Malaysia enters “endemic stage” of COVID-19 amid thousands of infections

John Braddock

Malaysia last week entered what Director General of Health Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, described as the country’s “endemic stage” of COVID-19, as thousands of new cases continue to be confirmed every day. This will be a “new battlefield,” Noor Hisham declared, in which “all Malaysians have to be prepared to adapt to new norms.”

The “new norms” centre on the public accepting “social discipline.” Noor Hisham told Bernama, the national news agency: “We can only win this war if all of us, all Malaysians, collectively come together as part of our social responsibility to embrace standard operating procedures and guidelines set by the government.”

Last month, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob warned that citizens had to learn to “live with COVID” because it “may not be eliminated fully.” Lockdowns were “no longer feasible,” he said, claiming that ongoing shutdowns would have “negative implications,” including for the mental health of Malaysians.

Oxygen tanks are prepared for patients in the hallway of an overcrowded hospital amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, July 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

The move is an official admission that the government is adopting the homicidal policy of governments around the world, that put the interests of big business over the health and lives of the population. It follows a period in which the Southeast Asian country, with a population of 32.7 million, endured one of the highest infection rates and deaths per capita in the world.

The lifting of restrictions began in mid-August, mainly for small businesses, even as tens of thousands of cases were being recorded daily. Now interstate and overseas travel has resumed and larger businesses such as hotels and the Langkawi holiday centre allowed to open up. Ismail claimed these steps would help speed up economic recovery and give people the opportunity to “improve their livelihoods.”

According to Noor Hisham, last week’s move was justified by an improvement in “key indicators” since the high point of the pandemic during the week of August 22-28. He claimed there had been a consistent decline in the number of daily cases, active cases, fatalities, cases treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) as well as the R-rate recorded over that period.

In fact, this only represents a partial, and temporary, improvement in a dire situation. When case numbers peaked on August 30, there were 19,268 new cases recorded, with a seven-day average of 21,799 infections.

On October 24, there were 5,666 cases with a seven-day average of 5,861. In all from October 11 to 24, there were 92,122 cases. Malaysia’s total case numbers are a staggering 2.43 million with 28,400 deaths. The current drive to “open up” is being undertaken while just 72.8 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated (94.6 percent of adults aged over 18).

According to local experts, the COVID-19 pandemic situation is “not yet over.” Manipal University College Malaysia Professor G. Jayakumar told the Straits Times it was “too early to make a definitive conclusion on the downward trend.” The increase in hospitalisation rates was a particular concern, including in the Klang Valley where it had increased 35 percent the previous week. Jayakumar also warned that waning vaccine immunity and the spread of the Delta variant could contribute to another rise in infections.

Molecular virologist Vinod Balasubramaniam from Monash University Malaysia said while the drop in infections was encouraging, Malaysians could “not afford to let their guard down.” He also said the country should expect a “sporadic rise” in cases with the reactivation of tourism and travel.

While both academics expressed vague optimism about the return to “normalcy” by the end of December, all the scientific evidence indicates this is not the case. Among other measures, schools in several states began a reckless reopening from October 3, with 50 percent of students on site at any given time.

School re-opening is taking place internationally with the aim of paving the way for parents to return to work to bolster businesses and profits. Everywhere the result has been a rise in infections among both teachers and students. In the United States, nearly 2 million children have been infected with COVID, with 6,523 hospitalized and 200 dead since July. Over 50,000 school age children in the UK are currently suffering from Long-COVID.

The Straits Times reported considerable concern among parents and students over the school re-openings. Salina Saad said “given a choice,” she would not send her 18-year-old daughter to school yet, even though she is fully vaccinated. Muhammad Faiz Abdul Rahman, 19, is fully vaccinated but said he is “still worried about the COVID-19 situation.” Rahman said he was “nervous” about going back to school with cases still high.

The homicidal policy of “herd immunity” is being pursued by a crisis-ridden ruling elite, which is turning in an ever more reactionary direction. The current government, led by Ismail’s right-wing United Malays National Organisation, has only been in office since August. Ismail is the country’s third prime minister in less than four years after previous Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who took office in 2018, was forced to resign.

The political instability reflects rising popular discontent over social inequality, entrenched corruption, and autocratic methods of rule. Opposition intensified as a result of the Muhyiddin government’s gross mishandling of the pandemic, which saw extended lockdowns fuel massive job losses but without adequate assistance for the unemployed. The limited measures failed to reduce COVID-19 cases.

Restrictions in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil prevented migrant labourers from travelling to plantations, raising prices of the edible oil used to make everything from candy bars and shampoo to biofuel. The shuttering of factories also contributed to the global supply chain crisis, with essential components for manufacturing, such as semiconductors, delayed.

The Malaysian economy expected to grow by only 3–4 percent this year. According to official statistics, GDP increased 16.1 percent in the second quarter of 2021 after four consecutive quarters of contraction. The growth was attributed solely to the low base recorded in the second quarter of 2020. The Department of Statistics warned that the latest short-term economic indicators signal that the economy “is anticipated to face challenges in preserving the recovery momentum.”

Muhyiddin’s resignation came after a strike by thousands of junior contract doctors over their fight for greater job security, followed by a series of protests organized mainly by young people in July and August. The #BenderaHitam (black flag) movement developed into a broad social opposition over the voting age, high unemployment rate among 15 to 30-year-olds—almost double the national average—stagnating wages, unaffordable housing and the lack of any real social safety net.

