Reining in the Ubiquitous Use of U.S. Military Force

Arshad M Khan

Four US soldiers died in Niger on October 4, and the president’s insensitive phone call to the widow of one has brought the subject of the military in every corner of the world back in the news.

The UN has 193 members. The US has over 240,000 troops in at least 172 of them, some of which are embroiled in what The New York Times describes as “forever wars”. How many people knew there was a contingent of more than 1,000 in Niger? Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader and thus the highest ranking Democrat, did not. Neither did Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who serves on the Armed Forces Committee. Or, Senator Rand Paul who wants the post 9/11 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to be reviewed.

It is now 16 years since the AUMF was passed, and the US is no longer responding to an attack on the mainland nor is it in any immediate peril. So why this flagrant insult to the Constitution, which wisely reserved the power to declare war for Congress alone. Yes, we live in a different world; yes, we are confronted with non-state actors. At the same time, we also live in a world of instant communication. How difficult could it be then for Congress to respond quickly when necessary?

In September, the Senate voted 61-36 against Senator Rand Paul’s AUMF amendment calling for another look. He denounced it as a recipe for “unlimited war, anywhere, anytime, any place upon the globe,” adding “I don’t think one generation should bind another generation to war.” One can only commend his steadfastness in forcing a vote. “Who in their right mind thinks Congress is going to do their job without being forced to do their job?” commented Senator Paul.

In the House, Representative Barbara Lee’s (D-California) repeal amendment last July was stripped off the defense authorization bill by Speaker Paul Ryan according to her in the “dead of night” in a move she called, “underhanded and undemocratic.”

Barbara Lee is uniquely courageous. In 2001, at the height of the patriotic mania gripping the country, she was a lone voice in the House who opposed AUMF that passed 420-1. Brave as well as prescient she called it in an op-ed, “a blank check … to attack anyone” that “runs too great a risk that more innocent men, women and children will be killed.”

Berated and vilified in the press, including The Wall Street Journal, and called a traitor, she was deluged with angry letters and threats. She has since been proven correct … repeatedly. The rape of Libya, the ravaging of Syria … and Somalia couldn’t be left in its brief solace after years of conflict. If the latter’s Union of Islamic Courts was theocratic, then so has been Iran without any attack on the US. The result of interference has been insurgencies, and the terrorism that was supposed to be suppressed: in Somalia spreading south, and in Libya radiating outwards to include Niger, where the four soldiers lost their lives in an apparent ambush.

In 2013, Ms. Lee asked the Congressional Research Service to look into actions taken under AUMF authority. It “located 30 occurrences of a publicly disclosed presidential reliance on the AUMF,” 18 under Bush, and 12 during the Obama Administration through June 2013. An appendix lists the AUMF presidential notifications from September 24, 2001 to June 14, 2013. Its use continues under Donald Trump, as we have seen in Niger and in the carpet-bombing of Raqqa for which the Russians accuse the US of wiping it “off the face of the earth” like Dresden in WW2.

After 16 years of war in Afghanistan and an Iraq war initiated through lies, is the US any safer? Before the war, the Taliban were, in a way, beholden to the US for assistance in driving out the Soviets; now they are enemies. Iraq, while not quite the friend of the 1980s, was contained. At present, it is a junior partner of Iran, the two allied with Syria, and all three wary of the US — to which number can be added a recently disaffected Turkey being romanced by Russia.

The cost of the wars runs north of $5 trillion, the dead soldiers about 7,000 plus a slightly lesser number of contractors, and the wounded at least more than 50,000. The forever wars continue exacting their drip, drip toll.

According to Jeffrey St. Clair the editor of Counterpunch, Niger is not alone for he claims 6,000 American troops have been actively engaged in 53 countries out of 54 (sic) — there are 55 sovereign states as noted by the African Union; in May, 2017, The New Yorker noted U.S. involvement in 21. Whatever the exact figure, it is too high. The American effort is intended to counter Chinese economic penetration, who avoid interfering politically, focusing on trade, traders and economic projects, remaining a friend to all. The shortcomings of a military response which becomes associated with the leadership drawing enemies, particularly in civil war or insurgency, is in stark contrast to the Chinese interacting at most levels of society.

The destruction of Libya also destroyed an economic magnet that drew temporary African labor wanting to supplement family income. Some of these now venture north to Europe. And when Raqqa’s population of 200,000 is reduced to a quarter, the displaced find shelter wherever they can, even Europe. The strains to European unity are evident. Such are the unintended consequences of an unchecked military imperium.

Trump administration moves toward deportation of Central American immigrants

Bill Van Auken

Late Monday, the Trump administration announced its decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for as many as 5,000 Nicaraguans who have lived legally in the United States for close to two decades. These immigrants, many of them with spouses and children who are US citizens, and who have jobs, homes and small businesses, will be rendered undocumented in January 2019, subject to being hunted down and deported by armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) squads.

TPS was created by legislation enacted in 1990 to cover non-citizens unable to return to their own countries because of armed conflicts and environmental disasters. The status is highly restrictive, applying only to those immigrants who were in the US at the time of the designation, and excluding those fleeing the same conditions afterward. While it allows TPS recipients to work and requires them to pay taxes, it denies them all federal benefits and provides no means of obtaining legal resident status or reuniting with loved ones left behind. Any immigrant convicted of a felony or two misdemeanors is deprived of TPS protection.

