Norway emerges as key staging ground for US military provocations against Russia

Jordan Shilton

As the US-NATO war against Russia enters its second year in Ukraine, Washington is recklessly escalating the conflict. After it sent battle tanks to Ukraine, there is public discussion of sending fighter jets and even NATO ground troops, which could quickly trigger a global military conflagration between nuclear-armed powers. Beyond Ukraine, Washington and its European imperialist allies are ratcheting up pressure on Russia, including in the Arctic and Baltic Sea regions.

U.S. Marines inspect a MV-22B Osprey prior to flight at Norwegian Air Force Base Bodo during Exercise Cold Response 22, Norway, March 16, 2022. [AP Photo/Lance Cpl. Elias E. Pimentel III/U.S. Marine Corps via AP]

Norway’s Evenes Air Station, north of the Arctic Circle, is to become a regional hub for surveillance of Russia. Details on the joint project between the United States, Britain and Norway were provided earlier this month in comments by Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gramm, who said the base will host USP-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft.

Two Arctic bases, Evenes and the Ramsund naval base, are the subject of an upgraded bilateral defence cooperation agreement between Washington and Oslo. They are classified as “agreed areas,” which grant US forces unimpeded access to the bases and exclusive rights to certain parts of them. The agreement provides for US jurisdiction over all US Army personnel in the country, including for crimes they commit off-duty, and even over Norwegian citizens who come into contact with the “agreed areas.”

Washington initiated talks on the bilateral agreement, and the Biden administration said the deal was an “invariable requirement” for further US investment in Norwegian facilities.

Eight months after the agreement’s commencement, it clearly aims to create a framework for a massive military build-up across the Arctic and Scandinavia. Indeed, Washington is negotiating similar arrangements with Denmark, Finland and Sweden. A likely candidate for “agreed area” status in Sweden is the island of Gotland, the site of a key Cold War-era Swedish military base just 300 kilometres northwest of Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a researcher at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs, said Washington could demand “agreed areas” in Finland as well, including the Rovaniemi Airport in the north, writing:

The opportunity to store equipment and materiel in advance, which is included in the Norwegian-American agreement, clearly expresses American commitment. It would be beneficial if the US and Finland agree that American forces can store, for example, 500 anti-tank missiles and 500 anti-aircraft missiles in Finland and that a mechanism is designed so that Finnish forces can use these in extreme cases before US support arrives.

On “agreed areas” in Norway, Defence Minister Gramm said: “At Evenes, the aim is to develop cooperation between Norwegian, British, and American P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft—in accordance with the investments that are made in the Norwegian Armed Forces’ long-term plan.” These include five P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft bought by Norway, which will work with British Poseidons to search for and destroy underwater targets, i.e., submarines. Evenes also hosts Norway’s US-produced F-35 fighter jets.

Ramsund will serve as a “maritime logistics hub” for large-scale military activities in the region by the US and other NATO powers. Gramm said:

In the current long-term plan for the defense sector, it is planned that the Ramsund Naval Base will have an expanded role as the Navy's base in the North—and that the base is further developed to support the Navy and allies, including expanded quay facilities, storage of ammunition, logistics, and maintenance. … Our NATO allies train and exercise regularly in Norway, something that may also involve periodical presence in connection with logistics support. Increased cooperation with the US and other allies at Evenes and Ramsund is desired and will provide economies of scale and increased operative effect.

Norway’s location on the northwest of the Scandinavian Peninsula and with a 196-kilometre border with Russia make it a key ally for US imperialism to open a northern front in its war with Russia. This was underscored in a new military summit on the Arctic in January in Oslo. Chaired by US Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley, it included US and Norwegian officials and from 11 “close allies and partners” that the Norwegian Armed Forces refused to identify.

Emphasizing that the gathering will convene several times per year, the Norwegian Armed Forces declared: “This meeting with Allies and Partners builds collective understanding of the evolving strategic environment and informs military advice on key issues. The senior military leaders exchanged perspectives on shared strategic challenges, to include the Arctic and High North, the persistent threat of terrorism, and the changing dynamics of the South China Sea.”

January’s meeting was the latest in several military-security gatherings on geostrategy preparing for war in the Arctic and Northern Europe. Last August, Canada hosted an Arctic Chiefs of Defence meeting with representatives of the US, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In October, the Northern Europe Chiefs of Defence Conference was held in Poland. Participants included the Nordic countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Canada and the US.

