controlled by Madrid.” Junqueras added that “in the following days we will have to take decisions and not always easy to understand.” He called for a “shared strategy” and “a civil and peaceful attitude.”

Such comments show that the secessionists, driven by the bankrupt perspective of forming a new independent capitalist state in Catalonia, have no strategy for confronting the crackdown. They fear, above all, an independent intervention by the working class via strikes, workplace committees and appeals to workers internationally for support. Fearing the working class, they do not want to tap into deep-rooted popular opposition to Madrid’s return to authoritarian forms of rule.

They would prefer Spanish military occupation and possible foreign exile to the outbreak of mass workers’ struggles against repression by the bourgeois state machine, which they aspire to control.

The December 21 snap elections in Catalonia that Madrid is demanding are entirely antidemocratic, held under the threat of Spanish military intervention and with hundreds of Catalan politicians expected to be in jail. The only result Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy will tolerate is the election of an explicitly antisecessionist regional government.

Nevertheless, Puigdemont’s PDeCAT (Democratic European Party of Catalonia), Junqueras’s ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia) and the pseudo-left CUP (Popular Unity Candidacies) have not come out against these fraudulent elections. Former Premier Artur Mas defended the PDeCAT’s participation in the elections, saying that it would be “lethal” to leave the secessionist forces outside the parliament.

The Catalan crisis is also exposing the political bankruptcy of the Podemos party. Factional divisions are erupting inside the party, but they are over whether to orient to the Spanish state or the Catalan secessionists. On Friday, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias approved Rajoy’s reactionary measures, saying that elections “should takes place without repression and with all the political options available.”

The Podemos leader in Catalonia, Albano Dante, implicitly criticized Iglesias on Catalunya Ràdio, saying that accepting these elections means “to accept [Article] 155,” which is an “immense contradiction.” He also did not discard a coalition of Podemos Catalonia with the PDeCAT, ERC and CUP.

The Pabloite Anticapitalistas wing of Podemos posted a statement recognizing the “new Catalan Republic” and calling for rejection of Article 155. It promoted the “democratic, peaceful and disobedient defense of the will of the Catalan people and their right to decide.”

While Iglesias orients to Rajoy to defend the Spanish nation-state, the Pabloites and the Catalan wing of Podemos are promoting Catalan nationalism. All these factions are united in aiming to suppress rising social opposition to Madrid and the threat of military rule.

US masses ships and aircraft outside North Korea

Peter Symonds

US Defence Secretary James Mattis has again warned North Korea that the United States military is ready and able to obliterate the country of 25 million people unless it abandons its nuclear arsenal. The threat, backed by an unprecedented US military build-up in North East Asia, places the region and the world on the brink of a catastrophic war.

“I cannot imagine a condition under which the US would accept North Korea as a nuclear power,” he told reporters in Seoul on Saturday. “Make no mistake any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response that is effective and overwhelming.”

US war plans are offensive, not defensive, in character. Asked about the possibility of a pre-emptive US attack on North Korea to prevent a hypothetical attack on Seoul, Mattis confirmed, “yes, we do have those options”. Under OPLAN 5015, US and South Korean forces are primed for massive offensive strikes against North Korean nuclear, military and industrial facilities as well as “decapitation raids” by special forces to kill its top leaders.

While Mattis insisted that “our goal is not war”, US President Trump has effectively ruled out any other option, short of North Korea’s total capitulation to Washington’s demands. Trump publically rebuked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier this month for “wasting his time” in putting out diplomatic feelers for talks with North Korea.

Trump is about to begin his first official trip to Asia this week, including to Japan, South Korea and China. Having threatened in the UN to “totally destroy” North Korea, he will undoubtedly use this incendiary threat not only to menace the Pyongyang regime but the entire region, particularly China which the US regards as its chief obstacle to global hegemony.

Trump’s trip will take place amid a massive show of US military force near the Korean Peninsula, including:

* Three US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers—the USS Ronald Reagan, the USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt—which are in the region and preparing for joint exercises along with their associated strike groups. Each carrier is accompanied by between six to 10 warships, including cruisers, destroyers and nuclear submarines, and has an air wing of dozens of fighter jets and other military aircraft.

