Iran Inflicts Environmental Catastrophe In Ahwaz Region

Rahim Hamid

Ahwazi   environmental activists are reporting an accelerating  environmental catastrophe in the once verdant Hor al Azim marshlands in Ahwaz near the Iraqi border with Iran.  The latest reports reveal that Iranian authorities recently excavated large areas of land in the marshlands, covering these in thick plastic sheeting to use as open pits for the storage of millions of barrels of oil. This is not only devastating to the areas excavated but is toxic to human and animal life in the wider area, as well as being fatal to the delicate environmental balance in the surrounding marshlands which teemed with aquatic and avian life.  Inhalation of the fumes from the open pits is already causing a health crisis, with local people who made their living for generations from fishing and farming in the once verdant area already developing dreadful skin and eye conditions, as well as severe respiratory problems which have led to death in a number of cases due to the lack of any medical facilities in the area.

Photos taken by local activists on October 26 show the release of millions of barrels of oil into the pits which extend over a vast area, which will in turn destroy the surrounding land and kill off plant and animal life.

The environmentalists’ report states: “After mismanagement by the Ministry of Water and Electricity which resulted in the drying up of the province’s rivers and the Hor AlAzim lagoon itself, the time has now apparently come for the destruction of the local farmlands and natural resources.”

Evidence shows that the ‘Ofogh’ oil company has constructed massive pits in the farmlands to store the leftover oil.

Environmental agency and the department of natural resources in the Ahwaz region have not reacted to the devastating actions of these oil companies which make massive profits at the expense of destroying the natural environment.

One of the most active oil companies in Hor Al Azim is ‘North Oil’, which operates three rigs in the area. Its previous director, named only as Mr. Khademi, currently represents the cities of Izeh and Baghmaslek in the Iranian parliament.

Other oil companies working in the area are ‘PEDEX’, directly associated with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which operatesfive oil rigs there, and ‘MelliHafari’ (National Drilling) and ‘Tadbir Energy’which collectively operate a further five rigs. All of these firms are run by consulting companies affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Responsibility for guarding the areas surrounding these projects, all of which are devastating to the surrounding environment, has been given to an extremely well-equipped special security organization (one of 16 such active secretive and unofficial security organizations operating inside Iran), whose heavily armed personnel use the latest model of Toyota trucks.

This is just the latest state-sponsored environmental sabotage in Ahwaz, where the regime’s  diversion of the once-lush region’s rivers to Persian areas, have been wreaking havoc, causing ceaseless massive dust storms which in turn lead to potentially fatal respiratory disorders that local medics warn are likely to develop into cancerous diseases due to the heavily polluted atmosphere from the oil excavation taking place in the area.   Thousands of Ahwazi Arab citizens have been rushed to hospitals and clinics in recent days suffering from asphyxia and severe breathing problems due to the toxic mixture of dust storms and extreme pollution, with children and the elderly being worst affected.

Although the source of the dust storms which are causing a health crisis is well known, local authorities have been negligent and irresponsible as usual, taking no action to avert the environmental catastrophe which is a grave threat to human and animal life and the natural habitat in the already afflicted region.  On Wednesday, the amount of dust particles in Ahwaz’s air was measured to be 1147 micrograms per cubic meter. This amount is about 7 times more than the standard rate which is 150 micrograms per cubic meter.

The current dust storms are so severe that both public and private institutions in the region, including schools and banks, have announced temporary closure while they continue.

The regime’s diversion of the rivers and the subsequent desertification of thousands of acres of once verdant land in Ahwaz has also led to brush fires in the areas around the once-lush wetlands, while increased state logging in the forested areas in Ahwaz has increased the risk of landslides as the soil is weakened by erosion.  The result is a catastrophe for the environment, the indigenous Arab people and the natural life of Ahwaz, with all of this taking place in deafening silence from the international community.

Australian government moves to bar entry to refugees for life

Mike Head

In a further escalation in the bipartisan assault on the fundamental democratic right to asylum, the Liberal-National government last Sunday announced legislation to stop asylum seekers from entering Australia for the rest of their lives—even as visitors.

No details of the proposed bill have yet been released, but it is clear that the measure will go far further than the already unprecedented legislation enacted by the previous Labor government in 2013 to bar all refugees from resettling in Australia.

Not only will asylum seekers be blocked from ever living in Australia, as the Greens-backed minority Labor government established in 2013, when it reopened Australia’s brutal “offshore” detention camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island. They will never be allowed to visit the country, even to be reunited with their spouses and children, see other family members, or as tourists, students or temporary workers.

Some of the most vulnerable people in the world, many fleeing the ravages of the wars and devastation caused by the US and its allies, including Australia, in the Middle East, are bearing the brunt of a brazen repudiation of basic legal and democratic rights.

The new law is intended to inflict the maximum suffering on detainees in order to deter refugees from trying to reach Australia. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the legislation would “send a very clear message” that “Australia will never be an option for people to seek to come here illegally by boat.”

This takes to a new level the violation by successive Australian governments of international law, including the Refugees Convention of 1951, which recognises a right to seek protection from persecution and not to be punished for doing so.

Adopted after the horrors of World War II, which forced millions to flee their homes, Article 31 of the Convention states that signatories “shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees.” The right to family reunion is also enshrined in international treaties, including Article 16 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The new laws would apply regardless of whether detainees have been officially recognised as refugees under the Convention. Children who were under 18 at the time they were transported to Nauru or Manus would be exempt, but in many cases that would mean permanent separation from their parents. About 300 detainees currently in Australia on temporary visas, mostly for medical treatment, are also likely to be deported.

According to legal experts, the proposal has no precedent. No other country has yet sought to impose a lifetime ban on refugees. It is another damning milestone set by Australia’s political establishment, which became the first in the world to detain all asylum seekers when the Keating Labor government imposed its “mandatory detention” policy in 1992.

