Wider war over Libya looms as France, Egypt denounce Turkish intervention

Alex Lantier

The nine-year civil war between rival militias unleashed by NATO’s destruction of the Libyan regime in its 2011 war threatens to escalate into all-out war between major regional powers. As the Turkish parliament voted yesterday to authorize a military intervention to back Fayez el-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, key backers of Khalifa Haftar’s rival Libyan National Army (LNA) were denouncing the vote as illegal and threatening to intervene.

After a call with French President Emmanuel Macron on December 30, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued a communiqué denouncing the Turkey-GNA accords as “illegal foreign intervention” in Libya. Sisi said Libya, whose border with Egypt is 1,115 kilometers (693 miles) long, is a “matter of national security” for Egypt. Yesterday, the Egyptian foreign ministry published a statement condemning the Turkish vote “in the strongest terms.”

Reporting on the Macron-Sisi call, French authorities warned of “the danger of military escalation” and called “all international and Libyan actors … to exercise the greatest caution.” Both Paris and Cairo hypocritically expressed hopes that a conference on Libya in Berlin next month would lead to a peaceful negotiated settlement of the Libyan war.

On the ground, however, the GNA and LNA, and the sprawling array of international backers behind each faction, are all arming for war. At stake is not only domination of oil-rich Libya, but undersea oil and gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean that could provide 10 percent or more of Europe’s energy supply. As a result, the world is suddenly confronted with the very real and imminent danger of all-out confrontation between major military powers, including nuclear-armed imperialist states, over domination of north Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.

Yesterday, the Turkish parliament voted 325-184 for armed intervention in Libya, giving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan full powers to decide on its scope. The resolution also supports Erdogan’s agreement with the GNA on dividing eastern Mediterranean energy resources. Its stated purpose is to protect “the interests of Turkey in the Mediterranean basin and in North Africa,” as well as blocking regional refugee flows and bringing humanitarian aid to Libya.

Erdogan threatened to send Turkish troops to Libya “by land, air and sea” and denounced Egypt and the United Arab Emirates for backing Haftar, asking: “What business do they have in Libya?”

Ankara is already sending Islamist militiamen to Libya from Idlib province in Syria, where they were deployed as part of the NATO proxy war in Syria but are surrounded by Syrian and Russian troops. NATO-linked sources including the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights claimed 500 Syrian fighters are already in Libya, citing videos issued by the fighters. Radio France Internationale cited anonymous sources at Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport, claiming fighters were transported by al-Ajniha Airlines, which belongs to militia leader and CIA asset Abdelhakim Belhaj.

Donald Trump called Erdogan after the Turkish parliament vote. The White House issued a brief statement but did not return press calls about his talk with Erdogan. Its communiqué blandly stated, “The leaders discussed bilateral and regional issues. President Trump pointed out that foreign interference is complicating the situation in Libya. The leaders agreed on the need for de-escalation in Idlib, Syria, in order to protect civilians.”

In the meantime, however, the backers of Haftar’s LNA are all rapidly arming it and advancing their strategic and financial interests. Hundreds of Russian-backed mercenaries allegedly linked to the Wagner Group company are fighting in Libya, raising the prospect of a Russian-Turkish conflict over Libya as well as Syria. Middle East Monitor reported that three cargo planes, one from the UAE with troops and two from Egypt with arms, recently arrived at Haftar’s bases in eastern Libya.

Haftar, whose troops advanced last spring but are now under sustained attack by GNA forces, said yesterday that he could take Tripoli “in hours” if Egypt sent troops to help him crush Sarraj. In talks on January 1 in Cairo, however, he threatened Sisi that if Egypt did not intervene militarily when Turkey did, Sisi would soon “find Erdogan’s soldiers on (his) border.”

Also yesterday, Israel, the Greek Cypriot regime and Greece signed a rival eastern Mediterranean energy deal for a pipeline opposed by Turkey, transporting natural gas from waters off Israel and Cyprus to Greece, Italy and beyond. This sets the stage for explosive conflicts in the eastern Mediterranean that are now directly bound up with the decade-long civil war in Libya.

Cyprus has been divided between Turkish and Greek zones since the 1974 war over the island, and competing claims between Turkish and Greek gas exploration vessels off Cyprus in recent months have led to violent ship collisions. Greece violently objected to the Turkish-Libyan deal signed last month, expelling the Libyan ambassador to Greece in protest. Greece’s right-wing Kathimerini wrote that the Greek and Greek Cypriot governments hurried to finalize yesterday’s deal “to counter any attempt by the Turkish neighbor to stop the project.”

The threat of all-out regional war over Libya is the consequence of the imperialist wars for regime change launched by the NATO powers in Libya and then Syria in 2011. Hundreds of thousands have died, the two countries have been devastated, and tens of millions have been forced to flee their homes. While the Syrian conflict escalated into a proxy war involving Iran, Russia, China and the NATO powers that nearly led to US missile strikes on Iran last year and a war directly involving Russia and China, a similar danger of escalation is now posed in Libya.

NATO launched the Libyan war to respond to revolutionary uprisings of the working class in Egypt and Tunisia, but it also reflected conflicts among the major imperialist powers. Washington backed London and Paris, who were eager to crush Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s regime, a rival for influence in France’s former colonial empire in northwest Africa. Berlin and Rome, the former colonial power in Libya, publicly refused to join the war, however.

Commenting on the role of US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the time, the WSWS noted: “it is not to be assumed that Obama has fully worked through the implications of his support for Sarkozy’s schemes. By participating in a war publicly opposed by Berlin, Washington has all but repudiated its decades-long policy of maintaining the political and military unity of Western Europe. ... Washington has set into motion events which will have disastrous consequences.”

This was borne out by the course of the Libyan conflict after NATO and its allied Islamist and tribal militias finally destroyed the Gaddafi regime in August 2011. Conflict erupted in particular between Paris and Rome—who ultimately backed Haftar and Sarraj, respectively—while Washington had to withdraw from Libya in a rout after the destruction of its consulate and the killing of its ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi in 2012.