Though the ruling on Nicaragua affects a relatively small number of immigrants, it is a first step in the introduction of a reactionary anti-immigrant policy that could see as many as 325,000 people with TPS status forcibly expelled from the United States and returned to impoverished and violence-plagued countries that, in many cases, they left as children.

TPS was granted to both Nicaraguans and Hondurans, including the undocumented, who were residing in the US when Central America was ravaged by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. While the status has to be renewed every 18 months—requiring beneficiaries to re-register—this has been done more or less routinely for the past two decades.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which made the determination on ending TPS status for Nicaraguans, temporarily postponed the decision on Hondurans, some 85,000 of whom have benefited from the program. TPS status for both countries was set to expire in January. Under the decision announced Monday, Nicaraguans will have until January 2019 to obtain legal residence or leave the country before facing forcible deportation. A decision on Honduras, meanwhile, has been postponed until July of next year.

The supposed basis of the decision is that conditions in Nicaragua have improved to such an extent that TPS is no longer needed, while for Honduras “additional information is necessary,” in the words of acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke. Duke added that the government of Nicaragua had made no request for extending TPS for its citizens in the US, while Honduran authorities have appealed for an extension.

The shift toward a draconian crackdown on immigrants covered by TPS was signaled in May when then-Homeland Security secretary—and now White House chief of staff—Gen. John Kelly granted a six-month, rather than an 18-month, extension to nearly 59,000 Haitians who have been in the US since the devastating 2010 earthquake that claimed the lives of as many as 300,000, while leaving 1.5 million homeless.

Kelly falsely claimed that the Haitian government wanted its citizens sent back and urged those in the US to use the six months to “to prepare for their return to Haiti.”

Meanwhile, TPS status for immigrants who came to the US before earthquakes devastated El Salvador in 2001 will expire in March. Salvadorans are by far the largest population affected by the program, with roughly a quarter of a million of them having been covered by the program. It appears likely that the DHS will detect similar “improvements” in this Central American country justifying their expulsion.

The claims that the US government is acting on the basis of any objective evaluation that these longstanding US residents can be re-integrated into the countries that they left in many cases decades ago are utterly false and cynical.

Central America’s poverty-stricken Northern Triangle faces civil war levels of violence, with 50,000 people murdered there over the last three years. Haiti continues to be plagued by poverty and lack of infrastructure, with Hurricane Matthew in 2016 leaving vast destruction in its wake.

All of these countries are the victims not merely of natural catastrophes, but more fundamentally a century of oppression by US imperialism, punctuated by American invasions and occupations, US-backed dictatorships and CIA-orchestrated civil wars and coups.

The human cost of the policies being initiated by the Trump administration is devastating. A recent study conducted by the Center for Migration Studies found that TPS recipients from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti—who account for 90 percent of immigrants with this status—together have 273,000 children who are US citizens. More than half of those from El Salvador and Honduras, and 16 percent from Haiti, have been in the country for 20 years or more, while 68,000 of them—22 percent—arrived before the age of 16. Roughly 30 percent of them are paying mortgages on homes.

The impact within the countries where these immigrants are to be sent will also be catastrophic. Remittances from abroad, most of them coming from immigrants to the US, account for nearly 30 percent of Haiti’s gross domestic product (GDP). In the Central American countries, they constitute about 15 percent.

The scrapping of TPS is part of a fascistic policy on the part of the Trump administration that demonizes immigrants as a threat to national security and a drain on “American” jobs and living standards. It is in sync with the wholesale attack on immigrant workers through stepped-up raids and detentions and the threats of mass deportations.

At the same time, the administration is utilizing the TPS immigrants—much like the so-called Dreamers, the 800,000 young undocumented immigrants covered by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—as pawns in its attempt to push through draconian anti-immigrant legislation that would massively build up police state measures against immigration, revoke current polices allowing for US citizens and legal immigrants to sponsor close family members and drastically limit the rights of refugees.

In her statement announcing the latest decisions on TPS, DHS Acting Secretary Duke called “on Congress to enact a permanent solution for this inherently temporary program.”

The administration’s actions have drawn fire from its base among fascistic and white supremacist layers reflected in outlets like Breitbart, which accused the DHS of “caving in” by not ordering the summary deportation of hundreds of thousands of Central Americans and Haitians.

The Democratic Party has signaled its willingness to reach a deal with Trump on stepping up the war on immigrants. In September, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi praised Trump for his feigned “sympathy” for the Dreamers, indicating that they were willing to accept an agreement that would include stepped-up border security and an immigration crackdown.

Such a deal would only represent a further escalation of anti-immigrant policies enacted by the administration of President Barack Obama, who earned the title “deporter-in-chief” by expelling more immigrants than all the presidents who had preceded him combined.

Monday’s brutal decision on TPS is not without precedent. In September 2016, before handing the White House over to Trump, the Obama administration stripped Temporary Protected Status from 4,270 immigrants from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia who had been allowed to stay legally in the US because of Africa’s Ebola crisis.

Brazil cuts science budget amid mounting yellow fever threat

Miguel Andrade 

The yellow fever deaths of three apes living in the Horto Florestal environmental state park bordering São Paulo’s northern sector has brought to the fore the looming danger posed to the Brazilian population by the spread of the deadly disease. This threat has been intensified by the scorched earth policy that every level of government is imposing on the country’s health care and scientific sectors amid the worst economic crisis in a century.

