The North East Region (NER) , the heartland of Congress political power in the east, wobbles after BJP made debut in Manipur in the five state assembly elections held during February to March 2017. It paved the way for BJP to make in-roads in the region. Despite tallying behind Congress, BJP was able to form the government in Manipur with the supports of winning allies. Paradoxically, even though it was second in the race in terms of seats won in Manipur, it garnered more vote share – 36.3 percent against Congress sharing 35.1 percent. Practically speaking , vote share is the real mirror of popularity than seats won.

This made watershed in the political landscape in the region , which comprises of 8 states, viz, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Mizoram. BJP’s debut in Assam and return in Arunachal Pradesh in 2016 and entry in Manipur are the stepping stones for BJP to grab power in the region. This translates Congress in the realm of contraction of power in the region.

Unlike other states in the country, the significance of NER is catapulted by its geopolitical situation. It borders with India’s five neighbor countries, viz, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. The region unfolds ample opportunities for economic engagement with India’s neighbors and portend benefits of economic corridors between themselves.

But, the truth of the matter is that, the region was overlooked by Congress and the local political parties and continued to be as peripheral of India. Experts say that NER can benefit from expanding opportunities with Bangladesh and Myanmar, which are viewed as countries of rising sun in the economy in the east. After the change of guards in Myanmar, the country portend a large economic connectivity with NER. Myanmar, bordering 1,600 km with the region, has been lagged because of non-democratic government in the country.

Myanmar is the large part Look East policy. It is a gateway to South East Asia. Given the long border with Myanmar and surge in potential after the change of the government, Myanmar can act as game changer for Modi’s Act Asia policy. Both are parts of Bangladesh – China- India- Myanmar ( BCIM) corridor project which connects Kolkata with Kunming through the four countries.

Myanmar is on the threshold of big reforms. With the erstwhile Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh’s visit to Myanmar in 2012, focuses were made to facilitate easy access to Myanmar by building infrastructures. The New York Times said “ In India, the biggest impact of improved relation with Myanmar is likely to be felt in the Northeast”.

With the change of the guards in Myanmar, China was loosing its strong foothold in the country. China was de-facto interference in the military junta government, the critics said. “ China was the most negative incentive. Isolation from the world led Myanmar shackled by failure of reforms”, the analysts said.

Myanmar can play important role in the development of trade in between NER and Mekong river basin countries. This will prove another important opportunity for Modi’s Act Asia policy initiative. Myanmar is a long standing member of the Greater Mekong Sub-region. It comprises of six countries – Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Yannan Province, China and Myanmar. It will cater to one of the biggest trade channels through river water in the world. The Mekong Sub-region is the home for 300 million people’s market.

Myanmar emerged the center for regional project like Trans-Asia Highway project – connecting India, Thailand and Myanmar. Trans-Asia Highway project covers 3,200 km from Morea in Manipur in India to Maesot in Thailand and Tamu and Mandalay in Myanmar. Construction began in 2012. When completed, it will be one of the longest land route for border trade between the three countries.

At present, there are four LCS (Land Custom Stations) in India dealing with border trade with Myanmar. Not much headway was made to capitalize the border trade between the two countries. One of the primary reasons for low border trade is unfavourable trading arrangement. Lack of modern trade infrastructure and adequate security ebbed the potential of border trade. Hopes are raised with India-friendly Myanmar government which will usher constructive measures for improvement of border trade.

Myanmar is a potential investment destination in South East Asia. Against lackluster growth in FDI in South East Asian countries, Myanmar was spotted a bright destination by the foreign investors. Myanmar approved US $ 8.1 billion FDI in 2014-15 against US $ 4.1 billion in 2013-14 – almost a 100 percent jump in FDI. The lifting of USA and Western embargoes triggered Myanmar attractiveness for the foreign investors. Besides, Myanmar is endowed with big oil and gas reserves and precious stones.

NER can act as Indian hub for two way investment between India- Bangladesh- Myanmar in the connectivity. The region is enriched by natural resources. Region has prominence in establishing food processing industries with abundance of fruit production and vegetables. Rubber and bamboo are among the important agriculture products , which can attract foreign investment.

Upturn in the relation with Myanmar beacons opportunity to subvert the rebels, which are detrimental to the economic development in the region. India is facing constant threats from major insurgent groups in the North East. These groups have the bases on the 1600 km India-Burmese border line. They are National Socialist Council of Nagaland ( NSCN) and Manipur insurgent groups. They are constantly stirred up by the Chinese anti-India movement.

With the BJP’s Make in India initiative, development in NER is likely to crop up. It will help industrial growth and employment opportunities in the region, yielding positive impact to negate the insurgencies. In addition, India’s bonhomie with Myanmar will contain insurgencies with new government in Myanmar.

Thus, return of democracy in Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi’s penchant for India’s support for development under Modi will pose a bridge to develop NER. In addition , it will act a counter –balance against the Chinese influence in the region.

(Views are personal)

By Reeta Tremblay*

It is not surprising that after an unusual first four weeks of an exceptionally chaotic and often inefficient Trump administration, the world is wondering how it should approach the super power, particularly in view of an unstructured, personality-driven and twitter-enhanced diplomacy.

President Donald Trump’s executive order of travel ban from the seven majority Muslim countries was not only to cause vocal dissent, both within and outside the United States, but was also to face legal obstacles. Challenging the judicial system after a three-judge federal appeals panel unanimously rejected Trump’s bid to reinstate his ban on travel, the US President intensified his attacks on the news media for spreading ‘fake news’ and for being an ‘enemy of the American people’, while he himself made several assertions with little or no supporting evidence, e.g. his recent reference to a terrorist attack in Sweden which never took place.

Not inappropriately, questions are being raised about Trump’s ability to govern given the ongoing turmoil over his executive orders and setbacks in the courts; the apparently considerable friction and infighting among senior staff within the White House (antagonists like Trump’s senior advisor Steve Bannon who echo the President’s anti-Muslim bias and anti-immigrant policies vs the pragmatists like Defense and State Secretaries James Mattis and Rex Tillerson trying to keep the American foreign policy towards China, Russia, Japan and NATO countries closer to its traditional parameters); Trump’s quick fingers tweeting confusing messages about the new administration’s policy issues; and, in the wake of Trump’s National Security Advisor nominee Michael Flynn’s resignation, a rudderless foreign policy-making machine.

No wonder, this past week the President reverted to his most successful tool, a campaign rally in Florida, practising plebiscitary politics and connecting with his base directly and continuing on the path of conflating policy and paranoia. In addition to repeating his campaign promises, among other things, of building a new border wall along the US-Mexico border, putting ‘America First’, reducing regulations and creating jobs and making America great again, he comforted himself by stating that he wanted “to be among my friends and among the people”.

While, some of the world leaders, though not sure of where President Donald Trump stands on key foreign policy questions, have been openly critical of Trump’s Muslim travel ban, tighter immigration and refugee policies, and the protectionist trade policies putting America First, India’s Narendra Modi government has followed a judicious path — remaining quiet and adopting a wait-and-watch approach.

Other than raising the issue of H1-B visas, designed to attract educated, specialised workers to the United States which would affect India’s IT industries (19 per cent of Tech Mahindra employees are located in the US., 13 per cent of Infosys and 10 per cent each of Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services), a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump after Trump’s victory, and a planned visit by Modi to the United States in June, there has not been much discussion forthcoming from the official Indian foreign policy circles about Indian foreign policy and its pursuance in the new political environment.

