Turkey, hit by earthquake, conceals mass COVID-19 pandemic deaths

Harun Akın

On Thursday, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) released mortality statistics for 2020 and 2021. Compared to the years before the pandemic, there were 72,000 excess deaths in 2020, when the pandemic started, and 130,000 more in 2021. Thus, by the end of 2021, there had been around 200,000 COVID-related deaths.

Children wearing face masks for protection against the coronavirus, walk in Kugulu public garden, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, May 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

However,the Turkish Health Ministry had claimed that the number of deaths from COVID-19 was 82,000 by the end of 2021. TurkStat has not yet released data on deaths in 2022. According to the last official data released on November 27, 2022, the death toll in Turkey since the beginning of the pandemic was claimed to be 101,492.

However, the number of excess deaths had reached 319,000 as of December 27, 2022, according to the calculations of Güçlü Yaman, a member of the Pandemic Working Group of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).

TurkStat has tried to avoid public attention by releasing the reports, which it had previously postponed without justification, amid the Turkey-Syria earthquake disaster. In his tweet on the issue, Yaman stated: “In the midst of a disaster in which tens of thousands of people have died and the real numbers are again in doubt, they are releasing death statistics they haven’t released for three years.”

He added, “It doesn’t matter to them how many of us died in which disaster. The important thing for them is that they find a time of chaos to release the numbers.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government and the entire political establishment have caused the deaths of over 43,000 people by failing to prepare for the expected earthquake and responding too late.

However, as with the concealment of the real number of pandemic-related deaths, it is suspected that the death toll from the earthquake is being massively downplayed. Osman Bilgin, the governor of Şırnak, who was in charge of a district in the earthquake-hit area, admitted that the real death toll in Turkey alone could be over 150,000.

A report by the Association of Public Health Specialists (HASUDER) on Hatay, which was hit hardest by the earthquake, states: “According to interviews with local administrators and some academics, it is estimated that at least 60,000 people died under the rubble in Hatay alone.”

Since the earthquake disaster, the Erdoğan government has focused more on covering up its responsibility for the social catastrophe than on rescuing and helping earthquake victims. It even blocked access to Twitter, which was used by volunteers in search and rescue efforts to locate those under the rubble.

Critical airports and highways, which should not have been built on fault lines and should be resistant to major earthquakes, were badly damaged. However, for a long time, all state forces, military and civilian, were not mobilized and there were serious problems in coordinating the response.

The report has confirmed that the extremely late start of search and rescue efforts led to the deaths of many people: “The common view expressed by everyone who lived through the earthquake in Hatay was that search and rescue operations were not systematically initiated in the first 48 hours.” And this limited “the number of citizens who could be rescued alive from the rubble.”

It was a product of the indifference of the entire ruling class towards public health and safety. Eight deputies of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which had a “construction amnesty” section in its election program, voted “yes” to measures brought to parliament by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) before the June 2018 elections. These measures sought to legalize illegal buildings that violated regulations on earthquake and other disaster risks.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the Erdoğan government adopted a policy of “profits before lives.” It focused on concealing, not preventing, infections and deaths from the pandemic. This policy, implemented all over the world, reached its climax last year with the claim that “the pandemic is over.” In fact, infections and deaths from COVID-19 continue in Turkey and around the world.

This response to the pandemic has also been adopted by all factions of the ruling class, including the bourgeois opposition, the media and the union bureaucracy.

However, just as science-guided preparation for an earthquake would have prevented this massive destruction and loss of life, public health measures against the pandemic could have prevented the deaths of about 320,000 people in Turkey and more than 22 million worldwide.

Moreover, the masses, abandoned to their fate before and after the earthquake, are still deprived of basic needs such as shelter and sanitation 18 days after the earthquake.

In a February 16 report, the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases warned that “the current living conditions in the earthquake-hit region greatly increase the risk of infectious diseases, so measures to prevent these diseases must be taken quickly.” However, serious sanitation problems still persist in many places.

HASUDER has reported that “There is a general shortage of toilets in Hatay. The number of toilets is very low and some of the toilets are haphazardly placed on the ground with no connection to water or cesspools.” It added “There are not enough toilets and some of the toilets that have been opened for use do not meet the appropriate conditions. This threatens public health.”

Reporting that scabies is seen in children, it warned that crowded living conditions increase the risk of COVID-19 and influenza.

Moreover, there is still a serious shortage of tents in the region. “Citizens have turned existing greenhouse tents into living spaces with their own means. Mostly children and women sleep in these tents. These areas do not effectively protect people from the cold and pose health risks in many respects, such as the possible presence of pesticides. These risks are even greater for children.”

The report stated that only one of the 12 water wells could be utilized, and mountains of garbage have piled up. While the field hospital could only be opened a week after the earthquake, many of the wounded who were rescued from the rubble died “because they could not be transported to a full-fledged hospital in time.”

It warned about post-earthquake reconstruction: “The danger that awaits us now is to build similar buildings to the old areas with the old understanding and to move towards new disasters … With a new understanding with the participation of the society, it is necessary to move towards the goal of healthy and sustainable cities with earth-friendly, earthquake-resistant solid buildings. Citizens have the right to safe buildings where they can live and work safely.”

