Puerto Rico governor resigns after popular protests

Jerry White

After two weeks of protests demanding his removal, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló announced his resignation late Wednesday night. In a statement posted online, Rosselló said he would step down on August 2. The announcement was met with cheers by thousands of protesters who gathered outside the governor’s La Fortaleza (The Fortress) residence in the Old San Juan district of the Caribbean island’s capital.

Popular anger has been escalating since the release two weeks ago of private text messages between Rosselló and his inner circle, which mocked the victims of Hurricane Maria and draconian austerity measures imposed by the US federal government’s Fiscal Oversight Board. The protests reached their highpoint Monday with the largest demonstration in the history of the US territory. Between 500,000 and 1 million people participated in the huge procession in San Juan, a substantial portion of the island’s 3.2 million inhabitants.

Analysts suggested that Rosselló spent much of his last day seeking to work out a deal over obtaining a pardon if he is convicted on corruption charges. On Wednesday, attorneys commissioned by the president of Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives, Carlos Méndez Núñez, a member of Rosselló’s own New Progressive Party (NPP), found five offenses that constitute grounds for impeachment, including the embezzlement of public funds and neglect of his official duties. The state legislature announced it would convene a special session Thursday to begin impeachment proceedings if the governor did not resign.

Because Puerto Rico’s US colonial constitution does not include any provision for a special election, the governorship is being handed over to one of his cabinet officials, Secretary of Justice Wanda Vázquez, a fellow NPP member who has also been embroiled in various charges of unethical behavior.

In November 2018, the Office of the Independent Prosecutor accused her of improperly intervening on behalf of her daughter and son-in-law amidst a housing dispute, making her the first secretary of justice in Puerto Rico’s history to face criminal charges. She was eventually cleared of ethical charges by a judge in a case where Vazquez’s husband, Superior Court Jorge Diaz Reveron, was questioned for allegedly intervening with a potential witness in the failed case.

One of Vázquez’s close allies, Valerie Rodríguez Erazo, the wife of Elías Sánchez, is a “lobbyist” and close friend of Rosselló. According to a July 19 exposé by the Center for Investigative Journalism, Sánchez, who came up with the ranks of the NPP youth movement with Rosselló, helped direct government contracts, including for hurricane relief, to his favored clients, charging them commissions of up to 25 percent of the amount of the contracts and fixed retainers that have reached $50,000 per month.

Like rats jumping off a sinking ship, several high-ranking officials have resigned over the last few weeks, including the governor’s chief of staff who quit Tuesday night. Just days before cabinet officials who previously resigned, Julia Keleher, the former secretary of education, and Angela Avila-Marrero, former head of the health insurance administration, were arrested by the FBI on charges that they inflated contracts and steered them to favored firms.

Keleher, a close ally of Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos, sparked strikes and mass protests by teachers last year for closing 286 schools, laying off 5,000 teachers and expanding charters and other for-profit schools. Treasury Secretary Raul Maldonado also resigned after a federal investigation into the department.

While Trump and Democratic Party presidential candidates distanced themselves from Rosselló, the forced resignation of the MIT-trained politician by a mass movement encompassing large sections of the working class sent paroxysms of fear throughout the entire US political establishment. With no means of expressing their opposition to the looting of society by the corporate and financial elite, masses of workers and young people took to the streets to express their democratic will and social aspirations.

If Rosselló could be removed through such mass action, so could Trump. The last thing the Democrats want is for the events in Puerto Rico to inspire similar action on the US mainland that would threaten the capitalist economic and political order, which the Democrats no less than Trump and the Republicans defend.

As rotten and corrupt as the island’s political establishment is, they are considered petty thieves compared to the Wall Street bondholders and their financial hatchet men who sit on the Fiscal Oversight Board, appointed by President Obama in 2016. Hedge funds like GoldenTree and Baupost Group, the Boston-based hedge fund helmed by billionaire Seth Klarman, hold more than $50 billion in bonds and want to assure that they recover as much of their speculative investments as possible through the gutting of pensions and selloff of public assets like the island’s electrical utility and public school system.

To a certain extent, the social explosion is seen by the political establishment in Puerto Rico as an obstacle to the wholesale looting of the island by major hedge funds. The Fiscal Oversight Board still requires the agreement of the island’s legislature to pass bills to implement the US federal bankruptcy court’s debt-cutting plans.

Earlier this month, the financial overseers struck a deal with creditors, which will include cuts to the pension benefits of 300,000 public sector workers, retirees and their families, many of whom do not qualify for Social Security. Current employees will be shifted into individual retirement accounts tied to the stock market. Puerto Rican teachers voted against the deal, even though the American Federation of Teachers had urged a “yes” vote. Retired teachers will vote after the restructuring plan is introduced in the federal bankruptcy court.

The bondholders are completely unsatisfied and are demanding even more. Over the last several days the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and other leading corporate media outlets have expressed the far-fetched hope that the further discrediting of the island’s political establishment would strengthen the hand of the federal bankruptcy court and Fiscal Oversight Board—known on the island as the “La Junta”—making it easier to beat back the resistance of workers to draconian austerity measures.