Since the beginning of the decade, the country has faced a series of infrastructure-related health emergencies, most notably the mosquito-borne Zika virus outbreak in 2015.

Despite the worldwide attention received by the Zika outbreak, fueled in part by the tragic images of malformations caused in babies born to Zika-infected women, there was less notice of the impact of another two viral diseases spread by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito—the Dengue and Chikungunya fevers. These diseases were the cause of a record 800 deaths in Brazil during the same year, mainly in the impoverished northeast region, which has the fastest growth of urbanization in the country. The total number of infections from the three viruses was estimated at 4 million, with a potential for many times more due to under-notification of milder cases, often confused with the flu.

With Aedes aegypti populations surging higher every summer as forestry management and mosquito eradication efforts decline, the major risk now is that the mosquito becomes able to carry some strain of yellow fever, allowing the return of the so-called “urban cycle” of the deadly disease, eradicated from Brazilian cities in 1942.

Urban virus eradication was achieved with the eradication of the mosquito itself by extensive, military-backed fumigation operations, now considered by health authorities as ineffective and even dangerous. Yellow fever has since then been confined to the so-called “jungle cycle”, which needs jungle-bred mosquito species as carriers between two primate infections, and to rural areas, where Aedes aegypti infestations are lower.

The spread of the disease to environmental protection areas surrounding Brazil’s largest cities has been traced back to “epidemiological corridors”, i. e., semi-continuous ape-populated jungle areas, between these areas and the main affected areas in Minas Gerais, according to a report by the local edition of the Spanish El País of November 2.

The same report recorded 261 deaths from yellow fever from the beginning of the year until August, compared to nine for the whole of 2015. Like Dengue, severe forms of the disease—accounting for 20 percent of the cases—cause deadly hemorrhaging. Marcia Chame, a researcher at Brazil’s leading disease control center, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), told the Brazilian daily O Estado de S. Paulo as early as January that the surge observed in Minas Gerais at the beginning of the year was surpassing the normal flare-up of the disease in seven-year cycles that tend to result in fewer than 20 deaths.

She raised the possibility that the collapse of a mining dam on the Doce river in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais, laying waste to 230 towns along the 700km of the river leading to the sea, may have affected the health of the region’s ape populations and also forced them to migrate, increasing ape infections. This in turn could be what has precipitated the 3,000 percent increase in the number of human deaths, while creating the possibility of transmission to apes living on the outskirts of Brazilian cities, now threatening some of the largest urban populations on the planet.

Currently, populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitos circulating in Brazil are not able to carry the yellow fever virus, which has allowed for confinement of the disease to rural areas.

According to a 2013 joint research project by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), and the University of Maryland, Aedes aegypti breeds circulating in Brazil are not the same as those eradicated in 1942, having been introduced in Brazil in the 1970s from the United States through the Caribbean. When infection occurs in rural communities, people are invariably infected by jungle mosquitoes which had previously bitten infected apes. Yellow fever vaccines are mandatory and are part of Brazilian children’s regular vaccine schedule in these areas.

Epidemiologist Eduardo Massad, working at São Paulo University, told the BBC in January that the great question was why Aedes aegypti had not yet been able to carry the yellow fever virus, finally allowing for the decisive crossing from the jungle areas on the outskirts of major cities into the urban centers themselves, threatening the country’s 175 million strong urban population. He had at the time described the situation as a “time-bomb.”

There could be no more immediate relation between the current threat of a yellow fever epidemic and the class war being waged on the working class by the Brazilian bourgeoisie. The spending freeze approved as a Constitutional amendment in 2016 is expected to block US$130 billion in health spending over the next 20 years. The groundbreaking FIOCRUZ research institute, responsible for the eradication of yellow fever in 1942 and the isolation of the Zika virus after the first reports of microcephaly in 2015, is chronically underfunded, and has alone lost some US$100 million in annual funding since 2014.

Marcelo Nogueira, the president of the Brazilian Virology Society, has also told El País that a lack of vaccines is the only reason why people in the southeast of Brazil have not yet been immunized against yellow fever.

Crucial theoretical work on the mathematical modeling of tropical disease cycles—a crossing of 7,200 parameters and conditions being calculated under FIOCRUZ’s Marcia Chame’s supervision—is threatened by a possible second shutdown of Santos Dumont, Latin America’s largest supercomputer, which couldn’t meet its energy bill shortly after its inauguration in 2016.

Brazil’s Science Ministry is facing a 44 percent funding cut by the end of the 2017 and another reduction of 15 percent for 2018, returning its budget to the 2005 level. That was at the beginning of the commodity boom that caused the now debunked economic euphoria surrounding the so-called BRICS and allowed for the limited poverty reduction policies touted by the Worker’s Party (PT) administrations of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. The latter was ousted in 2016 on trumped-up charges of budget manipulation and replaced by her right-wing vice president, Michel Temer. From 2005 to 2013, Brazil saw science funding grow slightly faster than GDP, reaching a peak of 1.24 percent of the GDP during Rousseff’s first term, according to a Nature Magazine report from 2015.

In a July interview with the BBC, physicist Luiz Davidovich, president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science, estimated that the total federal funding for science in 2017 will stand at 2.5 billion reais (US$800 million), or a quarter of the 2010 peak, and is expected to fall to roughly a fifth in 2018. Davidovich made clear, however, that Rousseff fired the opening shot of the war on science in 2014 with a 25 percent cut to the ministry’s budget at the first indication of the onset of the capitalist economic crisis.