The movement erupted after lawmakers from the ruling National Alliance sought to discredit a previous social media campaign, #BenderaPutih (white flag), aiming to help people in need of food and other essentials, amid a surge in suicide cases due to job losses and slashed incomes. Tens of thousands of people have reportedly been involved in protest activities, including on social media and with public displays of black flags.

Police responded by launching an investigation into the black flag movement for purportedly harbouring alleged “seditious elements.” They detained at least 47 participants for questioning.

The protests initially centered on their demands for Muhyiddin’s resignation. However, the deepening opposition sentiment, while still at an early stage, coincides with movements elsewhere in Southeast Asia, especially in Myanmar and Thailand, as the pandemic continues to rage through the region’s combined population of 655 million people. The emerging class struggles will inevitably intersect with those of workers in the major imperialist centres.

Moody’s rating agency warns of “systemic risk” in private credit

Nick Beams

Stock markets continue to soar—Wall Street has reached new record highs this week—on the back of the cheap money provided by the Fed and other central banks but there are warnings of increasing dangers in what has become a growth area of the financial system.

The ratings agency Moody’s has issued a report that the private lending industry, which has grown to $1 trillion, was posing “systemic risks” as a result of its “explosive” growth.

“The mounting tide of leverage sweeping into a less-regulated ‘grey zone’ has systemic risks,” it said. “Risks that are rising beyond the spotlight of public investors and regulators may be difficult to quantify, even as they come to have broader economic consequences.”

Trader James McCarthy, foreground, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

The private credit market began to expand after the global financial crisis and its growth accelerated after the massive $4 trillion intervention by the Fed in response to the March 2020 crisis at the onset of the pandemic. It has provided a source of profit for investors who are seeking to increase their returns above those obtainable in the stock and bond markets.

Reporting on Moody’s findings, the Financial Times said, “leveraged buyout groups” had been “particularly active users of the industry, weaving private equity and private credit closely together in a debt-laden ecosystem.”

The head of leveraged finance research at Moody’s, Christina Padgett, said: “Private equity’s business model relies on leverage. We have become accustomed to leverage in the institutional loan and bond market. Now we are seeing a higher degree of leverage among smaller companies.... At the moment that is fine because interest rates are low but it introduces a higher degree of risk going forward.”

Moody’s is not alone in sounding a warning about the increased risks flowing from private credit. In a report published earlier this month S&P Global said private debt had emerged as a “new frontier for credit investors as they search for yield” with the market growing tenfold in the past decade.

“The growing investor base, a lack of available data, and the distribution of debt across lending platforms make it hard to know how much risk there is in this market—and who holds it.

“The expansion of the investor base could lead to heightened risk in the market if it leads to volatile flows of money into and out of the market,” it said.

Private credit is by no means the only potential source of instability.

In 2008, the epicentre of the financial crisis was the major banks and finance houses which were bailed out by the government with the provision of trillions of dollars of cheap money by the Fed. Regulations were introduced to strengthen their capital base, which supposedly were designed to prevent a repeat of the financial meltdown.

But there has been criticism that deregulation introduced by Fed chairman Jerome Powell has significantly weakened even those limited measures.

The criticisms came into public view during a Senate banking committee hearing at the end of last month when Massachusetts Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren told Powell she would not support his renomination as Fed chair, describing him as a “dangerous man.”

Warren said there were multiple instances where the Fed had relaxed financial regulation.

“Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe. And that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed, and it’s why I will oppose your renomination,” she said.

Warren, who has described herself as “capitalist to the bone,” is no opponent of finance capital and Wall Street. Her support for tighter regulation arises from the fear that another crisis on the scale of 2008, or possibly even larger, will lead to a deep-going economic crisis and the eruption of massive social struggles by the working class.

Warren’s criticisms received little support in the financial press at the time and there is general support for Powell’s reappointment which is under discussion in the Biden administration.

But this week the Financial Times chose to publish an opinion piece by Dennis Kelleher, the president of Better Markets, an advocacy group for tighter regulation and control of the banking and financial system.

Kelleher began by stating that Warren’s description of Powell was “accurate” and the deregulation he had supported over the past four years had “undermined the financial stability of the banking system,” moving “the US closer to future financial crises and bailouts funded by taxpayers, as happened in 2008.”

He said Powell’s actions had weakened regulations covering five areas: capital requirements, supervisions, proprietary trading, living wills to allow stricken banks to be safely unwound and the amount of liquid assets held by banks that are easy to sell.

Each of these rules had been significantly weakened, leaving the regulatory framework impaired and “materially reducing the resilience of the banks.” Deregulation had also made it harder for “regulators and the public to know the actually condition of the banks, making crisis planning and mitigation more difficult.”

He cited a dissenting opinion from Fed governor Lael Brainard on stress test changes which “gave a green light for large banks to reduce their capital buffers materially.”

Banks with assets of between $250 billion and $750 billion were no longer subject to rules applicable to “systemically important banks” despite some “still being large enough to cause systemic issues and contagion” and as a result “have much less confidence that any large bank can withstand a crisis.”