Since then, shifting coalitions of international backers have lined up behind the various militia factions that emerged in Libya. In the more recent past, France, Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates unofficially backed Haftar, while Italy, Turkey and Qatar supported the GNA and Sarraj, who formally enjoys UN recognition. Trump tried to split the difference, recognizing Sarraj but also calling Haftar, reportedly to declare his sympathies for the LNA.

These conflicts have periodically erupted into view, however, as last year when France recalled its ambassador from Rome for consultations—a move unprecedented since the two countries went to war during World War II.

The danger of a military clash involving Turkey, Egypt, Russia and major NATO imperialist powers is a warning to workers not only in North Africa but around the world. As the 21st century enters its third decade, it is clear that the major capitalist governments have no progressive solutions for the disasters unleashed by decades of imperialist wars in the Middle East and North Africa. As mass social protests against inequality and class struggles spread across Europe and the Middle East, it is critical to build a socialist anti-war movement in the working class.

US assassinates top Iranian general as 4,000 troops readied for Iraq intervention

Bill Van Auken

The targeted assassination of the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad’s international airport early Friday morning has sharply intensified the spiraling conflict between the US and Iran, placing the outbreak of a catastrophic new war in the Middle East on a hair trigger.

The Iraqi and Lebanese media, as well as officials in Iraq’s Shia militia movement, reported that a US missile strike killed Soleimani after he had disembarked from a plane that had brought him to Iraq from either Syria or Lebanon. Also slain in the attack was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second in command of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the powerful coalition of Iraqi Shia militias.

Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File).jpg

The Pentagon issued a statement taking responsibility for the killing: “The U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

For its part, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the killing, telling the Iranian media that “Honored supreme commander of Islam Soleimani was martyred in attack by U.S. helicopters.”

Soleimani has been a major figure within the Iranian military since the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. As head of the Quds Force, he played a central role in defeating the US-backed Al Qaeda-linked militias unleashed by Washington and its allies against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and subsequently helped lead Iraqi militia forces in routing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). While mentioned as a possible candidate for the Iranian presidency, he rejected any run for office, insisting that he would serve his country as a soldier.

He was well known to US officials and military commanders who had engaged in back-channel communications with the Iranian general since Tehran’s collaboration with Washington in the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.

The assassination came as the Pentagon dispatched another 750 US paratroopers to the Middle East, while 4,000 more have been placed on high alert for deployment to the region.

The deployment follows this week’s storming of the US Embassy in Baghdad by Iraqi demonstrators, an act of popular anger over US militarism that Washington blamed upon Iran.

U.S. Marines prepare to deploy from Kuwait (U.S. Marine Corps photos by Sgt. Robert G. Gavaldon via AP)

Defense Secretary Mark Esper claimed on Thursday that there were “indications out there” that Iran is planning “additional attacks” on US forces or interests in the region and that Washington was prepared to “take preemptive action” if it received any “word of attacks or some kind of indication.”

“The game has changed,” Esper said. “Do I think they might do something? Yes, and they will likely regret it.”

Thus, US imperialism has arrogated to itself the “right” to launch not only assassinations, but devastating military attacks on Iran based on the claim that it is acting to “preempt” rumored or invented threats from any entity in the Middle East that Washington deems an Iranian “proxy.” This category stretches from Iraqi Shia militias to the Hezbollah mass political and militia movement in Lebanon to Hamas, the Islamist party that governs the Israeli-occupied territory of Gaza.

On Tuesday, the US Embassy in Baghdad came under siege by thousands of protesters outraged over the December 29 US air strikes against bases in both Iraq and Syria of Kata’ib Hizbullah, an Iraqi Shia militia. The bombings, carried out by US F-15E fighters, killed 25 of the militia’s members and wounded at least 55 others.

The Trump administration claimed that the airstrikes were in retaliation for a missile attack on Iraq’s K-1 military base outside of Kirkuk in which an American civilian contractor was killed. While Washington blamed Kata’ib Hizbullah for the attack, it has presented no evidence of its responsibility.

The protesters, including many militia members and supporters, had marched on the embassy, located in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, following funeral services for the slain militia fighters that had brought thousands into the streets of the Iraqi capital.

They scaled the wall surrounding the US Embassy and laid siege to it, hurling Molotov cocktails and rocks. The embassy complex, the largest US diplomatic facility in the world, sprawls over 104 acres on the Tigris River and, at its high point in 2012, housed 16,000 US personnel, an effective continuation of the American occupation that formally ended in 2011.

The protesters managed to storm the main entrance to the complex, setting alight a guard booth and two reception rooms. Photographs released by the Associated Press on Wednesday showed the charred interiors of these areas of the embassy, with smashed furniture and windows and smoke still rising from the ruins.

Walls to the embassy compound were left covered with graffiti, including slogans such as “US embassy closed by order of the people” and “Death to America and Israel.”

US Marines manning the embassy’s interior fired continuous rounds of tear gas, stun grenades and warning shots in an attempt to disperse the protesters. Apache attack helicopters circled overhead firing flares toward the crowds in what was described as a “show of force.”

While the December 29 airstrikes were meant as a demonstration of US power and a blow to the Kata’ib Hizbullah militia, the popular response expressed in the siege of the embassy has exposed the immense crisis of Washington’s policy in Iraq and across the region.

The crowds of protesters were able to reach and enter the embassy only because the elite US-trained Iraqi anti-terror troops deployed to protect the Green Zone, which also houses government buildings, other embassies and villas of the Iraqi oligarchy, offered no resistance whatsoever.

The event further exposes the predominant role played in the Iraqi government and its security forces by Shia militias—many of which originated in the fight against American troops following the criminal US invasion of Iraq in 2003—organized under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). This had already become clear in 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was able to overrun roughly a third of Iraq after US-trained security forces collapsed, and the main opposition was mounted by the forces that would be organized into the PMF.