The current government’s “message” was sent just weeks after two reports condemned Australia’s detention regime as a clear breach of international law. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed “grave concern” about “inhuman and degrading treatment, including physical, psychological and sexual abuse.” Amnesty International said the intentional infliction of “intolerable cruelty” to “intimidate or coerce people” amounted to torture.

The bipartisan character of the anti-refugee policy was underscored when the government set July 19, 2013 as the date to which the new ban would be backdated. On that day, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the reopening of the Manus Island detention camp and declared: “From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees.”

Aware of deep-felt popular opposition to the inhumane treatment of refugees, Labor leader Bill Shorten, who was one of Rudd’s key ministers, cynically sought to distance himself from the Coalition government. He said it seemed “ridiculous” to ban a refugee from coming to Australia as a tourist or on a business trip. But he refused to rule out backing the bill, saying Labor would wait to see details before taking a position.

Rudd himself criticised Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, saying the policy was “designed to throw red meat at the right,” appease “thugs” in the Liberal Party and “grovel to the broad politics of xenophobia.” Rudd claimed that the 2013 decision had been intended to run for one year only. In reality, it was part of Labor’s policy, introduced the previous year, to supposedly “stop the boats” by incarcerating refugees, effectively indefinitely, for as many years as they would otherwise have waited in the overcrowded camps across the Middle East.

Equally hypocritically, Greens leader Richard Di Natale, whose party propped up the minority Labor government from 2010 to 2013 as it implemented these policies, described the latest proposal as “barbaric, cruel, shameful, cynical politics.” Di Natale further covered for Labor’s record, appealing for Labor to join the Greens in opposing the bill in the Senate.

Turnbull’s plan certainly seeks to shift the official political agenda further to the right—demonising refugees and dividing the working class along communal lines, in the face of rising unemployment, deteriorating social conditions and mounting attacks on welfare and other social spending.

It is a clear pitch, in particular, to Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigrant One Nation party, whose support the government has been cultivating in order to pass contentious legislation through the Senate, where the Liberal-National Coalition holds only 30 of the 76 seats.

Hanson welcomed the government’s proposal, telling Channel Seven’s “Sunrise” program: “I think you need to make a tough stand and put out a clear message. Refugees are not welcome here.” Hanson tweeted: “Good to see that it looks like the government is now taking its cues from One Nation. Just like last time.”

During the late 1990s, the Howard Coalition government adopted much of One Nation’s program in order to divert growing social discontent in a reactionary xenophobic direction. Turnbull’s government is on a similar course, but under conditions of an even deeper economic, social and political crisis.

Last weekend, Hanson gave another indication of collaborating closely with the government. She praised it for outlining a further $6 billion worth of cuts to welfare over the next four years, on top of the $6 billion already imposed with Labor’s agreement since the government narrowly survived the July 2 election.

The cruel treatment, by successive governments, of people fleeing oppression and war is setting far-reaching precedents for the abrogation of legal and democratic rights more broadly. The Australian Constitution contains no bill of rights providing protection of such essential rights, and all attempts to hold governments to account via appeals to UN agencies have failed.

The government claims to have advice that the lifetime ban is legal, but has provided no details. On a number of occasions, it has simply blocked advice from the solicitor-general, Justin Gleeson, to avoid having to consider an adverse legal opinion. Gleeson resigned last month as a result. In recent months, similar dubious assurances of legality have been given for other legislation overturning core democratic rights, including to revoke citizenships and indefinitely incarcerate “high risk offenders” after they have served prison sentences.

These developments are another warning of the government’s lawlessness. The brutal methods utilised against refugees will also be brought forward domestically, including to deal with social and political opposition to the underlying program of slashing social spending and preparing for war.

Buyer reportedly found for German supermarket chain

Dietmar Henning 

The owner of German supermarket chain Kaiser’s Tengelmann, Karl-Erivan Haup, reportedly reached an agreement on Monday with the Edeka and Reve firms to divide up the grocery chain. It remains unclear whether the supermarket chain will be dismantled.

Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democrats) and the chairman of the services trade union Verdi, Frank Bsirske (Greens), praised the agreement in the highest tones at a joint press conference.

“The effort and the work paid off,” said Gabriel, before leaving for a trip to China. The workforce could now enjoy a happy Christmas season because they no longer had to fear the loss of their jobs. “A very good day for the employees of Kaiser’s Tengelmann,” added Bsirske. The agreement, as part of the arbitration initiated a week earlier, can be completed with the approval of the economy minister.

Gabriel overruled the federal cartel agency’s refusal to allow Edeka to take over Kaiser’s Tengelmann in a ministerial order. The precondition was that Edeka commit in a contract to retain the jobs of 15,000 Kaiser’s Tengelmann employees for five years. But the district court in Düsseldorf subsequently suspended the ministerial order after competitors Norma, Markant and Reve filed complaints against it.

Verdi declared in a statement on its web site that the original terms of the ministerial order had been secured in the arbitration. “Along with the retail outlets, the butcher business, administration and store locations are included in the negotiated terms, which along with employment guarantees also include collective agreement guarantees and the retention of co-determination structures.”

Verdi has been pulling the strings in the almost two-year-long haggling. The arbitration concluded on October 31, led by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and finance academic Bert Rürup (both SPD), was organised by Bsirske. Verdi and the SPD want to retain control over the dismantling or carve-up of Kaiser’s Tengelmann by encouraging ever new hopes in the viability of its future.

When Gabriel commented that he did “not consider there to be any stumbling block to the conclusion of the arbitration agreement,” this was a lie. In reality, the consequences of the agreement remain entirely unclear. It would not be the first time that an alleged “breakthrough” or “success” hailed by Verdi and Gabriel vanishes into thin air.