He said bans on proprietary trading—when a bank engages in financial activity on its own behalf rather than obtaining a commission from a client—had been weakened which encouraged “risk-taking and even gambling-like behaviour.”

“Not only did Powell’s Fed allow banks to engage directly in more of these types of activities, but they were also enabled to do more of it indirectly through investments on venture capital and loan finds, some of which have been shown to be unstable and unsafe.”

At present the vast accumulation of debt and financial assets is being sustained by ultra-low interest rates. But this regime is now coming under great pressure because inflation, far from being “transitory,” as maintained by Powell, is increasing at rates not seen since the 1970s.

The Fed seems almost certain to indicate it will start winding back its $120 billion per month asset purchases, probably early next year, when it meets next week. Powell has said that in his view it is “time to taper.” But he has insisted it is not time to raise rates because he is all too aware that such a move could trigger a landslide on the mountain of fictitious capital and debt which the policies of the Fed have created.

Thousands of teachers protest across Sri Lanka despite unions’ betrayal

Pradeep Ramanayake

Public school teachers and principals protested on Monday in major cities across Sri Lanka, as well as in the tea plantation districts and in the war-torn North and East, as part of their 24-year demand for higher wages. The main protest was held near the Colombo Fort Railway Station and involved more than a thousand teachers.

The demonstrations were called by the trade union alliance of teachers and principals, which includes the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU), the Ceylon Teacher Service Union (CTSU), which is led by the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, and the United Teachers Service Union, which is controlled by the pseudo-left Frontline Socialist Party.

Teaches protesting in the Colombo suburb of Homagama (Credit: WSWS)

The protests were organised by the unions following their betrayal last week of the 100-day national online teaching strike of about 250,000 teachers and principals. While the unions called Monday’s protests to try and cover-up their betrayal, the strong turnout demonstrated, once again, teachers’ determination to continue the struggle for better living and working conditions and in defence of free public education.

President Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s government has repeatedly rejected the demand for higher wages, insisting that it faced a deep economic crisis. But with the unions unable to end the strike, the government agreed to a small salary increase—one fifth of teachers’ original demand to be paid in four installments. Desperate to shut down the strike, the unions readily agreed but asked for it in one installment.

Last week, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse told the union officials that the government would grant the meagre wage rise in three installments. The increase would be announced in the November budget, with the first installment in 2022.

The unions responded by falsely telling teachers that they “rejected” this offer, but then declared the online strike would end on October 21 and directed teachers to report for work in the primary departments of schools on October 25. The government had already announced the reopening of 5,000 primary sections in schools with fewer than 200 students from October 21.

On Monday, protesting teachers chanted for higher wages, an end to education privatisation, six percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to be spent on education, full facilities for educators and students for online education, and no state repression of teachers.

The Rajapakse regime has intensified its privatisation of education and successive governments have slashed spending to about 1.5 percent of GDP. The government has also failed to provide facilities for online education to teachers who have been forced to pay for this from their meagre salaries. Teacher activists have been arrested by the police, on the orders of public security ministers, for organising protests.

Parents picking up their children from school (Credit: WSWS)

Demonstrating teachers on Monday in Kurunegala, the North-Western Province’s main city, surrounded Governor Raja Kollure’s office in protest against his call for striking teachers to be disciplined and their salaries cut. Kollure, who is president of the Sri Lankan Communist Party, was appointed governor by President Rajapakse. The Stalinist party, which is a partner in the ruling coalition, has a long history of supporting government attacks on social conditions and democratic rights.

Rajapakse’s decision to reopen the primary section of schools with less than 200 students, which was fully supported by the unions, is the first step towards the full reopening of all schools under conditions where COVID-19 is still sweeping across the country. From the outset, the unions, like education unions in the US and elsewhere, have backed the reopening of the economy and the schools, following brief lockdowns, placing the lives of thousands of teachers and students in danger.

Overcrowded classrooms in Sri Lanka and the highly-congested public transport system are creating the conditions for a rapid spread of COVID-19 across the island. Many students from poverty-stricken families with no income cannot even provide masks for their children.

At the Colombo demonstration on Monday, CTSU leader Mahinda Jayasinghe claimed that the teachers’ struggle had begun “a new round,” adding, “if our demands are not met in the next budget, massive action will be taken.”

Jayasinghe’s posturing is completely bogus. The government had already announced that it would only pay one fifth of teachers’ salary demand and in three installments. The systematic betrayal of teachers by the unions over the past 24 years means that Sri Lankan educators are among the lowest-paid public sector workers on the island.

The Rajapakse government’s forthcoming budget, irrespective of the teachers’ meagre pay rise, will see a full-scale assault on the social position of the working class.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse has already directed all ministries to slash expenditure, including no salary incentives for employees or the hiring of new recruits. The government has also massively increased the price of essential commodities, greatly increasing the social hardships of workers and the poor. These measures will bring every section of the working class, including teachers, into struggle to defend their living and social conditions.

Education, health, postal, ports, railway and plantation workers have been involved in strikes and protests in recent months, indicating the emerging and socially explosive situation in Sri Lanka.

Several teachers spoke with the World Socialist Web Site during Monday’s protests.

A teacher from Maskeliya said: “The government has opened the schools without any safety measures in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, which is very dangerous for teachers and students. The rulers don’t bother about that but just want to break our strike. Most of our school students are plantation workers’ children, which in the present situation is a real burden for them to buy a mask for children.