At this juncture of a chaotic, undefined and ad hoc American foreign policy, the Modi government faces several pressure points in the pursuance of the foreign policy which it has carefully constructed over the last almost three years. Not only have Modi and his team moved Indian foreign policy away from its traditional cognitive script of non-alignment toward multilevel alignment (pursuing a diversity of interests in diverse settings with diverse powers), they have also put the foreign policy agenda on the front burner by asserting that the government’s domestic agenda is closely related to and even contingent upon the success of a pro-active and strategically oriented foreign policy.

Consequently, India has engaged with a multiplicity of actors in a varied range of arenas and has successfully straddled what can be contradictory partners. Through largely transactional bilateral, multilateral and regional agreements on infrastructural investment, defence and civil-nuclear energy cooperation, it has continued to build strategic partnerships, for example, with the United States with whom it shares liberal democratic traditions as well as common strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region, and on the other hand, finding common ground with Russia and China where India’s interests diverge from those of the Western liberal democratic countries.

However, most significantly, the Modi government has worked hard to gain credibility abroad. The government clearly understands that India’s possibility of advancing, to quote Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, its ‘own great power prospects’ and becoming a credible leading power also means convincing other global powers, particularly China and the United States, that India can fill such a role.

To ensure consistency in its foreign policy, the Modi government will have to pay attention to three major points of pressure — its policies on terrorism, on China and on Iran.

To begin with, it cannot borrow from the Trump book an anti-Muslim rhetoric. The Modi government has persistently put forward India’s concerns about the export of terrorism, particularly from Pakistan, as a significant global agenda item in both the multilateral and bilateral contexts. Without mentioning Pakistan, Modi has been able to get several global powers (such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore) to agree to combating terrorism as one of the major areas of cooperation between India and other countries. But India cannot be perceived in absolute terms to equate terrorism with Islam in what is widely seen to be the spirit of Trump’s own interpretation.

An encouraging piece of news from Indian official circles has been the Modi government’s open opposition to the Independent Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s bill in the Rajya Sabha to impose legal, economic and travel sanctions on citizens of countries which promote terror and to declare countries such as Pakistan a terror state. The Home Ministry very wisely pointed out that India is bound by international norms and that such a bill jeopardises international relations under the Geneva Convention.

This is a wise move not only from the international angle but this might also soften the government’s image within the domestic sector where the new proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to incorporate into law a religious test as the basis of inclusion and exclusion for refugees (the proposed Bill makes special provisions for “minority-religious individuals” — specifically Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians — from “Muslim-dominated countries” to have direct access to Indian citizenship).

With regard to the second pressure point mentioned above, India will have to make sure that it stays on track with regard to its China policy. The Trump administration, which includes several policy hawks on China with much harder line against Beijing on issues such as trade and the South China Sea, quickly made a 180 degree turn by agreeing to adhere to the One China policy. This comes after Trump had infuriated Beijing by questioning the United States’ commitment to the “One China” policy and by holding an unprecedented phone conversation with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.

While the Modi government has established as one of its major foreign policy priorities the recovering of both the diplomatic and security space in its own neighbourhood which India had, over the years, voluntarily abandoned to China, it has been careful not to join Washington or any other power in a campaign to confront China militarily. While recognising it as soon-to-be the world’s leading economic power, India perceives China to be the most significant and difficult challenge within its economic and strategic policy agenda.

In order to counter China’s influence, it has successfully avoided playing a zero-sum game and devised a foreign policy strategy which could lead to a positive-sum outcome. It has actively pursued a robust pattern of military containment in the Himalayas and in the Indian Ocean and has continued to play tough with China on the border issue in order to respond to Chinese border incursions, and yet it has pursued strong diplomatic and economic engagements with China.

The third pressure point on the Modi government is strengthening India-Iran relations, particularly keeping on track the development of the Chabahar port and the triangular connectivity and energy relationship between India, Afghanistan and Iran. The Chabahar agreement has allowed India to create a strategic partnership with Iran, giving India a trade, investment and maritime foothold in the region, including Central Asian countries, and brings into play the triad of Afghanistan, Iran and India as an offset to Pakistan.

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Iran which, it said, were just initial steps and has been suggesting that more concrete action could follow if Iran does not curb its ballistic missile programme and continues support in regional proxy conflicts. To the extent that this turns out to be the case, it is bad news for India. The Modi government will have to work out an independent course for itself.

*The author is a Professor of Political Science at University of Victoria, British Columbia. Comments and suggestions on this article can be sent to editor@spsindia.in

An Indian fisherman was reportedly shot by the Sri Lankan navy as he went for fishing in the sea and the poor fisherman lost his life, leaving his poverty stricken family in deep sorrow. The Sri Lankan government has denied that the fisherman was shot by the Sri Lankan navy. However, it has not explained as to how it could have happened otherwise in Sri Lankan waters.

The fishermen issue between India (Tamil Nadu) and Sri Lanka has been persisting for many years now. Rarely a day passes without the noisy Tamil television channels and newspapers in Tamil Nadu complaining about the harassment of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy. The Tamil Nadu government has taken a strong stand in the matter on several occasions. The Indian government, too, has often expressed concern.

The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly said that it has no ill will against the Indian fishermen. It has only asserted that it has to necessarily prevent the Indian fishermen from fishing in Sri Lankan waters to protect the interests of the Sri Lankan fishermen, most of whom are of Tamil origin. It appears that the Sri Lankan fishermen have appreciated the stand of the Sri Lankan government

It is necessary that this vexed issue should be resolved as early as possible, as it is causing considerable unhappiness and bitter conflicts.

It is known that in Tamil Nadu (India), there are many political parties and Tamil activists who seem to have developed considerable feeling of animosity against the Sri Lankan government and they have never failed to take the fishermen issue to a bitter level, often stating that any arrest of fishermen by the Sri Lankan government deserves strong condemnation and protest and they want the Indian government to initiate counter-action to deter the Sri Lankan navy.

It is possible that Indian fishermen may have crossed into Sri Lankan waters unknowingly on several occasions, as there is no visible border in the sea. It may even be possible that some fishermen really have marginally crossed into Sri Lankan waters knowingly to get a good catch. However, it is seldom reported that Sri Lankan fishermen have crossed into Indian waters.

It is reported that a number of business houses and politicians in Tamil Nadu own powerful fishing trawlers and such trawlers move on the Indian waters to catch large number of fish. In such circumstances, the fish left for catching in the Indian waters become much less for the poor Indian fishermen who adopt conventional techniques. In such circumstances, it is possible that they may have been forced to go into Sri Lankan waters.

Many concerned people in India have demanded that use of trawlers for fishing in Indian waters should be banned by the Indian government to ensure that the interests of the poor Indian fishermen would be protected. In spite of such suggestions having been made repeatedly in various forums, it is not clear as to why the Indian government is not considering this option.

In any case, the fishermen issue has to be tackled by the Indian and Sri Lankan governments with great care and speed as such sensitive issues are not in the interests of India and Sri Lanka.

Many concerned people have also suggested that this issue has to be discussed and an appropriate solution arrived at by the Indian and Sri Lankan governments, without allowing the politicians from both the regions to dominate in the issue.

Suggestions have been made that a joint forum of Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen should be constituted immediately, so that they can discuss the matter and arrive at an appropriate and mutually acceptable solution. Perhaps, devoid of politicians in such forum, it would be possible to discuss the matter in healthy and proactive climate by the fishermen of both the countries, who are the real stake-holders in the matter.