Infuriating the Trump administration, among those present at the embassy protest were Faleh al-Fayyadh, the nominal head of the PMF, who also serves as the country's national security advisor, Hadi al-Amiri, the former minister of transport and leader of the Badr Brigades, one of the largest militias within the PMF, and other leading members of parliamentary factions tied to the Shia militias.

While the US ambassador had been meeting with these figures in recent months, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fired off an angry tweet, including a photograph of four of them, branding them as “terrorists.”

All of Iraq’s key government leaders, including the president, prime minister and head of the parliament, have denounced the US airstrikes as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi, who heads a caretaker government after resigning in the face of mass protests against unemployment, social inequality and government corruption that have swept the country since last October, described the strikes as an “unacceptable vicious assault” against a militia that is considered part of Iraq’s armed forces and warned of its “dangerous consequences.” He described being notified by US Defense Secretary Esper of the impending bombings shortly before they were launched and pleading with him, unsuccessfully, to call them off.

The country’s President Barham Salih, who also condemned the US attack, described a similar conversation with a US diplomatic official.

While Trump fired off a tweet Wednesday thanking Abdul Mahdi and Salih for their “rapid response” to Washington’s demand that they provide security for the embassy, the US-trained Iraqi antiterrorism force charged with protecting the Green Zone, issued a pointed statement to the media denying that it had received an order to protect “any entity.”

The protesters left the Green Zone chanting “Yeah, we burned them!” after being told by militia leaders that they had achieved their purpose, and that legislation would be introduced in the Iraqi parliament demanding the expulsion of all US troops from the country.

While similar proposals have been introduced in the past without success, the present crisis may well have produced the conditions for the approval of such a measure. Leaders of a number of the blocs in the Iraqi legislature have signaled their support for ending the US military presence.

According to the Pentagon’s figures, some 5,000 uniformed US personnel are deployed in Iraq along with an unknown number—undoubtedly greater than that amount—of civilian military contractors. Their presence in the country was justified in the name of the “war on ISIS,” in which the US played a massively destructive role, reducing Mosul, previously Iraq’s second city, along with a number of other urban centers in Anbar province, into rubble and killing tens of thousands.

With ISIS smashed, Trump early last year allowed that having “spent a fortune on building this incredible base” in Iraq, Washington should keep it to “watch” Iran. The remark drew a swift rebuke from the Iraqi president, who stated that Iraq’s constitution “does not allow our territory ... to be used against our neighbors” and that Baghdad did not want to be “part of any axis.”

If the Iraqi parliament were to vote for legislation mandating an end to the US military presence in Iraq, it is by no means clear that Washington would withdraw its troops. A continuation of the American occupation, initiated by an unprovoked and criminal invasion, would initiate a new stage in the protracted war that has devastated Iraqi society.

While Washington postures as the victim of missile attacks and an embassy invasion, the conflicts and tensions that continue to roil the Middle East are the product of decades of US military aggression and crippling economic sanctions against Iraq, Iran and Syria that have claimed well over a million lives.

This has culminated in the Trump administration’s abrogation last year of the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and the major world powers, followed by the initiation of a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at reducing Iranian oil exports to zero and starving the Iranian population into accepting regime change and the installation of a US puppet government.

The recklessness and criminality that characterize Washington’s acts against Iran are not a sign of strength, but rather an expression of the deep-going social tensions, economic instability and political crisis gripping American capitalism, which the ruling financial oligarchy seeks to divert outward in an explosion of military violence.

A war against Iran would eclipse the horrific bloodshed of the Iraq war launched in 2003, drawing in the entire region and all of the major powers, including US imperialism’s so-called “great power” rivals Russia and China, bringing humanity face-to-face with the threat of a nuclear Third World War.

Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme 2020

Application Period: Interested entrepreneurs will be able to submit their applications to join the programme as from 1^st January 2019 until Midnight WAT on 1st March, 2019.

Offered annually? Yes. For a period of 10 years

Opportunity is open to: All citizens (18 and above) and legal residents of all African countries with businesses that operate in Africa.

About Entrepreneurship Programme: Nigerian billionaire investor and philanthropist Tony Elumelu has committed $100 million to create 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the next 10 years. Elumelu made the commitment on Monday during a press conference in Lagos to announce the launch of The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).
TEEP, a Pan-African entrepreneurship initiative of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, is a multi-year programme of training, funding, and mentoring, designed to empower the next generation of African entrepreneurs.

Starting From: 2015

Programme Type: Funding for African Entrepreneurs

Number of Entrepreneurs: There are 1,000 positions available annually for 10 years

Value of Programme: The 1,000 start-ups selected from a pool of applicants across Africa will participate in a comprehensive programme which will include;

• A customized 12-week business skills training course
• Start-Up Enterprise Toolkit
• Mentoring
• Resource Library
• 2-Day Boot Camp
• Seed Capital Funding
• Elumelu Forum
• Alumni Network

Duration of Programme: The programme will identify and help grow 10,000 start-ups and young businesses from across Africa over the next 10 years. These businesses will in turn create 1,000,000 new jobs and contribute $10 billion in annual revenues to Africa’s economy.

How to Apply: All applications must be submitted online through the TEEP Portal. Answer a series of mandatory questions and upload additional documents and identification materials. You will receive a confirmation email within 1 working day of submission.
More details about the program, including eligibility and the application and selection processes are available on the Tony Elumelu Foundation website at: www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/TEEP.


Sponsors: Tony Elumelu Foundation

Romanian Government Scholarships 2020/2021 for International Students

Application Deadline: 15th March 2020.
This is the date whereby Foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Bucharest must send the application files with a Verbal Note to Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Public, Cultural and Scientific Diplomacy Directorate.
However, the candidate should enquire at the diplomatic mission where he intends to submit the application file about the enrollment calendar. The deadline for submitting the application files is established by each diplomatic mission.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Any non-EU country

To be taken at (country): Romanian Universities

Eligible Field of Study: priority will be given to the candidates applying for: political and administrative sciences, education studies, Romanian culture and civilization, journalism, technical studies, oil and gas, agricultural studies, veterinary medicine, architecture, music, arts.