“Teachers have to do everything, including school cleaning and other safety measures, to try and deal with the pandemic, and sometimes have to use their own money from their low salaries. The plantation trade unions are supporting the government and companies. Some of these union officials are ministers and don’t care about these things.”

A teacher from Agarapatana said: “This time teachers have united very strongly to win their demands. I’m a grade one teacher and my basic salary should be 90,000 rupees but all I get now is 40,000 rupees.

“Authorities are supposed to pay me about 4.8 million rupees in arrears but none of this will be paid. All other teachers face a similar situation. Today I met the parents of students from my school and I explained our struggle to them. They were very sympathetic. I agree with your proposal for organising action committees of teachers, students and parents in every school and that we must unite with teachers in struggle internationally.”

A teacher from Kandy said: “A majority of the teachers haven’t joined the trade unions and the reason is because the unions have not intervened among us regularly. I’m involved in this struggle because of the difficulties trying to live on my salary, which is about 50,000 rupees and is never fully paid. Like almost all other teachers a large part of my salary is deducted to pay off several loans.”

Greshan, a Colombo mathematics teacher, said: “We’ve been on strike for more than three months and what is finally happening now is what the government wants. Teachers have had to go back to work without any salary hike. Many teachers oppose the unions’ decisions. Given the magnitude of the government’s economic crisis, can we accept that they cannot allocate any money for the well-being of workers? It’s very clear that nothing can be won within the capitalist system.”

Swedish Institute Scholarships 2022

Application Deadlines:

1. To begin with, apply for a master’s programme at universityadmissions.se, between 16 October 2021 – 15 January 2022.
2. Apply for an SI scholarship 10 February 2022, follow the instructions below.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible countries: International students (especially from developing countries)

To be taken in (country): Sweden

Accepted Subject Areas: SISGP offers scholarships to a large number of master’s programmes starting in the autumn semester 2021. Check the list of master’s programmes that are eligible for SISGP.

About Scholarship: The Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals (SISGP) programme is part of the Swedish government’s international awards scheme aimed at developing global leaders who will contribute to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden and administered by the Swedish Institute (SI).

The programme offers a unique opportunity for global professionals to develop professionally and academically, to experience Swedish society and culture, and to build a long-lasting relationship with Sweden and with each other.

The goal is to enable the scholarship holders to play an active role in the positive development of the societies in which they live. Ideal candidates are ambitious young professionals with academic qualifications, demonstrated work and leadership experience, ambition to make a difference by working with issues which contribute to a just and sustainable development in their country in a long term perspective, and a clear idea of how a study programme in Sweden would benefit their country.

Priority will be given to applicants with a strong and relevant professional background and demonstrated leadership experience.

Eligibility/Criteria: Applicants must

• have minimum of 3,000 hours of demonstrated full-time or part-time employment, voluntary work, paid/unpaid internship, and/or position of trust.
• be from an eligible country
• display academic qualifications and leadership experience.
• be required to pay tuition fees to the universities, have followed the steps of university admission, and will be admitted to one of the eligible master’s programmes..
• have demonstrated leadership experience from employment, voluntary work, and/or internship after high school studies.
• Read more about the selection criteria, target countries, and eligible master programmes (in link below) before applying.

Number of Scholarships: Approximately 300 scholarships will be awarded

Scholarship Value: 

• Tuition fees: directly paid to the Swedish university by us
• Living expenses of SEK 10,000/month
• Travel grant of SEK 15,000 *
• Insurance against illness and accident
• Membership of the SI Network for Future Global Leaders(NFGL) – a platform to grow professionally and build your network while in Sweden
• Membership of the SI Alumni Network after your scholarship period – a platform for continued networking and further professional development

* The travel grant is a one-time payment for the entire study period. The grant is not applicable to students already living in Sweden.

The scholarship does not cover:

• Additional grants for family members
• Application fee to University Admissions

Duration of Scholarships: The Swedish Institute Study Scholarships is intended for full-time master’s level studies of one or two years, and is only awarded for programmes starting in the autumn semester. The scholarship is granted for one academic year (two semesters) at a time. It will be extended for programmes longer than two semesters, provided that the student has passed his/her courses/credits.

How to apply: The application process consists of these steps.

1. Apply for a master’s programme at universityadmissions.se
2. Apply for a SISGP scholarship
3. Notifications from University Admissions
4. Announcement of 300 successful SI scholarship recipients

It is important to go through ALL Application requirements before applying for this scholarship

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Generation Google Scholarship 2022

Application Deadline: 10th December 2021.

About the Award: The Generation Google Scholarship: for women in computer science was established to help aspiring computer scientists excel in technology and become leaders in the field. Selected students will receive a 7,000 EUR award (or local equivalent) for the 2022-2023 academic year. Scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of each candidate’s impact on diversity, demonstrated leadership, and academic background. The program is open to qualified students who meet all the minimum qualifications. Women interested in computer science are strongly encouraged to apply.