Numerous questions remain unanswered. Although the details of the compromise between Edeka and Reve were accepted without dissent, even the works councillors have reportedly not been informed of the key points. But according to information from DPA obtained from those involved in the talks, some of Kaiser’s Tengelmann’s retail outlets in Berlin/Brandenburg will be sold to Reve, while the supermarkets in upper Bavaria and Munich will go to Edeka. But there has reportedly been no discussion yet about specific outlets.

It remains entirely unclear who will take over the supermarkets in North Rhine-Westphalia. This is to be discussed after the conclusion of talks on the Berlin outlets, it was reported.

Almost 3,500 workers are employed in 100 supermarkets in NRW, out of a total of 400 Kaiser’s Tengelmann outlets nationwide. The administrative centre (400 workers) is also located there, a logistics centre (250 workers) and one of the butcheries owned by Birkenhof GmbH (90 workers). The food and restaurant union (NGG) agreed to the closure of the butchery in Viersen several months ago. Haup began negotiating the sale of the NRW outlets immediately after the failure of the last round of crisis talks in mid-October.

The procedure for dividing up the markets is unclear. By November 11 at the latest, a final agreement is to be reached on all of these issues. Only when an agreement is achieved, according to negotiators, will Reve withdraw its complaint against the ministerial order and thereby enable Edeka to purchase the chain. The two supermarket chains Norma and Markant have already done this. This implies that Edeka will initially take over all of Kaiser’s Tengelmann’s outlets before passing those in Berlin and the surrounding area on to Reve.

The purchase price as well as the “financial basis for the compromise” have also yet to be agreed. These will be organised by an independent economic assessor, Gabriel said, and could be concluded by this Friday. According to the Economy Minister, this is not part of the arbitration process.

After the experience of the past two years, these open questions are not merely “stumbling blocks,” but threaten to block the entire sale. Therefore, it still remains possible that the Kaiser’s Tengelmann supermarket chain will be dismantled after all.

But even if all participants agree on a solution, the federal cartel agency is expected to have to review it once again. This was announced by the chair of the monopoly agency, Achim Wambach, in the Rheinische Post. “If the leading companies divide up a substantial part of the supermarket chain among themselves, it will be an arrangement that could restrict competition at the expense of the consumer,” he said.

If contrary to all expectations, everything works out as Gabriel and Bsirske have planned and Kaiser’s Tengelmann employees receive a five-year job guarantee, the question remains as to whether this guarantee applies to the overall number of employees or for each individual worker. If the latter is the case, thousands of jobs could still be cut over five years by means of “natural fluctuation.”

In addition, employees at Edeka and Reve do not have such a guarantee. Whether they will gradually be forced out by the Kaiser’s Tengelmann employees, or whether job cuts will be achieved by closing Reve and Edeka outlets, are questions which remain unanswered. One thing has been clear from the outset: the haggling to take over Kaiser’s Tengelmann is aimed at a “market correction” in the ruthlessly competitive retail industry at the expense of the workers.

This once again proves that Gabriel, Bsirske and the NGG are not concerned about working conditions and the workers. Verdi and the NGG have in fact assumed the role of maintaining “social peace” during this attack on workers. By announcing ever new possibilities for a “negotiated solution,” they hold in check the anger of the workforce so as to suppress any sign of open resistance.

The support of Verdi and the NGG for the takeover of Kaiser’s Tengelmann by Edeka is also aimed at assisting them to get a foot in the door at Edeka. At the Edeka concern, an association of independent supermarkets, the trade union is hardly represented.

In addition, the support for Gabriel from Verdi for Edeka’s takeover plans is bound up with preparations for a red-red-green federal government. The SPD leader views the trade union as an important partner in the continuation of the policies of social cuts and military rearmament begun 15 years ago under the Schröder government.

Fed keeps rates on hold as disarray over central bank policies increases

Nick Beams

The US Federal Reserve, as expected, kept its base interest rate on hold at its meeting on Wednesday, with the growing expectation that it will lift the rate by 0.25 percentage points at its meeting next month.

The Fed’s rate-setting open market committee indicated that the case for a rate rise had “continued to strengthen” but it would wait for “some” further evidence before moving. The Fed clearly decided not to take action this month, with only a week to go before the presidential election, and to leave its options open in case of market turbulence following the outcome.

While pointing to a rise, it offered assurances to financial markets that economic conditions would warrant “only gradual increases” in the rate, which would remain, “for some time,” below levels expected in the longer run.

In other words, even if there is a rise in December, the flow of cheap money into financial markets will continue.

The financial speculators are continuing to make hay while the sun shines. On Monday, General Electric announced a merger of its gas and equipment business with Baker Hughes, taking the total volume of such transactions attempted in October to more than $500 billion, one of the highest monthly levels on record.

As the Financial Times noted, with companies still struggling to increase sales, “historically low borrowing rates have made acquisitions an attractive way to boost revenue growth.” In other words, financial manipulation and increasing monopolisation is the way to boost the bottom line.

As the Fed sought to project an image of measured calm in its statement, taking care not to frighten financial markets, this week has seen signs of growing disarray in central bank policy internationally.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) effectively threw in the towel on its stated aim of lifting inflation to 2 percent before the end of BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s five-year term in April 2018. Kuroda took office in 2013, pledging action to lift Japan out of the deflation that has gripped the economy for more than two decades.

His commitments to bold monetary policy, based on zero interest rates and asset purchases of around $760 billion a year, has formed the core of the “Abenomics” program of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Since Kuroda took office, the BoJ has pushed back the deadline for attaining its inflation target four times and now says it hopes to meet the target by April 2018. But that deadline has no more likelihood of being met than all the previous ones. The latest data shows that deflationary pressures continue.