Australian study shows inflation the result of profit gouging, not wages

Nick Beams

A study conducted by the Australia Institute, the results of which were issued on Thursday, has found increased profits raked in by major corporations are the main force driving inflation and the notion that wages rises are responsible is “an economic fairytale.”

The study found that what it called a “profit-price spiral” was responsible for 69 percent of inflation.

Striking nurse at Sydney rally on March 31, 2022. [Photo: WSWS]

According to empirical data analysed by Dr Jim Stanford, as of the September quarter of 2022 (the most recent for which data is available), Australian business increased their prices by a total of $160 billion a year over and above their higher expenses for labour, taxes, and other inputs.

Without these excess profits, the inflation rate since the pandemic would have been an average of 2.7 percent per year from the end of 2019, barely half the average annual rate of 5.2 percent since then.

Inflation at that level would have fallen within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range of between 2 percent and 3 percent.

Setting out the results of his study, Stanford said: “We’ve been told a story that workers need to restrict wage growth and accept a permanent reduction in living standards in order to fight inflation. This evidence shows that’s an economic fairytale.”

He noted that Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed that, without the excessive price hikes, inflation would “likely be within the RBA target band and hence there would be no need for the nine, extreme, back-to-back interest rate rises that are crushing households and mortgage holders, fueling the cost-of-living crisis.”

Throughout the period of inflation, real wages have fallen, labour’s share of gross domestic product has declined and the share of corporate profit has set records.

Figures released by the ABS show that the situation is worsening with real wages falling by 4.5 percent in 2022, the biggest decline on record.

At the same time, the study found there had been a “dramatic expansion of business profits” with gross corporate profits now amounting to almost 30 percent of GDP, the highest level in history.

The study covers macro-economic data for the whole economy. Its findings are underscored by the profit results of major corporations announced in recent days.

Woolworths, one of Australia’s major retail outlets, announced a 25 percent rise in profits with supermarket revenues soaring as a result of elevated food prices. Coles, the other major retail giant, has announced that its profit rose 11 percent in the latest half year, higher than forecasts.

The increases in petrol prices boosted the profits of Ampol, Australia’s largest oil refiner, by 30 percent in the first half year.

And the Commonwealth Bank has posted a record profit of $5.1 billion, up by 9 percent, on the back of the RBA’s interest rate hikes.

But if there are any awards to be handed out for profit gouging, first prize would surely have to go to Qantas, the major airline carrier and the so-called “Spirit of Australia.”

On Thursday, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce announced the company had made a $1.4 billion profit for the December half year on the back of a 222 percent increase in revenue. The company, which is estimated to have received in excess of $2 billion in government assistance during the course of the pandemic, used the shutdown of services to carry out a major job destruction program.

Since the resumption of services, passengers have been hit with major fare increases while flights have been disrupted, together with major baggage handling problems, because of the cuts in staffing.

Joyce defended Qantas’s decision not to repay any of the pandemic assistance it received from the federal government, saying it had paid its dues through taxes and by providing services.

He was following the lead of Harvey Norman retail boss Gerry Harvey, who has refused to pay back the $600 million his company received under the pandemic JobKeeper program despite suffering no loss of revenue.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, Joyce announced the company would spend $500 million on a share buyback program boosting the position of investors and market speculators.

The social devastation exemplified in the Australia Institute study in broad brush strokes was articulated in more granular detail in an article by the Australian business columnist Robert Gottliebsen based on analysis by the forseechange organisation, headed by Charlie Nelson.

Among other things, forseechange monitors the proportion of adults who feel they have some money to spend after meeting commitments. Gottliebsen said he was contacted by Nelson who told him he was “encountering statistics he had never seen in the 20 years of forseechange’s operation.”

According to the organisation, for the last decade about 52 percent of the population had money to spend after meeting commitments.

“Then in October-November 2022, this measure of prosperity started to fall so sharply that Nelson assumed it was a statistical error,” he wrote.

But it kept falling, with the result that only 42 percent now feel they have money to spend after meeting commitments--a 10 percentage point drop in just a matter of months with renters and recent homebuyers the most impacted.

Gottliebsen noted that those affected have “dramatic plans” to cut back their spending on takeaway food, restaurants, cafes, furniture, electrical appliances and other areas of discretionary spending.

“What we are seeing,” he continued, “is just the start because the impact of interest rate rises is still flowing through, and we have an enormous number of people set to switch from low fixed rates to high flexible rates, so the numbers of people with little or no discretionary spending is likely to explode.”

He concluded by citing the comments of economist Callam Pickering on the impact of pay rises well below the inflation rate.

“Adjusted for inflation, Australian wages have fallen by 4.2 percent over the past year and by 6.8 percent since their peak. More than a decade of hard-won wage gains—our blood, sweat and tears—lost over the course of just one year,” Pickering said.

The Australia Institute study rightly exposed the claim that wages are somehow the cause of inflation as a “fairytale.”