Type: Undergraduate, Graduate

Eligibility: To be eligible to apply, applicants must:

• Be currently enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student at a university for the 2021-2022 academic year
• Intend to be enrolled in or accepted as a full-time student in a Bachelors, Masters, or PhD program at an accredited university in Europe, Middle East or Africa for the 2022-2023 academic year
• Be studying computer science, computer engineering, or a closely related technical field
• Demonstrate a strong academic record
• Exemplify leadership and demonstrate a passion for improving representation of underrepresented groups in computer science and technology

Terms and conditions

The Generation Google Scholarship: for women in computer science is open to qualified students who meet the eligibility criteria. Women interested in computer science are strongly encouraged to apply. The scholarship award must be spent on tuition, fees, books, supplies and equipment required for the students’ classes at their primary university. Scholarship recipients must be enrolled as full time students for the 2022-2023 academic year. Enrollment will be verified after the winners are selected, and all scholarship payments will be made directly to the student to be used towards tuition and education-related expenses. We will withhold the award for any scholar who no longer meets the eligibility requirements and revoke the award for any scholar who does not maintain the eligibility requirements. Selected recipients will receive instructions from Google on how to receive the award. Failure to complete these steps by the specified deadline will disqualify recipients from receiving the award. Recipients may defer their award for up to one (1) year from the time of originally planned payment on a case by case basis as determined by Google. Google employees are not eligible to apply for Google scholarships. Persons who are (1) residents of embargoed countries, (2) ordinarily resident in embargoed countries, or (3) otherwise prohibited by applicable export controls and sanctions programs may not apply for this scholarship.

Eligible Countries: Countries in Europe, Middle East or Africa

To be Taken at (Country): Candidate’s University location in Europe, Middle East or Africa

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Generation Google Scholarship:

• Selected students will receive a 7,000 EUR award (or local equivalent)
• The scholarship award must be spent on tuition, fees, books, supplies and equipment required for the students’ classes at their primary university

How to Apply for Generation Google Scholarship: You will be asked to complete an online application which includes:

• General background information (e.g. contact information and details about your current and intended universities)
• Resume/CV
• Academic transcripts from your current and prior institutions (if you have earned a prior degree)
• One letter of reference from a professor, instructor, adviser or supervisor
• Responses to four short essay questions
• Recipients will be selected based on the overall strength of their essays and application materials compared to the entire applicant pool or respective peers (e.g. Bachelors students compared to other Bachelors students).

Essay Questions:

The five short answer essay questions below are intended to assess your computer science experience, demonstrated leadership, commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and financial need. Each response to the five questions below should be 300 words or less.

1) How did you become interested in computer science, and what are your goals or aspirations when you think about pursuing a degree in this field? In your answer, please describe how your experiences have influenced the goals you have for yourself.

2) Please describe the most significant computer science project or research you have worked on, how you approached key technical challenges, and what you gained from the experience. It might have been a class assignment, a research project or work as an intern. If the project was team-based, specify your individual role and contributions in the project. Treat this essay as a technical report or research paper. Feel free to use tables, references, or figures.

3) Please give us one example of how you have exhibited leadership. Explain how you were influential, what you were trying to achieve and the impact you had as a result. These need not be demonstrated through formal or traditional leadership roles. Think broadly and examine the many ways you are having an effect on the members of your technical community, your university or your broader community.

4) What is a significant challenge that you believe women in the field of technology face and how do you see yourself as being part of the solution(s) to this challenge? Keep in mind that impact can happen in many ways and at different scales.

5) What impact would receiving this scholarship have on your education? Describe any circumstances affecting your need for a scholarship and what educational goals this scholarship will enable you to accomplish.

Deadline to apply: Friday, December 10, 2021 at 11:59 PM GMT

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Terrorist networks in the German army: Federal prosecutor general orders the arrest of two ex-officers

Peter Schwarz

Far-right terrorist networks remain active within the German army (Bundeswehr) and its immediate environment. This was underlined by the arrest of two former Bundeswehr paratroopers by criminal police officers last Wednesday.

According to the news magazine Der Spiegel, Prosecutor General Peter Frank accuses the two persons arrested, Arend-Adolf G. and Achim A., of serious criminal offences. The charges range from conspiracy to murder, hostage-taking, planning crimes against humanity, to suspicion of founding a terrorist organisation.

Asgaard security forces (Facebook photo).

The two former elite soldiers are said to have prepared the setting up of a mercenary force of 100 to 150 men, whose services they offered to the Saudi Arabian regime as shock troops in the Saudis’ bloody war in Yemen. According to Der Spiegel, these accusations stem from a tip given by a former Bundeswehr soldier to the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) and have been confirmed by the evaluation of numerous chats and the monitoring of more than two dozen telephone connections.

The case is explosive not only because recruiting German nationals as mercenaries for a foreign power carries heavy prison sentences. There are also close links between the mercenary ring and right-wing extremist networks planning terrorist attacks within Germany.

Arend-Adolf G. and Achim A. are said to have worked for the security company Asgaard after their service time in the Bundeswehr, with G., on occasion, working as Asgaard’s managing director. The company, which among other things was active in the Somali civil war and Iraq, where it guarded the Saudi Arabian embassy, specifically recruits members from special units of the Bundeswehr and the police, promising them monthly salaries in five figures.