Japan’s core consumer price index, excluding food prices, fell for the seventh straight month on September and is down 0.5 percent from a year earlier. In its economic outlook, the BoJ said “risks to both economic outlook and prices are skewed to the downside” and momentum toward achieving the 2 percent inflation target was “somewhat weaker than the previous outlook.”

At a press conference after the BoJ meeting, Kuroda said failure to meet the inflation target was “unfortunate of course” but other central banks had experienced the same problem.

“The quantitative and qualitative easing we introduced in April 2013 has had the expected effects,” he said. But after that came weakness because of a rise in sales tax and the even bigger effects of the 70 percent fall in the oil price from its peak.

“Then last summer came the slowdown in emerging markets, which caused a lot of disturbance in international markets. That’s why the inflation rate is where it is now,” he said.

In addition to a focus on the Fed, the attention of international markets over the next weeks will be directed to the next meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), scheduled for December. Earlier this month, ECB president Mario Draghi said the governing council would indicate at that meeting its position on the future of the central bank’s asset purchasing program, which is due to end its present form next March.

Draghi indicated the ECB had no plans to suddenly end bond purchases of €80 billion a month that form the core of its quantitative easing program. It is widely believed the ECB will extend the program for at least six months.

This could lead to significant divisions on the ECB governing council, however, as opposition to the policy from Germany increases.

On Wednesday, the influential Berlin-based, five-strong Council of Economic Experts said in its annual report that the ECB’s monetary stimulus policies were no longer “appropriate” for the euro zone and threatened to put the entire project at risk.

Calling for an end to the “exceptionally loose monetary policy,” it said negative interest rates and asset purchases could not bring about an economic recovery, and an expansive central bank policy led to a “misallocation of tasks.”

The report made clear that the key component of those “tasks” is a deepening assault on the social position of the working class through major cuts in government spending.

“Willingness to reform has faded,” it stated, “and some member states lack necessary budgetary discipline. Monetary policy masks these problems and increasingly threatens financial stability. An exit from the expansionary monetary policy is becoming more and more difficult.”

These views, which are widely held in the German political and financial establishment, were echoed in a note to clients issued by Deutsche Bank economists this week, saying the negative effects of the ECB policies were becoming “overwhelming.”

“By some measures, indeed, the situation is worse than during the Great Depression,” the analysts said, pointing to the situation in France and other countries where the unemployment rate is 13 percent, compared to the 10 percent French average between 1930 and 1938.

“Given the aggressiveness and unconventionality of monetary policy since 2012, it seems fair to ask whether the ECB’s approach bears some of the blame for Europe’s woes.”

Up until July 2012, high interest rates and refinancing threats forced governments to be “serious about reforms” but these were now not being implemented. Increased lending had gone mostly to low-quality existing borrowers, “obviating troubled banks from the need to write down their loans.” And “without creative destruction in ailing industries, investors in high-saving countries have simply bid up the price of healthy assets.”

What this analysis indicates is that, with the failure of quantitative easing to provide any boost to the real economy and the fear it is creating of increased financial risks, there is mounting pressure in sections of the ruling financial elites for the extension, across the euro zone, of the impoverishment already imposed on Greece.

Malaysian prime minister forges closer military ties with China

Peter Symonds

In his visit this week to China, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak sealed a raft of agreements, including one on naval cooperation between the two countries, and used the opportunity to lash out at former colonial powers. Before his departure for Beijing, Najib declared himself to be “a true friend” of China, determined to take the two countries’ relations to “new heights.”

Writing in an editorial in the state-run China Daily on Tuesday, Najib said larger countries should treat smaller ones fairly. “This includes former colonial powers. It is not for them to lecture countries they once exploited on how to conduct their internal affairs today,” he stated. The remarks are clearly directed at the US and its European allies in particular, and mark a significant shift on the part of Najib toward Beijing.

President Barack Obama has carefully cultivated Najib as part of Washington’s “pivot to Asia” directed against China. Obama visited Malaysia in 2014, the first official trip by a US president since 1966, and again last November, to strengthen strategic and military ties. Obama has deliberately ignored both Najib’s repressive measures against political opponents and the rigged 2013 election that enabled his government to retain office.

In July, however, the US Justice Department launched a civil action to recover $1 billion in funds that were looted from Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). This implied corruption by Najib—referred to in documents as “Malaysian Official 1.” The US case has compounded the political crisis surrounding Najib, who is under siege over the allegations.

By contrast, Beijing provided a significant boost to Najib last November when the state-owned China Nuclear Power Group announced a $2.3 billion purchase of 1MDB’s power assets, thus significantly relieving its heavy debt burdens.

In the China Daily, Najib signalled a shift in relation to Malaysia’s territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. “When it comes to the South China Sea,” he said, “we firmly believe that overlapping territorial and maritime disputes should be managed calmly and rationally through dialogue, in accordance with the rule of law and peaceful negotiations.”

Najib made no mention of July’s Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in The Hague in favour of a US-backed Philippine legal challenge to Chinese maritime claims in the disputed waters. Malaysia has previously protested against Chinese incursions into what it regards as its territory, including by Chinese naval vessels in waters near the James Shoal in January last year.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said on Tuesday that Malaysia had pledged to handle territorial disputes with China bilaterally. This is a significant concession to Beijing, which has always insisted on bilateral dialogue over the South China Sea, and objected to disputes being discussed in multinational forums such as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summits—as the US and its allies have pressed for.

Najib met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday and the two oversaw the signing of agreements worth a total of $34.25 billion, including a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation. Vice Foreign Minister Liu said: “We haven’t touched upon the details of our cooperation. Mostly we are focussing on naval cooperation.”

As part of the naval cooperation, Malaysia has agreed to buy four Chinese naval vessels, two of which will be built in Malaysia and two in China. The deal is the first major purchase of Chinese arms by Malaysia, which has bought its armaments in the past largely from the US and Russia.