But its analysis is based on an even more egregious fiction—that the RBA somehow acts in the interests of the “economy” and the mass of the population.

This leads it to the erroneous conclusion that if only profit gouging, completely ignored by the RBA, had been prevented then the “current painful interest hikes would be unnecessary” and that “the focus of RBA on wage restraint is misplaced and unfair.”

The problem with such an analysis is that it completely ignores the global economic reality and advances the view that RBA policies flow from a misreading of the situation.

The fact is that despite the lag in wages behind price rises in all the major economies, central banks the world over are pursuing what the Australia Institute says is a “misplaced” agenda. That is, they have all made the suppression of wages the focus of their high interest rate regime citing, as does the RBA, the “tight” and “very tight” labour market.

The central banks have not got it “wrong” as the Australia Institute implies. Rather, they all have a laser-like focus on an agenda determined by the class interests of the corporations and finance capital which they serve.

Their actions in pumping trillion of dollars into the financial system since the global financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic crisis of March 2020, in which the RBA took part, have created a mountain of fictitious capital and debt. This now requires the extraction of ever greater amounts of surplus value from the working class to sustain it, not least by driving down wages even further and turning millions of workers into debt slaves for the banks.

Health authorities in Cambodia report a young girl has died from bird flu

Benjamin Mateus

An 11-year-old girl in Cambodia died Wednesday night of H5N1 virus, the first known human infection with avian flu since 2014, according to Youk Sambath, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health. The child, from the rural southeastern province of Prey Veng fell ill only a week previously.

The young patient was transferred to the capital, Phnom Penh, for treatment when her condition worsened. Her viral illness with H5N1, designated Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and reportable to the World Health Organization (WHO), was eventually diagnosed on Wednesday just prior to her death. 

Health officials have since surveyed the village near the child’s home and taken samples from a dead wild bird at a conservation area, according to the Associated Press. They have also cautioned residents to avoid contact with sick or dead birds and to keep children from feeding farm birds or collecting their eggs.

The latest development from Cambodian health officials and the WHO have confirmed that of the 12 suspects, only the father of the child that died was positive, and, as of this writing, is asymptomatic. The eleven other suspected contacts have been confirmed negative.

The initial symptoms of infection with H5N1 are no different than other flu viruses, with the constellation of coughs, aches, and fevers. However, the highly virulent H5N1 virus can lead to a rapidly fatal pneumonia.

The HPAI H5N1 was first identified in 1996 among commercial geese in the Guangdong province of China, followed by the first fatal human case of H5N1 in 1997 in Hong Kong. Since then, at least 870 human infections have been documented across 21 countries, with 457 fatalities. Although the case fatality rates with such infections have declined to around 30 percent, these may be attributable to early interventions and treatments. An Ecuadorian child last month whose case caught media attention was treated with anti-viral medicine. She survived her infection.

A chicken farm [Photo by Fot. Konrad Łoziński / CC BY 2.0]

The epidemiological investigation of these infections over the course of the next few days will be crucial to determine if there has been a pattern of human-to-human transmission, rather than bird-to-human only, which would imply the virus has undergone as of yet unknown mutations that allow it to replicate and transmit among humans. 

Although the WHO and health experts have continued to state that such an occurrence remains a low-risk scenario, it is precisely such an event that is of utmost concern. Given the high fatality rate among the rare cases that have occurred mainly among domestic bird handlers, a novel respiratory contagion with such lethal characteristics would be catastrophic for the planet’s population, especially in light of the failed lessons of the COVID pandemic.

Jeremy Farrar, a former member of the UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Chief Scientist-designate of the WHO, remarked, “We’re not going to face that scenario, I don’t think, but if we allow an avian virus to which none of us has got any immunity to continue to circulate in birds and then increasingly, whether it’s minks or seals, come across into the mammalian sector and therefore start to adapt, there’s a risk there. You can’t quantify it. But we don’t have an H5N1 vaccine tomorrow ready to go.”

He told the Telegraph that if the world failed to act immediately to develop new vaccines against the influenza viruses and improve biosecurity in markets and farms, it would be seen in hindsight as a “tragic omission.” Farrar added, “Imagine, tomorrow morning at nine o’clock there’s a report that there’s 100 people admitted to a hospital somewhere with a nasty respiratory virus, and it happens to be H5N1. That’s my concern; that we’re in slow motion watching something which may never happen but if it were to happen, would we look back and say, ‘Why didn’t we do more?’”

The WHO’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that the recent spillovers into mammals such as otters, sea lions and minks are of significant concern that the virus is evolving at a pace and in a direction that is problematic. He warned, “H5N1 has spread widely in wild birds and poultry for 25 years, but the recent spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely.” Although there has not been any sustained transmission among people, “we cannot assume that will remain the case,” he warned.

The present outbreak of HPAI H5N1 pandemic among wild and domestic birds is evolving into a sustained wave of infections without any seasonality. The current clade (common ancestral grouping) of H5N1, called 2.3.4.4b, is well suited to spread efficiently among wild birds and poultry across multiple regions of the world. It has become endemic among wild birds and since October 2021, more than 140 million poultry have died from disease or been culled, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). 