Asgaard not only maintains close relations with German state security forces, but also with right-wing extremist networks and apparently serves as a link between the two. A year ago, Der Spiegel and the ARD television magazine Kontraste reported on Asgaard’s corporate culture, which glorifies National Socialism and the German army (Wehrmacht) under Hitler. The magazine also gave details of the right-wing extremist network in contact with the Asgaard director Dirk Gaßmann. Among other things, Der Spiegel published a video showing Asgaard glorifying the fascist tradition of the Wehrmacht in its Iraqi company premises. WSWS reported on the incident at the time.

In the summer of 2020, former and active police officers and soldiers who, based on their postings on social media, clearly identified themselves as extreme right-wing, took part in a meeting at Asgaard’s headquarters in Hamm. Among the participants was 41-year-old Thomas S., who at the time headed an investigation team in the Frankfurt police while also working as a leading functionary for Asgaard.

Shortly afterwards, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office opened “an investigation into Thomas S. on suspicion of bribery as well as violation of official secrecy.” In addition to “unauthorised secondary employment for a private security company” (suspected of being under the influence of right-wing extremism), the prosecutor’s office accused him of “unlawful queries from police databases.” It is not clear whether this is the same data retrieved from Hesse police computers that became the basis of numerous threatening letters sent by the sender “NSU 2.0.”

According to Der Spiegel, the federal prosecutor general is currently investigating “a senior employee” of Asgaard on suspicion of threatening to kill Martina Renner, a parliamentary deputy of the Left Party. Renner, among other things, had been involved in the committee set up in the state of Thuringia to investigate the activities of the far-right terrorist National Socialist Underground (NSU).

In April this year, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported on links between a federal criminal police bodyguard and Asgaard. Once again, there existed a right-wing extremist background. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office is investigating three federal police officers (BKA) belonging to the unit “Foreign and Special Operations” after they gave Hitler salutes at an internal party, and spread racist chats. One of these officers is also said to have worked for Asgaard.

Tagesspiegel also indicated possible links between the BKA officers and the right-wing “prepper,” or survivalist, group “Nordkreuz,” which hoarded ammunition and drew up assassination lists for left-wing political figures, opponents on a so-called Day X. The BKA officers had taken part in shooting exercises at a site in Güstrow where Nordkreuz was also active.

In May, MDR television reported that Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV) and Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) were investigating links between Asgaard and a former member of the Bundeswehr paramilitary unit, the KSK. It is being examined “whether he is part of a suspected right-wing extremist network with links to the unit.” The Ministry of Defence informed the Bundestag’s Defence Committee about this investigation at a secret meeting. A total of 59 people—mostly Bundeswehr reservists, but including some active soldiers with links to Asgaard, are currently being investigated by the BfV and MAD.

The fact that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office now feels obliged to arrest two former soldiers who worked for Asgaard indicates the extent of the far-right conspiracy. As always, the authorities only act when so much has leaked out to the public that they can no longer remain inactive without completely discrediting themselves.

But then, as usual, the matter is covered up as quickly as possible and swept under the rug. This was the case with the right-wing extremist Bundeswehr officer Franco A., who assumed a false identity as a refugee, hoarded weapons and planned a terrorist attack in collaboration with right-wing extremist forces in the elite KSK troop and the nationwide “Hannibal” network, to which the Nordkreuz group belongs.

The BfV, MAD, BKA, the German Ministries of Defence and the Interior, all have a record of penetration by far-right networks and have repeatedly suppressed information to protect such extremist forces. Although the extent and dangers arising from far-right networks are known and documented, those responsible remain largely unchallenged or remain at large.

Franco A., who was long since released from pre-trial detention, is being tried in Frankfurt, four years after his activities were uncovered. The trial is expected to drag on into next year. The court had originally refused to open the trial at all and had to be forced to do so by a higher court. Now the entire process is increasingly developing into a farce.

The favourable treatment of far-right criminals stands in sharp contrast to the ruthless persecution of left-wing demonstrators, for example those arrested for protesting against the G20 summit in Hamburg, and has social roots. Faced with rapidly growing class antagonisms and the declining influence of all the established parties, the German ruling class is increasingly relying on state repression and fascist violence to suppress social resistance.

A century ago, during the Weimar Republic, paramilitary organisations and extreme right-wing forces, which later formed the basis of the Nazi regime, were under the special protection of the state. Hitler himself spent just a few months in prison following his attempt at a bloody coup d’état. While in prison he was able to write Mein Kampf and enjoy regular visits from a host of his admirers. The treatment of the pacifist and leftist Carl von Ossietzky was very different. Arrested following Hitler’s assumption of power in 1933, he disappeared behind bars for criticising the military. The ruling circles in Germany are returning to precisely these traditions in the face of the current profound crisis of capitalism.

COVID-19 cases, deaths surge in Russia as thousands of children show “acute” symptoms

Clara Weiss

As daily cases and deaths in Russia surge to 36,446 and 1,106 respectively, the Russian health minister Mikhail Murashko revealed on Tuesday that almost 60,000 children are currently getting treatment for COVID-19. Out of these, half show “acute” symptoms. Overall, there are now over 268,000 patients with active infections, and nearly 90 percent of hospital beds are filled. Murashko called the load on the health care system “colossal.”

Without providing detailed numbers, one of the chief medical experts of the health ministry, Vladimir Chulanov, earlier stated that the number of hospitalized children has increased several fold over the past year.