* The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with more than 150 Tomahawk missiles, which docked in South Korea on October 17 ahead of joint exercises with the USS Ronald Reagan. The submarine also carries Navy SEALs, which in an earlier port call in April reportedly included the notorious SEAL Team Six that murdered Osama bin Laden.

* All US military bases throughout the region, particularly in South Korea, Japan, Guam and Australia are without doubt on a high state of alert. The Pentagon has 28,500 military personnel in South Korea, around 54,000 in Japan and about 4,000 in Guam, along with a large number of naval vessels and warplanes. Australia acts as a de facto rear base for US Marines, warships and aircraft as well as housing key spy and communications bases. Two Australian frigates are due to arrive this week in South Korea for joint drills.

* The Pentagon is set to deploy, for the first time, a squadron of F-35A Joint Strike Fighter jets and 300 personnel to the US base on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The advanced fifth-generation stealth fighters could well be used as part of a first wave to destroy North Korean air defences, opening the way for a massive air assault.

* The US Air Force has carried out one military provocation after another—flying B-52 and B1-B strategic bombers close to North Korea. Yesterday, US Strategic Command, in charge of the nuclear arsenal, reported that it had flown a B-2 stealth bomber from the US to the Pacific to “familiarise aircrew” and to ensure “a high state of readiness and proficiency.” Unlike the B1-B, the state-of-the-art B-2 is nuclear capable.

The flight underscores the ominous comments of US Vice President Mike Pence during a visit last Friday to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, which houses 26 nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and 150 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) sites. Referring to North Korea, Pence declared: “Now more than ever your commander in chief [Trump] is depending on you to be ready. Stay sharp, mind your mission.”

The Trump administration is preparing a war not just with conventional weapons, but with nuclear bombs—directed against North Korea and any other powers such as China and Russia that join the conflict. Last week, the Air Force announced that it was preparing to put its B-52 nuclear bombers back on 24-hour alert. At the same time, as reported by the Guardian yesterday, the Trump administration is drawing up a new Nuclear Posture Review, which will open the door for a range of new nuclear weapons and change the rules governing their use.

The only conclusion that the North Korean regime can reach is that the country confronts the imminent threat of a US military onslaught, using conventional and/or nuclear weapons. The South Korean-based NKNews reported over the weekend that North Korea has been carrying out mass evacuation drills in cities and towns along the east coast.

The world may be closer to the brink of nuclear war than at any time in history. During the extremely tense stand-off between the United States and Russia during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, both the American and Russian leaders worked to prevent a nuclear exchange that would have devastated the world.

Trump, however, driven by the irresolvable contradictions of American and global capitalism, is proceeding with an unprecedented degree of recklessness to deliberately inflame flash points in Asia, as well as the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Embroiled in one political crisis after another at home, and facing mounting public hostility to his agenda of austerity and war, Trump is being propelled towards launching war as a means of diverting acute social tensions outwards against a foreign enemy.

These same tensions are driving workers and youth in the United States and around the world into struggle to defend their living conditions, basic democratic rights and to prevent a conflict that would plunge the world into barbarism. That movement must find conscious expression in the program of socialist internationalism fought for by the International Committee of the Fourth International to put an end to the bankrupt capitalist system that engenders war and social misery.

Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator Kenya Program 2018

Application Deadline: 13th November 2017 at 00:00

Eligible Countries: Kenya

To be Taken at (Country): Strathmore University, Nairobi Kenya

About the Award: The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator Kenya is Africa’s leading women in tech incubator, aligning with calls for more diversity in technology and for more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership expertise. The programme is an initiative of Standard Chartered in partnership with Strathmore University @iBizAfrica incubator.