Other agreements included the building of a high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, which is part of Beijing’s massive One Belt, One Road plan to integrate the Eurasian landmass, including South East Asia, more closely via land and sea.

Undoubtedly Najib is engaged in a balancing act amid rising rivalry between the United States and China but his shift toward Beijing is a blow to Washington’s efforts to ramp up pressure on China. Najib’s visit comes in the wake of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s trip last month to Beijing, where he signed $13.5 billion in deals and declared his country’s “separation” from the US.

Reflecting concerns in Washington, Euan Graham, an analyst with the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, told the Financial Times: “Now Malaysia seems like a wobbly domino. It lends itself to the pessimistic reading that there is a broader accommodation with China across South East Asia.”

Duterte, who has been far more strident in his anti-American posturing, has called for an end to joint US-Philippine military exercises and the withdrawal of American forces from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

The forging of closer defence ties between China might call into question Malaysia’s military cooperation with the US. This has included permitting US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft to take off from Malaysian bases for surveillance operations over the South China Sea.

More broadly, the tilt by Manila and Kuala Lumpur toward Beijing has blunted US plans to escalate its confrontation with China over the South China Sea following the ruling in The Hague, and compounded concerns in the US and the region over the future of the “pivot.”

The visits by Duterte and Najib occurred amid the intense uncertainty surrounding the American presidential elections and thus the future of US foreign policy. The opposition of both presidential candidates to the Trans-Pacific Partnership—the economic linchpin of the “pivot”—has called Washington’s commitment to Asia into question.

The US, however, is not about to sit idly by while China extends its influence. Just as the American press is ratcheting up its “exposure” of Duterte’s brutal anti-drug war, which has already claimed the lives of more than 4,000 alleged drug dealers, the US will undoubtedly begin to highlight the “human rights” abuses and corruption of the Malaysian government, in order to put pressure on Najib to change his orientation to Beijing.

Pro-Russian candidate leads in Moldovan presidential election

Markus Salzmann 

Pro-Russian candidate Igor Dodon won the first round of Moldova’s presidential election. He fell just short of an absolute majority, taking 48.5 percent of the vote. He must now participate in a run-off election on 13 November against Maia Sandu, who obtained 38.2 percent of the vote.

The election is seen as decisive in determining whether Moldova will deepen its orientation to the European Union (EU) or strengthen ties with Russia. Dodon is the chairman of the Socialist Party (PSRM) founded in 1997. He joined in 2011 after leaving the Communist Party (PCRM) with many others. He was minister of trade between 2006 and 2009. His party represents a tiny privileged elite which has profited from strong ties with Russia and maintains close relations with Moscow and Russia’s oligarchic clans.

Dodon announced that in the event of his victory, a referendum on cancelling Moldova’s trade agreement concluded with the EU in 2014 would be held. Instead, the country would join a Russian-led customs union. In several interviews with the Russian press, he explained that the association agreement with the EU was a serious mistake.

The Harvard graduate Sandu represents the country’s pro-European elite. Until 2012, she was an adviser to the World Bank in Washington. She subsequently became minister for education in the former liberal-led government. Politically, she advocates drastic market reforms and aggressive opposition to Russia.

Sandu was nominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM). She was originally projected to win just 15 percent of the vote. But then Marian Lupu, the candidate of the Democratic Party (PDM), which is also pro-Western, withdrew his candidacy to the benefit of Sandu. Vladimir Plahotniuc, the country’s biggest oligarch, was a backer of Lupu.

The political elite is in deep crisis. Since 2014, six prime ministers have been in office. While for a time up to 70 percent of the population favoured a pro-EU course, endemic corruption and bitter poverty—the average income is €240 per month—have resulted in a shift in public opinion.

Last year, tens of thousands took to the streets for weeks of protests after it emerged that the central bank had permitted €1 billion (equivalent to 12 percent of the country’s GDP) to disappear without a trace into the foreign bank accounts of the corrupt elite. Sandu was among the initiators of the pro-European protests against the government at the time. Under the pretext of combatting corruption in the country, the alliance “Dignity and Justice” called for a “Maidan” in Moldova.

Sandu is seeking to pull off a balancing act in the presidential campaign. She is attempting to distance herself somewhat from the corrupt elites and parties, while at the same time depending upon their support.

The deep mistrust of the entire political elite was reflected in an extremely low election turnout. In a country with a population of 3.5 million, less than half of all eligible voters went to the polls. Sixty-three percent of voters were over the age of 41, a result of the mass migration of younger people unable to find work in Europe’s poorest country.

The vote marks the first time the president has been directly elected in Moldova since 1996. In 2000, parliament changed the electoral law and has appointed presidents ever since with a three-fifths majority. Earlier this year, the constitutional court declared this procedure unconstitutional and ordered a direct election for the presidency. This decision was aimed at avoiding months of political crisis, which would have been unavoidable in the deeply fractious parliament.

The lead for the pro-Russian candidate Dodon has provoked concern in Brussels and Washington. Situated between the NATO and EU member Romania and Ukraine, Moldova occupies a strategically important position. The EU and NATO have been trying for some time to draw the country into their sphere of influence.

In addition, Transnistria, a small stretch of land east of the Dniester River, where 17 percent of the population lives, has been in effect independent since the establishment of Moldova in 1991, and has 2,000 Russian soldiers stationed there for its protection. The President of Transnistria, Yevgeni Shevchuk, announced in September his intention to apply for the region to be accepted into the Russian Federation.

Igor Dodon spoke out openly against NATO during the election campaign, which apparently secured him support. “We will not tolerate soldiers from NATO or other states on the territory of our country,” he stated.

Sandu represents a diametrically opposed standpoint. She calls for Moldova to assume the role of a spearhead against Russia and defends the increased militarisation of Romania and Moldova. For the first time, exercises of NATO troops took place on the territory of Moldova in May of this year, in clear violation of the country’s constitution.