A medical worker measures the temperature of a homeless man prior to giving a shot of the one-dose Sputnik Light vaccine at a mobile vaccination station in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Elena Ignatyeva)

As of last week, over 600 children were hospitalized in Moscow alone. A doctor at the city hospital No. 52, Mariyana Lysenko, declared on Monday that, overall, close to 80 percent of patients in their hospital are in severe condition, and that they now had to create additional beds for children, who were being admitted at a rapidly growing rate. One hospital in St. Petersburg reported earlier this month that it was admitting an average of 85 infected children every single day. On average, only one out of four of those admitted was in a condition to be discharged that same day.

Consequences from the disease can be severe even for many children who initially suffer a relatively mild course of the disease. Virologist Evgeny Timakov told the radio station Vesti FM on Monday that about 13 percent, that is more than every eighth child in Russia that has been infected, suffers from Long COVID. Even before the Kremlin reopened schools in September, the health minister acknowledged that half a million children had been infected with COVID-19 over the preceding year and a half.

Horrific numbers about child infections have also been revealed in neighboring Ukraine, another center of the new surge. According to the country’s health ministry, over 154,000 children have been infected with the virus during the pandemic, with almost 29,000 currently ill and hundreds hospitalized. Forty-two children have died from COVID-19.

Against this background, the “workfree week” that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week for October 30-November 7 will do far too little, far too late. In the Moscow region, the “workfree week” will start on Thursday, and in many other regions, including the second largest city, St. Petersburg, it will start on Saturday. Only a couple regions have imposed it earlier this week.

The “workfree week” does not oblige but only encourages businesses to close while paying their employees full salaries. With only one day remaining before Moscow is set to go into a partial lockdown, many businesses have still not announced to their workers whether or not they will close. Many of the country’s biggest companies that are owned by the state are exempt from the recommendation altogether.

As has been the case throughout the pandemic, the situation is chaotic, with regulations differing not only from region to region but also from company to company. Only a small minority of businesses are enforcing mask mandates, with authorities not even enforcing a mask mandate in Russia’s largest public transportation system in Moscow.

Sports events have not been cancelled, and in many places, big cultural events continue to take place. In the Siberian Sverdlovsk region, authorities are allowing a major music festival to go ahead this week, amidst what one medical worker described as a “catastrophic situation” in the hospitals.

Moreover, there are no travel restrictions for Russians in place. Newspapers report that many have booked vacations to the Black Sea or Egypt for next week, creating the conditions for a horrific further spread, not just in Russia but internationally.

The Kremlin is trying to encourage people to get vaccinated, without imposing mandates, including through the promise of two paid days off upon vaccination. However, while the vaccinations rose significantly last week amidst the massive surge, still well below 40 percent of the overall population are fully vaccinated. Out of these, about 10 percent are now advised to get booster shots as they received their first shot six months ago or more.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recommended authorities to order those who are over 60 and not vaccinated to stay at home. A similar mandate has taken effect in Moscow on Monday.

Even as most medical experts do not expect the peak in cases to come before November or early December, the health care system is already cracking in many regions. Indicating the scale of the disaster, the director of the Nurses Association, Valeri Samoilenko, said, “I don’t think I can recall such a test for the health care system, even during World War II.” The Soviet Union lost 27 million people to the struggle against Nazi Germany during the war.

In Orlov, one of the hardest hit regions, the main COVID hospital, which had been designed to care for 670 people, was occupied by almost 740 last week. Medical workers have had to send people away if there are no spots left in hospitals, and doctors are working all week long without a single day off.

The situation in the republic of Bashkiria is also particularly severe. A doctor who was fired in March after he had severely criticized how the health care system had responded to the pandemic, Gleb Glebov, told the liberal TV channel Dozhd ’, “We have reached the highest peak in infections, but what is happening now has nothing to do with medicine. We lack medication, we lack personnel, 98 percent of hospital beds are occupied, even though they built two hospitals for COVID [in the Orlov region] since the beginning of the pandemic.”

The health minister of the Perm region declared on October 22 that new hospital beds would have to be created, “including in the hallways,” because “the number of sick is just incredible.” Ambulances are so overwhelmed that it can take them an entire night to attend to calls. One doctor from the Perm region told Dozhd ’, “We sometimes get patients in the early morning. We are asking them: Why are you coming at 6 AM? They answer that they had called the ambulance already at 9 PM.”

The unfolding disaster is a deadly consequence of the restoration of capitalism by the Stalinist bureaucracy 30 years ago, the culmination of its decades-long betrayal of the October Revolution of 1917. The social “scorched earth policy” of capitalist restoration has devastated the Soviet health care system, which was once one of the best in the world. Hospital beds were decimated, and the combination of extremely poor working conditions and very low salaries has led to a sharp shortage in medical personnel. As internationally, during the pandemic thousands of health care workers have died—by the middle of this year, at least 1,100 Russian medical workers had died from COVID—and many more have left out of physical and mental exhaustion.

Hospital beds per 100,000 people in the former Soviet Union

The criminal oligarchy that has ruled the country over the past 30 years is completely indifferent to the mass suffering and death and, like its peers around the world, has used the pandemic to further enrich itself. Its disastrous mishandling of the pandemic has created conditions where, much like in the UK and Brazil, the virus can run rampant and mutate, threatening the development of even more dangerous and infectious variants.