The program combines world class startup support with local and international experience to provide Africa’s most competitive and attractive startup incubation program focusing immersive learning, mentorship, building and growing Africa’s next iconic startups taking on the continent’s most relevant challenges and opportunities

Fields: Applicants may submit applications across the following thematic areas:

1. Agribusiness
2. Education
3. IT
4. Mobile solutions
5. Digital Banking
6. E-Commerce
7. E-Health
8. Fintech

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility:  

1. Must be Kenyan centric i.e. be aligned with the needs of Kenyans and aimed at mitigating these challenges
2. Must be innovation driven, leveraging on technology and new business models across thematic areas  i.e. Agribusiness, Education, IT/mobile solutions, Digital Banking, E-Commerce, E-Health and Fintech
3. Must be women focused – entrants must be led by a woman with majority stake in the company
4. Business model must have clear focus on sustainability and alignment to the sustainable development goals.
5.  3 months to less than 2 years of operations
6. Seeking support for proof of concept, customer, product and business model development
7. Pre-revenue with early traction (users). Post revenue is an added advantage.

Selection Criteria: We are seeking to recruit the best entrepreneurial minds, women-lead startup teams leveraging on technology as a key driver of innovation in business.

The principle founder must:

1. be a woman:
2. 18 to 35 years of age
3. of Kenyan nationality

Value of Award: 

1. Three months incubation at Strathmore University’s leading tech incubator
2. Mentorship from world class mentors
3. Coaching by top business, technolgy and legal professionals
4. Immersive, worldclass entrepreneurship cirriculum
5. Networking and exposure to expand your business networks
6. Membership to the Kenya Womein In Technology fellowship program and alumni network upon successful completion

What do Winners Get?

10 teams will compete to secure seed funding and 9 months ongoing support from Standard Chartered and @iBizAfrica to assist with go-to market and scale. 5 top teams will walk away with up to USD 10,000 or KES. 1 million seed grant funding to launch and grow their businesses!

Intellectual property and equity stake

1. The applicants retain their IP
2. We do not take equity for seed funding granted through this program.

Duration of Program: December 6, 2017 – March 9, 2018

How to Apply: Got what it takes? Apply now!

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Standard Chartered Bank

Royal African Society’s Africa Writes for Talented African Writers 2018

Application Deadline: 10th November 2017

Eligible Countries: African countries and Africans in other countries

To be Taken at (Country): The British Library, London

About the Award: 

• Do you represent an author that you think would be perfect for Africa Writes?
• Are you buzzing with an idea for a book launch or workshop that you would love to see at the festival?
• Do you have an idea for a performance event or panel discussion?

From the seeds of an idea to a fully-fledged plan, we would like to invite you to submit whatever ideas you might have, to influence and help create the festival in 2018. The submissions will be then reviewed by our advisory group, to work towards shaping the programme for Africa Writes 2018. This in turn, will inform our applications to secure funding for the festival to take place.

Type: Contest

Eligibility: The Society aims for the process to be open and inclusive, to reflect the broad community that makes up Africa Writes! All the individuals and organisations whose submissions are part of the 2018 program will be fully acknowledged and credited.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Duration of Program: Friday 29 June – Sunday 1 July 2018

How to Apply: Go to submission form

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Royal African Society

Important Notes:Royal African Society

IBM Master the Mainframe Contest for Students in Middle East & Africa 2018

Application Deadline: 31st December 2017

Eligible Regions: N. America, Latin America, S. Asia, APAC, MEA, and Europe

About the Award: This unique, virtual contest is open globally to high school and college students to progressively teach mainframe skills in a real-world enterprise computing environment. Employers from around the globe use this contest to seek out potential candidates for mainframe careers.

Part 1: Learn the Basics: Meet the IBM Z mainframe and acquaint yourself with the user interfaces, the basic concepts, and data structures. IBM will provide step by step instructions to complete the challenges and set you up for success in Part 2.

Part 2: Practice: Students will program (advanced commands, system setup, and system navigation), develop (C, JAVA, COBOL, assembler, and REXX) and experience operating systems challenges on IBM Z.

Part 3: Try Challenges: Dive deeper using real-life scenarios encountered by experienced systems programmers. Challenges will put contestants to the test and identify those with the most drive and determination to master the mainframe

Type: Contest

Eligibility: 

• Anyone who is currently a student at the high school or university level can compete — no experience is necessary.
• The contest teaches the skills you’ll need and the competition difficulty increases as you progress through the contest phases.