Since Temer’s takeover as president, Brazil has been harshly criticized by the UN at least three times for allowing the growth of deforestation and land rights abuses, the 20-year budget freeze and for disrespecting international treaties regarding modern slavery and sweatshop conditions. All the reports on these issues have included criticisms of policies introduced under Workers Party rule. The cuts to science funding have also caused 23 Nobel laureates to write an open letter to the Temer at the end of September asking for the overturning of the cuts.

Perception is clear in Brazil and internationally that attacks on workers, peasants, indigenous communities, environmental regulations and scientists are all part of a wide cultural and social regression.

While demoralized petty-bourgeois critics in the pseudo-left mirror their counterparts in the US and Europe, blaming the working class and its supposed backwardness for the right-wing onslaught, the Workers Party (PT) and its affiliated media is trying to forge a right-wing, nationalist political front on the basis that if allowed to have his way, Temer will make Brazil a pariah state.

Reports of cuts to science and international outrage at the rollback of environmental regulations have been central to the PT narrative that Rousseff’s ouster was part of a feudal reaction which threatens Brazilian capitalism.

Nonetheless the popular perception that the PT was a co-conspirator in what the party classifies as a parliamentary coup, is growing. It has left no option for Lula—favored as the 2018 presidential candidate if he eludes corruption charges—but to throw Rousseff to the wolves. In an interview on October 22, he allowed that “the people felt betrayed” by Dilma’s austerity measures and that he should have run in her place in 2014.

Meanwhile, a nationalist drive is accelerating also with a focus on science. Typical in this regard was an October 10 column by Carlos Drummond in the Workers Party mouthpiece CartaCapital, entitled “The Navy Shows The Way”, focused precisely on the role that the Brazilian Navy’s nuclear submarine and related projects supposedly would have in developing science and “protecting biodiversity.”

Later, on October 28, the former foreign minister under Lula, Celso Amorim, penned an article under the title “The role of the Armed Forces” that stated “several studies have concluded that where the armed forces act like police, they deteriorate, since modern jets and tanks made with national technology, or a nuclear submarine, have no place”, later adding: “Why is the military silent? Because the line between criticism and rebellion is very subtle.”

This speaks volumes: at a time in which the military is increasingly being called upon to patrol the streets, and has been granted by Temer the “right” to try its own members in military courts for crimes committed against civilians, the Workers Party is worried about them not being allowed to exploit science for the promotion of Brazilian nationalism.

Indian power plant explosion kills at least 35 workers

Wasantha Rupasinghe

At least 35 workers were killed and some 87 injured in a deadly explosion at a state-owned power plant in northern India last Wednesday. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plant is located at Unchahar, near Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

In a statement, the company said the disaster began in unit number six of the facility, when “there was a sudden abnormal sound at 20-metre elevation and there was an opening in corner number two from which hot flue gases and stream escaped affecting the people working around the area.”

Already, it is clear that the deadly explosion was a product of lax safety practices.

The facility reportedly has a workforce of around 870. Many of them are migrant workers employed on a daily wage of just 200 rupees ($US3) a day.

An injured employee told First Post he was hit by a sudden gush of hot ash-like material. Like many of the injured, he received severe burns.

First Post quoted an unnamed officer of the plant who indicated that the real death toll may be far greater than has been acknowledged.

“I know that more than 70 people have been killed in this tragedy,” the officer said. “I was one of the persons to visit unit with the NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] team and I know that many labourers were reduced to ashes in this accident.” As many as 150 workers may have been in the plant at the time of the blast.

Mantu Barua, one of the survivors, told the media of horrific scenes. “It rained fire there,” Barua said. “Many of my friends got burnt alive and I could do nothing.”

Devastated workers’ families launched a protest outside the complex last week, alleging more bodies were buried under the ash and rubble. They said that several workers remained unaccounted for.

Resources in the burn and plastic surgery unit of the local Civil Hospital have been inadequate for the scale of the crisis.

R.P. Singh, a senior doctor at the hospital, told First Post he had requested that the victims of the explosion be transferred to a major hospital in New Delhi. “All patients here have more than 50 percent burn injuries,” he said. According to media reports, 15 people were airlifted to other medical facilities.

National and state governments are fearful that the disaster will become a focal point of broader social anger. The authorities have deployed two companies of the Utter Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary to the plant.

Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and a member of Prime Minister Mahendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, quickly offered cash compensation. The meagre amounts included 200,000 rupees to the families of the deceased, 50,000 rupees to the severely injured and 25,000 rupees for those who sustained “minor” injuries.

National Power Minister R. K. Singh announced ex-gratia compensation of 2 million rupees to the families of the deceased, one million for seriously injured workers and 200,000 rupees for other wounded workers.

The token compensation is aimed at covering up the responsibility of the NPTC and the government for substandard safety measures. An editorial in the Deccan Chronicle noted, “Generous companies may think they are compensating workers’ kin, the truth is that life is cheap in India, even of those tasked with working in dangerous environments.”

The announcements of compensation come as more details are emerging about the possible cause of the explosion.

The normal task of a boiler in a power plant is to produce steam by burning coal. Clinkers, or bits of stony residue, form, falling down the funnel shaped boiler through a 6–8 inch opening. A steel conveyor belt which runs beneath the opening continuously removes the clinker, which is sprinkled with water to cool it, then crushed and moved out as ash slurry.