Among chickens, avian flu is extremely contagious and almost 100 percent lethal. In the US, since last February, around 58 million farm-raised birds have been killed, the deadliest outbreak on record, according to the Wall Street Journal. With over 48 million egg-laying hens having perished, egg inventories have fallen by a third and the price of eggs has risen fivefold since 2021.

Influenza pandemics have been common to human civilizations and the 1918 “Spanish” flu, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, is the archetype of such events. Genetic investigation on the origin of the 1918 flu linked it to the H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin.

The negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus mutates quickly, with two to eight substitutions per 1,000 sites each year. Because of SARS-CoV-2’s genetic “proofreading” mechanism, it has a much lower mutation rate by comparison.

Additionally, two different influenza viruses that co-infect a cell can re-assort their genes with each other, increasing their evolutionary pace and potential virulence. For instance, HPAI strains have a protease which expands the tissue tropism of the virus (the range of areas of body that can be infected), thereby facilitating systemic disease.

The ability of the virus to infect mammals and the recent experience in Galicia, Spain, where the H5N1 spread through a densely packed mink farm, have only added to the concerns raised by the WHO on the pandemic potential of the avian flu virus within human populations.

In a report published last month in the journal Science, Imperial College London virologist Tom Peacock explained  that samples from four mink showed genetic mutations that help the H5N1 virus replicate more efficiently in mammals. Fortunately, a protein on the surface of the virus that binds to the host receptor has not changed. “We may still have been lucky with this one,” he said. 

In a report titled “Flu: When Spillovers Spill Over,” published on November 9, 2022, in Think Global Health, the authors note, “In 2014, a new lineage of HPAI H5N1 (referred to as 2.3.4.4 [the current clade]) was found to infect but not always kill wild birds, providing the virus ample opportunity to spread into North America for the first time. This lineage has been dominant in outbreaks globally, including what we have seen so far in 2022, which has also involved some localized re-assortment of lower-pathogenicity Eurasian and North American lineages.”

They then ask, “A pressing question is whether these recent re-assortments may be, in part, responsible for the apparent increased transmissibility of the virus to mammals, or if mammalian cases are merely the result of greater spread and opportunity of exposure. What needs to be determined, and quickly, is the ‘where.’ In what intermediate host is the re-assortment happening?”

The essence of the current bird flu pandemic is the carrying out in real time of a natural “gain of function” experiment, with the virus as the mad scientist seeking to perfect its own infectiousness, the planet as the laboratory, and human beings as potentially the next subjects in the process.

These developments and concerns need to be urgently heeded and immediate action taken to prevent the emergence of another pandemic that would make COVID seems like a preliminary by comparison. Recent developments have already been allowed to go further than they should have.

Long Covid is a Cause for Concern

Cesar Chelala

Considerable advances have been made in the fight against the coronavirus disease, but the danger isn’t over. Most people who get coronavirus disease (COVID-19) recover within a few weeks. But even those who had mild versions of the disease may still have symptoms that can last for weeks, months or even years after infection. These lasting health problems are called post-COVID-19 syndrome, long COVID, post COVID conditions, or, more technically, post-acute sequelae of SARS COV-2 infection (PASC).

According to published research papers, between one month and one year after having COVID-19, one in five people aged 18 to 64 has at least one medical condition that might be due to COVID-19, while among those age 65 and older, one in four has at least one symptom or medical condition that might be due to COVID-19. What makes diagnosis challenging, however, is that often it is difficult to tell if the symptoms are due to pre-existing conditions or to COVID-19. Sometimes, the symptoms can go away or return.

The most common, and persistent symptoms of long COVID are neurological, such as memory difficulties, lack of attention, dizziness, sleep and mood disorders, and “brain fog”. Also frequent are mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Respiratory and heart symptoms such as breathing difficulties, cough, chest pain and increased heart rate are also common. Among the most frequent digestive symptoms are diarrhea and stomach pain. Other symptoms include increased tiredness, fever, skin rash, joint or muscle pain, taste and smell disorders, and changes in menstrual cycles, as well as the appearance of blood clots that can provoke pulmonary embolism.

An analysis of several studies has shown that 43 percent of people infected may develop long COVID. Long COVID is different from chronic COVID infection, since those suffering from long COVID test negative for the virus, although they continue having symptoms. Although post-COVID conditions seem to be less common in children and adolescents, they can also experience long term effects. Long COVID conditions can last weeks, months, or even years after the initial infection.

Leaving with long COVID can be heard on those affected, particularly because it is not known how and why this condition develops. What is known, however, is that people with underlying health conditions are more prone to developing long COVID symptoms, particularly those with Type 2 diabetes. Long COVID is also experienced more frequently by those who had previously had a severe COVID infection, are obese or hypertensive, and those with multi system inflammatory syndrome, a condition affecting several organs and tissues.