At the same time, NATO is strengthening ties with the government in Chisinau. The NATO programme “Science for peace and security” (SPS) began three initiatives at the beginning of the month. Among other things, they were aimed at enabling the armed forces to respond more swiftly to attacks and protect themselves against cyber attacks. At NATO’s summit in Warsaw earlier this year, the Moldovan defence minister called for support to force Russian troops out of Transnistria.

Defence Minister Fallon declares UK ready for war with Russia

Robert Stevens

Speaking to Parliament’s Defence Committee, Conservative Defence Minister Michael Fallon declared that the UK’s armed forces would be prepared for a military conflict with Russia as soon as 2018.

Fallon was giving evidence to the committee as part of its review into how the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review affects the Army. His statement was prompted by an observation by Conservative Defence Committee member James Gray, who noted that in a book published earlier this year retired British general Sir Richard Shirreff had predicted a possible war with Russia in 2017. Shirreff was NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe between 2011 and 2014.

Gray also pointed to a letter published by Shirreff in Monday’s Times in which he warned that the military encirclement of Russia had to proceed more rapidly. “Last week's defence ministers' meeting in Brussels heard further announcements of the make-up of the forward presence [in the Baltic States and eastern Poland], but the reality is that there will be nothing on the ground until the late spring, nearly a year after the announcement was made,” Shirreff wrote. “What matters now is putting in place, as rapidly as possible, a defensive capability that can fight, and therefore deter, any Russian adventurism; a task for one of the many NATO Rapid Deployment Corps?”

While replying that Shirreff’s book was “very good”, Fallon replied, “I don’t agree that war with Russia is likely next year. I think that is too extreme.”

Fallon added, “We have seen much greater Russian aggression this year, and in previous years, in terms of long-range aviation, in terms of submarine activity, and the carrier task group that sailed through our waters, the role of Russia in Syria, and elsewhere. But I don’t think that presages an open conflict next year.”

Having cautioned against Shirreff’s scenario of imminent war, however, Fallon then stated that the UK armed forces would soon be fully prepared to participate in a military conflict with Russia. Pressed if the UK would be ready for war with Russia in 2018, or 2019, Fallon replied, “Yes, we would be ready to increase the tempo in that kind of situation, which I don’t immediately foresee.”

He added, “And, of course, we will not be doing this on our own. We will be doing this as an active member of Nato, and presumably in some kind of Nato scenario.”

Earlier, Fallon stressed that Britain’s armed forces were central to the ongoing NATO encirclement of Russia. Asked about “the realistic prospects in a crisis of being able to deploy a division to a front-line NATO state,” he replied that the UK was already “deploying to the eastern border of NATO. The RAF [Royal Air Force] have been there three summers running. We are putting troops in Estonia next year and we are putting troops in Poland and we are deploying the RAF to Romania.”

Giving more details on the deployment of 800 troops to Estonia, Fallon said, “The whole point of forward deployment to Estonia is to arrange... an earlier tripwire so the force there doesn’t have to wait for tension to escalate. The force will be there from next spring in any event, in all three of the Baltic states.”

Fallon warned, “It’s partly reassurance, but it’s also deterrence — to make it very clear to any potential aggressor that NATO is ready to respond.”

On the day of the Defence Minister’s testimony, the Guardian ran an interview with Andrew Parker, the head of Britain’s domestic spying agency, MI5. The interview was the first given to a newspaper by a serving spy chief.

Parker said that Russia “is using its whole range of state organs and powers to push its foreign policy abroad in increasingly aggressive ways — involving propaganda, espionage, subversion and cyber-attacks. Russia is at work across Europe and in the UK today. It is MI5’s job to get in the way of that.”

He added, “Russia increasingly seems to define itself by opposition to the west and seems to act accordingly... You can see that on the ground with Russia’s activities in Ukraine and Syria. But there is high-volume activity out of sight with the cyber threat. Russia has been a covert threat for decades. What’s different these days is that there are more and more methods available.”

The UK government, armed forces and spy agencies are constantly stepping up anti-Russian rhetoric, so much so that Fallon felt it necessary to deny that war would take place next year! The reckless and dangerous calculation appears to be that either the government of Vladimir Putin will retreat in the face of the threats made by the NATO alliance, or it will be deposed by internal forces ready to accept subordination to the US, and its right to exploit the strategic resources and markets of the Russian Federation and even its territorial carve up — the ultimate aim of Washington.

But an entirely opposed scenario is increasingly possible where the unprecedented military build-up on its borders provokes retaliatory action by Moscow.

The fact that Fallon, Parker and Shirreff speak in such belligerent terms about a possible war with Russia points to the existential crisis now facing British imperialism in the aftermath of June’s referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU). The vote reflected sharpening national tensions within Europe, amid the overall crisis of capitalism globally—forcing the UK to stake its claim to continuing relevance for the US based upon its readiness to engage in NATO’s anti-Russian operations and to oppose plans for an EU army led by Germany.

Parker chose the Guardian to make his statements because the newspaper has long-served as propagandist in chief in justifying the unprecedented NATO build-up on Russian’s western border. However, its columnist Mary Dejevsky felt it necessary to make a cautionary statement warning that anti-Russian propaganda and warmongering does not enjoy popular support. On Tuesday, in a column, “Why is MI5 making such a fuss about Russia?”, she noted “that it is starting to become harder to demonise Russia now,” advising her employers, “[L]ook at the ‘below the line’ comments on what Parker had to say and there is a current of dissent that cannot come exclusively from so-called Kremlin ‘trolls’. You hear something similar in phone-ins on Russian topics, where the voice of a sceptical public comes across loud and strong.”