Number of Awards: Numerous

Value of Award: 

• Besides the awesome prizes, you can get unprecedented exposure to a variety of systems, software, and products.
• You can earn an Enterprise Computing Open Badge for your resume and social presences to impress potential employers. Yup, that’s right.
• This competition can even land you a job!

Part 1 Prizes: Snag your Swag

• $25 USD Amazon/Alibaba Gift Card for 750 contestants, taken from the first 3000 accepted challenges (a 1 in 4 chance) that are 100% correct.

Part 2 Prizes: Indulge Yourself

• $100 USD Mastercard/Visa Gift Cards for the first 200 challenges that are 100% correct.

Part 3 Prizes: Show Off Your Talent

• The top 2 individuals from EACH region (N. America, Latin America, S. Asia, APAC, MEA, and Europe) will win a $2750 travel stipend to visit the head office of IBM in their region and meet with key executives and recruiters on their project.
• Each winning individual will receive a “Master the Mainframe Global Winner” Hoodie.
• The top three individuals globally will receive an HTC Vive worth $799 USD

How to Apply: REGISTER HERE

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: IBM

University of Lincoln Masters Scholarships for Ghanaian Students 2018/2019 – UK

Application Deadlines: 

For courses commencing in January / February 2018:

• Round 1: Friday 3rd November 2017
• Round 2: Friday 1st December 2017

For courses commencing in September 2018:

• Round 1: Friday 20th April 2018
• Round 2: Friday 25th May 2018
• Round 3: Friday 22nd June 2018

Eligible Countries: Ghana

To Be Taken At (Country): UK

Type: Masters (taught and research)

Eligibility: In order to apply for this scholarship, prospective students must meet the following criteria:

• Be a Ghanaian citizen
• Already hold a Conditional or Unconditional Offer from the University of Lincoln for a full time postgraduate taught or masters by research programme commencing in January, February or September 2018
• Have been awarded a Bachelors degree from a recognised university with a minimum grade of 2:2 or equivalent
• Meet the English language requirements of their intended course of study – this typically ranges from an IELTS 6.0 – 7.0 or equivalent

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: £5,000.

How to Apply: In addition to meeting the above residency, academic and English language requirements, candidates must also complete a Ghana Scholarship Application Form (PDF) and submit this to intscholarships@lincoln.ac.uk. It is important that we receive your application by 4pm (UK time) on one of the following closing dates above.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: University of Lincoln

Important Notes: Please note that this scholarship is competitive and will only be awarded to candidates who meet / exceed the criteria listed above for the award. Upon close of the scholarship deadline, a panel will meet to assess each scholarship application carefully and will endeavour to notify all candidates of a decision within 10 days of the application closing date.

Johnson & Johnson IRDP- MBA International Recruitment and Development Intern Program for EMEA Countries 2018

Application Deadline: 21st January 2018

Eligible Countries: Countrries in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

To Be Taken At (Country): Primary Location is Norway. Multiple Locations: Norway; France; United Kingdom; South Africa; Portugal; Belgium; Germany; Spain

About the Award: The IRDP Intern Program is designed to challenge and reward you personally and professionally. You will lead significant business projects with real-life implications, and present your analysis and results to senior leaders. The aim of the Program is to convert Interns into FT participants on the IRDP Program after Graduation. As an IRDP Intern you will make a significant impact on the business from your first day and will be an integral member of a cross-functional team. You’ll also benefit from activities designed to encourage community amongst Interns and from structured development goals to help you drive success.