It has been shown that only sure way not to get long COVID is making all efforts to prevent having COVID-19 in the first place, using public health measures of known effectiveness such as mask-wearing, physical distancing and hand washing. Research has shown that people who are vaccinated and experience a breakthrough infection are less likely to report long COVID conditions, compared to people who are unvaccinated. Vaccination, however, does not completely prevent long COVID. According to a study published in Nature Medicine protection by vaccines, although real, is not as good as one may hope.

The real dilemma is how to confront a situation that, until now, cannot be controlled. Those who develop long COVID should seek immediate medical care. When possible, care should be multidisciplinary in nature and include not only the primary care physician but also the relevant physical therapists, mental health professionals, and hospital social workers. Support groups can also be helpful. However, many more studies are needed to learn how to effectively treat this condition.

Moldova’s Future is Bleak Unless it Saves Itself

Chloe Atkinson

Moldova, a small landlocked country in Eastern Europe is the poorest nation in Europe. Despite its natural beauty, cultural richness, and strategic location, the country has been struggling with economic, political, and social challenges that have hindered its development and prosperity. There are several reasons why Moldova is so poor and there are numerous challenges it faces in its journey towards growth and stability.

The economy heavily relies on agriculture, particularly on wine and fruits production, which account for a significant portion of its exports. However, the country faces challenges in terms of modernizing its agricultural practices and infrastructure, which limits its competitiveness in the global market. Additionally, corruption, limited foreign investment, and weak economic policies have hindered the country’s economic growth.

Moldova has experienced political instability for many years, which has made it difficult for the country to implement long-term reforms and establish a stable government. The political landscape is characterized by polarization, corruption, and a lack of political will to address the country’s issues effectively. The frequent changes in government and political infighting have led to policy paralysis, poor governance, and limited progress in tackling the country’s economic and social challenges.

The population has been declining due to migration, with many young people leaving the country in search of better opportunities abroad. This has led to a brain drain, leaving the country with limited human capital and skills to develop its economy. Additionally, the remittances sent back home by Moldovan migrants have become a significant source of income for many families, but the reliance on remittances has also led to a lack of investment in the country’s economic development.

The country also faces a range of social challenges, including poverty, high levels of inequality, and limited access to education and healthcare. These challenges are particularly acute in rural areas, where poverty and lack of access to basic services are more prevalent. Moldova also has one of the highest rates of human trafficking in Europe, which is a severe human rights issue that requires urgent attention.

While Moldova faces significant economic, political, and social challenges, its government could take a multi-faceted approach to address these challenges. Moldova has struggled with corruption and a lack of transparency in its governance. Addressing these issues can help create a more stable and predictable environment for businesses and investors. The government should work to strengthen the rule of law, increase transparency, and hold officials accountable for their actions. Additionally, encouraging the growth of other sectors such as IT, manufacturing, and tourism can help create new opportunities for employment and economic growth.

Moldova’s infrastructure, including its roads, bridges, and public transportation systems, is outdated and in need of significant investment. Improving infrastructure can help increase economic activity and make the country more attractive to investors.

The country has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, and many young people are leaving the country to find work elsewhere. Encouraging family-friendly policies, such as paid parental leave and affordable childcare, can help address demographic challenges and retain talent.

Since Moldova is a diverse country with different ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, it would be wise to promote social cohesion through inclusive policies and dialogue can help reduce tensions and build a more harmonious society.

Moldova has also signed an association agreement with the European Union (EU), which can help increase trade and investment, as well as promote democratic and institutional reforms. Strengthening ties with the EU can provide Moldova with access to larger markets, financial resources, and technical assistance.

Encouraging public participation in decision-making processes can help build trust between the government and citizens. The government should work to increase transparency and provide opportunities for citizens to have a say in policymaking.

Corruption in particular is a significant challenge, and addressing it will require a sustained and comprehensive effort from the government, civil society, and the private sector. First, Moldova’s institutions, including the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, need to be strengthened and made more independent. This can be achieved through reforms that improve transparency, accountability, and oversight.

Second, transparency is critical in reducing corruption. The government should increase transparency in public procurement processes, budget allocation, and the awarding of licenses and permits. The government should also make public officials’ financial disclosures accessible to the public.

Third, encouraging whistleblowing can help uncover corrupt practices. The government should establish a whistleblower protection framework that provides incentives for reporting corruption and protects whistleblowers from retaliation.

Fourth, the government should ensure that those who engage in corrupt practices are punished. This can be achieved through stronger enforcement of existing laws and the creation of specialized anti-corruption agencies that have the resources and authority to investigate and prosecute corrupt practices.

Fifth, educating citizens about the negative effects of corruption can help create a culture of intolerance for corrupt practices. The government should develop awareness campaigns that highlight the damage corruption does to the economy and society.

Sixth, civil society can play an important role in holding government officials accountable for their actions. The government should create space for civil society to participate in policymaking and promote dialogue between civil society and the government.

Lastly, corruption is a transnational issue, and international cooperation can be critical in tackling it. Moldova should strengthen its cooperation with international organizations, such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the Council of Europe, to address corruption.

These are some of the steps that Moldova can take to address its economic, political, and social challenges. It will require a concerted effort from the government, civil society, and private sector to implement these reforms and build a more prosperous and inclusive country.