In Moscow, three cases of the new mutation of the Delta variant called AY.4. were already reported early this week. The mutation was first detected in Britain, where it is rapidly displacing the earlier Delta variant, and has accounted for 62.4 percent of sequenced COVID-19 cases in the last 28 days.

Right-wing LDP expected to maintain majority in upcoming Japanese election

Ben McGrath

Campaigning for Japan’s October 31 general election began last week. Given the widespread unpopularity of the opposition parties and general ambivalence towards the establishment parties as a whole, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to maintain its parliamentary majority in the National Diet. Newly installed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, after taking over for Yoshihide Suga at the beginning of October, is hoping to use the election to claim a mandate for his new government.

All 465 seats in the lower house of parliament, known as the House of Representatives, are currently being contested. Of these seats, two-thirds are elected by direct vote while the others are distributed to parties based on proportional vote. The ruling coalition of the LDP and Komeito currently hold 276 seats and 29 seats respectively. The LDP is fielding 310 candidates while Komeito has 53. The ruling party is currently projected to lose around 40 seats.

Fumio Kishida in October 2017. (Photo: Wikimedia commons)

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) currently holds 112 seats while its ally, the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), has 12. The two have formed an electoral bloc and are running unified candidates. Any change in government would require a coalition as the CDP is fielding only 214 candidates, short of the 233 needed for a majority. The JCP is running 131 candidates, pledging to prop up a CDP government if the electoral bloc manages to win.

The CDP, however, is content to play the role of “opposition,” providing very limited critiques of the LDP. At the same time, it provides support to the government when needed to push through legislation demanded by the capitalist ruling class, whether this takes the form of votes from the more conservative members of the party or by defusing public opposition by organizing token protests.

A poll by broadcaster NHK found that support for the LDP stood at 38.8 percent while the CDP is polling at 6.6 percent. Nearly half of eligible voters intend to or are considering sitting out the election, with only 56 percent of people saying they intend to vote.

At a press conference on October 14, following the dissolution of the lower house in preparation for the election, Prime Minister Kishida stated, “The age is at a turning point. Which way it moves will determine the future of Japan.” He claimed, “I wanted to establish the makeup of the lower house as soon as possible so as to accelerate the process of formulating specific policy proposals.”

In reality, the political establishment is keenly aware of the public anger over the handling of the pandemic, declining economic conditions, and Japan’s active support for the US-led drive to war against China. A former member of the previous Suga cabinet told the Asahi Shimbun, that the “only alternative was to hold the election before the Cabinet approval rating fell.” The former minister continued: “Even with the change in prime minister, there is no sense of enthusiasm in the local constituency.” Kishida’s cabinet is polling at 45 percent, the lowest for a first-time polling of a new cabinet in 20 years.

One of the biggest issues facing Japanese workers, farmers, and youth is remilitarization and the prospect of war with China, which all bourgeois parties support. The LDP is running on a platform of remilitarization. It has called for increased military spending by raising its defense budget over 2 percent of GDP and acquiring the ability to strike targets in foreign countries. It has also pledged support for Taiwan to further chip away at the “One China” policy.

While the CDP stops short of offering explicit support for Taiwan, like the LDP, it has called for increased cooperation with the US and other countries in the growing anti-China alliance. It has pledged to increase the military presence around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing also claims, raising the risk of a clash.

The JCP also supports these measures through its bloc with the Democrats. It has modified its longstanding call for the abrogation of the US-Japan security treaty by calling for a “friendship treaty” with US imperialism. This thinly disguised support for pro-war policies exposes the Japanese Stalinists’ opposition to constitutional revision as fraudulent. The Japanese ruling elite has long pushed for revising the constitution to enable Tokyo to go to war to pursue its foreign policy objectives, a move that has been spearheaded by the LDP. However, support for these policies is also found within the CDP, despite its public posturing as an opponent of revision.

The JCP has long abandoned any support for a genuinely socialist or anti-war program. The party’s backing for the CDP at every turn makes clear that while it may posture as a left-wing party, it is little more than an appendage of the Democrats, attempting to block the working class and youth from a political fight against capitalism.

Domestically, none of the parties has a plan for eliminating COVID-19, instead making proposals to strengthen “crisis management” and inadequate economic measures, the purpose of which is to keep Japan’s economy open for the benefit of big business. At present, there have been more than 1.7 million COVID-19 cases with over 18,100 deaths.

Conscious of public anger, Prime Minister Kishida has promised a “new capitalism,” that would supposedly bring about a fairer distribution of wages. This amounts to nothing more than phony promises of wage increases for essential workers that would supposedly be paid through more tax cuts for corporations.

The CDP has pledged a temporary reduction in the consumption tax from 10 percent to 5 percent and an income tax reduction for anyone making 10 million yen ($US88,000) or less a year. The JCP has proposed increased taxes on the wealthy and a limited increase of the minimum wage to 1,500 yen ($US13.20) an hour. Neither party will be in a position to carry out these pledges after the election.

If the LDP returns to power in Sunday’s election as expected, it will not be the result of widespread support for its policies or for Prime Minister Kishida. It stems from widespread disillusionment in the entire political system and in particular the political bankruptcy of the so-called “progressive” parties which have no fundamental differences with the LDP.