What Dejevsky is acknowledging is the deep-felt anti-war sentiment within the British population, who have opposed Britain’s criminal involvement in imperialist wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries over the last three decades. However, this opposition to war is unable to find any political expression—above all thanks to the Labour Party, under its so-called “anti-war leader”, Jeremy Corbyn.

Since his election, Corbyn has made one retreat after another in the face of the warmongers within his party, so much so that his most recently appointed Shadow Defence Secretary, Nia Griffith, told Sky News last week, “We are one of the four battalions out there now in Eastern Europe and it’s important we make clear in the Labour Party we are seriously committed to NATO and the NATO preparation… It is very important that we make it clear to the Russians that we have that capability and we are prepared to use it.”

Protests erupt in Morocco after fish salesman killed

Alex Lantier

Protests continued yesterday in the Moroccan city of Al Hoceima, where fish salesman Mouhcine Fikri, 31, was crushed to death on Friday after a conflict with Moroccan police in the city.

Tens of thousands of people had marched in protests in Al Hoceima, but also in Morocco’s major cities including Casablanca, the capital Rabat, Fes, Marrakech, and Agadir, for Fikri’s funeral over the weekend. Many compared Fikri’s death to the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young merchant whose self-immolation in protest at the police confiscation of his fruits and vegetables triggered mass protests that brought down Tunisian President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali in 2011.

Fikri died in a confrontation with police and regulatory officials who tried to confiscate a batch of swordfish that he had bought. While catching swordfish in autumn is banned, Fikri nonetheless bought the catch, reportedly worth approximately $11,000, with the knowledge of the port authorities, and was outraged when police and fisheries officials tried to confiscate the fish.

Fikri tried to negotiate with the authorities for several hours in order to avoid the destruction of the fish. Ultimately, however, they ordered his catch confiscated and destroyed, placing it in the trash compactor of a garbage truck. Fikri and several friends went into the compactor of the truck to retrieve his merchandise.

In a horrific scene captured by a bystander in a cell phone video, officials give the order to activate the trash compactor as Fikri tried to escape.

Pictures of the killing, with Fikri’s head and one of his arms protruding from the compactor, rapidly circulated online, and mass protests erupted across Morocco on Sunday, the day of Fikri’s funeral.

Protesters in Al Hoceima marched chanting slogans including “Mouhcine is a martyr” and “Down with the Makhzen,” the Moroccan political system led by the country’s US- and European-backed monarchy of King Mohamed VI.

They walked from Al Hoceima, where Fikri worked, to the nearby municipality of Imzouren, where his family was from.

Marchers carried the Berber flag as a symbol of protest in the Rif region, which has often witnessed protests against the ethnically Arab monarchy. Al Hoceima was the site of a revolt against Spanish colonial rule in 1920 and an insurrection in 1958 against the closing of the border with neighboring Algeria, amid the Algerian war for independence from France. That uprising was crushed by a force of 30,000 men led by Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, the future Mohammed V, leading to the lasting marginalization of the region by the Moroccan regime.

Protests spread well beyond the Rif region, however, and turned into an expression of social anger at conditions in Morocco and political opposition to the Makhzen. “This could have happened in any city of the country, here al Al Hoceima it simply took on a greater symbolic dimension,” Abdessamad Bencherif, a journalist from the city, told Le Monde.

Tens of thousands of people marched in the country’s major cities, expressing their opposition to ‘hogra,’ that is, the impunity with which the monarchy and the authorities oppress the citizenry.

The explosive nature of class conflict in North Africa and its revolutionary implications are again coming to the surface of political life. With the mass revolutionary struggles of the Tunisian and Egyptian working class in 2011 fresh in memory, the Moroccan monarchy is for its part desperately seeking to maintain control of the situation and limit the expression of popular discontent.

King Mohamed VI sent Interior Minister Mohammed Hassad to present royal condolences to the family of the deceased. The Interior Ministry issued a statement pledging an investigation and declaring, “Our King doesn’t want such incidents to recur in our country. … The investigation will make sure people are held accountable.” It announced that the king had ordered a “detailed and profound investigation.”

At the same time, Prime Minister Abdelilah Bekirane called for an end to protests against the killing. Benkirane’s party, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), expressed its “regrets for this regrettable incident,” telling its members not to respond “in any way” to calls for protests.

The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), which is directly aligned with the monarchy, called it a “tragedy” and called for “punishing those who are responsible.”

Prosecutors have since arrested “two agents of the public authority, the marine fisheries delegate, the head of service of the marine fisheries delegation, and the chief doctor of the veterinary medicine service,” according to a communiqué they issued to the official MAP press agency.

All the indications are, however, that this investigation will predictably serve to whitewash not only the local officials, but above all the conditions of poverty and oppression imposed on the population by the monarchy—one of US and European imperialism’s most pliant tools in the region.

While witnesses at the scene accused officials of deliberately giving the order to activate the trash compactor while Fikri was inside, the prosecutor’s office claimed that “the acts that have been committed take on the character of involuntary manslaughter.”

Eleven people were ultimately remanded, charged with involuntary manslaughter and also “fraud in the preparation of public documents,” charging that the orders given to the garbage truck to destroy Fikri’s swordfish were not drafted in a legal manner.

Andela Nigeria Paid Fellowship (Cycle XVIII) for Nigerian Tech Students

Application Deadline: 25th November, 2016

Eligible Countries: Nigeria

To be taken at (country): Nigeria

About the Award: The Andela Fellowship is a four-year paid technical leadership program designed to shape you into an exceptional software engineer. The program requires that you dedicate yourself to the broader Andela community and requires that you apply yourself and challenge yourself to constantly improve personally and professionally throughout the four years of the Fellowship.

Andela’s four-year Technical Leadership Program is a blend of personalized instruction, supported self-study and hands-on experience building real products. Instead of paying tuition, as you would for a traditional academic program, you’ll earn a competitive salary and benefits throughout your four years with Andela.