Last week the Washington Post editorial board complained that the fiscal board’s “effectiveness has been hampered” and that “Congress should take steps to strengthen the board,” including granting it the power to veto measures passed by Puerto Rico’s legislature.

Commenting on the mass protests, Bloomberg News wrote, “The turmoil came just as a federal court judge Wednesday held a hearing in the bankruptcy case that was overshadowed by the administration’s dysfunction, which could create an opening for a federal oversight board to consolidate power and impose deeper budget-cutting measures as part of the more than two-year-old bankruptcy. The political crisis and corruption probes surrounding the administration may undermine opposition to such cuts by strengthening the view that the government is inefficiently run and rife with overspending, potentially freeing up more money for creditors.”

The Oversight Board is “facing a weak government,” Vicente Feliciano, president of Advantage Business Consulting, told the industry publication Bond Buyer. “Thus, it could impose its will as long as it stays within reasonable bounds.” Evercore Director of Municipal Research Howard Cure added, “With the taint surrounding the administration, the board may now feel emboldened to make more unilateral decisions and hope they get the cooperation of the bankruptcy court judge [who] might be less sympathetic to the administration.”

In a statement dripping with hypocrisy, the oversight board released a statement responding to the mass demonstrations, saying, “The people of Puerto Rico deserve a well-functioning, responsive, sustainable government that operates with integrity and transparency.” The statement added that the board hoped that the “political process swiftly resolves the current governance crisis.”

The masses who have taken to the streets, however, are in no mood to accept the dictates of Wall Street. Among the most popular chants are “¡Ricky renuncia y llévate a la junta!” or “Ricky resign and take la junta with you!”

The same financial vultures that are looting Puerto Rico have done the same to Argentina and other countries, along with Detroit and other cities on the mainland US. Financiers have expressed the hope that the bankruptcy restructuring of Puerto Rico will set the precedent for allowing the use of the federal courts to gut public pensions in cash-strapped US states.

How Do US-Led Sanctions on Iran Harm Iraq’s Water Resources?

Pieter Jan-Dockx

In 2018, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. Since then, there has been a renewed interest in the sanctions’ ramifications for neighbouring countries like Iraq. The most recent example of this has been the idea of Iraq becoming a battlefield in a possible military confrontation between the US and Iran. The Iraqi government also relies on US sanctions waivers to continue purchasing Iranian electricity and gas; imports necessary to meet the country’s electricity consumption. Sanctions have also made Iraq more important as an export market for Tehran, arguably hampering domestic production.

However, while linkages of this nature are well-established, the negative impact that sanctions on Iran have on Iraq’s water resources remains underexplored. US pressure has reinforced the importance of food self-sufficiency as a primary policy objective for Tehran. This policy has, in turn, led to the overexploitation of the country’s water resources. Owing to various transboundary rivers flowing from Iran into Iraq, the adverse effects of these sanctions-related policies have also been felt in Iraq.  

Food Self-Sufficiency

Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has been the target of US(-led) pressure and sanctions, steering the country’s leadership towards food self-sufficiency. While food security has always been a primary objective in post-79 Iran, it was never fully achieved. For example, while the domestic production of wheat, a staple in Iran, increased; imports mostly outpaced domestic output. This changed during the presidency of Barack Obama, when food self-sufficiency gained in strategic importance in Iran—highlighting the link between external pressure and food security. Starting in 2010, the then US president expanded existing sanctions by targeting Iran’s energy sector, and by garnering support for his policy from the EU, Russia, and China.

As a response to this increased pressure, Tehran launched its ‘resistance economy’ policy aimed at offsetting the sanctions’ economic consequences and preserving its political independence. One of the main goals of the doctrine has been achieving self-sufficiency in agriculture and food production. Under President Rouhani, Iran has subsequently become self-sufficient in wheat, and has even started exporting the strategic crop. It is to be noted that the sanctions and embargoes have seldom targeted food imports directly. However, restrictions on, for example, financial transactions with Iran have indirectly obstructed food imports—justifying this inclination towards self-sufficiency.

Water Consumption

The policies to stimulate agriculture that have followed from this focus on food security have, in turn, drained Iran’s water resources. Agriculture is generally the main driver behind freshwater consumption, especially so in Iran. While agriculture accounts for around 70 per cent of freshwater withdrawals globally, and approximately 84 per cent in West Asia; in Iran this number rises to an average of 92 per cent.

Sanctions have not only induced this overuse indirectly through the promotion of agriculture, but have also had a direct impact. By limiting the country’s access to international technology markets, sanctions have contributed to the sector’s low water productivity—increasing the amount of water necessary to meet production targets. To secure the volume of water required for irrigation, Tehran has mainly focused on the construction of dams and other infrastructure, like inter-basin water transfer projects.