“The [boiler] problem occurs when the clinker are bigger in size and end up blocking this opening,” the Indian Express wrote last Friday. “The solution then is to shut down the boiler, open a manhole and put the poking rod in to remove the clinker blocks.” The boiler should first be allowed to cool down.

The Express commented that “Across thermal projects in India, though, this is a rare practice” because of monetary losses caused by interruptions to production. “[Managements] tend to push operators to undertake a short-cut for de-choking the bottom hopper in violation of safety procedures, and thereby risking lives,” the newspaper stated.

An editorial in the Hindu likewise noted that “High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are strictly regulated with special laws.” The Utter Pradesh government, it said, “failed miserably” in maintaining these objectives.

The Hindu described the accident as “entirely preventable” because boilers are “designed to provide warning as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic inspections to ensure that all features are working and intact.”

Industrial boiler and gas cylinder explosions are common in India with the National Crime Records Bureau reporting 61 deaths caused by such incidents in 2015 alone.

An editorial in the Economic Times noted that state-owned Coal India has been “pushing up output by shipping out ever lower grades of coal with very high ash content.” The company provides coal for the NPTC. The editorial asked whether the plant was conducting “any independent assessment of risk and quality norms.”

The NPTC is amassing vast profits on the back of its 24,000 employees. The company’s reported profits were $US1.5 billion last financial year. It was ranked 300 on last year’s Forbes Global 2000, a list of public companies around the world with the highest market value and profit.

This is part of a broader pro-business agenda being imposed by the Modi government, which saw India jump 30 positions in the World Bank’s recently released “Ease of Doing Business” report. India now sits at 100 on this list.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley boasted that it was the “highest jump that any country has ever made in this index.” He said it was a “clear and big acknowledgement of the structural reforms that the Modi government has been undertaking.”

In other words, India is a haven for global capital, based on the destruction of the social rights of ordinary people and the stepped-up exploitation of the working class.

Saudi crown prince charges Iran with “act of war”

Jordan Shilton

Hot on the heels of purging his main rivals for the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East, accusing Iran of an “act of war.” This makes clear that the consolidation of power in the hands of the most hardline, anti-Iranian faction of the Saudi royal family threatens to trigger a catastrophic regional conflict across the war-ravaged Middle East.

Bin Salman’s allegation was made in the wake of the firing of a missile from Yemen into Saudi Arabia, which was intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi Air Force. Riyadh has been waging a bloody war since 2015 against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Bin Salman seized on the incident to provocatively threaten a military conflict with Tehran. “The involvement of Iran in supplying missiles to the Houthis is a direct military aggression by the Iranian regime,” he said Tuesday, “and may be considered an act of war against the Kingdom.”

Fanning the flames of conflict between the two regional competitors and strengthening bin Salman’s hand in his anti-Iran policy, US President Donald Trump denounced Iran Monday, blaming it, without any evidence, for being behind the missile launch. The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded to Trump’s incendiary allegation by denying Iranian responsibility.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded angrily via Twitter, criticising Riyadh for carrying out “wars of aggression, regional bullying, destabilising behaviour and risky provocations.” Yet, he added, Saudi Arabia “blames Iran for the consequences.”

Bin Salman’s war threats followed the dramatic arrest of 11 princes and 38 government ministers and former ministers last weekend. The crackdown, carried out by bin Salman in conjunction with his father, the aging and ailing King Salman, exposed the deepening crisis confronting the regime in Riyadh and the extremely unstable situation throughout the Middle East.

The 32-year-old bin Salman was named as crown prince in June by his father after the arrest of former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif. Bin Salman was appointed Saturday by King Salman to head up an anti-corruption body, and a few hours later he launched the latest wave of detentions under the self-serving pretext of clamping down on corruption.

The transparent aim was to strengthen Salman’s branch of the royal family and ensure a smooth succession to bin Salman when the 81-year-old king abdicates or dies. Among the most high profile figures arrested were Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, the son of the former King Abdullah and head of the National Guard, and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire with substantial investments in numerous European and US companies.

The crown prince’s declared determination to confront growing Iranian influence throughout the region is exacerbating the already tense conflicts that have been enflamed over the course of more than a quarter century of uninterrupted wars waged by US imperialism. The first Gulf War of 1991, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the bombardment of Libya in 2011 and the ongoing war in Syria and Iraq have claimed the lives of millions, forced millions more from their homes and upended the regional balance of forces.

Everything suggests that Saudi Arabia and its US backer are taking coordinated steps to challenge Iran more forcefully. The entire US ruling elite is deeply troubled by Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East and the fact that, notwithstanding the expenditure of vast amounts of blood and treasure, Washington has proven incapable of bringing the world’s most important oil-exporting region under its control. Instead, the US is losing ground to Russia and increasingly China, which is emerging as an economic player.

The same day as bin Salman ordered the arrest of his rivals, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his surprise resignation while in the Saudi capital. Hariri, a Sunni leader who ruled in cooperation with the Shiite and Iranian-aligned Hezbollah, appears to have been forced out by Riyadh to create the conditions for a more direct confrontation with Hezbollah. In neighbouring Israel, which is preparing for war with Hezbollah, the government of Binyamin Netanyahu has encouraged the Saudis in their hardline approach to Iran. Tel Aviv has also stepped up its air strikes in the Syrian conflict, aiming to contain Iranian influence and stop weapons shipments to Hezbollah.