About Scholarship: The scholarships are granted for three levels of study:

1.  for the first cycle (licenta): This scheme is dedicated to graduates of high schools or of equivalent pre-university systems, as well as to candidates who require the equivalent of partial studies and the continuation of their studies in Romania. The complete cycle of university studies lasts for 3 to 6 years, according to the specific requirements of the chosen faculty, and ends with a final examination (licenta);
2.  for the 2nd cycle (master): This scheme is dedicated to graduates of university/post graduate studies; it lasts for 1,5 to 2 years and ends with a dissertation;
3.  for the 3rd cycle (doctorate) this scheme is dedicated to the graduates of university/postgraduate studies (i.e. master); it lasts for 3-4 years, in keeping with the specific requirements of the chosen faculty, and ends with a doctor’s thesis.

Type: Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral degrees

Eligibility: Citizens of non EU countries (irrespective of their country of residence) are eligible to apply. Priority is given to citizens from non EU states with which Romania does not have cultural and education cooperation agreements.

Number of Scholarships: 85 scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Romania

Value of Scholarship:

• Free-of-charge tuition
• Free-of-charge accommodation (depending on availability, accommodation will be offered free-of-charge in students hostels, in keeping with the higher education regulations and within the limits of the sums available for this purpose),
• Financial support – a monthly amount representing :
  •  the equivalent in Romanian currency of 65 EURO per month, for the under-graduate students (1st cycle),
  • the equivalent in Romanian currency of 75 EURO per month, for post-graduate students (master degrees and specialization) 2nd cycle.
  • the equivalent in Romanian currency of 85 EURO per month, for post graduate students (doctor’s degree) 3rd cycle.

These scholarships do not cover food, international and local transport. The candidates must be prepared to support personally any other additional expenses.

Duration of Scholarship: For the period of study, subject to academic performance.

How to Apply: To get all the necessary information about the scholarships (conditions, necessary documents, enrollment calendar) and to submit their application files, the candidates should apply directly to:

• the Romanian diplomatic missions accredited to the candidate’s country of origin or of residence or to
• the diplomatic mission of candidate’s state of origin accredited to Bucharest

Visit scholarship webpage for Details

Sponsors: Romanian Government


Important Notes: Language of Study: In order to promote Romanian language and culture, the Ministry of National Education has decided that the beneficiaries of the scholarships should study only in the Romanian language. The candidates who do not know Romanian are offered one supplementary preparatory year to study the language. Students who declare that they know Romanian language will have to pass a language test organized by the competent higher education institutions.

2020: Buckle Up for a Rough Ride

George Ochenski

Here we are, saddle pals, heading into a new year, a new decade and a host of new elections nationwide. It would be wonderful to say it’s going to be a great year ahead, but that would require some serious myopia on the challenges facing the nation and world. Realistically, it’s going to be a very rough ride stoked by partisan hatred as we wrestle with a host of difficult issues. But strength and unity can and often do come from adversity, which is what keeps hope for a better future alive and inspires us to do the best we can to make that dream come true.

On the national scene, the utter chaos is only likely to increase. Donald Trump is now the third U.S. president to be impeached in the nation’s 230-year history and to say he’s not taking it well would be a vast understatement. Ranting, raving, rage-tweeting and desperately finding someone to blame, some alternate reality where it’s not happening, some slippery escape hole, has consumed Trump.

Yet despite his endless protestations of innocence, the American public remains unconvinced, with the latest polls showing 55% supporting both impeachment and removal from office for the con man turned president. With his approval rating remaining underwater and never breaking even 50% — as it has throughout his tenure in the Oval Office — his re-election chances remain sub-optimal.

Republicans are basically stuck with him as the titular head of their party — although cracks are appearing from senators who will sit as jury for his impeachment trial. Moreover, his evangelical support is likewise cracking as Christians with any sense of propriety realize Trump embodies all of the “seven deadly sins” — pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. And that may, as in a classic Greek tragedy, bring about his downfall.

In the meantime, the Democrats are having their own candidate conundrums, with Joe Biden slipping as the irrepressibly progressive Bernie Sanders continues to rise. Despite the mainstream media’s “Bernie Blackout,” abetted by corporate-friendly Democratic Party operatives, Sanders’ message continues to resonate with voters. That’s no surprise since his main themes are universal health care, free higher education, addressing income inequality, combating climate change and serving the populace at large, not the bloated interests of the 1% that have skimmed most of the cream from the American dream.

Sanders has been significantly bolstered by the support of Democratic rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who says Bernie’s progressive vision — which she wholeheartedly shares — is the future of the Democratic Party.

Closer to home, despite hollow promises, billions in bailout, and more than 15,000 lies in three years, Trump’s trade turmoil continues to impact Montana’s agriculture and manufacturing economy. As for the Republican members of Montana’s congressional delegation and wannabe leaders, the silence is deafening. No plans, no action and no relief in sight.

Luckily for Republicans, Montana’s Democratic Party remains moribund and largely invisible at a time when the future and the increasingly disruptive impacts of global warming demand aggressive response. Unless something changes, Democrats will become a self-fulfilling prophesy of Montana as a red state since you can’t win if you don’t show up.

There’s no question that the political outcomes of the coming year are incredibly important to the future. But keep in mind that divisive partisan politics actually play a very small part in the everyday lives of working and raising families. With that in mind, it’s important to hold loved ones close and keep having fun in Montana’s wonderland as we buckle up for a rough ride in 2020.

Warming Ocean Currents Affect Weather and Environment

Meena Miriam Yust & Arshad M. Khan

If one can imagine looking at our globe from the South Pole end, one can observe the ocean currents circulating water across the oceans.

First one would notice a current all the way around the perimeter of the Antarctic.  A surface current circulates clockwise but there is also a deep undercurrent in the same direction.  Branches then lead off towards the different oceans serving as a global conveyor belt mixing the waters.