Impact on Iraq

The upstream presence of dams, transfer projects, and agriculture on the Iranian side of the shared river basins with Iraq have harmed both the quantity and quality of the latter’s water resources. Since Iran’s provinces near the Iraqi border are important agricultural areas, it has led to the exploitation of transboundary rivers for irrigation purposes. Dams have been erected on tributaries to the Tigris like the Daryan Dam on the Sirwan (Diyala) River, and the Silveh Dam in the Little Zab Basin. Further south, the Karkheh and Karun River, which flow into the Shatt al-Arab, have been subjected to similar infrastructure development.

Additionally, Tehran has also constructed inter-basin transfer projects to transfer water from, in this case, transboundary waters to other agricultural regions. For example, water from the Karun River is being diverted to support agriculture in the centrally located Zayandeh River Basin. These upstream activities have not only reduced the respective rivers’ discharge but have also adversely affected its quality. Agricultural runoff has, for example, polluted the water remaining in the Karun river.

Finally, the reduction in the quantity and quality of water flowing into Iraq has contributed to, if not caused, several economic and political issues in the country. Iraqi farmers dependent on the transboundary rivers have been faced with lesser quality produce or have had to abandon their land—impacting local livelihoods and agricultural production. In the border province of Basra, competition over scarce water resources has already prompted violent clashes between tribes. Basrawis have also protested against water shortages and the high salinity of the water. Furthermore, water entering Iraqi Kurdistan from Iran has instigated the region’s government to reduce the flow to the rest of Iraq. This has led to tension between the regional and central government.

Conclusion

All these various water-related economic and political problems can, in varying degrees, be traced back to the sanctions and embargoes imposed on Iran. Restrictions to the country’s international trade have encouraged a policy of maximising self-sufficiency in basic goods like food products—essential to regime survival and independence. Water from the countries’ shared rivers has subsequently been utilised to facilitate this expanding agricultural activity, negatively impacting Iraq. While officials from both countries have often pointed at the effects of climatological conditions with regard to cross-border water issues, anthropogenic pressures upstream should not be ignored. A sustainable long-term solution to the US’ ‘Iran problem’ would benefit not only Iran’s but also Iraq’s water resources.

Camargo Core Fellowship Program in Arts and Humanities (Fully-funded to Cassis, France) 2020/2021

Application Deadline: 1st October 2019

Eligible Countries: All

To Be Taken At (Country): Cassis, France

Field of Study: Three main categories are available, and several subcategories for artists’ applications.

• Scholars: applicants should be connected to the Arts and Humanities working on French and Francophone cultures, including but not limited to cross-cultural studies that engage the cultures and influences of the Mediterranean region. To be eligible for a fellowship in the “Scholars” category, applicants are expected either to hold a PhD and a record of post-doctoral scholarship, or to be PhD candidates completing the final stages of research for, or writing of, their dissertation.
• Thinkers: this category includes accomplished professionals and practitioners in cultural and creative fields (such as curators, journalists, critics, urban planners, independent scholars, etc.) who are professionally engaged in critical thought. We are interested in work attuned to the theoretical “arena”, the arts, and society. Like the scholars, they should be working on French and Francophone cultures, including but not limited to cross-cultural studies that engage the cultures and influences of the Mediterranean region.
• Artists (all disciplines): applicants should be the primary creators of a new work/project and have achieved a track record of publications/performances/exhibitions, credits, awards and/or grants. We are interested in artists who have a fully developed, mature artistic voice. Applicants may include those who have been commissioned for multiple projects. When applying, artists will have to choose among the following subcategories: Visual Artists / Choreographers and Performance Artists / Writers and Playwrights / Film, Video and Digital Artists / Composers and Sound Artists / Multidisciplinary Artists.

About the Award: The Camargo Core Program is the historical and flagship program of the Foundation. Each year an international call is launched through which 18 fellows (9 artists and 9 scholars/thinkers) are selected.
The Camargo Core Program offers time and space in a contemplative environment to think, create, and connect. By encouraging groundbreaking research and experimentation, it supports the visionary work of artists, scholars and thinkers in the Arts and Humanities. By encouraging multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, it intends to foster connections between research and creation. The Fellowship is for:

• Research, experiment & create: applicants may apply either with a specific project or a specific area of inquiry on which they would like to work during the residency. An area of inquiry should be specific and represent exploration and investigation in the Fellow’s field. The Camargo Core Program welcomes both open-ended exploration, or more focused works and long-term research projects.
• Exchange & network: during the residency, discussions are held regularly to foster cross-disciplinary exchange between Fellows. In addition, the Camargo Foundation’s Staff provides formal and informal links with local professionals to develop possible creative collaborations between the Fellow and the region.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Work developed during the residency may be in any language. In the interests of Camargo’s interdisciplinary, multicultural community, candidates must be able to communicate well in English. A basic knowledge of French is useful, but not required.
• The time in Cassis must be spent on the project or area of inquiry proposed to and accepted by the selection committees, and ratified by the Camargo Board of Trustees.
• Fellows must physically be in residence at the Camargo Foundation. This stipulation does not preclude absences during weekends. Frequent or prolonged absences are not acceptable.
• Research should be at a stage that does not require resources unavailable in the Marseille-Cassis-Aix region or online.
• Applicants planning on conducting research in local archives may need to rent a car during their Fellowship at their own expense.
• An evaluation is conducted at the end of the residency period. The Foundation may ask Fellows two to three years after their fellowship for an update on the progress on the project or area of inquiry pursued while at Camargo Foundation.
• A copy of any publication (digital or paper) resulting from work done during the residency should be sent to the Camargo Foundation.
• Any publication, exhibit, or performance resulting from the grant should give credit to the Camargo Foundation.