Opportunities on IRDP within our Johnson & Johnson operating companies extend across a broad range of functions including

• Business Development
• Supply Chain
• Health Economics
• Market Access
• Regulatory Affairs.
• Sales and Marketing

Type: Jobs

Eligibility: To apply for the 2018 IRDP Intern Program you’ll meet the following criteria:

• First year of either a full-time MBA, Master’s, or PhD degree program and will be graduating after September 2018
• Available full-time for a period of at least 8-12 weeks between April and September 2017
• Fluent in English and the language of the country where the internship assignment is located
• Legally authorized to work permanently (i.e. without time limitations, without restrictions or without need for work sponsorship) in the country where the internship assignment is located
• Have four years or more of relevant professional experience prior to enrolling in a full-time Masters level degree program

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: 

• “Caring for the world, one person at a time…”
• As an employee, J&J considers you their most valuable asset and will take your career seriously.
• As part of a global team in an innovative environment your development is key. Through e-university, on the job training, various projects and programs, J&J ensures your personal growth.
• J&J benefits make sure you and your family are cared for now and in the future.

How to Apply: Apply

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Johnson & Johnson

Important Notes: Please only apply for this posting if you have the work authorisation and intent on joining the IRDP Intern Program in the EMEA region.

Drug Companies and Health in China

Cesar Chelala

Faced with declining prescription drug sales in the U.S., and having lost patent protection for many profitable drugs, the pharmaceutical industry is relying increasingly in new markets such as China and other fast-developing countries. The Economist Intelligence Unit estimates in $166 billion drug sales by 2017 in China, making of this country a natural market for companies looking for further growth. The revelation of corrupted practices, however, is a cause for concern.

In China, relationships between doctors and patients are under stress. One of the reasons is the unethical relations between many doctors and several drug companies. Although the practice of bribing doctors is not new in China, new allegations have surfaced recently against some well-known drug companies that demand new and more effective measures against this practice. According to some estimates, up to 30 percent of the cost of drugs is kicked back to doctors to increase sales.

There are several ways in which doctors are bribed by drug companies: they go from making cash payments and all-expenses-paid trips, to presents for their families and even “sexual favors.” Drug companies also bribe hospitals to stock their drugs so that doctors can prescribe them.

In addition to GlaxoSsmithKline, several other companies have been accused of rampant bribery, among them Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and UCB. Both Eli Lilly and Pfizer have been accused of making illegal payments in China. The Swiss drug maker Novartis was also accused of bribing doctors to prescribe its anticancer drug Sandostatin LAR.

Some observers explain that doctors in China are prone to bribery due to the extremely low salaries they receive. For example, a doctor who is just out of medical school in Beijing earns approximately 3,000 yuan ($490) a month –including bonuses-, a salary that is equivalent to that of a taxi driver, and it is even lower for those in rural areas.

Not only drug companies bribe doctors, though. Oftentimes, patients bribe doctors to get procedures done, or done earlier. For some physicians, the main part of their salary comes from both patients and from drug companies’ bribes. Ministry of Health officials have been trying for years to put a stop to such practices, to no avail. According to some experts, some hospitals over treat and over examine patients to increase profits.

Under-the-table payments from patients to doctors are called “hongbao,” which is a reference to the cash-filled red envelopes given as presents during Lunar New Year festivities. These payments cover from jumping the queue for appointments to extra surgical fees.

Corruption extends far beyond the pharmaceutical industry and the health care system and encompasses many other aspects of Chinese market practices. According to some observers, bribing is a cultural behavior; you get things done according to the people you know. Particularly in the practice of medicine, it is a behavior that persists in detriment of people’s health. Chinese authorities are looking into bribing practices by 60 Chinese and foreign drug manufacturers.

Although the government cannot easily raise doctors’ salaries, since if would feel a similar pressure from all public sectors, regulating agencies should put a ceiling on drug prices, and make sure that these prices are not circumvented. More strict regulations should be established prohibiting doctors from accepting bribes and placing fines on companies which offer those bribes.

In the U.S., the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bars companies from bribing foreign officials to gain business. In China, the Practicing Physicians Law, issued in 1999, forbids doctors from asking or illegally accepting money from their patients.

In China, an important step to make health care affordable to all citizens is to eliminate bribes to doctors for their services. In addition, as stated by the prestigious medical magazine The Lancet, “Training for doctors in China on managing their relationships ethically with the drug industry and other organizations should start at medical school and be part of continuing professional education.”