A deep current pushes its way between the east coast of Africa and Madagascar emerging as the monsoon surface current across the Indian ocean to India before looping back to supplement another current along Africa’s west coast.  This eventually crosses the Atlantic to form the Gulf Stream drift recrossing the Atlantic to warm Britain and southern Scandinavia.  Currents also loop the Pacific.

In an early Islamic map the system is clarified.  The currents serve as global arteries that redistribute heat, salt and carbon around the globe.  Is it climate change slowing the system, mitigating its tempering effects?  It has slowed by about 15 percent in the last half-century.

One consequence is the worsening Indian Ocean dipole effect where contrasting sea surface temperatures in the warmer western (Arabian Sea area) and cooler eastern end near Indonesia affect climate.  This year has seen one of the strongest dipoles on record, a 2C difference.  The result is more storms for East Africa leading to cooler, wetter weather, while at the other end Australia suffers extreme heat and raging bush fires far worse than usual.  No ordinary fire but a 50-meter high firewall engulfed the homes, according to a shocked homeowner in a vivid description of what happened.  The uncontrollable fires continue with the hope they will burn themselves out.

The ocean warming is also killing the kelp beds in the waters by the island of Tasmania.  Australia’s giant kelp beds are literally being cooked by the ocean.  The kelp rising in 30-foot high stalks has been habitat for rare ocean life through recorded history.  Once present along the whole length of Tasmania’s east coast, now little is left — just in the cooler waters bordering the southern tip.

And the effects of global warming are everywhere.  The Arctic tundra’s permafrost is melting from Alaska through Russia’s Siberia.  At 57 degrees Fahrenheit, Chicago has just experienced the second warmest Christmas on record i.e. since 1871; the day following was 56 F and the hottest December 26 ever.  New Jersey’s winters are so warm, its lakes no longer freeze.

Fish follow their instincts but are also in trouble.  When the water turns too warm, they move, collapsing known fisheries.  Worse, an abrupt change can decimate numbers.  Fisheries in widely separated countries such as Japan, Angola and Uruguay are affected.

While the Philippines suffers a dozen and more severe storms annually, this year it has been hit by Super-Typhoon Mangkut in September with winds gusting to 255 km/h (160 mph).  That is equivalent to a Category 5 (most severe) Atlantic storm.  Then on December 3, it was struck by Typhoon Kammuri, followed not long thereafter by Typhoon Phanfone … tragically on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day turning celebration into anguish.  Aside from the loss of crops and damage to infrastructure, the typhoons kill dozens of people, if not more, and can displace hundreds of thousands who take time to repair their lives.

Climate change (or more accurately warming) and the weather and its consequences remain inextricably linked.  So are we humans, the principal catalysts of this Anthropocene age.

The Making of a Teenage Genius

Moin Qazi

Child prodigies have been with us since early times. But over the epochs, many of them have had their genius questioned—mostly as to whether or not a parent or a mentor was behind their amazing skills. It is only when their talents were authentically established that people around them could acknowledge them as teenage wonders. Nagpur’s Shreenabh Agrawal is one such amazing kid who proved the skeptics wrong and kept consistently displaying his precocious genius after he unfurled it at several acclaimed forums.

In a world in which early bloomers are rare and hence revered, there’s no underestimating the wizardry of the human brain. But despite our fascination with these pint-sized or nano geniuses, who just might blossom into future Albert Einsteins, there is paucity of research into them–and almost no consensus on their inner chemistry, or even an exact definition for them. The most consensual elucidation of these “genetic freaks” is a child, typically under the age of 10, who has mastered the use of a complex and challenging skill at an advanced adult level. A child can also be labeled a prodigy for being ahead (and more dedicated) in a particular skill or having higher-level understanding than its peers. Some of them may be hothouse products of a regime of accelerated learning but they may also have rare cognitive abilities.

“Prodigy” derives from the Latin “prodigium,” a monster that violates the natural order. Being parents of Shreenabh, mother Tinu and father Moujesh represent people whose children are beyond their own comprehension. Shreenab’s mother noticed her son’s prolific memory and creativity at age three. She found he could memorise lengthy scriptural passages and paint like an artist. “As a child prodigy, he seemed to have emerged fully formed at birth, his talent already developed, his gifts fully ripe “, recalls Tinu who has obsessively coached him all along and shown enormous  patience and  discipline in her  desire to nurture and foster Shreenabh’s natural abilities. It began with the toddler smearing paints around but the set of nimble fingers soon started turning out pictures with the proficiency of an artist.

The pair began noticing changes in the vibrant child and started understanding his special needs. They bought him books, because he announced he would prefer them to toys.  Later in class V he showed his flair for figures. He cleared the Gauss Contest conducted by the Association of Mathematics Teachers of India .The test is aimed to discover and encourage students who have the capacity for original and creative thinking, readiness to attack unfamiliar and non-routine problems exhibiting a general mathematical ability appropriate to their level. The parents found Shreenabh at ease solving abstract problems and demonstrating a high level of logic and reasoning.

There is a general belief that prodigies, no matter how gifted, usually lack the requisite emotional spectrum to navigate the daily realities. Tinu has consulted with lot of experts on idealized models of child rearing and “parenting principles” for such children and felt consoled that he’s on the right track. She knows she can’t restructure a genome. True to a genius‘s stereotype Shreenbah was not endowed with robust physical health, but displayed several uncanny traits and a remarkable aptitude for logical thought building and an at his young age may not be fully formed but they are sensually grounded and spiritually transcendent and free of  contradiction .Shreenabh’s mind is like a sponge with high capacity for soaking knowledge. Shreenabh always jumped ahead of his peers. He has been a star student and high-achiever at his school, Chanda Devi Saraf Schoold and secured All India Rank 3rd scoring 99.2% in the ICSE Examination.