Selection Criteria: During the review process, eligible applications are reviewed and evaluated in relationship to four criteria:

• the quality of the proposal
• the quality and significance of the professional accomplishments of the applicant
• the connection between the proposal and the Camargo Foundation / Aix-Marseille-Provence area
• the relevance of a residency at the stage of the career of the applicant

Number of Awards: 18 Fellowships/year: 9 artists and 9 scholars/thinkers

Value of Award: 

• A stipend of 250 USD per week is available, as is funding for basic transportation to and from Cassis for the Fellow for the residency. In the case of air travel, basic coach class booked far in advance is covered.
• Fellows may not accept gainful employment that will prevent them from focusing on their project while staying at Camargo. Research leave or other forms of sabbatical are allowed, as fees for occasional lectures or participation in seminars. Additional grants with requirements that do not contradict the conditions of the Camargo Fellowship are encouraged.
• Spouses/adult partners and dependent minor children may accompany fellows for short stays or for the duration of the residency. Accompanying children must be at least six years old upon arrival and enrolled in and attending school or organized activities outside the Camargo Foundation campus, during the week.
• The Camargo Foundation’s campus includes twelve furnished apartments, a reference library, a music/conference room, an openair theater, an artist’s studio with darkroom, and a composer’s studio. The Camargo Foundation does not have a dance studio.

Duration of Program: The Camargo Core Program consists of fellowship residencies of six to eleven weeks.
The dates for 2020/2021 are:

• Fall 2020: 8 weeks from September 8 to November 3
• Spring 2021: 6 weeks from February 23 to April 6, 8 weeks from February 23 to April 20, or 11 weeks from February 23 to May 11

How to Apply: Applications should be submitted via Submittable and can be accessed here
The application form must be submitted in English, the supporting materials (CV, work samples, etc.) can be submitted either in English or French.

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

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

UK Government Darwin Fellowship Award for Developing Countries 2020

Application Deadline: 5th November 2019

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

To Be Taken At (Country): UK

About the Award: The Fellowship programme is intended to support Fellows to draw on UK technical and scientific expertise in the fields of biodiversity and sustainable development to broaden their knowledge and experience.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: Applications for Fellowship funding should come from an organisation (the Lead Organisation) and not an individual. There should be a named individual within the Lead Organisation responsible for the application, called the Project Leader. The host organisation where the individual will carry out the training or research must be in the UK.

The Lead Organisation:

• must have expertise in natural resource management
• can be either a public or private sector organisation
• should provide experts from within the organisation with a proven track record and at the forefront of their discipline(s) to work closely with or supervise the Fellow. This expertise is typically expected to be a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience

Darwin Fellowships will support promising individuals who:

• have a link with a recent or current Darwin Initiative project or
• are currently involved directly in the implementation of the key biodiversity conventions and agreements listed above

Further information is available in the guidance.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Eligible costs (depending on the nature of the Fellowship) include a monthly subsistence, Lead organisation expenses, travel costs and fees for academic qualifications. Further information on Darwin Fellowship awards can be found in the Darwin Round 25 Guidance.

How to Apply: 

• You will need to apply online for Round 26 Darwin Initiative Fellowship projects through the Flexi grant application portal.
• Before applying, please read the Guidance notes for applicants (round 26)and the The Darwin Initiative: Fellowship award Flexi-Grant user guide.
• Once you have read the guidance, complete the Darwin Fellowship Round 26 application form on the Flexigrant application portal. For drafting purposes, you may find the Darwin Fellowship Round 26 application form (MS Word Document, 292KB) useful.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: UK Government

Caine Prize for African Writing 2020. Full Travel Scholarship plus £10,000 Prize

Application Deadline: 31st January 2020.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The Caine Prize for African Writing is a literature prize awarded to an African writer of a short story published in English. The prize was launched in 2000 to encourage and highlight the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary development of the African story-telling tradition.

Offered Since: 2000

Type: Contest

Eligibility: 

• Unpublished work is not eligible for the Caine Prize.
• Submissions should be made by publishers only.
• Only fictional work is eligible.
• Only one story per author will be considered in any one year.
• Submissions should specify which African country the author comes from and the word count.
• We require 6 copies of the work in its originally published version.
• If the work is published in a book or journal, we would like to receive at least one copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself.
• If the work is published online, we would like to receive six photocopies.