After successfully completing the initial training period, you’ll be fully prepared to start working with one of our clients as a full-time, distributed team member. During the remaining 3.5 years, you’ll apply your knowledge to client work, while receiving ongoing professional and technical development, coaching and mentorship.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• You must be 18 or older
• Andela does not have any degree or diploma requirements. (Nigeria only: However, if you have completed university or have a Higher National Diploma from a Polytechnic, and have not been formally exempted, you must complete your one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) before applying to Andela)
• Andela is a full-time, four-year commitment, so if you have any major commitment such as school or work, we recommend applying when you have graduated, stopped school or ended other commitments
• Most importantly, you must embody Andela’s values: Excellence, Passion, Integrity and Collaboration

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: Through extensive training and work experience with top global technology companies, you’ll master the professional and technical skills needed to become a technology leader, both on the African continent and around the world.

We are training future leaders committed to helping others succeed. As you advance in the program, you’ll mentor and support the next generation of Andela fellows. The Technical Leadership Program prepares you for endless career paths, including founding your own company, moving into management positions at Andela, and taking leadership roles at local and global tech companies. Graduates become a part of an exclusive alumni network and have access to career support, advice and opportunities.

• Competitive monthly salary
• High speed fibre internet
• Financing plans for accommodations and a Macbook Pro
• Breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday
• Healthcare coverage
• Savings account ($5,000 USD upon completion of Fellowship)
• A community of excellence
• A chance to change the world

Duration of Fellowship: 4 years

How to Apply: 

Stage 1: Application and Aptitude Assessment

First, you’ll complete a free application, which lets us learn more about you. Once we receive your application, we’ll email you (within 2-days of your application) an online test that measures logical reasoning and personality fit.

Andela does not have any degree or diploma requirements. However, if you have completed University or have a Higher National Diploma from a polytechnic, you must complete your one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) before applying to Andela, unless you have been formally exempted.

Stage 2: Home Study

Then you’ll need to complete an introduction to software development self-study course focused on Python. You ca n find the downloadable version of this course here. During the course, you’ll complete a Proctor test that will evaluate your knowledge of the content you’ve learned. You will also be invited to a Slack Community called “Open Andela” to help guide and encourage you throughout the process.

Stage 3: In-Person Interview

Based on performance on the Aptitude Assessment and Proctor test, we invite a select group of applicants to interview with Andela. If selected, you’ll receive an email 1 week prior to the interview stage, inviting you to a panel of interviews made up of staff members and fellows at an Andela Campus.

Stage 4: Two-Week Boot Camp

Successful applicants participate in a two-week Boot Camp at an Andela Campus led by our senior developers. The two weeks comprise of one week of home based self learning and one week of product development. You’ll be expected to learn independently as well as work on a team to deliver a final project. We’re looking for work ethic, passion, and teamwork.

Stage 5: Acceptance

The highest performing participants are accepted into Andela’s four-year Technical Leadership Program.

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Andela

Akili Dada Fellowship for Young African Women 2017

Application Deadline: 11th November, 2016

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The fellowship is an opportunity for young women to design and implement solutions to the challenges faced by their communities. The fellowship provides opportunities for dynamic young women leaders to learn essential skills and apply those skills in the context of their communities.

Akili Dada is an international award-winning leadership incubator nurturing a generation of young African women from underprivileged backgrounds whose commitment to the underserved will transform their communities.  Our leadership development curriculum creates the foundation on which young women ages 13-35 build their skills and earn the essential qualifications they need to access key decision-making roles and leadership positions.

By selecting from and building the capacity of some of Africa’s most innovative young women change makers, we are meeting the urgent need for both more African women in leadership as well as the overall need for transformative leadership across the continent.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Be a young woman between the ages of 23-30
• Be from an economically disadvantaged background.
• Have a Social Enterprise (a business with a social impact) or a Social Innovation (an initiative that has social impact).
• Demonstrate previous leadership initiative and experience.
• Have been working on your project for at least two years preferably on a full-time basis
• Be able to commit one year to the fellowship program (beginning January 2017 and ending December 2017)
• Be able to attend trainings every other month for one week in Nairobi, Kenya
• Must be able to communicate in English both written and verbal.

Young women from marginalized communities (women living with disabilities, pastoralists, Arid and Semi-Arid Land areas) are encouraged to apply

Selection Criteria: Fellows will be selected on the basis of

• The strength of their social change project
• Previous leadership initiative
• Willingness to learn from peers and more experienced mentors
• The ability to share their skills with peers and intended project beneficiaries

**All fellows need to have deep roots in the communities they seek to transform and be from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Selection is NOT based on past academic performance or qualifications

Young women engaged in social entrepreneurship in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) are encouraged to apply.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: Akili Dada fellows will benefit from;

• Access to a series of seminars from experts in the social change field
• Site visits to successful social entrepreneurship and social impact organizations
• Access to a dynamic network of Akili Dada Mentors
• Access to the Akili Dada network of funding partners and social change agents
• Access to Akili Dada’s office facilities.

On completion of the year-long program, fellows will possess the skills and resources required to lead a strong, healthy, accountable and sustainable organization that are bringing about measurable social change in their communities.

Duration of Fellowship: 1 year

How to Apply: 

To be considered for the Akili Dada Fellowship, complete and submit the application form in link below

Also submit two Letters of Recommendation from persons who are well acquainted with you, your commitment to social change work, demonstrated leadership initiative and experience, and your connection to the community where you intend to implement your fellowship project

**Proposal and letters of recommendation may be scanned and sent as e-mail attachments, or may be mailed separately. If you choose to mail a hard copy to Akili Dada, use the following address:

Complete applications must be sent via e-mail to apply@akilidada.org by Friday, November 11th 2016

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Akili Dada