As Shreenabh kept shooting far ahead of other children his own age, and doubled up as a teacher for his peers, his mother wondered if they ought to try to hold him back a little. “I didn’t quite understand where we were heading with him during those early years. Shreenabh is now a happy, well-adjusted child who loves to laugh and enjoy life. I no longer worry about his social life, since he has plenty of friends. He’s a lover of books but not a bookworm. He can forget books and studies and enjoy himself when he needs it .Despite his devotion to study, he finds time to play chess and indulge in arts.”

The list of Shreenabh’s accomplishments  makes truly astonishing reading: Google Scholar for scholastic publications; first prize in 2018 International Essay competition  ognaised by   the government of Japan in collaboration with several multilateral institutions; First Prize winner in 2018 Pendle War Poetry Competition , London in the Under 18 Overseas category  ; part of contingent of   World Peace Leaders for  a live interview conducted by Radio Chico Schweiz Switzerland for the fifth ‘World Peace Week’, September 2019 ;winner of title ‘Himalayan-2016’title in the  scientific talent search  examination -Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM)   held at IIT Delhi; Appointment as the first International free lance youth reporter for Radio Chico Switzerland.; Letter of Commendation from IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute for outstanding performance in Case Solving Challenge , Letter of Commendation for being youngest fellow in the MBL Monsoon Laddership Circle 2019 organised by Service Space organization, California.

Shreenabh has published 2 books, 150 articles, 5 research papers, and has one patent “Triple Lock Bore Hole Protection Lid” to his credit. He loves applying STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] in creative ways to solve social problems .The loss of life on account of children falling into bore well sensitized his young heart. He also presented a research paper titled “Mahila e-Haat: A Gender based e-Commerce Initiative” has been selected for at “2019 IIM – NASMEI Summer Marketing Information Systems Conference” at IIM Indore. His project got an A grade and citation at the National Children Science Congress 2019.

What happens to child prodigies when they leave their gold star-studded youth behind and enter adulthood? As a wonder boy, Shreenabh sparked public interest and media glare quite early. It’s fair to say that the parents have helped turn their son into a mini-celebrity, making him available for scores of interviews and   news conferences. Inflation of Shreenabh’s talents is not unusual. People seem to have a natural tendency to glorify exceptional children and ascribe incredible behaviors to them on account of their nebulous perceptions. But that sensationalism can contribute to a prodigy’s perception that the world regards it as an ornamental attraction, leading to feelings of isolation and a malformed sense of self-worth and self-determination. But Shreenabh’s parents have been careful to dispel these myths. ” He is simply a normal little boy with a high capacity for learning”, they proclaim.

Shreenabh has an unusual air of maturity. At school he works towards collective success of his class.” I’m generally pretty shy, hesitant to show my work, “he admits. This reticence poses a challenge for those who need to explore Shreenabh’s diverse repertoire of talents and the vast knowledge base. Shreenabh hasn’t found the media coverage too demanding. . Does he feel uncomfortable being called a child prodigy or a genius? “I’ve got used to it. I feel like I’m in my rightful place“, muses Shreenabh.

There are many child prodigies who rebel later for the push and aggression of strenuously competitive parents at ages where they should have been playing with other children and doing other activities. Pushing talented children beyond what they would normally like to do is misplaced and unnatural and has been found to be counterproductive to their development. Shreenabh’s parents are qualified and enlightened and are careful to ensure that their child doesn’t fall into this psychological trap. Incidentally Shreenabh has a good support system of equally wise and empathetic grandparents

Spending time with the Agrawals, I was struck not only by their mutual devotion but also by the easy way they avoided the snobberies that tend to cling to such families. Father Moujesh is a technocrat in Central Goverment   and mother Tinu is director of Prarambh, an HR organization. They never expected the life into which Shreenabh has led them, but they have neither been intimidated by the pressures. In pursuing it Tinu seems to enjoy the diligence it needs to nurture such a child. She has honed it into an art.

“We want Shreenabh to be happy,” say his parents. “We want him to grow into a well-adjusted person capable of living a fulfilling life. We have not set the achievement bar too high for him. All we ask is that he is able to achieve his goals. We have tried to give him the tools and faithfully stood by him and set him on what we think is the right path. As parents, that’s the least we can do”

US military strikes in Iraq stir regional hornet’s nest

James M. Dorsey

The United States stirred a hornet’s nest that stretches far beyond Iraq when it this weekend attacked an Iranian-backed militia.

The fallout of the US strikes was immediate in Iraq with pro-Iranian militiamen besieging the US embassy in Baghdad in scenes reminiscent of the run-up in 1979 to the 444-day occupation of the American diplomatic mission in Tehran.

The strikes threw into question the future of the US military presence in Iraq, 17 years after US-led forces toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

They came at a moment that mass anti-government demonstrations are demanding a radical overhaul of Iraq’s political system.

If protesters focussed their demand for a withdrawal of all foreign forces primarily on Iranian influence prior to the US strikes, they now focus equally on the presence of US forces.

Of equal, if not more far-reaching consequence, is the fact that the strikes potentially bolster efforts to counter moves by Saudi Arabia to position itself as an Islamic hegemon based on its financial muscle and appeal as the custodian of Islam’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.

The backing of the efforts by allies and states with whom the United States maintains, sometimes increasingly complex relationships, including Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar, complicates issues for the Trump administration.

The efforts involve both joint initiatives that last month culminated in an Islamic summit in Kuala Lumpur outside of the confines of the Riyadh-based, Saudi-controlled Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that groups 57 Muslim majority states.

Ultimately, the summit dashed hopes that an anti-Saudi block would challenge the kingdom by taking on major problems confronting the Muslim world, including China’s crackdown on Turkic Muslims in its troubled, north-western province of Xinjiang; repression of Rohingya in Myanmar that has prompted hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh; and civil wars in Syria and Yemen.

Despite its billing, the summit avoided such sensitive issues. Nonetheless, it signaled strong currents in the Muslim world that seek to counter the influence of America’s closest allies in the Middle East.