I currently receive a Social Security benefit check of $985 a month, which is a spousal benefit I qualified for, one of the last to be able to make use of the so-called file-and-suspend option for married people reaching age 66 that the Obama Administration and Congress agreed to do away with two years ago, in one of many small cuts being applied to the Social Security program.

This year that benefit, like the benefit checks of all 60 million people (one in five of all Americans) on Social Security, rose by a scant 0.3 percent, taking my check from $983 a month last year to its present level — a rise of $2.00 a month (I was actually screwed out of a dollar because of crooked rounding!).

Now we learn that the Federal Reserve is raising the benchmark interest rate a notch because inflation is actually running at close to 2 percent — the “target” of the Federal Reserve Bank’s policy makers for achieving what they call a “health economy.”

Now don’t tell me that inflation was running at 0.3 percent last year and that it’s now 2.0% three months later. We didn’t just have a huge 1.7% jump in prices of everything over the past three months.

The truth: This is a screw job on the elderly and the disabled, pure and simple.

The claim that our costs of living didn’t really change over the course of 2016 was a fraud. Everyone knows it. Food prices rose dramatically last year. So did fuel costs, for both heating and driving. Transportation costs rose, and so did car prices. Rents went up, and so did interest rates on borrowing for a home or a home equity loan. And health care costs — a big one for the Social Security set — rose 6.5%, which is what they’re expected to rise by this year too. And do you know what percent of their income the elderly spend on healthcare? It’s 20% across the board. Since it’s safe to say that nothing the elderly (or anyone else) has had to buy in 2016 got any cheaper, clearly our cost of living rose a damn sight more than the measly joke of an increase of 0.3 percent that we saw (or didn’t notice) in our benefit checks!

Clearly Congress should be revisiting this year’s cost-of-living adjustment and making it match what the Fed says inflation has really been. It’s wrong for the government to be keeping a double set of books on something like this, yet that is exactly what they’re doing!

But I’m not holding my breath. This is the Congress that at this moment is attempting to pass a bill killing the so-called Affordable Care Act and replacing it with a Republican measure that besides throwing 24 million people off their ACA-subsidized health insurance plans, will increase the cost of supplemental health insurance (the insurance that covers doctors and drugs, as Medicare only covers hospital care) by as much as — hang on to your seats — 750 percent!

It’s almost like the Republican party took to heart the idea of a wretched former Democratic Governor of Colorado, Richard Lamm, who famously said back in 1984, at the tender age of 48, in a discussion on the rising cost of health care with respect to the elderly who have the gall to make use of costly medical care to try and live longer:  ”You’ve got a duty to die and get out of the way. ‘Let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life.”

Seriously. He did say that. (Lamm, who directs an institute at the University of Denver, where he no doubt receives a beaucoup subsidized health insurance plan, appears to be in excellent health, but at 81, I’m guessing his insurance company has already paid for some kind of life extending or life-improving medical care by now for him. It’ll be interesting what he does when, over the next few years, something potentially terminal comes along to threaten him or his spouse.)

But the Republicans in Congress are basically doing what Lamm was suggesting, by trying to pass a bill that would price the poorer elderly out of the insurance market and cause them to die whether they want to or not.

That brings me back to this inflation thing.

What it really comes down to is, what kind of a society do we really want to live in? Do we want it to be one where people starve, freeze, even die because of bad luck, because of being born to a poor family in the wrong part of the country where the schools suck and jobs are scarce, because the government decided it was okay for car-makers to move production to Mexico or China, make them there and then import them back into the US without any import tax, and sell them here, because they can’t afford to see a doctor, or get a needed medical test or procedure?  Do we want to say that after working for 30 or 40 years, it’s okay for their Social Security benefit check to be a lousy $1400 a month? And remember, for 43% of older Americans, that Social Security check represents at least 90% of their income.

Try working out a budget on that, and see how you do. I can’t imagine it, especially for someone living in an urban area.

I’ll give you some help. The Bureau of Labor Statistics — the same outfit that makes the estimate of what inflation has been for the year — offers the following information on average elderly expenses:

* Housing costs average $1294 a month.

* Transportation costs average $571 a month

* Food costs average $459 a month

* Entertainment averages $205 a month

* Personal insurance averages $228 a month

That all totals $2757, or more than double what we have left of our average benefit check after deducting health care expenses.

Oh, by the way, the BLS says those health care costs for the elderly average $480 a month, which is a bit more than our 20% average, but hey at this point, who’s counting?

Clearly we have a problem. Either we Americans decide we are just going to take the Lamm approach and let a lot of our elderly just die — or as is more likely — become a huge burden on their children and/or grandchildren, holding them all down from being able to get ahead in the world by, say, going to college or moving to some place where there are actually jobs.  Or we decide that we are a civilized people and that we, like the people in almost every European country, and many more developed countries in other parts of the world have managed to do, are going to adequately fund their old age with a Social Security program that actually provides the security promised in its name.

We aren’t doing that now, and the current Trump/Republican government in Washington is hard at work trying to adopt Lamm’s approach of just killing the problem off.

Note to married readers who were born before Jan. 2, 1954:

If you are married and both born before that deadline, you can still do a kind of lesser version of the now terminated “file-and-suspend” option. It’s called a “restricted application” for Social Security spousal benefits, and it can help at least one, and maybe both financially strapped older workers in a couple hold off on collecting their benefits until they reach 70, when they can start collecting the maximum benefit to which their working years of paying FICA taxes entitles them.

Here’s the deal: If possible, the older of two married people should try to wait until 70 to perform this operation, though it can be done at 66, locking in a lower benefit check (deciding when to do this requires going through the math on different age options). Once that person is collecting benefits, the younger spouse, if also age 66, can file what is called a “restricted application” for spousal benefits. This means he or she would start receiving 50% of the other person’s level of benefits, meaning the couple will be receiving 150% of the senior retiree’s benefit amount. When the second spouse reaches 70, and can collect maximum benefits on his or her own account, she or he can switch over to that account. The difference between this method and the old file-and-suspend option is that the first person to retire in this option is locked into whatever benefit level was available at the age he or she filed for benefits. (Of course in any case benefits paid are adjusted — unfairly as described above, but adjusted in any event — for inflation each year.)

Note that this option will remain available through Jan 1, 2020 for those couples where the younger spouse still isn’t 66, but will reach that age as late as that deadline date. (Spousal benefits can be filed for at age 62, and even younger in the case of a spouse who is caring for children, but the catch is if you file for them before you’re 66 yourself, your own retirement benefit will be calculated based upon the age you filed for the spousal benefits, unlike in the “restricted application,” where your own benefit amount is calculated based on the age when you switch from spousal benefits over to your own account.)

If you have questions, go to a local Social Security office and have them explain” restricted application for spousal benefits” and to do the age calculated results to you. They’ll do it, but only if you ask. Congress ruled that Social Security workers shouldn’t give advice — only answer specific questions.

Sadly this President Obama and Congress only left this option to those born before 1/2/1954, but if you lost out but know any couple that meets that requirement alert them about this and warn them not to file for retirement early and blow the opportunity to boost their total benefit payments substantially! You should at least deserve being treated to dinner for doing so. And

By Cheryl Pellerin

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met at the Pentagon on Thursday with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed Bin Salman to discuss the Middle East security environment and the two nations’ defense relationship.