Prince Salman’s purge was explicitly endorsed by Trump, who stated during his ongoing Asia trip that it was a good thing for the crown prince to take action against corruption and that he has “great confidence” in him.

Trump laid the groundwork for the development of an anti-Iranian Sunni alliance in the Middle East during a trip to Riyadh in May. In the course of a provocative speech, he lambasted Tehran as the region’s main sponsor of terrorism. Last month, Trump refused to certify Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord negotiated under the Obama administration, setting the stage for a further ratcheting up of tensions with Tehran and a direct military conflict involving the United States.

Predictably, the US media has generally responded positively to bin Salman’s crackdown on his domestic opponents. The only expressions of concern came from those worried that bin Salman’s aggressive clampdown could discredit and weaken the Saudi monarchy. Bruce Riedel, a 30-year CIA veteran and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project, told al-Jazeera, “There will be much discontent behind the scenes in the family, and the Kingdom is headed for instability.”

Riyadh, which has served as a key prop of Washington in the Middle East since 1945, is growing increasingly concerned about the undermining of its geopolitical position. Washington’s failure to launch a direct intervention to topple the Assad regime, its decision to conclude the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and its refusal to grant its unreserved support to Riyadh’s economic and diplomatic blockade of Qatar earlier this year have intensified the Saudi ruling establishment’s crisis.

The Saudi ruling elite is responding to the thwarting of its ambitions to become the regional hegemon by lashing out ever more recklessly and aggressively. The bloody war in Yemen conducted by Riyadh since 2015 against the Houthi rebels, has killed tens of thousands of civilians and produced a devastating humanitarian disaster. The Saudis have failed to achieve their strategic ambitions and have instead been increasingly isolated, with only limited support coming from the Gulf states for the conflict.

The blockade against Qatar, which was motivated by the Saudis’ frustration at Doha’s burgeoning ties with Tehran, especially in the energy sector, has also failed to produce the desired outcome, with only the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt joining the Saudi offensive. Kuwait and Oman have remained neutral, effectively crippling the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council.

The strengthening of Assad in Damascus, with the aid of Russia and Iran, has enabled Tehran to plan the establishment of a land corridor running through Syria to Lebanon and the Mediterranean coast, which would substantially enhance Iranian influence across the entire region at the expense of Riyadh, Tel Aviv and Washington.

Saudi Arabia’s domestic economic and social crisis is yet another factor contributing to the explosive situation. The royal family sits atop a social powder keg, with its vast wealth and that of the business elite offering a glaring contrast to the poverty experienced by wide sections of the kingdom’s population. These social tensions have worsened due to the sharp decline in oil prices since 2014, which has roiled the Saudi economy, compelled the adoption of austerity measures and increased dissatisfaction with the fabulous levels of wealth enjoyed by the country’s rulers. Added to this is Saudi Arabia’s overwhelmingly young population, two-thirds of which is under the age of 30.

It is clear to see why the House of Saud is deeply concerned about maintaining its brutal dictatorial rule. Ever since the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions of 2011, the greatest fear in Saudi ruling circles has been the emergence of a popular movement in opposition to the existing set-up, something which it has sought to prevent by means of ruthless repression.

The rampant levels of social inequality and increased discrediting of the ruling elite will only encourage the Saudi rulers to act with even greater aggression throughout the region. Riyadh’s twin aims are to divert social tensions outwards against external enemies, and to strengthen the unstable monarchical regime.

Heinz-Kühn-Foundation Journalism Scholarships for Junior Journalists in Developing Countries 2018/2019 – Germany

Application Deadline: 30th November, 2017

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries and Germany

To be taken at (country): Various countries

About the Award: The foundation awards scholarships to young journalists from North-Rhine-Westphalia for six-week or three-month reporting trips in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The foundation also provides funds to enable candidates from developing countries to gain professional journalism experience in North-Rhine-Westphalia for up to three months.

The aim of the Heinz-Kühn-Foundation is to support the training and professional development of junior journalists.

Type: Training

Eligibility: Young journalists from North-Rhine-Westphalia and developing countries are eligible for a scholarship if they satisfy the following requirements:

• have a keen interest in development issues;
• have already gained substantial professional experience in journalism (a completed college education is desirable);
• are not older than 35 years of age; and,
• have a good command of the official language of their host country (candidates from abroad must at least have a basic knowledge of the German language).

Selection: Decisions are taken by the board of trustees of the Heinz-Kühn-Foundation on the recommendation of the selection committee.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: Scholarship holders get

• a lump-sum contribution towards living expenses in the host country (with scholarship payments covering training and living expenses in the host country);
• a lump-sum allowance for flight and travelling expenses (the foundation pays a return air ticket for candidates from abroad);
• an allowance to cover costs of research materials (e.g. literature);
• an allowance for trips within the host country; and,
• (if neccessary, for scholarship holders from abroad) a German language course of up to four months at the Düsseldorf or Bonn based Goethe-Institut.

Duration of Scholarship: In the lead up to the scholarship and throughout the duration of the scholarship, the Heinz-Kühn-Foundation will provide support.

How to Apply: Journalists who meet the requirements for a scholarship should first contact the foundation to discuss possible host countries and their topics of interest.