Part of the Kuala Lumpur summit’s problem was that rivalries in the Muslim world transcend political and geopolitical fault lines in an environment of a few cash-rich and a majority of economically and financially troubled states.

Countries like Saudi Arabia; the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom’s closest ally; Turkey; and Iran are, moreover, competing with one another globally using religious soft power by investing in the building of mosques and religious entities in countries as far-flung and seemingly marginal as Cuba and New Zealand and the funding of key Muslim institutions.

The rivalries are also fought geopolitically in Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean gas race and the Horn of Africa where rivals back opposing sides.

The US military strikes, widely viewed as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, potentially handed a whip to Saudi Arabia’s detractors at a moment that the summit spotlighted the divisions in the Muslim world and participation in the gathering was determined in part by the kingdom’s ability to wield its financial muscle to prevent states from attending.

Russia and Iran were quick to condemn the US strikes. So far, others have remained silent.

That could, however, change with Iraqi public demands for a withdrawal of all foreign forces and pro-Iranian militias ending their siege of the US embassy in Baghdad on condition that parliament adopts a timeline for the withdrawal.

Pro-Iranian militias are counting on the fact that they are Iraqis with close ties to the Iraqi security establishment, which they expect will exclude them from the moves to withdraw foreign forces that would primarily target the United States.

For its part, the Trump administration is likely counting on Saudi and UAE financial muscle to prevent the Iraqi crisis sparking a groundswell of anti-US sentiment elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Saudi financial muscle persuaded Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, believed to be one of the instigators of the Kuala Lumpur summit, from attending the gathering.

Saudi Arabia reportedly threatened to withdraw some US$ 10 billion plus in investments and financial aid to Pakistan if Mr. Khan participated.

Saudi opposition to the gathering coupled with Chinese concerns that it would target the crackdown in Xinjiang influenced Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s decision not to participate.

Indonesian vice-president Amin Ma’ruf, a leading figure in Nahdlatul Ulema, the world’s largest Muslim organization, cited medical reasons for not attending.

A forced US withdrawal from Iraq, even if countries like Saudi Arabia are able to limit the fallout in the Muslim world, would significantly bolster anti-US forces and hand them a victory on par with the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

The anti-Soviet insurgents, despite being backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, ultimately turned their backs on their benefactors.

A forced US withdrawal from Iraq would likely not spark the jihadist movement that emerged from Afghanistan, but it would put considerable wind in the sails of those seeking to counter US and Saudi influence in the region.

“Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief. A situation that could have easily escalated out of control was handled with tactical restraint, and everyone was able to walk away,” said Maj. Charlie Dietz, a spokesman for the US military in Baghdad, after protesters withdrew from the US embassy.

The problem is the relief is temporary at best. Seventeen years of engagement in Iraq and US$1 trillion later, the United States risks the kind of humiliation it suffered with the 1979 occupation of its Tehran embassy.

Only this time, it may occur against the backdrop of a United States that has suffered a loss of credibility and whose power is perceived to be waning, irrespective of whether by design or default.

The 2020 Imperative Cease Being Mesmerised By Demons

Julian Rose

We have a vast global communication network at our fingertips, a significant part of which has long since been hijacked by the purveyors of ‘the daily matrix’. But another part of which still manages to operate within a spectrum that gives a possibility for what we refer to as ‘freedom of speech’.

Used intelligently, this spectrum can substantially increase one’s knowledge and raise one’s awareness. But used unintelligently and indiscriminately it can act as a hypnotic sponge and conveyor of false ideologies; a direct extension of ‘the daily matrix’s’ mass conveyance of state and corporate indoctrination. But the choice of what information is sought – and what technology is used to convey it – is, of course, the prerogative of the individual.

However, one first has to be an individual. One cannot make a rational choice unless one has identified one’s self as having the ability to recognise realities outside the standard prevailing influences of the day. Outside those conditions imposed by the state and corporate propaganda machine. To be ‘an individual’ means to be discerning; and that is the starting point of all true decision making.

Most reading this article will no doubt class themselves as individuals, and therefore accustomed to utilising the power of discernment in their daily thoughts and actions. Which is all well and good. However, being in possession of this quality does not guarantee that some – probably many – will not retain an unquestioning attachment to the more subtly subversive news and views transmitted across the airwaves by that which we call ‘mainstream media’.

Many thoughtful supposed ‘individuals’ in Britain and indeed all around the world, still tune in to the BBC and religiously listen to what appear to be serious conversations about the state of society and the world. Many more seek to find satisfaction via the seemingly erudite commentaries of traditional newspapers like The Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Independent. Likewise in the USA, via The New York Times, Washington Post etc.

Therefore of critical significance to what happens in 2020, is how many of those currently content to sup at the table of these subversive masters of spin, will wake-up and realise that they have been taken-in and have lost their power of individual discernment. Lost it to the deceptive messages being conveyed by the soothing ‘educated’ tones of carefully trained ‘voices of authority’.

I use the BBC descriptively, all countries state radio and TV stations have their trained ‘voices’ to convey the spin of the day in a manner carefully programmed to mesmerize the listener via a form of authoritative beguilement, which in turn elicits a kind of reverie of submission to the content.

In order to be able to change the nature and way of society ‘purposefully, deliberately and deeply’ a critical mass of individuals has to break-out of their state of being mesmerized and seduced by demons. To break-out of being willing victims of state-sponsored mind control.

In 2020 we will face this test square-on, because this is a pivotal year for overcoming such failings and achieving a number of victories that weigh-in on the side of ‘we – the discerning – people’. Vital victories in the long battle to save and nurture back into full health the frayed yet fundamental values of civilized life on planet Earth.

Pivotal, because the ‘smart’ tools of communication we have adopted in recent decades, have – particularly with role-out of 5G electromagnetic microwave frequencies – now reached a point of near saturation of the human nervous system and its/our ability to retain a properly earthed sense of balance.