The deputy crown prince also met earlier in the week with President Donald J. Trump at the White House.

In remarks before the meeting, Mattis noted that relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia began in February 1945 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud met aboard the U.S. Navy cruiser Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake segment of the Suez Canal.

It was the first face-to-face meeting between top American and Saudi leaders.

“The warmth of that relationship has held firm through good times and bad times over … 70-odd years now and it’s been the basis for an indispensable economic and security partnership together,” Mattis said.

The kingdom’s leadership provides stability in the region, he added, and the U.S.-Saudi military-to-military relationship remains steady and consistent.

“I appreciate your vigorous leadership … your political commitment and your willingness to broaden and deepen the kingdom’s support for our common efforts,” Mattis told bin Salman.

Tackling Challenges

In his remarks, the deputy crown prince said Saudi Arabia is at the front line facing hostile activities as the Iranian regime supports extremists and terrorists in the region and around the world, and challenges posed by terrorist organizations.

“That’s why we need to work and cooperate with our allies,” he added. “On top of the list comes the United States, the leader of the world. Today we are very optimistic under the leadership of President Trump and we believe these challenges will be easy to tackle under the leadership of the president.”

After the meeting, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said the two leaders affirmed the importance of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia defense relationship.

They also discussed the Middle East security environment, including confronting Iran’s destabilizing regional activities, he added, and U.S.-Saudi Arabia military cooperation in defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and other transnational terrorist organizations.

The two leaders said they look forward to deepening their nations’ defense partnership and continuing to work closely together, Davis said.

The US military said it carried out an attack on a building where al-Qaeda militants were meeting in Syria, not on a mosque next door where activists say 46 civilians were killed in a bombing.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the incident occurred in the town of al-Jinah in Aleppo’s western countryside. Al-Jinah is located in one of the main rebel-held parts of Syria.

US Central Command spokesman Col. John J. Thomas said the intended target was destroyed late Thursday but the mosque near the target was not struck.

“We did not target any mosques,” Thomas said. “What we did target was destroyed. There is a mosque within 50 feet of that building that is still standing.”

However, local activists and the SOHR said at least 46 people were killed — adding the death toll could rise as some are in critical condition and others are missing. The SOHR said it does not know to what country the warplanes that bombed the mosque belong.

Original article

EU consumer authorities and organizations have received a growing number of complaints from consumers, who have been targeted by fraud or scams when using social media websites, as well as having been subject to certain terms of services that do not respect EU consumer law.

On this basis, EU consumer authorities, under the leadership of the French consumer authority and with the support of the European Commission, sent a letter to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ last November asking them to address two areas of concern.

On Thursday, EU consumer authorities and the European Commission met with these companies to hear and discuss their proposed solutions. The companies in question will finalize detailed measures on how to comply with the EU regulatory framework within one month.

The Commission and the consumer authorities will review the final proposals. If they are not satisfactory, consumer authorities could ultimately resort to enforcement action.

On the occasion, Commissioner Jourová said, “Social media has become part of our daily lives and a majority of Europeans use it regularly. Given the growing importance of online social networks it is time to make sure that our strong EU rules, that are there to protect consumers from unfair practices, are complied with in this sector.”

Jourová added that,”It is not acceptable that EU consumers can only call on a court in California to resolve a dispute. Nor can we accept that users are deprived of their right to withdraw from an on-line purchase. Social media companies also need to take more responsibility in addressing scams and fraud happening on their platforms. I want to thank the EU consumer authorities who have worked tirelessly with the Commission on this important issue over the past months. From today, social media companies have one month to come up with solutions to comply with EU rules.”

Companies have agreed to propose changes focusing on two areas: Unfair terms and conditions; and addressing fraud and scams that mislead consumers when using the social networks.

Clarification of terms or removal of illegal terms

Social media platforms’ terms of services should be brought into conformity with European consumer law. Indeed, the Unfair Contract Terms Directive requires that standard terms which create a significant imbalance in parties’ rights and obligations, to the detriment of the consumer (Article 3) are deemed unfair -and therefore invalid. The Directive also requires that terms are drafted in plain and intelligible language (Article 5) so that consumers are informed in a clear and understandable manner about their rights.

This means in practice that, amongst others:

• Social media networks cannot deprive consumers of their right to go to court in their Member State of residence;
• Social media networks cannot require consumers to waive mandatory rights, such as their right to withdraw from an on-line purchase;
• Terms of services cannot limit or totally exclude the liability of Social media networks in connection with the performance of the service;
• Sponsored content cannot be hidden, but should be identifiable as such;
• Social media networks cannot unilaterally change terms and conditions without clearly informing consumers about the justification and without given them the possibility to cancel the contract, with adequate notice;
• Terms of services cannot confer unlimited and discretionary power to social media operators on the removal of content.
• Termination of a contract by the social media operator should be governed by clear rules and not decided unilaterally without a reason.

Removing fraud and scams misleading consumers

Social media companies must remove any fraud and scams appearing on their websites that could mislead consumers, once they become aware of such practices. In this connection, national consumer protection authorities should have a direct and standardized communication channel to signal such wrongdoings to social media operators (for example infringing the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive or the Consumer Rights Directive) and obtain take down of content, as well as information concerning the traders responsible for the infringements.

This is in line with EU consumer legislation and the E-Commerce Directive, which gives the possibility to Member States to establish procedures governing the removal or disabling of access to illegal information.

Here are examples of practices identified:

• scams involving payments taken from consumers;
• subscription traps where consumers are offered to register for a free trial but are not given clear and sufficient information;
• marketing of counterfeited products;
• fake promotions like “win a smart phone for 1 €” have proliferated over social media which were in fact a true contest but entailing a hidden long term subscriptions for several hundred euros per year.

Three years on from the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by Russia, the European Union remains firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

“The European Union reiterates that it does not recognize and continues to condemn this violation of international law. It remains a direct challenge to international security, with grave implications for the international legal order that protects the unity and sovereignty of all States,” Mogherini said in a statement.

EU’s Federica Mogherini. Photo Credit: Union Europea En Perù, Wikipedia Commons.

Mogherini said that the European Union remains committed to fully implementing its non-recognition policy, including through restrictive measures. The EU calls again on UN Member States to consider similar non-recognition measures in line with the UNGA Resolution 68/262.

“The European Union does not recognize the holding of elections by the Russian Federation in the Crimean peninsula nor the local or national representatives elected,” Mogherini said.

According to Mogherini, over the past year, the ongoing militarisation of the peninsula has continued to impact the security situation in the Black Sea region and the human rights situation in the Crimean peninsula has deteriorated further.

“The rights of the Crimean Tatars have been gravely violated through the shutting down of Crimean Tatar media outlets, the banning of the activities of the Mejlis, their self-governing body, and the persecution of its leaders,” Mogherini said, noting that lawyers such as Emil Kurbedinov and Mykola Polozov, defending the rights of Crimean Tatars and of those who do not recognise the illegal annexation of the peninsula, were themselves presented with criminal charges.

Mogherini called for the release of the First Deputy Chairman Akhtem Chiygoz and for the charges against Deputy Chairman Ilmi Umerov to be dropped, and the right to legal counsel to be fully respected.

“Furthermore, the EU reiterates its call for the immediate release of Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko and all those who have been detained and sentenced in breach of international law.” Mogherini said, adding that all pending cases of human rights violations such as enforced disappearances, torture and killings should be thoroughly investigated.