Norway also hosts regular military exercises. Over 10,000 Norwegian and allied troops, including forces from the US, Britain and the Netherlands, will participate in Joint Viking 2023 in the Troms district of northern Norway on March 4-16. Norway also hosts the NATO exercise “Cold Response,” which is being expanded for 2024 into a jointly-organised exercise with Finland and Sweden called “Nordic Response.”

These exercises are part of a comprehensive regional plan for war on Russia. This emerges in advice prepared by the Nordic countries’ chiefs of staff to their governments for a meeting of the Nordic Defence Cooperation (Nordefco) last November. Nordefco was set up in 2009 and has helped train Finnish and Swedish military personnel to use NATO equipment and procedures even if they are not yet NATO members.

Their proposals included identifying four ports in western Scandinavia that could be used as transport hubs for military personnel and equipment in the event of a “crisis.” The ports include Narvik and Trondheim in Norway, Gothenburg in Sweden and Esbjerg in Denmark.

Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh’s exposure of the US role in bombing the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic last September underscored just how important Norway already is to US military and intelligence operations. Hersh documented secret meetings between US and Norwegian military and intelligence personnel in the months prior to NATO’s “BALTOPS 22” exercise in June 2022, which served as the cover for US military divers to plant the explosives on the pipelines.

One such meeting took place n March 2022 between the Norwegian secret service and navy and US officials. It led to a proposal by Norway to take advantage of shallow waters off Bornholm, an island on Denmark’s east coast, to bomb the pipelines. Norwegian officials also proposed using NATO’s “BALTOPS 22” exercise in June 2022 as the cover to plant explosives on the Nord Stream pipelines.

After the Biden administration decided on a delayed explosion to create a degree of plausible deniability, it was, according to Hersh, a Norwegian aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea on September 26 that dropped a buoy to trigger the blast. Explaining Norway’s centrality to US operations against Russia, Hersh wrote:

In the past few years of East-West crisis, the U.S. military has vastly expanded its presence inside Norway, whose western border runs 1,400 miles along the North Atlantic Ocean and merges above the Arctic Circle with Russia. The Pentagon has created high-paying jobs and contracts, amid some local controversy, by investing hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade and expand American Navy and Air Force facilities in Norway. The new works included, most importantly, an advanced synthetic aperture radar far up north that was capable of penetrating deep into Russia and came online just as the American intelligence community lost access to a series of long-range listening sites inside China.

Norway’s powerful energy sector has been a major beneficiary, together with the United States, of sanctions on Russia and the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines. Norwegian natural gas exports to Europe rose 3.3 percent in 2022. Deliveries to Germany shot up 11 percent year over year.

Germany has expanded its network of liquified natural gas terminals to include locations in Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel and Lubmin. By December 2023, they will have a total annual capacity of 30 billion cubic metres—about half the gas supplied through Nord Stream 1 in 2021. This exposes the interests underlying the unprecedented decision of Norway’s Labour-led government to criminalise an oil strike last summer, immediately after a visit by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck.

Moldova’s President Sandu tightens grip on power, as the country is being drawn into the maelstrom of the NATO-Russia war.

Andrei Tudora

Moldova, a former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people, is in the grips of a severe political crisis as its government prepares to drag it into the NATO war against Russia.

The country is sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine and has long been one of Europe’s poorest countries.

Since 1994, Moldova has maintained a constitutionally enshrined status of neutrality vis-à-vis NATO and other military alliances. The status was key to preserving a settlement of the conflict around Transnistria or the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) in Moldova, a Russian-speaking breakaway republic on the border to Ukraine which has claimed independence since the breakup of the Soviet Union. In a war that lasted from November 1990 through the spring of 1992, the authorities of the PMR received military support from Russia, which still has 1,500 troops stationed in the region. Moldova, by contrast, has been backed in the conflict by NATO member Romania.

This map shows the location of Transnistria in Europe. [Photo by TUBS / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0]

However, under President Maia Sandu, Moldova has openly sided with NATO in the war against Russia and is now even discussing joining the military alliance. Last week, Sandu met with US President Joe Biden, and the Polish and Romanian presidents on the sidelines of the Bucharest Nine summit of NATO’s Eastern European member states, after the US president praised her profusely in his speech on Ukraine.

In early February, after the forced resignation of the previous prime minister Natalia Gavrilița, a new government was sworn in under Dorin Recean, a hardliner and Sandu loyalist. The change in government marks an important moment in the country’s slide towards authoritarianism and war.