Moldova’s poverty is the result of a combination of economic, political, and social factors that have limited its development and progress. The country needs to address corruption, implement economic policies that promote growth and attract foreign investment, establish stable governance, and address the social challenges that limit the well-being of its citizens. Moldova has enormous potential to overcome these challenges and achieve sustainable development, but it requires a long-term commitment from its leaders and international partners to achieve this goal.

The Problem with Israel’s So-Called ‘Crisis of Democracy’

Neve Gordon

Photograph Source: Daniele Marcucci – CC BY 2.0

Since the start of the new year, reading about Israel in the Hebrew-language press has been an unnerving experience.

One article described a maternity ward in which a Palestinian woman from Nazareth was persuaded to move rooms after a Jewish woman complained about sharing the same space with a non-Jew.

Another article revealed that the Israeli military commander responsible for the West Bank recently distributed to his officers a messianic pamphlet – “The Secrets of the Land Redeemers, from Abraham our Father to the Young Settlers” – on how to seize Palestinian land.

A third reported that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli military fire in the West Bank in 2022 has been the highest in 18 years.

A fourth explained how Israel’s Supreme Court approved the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in eight villages and the Israeli military’s demand to hold regular training exercises in that same area.

Domestic news stories like these, which inadvertently expose the grim everyday realities of Israel, seldom make it into international news bulletins. One likely reason why international media outlets do not cover these stories is that if they did, such reports would profoundly challenge the current narrative the very same outlets have long been peddling about Israel: that Israel’s otherwise well-functioning and robust democracy is being threatened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government.

Indeed, international coverage of Israel since the November 2022 elections has been more or less uniform. Article after article has warned us that the legislative changes proposed by the government would effectively enable it to annul Supreme Court rulings and decried legislation that gave National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir broad political control over the police, including those deployed to the West Bank, as a threat to the rule of law in the country.

These are, without a doubt, important issues that deserve extensive media attention. The laws and policies that are being introduced or proposed by the new government are clearly aimed at undermining the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches – a separation that serves to protect democracies from the tyranny of the majority.

Since the inception of Netanyahu’s coalition, international media’s coverage of Israel centred almost exclusively on these issues. News outlets extensively reported on protests by Israeli citizens who perceive the new government’s policies as an “attack on democracy”. They published countless think pieces criticising the government’s proposed overhaul of the judicial system as an effort to “undermine democratic checks and balances” and covered extensively any criticism of the planned legislative changes coming from Western leaders. Israel, they explained repeatedly, is experiencing an unprecedented “crisis of democracy”.

This take is not necessarily wrong – after all the proposals being discussed are real and indeed extremely concerning. But news reports in the Hebrew-language press like the ones cited above, and the experiences of millions of Palestinians living under “Israeli democracy”, suggest it is highly misleading.

The dominant narrative about Israel currently circulating in the Global North is informed by the familiar trope that Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East”. As such, reports that are seemingly criticising the new Netanyahu government as “undemocratic” are actually serving to whitewash the inherently undemocratic nature of Israel and its leading institutions, including its Supreme Court.

Sure, there is democracy in Israel – but it is more similar to the one that existed among whites in apartheid South Africa than it is to the democracy that currently exists in the United Kingdom or France.

Millions of Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israel’s effective control but cannot participate in the political process, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians residing in annexed East Jerusalem are “residents” rather than citizens and consequently cannot vote in national elections. And even though Palestinian citizens of Israel can participate in elections, they too are subjected to a series of discriminatory laws. All this, according to many researchers, legal scholars, activists and respected international organisations such as  Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, means Israel is not a fully functioning liberal democracy but an “apartheid”. Put differently, the democracy that is currently “under attack” from the government in Israel is a democracy only for the Jews.

Similarly, the Israeli Supreme Court, portrayed in international media as a model of moral rectitude, is indeed a principled defender of democratic rights – but only for the Jews. As several studies have shown, the court has played a vital role in enabling Israel’s colonial project and legitimising the state’s abuses against Palestinians. Its rulings provided legitimacy to the expropriation of Palestinian land, and legal cover for extrajudicial executions, home demolitions, deportations, and administrative detentions targeting Palestinians. A few of its justices are themselves settlers and, as such, “criminals” according to international law.

Netanyahu’s proposed legislative changes are new insofar as they will allow his government to target Jews who do not agree with its political ideology and to undermine the judicial branch’s ability to fight corruption (which is another reason why Netanyahu, who is currently facing three corruption trials, wants to introduce them). But the claim that the new government is on course to destroy Israel’s democracy would be true only in a world where Palestinians do not exist.

Banks burn in Lebanon amid collapse of state institutions

Jean Shaoul

Lebanese banks were set aflame last week as the country’s increasingly desperate people took to the streets of Beirut in protest as the Lebanese pound fell to a new all-time low of 80,000 against the dollar. This came amid bank strikes and the government’s failure to take any measures to alleviate the long-running economic crisis.

There were reports of protesters rallying outside the house of Salim Sfeir, the Association of Banks in Lebanon’s chief, and starting a fire. The association began an open-ended strike last week in protest at recent judicial actions that had ruled against them and in favour of depositors.