“Full, free and unrestricted access for international human rights actors to the whole territory of Ukraine, including Crimea and Sevastopol, continues to be paramount,” Mogherini said.

(Civil.Ge) — Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed a new defense agreement “On the Order of Inclusion of Certain Units of the Armed Forces of South Ossetia in the Russian Armed Forces,” formalizing the merger of the region’s military units into the Russian armed forces.

The March 14 Presidential ordinance authorized the Russian Defense Ministry to hold talks on the agreement with its South Ossetian counterpart and sign the document on behalf of the Russian Federation. Although the document is not finalized, the Defense Ministry was only authorized to make “minor amendments” to the draft agreement.

According to the agreement, Moscow will admit the South Ossetian army personnel for military service at the Russian military base in breakaway South Ossetia.

Moscow will recognize their mandatory military service in the armed forces of South Ossetia, as well as their military ranks, meaning that the South Ossetian army personnel will enter the Russian Army at the same rank they obtained in their armed forces and hence, be able to enjoy same benefits and salaries as Russian soldiers.

Upon recruitment, the servicemen will have to quit the South Ossetian army. The number of South Ossetian army personnel will be reduced by a corresponding number of servicemen and the figure, as well as “the tasks and the structure,” will be have to be agreed with the Russian Federation.

Transition of the South Ossetian armed forces “to a new organizational-staff structure” will be completed in nine months after the document’s enforcement, once the parties “complete internal state procedures.”

The draft agreement “On the Order of Inclusion of Certain Units of the Armed Forces of South Ossetia in the Russian Armed Forces,” is part of the treaty on “the Alliance and Integration” signed between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the South Ossetian leader Leonid Tibilov on March 18, 2015 for a period of 25 years.

The Commonwealth is a facet of contemporary life that most people know little about.  The Commonwealth games, interposed every four years between the Olympics, might arouse a flicker of interest across the globe, but as for the background or purposes of the organization there is little general knowledge or concern.  And yet the Commonwealth has the potential to exert an enormous power for good on global politics.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 52 independent sovereign states with a combined population of some 2.4 billion people, almost a third of the world’s inhabitants. Most, but not all, of the member states were once part of the now defunct British Empire, but that is no longer a pre-requisite. What unites this diverse group of nations, beyond the ties of history, language and institutions, are strong trade links and the association’s 16 core values set out in the Commonwealth Charter.

These “Commonwealth values” commit the organization to promoting world peace, democracy, individual liberty, environmental sustainability, equality in terms of race and gender, free trade, and the fight against poverty, ignorance, and disease. In short, the Commonwealth stands for all that is good in this wicked world.  What it has so far failed to demonstrate is the drive, or even the willingness, to provide positive leadership on the world stage in favor of the core values it professes. Change may be in the offing.

On 23 February 2017 the UK’s Daily Telegraph carried an exclusive, and rather startling, news report.  The Royal Commonwealth Society, it announced, was planning to open a branch in the United States, with a view to eventually bringing America into the fold as an “associate member”.   The project was said to build on President Donald Trump’s fondness for Britain and the royal family, and to be backed by the Queen. Michael Lake, the director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, said that the plans had been hastened by the “opportunity of a new president” and would further Britain’s ties with America.

In December, reported the Daily Telegraph, Lake wrote a letter addressed to Donald Trump, which was handed over to the president by Nigel Farage, the former head of UKIP  (the United Kingdom Independence Party), who continues to have close ties with the US administration. Lake wrote that opening a Commonwealth branch in America would help the UK and the US “find imaginative ways” in which they could work together. The response from the White House was described as “very positive”.

To put this initiative in perspective, the Royal Commonwealth Society is a voluntary organization distinct from, but highly supportive of, the Commonwealth itself.  Founded as far back as 1868 as The Colonial Society, it has morphed through a variety of titles, emerging in 1958 under its current designation. Committed to improving the lives and prospects of Commonwealth citizens across the world, the RCS boasts the Queen as its patron, and numbers among its vice presidents the UK Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition, the Commonwealth secretary-general, and all the Commonwealth High Commissioners in London.

The American initiative is part of an effort by Michael Lake to raise the profile and relevance of the modern Commonwealth in general, and its role within UK foreign policy in particular.  The Commonwealth, he said, “has been very introspective, it needs to be more extrovert.”  In pursuit of that objective, “we have adopted a policy of getting branches of the Commonwealth in non-commonwealth countries.”  The idea, he said, was to promote mutually advantageous  links with reliable friends around the world on everything from business to defence. Lake believes that the Commonwealth, a flexible arrangement held together by common values and culture, operates less formally than governments.

A new branch of the RCS has already opened in Helsinki, Finland’s capital, acting as a Baltic-Scandinavian hub, to help facilitate business ties with Commonwealth countries.  Last year the RCS opened a chapter in Dublin, as part of a campaign to help persuade the Irish Republic to rejoin the alliance of 52 member states. As regards the Middle East there seems no good reason why the RCS should not turn its attention to Jordan or Israel – or indeed a sovereign Palestine, if such a state ever emerges – as a base for expansion of Commonwealth influence, and the creation of new “associate members”.  All three, after all, would have strong historic connections with Britain in its colonial days. Israel, indeed, already has a flourishing “Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association” (IBCA), founded as far back as 1953.

Two factors have provided the Royal Commonwealth Society with a window of opportunity through which to expand its operations.  One, of course, was the emergence on the political stage of Donald Trump.  The other was Brexit – the decision of the British people to leave the European Union (EU).  Brexit will free the UK from many of the trade constraints imposed by membership of the EU, and allow it to pursue trading opportunities across the globe.

This aspect of Brexit is currently under close scrutiny in the UK parliament by one of the Select Committees of the House of Commons – the International Trade Committee.  It is conducting a detailed inquiry into post-Brexit UK trade options, recently taking evidence about “the potential impact of alternative trading arrangements after the UK leaves the EU and also the future of trade with the Commonwealth.”

One of the sub-committees is examining the opportunities for developing UK trading relationships with the Commonwealth once a Brexit deal has been concluded, including the scope for increasing UK exports, the future of trade with developing Commonwealth countries, and the potential for trade agreements and exports with major economies such as India, Canada and Australia.

The trading arrangements of individual Commonwealth members with the UK have long been governed through EU policies. Brexit potentially means substantial new trade and investment opportunities for the Commonwealth, as well as augmented trade and investment flows between members.  “Associate membership” will certainly count for something in this brave new world, and not beyond the bounds of possibility is the concept of Jordan, Israel and a sovereign Palestine, allied within a new three-state confederation, each an associate member of the Commonwealth.

Hengameh Shahidi, a reformist member of the Etemad Melli Party and a former adviser to opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi has been on hunger strike since her arbitrary arrest on March 9, 2017.

Shahidi who is a women’s rights advocate was also arrested after the 2009 disputed presidential election in Iran and sentenced to six years in prison.

She has called her family from Evin prison and has told them that she is being interrogated. No clear charged have yet been brought against her.

Shahidi suffers from a heart condition and her family is worried that the hunger strike and prison conditions will have an adverse affects on her health. She is refusing food as well as her medications.

Shahidi’s arrest comes as both Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been arresting reformist journalists and intellectuals prior to summer 2017 presidential elections.