Since the change in government, Moldova has been thrown into a state of permanent war hysteria, with the president or prime minister having repeatedly warned that the takeover of the country by the Kremlin was imminent. The government is deliberately whipping up a climate of war fever in order to increasingly align the territory with the NATO war against Russia as well as to poison the internal atmosphere and stifle protests.

The fall of the previous government under Gavrilița and the turn to ever more authoritarian forms of rule were precipitated by massive protests against the rising cost of living and war, which took place in the country for over six months. The protests started in August in the autonomous Gagauz province and spread to the capital Chisinau and other regions by autumn. Protesters demanded Sandu’s resignation and an end to the war drive against Russia.

Fearing that protests could destabilize the regime and its “pro-EU course,” authorities sought to criminalize protests and any form of opposition. Protesters, numbering at times in the tens of thousands, have been vilified as paid “Russian agents” and part of Russian “hybrid warfare.”

In the run-up to the latest protest in Chisinau on February 19, the pro-Russian Shor Party offices were raided, with authorities claiming to find “Russian money” that was used to pay off protesters. Seven television stations were also shut down because they allegedly had a “lack of correct information in the coverage of national events, but also of the war in Ukraine.” Four of the channels regularly broadcast Russian television shows, and some were linked to Ilan Shor, a fugitive oligarch and leader of the Shor Party.

The conflict around Transnistria has also flared up again in full force. Sandu had been in open conflict with her government since December, when she accused Energy Minister Andrej Spinu of handing gas supplied by Gazprom to Transnistria.

Amidst the NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, Moldova came under pressure to cut off its remaining economic ties with Russia. This has led to catastrophic price hikes for working people, as well as gas and energy shortages. Even before the war, Moldova was one of the poorest countries in Europe, second only to Ukraine.

The almost 500,000 people who live in Transnistria remained in a virtual state of siege, caught between a hostile Chisinau and Ukrainian tanks. The two territories that comprised the Moldovan Soviet Republic have remained heavily intertwined despite the state of hostility, with the Transnistrian side providing electricity and industrial goods, but relying completely on Chisinau for raw materials. The Moldovan side increasingly sought to pressure the authorities in the capital of Transnistria, Tiraspol, especially by withholding its share of the natural gas received from Gazprom.

In November, the Transnistrian authorities spoke of an impending humanitarian crisis, as industrial activities had come to a halt and households were facing a dramatic shortage in heating. Many politicians and commentators in Chisinau rejoiced at the prospect of forcing an economic collapse of Transnistria and the fall of its government.

As the year drew to a close, the economic situation was spiraling out of control, and the government’s position became increasingly untenable.

While the government kept gas stocks in Romania and Ukraine, it had no way of assuring the generation of electric power. The lines from Romania passed through territory controlled by Tiraspol and the Ukrainian provider was taken out by Russian missile strikes.

Under these circumstances, Spinu and Gavrilita decided to give the gas from Gazprom to Tiraspol, in exchange for preferential prices on electricity produced by Transnistria’s plants. The move bought relief for both territories but was criticized in hysterical terms by hardliners in Chisinau and Bucharest who accused Spinu of “financing” and “saving” the Transnistrian government.

A few days before Gavrilita and Spinu were forced out of the government, Moldova’s parliament passed a landmark new “anti-secession law,” which criminalizes the authorities on the left side of the Dniester River and effectively ends the 30 years of peace negotiations and the prospect of a negotiated settlement.

Moldova has also developed close links to the Ukrainian government under Volodymyr Zelensky. Various provocations and “imminent attacks” are announced first by Zelensky or the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), with Moldovan officials confirming and announcing further repressive measures. Sandu recently called for a speedup to ram through Parliament several laws which will give greater powers to the Moldovan secret services (SIS) and the prosecutor’s office.

In an interview with Moldovan TV8 and Romanian Digi24, Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called the Moldovan protesters “bandits” and “bands of criminals” and asked Moldova to make the “correct choice.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense has accused Ukraine of massing troops and equipment on the border of Transnistria, and warned that any assault on the territory would be considered an attack on Russia.

Denials were issued by Ukraine, Moldova and also by Romania. In the days leading up to the standoff, Recean talked about the “demilitarization” of the Transnistrian region.

In a bizarre and revealing declaration at the Munich Security conference, quoted by the Ukrainian European Pravda, Sandu said that “so far there is no public support for changing this [the official neutrality policy]…” and that even though there was a serious threat of the occupation of Moldova by Russian troops, “Ukraine is ensuring our security.”

Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, a NATO member, also warned on February 22 that Romania is not just “ready, but willing to support Moldova in any scenario. How this will look depends on the geopolitical evolution. For now we support with gases, electricity and institutional reforms, but I personally, I am prepared to go much further if the situation calls for it.”

Anti-Defamation League: All “extremist” mass killings in the US in 2022 linked to the far right

A report released Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League asserts that in 2022 every “extremist” mass killing in the United States was committed by “right-wing extremists of various kinds.” Of the at least 25 mass murders last year classified by the ADL as “extremist,” the organization concludes that 21 were linked directly to “white supremacists.”

This figure, while slightly less than the 33 documented “extremist” murders in 2021, is more than the 22 recorded in 2020. The ADL found that 84 percent of the killings were linked to “white supremacy,” 8 percent were linked to anti-government/QAnon extremism and another 8 percent to “other” right-wing extremism. Ninety percent of the killings in 2022 were committed with a firearm.

While right-wing extremists every year make up a vast majority of the “extremist-related” killings in the United States, 2022 appears to be the first year the ADL did not record any by alleged “left-wing” extremism. It should be noted that the ADL’s incorrect definition of “left-wing” extremism includes “Black nationalism,” a political ideology that defends the nation-state and capitalist system on a racialist program.

Importantly, all of the “extremist” mass murders identified by the ADL in the US in 2022 were committed by fascists who either had direct connections to the Republican Party, or were inspired by anti-immigrant ideology, one of many important facts omitted in the 36-page report.

The ADL report noted that the largest mass right-wing massacre in the US last year was the grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York in May, committed by neo-Nazi Petyon Gendron. Earlier this month the 19-year-old white supremacist was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering 10 people and injuring three more, all African Americans.

People hug outside the scene of the Buffalo shooting on Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. [AP Photo/Joshua Bessex]

In a 180-page manifesto posted online by Gendron hours before the attack, the fascist terrorist laid out his assassination plans and revealed he was an adherent of the “Replacement Theory,” which posits that Jews, including Holocaust survivor George Soros, are conspiring with the Democratic Party and other institutions to replace the “white race” in the United States with “lesser” races from South America, Asia and Africa.

“Jews are the biggest problem the Western world has ever had,” Gendron wrote, “They must be called out and killed…”

Anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and other fascist agitation has emerged as the dominant feature of Republican and right-wing rhetoric since Trump’s 2016 campaign. An April 2022 investigation by the New York Times found that in “more than 400 episodes” of his program on Fox News, Tucker Carlson “amplified the idea that a cabal of elites want to force demographic change.” On their programs, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro have likewise claimed that the Democratic Party is engaged in a plan to “replace” American citizens with “illegals” and “migrants.”

In reality, Biden and the Democrats have adapted virtually all of Trump and the Republicans’ immigration policies, including new measures aimed at preventing refugees from applying for asylum if they enter the US from Mexico.

Despite the Democrats’ anti-immigrant policies, nearly every week, neo-Nazis, Proud Boys or another fascist group is publicly protesting and intimidating LGBTQ persons, Jews, drag shows or alleged communists/socialists. On February 17, neo-Nazis of the Goyim Defense League (GDL) harassed and intimidated Jewish people outside the Chabad of South Orlando in Florida.

In a video posted on social media, GDL founder Jon Minadeo and his small group of Nazi followers insult Jews and threaten their extermination.

Ron DeSantis, aspiring Republican 2024 presidential nominee and Florida governor, has yet to publicly denounce any of the numerous neo-Nazi demonstrations held in Florida since he took office in 2018. The ADL noted that in 2021 Florida had the third most documented anti-Semitic demonstrations, 190, nearly double the 98 recorded in 2017.

The second largest “extremist” mass killing identified by the ADL was at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado on November 20, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, when Anderson Lee Aldrich, the son of former California Assemblyman Randy Voepel, a supporter of former President Donald Trump’s failed coup, killed five people and injured 17 at the LGBTQ nightclub.

A makeshift memorial near Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sunday, November 20, 2022, that left at least five dead and 25 injured. [AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan]

Notably, the ADL report does not include the July 4, 2022 Highland Park Massacre committed by Trump supporter Robert Crimo III, which killed seven people and wounded 48 more. The ADL claims that while they found “bigoted” posts made by Crimo online, they did not “uncover sufficient evidence to confirm any extremist motivation.”

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

Harun Akın

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nick Beams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Benjamin Mateus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long Covid is a Cause for Concern

Cesar Chelala

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moldova’s Future is Bleak Unless it Saves Itself

Chloe Atkinson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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