Please note that works which do not conform to the criteria will not be considered for the prize. Please do not waste your own time and postage by sending in material which is unsuitable. Works not eligible for entry include stories for children, factual writing, plays, biography, works shorter than 3000 words and unpublished work. If you are not sure whether your work is eligible, please email us for advice.

Number of Awardees: 5

Value of Contest: Winning and short-listed authors will be invited to participate in writers’ workshops in Africa, London and elsewhere as resources permit. There is a cash prize of £10,000 for the winning author and a travel award for each of the short-listed candidates (up to five in all). The shortlisted candidates will also receive a Prize of £500. The winner is also invited to go to three literature festivals in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.

How to Apply: There is no application form. To apply please send six original published copies of the work for consideration to the Caine Prize office including a letter from the publisher.

• If the work is published in a book or journal, we would like to receive at least one copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself.
• If published in a magazine or journal we will accept one original copy plus five photocopies, but would prefer six original copies.
• If the work is published online, we would like to receive six printed copies.
• Address and post the eligible submission to:

The Caine Prize for African Writing
51 Southwark Street
London
SE1 1RU

Visit Contest Webpage for details

Slovak Government National Scholarship Programme 2019/2020 for International Students, Teachers, Researchers and Artists

Application Deadline: 31st October 2019 (16:00 CET)

Eligible Countries: International

To Be Taken At (Country): Slovakia

About the Award: The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic supports mobility of international students, PhD students, university teachers, researchers and artists for scholarship stays at higher education institutions and research organisations in Slovakia.

Type: Short Courses/Training

Eligibility: Eligible applicants for a scholarship in the framework of the NSP:

A) students who:

• are university students at universities outside Slovakia;
• are students of the second level of higher education (master’s students), or are students who at the time of application deadline have already completed at least 2.5 years of their university studies in the same study programme;
• will be on a study stay in Slovakia during their higher education outside Slovakia and who will be accepted by a public, private or state university in Slovakia for an academic mobility¹ to study in Slovakia.

All 3 conditions must be met. This category does not apply to doctoral (PhD) studies (or their equivalent).

B) PhD students whose higher education or scientific training takes place outside Slovakia and who are accepted by a public, private or state university or a research institution in Slovakia eligible to carry out a doctoral study programme² (e.g. the Slovak Academy of Sciences) for an academic mobility¹ to study/conduct research in Slovakia.

C) international university teachers, researchers and artists who are invited to a teaching/research/artistic stay in Slovakia by an institution with a valid certificate of eligibility to carry out research and development, which is not a business company and it has its headquarters in Slovakia.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The scholarship is intended to cover international scholarship holders’ living costs, i.e. the costs related to staying in Slovakia (food, accommodation, etc.), during their study, research/artistic or teaching stay at universities and in research organisations in Slovakia. The scholarship holder can ask for assistance concerning accommodation and formalities related to entering and staying in the territory of the Slovak Republic either his/her host institution, or he/she can handle all the necessities him-/herself.
In addition, students and PhD students (eligible applicants under the category A) and B) can be awarded a travel allowance, if they apply for it along with their scholarship application.

Duration of Program: 

• Duration of a scholarship stay (students): 1 – 2 semesters (i.e. 4 – 5 or 9 – 10 months) or 1 – 3 trimesters, in case the academic year is divided into trimesters (i.e. 3 – 4 or 6 – 7 or 9 – 10 months).
• Duration of a scholarship stay (PhD students): 1 – 10 months.
• Duration of a scholarship stay (university teachers, researchers or artists): 1 – 10 months.

How to Apply: Scholarship applications are submitted online at www.scholarships.sk. Online application system is opened at least 6 weeks prior to the application deadline. Applications can be filled in only in case that the online application system has already been opened.
Applicants must fill in their online applications and upload all the required attachments in required format to their online application. It is necessary to go through the Application Procedure in the Program Webpage (Link below) before applying.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.


Important Notes: Applicants are recommended not to submit their applications at the last moment. Number of operations executed within the last minutes prior to the application deadline may have an influence on the reaction time of the application system. Please, keep that in mind, in order not to miss the application deadline

Preventing TB is a critical cog in the wheel to #endTB and #endAIDS

Bobby Ramakant

Every case of active tuberculosis (TB) disease comes from an individual with latent TB infection. And every new case of latent TB infection is a sign of failing infection control, as someone with active TB disease transmitted the bacteria to an uninfected person. Quarter of world’s population has latent TB. TB continues to be the most common opportunistic infection among people living with HIV, and also, the lead cause of death. With TB being preventable, treatable and curable, we need to do a lot more to make this slogan a reality.

In addition to boosting infection control, scientific evidence is piling up that TB preventive therapy should be a standard of care to protect people (with latent TB) from active TB disease.

Hundreds of participants who attended the TB HIV Symposium organized by Stop TB Partnership with partners, before the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) opened in Mexico, echoed a strong Call To Action to reach out to 6 million people living with HIV with TB preventive treatment.