Recent arrests include Ehsan Mazandarani, former editor in chief of Farhikhtegan daily, Morad Saghafi of Goftegoo, Tahereh Riyahi, head of Borna News Service, Zeynab Karimian, former columnists for IRNA and Mehr news agencies and Saleh Deldam, film producer and director.

It is not yet clear which branch of the intelligence agencies in Iran has arrested Shahidi. She has been taken from city of Mashhad, where she was attending her grandmother’s funeral to Tehran’ Evin prison, Ward 209. This ward is generally associated with the Ministry of Intelligence in Iran.

Shahidi was the adviser on women’s affairs to the now in house arrest opposition leader Mehdi Karioubi. She has been under the radar since her first arrest for which she was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

In June 2012, after months of battling heart disease in prison Shahidi was granted a medical furlough.

In a letter before her recent arrest on 9 March, she warns the public that she has been threatened with yet another arbitrary arrest.

Shahidi’s publishes her handwritten letter on her Instagram page before her arrest in Mashhad. She writes that she is excepting to be arrested in the near future. She writes that the hardliners in Iran are planning a mass arrest of journalists as “part of a political scheme before the presidential election.”

The presidential election in Iran is due to take place on 19 May 2017 and often in Iran intelligence agents affiliated with the hardliners and IRGC arrests progressive journalists.

Shahidi is an award winning journalist and an influential figure in the reformist camp. She has also been critical of Hassan Rouhani’s government and has publicly criticized the president for not delivering on the promises of civil freedoms and citizens’ rights.

Shahidi’s prediction of mass crackdown on journalist might be right. Since Dec 2016 many journalists have been arbitrary arrested in Iran. Ehsan Mazandarani who is the former editor in chief of Farhikhtegan daily was rearrested on 11 March 2017 despite serving his prior sentence. Morad Saghafi of Goftegoo Quarterly was taken to Evin on 17 March 2016. Tahereh Riahi of Borna News has been in prison since 27 December 2016. Zeinab Karimian, a TV producer has been in prison since 23 January 2017.

Modern life really does kill after a remote tribe living deep in the Amazon were found to have the healthiest arteries ever studied.

A new study estimates that an 80-year-old from the Tsimane has the same vascular age as an American in their mid-fifties.

Heart rate, blood pressure , cholesterol, and blood glucose were also much lower, probably as a result of the tribe’s lifestyle, according to the researchers.

The indigenous Tsimane people, who live in the Bolivian Amazon, have the lowest reported levels of vascular ageing for any population.

Hardening of the arteries, known as coronary atherosclerosis, which leads to coronary heart disease and angina is five times less common than in the US, according to the research published in The Lancet.

Unlike people in first world, the Tsimane survive on a diet low in saturated fats and high in non-processed foods.

The researchers suggests that the loss of subsistence diets and lifestyles in modern society could be classed as a new risk factor for heart disease.

The main risk factors are age, smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes.

Senior anthropology author Professor Hillard Kaplan, of the University of New Mexico, said: “Our study shows that the Tsimane indigenous South Americans have the lowest prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis of any population yet studied.

“Their lifestyle suggests that a diet low in saturated fats and high in non-processed fibre-rich carbohydrates, along with wild game and fish, not smoking and being active throughout the day could help prevent hardening in the arteries of the heart.

“The loss of subsistence diets and lifestyles could be classed as a new risk factor for vascular ageing and we believe that components of this way of life could benefit contemporary sedentary populations.”

Although the Tsimane lifestyle is very different from that of modern society, Prof Kaplan says some elements of it are “transferable” and could help to reduce the risk of heart disease.

While industrial populations are sedentary for more than half of their waking hours (54 per cent), the Tsimane spend only 10 per cent of their daytime being inactive.

They live a subsistence lifestyle that involves hunting, gathering, fishing and farming, where men spend an average of six to seven hours of their day being physically active and women spend four to six hours.

Their diet is largely carbohydrate-based (72 per cent) and includes non-processed carbs which are high in fibre such as rice, plantain, corn, nuts and fruits.

Protein constitutes 14 per cent of their diet and comes from animal meat. The diet is very low in fat with fat compromising only 14 per cent of the diet – equivalent to an estimated 38 grams of fat each day, including 11g saturated fat and no trans fats.

And the researchers said smoking was almost non-existent among the Tsimane. The researchers visited 85 Tsimane villages between 2014 and 2015.

They measured their risk of heart disease by taking CT scans of the hearts of 705 adults, aged 40 to 94, to measure the extent of hardening of the coronary arteries, as well as measuring weight, age, heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and inflammation.

They discovered, almost nine in 10 of the Tsimane people (85 per cent) had no risk of heart disease, and only three per cent had moderate or high risk.

That continued into old age, where almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of those aged over 75 had almost no risk. The results are the lowest reported levels of vascular ageing of any population recorded to date.

By comparison, a study of 6,814 American people aged 45 to 84 found that only 14 per cent had a CT scan that suggested no risk of heart disease and half had a moderate or high risk – a five-fold higher prevalence than in the Tsimane.

They also noted that the low risk of coronary atherosclerosis in the Tsimane despite there being elevated levels of inflammation in half (51 per cent).

Analysis of rock samples harvested from the Canadian Shield suggests the samples contain components of Earth’s crust that existed more than 4.2 billion year ago.

The results and related interpretations improve scientists’ understanding of the evolution of the oldest elements of Earth’s continental hard outer layer.

Recreating the nature of Earth’s first crust is difficult because geologic activity has created turnover that drove most of it back into Earth’s interior. While some slivers of 4-billion-year-old crust remain in the rock record, only isolated zircon mineral grains are dated to be older.

Here, Jonathan O’Neil and Richard W. Carlson analyzed isotope ratios of samarium and neodymium in rocks collected from the Superior Province, the region in Canada just north of the Great Lakes. The samples are mostly made up of a type of granite that formed 2.7 billion years ago, but the authors note that the formation of these magnesium-deficient rocks requires the “recycling” of older, magnesium-rich rocks.

Given the age of the samples, the time it would take for them to form from recycled magnesium-rich rocks, and the ratio of samarium and neodymium isotopes in the samples, the authors suggest that reworked crust – older than 4.2 billion years – is mixed into the 2.7-billion-year-old rocks of the Superior Province.

They preserve the signature of an early differentiation in the Earth, one presumably related to the formation of a primordial crust that took shape within the first few hundred million years of Earth’s history.

A 24-year-old Tibetan man set himself on fire Saturday in a protest against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region, the first reported self-immolation of 2017, sources told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

Pema Gyaltsen, from Nyagrong (in Chinese, Xinlong) county in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, around 4 p.m., and police swiftly removed his charred body from the scene, Tibetan sources told RFA.

Two sources from the Tibetan exile community said Gyaltsen, an unmarried farmer, was taken to a hospital in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. One source said the man later died, but the other said his contacts in the region believed he was still alive in hospital.

In a one-minute video clip that was circulating on Tibetan social media, Chinese police are seen dispersing Tibetan onlookers from a scene of commotion, with women crying. Sources told RFA that authorities blocked the popular smartphone application WeChat following the self-immolation.

“In the evening around ten close relatives of Pema Gyaltsen from Nyagrong went to Kardze county police station to see self-immolator Pema Gyaltsen. But the Chinese beat them severely and detained them for the entire night, and forced them to stand up the whole night,” a Tibetan exile source with contacts in the town told RFA.