The foundation’s postal address is:

Ministerpräsidentin des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Heinz-Kühn-Stiftung
Fürstenwall 25
40219 Düsseldorf

The following documents should be enclosed with the application:

• curriculum vitae in tabular form and a photograph;
• certificates of vocational training and present occupation;
• foreign languages certificates;
• German candidates should provide a detailed statement explaining their reasons for applying, their choice of host country and proposed topic of research.
• Candidates from abroad should provide a letter of motivation in German.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Heinz-Kühn-Foundation

Al Alfi Foundation Sustainable Development Fellowship for Egyptian Students 2018

Application Deadline: 15th April, 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Egypt

To be taken at (country): American University of Cairo, Egypt

About the Award: The program is designed to identify and prepare future leaders who are Egyptian nationals and who have strong knowledge and skills in science, engineering, business, policy and social sciences. Fellowship applicants must possess professional experience and exceptional skills, as well as an outstanding passion for sustainable development.

The long-term objective of the program is to develop a new cadre of entrepreneurial leaders who are capable of filling critical positions in industry, public sector and civil-society organizations in Egypt, and who can successfully integrate technical, business and social skills to contribute to comprehensive sustainable development in Egypt and beyond.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: Applicants must:

• Be Egyptian citizens
• Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. Candidates must also have a background in science, engineering, policy, business or social sciences.
• Possess a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or the equivelant of gayed gidan (very good)
• Be admitted into the master’s program in sustainable development
• Provide a written statement that outlines their research and/or professional experience, as well as their future career goals. Financial difficulties should also be indicated in the statement.

Selection: Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for an interview with the selection committee.

Number of Awardees: 5

Value of Fellowship: The fellowship covers:

• A full or partial coverage of tuition fees
• Student services and activities fees
• Cost of books

Duration of Fellowship: Fellowships are awarded to the most outstanding candidates who are able to complete the program in the shortest amount of time.

How to Apply: To Apply

• Step 1: Check how to apply and submit the online application
• Step 2: Complete and submit the online fellowship application

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Al Alfi Foundation, American University of Cairo

International Careers Festival for Student Diplomats (Scholarships Available) 2018

Application Timeline:

• Deadline for scholarship applications: 15th December, 2017
• First deadline for applications and admission tests: December 22th 2017
• If there are vacancies after the first deadline, there will be a second deadline of January 26th, 2018.

If there are vacancies after the first deadline, there will be a second deadline of January 13th, 2017.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Rome, Italy

Eligible Fields of Study: These are suggested fields of academic study:

• RomeMUN: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, POLITICAL SCIENCE, LAW, COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT.
• Rome Business Game: ECONOMICS, MARKETING, MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING, COMPUTER ENGINEERING, STUDENTS/GRADUATES OF POLYTECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS.
• Rome Press Game: COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION
• International Careers Course: ALL FACULTIES WELCOME TO APPLY

If you are applying for a scholarship, please note that precedence will be given to those applying from these faculties.

About the Award: Designed by the Giovani nel Mondo Association, The International Careers Festival aims to have talented students and recent graduates meet with hundreds of international opportunities. You might be just a single click from the opportunity that will change your whole life! Join thousands of young people from around the world and take part in a one-of-a-kind festival.

International Careers Festival offers you various workshops and seminars, stands where students can directly acquire practical skills, and not to mention the acclaimed marathon and final concert planned as the coronation of this annual event.

Therefore, Rome will be an unprecedented stage of ambition and tenacity, innovation and cooperation, and languages and cultures from around the world.

International Careers Fair

What is more, during the festival, you can take part in International Careers Fair. It is a large exhibition area open to both participants and the public alike. It will be divided into two different sections the education/university area and the work/internship area.

The Fair is the meeting and interaction point between thousands of students, whether they are looking for studying, training, internship, work opportunities, and industry experts.

Above all, the festival gives a unique opportunity for interaction and networking between brilliant young people, institutions, companies, NGOs, international organizations, and television and radio networks. It’s your time to get involved!

The Festival is composed of four main projects:

• Rome Model United Nations – It’s your turn to practice diplomacy with the simulation of the United Nations. Recommended for students interested in the topic, especially of international relations, diplomacy, political science or law.

• Rome Business Game – It’s your time to take the challenge! Take part in a simulation of business realities involving case study competitions. If you study economics, business, management, marketing, computer science or if you are curious about this topic you are more than welcome to join.

• Rome Press Game – This is the place where journalism and media (the web, tv, radio) simulation happens. It’s your time to play! Sign up today, especially if you study communication, media, translation and interpretation, literature or philosophy.

• International Careers Course – Provides you guidance course filled with practical workshops for a successful international career. Sounds exciting? It’s your time to learn!

You are free to choose the one most suited to your academic background, professional aspirations or general interest.

Type: Conferences

Offered Since: 2016

Eligibility: 

• High school students in their last two years
• undergraduate, postgraduate, I or II Level Master’s and doctorate students
• students who have graduated (no more than a year after receiving their diploma)

Selection: 

The scholarships, for which all those interested must apply before the 9th of December 2016, will be awarded after an analysis and selection by the Research Committee of the Giovani nel Mondo Association.

Once you have completed the Application form, you will be given access to your reserved section of the International Careers Festival’s website and must become a member of the Association by paying the annual membership fee of 15 euros. Once you have uploaded your payment receipt to your account, you will have access to the online English Language test. To apply for a scholarship, it is necessary to pass the test with a score of 90/100. If your score is equal to/over 90/100, you will have access to the scholarship application where you must answer a series of questions, upload your CV, and write an essay.