People living with HIV but dying of TB

According to the last WHO Global TB Report, 300,000 people living with HIV died of TB in 2017. “TB is the biggest killer among people living with HIV. We cannot reduce the mortality among people living with HIV without addressing TB. It is very important for people who are working with HIV national programmes and partners to increasingly focus their attention on TB. In the past TB-HIV interface area has been dominated by significant work from the TB programme, and I must say, not so much from the HIV programme. But now things are changing” said Dr Suvanand Sahu, Deputy Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership.

Benefits of TB preventive TB therapy have been known since 60 years. Till recently, there has been very limited scale up, even in the target group such as people living with HIV. In September 2018 at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, a special UN High Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB was attended by heads and representatives of several countries globally. Promises made at this UNHLM gives hope for stronger response towards ending TB.

“We have a UNHLM target of putting 30 million people on TB preventive treatment, which includes specific goal of putting 6 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) on TB preventive therapy. PLHIV come in regular contact with HIV programmes to receive their anti-retroviral therapy so it is very important for HIV programmes to prioritise provision of TB preventive therapy. TB preventive therapy significantly reduces the risk of getting active TB disease. It is a standard of care as every person who is offered HIV care should also be offered TB preventive therapy (after ruling out active TB disease and any other contraindications). We have lagged behind in this aspect of TB-HIV collaborative activities that are needed and now there are great opportunities with the UNHLM target to make progress in this area” said Dr Sahu in an interview with CNS (Citizen News Service, www.citizen-news.org).

“TB preventive therapy is not the only activity that involves TB and HIV programmes to collaborate and work synergistically, as there are many other areas too. It is very important that right at the start of the HIV conference we get reminded that TB is the biggest killer among people living with HIV and there are tools, interventions, that are available that needs to be scaled up to prevent people living with HIV from dying from TB” emphasized Dr Sahu.

Call to action on preventing TB launched at IAS 2019

Noted human rights activist and South Africa based HIV advocate from Global Network of People Living wih HIV, Wim Vandevelde, shared a Call To Action, for a coordinated HIV and TB response to reach 6 million people living with HIV with tuberculosis preventive treatment.

This robust Call To Action, is reproduced here: “TB is not only treatable and curable but also preventable. Successful interventions over the past 50 years provide compelling evidence that ending the epidemic is feasible and achievable. The 2018 UNHLM on TB provide a historic and opportune moment for the global community to put the TB response back on track. It reminded us that ending the epidemic requires tackling broader health risk factors and determinants of the disease, in addition to traditional biomedical responses.

Today, with the advent of newer and more effective options, the scale-up of TB preventive treatment has become a cornerstone in the effort to avert TB morbidity and mortality. This was recognized by the UNHLM Declaration, which announced its ambitious goal to prevent TB in “at least 30 million people, including 4 million children under five years of age, and 6 million people living with HIV by 2022.” We, the participants, gathered at the ‘TB/HIV 2019 Symposium’ held on 20 July 2019 in Mexico City, recognize that a new era in TB prevention is upon us. As representatives of the TB and HIV communities, we commit to push for a renewed TB/HIV public health paradigm and to advocate for the protection of people living with HIV so that no one dies of TB.

We call upon all UN Member States, organizations of the UN system, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, the corporate sector, foundations, donors, national governments and the international community to promote enabling environments that reduce the burden of TB among people living with HIV by scaling up TB treatment and prevention.

Therefore, we advance the following five actions that stakeholders can undertake in order to eliminate TB in people living with HIV:

1. Sustain the necessary funding for both TB and HIV: Increasing the momentum of the TB and HIV response by urging leadership from political, religious and civil society leaders at all levels to approach expenditure in health as an investment that will generate value to their societies and economies.
2. Galvanize stakeholders at all levels to ensure access to TB and HIV services and models of care that have affected individuals and communities at their core: Prioritising multi-stakeholder and coordinated HIV and TB responses as the driver for a reformed public health paradigm. Implementing evidence-based interventions, rolling out prevention services and consolidating health services towards universal health coverage. Together with HIV treatment, preventive therapy can reduce the risk of TB disease in people living with HIV by up to 90%.
3. Accelerate research and development of technology innovations, including diagnosis, treatment and vaccines: Dedicating resources, with all high-burden and G20 countries investing a proportion of their Gross Domestic Expenditure will expedite efforts in the research and development of new technologies. This will also rapidly increase the uptake of new tools to prevent and treat TB and HIV.
4. Decrease the burden of combined HIV and TB stigma: Ensuring that national programmes strike a balance between standardized public health responses and innovative solutions to better support the realities of the communities and individuals affected by TB and HIV. Honouring the rights of people living with HIV and affected by TB, and decreasing gender-related barriers, stigma and discrimination will go a long way to decreasing vulnerability to TB and HIV in all societies.
5. Commit to outstanding programmatic performance: Striving for quality and implementing initiatives that are routinely geared, monitored and evaluated towards reaching TB and HIV targets at the country, regional and global levels, including through accountability frameworks.”