“Today some of them could barely walk from the beating, but they were released under the guarantee of a Nyagrong official,” the source added.

“He called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and said there is no freedom in Tibet at the time of self-immolation,” another source told RFA.

Gyaltsen was the eldest of five children of his father Wangyal and mother Yullha, and “the main breadwinner of his family and had not attended any school,” the second source added.

The Kardze police station did not answer repeated calls by RFA seeking details of the incident.

Saturday’s protest brings to 147 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009. The previous known self-immolation was on Dec. 8, when Tashi Rabten, 33, a husband and father of three, set himself on fire and died in Gansu province.

Gyaltsen’s protest was the second case of self-immolation in Nyagrong, following the death of 18-year-old Kalsang Wangdu in March 2016.

Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959.

Reported by Lobsang Choephel, Sangyal Dorjee, Dawa Dolma and Pema Ngodup for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

On May 30, Artcurial will offer at auction Andromède, a rare Rodin marble sculpture with an extraordinary history. The long lost masterpiece, in the same familly for over 130 years, is estimated between € 800,000 – 1,200,000, Art Daily said.

In 1888, Chilean diplomat Carlos Morla Vicuña commissioned a marble bust of his young wife, Luisa, from Auguste Rodin.

The same year, the sculpture is exhibited at the annual Salon National des Beaux-Arts in Paris. It is so well received that the French State requests to purchase it for the Musée du Luxembourg. Carlos Morla Vicuña agrees to transfer the bust of his wifeas a gesture of friendship for France. Today, it can be admired at the Musée d’Orsay.

In thanks for their kind gesture, August Rodin presented the Chilean couple with the sculpture Andromède (1887). A white marble figure depicting a naked young woman, draped over a rock, one of the most beautiful examples of a modern and sensual transposition of an ancient myth in Rodin’s work.

In the 1930’s, Georges Grappe, first curator of the Musée Rodin, mentions that the sculpture was surely still in possession of the Morla family. After that, the sculpture was no longer mentioned.

Passed down from generation to generation, the masterpiece remained within the same family, until it was rediscovered in 2017 by Artcurial teams.

Three of the other four examples of the sculpture are currently exhibited in important museum institutions such as the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, the Musée Rodin in Paris and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. The Morla copy is the most accomplished in its naturalist transcription.

“Rediscovering this Rodin marble 130 years after its creation is truly an event! In the 1930’s, Georges Grappe, first curator of the Rodin museum mentioned the hypothesis that Andromède was doubtlessly still in the possession of the Morla family, but without any certitude. Since then, all trace of the sculpture was lost,”  said Bruno Jaubert, Associate Director Artcurial Modern Art Department

“Andromède was awaiting us! This was the moving and rare emotion we felt when we rediscovered this major work by Rodin, preciously kept in the same family from generation to generation for all these years,” said Stéphane Aubert, Associate Director Autioneer, Artcurial

There may be as many as 100,000 skinheads in Russia, Rimma Fedyayeva says; and neither their numbers nor the violence they commit against ethnic, religious or racial minorities are likely to decline until the country begins to address the basic cause for their appearance – significant downward social mobility in many parts of the population.

Tatars were shocked and outraged by the recent murder of an African student there, the Kazan psychologist says; but they shouldn’t have been surprised given that there have been other murders and attacks on a racial or ethnic basis in recent months and that there is as yet no program in place to block such actions (business-gazeta.ru/article/340263).

“Our Russian skinheads are the result of economic and social problems,” she says. “Frequently, they are children of the employed or of parents whose social status over the course of the years of reform has sharply declined.” And many of them believe that members of other groups are doing far better than their own.

Hence, they have a more or less well-developed ideology, Fedayeva says, one based on a “social hatred” which holds that they “must hate Jews, Blacks, Chinese, and Caucasians because in their opinion, these are all rich because their members ‘live well at the expense of the Slavs.’”

Because of the objects of their hatred, many associate skinheads “with Nazism, racism, fascism and aggression, but if one considers the main stages of the development of the formation of this subculture,” the psychologist says, “then it is possible to see that not all the directions within it are connected with politics.”

“In Russia, skinheads include asocial persons who are aggressively inclined who use symbols and when possible ideas for the justification of what are essentially hooligan actions,” a pattern that is exacerbated by the propensity of journalists to present these hooligans as something more formal.

Students of the phenomenon, she continues, find that “young people do not have precisely defined political views.” Instead, they are acting out of hatred without much regard to how it might be explained by politicians or one or another kind. They simply don’t know enough or care about history and ideas to focus on these parallels.

Most Russian discussions of skinheads focus on Europe and the United States, but according to the interior ministry, there were between 15,000 and 20,000 skinheads in Russia in 2014-2015. But many researchers believe the actual number is far higher, perhaps as large as 100,000.

Many of them are concentrated in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara and Rostov-na-Donu, but there are examples across the country. One of the most careful studies of the phenomenon concerns the Northern Capital where there are estimated to be approximately 3,000 skinheads and another 11,000 to 12,000 “representatives of neo-fascist organizations.”

Fadayeva says that “according to various sources,” there are “approximately 80 to 100 people” in Kazan who “identify as skinheads or as so-called right nationalists.” They see themselves as engaged in protests against “public morality” but mostly just say that while behaving like hooligans.

There are four reasons why this movement remains so significant, the psychologist continues: First, the main problems that gave rise to it – including “mass poverty” – haven’t been addressed. Second, there isn’t “a definite ideology” that could be used to turn young people away from this subculture.

Third, there is an absence of prophylactic work in schools and youth institutions. And fourth, there has been “a collapse in the system of school education, especially in the humanities.” As a result, many young Russians don’t see the reason why they should reject xenophobia or violence.

As far as skinheads in Tatarstan and Russia are concerned, Fadayeva says, there is bad news and less bad news. The bad news, she suggests is that “there are no political examples in history when countries have been able to do away completely with racist and Nazi-like movements.”

But the less bad news, at least as far as Tatarstan is concerned, is this: “the level of extremist manifestations among young people of the republic is lower in comparison with other regions of the country,” the result she suggests of the fact that Kazan officials take the threat more seriously than do those in many other places.

By Hannah Brockhaus

In what will be his first international trip of the year, Pope Francis will be traveling to Cairo, Egypt, April 28-29, showing that interfaith dialogue is a priority.

He will visit the country in response to an invitation from His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and the Grand Imam of the Mosque of al Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayyib, as well as Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the bishops of the local Catholic Church, a March 18 Vatican communique announced.

While the full program for the Pope’s the trip will be published shortly, he will almost certainly visit Al-Azhar University in Cairo, which has recently partnered with the Vatican to discuss combatting religious justification for violence in a warming of relations between the two.

The Pope’s trip will likely focus largely on inter-faith dialogue and Catholic-Muslim relations – especially in combating Christian persecution – continuing dialogue from a seminar Vatican officials attended in February.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, along with the council’s secretary and the head of their Office for Islam, traveled to Cairo Feb. 24 to participate in the special seminar at Al-Azhar University.

They discussed the theme “The role of al-Azhar al-Sharif and of the Vatican in countering the phenomena of fanaticism, extremism and violence in the name of religion.”

Persecution of Christians has long been an issue in Egypt, with a recent spike in attacks causing even more reason for alarm.

There have been 40 reported murders of Christians in Egypt in the last three months, His Grace Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, said in a statement Feb 28.