In 2020, many more must recognise that it is not enough to isolate just one particularly poisonous microwave radiation weapon (known as 5G) and ignore the toxic contribution made by the slightly less poisonous frequency weapons, known as 3 and 4G, that continue to undermine the quality of life of millions of living beings on a daily basis.

That would be the same as ruling against child pornography but continuing to accept the authority of the BBC and those heads of state who continue to indulge in indefensible acts of child abuse. Acts of abuse which we now have very little excuse for not knowing about, in spite of massive attempts to hide them.

In many respects, the future of our planet now depends upon the willingness of those who can discern the difference between life-supporting and life stripping activities, to make that crucial next step of acting upon this knowledge – and ceasing to hide behind the convenient illusions of what is touted as ‘acceptable’ or ‘normal’. There is nothing remotely acceptable or normal about such behaviour.

That which is unacceptable is allowed to continue its reign due to the hypocrisy of those who prefer not to question their acts of needless indulgence in the playthings of convenience; including the clever toxic toys of the falsely privileged.

2020 is the year to take a deliberate and decisive step back from the nihilistic and often outright destructive consequences of needless self-indulgence; and instead put one’s best foot forward so as to put into practice what one knows to be necessary – and thereby to practice what one preaches. Fully embracing this positive step could make the difference between life and death. Not just for one’s self, but for humanity as a whole and all the sentient and non sentient expressions of our living environment.

It’s time to act on behalf of the health and welfare of Gaia – in honour of all her subtle and exquisite offerings – rather than for the retention of the narcissistic conveniences of the crass self-consuming consumer society. Conveniences that stultify and suffocate these priceless offerings.

Never has making truly discerning life affirmative choices been more important.

Happy New Year, Riyadh!

Charles Pierson

This's the season for giving. Accordingly, the US has given the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a gift in the form of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which President Donald Trump signed into law on December 21.

The NDAA is not only a gift to the Saudis. The $738 billion in new defense spending the NDAA authorizes means a very Merry Christmas for the Pentagon and for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and the like. The NDAA’s creation of a sixth branch of the armed forces, the Space Force, also guarantees a huge market for military contractors’ high-tech toys.

President Trump had Merry Christmas, too. Trump tweeted: “Wow! All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA.” Trump couldn’t be happier if he found a pony—or a porn star—under his tree.

Progressives got coal in their stockings. Several urgently needed antiwar amendments which the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives had inserted in its version of the NDAA were thrown out during the reconciliation process. The House amendments would have ended US assistance to the Saudi-UAE coalition attacking Yemen; ended arms sales to the Saudis; required Congress’ assent to a US attack on Iran; and would have revoked the by now long in the tooth 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force which the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations have stretched far beyond their original purposes to make war anywhere they choose.

Tossing out the amendments means Congress and the President have given the Saudis gifts of incalculable value. The US will continue to provide arms to the Saudis and assist Saudi aggression in Yemen. And Trump can start a war with the Saudis’ hated rival Iran at any time without having to bother with Congress.

Denouncing the NDAA’s “astonishing moral cowardice,” Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) urged “every member of Congress” to vote against the NDAA. Fat chance. Only 48 members of the House and 8 senators voted against the NDAA. Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a co-author of the axed Khanna-Smith-Schiff-Jayapal amendment which would have terminated US involvement in Yemen, went off his head entirely and praised the NDAA as “the most progressive defense bill in the history of the country.”

Trump’s Gifts to the Saudis

Under Trump, what Riyadh wants, Riyadh gets. The president remains slavishly loyal to the Saudis and, in particular, to the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Trump’s man crush on bin Salman continued unabated even after the October 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident Washington Post columnist who the Saudis murdered and then carved up with a bone saw in their consulate in Istanbul.

President Trump did grudgingly issue economic sanctions against 17 Saudis alleged to have been involved in the murder. Not against the kingdom itself, you understand, and certainly not against Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Measures with real bite, such as an arms embargo on the Saudis, were rejected. So was the so-called No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act of 2018. The Trump Administration has been trying to negotiate a sale of two nuclear reactors to the Saudis, because apparently just giving the Saudis a nuclear bomb might raise eyebrows. The Act would not have barred the prospective sale, but would have hemmed it in with safeguards which the Saudis have been resisting. The Act expired without being voted on and has not been reintroduced.

Hail, Caesar!

The slap on Bin Salman’s wrist contrasts jarringly with US treatment of another international outlaw: Syria. The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act became law on December 21 as part of the NDAA. Named after a pseudonymous Syrian military photographer who defected to the West, bringing with him 55,000 photographs of Syrians tortured and murdered by the criminal regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the Act ramps up economic sanctions on Syria, Iran, and Russia, each of which has contributed to the 110,000 to 220,000 civilian deaths during the Syrian Civil War.

Economic sanctions are problematic for the left. Too often, sanctions inflict suffering on ordinary citizens rather than their leaders. They are a weapon used by large, powerful states like the US against smaller, weaker states. Sanctions may not even work. Despite being buried under US sanctions, Iran has not abandoned its nuclear weapons program, probably because Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. Sanctions are often promoted as an alternative to war, but in the case of Iran the purpose of US sanctions seems to be to soften up Iran for the kill.

Still, if anyone deserves sanctions—and I emphasize if—Assad, Iran, and Russia do. But what about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Does anyone else sniff a little bit of hypocrisy here? Saudi Arabia is one of the worst violators of human rights in the world. The US overlooks Saudi crimes because of oil and US arms sales. But even if morality weren’t a concern (as, in statecraft, it almost never is), there is less reason than formerly to coddle the Saudis. The US imports less and less Saudi oil each year as US production of shale oil climbs. The US is on track to become a net exporter of oil. The Devil’s bargain the US struck in the 1945 Quincy Agreement, in which the US would provide Saudi Arabia with protection in exchange for Saudi oil, may been justifiable in the past. It isn’t anymore. The US no longer needs the Saudis. It’s time for the US to back away from one of the most hateful nations on the planet.