Persons with latent TB infection do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms. They are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but do not have TB disease. Persons with latent TB infection are not infectious and cannot spread TB infection to others. Overall, without treatment, about 5 to 10% of latent TB infected persons will develop active TB disease at some time in their lives. That is why it is a human right and a standard of care that every person with latent TB should get preventive therapy which will drastically reduce the risk of developing active TB disease. Without addressing latent TB and ’emptying latent TB pool’, it is not possible to end TB or AIDS.

Climate change: UAE and Russia eye geopolitical and commercial mileage

James M. Dorsey

Climate change, much like war, could prove to be a geopolitical and commercial gold mine. At least, that is the take of DP World, Dubai’s global port operator, and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

DP World is partnering with the fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to create an all-year round maritime sea route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic.

“Time is money in business and the route could cut travel time substantially more than traditional trade arteries for cargo owners in the Far East wanting to connect with Europe, coupled with benefits to the Russian economy,” DP World chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem told the Arab News.

In partnering with DP World, RFID brings to the table Rosatom, Russia’s atomic energy agency, which operates nuclear-powered ships that could ply the route, and Norilsk Nickel, a mining and commodities company.

Dubai and Russia are betting that climate change, which has dramatically shrunk the Arctic ice sheet in the past two decades, has made possible what eluded Europeans for centuries: ensuring that the Northeast Passage linking the Northern Atlantic with the Pacific is accessible all year round even if rail remains faster than carrying cargo by ship.

The commercial and geopolitical implications of all year-round passage are significant.

Beyond challenging the status of the Suez Canal as the foremost link between the Atlantic and the Pacific, the Artic route would grant Russia the one thing it has so far failed to achieve in its partnership with China: a key role in the transportation linkages between Europe and Asia that the People’s Republic is seeking to create with massive investment in its Belt and Road initiative.

That role would be bolstered by the fact that the Arctic route would cut the maritime journey from Northeast Asia from somewhere between 34 and 45 days through the Suez Canal to 23 days via the Northeast Passage.

“Because of global warming, there are some things happening that open some opportunities. Russia has this frozen coast all of the seasons. Now it’s opening up and it’s possible to navigate for nine months. When you have special ships, you can actually have 12 months navigation,” RFID CEO Kirill Dmitriev told the Saudi paper.

The partnership with Dubai gives a new laese on life to Russian aspirations to become a key node in Belt and Road linkages after Russia failed to persuade China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEC) to invest in converting the Trans-Siberian Railway into a high-speed link that would connect St. Petersburg with the Far East.

CREEC last year definitively dashed Russian hopes, declaring that the “the high-speed rail through Russia will never pay off.”

In a further setback, China simultaneously opted for an east-west road link through Kazakhstan after efforts to complete a Moscow-St. Petersburg highway as well as a ring road around the Russian capital and a Volga-Kazakhstan road stalled.

Frustrated with the lack of Chinese interest, state-run Russian Railways is itself investing heavily and reaching out to Japan to significantly increase freight traffic on the almost 9,300-kilometre-long trans-Siberian route.

The rail company aims to increase by a factor of 100 the number of containers transported from Japan to Europe from 3.000 last year to 300,000 and tonnage by 50 percent from less than 90 million to 180 million, according to Russian Railways first vice president Alexander Misharin.

Mr. Misharin told Nikkei that the investment, including US$745 million last year, involves laying double tracks, linking the railroad to seaports and automating the system.

Mr. Misharin was hoping to cooperate with Japan Railways Group to create a door-to-door cargo transportation system between Japan and Europe that would reduce transportation time to at most 19 days. He said the Russian rail company was looking at building logistics centres with Japanese trading firm Sojitz.

Upgrading the Trans-Siberian Railway would significantly bolster Russia’s geography as a key bridge in the emergence of Eurasia, the gradual integration of Europe and Asia that ultimately would erase the seemingly artificial division of one landmass into two continents.

It would also significantly facilitate linking the railway to the Belt and Road by making it financially feasible.

That is less far-fetched with China Railway International Group lending Russia US$6.2 billion for the construction of a 790-kilometre long Moscow-Kazan high speed rail line, envisioned as the first phase of a link between the Russian capital and Beijing that would cut travel between the two cities to two days.

To secure the loan, Russia agreed to use Chinese technology and construction equipment.

Russia has also expressed interest in linking its Trans-Siberian Railway to the Chinese-controlled Pakistani port of Gwadar, a Belt and Road crown jewel.

Russia is betting that the combination of the Northeast Passage and upgraded Trans-Siberian rail links would make its positioning as a transit hub significantly more attractive.

That is true even though the Northeast Passage is too shallow for giant box ships that traverse the Suez Canal and lacks the kind of ports capable of accommodating those vessels. The Passage is likely to see primarily smaller container ships.

One way or the other, DP World, expecting to operate ports that Russia plans to build along an Arctic route, would emerge a winner by expanding its global footprint. “We were always missing Russia. Russia is a link,” DP World’s Mr. Sulayem said.