The scholarships are very competitive, therefore we recommend that you apply for a scholarship in the case that you cannot attend the event without one or if you believe you have all the required qualifications.

Number of Awardees: 200

Value of Scholarship: Partial or Full.

Scholarships DO NOT cover travel expenses. Many students who could not afford to come to our events would use crowdfunding sites to try and pay for fees and/or flights.

Duration of Program: 24th to the 27th of March 2018

How to Apply: 

The online application process for the various projects is simple and straightforward. It allows participants to choose the program best suited to their academic background to launch their careers and take advantage of one of the many scholarships available.

In order to take part in the festival, your English language skills must be at least B1. To complete the application, you must either take an online English test or upload a certificate confirming your level of English.

Finally, you have to submit the application form and pay the participation fee, either the whole amount or in two installments.

You may also apply for a scholarship to cover all programme expenses.

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: Giovani nel Mondo Association

US Consulate ‘She Makes It Happen’ Program for Women Fashion Entrepreneurs 2017

Application Deadline: Ongoing

To be Taken at: The United States Consulate 2, Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos

About the Award: She Makes It Happen! is an end of the year event, for women fashion entrepreneurs. Powered by African Fashion Development and Empowerment Centre (AFDEC) in partnership with The Public Affairs Department of U.S Consulate, Lagos Nigeria. The program Objective is to:

1.) Strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of exceptionally creative Woman owning micro, small & medium enterprises in the
Nigerian Fashion Industry,
2.) Provide Access to New Markets
3.) Share Experiences of successful Women in the Fashion Industry and
4.) Proffer a Platform for networking among Fashion Entrepreneurs within and outside the AFDEC Network.

Value of Program: The event is packed with fun activities including: -Awards -Exhibitions -Look book Showcase -Experience Sharing’Dialogue -Networking -Red Carpet -Comedy -Music

Duration of Program: 

Date: November 9th 2017
Time: 9am – 12noon

Visit Program Webpage for Details

Important Notes: PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER IF YOU WON’T BE AVAILABLE FOR THIS EVENT TO MAKE ROOM FOR OTHER APPLICANTS, AS LIMITED SEATS ARE AVAILABLE.

Global Social Venture Competition for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 2018

Application Deadline: 4th December, 2017

Global Finals: April 11-13, 2018

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Applicant’s chosen country and Graduate School Business and Society at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

About the Award: The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) empowers the next generation of social entrepreneurs by providing them with mentoring, exposure, and over $80,000 in prizes to transform their ideas into ventures that address the world’s most pressing challenges.

GSVC awards prizes to early-stage social venture teams that show the highest, most integrated financial and social returns – businesses that demonstrate blended value.

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: 

Eligibility Requirements for Ventures

• Submitted ventures should aim to be: financially sustainable or profitable; whether it is a for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid business model, your venture must aim to be self-sufficient on earned revenue.
• Submitted ventures should be scalable long term. This criterion will mean different things for each business. Scalability will take into account the potential for growth of the business, both financially and in its social impact.
• Submitted ventures must have a quantifiable social and/or environmental bottom lineincorporated into their mission and practices.
• Your entry must include a financial analysis as well as a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), including the Social Value Proposition and Social Indicators. Learn more on the SIA page of the website.
• Submitted ventures must be less than 2 years old (with the start of the venture marked by incorporation or first income, whichever occurred first) as of December 31, 2016.
• Submitted ventures may not be a wholly owned subsidiary of an existing entity (of either a for-profit or nonprofit entity).
• Submitted ventures must not have received more than $250,000 in funding from venture capital, private investors, grants (government or foundation), loans, or other funding sources (excluding in-kind) as of December 31, 2016.
• Lifetime revenue should not exceed $500,000 as of December 31, 2016.
• GSVC has the right to investigate funding and qualifications of ventures to assure that they are truly early stage.

Eligibility Requirements for Teams

• Your team must include a student, current or recent graduate*, from any level of higher education (undergraduate, masters level/graduate, or doctoral) in any area of study in the world;
• Recent students must meet the following criteria:  
  • Recent Bachelor’s degree holders must have completed their degree with four (4) years of the application deadline (December 31, 2016).
  • Recent Master’s or Doctoral level degree holders must have completed their degree within two (2) years of the application deadline (December 31, 2016)
• The student or recent student must be actively involved in the venture (i.e., a founder or co-founder, actively participating in development of the business or actively working on the business)
• Your team should include a statement describing the student’s level of involvement.
• The student or recent student must be one of the team’s presenters and must be available to answer judges’ questions regarding the business in the final two rounds of the competition.

Selection: The Global Social Venture Competition leads entrant teams through an experiential learning process to develop innovative, scalable solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.  Through our global network of 14 partner schools and competitions, we give teams the connections, support, and exposure needed to advance their social ventures.

Each of the competition’s three rounds also asks teams to build on past learnings and focus on distinct emphasis areas. A team’s ability to demonstrate progress in these areas will be an important determinant of its venture’s overall score, which in every round is evaluated on business potential, social impact potential, and likelihood of success.

Number of Awardees: 6

Value of Programme: 

• FIRST PLACE AWARD: $40,000
• SECOND PLACE AWARD: $25,000
• THIRD PLACE AWARD: $10,000
• PRIYA HAJI MEMORIAL AWARD: $2,500
• PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD: $1,500
• QUICK PITCH AWARD: $1,000

How to Apply: Apply here

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), University  of California, Berkeley