Protesters stand behind burning tires they set on fire, in front the Central Bank building, background, where the anti-government demonstrators rally against the Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and the deepening financial crisis in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. Dozens protested in front of the Central Bank, denouncing the slide of the Lebanese pound, which began in 2019. [AP Photo/Hassan Ammar]

The official exchange rate of 1,507 pounds to the dollar was set in 1997, remaining roughly the same until the start of the economic crisis in October 2019. Since then, the pound has lost more than 90 percent of its street value and multiple exchange rates have emerged. Earlier this month, the government was forced to devalue the pound, setting the official exchange rate at 15,000 pounds to the dollar, well below the actual rate on the street, enabling the banks to offload their massive losses onto the public.

This has intensified the misery of Lebanon’s 6.7 million population that includes 1.3 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, as well as 1.5 million Syrians who fled the 12-year long proxy war waged by the US, its Gulf allies, Turkey and Israel to replace the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with one subservient to Washington. Syria—due to its close ties with Iran—is seen as a “linchpin” in a broader drive to redraw the borders of the Middle East and strengthen the position of the US against its main geopolitical competitors.

The war and US sanctions on Syria have profoundly destabilized Lebanon—part of Syria before the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I—with longstanding economic, family and cultural links to its neighbour. The economic and financial crisis has been intensified by the pandemic; Lebanon’s default on its sovereign debt to international lenders in March 2020; the blast at the port of Beirut in August 2020—the result of the criminal negligence of successive governments that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed much of the surrounding neighbourhood—and the war in Ukraine that has pushed up food prices, and has thrown at least 80 percent of the population into poverty.

The venal financial elite has syphoned off the country’s wealth. Last summer, a World Bank report accused the Lebanese authorities of orchestrating a “Ponzi finance” scheme, pursuing fiscal policies harmful to citizens in a bid to bolster the country’s power-sharing religious-sectarian system. It has described Lebanon’s economic crisis as a “severe and prolonged economic depression” likely ranking as one of the world’s worst since the 1850s, calling it “a deliberate depression… orchestrated by [an] elite that has long captured the state and lived off its economic rents.”

The scale of the economic devastation is almost unimaginable. According to the World Bank, the economy more than halved between 2019 and 2021, with GDP falling from about $52 billion in 2019 to $21.8 billion in 2021, the largest contraction of 193 countries.

Hyperinflation has been ongoing for nearly three years, with inflation running at nearly 200 percent last year, the second-highest rate in the world. Prices change throughout the day. Wages, when or even if they are paid, are effectively worthless. There has been a surge in unemployment. According to a UNICEF survey last year, 70 percent of households borrow money to buy food or purchase it on credit, while children are being sent to work to support their families and young girls married off to ease financial expenses.

Many are only surviving thanks to remittances from family members working overseas which accounted for 54 percent of GDP in 2021, equal to $7.15 billion, according to a study by Mercy Corps.

Electricity provided by the corrupt state corporation is only available for a couple of hours a day. For the rest of the time, people are dependent upon private generators, if they can pay for the fuel, or solar power.

Public anger has been directed at the banks, largely owned by the country’s oligarchs and ruling families, lending vast sums to the government to finance handouts to the plutocracy, while imposing strict controls on withdrawals by workers and their families that make it impossible for them to access their savings. On several occasions last year, desperate individuals stormed the banks with firearms to withdraw money for life-saving medical treatments.

There have been repeated protests and strikes. Protesters blocked roads and burned tyres near the central bank in Beirut and chanted slogans against central bank governor Riad Salameh, under investigation in at least five European countries on suspicion of laundering public money. Swiss authorities suspect Salameh and his brother Raja of embezzling more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015 via transactions to an obscure offshore company, controlled by Raja. Riad Salameh is also the subject of a corruption investigation in Lebanon, but the investigative judge has repeatedly stalled the inquiry.

Last month, teachers went on strike against the massive devaluation of their salaries, leading to the suspension of “morning shift” classes, attended mainly by Lebanese students. The next day, the Education Ministry, which has received funds from foreign donors to teach Syrian as well as Lebanese students, closed the “afternoon shift” attended by refugee children.

The judicial system has been at a standstill for months due to the judges’ five-month strike over pay that has only recently ended.

Many of Lebanon’s doctors and healthcare workers have emigrated in search of paying jobs. Fees for private hospitals are sky-high. Many are dying due to lack of treatment, errors or hospital viruses. People have turned to drugs—captagon, cannabis, salvia and alcohol and, more recently, crystal meth—for self-medicating issues such as stress, depression or insomnia.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has offered a $3 billion loan in return for economic reforms that would pave the way for an additional $11 billion of assistance pledged by international donors at a Paris conference in 2018, but the political elite is so bitterly divided that all the political institutions and mechanisms have collapsed.

Politicians are deadlocked over the choice of a new president after former President Michel Aoun’s term expired at the end of October. This has left the designated prime minister Najib Mikati, who was unable to form a government following last May’s elections, as interim prime minister with no ability to pass legislation or a budget.