Said Russian shipping giant Sovcomflot CEO Sergey Frank: “Trade is growing and there is space for everybody. If the cargo originates in the south part of China, it will go through the Suez. If it originates in Northern China, the NSR (Northern Sea Route) will be seriously considered. Cargo will always find the fastest way to move.”

China’s risky bets

James M. Dorsey

China’s infrastructure and energy driven US$1 trillion Belt and Road initiative involves risky bets across a swath of land populated by often illiberal or autocratic governments exercising power without independent checks and balances.

Seeking to reduce risk, China is bumping up against the limits of its own long-standing foreign and defence policy principles, foremost among which its insistence on non-interference in the domestic affairs of others, the equivalent of the United States’ preference for stability rather than political change.

If popular revolts in Algeria and Sudan as well as smaller, issues-oriented protests elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa are anything to go by, China appears to be betting against the odds.

Anti-corruption sentiment fuelled the 2011 popular Arab revolts that toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen and are at the root of current anti-government protests across the globe in countries as far flung as Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Russia, Zambia, the Czech Republic,Albania and Romania

China’s risks were evident in the wake of the fall in 2011 of Col. Moammar Gaddafi when the post-revolt Libyan authorities advised China that it would be low on the totem pole as a result of its support of the ancien regime.

The risks are also evident with Baloch militants targeting Chinese assets and personnel in Pakistan.

To minimize the risk and expand its aggressive domestic anti-graft campaign, China’s top anti-corruption body, the Communist party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), is embedding inspectors in Belt and Road projects, who will be based in recipient countries.

The move helps China counter allegations that it exploits corruption in recipient Belt and Road countries to further its objectives.

Anti-corruption is a signature policy of president Xi Jinping and has allowed him to purge senior Chinese leaders as well as tens of thousands of low-level bureaucrats.

The CCDI is building on the success of a pilot project in Laos where it embedded in late 2017 inspectors in a US$6 billion railway project being built by state-owned China Railway Group. The anti-graft officials, working with the Chinese company, established a joint inspection team with their Laotian counterpart.

The question is whether the anti-corruption effort in countries like Laos or Central Asian nations that consistently rank in the bottom half of Transparency International’s corruption index will bump up against China’s non-interference principle.

Or in other words, can China successfully guard against corruption in Belt and Road projects without pressuring recipient countries to adopt broader transparency and anti-corruption measures?

“How can you strike hard on corruption here at home and give a free hand to Chinese people and business groups [that are] reckless abroad?” CCDI’s director-general for international co-operation La Yifan asked in a Financial Times interview.

Mr. La said China had organized seminars with more than 30 countries to link up anti-corruption regulators. “That is my dream, that we create a network of law enforcement of all these Belt and Road countries,” he said.

Imposing transparency and anti-corruption in Belt and Road partners would be the equivalent of all kinds of environmental, safety and human rights criteria that the United States haphazardly and opportunistically maintains in dealings with foreign countries that have been severely criticized by China.

China has long prided itself on what it terms win-win economic situations in which it imposes commercial terms that often primarily benefit the People’s Republic.

The terms, coupled with the clampdown on Turkic Muslims in China’s province of Xinjiang, has fuelled anti-Chinese sentiment in Turkey and Central Asia with their close ethnic and cultural ties to the troubled Chinese region.

Turkish officials highlighted these sensitivities by denying Chinese media reports that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had praised the success of Beijing’s brutal approach in Xinjiang during a recent visit to China.

Muslim nations have largely remained silent about the clampdown that amounts to the most frontal assault on a faith in recent history or in some instances even tacitly endorsed it.

In the absence of democracy, “governments can manage their pro-Beijing stance without informing their public, but a pro-Beijing policy over the Uyghur issue can barely be sustained in Turkey. Turkey is still a functioning democracy and total control of the public is not possible. Besides, there is a very strong Uyghur lobby and public sentiment towards the Uyghurs in Turkey,” said Turkish Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies director Selcuk Colakoglu.

Taking its anti-corruption campaign global, raises the broader question of whether it would threaten a pillar of autocracy that China’s non-interference principle has de facto sought to perpetuate.

Political scientists Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw argue that what they call the instruments of global authoritarianism — an army of largely Western bankers, lawyers, brokers and intermediaries that park illicitly gained monies in off-shore accounts and manage the investment of those funds – help keep autocrats in power.

The success of the globalization of China’s anti-corruption effort as well as its campaign to significantly reduce graft at home, would establish autocrats’ ability to satisfactorily deliver public goods and services alongside brute power as the cornerstone of their sustainability.

In doing so, it would give greater meaning to China’s assertion that it does not want to fundamentally alter the established multi-lateral world order but rather make it more equitable and more a reflection of a world that is multi- not unipolar.

It would also cement China’s model of economic reform and state capitalism without political liberalization as the example autocratic and authoritarian regimes want to emulate even if the jury is out on whether autocrats can remain relatively clean without a system of independent checks and balances.