Twenty-nine were killed in a bombing at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo in December. The Islamic State took credit for the bombing and released a video threatening to target Christian “crusaders” in Egypt.

Since the video’s release, more Christians have been killed in Egypt and hundreds have reportedly fled their homes in the Sinai region in the north of the country after several murders there, the group In Defense of Christians said.

Egyptian society was also profoundly shocked by the beheading in Libya of 20 Orthodox Coptic faithful and a companion by Islamic State militants in February 2015.

Pope Francis was invited to visit Egypt by Coptic Catholic bishops during their ad limina visit at the Vatican Feb. 6, during which they also gave a report on the state of the Church in their country.

The Pope had also received an invitation to visit Egypt from the country’s president and from the Grand Imam of al Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayyeb, who occupies a prestigious place in the Sunni Muslim world.

Al Tayyeb paid a visit to the Vatican May 23, 2016 for a meeting with Pope Francis, which marked a major step in thawing relations between the al-Azhar institution and the Holy See, which were strained in 2011 with claims that Pope Benedict XVI had “interfered” in Egypt’s internal affairs by condemning a bomb attack on a church in Alexandria during the time of Coptic Christmas.

Since then relations have continued to move forward at a surprisingly fast pace, leading to the Oct. 21 announcement from the Vatican that sometime this spring the Holy See and the Al-Azhar Mosque and adjunct University will officially resume dialogue.

Francis’ visit to Cairo and to the University in April will likely mark the official resumption of this dialogue.

US and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria over the weekend, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported Sunday.

Officials reported details of the strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted 17 strikes consisting of 18 engagements in Syria:

• Near Al Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three tactical vehicles.
• Near Ar Raqqah, 11 strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed five fighting positions, two ISIS headquarters; and damaged three bridges and two supply routes.
• Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; and destroyed four wellheads and a fighting position.
• Near Palmyra, two strikes destroyed three ISIS-held buildings and two well heads.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 38 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

• Near Haditha, a strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.
• Near Mosul, five strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed 14 fighting positions, four vehicles, two rocket-propelled grenade systems, a medium machine gun, and an artillery system; damaged 14 supply routes; and suppressed five mortar teams and three ISIS tactical units.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group’s ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Approximately 1 in 4 African American individuals recommended for statin therapy under guidelines from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association are no longer recommended for statin therapy under guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, according to a study published online by JAMA Cardiology. The study is being released to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s 66th Annual Scientific Session.

Modern prevention guidelines substantially increase the number of individuals who are eligible for treatment with statins. Efforts to refine statin eligibility via coronary calcification have been studied in white populations but not, to the authors’ knowledge, in large African American populations. Venkatesh L. Murthy, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues compared the relative accuracy of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) recommendations in identifying African American individuals with subclinical and clinical atherosclerotic (plaque build-up within arteries) cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). African Americans are at disproportionately high risk for ASCVD.

The study included 2,812 African American individuals, ages 40 to 75 years, without prevalent ASCVD, who underwent assessment of ASCVD risk. Of these, 1,743 participants completed computed tomography, and coronary artery calcium (CAC) and abdominal aortic calcium scores were determined.

Among the findings central to prevention efforts:

• Approximately 1 in 4 African American individuals recommended for statin therapy under ACC/AHA guidelines are no longer recommended for statin therapy under USPSTF guidelines. Individuals only eligible for statins under ACC/AHA guidelines experienced a low to intermediate event rate, suggesting decreased sensitivity of the USPSTF recommendations in identifying participants at risk of ASCVD. Consequently, USPSTF guidelines focus treatment on a smaller high-risk group (38 percent of high-risk African American individuals) at the expense of missing significant numbers of African American individuals with vascular calcification.
• While those who were eligible for statins by both USPSTF and ACC/AHA guidelines had a similar risk of incident ASCVD (i.e., heart attack, ischemic stroke, or fatal coronary heart disease) compared with non-eligible participants, the addition of CAC scoring improved risk stratification above guideline recommendations, suggesting that CAC has the potential to personalize recommendation for statin therapy by both guideline recommendations.

“Despite debate over the potential cost, risk calibration, and metabolic health implications of increasing statin use, these results support a guideline-based approach to statin recommendation, leveraging targeted imaging (or other surrogate atherosclerotic measures) in African American individuals to further personalize statin-based prevention programs,” the authors write.

Israel is aswirl with rumors that Bibi Netanyahu is preparing to call new national elections.  There is a superficial cause and there is a hidden subtext behind his strategy.  The fake reason Bibi tells Israel is that he’s incensed about the impending launch of the Israel public broadcasting corporation (IPBC); despite the fact that he himself devised the original idea for the IPBC, and saw it as a means to break the hold (as he saw it) of the liberal elites on the state media.  After thinking better of the idea and trying to persuade the Knesset to dump it, he failed.

As a result, he’s now claiming that this is such a critical issue that he must (MUST!) take the issue to the voters and let them decide if he is right or wrong.  The PM posted the first video above about the supposed grave injustices being done to employees who supposedly will lose their jobs as part of the transition to the new broadcasting authority.  In the second video (about 00:45″), as he prepares for yet another foreign visit–this time to China–to prove his indispensability to the nation, he condemns his coalition partners for not agreeing to cancel the IPBC.  This is laying the groundwork for going to the people and claiming the disagreement is insoluble and can only be resolved by new elections.

As with much of Israeli politics, the outward explanation is nonsense: Bibi’s real reason is that the state prosecutor is about to announce an indictment against him on one or more of the three separate corruption cases being pursued against him.  The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in a past decision that any minister indicted must resign.  Though it never ruled that an indicted PM should resign, it’s quite possible that the Court would agree with past precedent and force Bibi to quit.  Ehud Olmert did not want to resign after his indictment, but his coalition partners forced him to.  After he was convicted, he served a prison term for corruption.  This is the outcome the current PM desperately wants to avoid.

Netanyahu, believing that an indictment is imminent, is betting he can withstand pressure to resign if he goes to the people and wins a new mandate.  He’ll give his opponents an opportunity to raise the corruption allegation during the debate surrounding the election.  If he wins he’ll be able to face down calls for his resignation, arguing the voters knew about the charges against him and chose him in spite of them.  This would force the Israeli electorate and political class to respond in a unified fashion if they wished to oust him.  Anyone observing Israeli politics knows there is no such thing as unity or consensus.  Everyone goes their separate ways and looks out for their own personal interest or that of their particular ethnic group or class.  So Bibi is daring his enemies to do what he believes is impossible.

The latest polls show Bibi’s main rival, Yair Lapid of the soft-right Yesh Atid Party, trailing him by only one seat (26-25).  That’s a decline of four seats from Likud’s current Knesset faction.  Of course, if an indictment is announced that will work against Bibi.  But the PM is a wily political survivor who has pulled irons out of the fire in the past to win against seemingly impossible odds.  One of the biggest losers according to the poll would be the former Labor Party, which would decline from 24 to 10 seats (Labor’s loss is Lapid’s gain).  This indicates a further hardening of the electorate as voters move from more or less the center (Labor) to the soft-right (Yesh Atid).

Please God, let’s not hear foreign journalists talk about how these elections may bode well for political change regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict.  There will be no change.  The election won’t be fought on this issue and Israelis hardly care about it.  Of course that won’t stop the NY Times, Washington Post, White House, etc. from waxing eloquent about how this presents an opportunity for peace.  Just spare me…

This article was published at Tikun Olam.