While there is explosive social discontent, the pressing need is to build a new political leadership based on a revolutionary programme. What is driving the collapse of the old political post-colonial equilibrium in Lebanon and elsewhere is the inability of the bourgeoisie to resolve the longstanding economic and political legacy of the post-World War I imperialistic carve up of the former Ottoman Empire. All the ruling factions are determined to hold onto their share of the country’s wealth at the expense of their rivals and already impoverished working class.

The situation in Lebanon is mirrored throughout the Middle East and Africa, with the political institutions of the ruling class impervious to the demands of workers and the rural masses.

Nothing can be resolved within the framework of a global economic system in which every decision and every government is subordinated to the interests of the giant banks and corporations.

US sends troops to Taiwan after general threatens war with China by 2025

Andre Damon

The United States will quadruple the number of US forces stationed on Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, in an effort to provoke a war with Beijing along the lines of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The United States is actively turning Taiwan into a military base just dozens of miles off the coast of mainland China, with the aim of goading China into invading the island, and painting the ensuing war as the result of “Chinese aggression.”

U.S. Marines with Delta Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, conduct a motivational run at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Feb. 23, 2023. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Julian Elliott-Drouin)

The announcement gives context to the Biden administration’s unprecedented decision to attack a Chinese research balloon that had been blown over the United States earlier this month, the first time that any aircraft had been shot down over US territory or its coastal waters.

The attack, and the media frenzy that preceded it, was used in an attempt to whip up public hysteria and fear of China, justifying a massive US military buildup on the other side of the world.

In January, Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, sent a letter to airmen under his command stating, “My gut tells me will fight in 2025,” and urging them to get their “personal affairs” in order in preparation for a conflict with China.

In both May and September of last year, US President Joe Biden categorically asserted the US would be willing to go to war with China if it invaded Taiwan.

The announcement of the troop surge follows the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act at the end of last year. It effectively rendered the US’s decades-old “One China policy,” under which Washington de facto recognized the Beijing regime as the sole government of all China, including Taiwan, a dead letter by sending direct military aide to Taipei.

Knowing it is acting without a mandate from the American population, the Biden administration is seeking to carry out the massive expansion of US troops on Taiwan with minimal public attention.

In a choreographed series of steps repeated any time the White House takes actions that move the world closer to nuclear annihilation, the White House leaked its plans to increase US troops on Taiwan to the press on Thursday, refused to comment on the initial reports, and will likely formally announce the moves in a “Friday night news dump” either the following day, or several weeks down the line.

In an article entitled “U.S. to Expand Troop Presence in Taiwan for Training Against China Threat,” the Wall Street Journal reported: “The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military.”

All factions of the US financial oligarchy are united behind preparations for a military conflict with China. On Wednesday, Republican Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who chairs the House’s new select committee on China, declared himself “even more convinced that the time to arm Taiwan to the teeth was yesterday.”

The media is actively working to promote US war planning against China. Earlier this month, Chuck Todd, moderator of “Meet the Press,” asked Democratic Senator Cory Booker, “Are you going to be supporting whatever it takes to prepare for war with China over Taiwan? Do we need to do more to prepare for that potential?”

The Journal wrote that “The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago, according to U.S. officials. The larger force will expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains not to publicize as the U.S. works to provide Taipei with the capabilities it needs to defend itself without provoking Beijing.”

The Journal continued, “Beyond training on Taiwan, the Michigan National Guard is also training a contingent of the Taiwanese military, including during annual exercises with multiple countries at Camp Grayling in northern Michigan, according to people familiar with the training.”

The United States has seized upon the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine to massively expand its defense spending, targeting China no less than Russia.

In December, the US House and Congress voted overwhelmingly to approve an $858 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that is $45 billion larger than that requested by the White House, which was in turn larger than the request by the Pentagon.

The budget marks an eight percent increase over last year and a 30 percent increase in military spending over the 2016 Pentagon budget. The massive surge in military spending comes as the typical US household saw its real income fall by three percent in the past 12 months.

The bill increases funding for every single military department and weapons program. The US Navy will get $32 billion for new warships, including three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and two Virginia-class submarines. And the Pentagon is authorized to purchase a further 36 F-35 aircraft, each costing approximately $89 million.

“This year’s NDAA takes concrete steps towards preparing for a future conflict with China by investing in American hard power, strengthening American posture in the Indo-Pacific, and supporting our allies,” Republican Representative Gallagher said.

The NDAA will upend Washington’s previous One China policy by providing $10 billion in direct military funding to Taiwan for the first time. The bill will also institute no-bid contracting, typically used only in wartime, allowing defense contractors to charge the US government whatever they want.

The bill transforms Taiwan into a frontline proxy for conflict with China, in a manner similar to the way Ukraine is serving as a US proxy for war with Russia. In a press statement, Gallagher praised the fact that the bill “provides similar drawdown authority to arm Taiwan as we have Ukraine.”

The uncontrolled US militarization of Taiwan and US preparations for war with China make clear the extent to which the US war with Russia over Ukraine, now over one year old, is metastasizing into a global military conflagration.